As Snow dodged an attack from my Sword, Shiro quickly usher his familiar to attack Snow. “Gah! D-Evils! Get him!” Shiro familiars attack Snow who took the hit without flinching and gave Shiro a smirk.
“Oh?! Not bad. Not bad at all!” Following Snow's praise, the butler jumps in the air. I almost let out a gasp in amazement when he lands elegantly with his feet poised together like a dancer’s. Snow dodge several D-Evils who went to attack him again, but he dodge them all with minimal motion. Sometimes he spears the air with bare-handed feints as if to maintain a set distance away.
After Snow kept repeating the same exchange a few more times. . . Shiro called back his familiars who were getting badly hurt by Snow. “Nngh. . . Guys! To me! This Lion Therian is strong! He’s toying with us!”
Snow stopped moving and looked at us with a polite smile on his face even though I could feel his killing intent behind his smile. “Hm. That should be enough. I have gauged your strength. It would seem. . . that you have enough strength to pass.”
Shiro and me didn’t relax in our defense when Snow said that just quickly look at each other wondering what will happen next. “You said your name was Snow? Well, will you let us through now, Snow?”
“Oh, wait. . . Shiro, there was another condition. . .” I remember Snow conditions for us to be able to get into the building. We did prove we are strong enough to Snow but we haven’t had an introduction from a gladiator.
“As I previously noted, you may only pass with an introduction from an established gladiator. I shall never defy my master’s command. Not under any circumstances. My analysis of your combat strength is proceeding smoothly. You perform as well as one could hope for youngsters with such potential. As such. . . Let us raise the bar.” Snow words caused Shiro to pause in confusion and I got a bad feeling then tried to get over to Shiro but Snow was quicker.
“Bear in mind that letting your guard down can prove fatal.” Snow attacked Shiro, quickly knocking him to the ground. I went in front of Shiro glaring at Snow who had an excited look in his eyes waiting for my move.
“Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’re a cool cat!” I took a swing at Snow but he quickly dodge and moved from my line of sight. I was caught off guard as Snow went to attack my unguarded self.
“Pardon. . . You are wide open.” Snow went to attack me and I quickly blocked him with my Sword which caused Snow to smile in surprise. “Oh? I am impressed that you still have it in you to block my strike. Then let us raise the level another notch. We shall see how you keep up. . .Ha!”
Snow attacked me in quick sessions which caused me to fall back as I continue to stand in front of Shiro. I could hear Shiro call out in concern for me but I couldn’t say anything as Snow continued his attacks.
“Such a pathetic, unpolished, clumsy performance! Your body is weak, and your technique is sorely lacking! And yet. . . You put yourself in harm’s way to protect your friend, and your heart remains steadfast in the face of certain defeat. You possess the heart of Agni and the spirit of Sakra. Your insight is as keen as to behold heights beyond even the distance Mt. Kailash! Ohhhh. . . Ensconced within your youthful breast, I perceive a blessed symbol of good fortune! Hahaha. Very good! How tremendously exciting this is! I simply cannot contain myself!” Snow attacks kept getting faster and harder as I tried to block them with my sword trying not to let myself fall onto the ground.
As Snow was focused on me Shiro familiars went to attack him which caused him to pause in his attacks. “I won’t let you hurt Masato! Bury him under your numbers, D-Evils!” Shiro familiars went and surrounded Snow as he dodge their attack on him quickly.
As he was dodging the attack, Snow plucked a pocket watch from his breast pocket while maintaining just the right distance to avoid Shiro familiars. Snow's expression grew disappointed, he checked the time and then put the watch away and glared at us.
“It was careless of me to become so engrossed in this engagement. Only two minutes remain until the next scheduled event. Personally, I would be delighted to train you for three days and three nights. . . But unfortunately I must perform the duties designated to me by my darling master. It is truly regrettable. However, I will pay respect to your courage and show you the most powerful technique I know.” At those words, his hand began to shine. Three bladed discs materialize, gleaming in midair.
“Weapons?! What is he holding. . .? Is that. . .?! A Sacred Artifact!” Shiro shouted as Snow got ready to attack with his Sacred Artifact. I was getting a bad feeling and got in a defensive position making sure Shiro wasn’t in the line of attack.
“What made you assume I fight only with my bare hands? You are nowhere close to sharing equal footing with me. You youngsters all believe yourselves to be so special. Allow me to teach you how foolhardy you are.” The blades began to rotate. . . All three Chakram spin at an amazing speed, the path of their movement drawing a mandala in the air.
“Shit! He’s going to attack with his Sacred Artifact! Shiro stay behind me!” I ignored Shiro protesting as the blades around Snow began to spin faster and faster. Tensing up knowing that what's going to happen next is going to hurt like hell.
“Role of the Vassal! Rule of Trinity! Spin! Whirl! Dance! Course unending through the circle of reincarnation! Soar beyond even the lofty summit of Amne Machin! Here and now the Trinity shall become one!” The air cracks. The atmosphere shrieks. It’s as though the trinity of Chakram might sunder the world itself.
“Physical, ethereal, and astral bodies; the trinity unites as one with threefold power. My friends, may you survive so that we may meet to fight again. Ashtamangala!” The blades came towards me quickly and I could hear Shiro screaming. As my sight was filling with bright lights I could see flash of something appearing in fading eyesight that looked just like a panicking Salomon.
‘Wha. . .? I think I saw. . . Something. . . weird just now.’ A blinding light from Snow attack caused my vision to go white. It’s the last thing I see before finally losing consciousness.
I was in a dark place and I didn’t know how long I was in this place. I was starting to get worried I would be here forever by myself when I hear voices talking around me. There was a voice that sounded like Shiro and another that sounded like an unfamiliar man. I could feel my eyes struggle to open as my body was screaming out in pain.
“Oh, hey. You’re awake. Don’t worry. We’re not your enemy.” I could hear the unfamiliar man trying to soothe me as I slowly regained my wits. When I tried to get up my whole body tingled in pain. It isn’t that severe like I thought, but I still involuntarily flinch.
“You shouldn’t force yourself. It seems you suffered grievous injury in an App battle. Once the battle ends, your wounds will heal, but that healing is limited purely to your physical wounds. If your mind accepts death, it can result in lasting effects on your body, so you need to keep it together. Take your time. Can you try opening your eyes?” After a few minutes of trying to force my eyes to open I finally opened them to see I was somewhere else on the ground. I could see a tall young male with white hair and tan skin looking at me with a smile on his face. ‘Wow. . . The first time I see when I open my eyes is an attractive male. Totally worth the pain I am currently in at the moment.’
“Hi there!” As the young male greeted me I could see someone next to him that looked kind of like him but shorter wearing headphones around his neck and a white coat. The boy was giving me an indifferent look as I tried to understand what was happening.
“Don’t move so much. You might’ve been treated, but you sure took a lot of damage. You fought that white lion butler, after all. It’s a miracle that you not only survived, but also got away with such light injuries. To be honest, I want to ask how in the world you made it out with such minimal damage. What kind of trick did you pull?” I felt my head still feeling fuzzy as this attractive tall male was throwing questions to me left and right.
“I think I zoned out. . . I am pretty sure I saw something familiar flash before my eyes. . .” I was rubbing my head as I tried to understand what was happening and I realized something important. “Shiro! Have you seen my friend?!”
“Your friend is sleeping next to you.” I quickly look to my side to see Shiro lying beside me. He’s sleeping soundly, face wrecked with exhaustion. I let out a sigh of relief when I realized Shiro was okay and wasn’t badly hurt.
“The white lion aimed his attack at you. Your friend only got the backlash. You should thank him. He dragged your unconscious body all the way here, crying as he went.” I felt myself frown as I looked at Shiro, noticing that his eyes did look kind of puffy like he was crying which made me feel really guilty.
“Now that I can get a good look, you’re pretty buff!” I know I shouldn’t flirt with this stranger but he was rather pleasing to look at. He could possibly be a bad person but I can’t lie to myself when I see someone really good looking.
The man raised his hand up in front of me with a smile on his face. “That can wait until after he wakes up. I had planned to meet him here, after all.” I felt down once I got shot down but raised an eyebrow in confusion at what he just said. ‘Meeting us? Is he the online friend of Shiro that I didn’t trust at all.’
I could feel my attraction to the man disappear as I stared at him with mistrust which he just smiled at. I felt my attention be drawn to Shiro who called out my name as he was waking up. I quickly went over to him to make sure he was okay.
“Spoke too soon. Seems like he’s awake, so now I can introduce myself.” Shiro didn’t seem to hear what the man was saying as he locked eyes with me. He sat up from the ground and hugged me tightly and I could feel a wetness on my neck as Shiro rubbed his face into it.
“I’m so glad you’re okay! I’m sorry. . . I was useless. . .” I was just patting his back in comfort as I tried not to get embarrassed at being hugged by Shiro who breath I could feel blowing on my neck. ‘He is upset right now so no bad thoughts Masato. There is a time and a place.’
“That’s not true. You did everything you could. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Shiro.” The man didn’t seem to care that Shiro wasn’t paying attention to him and still had a smile on his face which I started to feel was just fake at the moment. Shiro stopped holding me and his face didn’t seem to have any tears on it which caused me to feel pleased.
“How do you know my name? And who. . . are you?” Shiro looked at the man in confusion which he just laughed at like it was a joke. I still didn’t fully trust him but I was having a hard time not trusting him due to his good looks. ‘Damn, why couldn’t he have average looks or something like that. Making it hard distrust him.’
“Allow me to re-introduce myself. It’s been a long time, Shiro Motoori. And you are. . . Masato, I presume? We haven’t met. It’s a pleasure.” The man nodded his head towards me and I just nodded back, not really understanding what he was trying to do.
“A long time? Wait. . . Your face and voice do seem familiar. . .” Shiro was looking at the man for a long time trying to remember where he saw him before which kind of made me doubt if he was the online friend.
“We first met at a gathering for the top performers in the Tokyo-wide practice exams. Then again, we’ve been talking weekly online ever since. We were supposed to meet again today, but those plans were delayed.” So he was the online friend of Shiro and they did meet before. Knowing that my distrust in him went down a bit.
“Gathering for. . .? Every. . . week? Cain?! Shuichi. . . Are you Cain?!” Shiro pointed in shocked at the person who I learned was Shuichi. I looked over at the quiet boy wondering what his name was and almost flinched when I realized he was staring at me. I gave him an awkward smile that he just ignored looking away from me causing me to have an awkward smile stuck on my face.
“It’s an honor to meet you again, Shiro.” Shuichi gave a closed eyes smile to Shiro who was still looking at him still in shock. I decided to get off the ground and pull Shiro up with me holding him so he wouldn’t end up falling to the ground.
“You’re pretty handsome even if you come off as kinda pretentious. . .” I couldn’t get past the personality of Shuichi even with his good looks. I could see his smile twitch as I said that and the boy next to him put a hand up to his mouth to cough into it but I would like to think he had a small laugh there.
“H-Handsome, Masato?! So Shuichi is your type?!” Shiro looked at me in surprise and I just waved a hand in front of me, denying that rather quickly which calmed him down. “Oh, uh, ahem! Excuse me. I got a little distracted. W-What were we talking about again?” I just pat Shiro on his back as he tried to get himself under control again.
“Oh, that’s right. Sorry. You two haven’t been introduced. This is Shuichi Togo. He’s regularly a top performer in the Tokyo-wide practice exams. He also won the interschool kendo tournament. His team sometimes faces our kendo team in friendly matches. Shuichi excels in both intellect and physical performance. I respect him a lot. And apparently he’s also the online acquaintance I mentioned this morning. Shuichi, I can’t believe you’re Cain. . .!” Shiro was looking at him in admiration and I couldn’t really see it. I can only see he was attractive and that's about it for me.
“I was surprised to see you, too, Shiro. I’m glad to know that you heed my warnings. Since there’ve been reports of a Sacred Artifact that uses an electric creature to travel to and from the digital world. . . I wanted to meet in person to talk about the App. Not that’s my only reason. .” Shuichi had a look in his eyes as he looked at Shiro which caused me to naturally cover him slightly behind me giving him a questioning look.
“Shuichi, how do you know about the App and Sacred Artifacts?” Shiro questioned Shuichi but I was still kind of curious about the boy with him who hadn’t said anything at all during the time he was here. I wonder if he was mute or maybe not interested in what was happening.
“It’s suicide to identify myself in enemy territory, but I’ll tell you anyway!” I noticed that the quiet boy covered his ears which gave me a bad feeling as I watched Shuichi take a deep breath. “Together, we are the Guild Master and lieutenant of Wisemen, the guild presiding over wisdom that hails from Hongo in the Bunkyo Ward!”
I covered my ears as I listened to Shuichi shout. I looked around us worried that people would be staring but I realized that people were coming over to us with dark looks in their eyes which didn’t really help me relax at the moment.
“Guild Master?! Come to think of it, why are you shouting?” Shiro's ears were covered before he took off looking at Shuichi who I just realized got into a lame pose too which just made what was happening even more embarrassing.
“You’re so loud! And why do you even have such a lame pose. . . This is just embarrassing to watch.” I put a hand to my face trying not to look at a smiling Shuichi who didn’t seem to care about acting like this in public.
“What are you talking about?! Declarations of one’s identity must be done at max volume! It’s cooler that way! And this is my precious little brother, Duo. Doesn’t he look clever? Cute, eh?!” Shuichi went to pinch his brother's cheek who just slapped his hand away but Shuichi didn’t seem to mind as he kept on smiling.
“We’ve got lots to catch you up on, but there’s no time for that right now.” I was confused at what he meant until I saw Duo pointing at something near us. When I followed the direction where he was pointing I realized that we were surrounded by enemies.
“Huh? We’re surrounded? Fear not! Big Bro is invincible!” I was really tempted to punch him in the face once I realized what was happening was probably his fault. ‘Fucking probably did that on purpose! I will punch him so hard in his stomach!’
“We’re surrounded?! Why have we been surrounded?!” Shiro was looking around shocked at the people who were around us and I got in front of him to protect him from getting hurt if anyone just decided to attack us.
“You’re not the ones they’ve come for. They’re most certainly. . . after us. This is the base of the Ikebukuro Guild, the Berserkers. Of course, their members are mostly App users. The leaders of an enemy guild are in their territory. It’s only natural that they would come for us.” Shuichi was just chill with pretty much surrounded at all sides by enemies.
“I don’t know much about guilds and whatnot, but. . . Hang on. Don’t tell me. . . Did you seriously just shout your identity for the world to hear knowing this would happen?!” I never thought I could see the admiration for someone disappear so quickly off someone's face before but Shiro just proved me wrong as I saw him look at Shuichi like he was an idiot.
“That’s right! I gotta show my baby brother how cool I can be!” Duo just roll his eyes at Shuichi who was giving him a thumbs up with a huge dumb smile on his face. ‘Fucking bro-con should chill the hell out already. . .’
“Shuichi. . . I’m starting to doubt my previous impression of you. . .” I could feel myself agreeing with Shiro as I looked at Shuichi who was smiling like an idiot looking at his younger brother. I could only sigh as I realized that another App battle was going to happen.
“Now then, let’s fend them off! You guys can just sit tight and rest. Don’t worry. We won’t lose, no matter how many come at us. Oh, this isn’t good. It seems they think you’re on our side.” I could feel my eye twitching as I listened to how nonchalant Shuichi was at the moment.
“Not good?! I’d say it’s way worse than ‘not good’! They just keep coming!” I put a worried Shiro completely behind me and waited to see if someone would come towards us to attack.
“Prepare for battle! This is exactly the kind of situation in which you need to remain calm. Now, open your Apps. It doesn’t look like they’re going to take no for an answer.” Light surrounds Shuichi as he begins to summon his Sacred Artifact. “Role of the Recorder! Rule of Collection! Engrave mine name of Shuichi unto thee. Arise. . . Recorder of Nineveh!” Shuichi was surrounded by a bunch of letters as he surrounded his Sacred Artifact getting ready to fight.
Opening the App again I quickly summoned my Sword again and made sure to hold it in a defensive position in front of me. Looking behind me to check on Shiro and briefly Duo who still had an indifferent expression on his face.
