Side Chapter 11: Beautiful Discord/ Chaos Herself Arrives

The curtains of the end had come, it was fairly easily to see why. All of the heroes had been defeated, one after the other. Those who were rejected had become insanely strong, to an insane degree. Each of them tied to the different classes from different dimensions putting down the people who had chosen their demise. Toshiro. Ren. Minami. Chloe. Masayuki. All of these were people categorized as weak and useless, they broke common sense and showed the world their nation conquering strength. The final match of the day had come, the audience was anticipating the final spectacle. His name was Kishikawa Ayato, the aforementioned Knight Lord of Blades who did not participate in this tournament of fools. He could have rose to the top in a matter of seconds due to his mastery of the blade but he chose not to, instead he bore witness to the heights of strength he never dreamed of seeing. Whoever trained these rejects had made them into absolute monsters who stood at the top, a being without so much as shred of common sense in their soul. The more he saw the more he was convinced, stronger people existed and they were ready to teach him the grander scope of the world. From the back of his mind was the image of a boy from his world, his name was unimportant but he was the clear representation of what it is means to be weak. He was feminine, could not protect himself from the assault of the ones who bullied him because of his beauty. He could have helped him but he should have at least learned some form of self defense, all of these could be laid at his feet and yet the decision of casting him out was his. Weaklings did not belong in this world, they died and if they survived they would become stronger. 

He had originally thought nothing of the action that he and his classmates as well as the god who summoned them here however that had come back to bite them through some sort of twisted roll of fate, the dice that destiny chose to use went into a different direction. They did not die, instead they got graced by the power to become stronger, they did not became complacent with their abilities and still honed them to become more skilled at using them to the extent of putting down heroes who trained in such a sheltered establishment. It was better to study by putting your life in danger after all. The results were before all of them and time and time again they were defeated by people they wouldn’t even consider worthy for their stature. Power had gotten to their heads and they forgot what it meant to feel scared of overwhelming strength, they had forgotten the reason why they were summoned here in the first place. It was to fight the Demon King and his armies of darkness, this school, the empire was blinding them of that very dim truth they had been running away from. They were currently too weak and were sent here to grow some more before they were deployed into the long journey to the castle that was the Demon King’s home. 

“It was the right decision to sit it out, I got to watch some glorious battles. They got pushed to their limits and now those select few are on the right path.”

Ayato spoke to himself as a form of a confidence boost, he walks towards the entrance with a bravado that is calm and collected. His mind is cleared of all thoughts, the focus mainly on his blade and the foe he is about to battle. The moon is shining down on the arena giving it a sacred aura as if it were a different place all together, the annoying audience were silent as well which made his heart disturbed a bit.

“The final challenger steps forwards as the last stand for humanity, will he Kishikawa Ayato manage to defeat the leader of us all?Is that even a question that can be answered?”

“Doubt”

“He will lose”

“It will be entertaining to watch him struggle against the inevitable defeat he is going to have to endure that.”

“I guess everyone’s pretty sure he’s gonna fail against Leader isn’t he?”

“Yup”

“That one is abnormal just like us, recently they got a new job which is rather insane”

Masayuki and the others spoke as they looked down upon Ayato who was frustrated he couldn’t say anything , the mystery was getting deeper of what level of strength that this person who they called their leader had. He did not want to think of who it was because in his heart he knew who it was and yet it seemed foreign to him that it would be true. The decision of sending him off to the oblivion known as death was chilling to the bone, vengeance was a scary thing to think about when you know that all of your actions would be paid back in full. All he had was his sword, back in their world all he had was the authority to stop everything he saw happen under the sun, bullying done by the students?It was something he could have easily stopped but he thought of it as a clear exercise to shape and mold weaker people into better beings. If they stopped going to school or attempted to take their lives it meant they were far too frail minded to take a hold of their lives and force the world to understand they are not targets for it to pressure into nothing. This was his own personal code forged in the fires of his family’s training and strict lifestyle. He held his sword in preparation of what was to come, the principal said nothing as usual and that was cue for whatever special entrance to the stage to begin. Nothing prepared him for it. Nothing.

A single black winged butterfly flew into the arena followed by all of it being covered by flowers, his guard was almost dropping due to how beautiful all of it was. The moonlight was reflected on the petals of these flowers as if they were blessed by its rays, one could appreciate the beauty of the light. The butterfly continued to fly about at the far end of the stage where his opponent was supposed to be. Then at that exact moment all of the petals belonging to the flowers turned black winged butterflies that begun to gather around the central core that began this, soon within seconds they began to form a body. Largely feminine, averagely tall, their body was covered by a black bodysuit with purple lines. A similarly color themed coat appears on the body with a black katana comfortably sitting at the left side, the transformation is complete as the beauty who looks at him stuns him from the sheer shock. It was Ryou, seeming even more like a woman now, it was rather confusing to even establish what gender Ryou was to begin with but now that had been muddied even further. Ryou had longer hair than before with colder than ice frigid blue eyes, they smiled at him clapping their hands for some reason. 

Maybe it was because his guard had fallen completely or the fact there was an incredible lack of openings this person had, it bordered on the limits of abnormal.

“You’ve done well to reach here, your boredom paid out in the end and now you Kishikawa-san is fighting me.”

“I am honored to have such an opportunity to fight an opponent stronger than myself, it makes me want to strive to become a better person. I have questions however”

“Go ahead, ask me anything”

“The first question will be trivial whether you answer it or not is up to you, the next is gonna be something I want to know myself”

“Fire away cowboy”

“A-Are you still a man?”

“Who knows, I believe it is very bad to assume a person’s gender based on appearances Kishikawa-san”

“I see….What is exactly your end goal here?”

“Hmm?”

“Why did you choose to fight people who are essentially your enemies, defeat them, and allow them to grow as heroes. It doesn’t make sense.”

“It is less fun when your opponent is so weak that you can easily defeat them with a single whistle note especially when they are the ones who are going to change the world. That is what our teacher said before we entered here.”

“Your teacher?”

“Personally though it’s revenge that drove us here, we just hate the bunch of you and planned to make you suffer humiliating defeats.”

“Just who is your teacher anyway, I’ve never heard of a person who can make people twice as strong in less than a couple of months”

“She is very abnormal and likes to ignore common sense”

Ryou chuckled as he looked at other rejects who all turn their heads away for a brief moment.

“Training under her was tough, she is certainly a charismatic person that much I can say.”

“……..I see. It is useless to ask why you haven’t joined us upon gathering your power then.”

“Of course it is, me and everyone else have a score to settle with the god who dumped us to die in this world after all”

“Is it hate the drives you to do this?To pick the side of demons?”

“No. I want to go back home or at least get there for a brief moment to take a special person for me. Everyone wants to be at least powerful enough to travel the dimensions on whim. Chloe found her goal and I am honestly happy for her”

“…….You mean we cannot go back?”

“What sort of lies was that useless god telling you. Of course not. That requires power, which they are going to spend on a meaningless war that will result in them losing and slumbering for decades”

“How do you know all of this?What are your sources?Are they credible?”

“I was about to say I made it the fuck up but I am not in the joking mood. So I’ll say it. Other more powerful gods, our patrons the ones who got us this far. Are those all of your questions because I am ready to put you in the ground.”

“Yes. Let us get started.”

Upon Ryou holding that uchigatana Ayato felt nervous more than he had ever as if he had entered death’s cold embrace. The butterfly’s beauty flashes for a brief second before an instant cut runs across his cheek, the attack was so unseen and natural that his brain hadn’t register the pain. Ryou was smiling menacingly at him a devilish smile born from the deepest hell was directed to him, all of this with him just holding his uchigatana right in front of himself. In the moments to follow a sudden rush of wind came at filled with slashes that were hard to follow, leaping out of the way whilst unsheathing his claymore watching the result was the best that he could have done. The wall was shredded beyond recognition, it had been turned into fine dust that was how strong the attack was but its strength wasn’t going to stop Ayato from displaying his strength. He vanishes for a brief moment and appears within Ryou’s proximity and dashes his claymore down on the uchigatana with one light swing from Ryou pushing him back within seconds, stabbing the ground itself to stop himself Ayato reacts quickly to dodge the stream of slashes coming his way. Leaping to his feet and using that momentum to pounce on Ryou’s frail looking uchigatana was a mistake it seemed as a direct slash towards his claymore is seen coming towards him, he blocks this instinctively but fails to see the punch that hits his stomach which leaves him gasping for air. But that was not the end of it as Ryou kicks Ayato into the air intending into skewer him into the uchigatana, using quick aerial maneuvers he dodges this meeting instead with Ryou’s blade which he drags across on. One could feel the length of that drag as he prepares to reach the ground with a rapid slash directed to the air and at Ryou who simply vanishes, the senses are dulled once more as a similar attack like the one used from the beginning of this duel enters once more with him blocking the brunt of it before being sent flying across the stadium. 

Ayato crashes into the wall with a loud crash but not before immediately rolling out of the bubble of slashes that try to turn him into minced meat, he dashes with his claymore on his shoulder avoiding all of the bubbles that appear along the way before grabbing it and swinging it from an upward position. The crash of the blades was loud but what followed after was a wonder that made the crowd stare intently for hours, the dance of sparks released from between swords each time they clashed was a beauty to behold. To any swordsman pursuing the path of the warrior this was a realm that they could not reach unless they were trying to become gods of war, the impact of the final clash creates a vicious bubble that screams out to the surroundings and makes everything within the arena crack. The immense power hidden from that exchange alone was enough to wake anyone up from the world that they were used to, Ryou keeps on dodging the sword slashes that Ayato dodges deflecting the attacks to create a gap that he uses to stab into. Ayato feels the blade penetrate his body for a brief moment before a kick is done to his solar plexus, even being sent flying in that time was not a call to rest the nerves and hit the wall patiently but rather a nerve wrecking scene of dodging sword slashes that come from above. Using his hand to stop his momentum towards the wall Ayato looks ahead to see Ryou already in front of him axe kicking his head into the ground not before grabbing his hair and slashing his body with a great sword that appears from seemingly out of nowhere before disappearing once more.

Launching into the air once more from his unusual technique of swords Ayato regains his balance midair but is met with Ryou’s uchigatana that savages drags across his stomach had it not been his Iron Skin magic his guts would be spilled for all to see. It didn’t mean he did not feel that pain of being slashed through by a sword, that shit still hurt as hell. Using this moment to gain a hand against Ryou he swings his sword with one arm but that is met with the blade that pushes him even further into the air. Ryou appears above him swinging rapidly tons of slashes that Ayato manages to dodge for a while before being hit by one that sends him spiraling down to the ground. Gracefully reaching the ground Ryou is met with a force that rushes towards him without a single care in the world taking out something from his pocket he smiles once more as Ayato who swings his mana filled sword at him is surprised to see Ryou not only block his attack with a tachi but parry it to the side leaving him vulnerable once more to a point blank slash bubble as he had been calling it. The armor he is wearing is literally in tatters at this point as he is pushed back once more with Ryou coming towards him with a blue afterglow trailing right behind him. This person had become a devil of swordsmanship in the time that he last saw him and it showed, throwing knives are sent his way so he could get distracted by them and get hit from the side. He sends his own to bring them all down but what he didn’t expect was the appearance of another great sword swinging itself from above that he blocks but isn’t fast enough to dodge Ryou’s punch. The hand that looked so weak before had actually made him reconsider looking pathetic from him holding in his bowels before they let out copious amounts of urine, it hit him that hard. He is brief brought upwards by its hook not before being driven into the ground by a spiraling great sword, he lets go of his claymore with Ryou walking away holding it. 

“Strong, unlike everyone else. This is the blade of someone who has actually trained with their life on the line. I would like to say I admire that because it is what made us grow.”

Ayato was in severe pain these were not meant to kill him, no it was meant to do much worse. To break his spirit as a warrior. Ryou was a far much more better warrior than he could ever wish he was, it surprised him the weakest person he could imagine was wiping the floor with him, it frustrated him even and that is why he was going to pull out all of the big guns to fight him. He was fighting this seriously but now he was going to put in the 110%. Slowly getting up from where he was, he stared at Ryou with conviction to die.

“I see now. This is the power of the weak…….the power to surpass the strong and become unreasonable beings of power. I am in awe, truly. That is why I will certainly defeat you and show you your place”

“That’s the attitude I want to see, c’mon show everyone what you are capable of ”

“My name is Kishikawa Ayato, and I am the Knight Lord of Blades.”

The claymore vanishes from Ryou’s hand with Ayato stabbing it into the ground with golden light surrounding him. He pulls it out whilst being covered golden armor with a dragon imprinted on the center of his chest plate, the claymore had transformed into a great sword covered in a golden aura with runes written all over its blade. He wasn’t supposed to show this off in front of everyone but Ryou had pushed him that far and now he was going to pay for his arrogance.

“I guess you are being more serious now huh?I should too, this is a demo version just for you to see what I am currently capable of as well.”

He was prepared for whatever was going to come his way, Ryou closes his eyes floating in the air as he does so, the slow opening of his eyes makes his aura even more terrifying as two pairs of black wings which have massive eyelids staring back at Ayato open.

“Let the festival of death begin.”

Ryou’s eyes are flooded in a pool of darkness and a blood curdling smirk is directed at him. A single black swing is directed at him that he promptly dodges but it bounces on the ground and multiplies to hit him from all directions, without the armor he would be done for as Ryou had planned. Ayato dove forward to clash swords with him but he hears the sound of a slash that is coming from behind has the air itself tears into a black void that unleashes a stream of slashes that hit him. He falls front first not before getting up and staring at Ryou sprinting towards him with this dimensional slash is directed at him with Ryou cruising to him as well. They clash and the colors of gold and black leak out from their swords, Ryou flies back before slashing several more to Ayato who dodges all of them and is still pursuing him.

If someone said massive black columns of fire would be surrounding him he would say that is impossible however the reality of that was happening right before his eyes as easily as simply clicking his fingers such came into the existence of the world. All of the columns thrash him in his golden armor, he is sent flying up into the air before he could use his increased agility there Ryou is with a deadly grin that would kill a man stabbing him once again and sending him back down to the ground. Before his body hits the ground it swallows him whole into a dimension where these slashes slice and dice his body into pieces and into tinier shreds before reassembling back as it spits him back out, he hits the wall feeling spiritually drained but now was not the time to be resting. If seeing had sound then this was it, the eyes on Ryou’s wings screamed at him causing his senses to be reversed. His sight was at his ears, his scent on his eyes, his touch on his tongue and his taste on his hands. The terror of his body screaming in pure agony because of the dissonance was great but this was accompanied by Ryou stabbing him which caused his organs to feel like they were being mixed around for a brief moment before he is sent flying to the wall where he is back to normal. 

That ability was dangerous even more than he had initially thought, it terrified him on an existential body horror level. The uchigatana stretches to his location so it could beat him down but he dodges it however it merely bounces off of the surface and chases him acting like it doesn’t have a form. All it took was one single cut and he is caught in a box made out of its blade and thrown down to the ground. He gets up so he could swing his great sword at Ryou who kicks it into the ground with his sword cutting Ayato’s head before it reattaches itself as if it was a cruel joke that he was feeling. He staggers as he feels the pain of being decapitated, he was quickly losing the will to live because of this feminine looking boy. It was clear that Ryou could easily control the flow of the battle, all he needed was one swing to regain all of that.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

Ryou stopped smiling and landed on the ground with his wings disappearing, Ayato ran towards him in this last effort to defeat him. He had to respond in similar fashion, he stood there watching him closing his eyes before grabbing his uchigatana with both hands. An aura of great darkness leaks out of his body forming a giant skull with its maw open intending to devour Ayato whole with the following attack.

“GOLDEN SUN GOD SLASH!!”

The great sword is swung and smashes into the magic tiles unleashing a massive mana wave of gold, the gaping skull soon stands up holding an odachi high in the air as it is covered in black Japanese armor just as Ryou lifts his sword up in the air. His shock runs through his face as he watches it laugh wildly at him, Ryou opens his eyes and smiles.

“Kamigoroshi Demo I.”

Ryou swings the sword down and it lets loose an even greater wave of black filled with black skulls that devour everything swallowing the Golden Sun God Slash whole as well as Ayato who screams in full agony as it tears his golden armor off and leaves him half naked. He falls to the ground seemingly unconscious from the sensory overload that it has on his body. 

“Whew”

Ryou sheaths his uchigatana back into its sheath with a smile on his face, this one is much more kinder than the rest as it is directed to his comrades. He defeated the person who had the strength to help him but chose not to and did not care about the victims involved with his careless decision.

“YOU DID GREAT RYOU-KUN!”

Ren shouted out with great enthusiasm in her voice, she leaps off from where she was just to hug him. It felt great defeating the person who caused pain to you in your world.

“I guess that’s that”

“Humanity will fall and their dream will be crushed.”

The principal says solemnly as everyone watches on and sees the defeat of the heroes at the hands of people who are even stronger with demon like strength. Now was the time to act if they did not do something to seal these people then it would be very problematic. However right before they could do that something strange happened. It appeared.

Unlike Ryou’s dimensional slashes this was far more raw than that, it was a literal tear within the fabric of reality. What was beyond it was anyone’s guess and it terrified the guardians of the heroes who had been stationed here, they had watched everything going on and had planned to activate the seal to trap the Principal’s Demons before they had the chance to leave but now this was happening. From within they could hear the footsteps of something emerging out, everyone involved was more than just scared that it was going to be a massive devil that was going to destroy the Academy City but was not instead what came out of the other end was a dark elf dressed in a casual black coat with a light purple turtle neck sweat inside and blue denim jeans with black boots. Her hands were within her pockets and she smiled to see the demons.

“Yo”

“Sensei?!”

This was their teacher?!An ordinary looking dark elf, no that was wrong this dark elf was not ordinary. Everything about her was wrong, and the aura they let out was incredible enough to silence even their greatest warriors.

“Hello everyo-“

They acted immediately and teleported to her location to immediately incapacitate, wearing similar golden armor belonging to the Empire they all swung her weapons at her.

“Could you shit eaters buzz away for a moment?”

She asked kindly right before all of them are flung across the arena in a swift fashion, the guardians of the heroes were numerous, if there were ten that were killed then there would thirty more waiting to attack but this was the wrong person to do that on. The mage division who were all candidates to become royal court mages fired magic at her but she merely clicked her fingers with a black orb appearing from her shadow turning into eye that turns into a swarm of flies that immediately launch towards the mages.

“Debilitating Flies”

They are struck by the rainbow colored orbs that head towards them and slump down to the ground.

“Summon: Greater Golem!”

At least five more were left at this point Masayuki had produced seats and some popcorn to eat to watch this happen.

“RAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!”

The golem roars as it sends its massive fist at Yukiyo who smiles. The fists of the two meet with a loud crack being heard in the greater golem’s right arm, it is pushed back before Yukiyo uses her shadow to stand on so she could punch its face turning it into dust. She lands on the ground with the night sky turning into a crimson sky filled day with black clouds surrounding the Academy City in ripples. She walks towards them with her hands in her pockets, power could be felt in those steps. Each time she moved forward they could see glimpses of an eldritch abomination that shouldn’t exist in this world, she smiles evilly at them.

“Tell your masters Chaos is coming for them real soon. Here’s the message real clear”

Tentacles stab their bodies and fill them with holes, with their bodies being written in full what was going to happen to the empire. They had essentially turned into flesh books that would walk and say the fate of the empire.

“Is the representative of the Xagreas Kingdom here?Okay spotted him.”

Another tentacle shot at him crushing his head like a watermelon being shattered in summer vacation using a bat. She bows to the principal for a bit.

“Sorry for that, I gotta thank you for taking care of my students”

“No issue.”

“I am taking them back, they’ve completely both their revenge and the extra goal I pushed on them at the last minute”

“Is it that you are planning to take over the world?”

“No. We are going to train some more, all of us. We are giving the heroes about 3 to 4 months to get stronger then we can start the greatest war seen in world history”

“You have the full support of the Academy City”

“Much appreciated, please drop the heroes off to the capital city before that I don’t want to have another issue of fighting people like this again.”

“Understood”

“All of you representatives I’ll be seeing you soon, now then back to me being in a reunion mood. Guys!I missed you!”

The way she could change from being serious to being joyful within the blink of an eye was scary. She hugged them as if they were her own children, these were the students of an evil god and they all knew it. This was Chaos who had come to tell them how fucked they were.

“Okay then we’ve acquired all the allies we could so now it’s another training arc for everyone!”

“You never change do you Yukiyo-sensei, please be gentle with the new comers as well as that goddess over there”

“Don’t worry even if you die I’ll bring you back from the void of death”

“It’s not surprising to hear you say that”

Chloe says as she nods with Minami being the first to mention the ones she knows via the Dark Matter she had sent to train them.

“Nice to meet you Ren-chan, Toshiro-kun. I am Beatrice’s creator pleased to meet you”

“Same here”

“I am sorta scared to be honest since I’ve heard things about you”

“Don’t worry about it I am the friendliest person you can ever meet”

“I am talking about the training”

“Well sorry kid, it is what it is”

“Thought as much”

“I am Tanis feel free to call me Tsubaki”

“The elves are so angry at you, you know?”

“Yes I do, I will thoroughly apologize for neglecting them.”

“Good, so is everyone ready to go?Let’s go to my kingdom!”

“Wait since when did Sensei have a kingdom?!”

“Uhhhh….long story you just have to hear it on the other side”

The tear in the dimension goes back to normal after all of them leave the Academy City. What was going to happen here was certainly going into the history books. The events that would transpire from now would speak of it, Calthius could feel it and thus nodded as he stood up to end the long fantastical and jaw dropping event that was known as the tournament. Plenty of heroes injured and a war brewing in the process. It was going to be a long day for him after he drops the representatives and the heroes into their respective nations.