"Our team has been replaced by foot soldiers at the third territory. Everyone one has assembled in your chamber captain, waiting for your"

Said Tarou standing behind the captain holding his cloak in his hands.

The captain was sitting in front of a mirror attaching his mechanical arm into its socket. He was wearing a white cloak with a golden lining which was not pinned. He was a middle aged man with white curly hair. He had a bear tattoo on his neck which he scratched quite often.

The room was an old fashioned dressing cabinet with wood works all around. An assistant stood next to the mirror holding an emerald embedded pin for his cloak on a silver platter.

The Captain reached for the alcohol bottle next to him, Tarou gestured to the assistant with a frown and brief nod. She quickly pulled the alcohol away which made captain roll his eyes.

"It's not that serious of a matter Tarou, A sip would do no harm" He said.

"With all do respect captain Shisuke, I will have to disagree, you are about to announce the new lieutenant, what else do you consider serious?"

The captain smiled and remained in his sitting position as he levitate upwards, he turned around to face Tarou.

"Any recommendation Tarou?" The captain asked as the assistant pinned his cloak.

"Senjuko San!" Tarou answered with an innocent smile.

That's not what Captain wanted to hear, but he shared a smile nonetheless and placed his feet on the ground standing firmly. He snatched the bottle from the assistant and walked out of the room. Tarou followed him with frustration.

They arrived inside a hall filled with people in black cloaks. All of them removed and hung their cloaks over their left arm and placed their right hand on it, they all broadened their chests, separated there legs a bit and stood straight as the captain walked in. Tarou joined them and did the same, the captain took his seat.

"All mages of the third defence team in attendance?"
Captain asked softly.

"Sir yes sir!" They all replyed on the top their lungs.

Captain glanced at them, there were 7 members.
His eyes fell on Senjuko who refused to make contact. He stood up after picking up a box from the table drawer.

"Where is Asori?" The captain asked as he walked in front of the table.

"She remained at the 3rd territory sir" A man with glasses replied from behind.

The captain opened the box to reveal a golden collar pin that fits on the collar of a mage's cloak, holding it in place around ones neck.

Suddenly everyone felt a negative pressure coming from the east direction, they all sensed it and quickly disappeared from the room simultaneously.

***

A 250 feet wall with a watch tower on it in every 80 metres distance, stood separating a dense forest and a town. It had a huge pull-up iron gate in front of which lied the bodies of numerous soldiers on the forest side. A woman was engaged in combat with an elf amidst the pile of bodies. Behind them a portal opened and a man entered the scene.

The elf fought with a hilt of a sword which seemed to be having no blade on it, but the lady keeps dodging each slash while swinging her Axe at him repeatedly with grunts. He blocked it with nothingness extending from the hilt he held. the axe made contact with something and produced sparks but the resisting object wasn't visible. She realised that the handle the elf was holding had an invisible blade. This was an advantage as the opponent won't be knowing the proportions of it. Making this fight a game of approximation. The woman had managed to block it so far, but she was eventually pinned down. She was forced to drop her weapon as the elf pointed his sword at her neck, both glared at each other.

"What happened? Waiting for someone? Finish her"
The man said as he approached with hands behind his back. The elf pulled back, raised the sword and hammered it in her neck.

Something happened in a split second, the elf experienced a blinding flash of white light, his sword had landed on the ground and the woman was gone, he looked up to find the entire 3rd defence team and it's captain standing on the wall.

"Stand straight, the party has come to us" The man said.

"What's a time mage doing in a defence team?" The elf asked as he stood straight.

"We didn't come here to analyse their regiment, did we?"

"No sir"

"Then go take them down" The man ordered.

Tarou placed Asori down and walked up to the captain, he asked a series of questions for which Tarou replied.

"How many are down?"

"16 sir"

"Asori?"

"She'll be fine sir"

"Sorasuki! Senjuko! take care of the civilians and guard the gate from the inside" captain ordered, both wore their cloaks and jumped to the other side.

"Who is that guy? his projections are...not looking good!" Tarou said.

"That's a fugitive, you might be familiar with his name"
Captain said as he looked down on the man and the elf who was trying to jump upwards. The captain glanced at a team member who then opened a portal right in front of the elf as he jumped. He entered it and disappeared.

The unknown man made eye contact with the captain and half smiled.

"Who is it sir?" Tarou asked.

"That's Kamitori Kyoten, master of massacre" The captain said. Everyone gasped.

"And the elf is Ernesto Armslong" He added.

Another portal was opened in the sky through which Ernesto exited. He landed on the wall and Kyoten appeared next to him. The soldiers at the watch tower behind them aimed a cannon at Kyoten and Ernesto. Kyoten raised his hand up, spreading his fingers open slowly, the soldiers ignited the cannon and as it was about to fire, Kyoten clinched his fist, making the barrel of the cannon squeezed shut right before the ammunition could eject. The cannon exploded, throwing the soldiers out of the watch tower. Tarou stopped time and ran towards the Falling men, he caught them and placed them on the ground one by one while they were stuck in time.

"Don't try to do anything else, come back to your position at once"

Tarou heard captain's voice inside his head and did as he was told.

Tarou resumed the flow of time.

"I could have had them captain, why didn't you let me"
Tarou asked.

"Because Kamitori Kyoten is an anti mage" he sighed
"I know you might be confused. The telekinetic abilities are not his own, he acquired them through illegal soul binding with other mages. He's a mage with more than one attribute. Making him way more dangerous than a Helldweller"

Shisuke explained.

Everyone was on guard. The captain pulled out the alcohol and chugged it.

"Greetings morons, the drunkard would have introduced me, I'm assuming. Now if you don't mind I'll just collect some stuff from the infirmary and be on my way, that's ev.."

"TAROU!" The captain yelled as he finished the bottle. He didn't pay attention to what Kyoten was saying but he caught everyone else's attention.

Tarou came forward and replied to the summon.

Captain thrashed the bottle down spewing wet glass bits on the floor.

"EVERYONE..!, TAROU IS YOUR NEW LIEUTENANT!" Captain announced loudly.

Ernesto and Kyoten were confused. Everyone else were surprised. The captain gave the golden pin to him, he received it with mixed feelings. He didn't expect it and was overwhelmed both by his decision and the occasion. He looked behind. Senjuko was not there. He glanced at everyone else, they were all appreciative and looked up to him.

"Now that that's out of the way, let's deal with this shit show" The captain said as he scratched his tattoo.

Kyoten felt ignored and humiliated. He signalled Ernesto who understood what to do. He moved forward to attack the captain, his eyes were locked with captain's. Suddenly as he approached, everything felt strange. A cold chill ran up his spine and he couldn't break the lock between his and captain's eyes which were pitch black trapping everything around like a black hole. The surrounding faded away and the terror started to increase along with the bone chilling silence. Ernesto felt like he was under the paws of a grizzly bear growling at him terrifyingly, about to tear him apart. Such was captian Shisuke's presence.

Ernesto collapse midway sweating and gasping out paralyzing fear. The captain closed his eyes. Kyoten was disappointed and furious, he raised both of his hands, shaking the huge stones of the wall they were standing on, captain's mechanical arm started activating with a blue hue emitted by the mechanism. Captain and Kyoten both were ready to make their moves. Suddenly there was a sound in the sky almost like a thunderstorm. Something was flying towards them from the north, breaking the sound barrier. It appeared increasingly bigger as it approached the wall. It was a huge eagle.

Kyoten gave up and dropped his hands, he knew what was coming "Retreat, Armslong we're done here" Kyoten said as he saw the eagle. Ernesto was too weak to stand.

The eagle landed on the wall with a huge blast of wind, on top of it was a man in a bright red cloak With gold and silver embroidery. His collar had fur all around his neck and his pin was made of a clear crystal. He had gold plated shoulder pads. The deep blue shimmer in his eyes was also the shade of his hair. He dismounted from the bird with ease and approached the conflict. He carried himself in a majestic attire. Everyone moved out of his way bowing. Every step he took was imposing a sense of weight on everyone's body and his presence made them weak.

The captain removed his cloak and hung it over his left arm.

The man walked past Tarou towards Kyoten while his cloak floated in the wind. that sight gave Tarou Goosebumps.

***

"TAROU!, TAROOUUU!!!" Kenshi yelled shaking him.

He snapped out of the flash from the past and looked back at the man in front of them on a Pegasus

"Ernesto Armslong!" Tarou said.

"You know this pinear?" Kenshi asked.

Tarou made Mel's body disappear with a hand chop.

"Remember the massacre at territory 3? That was him. Stay on guard he's bad news"

"Wait, I thought he was in prison abyss" Kenshii said.

"He escaped, obviously" Tarou said as he stood straight facing Ernesto, he quickly glanced at Aoki who was still knocked out. He desperately needed to get to him.

"This doesn't make any sense, how did he get here, my portal should be still act..." Kenshi was thrown away by a gust of wind as he was talking to Tarou. This happened in a split second when he looked at Aoki. Kenshii flew breaking through a building wall. Tarou didn't even see it coming. All of a sudden Ernesto was right in front of him. He tried to snap his fingers to stop time but was too slow. Ernesto Sliced Tarou's left hand clean off with his invisible blade. Tarou dropped down screaming in agony.

Aoki slowly gained consciousness. He heard screams from far away as he raised up to see smoke everywhere to the point where one cannot tell the time of the day. He noticed a white glowing circle floating few inches from the ground, in front of it a creature he had only seen in his imaginations. a white horse with wings. Indistinguishable from a dream. He rubbed his eyes and overcame the fuzziness off being unconscious. He remembered the encounter with Mel and looked around to find her as he raised.

Ernesto crouched down smiling at Tarou.
"That's the first thing I intended to do when I saw you, I waited patiently all these years to cut off the very hand you used to push me into the underwaters"He said and chuckled. He felt something huge in the atmosphere. his smile faded.

"Is your captain here?" Ernesto asked curiously.

Tarou stayed on his knees and didn't respond. Ernesto was happily enraged.

"Your glorified golden mage, the holy combat master, 13th Tenjin, the wizardry genius, Hinaro Otsukoshi" he laughed manaicaly "can't save you now, can he? If he's still alive that is" He added with more laughter.

"Don't get cocky you elf basturd... You caught us off-guard that's all" Tarou said as he lifted his left arm Which was squirting blood from the cut. Ernesto looked down on him with rage.

The severed arm suddenly grabbed Ernesto's throat and lifted him up in the air. A flaming projectile shot towards him from the building hole. Kenshii engulfed in flames emerged flying at him like a fire head Arrow and tackled Ernesto with all the force, creating a circular shock wave explosion. It blew all the smoke along with Ernesto far from them. He smashed into a sedan splitting it vertically half and plummeted into the road. Tarou's detached hand still had choke hold on him while he started to chant a summoning spell.

Tarou pulled his left arm and his hand came flying back. He used time reversal magic to re attach and heal the apandage. Ernesto blasted out of the pit he created and felt his throat, he faced them with his sword, encouraging them to a head on fight.

Tarou, who was locked out of his complete abilities found himself frustrated with what he had to work with. He manifested a spear in his hand made of frost and pierced the round with a huge burst of Blizzard like explosion making everything blow away from the impact point. The floor froze and became slippery like a lake in winter. he held on to the spear in front of his face with both his hands, slowly tilting his head up to reveal the glowing red eyes.

Kenshii joined Tarou with two giant lava monsters behind him at his command, each holding a thorny iron ball connected to a chain. Ernesto was slightly overwhelmed but charged forward anyway and the battle began.

***

"You're finally awake" Mel said.

"What? Where are you? What happened?" Aoki asked standing up and looking around. Suddenly the atmosphere was cold and covered with dense mist. He could hear impacts of clashes from a distance but he could only see the portal and the Pegasus.

"The bonding is incomplete. I can't occupy your body. I can thought project in your head but I don't know about my powers yet. More importantly, did you ever come across a man with a flaming skull instead of a head?" Mel asked with a weak voice.

"Who? Ghost rider?" Aoki asked.

"Ark 'A' ton of hell?" Mel said.

"Arka what? No! Why?"

"What's inside you could never be a natural attribute, it's diabolical, it's cursed!" Mel said.

"What's inside me? I don't understand. So you can only talk in my head? Then where is your body?" Aoki asked.

"Of course you don't know. Listen to me Aoki, you should be very careful how use your magic"

"But I don't know how to, all I do is fly"

"Bonding with you was the worst decision ever" Mel said with a sigh and continued.

"No offense but you can't even fathom how dangerous you really are, You remind me of a descendent from the Existron era.
You have the most deadliest Animalion Attribute"

"Can you tell me something that I genuinely can understand because..."

As Aoki was talking to Mel, he noticed a shadow casted over him, he turned back to find Kyoten standing behind.

"Hello young man. why am I being threatened by your presence? You don't happen to be the successor now are you?" Kyoten asked.

One glance at Kyoten and Aoki was frozen. Gravity was multiplied and was weighing down on him. He smiled at Aoki from ear to ear. As soon as Aoki locked into Kyoten's dark brown eyes he was completely immovable. His pupils were like an endless hypnotic swirl, slowly trapping him under Kyoten's grapple. Aoki had lost all the control over his body. His eyes were wide open, looking straight at Kyoten without blinking. He touched Aoki's forehead and everything blacked out. Mel calls became quieter with every passing second.

Mel sprung up gasping. She was in Aoki's room in his bed. She was panting and tried to reach Aoki as soon as possible but she discovered that teleportation wasn't working anymore. She quickly flew out of the window. Then she noticed a wired sensation while leaving the house. It was coming from a room downstairs. Mel was curious but was also out of time so she left.

Kyoten woke up in the same place as Mel, inside Aoki. The black shallow waters with gloomy skies and reddish undertones, Kyoten noticed the tree and the chained beast but was calm and composed. He teleported himself in front of it, the beast was revealed. A huge goat headed demon crossed with a human like body. A vicious man goat, with salivating mouth and bright green eyes. It roared and struggled to free itself. Kyoten involuntarily took few steps back
He noticed that his hands were shaking, his legs were trembling and he was sweating bullets, he was experiencing true fear, he had no idea what it was and why it was inducing such a sense of terror in him.

"An Animalion Attribute indeed but the beast has human like limbs? fascinating! And...is confined for some reason?" He Said to himself. He began to have flashes in his mind, a city burning, dead bodies in a pool of blood, and the gateway to hell having a path made of corpses.

"Kan'A'tsoro!"

He whispered to himself as he walked around the tree, breathing heavily and reflecting on the of the visions it was giving. There was Mel's voice yelling at Aoki to wake him up echoing in the sky above.

"I'll commend you spirit if you can coexist with....this .. thing" he said.

He stopped walking when he found the end of the chain and a lock which was sealed off. It did not have a key hole, instead it had a small groove dented inward. It was a sealed enchantment which can only be opened by the sealer's blood drop.

Mel reached the place to find Tarou and Kenshii fighting Ernesto. She went towards Aoki who was standing in front of Kyoten with Kyoten's hand on his head. They stood looking at each other with pupil less white eyes. Mel walked closer as her hair slowly raised up and pointed in the opposite direction. She felt a force pushing her upper body backwards as if she was walked up a wall. She took another step with struggle, picked up a stone and held it out on her hand. Surprisingly it rolled down her arm and fell behind her. She realised that the gravity is acting sideways, away from Aoki and kyoten, she tried all directions it was the same. No one could get close to them.

Kyoten tried to expire the seal with dark magic which required long incantations.

A flash of light beamed behind him.

"Will acquiring this child's soul justify your father's execution?" Someone asked from behind. Kyoten turned back to find a cage with metal bars and within the cage there stood a man, all of which wasn't present a moment ago. Kyoten walked closer to the cage.

"What do you know of my father? Who are you? A soul keeper?"

"Will your father approve of this behaviour? He realised and fully accepted what he received. Why can't you? Truth cannot be disregarded just because it doesn't favour you. Truth is absolute and justice stands by truth"

The man in the cage said. He was also hand cuffed.
Kyoten was enraged as the man was bringing up his father's name again and again, he furiously walked closer to the cage.

"Truth!?" He smiled with tears. "Justice?" He whipped the tears "rules... judgement...punishment, the supreme Province, everything! do you know what all that means to me? power! Power over the innocent, power to judge, power punish, power to rule and power to decide what's true and what is not! It seems people with power can impose whatever they want on the weak and the audacity of them to think that we'll just accept it." He ranted walking back and forth while throwing pointed fingers at the prisoner.

"Look at you. where you are, is this the justice you truly deserved? And you dare talk to me about my father!"

Kyoten added as more tears rolled down his cheek, which tried to stop after turning away from the man.

"Me? My crime under public opinion is that I fell in love with a human. That's what I'm punished for, but I don't think love is a crime, it still is worth it, I have no regrets. The real reason for me to undertake this punishment is... different! something only I know, and the guilt of which will haunt me to my grave. Yet I wouldn't wish anything different. I'm a sinner Kamitori and I accepted it, I'm a sinner for my family is still paying for what I did, and that didn't stop me from owning my sin and condoning for it, just like your father"

Kyoten's eyes were wide open as he heard that. He quickly looked back at the man.

"You?, You are Zenbara Matsumoto!" He said.

"How could you turn out like this from Hinaro sama's teachings? You shock me Kamitori, you are making him look bad neither you nor your teacher will rest in peace knowing what you did...what you are doing and what you will do" Zenbara said.

"Your so colled cantonment cost my father his life" he said.

"I am sorry Kamitori, but what did Aoki do?" Zenbara asked before the cage disappeared.

Kyoten turned back and looked down bringing his fist before his eyes.

"Power can only be matched by power" He said to himself.

***

"Did killing all those men satisfy you Kamitori?
Will this prove your father's innocence? What happened to you?"

"Where were you? Huh? The great combat master Hinaro Otsukoshi. You show up now and ask all this, where did you go when they beheaded him?, you knew the truth, why did my father accept it? Did they threaten to kill me?"

Kyoten questioned Hinaro who sunk his head.

"ANSWER ME !" He shouted.

"Yes that's right, I enjoyed seeing their dead bodies. Armslong here is an efficient killer, that's how I grab their attention, you showed up!, its only a matter of time"

He added, while Hinaro remaind silent. He stared into Hinaro's face for answers, but all he saw was a man tied down by a promise, promise to gaurd a dead man's secret. Burden filled with guilt.

"I know you sensei, you wouldn't have allowed it but you can't, you know why? power! They have power over you too, The Devine eye of the supreme Province, too big fail!" He said loudly.

A portal opened behind him, he turned his back to Hinaro after glancing at Ernesto who was completely worn off. Everyone else on the wall were surprised seeing their Tenjin do nothing. The captain understood that there's an emotional conflict between Hinaro and his rogue student.

"You taught me something once that I resonate to very deeply, 'Power can only be matched by power' I will match their power. I will return here sensei and there will be carnage"

He said as he walked forward, leaving Ernesto behind. While entering the portal he shot a small beam of energy from his finger tip to Ernesto's head, nothing really happened and nobody noticed it. He left and the portal was closed. The other mages gathered to arrest the fallen elf.

***

As he remembered this, he felt a sharp pain in his chest, he pulled himself out of his daydreaming and touched his pec. It was drenched in blood. Somebody seemed to have attack his body outside. He returned back to mortal World from Aoki's spiritual plain. There was a sword going through the middle of his chest. He released Aoki from his hold and kneeled down. Aoki fell, holding the sword was a woman with long silky black hair, the ends of her hair was bright red. She was waring a captain's cloak and an emrald embedded pin. Kyoten painfully looked arround, Ernesto was apprehended. Kenshii held him pinned to the ground.

"Trespassing between verses is a crime in itself, but you also managed to attack a successor candidate eh? The notorious master of massacre, Kamitori Kyoten! Living up to his reputation splendidly,
and... You know miss Kahino, don't you ?"

Said someone from behind with a familiar voice.

The speaker came around to face him. Captain Shisuke presented himself with folded hands.

Kyoten was calculating his immediate escape...but couldn't. He thought of jumping locations by teleporting but Kahino and her sword would come along with him.

He looked helpless and weak. He dropped his head down which everyone found unusual. After a few seconds he slowly looked up. Bleeding out of his mouth, revealing his bloody teeth through a smile.

"Ofcourse, Kahino Natsumi. The wielder of the cancellation sword, captain of the 2nd Attack team. you touched my heart in our very first encounter? literally? That's a sign if you ask me" he said, coughing blood and smirking."But I'll pass, you're still my junior" he added.

Kahino twisted her sword. Kyoten moaned softly with more blood from his mouth. He looked at Aoki laying in front of him.

"You know who this is, he shouldn't be allowed inside Heavensworth" He said while spitting blood voluntarily all the while moving and struggling quite a bit.

"That's classified matter, and he's a classified case, you knowing all this alone calls for a public execution. Now, before that, tell us what you are doing here?" Kahino asked. Kyoten took a long pause.

"You all remember Kan'A'tsoro? Kyoten dropped a question with breathing gaps between every word.

He continued to struggle like he's trying to bend the sword as he started to bleed from his nose too.

"Kan 'A' tsoro? What?. Captain this a total waste of time let's just take him in" Kenshii said to Kahino.

Tarou remembered what Mel said. Kyoten stood up and painfully struggles. They were all just surprised by his tolerance to pain.

"This boy has something to do with it, you'll have to kill him right here righ..." Kyoten felt a sharp object touching his throat before he got to finish his sentence, Tarou appeared in front of him holding Ernesto's blade against his throat, He looked at Kyoten with bloodlust in his glowing red eyes.

"If you even think of touching him again, I'll carve out every single organ in your body" Kyoten felt the sudden burst of chill, freezing up his joints immovably.

"Tarou, leave him! We have to bring him in unharmed"
Captain Shisuke said.

"As you please time mage, you don't even know what you're getting into. Ask that wind spirit she'll tell you. I don't have any grudge against this kid, but what's inside him could be a potential threat to me too"

Kyoten said as he slowly moved the sword away from his throat.

"You thought you could end the Tenjin heritage by killing him and you'll be unstoppable?" Kahino asked.

"I wouldn't deny it, yes" Kyoten replied. Kahino smiled and pulled her sword out and sheathed it.

"You fool" she said.

"That would have been enough but you're in no luck Kamitori, I think it's safe to announce that there are five more successor candidates" Shisuke said.

Kyoten was a little surprised but produced a half smile. He didn't know what to say, kenshii handcuffed both Ernesto and Kyoten and joined them with a hip lock that connecting each other with a chain, both were escorted towards a portal.

Shisuke was concerned, he was suspicious of Kyoten's apprehension. He suggested Kahino and kenshii to escort both of them through the portal and all the way to the prison personally. He overlooked the departure as he pulled out a small flat metal bottle of alcohol and quaffed it. Tarou walked up to him as he removed his cloak.

"17 years! Not that short if you think about it, hm?" Captain asked while the mist cleared to reveal the amount of damage to the locality but the sun shined the same. Tarou walked closer as he healed the last wounds.

"Ah. Yes sir, still not sober im assuming" Tarou said.

"His presence felt similar to that of a captain when I landed here. He's a Matsumoto for sure" Shisuke said.

"So what will it be captain, can I start training him?" Tarou asked.

"Absolutely" The captain said officially making Tarou Aoki's sensei.

Both of them indulged in further conversation while soldiers from Heavensworth took care of civilians and repaired the damage caused to the town.

The portal opened inside a huge cylindrical hall with segments of floors from top to bottom, it was so tall that the sealing was almost like a white dot. Each segment was a level and all these levels had several portals opened around it. There were no lifts or stairs, just platforms and railings on each level. The only non portal exit out of the portal gate was an arched door that led to a bridge seemingly inwards Heavensworth. The place was quite busy with mages flying around and people entering and exiting portals everywhere. Almost felt like a busy train station with announcements and a huge peculiar clock in the middle of the hall, levitating. The clock had smaller clocks in the place of digits.

They walked out of a portal on 7th level. Everyone made way as they saw Kahino and Kenshii. The flew down in front of the time teller after which the exit situated, it was quite a huge exit spanning 3 levels. The started walking towards the exit. Kyoten looked at the clock while the clock was facing only him and kept facing him as he walked past it. He turned behind to make sure but it was still facing him.

"Still creepy" Kyoten said to himself.

"Whats with the clock?" Ernesto asked.

"That's the time teller. it's an illusion clock, if you look at it, it will be facing you, whoever is looking at the clock will always see the clock looking back at them" Kenshii explained.

"So it doesn't have a back side? Which way is it actually facing then?" Ernesto asked.

"We don't know, and we'll never. Now shut up and come along" Kenshii yelled. Kyoten was calm and smiling.

"Are we there yet?" A voice inside Kyoten's head asked.
He didn't respond.

"Ok, will you let me harvest more bones?" The voice asked excitedly.

Kyoten smiled wider as they walked outside the gate station and into Heavensworth.