In the middle of night, at a bar in the middle of town, Ryuzo sat there, drinking a glass of whisky sour as he looked at the information on his phone. The information consisted of bounties and their price.
After a while he saw something that he was both expecting and angered by. A bounty near the bottom of the list that was issued by the Druhsin Empire was of himself.
"I see, so that's why he attacked me. Of course with that price, nearly everyone would take it."
Ryuzo said with a calm, excited, and saddened tone all at the same time.
He was calm because he knew only a few people had the strength and guts to kill him, he was excited because he naturally liked to fight, and he was saddened because his existence alone is a risk to his family as well as the whole city.
As he continued to drink his alcohol, he suddenly felt an aura nearby. He downed his whisky sour before walking out of the bar and suddenly disappeared.
As Ryuzo ran towards the strong aura, he could start figuring out what pathway it was the person was from, as well as their strength.
He arrived at the side of the mountain and for some reason he felt as if he missed something.
As he thought about the abnormality he created his signature katana out of a burst of black fire. The handguard was reddish black, the first layer had crosses on the inside, and the second was the Shinmen clan's family crest. The scabbard seemed to be made of wood, and its color was gray with dark spots that blend in with the gray to create a palette that was both pleasing to the eyes, and made it look like ash.
He walked around the area trying to determine where the aura came from and how powerful the person was.
"This is odd, shouldn't I have been able to know their power level from this distance, let alone the pathway. Something is clearly wrong here."
The more he thought, the more shocked he became. This was because Ryuzo immediately went towards the aura instead of trying to make sure the person was harmful or not, nor did he go to his family to see if they were ok. This was out of line with his current mindset and made him seem rash and reckless.
"There are only two possibilities. One is the person is a rogue at the true false god level or two, the person is a fighter with similar abilities and levels."
This was because the only way he would have done those things is if he was controlled or his powers wanted to clash with someone else's.
At this moment a large broadsword that was nearly 8 feet long came from the sky and flew towards Ryuzo.
Sensing this Ryuzo simply took a step forward, raised his empty hand up as he turned back, and hit the broadsword right before it hit him. The giant sword hit the ground but it had lost all its momentum and landed on his side instead of stabbing into the ground.
In the next moment, multiple giant broadswords made of black flames aimed towards Ryuzo and fired.
Ryuzo ran out of the encirclement and jumped down from the mountain and landed on a tree in a nearby forest.
As Ryuzo stood on one of the tree branches, he looked down towards the ground before kicking a shadowy broadsword that was aimed at his neck from below.
After he kicked the blade, he grabbed the handle and threw it at a figure in the dense forest. The figure jumped back before being hit by a black fire ball at this side.
Ryuzo charged at the figure appearing in front of it before it recoiled from the fireball.
Ryuzo entered the range of his blade, unsheathed it and prepared to cut the man's head off with a one handed downward diagonal slash going from left to right at the man's neck.
Unlikely for Ryuzo, the man managed to block Ryuzo's pulling cut to the right side of his neck and also while he blocked, he took a step back.
The man wore a clown mask with a wide empty smile that showed a pitch black mouth. Thin eye holes which revealed the same black void. His dark trench coat and pants were as dark as the night yet at the same time they seemed to mix into him. On the left side of his hip was a gun holster that held a revolver of some sort.
The masked man, after blocking Ryuzo slash, tried to slash towards Ryuzo's face while propelling himself forward a bit.
Ryuzo, after missing his slash, moved his back foot backward and to the right as he grabbed his sword with both hands and placed it above his head.
Ryuzo, after blocking the attack, slid up his back foot and attacked the left side of opponent's neck which the latter blocked.
After blocking the man sliding his front towards his back foot and cut towards Ryuzo's face. Ryuzo blocked with the same block he did beforehand while moving his whole body backwards leaving only the top of the blade to be hit.
As both fighters were out of range, they fixed their guards.
The masked man only had to place his sword in front of his body pointing towards Ryuzo while keeping foot planted. Ryuzo had to move left behind his right one as he first started the fight using one hand and was now forced to use both.
After that, they moved closer and entered another clash.
The man started with an overhead that Ryuzo blocked and allowed the former to perform a cut towards the right side of their neck which the former blocked.
Ryuzo moved a bit forward then slashed at the right side of their neck with a horizontal cut which the man blocked again.
Ryuzo moved a bit forward again and then performed an upward diagonal cut going from left to right. Along with the slash, was a dragon made of black fire that went the same way the sword did.
The sword cut the man's neck and the dragon, which was in front of the blade, made sure the man was decapitated. As the head rolled on the floor, the whole body of the masked man disappeared in the shadows.
At the next second the man turned into darkness and his body disappeared before appearing next to a tree a few meters.
"Nice shot, but don't think I would keep this close combat fight if I didn't have any plans."
The masked man said, his voice carrying a hint of pridefulness.
In the next second multiple spears of fire aimed towards Ryuzo as figures started appearing out of nowhere. The figures all wore black trench coats and pants. On their face was a silver mask with a wide smile and slits for eyes.
They were all versions of the masked man.
Ryuzo's eyes widened before jumping backwards, and slashing at the air.
A wave of blazing black flames flew towards the spears of the same material and created a shockwave in the middle of the forest, but the wave couldn't hold back the spears, most of them were only moving slower, and others were completely fine.
Ryuzo ran towards the other side of the forest before sending out another wave of black fire but this time, it's size and power had increased tenfold. This was the ability of enhancement that a fighter has.
The black wave cut through the forest, slicing up the trees, and burning them to ash.
Or at least it should have, the trees didn't react at all.
As the spears collided with the giant wave, a tornado of flames, and smoke went high into the sky before disappearing.
As the masked men were distracted, Ryozo came up behind one of them and cut off his head before stabbing another that was nearby.
As the fight raged on, the clashes of blades, and fire sent the forest into ashes.
Or it should have as nothing seemed to react except the people fighting.
As only one masked man was left. His clothes were torn, his body covered in slash wounds, and burns. Yet he didn't seem to be on the verge of defeat, in fact he was smiling, looking at Ryuzo with his black eyes almost saying that it was over.
In the next moment beams of stardust, sunlight, flames, and water shot towards Ryuzo.
They soon came with giant shadowy broadswords that flew towards any escape point Ryuzo could take.
Seeing this Ryozo rushed out of the encirclement by using his max speed and was met with two version of the masked man.
One was thrown by the other towards Ryuzo, his weapon ready to stab into the enemy.
As the man came close, Ryuzo moved to the side before stabbing his head, and rushed toward the other one.
A dragon-like figure materialized against Ryuzo's blade as he slashed upwards towards the masked man, cutting him in half from his left side to his right shoulder.
In the next moment a sword was thrown at him from behind the man. Blocking the attack and throwing it off course but at this moment he felt a blade stab into his back, exiting out of his stomach.
In the second a voice coming for a tree nearby was heard:
"All abilities that come from the enhancement movepool of the fighter pathway can no longer be activated."
As Ryuzo's body fell to the ground, all the trees that were hurt suddenly reacted as all the sound that should have played moments ago all happened at once.
After the dust cleared, Ryuzo saw a figure in front of him. It was a man with long black hair, black eyes, wearing a black trench, boats, and carrying a katana with a blade made of black fire.
"Hey there Lucius, it's been some time hasn't it?"
Ryuzo said, his voice gentle and kind.
"I'm sorry." Lucius said as he stabbed the blade deeper into Ryuzo's chest.
Ryuzo kept his smile as he closed his eyes and spoke.
"Tell Johan I'm sorry I couldn't see him grow up and Aoi that I won't be there for her wedding, if she even gets a husband."
Lucius removed the sword from Ryuzo's chest, causing Ryuzo's face to hit the ground.
A few minutes later Lucius and his crew entered the city, carrying the fallen warrior's corpse into the mayor's office.
The mayor had black hair as dark as night, brown eyes that seemed to be covered in mud, and a flat face that seemed gentle yet strict.
He wore a black suit and tie while having a gray shirt underneath. His brown hiking boots, different yet somehow matching well with his outfit.
"What do you want?"
The mayor said to the group in front of him before he saw Ryuzo's corpse.
"Give us fuel for our ship."
Lucius spoke indifferently towards the man, ordering him around like he was his servant.
"Why should I? You've made a mess for me to clean up. Now I ask you to leave."
"Oh don't give me that Julius!"
"It's Mr. Adro to you."
"Whatever! Look, just give us some fuel and we won't be in your hair anymore."
For a few seconds, Julius looked at the corpse of the fallen divine creature and the one who slayed him before speaking:
"Was it worth it?"
"..What?"
"Was it worth it killing him?"
"I"
"What is it? Don't tell me you regret it already. You know killing has a price, so was it worth it?"
"I.."
"Was it worth it Lucius?"
For a few moments, Lucius tried to speak but no sound came out, it was until a few seconds later that he said something:
"It wasn't."
A few moments of silence passed before Julius grabbed at the air and suddenly pulled out a can of gas.
"Here, you're lucky your pops hates killing, damn brat."
Lucius took the can of gas before walking towards the exit. As he left the room, Lucius suddenly opened his and mouth and spoke:
"You know, men of God shouldn't curse."
"Sis, can we go home now?"
"Not now, Johan. Mom told us we gotta go look for dad."
"But why, he's always fine, plus all he does when out is talk with people, walk, and drink. There's not really much."
"True, but she still told us to do it."
"When did you start to obey orders?"
"Since mom said I couldn't talk back to her without losing my free time."
As Aoi turned a corner to enter the street the cafe Ryuzo normally goes to, suddenly saw a group of people yelling and screaming about something.
She subconsciously moved closer to listen to what they were saying and Johan followed her.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T LET US PASS!"
"I HAVE TO TALK TO THE MAYOR!"
As Aoi drew closer, she approached a middle aged man who was trying to get through the crowd:
"Hey, do you know what's happening?"
The man looked and answered before looking back at the crowd to find an opening:
"There's a problem near the mayor's office so the cops aren't letting anyone through."
"Hmm"
"What's wrong?"
Johan said as he heard his sister.
"Let's go this way."
Aoi said as she grabbed Johan's small hand before towards an alley.
After exiting the alley, the duo ran into a man with long dark black hair that resembled the night. The man wore a black treach, a white shirt, dark pants, and black boots.
The man was carrying another man on his shoulder. It was their father.
"What happened?"
The shady man spoke as he looked towards the two:
"Forget about it."
After saying that, he chopped the neck of Aoi and kicked Johan in the stomach.
Sending the former unconscious, the latter vomiting. After that he picked the boy up and suddenly disappeared.
When waking up, Johan suddenly found himself in a room with the only thing giving light was the fireplace to his right.
He suddenly heard the voice of the shady man once again before a katana was thrown in front of him:
"I killed your father, now if you truly loved him, try to kill me."
Johan, who heard the words, fell into shock before going into a rage and picking the sword before trying to stab the place where the voice came from.
The man was there but he simply moved out of the way of Johan's attack before kicking him again in the stomach.
The little boy only staggered a bit before attempting to slash at the man. The man dodged again then kicked him in the face.
"Failure, I guess you never loved your father." Upon saying that the man walked out of the room, using the door opposite the fireplace.
A figure appeared out of the shadows and bowed towards the man who just exited the room with Johan inside.
"Lucius I gave the family the letter containing Ryuzo's last words."
"Good job Thomas."
Lucius said, his tone indifferent.
"If you don't mind me asking, why did you find a need to torture the child? He just saw his dad's corpse."
"Im just making sure, he'll have a goal."
"Ok, but why take him in the first place?"
"Just felt like it."
"A..Are you serious?"
"Yep, now Thomas go and tell Audrey to start the trip."
"Wait a second sir, I just"
"Now."
Lucius said as he cut off his subordinate.
"Ok."
Thomas said after a few seconds, clearly upset yet not willing to disobey. After Thomas left, Lucius walked outside of the ship and looked towards the rising sun has he heard the crew start to party their victory. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
End of prologue