[Before the events of Berlin]
RIIING! RIIING!
A phone kept on the ground near an old sofa, which was a few inches away from a garbage bin, rang at a high volume.
The place was filthy, as though no one had bothered to clean it in years. Every corner reeked of neglect, every surface seemed to carry the weight of its misery. Anyone who had never witnessed poverty in its cruelest form would struggle to draw a single breath here.
And then, the cleanest place in the whole area was protecting not a man, but…
…a majestically beautiful golden sword.
TKT-!
In this filthy environment, a hand arose from the dirt—clean enough that a person could perfectly see the handprints with naked eyes—and tried reaching for the ringing phone.
TKT-! TKT-!
But cleanliness wasn't responsible for grabbing the phone, so even after three tries, the hand failed to grab the ringing phone.
GRAB! SNATCH!
As the hand grabbed the phone, within seconds, at lightning speed, it was on the ear of the boy.
"Wake up!" the man on the phone shouted.
"Ah! Just four more minutes," the boy said in a sleepy tone.
"No way, rest day is over, now back to training." The voice on the phone became strict.
The boy stretched his body as lazily as he wanted.
"I felt that laziness over here, wake up now!" the voice on the phone shouted.
"You will pay for the lunch," the boy said, sitting on the sofa he was sleeping on.
"Done, now go close the Godwound," VANCE said, hanging up the phone.
Click! Tik… Tik… Tik…
The boy was sleeping on the old sofa upside down, and with the phone call hung up, as he started to sit normally, the world started rotating.
"Guess I have no other option," ARASHI said, standing up.
SHIIIIN!
Suddenly, the Godwound in front of him started shining so bright that his skin started burning.
"Ah, yeah," Arashi said, still sleepy, finding his hoodie.
"Guess wearing these clothes was more in my destiny than academy clothes," Arashi said, wearing a blue hoodie.
"What do you say about it, Garuda?" Arashi said, tying Garuda on his hip.
Khh... khh - RAAAH...
Hundreds of Tatari emerged from the Godwound simultaneously.
"Looks like I am about to get a fight of your level, Karn," Arashi said to himself, his left eye still closed.
"But don't you think you guys outnumber me already, and still more are coming?" Arashi said to one of the Tatari in front of him.
"Grrrgh... Rrrrgh..." the Tataris growled, trying to imitate human speech.
"Is this imitation or intimidation? It's ok if it's imitation, but if it's intimidation, then…" Arashi said, taking a pause.
"Garuda," Arashi shouted.
The beautiful golden blade shined so bright that the Godwound's brightness felt like a tubelight in front of the sun.
"Let's see how much you will entertain me," Arashi said with an intimidating smile.
[Somewhere in a Marketplace of Korea]
"I heard the Godwound opened here has a higher rank; Arashi won't be able to clear it alone." A voice came from behind Vance.
"Huh—" Vance turned.
A man who looked no older than 30 was sitting with two girls on both of his sides.
"Ma… mas… master," Vance said, intimidated.
"Master Genryū, what are you doing here?" Vance asked in excitement and in shock.
"Didn't expect this from you! You didn't even ask how I was," Genryū said, making a dramatic expression.
"No... No... I—" Vance said, still shocked.
"Oh, you didn't change at all, not even a single percent," Genryū said, laughing.
[Vance's thoughts]
Not changed at all?…
…This is odd,
'cause I always remember something from this.
The same thing I am remembering now.
As my fingers burn.
As my overcoat lifts itself with the flow of air.
As both my hands are in my pockets and my expression conveys a clear warning of superiority.
The place I am standing in is burning.
The fire is taking the shape of hands...
touching my feet...
And begging for mercy I won't give 'em.
[Vance's Flashback]
"Please, Vance, don't kill us, please, we beg you," the dark silhouette of a man begged Vance.
"You aren't like this. You are different, you are…" The man's blood-covered hands made Vance's feet dirty.
"Why are you doing this? Why???" the man shouted.
"Because this is what makes me..." Vance held the chin of the man.
"THE SON OF GRAVITY," Vance said with the smile of the son of the devil.
[Cut]
[Shift-]
KRA-KLACK-CHHUNK-KLANG-THOOM
A series of doors placed behind Vance opened one by one, and the last door opened with nothing visible, because something was shining brighter than the sun inside it.
GHRRAAHH-
"Ah—let's do it."
A Tatari raised his hand, trying to attack something with a growl.
SKRRRSH!
Before the Tatari could even make its move, Arashi suddenly slid backwards, his feet scraping against the ground as he positioned himself directly beneath the monster.
"Too slow," Arashi said, complimenting the Tatari's reaction speed.
CHIK—!
Arashi swung Garuda upward, striking the Tatari's raised arm and forcing it down. The Tatari froze for a fraction of a second, caught off guard by the sudden movement of the golden blade.
WHUP-SHING!
Without a wasted movement, unleashing the most beautiful katana in the world, Arashi flipped.
SNNKT!
Before the Tatari could even remember that it still had another hand, Arashi had already moved. Garuda flashed through the air in a golden streak, and in the next instant, the blade had completed its work, sending the Tatari on a one-way trip to hell.
KTHOOOM!
The two perfectly cut halves of the Tatari's body fell to the ground.
KSH-
Arashi sat on the falling body.
"Yes, on the falling body," Arashi said, confirming.
"Now, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... damn, I think I need maths tuition for counting the number they are present in," Arashi said, counting the Tatari present.
"N-... Nah. Dis... is... true. Dis... re... spect," a Tatari said
(Nah, this is true disrespect), almost imitating Arashi's tone.
TSSSHING!
The next second, he was missing a head, with Arashi standing behind his back.
"See, he isn't all at a loss. He now has a fountain on his neck," Arashi said to the Tatari next to him.
TSHAK!
Suddenly, Arashi's hoodie tore from behind as three slashes embedded inside his skin, but they weren't from a weapon; rather, they were from the nails of a Tatari.
TSSSHING!
Using the impact of the attack as momentum, Arashi slashed the head of the Tatari he was talking to a moment before.
"Now don't be jealous, you also have a fountain," Arashi said, seeing the Tatari's body fall.
"Now, before you remember you can all attack me together, just know my name so you can tell the god of hell about..." Arashi was rudely interrupted.
"Ah, these useless fellas," Arashi said in disappointment.
KRA-SHUKK!
"And the worse thing about them is, they now remember that they can attack together, but…
…can they really kill me?" Arashi said as his lips rose upwards.
At that very moment, every Tatari that arose from that particular Godwound, even without a brain, had one clear motive that they even planned to execute properly, and that motive was to: tear Ushimoto Arashi down to the bones.
KSHHHH... CLINK!
Arashi said, sitting on the ground on one knee so God Garuda touched the ground itself.
"For you, stupid Sterling:
Musō: Iron Cyclone," Arashi's words escaped his mouth afterward as...
THUD... Flop... thud... splat... roll.
The severed parts of the Tatari scattered through the air, their bodies collapsing before they could even comprehend what had happened. In their final moments of consciousness, all they could see was a twelve-year-old boy standing amidst the chaos, laughing as if he had just found something amusing.
"This is what disrespect is," Arashi said, wiping the Tatari's purple blood from his face.
KRRRKKK-!
Meanwhile, another Tatari was forcing his way out of the Godwound.
"Ahhh!" He managed to take his head out and shouted.
"Wait till I am out, you filthy humans out there!" the Tatari shouted.
"You are Grade-2, right?" Arashi said, standing near his face.
"What—" Before the Tatari could complete—
KSHRAAASH!
Arashi coated the beautiful Garuda with his golden flux to detach the upper body of the Tatari from the lower body.
"Didn't think this cartoon would be the opener of this Godwound," Arashi said, pulling out a stone from the lower body of the Tatari.
"But it only has one WOUND'S INGOT, that's strange," Arashi said, closing the Godwound.