"I heard that the special guest made their appearance today at City Hall."
"Really?! Who was it?"
"Hmm, at first I thought it was that man who was given entry easily, but I later found out he was just a mercenary. In the end, a mysterious woman ended up being the special guest."
"Honestly, the Magistrate's message really caused a commotion... well, not as much as the Information Guild Guildmaster's broadcast did."
The city of Jinzhou was buzzing, cascades of topics flowing between the common people. The highlights of the day were the arrival of the mysterious guest and the Information Guild's leader's self-orchestrated suicide.
"What should we get to eat?"
"Food can wait. Did you watch the broadcast?"
"Yeah… I did. And I still can't wrap my head around it. What was the Guildmaster thinking? What did he even achieve by doing all that?"
"Honestly? I'm more worried the market's about to explode. Twenty-two percent of global wealth is suddenly getting released… that sounds like inflation waiting to happen."
"Probably not."
"How do you figure?"
"Because the wealth he distributed was inert. It wasn't circulating before, so it's not like he dumped a tidal wave of active currency into the economy."
"Then what was he doing?"
"Think of it like this…" the man paused. "He burned a diseased forest so the land could become fertile again."
"A reset?"
"Exactly."
"But... it will affect the market, right?"
"Yeah. At least for the next two to five years."
"Waah, I knew it. That madman is truly chaos incarnate."
"C'mon now, it's not exactly a bad thing that he gave out charity, but… do you guys think he may be alive?"
"I... I don't think so."
"Why so?"
"Though I do not meddle in politics, if what the Guildmaster said about his impartiality was true… then I think he really is dead. After all, this time he distributed it based on his own bias, which is unlike him."
A pause before the man added, "It felt like he was tying up loose ends."
"That... does make sense, but it doesn't prove the point."
"Anyway, let's forget about it. Let's go grab a bite first."
"Yeah."
Small talk and rumors like these floated around Kurain as he sat leisurely on a bench, an extreme fatigue overwhelming his senses.
'Perhaps I pushed myself a bit too much,' he thought, recalling the Hounds' words: "Don't push yourself too far."
'Maybe I should write an apology.' He decided to send a simple message to the group chat: [I am sorry for the trouble caused.]
With that, he allowed himself to relax and consider the consequences of his action. 'Though I have tried my best to uplift the standard of living, poverty will never truly vanish. After all, it is a wound humanity can never fully recover from.'
He recalled a conversation he once had with his student — about how poverty can compel even the greatest of warriors and the holiest of saints to kneel — as he remembered the face of that dangerously sweet child.
'I hope you are doing alright. If you were here, I might have given you a jar of confit.' He let out a small snicker as he remembered their first meeting...
"Haah... Haah..."
Soaked in crimson, the red-haired lass was on the verge of descending into madness. Yet, Kurain intercepted her, using one hand to block her vision and the other to steady the hand that wielded the blood-stained blade.
"Hush, child. Hush." He whispered into her ear. "For someone as lovely as you, a smile would suit your face much better than this blood-smeared madness. Let the flames of hatred rest for a bit."
At his consolation, the girl broke down into tears. After letting her cry until she seemed to regain a hold of her sanity, Kurain asked her gently, "Child, what is your name?"
"—!!?" The lass was taken aback. She hesitated at first, but soon answered, "D—Danjin."
"Danjin, huh? Say," Kurain looked at her, "would you like to be my student?"
"Huh?" The girl tilted her head in surprise. "I... I am a bad child. I did something awful. I—"
Kurian placed a hand on her shoulder. "No need to explain yourself. I am offering to make you my disciple precisely because of that."
"Listen, Danjin. You are blessed with great potential, yet your emotions and temper have caused your growth to stagnate. I despise seeing talent go to waste," Kurian said with a smile.
"Is that it?" Danjin uttered.
"Hmm?" Kurian blinked.
Danjin elaborated, her eyes narrowing slightly, "Is that why you are asking me to be your student? Simply because I have talent?"
"Hmm." Kurian smiled. "Well, that is part of it, but it is not the main reason."
"Then what is?" she asked the Iron Hound. What could it be, if not talent, that caught his attention?
"It was your strong desire to change," Kurain answered.
Danjin blinked. "Huh?"
"You see, if you were just a talented kid, I might have just given you a few pointers on how to control your emotions," Kurian said, his expression turning melancholic and bitter. "But since I sensed a strong desire from you to change, I decided to take you in. So, what do you say?"
"Your reasoning makes you sound like a creep, mister. Are you perhaps interested in girls younger than you?" Danjin asked.
Kurian shook his head in a sigh. "You have quite the sharp tongue, don't you? But don't worry," Kurian assured, "I already have a Lady who has conquered this thorny, rose-blossom heart."
"Besides, it's not like I am doing this for nothing. I, too, would gain something from being your teacher," Kurian explained.
"Which is?" Danjin asked.
"A quiet reassurance that would let me come to a begrudging agreement with my past," Kurian elaborated.
At his explanation, and after a long moment of thought, Danjin lowered her head and bowed deeply before him.
"Danjin greets the teacher," she whispered.
Recalling those tutoring days, Kurian's eyes filled with a quiet tenderness. A weary smile played on his lips as a final thought drifted through his mind. 'I wonder... right now, do my eyes look like yours, Teacher?'
Kurian recalled his own teacher, the man from whom he had learned his signature swordsmanship: the Field Marshal of the Budo, the Sword Saint, Isshin Sakuryu.
In his previous life, Isshin was the one who had found him after he had lost everything—his dignity, his freedom, and most importantly, his best friend.
"Bái Yīng... Bái Yīng..."
Ferdinand had kept chanting that name like a mantra when Isshin first found him, as the saint witnessed a heart-wrenching sight.
Though Ferdinand became his disciple, in the eyes of the public, their relationship seemed like that of a master and a slave. Afterall, Ferdinand was called Isshin's hunting dog.
Yet...
Kurian's lips curled as he dismissed the notion. 'The world couldn't have been far off.'
The Budo, belonging to the lineage of Japan, was a strict and solitary military unit where lineage was everything.
Despite the weight of tradition, Isshin had brought Ferdinand in to work as an errand boy. Though being an errand boy for the Budo made him little more than a slave, Isshin trained him in secret.
It wasn't until Isshin became Field Marshal that he boldly claimed that he would teach the most promising young individual in the entire battalion as his protégé.
When Ferdinand won the right to be that student, many challenged the notion. However, Isshin struck down the complaints, stating coldly, "The younglings of our lineage should be ashamed that an errand boy won."
Then, looking at Ferdinand, he spat, "You... you better keep up. If you can't... I will kick you out."
Soon, Isshin's brutal training began. To the onlookers, it was a source of horror; they watched Ferdinand being pushed to the brink as if Isshin were actively trying to get rid of him.
Yet, where the world saw only a crushing routine and the hurtful remarks Isshin hurled at him, Ferdinand saw the truth. He recognized the tender gaze hidden within Isshin's weathered eyes, and he knew: 'This person... they care for me.'
This was why Ferdinand had always — always — held Isshin on the highest pedestal when it came to respecting someone. In his soul, Isshin stood above everyone else — higher even than his own mysterious wife.
For his disciple, Isshin had even set a decree in stone entitled "Für Ferdinand," granting him the sole right to wield Ryuki.
Short for Ryu no Kiba (Dragon's Fang), Ryuki was the pinnacle of human-demon hybrid smithing. It was the augmented form of the Dōjigiri Yasutsuna, one of the Tenka-Goken (Five Great Swords Under Heaven).
Through the demonic smitthing technique called "Degeneracy", the blade's density was increased to an impossible degree.
"Degeneracy" utilized the Strong Nuclear Force to bind the atoms, making the blade behave more like a single giant atomic nucleus (Neutronium) rather than metal.
The sword kept its original, elegant shape and its 105 cm length, appearing to the untrained eye as a standard relic of old Japan.
Yet, while its appearance remained unchanged, its mass had been compressed from 1.27 kg into a staggering 1.272 tons.
And in the hands of Isshin and Ferdinand, this hyper-dense Tachi became the ultimate weapon against the heathens.
Isshin's will, Für Ferdinand, ensured that complete ownership of Ryuki passed to Ferdinand until his death, with the right to choose his own successor. This caused massive outrage.
Not only had Isshin given a holy — and now demonic — artifact to a man outside the Budo lineage, but Ferdinand had also abandoned the Budo Infantry to join a dying unit known as "The Regime."
Though there were disagreements, no one could have silenced the will. Thus, in honor of his teacher, Ferdinand rose to become Field Marshal shortly after the previous Field Marshal — the one after Isshin — succumbed to the ravages of Mana Rot.
In his previous world, humanity's downfall had begun with a greeting. After the Space Race, signals were sent into the void, and after three centuries, those signals were caught by a receiver that did not belong to Earth.
What was intended as a handshake was perceived by the heathens of the void as an invitation to conquest.
The first wave was small: eighty fetuses, nineteen low-rank, and one mid-rank.
According to the people of that time, the mid-rank demons, who were initially mistaken for Demon Lords, possessed powers and abilities that rivaled the legendary Arch-mages often depicted in fiction.
Even the Low-rank demons — initially misidentified as Demon Generals — could manipulate the four cardinal elements with the effortless grace of Grand Elementalists.
To these creatures, human cities were little more than sandcastles. It took two agonizing centuries of relentless nuclear warfare before humanity could claim to have eradicated that first, "minor" wave.
But the victory was hollow.
When the high-ranking demons arrived, they rendered nuclear power useless by manipulating space and time.
Humanity fought for three more centuries, believing they were facing "Demon Lord," only to realize the true Demon Lords — The Ender Baal, The Sunmelter Iblis, and The Bride Yume — were far beyond anything they had ever imagined, as they had yet to descend upon this already dying world.
As the world fell into the Age of Decline and morale plummeted, humanity's only fortune was the scavenging of demon technology.
They realized missiles had limits; they returned to primitive arms, augmenting them with demonic smithing.
Ryuki was one of the pinnacle of this era — a weapon of immense significance passed from its intended wielder to a disciple who, at the time, was seen as utterly unworthy to hold it.
"Haah..."
Remembering it all now, Kurain could only let out a tired, amused sigh.
'A pity that, apart from a handful of us, no one could ever understand our complicated bond of disciple and mentorship.' Kurain exhaled slowly, letting his eyelids shut as he finally fell into a deep, well-earned slumber.
***
"I see... so this was the obscured truth." In the liberated world, Giovanni heaved a sigh of relief as he closed Ferdinand's memo.
He looked to his side and thanked the man who had provided the document. "Thank you, General Tamura. With this, I am finally at peace knowing that Ferdinand was, in fact, loved by someone."
"No need to thank me, Sir Giovanni," Tamura replied. "If you must be thankful, be thankful to Eika."
"Eika... you mean Eika Sakuryu, granddaughter of Lord Isshin?" Giovanni asked.
Tamura nodded. "She was the one who held this memo."
"I see." Giovanni nodded, then paused, his voice dropping an octave. "How is your Mana Rot? Has it gotten any better?"
"Somewhat," Tamura said before shifting the subject. "Say, Sir Giovanni, do you remember how different you were before you became a Brigadier General?"
"Ah, those days. Indeed, I remember having what was essentially the peak human physique," Giovanni said, shuddering as he recalled the metamorphosis that had stolen his humanity.
Mana radiation was a poison that every soldier had to endure. However, when that radiation crossed a certain threshold, the body developed Mana Rot — a condition that was both a blessing and a curse.
It was a blessing because it granted humans unparalleled strength, allowing them to stand against the high-ranking demons. It was a curse because it stripped away human characteristics and completely restructured the victim's physiology.
In the ranks of the army, from Private to Brigadier General, a soldier remains mostly human. But beyond that point, when the body absorbs enough residual mana, it undergoes an uncontrollable metamorphosis to preserve itself.
The current high-ranking officers were no longer human. Though their outward appearance remains unchanged, their internal systems have been twisted into something unrecognizable, fueled by the very rot that is slowly killing them.
"I will be going now," Tamura reported.
Giovanni gave a nod, but not before posing one final question. "Regarding the former Field Marshal leaving the Budo unit... what intent does the Budo currently harbor against him?"
"Hmm. Though I cannot speak for the entire unit, one thing I can confirm is that the Budo unit feels the same way Sir-Three Ferdinand Franz Schumman felt toward Isshin-sama," Tamura remarked.
"Which is?" Giovanni pressed.
Tamura's expression turned solemn. "For those of us in the Budo unit, it was a painful reality to accept that one of the Tenka-Goken had to be augmented into such a demonic monstrosity. However..."
A subtle smile graced his face. "Thanks to Ferdinand-san defeating the Demon Lord Baal and the others, the Demon Slayer sword regained its honour as a holy sword once again."
"Not only that," Tamura continued, his voice heavy with a strange mix of regret and pride, "but he even returned the sword to the Budo unit once his task was finished."
"It's a shame that we could not retrieve his body; he chose to self-immolate, leaving nothing behind," Tamura uttered with genuine regret. "But... for his deeds in saving humanity and his role in restoring our legacy, we are eternally grateful."
"I see," Giovanni voiced quietly. "You may go now. I won't be seeing you off."
"Hmm," Tamura nodded.
Without another word, he launched into the air, invoking "Cloud Passage: Crossing Mountains and Rivers". In a blur of motion, he crossed kilometers of distance in a mere fraction of a second, leaving only a ripple in the atmosphere behind.
***
Crack—
"—!!?"
Snapping his eyes open, Kurian scanned the empty streets of Jinzhou. It was already midnight. The "small talk" of the city had long since died down, leaving only the humming silence of the lantern-lit shadows.
He stood up from the bench, his joints popping as he stretched his weary frame. But as he did, his movement stilled. Through his half-closed eyes, he caught sight of two distinct individuals draped in crimson.
"—!!?"
He recognized them instantly, and in a heartbeat, his mood soured. The remaining fatigue completely left his body, and his eyes narrowed with a dangerous, predatory glint.
To be continued...