“Hngh…”
Ikori groaned as he woke up. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a layer of leaves hanging above with a shade of yellow on green as light rays penetrated through the canopy above onto the first floor beneath.
“Weird…this isn’t the storage facility.” He thought as he attempted to push himself up with both of his hands but then he recalled the events prior, noticing the lack of a left functional arm.
“Okay, so first I got my arm slashed off, retaliated against my old friend by fracturing her son’s head and then I fell into a hole…but now I’m in someplace else.” Ikori spoke to himself as he then got up with his remaining right arm although it took quite awhile as he wasn’t used to being short of one arm.
“I think it’ll be a goooood idea to call for assistance.” He thought as he pulled his phone out of his right pocket and turned it on before he selected the communication app. To his disappointment however, a pop up appeared and simply says “services unreachable”.
“Sunbaskets…” Ikori uttered feeling absolutely livid but soon caught sight of his severed limb. He slid his phone into his right pocket before he went picked up the arm, staring at it. He then had an idea, proceeding to hold his severed arm in his mouth before taking out his phone and pressed on the encyclopedia app before typing in “what to do when a limb is severed” in the search engine.
It led him to a single page with multiple steps that he required to follow but found most of them weird.
“First, locate the severed limb and don’t lose it. As it won’t decompose and could still be reattached to the main body requiring at least a dozen years to begin decomposing?” Ikori spoke in his thoughts, surprised that his body was that resilient to change.
He spent a good several minutes reading through the entire page and figured that there is nothing else he can do other than holding onto his arm until he remembered the recursion pouch he kept in his left pocket. He took out the pouch and attempted to open it up with only his right hand which was hard and awkward for the most part.
It took him a good 3 minutes to open up the pouch before awkwardly using his mouth to slide his severed arm inside the pouch.
“Huh, the pouch still weighs the same like before.” He remarked before he gazed at his surroundings realizing that the katana and golden scabbard had fallen right with him into the new world as they were just left on the ground after the fall along with a plain white t-shirt, short black pants and an old wooden box.
He took a glance at his current clothing and saw how dirty and damaged they were; stained by black ichor and the left side of his shirt was completely ripped off from Elleon’s spear.
“Should really get changed, I look like a beggar from the streets with these clothes on.” Ikori thought to himself as he proceeded to empty his pockets before he stripped himself bare before then attempting to wear a clean set of clothing while groaning as it was hard to do it all with a single arm.
As he finally finished, he picked up the phone and pouch and slid them in their respective pockets before Ikori walked towards the old wooden box before squatting down and opening it, revealing what seemed to be a dull metallic ring. He stared it curiously before he slowly slid his index finger through the ring which took him an excruciating long time.
When he finally managed to wear it, he stared at it, trying to figure out the purpose or conceivable function of the ring. He stared at the nearby tree, lifted his arm up and pointed his hand in the direction of the tree. Nothing had happened. He proceeded to make all sorts of hand motions, body postures, kicks and punches but to no avail.
“What does this ring actually do?” Ikori uttered to himself before sighing in disappointment as he placed his arm back down, turning his hand slightly. To his surprise however, the sound of snapping wood was heard which caught his attention as he stared back at the tree. Realizing that its outer husk was visibly contorted which gave Ikori a hint.
He focused his attention on the much larger than normal tree, its height seemingly stretched far enough to touch the clouds above in front of him. As he proceeded to turn his hand in the clockwise direction as the entire log was twisted further, compacting itself into a far denser wood as it continues to coil. The branches and roots that were part of the log was snapped from it due to the coiling process.
He then turned his hand further which caused the massive log to compact itself into the dimensions of a long thin piece of wood, showing signs of noticeable coil like patterns that went along its length.
Ikori, satisfied released his control over the wood as he went over and grabbed it with his right hand. Taking a swing with his newfound weapon that he created.
“This might do for now.” He said as he now trekked through the forest searching for any paths or roads that may lead him out of here. But soon enough, he came across a path and walked along it while he held the stick in his hand firmly.
After what seemed like an hour or 2, Ikori finally made it out of the dense forest and was met by a majestic view of the world he was in. The massive stone walls of a castle could be seen spread across the horizon, the sharp jagged mountains that appeared further away than the castle, the emerald sky, the amber sun and a glistening sea of crystal-clear water; that was so full of life and a massive pasture where animals graze upon the nutrient dense vegetation. As he took a closer look, he saw a town that was located in the middle of the pasture. Visible columns of smoke rising up from the chimney belonging to several buildings.
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“Finally, civilization.” He sighed in relief as he made his way to the town, unaware of a pair of bright forest green eyes staring at him from the woods.
“Hmm...” The figure hummed.
Meanwhile back in Bilik Belakang. Thousands of members from multiple regiments arrived at the scene of destruction. Restoring the damage that was done to the place while certain members from the Scout Regiment attempted to track the whereabouts of the demons that caused this chaos.
“Good grief, a lot of our equipment and shelves are damaged by whoever did this.” Said Annike, the captain of the Seal Bearer Regiment donning robes that feudal ministers would wear. Her long black hair flowing in the air as she walked.
“Must’ve been a powerful demon.” Said another young-looking man by the name of Xiao Dan, a senior member of the Purifier Regiment boasting a set of metallic armor that is cladded with unseen heavy earthly elements, carrying what seemed to be a bronze-like staff on his back. His short hair emanating a brilliant white light.
“How are you sure about that?” She asked with suspicion, raising a brow.
“Please you’ve been in this realm far longer than I have. Surely, you’ll know that the presence of black ichor indicates the presence of a demon breaking into our warehouse and stole the Realm Transfer Orb to escape.” Xiao Dan spoke back with confidence.
“Don’t be so sure about it, the only ones capable of breaking the flooring are those whose power is at the very least comparable or equal to that of the Leader’s. As far as I can see, no demon’s other than those in the higher echelons of power can do damage here.” Annike replied in a straight forward manner.
“That’s true but…even so why is there black ichor here?” He asked to which she replied with a deduction “It could’ve been the cause of a careless member from the Logistics Regiment that accidentally broke specific things that created the explosion which caused this mess, corrupting his body in the process forming black ichor on the ground as a by-product. Black ichor is, generally speaking. Not always a demon’s specific trait.”
“Set your deductions aside and let the guesser tell you the reality of things.” The Leader spoke as he was already right in front of the 2 without them noticing his presence.
“Leader!” Xiao Dan exclaimed as he leapt back a bit out of shock.
“For someone with the gift of foresight, you couldn’t tell I was standing here for almost 3 minutes since you began talking to Annike, young one?” the Leader teased.
“Just why are you here/ I thought you said you were going to handle the negotiations with that one world where a rogue dictatorship is bringing about the suffering of countless races across their universe?” Annike questioned him as she knew negotiations would take days at a time, not mere hours.
“I was, until ten thousand years ago. I guessed and predicted that they are going to assassinate or at the very least capture me during todays negotiations. Which came true a many minutes ago. I pity the ones born in that world. The amount of sin that their world’s exude is far too much that even the standard earth gods have left them a long time ago.” The Leader spoke with a sigh. “But anyways, a battle ensued in our storage facility which led to the shattering of our recursion floor.” He continued.
“That’s impossible, who could’ve possibly possessed the power to do this?” She asked.
“It was Ikori.” He said without as much a single doubt beneath his breath.
“The son of the traitor mage? He doesn’t have any divine powers let alone the godly strength to break this very floor.” She said dismissively.
“That’s where you’re wrong, the very day I rescued him from Demon’s Hell. I guessed correctly and knew exactly when he would receive his power by Heaven’s decree and what the demons would do to claim their precious prize. I was the one who purposely left the legendary blade, Razor Wind forged by the fire god, Kagutsuchi next to the Realm Transfer Orb. I knew Ikori was going to choose that blade without much thinking. I knew the demons would use that orb to cover their tracks when they successfully captured their prey. Where the demons would attempt to trap him. I knew, what power he had wielded at that time. That allowed him to defeat and shatter the very floor we are on. The Heaven Empowered Scaling Tiger is what broke the floor.” The Leader stated bluntly.
“That’s not possible. Any mortal man who had obtained the very power of heaven would have his body disintegrated into ash and the soul and identity shattered and burnt beyond saving. Had they not elevate themselves to a higher plane of idealistic existence.” Spoke a surprised Annike.
“He’s just a minor cut above the rest. He’s able to utilize the ability once on the demon and caused this very shockwave. The ability when Heaven empowered, becomes exponentially more potent the higher the sin density of an individual’s identity. But, had he used it a second time, he would’ve not remained in one piece. Luckily however, the ability he possesses is no longer empowered by Heaven and he now has the earthly power of the Eight Extremities. His powers will grow however with the correct discipline and mental guidance. I’m surprised that even having a flooring composed of a certain number of dimensional axes, numerically larger than inaccessible infinity and the uncountable layers of quantum threads that compounded a single particle, condensed into the many layers of infinity. Was not durable enough to handle the ensuing shockwave.” He spoke before he gave an order to Annike in a casual manner.
“But anyways, Annike. Prepare me three residential forms and they are to be on my desk at my place of residence by today, aeayc.”
“Hold on, why do you need those forms?” She asked to which the leader responded with. “For the future permanent residents that might come along as a result of certain events.”
The Leader then vanished out of sight, leaving them confused on what exactly he was referring to, as he then appeared outside of Ikori’s place of residence as a cloud of light followed and dispersed from his body. He noticed that the door was unlocked and walked in, seeing a tall individual cladded entirely in a silvery armor and chainmail, both of Norse origin from head to toe, leaving not a single opening of flesh to be seen, as well as donning a helmet that covered the entirety of their face and neck with the exception of two eye-slits that allowed the user to see.
They were standing in the middle of the room, holding a picture in their hand silently before they noticed the leader and stared at him.
“It’s been a very long time hasn’t it? That you’ve seen him.” The leader spoke.
The figure simply gave a slow nod, before placing the picture back in its original spot, inside the drawer of the desk.
“The time of respite is nearing its end. Are you prepared to accept the consequences of what is to come?” He asked in a solemn and morbid manner.
They nodded as a visible light of gold appeared on their right eye-slit. A bright light of red appeared in their right hand, a spear jutted out of the light as they grabbed it with their metal cladded grip. The clanking of metal sounded as they did. Various enchanted and ancient runes revealed themselves on the spear with a show of colors. As the figure walked out of the room closing the door, the sound of clamping metal can be heard from inside the room as it slowly fades out as they walked away.
The Leader proceeded to the desk and pulled out the drawer to take a look at the picture they were looking at. He took a quick glance and sighed. “My old friend, if only you were there to prevent the tragic chain of events.”