Dominic felt like he was falling and tried opening his eyes only to find out that he could not. For some reason, he was forced to keep his eyes shut throughout the experience of falling deeper and deeper into the depths of something strange and mysterious before he finally stopped. A few seconds passed, and he finally realised that he could open his eyes and so, he did exactly that.

He opened his eyes sharply and was met with an amazing view of his surroundings; a battle covered land that had large craters and chunks of destroyed rocks lying everywhere. In the background, there was a lot of mountain ranges that cast a deep meaning to the whole scenery that gave a message of war. Looking up at the sky, he was surprised that everything was rather dark, and he got a sinister feeling from the environment.

“So… This is the so called Unconscious World of an individual…” he muttered in a quiet voice.

It looked like he was all alone when, all of a sudden, he heard a familiar menacing voice say, “Hey! I don’t remember inviting you to enter my mind without my permission, trespasser.”

Dominic turned towards the direction the voice came from while saying, “Trespasser? I don’t think that would be a problem considering this mind belongs to my friend that you’re in possession off!”

He fully turned to see the Testament of Greed, Kress, sitting on a sturdy looking chair. His opponent merely snorted and moving his eyes to the left, the Sword Titan’s eyes became round with shock at the sight. Steel cage to imprison someone was located beside his opponent and inside it was the War Titan, Nara Simhara.

The War Titan was sitting at the back of the cage where the light could not reach. His head was slightly down and with the dim light thrown over his face, Dominic noticed that his friend was rather motionless.

“Nara!” he exclaimed, his mouth opening slightly in alarm as he tried to grab the attention of his friend.

His yell echoed within the vicinity, but Nara remained seated in that fixed position without moving a muscle. It was as if he did not hear him, or that he did not have the energy nor the strength to pay any attention to the goings on outside the cage. With him continuing to sit there, Dominic felt a sinking feeling in his chest that something terrible had happened to his friend and his worries were confirmed by his enemy’s next words.

“Don’t bother with him. That guy won’t respond,” said Kress in a cheerful voice with a mocking smile on his face.

The Sword Titan turned towards Kress and exclaimed, “What have you done to him?!”

“Oh? Me? Nothing, really,” replied Kress, and he hesitated for a moment dramatically before continuing with a wicked expression forming on his face, “I merely beat him down, took full control of his being and locked him up in that cell over there. I mean, he put up a good fight, but yeah… No match for me. Honest.”

His words were met with great dislike as Dominic glared at his enemy with pure hatred on his face, and he exclaimed, “You… You’re despicable!”

“Meh!” Kress said casually, waving his hand as if he did not care about his foe’s words. “Call me what you want, but I don’t care because I got what I wanted… what is rightfully mine…!”

“You, crazy bastard! There is no honour or pride in what you did! It’s injustice!” Dominic shouted, and he instantly surged with power while radiating golden aura that surrounded him.

Kress began to let out a cackle of laughter for several seconds before he calmed down and replied with a mean look on his face, “And? What’re you doing to do? You’re in my domain now! Everything here is under my control, and you’re all alone!”

At that moment, dark shadows began to swarm from all sides before they rose up to look ghostly and ferocious. They glided over the ground and moved steadily towards Dominic while making deadly moaning sounds that could make anyone’s skin crawl from hearing them.

While Dominic was glaring around at the increasing number of the deadly dark creatures, Kress leisurely leaned back on his chair and said, “Fool. This is what they call coming to a battle with just a handle without the blade.”

The Sword Titan managed to punch and kick several monsters that neared him, but it was not enough to stop the horde of monsters that surrounded him. The situation was looking grim for him, but he did not give up as he turned to look at his enemy and shout the name of his Sacred Spirit.

“Seta!”

Upon the name being shouted out loud, there was an instantaneous flash of light with swirling colours before a woman clad in warrior’s attire appeared in front of him in a kneeling position with her eyes closed. As the light dimmed, the woman stood up and opened her eyes in a flash, causing a single shock wave to be sent in all directions.

She raised a hand in the air and said, “Raining Blades!”

In an instant, swords materialised out of thin air and they fell down to pierce all the dark creatures. Within seconds, the creatures were wiped out from existence and returned the desolate battlefield to being just them.

“Thanks!” Dominic said, sighing in relief and smiling at her back.

“It’s not a problem, but… I should’ve been by your side from the start,” she said, and her voice was filled with guilt that she had let her master face such a danger on his own.

Dominic smiled gently and said, “It’s fine and you’re here now so let’s solve this problem.”

She turned to the side and nodded in agreement with her master while showing a faint smile. At that momentary distraction, Kress summoned a black swirling sword from out of thin air and while holding it between his hands, he leaped towards her with a murderous expression on his face.

“Annoying interloper!” he shouted.

“Ah!” Dominic exclaimed, shocked by his movement and wanted to move forward to defend when he realised he had no weapon to fight with.

Seta, on the other hand, turned back to face the Testament of Greed flying at her with the intention to take her life. Keeping a cool expression on her face, she moved right hand armoured hand to the left and opened her palms. In an instant, a brightly glowing sword materialised out of thin air and closing her palm around it, she swung the sword in an arc and made contact against Kress’s sword.

There was a momentary collision of two opposite forces that caused the ground to shake a little around them. Kress landed his feet on the ground and tried to push forcefully against his sword, but it did not budge against the amount of force being applied by the armoured woman.

Disbelieving that his sword was stopped dead in its tracks, Kress thought in an annoyed voice, “Who is she?!”

Gripping her sword tightly, Seta applied more force to her sword and pushed Kress’s sword back. Surprised by the sword of is enemy forcing him back, the Testament of Greed fought hard but he instead got sent flying backwards as she completed her swinging motion. He flew several meters through the air and looked like he might fall, but he skilfully spun his body in mid-air and landed neatly on his feet.

“Oh. Nice one!” Dominic said, praising her for the effort of pushing their enemy away.

“Thank you,” she replied in a graceful voice with a faint smile on her face.

Kress straightened up and glared at her fiercely before asking, “Who are you, woman?!”

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Seta stared at him merely in silence and when she sensed a gesture from Dominic to speak, she nodded lightly and finally introduced herself.

“My master calls me Seta, formerly known as Setaverna Exgaldia, and I carry the title of the Destiny Sword,” she said, speaking in a voice full of grace and honour, and she bowed lightly before saying as an afterthought, “I am displeased to meet a callous being like you.”

With that, she surged with power while radiating golden aura that surrounded her and held her sword with both hands. In the next moment, she kicked off the ground and soared straight at him before swinging the sword with a clear intent to cut him down.

“Wow!”

Kress exclaimed in surprise and instantly reacted by bringing up his dark energy sword to block the attack. There was a shock wave release from the impact that made the wind to blow quickly in all directions as the man and woman applied strong forces behind their weapons.

In the next instance, the two began delivering blows against each other at such a speed that looked like their blades clashed several times in a single second. This continued on for several seconds before Seta backed away from her opponent’s swing before gathering energy into her blade. It began to glow dimply, and she leaped towards while spinning her body in circles.

At the last turn her body took, she reached him and immediately swung her sword at him. Likewise, ready and prepared, he raised his sword up and blocked it and instantly received a great shock because the amount of force she applied behind it was incredible. The blow smashed his dark energy sword aside and sent him flying away before she straightened up.

“Nice work, Seta!” Dominic said, amazed by how easily she handled their enemy.

“Thank you, master. Now, I suggest you head on and awaken your friend,” she said without looking at him as her eyes were fixed on her opponent, who had landed on his feet several meters away.

Dominic was surprised by her words and it made him ask, “What do you mean, Seta? Our enemy’s right there! We should just get rid of him and all of this will be solved!”

She found his words funny and momentarily chuckled before replying in a sad voice, “That’s for the ideal world, master, but unfortunately, it isn’t the case here. By the Astral Laws, if one has lost control of themselves or is taken possession of by somebody else, then they are forever bound to the subjection of that person unless they fight against the controlling force and destroy the one in possession of them or be set free by the one possessing them.”

Her explanation took him by surprise and, as such, his mouth gaped open in shock. He quickly jerked his body to break free from the shock and stared at her with a disbelieving look on his face.

“You’re not serious?” he asked, but when she remained motionless, he realised what she said was true and despair filled him as he said, “You’re kidding me! That’s the most ridiculous rule ever!”

“It is a bad rule set by the God of Spirits, Stellar,” replied Seta in agreement in a disapproving voice. As he looked startled, she said, “Master, do recall what your friend said about what happened to the previous Angel King?”

“The previous Angel King?” Dominic asked, blinking in surprise before stating, “He was rendered numb and unable to think of his own free will. It’s like he became a living doll. I think that happened right after Lakshman severed his connection to the thing that was supposedly controlling him. Well, that’s what he said anyway.”

“Right. He certainly did and the outcome is believable because… the Angel King was not set free,” said Seta, which alarmed Dominic greatly. “Lakshman chased the controller away and caused a forced possession break, but it did not free the Angel King and following the Astral Rules, he will forever remain in a frozen state because he is still in a locked state.”

“Wait… Does that mean…?” Dominic began slowly in a suspicious voice.

“Meaning, if I were to destroy Kress or forcibly chase him out, then Nara will be crippled for life,” finished Seta in a dark voice.

Dominic did not say anything, but his eyes widened with shock at the revelation. The situation just got serious and realising that all hope of Nara being freed rested on the person himself, Dominic felt angered. Even so, he quickly decided on the next course of action and shared the plan of attack with his Sacred Spirit.

“Alright. I guess we have no choice but to let you fight defensively with our enemy and, in the meantime, I’ll go and speak with Nara and hopefully I’ll wake him up.”

“A sound plan, master,” replied Seta, and she turned to smile softly at him.

“Yes, so be careful with him, Seta! He’s very dangerous!” he said in a worried voice.

The Destiny Sword nodded her head and, once again, surged with power while radiating golden aura that surrounded her. In the next moment, she kicked off the ground and flew to continue her defensive battle against the Testament of Greed in order to give her master time to awaken the War Titan from his imprisoned state of isolation.

***

Seta flew at Kress and the two of them clashed swords once more before landing on their feet.

“You’re strong for a woman,” commented Kress, who eyed Seta with a sinister smile.

“I find you pathetically weak for a man,” replied Seta in kind, which caused Kress to flick his eyes in annoyance.

They pushed each other away and began to battle each other fiercely with their swords while using various different techniques.

Rushing at him from being push back, Seta said in a calm voice while waving her sword, “Rush Blades!”

Multiple swords materialised from within sword and they soared towards Kress at high speed. When he saw them coming his way, he snickered and extended his palm out before saying a technique name out loud.

“Shadow Direct!”

In an instant, a small swirling appeared in front of his open palms before the flying swords flew into them and vanished. As that portal disappeared, another one appeared right behind Seta before the very same swords came flying out of them just as he spoke calmly to her with a smile on his face.

“I’d watch my back if I were you.”

Stopping in her tracks, she sensed presence of her weapons flying directly at her and, instead of acting to defend herself, she merely stood there and stared at him before saying, “My back is covered, thank you.”

He was taken aback by her remark and was amazed when the swords curved around her and continued to hear towards him. It was like they were designated to target only him and not end until they either strike him or get destroyed.

Getting momentarily annoyed by such an attack and said, “Impudent!” He extended the same palm hand as before at them, he exerted his powers and exclaimed, “Control Sense!”

In an instant, his power seeped out from his palm and soared towards the swords before consuming them in its power. The flying swords slowed down until they finally stopped in mid-air for some reason, which made Seta wear a puzzled expression on her face. A moment later, however, the swords began to get covered in darkness as the golden glow was replaced by a purple glow.

“You’re right, but how about from your own weapons?” he asked with a wicked grin on his face.

With a wave of his hand, the multiple corrupted swords turned around and they flew straight towards their original master. It momentarily stunned Seta to see her swords corrupted and turned against her, but she immediately recovered and waved the sword in her hand. In the next second, the corrupted swords came to an immediate stop as if they had hit a wall and a moment later, the purple glow returned to the golden glow like before.

“T-They changed back?!” Kress exclaimed, blinking quickly in disbelief at the event that occurred in front of him.

“Yes and, unlike your dark magic, my sword magic is pure,” replied Seta, and she raised her sword to aim at him. “Now, let’s see how you fare against this. Swarm.”

She spoke the last word, which was a technique, in a calm voice, but what happened next was incredible. In the seconds that passed afterwards, a large number of swords of various shapes and sizes appeared out of thin air. Soon a large number of swords were present and they all had their bladed ends pointed in the direction of the Testament of Greed.

“Whoa…” he whispered, his eyes wide in surprise, and he slowly turned to see the vast number of swords aimed at him. He, then proceeded to turn back to face his enemy and say in a comical voice, “You’ve really outdone yourself, but remember that I’m also powerful? These… numbers… don’t scare me!”

Seta remained calm and watched him in silence for seconds before saying, “Strike.”

All at once, the large number of swords flew at him from stock still to a high-speed movement that could not be seen by the well-trained eyes of most members of the Titan Ranked Warriors. Reacting with the same speed as the swords, Seta shouted a technique that instantly casted darkness all.

“Shadow Zone!”

The swords flew into the darkness and disappeared while the spell swirled around where he stood. Once the last of the swords vanished into the depths of the void like spell, the darkness was dispelled and he appeared once more while looking unscathed.

“Impressive,” commented Seta, recognising his skills in defending and attacking his opponents.

Kress chuckled darkly and replied, “You think that’s all there is to it? Think again!” He clapped his hands together and shouted, “Shadow World!”

In an instant, black aura surrounded him before darkness was spread in every direction at high speed. Soon, the world was consumed by the darkness where not a single light existed, apart from the glow of the blade wielded by Seta and the spot where Dominic was kneeling before the steel prison bars that locked Nara in its depths. She looked around her with a cool expression on her face without once feeling threatened or fearful when she heard her enemy’s voice from out of the swirling darkness surrounding them.

“Welcome… to my domain! The shadow world! There is no light and there is no hope! Only shadows exist here!”

Ignoring him, Seta lifted her glowing sword and said, “Destiny Light.”

In an instant, the sword glowed so brightly that the shadows around her seemingly scattered to escape its presence. In the next moment, however, the bright light dimmed and returned to normal as if it got sucked out by the surroundings.

“See? No light! No hope! Only shadows exist to take what they can… what they want! After all, everything belongs to us!” Kress’s voice spoke out of the darkness, but it felt like his voice reverberated.

At that moment, dark creatures with red glowing eyes began appearing several meters from all around her surroundings and slowly closed in on her. She glanced around at them and blinked once while continuing to keep calm for several seconds before a small smile appeared on her rather dignified face.

“Well… This is troublesome…”