Memories entered his head. Memories of different worlds.

A black demon covered in an armor of scales that looked like the shells of insects walked through the dark forest. He could hear the sounds of fighting, coming closer and closer. Just as he hid behind a tree, demons of various shapes and sizes appeared. They were battling a single human woman. Despite their superior numbers, she fought back fearlessly and eliminated them one by one. In the end, the last demon, who tried to escape, was taken out and she emerged victorious, but with a body covered in wounds. Exhausted, she fell to the ground and lost consciousness, never having noticed the black demon who witnessed her fight.

More memories of his fragments flowed inside him. From various worlds, he saw how they were doing and how they were living.

Then, the nightmares began.

“Ryner.” [Alice]

With her voice, the chains binding him dissolved. The flaming skeletons stabbing him with spears vanished. The wasteland covered in sand and rocks and the broken grey sky that hosted a green sun all disappeared. There was nothing around him, only pure darkness.

“Alice.” [Ryner]

Ryner said her name, the name she had chosen. Smoke bellowed in front of him, twisting and turning as she took shape. A woman clad in a black dress with long wide sleeves floated a few feet in the air. Just like with her clothes, her long black hair seemed to be made of smoke as it floated behind her. Her unhealthy pale skin and her red eyes that had vertical slits only accentuated her otherworldly appearance.

“I see you haven’t changed.” [Alice]

The beautiful, but frightening woman said as she held a flaming skull in her hand.

“And you finally stopped bugging me every chance you get.” [Ryner]

She chuckled at his cold remark and smiled.

“You’re right. I’ve been busy.” [Alice]

The skull’s fire died out and it dissolved into sand.

“Working hard to build it, to perfect it.” [Alice]

She raised her hand to the side. The sleeve, unhindered by gravity, floated up alongside her movement. Body parts appeared next to her.

“Your eyes, your arm, your leg. The best materials I could ask for. It took time to integrate it all together, but I’ve finally accomplished it.” [Alice]

Ryner’s limbs and eyes slowly distorted, changing shape as the rest of the body became visible. An ominous figure, completely black like a shadow, was standing there. Alice turned into smoke and took form next to Ryner.

“Your War Puppet will be ready for you. Count on it.” [Alice]

She said as her red eyes shined.

“Does it matter?” [Ryner]

He coldly answered.

“I’ll destroy it, like I did every time before.” [Ryner]

The smile on Alice’s face faded away. She waved her hand and the figure vanished.

“How confident of you.” [Alice]

“Have you beaten me once?” [Ryner]

“Maybe not in our game of war, but in the small ones, yes.” [Alice]

“And still, it never made a difference.” [Ryner]

“You’re right. But, I know that since the beginning, you always took up all my challenges to prove that I’m wrong, that my promise is wrong. Pushing yourself so hard to show how superior you are to me. All because you’re insecure about your own promise. Isn’t that so?” [Alice]

“…” [Ryner]

Ryner kept silent. Alice chuckled and transformed into smoke for a moment before appearing in front of him.

“Right, how are your fragments doing? There’s that hilarious one that’s become a half-elf.” [Alice]

“Still alive.” [Ryner]

“Huhu, but for how long?” [Alice]

She drifted around him, her dress and hair swayed and fluttered about.

“Long enough.” [Ryner]

Ryner stared at her, expressionless.

“Stop acting tough. You know you’re about to die. That’s why you’re here, and why you’ve been entering my dreams so soon.” [Ryner]

“… Thinking of your victory before it even happens?” [Alice]

“When a victor is decided, there’s a period of ceasefire between us. Both sides gather their strength and the loser declares the start of the game of war. Each time you lost, you used to focus only on gathering life force and contacted me centuries later. But now, this time, you reached out to me much earlier.” [Ryner]

As he spoke, he circled around her, who was gradually narrowing her eyes.

“Even if you keep bluffing with that confident attitude, we both know you’ve reached your limit. I don’t need to stop before your life force extinguishes anymore. One more war. That’s all it takes. Then…” [Ryner]

He stopped before her.

“You’ll die for good.” [Ryner]

“…” [Alice]

Alice didn’t say anything and only coldly stared at him. Then, she flew higher into the air while looking down on him.

“I won’t die, Ryner. Our war will never end. We will never cease to exist.” [Alice]

The next moment, she turned into smoke and like snakes, they went towards Ryner. The black trails crawled to his back and gathered together, spinning around like a spiral as they rose upwards. From it, Alice took form and she brought her face close to his ear.

“One more thing. That vampire of yours is-.” [Alice]

Her mocking voice cut off as the dream ended and Ryner woke up.

----------------------------------------

Aboard the flying battleship, Avalon, Evelyn was walking through the long corridors, heading for Ryner’s room. The ship was ridiculously huge and she had only seen a small part of it. There was even a train inside to allow the crew to get to different areas of the ship quickly.  That was why the two had taken residence in the same block. She suggested sleeping in the same room to reduce the distance even more, but he refused.

Evelyn wanted to run to his room, but made sure to hold herself back. A smile naturally formed on her lips as she put a hand on the black lace choker around her neck. He gave it to her and explained how it enabled them to talk telepathically. As a side note, she obtained it after hearing about how Maya received hers and continuously brought it up. Her choker had a small red gem hanging down in front of her throat. Ryner casually complimented her, saying “Not bad. It brings out your eyes.” while lazily scratching his head.

“Kyaaa!” [Evelyn]

Whenever she remembered it, she couldn’t help but blush and squeal with her hands on her cheeks. The next second, she would fake a cough and put on her mask of composure again. She was still young, being only a thousand years old or so, but she wasn’t a pubescent girl anymore. A bit of self-control was in order.

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“Ryner, are you there?” [Evelyn]

When she finally arrived at his room, she knocked on the door twice and waited.

“Yeah, I’m here.” [Ryner]

“I’m coming in!” [Evelyn]

Hearing his voice filled her chest with warmth and she accidentally spoke enthusiastically. It had been a while since it was just the two of them and she was now entering his room. It was very exciting.

“Good morning, Ryner. Did you sleep well?” [Evelyn]

She greeted him with a beaming smile, not the small ones that she wore in public when she greeted others. Her beloved, who was sitting at the desk and working on a computer, watched her enter with his wonderful sleepy-looking eyes.

“I had a weird dream about being stuck in a white dress and seeing a woman in a black dress, but besides that, not bad.” [Ryner]

“That’s good.” [Evelyn]

The vampire started with some small talk, knowing full well about his recurring nightmares.

“Did Maya contact you this morning?” [Evelyn]

“Yeah, she did.” [Ryner]

“I see.” [Evelyn]

She took a look at his room again. There was a bed, a desk, a few chairs, a closet and a personal bathroom. The room was similar to hers, but slightly bigger. On the bed, she could see Mi who was still sleeping peacefully. It made her feel jealous.

“Is this really the room of the captain of this ship? It is truly much smaller than I imagined it.” [Evelyn]

“We don’t have huge rooms except the ones for the VIPs like kings and presidents. Those are in the residential sector. You’ll need to take the bullet train if you want to see them.” [Ryner]

“Why not sleep there? A king’s chambers would be more fitting for you.” [Evelyn]

“Because it’s too far from the bridge. You’re not gonna complain that your room is small, right?” [Ryner]

“No, I won’t.” [Evelyn]

“(Though I would have preferred that we slept together.)” [Evelyn]

She wisely kept her personal dissatisfaction to herself.

“But this is a military vessel, is it not? Why is there a residential sector?” [Evelyn]

“It was designed as a battleship and as a seed ship. If humanity lost and it managed to escape in one piece, then the survivors could live on it until they found a new home. That’s why there’s living space for civilians, agricultural fields for food and crazy expensive rooms for hotshots. Hell, some rich idiots even had a club for pole dancing installed here.” [Ryner]

“What’s pole dancing?” [Evelyn]

“Don’t worry about it.” [Ryner]

Ryner skillfully and bluntly dodged his former daughter’s question.

“Because of some higher-ups that only cared about their lives, we had to deal with a bunch of crap. Back when I was in the army and they came for an inspection, my fist accidentally sunk into the face of one of them and it caused all sort of trouble, mostly for me. Too bad for them, they couldn’t kick me out of the army since I was too good a soldier. Instead, they sent me on suicide missions, though I always came back alive. That old man’s face was priceless every time he saw me still kicking.” [Ryner]

He started reminiscing about his misadventures in the army of another world as he typed away at the keyboard.

“What kind of world was it like? What were you like? Did you change?” [Evelyn]

Evelyn asked, deeply curious about his past.

“Hmm? It’ll take a while and we don’t have time for that. Besides, it’s boring.” [Ryner]

“How can anything about you be boring?” [Evelyn]

“Yeah, I know I’m not the most peaceful guy, but it really is boring.” [Ryner]

Finished with his work, he stretched his hands above his head.

“My life’s been a string of stories, all mashed up together. At the time, they all seemed different… But they were pretty much the same in the end.” [Ryner]

He said while looking up at the ceiling. His eyes were seeing the distant past.

“Come on, I’m done with checking the status of the ship. The repair drones are doing good work.” [Ryner]

Ryner got up from his chair, picked up Mi and went for the door. Evelyn followed behind him.

“Will we be heading out?” [Evelyn]

“Yeah. We arrived yesterday, but it was late at night, so we slept here. Now though, we’ll be doing some serious work.” [Ryner]

He showed her the golden globe that he took out from his pocket dimension. According to the magical object, they were right on top of a Heaven’s Blade.

“You told me that we will hunt down powerful Artifacts by using that device to guide us. But, just where did you get it?” [Evelyn]

“Again, that’s a secret.” [Ryner]

“The details are incredible. This work of art is exquisite.” [Evelyn]

“Personally, I think it’s too flashy.” [Ryner]

“Yes, craftsmanship aside, I guess it is.” [Evelyn]

While talking, the three went to the train station where a bullet train awaited. They used it to travel to the hangar where a great number of cylindrical drones were moving about. Many were flying around with thrusters as they worked on fixing the various aircrafts and machinery present. Ryner, who was holding Mi, and Evelyn went to the black plane from yesterday and flew off through the open hatch. Having travelled a fair distance, the Avalon was above the clouds, right on top of a town on the border of the human and beastman territories. It was here that the Heaven's Blade was supposed to be.

Once they stealthily landed without anyone noticing, they walked towards the town and entered after passing the checkpoint at the gates. Humans and beastmen were walking around, mingling with each other or sticking with their own kind. Human merchants could be seen buying products from beastmen merchants and vice-versa. Again, Evelyn’s beauty attracted envious and entranced gazes while Ryner attracted jealous and murderous ones.

“Woof! Woof woof woof!” [Mi]

Mi, who was now awake, barked at them from Ryner’s arm.

“Some things don’t change, no matter which world you’re in.” [Ryner]

“Then, shall we repeat what we always did to ward off unwanted trouble?” [Evelyn]

The vampire hugged his free arm and looked up at him while faintly smiling.

“This will deter them from approaching us.” [Evelyn]

“Yeah, it sure looks effective so far.” [Ryner]

A few sounds like men coughing blood from excessive jealousy could be heard around them.

“““KILL YOURSELF!!!””” [Men]

Their manly shouts reverberated through the air.

“What’s the matter?” [Evelyn]

“No, just that a lot of people are carrying weapons.” [Ryner]

“Is it strange?” [Evelyn]

“Maybe not?” [Ryner]

Ignoring the commotion, the three went to a restaurant that served both humans and beastmen and allowed pets. The place also worked as a bar and there were people present, eating in groups at their table or drinking early in the morning. Most of the rowdy bunch was equipped with armor and weapons.

“Hahaha! Big haul! Big haul! Eat up! Drink up! It’s all on me tonight!” [Rowdy man]

“It’s morning, you brainless baldy!!” [Rowdy man]

“You drank too much already?! Gahahahaha!” [Rowdy man]

“Hahahaha! Shut up and drink!” [Rowdy man]

Ryner and Evelyn went to sit at a table in the corner and waited for the waitress, who was busy moving around with plates of food and drinks, to come take their orders. Mi was placed on a chair between them and obediently sat there without making a fuss.

“Seriously? That happened?” [Customer]

“Yeah. A giant green tree-looking bastard popped up out of nowhere and was heading for the city. Now I didn’t see it, but the guy that did said that one person took it out, by his goddamn self.” [Customer]

“Just one guy? Who was it?” [Customer]

“Don’t know. He couldn’t see his face from so far away. He was too afraid to get any closer. That was the smart thing to do.” [Customer]

As they waited, the customers around them shared news of events that they learned on their travels.

“Did you guys hear this one? The capital city of a human kingdom was attacked by dragoons.” [Customer]

“Dragoons?! What did they do to get attacked?” [Customer]

“We don’t know. Some say it was an elaborate attack by a shadowy group who had a grudge against the king. Others say it was because they had secretly stolen all of their eggs to tame them.” [Customer]

“Whoa, crazy. And the city’s still intact?” [Customer]

“It got destroyed a bit, but it’s still standing.” [Customer]

“Guess it’s no wonder. They have those summoned heroes that are supposed to protect us from the demon threat. A whole lot of S ranks for one country. Glad they’re not allowed to fight in any wars between nations. My homeland would be done for.” [Customer]

“That’s the thing. Apparently, they were others who went around and killed the dragoons.”  [Customer]

“You mean the knight commander? He should be an S rank too.” [Customer]

“Yeah, but not just him. If you believe the rumors, there were two gorgeous women and one man that had powerful Artifacts.” [Customer]

Gossips and tidbits of information that were heard flew around the place. The waitress finally found time to go to Ryner and Evelyn’s table and took their orders before leaving again.

“If you humans want recent news, then I’ve got one.” [Customer]

“What’s with that smug smile, you bear-eared bastard?” [Customer]

“Shut it, you naked weasel. This is something that I heard from a merchant. A bunch of human mercenaries posed as slaves and infiltrated a beastman city. They caused a huge mess.” [Customer]

“What? Don’t look at me like that. I’d never do something so dumb.” [Customer]

“Glad to hear it because those humans are pretty much dead meat. But, there was one weird thing that the merchant wasn’t too clear on. Someone or something showed up.” [Customer]

“… So?” [Customer]

“He said everyone near it froze up because of how scary its aura was. It killed a few beastmen. Then it just disappeared.” [Customer]

“What? You’re joking.” [Customer]

“No, I’m not pulling your tail.” [Customer]

“I don’t have a tail.” [Customer]

As the various customers talked about anything interesting they heard or bragged about their accomplishments, the waitress brought breakfast to Ryner and Evelyn. There was also a meal prepared for their red puppy.

“News travels fast.” [Evelyn]

Evelyn commented as she dipped her bread in the vegetable soup.

“Is this the first time you visit our restaurant?” [Waitress]

The waitress asked Ryner as she stared at Evelyn.

“You can tell?” [Ryner]

“I’d definitely remember if she came here before.” [Waitress]

She said while giggling, pointing out how beautiful his companion was.

“Like you guessed, we’re new here. Hell, we’re new to town. Is there anything interesting going on?” [Ryner]

“You’re in luck! There’s going to be a tournament soon.” [Waitress]

“Oh? Is it fun?” [Ryner]

“I don’t know how fun it’ll be, but lots of strong fighters will show up for sure. It’s become really popular because of the prize.” [Waitress]

“Money? Is it money?” [Ryner]

“It’s way better. The prize’s an Artifact! A magic scythe will be offered to the winner! You should have seen on the streets how many fighters gathered to get their hands on it.” [Waitress]

A customer raised his mug, asking for a refill, so the waitress had to leave before she could finish talking about the event in her town.

“What do you think? Is it what we’re after?” [Evelyn]

Once she was gone, Evelyn asked in a low voice so that no one but Ryner could hear her.

“A scythe, huh. That sounds about right.” [Ryner]

He spoke casually in a low voice as well.

“It’s being offered as a prize in a tournament. Many warriors have gathered here for it. What should we do?” [Evelyn]

“Isn’t it obvious?” [Ryner]

Ryner raised his glass of milk and took a sip.

“We’ll steal it.” [Ryner]