In the darkness that shackled her mind, Hayumi woke up in a place filled with emptiness.
"What... am I dead?" she said, while trying to stand up.
She was walking in a place full of emptiness, but suddenly there was a mysterious voice that made Hayumi immediately look back.
There was a woman in a short dress, her eyes covered with a dark cloth. In her grasp was a shiny katana unsheathed.
"Oh... I already know a lot about you," the woman walked past Hayumi.
After the woman passed Hayumi, Hayumi suddenly couldn't move, she felt like her body was frozen in place.
"Wait! I can't move my body, what's going on?" muttered Hayumi.
At the moment Hayumi froze in place, the woman just smiled while turning her back on Hayumi.
"You still have a long way to go, maybe we'll meet again some other time," said the woman.
Suddenly Hayumi's body was hit by multiple slashes from various directions, which made her body explode.
Suddenly Hayumi jerked awake. Her breath caught, she felt the slash was real, soon a girl wearing a white doctor's coat entered, carrying a cup of herbal tea.
"Wow... You're awake, thank goodness," the girl said as she placed the cup of tea on the table.
"Huh... my body hurts." replied Hayumi, she tried to get up from the bed.
"Eh don't push yourself, your wounds haven't healed yet," said the girl, her hand pushing Hayumi's chest to stay lying on the bed.
The girl looked at Hayumi and she began to introduce herself.
"Oh yeah, my name is Naomi Minerva, if you want to call me Naomi ok?" Naomi took the cup of tea that was previously on the table, she immediately gave it to Hayumi.
"I'm sorry for making trouble for you," said Hayumi.
Hayumi immediately drank the tea water, then her eyes glanced out the window, which seemed to be very different from usual.
"Where am I now?" asked Hayumi.
"Oh, you're at the Sword Society headquarters," Naomi replied in a soft tone.
In the middle of their conversation, a man with a middle-parted hairstyle and wearing a long suit entered, which Hayumi immediately knew who the man was.
"Brother?" said Hayumi.
That person was Julian Knight, Hayumi's biological brother, before Hayumi could speak, Julian immediately asked about Hayumi's condition.
"Hey, are you okay? I was worried about you," asked Julian worriedly.
"I'm fine, but... I'm sorry brother, the suitcase was destroyed," Hayumi said regretfully.
"Hahaha, it's okay, the contents are safe, you just rest first, oh yeah tomorrow there is a special surprise for you," Julian stroked his sister's head then left the room while waving to his sister.
"See you tomorrow!" Julian exclaimed excitedly.
Hayumi who saw her brother could only shake her head, then she looked at Naomi for a while.
"What do you think there will be tomorrow if I may know?" asked Hayumi curiously.
"Oh for now I can't tell you, you just wait tomorrow and today you have to get enough rest, I'm also there to watch over you," Naomi replied gently.
Naomi also stepped out of the room and left Hayumi alone, where Hayumi could only lie on the bed while waiting for tomorrow.
The next day, Hayumi finally left the treatment room with Naomi, they passed through the hallway of the Sword Society headquarters which was very large.
"This place is really big, when will it arrive like this?" said Hayumi while looking around.
"Hahaha, you don't worry, we'll be there soon," Naomi replied.
The two of them arrived at the main room, the door opened and they stepped into the room, inside there was a woman in a white dress sitting on a throne, in the corner of the room there was also Julian who waved to Hayumi, as well as three other people standing next to the room.
"Welcome to the Sword Society future heirs of light, we have been waiting for your presence here for a long time, but before that let me introduce myself, my name is Luna, leader of the border branch of the Sword Society," Luna got up from her throne chair and approached Hayumi.
The three people also revealed themselves to Hayumi, they consisted of two men and one woman.
"Oh yes, the man on the left is Ryota Amatsu, the future heir to the Memory element, next to him is Reyshibe Takahiro, the heir to the courage element, and the woman on the right is Nana," Luna said while touching Hayumi's chin.
Hayumi was a little nervous there, she had glanced at the woman on Luna's right who seemed familiar.
"Thank you for the welcome, but what exactly is going on now? Why am I here?" asked Hayumi.
"Oh... about that huh? well I'll explain, the monsters that invaded the city yesterday were Arcebyss, they were created from the remaining black cracks and the remnants of the Archeons' power. They all come from the Alter world, where that world is the place where the Arcebyss came from, as for how you can be here, it's because you have the blood of Aether's descendants," Luna explained before Julian finally came closer to the two of them.
"I'm sorry Hayumi, for not having time to tell you about all this, but you had a chance to see the contents of that suitcase right?" asked Julian while showing the ancient sword that Hayumi had used.
Hayumi was immediately shocked to see that the sword was still there in one piece.
"This sword..." Hayumi touched the sword.
"Yes, this sword is called Dawnbringer, this sword is proof of your worthiness as the heir to the sword of light, where your blood drips onto the surface of the sword, which makes it react as if it has found its new owner" Luna explained.
It wasn't long before Ryota spoke confidently.
"Oh yes, the one who carried me here is me," Ryota said proudly.
Julian and Naomi were disgusted by Ryota's words.
"Heh, you even only brought his body, you forgot to bring his sword too," Julian mocked while playing with his sword.
In the middle of the argument, Luna just looked at Naomi who was behind Hayumi.
"Oh yeah I almost forgot, the girl behind you is the future heir to the element of Nature, while Julian knight is the heir to the element of the sea," said Luna.
"Sorry to interrupt you, Mrs Luna, I still don't understand the meaning of this sword and the element you are referring to, can Mrs Luna tell me everything?" asked Hayumi while holding the sword.
"Well, the sword has a long history, a long time ago powerful entities called archeons were sent down to the Reality World to help humanity, they represent several elements of life such as Justice, Intelligence, courage, death, destruction, chaos, Nature, Sea, Time, Memory, Dreams, Light, and darkness. But ever since the black cracks appeared, one by one the Archeons fell into an endless madness. Some of them are ambitious to satisfy their elemental lust so that their actions create conflicts with humans, others fall into madness due to the effects of the black cracks that make their sanity decline. As a result, the war between humans and archeons lasted for centuries, but some of the swords on the battlefield fused with the remaining power of the archeons. Thus creating a sword with the power of a god, that's the sword you're holding right now," Luna said, her hand pointing towards the sword Hayumi was holding.
"The sword you are holding right now, contains the power of the light archeons called Luminex, but remember he doesn't just submit, he will definitely test the owner's heart one day," said Julian.
Hayumi could only remain silent in that place, but her eyes still glanced at Nana.
"Well let's get to the point, the arcebyss that attacked the city yesterday was a combination of the remaining power of the chaos archeons and the black cracks. Although the city is now conducive again, the remnants of that monster were secured by Ryota," Luna said, looking at Ryota with confidence.
Ryota casually took out a small bottle containing meat from the arcebyss, visible traces of black liquid flowing on the surface of the meat.
"Well, this is all I can take, but don't worry, I've already found the location of the chaos archeons, just by sensing their energy." Ryota stepped towards the table and picked up a device, which brought up a hologram of an archeons form.
The form of the Chaos Archeons looked like an abnormal creature with only bones left in its body, it had many cracks, the cracks symbolising chaos.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you one thing Hayumi, this organisation aims to defeat the archeons and take their aether seed, the seed will be purified by transferring the elemental power in the seed into a holy sword," Luna said.
"So, a sword would be a vessel for the stability of the element?" asked Hayumi.
"Yep, so that the stability of the element is maintained and cannot possibly be touched by the black crack," said Luna while looking at Hayumi.
Suddenly the meat inside the bottle activated as Ryota placed the bottle back on the table.
"Oh, so it's reacting already huh?" said Luna.
"The chaos energy is strong," Reyshibe replied as she readied her sword.
"I feel like this energy is coming from the alter world, more precisely the Desert area," said Ryota.
"Alright... Julian, Nana, Reyshibe, I'm sending you guys to investigate that energy, and Hayumi you'll also be along for your first mission," Luna said, her hand pointing at Hayumi.
"Wait, what? I just recovered from an injury," Hayumi replied with an unconvincing expression.
"Take it easy, the sword will always protect you from various threats, the sword after my research turned out to have a regeneration effect, so don't hesitate to fight, Hayumi." Naomi showed Hayumi's health result document which read Recovered.
"Uh... well I hope I can," said Hayumi while nodding.
"I hope the mission is successful, I wish you all the best," Luna said before she sat back on her throne.
Hours later, behind the Sword Society headquarters, Hayumi stood in front of an old portal while holding her sword.
"Emmmm, so this is the way to the alter world? The portal is really ugly," Hayumi mocked before her hand ached from holding the sword for an hour.
"Hahahaha, even your hands can't hold 1 sword," laughed Julian, he then threw a sword sheath for his sister.
A few minutes later, the portal opened, Hayumi, Julian, Reyshibe, and Nana immediately stepped into the portal.
The four of them arrived at Alter World, precisely in the desert region where the weather was very hot.
"Wow, the weather here is really hot, the heat of Hayumi's room is far less," said Julian, while looking at Hayumi.
The four of them continued their journey through the vast desert until they finally arrived at a road that had two different directions.
"Hmmmm I think we should divide the team to explore these 2 roads, Nana with Hayumi, while I will be with Julian," said Reyshibe while giving directions to the three of them.
"Alright Hayumi, take care of yourself and don't be too nervous with Nana ok?" said Julian.
"Yeah-yeah, don't underestimate me big brother!" grumbled Hayumi.
They split up, where Hayumi was with Nana and Julian was with Reyshibe. On the way Hayumi glanced slightly at Nana, the girl was carrying a sword that looked like a Katana and was wearing an eye patch.
"Emmmm, you've been silent, aren't you listening to Reyshibe?" asked Hayumi.
"I'm listening anyway, I prefer to digest information through hearing rather than replying with nonsense speech," Nana finally spoke, her hand gently holding Hayumi's shoulder, guiding her steps so as not to be misdirected.
"Well well said, by the way from your appearance, I really feel familiar." Hayumi tried to remember her dream last night, but she only remembered briefly.
"Oh, so you think we've met before?" said Nana.
In the middle of their conversation, several arcebyss monsters suddenly attacked them both.
"Look out!" Hayumi immediately held Nana's arm and jumped to the side to avoid the monster's snarl.
When Hayumi got up and prepared to fight, several Arcebyss were already dead from the slash.
"What the-" Hayumi immediately looked to the side, Nana was suddenly no longer beside her. "Where did she go?" Hayumi looked back to the front, and sure enough Nana was already in front of her while putting the katana into its sheath.
"Are you okay?" Nana reflexively slashed at the monster that appeared from behind her.
"This guy's crazy," Hayumi muttered.
Suddenly a swarm of Arcebyss charged from behind Hayumi.
"Stay right there," Nana pulled the handle of her katana and shot straight at the monster behind Hayumi.
With just one slash, all the arcebyss were split into two. Hayumi who saw it was immediately amazed and couldn't believe what she saw.
"What an amazing attack..." marveled Hayumi while trying to stand up and take out her sword.
"Thank you for the compliment," Nana replied, but she was suddenly knocked down by the tree in front of her. "Since when is there a tree in the desert?" exclaimed Nana, she immediately slashed the tree with her katana which made the tree fall.
"Emmm, looks like you need a bit of a handhold." Hayumi approached Nana and held out her hand for Nana to hold so that she wouldn't be misguided again.
"Sorry to trouble you Hayumi," Nana said while holding Hayumi's hand.
"It's okay, I like helping people anyway," Hayumi replied sincerely.
The two of them continued to walk along the road until they finally reached the end of the road, there was an ancient castle that was abandoned. behind them appeared Julian and Reyshibe, they had just arrived.
"Hey-hey you guys arrived earlier than I thought, good progress," Julian said while patting Reyshibe's shoulder.
"This place looks gloomy, the chaotic energy is already starting to be felt from here," said Reyshibe.
"Let's go in guys," Julian excitedly stepped straight into the castle.
"Brother! Patience first ih!" complained Hayumi, but she was forced to come in because she was also curious about the contents of the castle, followed by Reyshibe and Nana who were still holding Hayumi's hand.
Inside there, it turned out to be a battle arena that looked like a colloseum.
"Wow what a cool place, the vibes are really Roman" Julian admired while stepping towards the arena,
In the middle of the arena, a giant creature was seen hugging a spear weapon, its body was only bones that were still fused together, wearing a gladiator helmet on its head.
"There seems to be something strange about that creature," said Reyshibe.
"Ah, you're just overthinking," Julian replied.
The four of them descended to the centre of the arena and looked at the creature curiously and then touched it.
"Is this the container of Hycos?" said Nana while feeling the creature's bone surface.
"Huh? How do you know, you didn't see it," Hayumi asked.
"I feel the energy is still active, but..."
Suddenly the creature moved, Hayumi and the others stepped back.
"Damn we woke him up!" exclaimed Julian.
The creature got up, raised its spear and regarded Hayumi, Julian, Reyshibe, and Nana as enemies.
"The sound of the Archeons' rage" said the creature.
"What did he say?" Julian made an attack, his sword unleashing a giant water whale attack, but when the attack hit the creature, there was no great effect.
"He said, 'How dare you disturb the chaos? You will have endless misfortune!'" Nana said.
Hayumi, Reyshibe, and Nana took out their swords and directly attacked the creature, Julian who did not remain silent also attacked.
"So you're Hycos the Archeons of Chaos huh? Interesting," said Reyshibe while swinging her sword.
The creature spun its spear, willing to fight with burning fervour.
"We, the Descendants of Aether, will return the element of chaos to its rightful place! Prepare for your end, Gladiator!" Julian exclaimed.
———Continued———