novelraw Chapter 65: Birth of a Legend!
Chapter 65: Birth of a Legend!
The blue water of the Pacific was a lie. For three days after the sealing of the Sunken Library, the Kashima Maru had sailed through a sea that looked clean to the naked eye. But Ren Hanshin knew better. He sat on the edge of the forward observation deck, his obsidian eyes fixed on the horizon. He didn’t need the Weaver’s sight to know that the rot hadn’t been defeated, it had simply gone underground or rather, under-wave.
Ren’s body was a map of white scars. The amber cracks had faded, but the weight he had felt during the final confrontation with the Behemoth remained. He felt slow. Heavy. Every time he closed his eyes, he heard the rhythmic thumping of a heartbeat that didn’t belong to him.
[Synchronization: 49.0% (SEALED)]
[Divine Mana: 0.12 / 150]
[Condition: Extreme Fatigue]
He was a hero to the two thousand people on the Iron Fleet, but to himself, he was a man running on fumes. He reached into his coat and pulled out the wooden spoon. It was chipped now, the cedar worn smooth by his constant, nervous rubbing.
"The wind is changing, Niisan." Haru walked onto the deck. She looked healthier, the grey streaks on her neck had vanished, but her sapphire core was pulsing with a sharp, jagged rhythm. It was the frantic blinking of a warning light.
"It’s cold," Haru whispered, shivering despite the thick wool coat she wore. "But it’s not the air. It’s the water. The water is... angry."
Ren stood up, his joints popping like dry wood. He looked down at the sea. The navy blue waves were suddenly turning a deep, bruised purple. Large, oily bubbles began to break the surface, releasing a scent that made Ren’s stomach turn. It smelled of old iron and drowned lungs.
"Kaito! Tanaka!" Ren roared, his voice cutting through the morning quiet. "Sound the alarm! Man the harpoons!"
Before the siren could even let out its first wail, the ocean exploded.
****
A mile ahead of the fleet, a massive shape breached the surface. It was a warship. It was a gargantuan galleon made of blackened, fossilized bone and reinforced with plates of rusted iron. Its sails were not cloth, but sheets of translucent, grey skin that caught a wind no human could feel. At the prow, there was a figurehead, a weeping woman whose eyes leaked a constant stream of liquid salt.
This was the Dread-Sovereign, the flagship of the Admiral of the Sunken.
"He’s here," Ren whispered, his hand going to the hilt of the Kusanagi-Vessel.
The Dread-Sovereign fired "Grief." A wave of sonic pressure hit the Kashima Maru, a low-frequency moan that evaded the ears and vibrated directly into the souls of the crew. Men fell to their knees, clutching their heads as memories of their dead loved ones flooded their minds. The engines of the ship sputtered, the fire in the boilers turning a sickly, necrotic green.
"Niisan, I can’t... I can’t keep it back!" Haru cried out. Her sapphire light was being crushed by the sheer presence of the Admiral.
A walkway of solid ice and bone shot out from the galleon, spanning the mile of ocean in seconds. Standing at the end of the walkway, stepping onto the deck of the Kashima Maru, there was the Admiral.
[Name: Admiral Varos]
[Type: Legendary Avatar of Death]
[Threat Level: Calamity]
He was a giant of a man, seven feet tall, wearing a tattered naval uniform from a century ago. His skin was the color of a drowned corpse, and his eyes were two glowing lanterns of violet fire. He carried a cutlass made of a single shard of obsidian that seemed to drink the light around it.
"Ren Hanshin," the Admiral spoke, his voice sounding like the grinding of ship hulls. "The boy who thinks he can close the door to the grave. My Master was impressed by your technique. But I am not my Master. I do not grieve. I will execute."
Ren stepped forward, leaning on his staff. He felt like an ant facing a mountain.
"You’re late, Admiral," Ren rasped. "The Library is already sealed."
"The Library was a room for scholars," Varos said, raising his obsidian blade. "The ocean is a battlefield for sailors, and you, little porter, are out of your depth."
Varos moved. He moved like the Flow of the Tide. One moment he was ten feet away, and the next, he was in front of Ren’s face, his blade coming down with the weight of a sinking continent.
Ren raised his staff.
CRACK!
The wooden staff, the one Jubei had given him, shattered into a thousand splinters. The obsidian blade sliced through Ren’s shoulder, the necrotic energy instantly turning his blood into grey slush.
Ren flew backward, slamming into the bridge housing. He hit the steel wall with a sickening crunch, his synchronization unable to absorb the impact of a Legendary Avatar.
"Ren-sama!" Tanaka lunged with his sword, but Varos didn’t even look at him. He backhanded the hunter, sending him spiraling across the deck like a ragdoll.
Ren tried to stand, but his legs wouldn’t obey. The grief-load he had carried from Shinjuku was acting like an internal anchor, pinning him to the deck. He watched, helpless, as the Admiral walked toward Haru.
"The Sapphire-Heart," Varos said, his violet eyes glowing. "A beautiful shine. My Master will use you to light the path for the Great Crossing."
"Don’t... touch... her," Ren wheezed, his vision fading into grey.
He reached for the Kusanagi-Vessel, but his fingers were frozen. He saw Varos raise his hand, the necrotic grey mist swirling around Haru’s throat.
This was it. The limit of the Human path. Ren had fought with everything he had, his dirt, his iron, his memories, and it wasn’t enough. The Sovereigns didn’t care about his resolve. They only cared about his power.
[Synchronization: 49.0%]
’I can’t save her.’
The thought was a cold, sharp blade in Ren’s heart. He looked at Haru’s terrified face. He saw her sapphire light flickering out.
’I will do anything.’
Ren’s mind didn’t go to the Earth this time. It went to the sky. He reached into the void where he had hidden the Weaver’s thread.
’Goddess of Fate...’ Ren thought, his ego breaking under the pressure of his failure. ’Help me. Save her. I’ll give you the rest. I’ll give you everything.’
****
The world stopped. The salt-mist froze in mid-air. The Admiral’s hand stopped inches from Haru’s neck. The screaming of the crew fell silent. Ren wasn’t on the deck anymore. He was standing in a field of infinite, crimson silk. The Weaver stood before him, her face obscured by a veil of starlight. She wasn’t angry. She was smiling.
[God of Fate]: Finally. The porter has realized the weight is too heavy for him. You want to save the sister? You want to kill the admiral?
"Yes," Ren said. His voice was no longer his own. It was a hollow, echoing sound.
[God of Fate]: Then owe me, my Kind. No more lies, you are my executioner. You will listen to my words no matter what happens... and in return.... Hahaha... Haru Hanshin will never be touched by death. This is the oath of the Goddess! Hail, My King!!!
Ren looked at the single, glowing thread of blood-red silk hovering in the air. To touch it was to lose Ren Hanshin forever. To refuse it was to watch Haru die. Ren didn’t hesitate. He reached out and grabbed the thread.
RIP!!
The seal was incinerated, instantly.
****
Back on the Kashima Maru, the Admiral suddenly recoiled. He felt a change in the air, a shift in the fabric of reality. Ren Hanshin stood up.
He didn’t use a staff. He rose like a ghost, his body shedding the white scars and the grey salt-skin. His hair exploded into a long, flowing cascade of pure starlight and crimson silk. His eyes were no longer gold or obsidian. They were twin singularities of terrifying red.
[Synchronization: 49.0% -> 55.0%]
[Divine Mana: 150 / 150 (UNSTABLE)]
"Niisan?" Haru whispered, her voice trembling.
Ren didn’t look at her. He didn’t even seem to hear her. He turned his gaze toward the Admiral. The air around Ren began to turn into silk. The steel deck beneath his feet unraveled into thousands of tiny, red threads. The intent radiating from him was so cold that the necrotic mist of the Admiral began to freeze and shatter.
"You said... I was out of my depth, Admiral," Ren said. His voice was harmonic that made the ship’s windows explode.
Ren raised his right hand. He simply pinched the air between his fingers.
SH-RIP!!
The Admiral’s obsidian cutlass, a weapon made of a Sovereign’s will, snapped like a dry twig. Varos roared in shock, lunging forward with a fist of necrotic energy. Ren didn’t dodge. He walked through the attack as if it were a light breeze. He reached the Admiral and placed a single finger on the giant’s chest.
"Seventh Form - Final Eulogy."
Ren didn’t manifest a scythe. He became a scythe. A pillar of crimson starlight erupted from Ren’s finger, piercing through the Admiral, through the Dread-Sovereign, and through the ocean floor itself. There was only the silent erasure. The Admiral didn’t scream. He simply unraveled. His fossilized bone, his tattered uniform, his violet fire; all of it was turned into red silk and filed away into the void.
The Dread-Sovereign galleon followed, the massive ship of bone dissolving into a cloud of starlight that the wind carried away.
In ten seconds, the threat that had been about to end the fleet was gone. The ocean was quiet. The grey mist was suppressed.
Ren stood in the center of the deck, his starlight hair drifting in the wind. He slowly turned toward Haru. Haru took a step back.
Her brother’s face was perfect. His skin was like porcelain, his features sharp and beautiful. But his eyes... They were empty. There was no warmth in them..
"Niisan?" she asked, her hand reaching out.
Ren didn’t take her hand. He looked at her as if she were a piece of the architecture, something to be protected, but not something to be loved.
"I belong to god now, Haru," Ren said, his voice flat and melodic. "Death cannot touch you now."
Ren turned and looked at the horizon. He could see them now. The God of Death. The God of Wealth. The God of War. They weren’t just shadows anymore. They were targets.
[God of Fate]: Well Done, my Executioner. The admiral was just a messenger now. Let’s go to Necropolis. We need to kill a Sovereign now!
Ren walked toward the bridge, his footsteps leaving glowing, red silk on the deck. Tanaka and Kaito moved out of his way, their faces masks of pure terror. They didn’t see their friend. They saw the god.