To bear arms

~~0~~

Shortly after Alan fainted, his black vision was flooded with a crimson-colored mist. He found himself in an empty void with a transparent floor. Small waves of mist surrounded him, dampening his vision. Hoping to find something, he wandered around the place, only to find himself even more lost than before. "What the hell is this place?" He spoke out loud before sitting down on the ground. While thinking to himself, a familiar voice spoke to him.

"An interesting response to an unknown place." Alan heard the voice from behind him and turned to look. There stood Chronos standing next to a crimson-colored mist cloud. He had a pained expression on his face as black markings covered his body. "Though It hurts to be here." Chronos said in a depressing tone. He looked around as if he was looking for something. He then sighed and looked toward Alan. Alan stood up and walked towards the spirit.

"I can assume that you know what this palace is?"

"Correct. This place is commonly known as the consciousness or dream world. We created the name. As unoriginal as it may seem, to us it just seemed fitting." Chronos drifted around Alan. The black markings grew larger. "This place is only accessible to those who can sense or wield nanomasses." He drifted back to the crimson mist that seems to have faded away. "So you are here…." Chronos tried to grab the mist. However, just before he could touch it, it vanished. Chronos sighed. "These clouds are unmanifested weapons, to put it bluntly." Another misty cloud appeared next to Alan. "Reach your hand inside and pull."

Alan walked towards the crimson mist and as he approached it, it shone much brighter than before. "So I just need to put my hand in here, right?" Chronos nodded. After a few seconds of thinking, Alan stuck his hand into the mist. Upon doing so, he felt a painful jolt running across his hand until the moment he reached something solid stuck inside. He pulled at the solid object until it loosened. As it became loose, Alan, who was pulling with a lot of force, lost his balance and fell over, sending a blade hurtling towards Chronos. Chronos caught the blade, then looked at Alan and sighed. The blade sizzled in his hand.

"Still rejecting me." He muttered. "For someone dead set on saving others, you sure have a lot of embarrassing moments," Chronos said while shaking his head, then turning his attention to Alan's blade. It was a two-handed longsword that doubled as both a blade and a mini shield, as the blade was pretty bulky. The blade was rounded at the base, then curved into a straight tip. Within the base, laid a large crimson-colored gem. "The Crimson Princess. Not an original weapon, but another relic." Chronos said in a depressed tone. "This weapon was created through some...morally questionable methods, but it holds quite a lot of power." He handed the blade to Alan. "Too bad the soul inside is currently broken," he said quietly to ensure Alan didn't hear him.

After receiving the longsword from Chronos, he inspected the blade himself and noticed a strange emblem at the bottom of the hilt. The emblem portrayed a bird dripping with blood.

"What is this?"

"The emblem of the Crimson Wings." Chronos said, rubbing his black markings. "The Crimson Wings were a well-known independent military force whose primary goal was to stop the destruction of the world. But that's a story for another time, I suppose."

"Wait, how are you gonna say that then not continue?"

"Because you'll need to wake up soon. I sense a powerful presence nearby, probably that speedy fella. But there is another…" Chrono's body began to fade into an aqua mist. "Also, one last thing, to summon your weapon, you need to call upon mist and pull the blade out of it. I can't teach you how, but you'll just have to wing it."

After hearing that, Alan suddenly found himself in a darker place than the dream world. 'This is just within my mind now.' He thought to himself. "I guess I need to force myself to wake up now."

~~E~~

"Aieeee!" A loud pitched shriek was heard from the bathroom of Alan's place. "Why is there a large water bug in here?" A few hours have passed since the others had left Evangela to care for Alan. Upon finishing the hourly check-up, Evangela went to look for Alan's restroom. Once she found it, she went to lift the toilet seat, only to meet a surprise on the other side. A giant water bug had flown out of the toilet and onto the shower curtain. After being scared shitless by the water bug, she closed the bathroom door and fled to Alan's bedside. "Mmm…" she muttered uneasily, "I really gotta use the bathroom…" She sat down next to Alan, turned to look at his face, and noticed that he had stopped sweating and had a calm look on his face. "Looks like the medicine worked, hehe. You owe me one, you bully." She said while stroking through his hair.

While distracting herself from her need to use the bathroom, a mysterious voice snapped her back into reality. "Well, well, well, and here I thought somebody beat me to the punch with the way this door looks." The stranger said, entering through the door. Evangela turned to look at the visitor. "Hey there missy, don't mind me, I'm just a humble man in red here to complete a job. Too bad that the job had to be you since you are such a cutie." The man dressed in red said while moving closer. Behind the man was a red mist, and a few moments later, a small knife came out. "Here, let's make a deal. If you don't resist, then I'll stuff your body and preserve you in my trophy collection. How does that sound?" The man grew a devious grin as he walked closer, emitting enough bloodlust to freeze Evangela in complete terror.

Evangela could not collect her thoughts as she could only think one thing and one thing only: 'I'm gonna die.' Evangela blinked once, and the man disappeared. Unable to look around, she felt a tingle on her neck. Behind her was the red man, gently moving his knife across the nape of her neck. As the man continued, he suddenly stopped as if he found a sweet spot and attempted to thrust his knife into her, only to be stopped.

"!?" Unable to hold back his surprise, he leaped back and saw a crimson-colored mist surround the girl. "So you can use the nanomasses too, wait…" The man corrected himself after seeing a second figure appear from within the mist, "Tsk, so the collector's son had awakened, this might be a bit harder."

~~0~~

Appearing from the crimson mist came two people, Alan and Evangela. Evangela was still too scared to move from the spot she just nearly killed in, but she was more surprised by Alan suddenly getting up with a longsword in his hands. By the time the crimson mist fully dissipated, Alan took a defensive stance in front of Evangela.

"So we meet again, Apollo." Alan said while staring directly at Apollo.

"You know my name, yet I've never actually met you. That must mean that the rumors must be true about the pendant." Apollo pulled another knife out of the red mist. "Too bad for you, since you know how nanomasses work, I need to kill you too." Apollo leaped towards Alan with both daggers.

"LEFT!" An unknown voice had cried out. Listening to the warning, Alan braced his left side with his blade and deflected the oncoming attack, forcing Apollo to step back.

"You're fast for a beginner." Apollo took off his hat, "Now then, I should at least show you some respect as an opponent". A red mist cloud cloaked the room, masking Apollo's location.

"You don't know me," said the mysterious voice coming from his head. "But if you want to live, then trust me." Alan nodded as he was staring into the mist, looking for Apollo's shadow. As Apollo leaped towards Alan, the voice in his head gave him directions on when and where he was gonna strike and how to defend against it. However, no matter how spot-on these directions were, there was a complete difference and stamina between the two. "Wow," the voice said, "you are completely out of shape. There, grab the girl and jump out the window. He'll be recovering within the mist after the next hit." Unsure of what Apollo needed to be recovering, he heeded the voice's advice and deflected Apollo's strike. Small embers were erected from the clash and Alan was shoved back towards Evangela. Alan's clothes were burning from the attack. Seeing that the voice's prediction was correct, Alan grabbed Evangela and jumped out the window.

"Damn limitations!" Apollo said while biting his lip in frustration. He fell to the ground, grunting in pain. "These damn implants are completely inferior against actually gifted wielders. Nevertheless," he stood back up and looked out the window, watching Alan run off with Evangela, "not bad, kid. I don't know who or what was helping him, but those movements were his alone." Apollo opened an air console using an implant on his wrist. "This is Apollo with a report. The collector's son has made off with the target and judging by the direction they are headed, they aren't with the government as they are avoiding a police-heavy area."

"Understood. Your objective to kill Seamon's daughter is on hold for now. Your new objective is to watch over them from the shadows. I'm sure you have noticed, but that girl might just be a key. Same with that boy. Though if they make contact with the police for any reason, kill them immediately. We cannot take any more chances."

"Yes ma'am." Apollo closed the air console. "Now then, let us see whose side you are on. I am sure you have relived this day and know the playing field by now. Are you gonna be the hope of the world or the despair of the world, I wonder." Apollo disappeared into a red mist and his mist traveled out of the window.