Valley of Music

After grabbing the Burning Silver, Vektor jumps off the altar and lands next to Kder. Vektor and Maken then confront each other. Maken is very similar to Kder, except for the fact that his face and nose have different shapes, his vest is purple instead of light blue, and the details on his vest are slightly different. Even though he is injured, Kder tries to get up:"S- Stop... that, Hi... Hiroshi...""Oh... Seems like I underestimated your resistance."Vektor, even if nervous, manages to firmly say:"Hey, Kder, don't strain yourself! Keep quiet and let me handle this!"Maken starts talking to Kder:"Ha ha... You heard that, Katsuo? 'Let me handle this'... He really doesn't get the gravity of the situation. He hasn't even realized that he's going to die here!""You... aren't evil that way, Hiroshi... I'm certain... about this... You didn't... give up... You still... didn't lose...""Hm? What do you mean, I didn't lose?""Because you still... have your earring...!""...!"At that moment, Maken gets paralyzed for a few seconds, but then holds his broken sword tightly, not hiding the discomfort on his face."...I was planning to kill Drenn by activating the curse again and then leaving you to fight for your survival, but... I think I'll test the potential of this sword after you've broken it! And then you'll have to accept reality!"Vektor prepares himself for the imminent battle, while Maken quickly wipes the blood from his blade by swinging it in the air. Kder faints, while Maken says to Vektor:"Okay... I'll make sure to end this quickly.""Didn't you just hear me saying I wouldn't stand still...?!""Heh, will you try resisting like last time? If that's the case, come. Try to cut me down.""(If we start a fight here, Kder will be in danger, not to mention he'll also get in my way. I need to take us to another place somehow...)""What happened? I just said you can attack me.""No need to say it twice...!"Vektor charges at Maken and attacks him using his Burning Silver. As expected, the swordsman easily dodges by taking a step back. Without giving him a chance to counterattack, Vektor continues to attack incessantly, making Maken slowly move away from the altar by taking steps back.After pushing Maken far away from the altar, Vektor temporarily ceases his attack and steps back with a small jump. Without showing any signs of fatigue, Maken calmly says:"All of that just to make me step back...? Was that really your plan? What do you intend to do next?""Alright... Now that we're in a more open area, I think we can fight without holding back.""Fight...? You call this a fight? I didn't attack even once. All I've done so far was dodging your attacks, but even that's not much of a big deal against someone as slow as you... Do you really think you can even hit me with a single attack?""I don't know... I'll just have to try to find out. Besides, even if you can dodge any attack, good luck trying not to get burned...!"At that moment, Vektor decides to bet on his weapon's potential, and tries to concentrate his Etykiran energy into the Burning Silver, which ends up being surprisingly easy."...!!"Both Vektor and Maken get surprised to see Burning Silver's blade glowing red as it reacts to Vektor's energy. After the initial shock has passed, Vektor positions himself again and advances against Maken.This time though, Vektor's attacks are intensified by Burning Silver's flaming blade, simulating a dance of flames with each cut painting the air red.Feeling pressured by the heat of the attack, Maken decides to defend himself using his broken sword. Despite that, the swordsman realizes that any mistake would be lethal.With a simple counterattack, Maken manages to make Vektor drop his sword, which falls a few meters away from them. Unarmed, Vektor takes a strong knee to the stomach, which makes him kneel in pain. Taking advantage of his enemy's low guard, Maken prepares to stab Vektor in the head with his blade.However, at the moment to deliver his final blow, the swordsman's hand begins to tremble, and he hesitates in completing his mission, while showing disgust for himself:"Kh...!"Maken then lowers his weapon and decides to just step on Vektor's back to force him to fall to the ground. Defeated once again, Vektor tries to struggle on the ground:"Damn it! Take your foot off me!""You know what? I'll be merciful and give you 2 days.""Huh?!""Including today, you have 2 days to try to get stronger. Very kind of me, don't you think? No need to thank me.""Y- You...!"As he grabs a Shadow Crystal, Maken frees Vektor and walks away, saying:"When your time is up, I will reappear, and you will have your last chance to face me. I will be waiting, Vektor Drenn...""Wait!!"As Vektor gets up, Maken disappears as his body is swallowed by his own shadow, through the power of the magic crystal.Still in pain, Vektor takes a look at his surroundings and finds a trail that crosses the Valley of Music, which is probably the next destination on his journey.The Valley of Music is the name given to the central mountains of Netern Island, and is therefore the greatest natural heritage of the island. Each mountain in the valley represents one of the Etykiran families. The Dawn Plateau is considered one of them because it was the Drenn Mountain in the past. In the middle of this valley, there are ruins of war that were abandoned by the people of the island.After recovering from his pain, Vektor puts his new sheathe under his shirt, just like Kder does, and then uses it to store the Burning Silver, which he retrieves from the ground. He then returns to the altar, retrieves his medical equipment, and uses it to stop the bleeding from Kder's wound with an improvised bandage.Vektor carries his backpack as he decides to take the injured and unconscious Kder in his arms to the nearest hospital. To get there, he walks to the trail of the Valley of Music. Probably there is a village or town at the end of this trail. He continues walking until he finds a mountain full of caves, the Kageki Caves.Continuing along the trail, Vektor suddenly hears a beautiful instrumental song as he approaches three other mountains that make up the Valley of Music.One of these mountains is extremely tall, with a snow-capped peak: the Haidora Peak. The other mountain is not a mountain at all, it is just a grassy hill: the Great Noogard Hill, the tallest of the Wind Hills.The last mountain is perfectly measured, looking like a gigantic cone made out of earth: the Mount Sorang. This mountain has a steel spiral staircase to the top, where there is a power distribution station generated by wind power from the Wind Hills. At the summit, there is a huge antenna.Vektor is distracted by admiring the scenery and the background music, until the music abruptly stops, and his walk is interrupted by the shout of a young man:"Stop right there!"This man appears floating in front of Vektor. His appearance can be described as an ordinary citizen wearing very extravagant clothes. Well, he also has a pair of goggles on his forehead, so this makes him look more stylish to a certain extent. The man fervently says:"I won't let you go any further!""Huh?"Two other young men appear in front of Vektor, both of them being much more serious than the previous one. One of them is shorter than the other two, being only a little taller than Vektor, but still manages to be imposing, wearing a pair of sunglasses. This young man says:"This intruder is quite brave, to walk around calmly around here while carrying his victim..."The other young man is much taller and muscular, being almost 2 meters tall. His muscles are certainly those of someone who trains intensely every day without rest. His expression is firmer than the other two, but also more formal. After analyzing the situation, he calmly asks Vektor:"Hey, is this person in your arms... the legendary swordsman, Kder?""...Who are you?"The floating man excitedly introduces his team:"We are the guardian warriors of the Valley of Music, who soothe adventurers with graceful music and eliminate invaders with unsurpassable power!"The three young men then line up on the side. Each of them introduces himself, starting with the floating one, followed by the one with sunglasses and the tall, muscular one, respectively:"I'm Naoto!""My name's Hiki!""Noburo is my name."The trio's introduction ends with a proud chorus:"Together, we are the 4 Musicians!""(...Four?)

...Excuse me, shouldn't there be one more among you?"

Naoto replies:"Our leader won't appear to simple invaders.""Ah...""We, Musicians, are Unique whose job is to protect this place!""Unique, huh? So you're just like-""Now that you understand your sin, it's time for us to punish you for your actions!"Facing people so absorbed by emotion, it seems that trying to argue now won't do much good... Aware of this, Vektor rests Kder's body in a place a little further away from the trail and wields his sword as he drops his backpack on the ground and returns to the battlefield."Guess I'll need to do something if I want to cross this trail... Looks like I'll need your power again, Burning Silver!"Noburo is startled by what he sees:"He has the Burning Silver...?! I knew he wasn't normal when I saw Kder injured in his arms..."Hiki concludes:"Looks like we'll have to attack with our full power!"