Chapter 5 : Canyon Excalibur

[Japan]

In a canyon-like area, sitting on top of a tall boulder, was a red 2 story house with leaves and vines all around it.

Duri was walking beside Marshy, with Marshy leading the way.

Duri said, "This place is scary, Marshy."

"Stop being a baby, Duri. Doesn't get you anywhere in life. Being a soft ass is what messes you up. Doesn't matter if you like to fight or not, letting people run over you is a no no. We gotta stand up for ourselves and not be afraid of anything, we shouldn't let any bastard disrespect us."

"So...I can't let you be mean to me?"

"That's different. Respect your elders."

"But if you're mean, then It'll be hard to be nice to you."

"Respect doesn't have to mean being nice to people, Duri."

"Oh.."

"Now when we get in here, don't touch anything. Don't speak or ask a bunch of questions unless talked to first, got it?"

"Got it."

Duri and Marshy got to the front door of the house, and Marshy knocked a couple times.

No one answered, and Marshy kept knocking.

"Helloooo? Oi, Mifu! Open up ya old ass!"

Marshy kept knocking, and still no one answered.

Marshy immediately kicked the door down, and said, "I said open up!"

Inside of the house, stood an old man with a long white beard, and long white hair that was covering his eyes. His name was Mifu, used to be a weapon forger for the inhabitants of the Garden realm, making extremely powerful weapons with the resources and mythical items that he's won from tournaments or already had.

Mifu said, "Marshy!"

Marshy replied, "What?"

"You're seriously asking that?"

"Just because you're my grandfather doesn't mean I can't kick your door down. You didn't answer quickly enough."

"This is the 12th time you've done this."

"Don't care."

"You could've called to let me know you'd be here beforehand."

"Why?"

"Why?!"

"I'm kidding. I need your help."

"Lemme guess, it's about this kid right here? You NEVER show people where I am. You've NEVER brought people to my domain."

"Obviously. Please."

"Marshy…? Saying please..? Fine, come in."

"Great."

Marshy grabbed Duri's hand, and they walked into the house.

Seconds later, Marshy and Mifu were sitting on the red couches, as Duri was walking around looking at the artifacts that were displayed in Mifu's house.

Duri's eyes dazzled at some of the stuff, some objects were glowing.

Duri said, "So cool…"

Mifu said to Duri, "The things you are looking at are things that I've won from the tournaments here. I need most of them so I can forge and merge more powerful weapons and spread them across my family, all so they can be protected and well equipped for anything that comes by."

"Ooo! You fight? Do you wanna fight me?!"

"Haha, kids are something. No, I don't wanna fight you, more or less hurt you. I still have to heal you."

"I can take it."

Mifu looked at Marshy, and asked her, "What the hell have you been teaching this kid? He acts just like you."

Marshy responded with her hands slightly up, "I-He was like that when I found him. Little bastard stole my bagels with a smile on his face."

"Mm. That birthmark on his cheek...I don't recognize it. Did you ask him about it?"

"No, I didn't."

Minutes later, Mifu had Duri in front of him, shirtless. Duri's back was turned to him, and he was looking straight at Marshy.

Marshy and Duri were just staring at each other, and Marshy thought, 'This boy…why do I feel like I've seen or met him before?'

Mifu spoke to Duri, "Alright. Duri, I'm gonna need you to breathe peacefully, okay?"

"Oookay."

Duri took a deep breath, and Mifu put his hand on Duri's back.

Mifu thinks, 'The scars on his back...the bruises...on a child so young...I can tell he is a fighter. I can see the Titans' power inside of him…what is he really?'

Duri's body began to heal, and his arm began to mend back together. 

Duri released a sigh of peace, and he smiled, looking at his arms. 

Duri smiled, "Awesome!! Can I do that?"

"Haha, only if you are born a healer, or have gained the power from a tournament win."

"Aww man. I can't wait until I'm 15! I wanna join the tournaments so badly. I could get a lot of cool stuff! Probably some great stuff that I can use to destroy Zabel and his realm!"

"Wow….that went dark. Um, yeah. Do you know anything about that birthmark on your face?"

"I like it. It's cool. But when I used to train with the other kids, they called me birthmark boy, and some of them laughed at me. But I only had one friend that defended me, and one guy who took care of me. Jae was dead. So I killed the guy who killed him. I don't know if Band or the other guardians are alive, but I don't really care."

"Care..?"

"I know what they used us for. I know why they trained us. I can hear very well. Pretty cool, right? I just remembered it though. Maybe it was because I had transferred worlds, my memory was a little...crazy."

"What were they going to use you for?"

"To kill people. To destroy other places. That's not a nice thing to do. That's what bad guys do."

Marshy asked Duri, "Is your father alive?"

"I never met him, so I don't know him. I hope to know him one day. Just like my mother."

"The Shadow realm raised kids to turn them into killers, just to ravage upon other realms?"

Mifu replied, "I always knew there was something up with them."

"Oi...grandad, I need to talk to you about something too. But I don't want...HIM...to hear it."

"Mmm. Come into my office."

Marshy handed Duri her phone, and stood up, saying, "Here, this will keep you from running around and touching shit."

"What is this?" Duri asked, taking the phone from Marshy's hand.

Marshy responded, "It's called a phone. You can watch videos on it, play games, look at social media and news, and all sorts of shit."

"Ooo! Can I watch a fighting video?!"

"Sure. Tournaments are always live with people watching, there's one right now."

Marshy started tapping on her phone, and she turned it horizontally, handing it to Duri.

Duri took the phone, ran to the couch, and jumped on it, watching the tournament as Marshy walked away with Mifu.

On the phone, Duri was in awe with a smile, and he was watching a live tournament, with 3 hosts and an announcer standing in the middle of the square ring arena, with over 400 people in the crowd.

The announcer said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Xander Tournament! Today we have 10 fighters, all dueling for a spot in the prize match! Let's get this started!!"

The crowd went crazy, cheering and cheering on and on, and some people were making bets. 

They yelled:

"Let's go!!!"

"Keyan is definitely going to win this one! His record is 204-18!"

"Yeah he's currently ranked #180 in the entire world right now! Won some tournaments in other states too!"

"I heard the other fighters for this tournament are ranked pretty high too."

"Well this is gonna be a good match!"

More people were recording with their touch screen phones, going live on the Bloggerz app, gaining millions upon millions of views.

A minute later, there were people in the ring, fighting in a martial arts style, and even taekwondo styles. Punching, kicking, and smashing each other down with their fists and legs as the crowd rampaged in excitement.

A variety of powers were used, glowing and lighting type powers were loud, spreading colors and lights throughout the arena. 

The announcer yelled, "Wow! Look at them go! The powers these fighters are displaying are insane! So much blood!"

Duri watched, with his cheeks blushing, and his eyes glowing.

Outside, Mifu and Marshy were standing over the canyon and looking into the giant body of water.

Mifu uttered, "So that kid has told you everything. Interesting."

Marshy answered, "He's been through a lot. He came here bruised and broken. If the other hosts would've encountered him and made any sudden movements, then there would've been a fight. I don't want them trying to start anything with that brat. But I wouldn't blame them for being on guard."

"...Hoh?"

"What? What the hell are you looking at?"

"You care about this kid, don't you?"

"I don't, no. I just get this weird feeling when I'm around him. I feel like I've seen him before."

"Well...I know how things went between you and your old husband..and about children.."

"Granddad. I don't wanna talk about that anymore. It took me years to forget what that bastard has done to me."

"I'm just trying to tell you that it's not too late, Marshy. You care about that boy, I can see it."

"I DON'T."

"Then why did you bring him to me?"

"Because…"

"Because?"

"No one else was doing shit. And what did you mean by, 'It's not too late?' Huh?"

"To be a mo-."

"Say mother, I dare you."

"Marshy...I just want you to be happy. I want the boy to be happy. He's a child, a fighting child, with a strong ambition to destroy Zabel for massacring his people and his friend. He is A LOT like you. And him being here could be a big help."

"No."

"No?"

"I won't let the hosts take advantage of Duri or use him for any type of secret missions or some shit like that."

"SEE?! YOU CARE!"

"I'M SORRY I CAN'T HELP IT. There's just something about him...he does remind me of me. Brutally honest, loves fighting, and trains like hell."

"You're the only one who can guide him the right way, since you two relate. Zabel wants to use Duri's power to get the All Seeing Eye weapon with the We All Live ability. If Zabel kills Duri, then we'd all be under Zabel's control. Duri will be under our protection once we let the hosts know what is going on."

"What are you trying to say, Mifu?"

"Take care of him."

"By taking care...you mean.."

"He has no one else. He's come from a place where they were trained to do bad things, and I'm sure they didn't know what they were really getting trained for. He's been through a lot. And based on what you've told me, he's been training his ass off to be strong enough to have fun fights, and he wants to be strong enough to beat Zabel."

"You want me to adopt this kid?"

"It's not what I want. It's what you want. He needs guidance. This is exactly how I ended up taking care of you. You came from the Garden realm and into earth, and I took you in. And then we realized we were actually related by blood, it made it all make sense."

"Mifu.."

"I know you'll have to deal with the hosts first and get their approval, but I'll vouch for you just so you can take the kid under your wing. YOU can make Duri stronger, strong enough to take down Zabel, just so this world isn't taken captive and mind fucked by Zabel."

"Took the words right from my mouth."

"Titans have creation powers and manifestation powers within them…"

"Everyone in the Garden realm basically cultivates to reach the highest level of that power, creating the tournaments and magic prizes are only a small hint of it…"

"But the weapon Zabel wants to merge Duri with, is a weapon that tamed and controlled beasts. Combining Duri's power with that weapon will basically skip all of that cultivation and grant the weapon wielder full access to creation and manifestation, creating new minds to fit Zabel's likeness for everyone."

"And that's how he's gonna use Duri…"

"Now you see how important this is."

"Adopting him is gonna be hard. I've never taken care of a child before."

"But you wanted to. For years."

"I couldn't have children, you know that."

"I know. That's why I said it isn't too late to be a parent."

"Eh...whatever. Listen, I need you to go through his memories, there's other things I wanna see."

"Marshy, you know what that does-."

A voice from a distance yelled, "Oi!"

Marshy and Mifu looked to the right, and the canyon under them exploded into a large crumble of rocks and dust.

Marshy and Mifu jumped onto another part of the canyon, with more rocks falling into the water.

Beside Marshy, the rocks began to swirl up and connect with each other, going up into the air.

Marshy said to Mifu, "As expected. They're here."

"You LURED them here?"

"Yep. Smart plan right?"

"No! Not okay! I don't feel like moving again!"

"Oh come on, you have an orb that lets you teleport you and your stuff."

"Yeah so?!"

In the air...it was Conan and Akane.

The rocks that flew upward started to wrap around Conan's fist, and they even formed a vest and helmet on him too. The rocks started to glow red, and Conan's blue tattoos were lighting up. 

Conan and Akane landed feet first in front of Marshy and Mifu; Akane was holding a black Katana with black smoke coming from it, and it had gold eyes on it, and Akane's black hair was flowy and defying gravity.

Marshy went, "Well, well, well. Look what we got here."

Mifu whispered to Marshy, "This is all your fault."

"Shut up, no it's not."

Conan laughed, "Marshy, you do not deserve the Excalibur scythe. That weapon belongs to the ones who actually worked to get stronger, stronger to wield a weapon that power."

Akane added, "We will be taking that weapon to the Garden realm, and acquire the powerful artifacts for ourselves for more and more power, for us, and for our family. The weapon has the power of serious destruction."

"Our ancestors craved a weapon like the Excalibur. Mifu may have forged it, but it does not belong to the ones who don't deserve it, the ones who aren't humble enough to see their own sins, and accept that they are not worthy of anything higher than them."

Mifu stated, "I created the Excalibur for Marshy only. You two are full of greed, wanting to abuse the weapon just so you can fight your way through everyone, trying to gain more power. Why not join the tournaments?"

Conan chuckled, "HAHA! The tournaments take too long! We want our promised power instantly!"

Conan and Akane smashed his fists together, and ran fast over to Marshy and Mifu 

Marshy walked forward, saying, "I can't use Excalibur right now, not when the kid is around. But I'll fuck you guys up. Mifu, stay back."

Mifu said, "Marshy…"

Conan screamed, "HAHA! YES! PLEASE BRING OUT THE EXCALIBUR!"

Marshy pointed at Conan and Akane, and chanted : "Boom."

A loud shockwave of energy and wind blasted from Marshy's finger, and the shockwave blasted some water into the air, and it sent Conan and Akane flying, backwards, soaring over the bay of water.

Marshy looked at Mifu, and instructed, "Can you please make sure Duri doesn't come out here? Even though you healed him, it's not wise to fight as soon as you get healed. Duri's wild ass is gonna wanna get in on this."

"Marshy be careful, those two are strong."

"Oh yeah? I'm stronger."

Marshy leaped 40 feet into the air, pushed off of it, and darted over to Conan and Akane.

Marshy was above Conan already in an instant.

Conan used his glowing red rock fists to try and throw really fast punches and Marshy.

Marshy dodged them all, grabbed Conan's arm, spun around, and punched him in the middle of his face, making him crash through a canyon wall. 

Akane yelled, "No!"

Akane zipped up to Marshy with her katana and almost cut Marshy's head off. Marshy leaned back and dodged it, but when she looked at the eyes on the katana, Marshy was paralyzed for two seconds.

'I can't move?!' Marshy thought as she was falling to the ground.

Marshy and Akane landed in a dry spot at the bottom of the canyons, and they stood in front of each other.

Marshy thinks, 'So those eyes on her sword paralyze someone for a mere two seconds. My shitty guess is that the duration of the paralysis depends on how strong or weak the target is. Therefore, I gotta keep my eyes off of her weapon and aim for her head and bash it into the ground. Okay that's too dark, but yeah.'

Akane exclaimed, "I see you brainstorming over there. Trust me, we didn't come unprepared."

"Did you make sure to get here first before you-know-who shows up? I kinda know both of you want my sexy ass weapon of mass destruction."

"You planned this?"

"Yep!"

"Figured as much."

Marshy raised her fist up with a grin, a circle of wind surrounded her knuckles and arm, and she punched the ground.

The ground blasted apart immediately, breaking all over the place, knocking Akane around and around. Water from the other parts were coming into their area, and Marshy and Akane leaped at each other, ready to fight again with the water rampaging under them in a horde of boulder chunks.

Conan was watching from a distance, and he was running over there quickly at 80 miles an hour. He was growing larger, standing at about 15 feet tall, and he was getting more muscular.

'We will be stronger...more powerful...we will..'