Back at the beginning

He stuck his katana into the ground to keep himself from falling forward. He pulled it out and limped a few more feet.

It finally felt like the nausea he was feeling fighting Peko was starting to wear off completely. It was still headache inducing every step of the way.

He made it back to the village in the mountains, bloodied and bruised from battle. Feeling a small sense of relief having made it back, he collapsed right there on the road. Everything becoming a blur, the last thing he remembered seeing was the young kid from before.

…

As he woke, his senses were coming back to him. He was back in Castor's house. The top half of his outfit removed, and his wounds dressed. He covered his face to realign himself.

"Ryuma you're ok," It was Mera. Ryuma gave her a look of confusion. "We found you at the edge of the village. Is everything all right?"

Ryuma looked back. Once she asked, it all came rushing back to him. Everything he did out there. Arvent, Peko… even Geneo.

"It's over. All three of those bastards. They're dead. You don't have to worry about them anymore," Ryuma said.

Mera fell back covering her mouth. Whatever she wanted to say got choked up. After a moment of shock and awe, tears started welling up in her eyes. They began spilling over by the buckets.

Then, the wailing came.

Crastor came, knocking down his front door. "Mera! Is everything ok!?" He asked. She held onto him and continued sobbing. "What's going on?"

He looked at Ryuma for answers. Ryuma nodded. "I just told her, that Geneo Taku, as well as his underlings are dead,"

Crastor softened his eyes. "So you actually went through with it…" Ryuma didn't say anything. He didn't know what there was to say. "You do realize that there's no going back,"

Ryuma shook his head this time. "There was no going back regardless,"

"I wasn't talking physically," Castor said. He let that sink into his head for a moment. "You just took the lives of humans. You're not going to be the same after that,"

Ryuma let it stew before finally getting off the couch and leaving. He got out of the house and was immediately surrounded by the villagers.

"Oh my god, what happened?"

"Are you ok?"

They bombarded him with questions, and he held his hand up. "I know how you guys feel right now. I told you I'd kill Geneo Taku, and I have," They gasped and held their breath. A range of emotions washed over their faces,"

"Is it finally over?" One man asked.

"What's going to happen now?" asked a woman.

"Calm down. I'm going to be as clear as I can. Nothing's going to happen to you. I murdered them outside the village. If anything, the order will assume you guys had nothing to do with it. However, they'll know that it wasn't a demon that killed them. It's likely that their roles will be replaced with someone else,"

"You mean this nightmare isn't over!?"

"What was the point of this,"

The crowd started riling up. Ryuma held his hand again. "Calm down. I'll admit, killing Geneo was for my own vendetta against him, but we need to get back to the real world, nothing's changed. I don't know how bad the people who replace them is going to be, but I do know that if they're smart, they'll realize that I'm the one who did it. That should take suspicion off this village.

That seemed to calm them down a bit.

"I need you guys to keep calm. Hide the woman whenever and all times when the order shows up. Keep your heads down for now. Like I said, nothing's changed, but you have a fresh start. I just need you guys to survive until somethings change. We all will have to fight in our own way,"

They all looked around. There was still some confusion going around. The village leader finally showed up. "What Ryuma is trying to say, is that all of our labor will still be extorted for the time being, but now that we know what they're capable of, we can hide the woman away,"

"At least until I change things within the Skylands," Ryuma added.

The village started smiling amongst each other. Ryuma found it odd that hiding away and still getting extorted from the tithe collectors was enough to make them happy. They've been under rule for so long, they have a warped perception of what constitutes as a favorable position.

"Do you think you can change it?" One of the villagers asked.

"Well I…" Ryuma stopped there. He couldn't really answer that question. He almost died, fighting the lowest level of priest in The Order. There was a fuck-ton more of them than that… thousands of them. What could he do all by himself? As much as he'd like to say that there was something he could do, he couldn't lie to them. A man by himself, shining spirit or not, was limited.

If only Aeragis told him what his plan was in merging with him.

"Even if Ryuma doesn't believe in himself. I sure do," Castor said coming from his cabin. "Just like he said he would, he got rid of our tormentors. The least we could do is cover for him, protect our own, and wait. That should be enough questions for today. We know what we need to do, that should be all we need to know. Anything else is just curiosity,"

Ryuma felt a little grateful for his help. If ever they asked how he was going to do so, he wouldn't be able to produce a decent answer.

"C'mon. Follow me Ryuma. I want to talk to you,"

He was lead to the same clearing the two were looking at the night sky with. Ryuma was starting to feel a sort of solidarity with Castor.

"Thanks for that one Castor. I'm not really used to speaking to crowds like that,"

"I'm going to get straight to the point Ryuma. Do you think you can win?" Castor said.

Ryuma went silent. He lowered his shoulders and looked downwards. "I really don't want to answer this, but I'm going to be realistic. If I'm going to wage war against the very system I grew up under, I'd be doing it by myself against an army of people far stronger than the lowest level of combatants I just faced. And to top that off, the strongest amongst us pale in comparison to what the edicts are capable of,"

"I'm not asking you about what they have on their side. I'm asking about whether you think you can win,"

"To be frank… No. I will not lie to you. I need nothing short of a miracle every fight. They just have to be lucky once,"

Castor stared off into the distance. He knew it wasn't the answer he wanted to hear but it's all he had, at least until he had some time to think about his situation.

"To be honest with you Ryuma, when I'd heard that you'd succeeded in killing the tithe collectors, it wasn't relief that I'd felt. It was an overwhelming sense of joy that was inexplainable. I wasn't even aware that I'd hated anybody this much,"

Ryuma listened without word. Of course that was the case. The man has been sexually assaulting his wife for who knows how long. He couldn't judge him for his hatred.

"If only I could have done it myself… but as you very well know, we have no spiritual power down here. You can imagine how normal weapons pale in comparison to spirit weapons and their augmented abilities. Plus, even if by some miracle we do manage to win, we'd get overrun by apparitions. Spirit weapons are the only thing that work on those damn things and wiping out the only group of people capable of fighting back is just asking for extinction,"

{Apparitions?}

"I thought it was demons that…"

Before Ryuma could finish that Castor cut him off. "Ryuma. I know that this is a high burden to place on you, but I want you to be our rage against the heavens, for making such an unbalanced world,"

Ryuma stared at him again. In essence, he wants Ryuma to take revenge against the Skylands in his steed. He wasn't here to lie or to force his hand in any way. He was asking straight forward to turn against his homeland for somebody else's revenge.

"Of course, I'm not saying to attack the Order non-stop. I'm asking you to launch a rebellion. A rebellion of blades,"

This time, Ryuma's face changed to one of shock. "You said it yourself. How am I supposed to do that if people of the lower world can't make their own spirit weapons?"

Castor shook his head. "To be honest I don't know. Which is why you must make a journey. In this village, we're just a dinky village isolated from the rest of the world. If you start exploring the lower world, you might be able to find information that could accomplish that,"

{His plan… it's the same as Aeragis's.}

Ryuma gave a short bow. "Ironically, that's what I came down here to do. Thanks for reminding me. I'll be setting off tomorrow,"

Castor shook his head. "You don't have to thank me. Really… you shouldn't,"

Ryuma sensed a hint of sadness behind his voice. He didn't know what it was, but thought that after this whole ordeal, they could begin their healing.

"That's enough of that. C'mon, let's take it in for the night. You can stay with us,"

And so night fell, everyone was sound asleep. Only one lone figure in the dark of night, was hovering over the sleeping figure that was Ryuma Irgo.