Chapter Ten: Your Name

Seven had soon traveled back to the real world as she saw Reiko in her shrine, making lunch. As Seven entered the shrine, she leaned the sword of dust on the wall before heading towards the kitchen.

"It seems like you came back early." Reiko said.

Seven would brush her long white colored hair a bit with her fingers. Though, she would approach Reiko and proceed to help her out with the food.

"Early? It felt like days." Seven responded.

Reiko giggled as she walked towards the stove and began cooking.

"It's only been 3 days, Seven."

"Oh, seriously?"

"Yep."

"Time is weird in that realm…"

"I know that, I just didn't bother telling you."

"... EH!?"

Seven would look at Reiko in shock. She knew this whole time about the realm of Dust, but she barely shared any information to Seven about it.

Traitor! Seven thought.

"There's nothing wrong with it, Seve-"

The conversation was soon interrupted by a loud bang. Seven and Reiko paused as they both looked up at the front door. Reiko's eyes would slowly glow as she could sense something bad just behind the door. However, Reiko turned off the stove and placed the half cooked food onto the other stove. She then approached her katana as she approached the door in stance.

"Grab the sword of dust, and head to the back of the shrine and exit out of the shrine. When you do, hide behind the green bushes just behind the dragon statue." Reiko demanded.

"I- But what's happening?" Seven asked.

"Just do it." Reiko replied.

Seven did as Reiko asked as she approached the sword of dust and grabbed it. She soon rushed towards the back of the shrine as a door was soon created just in the wall in front of Seven. Meanwhile, Reiko opened the front door of the shrine, only to see a black haired girl with just black eyes and a wide smile. She had sharp claws and looked horrifying if citizens saw her.

"Hello there," the girl said.

"Who are you? And what do you want?" Reiko asked.

"My name is Kyaku… I'm only here for one thing, Reiko. The girl." Kyaku replied.

"... Not a chance." Reiko said, as she immediately got into stance.

Seven would quickly open the door as she exited out of the shrine. She ran past the dragon statue as she jumped into the bushes. However, Seven soon realized that the bush she was hiding in had cut off her aura so that she wouldn't be seen or tracked down.

Seven used her sharp hearing, attempting to see what was going on. Though, she could hear walls crumbling, glass shattering, and even the sound of slashes being heard through the air. Though, no one heard but Seven. No villager in Yumehara mountain ever came to see what was happening. But as Seven continued to hear the battle, she heard a voice in her head. She could remember the voice as it was Reiko, speaking in her mind.

The shrine is no longer a safe place for you to be Seven…

What do you mean by that-?

You need to leave Yumehara Mountain and return home. Back to Li Yen. Our time together shall part ways now. But you will continue your journey. Alright?

What if I can't? You're the only RTO I've seen other than myself. Who will help me?

You don't need someone to be RTO to help or guide you. Seven, well no… you have a name.

I do?

Yes. But… you don't need someone to be RTO to help you, you have your friends and yourself. Now run. It's time for you to head back home. Goodbye, Aise Jugemu.

Aise would jump out of the bushes as her RTO energy was rapidly increasing. Her aura glowed white as Aise soon zoomed out of Yumehara Village at an immeasurable speed. Getting away from the mountain and back home as fast as she should. For once, someone was able to give Seven a name. No. Not a name. Her name. Aise Jugemu, it was.

Meanwhile, Reiko and Kyaku would still be battling in Reiko's shrine as Reiko had continuously used her space and time illusion to keep Kyaku remained in the house. Thousands of clashes and thousands of slashes could be heard, but none were injured. Kyaku was just as skilled as Reiko, but Reiko refused to increase her RTO, keeping herself slightly above level from Kyaku.

"Enough." Reiko said.

Reiko would launch herself up into the air as a bright blue circle had caught her from falling as she tilted forwards. The inside of the shrine quickly increased to the size of a mansion as Reiko soon had enough space to attack. The bright blue circle soon extended as there were 5 smaller circles inside of the large circle. The smaller circles would spin around as Reiko pointed her katana at Kyaku.

One of the circles would dispatch from the large circle as it formed into dozens of blades, duplicating and copying the design of Reiko's katana. The blades would aim at Kyaku in all directions as Kyaku did her best to dodge them all. But, the blades would continue to duplicate as the speed of the blades only increased rapidly as soon, Kyaku was trapped in all of the blades like a cell.

Reiko would soon spin her sword clockwise as she sent all of the other four circles towards Kyaku. One of the circles would go through Kyaku as it paralyzed her body, restraining her from escaping. Meanwhile all the other three circles would soon combine an attack as they aimed towards her. However, the circles were just illusions as Reiko slashed the illusion but it caused Kyaku to get slashed along.

Reiko appeared behind Kyaku, facing the other way as an unexpected explosion had happened. Reiko would get pushed back in surprise, but the explosion only doubled as it broke Reiko's time and space illusion. Causing the shrine to collapse with another explosion.

!!!!!

. . .

Aise would turn, looking behind as she would see the massive explosion from the Yumehara Mountains. Though, knowing how big the explosion was, Aise paused as she stopped running. She turned, facing the direction to Yumehara Mountain. Aise's face darkened as she could feel the guilt and anger running up her spine and into her head. But there was sadness along with it. She couldn't understand why she felt like this. Why she left Reiko alone to fight someone. Why Reiko let Aise go when Aise could fight alongside her.

I can't go back, can I? I have to run home. It's too late now… Aise sighed.

Aise turned to the direction of the city she was once in as she continued to dash towards it. Disappearing from the dark forest, leaving massive traces of wind.

. . .

It was day as Li Yen, Raijin, Owen, and Yuka were still looking for Aise. She was nowhere to be found. But even though it's been days, they continued searching for her or any simple traces of her. Li Yen contacted multiple cities and homes to see if they'd seen her, but they all had the same answers. As Li Yen walked out of her neighbors home, she was approached by Raijin and Owen.

"Where's Yuka?" Li Yen asked.

"She's at home asleep. Don't worry, I've made a clone of myself to keep her in check." Owen replied.

"I see… have you seen Seven anywhere?" She continued.

"No. Just like always… we're losing hope. She might just be dead." Raijin replied.

Li Yen frowned in disappointment. For weeks, she's been attempting to look for Aise, but she was nowhere to be found or even seen. It seemed like she disappeared or hid after the accident. Even though Aise had caused destruction throughout the city, the people had still forgiven her. They just didn't know she disappeared or possibly died.

Li Yen sighed, as she began walking back to her home as Owen and Raijin followed along.

As Li Yen, Owen and Raijin made their way back to the house, they paused as they looked up into the sky, only to see the sky turning into a dark red like the blood moon and a massive storm being formed in the city. Li Yen's face was in shock, but she knew that it wasn't Aise. It was someone else. Someone who mimicked Aise.

"What is that-?"

"A storm. We need to wait for a few minutes… I know what that storm is."

"That storm looks like Seven's… is she back?"

"No. It's not Seven. This is someone else, but someone who's copying her storm ability. Stay here. This storm will cover the city and infect anyone in it."

"But why can't we save the citizens?"

"There's no time, by the time we get to the city, we'll be infected along. We must wait for a short time before we can enter."

The storm would then cover the city as it rapidly swirled in circles. All of the citizens in the city screamed as they were soon infected and turned into merciless and emotionless living reapers with black colored cloaks. The screams suddenly paused as there were whispers mumbling something under the cloak. No one could hear the words they said unless they wanted something.

As the storm finished its procedure, Li Yen, Owen and Raijin quickly ran towards the city as they were easily able to enter in the storm. As they did so, the city looked darker as everything looked destroyed. There were small fires, and all of the colors just looked red. But because Li Yen, Owen and Raijin's colors stood out, they were completely noticed by the reapers. The reapers looked at the three as some of the reapers quickly surrounded the three. The mumbled whispers only made their ears hurt, but they attempted to not feel it.

"Don't kill any of the reapers, they're citizens underneath. Use your abilities to keep them away from you." Li Yen said.

"Their soul…" the reapers said out loud.

The trio would be in a circle as they got into stance. They each had each other's back if they were attacked or not. The reapers would surround the trio as they began spinning rapidly like a tornado. Now the three had no choice but to fight back.

Owen's eyes turned into a bright cyan blue as he stomped his foot onto the ground, causing ice to form on the floor before it raised up in front of the reapers, creating a dome. Raijin would summon his blade as Raijin would swing his sword, summoning multiple swords just around the insides of the dome. Meanwhile Li Yen would take out the Scar of Fenghuang hair pin as she put it on, making her hair turn white. As the reapers broke the ice dome, the swords would fire at the reapers. It wouldn't kill the reapers as instead the reapers were only pinned to the ground by their cloaks as the reapers struggled to get out.

The trio continuously fought the reapers as more and more reapers began to notice them and soon attacked them. The three tried their best and hardest to not kill any of the citizens that have been affected by the storm. Meanwhile, up in the sky was Kotohina, floating above the city. After all, Kotohina was behind this mess and knew she would cause Aise to come back. However, Kotohina would soon land just a few feet away from the trio as she decided it was her turn to knock all three of them down.

Li Yen would send a shockwave, pushing all of the reapers away as she soon noticed Kotohina. Her eyes widened in shock. Kotohina truly looked almost alike to Aise, but Li Yen knew who she really was. However, Kotohina was one of the strongest opponents Li Yen had ever fought, it took Li Yen a year to hunt Kotohina down and finally defeated her after another year. But with less time, she had to defeat Kotohina now. So Li Yen confidently summoned the phoenix blade as she slowly approached Kotohina.

"Find a safe spot in the city, I'll handle Kotohina." Li Yen said.

"I- Alright." Owen replied, as he grabbed Raijin and ran off. Away from Kotohina and Li Yen.

Kotohina would slowly approach Li Yen as they soon walked in circles, wondering who would attack first. But no one did. They didn't attack first, but they kept watch on each other. Just waiting, and waiting for the first strike.

. . .

Owen and Raijin would run into an alleyway as the reapers had quickly zoomed past the two. Though, Owen's right hand was injured from the battle as he was bitten by a reaper. However, the bite wouldn't infect Owen as it would only damage his health. Owen sighed in relief as Raijin cleaned the dust off of his sword.

"Over here." Raijin pointed.

Raijin would run down the alleyway as Owen followed. But soon, they had met a dead end. Raijin's eyes glowed bright red as Raijin was able to observe how to quickly escape the alleyway within seconds. He was soon able to see a transparent figure of himself climbing up the wall as he met the top of the building. A safe place away from the Reapers to not be caught or seen.

"Climb up the wall and the building until we reach the top. It'll be a safe place for us." He said.

"Are you serious?!" Owen replied in a panicked manner.

Raijin nodded as he took a few steps back before dashing towards the wall, and soon, Raijin quickly climbed up the wall as he continued without hesitation or even a break. After what Owen saw, he shrugged off his logical thinking as Owen followed Raijin. Climbing up the wall before the reapers could find them. As Owen and Raijin reached the top, Owen would wipe the dust off of his hands.

"Finally, made it to safety." Owen sighed.

"Who." Raijin replied, in a cold tone.

"Us of cour-"

Owen was interrupted by a sharp pain in his chest. He could feel something being stretched out of his skin. But he didn't realize what trap he fell for. As he looked down, Owen could see a blade filled with his own blood. However, Owen soon realized that he was stabbed by a blade. No. A sword. Raijin's sword.