Here goes nothing

We quickly went to visit Laura's house.

*Bam!*

The door shot open and Laura ran out looking stressed.

She had a few scratches on her hand.

"Hey what happened!?"

I quickly asked while Raijin quickly went to the door.

"Oh, Katsumi you're back! Uh, that person that you brought started wrecking havoc as soon as they woke up!"

I realized my mistake.

She was already extremely cautious, and she only seemed to be calm when she was with me. 

'Ugh, I should've stayed here until she woke up.'

"Sorry for the trouble. I'll try to fix it."

I quickly ran to the door and stopped before entering.

'Huh?'

The kid was in a corner with a sword behind her, as if trying to hide it.

And Raijin was apparently mesmerized because he was just standing around with his eyes widened.

"What is going on?"

The kid noticed me and her eyes widened.

*Step!*

She quickly ran at me and jumped at me.

'She's running at me?'

She was pretty fast and quickly reached me.

""Ah.""

[Activating skill: physical enhancement(D-)]

*Thud.*

I quickly protected my chest and got knocked down.

She clutched my chest and shook slightly.

'What the hell is going on?'

Raijin probably still in shook locked eyes with me.

"What's going on?"

******

It was nice.

After such a long time she felt that she was home.

But when she woke up she was in a strange place.

'Where?'

All kinds of thoughts traveled through her mind.

Home was gone and the one good person disappeared.

*Creak.*

"Ah, you're awake?"

An unknown lady entered the room.

'Who?'

The kid was cautious.

'Human!'

She quickly identified the person as a human and got up quickly. 

'Where?!'

Humans were untrustworthy. That belief was still ingrained into her.

She quickly saw a usable weapon and lunged at it.

"Ah!"

The lady was surprised and quickly backed away.

The kid ran towards the sword and took it.

Then quickly put it in a corner.

The logic was simple.

Human = potentially dangerous.

Human + weapon = even more dangerous.

"Grr!"

She looked at the lady menacingly.

"Ah, hey it's safe here. Please relax."

The lady approached slowly trying to calm down the kid.

"Grr!"

*Swipe!*

The kid's instincts told her to go for the kill.

But two things stopped her.

"Huh? Uh, we kill because they did something bad."

It was a small conversation right before she had to escape from her hometown.

"Oh, please don't kill without thinking though! That would cause way more trouble!"

The person she asked was a weird one.

"Hmm, that's hard to know. But in case you think you found good people don't kill them."

He didn't care much about killing humans but never wanted her to kill without a reason.

"Alright, promise me this. If you kill make sure you have a clear reason and never kill on just a suspicion. Only if you have solid evidence of their wrongdoing."

She didn't understand the last part but she understood the first.

And the other reason which happened more recently.

The encounter with something and someone that reminded her of home.

A small hope everything could come back to normal.

She knew if she killed this woman.

That could never happen.

**********

"S-saf-e!"

She barely said those words and my brain, finally working, realized what happened.

'Was she worried about me?'

*Pat.*

My parental instincts kicked in and I lightly caressed her head.

"It's alright."

"Waahh!"

Then she started to cry loudly.

I felt something out of place but ignored it.

'I wonder how I look right now.'

I remembered that I was now a girl and sighed internally.

I noticed that the kid had stopped moving and looked down.

'Sleeping.'

"Are you sure you're not a regressor? You already brought her here?"

Raijin looked at me with a complicated expression.

I decided to respond with a simple shake of my head.

"Anyway I should bring her back to bed."

I carefully carried her to bed and decided to ask Raijin a question.

"What do you know about her?"

Raijin sighed lightly.

"Quite a lot actually. Her tenacity eventually made her strong enough to survive without using corruption. And her rank was quite high. I was in a group with her for quite a while earlier on."

I nodded and realized something.

"Ah, remember when I said I sensed corruption from you?"

He nodded with a hardened expression.

"It's probably better to deal with that now rather than later right?"

He nodded but then his head tilted slightly.

"Do you know how?"

I shook my head.

"I think I do but I've never tried."

'The effect of my title and my authority.'

[Active title: Saviour of corruption(EX+)]

Details: You have saved your world from the otherworldly corruption! The few survivours can live in peace thanks to your sacrifice and power!

Active title effect 1: You will be able to resist the corruption!

Active title effect 2: You will be able to remove minor traces of corruption without your authority!

Passive effect: you will emit a minor aura of purification

[Authority: Slash that purifies(none)]

Details: An authority gained from saving the world from corruption.

Effects: A slash that purifies corruption and clears the mind.

'Hmm, I don't know how much corruption it can remove but it could be good.'

There was also a variable that could help massively.

'My current body.'

It was given to me by someone or something via the system.

"Oh, we should probably wait until midnight."

Raijin nodded without complaint.

'I guess I'll activate it now.'

[Activating: Broken watch(EX)]

[At 12 P.M and 12 A.M your avatar stats and skills will sync]

'I wonder what she wanted to do with that sword?'

I went to the corner of the room and moved the threaded sword.

'That reminds me. Is Jacob training right now?'

His sword was here so I went outside to talk to Laura.

"Everything is fine now, you can come in."

"Ah, that's great. Although I should probably find my bandages first."

Laura hurried inside and went into the bedroom.

I looked around some more and spotted Jacob.

He was running around the town.

'I guess he's working on stamina.'

Raijin stood next to me and looked at me.

"So, should we move away from town?"

I nodded silently.

We were walking both silent.

[Ding!]

[Broken clock(EX) has activated!]

[Your stats have been synced!]

[Your skills have been synced!]

"Alright, now I'm ready."

Raijin seemed to realize something changed and briefly examined me.

"Hmm, your mana improved..... now that I think about it. How are you so weak?"

"Huh?"

It was a genuine question, I knew that, but I couldn't respond properly.

"Uh, I mean, your skill is good and you seem experienced but your body is weak compared to your talent. Are you sure your not a regressor or something like that?"

I shook my head.

"I guess if I put myself into a category.... I would be a possessor?"

Raijin nodded as if he expected it.

"Yeah I guess that would answer it. Anyway should we start now?"

We were both relatively far away from town so no one would be in danger.

"Yeah, let's try."

[Equipping: Broken constellation's sword(S-)]

I pulled out my sword silently trying to focus.

[Activating authority: Slash that purifies(none)]

[Title effect activated: Saviour of corruption(EX+)]

*Hmmm*

The sword started glowing and was making a low humming sound.

'What is a slash that purifies?'

My authority. It was closer to a concept rather than a defined ability.

In other words, it was more fluid. 

'Then what makes it a slash? What is a slash?'

I was reminded of a question I got asked early on.

[Constellation fighting goddess is asking: What makes a sword a sword?]

'Huh? What's with this question?'

At that time my answer was pretty sophisticated due to reading webnovels and such.

"I guess it's an extension of a swordsman?"

"Like, it's the heart of the swordsman."

But when I was asked a follow up question I was stumped.

[Constellation fighting goddess is asking: Then what happens when a swordsman loses their sword? Are they no longer a swordsman?]

"Uh, I don't kno-? Ah, I'll be there! Sorry can't answer right now."

'A sword is a tool, an extension of a swordsman and a person that moves by the command of others. It's an item and concept that changes based on the person. There is never a solid answer.'

That was my conclusion.

And now I made another answer.

'A slash is something that hurts and protects. Yet again, there is no reason to have a definite answer.'

Why is the sky blue? Why is grass green?

Why complicate everything? Why find an answer to everything?

'Slash.'

That was why all my attacks didn't have unique names.

I don't need answers to everything.

*Swish!*

I cut down while my sword glowed brilliantly.

"Oh."

Raijin quickly tried to block last moment. Perhaps it was instinct?

*Cl-!*

*Boom!*

Raijin quickly backed away and glared at me.

"Raijin, look at yourself."

I looked at Raijin silently.

His eye was turning purple and his veins were showing. Not to mention the strange liquid pouring out of his eye.

"Ah, ha. So, is th-"

*Boom!*

A shockwave was released.

I was knocked back and barely caught myself by stabbing my sword down.

'What was that?'

I looked at Raijin and flinched.

His eyes were dark purple and the strange liquid poured down his face like tears. Not to mention his now dark purple arms.

[Activating skill: Physical enhancement(D-)]

He swung his arm.

I quickly lifted my sword to block.

*Boom!*

His power was incredible.

I was flung far away and hit a nearby tree.

*Bam!*

"Cough!"

'He's strong.'

A single attack was at least equal to a low S ranker.

I was at best a B ranker.

All I could do was try and survive.

I quickly tried to create distance but it was useless.

"You're pathetically weak."

He appeared right in front of me.

He punched quickly.

*Boom!*

I barely blocked with my sword and tried to think of a plan.

'What do I do now?! Alr-'

*Crack!*

A big crack formed on my sword.

'Huh?'

[Equipped item: broken constellation's sword(S-) has been destroyed!]

[Obtained item: Legendary sword shards(S+) 5x]

My sword became unusable and disappeared. 

All that was left were shards.

I stared at my empty hand dazed.

"Huh?"

I wasn't allowed time to think.

Raijin was charging an attack.

'Ah.'

I got ready to block the incoming attack.

Then I heard a distant sound.

*Tick, tock. Tick, tock*.

It was the sound of a pendulum clock.

The world rapidly lost colour and I looked around quickly and saw the cause.

I saw a man with white hair looking at Raijin silently.

"-."

I opened my mouth but no sound came out.

Something fundamentally changed between now and a few seconds ago.

But I saw his colours. He wasn't colourless. He was the creator of this space.

I looked at Raijin and realized he wasn't moving.

'Did time stop?! No, then how am I moving?'

Then the man walked up to me.

["So, that's what you look like."]

I flinched and created distance.

The white haired man had multi coloured eyes and could talk in this space.

'What is he?'

He looked relaxed and walked up to Raijin and pulled out something.

It looked like a sticker.

["Alright, here goes nothing."]

"-!?"

I tried to say something but couldn't.

He placed the sticker on Raijin.

Nothing seemed to happen for a while.

'What is he doing to Raijin??'

*Thud.*

I tried to move but due to my injuries I fell over.

'My body is already exhausted?!'

I tried to use mana but failed miserably.

[You have low mana!]

'Crap.'

The man swung his hand casually.

*Swosh.*

Nothing happened.

The man seemed to be confused, and then seemed to come to realization.

["Ah, $@$#%#$%#$#%#$#%#."]

'Ah.'

I started feeling weird as if I was doing something illegal.

["$%#[Root of corruption] $#%."]

He was talking in some unknown language.

'It's a chant right? And what's a root of corruption?'

["$#@$#%- leave."]

As he completed the chant what I could only describe as liquid darkness started pouring out of Raijin.

It was darker and more vile than what I saw previously.

'What the...'

"Agh, ahhhh... AAHHH!!!"

Raijin screamed loudly and I covered my ears.

'That's not normal screaming!'

Not only did it sound horrifying, it also ignored the properties of this space.

[You have been affected by corruption!]

"-!"

My vision was quickly covered by 'something'.

'I'll lose consciousness at this rate!'

For some reason I automatically knew what to do.

[Activating title effect: Saviour of corruption(EX+)]

My vision was messy but it didn't get worse and stopped momentarily.

A small field of purification covered my body to prevent further damage.

'It's not enough!'

But it was quickly getting overpowered and was waning in strength.

[Equipping: Treaded sword(A+)]

[Activating authority: Slash that purifies(none)]

*Swish!*

'Something that protects, attacks and has no solid meaning!'

I quickly slashed my foot.

"-!"

I screamed something but all sound was cut off. It was a meaningless scream.

["Ah, shit."]

*Thud.*

'-!'

I fell to the ground and my consciousness cut off.