Chapter 7: An Overwhelming Victory

"Collapse, Sakanade."

As if a trick had been played on them, the katana with the hourglass-shaped guard transformed into something else. The pommel becomes a large ring. Sakanade's blade became sharp and slim, with the tip ending in a slanted razor-like edge instead of being tapered to a point, with the first few inches of the blade covered by an extension of the cross-guard. Lastly, there are five holes along the sword's length.

But that was only the physical appearance. Now, as if it was magic, the sword was now rotating around Cyrus' hand with same limb not even grabbing ahold of the blade. In fact it was lying right at the middle of the ring-shaped pommel as the weapon spun.

"Is that a new kind of magic weapon?" Riveria murmured aloud, and those who heard her began to break out into their own whispers, which then spread to the rest of those watching.

Before she could ponder any further though, a pink mist had spread throughout the training ground, much to the surprise of those engulfed in it. However, it didn't even seem to do anything, seeing as that all those who do or do not have Abnormal Resistance don't seem to be affected by the mist whatsoever, leading to the mist being dismissed as it didn't seem to be dangerous in any way. But Riveria was not quick to dismiss it as she eyed how it seemed to appear from seemingly nowhere after Cyrus had spoken that peculiar chant for his sword to turn into this form.

"Hey, what the hell is that sword of yours doing?" Bete yelled out with a scowl as the Executives cautiously eyed the sword that was spinning in mid-air, but it seemed that Cyrus didn't seem to deem it fit for him to answer the Werewolf's questions. Instead...

"You don't need to worry too much about my Sakanade to be honest." The Level 6 Adventurer noted aloud and before anyone could even make a comment, he showed a crooked grin before asking a particularly peculiar question.

"The question you should be asking is this. 'What's that pleasant aroma I smell? Do you guys smell it too?'"

With the realization that the mist they were standing in did in fact have a pleasant smell, every single person experienced a brief moment of vertigo and when they finally got their bearings, there were many people who were shouting in fear and shock when they looked at their surroundings.

After all, it's normal to be momentarily scared with the sky is underneath one's feet while their home is quite literally over their heads.

"Welcome to your battlefield for today, you four.

Welcome to the Inverted World."

Seeing as that Ais, Bete, Tione and Tiona still seemed to be standing on solid 'ground', the four were able to recover from this shock and keep their guard up, especially seeing how Cyrus was standing upside down in the 'air' that was the side with the ground, his sword no longer spinning and now clutched in his hands.

"So what? You pretty much have us in an illusion! There ain't anything special about it." Bete yelled out from across the training ground, his voice calming down those who had been previously losing their calm as they were able to come to the same realization as well.

"Oh really?" And in the blink of an eye, Cyrus had disappeared from where he stood and in the next moment via a burst of Shunpo, the Werewolf spotting his opponent right next to him where Cyrus lifted his sword to swing it down on Bete's right arm. Due to his quick reaction time, Bete quickly spun to his right to kick out at Cyrus' ribs. But then...

...

"Bete!"

When the four Executives of the Loki Familia noticed Cyrus in their periphery right next to Bete to his left side, Ais, Tiona, and Tione knew that Bete would have a fast enough reaction to counter attack, as they weren't able to react on time themselves, but...

SLASH!!!

'What the hell?!'

Bete had instead turned his body to the right to kick out at nothing while Cyrus was in the process of swinging his sword before he disappeared and left a good cut on Bete's left arm instead of his right side where the Level 6 'Devil' had aimed his attack, an arc of blood coming off his wound.

"Bete, are you alright?! What was that?"

"How the hell should I know?! I could have sworn I fucking got him!"

"What? No Bete, he was on your left, why did you turn to the right?"

"What?! What do you mean he was on my left?"

As Tiona took a moment to check on Bete, with the two bickering a slight bit, Cyrus went back to his starting position with another Shunpo and focused his attention on Ais and Tione who was watching him with caution, their eyes going to the tip of his sword that was now coated in what was obviously Bete's blood, trying to understand what had just happened for the Werewolf to miss Cyrus who was clearly on his left side yet still attacked as if the Level 6 was on his right side.

'What...was that?' Ais mentally asked herself as she had also clearly seen him appearing at Bete's left side only for the Werewolf to strike towards his right instead.

"So...did you all figure out what that was? Care to take a little gander?" He asked the two women, drawing Bete and Tiona's attention back to him as Tione seemed to come to her conclusion first.

"You called this the Inverted World. And when you appeared on Bete's left, you made him think that you were at his right side and made him attack that way, only for him to be struck on the left side instead. You're able to reverse the direction we see you at, aren't you?" Tione asked him only to receive a hum that neither confirm nor denied her deduction.

"Well I don't know? Am I able to do that? Let's find out, shall we?"

And in a repeat process, he disappeared from her line of sight and suddenly appeared at between the two Amazoness twins at Tione's right and Tiona's left, and despite everything in Tione yelling at her to strike out to her right, she instead willed her body to strike to the left and...

CLANG!!

"Nice reflexes." Cyrus complemented her as the two exchanged a look, Tione's narrowed eyes and Cyrus' calm orbs locked on each other as her two kukri knives pressed against his sword yet she was unable to make him budge. "I could tell that also took a lot of effort to move correctly, so well done."

"But what about your reflexes!?" Bete dashed forward as Tiona jumped away and made to attack Cyrus as he crouched down to do a swift circular leg sweep to knock out the Level 6's legs from underneath him only to be dodged by Cyrus with a Shunpo that placed him small distance away from the Amazoness and Werewolf.

This time though, Cyrus wasn't given time to speak when Ais began to speed his way with the use of her Magic, Ariel, when she cried out "Tempest!" and was surrounded by her wind enchant magic, parrying the first of many thrusts and slashes that were aimed his way.

And with Bete rushing forward to back her up, Cyrus was faced off against what he thought was the female personification of an arrow while being harassed by the Werewolf, his blade blocking and parrying Ais' attacks with his Level 6 strength and agility empowered by Reiryoku while he continued to block or dodge Bete's physical blows with his free hand and legs. After a few seconds of exchange, Cyrus grabbed one of Bete's legs, much to the Vanargand's surprise and threw him away before he swung his sword at Ais' left leg.

Or at least that's what Ais saw.

"Ais, your right!" Bete yelled, seeing how Cyrus was swinging at the Sword Princess' right side and recognized the scene as a possible trick on Ais instead of him this time.

"Right!" Ais acknowledged his warning as she turned to her right just as the Cyrus in front of her seemed to suddenly have his blade aimed at her right thigh, her Desperate successfully blocking his Sakanade and saving her from a possible injury.

"Yaaaahhhh!" Tiona yelled out as she had jumped high into the 'air', taking advantage of the opening that Ais and Bete had given her and then swung her Urga down from above, Cyrus looking up and kicking Ais away before lifting Sakanade up to block her blow when she came crashing down on him, kicking up the ground beneath his feat as the intensity of her blow created a small crater beneath them.

A hand was quickly thrusted towards Tiona's stomach and a ball of energy that had appeared in front of his palm began to quickly form, the crimson color lighting up against the Amazon's skin as Cyrus spoke the chant associated with it.

"Hadō No.31 Shakkahō."

And with a point blank explosion, the Hadō spell impact and blew up against Tiona, sending her flying away. However, before he could see what happened with the girl next, Cyrus quickly ducked underneath the kick, the offending leg in question belonging to Tione before he found himself locked into combat with the Jormungand.

"Will you just take a damn hit already?!"

"I don't know. Will you guys made a better showing of yourselves then?" Cyrus asked her with a small grin, successfully further riling up her more violent side as she continued to pressed her attack, a mix of grace and raw power being shown as she wildly attacked her opponent with her kukri knives. But no matter what she did, he refused to get hit, either through dodging or his expert swordsmanship which continued to divert her attacks, even as he began to retaliate and began to deliver small cuts to her as Tione continued to disregard her openings, one on the cheek, another on her torso, her leg and so on.

Before Cyrus could deal any further damage though, he quickly used Shunpo to move out of the way of Tiona who had approached him from behind and then swing her Urga her weapon passing through the space his torso was at, the girl's high Endurance helping her recover from the red spell that was fired at her just a moment ago. Although, the two sisters found themselves looking at the other on the verge of accidentally attacking their other half before looking around and spotting where Cyrus had ended up going off to.

"Oh no, you don't!" Bete yelled dashing to where Cyrus appeared and lashed out with another devastating kick that Cyrus blocked with his Sakanade, pushing him away before Ais came up from behind him and then swung her sword at his torso, the 'Devil' turning his body to aim his index and middle fingers at her.

"Bakudo No.1 Sai."

And locking the girl in place as she dropped her sword, her arms forcefully going behind her back where she found herself unable to move, leaving the blonde girl wide open for an attack.

"Ais!"

Tione, with a boost from Tiona that involved being thrown, was quick to appear by her friend's side and kicked Cyrus in the ribs to send him away, the first blow dealt to him this entire battle as was he sent flying elsewhere before landing on his feet, not seemingly affected by her block by the way he brushed his shirt where her foot had made impact while Ais was able to break out after a brief struggle and with a small use of Ariel for her wind enchant to help force herself into freedom.

"That son of a bitch took it like it was nothing to him." Tione scowled as she had been beginning to wonder why it felt so easy to finally land a hit on Cyrus when she had come to Ais' aid.

And with that brief exchange, the Human in question now stood in the middle of the battlefield with everyone surrounding him, Bete on his left, Ais on his right, and the twins directly facing him.

"Hah! Looks like your little reverse trick can't work when you're fighting us all at the same time! What was that you were saying about beating us all you damn Devil?! So long as we make sure we don't even give you the chance to attack and watch each other's backs, we'll have this in the bag! I can't believe that little trick you did in the beginning actually got to us!" Bete said with a laugh as he shot towards Cyrus at the same time as Ais, with the Amazoness twins moving the moment after to support the Sword Princess and Vanargand.

'Aren't you guys underestimating me just a bit just because you think you have me figured out? But I guess I don't blame them since they don't realize how important that show of Reiatsu really was. Honestly, against anyone else, they would be doing better, but...well Reiryoku. But I think I should stop playing around.' Cyrus quietly sighed to himself as he lifted his sword and turned towards Ais when they neared his position and began to speak, but this time, none of them could even understand a single word that came out of his mouth as they seemed to be extremely twisted somehow.

,,¿plɹoM pǝʇɹǝʌuI ʎɯ ɟo ǝɔuǝᴉɹǝdxǝ ǝɥʇ ɹǝpun ǝɯɐɔ noʎ uǝɥʍ ʇlǝɟ noʎ uoᴉʇɐsuǝs ʇɐɥʇ ɹǝqɯǝɯǝɹ sʎnƃ noʎ ʇ,uop ¿ɹǝuuɐɯ lɐuoᴉsuǝɯᴉp ǝuo ɐ ɥɔns uᴉ ʇɐ ǝɯ ʍɐs noʎ uoᴉʇɔǝɹᴉp ǝɥʇ pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ ʎluo ʇᴉ ʇɐɥʇ pᴉɐs ɹǝʌǝ oɥʍ pu∀ ¿ǝɯᴉʇ ɐ ʇɐ uosɹǝd ǝuo ʇɔǝɟɟɐ ʎluo ʎllɐǝɹ uɐɔ ǝpɐuɐʞɐS ʎɯ ʇɐɥʇ pᴉɐs ɹǝʌǝ oɥʍ ʇnq 'noʎ ʇuᴉoddɐsᴉp oʇ ʎɹɹoS,,, He asked aloud before reappearing right in front of her with the intent to strike her first.**

**("Sorry to disappoint you, but who ever said that my Sakanade can really only affect one person at a time? And who ever said that it only reversed the direction you saw me at in such a one dimensional manner? Don't you guys remember that sensation you felt when you came under the experience of my Inverted World?")

And then the next thing Ais saw was him swinging his blade directly down at her, the girl turned her rapier to block him but all she felt next was pain.

...

[With the Spectators...]

When the spectators of the Loki Familia witnessed their Executives holding strong against the Miach Familia's Captain despite the shaky start, they began to have faith that the team of Level 5's would come out on top, especially since they had him surrounded and were set to attack him simultaneous. After all, barring their Top Executives, they were the strongest within the Loki Familia, and there was no way their Sword Princess and other First Class Adventurers would lose to Cyrus, even if he was Level 6.

However, it seemed that Loki and her three strongest children had other thoughts as they had watched quietly, seeing something that the others didn't see.

"Hm. The young'uns may be holding the boy off, but they really only ever got on hit in that hardly did anythin', and somethin' tells me that he let it happen." Gareth noted when he watched how Cyrus seemed to casually brush off Tione's kick as if it was nothing.

"Yes, I'm afraid you're right. He never seemed to be pressured at any point when he was fending off their attacks, when when Ais had been using her magic, Ariel. And he only ever used his two spells once the whole time. I have no doubt that he's capable of performing it as many times as his Mind allows him to." Riveria added on, seeing how Cyrus had only used his two Magics, Shakkahō and Sai only once when he's surely able to use them more often. Instead he only seemed to be fending them off with martial prowess, which is extremely impressive considering that his four opponents are skilled in close ranged combat in one manner or another.

"And his sword. If we can count the number of times that he's used whatever its special ability to reverse the direction we see him at, it would be three times. Once against Bete, the second time against Tione, and the third time against Ais. While it is an impressive ability if no one knew what it was capable of, the fact that we can figure it out because he had called this illusion we're in the Inverted World makes it easy to counter. Even still..." Finn murmured his thumb still throbbing, a sure sign that there's something that they are all mission.

"I think that there is far more to this sword."

"Tch. So Cy-Cy is just holding back and showing off how strong he is then." Loki said as she watched with a small frown, wondering what prompted the child of Miach to pull this stunt out of the blue just because of a letter that challenged him to a spar when he's always been a fairly reserved fella all things considered. "Now the better question is why? Is he tryin' to send out a warning to the other Familias to not mess with him or the Miach Familia? Or is it something else? Thankfully, while the guy can be a jerk to us-"

"He is only with that with you, Loki." Riveria deadpanned at her causing Loki to continue on as if she didn't hear anything.

"While the guy can be a jerk to us, he's not a bad guy or anything, so I'm sure he'll fess up. Besides...maybe this ass kicking can help motivate Aisy and the others." The goddess commented, not exactly too worried about the end result, even if she will be admittedly miffed if only on the principle that her children still lost to someone else in combat. But for as long as she's known him, he's always been an alright kid. He gets along with her children, even her rowdy Werewolf, and even if she's bullied by him, Loki knows that Cyrus likes her.

"What happened?"

"I didn't even see anything!"

"How did Ais get a cut on her back? We didn't even see him hit her! He was standing in front of her the whole time!"

The yelling from some of the Familia members drew their attention from their conversation and they refocused on the battle and saw that Ais Wallenstein herself was the first to fall forward with a cut on her back and managed to catch himself with a stunned expression on her face while Bete, Tione, and Tiona stopped and seemed to wobble on their feet as if they were suddenly disoriented, Cyrus suddenly standing behind her, and it wasn't with Shunpo that time, it seemed like he suddenly appeared there.

"Finn. That attack..." Riveria spoke up with the Pallum nodding his head.

"I saw." He stated, having heard snippets of their conversation when they were talking. "I see...he doesn't just reverse right and left, he also reversed forwards and backwards. Does this mean that every single thing that we experience is inverted and can disorient us in the middle of battle? And through it, he can affect our other senses too? Is what why the other three can't move now?" He asked aloud, more so to himself, but Riveria, Gareth and Loki understood the implications hanging from his words and how it correlated to what they just witnessed.

When someone is capable of inverting your every sense of direction to the point that it causes you to be disoriented and confused as to what really is the correct direction, then that makes them a completely dangerous opponent unless you were perfectly capable of facing him blind.

"Hadō No.31 Shakkahō."

And with just a few words, they all witnessed as a ball of crimson energy, much stronger than the one that had been shot at Tiona, impact Bete's and blew him away in his moment of weakness. Next, Cyrus suddenly appeared next to Tione in a burst of speed and kicked her in another direction while she was in a disoriented state before he spun towards Tiona where he pointed his middle and index finger at her.

"Bakudō No.1 Sai."

And just as with the last spell, this Sai seemed to be much stronger as the younger twin was suddenly restrained with her arms being locked behind her back, unable to briefly move and also unable to break out of her invisible bindings.

Suffice it to say, it seemed that the match had finished until...

"Tempest!"

Ais had shot forward after just getting on her feet, a burning desire lit in her eyes to defeat the man in front of her, someone who she deems to be another wall for her to overcome so she could fulfill her goal. And as she dashed right past Cyrus and turn to strike his back...

"Get him Ais!"

"Win this Sword Princess!"

The Loki Familia had cheered at her determination and resolve to land a hit on the Level 6 Adventurer. Unfortunately...

...

...

"What the hell am I watching?" Loki murmured with wide eyes as she just watched what seemed to be the impossible, even for someone like Gareth and Finn. Hell, she didn't even think that Ottar can do something that crazy.

An equal amount of shock filled the other participants and spectators as they couldn't believe what they had just seen from the Sword Princess Ais Wallenstein. And what could have happened to elicit such a reaction from them?

It was the sight of Cyrus turning and catching Ais's blade in one hand as if he had seen it coming...

"You know, that could have really hurt little Ais." Cyrus said to her, his words carrying out amidst the silence as she looked up at him with wide eyes before a large cut appeared on her right shoulder, blood flying from her wound.

'What...was that...?' Ais thought to herself as she fell on her knee, the wound to her back and shoulder overcoming her, and when she looked up, she saw blood dripping from his sword as he swung it out to the side to dispose of the excess that coated the blade. Did he just cut her without her being able to see his blade...?

'How...how did he get so strong...?'

"Good try though kiddo. But this is my win. Let's get you healed up though." Cyrus said to her and then started to reach into his pocket to pull out a potion so that he could heal her injuries.

...

"...Finn. What do you think our chances are if the three of us fought him?" Gareth asked his Pallum and High Elf friend as they witnessed what was the swift end of this match with the Miach Familia's Captain taking out a potion to heal Ais once it was over. Finn went into a small state of contemplation before shaking his head.

"I'm really not sure. Due to his explosive growth, Cyrus has already reached a level of strength that took us all many years to reach and it's clear that his basic abilities are not anything to scoff at, and it's safe to assume that he is well versed in using his weapon's ability." The Braver answered honestly before continuing.

"I hate to say it, but I think only Riveria is the only person capable of fighting him, even if for a limited amount of time if she keeps her distance and uses any spells that affect a large area, but even then, he has access to his Shunpo skill to easily close the gap between her."

"Yes, that's a fair assessment. Cyrus has already proved himself to be a dangerous opponent just based on his Level alone, and that mysterious sword he has only serves to make him even more so. That said, I would like to ask him more about his sword. If I was correct, he seemed to recite a chant before it had transformed into what it looks like now. 'Collapse, Sakanade' if I'm correct. I wonder how it was created, if it's anything like the Crozzo magic swords. But he said that the practitioners of his magic, these Soul Reapers or Shinigami in the Far Eastern language all had swords like these made for them, each and every one unique and their names not shared by another blade. So are the forging methods different? I must admit I have many questions for him." Riveria said, a curious expression on her face as she eyed the sword, watching as it seemed to transform in a flash of light as Cyrus moved to sheathe it into its saya, or sheath.

Loki had to admit that she was interested in those swords as well, but not just for the power that they seemed to grant. When Cy-Cy's sword had transformed on that, she had felt something from it that she had never felt from it before, and she had to admit that she was quite curious about it. Mortals really are interesting, aren't they?

Before the three could continue their conversation, they all felt another bout of vertigo hit before finding their feet on the actual ground now, the world now in an upright positions.

"Ugh, I don't think I'll be gettin' used to that feeling anytime soon. Looks like whenever he sheathes his blade, everything turns back to normal. And apparently the boy was already prepared for the end of the match." Gareth grumbled as he crossed his arms, watching as Cyrus seemed to say something to Ais that caused her to give him a nod before he used his Shunpo to approach Bete, Tiona, and Tione, handing them each a potion he apparently had beforehand to heal their injuries, if they had any.

[General 3rd POV]

'Well then, got to unveil a few Sakanade's tricks and pull an Aizen of sorts. Honestly been wanting to do that forever. Thank god...or the Soul King I guess? For Reiryoku protection and bullshit Shikai abilities. I wonder if I should show the fact I can also invert injury locations or attack directions, or better yet cancel the effects from those in the Inverted World...nah. I think it'll be fun for them to attack each other next time on accident. Hm...maybe I should start Bankai training for Sakashima Yokoshima Happōfusagari this year. I think Sakanade might let me...hopefully...' Cyrus thought to himself as he had recently treated Tione's wounds.

After making sure that any wounds they had had been healed and leaving them to lick their wounds for the time being, Cyrus walked to the spectators who had all apparently saw him in a new light, his feet carrying him to the Top Executives and their patron Goddess.

"Well then. I'm sure you have a lot of questions you four. How about we take this to a private office here and we'll chat."

{AN: Read the Creator's Thoughts below}