Kiryu Yusei
The several dozen smiles collided with the Legion of Elite and the winged warriors, kicking off a grand battle.
Esten slid under the smile that first reached her, using her blade to slice off its leg. She then reached to her back, taking out her other blade, then using her dual wield swords to cut apart her opponents.
The smiles swung around the same mucus like substance they had used to kill Rune. Esten twisted and shifted her body with mind blowing precision in order to just barely avoid getting hit by this mucus.
Limbs, body parts, and organs bursted out from all over the smiles she was cutting apart. Esten kept a completely focused look as she took apart these creatures.
Tahara used the near unlimited number of trees upon the island to morph into different weapons and objects for offense and defense. He blended several trees together into countless giant cylinder shaped objects, and then smashed them into the ground, crushing a number of smiles. As this went on, he avoided the smiles attacks by shifting the ground he stood upon into a platform, moving it all over the place in order to not get hit.
Noda bashed his fists against countless smiles. Each punch caused them a heavy amount of damage, and he was attacking at an astoundingly fast rate. He was in some sort of very focused rage.
Kore was completely wrapped within one of the smiles's whips of mucus. However, his body hardened into its metallic like substance of defense, rendering their mucus useless. Soon thereafter, Kore had an enormous bow appear within his hands. He pulled a massive arrow back against its string, and continuously shot it at the smiles.
Stabbing her rose blade into the chest of a smile, Asada used her ability in order to cause her opponent's body to begin rotting. Anyone who she slashed her rose blade across, began rotting and falling apart afterward.
The battle raged on. However, it was beginning to feel a bit too easy for the Elite. Their concerns with the difficulty of the battle were soon proven to be justified, as the smiles began using another ability they possessed.
"Gauren. This is what I was worried about. These opponents are fairly strong. They are starting to win." Said Kron.
Gauren answered. "It will be fine. We said we would end this battle quickly, so we must stop messing around and use our most powerful attacks right now."
"Very well. Let us get to it then."
Throwing yet another punch toward his smile opponents, Noda was caught off guard when a door appeared in front of him. The momentum from the punch he threw carried him inside the door. Within it, all he could see was a version of Kuraran completely void of any light or activity. Plants had become far overgrown, and the capital city looked abandoned.
"Tch... shit." He said. "I completely forgot about those illusionary doors Kore mentioned."
Noda glanced around, taking in as much of his surroundings as he could before making a move. Through a couple of broken windows, he was able to spot some truly horrific humanoid creatures peeking in his direction. He caught a few more monstrous looking creatures running through alleyways, and heard a collection of faint voices from nearby.
"Great. Just what the fuck is this? Did I really have to be the one to fall into this creepy ass door?"
All of a sudden, one of the creatures came out of hiding, and began moaning while sprinting at Noda.
Noda's eyes slightly widened, and he yelled. "Dammit!! Fuck off you terrifying ass-..." Throwing a fist at this monstrosity, he stopped before his punch could connect, as the creature was knocked into a nearby building by a familiar someone. His own father had appeared.
"Noda." His father began, slowly tilting his head. "Why aren't you home...? Hey... I said why in the fuck aren't you home?! Do you think we have time to have you roaming around all over the place?? If I'm going to make you someone who can surpass me in strength, then you can't be out here frolicking in the city!! God.... we're going to have to have another kid and try this again..." he placed a palm on his eyes, and shook his head.
"How wonderful, I get to meet illusions of shitty people from my past too." Noda said to himself.
Not long afterward, Noda's mother and siblings all appeared behind him. Each of his older siblings were impaired with some sort of disability. Looking at him with a devastated expression, his mother cried. "Why... why do you have to constantly do this Noda? Each and every day, all we ask is that you follow the training your father instructs you to undergo!! Do you understand how much easier life would be if you'd just god damn do it!!" Her cries elevated into aggressive screams. "Get it through your head!! You aren't a normal kid!!! Your life is meant for us to use as the next unstoppable force of strength!!! We brought you into this world, which means you're a slave to us!!! Got it??!!"
"But hey.... I guess that means I can bash my fist into their jaws." Turning around swiftly, Noda struck his mother in the mouth, sending her across the fictional Kuraran. He shifted his body in preparation to do the same to his father.
"WHAT HAVE YOU JUST DONE!!!???" His father screamed, throwing a fist of his own.
Noda was far stronger than his father. He avoided the fist, and impaled his own fist through his fathers stomach. He then tossed his dad's bloodied body into his siblings.
"Alright!! That's enough of this shit!!" Noda yelled. His eyes exploded into a massive aura of red, and he proceeded to pummel his fist into the ground. Gargantuan cracks formed, and extended across all of the fictional Kuraran. Before long, the cracks began to split, until eventually the illusion broke. Kuraran shattered, and Noda returned to the real world.
Unfortunately, he was met with disaster.
Once returning to the Blackened Archipelago, Noda immediately came face to face with a smile... who was displaying a wide grin with each and every one of its mouths.
Noda froze in place. He couldn't will himself to move. Any surrounding noises suddenly became completely silent to him. All he could hear was the sound of his own pounding heartbeat.
The other members of the Elite had gone through similar situations to Noda, finding themselves face to face with a grinning smile afterward. A scenario nobody had ever survived through.
Sweat began to flood down Noda's body. His breathing steadily hastened, and became erratic.
Before anything else happened, however, a voice could be heard from the distance.
"Well well. So it seems there are others who managed to find their way here too. I won't say I'm impressed, but you all are at the very least a tier above worthless. In any case, luckily for you all, I'm here to take these abominations out before their nasty little grins can take effect and kill you."
"G-Gauren!! It's him!!" Kron shouted.
"Shit..!" Gauren responded. "Why is he still at the front of the island??"
The individual, who's name was Kiryu Yusei, was covered in an assortment of extremely futuristic looking technology and gadgets. He had lengthy blonde hair, and sported a short jacket. His left leg was completely mechanical, and his eyes were covered with a high tech pair of glasses. His expression was serious with a hint of confidence.
Kiryu stared directly at the smiles who were all grinning, and then clicked a button that was on his jacket. Suddenly, countless humongous towers rose up from underground. These towers projected transparent beams toward each and every one of the smiles.
From the mouths of each smile, the beams absorbed their insides, killing them all before whatever offensive move they had planned could take effect.
Their bodies all collapsed with a thunderous slam. Following so, Kiryu's towers all began to return underground, as he approached the Legion of Elite and Winged Warriors.
"Interesting." He began. "While I did expect the Legion of Elite to make an attempt at taking care of this whole mess that Obliviana's dealing with, I didn't think you'd actually be capable of making it here alive on your own. Although I do suppose you would have been killed right here if I didn't intervene. Not to mention, it looks as if you've managed to befriend a group of Colossal Soarers, who I'm sure played a massive part in helping you get over here."
"Yo... just who in the hell are you?" Asked Tahara. "A guy with the kinda strength you just displayed, I woulda thought we'd know about someone like you."
Kiryu folded his arms. "You don't know about me because the Legion of Elite is nowhere near as capable as countless other groups and individuals who live in Obliviana. You're all seen in the public eye as this unstoppably powerful group of defense who has protected Obliviana for years, when in reality you aren't anything special at all against a real threat, such as the Colossal Soarers or those pathetic smiling monsters. The amount of things that exist in which you are oblivious to is laughable. Like I've been saying, I'm surprised you managed to even make your way here. But since you have, I suppose I can have you can join in and help me take care of this whole situation. That is, unless you would rather decline my kind offer?"
Valah smiled and saluted. "Nope! We graciously accept! Joining someone who's crazy strong like you will be seriously huge when we have to fight against and slaughter tough enemies!"
"Just hold on a second..." Interjected Resk. "This asshole thinks we're weak as hell! I'll join him after he begs us for forgiveness!"
Noda then stepped forward. "That's because we are weak as hell right now. Even weaker than we may've thought. We just lost to the fuckin' smiles. They landed their signature move on us, the one Kore mentioned was responsible for killing so many Colossal Soarers. Another second and it all would've been over... for the entirety of the elite at once. All of us wiped out just like that. We would've failed..." he briefly clenched his teeth, before continuing. "But this guy, he took 'em all out in a split second like they were nothing. We came here for a way to eliminate the Soarers, and like it or not, whoever the hell this is looks like he's capable of helping us with that goal. He sounds like he knows a hell of a lot that we don't, so I say we accept the cocky little shit's offer. Plus, it sounds like he knows about some other situations we're gonna have to deal with after the Colossal Soarers are gone. That's information we're gonna need to know about once things have settled down."
"In which case, we're in desperate need of a mutation for our abilities for these future threats in addition to the current Colossal Soarer situation. Do you happen to know where this object of evolution is located here?" Setsuna asked Kiryu.
Giving him a single head nod, Kiryu answered. "That's correct. I do in fact know of its precise location. I have figured out quite a bit in the past few days. Information you'll all need to know in order to traverse this place without getting yourselves killed. So, allow me to get straight to the point and explain just what exactly I've discovered during the time I've spent on the Blackened Archipelago. I suggest you listen closely if you intend on making it through this."
"Hey, slow it down there." Interrupted Tahara. "We were a moment away from death just a second ago, and now we've been told there's a whole bunch of guys livin' in Obliviana who are way above our level, who we didn't even know about. Individuals who can do things like wipe out creatures as powerful as the smiles as easily as you just did. That's some crazy shit you've been revealin' all of a sudden, and it's a lot to take in."
"Unfortunately, when you are on an island filled with nightmarish monstrosities, there is no time to catch your breath or settle down. I can tell you all about the real world that you've been naive of for so long once we're finished here. But for now, we need to focus on and discuss what we need to take care of on the Blackened Archipelago, so that we can get out of here."
"Hm... fair enough. Guess instead of slowin' down, we'll waste no time then. Let's hear it. Tell us everything we'll need to know about this place so we can take care of what needs to be done, and get outta here strong enough to take down the Colossal Soarers."
"Alright then. I'll begin." Stated Kiryu, "My name is Kiryu Yusei. Believe it or not, I live in Obliviana, and monitor things there on my own. If only you knew of the amount of threats I've taken out for you. But, that is not important right now." His gaze shifted between everyone. "The Colossal Soarers certainly have been a unique threat. Probably the toughest we've ever had to face. I did my research on them, and came to the conclusion that the most likely explanation for their existence is related to the Blackened Archipelago, which is why I have made my way over here. We are currently standing on Sector 1 of the Blackened Archipelago. It is what I've decided to name the first, and weakest of the six islands that make up the Archipelago. Luckily for you, we will not be needing to go to any of the other sectors today. We will need to remain here, and destroy the mutation device that has been powering up all of these creatures."
Asada interrupted. "Before it's destroyed, we're going to need to use it on ourselves. If we're really as weak as you say, we need a boost. Just as the glasses guy said."
"Glasses guy, huh?" Tahara briefly smirked. "Heh, c'mon. Don't act like you don't know his name Asada."
"Shut up. I'm not talking to you." She responded.
Kiryu then resumed. "Yes, of course you're going to mutate yourselves. It'd be best if you didn't remain as weak as you currently are for much longer. It'll make things far easier in the future. From what I have seen, one or two mutations won't have any negative side effects. So whenever we happen to get over to the big mouth that is responsible for evolving all of these animals and creatures, we will go ahead and have it do the same to you before destroying it."
"I am going to assume there is a plan you have in mind for eliminating it?" Asked Esten.
"Yes, I do have a way of taking care of it. But I will get to that later. For now, there is more information regarding this island that I need to reveal." He then continued. "Sector 1 is ruled and dominated by two major species. The first being those pathetic smiling monsters who almost killed you, and the second being some kind of goop creature."
"We have given the first species you mentioned the name - 'Smiles'." Noted Kore.
Kiryu acknowledged him. "I only wonder just how exactly you came up with such a creative name." He said, before continuing. "The... smiles have been dealing with quite the dilemma. Their leader, who they call their queen, became too greedy and decided to mutate herself a number of times. It turns out that evolving too many times has its negative effects. If they do not constantly bring their queen other creatures to feed on, then she will lose control of herself and instead consume her own kind. In other words, lower herself to cannibalism. How pitiful." For a very short moment, he put on a face of disgust. "This has in turn sparked a war between the smiles and, I suppose I will go ahead and just call the other major creatures, the goop. You see, there are only so many animals and resources upon Sector 1, and the goop must absorb living creatures within their bodies in order to survive. With how insane the queen of the smiles has become, there is no longer enough to sustain both parties. It is not as simple as just that, however. This little conflict goes even deeper."
Kiryu turned away from the Elite, gazing into the sickening, flesh like forest, before glancing back and saying. "The goop had begun to lose to the smiles. I actually believe the goop as a species, are stronger than the smiles, however the heavily mutated smile queen herself was too powerful for even them to take care of. Not wanting to simply allow their species to die out of either starvation, or running into what they discovered was an unwinnable battle, the goop took it upon themselves to travel over to different sectors, negotiating with and convincing far more powerful monsters to temporarily invade Sector 1 in order to help them out. So Sector 1 is currently infested.. with Sector 3 and 4 level monsters. Creatures even I would have difficulty defeating."