Tough Battles on the Horizon

Far away in a dark castle walked a soldier in all black armor. This warrior lean and tall walked with a confidence that exudes great pride and ego. He came upon a room and knocked.

"You may enter" says a voice on the other side.

The warrior enters the room, as he steps inside a pressure never before seen appears, assaulting the warrior pushing him to his knees.

"What is it?" Says a voice behind a veil of darkness.

"Lord Thanatos, we have reports of a gold saint moving around in the Avalonian Kingdom. The soldier bows his head and cups his hands waiting for a response.

"Hmmm, whatever the Saints of Athena are up to it will not be good for the eventual return of Lord Hades. Send out a group of Specters to investigate the actions of this saint." The voice stops and thinks for a second.

"Yes my Lord, as you wish." The specter with control over their body once again bows and exits the room.

"There has been a change in fate recently; The strings of fate all point towards the Avalonian Kingdom, whatever is happening there has caught the attention of the Saints. We cannot allow them to acquire whatever it is may have formed there!" Speaks a different voice in the darkness.

"We must watch and plan for any schemes those lowly mortals shall throw at us. Nothing shall stop the return of our lord, ah, ha, ha, ha ,ha!" The voice bellows in a sinister laughter.

Behind the darkness stands 2 giant men, their looks pristine, their armor covers their whole body in divine grace, and they radiate a overwhelming cosmo. These beings are the twin gods Thanatos and Hypnos, the great gods of death and sleep.

Back in Darkshade village, 2 weeks have gone by and the training of Ryuji has gone well. He has mastered controlling the flow of cosmo to not only his fist, but every part of his body.

After mastering the flow of cosmo to his hands he began to spar with Harvey. Through sparing he could gain some combat experience and find flaws in his cosmo usage and his close combat style. During their spars, Harvey did not hold back at all, choosing to push Ryuji to his limits every time to pull out the best results possible.

Through such rigorous training Ryuji was able to last 10 minutes in a Battle with Harvey. Also, through constant meditation, refining his inner universe, and noticing changes within his body. Ryuji was able to notice a slight difference in his eyes. When entering the nearest graveyard on accident he noticed he could view the souls of those who lingered and his reactions were better than before.

Ryuji's eyes allowed him to see attacks coming his way before they happen; he could also see cosmo on a fundamental level everywhere. The flow of cosmo within Harvey's body also lay visible to Ryuji, when he directed cosmo to his eyes the silver pentagram would appear.

At first it scared confused Ryuji, because through talking with Harvey he came to know that this was not usual. However, after discussing with the zanpakuto spirit he became aware that this was a change brought about through his different soul and the hollow that resides within himself.

Over time he began to face a bottleneck in his development. It seems he had the limit of what he could achieve with his current training. With his constant training and the never ending dreams he was able to hear the second word in his Zanpakuto's name. Teilna .... was what he could hear, but the last part still evaded him. He needed a stimulus, something that could push him over the edge.

However, it seemed that he would not have to wait long for it. Reports from Lance stated that the bandits were almost done mobilizing their forces and were getting ready to strike out with full force. Knowing of the impending attack Kalia and Negal village both agreed to a joint attack against the bandits to remove this incoming threat.

Harvey busy with preparing the village and its men for the future battle assigned Ryuji to help train the villagers.

Harvey while passing out his assignments for the more important people in the village, explains his task for Ryuji. "Ryuji you are the second strongest warrior in the village after me so I need you to help me train the men. You don't need to teach them about cosmo, just get them trained up enough to use a sword or spear, and teach them how to defend with a shield."

"I can do that, but with the weapons we have on hand it won't be enough to outfit all of them adequately enough." Says Ryuji remembering the small stores of armor and weapons stored in the warehouse.

"Don't worry in a few weeks or so a trade caravan should be making its way here. Also, Lance should be making his way back over sometime soon." Harvey flips a paper over and begins to write out plans and defensive ideas for the village in case of attack.

2 days go by and Lance finally arrives at the village with a caravan of items and people. Lance dismounts the carriage and makes his way to Harvey's house. When he makes it inside he finds the living room remodeled into a command station. Papers filled with marking lay all over the walls, people walking back and forth discussing ideas and tactics.

Ryuji appears from upstairs and walks over to Lance. "Harvey is outback let's go he is waiting on you." Lance nods and follows Ryuji to the back training field.

Harvey can be seen siting at a new table jotting down something on a piece of paper. He hears footsteps and turns around to see Ryuji and Lance making their way over.

"So you finally decided to show up ehh?" Proclaims Harvey as a big smile plasters all over his face.

"It took a while to get what I needed through the other villages trade channels. Anyway, I am ready to set up the barrier whenever you are." Says Lance as he pulls out a scroll that Ryuji has never seen before.

"What do you mean by barriers?" Asks Ryuji in confusion.

"Well there are ways to use cosmo other than attacking, defending, and improving oneself. You can infuse cosmo in a array to erect barriers. You can also create seals that are used to trap and contain foes." Explains Lance as opens the scroll in his hand.

" I study the uses of barriers and seals and have become quite decent in it, but I am no master. This barrier I have will be able to protect the village from attacks at the level of a Bronze Saint of Athena or a low level Specter of Hades. Lance puts the scroll on the table for everyone to see.

"Hey Lance can you teach me how to use Barriers and seals, I believe they will be important assets in the future." Requests Ryuji hoping to learn new knowledge.

"Sure I will teach you as I set this array down however, know that you must have a high control over your cosmo. Any mess up could lead to a explosion, death, or your barrier or seal might work but they won't be as effective as it should be. Explains Lance as he begins to teach Ryuji on how to place a barrier down.

"Usually you would first make the barrier, but since I already have one we will just skip that step. Now to place one you have to place the marks in the corresponding spots." Lance shows Ryuji a circle diagram that contains 4 points.

"We will place these 4 at each corner of the village and then we inject cosmo into the points in a certain sequence." Lance and Ryuji go around the village placing points and injecting cosmo into the points based on the given instructions.

Once they finished cosmo quickly gathered around the village at a astonishing rate. A blue barrier began to appear around the village.

"Now we place a command mark in the middle of the village that way we can command the other marks and turn the barrier off and on manually." Lance and Ryuji walk over to the front of Harvey's house and place a point in the ground then infuse it with cosmo.

"We are done now the barrier will charge itself with the cosmo that flows in the air." Lance smiles and sits on the ground.

"To create a barrier you have to design a matrix that will follow the installed commands. After that, you do as we did earlier place them in the order you designated during creation and power it up" Lance nods his hand watching Ryuji take in his words not interrupting a single time.

"As for seals, you have array seals that work the same as barriers, but instead of protecting they seal. Then you have the cosmo seals that require you to control your cosmo carefully and will it to do a certain task." Explains Lance

"You yourself must have a complete understanding of how this seal works to actually get it to work." Ryuji nods wondering how different seals and barriers are to the ones in Soul Society.

"Thanks for teaching me this Lance I feel I can create some interesting stuff with this later on. Do you have any more points I can use I want to try creating something to help train the men." Ask Ryuji.

"Here knock yourself out." Says Lance as he tosses a set of points to Ryuji.

Ryuji thanks Lance and runs to the training field. He sits down in a meditation pose and thinks of a way to create a gravity room for the men.

He first uses his cosmo to create a matrix in the points to generate gravity in the designated area. With that done he connects another matrix with it that adds a limit on how high and how low the gravity can get.

With them finished he places them around the square training field and infuse his cosmo into them. Almost immediately he begins to feel pressure press down on him. However, the pressure isn't something that fazes him and he begins to put the central piece into place to set the control switch up.

Lance and Harvey watch in amazement at the ingenuity of Ryuji's barrier and begin to setup a training regimen around the gravity.

A week goes by and the men are getting used to double gravity training, however they have built a love hate relationship with Ryuji. While they love his commitment and his strive for improvement, they wish he would improve himself without involving torturing them.

However, the results speak for itself the men have become stronger and can last longer sparing with each other. They don't drop their weapons anymore after 30 minutes of swinging it. Harvey stands before his fellow villagers proud of the men they have become.

A few more weeks go by and a trade caravan arrives with weapons, armor, supplies, and many other items. Also lurking in the shadows of the group watches the red headed Shijima.

"Fate swirls around this village like a tornado just waiting to happen. Whoever this person is he is in this village, I will watch them and determine my next steps." Shijima fades away moving through the village.

Shijima follows the swirling lines to a yard behind the central building in the village. On this yard sits a boy who looks to be in his 17's. This boy is Ryuji who is completing is daily meditation.

"It is him, fate gathers around him like the warm embrace of a mother. I will watch him and see if there is anything special about him. Finding his target Shijima hides away to watch Ryuji's every move.

Sensing eyes watching him for a split second Ryuji stops meditating and looks around. "I thought I sensed someone watching me, I must be paranoid with the upcoming battles." Not finding anyone he stands up and walks to his home

A day goes by and a report comes through that the Raven bandit group has begun to move on Negal Village. Harvey without batting an eye orders his newly trained and equipped soldiers to prepare for departure.

Ryuji hearing the order's visits Aunt Li's one last time before he leaves then makes his way to the village gate.

Harvey watching over the gathered men steps forward he prepares to speak.

"Everyone today we will travel out to rid our lands of the bandit scum who have terrorized our people for years! We will get revenge for all the fallen brothers and family we have lost because of their greed! Follow me into battle and let's create a safer future for our people! MARCH!!! Screams Harvey as him and his 500 men march along to Negal Village.

Far away on a empty plain is a 5000 strong army marching along. The men look haggard and dirty, but the smiles on their faces speak volumes to their confidence. "In a few days we will pillage these weak villages, steal their valuables, kill their men, and turn their women into our sex slaves." Screams a bandit as the large army marches along laughing away.

In the front of this army walks a tall muscular man that reeks of power. His body is covered in tattoos and his face has 2 scars over the nose and right eye. Corak the mighty marches his bandit army forward , his great cosmo leaking out heavy like a mountain.