Eternity has its own rhythm.
On the main streets of Inazuma City, that rhythm manifested in every step of the Raiden Shogun.
She walked with an untouchable grace, every movement so perfect and measured that it seemed like a ritual dance repeated for thousands of years. Her high-heeled geta sandals tapped the stone pavement with a calm and steady rhythm, a heartbeat that became the center of the entire nation.
Around her, a respectful silence enveloped everything. The city residents, who had been bustling, now knelt on both sides of the road, their heads bowed deeply, none daring to lift their faces to gaze directly at their goddess.
The only other sound was the synchronized march of the Shogunate guards escorting her, their dark purple armor gleaming under the sunlight, forming a living fortress separating the mortal from the divine.
The air around the Raiden Shogun felt different, clearer, sharper, filled with a faint clean ozone scent, a sign of the immense Electro power residing within her, easily displacing the aroma of cherry blossoms and incense from the nearby shrine.
She walked toward Tenshukaku, her towering palace.
Everything is proceeding according to order, she thought, her purple eyes staring straight ahead, unaffected by the mortal world around her. Every stone, every soul, is in its predetermined place. This is true eternity. Tranquil. Perfect. Eternal.
At that moment, the perfect rhythm was suddenly disrupted.
At first, it was just a faint disturbance, almost imperceptible. A wrong note in the grand symphony of eternity. A small ripple on the surface of a calm lake.
But in her boundless perception, even the smallest disturbance felt like a crude anomaly. Then, the feeling grew stronger, clearer.
Something, or someone, was staring at her.
This wasn't the respectful and fearful gaze of her followers. Nor was it the hateful glare of her enemies on the battlefield.
This was something else, something so foreign and audacious!
She could feel it as a physical sensation, an invisible pressure focused on her from afar, crawling over her skin like a disgusting insect. And within that gaze, she could sense an emotion so crude, so... human.
It was lust!
And it wasn't mere admiration, but a primal desire!
The Raiden Shogun's once steady steps faltered for a split second. Her hands, which had been gracefully folded in front of her body, now clenched tightly at her sides, her silk gloves creaking softly under the pressure. Her usually calm brows now furrowed slightly.
At that moment, she suddenly stopped.
The entire procession behind her halted abruptly, the confused guards exchanging glances, not understanding why their goddess had stopped in the middle of the road.
With a movement that felt heavy and choked with anger, the Raiden Shogun turned her entire body. Her shoulders tensed, ignoring the crowd nearby. Her gaze pierced the distance, fixed on the hills, toward where the unpleasant aura pulsed. Her pair of purple eyes narrowed sharply, emitting a cold and deadly threat.
As she turned, the world around her seemed to feel her wrath.
At that moment, the once clear sky suddenly darkened, as if covered by unseen storm clouds.
Small purple lightning bolts began to dance across her body, her robe fluttering wildly despite no wind blowing. The stone ground beneath her feet began to crack, the fissures emitting a terrifying purple glow. The dense purple aura emanating from her body was so strong it felt like an invisible wall, forcing her guards to retreat.
Instantly, they fell to the ground, their faces deathly pale, their bodies trembling violently.
Without hesitation, the Raiden Shogun extended her hand forward. The space in front of her chest seemed to tear, and from within a blinding flash of light, she drew the hilt of a sword. Its majestic blade, shining with eternal lightning, was now in her grasp.
Musou no Hitotachi!
In an instant, she was in a perfect attacking stance. Her body became the center of the Electro storm she created, her now brightly glowing eyes focused on a single point in the distance.
With one sharp intake of breath, she swung her sword.
At that moment, a blinding purple line instantly cleaved the air, not just cutting the wind, but space and time itself!
For a moment, a black rift adorned with crackling purple lightning opened in the sky, heading straight toward the hill where the source of the audacious gaze originated.
It all happened so fast!
...
Charles was still transfixed at the hill's peak, his entire being hypnotized by the divine sight before him.
At that moment, a blinding purple flash, without the accompanying thunder, suddenly tore the sky in the distance, right above Tenshukaku palace.
Even before his brain could process the light, he felt the air around him vibrate intensely, as if the entire space before him was pulled and crushed by an unseen force.
And from nothingness, right in front of him, a slash of pure dark purple energy appeared, a vertical wound in the fabric of reality itself.
The slash didn't move; it just existed there, crackling with such dense Electro power that it made Charles's hairs stand on end and the sharp metallic ozone scent fill his lungs.
For an eternal split second, Charles could only gape in horror. His brain screamed, ordering his body to dodge, to jump, to do anything.
But his body seemed frozen, mesmerized and paralyzed by the deadly beauty of the attack.
Before his body could react, before he could move a single muscle, the slash passed through him in the blink of an eye.
There was no explosion sound. No hard impact. Just a stinging, blinding heat sensation passing through his left shoulder, followed by a strange feeling as if part of him suddenly became very light.
He looked down.
And he saw it.
His left arm was no longer there.
Huh? His eyes stared at the gaping wound on his shoulder, where blood now began to spurt out like a fountain, only then did the pain come.
A wave of indescribable suffering, a tsunami of fire and shattered glass exploding from his shoulder and flooding every nerve in his body.
The arm had been severed so cleanly and quickly, flung several meters into the air, before finally disintegrating into purple ash by the remnants of the slash's energy!
"ARRRGGHHHH!!! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! IT HURTS!!!"
Blood continued to gush profusely from his wound, soaking the green grass beneath him, turning it into a horrifying blackish-red color. The metallic scent of his own blood was now so thick it made him nauseous.
He tried to press his wound with his remaining hand, but the blood kept seeping out through his fingers, every heartbeat pumping out the remnants of his life onto the cold ground.
At that moment, fear suddenly replaced his pain.
A bone-chilling cold began to spread from the tips of his toes, not due to the air temperature, but from shock and massive blood loss.
His vision began to blur, the sounds in his ears fading into a long hum.
He knew what this meant.
I'm dying...
Here. Alone on a hill in a foreign land, killed by the figure he had so desired just minutes ago. The cruel irony nearly made him laugh.
As his consciousness began to fade, as darkness crept at the edges of his vision, something suddenly flashed in his mind.
With his last remaining strength, with one trembling hand, he reached into the void beside him, into his inventory.
With a heavy THUD, a vending machine made of faded red metal and scratched chrome appeared on the blood-soaked grass, a surreal and out-of-place sight.
Magic Wish Machine!
The item now had only two wishes left.
And he decided to use one wish, right now!
He dragged his limp body closer to the machine.
With his last breath, he whispered his plea directly into the worn coin slot.
"I... wish... I won't die... in the next twenty-four hours!"
He didn't ask to be healed. Nor did he ask for immortality, fearing it would backfire on him! He knew the limitations of this item's power. He only needed one thing: time.
What if he asked for immortality and the item granted it in the strangest way?
He didn't know exactly what the item would do, but when it happened, his body would no longer be human!
At that moment, the coin slot suddenly glowed with a dim green light. The interior window, which had been dark, now lit up, displaying a whirl of gears, vacuum tubes, and strange symbols spinning chaotically with mechanical click-clack sounds.
With a groan of pain, Charles grabbed the sturdy dispensing lever and pulled it down with all his remaining strength.
The machine vibrated intensely, and a strange miracle began to occur.
The blood flow from his severed shoulder suddenly slowed, then stopped completely, as if the wound had been cauterized by an invisible force. The pain that had been tearing at his consciousness now dulled into a throbbing that was bearable.
He wasn't healed.
His left arm didn't grow back.
But he was no longer dying.
While holding his breath, he pulled his remaining arm, now blackened and charred, as if his skin had fused with coal.
Every pull made his muscles tense, but no groan escaped.
His body crawled forward, not with the panicked movements of cornered prey, but with cold composure, like a severely wounded predator whose eyes still radiated determination.
He slipped into the nearby dense forest, the shadows of the trees swallowing him, camouflaging him from view.
His pair of eyes, behind the mask, now glowed with a blood-red light, piercing the darkness, straight toward the towering Tenshukaku in the distance.
In his chest, his heartbeat thundered, not from fear, but from one emotion burning every fiber of his body.
"Raiden Shogun...."
"I will return," he said while narrowing his eyes. "With a vengeance that burns every fiber of my body!"
...
In the depths of the silent forest, hidden behind the shadows of towering maple trees, Charles lay motionless on a bed of wet, rotting leaves.
He didn't know how long he had been there.
Time seemed to have lost its meaning, replaced by the rhythm of the indescribable throbbing pain centered on his left shoulder.
The air around him felt cold and damp, carrying the sharp scent of wet earth, pine sap, and most nauseatingly, the metallic rust of his own blood that had pooled beneath him, a rusty metal aroma that churned his stomach.
Slowly, he opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, the world around him spinning in a confusing whirl of green and brown.
He tried to rise, but a hoarse groan of pain escaped his lips as he moved his upper body.
The remnants of the Magic Wish Machine had kept its promise—he didn't die.
But the miracle had a cruel price. He wasn't healed.
He was only forced to stay alive, trapped in this broken and mutilated body, with a gaping wound on his shoulder that had been charred and cauterized by unimaginable lightning power.
In a flash, the shadow of the events from moments ago replayed in his mind with brutal clarity. The Raiden Shogun's face, so majestic and beautiful, her gaze cold and emotionless as if looking at an insignificant insect.
The desire and admiration that had once burned in his heart had now turned into something else, something black, dense, and as cold as ice.
It was Hatred!
He felt his blood surging hot in his veins, a strange contrast to the cold creeping at his fingertips.
She... how dare she... he thought, his teeth grinding so hard his jaw ached.
His breath became heavy and ragged, no longer from pain, but from unbearable rage.
With a sudden and violent movement, he forced himself to stand, ignoring the screams of protest from every muscle in his body.
He staggered, his now unbalanced body swaying to the side, and he fell leaning against a large ancient pine tree, its rough bark scraping his cheek wet with cold sweat.
He stared at his remaining hand, trembling violently from shock and anger.
Then, with a roar that was no longer human—a long scream filled with pain, loss, and pure hatred—he slammed his fist into the tree trunk.
BLAM!
The dull impact sound echoed in the forest's silence, making birds in the distance fly away in panic. A sharp pain immediately shot through his knuckles, but it was nothing compared to the storm of emotions raging within him. He punched it again.
BLAM!
And again.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
He kept punching the tree blindly, venting all his frustration, all his shame, all his hatred for this cruel fate.
He no longer felt the pain in his hand.
He only felt an overwhelming need to destroy something, anything, to make the world around him feel even a fraction of the suffering he endured. The skin on his knuckles tore, and fresh blood began to flow, mixing with the sticky pine sap.
But he didn't stop. The tree only shook slightly, as if mocking his futile efforts.
"Just you wait..." he hissed between his ragged breaths, his narrowed eyes staring straight toward Tenshukaku in the distance, as if the Raiden Shogun could hear him. "I will return... I will make you pay for this... I will strip away your eternity... I WILL RETURN!"
His final shout drained his remaining energy. He slumped to the ground, leaning against the tree now stained with his blood, his body trembling violently from exhaustion and pain.
He tried to shake his head, attempting to clear his chaotic mind. He had to leave this place.
He didn't know how long he walked, dragging his feet that felt like lead, pushing through dense underbrush, without purpose, without direction. He only knew he had to keep moving, away from the city, away from the place that had destroyed him.
He was just trying to escape, from the samurai who might soon comb the forest, and from the shadow of the goddess who had taken his arm.
Suddenly, he stopped.
His heart felt like it stopped beating.
In a small clearing ahead of him, amid beams of light piercing the canopy, a figure stood silently. He recognized her immediately. Dark indigo hair cut asymmetrically, purple and black armor radiating authority, and a terrifying red tengu mask on the side of her head.
It was Kujou Sara.
And she wasn't alone. Her large black war bow was fully drawn, the string pulled taut nearly to breaking, and at its tip, an arrow crackling with wild purple Electro energy pointed straight at Charles's chest.
Charles gaped, but no words escaped his mouth. His exhausted brain spun in panic, trying to comprehend this impossible situation. She... she knew I'd be here? he thought, a new cold feeling, far more terrifying than his pain, now running down his spine.
He wanted to explain something, but what was there to explain? Please don't shoot? He was wounded, bleeding out, and now cornered by Inazuma's strongest general.
This was the end of everything.
He closed his eyes, waiting for the final pain that would end his suffering.
But the pain never came.
A tense silence hung in the air, filled only by the menacing crackle of electricity from Sara's arrow and Charles's heavy breathing.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
Kujou Sara was still standing there, but something had changed. He saw Sara's hand holding the bow trembling slightly. Then, with a slow and hesitant movement, she lowered her bow.
The Electro arrow vanished in a harmless flash of light.
Sara let out a long sigh. She lifted her head, her golden eyes staring straight at Charles—gazing at his fox mask, his blood-soaked clothes, and his now empty left shoulder.
"I owe you," Sara said, her voice flat and formal, but with an undeniable tone of weariness. "You saved me at Ritou's dock. This debt... consider it repaid."
Charles could only stare at her, too shocked to speak. He wanted to say thank you, but before he could find his voice, Sara had already turned.
With one flap of her black wings that appeared out of nowhere, she shot into the air and disappeared behind the trees, as quickly as she had appeared, leaving Charles alone in the forest's returning oppressive silence.
Charles stood there motionless for a long time, trying to process what had just happened. He looked around and realized he was truly alone. He was no longer being hunted, at least for now.
With a trembling breath, he continued his journey.
...
A/N: Only a few more chapters to go!
Btw, I'm still expecting comments!
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