Chapter Text
I̷̟̜̙̣̾̂͆̈́̔͂̌̉͗͗́̂͂̏̄̀̓͌̌͘͝͝ͅ ̶̡̡̛̺̫͓̰͙̮͇̗̝͍̌͆̄͌̈́̀̉̾̓̄̔͛̓͜͝͝ļ̵͖̳̬̲̟̻̣̟͕̜̱͕͕̟͓͚͒̀̂͊̆̍͗̓͐͂͆̈͊̌̐̚̚͜͠ơ̴̧̧̢̨̛̩̘͇̱̺̦̙̖͕̫̼̯̟̰̺͉̘͙̹̗̎̔̊̉̇̑̍̉̇͜v̷̢̡̧̘̤̖̮̠̦̍̽́̾͜͝͝e̶̛̘̽̂͌̀̇̀̈́̈̉̓̏̃̾̔̃̄̾͒̈́̇̀̆̚̚͝͝͝ ̴̛̥͈̝͖͎̔̏̀̏̈́͋̈́̓̓̄̉̎̇͛̓̅́͘͝ý̸̧̥͔̭͙͙̮͇̃͌͐͗̉͆̄́̾̀̎̔̕̕̕͝o̷̱̜̤̱̓̔̔͗̋͛̍̅̾̈̕̚ų̶̛̳̫͍̩̺̮̪͓͔̥̰͔̭̠̰̗̬̪̄̇́́̔̀́̋̆͑͘͝ ̷̢̨̰̯̱̤͎̗̦̯̙̄͆͜I̴͕̋́̈͊͠ ̷̨̼͚̣͔̝̳͍̺̻̗̗̭̯͉͓̤̭̖͓̘̦͚͕͐͊̐͋͛͛͐̊̃̓͜͝ͅw̵̧̛̯͙̱̰͚̠̜̲͉͚̟̰̌̑͜ḁ̵̢̡̰̩͖͇̈n̵̡̛̤̬̩͐͆͗̽̂͐̊̽͂ͅt̴̛̮̭̝̣͈͓͙̠͓̼̳͈̼͖̰͇̠̺̻̗̻̜̤͚͔̙̹̝̒̌̆̆͋̂̀̍̀͒̽͗̃͆͗͑̄͌́̕̚͘͘ ̸̡̛̗̘̯̗̞͙̅͌̄́̓̋̎͌̀̀̍̓̍͛́̕y̸̢̨̥̮͙̹͕̮͖̟̲̟̩͕̒́̇̓͐͐̉̆̍̍̾̔́̚̚͝ơ̸̡͔̲̪̭̹͖̥͖̘̙͓̞̪͕͔̝̆̑̈̏̓̏̇̿̈́̐̒̈̄̈̑͋̔̇̈̌͊͋̀̕̕̚͝ͅư̸̧̧̢̺͓̩̹̰̤͇̼̎̃́̍̌̑́̈́̂̊̉̚͘̕͝͠͠ ̷̡̻̯̭̙̹̥͙̜̙͓͍͙͉̤͈̙͍̼̋̐̈́͂̂̾͊̊̈́̈͊̒̅̃̒͠ͅḮ̵̢̢̧̤͓̖̻͇͉̦̼̝̝͊̓̓̔̍ ̵̨̧̧̯̹̯̮͔̘͂̌̂̉̀̓̈́͜n̸̗͗͒̑̒͌̏͌́͐̈̎͊̾̑͐͊̑̕͝e̵̢̛͇̻͈̅̽̄͊̃̉͂̈̈̅̀͑̉̚͝͝͝ë̷̛̛̩̣̻͚̩̰̖̮͍̳̮̤̦̱̤͖̣̟́̈́̓͊̈́͗̾̇̀̽̏͠ͅd̵̢̡̹͚̪̰̥̖̠͕̤͚͚͉̗͓̥̥̰̘͉̮͗́͑͒͆̈́ ̴̨̨̛̤͓͍͈̪͈̊̽́̋͐͌̏̒́y̸̨̘̖̳̫̹̟͖͔̩̣̥̘̬̐̈́́͂̔̅̈́̒̅͋͆̂̋̏̚͜͝͝ờ̵̢̛̺͔̤͕̯̼̳̺̂͑͑͛̽́̒̕͝ų̵̢̛̛̛̘̹͈̭̱̭̠͖̣͙͕͈̼̔̓͊͝
The girl who had once been Natsuki Subaru was frozen in place.
Never before in her lives had she felt as much fear as she did the moment she first landed eyes on the eldritch shadow abomination before her.
In the fleeting purple-and-gold world of Altaïr’s talent, where lights and shadows intermingled and coexisted, the abomination remained unchanged. It was an entity of absolute darkness just the same.
Even her personal world of bright purple and resplendent gold, the thing seemed to encroach.
It was impossible…
It frightened Altaïr far, far more than anything she had ever felt before.
And yet, even though it was scary, even though everything within her was screaming at her to run away, even though air seemed to hold the consistency of mayonnaise in her lungs, her heart beat the hardest and fastest since it’s creation, to the extent that her hearing was drowned out by the deafening drumbeats, she did not take a step back.
Natsuki Subaru was a coward, and he knew it. Although he had lived a blessed life, he folded at the very hint of possible hardships. He couldn’t handle the thought of being anything lesser than what his father thought of him.
So, he ran away. At the merest possibility of failing to reach his father’s expectations, the expecting gaze of his friends, the sincere words of strangers around the neighborhood, he ran away to isolation.
Altaïr was again reborn to a great father and again burdened with expectations.
Before her was her first obstacle.
And it was a nightmare given flesh.
It was a terror. It was a sight that scared macho-men awake.
Subaru would have already been a long run away.
Altaïr should have run in the other direction for her safety.
But the old man was fighting.
For over ten seconds, the old man had been an explosion of steel and techniques. He had not said a word, and yet he was shouting the loudest Altaïr had ever heard him.
She could hear his voice in his every action. She could hear his joyful exclamations at every little snake he killed.
And so, before she could realise it, she attacked the swarm of little snake-shadows seeking to hit him in a blind spot from the earth.
She gouged them out with a simple Shinobi Technique and beheaded the lot in a single instant.
In another instant, she was beside her surrogate grandfather, her only human contact in over a year, slicing down shadow demon snakes.
‘What is a good name for them? I wonder if Solid shadowsnakes is an option…’
Through the whole time they acted together, the great eldritch abomination hadn’t moved a single inch.
Around it, the forest died nonetheless.
Altaïr was trying very hard to not look at it.
She failed. She had been trained by the best, and the best only had one thing to say when one faced an opponent greater than oneself.
‘Never take your eyes off them, Altaïr.’
So, she looked at it, and something called out to her.
Before Altaïr could do anything, before she could think anything, she was in the world of shining violet and sparkling gold.
But it was wrong.
The world moved the same, the old man still struggled with enemies. Altaïr saw him snap his head towards her, saw his eyes widen with mysterious understanding and smile and shoot towards the Beast.
To his death.
Altaïr despaired.
Why was everything different? Why can everything but me move?
And then, something happened.
‘Find me…’
A voice resounded in Altaïr’s head.
‘Please…’
Altaïr heard the voice tremble even as she found the source.
She felt herself tremble when she found the source.
But then, she smiled.
‘The Heavenly Sword knows no fear!’
Even as the voice’s last request resounded in her ears, she left her world of purple-gold behind and stepped forward.
Altaïr stopped, and took a deep breath.
It wasn’t the first time she had planned to be so close to death, nor was it the closest she had been to death, it was the first time where she planned out a near-death-encounter when other ways remained possibilities.
Altaïr copied the old man then.
She smiled, and dashed towards the Beast as fast as she was able.
Her target was embedded in the Beast’s throat. She had to make it roar to have a chance.
Without any prompting, the old man threw a pouch at her and shouted, “one second!”
Altaïr grabbed them and shot to the side. There was no clear path to the Beast available to her, every pathway was infested with snakes. Their miasma was clear to her eyes, even with the mana of the whole forest reduced to nearly nothing.
Altaïr’s eyes widened.
‘There’s an idea…’
Altaïr struck down several snakes as she gathered mana around her legs, preparing them for something really flashy.
Ordinarily, this would be a matter of an instant, but Altaïr needed to be careful, her plan needed her jumps to be extremely accurate. Her Gate screamed, but all that could hear it was deaf.
Altaïr jumped, and immediately found herself twelve meters above the ground. Altaïr slammed her sword to the side of the tree beside her as she stopped in the air, and slashed.
New jump-point, acquired!
Altaïr gathered mana around her legs, and this time, she spared nothing.
She used the Mōsō Dokushin this time, beyond its intended purpose. She pushed it beyond where it was meant to go.
A primer on ninjutsu, she had believed it, and in a way, it was.
But she had known that she could make it more than that. She hadn’t, because she had been afraid.
Altaïr leaped.
She had been afraid of what the outcome might do to her. Mōsō Dokushin was inherently an art centred around the modification of the body. What would enhancements to its functions do to her?
Even as Altaïr jumped, she found herself chanting the name of her new technique.
At her new height of sixty-three metres above the ground, she gathered mana around her fist even as she performed calculations in her head.
‘The height is roughly sixty, sixty-five metres. Call it sixty-five to be safe.’
Altaïr’s fingers tightened around the payload contained in the pouch thrown to her.
‘Acceleration due to gravity is a non-factor.’
Altaïr believed in the training of her great masters.
She had never done anything like this before.
Certain-Kill Technique!
A heartfelt strike on a heartless scourge on the world
Blind Snake Under The Eagle’s Shadow
A full-power throw of a master crafted bomb infused by too much mana straight into the Kurohebi’s right eye
Altaïr braced for the explosion.
It came half-a-second late.
It was a good thing she had several seconds of leeway.
The snake’s roars resounded through the forest.
It was dreadful, just like the miasma it carried.
Altaïr readied herself as she fell.
She had hung in the air for two seconds, but her fall would last three-and-a-half seconds.
Altaïr’s thoughts flashed across her mind as she fell.
THREE
‘I never checked if the acceleration due to gravity here was the same as Earth’s!’
TWO
‘Dad, I love you. I don’t know if I ever told you that. Mom and dad, I love you. I’m sorry for dying so pathetically.’
ONE
Altaïr looked to the earth and found the snake roaring to the sky, directly beneath her.
The plan went exactly as she had wanted it to go.
Involuntarily, she saw a flash of purple-gold lightning from within the Beast’s throat.
She smiled at the trembling steel within.
‘I’m coming for you, just you wait…’
Altaïr shot straight down the throat of the Beast and it hardly noticed.
To the side, the old man’s eyes widened and his fingers trembled even as they blackened.