"Are you ok my love?" Shin said as he ran swiftly to his wife's side.
"Don't worry" he said
"You're safe now"
"You and our child are both safe" he said as placed his hand on her stomach.
"I know you're tired from all the hard work" Hannah said.
"Just rest for a while" she added as she placed Shin's head upon her laps.
"By the way..."
"What's with the new look?" She asked with a curious smile
"Oh, this?" Shin replied
"It's just temporary"
"I'll be back to normal in no time"
"The others still aren't back yet?" Shin asked with his eyes getting heavy
"No, not yet" Hannah replied
"Ugh c'mon" Shin whined as he fell asleep.
By the time Shin woke up, it was already evening and everyone had returned.
Kento, Hiro, Xiao, Ryu, and Lana who went beast hunting with their parents had just returned before Shin woke up. On the other hand, Mina, Rosewell, Susan and Landon arrived earlier with very important news.
"They want to sink the island" Landon uttered as soon as Susan announced that she had important news to share.
"They have already started the process" Susan added.
"Also," she said
"Albus is back"
"So what are we doing?" Kojiro asked raising his hand
"Isn't it obvious?" Shin replied
"We are escaping this island"
"But how?" Hiro asked
"Aunt Susan can figure out how" Shin answered
"The rest of you should focus on helping the citizens move safely and make it out alive"
"What about you?" Hannah asked in a worried tone
"You're talking as if you're not coming with us"
"I'm really sorry my love" Shin said with a sad tone
"But my ancestors have called"
"And I now know that I must remain here in order for us to succeed"
"All your lives depend on it"
"The fate of the world depends on it"
Mina heard Shin's words and burst into tears uncontrollably.
"Why?.." she lamented
"Why?"
"Your father did this to me, and now you want to do the same?"
"Is this divine punishment?"
"Is this my punishment for failing as your mother?!!"
"Don't say that" Shin said as he went to hug his mother.
"You've been a great mother all through my life"
"So please don't say that the gods are punishing you"
"I know that I'm being taken away from you, I'll need you to cheer up"
"I won't go without leaving a gift behind, and the gift I offer you is one of great magnitude"
"The gift I offer you is a free world"
"Free from the order"
"Free from their power"
"Free from their control"
"A world where everyone can finally think for themselves"
"A world where you can raise my son, your grandchild"
Mina finally calmed down and let go of Shin after weeping loudly for several minutes.
Then Shin turned back to Hannah and said to her "please look after our child, and also look after my mother"
"Our son will grow up to be a great man"
"He will help those in need and be the strength to the weak"
"He shall be powerful and no enemy will overwhelm him"
"With the blessing of my ancestors, I name our son..."
"...RAIDEN"
As soon as Shin was done blessing his child, everyone suddenly noticed that his hair had gone back to its normal snow-white color.
"It's about to go down"
Meanwhile, in the capital city of Nihon, Albus had gathered all the Prophets from around the world for meeting. It was a meeting to discuss their total dominion over the world after wiping out the city of Yamato.
"Welcome brothers" Albus said out loud, raising a glass of wine to his fellow prophets. The meeting took place in a very large hall with a round table in the middle for the higher ranked prophets. The surrounding chairs were for the others to sit in.
"Today the decision has been made"
"We shall forsake this island and it's inhabitants"
"And after that, our world domination shall be completed"
"But before that, I have prepared a little form of entertainment for you"
"We are going to play a game with simple rules"
"Whoever kills more Yamato citizens than any other, shall be promoted to a seat at the round table"
"The game starts tomorrow so until then, eat, drink, and make merry because by tomorrow, the world will be totally ours"
So the Prophets spent the night celebrating and partying, eat and drinking, wining and dining until they had their fill. Then morning came.
In front of the city gate stood some overzealous prophets who were hungry for a promotion. They argued among themselves about which of them was likely to get the promotion and some other things.
As they continued arguing, one of them noticed a figure walking towards them from the distance.
"Who are you?" They asked but they got no answer. He just kept walking closer to them until they finally recognized who he was and all they could say was "oh sh*t" before they got fried by lightning. From there, Shin began tearing through the enemy lines.
Every one that got in Shin's way was either burnt to ashes by lightning or internally imploded by the thundering sounds he send their way. There was no stopping him, he ran through enemy forces like they were not even there and through buildings like they were made of biscuits. No one could stand his lightning, and no one could face his thunder.
Inside the king's chambers, Hanzo was having a hard time convincing king Endo to get inside the emergency vault that was prepared for him in case of an attack.
"I WILL NOT!!" Endo yelled at the top of his voice
"My people are dying there's no way I'll just sit back and watch"
"I've been doing that for too long and look where we are"
"I'm powerful enough to fight so why don't you just let me go out there?" He asked
"Because our enemy is a much more powerful one" Hanzo replied
"Even I am afraid of facing them"
"I'M NOT A COWARD!!" Endo screamed
"If I die then so be it"
"It's what I deserve for being such an incompetent ruler"
At this point, Hanzo understood that words were not going to work on his king. Before Endo could say another word, he immediately rendered him unconscious with a precise strike to the neck.
"Your safety is my sole duty" Hanzo said as he carried Endo into the emergency vault and locked him inside. Then he pushed a button on the wall and another door with resemblance to the walls of the chamber closed on the vault and concealed its location. And then Hanzo walked out to face the incoming threat.
"What is the situation?" he asked one of the soldiers but they didn't answer him.
"What is the situation?" he asked another but still got no answer, they just kept running past him as if he was nobody.
He finally got tired of asking and decided to go see for himself but before could walk through the next door, his location suddenly got switched and he found himself in a room he almost didn't recognize.
"Endo, you bastard" he said calmly as he sat on one of the chairs in the room. He was inside the king's emergency vault and he knew exactly how he got there.
Hanzo once got the researchers to make a single use relocation device that swaps the location of two people. He offered it to the king who kept refusing and claiming that he was never going to need it, and now it finally got used but instead of taking the king out of harm's way, it let him run straight to it.
The first thing Endo did after the switch was to climb the highest tower in the palace to see what was going on. What he saw was brutal. In a matter of seconds he saw lightning strikes everywhere and the entire city was dead.
"This is unforgivable!" he said as ran down the stairs of the tower.
Meanwhile, Shin had finally made it to the conference room where all the prophets where gathered and waiting for him.
They attacked first with multiple strikes and he immediately activated his 'raiken' and began destroying every single one of them.
"You saved me the stress of having to hunt you all you down" he said as he continued slaying his enemies
" YOU HEARTLESS MONSTERS!!"
"Have you no remorse for what you did"
"And entire nation of people"
"You just deprived them of thier souls"
"WHY?!!!"
"JUST TELL ME WHY!!"
There was no major fight in this battle, there was no final boss. Even the most powerful of the Prophets were among the first to be ended by Shin and the rest just followed.
By the time the battle ended, Shin was exhausted and barely able to stand. Then Endo walked in.
With almost no strength in him, Shin pointed his hand towards Endo and shot the last of his thundering essence.
Luckily for Shin, he had met the reqired conditions for the postponement spell. He fell flat on the floor with a smile on his face. He wasn't happy because he was able to survive the battle; the island was sinking and he was still going to die anyways, he was happy because he was able to save one person even though it was going to take a thousand years to wake him up.
Shin could hear the waters rising, the waves making their way into the shores of the island and slowly advancing into the into the cities.
"I'm sure they made it out safely" he said with as he closed his eyes and waited for the waters to creep up on him.
We have reached the end of the Exodus arc and are about to advance into a new arc in this tale. But before we go on, there are a few things I would like to shed more light on and hopefully help you understand the story better. This will be written in the form of a Q&A session. The questions are asked by Shiro, Mia, Yamato, Tanaka and Endo. The answers are given by Orie and Shin. "Who are the Cardinals?" Shiro asked. The Cardinals were the best of the elites trained by the Prophets. They each represent the four cardinal points of the earth and are tasked with specific duties. Apart from Hanzo the north cardinal that was mentioned, there was also Jade of the east and Genji of the west. "So that's where Genji comes in" he said. "What of the south cardinal?" He asked "There was no south cardinal after my mother" Shin answered almost immediately. "So Mina was a cardinal before she escaped?" Mia asked. "That is correct" Shin answered. "I have a question"
A few days had gone by since Orie and Shin told the tales of the past and everything was on the way to going back to normal. Shiro was back to evading the minor hits that were put on him and Mia was back to following him everywhere. Victor could finally work peacefully in his lab and Yamato went back to his restaurant job. Endo had nothing to do so he joined Yamato, and as for Tanaka... well, she had her reasons for letting him stay. Dave was back in control of his body with no memory of what happened. He knew something was missing but didn't try to figure it out because of the fears he had. He just continued his life as if nothing happened even though Shiro kept looking at him differently. Due to the damage caused when the hunters attacked, school remained closed and all the staff and students had some free time on their hands. Some went to parties, some went to games, some went on picnics, some even travelled. But Mia decided to use her time to see her father. All Orie c
"The great city of Dahüd" "It is filled with many tourist attractions but that's not what people go there for. When people travel to this great city, they are there for the life, they are there for the freedom, they are there for the action" "No one ever goes to this great city and comes back the same, there's always a story to tell" Orie said as he drove along the road "You still haven't actually told us the mission is" Shiro said out loudly "Yeah you haven't told us" Mia added. Then Orie turned around a little and said to them "Even I don't know what the mission is, all I know is that there is great urgency surrounding it" "What do you mean?" Mia asked "Is this one of your... message from the gods?" Shiro added "Something like that" Orie answered "I received a call from Dahüd saying that my presence was urgently needed. Then as I prepared to leave, the voice of the gods told me to take an army with me. That's why I'm taking you guys along, you both eac
"The great city of Dahüd is also know as the gangster's paradise. Because of its unique golden rule. 'duels are legal, standoffs are allowed, Violence is permitted as far far as there is a valid reason and death isn't a result. There are official standoff referees in every area that make sure the duels and standoffs are conducted properly' Another great thing about this great city is the king" Orie talked enthusiastically as he led through the new city they had just appeared in. "For a city with orderly violence, this place seems a little too quiet" Shiro said as he looked around the empty streets. "Yeah" Natsumi added "And my powers aren't working" As soon as Orie heard those words his eyes lit up with fear. "Those were the same words I said..." He muttered as he looked around "... when I was in the game" "We need to hide" Orie said as he motioned in the direction of a house by his right "Why?" Shiro asked in confusion "Don't ask any quest
"About two an a half decades ago, this city used to be part of the great 'Freeland'. It went by a different name that the people of today don't use anymore. The nation of Freeland was a great proponent of 'true freedom' and the leaders tried to rule with laws that were more lax than in other nations. But it didn't turn out well. Not long after it was founded, it became completely lawless and the only rule was survival of the fittest. It was a very hard time for those with no access to magic. They lived in constant fear and torment, and their standard of living was way below average. They wished fervently for a change and their prayers were answered when people's powers started going off in a part of the country. The powers of people went off irregulary. It lasted for minutes, hours, or just a few seconds but the 'revengers' risked any opportunity that came their way and struck. This started a long war in the nation. The revengers armed themselves with weapons of all so
By the time they were done setting up, more than five minutes had gone by. "Their powers have returned" Yamato said "How long until they go off again?" He asked "It's better to just wait them out and move when they are powerless" he suggested but Orie disagreed with him. "It's four hours until the next power shut down" he said "If we wait that long, we risk failing the game" "I forgot to tell you this but by the time the game began, the Metas already knew where source of their powerlessness was coming from" "This game is not espionage" "It's pure violence" "But don't worry" "It's not like bullets don't work on mages" Before anyone could say anything, Shiro and Mia darted out of the house screaming "LET'S GOOO!!" "Aren't you worried about them getting into trouble?" Natsumi asked, looking at Orie. "No, not really" Orie answered as he made his way to the door "This is a game" "The fight doesn't start until we leave this street" "and
As Orie and the others rushed forward, every Meta on the scene immediately turned their attention towards them. Majority of the Metas were fire elementals and they all had a simple pattern. First they would each shoot multiple small flames, then they would shoot big balls of flames, then they would raise their hands in unison and cause flames to rise from the ground everywhere. When the Metas fired the small flames, Orie blocked with his shield and kept running. When they shot the big balls of flames, he evaded and kept on advancing. When they caused flames to rise from the ground, he paid no attention to it and continued running until he got to one of the Metas. Then he immediately unpinned several grenades and dropped them on the floor. BOOM!!! Everyone also followed Orie and did as he did, but when they close to a Meta, they used their guns and swords to attack instead of dropping grenades at their feet and attempting suicide bombing. As they were unleashing their a
Even Orie was shocked and it was apparent on his face. "This wasn't how it went the last time" he thought He was sure that there was a few more waves before this dialogue but that wasn't the case at the moment. He looked back at the wave of Metas that were behind him and noticed something different; they had stopped advancing and were slowly backing away. This was a sign that their powers had gone off. Orie then turned to his companions and said "Alright let's go" and they all band together and started walking past the numerous identical looking revengers. Shiro wanted to ask a question about their looks but he could just picture Orie in his mind yelling "CLASSIC GAME SHI**!!" and he kept quiet. They hadn't walked from the army when the leader called Orie back saying "WAIT!!" "You'll need this" he added as he tossed a car key to Orie and ran back to join his army who had begun advancing on the powerless Metas. "He gave you the keys" Shiro said "Then whe