The Past is now and so am I

Ah shit

The battlefield stretched endlessly beneath the crimson sky, bathed in the dying glow of the setting sun. Smoke curled in the air, the scent of charred earth and blood thick in his lungs. His body ached—deep wounds carved into his flesh,Clothes torn, limbs trembling from exhaustion.

Yet, he stood.

With sword in hand and shattered ribs, he remained upright, glaring at the horrors before him.

I feel like crap

Shadow demons encircled him like living nightmares, their forms twisting and flickering between solid and mist-like, as if reality itself rejected them. Unlike mindless beasts Their bodies had form like humanoid structures, dark as night itself, yet their eyes—glowing, piercing red—were all too real. some agile, some heavily armored.

They didn't breathe. They didn't speak.They didn't think. They simply existed to kill.

He gripped his sword tighter, the weight of it heavier than ever before. His mana was nearly depleted,his channeled were strained with repeated usage and exhaustion,his core arched- sharp and raw pain from repeated mana-restoring portion and healing elixirs .His arsenal only consistented of a High-quality mana portion,sword, the artifacts he held dear to him and his precious life he held dear to him. Once , his blade crackled with power .

Now , it barely flickered.

Too many. He was outnumbered, outmatched.

A whispers of movement. Surrounding him

His body reacted before his mind could process. He swung his sword in a sharp arc, and the first shadow lunged, two daggers swiping for his throat.

Steel met shadow.

The creature veered mid-air, sensing danger. Kaido raised his broken left arm—the pain was unbearable, but he didn't hesitate, making his finger look like a makeshift gun. Concentrating his mana, he focused it to his fingertips.

*BOOM*

A black projectile escaped his finger tips out of thin air bashing the shadow. Internal Spell casting was one of his advantages including his high sword skill and fast movement.

SILENT TECHNIQUE 1ST FORM: STRIKE THROUGH BULLET

The demon staggered—but it didn't die.

Not completely.

A dark shield materialized around its form, absorbing the brunt of the attack. Though damage marred its body, it reformed in an instant, its red eyes flashing with renewed hunger..

They couldn't be killed by normal means.

Anothe shadow surged forward with a huge form of his previous blast projecting from it grasp- a mage class-. A third shadow loomed behind it, a tank-class warrior, massive sword and gallant shield in hand.

His stomach twisted.

He dodged left, barely avoiding the blast that sliced through the air where his chest had been.

He grunted in pain and frustration staggering forward.

Outmatched in his current state , he was facing a ninja class shadow, a mage and a tank - all on a level par to that of a Master.

In a world where mana was everything the ranking system was mostly used by calculating the user mana and core.

Dormant → Negro → Bronze → Silver → Gold → Black Gold → Increat → Master → Grand Master → Prime … and beyond.

At his peak, he had been a Grand Master, on the brink of transcending to the Prime rank. But now? Battered, injured, exhausted, and drained of mana, even he wouldn't place himself above Increat—and that was including his 56 years of battle experience.

The dagger-wielding demon pounced again, using mana to increase his speed with its dagger going for Kaido's chest. He twisted his body just in time to by pass the dagger, raising his blade in a desperate counter. His sword cut through the shadow chest, but the moment his steel left its body, the wound sealed itself shut, as if he had struck nothing but smoke.

His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

He was fast. He was agile. But his attacks were weak and they the shadow… they were relentless.

The mage aimed its spell low going for his legs with a dark blast

He leapt back—only to realize his mistake.

A trap.

Another was waiting—a sword of pure darkness lashed across aiming for his ribs,planning on sending him sprawling to the ground.

Move!, Move!!

Goddamit!

He turned his body mid air just as the shadow sword sank into the earth where his head had been. The impact struck the ground instead, sending a shock wave of exploding rock and dust into the sky which sends him flying and landing on his fours.

His wounds tore open due to his constant movement. The pain was unbearable. He landed hard, blood soaking into the earth beneath him.

Dirt exploded into the air from the tank massive sword tearing up the earth in it's path ,Kaido used the momentary distraction to push himself up, panting, Bleeding.

The demons didn't pause. They never did.

They swarmed him. The fast shadow threw his two daggers while the mage made an illusion spell duplicating the daggers mid-air …..or so he thought, skillfully dodging some of the daggers only to realize the spell wasn't an illusion spell that made them duplicate.... they actually did duplicate .

One dagger dug into his shoulder, another raked down his chest, slicing deep. Pain flared through his body.He grut his teeth in pain as He retreated jumping back , the dagger on his body turned to nothing more than mist fading away and reforming in the hands of the one whom dealt the blow.

''CREATION MAGIC ?''

The shadows were nothing more than puppet that much was obvious and he had pinpoint the puppeteer location.Which he had already done, he had to take his fight seriously now, unless he would actually lose the fight .

Too many. Too fast. Too strong. That didn't matter …..If they couldn't move

His breath hitched. His knees nearly buckled. His head hurt from the pain . His mana core trembled as he drew more than 50% of his remaining mana .

He concentrated his mana into the environment. At the middle ...…as though the environment was a circle condensing his mana and merging it with the atmosphere, the shadows felt threatened by the dark atmosphere and lunged forward at him.

That's better. He smiled as they approached him

''MANA ZONE !'' A loud thud reverberated through the battlefield. But he couldn't stop.His fingers tightly held his sword with high confidence and vigor.

A desperate surge of mana flared within him, and for a moment, his blade glowed once more.

''DOME OF VIDAR!''

Everywhere felt silent for a second with the shadows stuck in air like time was paused...…no ... time wasn't paused they were just two slow ...

Too slow to fathom his speed

The strike cut through three demons at once, their bodies dispersing into smoke. For a second, hope flickered in his chest.

''I should have taught so''. He laughed

The tank remained standing with his shield already destroyed and sign of damage on its body… damages that couldn't heal unlike the rest.

But that wasn't his main focus after all the Shadows were nothing more than Puppet for the Shadow mage whom he had already pin point his location.

''Silent technique 5th form : Quiet pierce''

He infused mana into his blade aiming for the damaged part of the tank shadow and piercing through making the shadow crumble … but that wasn't what he was aiming .

50 Yards away his sword missed a figure by a little distance ...… no he dodged the blade

And then, from the shadows, a figure emerged.

His true enemy had finally revealed himself.

The battle was far from over.

Kaido channeled mana into the Vanishing Artifact- a artifact which made him capable of a feat akin to teleportation, his body flickering out of sight. In the next heartbeat, he was above the Shadow user, sword flashing downward.

Steel clashed against steel.

Up close he saw his opponent well,

The motherfucker isn't even human.

Once again Kaido image flickered with him returning to his original position, his stance was quick , his right hand held his sword sheath while his left held the handle , his right leg was in front of the other his figure was lowly bent to the ground making his body a lowly target.

He was fully on alert unlike his battle with the shadows, he wasn't fighting a lowly human either , he was fighting one of the best warriors there was in Vaeloria , a fighter above even the PRIME rank,

Nocthyris the Night shadow

A legendary rank warrior highly known for clearing a full army just with his shadows .

Kaido eyes were serious he couldn't even afford to blink, he had suspected that he was the one controlling the shadows but he didn't want to believe it after all their were many Dark attributes user in the kingdom which himself was part of , only that he didn't go into shadow technique his was different.

He flinched from pain from his mana core ,he had been overusing the vanishing artifact and now it was taking its toll on him. His vision blurred with immense pain in his left eye.

A sudden jolt struck him like a wind through his chest. the world dimmed ,his breath stopped and in an instant , he saw it- his own body falling , crimson spilling from a fatal wound. Nocthyris's blade gleamed, a merciless arc slicing him. Pain flared. Darkness -his best friend- closed in.

Fear gripped him.

But then-he blinked. The scene had unraveled like air. His heart was still active in his chest and his head was still on his head. He was alive. His breath dragged hard and fast , He focused on calming his racing heart and shaking body. 

A second later Noc moved just as he had seen , stepping into the exact strike he had seen. It wasn't death , it was a warning. A shadow of what could be. He shifted back , creating a big space between him and Noc.

Foresight of death.

He was saved by the attribute of the Revenant sight artifact which was what made his left eye. A artifact which didn't make use of mana only required his eye as a host and slowly devoured it until it was the only thing serving as the eye - a pure parasite.

"Well, well, well ,well" Noc crackled realizing his attack failed to instantly kill Kaido, lurching cartoonishly forward.

" Look what the cat dragged in" Expecting a reaction from Kiado but got none , he gave a nasty unappealing smile. Using his sword as a standing stick with him resting his chin on its handle .

"Just think!" he keeps up his talking."Who could have thought that you the .."

".....Traitor of Ishtar. Kingdom's scourge. Rapid Reaper... Damn, Kaido, you've got a long résumé" Noc laughed

"-I cant say I'm not jealous from some of the names you've earn for the past year-, the 14th demon of rebellion,-now that's quite a name -" Noc was still expecting a reaction even as his comrades-no he wouldn't call them that- his escorts came out of their hiding place with them numbering to about thirteen, Kiado face showed none of what Noc expected it was as though he knew their always been there watching him , Noc smiled.

"The Royal killer and also-" Noc waited for Kaido to look into his eyes ,

"The wife killer" A wave of angry gleamed from Kiado eyes like a surrounded Lion whose tail was stepped on.

Noc chuckled up , "you should see the look in your eyes " his laugh increased, "You look agitated".

The people Noc called escorts pretended not to notice Noc behavior their faces had nothing like smile, a man in his late nineties with a ceremonial type of robe and long beards stood firm on the branch of a tree above Noc rolled out a scroll, he was a important official in the King's men known for his job of enforcing execution on behalf of the king.

"Lets see-" The old man cleared his throat as his eyes looked at Kiado only to met a terrifying gaze which made him look away.

"Full name: Xavis Ken from clan Ishtar -know to use his name given by his mother which his Kaido. Occupation: A formerly known Forge maester and also known as a Ishtar pure blood akin to nobility . Age: Fifty-six. Had three children in his lifetime with a wife know with the name of -" The old man was cut short by Nocthyris

"Old man how about you skip all those introduction and get to the main part- after all I was only brought here to take his head" His gaze was on Kaido, the motherfucker was using the free time to recuperate that much was obvious. The old man cursed under his breath not daring to say it out.

Clearing his throat " Xavis has been known as a man whom went against the country and killed many high officials of the kingdom mounting to about fifteen generals , over forty clan leaders , the prince of this humble land-" with that everyone except Noc and Kaido gave a little sign of respect by looking down, They both kept eye contact

" And several attempt to eliminate the rest of the royal family,stealing of the kingdom most valuable artifacts that number up-to to ten in number and murder of over two hundred lowly citizens of the kingdom. And for this reason by the decree of King Myrondell Helios XIX AND Queen Maryl Helios with the backing of the whole kingdom of Nytheris and the joint support of your clan Ishtar." He paused for emphasis,

"You are hereby sentenced to death by the hand of Nocthyris one of the legendary rank warrior for the numerous atrocities you have committed, and thus this punishment shall be deemed just and fitting"With that the man closed the scroll and raised his head.

"Shut up!" Kaido scoffed angrily.