Journey Of A Legend

*Slash!*

"!!"

The man saw as a pith black katana came at his throat which got him by surprise, however, he was an expert too, so he had an incredible reaction ability too.

Without hesitation, he jumped backward, avoiding the fatal attack only by a margin.

*Swish!*

Kuragari saw as the man dodged his surprise attack which amazed him a bit, but even after his fail he just simply smiled and said, "Let's see what you are made of."

As he said that, he raised the katana in his hand, while several shadow figures with the same posture and weapon that he had started to appear around the man and his subordinates.

Even the surroundings started to turn dark, indicating that Kuragari just used his Core Territory to finish this fight with a single assault.

The man seeing as this happened just smiled slightly and said, "Look at this. We are being surrounded by mere puppets. What should we do know?"

"Nothing. Just shut the f**k up and die.", said Kuragari and with a strong motion, he slashed, sending a huge and wide shadow blade toward the man.

As he did that, all the other shadowy figures followed suit, and each of them slashed at the man, sending a similarly terrifying attack toward the four figures.

Looking at the numerous attacks coming his way from all directions, the man stopped smiling and suddenly said in an ice-cold tone, "Nullify."

*Crack!*

In an instant, all the shadow clones' and Kuragari's attack got wiped away, making Joe, Mila, and Emma to look at this sight with total shock.

Kuragari frowned seeing this too, but before he could do or say anything, suddenly the man raised his hand and said, "Open."

As those words left the man's mouth, a wide circle with a half-transparent look appeared below his feet, filled with strange and mysterious symbols, making the man's presence insanely close to those on the God rank. 

Kuragari's expression seeing the circle on the ground stiffened in an instant and said, "He is on the Ascender rank!"

"Hahaha! Surprised after seeing my Ascension Ring? Haha! I will sh-"

"Maybe you are forgetting who you are against little kid."

"Li... Little kid?!", shouted the man a bit angrily, but before he could say anything more, a same looking circle that he had suddenly appeared under Kuragari's feet too, but with the only difference that it had two colors. 

The left side of it was as black as an abyss while the right side was brown and just like what happened with the man, Kuragari's presence also skyrocketed, making his aura to reach the bottom of the God Rank.

Joe, Mila, and Emma looked at the two men with serious expressions, not knowing how to react at all at the happenings before them.

"It became a fight where we can't help even if we wanted to.", said Mila quietly, making Joe and Emma nod in agreement.

As the three teenagers looked at the shocking changes before them, Kuragari started to talk with a serious expression.

"I'm also on the Ascender rank you. What you did is nothing special at all. You are just a sore loser."

The moment the man heard Kuragari's statement, a huge greenish vein appeared on his forehead and with a creepy smile he said, "We will see what you will say after this 'sore loser' breaks everything inside your body."

"I can't wait to see it.", said Kuragari's with a mockery smile and without hesitation, he swung his katana.

*Swish!*

In an instant, a huge, pitch-black slash appeared from the katana and flew toward the man with insane speed and power.

It was so powerful that the bottom of the slash even tore the ground into two, while the void around the attack felt like it will be ripped in any given second.

The man saw the terrifying assault, but somehow instead of looking shocked it just simply smiled and said, "Nullify."

*Crack!*

Just like the last time, Kuragari's attack got erased from the air by the man's power, making Kuragari to frown slightly seeing this.

Seeing Kuragari's frown the man smiled even more and said, "See? I told you! I'm much stronger than you! Haha! Just give up and tell us what we want to know. Maybe you can die without pain."

As the man said this, Kuragari looked at his figure and suddenly started to chuckle.

Seeing as Kuragari was laughing the man frowned and asked, "What is so funny?"

Laughing for a while, Kuragari cleaned a teardrop from his eye and said, "I'm sorry, but what you just said was too funny, that I couldn't hold it back."

"?"

Kuragari seeing the man's confusion stopped laughing and said, "Your power... Just like its owner, it is just trash."

The man hearing Kuragari's statement got angry in an instant and after pointing at Kuragari, he shouted, "Haaa? If you have the nerve you sa-"

*Slash!*

*Paff!*

With a heavy sound, the man's whole arm fell to the ground, making everyone around look at this scene with shock.

"Huh?"

The man feeling that something was not right looked down to the ground, but the moment he saw the fallen arm on the ground and the never-stopping blood that came out from his severed shoulder, he screamed up in an instant.

"AAARRRRGGGHHHH!"

Watching the man's pathetic look, Kuragari started to walk toward him slowly and said, "Your power is just as worthless as you. In the beginning, I thought you can abolish all attacks with your power, but it seems it is not the case."

Walking closer and closer, Kuragari's presence grew even scarier with each step, making the man to step back in pure fear.

"Your power is not about nullification, but about object exchange."

Hearing this, the man's eyes widened in an instant, and asked, "H... How did you knew it?!"

"It's not so hard to find out. My power is mine alone, so I can feel where it is. The moment you 'nullified' it, I felt that it didn't vanish, but simply got transferred to another place."

"..."

Seeing as the man didn't say anything Kuragari stopped two meters before him and after raising his katana he said, "Maybe you can fool others, but I'm not so stupid to fall for something so fake like this."

"Now then... Just die!", said Kuragari and started to swing his katana, but just as he started his movement, the man smiled creepily and said, "Now!"

In an instant, as he said that, Kuragari felt that something was very amiss and turned his gaze toward Joe and the girls, only to see as the three hoodied men appeared behind them out of nowhere, ready to cut their throat without hesitation.

Joe, Mila, and Emma were totally got off their guards. The three men just appeared out of nowhere, making it impossible to react in time to their surprise attack.

Kuragari seeing the immense danger widened his eyes and wanted to help, however, it was too late for him to act.

"F**k! I won't make it in time!"

Just as it seemed that things will turn for the worse and there will be only death waiting for the three teenagers, suddenly a deep ice cold voice sounded.

"First Flow, Isolation."

The instant the voice sounded throughout the place, the air around the three men suddenly started to move, and under a second three huge bubble whirlpool appeared around their head. 

"Wh... H... Aggh!!"

The one behind Mila wanted to say something after seeing the strange wind bubble around his head, but before he could finish just his first word, suddenly his eyes widened with shock and in an instant, he tried to breathe, but somehow he couldn't.

And it wasn't just him, but the other two hoodied men too. All the three of them started to fall to the ground and struggle with widened eyes, trying to breathe in some air, but no matter how hard they tried they couldn't.

And what was even more stranger that it was clearly visible that they begged in fear, but because of the whirlpool around their heads, no sound could be heard. Their mouth moved but no sound came out, making Joe and the two girls to be shocked by what they were seeing at the moment.

Even Kuragari and the man on the ground looked quite surprised, not understanding what was going on at the moment.

As all of them watched the three struggling men on the earth, a figure started to walk out from the shadows slowly.

Kuragari turned his gaze toward the one who arose from the shadows, but after seeing who it was frowned and asked, "Who are you?"

The one who walked out was a thirty years old man with black hair and a huge scar across his face.

Naturally, this old man on the inside was Greg, but he used the cube he got from Russ to camouflage himself. The reason why he didn't come and help in his original look, was because he didn't want anyone to know that he is here. He promised himself that he won't put his friends' life in danger and he will abide by his words.

As for how he will make Kuragari and his friend to leave the Forbidden Lands and give up on his search, that is a very good question, but for the time being he needs to take care of this matter first.

Looking at Kuragari with a calm expression, Greg cleared his throat and in a deep voice, he started to talk.

"You don't need to know who I am. I just simply came here to help you."