May 10, 2020

  In the blink of an eye, the blue barrier that surrounded the entire town square collapses and shatters with the purple explosion. Not only that, but the rest of the town falls victim to the radius of the explosion, the buildings falling down and crumbling before the power. Waldo is sent flying into the air and lands face first into the hard concrete. His entire body is damaged by the explosion. Half of his head is even missing, leaving a trail of a bloody mess. Waldo lies on the cracked concrete, his consciousness having slipped from his mind, as the day continues to pass by without a care in the world.

  A loud explosion suddenly makes Mara jump up in fright. She turns around and sees a giant cloud of smoke coming from the distance. That’s in the same direction that Waldo and Osoroi went to. Mara stands up from the tree stump she was sitting on and stares out towards the smoke. She wasn’t sure if that smoke came from Waldo or from Osoroi, but that attack must have been very hard-hitting to be able to affect all the way out here. Mara knows that she won’t be able to help from here on out. She has no choice but to wait and see who emerges victorious from the smoke. One of them should come towards her, right? At least, that is what she told herself. But now that one entire day has passed and no one has come towards her, she wonders if Waldo has kicked the bucket. She really wouldn’t want that to happen.

  (He couldn’t have died. He’s the strongest person I know, even if he isn’t a human. Osoroi is strong too, but Waldo has to be stronger. If he dies here, who will I have left to blame for dad’s death? Who will I have left to hate?)

  Mara then hears something behind her and turns around. A couple of low level curses have sprouted nearby due to the large amount of noise. They come from out of the shadows and spot her. They drool upon sight and inch closer towards the child. Mara really isn’t in a condition to be fighting anymore, but it’s not like she can tell a curse “no”. And so, she steels herself again, takes a deep breath, and rushes towards the curses.

  .

  .

  “I cannot say that I expected this to happen so very early on. You’ve destroyed every expectations I’ve had for you thus far. Although, it is still within the scope of your abilities to evolve. You are me… and I am you. The two of us are the War Spirit. War prevails over all, war causes everything to crumble in its path, war makes the happy fools turn into miserable imbeciles. Because we are one with the ways of war, we are fated to be the strongest warriors to live in our eras. You are no exception, Waldo. You may have forgotten while your cycle was once again repeated, but everything that has happened to you has been repeated a numerous amount of times. Every action that has occurred throughout the course of the War Spirit has been engraved into your mind, but it has been locked away by the phenomenon of rebirth. Finding these engraved pieces of your memory inside of your mind will grant you thoughts and prowess that you can’t achieve with just training your techniques. You must understand the marrow of your technique and origin in order to truly inherit the powers of the War Spirit. Without power, without fear, without control, and without knowing what makes war and destruction possible, you may as well not be alive anymore. So find it, Waldo. Find the marrow of your soul and articulate more chaos than all of the others that have come before you. As the original War Spirit, I look forward to hearing all of the cries of terror and despair that you will create within human society. One of these days, you shall pave the way to your throne throughout the bodies of countless lives. It is your destiny and responsibility to kill Osoroi, and make your stand in the world. Only then will you truly achieve the powers of war. I wish you eternal luck on your journey.”

  .

  .

  Trent sits in empty silence. Corpses line the streets and stains of blood are splattered across the many piles of debris. Waldo emerges from the ground in his desolated state. His body is in tatters, shattered beyond recognition. He opens his mouth to utter a word, and then his body quickly regenerates itself using cursed energy.

  “Osoroi… you’ve bested me once again… the humiliation I feel cannot even begin to be described in mere words… you are truly the most insufferable being I have ever known… I will kill you, even if it is the last thing I do.”

  That being said, Waldo’s thoughts begin to drift into a new direction: The voice that he heard the entire time he was out. It was a new voice that seemed familiar, but he could tell in an instant that the voice belonged to someone very important. They also called themselves war, they called themselves the War Spirit. There are memories engraved inside of his soul? If what the voice said is true, and Waldo can really figure out how to gain ever more power, then he must devise every method possible that can help him do that. But first, he has to figure out how long he was out. It only felt like he was out for about an hour or two. Of course, it could have been way more time on the outside. He stands up from his crater and looks at the town of Trent. The entire town has been completely leveled by the purple explosion. That move that Osoroi pulled off must have been what is called a Hollow Purple. Where did he see that before?

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  Waldo doesn’t sense any humans nearby. They must have already evacuated from the vicinity or were annihilated with the explosion. It’s more likely that the latter occurred. He has no idea how much time has passed since the battle, so it’s more plausible to say that the humans were wiped out with the Hollow Purple. Waldo thinks back to the battle, specifically his domain expansion. That feeling… he must have it once again. It was a new sensation that felt truly unique and special. Mastering the Domain Expansion is something he must learn how to do. He can encounter even more problems and paths, and shred those walls to pieces.

  Then, something clicks in Waldo’s mind: Mara. The fight with her father must have concluded by now. The situation on her side is completely unknown, and he still has use for her. He can’t let anything happen to her right now. And so, without worrying about where the other humans have run off to, Waldo jumps into the air and uses a barrage of shockwaves to make his way towards Mara.

  Mara falls to her knees after a long battle against the curses. She huffs and puffs after pushing herself too hard. She looks up after dealing the final blow and sees the curses evaporating back to nothingness. The curses themselves weren’t anything special, the strongest of them being a Grade 3. But Mara was entirely worn out after the fight with her father, and she was also dealing with the aftermath of several life threatening conditions. Curses like these would have been easy to take care of otherwise. But, of course, she wasn’t able to exert herself too much. Just using enough power to defeat these curses felt like she was about to die. Suddenly, Mara senses something behind her and swiftly turns around. In the distance, she sees something, or rather someone, flying towards her location.

  (That must be one of them! I can’t see from here to tell which one of them it is. Please let it be Waldo.)

  After watching for another short bit of time, Mara sees that the person flying in the sky was indeed Waldo. He’s launching himself forward at incredible speeds with the support of his shockwaves. After confirming for herself that it was Waldo, Mara is both happy and sad that he has returned. She is happy that she will be able to keep surviving in this world and grow strong. However, she is a little sad and mad about the fact that Waldo will probably put her through even harsher training from here on out. That and the fact that none of this would happened if Waldo hadn’t done what he did yesterday.

  After reaching Mara, Waldo flies down and lands on the ground. He clears away all of the smoke and dust and walks towards Mara. The two of them stand face to face, staring each other down in pure silence.

  “It seems that your problem has been taken care of.”

  “Yes… I had to do it. But I’m sure he’ll be happy now.”

  “Nonsense. You cannot feel emotion after you have died. It’s simply wishful thinking on the human’s part.”

  “And how did it go with you?”

  Waldo’s eye gets slightly violent. It seems that Mara pressed a button she shouldn’t have.

  “Tch, we are not going to discuss that. Just know that the bastard won’t be on our tail for a while. That is all that is important at the moment.”

  Waldo looks back at Mara. He can tell that she is incredibly tired and drained. Despite all of that, she continues to stand strong in the face of danger.

  “Do you seek power? Do you wish to escape this weak shell of yours and transform into something completely different?”

  “I do.”

  “You want to right all of the wrongs of your life and overcome that which you currently fear, is that right?”

  “You’re right!”

  “Then… I will prepare you to be able to handle all of the encounters you will face in the future. After these events, I have concluded that you were indeed a good choice to pick. You should keep in mind to not disappoint me, Mara.”

  “Of course, Waldo.”

  And so, the two of them simply smile at each other. Mara chuckles a little and Waldo turns around.

  “Now go look for the wagon. There are plenty of human corpses there I wouldn’t want to waste.”

  .

  .

  Osoroi lands on a boulder. That Hollow Purple attack really did a number on him. His arm was blown away, and the rest of his body has suffered damage as well. If even he came out looking like this, Waldo must have certainly sustained even more damage considering how close he was to the core of the explosion. Osoroi looks at his arm and instantly regenerates it. He flexes his arm a bit to make sure it’s working as intended.

  “I was not expecting to come out of this fight with such injuries. The War Spirit’s current growth is monstrous in its own right. I don’t believe he’s even a month old. But, each of them were always exceptionally quick starters. None of them ever managed to fully awaken their true potential, however. Only Rāj was able to satisfy my thirst for a brilliant battle of wits.”

  Osoroi strips off the tattered cloak he was wearing and leaves it on the ground. He allows his arms to stretch out and feel the warming sun on his body. He smiles as he looks up at the hideous sky up above.

  “Mark my words, War Spirit. In every other life, you have fallen by my hands. This time… it will be no different. It may take a year, five years, ten years, perhaps even thirty years or more. I will savor the moment that you die once again.”

  Osoroi turns around, away from the town of Trent, and walks off into the distance. In a flash, his presence disappears.