ZENPAN SAT AT HIS DESK IN HIS OFFICE, filing all of the paperwork that had built itself up into large structures upon his desk. After finishing up with at most three documents, he heard a knock upon his door.

"Come in," he called out to the person who knocked upon his door. Just as he said that the doorknob turned to open. After Yukan entered his room, Zenpan decided to put aside his paperwork to chat with him.

"Ah, Yukan!" he gleefully exclaimed. "You're looking well. How is your recovery going? Last time we sparred, you gave me a hell of a right hook-"

"When can I return to the front lines?" Yukan abruptly asked, cutting Zenpan off. The general froze.

"You've just reconverted, Yukan," he told his visitor, trying to talk him down. "I think it would be best if you rested-"

"I'm ready," Yukan bluntly interrupted Zenpan again. "I need to go back to the battlefield. You can't keep me here forever, Zero."

"Three weeks," Zenpan sighed. "You can return to the battlefield in three weeks." He knew that he likely wouldn't be able to fix his army to not depend on the swordsman, but he was trying to get as much time as possible before any conversion was thrown to the side and abandoned for the rest of their lives.

"What?" Yukan was appalled by this. "Kadaina said I'm fine. My hand is healed up enough to fight-"

"Yukan-"

"I need to be out there fighting!" he continued, entirely ignoring the pleas of his general. "Kunshu is out there, slaughtering people left, right, and center."

"I will not allow you to go back any sooner," Zenpan growled at him. The air around the two of them had grown tense. The general was no longer messing around. He knew that Yukan was too stubborn for his good and that letting him fight would be catastrophic to the well-being of their army. Despite how many times he'd tried to get him to stop, he still wouldn't budge.

"Yukan," he continued, "you need to learn your physical limits. Last time, Kadaina risked his life to save you. You're going to give Ite a heart attack. You just started using your prosthetic hand to fight. You need to slow down or you're going to burn out again."

"I can handle it!" Yukan yelled out in defense. "If anything gets out of hand, I can just access Deity Mode."

"Deity Mode will not save you from every situation, Yukan," Zenpan snapped once more, trying to talk him down without having to reveal his secret. "You can't depend on that to save yourself or others! You need to be in extreme rage or a hopeless position. Your life or someone else's must be at risk. I will personally never allow these conditions to befall. Furthermore, if you grow too attached to Deity Mode you will gradually lose your mind due to your extended connection with the true power of the weapon. Eventually, you will become a bloodthirsty tyrant if you aren’t careful."

"You have no idea how powerful the Omega Blade is!" Yukan lashed out. "You have no idea what it can do! It could kill everybody in this camp and still have a sharp edge!"

Zenpan stood up suddenly and decided to reveal what he had been hiding from the entirety of Akuni's military. His skin grew pale and his hair turned blonde. His ears began to point outward, much like an elf's ears would. His outfit had entirely changed to something that wouldn't look out of place in a cyberpunk convention, with his right arm changing from flesh to steel and his right eye becoming robotic. At this sight, Yukan collapsed backward in shock.

"Sit down, Yukan," the strange elf-like being said to him in a voice that was noticeably much deeper than that of Zenpan's. "We have much to discuss. Since you are so eager for answers, I will do my best. Zenpan Imoru is not my real name and, as you can tell, I'm not exactly human. My birth name was Zeronius Kantoku III and I am what you might refer to as a maila. I have been around much longer than you have. I have many things to share. First of all, I am well aware of what the blades can do."

"What?" Yukan began to speak once more after the initial bout of shock subsided. "You're a robot?! What are you talking about?! How do you know what the blades do?-"

"Yukan, you're giving me a headache," Zeronius exclaimed to try to get him to shut up. "Just sit there and listen and then you will get your answers."

"Okay," Yukan sighed in compliance. "Sorry."

"You see, Yukan," Zero began once more, "Many years ago, I was there when those fabled swords were forged. Not only that, I was the one that forged them. The tale naming the first wielders as their creators was simply to protect my identity. Regardless, I was enlisted by your great-grandfather, Oji, and his friend, Kawata, as a keeper of balance. The two of them knew the power that they harnessed and were well aware of what would happen if the blades were to fall into the wrong hands.

"I was there on the dreadful day when a man named Sofu obtained the Omega Blade. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion until Sofu was stabbed right through the heart by Kunshu."

"See?" Yukan interjected in his usual manner. "This is why I need to be on the battlefield!" Zero took the nearest papers and smacked him against the head with them.

"And that's why you need to listen to the whole story," the maila advised him. "Anyway, I saw poor Sofu fall to his knees and then into his final grave. I attempted to shoot Kunshu as he tried to lift the Omega Blade from his hold. He could not accomplish such a feat though, as he was not of Kenshi blood.

“The blades can only be wielded by those who carry the blood of their respective families within their veins. We fought and, after a while, I thought I had him. I thought I was going to kill Kunshu, but he had other plans. He managed to grab onto the Alpha Blade and access Deity Mode before I could finish him off. The Alpha Blade's Deity Mode was such a beautiful form, a dance of elegance to say the least. I have been searching for Kunshu ever since that ghastly day. When we fought that first battle in Chisana, that was the first time I had seen him since. I had no idea where he was or how to find him up until that point. I had only heard years of rumors about a link he wanted to form to obtain the Omega Blade. They're mostly whispers in the wind and I have not gotten any confirmation of this link."

"So, all of this was going on," Yukan tried to process what he'd just taken in. "You knew the whole time and now you decide to tell me?!"

"You're still a kid, Yukan," Zero persisted. "I didn't want to tell you but, since you insisted on knowing the truth, I told you."

"This doesn't add up though," the young man continued to tax his mind trying to reason with all he knew. "Kunshu is not part of my bloodline. He cannot use the Omega Blade. Why is he trying to take it?"

"I think that's enough information for right now," the pale figure before him remarked as he looked at the clock in his office. "It's getting late, Yukan. Even the crickets have already called it a night. You should join them."

"But Zero-"

"Answers will come in the morning, Yukan. Get your rest. That's an order."

"Yes, sir," Yukan complies in hesitation, leaving the general's office to return to his bunker. As he looked at his wristwatch, he noticed that it was 1:32 AM. As soon as he got to his room, he flopped into his bed.

❒︎❒︎❒︎❒︎❒︎❒︎❒︎

That night, Yukan had a dream, one in vivid color. This dream, however, was far less pleasant than he might have hoped. To start this dream, Yukan found himself on the roof of Kunshu's palace, witnessing him in a perfected version of Deity Mode. Yukan had found himself encapsulated by the elegance of the form and mesmerized by the aura emitted from the pitch-black raven wings that emerged from Kunshu's shoulder blades. Before he could fully process this image, however, he received a hefty kick to the stomach.

"Pathetic child," Kunshu scoffed at the bruised Yukan. "I'll make sure to kill your girlfriend nice and slow after I'm finished with you." The king then continued his onslaught.

"Don't you lay a single finger on her, you bastard!" Yukan yelled out before the onslaught continued.

Yukan tried to swing the Omega Blade at Kunshu, but his foe kicked it away before punching him to the ground. As Kunshu stepped on his right arm, he let go of the Omega Blade and, before he could react to this, Kunshu kicked the blade out of his hand. Yukan watched as it fell from the roof, into the depths below them. Kunshu promptly crushed his other hand, causing him to let out a scream of agony.

"Well, I guess this is over," Kunshu remarked as he raised the Alpha Blade above his head. "Goodbye...my nephew." As the words resonated in Yukan's head, he felt all of the air leave his lungs. The nightmare only lasted a few seconds more, just long enough for Yukan to see Kunshu finish him off. As soon as he awoke, he instinctively grabbed his left arm for reassurance.

Yukan heard his doorknob rattle. He decided to quickly feign slumber at this time. The door opened to reveal Zero, still in his natural form. Yukan watched as he gently placed a portrait on a small counter near his door. Once Yukan saw him leave the building, he bolted over to the portrait to see that it was his family tree. As he inspected it further, his blood began to run cold. He had realized that his mother, once known as Hana Mujihina, had been the link between the two bloodlines. Yukan collapsed to his knees, unable to accept the hideous truth that he could never unlearn. Kunshu was Yukan's uncle.