Torakichi painfully coughed as he trudged through a swamp that was filled with a dark sludge that stung as legs he walked.

The swamp was at the bottom of what looked like a valley, which had walls that were a hundred meters tall at some points.

The sky above was an ocean within which glimpses of another world could be seen.

Torakichi eventually crawled out of the swamp, revealing his naked self.

His body had a pale blue glow to it and was rather transparent. So much so that he could clearly see through himself.

He looked around to find that almost everything around him was covered in a pitch black soot.

Humongous, rusted weapons and siege equipment could be seen sticking out of the ground at various points and dark tendrils littered the valley.

They dug in and out of the ground and upon closer inspection, Torakichi found that they were made of burnt flesh and scales.

Torakichi’s eyes then widened as he felt something tugging at both him and the very air around him.

It was like a deep voice that shook the world with each word uttered.

Each beckon urging Torakichi’s approach.

Torakichi waited for the ground to settle before walking towards the voice and even though it was deep and extremely loud, it still felt distant.

Torakichi’s curiosity drew him towards the owner of the world ending voice, even if his instincts told him to run in the opposite direction.

Some time passed and he eventually came across a open field that was filled with the decaying corpses of countless beings.

Some were animal like in nature. Four legged beings half buried in the ground. Their mouths wide open and their fangs barred.

Almost as though even in death, their battle continued.

Others were of strange, unrecognizable make. Gigantic cracked orbs that were dotted with holes, humanoid metallic frames that had hollow eyes, smaller beings that had knifes for arms.

These and so many others looked like the casualties of a catastrophic war.

Torakichi walked into the field as winds that he couldn’t feel blew by.

He shuddered as he felt as though he could almost hear the screams of the damned.

They called from a place and time long past.

A time filled with nothing but pain and hatred.

A fear that was physically manifested in the ash that covered the many corpses across the field.

Torakichi continued walking for a duration he could not deduce because the deep blue sky had no sun bed eventually reaching the edge of a pit.

One so large that Torakichi couldn’t see its bottom.

The pit’s circumference nearly reached the walls of the valley and the rocks surrounding it were coated black with soot and ash.

Torakichi trembled as he wondered what kind of destruction would create an impact so powerful, it’d gouge out a hole in the world.

He fell to his knees as the voice from before called to him again.

This time it was so loud that the ground beneath him crack and the sand danced in the air due to the vibrations.

Torakichi squeezed his fists before taking a step into the pit.

The angle at which the pit dropped was fairly gentle and so he descended at a fair pace.

It is here that Torakichi realized that the air within the pit was filled so much Ne that it squeezed his very being as he walked though it.

Almost as though he was standing five meters under water and the sensation was only getting stronger.

Torakichi cycled his Ne and much to his surprise, he could actually see it moving from his core to his extremities.

It was a delicate and precise movement.

No two paths of Ne intersected, they were simply all part of a perfect loop.

Torakichi squeezed his fists before trying to absorb the surrounding black Ne and in that moment, his mind was bombarded with violent visions of an apocalypse.

He fell to his knees once more and even though his eyes stung, no tears fell from them.

Even as glimpses of an ancient war tore their way through his mind. A war in which the seas parted and godlike beings struck the lands, turning sand into glass and lakes into deserts.

Torakichi saw two armies, each consisting of hundreds of thousands of beings.

Gigantic machines and artillery could be seen dotted across a battlefield that spanned entire kingdoms of space, but what made Torakichi cower was that which loomed above them all.

The voice again called, sending out a wave of force that pushed Torakichi backwards.

Torakichi bit his teeth before struggling onto his feet.

He then continued his descent down the pit with eyes that trembled with dread.

.

..

Torakichi couldn’t see anything.

He had been walking for what he assumed was hours and yet the bottom of the pit still felt so far away.

Also, at this point, the air was filled with so much Ne, that Torakichi’s back curled as the weight crushed him.

His vision slowly began fading, but just as all turned to black, two white lights appeared in the distance.

They stood next to each other and weren’t very bright.

Either that or they were incredibly bright and Torakichi couldn’t tell because of the Ne and his state.

[Seek the Golden Child of man

Take him to that world’s peak

Shatter all new bonds

So the first may be mended]

The voice said, sending Torakichi flying backwards.

“Who- What are you?”

Torakichi tried asking, but his voice was drowned out by the enormous currents of Ne that blew by.

The two lights increasingly brightened as Torakichi stared into the eyes of a being he could not fully comprehend.

The lights reached their brightest revealing a humongous being made from a single thick tubular body and countless arms. Arms that held weapons of all manner, except it looked the weapons were welded into its arms.

It’s head was an amalgamation of burnt flesh dotted with smaller white lights.

Torakichi’s entire body begged that he run away, but upon a second glance, the titanic being was seemingly stuck to the ground and although it had many arms, they didn’t seem to able to move.

Torakichi cautiously approached the being as its two largest eyes dim and brightened seemingly at random.

He then saw that it was bound by countless dark chains. Chains that were almost transparent, but pulsating within them was a deep red Ne.

Torakichi climbed to the spot atop which the dragon rested.

He then made his way towards its colossal head, even as his vision blurred and his legs weakened.

Torakichi walked up to what he assumed was its right eye.

He raised his hand to touch a stream of pale blue liquid that fell from the eye.

The liquid gathered in a pool just next to the being’s head. A pool which had no bottom.

Torakichi cradled some of that liquid into his hands and it quickly hardened afterward.

He gave the being a thankful bow before walking to a spot a couple of meters away.

Torakichi closed his eyes and channelled his Ne into the crystal tear.

He didn’t know what it would do, but his following of his instincts led him where to many places, some good some bad, and so he trusted them once more.

His Ne gently swirled into the tear, but then the tear suddenly cracked into several pieces before crumbling to dust.

Torakichi's eyes then shot open as his mind was flooded with a clarity he had never felt before.

A vision then came to mind.

It revealed to him a certain snow covered mountain.

Along the mountain’s ran was an ancient set of stairs and atop the mountain’s sat temple, but none of that interested Torakichi.

He traced the path which he’d fallen after Jundo attacked and he found a patch of broken trees.

He looked around for some time before finding a certain cave.

Torakichi took a deep breath before opening his mouth.

“Hanabira? Amai? Keii? Can you hear me?” He asked.

A moment of silence passed.

Then another.

[Mr- Mr. Kanemoto?]

Hanabira asked from within the cave.

“Yes, it is I. I’m not certain, but I think I’m in the spirit realm.” Torakichi said.

[How?]

Amai asked.

“I don’t know. Jundo’s attack must have sent me here somehow. How are the two of you fairing? Is Keii alright?”

[I’m alright!] Keii said.

[We’re alright. Also, forget about us. You need to find a way to leave that place.]

Hanabira said, although she sounded like she was on the verge of crying, she maintained her composure.

“That’s the thing. How does one go about leaving the spirit realm-“

[WATER!]

Amai yelled.

“What about it?”

Torakichi asked with a wince.

[Remember what Mr. Umihara said about water and the two realms. Every pond, river and lake in our would is reflected in that one.]

Amai said.

[Do you think it’ll work with humans?]

Keii asked.

[It’s worth at least an attempt, right?]

Amai asked.

Torakichi smiled as he could picture her face as she spoke.

“I see. Then I shall find a body of water and use it to come home.” Torakichi said with a grin.

[Yes! Please come back!]

Amai and Hanabira both said, prompting Torakichi to jump onto his feet.

“Worry not, my dears. I’m on my way.” Torakichi said before looking up.

He sighed as he raised his foot to begin his journey, but just as he did the world trembled and the being behind him visibly shook.

Torakichi looked back to find that the dragons eyes were glowing brighter than ever.

He looker below the Dragon’s head and saw that the pool of tears was glowing as well.

He raised an eyebrow towards the dragon, but gasped as he came to the realization.

“Oh!” Torakichi ran towards the dragons head and gave it a quick bow before inspecting the pool of tears.

He nodded in before pressing his hands together and diving into it head first.

That clarity from before washed over Torakichi’s mind and he find himself hurtling downward as his body fell into the pool.

His body was then struck by familiar yet surprising intense sensations.

The beating of a heart.

The ache of thought.

The pain from many scars.

Torakichi felt it all as he emerged from the pale blueness of the pool and his eyes widened as the world came into view beneath him, although it was approaching at an incredibly fast pace.

Torakichi crossed his arm and braced himself for him impact as he fell towards a certain mountain, but even as the moment of impact fast approached, his eyes were wide open and a smile bright smile adorned his face.