“Momo…how are you? Did he…”

My old friend kept smiling at me gently, as she did in the old times.

My master let me go, making me fall to the ground.

“Don’t be discouraged. That’s only a memory-given life. She isn’t real.”

“That hurts my feelings! This old man feels quite real!”

The swordmaster sprinted at us; sword covered in dark purple energy. Master blocked the strike with his sword, but the strike was so strong, that it made him fly away a few meters, crashing ion t tumult of Dealmakers.

“This guy is mine. Go play with that girl.”

The swordsman jumped after him, and before I could move a white kunai, fell next to my feet.

“Let them fight. Your teacher will surely win since this is the first time Dealmaker those something like this.”

I looked at the girl who acted like my old friend.

“Are you really Momo?”

“I am... not sure. My last memory was when I was in your room, my head filled with voices and visions. It was horrible. I could feel my mind slowly slipping away from me, before founding myself in the mind of Dealmaker, stored away as if I was a book on a shelf, amongst hundreds of books. This is the first time he decided to let me out, probably because he believes you will not harm me.”

She shook her head, still smiling.

“What a fool. He has my memories, yet he doesn’t understand our relationship.”

She lifted her hands up as if she wanted to embarrass me.

“Since you found me, I have always been a tool for your great design. You can do anything to me. my will always be yours.”

“…I-I cannot.”

Seeing her now, like this. It made me remember all the things I have done in my previous life. Only focused on preparing for the war which will happen in the future, I left my consciousness behind, my human emotions and standards, for the sake of the future. I took in kids from the streets, trained them, brainwashed them, so that they could become soldiers. Momo was one of those kids, ripped out from her life and turned into… this.

“I can’t do it. I am sorry. I am so sorry.”

Momo, put her hands down, with her disappearing from her face, replaced by a blank stare.

“You have changed. You became weak. You are not my master. “

Without any warning, she threw several kunai at me.

Easily I dodged the attacks, even catching one in midair, throwing it back to her.

In response, she also grabbed the knife and started to run towards me.

“Fight me!”

I grabbed my sword and with the sheet still on, I blocked her.

She was much faster than I remembered. Unnaturally so.

He probably enhanced their bodies too much with ours.

“Fight me seriously! Smoke!”

When she landed on the ground a smoke screen appeared around me blocking my view.

Right, I forgot. I trained her to become a kunoichi.

Smoke, hiding, even smoke skills that are called ninjutsu, I taught them to her.

But she sucked at them, how can she use them so well?

“Oh Goddess, bind my enemies! Corrupted Holy Magic: Holy Bind.”

“Fire Magic: Fire Ar-Bullet!”

Hearing this I put my guards up, just in time for a golden ring made from light, bind me in place, before being covered in flames.

Compared to the attacks I had to endure from master during training this was nothing.

“AAAAAAAAA!”

With a spike of energy, I tore my bindings of me and pushed the fire and smoke away from me, allowing me to see around myself.

All the Dealmaker clones have disappeared, only leaving a handful of people behind, counting Momo and the swordsman who was fighting with the master.

They all wore black kimonos, had white skin and hair.

The ones who attacked me just now were also very familiar to me.

Behind Momo, two other girls were standing there. They were two girls that accompanied the Prince when we fought against the demon for the first time, the saintess and the witch.

“May the Goddess bless our encounter, Samurai.” The saintess bowed, whit her eyes closed with her hands clenched to her chest as if she was praying.” It’s been a while.”

“Did we even meet this guy before? I don’t remember. Maybe my memory is wrong.”

The witch scratched her head, holding an object which was shaped like a cylinder with its end slightly smoking.

“It’s not surprising, you never were good at remembering things.”

“Do you want a fight?! Because I will clap you!”

“Girls, we are in the middle of something right now.”

Momo sigh when she turned back to me, the other two still eyeing each other.

“Sorry for them. They are idiots. Shall we continue?”

Before I could answer, the witch lifted the cylinder at me, its end aimed at me.

“Fire Magic: Fire Bullet.”

From its end, a small fireball hurled at me, faster than I expected, only dogging it by inches.

“Shadow Jutsu: Binding Darkness!”

“Burning Slash!”

I unleashed my sword and covered in flames, dissipating the shadows that appeared around me.

“Burning Sword Art: Four Flaming Wheels of Fortune.”

By jumping in the air and tracing a circle of fire in front of me, four others appeared hurling towards them.

“My Goddess, I offer this prayer for our protection. Corrupted Holy Magic: God's Sanctuary.”

The saintess fell on her knees and with her prayer, she created a dome of light, making my attack disappear on its contact.

“Shit.”

“Master please don’t curse.”

I don’t know how but appeared behind me, kunai in hand. I was too slow to react, allowing her to stab me in my left shoulder and in the right side, under the ribs.

I hold back from screaming and swung at her.

She tried to block it with her knives, but my sword was still enflamed.

“Flaming Sword Strike!”

By increasing the heat of my sword, I cut through her knife-like butter, reaching her.

“ Forgive me.”

With a decisive strike, I cut her in two, right shoulder to left hip.

She screamed as her wound flared up in flames, while she fell with me onto the ground.

I landed on my feet, but she crashed onto the ground like a comet, flames covering her entire body, still alive and screaming.

“I-I am so sorry.”

I couldn’t hold it back, and tears started to flow out of my eyes.

I raised this girl. I practiced with her. We lived together. And now I killed her! I killed her and my teammates! Why?!

I screamed in pain with my tears flowing like a river.

Barely, I could hear the sound of battle in the distance with two people talking between each other.

“Man, this guy is a real crybaby. Such a bummer! Let’s kill him!”

“Please, be kind. he just killed one of his disciples with her bare hands. Give him a little time to let it out. After that, you can kill him.”

“…Nobody kill’s him before me! HE IS MINE!”

I turned around, not believing my ears.

From the flames I created, something crawled out.

It was Momo, but she was in horrible shape. She became thin and bonny, with her fingers lengthened and sharpened. Her hair was a mess, which covered half of her face, showing only her mouth, which lost all skin, exposing the sharp teeth she had.

“Look at me, master! I have become strong for your sake! I have become somebody you can love. Look at me! Accept me! LOVE ME!”

*****

God of Martial Arts POV:

This is becoming harder to push back.

More and more martial art experts are coming at me, slowly overwhelming me. In normal circumstances, I could cut them into pieces in seconds, but if I did that, I risk harming my disciple and I might obliterate the place, erasing every chance for his comrades’ chance of survival.

I knew they were alive. When they arrived here, I gave my blessing to each one of them. It’s a guarantee that they are still breathing, but who knows how long it will last with a predator as terrifying as the Dealmaker.

“Raging Storm Strike.”

“Crimson Dragon Fang Piercer!”

“Smash!”

Several Memories, which I started to call them, attacked me with various techniques. Being a God of combat, I easily dodged them, even cutting their arms and heads off.

The bodies didn’t fall on the ground they just turned around, with their cut limbs regrowing before my eyes.

This happened several times already, some even grown back from a fingernail.

I need to attack the core. The one who is supplying the energy to them.

I inhaled and used a trick that I didn’t have to result in for centuries.

The world around me turned black and white as if somebody turned off all the colors in the world. The only color I saw came from the chests of the Memories, strings of rainbow light, each connected to the same spot.

“Found you.”

I switched back to my regular vision and started to run at the one who controlled all.

The Memories must have sensed that something was up, they attacked me more furiously than before.

Damn it.

I let go of my sword and concentrated my energy into my fists.

“Divine Martial Arts: Dimensional Punches. “

Time slowed down, as my fists collided with my targets, Breaking weapons, shattering bones, and rupturing organs.

I wasn’t the God of Swords, that title belonged to somebody else. I’m the God of Martial Arts, the master of combat.

The Memories flew away from my punches, allowing me to reach my target.

It was a small bump in the otherwise flat sand.

I plunged my hand into the sand and yanked out what was hidden under it.

“Damn you found me. Expected nothing from a fellow god.”

It was a skull. A talking deer skull the size of a baseball, not counting the antlers.

“You got to do better than that to stop me. Now get you slimy ass out of my world.”

I shattered the skull into tiny pieces

Bone fragments and black liquid fell everywhere, dirtying my cloth.

The Memories fell onto the ground as if their threads were cut, motionless.

“Goodbye, God of Madness.”

As I said that, I immediately regretted it.

The black liquid started to move to a spot, making a small pond under my feet.

From it, several arms emerged grabbing and pulling me down.

“What?”

it was too fast, before I could even react to it, I was already submerged, only to be thrown out.

I coughed while standing up, taking in my surroundings.

First, I noticed that it was night, with the moon illuminating my surroundings. Around me was a forest with pine trees and different vegetation surrounding me.

…And that’s it.

No wind, no animal or insect noise, no stars, I couldn’t even feel the presence of bacteria.

“I’m sorry for the rough travel. It’s the first time I’m transporting a god.”

I only noticed the figure, sitting cross-legged on a nearby tree branch.

A tall man, wearing a black suit and a white coat. Its head is a skull belonging to a deer, with jewelry hanging on his antlers.

The around him seemed to vibrate from the murderous intent it radiated.

No there was something else.

A hint of something primal, evil, and yet appealing.

It was pure madness.

Steadying my fastly beating heart I looked at him with a small smile on my face.

“So, we meet in person. Is it a good idea for you to show your face to me? The gods will find you in a few minutes if you stay outside of your hiding hole.”

Till now I believed that I could take him on. Now, facing him now, my instincts were screaming at me. This guy is dangerous. No wonder the queen is so furious about him.

“Hehehe, didn’t you notice?”

He jumped off the branch, landing smoothly.

“This world is mine. I call it DIS 2.o . It’s still in beta testing so I haven’t really connected it to the system yet. Meaning that I can go out as much as I want, without the fear of being persecuted by that divine bitch. Good news for me, a terrible one for you.”

As he spoke, several arms emerged from his coat, each having a huge mouth on their palms. From these orifices, several objects fell out.

Being a god, I immediately recognized them.

Guns.

Objects which we deemed too dangerous for humans to use, now lay in great numbers before me.

When the mouth stopped vomiting, they multiplied before lifting them up. There were so many of them he looked quite ridiculous as if he was a stubby tree with a huge canopy.

This sight amazed me by its ridiculosity and dangerousity towards me.

“Before we start killing, I believe we should present each other. As a guest, I will go first.” He snapped his fingers making a strangely shaped sword appear before him.

“I am, the Beast, The Antlered King, Eater of Gods, Taker of Light, King of the Lonely City of Dis, God of Madness, THE Dealmaker, but you may call me Melino.”

The pressure around him increased so much it made me sweat.

I felt several emotions rushing through me, two of who were so strong they almost tore me apart.

The first one was fear for my life, the other one was…excitement.

It’s been centuries since I faced against somebody as strong as him. Somebody who is strong enough to take me on at my best.

I unlocked my restraint, allowing my energy to run amok in and around me.

“It’s an honor to meet you. Mortals call me, Who Shattered the Sky, Father of the Golden Dragon, The First Cultivator, God of Martial Arts, Xuanwu! Let’s have a great fight!”