Prologue: End of death:

Part 1:

After years of struggling I finally met my end.

My life was cursed by constant battles, but I saw it as a blessing. I was a psychopathic battle maniac after all.

I fought viciously for twelve years but now I meet my end.

At first I was all alone, a monster possessed by its past.

Then I finally met comrades.

Then I met her.

A light for my darkness.

Carrying the burden of my past I fought for the future because of her.

She brought me salvation.

For her sake I became a true monster.

Yet my fight still didn't end.

My war continued...

Thousands was a mere understatement. Hundreds of thousands fell by my hands.

As the years passed I met the second one, another woman who gave me happiness.

She was another light that saved my life.

Standing by both of their sides our fight slowly approached its end.

We attacked the enemy's last fortress, fighting our way to the last boss.

It was a final battle beyond anything anyone has ever seen before.

Our battle ripped apart time, space, physics and even the very fabric of the universe.

After fighting for several days I finally got the advantage.

I finally won.

Or at least that was what was supposed to happen.

Like Icarus who aimed for the sky, I spiraled into the ground.

It happened while I was ripping apart his soul.

For in an instant, a millisecond I let my guard down.

That was all it took.

My body was hit by powerful beams that gouged out my flesh.

These were not weapons meant to be used against foot soldiers, they were anti fortress rounds.

My entire left flank was gouged out.

I feel to my knee screaming in pain.

I quickly deflected the second attack with my sword.

My free arm was pierced by a sword before I could get up.

He was supposed to be dead.

My enemy's soulless body cut off my left hand.

I failed in killing him.

My bestial roar blows the soulless body back.

I couldn't dodge the third shot.

It took my right arm.

All I did was roar in anger, like a wild beast.

Grabbing the sword with my mouth I slashed at my enemy.

I could only inflict a minor wound before collapsing again.

I lost all my strength.

I could barely keep my eyes open long enough to see the enemy being evacuated.

I somehow managed to activate the communicator.

Coughing up blood I gave one final message.

“I'm sorry… I won't be able to keep my promise…please survive.”

Soon after I lost the strength to talk.

There was no way I was going down alone.

So I triggered it.

A calamity, a force of nature.

An event that would finds it place in history.

From my corpse black mist began to spread.

It formed a small sphere above me and exploded.

The mist ate anything it touched be organic or inorganic.

It increased at an explosive rate and slowly grew more and faster.

In just a few minutes it had reached the speed of an Olympic runner.

It brought nothingness everywhere.

Everything was reduced to nothingness.

It was impossible to defend against or escape from.

This incident was named the chaos calamity.

It was reported that over five hundred thousand people died that day.

A tragedy that swallowed an entire star.

That was my last strike against the world.

Part 2:

Strangely enough I opened my eyes.

I was in a strange world that had virtually nothing in it.

It was just a mass whiteness that stretched endlessly into the horizon.

Or so I thought.

Was it me or my assumptions have gotten really bad lately.

I can't believe I missed some bring that big.

A mountain sized black dragon glared at me with hostility.

For some reason I couldn't help but glare at it back.

It let out its dragon roar which nearly brought me to my knees.

I countered with my savage beast like roar.

Something inside me broke.

I couldn't think about this logically anymore.

Drawing my sword I laughed manically.

I wanted to fight it!

My desire to fight overrides all other thoughts.

I charged at it like a maniac.

The dragon roars at me in anger again but I'm already u affected by it.

Its anger seemed to rise even more.

Something like “how dare a mere mortal defy me!”

It fired it breath at me.

Evasion and blocking we're both impossible.

So I'll use brute force!

I swung my sword as hard as I could, cutting the breath attack in half.

This made the dragon even angrier.

All around it countless magic circles formed.

It fired a barrage of shadow magic at me.

“Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: absolution field.”

In the face of this my sword vanished.

Anything that got in a five meter radius of me was cut apart.

Omni-direction defensive assault skill: absolution field. Simply put anything within five meters of me is indiscriminately ripped apart.

When I finally get close to it, it started to fly away.

Something this large could fly and use an infinite amount if magic?! That not fair!! I want to do that to!

I wanted scream my desires out loud.

I tried leaping on to its back before it could fly away.

It was half a step faster than me but I managed to cut its leg on the way down.

No choice then.

“[Takemikazuchi] form 1.”

Six golden sword like wings appeared on my back.

Named after the Japanese god of thunder and war. It had three forms.

I walked up the area it was flying in.

These wings were not for flying. They allowed me to walk on air, among other things.

Round two took place in the endless vacant skies.

Our epic battle raged on.

I had no clues how many days have passed so far.

I was locked in deadly combat with dragon for days.

Day after day we would rip each other apart. No time was spent resting.

Hacking and slashing without end I finally managed to mortally wound it.

Cutting through the ultra hard scales was the toughest part, but once they were gone I got the advantage.

As the battle continued I cut off one of its wings, making it crash to ground.

Seizing the opportunity I hit it with all my strongest attacks.

Technique after technique I finally brought it down.

Nearly using all of my sword skills, our battle finally ended with cutting it head off, after piercing the heart several times.

Its resilience was truly astounding but I managed to bring it down.

I was extremely exhausted, almost losing consciousness several times.

My wounds were at fatal levels, but if I slept now I would certainly die.

Because when looked up again there was a mountain sized red dragon glaring at me.

The black dragon's corpse disappeared at some time ago.

Fading into dust it was swept away by an uncanny wind.

My inner flame was lit again, but this time more savage.

I wanted to fight more, I wanted to battle more, and I wanted to kill more.

My roar was identical to the black dragons.

Black scales spread all over my body.

Two large black wings grew from my back.

My arms and legs dragonified.

Strangely I was not surprised by the changes. To me it felt mysteriously natural.

Seeing my change the red dragon fired it breath at me.

It entered battle mode in an instant.

To its surprise and even my own, I fired a breath attack of my own.

The clashing breaths made an explosion that was on the level of WMD.

We were on equal grounds in our breath attacks.

My wounds were healing but it was not at a level where I could fight normally.

So I upped the ante.

“[Takemikazuchi] form 2.”

The six swords like wings shrank and attached themselves to my legs.

Losing the ability to walk on air I quadrupled my speed.

The red dragon launched it scales at me in response.

They fell like rain drops.

The scales transformed into all kinds of chimeras and phantom beasts.

“Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: secret technique: True dragon rampage!”

True dragon rampage was a skill that pushed the body beyond its limits. Senses, brain processing speed, limiters, physical ability, everything.

If I had to estimate I would say I was ten times stronger than before.

The only downside would that I would be incapacitated for a month and I could no longer distinguish friend from foe.

“Lightning step.”

A movement technique that moves as fast as lightning.

Using a step technique with speed fourteen times higher than normal instantly closed the distance between me and the red dragon.

I lashed out like a rampaging mad god.

Slashing like crazy I scattered the body part of phantom beast into the air as damaged the dragon.

“Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: burst x100!”

Burst was a technique that slowly built up power if the stance was maintained.

When unleashed a large number of stabs instantly hit the foe.

A charge move that could launch infinite attacks from any position with any variety.

As our battle continued I was severely burned several times, even lit on fire sometimes.

I endured the attacks, waiting for a slight opening.

When it fired its second dragon's breath I got my chance.

Seizing my last opportunity I jumped high up in the air.

“Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: burst x1, 000,000!”

Burst had another interesting use. Instead striking multiple times you can multiply the power and speed of each strike.

Right now each of my attacks was equivalent to a hundred normal ones.

I swiftly moved [Takemikazuchi] to my arms. Increasing speed and penetration power of each blow.

Thanks to my boost in speed, each blow gouged out the dragon's flesh, it scales could no longer defend against my sword.

Cutting of its wings I made it crash to the ground like the previous dragon.

Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: Burst x 100, 000,000!

The point of impact exploded, splitting the dragon in half from the large hole.

The pressure from this single strike ripped apart the other parts of the dragon.

Without even giving out one final roar it died.

All of the phantom beasts faded I to dust along with the death of their creator.

“Finally!”

I yelled happily.

And the second dragon faded into dust scattered once again by the wind.

Part 3:

My consciousness was constantly slipping.

The backlash of true dragon rampage was taking effect, but the effects were weakened because of the changes in my body.

Intense pain wracked my body.

All my senses were disoriented.

My skin was turning really pale.

Yet I could still hold on.

Slowly I began to recover.

Looking up into the sky I saw them.

Four winged humanoid figures descended to the ground.

I recognized them at a glance.

Archangels and archdevils.

I didn't know if I was dead or alive anymore.

I just wanted to fight. To fight again and taste victory.

Even if it was a mere dream I would fight.

Again the primal flame of anger was lit.

Another chafe over came my body.

New scales began covering my body. They were abyss black with the edge blood red in color.

It was a mix of the scales from the dragons.

“[We are the origin dragons of end and beginning.]

[We are the ever burning flame and the never ending darkness.]

[And we shall swallow all creation!]”

Two voice I never heard before spoke in my head.

Following that was roar equivalent to two dragon roars.

I felt my strength returning slightly.

I couldn't fight at this rate…

So I used my finally technique.

“Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: ultimate technique: wrath of the chaotic overlord.”

My ultimate was like true dragon rampage but gave an x100 increase instead of x10, Along with that I got an even bigger increase in speed and power, ultra high speed regeneration, Burst set a minimum of 1000, and finally I became able to defy several laws of physics.

Basically I temporarily gave myself divinity or power on par with it.

For the next ten minutes I was a demi-god.

In exchange once the battle was over I may never open my eyes again.

If possible I would reawaken in a couple of years if I was lucky.

I roared savagely declaring the start of the battle.

I began to lose control. Instinct overturned reasoning.

As I fought I blacked out several times.

During those moments some force controlled my body.

Mid battle the scales formed a humanoid dragon like exoskeleton around me, like armor.

After a long four on one confrontation I got a chance.

“[Takemikazuchi] form 3!”

I acted the last form of [Takemikazuchi].

The six golden swords moved away from my feet and floated above my head.

Form 1 gave the ability of flight. Form 2 gave a chest like increase in speed. Form 3 on the other hand was all about destructive power.

They were like infinite high powered homing missiles fired endlessly.

Each sword stuck with the speed and power of lightning.

I smashed all over the defenses apart at the same time.

As they were ravaged by the onslaught of golden speeds I made my move.

I tore the first archangel in half with my flaming claws. The flames burned the body as it crashed to the ground.

The second archangel was first impaled by my sword then incinerated with my dragon's breath.

Seizing that chance both archdevils attack me from behind.

It was a perfect sneak attack but their weapons only hit my afterimage.

[Takemikazuchi] immediately suppressed them.

Using my tail to restrain one I crushed his insides and tore his neck apart with my teeth.

I dismembered the last archdevil and sent him flying to the ground. When he crashed tendrils of darkness devoured him.

Finally I was done....

Truly drained of everything I had I lost consciousness.

From ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

I was finally alone in this empty world.

Part 4:

Watching over Shin were two people. The first was a gorgeous grey haired woman, the second a human shaped mass of darkness.

“See! He surpassed our expectations like always.”

The human shaped darkness said cheerfully.

“But…”

The woman on the others and was filled with worry.

“Don't worry. I guarantee master was happy to have fought like this. Too bad he'll probably forget everything that happened here.

“But…”

She just couldn't accept it, seeing her master suffer like that.

“Come on! Master was overjoyed, didn't you see the smile on his face?”

“I just hope master will be alright.”

She said with a slight smile.

The mass of darkness appeared beside Shin.

He pointed his fingers at Shin and muttered something.

Under Shin a massive magical circle began to form.

It grew and grew until the outer edge disappeared from sight.

The woman placed Shin's head in lap. She pleasantly smiled as she began a prayer.

“Come forth our master! Our lord and creator! Our master Kurogane Shin!”

She said loudly.

At first nothing happened.

Then a slight crack formed.

Following that cracks spread out everywhere from the ground to the air.

Spilling out front the cracks was darkness.

Darkness which swallowed all it touched.

Just like the calamity.

The woman gave Shin a light kiss on the cheek before vanishing.

Only these words were left behind.

“Please be safe ••••-san.”

The darkness sank into Shin's body.

It was the same darkness that made up the other person's body.

Shin's body was hugged a pale warm light and vanished.

Shin had died already.

He met his end and was now coming back.

Kurogane Shin had come back to life.

Part 5:

“Huh?”

I woke up feeling really confused.

The very fact I was able to wake up confused me.

I all could see was shoddy looking stone roof.

The craftsmanship was terrible.

“What the hell is going on?”

I asked myself.

This was neither heaven nor hell, not even purgatory.

I looked around but spotted no reapers.

Then I was alive again. How is that possible?

I even had a super realistic dream before.

Strange…I can't seem to remember that dream properly.

Oh well, I'll probably remember eventually.

Getting up I looked around only to find an empty room.

The thing I was sitting on was an altar.

Upon further inspection I found a pile of documents neatly placed by the exit.

On top of the documents was a letter.

I immediately became suspicious.

I poked the letter with my foot see if it was a trap.

I was prepared to quickly dodge if anything happened but nothing happened.

I grabbed the letter and began reading.

500 years ago…

A great war erupted in this world.

The armies of heaven and hell clashed on the earth for ownership of the world.

Disregarding the inhabitants if the earth they fought on.

Caught in the crossfire humanity suffered catastrophic causalities.

With the sacrifice of countless treasures humanity gained an ally.

Calling on the help of the dragons they entered the war as the third force.

Despite being low in number the dragons annihilated armies upon armies of angels and devils.

The fighting grew more brutal from then on.

Many human kings died but in turn Lucifer and Metatron were nearly assassinated.

Dragon kings battles archangels and archdevils, changing the landscape of the world.

As the war continued many other races began joining in.

A fourth side was created.

The fourth force stayed on the defensive but vastly outnumbered the other three.

Demi-humans, demons, spirits, mythical beasts all made up this force.

And then at the final battle all sentient races of the world gathered together in battle.

The number of dead was beyond the millions.

At this rate all sentient life firms would be wiped out.

Since no one would admit defeat they joined in.

It was divine intervention.

As mediators the gods of every faith negotiated the end of hostilities.

It was only a century ago that a peace treaty was signed.

Now the world has entered an era of peace.

On the second page was a world map that had my location marked at the southernmost tip of the continent.

The major kingdoms around here belonged to the elves.

According to the information on the next page the kingdoms most nearest to me are ruled by exiled elf nobles, who harbor disgust towards short eared races.

Unable to advance with the times they were exiled.

As I sat down to think I felt something deep down.

Yearning.

I was yearning for something.

“Interesting.”

I muttered as I exited the room.

Passing through the hallway I found an exit.

“Yay!”

Like a child who found a new game I rushed outside.

By the entrance was a neat pile of corpses.

All of them had similar wounds.

The person who killed was really skilled with sword.

Majority of the bodies were old human men and were neatly put out of my path.

Not my problem~

Ignoring the corpses I headed out into the world.

Whoever killed them catched my interest but I had different concerns for now.

I wanted to see what will become of me now.

After all…

I, Kurogane Shin, am now experiencing resurrection/rebirth.