"I'm the sword saint." Standing triumphantly and seemingly puffing out her chest Rhea spoke those words a second time with such confidence it would impress any crush.

"Well, that sounds cool and all, but what does that mean?" Or at least it would, but Ryuji was a very oblivious man.

"Wha-!?... I-I'm the Sword Saint." Her face told him that this might be the first time she's ever had this particular problem before.

"I heard, but I'm trying to tell you I don't really know what that means."

"You... really don't, do you?" She sounded like she was slowly piecing together some puzzle in her mind. "I thought it was weird. You didn't recognize me just by looking at my armor or my sword. I thought you were just trying to feign ignorance like one of those heroes in a novel." She covered her mouth as if doing so would somehow take back the cringe embarrassing thing she just said.

Ryuji tried his best to ignore it and move on. "No, no, none of that. I'm nowhere near as smooth as that. I seriously know nothing about it."

She sighed and looked dejected before becoming elated. Ryuji couldn't for the life of him figure out what had gone down in that woman's mind.

Now smiling, she started her long-winded explanation. "The Sword Saint is chosen once a generation by the sword god. Whoever is chosen stays that way until they die or until they can't use a sword anymore. It comes with extraordinary power and ability, but because of that, I'm a prime target."

"Ooooh, that makes sense."

Ryuji couldn't help but get a little excited. All this talk of sword gods and being a target made it sound like some kind of plot straight out of an RPG.

"So you see, we both need to stay away from those people and not cause trouble!" She pointed her finger into his face to get her point across, but he still needed to know one thing.

"Okay, but I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Was that nervous and cute stuff you did an act? Because you've been all cool and manly ever since we were attacked."

Rhea's face grew hot, and she sputtered before yelling in protest. "I-I-I was not n-nervous!"

Ryuji was a weird type of social creature. He felt like human interaction was agony and meeting new people a form of torture. But oddly enough, once he got past the 'getting to know them' stage, he was surprisingly comfortable around them. After talking to her for a few days, he had already reached this point with Rhea, so when he saw her acting flustered, he could only smile deviously before proceeding.

He held his hand up to his chin like he just solved something. "Oh, I get it! Since you seem like the loner type, you must not be used to talking to people. Is that what the books you mentioned earlier are for?"

She blushed a fearsome crimson and stomped her foot while clenching her hands. "S-S-SHUT IT!" She turned around and started pouting.

'CUTE!'

He was not expecting that kind of response, and needless to say, the sneak attack was super effective against him. All he could do was

After calming down, Rhea asked a question in a serious tone. "So, where are you actually going?"

"W-where?" Still reeling back from the case of diabetes he got because of how cute she was, Ryuji's mind was a little confused about what she was asking.

"It's pretty obvious that you're not going to meet a king."

"Nope, I really am meeting the king in Cacim." He answered pretty flatly before making his own accusation. "Now, you, however, are pretty suspicious. I highly doubt that you're going to meet a friend."

"So I'm the only bad guy here?"

"Afraid so, missy."

"What is this... defeated feeling?"

"I know what you're talking about. Trust me, I know." Ryuji very regularly felt like the superiority of others so, he was very aware of the feeling passing through her. 'Ah, moral high ground, what a nice feeling!' He comforted the defeated strongest swordsman by placing a hand on her metallic shoulder.

The rest of the day was spent making small talk and walking through the forest. Ryuji had no clue if she really was leading him the right way or not and didn't care much either way. He might be a little late for his fated meeting, but if the king really was waiting for him, he could surely forgive a bit of delay.

Eventually, they came to a stop as night began to fall. Ryuji wanted to make some small talk but didn't know what to say. They had already talked about the usual stuff like their birthdays and favorite foods.

"Soooo, your last name sounds like royalty; are you a noble?"

The campfire crackled, and Rhea did a nervous shuffle. "Yes, technically I am..."

"Technically? Well, you don't really act like I thought a royal would. Granted, I haven't talked to any before."

"Thank you for the compliment... I think."

He was starting to get heavy-eyed as he looked toward the full moon hanging in the sky. But still, he wanted to keep the conversation going. So half-asleep, he asked something he that never would normally.

"If you're a royal and all, does that mean you're married? I know you guys love your arranged marriages."

"Marriage, huh? No, I'm not married." The softness he expected from here disintegrated. "And I never will."

///////////////////////////////////////////////////

They walked for two more days. Monsters would wander in and then become piles of meat on the grass. This sense of safety gave Ryuji a lot of time to think about the more nuanced things in life, like becoming closer to his Saintly companion. He thought that maybe she was a part of this best path in his life.

'I mean, if I want to continue being an adventurer, I need someone as badass as this in my party, or else I'm dead meat. But first, I need to make sure that she doesn't have any other obligations!'

"So, who do you normally adventure with?" He attempted to sound nonchalant, but if it was anyone else besides Rhea, he would have failed.

"I don't have anyone to adventure with."

"Why not?" Ryuji couldn't imagine not wanting to adventure with someone as strong as her. All you would have to do is sit back and let her do all the work.

"People don't want to be with a person that attracts the highest level of danger. Not to mention I'm sent out on life or death missions all the time."

"I see." He noticed that she didn't sound too pleased by this. In his head, he knew that he should just leave it alone, but he had to know. "Do you even want to be the sword saint? It seems like a heavy burden."

"Sometimes... sometimes I imagine what it would be like to be a normal girl. The kind of things she would have her days filled with. But then, when I save someone that only I could have saved, at that moment, I'm grateful. I'm grateful that fate let me have something that no one else does. Although no matter how grateful I am, those thoughts of being normal never go away."

She sounded to Ryuji like she had put some real thought into her answer. He didn't doubt that she probably wondered about what she wanted out of life all the time. After all, Ryuji did much the same. And at the moment, what he wanted was to make her feel better if only a little.

"Then why don't you go do something normal? No one is stopping you, and from the sound of it, you deserve it."

Ryuji couldn't quite understand the want to do something ordinary. He had an entire life of doing simple things, and all that did for him was lead to an early grave of his own making.

"Do you think I have that kind of time!?"

Rhea shouted at him as if to say she had already thought about that. He wasn't ready for that kind of response, but he quickly shoved his anxiety down his throat. Now he was feeling a little attacked, and so he fired back.

"What, you don't get breaks or vacation?"

"Well, I do but-"

"Then go do something normal."

The words that came out of his mouth were harsh, like someone talking to a dumb kid. As she walked forward, she hid her face so that what she said was almost inaudible.

"I don't know what normal girls do."

"Then I could show you. Think of it as payment for protecting me." Ryuji smiled wide, knowing that what she wanted was well within his sphere of knowledge.

"Excuse me for being rude, but how would you know what girls do?" Then just like that, it all fell apart along with his self-esteem. "Oof! A low blow and one that isn't too off the mark." After stopping himself from reeling back, he sighed. "Look, I may not know what girls specifically do, but I do know what normal people do. Isn't that close enough?" He was almost in tears by the end of his response, making Rhea feel a little bad about it.

"Uhm yeah... yeah, that sounds good." Dejectedly she continued to blaze a trail forward, and Ryuji followed.

He wanted to move past the awkward air, so he asked a question he already knew the answer to. "How much longer until we get to Cacim?"

"I'd say about 3 more days. Although we could be there right now."

"Sorry that jumping through the skies at sonic speed scares me! Aren't you supposed to be the calm and nervous type? Where did all this sass come from? Oh, I get it, yeah I get it. You wanted to show off to your new friend, huh?"

At the accusation, Rhea turned on a dime to face Ryuji, her face red as a tomato. "W-why do you keep teasing me! Ever since we got out here, it's been tease after tease! I swear! And then you just, out of nowhere, call me your f-friend."

Ryuji faked a slightly depressed face and looked at the ground. "So we're not friends? I see."

"No, no, no, we're friends! We are! come on, stop looking so sad you're making me feel bad, come on."

He couldn't help but feel that this woman had the weakest defense in the world. The sleaze bag attempted to see how far he could go with it. "Okay, I believe you. Can I have a hug?"

"A hug?"

"Yeah, didn't you know friends hug each other when they get sad?"

"O-of course I did! I-I'll hug you right now."

"Thank you, and please do!"

She shuffled around nervously before outstretching her arms. Ryuji took the invitation and began to walk into her embrace. He could smell something sweet, was that perhaps the perfume of the gods Ryuji had always heard pretty women wore?

Before he had a chance to confirm this, he felt a massive shock. Instantly he flew away from Rhea and hit his back on a nearby tree.

Rhea stood sword already drawn and a face that was stone-cold serious. Her weapon of choice scared Ryuji. It was not the expensive-looking one but the sinister one that was in her hand. It shone a translucent white and gave him goosebumps from just staring at it.

Across the way, further into the forest, rumblings could be heard. A noise that Ryuji could only link to missiles firing off swept through the woods. And in its wake, the once lush forest in front of them was reduced to stumps. The invisible force that had laid the area to waste headed toward Rhea. She stood perfectly ready, and with just a single well-timed cut, the invisible force broke.

"Interesting! Interesting!" A man in a cloak stood in the center of the fallen forest.

Rhea struck back with vigor. Every slice of her sword carried weight and traveled even without the use of a skill. But even under the onslaught, all her strikes just bounced off an invisible barrier enveloping the man. Just as Ryuji was getting a little nervous, Rhea lifted her sword overhead with both arms.

"Cleave!"

A splitting roar echoed, and Ryuji could feel the intense mana surge around her sword. The visible strike of mana clashed with the barrier surrounding him. The ground in front of her had been cleaved as well. Now, all that lay there; was a chasm. The man wasn't fazed but instead chuckled while taking off his cloak. He revealed himself to be a sunken old man with no hair clinging to his skull and more wrinkles than you could count.

"Ah, just what I expected from a god slayer such as yourself. Truly magnificent! I see why Akumu fell to your blade." The old man pointed while laying on genuine praise.

"If you know what happened to your colleague, then why face me by yourself, Zephyr? Did you honestly think you have what it takes to put me down!?"

"That's easy! I didn't want to! We just happened to bump into each other. But you know now that you're here, I can't just let you go! If I went around running away from mere humans, I wouldn't be able to call myself a Dark Moon!"

Zephyr raised his arms and commanded the air. The swirling mass of currents funneled until he had created a tornado that was probably in the F3 category. Then seemingly without effort, he condensed it down into a blade.

"How in the fuck?"

Ryuji stared blankly at the impossible sight. Then without a pause, he saw Zephyr fly back as if he was struck by something invisible.

In front of the god was the woman who had been standing near him a second ago. In an incredible show of power, she lashed out with her sword, again and again. Each time she did, she pushed him back farther and farther. On his newly crated blade, cracks started to slowly appear.

"Supreme Cut!" Rheas ominous blade collided with the storm and lifted Zephyr off the ground. "Shave!" Her sword seemed to warp forward as if it had transcended to speeds that Ryuji couldn't keep up with.

At this shocking development that should have spelled doom for him, the old man smiled. His opposite hand was clenched into a fist. Rhea ignored the threat of his opposing arm and opted to take care of the more pressing trouble. Her shave technique opened up his defense, and with that gap, Rhea sliced off the arm holding his storm blade. While the blood flew along with the dismembered attachment, she couldn't react in time to block the other arm, which drilled into her stomach.

The air shook along with the ground. It seemed like the whole world was vibrating in unison. The space surrounding them cracked like a shattered mirror as his fist buried itself into her gut. Although her armor protected her, it was now crumpling under the pressure as if it was no better than aluminum foil. Then the cracks vanished, and the backlash was immediate. Rhea flew back from the blow, disappearing into the horizon.

"This is not good! She better get up after that, or I am screwed."

There was no chance of him ever escaping, so he chose his only other option. He finally stood his ground and drew his blade.

"Who are you?" The old man now stood directly in front of Ryuji. The blood had stopped pouring from his missing arm, and he didn't seem to mind it being lost.

"Ryuji."

"If you travel with the saint, you must be something. How about I test you right now before the pest returns."

Ryuji was just about to piss himself when he heard the voice he wanted to hear most.

"The pest is already back, old man." Standing behind Ryuji was Rhea. Her armor was in tatters, and one of her gauntlets was cracked. Blood leaked from her mouth while every part of her was now covered in dirt. "You should leave before you get what's coming to you, Zephyr."

"Oh? And why would I leave?" The god seemed genuinely intrigued by the notion of surrender.

"It's simple, if you leave, then you don't die." She let her threat hang in the air before continuing. "What do you even stand to gain by killing me? Another saint will just be born anyway."

The god stroked his chin and thought about what he was going to say. Then a smile spread across his face. "Well, if I kill you, it'll be a good 20 or so years before another saint will be ready to fight, right? So that'll give us plenty of time to crush Mallan."

"I see."

Her eyes changed after the last statement. Their former amber hue changed to dark red. Around the iris were lines leading out that you might find on a motherboard. But the most disturbing thing of all was how blood seeped out the corners and never stopped.

"The eyes that death gave you, eh? Truly formidable, but only if you get close!"

Wind ten times stronger than the gale that chopped the forest raged towards Rhea. Then without a trace, they were both gone.

Only appearing as a faint blur in space between them.

She smashed into Zephyr fast enough to break the sound barrier. The sword he crafted had barely saved his life and was now burst into nothing. With his last line of physical defense gone, Rhea tensed her legs with another considerable amount of force and lunged forward for the kill.

"I've got you now, Saint!"

Again the air and ground shook. A force, so great that it was visible on the old man's hand, coalesced. He threw his left with great speed, but Rhea showed no fear and rushed in without any hesitation. The twisted smile was all Ryuji needed to see to know that this was the outcome Zephyr had hoped for. From the sides, enormous clouds formed and great lightning bolts strong enough to incinerate a dragon shot out. Rhea paid them no mind.

"Divide."

She cut with speed beyond comprehension. The fist that had laid her out and the arm connected to it was lopped off. Zephyr jumped back the second he lost his arm before he could lose his head as well.

"Zone!"

Rhea turned her attention to the impending attack using a borrowed skill. With expert precision that Ryuji could never hope to replicate using the same skill, she repelled the bolt to her left. The impact caused the ground behind her to crumble and break. The force of it flung her directly into the other bolt. A crash rang out as light enveloped the forest and obliterated it.

When the light faded and the dust settled, Rhea was standing in the center of the destruction clutching her missing arm.

"An arm for an arm, huh?" The armless god seemed to find hilarity in their position. "Do you know what the difference between you and me, is though? You need your arms to attack! I'm just fine without em!"

A torrent of lightning came down upon Rhea, and although she lacked an arm, she did not lack speed. Every strike was repelled by her sword as she cut through the energy like paper. But below her, induced earthquakes caused her to lose balance. Winds that ripped up nearby trees made it hard to see.

But despite all this, she pushed on without faltering. An instance of hesitation would mean losing her life.

All Ryuji could think about while watching this was how inspiring she was. Rhea was doing it in a different way than Elizabeth. At no point when he was sitting at that dead-end desk in Tokyo did he ever feel what was going on right now. The emotions welling up in his stomach were of admiration and envy. He wanted to be that fearless as well; he wanted to be that strong.

As she closed in through the intense obstacles being thrown at her, the old man spoke.

For the first time in the fight, Zephyr used a spell.

"Perfect storm!" A tornado that could very well be called an F5 materialized into a great sword that floated next to the god.

Rhea rushed down Zephyr with zero fear and summoned her own magical current into her sacred blade. The tornado edge swung down, colliding with Rhea's sword. The ground beneath them gave way, and the terrain of the whole forest changed before Ryujis eyes. Rhea was being forced under by the giant sword, but before her knees could buckle with a smug smile, she called a skill.

"Photon Razor."

A flash and then stillness.

Ryuji couldn't see it, but in a single second, Rhea had slashed her sword at Zephyr's a total of 30 times. The storm shattered, and the pieces flew. One curved downward, taking out Rheas left eye and a good chunk of her face.

Zephyr, still missing both arms, begun laughing in triumph. Being a god came with advantages, and one of those being that blood and other fluids don't mean much to you. For Rhea, however, her dwindling blood supply meant that soon she would perish.

"Well, then, Miss Saint, this is where we bid farewell." As he was celebrating with the dying swordswoman, a cut appeared on his shoulder. The wound itself wasn't deep at all, but it still startled him. He looked over from the direction it came from and saw a man.

It was the man who had been captured by his fear throughout the whole fight. Zephyr noticed that something was off about him. Despite not being involved in the conflict whatsoever, he was bleeding profusely from his wrists. The god could only wonder why he would give self-inflicted wounds without any kind of sacrificial skill. Annoyed at the inconvenience and the absurdity, he shot a bolt of lightning at him. It carried enough voltage to fry a Vulgan and have it for a nice snack. So when Ryuji split it down the middle, you could imagine his surprise.

"So you were strong?!"

Ryuji was practically flying towards Zephyr with his sword outstretched. He was thinking a mile a minute, going through all the techniques at his disposal that could possibly do anything to the inhuman thing in front of him. He could only think of one that had a tiny chance to work.

'This technique might break me, but I can't just sit here while she dies! I've got more stupid questions to ask her! I still don't know her favorite type of cheese, dammit!'

"Stay still and die, please."

Maybe it was because Zephyr was tired, or maybe, it's because Ryuji wasn't deemed a valid threat, but the lighting was definitely not as strong or as fast as when Rhea was being attacked. Noticing that Ryuji was getting too close for comfort, he ramped up the attacks, and the same sideways bolt that took off Rhea's arm appeared in front of Zephyr. The bolt charged and then cracked forward.

"Seven steps: Sixth step!"

By focusing mana into his feet, Ryuji launched himself up at tremendous speed and dodged the bolt. The drawback of this being that now his legs were shattered. As he fell down towards the earth, Ryuji readied his technique.

"Can't dodge now!"

Zephyr created a tornado to intercept Ryuji but forgot about the girl in front of him. Rhea snapped out of her haziness and instantly launched forward. Her sword impaled him in his stomach, and the tornado stopped dead in its tracks.

"You tenacious bitch!"

Unable to dodge and with no time left to do anything, all Zephyr could do was watch as Ryuji fell down.

"Death Series 3: Raging Tiger."

As his sword became level with Zephyrs head Ryuji spun like a spinning top. With his life fading fast, Ryuji's power was nearly maxed out. The four blade strikes severed the god's head, and the backlash of such a powerful cut shattered his sword along with some bones. The ungraceful fall without cushion didn't help either.

He looked up battered and broken, and he saw Rhea. Her breaths were getting more and more shallow. So he reached out grabbed her foot.

'Some good old-fashioned payback, hell yeah.' With an easy-going smile, Ryuji muttered the incantation. "Sacred High Heal."

'Congratulations! You might be the first person I've ever saved since coming here.'

With this final thought, Ryuji's vision went black.