Nether Sovereign Reborn

Chapter 6

A crimson great sword appeared in Aurmir's right hand.

The great sword was rusty and looked like it had been through countless battles.

Twilight, on the other hand, was the same, except that his aura had changed. From the calm and reserved aura, he was emitting pressure akin to a sword ready to be unsheathed at any moment.

"A different trigger phrase? A totem as an object?" Regal was stunned, his gaze focusing on Aurmir before gliding over to Twilight.

"Still not unleashing your totem?"

"Who said I haven't? My blade is my totem, and my totem is my blade."

"That's clearly an ordinary blade, boy."

"Ordinary... if a blade that can devour a totem is considered ordinary, then perhaps it is."

The sudden revelation sent a chill down Regal's spine.

'This group... they must not be allowed to survive. A totem with an unconventional trigger phrase, a sword that devours totems,' Regal's thoughts were running at light speed at this point.

"I'm sorry, but none of you are leaving here alive," Regal stated calmly.

_# Shadow Tentacles #_

Raising his right hand, the dark purple mist that had been spreading from his Totem seemed to come alive, consolidating into numerous solid tentacles. With a wave of his hand, he sent the tentacles flying toward the trio.

"Aurmir, I'll clear the way, you charge forward."

"Fine by me. Clear the cobwebs so I can decimate my opponent, hahaha."

Aurmir and Twilight charged forward, with Twilight cutting the shadow tentacles with clean, precise strikes.

"Trying to force me into a close-range battle, eh? Not a chance."

Regal, noticing their plan, began retreating backward while sending more shadow tentacles.

Seeing their plan had been discovered, Twilight immediately switched tactics.

"Aurmir, I need five seconds. Cover me," Twilight shouted at Aurmir, who was behind him.

"Hahaha, the front line, that's my original position to start with."

Twilight reduced his speed, allowing Aurmir to overtake him.

After seeing that Aurmir was doing a great job clearing the tentacles with wide slashes from different angles, Twilight sheathed his blade and exhaled.

He held his sheathed tachi with his left hand, placed his right hand on the blade hilt, and then exhaled slowly.

He pushed his left leg backward and bowed in an arc slightly below ninety degrees.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1.

_# Whispering blade art, First severance: Severing wind _#

_Clink._

No suspense.

Just the sound of a blade being placed back into its sheath.

And then came the aftereffect...

_Whoosh, swish, swish, swish, thud, thud, thud._

A gust of breeze blew by, and then it happened. All the tentacles began falling, faster than they were being made!

Seeing the opportunity, Aurmir slammed his feet on the ground and propelled himself forward, instantly closing the distance between him and Regal.

"Have a taste of my blade!!!" Aurmir roared as he delivered a vertical slash, wielding the crimson great sword with both hands.

_#Shadow Barrier#_

A spherical barrier made of the dark purple mist appeared just in time to block Aurmir's attacks.

Vertical slash...

Diagonal slash...

Stab...

Aurmir kept releasing flurries of attacks. They kept flying in so fast that Regal didn't dare take down his barrier.

"A mere bronze-grade totem wielder dares put pressure on me? INSOLENCE!!!" Regal roared as a wave of dark mist surged out of his totem, pushing Aurmir back a couple of meters.

"Such insolence. I will show you the true power of a go—"

_Crash, thud, clatter._

"Who in Egypt's five hundred wives keeps a mobile staircase in the middle of the way?"

"Huh? Why are y'all looking at me like that? What did I miss?"

"There's another one?" Regal said, his voice shaking more from exhaustion than from rage.

"Danzai... Perfect timing. Play the role of a measly supporter while I decimate this higher-grade opponent," Aurmir said, a smile materializing on his face.

"Eh? I'm a clown. I don't know any of you. I'll just, um, pick my food up and be on my way," Danzai said, his tone very serious as he picked up the bag he dropped when he fell and turned around to leave.

"Danzai, I swear if you leave, I'll kill you. But before that... you'll share a room with Aurmir for a week," Twilight, who was still recuperating from the major attack he had used earlier, decided to speak up.

As soon as Twilight finished talking, Danzai paused. Slowly turning around, he let out a nervous chuckle.

"Me? Leave? When my comrades need my help? I wouldn't dare."

"I think I've figured out this weird energy nonsense" Lux, who had been at the side trying to figure out how to apply his totem in battle, finally spoke up.

"Perfect. Danzai, what do you think?"

"Allow me to take the lead."

"Then what do I, the true general, do?"

"Um... hold my bag and wait to give your final verdict on our opponent?"

"Hm... Fair enough."

"Hey, new boy, use your attacks to push him to a corner. I'll hold him down," Danzai's initial playful voice vanished as his aura transformed.

"Low-tier gold grade, that's about a grade or two above me.

The audacity to stress my brothers out... I should be eating right now, but instead I'm here, and it's all because of you. Now you'll face the consequences.

Totem... Manifest!!!"

"Another unique trigger phrase user?" Regal's expression became serious.

"I should have attacked instead of waiting to find out what was unique about you."

"Sadly, you didn't."

"What? And your totem is also an object type?"

"Ta-da! Correct."

Danzai waved the scepter in front of him around.

The scepter was half a head taller than him and gave him the bearing of a mage.

It was slim and had a spherical ball at the top with eleven rings of different colors spinning around it.

The body was black and had golden carvings of celestial bodies, stars, the moon, the sun, and other abstract figures.

"Admiring my staff? Y'know, personally I think it's pretty cool myself, when I first—"

"Cut the crap," Regal yelled as the dark purple mist around him formed spikes that shot toward Danzai in rapid succession.

"Ooh la, such bad manners," Danzai said, while dodging the spikes with insane agility and speed.

He jumped back, opening more distance between him and Regal.

The sphere on the staff separated from the main body, suspending itself behind Danzai.

It hung there for half a heartbeat, then expanded. The ring that orbited it tore free, enlarged, and locked into place. Both sphere and ring became massive constructs, floating like a halo behind Danzai's clown mask. The ring began to rotate. Ultra speed. The air screamed.

Stamping his foot on the ground, he propelled himself at speeds unimaginable, considering the oversized robes he wore.

"Alright, time to take things a step further," Danzai said, voice suddenly flat. The playful lilt was gone.

He slammed the staff down. The ground cracked.

_#Danzai staff art, first dance: Elemental banquet#_

With every swing, reality split.

Fire. The first slash came horizontal, staff dragging through air that ignited. A crescent of white-hot flame howled toward Regal's throat. Regal didn't blink. The dark purple mist around him coiled and hardened into a blade, jetting from the vapor to meet the fire head-on.

_Clang._

Steam exploded outward, blinding the dock.

Water. Danzai twisted, second slash arcing upward from below. The air condensed, became a torrent. A pressurized column of water shot for Regal's knees, trying to unbalance him. Regal spun, sword of mist slashing down. The water split, drenching the concrete, but he held his ground.

Wood. Third swing. Vines burst from the staff tip, thick and thorned, weaving through space to choke Regal from behind. He twisted mid-step, mist-blade flickering into a dozen tendrils that shredded the wood before it could bind him.

Gold. Fourth. The staff gleamed. The slash came straight, no flourish, but the edge shimmered with metallic intent. A blade of condensed gold-light tried to bisect Regal's chest. He met it with a brutal parry, mist clashing against metal-light. Sparks. His boots skidded back an inch. His eyes narrowed.

Earth. Fifth. The ground beneath Regal erupted. Stone fangs tried to impale him. He leapt, mist reforming into a pillar beneath his feet to keep him airborne. Danzai was already moving, but Regal predicted his movements causing Danzai to slightly lose momentum, but soon after Danzai got his bearing and entered a complete barage mode

The remaining six elements came faster, no pause between them.

Light flashed—blinding, disorienting. Regal's mist blade snapped up to block what he couldn't see, and he felt the shock of impact rattle his arm.

Darkness followed immediately, a slash that drank the light, silent and cold, aiming for his blind spot. Regal's mist senses screamed. He twisted, the blade grazing his shoulder instead of his spine.

Wind. A razor gale screamed in from his left, cutting angles that shouldn't exist. He redirected, but the wind curved mid-flight.

Lightning. Crack. Blue-white lightning forked down with the staff, trying to pierce him from above. Regal's mist became a net, catching it, but the charge ran through his arm and made his teeth ache.

Space. Danzai's next swing didn't move through air. It cut space itself. A vertical line appeared two meters to Regal's right and opened like a wound, the slash emerging from inside his guard. Regal barely brought the mist sword up in time. The collision sent a shockwave that cracked every cargo container within twenty meters.

Time. The final slash. It didn't come fast. It came ...late. Regal parried where the staff was, but the impact landed a half-second later, right on his ribs. He staggered. The mist flickered.

Danzai hadn't stopped moving. Every slash came from a tricky angle—behind, above, inside his guard, delayed, curved. Regal's gold-tier reflexes kept him alive, but the dark purple mist was thinning, overdrawn.

Then Danzai pulled back. One step. The rings behind him spun faster until they became a blur, a halo of noise. Space warped around him like heat haze. The dock seemed to fold.

Regal's eyes widened. "Spatial manipulation? At bronze—"

Danzai vanished.

In the next instant he appeared in front of Twilight, Aurmir and Lux. His hand shot out, grabbed the air, and the warping intensified. The rings behind him flared.

"Payload acquired," Danzai muttered.

He twisted the staff once. Space tore open behind them—a doorway of fractured light and shadow. Without looking back, Danzai stepped through, dragging all four of them with him.

Regal lunged, mist blade extending for the gap. Too slow. The portal snapped shut.

The docks fell silent. Only the smell of ozone, burnt wood, and Regal's dark mist remained. He stood alone in the crater Danzai had left, sword of mist dissipating back into vapor.

"Tch... They escaped. That overly spoiled young master of mine will be pissed."

___

**Few blocks away from Royal Bay docks**

Space warped as four figures fell out of the void.

"And the unholy Sage has once again led a successful escape... muhahah," Danzai's voice tore through the quiet night.

"The fact that you can't exercise restraint, considering your location and the time of night, is amazing," Twilight's irritated voice cut Danzai's excitement short.

"First things first, why did you all keep telling me to support when I clearly didn't need to and clearly didn't? Second things second, what the fucking hell is wrong with this totem world?

Mine started with being pushed off a cliff, to being flambéed by a flame god who hadn't attended enough therapy sessions, now we have a shadowy mist senior who has come to maltreat the junior generation?"

"Wait till you have to fight dragons," Lux was cursing when Danzai's voice cut him off.

Lux shivered slightly as he slowly turned toward Danzai.

"W... we have dragons as well now?"

"Nope," Danzai responded with a smile, causing Lux's eyes to twitch.

"Alright, enough messing around. Lux, you're now part of the Totem world, and trouble will naturally find you, even if you try to avoid it.

You need to learn how to harness your abilities.

You're unique. We are most likely the only ones who can help you.

In essence... Join us," Twilight, who had been quiet, stepped up to speak, his attention solely on Lux.

"I've been thinking about it, and if this is how my life will be going, then I better know how to protect myself... I'm in."

"Perfect. Now we can go have a welcome-to-the-team meal, right?" Danzai immediately jumped into the conversation.

"An after-battle massage at a spa would be nice."

"We're about to do something even more fun..." Twilight said in a calm tone.

"And that is?" Lux asked.

"Train you."

"Train me?"

"Hehehe...take it from your Sagely elder brother.

You've survived one night, but now your your sleep schedule, sanity and free time are officially dead." Danzai said patting Lux on his shoulder

Aurmir walked up to Lux patting his other shoulder he said with a firm tone "and your battle sufferings begin soldier."

"Umm... I want a refund."

"Objective complete, return to your personal abodes."

"Training starts tomorrow."