Chapter 27: [Head Generals Advice And First Move]

[Underground Headquarters, Conference room, England, London]

~a few minutes earlier~

The conference room was as busy as anyone could imagine, it could even pass as same like of busy like the way newspaper company is busy in the old days

People were giving their own ideas and some sort while some are debating on what step should they do

All of them were busy after all a dangerous person just entered their territory and if not handled well they will be crushed by it, so they throws facts and ideas at each other to solve this predicament

"I believe that we should station a lot of our forces at these borders while some protect the Queen"

"Are you crazy? It's like your.basically saying that the Queen s guards  are not enough to handle in protecting the Queen"

"Then what should we do?"

"I... I don't know since we only have limited information regarding the enemy"

"Damn it! Just who I crazy enough to attack this place after all?"

As the people and officials inside were discussing this, Sanaguchi on the other hand was just standing by the wall with a wry smile and a drop ow sweat in his face

The reason why this is his expression was because the head general is sitting right beside him in a chair

The head general was closing his eyes which makes him look like sleeping, but inspite of this the people around him think otherwise, they thought that maybe the head general was contemplating on something so that's why it seems like he's sleeping

After a few seconds pass by the Head General Alex opened his eyes and muttered

"Mana?!"

With this he stood up which shocked the people around him, but he didn't care other wards so he went straight out of the door

Seeing this the room fell silent and Sanaguchi followed the Head General

"Um sir! Where are you going?"asked Sanaguchi

After a few seconds the Head General Alex answered him

"I sensed a huge wave of Mana from someplace here" answered by the Head General Alex

"Huge wave of Mana?" Asks Sanaguchi seemingly confused

After some few walks they arrived at then training room where training platform can be found and at one of the platform Sanaguchi saw his crew down there fighting with another group in England

"Wha.... What the hell?" said Sanaguchi

He haven't expect that his crew would just fight someone from this this branch

As the battle in the platform was reaching it's climax the Head General Alex opened the door and shouted

"That's enough!"

Hearing this the whole training room became silent

"The battle is over! We're not here to kill each other and also you guys need to conserve your strength just in case something  happens"

As he said that the head general left without saying anything else and Sanaguchi followed him

Meanwhile the all the people followed his orders and took a break especially the four people Arthur, Joana, Kanzaki, and Ryuuji

"I can't believe he just went inside and said that and also after that he left"

Reacted Ai

"Maybe because he's not sociable?" Tilted Joana

"Maybe that is one of the reason" said Ai

As both were having a conversation a grumble suddenly sounded out of nowhere that ruined the mood of the police

Grumble....

When people look at the culprit of that sound they saw Ai laughing and smiling wryly

"Hehe! I forgot that we haven't eaten yet!" Said Ai

Hearing this the group laughed at each other and while laughing Roland spoke up

"All right since we're all here how about let's eat tonight outside!" He said

"Outside?" Asked the group

"Don't worry it's my treat!" Replied Roland

Hearing this Jinwoo put his arm around Roland and said

"Since your so generous we'll take you up on your offer!"

Ashe said that they begun to pack up before going out to eat, in turn whole eating they exchange ideas and views and also they talked about their own experience making the two group Polar group and White Knight group become closer to each other

[10:00 pm]

As night falls Kanzaki still is awake and looking at the ceiling with nothing to do meaning he is bored

Thinking that it's no use he stood up from his bed and walked out his room

As he walk along the dark corridor he never forget to bring his sword, as he goes on he found out that the training room was open

"Who would train at this time of hour?" He wondered himself

As he took a peek he saw a figure standing in the middle of the platform and he immediately recognized this person

"Head General?" He muttered

When Kanzaki saw him he got close to see what he's been doing

"It looks like he's concentrating" he thought to himself

As Alex concentrates he suddenly felt like someone approached him so he opened his eyes and said

"Who are you? Come out in the shadows and step into the light"

As he said this a figure came out from the darkness and saw Kanzaki there, while looking at him Alex sat at the floor and asked

"What do you want?"

Being found out and called out Kanzaki immediately thought to his mind of what kind of response should he say so after a few seconds he decided to prod on the topic that's concerning him

"I just wanna ask how can I activate abilities of my sword cause it's been weeks now and I still can't see a hint of improvement" he said

Hearing this Alex answered calmly

"You should know that one cannot see any improvement by just doing it for a week right?" He asks

"I know that but I just wanna get stronger fast!" Replied Kanzaki

"Don't rush! It will only lead to your failure" said Alex while looking at Kanzaki

But inspite of his answer Kanzaki thought that maybe the head general could help him clear his questions so he kept asking

"Hey! Have you ever thought that your so weak? So weak that whenever you fought a strong opponent you felt helpless?" Said Kanzaki dejectedly

Hearing this the Head General Alex looked at him while saying

"What can you do about it? What's the reason your fighting? Isn't it to protect other people you care about?"

At this reply Kanzaki looked up while the Head General Alex continued

"There are things that are just beyond our reach but we still try to reach out for it! Why? Because inside of ourselves we just feel like it is just something we need to achieve and with this we would do anything in our power to achieve it!"

"The world is cruel! In this world only the strong survives but I also believe that the strong should protect the weak" he added

After a moment of silence Kanzaki remembered what Oliver told him in the past so he asked

"Have you.... Have you ever regretted your decision?"

With this question Alex was left curious

"What do you mean?" He asked

"It's just that sir! You lost so much just to get where you are! Have you ever thought that what if.... You did the opposite of what you did in the past would change the outcome in the future"

Hearing this Head General Alex knew that Kanzaki already learned his past

"You don't know how many times I thought of that.... Every time I thought of it I would be drowned by despair.... I just thought that if I did the opposite my mother and fiancee who would become my wife would still be alive and my own child clinging to my arm" he answered

"But the past can't be changed! No matter how much I want to see them nothing can be changed... We just have to overcome it" he added

With his answer Kanzaki gripped his sword as he felt bitter when he thought that he also lost everything

At this moment Alex noticed kanzaki's sword

"So that guy created a new weapon for you from the dragon heart I brought"

"Sir! You know this weapons past?" Asks Kanzaki bewildered when he heard Alex remark

"Of course I know! I'm the one who gave it to Oliver" answered Alex

"Really?" Asks Kanzaki

"Of course!" Replied Alex

With this Kanzaki thought that maybe the head general could help him on something

"Sir! Can you please help me achieve to unlock the ability of this ability?" He begged

Hearing this Alex chuckled

"Only you yourselves can unlock it's abilities.... You just need to work hard" said Alex

After a few seconds Alex told Kanzaki

"Oh yeah weapons made out of mystic materials have souls in it so maybe your sword may have a soul inside... You just needed maybe talk it out with it!" Said Alex

With this Kanzaki felt confused Talk to it? That's what he felt so he said

"Sir! Ive been wondering can you at least have a little match with me?"

With this challenge Alex become confused as he thought to himself

"Is this kid dumb? He's actually challenging me!"

"Sir! Just a few exchange that's all" insisted Kanzaki

After a few moment of being persistent Alex gave in but warned him

"Alright but remember if you can't handle my ability I suggest you give up earlier"

"What do you mean sir?" Said Kanzaki while pondering to himself

At that Alex started of first as he activated his eyes and used his ability

At that instant while Kanzaki was going to engage a whisper suddenly resounded I'm his ear

~hey! Can you give me a hand?~

Hearing this Kanzaki looked around but he saw no one was behind him

~can you help me?~

With this Kanzaki looked to the other side but no one was also there

"What's happening?" He muttered to himself

As he readied again his stance he suddenly heard whispers again

~how come you didn't save us~

With that sound kanzaki's eyes widened because those voice came from his dead father

~i didn't teach you to be greedy so why did you leave us?~

This time the voice of his mother resounded because of this he became angry cause it feels like someone is desecrating the dead

"Hey! Come out if your tough I'll make sure you'll pay for using my parents voice!" Yelled Kanzaki

But no one answered him so he turned his attention to the Head General but the moment he did the Head General wasn't there

Instantly his whole surroundings became colored deep red and howls begun to resound in his ear

When he looked around he can see every corpses lying into the floor while they crawl to him, this time hands suddenly grabbed kanzaki and when he looked down he saw hands were trying to pull up to him

~help us~

~save us~

~we don't want to die~

As he looked at this kanzaki's expression became grim for the reason that the scenery infront of him looks more like a scene cut out of  a horror movie

"What the hell is this?"

~kanzaki~

When he heard this he turned to a corner and saw his parent were to be about to be killed right infront of him then he suddenly remembered what he said (what if we could change our future actions?) As he thought of that he gripped his sword as he moved forward but suddenly he heard a voice that caught his attention and that voice is his voice

"It's useless you know!"

When he look around he saw no one so he wondered where did that voice came from

"If you do that it will make my parents death was all for nothing"

With this he became alerted and looked around.carefully when he realized that the eight years old him was looking at him

"You!" He bellowed

"You don't have the power to change anything!" Said the young kanzaki

At this point Kanzaki became irritated

"Your wrong I'm strong now! I can save people now" said Kanzaki

"No matter how strong you are there will always be someone stronger than you and that's absolute! No one can change that!" Said the young kanzaki

"Shut up! I know this isn't real.... Your just inside my head.... Your..... Your just messing with me" stuttered Kanzaki

"So you know your position after all" replied the young kanzaki

As kanzaki look around he found that the place seemed to stop moving or rather time have stopped moving

"What the? Did the time have stopped? How is this possible?" Asked Kanzaki while he looks at his younger self

"Don't ask me... This is what your heart and mind want to see... Maybe somewhere inside you, you want to save your parents" said the young kanzaki

"Then does that mean...." Stated Kanzaki as he looks bewildered

But before he could continue his words he was suddenly interrupted

"You can't!" Retorted younger Kanzaki

"What do you mean I can't? There right there... I can save them" argued Kanzaki

"When I say you can't I mean you can't because even if you save them another would pop up and kill them... It's like it's an endless cycle they can't escape their fate..." Explained young kanzaki

"No way..." Muttered Kanzaki as he fell down on his knees

"It's just right infront of me.... And your saying I can't save them?" Said Kanzaki as he's face was filling up with despair

"You have no power to change the past because if you change the past your future won't change but you'll only put another path for that past for their future in wherein you having abilities and meeting people doesn't happen" said young kanzaki

As the space fell silent the young kanzaki continued

"I remember another young man used to reason with his conscience about changing his past just to be with the people he loves..... But in the end he doesn't have power to change his past and so on he kept calling in despair and sometimes cries about their deaths"

At that moment Kanzaki realized the person who his younger self was talking about

"There's nothing you can do and there's no power on Earth that can change that! Not even god can freely mess with time" said the young kanzaki as he returned to his original position

After that was over the scenery continued to move on as the couple's run for their life while holding on a child boy

"Dear! Are we going to die?" Said kanzaki's mom while crying

"We can't out run it! Honey! You know what to do!" Said kanzaki's dad while wearing a complicated expression as if he gathered his will to do something dangerous

As kanzaki's mom heard that she tightly hugged the young kanzaki as she sob

"Baby! You know mommy loves you right? She will never leave you but I can't let you be in harm way either right?!" Said kanzaki's mom while tears falling off her face

At this scene Kanzaki held his chest tightly as if something was hurting inside him in which he can't contain the pain in his heart

At this moment Kanzaki was left speechless or rather he can't utter any word at all for the reason of the emotional pain he's receiving

"Mom! Don't leave me! Please! I'll be a good boy I promise! Didn't I say to you that I would take care of you when you grow old?.... We'll be together forever" said young kanzaki as he cried full of tears

At her son's words kanzaki's mother begun to cry again

"Yes Mommy won't leave you! Mommy loves you! I care about you so you better run! Just keep running!" She wailed

As she said that kanzaki's dad said with a grim expression

"Get him out of here! It's coming!"

As his dad said that a huge chaos beast appeared infront of the family and of course the mom and dad tried to protect their child

At this scene a memory so painful suddenly emerge deep from within Kanzaki that made him cry tears of sadness as he witness this for the second time

"Stop! Don't do it!" Muttered Kanzaki

But the chaos being raised it's claws

"Please have mercy! Don't do it!" Begged Kanzaki as tears begun to mist his eyesight and while he's clutching his chest cause of the pain

Then the chaos being suddenly grinned, Makin Kanzaki himself realized that the chaos being seems to enjoy the despair and the next moment the claws descended

"STTTOOOOPPPPP!!!!"

As he yelled this he witnessed again the way he's parents died the second time and again right before his eyes

As this finished he dropped to the ground as he clutches his chest and punching the ground and screaming in agony and despair

As this happened Alex saw everything Kanzaki did by talking to himself until the moment it fell into despair and cried of course Alex has no idea what Kanzaki saw but he assume it as something which hurts him the most

"It hurts doesn't it! But use that to fuel yourself to become stronger in the future" said Alex as he walked out the room leaving Kanzaki inside wailing

[3 Days Later]

Three days have passed since then but during those times Kanzaki felt lifeless and that worried his teammates and the white Knight that they befriended, they tried to ask him the reason for his actions but he just looks at them with listless eyes saying that he lost everything

Curious about his behavior the crew asks to Sanaguchi what happened and they received an answer that Kanzaki started to act differently after he met the Head General in the training room and with that they assumed that something happened in the training room that left Kanzaki in a state of despair for three days

After the third day Kanzaki was somehow able to pick himself up from that despair but whenever he remembers it he begun to feel pain again in his chest

[London Bridge]

In a corner a military unit and a chaos eye user was lying on the floor dead, with this a person controlled their body to move like a real life person and approached the monitoring military unit

"Hey guys we found a clue to where that undead guy is! Tell it to the officer in charge" said the dead chaos eye user

"Understood!" Said the military soldiers

As they left a person emerged fro the corner and it was the person who is codenamed as undead

As he saw the soldier went off he grinned wickedly as he declared

"The first one who moves wins the battle"

Author's notes:

Undead- a codename of a user who is categorized as a dangerous person and will be introduced in the next volume

Chapter end