Chapter 2 Ripples and Chaos

  SD Chapter 2 Ripples And Chaos

  *Roseblade Domain*

A building...so tall, it pierced through the clouds themselves sat in the centre of this irregular triangular land that was the Roseblade domain. It was a gleaming silver, rising out of a base that had been designed by a specially chosen architect. Gazing at the beauty and the marvel that was the base, you would admire this piece like it was an art...actually, it was a masterpiece of artistry!

The base was composed of a blooming red rose, though without the stalk. It sat on a piece of land that was almost 30 sqkm and it had everything anyone could want in a city. No, it wasn't like a city...it was a city itself! The population alone was a little bit over 500 million people! 

It had all the comfort, entertainment and work...things a human wanted and needed. Casinos, schools, parks, apartments...basically everything you could think of and more, were housed within this magnificent piece of engineering. And as an addition, the silver sword-like skyscraper even had a launch station that was used to send shuttles and satellites into space!

On the topmost floor of this magnificent building, an unwanted guest had just arrived...

"Tell me something, why are you here?" A sweet charming voice asked while red painted fingers tapped upon an armrest with growing intensity.

This was a room with a green carpet that had stalks akin to grass itself, even swaying to a small breeze like the natural thing, except that this one was red. The carpet didn't cover the entire floor, exposing a part of it, which was brown.

A desk covered up the lower half of a woman, whose top button of her long sleeved shirt was unbuttoned, showing off the deep valley that was her cleavage. 

Her face was oval shaped and fairly light skinned. Those crimson pupils within her eyes were currently gazing at someone who had just entered her territory, a man, who was leaning against the door he had closed behind him. Even in an age of advanced technology, there was something about clutching a door knob to simply open it that fascinated her, so she had commissioned for the gimmick to be custom made for her taste.

Her voice didn't sound angry or unhappy, no, on the contrary, there was amusement and excitement within, not to mention anticipation. With a small movement of her other hand, she swept her dark red curls away from her face, to behind the one ear.

The man snorted with dissatisfaction, releasing an intangible pressure within the room. Even the fake-grass carpet had each individual blade flattened.

"You do remember where you are, right? This is some idiotic behaviour on your part. This isn't the Hammer God domain!" She brought out her own pressure, with the clashing of the two causing the very air to boil like oil.

"I would advise that you don't do any of what your mind has suggested you do...because if you do, that would make it very hard for us to cooperate in any way in the future. You wouldn't want that old geezer, Hammer slaughtering you because of a failed cooperation, right?" The woman spoke upon seeing the man's hands sliding down to the dual blades strapped on each of the sides of his waist. The get up must have been well-chosen as it didn't clash with the tailor-made black suit he was donning. She had half of a mind to ask him about his dresser.

"Rosaline, the public isn't ready for what you are about to reveal. Besides, what you want to do might cause all the old domains to gang up on you." With a sigh, he withdrew his pressure and let his hands not drift to the white hilts of his blades.

"Hmpf! Are you in the minds of the people? Can you tell what they can handle? All those old geezers want is to keep the power within themselves. They want everyone else to be beneath them! Don't think I don't know how those geniuses who happened upon this power vanished in a matter of hours upon them trying to reveal this information."

"So what? Chaos will arise from what you are about to do!" The man shouted.

"Without chaos, there is zero improvement. This world has been stagnant for far too long! I want to add in more variables to the equation that is order. You never know, maybe, someone would even find a way to advance past our current stage."

"It doesn't matter."

"Pascal, Pascal...luck has favored me this time, so those geezers are going to have to follow my lead. They want to have a piece of the profits I am about to gain...so...they are going to have to listen to my whims. I do believe that you aren't merely representing the Hammer geezer here, right? It would be a pain to deal with any more idiots, should they be sent..."

"...tell them not to interfere, or else, they won't even get the scraps!" Rosaline spoke with a finality in her voice. The conversation had to end here.

"I believe we could persuade those Golden Wheat upstarts to give up. Maybe then, you might rethink this choice?" The man, Pascal, who appeared to look like some common brown skinned youth spoke with a dark undertone.

"That geezer still has some spunk left in him. Be my guest! The others would probably cower because of your combined domains' might, but not him! Not to mention his genius daughter and son-in-law. Those two must have probably already reached our level. Though you do have immense military might, I don't think even your Head can stop them if they want to flee. You wouldn't want a revenge-driven slaughter machine on your hands, right?" She taunted while displaying her pearly whites, not at all nonplussed by his threats.

"Do you really want to become their enemy, Rosaline?"

"They will never do anything to undermine me publicly because luck has smiled upon me. In the shadows...you do know that I am not alone, right? My flower knights can go toe to toe with even the best of you...so, knock yourselves out! 

  *Golden Wheat domain*

He was reclined in a dark long sofa occasionally taking a sip of the blue glowing liquid within the cup that he kept swirling. Every time he took a sip, an involuntary moan of contentment escaped the lips that weren't covered by the white mask that had a small black number one digit right in the middle of the forehead. 

While enjoying the few minutes of peace he was certain were going to be interrupted, he reminisced about his previous assignment, one that had been very easy. It was boring when something went off without a hitch to him. But he didn't have anyone to complain to as the mask he wore spoke for itself. He was the greatest in the organisation, and those missions that proved too hard for those below him had become something of a monotonous chore.

Ah! He remembered. There were other culprits to his current predicament, the old geezers who failed to die. Those imbeciles who ruled the oldest and the strongest domains. They had caused this strange order that lacked the taste of true chaos.

A grin spread along his lips as he recalled the previous day's news. He was sure that whatever had prompted him being summoned to this outpost had to do with that particular piece of information. He had thought that the geezers had managed to tie a nook around the woman's neck, yet it seemed that she wasn't one to be tied down.

Luck had played a part, according to some information he had gathered, but that didn't detract the fact that now, the old geezers were the ones who were going to have to listen. Chaos! Sweet sweet chaos was coming! And his gut was telling him that this wasn't a flame that was going to be doused that easily...no, it was going to blaze and consume the entire world. He had already achieved the sort of paradigm shifting power that they were going to reveal to the public, but what made his heart speed up was the fact that many more were going to achieve this level of power because of the reveal. At that time, maintaining this status quo of fake-

A figure materialized in the room, interrupting his thoughts. Upon seeing the digit on the forehead of the mask, his grin got progressively wider than before. It seemed that he had underestimated the ripples that the woman had created.

"...One, huh. Its been an overly long time since a mission required the both of us." A female voice came out of the person. If he stood up, she would be equal to him in height, and with the dark hooded robe covering her, she could pass for a man if she didn't speak.

"Two. It's such a rare occurance indeed. I offer you some wine, though as you can see, I have gotten too comfortable here so you will have to get it for yourself." One raised a glass in her direction.

"I don't like what Rosaline has started." Two spoke while leisurely sauntering over to the brown counter, where a few hundred wines were stocked on a shelf in the wall. One knew for a fact that they were the best of the best. Some were even so rare that getting his hands upon them would require the use of his talents, illegally. Like the blue glowing liquid within his glass. It was only produced by the Blue lake domain and no one else could get in on the action since the main ingredient, the Ethereal blue flower, could only be cultivated by them.

"Chaos is better for business. Besides, it also brings about a whole new level of challenge that simply makes my heart race." One said after once more taking a sip of the exquisite wine in his cup.

Inwardly, he was scoffing at this woman. She had become a cog in the machine that was this_fake-order. 

'I hope she never manages to survive this coming chaos.' He slowly removed his feet from the sofa and instead opted to sit leaning back into the soft goodness. Honestly, this sofa was good! It was massaging him to the point that he would have slept if he had been alone in the room.

"Chaos is never better for anyone. The turmoil that she is going to set off is going to make our lives harder. Take this mission for example, since the both of us are already here, it means that this isn't going to be a stealthy endeavour. Combat is most definitely going to be involved." She spoke while taking a sip of her red wine.

One didn't continue with the conversation this time. She was simply insufferable to the point that he wondered whether she was naive or, could it be that she was one of the many pawns of the old geezers that had managed to infiltrate the organisation.

Another figure materialised in the room, his masked forehead showing the red number three.

[Since all parties related to the mission are here, then it can be revealed.]

Barely had the latest guest even uttered a single word... A transparent hologram of a bartender materialised next to the wines and spoke. He wasn't even a projection of a real person, but an AI, a sentient one.

A parchment of scroll unwound itself atop the counter while floating midair. 

"Oh my!" One exclaimed, his heart galloping like a horse. This mission was simply perfect! He had been bored out of his mind lately, but now, there was no way he was going to lack excitement with this one!

*****

The heat of the sun bore down upon him as if it was unleashing punishment. Ben could feel the heat infiltrating through his clothes into his skin, and then even into his body. 

This was the flat roof of the Golden sky scraper, the capital city of the Golden Wheat domain. 

"Do you really have to punish yourself in the sun?" Alicia's voice entered his ears coming from behind him. His eyes were closed, trying to regulate his body. He had to be in optimum condition for the coming confrontation.

"I did agree to that woman's offer of an alliance without any of your input. This just a little punishment for that arbitrary decision of mine." 

He wasn't someone made for deals, negotiations and what-not. Rosaline's suggestion had caused his blood to boil and straight away agree without the slightest hesitation. His cheeks warmed upon recalling that passionate agreement.

"It doesn't matter. Anyway, your gut has always been right, so, who do you think is coming?"

Ben took in a deep breath. Ever since news of the duel had made its rounds within the public, ripples, unlike any other had spread out, causing them to have to recall their military might. He had known that the old geezers in those old domains wouldn't take kindly to this, and he had been proven right when he had gotten a feeling that trouble was coming today.

Him seating here, was because he was waiting. His son-in-law was preparing for the duel and his daughter had just given birth, not to mention the fact that he didn't want leave the opponent to Alicia. So, he had decided to intercept whoever was coming.

"Those old men have a lot of powerhouses lying aroung. So, we have to expect anyone. Though, I think it will be the impulsive types." 

"Hmpf! Because she has what they want, she won't get blatantly attacked like us. I am starting to hate this." Alicia spat on the ground in irritation.

"Don't worry. They think we are still the fledgling domain from yesteryear. This attack will teach them. Heh! I haven't lost my edge after retiring. I will destroy any person they send"

Ben released a thick pulse of murderous intent with his will that caused a few meters around him to shimmer with reddish hue, a sign that his will was encroaching on the space. Alicia didn't even take a step back from such an immense will, causing Ben to inwardly become surprised.

"Dear, you are not the only one who hasn't been slacking off." She said, with a smile probably on her face.

"Something is coming, a shuttle." Ben applied some force into his hands, arising from the his cross-legged state promptly.

"...and it looks like they are planning to collide with us." Alicia arrived at his side, a long staff with a carving of a flowing stream upon its length materialised in her hands from her mind space.

"I need to warm up, so let me take care of this."

Before the last word even entered her ears, Ben controlled every cell in his body and released the energy within, turning himself into a beam of light that crossed a little more than 50m to arrive at the edge of the building near instantly, where his right hand pulled back and his fingers clenched into a fist, with an image of a burning rock enclosing it, the manifestation of his will technique.

The very air exploded as he punched at the craft, which had just arrived directly in front of him, with the metal caving in before outright shattering and burning as every piece was hurled away at the speed of a bullet.

He felt a threat from his right, the moment he had just thrown the punch and activated every cell within his feet, leaping back with such speed that the sweep of the golden spear passed through his after image, with the very air exploding in its wake, before a large arc of displaced air blew away from its shaft into the scattering pieces of the craft, increasing their velocity.

"Now, that was one hell of a welcome, don't you think so, Meteor Ben?" 

A deep voice, that sounded cool in his ears spoke. 

With a blur, Alicia appeared beside him, her wide dress fluttering due to her speed. It was a garment that was both combat and comfort oriented.

The one who had spoken planted the butt of his spear in the floor, shattering it and causing a long thin crack to appear with just that simple action.

He had black hair with grey sideburns. His face was wide, his red eyes bright because of the intense bloodlust and will to fight he was radiating. A savage grin had taken over his features, menacing even to them.

"I would have never thought that the geezers would go to all this length, letting you out of that prison, Mandra." Ben spoke while shaking his fist a little to cool it down. The body wasn't equipped to handle a will technique like his, one where the very temperature had caused burns on his fist, which he was now regenerating from by controlling his cellular activity. 

"What matters is the fact that they have allowed me to kill you. And I get to play within this domain of yours as long as I like without anyone interfering!" 

"Alicia, hold my coat." Ben was left in a white shirt that tightly stuck to his skin, showing off his muscular body.

"These people think they can toy with us! After Dark's duel, I am going to bang onto their front door." Ben's face morphed into a mask of calm that belied his fury. Alicia didn't hesitate at those words, moving away with the coat towards the edge of the roof.

"Many people lost their lives to you...but those were weaklings. I will show you why even those old geezers feared me at a time." Ben breathed out visible water vapor that allowed his body to cool off a little from the previous exertion.

'I swear upon myself that I am going to make sure I attack at least one domain of the old geezers in retaliation after this! And that brat Rosaline is going to help me.' He got even angrier at the man standing in front of him, the monster that had taken numerous lives. It looked like that prison had been compromised. Entrusting more criminals to it wasn't going to happen any more.

"I wonder whether our battle will at least manage to destroy this building...I am looking forward to it!" The man licked his lips before his form blurred as he turned into a beam of light that appeared in front of Ben in an instant.

Ben deflected the spear thrust to the side and punched out with his left hand only for the shaft to be used to block, with blood gushing out upon contact.

With a move of his feet, his form reappeared behind the guy, midair, where he threw out another punch, conjuring an image of a falling meteorite. The man blurred appearing a few dozen meters away while Ben's punch harmlessly hit the floor as he had retracted most of the force to prevent destroying the building.

With a thought, he sealed up the wound that was gushing out blood. This ability of causing instant bleeding upon contact with the man's spear was the whole reason it was troublesome to fight him. This will technique of his was quite sadistic just like him. It sapped at an opponent's strength until the guy could take you in effortlessly.

With another release of breath, Ben shot off, shattering the floor with his feet as he moved at such speed he appeared behind the man, both his fists pulled back.

The very air exploded as the air cannons created by his fists went out for over ten meters before losing strength. 

With a shift of his feet, he used the back of his hands as a shield, defending against the sweep of the spear, though, his blood once again gushed out. He hurriedly resealed the wounds as his feet skidded upon the floor, leaving a long groove for almost 20m.

Before he could even catch his breath, his opponent was upon him, thrusting out consecutively, with each attack threatening to puncture through his critical spots, like the head, the neck, the heart, and his joints.

With flicker of his hands, his gloved fists hit each other, causing a conical wave of heat and a shockwave to stop the spears before they made contact, hurling the Mandra away like a piece of paper being blown by the wind.

Ben had never once wished that he had been born with any other weapon apart from his flame red leather gloves. They lacked defense, but that hadn't and still didn't matter. He had risen to this level because of his own will and power. The gloves were the most suitable tool for him.

"This is a conundrum. Fighting with you is going to take up too much time. But, if I attack your wife, maybe it can end even faster!"

Before the last word even left his lips, the man's figure blurred, appearing just behind Alicia who had been cradling the coat and staff in her hands. Ben only smirked and took that as a sign to try and purge out the heat from his body. The will technique also caused his blood to burn up, something which had to be taken care of before it got too detrimental. It was the whole reason he had never fought alone ever since he had created the technique, instead opting to have Alicia close by.

The very air exploded and a shockwave washed over him as two weapons ferociously clashed, shaft to shaft! The sheer power of the combatants even causing a crater to form in the floor.

"You dared to attack me without having even collected any information about me?" Alicia's warm voice came from the direction of the stand off. She was giggling, and Ben smirked at that. It looks like she had just gotten excited.

*****

"Those old geezers outdid themselves this time. I am streaming the fight live. The other domains will now become wary and won't dare to ever send their criminals over to the Steel prison." Dark spoke while occupying a seat next to Camilla's bed, where the two were watching a screen showing a live stream of the battle up above the building. 

"I know you wanted to be the one to fight up there, but we can't have any accidents before your duel." Camilla spoke. She knew him too well!

"Tomorrow, I will be going with you to the Cosmic Pit."

"What are you saying Camilla? What of the child?" He panicked.

"She will be coming with me. I know I know. You think it will be dangerous since there will be too many enemies, but that doesn't mean that I can't go. I will make sure to protect her." Dark sighed and dropped the hope of persuading her otherwise. Her tone had been firm.

"Congratulations." 

Someone spoke the moment the door opened. He was tall, had black silky hair, brown eyes and his skin was fairly light. His eyes had this lazy feeling when you gazed at him, as if he would fall asleep any moment. He was wearing a black shirt with a white X in the middle of the belly, and blue jeans, with a sheathed Katana strapped to his waist.

"It looks like the laziness streak still runs deep, Gatana." Dark spoke with narrowed eyes and dissatisfaction.

"There was absolutely no danger, was there?" The man yawned as he sauntered to the other side of the bed, looking down at the baby.

"I curse her to grow up with Camilla's personality."

"Gatana, that's what I too, want." Camilla chuckled at Dark's broodingly dark expression.

"Anyway, aren't they causing too much damage? Won't the roof collapse at this point? Even with self healing materials, the speed at which they are destroying surpasses the healing speed. That man has to be killed." Gatana spoke while his back was making contact with the wall.

"Yeah. They will defeat him eventually, but we must make sure he dies here or else he will wreck havoc in our domain."

"Gatana, go up there and make sure he dies." Dark ordered.

"Sure. The others haven't arrived yet I presume? I even wanted to be the last to arrive." He grumbled even as the room's doors closed behind him.

"Father won't be happy with the butting in." 

"I believe Gatana will find a way to make it work." 

*****

The orange rays of the setting sun kissed the black obsidian that adorned the long room, from the long conference table to the chairs, to the far walls that were opposite the windows. This was a beautiful scene that had in the first place prompted him to set up this place as his office, yet the scenery was being invaded by a cacophony of bickering...

"We should have chosen one of the numbered prisoners! There was no way some weakling was going to accomplish anything!"

"You also didn't provide a stronger argument at the time, having decided to underestimate the Golden Wheat domain!"

"We need a new course of action! We need something or someone that will make those upstarts back away from the duel!"

"I heard Camilla has just given birth. We could sacrifice one of our spies to kidnap the little one."

"That's a crazy idea! We have wasted plenty of resources on those Plants, and you want us to simply expose them! They will die! And our entire network might get uprooted! Those people were trained in spy work! Not to take on powerhouses!"

With a tap of his finger, everyone's faces in the floating holographic screens in front of him shut up.

"Anything more that you would want to do would only paint us as a laughing stock. Besides, that would be redundant. Our collective domains thrive on strength! Placing our hopes on a mere prisoner was wrong in the first place. When you want something done, you must boldly do it yourself..."

He paused at that, his dark blue eyes scanning each of the other five faces with such intensity, they flinched or broke eye contact. He loved this. This was respect and fear gained from strength. These imbeciles still hadn't understood this fundamental truth, and that was one of the reasons his domain was the strongest on this entire continent.

"...I will be attending the duel in person."

After those words, he cut off communications, without even taking in the various expressions that had appeared on their faces. He stood up and walked to the windows, overlooking his hard work, the sprawling city below that was the same as those from before this boom in technology. Now, many domains had embraced having buildings acting as entire cities, robbing the people of what it was like to gaze at the natural sky.

'This world has been stagnant for far too long! Its once again the time to advance rapidly, like that time miniaturised quantum computers came into play. Now, its going to be the space race. And this is just the beginning. When a wormhole is discovered to a habitable planet, the chaos won't be something that we will be able to stop...'

The world was about to change. He knew it from the way the hammer infused with his will was vibrating in his mind space. So far, he was the only one who had reached the next step, but maybe, a prodigy might appear in the next few years...now that was going to be exciting!

He smiled as he watched the sun fall into the far, western horizon. This era was ending, and he had just realised it. The duel, he was most definitely going to watch it!

"Maybe I should pass on these duties to someone else in the coming days and go exploring into that newly discovered star system." He mumbled to himself. 

*****

[We have just received information that the current Duel Emperor is making his way to the Cosmic Pit!]

That piece of news caused the entire vat of oil that was the world, to become ignited into a raging inferno!