0.15: Call to Reality!

Everything got reversed to ten seconds, and Sanji knew what to do this time. They ran again with the lava bursting behind them before Tedashii went for the kill.

WHOOSH!!

Sanji stepped on his sword and then used it to jump up in the air.

"What?! No-"

BWOOSH!!

Before Tedashii had the chance to leap, he got caught in the lava and perished with all the tangible things around him. Sasha and Brianna were helping each other up right before they saw the lava rushing their way.

"LOOK OUT!!"

Brianna tried to stop it with her barrier, but the strength the waves came with quickly burned through it. And they also vanished as well.

"AAHHH!"

Suzuki tried to run away from the wave as fast as he could. He looked around for Konami or any others, and then one of the guards held him on his foot.

THUD!!

He fell and hit one of the walls, and the moment he opened his eyes, he saw the orange light in front of him.

BWOOSH!!

The battle came to an end, and Sanji was the victor. He could not believe the number of people he killed within those ten seconds. "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

He yelled as he could not believe how far he went for power.

"CHEYMO!!"

He heard Mikoto call out to him at the top of her room, with tears after witnessing such chaos. He came to her and hugged her. "What is going on? How did one fight turn out so bad?" She asked and began to cry. But Sanji had no mentality to say anything. He just held her as close as he could. Behind them, he heard someone clapping.

"You stabbed the back of everyone for power... I'm surprised." Haruki was sitting on the window sill, watching the lava gush through the rest of the castle.

"Who are you?" Sanji asked.

"I am the person who was in charge of your dream world. You must be Sanji, right?"

"No! You're wrong!! His name is CHEYZAR! Why are you all calling him Sanji??!!" Mikoto asked while hitting Haruki on his chest. He then took out a memory shard and dropped it to the ground.

VRRP!!

"Hello, does this thing even work?"

"Ch...Cheymo? This doesn't make any sense." Mikoto said.

They all heard the real Cheyzar in an apparition form.

"I just wanted to say that if you see this, I must be dead by now...I think. But I left this shard to my old master, Sensei Haruki, to hold it on for me. Sadly...a long story happened, and I'm leaving my wife and son at the castle. I heard a war struck out against my old friend so I would help him. It's the year...I forgot, but I know the feud against Punk Knock is still ongoing. All those men are jealous that I have been surrounded by women my entire life, HA! But I...would like to apologize to you, Mikoto."

She looked up at him and began to cry.

"I left without telling you anything, and Fugin had just turned fifteen...what a sh*tty father I am. I don't know if you are still alive to hear this. But I trust Sensei that he knows exactly what to do with this shard. I hope that one day… you'll forgive me. And if we ever meet again in heaven or hell... don't kill me again!! I've left Rotanoria in my briefcase, so tell Fugin not to touch it! I love you both, and I'm sorry things had to end this way. Goodbye Mikoto, Doku, Sensei, and my son Fugin."

The shard then reformed itself and flew back into the hands of Mikoto. She turned around at Sanji.

"Who...are you then?"

"I'm sorry...Mikoto. I'm not Cheyzar. I am Sanji Misaki, the friend of Tedashii and the boyfriend of your enemy, Yuri. I…just loved the affection I was getting here. It made me hate my reality, so when you guys called me king, I didn't want this to end. I-"

Slap!!

Mikoto hit Sanji on his face. "You took the life of a man I lost as if it was a role that could easily be replaced... you're sick, Sanji! I can't believe I trusted you when Lady told me it was impossible."

She turned her attention to Haruki. "You are Cheymo's Sensei? I want to thank you for showing me this. But what do you mean, dreamworld?" She asked.

"Just like you heard it. Mikoto, this is not real." She gasped. "The war that Cheyzar discussed ended his life...but they also came for you. You are already dead, and this world was made because of the memory I had here and the connection of the other boy you thought was Fugin."

She looked at the statue and cried about how a happy family strayed apart so quickly.

"But don't worry, Fugin, however..."

She looked at him. "Are you serious?!"

Haruki nodded. "But right now, I need you to take us back to the real world, Mikoto."

He handed her Rotanoria.

"Once you kill one of us, the world automatically ends, and then this will all be over. I or Sanji, sadly, won't remember this at all. That's what happens to everyone who dies without forfeiting."

"Wait, so you mean...all that happened, they won't remember it?" Sanji asked.

"Luckily for you, yes. But you should still try to repent once you return, Sanji...they were all hurt by your actions."

Mikoto then slashed Haruki on his chest, and then he vanished. Sanji then looked around, and everything began to disappear. But right before he faded as well, Mikoto gave him a shard.

"If you ever meet with Fugin, the real Fugin. Please show him this..." She smiled at him. "Thank you for still filling in for my pain..."

WHOOSH!!

Sanji witnessed the lava reach her floor. But as she burned to death, a last kiss was blown to him. And all went black.

...

"..., ...j, ..nji, Sanji, SANJI!!"

"AH!"

Sanji woke up and saw Tedashii and everyone else surrounding him. "...Guys?"

"You scared the hell out of us!! Well, everyone scared the hell out of me!" Konami said.

"It looked like we all woke up one after the other, but Konami woke up first. Sanji, what happened there? I... don't remember anything?" Yuri said.

"Now that you mention it, neither do I. All I remember was that there were five of us. But I don't know the other girl." Sasha said.

Sanji kept looking at Yuri and Tedashii. "Whoa there. What's the matter with you?" Tedashii asked.

He just got up and hugged them. They tried to push him off, but then he began crying and apologizing to them. "I'm glad you guys are alright! I'm sorry for everything! I was a fool, and you were right!"

Tedashii and Yuri were lost but just accepted his apology.

"Don't leave us out of this!" Konami said, and she and Sasha joined in on their hug.

***

"HELLO AGAIN, DEAR VIEWERS!"

The TV switched on, and Cloe, Martin, and Gaiyato sat in the studio.

"I hope I don't put any of our viewers to SLEEP again, HAHA! We're back again with everyone's mysterious captain and his vice, Mr Martin and Gaiyato Aoi."

"UNCLE!" They all jumped to the couch with excitement and watched.

"Thank you for having us here, Cloe. As you all know, I am Martin Unmei, Destiny of the Rebirth Guild. I just wanted to congratulate all the humans and ronins that succeeded in their dream world. And to all that forfeited, it's a shame you could not hang on. To those that died, do not feel afraid...Gaiyato, for some reason, said that we WOULD TAKE NO CREDIT for whatever happened!"

"HAHAHA! Really? Did I say that...?" Gaiyato smiled away from the camera. Martin cleared his throat and then held out a mechanical wristband.

"What you see in my hand is the band that shows the type of prowess you hold. Luckily, it's exclusive to everyone sent to the dream world. Once the marks are made, they will appear on your wrist. That will help us locate you before you go for the Apprehension. So once again...to those who died, don't be afraid. Because they automatically woke up and were back in their real bodies safely. We took no credit mainly because there was no reason to in the first place."

They all looked at Gaiyato.

"He scares us for no reason!" Yuri said.

"Well, regardless, this means we did a good thing bringing me with!" Konami said and then hit Yuri on her shoulder. They heard a car stop in their front yard, and their door opened aggressively.

"HEY KIDS, DON'T MIND ME! JUST NEED TO USE THE TOILET!" Their father said, running up the stairs.

"Tedashii, you guys. Can you please help me take your grandfather's luggage? There's so much, and you know mommy hates to carry stuff-"

"-After a long trip to nothing. We know." They all finished her sentence and ran downstairs to help.

Izanami smiled at them, and then the TV caught her attention. "Gaiyato? What are you and Martin doing on TV?" She laughed and got closer.

"After 800,000,000 of you entered…only 150,478 of you managed to make it in."

"Made it in? What?" She didn't understand, but then she saw the light coming from outside. "Oh no... don't tell me.."

She turned her head and looked up at the sky. "WHAT?!" She scrambled and dropped the plates on the floor.

Giyora came running down to see what the matter was.

"Honey! What's wrong?!" He asked.

"N-Nothing...I just saw a scary part of this movie. He-he.." She said, then picked the plates up.

Giyora laughed and then walked back to their room. She turned around and saw three wholes in the sky. One colored pink, one was yellow, and the largest one out of them..was a color that was thought to never appear in the sky again. It was a combination of black, purple, and red. "Tedashii, No, you didn't…"

***

*SOMEWHERE IN HAZEL GROVE*

Hazel Grove, the land of the Earth Ronins, the Cassoules. A boy was watching his mark in the sky, the largest of his people. 

Ring Ring!!

"FRANCO! WE DID IT!" Another boy said.

"Yeah? So tell me, how are your marks looking?" He asked.

"Well, mine is the biggest one in my area...Sadly, smaller than Rin's one..."

"HA! YOU WOULD JUST WISH YOU WERE STRONGER THAN ME!!" Rin and Adrian were on the phone with him, two Ronins from Zariya1.

"What about you, Yuro?" He asked.

"Smallest one in Cropaq! Of course, I was behind Uraka and the other older one here! IM SO FIRED UP TO BEAT THEIR ASSES!!" Yuro, the Ronin from the Fire Village.

"Mine was third behind my older brother and Tedd. Now I have the chores to do for a month..." the Ronin from the sky temple of Tirianna said.

"Don't sweat it, Ado. We all tried our best, man!" Franco encouraged him.

"I think I was the only Ronin in my area. It seems like human-sized marks surround mine." Leah, the female Ronin who lived in Norwich.

"Well, aren't you lucky-"

"Franco."

Makoto, Franco's best friend and rival, visited him. "Max! Good timing. How does it feel to have the second biggest mark in the world?" He asked.

"Doesn't bother me at all. If I'm the third, then you must be second."

"What? What are you talking about?! I'm the strongest Ronin behind Gaiyato!" 

Makoto then showed him the image on his phone.

"... A purple one? B-But they were supposed to be all gone?" Franco asked as he saw it covered the entire city of Blackburn.

"It is a mark for a Fushigiri. Then he might be a problem if we are in the same Quarts. Meaning you, ha, Will be the SECOND STRONGEST!"

Franco handed Makoto back his phone and stared at his mark. "Same one or not, I'm the strongest!"

***

*HEADQUARTERS; REBIRTH HIDEOUT*

Gaiyato and Martin watched the security cameras, focusing on the marks worth their attention.

"Well, look at how many we've attained! About 4,639,914,578 in the primal region, with 150,478 in the central alone. It's a shame some of them are pure humans." Gaiyato said.

"Yes, we will have to review all of the ones that are stronger than the others. For Legon, let's have the usual procedure." Martin replied. "Ten Quarts either, each of them having 64 people. The other places will have to pick on their own, but for us, let's take the big marks-"

"MISTER MARTIN, SIR!!!" One of the guards came running to him.

"Lower your voice; we're not outside, you know. What's the matter?"

The guard showed him the image of the mark in Blackburn. "That's impossible! A purple one?!"

Gaiyato then looked at the location and saw it was by the mountainside. Martin then called his search squad and told them to head there the next day.

"Dammit...Tedashii, you joined in as well." Gaiyato said to himself.

***

*SOMEWHERE IN LEGON CITY*

Monsters were swarming around the city while a man watched the chaos around him. The demons seemed to avoid him at all costs, as if he was like them.

"Boss!"

One of the men called out to him, pointing toward Blackburn, the city near Legon. Without hesitation, he saw the mark in the sky and called on all his men.

"Boys, let's get going to Meadow town by tomorrow. I finally found you, Tedashii."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*NORSE PRISON SITE NEAR LEGON CITY*

A prison riot was taking place, with one of the prisoners attacking everyone watching. He kept bashing and slashing them with his bare hands and nails.

"NUMBER SEVENTY-EIGHT, STEP DOWN NOW!!"

But then he began to attack the guards as well. He saw a purple light reflecting on the blood when he mounted one of them. He turned and looked up and saw that it was far from Blackburn City.

"Tedashii?"

***

A man was also looking at it from the entrance of the city. His eyes were glued to the sight, and his smile and tears were beyond his thought.

"There you are, Tedashii."

***

The light shone above the hideout of the AR, with their leader staring up in the sky.

"Is that one of us, Azahii?" He asked with a curious tone.

"You are not like me...and yes, that no doubt is a Fushigiri." He responded.

***

The entire Ronin world was shocked at the news of Tedashii's mark. Due to his consistent use of spiritas, his mark exceeded the average amount. And to be hand-picked first by Martin was a big deal in the Apprehension selection, but in his case...his mark considered him a particular type of criminal.

"Whoa..."

Sasha and the others made it outside after they saw the light from the garage. They all noticed only three marks out of the five of them.

"Aww, I didn't make it.." Konami said.

"Dammit! Me neither!" Yuri said, crossing her hands around Sanji. "Guess the yellow one is yours, Sanj."

Sanji picked her up on his back and smiled. "I'll come by with my first cheque occasionally if that bothers you." He said.

Yuri then hit him and began to chase him around. Tedashii and Sasha both glared at their marks.

"Tedashii, we did it." She said.

But he looked at his for a while longer. "It's...purple...but why?"

His father and grandfather came out and watched with them.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" They asked.

The kids just laughed at them. Their bands fell from the sky on both wrists a while later. And that finalized their ticket to the upcoming Apprehension. Tedashii held his hand towards his mark. 

"Sasha, Sanji..." They came close to him and held their fists near his." Let's all do our best to become Last Heroes!"

"I'm going to find my sisters and not let this opportunity go to waste!" Sasha said.

"I'll prove my strength to Yuri and overpass you and everyone that comes my way, Tedashii!" Sanji said.

...

The three ronins raised their fist to each of their marks as all the spots vanished. And that pronounced the end of the dream world, but what was foreordained...is right around their doorstep.

The Last Heroes: 最後のヘオレス

To Be Continued…2