The Third Piece

Edward placed a talisman on a body lying on the ground, and after injecting his spirit energy, it lit up before entering the body. Then, it opened its eyes.

"Main body," said the body, and Edward nodded. He then checked the body one last time.

"From now on, you are Ozuki Akimitsu. You know what to do."

"Don't worry. Everything will be done."

Edward watched this new clone leave before looking in one direction: "Let's begin."

…

Today was a normal day in the capital: people went to work, children went to school, and the rich enjoyed their lavish lifestyle. Then, the citizen felt a shadow looming over them, so they looked at the sky.

A black and gloomy cloud enveloped the entire capital. Then, something from horror stories occurred. An enormous hand descended from the cloud toward the Palace.

A powerful shield manifested to protect things, but it was to no avail. The hand broke the shield before decimating the palace. Afterward, the hand went after the Onmyou Protection Hall.

Just like its predecessor, the hand destroyed the hall. However, the entire building did not collapse as the shied did function. Without wasting time, the hand headed for the Academy. But this time, it failed utterly before disappearing into the cloud.

Shogun Arata pushed the debris on top of him while breathing heavily. He wiped the blood from his face before checking his body. He felt many ribs were broken, and his legs were crushed.

He tried to take some talismans from his pockets but discovered they were scattered or destroyed during the impact. With no choice, he took his blood and drew a few runes on his body.

"Order," he said, then the blood runes lit up before a green light infused into his body, healing his injuries. A few minutes later, he could now move.

"Anyone alive?" he screamed for a few seconds before receiving an answer. Then, he quickly gathered all the survivors, including the Divine Maiden.

"Shogun, what is going on?" asked one of the mages.

"I don't know, but it seems to be a level 7 Spirit Disaster."

The faces of the survivors changed after hearing this. Throughout the history of the eastern continent, there has been only one Level 7 Spirit Disaster, and it was so long ago that many people thought it was a myth.

According to records, a Spirit discovered some type of treasure that allowed it to control the entire Spirit World. Then, it unleashed a calamity on the world that almost destroyed all life on the eastern continent.

The records were not detailed, but they still emphasized the hard work it took to deal with that catastrophe.

"Then, what should we do?" asked a mage looking at the dark clouds in the sky; she knew this was the beginning.

"We need to head to the Palace and regroup with the powerful mages there," said Arata. The palace was where the Yamato clan and the other royal clans lived. So, it is the place with the largest number of mages and the most powerful one.

Moreover, Arata felt this situation could be used in his favor if the Emperor and many of the royal clan died. In that case, he could use this opportunity to rise in power and become the ruler of the Yamato Dynasty: no, the Seimei Dynasty.

"We need to go to the Academy," suddenly said the Divine Maiden, bringing all attention to her.

"What do you mean by this?"

"This is the only safe place so far, so it would be best to go there."

The other mages looked in the distance. There was a gray fog that enveloped the entire city. However, they could still barely see the towering buildings of the Academy.

"Don't spout nonsense," rebutted Arata. "It's obvious we must first ensure the safety of the Emperor and the royal family."

The Divine Maiden ignored him but looked at the survivors instead. She noticed an anomaly: most of the survivors were from a commoner background. She even noticed that the survival rate of the commoners was 90%, which was very odd compared to the 12% survival rate of the noble mages and samurais.

So, she guessed something even though she did not want to admit it.

"The reason the Academy survived this attack is most likely because of Ozuki Akimitsu. Under his protection, we have a chance at surviving. Otherwise, Heaven knows what is going to happen."

"Ridiculous; he is only a child. No matter how talented he is, he needs time to grow up."

However, the Divine Maiden did not argue with him; she just waited for the others to decide. And as expected, the commoners sided with her along with some nobles. Meanwhile, the rest chose to go with the Shogun.

She looked at the group and said: "We don't know what mystery lies beyond this fog, so be alert and use Defensive Talisman and Spells."

The group then arranged themselves in a rectangular formation with the Divine Maiden at the center. Then, the outermost people of the formation activated their talisman. Meanwhile, the people in the innermost of the formation chanted Defensive Spells.

As such, two stacked barriers surrounded them as they marched toward the Academy. As they walked deeper into the fog, they could feel it slowly corroding the barrier.

Bang!

The heart of the mages skipped a beat, and they stopped to look around.

"What was that?"

"I don't know, but something hit the barrier."

Everyone looked at each other, fear written all over their faces.

"No matter what, don't stop," yelled the Divine Maiden, calming their fears. However, the group had not even taken another step when they heard a blood-boiling scream.

"Was that…from the previous group?"

"Did you hear what I said?" roared the Divine Maiden again. So, the group regained their bearings and headed to their destination. During the voyage, they would hear constant banging sounds on the barrier, but they could not see anything.

Someone claimed to have seen a shadow, but he was the only one, so his words were not that believable. Then, after what felt like an eternity, the group finally left the fog.

They saw a golden barrier a few meters away, protecting the entire Academy. Someone stood on top of a dragon chanting something while writing golden runes on the sky.

After seeing that person, the group felt relieved. Only this living legend could probably save the dynasty. While these people admired Akimitsu, the headmistress walked out from the barrier and called them.

"Come quickly: Ozuki-san could use your spirit energy as an aid."

The Divine Maiden then took the group inside, joining the other students and teachers who were sending their spirit energy. Some of the royal clan heirs wanted to ask the group about the situation of the Palace and the Protection Hall, but they knew this was not the time.

…

Underneath the school, Edward walked in front of the gate. He waved his hand, and countless bird-shaped paper talismans flew around him. Then, he placed his right hand on it.

And the moment he touched it, one of the talismans disappeared. He knew it was now in another timeline, but Edward paid no attention to this. He created these Substitute Talismans for this exact purpose.

Numerous writings as black as ink came from his hand before spreading to all the talismans on the door. The ink formed a circle with some character runes written in some places.

The process took half a minute, and in the process, more than a dozen of the Substitute Talismans disappeared. Once he finished, Edward waved his hand to manifest a drop of blood that floated to the middle of the circle.

Blue light emanated from the circle. Then, the more than a thousand paper talismans stuck on the gate fell off one by one.

Dang!

Edward pushed the door opened and walked inside. He saw a Grimoire with a spade symbol containing a king floating in the air. On the ground seemed to be another Sealing Formation.

Edward quickly analyzed it before creating another counter-seal to destroy it. And the moment he finished, the Spade Origin Grimoire flew in front of him, so Edward summoned his Origin Grimoire, instantly fusing the two.

He then closed his eyes as he sensed the changes that had occurred.