Raid: The Blacksmith-Chapter 92: This Is The End: Part Two

"What...!?" A few of the Shadows exclaim in unison, almost falling off their seats in an attempt to avoid the attack that basically appeared out of the nowhere, while the holographic screen dissipates after being cut in half.

"What.... What just happened...?" One of them, Rattler, throws the question in the air as they all adjust themselves and sit up straight.

Small amounts of dust start to settle in the space due to the sliced-through brick walls, even as they remain steady and in tact.

"The... the attack that the F-Rank used to kill off, numbe-... Taipan with, it... it travelled through the recorded video?" Sidewinder tries to make sense of it all, but immediately hears how absurd it sounds the moment the words escape her mouth.

"That’s..." Pygmy looks around the walls, her eyes growing wider as she notices the fine, clean, straight, horizontal line running along said walls. "This... does that... even make sense?"

"Who cares if makes sense or not..." Boa comments, her tone, a mixture of exhaustion, confusion and just a hint of fear. "We just witnessed it. All nine of us."

"Yeah, but, what the hell did we just witness?" Krait questions, equally confused as everyone else.

"Or an even better question. What the hell is this Raid." The name finally comes out of none other than Sidewinder’s mouth herself. The name of the F-Rank. Of the Blacksmith.

"It’s obvious from what we’ve seen that we were in fact wrong about him possibly being backed by a strong Warrior." Asp finally speaks for the first time. Her voice contemplative, as if trying to dissect everything that’s going on. "Rather, it seems he was the strong Warrior all along. And since we’ve already ruled out Rank Falsification, it really just ends up piling more questions on top of the ones we already have about this kid. He’s an enigma, without a doubt. And one I’ll shamelessly admit, I don’t want to have to deal with."

"I must admit, I share in that sentiment." Mamba agrees, speaking for the first time himself and then continues "That attack... I think... I think it might be the rumoured Conceptual Level that the Eighteen Generals and Six Emperors are said to be able to affect the world on." He adds.

"I think you might be right." Viper finally chimes in to agree. "Spells are the manifestation of our conscious desires. To destroy them temporarily or counter them, yes, but for an attack to... basically travel through a Spell, and still be in affect regardless of delay, minutes after it has been launched? No Physical or Spiritual Attack should be able to do that. What if we had chosen to watch the recorded video hours after we learnt of number one... Taipan’s death? The thought that the slash would have still been in affect is mind boggling to say the least. I don’t know how Conceptual Attacks operate, but I’ve never seen, nor even heard of a Spiritual Attack that can ignored common sense to that extent."

All the other Shadow’s nod in agreement with Viper’s words. Then Cobra, who has been silent this whole time, finally speaks. "But if that really is the case. If that really was a Conceptual Attack, doesn’t that mean that this Raid boy is essentially as powerful as a General? Or even..." She pauses, not for dramatic affect. No. The thought alone of what she’s about to say has her unintentionally bracing herself. "An Emperor?" Then she says it, laying the question out there with careful abandon. All the other Shadows can’t help but keep silent. Unable to comment on the idea based solely on its absurdity. A nineteenth General? Or even possibly, a Seventh Emperor? The world would be in uproar if this were to be revealed. But they have no choice but to believe it, despite how insane it sounds. In their minds, it’s impossible for any Warrior below the Rank of a General, below SS-Rank, to have an attack that can affect the world on a Conceptual Level.

"If that’s true then..." Sidewinder pauses to take a deep breath before continuing. "Then I’m afraid no matter what we do. Be it going back to the Great Lord with our tails tucked between our legs, to tell him about our failure, or trying to take Raid down ourselves by ganging up on him, we’ll end up dying anyway. You all saw how easily he defeated Taipan’s clones. The same clones Taipan has repeatedly beaten all of us at once with. If he can do that to Taipan’s clones, then we truly have no chance against him. And if he’s really that powerful, as powerful as an Emperor, heck even if he’s just on the level of a General, it won’t make a difference even if the entire Reinhardt Family attacks him all at once. We’d all be wiped out in mere minutes." She adds with a lazy sigh.

"Then, what are we gonna do?" Pygmy asks her, their eyes meeting as she does, memories flowing in both their minds as a result. Memories of a once made promise now destroyed through no fault of their own, and as much as they hate to admit, through no fault of their "enemy" as well. The pain they share is deep, yet still, they expertly hide it from their fellow Shadows, casually looking away from each other as they do.

"You all felt it, didn’t you?" Sidewinder starts, her tone calm even as he voice cracks slightly. "Hah..." She takes a deep breath. "Nu-... Taipan, created a Spell. When he realized he might not win against Raid, he created a Spell, right then and there, and called it... Observer’s Archive. A Spell that allowed him to record everything his eyes saw and transfer that recording to anyone connected to him through his Shadow Link. At the same time, he also saw fit to transfer authority over the Shadow Space to me, as well as Overseer’s Archive itself, along with the Shadow Link also. Furthermore, he created a list of all of Raid’s capabilities that he saw while fighting him and shared them with me through the Shadow Link, and even made sure to mark Raid with his Shadow Mark Spell before transferring said Spell to me as well. He did all of that, even as he was about to die, he did all of that. All in hopes that we would be able to pick up on it all and finish what he started, accordingly."

The other Shadows listen carefully as Sidewinder continues. "Observer’s Archive, Shadow Link, Shadow Space, and Shadow Mark. In his death, Taipan made sure to transfer all these four Spells to me. All four of which will lay the groundwork to creating a great and useful new Spell that will allow us to solve this Raid problem in the best way possible. A way that will meet our best interests, if we play our cards right. The way Taipan intended. We won’t tell the Great Lord of our failures. We’ll go after Raid ourselves, and fulfill Taipan’s last wish. You all felt it, didn’t you?" She repeats. "The message Taipan was trying to convey to us... What he was trying to tell us to do with his last actions. His last words."

The rest of the Shadows nod silently.

"Great." She says softly. "I’ll combine the Spells Taipan gave me, excluding Observer’s Archive, to create a sealing Spell, that will force teleport Raid from wherever he may be, through the mark Taipan placed on him, then keep him in place. I have the formula from the loads of information Taipan shared with me through the Shadow Link, but the actual creating process is very complex and will take, at least, a week and at most, three. So we won’t be acting in that time. If we’re really to do this right, then we need the F-Rank to drop his guard, after all, even if it’s a little bit. Are we in agreement?"

"Yes."

"Got it."

"Yeah."

"Agreed."

"Mhh."

"No problem." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"Roger that.

"We’ll wait on you."

Asp, Pygmy, Rattler, Boa, Krait, Cobra, Viper and Mamba all agree respectively with Sidewinder’s plan. Making sure to ready themselves mentally and physically for the challenge they will inevitably face in the form of Raid.

Leaving Sidewinder to her thoughts.

"Taipan." She says internally, a hint of affection in her inner voice. "Along with the information on Raid’s capabilities and how to create the sealing Spell, he also made sure to leave me with three specific messages, based off of how he saw Raid as a person, rather than a Warrior. This plan won’t work unless I trust in those messages completely. So I’ll do it. I’ll fulfill your last wish. For you, my love. I’ll trust in you, in the Spell, in those three messages. And of course, I’ll also trust in..." She pauses to let out a silent chuckle, taking in the absurdity of what she and her fellow Shadows are going to attempt to do in the upcoming week or so.

Instilling her resolve, she also mentally readies herself for the challenge ahead.

*******

I’m currently, basically paralyzed by some unknown sealing Spell. I look around with Soul-Piercing Eyes and sure enough, I’m in an Isolated Space. One much bigger than the Item Space it seems.

It looks like Isolated Spaces all have an intangible spatial barrier of sorts, that separates them from anything else deemed an Isolated Space from their perspective, be it the outside world or another genuine Isolated Space. This prevents anything from being transferred from an outside space to the Isolated Space without its owner’s permission. It’s nice that I have a second Isolated Space to refer to, besides my own, so I can learn more about how these things work, even though the method to how I’m having to learn more about them isn’t exactly a favourable one.

The Isolated Space’s barrier is currently preventing Dawn from escaping the Item Space to come and help me out. She might’ve been able to break through it telepathically, but it seems that’s as far as she’s going to get. Furthermore, the barrier’s also preventing me from conjuring out any of my weapons. I’ve already tried it with the Emerald Twin Fangs and it didn’t work. So I’m alone and unarmed. Then there’s the icing on the cake. The fact that I was force teleported out of my Item Space in nothing but my shorts.

"Seriously, have all of you just never heard of a little thing we normal people like to call ’timing’?" I ask the Shadows as they begin to surround me.

I remember reading about them through my Hi-Watch, so I can tell which is which from their appearances alone.

"We had to make sure to catch you off guard." Sidewinder, the second strongest of the Twelve Guardian Shadows, otherwise known as, number two, casually answers my question. She’s a tall, slim, light skinned woman who looks to be in her late twenties or so. Her clothing is light. A black tight crop top vest, with a collar that reaches all the way up her neck, as if merging with the black mask she wears that covers her mouth and nose, much like the way Taipan’s did. Her short black hair, styled in a neat cut as if to prevent it from ever hindering her movements. Below the belt, she wears the same thing Taipan wore, black army-themed trousers along with black boots. Around her waist, is a holster with a single slot on the right, where her sword, a straight up fucking katana, hangs. A single glance and I can tell that it’s a Middle Stage Hyper-Grade weapon.

"Well, I guess I can’t blame you for that. Sneak attacks are a crucial part of being an assassin after all." I utter as I look around to surveil my opponents while they’re surrounding me, only being able to move my head and neck while the rest of my body is left immobile, courtesy of the sealing Spell.

I scan my eyes over all the other Shadows. All of them are clad in black attire. Each is armed with a unique weapon. All of which, unlike Sidewinder’s katana, are in the First Stage of Hyper-Grade. I’d have the upper hand if I could use my weapons. A realization that leaves me cursing incessantly internally.

As for the other Shadows.

There’s Pygmy, another woman standing over to Sidewinder’s left side. She’s just around my height and has the same skin color as me. Wearing a stylish black blouse, tucked in tight trousers, and light fabric black shoes. Her dark blue hair glimmers slight in response to the night’s dark hue. Around her waist is a black holster with twelve slots on it, each holding a small knife.

Then, to her left side, is Rattler, a black male assassin with brown short hair. Over his neck, there hangs a long rope with a dart attached to each end. He’s smiling mischievously. I’m able to see that because, unlike Sidewinder or Pygmy, he wears no mask. He’s a bit taller than Sidewinder but still looks a little younger. Clad in a black, tight leather jacket and tight leather trousers of the same design. All of which seem to intensify his slim build, with black leather designer shoes and punk-themed fingerless gloves.

Then, next to him, is Asp. Light skinned. Female. A black hooded coat garmenting her upper body, her baggy trousers catching the night’s small wind, her feet clad in particularly oversized boots. She’s shorter than me. Much shorter in fact. Around each one of her fingers, near their tips, is a ring attached to a dart about twice the size of the ones attached to Rattler’s rope.

Then there’s Boa. A much taller, much older looking woman. I’d gather she should be around the same age as Sidewinder. Her skin, tan while her dark brown hair is styled in a ponytail that reaches all the way down her back. Around each of her arms, from her shoulders to her wrists, is a fairly sizable chain wrapped in a spiral formation. Her clothes aren’t that different from Sidewinder’s, save for not wearing a mask, her vest reaching all the way down her waist under her trousers, and also the fact that the neckline descends down to form a v-shape, rather than rising all the way up.

Next is Cobra. Another woman. One with a slightly slimmer and shorter build than Boa’s, though with the same color of skin and hair, along with her hairstyle. She holds two short axes in her black bandage covered hands. She also wears no mask, with a tight pullover covering her upper body, and somewhat baggy trousers that only start to get a little tight when reaching down her ankles. Much like Boa, she wears boots but hers are shorter in length.

Next to her is Krait. An older looking light skinned man with a build that resembles Taipan’s quite a bit. The same heavy boots, the same army-themed pants, only for the difference to be that, unlike Taipan, he only wears an open vest on his upper body, and no mask. His blonde short mullet catches the wind’s blow. In his right hand, he holds a very unique weapon from the rest. A five-pointed, bladed boomerang of sorts with a circle formation at its centre as the only handle.

Then there’s Mamba. Another gentleman. Light skinned with a similar build to that of Rattler. Clad in all black formal wear, save for a coat and tie. He’s bald, and would make you think he was unarmed if he placed his hands behind his back. His hands are clad in claws. Long, metal made black claws that seem as if they can easily tear through flesh with a simple wave of his hand.

Then finally, there’s Viper. A white male with a bow in one hand and a holster set diagonally around his torso, carrying a great number of arrows behind his back. Much like some of his fellow Shadows, he’s also wearing a black vest, but his is much tighter, and has a full neckline. He wears the same army-themed pants as Krait but no boots, instead his shoes are exactly the same as Pygmy’s.

These are the remaining members of the Twelve Guardian Shadows.

And right now, they currently have me trapped like a fly in a spider’s web. Only there’s nine spiders total.

"I don’t suppose there’s a way we can talk this out?" I ask with an awkward cracked smile, proof of it being forced.

"Afraid not." Sidewinder answers nonchalantly, her hand placed on her katana as her thumb comes under its guard, pushing it upwards to reveal an inch’s worth of the blade. It glimmers an orange light as she does that.

"Worth a short." I sigh, though my brain’s working on overtime, trying to find a way to get out of this mess. I’ve already tried the Spell, Domain Transit. Shit didn’t work. Brute force? First thing I tried. Didn’t work. What else do I have? Think Raid. Think.

"Titles!" There we go.

"Sole Survivor is the only thing that comes to mind if the topic is specifically things that are for getting me out of a jam. And the conditions are already met. I’m not the only person here. There’s ten of us total."

"But Master..."

"I know." I reassure Dawn before she can finish. "There has to be impending danger. Meaning..." I take a deep breath. "I have to let them attack me first before it can take affect... Well, it’s not like I have a choice. I’m currently immobile, so I just have to brace myself."

"This is it, Raid." Utters Sidewinder as she moves her left hand to her right, grabbing ahold of her katana’s grip tight then she pulls her Japanese blade out of its sheath and immediately points it at me. "This is the end." She adds as she pulls her sheath from her holster to let it drop on the ground. All so it doesn’t restrict her movements I’m guessing. "We’re aware of how strong you are, so we won’t be holding back." She slowly takes a battle stance.

All the other Shadow’s follow suit, taking stances of their own.

"Any last words?" Sidewinder utters while glaring at me straight in the eye.

"Yeah." I chuckle. "Don’t miss." Then taunt.

Her eyebrow flicks, proof of obvious irritation at my attitude. "Brazen." She utters. "Alright then. We’ll be sure to grant your wish."

Then, they attack. Surrounding me halfway with their new leader at the centre.

Said leader raises her sword up with her left hand and then slowly slides it down as she utters;

"Blade Redemption."

An uncountable number of transparent slashes come flying straight at me at a great speed. I can tell immediately that it’s a Spiritual attack.

At the same time, Pygmy, to Sidewinder’s left, takes out three of her knives from her holster with her right hand. Coated with red colored Mana, she throws them straight at me and shouts;

"Trinity Barrage!"

And to her left, is Rattler. He swings his rope around like a whip, spinning it from both sides as it lays around his neck. It looks like giant spinning circles have formed from both his left and right, the darts at each end of the rope eating away at the ground bit by bit. He then waves his right hand forward, the rope following his movement immediately, sending the dart attached to it straight me at an alarming speed, coated in orange Mana. He then utters;

"Maru’s Bite."

Next is Asp, who waves her hands back and then waves them forward, throwing four of her darts at me, coated in orange Mana. She then yells;

"Poison Piercing!"

Then, there’s Boa, who jumps up, and then waves her arms across, forcing her black heavy chains to escape said arms, only for her to catch them at their ends, gripping her hands tight on their handles. She swings them up, then swings them back down to crush me under them while she shouts;

"Bone Breaking Chain Smash!"

And by Sidewinder’s right, there’s Cobra, who waves her hands up. As a result, two orange colored energy projected axes form from the ones in her hands. Same shape and design, however they’re much bigger. And they only seem to grow even bigger as they’re sent my way. She then utters;

"Parallel Slice."

And of course, to her right, there’s Krait, with his five-pointed bladed boomerang, thrown at me as it spins horizontally along the wind while he yells;

"Spiraling Slash of Death!"

Then, there’s Mamba, the man with claws for hands. He raises his hands upward and waves them forward in a cross formation, sending five on five x-shaped orange colored slashes as he utters;

"X-Communicatus."

And, finally, there’s Viper, who pulls out five arrows from behind his back. Enveloping them with orange Mana, he sets them on his bow, points it straight me, pulls back, and then releases. All while yelling;

"Pentagon Poison Projectiles!"

Nine Special Attacks. All Spiritual attacks. All sent my way. All at the same time. Leaving me with but a single thought to cross my mind.

"Is... is Sole Survivor... really going to be enough?"