Danso used his Passive Sword Art and flew to Roselle Cafe. The breeze gently messed up Danso's hair, so when he landed near the entrance of the cafe he fixed it. The cafe was located between two shops and there was a clean street in front of the cafe where bikes and cars passed by it. The Cafe was red and pink in color with the light signs not illuminated and had a big wooden sign at the center of the roof that read "Roselle Cafe" in a fancy handwriting. Danso pushed the door and it made a ringing noise as Danso got great comfort as the air conditioner (A.C) greeted him with a gentle cold breeze towards his way. Inside the cafe, there were many tables and people working on laptops enjoying the free internet, while some couples were also busily chit-chatting away carelessly, and the cashier counting the money.
Danso glanced around and saw a man, who looked different than the Xeno he met before, waving at him from a table a few feet away. Danso walked towards the man and smiled at him before having a puzzled expression asking what the man wanted.
"It's me! Xeno," said Xeno.
"You look different," said Danso.
"I just changed one of my avatars. It's profound how humans are bound to Earth by their appearance isn't it? My voice, my style of talking, my soul is the same yet, when I change my looks you don't think I am the person you met," said Xeno philosophically.
Danso rolled his eyes and took a seat in front of Xeno on a two person table. Xeno had blue hair this time, while before he had black hair, it was also more straight unlike Xeno's previous curly hair, while Xeno never looked that fit this time he looked better and less like a skinny branch and more like a normal human. The eyes were the same color, the deep brown eyes that did not compliment his hair at all.
"So now explain everything to me in detail," said Danso.
"I told you everything in the letter itself," said Xeno.
"Then why did you call me here," replied Danso.
"To waste your time," joked Xeno.
Danso got annoyed and angry as he gritted his teeth, Xeno viewing this chuckled and pulled out a video tape and inserted it into his dusty and bulky computer. The video then popped up on the screen and Xeno pushed the computer towards Danso's side of the table and he started to watch it. In the video there was an avatar of Xeno, and the appearance was the same as the Xeno from the Ninjaro Raid. The video showed the sewers and the chamber where the Black Market would be held. After Xeno's avatar knocked a man out by hitting on his pressure point on the neck, he found a detailed list of the people who would be there, along with the items being sold. Upon seeing the list Danso's eyes widened in shock and amazement. On one hand all these items were illegal to even think about, yet he had always thought these were all tales or stories in reality they are real.
The video ended with the avatar getting stabbed in the back by a masked man and the camera got crushed beneath his foot. Xeno closed the computer and pulled out the paper. Danso looked at Xeno in shock and was wondering how he managed to find the list when the avatar died and the list was with him.
"My avatar showed the list to the camera before he died, it was for a brief moment so you would not see it," explained Xeno.
Xeno unfolded the crumpled paper and passed it to Danso. The list was split into two parts. One column for the guests and one for the items being sold. There were many items which peaked Danso's interest such as the General of the Bullion's meat which granted the consumer boosted physical strength, agility/speed of a cheetah, and the durability of an Alkanium Shield. There were also Werewolf Tears being sold which increased all the human senses to extreme heights. It was said that a person who consumed werewolf tears could hear a sound from twenty kilometers away if they wanted to. They also would develop a special reflex called the sixth sense which gave them a lower level of omniscience. They could separate the different smells of each person or item, they could feel individual atoms on a microscopic scale, and they could see from ten kilometers away.
Then there was another item which was part of the mythical trio. The Anti-Sorcery Key. This was the item that could negate any sorcery and it was the perfect repellent of soul energy. Even though it was called a key, it was a sword and was called a key since it was the 'key' to defeat a sorcerer back in the eras where sorcerers ruled over normal humans and oppressed them.
The sword had a blue and red helm with a design of a dragon on the helm too. The blade was silver and pure in color, not even Danso who studied all the metals of a blade could figure out what they used to make the sword. No wonder it was a secret that the sword was probably the strongest sword on Earth currently. Xeno pulled the list and looked at what Danso was staring at. After realising he smirked and looked at Danso.
"This is probably the only weapon that could break whatever Chiro is sealed in," explained Xeno.
"Could it break Taurus Wall," asked Danso.
"You're such a naive saint. There are many things that could break Taurus Wall if Chiro did not charge it up with his soul energy," said Xeno.
Danso knew it. Chiro just summoned Taurus Wall and yet it was so indestructible, if he charged it up it would take a lot of effort. The Anti-Sorcery Key would also be useful for him since he could break out Chiro. Danso snatched the list back from Xeno to see who all would be appearing at the Black Market.
The Mayor of Northguard City:- Marline Hermes
The Terror Trinity
Jack Morses:- The Ruler of the Relvon underground
Danso read all the names and an image appeared for all of them. The Terror Trinity was obvious since he faced them all the time and he knew that their signatures would be their way inside the Black Market in the first place. Then there was Jack Morses, who was one of the people who partnered with Baltrax on those horrible experiments. Jack Morses was a human who had done horrible things. He had long black hair with neat teeth and was in a suit.
Then there was the Mayor of Northguard City, she was a female with an eagle mask and she was wearing a red dress. Not much was shown except she was slightly dark in color and she had brown hair.
"Is this the person who you want to ask for information?" asked Danso, pointing at Marline Hermes's picture.
"Yes," said Xeno standing up.
"Where are you going?" asked Danso.
"Our meeting has ended. Meet me at the hospital two days from now," said Xeno.
Xeno dropped the book from which he got the list and Danso picked it up. Danso glanced at some of the pages and was shocked. If Xeno knew he saw these there was no guarantee on what he would do so he decided to play it off with a little smile as Xeno's shocked face subsided. Xeno hurried away from Danso.
The page that Danso read clearly explained how Xeno's ability worked. It was because Xeno always believed that if he knew himself and if he knew his enemy he would not need to fear the outcome of a thousand battles. If Xeno did not have a diamond ring with a letter Y embedded in the crystal that means that was not his real body.
The plot twist was that Danso never saw Xeno wearing a ring.
Inside the Alkanium Cage, Takahashimi woke up. It was a dimly lit cage of sorts. He walked around for a minute before finding a flame in the center of the room. He found Chiro there warming his hand and rubbing a hand against another one of his hands. He laughed upon seeing Takahashimi here while Takahashimi just groaned in annoyance.
"Fancy seeing you here," mocked Chiro.
Takahasmimi plotted down and sat next to Chiro. Then he slapped him in the face and Chiro fell down. Takahashimi waited for a minute for Chiro to get back up, but he did not. He worried and started to shake Chiro and then Chiro got up and started laughing at him. In reality he was playing dead and Takahashimi fell for the prank. Takahashimi started to massage his temples before watching another figure in the distance walk towards him. As he did Takahashimi's eyes widened and he gritted his teeth.
"Suzumi…" said Takahashimi.
"It's not him, don't worry," said Chiro.
Takahashimi looked at Chiro then pointed at the figure of Suzumi standing in front of him.
"You're telling me that's not Suzumi?" Takahashimi said, shocked.
"It's Xeno, a human who lived in Northguard City," explained Chiro.
"A normal citizen manipulated two countries?" said Takahashimi slowly.
Xeno started to smile as he was loving the praise he got while playing around with a shiny, golden ring with a diamond which had the letter Y embedded in it.
"Yes indeed," replied Xeno.
"Impressive," replied Takahashimi.
"Now we are just missing Ozamu for the big three of Akuza?" asked Xeno.
"He won't get caught that easily like us speaking of which way did he cage you?" asked Chiro.
"I was sleeping on my bed at night and he surprised me and caged me," said Takahashimi.
"To avoid suspicion he probably put an avatar of you somewhere, he could not do the same for me since I am sure everyone knows I am sealed," explained Chiro.
"You are correct," replied Xeno.
Suzumi also got seated near the campfire as the three sat. There was a clear partition between him and the rest two.
"I say we play a game," said Xeno.
"He will knock you out after," whispered Chiro to Takahashimi.
"I will not this time," said Xeno.
Takahashimi was growing annoyed at Chiro so he looked towards Suzumi.
"What's this game?" asked Takahashimi.
"It's an asking a question game. I ask you both one question, for example I ask Chiro one question and you one question. Then, Chiro asks me a question and you ask me one question and in order to make sure no one lies we make a God Pact of no lying" explained Xeno.
"Oh I am fine with that," said Chiro.
"Then I shall start," said Xeno.
"Why?" asked Takahashimi.
"Because you all lost to me and ended up here," said Xeno.
Chiro laughed at Xeno's response and at Takahashimi's face of anger.
"This question is something even with my intellect I cannot grasp the answer to. So tell me why there are different systems for soul energy in the world?" asked Xeno.
"Like Enlightenment from Indus, Sorcery from Akuza, and Magic from Ninjaro?" asked Takahashimi.
"Yes," replied Xeno.
"Well no one knows for sure but there are two scenarios in my opinion. Scenario A is maybe the type of power system you get is based on the diets, cultures, and the environment of the place you are from, like how skin color is determined. For example due to the roots of the Elder Ones maybe sorcery was part of our way of using soul energy so it comes naturally to us now. Even for Samurai they are born with the ability for sorcery but they make a pact to the Sword God to switch it for one of his infinite arts. Scenario B is maybe the power system is determined due to the god that they pray to giving them power. For example, the Sage God gave Indus people their three stages of enlightenment, the Ninja God gave the Ninjaro people the ability to learn magic in three sections called Space/Time, Life/Death, and Elemental. The one I don't know about is Akuza so probably for Scenario B the Elder Ones are behind it," explained Takahashimi.
It took Xeno a while to understand what Takahashimi said and after understanding he rubbed his chin and smiled as if he figured something out.
"Now my question for you Chiro is, what happened in the Great War?" asked Xeno.
Chiro thought about it deeply but knew he had to answer. Just remembering the war made him depressed. Then he opened his mouth and began to speak.