**Mountain sub jurisdiction. Tundra Kingdom**
Somewhere far from the reaches of the Valley Kingdom, two living weapons based of silver collided.
They withdrew, clashing again and again, sparks flying from their endless confrontation.
However, one had clearly overpowered the other.
How did things get this way? One of them thought. The trade off was perfect, yet we were intercepted by this… outsider?
An explosion went off, caused by the sheer friction from the sparks they produced.
A man leaped away from an indirect attack that had managed to sever his arm in the process. He wore mainly white and blue from his tunic down to his slacks and sabatons, which revealed in windows through his fluttering blue cloak.
His hair was gray with two curved horns atop his head, resembling a ram.
And when he beheld the man that had done the deed, he emerged from a blaze of smoke, sauntering as if the prior explosion was nothing to fret over.
The second man wore a black skin-tight shirt, a thick purple obi sash around his waist, tied extravagantly in the back, black baggy pants cuffing above his calves, and martial arts monk shoes. His red medium-length hair fluttered from the breeze of the blast, revealing the X shaped scar across his face, and glowing orange eyes.
Following near him, a silver orb floated next to his head as if it were some mere decoration; it's origins unknown.
He didn't say a word as they exchanged glowers, each watching carefully the other's next move.
They fought in a cave-like place with uneven ground, frequent cliffs, and a path of torii gates that emanated aura, lighting the place in an orange hue. The only other light that aided them was the explosions from the sparks they caused, and the random eruptions of the place due to them being somewhere within a volcano.
All around them, there were scatters of bandits, all sharing the same white and blue color scheme on their clothes as the horned man. All unmoving and swimming in crimson pools.
The horned man then extended his amputated arm, growing it back swiftly, signaling them to bolt at each other.
Before impact, he morphed his arms into silver blades as the red-haired male morphed that silver orb into a machete.
They exchanged blows. Hack. Slash. Swing. Dodge.
Their moves were quick and precise, neither letting the other have an opening.
And then the one with red-hair ducked and led a spin kick from the ground. The horned one short leaped upward, and the red-haired followed through with that same kick in an upward direction, catching the horned one midair.
Though he blocked, the force of the momentum led him to crash into the ground, skidding until he hit a pillar of a torii gate yards away.
He grunted as he slammed against it, shuddering his eyes, yet daring to smile.
He is extremely skilled… I've always wanted to be cut to gain access to that power, but I'm afraid this is bad timing… The Master won't be pleased if I fail here—especially when I was meant to retrieve this item.
He looked down to a pouch he had on his side, revealing a gemstone that flickered heliochrome hues.
Keeper… It's just like that woman's hair… He thought, thinking of a certain princess from the Desert. Beautiful.
The man with red hair crept ever closer, his saunter becoming something of horror as the blaze from the earlier explosion began turning to smolders behind him.
Too bad I don't have time to gawk either. The horned man sighed. Of course we were ambushed now of all times. And of course it had to be my squadron…
"Listen," the red haired man finally spoke. "I only came for the gem. Hand it over and you won't have to die today."
The horned man shuddered, but caught himself, slicing his hand off just to make himself stop.
He grunted from the action and began chuckling. "Now if I did that, my Master wouldn't be very pleased. Actually, he might just kill me for choosing my life over the mission. No, I'd rather honor my end of the deal"—he threw his arms to his sides, amputated wrist oozing a silver liquid—"than run like a coward!"
His hand reformed and he slapped them together into a hand sign, chanting something inaudible to the red haired male. This was due to the sudden eruptions throughout the place.
The horned man began rippling and growing into some silver beast, but before it could form fully, he unleashed it all, letting it flood a sea of mercury.
The red haired man remained where he was, letting the sea arrive. His silver orb then morphed into a katana, and he held it above him, readying for a strike.
And as the silver sea came, he sent his slash down, cutting open a path and letting the mercury wave pass.
The sea enveloped the entire battlefield, leaving only one open spot where he was. Like the mercury could not touch him.
He then morphed the silver katana into a bo staff, twirling it expertly around himself, causing a tornado that blew open a path upward over the mercury sea. It opened the area he occupied, allowing more space to roam.
Then from all sides, silver claws with elongated arms rushed toward him. He reacted quickly, dodging one, then twirling his staff to slice another, and another as he lead it wherever he needed it to be.
But then from below, the spilled mercury had formed a puddle underneath him, violently rising upward until his whole body was bound in a silver encasing.
The horned man emerged from out of the surging silver walls, entering this vacant area like they were within the eye of a storm.
He was silver from the neck down, forming warped blades of all kinds from his back like wings. He sauntered to the man who he managed to trap in his diverse spell, and he formed a blade of his own that was as long as one of his wings. A silver katana—mimicking the other man's earlier weapon of choice.
"You sir have good taste," the horned man said. "Unfortunately for you, I'm in a mock-awakened state that lets me mimic physical weapons I see in battle down to the very last detail, and turns it into a new spell for later. A nice perk for a Full-Body, wouldn't you say?" He positioned the katana to his side and readied himself for a dash. "So I thank you for giving me such a refined looking attack!"
The ground glowed below him, forming a blue pentagram, then shattered into a snow of pieces.
He bolted, cratering and blasting the ground behind him as he nearly disappeared into a blur, reaching the red-haired man still bound in a silver cocoon.
And right before he struck, the cocoon obliterated, revealing the red-haired man from within—chain of his kusarigama in his hands, blade still dancing all around him.
The horned man saw this in a blink of a moment, but still he smiled wickedly, wishing for a certain something to happen, even amid his mission.
"Go on then!" he shouted as he continued to near as if in slow motion. "CUT ME!"
The red-haired man only exchanged a solemn look, grabbing the blade part of his kusarigama and stepped forward.
When he did, a surge of pressure erupted from him, making even the swirling mercury sea around them seem to halt from his mere doing so.
The horned man's eyes widened, feeling something else in an instant than his former glee.
No… This pressure… He's like—
Without realizing it, he had shifted his feet away, attempting to run. But it was too late.
The sound of a dismantle echoed throughout the place, followed by the short pause of silence, and the rapid dispersion of the silver sea.
The horned man's eyes were still wide as he hardly registered what had just happened. Then, before he knew it, his arm that held the katana eradicated all the way up to his bicep.
He stumbled on to the ground a few yards away, shuddering as he witnessed his arm.
As a Full-Body, normally he didn't need to worry about such a wound, for it would only grow back. However, at the end of his severed arm, rather than its usual silver, it was black instead…
The man felt a tempest of mixed emotions. One was the feeling of glee from getting what he wanted—getting cut. And the other was of total fear.
Is this what it's like? His breath trembled as he exhaled, seeing his reflection from a puddle of silver near him—observing his horns… Then why… He looked back to the red-haired man who was nearing him. Why am I not turning?
His shuddering eyes darted past the man, and in the distance, he saw another much larger man in the shadows…
He staggered to a rise, remembering his main objective.
No time to dwell on this now… It's time to go.
He turned himself into metal liquid and began to flee, but within seconds the red-haired man was right behind him with a free hand.
And by sheer observation, he reached into the mercury, pulling out the heliochrome gem.
The horned male flinched from his sudden appearance, bewildered at how the gem had been taken from him so effortlessly—and in this liquified form, no less.
Just what the hell is this guy!?
He whipped back quickly, morphing his upper body and other working arm to grab the other end of the gem before the red-haired man had pulled it away.
With one swift motion, he sent a team of liquid blades to flank him, but he deflected them easily in seconds, all without releasing the gem.
Then another blade came, slicing the gem right down the middle between their grasp.
"Now! Ox!" the horned man yelled.
The red-haired man's orange eyes darted instantly behind him, sensing another presence.
But that look away was all the horned one needed. For when he looked back, all that he heard was the sound of a flash, and the horned man was gone along with all the surging silver all around.
He looked at the half gem he held; even cut, the thing glowed a beautiful heliochrome from its severed part.
"Should have acted on that other one when I sensed him. Now they're completely gone." He put the gem away in his pocket. "Oh well. Half is better than none."
It was then that the place began to erupt even more now than earlier.
The man looked around, and the place was getting ready to blow.
Lava began flooding the grounds he occupied, and he leaped away to higher ground, not seeming worried about his original route of escape being compromised.
As the lava began to overflow, he leapt higher and higher until he saw the open exit above.
He ran on the walls and leaped from them until he had eventually made it out, minutes before the volcano violently erupted.
***
**One day later. Mountain Kingdom**
The red-haired man walked through large double doors.
The room he entered was grand with red and off-white all throughout. He walked atop a massive red rug that led to a few stair steps on a spaced out landing. And atop it, there was a marble table and a throne that faced outward into the open with a vast mountainous city as its view.
He had his hands in his pockets as he casually made his way up the steps and toward the table, taking the half gem out of his pocket and placing it there.
The gem made a hollow echo of a sound as it rested atop the marble table; and the one across allowed its song to bleed out before finally turning around.
His features were shadowed by the brightness of the snow and city behind him; his only visible features were his piercing red eyes.
He took his time before speaking with a stern voice. "Only half?"
"They got away with the other half before I could take it from them."
"And why didn't you? You are more than capable to not allow your prey to escape, are you not?"
"They had a high level Teleportation mage with them. Higher Teleportation with how absent their presence was after disappearing."
The other man on the throne said nothing for a while, pondering.
"You know the guy?"
"Perhaps. In that case, half will do. This gem is a prize position to the Mountain. It's useless otherwise."
The red-haired male raised a brow. "You made me risk my life for a gem that means nothing?"
"Nothing to the average man. Everything to those who wish for more than what these mortal lands offer…"
"Look, I don't mean any disrespect, but I don't have time for fairy tales. I just want my eterna."
The man in the throne shifted his red eyes to a guard, quickly summoning him with a case. The red-haired man opened it, and found it filled to the brim with wads of strapped higher-billed eterna.
He then closed it without any expression, took it from the table, and began walking off without a word.
He had made it a few paces before the man in the throne said one final piece, "Stay close. There's an unfortunate bargain I have to make in the coming days, and if all goes well, the Kingdom will be safe from immediate danger, but will be open to future ones."
"And this concerns me how…" the red-haired man stopped to say, head turned to look back sidelong. "Mountain King?"
"Because I'm going to pay you ten times what I paid you for this gem to retrieve something else."