Project Schemer - Salvatore Trilogy: Crescendo

Arc 1 - Chapter 5: Cleansing

Once again, it is our home. Once again, I opened my eyes to catch the moment the petal gently touched the surface of the lake. Harmony - now Lament appears before me, to cleanse this realm, to cleanse our home out of impurity, without any suggestion, without any command. Lament and I, both of us, know what to do. With a simple command, the song spreads to every corner, calling forth the rain that purifies the realm. But I know this is not that simple. Purification is simply a way to bait them out, to show them that they can't wander around and do whatever they want. The entity that once spread darkness and fear in Arborine, it's time to sing one final dirge and say goodbye to the darkness of this world.

"I see, you really want to take your time."

"Well, it's hard to make you sleep, then bring you back."

"So this will conclude our journey from the past and open up a new door. Are you ready ?"

"As your other half, I am ready to march toward victory and to a brighter tomorrow."

Finally, the conclusion of our long conflict, but the world out there... its remnants roaming around the realm. In the past, I failed because, in the end, there was only Tomoe who stood and fought with me. So, with these new friends and old memories, can I truly convince them to fight with me? But still, I believe in my own ability, because I am the elemental lord of water.

They say heaven is a kind of hell, but my realm is neither heaven nor hell, the realm of water where everything remains in a constant state because water is not something that is willing to stand still. Even for a few years stuck in that world, corruption slowly seeped into this unguarded realm, corrupting everything in my sight, turning my realm into a realm that I couldn't recognize.

"We can do this, we have each other and that is the most important thing, right?"

"Yeah. And that is everything I need, Tomoe, just like times."

Two hundred years of blessing on the world become a song, thirty years of solitude become a dance, the blessing cleanses the corruption as I feel the light around us. But to let them escape wasn't my intention, I want them paid for what they did to my realm. And let them know they were messing with the wrong deity, but Tomoe is much faster and, with his power and his blades, Tomoe turns the realm into his own stage. The aim is precise as it only renders the movement of our enemies, and the moment Tomoe puts on his full attire, that is the moment everything overs. The blade is powerful enough to cut through the realm and everything into nothing but a few lightning strikes on the surface of the realm.

Standing before me is the true form of the water lord, naginata in his hand, as his graceful clothing only shows his divinity and his reign over the realm. And I know Tomoe only does that to match my current attire. The water lord is a duet of a musician and a dancer. Looking at myself, I am wearing the same attire as Tomoe, but my attire is much more suitable for the position of a musician. With the rest of the corruption, one crescendo is enough to purify everything in my sight, the water is purified, but I highly doubt they would stop with just my realm.

"Higeki, we need to see other realms."

"I know, but I think they will be fine. Here they come."

There must be a source of the corruption, but it isn't here in front of my eyes. Instead of the source of corruption, I see myself looking at myself and Tomoe's shadow looking at him with scorn and hatred. Lotuses slowly bloom on the lake as the mark of the beginning of our battle. Tomoe and his blades clash with his shadow when my shadow even cuts the string of its instrument and uses it to attack me, like how Sou always uses his strings. This is annoying because Sou can dominate the battlefield with his strings, and I am a little cornered because of that, but this shadow doesn't know anything about me, merely a copycat, a copy without depth, a mere replica without the artistic soul.

With my current attire, the corrupted shadow doesn't know the fact that I have full manipulation on the realm like Tomoe can, but I believe Tomoe is simply playing with the shadow. But I should focus on my part. With the power over the realm and the lake, water below my feet formed into countless bullets under my command. They become countless high pressure strings as the strings of the shadow reach me, the water jet can cut them with ease. The water of the realm also forms countless chains until what surrounds it is water chains and high-pressure water strings and that is the moment everything is settled.

As for Tomoe, his elegant movement combined with his naginata and countless blades let me witness something beyond my imagination. A performance worth my eyes, the performance of the water god with his precise cut, the shadow slowly crumbled but with the last effort, Tomoe's shadow combined with my shadow. The result is not our strongest form but the amalgamation of countless corrupted creatures combined into one creature and they managed to look much more disgusting than the four nobles we fought last time. But this time is not last time. This time they are facing the lord of water. This time they faced us.

"No need for combination. Am I right, my mate?"

"You're right, no need for combination when we're already one."

The water strings and the chains help me restrain the creature and create an opening for Tomoe's blades. Countless blades move like a wave on the lake and every time the blades touch the water surface, a chain or a string is formed. Together, we destroy the creature with ease until a lotus blooms and the creature is formed once again, but they reveal their weak point, they reveal their trump card, their life force and Tomoe is going to use that advantage.

"The lake is the reflection of the sky..."

"Because the realm is under our command..."

"The water surface is pristine..."

"And thus it shall become our sky."

The realm itself is reversed under our command. Every string, every chain and every blade fell like rain, but the sky was still blue and pristine. Everything was the image of a sunshower and. In the rain, Tomoe's blades cut through the creature and the falling lotus, but what these creatures don't know is the fact our realm doesn't have a sky. Our realm has two lakes, one below our feet and the other hanging up in the sky.

"It feels really good when we can just wear our clothing. I don't mind the wanderer, but you look gorgeous."

"The same I can say about you. You look better in that attire and look like there is nothing left in our realm. I think we can visit the next one."

"I am worried about Chikyu."

"Then that is our next destination. The realm of earth."

The realm of earth is different from our realm, but we doubt Chikyu can hold out much longer. The lotuses here bloom with a high density, every step is a lotus in our eyesight, like the realm is covered with this type of flower. And that is not a good signal and we know Chikyu always resides in the middle of his realm, but the moment we reach him, everything in our eyes is something of a nightmare. Chikyu is in the primal form of an earth serpent with a brown scale and the lotuses blooming on his scale, his eyes have lost their light and been replaced with something dark and far more sinister. And now, the only way we can save him is to defeat him and let the primal one of earth restore him to his original state, for that is the only way to end this calamity.

But Chikyu is not some normal corrupted creature, for the lord of earth also has the same power as us or even more than that. With each ground, each tail swipe and each attack, he creates more lotuses. Even when Hisa and Moeru are here, we can't do anything but retreat because the lotuses are slowly draining away our strength. The lotuses are draining our power and erode our mind whenever we cut it down with the memories of Chikyu and we are forced to leave the realm of earth. Moeru has to use her strongest seal to keep the lotus from spreading to other realms.

"I see you need my help, don't worry, Ainloz is by my side, he is safe but for the realm of spirit, we will need to act quickly."