The Freedom Cult (79)

Akasan was in the marketplace portion of downtown Arbok City. He was looking around at the rare jewelry collections.

He was currently looking at some valuable rings.

"Each ring contains a rare vitality spell." the merchant said.

Akasan smiled and picked one up.

It was a beautiful ring, it was platinum with a unique engraving going around the band. Every so often the markings would glow green.

"I'll take this one!"

The merchant gladly put the ring in its own velvet box. "That would be 980,000 Credits please."

Akasan reached for his coin pouch and pulled out a diamond coin. He placed it on the table.

The merchant picked up the coin and looked at it through the sunlight. "Ohhh, an actual diamond coin! A rare find these days."

Akasan took the ring box and waved.

The merchant waved back, giving his thanks.

Akasan started walking his way to the Royal Palace, wanting to get some training done. He made his way to the main street. To his left there was a commotion going on.

A medium-sized crowd of people were gathered around a wooden stage where some man was preaching.

Akasan walked over to see what the fuss was all about.

It was a man in a hooded shawl.

Akasan could clearly see his face.

It was pretty generic. He was pale, with brown hair parted to the left, and brown eyes.

Akasan listened in on the speech.

"I encourage every single one of you to live your life to the absolute fullest! True freedom means doing whatever you want to do, *when*ever you want to do it! Laws and regulations are just walls blocking us from our freedom! Free your minds from this messed up world! The princess is always trying to uphold this noble standard for this country, when in actuality, she's just keeping us from reaching our full potential!!"

Akasan frowned. He forced his way through the crowd and jumped on the stage.

The crowd pointed at Akasan and oohed and ahhed.

Akasan had become relatively popular around the country. Most people know who he is.

"Why are you telling people these lies?" Akasan asked the man.

"They aren't lies! It's the truth! Our master has truly shown us the light! I must share my blessings with others!"

Akasan grabbed him by his shawl. "No! All you're doing is telling people that they should be doing whatever they want, it's a load of crap! What if they commit a crime?!"

The man started laughing. "Crimes are only seen as bad because that's what the rules make it to be. If I kill someone, what makes it wrong? My victim should've been stronger!"

Akasan grunted and threw him off the stage.

The man was now wide eyed and clearly crazy. "I'm telling you! All of you!! Join Freedom!! All we want to do is purify the world's mistakes!"

Akasan watched him from the stage.

A police officer intervened and put the man on his back.

"Argh! What are you doing?! I didn't do anything wrong!"

He was put into handcuffs.

"Trying to influence others with obscene conspiracies is enough reason for me to question you. Come on, you're going with me."

Akasan jumped down. "Kagami."

She turned around. "Yeah, what's up?"

"What is all this about Freedom? I've been hearing that name more and more recently."

"It's a cult as far as we know. That's about it. You just heard what they stand for."

The man started struggling. "We're not a cult!! We are an enlightened group of like-minded people for the betterment of human society!!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep it moving." Kagami said.

She left.

The group of people around the stage were still there, watching Akasan. Girls screamed excitedly, saying that they were his biggest fans.

Akasan ignored them and walked off to the palace. He headed straight for the training facility to use the Simulator.

"Simulator, start my custom setting!"

A beep sounded. "Hello again Akasan. Initializing your custom settings. Background, wastelands. Weather, sunny. Gravity multiplier, 6,500. Enemy numbers, 5,000. Starting session."

--

Over in Norborough of the Northern Territories, Frost sat in his throne inside his grand palace reading something off a sheet of paper.

The doors to his chamber opened up.

A rough looking man in dirty work clothes walked in. He was dusted with snow.

"Your Highness." he said as he took a bow.

Frost lowered his paper. "Donny. What brings you here today?"

Donny stood up and stroked his salt and pepper beard. "You remember when you told me an' my crew to go through the ol' mines over on the far east side of town?"

Frost nodded. "Yes, I do recall that. What of it?"

Donny folded his arms. "Well after exploring for some days, we came up on this funny-looking wall. It was completely flat and looked centuries old. We cleaned the ol' sucker up and found out that it was made out of limestone."

Frost sat up. "Did you break it?"

Donny let out a hearty laugh. "Oh we broke it down alright! Stuck the ol' dynamite on the wall, a little C4 if you know what I mean, blew the baby up!"

Frost rested his head on his head. He had a small smile on his face. "And what did you find?"

Donny unfolded his arms and got a little more serious. "It was a completely different place than what the mines were. The other side of the wall was like some sort of ice fortress. Everything was made out of blue ice. The ground, ceiling, and walls were made of the stuff. We went inside to explore for like two, three hours until we found this big ol' iceberg. And a man was frozen inside of it. We didn't dare touch the poor bastard. I ain't tryna get cursed Your Highness. So I came on over myself to ask ya to check it out."

Frost stood up. "Very well. Show me."

Donny turned around and swung his arm around. "Alright, well come on then, ain't got all day y'know. I'm getting old."

He led Frost to the mines on the far eastern side of Norborough. Over there, where the buildings end, there's just a field of snow with some old railroad tracks leading down into the mines.

Donny and Frost walked.

After a few hours they reached the iceberg mentioned before.

Frost looked up at it. "There really is a person inside..."

Donny nodded. "Whaddaya plan on doin' to 'im?"

Frost held out his hand at the iceberg. "Stand back."

Donny turned around and ran a few feet away.

Frost frowned. He let out a grunt.

Two large cracks went up the sides of the iceberg. Immense steam pressure came out of the openings.

Another two cracks went along the top and the bottom afterwards, creating a rough cut of ice that slid out of its original place and hit the floor.

Donny slowly crept back up. "Well? What of 'im?"

Frost frowned at the cut of ice. "A sloppy job..."

Donny's eyebrow twitched. "*That's* what bothers you about all this? Your craftsmanship?"

Frost put his hand on the ice. He quickly removed it. "It's cold..."

Donny narrowed his eyes. "Well yeah, I mean... it's ice ain't it?"

"Well obviously, but I mean it's colder than normal ice. This blue ice... I've never seen it before. It's harder than regular ice as well. Strange. Donny."

Donny looked at him tiredly. "Yeah?"

"Don't touch the ice. I'll have my science team come pick it up for research purposes."

Donny looked at the man inside. "What about this guy?"

Frost turned around to leave. "Who knows how he got in there. A person can't survive long in that kind of ice. He's dead. I'll have his body studied."

Donny looked at the man in the ice.

Sure enough, he was all skin and bones. What was left of his hair was all white and scraggly from old age.

Donny sighed and turned around to leave. "He's right. The old guy kicked the bucket by now."

--

Akasan had just finished his training. He walked off the Simulator covered in sweat. He stretched. "Ahhh, I should start working on my power over speed. I'm not getting any stronger at sixty-five hundred."

He looked at the back wall. "The Power Counter... I haven't used it since I first came here with Kyo."

The Royal Training Facility is constantly updated with the latest technology. The Power Counter was now much larger than the original.

Akasan walked up to it and hit the start button. The machine beeped and a digital screen over the cushion lit up, showing all zeroes and the letter F. "The last time I used this without my powers I was a 520C."

Akasan braced himself. He threw a straight right punch into the cushion. The numbers flew up and stopped at 895B.

He stepped back. "Whoa, whoa, hold on now. That isn't right! 895B... that's too high!"

Oliver walked into the room. He noticed the number on the Counter. "895B... what kind of monster are you? Seriously. Well. It's to be expected."

Oliver took off his uniform and stretched.

Akasan looked at him. "What do you mean expected?"

Oliver finished his stretch and gave him an annoyed look. "You killed Andromeda didn't you? About a year ago? You're a God Killer. So your stats went up by a large margin. Kill a god, take their power. Nothing special. I still think you're overrated."

Akasan frowned. "Overrated?"

Oliver grabbed his sword scabbard. "Yeah. Overrated."

Akasan walked up to him. "Wanna test that out? I've been meaning to fight you for a long time now actually."

Oliver smiled to himself. "Don't get cocky because everyone calls you a hero. Just because you're physically strong doesn't make you a great warrior. Let's have a duel."

Oliver calmly walked to the Simulator. He gave Akasan a condescending smile. "Unless you're too scared."

Akasan's left Eye of Creation awakened. He stepped onto the Simulator.

Oliver grabbed a vest and threw it at him.

Akasan caught it. "What's this?"

Oliver put his on. "It's a magic vest. It keeps track of damage. It starts out blue, then green, yellow, orange, and finally red. If you get hit after the color red, you lose."

Akasan put the vest on. "Come out, Kuroba!"

The heavy blade rested in his right hand.

Oliver took out the sword on his back. It was a large white metal sword. "I'll show you the ability of a Holy Sword user. This one is called Pegasus."

Akasan scowled. "Holy Sword?"

Oliver smiled. "Yeah. A weapon that has been infused with the Holy Blaze. You must be chosen by the weapon itself to use it. That black sword of yours won't work on me."

Akasan prepared himself. "We'll see about that."

Both of them were now quiet.

Suddenly, both of them attacked at the same time. Their swords clashed.

Akasan realized that he was pushed back. He charged in again.

Oliver had no problem countering Akasan's attacks.

*"Is he faster than me? No, not at all. It's like he knows what I'm gonna do."* Akasan swung his sword some more.

Oliver blocked and dodged his every move. He dashed towards him, preparing an overhead strike.

Akasan saw it coming and blocked, but right after, Oliver's arm moved so fast it was a blur of static. He swiped at Akasan's body.

Akasan slid back from the force. His vest turned green.

Oliver smiled and pointed his blade. "That's one."

Akasan was trying to process what happened. *"There's no way he moved that fast! I couldn't even react!"*

Akasan started glowing with bright blue aura.

Oliver grinned. "Getting serious? Come at me then!"

Akasan got close to Oliver with a flash.

Oliver held his sword downward and blocked his left side as Akasan's sword was grinding against it on his swing.

Oliver's body gave off a golden aura. "Holy Sword Art: Feather Strike!"

Akasan's eyes widened as time seemed to slow down.

Oliver seamlessly moved. He flipped his sword back into regular position, then thrust it into Akasan's chest.

All in a fraction of a second.

Akasan flew back and hit the floor. He didn't feel the hit because of the vest, but the color went from green to orange. "I was hit twice?!"

Oliver chuckled. "Yeah. The first hit came from my sword. The second came from the air hitting you after my strike. My blade cuts through space. After I cut through the air, the space rushes to fill in the open gap and hits you again."

Akasan stood back up. *"I can't even hit him! As much as I hate to say it, his sword skill is far above mine."*

 Akasan charged in again, swinging his Kuroba, trying to hit Oliver, but he just couldn't.

Oliver was moving around Akasan as if it was a dance.

Akasan gave him a powerful swing, but Oliver disappeared. "Where did he go?"

"Up here."

That's when Akasan noticed.

Oliver was standing on his back while he was hunched over from swinging.

Oliver jumped off as he slashed Akasan's back. "Hup!"

Akasan's vest turned red. He quickly turned around. "How? Why can't I hit you?"

Oliver smiled. "When fighting in hand to hand combat, power and speed always grant the advantage. But when swords are involved, patience reigns supreme, no matter how strong the other person is. I can always use your own strength against you to force you to move how I want you to. And the way you swing is like screaming what your next move will be."

Akasan grit his teeth. "I'm that inexperienced?" He ran at Oliver one more time. He swung upwards on a slant.

Oliver dodged by jumping backwards, then he did another blurred swing from the right.

Akasan was focusing as hard as he could with his Sixth Sense. He could react just a little faster this time. He blocked by holding his sword up on his left. The impact caused him to slide to the right.

He ran back in and unleashed a blazing flurry of swings.

Oliver was slowly backing up, blocking only when necessary. "Holy Sword Art: Ten Wave Strike!" He thrust his sword forward.

All of Akasan's strikes were stopped by an impact at the same time. He was pushed back as his vest stopped glowing and shattered.

Oliver put his sword away. "Until you learn how to fight patiently, you'll never reach the next level. Remember that."

He got off of the Simulator to work out.

Akasan stood up. "Ahh, I lost. I have to be more patient to fight with a sword? But when I fought Lazuli our fight was so fast paced. Would I have had an easier time with her? Huh."

Oliver smiled as he went to the weights. *"If he figures this out he'll be one of the strongest people in the world. Man, wish I had monster strength."*

Oliver started laughing out loud.

Akasan had a puzzled look on his face. *"What's he laughing for?"*

Akasan put his clothes in a bag and left the facility. He ran into Narumi on his way out.

"Akasan! Just the man I was looking for."

Akasan slung the bag over his shoulder. "What's up?"

"I have a mission for you. You up for it?"

Akasan nodded. "You know me, I'm always ready to go."

"Well, you know how the Freedom cult has been popping up more and more recently?"

He nodded. "I ran into one of them earlier. Why?"

Narumi handed him a folded piece of paper. "The one you ran into was taken in by Kagami right? She's been a huge help in the force lately. The man was handed over to our interrogation group, and they squeezed some information out of him. We know the relative location of Freedom's base. I want you to check it out, see if you can put an end to all this."

Akasan put the paper in his pocket and nodded. "I'll get on it as soon as possible. I want to put a stop to them too. They might be dangerous."

Narumi put a hand on his chest. "Thanks. I knew I could count on you."

She walked off.

Akasan left the palace. "Freedom is somewhere here in Arbok City. The info says that the base is near Zetsubo. I'll go check it out tonight."