Ch.6 betting on the last guide

Earlier before Kazuma had made his appearance at the school he was disturbed by a very sincere message from a friend. Hours earlier he was standing on the roof of the hotel he was staying at thinking whether or not to fight with Alister, when a light blinded him and his body began to feel weird until he passed out. Later he awoke in a strange area which resembled a destroyed version of the city but only that section, the other parts of the city were brand new looking and the rest looked like the slums of huge city.

"What hell is this place, I bet it's just some illusion or something"

Kazuma goes along with it for the moment when he senses an attack coming and attempts to block it with his wind magic, but the spirits refuse to obey him.

"What the hell!"

The attack was from a sword he still dodges using his own skill, but gets a cut on his leg. The attacker was a woman who wore bandages on her face; she faces him with her sword threateningly.

"I don't know who you are but this place is off….Kazuma?"

The woman then drops her sword and walks closer to him, he backs off a bit.

"Kazuma is that you but you look exactly the same"

"Uh yeah and who are you exactly"

The woman begins to take off her bandages revealing long red hair and appears to be in her early forties, Kazuma barley manages to recognize the woman.

"Ayano is that you but how come you look so…"

"Old?"

Ayano has grown her hair longer and is the same height as Kazuma.

"Well 25 years will do that to a person"

"25 years now I know I'm in some kind of illusion"

"I'm sorry Kazuma you're wrong, this is me old Ayano as they'd put now"

"I'll play along so where's the others Ren, the old man, and Saiga where are the old them or is the old man dead now?"

"Kazuma please show respect for the deceased Ren and Genma died years ago, Saiga well you'll see soon enough, and my father died two weeks ago in his coma"

"So Jugo bit it too?"

"Uh huh and you're probably wondering why I'm less temperamental"

"Not really age brought maturity and let me guess enraiha is gone too I bet"

"Nothing gets past you huh yup, he destroyed enraiha as well"

"So where's future me or is he dead too"

"Not exactly what happened was…."

Before the old Ayano could explain the past someone attacks the two of them Lapis only she appears older as well with shorter neck-length hair and a gold sword at her side.

"Criminals you have violated safety laws and as marked civilians will be tried in front of the leader"

Lapis was in charge of the police force serving as a direct contact of criminal affairs to the leader. Ayano managed to flee Kazuma who is unable to use magic peacefully surrendered to Lapis who cuffed his hands and placed him in a police car.

"So Lapis police work now or is the freakshow alive again"

"No he was an S class criminal and tried and executed by our leader along with the other S ranked criminals"

"Still as serious as ever but law enforcement come on"

After an hour and a half Kazuma is taken to a large building with words Black Fang on the front. Lapis continues alone with Kazuma and he notices a lavish work environment filled with diligent workers; he is taken to the top floor. On the top floor a large door blocks the way Lapis reaches into her pocket and pulls out a crystal which glowed a bright yellow, and the door opened inside was a giant office with a statue holding a polearm sate like a king on his throne at the end. Expecting to see a bigwig show kazuma is surprised when the statue stood up and walked foreward.

"Wait don't tell me Alister right?"

The statue resembled an armored humanoid creature whose resembled a helmet without any features the left half of the face was cracked and emited green light which changed colors red, blue, and yellow along with markings which adorned over the body one shape which resembled an eye can be seen through the face.

"Wrong Kazuma you are close though I'll give you one more guess"

"Hm so Saiga I see you've got the same sense of humor"

"And I see that seeing your face irritates me to no end!"

The armored being claiming to be Saiga punches Kazuma knocking him to the ground.

"What was that for!"

"For everything that's what!"

"I don't even know what you're talking about so explain"

Saiga takes a few deep breathes and begins to explain the past that he experienced

"Twenty five years ago you abandoned us you said you couldn't fight Alister so you went to China with Tsui Ling instead of helping us"

"I did what"

Kazuma slightly bows his head in disappointment.

"So me and Ayano decided to pick up the slack she trained until she couldn't move, but I knew it wouldn't be enough in the end so I began to study forbidden magic myself only I learned of a power that the members of Almagest seemed to overlook"

"So you didn't cross the line and sacrificed innocent people to summon a demon"

"No I did something better I learned how to steal the soul of my vanquished enemies can you hear them Kazuma can you?"

Kazuma closes his eyes and suddenly he begins to hear voices coming from all over the room

"Help please anybody"

"Save me I beg you"

"Release me"

Among various other voices Kazuma becomes slightly angry at Saiga and prepares to yell at him.

"But let me say this the souls I took were of every member of Almagest including Erwin's infact"

Saiga raises his arms creating an image of a battleground resembling a canyon, and a memory of Saiga appears confronting an army alone of countless people.

"How'd you get Erwins I killed him"

"Easy I brought them back to life from the underworld it was easy demons don't care about souls they can't eat"

Minutes of skipping show Saiga finishing the army single handed.

"How could you kill that many magic users so easily?"

"Simple, every time I killed one their power was added to me making me stronger with every kill"

"Cool no continue with your story of your hate"

"Where was I oh yeah with my new power I killed Ryuya and Kureha while Ayano took out her doppelganger. Then I waited for Alister to finish the ritual to resurrect Sophie then I made my move and we fought with me killing him. At first it was tough Sophie took so time but soon she opened her heart again and we were married and you got married yourself"

"Go figure so any kids at all"

Before Saiga could explain further another guest arrives shouting for things before saying hello. It was a young man who greatly resembled Kazuma but with lighter hair and green eyes.

"Kazuya I told you to inform me when intend to ask for supplies"

"Whatever just get it done and who's that a fanboy of mine?

"Arrogant punk"

"Funny you should say that Kazuma meet Kazuya Kanagi your son"

"Son… wait why are using that last name I'm not a Kanagi"

"No but I refuse to use your weak name, Yagami such a disgraceful name"

"You and your son had a falling out years ago he abandoned his name like you and joined as my personal fire magic user and changed one character in his name"

"So I my name would be similar but also to show that we are not alike I'm strong and you're a coward"

"Easy you two lets discuss this over dinner, I trust you'll be joining us Lapis?"

Lapis nods her head, and the group of people walk into to the next room which was a dining hall with a feast prepared, Saiga temporarily disappeared and instead a well dressed man with black hair appeared wearing a white business suite, and he also wore a black face mask.

"Who are you" Kazuma asked

"I'm still Saiga this is a doll I made to appear publicly"

"But why know"

Before Saiga could ask a little girl about six years old runs into the room shouting.

"Daddy I'm home"

"You sure are where you a good girl at school today"

"Yes I was I got an A+ plus on my test"

"That's my girl"

Saiga picks up the girl affectionately; he sets her down so she can wash her face.

"So where's the misses?

"She passed away during childbirth and it was my fault"

"What do you mean?"

"For years I gained power to keep my wife safe from all around her but what I didn't see was the effects on her body, we tried to have children for a long time and we finally did the power I gained caused our child to become too powerful even as a fetus and it was too much for her body to handle"

"Harsh"

"And to make matters worse I lost my human form shortly after I can't face my child like I am and I can't hold her in my real arms anymore…(clenches fist)And I owe it all to you Kazuma!"

"Hey why blame me"
" Because if you didn't abandoned us I wouldn't have needed to gain this hellish power"

" (slams fists on the table)Don't blame for your choices Saiga!"

"Shut up Kazuma I sacrificed everything for this power and Killed most of my friends"

"What are you talking about wait Ren and the old man?"

"Ren, Genma, Jugo, Alister, Tachibana, and most of the old police I killed them all they tried to take my wife away from me that was a mistake"

"And what about my wind magic are you responsible for that as well?"

"Of course he was old man after all you didn't deserve that power to begin with thanks to you mom was afraid to leave the house she couldn't trust anyone"

"I sealed your magic by locking away all the spirit king magic all of them"

Saiga's true body emerges from the wall and attacks Kazuma pinning him to the ground with his foot.

"Remember that illusion I showed you I can recreate moments in time but I can't travel through time, do you know how frustrating that is know I have the power that can transcend history but can't change my present it's torture! I've gained the world but lost myself there was no profit in the end I helped bring life into this world but can't share in it, but no longer it ends here!"

Saiga looks intensely at Kazuma.

"I can't go back in time but Kazuya can I'll send him into the past in your place so I can live the my life the way I want it he has the strength you lack"

Kazuya snickers at his father and begins to chuckles a little at Kazuma's weakness.

"Shut it what do you know about frustration Saiga I watched as my love was eaten by a demon and your wife died of a natural cause"

"Your love and now wife is alive again I can't bring heaven-bound souls back"

Saiga readies his weapon to kill Kazuma but is stopped by Ayano who bursts in the room with her sword in hand.

"Saiga it ends here"

"I've had enough Ayano I'll alter the past so why stop me?"

"Because you can't force history to change I'm not happy with things now but you're acting like a child"

"I should have killed you before but this is the first of my corrections"

Saiga releases Kazuma and readies to fight Ayano, Kazuma escapes to the next room unable to do anything but watch as the older versions of his friends kill each other. Kazuya stands to his father and comments on the fight.

"No way in hell Ayano can beat Saiga and she knows it"

"So what did you mean when you said I'm weak?"

"You abandoned your friends when they needed you and fled like coward"

"I couldn't fight Alister he gave something I…"

"Yeah I know you told me all the time you didn't have to kill him Saiga told me Alister knew he would not live through the struggle and that he was the only one who could kill Alister"

"(Slaps face) Duh how could not see the signs, well it's been fun but I got to get back"

Kazuma attempts to snap out of this so called illusion.

"It's not an illusion stupid I brought you here using one of these"

Kazuya pulls out a clock-shaped object out of his pocket.

"Is that a chromos eye?"

"Sure is took a while but I managed to get two for a round trip"

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I want mom to be happy again I feel like if maybe you had your spine again then maybe things could be different"

Kazuya prepares to send Kazuma back to the past after explaining his other knowledge of the past like the ritual to summon Astaroth and a couple other things; Before being warped he witnesses Ayano being finished off by Saiga horrifying him greatly. In the end he figures two live a peaceful life in China with a paranoid wife and hateful son or fight for an unpredictable future arriving at the point he felt at the same exact time he sees the smoke coming from the school and notices his magic is back. Later after having his time alone he's ready to explain what he knows and is resolved to fight against Alister and put an end to Astaroths plans.

Authors notes- I did in fact name this chapter after a song from Tales of Xillia 2 as I liked the future idea