Swordmeister of Rome

Lagaope thought he was dreaming. He was having flashbacks from his most recent memories to the past.

'He didn't just snap my head… I never thought of seeing him again…'

Lagaope spoke as he saw Lorvall flashing by. He was the main reason that allowed Lagaope to work for three thousand years on the Ra-Sian Continent. He was the one who helped out Lagaope when he needed help the most. In the memory, Lagaope was talking with Lorvall at Ciculus. It was before the days that Sian had become an Alpha.

<Haha, but Lagaope, why do you use a fake name?>

<Well, it's better that way. It's better for me to change the name each time.>

<No, I mean why are you not using Orinon… no, never mind.>

Lagaope looked at Duke Lorvall who was trying to say something and stopped. He had not thought much about it back then but it seemed he had more things to say. Lagaope was then sent even further into the past.

The time when he worked on the Murakans and Swarms.

There was the time when he just returned to Don-Nasian from his long trip on Ra-Sian.

The first time he introduced himself to Sian.

The excitement he felt when he first found Sian.

The days where he was working hard on his research with his newly-found friend during the days of the Empire.

The days when he found Conrad who was reborn as Broxian.

The time of Conrad's first death.

The joyous moment of the birth of Conrad.

These were within the recent one thousand years. Then the speed of flashbacks became much faster. It seemed the flashbacked gained more speed after going back further in time.

Days of his roaming on the continent.

Days when he tested the monkeys to create an Alpha out of loneliness.

Days where he met with the Lukra and moved to Ra-Sian.

This was within the three thousand years.

The day he met Lorvall after coming out of the laboratory.

The days where he was in hiding in the laboratory.

This was up to the last four thousand years.

Lagaope became tense. He remembered all of these. In fact, these were in the book he was writing. He was seeing the flashbacks, but he knew all of this. However, what was up next was the real thing. The next one would be the destruction of the Divine Nation, but he had no memories beyond that.

Lagaope looked at the memory. At that moment, his memory began to shatter and faded away. It seemed as if someone had messed it up intentionally. Lagaope glanced around. It seemed something was blocking him from seeing into his memory. But Lagaope was pushed on. It was as if he was pushed in further. It looked like something was trying to block Lagaope from entering the memories while the force from Sian pushed him anyway.

'I hope it's okay…'

The confrontation between the two forces turned more chaotic. The memory began to grow violent and bright lights soon covered the memory. When the fight between the two powers reached the limit, something exploded and struck Lagaope.

'UGH!'

Lagaope then was snapped out.

"Huh? Uh…"

Lagaope came back to his senses. But he couldn't see anything. It was pitch dark. However, he could hear someone calling him.

"Hey! Orinon Pheriknoa! Wake up!"

'Huh?'

Lagaope tried to react but he couldn't move his body. He couldn't feel anything. He could just hear the sound coming into him as if he was listening to a sound from someone else's body.

Then his body spoke, without his will, with a familiar voice.

"Ugh, didn't I say not to wake me up?"

'Huh?'

It was his own voice. It did not have the voice of his usual formality but it was his voice.

'Oh… I get it.'

He was at the days of memory he could not remember. He was now in the body of his former self. It explained why he could not control the body or feel anything. He was just reading the memory from a first-person point of view. He then felt light coming into his eyes. It seemed the body had awakened.

When his sight came back to him, there was a girl calling him. It was a beautiful blonde girl with glasses who was shaking Lagaope to wake him up. The body then became irritated and rose up.

"Don't say like that to a girlfriend who came to wake you up. Did you forget that we're on the expedition team today?"

"I don't care…"

The body tried to go back into the bed but the girl raised her feet to kick the body. It seemed she was at the level of a Duke.

But the body reached out with his hands and pulled on the leg into the bed. It seemed the body also was at the power of a Duke. The girl was pulled into the bed effortlessly.

"Hey!"

"You should sleep more too."

"We're late!"

'Wow, I was that kind of a man?'

Lagaope came to like his former self. A man with some arrogance and with the power of Duke. He couldn't imagine that it was himself.

'Why did I change?'

Lagaope tried to check everything that he could see through the vision. Then he noticed something.

Outside the window, one could see the great buildings of the city. The huge half-transparent letters in the sky told him the exact date and time.

'Three days before the destruction of the Divine Nation…'

It was three days before Broxian and Gran-Ra's battle. As Lagaope became concerned, his body screamed in pain.

"ARGH!"

"Hey! Didn't I say we're late?"

'Ugh… that must've been hurt.'

Lagaope thought as he saw his body rolling on the floor as he was kicked in his genitals.

'Say… did my interest in girls disappear after that incident?'

Lagaope realized he had not been interested in girls for a long time and it seemed that kind of attack might've explained it. The girl became red with anger and walked out of the room while shouting.

"There's a teleporter that's been prepared down there. Come out fast."

"Ugh… you…"

The body then checked on the great letters outside the window and rose up. It was time to move.

'I'll just stop by real quick.'

The destination was the south of the eastern continent, the land without the blessing. It was a place where their Divine Nation's power had not reached yet. But it was a matter of time. With their God, there was no one they couldn't fight against.

'Who would want to live there anyway? Why do we have to study that place…?'

Even if the land was habitable, it would be considered barren without their God nearby. The most blessed of the region was the Broxianel, the land where Broxian lived.

'When can I live in such a place?'

His salary as a bio-engineer did not even come close to afford such a place. He would not have joined the expedition if the pay wasn't so good anyway.

'Yeah… I'll get some money on this expedition and propose to her.'

Pheriknoa decided as he thought of Seriana. As he walked out, there was a small coordination pointer device with Seriana standing next to it. She was walking on the device with an angry face. Pheriknoa walked up to her from the back and hugged her, blowing air into her ear.

"HEY!"

Seriana then made a mistake typing in the coordinates and tried to hit Pheriknoa with her elbow but Pheriknoa blocked it and jumped back.

"Come on, we have to be serious. It's the place where even the Gerna can't go. There might be something down there."

Gerna, the race who lived as parasites. They considered themselves the master of the eastern continent. But it was only because the Divine Nation wasn't interested in expanding east. In fact, they were crushed the moment they met the expedition team. As the expedition team captured some and tested on them, they found some interesting facts.

The Gernas also did not dare to go down south. Those self-proclaimed masters of the eastern continent were reluctant about going south.

That was why the Divine Nation decided to send an expedition team. If there was something valuable there, they needed to take it in. If there was a threat, then they needed to deal with it before it became a real threat.

But nobody considered it to be much of an issue. The expedition team was comprised of Dukes with its Divine Blood leaders, or first-stage Betas. These powerful individuals were rare even in the Divine Nation. They could easily teleport hundreds of miles individually. They never had to worry about any dangers. Even with Apental, the coordination pointer allowed them to teleport anywhere with ease. It was limited within the Divine Nation to prevent illegal teleportation, but the limitation was lifted as soon as it was out of the nation's territory.

Pheriknoa grinned.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. Let's go."

Pheriknoa grabbed Seriana's hand and teleported to the place where the expedition team first gathered. Lagaope, after seeing everything, became shocked.

'What… I was on the expedition team?'

It was correct. This was the expedition team that discovered Dragona, Chrona, and Liona. It was this team that had been captured by the Lukras in the end and allowed them to learn about Broxian, resulting in Gran-Ra flying to the Divine Nation, ultimately destroying it.

'It must be right… so I was in this team?'

The first time Lagaope remembered going south was after he parted ways with Lorvall and met the Lukras. He never imagined that his forgotten memory would bring him to the expedition team.

'I should see what happened then…'

Lagaope focused back on his body. His body teleported to where tens of people were busy making preparations. Lagaope knew this place.

<Aksarum>

Lagaope then realized he had no memory of working in this lab. The only memory he had was the time he spent a thousand years within Aksarum to study the core.

'How did I know about the Divine Nation then?'

He had no memory about the days of the Divine Nation, but he knew about the Nation. Lagaope became confused but he then saw something that interested him.

At the large empty space in front of Aksarum were three great ships floating ten feet above the ground. Metal ships so huge that it symbolized the might of the Divine Nation. After checking the names of each of the ships, Lagaope moaned.

<Dragona>

<Chrona>

<Liona>

Three ships with familiar, but unwelcoming names. As Pheriknoa was astounded by its grandeur, Lagaope became more worried.