I regressed and became the Sword Ice King

They stopped in their tracks and looked up to find a bullet kicked their way.

"Oh? Carlie? That's you right?" Xixan asked after recognizing the object, but Herbe remained perplexed by it.

A tense silence ensued before a figure approached them through the soot. There was no response, but simply the sound of her feet crunching on the burnt sand as she approached them.

Zoan glanced at Xixan. "Does your teammate play jokes?" She asked.

Xixan shook her head in response, but Herbe was more focused on something else.

'.....wasn't her building in the range of destruction?' She wondered as she instinctively took a step back.

"Um, guys…" she muttered, hesitation laced in her voice.

Xixan noticed her action and glanced at her with a raised brow. "What are you doing?" She asked, her tone laced with worry.
Discover exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire

Herbe remained silent and continued to take slow steps back. Noticing this, Rina and Zoan glanced at the figure that approached them through the soot. It had appeared to be a girl a minute ago, but the figure had disappeared into nothing.

It was at that moment that panic began to grow evident in their chest.

Rina took a few steps backward as well while an eerie silence crept up their skin like a rodent, suffocating them in an uncomfortable tension.

As the silence dissolved, a shift of the air occurred, and a figure pierced through it, appearing beside Zoan and Rina in seconds.

Their gazes widened in shock as they whimpered in fear, but they were too slow to react. A gut-retching sound pierced through the silent air as blood splurged onto the ground.

Rina's scream echoed across the expanse of the skies, and Herbe was forced to turn around hastily with Xixan held firmly across her shoulder.

"Wait! We should go back for them!" She said in protest, but Herbe didn't even want to think of that possibility. It was never in their plan to die, and she sure as hell wasn't going to let that happen right now.

The sound of their comrade, Rina screaming was suddenly cut short by the sound of gurgling as a thud projected in the air.

It was evident now that they were dead, and the only killer she could think of was that person.

"How?! How did he survive that? That's impossible! What is he?!" Herbe muttered in shock, as she continued to run through the black dust.

It had not settled yet, but it was getting clearer and her sight was slowly returning to her ever so slowly. But even that didn't stop her from stumbling on her feet, and tripping on sand, her legs buckling beneath her. The two girls screamed as their bodies were pulled into the crater, the sand sucking them in like quicksand, its grains shifting and swirling around them.

Herbe looked down at the bottom of the crater, but her vision wasn't clear enough to see through the fog.

She immediately turned over and attempted to clasp her fingers into the sand to stop herself from falling, while Xixan attempted to do the same.

The nature of the soil made it difficult, and their efforts were not being rewarded as they kept on falling inside.

'At least….this is one way of choosing how you die'. Herbe said with a sadistic smile on her face.

She didn't have to face the same gruesome death as her teammates, but the sand would simply cover them, burying them alive.

It was much better, albeit a lot slower, but it wouldn't hurt as much, or so she thought.

Accepting her fate, she stopped struggling and simply laid down to let the sand carry her to her demise, but it seemed like her foe didn't accept such.

The gruesome sound of blood splurging echoed in the air, and her eyes suddenly constricted in shock. She turned to her left to find Xixan dead, with blood spilling from her head as she fell limply into the crater.

Panic spread through her body like cancer as she struggled to gain freedom.

She inserted her fingers into the sand again and attempted to pull herself out of it.

What was she running from? She didn't know. What would she run into? She didn't know.

But anything was better than dying without knowing what killed you! So she struggled, tears and blood streaming down her face as the harsh texture of the sand pierced through her skin.

Her mouth was invaded by the sand grains, time and time again as she panted heavily in her attempt to escape. The fear had grown to dread as the skin of her finger tore in her attempt to flee the unknown.

"I don't want to die!" "I don't want to die!" "No! Not like this! Not like this!" her voice was a slow whimper that exuded hopelessness, and sadly for her, her request was ignored.

A loud thud echoed next to her, causing her to freeze in her action. Her body shook with fear as she looked up at the figure who stood on the same sand that they were sinking on.

Her teeth rattled as her eyes constricted because what she saw was a blue, cold darkness emanating from a figure whose eyes were the color of the moon.

"Please….Pleas–Please don't kill me!" She muttered with a shaky tone in her voice. The fear made her body go numb. "Please…" she whimpered, but her plea was ignored.

The blue figure raised his sword in the air and, with a quick swoop, sliced off her head.

Her head rolled off cleanly, as life dimmed from her gaze. "....The….Bli–nd Swords–"

Her eyes dimmed into oblivion as her head and body fell into the bottom of the crater while sand continued to fill it up.

****

Soon the soot had finally settled, and the crater had been nearly filled closed with the help of the sand.

The damages became evident in one's eyes as the townspeople came to inspect what had occurred with baffled gazes.

At the same time, a portal opened close to a demolished building, and three women stepped out in unison.

Elsie scanned the area with her nose, searching for her beloved husband until she caught the whiff of his scent.

Turning towards the direction, around the rubble of a giant building, was a boy seated on top of a large rubble from one of the buildings. His shirt had been torn off, revealing his well-toned muscle, while his sword was stabbed into the side of the rubble next to him.

Elsie sighed as she glanced at Merthy and Cartwyn.

"Never do that again in your life". She said with a stern tone before rushing off to Raph.

Merthy sighed while Cartwyn remained in a state of shock as she glanced around the area.

"Surprised?" Merthy asked and Cartwyn nodded in reply immediately.

"Who is he? I assumed he wasn't just an ordinary figure….but he just defeated three squads from Neuj's upper battalion".

Merthy chuckled in response. They stood at a corner of the demolition caused by the fight while they watched as the townspeople began to gather around Raph.

A smirk formed on Merthy's lips.

"He's our ace and the plan in uniting this wretched town".

Cartwyn glanced at the sight with baffled eyes. "So the Guild Master was in on it…you guys knew of his true abilities and wished to use him?"

"No…Not used…it was a contract… we'll have to fulfill our bargain after this but…" She nodded in satisfaction. "...It seems like our plans are coming to fruition".

Cartwyn raised a brow as she glanced at Merthy, her thoughts reeling in as she attempted to figure out what she had just said. 'How are their plans coming to fruition? Look at how much damage that occurred,' she wondered.

"Don't fuss your little brain over it" Merthy said with a sigh. "...I'm sure you're aware that the people don't trust the five pillars". How could they? When they were constantly assaulted because of them. So now that someone had defeated one of those pillars or a part of one of those pillars, what would that mean?

"Oh? Are you trying to start an urban legend?" Cartwyn asked as her ears perched up in realization.

"Yes….Just like the Cat Knight all that time in the past…" Merthy replied with a smile.

At that moment, they watched a little girl approach Raph as he descended the ruble with Elsie. It was the girl that Raph had saved, and the people who he saved with her were amongst the townspeople that surrounded him.

"The Blind Swordsman". The little girl said with a wild smile on her face as Raph picked her up.

He was about to start his usual protest but the townspeople had suddenly taken it upon themselves to make sure that name stayed.

"The Blind Swordsman!"

"The Blind Swordsman!"

"The Blind Swordsman!"

That name mentioned by the girl was all it took for the townspeople to get hyped up. There were loud cheers and excited voices as they chanted his name. Yes, some of their homes had been destroyed, but they had gained something else from this, a hero. Someone who had fought against the pillars and won. Was that not something worth celebrating? Yes, it was.

Merthy and Cartwyn watched in silence as the townspeople's voices pierced through the air in a melodic timbre of excitement.

Merthy glanced at the little girl that Raph held and her smile grew wilder. 'Good work'. She thought as she glanced at Cartwyn.

"This will be the start of a new urban legend, the Blind Swordsman".