Musical Theme: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ti9vzv
"Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi"
"Listen but closely Elexial, for my life's breath is all but spent...
...There shall come a time far from now when Takamagahara itself is dying, even as I am now dying, and our foes shall gather to destroy us. Then my child, I shall listen for your call in whatever realm of death holds me, and come I shall, no matter what the laws of life and death forbid. At the end I will be there. For the final battle. For the End of Storms.
You have become my finest warrior, you who given of your mortal soul to me. Like clay I have sculpted you, and in the furnace of chaos and order I have forged you. You are of iron will and steel muscle. In great wisdom have I clad you and with the mightiest swordsmanship are you armed. Transcendent now, you have become untouched by plague or disease, and no sickness will blight you. I have given you tactics, strategies and ancient techniques so that no foe can best you in battle. You are a bulwark against the Madness of the August Star. You are the Defender of True Enlightenment. You are my Silent Lotus.
Within dark and forgotten places hide the enemies of Enlightenment. You have been chosen to enter such places and, protected by the best armour I can provide, cleanse it. Take with you my sword, a valiant heart and the Kami's blessing, and engage the enemy where it makes its lair. Acknowledge death as it approaches, but do not succumb to its touch, for your purpose is great. You have proved yourself to be worthy of the status you now hold. Even as you are standing here, you who have declared alliegance to the Grand Kami Izanagi and take your will as your guide, have shown your courage and have been rewarded for it. You that stand before me, I charge you now, go forth and vanquish the foe. I name you...Seshin Tsurugi no Idai Arashi, Grand Storm of the Sword Spirit."
-The last words of the immortal spirit of the Sword of Billowing Clouds, Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi.
The Grasscutter, Kusanagi, The Sword of Amaterasu.
In a vast field on the farthest outskirts of Yomi in a place far removed from all others can be found a battlefield. This place is the hell of warriors whose lust for bloodshed utterly consumed them in life. For an eternity they are forced to fight until they have purged themselves of this desire. Hundreds of thousands of warriors battle here. Many armies clashs against one another who bear no flag or affiliation. Surrounding them all are the armies of Yomi, who encircle this realm and prevent the wars from spilling out and disrupting other places.
...A new soul fights among them today...
"Here she comes."
The defenders of Yomi one by one looked up. Before them, the battlefield had grown dim. In the skies above the eternal war, a great mass of black clouds had gathered. A storm of storms was forming. With great speed, five thunderheads, like five dark hammers, rushed towards one another and blotted out the dark sun of Yomi.
"...By the Kami, I have never seen a storm do that before..."
Warriors whispered in awe as the five clouds slammed together and a great thunderclap shattered the ground below it, slaying thousands of souls instantly who would be forced to reincarnate on that same battlefield with the next dawn. They rose like tiny glowing flames into the sky, and lightning as ancient as time itself fluxed and waned within the clouds above.
For the first time in a thousand years, the battle stopped.
Faces looked upward in confusion and fear as the mighty storm roiled and writhed in the firmament. A great nexus of energy was forming in the center of a massive maelstrom of black winds. As an eye in the hurricane swirled into life at the spearhead of the apocalyptic forces gathering above, the roaring thunder began to sound more like the death cries of a divine god. Fear washed across the battlefield as every soul grew silent and terrified at the approach of this omen.
Far away, Izunami gazed across the landscape from her castle window and looked upon the storm gathering on the distant horizon, bearing witness to the death of the Kusanagi Spirit. At her side, many of her servants watched with her, for nowheres in Yomi could the storm not be seen and nowheres could the thunder not be heard.
"So, after five-thousand years the spirit of the Kusanagi Sword has finally been slain." Izunami whispered...
The great storm continued to grow. The immensity and horrifying power of the storm could not even be put to words. If Yomi were a planet, surely one would see the greatest storm that had ever formed spread across its surface. The black clouds wailed in agony as Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi entered into the world of twilight and shadows.
Lightning rushed from the five corners of Yomi into the center of the grand eye of the storm, and with a brilliant white nova of light not unlike the birth of a star, the clouds instantaneously rushed backwards in a circular surge of force causing the eye to open in a split second to a radius of hundreds of miles. A pure white dragon of lightning, wind, and pure spiritual energy shot downwards from the sky above as it poured forth from the nexus of the rift between life and death.
The dragon's scream echoed across the land, and could be heard by all who dwelt in Yomi. This was the death of the legendary sword, the blade found by Susanoo and given to Amaterasu. This was the spirit of Kusanagi, passed down to the greatest Japanese emperor that ever lived, Oshu, Yamato Takeru. This was the fall of Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi, The Sword of Billowing Clouds, Kusanagi, The Grasscutter.
The great white serpent of transcendent spirit and wind flowed down into Yomi and all with eyes to see watched as it brought with it the five winds of the elements. The long body of the serpent coiled and swirled. Lightning flashed from its eyes and cut great swaths of destruction into the battlefield as the many gathered armies dropped their weapons and fled in terror. Thunder was its breath and it ripped the land apart with every roar, sundering the earth beneath it in huge clefts that caused great chasms to tear open into which thousands of souls fell to their doom. Kusanagi opened her mouth and cried out to the skies above Yomi a death cry that shot white fire back through the portal between worlds.
The transcendent spirit, Seshin Tsurugi no Idai Arashi, opened his eyes for the first time atop a mountain overlooking the valley of the three shrines witnessing the sunset, and as the spirit of Kusanagi flowed into his eyes, Elexial was reborn.
With her final cry, Kusanagi began to wither. Having spent the last of her energy as a gift to Elexial, her long serpentine form disintigrated. As it condensed and dissipated into tears of light, the spirit of Ame Murakumo No Tsurugi rained down from the clouds above Yomi and formed a vast ocean where the battlefield once was. All who faught upon this field of eternal struggle were consumed by the tsunami of its birth and drowned beneath it. Those who were once mortal would now rest and be cleansed by it. Those who were born of Yomi would return to Izunami and prepare for the next cycle. This ocean would come to be named the Tsurugi no Mizu, Waters of the Sword.
Izunami turned from the window and her servants followed her.
"Bring her to me," she commanded.
The greatest of her servants and warriors, Lord Wenli, bowed with respect and instantly departed.
...At the edge of the Tsurugi no Mizu, a beautiful woman stepped forth from the ocean. Her body, made of wind at first, began to take the shape of Elexial's teacher. As it did, beautiful white robes formed to clothe her flawless body and her hair tied itself behind her head. Her eyes, pure white for a moment, quickly began to lose their illumination and faded to those of a normal human. Crimson red irises and raven black hair. Steam rose from her aura and floated away, glowing faintly until even the steam too faded away. She seemed to be aging and losing her power very rapidly.
She closed her eyes and lifted her head to the sky, looking up at the rift between life and death that was almost gone and smiled. As she opened her eyes, the rift closed and she whispered to herself.
"I shall always be at your side, waiting for you, Arashi..."
