Kurou's POV
A bright, strangely crimson sunlight had shone through the air as I slept in bed, snoring as if I were some kind of beast, only to have my slumber disturbed when that very sunlight began shining in my eyes. I felt my eyes begin to scrunch up before I sat up slowly to escape it, feeling relief as I reached some shade while lifting myself up in bed. However, lately, I haven't exactly been calm, my thoughts felt as if they were racing for miles ever since I found out who… that demon from yesterday was…
Flashback
After an agonizingly long while of trying to get Saika and Saniki to release me, I had finally managed to take a look at the Soul Core of the demon I had just killed. It was as brown as the dirt itself, and had an appearance akin to a boulder, I didn't know how, but the energy I felt it give off was… familiar. I walked toward the boulder and held my hand out, touching it, however, once I did, I suddenly began to feel… warm emotions, and before I knew it, memories started to pop up.
Memories of me meeting old man Kaira for the first time flashed through my mind, from that time, till the days he started training me, the days we went hunting, the days we sparred, and multiple others. As each memory kept showing up more and more, I gradually began to come to the realization that this Soul Core I was forming into a weapon currently, was the core of old man Kaira himself. My eyes widened as soon as I came to this realization, and I found myself now staring at the weapon I just formed out of Kaira's Soul, the weapon was the exact same as the one the demon wielded.
I quickly dissipated it, holding my head as if I were in great pain and fell to my knees, trembling uncontrollably. Soon after cowering in my own fear, I finally began to utter out his name "Kaira…?" I said quietly to myself, hoping he would respond, hoping that my demonic energy hadn't ended up completely taken his mind… I got no response. Frantically, I repeated his name once more… still no response, this had sooner or later caused me to begin screaming his name out, hoping for some kind of response, any response that would let me know that I hadn't destroyed my old master…
Back to the Present…
It was safe to say that the entire ordeal that went on, the fact that I had to learn that the demon I had slaughtered was my own village chief… it felt like at that moment, my heart had just completely exploded. I was lucky to learn from Daigen after he calmed me down, that I hadn't ended up destroying his mind, after he had scanned the soul for any traces of severe impurities or damage. There had miraculously seemed to be no trace of any serious damage, and any damage there really had been would have been healed on its own.
It was so surprising that at this moment, I found myself chuckling in relief, even in death, he still managed to hold his own without taking much harm, he was my teacher after all. I reminisced on the hellish training he put me through, like once testing my reaction speed by firing practically thousands of stone pellets at me. Or, when he had me face off against an army of his very own stone warriors, to see how many I could destroy before passing out.
He'd put me through what seemed like countless life threatening scenarios when we trained, yet if he hadn't, I was pretty sure I wouldn't live for even a few seconds against that man. Rest assured, I hadn't given up my goal, to annihilate Hellzone Corps, the organization who ruined EVERYTHING. I suddenly began to hear loud, haughty laughing from within the inner depths of my mind.
It was soon that I learned it was coming from Kagrasia, I'd scowled "And just what the hell is so funny fiend?" I mentally asked him in an annoyed tone of voice. Kagrasia merely smirked as he watched my irked expression "Oh I'm just entertained that you think you can still beat this little mortal faction of yours on your own." He derided, continuing to laugh even still. I clenched my fists in rage, what are who was to say I couldn't do it on my own?
It wasn't as if I had a choice in the matter; I was a cambion after all, who would ever want to help a being such as that, a being cursed to be scorned no matter what they did, or however much they tried to prove themselves. My eyes narrowed "And how would you know that I can't or not? Even if I don't manage to completely destroy them all, I can still cripple them somehow." I told him with dissent coated in my voice. "Hmph, in a few years perhaps, but now? Not a chance, like it or not, sooner or later you will need allies to invade them on your own boy." he advised, and as much as I hated to admit, he was right.
Thinking about it, the only kind of beings most likely to help me seemed to be… another village, Kagura Village may have helped me out, but they were a village of peace. Even if Kumara Village was their allies, they wouldn't dare bring themselves misfortune by attacking a powerful group like Hellzone Corps. I grit my teeth, I may have hated it, but until I could figure out who the hell would join someone like me, my fight with Hellzone corps… was mine alone.
Sitting up in bed, I walked toward my door, only for it to get kicked open, sending it smacking right into my face, causing me to comically fall over flat on my face. "Was that really necessary…?" a voice I recognized as Saika asked nervously, followed by an angry 'hmph' "We have to wake up the idiot somehow don't we?" They said in a stern voice. only one person I'd met thus far talked in a manner such as that… and I slowly lifted my eyes up to see Saniki "Well, we found him." she said casually. I had almost instantly rose onto my feet angrily, "You slam a door into my face and that's all you say!?" I yelled erratically at her.
This only seemed to make her fume a red deeper than her own hair "Baka Gaijin!! It's your own fault for sleeping in so long, take responsibility!!" she barked right back at me. She had comically held her sword to my neck "I am not a Baka Gaijin or whatever the hell you call it dammit!!" I hollered at her. Saika seemed to be the only one in the middle of our little argument, sweat dropping when she noticed a shadow forming right above us, soon, me and Saniki went a ghostly white as we recognized this as… Daigen.
Daigen's expression was sterner than when he scolded Saniki, something that kinda scared the shit out of me "I already must correct one of my pupil's behaviors… must I start both!?" he asked us in a voice that sounded as if death was around the corner should we give the wrong answer. We both shook our heads quickly, hoping to avoid any unneeded wrath Daigen had looked ready to wreak on us. He just sighed at us "Fine then, however, don't think you're being let off this easily, you both will start the day by testing your mettle against one another." he told us.
Saniki just grinned murderously the second she heard those words from Daigen's mouth "Oh? Perfect, I'll make sure to cut you to ribbons as soon as we enter the pavilion, Kurou." she said with a glint of bloodlust in her eyes. I found myself shrinking back slightly at the way she said those words. Regardless, I glared at her "Don't even think about counting me out yet, otherwise, prepare to get thrashed." I countered at her in defiance, our auras gathering around us, practically dancing in the wind.
Saniki's grin simply got wider and with a 'hmph', she walked off, I just continued glaring as she walked off "I gotta say Saika, you've got one bitch of a sister." I said as I watched her walk. Saika just sighed "Believe me, she was never always like this, it's just… ever since the incident of Kumara Village getting destroyed, you could say she's been depressed." explained Saika. I suppose when I thought of it, it made sense, after all, it's not as if Saniki has never been to our village and made friends over there, and most likely, I just didn't see her.
It probably hurts, to have the notion that someone who was supposed to be a member and protector of the village, ended up destroying it, she must think I'm insane, but how could I have helped it? I never knew I had this demonic power to begin with, it's not my fault that it never showed up until that very moment I was attacked, along with my home in the process. I decided to just let go of the past for now, I at least managed to 'save' someone from the village, and if there was any chance the old geezer was still alive… then I owe it to him to give it my all…
Later on, after a good meal served by Saika, as well as with the help of some of the servants around this place, I made my way to the training pavilion. As soon as I made it, I pushed the giant doors open, seeing Saniki standing at the end of it inside. She seemed to be sharpening her sword with what looked like a dark red oval-shaped crystal in her hand, the crystal had perfectly grinded against her sword, not breaking in the slightest.
She only looked slightly at me as I came in before turning back to pay attention to her sword "So you've made it." said Saniki in an almost emotionless voice. That was something that befuddled me "That's it? What happened to the girl who was ready to royally kick my ass a few minutes ago?" I asked. It wasn't hard to see that she was scowling after I said that. "Oh believe me, I will soon, I just need a few minutes to take care of my blade." she said as if she was taking care of a baby.
She suddenly began to stand up after a while of polishing her sword and turned to face me. "Now then. Let's start." Saniki had now turned around with a focused look on her face, her eyes closed as she slowly held out her sword and whispered "Rykuen" her eyes finally opened, flashing blue upon saying this. Suddenly, cobalt blue smoke began to burst from her sword and covered her entire body, obscuring it entirely from view, they then began to swirl violently, into a twister before soon changing into electricity, rising into the air and growing at a fast rate.
I covered myself in a barrier of emerald green hellfire as the twister of lightning came at me, feeling it slam into me, but the barrier managed to hold enough that I wasn't pushed back. When everything had cleared out, I opened my eyes only for them to widen upon seeing Saniki's new appearance, her long hooded trench coat was now a shining, glittery blue as if I were witnessing stars on it. Her upper body was covered with steel blue upper armor now, her eyes had turned an azure blue, and her hair had become an ultramarine shade of blue as well.
As for her weapon, it was considerably larger, now resembling a mix of a greatsword and a katana. My eyes narrowed at her, that power in her sword… there was no mistaking that she was utilizing a soul weapon at this moment. "As you can see, you're not the only one capable of capturing souls!" she said as she rushed at me with blinding speed, covered in a strong aura. I slashed at her when she got close, only for her to disappear in a flicker of azure electricity, then she appeared right behind me and slashed at me.
I covered my sword in hellfire before blocking her strike, gritting my teeth upon doing so. Disappearing in another flicker of blue light, she then appeared running at the side of me at high speed. I fired a stream of green flames toward her as she did, however, she only jumped out of the way of it, coming down at me from the air, but as soon as I shot my index finger up, the flames followed its direction and burned her as soon as they began rocketing above into the air.
Saniki let a grin cross her face as the flames scorched her and began spinning with great speed in them. Electricity suddenly began to fire everywhere as they disseminated the flames around her body, one of the blasts pummeling straight on into me and plowing me into the wall. I breathed heavily, gritting my teeth to keep myself from wasting too much air from my body, landing on the ground, she soon rushed at me again, her speed increasing to the point she left afterimages as she ran at me.
I quickly sidestepped out of the way, augmenting my sword in demonic energy now before swinging it forward, sending a crescent of hellfire at her. She blocked the ark of flames threatening to slice her in half before cutting it away and rushing at me again, sending multiple sword strikes at me, forcing me on the defensive, I blocked each one of her strikes, stepping back the faster her slashes got.
Next, I bent backwards as she attempted a stab next, then I did something crazy, I bit the blade of her sword, giving her a bewildered look as she attempted to swing me off. I kept my grip like a wild animal, grinning art her. "Hope you remember this!" I said before like a dragon, hellfire began to ignite at the pit of my throat, and with a roar, hellfire blasted right out of my mouth, engulfing the sword in flames.
I willed them to spread until they finally covered Saniki's entire body. Saniki grit her teeth at the burning of the flames around her body, with great strength, I lifted her up into the air and began to whirl around before hurling her up, sending her crashing right into the ceiling. I breathed heavily, watching her as she was now stuck in the ceiling and began snickering.
Saniki's expression began to twist in anger before suddenly, cobalt blue energy exploded around her body, ripping herself from the ceiling, she rushed down hard at me, sweat dropping in pure fear, I quickly jumped back out of the way as she crashed into the ground. A pillar of blue light erupted from out of her body next, forming into the visage of what looked like a giant warthog with spiked fur. My eye twitched in bewilderment, don't tell me her soul weapon is actually supposed to be this thing…?
The warthog snorted aggressively before beginning to vault toward me at high speed, squealing in rage. I tried to dodge, but couldn't overcome its large size and it slammed right into my body, throwing me up into the air and shooting up multiple projectiles of its spiked fur at me. I quickly recovered while in the air, my eyes surging with green light as I began slashing at the spikes while coming down, slowly becoming engulfed in an inferno of emerald hellfire until suddenly, it began to form into the head of a hydra as I rushed down.
Saniki's eyes widened and she ran right into the warthog she created, rushing at the hydra of flame engulfing my body and clashed with it, both of us screaming as it caused a titanic eruption of light from within. As the light began to fade, Saniki's form slowly changed back to its regular red color before she fell to the ground on a knee. I currently had my sword stabbed into the ground, struggling to stay on my feet, grinning at her "Well, looks like I'm not the one who got their asses royally kicked." I said with a cocky grin.
Saniki just glared at me "Well don't get too cocky demon boy, next time I'll be driving you to your knees." she said in an equally cocky tone. Soon we began to get up, walking to the mansion to have Daigen get us healed.
The smell of something burning- smoke- wafted through the air, and I could smell it. It took me a second to realize that something was on fire. Realizing this, I quickly ran outside to see what was going on, flashbacks of my own village burning rushed through my head. Outside, the forest was burning, crimson red flames consuming the green forest little by little, charring the trees into black ashes. I was in a slight panic, wondering what could've happened; what had made the forest set on fire? 'This can't be… a wild forest fire, can it?'
A black shadow zipping by caught my attention, followed by the sound of someone- a feminine voice- cackling, as if amused by something. It didn't take me long to realize that this woman was laughing at the forest burning, and was obviously the culprit. Following the sounds, my eyes landed on a figure flying in the air… a demon. Her hair was a dark shade of blue, midnight blue and she wore black armor over most of her body. Her eyes I couldn't see because she was facing away from me, but the black horns on her head were pretty obvious. Her wings were stretched open and flapping; they were the reason why she was in the air and flying around- a dead giveaway.
"Who are you?! Are you the bitch that did this!?" I yelled at the demoness, rage seething from me as I glared at her angrily. She stopped. I assumed she heard me, and I was right. Only, I didn't think she had the nerve to attack me, but it didn't really matter. She hurled forth a large black energy spear toward me, I easily stepped to the side, dodging the black spear that was sent towards me, staring up at her fearlessly. She turned around, and I could finally see her face. Her spear disappeared from my side as she summoned forth another one in her hand in a burst of black energy; she probably knew how to use energy manipulation of sorts.
"Bitch?" she asked me, and it wasn't shock that was in her voice, but the sound of confusion. "You must be mistaken. A lowly cambion like you shouldn't speak to your superiors like that," the demoness said, her voice changed from confusion to sadism. She laughed at me, obviously mocking me, and obviously looking down at me quite literally since she was flying in the air way above me, looking down at me. I had no plans on letting her get away with her actions.
"Superior my ass, I won't stand for you destroying this forest as you please!" I screamed out in a snarling voice as I summoned my spirit weapon in a burst of green flames while unsheathing Rhienzan, the blade sparking violently with purple energy. Flames began to gather at my back, forming into wings composed of hellfire and I propelled myself toward her at high speed, firing both an ark of green hellfire and violet electricity at her in a crossing motion.
Just as I was about to hit, the demoness, with almost impossible speed, summoned out a strange white shield. That shield didn't seem to be able to take my attack, and I kept going forward, thinking that I could break through it. I was wrong, and the moment I touched it with my green hellfire and violet electricity, it was completely negated, doing nothing to shield, and the demoness appeared behind me and smacked the brunt of a dark blue battleaxe into me, sending me flying backwards when it slammed into me. Skidding across the ground, I glared at her in annoyance, knowing that the shield was gonna be a problem. "What's wrong boy?" she asked me in a mocking tone, sneering down at me. "Are you regretting your decision of challenging me? I haven't even gotten started."
"I'm not regretting anything as long as I still draw breath." I said as I disappeared in a burst of hellfire, then in another burst of flames, I appeared right behind her. Engulfing my spirit weapon in hellfire, I clashed it into Rhienzan, as soon as it began to charge its lightning, when it touched my hellfire, I felt as if my demonic energy was being supercharged. Smirking, I began to rush down as an extreme inferno and powerful violet electricity engulfed my body, ready to make quick maneuvers incase of that shield of hers.
"Little boys like you need to be taught a lesson," she said, and looked at me like she was expecting me to make that move or something. Persian blue flames like the ones that were burning the forest circled around her, coating her, swirling around to make a sphere shaped fireball. I couldn't see what was going on inside, but my eyes widened when yet another black energy spear suddenly came flying out of it, heading directly towards my chest at an insane speed. This demoness was not a normal demon, but I didn't know if she was showing all of her power yet.
On instinct, I quickly flew downward, managing to avoid the spear, then decided to rush at the demoness from under her. I charged the violet energy from Rhienzan more and more until the size of the hellfire around me was almost as big as a rocketing meteor. "DIE!!!!" I screamed as I charged up at her with even more speed than before, hoping this would at least do significant damage.
"Oya oya… You're quite the impulsive boy, aren't you?" the voice of the demon came from behind me, behind me. I froze, and from the corner of my eye, I could see her, her arm snaked around my waist, the other hand holding a spear, pressing it against my back. "Sorry to say that you're too easy to predict. Your thinking is nothing compared to her," she whispered, chuckling, nearly digging the tip of her spear into my back before I disappeared in a burst of hellfire.
With an emotionless glare, I immediately appeared from the back of her, "Yeah, to you!!" I shot back before deciding to send all of the flames and violet electricity around my body out into a colossal blast heading toward her. I would hold out my hand as the blast was fired out, controlling its movement as I had it track her, she tried to evade from every direction she could, but it was no use as the blast finally hit her hard, sending her flying down and smashing into the dirt. I glared down at her, crossing my arms as I flew up in the air "That's what happens when you underestimate me!" I told her, a bit of a smirk in my expression, making her scowl as she looked up at me with a hint of rage.
"Vizas!" another woman's voice called out, but it didn't seem to be out of worry. It was definitely an angry voice. I didn't keep my eye off the demoness, but she somehow disappeared from thin air; it was almost like she never existed. I turned back towards the other voice, seeing a young woman dressed in an all blue robe with straps that had buckles at the end attached to it, with what looked to be light but sturdy looking sky blue armor under her clothes with ends that extended to her the palms of her hands, and a blue crystal staff in her hand. Beside her was the demoness. "Why are you wasting your magic? You are more than capable of defeating him in mere seconds," the girl said to the demoness, her eye twitching. I could tell she was pretty annoyed, and a possible enemy.
Despite that, there was something else about them as I stopped the next energy blast I was about to send at her, I finally realized that both of them… had extreme power. I almost wanted to hit myself for threatening someone this strong. What would I do if they decided to grind me into the dust? I quickly drew back the energy and absorbed it back into my own body, gritting my teeth, as much as I hated to run from a fight, there was no choice but to warn Daigen. I focused all of my energy toward Kagura Village's signature, and teleported out of the area, I wouldn't make it there immediately, but teleporting long distance should be enough for me to escape these creeps.
"Now now, who said I was done with you?" the demoness, whom I heard was named Vizas, asked me, appearing before me out of the blue. I glared at her angrily, trying to find a way to escape around her until I felt someone poking- no, pressing my pressure points expertly. My eyes widened as I looked back to see the blue clothed girl, falling to my knees, slumping onto the ground. Darkness slowly claimed me… then I passed out cold.