"Hey, stop!" Hakai screamed in the direction of the shady figure.
Zappp~!
His senses spiked, and his mind hazed. He felt dizzy, and his vision blurred as he stood on his feet.
"This endless amount of negative energy!" He held his chest tightly, squeezing with each pulse.
"I can't let him get away!" The eyes of eight paths glimmered in a red lighting release.
Shkeen!
He teleported in front of the alleyway.
"I have felt this energy signature before, this pressure..." Hakai uttered, walking into the alleyway, while the signature decreased in size as if it were suppressed, almost sealed away entirely, leaving a single spec for Hakai to track.
"They want me to chase them, but why?" Hakai gripped the handle of his katana with both hands again. The figure harbored immense spiritual signature, negative energy, and physical energy. As if death had ascended down to earth and shown a spec of its capabilities.
As he walked deeper into the long alleyway, a reaching arm shot at his face. Barely managing to slice it in half, he saw what appeared to be multiple eyes in the place where the arm originated.
"This signature, it's that of an unintelligent spirit. How?"
"Evil spirits of darkness, created to destroy, vanish." Hakai chanted as a spell circle. Above it, a wheel of divine writing appeared, reducing the ground-bound phantom to thin air.
He expelled the spirit and moved onward towards the small presence his senses picked on. Hakai locked his focus on this trace. His mind rushed through old and new memories. His entire core shook as it began recalling a similar spiritual presence.
"Younger brother, there is nothing you can comprehend of my existence."
Hakai remembered a deep-toned voice speaking to him cruelly yet genuinely. The ground beneath his right foot sunk and turned into a flesh-like creature as he stepped forward. Growing a pair of eyes, and mouth, it opened wide to swallow him, but he reacted in time to slice the newly created low-level phantom in half.
"Evil spirits of darkness, created to destroy, vanish." Hakai chanted as a spell circle. Above it, a wheel of divine writing appeared, reducing the phantom to thin air.
"What is going on?" He complained as another component shaped like an arm with fanged nails shot at his face. This one had tiny wings and one eye attached to its palm.
"Kee!" The evil spirit roared from its mouth beneath its forearm before attacking Hakai again. Slicing this one in half, too, he chanted. "Evil spirits of darkness, created to destroy, vanish." A spell circle. Above it, a wheel of divine writing appeared, reducing the phantom to thin air.
Four golem-shaped spirits fell from above as the spell circle, and the divine wheel vanished into the open air, blocking Hakai from going any further.
"D grades?" He read their signatures, figuring out their ranking grade on the old scale.
One initiated a saliva-like attack that covered Hakai's feet. A sticky flammable oil attack. Another filled its lungs with oxygen and spat out a flame, starting a massive fire that worked its way to Hakai. Another circled Hakai from the side and shot out a long metal-based chain from its mouth, holding his right hand down. The other flanked Haki from the left and shot a mist covering the area.
"Hmm, the mist's the problem." He inhaled the substance, immediately causing him to gag and cough. "What is this?" He covered his nose with his left hand. As the cloud spread, the fire reached his feet and started to work its way up them. "This bad, I won't be able to use my visual prowess." Finally, Hakai caught a glimpse behind the two golems.
Shkeen!
He teleported outside the attack range and appeared behind the fire and oil golems.
"Hah?" The two confused evil spirits watched the blade cleanly run through their necks.
Hakai fell to his left knee, a bit exhausted, but the primary issue was the mist contained an airborne poison.
"Damn it. It already circulated this far?" He gagged and threw up. Hakai lifted his head to see the two golems walk toward him. Weakened and waiting for the curse's time limit had his back against a wall. He coughed vigorously, trying to stand back up. But instead, he fell back down to both his knees.
'What now?" Sweat dripped down from his forehead, trying to think up a plan. "Concentrate!" He screamed at himself in anger. The Eyes of Eight Paths glimmered in red light and activated the wheel-like spokes around his pupils. Instead of the top left tomoe in the right eye twitching, the top right tomoe twitched. The other use of tomoe indicated that he used another path of ability.
Shkeen!
Hakai raised his head and brought his right hand in front of himself, pointing at the golems with his index and middle finger. Then, he calmly and deeply uttered, "Wishing Speech: Blow away!" The two golems smashed into pieces.
Hakai shouted the expelling spell with his remaining power.
"Evil spirits of darkness, created to destroy, vanish." Hakai chanted as a spell circle. Above it, a wheel of divine writing appeared, reducing whatever parts left of the golems into thin air.
"Ughh!" He planted his right foot on the ground, kneeling, holding his chest. As the poison began working on his heart, he started hyperventilating, and soon the world around him became dark.
"I-I've got to heal!" Hakai told himself in urgency. "B-but I can't tell if the curse has expired in this condition!" His mind raced between two options. "However, I did use the blessed eyes of eight paths already, and nothing has occurred." He thought, calming himself down.
"I need to flow positive energy through my entire body and instantly release it in a heatwave aura, evaporating all the poison within my vessel!"
Fsshhh!
The pink poison flew off from every pore in his body as his red aura engulfed him. "Hah!" He exhaled in relief as he fell on his rear.
"Now get up! I need to find this shady figure!" He stood, took up his katana from the ground, and walked toward the low radiating signature.
"They've stopped moving?" He uttered, using his teleporting visual prowess multiple times.
Shkeen!
Shkeen!
Shkeen!
Shkeen!
He blew past the obstacles and barriers set by this mysterious figure, able to create or summon evil spirits. Sweat fell down his face as he stooped in his tracks.
He looked up to see a being with a floating scythe beneath him. Crossed legs, he sat in the air. He weaved signs with his two skeleton hands and presented Hakai with his palms before speaking in a deep tone.
"My little brother, God of Destruction, it has been long since we last met..."