Akuro glared at Inari, irritated beyond what he thought even possible.
"Are you fucking serious?" He growled.
"Yes. I am. I want you to train us." Inari said. "You are much stronger than us both, so if we are going to help you in this you need to help us get stronger."
"Yeah, sure, and tell me again, how the fuck did she get aura?" Akuro asked, pointing at Emma.
"When she was held in Makane, who is a part of my aura, meaning she took in Nathan's aura as well, Emma also absorbed Nathan's aura due to being inside Makane." Inari explained. "As simple as that."
Akuro sighed, massaging his temple. He never expected that he'd be having to teach people how to use their own abilities, then again, Emma probably didn't even know what she was able to do. The abilities of an individual are based on their characteristics, unless you are a Deity that is, but even then it still is in a way because it's what someone is wishing for. It is still more of a choice than a characteristic though, but someone who has aura and is not a Deity has abilities based off of their personality type.
Akuro looked at Emma. He guessed she probably had some kind of healing magic, she seemed like the type.
The room was dark and Inari and Emma sat in wooden chairs across from Akuro, who sat in a similar seat. The room was small and had one window that looked out over the entire base, which was crawling with demons working to further build upon the structures, like worker ants. The wooden door was closed
"Okay," Akuro leaned forward in his seat, passively exerting pressure as he did. "Tell why I should concern myself with training you rather than focus on the war?"
"He makes a fair point.." Emma said, turning to Inari. "Maybe we-"
"Shut it." Inari snapped. "You are going to teach us because then we can help you. Wouldn't it be better to have more useful weapons?"
Akuro was quiet for a minute, but he avoided Inari's eyes. "I don't need you." He said, but there was something about his tone that made Inari intrigued. "You are too weak."
"Akuro." Inari said, her tone firm. "If you don't train us we will die no matter what."
Akuro groaned. "Fine, fuck sake, I still don't know why you can't just have one of the Archdemons teach you."
"Because they aren't as strong as you." Emma said with a smile.
Akuro glared back and forth between Inari and Emma, scowling. "Fuck you both." He growled finally, standing. "Meet me tomorrow morning in the field. I have something to attend to before then."
Akuro walked briskly past Inari and Emma, exiting the room, the wooden door slamming shut.
"He doesn't seem that much different if you ask me." Emma said. "The only thing I noticed was his aura… it's immense."
"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he's the strongest being in the universe at this point. He can kill gods just by snapping his fingers." Inari sighed.
"What? Seriously?"
"Yeah. Seriously."
•
•
•
"Xell." Akuro said, entering a room similar to the one from before, just larger.
The Archdemon sat in a chair leaned back against a wall, the front legs of the chair off the ground as he smoked his pipe.
"Yo." Xell said.
"Why did you want to meet with me?" Akuro asked, leaning against a wall and peering out the window at the dimly lit ground below, crawling with demons.
"It's about this war." He said. "If all of the mid tier gods are as strong as Ares, I don't think we can win."
"Ares was a high god." Akuro said. "He is considered one of the strongest, and you two were able to handle him just fine. I don't see the issue."
"We only 'handled' him because you stepped in." Xell pointed out, blowing out a trail of smoke. "We aren't as strong as you, and there are multiple gods stronger than Ares. If I were to face Ares alone I'd lose, that's just a fact."
"Well, I can assure you that you will never face Ares again." Akuro said, still looking out the window, tapping his finger against his arm.
"What? What are you talking about?" Xell asked, lowering his pipe, the front legs of his chair lowering to the ground. "I thought he escaped?"
"He did, but I gave him a present before he left. It killed both him and some other high ranking gods, so believe me, this war will go fine."
"Seriously?" Xell exclaimed, surprised. "Man, you really do remind me of Azazel, a plotting, scheming demon." He chuckled to himself.
Akuro glared at Xell, his pressure spilling out, freezing the demon, his pipe dropping from his hand.
"Don't," Akuro hissed, "compare me to anyone else. Ever."
"Y-yeah.." Xell responded. "Of course, my lord.."
Akuro sighed, pulling back his aura. He turned and walked towards the door, opening it.
"I just want to kill the gods. The reasons are my own, all I need from you is to follow."
•
•
•
Akuro stood in an open area a ways off from the construction, hands in his pockets and irritated, as he waited for Inari and Emma, who were late. He couldn't believe he was becoming a tutor to people his age. It was sad, in his opinion. The fact that they were late just irritated him even more.
He stood in that field for about thirty minutes, a cold wind blowing through the area as he stood in the cool dirt ground waiting. When he was about to give up, two girls walked out of a building and began to head towards him.
"Wow, you are here. Took you long enough." Akuro said.
"I'm surprised you are even here." Inari said. "And sorry, it is kind of hard to know where we are going, you never really gave instructions."
"Can't you just sense my aura?" Akuro growled.
Inari shrugged. "I could. But I didn't."
Akuro looked at Emma, who seemed to shrink when he did. 'She seems to be unable to handle my aura. Maybe I should dial it down a bit.' He thought, restraining his pressure. As he did, Emma seemed to be less fearful.
"Alright, look, if you expect me to be a good teacher you are wrong. I've got no ducking clue how to do this." Akuro said.
"Well… how do you even use your aura? Like how do you call it out?" Inari asked.
"Well, I'd say that it's more based around my emotions than anything."
"And here I thought you were heartless."
Akuro glared at Inari. "Even the heartless feel rage, girl." He said coldly.
"If you say so." She said. "So how will you train us?"
Akuro looked skyward as he thought of a good way for them to train in their power. The strength of one's aura increases as the aura stability increases, so, maybe if he..
"I want you to materialize your Aura Cloaks and focus on holding them as long as you can, and I also want you to try and increase its stability until it is solid." Akuro explained.
"How will that help us increase our strength?" Emma asked.
Akuro looked at her in surprise. "How do you even know what an Aura Cloak is?"
"The Origin Deity in me showed me his memories. That is how I know the things I do." Emma explained.
Akuro nodded. "I see.. well, to answer your question, the strength of your aura scales with your control of it. The more of a handle you have on your pressure, the more solid your aura will become, the more solid it is the more power it gives off. It is like opening up a cage inside you that holds your aura, whether or not you have the key depends on how much control you have."
Inari began to channel her aura as Akuro explained this, her pale Aura Cloak taking a wispy, ethereal form.
"Good." Akuro said. "But it is unstable. My aura tends to be unstable as well, but that is different, it's due to the sheer amount I have which is why it's chaotic. I'll show you."
Akuro raised his hand, black aura shifting around it and taking the shape of black scales and talons. They were completely solid, as if they were pure objects, not aura, but there were wisps of dark energy swirling around it chaotically.
Pressure exuded from his arm, an overwhelming wave of pure power that send a gust of wind through the air. Inari and Emma each took a step back, surprised and awe stricken by the power from such a small range of aura.
Akuro waved his hand, the air humming as his aura faded out with a sizzle and the air returned to normal.
"See the difference?" He spoke. "The amount of aura you have over an area doesn't matter so much as the density of your aura."
"So, it's like a web." Emma observed. "The more dispersed it is the easier it is to break, but the more dense it is the more it holds."
"Yes. The more dense your aura is the more power it will have and the more of an affect it will have in combat. If it is dispersed, no matter how much you have, it will always have the same affect against a powerful enemy."
"I see.." Emma said distantly, observing her own hand.
"Good. Glad you all understand. Now I'm leaving. I've got things to attend to. The real war will begin soon."
•
•
•
"So this is the demon base, hm?" Spoke a figure floating high in the clouds, hidden behind a sheet of mist illuminated by the moon. "And the new king is a Deity who apparently has already killed five gods. Heh. This might be fun."
The figure wore a long, billowing silver and black cloak with a hood drawn over his head. He had luminescent silver eyes with silver flakes around them like scales while two horns grew from his forehead, one of them broken halfway.
The man raised his hand, moving his fingers about dramatically as silver sparks of aura materialized between his fingers and a light formed in his hand like a star.
"Time for this new king to fight a real god."
The man flung the aura down and it descended like a falling star towards the demon fort, breaking apart and spreading out like dust particles, sprinkling down on the fort. Slowly, the particles fell like snow before softly alighting on the ground and the fort and then bursting into immense explosions of silver light that lit up the sky.