It was expected.
After all of those years, Father Laurence always expected something to happen, something full of karma. Since the beginning of his employment at the Kyodo facility, he had always expected that remnants of his past would return, making an attempt to ruin what the elderly man had left.
And he was fine with it.
But, never did Laurence believe that one of the children from thirty-six years ago, especially one a part of his recreation of the Tansu, would return. The Tansu Beasts were strong, incredibly so. Yet, just a mere year before the collapse of Tokuni village, every single vessel for the Tansu Beasts escaped.
All because of one child…
… Imawashiki.
He and the white-haired youngster who was always there for Imawashiki when he was a kid. They were meant to be the golden offspring, born to dethrone the Takuetsu dynasty, which ruled Adonai at the time. But fate had other ideas—ideas far grander than Father Laurence could fathom.
However, an incident far more catastrophic than the attack of the fiery beast occurred.
"Don't tell me your body is finally giving up on you, old man."
Laurence jolted at an abrupt voice.
Imawashiki remained between Laurence and Yuso. After carelessly letting Yuso's pentagram assault seemingly permeate through his body as it transformed into fire, the abomination of a being retained his hubristic expression. The cocky smirk and arrogant tone only made Yuso scowl deeper than before.
Something suddenly caught Imawashiki's eyes. Turning his head, his eyes softened slightly at a new sight. It was of Rosaline's unconscious body.
"Ah, what a shame—she was quite nice."
"Stop with the small-talk! Why are you here, Imawashiki!?" Laurence demanded, steeling his emotions from before.
Imawashiki smirked as he answered, "I just wanted to stop by, especially since I saw that there was a huge fight nearby. But I did not expect to see it be caused by two people I recognize."
Behind Imawashiki, Yuso took a step forward, his demonic eyes scanning the cloaked man discreetly. There was one thing that prevented Yuso from killing this particular man, and it was the ability he possessed. Being able to manipulate fire, creating it seemingly out of the air, was both used as an offense and a defense.
During his time becoming the successor of Lucifer, Yuso had gained information on a group called the "Tansu." A group that was full of the mightiest warriors, banded together by the gods themselves.
After learning this, Yuso merely thought of it as something trivial. They had been killed and could no longer pose a threat. But seeing an element being used as a weapon made him perplexed.
"So remnants of the gods still inhabit this nation?" Yuso questioned, his voice lowering to a venomous degree.
Imawashiki glanced at Yuso from the corner of his eyes. "Stay out of this, Red."
Yuso reverted back to his monotonous visage, tossing most of his anger away. Not this time—he wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him. Not now.
"I've dedicated my life to eradicating all things that are holy, much like the curses that still reside in people. That old man is one of them. But, after gaining the knowledge that a vessel of a godly beast still lives—that puts you at the top of my list of who to purge." Yuso spat indignantly, his palms glowing a vibrant red.
Imawashiki frowned. "It'd be a shame to end your life, especially since you have so much potential. Don't make me end you."
Yuso's eyes narrowed. "I've learned about the Tansu. Your fire ability gives you away completely. You, specifically, are the vessel of the Fire Dragon, Moeru."
Imawashiki suddenly flinched, clenching his palm. A pained expression invaded his face. Yuso must've struck a nerve.
"I think I've changed my mind…" Imawashiki sounded, his eyebrows furrowing. "...Killing you would benefit me instead."
*FWOOSH!*
A wall of fire is immersed from the body of Imawashiki, engulfing Yuso's entire line of sight. With a thrust of his arms, Yuso created a wall of pentagrams to combat the fiery assault.
Yuso's eyes began to swirl counter-clockwise, prompting each pentagram to start swallowing the area before them. Including the onslaught of fire. After a few moments, the fire had been completely taken care of, each flying pentagram vanishing with it.
"Your fire, although strong, is easy to quell." Yuso declared, his eyes and palms still glowing radiantly.
As if a switch had been flipped, Imawashiki's grin turned sadistic, raising his left arm with his palm facing upward. "It's certainly been a while since I've had to deal with someone like you." A fire then combusted, covering Imawashiki's hand. "So stuck-up and confident."
Laurence, choosing to refrain from engaging in battle, trekked over to a fallen Gabriel, who has passed out long ago from exhaustion and overwhelming pain.
Picking the kid up along with Excalibur, Laurence tried to scurry away, hoping that the impending battle between Imawashiki and Yuso would be a good enough distraction to flee.
Sadly—*FWOOSH!*—Laurence did not make it far, a barricade of fire preventing the elderly man from advancing even further.
"I got business with you, Father. Stay put while I put this redhead down." Imawashiki ordered, his hand extended out toward Laurence, only to bring it back down to his side.
Initiating the fight, Yuso dashed forward, a spike protruding out of his right palm. In his left hand, a chain emerged as Yuso then used it as a lasso, tossing it at Imawashiki to restrain him from any future actions.
"Let's see how fast you truly are, Dragon!"
As Yuso went for a jab at the cloaked man restrained with a red chain, Imawashiki's body quickly transformed into nothing but fire, letting the chain that wrapped around him fall to the ground.
Behind Yuso, Imawashiki's body reformed, his palm facing Yuso with a sickly grin on his face.
"Fast enough!?" Imawashiki bellowed cockily.
Yuso, without turning around, responded, "Not if you can't escape this."
Pentagrams reappeared, but this time in greater numbers. Yuso had successfully swapped places with Imawashiki, implying that a slew of pentagrams was prepared to attack the fiery abomination from being placed moments before the battle began.
Instead of spikes lunging out from the center of the pentagrams, they began to forcefully pull everything in its direction, similar to when Yuso subdued Imawashiki's first fire attack.
Imawashiki was forced to vanish by turning into flames once more as each pentagram swallowed everything in the middle. However, the red circles began to absorb the fire he had converted into, keeping him from completely vanishing away.
With every last flame being swallowed by the pentagrams, each flying red circle faded away with the release of Yuso's magic.
"Turns out he wasn't as strong as he claimed," Yuso stated, his sights transitioning over to Laurence.
Wait.
The barricade of fire that halted Laurence from escaping was still burning brightly.
Unexpectedly, a figure emerged from that fire, making Yuso's expression harden. After the figure separated itself from the fire of the barricade, their features became visible.
Imawashiki triumphed.
Standing meters away from Laurence, Imawashiki hollered out to Yuso, "I'll admit, you managed to bait me into a trap. Impressive!"
"My goal was to kill you with that, so your praise is ineffectual." Yuso retorted, assuming another stance.
Imawashiki cracked his knuckles. "I suppose it's my turn, right?"
Without a moment's notice, the ground began to crack, proceeding to be torn apart as fire emerged from underneath, shooting toward the sky.
Yuso hopped backward, attempting to distance himself from the subterranean explosions. Looking up at the sky, Yuso could identify what had shot out of the ground properly.
It was five fireballs, each taking the shape of a dragon's head. The fireballs then stopped in mid-air, turning in the opposite direction and plummetting toward the earth at incredible speed.
While the fireballs proceed to fall continually, Imawashiki leaped off from the ground and in the direction of Yuso. A fire consumed his fists as he went for a strike.
Yuso negated the strike with a small pentagram, but, surprisingly, the pentagram shattered. Imawashiki's physical strength must be equally overwhelming to the normal warrior.
The sun up above was then blocked, creating a shadow all around Yuso and Imawashiki.
The fireballs!
Yuso, with the utmost haste, formed pentagrams that were then used as barriers from the fireballs. Like umbrellas deflecting rain.
As Yuso placed those pentagrams, the redhead suddenly felt a heavy force strike him in the gut, sending him flying into a pile of toppled trees.
"Looks like you were the one who wasn't able to react fast enough!" Imawashiki mocked, retracting the fist covered in a flame that he used to punch Yuso.
In hopes of finishing off Yuso, Imawashiki extended his hand toward the fallen Yuso smirking devilishly.
"I'll give credit where it's owed; you put up a decent fight for someone like yourself!" The fiery abomination congratulated, "But, this fight had a distinct winner since the sta—ARGH!"
In immediate pain, Imawashiki grabbed his head, clenching his eyes shut. In the distance, Yuso crawled out from the ground, gazing at the suffering Imawashiki meters away from him.
'If I continue, I'll just be overwhelmed every time he attacks. His fire is too versatile…' Yuso noted internally, standing up straight.
Creating a sizeable pentagram behind himself, Yuso gave one last gaze at the scene he was currently leaving. He eyed Laurence, who still held Gabriel, then to Imawashiki, who was slowly recovering from his sudden internal assault.
'In order to accomplish my goals…'
'...I'll need to be stronger. Stronger than a Tansu vessel.'
With those final thoughts, Yuso fled quietly through his pentagram, disappearing without a trace. With the subterranean base's cover being cut down, some action is in order. But for right now, he needed to retreat.
Make it to Master as fast as possible.
XXX
Grumbling, Imawashiki opened his eyes. He appeared to be in some sort of daze. As the fiery abomination was recovering, an exasperated expression swept Imawashiki's face.
"Shit… You damn dragon always taking control of the situation…"
Imawashiki turned around, eyeing Laurence and the unconscious Gabriel. Narrowing his eyes, he trekked toward the two.
Unknowing to Imawashiki, this won't be the last of Yuso.
XXX
Decent enough, eh? This was the one-hundredth chapter! Can't wait for the two-hundredth! If… I keep writing that is. Most likely, we'll be there before you know it! Stay tuned for more!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_