The halls were dark. Only a few luminous candles were currently lit, making the entire castle cold. Fortunately for Tanjo, he had become a novice at stealth. As of late, the masked boy has been venturing through the castle for numerous minutes, his eyes scanning every potential spot Mizuki could be stored.
'With a castle this big, it'll be nearly impossible to search every room in a short amount of time—I have to rely on my senses if I want to find Mizuki.' Tanjo thought, pushing his hand up against a stone wall—it was as cold as ice.
With his eyes closed, Tanjo hesitantly allowed his Aura Sense to flare, preventing it from spiking and alerting any nearby rogues. At first, Tanjo felt no new sensations, heard no sounds, or smelled anything noticeable.
'...Wait! What is this…?'
Before Tanjo could release his hand from the frigid stone wall, he suddenly heard sobbing, rough sniffles reverberating through the walls intermittently. It sounded like a child.
With a hit of realization, Tanjo's eyes broadened. 'Whoever this person is, there is nobody else around but them!'
The boy would like to assume that it was a child, given the high-pitched sobs coming from their throat, but it would be too idiotic to assume it entirely. However, it was not enough to deter Tanjo in the slightest.
'It sounds like they are a few rooms over… better keep going silently, then.'
With this new information, Tanjo ambled his way down the halls, practically hugging the walls to hide in the shadows—his new cloak and mask concealed him perfectly; his old armor would have rattled the entire time, shining from the little light there was.
As Tanjo traversed down the halls, he could see photographs hung up on the wall, images consisting of royalty. In one picture, it was a queen, donning a golden crown majestically. Further on the wall, more rulers were visible.
Finally, Tanjo's eyes glanced at the final image, only to see it ripped to pieces. All that remained was the golden crown, which was presumably on the head of whoever was in the photograph.
'This village has definitely seen better days…'
It only took a few minutes for Tanjo to wander into a new hallway, being greeted with the sight of double doors, painted red with scratches all over, their handles made seemingly of gold.
Quickly stopping, Tanjo closed his eyes once more, allowing himself to sense the area thoroughly. Just like he had thought, the person was just on the other side of the doors, residing in that very room.
Tentatively, Tanjo wrapped his hands around the golden handles, softly clicking the doors open—if only there was a quiet way of entering. But alas, the teenage boy shifted his body, sneaking through the crevice of the barely opened door, slowly releasing pressure on the door until it shut silently.
'Huh… It's very… dark.' Tanjo noted as he turned around.
Red flags were signaled all throughout his brain. It was dark, too dark. It reminded him of the abyss Ms. Tassei had trapped him in—as if he was blinded.
'It shouldn't be possible for it to be this dark but and body remain completely visible.'
Without warning, the sound of sobbing enveloped the darkness, piercing Tanjo's ears frighteningly. Assuming a stance, the masked boy tried to look all around. His attempts ended fruitlessly as he could not see farther than his own body.
*PSSH!*
A white light had appeared, shining downward onto the ground, revealing a particular person huddled on the floor.
Tanjo's mouth gaped. "Mizuki!?"
True to his words, Mizuki, the brown-haired child from Ryakudatsu, was crouched on the ground, tears escaping his eyes and cascading down his cheeks.
Another warning hit Tanjo. "He isn't responding… something's off."
On another note, this room, whatever they were in, had no way of having Mizuki's somber sobs echo at such a volume—no room in the world could probably reverberate noise at such a level, it was as if Mizuki was crying directly in his ears.
Not too long ago, Tanjo would have instantly darted toward Mizuki in this instance, but his mind fought furiously to prevent his body from doing so. He desperately wanted to sprint toward the child, pick him up, and leave the ravaged village, taking him home to his siblings…
…But he did not move.
Gradually, Tanjo called out to the child, "Mizuki, can you hear me?"
As if it was a response, the sobbing grew louder with every second, prompting Tanjo to cup his ears, deafening the painful cries. The cries were definitely inhumane, nothing Mizuki would ever be able to make.
"Whatever this is," Tanjo started, "I'm for sure compromised!"
With an assumed stance, Tanjo conjured a yellow Genso-Kyu and shot it out into the abyss, the beam giving off no light. This gave Tanjo a thought.
"So Ms. Tassei isn't the only one who harnesses an illusion ability…"
Recalling his visit with the woman from his village, Tanjo brimmed his body with his Aura Sense. He had no clue as to how he broke free of the illusion exactly, but it had something to do with his 'god-given' powers, Ms. Tassei had briefly explained.
Just as Tanjo was prepared to shatter the illusion, the crying ceased, a voice replacing it.
"So you really do have it." The foreign voice spoke, stumping Tanjo.
Tanjo scowled under his mask. "Who are you!?"
Abruptly, the darkness started to disappear, sinking into the floor and walls of the room he had supposedly walked into earlier. With the darkness leaving, the image of Mizuki dissipated with it, making Tanjo feel a pang of sadness in his heart.
As the darkness cleared, a figure started to walk out of the shadows leisurely. Tanjo's eyes immediately locked onto them, refusing to part in the chance that they attack.
With long, brown hair and green eyes glinting brightly, Regashi Ketsueki grinned as he stared at Tanjo amusingly.
"How nice of you to join me, Tanjo 'Nozomu'."
XXX
Yuso's eyes could barely glimpse at the towering figure before him, Doryoku's massive statue made completely out of his aura print seemingly reaching the clouds.
With his enhanced senses, Yuso could hear as Doryoku yelled:
"I'll blast you to the damn stars for what you did!"
Of course, he had just subdued his rogue brother by impaling him with numerous spikes. Yuso, on the other hand, let his palms glow vibrantly. This rogue towering before him was an even bigger threat than before, perhaps even his brother with his staff that manipulated wood.
Yuso hummed. "If anything, this fight will push me to a newer level of power."
Up inside the conjured statue, the green-haired Doryoku gritted his teeth forcefully, clenching his fists tightly. Suddenly, four more arms emerged from the sides, bringing the total to six arms.
"My aura prints are limited to my imagination, and since I'm not very bright, I've only ever resorted to fists—but now, after watching you and my brother fight, I've never felt my mind race faster before!" Doryoku proclaimed, clenching the statue's fists.
The statue's fists reeled back, slamming into the space where Yuso stood. A giant cloud of dust shot up into the air, leaving a deep crater in the ground. Each individual fist alone was roughly a third of the size of a village, and adding five more only added to the destruction.
Up in the sky, teleporting behind the massive statue of green, Yuso emerged from a pentagram, glowering down at Doryoku. "Your massive body will only decrease your speed, rodent."
*WHOOSH!*
To Yuso's surprise, six tendrils protruded from the statue's back, all directed at Yuso. With utmost haste, Yuso teleported throughout the air, dodging each of the incoming tendrils. Shockingly, the tendrils could almost move just as fast as Yuso teleported, who moved at the linear speed of light, nearly faster than photons.
Once the tendrils failed to strike Yuso, Doryoku forced the statue to shift and throw a punch in Yuso's general direction, missing narrowly as the redhead vanished once again.
"Quit running!" Doryoku hollered, surveying the area intently,
As he emerged from a new pentagram, Yuso lifted his leg powerfully, delivering a powerful blow to the statue's stomach, miraculously sending it flying into the air. It was much heavier and more dense than Yuso could imagine—the magic being used to create such an aura print was extremely potent and more durable than anything on the planet.
All 250 meters of magic forced itself to flip, the six tendrils extending downward and latching to the earth, giving the statue leverage.
"You're going to need more than that, you demon…" Doryoku murmured quietly, focused on nothing but the redhead below.
With great power, the tall statue swooped down on Yuso, launching several punches through the air. In response, Yuso formed several massive pentagrams as a barrier, hoping to impede Doryoku's assault.
"No more circles!"
In one palm, the statue materialized an extremely long blade, the hilt being clasped by the six hands. Like paper, the pentagrams were sliced through, leaving Yuso defenseless and warranting him to block using both of his arms.
*FWOOSH!*
The moment the sword made of magic hit Yuso, the redhead crashed into the ground, no longer visible. Along with Yuso, the clouds in the sky were parted all across the sky, extending across the globe.
"HAHA!" Doryoku laughed maniacally. "That was for my brother, you bastard!"
Doryoku's laughter ceased as he saw a glimpse of red form in the sky.
"How the hell…?"
Yuso stood tall without arms, hovering in the middle of the air on a crimson pentagram. The green-haired rogue was too shocked to speak: the redhead had managed to take the brunt of his sword, only losing his arms?
Heavily, Yuso breathed out, his knees buckling. He had to use all of his Aura Sense to survive such an attack, and he still lost both of his arms. How could a rogue who only formed fists out of magic be able to harness the power to whisk away continents?
"Hey," Doryoku mumbled. "You're getting weaker, I can see it… but you still aren't dead!"
The statue forced the sword in its hands to vanish, only to huddle all of its hands together, the six palms facing outward. Yuso observed, strained. After a few seconds, Yuso's Shirugeto eyes widened.
*BRRRRM!*
Using all six of the statue's hands, a green Genso-Kyu was being conjured; the size of the magic orb could be compared to an entire village, perhaps two.
"There won't be an atom left of you!" Doryoku screamed, his throat becoming hoarse.
Yuso did not move, remaining armless as he helplessly watched as the massive Genso-Kyu prepared to discharge the biggest beam it could muster.
'Oh, how I've fallen—disgraced and wounded. This type of… death, it's embarrassing.' Yuso thought to himself, his mind beginning to race.
*KABOOOOOM!*
Before the roaring sound of the Genso-Kyu could be heard, the beam of light being sent outward was already flying. Everything went slow for Yuso. The impending green light slowed, but its course was still straight ahead, toward him.
'Death only comes to those who let it,'
The beam got closer with every millisecond, time proceeding to speed back up.
'I shall not die here, nor anytime in this reality; I will not perish for the objective of my master, but live to see the day he sets me free!'
It took less than a second for Yuso's arms to miraculously grow back, the limbs appearing brand new but the pentagrams embedded into his palms returning. Yuso's Aura Sense suddenly burst out of his body, just like the last time he soared in power.
"I'll ask one more time: submit!"
*SSHRRRRRM!*
A giant red beam immediately assembled, colliding with the green beam from Doryoku's statue. Yuso's countenance was full of anger and pride, his new arms outstretched, shaking with overwhelming power.
Subtly, Yuso's red hair got longer, swaying violently from the wind pressure of the two blasts.
The redhead strained his hands, forcing his beam forward. In a matter of seconds, Doryoku was unable to push the red beam back and was instantly consumed by Yuso's magic, which shot through the Earth's atmosphere, traveling through the vastness of the solar system.
Doryoku, who was still in his statue, heard as it cracked, a fearful expression was etched on his face.
"Oh,"
Then, Doryoku's magic gave in.
XXX
It took several minutes for everything to die down, the debris of the battle drifting through the air slowly. Back on the ground, a foot grounded itself in the dirt. It was Yuso.
The strengthened Yuso stumbled with every step, his eyes looking downward. Soon, he stopped.
On the ground before him, Doryoku's burnt body lay motionless. Half of his body no longer had skin; his clothes turned to ash. The hair that was once a luscious green was now dark and fried.
"...Brother…" Doryoku called out weakly, his eyes gray from being blinded by Yuso's beam. "...I can't wait to spend more time with you…"
After this, Yuso emotionlessly procured Doryoku's green ring, stumbling off and leaving the area.
XXX
I absolutely despise killing off characters, especially ones like Doryoku. He's been in the novel for so long, over a year, and now he's gone—forever. I am completely infatuated with every character I make, and, as an author, we have to be emotionally attached—a blessing and a curse. Whether he was a bad guy, or, in some light, a normal human being, he impacted the story like everyone else—the embodiment of every existing character.
Rest in Peace Doryoku
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_