What would describe a cheerful ending to a war? Typically, the righteous side reigning supreme would boost the morale of millions, perhaps billions, and advance the world into a better state—but what if there was no moral side?
Those were the words that Regashi Ketsueki thought as he hovered high in the sky, peering down at the battleground on which the Detrimental War primarily took place. The male's bright green eyes were calm as he analyzed the war, perfectly matching his equally tranquil countenance.
With the direction of the Detrimental War as of late, Regashi deemed the battle sedate. There was no true, beneficial motive behind either Shanti's or Adonai's advancements in the war. Spilling blood was all that the two nations aimed for, and to the brown-haired male that currently spectated the chaos, the Detrimental War was nothing more than a game—a test to see who was more powerful.
Regashi's attention has recently been drawn to a few specific warriors. Tanjo Nozomu is well known as a boy with unwavering tenacity and a deep love for life, and he has not once failed to prove the ideation wrong. Currently, the boy is collaborating with his biological father, Oritsu Ketsueki, to subdue the previous rulers of Furusato.
As it appears, Tanjo and Oritsu were successful in their plans to free the rulers of Kekkan no Sosei, leaving Regashi with a faint smile spreading his lips.
"That should leave them satisfied for a little while longer..." Regashi murmured in a hushed tone, redirecting his gaze elsewhere.
Shockingly enough, Tanjo was not the only warrior that surfaced in the brown-haired male's mind. Almost on the other end of the battlefield, a merciless male with long hair of crimson red was slaying troops on both sides of the war without difficulty, his demonic eyes spiraling every second.
"Yuso…" Regashi exhaled with an interested tone, his green eyes shimmering even more. "You seem to target Tanjo… let's change that for the time being."
To Regashi, Yuso was just as determined as Tanjo Nozomu—but not as passionate for the world around him. Love and hate were but two sides of the same coin when discussing passion.
Tanjo's love for life encouraged him to achieve higher feats, while Yuso's hate drove the redhead's wrath numerous times throughout his existence on Earth.
"Let's see if that hateful heart of yours helps you in your next battle, Crimson Stalker…"
XXX
"Every time I grow closer, he runs further," Yuso mumbled to himself irritably, snapping the neck of a Shanti troop in his right hand.
The redhead had been constantly scouting for the jet-black-haired teenager that had previously escaped Yuso's grasp some time ago, and the wielder of the Shirugeto was planning on resolving the fight once and for all. Unfortunately, just as Yuso can sense the boy's Aura Sense, he loses it just as fast.
'It feels as if someone is interfering with my senses.' The redhead thought silently, narrowing his demonic eyes.
Yuso briefly looked upward, indecisive as to why, only to scoff as he saw nothing but an ever-darkening sky.
Suddenly, Yuso's eyes widened slightly as he once again detected the Aura Sense of the boy, quickly pin-pointing the direction in which his target was positioned.
'You aren't fleeing this time, boy—!'
*BOOM!*
Without warning, a red beam of light struck the spot where Yuso stood, creating a massive crater and a shockwave that stretched throughout the battlefield for a hefty distance, disrupting the fights between other warriors.
As the debris that floated in the air settled, the redhead appeared unscathed, surrounded by red pentagrams that took the brunt of the unexpected attack.
"...Great," Yuso grumbled with an irate tone. "Perhaps my hunt will be delayed even more."
As the redhead lowered the protective pentagrams—*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*—numerous tendrils of various Aura Senses ripped through the air, confusing Yuso tremendously.
Yuso swiftly maneuvered around the incoming tendrils of magic, effortlessly flickering in and out of sight as his speed was equivalent to light. Once his crimson-red hair stopped swaying from the rapid movements, Yuso's eyes flitted to the skies.
Then, he saw his opponent.
With black and feathery wings sprouting from his back, a man with ashy-blonde hair hovered in the air menacingly, a long scar traversing along his face. Adding to the man's appearance, his eyes were as green as emeralds, which reminded Yuso of the other cursed warriors out fighting in the Detrimental War.
"He, too, is affected by the Kekkan no Sosei…" Yuso noted, his Shirgueto proceeding to whirl slowly. "But, he also feels familiar…"
The black robes that the ashy-blonde-haired man wore were also familiar to the redhead, puzzling him to a further extent. Eventually, Yuso brushed the odd feeling of familiarity aside, enabling his Aura Sense to course through his veins at a faster rate.
"You zombies are quite tenacious when given orders… If only you could speak." Yuso spoke to the winged man patronizingly, clenching his fists.
Immediately, Yuso could discern differences from this particular undead warrior—they had wings, prompting the redhead to dig deep within his memory as to why: Tengoku no Gaido. In the past, it was a blessing that granted a human the ability to fly, no longer oppressed by the force of gravity. However, similar to the rest of the blessings, it, too, turned into a curse upon the eradication of the gods.
'Quite confounding to see the Tengoku no Gaido attached to a dead man's body—much less any curse at all.' The demonic redhead thought to himself, bending his knees slightly.
*WOOSH!*
After building up a particular amount of his Aura Sense, Yuso lunged toward the floating man at a rapid velocity, a stone spike emerging from the pentagram embedded in his right hand.
As his opponent remained still in the air, Yuso simply believed that the winged man was too slow to react to the redhead's immense speed, although he was not traveling at his fastest and that he had done nothing but squander time analyzing the odd and undead warrior for several moments.
Appallingly, those thoughts were put to shame as Yuso permeated directly through the winged man's body, his body continuing to fly through the air at incredible speeds.
'What!?' The Crimson Stalker's breath hitched momentarily.
Yuso hurriedly spawned a pentagram to halt him in mid-air, the crimson-red portal acting as a sturdy platform for the redhead to stand on.
'I phased through him entirely… It can't be another curse, as it would have a noticeable activation sequence before its use.' Yuso clenched his jaw, his mind racing for answers.
Slowly, the winged man shifted in the air to face behind him and stare Yuso down, his black robes fluttering in the wind. To the redhead's confusion, the ashy-blonde-haired man then lifted one hand upward, his palm facing upward.
'Now what…?' Yuso observed silently.
The man clenched his hand into a fist.
*RUMBLE!*
The ground below Yuso shook greatly as the battlefield started to ascend into the sky, large mounds of earth levitating majestically. In a matter of seconds, every massive piece of dirt and rock became encompassed by the magic of all four colors of the Aura Sense: red, blue, yellow, and purple.
'How comedic for me…' Yuso drolled sarcastically, preparing to leap from his hovering pentagram at any moment.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
Collectively, the mounds that practically blocked out the night sky proceeded to discharge waves of light beams in Yuso's direction, forcing the redhead to vanish elsewhere instantaneously.
'What kind of magic is this!?'
Yuso kept bouncing through the sky speedily, avoiding every beam skillfully. After a few moments, the redhead's Shirugeto eyes whirled, materializing a row of pentagrams that swallowed every blast heading his way, redirecting the attacks back to the floating mounds and destroying them permanently.
"Creative but ineffective, minion!" Yuso declared with a condescending tone of voice, his demonic eyes locking on the winged man once again.
Yuso grunted as the undead man looked at him emotionlessly. Because of the winged man's permeability, it was evident that blunt attacks would fail, but Yuso's arsenal included more than just blunt-force attacks.
With his Shirugeto spinning, a cage of pentagrams surrounded the winged man.
"I may not know how your magic works, but the Aura Sense still has its base of functionality—including all of which disrupts it," Yuso stated coldly, his eyes shining red.
*BRRMM!*
The pentagrams shimmered brilliantly as crimson chains shot out from each of them simultaneously. The chains all phased through the winged man's body, initially proving to be fruitless.
"You cannot use your magic if my own overwhelms it."
The crimson chains that emerged from the pentagrams soon began to grow hotter and glow brighter as the magic radiating from the cage made of pentagrams inclined substantially.
Unknown to the winged man, blood seeped from his torso. The chains had worked, as they successfully neutralized the man's permeability and managed to pierce straight through his body.
"I wish you luck in defeating me now, minion," Yuso whispered threateningly, propelling himself through the space between him and the winged man.
The Crimson Stalker shattered his pentagrams and tackled the winged man, urgently wrapping his crimson chains around his opponent's body to prevent him from becoming permeable again.
In a retaliating effort, the winged man flapped his black wings mightily, expelling a gust of wind that knocked Yuso off of him temporarily.
"Fleeing?" Yuso queried rhetorically, pumping his legs to descend on the winged man.
As the redhead zipped downward, he could not help but notice that the winged man's eyes suddenly transformed from green to yellow as human emotion flourished on his face for the first time since his assumed death.
XXX
Hovering far away from the fight between Yuso and the winged man, Regashi smirked as he tapped his finger against his chin incessantly.
With a simple snap of his fingers, the brown-haired male had brought the winged man back to life, releasing the Kekkan no Sosei from his body. The action was arbitrary and abrupt, but the motive was more than frivolous.
"Come on, Yuso… prove to me that you've grown stronger… beat the man that once humiliated you… beat Lord Phoenix!"
As it turns out, pulling all of the strings behind a war was more fun than it originally seemed, Regashi thought gleefully.
XXX
Now, don't claim that Regashi suddenly reviving Lord Phoenix mid-fight(I hope you realized it was Lord Phoenix and not just some random undead warrior with wings) was nothing short of random—it's not! Think about it: Regashi has been manipulating everything from the start! How else would Yuso get the best fight from Lord Phoenix if said lord was under the control of a curse? Besides, this may give Yuso the chance to realize just who he's fighting! Stay tuned for more!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_