"Remember, my children,"
"You should always make sure to treat your friends well, or the Demon of Red Gold will come after you!"
It was a saying spoken by mothers and village maidens alike across the entire eastern region of the Western Midlands. To the countries and nations that made up the Western Midlands, what they called, "true demons", held dominion over certain aspects of evil.
It was even stated by many that, Satsujinsha for example, was the "demon of blood and warfare", who came out only when the wrath of bloodshed and horrors was unleashed. Meanwhile, the Demon of Red Gold, who was treated more like an urban legend, was said to be the "demon of vengeance and hatred".
So Hurstrate, who had heard of this name so many times before in his past, decided to take on a demonic form similar to what he thought the Demon of Red Gold looked like, only because the demon represented the fear he wanted to exact most.
"I have seen what you cannot imagine," Hurstrate spoke, "My bleeding heart yearns for death, as I once felt that it was the only release from this cruel fate I have."
"And I know, I know very well that I will not remain alive, soon enough. But, I have already come to terms with that."
"So… now that I have come to terms with death, it is time for you to show me a feeble attempt to fight back, as my hatred consumes you all."
Hurstrate descended onto the earth, as a thunderous rumble echoed. He was massive, with his form reaching almost above the clouds, and his red, angered gaze so full of fury that it was capable of piercing the ground. But, Shuku, Rei and Nuru, at that moment, held little to no fear.
"…Don't you two notice it?" Rei asked, "He is weak. He's almost like an injured dog. That strange hatred he carries with him is self-destructive, and is causing his giant form to become unstable."
Nuru glanced up at the colossal demon that was now far from being a human, and murmured, "I wonder why he's so desperately clinging to that hatred. It's an obsession of his."
"He's so willing to go to such lengths to only prove his hatred of his… ha, I'm not even sure if it is 'hatred' he bears."
Shuku shook his head.
"It isn't hatred. It looks to be more like a facade. Though he has convinced himself that he 'hates', he is only afraid. But, what is he afraid of…? Perhaps, it may not be this world he despises-"
In a split second, Hurstrate raised his monstrous foot of blackened, wrinkly skin and attempted to stomp the three of them to death as he roared, the great tempest of fire and whirlwinds above him growing fiercer as he did.
But, the three of them evaded the foot-stomp and began their counterattack.
Nuru transformed into his preferred form, the white tiger, and tore into the flesh of Hurstrate's leg. Meanwhile, Rei mustered great blue fireballs which were close to swallowing Hurstrate whole, but in the end, did little to harm him.
Attacking him blindly won't do us much good. Shuku thought, dashing through the mist of smoke, I'm sure those two have realised that already, yet they're still trying to slow him down.
…I should try and devise a way out of this mess.
Soon enough, upon close observation, Shuku noticed that, aside from Hurstrate's weakened self, he also seemed to be concealing something incredibly small within his body, and was also fighting while trying not to divulge that weakness too much.
"The Luminous Branch is definitely inside of him. There assumably isn't any other way he can use it otherwise. We need to tear it from his body immediately."
Shuku finally darted directly towards the giant beastly being, and while leaping with his blade he struck his katana blade several times in just a few seconds through the side of Hurstrate's colossal form. Rei noticed this and followed up the attack with a tremendous fire explosion.
Yet, it seemed to do nothing much.
Whilst this happened, Nuru distracted Hurstrate by clawing his legs, tearing through his flesh. Nuru roared in his tiger form, and Hurstrate roared back, swinging his lanky, blackened arms wildly and crying out,
"YOU ANTS!"
Abruptly, Hurstrate halted his arm-swinging and twisted his head, gazing irately at Shuku, who was carving out the flesh from his side. Shuku had almost made a wound big enough for him to enter inside, but, sudden bone structures pierced through Hurstrate's skin and averted him from penetrating through.
"Ha… that nameless nitwit." Rei groaned.
Rei didn't care about the battle, since he could tell that this demonic form was but an illusion of this world, born from the Luminous Branch. Therefore, it was weak, and could even be handled by one of them alone given enough time, despite its tremendous size.
"Hm… but it won't do me much good if killing this beast takes longer than needed …"
Rei glanced at the great storm of fire lying far and distant above him, and at once used its blazing inferno to channel his power. At once, a mighty ball of fire akin to the sun was formed in the sky and instantly scorched the vicinities. The ferocious, scalding heat made small fires emerge all over the area.
And then, with a significant amount of strength exerted, he sent it hurdling down at Hurstrate.
Quite luckily, Nuru had noticed this just before the blazing sun was sent at Hurstrate, and so he finally tore through his leg entirely, and he quickly shot up the side of Hurstrate's body, soon to drag Shuku away with him.
Hurstrate landed backwards with a great fall and was struck by the blazing sun in all its glory, engulfing and obliterating a great chunk of his upper body.
"We have our chance now," Shuku spoke, "The Luminous Branch is inside his body, we have to find it."
"Alright, let's go!" Nuru exclaimed as he turned back into his human self.
The three of them charged into the open, gaping wound, and slashed, tore through and burnt their way into Hurstrate's insides, as his demonic form lay there, squirming helplessly.
"You guys!"
"I can see it!" Nuru yelled.
He had found his way into the heart of the demonic terror, and there it was, the Luminous Branch almost directly ahead of him, glowing, with a radiant aura of white that was akin to an angel, within Hurstrate's beating heart.
With haste, the three of them quickly tore it out of Hurstrate's body, and, like the shards of a shattered mirror flying around, everything around them became chaotic in an instant.
Everything around them dispersed into dust, and a veil of darkness coated everything, solely except the brilliant glow of the Luminous Branch, and the three individuals drifting through space to get to the other side.
•••
"So… you said, those three were judged to be the ones to retrieve the Luminous Branch the quickest together?" Bōshi asked, staring intently at the Halfblood Giant.
They all stood around the black sea, most of the Arcane Seekers, as well as Seiji and Hinote, staring into its abysmal depths.
"Yes. I had no foul intentions, for we must make haste into the Starless Void," Duran replied, "Or, what I should call it, the Void of the Stringless."
"The Void of the Stringless?" Hinote inquired, far too curious to hold it in at this point, "What even is it?"
"…It is a realm of an ancient secret. That is all I have discovered thus far. Yet, this is not even the closest I have come to entering that place."
Bōshi raised an eyebrow.
Huh… his words may mean that the Starless Void, or the Stringless whatever… has a near impenetrable secret. For even a half-blood of the great race of giants, determined to find out the world's mysteries, couldn't enter it once before.
"Oh, look!" Hinote yelled, interrupting Bōshi's quiet thoughts. A hand had appeared out of the black sea, which seemed to be losing its taintedness also.
Then, soon enough, Rei, Nuru and Shuku departed from the tainted sea, in that order, while carrying along someone else. A strange, sickly pale man, with sloppy and messy black hair, who wore plain rags that couldn't be recognized as clothing.
"The governor," Duran spoke, "I suppose you have the Luminous Branch?"
Rei dropped the fellow on the stone ground, replying,
"He has it. Inside his body."
Duran turned his gaze towards the unconscious man, who seemed almost on the verge of death.
"Don't do anything to him," Duran said, staring at the body without any kind of sympathy, "Let him wake up by himself."
"I need to see something first."