[Flashback Ends...]
Present Day
The deeper parts of the Star Dou Great Forest didn't see much sunlight. The canopy was too thick, the trees too dense. It was a world of green shadows and sudden, violent death.
Arthev stood on a thick branch, sixty feet above the ground. He wore a simple black robe, the fabric reinforced but unadorned. His face was hidden behind a hard, white porcelain mask. It had a ripple pattern, with two eye holes shaped like tomoe and a third hole on the forehead.
'Bored,' a raspy voice rang in his skull. 'I am so bored, kid. We haven't killed anything in three days. My sand is getting itchy.'
"Quiet, Shukaku," Arthev said, his voice muffled slightly by the mask. "We're just crossing to the northern border."
BOOM.
The ground shook. It wasn't a subtle tremor, the tree Arthev was standing on vibrated so hard the bark cracked. Birds took flight in a screeching panic.
Arthev stopped. He tilted his head to the side. "Two kilometers. Approaching fast."
Through the dense foliage, a black figure was moving. It was the Titan Giant Ape, Er Ming. The King of the Forest was tearing through the trees like they were grass. On its massive shoulder, a small figure in pink sat, looking anxious.
'A monkey?' Shukaku scoffed. 'A big, dumb monkey. Look at him, acting like he owns the forest.'
"It's the Titan Giant Ape," Arthev noted. "And that's Xiao Wu."
'Hey, kid,' Shukaku whispered, his voice dripping with bloodlust.
'Let me out. That monkey thinks he's the strongest thing here. It insults me. Let me show him what a real calamity looks like.'
Arthev watched the Ape smash a hundred-year-old oak tree. He felt the cold engine of his own anger, always idling since the village was erased.
"Fine," Arthev whispered, stepping off the branch. "Don't kill the girl."
'Hehehe. No promises on the monkey.'
Arthev landed in the clearing directly in front of the charging Titan Giant Ape. The Ape saw the tiny human and raised a fist the size of a carriage to crush him.
Arthev didn't move. He clasped his hands together.
"Playtime."
ROAR!
The ground beneath Arthev exploded. A tsunami of pressurized, grinding sand erupted, rising hundreds of meters into the air. The sand swirled, compacted, and hardened, forming a colossal body with black curse markings.
The One-Tailed Shukaku manifested fully, towering over the Titan Ape.
"I AM HERE!" Shukaku screamed.
A physical wave of air pressure blasted outward from his mouth, flattening trees for miles. A majestic, terrifying momentum suppressed the entire outer periphery of the Star Dou Great Forest!
All the soul beasts and soul masters in the vicinity were so shocked by this momentum that they couldn't help but tremble.
"What kind of soul beast is this?!" a Soul Elder miles away screamed, falling to his knees.
"Just this aura alone makes my body tremble... Run! Run out of the forest, quickly!"
Countless soul masters abandoned their hunts, risking their lives to sprint toward the exits. Even 10,000 year soul beasts lay flat on the ground, whimpering, not daring to move.
The Titan Ape stopped dead in its tracks.
It turned its massive head, looking up at the strange, pot-bellied giant made of sand that had suddenly blocked its path. Its amber eyes widened in surprise.
"What is that..." Xiao Wu, standing on Er Ming's shoulder, gasped. She clutched the green necklace at her chest tightly.
"I've never seen a beast like this in the Core Area... Er Ming, be careful!"
The Titan Giant Ape shook its head, a human-like gesture of refocusing. It bared its fangs and roared back, furious that something dared to challenge its dominance.
It jumped back, creating distance, and slammed its massive fists onto the ground.
Gravity Control Domain.
A wave of black energy pulsed out. The gravity in the clearing increased tenfold.
Shukaku's massive sand arm fell off under the weight... and then instantly turned to dust and floated back up.
"Gravity?" Shukaku mocked. "I am the earth, you over-grown chimpanzee!"
Shukaku inhaled. His chest expanded.
"Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullet!"
He slammed his stomach. A cannonball of compressed air blasted from his mouth.
The Titan Ape crossed its arms to block.
BOOM!
The impact sent the Titan Ape skidding backward, plowing a trench through the forest. Xiao Wu, jolted by the impact, grab tightly Ape's shoulder inorder not to fall.
The Titan Ape was mad now. It glowed with a yellow light, its muscles bulging. It leaped, clearing the distance in a single bound, and punched Shukaku in the face.
SPLAT.
Shukaku's head exploded into sand.
The Ape landed, looking confused.It looked at its fist, covered in grit.
The sand swirled behind the Ape. Shukaku's head reformed, grinning maniacally.
"My turn."
Shukaku slammed his claws into the ground.
"Desert Layered Imperial Funeral!"
The entire clearing turned into a fluid ocean of sand. Massive waves rose up, crashing over the Titan Ape, burying it up to its neck. The sand hardened instantly, locking the beast in a pyramid of pressure.
The Titan Ape roared, struggling. The yellow light of its domain flared, cracking the surface of the pyramid, but Shukaku just poured more sand on top, sealing it tighter.
"Stay down!" Shukaku yelled.
Inside the pyramid, Er Ming struggled desperately, but the sand was grinding against his skin, restricting his movement completely.
Xiao Wu, who had been thrown to a high tree branch by the shockwave of the sand ocean, looked down in horror. "Er Ming!"
Shukaku ignored the girl. He looked down at the trapped Ape with sadistic glee.
"You're tough, monkey," Shukaku laughed.
"But let's see if you can survive this."
Shukaku opened his massive mouth.
Tiny particles of blue and red emergy began to gather in the air. They swirled and compressed, forming a super-dense black sphere in front of his maw. The air around the sphere crackled and warped.
Tailed Beast Bomb.
The Titan Giant Ape stopped struggling. It stared at the black sphere. It felt the energy density.
For the first time in its life, the King of the Forest felt the cold grip of death.
"No..." Xiao Wu covered her mouth, tears welling in her eyes. "Don't!"
Inside the sand construct, Arthev floated in his mindscape, watching the sphere grow larger.
"Shukaku," Arthev said calmly.
'I'm gonna vaporize him!' Shukaku yelled, salivating. 'Look at that face! He knows he lost!'
"We aren't here to start a war with the Star Dou Core Area," Arthev said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
"And the Azure Bull Python is probably on his way. Aim higher."
'Tch. You're no fun.'
Shukaku tilted his head back slightly at the last second.
"Eat this!"
VWOOP.
The beam fired.
It passed mere inches above the Titan Giant Ape's head, singing the fur on its ears. The heat was so intense it instantly evaporated the moisture in the air.
The beam traveled four miles instantly. It hit a mountain peak in the distance.
FLASH.
For a second, there was no sound. Then, a blinding dome of light engulfed the mountain. When the light faded, the mountain was gone. Just gone. Vaporized into nothingness.
The shockwave arrived seconds later, snapping trees in half like twigs.
Silence returned to the forest.
Shukaku dissolved the sand binding the Ape. The sand crumbled away, leaving the Titan Giant Ape sitting in the crater, trembling, clutching its arm where the heat of the beam had burned it.
It didn't roar. It didn't attack. It just sat there, humbled.
The massive sand tanuki began to crumble, cascading down like a waterfall, revealing a lone figure standing amidst the dust.
Xiao Wu scrambled down the tree, rushing toward the Ape. "Er Ming! Er Ming, are you okay?"
The Ape grunted softly, nudging her gently, its eyes filled with fear as it looked at the dust cloud.
"Who..." Xiao Wu looked around, her voice shaking. "Who are you?"
The dust settled.
Arthev stood there, his black robes fluttering in the wind. He reached up and slowly unclasped the white porcelain mask, revealing a face that Xiao Wu hadn't seen in years.
"Hello, Xiao Wu," Arthev said.
To be continued.....