Erupting flames surrounded a small village, screams, crying, and the attempts to call for help failed. A child stood alone in the midst of the ruins while others suffered, running and being slaughtered.
The shapes of demonic beings are ruining the place, destroying the village in pieces as they search for a specific person.
In a motion, the child's eyes widened, "Wait..." He stepped forward, observing the destroyed village, "What...is happening..." His brain couldn't process the chaos.
Suddenly, a man who was running grabbed the child by his hand, forcing him to run with him.
"Ru..n" As he raised his head upward, the man's head fell, spilling blood. A flame erupted in front of him, causing a barrier between him and the demon.
"I...need to run..." With more bravery, the kid ran toward the other exit behind, though he felt the flames getting lower. "Hide..." He immediately followed the instruction his instinct gave him, hiding under a house ruin.
The sound of chaos increased, "He ran somewhere!", "Erase this village from existence, don't fail an attempt to kill him!", and laughter. Two demons stood in the midst of the path in front of the hiding child.
"I am enjoying this!" One of them said, the other sighed, "I don't know why the leader demanded we capture this child...i say let's just kill him instead."
The hiding kid couldn't comprehend the situation, yet held his ground, hiding beneath the ruins. From fear, his eyes forced tears to fall on his cheek. He knew it was the end, they'll find him eventually.
There was a hole in the wood in front, allowing an eye to see beyond. He stared from that hole. "No...way..." The whole village erupted into flames from beneath, while demons roamed in search of something. His eyes glared with the sparks of falling burning ashes.
"I need to run...somehow...somewhere..." He lifted his head away from the hole, thinking of an escape plan while his breath hitched.
His sight caught an opening for escaping, "This is it..." Since the demons roamed the right side of the village, they ignored the left side, leaving an opening for escape.
The child lifted the wood above, running as fast to leave the village from that side. When he almost took a step out of the broken house, a hand gripped his leg. "Pl..ease...take...me..with you..." A kid who crawled all the way trying to escape. He acknowledged the girl's face, "Mia.."
Then he proceeded to carry her, attempting to lift the wood above her. He successfully pulled her out, carried her, and took his first step to run. "..!" He heard approaching steps behind. As soon as he heard the steps, the child ran as fast, reaching the exit of the forest. Entering between trees, going randomly right and left to confuse who is following.
A branch from the ground tripped him, leading him to fall on his face. "Ouch...!" The steps kept approaching.
The kid stared at the girl beside him, grabbed her arm, and crawled forward, trying to drag her with him.
Footsteps behind vanished, leaving a sound of a jump...
Suddenly, a demon appeared in front of the crawling kid. The demon held two kids on both shoulders.
The kid crawling held himself, then twisted his head at the ground. "I...don't want to die...Please..." His tears fell rapidly on the grass below. "Please...don't hurt us..."
He felt a hand patting his head. "Don't worry..." As the kid raised his head, he saw a human just like him. The person was smiling at the kid. "Take those with you...We will meet again someday. Just run away from this place." The smiling guy said.
The kid's tears stopped on his face, while he kept observing the man. The smiling twirled into a serious one when he left the kids on the ground. He lifted himself slowly, saying, "Run...now..." As the man's cape weaved, he vanished, leaving nothing but sparks of Reikonryoku falling on the kids.
The kid stood, putting the girl on his back. Grabbing both of the others' arms, dragging them while they were on the ground. "I...will...escape..." He was struggling while pulling the kids with him; his strength was nothing but a mere child's strength.
He went away from the area. "!!!"
The bursting fire behind exploded with another kind of flames. The child twisted around to see the village once more.
"The flames...turned black..." As he spoke, the flames' size increased, exploding everywhere in that village, even reaching the forest at some point. The kid raised his arm, covering himself from the flying dust and the flying sparks of rising flames.
"I should continue... these flames are increasing..." He dragged the other kids, stepped forward into the midst of the dark forest.
He moved a couple of meters from his original place, though his strength was consumed. The kid's vision keeps blurring, while dizziness foams in his sight.
His eyes kept blinking, almost leading him to go unconscious. "I...should...continue..." He stepped forward. "Losing...was...never...AN...OpTIOn..." His voice is cracking.
The kid's breath was fastening, his heart bumping sound visited his brain. The dizziness increased. The confusion of the situation haunted him as well.
His leg twisted, changing the direction he was moving toward. Unconsciously, he walked to a tree, falling at the ground before it.
As his head almost bumped into the tree, a branch was born, extending forward to capture him.
"Oh...a fast opponent?" The tree was shaping a figure descending from it, and he slipped into the grass, landing on it with the tip of his feet.
"Sleep...you've done enough." The vanished figure placed the kids on the ground, then vanished, reappearing in front of the figure who slipped from the tree.
His cape burned slowly in black flames, disappearing immediately. "Who..are you?" The smirking figure who came out of the tree spoke.
As the cape burned away, "Kaien Ranzaki...the demon fucker." Kaien smirked, vision fixed on his opponent. "How about you filthy demon show us your real form?" Kaien spoke while he stretched his arm, warming up.
The figure who came out of the tree, "If you wish..." His body shaped into a demon, with red skin like a regular one. Though his muscles showed he was no ordinary demon. The glare of his green pupil reflected his inner, while grass extended covering both of his arms.
"The hierarch of nature...Gurlo" As those words spilled out of the demon's mouth, the grass completely covered his arms.
A hierarch...not someone you see every day. This will be interesting. Kaien thought, then stood properly.
He lowered his head at the grass beneath, "How about...WE START!" Kaien's smirk appeared on his face as he darted toward the demon.
A tall plant's roots stretched out of the demon's stomach, reaching for him. Kaien landed one toe, pushing himself upward, leading the roots to go past.
Kaien rushed in mid-air toward the hierarch when the root beneath changed direction, coming at him from behind. "Cheap trick!" Black Reikonryoku flames erupted from Kaien's back, burning the root behind as he advanced toward the demon.
Upon Kaien's arrival, the root fell from the demon's stomach, leaving an opportunity to block his opponent. Kaien charged his foot toward the hierarch's face, but was blocked by the hierarch.
In an instant, the hierarch was sent back against the tree, crashing and flying from the other side. Kaien appeared in front of the flying hierarch with a blow ready to strike his face.
The hierarch immediately lifted his knee, slamming Kaien's stomach, sending him flying upward. Then, plants extended from the ground behind him, catching him and rotating, pushing him toward his flying opponent.
Kaien lunged from mid-air against the demon, unsheathing his katana slowly when the demon's hand shaped a blade. They both caught up, clashing, sending a spark of shockwaves with red lightning blowing from the occurring clash.
"Immense strength for a mere human..." The hierarch's green pupil glared when he spoke,
"This is nothing..." Kaien's foot slammed into the hierarch's stomach when he raised his katana.
The hierarch rattled into the ground, causing 4 roots to extend toward Kaien.
"You know what..." Kaien drifted from the air at the extending roots, slicing it into parts while catching up beneath to the demon. "I enjoyed this!" He reached the demon with a swing that bypassed through his neck, snapping it out of his body.
Then, Kaien steps onto the ground, lunging backward, sheathing his katana.
"It's not over..." Roots came out of the hierarch's body, connecting with the floating head. The head was pulled back, and veins lined connecting again.
Interesting...this is hierarchs? Kaien twisted around, observing the demon as roots stretched everywhere from the ground, entering through the demon's body. The entering roots extended out again, surrounding more areas of the demon's body. Building a strong body for him.
His shape got taller, his color changed into a complete brown, though his shoulders and arms were white. "He is capable of copying every root's existence...?"
Breezes of wind came out of the hierarch's mouth as he breathed, "Get ready..." Roots erupted from the ground, pointing at Kaien. "TO DIE!" The roots flew toward the standing Kaien.
"That's painful..." A circular-shaped mark appeared on Kaien's palm when he reached for his katana's handle. "Consume everything...my dear flames!" As Kaien unsheathed his katana, black flames surrounded it, flowing out of it. The flames reflected on his body, then surrounded it like an aura. His eyes shed black sparks while his legs backened.
Upon the arrival of hierarch's roots, Kaien's flames increased as he ducked, leading the roots to pass through. Then, he swung all the roots from the middle, causing black flames to spread everywhere on those roots, consuming it.
The flame's consumption rate was high, and the speed exceeded imagination, reaching the hierarch in no time. "Damn you!" The demon raised his arm as 4 layers of white roots covered him from the rising flames.
"Smart move..." Kaien was already in front of the layered root barrier. With fast swings, he managed to slice it apart, allowing his flames to pass by. Though no traces of the hierarch were left.
Suddenly, he heard a voice ascending from behind. "Why are you getting in my way...Kaien."
"Ask yourself...why are you going after some kid?" Kaien landed on the ground while ashes of the consumed roots fell.
"Not like you'll care about a lonely orphan...i see from your heart you're not like any other filthy human." The hierarch spoke as he ascended from the ground, reforming his shape. He proceeded, "Kaien...your flames, and your way of fighting belong to a demon's style."
"Don't...call me a demon..." Kaien was already in front of the demon with a slash, shattering all the trees behind the demon when the hierarch vanished into the ground.
The hierarch ascended from the ground behind with roots erupting with him.
"I won't act stupid, you've come for this child's Reikonryoku. Which is childish, trying to consume a human's Reikonryoku." Kaien turned, facing the demon.
"Heh...even when you possess the strength of a hierarch, you still can't feel the demonic Reikonryoku? Interesting subject to acknowledge..." The demon spoke, then smiled.
"You're stating this child has a corrupted Reikonryoku? Foolish to think about..." Kaien narrowed his eyes at the unconscious child.
"That is the reason i'm risking my whole life to capture him...I need to study his Reikonryoku and know where it came from..." The demon spilled those words as the roots oriented, waiting for an order to strike.
"We all know only the Gama family possesses that kind of Reikonryoku...no one else does. So, how about we ignore that fight and you return to your filthy dimension...more losses are pointless at this point." Kaien's black flames flowed faster.
"Kaien, how about you company me on this. We can make him our strongest weapon, i have the same intention of obliterating every demon...and every human as well." The demon smiled while Kaien lowered his head, fixing his gaze on the ground.
"You black flames...my lovely plants...and this corrupted Reikonryoku will achieve our dreams!" He continued, then laughed.
Kaien lifted his head slowly when a smirk formed, "Heh..."
The demon's roots flew toward Kaien at a high pace, "Like you wish...Kaien!"
"There isn't any way i would unite with a filthy...DEMON LIKE YOURSELF!" Kaien's flames consumed the flames while he hadn't moved an inch.
"Your ignorance will consume you..." The demon vanished, reappearing with a shape of blades on his right arm. "No one uses the consumption word other than me." They both struck again with a clash, leading black flame surrounded roots to erupt from the ground.
Multiple red lightning bolts blew with sparks of steel clashing, and the sounds of flames consuming the extending roots.
Kaien's blade went through the demon's arm, cutting it in half. Then he threw his katana away, lifting his leg upward with a slam on the demon's head from above "GH-".
He immediately caught the demon before he fell on the ground with a fist strike at his opponent's stomach. While the demon got sent backward, Kaien kept vanishing and reappearing on every side of the flying demon with punches.
Afterward, he appeared in front of the demon, grabbing him by the hair. Using his left fist to barrage in one hand, with each slam, shockwaves erupted from it with Reikonryoku sparks ascending all around them.
At the last strike, the demon coughed green blood, then he shouted "GO AWAYYY!!!"
Roots stretched from the ground in an attempt to catch Kaien, but he vanished.
The roots proceeded to raise the angered demon upward, "I WILL KILL YOUUU!!"
"As you wish..." The smirking Kaien appeared on the ground with his katana in hand, the black flame's flow reshaped around his body, flowing like water.
Suddenly, a conjured sprouting plant has been born behind the demon, ascending toward the sky.
The closed plant opened slowly when the hierarch shouted, "BURN HIM ALIVE!!!"
When it completely opened, a bright shining light reflected everywhere. Turning the night into a day for that area.
"Oh...last card...i completely understand your effort, but i have to break it for you." Kaien got into a stance.
"My black flames can consume your light..." He smirked as black flames erupted around him.
"BLAST OF NATURE!" The light formed a massive amount of light energy, combining.
Kaien stood observing the light while his black flames erupted further.
The blast of light gathered, then unleashed, surging toward Kaien, "DIE!!"
I still haven't mastered this technique yet...but i will try... Kaien's gaze was fixed on the light before he closed his eyes.
"Dimensional abyss..." Kaien muttered in a low tone as the light ascended toward him.
"Dark hell flames!" Black flames erupted everywhere within a close range around Kaien, consuming everything, trees, grass, and every single nature of life around.
The black flames surrounded him and flew at the light, covering it around, while consuming it. "How...it's erasing the light..." The flying demon trembled in fear.
In a shocking moment, the black flames completely consumed the light and reached the hierarch in no time. "My flames will consume every part of your body to make sure you never reshape.." Kaien twisted around, walking toward the barrier that he commanded to surround the unconscious children, preventing chaos from consuming them.
"Fuck...FUCK YOUUUU!" The hierarch's last words as he was fully eaten by the flames.
"Yeah...fuck me." Kaien's shape disappeared from his palm as he unsheathed his katana, leading the surrounding flames to fade.
The barrier was already shattered due to Kaien having no more Reikonryoku. He had taken a step into the child's area. A figure surprised him who stood by the tree, leaning against it.
"Rauchi? You're here!" Kaien's eyes widened in relief. "You've used your dimensional abyss again..." Rauchi proceeded, "Imagine if you died at that point. You haven't even mastered it yet!" Rauchi took a step toward Kaien.
"Don't worry about it. I wanted you here to carry the children because I'm gonna pass out now!" Kaien fell on his face, smiling. "YOU TELLING ME YOU'RE PASSING OUT CASUALLY LIKE THAT!?" He face-palmed, "This guy is so irritating and stupid at the same time...alright, i guess i should take them to the soul brigade."
Chapter End.