A week passed since Kageya and Reikuro left the Black Wolf Clan ruins behind.
In deep jungles, life had found an odd cadence training by day, living at night.
Some nights they rested in wet caves, others on branch-platform beds under moonlit silver.
Reikuro stayed alert, black fur appearing to glint faintly with purple aura while Kageya slept, dreaming of power and revenge.They were to the east of a clan in Kingdom of Moon highly a kingdom rules almost quarter of the world.....
Sweat burst out on Kageya's chin as he waved his sword repeatedly, carving through the air until his arms shook. The cuts bore tracks of pale energy, but the boy could sense it his mana bleeding away senselessly.
Reikuro sat observing in silence on a boulder, tail switching back and forth. "Your stance better," the wolf growled, "but your mana flow still untamed. Master it before it masters you." "How?" Kageya grumbled, scowl furrowing his brow. "I don't even sense mana in the first place." Reikuro's eyes blazed with a soft purple light. "Close your eyes. Feel the vibration within you that heat seeping with your heartbeat. That is mana. Master controlling it… not coercing." With Kageya's concentration, wisps of power encircled him, merging with the wind.
The very air warped ever so subtly. "Hey, Reikuro…" Kageya interrupted the quiet between training sessions. "How powerful are you, really?""Relative," Reikuro said, tail lashing indolently. "Dependent on how much mana my master can tap.""Tap?" Kageya tilted his head. "You mean… how much I possess?" Reikuro chuckled lowly. "It is not about how much you possess. The issue is how much you are capable of using effectively.""Control, uh…" Kageya snarled, glaring at his shaking hands. "And how on earth do I do that?""Patience, intent, and suffering," Reikuro said with his faintly glowing violet gaze. "Mana isn't something you warp it's something you learn to ride." Reikuro's tail dangled like lead as he looked at Kageya, his afire eyes dancing in the flickering campfire.
"Now," he taught her in a low, steady tone, "you must learn the fundamentals of magic as you are able to."
He tilted his head a little to the black forest. "The majority of the Kurokammi have dark and fire magic," he went on proudly. "But occasionally, some are born with light, wind, water, or even earth magic." Reikuro's eyes became slits. "Even though occurrences like this are really rare for our clan."
Kageya stood up arching his back
"So how I will be able to know what aptitude I possess"
" I can tell if you want" Reikuro said in an enthusiastic tone as if he had been waiting for this moment to come
Kageya was amazed and inquired " You can tell my aptitude that's great that's mean you got appraisal vision there, I heard about it from my late sensei that we can see what kind of magic your opponent can use and use opposite magic to beat your opponents these are particularly used in wars with small cities or towns"
Reikuro lowers his voice like an old man "You know your stuff boy that's good now if you permit me master I should appraise you" Reikuro began appraising Kageya, Reikuro's eyes became wide open with fear as if before him stood death ( " This boy. he is a. monster! not only he carries all elemental magics he also have a strange but very powerful energy larking inside him. if this word go out .soon he will be the target of many kingdoms, What should I do? should I tell him. no I shouldn't tell him, but if I tell him and he mastered it I am also at advantage maybe i should tell him")
Reikuro was dazed considering whether or not to inform him.
Kageya asked inquisitively " So Reikuro what sort of aptitude I have?" when he asked the question a menacing growl sounded deep in the forest. Reikuro's ears stood on end.
"Watch out," he cautioned.
A horned boar creature stepped out of the dark, red eyes an aura. Kageya clutched his sword, mana burning in his veins.
"Let me do it," he gasped. Kageya sprang out of the way as the ground split apart at his feet. Shards of rock ripped through his sleeve, ripping the skin on his arm. He stumbled back, planting his heels in the earth, and then charged again.
His position wavered vanishing into thin air for an instant before reappearing on the side of the beast. The blade sliced with a burst of light as it sliced across the boar's immense body. Sparks flew, but only a surface wound marred the skin.
"Tch… its hide's like iron!"
Kageya cursed.
Reikuro charged from behind, teeth aflame with crimson aura. "Then we crush it!"
He clamped jaws tight, black fire pouring from his mouth and searing into the boar's meat. The creature let out a scream, flinging its body to the side and sending Reikuro stumbling back. The wolf flipped through the air and landed with a snarl, smoke whipping from his fur.
Kageya appeared in fleeting flashes, dodging a lash of the tusks. He swung upward, cutting a glistening slash across its shoulder. Hot, thick blood sprayed.
The boar shrieked and stamped, causing the clearing to tremble to its heel. Its rage was maddening each charge faster than the previous. Kageya staggered barely out of range, gasping.
"Reikuro, we can't keep this up!" he bellowed.
"I know," the ghost wolf answered, the fire faltering. "Its magic core is unstable it's living on anger. One good hit can kill it… if we can catch it."
Kageya gripped his sword tighter. "Then we'll catch it."
He closed his eyes for an instant, recalling the cries, the flames, the night the Black Wolf Clan perished. "I won't… lose again." A blackening, shadowy aura started to form about him, purple and black ribbons of energy encasing his arm. Reikuro's eyes opened in shock. "That aura… no it can't be .I didn't even told him about it !" Kageya remained silent. He moved forward, allowing instinct to prevail. The boar came at him again, but Kageya did not move aside this time. He thrust his sword forward into the monster head on. The blow shock waved through the woods. Air distorted.The world was quiet for a moment.
Then BOOM! Fiery black fire blazed, burning trees around it. Clouds of choking smoke hid the battlefield.
Ashes floated like snow in the air. But the boar did not perish it is still standing with a killing ferocity unexpectedly a red aura started coming from the body of the boar healing its wounds gradually slowly The air was strained. Ground beneath their feet creaked as the massive wounded wild boar let out an ear piercing roar, tusks glinting under the weak rays of the jungle above. Reikuro stood beside Kageya, his paws burning with black flames. His scarlet eyes that burned with a fierce determination stared at the beast as he growled, "Stay on guard, Kageya. A single mistake, and you're done, the boar is sucking it's last of it's strength." Kageya's grip on his battered sword tightened. Beads of sweat ran down his cheek, but his eyes remained stubbornly set. "I see," he growled, standing up straight.
With a sound that could have shattered mountains, the boar charged, rattling the trees it was surrounded by. Kageya sprinted sideways, the ground vibrating beneath the beast's hooves. He knocked his blade wide across its flank
Clang! Sparks shot out, and then a spout of blood. The boar let out a scream of agony as a scarlet stripe burned its fat hide.
But the animal did not weaken. With naked brute force born from its hideous form, it rammed its tusk into Kageya's ribcage, slamming him against a tree. The trees shook with the impact.
"Gah!" Kageya spat a clump of blood out of his mouth, but stood up.
Reikuro leapt onto the back of the boar, his fangs deep in its throat. "You won't get away!" he snarled, unleashing a spout of dark fire. The black flames wrapped around the beast's fur, searing it, the stench of roasted meat hanging heavy in the air.
The boar stood up and thrashed around, knocking Reikuro aside, and directed its rage at Kageya once more. Its tusks pierced Kageya's shoulder, holding him down. Pain screamed through all the nerves in his body. His sword shook in his hand.
Something broke inside him.
His breathing thickened, his heart thundered in his ears. The weak aura around his body started to shine
Abruptly a burst into a mad storm of power.
A deep red light shone in his eyes, his pupils transforming into red with smoldering yellow stripes. The wind howled around him as the aura became fiery black with gold flames, in the shape of a massive dragon drifting at his shoulder.
Reikuro's eyes opened wide with shock. "Tch! He's gone mad !"
Kageya stood up, his aura making the ground itself shake. His voice was distant, cold, hot with anger. "Dieee!!"
He lifted his sword, its blade vibrating with raw energy. His roar-voice thundered across the forest as he swung it down with all his might.
A blood red curve of power cut through the air
And in an instant, the head of the boar was cleanly sliced from its body.
The energy surge released a shock wave, sending leaves and dirt flying. Silence followed, only the splutter of his dissipating aura.
Kageya's sword snapped in his grip, then the pain wave hit. His right arm contorted distorted his bone snapped from the power after effect he was still not capable of controlling.
"Ah… damn.," he whispered weakly, before he went limp.
Reikuro approached him, his flames struggling to stay alight. "You fool… why did you pushed it too far…" he growled with a weak smile and fell beside Kageya.
The jungle was silent again, with the soft hushing of the wind.
Kageya and Reikuro both remained unconscious for two days alongside the killed monster, bruised but alive bodies in the aftermath of power that neither of them had yet overcome. Since they were half-fainted, they heard a soft voice as if it is a voice of little girl saying father father come here this one is badly hurt.