Afro stood on the roof of the ruined temple, his eyes fixed on the western horizon. In the midst of the darkness, a point of light lit up and began to fall.
Before he could give the order, five Elite warriors appeared at his side, kneeling.
"Sir, we did our best to gather the temple's debris, but..."
Afro didn't let them finish. He pointed to the flames falling in the distance. The altitude allowed them to see the trail of fire, although the rain and fog tried to hide the impact site.
"There," said Afro, his voice cold. "There my dog died. Bring the black box. In it are my sword and my book. Do not devour my dog's body; bury him in the ground, he deserves it. Go now and come back quickly."
"Sir, the distance is great and the weather is not helping..." hesitated one of the guards.
"Takamura," called Afro.
The sound of the name was accompanied by thunder. Takamura appeared immediately. Afro pointed to the crash site in the swamp.
"Take the Elite with you. They know the details."
Afro turned his back and descended toward the throne room. Inside, three enormous walls had been partially rebuilt piece by piece from the wreckage. Afro reached out his hand and his tattoos glowed gold. They detached from his skin like living lines, crawled across the floor like snakes, and wrapped around the stones of the walls.
Under his touch, the letters engraved on the rocks began to change, revealing messages that only he could read. "When I have my book, with this new power, I will finally be able to understand everything written in it," he thought as the tattoos wrapped around the walls.
He began to read:
Φϔ And when the Great Devourer, Tyr, ... ... ... consumed the last drop of disorder in the world... chaos emptied like dry rivers under the merciless sun... and he, hungry for ... ... ... fell asleep in his living stone form ... ... ... which was not an altar of prayer, but a voracious mouth of eternal exchange... ... ... ...
O seers of the ... ... ... we heard the slow beating of his fossilized heart, echoing in the caves like ... ... ... And we saw that Tyr was cunning beyond mortal comprehension, for even at rest, he extended his blue light on the summit... ... ... like the lantern of a fish from the abyssal depths, shining coldly to attract the prey of imbalance...
And so ... ... ... in veiled visions ... ... ... the mission to spread the news ... ... ... and destroy the fools... And when the words spread like storm winds, chaos came rushing in, in hordes of ambitious ones, in bloody battles for their promised essence... ... ... ... they killed each other on the slopes, involuntary offerings of ... ... ... discord, feeding the ... ... ... asleep, drop by drop, cycle after cycle, until their satiety grew like an invisible tide... ... ... ...
But oh observer... ... listen to the mystery... ... the changing runes... When the flame reaches the summit and the lightning awakens the mouth of the devourer, ... ... like hungry jaws to swallow the chaos attracted... ... ... ... The fish opens its mouth to feast on what its son, the ocean, has brought it, … … … … … … … … … … … … feasting on the ashes of the unbalanced world that the damned will bring...
And so, the pact is revealed: blood for prosperity, order for eternal hunger... But whoever dares, let them fear the accelerated pulse... ... ...of their essence... Φϔ
Afro finished reading. As soon as the scriptures stopped glowing, he felt his Dao drain away, consumed by the effort of translating the walls. The silence of the throne room was broken only by his low laughter.
"The fish opens its mouth to feast... and the cunning can enter," he repeated to himself.
Afro's smile widened, turning into an expression of pure ambition.
"The amount of power I will gain is immense..." he whispered. He spoke to himself as he walked back to the courtyard.
As he crossed the portico, the rain lashed his face again. He walked to the edge of the courtyard, stopping at the edge of a vertical cliff. From there, he stared at the colossal silhouette of the mountain where Tyr rested.
"Tyr!" he shouted, as if challenging God himself.
[Concupiscence: 1%]
Miles away, the reality was much grimmer.
Takamura and the five Elite demons moved like blurs through the forest. They were bathed in red auras. "It's just ahead!" one of them shouted.
They reached the crash site before any other group. The scene was one of destruction: twisted metal, smoke, and churned mud. Further ahead, Shinjimaru's body lay sprawled on the ground, motionless and covered in ash.
Takamura stopped a few feet from the corpse, his red aura boiling with impatience.
"So this is the master's dog? But he's just a human..." said one of the demons, looking contemptuously at Shinjimaru's corpse.
"Bury him!" Takamura ordered impatiently.
"Where, my Lord?"
"Damn it, man! Anywhere! Hell, bury him right there! What a waste of flesh..." Takamura walked away, ignoring the corpse.
He began to search through the mud and debris in the pouring rain. "Where is that damn thing?" he muttered, until his eyes focused on a dull metallic glint a little further ahead. It was the box. He headed toward it, splashing through the swamp.
Meanwhile, the demons dug a shallow grave with their hands and threw Shinjimaru into it. Job done.
"You guys are connected too, aren't you?" whispered one of the demons as he wiped the blood from his hands.
"What?"
"The master... he nailed Tara."
"Keep your voice down, damn it!" retorted another, glancing sideways at Takamura. "If Lord Takamura hears that, we're done for."
"I thought I was the only one who heard the moans..." A third demon lowered his head, looking sad.
"Damn, it took a while, huh? The Alpha arrived and it was over. You didn't stand a chance with the General. You're just an Elite, they're Lords."
"I promise I'll become a Lord and take the General for myself..."
"What the fuck is that?!" interrupted one of them, pointing to the spot where they had just buried Shinjimaru.
The earth over the grave suddenly turned black, as if it had been burned by acid. The mud began to bubble and rise, materializing the figure of a crouching man. He had his finger in the mud, bringing it to his mouth, tasting the flavor of that diluted blood.
"Lord! I think the dog has come back to life..." The demon did not finish his sentence.
A tree stake, torn out by an invisible force, pierced his head as if it were paper. The demon's body began to wither instantly, drying up into gray dust that was carried away by the storm wind.
"It's not you..." said the being, slowly getting up. Its speed was impossible to keep up with.
"But we're on your side! Aren't you the master's dog?" shouted another demon, instinctively drawing his weapons.
The being stared at them. What followed were only short screams and the sound of flesh being torn.
Takamura, who already had his hand on the black box, turned abruptly upon hearing the carnage. Before he could react or draw his weapon, the being appeared directly in front of him, inches from his face.
The air between them seemed to be tearing apart.
"What the hell?!" Takamura shouted, jumping back.
In midair, he stretched out his hand and fired a sphere of black flames. The impact was brutal. The forest exploded, mud flew through the air, and centuries-old trees shook like twigs. But as the smoke cleared, the reality was terrifying: all that fire was being sucked away. The creature stood still, absorbing the flames directly into a symbol that glowed brightly on its chest.
The stranger advanced.
Takamura, sensing imminent danger, drew his sword in a desperate move and executed a perfect horizontal slash, aiming for the enemy's neck. However, the being was faster. He didn't block; he simply passed Takamura before his blow even reached halfway.
A moment of silence followed the movement. Then, Takamura's lower right arm fell heavily into the mud.
"Damn..." Takamura thought, the shock suppressing the pain for a second. "Even with my red aura at its maximum, I couldn't even keep track of him."
Takamura spun his body around, ready to fight for his life with his remaining arms, but the being was no longer there. The swamp was suddenly empty, leaving only the sound of rain against mud.
"You..." The being's voice did not come from a specific direction; it echoed throughout the swamp. "Where is your master?"