Illusionary Victory
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|| CHAPTER 15 | Illusionary Victory ||
"A fake victory is not something one would commemorate with a cheerful heart.
"The battle might have been "won," but the war is not. When all faith is crushed and despair takes over, that is when you know that you've lost–– when you let go of that sliver of hope in your hands.
"Clear your mind from any unnecessary thoughts and set it on the best path possible. Go and see through the illusion and win the war, not the fight.
"I believe you will get what I said after we read through this tale.
"Shall we start, then?"
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"T-That form...!!"
"It can't be...!!"
The transformed Ichisaki snapped his eyes open and glowered with an intimidating presence surrounding him. Kiryuu aimed his dragon-scaled spear at the remaining cloaked men, with the two fanged beasts behind him preparing to launch at them at seconds ordered.
"Pfft––"
"GAHAHAH!!"
They began laughing mockingly at the sight that unfolded before them. It was as if they're not bothered by the gargantuan tigers standing above them with bared fangs.
Snickering, one of them spoke up, "Do you actually think you can beat all of us?"
"Even your little kitties won't even scratch us!! BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!" another one added in and they began cackling once more.
All the more reasons for Kiryuu to stay quiet.
He paid their words no mind and kept his eyes open. Piercing blue orbs narrowed in on them, full of anger and rage, and yet, there was still a hint of the calmest of oceans within.
Azure eyes went unblinking, staring down at the opponents with an unreadable expression. Somewhere, deep down, the Spirit Wielders knew.
They knew that something was hiding behind that cerulean veil of a never-ending abyss.
Kishi shuddered at the thought of his brother actually snapping at them, causing him to rub both his arms together.
'You guys had been knocked out by us before, why did you even say that those tigers won't even scratch you?'
Thousands of questions flew through their heads. One after another, more added in after overthinking the process.
The children silently prayed for their upcoming deaths. They couldn't escape the reaper's grasps once one of them had transformed into their Spirit Form.
Should the enemies escape, even the youngest of Spirit Wielders that turned into their Spirit Form would chase them to the end of Gaia's verdant earth, even if it means risking their own lives.
What a cruel rule to live under.
Ruka sighed while Kumo just shook his head, shrugging. The two had a small guess that this would happen sooner or later. Kiryuu hadn't activated his Spirit Form in a while after that one mission he had in the past.
Activating it here would be the best guess since the devils decided to show themselves after millennials of hiding under the shadows.
The rest looked just as puzzled as lost children.
Something in them told them that they should probably get out of the place and pay their respects to those who were about to be fetched to the underworld.
"Well, may you rest in peace, then. I'm not gonna get involved in this," the violet-eyed Ichisaki spoke up nonchalantly after a moment of silence between all of them.
He slowly strode away with his hands behind his head to the pile of men Kumo and he had collected before.
Mizuki nervously chuckled at Kishi's flat goodbyes. She knew she was supposed to send her prayers too, but a part of her was reluctant to give one.
Following her friend to the pile of motionless men, the blonde never did give one in the end.
Violaceous orbs glanced back at the honey-blonde who didn't bother to send her prayers to the Rulers above. Kishi cleared his throat and changed the topic, "Mizuki, help me burn them. It'll cost us less work to bury them."
"Yeah, sur–– wait, what?" The female looked at Kishi, baffled and shocked. "How can you say that so casually?! We can't just burn bodies!! It's not our job...!"
Kishi only crooned in response and huffed. "Well, the adults did say to use any means possible, so we'll just finish 'em off at once so that they won't keep coming. Hurry up and help me."
"Uhh, I don't think that's what they said..."
"Who cares? Hurry up, you damn phoenix! Move your little legs faster!!!"
"Hey!! Just because I'm short, you don't have the right to say that about me!!"
Kishi ignored Mizuki's useless retaliation and walked ahead. Meanwhile, Kyou, Kumo, and Ruka just deadpanned at their banters, deciding that it would be best to stay out of it.
"Also! Don't you insult my family's phoenix, you, feral cat!!"
"Huh?! What do you mean, 'feral?!' Our tigers are the most valiant beasts in all of Xenorynth!!" Kishi sent a challenging glare towards the Ichimori who was already on her way, hopping towards her brothers.
"We should get going too, don't wanna get in the way of… that. Come on, Kyou-niisan."
They went to Mizuki and Kishi after Kyou's nod, leaving Ruka and Kiryuu alone. There's an unreadable expression written across Ruka's fair features.
Viridian eyes scanned his partner for any signs of abnormality.
An event in the past made him more concerned about Kiryuu's sanity rather than his unstable powers. Being the heirs of their clans weren't always a good thing like others portrayed them to be.
The heavy responsibilities and burdening rules bound them to their kind, allowing no freedom for them to decide on their own personal problems and conflicts.
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"You can handle them right, Kiryuu?"
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The question was so quiet amongst the echoing winds. It was loud enough to reach Kiryuu's ears and towards the deafening cackles of the enemies.
Kiryuu blinked slowly and glanced back, giving an assuring nod without much of a word coming out of his clammed mouth.
That assurance wasn't so comforting, to say the least.
He would always keep everything on his own, which was why Ruka had to purse his lips at the oldest Ichisaki's stubbornness.
Returning Kiryuu's nod with a neutral face, Ruka was about to walk back to the others until he stopped in his tracks.
Seconds passed and it soon turned into minutes.
An uncomfortable aura loomed over them, with the core centring Ruka a whole. The loud cackles of the unknowing men came to a halt as they froze completely.
Eyes crept over their whole being, scanning each crevice of their souls and searching for any flaw to bite into.
They didn't like that feeling.
–– they hated it.
And not long after, they found the source of their discomfort.
No, the word 'discomfort' was an understatement to what they're feeling right then and there. It was as though something was suffocating them, pausing them from getting a feel of what oxygen felt like.
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"Be grateful that I wasn't the one who will punish you.
"Prepare yourselves, demons."
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And with that, Ruka walked away without another word. The once dense air, cooled down, allowing them to breathe and feel that air they craved.
Fear actually crawled up their skins for a moment there. And they got to say, it's been aeons since a human, much less a Spirit Wielder, managed to make their blood boil and eyes spinning like crazy for some blood.
A feast to eat for tonight sounded great for them.
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"Activate it now. We won't die that easily," one of the higher-ranked men said, grinning crazily confident under his hood.
The yellowing claws hidden beneath his cloak itched for some familiar crimson liquid to be washed over it. Craving for some blood to ease their millennials hunger.
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–– never have the Spirit Wielder guessed that something so heart-breaking would happen in the future.
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"It seemed that this year's heirs aren't as bad as I thought they were."
"And here I thought that those wretched Spirit Wielders only follow orders from him."
"Hah! What poor creatures."
"How pathetic. Looks like we'll have to have a taste of their flesh to actually know what they feel about being chained to that damn Sun God."
Following the taller man's order, they revealed some sort of books from underneath their robes. The books were all different for each individual, with weird writings and languages written in them.
All books were similar to the ones of the auburn-haired woman, all of them floated with dark auras surrounding them. They started to chant several spells in an unknown language, at least to the children.
Incoherent words mumbled throughout the cave's destroyed walls. Something about them felt ominous and dangerous, causing the older ones to stand protectively in front of their younger siblings.
Kiryuu didn't seem to be fazed as he also started to cast his spell.
Of course, he didn't flinch.
The Spirit Wielders were trained to be able to face death on every mission. They couldn't expect to come home alive each time, after all.
The oldest Ichisaki raised his weapon high.
His burning crimson-red eyes gleamed as bright as the full moon outside in the poorly lighted cave. The two tigers of the Ichisaki Clan went upwards, towards where Kiryuu's spear was pointing.
The beasts walked and climbed on nothing but air, making them looked like they were dancing.
The bluish-red scales on his spear's shaft turned vivid-blue as they came off, one by one, floating towards the tigers.
The scales covered the tigers' faces and formed some sort of shield shaped like a sphere around them.
Kiryuu's pure white hair flailed wildly as a strong wind was starting to pick up. The cloaks of the men were also being pulled, forcing them to take their robes off.
Their identities were now revealed.
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And like any other Spirit Wielders, Ruka expected the demons to show their fear.
All of their past victims had the same visage every time the end was near for them. With a quiet heartbeat and stiffening limbs, a part of them actually guessed to see that scene once more.
However, it seemed that the world moved forward.
Their opponents were not the usual Spirit Bandits or other creatures they faced in the last decades. They had forgotten that these horrifying creatures of the depths of hell actually exist.
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They're demons.
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Knowing that only the show of his form wouldn't be able to intimidate the demons that much, Kiryuu silently clicked his tongue and took a small step back, glaring down on them with despise.
"The great tigers of the Ichisaki Clan, I hereby command you once again as the heir of the Ichisaki Clan..."
His thundering voice rattled the whole place.
"Shirogane, the oldest silver beast, and Shitora, the controller and manipulator of the storm itself, to aid me in my battle as I punish my enemies!!!"
Kiryuu, himself, was brought up high in the air, going between the two tiger-like beasts. They're meters away from the ground. The cave shook intensely and the ceilings of the place crumbled down.
Smaller debris and sharp rocks flew all over the place, trapping it in a vicious sandstorm. Pieces of glass that got caught mixed up in it scratched the surface of stones and walls all over.
Fortunately for them, Ruka and Mizuki cast a combined wind-based shield in time to avoid the rocks and rubble from falling on them.
However, the other group also escaped the rubble and with minimum damage done to them too.
Kiryuu directed his spear once again towards the still unknown, cloakless demons.
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"May the monsters inside you reveal themselves...
"May the sky above and the world below rage upon those who had angered me…
"And may the gods and Rulers of the Heaven and the Underworld cast their judgement on you…"
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The young Ichisaki male waited for a while, waiting for the cave to collapse completely, revealing the outside world. The sky was still dark as the moon was covered by clouds of all shapes and sizes.
The stars shone dimly on the night sky as Kiryuu exclaimed his next words:
"I, Ichisaki Kiryuu, current heir of the Ichisaki Clan, will now penalize you for your deeds. Reveal yourselves, demons, as I punish you for your corrupted state!!"
The group of demons below did nothing but grin as both the tigers turned into a large fireball that emitted blue sparks of lightning. The fireball was perhaps ten times their size. It's burned like the sun and electrifying at the same time.
They stared at it with wide eyes, unable to move or do anything. They were paralyzed in place as the ground below absorbed their feet and dark tree roots wrapped around their bodies.
However, they weren't frozen due to fear–– but due to excitement rushing in their veins.
The thought of letting their food play with them first until the former exhausts himself–– where's the fun in eating him in one go without a good battle?
Every feast must begin with a blood-curling fight, after all.
The fireball slowly quickened its pace towards the men as the children moved (more like threw) the pile of unconscious men behind the ones who were conscious.
"Annnnnddd, that should do it!"
"Hurry up!"
"Okay, okay, sheesh!! You don't need to rush me!!"
The children ran away quickly from the raging fireball, going behind Kiryuu. Ruka and Mizuki combined their magic, making a stronger dome made out of the wind, protecting the five of them.
"That will burn them, right?"
"Yup, they'll be too scorched for my liking."
"You're gonna eat them?"
"Huh? What are you saying?" Kishi looked at the honey-blonde female beside him incredulously. "Of course, not. That's disgusting!!! I mean their later appearances."
"Ahh, okay then. Thought you were going to commit cannibalism later, hahaha~"
"It's not going to be cannibalism though, since their demons."
"Wait, WHAT?!" Mizuki's verdant emerald-green orbs widened in disbelieve, a surge of shock flashed through her smaller form and she stiffened. It was unusual to see the ever-so-cheerful Ichimori Mizuki looked so surprised.
"Have you not realized?" Ruka sweat-dropped at his sister's ignorant nature, shaking his head in disapproval. He took a mental note to lecture her about it later.
"Shush! It's starting!"
"You're acting like you're watching a movie, Kicchan."
"Don't call me that."
"Kicchan."
"Shut up."
Random chatters and banters were heard from inside the dome, their bodies were not visible from outside the dome. They talked casually to each other as the gigantic fireball that Kiryuu has made was launched at the men.
All sounds became silent as the sphere of red and gold slammed onto them, blinding blue bolts of lightning and scorching flames spread everywhere, burning every single thing it touched.
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And they were burnt alive.
The roots that were restraining them also got burnt as well as the rest of the cave, turning them into dust and ashes.
Nothing was left, only a blinding light that covered their whole vision of the crumbling cave. As the earth shook beneath them, they let fate do the rest and closed their eyes, hoping that this time, the world wouldn't be as cruel as last time.
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... Or would it?
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|| CHAPTER 15 | Illusionary Victory - To be continued... ||
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