370. The raging fire.

WARNING!

The story contains graphic depictions of violence, sexuality, strong language, and/or other mature themes.

[The Demon's God Pursuit: Arc 17]

Once upon a time, on Planet Earth, a young girl was born; the story goes that her identity was never adequately clarified, but she was effectively known as the 'Holy Light.'

Her title depicted the real life of one's planet. Humankind did not know the Dimensions that had appeared alongside her birth, only of the Spirits that had been destroyed or disappeared.

The woman... The Holy Light, the heir of all the inhabitants, was not born alone. The arrival of the Demon God, whose name was Rez, caused anarchy, and humanity was on the brink of extinction.

Humans terrified him because of his recklessness and hunger for blood, and Demons started to manifest all over the Earth and The World of Zero, alongside alternate races such as The Inner Fiends, The Shades, Wraiths, and Spirits.

To combat the challenge, a new breed of people has awakened, the 'Spiritual Duelists' and 'Substitute-Duelists,' who have been dubbed the "First Army to Face Evil."

With their Legendary Weapons, the Ginken. This swarm of humans increased the world's cleanliness to the greatest extent possible, overwhelming the Demons of various grades and placing their survival at risk.

But, after several years of waiting, the 'Holy Light' gave birth to a human child, a girl of theoretically greater worth than Zero herself, but unlikely to become the next 'Holy Light,' their Goddess gave the girl to a friendly family, and since her mother needed to participate in protecting the divinity, the girl's memories were wiped.

But there is another royalty trapped within the shadows that have been concealed for millennia, even longer than the birth of a Demon...

The only one who has beaten the 'Holy Light's own is the Fiend Lord. Its lurkers will undoubtedly be wiped out, and the newfound foe will ready the battlefield...

- Nitsuragi City, Monday, 9:50 pm -

The birds were chirping as the flame danced in the darkness.

While the sparks floated, Sakami, who had been carrying a rock, began to render the flames. Codey used it to get up when he was worried, looking ahead and behind him. "W-Wait, what am I doing here? W-Wait... Where has Ena gone?!" When he was scared, he looked about.

"Please relax... She's sound asleep inside the bed..." Sakami spoke while rubbing rocks together. Codey stared at her, taken aback. "S-Sakami? H-How did you find me?" He gulped, perplexed. "I assumed you'd taken off with Ena, so I tried to track you down the next day. You seem to have been beaten..." She sighed and tossed the rocks near the last embers of the flames.

"... please accept my apologies... I couldn't let them murder Ena..." He claimed, concerned as the night sky glowed. "Don't worry. She may not have been murdered. Those men who came the last time were nothing more than imposters... It has little to do with Grandmaster... And I've just recently got the message..." Sakami spoke, her gaze fixed on Codey's.

"W-What exactly do you mean?"

"... It seemed that the grandmaster and Ken himself paid a visit to the guild... The unfortunate news is that Ayuka has been sent to the brink of death..." The terrified Codey to no end. "What exactly do you mean?! What happened to her-" Yet Sakami intervened before he could cry. "Elliot and Ken were pitted against each other. Elliot's blade was said to have flown straight into Ayuka's chest... I doubt she'll make it..." Sakami sighed, making Codey's eyes quake.

"You can't be serious, can you? Ken?! Why on earth would those two fight?!" At the fury, he yelled. "Elliot took over after Kylin was defeated. But, in the end, he, too, was defeated, even injuring Ayuka..." Codey crawled forward easily. "W-How about Tim? Is there any trace of him?" Codey was questioned, but Sakami denied it.

"No... Nothing has changed..."

Codey sat down again, uncertain what to say or do.

"H-Hey... I appreciate your assistance. We would have died if it hadn't been for you... So, thank you..."

Sakami, on the other hand, nodded without hesitation. "Don't bring it up..."

"In any event. That was everything I could have done... I returned the favor that you saved us from the Demon God. And if it wasn't anything to return your favor..." Codey grinned as she spoke. "No, thank you. No... I couldn't have asked for better assistance..." Codey laughed as he spoke.

"But... how would Tim react if Ayuka died? He did promise to protect her until the end... But now... he's shifted, he's abandoned her without telling her where..."

"I think he has a good cause... Or else, I don't see the point of his flight..." Sakami yawned as she spoke.

"Hey, we should get back to the guild... There shouldn't be much of a threat left..." Sakami stood up and shouted. "W-Wait a minute... Sure, but I think we should do it tomorrow... It's getting late... Plus, Ena is sound asleep..." When Sakami frowned, Codey reminded her. "Okay, then... Take a deep breath..."

- Yashikami City, Tuesday, 3:00 pm -

Elliot was holding his pen as he watched it near. "It's meaningless... It just does the reverse of everything..." Elliot could hardly keep it due to his anger, and he was about to smash it.

"It feels like it's going to screw with me..." But, as soon as he spoke, the door to the bedroom opened, and Codey entered with Ena in her arms.

"Codey and Ena? You've returned!" Elliot called, his eyes wide in confusion. "Take me to Ayuka right now..." Elliot stood up, dropped the pen on the bed, and marched past Codey without further ado. "Of course..."

- Yashikami City, Tuesday, 3:05 pm -

"There she is..." When Codey passed by, Elliot opened the door. "Can you please hold her for a second..." Codey claimed Ena while softly placing her in Elliot's hands, shocking even Elliot.

"Hello, Ayuka..." Sakami drew a little closer to Elliot as she observed how Elliot gave her Ena. "Do... you... uh... have breast milk, she seems to be hungry?" Sakami, on the other hand, caught Ena and spoke. ".... I'm not pregnant ... you could have some logic ..." Sakami spoke, while he felt embarrassed.

Codey gently pushed the blanket away, seeing how Ayuka's chest was bound with bandages, even though the left hand was soaked with blood.

"This is a horrific cut... How could you two have been so naive?" When shielding her again, Codey pondered. "My.... blade was thrown into her from a distance, stabbing her... Ken knocked it down, not me..." Elliot said, vomiting aside and crossing his arms. "Why hasn't anybody put up the dumb mirror barrier? It prevents something from getting in!" Looking at Codey, he demanded angrily. "We couldn't do it. The computer had malfunctioned..."

"Then you fools should have all fought on the outside!" Though pissed off at the situation, Codey protested.

"Anyhow, where is Ken?" Codey pondered, hoping for a swift answer.

"For the time being, he's been assigned to Tim's room..." Elliot explained when Codey observed Ena's apparent happiness in Sakami's hands. "I see... Well... I'll take Ena to her crib and then pay him a visit..." As he took a step toward Sakami, Codey spoke up. "Do you think you'd be able to come along? She seems to be content with your hands..." Codey said he was humiliated. Sakami, on the other hand, agreed and joined him.

("You think you're going to talk to the jerk... There is no way... If you think I'll just tolerate it... I may as well end this crap ") Elliot aimed for Sakami's sword while staring at it.

When looking for a knife, he quickly wrapped a bandage around his right arm and dashed through the door.

- Yashikami City, Tuesday, 3:07 pm -

Ken was standing in Tim's bedroom, reaching for the radio, when a creepy violin piece began to play.

"... Huh... This radio music is strange... But then... I'm worried about the girl's protection... She was stabbed because of that stupid bastard... I'll make sure he shows her some respect..." Ken spoke up, smiling up at the mirror until his mouth exhaled.

Elliot snuck open the sliding door at the very moment, his face expressionless. "... How... pitiful..." Elliot stepped into the tub, silently opening the lock, and stepping into the torrent of hot water as he saw the water pour down on Ken's head.

"... You're going to be sorry..." Elliot instinctively spun the knife in his right palm, dragging the hand behind him while Ken's eyes shook. When Ken saw a glimpse in the knife, his body was drawn toward Elliot, but before he could hit the knife, it had been leaned against Ken's stomach.

"... I despised you from the moment I saw you... Perish..."

"You're a psychopath, you're a maniac. Are you really here to scare me and convince me to leave? If that's the case, you should only forget about it..." Ken yelled angrily. "No, it does not... You've wounded a Goddess... you've pushed the sword to fly in that direction... but all you saw in her was a beauty, and you had no idea she was the daughter of the 'Holy Light'..." The frightened Ken and Elliot removed the knife as the blood splattered outward, flooding the shower.

Elliot wiped the blood off his face before slipping into various clothes Tim had in the wardrobe... and unwrapped the bandage as he walked toward the door and nervously searched to see if someone was running in his path, but no one was, so Elliot immediately ran down the stairs, and just as he was about to be seen, Codey and Sakami came walking down from the upper floor.

"Why do you want to talk to Ken?" Sakami looked about, perplexed. "It'll be interesting to see what he said about how he managed to hurt Ayuka..." When the two of them were entering Tim's apartment, Codey spoke.

However, when they entered, their eyes widened when they saw blood pouring down from the bathroom's base, which shocked them as the two of them ran for the bathroom, finding Ken's body lying in the blood pool with water splattered around it and blood marks on the walls.

"T-This i-is...."

- Gyuma City, Tuesday, 3:08 pm -

Tim was motionless as he gazed at Kaoru. "Okay, now that you understand the fundamentals of the 'Flames' manipulation, I think you should give it a try." Karou smiled as Tim lifted his sword, and since it was mainly used in Henshin, his 'Kodachi' state was completely erased.

Through a gradual and steady raise of a weapon, Tim's blade's tip exchanged tips with the distant stone, at which point Tim's both eyes released a yellow light, at which point Tim tightened his grasp on his hand while a white, flaming fire swept through his weapon, at which point the blades started to rampage quickly, even burning Tim's clothes with the extreme flame.

"Those fires are white as snow... I'm confident you'll be able to do something about their strength, and you may even be able to master it in the end." Kaoru smiled, his arms crossed in front of him.

"All right, then, let's get this party underway..." Kaoru's sword emerged at the top of his right hand, while the white burning flames began to spread incredibly and dramatically escalating in heat, and Tim's clothes and hair continued to wave at the pace provided by the flames.

"... The white color conjures up images of pure evil..." As his hand was being scorched, Tim said. "Oh, really? They're the rarest, and you're the only one who can wield them. Just one person is willing to use them; they are mythical fires that not all can possess..." Tim's eyes tightened as Kaoru smiled.

"Yes, I see... I guess I'll just have to prepare them as though they were normal to my body..." Tim spoke after taking a deep breath.

To be continued...