Path of the Cambion: Kurou's Rising, Chapter 3

Kurou's POV

I jumped back as I was forced to dodge another one of the man's monstrous sword strikes. A void-like wave of pitch black shadows rose from the ground the second his swords grinded against it. He grinned up at me wildly, vaulting toward me again, slashing at me with great speed. I covered my sword in green flames and blocked the slashes, each slash gradually pushing me back with extreme force.

I had a frustrated look. The first time I had fought this guy, I had managed to at least hold my own against him. Now, it seemed as if he was beginning to outclass me. He suddenly began to spin his body around wildly in a continuous motion, slashing wildly until, all of a sudden, appearing as a rapid-spiraling twister engulfed in pitch black energy.

I kept up my defense, blocking as many attacks as I could until I abruptly felt my right ankle getting cut by him followed by my left ankle, then my arms and multiple other parts of my body until he, without warning, stopped. He twirled his body in the air with his right longsword to the front and his left to the back, slashing downward in a swift, fast motion after his full rotation. The slash sent me flying and crashing through multiple burned homes.

I forced myself up slowly. There was a deep cut in my chest from that slash, despite me blocking. I breathed heavily, glaring defiantly at the man in black walking toward me. More shadows appeared out of the blue to slowly rise around the man's body, flickering and flaring like a wild flame. My eyes widened. This man- no, this demon slayer, who was a part of the organization responsible for killing my mother when I was young, was about to put an end to my life.

I gritted my teeth in rage, unaware of the wound on my chest regenerating itself at a rapidly-accelerated rate. "You think you can justify killing me… just because I'm a Cambion or whatever you call it…!?" I asked in a voice drowned with nothing but hate as my flames began to burst around my body. My energy became more and more unstable the more angry I got. He simply glared at me.

"That's right. You are a Cambion, an abomination of a human and a demon that does nothing but bring disaster. You might as well curse your parents for even conceiving some freak like you in the first place!!!" the man screamed, only for me to let out a deafening shriek. The ground under me began to crack violently, some of it around me beginning to crumble.

That was the last straw. He not only insults me, but basically told me that my mother, the one who raised me up in this world, deserved to die at the hands of them. I became so lost in rage that I could no longer even think straight, screams of anger leaving me. Pillars of green inferno ripped from the ground around until finally consuming me entirely. I felt my body change as the flames were constantly absorbed into my body, my power skyrocketing immensely as I went through an abnormal transformation. I only knew one thing for sure: that this very day, everything would change, and there was already nothing I could do about it…

Aisu's POV

(Quick note, I do not own Aisu)

I grit my teeth, stabbing my twin longswords into the ground to keep myself from being thrown into the wind from the force of the intense, powerful demonic energy. I was honestly surprised, though the process going on before my eyes wasn't as startling. Many Cambions had transformed into their true forms before my eyes before, and all of the transformations were on a high destructive scale similar to this.

Although, this one confused me. His screams quickly changed to far from human, and the silhouette of his demon form was inhuman enough to be considered extremely dangerous. However, the flames only continued to grow more and more, and were getting very close to me. I snarled before dashing away while covered in shadow energy. The pillar of flames shot blasts of Hellfire out of it that came roaring toward me.

Quickly, I jumped out of the way of the flames. They rocketed past me, crashing into a house far from me; however, just destroying that barely seemed to quench the flames. They destroyed even more buildings in their way until finally crashing into the last. All of the buildings just seemed to have been consumed by the hellfire- which now seemed to have become a dark purple- not even leaving their ashes left. I could only look in shock, though that didn't last for long when, out of the blue, the now completely demonic presence appeared directly behind me.

I looked behind myself quickly only to see a large, armored tail slam itself into my chest, sending me flying at breakneck speed. I smashed hard into the ground, creating a crater around me, just about the shape of my body. Rage I had been trying to hold back ever since the fight started ripped through the mental barriers of my mind, and I rushed from the crater, engulfed in a torrent of shadow energy. I slashed down at the offender who blocked the strike with a blade I couldn't identify.

Shadow energy covered a large part of the area, destroying parts of the land around me, only for the creature, with a hard swing, to knock me back into the air. I quickly landed on my feet as I furiously glared at the now beast-turned cambion. It seemed to currently be covered in very thick, pitch black demonic armor with scale-like designs on the back part of the legs and arms. Pointed ends were at the very top of the thighs, large black spaulders with an appearance akin to twin claws of a beast with very large claws as if trying to hold the monster down.

Right at the top of the chest plate, the now violet flames raged inside, seeping through even some slightly open designs of the armor, giving it a grave amethyst hue. As for the blade, I watched as it gripped onto its current weapon so hard that it completely shattered, only for hellfire to burst in its hand, forming into a shape akin to a sword. It gripped the blade of flame by the hilt before sweeping it hard to the side, the flame blade sliding against its hand, the flames flying off the sword.

It seemed to be a katana; however, this one was much larger than regular katanas, and even had a thicker blade. The blade was an amethyst purple, the moonlight shining off the blade. I only glared more intensely, rushing towards the beast once again and sent hard, rapid shadow energy covered slashes at it. The beast seemed to block and even deflect some of my slashes with ease, unfazed by my attack. Violet Hellfire burst wildly around its body as it suddenly let out a roar that would cause anyone in the vicinity's ears bleed.

The beast jabbed me in the chest hard and I coughed, feeling my ribcage nearly break from the pressure. It then raised its sword into the air and slashed downward. I raised my sword to block. As soon as our blades clashed, hellfire burst wildly around the beast, sending me flying. It didn't stop there. The beast had suddenly appeared above me in a feat of pure speed, then slammed its claws into my chest, sending me back into the ground with it, and igniting me with even more hellfire.

I screamed out in pain again when the beast then rose me into the air, spinning gracefully as it sent a very hard kick toward my chest, sending me flying and smashing hard into the crevice of a large boulder. I looked up with a slight grin. Thankfully, I had augmented my entire body with shadow energy seconds before it landed its first attack, lessening the damage by a good amount. Although, that didn't stop the pain from surging through my entire body. I had to admit, this cambion was unlike any I had ever faced.

Somehow its power felt suppressed. I wondered how. The beast gave me no time for thought, running wildly towards me, sending a devastating slash that pierced through the air. Blocking, I watched as the force of the slash completely demolished a boulder from behind me. I increased the shadow energy in my longswords, making the blades grow in length by a few inches. I then spun around, sending two arcs of shadow energy at the beast until clashing my longswords with each other, sliding them against each other, sending forth a gargantuan cross ark of shadow energy raging towards the beast when the blades slid off of each other.

The beast gripped the hilt of its sword with both hands and rose it into the air, the arks fused with each other, the fused arks now all charging toward the cambion with the ferocity of a raging beast, destroying everything in sight as they head toward it. The armored beast suddenly brought down its katana with a deep roar, and with destructive force, its blade clashes with the ark of shadow energy. It struggles against the ark before violet flames burst around it's sword and swung down, cutting down the entire ark in half, a straight blast of green energy rocketing toward me as its blade hits the ground. Jumping to the side, I attempted to block, only for it to cut off my right arm. A cry of pain left my lips and I grabbed where my arm once belonged, dropping one of my longswords.

Looking at the beast with intense fury, I was about to summon a shadow beast until, suddenly, a blur of blue came down from the sky before crashing directly into the beast. An explosion of blue energy was created from the impact, sending the beast flying and crashing into one of the village houses. I saw a silhouette come out from the smoke. When it came out, there was a man dressed in blue; however, the blue was already a dead giveaway for me that this was Yamari, one of the first friends I'd made since I joined the demon slayer organization.

He grinned at me. "Man, you're lucky I made it in time Aisu. That monster would've tried to decapitate you next if I hadn't jumped in!" he says in a conceited voice as he walks toward me. I scoffed. Being able to injure me was one thing, killing me was jumping the gun. I'd been hunting cambions ever since I was a boy and joined the demon slayer organization. Despite having suffered fatal injuries from them before, none of them have ever managed to kill me. I certainly wasn't about to let this one do so just because of its immense boost in power.

Not bothering to reply to Yamari's comment, I thundered right back toward the cambion, stopping when I felt Yamari's hand grip onto my shoulder. I looked back at Yamari with eyes threatening to slice his arm off, but he simply chuckled at me. "Calm down. I know what you're thinking, but you can't handle that thing alone. This is the most powerful cambion that both Hellzone and even Deathbound corps has ever faced. Trying to fight it alone won't do a thing. Yamarou is on top of one of the buildings as we speak, aiming at it with a special bullet to knock him out. We only have to fight him and hold him in place, but you can't do this alone, got it?" explained Yamari in a somewhat stern voice.

I scowled, but reluctantly nodded, healing the bones in my body with shadow energy, making grotesque cracking sounds and reorganizing my flesh. Shadow energy burst out of that part of my arm and regenerated, a black slime-like substance covering it now. I walked toward the longsword I had dropped and stomped on the hilt, making it fly upwards toward me as I held out my hand, catching it by the hilt, gripping onto it. Shadow energy burst and pulsated around it on impulse.

I crouched down like a predator about to pounce onto its prey, my swords rearing behind me. "Let's just kill this damn beast already," I said, dashing toward it, slashing at it strong and swiftly with my right arm. It countered with a slash that made the ground itself break, rising violently under us. My eyes became wide slits as my anger grew, fighting for dominance, only for the raw force to overcome me and send me flying through the air, crashing hard into the ground and back beside Yamari.

Yamari shook his head as he looked at me. "Hate to break it to you, but we're not killing it, we're only meant to subdue it," said Yamari. For a moment, I thought my sonar like hearing had gone wrong. Whirling my head around, I could only find myself glaring at Yamari as if he had just said the most idiotic thing in existence. Perhaps it was my hate towards the cambions, but his words still triggered something inside of me.

"Subdue it? Are you kidding!? Things like that are the reason my family is dead!! And more will be if we don't just kill it where it stands!" I screamed, lowering my body as I got ready to vault right back at it once more at the abomination. That is, until I saw the sudden icy expression on Yamari's face that he now had shot at me, one that could even scare the crap out of me at times.

When I first met him, I couldn't tell what that expression meant. It was only later on that I learned it meant he was pissed. "You're forgetting he's still half human, you dolt. Do you think he had a choice on whether he became a cambion or not? Or any other cambion you've slain?" scolded Yamari coldly. I grit my teeth, Yamari simply looked on forward at the monster before us, glaring at it. "Just remember: those other cambions could barely even control their demonic selves. This is different. Kurou actually has a chance to control his if our plan works, so just grin and bear it for now," he told me. I nodded, my eyes, again, turning to their slit form as I glared at the demon, remembering my true purpose was to free the human side of a cambion, not the whole.

Yamari unsheathed Magarin from it's sheathe, blue energy sparking around the blade as it sharply slid out. He entered a battle stance. "Now, as for this battle, it'd be best not to double team him, or we'll only make it easier for him to take us both out at once. Considering his raw power, we'll attack him in different directions, and if we manage to confuse him, it'll give Yamarou just enough time to shoot that bullet of his, got it?" Yamari told me, explaining the plan briefly. I simply nodded, focusing back on the beast. We suddenly dashed sideways from each other, beginning to rush around the beast in multiple different directions, confusing it.

It seemed to work as it now began looking around in a frantic manner, eliciting frustrated grunts. We vaulted toward it from our respective direction and slashed at it with all our strength, both of our slashes managing to penetrate through its armor. It roared out in pain as blood spurt out of its body, blood drops splashing on the ground. We bounced off some debris and rushed at it once again, slashing its legs now.

We continued this for a while, the beast constantly howling out in pain with each slash that cut its flesh. However, the last time had only pissed it off and it sent a wide rotating slash at us, Yamari getting cut across the chest while I was cut deep in my injured shoulder again. I clenched my teeth, letting out an inhuman scream through my gritted teeth. It sounded like a mix between a roar and a screech. The demon held whatever ears it had in pain, thrashing around wildly as it shrieked in pain, even dropping to its knees.

Seeing this, I took the advantage, engulfing myself in so much energy to the point that it looked as if I had transformed into an inferno of black flames. The ground split beneath me as I rushed at the wild behemoth with a wild scream. Looking up, the beast saw me and began running towards me recklessly. It only proved to be futile. A small, yellow light zipped through the air with extreme speed and hit it hard in the chest, effectively stopping it, forcing it to fall on a knee as it began to weaken. I was now very close to it; however, it somehow managed to still find the strength to get up, its body and blade bursting uncontrollably in a royal purple inferno, and slashed at me.

Both of our respective energies and blades clashed as our inhuman roars resounded throughout the area, echoing like someone screaming in a cave. An orb of dark green energy began to surround us before breaking violently into pieces, dark green, demonic, shadow energy rushing throughout the entire village, obliterating whatever was left of it…

It was dark. Everything around me was just… completely pitch black. However, I felt no fear. This was what I was accustomed to, after all. In the darkness, you have nothing but yourself to rely on; only your own individual thinking to rely on, and that was exactly how I had lived my entire life. Fortunately, I had a family once before, a family I had cherished with all my heart. All the happy days we always had were like total bliss when I was a child. But sooner or later… that all changed… as if it went from a sweet dream, to a hellish never-ending nightmare of pain and misery.

I remembered it like it was yesterday; the maelstrom of complete and utter destruction caused by one of the beings which would soon become my nemesis: a cambion. The first time it happened was when we were in town. It had terrified me, as if it was a force of nature threatening to vanquish everything in its path. That was… until I saw it: The first cambion I had ever witnessed in full demon form, revelling in destruction and chaos like the blood-craving beast it was. The knights stationed there had luckily evacuated us out, sending us to our homes immediately. For a moment, I actually thought we were finally safe. I was too naive to realize just how wrong I was.

A few hours later, a corpse had suddenly been thrown near our house, a corpse of one of the very knights stationed to protect us. Who had thrown it, however, was the very same beast that had rampaged through the town. Not even knights seemed to be able to handle the beast, and it was headed towards my home; towards my family and I. It completely demolished my home, brutally injuring me and my parents. It had knocked me out as well, and I could barely breathe.

It was dark when I came too again, and being so accustomed to the dark… I saw through it, seeing everything the demon did, including torturing my parents. It was tormenting to not be able to do anything; I was stuck there, completely powerless, only able to watch the scene before me. It triggered something inside me as I realized how powerless I was compared to this being that killed so many; it had taken the lives of so many innocent people.

I felt power swell up inside me as their screams constantly kept ringing through my ears, inside my head. Not only that, but so did rage; my rage continued growing more and more at an unstable rate until, suddenly, I found myself immediately up to my feet, rushing towards the demon while I screamed. When I got close, a void of shadows simply began to surround me and the demon, never stopping its growth, and continuing to consume everything throughout the area…

My eyes widened and I quickly jumped up, breathing heavily. It was the same dream again where I was forced to remember the death of my parents, and the first time my powers had awakened inside me. I had it so many times that it never really had a big effect on me anymore. The terror and every negative emotion I felt in the dream were real. Sometimes, I used to even go on a rampage whenever this dream replayed in my head. Now, I would just quickly get over it. It might've been due to the fact that I've killed many of these things now. I guess I felt some pleasure at having killed that cambion and the wretched lot of them, it's what they deserved for ruining my life, and so many others.

However, before I could sort my thoughts out anymore, sharp pain shot through my entire body as I was sitting up. I fell back, my body throbbing from the pain that must've been caused by the fight before I passed out. I could tell that I was on a stretcher, rolling along towards some room, and I could see Yamari walking by me. "Yamari…? What happened…?" I asked in a slightly weak voice. Yamari looked at me and suddenly started smiling.

"Awake already huh Aisu? Heh… you never cease to surprise me. As for what happened, remember Kurou? When we were fighting, Yamarou had managed to hit him; however, you suddenly went overboard and used too much shadow energy to land a final blow on him, which he somehow managed to counter, despite the tranquilizer having hit him," explained Yamari, telling me what happened while I was out cold. The minute he explained, I immediately remembered the whole scene and I cursed myself.

I was starting to wish I put more power into that attack of mine. Then again, when I thought about it, even if I had won that clash, the result would've been the same anyway. I gritted my teeth before asking, "So where is the bastard? Still here I'm guessing?" I would do anything to be able to get that cambion right now, regardless of my injuries. No, my injuries weren't a problem right now, but the fact that the cambion was still alive was unforgivable.

Yamari's eyes narrowed as he shook his head. "'Fraid not. Though, he was, until some of us went out looking for him. That chased him away and he's gone now. There's not even a trace of him left. Either he vanished, or he's very fast," Yamari explained the current situation. I really wanted to be able to get up to catch that freak, but it was too late anyway. All we could really do now was wait, and see what he would become, and I hated it. Hated it so much…