Path of the Cambion: Kurou's Rising, Chapter 14

Later, I had even brought Saniki into the pavilion after explaining to her what exactly I was trying to do with my flames, I slowly held out my hand toward Saniki, and like Edakura had done, I set Saniki on fire. Like me, she had grit her teeth for only just a few seconds before steadily calming down, she was now calm within the silver flames "Feel anything?" Saniki had just shook her head at me, not feeling a thing. I let a grin cross my face, releasing the Sangrin flames from her body and I began to chuckle "What's so funny?" she asked.

I just gave her a smirk and out of nowhere, I began to focus my body, keeping myself calm before suddenly sending a blast of emerald green hellfire at Saniki. Her eyes widened and she put her arms in a cross block, but the most they did was slam against her "How's that?" I asked as the flames burned around her. Saniki's eyes widened as she looked at her hands, and the flames all surrounding her "I… don't feel a thing." she said, I began to start laughing excitedly "SWEET!! I've mastered control over these damn flames!!" I cheered with a wide grin as my flames danced around my body.

"Uhhh, forgetting something?" said Saniki as she pointed down at the flame still around her, I looked at them and facepalmed at myself before willing them all to disperse from the area. I just couldn't stop grinning, I finally managed to gain control over my own flames, and the next step was literally tomorrow, if this was that easy, the next step should be a cakewalk.

The next day, I was outside, walking toward the destroyed ruins of my Kumara Village, to my surprise, Edakura was already waiting there for me, standing in the middle of it. I smirked upon Edakura, green flames rushed around my body and I sent a small stream of them toward her, willing them to cause no pain "As you can see, I've mastered this step." I told her with a confident grin, waiting for her approval. Edakura didn't exactly react, but I could tell she couldn't feel anything from the flames, which was exactly what I needed.

"I approve then. However, can you do it in reverse?" Edakura asked me, walking over to a large boulder off to the side. I watched carefully, seeing a small fireball appear and… the heatwave was intense. I could feel how hot it was from where I was standing. The boulder didn't stand a chance against the small fireball, and it melted away to nothing. I stood there, watching as she turned back to face me, folding her arms across her chest. "Alright then, boy, can you do that?"

I would look at another boulder at the left of me and would put on a determined look "I can sure as hell try." I said, creating a small fireball in the palm of my hand. I would heat it up the best I could, walking toward the boulder and holding it near the boulder, I would watch as it slowly began to disintegrate, not as fast as Edakura, but it just as surely disintegrated to nothing. I looked at Edakura "Well now, looks like I can do it as well." I said with a small smile, feeling proud on the inside, at getting it on the first try.

"I would have been very disappointed if you could not have done it," Edakura told me, but I could see a ghost of a smile on her lips. It only added to the pride that was building up inside of me. "Flames are meant to consume all that is around them," she said, hundreds of small flames flying around her. "However, when it matters most, you must learn to hurt the enemy and protect your loved ones." I watched as the fireballs coated all the houses in flames, but… none of them were getting damaged. They were burning, but nothing was happening. At the same time, the boulders were melting like the one she showed in her earlier demonstration. "You can learn this on your own. I am only teaching you the basics."

I would nod at her and would center my mind, focusing on the target I wanted to destroy, there was a very large boulder, right behind a house 'Focus on the enemy, avoid unnecessary destruction.' I thought. I decided to try something interesting, creating a large emerald green fireball in my hand, but forming it into a spear entirely in my hand, holding the hilt and twirling it so that the point was facing forward, I didn't release my focus on the boulder for even a second. As soon as I was ready, I threw the spear toward the boulder, just like that, it passed completely through the house, not even so much as singing it, and crashed into the boulder, completely obliterating it to smoldering ash.

"Honestly. I told you to learn this later," Edakura said, sighing, shaking her head at me like she was disappointed. I didn't see why since I had done exactly what she had told me to. "You are growing cocky. You may have done it this time, but when it matters most, you will be unable to protect them," she told me, narrowing her red eyes at me. I sighed, feeling annoyed by what she was telling me. "Burn yourself," she told me, and I looked at her in shock, like she was crazy or something. As she told me this, she was engulfed in flames. I could feel the heat from where I was, but she seemed unaffected. "If you cannot endure the heat, you have no right to use your flames."

I took a deep breath before allowing my flames to slowly rise around my body before finally bursting around me, allowing their heat to surface, I didn't flinch, not even once. These were my own flames, the flames I had been born using, that I used everyday of my life, I commanded them, I ruled over them, not they over me. If I were to show weakness now, then they might as well kill me, these were my thoughts as I stood within the flames, not even reacting, completely calm within them, embracing the powerful heat from them, rather than resisting it.

Edakura watched me quietly, nodding her head in approval. She turned away from me, and I raised an eyebrow, wondering what was on her mind. "For homework, create a barrier with your flames. Surround yourself in them. Ask one of your friends to throw rocks at you. Your barrier should melt the rocks and let all your allies in unharmed," Edakura told me before she walked away from the village. I sighed, watching her walk away.

Within another area of the Training Pavilion, I was with Saika in a room where there had seemed to be a numerous amount of training dummies, I was informed by her that they could move, and even fight on their own, perfect training for this barrier technique. I began to form a sphere of flames around my body, slightly levitating in the air as I formed, the flames quickly rushed around my body and began spinning at high speed, almost making the sphere appear unstable. With just a small imbuement of her energy, every one of the dummies began to turn into what seemed like clones of Saika herself.

All of the Saika clones began to rush at me, crimson swords in hand as they sent them all colliding with my barrier, however, upon impact, it had managed to stay intact, and instead a large surge of demonic energy surged from it, knocking them all away. I began running at the clones and each of them bombarded my barrier with various attacks, but it was no use, and it seemed to send them all flying with ease.

I began running on my way to Kumara Village to inform Edakura of the news of my quick success, she told me already that it was supposed to be for homework, but what else would I do, wait around? However, as I ran, unfortunately, I was met with some trouble when there were suddenly what looked like soldiers. I cursed myself, not only were they more organized than Hellzone Corps, but they had stronger troops, much stronger, some were even strong enough to kill me with ease, or atleast I thought so in the moment.

Just as I was about to confront them, someone beat me to the punch. It was some brown haired, bronze armored man with a spear came from the sky, piercing the soldiers with his spear in a single thrust. I watched, standing there, slightly amazed by his abilities. It didn't take him long to kill the soldiers with his strangely crafted black spear, but then he turned towards me next. I didn't have time to react for the next second afterwards, he was about to pierce me with his spear.

"That is enough!" a familiar voice said, and there was Edakura standing in front of me, using her staff to block the spear. The male seemed shocked and jumped back immediately while Edakura stood there, glaring at him angrily. She turned to me, looking me up and down. "Are you alright?" she asked me, and I nodded my head, still breathless from the sudden attack out of nowhere. Though I had to wonder where she came from considering I didn't sense her presence earlier. "Why are you here, aniki?"

I just stood there, confused until I heard the word 'aniki', it took me a bit, but when the realization had slowly come to my head "A-A-ANIKI!?!?!" I yelled out in shock. I couldn't believe, it, the one that had just tried to skewer me was Edakura's brother!? On the inside, to be perfectly honest, if every family member of Edakura's family I met tried to kill me, I hoped I never met them… ever.

"Unfortunately, my imouto has trouble with the guards, and I have to kill them," the male, Edakura's brother said, pointing over to me with a raised eyebrow. I stared, wondering what was going to happen to me. "Who's the brat? Your child was supposed to be a stillborn," he asked, hellfire burst comically around my body.

"How about I kick your ass? Then let's see you call me a brat you spear-headed bastard!" I challenged in a comically snarling voice. I'd been through life and death battles ever since my home town was destroyed, I killed and collected the souls of demons in order to survive this forest. I was more than some ordinary brat, that was for sure, and I sure as hell wouldn't accept being treated as such.

"That is enough from you," Edakura said to me, and I grumbled, backing off for now. It didn't change the fact that I was angry at her brother, but I had to admit that she kinda scared me. "And you," she added, walking up to her brother. The male raised an eyebrow before he was slapped hard across the face. "I do not care about what you say to me, or what you do to other people. However, if you speak of my child or attempt to hurt this boy again, I will have your head. Aniki or not, he is more important than you are."

Just as me and Edakura began walking off after this, as soon as I turned around, I could only see what seemed to be a vortex of brown wind in front of me, with the face of Edakura's brother in the middle, his spear pointed at me once again. However, just as he got closer, I felt more prepared than before and managed to block his strike, the spear hitting hard into my sword, sending me skidding back quite the distance, but I otherwise managed to escape what could've been fatal damage, Edakura's brother smirked at me "Nice reflexes… for a brat." said the man in a teasing voice, making me scowl at him.

"Aniki! What were you thinking? He is just a boy!!" said Edakura protectively at me, seeming angry at her brother for doing something so reckless, but to me, that wasn't an attempt at trying to kill me, but the way he looked at me and talked to me, it seemed like a test.

"And a warrior if he was able to block my strike like that." said the man, Edakura simply looking at him angrily before taking my hand and pulling me away from him "Hey kid! Expect more of this from me!" he called out to me, and I didn't know what else to say other than give a silent nod, Edakura ignoring him as she continued walking with me.

Later, we had finally made it back to Kagura Village, as we walked, I was deep in thought, wondering what the hell would make Edakura have such bad relations with her own brother, then the fact that she had a child, it made me so curious. Soon, she had let go of my hand, leaving me by the entrance of Kagura Village. "Go inside and rest. I must head off somewhere. Do not follow me for your own good," she told me. I was about to protest, but before I could, I suddenly felt a familiar touch on my shoulder, seeing Daigen, with a smile on his face as he saw Edakura.

"Edakura Darkness, it has been a while hasn't it my dear?" Asked Daigen in a polite tone of voice, wait hold on, Chief Daigen knew Edakura!? I noticed Edakura's eyes widen a bit in shock, her face paling, and she immediately pulled away, spinning around, running for the forest. Although, in speed even I couldn't track, Daigen had appeared in front of her in a flash of dark blue water, still smiling "Relax Darkness, if I were going to attack, I would've done so already." he said, trying to reassure her that she was completely safe within Kagura Village, and with him.

"I am not the same little girl you knew back then," Edakura argued with him, growing hostile while getting into a defensive stance. I was still confused as to how the two knew each other, and why Edakura was acting so… savage. "The girl you knew was Edakura Darkness. I am Edakura Midnight, no longer part of that family. Now get out of my way, or else I will force my way past you," said Edakura with an inner rage in her voice, turning into a fire bird before flying above Daigen, disappearing into the skies.

That event just now had me so confused, what was up with Edakura back there, she was always so composed, so why was she so angry? I looked at Daigen "Chief Daigen… how exactly do you know Edakura?" I asked in a curious voice, only for him to sigh "Believe it or not, the one you know as Edakura Midnight once visited this village as a child. She, in fact, was and still is a noble." he explained. I was dumbfounded, Edakura, a noble, I guess that explained how she was so well-spoken.

While that did help explain a bit of things, it didn't help me understand just why Edakura was so aggressive, and I had a feeling confronting her about it would be a bad idea. I decided to leave it alone and went to my quarters inside Chief Daigen's residence, getting some rest as Edakura said.

The next day, I was walking forward to the ruins of Kumara Village, this time with a plan in mind today, to see if Edakura could stay at Kagura Village with me, I already talked to Daigen about it and he allowed it. My only problems were that I didn't know if Edakura would remain calm around Daigen in the village, and worse, I had no idea how she would react to me even asking, but Daigen offered to give her space, so there was a good chance she might stay. As soon as I made it into the ruins, something was strange, Edakura was not in her usual spot when I made it.

I began to look around frantically, wondering where she could be, was she really so angry that she went and left? After a while of searching, it was official, Edakura was gone for good, I grit my teeth in anger before green flames suddenly burst around my body in a giant pillar as I screamed out into the air, enraged that she was gone. Soon, the flames began to stop and I fell to my knees, feeling myself begin to tear up, surprisingly, I didn't care about my revenge on Hellzone Corps at the moment, I could only think about why Edakura would have left.

I tried to force my tears back, trying to act as if it didn't matter, but it was no use, I just felt… sadness, and it wouldn't stop no matter how much I tried, she was more than just some trainer to me, being around her almost felt like… she was my mother. Now the only mother figure I had left was gone, and she wasn't coming back, I could tell that much.

"Boy?" a familiar voice asked and I turned around to see Edakura standing there, her clothes slightly ripped with obvious signs of a fight. "I was, unfortunately, jumped-" she stopped when I ran over and hugged her tightly. It was instinct. I needed to know if she was really there, and if I wasn't dreaming. I heard a sigh come from her and she wrapped her arms around me, stroking my hair gently. "I am sorry. But I am here now, so there is no need to cry anymore…"