Path of the Cambion: Kurou's Rising, Chapter 15

Later, after Edakura had come back, we were sitting down in a house that surprisingly managed to stay intact in Kumara Village, it was still damaged, but not to a devastating extent. I twiddled my fingers, staying silent for a bit until finally mustering up the courage to ask, "Edakura… I was wondering if you could stay in Kumara Village with me. I know you might not want to be there because of… Daigen, but he said he'll give you some space, and I'm not really sure if you have anywhere else to go... " I was expecting her to refuse, it made sense, she did seem to hate Daigen. Then again, when I thought about it, Edakura couldn't really trust anyone, even so, I was hoping that she might say yes, I couldn't just let her stay out in the wilds like this, especially after she was attacked.

Edakura looked over at me curiously, and I gulped nervously, wondering what her answer was going to be. "...you are a troublemaker, boy," Edakura told me, patting my hand gently, looking me in the eyes with that ghost of a smile she wore at times. My initial reaction was to pout at her words, and I didn't know why. I just found myself growing closer to the blue haired woman. "I suppose staying in the village is better than sleeping in a cave. And admittedly, my reaction to Daigen may have been uncalled for." I looked at her with wide eyes, wondering if that meant she was saying yes. "I will be leaving in a month, so that is how long I can stay."

I could only smile with a bit of glee as I heard her answer, so she was finally staying in the village, that was good news. I made a mental note to make sure I showed her around though, besides, I had no idea how she'd react to meeting Saniki or Saika, and I was the only one she seemed to trust. After settling to head to Kagura Village, Edakura had simply went to get anything she left at the cave, and we headed off to Kagura Village. The entire time, she seemed to be quiet, rubbing her wounded shoulder. I hoped it didn't hurt her too much.

Saniki's POV

Inside the training pavilion, the sounds of metal clanging loudly could be heard, and red blurs could be seen constantly rushing throughout the area, those blurs were me and my elder sister Saika. Currently, we were sparring, and now, we both seemed to be at a stalemate in the battle so far, I sent quick slashes through the air toward Saika, sending three blasts of scarlet red energy rushing through the ground toward her. In spite of this, Saika, stabbed her spear into the ground, blocking the energy blasts with just the brunt of the blade, however, she failed to notice that this was simply a diversion as I rushed at her, instantly appearing behind her and sending a hard slash.

Saika blocked the slash and knocked me back with a swift slash of her own, both of us were breathing heavily until red energy began to erupt around both of our bodies. We both clashed with each other again, creating a very large explosion of scarlet energy that engulfed the pavilion, red light shining forth from the windows. We both remained silent, now standing before each other before we both fell to our knees at the same time, I sighed "No matter how much we spar, it's always a stalemate isn't it?" Saika just looked at me and nodded in agreement.

I got up, sheathing my sword and both me and Saika walked out of the village, deciding to take a walk through the village, "Are you worried about him?" Saika suddenly asked. I was honestly a bit startled by the question, it was obvious she meant Kurou, I just scoffed. Of course I was worried about him, even if I'd never admit it, besides, you never really knew what you would encounter in the forest.

"Wherever the Baka Gaijin went, he should be fine, after all, he did save our village." or atleast I hoped he was, or I would come over there and beat some sense into him. As we walked, suddenly, I could see Kurou just not too far from the entrance, however, he seemed to be with someone, with a woman clothed in dark blue.

I raised an eyebrow, just who was Kurou with, and why was he… holding her hand, that couldn't have been his mother, they looked nothing alike. Still, that woman, I couldn't help but feel as if I'd heard about her before, maybe father mentioned her once, but I couldn't be sure, regardless, I walked toward Kurou to greet him now that he was back. However, when I got close, I couldn't help but feel something akin to killing intent, then I looked up to see the blue haired woman glaring at me with glowing blue eyes, with nothing but scorn in them.

Kurou looked up at the woman "Relax, I know her, she's a friend." he told the woman, I felt the pressure from her begin to disappear, but it didn't stop me from thinking about the unpleasant feeling I got from her. Regaining my composure, I looked at Kurou.

"So you're back, Saika was worried about you, where'd you go anyway, also… who is that?" I asked carefully, after the pressure I felt from this woman, I had a feeling offending her would be catastrophic.

"Oh, I just went to the ruins of my old village, this is Edakura." he said, plain and simple, things started to become clearer, now I knew she was familiar, she couldn't have been that person father was talking about right… the one who has been attacking guards left and right? I made a mental note to ask him, but for now, I left the problem alone, pretending to know nothing and looked up at Edakura.

"Well then, it's nice to meet you Edakura, my name is Saniki, and this is my sister, Saika, I hope we can get along." I introduced as Saika walked up by me with her usual smile.

"We may or may not, but let's let the stars decide that for us." she said in a wise sounding voice, I was a bit surprised by this, this woman, could she have been a follower of the night, I wasn't sure, but the aura gave off told me she knew a lot of knowledge. Unfortunately, Kurou had said a quick farewell before leaving us, walking through the village with Edakura. That woman, I had no idea why, but I just couldn't trust her yet, I needed to figure out from my father why she was here.

Edakura's POV

I looked at the girl who approached me with narrowed eyes, a bit suspicious of whoever she was. And the other female that came, Saika, was obviously hiding something. I could tell by her eyes. I had a habit of reading people by looking into their eyes. The eyes are the windows to the soul, they say, and I confirm that it was true. One could tell everything if they learned how to, just like how I learned over time. That did not change the situation, however.

"Kurou, I should be heading out for a bit. I have something I have to deal with," I said, noticing a movement of brown from the forest with the corner of my eye. It was not hard to tell who it was; my brother was still watching us, after all. He challenged me to a fight, claiming that if I lost, I would have to go back home with him and abandon Kurou. It seemed he underestimated my strength, though he still did some damage to my shoulders and several under places hidden underneath my cloak. Really, I just wanted to get away so I could deal with him, then bind my wounds.

"Edakura, is something wrong?" Kurou asked me, looking up at me with his emerald green eyes. I stared back into them, attempting to read them before I shook my head at him. I did not want him to worry about me, not after I saw him crying earlier. It made my heart clench when I thought about the tears and how weak he looked at that moment. I did not know why, but I never wanted him to cry like that ever again. Perhaps it was my mother instincts that were making me like this.

"No, nothing is wrong. I came here looking for herbs, so I thought I might as well start looking," I told him, and it was not exactly a lie. I did come up to find some new herbs to make into medicine, a trait that I had gotten since I was, at one point, going to be a doctor. It was a silly dream from my childhood, but it seemed that it carried with me over the years and I now had a habit of going around, collecting the herbs, then grinding them into medicine. "I can teach you how to make medicine later."

"I see. Thanks Edakura," he said with a somewhat distrustful look, but calm voice. I nodded my head, letting go of his hand and patted his head gently to reassure him that I was doing nothing dangerous that needed his worry. Then, turning around, I headed out of the gates towards the forest, my eyes trained on the brown figure that had been following me the entire time since we had our fight. I decided that it was time that he had a piece of my mind.

"Aniki, it is time for you to head back to the palace, whether I must do it by force or not," I said to him, approaching him from behind. He turned around and looked at me, his spear tightly gripped in his hand. The metal was made out of some of the same material as my own staff which was why it didn't burn when it made wounds on me. I bled, but what was supposed to be my blood stream was boiling hot blue blood instead. It was a wonder that could only be explained by Vizas.

"That kid has a storm brewing around him Edakura, are you sure you want to be around him?" Kaiza said, walking towards me, putting away his weapon. I did the same since, this time, there was no hostile intent coming from my brother. "I don't want you to get hurt, okay? Especially after what you had to endure in the past, and I'm only trying to protect you because I love you." he told me, pulling me into a hug. I did not resist him, but I did not hug him back either. I simply stood there, letting him say his worries, aware that he was only looking out for me, but I was focused on my own decisions.

"I was hurt when I was abandoned. I was hurt when I was left by my loved one. I was hurt when my child left me. But I was not hurt when I found someone who thought of me as a mother," I said, pulling myself away from Kaiza, glaring at him angrily. "My child that passed away… only left me empty. That boy, I want to protect him. I want to raise him as my own. Because I can feel the pain. I know that pain as well. Our mother only hurt me and he lost his own. I want to… give him the mother he deserves."

"...one month," Kaiza said, catching my attention, approaching me. He cupped my cheeks, using his thumbs to wipe away the tears from my eyes. I could never deny that my brother was the only one in my family that truly cared about me. "Train him for the entire month, and before you move on, I want to fight him. I'll approve of him when I see what he can accomplish. If he fails, I'll take you away by force if I have to. You may have powerful magic, but you stand no chance if you can't use it."

"So it does not matter if he wins or loses. You simply want to test him in the end," I said to him, looking him in the eyes. He simply smiled and pulled away from me, walking away. I watched him leave from the corner of my eye, waiting till he was gone before I dropped my cloak to the ground, starting to wrap up my wounds. "And you want to test me too… Our resolves. Can we prove that we are meant to be together…?"

Kurou's POV

I was walking through a different part of the forest to the north as Edakura was gone to take care of collecting herbs, Daigen had informed me of… an S-class demon nearby. Frankly, for all the attempts I made to convince myself that things would be fine, I doubted that on the inside, besides, I may have survived against demons on the way here, but none of them were an S-class. Some demons of the S-rank were known to be able to take down entire squadrons of soldiers with ease, however, I decided not to let myself lose confidence besides, that was before and now I was much stronger than that, this S-class shouldn't be too much trouble.

While walking, suddenly, what seemed to be a magenta blur passed by me, however, I didn't flinch, I could sense that this was a demon, but I wasn't sure if this could be the demon or not. I was quick to learn that it was when suddenly, It appeared in front of me, transforming its entire hand into a drill of demonic metal. The drill had spun violently before charging at me, my eyes widened and I quickly blocked it with the scabbard of Rhienzan, being pushed back, but I managed to strafe past it, watching as it shredded through multiple trees in its wake.

I made a mental note not to let that thing touch me, especially when I had Daigen put a seal on my power before leaving. I watched as the drill began to liquify and retracted back into a gauntlet on the demon's arm. The thing had basically looked like an entire suit of dark magenta armor, with what seemed to be yellow markings all over it's body, as well as clawed hands and feet, a demonic armor beast. Normal armor beasts were capable of killing warriors who were atleast fairly adept, however, demonic armor beasts were powerful enough to tear even a master to shreds if they weren't careful.

The demonic armor beast began to hold its arms out before sending multiple tendrils rushing toward me from them, I deflected its tendrils with high precision as each one pelted at me. Soon, I grabbed one of its tendrils and ignited it with emerald flames, them rushing at its central body before it exploded on impact. The explosion of hellfire knocked back the demon hard, however, it began converting its arms into lances and stabbed them into the ground, slowing itself before rushing at me with great speed.

The beast sent many slashes and stabbing attacks toward me, each one I was forced to parry or block, it cut me across the arm with one of its slashes, green blood gushing out, I grit my teeth as I felt my arm go numb. There was no choice now, with a wild slash, my chain whip sword of a spirit weapon shot out toward the armor beast, wrapping around its body, I lifted the demon, flinging it up high into the air before teleporting in a burst of hellfire, then appearing above it and sending a hard kick into it.

The kick sent it flying down toward the ground, however, before it could crash into it, I rushed down, appearing as a meteor burning with emerald flame and rammed my sword into the armor beast, smashing it into the ground with intense force. Right after crash landing, the armor beast's chest suddenly began to rip open into a horrifying mouth and a pinkish demonic energy blast shot out, slamming into me and knocking me right off of its body. I took this moment to disappear in a burst of green flames, now hiding behind a tree, the armor beast walked around, its feet clacking loudly through the area as it searched viciously for me, when it got close, I created a small fireball behind the giant tree I was hiding behind.

I slammed it into the tree, making it ignite entirely and begin to fall over, the armor beast finally began to notice, seeing the now emerald flaming tree falling down towards it, it held its arms in a cross block as the tree finally plowed hard into its body. I ran away far from the tree quickly as the tree had fallen onto the armor beast's body, then when I was far enough, I smirked and snapped my fingers. A small spark of hellfire could be seen as I snapped my fingers before the ignited tree suddenly exploded into a large pillar of emerald green hellfire.

So much power, compressed into one small fireball just to pull that off, I was a bit disappointed that Edakura wasn't here to see it, but I simply shrugged it off and walked off. The moment I took a step, the area suddenly began to start rumbling before a pinkish energy beam suddenly shot out from the ashes toward me, my eyes widened in fear, but I quickly reacted and sent a raging blast of hellfire toward the beam to counter it, both attacks exploding together, canceling each other out. Now out of the ashes, what could be seen was the S-class demon, however, its armor was now a blood red, and golden energy could be seen crackling and surging through the veins of its body malevolently.

The armor beast held out an arm, the yellow markings glowing brilliantly on its body, destructive flaxen energy surging out as well as crimson red energy before it finally shot off as a colossal blast of demonic energy. My eyes widened in shock as I watched the blast rocketing toward me and I quickly formed a barrier around myself, the blast hit, sending me back quite a distance, however, I had the barrier suddenly begin to flare up and it deflected half of the blast, sending it ramming into the demon, only for it to absorb back its blast. It suddenly began forming both of its arms into large blades and it began slashing at me with swift speed, each slash it threw at me released waves of yellow and red energy.

I grit my teeth, hurling the blade of my spirit weapon toward the demon, only for it to grab the chain and pull on it, I tried to pull back, but its strength overpowered mine and when I finally got close, it punched me straight in the jaw, the attack sending me flying and tearing through multiple trees. Coming out with a scream and covered in an inferno of flames, not even noticing the emerald green gauntlets and greaves now covering my body, I threw a wild right hook toward the demon, only for it to form its arm into a shield, blocking easily. Snarling, I began throwing multiple high speed punches toward the demon, trying to put some kind of dent in the armor beast, however, the last punch I sent put a large crack in its shield.

The armor beast roared out in pain and slashed at me hard with its red energy covered blade, putting a large cut on my chest while releasing an ark of crimson energy at me, while the ark pushed me back, I pushed back in defiance against it until gripping the ark of energy. The energy slowly began to shrink in my hand before forming a long pole, I would put my hand at the top and would pull the energy until it formed a curved blade, then slamming down the energy weapon, a scythe with a black pole with crimson markings, and a blood red blade could be shown in my hand. Red energy would surge around the blade of the scythe as I slashed downward at the armor beast with it, it reform its hands back into gauntlets before clasping it in between its hands.

I pushed down on the scythe, making it inch ever closer to the armor beast before with a will, mist-like red energy surged around the blade, swirling around the demon and continually cutting it up until finally bursting all around the demon, finally destroying it. I breathed heavily, falling to my knees but grateful to even be alive after that, one wrong move and the demon would have lopped off my head quite handily. I looked at its soul, the core was red, with yellow and black energy swirling around it, as well as strange yellow demonic markings on the core itself, as my greaves and gauntlets disappeared, I touched the core.

After touching it, pretty much the exact same armor of the demon was now equipped to my body, minus the helmet, not only that, but all of my wounds seemed to be… restored already. My body currently was feeling as if it was overflowing with power, it could have been because I'm not used to using S-class demons, but even then, it felt amazing. I would store the armor and the scythe into my spirit, and I would begin to walk back to Kagura Village to inform Daigen of my success.