Path of the Cambion: Kurou's Rising, Chapter 18

Later, after training, I decided I would go see Xenona, the demoness, I wasn't sure just what Edakura would think that I was going to visit someone I assumed was her enemy, but she was heavily injured after fighting angels, I couldn't just not check. Soon, I was standing right in front of her apartment, why Daigen provided her with such a fancy looking one though, I would never know, I'd knock on the door, then would lean against the wall, waiting for an answer. At first, there was nothing, it was just dead silent, however, I could gradually sense the pressure of her demonic aura until she was right in front of the door, and it slowly creaked open.

However, what I was met with was… a half naked Xenona, my cheeks turned a furious red and so did my ears, I was completely speechless, having no idea what the hell to say, and before I could, blood gushed out from my nose, comically sending me flying and slamming into a wall somewhere. I heard a chuckle come from Xenona, and she walked out of the room towards me in only her undergarments. "Blood only attracts the vampires. You have to do better than that to seduce a succubus like me."

I just put on an annoyed look "Thanks for the advice." I said sarcastically, trying to ignore the fact that she was still half naked. I looked at her "So anyway, are you alright? I came to check on you." I explained as I walked up to her. I wasn't really sure what to think of her considering for some reason, Vizas hated her, but whatever it was, it must've just been some dispute, not something life-threatening, at least not to me.

"How cute of you to worry," Xenona said, smirking while patting my head. I grumbled, annoyed by how she was treating me. I could feel my cheeks burning from embarrassment and the uncomfortable situation I was in didn't help. "Nothing to worry about. Those were weak soldiers," she told me, pulling her hand away at last, giving me the chance to fix my hairstyle. "And they only attacked my wings. It'll take a few days to heal," she added, spreading her wings. I had to admit that they looked amazing; black feathers at the top, the tips being red feathers.

I was slightly in awe at Xenona's wings, I wondered just why the heck would a royal demon want to come to the land of mortals, just to hang with them? You would think they were out doing more exciting things, fighting wars, traveling the world, basically doing whatever they please. Then again, when I started thinking correctly, that's exactly what Xenona was doing, I wondered if I could get her to spar me, just to see what it was like to battle a royal demon, but I refrained from it, as I'd rather not make an enemy out of someone who was a princess, or even a queen.

Xenona chuckled as she leaned forward… and I just got more and more red as she kept leaning in, having no idea what the hell to say. Soon, we both ended up falling, with Xenona now on top of me, her breasts pushing against my chest, steam came blasting out of my ears, I was so red that it was hard to keep from fainting out of embarrassment. Xenona would just smirk at me as she got up slightly, still on top of me "Like what you see, boy?" she asked in a seductive tone of voice, my eyes comically had become spirals as I stuttered, having no idea what to say.

Smirking, Xenona finally got off of me, leaving me there to gather my thoughts and feelings. I could my heart pounding against my chest, almost like it would burst through. "Want to join me in bed? I think you'd make a nice partner~" she whispered into my ear in that seductive tone of hers. That set me off as more blood spurted from my nose and I passed out cold, hearing her laugh while the sound of the door beside me shutting echoed in my mind.

Later, I found myself waking up in a bed, my vision blurry as I sat up, trying to look around, as I did, unknown to me, my eyes had suddenly turned to slits and my vision had become practically perfect. Soon I heard footsteps coming to me as I got up, then saw Edakura, who had a stern look on her face. I wondered if it was about Xenona, besides, they didn't seem like they were on good terms, if at all, was it not a good idea that I visited her?

"Kurou, why were you sleeping on the ground outside of Xenona's room?" she questioned me, her eyes telling me that she was very angry despite the calm look on her face. I gulped, not wanting to tell her what had happened, and I could feel my face heating up as I remembered what the succubus queen had done to me. "...! She did something, did she not?" Edakura said, narrowing her eyes and turning away. I guess the blush on my face had really made her think the wrong thing.

I tried thinking of a good way to explain, a way that wouldn't piss her off more than she is already, but almost every scenario I imagined seemed to end in me getting punished in some terrifying way. However, from the way Edakura reacted to me beginning to blush, it seemed like she already knew, I might as well have come out with it. Mentally preparing myself, I said "She… s-s-s-seduc-" I tried saying, however, she walked over to me and put a hand to my mouth, quieting me, as if knowing already what I was going to say.

"She is lucky that I have no real reason to be after her right now, otherwise I would have…" Edakura mumbled to herself while I watched, blinking at her. I might as well have already been terrified right now, from the look on her face, it seemed Edakura had nothing good planned for the demoness currently residing in Kagura Village. I still had to wonder, what the hell was their grudge, why exactly did Edakura hate her so much to begin with.

"Edakura, why do you hate Xenona? I know I may be intruding on your personal history by asking, but I'm just curious." I asked. She looked over at me with a frown, not saying anything, and I wondered if I said anything that upset her.

"...I cannot tell you that," she finally said, sitting down on the bed, looking over at me. I had to admit that I was slightly disappointed that she wouldn't tell me their relationship, but I believe that if my mother wouldn't tell me why, there was a good reason. I didn't push any further for information from her and simply nodded my head. "All I can say… is that she is a troublemaker. She believes that all things are her toys, and that you should be careful while around her."

So in other words, she demonstrated the nature demons did, treating humans like prey, stomping on their hopes and dreams like they were nothing, thinking we were nothing but cattle to be slain. It pissed me off, that some demons still actually believed we humans were helpless, when we've slain their kind just as much as they have us. In the end, demons couldn't control us, we had power just like them, the power to fight back, to that end, I would hold that belief for as long as I lived, to let those kind of demons know we were not simply rats to be exterminated, that we were not helpless.

Edakura suddenly got up out of her seat, walking out of my room before standing by the doorway and turning toward me "I have to go out to tend some work, be more careful." she said before walking out. I would just watch her walk out of the house before deciding to go out myself, there was still someone else I was interested in, I remembered that when the demonic mutants attacked Kagura Village, someone who could use shadows showed up, something reminiscent of that demon slayer. I was curious to see if I could spar against him, maybe I'd lose, but it'd let me know where I'm at in comparison to the shadow wielding demon slayer.

As I walked, he seemed nowhere to be found, until I looked in a place I never thought to look, inside the pavilion, when I got inside, there was a large cone of pitch black shadows right in the center of it. I tried touching it, the feeling had strangely felt like touching a tough metal layering, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get in. I decided to cover my entire body in hellfire, walking into the shadows, finally managing to phase slowly through them.

When I had finally made it through, within the cocoon of shadows, there was the man, sitting cross legged, with his eyes closed in a meditative state, still clad in his bulky pitch black armor. I tried tapping him, but to no avail, as he did not respond even in the slightest, I even tried shaking him, but surprisingly, that didn't work either, maybe he needed a little more incentive than just touch. I would summon up my hellfire, the green flames firing up in a pillar, the man would open his eyes in surprise, the cone of shadows finally dispersing from around his body.

The man would turn back toward me and narrow his eyes at me "So it's you after all, I sensed you coming into the pavilion, but I didn't think you'd travel into my shadows." he said in a strangely expectant voice, I gave a confused look, so he knew I was here all along? I just couldn't help but glare at the man, demon slayer or not, he used the same kind of magic that man used to destroy my village, shadows.

"I want to spar against you." I said to him in a confident voice, his eyes had widened slightly at this before they narrowed at me more.

"Spar against me? Why is that?" He asked me with somewhat of a glare, I felt myself hesitating just a bit, but I put on a strong look. I wasn't about to let weakness take over, not when I've found someone who could help me take down the bastard who destroyed my village. I had to fight him, besides, if I couldn't beat him, then what chance would I have against that shadow-wielding bastard.

I would look at the shadow wielder with a determined look "There's someone I need to defeat, someone with the same kind of magic as yours." I explained, his eyes widened slightly, but went back to normal as quick as it came, and he would put a hand on his chin.

"Someone with the same magic as mine eh? I'll accept on one condition." he said, just what the hell kind of condition could he have? He would give me a smirk "If you lose, you will owe me one favor." he said, so a favor then, how bad could that be? I would nod at him with a grin and he would grin right back at me, a burst of shadow energy would form in his right hand until forming what looked like a large spear with tendrils connected throughout it, and two blades on each side.

I would grab the hilt of Rhienzan, purple electricity surging from the blade as I unsheathed it, holding it in my right hand and getting in a battle stance as well, however, as I did, I realized I nearly forgot something "By the way, what's your name?" I asked the man.

"Raizan." he answered as shadows soon began to engulf his body, and he'd suddenly rush at me, I quickly jumped to the side, managing to dodge his sudden move, however, he suddenly swerved before reaching the wall and ran up right toward me. Summoning my spirit weapon as well, I would quickly slash against him, feeling my blade clash with the shadows, being pushed back. I would quickly muster up as much green flames around me as I could before suddenly willing them to combust, causing a large explosion that managed to send Raizan flying back and crashing into the wall.

I breathed heavily, watching as Raizan walked out from the smoke, simply dusting himself off before rushing toward me again, in a near instant, he would appear in front of me and would slash his spear at me at amazing speeds, I was forced on the defensive, blocking his strikes, but getting cut a few times. Covering Rhienzan in purple electricity and my spirit weapon in green flames, I slashed hard at him with both at the same time, knocking him back. I then jumped up high in the air and slashed very hard with my flame covered spirit weapons, the flames bursting nearly everywhere when our blades had clashed. Raizan would cover his spear in shadows and I could feel myself getting pushed back, I slashed Rhienzan against his spear as well, electricity sparking everywhere now as well, but Raizan would soon knock me back with a spinning slash.

I would regain balance while in the air as I flew through it, and would cross slash with both blades, sending a cross ark of green flames and violet electricity toward Raizan. Raizan would stab his sword into the flames, not noticing that the electricity from Rhienzan was supercharging the hellfire, the flames doubling in size. The flames became harder to push back, Raizan now having to strain a bit to push back the ark, an aura of shadows gathering around his body as he did, with a will, I would command the flames to explode, and that was just what they did, the flames causing a huge pillar explosion of green flames mixed with violet electricity.

I would smirk, confident that my attack had caused a lot of damage as I watched the smoke it had caused, however, when the smoke cleared, it showed a large shadow barrier around Raizan, and when Raizan came out, he was not without a good amount of burns, but otherwise, escaped full damage. I grit my teeth and would send three swift swings of Rhienzan at Raizan, releasing 3 large arks of purple electricity, Raizan would deflect the first two, then with a stab of his sword into the third one, destroyed it. Suddenly, his shadows would begin to become flame-like and he would begin firing multiple blasts of shadow flames at me, I jumped out of the way of one before starting to deflect the rest with Rhienzan and my spirit weapon.

Once I had finished I would fire off a blast of emerald hellfire at the last blast of flames, destroying it and creating a wide amount of smoke, from within, I would teleport in a burst of flames, then would appear behind him with immense raika surging out of my spirit weapon and slashed, he blocked, but was knocked back by the powerful slash. A smirk would show up on Raizan's face before he covered his spear in shadows, then would rush at me and begin slashing at me with great speed, I blocked with both Rhienzan and my spirit weapon, but it was much harder now, most of his slashes I actually got cut by this time. I clenched my teeth in pain and summoned up my flames, the hellfire gathering all around my body until forming crystal armor, the next stab from Raizan slamming against my armor, but not breaking it in the slightest.

A grin would cross my face as I would send a punch in Raizan's stomach with my crystal gauntlet, and I would then proceed to send a roundhouse kick smashing into him, sending him flying, however, he would manage to regain his balance, crashing into the ground on his feet. Raizan would then look up at me with a glare and he would stab his spear into the ground, spikes of crystallized pitch black shadows uprooting from the ground, I dodged each one, teleporting in bursts of flame in order to dodge each one. I would channel my demonic energy as I dodged each crystal spike and would slash down my spirit weapon very hard, sending a colossal ark of raika straight for Raizan, Raizan would slash down his own spear as well, sending an ark at me of equal size.

Both arks would clash, each one fighting against the other before both would suddenly begin to form what seemed like cracks over another and both would explode, causing an enormous maelstrom of shadows and demonic energy around the area. When the energy had cleared, there was a large amount of smoke that obscured everything, somehow I was still standing, looking at the shadow of Raizan's figure standing as well from afar, when the smoke finally cleared, we would both fall to a knee.

I noticed that from the trees, a figure came out. It was Edakura who had a stern look on her face. I didn't notice her presence and wondered how long she had been watching the fight. She sighed loud enough for me to hear, making me concerned about her. "This battle is a draw. Enough with the fighting," she said to us both. I realized then that she had been there the entire time, making me intrigued by how she had managed to hide her presence the entire time. I couldn't even detect a single trace of her.

I listened to the result she gave, a draw, I smirked in relief, perhaps I had a chance in defeating that man with the shadows after all. However, I knew that just this power alone wouldn't be enough in order to defeat him, I had to get even stronger than this, or I'd have little to no chance against the shadow wielder. Raizan would begin to stand, dusting himself off and smirking at me "I must admit you are quite the fierce opponent Kurou, I look forward to battling you again one day." he said, I'd smirk back at him and watch as shadows would swirl around his body before he disappeared when they all cleared.

Edakura looked over at me, gesturing me to follow along behind her. I obeyed and walked along, jogging over to walk by her side. "Edakura… shouldn't you be resting and recovering?" I asked her, frowning as I remembered how she collapsed onto the ground when she opened the portal. She looked down at me before shaking her head. I wasn't too sure if that was an answer to my question or if she was disappointed in me. She seemed to be angry, or annoyed by something. I wanted to know what was bothering her, but she didn't seem to want to share.

"...Kurou, I am sorry," she suddenly said, catching my attention as I looked up at her with a confused look. I didn't know what she was sorry for, or why she was sorry in the first place. "I am afraid I must be going from this village. The army has been informed of my position. I assume that someone has spotted me in the forest," she told me, looking into my eyes with her blue ones. "Staying here will only put you in danger. You are very important to me." Edakura reached down and patted my head. "That is why I cannot let them hurt you."

My eyes had widened a bit when I had heard about the army, it didn't take a genius to know that they were much more powerful than Hellzone Corps. I wondered, just how powerful was a soldier from the army compared to a demon slayer from Hellzone Corps, not wanting to find out, I nodded at Edakura in understanding, of course this meant I'd have to say my goodbyes to those in Kagura Village. "You are not coming with me, Kurou," she said, and my eyes widened, I gripped a fist in frustration, I felt like protesting, but even then, it seemed that she wouldn't budge from her decision even if I did.

Tears would begin to stream down my cheeks and out of impulse, I'd run up and hug her, if I really wasn't going to see her again, I atleast wanted to see her off happily. "Be careful…" I told her as I hugged her tightly, hoping that Edakura would be strong enough to fend off any soldiers if they found her. I wondered if I would even see her again.

"I worry more about you than myself," Edakura said to me, with a sigh, holding me close to her, hugging me back. Her delicate fingers wiped away the tears from my eyes, and I looked up at her, not wanting her to go. "Kurou, I am going to teach you this once. And you must only use it in emergencies. It is a very big risk. Either you tame it, or you are consumed by the will of the demon," she said to me sternly, and I nodded my head, immediately turning serious. "...I am going to teach you to change your demon into your protector. A living armor."

I was a bit confused as Edakura had told me this, but I understood that this technique wasn't just some ability like what she'd already taught me, this was about gaining control over my inner demon. My only thought was just how would I be able to control my inner demon, so far, I've never even met it, and the only time I think I've gotten close to a glimpse of it was in a dream. However, I was determined to learn, if it would get me one step closer to mastering my power, one step closer to destroying Hellzone Corps, to avenging everyone, I would do my best to learn the technique.

"Vizas, safeguard!" Edakura said, and I watched as she was suddenly covered in the same armor that the demoness, Vizas, wore. When she looked at me, her eyes seemed to be different. One was the normal red and the other was the maroon red of Vizas's eye. "The living armor. Kurou, you must choose the demon that you are most connected to, otherwise it will take over you." She changed back to normal, and I was left staring at her in awe and shock.

Somehow, it felt like out of all the abilities I'd learned so far, that this one would be the most difficult, I didn't even know my own inner demon, I wondered how I'd even be able to use the technique when I didn't even know that. I remembered the dream from before my village had been destroyed, if I was assuming correctly, my inner demon had… attacked me, taming my inner demon would have to be first priority before the technique. Then again when I thought about it, that was before my demonic power had awoken, maybe this time would be different if I managed to meet with my inner demon again.

Edakura looked at me, as if she had more to say. I waited quietly, waiting for any more instructions or warning she had for me. "...Kurou, I understand that… you know I am a royal Cambion. And it is because of that… that I cannot teach you. My demon side for some reason, restricts me, and I am unable to teach you and help you reach your potential." She sighed heavily, and I realized that the shame was not towards me, but towards herself. That pained my heart; it hurt to see my mother in this state. "You have multiple other demons. I am aware of this. I only have Vizas. Choose the demon you feel… you can connect to. The one demon you can place your trust in. That is, what I believe, the only one way to learn this."

I would nod at Edakura, watching before giving her one last hug "I'll miss you…" I told her tearfully. I could have sworn that bastard Kaiza was laughing at me right now, laughing at how the only mother figure I had left in my life was about to leave me. I wondered how else I would survive without Edakura around, Xenona was still in the village, but she probably wouldn't stay for long.

Edakura smiled softly at me, bending down slightly to get to my height. I could feel her warm arms around me; the arms that made me safe and drove away my nightmares. "I will miss you too, Kurou," she whispered, and I looked up to see tears go down her cheeks as well. I could tell that she was reluctant to leave, but that she also made up her mind as well. "Kurou… you will grow up strong. I know you will," she told me, wiping away her tears. "My dear boy… Burn with passion." She stopped for a moment. "If you ever need help… go find Kaiza. He may not be the best with expressing himself, but he cares." I nodded my head at her. Of course Edakura would trust her older brother.

Soon, Edakura would let go, and would begin to walk off, out the village entrance, I watched the entire time as she left until her figure couldn't be seen anymore. I wiped away the tears streaming down my eyes and gave a strong look, refusing to show any more weakness, besides, I was sure that one day, me and her would meet again, I was sure of it. I would begin to walk away, back to the home where Edakura and I used to live in together.