Blood-Bound Forest

Sention put forward his hand, a wave of multicolored aura shifting about as a gateway opened and he began to make he towards it.

"Where are you going, Sention?" Came a voice.

Sention turned, seeing Emishi watching him a ways off in the endless void, arms folded. "I'm going to see how these events unfold first hand. I need to see it all with my own eyes."

"Yeah? I thought you said if we interfered it would ruin everything?" Emishi asked.

"I'm not interfering."

"Well I hope you realize how suspicious you appear at this moment." Emishi said, the a wave of aura pulsated from him, blasting outwards.

Sention's aura clashed back against Emishi's, and when their waves of pressure clashed, a massive shockwave shot out and nearby stars simply faded out of existence, the void growing ever darker.

"Don't try to stop me, I'm telling you, I have no intent to interfere. I simply want to see how this story unfolds with my true eyes." Sention's spoke.

"What, your all seeing eyes don't work good enough for you?" Emishi asked.

"No. They don't. This is an event unlike any other before. I have to see it myself."

"Well, then I'm going with you." Emishi spoke.

"What?"

"You heard me. I'm going with you. I need to keep an eye on you, and I want to see why this all intrigued you so much."

Sention sighed. "Fine."

•

•

•

The roar of the monster shook the trees and rattled Darius's bones. He raised his hands to his ears, the sound pounding against his head.

The trees wilted from the force of the monster's roar, the arms retracting and all of them clumping together in masses of flesh and thorns as the trees hissed and screamed, adding to the horrific chorus.

Sedori's suddenly ran past Darius, his aura cloak brimming against the vibrant reds, as he blasted forward, a wave of glowing, magnificent blades flying towards the monster. But they deftly passed through it, having absolutely zero affect.

"What?!" Sedori asked in surprise, and then the thing came barreling forward, slamming its head and jaws into the earth and clawing forward as it tore up roots and earth, rushing towards the group, who dodged aside and moved out the way.

"Is ur immune to aura, maybe?" Darius called out.

"Seems like it!" Inari called back.

The beast suddenly stopped, digging it's talons into the earth, then spinning its body and lifting, pulling roots up from the ground before wrenching trees up from the earth and thrashing them about. The trees let out horrific, inhuman screams as they were torn asunder and thrown about.

Darius and the others would dance to and fro about, dodge between the beast's brutish attacks.

And then Darius found himself snared, his leg trapped between two roots as a screaming tree came barreling towards him. He raised his arms, a mirror wall be raised above him, but the tree simply phased through it and slammed into Darius's head, thorns raking through his skin and knocking him to the ground, wrenching his leg free of the roots as he was thrown across the forest and slamming into another tree.

And then he quickly came to realize that his healing was much slower than normal. While he was healing, yes, it was at a much, much slower rate.

"Don't get hit!" He roared, "This place reduces your immortality and is immune to aura!"

"I think that is quite apparent at this point!" Inari called back as she jumped high above one of the beast's attacks.

Onoma flashed over beside Darius. Red aura began to coat Darius's body as the hands of a turning clock formed above his head and his wounds were healed.

"How are we supposed to kill this thing when our aura doesn't even work on it?" Onoma asked.

"Not sure.." Darius said, then his bow materialized in his hands. He drew back the string and an arrow formed in the bow. He aimed it at the beast as it thrashed about, chasing after Inari and Sedori, then he loosed the arrow and it was sent streaming towards it. To his surprise, the arrow slamming into it's shoulder, leaving a deep gash in the monster as it flinched, being knocked over to the side.

"Oh, well, that worked. Which, doesn't make much sense considering that bow uses aura.." Onoma said.

Darius also found that strange. How did his bow, which created arrows from aura, work against the beast when normal aura strikes didn't? It didn't make any sense. Maybe it didn't have to do with aura at all, but maybe something else entirely?

The beast swiveled it's head around, looking directly at Darius and Onoma.

"Ah, I think you got it's attention, man." Onoma said.

"You think? Wow. I never could have figured that out without you, damn you are a genius." Darius said, looked over at Onoma with an incredulous look.

"Was the sarcasm needed?"

"For you, yes."

"Just for me? Aren't you always sarcastic."

"No."

"Yes you are."

"That was sarcasm dumbass."

"Oh, well, my point stands."

The creature let out a roar, then began bulldozing towards them.

Darius placed his hand on the ground and a mirror formed beneath him and Onoma. They both fell through it, another mirror appearing behind the monster by Sedori and Inari. Onoma and Darius landed in the ground beside them as the beast slamming its talons and the trees, which were still screaming, down in where they had just been.

"Our weapons work on it, nothing else." Darius said.

"Wait, your bow worked? But isn't it…?" Sedori spoke.

"Yeah, I know. I'm wondering if it actually has to do with aura or something else at play here."

The creature thrashed about, confused, before turning around, seeing them, and hissing, smoke rolling up from its jaws.

"This is still not gonna be easy."