Chapter 15

One Month Later…

"When are you going to be back?" Rangiku asked tearfully and held the hem of Haruto's coat tightly.

Haruto and Naruko had spent almost a month with the blonde ball of sunshine, despite wanting to go. But every time they would decide, Rangiku's wide smile would shatter their decision to million pieces. The blonde girl had grown on them; she brought colors and joy to their mundane lifestyle.

Every day, she would sleep in the middle of the two—even though it had put a considerable strain on their night-time activities—they would wake to the grinning face of the blonde beaming down on them as she would wake them up. Just like that, the rest of the day her cheerful laughter and giggles would fill the house.

Just hearing her giggles, her words and sometimes her taunts made all the worries of their past disappear. She had grown considerably in a month, bearing in mind; she ate a meal fitting for a noble every day three times. No longer was she the same scrawny little girl they had rescued from the shopkeeper.

"We will be back as soon as we can. But don't worry. We have left you enough supply to last for months. Don't wander off too much while we are gone and don't trust any strangers." Haruto assured kindly as he ruffled her hair. "Keep that necklace with you at all times"

"You promise?" Rangiku asked tearfully.

"Promise."

"Okay, but be back soon," she said as cheerfully as she could.

Haruto and Naruko knelt one last time and gave her a tight hug. They didn't want to go either, but something had come up.

An ambitious man, using some type of magical crystals to control the minds of others had brought almost half of the world population under his control during the one month they had spent with Rangiku. When he had first appeared, they had dismissed him as a delusional madman trying to play King, with more bark than bite. But it seemed they had been wrong.

The man took control of the strongest fighters of the world and forced them to do his bidding. With such powerful men under his control, he had turned his attention on the rest of world, taking one country at a time, killing all those who opposed him with any remorse or regret.

No one had been spared of his wrath, not even children. Such cruelty had to be stopped at all cost, and Haruto would show him the true meaning of strength and power. He had been sighted near the border of the country they were currently in with his whole army of the same scumbags as him. "Ok, let's go."

With that they left the tearful little girl behind, not knowing they won't be able to see her again for a long, long

***

Late Night. Two days later. Haruto and Naruko were racing towards the clearing where they had left Rangiku two days ago, happy to return and greet the ball of energy again. They had dealt with the invading army, by releasing all the mind controlled people and obliterating all those who had joined the army for the simple reason of causing unjust death and destruction.

It seemed the leader had disappeared during the destruction of Haruto releasing a fraction of his Chakra and crushing the invading scumbags and destroyed all the mind-controlling Crystals present there. He dismissed him as not a threat because without the power of the magic Crystals, he was powerless.

As soon as he entered the town, he sensed something wrong with the people and knew they were being controlled. But that was impossible as he had destroyed all the Crystals in the previous battle. That means there were more of them; it would also explain the disappearance of the leader during the battle.

He had a bad feeling about this.

As soon as he stepped one foot into the town, all the citizens attacked with different weapons, some with torches, some with swords and some with bats. Haruto and Naruko kept their walk without any effort, all those coming into contact within a foot of them, would drop down to the ground as their eyes would roll up in to their eye sockets.

"I don't have time for this!" Haruto whispered annoyingly as he elevated his Shakujo and brought it down on the earth with a thunk, an enormous shield sprung up and stretched out to the four sides of the town, releasing all the town's citizens from the mind control. "Let's go."

Racing to the outskirts of the town towards the large clearing, Haruto's eyes widened in shock and horror as he saw an enormous fire spreading all over the forest, engulfing everything in its path and burning it asunder. The ground under his feet blasted and exploded as he shot forward with rage, his Rinne Sharingan pulsing with menacingly devastating power.

As soon as he reached the clearing, his heart stopped thumping in his chest, his eyes widened in disbelief and immeasurable rage. The once beautiful clearing around the house now a burning and scorched ground, the once comforting house always oozing off an aura of warmth and love due to the joyful laughter of Rangiku, now a blackened planks of wood oozing off a dreadful aura, the once clear and shinning surface of the large pond was now grey.

That was not what angered him to no end, no, it was the grinning face of the scumbag responsible for all this devastation and destruction as he stood in the middle of the clearing, large army of thousands of soldiers armed to the bones with different weapons, situated all over the forest and surrounding area.

"So you finally showed up," the man said in a smug tone while the soldiers cheered him on. Haruto however was more focused on the fraction of chakra he had given to the blonde child. He couldn't find a trace of the energy, but that was impossible considering his chakra was not something you could destroy.

His face was quite calm as he looked at the smug face of the leader. He had seen enough in his countless years long life to be taunted into taking irrational against a mere child, besides the man would die anyway, no matter how many soldiers he had brought with himself.

"Where is the child?"

"Oh, look boys; he wants to know where that Blondie is. Should I tell him?" the man asked amusingly as the soldiers cheered with a chorus of 'no' "Sorry, but the decision is not mine to make. I'm just a humble man trying to rule the world."

The cheers and the sound of laughter reached new heights.

"I will not repeat myself, tell me where the girl is and I may simply turn you into dust without torturing you for all eternity." Haruto stated coldly as the man sneered.

"You have some nerve threatening me when I hold the girl's life in my hands," the man scowled and glared at the calm red haired man and busty blonde woman. He had to admit being confused when the red haired man sat down in the middle of the clearing and closed his eyes, wondering what the redhead was trying to do.

Haruto linked himself with nature as he stretched his senses to every corner of the town, then the city, the country and finally the entire world, unfortunately and much to his growing anger, he still couldn't find the chakra anywhere in this world, but rather in a place completely unknown to him as of right now.

Chakra he had given to her was not infused into Rangiku, but rather infused with the necklace. He should have told her to simply call on his name to summon him, but he was in hurry at the time and forgot to tell her the true meaning and function of the necklace.

"Before I destroy you, tell me why did you attack a small child when you could've come after me?" Haruto asked icily and stood up with his eyes closed.

"You killed my grandfather that's why. Do you remember that white haired man with a long black sword that you mercilessly killed 50 years ago. He was a great man, loved by his people and only wanted peace, yet you killed him. I vowed that day, I would kill the one thing you hold dear, but since I couldn't kill that blonde woman as she is always with you, I chose the next best person," the man shouted coldly. "I couldn't control you at the time, but now I have the means to control you and that bitch!"

"I see, so this is a revenge story," Haruto retorted with a raised eyebrow.

The man took out two glowing blue magical Crystals from his pocket and raised it to his face with a maniacal look

"With this, I will be able to control you. When I have you under my control, the world will bow before my feet," the leader shouted as he let out a gleeful laugh followed by his army, while the Crystals glowed a white blue.

The laughs abruptly came to a screeching halt when a dreadful aura of death and menace washed over the land. The man and his army turned to the redhead, only for their eyes to widen in terror and apprehension; their bodies to tremble hysterically as they witnessed the horrifyingly ruthless eyes of the redhead, even his partner stepped back.

So uncaring

So ominous

So overwhelming

Naruko stepped back in alarm from the dreadful aura of the redhead, seeing as even she could be harmed by his Chakra when he was in this state. She had seen this kind of power only once and that was when he became the physical embodiment of Chakra.

The same dark and crimson fire-like aura oozing off his body in waves, the same merciless scarlet ripple pattern eyes pulsating with supremacy, the same red and black flaming hair!

Even if she had been on the verge of death at the time, she had still witness the devastating power of his potent Chakra, turning everything into blackened ash the moment they came into contact with it. It was the same now, the clearing, trees and grasses nothing but a black grave of ash surrounding him and expanding for miles. The sky above darkened as lightening flashed, scaring the army and their leader even more.

Haruto leisurely levitated from the scorched ground as the lightening in the sky flashed even fiercer and struck the ground, igniting it in flames, the aura around his body expanding to a shadowy and crimson spherical form.

To think this man had the audacity to harm his loved ones and appear so smug!

To have the nerve that he would be controlled!

"Insolent mortal, you have the audacity to inflict harm on my loved ones, to destroy my home and come before me in order to control me. Did you really think a puny magic crystal will be able to control me? Such arrogance! No one controls me! No one!"

The thunderous demonic voice followed by the deafening lightening flashing in the sky had caused the army to drench their pants in fright. The leader had lost control of his bowels and was standing motionless with his eyes glossed over. He hadn't prepared for this! In his mind, it was simple, kill the girl to lure out the tall redhead, take over his anguish filled mind and finally rule the world!

The being floating in the sky was not human, he was a Demon!

"K-kill him!" the leader stuttered out and stepped back in fear. The shivering soldiers released all their weapons consisting of arrows, swords and many unknown weapons at the redhead. As soon as the projectiles neared the sphere, it reduced to dust, scaring the army even more.

"You are unforgivable! Raising your hand against an innocent child for the sake of luring out your enemy. Disgusting!" Haruto raised his hand above his head as an enormous ball of crimson energy appeared in his hand, slowly but surely increasing in size. The energy ball kept expanding and enlarging until it looked like the sun had descended to the world and was hovering above them.

The army lost strength of their legs and slumped to the ground in a kneeling position. It was over for them, how in the hell would they stop something like that, let alone someone like that!

Naruko vanished from her spot and appeared near the floating redhead, well aware of what the redhead intended to do with the colossal sphere of energy.

"Haruto, you will destroy the whole city with that, many innocents will die!" She pleaded.

If that thing was brought down upon the earth, the city below would be nothing but a scorched crater. She was as angry as he was, but taking such actions would cost countless innocent lives!

"I will simply revive them back to life. Now Naruko, please step away from my path." The unsympathetic look he gave her was not of the man she loved, but a murderous dragon disturbed from his slumber, she reluctantly stepped away. "This scorched crater will linger as a scar on the surface of the world till the end of time as a reminder to those foolish enough to assault one of my loved ones."

"Now vanish from existence! "

Naruko looked away as Haruto released the colossal sphere of condensed energy, bathing the whole city in a blinding crimson light, the screams of the army ringing through the land as they were reduced to ashes, along with the city and the surrounding area.

When Naruko looked down again, all that was left was a huge black crater.

"When are you going to revive those people?" Naruko asked in sorrow as she looked at the cold and impassive visage of her husband.

"As soon as I make them a new and improved home away from this place. They will have no memories of this event, but this crater will remain here. I wanted to help them as I helped Rangiku anyway." Haruto muttered softly and clenched his hands. "I have to find a way to bring Rangiku back even if it takes all eternity to accomplish, even if I have to turn the world upside down to find her! I gave her my word, I have never broken my word and I sure as hell am not going to start now!… If only I had told her how to use that chakra."

"Beloved, I'm sure we'll see her again, I don't know when, but I have a feeling we will."