Chapter 112: The Flames

Chapter 112: Flames

Kiyori came out of the room and watched the guards struggle against the demon. She quickly pulled out her arrow and shot the sacred arrow, creating a massive hole in the emperor’s chest, which broke his body into pieces the very next second.

She turned toward the injured guards and looked around as she felt a sudden scent of smoke. A low orange glow bled through the wooden sliding doors at the end of the corridor. Somewhere within the estate’s inner courtyard, an unnatural flame had caught, swallowing the paper screens and timber beams. "Move from here!" Her yelling caught their attention as they looked at the flames emerging through the gates.

They rushed to get water to stop the fire, while Kiyori came out of the estate and moved toward the shrine.

The flames rose toward the moon in the sky with smoke daring to reach the stars. The heat attracted the demons wandering through the forests; they turned toward the estate with a growl.

In that same moment, Kureha walked through the forest.

Suddenly, a short green demon stopped nearby. His hands held a staff, which had two heads of a man and woman. "Lord Kureha, you have awakened, my lord."

"Ryotsu, I have been wondering where you were all this time since I woke up."

Ryotsu bowed and followed him behind.

From the forest, hundreds of demons emerged, all of them rushing toward the mansion as he came between their paths.

Ryotsu stepped forward, tapping his staff as the man’s head screamed and spat flames toward them. "Don’t dare to step into Lord Kureha’s path."

The demons roared at the sudden interference as all of them lunged at Ryotsu.

Kureha took a step forward; the small movement instantly slashed down the demons’ bodies without lifting a finger. Their bodies fell on the ground, completely mutilated. "The demons have truly grown weak in this era almost like an insect."

"No, my lord, it is just you who is too strong for them to withstand that."

Hearing that, Kureha gave him a look that didn’t seem pleased from being overly obedient. He said nothing and slowly walked forward. "I need a boat."

"A boat... Why? NO! I mean, yes, my lord, a boat, yes, a boat. I will get it." Ryotsu ran forward with his staff, trying to find anything.

His gaze laid on a camp nearby the river. Ryotsu ran toward it while speaking. "There are boats."

Kureha walked toward it and reached near the camp where multiple bandits sat, and in the rivers were ten boats resting.

The bandits were drinking wine and were scattered around all over the place near the camp. Some of them sat on broken wood and some on the ground.

One of them looked at the armored man in front of them and stood. "Who is there, Eh. Tell us what valuable things you have, sweet man. What do you want here, huh?" The man laughed as he walked toward him.

"I want a boat." Kureha demanded, staring at the man walking toward him.

The bandit stopped and looked at him. He stared at him for a long moment, then laughed even more loudly. "What? You want a boat? You think we are some fishermen and would let you borrow?"

Seeing that, Kureha walked forward and held the man’s throat to lift him up and spoke again. "You perhaps didn’t hear what I said."

His claws stabbed through his throat as a green poison rushed through the bandit’s vein. The man’s body burnt from the poison, melting instantly under the acid’s influence, leaving the bones behind. Others looked at the ribs; their alcohol instantly ended and pulled them back into reality. The head bandit stood and yelled. "Kill him!"

Ryotsu moved forward. "Lord Kureha, leave it to me; you don’t have to show your great powers to these filthy humans. I am enough for them."

Kureha looked at him once and then walked toward a boat without speaking a word. Ryotsu, however, stayed behind and spun the staff. The man’s mouth opened as the bandits lunged forward; flames came out of the face that instantly began to burn them alive. Their bodies slowly turned into ash as he looked at them and laughed. "Hahah, if you hadn’t defied Lord Kureha, you’d have been spared."

He looked back and saw Kureha had already started the boat in the lake. "Lord Kureha!! Wait for me; don’t leave me behind!"

Ryotsu sprinted toward the boat and reached near the river, then jumped into the boat, which was already moving.

Time slowly passed as they reached the center of the river.

He looked ahead while holding the wooden oars to move the boat. "Lord Kureha, how have you been able to awaken? I believe you should have been sleeping for the next eleven months."

"You are correct, Ryotsu. A half demon tried to bargain with me and awakened me in that process."

Ryotsu moved the boat forward and spoke again. "Uhm, Lord Kureha, about your brothers..."

Kureha slammed a punch on his head, which pushed him into the river, then he grabbed the staff and pushed Ryotsu deeper.

Bubble erupted from the water as he tried to get back and gagged while speaking. "Lord Kureha, forg—"

He pushed Ryotsu with the staff again, cutting him off in mid-sentence while keeping the flat, deadpan expression, then smacked the staff on Ryotsu’s head, who gasped inside the river and tried to come out. His hand held the edge of the boat, gasping for breath harder.

"I need to find my father’s second blade." Kureha spoke, looking at the sword in his waist.

Ryotsu jumped inside the river, still trying to breathe. "Give me a little time, Lord Kureha; I’ll find the location soon."

Kureha gave him a brief glance and turned his back on him without saying anything. He was a man of fewer words after all.

***

Kiyori, however, reached near the shrine and the bone eater well.

Inside, she saw many human bones scattered around; as she walked forward, she suddenly felt a strong Miasma, although the poison couldn’t even reach her as it was being purified instantly in her presence.

Her gaze fell upon a crater when she stopped near it and looked inside. She saw hundreds of human bones crushed together.

From behind her, the wind screeched; the whistling noise of the wind echoed around.

Just as she turned, a woman came behind her.

Kiyori looked at her... it was the princess with white mismatched hair. She quickly pulled her arrow out and spoke. "What are you planning? You are dead, aren’t you?"

The lips of the princess twitched, and a wrong curve curled into them, her teeth sharpened into fangs, each one’s point sharp thin. "I needed a hundred humans to get back to my true self. I got the souls of ninety-five, but then I saw you, a priestess. A soul like yours will do the work of a hundred souls alone."

"Return to yourself... you are a demonic spirit of a dead demon." Kiyori stepped back, but her feet stumbled in the crater, balancing herself again.

The demon lunged at her with the sharp claws to tear her. She let go of the arrow and shot it forward, then jumped into the air, her finger touching the demon’s head as she pushed herself forward.

The demon’s body burnt from the place she touched it. The arrow disappeared instantly, and from above the demon, multiple sacred arrows launched toward it, piercing through it.

The demon screamed, its feet stumbling as it fell into the crater while half of its body had been crushed instantly from her spritual pressure.

Kiyori stepped forward and aimed her arrow at her. "I’ll ask now, what did you do to the princess?"

The demon’s body burnt, leaving behind a head, which was launched upward without answering the question as it screamed loudly and spoke. "I’ll kill others then; I only need five. I’ll kill you after that, priestess!"

"You aren’t going anywhere." She shot the arrow, but it hit the ceiling while the demon went through the wall. She quickly pulled her bow back and rushed outside toward the estate where it had been gone.

Kiyori exited the shrine and followed the presence of the shard as she was outside now, where people ran out of the estate. The demonic head spat fire, burning the mansion under the flames further; the previous flames rose even higher. It rushed toward a man, but her arrow came forward.

The sacred arrow rushed through the air and pierced through its head, but it began to regenerate from the influence of the shard.

Darting her gaze around, she tried to find the shard in its head before she finally noticed a faint glint in the mouth. She raised her bow, but it already moved toward another member. Kiyori moved alongside her arrow, aiming directly into it.

Fyuuu!

She let go of the arrow as it launched toward it. Aiming it perfectly, the arrow hit the shard inside, and the came through its head, pushing the shard out as it clattered on the ground.

The demon reached toward the sky, but its body turned into demonic Miasma and evaporated into the air.

Kiyori leaned forward and picked up the black shard, which turned normal again. She looked at the people and spoke. "Stop the fire!"

The flames reached toward the exit of the estate and burnt the wood while trapping the people inside.