Castanaville…
Once proud and defiant, the nation now existed only as ruins. Its people, its walls, its memory—all shattered in one night.
Dementor stood in silence amidst the wreckage. Not silence of grief, but of an odd serenity. Around him, fires burned, structures collapsed, and his human-turned monstrosities shrieked in victory as they rounded up what little life remained. Yet to Dementor, this ruin was peace.
Tentacles slid into the dust beside him. Nikaiju, tall and grotesque, with monstrous crab-pincers for arms and four squid-like limbs for feet, joined him.
"Another one finished. Where to now… boss?" Nikaiju asked. His voice rumbled with a strange fondness, as though the massacre was a shared game.
From the shadows of a broken church, a smaller cloaked figure stepped forward. His gray coat was smeared with blood, his hood shadowing a face always half-grinning. Sankaiju. His voice was sharp, brittle with resentment.
"Why are we wasting ourselves on the whims of those humans?" he hissed, chewing through a young boy's severed arm as though it were dried meat. "We should be leaving the halls of Brandish in wakes of blood! Not work like errand dogs."
Dementor turned to him, but not with cold dismissal. His eyes—red, fractured like burning glass—softened. "Two… I understand what you feel. We all do. But not yet. The time is wrong."
A heavy thump followed as the fourth of their kin strode forward. Yonkaiju, massive, brutal, carrying a long iron pole with severed heads lined along it like grotesque beads. He smiled, jittering.
"Because of the guys from The Dead Men Ship keeps them safe, right? That's why we wait," he chuckled, shaking the grisly kebab of heads.
"Yes, Four," Dementor replied quietly, though his gaze lingered hungrily on Yonkaiju's trophies. "I am still formulating a plan to get rid of the Flame Emperor. But it is not only that. This is… revenge, to the world that ignored us. Pretending they didn't see what Brandish did, even as we were experimented on, broken, discarded! Tonight is the beginning of our revenge."
Sankaiju spat on the ground. "Revenge while chained to the humans? Hmph. That's a pitiful revenge."
Dementor walked over, laying a clawed hand gently on Sankaiju's shoulder. "It hurts, I know. But listen… We are alone. Just us four. We cannot survive an encounter with the Legends. Even if it means playing the fools—for now we must wait and grow stronger. The guys from the Dead Men ship want mindless soldiers. While Brandish want to expand their territories.
"Let them think they use us. In truth, we are feeding our rage, sharpening our claws. When the time comes, we won't just kill them. We'll erase them."
At that, Yonkaiju began chanting wildly, "Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!!"
Nikaiju gave a soft rumble of laughter. "Boss, no matter what you decide, I'll follow.
"Stop calling me boss. We are equals."
Nikaiju seemed confused at the prospect, trying it out.
"De-Dement—Dementor!"
A faint smile cracked Dementor's monstrous face. "That's better. We're family, not soldiers. We will have our revenge!"
The four Kaiju disappeared into the wilderness together, shadows swallowed by the trees.
---
Meanwhile…
The clash of steel against scale shook the glade.
The Golden Leaf Snake, its emerald body laced with glowing gold, writhed across the battlefield. Each movement was deliberate, calculated. For nearly five months, it had evaded Bukanami's team—setting ambushes, laying false trails, forcing battles on its terms. This was not a beast driven by instinct; it was a predator-general, playing war.
Bukanami, leading from the front, charged. His two weapons gleamed in the dusk light—the golden sword shimmering with radiant aura, the dark machete exuding a shadowy weight. Together they cut arcs of light and darkness, clashing into the serpent's scaled hide. Sparks burst as his strikes rang like blades against an iron wall.
The serpent countered with its tail, whipping it in a blur. Bukanami caught it with his machete, staggering under its crushing weight but holding. His teeth gritted as he roared, "Remember the plan!"
Konacho answered first, her twin daggers flashing like streaks of silver. Swift, elusive, she darted through the battlefield, weaving past snapping jaws and sweeping coils. She slashed at the serpent's eyes, forcing it to recoil.
But the snake laughed, a dry, echoing hiss. "Predictable. Always the same dance, dagger-girl." Its head flicked, nearly catching her, but she twisted midair and rolled away.
A roar ripped through the glade. Tobi had shifted fully—his arms covered in coarse mane-like fur, claws elongating, his lion's face snarling with feral power. He slammed into the serpent's body, his claws tearing at its scales. Muscles bulged as he forced the massive snake back, veins glowing with beast-energy.
The serpent coiled around him, constricting, testing his strength. Tobi laughed, teeth bared, and forced its coils apart. "You're not the first beast I've broken!" He slammed his fists—lion's paws the size of boulders—into its body, cracking several scales.
"I've grown much stronger in the last four months!" Tobi said.
But then came the whisper of a spear.
A dark haired teenager made his appearance admist the chaos. The senior, broad-shouldered yet sharp-eyed, spun his obsidian-handled spear in clean arcs, stabbing into gaps revealed by Bukanami's lead. Korimer Ransthrol moved with calm precision. His presence was steadying, his voice calm even in chaos.
"Stay sharp, Bukanami! You're overextending your left side."
"Noted," Bukanami growled back, adjusting his footwork. They fought as they had times and times on end in training, their attacks seamlessly blending.
The serpent hissed louder. "Is this all the strongest hero produced from Four Stars Academy can give. You mock me! Your lives shall bleed dry for nothing!!"
Its body glowed and the golden leaf stop tingled with an unhealthy sensation. From the earth around them, the call went out. The trees shook as several beasts swarmed— A Grade B Silicon Hawk with crystalline wings and diamond talons swopped down, while C-class fire wolves with eyes that glowed red overran the fields. Several monster class Gorillas made their way towards the beacon cry sent by Golden Leaf. They poured into the battlefield in dozens.
"Damn it—it's calling again!" Konacho spat, carving through two wolves in a blur. Her sides were quickly covered up once more by replacements.
"They're nothing!" Tobi bellowed, tearing a mantis in half with his claws. Blood coated his mane, his SE output rising with every kill. He let out a roar causing all the beasts to falter for a second.
That second was enough, Konacho moved at her fastest and cut through the chain of beasts. One strike to attack, one strike to kill.
But the numbers surged. The battlefield thickened with enemies, choking space.
"Hold the line!" Bukanami roared, slashing through three vultures with his golden blade, his machete catching another midair. "We end the serpent, the rest scatter!"
"Bukanami! I don't have much time left on my transformation!! So I'm going all out!!!" Tobi roared once more, there was an explosion of SE around the battlefield.
"Lion Emperor's Roar! Lion's Decree!!" Tobi roared, his roar destroyed the bodies of weaker grade C beasts upon impact. The stronger ones faltered under the destabilizing effect of the roar.
Not even Golden Leaf was spared, spinning it turned from Bukanami and Korimer who were currently battling it, searching for Tobi.
"How dare you turn during a fight!!" Korimer roared and let lose his spear into the snake's neck.
"Full Counter" Korimer whispered to himself as he desended on the beast. His hand grew red and burst into flames taking on the signature ability of the Ransthrol family.
"Emperor of Flames!!!" Korimer roared and punched the snake right where the spear had struck.
The serpent gave a cry as it reared in pain. Bukanami didn't waste the opportunity presented to him.
"Divine Dragon Style: Blood and Sword!!"
His blades gleamed and burst into dual flames, his machete released a black flame and golden sword released a golden red flame.
"Release!!" He let lose the technique. A criss cross slash that tore through Golden Leaf's thick skin. Bukanami reared up for another.
The serpent however wove between them, every move a counter to their rhythm. The first sword slash had struck where it was weakest. It had no intention of receiving the next.
Feinting to draw them apart, it leaped towards the fields of beasts where Konacho was, it's jaws wide open.
"Konacho!!" Bukanami yelled and leaped towards her,
"Stay! It's a trap!!". Just then it pulled back, The beam of condensed SE aimed straight at Bukanami.
Who barely deflected them, however his left torso was left sharred and his arm broken. The beast leaped into the chaos of summoned beasts. Its eyes gleamed with cruel intelligence.
The beast started dripping one by one, their life essence drawn away into the dying serpent healing it.
Korimer leapt high, his spear spinning. "Bukanami! Get out of there! Tobi!" he called.
Tobi didn't hesitate. He caught the serpent's lunge with both blades, sparks flying. The serpent's fangs sank into his shoulder, blood splurting out like a fountain.
Konacho darted in, pulling Bukanami away from its thrashing tail. Enraged Tobi widened his mouth and bit into its head. He slammed it from behind, claws tearing deeper into its neck. The beast let lose and flung Tobi away.
For the first time, the serpent screeched in pain. Its body convulsed, golden mist pouring from its wounds.
Korimer's eyes narrowed. "This ends here."
The serpent coiled tightly, eyes burning. "No… little hunters. This is where it begins."
The ground rumbled as more beasts answered its call. The souls of the demonic beast swelled up into the Golden Leaf's body, regenerating all wounds. The forest itself seemed to rise against the heroes.
Still, Korimer planted his feet. His spear gleamed—light and darkness entwined. He glanced to Bukanami and his team. "Five months of chasing huh! No more. Tonight—we finish it."
"All Mighty Emperor's Flame Fist! 1st Bout!" Korimer roared, a wave of flames surrounded him growing wilder and thicker by the second. It grew to the size of a small hill, a flame sun!
The snake roared and crashed into the outstreched plentifold magnitude of Korimer's attacks.
The explosion upon contact flattened everything around them. The forest was turned to a sea if flames. The demonic beast charred black. Tobi stood over Konacho and Bukanami shielding them from the flames wrath.
When it was all over, a crater the size of a city was all that was left of that area and in the middle stood Korimer, holding the golden leaf of the snake. Tobi fell face flat as the SE stones they had attached to his armor to help increase his SE output cracked and were destroyed.
His white hair turned brownish then settled at black. His body was even after the flames were gone still boiling because of the intensity of the flames he had endured.
"We did it!" Tobi forced himself to speak.
"Yeah. We killed it." Bukanami gasped.
"We won!" Konacho exhaled exhausted.
Korimer turned towards them his eyes flame, he flung the crown at Konacho whi was the only one left standing.
"Well done, guys. You fought an survived a beast that put Denkei heroes to shame. I will return to Four Stars soon. I need to cultivate." Korimer said and leaped into the sky disappearing from sight.
"Bukanami, he took a lot of damage during that last clash didn't he?" Konacho asked as she handed the crown to Bukanami.
"Yeah. But he'll be alright and so would we." Bukanami said forcing himself up, he walked over and picked up the SE core of the Golden Leaf Snake.
"In the meantime, let's return home."
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Spiritual Energy (SE)
Spiritual Sea (SS)
Spiritual Signature (SST)