Kurou's POV
I was running, running as fast as I could, barely even taking a second to look back, I couldn't remember anything other than that I woke up, laid flat in the middle of the village, and of course the destruction of my village. Right now, the only thing on my mind was getting away from those damn demon slayers. And as I ran, I suddenly felt tears begin to rush down my cheeks. I had thought that today would've been normal. That it would've just been another day in the village. That I would train with Kaira, go on a patrol, anything. Just for everything to be normal. What good that turned about to be…
I'd lost the village to the very people I've been trying to keep it away from; I've been beaten by them. But worst of all, I had accused Kaira, the only parent figure I had ever had left, of betraying me. Now Kaira was dead. I could never ask for his forgiveness ever again. I screamed out into the air in anguish as I ran, not caring who heard me. I could barely contain my screams. Everyone I had ever tried to protect was now gone…
I had walked through the forest for what had felt like hours now. Hours since I had just left the house. Hours since I had left the village to slay demons, only to meet that man on the way. Hours since my village was destroyed by Hellzone corps, and since I had lost everything. It was all so confusing. It felt like I had just suddenly entered a bad dream, one I had no hope of waking up from. It was like I was walking a never ending nightmare, only this nightmare was reality. A nightmare called reality.
I thought about Kaira, wondering what could've happened to him in the midst of all that chaos. He was probably able to handle himself, but it couldn't have been for long though. I thought about the black clothed man as I walked and clenched the hilt of a growing flame sword in my hand. Out of rage, I sliced away a tree branch in my path and continuing to walk. This was all HIS fault, and I made sure not to leave the blue haired one out of this either.
If they never came, those strange people would've never came. I still had to wonder, 'Why did that other group come to our village anyway? They must've had a bigger reason for attacking us, and they seemed too sophisticated not to have a reason.' I didn't know if I would ever cross paths with that group again, but I swore to myself I would do everything in my power to completely demolish them. My hate for them was now equal, if not stronger than the hatred and contempt I held for Hellzone corps.
All of a sudden, a pillar of dark, black demonic energy erupted from the ground. I was forced to jump back from the blast, my eyes widening as a muscular arm with a black gauntlet pulled itself from the bottom of the pillar. What came out afterwards appeared to be a very large, bulky figure with pitch black armor covering its entire body. It had white ashen hands with very sharp claws, spaulders white spikes jolting out of them, and a helmet with very long curved horns could be seen. No mistake about it. This demon was an A-class, and was very powerful one compared to the ranks below them.
A-class demons sometimes served as commanders of entire armies of demonic soldiers between C and some B-class rank demons, so I didn't understand why was one here. I silently cursed myself. Back in the village, whatever had happened against that man before caused me to lose possession of my sword. I could rely on my flames, but for just how long? The demon let out a laugh as I glared at it. "HAHAHAHAHA!!! So it seems you're the cambion that has been causing trouble for us," said the demon heartily. There was that word again: cambion.
I didn't understand. Why did everyone think I was a cambion? I certainly showed no signs of being a demon, even if I was fairly powerful for a villager. I glared at the demon even harder as I cocked back my fists, green flames swirling around it, forming into a gauntlet of fire. "I. Am. NOT! A! CAMBION!!!!" I screamed in defiance, rushing at the demon with all the speed I could muster, and swung hard at it.
As I got close, the demon, with startling speed, had moved its arm up faster than I could see and took hold of my arm in an instant, clenching it, easily dispersing my flames. "You truly believe so spawn? Then tell me. Why do you have hellfire!?" it shouted out loudly, clenching its fist and plowing it into my chest. I coughed up blood when the fist rammed into me with the force of a train and I was sent flying far, slamming through multiple trees, crashing into the ground.
My eyes narrowed. 'I should've known it would be too reckless to just charge at it like that,' I thought, spitting out more blood onto the ground, trying to cover my mouth, only to see the blood coming out was… green. My eyes then widened. Looking at the green substance in my hand I wondered, 'How do I have green blood… no, since WHEN did I ever have blood of this color?' Before I could question this strange feature of my body further, the sound of something stomping towards me caught my attention. I looked up quickly to see the demon instantly towering over my body, bringing down its axe.
Quickly creating two katanas in my hands out of green flames and blocked with both, I slid them across the blade of the axe as I quickly stood, then slashed hard across its chest. What gushed forth from its body would forever haunt me: Green blood. It was darker than my own, but it didn't change the fact that it virtually looked almost exactly the same as my own. And the thought of it- this demon before me- being remotely connected to me in some way… was just revolting.
I didn't even pay attention to the slash across my chest done by the demon soon after my attack. Even more green blood gushed right out of my chest. It was all I could pay attention to at the moment. Next came a monstrously hard kick to my chest, immediately snapping me out of it as the intense pain rung throughout my body like an electric shock. I roared in agony, being I was sent hurdling through the air again, smashing right through the hard, thick bark of the trees.
I held out my hand again, a green ball of flames gathered in my hand weakly, only to disperse futilely. I growled as I made the same attempt again only for it to fizzle out once more. In that time, the A-class, with a loud laugh full of malice, began to barrage me with even more attacks than before, not even bothering to use its weapon this time. I made a covering out of green flames around my body to lessen the pain. It didn't exactly do me much good with how weak it was.
Since the demon was already stronger than me, I still felt the full force of the punches. The flames immediately broke from the contact of each punch hammered into me with the force of a speeding car, and I was sure I felt some bones breaking. He sent another attack to my chest and I was sent sliding back. I watched as the demon continued to laugh, rushing at me while covered in a large torrent of smoky, black energy.
Somehow, I managed to find the strength to hold out my hands, covering them in gauntlets of green flame. The demon slammed into me. With nothing but my arms to hold it back, my attempt to stop it only seemed to prove futile as I was pushed back with ease through the forest. The energy around the demon suddenly began to run up my arms fast, beginning to cover my entire body. Out of instinct and a bit of fear, I punched the demon, somehow managing to send it flying back from me. It quickly planted its feet to the ground as it fell onto a knee.
Its energy gone from its body, I began to thrash around violently as the energy began to crawl all over my body, feeling as if this energy meant to poison me somehow, only for something different to suddenly occur. Strangely, the smoky, pitch-black energy wasn't hurting me at all. Rather, it was materializing something over my body. A few seconds later, the energy morphed itself into a sleek, black metal plating, covering my entire body with bronze lining lacing it. Covering me from head to toe was now pitch-black and bronze armor with clawed gauntlets, and a cloak seemingly made from shadows, obscuring some of it from view, not only that, but I could have sworn my wounds were healed. I raised an arm to look at the set of armor now equipped to my body with wide eyes. "How.. did I…?" I started, only to suddenly hear a loud crash.
I looked behind myself to see the demon with its fist smashed into the earth, trembling with anger. "Insolent abomination…" it hissed with great scorn in it's voice as it got up angrily. The demon marched toward me menacingly. "You dare to twist my energy and use it for your own!?" it screamed, now rushing toward me. I quickly made a move to jump out of the way as it swung its axe at me, the axe smashing into the ground with a loud crash, leaving great damage where I avoided it.
Not only did I receive new equipment, but it seemed to replenish my strength as good as new. Deciding to save the confusion for later, I took advantage of my newfound strength and used it. A black pentagram formed under my feet, sending me launching towards the demon with incredible speed. Seeing what I could do, I held out my hand to the side and a pitch black sphere of demonic energy formed into my hand. An energy spike violently jutted out as part of the sphere became what seemed to be a handle, soon becoming thicker as it extended more to create a blade shape. A greatsword with a thick onyx blade with a black hilt that had crimson red wrapping around it had appeared in my hand. I gripped the handle with my other hand as well and sent a fierce overhead slash at the demon.
Seemingly shocked, it swung its axe and both of our weapons clashed, creating a shockwave that blew some of the trees with such force, they instantly cracked in half. I began slashing wildly at the demon with anger, thirsty for revenge. My slashes were quite fast despite wielding such a hefty weapon. It was thanks to old man Kaira's weight training that I was able to wield weapons of this weight so easily, only now did I see the true value in it. The A-class was forced to go on the defensive, blocking my strikes and losing its grip a few times on its own weapon.
Looking desperately for an opening, the demon slashed at my side. I quickly brought the greatsword to the side with one hand and blocked. The force from the attack kicked up a large amount of dirt that smashed through a large array of trees. "H-How can this be!? You are a mere half-breed!! A mongrel! I, an elite being, should not be defeated this easi-" I interrupted before it could finish its sentence. Sliding my greatsword across the blade of its axe and with an upward slash, I cut across it's chest.
Deep green blood spurted out of the large wound. The demon let out a gurgling scream of pain and rage, slashing down hard at me with its axe in a shadowy burst of black energy. I teleported out of the way as it's axe smashed into the ground, creating a very large cloud of smoke. "I am a proud member of the demon armada!!" the demon screamed out, bringing down its axe again, releasing a very large wave of black, shadow-like energy rushing toward me.
I engulfed my entire body in black shadowy flames, sending a counter slash at the wave. My greatsword pierced through the wave, completely cutting it into two, the halves rocketing through the forest, destroying whatever came in their wake. The demon leaped out from the smoke into the air, crashing into the ground right in front of me. "I refuse to be defeated!! Especially by half-breed scum!!!" it screamed out in rage, its body and weapon sparking and bursting with destructive pitch-black energy, slashing at me with its axe, using all the strength it had leftover.
I slashed hard at the demon as well. The minute our weapons touched, my greatsword had torn through the blade of the axe like a hot knife cutting through butter. It didn't stop there, even cutting right through the demon, my body appearing right behind it as I cut through its body. The upper half of the A-class's body slowly slid before finally falling to the ground with a loud clang, the lower half of its body falling back soon after.