"It's around here. I can feel it."
Kasaki's voice cut through the forest stillness, his hand resting on the hilt of his katana.
Zenith stifled a laugh as he trailed behind. "You know, you could just admit we're lost."
Kasaki tilted his straw hat lower, jaw tightening. "We're not lost. Shut it, Zenith."
The two looked nearly identical—crimson eyes, sharp features, mirrored tattoos streaming down opposite cheeks. But where Kasaki's black dreads were tied neatly back, Zenith's golden ones tumbled loose around his shoulders. Twins, yet opposites: Kasaki's every step was taut with discipline, while Zenith wore his baby-faced smirk like armor.
The two wore clothes that matched their style, Zenith wearing an all black martial arts gi while Kasaki wore a black and blue kamishimo.
Still, they pressed deeper into the woods of Sylvanna, closer to Antiscarlia. Searching. For what, only they knew.
"This forest…" Kasaki muttered, pushing leaves aside. "Why is it so damn hard to traverse?"
Zenith opened his mouth to quip back, but Kasaki froze, raising a hand. Lightning crackled faintly across his arm. His eyes narrowed.
"Found you."
Zenith's grin spread. "Oh really? We finally found it?"
There it was. A slime.
Not just any slime—a pathetic E-rank, the weakest of monsters. But this one pulsed with something wrong. Something sacred.
Zenith whistled low. "Well, I'll be damned… it really does have divinity."
Kasaki's grip tightened on his sword. "Get ready. I'll attack first."
"Gotcha. Just don't hog all the fun."
Something shot past Zenith.
Kasaki was hurled backward, slammed into a tree with a sickening crack. Sticky slime clung to his chest and shoulders, pinning him down.
Zenith froze—then burst into laughter. "A slime? A slime did that? Oh, this is priceless."
The moment didn't last. Pure white lightning erupted around Kasaki's body, burning the ooze to ash.
"You good, b—"
"I'm fine." His voice was clipped, steady.
The slime quivered, its gelatinous form pulsing like a heartbeat.
Zenith's smirk faded. "It can feel pain. That's… not good."
Kasaki stepped forward, lightning cloaking his frame. Sparks crawled over his arms, the air around him shimmering with unbearable heat.
The slime lashed out, spitting globs in rapid succession. Dozens of projectiles hissed through the air—
*fsshhh!*
Each one ignited on contact, disintegrating before they could land. Kasaki walked straight through the barrage, unflinching.
Zenith tilted his head, grin returning. "Show-off."
In the next instant, Kasaki was behind the slime, his blade splitting the monster into six pieces.
"That should be it—wait."
The fragments convulsed, merging into a spiked ball. Kasaki's eyes narrowed.
"It… nearly pierced my cloak." He slashed the spikes aside. They were too dense, resisting lightning's heat.
The surface sizzled, yet it didn't disintegrate. The lightning could now only stop its regeneration.
"Zenith!"
"Gotcha."
Zenith tore through the spikes barehanded, pulverizing each one until the slime's core was exposed. But before he could crush it, the creature shifted, stretching upward into a humanoid form.
Zenith backed to Kasaki's side. "Yeah, let's just do this together."
Vertebrae clicked into place. Wet strands of muscle wrapped around the forming spine, weaving organs with grotesque precision.
Kasaki's jaw tightened. "It's sentient. We can't just stand here."
"You're right for once." Zenith cracked his knuckles. "Let's kill it before it finishes."
Kasaki jumped into action, moving with blinding speed behind the slime while Zenith ran forward.
They struck in unison—Kasaki's blade flashing down the spine, Zenith's fist arcing for the ribcage.
*Boom!*
The forest trembled, trees shaking violently.
*Thup…*
A drop of blood struck the dirt. Not the slime's—Zenith's. Their blows had collided. The scratch on Zenith's fist was barely deep enough to bleed.
"My bad," Kasaki muttered, scanning the trees. His gaze locked on a blue humanoid perched above, its body still pulsating as it constructed itself.
The slime had forfeited perfection to survive, and now it resumed constructing itself.
Zenith exhaled, amused. "It halted its progression. Smart. But this'll be a real problem now, huh?"
Kasaki smirked faintly. "Yeah. Big problem."
The slime's form stabilized, skin darkening to caramel brown. Its features sharpened into a reflection of the twins.
"Guess we're triplets now." Zenith's fists clenched, muscles cracking like thunder.
"He looks more like Father than us," Kasaki said quietly, thunder rolling from his blade.
The slime's hair stood wild, eyes burning red but weary, a jacket tied around its waist. The resemblance was uncanny.
Zenith barked a laugh. "Even has his style. That's too funny." Heat radiated off him, charring nearby trees.
Kasaki's eyes narrowed. "Careful. There's no way it has his strength… but still."
He set his hand on his hilt. "Don't use advanced magic."
"And our soul weapons. Yeah, yeah, I know."
They understood: divinity had given the slime not just sentience, but the ability to learn. Anything more powerful they used would only sharpen its edge.
The slime crouched low, wolf-like. Its legs coiled—and in an instant, Zenith was struck.
Kasaki intercepted, severing its legs while Zenith blocked the blow.
"It's faster now," Kasaki growled.
The legs regenerated, muscles denser than before.
"Look at it—trying to adapt!" Zenith grinned.
The slime's mouth tore into Zenith's exact smile, its frame hardening.
The grin slid from Zenith's face. "The bastard's copying me now."
"That's why you don't play with the enemy."
Kasaki blitzed forward, slicing off its arms, then its legs before it could retreat. Lightning sizzled, halting its regeneration.
Zenith circled behind, his punch detonating the slime into steaming hot fragments. Chunks of ooze shot everywhere. Kasaki's cloak incinerated what reached him, working overdrive to keep Kasaki clean while Zenith dodged the rest.
"Threat eliminated. Easier than I thought," Zenith said, mood lifted.
"We need to find the page. Start searching."
"You say that like you're not gonna help."
"I'm not. You splattered it everywhere."
"Tch… fine."
But as Zenith sifted through pieces, Kasaki noticed a chunk pulsing, inching toward a damp patch of dirt.
Toward a single drop of Zenith's blood.
His eyes widened. "Zenith—"
Too late. The slime absorbed it, regenerating instantly into their father's form. Only this time, its body carried Zenith's strength.
"Zenith… the fight's not over."
The slime stood tall, smirk crooked, body lean but rock-hard.
"A-A-Agan." It spoke—or tried to.
Zenith darted forward, weaving between trees. His fist slammed into the slime's chest. The creature tanked it without flinching.
"My durability too?!" Zenith exclaimed.
"Duck."
Zenith dropped. Kasaki's blade carved the slime's jaw off. "We need to finish this before it gets stronger."
No matter how durable the slime would become, Kasaki's blade would always achieve what he willed it to.
The slime kneed Zenith in the face, sending him crashing into Kasaki. It then began regenerating its jaw, its face contorting with anger.
Blood leaked from Zenith's nose.
"Damn, I hit hard," Zenith barked a laugh, already healing the wound. His face throbbed but he gritted through it, waiting until his magic did its job.
Kasaki sighed but said nothing, diving back into combat. He knew that since the slime could already regenerate, using healing magic wouldn't be an issue.
Their blows shook the forest, lightning splitting trees and scorching earth.
Zenith joined in, his fist cocking back like coiled steel. "Punch incoming!"
Kasaki nodded, vanishing behind the slime.
The slime locked eyes with Zenith as the strike came. The slime hesitated. For the first time, its expression cracked.
The slime raised its hands to block—but Kasaki's blade was faster. Its arms fell, severed mid-motion. Sparks hissed from the cut as he snarled "You took our father's image but can never live up to it."
At the last instant, it performed a desperate move, it hollowed its torso, creating a gap. The punch passed through empty space.
The punch cut through the air with strength Zenith hadn't shown before.
It had learned something new.
Fear.
It could not win.
The twins were holding back.
Yet, they could still handle it with ease.
It came to one conclusion in that instant.
Escape.
It exploded.
For an instant, the twins hesitated. It was their father's face shattering into thousands of chunks. They didn't expect this to happen.
"Damn it!" Kasaki roared, lightning burning through dozens. Zenith grabbed handfuls, incinerating them in golden flames.
But the forest fell silent. The slime had scattered, its pieces fleeing in every direction to regroup.
Zenith dropped onto the grassless earth, wiping sweat. "The beast'll stay low for a while, huh?"
Kasaki sheathed his blade, scowling. "Yeah… we should've been quicker."
"Speak for yourself. I'd say I carried." Zenith smirked, carefree as ever.
Kasaki sighed. "Of course you'd say that."
Zenith laughed as he pressed his mana into the land. Trees regrew, shattered rocks sank into grass, and the scarred forest was reborn. But though the grove stood whole again, the silence lingered—animals, birds, monsters alike had fled.
For the divine had fought here, and the forest remembered.