He was in a place, nothing but darkness. Few centimeters of water floods the area. He was just a kid. A small innocent child. A figure approached him with such gentle hands. It made him feel safe. Very safe. A child with gifts of water shall rule the world.
~~~Kaba island~~~
[May 1, 2169]
Ryujin faced the ground, a deep frown carved into his face. His hands clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white, pure frustration burning at the being before him who taunted his very existence.
"Why don't you use your power?"
The demon tempted. He hopped down from a nearby ledge, landing soundlessly on the pavement.
"You know how much you could do with it. Attain your selfish desires. Money? Fame? Power? Sex? Why not do it?"
"He's too weak,"
The voice in Ryujin's head spoke, dripping with cold disdain.
"Come on now, don't be so mean on your boy, Ryujin,"
The demon pushed harder, circling Ryujin like a predator eyeing wounded prey.
"Don't you love seeing the frustration written all over him? He doesn't even notice his hands are bleeding."
Ryujin looked down; his nails had dug so deep into his palms that dark crimson was starting to drip onto the asphalt.
"Oi, Ryujin. All your comrades are down. You're face to face with another demon. What are you gonna do?"
The voice continued to grate against his sanity.
The demon mocked him, suddenly sitting cross-legged on the ground just a few feet away, acting playful as he pushed Ryujin to his limits.
"Protect them?! Hah! I could've killed them in this instant! Ryujin! HAHAHAHA!"
"I'll protect them,"
Ryujin muttered with quiet, trembling resolve.
"Protect? A dirty hand has something to protect now? Why? Why?"
The voice echoed, bouncing off the interior of his skull.
"HAHAHA! Protect? Didn't you kill hundreds of them?"
"Bullshit. You can't do anything like that. It's too late. Just kill them all like you always did. Remove humanity from the face of the earth,"
The demon pressed, leaning forward until his twisted face was inches from Ryujin's.
"Shut up."
Silence followed, heavy and suffocating. The demon tilted his head, his eyes widening in mock surprise.
"Hoh?"
"Kill, kill, kill. Don't you weaklings got any other words to say?"
Ryujin snapped, his head snapping up to meet the demon's gaze.
Both the demon and the voice erupted in a synchronized, mocking laugh.
"Kill, kill, kill... Why are you asking me to do it for you? Are you too weak to do it yourself?"
Ryujin challenged, his breathing becoming a jagged snarl.
The demon grew more excited at the retaliation, his tail flicking behind him.
"Hoh! Such a strong mind! How wonderful!"
Ryujin's left eye began to pulse, a violent purple glow bleeding into the iris. He braced his legs, the ground beneath his boots beginning to crack as he prepared to lung.
On the ground nearby, Ayro stirred. He groaned, coughing up a bit of dust as he forced his eyes open. He caught sight of the dark aura swirling around Ryujin—the purple glow burning like a dying star.
"Shit!"
Ayro hissed. With a desperate surge of dark energy, he launched himself toward his leader. He tackled Ryujin, pinning him hard against a brick wall before the transformation could take hold.
"Ryujin!!! Don't fall for him!"
Ayro's shadows coiled like oily snakes around Ryujin's arms and chest, physically holding the glow at bay.
"Not yet."
Ayro stepped forward, placing himself between the kneeling Ryujin and the grinning fiend.
"Ayro! Stay out of this!"
Ryujin ordered, struggling against the shadow restraints.
"Shut up! I'll deal with him! It's too risky for you to face demons!"
Ayro insisted, his hands glowing with a deep, obsidian hue.
"Tsk."
Ayro didn't wait for a rebuttal. He swung his arms wide, manipulating the shadows of the surrounding buildings into jagged waves of darkness, hurling them toward the demon. The fiend moved with frightening speed, leaning and twisting his body like a gymnast to dodge every strike.
It's avoiding all of Ayro's attacks. Those shadows can hold down multiple Seele... this demon is too fast, Ryujin thought, his teeth grinding together.
"Ayro! Let me go!"
"Stay down, you fool! I'll catch him, then you can end him! It's too early for Ashura!"
Ayro barked, his voice straining as he funneled more power into his technique.
"That's all you have?! Ayro?!"
The demon mocked, lunging forward in a blur.
Ayro's breaths grew ragged. The shadows thickened, forming a dense barrier, but his body betrayed his exhaustion. He stumbled back a step, sweat pouring down his face.
"It's too early for Ryujin to use Ashura. I have to weaken this demon first,"
Ayro thought grimly.
"Who the hell is this party crasher?"
The voice muttered.
Ayro flinched. He had heard it—not with his ears, but inside Ryujin's fractured mind. He glanced back at his leader and smirked.
"So it's you, huh? Ashura."
Waves smashed against the shore of the small coastal town, the sound of the ocean a rhythmic backdrop to the carnage.
The moon's glow bled across the rooftops, casting long, distorted shadows where the demon lurked. Nearby, the rest of the squad—Kirashi, Itoshi, Kara, and Aldrin—lay unconscious in the wreckage of the street. Their strength had been nothing against this overwhelming might.
The demon stood perched atop a roof, stretching his neck with an audible crack that echoed in the quiet street.
"This shit's getting boring."
In a blur, the demon dashed toward the pinned Ryujin. Ayro intercepted, slamming his palms into the ground to create a sharp wall of solid shadow.
"Gotcha."
But it was a feint. In an instant, the demon slipped through the darkness, reappearing ten feet away. He was clutching an unconscious Itoshi by the neck, lifting the boy off the ground.
"Aren't these children interesting? Blue hair with an orange streak up front."
"Damn you! Let him go!"
Ayro shouted, his shadow wall crumbling as his focus broke.
The demon parroted his words in a mocking, high-pitched child's voice.
"'Damn you! Let me go!' You're all talk—do something... oh right, you can't! HAHAHA!"
Powerless, Ayro and Ryujin stared down an enemy that felt as though it towered over humanity itself.
The demon studied Itoshi's face, a look of genuine curiosity crossing his features.
"I wonder what he saw in this child," the demon thought.
Ayro stayed quiet, his muscles tensed for a desperate dash.
"Such fate awaits him! Yet... he's no different,"
The demon mused aloud. He squeezed Itoshi's neck slightly, watching for a reaction that didn't come.
"He has selfish dreads, but... woah! How noble!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
Ayro snapped.
The demon smirked, still gripping Itoshi tightly.
"Human dread... Human dread is the quiet, creeping realization that time moves forward whether ready or not—that every choice carves a path they can never retrace."
He paused, his smile widening until it looked painful.
"It's the weight of knowing that no matter how much you achieve, how deeply you love, or how fiercely you fight, you are still racing toward an end you cannot outrun."
Ayro and Ryujin exchanged a grim look. They didn't care for philosophy; to them, the demon was simply circling around the same goal: Itoshi's power.
"Why fight me, Ryujin?"
The voice returned, slick and venomous.
"Shut up,"
Ryujin growled, slamming his fist into the pavement.
"Ohhh, why are you still so hostile to meee? I've always helped you since you were a kid, you know!"
"You're just trying to take over."
"Take overrrr? What do you meannnn?"
"Tsk."
The voice's incessant whining gnawed at Ryujin while Ayro's mind scrambled for a plan. It was another long, merciless night—one Ayro and Ryujin knew all too well, born from the shadows of their own past.
~~~To be Continued~~~