Everything within the burning city had been consumed, and long since, ash had begun descending from the sky. Devouring everything, the roads had soon blanketed with ash in their entirety. Sparks and embers crackled—sounds everywhere engulfingeverything. The storm of fire raged, and there was no sound—nor absence thereof, that was greater.
Slowly stepping through the roads of ash, small bare feet were seen dirty, covered in the ash they trudged through. Soft whimpers could be heard, shuddering quietly as the all consumed fire muffled in the background—as the sounds of quiet bells too faded in. Following the feet, a small plush rabbit could be seen coming into the scene, dragging through the ash behind them. The plush looked like that of a carnivian hare, but it had a golden ring woven into each of its nub hands—and as one ring drug through the ash, the other was tied off to a strip of fabric, like that of a ribbon or a leash.
As the whimpers and steps continued, a long trail of swept ash extended into view. The scene ascends, climbing over a white and sleeveless, multi-layer dress swaying along with every uneasy step. Two small ribbons hung out from under the dress, both having a small gold bell attached at the end. It appeared to be something one would sleep in, though the dress—with a small bow lined in light blue thread at the top—was almost too large. At the shoulders, there were soft, winged out ruffles.
The end of a tail with a matching bell in a light blue ribbon too could be seen swaying limply from under the dress. As the scene rose into view, blue-grey hair and tear-filled copper eyes came into view—bearing a pained expression, and her small hands bearing sharply pointed nails were pressed firmly against large, over-sized feline ears attached atop her head—covering them as her hands were stained in red.
Her hair and shoulders were covered in ash, and as she continued trudging through the blanketed street, she continued whimpering as quietly as she could contain.
"My ears... everything is too loud... Please~" she inwardly thought, what little thought she could.
The young girl began swaying as she struggled with immense pain—all the while trying to make her way away from all the storming sounds around her. There was much more than this however, which she was struggling to endure.
Earlier that day...
As gentle hands sewn a small metallic-colored bell onto a ribbon-end, hanging off under the young girl's multi-layered dress, the sowing was finished, and the young woman pulled her arms back. As the scene changes, we see a kind-looking blonde human woman, squatted in front of the small girl as her arms were brought back to rest across her knees.
"There we are sweetheart, it's all done! This dress of mine really suits you," the young woman expressed with a deep, loving smile as she gazed upon the young girl.
The young neko's face lit up, as she was thrilled with the dress's new adornments.
"Really?! And I can really keep it?!" she asked excitedly—flicking her tail our happily.
Right now, her large ears were covered up by something resembling a maid's headdress—custom made with materials to dampen the sounds she could hear. It was the only thing she had to allow her to live a more natural lifestyle under her special conditions.
The mother figure cupped the young girl's face, sealing her own eyes in pride as she smiled warmly at the young girl.
"Of course!" the blonde woman exclaimed, "There's no one else I'd rather see wearing this dress than my new small treasure!"
It wasn't long before this time, that the blonde woman had ventured out of her home city. It was by some miraculous chance, that as she took a detour alone through a portion of the surrounding forest, she had stumbled upon a small girl with unusual deformities laying unconscious within the woods.
This woman was one of many human groups who had suddenly found themselves, or woken up, within a place completely unfamiliar to them—and having been outside of the human realm, built camps and eventually cities to accommodate the lifestyles they used to know.
As human beings were still fairly new to the realm, this woman had many wonders yet to discover, and stumbling across a daughter she couldn't have of her own was nothing short of a miracle.
It had only been a few months since the woman brought the young Neko from the forest to her new home, and began raising her as her own among the humans of their civilization. The girl had been found stranded, with evidence of being dragged from somewhere with traces of fur nearby and bite marks on her ankle.
The young girl was frightened at first, and it didn't take long for the young woman to realize just how special this small girl truly was.
The small girl, who was holding her hands in front of herself—cupping them closed in excitement, threw her arms down open at her sides while dropping herself slightly in a sort of bounce, and quickly closed the short distance between her and her human mother in trustfulthrill.
"Thank you~!!" she exclaimed, as the young woman caught her in open arms.
The small girl quickly grew accustomed to the young woman, and the bond they had built over their time together had become great. The two hugged one another warmly. It was as though the two had truly become mother and daughter, and there were no greater feelings for either of them.
As the young girl stumbled to the ash-covered ground, her hands instinctively broke the fall, causing her to yelp as the noise of burning town around her pierced her ears once again in an overwhelming force. She collapsed to the ground, her ears bleeding as she couldn't help but cover them and scream. The sensations storming through her were indescribable—yet her ears were under a great, burning, splintering pressure. If it weren't for the pain and external struggle, one would still see the inner turmoil lingering in every passing thought.
Returning to the scene of her home, we see the small girl crouched over the kind woman who had given her a home and called her "daughter."
The small girl no longer had on the band that covered her ears, for it had been lost amongst the panic.
The woman who had taken her as their own, was laying helplessly trapped under some rubble—their ceiling having caved in on top of her. Unable to remove herself from the rubble, the woman did the only thing she could do. She held her hands cupped over the little girl's cheeks, bravely smiling to her as she whispered words so quiet, they would be inaudible within the other distant sounds around them—but the young girl heard every word loud and clear, with tears trailing down her face, wettening the palms of the woman's hands.
"My dear daughter, I know you are afraid, but you're such a wonderful, kind and beautiful young girl. I don't even know your name or if you ever had one, yet finding you has brought me the best days of my life. I know you're not like other girls, and I want you to have a full, fulfilling life. Continue being the daughter I never had, leave this place, and find a home worth fighting for. Please don't live your life in vain. Carry on, and remember that whatever happens, I will always be with you wherever you are."
These are the words she remembered, as she pushed through the overwhelming shock, and rose to her feet once again. Her hands pressed over her ears so desperately tight, her arms and whole body trembled violently through every step.
In the background, the muffled sounds of destruction crashed, as buildings crumbled in the distance.
A faint roar could be heard, muffled under the immense pressure of the small girl's hands—and she carried on forward, pushing through the pain and tears, all for her human mother's will.
"Mommy..."
Softly she muttered, as tears continued to rapidly flow down her face—her heart weighing heavy as it continued to push her forward.
Plummeting from the smokey sky, a large, feral beast came crashing into one of the many burning buildings. Its impact caused the structure to immediately collapse, and kicked up ash and debris, polluting the air around it. As it rose to its feet, this great beast—the fierce nekomata in all its primal glory—shoved the broken structure out of way, and scanned for the sound of commotion.
A small shriek—this was all it took to turn this beast away from Kenrir, who had been facing it moments before.
The beast, standing in the fire, huffed a hot breath—distorting a cloud of smoke as he leapt from the wreckage.
Still lost in its primal fury, the beast leapt at everything standing structure it could see, smashing more of the city to the ground—but the source of the shriek was nowhere to be found. As it raged on, it eventually stopped over some smoldering rubble, as it reached down and grabbed a body from the wreckage. Lifting the body to its face, the beast roared at it, and after a moment dropped it back into the rubble as it turned to gaze upon the broken city.
When it didn't spot its new target, the beast cupped its large hands over its face, and its eyes soon settled as its conscious mind returned through the cracks. It's eyes hadn't changed much, but it was clear it had experienced a change as it came to.
The beast lowered his hands, and he once again looked up on all the destruction he has caused, and he smiled in deep satisfaction.
"These foreign beings have no right to live within our world. It is not their place, and soon I will be the one to purify our land. No longer will these vermin plague our realm..."
The feral beast spoke to itself, basking in his accomplishment of wiping out a whole civilization.
Flames covered its body, and it slowly stepped off the mound of wreckage. When the rogue nekomata stepped back onto the ash covered streets, it soon saw standing in the smoke filled road a figure it swore had died by its hand. Kenrir had returned—and behind him in the distance could barely be seen a small life through all the smoke, shuffling its way out of the village; a life that had gone unnoticed.
"YOU... back for more?" it growled, it's sharp-clawed hands tensing, as it prepared to fight again.
Kenrir stood there, his chest rising and falling as he panted heavily with a strong determination.
A breath of wind cast away the smoke, leaving Kenrir in full view of the enemyahead.
"You will trouble this world no longer. I am going to stop you, no matter what it takes."
Kenrir's words weighed heavy, as he soon took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes—lowering his overall structure just slightly. The flames covering his opponent clearly defied logic, and yet Kenrir stood absolute, ready to take him on.
Hearing these words, the beast seemed quite thrilled with thechallenge.
"Well then, I must thank you for granting me the opportunity to kill another one of my own once again. Keep coming back. It'll be an honor to decease you," the large beast exclaimed, bearing an even deeper grin.
A pause, as the air around Kenrir began to wisp.In that moment, Kenrir opened his eyes.
"It will be my honor, to protect the lives of these people—and rid the land of those who oppose it!"
Dividing his core, and casting one arm out to his side, Kenrir faintly thrust his other hand down—dangling it towards the ground as his twin-tails flicked out. The air around both of them whipped through the streets, blowing up ash and distorting the flames with ember all around them.
It was this moment, when Kenrir's resealed his eyes with an expressive struggle, as his tail began to glow. The wind wisped around him, and a light like fire covered every hair—as in seconds, one of his twin tails began to divide. As a third tail was formed in the heat of battle, the light diminished, right to the point of fading away. Kenrir rose tall, flexing every fiber within him, as his eyes snapped open. A strengthened resolve had beamed from his eyes, as he now stood stronger than ever before.
"Rogue! I will defeat you!"
The beast's eyes widened at Kenrir's change and declaration, and soon burst into maniacal laughter.
"Do you honestly believe that shortening your life will be enough to stand up to me?! Such a foolish cat you are!"
Kenrir stomped the ground, cracking the road beneath him and disbursing the ash from his feet, and lowered his core once again.
"We'll soon see!"
With that, Kenrir sprint forward, sweeping his arms forward and back interchangeably as his tri-tail whipped behind him. As he grew close to the beast, standing there in place, Kenrir brought his hand back—open palmed—charging an attack.
"Take this!! IRON... PALM—!!"
Kenrir's hand blasted forward in the last moment, and just as his attack was about to land...
SNAP!
A bang was heard as the very wind around the attack distorted—but as Kenrir looked down upon the impact zone, the beast before him grinned impossibly wider, as the attack had been stopped dead in its tracks. The sturdy beast held onto the wrist on the man before him, mere inches from its chest.
"Well, I think I might've felt a little something just there. Too bad your feeble attack couldn't hit," the beast mocked cockily, confident in its own strength.
The beast began tightening its grip around Kenrir's wrist, his flames spreading down his arm towards Kenrir, and upon seeing this, Kenrir's face jolted—his eyes widening in shock and slight pain. This hadn't stumped his determination though, as he soon followed suit, throwing his other fist straight for his opponent's side.
"Pao Chui!"
Kenrir performed a cannon punch right towards its side, and was grabbed by the shoulder as the punch made impact.
CRUNCH.
The punch was strong, and pushed the beast slightly off kilter, but this wouldn't be enough to damage the mighty beast. It too was not without its lash back, as the fire covering the body charred Kenrir's skin, and burst out a hotter rush of fire upon impact. Reacting to this—and witnessing the fire spreading towards his shoulder, Kenrir kicked his leg up in full force, pressing it into the beast and twisting his hand to rip his wrist from the burning beast's grasp. He immediately swung his hand, claws stretched out and jabbed them into the beast's eye, causing him to flinch for just a moment. It was long enough to get him to loosen his grip on Kenrir, so that he could tear his shoulder through its grasp and leap away.
As Kenrir stumbled back, a new point of interest had caught his opponent's eye—and just as Kenrir stumbled back, the great beast leapt from his position right over Kenrir head—taking him by surprise in the blink of an eye.
Kenrir whipped his body around as a loud thud puffed away a small cloud of debris. Something that Kenrir himself hadn't noticed right away, the rogue nekomation beast had spotted far off into the distance.
"He leapt over?!" Kenrir thought in surprise.
As he witness his opponent land without turning around, Kenrir questioned why he had created such an opening, but it was almost immediately made clear. The beast hesitated for only a moment, unsure of what had moved within his site. The next instance, the beast dashed forward with the flames covering its body distorting behind him. Kenrir's eyes shot wide in realization, as the beast's next words confirmed his fresh suspicion.
"There you are!! This whole town will burn!! None will escape me!!"
These words surged through the burning air, as the scene of the forward running beast pulled in reverse, growing closer to Kenrir as we rotate to zoom into the scene behind us reflecting from Kenrir's widened eye.
In a flash, Kenrir zipped forward, leaving a brief distortion of smoke and ash as our view soon tears along the distance, soon catching up to follow him. As the beast quickly closed the distance, the small girl soon took one final step, as our scene became incased in silence. The small girl stood still, and though she was in pain—fighting through the all-consuming waves of noise around her, her gaze which hung toward the ash covered streets, rose. A blurred silhouette of the vicious beast came bursting in behind her, and the young girl stumbled as the scene slowed, weakly turning her stance to see what was plummeting her way.
The only thing she witnessed were blood filled eyes, sharp with a primal with deadly intent, reaching her within a fraction of a moment. Too weak to move, too tired to think, too hurt to feel. The very world around her closing in.
SQUELCH~
A violent piercing sensation was felt, and as the young girl collapsed to the ashy ground, blood rained upon the ash below.
Over the child, there stood Kenrir, with a large clawed hand pierced deep under his ribs. Both his hands held the arm of the beast before him, having used his full, heightened strength to aid against the deadly strike. He soon felt his legs—his gravity, growing heavy and weak, as all his muscles clenched up in pain.
"It... should have been... enough..." he muttered. The breaths in Kenrir's voice stuttered, as his stance grew uneasy.
It was unexpected, as the over-sized being hadn't thought Kenrir had such capabilities to move as fast as he had—and yet, his fierce expression hadn't changed.
"A meaningless effort— Even now, though you may have stripped away your very life, you still lack any real strength..."
Just like the hand piercing through Kenrir's stomach, the beast's words sunk deep—and soon, the fire that had covered it's arm and body began to recede.
"Even as you stand here, you are not in my way. You are but a mere insignificance—barely even a thorn in my side."
The flames that had covered this monstrosity's body receded from every limb, climbing up his body as though they were never there. As the fire suddenly vanished off his body altogether, five orbs of fire had manifested behind the small girl who Kenrir had come between. The orbs spanned out, shaping themselves into the very wraiths that had cast this city into desolation.
"If... I'm not... strong enough... yet...," Kenrir began to mutter, as his hands struggled to grip the beast's arm tighter—forcing himself to stand through his weakness and pain as he swallowed deep, "...then I'll just have to push myself even harder..."
Kenrir's whole body trembled violently, but it wasn't out of weakness, nor out of pain.
As the beast before him saw this and heard Kenrir's words—it tried to rip its hand out of Kenrir's abdomen, but its eyes soon widened, as it was unable to even move. Kenrir's grip had tightened, and within moments, his tri-tail had once again illuminated a fiery light.
"You fool! You would give up your life for one stupid child?!" the beast roared out in frustration.
Kenrir sealed his eyes, focusing his chakras as another of his tails steadily divided, splitting into four.
As it continued to glow and his tail divided, a small strand of illuminated fur flowed off of it, and slowly descended upon the small girl's cheek. She lay there, frozen, barely hanging on as the heat and sound waves around her raged. The light faded from the strand of fur, and she trembled there, still desperately shielding her ears. She had become consumed in pain, loss and now fear—all her systems thrown into overdrive as she gazed upon the man before her with heavy, tear-soaked eyes.
As the dividing of his tails had been complete, Kenrir slowly opened his eyes, his grip growing even tighter as he slowly removed the beast's hand from his gut. His very wound began to glow.
"I... would do it... for anyone~!" Kenrir's very eyes flickered with a fiery determination, reflecting the blazing flames around them, as he shouted in retribution. "I will stop you—and save the humans of our realm!"
The large being before him looked on in shock. How could such a runt be overpowering him now, even with all they've just sacrificed.
"You rat—!" the beast screamed. "HERE YOU DIE—!! KILL THEM—!!"
The great beast bore his claws and fangs, lifting his unstuck hand to deal a deadly blow. Kenrir sunk his own nails into the beast's still-trapped arm, as he braced himself for what was to happen next.
As the beast rose his hand to strike, the infernal wraiths swiftly swept forward, manifesting their blades of flames as they matched the swift velocity of their summoners strike.
As the small girl struggled to watch the events unfold, she could feel that this would be the end of her only possible hope, and without even thinking—she bore through the storm which seized her mind as she reached her out her hand.
The very instant that the deathly strikes were to make contact, a small golden ripple burst from beneath her, as her hand had come into contact with the ankle of her only hope.
BOOM!
A massive golden ring burst out of Kenrir, sweeping over the city all around them—and a fraction of a second later, a heavy force blew back against the whole of their surroundings. The wraiths were torn to pieces, immediately dissipating out of sight. The very structures burning around them were forced back, crumbling apart in an instant—as all the flames around them a great radius too had disbursed. The beast too could feel himself being pushed back, as the very force seemed to tear away the fibers of his being.
"Aaaarghaaa—!!"
The beast shouted in pain, as the relentless force continued rippling over him—his weight becoming virtually nothing.
What could only be described as steam filled the air, as debris was thrown far and wide.
It was enough to shake him—and within a moment, it was as though time itself stood still.
The very next moment, as Kenrir's illuminating wound sealed shut, he stepped forward—dipping his left shoulder to his right side—twisting at the waist, and slinging his arm down in front of him while lowering his gravity below his enemy's shoulder. He gripped onto the ferocious beast's arm ever tighter, and as he shouted with all his might, Kenrir planted his feet firmly on the ground—utilizing all his strength, Kenrir released his enemy in the last possible second as his arm slung out, sturdy and strong right into the large beast's side.
"HIND... BLOW—!!"
As though in a flash there was a faint snap, and the beast was blasted through the mounds of debris and rubble across the city at his side. Several blasts could be heard muffled under the sounds of flames in rapid succession, and there finally stood the beast no more.
Kenrir remained there, his arm held in the air sturdy and strong, as smoke and embers filled the air.
The moment Kenrir's single step had left her reach, completing his overwhelming strike, the small girl's hand fell limp upon the ground. Everything had pushed her beyond her limits.
Kenrir turned to face the small child, and as her heavy eyes met his, her body had dropped flat to the ground.
The distant fires still raged, and it wouldn't be long now before every inch of the civilization would be consumed once again.
As the small child limped out before him, Kenrir soon approached her, and carried her off the ground.
For a moment, he had felt stronger than ever before—but it was all gone in a matter of moments.
Heavy steps he took—and with those steps—Kenrir had carried her off, leaving the whole of the desecrated city behind them.
"Sem... you better be alright..."
These were his final thoughts, as he approached our view—until him and the girl were out of sight...