Chapter 68 : Dark Art Warriors

Duri was in his Titan form, and Ryu said, "Oh? You've changed appearances, and your power has gone up tremendously. I've never fought a Titan before. Battle me to the fullest...and we can cause as much destruction as possible!"

Duri thinks, 'I can control my Titan form when I first transform and while I'm fighting, but after the fight, I become crazy and I try killing everyone. All I have to do is knock the Spirit of Destruction out of Ryu. But I have to keep my strength to a minimum; a full maxed out punch from me could blow Ryu into pieces, and I could level and destroy this entire village. This is gonna be kinda hard…knocking the Destruction spirit out of Ryu will surely damage his body..but it's the only way. Is there really no other way..if there is..maybe I can ask that damn cat. He looks like he knows some shit.'

Ryu leaned back, and darted towards Duri, yelling, "Let's cause havoc!! The more havoc I cause, the more upgraded I get!"

Ryu punched Duri, and there was a large explosion from his attack, but Duri didn't budge, and he wasn't affected by the blow.

Ryu said, "Expected from a Titan."

Ryu tried to move again, but he was wrapped up in shadow chains.

Ryu exclaimed, "Release me! Fight like a man!"

Duri made shadow chains wrap around Ryu's face, mouth, and ears, making him shut up, and causing him not to be able to hear for a bit.

Duri grabbed Ryu by the hair, and he looked left and right, instantly spotting Roga the cat.

Duri teleported over there, and Roga was getting beaten up by Nami and Ezrel on top of the volcano.

Roga asked Nami and Ezrel, "Why are you doing this?! Why are you doing this to your own people?!"

Nami answered, "We've experienced too much tragedy. Too much famine, and too much drought. It's funny how no other village is experiencing this issue. I was born in this village..I was told to protect it and make sure it flourished with everything great! But sacrifices have to be made!"

Duri said to Nami, "Oi shut up real quick. Hey, cat, I gotta question."

Roga looked at Duri, and responded, "Duri?!"

"I gotta question. Hurry and answer when I ask it. Can't waste anymore time. Ryu has been partly possessed by the Spirit of Destruction as you already know. How do I get it out of him? The only thing me and Seven could come up with is me punching it out of him. When I battled Ferrow, I was able to hit him hard enough for his own soul to come out, but he only survived the punch because he was borrowing Titan power. I don't want to damage Ryu's body, because I could kill him with the slightest power from me. You gotta help me."

Nami says, "Is that my grandson wrapped inside of those chains! Let him go!"

Duri says to Nami, "Turn the villagers back to normal, or I'll punch him to death."

"No!"

Roga said to Duri, "I get what you're saying! I get why you and Seven would suggest such a thing as punching it out of him..because there is no other way to extract a spirit from a human. And what made you ask me?"

"Just a hunch that you know something. Since all this involves Seven, and you've been Seven's pet before. Also, Ryu said that the more chaos and havoc he causes, the more upgraded Ryu's body gets. He'll get tougher I'm assuming. But I don't want him causing more destruction."

Nami screamed at Duri, "Release my grandson!"

"No. Let the villagers go."

Roga said, "You're right..we can't let him cause any more havoc…"

Nami exclaimed, "Let him go!"

Roga asked Nami, "You were so caught up on so-called 'saving the village' but forgot about your own grandson..? Something's not making sense..and something's not adding up."

Ezrel said to Nami, "We can't let them have their way! Saving the village is what needs to be done! Sacrificing everyone for this village's abundance!"

Nami answered, "You are right."

Roga said curiously, "Something's not right.."

Duri looked deeper at Nami, then he gasped slightly.

Duri said to Roga, "Nami seems to be under control as well. But it's weak…but still effective. This woman beside her, Ezrel..is planting dark thoughts into her brain. Ezrel uses dark arts."

"You can see that?!"

"Yes. It's as clear as day."

Ezrel jumped backwards, yelling, "Damn you!"

Ezrel was on the other side of the mountain, and she raised her hands, saying, "You act like I can't see things either, Titan boy! You're fighting the urge to kill everyone right at this moment, that's why it's hard for you to subdue me right now!"

Duri thinks, 'She's right. It's hard for me to do anything. Since I'm just standing here, I'm losing myself in the process. I'll be a threat to everyone if I let go. Since I'm not used to using my Titan power, it makes it harder to control. I need to extract the Destruction spirit out of Ryu, but he'll possibly be splattered if I punch him. But there isn't any other way.'

Roga asked Ezrel, "So you were the main one behind this. Why are you doing this?!"

"I'm not saying anything. My goal will be complete when Seven and her friends are sacrificed to god!"

"What god?!"

"The one I've created..the one who brings abundance in everything!"

Immediately, the ground was rumbling, and the sky was spiraling with a bunch of clouds hovering above them, and the clouds opened up.

Nami was standing still, with her mouth open, and her tees rolled to the back of her head with tears.

Roga exclaimed, "The hell is going on?!"

Duri was turning back into his normal form, and he dropped to his knees, coughing and choking heavily.

Roga sprinted towards Duri, asking, "Now what's wrong with you?!"

"It hurts, dammit! I was holding my bloodlust back so hard! I have to wait a few minutes before I can go into my Titan form again! We still have to save this Ryu bastard!"

"There is no other way! I know this..trust me. I understand you don't wanna kill Ryu..but for the sake of this village and all the lives around you..you might have to go with the first plan. It's possible Ryu might die, but it's a gamble. If someone has a Spirit of something in them, they become extremely tough. Ryu might be able to stand a punch from you, but probably just one. Seven knows that too."

"Dammit..I don't know!"

Out of nowhere, another dark and spiraling cloud formed in the middle of the village.

And out of both clouds, giant feet made out of black goo descended, and smashed to the ground.

Duri asked, "A foot?!"

Roga said, "I'm feeling so much dark power! These are her creations!"

"Her creations?!"

"Move!"

Roga jumped over to Nami to grab the collar of her shirt, and he jumped off the volcano, taking Nami with him.

Duri jumped off the volcano while still holding Ryu.

Ryu was breaking out of the shadow chains, leaving Duri to think, 'He's breaking out of the bondages..because since I'm back to my normal form…the chains are getting weaker.'

Duri yelled, "This is so shitty! All this is going on right now, shouldn't the Hosts be here right now?!"

Ezrel heard Duri's question, yelling back while her right eye was twitching, "Foolish boy! I've created a barrier around this village-it acts as a cloak! This area is not visible if heard from outside of the cloak!"

Duri and Roga were running down the mountain as many things were being destroyed.

In the sky, standing up from the ground, we're two 160 foot tall black goo figures. They were faceless, and they had four arms, two legs, and hands all over their bodies.

Ezrel yelled, "Worship them! Worship them! My gods have shown their true faces!"

Down in the village, fire erupted everywhere from all the explosions and damage.

Tek was still running around saving the villagers and other children with his chains, using his fastest speed to take them all the way away from the village, and then running back to the village.

Tek was running fast back to the village, thinking, 'Don't stop, go faster! I don't care about any of them, but I won't let innocents die.'

Running beside Tek, was Seven in her Spirit of Wrath form,

Tek said, "You should be away from this."

"Duri's wraps are covering my biggest wound. I'll manage."

"You're in no condition. Turn back or I'll make you turn back."

"Then you'll have to make me. I'm not letting this village die."

".....Suit yourself. Do what you want."

Tek and Seven were saving all the villagers, running them to a safe place, and then running back. They made sure to keep the parents locked up in chains so they wouldn't attempt to move because they were still under mind control.

One of the goo figures that came from the clouds saw Tek and Seven, and smashed his fist down at them, destroying a bunch of the houses and trees around.

Tek and Seven jumped out of the way, and started running up the goo figures arm.

Tek demanded Seven, "Oi. Throw me at the head. I heard something."

"You sure about this?"

"That figure has villagers inside of him. Throw me. While you stay out here and get more of the survivors out of here."

Seven grabbed Tek by the back of his shirt, and launched him across the sky at the goo figure face with a yell.

Tek was soaring through the air, and he was ascending higher and higher.

The goo figure turned his head around at Tek, and a goo hand was reaching out towards him.

Tek allowed the hand to catch him, and it devoured him down to the goo figures stomach.

Seven screamed, "Tek! You dumbass…you better have a plan if you're not dead!"

Tek was falling down a dark abyss, thinking, 'Dark. Can barely see anything. Oh..there's a light.'

Tek used his chains to create a pile of them, falling into the chain pile to break his fall when he landed on something hard.

Tek stood all the way up, and he saw something up ahead. He saw four children sitting in a circle, and those children were crying and brushing up against each other to get away from the giant goo centipedes that were crawling from the goo walls around them.

Tek yelled, "No!"

Tek dashed forward instantly, and a bunch of spiky goo hands came from the stomach walls. Those hands were trying to grab and punch Tek, but Tek dodged and avoided them with everything he had. Tek was sliding on the floor below him, then jumped back up.

Tek kept running, until he was punched from below by a giant spiky goo hand. The hands were smacking Tek all over the place, piercing blood and wounds all over him.

Tek gritted his bloody teeth, and he spun past the hands with his chains, ripping the goo hands to shreds before they were regenerated.

Goo spikes were shooting all over the place now, and Tek was cut and thrashed by some of them as he ran forward trying to dodge them.

A spiked goo piece was headed towards Tek's face, and Tek twisted his chain around, jumped over the goo spike, wrapped his chain around it, and threw it towards the kids, and the spiked goo killed a goo centipede creature that was trying to kill them.

The kids yelled:

"Help us!"

"Seven's friend, help us please!"

"This place is scary!"

Tek was getting close to them, and he said, "Get closer together, I'm gonna get you all out of here at once."

The children did what he said, but Tek was pinned down by a goo centipede and spiked hand at the same time. Tek couldn't move at all.

Tek thought, 'I couldn't feel their presence at all.'

Tek had blood dripping in his eye that came from his head and face, he could barely see anything.

The kids kept screaming, and Tek replied, "What's going on?!"

Tek tried to use all of his power to move, but he couldn't. The other goo centipedes were crawling closer to the kids, and goo spikes were coming from the wall.

The kids screamed:

"Help!"

Tek asked them, "What's going on?! Tell me!"

"T-the sharp things and big bugs! They're coming close to us!"

Tek struggled hard to get free, he managed to barely move his hands and forearms, but that was about it.

Tek tried to make his chains form, but they were stabbed down by the goo spikes coming from the walls.

Tek thinks, 'I won't let it end like this..not at all..'

Tek shook his head a little to get a little bit off his eyes, and he saw that the children were being held up by the waist high in the air by goo.

Tek yelled, "No!"

'There's no way my strength isn't strong enough to break free. I can't let them destroy me. I am powerful. More powerful than this thing. I have to do it..!'

Tek ripped a hole in his pocket, and his small black book fell on the floor under him.

Tek made two chains come from under his chest, and it was pushing him up slowly. And the goo hands and centipedes were holding him down strongly too.

Tek was able to stand up a little, but the force from the goo figures was stronger.

Tek said, "Tch!"

Tek started stomping on the little black book under him, and he was stomping it over and over again.

'This book is connected to the power within my chains and my soul..done by my parents to contain my cursed chains. But if the book gets damaged, then my cursed chains are more likely to come out. If I want to save those children, this is the only way.'

Tek continued to step on the book, and Tek was turning into his Berserk form he was in when he fought Xenon.

He was becoming menacing and ferocious, and he was smirking.

Tek easily broke out of the goo figures' grasp, and he dashed towards the children. He was actually about to hurt the children, but he was distracted by the goo figures coming after him. Tek was slouching over, with his hands almost touching the floor.

In a split second, Tek destroyed all of the goo figures in an instant, with goo all over his sharp fingers.

More figures came, but Tek shredded them apart with fast movement and strength, still standing in the same place as he was before.

Tek looked at the children, saying, "Helllllloooo…are you….bleedingggg?"

The children were scared of him, but Tek said, "Quick! G-grab the book…!"

One of the children grabbed the small black book, and Tek wrapped his chains around all the children in an instant, and then dashed out of the goo figure, bashing through the chest of it.

Tek was fighting to keep the Berserk form from hurting the children. Tek had to hurry and take the kids somewhere safe to keep him from harming them.

Tek let them go in mid air, making them fall. But Seven came in her Spirit of Wrath form, catching them.

Seven saw Tek, saying, "Tek? Is that..you?!"

Tek didn't reply, he just landed on the ground, and looked up at the tall goo figure.

Duri and Ryu were fighting now.

Ryu had Duri by the face, and was smashing Duri through multiple trees and rubble. Duri was in his normal human form, so he had a slight disadvantage.

Ryu yelled, "Destruction is what I'm made for! Spirits with titles like me dream to carry out our titles! The dream to follow through with their titles and goals through a human body! It's our nature!"

Duri asked Ryu, "Oh yeah?! What about Seven? She has the Spirit of Wrath! Is she meant to cause wrath?!"

"She's controlled that Spirit! It's hers now! And since she's controlled it, it's up to her whether or not she wants to cause wrath upon humankind! She grew up powerless until she had it! I will take that power from her so my destruction can be more destructive!"

"How stupid! You're such a dumbass! Even if you did destroy everything with your abilities, what are you gonna do after?! There won't be anything left, you'll be lonely."

"No…I won't! I'll travel to all the other realms, and cause as much destruction as possible!"

"And then what?!"

"I'll…I'll.."

"Everything will be gone, and everything will be destroyed. You won't be able to cause chaos anymore."

"That's…that's not true!"

Duri thinks, 'I might end up killing this poor bastard. I don't wanna, but..wait! If I can't turn him back…then someone else can. The Time Titan, Ranbu. I remember..he made me get out of my Titan form by manipulating the time within myself. Maybe he can do that with Ryu! Maybe he can reverse the time within Ryu! I just have to occupy Ryu until I can turn into my Titan form again. Taking Ryu to Ranbu? I have to knock him out with Tai chin tapping, touching his pressure points in my Titan form, which will be more effective!'

Ryu slung Duri through another wall, and Duri sat up immediately. Ryu approached him again, punching him with an explosion, then did a downward 360 kick up his chin, sending Duri into the air.

Ryu dashed up to Duri, and tried to use an invisible explosion on him.

Duri dodged it, punched Ryu in the stomach, chopped him in the throat, grabbed the back of his head, slammed it down in his knee, punched him in the face twice, spun down to Ryu's legs, grabbed his ankle, and started twisting Ryu around and around really fast.

Ryu yelled, "How are you able to fight toe to toe with me in your human form?!"

Duri spun Ryu around faster, then made some shadow energy appear around his arms, and made his arms into shadows only.

Duri yelled, "Guess what, bitch?! Seven kissed me! In the cheek!"

Duri yanked Ryu up close while breaking Ryu's leg with the strong pull, and Duri punched him super hard with a shadow punch.

Ryu spit blood to the side of the blow, and he blasted back through the air, blasting through trees and knocking them down.

Ryu bumped all over the ground, his head smashing against everything, until he came to a stop.

Ryu was leaning up against a tree, and he thought, 'That brat! He was able to fight me in his normal human form! How?! Even breaking my leg in the process!'

Duri was running at Ryu, thinking, 'I think I can transform now!'

Even though Ryu's leg was broken, he managed to stand up and blast towards Duri.

Ryu screamed, "Die, beat!!"

Duri thought, 'Come on Duri, turn! Turn into the Titan!'

Duri and Ryu got closer, and Duri still hasn't turned.

Ryu threw a punch, and Duri yelled, "Fuck it!"

Duri made a shadow staff appear, and he dodged Ryu's attack. Duri spun around and rammed the staff through the eye on Ryu's chest.

Ryu yelled, "Ack!"

Duri blasted off the ground with his staff, flying forward, pinning Ryu against a giant sturdy rock.

Ryu growled over and over while Duri looked him in the eyes.

Ryu said, "You only got me trapped like this because you've damaged my leg!"

Duri answered, "Go to sleep. Dumbass. It sounded way cooler in my head."

Duri started to turn into his Titan form, and he tapped Ryu in the pressure points, knocking him unconscious.

Duri used shadow chains to trap Ryu from head to toe, Ryu wasn't going anywhere.

Duri thought, 'Good. He's down. I made sure to avoid an artery when I stabbed him with my staff. Now I gotta go back to the village, I can still hear fighting. Wait…I don't have my headband on..and I was able to change in and out of my Titan form whenever I wanted. Am I…learning how to control my form just by fighting? But still…I wanna kill something…everyone! No…no that isn't me…I wanna kill…EVERYONE. NO! I'll control this form…and get rid of this bloodlust…'

Back at the village, Berserk form Tek and Spirit of Wrath form Seven were battling the super tall goo figures.

Tek and Seven were running all over the place, dodging the large stomps and punches, hopping over the destruction and rubble, all while saving villagers at the same time. Well, Seven was saving the villagers; Tek was attacking the goo figures with his quick speed, and he was fighting his berserk mode that was trying to kill the villagers.

Roga the cat had put Nami somewhere safe, and he then started to run through the village field to head to where Ezrel was.

Roga thinks, 'I wanna know why Ezrel influenced Nami with dark arts, I wanna know why she wanted to sacrifice everyone in the volcano..but how will I get up there?! Those goo figures are closely guarding her if anyone gets near there!'

Ezrel screamed with one eye open and one eye closed, "You all will worship my gods! I've created them for everyone! Give your lives to these gods! And maybe…they will heed the world's call!"

Roga thinks, 'She wants everyone to worship these goo figures that she created, wanting them to be treated as gods. But there's gotta be a deeper reason why she is wanting to sacrifice this specific village!'

Ezrel spotted Roga trying to approach, and she screamed again, "No one will stop me or these gods! I will be their vessel, I will make them walk the earth on their own! And I will be their faithful servant!"

The two giant goo figures started to merge together, and they were even bigger now with Ezrel standing at the top of their head. The goo figures screeched like dragons, shaking the ground as they made noise.

Down below, Tek was standing there drooling in his Berserk appearance, with his hands still almost touching the ground and his back slouched forward a little.

Tek said, "This monsssster…is ssssstrong…must decaptitateeee…"

Seven stood beside Tek, "I'm not gonna even try and attempt to ask you anything."

Seven thought, 'Tek in this form…is scary. His power is menacing..and his bloodlust is skyrocketing rapidly.'

Tek was too focused on the giant goo figures, not even knowing Seven in her Spirit of Wrath form was beside her.

Walking on the other side of Tek, was Duri in his Titan form, and he was holding his shadow sword.

Tek took his attention off of the goo figures, and looked at Duri.

Tek said, "Ohhh..but youuuu are strongerrrr..kill your firssssstt…"

Duri was about to go berserk too, but the goo figures screeched, and they got Duri and Tek's attention.

Ezrel screamed, "Everyone! Sacrifice yourselves to the gods! Worship them!!!"

The goo figure attacked with a large punch; Duri, Tek, and Seven vanished, and they were in the air flying towards the goo figure.

Duri and Tek blasted through the goo figures chest, and then turned around in the air, and went from the head.

Duri used his sword to cut the goo figures head off, and Tek used his sharp fingers to help cut it off too. After those two attacks, the entire goo figure shattered into hard clay like black pieces.

Ezrel was falling to the ground, and she said calmly, "No…it can't be..they're supposed to regenerate..why aren't they regenerating? It's those two brats..they're way too strong together..that's why! I will not lose when I have come so far!"

Seven tackled Ezrel through the woods, and they fell through trees together.

They both got up instantly, and Ezrel cuffed her hands together, and black goo was coming from Seven's eyes and ears constantly.

Seven couldn't see or hear, but she used the vibrations of the ground to track Ezrel's movements.

Seven thought, 'She's playing dirty…I just have to use the vibrations of the ground to track her steps. I can't use my eye beams now, since the goo will just keep coming. Since my senses are heightened in this form…it'll be easy. I'll use the feel and patterns of the wind to track her ability attacks, the wind around me will move roughly if something causes it to move abruptly. Like a punch or kick.'

Ezrel made black crows appear, and they flew towards Seven.

Seven felt the wind patterns, and felt it change on her right.

'To my right.'

Seven dodged the crow coming from her right, and then felt the other crow coming from her left.

'To my left.'

Ezrel thinks, 'She can't see or hear, how can she dodge my attacks?!'

Ezrel kept spawning more giant black crows, and Seven was avoiding them while running forward. She was using her purple orbs to destroy the crows while flipping over them and sliding under them.

Ezrel jumped back, and she created a pool of hot acid goo on the ground.

Seven felt the heat on the ground, thinking, 'The ground is getting hotter. It's getting hotter as I run forward. I'm getting close to something damaging.'

Seven jumped over the pool of goo, and when she jumped far enough, she punched the ground, making parts of the ground rise up, making Ezrel back up some.

Ezrel thinks, 'I gotta try another attack! She's very perceptive!'

Seven blasted through the rubble, and asked Ezrel without being able to see her, "Fuck your fake ass gods, where did you learn dark arts to conjure up beings sooooo ugly?"

Ezrel replied, "Curse you! They will walk the earth! I can just make some more! Even though it's time consuming! It's worth it!'

Ezrel covered her mouth, thinking, 'Dammit!'

Seven thinks, 'I can't hear her…but there vibrations and breath from her voice is dancing with the air around me. She's to the left of me diagonally.'

Seven raised her hand up, creating a large orb, and purple lightning from the sky blasted around it rapidly, and Seven punched Ezrel in the head, smashing her head into the ground.

The ground blew up and destroyed a lot of things, and wind blasted everywhere.

…

A minute later, Seven was in her normal human form, and she was looking up at the sky with blood all over her. All the goo was off of her because she knocked out Ezrel too.

'I did it..I fuckin did it..'

Seven started sticking her middle finger at Ezrel's unconscious body, and she said, "Yeah that's what you get!"

She stopped, and she began to think about Duri. But then she started to remember Duri and Tek were unstable in their non-human forms.

Seven said, "Oh crap!"

Seven ran off back towards the village.

In the quiet village, Duri and Tek were looking at each other. Duri still in his Titan appearance, and Tek in his Berserk appearance. They were about to fight.

Duri said, "Hehe…I'm gonna kill you…Tekeshi…"

Tek answered with a drooling grin, "Ooooo…not if I ruin you firssssttt.."