5 Chapter IV : Moon Elves Vs Blood Demons

Deep in the enchanted forest, somewhere west of the moonlake, a secret place called Emerald Woodland is located. A place where the first generation of elves were born from the mystical tree called Tree of Life found at the center of the Emerald Woodland.

For thousand of years, Moon Elves are kept safe by the protection of the Elf Kings whose powers granted by the Elf Goddess.

The elf king in the present generation is the unique Estes. Although it is said that an elf king's power is unmatched to any monsters of the Emerald Woodland, Estes' real strength was never used because peace was reigning in the forest. But darkness was just creeping on the corner waiting for the right moment tp strike.

" Don't touch those! Those are mine!" shouted one of the moon elf who were gathering firewood in the southern part of the moonlake.

" I was just borrowing some to lighten up your load" replied the other elf,

" We should join the others before the two of us get lost."

" Just a little more," he insisted, " the firewood are dryer here."

Suddenly, a strange shadow was creeping in the shadows of the trees rustling the grass and dried leaves that it passes.

" I have a bad feeling about this," said the second elf.

" Relax, if ever anything happens, we can shout for help" he replied, " I'm sure the can hear us-"

As he stood up, a large shadow appear and covered them. Both of them were absorbed without making any noise.

" Delicious," said the shadow, " Young moon elves are just my favorite snack."

* Meanwhile*

" I'm starving!" Kagura cried while drying her hair infront of the campfire.

"And whos fault was it that all our provisions were taken away by the river?" Sora irritatedly replied.

" Well, It's your fault for not stopping or taking a rest." she replied, " We've been traveling for two days without rest, the soryu dragon drained all my magic."

" Yes! I know, I saved you when you fell into the river remember?" he exclaimed " I had to throw away my provisions too or we'll both be carried away by the water."

" Well, it's the least you can do after all the times I saved you",

" Ugh" , the groaned, " Now we're a day late! It's supposed to be a five day journey to the Land of the Dawn with breaks and three days if travelled without breaks. I wanted to meet Sushi master as soon as possible, but now I'm stuck with a crying, whiny baby!"

" You're so mean" Kagura whimpered, " I'm sorry okay, you don't have to shout."

" Ha, Ha, Ha! " echoed a sinister laugh from the trees.

" Who's there?!" Sora stood of grabbing his sword.

Out of nowhere, a ninja jumped in front of them holding a large two bladed shuriken with orange petal like colours.

" Hotaru?" Sora asked, " What are you doing here??"

" I will be the one who kills the Yatagarasu",

she replied, " I've been following you for two days just to get the intel on where the Yatagarasu was last sighted and finally you stopped, or almost drowned, and gave me the info I needed."

" What?" he exclaimed, " What about your duty as Scarlet Grandmaster?"

" I've left a note to Master Tora", she replied,

" With the help of my forbidden weapon, Higanbana, I will make a short work out of Yatagarasu."

" You stole a forbidden weapon and ran away??" he asked, " Higanbana? Isn't that the forbidden attack you were so proud of?"

" The forbidden attack Higanbana was a mere replica of the power of this weapon. But I've never used this weapon ever since I left."

" Man, you're such an idiot" Sora sighed.

" Idiot?" Hotaru irritatedly asked, " You know, I could practice how to use this weapon to kill you right now."

" You can't beat me even if you have five forbidden weapons with you",

" Oh, really?"

The air was filled with pressure as both ninjas held their weapons and facing each other.

" Enough!" Kagura interrupted.

" AHHHHHHHH! HELP ME!"

The three of them paused after hearing a desperate shout coming from the other side of the river.

They sprinted towards the area where the shout was coming from and saw a young elf with one of his legs chopped off and crawling in the ground while a shadow was creeping closer to him.

" There's no escape young lad." The shadow said.

And just before the shadow had engulfed the young elf, Sora jumped to the scene and sliced the shadow in half.

" AGGHHHHHH!" shouted the shadow in agony.

Suddenly, the shadow transformed into a demon with two horns, webbed wings and a large body while the other part of the shadow that was cut was his arm that was severed by Sora's sword.

" agghhhh!" shouted the demon, " You'll pay for this brat! I'll have your head for dessert!

The demon made a high pitch whistle that echoed in about 30 meter radius. After a short while a loud stomping noise was audible, becoming nearer and louder every second.

Th three of them stayed together covering the bleeding moon elf.

" Kagura, is there a healing spell you can use to treat the elf?" Sora asked.

" Yes, but my magic hasn't recovered yet." she replied, " I wont be able to help you if I heal him."

The stomping stopped as two large demons came out of the forest. One had a snake shaped body with arms, hands and wings, while the other had a bull like head structure with a human body and arms but had a bull for legs and had wings and a tail.

" Don't worry about us," Sora said, " Focus on healing him while we stall them and we'll run away after you're done."

" Don't tell me what to do", Hotaru said, " But it's a good way to practice using this weapon."

" Ha Ha! " laughed the now one-armed demon, " Defeating the orcs made us very hungry, I'll take my time eating the three of you."

" We have to do this quick before the queen realises that we're doing something else." said the snake type demon.

" Yeah. As her personal guards, we should be with her, not doing this nonesense." said the bull face.

" Relax," said the one-armed demon, " We're not just having fun, we're eliminating potential threats to our queen. The boy with the sword can cut through shadow. He must be a rogue Shadow ninja."

" So that explains your arm." said the snake type demon.

" Let's do this Hotaru!" sora exclaimed.

" I said don't tell me what to do!"

The two of them jumped towards the demons.

Sora threw a dozen shurikens, " Shadow art: Shadow Thread!"

He attached the threads to the shurikens and controlled it. The demons just stood still without flinching. The shurikens can't even scratch the skin of the demons.

" That all you got kid?" said the one-armed,

" I got careless a minute ago, since our shadows cant be damaged by anyone except for Shadow wielders and light mages and I didn't think anyone with that ability was around. So as payment for my arm, I'll take your life!"

The one-armed jumped towards Sora at a very fast speed.

" Shit-" Sora said while thinking what to do,

" I can't dodge him in this angle."

" Die punk!"

As the demon was about to devour Sora, Hotaru jumped between them.

" Scarlet art: Scarlet bombs!"

Before Hotaru's spell was released, the Higanbana began glowing.

When Hotaru released the spell, it was five times stronger than her regular spell blowing her, Sora and the demon away.

When they both landed on their feet, Sora saw Hotaru's hand shaking and covered with bruises.

" Are you alright?" he asked,

" You shouldn't use the Higanbana for now, you can't control it-"

" Shut up!" Hotaru exclaimed, " Don't lecture me like you're better than me!"

"Scarlet art: Crimson Beams!"

Hotaru shot out blood red beams with stronger intensities than normal. But due to her damaged hands, her aim was very far off her mark.

" Ha Ha! " laughed the one-armed, " Who are you aiming?"

" Quad Shadow!" Sora chanted.

He used the shadowmen to throw one shadowman towards the demon.

As the one-armed demon block the shadow flying towrads him using his remaining arm, the shadow passed diectly through his arm and went nearer to his face.

" Switch!"

In an instant, Sora swapped places with that shadowman and slashed the demon's face cutting his right eye.

" UGGHHHH!" he grunted and fell down to his knees, " You'll pay for that! Now, it's our turn."

The snake type suddenly wrapped her tail around Sora.

" So long boy, " said the bull head while lowering his head ready to charge.

Just as the tackle was about to hit.

" Switch!"

Sora switched places with his other shadowmen and the bull head bashed the snake type instead.

" Aghhhh!!" shouted the snake demon,

" You slick punk!"

Sora looked at Hotaru and realises that she can't fight anymore. The last attack she made damage both her hands.

" Sora!" Kagura shouted, " I'm finished! Let's get out of here!"

" Good" he replied, " I can't fight these guys alone either".

And just as the four of them was about to run, the three demons had surrounded them not allowing anyone to escape.

" There's no escape boy" said the one-armed.

The four of them stood close of each other.

" I can't believe I'd die like this," Hotaru said.

" Not if I can help it," Sora replied, " If I had the choice, I'd never want to use this technique, because I have to lie in bed for a week after, but I can't let us die either."

" Don't tell me-," Hotaru looked at Sora and saw his determination to survive. " Well, if you're gonna do it, I will do it too."

" Don't blame me afterwards," Sora chuckled.

" Secret Shadow Art: Spacetime Shadow!"

" Secret Scarlet Art: Repsident Scarlet!"

" Domain Of The Moon Goddess!!"

Before the two of them activated their techniques, a blinding light from a distance shone upon them creating a round light barrier that vapourized any demons that touches it.

" It's the moon elf king!" shouted the snake type.

" Let's scram!" said the one-armed," we cant take him by ourselves!"

The three demons returned in shadow form and disappeared into the forest.

Sora, Hotaru and Kagura felt light. They noticed that their injuries and exhaustion were disappearing.

" Thank you brave travellers for saving this young one," as they turned around, they saw a pale skinned elf, with snow white hair and white pupil for an eye.

" I am Estes. Present king of the moon elves."

- End of Chapter 4-