(13) Of Age

*Three years later*

"Why can't I attend?!" Ygdran roared in Tamashi's chamber. Yuna stood off in the corner, leaning against a wall. She was disinterested in what was happening, but she couldn't help but listen since Ygdran was so loud.

"Because." Tamashi hissed, "Yuna would kill you easily. I can't lose either of you, you are too important. You'll attend the death match when you are seventeen."

"What? You care about me or something?" Ygdran joked.

"No. I care about your power." Tamashi growled.

Ygdran glared over at Yuna. "Her? You think she can beat me? I honestly doubt it. I'm way stronger than I used to be, she wouldn't stand a chance."

"You so sure?" Tamashi growled, then an immense wave of pressure filled the room. Ygdran collapsed to his knees with a suddenly jolt as he was crushed, the ground indenting at his feet in a small crater.

"Ha… I can.. stand this much.." he growled, lifting his head with a struggle.

"Maybe. But so can she." Tamashi spoke.

Yuna saw as Ygdran looked over to her. She stood completely unaffected by the pressure, the ground at her feet cracking and forming a depression, but she stood as if nothing were happening.

"Until you can withstand my pressure, boy, you will not attend." Tamashi growled. "Now then, Yuna, come along, we shall begin your trial now." Tamashi stood, his pressure fading.

As Yuna followed Tamashi, walking past Ygdran who was panting in exhaustion, she looked down on him in disgust. 'Pathetic.' She thought. 'Tamashi was holding back. That wasn't even close to his full pressure. How the hell is Ygdran supposed to ever be anything special?'

— — —

Yuna stood at the center of the battlefield at the same exact place her brother had died on that day so long ago… but now it was her turn. And this time, she wouldn't die.

"Welcome, welcome all! We have a special day today! Yuna, my dear underling, is to be attending this match upon this day. She will be proving herself unto all of you. I will say, good luck to her challengers." Tamashi laughed.

"Damn bitch." A boy said from across the area. He was large and brutish, fat and heavy. "Spoiled little shit. I'm gonna show you you ain't nothin here, just cuz Tamashi likes you don't make you special."

"I don't care." Yuna said. "All I know.." she looked about at all of them, "is that all of you are beneath me and not even worth my time."

"You little-" the fat kid suddenly stopped talking, his eyes going wide as he lifted up into the air off his feet.

"You are so much more tolerable when you shut up." Yuna spoke as her hydras came into view, wisps of dark aura shifting about her body, one of them extended all the way out and wound about the large boy's throat, choking him. "Now die for me." Yuna said with a slight mad grin.

And then his neck snapped, his body slamming to the ground.

In that moment, all the twelve other kids came running at her. Yuna couldn't help but wonder why there were so many this time, but she didn't care. They all hated her, and she didn't even acknowledge them as living beings.

Yuna held out her hand, a sword of blue flames forming from her palm. One of her Hydra's shot forward, it's fangs ripping out a child's throat before it went to the next, wrapping around a girl and then yanking her towards Yuna, who swept her sword through the air, splitting the girl's upper body from her waist, blood splattering across the walls as her severed corpse fell.

"Anyone else?" Yuna asked.

The last ten others had stopped, all of them glancing from one another to her. Yuna assumed they had all agreed to target her before fighting each other, all of the other kids hated her and Ygdran.

"Alright. Then it's my turn." Yuna grinned wildly, her eyes going wide, "I'M GONNA KILL YOU ALL!!!" She began laughing madly.

Yuna held the sword out at her side, the hydra's all sinking their teeth into her sword arm as bluish-black aura began to flow from her arm, then she wound it back over her shoulder.

"Die… bleed for me.. bleed.." she said, then swung her sword in a wide arc. A wave of energy exploded forward, bursting across the arena and tearing up the earth before slamming into the children. None of them could escape the attack, and the next moment, they were all engulfed in blue flames. Their screams mangled together in a symphony of dread and death as their skin and flesh was burned almost instantaneously to the bone… and then, one by one, they dropped dead.

Yuna looked up to the wall where other kids were watching her. Her eyes landed on Vetle, who glared down at her. She grinned at him, her eyes wild with hatred. In her mind, she imagined ripping his head from his torso and leaving his body brutalized on the ground.

Tamashi stood from his throne, clapping his hands. "Well done. As I would have expected from my best pupil."

Yuna turned to Tamashi, then threw her sword. The demon prince tilted his head to the side, the blade flying over his shoulder and crashing into the wall, sending cracks splitting across it.

"Close. Good attempt, really." He turned to the other kids. "As you have seen, the power of the Yin nature when properly matured, is quite strong. And all of you, including her, will only get stronger. And soon… you will be unleashed upon the world… to slay the gods."