Kimiko

The group for the expedition to the ruins had gathered, and Hao was everything but excited to look after all those children.

Truthfully, I didn't much care whether or not he had been asked to look after a group of children in particular and agreed to do so. He had done so before and it had never bothered him all that much.

No, what irked him something fierce was the tempo with which the group either came to a decision or even moved, be that out of fear from things that could possibly harm them outside of their scope of knowledge or simply because they were, in fact, still nothing but children. Indecisive and unsure of themselves and the world around them.

Truthfully, Hao could not blame them, and he did not. Not really. Still, it annoyed him somewhat. Hence, his reluctance to entertain either the girl who thought she could get everything she wanted by flaunting her appearance or even Ning'er and her little girly friend with the lilac hair, who were trying to start conversations about the most asinine of things with him, despite the fact that Ning'er should have known better by now. It appeared that having her girly friend back at her side had pushed her back into the age-old desire every woman had, namely the craving for attention. Be that for male or female attention, it mattered little.

When Hao reflected upon all those thoughts that ran through his mind only a couple of hours into their small expedition, he realised that he may end up incinerating most of the group if he didn't get the chance to let of some steam in one form or the other some way.

Hence, it came as a pleasant surprise to him, when his senses picked up on a group of spiritual signatures only a few miles away, heading directly towards them at a speed he would approximately rank as gold rank if he had to guess. It mattered little in the end, as he decided to leave the fledglings to themselves for a little, who seemingly had decided it was a good idea to hold some sort of bloody competition between our resident time traveller and some obnoxious brat, which was holding them all up with their egomaniacal desire to show of who had the bigger dicks.

He could understand that desire, of course, but those boys had nothing to show for yet so what was there to get excited over? Nothing, that's what. Hence, why his annoyance began to spike even further.

Thus, he simply disappeared into thin air from one second to the next, leaving behind Ning'er, who seemed both worried and somewhat pouty of not being taken along, and her friend who seemed both curious and confused where Hao had so suddenly disappeared to.

Hao meanwhile was flying swiftly through the air, swerving in between trees while the wind ruffled his long hair playfully.

A rather cruel grin growing on his face, Hao spotted the group his senses had picked up on ages ago and found that the group consisted of men and women in black uniforms, which he supposed was to intimidate some people. At least he guessed.

Dropping out of the sky like a rock, Hao soon hovered right in front of the group, who promptly came to a stop and looked him over cautiously, completely taken of guard by his person. Not very surprising really, but their caution was something he could respect.

"Who are you? And why are you blocking our way?" The one Hao presumed to be their leader spoke, already beginning to circle his chi in preparation, meaning the man could probably feel something was not right about the whole situation. Commendable.

"I was bored and curious why you were headed to the group of children, specifically. But in the end, I guess it doesn't really matter, since I needed an outlet anyway and you'll do just fine." Hao said while his grin grew and his partner responded to his excitement for the situation at hand, slowly coming into being behind him in a sudden burst of fire that licked excitedly over its flame-coloured skin.

"I see. It seems we'll just have to get rid of you, boy. Now do me the favour and die!" The man roared while he flexed his spiritual energy and fused himself with his spirit beast, some kind of bull it seemed.

Behind him his companions did the same and with battle cries charged forwards, intending to remove the obstacle in their way. Hao had none of that.

Bursting forwards himself, his grin had taken on a near manic expression, while the desire for battle burned brightly inside of him.

His partner at his side, he flexed his chi once, more out of fun than need, constricting his opponents in its crushing grip for but a second, which halted them all in their tracks immediately, making it even easier for Hao to spin over the head of the leader to land behind the man and skewer his chest with nothing but his hand, relishing in the short resistance of the man's chest before flexing his chi once again, transforming it into an inferno that incinerated the man in but a second, leaving nothing but a pile of charred remains behind.

His partner meanwhile was practically teleporting in between opponents, again and again utilizing his fiery form to jump from one place of oxygen to the next, leaving the group of men and women scared witless at the impossibility to react in any way, shape or form to their untouchable opponent.

Before long, all but one enemy had been burned to ashes, while Hao glanced curiously at the woman, who seemed to be shaking in her boots.

"P-Please! Don't kill me… I c-can be valuable! I have information, money! Whatever it is, just please…" She begged, though Hao didn't much care for her words.

With another application of his chi, Hao prevented the spirits of the deceased from leaving, shackling their translucent forms to the world of the living, after which he took control over his partner Helios and showed him how to consume them in order to strengthen himself.

Under the disbelieving eyes of the shaken woman, Helios formerly mouthless face ripped practically open and devoured the wailing souls one after the other, after which only silence remained, and a woman Hao didn't deem worthy enough to become food for his partner. Her soul was simply too weak at the moment.

While his partner disappeared once again into thin air, Hao walked over to the clearly afraid woman and looked her over for but a second before coming to a decision he hadn't entertained much up until now but what was the harm, really.

"What's your name, girl?" Hao asked the woman, who seemed to calm down just a little, since she was still alive and had seemingly regained some hope that she would remain as such in the foreseeable future.

"Kimiko, my lord." She said, while bowing with her hands upon her thighs, trying to be as polite as possible.

"Alright, Kimiko. You offered me 'whatever' in trade for your life. As such you are now mine. Do as you are told without question and you'll be treated fairly. If not you'll soon join your former teammates in the stomach of my friend. Understood?" Hao said while walking around the woman in question like a beast stalking its prey. He felt alive, after enjoying a battle once again after such a long time, no matter how trivial it had been. And he had no intention to deny himself some more indulgence. Being a human after all meant being apart of the suffering of the world, and he was not yet who he had been when he was fused with the great spirit. But he had time, and until he reached that serene stage of being once more, he would indulge himself, if only just a little.

"I understand, my lord. I will try to follow your commands to the best of my abilities." Kimiko said, while once again bowing humbly to her superior opponent, at least glad that she would not die just yet.

Without response, Hao turned around and picked her up with his nothing but his chi before returning to the group he had left behind, a new servant in tow. One who was not yet aware that her life had been changed irreparably this fateful day, and nothing was gonna remain the same for her.