[1.4] Demon

Akuma finds himself in the middle of nowhere. The pressure feels like he's at the depths of the deepest oceans. He can't see anything, not black like when he would close his eyes but nothing, as if he was blind.

The pressure only becomes greater when he finally sees something. A shilouette of a man stands in front of the motionless Akuma. In a matter of seconds the shilouette extends its left hand, reaching out to Akuma. Strange words are whispered by the shilouette.

"...Come..."

Just as the shilouette touches Akuma's right cheek he feel a stinging pain on his cheek.

"AKUMA! WAKE UP! WE OVERSLEPT!"

The hand turns out to be Zack's. He slapped Akuma after he couldn't wake him up. Akuma opens his eyes in shock.

"COME ON AKUMA HURRY UP AND GET READY!"

Zack gives Akuma more instructions as he puts on his pants while yelling furiously. Zack's yelling soon strangely enough motivates even Akuma who jumps out of the bed as if he forgot about his strange dream. In a matter of three minutes Akuma put on all of his gear leaving Zack in the dust. A few moments Zack is finished as well and the two race out of their room, nearly falling down the stairs.

The two run out of the door of the Guild building. Just as Zack steps on the groud in front of the building his face is met with someone's fist and he flies back about two meters. The fist belongs to Zoe, a member of Zack's group of adventurers. She took care of Kaede and decided to train her. She's wearing a dark blue robe with a hat similar to that of a witch sitting on her head.

"WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN!?"

Akuma who was just behind Zack is stunned. Seeing a woman this furious reminded him of a certain someone. Zoe notices Akuma's surprise and turns to him, not with anger, rather she starts comforting him and patting him on the head.

"Aww, did i scare you? I'm sorry. I just wanted to beat the everloving shit out of Zack. I don't have anything against you."

Meanwhile Zack gets up. Clutching his nose and with a few teardrops in his eyes he turns to Zoe, demanding answers.

"HUH? Why are you nice to him but hit me first thing in the morning?!"

Zoe looks at Zack with fire in her eyes. He mean glare tells Zack everything he need to know. Zack nervously puts his hands up and backs down.

"Fine, fine, i'm sorry. I made myself and Akuma late. I take full blame for that. Please don't beat me anymore."

Zack recieves a prompt "Hmph" from Zoe. She lets go of Zack's terrible sin of oversleeping. The group eventually heads out. As they are walking through the city, heading towards the gate Akuma only now starts to admire the city around him. They're supposed to kill some wolves since their numbers reached their limit for the area.

Akuma looks at the tall walls made of stone. When the morning sun shines across the stone walls it strangely fills Akuma with peace. His trance is interrupted by Haku who approaches him.

"How do ya feel?"

Akuma turns his head towards Haku and then looks at his right palm.

"Calm. Strangely enough. I don't feel any sort of fear or excitement."

Haku is surprised at Akuma's response as he expected a slightly more collected version of Akuma from the last evening. He chuckles a bit before continuing the conversation.

"Well, i expected something else but somehow i'm glad i got this response. This is the you i was walking about yesterday. The different yet better than everyone else Akuma."

Akuma however, dismisses Haku's words.

"No, not that kind of calm. It feels like silence before the storm."

Yet Haku reassures his dark brown haired friend.

"C'mon it's gonna be A-O.K"

A finger circle Haku makes as a symbol of assurance is ruined by Akuma who puts his finger right through it. Haku's eyes are filled with terror right until Akuma opens his mouth.

"You know what happens now, don't you."

A devilish grin appears on Akuma's face as he hits Haku's shoulder with enough force to make him stumbe a few steps to the side. Holding onto his his shoulder Haku returns to the group, next to Akuma. Though one thing is on his mind.

I'm glad i got you to think about something else, even for just a while.

The journey continues for about an hour. They finally arrive at the spot. Deep inside a forest near the city. All that is heard is the rustling of leaves and the ocassional song of a bird.

"All right, let's go."

Zack proclaims as he leads the way. Akuma follows closely behind Zack. A few moments later Zack stops. He bends over and inspects the ground.

"I've found tracks. This way."

Zack's voice is low and quiet. A little while later Zack crouches and signs something to Zoe and Hido. Zoe and Hido nod and go their seperate ways.

Zack briefly turns around and signs to Akuma to crouch down and follow him. Akuma nods and does as instructed. As Akuma follows Zack the two stop at a bush. Zack makes a small window in the bush. He sees three wolves, though the left side of his vision is obscured. He also sees Zoe and Hido doing the same as himself.

Zack raises his right hand and counts to three. Once the countdown is over he snaps his fingers. In an istant he leaps at the wolf closest to him. Akuma notices Zoe and Hido doing the same. Zoe summons a fireball which she throws at the wolf. Hido leaps and with the bare weight of his huge sword he crushes the wolf. The one who catches Akuma's eyes is Zack who leaps at incredible speed and slices the wolf's head as soon as he lands. Such a clean cut and amazing teamwork leave Akuma staggered. He could he even saw some sparks flying.

Akuma emerges from the bushes excited.

"That was cool! What was that?!"

Zoe quickly answers with a smirk.

"That, my friend is called Mana Release. It utilizes one's soul type and allows that person to manipulate the energy emitted by it. We call that energy mana."

Zoe's cheerful explanation is soon interrupted by Zack.

"C'mon Zoe, we'll have time for that later! Let's go find some more."

Zack starts to move when a wolf comes running from the direction he was headed. Zack isn't able to react. Instead of the wolf attacking, it simply runs through the group at full speed. As if it was running from something.

In a few moment after Zack regains his composure he is met with something far worse than a wolf. A creature the resembes a human is running straight at him. It emits ashes yet it is black, only a shilouette is properly seen.

The creature jumps at Zack who manages to block it's attack. Zack throws the creature to his right, away from Akuma.

"It's a demon! Prepare yourselves!"

Now that Akuma a closer look at the being he sees two horns pointed away from the head in the direction of the eyes.

The creature disappears into smoke and appears right behind Zack. Akuma who notices this runs to attack the demon while warning Zack. The demon strikes but instead of Zack, Akuma takes the hit and is launched into a nearby tree.

"AKUMA!"

His back is pressed against the tree and he is sitting on the ground coughing up blood. His vision becomes more blurry and dark by each seconds that passes by. Time feels like it slowed down. All he sees is the group desperatley attacking the demon.

Like a blessing, another creature emerges from between the trees. Instead of having a large shape it looks like a child with small horns that emits black flames. The flames are so dark no one can properly make out it's shape. Once Zack spots it his eyes widen with rage. The creature emitting black flames hits the demon and smashes it through a few trees.

Zack tries to attack it but it simply melts his sword as it locks its eyes on Akuma. As if it teleported to Akuma, it leaves only black embers falling down.

The very appearance of the black creature enrages the demon enough to furiously attack the group.

Akuma just barely makes out what is going on in front of him. As the black creature stands in front of him, a grin appears on his face that Akuma can't see. Yet a whisper is heard.

"Finally."

The black creature as if disappeared and its flames enter Akuma. His vision black out completly.

Meanwhile the demon attacks Zack once again, and even knocks him down. Just as it is about to deliver the final blow it's fist is stopped by Akuma. For some reason black flames are erupting from his body. Akuma's fury now far exceeds that of the demon. Perhaps for the sake of his friends of perhaps because he himself has just became a demon.

Akuma holds the demons fist that is twice as large as his hand.

"Burn away."

Suddenly the demon starts burning with the black flames. Its screams are nearly unbearable. Once it finishes burning only a pile of ashes is left.

And even though he won, Akuma collapses on the ground in exhaustion.