Chapter 27

"Good riddance!" Atashi threw his spear at Douma without hesitation.

Shinobu's heart skipped a beat. If only she could dive in and push Douma aside who knows what tricks Atashi had up his sleeve. 

Both of them watched intently while Douma just stood there like a statue. It doesn't matter how fast you are Douma just get out of there we don't know what Atashi is capable of doing. Shinobu clenched her fist against her chest hoping the spear would miss.

"Now I got you!" Atashi's grin grew wider after noticing the spear was right on target.

However when it landed on Douma, the spear bounced off and sped towards the opposite direction like a reflected ray of light.

Atashi still in midair, looked at Douma and his spear in disbelief. "No it can't be! What are you?!" The boy in the orange sweater never expected himself to be fooled like this. How does one not panic or get hurt during a battle? That's what fighting is all about one is bound to suffer the consequences. Douma has never been hit by any of Atashi's attacks even at their full power. The thought of how weak and ineffective his skills were made Atashi's blood boil.

The spear sliced Atashi's shoulder and fell to the ground, leaving him with a deep bleeding cut that soaked the sleeve of his sweater. Atashi clutched his left arm in pain and landed on the ground, his body shaking in fear.

If it weren't for this last move Atashi would still be throwing flames with his injured hands. Shinobu leaned against the wall it was quite tiring to predict the outcome after every move and attack.

 "It's over Atashi." Douma walked over to him with his fan out just in case another surprise attack happened.

Why is everyone else always better than me even when it comes to my strengths? I thought I was up there with my passion for swordsmanship. It all came down to this. Looking at his spear, Atashi's eyes widened in desperation he was seeking answers. This thing is useless too, everything about me is forgettable, that's why Eiko doesn't look up to me anymore. I ruined her life.

"That's not true."

Atashi looked up at Douma in shock. After the events he still sees the good in a monster like him?

 "Eiko cares about you Atashi. She took the trouble to find you during the storm, that says a lot about your bond."

Staring at his now bruised and burnt hands, Atashi sought to fix the damage he had done to his own body. This wasn't worth it. He glanced at Shinobu who stood there, her purple gaze piercing into his with a mix of disappointment and anger.

"You don't know anything about me." Atashi got up, he stumbled a few times while adjusting himself.

Douma backed away that instant as the teen raised his spear and aligned all the flames in the vicinity into one formation.

"Incinerating Vortex!" A blast of fire exploded in Douma's direction, leaving cracks and rubble in the ground that was once an ordinary road.

The familiar tall figure of Douma emerged from the smoke, smiling mockingly at Atashi. He covered his face with his fan and stood there waiting for the next foolish move that Atashi was about to do next. He was only tiring himself further.

"How could you have survived that?!" Atashi clenched his fist tightly and bolted towards Douma he was determined to win this battle with a finishing blow.

Before he could even do that, Douma kicked him in the stomach sending him flying towards the same wall he almost crashed into at the start of the battle. 

Waves of immense pain spread throughout his body this time he was unable to stop himself from crashing into the wall. It was the same kind of power he felt when Douma flicked the back of his neck, but with way more force that could send a tank flying.

"Douma just end the battle I don't think Atashi's going to stop anytime soon." Shinobu called out to him.

"MOERU KUDO STYLE TWO: OVERLORD'S CALL OF WAR!"

Atashi summoned another set of flames that spiraled in the air to make a larger ball of fire. The ground beneath him formed cracks it felt like the Earth's crust was breaking off from each other.

Leaping into the air, Douma got ready as Atashi swung his spear towards the shrine leader's direction, firing a large fire tornado that burned everything in its path. Infrastructure and vehicles at every corner were starting to melt.

Douma sent an avalanche of frost towards the fire tornado, the icy winds lifted it up and sent it backwards. The impact made Atashi lose his balance but he carried on spinning his spear so the flames will overcome the freezing cold.

There was a clash of fire and ice in the atmosphere. Shinobu hid behind the walls shivering and wiping off droplets of sweat running down her forehead from the sudden appearance of that fire tornado. I can't breathe properly it feels like there's ice in my throat and chest. Douma's abilities were still in the lead so the temperature wasn't humid anymore but it still felt abnormal it reminded Shinobu of a fridge and furnace placed together in one spot.

The frost that was putting out the fire slowly turned into a large ball of energy that resembled a blackhole. It absorbed all the flames and particles in the air leaving only the cold wind. Atashi was pushed to the back by the energy's explosion with burns on his hands and forehead. The flames were gone and his spear no longer had that burning glow to it.

 Before Atashi could say another word, Douma telepathically froze his nerves causing him to scream in pain from the intense brain freeze he was experiencing. Within seconds, he passed out and fell to the ground.

Shinobu hurried over to Douma who was carrying Atashi. Placing her palm on his forehead, Shinobu could tell his temperature was very low. They had to get him back to Hasu Mountains as soon as possible.

"Atashi you idiot look what you've gotten yourself into!"

"His shoulder is badly wounded he could get an infection we need to hurry."

While Douma and Shinobu were discussing about their next plan, Atashi was stirring around murmuring to himself about the battle. I won't lose, I can't lose I never will. These same words replayed in his mind several times.

"Don't let them take you." Atashi spoke.

"Hm?"

A wall of fire started forming around the teen sending waves of fire outwards towards every corner of the area. Douma immediately grabbed Shinobu and hid behind the walls of a store. Atashi's screams filled the air as the fire wall grew bigger.

"What's happening to him?!"

"Something is communicating with him and it's not happy." Douma took note of Atashi's fidgeting movements and murmurs especially the last thing he said. Earlier during the battle Atashi also gained more power which means this entity was watching everything that was going on, even if Douma managed to get the artifact away from him, there's a possibility the entity has already taken full control of Atashi which would be a huge problem its intentions were unclear.

 Atashi stopped and looked around before taking off into the smoke. The trails of flames disappeared into the concrete floor that was covered in ashes.

"He's getting away! We were so close!" Shinobu got up and squinted her eyes at the smokey distance to see if Atashi was still standing around the area.

"Never mind that you could've gotten hurt."

"We have to catch up with him!"

"Hold on if Atashi knows we're chasing after him he might change his route, there's something else we're looking for remember?" Douma stood up and looked at the entirety of the city, thinking about this new affiliation Atashi had that none of them knew about.

"You mean he's trying to find that hideout? If that's the case he might lead us to the last piece of the puzzle."

"Right so we can't let him know we're following him we must stay hidden at all costs."

Taking a deep breath, Douma spread his wings and prepared to take off. Just as he was about to ascend above the ground to see where Atashi was going a metallic object plummeted towards his direction.

The object dived through his impenetrable body landing on the ground with a soft clang. From the appearance it looked to be a dart, Douma and Shinobu weren't alone they were being watched.

"Did you get him?!" A voice whispered.

"No it went right through him!"

"What?! So he's not human after all?" Three shadows emerged behind him, crouching towards Douma slowly with their weapons. Douma laughed what were those things going to do to him? Didn't they see how ineffective the dart was he didn't understand why they still kept going with this.

But of course, fear was the obvious answer they had never seen anything like him before, humans don't have wings so they would strive to take him down no matter what, but Douma wasn't going to let that happen.

H-h-how did he do that? Shinobu stared at the dart in shock this was giving her the creeps too. "Anyways who are these people? Wrong timing guys."

"You're coming with us." A stern-looking man with the same hat as the other two walked towards Douma and raised his weapon at him in defense. The young founder covered his face with his fan and smiled. What an imbecile like that's going to scare me!

The man who was acting like some sheriff brought the weapon closer, Douma raised his hands up with the same smile plastered on his face. Three of the men were starting to get annoyed that Douma wasn't doing anything they expected him to retaliate back but surprisingly he was calm, which was starting to make them terrified.

Another dart flew through him landing beside the other green one. Douma placed his fan in his pocket and put the weapon in front of him down, the man carefully obliged putting his weapon away and took a step back, this was risky.

"Let's get outta here!"

"No we're supposed to bring him to Mr Oshiro's office."

Shinobu crossed her arms and watched. This is getting interesting.

"But how are we going to do that?! We can't carry him all the way there nothing is working! Let's just forget about it and leave he'll forget about it eventually I'm sure of it." The frantic lanky man grabbed his stuff and got ready to leave but the other two men stopped him.

"Mr Oshiro's office you say? What's this about?"

All three of them turned to look at Douma who was now looking at them curiously. Why were they planning on taking him to whoever this Mr Oshiro was, it's not like he did anything wrong.

"That's none of your business!"

"Cooperate with us or you'll meet your fate."

"What if I don't?" Douma narrowed his eyes at the man who was now pointing his rifle at him, clearly shaking in fear.

The man scoffed and paced around trying to figure out a way to get Douma into the vehicle that was parked beside them.

"Thinking of a plan? Look I don't know what you're trying to do there's no way I'm coming with you guys. I have more important things to do."

"Yeah that's right stick your noses somewhere else." Shinobu spat.

They looked at Douma and snorted. No way would they ever believe a single thing he was saying, a being with wings couldn't be let off that easily. If Douma claims he's innocent he has to prove it starting now.

"Mr Oshiro wants to see you so if you want to fly freely again, stop yapping and just come with us," The surroundings fell silent like the whole world stopped to wait and see what Douma was going to do.

"If you don't, we'll be here for the whole day, including you."

Douma yawned and laughed. "Sir I can just fly away right now." The three men's expressions turned serious they weren't going to let him get away this was important.

Shinobu spun around and gave Douma a "And leave me behind with these knuckleheads?" look to which he scratched the back of his head awkwardly hoping she would forgive him for his forgetfulness.

"Yeah let's abort the mission there's no way we're going to return in one piece if this goes on." The scaredy man walked towards the vehicle afraid to look back.

"Hey come back here!"

"Looks like someone's scared." Shinobu sneered.

The scaredy man narrowed her eyes at the purple-haired girl. "Who ya calling scared?! I'm not scared just in a hurry that's all."

Shinobu laughed at his response like anyone would believe that.

The young founder thought about their plan. Mr Oshiro wants to see him but what for? Douma didn't know him unless maybe they met somewhere but most of the people he interacted with were residents of Hasu Mountains. Besides, Douma was a myth in most parts of Japan, he was viewed as a historical folklore, this tale of the Dragon of Hasu Mountains or the Sky Dragon never crossed anyone's minds. If Douma was being honest, nobody knew about him it was just a legend that didn't have much base to support it. Sure rumors spread but until now, it was rare to see outsiders visiting his shrine.

It's not like anyone recognized him when he and Shinobu were saving those people from the alien creatures. They were amazed yes.

Douma decided that he'll see Mr Oshiro on one of these days during their mission, it better be worth it he couldn't let his identity be exposed, it could turn anyone insane, this was a fact. Anything otherworldly that comes to light will always result in something like that, the Winter Storm was a great example it was too much for the world to handle.

At the corner of his eye, Douma could see that Shinobu was getting impatient which was understandable. They were supposed to go after Atashi. This was starting to pressure him to think of a plan. He thought of one eventually.

"Alright fine, let's see what Mr Oshiro wants."