Chapter 04: Gratitude

There was no time to mourn. With the village and its outskirts blazing in flames, the battle might be fiercest at the village. "We have to go," I wanted to say, but a sense of looming danger stopped me from doing so. This feeling… It's like an empty void, dissimilar to that of any living being's spirit energy. Then, an impulse took over me. I focused all my energy on my arms, just like how I do with Meteor Impact, and I guarded against the blade that directly hit my arms.

As he dropped from the trees above us, I could see the shadow assailant clad in a dark, tight-fitted cloth with a cowl fully covering their face. Their blade was the same; it didn't look solid, but it felt sharper than any other blade I've fought with. As the flames illuminated the scene more and more, the attacker seemed less human.

They were more akin to a shadow than a human.

With the power from Meteor Impact, I pushed the assailant away from us. The surprise attack triggered our hunting instincts. Coupled with our grief, we didn't give the assailant a single chance to recover from my parry.

Using Meteor Impact defensively should have been enough to leave me unscathed against blades or arrows, but the attack still cut through the skin, leaving me with a rather large slash wound. Had I not blocked that… I would've suffered the same fate as Manro.

The rush of adrenaline allowed me to start a flurry of attacks with Rita, a "Combination Flurry," as we name it. Each punch done with reason, stopping the shadow assailant from casting spells, calling for help, or raising their weapon. Eventually, we managed to disarm them, throwing their blade away from their hand.

I could still compose myself as I attacked them, but it felt like Rita was getting hotter—the literal heat rising as I fought with her side by side, each of her punches getting stronger with each she did so.

I could only see what she did for a split second. On her last punch, her hand seemed to ignite in flames. When her attack connected with the shadow assailant's chest, they flew across the forest before hitting a tree on their back.

"Rita?" I called.

"I'm sorry… I-I don't know what came over me…" Rita didn't seem to know what happened, but the power of her punch was comparable to my Meteor Impact. "Was it the doing of the Infernal Spirit inside her?" I thought to myself.

I stared at the unconscious person, their outfit still clad in darkness. Even if we defeated them, sounds of chaos can still be heard in the direction of the village. Whoever this was—they didn't travel alone.

"Kenji!" Rita screamed as she looked at the bloody wound in my arm. "Thank goodness… It wasn't that deep. Oh spirits, help our souls…" She prayed as she scrambled on her backpack to find any medical supplies. Thankfully, there was a clean cotton cloth that she used to wrap my arm around.

Hiro followed behind us and cast a healing spell on me. "I'm sorry, Hiro… This might hurt for a while, even with my healing spell. I can't cast strong spells without my staff."

My wound was now enclosed in cloth, and Hiro's healing spell alleviated the pain, but it still hurt. Fortunately for me, the wounded arm was my left—non-dominant arm.

As he continued to cast the healing spell on me, he said, "We can't let them get any more of us."

He was correct. Whoever this group was, they were hunting the ancient spirits and those who sought to protect them. Then, they found our village. If Manro said this was true, then this was inevitable. The village would have to face this group sooner or later.

What I don't understand is the lengths Master Jinsha took to prepare us for battle and establish a protective barrier around the town while still keeping us uninformed of this inevitable event.

And the ancient spirits inside Rita and Hiro were their primary targets. I cannot bring them to any harm. I looked at them concerningly, though they both didn't seem to realize it as they were busy patching my wound.

In spite of everything, our collective resolve and determination were firmer than ever. I declared, "We have to go. We have to protect our home."

As we faced the village, the same empty feeling returned with a much stronger intensity. It felt like the air around us was seeped out of breathable oxygen. We could breathe, but the air around us was stagnant and dead.

A plethora of loud, whispering voices crept from behind our backs.

"I cannot… lose…"

"Kill…. Kill… Kill…"

"Why did you leave me…?"

"Power… All mine…"

The shadow-clad assailant levitated on the ground as a wave-like aura pooled around them. Their clothing was absorbed into their being, revealing a figure that mimicked a human's figure yet cannot fully replicate it. As a result, the figure had two left arms and a right arm, a single eye, and an open ribcage, all of which were formed in what seemed like a solid black essence.

It was clear that whatever we were fighting—it was neither human nor animal.

After it resurrected itself, it ejected an icy gust of wind, extinguishing the fires that once illuminated the forest around us. We were suddenly filled with dread when the night enveloped us, and in a panic, Rita cast "Light Wisp!" multiple times in quick succession.

Small wisps of light lit the area, but the shadow being was nowhere to be found. Yet, the empty presence was still present, indicating that it was still here.

I gripped my fists tightly, eyes darting around for any sign of movement. Hiro stepped closer to Rita and me, ready to cast another spell at a moment's notice.

"Stay close," I whispered, trying to keep my voice steady. "It's still here."

Rita nodded, her fists still glowing faintly from the light wisp spell. "We need to end this quickly and get back to the village."

Amidst the noise in the village, the light wisps began to die one by one. However, the longer the shadow took to kill off the light, the more I was able to tell its movements.

I couldn't see the shadow, but I could hear them. If they hate the light, they'll strike the darkest area around us.

"Light W—" Rita wanted to cast another light spell, but I stopped her arm from doing so. Rita looked at me worried, but she trusted me when she saw my concentration.

All of my senses were channeled in a small yet specific area around us—a simple domain where I could fight the enemy even with a great difference in our power.

The sound. Light gusts of wind. Rustling leaves. Faint thuds. Dying wisps.

A rustling sound behind us made me turn sharply. The shadow reappeared, its form even more distorted and menacing. It moved with unnatural speed, lunging towards Hiro with its twisted arms extended.

Right there! Meteor Impact! I stepped in front of Hiro and delivered a soul-energy-powered fist at the center of the shadow's figure. The strength of my impact sent a jolt through my body, but I held my ground. The creature's strength was overwhelming, but I couldn't let it reach Hiro. The second I first touched the shadow's body, I could feel my arm beginning to crack, as if it was being withered. It was overpowering me. Slowly…

In the nick of time, I heard Master Jinsha's voice echo from the village. A grand spell, he cast, "Solaris Domina!"

An intense surge of light flashed throughout the sky, causing us to avert our eyes from the sky. Master Jinsha's spell affected the shadow, causing it to screech and grovel from pain as it avoided the light. "Master Jinsha…!" I smiled, relieved to know that the Master was doing his part in protecting our village. 

But when I looked at the shadow, Solaris Domina wasn't enough to kill it. Rather, light itself cannot kill the shadow. It only weakens it. On that note, Hiro had a realization.

"I get it now…!" Hiro smiled. He touched one of the trees and began to chant a spell.

I picked up on what Hiro meant when he had his realization. The lunar maxima strengthened the spirit energy of those who gaze upon its beauty. If the shadows chose to attack the village solely because of the lunar maxima, then it also means that we currently have a stronger spirit energy than we've ever had.

"It's… not good," Hiro whispered to us. "The spirits said we have to turn back now."

As the light from Master Jinsha's spell was fading, the shadow was beginning to restore its foothold.

Even if those were the spirits' commands to us, they didn't understand what it meant to be human. "To protect those I love, even if my life is in grave danger," I repeated Master Jinsha's words in my head.

From Rita's resolute expression and Hiro's audible arguing with the spirits, their sentiment was the same as mine. We will protect our home even if we die doing so. "Spirits of the Forest, lend me your power. I command thee to protect our village!"

For a moment, there was no response, but the trees began to glow in a bright green soon after. With each corresponding leaf comes a single Leaf Spirit, floating towards the village in an attempt to heed Hiro's words.

The Leaf Spirits. They are green blobs of delicate, young spirits. A single one of them could not be all too useful, let alone ten. Still, they are spirits following the Nature Spirit's command within Hiro. A hundred of them, whose essence, when combined, becomes a dryad—an indigenous nature spirit possessing a great power.

But when thousands of them heeded Hiro's call, it might just be enough so the village can stand a greater chance against these shadows.

And that very transformation happened ahead of us. A hundred leaf spirits gathered and became a dryad—her form was made of vines, mimicking a human lady's appearance. As she raised her arm towards the shadow, layers of magic circles enveloped around it. The shadow's strength returned when the Solaris Domina's light completely disappeared, but it couldn't move out of the magic circles.

Poof.

In a single spell, the dryad purges the shadow, leaving no trace of it alive in its wake.

"A spirit said many souls have been lost in the village," Hiro said, and we immediately ran towards our village.

"Oh spirits, help us protect our family," I uttered a silent prayer to the spirits. I couldn't have prepared for what I saw when we entered our village. A sight much worse than my worst assumptions.

Everything was in flames. The houses, benches, and the preparations we made for the festival. Leftover food was scattered all over the place. Giant stone slabs were cracked, cooking pots turned over the ground. The leftover food from the Primal Boar also sat on one of the houses, dirtied and burned.

Some houses were starting to collapse on fire. I could hear mighty screams and sounds of chaos and havoc across the forest. It was more than evident that the villagers were fighting their hardest to protect this village with their lives.

However, the fiercest battle was happening behind the pagoda. Behind Master Jinsha's garden, I could feel a strong clash of spirit energy and a strong, empty presence against whom he was fighting. The roof of the pagoda caved in after a large earthquake that emanated from their battle.

Emerging from one of the houses and consequently destroying it was a shadow being purged when a glowing white dagger was pierced across its chest. Emerging from that same house was Senior Elder Masha, and she caught sight of us.

"Kenji, Hiro! Rita!" She ran to us and gave us a large hug; her voice was soft and stuttering, a side of her that I'd never seen before. I didn't know if she was exhausted from the battle or if she was scared, but I am sure that she was relieved to see us.

"I'm glad you three are okay…" Her stern expression returned. "But you should not have come here! Jinsha assured us that you three will be safe during this battle. Oh my heavens, what is he thinking?!"

Three magic circles formed on Senior Elder Masha's fingers, and as she spoke, she unleashed a telepathic voice where she announced, "Change of plans… Protect Rita, Kenji, and Hiro! To those who are able, gather at the village square. Do NOT let any of the Void Spirits near them."

As soon as she announced that, a group of shadows, or "Void Spirits," as Masha put it, emerged from the forest behind us. As we braced ourselves to fight, Masha stopped us with her arm. The villagers also emerged from the trees, distracting the shadows away from us as they took the fight away from us three.

One of the dryads emerged from among them as well, trapping the shadows with its strong vines. From there, a swordsman cut through the Void Spirit's head, purging it. That swordsman was one of the hunters—Kasatsu. Following behind him was Rijo.

"Ah, Kenji, Rita, Hiro! Thought you guys left us, gahahaha!" He said amusedly. "Time to be serious. Now get the hell out of here, you three idiots!"

Rijo followed, "It was a nice privilege living the last 18 years with you three."

"Wait!" I called out, but the two hunters already disappeared into the forest.

"Senior Elder, you have to allow us to help!"

But her response was always a firm "No."

Rita tried to disobey her regardless, but she was unable to run away from Masha. I felt it as well—like there was a tether being placed around our waists.

"This place is not safe anymore for you three. I do not know what Jinsha said, but you have to follow him." She said. "It's the best outcome."

Master Jinsha's actions always resulted in the best outcome in the interest of our safety. If Master Jinsha wanted to protect us, he should've known that making us abandon our village was an impossible task.

But I denied what Senior Elder Masha said—if the Master's decision was indeed the best outcome, then what would happen to the people who stayed here?

It was an assumption I didn't want to continue, an assumption I hoped wouldn't happen.

More and more people came to join us as we walked our way towards the forest. On every side, we could see villagers doing their part to protect us. If we tried to step out to help them, the Senior Elder didn't let us. They were getting hurt. Some of the dryads were dying as well. The Void Spirits seemed to come at us endlessly, but we were relentless.

The villagers—my family were relentless in protecting us. Masha kept us close as she announced one more time, using her telepathy, "On behalf of Jinsha, my only advice is for us never to hold back! Drink, laugh, eat to your heart's content." Masha repeated Master Jinsha's speech from before the festival.

"For today, we celebrate the gifts of the spirits and show our gratitude to those who have given us life," she smiled. "Thank you." Then, a mighty cry erupted from everyone as they unleashed their fullest potential to defeat the Void Spirits.

Rita erupted into happy tears. Hiro and I felt thankful to the verge of crying—the Luminara Festival wasn't only for celebration and thanksgiving for the spirits.

It was meant for us.

Master Jinsha took us in and gave us a life I would not regret. And in turn, we gave them life as we lived. It was, once again, one of the reasons why we didn't feel any hatred towards him, even if he "used" us to preserve their culture. Never in my life did I imagine that I regretted being here.

But we didn't get far before a large explosion erupted from the village. The pagoda exploded, leaving a pillar of smoke in its wake as a large shockwave threw us off-balance. The Void Spirits grew in number to the point of overpowering some of the villagers who were keeping them away. They were getting hurt, their limbs mutilated, and their painful screams…

The fact that I couldn't help has made me angry, and I took it out on Senior Elder Masha. I wanted to use Meteor Impact to break out of the tether, but she noticed what I was doing.

"Don't you think that letting them die hurt me as much as you do?" Masha's voice shook. "It is their choice to protect you. They are glad and satisfied that they are giving their lives to protect you three. Their sacrifice will not be in vain, so please. There is no future for you in this village."

I was sure that Master Jinsha uttered those exact words, that the only future that awaits us is in the outside world.

Then, a large spike pierced Senior Elder Masha's chest. A pool of blood dripped on the hole in her body as she fell, and the shock of what had just happened didn't register to us.

"M-Masha…?" Rita stuttered, and her hand was shaking. The tether around us became undone, and while Rita was focused on Masha's body hitting the ground, Hiro and I were focused on the new, menacing figure that appeared behind Masha. Her killer.

A man with a pitch-black cowl and glowing red left eye. A presence so intimidating that our knees could buckle from simply seeing him. He raised his palm, and we were suddenly enclosed in a transparent air bubble.

"So, you are the kids Jinsha cared so much about," the man said, his voice deep and husky. "Used as vessels for ancient spirits. At the very least, your lives are important!"

"Kurogane!" Master Jinsha's mighty voice reverberated from above. The space around us was distorted, but it was only for a split second before we found ourselves at the forest clearing. The very same place where we defeated the Primal Boar and where Master Jinsha teleported us.

Along with the bubble we were enclosed in, the two adults hovered above the clearing as they conversed.

Master Jinsha spoke, "Give them to me, and I will give you the Soulstone of Lumina."

"Hmm… Do I have your word for it, then?" Kurogane followed with his interest piqued by his proposition.

The old man responded, "You have my word. We cannot escape the prophecy, and this, too, is part of it." He raised his palm among the stars. As if he plucked a whole constellation within the night sky, the space around his palm distorted, revealing a necklace.

Jinsha began to utter a cryptic statement.

"The two-sided gamble has spun,

for one receives desire,

one receives life."

The three of us were suspended in stasis inside this bubble, leaving us to wonder. The words they were speaking were unknown to us, and each sentence only brought more questions than answers. My eyes particularly darted to the Soulstone of Lumina; it was a small necklace with a glowing blue gem enclosed in gold.

And I knew it was a particularly important artifact because I could feel the power it possessed. Stronger than anything or anyone I have ever encountered, even the Master himself.

We moved closer towards Master Jinsha, and the necklace moved farther away from him. As we reached the midpoint, I saw the contents of the necklace. The blue gem was fragmented, yet it still held tremendous power. When it came to him, he secured the Soulstone on his wrist.

"Yes… Yes!" Kurogane celebrated. "The Soulstone! The universe's fate is in my hands!"

As Kurogane began to harness the Soulstone's power, he exploded in power. A strong gust came from him, causing his cowl to fly off, which showed us his real form. The other part of his face was human, fully covered in healed burn marks and scars, but the other side of his face was pitch black where his red eye was.

But his display of power unusually dissipated.

At the same time, Master Jinsha cast a series of spells while we were inside the transparent bubble, spells which I couldn't hear properly.

Kurogane was enraged when he noticed something off, "The Soulstone! It cracked… Where is the rest of it?!"

Jinsha chuckled in response, "Oh, gullible, so gullible as always, Kurogane-boy. Did you really think I was going to give you the Soulstone and end the world as we know it?"

While Master Jinsha was speaking, a hidden spike emerged from beneath us in an instant, but it broke into a black liquid when it made contact with the bubble.

"A nullification barrier and a timed precision long-range teleport," Kurogane uttered, "Two grand-level spells cast at the same time. Even if you protect those kids now, I will kill them once I kill you."

A white magic circle appeared directly beneath our feet—the long-range teleport spell that felt similar to Jinsha's teleport spell earlier. This time, the cast duration of the teleport also felt much longer.

When a black sword materialized in Kurogane's hands, he quickly flew towards Jinsha and tried to strike him, but it was countered by a simple parry using Jinsha's hand. The sharp blade was turned towards Jinsha, but he dodged and parried Kurogane's attacks by accurately touching the face of the blade and directing it away from him. In some cases, he would strengthen his hand and directly parry the blade.

I knew Master Jinsha wasn't confrontational, but I had never seen him fight with such audacity—humiliating his opponent by using the simplest of magic. Gradually, their speed began to increase until they were flying across the clearing. My eyes couldn't keep up with their speed.

Then, Master Jinsha managed to land a palm strike at Kurogane. The man flew kilometers away from us, landing somewhere in the forest with the trees slowing his fall down.

I was wrong when I thought it was over. From kilometers away, a large, red beam gradually expanded as it flew towards us in an instant. Master Jinsha dodged, but we were practically unharmed with the nullification barrier around us.

In its wake, the red beam split the cloudy skies and obliterated the trees on its way. Kurogane soon caught up with us, and his top clothing was gone. I could see the runic markings in black encircled his torso and his waist, while the shadowed part of his body further occupied his chest and his whole arm.

He went for another strike toward Master Jinsha. "If you're so strong, why didn't you take it? Nullify it?" Kurogane tried for another attack by bouncing across the air and striking the Master from behind, but even that attack was blocked.

He continued speaking, "…I see. Preserving your magic. Casting the barrier on those kids and the teleportation left you in a vulnerable state. And because of that, you will die."

I could only feel it for a split second, but Master Jinsha focused all of his energy into his fist and punched Kurogane away, essentially sending him to the stars. A move that mimicked my Meteor Impact.

But that wasn't enough to stop Kurogane. He managed to rebound back towards the clearing before landing on the ground, "Weakling."

"You say that, but you cannot land a scratch on me. Besides…" Master Jinsha took off his thick robe. "this is the first time in a while I wasn't home. I can let loose after 20 years of idling around." Under his robe, he revealed his insane build that I never noticed. His arms, torso, and stomach still looked like he was in his prime, even at such an old age.

At this time, the white teleportation circle beneath us materialized another layer of the magic circle.

"If you will not give me the Soulstone, I will carve it out of your body."

Master Jinsha's aura and Kurogane's aura clashed. Their auras opposed each other greatly, a sign that this may not have been the first time they had met.

Kurogane enclosed multiple layers of magic circles on his darkened arm, and as he struck it to the ground, seven snake-like heads emerged from what seemed like the underworld. It furiously attacked Master Jinsha with different kinds of flame and poison. He avoided each attack by meticulously flying around the heads while using his empowered arm to slice each snake head cleanly.

"Spirits of the underworld, heed my call, and may the Flame of Punishment judge its vessel," Kurogane uttered. The last snake head, before it got cut off by Jinsha, enflamed the shadowed man with green hellfire.

Master Jinsha kept his distance away from Kurogane. He commented, "Flame of Punishment, hm? It comes to no surprise that spirits of the underworld favor you."

Kurogane's body wasn't burned at all—instead, parts of his body emitted a green hellfire, and his blade was especially embedded with the Flame of Punishment. "Try to humiliate me more, Jinsha. I dare you."

And in his fashion, Jinsha replied, "Even with the power to remove souls using that hellfire, you're still weak."

As Kurogane charged towards Jinsha in mid-air, Master Jinsha materialized a golden pole in his hand, which he used to dodge every attack while keeping his distance away from him. The purple magic circles in Kurogane's shadowed hand began to activate, flickering as they appeared one by one. He thrust his arm towards Jinsha, and another dark pit appeared from beneath the forest.

A gigantic, shadowy hand appeared from the pit, its palm open, attempting to trap Jinsha by clenching his fist. He narrowly avoided the rising hand, and as he clasped his hands together, a golden magic circle appeared in the sky, and a giant golden hand mimicking "scissors" collided with the open palm from the underworld, overpowering it and sending a strong gust across the entire forest.

"Do you not understand this pointless fight, Kurogane?" Jinsha said. "The Domination Spirit lives within me. It means that regardless of my power, I am always stronger than my opponent."

"No more games," Kurogane declared. In a single motion, he faced the tip of his blade on his chest and stabbed it. Thousands of shouting voices emerged from him as what seemed to be black blood oozed from his wound.

"A Sacrificial Pact? For wh—" Jinsha's words were cut off when Kurogane's voice, along with a plethora of other voices, said with him, "May the Spirit of Sin heed my call. Lend me your power, and I shall lend a fragment of my soul."

At that moment, I couldn't even explain what I was seeing, let alone describe the intense amount of fear that was pooling within me. A large, evil being appeared behind Kurogane, mimicking his movements. It had the appearance of a smiling man—a smile so wicked that its eyes were hollow and mouth devoid of any teeth. It was a demonic entity with horns on two sides of its head, wearing traditional clothing.

The presence of this evil being was enough to drown out all light around the forest, covering the scenery with total darkness.

Suddenly, what seemed like a one-sided fight earlier wasn't apparent anymore. The Spirit of Sin behind Kurogane wielded a large sword, with each of its sweeping attacks decimating the ground and disturbing mountains hundreds of miles away from us.

As for Master Jinsha, he enclosed himself in a bubble that directly warped space around him, but even that wasn't enough to fully counter the evil spirit's attack.

"Give me the Soulstone," Kurogane spoke along with the voice of the Spirit of Sin. "and I will spare your life."

But Master Jinsha declined. He clasped his hands together before saying, "I'm sorry, son." Then, he switched his gaze towards us, whispering, "Goodbye, my children."

As soon as he said that, the third and assumingly last teleportation circle materialized beneath our legs.

"Domination Spirit, Space Spirit. Heed my call and unleash your inner souls," With a deep breath, he uttered, "Final Form: Dragon Buddha."

The Ryū emerged from behind the blue moon. It had red-silver hair across its back, moving in a graceful, snake-like motion with its four legs tucked as it flew across the sky.

Then, the Ryū, with its two arms, held the golden bubble that carried Jinsha.

The Dragon Buddha charged the Spirit of Sin, and as their attacks collided, an intense shockwave uprooted nearly all of the trees within a mile's radius. A giant ravine formed that resulted from the Spirit of Sin's sword, while a deep and massive crater formed from the Dragon Buddha's attack.

After the attack, the two divine spirits disappeared. I could see Kurogane's figure emerging from the crater. The fight wasn't over yet—but that's what I wanted to believe.

A look of horror spread across my face as Master Jinsha's body lay lifeless on the pond beneath us.

At that exact moment, the teleportation activated, undoing all of the protection spells from the bubble as we found ourselves outside of a cave in the mountains.

Kurogane's energy was nearly spent. His whole body felt like he was experiencing torture—but it was only natural for someone who formed a Sacrificial Pact while offering part of their soul. The Soulstone fragment on his wrist helped him summon the Spirit of Sin, and using it once nearly turned all of the fragments into a useless, fine powder.

Had Jinsha still been alive, Kurogane's conquest to kill all ancient spirits would've been finished.

However, it didn't happen. He repeated the prophecy, extending it with two lines from what Jinsha had said earlier.

"The two-sided gamble has spun,

For one receives desire,

the other receives life begun.

An exchange of power instilled,

The other with death fulfilled."

The blue moon faded, signaling the end of the lunar maxima. While the rest of the world would be celebrating the end of the Luminara Festival, Kurogane's success over Jinsha would start the imbalance and scourge in this world. And it was all because of his hidden power.

He walked towards Jinsha's lifeless body, holding his neck with his shadowed arm. Kurogane uttered an ancient language, and after a few moments, two orbs flew away from his body and across the sky. While they were good as gone, Kurogane was interested in the last orb that failed to escape.

The spirit that was stuck inside Jinsha's body.

"The Domination Spirit. This is who you are, isn't it?" Kurogane smiled as he cackled devilishly. "Choosing the side of neither good nor evil. Neither moral nor immoral. Not those superficial concepts."

Kurogane took the orange orb from Jinsha's mouth, holding it delicately with his fingers. "This is who you are, choosing the side of the strongest."