10 - Answered Prayers, Vengeful God

Dead silence befell upon the strongholds’ meeting room. Where discussions would often flourish, and decisions filled with grand ambition and the desires of humanity were now engulfed in a quiet it had rarely seen - for their comrade had fallen. Not in battle, but into the claws of a terrific force. That was when the comrade, as per Mansa’s wisdom, had truly passed.

Mansa sat on his seat, and he seemed to be alarmed the most about the whole situation. Sannan and Camelia were both devastated, but they had to retain at least some type of professional appearance, devoid of emotion. And one new face in particular, unfortunately, had no way of stopping the overflow of emotions.

“I’m sorry.” He said. “I should have talked him out of it.”

“It’s not your fault, Alby Jr.” Mansa said, trying to make his voice sound as comforting as possible, but failing to hide the sorrow swimming beneath it like a shark circling a butchered corpse. Alby Jr. looked just like his father, albeit younger. Around the age when Mansa first met Alby in the first place.

“He didn’t just die.” Camelia hyperventilated. “If he really went to Eura, I can’t even imagine what torture they subjected him too.”

“All a result of his ego.” Sannan mentioned. “As much as I respect the man, it was his decision to go into the beast’s mouth and ask it to swallow him whole.”

“How do you even talk like that?!” Camelia slapped her palms against the meeting table. “He was your friend too!”

“Camelia.” Mansa calmed her down. “It is our duty to judge the truth for what it is. Is it not, Alby Jr.?”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “Must’ve been the booze doing the thinking. Nothing else to say.”

“But h-he...” Camelia held her tears back. “It’s just the three of us left now! Which one of us is next?!”

“Four.”

“Shut it!” Camelia lashed out at Sannan. “He’s a damn kid! He probably doesn’t even have a soul expression of his own yet! At least the four of us, we could put up a fight...”

“Putting up a fight implies living long enough to get to fight in the first place.” Mansa said, now he started to sound frustrated by the second. Not at his comrades, but at himself. “Alby Stirrock was killed. If we act now, we will most likely be defeated. But there is at least some hope. If he went to Eura and was then killed by the Heisei, it might cause the two sides to become more hostile towards one another. That is to our benefit. We will continue with an unchanged course of action.”

“So we’re just sitting here? Waiting for what?!” Camelia asked. “You were the one who told us to fight, damn it! Then let’s fight!”

“We made deals with Mukawa.” Mansa said, barely restraining himself. “When the time is right, Eura and Naja will destabilize each other, allowing us to-”

“If you don’t want to avenge your friend, I do!” Camelia said.

“Well then go and die!” Mansa finally snapped. He stood up, and as his voice thundered across the room, he struck the table with his fists, breaking parts of it. A man who was almost always well-mannered and calculated, who acted as a beacon of wisdom and an example of discipline, was enraged. “Go end up just like Alby did!”

Camelia had no response.

“I am not like you. I am not like the rest of you.” Mansa said. “It appears I am the only one who can control my emotions and let common sense reign supreme in my mindscape. Without Mukawa’s plan, we will be singled out and massacred, one by one, until there’s nothing left of us.”

“Mukawa’s plan is gonna take a while to realize, you do understand that, right?” Sannan said. “Will he get his brains together before either Eura or Naja attack us?”

“I have my trust in Mukawa.” Mansa replied.

“It is trust forged out of desperation.” Sannan said. “It is dependance. The lives of billions of human beings on this very planet you breathe depend on you, and you, in return, depend on him.”

“If he wanted us dead right now, if any of them wanted us dead right now, they would have come here already and taken action.” Mansa argued. “They do not know that we are here, and if we need to, we will fly to the other edge of the world.”

“Junior, what do you think?” Sannan asked. “Is this guy making sense to you?”

“I...really don’t know.” Junior said. “I don’t wanna end up like my pops. I...I guess I don’t want any of you guys to end up like him either.”

“Then we continue what we have been doing.” Mansa said. “We keep a low profile, we wait for information from Mukawa, and we prepare to move our outpost.”

“Yeah, just...just sit and wait.” Camelia nodded, wiping her tears and recollected herself, or at least trying her hardest to. “Just sit here and wait.”

“Yes, Camelia. We sit here and we wait.” Mansa said. “If we want to survive, it is our only chance. Perseverance and patience.”

“Putting all our hope in that Mukawa lad, huh?” Sannan asked. “What did you even find in him to amuse you this much?”

“He seems like a good person.” Mansa answered after a few seconds of thought and hesitation. “He’s fighting for the right thing.”

“Which is?”

“The well-being of humanity.” Mansa said. “That is the cause that matters the-”

The room shook. And a few seconds later, it shook again. It sounded like a war was taking place outside. A full-scale bombardment, which, if given enough time, would result in the bunker being destroyed.

“What is that outside?” Camelia asked, her heart sinking to her soles. She, alongside everyone else, instantly assumed the worst outcome.

“I have no-”

Sannan’s response was interrupted by a much more violent quake. They didn’t have enough time to process what it could be. They just left the room, and slowly surfaced.

On the surface there was desert. In the distance, a small village next to a river. A lot of the sand around them, however, was engulfed in a pure white flame. Ahead of them they saw their fate.

On this day, under the setting sun, with a pair of white flaming wings, Kaito Kamiki had descended upon the strongholds.

“I thought I’d knock before entering.” Kaito said, his presence strengthening by the second.

“The radar...is almost flawless.”

“So here it is...the day we perish...” Mansa thought to himself, taking a deep breath. “Or the day we perform a miracle.”

“Hey Mansa, what was it about this guy attacking us now?” Sannan asked.

“Unfortunate indeed.” Mansa sighed.

“Fuck...he’s here...” Camelia thought, her courage fading into the sand that was being blown away by the desert wind. She was in flight or fight mode, and as much as she hated it, her body opted more to flee.

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“So this is what he looks like?” Junior thought. “His presence feels...weird.”

“I assume by the type of entrance you have just made and your flaring soul presence that you are not here to negotiate.” Mansa said. “You have betrayed us.”

“Which one of you here is religious?” Kaito asked, taking a step forward. “I will allow you to pray before I proceed. Make peace with your gods.”

“You’re one to talk about prayers.” Camelia said, gritting her teeth in rage. “You fucking maniac.”

“Very well then.” Kaito said. His presence flared up, and his hands were engulfed by an all-devouring...white flame?

“Fire?” Mansa asked, shocked. He was prepared to have either his body burnt to a crisp or his head chopped off at any moment. “This cannot be. You are not a fire manipulator.”

“But a good soldier of mine was. Before Alby, he was the head of the Ocea stronghold.” Kaito said with a light smirk. A smile that stemmed from knowledge that at last he got one step closer to his ambitions. “‘Soul Devourer’...is an incredible ability.”

“I merely decided to test my ability after arranging my meeting with Hayk Nakama. I saw Diego Solano’s body and decided to try using ‘Soul Devourer’ on it.”

“Not only did I complete one of the seven steps of the shape, which I didn't even know about back then, but I also acquired a ‘divine’ version of his authority over flames.”

“What a coincidence.”

“How?” Camelia asked. “D-does that...”

“Camelia...”

“He was your comrade, wasn’t he? How could you? How are you not disgusted with yourself right now?!” Sannan yelled.

“Mansa...” Sannan whispered while Camelia was pushing her vocal cords to their limits.

“What?”

“Grab the kid and get outta here.” Sannan said. “I’ll hold him off. And Camelia...she’s too far gone. Get to Mukawa and continue operating from there.”

“But...” Mansa was at a loss of words.

“Come on.” Sannan said. “The kid said he doesn't want to die, right? Go, go get him. Go get him to safety. You’re the one that matters the most out of us anyways, aren’t you?”

“Do not think like that because of a stupid few arguments we-”

“It’s not about the arguments, it’s about the facts. The fact is, you’ll be much more useful operating with Mukawa than me. So go on. No more sitting and waiting.”

“Right, I will.” Mansa said. “I swear on my life, I will!”

“I call upon thee...”

“Anaconda!!!”

A gigantic golden serpent emerged from the sand, right beneath Mansa’s feet. He was devoured first, and later, the serpent rushed at Junior and devoured him as well. It burrowed into the sand and all that remained from it was a trail of barely noticeable quakes.

Camelia sharply turned around, stunned at the maneuver. All she could see was Sannan’s face, which was overrun by a feeling of acceptance.

“I told him to do it.” Sannan said. “You said you didn’t wanna sit and wait, right?”

“Right.” Camelia said. Her instinct to flee was morphed into a desire to fight. She also accepted her role.

Kaito was annoyed. He charged up a flaming arrow, just like Diego used to do, and imbued it with enough power to torch the serpent in one shot. He tried to take aim, but by that point, Sannan and Camelia were closing the distance too fast...

Camelia swung her fists at Kaito, landing quite a powerful punch on his face, but dealing little to no damage in the process. Sanna quickly unsheathed his sword - a slightly curved blade, and pushed forwards. Kaito looked mildly annoyed at the predicament, trying to focus on his target. The white flames around him quickly sparked around his body, knocking the two soulfuls away. Kaito fired the arrow.

Even though it missed, its impact couldn’t be ignored. It devastated a large chunk of the desert in the distance, and had it even as much as grazed Mansa, he’d be reduced to a pile of ashes. Camelia, recovering from the flaming counter, rushed in, swinging her fists like a crazed animal. Sannan took a small pipe out and started smoking.

The smoke engulfed his fists, and a few seconds later, his feet. A slightly larger cloud of smoke lingered around him, as if ready to strike at any moment. Kaito calmly stepped back, avoiding Camelia’s onslaught as much as possible.

“Mansa really managed to bail himself out...” Kaito said, disappointed.

“Tracking him down might prove to be quite bothersome.”

“And still...”

Kaito glared at the two soulfuls trying to take him down. Camelia kept on moving forwards and striking her, while in the distance, Sannan’s smoke was growing more and more both in volume and in power. Camelia closed the distance with a left-right, followed by a kick to the body and an overhand. Kaito ate those strikes for breakfast, but as much as he hated to admit it, they weren’t completely powerless.

He quickly dashed to the side, avoiding a series of smoke arrows flying his way. The smoke broke apart and manifested itself as sharp tentacles, attacking Kaito from behind while Camelia advanced from the front. Kaito released some fire in the smoke’s direction and dealt with the threat. Camelia, however, didn’t seem to bulge in the face of the fire. Kaito manifested his soul-bound weapon - a perfect white katana, and swung it at Camelia. Her soul-bound weapon, hand wraps integrated with spiked knuckles, helped her absorb the impact. Kaito quickly summoned a second sword - this one made of out fire, and swung it rapidly, setting the sand on fire as he advanced.

And at the same time, he took a good look at Camelia’s eyes.

“Camelia’s soul expression allows her to get stronger the closer she is to the source of danger. In this case, the closer she fights, the tougher her body is and the harder she hits.”

He looked at Sannan.

“And Sannan’s soul expression allows him to not only manipulate and concentrate the soul prowess-infused smoke, but also grant it a poisonous property.”

Kaito kept swinging the blades around. He should’ve been more invested in the fight, but something seemed to have rubbed him the wrong way. He was more careful, more calculated. His swings were precise and he didn’t allow Camelia to get too close. But even his swings weren’t enough to put her down.

“I’ll kill you, you fucking piece of shit!” Camelia yelled. She kicked Kaito hard in the stomach, and followed it up with an overhand the impact of which Kaito could feel. His leg was pierced by a smoke arrow, and it started to numb a little, but he still looked to be zoned out. Camelia swung to strike again, and this time, Kaito, unsummoning his weapons, grabbed her by her wrist.

He struck her with a powerful right uppercut to the stomach. She growled in pain, but it wasn’t enough to do anything decisive to her.

“Enhanced toughness up-close...” Kaito thought, disappointed and frustrated. “And where’s the upper limit?”

He swung as hard as he could, and had it not been for the aforementioned toughness, he would’ve ripped a hole through Camelia’s body. The physical impact, paired with the burning, effectively incapacitated her. Camelia’s wrathful determination was shut down.

“Camelia!” Sannan called out, and after failing to hear a response or even see any movements from her, fell into desperation. He rushed at the two, but couldn’t make it in time. Kaito kicked Camelia’s body towards the village, sending it flying a great distance. While it was still airborne, he prepared to finish her off with a flaming arrow.

“Should be enough distance to render your enhanced protection useless.” Kaito thought. “Not that you’d survive it anyways.”

The arrow reached its target. In spectacular fashion, a bright firework-like explosion took place. It would be even more beautiful had it not been a human acting as a firework. Sannan watched with disgust and fear.

“You...” Sannan uttered those words with terrific hatred. “Why?!”

He ran at Kaito and swung at him with his blade, but Kaito moved to the side. He kicked Sannan in the leg hard enough to break it, and once Sannan was on the ground, he kicked him away. Sannan tumbled across the sand, drops of blood and even a few tears decorating his trail.

Kaito devoted his full attention to Camelia’s corpse.

“Time to claim what I came here for. I’ll deal with the other one later.”

Sannan barely got back up on his feet, spending a lot of effort trying to regenerate his butchered leg. He saw a sight that made him, a somewhat calm and sarcastic person, want to rip his eyes out of his eye sockets. Kaito crouched down by Camelia’s half-burnt corpse, and extended his hand towards it.

Something sparked. From the abhorrent mess that was what remained of Camelia rose a pretty white spark surrounded by an intimidating void. Kaito, fascinated with himself, approached his hand, and held it in his palm.

“Now then...”

He brought the strange essence closer to his mouth, and after taking a deep breath, devoured it whole. Nothing spectacular happened. No release of energy, no scream of agony or manic laughter, only a silence followed by a small shift in Kaito’s soul presence. Kaito looked paralyzed. The veins on his neck temporarily flashed a pure white. White and flaming wings grew on his back, as he stared into the pretty orange sky, enchanted by the sunset.

“Now to kill Sannan.” He thought. He tilted his head to the side and stared at Sannan with intensity that the latter had never felt before.

“And then to kill Mansa.”

“And then to kill anyone else I need to kill. And then kill Aizawa. And then kill that little parasite Mukawa.”

“War is the only way.”