Azumi, at even greater speed and with eyes full of anger, attacked the man, but he threw the matriarch's body elsewhere, so he could use his weapon to defend himself.
"So there's still one warrior left alive. Don't worry, you'll soon be reunited with that piece of shit," the man mocked her.
Azumi desperately launched one attack after another, she panted with rage, and gritted her teeth tightly, but that man, seeing such bloodlust, simply laughed at her.
I ran toward them, grabbed a katana from a warrior who had been burned to death, and slashed at the man with it. He raised his hands, and a burst of flame erupted from his body. Azumi was struck by it and forced back. I used one of my newly learned techniques, filling my lungs with sand and exhaling it all to make a wall of it. The moment it completed its work of defending me, it crumbled.
Now we were face to face, that man had a macabre smile, he was rejoicing in what he had just done.
"Are you the god of fire?" I challenged him with my gaze, gripping the katana tightly.
"No." He smiled. "I'm worse." Wide-eyed, he gave me a sickening, macabre grin. "A cockroach like you shouldn't even call him by his name."
I didn't exchange any more words with him. I launched myself into the attack once more. Our weapons clashed, and the thunder of our strength echoed through the forest. No sooner had we separated than we launched another attack.
Their strength made my arms ache, as if I'd been hitting a rock with a katana for hours. The speed of both of their attacks increased, and my body complained.
But right now I only have time to think about one thing... I'm going to kill this son of a bitch!
He pushed me back, and he took a running start to slash at me with his sword, knowing I had no strength left to stop the blow. Thinking quickly, I buried my katana in the ground, blocking his attack. I was dragged back by the force. My katana had become dulled. I dropped it and snapped my fingers, creating a copy of the previous one.
Azumi pushed off the ground and leaped with her naginata. Reaching high in the air, she plummeted toward the man with the naginata at her feet. The man raised his hands, and a rune appeared above him. The rune looked like a glowing pattern in the air; it acted as a shield, and when the naginata hit, sparks flew between them.
But the man was able to repel her, Azumi jumped around him, spinning at such speed that it was difficult to follow her with the eye, she looked for an opening to attack.
—Hahahahahahaha! I'm a god, do you think I'm going to fall for such a cheap trick? —With his grin still from ear to ear and a psychopathic look on his face, he lunged at Azumi.
She gave a small smile as he blocked her, dodging the slash by inches and managing to counter with a good stab of the naginata to his shoulder.
"You weren't going to fall for that trick?" Azumi smiled sadistically.
The man tried to counter with a fiery blow, but Azumi was too fast. She attacked from below, and he from above, a fighting style I'd never seen before with a naginata. I quickly attacked the man as well. He defended himself with his sword, but was receiving small cuts from our weapons with increasing frequency.
With a backflip, the man hit the ground, and a wall of flames separated us, rising from the ground itself. With that separating us, the man took a deep breath, his lungs inflating twice as much as normal, and he spit out a blast of flames at us. Azumi twirled her naginata, scattering the flames.
I instinctively, and without any certainty that it would work, cut the ground from where the flames were coming out that separated the man from us.
"You are my toys and you must obey me!" the man shouted, still smiling, although he seemed a little more annoyed.
Azumi was the first to attack, launching a thrust aiming at the chest, the man stepped on the naginata and counterattacked using his sword, she dodged the attack by jumping back, crouched down adopting a position on all fours, her nails lengthened and shone yellow, she opened her mouth and her shiny fangs increased in size.
"You disgust me." I looked down on him, making him feel less bad, which annoyed him.
—Know your place in this damned world, parasite. You exist to obey us gods, to fulfill our wishes. If I want food, you give it to me. If I want fun, you give it to me. If I want your ass, you give it to me. Do you understand? Your life belongs to me. —He licked his lips and took hold of the decapitated head of a corpse. Without a shred of scruple, he licked its cheek while looking into my eyes. —I am the one who decides.
Azumi let out a scream of anger and lunged at him, but the man managed to dodge it easily.
"Does the cute kitty want to play?" the man mocked.
Azumi took hold of her naginata and jumped back.
I concentrated and snapped my fingers, creating five katanas flying around me, I lunged at him, but even though he was wounded in the shoulder, he had surprising strength and, showing a hint of remaining strength, he pushed me back and melted the katanas with a burst of flame.
Azumi used her naginata to jump to an incredible height, her leg began to release electric rays, she kicked the naginata imbuing it with electricity and falling like a cam towards the man, he showed off his rune again, blocking the attack. As soon as the naginata and the rune collided, Azumi fell on top of the naginata using her electrified foot, breaking the rune on the spot but leaving a shock wave that threw Azumi to the other side.
The man was extremely stunned. I took advantage of the opportunity to slash him horizontally, cutting into his chest and leaving a fairly deep wound.
—If you're the one who decides! I'll kill you!
"This isn't over!" the man shouted, his body bursting into flames.
Bathed in flames, he waved his hands as he screamed.
—Phoenix, I command you!
The surrounding flames grew taller and connected. The phoenix began to form in her belly, a beast 3 meters tall, something she hadn't even known was possible.
"Die, you damn bastard!" Azumi shouted.
—I will show you what a true god is; my father will torture you both until you beg for your lives.
"I want you to repeat that when I have my metal down your throat, you piece of shit," I insulted him.
"How dare you call the son of a god that," the man replied.
He lunged at me, his weapon ablaze this time, but we were even. He was no longer as strong as before, and blood was gushing from his numerous wounds.
—You no longer have the right to stay alive… —Anger consumed me and little by little I gained more strength due to the adrenaline that took me hostage to my feelings.
Azumi fought against those fire beasts. She was like a bolt of lightning striking the phoenix. Her movements were extremely fast; she leaped, attacked, and repeated. The phoenix desperately tried to burn her, but was losing decisively.
"You and your father may be as powerful as you want to be, but both of you are worthless as scum." I snapped my fingers, and four katanas flew out around me. I lunged at him to slash him across the chest again, the katanas aiming for his shoulders and knees.
I forced him to defend himself and, consequently, since he didn't receive my cut, the katana attack did its job perfectly, piercing his limbs.
He fell to his knees, I drew my katanas, and tried to pierce his heart with all my swords. As I was about to end his life, the wounded phoenix scooped him up in its claws and took flight. I aimed my katanas at the phoenix, but a gigantic burst of flame melted them all as it flew away. Azumi leaped back into the sky, leveled her naginata, and threw it hard, like a javelin.
This hit the man in the abdomen, but that was not enough to knock him off the phoenix or render him unconscious, his resistance was terrifying.
"You'll see... My father... He'll kill them... FOR THIS!" the man said as he flew away and disappeared into the heavy rain that lashed us.
The fire was extinguished, leaving only ruins of what was once a village.
I stopped improving my body and looked at Azumi's body. Her arms were slightly burned. She looked around and ran toward the lifeless matriarch's body. She despaired, tears in her eyes, and she called out her sister's name while desperately searching for her.
We saw her lying in a tree, dead, with a diagonal cut on her chest, from which crimson threads were still sprouting, her white clothes were soaked with blood.
"Sister...? No... Please... Don't leave me…" Azumi's voice broke as she shook her sister's body from side to side, begging for even the slightest hint of life. "Wake up! Wake up! Please! Wake up!" Azumi screamed at the top of her lungs. Out of frustration, she repeatedly punched the tree with her bare hands, tearing the skin on her knuckles. "No! No! No!"
I knelt beside her and placed my hand on her shoulder, blood oozing from her knuckles.
"Leave me alone! This is your fault! If I had been here, I could have finished him off and saved them all." She bit her lip, and blood gushed out.
Ashley came out of nowhere and hugged her, Azumi pushed her and screamed.
"This is your fault!" Azumi was completely bathed in rage.
"You're right... You would have been able to kill him, and what were you going to do with his father? I've read stories about how he bathed the sky in a firestorm. What we saw from that bastard wasn't even a fifth of what his father can do. They would have ended up the same."
"I would have died with my people!" Azumi replied. Ashley slapped her.
"You're an idiot. You're alive!" Ashley told her.
"And what do I do with this pain?" Azumi fell to her knees.
A rough, deep voice coming from behind us said:
—We'll return that pain you feel a thousand times over to those damn bastards, make them suffer like they did to our loved ones, we'll tear and rip their insides apart, we'll make them beg for forgiveness, while we extinguish their lives, like they did to our brothers'. —It was Mason, who walked up to stand in front of us.
Ashley and I glanced at each other.
—You don't know what I feel... Even if I kill them... How will I live?
—When the fire god attacked us along with his mercenaries, they tied me up and in front of me, they raped my sister to death, she begged for them to stop, she screamed my name for me to go save her, she begged me with all her might and I couldn't do anything. I don't know what I'm going to do if I get out of this alive, but her tears, they are burned into my soul, every time I close my eyes I can see her tears, every time there is silence I hear her cry and I feel guilty because I couldn't do anything, I miss seeing her smile, I miss hearing her talk about what she had done at school... It's not fair... Even though my sister is dead, I can feel her fear, because the real culprit is still alive —Mason said with tears in his eyes.
I expressed my position with determination
—I will end his life, I will not allow his actions to go unpunished.
"How are you going to do it? The one from before is like you. He has the blood of a god, but he doesn't have his dragon. No one has ever defeated a god without being one, and without me, you weren't going to beat him." Azumi had a look similar to Mason's.
—Then I'll be the first. Look at your wounds, Azumi. You hit much harder than me, but I caused damage and received none in return.
"We can't stop training," Azumi replied.
—Of course not, I told the boys before, when the enemy rests, we must work, and when the enemy works, we have to work even harder —I said.
"I... want to bury at least my sister," Azumi muttered.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to bury them all, as few bodies were in one piece; we were literally stepping into a sea of blood and guts.
Mason took Akiko's body. The three of us dug a hole to bury her. Mason gently placed the body in the hole once it was ready. We set off for camp.
Azumi took her sister's naginata, so she stayed behind with Mason.
-Are you OK?
"Mason, after hearing you were coming, he ran after you. Sorry for not following orders," Ashley whispered to me.
—Calm down... I understand, I'm fine thanks to you. I'm worried about Azumi and now even Mason... I'll kill that bastard family —I whispered to her.