The sky above the Ashenfang Dominion burned with warm hues of gold and rose, as if the heavens were a canvas soaked in Soul Energy itself. Wind coursed down the ridged cliffs that hugged the Ashenfang Clan's training grounds—ancient soil soaked in the blood and sweat of generations. It was here that five teenagers, not yet comrades, not yet heroes, would begin something far bigger than themselves.
The world was built on Soul Energy—a force birthed from the very soul of existence. Every being had a frequency, a pulse that defined their nature. Train it, mold it, and it could become your greatest weapo"The Day Strangers Bledn—or the very thing that killed you.
Kakari adjusted the band around his hand. His hair shimmered violet under the sunlight, unkempt but strangely regal. His eyes, glowing faintly purple, scanned the three others who stood awkwardly on the cracked stone platform beside him.
"This is dumb," he muttered. "We're not even friends. Why throw us into the same group?"
"You talk too much for someone who hasn't even shown what he's got," said Raijiro, stretching his arms. The muscles in his red-tinged forearms flexed under his loose shirt—the first four buttons of which hung open like he'd forgotten them on purpose. A large, curved scythe rested casually on his back, its edge glinting with menace.
"I talk just enough," Kakari replied, smirking slightly. "You just can't keep up."
A soft sigh followed. "Boys," Ayame said, her sharp eyes brushing over them like thorns on a vine. "Can we not start bickering before the mission? I'd like to get through this without plucking someone's eyeballs out."
She adjusted the thick floral scarf around her neck, her hair tied back with a petal-etched pin. Despite her soft features, she radiated a strange kind of danger—like a garden that grew teeth.
"I'm with the flower girl," Seijun added, spinning her staff with a graceful twist. "Let's not forget why we're here." The girl never stopped talking. Her tiger-spirit-imbued staff thudded into the ground. "Also, Kakari, your eyes are pretty, but that doesn't make you the boss."
Kakari raised a brow. "Didn't say I was."
And then, there was Reika—leaning back against a boulder, arms behind his head, a loose grin stretching across his face. "This is gonna be fun," he said lazily. "Right, Kakari? Nothing like throwing a bunch of weirdos together and hoping we don't explode."
Power Awakening(Quick Flashback)
Each of them hadn't been chosen because of bloodlines. No—in this world, Art was awakened through grueling training, stress, or sheer will.
Kakari had spent years under pressure from his father, a former Enforcer. The first time his Black Lightning sparked, it burned straight through his bedroom wall.
Raijiro trained bare-fisted against steel pillars, his knuckles raw daily. One day, his arm turned red-hot and crushed the entire pillar. That was his first time using Iron Art.
Ayame was adopted into a family of healers, but her body rejected the calm. Her flowers bloomed in rage—vines that cracked open stone.
Seijun bonded with a tiger spirit after nearly dying in a forest ambush. Her staff dances with lightning and grace now.
Reika had almost drowned trying to master water, failing over and over—until the water started listening. Now it dances to his heartbeat.
None of them had perfect lives. But they had grit. That's what mattered.
Now they stood together, not as sorcerers, but as initiates.
And trouble always found initiates.
The mission was simple: investigate strange howls near the southern ridge. Sounds easy, right?
Wrong.
In Mission
The forest air thickened with unease.
Crimson light flickered through the dense canopy as the team pressed deeper into the woods, the atmosphere suffocatingly quiet. No birdsong. No rustling. Just the crunch of leaves beneath their feet and the soft hiss of wind.
Ayame suddenly paused. Her eyes narrowed, petals swirling faintly around her fingers."Something's wrong," she murmured. "The trees… they're scared."
Reika snorted. "Trees don't get scared, Ayame."
But Kakari's eyes twitched with alertness. His gaze scanned the gloom with sharp purple irises, his Special Eyes faintly flickering."No. She's right." His tone shifted, serious now. "We're not alone."
A low growl rumbled from the shadows.
Before anyone could react, a massive figure lunged from the thicket—its eyes glowing like molten gold, fur bristling with jagged black markings that pulsed with sorcerous power. It was a wolf, but grotesquely mutated—its limbs longer than natural, claws like blades, and its back lined with what looked like bone-like runes.
It wasn't just a beast.
It was a sorcerer-born abomination.
"MOVE!" Kakari shouted.
The creature's Wolf Art activated in a flash—the air around it shimmered as a mirage burst outward. Lupine Mirage Step—a technique that left a phantom image behind to deceive enemies. It appeared to vanish entirely.
Raijiro grunted, eyes scanning. "Fast—"
BOOM!
A swipe of the creature's claw slammed into him from behind, sending him crashing into a tree. Bark exploded into splinters.
"Damn it!" Seijun cried, whipping her staff into her hands. Lightning pulsed around her as a ghostly blue tiger flared behind her back, its roar echoing in her soul. "Blue Pulse—Sky Prowler Fang!"
She struck the ground with her staff. A blue shockwave burst from her position in a cone, forcing the beast back mid-lunge. The wolf skidded, claws digging deep into the earth.
Kakari dashed beside Ayame, Storm Piercer already forming in his hands, crackling with violet lightning. "Ayame! Trap it!"
Ayame's eyes burned with focus. With a flick of her hand, thorny vines erupted from the ground. "Vines of the Abyss!"
The vines shot up like serpents, barbed and pulsating with cursed pollen. They lashed around the wolf's limbs—just for a moment, but enough.
Kakari didn't waste it."Storm Lance—Flash Piercer!"
He vanished, reappearing in front of the beast mid-spin, his lance thrust forward. The purple energy compressed at the tip before exploding in a lightning burst on contact.
The wolf howled, flung backward—but landed on all fours, blood seeping from its side. Its eyes burned brighter.
"It's adapting..." Ayame whispered. "Its Art is mutating in real time."
The beast snarled—and unleashed its second technique:Pack Howl: Phantom Hunt.
Ghostly wolves—distorted copies of itself—rushed out of its shadow, each one charged with raw Soul Energy.
Reika stepped forward, smirking. "About time I get flashy."
He twisted his wrists—water spiraled around him like snakes. "Water Art: Flow Cutter Barrage!"
Dozens of thin water blades fired in every direction, slicing through the phantom wolves, but more came.
"Watch out!" Kakari yelled.
Seijun spun her staff. "I've got the left flank!"
Raijiro roared back into action, his chest bare and bruised, his fists glowing red-hot. "Time to punch a wolf to death."
He surged forward with Iron Art: Crimson Drive, his knuckles colliding with the beast's jaw in a thunderous shockwave.
The beast staggered. Ayame unleashed Corpse Blossom Detonation, surrounding the creature with foul-smelling flowers that burst into a toxic gas. The wolf choked, its body slowing.
"NOW!" Kakari shouted, eyes flickering.
But something pulsed beneath his skin.
A flicker of red—a crackle, raw and malevolent—traced across his arm.
He didn't call it.
It responded.
Crimson Lightning.
It snaked around his shoulder, mixing with his Black Lightning, turning the lance in his hands darker—more volatile.
Kakari's heart pounded.
Not now.
But he couldn't stop it.
He dashed forward, faster than before—his figure blurred with streaks of crimson and violet.
When he drove the Storm Piercer down, the impact was different.
The lightning didn't just explode.
It detonated in a burst of twisted, screaming energy.
The wolf shrieked—not just in pain, but in terror.
A curse had touched it.
When the smoke cleared, the wolf lay collapsed, its body cracking, soul energy dispersing into the wind.
Silence.
The forest, at last, breathed again.
Raijiro exhaled and dropped onto the grass. "Anyone else feel like dying?"
Seijun grinned. "Nah, just my left rib."
Ayame knelt beside the fallen creature, eyes narrowed. "This wasn't normal. That wasn't a natural beast."
Kakari stood still, his hand twitching—still faintly outlined in crimson sparks.
Nobody noticed.
Not even him.
But deep inside...something stirred.
To be continued...