₦airaland Forum

Chapter 25

Lord Supreme stood at the peak of the highest building in the viallge, staring at the starless night, the demon portal by the passing days had began to mature, from the very faint purple circles it had which could be barely seen, it had grown large and even clearly it could be seen by every one. And even those from other viallges could also be seen clearly from the distance. It was everyman to himself, even worse they didn't know what to expect aside demons dropping down from the portals. At least they was three of such portal in Pearl Village alone.

"You're still here" Dan said from behind and walked closer.

"Any progress on Joy? " Lord Supreme asked and heaved.

"The portion works slower on demons who have devoured more humans, so its taking a slow progress on her, but its working" Dan replied.

"Its progress" Lord Supreme said.

"Any news on Amen ? "

"I'm sorry but he and the others are just on their own, its up to them to decide their fate and survival"

***
***

The white haired man suddenly let out a loud shout from his dream, sweating profusely. He sat upright and sighed. Reminiscing on his dream, he stood up, grabbed his shirt next to him and wore it before walking out.

He walked into the room where Amen and Maze we're, deeply asleep, he walked closer and grabbed the sword next to Maze and stared deep at it.

"It can't be" he mumbled and raised the sword up.

The man stood out in the open with the sword and slowly placed his left hands on the grip of the sword above his right and slowly slashed it through the air and breathed in.

"It comes clear " he said and smiled.

Michell from where she sat at the rooftop, watched as the man skillfully handled the sword, swaying it around.

"Water Scynth Divine Seeker" the man said calmly.

The sword swiftly left his grip and moved round slashing the trees it came in contact with and returned back to the man.

He grabbed it firmly and opened his eyes wide open in awe.

"Finally its all coming back" he said and breathed out softly

"I saw nothing" Michell said and looked at the moon.

***
***

Maze woke up to a soft tap on his hand and slowly opened his eyes, mumbled as he turned his body around.

"Wake up, there is something you need to see" Amen said and pulled Maze up.

"Brother" the soft soothing voice called out to him as he stepped out of the room into the living room.

Maze immediately halted, unsure about what he heard, he looked around and saw Jemima standing meters away from him with a bright smile on her face.

Involuntary tears dripped down his eyes, his knees went numb, staring in disbelief, he dropped down to the ground sobbing uncontrollably. He managed to get himself up, ran forward with his might and grabbed Jemima, raised her into the air and hugged her tightly still sobbing.

"Its touchy" Amen said standing next to Michell.

"There is one more" Michell said and looked at the white hair man.

"Maze" the man said calmly and stretched out the sword.

"That belongs to me" Maze said, still holding Jemima.

"I'm sorry but its mine" the man replied "Follow me" he said and led the way out

"Pull off your shirt" he commanded.

Reluctantly Maze pulled off his shirt and carefully the man placed his left hand on Maze chest and removed his hand, revealing a water drop logo Maze chest.

"What's this? " Maze asked surprised as the others.

The man removed his shirt also revealing the same water drop on his chest but larger.

Amen stuttered and walked closer, pointing at the man.

"Kareem?" He asked staring in disbelief. "Wait, somethings don't still add up" Amen said trying to put the link together.

"According to what I heard, Binta was pregnant when she died or didn't die, then who is she? " he asked pointing to Jemima.

***
***

"Wait, I thought water form had only seven forms and you just summoned a twenty form" Maze said.

Michell and Amen sat at the rooftop of the wood building watching as the family got along together.

"The water symbol also showed up on Jemima but Kareem was supposedly dead when she was born, she is his child but how did she came to be? " Amen asked curiously.

"The only theory I have is he hasn't fully recovered his memory, there are still lapses" Michell replied.

"Anyway we have to reach our limit, surpass it and return to Pearl Village " Michell said and stretched "Even Jem is training" she said and giggled.

Chapter 24

Julius fell hard to the ground and chuckled as he pulled himself up, he felt dizzy for a brief moment as the footstep of his opponent approached him.

He wiped off the blood oozing from his nose and stretched out his sword.

"You finally resort to cheap method taking us out one after the other, and how long will that continue? " Julius asked.

The lanky man smiled sheepishly as he approached Julius cautiously and at the same time majestically. He folded his arms together and halted.

"You see, you all are only strong together and it will be such dishonor to send a boy to do a man's job" the man said and chuckled.

"I assume you're the East Demon, you look lanky for such reputation you hold" Julius said and heaved.

"I can't defeat him, I can't keep up with this amount of energy, he even willingly suppresses the energy in him" Julius thought within himself and grit his teeth.

"You're assumption is right, Julius, you're also tiny for someone with such powers, only a little amount I use in surpassing you" East Demon said and smiled.

"Says someone who willingly suppresses his power house" Julius replied

"So you figured that out, seems I've underestimated you as well"

Julius took his time to study the demon and gather every little details he needed.

"Let's play a game" the demon said and sat down on the bare ground and signaled to Julius to seat also.

"I'll play along" Julius muttered and sat down.

"Here is it, Tic tac toe" the demon said and grabbed a stick and drew out the game in between him and Julius.

"You win and I promise to spare you, you lose and I'll kill you right on this spot" East Demon said and closed his eye lids half way.

East Demon used the stick with him to draw a X on the last row to the left and waited for Julius to take his turn.

Julius stared at the demon as he drew an O at the top row in the middle. East Demon took his turn and drew at top left while Julius intercepted at the left middle row.

***
***

"Its becoming boring" Julius said and stood up and wiped off the game with his feet.

"Impatient human, its just the nineth game, I'll just have to kill you" East Demon said as he stood up.

He dashed at Julius and struck him on the rib cage before Julius could even set himself properly. He threw his hand forward, and sent Julius off.

Julius rolled off and finally got his stance staggering.

"Impressive, you survived that, huhnn I see, you couldn't dodge the attack instead you moved along with the hit, taking no damage, you're fascinating " East Demon said and smiled and suddenly dashed at Julius again.

Julius swayed his sword around, blocking off the many punches that came at him, each punch he intercepted pulled him about two inches backward. East Demon grabbed Julius by the head and smacked his face with his left knee.

Julius took the hit and as he flew off, he managed to land a kick on the jaws of the demon.

"Perfect" East Demon shouted and locked his palms together.

"Metal wolf" he said calmly and before him appeared a huge black wolf made of metal.

Julius moved his left leg backward and squatted on the right leg, moved his hands forward, his palms wide open.

The metal wolf howled and ran forward at Julius, moving with swiftness and precise flexibility. It leaped into the air as it got closer, its mouth wide open.

"Manipulation last form" Julius said calmly and from his palm a green light came forth, illuminating the entire area.

It slowly dispersed revealing the metal wolf standing next to Julius.

"Huhnn... You use a forbidden power house and I thought demons were the tricky ones" East Demon said.

Julius dashed forward, aura of power flowing all over him while the wolf followed behind.

"My turn" Julius mumbled and suddenly appeared before East Demon and drove his sword into its stomach, holding firm to it, he leaped up towards the demon's head level and headbutt it, sending it off furiously while the wolf leaped after East Demon, grabbed it between its jaws and bite it hard.

Julius followed suit, letting out a loud scream he punched the demon hard on the forehead. The force of the blow sent the demon distance away crashing into tree after tree.

East Demon collided against a rock which stopped the momentum but completely shattering into pieces.

"You hurt my pride " East Demon said and stood up.

"Its releasing its full powers, guess this is the end " Julius said and gritted.

"DIEEEEEE!!! " East Demon shouted and with speed of light it ran into Julius, completely dissecting every single part of Julius into pieces.

"You hurt my pride so much" East Demon said and stuck out it long tongue and licked off the blood around his face and slurped them in.

Chaptet 23


Maze gulped down his entire bowl filled with steaming soup and wiped off his mouth, he reached for another and blew at it.

They all sat in a circular path, round the low table in the large living room, bright oil lamps hanging loosely from the wooden wall.

"Thanks for the food" Michell said to the man who was seated at the a little away from them.

"Thank you" both Maze and Amen chorused.

"Its little I can do, now lets hear why you have such strong demons chasing after you, its unusual to find strong demons like that lurking aimlessly around" the man said and stirred his soup.

***
***

"It makes sense now" the man replied and stood up, looked back at the sword next to Maze and pointed at it.

"Can I have a feel of that? " he asked calmly.

Maze looked at the others and picked the sword, stood up and handed it over.

The man held it and let out a soft sigh, swayed it skillfully around and smiled before returning the sword back to Maze.

"Its a good and swift one, more practice and it becomes one with you" he said and went out.

Michell noticed the edge of the sword let out a quick blue spark and next was water dripping down from the tip to the ground.

"I'll go have fresh air outside and clear my head make sure you give the portion to Jemima" she said and walked out.

Maze reached for the potion and retrieved it, looked at Amen and gave a slight nod.

Michell walked out into the dark and sniffed into the air. She heaved and looked towards the left and saw the man picking up dried sticks and moved closer to him.

"You never told us your name" she said as she bent down to also pick dry sticks.

"Its of no essence and clearly I don't even know what my name is" the man replied without turning to look at her.

"The sword, looks like you have something in common with it".

The man paused and turned around to look at her and chuckled.

"I own that sword" he replied and smiled "At least that's what I think, I just don't understand anything" he said and moved deeper into the woods.

"Your fight form is water"

"Yes"

"Same with Maze, he uses the water Syncth " Michell replied.

"So?" The man asked still not getting the link.

"Don't worry, I might be over thinking things" she said and sighed "I'll return this and come back, my hands are filled already " she said and turn around to leave.

Maze watched as Jemima gulped down the portion, expecting something weird to happen. Jemima turned her body around still deep asleep.

"It seems it has no effect " Maze said and stood up, looked at Amen with disappointment and walked out.

The veins around Jemima's neck popped out barely noticeable, turned green and slowly settled back in

***
***

15 Years Ago


Kareem dashed through the woods, as fast as his legs could carry him, distance before him was Pearl Village burning to ash, the heat from the village could he felt on his skin even from the distance he was, even though he moved so swift it seems lime it would take forever to get there.

Fireballs shot into the air, hurling straight at Pearl Village. Getting to the cillviallge entrance, Kareem stood still, a moment of uncertainty, as people collided with each other, everyone running for safety.

"BINNTTTAAAAAA!!! " He screamed as he got closer to his burning home.

"Water Syncth Nineth form" he screamed and from above heavy down pour of water fell on the burning building and instantly the fire died down.

He kicked the already burnt door to the ground, ignoring the fumes, he went direct to the living room.

"Binta! " he called out again.

"We are here, we are safe" she replied.

He dashed towards where her voice had come from and effortlessly pulled the bunker they had kept themselves in apart, shredding the doors.

"You have to get out of Pearl, run towards the South, I'll catch up, Pearl is in ruins" he said as he escorted them out of the village.

As soon as she had ran off, Binta and her protruding stomach, Emmy and Dan ran up to him, they clothes burnt around the chest.

"You're here, we evacuated the people, bad news, but the Lord Supreme is dead, he attacked the higher demons last week without telling us, killed majority of their population, including South Mother, so this is a revenge" Emmy said panting heavily.

"We have to take them out" Kareem said.

"we can't, they base on both long range and shirt range attack, instantly anyone moving on ground is prone to faster death" Dan replied and gritted his teeth.

"Binta" Kareem muttered and ran off.

"Come on, I'm sure he knows what he is doing, we have to find a way to stop this fire, I'll gather other water users" Dan said and also dashed off into the village.

Kareem gritted his teeth as he ran as fast as he could, his sword trailing behind him.

"There " he said as he saw Binta in the distance catching up closer to her.

"Get your hands off wife " he screamed as he leaped into the air and slashed the demon that dived at Binta from the left wing of the woods.

Kareem slashed the demon and instantly it went into ash, he slashed his sword in the air ad more demons began to advance out from the woods.

"Hold my hands" he said to Binta and held her firm.

"Water Syncth, divine route!! " he screamed loudly.

Beneath him and his wife, a portal came open in form of water, forcefully he pushed Binta down and slashed a demon that leaped at them.

While attempting to dive down into the portal, a strong force collided with him and threw him off, smashing him hard against a tree

A demon grabbed him by the neck and snarled at him as he slowly went unconscious, with the last strength in him, Kareem held tight to his sword and slashed the demon that grabbed him.

Supporting himself with his sword he summoned another portal and sank himself in, leaving his swore behind.

A demon walked closer and held the sword by the blade and instantly turned into dust.

"Fools, that sword is made of last empyrean ateel, do not touch it " one of the demon said from the top of a tree.

***
***

Dan picked up the sword and handed it over to Emmy who now stood in as an acting Lord Supreme. Emmy received it and drove it into its sheath.

"This is what remains of the Kareem family, its unbelievable someone with such powers died, his dream of becoming a Lord Supreme" Emmy said and squatted.

"The demons, they all retreated of sudden"

"They took it personal, a grieve to honor their fallen brethren, a mistake of one man, I wished he was alive to see the damage he caused us" Emmy said and placed his right palm on the bare ground.

"I want you to see to the village redevelopment" Emmy said and stood up "We all have to get stronger"

***
***

Kareem slowly opened his eyes and groaned as he stood up, feeling pains all over his body, a large cut on his face, running from his face down to the cheeks.

"Where am I? " he asked himself as all he could see was vast green pasture "How did I get here, I am blank, nothing is coming through" he said he staggered, moving forward.

Chapter 22

Amen and Michelle stood watching Maze as he flipped the bottle open and used his right hand to open Jemima's lips. He let out a soft sigh as he shook the content.

Rustling of dried leaves suddenly became audible, followed by swift footsteps that ran from one tree branch to another.

"Demons" Michell said as she sniffed the air and ran up to Maze.

Few meters away from them a human looking demon dropped down the the tree and flexed its muscles and grinned widely at them.

"Just one, but his power house is off chart" Amen said and walked closer to Maze.

Maze returned the bottle lid and placed the portion inside his cloth and stretched out his sword, kneeling before Jemima.

"We don't need you, just those two" the demon spoke and pointed to Maze.

Two other demons dropped down from the tree and smacked their fist together and walked closer to the first demon.

"We can't take them all" Michell mumbled.

"Their powers are off chart, just how many humans have they devoure? " Maze said lowly with gritted teeth.

"I count five hundred some figures slightly lower than the first " Amen replied.

"What do we do? " Michell asked curiously.

"Run, we run, I'll carry Jem" Amen said and carried Jem on his hands and looked at Maze "Give us an opening" he mumbled.

Amen stood up and took the front line, and pointed his sword forward.

"Just as predicted, you're foolish enough to take on three of us" the leading demon said and chuckled, ran its palm around his mouth and slowly began to transform into a huge figure. Its flesh reversed in and let out its skeleton as its main body, the back shoulder blades extended up taking the shape of a sword, and slowly with blood dripping from its body it reached out for the blades and drew them out.

"I can't help but follow the scent of innocent bloods, a source of pure strength, I should enjoy you both" he said and chuckled.

"Smoke screen, basic disguise" Maze said calmly and drove his sword into the ground.

A loud bang followed next, shaking the entire perimeter, and followed next by thick fumes which quickly spread all over.

"Do you think a childish trick like this will save you? " one of the demons asked annoying and grab Anne by the neck within the fumes.

Amen smiled and turned into dust.

"Its a clone, they're getting away, this is to buy themselves time" the leading demon shouted as he snapped the neck of another Amen clone.

***
***

Running so fast it seemed impossible for the ordinary eye to keep up with, dashing through the woods and leaping from one tree to another, running through fallen trees.

Michell took the defense position, using her curse powers to split the trees behind her into twos and shattering them, so as to buy them time from their pursuers.

Amen took the lead running swiftly with Jemima on his hands.

"How long can you keep up with this? " the leading demon shouted as he did a flip in mid air and used his left left to shatter the tree Michell splitted into more pieces.

"You only make this much more interesting" he shouted as he drove a fist into the next tree that came at him, excitement written all over its skeletal face.

Maze grabbed an branch with his hands and swinged himself backward, switching positions with Michell taking the defense.

"Water Syncth third form" Maze shouted and slashed his sword into the air, while he also was in mid air.

Sharp blades of water came out from his sword, furiously hurling towards the chasing demons.

"So fast" the leading demon mumbled and tilted his body towards the right, the attack narrowly missing him.

The demon following behind, before he could decide got struck by the attack on the right shoulder, throwing it off balance from the tree it was about leaping from.

"So precise the attack wasn't meant for me" the leading demon said and chuckled "I can feel that tingling sensation, its the fun"

Amen grunted as he leaped from trees to trees, his stamina was steadily getting loosed, and exhaustation setting in, he gritted his teeth as he tried to focus. Leaping to the next tree branch, he landed on it and suddenly the branch broke beneath his feet, sending him crashing hard to the ground at the same time curling his body over Jemima, as he rolled furiously on the ground.

Both Maze and Michell dropped to the ground and hurried towards Amen.

"Hey are you good? " Michell asked while helping him and Jemima up.

"You three give me joy" the leading demon said smiling.

The demon that got hit by Made attack landed behind the others and grinned wickedly.

Maze dashed at the demons and sent an attack, like silk before fire, Maze attack was gotten rid of.

"You attack only work if we can't see it coming" it said and walked forward and grabbed Maze by the neck.

"We really don't need you, its that cursed sword we need, but we need a bearer, demons can't touch it" the demon said and smacked Maze wrist, which sent the sword off his grip to the ground.

"Kill the others".

The other demons dashed at both Amen and Michell, closing in really fast. Suddenly both demons got splitted into two halves. Their bones immediately dried off even before they could touch ground.

"Huhhn" the demon holding Maze by the neck said in uncertainty.

The demon's hand which held Maze by the neck suddenly cake off.

"Huhhmnm, whats this? " he muttered in disbelief.

A man dressed in black overall flowing dress and complete grey hairs suddenly appeared behind the demon and grabbed it by the extruded shoulder blades and snapped it off, which sent the demon into agony.

"Arrghhhhh" the demon cried out.

The man swiftly drove the blades into the ribs of the demon and forcefully pulled its body apart and immediately it went into dust.

The man looked at the sword on the ground and made for it and swiftly Maze dived forward, grabbed the sword and rolled off towards the others and stood defense.

"That sword belongs to me" the man mumbled the words which we inaudible to the kids.

"You must be tired, you can test in my home" the man said and let out a bright smile, this time his face was seem clearly, a wide scar ruining from his left eye down to the right cheek.

"What is this feeling of familiarity I sense" the man thought within himself and looked at Maze and smiled.

"This way"

Chapter 21

Lord Supreme took a quick glance at Dan who walked into his office and made himself comfortable on the available seat. Going through the scrolls before him and sorting the finished ones aside.

"Is that Joy's mission report?" Dan asked pointing to the scroll with Lord Supreme.

"Yes"

Dan reached out and received the scroll and took a careful look at it and let out a smirk.

"Anything wrong?"

"She went into the village alone and got the job of ten people done all by herself" he said and threw the scroll on the table.

"Her head should be rolling on the floor, you think I believe you are using her to get to the Higher demons, we have all the lead we want,she should be dead" Dan said

Lord Supreme took the scroll and kept it aside, kept mute for some seconds and spoke.

"She deserves a second chance"

Dan scoffed and bang his palms on the table.

"Hear yourself,demons, a second chance, do you know hownmany people she killed already?"

"Then why did we go through the stress of finding a cure, even you did more job in making this cure a reality, demons were once human and they once had a conscience like you and I " Lord Supreme said and just at that moment Joy walked in.

"You called for me" Joy said.

Lord Supreme looked at Dan and cleared his throat and stood up.

"Do you want a second chance at becoming human?"

***
***

Amen took a squat before Maze and landed a slap on his right cheek, leaving Michell amazed at the sudden action.

He pulled Maze's head up and gave him another slap on the left cheek.

"Hey hey look at me" Amen shouted and slapped both cheeks at the same time.

"This is no time for regret or thinking hard, you can't be a good brother if you can't protect what matters to you most,look around, come on, you're strong but don't let your emotion get the better of you, I heard tales of how the blood and strength of past warriors who held that sword flows through the viens of its current wielder, seems you are not worthy after all " Amen said and moved his hand towards his back and retrieved a bottle of the cure and placed it before Maze.

"Use that if you can protect her" he said and stood up and walked towards Michell.

"Its worth it, I can't be so stupid to throw away something he sold his mentality for" Amen said and scratch his head.

"Thank you" Maze mumbled and tears began to roll down his face.

He stood up weakly grabbing bottle and walked towards them and stood inches away.

"How dare you threat me in such silly way!!!" Maze shouted and went into an uproar of laughter with the others.

"Come on, we need to use or on her" Michell said and looked at Jemima who was fast asleep.

"Wait" Amen said and looked at Maze.

"You've failed as a man if any harm should come to her after she becomes human" Amen said and placed his right hand on Maze's chest and sighed.

***
***

Joy gasped and let her sword go off her grip and took few steps backward, starring at Lord Supreme and next to Dan.

"We know what you are, left to me your head should be rolling" Dan said and continued "Blood sucker, I can sense your power house and can tell how many you've killed,a hundred and twenty" Dan said and spit out.

"You said demons were once human deserving a second chance, and its here coming to you, your living should be enough punishment, to make you feel regret of the souls you've killed and its also a chance to make things right" Lord Supreme said and walked forward.

"Its your choice to decide"

"I want" Joy said lowly, avoiding eye contact.

***
***

Demon of the East walked into the large cave hall, at the middle wad a huge round table made of stone and seat carved out from stone, occupied by all higher demons.

"I just got words, Kareem's children are out of Pearl Village, I will have our strongest demon retrieve them both" he said and smiled wickedly

Chapter 20

Maze fell hard to the ground, driving his sword into the ground to gain balance, he shook his head lightly and titled his head towards the right where Michell stood with his sister.

"Dan specifically told me to only give this to you when you prove you can protect Jemima if she becomes normal" Amen said and ran his left thumb over his lips.

"You really on her in her demon form, when she becomes human, and is weak, how will you protect her" Amen said and pointed towards Jemima.

"You're holding back and so am I, you really want to protect your sister then fight me like your life depends on it, brother to a slutty demon sister" Amen shouted.

Maze grunted and stood up, his head lowered, his mind-set shattered and broken. He looked at Amen and grittwd his teeth with an evil look on his face.

"That hold man really wants to send me to my early grave, I didn't sign for this, Maze is much stronger than me on a wide scale I can't cover up, if he is fighting with his full strength, he might snap my neck before I even make a move" Amen thought within himself as he watched Maze took an attack stance.

Maze dashed at Amen, his sword drawn behind him, within the blink of an eye, he already covered the distance between he and Amen, thrusting his palm forward at Amen's stomach.

Amen managed to grab Maze wrist and diverted the open palm towards the left. Making contact with the tree towards the path, Maze stuck his fingers into it and tore it easily apart as he pulled them out and swiftly made another attack at Amen.

The blow flew swiftly at Amen who also increased the speed of his movement, tilting his head left and right, dodging the attacking palms that came at his face.

Seeing an opening, he moved his entire body away from the palm attack, dashed forward at Maze and struck a blow at his jaw, sending him off balance.

"Your attacks are blinded by rage, it's an offensive weapon but you won't last long enough to see your sister enjoy the life you want her to, sometimes you have to pause and think with your brains" Amen said.

"Says someone who is reckless, I've heard enough of your lecturing, give me the compound or I rip it off your dead body" Maze said in annoyance.

"You are not worth it, if you cam defeat someone weaker than you, even of you're holding back, twenty seconds, if you don't bring me down, I'll dispose the compound " Amen said and dashed at Maze, making clones of himself as he prepared to attack.

***
***

Lord Supreme stood before the window in his office, watching the wide view it offered and turned around as the door opened.

"You called for me" Joy said as she walked in.

"Yes Joy, have a seat" Lord Supreme said smiling.

"It's a task I can only entrust to you, since I trust you more" Lord Supreme said and brought out a scroll.

"there is high level demon threat at Coal Village on the south and they are short of hunters, I would like you and your team to see to it" Lord Supreme said and passed the scroll to her.

"Fire manipulation are it's main attribute and since it's your field, please handle it" Lord Supreme said.

Joy stood up and bowed her head as she turned around to leave

"Do you think demons have a heart deciding good from bad? " Lord Supreme asked.

Joy paused, mute for a while before speaking.

"Demons were once humans of unfortunate circumstance, they have a heart buried deep within crying to be helped, but the human will is only a percent compared to the total of a demon" Joy replied, titled her head backward and smiled before taking her leave.

***
***

Maze slashed his sword at Amen who ran up the tree before him and did a backward flip, dodging the slash that effortlessly split the tree into two halves.

"Water Syncth heaven slash" Maze shouted panting heavily, beads of sweat all over his face.

From his sword, a large blade in form of water came forth, hurling at Amen.

"Ancestral Void" Amen mumbled and locked his palms together.

The water blade that hurled at Amen suddenly disappeared.

"One trick I thought I'll keep for later" Amen said and smile "It sends all attack into void, disrupting the law of space, creating a space in little time fragment"

"He keeps showing new trick, first a disappearing trick and now this, how strong is he anyway" Michell thought within herself.

"Time up" Amen said "Your anger exhaust you more than your attack" Amen said and dropped the healing portion to the ground.

Maze gasped as the bottle shattered into pieces, splashing the only cure to the ground.

"NO!! no nnnno..... Nnn" Maze stuttered and staggered forward, knelt before the broken piece and let out a loud cry.

"What is Amen thinking? " Michell mumbled and held tight to Jemima

Chapter 19

Maze grunted as he carried Jemima on his back, descending down the cliff, he managed to wipe off the bead of sweat on his face. Already exhausted, he found a cool spot beneath a tree and gently laid Jemima, resting her back on the tree.

"You guys should really return home" Maze said and turned around to face Michell and Amen who also were exhausted.

Amen chuckled and dipped his hand inside his pocket and brought out a bottle filed with pink liquid and raised it up.

"Dan gave me this, to give you, what you've always wanted" Amen said and returned the bottle back into his pocket.

Maze gulped down saliva and looked at Jemima and back at Amen, he took a step forward closer to Amen and stared deeply at him.

"Is that really a cure? " Maze asked curiously, a mixed feeling of joy and and reluctance.

"It's not really a cure, it only suppress the demon gene by 95 percent" Amen replied and looked up at sky.

"Give it to me" Maze said authoritatively and stretched out his hand.

"I don't think so"

***
***

Joy walked into Lord Supreme's office, and lowered her head slightly before speaking, she raised her head and stared at Dan and smiled sheepishly at him, Dan scoffed and took a quick glance at Lord Supreme.

"The demon is ready for questioning" She said and turned to take her leave.

"Wait, I want you to be present at the questioning" Lord Supreme said and stood up "That attack wasn't just any kind of attack, I know that demon is a scout and has an alliance among us. In other words, that was to see how strong our defense was" Lord Supreme said and stood up from his seat, folded the scrolls before him neatly and smiled at Dan.

"Could you help me make the announcement about the tournament? It has been postponed till every threat has been dealt with" Lord Supreme said and walked closer to Joy, placed his hands on her shoulder and walked pass her.

***
***

The demon was suspended in mid air, chained from above by the hands and let to dwindle about in mid air. On both sides of the demon were people dressed in an overall black cloth.

Lord Supreme and Joy walked into room and the door went shut for itself.

"You can begin" Lord Supreme.

The men dressed in black all moved closer to the demon and stretched their hands forward, seconds later,their hand slowly began to glow and gradually it began to brighten up.

"He is ready for interrogation" one of the men dressed in black said.

Lord Supreme took closer steps and smiled at Joy before beginning his words.

"When is the attack on Pearl happening?"

The demon grunted trying to fight the urge to answer the questions out of his own will, after much pains it could not endure and spoke.

"I don't know but soon" it said and let out a loud breath and groans.

"The opening portal in the sky, what about it and how can it be stopped? "

The demon groaned and even tried more to resist, although it was useless.

"It is called the Demon eye, created by South Demon...... Errr... When fully matured, it opens every three months and drop demons created by the South Demon"

"So we kill South Demon and it's gone? "

"Yes, but she now seeks refuge with the rest, they're now together, you can't stop them"

"Lord Supreme, he is reaching his limit, he might die if any other questions is asked" a man dressed in black said.

"One more, who is the spy among the hunters?"

Joy gritted her teeth and stared at the Demon who also stared back at her, Lord Supreme noticed the starring and walked closer to the demon.

"Who? " he asked and moved towards the demon's ear "It's her isn't it, don't worry we will manipulate her and she'll be your doom" Lord Supreme said and snapped the neck of the demon.

"We are done here"

***
***

Chapter 18
Dan walked into Lord Supreme's office and met his standing facing the window that displayed the entire landscape before him.

"Maze is leaving" Dan said loudly and stretched his hands forward

Lord Supreme slowly turned around and placed his hands on the chair and sighed before speaking.

"It is the best thing for our village and honestly I hope the teams could go with him" Lord Supreme said and sighed.

"You can't be serious"

"I am Dan, I am, take a closer look at the sky, daily it changes, something is coming out from there, the wind suddenly moves in irregular pattern when it hits that part, I don't believe it but I think it's a portal, hoards of demon portal" Lord Supreme said and turned around and pointed to a certain part to Dan.

"We can't hold this threat for long, sooner it's an inevitable attack, and I'm sure it will come constantly, if we need hope, we have to let these children leave this village for good and hopefully they return when stronger" Lord Supreme said and continued "Why are you here?"

"You already talked about it, the demon portal, and from the tab I kept on Demon Joy, all Leading demons have form an alliance against us" Dan said and rested his hands on the table.

"We have to evacuate the villagers" Dan said.

"It's impossible, we can't..... "

A loud boom suddenly came from somewhere around the viallge, cutting short Lord Supreme's word.

"Come on" Dan said and disappeared.

A huge stone hurled into the air and landed furiously in the viallge crashing multiple houses, before the chaos of the lrevious stone settled, another came rolling in the air.

Dan appeared in the air before the stone and smashed it into piece with a single blow, he appeared before the next one and smashed it into pieces again, letting out thick dust in the air.

Lord Supreme appeared before Dan and clapped his hands together, letting out a sonic boom that shook the entire village, his eyes suddenly went white.

"It's a higher demon, right outside" Lord Supreme said and channeled his energy towards his legs, propelling him forward in the air.

***
***

Lord Supreme came to a running landing in the woods and looked up into the air. The ground suddenly came open beneath him, like he was expecting it, Lord Supreme elevated into the air. Suddenly from behind a rock body demon burst out from the ground and threw a punch at Lord Supreme.

With swift reflex, Lord Supreme turned around and smacked the demon on the neck with his right leg, sending it furiously and bouncing repeatedly on the ground, till it finally crashed against a tree.

The demon stood up swiftly like nothing had happened and stretched out its hands, the rocks on the ground all raised into the air and transformed into spikes. The demon screamed and shot the spikes at Lord Supreme. About twenty inches away, the spikes suddenly turned into dust and next was Lord Supreme standing before the demon.

"I need you alive" Lord Supreme said and smacked the demon on the neck instantly sending it unconscious.

***
***

Maze swayed his sword around, in the midst kf three demons, he took his defense stance, Jemima asleep before him, he gritted his teeth seeing the disadvantage he was at.

"Let go off the sword and we promise not to hurt you" A demon said sarcastically.

"Who do you think trained me, even when I'm dead, this sword goes down with me" Maze said and slashed the sword in the air.

A hard kick suddenly landed on the neck of a demon from the back, forcing his knees to go down, a hand grabbed it by the neck and slammed it to the ground.

Seeing his opportunity, Maze dashed at a distracted demon.

"Water Syncth, heaven slash" he said and slashed the demon with his sword, dividing it into two equal halves.

The last demon suddenly tore up from within, it's guts flying all over the air.

"Like we would let you journey alone" Michell said and appeared before Maze.

"He's a joker" Amen replied and alleared in thine air and landed softly

"Guys" Maze said calmly "New powers I see"

"I was hoping to her it as a secret weapon" Michell replied.

"Thanks" Maze said "But I don't need your help, return to Pearl"

"Then you'll have to kill us to journey alone" Amen replied and smiled.

Chapter 17
"We have to keep this as low as possible" Lord Supreme said while he placed the white blanket over Joy's lifeless body and stood up.

"Are you okay? " Lord Supreme asked noticing Dan's moody countenance.

"I'm not sure, I mean right under our nose and worst they have samples of the compound already, we are fighting a war we've lost already" Dan said.

Lord Supreme sighed and walked closer to Dan and placed his hands on his shoulders.

"Remember when we were little and you would always defend me, giving that you are much more powerful and stronger than I am" Lord Supreme said, smiled and continued "I might be older than you, but you're the reason I decided to become stronger and even at that I couldn't defeat you at the Supreme game, seeing my fighting spirit, you purposely gave up, the truth is, I still look up to you, and this is not the time to give up" Lord Supreme said and walked pass Dan towards the exit

"Emmy" Dan said and lowered his head "Thank you"

"More like it brother, let's stick to the plan and get the demon of a thousand father" Lord Supreme said and walked out.

***
***

Amen pulled Maze up by the shoulder and while Michell held him on the other hand and carefully moved him around.

"You're channelling more power energy into your legs and they're healing pretty well" Michell said.

"Unfortunately, Jemima sleep cycle begins tomorrow and ends two days after, and since our tag match is till tomorrow, I have to heal as soon as possible or you guys will be one man down" Maze said and strained as he tried moving his legs.

"Don't stress it, there is nothing we can't handle with a one man down" Amen replied as they helped Maze move around, before finally settling down under a huge tree to take shelter.

"The boy from yesterday, happens to be the son of an elder from the neighboring village and is the vice head of their hunting council" Amen said and heaved.

"And where is someone of such high rank competing?" Michell asked curiously.

"Probably to humiliate our fighters, and we happen to go up against him tomorrow, I saw the draw" Amen said.

"Then I need to heal faster, I'm almost there, matter of hours" Maze replied.

From the distance unfamiliar figures began to approach them and as they got closer it happened to be who they were discussing about.

"Talk of the devil" Amen said and pretended not to see them.

"So this is where you all come camping, your village has such beautiful landscape beffitibg losers" the boy said and instantly his members went into hilarious laughter.

Amen grinned looking down.

"Don't forget to come with your demon Tomorrow" he said.

A strange force suddenly hit the boy and threw him off, with skills he did a flip and staggered a little before finally maintaining his balance.

"One more word and I'll make sure you're bedridden" Maze said, elevating in the air, a strong aura flowing around him, his sword glittering.

"We should have warned him not to talk about Jem" Michell muttered and let out a smile at the corner of her lips.

The boy smiled and suddenly his arms turned into flames.

"The more the wind, the more power I can store up" He said and dashed forward at Maze.

Throwing a Punch, Maze intercepted the punch, holding firm to the fist, he slowly brought it down and effortlessly snapped the wrist, dislocating the joint off completely.

***
***

"Do you understand the punishment that comes with your reckless attitude?" Lord Supreme said calmly, leading the seven man panel that was set up.

"They have nothing to do with it, it was I who lost control and I should take responsibility" Maze said calmly.

"It's a responsibility your team bears, all members get punished for the doings of a member" Dan replied coldly.

Michell sighed, her hands behind her back.

"Your attitude threatens the peace we try to establish, breaking the arm of a visitor and beating him into half coma, it's irresponsible " a woman said and sighed.

"I thought he claimed to the strongest from where he comes and at that he started the fight first, he only got what he deserved" Amen replied.

"Enough, you're hereby disqualified from the competition and a two year ban has been placed on you all, you're hereby renounced as demon hunters" an elderly man said

Shock went through their body, shocked at the harsh judgement.

"Dad, old man Dan" Amen called out before breaking down in tears.

***
***

Maze locked his luggage and took his time to clear the entire building.

"I heard you're leaving Pearl Village" Amen said standing at the entrance.

"It's visible no one cares about I and my sister here, I'd just leave and move on to somewhere very far from here" Maze replied and helped Jemima up.

"Are you serious? " Michell asked walking in, in tears.

"It's best for us" Maze said and walked passed them holding firm to Jemima.

"I assume Lord Supreme knows about this also, cause there is no way you get to know without me telling you" Maze said and walked off.

Chapter 16

Amen grabbed the wheelchair handle and positioned it well, while Jemima and Michell gently helped Maze sit down.

"Alright, everyone is arriving" Amen said and pushed the wheelchair roughly forward, ignoring the loud screams Maze made and even more pushed it forward with more energy.

Lord Supreme mounted the highest peak of the fight arena, which followed by loud cheers, from every single villagers and outsiders who attended the tournament.

From the far right of the podium were the highest ranking demon slayers from the four villages that surrounded Pearl Village.

"Welcome everyone and most especially our neighbors who seemed it fit to consider our tournament worthy of attendance, this shows the bond we crave for has grown so strong" Lord Supreme said and paused, he let the loud cheer die down and continued "In earnest let the tournament begin" he shouted.

All participants began to troop in into the arena, in group of threes, some looking fragile and weak, others huge and brutal, some brewing with confidence, others with fear.

"And so it begins" Amen sighed and pushed Maze into the arena alongside the others.

"I wish I was strong enough to do this" Maze said and sighed.

"We know how good you are, so don't stretch it" Michell said and spanked him on the head.

"Attention! " Dan shouted from the podium and immediately silence fell on everyone.

"We have twenty four teams in total and I hope all of you get eliminated in this first round, so you all come back next year if you're not worth it" Dan said coldly.

"What's it with that old man? " Amen muttered.

"Ever since the fight with South Demon, he has been like that no doubt" Michell replied.

"The first round of the tournament, is a yes or no question, a question will be asked and if you decide your answer, troop to the the respective places" Dan said

From the entrance to the arena, a huge board was wheeled in by four men and positioned in front of the contestants, a huge writing of Yes on the right part and No on the left part.

"Anyone who turns smoke is disqualified" Dan said and cleared his throat.

"This is weird, a question, all we ever did was fight and train for six months" Amen said.

"Maybe it's from our preliminary days, I'm off" Maze said and wheeled himself out of the arena.

"There are four cardinal demons, Yes or No, kindly move to your respective answers" Dan said.

Murmurs followed next from everyone not sure how such question could be asked, simple but tricky.

"That question is weird, we know there are four cardinal demons, South Demon and Mother of North, King of West and Lord of the East, such simple question cannot be asked without consequences,lets go for No, it's too simple to take Yes" Michell said and sighed.

Along with few others, Amen and his team trooped to the No section while majority trooped towards the Yes.

Once everyone had taken their sides, a metal door descended out from the ground, steadily going up, from the half of the arena.

"Something is wrong" Amen said and turned around facing the board and noticed white substances popping out "Anyone who turns smoke is disqualified" He muttered.

"Run!! " he shouted and dashed forward.

"What are you up to?" Michell asked confused.

Amen halted and ran back

"The question is not about yes or no, just run, climb over the iron gate" he said and immediately they all went for the run including Jemima.

Some few other members who overheard Amen also followed suit, running as fast as their legs could carry them.

"Amen army" Amen shouted and cloned himself into three right before him.

The first clone locked his palms together and swiftly Amen leaped on the palms and was thrusted forward towards the other clone that appeared above.

Jemima held Michell by the right hand and with enough force swing her into the air, towards the iron gate that still steadily went up and also leaped into the air while Amen ran up on his clones to cross over.

Fall hard on their backs on the other side alongside few others, a white dust suddenly went up in the air from the other side.

"You have quite a smart child" the elder seated next to Lord Supreme said and smiled and continued "My son also made it, but I sense a demon among them, although unusual type" The man said.

"Kareem's daughter" Lord Supreme replied.

"If you turned smoke, you're disqualified, leaving just six teams proceeding to the next round, which holds tomorrow. Thank you all for your attendance" Dan said and bowed his head which followed by loud cheers.

"You couldn't lend a hand" Michell said as she approached Amen.

"Impossible not to, I was going to reach for the top and get you up also" Amen said and scoffed.

"I see you're as smart as they say" a boy almost same height as Amen said, accompanied with his team.

"Huh, that's odd" Amen replied.

"I'll assume since you're the Supreme's son you happen to know about the tournament that's why you were quick to respond, cheating won't help" the boy said coldly

"And who are you again? " Amen asked angrily

"Watch your back, I bite " the boy said and walked off with his team.

"That's cold" Michell said, come-on Maze awaits us.

***
***

Dan leaped from on tree too to another, moving as quite as possible, the person he traced moving swiftly also from tree top to another, till it finally landed to the ground, where two other people were awaiting it.

"No one suspects I took her form" the person said and chuckled.

"You've done a good job, Mother of the North is pleased with you, did you get the compound? " the huge figure asked.

"Yes, they finally found a way to suppress demon powers, but just adding a higher demon blood changes the entire compound granting super abilities" the figure said and chuckled.

"Impossible" Dan said and disappeared.

***
***

The door to Joy's home suddenly crashed down, and Dan dashed in, he hurried his way to her room and found Joy's body rotten and decayed to skeleton

"We've been fooled, eight months and counting" he said and dropped weakly to the ground. "We're doomed"

Chapter 15

Night before the Exam

The door that led to the office of Lord Supreme came open and a young looking man dressed in purple overall walked in and took a bow.

"Clint" Dan said and stepped aside allowing the boy move closer.

"It's unusual you're here, being Chief for Demon Sensing" Lord Supreme said and smiled.

"It's a rather urgent matter" he said and continued

"I know who the spy among us is, here" the boy said and brought out a scroll from his inner pocket and spread it out.

"Two months ago when you told all sectors to look into their departments, I began noticing some odd things, every evening by 5PM the sensing around the viallge becomes dense but not completely down" he said pointing to his jotted observations on the scroll.

"Which means there is more than one spy, two actually, Maverick from my department and..... "

The door suddenly came open with force and Joy dashed in.

"Lord Supreme your attention is needed, Clare suddenly slumped and is unconscious" Joy said panting.

***
***

"It's just a fever" Lord Supreme said and he moved his hands around his daughter's body and sighed relief and turned to look at his wife.

"Joy insisted we got you here, she came visiting while touring the village" his wife said and smiled.

"Dan let's get back to Clint, Joy thanks for your concern, I'm glad I have someone like you" Lord Supreme said, and instantly both he and Dan disappeared.

***
***

"Impossible" both Dan and Lord Supreme chorused seeing Clint's lifeless body on the floor, his upper body disjointed from his lower body with his guts spilling out.

"There's a demon among us, even close to me and yet we don't know who it is, our only lead is dead" Lord Supreme said brewing with anger.

"What about Maverick?" Dan asked and they both disappeared again.

On getting to the Demon Sensing department, they met a crowd gathered around something with low murmurs following, getting closer they saw Maverick laid also in his own pool of blood, same way Clint was killed.

Kindly remember to Drop a comment, and criticism, it helps me get better and if possible help me point out the loop holes in the story.

Arigato

Chapter 14

Lord Supreme opened the scroll Dan handed over to him and took a lasting look at Dan and spoke.

"You look exhausted Dan" Lord Supreme said and looked at the content on the scroll.

"Do you place burden on yourself not being able to lay a single hit on South Demon when she invaded? " Lord Supreme asked.

Dan grinned lowly, an aura of rejection emitting out from his body, he looked out to the sky through window behind Lord Supreme and sighed.

"It's nothing" Dan replied.

"Huhn, neighboring villages wants their junior students to join our exams tomorrow" Lord Supreme said and folded the scroll.

"It came rather late" Dan replied.

"No, I had lot on my plate I forgot to share more info sooner, they had requested from the start and this is a reminder letter" Lord Supreme replied and stretched his body.

"How are your students, prepared? " Lord Supreme asked.

"Only tomorrow would tell, I hope there are much more stronger students from other villages" Dan said coldly.

"ah ah, the younger generations are usually much more evolved" Lord Supreme said and stood up "I'll go see how things are going, there after we would go to the village border to receive our visitors" Lord Supreme asked.

"More like going to inspect those coming in yourself" Dan replied.

Lord Supreme let out a wide grin and chuckled.

"You never fail to miss tiny details" he said and walked out waving his hands at Dan.

***
***

Amen,Maze, Jemima and Michell all sat at the highest building in the village, where Joy always took her position OT guard the village from intruding demons.

"What's tomorrow going to be like? " Michell asked feeling nervous as they all stared at the bright clouds that covered the sunlight.

"Not much to be expected, tomorrow we would be fighting against our friends and others from neighboring villages" Amen replied and sighed.

"Other villages? " Michell asked.

"Yeah, and we don't know what to be expected" Amen replied.

"I see you four are having a nice time" Joy said behind them.

Turning around, Joy grinned wickedly and pushed Jemima with her leg, making her fall from the top of the building.

Shock went through the body of the children, without thinking, Maze dived after Jemima, barely catching up to her as she fell freely.

Amen and Michell watched closely with their hearts in the mouth. Before Jemima could touch ground, Maze grabbrdnher by the arm, curled his body around her and quickly changed position, tilting Jemima above himself and fell hard to the ground.

"Fool, he should have just let her fall, she's a demon and that mere fall won't kill her" Joy said and shook her head.

"What do you think you just did? " Amen asked angrily.

Michell placed her hand on Amen's shoulder and spoke.

"We have to go help him" She said and stared at Joy

***
***

"Seems you won't be recovering anytime soon, your legs are broken and with enough energy distribution you should recover in three days time" the village magic doctor said as he placed his hands on Maze legs.

Maze looked at his team members and tears dropped from his eyes.

"Now we are one man down, what was Joy thinking?" Dan asked calmly and grinned.

Jemima walked up and stood before Dan and stared deep at him.

"I think she wants to stand in for Maze" Amen said and smiled.

"It's not like it will be declined a member of the Platoon Demon hunter attacked a Beginner, it's a win win for us" Michell said and took a step closer to Dan

"She's in, after this, Joy will be summoned " Dan said and walked out.

Chapter 13
Lord Supreme smiled at Amen who arrived late from his team training, looking all beat up and exhausted, surprised to see his father at home, he scoffed and walked pass him climbing the stairs to his room.

"How was training?" Lord Supreme asked

Amen halted and looked up before turning around and replied.

"Never knew you cared" Amen replied coldly

"Your exams starts in three days time and I wish you could finally prove your point of me not being the reason of your success or attached" Lord Supreme said.

He stood up from the dinning and walked closer to Amen and placed his left hand on Amen's head and spoke.

"I might not show it, but I'm proud of you and the success you've made so far" he said and smiled broadly

Somehow those words made Amen calm and for once he felt peace deep within him.

"Hmm, I am not doing things to get your attention, I'm grown up already old man" Amen replied and knocked off the hands off his head and walked into his room, banging the door hard behind him.

"A complete replica of you" His wife said behind him and also walked off.

***
***

Michell sighed as she walked through the forest alone, a compass on her hand, she wiped off the beads of sweat around her face and looked at the sunny sky and continued her trip, until she saw a significant sign post and sighed relief.

"It must be somewhere around here, I'm way far from the village boundaries, anything happens to me here and I'm out of defense, still it's worth the try" she said and took the dark narrow turn on the left.

***
***
Dan sat on the broken statue in the training hall and undid the black band around his left hand and stared at it.

"I am weak, so weak it's impossible to keep my students safe and even people who look up to me, so many skills I failed to learn, so many defense spells I couldn't keep at heart and now a stronger enemy threatens and it almost feels to late" he said.

Maze and his sister walked into the training hall, using his stealth ability, Dan transported himself to the ceiling watching closely what the two were up to.

"Don't hold back, don't worry about hurting me" Maze said and walked further, placed his hands on his sword and took a stance.

Jemima on the other hand, shifted into her demon form and instantly her nails grew into long fangs, so sharp it could rip one apart.

"If I get strong enough, I can be able to find you the cure and return you back to normal" Maze said and dashed forward.

Jemima moved back as Maze slashed an attack at her, swiftly doing a backward flip, she leaned close to the ground and hit Maze with her leg on the chest, throwing him few metres away.

Maze got gripped by Jemima by the neck, who quickly threw a fist at his face, Maze deflected the blow, which slightly missed his head and bore a hole on the ground very close to his head.

"Water Syncth First form" Maze mumbled and from the his body a strong water shot out and threw Jemima off.

"I told you not to hold back" Maze shouted and dashed at her.

He suddenly disappeared and appeared behind her, smacked her by the knee joint and placed his sword on her neck from behind.

"Again, don't hold back"

Dan watched keenly and looked back at his hand again and back at Maze and Jemima drilling themselves hard he almost didn't believe it was a training, the slash and the furious beating they both delivered to each other.

"It's in three days time, you'll will meet with stronger opponent and I hope you come out well" Dan said and disappeared

Chapter 13

3 Months Later

Amen walked passed his father's room and scoffed as he went by, dressed in only shorts and leaving his upper body bare, he made his way to the living room and saw his mother tending to the flower vase in the table and turned around to leave.

"I and your father would go around in search of flowers that had appeasing scents and end up tendering for them" his mother said as she continued trimming the overgrown tips.

"I wish the old man would come home often and spend time with us, since he became Lord Supreme I can count the number of times I've seen him in two years come home" Amen replied and leaned on the wall.

"You should know he his trying his best to keep everyone safe"

"And keeps ignoring us, everyone thinks my merits are gotten because I'm the son of Lord Supreme, but no one knows the pain I have to bear, and those words hurts" Amen said and sighed.

"He loves you and you should have that in mind" his mother replied and raised her head to look at him.

"Whatever, I have to prepare for training, our exams begins in three weeks time and I can't let little issues get to me, I'm grown up already" Amen said and walked off.

His mother smiled as she watch him take his leave.

"He is no different from him, seems like a reincarnation" She thought within herself and continued with the flower.

***
***

Dan stood in the middle of his students with a blindfold on his face a wooden sword held firmly at the handle with both hands.

"Old man are you sure about this? " Amen asked with s mischievous smile on his face.

"That's right, he looks like my old man, I might just vet my anger on him" Amen though and smiled even more at his chance.

"Master, are you certain, we are actually going to be going all out on you?" Maze asked

"There is nothing his body can't handle, just don't kill him" Amen replied

"Unfortunately you're not enough to kill me" Dan said.

Suddenly he was standing before Michell, before she could react, he grabbed her by the neck and smashed her to the ground.

"I'm not going back either, the demons you'll face won't hold back either" Dan shouted "Demon cry!! "

Sonic wave came forth from his palm and smacked Michell even more into the ground.

"Even with the blindfold, at this rate, Master is still holding back his true powers" Michell thought and grunted.

"Air Syncth third form crying blade" Maze shouted as he dashed at Dan his sword stretched out behind him.

He slashed his sword into the air forward and from it came visible airs taking shapes of tiny darts, hurling furiously at Dan.

"Blue Dragon shield" Dan said softly and suddenly all darts froze in the air.

"Is that all you've got, you'll get killed this way" Dan said and somehow he was already behind Maze.

Sensing his presence, Maze leaped forward narrowly dodging Dan's sword strike.

"It is hard to believe he is blindfolded, unless he can sense body heat" Maze said panting "And what's up with him going all hard on us?"

"I see you've mastered the sensing of body heat, but you lack the speed to keep up with it both offense and defense" Dan said "Let's see how well you can keep up"

He suddenly appeared before Maze and strike a blow at his stomach, quickly Maze moved his body to the left, taking only a slight brush of the blow, before he could keep a stance another blow came at his face. He blocked it off, using his arms to guard his face.

"I have to surpass my limit, I was merely fortunate to be alive after the South Demon attack, I myself I am weak and I can't protect those I love that way, same thing applies to you three" Dan thought as he strike offensive blows at Maze who could barely keep up.

"Argh!! " Maze shouted as a blow successfully hit his rib cage and fell hard to the ground rolling uncontrollably.

"Guess it's my turn" Amen said and smirk.

"You're the weakest" Dan said and grabbed his head from behind "You're barely surviving from recklessness, this way you'll die even before you meet a worthy opponent" Dan shouted and threw Amen into the air and smashed him to the ground with the wooden sword.

"Your exams approaches, we meet here tomorrow again" Dan said and remove his blindfold

Chapter 12

Maze and Jemima walked up Amen who stood by the river outskirt of the village, throwing pebbeles he had gathered into the river and watched as the bounced off the rover and finally dipped down.

"Thought I'd find you here" Maze said and stood next to him.

"Huhmm, seems the repair is going faster than expected " Amen said and threw a pebble into the river.

"The damage was minimum though"

"Guys" Michell called from afar and soon joined them.

"Seems the repair is making we junior hunters less busy, why don't we hang out somewhere as a team" Michell suggested and placed her hand around Jemima's neck.

"Eh Eh, I and Maze are going to be doing the all boys duo, what boys do best" Amen said and hit Maze lightly with his elbow.

"You're up to no good" Michell replied.

"Well, I'm taking him for a mixer, who knows what we might get" Amen said and smiled.

"Ugh, You can't do that, you probably don't know how to treat a lady, I'm sure no one would want to hang out with either of you" Michell said and scoffed.

"Huh, Amen, What is a mixer? " Maze asked and Amen dragged him off.

"A place where dream come true" Amen replied and led the way "Take care of Jem and don't turn her to a drunk like yourself" Amen shouted from afar.

"Maze going for a mixer, is he too blind to notice me" Michell thought within herself as she watched them fade into the distance.

***
***

Demon of the South walked in last into the hall which had in attendance top tier demons and Demon Mother of the North in attendance, all gracing the chairs on the round table.

"You still have the keen for lateness even when your pride has been hurt by a beginner hunter" a demon taking the form of a lion said and scoffed.

"The only leverage you enjoy is because you're recruited by Demon of the North, else your head should already have dropped from your body" South Demon said and sat down.

"Welcome you all and thanks for honouring my call, I sent words to the Lords of East and West, but seems their conquering ambition is important, and their fall is at hand and predictable, which gives us the edge" North Demon said, calmed her voice and continued.

"Lord Supreme happened to have laid waste to my abode and after the surprise attack from Demon South, he found his way out of South Demon's illusion room and destroyed her abode, words have it he is single handedly going after the other Lords" she said and waited for anyone who had questions.

"But why did he leave both of you alive? " A demon asked curiously.

"That might have been his mistake, keeping us alive, which brings us to our ultimate unending move" she paused and continued "An Eternal Worm hole......... Every two months with no specific date, a worm hole opens in different location and demons drop from them, even after we are dead, this legacy moves on with no solution or cure, although there are limits to numbers of demon that can come out" she said with a smirk.

"And where do these demons come from? "

"A generation spell, made from the skin of a furious ravaging demon from the under world."

***
***

Amen sat next to Maze who continually stared at the dark skin lady before him, unsure about what to say to her. Amen pinched him on the laps, urging him to say something.

"Huhhn I'm Maze, my sister is a conscious demon, I'm a demon hunter and right here I can slay even the strongest of them, like I did to the South Demon"

"ARRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Amen shouted "This brat has no idea what a mixer is, talk about monkeys" Amen shouted.

Chapter 11

Lord Supreme chuckled at the question Dan asked and placed his right hand on the tip of the blade. Dan gritted his teeth and held even tighter to his sword.

A golden large circle suddenly appeared in the sky above The Supreme building and from it dropped a huge demon, from the edges of the golden circle, thick dark feet began to spread out, and in no time the whole of the entire Pearl Village was covered in darkness.

Lord Supreme suddenly grabbed Dan by the wrist he used in holding his sword and punched him on the throat.

"What's this, a portal, I thought instant portal were myth? " she said from her watch tower and leaped into the air.

Multiple portals began popping up in the sky and from them were demons dropping out of them.

Dan fell hard to the ground, trying to catch his breathe, before him Lord Supreme began to take another shape, transforming into a feminine figure.

"I thought for someone who commanded such tremendous powers, he would be able to defeat me, I must admit he is strong, that's why I put him in an eternal loop, he won't be getting out anytime soon to save his village" the lady said and turned around to face Dan.

Her face grey and pale, a diamond embedded on her forehead, dressed in fitting dark leather clothes.

"Demon of the South! " Dan said as he slowly picked himself up.

Amen dashed into the prison building, not getting resistance from anyone since they were all mobilizing already to tackle the rampaging demon issue.

Michell broke the cuffs off Maze's hands, just then Amen showed up.

"Always stealing the glory" he said and stood by the entrance.

"Grow up, this is not the time for that, let's tackle those demons, I'll go get Jem and we meet up outside, find the Captain" Amen said and dashed off.

***
***

Lord Supreme stood still and looked around his environment and shut his eyes close.

"A very smart doing for a demon" he said and opened his eyes "Taking Dan's form and power house, tricking me to completely fall for it, Demon of the South is truly living her legacy, and to put me in an endless loop, smart choice, but it's not enough to keep me here" he said and closed his eyes.

He drifted into his inner dimension to be more conscious of his environment, from the right, he saw flows of dark circles moving in an irregular patter and stretched his hands out, slowly the circles lined themselves.

He opened his eyes and saw himself right in the middle of the Demon's palace.

"I guess you're not around, but I will be doing bad not to leave you a message" Lord Supreme said and suddenly burning bright light enveloped him.

***
***

Dan fell roughly on his back, already breaking his left leg, he tried picking himself up, already bleeding on his face and a large slash running through his right arm.

"I don't want you dying on me, old man, I'll be responsible for digging your grave" Amen said behind Dan.

Dan looked back and saw his complete team all geared up, he could feel their power house all pumped up and confident more than his was.

"Persistent pests, I have no time wasting on you, I'll trample over your village which is the strongest and I'll make other villages pee theirselves before smashing them to pieces " Demon of the South said and smiled revealing her perfectly set teeth.

"When did demons become so good looking? " Maze asked awkwardly.

"I will cru....... Hmmm" her words were suddenly cut short.

"Imperial upper seal" Michell said and sighed "You talk too much for a queen and you irritate me".

***
***

Lord Supreme shot out bright lights from his hands towards all direction of the mighty cave, and instantly it began to break down.

"Supreme Dash! " he said and with speed of light he was out of the collapsing cave, to the next part leading out of the cave.

***
***

Maze suddenly appeared in the air and attempted a strike at the Demon on south, but he was no match for her speed, her large claws came speedily at him and before she could get him, he disappeared and came to a running landing behind Michell.

"Your binding spell can't work on her, just try to teleport me closer to her, while Amen creates diversion" Maze said and looked at Jemima.

"Jemima, don't get too close"

Joy groaned as she slashed a demon into halves and sliced her sword in the air.

"Super counter strike! " she said and in an instant she was cutting demons down faster than the normal eye could catch up with.

"They look super strong, the drugs" she said as some of the demons began to regenerate back, but this time slowly since she dealt enough damage that would kill any ordinary demon.

"If this goes on I'll run out of power house" she said and gritted.

"Evacuate civilians, that's your priority, I'll deal with the demons, only Red Velvet and captains are allowed to engage" She shouted the orders and dashed off.

Amen called out his armies each attacking the South Demon, she effortlessly grabbed them like flake and threw them off.

Maze stood calm, waiting for the lerfecrly opportunity

"I can't find an opening, she can work on both offense and defense simultaneously" he said and gritted his teeth "The opening moment are limited, three seconds" he said noticing her movement, he looked back at Michell and nodded.

He suddenly disappeared and appeared above the South Demon, his sword raised in the air.

"Smoke scynth, sixth form" he shouted and from his sword came white fumes that covered the demons face, he disappeared and appeared below her, at her stomach level

"Water Scynth Roaring Thunder third form" he said within himself.

Water in round sharp shape cane out from his sword in multiples and with great strength he launched the strike and disappeared behind Michell.

The water slashed deep into her stomach, and forcefully pulled her down

"How? Impossible " she muttered and stood up as the wound began to heal "That sword instantly took off energy from my power house, I've come in contact with that before"

Maze was breathing heavily while he held his sword back and all the South Demon could see was Kareem standing before her.

"Kareem! " she said and looked on "That sword, you're his son" she said with hatred.

"If not taken care off, he'll become a pain to us all" she said and took a step backward.

***
***

Lord Supreme walked over the corpse of the demons he had slayed in less than three seconds and looked up.

A demon hand suddenly shot out from the ground underneath him and instantly it dried off.

"It'll be better not to show your face, I'll need someone to deliver this message when she comes back" Lord Supreme said and disappeared.

"Such tremendous powers, his energy exceeds his power house he had to surround himself with energy to keep himself from exploding" the demon that attacked said from the dark corner it was and fear fell even more on it.

***
***

The portal above pulled the South Demon upward and suddenly she disappeared into it, while the dark clouds began to fade off giving path to sunlight which instantly began to burn the demons that were left behind.

"A good thing you didn't die on me old man" Amen said and shakes his head

"You did a good job you all, thanks "

Joy scoffed from where she stood, her gaze fixed on Maze and Jemima

"Seems all trial will be called off after this, but I'll make that brat Amen do community service for breaking out a suspect" she said and slashed her sword in the air.

***
***

"You mean a boy did this large damage to you? " Mother of the North said seated on her magnificent throne, a demon serpent curled all over the large space of the throne alter.

"He is not just any human, he is Kareem's son and he weilds the blade of the Holy hunter from the legends" Mother of South said in despise.

Mother of North stood up in awe and fixed her gaze on the other, fear boldly written on her face.

"And there is also a conscious demon girl with him"

AceRoyal:
More updates please!
Please don't allow this story become a drag.

AceRoyal:
More updates please!
Please don't allow this story become a drag.

smile.... don't worry I'll do the needful once reality has suppressed it's pressure on me

Chapter 10

Dan rolled multiple times on the floor and spat out blood from his mouth, he groaned as he felt sharp pains around his abdomen.

"Old Man, are you alright? " Amen asked and knelt down beside him, while Michell fought off the demon that they were up against.

Dan grunted as he watched the demon overpower Michell easily, her eye trap becoming useless.

"I thought hunters from Pearl village were strong according to rumors " the demon taunted, sticking out its long skinny tongue that were filled of tiny spikes.

The body of the demon was hard as metal, it's movement so swift Dan hardly could catch up, it's legs made of animal hoofs.

"This is just a scout demon from the south, and we are useless against it" Dan said beneath his breath "We are far from home and I can't die here" Dan said and slowly picked himself up.

"Amen, summoun your clone armies, if we need to beat this guy, we have to take him by surprise" Dan said and took an attack stance.

Amen summouned out multiples of himself and sent the forward towards the demon, dashing along was Dan.

"Transformation trick" Dan said lowly and suddenly became like Amen.

"Old man has this trick up his sleeves, I'm learning once we are done here" Amen said and gritted his teeth, looking all pulp

"You have a limit boy" the demon shouted as he squashed the first army, held another by the head with just one arm and threw it against the one attacking from the left, the demon gritted it's teeth as one of the armies landed a punch on its stomach.

The demon grabbed the Amen clone and sqaused his head, fighting swiftly it in no time overcame them all.

Blood suddenly gutted out from the demon's mouth and next was it's head rolling off it's neck to the ground with Dan standing behind it.

"Imaginative Fiction attack completed " Dan said.

"But how?!! " the demon asked as its body slowly began to fade off.

"I brought out you wish in this fight and made it looked real, taking you out of this real world" Dan said and returned his sword into it's sheath.

"That was awesome " Michell said from where she laid, resting on a tree. "You have to teach his these tricks "

"Come on, we have to get back to the village before night fall" Dan said and looked at them "Can you make it? "

***
***

Maze stood before the judgment panels, seven of them including Lord Supreme seated at the center of the panel. The door that led into the room came open and Jemima was brought in by Joy, cuffed on both hands and leg.

Maze felt rage rise within him but there was nothing he could do at this moment.

"Let the hearing begin" Lord Supreme said

"Maze, how do you plead to the case against you, guilty or not guilty? " an aged man asked.

"Not guilty" Maze replied instantly with generated murmurs in return.

"Brat" Joy cursed beneath her breathe.

"But there are multiple witness against you including Lord Supreme who saw you steal from the research lab and almost led the village into danger " the man said again.

"I'm not guilty sirs, I did what I had to, to protect my sister and return her back to her normal form, and I might have saved the village from their own destruction, you saw what the dose did, rather it enhanced demons, pointing out that there is a traitor right among us, even here in this panel" Maze said and started at Lord Supreme.

"Such boldness " Joy thought within herself.

"And on what basis do you make this accusations?" the only lady among the panel asked.

"I can hear people's heartbeat and decipher their thoughts, each type of emotions has various heart beat and I can tell who the traitor among you is" Maze said

"The Lord Supreme seated before you is a sham, this is someone taking his form" Maze said and took a step forward.

"Return him back to his cells, he must have been disorganized " the lady said, and instantly both Maze and Jemima were taken away.

***
***

Dan placed a knock on the metal doors of Maze's cell, waking him up from his sleep.

"Master" Maze said and sat himself up.

"Joy told me what happened, how sure are you? "

***
***

Amen and his armies stood outside the Lord Supreme's office, with Michell standing at the front line.

"Lord Supreme walked out of his office and was cut short by the large numbers of Amen's clones standing against him.

Dan appeared behind Lord Supreme and had his blade placed on his neck.

"Who are you? " Dan asked and moved the blade closer to the neck.

Other hunters were only speechless at the scene that unfolded and looked on.

"This might make me loose my rank but everything has to be verified" Dan said and asked again "Who are you?!"

Chapter 10

Amen and Michell walked into the prison walk way after they had been thoroughly search, leading the way, were two prison guards before them, leading them to where Maze was held prisoner, pending his trial.

"You have nothing more than ten minutes" one of the guard said as he opened the sub division where Maze was kept.

Both Michell and Amen walked in, and met Maze laying flat on his chest.

"Have any of you seen Jem? " Maze asked still maintaining his position.

Amen moved forward and placed his hands on the metal door that was used as a demarcation

"No, and all demon hunters are been mobilized, including the beginners" Amen said and looked at Jemima.

Jemima shook her head and quickly looked away.

"ymYou know I can hear people's heart beat and I can almost tell their emotions, you both want to say sonething" Maze said and stood up.

"Huuhhhnnnm, the council decided you should be stripped out of the academy" Jemima said slowly and heaved.

"Seems I really messed things up "

The prison guard that had brought them along, walked in and hit his metal batons on the wall.

"Your time is up, time to leave"

"It's barely ten minutes"

"I said you should leave "

***
***

Lord Supreme walked into his office with Dan and sighed as he too his seat, the pikes of scroll as usual.

"The village farther south was ambush and taken over by demons and reports have been flying in from all four points, tines are trying" Dan said and sat on the free chair and relaxed his back.

"We can't wait any longer, in matter of months, they will come for us" Lord Supreme said

"A survivor sent messages around, telling about how fast and extremely strong the demons of the south were, including their rapid regenerating ability, severed body parts growing back in matter of seconds" Dan said.

"I'll address everyone today, it's time to double up and begin laying down our plans, we still have time for proper planning and I have a plan" Lord Supreme said and stood up.

"What about Kareem's children? " Dan asked and stared deep at Lord Supreme.

"He will be stripped of his academic and he wmwilk never qualify for being a demon hunter"

"Aren't you making this too harsh on him, we know how rational he his, like his father, these children have nowhere to turn to" Dan said feeling concerned.

"I can't help it" Lord Supreme said and grabbed a scroll "Come on, we have important things to do, Joy will handle his expulsion, he'll be placed under watch and we shall see if he can get back into the academy, with next year's students "

***
***

Chapter 9

Maze slowly opened his eyes and titled his head to the left, he groaned is slight pains, feeling dizzy at the same moment, he sighed and raised his head up, and also processing what he remembered last before he blanked out.

“Jemima” he called out and suddenly stood to his feet.

“You should be answering questions, anytime from now for your stupid act and foolish doings” the cold voice came at him.

He needed no one to tell him who it was, Joy !!

“Where is my sister?” he asked calmly and out of regret.

“She should be at the entrance to the afterlife already, I killed her” Joy said and slashed her blood stained sword into the air.

“NO, its impossible, she cant die” he muttered to himself and fell back hard on his back.

Lord Supreme and Dan walked in on them and took a long stare at Maze and cleared his throat before speaking.

“Fortunately Joy got here on time, the situation would have got out of hand” Lord Supreme said calmly.

“But Jemima is gone” Maze replied with shaky voice.

“Ehheehhhe, you let Joy mess with you, Jemima is alive and doing well, fortunately she has a better immune system unlike other demons and is responding fine to treatment, the Healing Velvets are on her” Lord Supreme said cheerfully.

Maze slowly raised his head, his eyes already filled with tears and somehow he found the strength to rise to his feet.
“I am sorry for all trouble caused” he said and bowed his head slightly.

“To think of it that we have a traitor among the Velvets, the compound for the treatment that was given to Jemima is completely different from what the research team had planned out on scroll for us, someone has been tampering with the compounds all this while” Dan said and walked towards the exit of the house.

“Knowing who it is will be such a tiring job” Joy said and giggled.

The door suddenly came open and revealing a Red Velvet breathing heavily and trying to catch her breath.

“There is a situation at the lab” She said and paused to catch her breath and continued. “Everything in the lab is missing, all compounds”

***
***

Demons in large numbers were gathered together, the cave accommodated them so well one would think it was an infinite loop of endless walk. The red light from above creating a kind of silhouette. Silence suddenly fell on everyone of them, their grumbling and growling instantly died down, each of them feeling a presence much more greater than them, a presence of a demon leader.

A young lanky lady descended from the entrance of the cave above and easily landed on the podium that was before the other demons and giggled softly before speaking.

“We finally have what it takes to rule humans, we can settle down and have something called a home and we don’t have to live in fear of being hunted for a necessary crime we commit, if we don’t eat how do we survive and humans are what we live on” She said and paused, while she spoke, she took her words slowly making sure the demons followed along.

“A concoction that will grant each and everyone of you the strength of twenty demons combined, unlimited durability, tough skin and above all victory, we shall take the fight to them and show them what we are really made of, we shall rightfully take our place

“I will make sure I overcome large portion of the human race, and I shall establish my supremacy among other higher demons, I Demon Mother of the South, shall conquer and make others fall under my leardership. King of the West, Lord of the East, Mother of North, watch me conquer more lands than you can imagine”

***
***

“Does this have anything to do with demons coming together as one force?” Dan asked trying to fit in the puzzle.

“Whatever it is, it seems we are the pun in the game, they might want to over come as many kingdoms as possible to establish their rule, this is a game among the four of them and we are just about to be necessary victims” Lord Supreme said and walked towards the door and stood then spoke “Gather every one from Beginner to the highest rank of demon fighters, send letters to the other kingdoms and let them prepare themselves, we are in a time where every one has to survive on their own”

Chapter 8

Amen and Maze made themselves comfortable on the branch of a tree in the village, with them palmwine gourd and roasted meat.

Amen chew from the meat and stuck out his tongue, then looked up at the tallest building in the village.

"That's Joy, always watching over the village from there and tales has it nothing passes her sight" Amen said and drank from the gourd.

"I'll like to try it out, what should we really do? " Maze asked and tore slowly from the meat.

"Let's go peeping, the stream" Amen suggested and let out a bright smile.

"Peeping isn't honourable, the mining ground, I'll burn it down" Maze said and stood on the tree branch.

"Too irrational, it's a living means, let's go peeping"

***
***

They both descended down the hill that led directly to the stream, and let out a loud sarcastic scream.

"Perverts!! " the ladies screamed and dipped their body into the water, covering their upper bodies.

They found a spot to seat, still holding their gourd and roasted meat. Maze chuckled softly and stared at the ladies.

"The nuisance son of Lord Supreme, imagine what will happen if your father hears of this" a lady said amidst anger.

"Common, step out in full glory" Amen said and threw a pebble at the lady.

"I hear footstep approaching, it's Joy" Maze said and stood up

"She came so soon, take care ladies, it's a pleasure sight seeing"

***
***

Dan walked into Lord Supreme's office and meet ten more red velvet in there, curiously he made his way forward and spoke.

"It's unusual for red velvet to gather in this number, I meet more outside"

"Julius sent a troubling letter and it's something that has to be taken care of immediately " Lord Supreme said and stood up from his seat, handed over the letter to Dan and waited patiently for him to read through it.

"If this is true, then no village is safe"

The door suddenly came open, and Amen and Maze suddenly came crashing in, with Joy behind them, having a very stern look on her

"Why are there so many red velvet gathered? " she asked diverting her attention off her initial mission.

"Julius gathered that demons now have ability to metamorphosis into much more intelligent beings, and they began gathering themselves under the leadership of the four strongest demons, King of the West, King of the East, Mother of South and Mother of the North, each are gaining alliance with other demons, to prove their supremacy rule and somehow we are getting into the cross fire, we need to do something" Dan said calmly.

"What about the cure that is in progress, any report? " Joy asked.

"There is a cure going on" Maze thought within himself a mixed feeling of joy and sadness since it was not yet decided if it was really accurate.

"We don't have time to test run, we need them produced in bundles, so we can begin to find those demons and cure them, it's a test run on the long move" Joy said and sighed.

"Will my sister ever get back to normal, you can try it first on her" Maze suddenly cut in.

"No, we must be certain, if it works well, your sister will be cured, first we need to take care of pressing matter" Lord Supreme said and continued "Tell Abbey to begin mass production "

***
***

Maze took cover behind a tree outside the research lab, he look up at the moonless night and waited for his perfect chance, seeing an entrance, he leapt over the gate and sneaked into the main lab.

"The cure" he said seeing something similar to what he had seen in the day with Lord Supreme. He grabbed a dose from where they were kept and made his way out.

***
***

"Jem, this is suppose to be a cure" he said as he mixed the content with water inside a calabash bowl.

"Finally you get to be human" he said and passed the calabash to Jem, who immediately gulped them down.

Jemima fell to the ground and let out a screeching noise, her bones began to break with, letting out audible crack sound.

Maze stood up motionless, what he had in mind was entirely different from what he was witnessing.

Jemima countenance changed, her heartbeat beating faster than it was, he stood up slowly and turned around to face Maze.

He face partially demonic, her fingers all grown to become large fangs, her canine teeth dropping out of her mouth to the neck level and somehow she had increased in size.

She suddenly dashed at Maze and before he could react, Jemima grabbed him by the neck and smashed him against the ground, still having a strong grip on him.

Chapter 7

Maze and Michell alongside Jemima, walked into their training hall and found out the place was completely cleaned and neat, the statues that were by the entrance all cleaned and looking new.

"I thought I owed it up to you guys, especially Maze, sorry about yesterday" Amen said from the top floor and jumped down.

"Are you guys just going to keep mute? "

"Well it's never like you to apologies, I'm caught off guard" Michell said while scratching her head.

"Well, things change I guess" Maze said

"Still, don't let it get to your head, where is that old man, isn't he suppose to be here already" Amen said and looked around.

"Huhmm, you should have respect you know" Dan suddenly said from the roof top.

"There, you're Dad's younger brother, so I can call you whatever I want, old man " Amen replied and scoffed.

Dan dropped down from the rooftop and stared deep at Amen.

"Your second drill, in this 6month training, is to go and have a good time in the town"

"Ehhhhhhhh hhh" they all chorused at the ridiculous training set for them.

"Master, other pupil are already having their fitness and stamina training, and we are to go to town and have a good time, isn't that ridiculous? " Michell asked confused

"Well, it's an order" Dan said and began laughing oddly as he walked out on them.

***
***

They all got a table at their favourite restaurant and made themselves comfortable, each of them having a palmwine jug before them except Jemima.

Amen scoffed and drank from his jug and drop it carelessly and sighed again.

"This is so boring, everyone having a serious training and we're here drinking, isn't palmwine illegal for children? " Amen said and squeezed his face.

A loud scream suddenly came from outside of the restaurant, someone crashed in and squinted his face in pains as he stood up.

"What's happening?" a man asked.

"We sell merchandise from other villages and we just got robbed" the man replied as he picked himself up and continued "That was the costliest of our goods, a golden image carved by the best of goldsmith" he said amidst tears.

"Don't you think we should help? " Michell asked.

"I'm sure the grown ups will handle it" Amen replied and drank from his jug.

"Then come crying when people don't take you serious" Maze replied and stood up "I and Jem will go after the thief" he said and dashed out with Jemima tagging behind.

"See ya" Michell shouted and followed suit.

"What can they do without me? " Amen asked himself and also dashed out.

Running on rooftops, they bounced off from one roof to another, chasing after the thief. Soon Amen caught up with them.

"Changed your mind? " Michell asked while still running.

"Like I'll let you take all credits" Amen replied.

"Amen, take the left flank, I and Jem will continue up front, Michell, take the right flank, Jem will try bringing him down from the rooftop, she's faster than us" Maze said and instantly the all dispersed following Maze's instruction.

Jemima suddenly picked up speed almost triple her former speed, dashing off like lightning bolt on the rooftops.

The thief took a quick glance behind and saw Jemima dashing at him, catching up easily. Jemima leaped into the air and sent a heavy blow at the thief as she got closer.

The thief leaped forward, holding tight to the cloth sack with him, before he could get to the other rooftop, Jemima grabbed him by the leg and they both fell hard to the ground.

The thief quickly stood up, was about dashing off, but he was already surrounded by the team on all flanks.

"Got you in the hole, ehehe" Amen said as he got closer.

"Amen army" he shouted and cloned himself into two more.

Maze dashed at the thief, and dived down low, grappling him by the waist, while one of Amen's clone smacked the thief's feet off ground from behind.

"Michell do your thing" Amen shouted as his clones grabbed the thief each by the arms and Maze gripping him by the waist.

"What, I can't see his eyes, I need to make eye contact " Michell shouted, trying to see if there was an opening.

The thief pulled his arms forward and smacked the clones hard against each other, which immediately dispersed them, and grabbed Maze by the cloth and threw him off effortlessly.

"Like I'll let you" Amen shouted and dashed forward "Spirit Cat" he shouted and from his chest a cat leaped out.

"What!!" Michell asked sarcastically and went into laughter, including the thief

"Wait, your spirit animal is thinner than the regular cat and ehhhehhehhhehhh" Michell said unable to control her laughter.

"Wind Syncth, third form" Maze shouted and from his palms, a human looking wind rushed out, grabbed the thief by the waist and smacked him down, grabbed him again, bounced him into the air and smacked him on the stomach, making him vomit blood

"Enough" The thief shouted and pull of his mask

"Old man? " Amen shouted seeing Mr. Dan was the thief.

"Yeah yeah" The man whose goods was stolen said from behind and walked into the scene.

"Seems it's a mission successful, I'll grade them on ability to respond to threat, their shot calling and team work, it's a pass mark for today " the man said and disappeared.

"Was this a test? " Michell asked.

"And you passed, congrats, you have the day off, next time I won't be holding back, Maze try as much as possible not to go all out on weaker opponent, you might end up exhausting your power house when you need them most" Dan said and disappeared.

"Crazy humans" Amen said "Common I have stuffs to show you guys, there's a drama about to happen, let's go see and perhaps we could be lucky to peep at those beautiful ladies " Amen said and led the way.

Chapter 6

Joy stood at the apex building of the village, a place where she had always been, monitoring activities around the village, a duty she was assigned to, due to her eyes that never ceased to fish out lurking danger. She suddenly felt the urge she always got from her eyes and turned around to face the direction the sensing had come from, and from where she stood she saw Lord Supreme, Dan and three other high members, then Maze and Jemima tagging behind.

"What are they up to? " she asked herself and leaped into the air.

"Hoping this would do, it belonged to your father, before deciding to sell the house and move to other villages with high demon sightings to dwell and help them a service of gratitude, Dan managed to buy it back and now it belongs to you" Lord Supreme said and leas the way into the living room.

***
***
Amen leaped off the hospital bed, holding tight to his crutches, he wriggled in pain as he tried moving forward.

"I will just have to concentrate my power house to my leg to heal quickly " he said beneath his breath just then the door came open, and Michell walked in.

"Ccchhhh, why are you here? " Amen asked irritatingly

"And what are you going to do? Chase me out? " Michell asked and looked at his bandaged leg.

"What do you want? "

"Stop being a baby, try to grow and act mature, if you continue this way, you might die sooner than expected, if you have a point to prove to everyone especially your dad, then start acting like a grown up" Michell said and scoffed.

"You are not here to throw words at me, are you?"

"Here, the grouping is out, I, you and Maze are on same team and I am the captain, get well soon baby boy" Michell said and walked out.

Amen sat down back on the bed and sighed loudly, closed his eyes and gently laid his back.

"This silly old man won't let me have my own will, I'm sure he knows about the grouping, silly set of grown adults"

***
***

The door suddenly came open, revealing Joy standing at the entrance with her sword out of its sheath.

"Lord Supreme, I'm sorry about this, but I have to prove demons can't be allowed to live with humans " Joy said and took a step forward.

"My sister is not a demon " Maze shouted and dashed at Joy, even knowing fully well it was a futile effort.

Joy suddenly disappeared, appeared behind him and smacked him hard on the side from behind, dislocating his entire right ribs.

Maze kept out an agonising shout, turned around returned his own attack, sending Joy off her feet and crashing to the ground.

"Brat! " Joy cursed and stood to her feet "Stay down, your ribs are broken, moving will only damage them completely " she said and walked closer to Jemima and crashed the butt of her sword on Jemima's head.

Lord Supreme stood still and watched as things played out, including Dan and the others.

Jemima staggered three steps backward and revealed as her canine teeth began to increase in size.

"Bloody demons" Joy said and used her blade to cut her left wrist, which immediately let out flow of fresh blood.

"Here demon, this is what you need, suck it dry" she said and moved her hands closer to Jemima.

The scent of the blood filled Jemima, she began salivating, took a step forward, closer to the flowing blood and all of a sudden, grabbed Joy by the arm and broke it.

Jemima quickly leaped backward and tilted her head the other way.

"Why you? " Joy cursed as she tried hiding the pains of her broken arm.

"Your point have been proven, she resisted and gave you a fair warning, this is the last time you ever come for her again, it's proven she is no harm and has a complete human side, now get out" Dan said angrily and pointed towards the exit.

***
***

A week later.

Dan walked into the empty abandoned training ground and walked towards the empty seat which was filled with dust and cobwebs, he ran his fingers through the stone seat, leaving trails as he loved his fingers around.

"Days so long gone"

"Master" Michell called out as she walked in alongside Maze and Jemima.

"Where is Amen? " Dan asked calmly.

"Who knows, he is a spoilt brat afterall"

"Heheheheh, Like I would ever loose to people like you" Amen replied from the upper section "Guess I'm getting good at the sealing presence technique"

"Gather around, here will be our training ground and meeting point for six months, after which the village tournament begins and you'll be judged accordingly if you qualify to become a red velvet " Dan said and looked around.

"First, let's get this place cleaned up, Maze you're in charge, make sure it gets done today" Dan said and disappeared.

"Guys, let's get things done, Amen... "

"Are you going to order me around? " Amen interrupted Maze and got closer to him.

Michell held Jemima who was about interfering and they both moved backward.

"Amen, I don't know why, but you only act rude for some reasons, it's not in you to act rude, what point are you trying to prove, that you're doing fine alone, you don't want your success attributed to your father's influence? "

Amen scoffed and folded his arms.

"What do you know, speaking like you're some kind of scholar, tell me why are you here out of the blue, I heard Master Julius was your teacher, you should have remained there"

"Seems you will never grow, you want to prove a point, then act accordingly, your nagging and arrogant won't do any good" Maze said and next was a smack to his face.

Maze moved his jaws around and spoke.

"You never cherish what you have until you loose 'em" he said and turned around to face Michell. "We can get it doesn't without him, he seems basically useless"

Amen scoffed and walked out of the building.

Meanwhile Dan had only concealed himself, hiding on the rooftop.

"This is going to be a really troubling team" he said to himself and sighed.

***
***

Amen sat at the dining, lost in thought while others was busy with their food.

"What wrong? " his mother asked noticing his mood.

"The new boy, Maze, what's up with him? "

"You have a father who never comes home, he has a father that will never come home, his father sacrificed a lot for this viallge during the demon wars, after your father he was next or let's say even stronger than Lord Supreme, Kareem moved out and lived in dangerous place, he was the only reason demons wouldn't cross to the other parts, acting as a fence, but unfortunately he was killed by his best friend Master Julius" She said and paused, then drank from there's cup before her.

"Huhhn, Master Julius did that? "

"Not willingly, he was corrupted by the Power seed, something that made one so powerful, they could rule the demon society, but it was too late, Kareem sacrificed himself to save Julius and we, then destroyed the seed in himself, Maze lost his mother and siblings to demon attack, making Jemima the only relation he has left"

"And I've always misjudged him, not knowing what he's been through, even though that silly old man never has time for his family, I still wouldn't wish he was dead" Amen said in remorse.

Maze returned his hand which he was about using to knock on the door, and paid attention to the conversation going on between Amen and his mother. Tears ran down his cheeks and he turned around and dashed out of the compound.

Chapter 5

Joy smashed the head of the demon beneath her feet, with the three members of her team behind her. She took one last disgusting look at the demon and pointed her sword forward.

"There are two more deep in the forest, Flora, you're with me, others go back to the village and report to their village elder, collect the payment and wait for us at the rendezvous point, we will meet you there" Joy said and dashed forward deep into the forest.

"Once I return back to Pearl Village, I'm going for that demon girl next, and prove to Lord Supreme, a demon is always a demon, and I shall take full pleasure at ending her life" She said as she ran through the woods.

Maze tagged behind Amen who lead the way into the classroom. It was a scanty class which had just ten pupils in total, Maze and Amen making twelve.

"Find yourself a seat and try not to tag with me, I don't know how to babysit" Amen said and walked out of the classroom.

Maze found himself a seat at the front row of the class and sat down, next to a girl who looked like she was lonely, dressed in a purple outfit and headband.

"You're Maze right" the girl asked without giving a glance at him.

"Yes" Maze replied and started at her.

"Huuhhnnn, seems you're the only one worthy of being a friend after all, your power house is extraordinary, same as Amen, just that he won't grow up, hope he doesn't bore you" the girl said slowly and placed her legs on the table and started back at Maze.

"Huuhhnnn, not really"

"I'm Michell" She said and gave a faint smile "After class today, let's hang out, there's a restaurant down town, l will wait for you" She said and smiled.

"Yo everyone, this is Air Lord's son, Kareem, do you think he has skills like his dead man" a huge boy shouted from the end of the class and ran down to the front.

He grabbed Maze by the hand and pressed it hard.

"Let him go" Michell said and grabbed the boy by the collar and raised him up.

"This has nothing to do with you witch" he said and freed himself. "Class starts soon, watch your back"

"That's Bane, thinks he is all powerful among us"

Dan walked into the classroom and climbed on the podium, instantly silence fell on everyone and all attention fell on him.

"Good morning you all, for this class I'll be your Keeper, things will be changing for you all, as you'll be splitted into teams of three members in a group and you training shall begin, you will assigned to captains, but before then you strength will be tested on field, pick a sparring partner and move out in ten minutes time" He paused and looked around "Where is Amen? "

"I'm here old man" Amen replied standing at the entrance.

"He will never change" Dan thought within himself.

"You will be sparring with Maze, hope you can keep up"

"Such a drag" Amen replied and walked out.

***
***

Everyone gathered at the sparring ground, a huge open space at the far end were the supposed captains and top hunters all gathered, including Lord Supreme.

The students were lined up in fours, making three rows on the other end of the sparring ground, facing the panels.

"Chkkkcck, that old man is here" Amen said irritated looking at his father.

"He is your father and one day I'll be like him" the boy behind Amen said.

"Whatever"

"I'm sure you'll win, you always enjoy the privilege of being a Lord Supreme's son" the girl on the right line said.

"Fools " Amen said beneath his breath "I'll prove it to you all, I don't need anyone privilege to survive"

***
***

Clare jumped off her bed and tapped Jemima who laid on the bed next to hers.

"Our brothers will be having their sparring, we should go watch them, or what do you think?" Clare asked looking excited.

Jemima only gazed at her for a while and returned the smile.

"Guess that's a yes, come" Clare said and pulled Jemima off the bed. "Don't worry, no ones knows your true form, only hunters and you're an exception "

***
***

Dan stepped forward from the crew, a scroll in his hand and spread it open.

"First sparring Michell versus Bane"

Michell smiled at Maze and watched as Bane walked out from the last line into the sparring ground.

"I'll be done in three seconds, watch" she said and walked into the sparring ground.

"The rules are simple, over power your opponent" Dan said and stepped out "Fight"

Bane dashed at Michell and leaped into the air, made a fist and increased the size of his hand, almost twice his entire body and smashed at Michell.

"One" Michell said as she dodged the attack, twisted her body

"Two" she said and leaned backward

"Three"

Bane suddenly let out a loud scream while in the air and groaned in pain as he fell to the ground.

"What's that? " Maze asked surprised
"Blood paralysis, she's referred to as a witch, able to control your blood and rupture them"

"Huuhhhhh" Maze replied in total amusement.

"I told you in three" She said to Maze as she returned back to her position behind him.

"That was cool" Maze complemented.

"Next Maze versus Amen" Dan shouted.

Maze heaved out loudly and took steps towards the sparring ground, while Amen also went forward.

"Fight"

"Amen Armies" Amen shouted and suddenly he was splitted into seventeen of himself.

"What's this? " Maze thought within himself.

"Only one heart beat I can hear, over there, that's the real him, knocking him out will do" Maze said and dashed forward.

"Wind Syncth 4th form" Maze shouted and next was heavy winds blowing before, throwing off the clones of Amen.

Maze dodged an attack, grabbed the arm of the clones and snapped it off, which in return turned the clone into dust.

He suddenly disappeared and appeared behind the real Amen, and launched a kick at his head.

With quick reflex, Amen leaped off, taking just a slight hit which sent him off balance.

"If I had taken such hit completely, my bones would be dislocated, this guy" Amen gritted "My armies are useless against him, like he can sense me out"

Lord Supreme sighed and looked at Dan.
"He has the hearing abilities of his father" Dan said and paid attention.

"He is top quality "

Maze dodged the punches that came across his face, moving left and right with backward steps, he swayed his body around and swiftly headbutt Amen, which sent Amen off balance, before Amen could touch ground, Maze grabbed him by the arm.

"Rebound Air Flow 1st form" Maze shouted.

From beneath Amen, the wind raised him into the air and threw him off, luckily making successful flip, Amen gained balance.

"He is holding back, only if he knew what I'm capable off, let's screw this"

Amen smiled wickedly and suddenly disappeared, from nowhere a hard kick threw Maze off balance, smacking him hard on the neck, Maze rolled on the ground hard, before he could react another blow went up through his jaw.

Groaning, he felt his sister presence and looked towards her direction.

"Wind wall 3rd form"

CRAACCKKK!!! Maze suddenly became visible, rolling in pain with a broken leg. He had attempted another kick unknowing Maze had made a hard wall of invisible wind around him.

Maze elevated into the air and grabbed Amen by the shirt

"You're good"

"Enough!! " Dan shouted and immediately Amen was rushed out of the ground.

Maze returned to his line, feeling sad.
"Cheer you proved to him already, he will only train harder, hopefully we are on same team, demon hunting would be fun and the grown up will stop having all the fun"

"Next......."

Chapter 4

Maze tagged behind Jemima, holding tight to his swords, while the hunter ushered them into the living room, already awaiting their arrival was a young looking woman, who seemed to be the Lord Supreme's wife, and a girl about Jemima's age standing next to her.

"I shall be taking my leave" the hunter said and immediately turned around to leave.

"You both must be hungry and tired from your journey, I've prepared something for you, come come" the woman said warmly, which calmed Maze's mind.

A loud crash came from the upper section of the building and from the stairs came rolling down a boy.

"Arghhh!! " the boy groaned and slowly picndf himself up.

"Amen, this is Maze, his sister Jemima, they'll both be staying here till an accommodation has been secured for him" the woman said and began to prepare the dining table along side her daughter.

"Maze, that's Amen, and she's Clare" the woman said.

"Where will they be staying, I'm allergic to visitors especially weaklings" Amen said and loosed his dreadlocks which ran down to his shoulders.

"He made it to the top of the mountain" Clare said and smiled sheepishly making her her face even brighter.

"Huhmm, I could make it assuming that silly man made me attempt, it's no big deal" Amen said and walked up the stairs.

"You're welcome to stay, as long as you don't touch my things"

***
***

Lord Supreme sighed in frustration, just by looking at piles of reports before him, he slowly reach for a scroll from the box standing next to the table and spread it open, took careful look at the content and reached next for the ink pen, just then the door came open.

"Lord Supreme" the lady that walked in said respectfully, bowing her head slightly, dressed in a rather large clothing that suit her well, and matched perfectly with her dark skin.

"Joy, you never visit me, even before you took the job of leading Team 7 of the Red Velvet, why are you here?" Lord Supreme asked while he carefully inked down on the scroll before him.

"Kareem's children, you're aware the girl is a demon right "

"Hmm, is that so? "

"We need the citizens to trust us, we can't jeopardize that by having a demon among us, especially times like this where we need to sustain peace with other villages" She said trying to suppress her annoyance.

"You've seen on first hand and you know that she isn't a complete demon and besides she's a rare type, being able to control her human form perfectly "

"Chhhh" She frowned and spoke "I will personally slay her if I noticed any strange changes" she finally said and walked out

Lord Supreme sighed and relaxed on the chair short of words.

The door came open again and this time it was a younger looking man that came in, wielding knives around his waist.

"I met Joy just now, she never comes around"

"Dan, do you think I made the right choice bringing Kareem's children in?"

"This isn't about Kareem's children to you, it's about if the demon girl finally goes nut" Dan replied and they both sighed.

"I will be placing them under your care as they Master, including Amen" Lord Supreme said.

"Ehhnnn, Amen, I know he is your son but I can't bring trouble under my wings " Dan said and scoffed.

"I know, but one access at Maze, I was hopeful Amen could watch and learn from him"

"Cchhhh, seems I always run into one trouble or another, by the way the village up east asked for help, a mega demon has been loosed and their Red Velvet is at handicap " Dan said and leaned on the wall and continued "I already dispatched my unit "

Chapter 3

Day 121

Maze could see the house from afar, as he took his steps carefully so as not to loose balance, his sword hardly holding to his grasp.
Julius walked out with a bowl on his hands and sense Maze presence from afar and looked towards the direction.

"He made it, no one has ever gotten to the top "

Seeing Julius faintly from afar, Maze collapsed to the ground.

***
***

"You're awake" Julius said to Maze who muffled lowly, as he felt a sharp quick pain run through his body.

Julius moved away from the oven that keep the room warm, a steaming cup on his hand and carefully sat down next to where Maze laid.

"How long I've I been asleep? "

"Three days, you're sure one strong hold, like your father"

Maze gasped at those words and started at Julius.

"I and your father were team mates from the Hunter Academy, Kareem, an exceptional swordsman and amazing Air skills"

"You knew my dad so well? "

Jemima walked in from the inner room and stood at the door post with teary eyes, she moved closer and suddenly hugged Maze tightly.

"I'll leave you too to yourselves, I already sent your details to the Academy, you'll get going by tomorrow, it's a path free of demons" Julius said as he stood to his feet and walked out.

"Don't worry, I shall find you a cure back to your human form" Maze said while patting Jemima on her head.

***
***

Maze grabbed his clothes from the wall where Julius had hanged them the previous night, a black fitting shirt and trousers, then an overall red jacket that reach to his feet. He knelt down and laced his boots and grabbed his sword.

Maze walked out of the house and saw Julius hugging Jemima tightly, with a saddened face.

"I'm ready" Maze said calling their attention.

"I see, after this we might not cross paths again, I hope you continue to get strong and don't die" Julius said and let out a smile.

"I won't die, not until I'm done"

"Do you know the story of that mountain? " Julius asked and titled his head towards the direction

"Hmmm"

"No one has ever reach the top of five decades back, they spend maximum of forty days and run back down, it wasn't necessary for you to go through that mountain before getting into the academy, I only did th...... "

"So long talks, I will find out the reason for myself, Jemima we have to leave, be good Mr. Julius, and don't die"

"I have one last present for you Maze" Julius said and brought out a sword from the inner of his jacket

"It belonged to your father, Kareem, Lord of the Airs, he could use all twenty form of the wind and even invented three more, I hope you become like him some day" Julius said and handed over the sword to Maze.

Looking amazed, at the craftsman ship of the sword, Maze received it and slowly the sword's steel color brightened even more and became much more sharper

"It was meant for you afterall"

"If my father was all great why did he die so soon? "

"Find those answers yourself, farewell child"

Maze nodded and held Jemima by that hand as they both set out for their journey.

***
***

Maze arrived at his destination while the sun was still bright, standing at the entrance of village, he had expected a much more strict security, but was surprised as people moved in and out of the village freely.

"Isn't there demon threat around here? " he asked himself and proceeded.

Heavy footsteps from every angle suddenly could be heard, and next were demon hunters gathered around Maze, forming a strong circle, leaving him and his sister in the middle.

"A demon sighting" a villager screamed and within the blink of an eye, the whole village became empty on the streets.

"And I thought security was loosed, from the green clothes, according to Julius, these are Red Velvet Demon Corp" Maze said calmly.

"It's a demon"

"She's my sister and I am not stepping away from her"

"Then have it your way" the leader shouted and signalled them to attack.

Maze drew out his swords and stood in front of Jemima

"Don't attack or do anything stupid, I'll handle them"

A hunter leaped into the air, while a huge ninja blade formed on his hand, with a loud scream he shot the blade at Jemima.

"Wind Syncth!!!" Maze screamed and suddenly the blade scattered into many piece due to the forced circular wind that shot out from Maze blade.

A hard kick suddenly hit Maze on the back, sending him off balance, quickly Jemima grabbed the attacker by the color and three him off, and took a defensive pose in front of Maze.

"I told you not to do anything" Maze said as he stood up.

"ENOOOUUUGGGHH!! "
"I'm sorry about the rough welcome, but I needed to be sure about the message Julius sent over, you have skills, but since you're the son of Kareem, I couldn't expect less " am elderly man said, as he walked in slowly, with his hands behind his back.

"Son of Kareem" was the murmur that came next from everyone with surprise on their faces.

"Your sister, there is something different about her demon transition, more like she still has 100% control of her human consciousness and can balance the demon and human well in perfect synchronization " the man said still walking forward.

"And I heard you made it to the top of the mountain"

"Errrrr Lord Supreme is that even possible? " a hunter asked surprised.

"Well, here is a living testimony, brace yourselves, this young man is no joke" Lord Supreme said and halted.

"Bring him to my home, he'll be staying with me till he gets accommodation " the aged man said and disappeared.

"Follow me, I hope you can keep up with Amen, the village headache " a hunter said, giving a quick glance at Maze.

"Such tiny body frame posseses such durability and an average power house, something he shouldn't still be able to do" the hunter thought within himself as he led the way.

Chapter 2

Maze held to the edge of the wooden sword tucked around his waist, dressed in a rather large red shirt and smart black trouser, he stood few distance away from Julius who also had a wooden sword held firmly to his right hand.

"Remember, do not hesitate to strike when you see an opening" he said and instantly Maze charged at him.

Maze leaped into the air and did a forward flip, his leg aiming for Julius's head. Julius knew this and stepped aside, as soon as Maze dropped towards the shoulder levels, he punched him hard on the stomach, which sent him rolling hard on the ground

Maze rolled over and dashed forward, retrieved his sword and began to strike at Julius.

"Your footwork is weak, open your mind, let the power house and unleash that beast in you"

Maze screamed at each swing of the sword, while Julius dodged and countered attack him.

Day 26

Maze leaped over a ball of spike that appeared out of nowhere coming at him, before he could land, arrows began to flip at him, narrowly dodging them, he got hit to the left shoulder. Determined to reach the top of the mountain and get back again, he pulled out the arrow and let out a painful scream as his flesh ripped out alongside with the arrow head.

Day 44

Maze croutched on his knees, narrowly dodging the star shape blades that came at him, he leaped forward and slashed the huge tree trunk that swung towards him from the left.

"This is the part I've never crossed" he said beneath his breathe panting.

Day 90

"I have to get over this, it's been 90 days all alone in this forest trying to survive and reach the top to prove my worth" Maze said weakly, as he advanced towards the top of the mountain

鈦�
鈦�

Julius sat down next to Jemima by the entrance that led to the living room, having a clear view of the outside environment.
"It's been 90 days and Maze is yet to return, although he is still alive" Julius said and looked up to the sky and let out a bright smile.

"I hope he is more like your father" he said and suddenly something caught both his and Jemima's attention.

Quickly they both stood up at an all alert position. From the woods approached two demons in human form, with abnormally huge chest and sharp talons for fingers, looking massively strong.

"Go for the heart, it's always on the right for demons" Julius said and looked at Jemima to make sure she understood what he meant.

Jemima nodded in understanding and growled softly at the demons.

"A rare sight human and demon" one of the demon said

Julius noticed their reluctance to attack and figured they were no day demons as they took shelter from the shadows of the huge canopy trees in the forest.

"Don't do anything stupid, you're no where near the kind of strength they posses, they won't come closer until night fall, and also we must not take the bait, demons like these moves in pack" Julius said to Jemima who was already grunting.

Maze fell hard on his back, rolled vigorously down the mountain, grunting as he made collision with hard objects.

He finally came to a stop, after smacking his back against a rock.

"Humhp" he grunted laying still, and knowing he had broken few ribs.

"If I continue this way, I might never be what I want, I might not get enrolled into the Hunter Academy, how will I protect my sister and prove I can turn her back to human? "

Julius raised his head and watched as the sun slowly began to set, the rustling of dried leaves from the forest, he knew the demons were coming out.

Jemimah held him by the hand and looked up to him with a questioning look.

"No, we never run, and this is a opportunity to explain to you practically why you have to be strong and protect your brother, who is cutting through his flesh right now to become a better person" Julius said and freed his hand.

"Seventh Fire Form! " he screamed and suddenly his hands went up in flames, as soon as they settled, on his right hand was a red fury sword and on the left an axe of similar nature.

The leading demon, which was huge than the others had an exiting look on his face and spoke.

"Who would have thought I would come face to face with the legendary Lord of Fire, wasnt that what you called yourself. You're a betrayal who killed your closest friend Air Lord Kareem because of rank" the demon said revealing his set of roughly large teeth.

"Argh, I smell something similar to Kareem's power house, finally someone I can revenge on for taking off my ear like it was rag" the demon said and focused his gaze on Jemima.

"Weird, a demon taking side, she seems pretty strong, I wonder what she becomes when she finally taste blood.... KILL THEM ALL" the demon shouted in fury.

"Go for the head" Julius said and dashed forward.

Maze slowly opened his eyes, feeling pains all over his body.
"This is impossible" he said as he gazed at the top of the mountain from where he laid.

"One last time, if I fail, I'll return back to Julius"
Maze ripped off the sleeve of his clothes and tied one part on his left bleeding foot and the other around his bruised thigh. He stood up and dashed forward.

Julius used the shard edge of his axe to grab a demon by the neck and send him over, crashing against another approaching demon, severing both heads from their bodies.

Jemima, swayed her body, left and right as the demon attacking her, moved so rapidly, sending it's sharp talons at her, in a bid to tear her small body apart.

Seeing an opening, she grabbed the demon by the right approaching arm and ripped it off effortlessly. The demon jumped back screeching in pain.

"Brat, I'll split you into pieces" it shouted and dashed at Jemima, while it bleed very hard.

Jemima watched closely as the left hand came for her, she leaped into the air, and propelled herself towards the demon, and went for his head.

"After all you understand" Julius said as he hacked a demon into thousand pieces with his sword.

Soon they were down to the leader of the demons.

"I'll let you have this, but I won't be gone for long" the demon said and disappeared.

"You've struck fear in him"

Tags: Demons, Action, Adventure, Cultivation
Introduction
The plague began long ago, even the human memory had began to fade off from the exact date, all that was known is, it happened almost four hundred years ago. A plague no one knew how it originate or who brought it in.

The first sighting was in a remote village of the country, which wiped out the entire community in just three days.

Years of study by ancient scholars showed it was some sort of extraordinary powers gone wrong with the human body system.

Those infected by this plague, displayed various abilities, from shape-shifting, to super speed, extra ordinary strength, heightened sense of smell and even some psychic abilities, but one thing made them dangerous.

They depended on human blood to survive, each night was a hunting spree, going after humans in their homes and sucking those on the streets dry.

One thing was also certain, the plague could transmitted from host to prey, and by the day the number grew larger.

There is probably someone behind this, an alpha demon, although it's all based on assumptions.

This threat brought to the rise of hunters, an organization formed by an unknown individual, but has built this chain so strong, people depended on them to survive the night.
Demon Hunters, those who after vigorous training, unlocks their inner power house, a power house that feeds on their energy in return for super human abilities.

Demon hunters were placed on three ranks.
Beginners, Red Velvet and finally those who work very close to the organization, remoured to have strengths of a thousand humans, the Platoons.

Chapter One

Maze heard the horrible loud scream at the top of the mountain where his family home was located, the hairs on his body all stood erect, a signal that something was wrong, a rare ability he had grown up with, and has always used to sense incoming or lurking dangers. He raised his head up and saw swift figures moving by the edge of the mountain and quickly began to run up as fast as his fragile legs could carry him.

The more he advanced, the more he could hear clanging of swords and and grunting from two different individuals.

"Two people and one doesn't seems human, I can't hear the heartbeat of my siblings" Maze thought within himself as he steadily advanced.

Reaching the top, his eyes was welcomed by blood that filled the ground, to his left were two total strangers fighting tirelessly against each others.

Tears slowly filled his eyes and swiftly, he dashed towards the wooden house before him.

"June, Hannah, Jemima" he called out as he walked through the entrance, tracing the faint heart beat he could hear.

"I tried protecting them" a faint voice said from the dark corner of the room.

"Jem!" Maze said faintly and knelt down before the girl hovering over two other smaller bodies.

"The demon came in and... " The girl said weakly and out of breathe

Maze brewing with anger, gathered himself up and walked outside.

The younger looking man dressed in black leather shirt and blue trouser, suddenly disappeared into thin air, appeared behind the other, who had blades piercing our from the elbows and running down to the length of his knees.

With one swift slash, the man slashed the demon into two halves and suddenly it went up in dust.

"I should have gotten here earlier" the man said calmly, his head bowed down in disappointment.

"Was that a day demon?" Maze asked

"I'm sorry for your lose"

Maze went on his knees with loosed hope and spoke.

"I began taking care of my sisters since I was nine, lost our parents to demons, and now my three sisters, six years I've looked after them" Maze said admist tears.

The demon hunter suddenly raised up his head, revealing scarred face.

"There is a demon approaching"

A girl walked out from the log house and with super speed dashed at the hunter, suddenly appearing before him, landed a heavy punch on his face which sent him flying.

Maze raised his head and beheld his sister Jemima in a different form, her heart beat moving faster than it should, rush of adrenaline flowing through her blood vessels.

The hunter grunted as he struggled to get up, giving no breathing space, Jemima dashed at him, and launched a kick at him, skillfully the hunter rolled over to the left, grabbed Jemima by the leg and smashed her against a tree.

He retrieved his sword and began approaching the already weak Jemima in bid to end her life, since she was already a demon.

"Like I would let you!! " Maze screamed and dived at the hunter, grabbed him by the waist and managed to pull a backward slam on him.

"Arrgghhh" the hunter groaned in pain.

Maze ran up to his demon sister and stood inches away, a mixed feelings of fear and deep brotherly emotion, while Jemima took an attack pose grunting, her wide eyes now had a stained blue color on the balls.

Jemima suddenly charged forward and launched herself over Maze, and gave a sound kick on the neck of the demon hunter who was charging.

"What is this, she is protecting her brother" the hunter thought as he bounced off, and rolled vigorously on the floor.

Jemima grabbed Maze by the arm and pulled him behind her, like she was protecting him.

"Isn't she supposed to be blood hungry" The hunter thought and got himself up.

"Chain smoke! " he shouted and suddenly everywhere was covered in thick fumes.

鈦�
鈦�

Maze slowly opened his eyes and titled his head to the left, a strange man seated by the fire place, a sword laid down beside him.
The man stood up and turned around with a steaming bowl on his hands.

"It's a good thing you are awake, I was beginning to think you won't" the man said and walked closer to Maze.

Maze gathered himself up, feeling a little dizzy.
"Jem" he called out and tried getting up to his feet.

"Your demon sister is in good health"

"Don't call her a demon" Maze replied coldly "Where is she? "

"She's hibernating"

"Huhhnnn"

"Your sister seems to be another breed of demon yet to be encountered, having the ability to resist blood and in compensation for that, she has to sleep as long as possible to gather enough strength" the man said and continued "Here, drink this, it should help you heal faster from that Chain smoke"

"Yeah, that demon hunter"

"He brought you and your sister here, asking me to take you both under my wings and prepare you to become a demon hunter"

Maze kept mute for a while and spoke

"I dont want to become a demon hunter, I want an ordinary life with my sister and if possible turn her back to her human form"

"That my boy is the journey ahead of you, and from your sleep you kept calling Kareem, who is he? "

"My father, his name is the only memory I have left of him, he never stays home, on various trips I don't understnd anything about him. Just one day he stopped coming home" Maze said and looked down.

"Drink up, your sister should be awake, in the inner room, I'll get some woods to keep us warm tonight" the man said and walked out of the room.

The man grabbed the axe laying outside by the door entrance and walked over to the cabin away from the main building.

"Kareem's son, I have so many sins that can't be forgiven" he said and closed his eyes tightly as memories flooded in.

"Hmm.... I have to make up for my sins" he said and placed a log of wood before him and split it into two with the axe.

Maze opened the door that leads to the inner room and saw his sister laying on the floor with her eyes wide open.

"Hey Jem " he said and paused, watched as she focused her gaze on him.

"I promise to get you back to normal you just have to hang in there and be strong" he paused and continued

"Seems I might be taking the offer of becoming a demon hunter if I ever want a shot at bringing you back to normal and also maybe I can find the demon that took our parents from us and make it pay dearly for it"

He said and smiled then continued
"Raise a finger if you can hear me"

Jemima slowly raised her right hand which brightened up Maze. He stood up and walked closer to the door.
"Have enough rest, we will be staying here for long and the man said you're a day demon, enough strength will help build your body to adapt to the sun's temperature " Maze said and walked out and closed the door behind him.

FROM: THE PRIME INSANE UNIVERSE
WRITTEN BY: OLUSEGUN AYOMIDE SHEDRACH


TALES OF LABAKE
Issue Two
Labake sat at the bank of a river deep in the woods and pulled off her shoes, feeling relieved, she carefully deep her legs into the river, feeling refreshed she laid her back on the ground and tilted her head towards where her horse stood, drinking and eating the grasses that were close to it.
All her life had been with the brothers, caring and loving, she never knew what it felt like to have a mother, or what a mother’s love felt like and here she was risking everything to get back to her mother by all means possible and nothing was going to stand between her and this important decision of her life.
The water rippled beneath her feet, and she felt a presence walked out from the river, quickly she got herself up and between her and her horse was a lady, probably in her early twenties also, seated on a rock which Labake was sure wasn’t there earlier.
“A river servant or goddess?” Labake asked and laid back with no sign of fear in her.
“You are the special one everyone has been talking about in various realms” the lady said calmly admiring the courage Labake had.
“Even the gods knows about me, what do you want?” Labake asked and stared at the lady.
“I should ask what takes you far away from your abode, you are a long way away from home” the lady said
“It’s of no concern to you”
“Sometimes, what we think is the answer to our questions and our deepest desires are not worth searching for” the lady said and crossed her legs on each other.
Labake sat herself up and made a funny look on her face.
“You say that like you know what I am up to”
“Well, it is easier to identify someone who is driven by zeal and ambition, but at the end, if what we search for doesn’t have an answer, who do we blame for all our unanswered questions?” the lady finally asked and stood up and continued “Even the gods still have questions that are yet to be answered, the answers we search for sometimes doesn’t count” the lady said and walked into the river and dived in.
Labake scoffed as she pulled back her boots, not putting the words of the strange lady into consideration, all she said didn’t count as words to Labake, she climbed on her horse and geared it forward, forging ahead to her destination.
***
***
Night slowly caught up with Labake, already weary and exhausted from the long ride, she lazily alighted her horse and retrieved her tent from the side and next made a camp fire, after she was done, she treated herself to a bush meat stew and retreat into her tent for the night.
Labake suddenly opened her eyes, and stood up to the footsteps that circled constantly outside of her tent, she grabbed her sword and removed it from its sheath. Paying more attention, she noticed the steps stop, she also paused and immediately the movement began she dived out of her tent, smashing her body at the same instant the movement came at the entrance of the tent.
She rolled hard on the ground and raised her head to see what she had collided with and was surprised as to what it was.
A human dust, which was faceless, known for instilling fear into the heart of their preys, how they feast on the prey, no one knew. Myth only had it that they absorbed their victims into themselves, sucking them dry of their entire system including the bones, leaving no trace.
“I never thought a day like this would come” Labake said with excitement and stretched her hands forward.
The human dust suddenly leaped into the air, launching an attack at Labake, right there in mid air, it got stuck, giving Labake enough time to strike it down, with one single swing of her sword.
She staggered to the left after slaying the human dust, sometimes using her powers took more than enough energy, in which she needed more time to rest and recover every bit of energy she had lost, but today was not the day to give in to any rest.
Returning back to her hut, the words of the girl she met by the river suddenly rang in her head, which made her thought for a while before finally entering into her tent.

AceRoyal:
Sincerely in as much as you're a very good writer the end of this story is anticlimax.
It's as if you got bored of it and hurriedly had to put an abrupt end to it.
The build up and all was fantastic but the ending is very poor in my opinion.
I've been following you for some time and I really had interest in this story, too sad I was really disappointed.

sincerely it was rushed, I am so sorry you found the ending disappointing...