Chapter 3

He looked down at his body, glancing over the sight of black and red charred skin bubbling.

“It…burns!” He screamed out in agony.

The intense flames around him began to swirl around the room in a controlled fashion and focused into his body, as if he was absorbing the flames.

Once the room was free of flames he stood up and examined the damage, thinking of how impossible it all seemed.

“What’s happening to me?” He let out.

Outside of the collapsing house, the men stood in shock after hearing Kiramaru’s cries and seeing the flames disappear.

“Hey Koga what the hell just happened?”

“Beats the hell out of me…” He said angrily.

“Isn’t it obvious, the witch probably realised what happened and is fighting back!” One man exclaimed.

Date stood back with a hesitant expression,

“We’ve already taken things far enough, if he really is a witch, then we should leave things at that.”

“Oh, is that right?”

Koga punched Date in the face, sending him falling back on to the ground with a bloody nose.

“You really are only a sack of shit Date; I suppose we have to deal with you before we kill that witch. We can’t have you running back and fighting against us later on again, can we?” Koga said menacingly.

The men lifted their tools and began closing in on Date, surrounding him. Two of them held him down while the others kicked him in the ribs.

The men standing above Date began emitting a dark purple aura, flaring up a red glint in their eyes.

“Ack! Uugh!!!” He wailed.

“Hold still you scum!”

Kiramaru stumbled around as he made his way over to his sister’s side, holding her arm with his charred hands.

“Umi…Umi is…she’s alive?”

Her breathing was faint even though her body was in worse condition than Kiramaru’s.

“That’s right, as I promised!”

Ko’s voice was racing through Kiramaru’s head and caused him to have an intense headache.

“What are you doing…in my head. Get out!” He cried out.

“Not yet, there’s one thing you need to do for me first. Step outside. Step outside now!”

The tones of voices grew menacing.

The voice became more intense and unbearable with each passing moment, compelling him to simply obey it and do whatever he could to make it stop.

Koga pointed his torch at Date, about to burn his face with the lively flame before he caught sight of Kiramaru in his peripheral vision.

“Oh it looks like the witch is alive and walking after all, most of you anyways. All burned up and still alive, we’ll be sure to finish you off properly!” Koga boasted.

Kiramaru gripped his head with both hands and almost collapsed from the pain.

“Get…out!” He yelled.

Koga stepped away from date, focusing his attention on Kiramaru.

“Let’s kill this thing while we can.” Koga smiled.

“Now kill them; their deaths will make for excellent sacrifices!” Ko commanded.

Kos voice had become so potent in Kiramaru’s head that it became damaging with every word.

“You demon…I won’t kill anyone! Get out of me now!!”

“You won’t kill them, even though they killed your precious Umi?” Ko stated.

At that point, Kiramaru became a bit more focused on Ko’s words, and stopped fighting him off as much.

“Think about it, your sister could have woken up some day but because of them, she died a young and pointless death.”

Kiramaru slowly relaxed his restraint over his mind. Over time Ko’s words began to seem less intense and rather became soothing to hear.

‘They killed Umi…?’ Kiramaru thought.

“You heard them, as the flames ate you from the outside to the centre of your core. What did you hear, sending you off to the afterlife?” Ko asked.

“That laugh…these bastards killed her…You took everything from me!” He shouted.

Kiramaru let out a monstrous scream that was followed by large black flames emitting from every inch of his body.

As the dark flames covered over his body, patches of skin began forming all over the surfaces of his arms and legs. In only mere seconds his whole body had been healed but remained buried under a large mass of flames, constantly in motion around his body. In a vortex of rage and intense motion.

His eyes filled with black and left only his burning red iris which focused on Koga and his men.

“Kill them.” Ko whispered gently.

Kiramaru burst forward in a hot rage, and punched one of the men with all of his might. As his fist made contact with his body, a mass of flames instantly spread around the man; burning his skin and clothes.

“Aaarrgh!”

“You bastard, I’ll kill you!” another man yelled.

He ran up to Kiramaru with a sickle, swinging it into his head.

The blade broke on impact and only slowed Kiramaru down from attacking him. He grabbed the broken handle and spread flames across it, burning the man up into a charred corpse.

He and his flames became an entity of pure chaos.

“You…I’ll kill you with my own hands!” He said while glaring at Koga.

The man holding down Date let him go as he ran off in terror, hoping to escape.

Kiramaru grabbed a thin beam of wood form the floor and hurled it to the man, impaling him in the back.

Koga and Kiramaru were left standing opposing each other, while Koga laughed out to him.

“It’s a pity that the other one had to die with such a pretty face, I almost wish I could have kept her alive to use as a play-thing! HAHHAHA!” Koga laughed menacingly.

Kiramaru’s flames flared in relation to his growing anger.

He burst forward and closed in on Koga, driving his open hand into Koga’s stomach. Kiramaru’s hand broke through his body, releasing the flames into his body.

“You’re no witch, you’re a…demon-” Koga muttered.

Koga’s body burnt up into a cloud of ash, crumbling away.

A small orb of light appeared from the ash and floated towards the house, followed by orbs from the other men.

Date stared in horror at the demonic figure, standing within fire over him.

“I’ll kill…I’ll…I don’t want to!!” Kiramaru bellowed in pain.

The orbs harmonised into a beam of light within the house. Moments later Umi walked out of the collapsing structure, gripping the soft torn rags over her naked body.

“U…Umi?” Kiramaru paused.

Tears rolled down his eyes, shrinking into lines of steam before they are able to reach his cheek.

Her body had completely recovered back to its milky quality and lively state, the difference was night and day.

“This is where we cut it short.” Ko said joyfully.

The flames around Kiramaru burst out, snuffing themselves in a sudden pulse of power. He stood confused and slightly drowsy from all of the mental exhaustion, as if a great mental pressure had escaped his mind.

A lump of white sludge poured out from his chest, leaving the surface of his skin and fell to the floor.

“Blaaargh!”

The sludge expanded out and wrapped around Umi, restraining her entire body.

“Kira-” She said as the slime covered her face.

As her body squirmed around weakly, the white substance began shrinking down until it eventually entered her body. Through her nose, mouth and skin; the sludge forced its way into her.

“No, Umi!” He yelled out.

Umi stood upright and stared up to the sky, admiring the collection of stars with a pearly smile.

“I’ve made it.” She said in awe.