The Village Disciples

With his feathery wings flapping elegantly, Yuso hovered a few feet above the ocean he was just propelled out of, massaging his upper body with his right hand. The boy he was battling with had pulled off an unforeseen maneuver. Like a bolt of lightning, every tendril that had shot outward was able to pierce the redhead's body with apparent ease. As a matter of fact, Yuso was not even able to detect the tendrils as they materialized, nor was he able to sense the boy's sudden release of power.

Fortunately, Yuso was able to heal his wounds. On the contrary, the tears in his black kimono were disappointingly permanent. 

"Was it a curse?" Yuso pondered, peering down at the ocean. "Perhaps a curse that harnesses lightning… a miniscule form of the Lightning Dragon Kanden?"

Yuso never attempted to conceal his vast knowledge of curses. After residing with his previous master, Ryoiki, who stored thousands of cursed items, the redhead had all the required accessibility to instruct himself on what the gods had created for humanity—more specifically, what brought humanity to ruin. 

To think curses were once called "blessings." The thought made Yuso scoff. 

*BOOM!*

Suddenly, a blinding beam of red light emerged from the depths of the ocean, shooting toward the reddish sky. The water around the beam was boiled instantaneously, and anything that touched the beam of light itself was no longer a tangible thing. 

"Even after I struck him down repeatedly, he still retaliates so fiercely." Yuso noted, narrowing his Shirugeto eyes. 

Lunging out of the ocean, Tanjo soared toward the floating redhead with a reeled fist coated with the blue Aura Sense. Effortlessly, Yuso's Shirugeto spun and promptly created a pentagram in the space between them, effectively blocking the jet-black-haired boy's punch. 

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

A few beams of light escaped from the ocean again, directed at the floating redhead. Yuso wanted to laugh at the blatant sneak attack, his eyes spinning once more and forming multiple glowing pentagrams to shield himself. 

"I remember your tricks quite well, boy. You're becoming stale—!"

*KRRSHH!*

Yuso was taken aback by another burst of the Disruption of Reality, which caused him to be thrown back several hundred kilometers. Yuso felt sharp discomfort overwhelm him as a result of Tanjo's attack's rifts that gripped his body tightly. 

"I… can't teleport!" Yuso said with a groping voice, clenching his teeth in pain. 

The rifts seemingly canceled Yuso's Shirugeto, his eyes refusing to spin. 

*CRASH!*

Yuso continued to fly through the air, smashing through mountains. He was unable to detach the Disruption of Reality from his body. It was an immovable and unstoppable force. 

Yuso eventually made contact with his final mountain, being stuck to the edge of its summit. He tossed about on the mountain, perpetually feeling anguish from the rifts. His magic was totally restrained, leaving him utterly vulnerable. Tanjo leaped through the air and caught up to where Yuso had landed, balancing on the mountainside and giving the redhead a stern glare.

"Just.. stop it, Yuso—!" Tanjo attempted to say, his voice breaking as he collapsed to his knees.

As the boy lost his footing, the rifts that pinned Yuso dissipated, freeing the redhead. Tanjo was no longer able to maintain the Disruption of Reality, leading to its disappearance. The Crimson Stalker slowly elevated himself to his feet, tearing off his ravaged kimono. The pentagrams in his eyes were dilated, shaking erratically.

"What did you release, boy!? What curse was that!?" Yuso ordered, glowering at the struggling teenager. 

Tanjo huffed and said, "Pissed that I surprised you with the same thing twice?" 

The boy knew he was treading into dangerous waters by goading the redhead, but Yuso was refusing to explain any of his actions through simple conversation. So, to gather information, a small amount of taunting was required. 

As for the chances of Tanjo being able to survive with that tactic—they were depressingly low. 

"I'll give you one more chance to explain yourself." Yuso exhaled, his muscles tense. 

The boy laughed, "Pretty hypocritical!"

*BOOM!*

If Tanjo had not prepared a barrier using ghost magic before Yuso unleashed an unsuspecting blast, he might have been cooked alive. The mountain began to crack, with layers of stone slipping from its surface. Mother Nature was definitely enraged by this fight. 

Propelling himself through the air as fast as he could manage, Tanjo danced around impending pentagrams that Yuso tossed his way, his body flickering between the yellow and purple Aura Sense. 

'I need to learn how to use more than one Aura Sense simultaneously!' Tanjo fretted, feeling the breeze as the pentagrams whizzed past him. 

Without warning, Yuso teleported inches behind Tanjo, a stone spike protruding from his palm, and lodged the sharp object into the boy's waist. 

"Gragh!" Tanjo spat, his eyes clamping shut from the abrupt force. 

With his other hand, Yuso punched Tanjo in the jaw, sending the boy back out to the ocean and destroying the mountain from the shockwave of the attack. Despite being thrown back to the ocean, Tanjo did not land in the water—but rather on an oddly placed mountain that stood erect in the middle of the salty body of water. 

'Thank you, mountain…' The boy gasped, feeling the stone spike in his waist. 

Biting down on his tongue, Tanjo removed the spike from his body. He thought about using the Disruption of Reality to heal himself, much like he did when he was punched underneath the ocean floor, but the overall bodily affliction he would feel from overusing the rifts would be no laughing matter. 

He instead opted to use his Aura Sense, focusing on the open wound and pouring a significant amount of his magic into that one spot. 

"You seem to attract trouble at every turn, boy." Yuso yelled from above ambiguously, shocking Tanjo.

"What!? What makes you say that now!?" The jet-black-haired boy queried anxiously. 

*WHOOSH!*

Before Tanjo could even blink, Yuso closed the distance between the two of them at the speed of light and hoisted the boy into the air. 

"Let me show you!" Yuso said through clenched teeth. 

Tanjo could feel the oxygen escaping his lungs as he was thrown into the mountain—literally into the mountain. It was in that moment that the boy realized what he had actually landed on and was now being lobbed into. 

A volcano. 

His body plunged headfirst into hot lava after crashing through the volcano's first interior layer. Just a few seconds after Tanjo touched down in the volcano's core, lava started to bubble, shoot upward, and wreak havoc on the little island where the volcano was located.

*FLSSHHH!*

As lava flung out of the earthen vent uncontrollably, Yuso apathetically observed the event from the sky. 

"I'm sure he dedicated a hefty sum of his magic to heal his wound, so the lava should be overwhelming enough to scorch him completely." Yuso murmured, narrowing his eyes, trying to sense any sudden movement. 

Yuso hovered in the same spot for several minutes, wondering if the boy survived. The volcanic eruption was volatile, especially for a weakened boy who still had much to learn about being a warrior. 

"If he had developed that ability he used any more, he would have been a bit tedious to battle." The Crimson Stalker commented to himself, turning away. 

*KABOOM!*

Hastily, Yuso swatted away the incoming debris of what used to belong to the volcano, his Shirugeto eyes narrowing. 

"He lived."

Standing on the island, Tanjo had his head down, his knees bent slightly as he recuperated himself. Lava dropped from his otherwise unscathed clothes. The boy then corrected his poster, craning his head upward and meeting Yuso's gaze. His magic fluctuated, clashing with the diverse Aura Senses. Tanjo was breathing heavily, his veins pumping. 

Yuso made a connection.

"He forced himself to improve in a moment of peril… much like me. Either he has been holding back on me or he was already nearing a higher state of power." The redhead spoke rhetorically, breathing in.

Whether it was a huge mistake or not, Yuso had indirectly given Tanjo a boost of power. The Aura Amalgamation was alive. 

Tanjo felt peculiar. It reminded him of the time he was back in Buraun, when Kit, the kitten he had fostered, died tragically, which triggered the boy to engage in battle while heavily influenced by his Aura Amalgamation. 

However, Tanjo was not driven by blinding emotion. He felt relatively normal mentally, but his body underwent a noticeable change. The magic in Tanjo's body was more potent—far more potent. 

Before Tanjo had made contact with the lava, he had come to the realization that he was plummeting into a volcano, so he erected a thin barrier around his body, shielding him from the intensity of the molten liquid he fell into. Although the barrier managed to protect Tanjo's body from the lava, he was drained, and maintaining the barrier was becoming increasingly difficult with every passing second. 

That was when Tanjo was forced to make a decision: force every bit of magic he had out of his body, which risked melting his innards, or be melted by the lava. The only difference between the two outcomes was the possibility of living—Tanjo had nothing to lose. 

Coincidentally, pushing himself to the limit was exactly what the boy needed. 

Tanjo flexed his hands, feeling the Aura Amalgamation flourish within his body. He felt more alive than usual. 

"You're quite the roach." Yuso said, his Shirugeto spinning.

*SHRRMM!*

A plethora of crimson-red pentagrams flooded Tanjo's surroundings, blocking out everything in sight. It was not long until they discharged potent red beams of light—*BOOM!*—and alerting the boy.

Just before the first beam struck Tanjo, he flickered out of sight, reappearing throughout the air. He deftly maneuvered around the beams fluidly, shooting his own beams to propel himself in various directions. He not only felt more alive, but he also noticed that he had more control over his own body. It was like he had a thousand eyes, a thousand limbs, and a thousand minds. Like a normal Aura Sense, his Aura Amalgamation made everything about him better, but Tanjo's degree of strength was more than any single Aura Sense he had ever utilized.

Was this how the Regashi in the alternate universe felt? Being so strong? No wonder Tanjo has been consistently knocked around like a ragdoll in every fight he has engaged in. He was completely missing out on an entire facet of being a warrior: bodily synchronization. 

Light speed was no longer a problem; Tanjo could maintain his balance, process what was happening, and fight. 

*SMACK!*

Tanjo rammed his knuckles forward, landing a solid blow on Yuso's left forearm as the redhead blocked the punch. The Crimson Stalker could tell that the boy grew in physical strength, his punch shaking Yuso's body. The two proceeded to trade punches and kicks all over again, pushing their durability and wits to the limit. The small island beneath them quaked, and the water surrounding it shook. 

*SHRRMM!*

With one hand, Yuso formed a pentagram that swallowed the volcanic island, quickly forming a second pentagram and throwing the piece of land at Tanjo. 

With wide eyes, Tanjo reflexively reeled his right fist back and punched the island hurtling his way—*KROOSHH!*—causing the land to be blown to pieces and a tunnel of compressed wind to hit Yuso. 

After recollecting himself, Yuso glared at Tanjo, lifted his left hand toward the sky, and conjured a massive red Genso-Kyu. Afterward, the red Genso-Kyu was covered in pentagrams, the potency of the sphere's condensed magic increasing substantially. 

The Genso-Kyu then released a blast. 

*KABOOOOMM!*

The explosion could be seen from beyond Earth's atmosphere, eradicating most of the ocean. With haste, Tanjo formed a Genso-Kyu of his own, one that was colored with the four Aura Senses. 

*KABOOOOMM!*

The same damages were a result of the second Genso-Kyu. 

Tanjo's body was burning. The boy could feel as his bones threatened to melt. 

'This fucking hurts!' Tanjo thought as his face scrunched uncomfortably. 

With his eyes spinning at a rapid rate, Yuso applied more magic to his Genso-Kyu, fighting for dominance in the clash of their magic. This bout went on for several seconds; the water around them was no more, being either pushed thousands of kilometers away or evaporating. 

His Shirugeto started to glow brighter, accompanied by the unexpected growth of his red hair. With the two transformations unfolding, Yuso's Genso-Kyu pulsed mightily, threatening to implode where it hovered. 

Tanjo noticed this, realizing that Yuso was pouring too much unstable magic into his Genso-Kyu. With how potent their beams were, an implosion from either side would cause devastating damage that would spread throughout most of the planet—that was a certainty that Tanjo was unsure Yuso knew. 

'The pain never stopped me before, so it won't now!'

*KRSHHH!*

Tanjo unleashed the Disruption of Reality once again, the rifts tearing through Yuso's red beam. The teenager thought the clash would end the instant he saw his opponent's magic shrink in size, but, somehow, some way, Yuso's Genso-Kyu was able to withstand the Disruption of Reality. Tanjo's blue rifts mingled with Yuso's pentagram-covered Genso-Kyu, warping the magic in unforeseen ways. 

Suddenly, Tanjo's arms started to melt off, the limbs becoming shorter with every second. 

"How is it holding!?" Tanjo panicked, staring at the Genso-Kyu that took the brunt of the Disruption of Reality. 

Yuso's eyes started to bleed as his Genso-Kyu grew larger in size, pain swelling within his head. 

They both messed up severely. 

*KROOOOOOM!*

At that moment, the entire world was absorbed by the explosion.

XXX

I truly had fun writing this chapter! I missed writing Tanjo and I missed writing Yuso, so putting them together in a chapter excites me! WIsh to see the result of their little two-man war? Stay tuned for more!

Have a Great Day!

Peace - Cr1ticalz_