'Ugh, where the hell am I? My body feels like it's been pulled through a cheese grater,' I thought, feeling ripples of pain move across my body. Opening my eyes, I saw I was in a large forest surrounded by tall trees and huge creatures, and for some reason I was moving.
'Wait, how am I moving, I'm not even using my leg—WHAT THE HELL?!' Looking down I saw tiny legs and feet dangling in the air, with a masculine arm wrapped around my stomach.
"WAAAAHHHH!" I cried out involuntarily, before a large hand covered my mouth.
"Kid, do me a favor and shut the hell up or else we will get slaughtered by the Cursed Spirit army sent by your uncle." Looking up, I saw a man with dark hair and a neat beard, trees passing by him quickly as he ran through the forest.
Suddenly he moved his arm, and a purple liquid splattered his face. Looking at his hand, I saw the head of a blue creature caught within his grasp, lacking the rest of its body.
'Holy crap! Did this guy just rip a cursed spirit's head off with his bare hands?!' I thought in awe, before the man holding me abruptly came to a stop, his face twisting into a sneer.
"It seems that Tenma's lackey has strayed far away from home. Don't tell me you're here to pick a fight you can't win." He said, looking straight ahead.
Turning my body to get a better view of what was going on, I saw a red-haired man in a white robe standing in the grass across from us, with a bunch of grotesque blue creatures floating behind him.
"I see you haven't changed, Ryu, you're still rebelling against the clan… but to do this, well, this is too much even for you. To kidnap the former clan head's son like this… the new clan head won't like it at all." The red-haired man commented, his posture lazy and filled with confidence as he took a step forward.
Whoosh
My eyes widened as he vanished before he could even finish the first step, and a loud bang resounded across the forest. The man holding me—Ryu—had his arm pressed against the other guy's arm, before the other guy quickly backed away.
'Why did he back away?' I thought, watching as the other man leaned towards his left as a line of air passed by him and hit a tree, leaving a deep gash. 'Well, I guess that's why.'
Boom
My surroundings blurred and by the time my eyes refocused, I was up in the air looking down on Ryu and the other man trading blows straight out of a martial arts movie. Each blow sent ripples across the air and left marks in the ground, destroying the earth.
"Cursed Spear." A sharp spar comprised of blue energy swirled and formed in Ryu's hand, and he vaulted it at the other man. The red-haired guy tried dodging, but the spear grazed his shoulder and sent blood flying across the grass.
Soon I began falling from my height in the air, and one of the grotesque cursed spirits lunged at me to grab me, only to get sliced apart by one of Ryu's techniques.
'His technique is similar to Cleave and Dismantle… wait, he made a spear though, so what is his ability?' I questioned in my head, before realizing I was still falling.
'NO WAY! I'M GONNA DIE!' I screamed internally, my body tensing up in preparation for impact with the ground, only for it to never come.
'Huh?' An arm was wrapped around me preventing my death. Somehow Ryu had caught me and saved my life. I opened my mouth to thank him, but sound without words erupted from my lips. It was then that I looked down and noticed I was in the body of a baby.
'Motherfucker! You're telling me that Joker guy pulled me from watching season 3 of SpongeBob just to throw me into some baby?!' I yelled mentally, cursing that weird guy for bringing me here.
"Hey," Ryu said, interrupting my thoughts. "If I die here, just know that Tenma, your uncle, killed your father and your mother in order to take over as the clan head. If it's any consolation, he might only disable you to prevent a claim against his seat."
Ryu began to chuckle after saying that, and his head snapped back due to a blow from one of the cursed spirits.
'What kind of consolation is that, you shitty old guy.' I thought, before Ryu suddenly spun around and launched a powerful blow at the cursed spirit, blowing its head clean off.
Then while he was distracted, three more came and chomped down on his arm.
"AHHHH!" He yelled in pain, before yanking his arm out and kicking the three curses to the side of their heads.
Splat
Their heads were blown apart and brain matter spilled across the grass and the trees, and the red-haired guy capitalized on this moment to attack.
"Cursed Spirit Detonation!" He shouted with a wicked gleam in his eyes and a grin on his face as he ran towards us. Suddenly the bodies of the cursed spirits on the grass near us began to bubble up and expand rapidly, before exploding with a strong force.
"Shit!" Ryu yelled, turning around and shielding me from the blast, causing his back to take the brunt of the force. Then he was pushed to the ground by the red-haired man, who began to punch him fiercely.
"Give me the kid, Ryu, or I will kill both of you right here! You know me, and I never make jokes!" He screamed, raining down punches with each word he spoke.
'I'm going to die,' I thought, as the punches came down harder and harder.
'I don't want to die,' I realized as Ryu began to scream in pain and beg for mercy.
'Get away…' I thought as blood rained down on me and clouded my eyes.
'GET AWAY!' I yelled within, and something escaped from me, and the life-threatening blows raining down upon Ryu by the red-haired man suddenly stopped.
BOOM
Ryu stood up, and through my blood-filled vision I saw his fist raised up in the air, right above a headless body. After a few seconds, the head of the red-haired man came down from the air and was gripped by Ryu, before being crushed like a watermelon, blood and brain matter spreading everywhere.
Ryu looked at me with interest. "Hey kid, what the hell was that?"
That was the last thing I heard before blacking out again.
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Authors Note: This is chapter 2, the next chapter there's going to be a time skip so we can get the ball rolling and give the MC the ability to speak.
For those wondering, Tenma is the MC's uncle, the red haired man is his lackey who possesses an innate technuiqe called Cursed Spirit Dominion, essentially he can flood cursed spirits with his cursed energy and subject them into his dominion, and create biological reactions like explosions within cursed spirits.
For those wondering why I went so in depth on a dead guy, let's just say that I have OCD and a compulsion to justify the abilities of all characters within my works, and who knows, this guys ability may be relevant for a future arc.
If you guys have any questions drop them, and drop them stones if the rides been good so far.
Oh also, Ryu's innate technique and the nature of his cursed energy is pretty cool, and we'll get into next chapter.