Chapter 1 – Questions
Concussive booms and the sharp clang of struck steel shuddered through the air, vibrating deep within the earth as two silhouettes tore across the clear, ancient, azure skies.
Ritokoji Arufa, moved like a streak of dark lightning. Midnight hair whipped in the wind, matching the motion of the heavy, layered grey robes that flowed around his frame.
His massive broadsword whistled through the air, the cold steel collided with hardened flesh. Obsidian accents along the blade gleamed, catching the reflection of the powerful, mysterious, humanoid entity before him.
Combined with a deafening crash and a head-rattling shockwave, Ritokoji delivered a devastating blow that launched the creature across the ravaged landscape. The Doxamorph creature plowed into the desert floor, leaving a molten, smoking crater carved deep into the bedrock.
"Heavens," Ritokoji murmured, landing with fluid grace at the crater's precipice, a cocky smirk tugging at his dry lips. "Did I truly hit you that hard? Please, accept my humblest apologies."
Within the molten crater, the creature's long snow-white hair flowed upward against gravity, contrasting sharply with its heavily muscle-defined, ash-grey skin.
Deep, slitted openings lined its back, pulsing rhythmically as they dragged streaks of raw environmental ryoku directly into its musculature. Webbed cracks at the edges of Its eyes glowed with a blinding solid white.
The Doxamorph rose from the rubble, its bones snapping back into place. Within moments, its pristine, masculine form was restored, though it feigned a brief stumble to test its footing. A wide playful, grin formed on its uncanny, humanoid face,
"Don't get ahead of yourself, human." The Doxamorph spat, its voice dripping with pompous arrogance.
"Aww, don't be like that," Ritokoji mocked, resting a hand on the hilt of his broadsword.
The Doxamorph felt the aftershock of the blow. 'Such strength,' it mused, its thoughts swirling with a predatory delight. 'For a mere human mortal… is truly incredible.'
"I have to admit," Ritokoji continued, dragging his large broadsword along the rocky terrain with a low, metallic hiss as he peered down into the pit.
"You're a bit... sturdier than the filth I'm used to…"
"Haha… Is that so?" The Doxamorph chuckled as its grin widened.
Ritokoji's expression brightened, "Okay! Why don't we continue from where we left off?" His piercing eyes narrowed, "Brace yourself, vile thing."
Ritokoji took a low stance, closing his eyes as his ryoku flared into a blinding torrent of pressure while the air turned heavy. He raised his massive broadsword, then gripped it with the other hand, focusing his ryoku into the cold steel.
Blade Art: Mountain Cleaving Fissure!
The Doxamorph's eyes widened as the sheer density of the incoming attack washed over it.
'That pressure... that technique... could it actually be him? The one I'm fated to—' The Doxamorph caught itself, 'No... I'll wait. It's likely he's not the one.'
It braced itself, hardening its ashen hide.
"With this, I'll grant you a swift death. Cower!" Ritokoji declared, his voice dropping into a deadly, venomous register.
He lunged. The blade swung in a flawless arc, releasing a crescent wave of concentrated Ryoku capable of splitting mountain ranges that tore toward the beast.
Yet, just as it struck, the energy violently split into two separate streams, carving the earth to the left and right of the target as if deflected by an invisible, impenetrable mountain.
Ritokoji's eyes widened as the dust settled. "Impossible... how did you…?"
The Doxamorph stood completely untouched in the center of the destruction, laughing maniacally.
Hahaha,
"Really, you humans tend to kick up a lot of dust, don't you?"
Ritokoji frowned, his grip tightening on his broadsword. "Huh…?"
"Honestly, what was it you intended to accomplish?" The Doxamorph mocked with indignation, wiping a speck of molten glass from its ashen shoulder.
"To stir up a mild breeze?... Do you use that trick to blow out a few lanterns?...
Seriously, you must belong in a wild circus... Your performance was rather entertaining!
Hahaha, to think you actually believed that party trick would grant me my death."
The inhuman head tilted, the creature's expression turned predatory as Its wide grin played on its uncanny face.
"Now that I look closer, you are exactly what I've been hunting for. You're one of those heaven-blessed abominations, aren't you?...
…I thought mere humans stood no chance against me... but I see a glimmer of hope within you." The Doxamorph's tone was filled with impatient joy.
"Yes! Marvelous. I can't wait, I want to see when I get to satisfy my ever so endless boredom."
The beast extended its ash-grey claws directly toward Ritokoji who remained silent the whole time, paralysed by his folly.
"Evensage Progeny!"
A violet purple gale violently whipped around the recently formed canyon, blinding Ritokoji for a split second. He braced for impact, but the wind died down as quickly as it had arrived.
"What... no damage? What– What exactly did you just do to me?"
"Clown— Ah, human," the Doxamorph corrected smoothly, its echoey voice dripping with calm condescension.
"That was merely a branding curse, a beacon used to signal the birth of a worthy descendant. An individual down your bloodline, who might actually put up a real fight instead of a comedic opening act."
"You piece of shit! I'm not done with you! Don't you dare belittle me!" Ritokoji roared, stepping forward to strike again.
"Don't bother," the Doxamorph replied coldly. "Your strength is admirable, but your understanding of the position you're in, is entirely obscure. Human, allow me to bestow upon you the embrace of true power.
Rejoice, mortal. Death awaits."
Reaching into the dark void within its soul, the Doxamorph's eyes flared. The light in the canyon warped as it unleashed its innate technique.
Realm Augmentation: INFINITY'S EDGE.
The world turned inside out. Before Ritokoji could swing his blade, a pocket dimension collapsed around him, swallowing him whole. He was instantly paralyzed, his mind and soul subjected to absolute malice within the Doxamorph's domain.
An ash-grey hand materialized in the darkness, holding a pale yellow banana, gently peeling back its skin. Where Ritokoji stood, his own skin peeled in perfect tandem, exposing the raw crimson flesh and squirming blue veins beneath.
Ritokoji screamed. Then the banana peeled, again, and again. A living nightmare: the sensation of his skin being torn from his flesh, raw and agonizing, over and over again with every single trump of his heart.
The legendary Chief General was reduced to a trembling, whimpering mess on his hands and knees, when the pocket dimension finally shattered and spat him back out onto the ruined Earth, gasping for air as cold sweat drenched his robes.
The scorching, mid-day sun baked the rocky, gibber desert. Gales of wind blew fine specks of sand against the hard terrain. The Doxamorph looked down at him, its expression bored, and utterly detached.
"Don't bother standing back up to fight. Just go home, and copulate with your many spouses to give birth to offspring who can actually put up a fight."
Ritokoji forced his trembling lips into a bitter, blood-spat smile. "I hope… For humanity my descendants... beat the absolute shit out of you." He wheezed.
Ritokojo turned on his heel, he used the last of his failing energy to flee.
'It seems the information that cunning Kasdeja gave me was pretty accurate... Hahaha, oh what a wonderful day!' The Doxamorph thought, its mood ecstatic.
'Now, I'll have to wait for three millenia… how tedious.' the ashen Doxamorph looked up to the azure skies and proceeded to walk into the distance… never heard from again.
***
That Doxamorph was later recorded in the deepest vaults of history under the title –Tenkiroshi -- acknowledged across generations as among the toughest, most mysterious Doxamorph ever encountered by the Association.
***
Driven by a bitter, lifelong grudge and desperate to break the curse, Ritokoji Arufa fathered children with over fifty wives. He possessed an exceptionally potent physical and Soul-body, his vast reserves of stamina allowed him to build a lineage large enough to fill a small city.
Every single one of his children was born a natural-born Auramancer.
However, many mundane humans feared the power Auramancers welded, and were victims to those that abused it…
The line of natural-born Auramancers declined exponentially due to public prosecution, causing the practice of Auramancy to retreat into the shadows, completely hidden from public view.
While whispers of its existence remain in ancient lore, only a select, authorized few are permitted to practice it today.
***
Three Millennia Later: The Modern Era.
Aftermath of the Hamatsu district incident.
Hamatsu prefecture. | 12.30 pm…
The glare of city lights gleamed beneath a brilliant full moon as an athletic, middle-aged man walked down the concrete streets.
He wore a tight black T-shirt and loose grey cargo pants, jet-black hair framing sharp, calculating eyes. He paused, his gaze lifting toward the silhouette of a man atop a high-rise building.
"What do we have here?" A gruff, theatrical voice called down from the rooftop.
"Monkey's aren't supposed to be out this time of day… But locked behind their iron cages… Don't you think, Kogoshi Arufa?"
The speaker stood directly against the backdrop of the massive white moon, wearing a long, black leather trench coat, a tilted half-top hat, and a stark white face mask painted with eerie crescents for eyes and a smiling mouth.
Behind Kogoshi, a low, guttural growl echoed from the shadows. A monstrous, Doxamorph creature with a dog-like head, snapping jaws, a four-legged posture, and a humanoid torso bulging with corrupted muscle... crept out, salivating.
"Haha, Let me guess… the beast is trying to free its little naive son from its cage, Aye Kogoshi?" the masked man sneered from the rooftop.
Kogoshi didn't even bother to turn around. 'Huh… he learnt to command a low-tier stray that crossed the world barrier?'
"Listen, you have something I need. Just hand it over, and I'll be on my way."
The beast behind him roared, lunging forward with claws outstretched.
"Flesh! Flesh! Flesh!"
"Hard way it is, then. Don't say I didn't warn you," Kogoshi muttered with a hint of annoyance.
Without even turning around to face the beast, he threw a flawless, blind back-fist.
The strike connected with the monster's snout with the force of a battering ram, sending the massive creature flying backward through brick walls and concrete.
Kogoshi then ripped a heavy metal streetlight pole clean out of the sidewalk.
He used the pole to vault himself into the night sky, and tackled the masked figure off the roof mid-air. Mid-descent, Kogoshi vanished, reappearing directly above the falling man to drive a crushing downward strike into his sternum.
"One more time!" Kogoshi exclaimed.
The man squealed in midair, "Agh?! You mad man!... Again?!"
The final impact drove the masked figure straight through the building's roof, collapsing through multiple floors before crashing into an abandoned underground parking garage. He lay prostrate in a fresh crater, coughing blood but laughing in twisted amusement.
AHAHAHAHAHA…
"You're something else, aren't yah?" The masked man declared, as his mask partially shattered, now only covering his eyes. He threw something at Kogoshi, who swiftly caught it.
"Giving it up that easily?" Kogoshi asked, his tone indifferent.
"Look, do you want it or not? I'm more than willing to take it back," the masked man, clearly peeved, replied.
"OK, fine," Kogoshi walked away, tossing a heavy card that embedded itself into the concrete floor.
It was a summon from the Auramancer Association: An unusual influx of Doxamorph sightings within the Hamatsu prefecture.
***
On the 37th floor of a high-rise luxury building overlooking the dark perimeter of the district, Kogoshi's silhouette appeared near an open window.
The room smelled heavily of old paper and leather bindings. The space was styled in mid-century architecture, dominated by rich redwood panels and towering bookshelves filled with esoteric knowledge.
A woman with long chestnut hair, wearing a tailored designer dress and silver-rimmed glasses, sat gracefully in a high-back chair beneath the glow of a single reading lamp.
She reached out with her right hand, clicking the dial to bathe the room in a warm, amber light, while she kept her left hand placed on a heavy tome.
Without looking up from the text, she spoke in a casual, rhythmic tone. "That was surprisingly quick."
"That part of the city was already abandoned," Kogoshi responded, leaning against the window frame.
"There was no need to hold back."
The woman adjusted her glasses, her expression turning somber.
"It has been that way ever since the anomaly appeared. Casualties, and others went missing within a forty-eight-hour window."
She turned a page. "As a result, the entire sector had been sealed off and everything was abandoned overnight."
Kogoshi dragged a nearby wooden chair over, sitting heavily near the open window to look out at the dark, silent cityscape.
"Are you aware of what actually triggered all this?"
"Sadly, I don't know. However..." She closed the book with a soft thud, "...According to the Monad Archives, the readings are unprecedented."
She stood up, walking toward a digital terminal.
"There is a massive cluster of unrefined Ryoku floating directly above the epicenter. If its surface tension fails, it is projected to detonate with the force of nearly twenty-four high yield nuclear warheads."
She shifted her posture. "And a highly volatile, rare Artefact was found embedded in the bedrock directly beneath it."
The only explanation for the cluster was if a large enough amount of raw Ryoku was released at once. Though the surface tension itself was sufficient to hold the cluster together."
Kogoshi looked at the destroyed city, his face grim.
"Where is our missing person?" He asked, as his abysmal eyes softened.
She replied, "Ah, yes… Kuroshiraga Arufa, the one individual connected to both the recent Hamatsu incident… as well as the Crossroads incident two years ago."
She sighed with pained annoyance,
"That kid of yours was the only one confirmed missing as all other present at the Hamatsu site have been confirmed dead.
All their corpses were found mummified with either being cut in two or burnt to a crisp…
…Not even remnants of their Soul bodies were found."
She continued her expression colder as she recalled,
"The Ryoku used to mummify the people in the area belonged to a member of the greed sect of the Cult of Dialuna.
While the Ryoku used to Char those corpses belonged to Kuroshiraga…
Speculation within multiple factions claim Kuroshiraga had betrayed The First Mother Balisca and is now working with the rogue terrorist association "
Turning her head she looked at Kogoshi
"Did the array Artefact you 'borrowed' to find him give any information on his whereabouts?"
Kogoshi's face darkened, "I tried… The damned thing didn't even react at all. It's as if both his physical body and soul body vanished without a trace."
"Well you have to hurry up then… The Monard, The Auramancer Association and The First Mother Balisca have put out hefty bounties for him… Dead or alive."
She stretched a little,"the bounty hunters have all gone into a frenzy…"
"I wonder what happened to your little boy shrouded in mystery."
***
In a vast, lightless, expanse, flashes of crimson and white lightning illuminated the void. A young man was adrift within this endless space.
The flashes of light glinted off his striking, silver and midnight hair that was the only thing that could be seen in this suffocating darkness. That and the arms…
Kuro gazed into the abyss and saw countless, disembodied arms of infants and adult humanoid ; male and female alike.
Each of these arms were dark brown with deep gashes that let out black blood mixed with puss. Maggots occasionally squirmed about the open wounds that let out a black putrid miasma.
Kuro floated closer to the sea of flesh, wrapped in soothing, seductive whispers that echoed one's deepest, most desperate, heartfelt desires, hopes, dreams and wishes. Who wouldn't be compelled to listen?
〔 Kuro, Kuro, Kuroshiraga, come closer dear, it's not your fault…..〕
Kuro's face contorted, he couldn't help but clench his teeth. He violently grabbed his hair, barely holding back from ripping them out had he chanted,
"Huh… yes ... yes it—it's not my fault... I didn't do anything wrong… I tried my best!... it was me… it wasn't me… it wasn't me… it wasn't me."
〔 Yes, yes, yes, it wasn't your fault… you did nothing wrong… you tried your best… it wasn't you… it wasn't you… it wasn't you… it wasn't you.〕
Blood-stained tufts of hair slipped through his fingers as he surrendered to the trance, drifting toward the reaching hands.
Suddenly, a blinding fissure split the dark sky. It hung like a jagged blade before erupting into a pillar of scorching, warm light. Kuro mumbled in a trance unable to notice the warm light that cradled him, halting his descent.
The divine brilliance plunged into the abyss, boiling the vile sea. The disembodied arms touched by the light blistered and popped, shrieking as steam and black putrid miasma billowed into the dark. Crimson lightning lashed out in defense, but the light consumed it all.
The calm voices then turned screeching shrills and ravings that overlapped with one another. Pleaful voices of infants, children, women and men all cried out under the holy persecution.
〔 No!… No!… No!… it wasn't our fault!… We did nothing wrong!… We tried our best!… It wasn't us! … It wasn't us!… It wasn't us! … It wasn't us!.〕
The holy light ignored them and continued to burn. Kuroshiraga basked in the warm, holy light. The trance that held him was still there but greatly weakened. His hands which had been pulling at his hair floated by his side. He mumbled in confusion trying to return to the soft whispers.
The darkness lashed out against the light, trying to reclaim its prey. Surging waves of filthy bony hands rose, trying to grab the young man within the pillar of scorching light.
In response, the crack in the sky widened. And the darkness was bombarded. Falling vessels of all kinds crashed into the sea. Trucks, horse carriages, ox carts, and chariots emerged from the crack like meteors. They fell from the heavens and violently exploded upon contact with the black sea.
The blast sent shockwaves through the air. The blazing fires and shock waves sent an upwards spiral of energy back towards Kuroshiraga who floated like a speck of dust in the gargantuan pillar of light.
He drifted like a leaf on the wind, slowly rising as the turmoil sent wave after wave of blasts. The violent explosions had broken the hold of the demented sea that tried to seize him.
The closer he got to the crack the more clear his thoughts became.Upon reaching the crack in the sky, he couldn't help but look back.
'Ha–how?...how did it all come to this?'
Kuro stared in bewilderment at the sea of annihilating fire. The divine light dragged him through the crack. The world went white. His thoughts went blank. And all went deathly silent.
—End of chapter—