The twilight in the village of Hinata-soul dyed the faces of the massive statues of the former Guardian Leaders in shades of orange and purple, imparting a solemnity that Devyus Venomania, the Lord Guardian of that village, found increasingly oppressive.
From his window in the Village Chief's office, he did not see a prosperous village; he saw a sick organism, parasitized by inefficiency and flexible morality. Every crime report, every failed mission, every repeat hunter, every prior threat that he had managed to capture without the option to eliminate it, was a reminder of a system designed to manage chaos, not eradicate it.
That very day, he was summoned for his recent actions and especially for his decision on a new philosophy to safeguard the village, by the elders of the Council; four sages from the North, South, East, and West villages of Hinata-sou in the Fire Nation had called him to the council chamber.
They were the ultimate authority, those whom the Lord Guardian of the Village had to consult to prevent a dictatorship in the village. To him, it seemed tedious and slow for ensuring the best for what he considered, after some years in office, his home.
Devyus approached the council chamber—a room where the elders sat in their tall chairs while the person presenting their case, or rather the defendant, stood at the center.
He was near the room when he saw them: his sisters, the demon twins, were already waiting at the door. Both greeted him and opened the council chamber door, allowing him to proceed alone. He stood in the middle of the grand room, surrounded by all the elders. He saw the four elders seated in their respective places, looking at him with disapproval.
"The solution is not complex," Devyus declared, taking the place of the accused. His voice, clear and cold as steel, broke the heavy silence of the council chamber. He leaned on the podium at the center of the room. "It is a matter of pure logic. We do not prune weeds; we uproot them. Crime is not rehabilitated; it is prevented. And the absolute prevention is the elimination of those who commit the criminal act. A systematic, methodical, and complete purge. No prisons draining our resources. No second chances turning into third and fourth offenses. Only… absolute order."
The staff of one elder struck the wooden floor with a dry crack that sounded like a gunshot. "Lord Guardian! That is not justice, it is a slaughter! It is heresy against everything our village stands for! For generations we have maintained the order of our nation and our village, our philosophy is millennia-old—we are based on forgiveness, protecting all, even those who stray, to guide them back!"
"Guide them?" Devyus' smile was thin and humorless. "The philosophy you speak of has left us generations of orphans, of pain, of scars that this village bears like a slab. I offer a new path. One that ensures those orphans do not exist, that pain is not inflicted. A future where the only blood shed is that of those who consciously and deliberately choose to sow chaos. For years I have protected this village from multiple threats, many of which have killed many of our comrades and caused extensive damage to the village and thousands of families," said Devyus, recalling all his battles, "and several of those threats remain in the 4th Guardian's cells; some have been released to be a threat again."
Several elders shook their heads, a voice filled the room with horror. "That is not compassion, Lord Sixth. That is the philosophy of a demon. We will never support such a decree. The council will oppose it unanimously. Forcing it would be… an act of tyranny."
Devyus observed them, his amethyst eyes, inherited from a lineage they could not even conceive, analyzing them coldly. He did not see protective sages; he saw stubborn relics, clinging too tightly to a romantic and failed ideology to see the brutal elegance of his solution. The seed of pure reason had fallen on barren ground. And seeds that do not germinate… become a threat to the gardener.
"I understand your position," he finally said, his voice regaining a deceptive calm. "I apologize for wasting your time. I will submit the proposal for… further analysis."
The elders visibly relaxed, interpreting his retreat as a victory for reason. They withdrew with courteous but relieved bows, leaving Devyus alone in the council chamber, which now felt like a cell.
There was no deeper analysis. Only an immediate certainty. If they saw him as a tyrant, they would act to contain him. His "revolutionary idea" had made him the number one enemy of the very order he sought to perfect.
Devyus opened the heavy doors of the Council, where the twins were waiting at attention.
"Everything in order, Oni-sama?" asked the older sister, her crimson-red skin contrasting with her beige military-style uniform, her skirt immaculate, her striped stockings, emerald-green hair tied in a high ponytail, and her yellow feline-iris eyes.
"It is possible that we must depart within hours, as I predicted, Catherine," he replied, hurrying with them to his office where everything was already prepared. "Katherine, what information have we received from our source?"
"Yes, Oni-sama," said the younger sister, who like her elder sister had yellow feline-iris eyes behind rectangular glasses. Her cobalt-blue hair was styled in twin tails, contrasting with her beige military uniform, dark tights, and tight skirt. "Our source confirms what Oni-sama anticipated: the remaining 12 guardian generals have been notified along with the security forces of their containment."
Upon arriving at his office, a coldness unrelated to the night greeted him.
In the shadows of the main hall, two figures awaited, motionless like statues of judgment. Catherine drummed her perfectly lacquered nails against her arm impatiently. Katherine, enveloped in severity, adjusted the bridge of her glasses with a precise click, her gaze sharp as a scalpel even in darkness.
"The council meeting report is already circulating, elder brother," declared Katherine, her voice a razor of ice. "Rumors brand you as… unstable. Did the inferior minds reject impeccable logic?"
"They dared to challenge us?! To challenge you?!" Catherine erupted, her clenched fist thundering against her palm. "We should purge them first! They are the most obvious tumor!"
"Silence!" Devyus' command was not a shout but a lash of demonic authority that cut the air, making both sisters straighten instantly, like soldiers before a general. "This is not the time for indignation, it is time for action. By rejecting the idea, they have labeled us as the main threat. At this moment, security forces are not being sent to request clarification. They are being sent to neutralize us. Our stay in this village is over; it is likely that even a guardian hunter or a Captain Guardian has already been sent after us."
The gravity of the situation hit them. Katherine frowned. "The perimeter defenses, barrier seals… Escape will be nearly impossible."
"It will not be," said Devyus, tearing off the heavy white robe and letting it fall to the floor like discarded skin. Beneath, he wore only the black pants of his combat undergarments. He took his long violet coat and put it on. "Because we will not escape alone. Together. You will perform Soul Fusion with me. Become my weapons. Remember, they are still our subordinates; the attacks are not to kill but to clear our path. I wish to neutralize, not massacre. Many of those soldiers were once my subordinates. Their loyalty is to the village, not to the counselors. They do not deserve death for doing their duty."
The request was monumental. Soul Fusion, an ancient demonic technique, was a special skill. In general, demons distrusted all other species, especially their own. This technique involved transmuting one's own essence and merging with another demon to adopt the form most useful to the dominant demon.
This could be counterproductive for the demon being fused, as the dominant one could absorb the soul of the one transformed into a tool. Therefore, this was the ultimate expression of trust and synchrony for their species—a temporary fusion of essences.
The twins exchanged a glance. Doubt was a virus foreign to their programming, but the order was clear. They nodded in unison, their expressions turning determined.
"As you command, elder brother!" they shouted, their voices merging into one.
A dark, vibrant crimson aura enveloped the sisters. Their forms desmaterialized into a whirlwind of pure energy, compressing, entering their brother's body and then exiting, reforming with a sound of vacuum-forged metal and resonant crystal. Where moments before stood two women, now floated two impossibly designed, threatening pistols. One, vibrant red with golden details and an aggressive barrel (Catherine). The other, deep black with silver details and precise, deadly lines (Katherine).
Devyus extended his hands and grasped them. A familiar, synergistic, immense power flowed through his veins—the power of imposed order, inflexible justice, and unbreakable familial loyalty. It was a power that Hinata-soul had rejected, a power used many times to protect the village, now to escape it.
The main mansion door burst inward in a shower of wooden splinters and twisted metal. Three female figures in pink kimonos (apprentice guardians at lieutenant level, known as hunter-guardians) with masks—badger, fox, raccoon—lined up at the threshold, tense, hands on their weapons.
"Lord Venomania! By order of the Council, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit acts of high treason and sedition! Surrender peacefully!" shouted the leader, her voice distorted by the fox mask.
Devyus did not respond with words. He raised the pistols, feeling the hum of his sisters' energy in his hands. "Order Shooter: Non-Lethal Mode," he ordered in a whisper only they could hear. Though hunted, he still considered them his comrades, so harming them was imperative.
The weapons came alive. Not with the deafening roar of gunpowder, but with a sharp, piercing buzz, like enraged metal bees. From the barrels emerged pure purple energy projectiles, designed not to pierce flesh but to overload the spiritual and physical energy circulation systems and collapse the nervous system.
ZAAAP! ZAAAP!
Purple flashes briefly illuminated the room. The woman with the badger mask fell first, hit in the chest, convulsing violently before collapsing, unconscious. The raccoon-masked, tall, muscular woman raised a shield of earth, but Katherine's projectile passed through it as if it did not exist, striking her shoulder and spinning her into the wall before stopping.
The leader, the black-haired woman behind the fox mask, was fastest. She dodged the first shot and lunged with a katana gleaming in her hands. Devyus moved with a speed that defied his human form, narrowly avoiding the slash. Catherine's second shot struck the woman's back just as she started another move. A muffled scream, a spasm, and she too fell, paralyzed.
Devyus breathed deeply, the ozone scent of energy filling his lungs. Three of Hinata-soul's finest hunters, neutralized in seconds. Not a drop of blood spilled. He carved a path through the village defenders he once swore to protect, toward a freedom he had forged through exile.
He exited through the window of what was now his former Lord's office, while he and his sisters made their way through several apprentice guardians and hunters. In the nine buildings surrounding his former office, nine figures began running toward the mission assigned to them: to detain the former Leader of Hinata-soul, approaching ever closer to their target.
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