Chapter 25

Douma reached the heart of Tokyo, likewise the once lively city was collapsing in the hands of the alien creatures that humanity is struggling to fend against.

While the alien creatures were running around causing havoc there was nothing he could do about the Winter storm, the consequence of greed and jealousy. The human world was falling apart and even though Douma had nullified the storm it could return. 

No doubt about that, a quarter of the city had been turned into monuments of ice from the devastating Freezing Clouds, that attack alone was the most devastating it had been since his time on Earth. If the battle back at town was enough to unleash one of the worst snowstorms, humanity had to brace for the worse and from the looks of it things were getting ugly fast.

These alien creatures were starved, Douma could tell from their frail appearance; their eyes were dull from the struggle of thriving through sheer cold and their bodies were shriveled. Rampaging through populated areas was their way of satisfying hunger but in the most brutal way possible.

From a far it looked as though a pack of aquatic insects were attacking innocent people, a traumatizing sight for people who feared bugs. Things could take a turn if they were able to infect other lifeforms.

As Douma was about to summon the large ice lotus petals at the scavenging group, one of the vicious members lunged at him if it managed to get to his shoulder the bite would've resulted in a deep gash. But they couldn't touch Douma he was too fast for them, sometimes people would stare at him bewildered by how someone could predict a sudden movement it was beyond human, however Douma didn't care they would've noticed it anyway.

The bug-looking creature growled at him and signaled to its comrades that began rushing towards Douma their saliva burning the ground they walked. 

Douma unleashed two large ice lotus petals that sliced the alien creatures leaving frosted explosions and minced remains of the abnormalities. At the corner of his vision there were rows of tanks on the road fighting off the alien creatures that swarmed them.

The shrine leader glimpsed at Shinobu who was standing in between a row of destroyed stores. She met his gaze and gave a weak smile, she must be very tired from all the events today. After this they will have to stop somewhere and rest for a while.

"You seem tired Shinobu let's find a quiet and relaxing place away from this chaos." Douma said with a confident expression on his face.

"I wasn't expecting to see these things again I was certain we got rid of all of them."

"This isn't the last of them-

They were both interrupted by an explosion that erupted near a damaged vehicle, sending heatwaves outwards from the area.

Douma looked in the direction of where the sound came from and noticed a group of those alien creatures rushing over to someone. That particular spot was covered in flames.

Taking a closer look, Douma noticed a figure in the smoke throwing the alien creatures to the ground with a spear. What shocked Douma the most was how effective the person's attacks were they seemed skilled it was almost as if whoever was fighting those monsters wasn't human.

The person stabbed his spear through two of the silverfish's torso and ripped their bodies to shreds ending his kills with a fiery blow. 

As the smoke faded away Douma got a better look of this person's mastery of fire. It looked terrifying. Even though he was doing people a favor by exterminating the bugs it would still be deemed as threatening especially with the flames rising from the ground that was enough to melt the strongest metals with ease, something that the alien creatures came with. The blazing pulses radiating from the cracks in the floor stood out the most, whenever one of the silverfish got close to it they would start screeching in pain from the burns. 

But that wasn't stopping these alien creatures they were still determined to take down this person and they seemed to have another plan, spraying acid at the wall of flames simultaneously to which the person took notice and incinerated the alien creatures by rotating his blazing spear before the acid could even land on the surface of the raging walls of fire that evaporated every bit of droplets.

Both Douma and Shinobu were impressed by this person's skills there was no denying that but something about him seemed oddly familiar; that orange sweater, brown hair and amber eyes, there was no doubt this person was their friend, Atashi. They finally found him after all the searching.

However there was a problem and Douma had a bad feeling about it. The artifact, Atashi used it didn't he? It was quite obvious his abilities and skills were mainly linked with fire, so was the artifact in Atashi's possession this wasn't just a coincidence. And that spear, where could he have gotten it from? It's been decades since anyone had one of those.

Even if Atashi was planning on taking it to his own hands to save the world, the power he controlled was dangerous. After all the explaining the brat still didn't want to listen, should anything happen Atashi wasn't going to be the same regardless of whether Douma saves him or not, he was hoping to save Eiko's older brother from his own greed and anger.

Atashi turned around and saw the young founder and another familiar face a few meters away from where he stood. The once calm and genuine eyes he had were now full of hatred. Looking into them made Shinobu's skin crawl this wasn't the Atashi she knew he was now a completely different person who wanted nothing to do with them. 

Douma had to stop him if Atashi loses control he could leave the whole city in flames humanity had enough to deal with.

"What do you guys want?" Atashi's voice was cold and monotone.

"We're taking you back," Douma replied trying to maintain the calm atmosphere between them. "Your sister Eiko is ill she's at the clinic. Everyone's been looking for you."

Shinobu could feel her heart pounding against her chest. It was hopeless now, Atashi wasn't going to listen to them he was long gone. Knowing Atashi if he cared he wouldn't make such a rash decision like this. She could only hope Douma would be able to convince him to return to the Hasu Mountains somehow.

"Shouldn't you be attending to Eiko instead? This is something I got to do on my own so stay out of my way."

"Atashi this is no time to be selfish, you made everyone worried and now you're trying to justify your negligence towards your own sister? What kind of brother are you?"

"Shut up! You're the one who started this you're going to regret the things you said." Pointing his weapon towards Douma, the spear's red and beige colors glowed a deep orange that blended in with the remaining flames.

Shinobu jumped in blocking Douma from the sharp weapon in front of him. "Cut it out Atashi what is wrong with you?! Can't you see we're trying to help?"

"Step aside Shinobu."

Turning around in shock, Shinobu looked at Douma who was now holding a serious expression on his face. The thought of what was about to happen next formed a lump in her throat. Everyone was acting so cold she felt like a scapegoat in this situation. Was she just supposed to stand there and do nothing? If so what was the point of her coming all this way if it meant nothing to them.

"B-b-but what if he hurts you?" Shinobu choked out the words.

"No look what's in front of you."

Seeing the spear close to her almost made her fall on her back. Atashi didn't care about her or anyone in that matter. The only thing he cared about was himself. The thoughts racing in her mind made Shinobu shiver. She was starting to question the state of their friendship.

Shinobu moved away eyeing Atashi warily who didn't even look at her once. The spear was still in the exact same position.

"If you think you're such a hero than fight me. Let's see who's the true hero is."

Glancing at Douma, Shinobu shook her head signaling to him that it was a bad idea, fighting wasn't worth it she didn't want anyone especially Douma to get hurt.

"Don't do this."

"I accept your challenge."

Shinobu froze, she couldn't believe the worst was about to happen. She could only stand and watch the horrors that might unfold and there was nothing she could do about it.