The next morning, Leo and Kotaro found themselves standing in one of the Fuuma Clan's training grounds.
The area had been cleared out completely.
For good reason.
The last time either of them transformed, an island almost ceased to exist.
Aoi stood before them with her arms crossed.
Ryuji sat nearby with a drink.
Several elders had also come to watch.
Mostly because nobody wanted to miss this.
Aoi looked at both young men.
"To transform, you must feel the power of the Demon Mark."
Leo nodded.
Kotaro nodded.
Aoi continued.
"Once you have done that, you can fully transform."
Leo raised a hand.
"Question."
Aoi sighed.
"Yes?"
"We accidentally unlocked it."
"Correct."
"We accidentally transformed."
"Correct."
"We accidentally turned back."
"Correct."
Leo pointed at Kotaro.
"So we're basically trying to recreate an accident."
Aoi closed her eyes.
"...Unfortunately yes."
Kotaro rubbed his forehead.
"That sounds incredibly Fuuma."
"It is."
One of the elders coughed.
"Historically speaking, that's how most Fuuma discoveries happened."
Everyone looked at him.
The old man shrugged.
"What? Half our techniques were discovered because somebody did something stupid."
Nobody could argue.
Even Aoi couldn't.
Ryuji started laughing again.
Aoi immediately pointed at him.
"Don't encourage them."
"I'm not!"
"You absolutely are."
"I absolutely am."
Aoi sighed.
"Moving on."
She looked at Leo and Kotaro.
"Close your eyes."
The cousins obeyed.
"Feel your Taima Particles."
They did.
"Feel your own energy."
They nodded.
"Now feel deeper."
The training ground became quiet.
Wind moved through the trees.
Minutes passed.
Nothing happened.
Then—
Kotaro opened one eye.
"Am I supposed to feel something?"
"Yes."
"I feel hungry."
Aoi's eye twitched.
"That is not the Demon Mark."
"Oh."
Leo kept concentrating.
Then spoke.
"I hear screaming."
Everyone froze.
Aoi blinked.
"What?"
Leo tilted his head.
"Not bad screaming."
"How is there good screaming?"
"I don't know."
Kotaro looked at him.
"You are not helping."
"I know."
Aoi pinched the bridge of her nose.
Why were all Fuuma men like this?
Then suddenly—
A pulse erupted from Leo.
Pink energy flickered around him.
The Demon Mark on his body glowed.
Everyone became serious.
Leo's eyes widened.
'There it is.'
For the first time since Nomad, he could actually feel it.
Not the transformation.
The source.
Something sleeping deep inside him.
Something ancient.
Something connected to every Fuuma before him.
The power stirred.
Then vanished.
Leo blinked.
"...I lost it."
Aoi nodded.
"Good."
Leo stared.
"Good?"
"You found it."
Kotaro immediately understood.
"Ah."
Aoi pointed.
"You are not learning to transform."
The cousins looked confused.
She continued.
"You are learning how to find the door."
That actually made sense.
A rare event for Fuuma training.
Aoi looked at Kotaro.
"Your turn."
Kotaro sighed.
Then focused.
Unlike Leo, who approached things through instinct, Kotaro approached them through force.
Five minutes passed.
Nothing.
Ten minutes passed.
Nothing.
Then—
Blue ice suddenly spread across half the training field.
Everyone jumped backward.
Kotaro opened his eyes.
"...Oops."
Aoi looked at the frozen landscape.
"Better."
Kotaro smiled.
"I found the door."
Ryuji stood up.
"Excellent."
The cousins looked at him.
Ryuji grinned.
"Now we're moving to phase two."
Neither liked that smile.
Leo pointed.
"Why are you smiling like that?"
Kotaro nodded.
"Yeah, that's a dangerous smile."
Ryuji's grin widened.
"Because phase two is combat training."
The cousins relaxed.
"Oh."
"That's fine."
Ryuji cracked his knuckles.
Then the Taima Particles around him exploded.
The pressure alone shook the training ground.
Every elder immediately stepped back.
Leo and Kotaro froze.
Ryuji pointed at himself.
"You two are going to learn how to use Devil Trigger."
His smile became feral.
"By fighting me."
Silence.
Leo looked at Kotaro.
Kotaro looked at Leo.
They both came to the same conclusion.
"We are going to die."
Ryuji laughed.
"Now you're getting it."
Kotaro looked at him.
"But Uncle, you don't even have a Devil Trigger."
Ryuji cracked his neck.
Then he drew his sword.
The instant the blade left its sheath, the ground beneath him trembled.
Cracks spread across the training field.
Stone shifted.
Dust rose into the air.
Earth-element Taima Particles flooded the area.
The pressure alone made several younger clan members step backward.
Ryuji rested the sword on his shoulder.
"True."
He grinned.
"I don't have a Devil Trigger."
The grin widened.
"But I have 40 years of experience killing things bigger than me."
Leo looked at his father.
"...Fair enough."
Kotaro nodded.
"...That's actually worse."
Aoi raised her hand.
"Begin."
The moment her hand fell—
Leo and Kotaro vanished.
Boom!
The two cousins attacked from opposite directions.
Leo came from the left.
Kotaro from the right.
A perfect pincer attack.
Ryuji didn't move.
Clang!
Clang!
Both swords were blocked by a single swing.
The shockwave blasted outward.
Leo's eyes widened.
'Strong.'
Kotaro's eyes widened.
'Really strong.'
Ryuji smirked.
"Too slow."
The next moment—
Boom!
His foot hit Leo's stomach.
Boom!
His elbow hit Kotaro's chest.
The cousins were launched across the training ground.
Several trees exploded.
A large rock shattered.
Both immediately got back up.
Leo spat some dirt.
"Okay."
Kotaro cracked his neck.
"Now I understand why Aunt Aoi married him."
"Because he's handsome?"
"No."
"Because he's terrifying."
Leo nodded.
"Fair."
Ryuji pointed his sword at them.
"Less talking."
The earth around him erupted.
Massive stone pillars shot upward.
Leo jumped over one.
Kotaro sliced another apart.
The training field became a maze of stone.
Ryuji disappeared.
Leo immediately reacted.
"Above!"
Kotaro looked up.
Too late.
Ryuji dropped from the sky like a meteor.
Boom!
The impact created a crater.
The cousins barely escaped.
Ryuji landed smoothly.
"Good instincts."
Leo grinned.
"Thanks."
His arm transformed into claws.
Kotaro gathered ice around his sword.
The temperature dropped.
For the first time, Ryuji's smile became serious.
"That's better."
The battle intensified.
Leo rushed in close.
Kotaro attacked from range.
Years of fighting together showed.
They naturally covered each other's blind spots.
Whenever Ryuji focused on one, the other attacked.
Whenever he blocked one attack, another followed.
For several minutes they actually managed to push him back.
A single step.
Then another.
Then another.
Several elders started blinking.
One whispered.
"Are they actually doing it?"
Another nodded.
"They're forcing Ryuji backward."
Ryuji heard them.
He sighed.
"Now you've done it."
Leo immediately froze.
Kotaro immediately froze.
They both knew that tone.
Ryuji planted his sword into the ground.
The entire training field shook.
Mountains in the distance rumbled.
Earth-element energy exploded outward.
For a brief moment, it felt as if the whole world had become heavier.
The elders immediately jumped away.
Aoi calmly sipped tea.
She'd seen this before.
Leo stared.
"Dad?"
Ryuji smiled.
"Yes?"
"Were you holding back?"
"Obviously."
Kotaro looked horrified.
"How much?"
Ryuji thought about it.
"About ninety percent."
The cousins stared.
The elders stared.
Even Aoi paused for a second.
Ryuji looked at them.
"What?"
Leo pointed accusingly.
"That's not training."
Ryuji laughed.
"No."
He raised his sword.
"Now the training starts."
The cousins immediately felt their survival instincts activate.
Neither had unlocked their Devil Trigger on command yet.
But as Ryuji started walking toward them—
Both suddenly felt the Demon Mark stirring.
Because apparently the fastest way to awaken hidden power...
Was realizing your father/Uncle might actually beat the power into you.
The moment Ryuji started walking toward them, both Leo and Kotaro felt it.
The Demon Mark.
Not awakening.
Not exploding.
Calling.
Like something deep inside them was saying:
"You are in danger."
"Do something."
Leo looked at Kotaro.
"You feeling that?"
Kotaro nodded.
"Yep."
Ryuji kept walking.
Sword resting on his shoulder.
Completely relaxed.
Which somehow made him even more terrifying.
"You know," Ryuji said, "when I was younger, your grandfather used to train me."
Leo immediately didn't like where this story was going.
"Okay?"
Ryuji smiled.
"He threw me off a mountain."
Kotaro blinked.
"What?"
"He said if I survived, I'd learn something."
"What did you learn?"
Ryuji thought for a moment.
"How to survive falling off mountains."
Aoi nodded.
"It worked."
Leo pointed.
"Mother, that is not helping."
"It worked."
The elders all nodded.
"It did work."
Leo looked around.
"Why is everyone here insane?"
One elder answered.
"Generational trauma."
"Fair."
Then Ryuji vanished.
Leo's eyes widened.
Too late.
BOOM!
His father's fist slammed into his guard.
The ground beneath Leo shattered.
The force launched him across the training field.
Before he could recover—
BOOM!
Kotaro got hit next.
The ice-user skipped across the ground like a rock thrown over water.
Ryuji appeared between them.
"Again."
The cousins groaned.
Then charged.
This time they attacked together.
Leo transformed both arms into claws.
Kotaro covered his sword in ice.
They attacked from opposite sides.
Ryuji blocked Leo.
Then immediately caught Kotaro's blade with two fingers.
The entire training field went silent.
Kotaro stared.
"You can do that?"
"No."
Crack.
The ice shattered.
"That's why I broke it."
Kotaro immediately jumped back.
"Okay that's worse."
Leo's arm suddenly shifted.
Tendrils erupted.
Dozens of them.
They shot toward Ryuji from every direction.
Ryuji raised an eyebrow.
"Creative."
Then he stomped.
The earth exploded upward.
Stone walls erupted around him.
Every tendril slammed into rock.
Leo clicked his tongue.
Then froze.
The Demon Mark pulsed again.
Stronger this time.
Pink energy flickered across his arm.
Not enough to transform.
But enough to notice.
Ryuji saw it.
"Good."
Leo blinked.
"What?"
"You're getting angry."
"That's a good thing?"
"Normally no."
He pointed his sword.
"But for this? Absolutely."
Kotaro suddenly landed beside Leo.
The same thing was happening to him.
Small fragments of ice were appearing around his body without him realizing it.
The air temperature was dropping.
Ryuji nodded.
"There."
The cousins looked confused.
Ryuji pointed at them.
"Stop trying to transform."
"What?"
"What?"
Aoi stood up.
Realization crossing her face.
Then she smiled.
"You figured it out."
Ryuji nodded.
Leo looked between his parents.
"Can somebody explain?"
Aoi crossed her arms.
"You two are treating the Devil Trigger like a technique."
Kotaro frowned.
"It isn't?"
"No."
Ryuji pointed at Leo.
"When you transformed against Kotaro, what were you thinking?"
Leo thought back.
The fight.
The panic.
The pressure.
Then—
"...I wanted to stop him."
Ryuji nodded.
He pointed at Kotaro.
"And you?"
Kotaro looked away.
"I wanted to prove I could control it."
"Exactly."
Aoi smiled.
"The Demon Mark doesn't respond to commands."
"It responds to conviction."
Silence.
The cousins processed that.
Then immediately realized the problem.
Leo groaned.
"Oh, that's vague."
Kotaro groaned.
"That's extremely vague."
Ryuji laughed.
"Welcome to Fuuma training."
Then he pointed his sword at them again.
"Now."
The earth around him erupted.
A mountain-sized pillar of stone burst from the ground behind him.
Every elder immediately moved further away.
Leo looked at it.
Kotaro looked at it.
Then both looked at Ryuji.
"What the hell is that?"
Ryuji grinned.
"Motivation."
The cousins immediately felt the Demon Marks react.
Because apparently the path to mastering a legendary bloodline power was still the same as it had always been.
A Fuuma elder explaining absolutely nothing.
And then trying to beat the answer into you.
Leo ducked under another swing.
The shockwave tore through the training ground behind him, splitting the earth apart.
Kotaro wasn't doing much better.
An ice wall he had created lasted all of three seconds before Ryuji shattered it with a punch.
The cousins jumped back.
Breathing hard.
Thinking.
Trying.
Failing.
'Think on what Dad said.'
Leo narrowly avoided another stone spike erupting from the ground.
'Think of that feeling.'
Nothing happened.
The Demon Mark remained silent.
'Why!?'
Then he stopped.
Just for a moment.
And realized something.
He wasn't trying to stop Kotaro that day.
That wasn't why he'd transformed.
He was trying to save him.
The realization hit him like a truck.
Back then, he'd seen his cousin losing himself.
Seen Nomad turn him into an experiment.
Seen someone he considered family slipping away.
And he'd wanted to pull him back.
To protect him.
Protect.
The word echoed in his mind.
His thoughts drifted.
Not to battle.
Not to power.
Not to victory.
To someone.
Asagi.
The image appeared in his mind.
At first he saw her in her Taimanin uniform.
Sword drawn.
Flames around her.
Strong.
Fearless.
Then the image changed.
It wasn't a battlefield anymore.
It was home.
A normal morning.
Sunlight through a window.
Asagi standing in a kitchen.
Her hair tied up.
An apron over casual clothes.
Humming to herself while cooking breakfast.
Smiling.
Relaxed.
Happy.
Safe.
The image hit harder than any battlefield memory.
Because suddenly Leo realized something.
That was what he wanted.
Not power.
Not glory.
Not becoming the strongest Taimanin alive.
He wanted that.
A future.
A home.
A family.
Peace.
And if something threatened that—
Something inside him answered.
The Demon Mark pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Then exploded.
Pink flames erupted around Leo.
The ground cracked beneath his feet.
The air trembled.
His eyes widened.
'There it is.'
For the first time, he wasn't forcing it.
He wasn't chasing it.
He wasn't trying to command it.
He simply knew why he needed it.
The energy surged through his body.
Across the training ground, Aoi's eyes widened slightly.
Ryuji immediately noticed.
Kotaro felt it too.
And looked over.
Leo stood motionless.
Pink fire swirling around him.
The Demon Mark glowing brighter than ever before.
Ryuji smiled.
"There."
Aoi nodded.
"He found it."
Leo opened his eyes.
The flames intensified.
This time they weren't wild.
They weren't unstable.
They obeyed him.
Not because he controlled them.
Because they agreed with him.
The power wasn't answering his strength.
It was answering his resolve.
Ryuji pointed his sword toward him.
"What do you see?"
Leo didn't answer immediately.
He thought of Asagi.
Of his family.
Of everyone in the village.
Of the life he'd built over the last seven years.
Then he smiled.
"A future."
The Demon Mark erupted.
The pink flames shot into the sky.
And for the first time since awakening it—
Leo transformed willingly.
To be continue
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