When a human is born, the first thing it does - without ever being taught -is cry.
Every single one of us enters this world in sorrow, in fear, in need.
A cry is ancient. Inherent. Primordial.
Yet in that moment,
I could not cry.
My mouth opened,
but nothing came out.
My body stood still.
My mind emptied.
My heart forgot how to beat.
Was Grandpa dead?
My vision trembled.
How…?
A cough - wet, ragged – cut through the silence.
Grandpa was alive.
Barely.
He pushed himself upright, hands trembling against the rubble. Blood streamed down his forehead, soaking his hair into a dark maroon sheet. His chest rose and fell in broken gasps. His left arm hung limp, purple and swollen like a dead limb.
His body was collapsing.
He spat blood, chest heaving, eyes scanning the devastation that stretched across Fortiche. Buildings, bodies, lives- ruined because of their battle.
"I have to end this… before more people die," he muttered.
Thunder rumbled. Heads lifted. The clouds groaned.
And Vulcor descended.
He floated above the ruined town, an axe forged of blood and flame dripping sparks from its edge. Fire and gore had become indistinguishable on the blade.
He was bleeding.
Just a trickle… but enough to prove he could be harmed.
"This is your end." Vulcor's tone didn't waver. He wasn't gloating. He was stating a fact.
Grandpa wiped the blood from his lips. "Can't even take a break," he chuckled through clenched teeth, though we both knew he was barely standing.
Lightning curled around his feet once more.
The bells rang — again.
Were they warning the town?
Or screaming in rhythm with the chaos?
Grandpa dashed toward Vulcor, his silver trail and Vulcor's red flame twisting together in the sky — light battling fire. He struck, dodged, parried.
He was fast…
too fast for Vulcor to land a blow…
Yet every movement cost him. His injuries dragged at him. His breaths shortened. His steps faltered.
Vulcor paused.
He understood.
"How pathetic.. Frail and weak," Vulcor murmured, gaze darkening. "Still trying to protect vermin?"
His voice shook the heavens.
He felt mocked.
"It seems you have not realized… Susanoo."
He raised his hand.
"I shall remove the nuisance."
The sky tore open.
"Heavens Fall."
The same attack that obliterated our home now bloomed above Fortiche.
Flaming meteors blazed across the night sky, blazing brighter than stars, ready to swallow everything.
"To think you would go this far, Vulcor."
Grandpa dropped from the air, landing before us.
"I will protect you,"
"My final stand." He sighed.
He lifted his sword to his lips.
"Breathe," he whispered.
The blade shivered, turning into a silver serpent that slithered across his arm, up his shoulder, around his body- merging with his flesh.
His eyes slit like a serpent's.
Scales rippled across his skin.
Silver hair gleamed once more.
Two horns parted through it.
That was the first time I saw it.
Spiritual Manifestation.
He raised his hand to the sky.
"Sacred Ground: Scaled Fortress!"
Silver scales erupted from the earth, forming a colossal barrier that encased Fortiche in armor.
Then he looked at us — eyes glowing like moonlit blades.
An angel.
He smiled softly, placing a hand on my head and another on Giyu's shoulder.
"Take care of him for me, Giyu."
"And you, be good. Grandpa will return."
He turned away. His scales flowed down his arm, reforming into a sword.
What followed was not a fight.
It was a dance between God and Death.
Grandpa's blade cut gracefully, lightning trailing behind each stroke. Vulcor's swings tore the sky, every strike a calamity.
Mountains split.
Streets crumbled.
Reality buckled.
Grandpa grabbed Vulcor by the face, blitzing through mountains before slamming him into the earth.
Vulcor rose—bloody, furious.
"O Forgotten One… you dare defy destiny?" he hissed.
"For that, you shall pay. Not with death~"
His lips curled.
"But agony."
He vanished.
A scream shattered the air.
A woman fell to her knees— shaking, pleading.
"Please… I have a child - !"
Giyu flinched as he recognized the sound.
"Aunt..", he muttered, his eyes tearing up in horror as he looked into the distance.
Vulcor staring down onto his aunt with no recognition of her humanity.
"Pitiful."
"I shall free you of misery."
"Judgement."
A pillar of flame ripped through the center of Fortiche. The earth convulsed. Buildings collapsed. Bodies turned to ash.
Silence didn't follow. Silence died.
Screams replacing it.
It was as if a natural calamity had struck Fortiche..
Thousands.. Dead in an instance.
Terror. Grief. Ash. Blood.
Bodies flew through the sky, burned to ashes. Black clouds emerged.
"It's over…" a child whimpered, clutching a severed arm... his mother's... while staring at the burning sky.
But it wasn't over.
He appeared again.
Right before us.
The atmosphere got heavy and dark.. and as I looked up.
His burning locks flickered in the wind glaring back at us, his crimson eyes staring into my soul with disdain.
"Death has come."
He lifted the hammer.
Grandpa looked down from the sky — horror etched on his face.
Giyu stared, frozen - not out of fear, but at the sight of his aunt's death.
My body moved without my mind.
I grabbed Giyu's arm and ran.
The world shattered around us.
It was pointless.
"Hell's Impact."