2025-03-09 01:57:58
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The Divine Core CH1: "THE DANCE OF THE DEAD"
In the heart of the Heian Era, Daemons rose with unstoppable force , spreading their influence across the face of the earth with most prominence in Japan. The bonds of shattered harmony unraveled, revealing a world of epic struggles. Mother Nature sought an ideal balance in the world she has created and thus her creation, the bridge between good and evil: Daemons appeared, marking the start of a quest: to restore balance, to rewrite destiny, and to bring peace back to the world. Yet, in a saga forged in strife, a Celestial Storm gathered, opposing the natural order with valour burning brightly… > > > > As the sun dipped behind Tokyo's skyline on a mid-August evening, the city prepared for the annual Obon celebration. Lanterns adorned streets, casting a warm glow upon kimono-clad figures. Families, draped in vibrant yukatas, gathered in parks, their laughter resonating with the r
The Divine Core CH2: "THE PAINS OF OBLIVION"
The transfigured corpses feasted on the bodies of the living. The people cowered in fear. The population of humans in the surrounding area reduced at an arithmetic progression. Kai was left dazed. “Come, dearest grandson, let us live forever in the life after death.” Kai's grandmother requested of Kai. “Leave my son alone!” Mr. Nagano growled, unsure of what to refer to this anomaly as. “Babe, we need to take Kai and get…” He turned around to see his wife getting assaulted by five able-bodied mutants with no place to run to. “Just like the good ol’ days. Am I right, dude?” One of the freaks commented, digging his arms into her breasts. “You said it, man.” Another freak agreed, raising her yukata to reveal her underwear. “No!” Mr. Nagano exclaimed. He dashed forth to save his wife, but was speared by a large mutant. It forced him to behold the spectacle they would make of his wife. “Please, don't do this,” Mrs. Nagano broke. She was helpless, and her husband had no choice but
The Divine Core CH3: "THE POWER WITHIN"
••• ∅ ••• "There comes a point when a dream becomes a reality and a reality becomes a dream…" ••• ∅ ••• ••• Ten Years Later ••• > > Thirty-three masters-in-training gathered to observe a variety of sparring sessions between their sensei, a master of the arts, and a handpicked student. The student took advantage of the opportunity to practice techniques learned against the best of the best. The landscape unfolded in a canvas of flat, well-tended ground. Grassy patches underfoot provided a soft landing for the combatants, while sturdy trees stood at a distance, their leaves rustling in a gentle breeze. The weather, perfectly suited for combat, presented a cool and dry atmosphere. The sun hung high in the sky, casting a warm glow without the oppressive heat. The breeze, just brisk enough to keep things comfortable, carried with it the earthy scent of the surrounding nature. The clear blue sky overhead offered
The Divine Core CH4: "EMBRACING REALITY"
> The home, snug and welcoming, invited Kai inside. Opening the door revealed a comforting space filled with the familiar fragrance of home, wrapping him in a sense of belonging. "Mum, dad, I'm home." "Welcome home, honey." Akari welcomed, visibly happy to see her son back home. "Your dad’s working late hours so he'll be back later tonight— how were classes today? Did you finally beat your sensei?" Akari was ever so curious. Being a good mother, she was well aware of her son’s struggle at school. "Not this time," he replied, saddened by the question asked. "Matter of fact, I'm beginning to wonder if I ever will." "Awwn. Come here,” Akari embraced her son. “Don't worry, dear. You'll get the win sooner or later, okay?— wanna have lunch?" "Nah, I ate out. I need some shuteye right now." "Sure thing, hun." She kissed Kai’s forehead as a final farewell, relinquishing the hold she had on him. He left for his room, tired by the stre
The Divine Core CH5: "AWAKEN"
••• ‡ ••• Once upon a time, I was lonely. Just a basic kid with a basic life. Then I thought, 'what really is the point of life?' 'Cause it seemed like I had no reason to live. Being an introvert really is a pain in the ass, but you'll grow to love the pain. About a month ago, dad came up to me to have a talk… "Now that you're all grown up, I think you're ready to give an answer, right?" he asked me. "Oh dear God, we're doing this again?" I asked reluctantly. "C'mon son, it's about time we got this over with." "Alright, fine," I resented, sighing. "Great!" he said, pleased with my decision. "Now tell me, what exactly is your purpose in life?" "Hmm…." I thought. "As of recently?" "Yeah, sure." "Uhhh…. Hmm…. Let's see…. If I were to have one reason for living right now, it would perhaps be… to defeat Shujin-sensei in battle and prove that I'm not just a punching bag." I meant that as deep as the depth of my soul. "Huh... Well, if that's your purpose, you better start working
The Divine Core CH6: "WAKE UP"
"Kai?" "He's moving!" "Yeah, but he's not awake yet." "I wonder what's going on within him." "A bad dream, perhaps?" His friends wondered as Kai shivered in his unconsciousness. Meanwhile, Kai opened his eyes to find himself in the void with no sign of the mysterious figure. "Still unconscious, I see." Kai realised, looking around to see himself in a void. "Show yourself, man. We need to talk." Suddenly, the void began to display flashing images of past events in quick succession, overwhelming Kai. "Wake up to reality." Images of a crumbling dimension were displayed, and Kai tried to understand what was being shown to him. "I know it's you, man. Come on out, will you?" He called the figure out. "Welcome back, Kai," the mysterious figure greeted. Kai turned to see the figure right behind him. The images soon faded away as if they were illusions. "You…" Kai grunted angrily. "Congratulations," he smiled. "You have tapped into the Power Within." "What did you do to me?" he
The Divine Core CH7: "A NEW BEGINNING"
••• ∅ ••• I never wanted it to be this way. I never wanted it to change. I enjoyed life the way it was before— a life surrounded by friends and family who love you. Heck, I got momentarily punched in the face by an old man or whatever, but it was still alright. But now, at the blink of an eye, well more like in a hand gesture, everything I knew, everything I lived for was gone. You better have a good explanation for doing this Sensei or whoever it is this "authority" seems to be. ••• ∅ ••• Shujin and Kai were welcomed to the world of Daemons. ••• ∅ ••• I admit. This world actually looks amazing. Everyone, everything's just simply stunning. The view, no words. But, that's not why I'm here. C'mon, you think I'm gonna throw off the main agenda just like that? What is this, the medieval times? See, I've got questions, Sensei, and you're the only one who can provide me with some answers. ••• ∅ ••• Shujin called for a ride. "Shujin! Long time no see. How's it going? How long
The Divine Core CH8: "THE CHOSEN DAEMON"
••• ∅ •••I never wanted it to be this way. I never wanted it to change. I enjoyed life the way it was before— a life surrounded by friends and family who love you. Heck, I got momentarily punched in the face by an old man or whatever, but it was still alright. But now, at the blink of an eye, well more like in a hand gesture, everything I knew, everything I lived for was gone. You better have a good explanation for doing this Sensei or whoever it is this "authority" seems to be.••• ∅ •••Shujin and Kai were welcomed to the world of Daemons.••• ∅ •••I admit. This world actually looks amazing. Everyone, everything's just simply stunning. The view, no words. But, that's not why I'm here. C'mon, you think I'm gonna throw off the main agenda just like that? What is this, the medieval times? See, I've got questions, Sensei, and you're the only one who can provide me with some answers.••• ∅ •••Shujin called for a ride."Shujin! Long time no see. How's it going? How long has it
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CH85: "MUKŌ"
Kai unleashed a massive tornado like wind blast to his adversary. Reina zoomed through the attack, closing the distance between herself and her opponent. Kai smirked, launching azure dragons up in her face to which she destroyed with her bolts of lightning.Kai swapped places with Bennosuke for a brief moment and the latter launched a dimensional slash to his opponent, but Reina dodged the attack as Kai had anticipated.Kai summoned two ethereal lions to swallow her whole from opposite directions only for them to suffer electrocution by the hands of the Raijin Clan’s prodigy of the modern era.Kai took advantage of the situation to launch an explosive burst of energy from above his opponent. Reina barely dodged due to her being distracted by the previous attack, but she clapped back with thunderbolt to her adversary.Kai raised the ground below to take the attack for him, and destroyed it into boulders to hurl them towards Reina like swift projectiles. The latter vanished out of sight
CH84: "REINA RAIJIN"
Kai Nagano navigated his way around the craters, moving at a precise speed to spot the location of his comrade, Kenji.‘Where are you, Kenji?’ Kai wondered, flipping above a huge decimated building. ‘I hope you’re alright. More importantly, I hope you’re protecting these humans from a monster like me.’---Kenji crouched behind a shattered wall, stopping to rack up some sort of plan to find Kai. He regulated his breathing, and fine tuned his core energy efficiency as he was burning out from enveloping about ninety percent of the overall Kyoto population into an alternate dimension to protect them from Kaito’s Zenkai.He scanned the area for any suspicious abnormality to be caused by his comrade.“Hold on, Kai,” he murmured to himself, “I’m doing my best here, so don't do anything stupid, will you?”‘Someone has been messing with my technique,’ he thought. ‘I ought to have found Kai long ago, but it seems I've been going in an endless runner game. The sooner I discover you, the faster
CH83: "NEVER SAY NEVER"
Kenjiro and Hayate faced off, and with contrasting resolve, they attacked one another with an outburst of core energy. The resultant effect of the technique destroyed the ground beneath them, and Hayate wielded the power of Susanoo-no-Mikoto to erupt an infinite storm of water to drown the shadow soldier.Kenjiro fought through the wave’s current but the uncontrollable force overwhelmed him. A blue light flashed within the waters, and a kun emerged from the ocean with the shadow soldier riding it on its back.Kenjiro piloted his subdued mythical beast and with menacing speeds, the kun opened its mouth to swallow the target whole. Indeed it succeeded, but Hayate destroyed the very core of the mythical beast with Raijin’s divine lightning.Kenjiro summoned a kraken, taking advantage of his enemy’s domain and utilised its tentacles to grab hold of him. Instantaneously, he summoned two dagons from the ocean to devour the entire being of Kenjiro.In an intuitive defense, Hayate manipulated
CH82: "YOUR END"
Kenjiro Kemonomichi belonged to a forbidden clan that had practiced Seance type techniques. The Taira Clan was responsible for the rise of the Daemon: Yumiko Kurogawa, and they were notorious for breeding powerful Daemons. Kenjiro was not an exception to this fact.The only thing that limited the clan's progress to reaching the apex of power was their individual insufficient well of core energy reserves and their lacklustre understanding in the potential of their techniques.Kai Nagano, with the aid of Kairos's perfect perception, understood the lengths Kenjiro's technique could take him if only used right.However…"Kenjiro-san."The voice of a broken Daemon rang, the sound of a guy torn apart by the body of his best friend crumbling right in front of his eyes."I told you, didn't I, Kenjiro-san?" The Daemon revealed himself as he took his time casually walking towards the Chosen Daemon. "Now just look at what you caused for yourself. Decapitation by the very phenomenon you desired t
CH81: "KENJIRO KEMONOMICHI"
The echoes of the battle had finally faded, leaving a haunting silence in their wake. Kyoto laid in ruins in a manner that spoke well enough to the ferocity of the clash between Bennosuke and Kaito.Smoke curled from the ruins mingled with the scent of scorched earth and shattered dreams. The once vibrant city was now a desolate wasteland, scarred by the ravages of war.Kai Nagano stood at the center of destruction and, with rue and resolution all over his eyes, scanned the vicinity. His enigmatic calm had been replaced with a look of vulnerability. The cost of battle was staggering, but it was a price that had to be paid for the safeguarding of the future.“Man, what the hell am I supposed to do now?” Kai thought out loud. ‘Kenji’s gonna kill me, isn’t he?’Bennosuke regained his consciousness and emerged from the shadows, surveying the damage that had been caused due to his incompetence. He felt the spiritual embrace of Kuronami as it raised his moral never to give up and grow strong
CH80: "KŪDAN"
Kaito Kazutoshi slowly began chuckling, a hint of pride in his demeanor. “Letting underlings do the dirty work for you, huh? You severely underestimate me, Nagano.”The bounty hunter’s attention quickly shifted to the subtle but dominating unsheathing of Kuronami, his new aura more terrifying than the former. Kuronami pulsated a sickening aura of core energy even in its base form. Bennosuke took his stance, welcoming his enemy to dance.“Kuronami.”Bennosuke faded away. Kaito was on high alert. Faster than he could react, Kuronami slithered like a serpent, taking shots at his enemy’s vitals. Bennosuke’s being formed right above the onslaught, front-flipping to land a vicious super axe kick to the head of Kaito, smashing him into the ground.The Strongest Assassin gripped Kuronami by its handle and the latter scored a devastating slash to the head of his opponent. Kaito deflected the trajectory of the blade’s movements and he scored a devastating slash on Bennosuke slashing off the han
CH79: "FUKKOU"
Kuronami was lost in the smoke of his demised wielder. But, it did not seem like the battle was over just yet. As if the magnificent blade had a life of its own, Kuronami rose up and took a stance as if being wielded by a ghost.Kuronami swung himself full arc to cut through the Chosen Daemon, but Kai was quick enough to dodge the strike with a flip over the blade. The attack, as usual, didn’t stop there and Kuronami twisted like a serpent to pierce through Kai’s heart.The entire scene was painted in red, and Kai did his best to rip the blade out of his body. He realised he was only doing himself more damage for his palms nearly cut in two.Kuronami extended, ragdolling the Chosen Daemon from building to building with its seemingly infinite segments. Kai clapped in response, swapping places with one of the brick walls he got drilled into.Kuronami broke through the wall and turned to face the Chosen Daemon once again as it phased in and out of reality.‘What the?’ Kai was amazed by t
CH78: "KURONAMI"
Day's appearance suddenly mimicked the nature of night. Bennosuke had placed a barrier around the district to ensure no one interrupted their battle.The sound of his weapon scraping the earth frightened the Chosen Daemon, their eyes interlocked to one another.Bennosuke appeared like a shadow amongst the shadows, with no sort of fear in his eyes. All that raced in his mind was to claim the head to the awakened Daemon and deliver it to the Mastermind.“We don't have to do this, man.” Kai tried to appeal to the Daemon, but his words didn't seem to penetrate through his eyes at all. “Would you really wanna take the life of your kind? Answer me!”The sound of his weapon seized. Bennosuke stopped moving. He raised up his weapon to showcase all of its majesty. This weapon has murdered thousands of entities, and the Chosen Daemon was about to enter the list.The blade was divided into several segments which seemed to transfigure at any time and season.‘I guess bargaining wasn't an option,
CH77: "BENNOSUKE DŌRAKU"
The two Daemons launched themselves out of the restaurant, destroying the glass windows in the process. The customers and staff alike attempted to chase after the Chosen Daemon, but Kenji halted them on their tracks, constructing a barrier around the restaurant to cage them in for a while.Unfortunately, this attracted the attention of multitudes that were stationed outside the restaurant. The people had instantly recognised Kai's identity. His image was on every city banner and on all posters and fliers, and he was at the heart of Kyoto City.A flaming arrow was aimed at his head, but Kai was quick enough to react to the attack with ease, stopping it with a finger. The arrow collided with his finger and progressively shattered the immensely durable body of the awakened Chosen Daemon.The distraction was set in stone. Kai realised it was a decoy. He turned around to behold a ten ton trailer moving at about a hundred and twenty kilometres per hour with the mindest to demolish Kai, even
