Chapter 2: The Broken City

Saike looks around, walking through the city, thinking about what could have happened here. As he goes in more and more, he begins to see bramble twirled around the rubble. It's jet black, and starts to cover everything when he goes in deeper. He takes out Kuroba to start slashing through them, since it has gotten so dense that blocks his path. He squeezes through the bramble, and comes upon a person. Or he thinks it is. He stays quiet, as it growls and pants, walking around the area. It almost looks like a person, but with the bramble covering its body, and it has deep purple eyes that almost have a faint light. Wait, how do we know what his eyes look like? It pounces on Saike, catching him off guard, making him fall to the ground. He tries prying it off of him, as it tries to scratch and bite at him. After a couple seconds of trying, he grabs Kuroba and tries to slash his head off, but the blade gets stuck in the middle of it, so he rips it out and slashes as hard as he can, breaking through the thorns, and cutting off its head. He gets up, only with a couple scratches on his arms. As he continues, he sees more of the "bramble people" we will be now calling them. Saike jumps onto one, and hacks at its neck, until its dead. But that action alerts the rest of them, and there's a lot. He smiles.
Saike: Bring it on
They don't respond.
Saike: ...right..
He forms a blood katana in his left hand, as Kuroba stays in his right, and he jumps at the first one, quickly ripping off its head with both swords, and starts slashing through the whole mob.

After a couple minutes, he realizes there are too many for him to slash through, and begins to get overwhelmed by the hoard, which try to rip and tear at his skin. All hope is gone, until he hears a soft female voice.
???: Rolling flame~
The hoard ripping and grabbing at Saike suddenly burst into flames, as someone grabs him by the arm and pulls him out of the pile. The group of bramble people run in all directions, like chickens without heads.
Saike: hey-
She shuts him up, and drags him behind some rubble. He looks up to her face, and it takes him back to his childhood. “Saike!” She yells
“Saike!”
“SAIKE!”
Another voice yells at the boy. He’s but a small child, in front of the throne again. A towering figure stands before him.
“Y- yes Father?”
He leans down, closer to the child. "Do you realize what you have done?" He nods slowly in response, but the man yells at him anyways. "YOU EMBARRASSED ME, AND YOUR WHOLE FAMILY TODAY, YOU DISGRACE!"
"B- but-"
"BUT WHAT?!"
"H- he started the fight.."
"OH, EXCUSES, EXCUSES, OF COURSE HE DID!" The child begins to tear up, and the man waves his hand to the guards, in a motion to take the boy out of the room. The guards follow the command, and grab him by the arms, dragging him out of the throne room and into his 'bedroom'. Its a small room without much in it, just a small bed with a nightstand, and a little bit of light. They slam the door behind, and he waits a little while for them to leave, but eventually sneaks out of his room, and outside the palace. The child scrambles through his pockets to find a small piece of paper. A map, showing him a safe place. He walks through the streets, the reds and oranges he's seen a million times before still enchant the world around him. Loosely following the map, he comes upon a small encampment on the outskirts of the capital. Walking through, he sees multiple people who died and ended up in hell, the wounds from their death still fresh.

He looks for a specific tent, a bigger one than the rest, and eventually comes upon it. The child opens the flap, where a woman stands over a table, head aflame. She looks behind her, and sees him. "Saike! There you are!" Saike smiles. "Ember!" He runs over and hugs her. she hugs him back. "I thought you weren't gonna show up today bud, you're a bit late"
"Well.. I just got into a fight.. and he was mad at me.." Ember frowns "That sucks.. but I betcha roughed that kid up, eh?" Saike kind of nods and shakes his head at the same time. "He was really strong.. I almost did it but he beat me.." "Aww.. well.. you can always train here if you feel weak"
"You're the best!" Ember smiles. "Now, are you hungry? I can make your favorite!"

He begins to tear up, it had felt like an eternity since he had seen her, and she smiles, seeing her child.
Saike: E- Ember.. I thought you-
She hugs him tight, like she did in his childhood.
Ember: I'm so glad you're ok..
She helps him up off the ground.
Ember: Lets get out of here.
Saike listens to her, and follows her through the broken city. She puts her hand up to her mouth, and blows flames at some of the bramble in the way.
Ember: So.. how long has it been?
Saike: I've lost count, over a thousand?
Ember: Jeez.. anything interesting happen in your life in those years?
Saike: Yeah, I killed an angel, killed a r---ist, had a family, met some friends, died at some point.. its been kind of an eventful life..
Ember: Oh, you got a family? Any kids?
Saike: Yeah, I have four
Ember looks at Saike in shock.
Ember: Four?! How do you even manage that..
Saike: Well.. my wife helps out a lot with it. She's amazing. What about you?
Ember: I've been fighting for the revolution against the war. Thats really all my life has been since it started. Except.. I found this kid.. She reminds me of you, when you were one, so I gave her a home. At least until the war is over. She says she needs to find someone.. as soon as she can get out of hell.

Saike: Huh.. alright..
He slashes the way ahead for her, which reveals a hulking figure. Saike stares at it, making out details from the darkness. It looks almost like another bramble person, but much bigger, and is wielding an ax-
Just as fast as they see it, Ember pulls him behind some other city rubble.
Ember (whispering): We don't want to mess with him.
Saike: him?
Ember: that.. was.. the most powerful leader of the defiant order, in the first division
Saike remembers back to what Hakri had said. About him being in the fifth division of something with that same name.
Saike: He’s strong, so what? I can probably beat him
He almost gets up, but she pulls him back down.
Ember: Saike. Don’t. He doesn’t have ANY humanity left, his brain was taken by the bramble. He will kill you.
Saike scoffs at that: Fine, I won’t fight him, but what now?
Ember: You’ll see
She grabs a collection of sticks and touches them to her head, which turns them ablaze. She then throws it the other way they’re going, and it looks back over to the flaming pile of sticks, and runs over to it. Ember grabs Saike by the sweater and swiftly runs towards the other side of the area. She squeezes through a small gap through some rubble, and so does Saike.
Saike: phew..
The two hear stomping towards them from behind.
Ember: …how fast can you run

The thing uses it's broken axe to chop through the rubble they crawled under, and they run as fast as they can away from it. It yells and groans as it stomps towards the duo, Ember grabs Saike and pulls him to the left, and the thing still follows.
Ember: We need to go to the right, then left, and then right!
Saike: Uh.. Sure!
Ember: You don't remember any of that don't you?
Saike: Nope!
Ember sighs, and pulls him to the right, and it crashes into a building, stunning it for a brief second. The two gain some distance, but it just comes stomping after them again. Ember pulls him to the left, then to the right. Eventually, they see light at the end of the figurative tunnel. Ember runs as fast as she can, Saike does as well, but he feels a pain in his back. He realizes it’s the thing a axe, and he’s flung into a building on the side.
Ember: Saike!
Saike dashes out of the building: That’s it buddy.
He unsheathes Kuroba and throws it at its “face”. Kuroba returns to Saikes hand, connected by blood strings. He searches for some sort of weak point, but before he can do that, it slams its axe into his side, causing him to crash into the building next to him. He jumps back up.
Saike: Hydra!
Three blood hydra heads spew from his back, snapping their jaws. He lands on its back, and just begins slashing at the thick armour and bramble. The hydras bite and try to pry the armour as well. Except one. He’s looking around.
Saike: HEY! SANG! BITE!
The hydra head, Sang, stops looking around and helps out the other heads. The thing screams and wails, and eventually shakes Saike off. He tumbles to the ground. The hydras try to bite back, but it grabs one of them, one hand on the upper jaw and one on the lower, and rips it in half. Saike gets back up, and seeing this, jumps at it again, Kuroba over his head, and brings it down on its head. The sword exudes dark energy, creating a white contrast to the dark environment. Saike eventually pushes hard enough and it stumbles back.

He runs back to Ember, putting the hydras away, and pulls her with him to the exit. They run out into the hellish environment, finally getting out of the broken city.
Ember, panting a little: Good job.. back there Saike..
Saike: Thanks.. Ember. Where are we going though?
Ember: Oh, We’re going to the place you grew up in! I still live in that encampment, it’s just changed a bit since the war started.
Saike: Cool!

Meanwhile, in the palace, Shochu sits on his throne, eyes closed. His staff, engraved with an eye, glows.
Shochu: He’s with her.
A lady, wearing a very nice dress, stands next to him.
???: And what are you going to do about it?
Shochu opens his eyes: Send the order after him, strip him of his powers, they’ll surely kill him.
???: May I join, father?
Shochu: Of course, 私の小さな蝶
She smiles, a demented smile.

The duo walk towards the encampment. The walls around the camp are covered in bramble. Saike is confused by this. But they walk through the entrance nevertheless, and see a bustling encampment, people running into and out of tents with papers and weapons alike. She guides him through the crowd, until he stops. He sees something. He stops following her and pushes through the crowd. The yellow hair.. the waviness.. he gets to the child, and spins her around. It’s her. He’s finally found her.

Chapter 1: imgflip.com/i/9kp4x9

Chapter 3: imgflip.com/i/9puam8

Very good!

Thanks

A N N E ?

Y O U L L S E E

It's gotta be

Little rough but you cooked

How DARE you
*kills myself*

/j thanks man

Time to read chap 2 before chap 1 !

Oh nvm it's in the comment I'm f**king braindead-

👍

Thanks