"In order for thee to obviate the seal on thy strength, continue thy search for wisdom thy ancestors concealed behind. For these transcripts will only be unveiled on thy perception."

"Alright, back on its trail," spoke an older Hoshi.

It had been 4 months since he left Hirishima and Sharon to embark on his sole journey of finding all the missing messages located on this side of Pandara. This insight was given to him by a certain rough red book, which now had a few less empty pages than when he first attained it.

At that moment, he was running through a dense forest with long trees that had thick faded trunks and high up branches. There was an intense fog covering every inch of the humid woodland with nothing visible beyond 20 meters. Hoshi's body not only got taller but also built up a lot more muscle. He was in his usual get up, made to fit his new body with proper tailoring. In addition to his signature scarf, he had several orange-brown leather armor pieces all stitched together on his torso, shoulders and deltoids. He was carrying his large brown rucksack containing camping and hunting equipment.

He glanced in the directions of both his shoulders and reached for the katana he received from Hirishima as a gift which was sheathed in its red wooden saya (scabbard) wrapped against his left lower oblique. The medium sized katana had an almost mirror-like blade with its shiny silver finish and the red wooden tsuka was covered with a soft yellow rope. The Habaki (Blade collar) was made of red painted metal and the Tsuba (Guard) had a silver finish.

After unsheathing his weapon, Hoshi halted just ahead of the fresh corpses of a few men and women wearing leather armor and greaves. The corpses had large claw wounds on their bodies with substantial portions of their flesh and innards ripped out, suggesting a gruesome attack from a massive beast. The blood still flowed like a ravine from the bodies, soaking into the moist dark ground.

"Here it comes," mumbled Hoshi as he looked straight ahead, waiting for something to show up from the fog beyond. He held his katana in a slightly higher position, showing his confidence.

Suddenly, a large silhouette of a ferocious beast was visible through the fog, slowly moving towards him. Hoshi didn't waste a single second and climbed up on a tree on his right. He purged on a branch and waited for the beast to reveal itself.

Once the fog cleared and a ray of light of the fresh dawn squeezed its way through the leaves of the trees the beast was revealed to be a large bear with dark grey fur, massive claws and eyes that had a glint of red in them. The beast raised its body and shook the trees with its roar.

Hoshi locked his eyes at the bear's head and leaped on it before vertically impaling the blade of his katana in its skull. He infused some of his aura in this sudden attack, making it easier to penetrate through the beast's thick skull. Once landed, he used his legs to jump from the bear and sliced its entire scalp off. Copious amounts of thick murky blood splattered out of the sizable wound on the head. The bear roared in pain for a moment and then instantly fell to the ground and bit the dust.

"Alright, now back to that old man."

Hoshi hurried towards a small and devastated village just outside the forest of Fukai Kiri which was a misty woodland that once inhabited a rare 'Alpha Kemono'. The village had a few shops rebuilt and reopened with some wooden houses lined up quite disorderly. Most of the structures were either completely burned up or utterly destroyed but the people still living there worked hard every day to ensure their village's restoration.

Hoshi walked through an abundance of open space in between the structures towards an old bar at the northern corner. The fully risen sun revealed the alert and cautious expressions of the various people towards him. They wore ragged clothes mostly and many were malnourished to the bone.

The wooden bar Hoshi walked in had a western style double door, a few metal lanterns on front, black tinted windows and a large sign on the side. The sign had a bow and sword illustrated around a wolf's mugshot with red eyes. The entire bar was very dusty but was in better condition than most of the other houses.

Inside, there was a wide wooden counter with an array of broken wine bottles on its back rack. Quite a few wooden stools and tables both destroyed and intact were scattered all around. There was a notice board covering the entire right wall with ripped pages attached. Heavy dust proliferated every inch of the interior that made the notice board totally unreadable. On the back, there were three rooms. One was the universal bathroom, second was the owner's office and third was a kitchen.

Hoshi opened the squeaky door leading to the owner's office and found a really untidy room with a small metal table in the centre. There were a few paintings of various beasts and people wearing leather armour. Again, because of the filth, they were barely visible. Red cushioned couches filled the remainder of the room and a really old man wearing loose brown robes and a large feathered hat sat on one of them. His face proliferated with wrinkles and had dark circles below his drooping eyes.

"Back already? There is no way you defeated the Õkibo Guruma that quickly! Do you have any idea how many of our skilled hunters bit the dust against that bastard's claws!?" the old man exclaimed.

"Do you hunters even work out? Compared to the demons, these beasts are nothing," said Hoshi as he took out the grey bear's head wrapped in a white cloth from his rucksack and tossed it on the metal table.

"Well I'll be damned. You really are something else. You remind me of another young man, despite only having a single eye he took down the Alpha Kemono with the help of an old friend of mine," the old man recalled.

"What happened to them? More importantly, what exactly happened to this village?" questioned Hoshi, curiously.

"Well my friend died during that very hunt, we used to think he was just all talk but he proved to me that day he had true strength. The young man however, I have no idea what happened to him. He used to visit the village from time to time with his loved one but suddenly a time came when he just disappeared after she died. As far as the village goes, I heard it got destroyed by a group of invading bandits. I was away at that time, that's how I survived," the old man replied.

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"That's terrible. (Looks like the demons aren't the only ones taking lives here) I would love to hear more but what about the information you promised?" spoke Hoshi, impatiently.

"I remember, you want to know the meaning of a phrase I still don't know where you heard from. What was it again?" the old man asked.

"Next, seek an enclosed mirror sitting in between three midori clones. Inside, water does not vanish without leaving deadly traces."

Hoshi opened and read from his red book.

"An enclosed mirror between three midori shades. I have been thinking about this ever since you left last night. It must be that large cave that is located between three large almost identical mountains capped with lush green trees. That cave has a ton of adamantine in it, giving its insides a very reflective look. Also the water thing must be referring to the various stalagmites and stalactites that have formed inside it over the years," the old man stated.

"What is adamantine? Also aren't stalagmites and stalactites rock formations that are formed in the course of thousands of years by water droplets?"

"Indeed. Adamantine is a very rare and exotic metal, it is said that the cave that holds it actually came from outer space as a meteorite. The metal itself is exquisite for forging blades and shields of all kinds but only the finest blacksmiths can even come close to handling it," the old man explained.

"If it's that rare, why don't people extract it from that cave and sell it? How is it still there?" queried Hoshi.

"That cave has a name, it is called the Cave of Fenikkusu. As the name suggests, it is home to the most fearsome creature in the mountains, the 'Ao Fenikkusu'. The said creature is actually a huge blue Phoenix that possesses numerous magical abilities and its lore suggests that it can actually control the alignment of rocks as it wishes." The old man shivered in fear as he spoke.

"That is beyond cool I must say. All the more reason to go there!" Hoshi excitedly said.

"You have a death wish or something kid? Yeah you are strong but we are talking about a literal Divine beast here. It will end you in mere seconds if you challenge it," the old man stressed.

"Why do you care what happens to me? Besides, this will be a great test of my strength and how far I have come with my training. And if I can't beat this creature, I don't think I will be able to wipe out the entire demon army." Hoshi determined.

"Fine, just don't say I didn't warn you. The way to the mountains is directly south from here. Follow the signs to the city of Hyõkõ and seek the guildhall, there you will gain more information about the creature and possibly gain some insight on its weaknesses. It's your call if you want to risk your life but know this since you cleared our biggest threat, you are always welcome in Heiwa village if you change your mind," the old man concluded.

"Thanks. May we meet again. Just don't kick the bucket before that day, old man." Hoshi smiled and bid the man farewell before leaving the bar.

"I am not that old!" the man yelled but smiled afterwards as Hoshi left.

After following a sign on a wooden pole saying, 'Follow the high trail towards the origin of the flowing spring to get to the mountains' just outside the entrance to Heiwa village, Hoshi began his ascent on the said path. After a few minutes, the ground gradually became more leveled and he noticed a moderately large field behind a small wooden house. Both were abandoned and their condition was abominable. The field was all dried up and didn't have a single crop to account for while the house was all dusty and broken apart.

Hoshi walked past the house but halted once two graves caught his attention. The gravestones of both were lined up parallel close to one another, a little far from the right side of the house. The one on the left had the name 'Fujikawa Katashi' while the one on the right had 'Fujikawa Hoshiko'. Hoshi bowed and paid his respects towards the two who left this world.

"(So this is that place. Sir Hirishima told me about Tamura and these two poor souls) You have suffered a lot in this cruel world, I hope you will find peace and happiness in the next life."

Prayed Hoshi before picking back the trail.

A few days of traveling later,

The sun had just rosen up, shining through the thick bushy tall trees with green leaves. Walking through the orchestra of an endless spring and birds chirping, Hoshi spoke, "Man this trail is really long. I am done with the meat of squirrels and rabbits, I need some good food."

The trail was mostly composed of ascending and descending through a dense forest with an abundance of green coloured bushes. Through this vegetation, a mysterious person was running swiftly towards Hoshi without him realising it. Just a few seconds later, both collided and fell on the ground.

"What the hell? Watch where you are going pal!" The man wore a brown hood protruding from his upper wear while his loose trousers were of grey colour. He had leather armor only on his chest and right shoulder.

"What are you talking about? You bumped into me first!" argued Hoshi as both of them got up.

"Wait a second, Hoshi!? What are you doing here?" After having a look at his face, the man recognized the one he bumped into.

"That hood and a voice you just can't take seriously. Xiang!?" inquired Hoshi.

"It's me." Xiang took off his hood to reveal his burnt up face which had a smile on it.

"Well, aren't you stoked to see your best master, I mean friend after such a…."

Hoshi interrupted Xiang with a punch straight on his cheek that made him fall once again.

"You stupid brat! What was that for?" yelled Xiang while holding his cheek.

"That's for breaking my wooden sword," replied Hoshi, coldly.

"I know. I know. I deeply apologize for that. As I wrote in that letter, I had to beat my way out of the mess I got trying to get back the damn thing," reasoned Xiang.

Hoshi's serious face turned into a laugh which infuriated Xiang.

"What's so funny?

"You haven't changed a bit, my friend." Hoshi forwarded his hand with a smile.

Xiang smiled back and accepted the support to get back up on his feet.

"Can't say the same about you. You look way beefier than before. What the hell do they feed you?" asked Xiang.

"Do you really think so? Maybe it's because of all the meat I am eating these days," pondered Hoshi.

"Meat? That's right! I totally forgot about the game I was hunting because of you! What am I going to feed my mother now!?" shot Xiang.

"I have some rabbit meat in here. You and your mother can have it if you want." Hoshi pointed towards his rucksack.

"Really? Thanks! You know what? Come with. My house is nearby, I will let you taste my mother's out of this world cooking." Xiang offered.

"(I have never seen him this joyous before. I am glad he found a new purpose in his life) You bet!" Hoshi excitedly replied before the two took a turn towards the right through the bushes.

End of the chapter twenty-eight.