The glaring waves of light slowly disintegrated after a few seconds, uncovering both the fighting parties to each other once again.

Kento and Keiichi were still standing even though the beams were so furious that they flashed the eyesight of Kento's buddies and the remaining arcane Scarletshades, causing them to fall onto their knees.

"What just happened?"

Kumiko spoke slowly while returning to her original position, while Kento immediately retreated to his team when the atmosphere slowly started to clear up.

"Guys…."

Yamazaki suddenly started to blubber. Surprise and astonishment were present in his words, barely being able to smoothly generate his messages.

Kento yelled at him for unintentionally disturbing him when trying to help his teammates.

"Yamazaki, what is wrong with you?"

Yamazaki gasped, with fright and astonishment in his eyes, strengthened with a tensed face accompanied by sweat beads, providing all the people with the necessary curiosity to switch their sights to what Yamazaki's stares were directed to. And unsurprisingly, everyone was shocked and stunned and alarmed.

Kumiko asked Kento to follow her.

"K..Kento...you'd better see this!"

"What?"

At that moment Kento's entire body, impulses and senses froze. Astonishment erupted from his mouth when attempting to describe what his eyes were seeing. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Who...who...are you?"

Kento inquired with the reluctant assistance of his fully twisted tongue that constantly emphasised how the element of surprise sustained a huge impact on Kento.

He then found out the true owner of the voice that had groaned while he was under the deep flashing of the Star. Kento tried to speculate and validate the appearance of the figure with the voice as its owner was not a human.

The creature was a bit taller than Kento, almost on par with Nakamura’s height. It had the vicious look of a barbaric creature. His entire body was protected by dark-red skin, with several scars overlapping the red-hot skin in some areas. His eyes had the brilliance of molten iron and his hair had a yellow tone. But none of them could actually see the colour as his hair was being fired by a violent looking orange flame. And the intriguing fact was that his limbs were being lit by the same type of blaze, which seemed to hold the fury of a devastating inferno. Kento and the others motionlessly gazed at this inhuman creature for a few seconds until Kento inquired of his identity another time.

"Who….who are you?"

Tokiyoshi Keiichi displayed his true sinful voice by revealing the name, leaving the Teen Ninjas petrified.

"He's Kagu-Tsuchi, Kento."

Kumiko said, shocked,

"Is that…Kagu-Tsuchi? But…how can that be? How can the arrogant son of Izanagi who burnt his mother to death be revived once again? I thought that Lord Izanagi had beheaded his own son with his sword of ten grasps."

Kento was mystified by the fact that Kumiko knew all the historical legends that had taken place many many years ago. Yet, Kagu-Tsuchi weren’t quite delightful in hearing Kumiko’s inquiry, resulting in the uncovering of his godly voice after so many years, striking terror in the Teen Ninjas once again.

"How dare you mutter ill lies about myself? Worry not, young lady, let me assist you in uncovering the actuality."

Kagu-Tsuchi continued.

"After being born with hate against my brothers and ending up burning my mother, Izanami alive, that old man, Izanagi came for me with rage, wielding his omnipotent weapon to behead me. I for a fact knew that I wouldn't survive the devastating blows of his damn weapon yet, for my mother's sake, I happen to survive. Even when being burnt alive, my mother used her inherited power to save half of my mortal body, as the best she could do out of her parental love. Thanks to my old man, I lost half of my powers as a Kami. Many years later, I returned as a faithful acquaintance of mine. I had previously concluded how that Izanagi-no-Mikoto’s powers had begun to wither after the creation of these lands. Yet I ended up falling onto my knees by that old, deceptive man…and that other person he calls “Dear Daugther”. Curse him! Not only that, but he also sealed me inside the ninth piece of the Star of Izanagi, the Garnet of Resurrection."

Kento interrupted with doubts inside his mind.

"So…that other brown stone that Keiichi hurled into the air…was the actual ninth and the…FINAL PIECE OF THE STAR?"

"Very good. You are correct indeed, Kento," Keiichi replied while embodying a vicious voice. "The Garnet was meant to be inside of the Diamond. But after the fateful duel with Izanagi and Kagu-Tsuchi, he forcefully removed it out of the star to seal Kagu-Tsuchi’s half-mortal body inside. However, he did revamp it later into its original hypercubic form despite it actually missing a piece to serve its original intention and most importantly…to hide its actual true formation. Now, it’s called, ‘THE GARNET OF REDEMPTION.’”

“What…is going on here? Is this…a bad…dream or something? Grandpa never told me any of this. Why…did he hide it from me? And from all of us?”

Kento felt a strong sense of betrayal striking into his body. But his emotions were already destined to take a toll from Sensei Keiichi’s next words.

“Aww…not don’t feel bad now, huh Kento? Remember, you still completed your mission. But forget all of that! Thanks to my, and more importantly, your efforts Kento, a Kami has now returned to our world! Isn't that some amazing news to feast your ears?"

"Wait a second," Kagu-Tsuchi immediately turned to question Keiichi. "Does that mean that you were the one who actually brought me back?"

Keiichi answered, with a bow. "Yes, Lord Kagu-Tsuchi."

"Well what can I say, you have my wholehearted gratitude. Keiichi, is that your name? You shall be my assistant then, Keiichi. And one more thing, who are these youngsters standing infront of my presence anyway?"

"Oh these? Well, my lord. Do you see that boy with the katana and that blue outfit? He is none other than the infamous Hattori Kento. Your father, Lord Izanagi actually handed the star to that kid's grandfather, Hattori Akio. Kento’s parents are currently under the shade of your father’s creation to protect their fragile lives."

At that moment Kagu-Tsuchi's blazes went rogue. The fire above his head burned bigger and brighter while his hands started to get more and more heated up. His red skin turned into a vermillion colour, signifying that the skin had also turned even hotter, showcasing the rage that had been generated inside his ravaged body. He screamed out in his vicious voice, stressing the Teen Ninjas even more.

"WHAAT? How dare they exploit the divine power which was supposed to be mine? I wanted that to rescue my siblings and my dead mother! How could that stupid old man hand his valuable creation to some pathetic ninjas like these? They only deserve one thing, Death!"

"Sir, may I let you know about one thing?”

“And what could it be, Keiichi-san?”

“We are shinobi from the land of Kōga. And we too are in the desperate expectation of wiping out our enemy ninjas from Iga along with that disgusting family, the Hattori clan. Who knows? We might not end up stopping there too. I suppose that we should cooperate to fulfil our dreams, shouldn't we?"

Kento then broke his silence to yell out.

"Sensei Keiichi, I never thought you'd be such a coward to take help from a god that was never meant to be revived to fulfil your own goals! Moreover, you have underestimated us Iga ninjas. We won't hold back against your cruel, sadistic and tormenting pleasures of killing innocent people and our allied shinobi. We will put our lives at stake if it means wiping out all evil from this sacred country!"

Yamazaki then followed.

"To be honest, I am not very sure what exactly is going on. But I can only tell you one thing. We will always support Kento and his family to strengthen the Iga ninjas. We will fight back, even if you gods come to showcase your wrath of burning hate upon us! And Sensei Keiichi, I once thought that you were a skilled ninja with an excellent intellect. Despite being my sworn enemy, I had some form of respect for you as an individual. But, now you showed me your true colours. With this cowardly action, I have changed my image of you to a very different one. A more sickening one."

Kento could perceive the intensity of the hatred with the heat that emerged out of his body as hate.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Kagu-Tsuchi then screamed out for silence.

"Silence! I don't want to hear anything more! This girl and the two little ones behind are okay, but these two brats are crossing their limits. I desire to burn them alive right here and right now!"

Keiichi answered with devotion and gratitude towards the resummoned god.

"My lord, you might be needing some rest after that horrible resummoning. So let me and my disciples handle this situation. I am pretty sure that they'll be able to rip apart their hearts."

Kagu-Tsuchi's reply of satisfaction was at risk of tearing apart Kento's senses.

"How convenient? You have my gratitude Keiichi. Go ahead! Bring me their heads...except…"

He couldn't finish. The moment he granted permission, the scarletshade triggered their senses and dashed to eliminate the Teen Ninjas.

Kento had aged by a few significant years from the ongoing commotion with the Kōgas. His face contained eyelids about to droop, along with a level of exhaustion that could threaten him to never wake up if he were to fall. His mind had clouded with haze, unable to keep up with the extreme emotions sparring inside. Yet, his survival instincts didn’t allow him to die when the bloodthirsty Scarletshades dashed into him and his comrades. Overcoming his obstacles with so much difficulty, Kento yelled out to warn his friends.

"Guys! Look out!!!"

The fight resumed. And the pleasure of blood-shedding aroused Keiichi's and Kagu-Tsuchi's senses of enjoyment.

Kento, Kumiko, Yamazaki, Hinako and Kyuzo didn't choose to hold back against the Arcane Scarletshades even though they clearly knew that they were far superior. Their battle weariness and countless wounds only allowed the battle confidence of the Scarletshades to grow strong with each passing second. Among all the members, Kento was the person who had the duty of holding off most of the pressure as two Scarletshades went head-on with him. The difference in skill and power was incomparable, and Kento had the maximum amount of disadvantage that he could possibly have.

Kento slashed and struck and swung his katana all possible ways to fight back the two scarletshades. He suffered several injuries during the battle but ended up defeating another scarletshade in the deadly combat.

The other scarletshade then shouted at Kento.

"You have messed with the wrong soldiers, kiddo. Now get ready for some spice."

And in a flash, the scarletshade scrambled towards Kento with his ninja sword lifted to stab him to death. Kento prepared himself by temporarily disabling his nervous system so that the pain wouldn't get in his way to counter-attack. Kento's attempts were turned kind of futile as when the scarletshade was halfway done with catching up to him, a smoke bomb went off, completely covering up the entire battlegrounds with a considerably thick smoke wall that obstructed the vision of the Scarletshades. As it went off, Kento began to try to guess the identity of the person who released it, but he instantly gave up on the idea when the scarletshade began to cough and breathe hard as the smoke accidentally reached his lungs, granting Kento an excellent opportunity to execute an effective counter-assault.

But as the smoke slowly started to disperse, Kento proceeded to feel worried about the condition of his friends, and rapidly turned his gaze upon his comrades, and it didn’t take him long to realise that the group lacked Yamazaki's presence, even though his other friends were deeply engaged in battle and spilling their valuable drops of blood to defeat the top criminals of the Kōga province.

“NO! Where's Yamazaki? What just happened?”

And at that exact moment, the scarletshade who had sucked the smoke earlier scrambled to strike Kento. He hoisted his blade at the very last second to block it, all thanks to his muscle memory and polished instincts. Even though Kento could hold back against the scarletshade, he was still distressed by the sudden disappearance of his closest friend.

"Surprise!"

But then all of his senses entirely went blunt when Kento's ears heard the screeching of Yamazaki, which caused him to promptly turn his face towards the direction of the sound, where he expected to find his lost friend.

"Yamazaki, No!"

Kento screamed out to stop Yamazaki from doing what he was about to do. Everything started to get clear to Kento in just a few seconds. He eventually realised how Yamazaki had used the smoke bomb to act as a decoy to sneak up behind Kagu-Tsuchi, who too had gotten excited after the blood-shedding battle's sight disappeared.

After sneaking behind Kagu-Tsuchi, Yamazaki promptly attacked him with the last few darts he had in his pouch, but couldn't satisfy himself as they hardly dealt any damage to Kagu-Tsuchi.

“Now it's the time.”

Yamazaki then proceeded to perform the move that no one would ever have anticipated. After delivering an attack with the ranged weapons, Yamazaki sent his hand around Kagu-Tsuchi's neck, performing a headlock.

"Yamazaki!"

Kento shouted out in a stunned voice. Yamazaki then replied with a victorious voice.

"I got you now, Kagu-Tsuchi!"

He held the lock for a few more seconds until Kagu-Tsuchi expressed a laugh full of confidence that freaked Yamazaki out, alarming him deeply.

"Ha ha! Do you really think you got me, you mortal? Then…."

He waited before yelling out the ending.

"Have this!"

Yamazaki was shocked and panicked. He started to feel the coming of an unforeseen attack and quickly endeavoured to unfold his arm to let go of Kagu-Tsuchi's neck. But unfortunately, a moment later, Yamazaki's friends could hear his painful and bitter scream, causing Kento to lose focus on the fight and unnerve himself as well.

"Yamazaki! No!"

What really happened? Shortly after Yamazaki had put Kagu-Tsuchi in a headlock, Kagu-Tsuchi unfolded his true hatred to convert into flames. In a flash, he used that energy to heat his entire body, inflicting unbearable burn damage to Yamazaki's arms, collapsing him on the bloody floor with uncountable burn wounds on his body.

Yamazaki didn't believe in ghosts and gods. In fact, that was the main reason why he failed. His passive decision to underestimate a half-mortal god who burnt his mother alive during his birth disadvantaged him. But the one who suffered irreparable damage was Kento, who shouted out at his friend, unaware of the damage that he had sustained during that painful moment.

“WHY…DID HE JUST DO SUCH A SILLY THING?”

And at that very second, Kento was struck by the scarletshade with a cut to his upper chest. The pain caused him to immediately lose the grip on his katana, dropping him onto his knees. While pressing his hands down on the cut, Kento painfully gazed upon Kumiko, Hinako and Kyuzo, who had suffered the same fate as him and Yamazaki.

Seeing the downed state of the Teen Ninjas, Keiichi chuckled out of great satisfaction, contentment and enjoyment. He looked with a smiling face upon his four subordinates who stood in front of the downed members with their weapons lifted, ready to distribute the final killing blow on Kagu-Tsuchi's command.

Keiichi informed his master.

"Lord Kagu-Tsuchi, should I inform my disciples to finish off those little brats?"

Kagu-Tsuchi then replied, with his flames ravaging into the atmosphere.

"Kill them right now! I desire to witness their blood wet this pathetic piece of land!"

Kento glanced to take his final look at his good old friends and his siblings who chose to stay by his side even in difficult situations like this one. Kumiko, whose hair was pulled by one of the Scarletshades, showed her sorrowful eyes to Kento while screaming in agony, begging for forgiveness. Kento relentlessly tried to spend more time seeing his friends one more time, until the scarletshade who had wounded him decided to smash his foot upon Kento's arm while saying.

"Are you ready to become rat food huh, Kento-kun?"

At that instant, the Scarletshades lifted their weapons at once, hoisting them into the air while the setting sun reflected the orange sunlight upon the shiny iron blades.

Kento felt it. His struggles…his perseverance…his determination might have come into a barrier that he was powerless to break through. He was tired beyond belief. Despite his heart beating faster than ever and his breaths being heavy and rapid, his blood didn’t feel energetic. Knowing that his end was near, his thoughts began to meander aimlessly, unable to trace a clear path amongst the mental and physical fatigue that held him tight.

“I guess…this is it. I broke my promise…Sorry. Grandpa.”

"Kill them, now!!!!"

Kagu-Tsuchi's voice was intensified along with the colour of his skin and the flames that were lighting up.

Immediately after the command was given, the Scarletshades activated their arms to slash the weapons. But…

A surprise attack nullified their attempts. When they were about to bring their swords down, four long, sharpened kunai blades appeared from the sky, targeting the four Scarletshades. Reacting to the incoming missiles, the Scarletshades made a quick retreat by taking a quick leap backward. The attacking stream didn't end there, as suddenly, in an abrupt manner, four minor bolts of lightning popped out of the sky, electrifying two of the Sscarletshades and stunning their vision. They fell back unwillingly, along with the untouched ones and Kagu-Tsuchi too. Following that, a wall of fire ignited between the Teen Ninjas and the Kōgas, acting as a barrier to prevent either of the teams from breaking into the other’s side.

Kento spectated this strange outcome with an immense level of surprise and astonishment. He then turned his head to check his teammates and was convinced to see them okay.

Anger started to rage inside Keiichi and Kagu-Tsuchi for not being able to observe them assassinate the innocent teenagers and pull out their hearts. Kagu-Tsuchi's body ignited the flames into even more ravaged ones and yelled out along with Keiichi contemptuously.

"How dare you barge in and botch up that amazing moment? Exhibit yourself, cowards! Come on!"

Kento motionlessly stared at the wall of fire which kept on burning. And then in a sudden manner, a hand landed on Kento's shoulder and tapped it. Kento's entire body chilled, and he started to feel the warmth of the hand that felt extremely familiar to him. Kento's mind filled with excitement when a familiar voice called out his name, saying,

"Kento, I am sorry that we are late."

Kento then proceeded to slowly turn his face around along with his body, until he shouted out with uncontrolled happiness inside his mind that overpowered his pain, when he saw his invaluable treasures behind him.

"Mom! Dad!"