Part 1

Darkness. Mind hazing darkness. Lonely darkness. A distant noise resounds in this darkness. Muddied voices drifting in and out of clarity.

This was what the barely conscious boy could perceive as he lay there in the corner of the dark room.

He had once been compared to a cloud of mist challenging a storm. The lesson behind those words didn't seem to reach him.

After regaining consciousness from the Chief Bandit's onslaught, he attempted to free himself and his brother once again but the results were far from desirable.

The bandits were far less merciful to him and his endeavors. The result was...

"I can't believe you'd go this far on a mere child!!!"

" As if your people haven't done worse. You would burn even younger ones for the sake of your rituals."

"Our cruelty was for a purpose and only when necessary. This is just carnal brutality!!"

The aforementioned muddied voices were those of the Chief Bandit and Latisha of 100 Demons.

Latisha could not help but lament at the scene before her and admonish the Chief Bandit for it.

"Don't look at me. It was my subordinates that saw it fit to do this. It is a waste though. I had such fun plans for him."

The child in question had been subjected to unimaginable horrors.

Blood dripping from his nose and jaw. His right arm severed and his left arm dislocated.

But what was most disturbing was the intense burns on both of his legs.

The immense pain he must have felt would have been enough to make anyone pass out.

Even death would have been a reasonable possibility. Perhaps even a mercy.

"Still...As much as I hate it. The circumstances couldn't have aligned better."

Latisha approached the young boy lying at the corner.

"I was in need of a suitable vessel for my last resort and you've already done the ugly part for me. Although you did more than I would have wanted."

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She gently placed her hand on the boy's cheek and finally put him to sleep.

"Oh? So, you have plans for him as well?"

"Indeed...though nothing as boorish as yours."

Part 2

"Who's there?"

There was no response. Just the sound of someone crying in the distance.

His mind was roused awake as if by instinct.

It only took him a moment to realize how familiar the unpleasant wailing was.

He knew it all too well. After all, it was the sound of his younger brother in agony and fear.

He opened his eyes to see the image of the bandits dangling him atop the cage of a starving Demonic Beast.

"NO!! STOP!!"

The site of their ecstatic faces had awoke a rage unlike any other within him. It felt like he had been doused in an ocean of fire.

"You're Laughing? How...HOW DARE YOU!!!"

He was moments away from rushing in blinded by rage. But he still remembered how terribly that went the last few times.

Suddenly, an unknown voice nudged him further.

"Seek Justice!!!...Protect him...Make them feel how you feel...but most of all, make them feel how he feels!!!"

He remembered all the horrors they thrust upon his home. All the pain they inflicted on him but most importantly all the pain they inflicted on his brother.

His hesitation was wiped clean. As he looked down on them and their menacing stares, he let out a rage filled roar that shook the very earth itself.

He rushed forth to exact vengeance. To exact justice. To save his brother.

Part 3

"A summoning?"

"Yes. While you distract the mercenaries and whoever it was that broke through my barriers, I'll work on using these to summon The Ox King."

" The ogre of ogres, eh? Must be quite the ritual."

"Indeed. Which is why I need a suitable vessel and so many of these 'Combat Assistants' as you called them."

"In this case. They are more like 'Noble Sacrifices' . Very noble indeed."

The Chief Bandit looked at the unfortunate villagers struggling in vain as they were forced to be tied to the stakes prepared for the ritual.

Soon they would be sacrificed to the vessel. A young boy whose rage was like a cloud of mist. Hopefully that would change.

He then made his way to greet a certain spectacled annoyance that had complicated their plans by breaking through their defenses.

Part 4

Latisha of 100 Demons lamented her fate. None of her plans had gone the way she had anticipated.

An unexpected absurdity unraveled her defenses and continued to be more of a threat than she anticipated.

As she was finally about to put an end to it, her greatest worry came at the worst possible time.

A golden force of overwhelming might now stood before her and her prize.

Nonetheless she would not falter.

The sacrifices were all present and ready.

The necessary stone treasures had finally been set up by her subordinates. The carvings on them described a form and tale that was the stuff of children's nightmares.

The chant she needed had been fully memorized and she could easily mentally recite it. The vessel she needed to form a summoning contract was also ready.

Latisha raised her hand and the bodies of the unfortunate villagers tied to stakes were warped and changed into a darkened purple mud. The mud then flowed towards a certain young boy at its center.

The result was him being submerged in a sea of liquid corpses.

At the same time, the corpses of the slain ogres at the battlefield followed suit as they rose to form a black sludge directly above them.

She proceeded to send the black mass containing the vessel to meet its contemporary outside.

Their union would give birth to her greatest weapon.