This Isn't The End, Son [Royal Devil Family/Azure Relatives + Friends Only]

Small loose stones littered the floor as Ryou sat in center of a cave, deep in meditation. It was a gigantic cavern, with damp walls that spanned as wide as the mountain itself. The entrance to the cavern was carved into the muddy brown rock of the cliff, its entrance was guarded by a jagged and uneven stone. It arranged in such a way that it would be difficult for anybody to spot. Any light that could be lit in this ominous area would be lost in the surrounding blackness.

Ryou was lost in the rhythmic percussion of water dripping on the callous stones on the floor beneath him. His eyes were closed shut, completely still. His breathing was smoothly measured, matching the tempo of the droplet consistently falling. His thoughts were clear, unwavering; calmly swirling without any ebb and flow, untouched by any stray thoughts. Ryou had now subjected himself to this environment for six weeks; without any food or water. This would have certainly killed any regular human being, and very possibly higher beings by this point as well. To deprive yourself of nutrients is ridiculous; yet Ryou remained in this cave, allowing him to reach a peak of endurance and willpower unreachable by others. Ultimately, this was just another regimen of his own training.

Then suddenly a ripple cut into the calm ocean of Ryou’s mind.


Ryou’s right triceps slightly budged, breaking the solitary movement he had confined himself to the past few weeks. His breath began to deviate from its steady rhythm. His psyche was slightly thrown off, as that was not his own thought; but one from the world outside of the cavern. The mountain in which he was residing in has a village two miles south of it. The question that now nagged at Ryou’s mind was why the villagers would even utter his nephew’s name? Recollecting himself, Ryou tried to enter the deep state of tranquility he was in just a few moments prior.


Ryou’s entire body tensed up, his muscles tightening themselves as if they had suddenly been put under unimaginable pressure. Ryou’s breathing now grew exasperated, sucking for every breath he could as he tried to get oxygen into his body. Slowly his entire body relaxed again as he tilted his head up, facing the ceiling of the cavern. Of course he couldn’t see anything in this overbearing darkness, but he had to chuckle to himself.

“To let some silly idle talk break my concentration” Ryou said aloud as the voice echoed off of the cavern walls. Ryou chuckled to himself, he may have been weeks into his meditation; but to have someone else’s thoughts disrupt him before the signals of his body could was a failure for him. After all his training was all about sharpening his concentration and state of mind. But for the humans to mention Azure like that was unexpected… Ryou thought to himself as he dug his left arm into his pocket. He then pulled out a comb from his pocket. It was one his nephew had left him before he had set out on another journey.

Ryou pressed up on the shaft of the bejeweled comb and thoughts of his nephew rushed into his mind. His lips warmly extended open as a slight grin painted itself on his face. He loved his nephew very dearly after all. Of course he could never take the thought of regular humans very seriously, they were usually misinformed by gossip and lacking of facts. However it did trigger his curiosity. I wonder how he is doing, my little Azure he thought to himself as he closed his eyes once more. This time he put the comb in-between both his hands and took one giant deep breath. Then he slowly expelled his breath once more, scanning the world itself for Azure. You see the comb in his hands was personally given to him by his nephew, using it as a guide; and his own extraordinary skills, he would be able to track Azure anywhere on the planet.

But there was nothing to be found. After half an hour of searching for his energy, a task that would take Ryou mere minutes; he came up with nothing. Why wasn’t there anything?

Ryou shoved the comb back into his pocket and refocused his attention to the village south of him. He began reading into the thoughts of the hundreds of villagers, and was overwhelmed by the thoughts that pierced the solidity of his mind. Suddenly the peaceful ocean that was his mind roared vehemently, swirling into a disastrous vortex. Azure had a funeral, Azure had fallen, he was murdered, his existence erased. The thoughts ruthlessly barraged his head until he forcefully erased them all, seeing nothing but the empty cave once again. Everything suddenly clicked.

Ryou felt the panic begin like a cluster of spark plugs in his abdomen. Tension grew in his limbs, as the realization sunk its fangs deeper and deeper into his mind. His breathing became shallow and sporadic. Why could this happen? His heart began to hammer against the inside of his chest like a piston pounding a train into movement. He tried to scream but his voice got caught in his throat. Tears began to flood from his eyes as he questioned why this had happened. How could he let this happen? How did this happen….

His sorrow suddenly turned into a vexing inhuman rage. It was twisted and distorted. It felt like flames were burning through Ryou’s, something heavy was rising from his chest. He was intoxicated with lunacy, the acidity of it was residing within his lungs waiting to explode. He held it all in until it reached its boiling point, and expelled it all at once. He roared, he roared louder than humanly possible. The sheer power of the vibrations ripped through the ceiling of the cave, blowing the mountain top right open; and piercing the heavens with its explosive power. The rubble of the mountain’s top began to fall chaotically around him, mirroring the way he felt. The roar was one that could echo for miles and miles.

Ryou planted one foot on the floor, his body was tattered; but his rage fueled him with a sensation of never-ending energy. He set himself and exploded off the mountain. The feedback from his kick-off was enough to shatter the rest of the mountain. A symbol of the agonizingly crushing pain Ryou was feeling in his heart.

Moving at the speed of lightning, he soared into the sky. Every push off he took sounded like a cracking whip magnified at a colossal scale as ripped through the sound barrier. He was moving at unparalleled speeds, but where was he going? Ryou knew exactly where he was headed. Sceneries changed blindly quick as he zoomed past the continental landmarks beneath him. He smashed through the atmosphere of soul society, warping into the realm of the Iramasha. He didn’t stop there as he now blazed through the skies of the Iramasha’s land. Moving at such sonic speeds, was leaving a vacuum of space in his wake, which was then being filled by raging winds disrupting the state of the land.

In just a moment he reached colossal mountains, the land of the royal devil company. Yes Ryou knew exactly where he was headed. He reached dark and stormy clouds that reflected the swirling feelings in his heart, and violently burst through them. Water was pelting his skin from how fast he was moving, but he couldn’t feel anything more than the agonizing weight on his heart.


Spectators could now hear any abnormally loud thundering explosion coming from the stormy clouds, but could see no lightning. To follow the explosions. Seconds passed and nothing. Then suddenly one bolt of lightning furiously landed at the entrance of the ceremonial grounds, leaving a small 10 meter crater. There was smoke rising from the smoldering crater, as the bolt melted the earth beneath it. Soon the vehement winds that were filling the gaps Ryou was bursting through blew through the ceremonial grounds, revealing the angel Iramasha standing above the crater on level ground.
He was standing six feet tall, but his figure was poor as poor could be. Legs thin as twigs, covered in gray sweatpants to hide them. A chest so frail, the bump of each rib was visible underneath his thin woven gray jacket. His face so sunken in, the outline of his skull could be seen under his dry and frail skin. It was clear that his weeks of meditation had taken a toll of him. Deprived of any nutrients, his body was reflecting the abuse it was receiving from his mental training.

However, his sapphire eyes were vibrating with life; and his aura was powerfully radiating over the ceremonial grounds. However his aura was different than usual, with a feeling of chaos disrupting its usual balance. An abnormal feeling, one unbecoming of Ryou. Something had not been seen for hundreds of years.

Ryou was currently an enigma within the Iramasha clan, some heralding him as a legend for all he had done; other as a heretic that should be banished for leaving his responsibilities. He could feel the mixed opinions of eyes on his skin, as all eyes were fixated on his disruptive entrance. However none of this was important to him, as his eyes were firmly affixed on the crimson eyes of the Devil Iramasha’s leader; Ketsu Iramasha. His own brother. Azure's father.

He struggled to muster his words as his throat had felt as if his throat had been scarred by fragmented rock. Clearly a sign of his dehydration. The vibration of his voice felt like it was moving and grinding against his throat. He needed an answer from his beloved brother, and he needed it now. There may have been many on-looking, elders would be offended by his antics. But fuck the formalities, they weren’t important. The stormy clouds swirled around the grounds as chaotically as Ryou’s emotions were swirling. His voice rang out strongly and clearly despite his very apparent problems.

“How did this happen?”