The Peacemaker

Chapter 10: Unleashing the Flames

Ichi and Ren had started to head for the throne room, and after knocking out a few henchmen they finally made it; when they were about to open the door, Ren hesitated and asked, "Are you sure we can do this, the demon inside of Jong has gotten stronger. You saw it right?"

"Yeah, and I can see it now," Ichi answered. "it's gotten bigger, but that doesn't mean we give up. We have to believe in ourselves, but also believe in each other if we want to succeed."

Ren smiled and said, "You're right, with our powers we can take him down. Even though one of us is a half demon."

"Did you forget this half demon kicked your butt?" Ichi teased, but gave a stern look and said, "Let's get going!"

With weapons in hand the two pushed the door open, only to find an empty room; they stood ready for anything as the went inside, Ren asked, "Hey Ichi, where do you think he is?"

"Well this is is a guess from something else, but I think his voice is going to echo in the room," Ichi explained. "he'll taunt us like he knows he'll win, then he'll fall from the sky while sitting on the throne acting high and mighty."

"It seems you thought this through."

There was a voice calling from the echoes, it said, "Ren, have you truely betrayed me? It doesn't matter, you and that lowely lifeform will die at my hands. Just like the one's you knew from before."

"From before?" Ren asked, "What are you talking about!"

Then from the sky a giant throne fell in front of them, and sitting on the throne was a giant crocodile; he was as large as the throne he was sitting on, his eyes were gold and were like demons. Jong smiled and said, "Don't you remember the person who killed your parents, maybe this will help."

Jong held out something that shocked Ren, it was a knife with a gold handle; the sight of it made him the remember his parents murderer, he could see the crocodiles face covered in blood. That's when he realized who it was, it was Jong himself. A cold air enveloped his body as he said, "It was you, you killed them... YOU KILLED MY PARENTS, YOU BASTARD!"

"Yes I did, I remember how Ichi had those amazing powers," Jong smirked. "I wanted it for myself, but he suddenly vanished. That's when I heard about your family, and how your mother also had powers. I thought no one was left after I killed them, then I found you... my very own weapon."

That only made Ren more angry, but Ichi then said, "Man, look how fat he is?"

"What did you call me?" Jong retorted

"What are you talking about, get serious Ichi!" Ren exclaimed

"I would but the guy is as big as a freaking house!" Ichi replied, laughing "I never seen such a fatass, and I live with Po."

"Achoo!"

"What's with you, Po?" Fu asked

"I don't know, but I think someone just used me as an example." Po answered

"Less talking, more fighting!" Shiisaa exclaimed

"Right!"

"What are you doing?" Ren asked

"Keeping my cool, just like you should," Ichi explained. "I know how you feel right now, I felt the samething when I met my grandfather. But you have to stay strong, you have to always stay cool. Isn't that what having ice powers mean?"

Ren was shocked, he knew he had to keep calm in battle; he smiled and said, "Yeah, let's show him what we got!"

"You're all fools, you'll die here!" Jong retorted

"No one's gonna die, but you're going to be brung to justice!" Ichi said, forming a sword stance

"Not before we take him down a few sizes, this is for my parents!" Ren exclaimed

The two jumped at him and launched an attack, but he somehow disappeared; Jong came by their side and threw them to the wall, he laughed and said, "You don't stand a chance, you can't even reach me."

"No duh, cause you're as big as freaking house!" Ichi exclaimed

"But the bigger they are, the harder they fall!" Ren retorted, "Hailstorm!"

"Crimson Bullets!"

Ren attacked with a barrage of hail while Ichi fired fireballs, the blows collided at Jong and pushed him back a little; Ichi enveloped Kageichi in flames and said, "Crimson dance!"

He attacked with a combo of fire, the final blow engulfed him in flames; Ren found this as an advantage and exclaimed, "Zero Freeze!"

Ren launched a shockwave from his naginata, which after it hit froze him; they were about to launch another attack to finish him, but then the ice started to break and unleashed an onslaught of blades from Jong's body. The blades got them, but they were able to dodge most of them. Ren saw how beat up Ichi was and asked, "You ok, Ichi?"

"Yeah, I can handle it," Ichi replied. "He hasn't seen anything yet: Shadow Stalker!"

Ichi disappeared out of sight and was found coming from Jong's shadow, but as he tried to attack Jong blocked his sword with his knife; Ichi took that as an advantage and jumped from the blade to give him a direct fire punch, Ren took the chance and exclaimed, "Glacier Spike!"

Ren charged at him and turned his naginata into a ice spear, Jong dodged but was hit on his side; with that the two took an advantage and attacked with a combination exclaiming, "Frozen Hornet!"

The two of them launched a barrage of thrusts with both of their weapons inveloped in their powers, the right side of Jong got incased in ice while the left got burned; Ren jumped to his head and swung his naginata like a baseball, it threw Jong into the wall and made a large crater. The two of them were tired, Ichi asked, "Is it over yet?"

"God, let's hope so." Ren hoped

"You actually think you won, that was nothing to me," Jong exclaimed. "all you've done is scratch me, now die like the worthless weapons you are!"

The barrage of blades came from Jong's body again, but because they were tired Ichi and Ren took the full force of the attack; they ended up falling to their knees in blood, the attack took a large blow on them both. Ren groaned in pain, "I can't die here... there's a reason I'm doing this."

"What would that be, all you are is a weapon." Jong stated

"You're wrong... we're not some weapon used to achieve power," Ichi retorted. "We're just kids with the power to help people, and to bring peace to others."

Ichi stood up and enveloped his blade in fire as he said, "As long as this fire burns bright, I'll keep going!"

"What is that, that flame is glowing brighter!"

Jong was right, the flame started to glow as bright as the sun; Ichi couldn't believe it, he thought, 'This is what Jubei said before, this is the flame of purification.'

"Take him down, Ichi!" Ren exclaimed

"Die you worthless weapon!" Jong said, charging

Ichi went into a sword stance and moved his sword in a circle, creating a ring of fire in front of him; while doing that he said, "My name is Kageichi Kagi, I am a member of the Kagi clan. This fire shows my burning spirit, my courage, and the power I have from the people I care about!"

"Just die already!" Jong exclaimed

"Now demon, leave this body forever; Heavens Flame!" Ichi exclaimed

Ichi swung his blade and launched a fire blast straight at Jong, as it burned him the demon from inside him started to disappear; when it was over Jong fell to the ground, Ren came up to him with his naginata and said, "I should end it, I should kill you right now. But I can't... because I know that its not right. What did you do to him?"

"I used the flames of purification to destroy the demon inside of him, he's still alive just hurt," Ichi answered. "at least he's...!?"

"What is that, it's like the demon from Jong is still here?" Ren asked

When they turned around they saw a dark figure coming from behind them, it turned into a giant oni that destroyed the roof; Ichi knew he couldn't take it down the way he was now, so he started to use the power of the black beast. Both of his eyes were as red as a demon, and black flames started to circle him. He looked to Ren and said, "Ren stay back, I'm going too...!?"

Ichi was shocked to see ice circling Ren, and as it started to encase him it grew bigger; and when it shattered it unleashed a giant white beast, it had demonic blue eyes and a long tail. The roar it made was monsterous and destructive, Ichi looked surprised and said, "Aisu Yajyuu: Ice Beast, kind of makes sense. Well I'm not letting him have all the fun, time to rock!"

The black flames started to engulf Ichi, and as they grew he became the black beast; it was the same as Ren only he had bloodshot eyes, the two roared a giant shockwave and charged.

To be continued

Ren is even more like Ichi, but you'll learn and even deeper connection between them later. Chapter 11 coming soon.