Chapter IV

Hero

"The final battle, good versus evil". Everybody was waiting for Yoh to decide the fate of the world.

They gave him their support. They gave him their power. They gave him their desire.

Yoh killed his own brother. And he was a hero in their eyes…

At first, it was quite awkward knowing that everybody wants your brother dead. But then he saw that they actually had some things in common. Quite a few, actually nothing, but at least they both didn't take life too seriously. After all, he returned from hell 2 times in a row and didn't consider killing people such a big deal.

Death wasn't really the most important thing Yoh would think about. But he didn't like it when others would be in pain. Their expression when they die is always distressing…

And it is quite sad when they die, because you will somehow miss their presence.

But Hao didn't care. That's why his guardian spirit would even eat their souls. He, apart from Yoh, didn't get attached so easily to others. And when he somehow did, the first criterion was obedience.

They both wanted something else. The only difference is that Hao knew what he wanted, while Yoh was letting the days pass by. He didn't even know if he wanted to become the Shaman King. Yeah, it would be fun to have unlimited power, but what would he do with it? After a bit of innocent God playing, he will eventually be a good king and listen to the voice of his people.

But he's already done that. They already made him a king, and along with the huge power they also overwhelmed him with their wishes to slaughter his brother.

It wasn't fun at all.

Right after that, Hao's body disappeared.

"The Gobi spirits will proceed to take his soul deep in hell and keep it there for another 500 years" explained Silva.

Yoh tried to seem happy about it. But he couldn't.

"Even so, Hao damaged the Great Spirit more than ever now…I don't even know if the Shaman Fight would even take place again. As it may concern for others…"

"Silva, I would like it if you didn't tell them yet. It would be really cruel to destroy all their hopes so suddenly, but I'm sure they will accept it in time."

The Patch officiant nodded, meaning that he understood.

Even for Yoh it was disappointing. Because of the Shaman Fight he met all of his friends..and he also met his brother.

Now, there was no chance for him to return. "Everything will work out", but not for Hao.

Maybe he could have done something to change the situation…

"Yoh, should we go now?"

That was Anna. It was the first time actually when she was being polite. And he couldn't refuse to respond to this 8th World Wonder.

But it didn't feel right. Even an Apocalypse would have been better for him. Depressing that he would have to return to his normal life…painful that he killed somebody for the first time.

Or almost…The blade which was aiming for the vital points by itself, had missed. Because of Yoh. Because he still didn't want to kill him. And he felt that Hao was still alive somehow…it wasn't the best brother he could have wished for, but he was the only one, thing which was quite nice.

But day by day, his presence was disappearing from this world…

After seven days, something strange happened. Hao came back to life. But something was missing from this weird brother-thingy-telepathy. Yoh started to be more calm and happy with himself. Even Manta wondered how could he have this inner peace, knowing that they didn't hear nothing about the next Shaman Fight.

Anna sent Yoh to do the shopping, like she always does. It was annoying, but this time he would have rather thanked her, because else he wouldn't have seen the strange amount of smoking leaking out from Mount Takao. Everybody was walking carelessly, thinking that somebody already alarmed the firefighters, thing which, actually, nobody did.

And neither would Yoh. Because that wasn't a normal conflagration. It was clearly something which seemed to be a star, the symbol that confirmed the great return of Hao Asakura.

He should have started to get worried, because everything seemed to start over again. But Yoh didn't. Once you replay the game of saving the world again, you won't get so overly scared like you were the first time. This is why you'll find a better solution.

He was actually kind of excited. Out of boredom again, thing which he didn't dislike, but in this way he will fight again alongside with his friends. He wouldn't tell them that yet of course, because Hao himself knew how to make a great entrance.

The only one who was being worried was Rilury. She was frightened. She knew she had to do something, because it was all her fault.

She jumped and went straight in the middle, where he seemed to be teared apart from reality. She felt a strange enormous spirit weight. She touched his arm and tried to snap him out of the apparent trance.

"Can you hear me? Hao!"

He suddenly looked at her, smirking.

"Oh, sorry, Rilury... I just forgot to introduce it to you…Great Spirit of Fire, rise!"

The flames formed an enormous red monster, so big that it could smash her house by simply stepping on it.

"This…is…unbelievable…"

"Are you afraid?" He asked plainly.

"What? Of course I am! He is so big! You could beat me in a second!" She said amazed.

Hao was again a bit surprised by her strange combination of emotions she felt. At first it was fear, then it was envy and now admiration. This girl just can't decide herself how to react. And it would have been simpler if she did, because that would have shown her weaknesses.

She stood there for a second and then she tried to pet it. Like it was an animal. Maybe she didn't knew the concept of a spirit. She defiantly didn't participate in The Shaman Fight, nor see other shamans excepting her mother. Even The Spirit of Fire seemed surprised with such a treatment. Usually, people would stand in front of it frightened, or they would obey his master, or just fight with him. In most of the cases, he would have eaten them.

"Come on boy! Let's play! You'll get a reward!" Rilury took a wooden stick and threw it.

"Come on! Go burn it!" she said.

The Spirit stood there confused. The weirdest thing is that she was so good in her acting, that it actually had the initiative to run after the stick.

"Hmm... you aren't probably used to this. But you're still an awesome spirit!"

Hao had a wry expression on his face all this time. But when he felt that the Guardian of Fire actually started to like it, he stopped her.

"That's not how you treat the spirits, Rilury!" he said a bit arrogant.

"Really? But that's how my mother is training her spirit."

"Your mother?"

"Yeah! Her spirit is The Cerberus!"

So the monster that guards the entrance of Hades. Nothing unusual for the Takahashi family, the masters of space modelling, gate openers and summoning.

"That doesn't mean you have to treat my spirit like her three-headed monster dog."

"Then how do you do it, mister know-it-all?"

"You usually command them, like this: Great Spirit Of Fire! Unleash the incinerator!"

In a second all the left training columns were instantly erased.

"Psh...I could also do that if I could summon my spirit. But I don't want to bother myself too much...Since I don't know where it actually is..."

Hao looked at her oddly. Then laughed.

"You know, you are a strange girl."

Rilury felt a bit embarrassed, but she was calm right now, thing which made her to slightly smile.

Hao thought that it wouldn't be a waste of time if he would stick here for a while. At least after he would put his thoughts in order and make a new plan, since none of this was actually expected.

And he was glad that Rilury didn't mention anything about what happened. Even if she thought about it, she was either too shy, either at some points simply was simply forgetting that. But it is always good to ask questions later. Because, before telling her more about himself, he wanted to study her closely. She sounded quite promising as a shaman.