Pinkshuchan: LALIHO! Hello, it's Pinkshuchan. Last chapter, the hooded figure was revealed to be a woman named Aikawa, who claims that she is determined to help Akihiko win his freedom. She also reveals that Hiroki's human transformation isn't permanent unless he continues to drink the water, which would require obtaining the Gourd of Endless Supply from inside the volcano to do so. Akihiko and Hiroki go off to the volcano to get the gourd. Will they succeed? Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 6
Inside the Volcano
The trip to the top of the volcano was steep and complicated. Although there was a path that led them there, it felt more like they were climbing rather of walking to the top. But even as difficult as it was, Akihiko and Hiroki managed to reach the top. Suzuki on the other hand only had to fly up and was waiting for his master and his friend to join him. Hiroki glared at the bear.
"Yeah, you didn't have any trouble because you could fucking fly!" he growled at Suzuki before looking at Akihiko, "Speaking of flying bears, why didn't you use that big one from before to get us to the top to save us the trouble?"
Akihiko gave a big sigh. "After dealing with Shinoda, Saitou is exhausted. He needs to recuperate before he can travel anywhere again. Even if he were healthy and full of energy, travelling on him would be risky. They know that the demons I summon are mainly cute bear types. You'd still want to travel around with me knowing that you'll be walking on foot?"
Hiroki glared at him. "Don't take me too lightly! In case you've forgotten, I had to travel very far from the Damonen lab to reach what was left of my home. Even in my childhood I had to continuously travel from my village to the town closest to the border in Stahlern to help some of the people that worked there. Mostly providing my abilities of fire."
A chuckle left the silver haired man's lips. "I knew you were always busy with something, but I never knew it was to travel all the way to Stahlern. Well, maybe you could show me that town. I'll need to get to Stahlern at some point on this journey."
It was agreed. But first they needed to go into the volcano and obtain the Gourd of Endless Supply for Hiroki. They reached the edge of the volcano which was said to be the entrance inside. Akihiko wondered if the volcano would erupt while they were inside but Hiroki assured him they'd be fine.
"This volcano hasn't erupted since after the time of the Fire Lion," he explained, "It was said that the volcano only erupted once when the Fire Lion tried to save the village from armies from Damonen. Back then, Damonen was considered an enemy as the Lord Damonen who, as you already know, was the first ruler of Damonen, wanted to force strict rules on all the continents. Feuern fought back and after losing against all the continents, Damonen agreed that no strict rules would be given in the other continents provided by they allow Damonen's demons to serve laws."
Akihiko nodded. He knew the history of the war. Now without hesitation, he followed Hiroki to the other side of the volcano edge where spiral steps appeared in front of them. They nodded to each other before going down the steps. Suzuki stayed close to Akihiko, scared of what may come their way.
The stairs were steep and went a long way. Not to mention the farther down they went, the hotter it got. When they finally reached the bottom, Akihiko assumed that they had to be below the earth at this point. The path forward was right before them. It was clear for the most part. But considering that an item so rare like the Gourd of Endless Supply was down there, they knew they had to watch for traps.
As they walked, traps indeed sprung on them. With their teamwork and help from Suzuki who was able to sense these things, they were able to get past the traps no problem. It took a while before they managed to escape the pathway and enter a giant room.
The room was coloured gold and torches were lit everywhere. Like the village, there were a lot of lion statues as well. But what stood out the most in the entire room was the giant worn down gourd on the pedestal. No doubt about it; that was the Gourd of Endless Supply.
But just walking to the gourd would be dangerous. Surely there was another trap waiting for them the moment they tried to get close to the gourd. They walked cautiously to the gourd; each step taking its time. However, with every small slow step and with how big the room was, Hiroki began getting anxious. He groaned.
"I don't care if there is a trap or not, I need to get that gourd now!" he yelled before storming to the gourd. Akihiko tried to stop him but it was too late. The moment Hiroki closed in on the pedestal; something fell right in front of him, preventing him from going any further.
A giant monster made of molten rock blocked the path to the pedestal and the gourd. Typical that not only would a rare item's location involve booby traps but would also have a guardian protecting it. The monster roared before pushing Hiroki against the wall on his right. The cinnamon haired man grew furious.
"There is no way I'm going to let a fucking molten monster push me around!" he roared before firing a fireball at the monster. It hit but didn't do anything. He tried and tried but the monster wouldn't feel a thing.
"Hiroki stop!" Akihiko cried out, "It's not doing anything to him as he pretty much made of fire."
"Then what the hell do we do?" asked Hiroki, "I doubt physical attacks will work on him. Can't you summon a demon to help you with this?"
"My demons can only support. They can't fight."
The molten monster laughed with how defenceless the two were. It raised its arm and tried to smash Akihiko into the ground. But the silver haired man managed to dodge the attack by rolling to the side. While the monster was distracted with Akihiko, Hiroki tried to reach the gourd. Hopefully they could escape the monster just by grabbing the gourd while it was distracted and then run the hell out of there. But as he tried to reach the pedestal, a firewall came up from below. If it was just putting his hand in, Hiroki would be fine as his hands were immune to burning. But the wall would require his entire body to go through.
They had no choice to but to defeat the monster.
How could they though? Physical attacks won't work, Hiroki's fire attacks only get absorbed into the monster, and Akihiko isn't able to summon a demon powerful enough to defeat it. As the monster tried to lay an attack, Akihiko had to keep dodging. But even dodging wasn't very useful against this monster. When the monster smashes the ground, pieces of rock fly all over the place and would leave tiny cuts on Akihiko's skin.
The monster's attacks and Akihiko's dodging eventually led the latter to being trapped against a wall with no where to turn. The monster laughed as it knew that it would be crowned victorious. Hiroki cried Akihiko's name out of worry and weakness. The monster raised its arm, preparing for the final blow. Akihiko could do nothing but raise his arms in attempt to shield the blow but he knew it wouldn't do much good.
And then, something miraculous happened.
Akihiko's hands began to glow violet, similar to when he's summoning a demon, but was nothing like this. Static surrounded the glow before a flash of lightning struck the monster. When the lightning subsided from his hands, Akihiko stared at them in shock. Never had he known he could do that. Yes, he knew that people of Damonen had other powers aside from summoning demons, but he never thought he could ever do something like that.
"Akihiko look!" Hiroki cried out, "That bolt of lightning you struck at him has damaged him!" The silver haired man looked up to see that his friend was right.
A piece of the molten rock on the monster's shoulder was broken off, revealing a red glow inside. The rock must serve as a shield and the inside is its weak point. Akihiko stood up with confidence and hoped that he was able to use another lightning bolt. Thank goodness he did. He kept striking lightning at the monster; tearing the molten rock piece by piece until a big amount was torn out, leaving the monster vulnerable. He shot one last bolt into the weak point and it hit the monster hard. The glow shined even brighter before the monster exploded, leaving it no more.
They had won.
Akihiko sighed in relief as he fell down to the ground. Suzuki, who was hiding the entire time, came out of his hiding place and flew to his master, cheering. Hiroki looked over at the pedestal to see the firewall subsiding. He could easily take the gourd with no more worries. With the gourd in his hands, he looked back at Akihiko with a smirk and held it up so the latter could see it. The silver haired man smirked back, but Suzuki started shaking in fear. Before anyone could process what was wrong with him, the bear took off in a flash.
"I still don't get why the hell you keep that demon with you," Hiroki replied, "A demon should be helpful to his master, right? Not running away in cowardice after everything is all over."
Akihiko just stared at something behind Hiroki. "I think him running away means there is something else." He pointed to behind Hiroki. When the latter looked, he clearly understood what was happening and ran over to Akihiko, yet unable to take his eyes away from what was going on.
The wall behind the pedestal was cracking; drops of what appeared to be lava seeping through. This was a sign saying 'this wall will explode with the overflow of lava and flood the entire volcano to the point of eruption. Akihiko and Hiroki didn't waste any time standing there and bolted out of the room.
While lucky that the traps were already set off and wouldn't set off again, they were unlucky with the fact that the pathway was really long. As they ran, they heard an explosion behind them. The wall was broken. Hiroki looked back and saw the lava coming right at them.
"Shit!" he cursed, "Now I'm wishing I'm as fast as that bear. If I was then I wouldn't have to worry about having to outrun the lava."
Akihiko's face lit up. As he grabbed Hiroki, his hand glowed and smoke surrounded them. He was able to summon Saitou once again. With both men on his back, the big bear flew as fast as he could and managed to reach the stairs before the lava. The rest of the way was easy, as instead of having to run up all those stairs, Saitou only needed to fly straight up. Once up and out, Saitou flew away from the hole and Akihiko watched as the volcano erupted. However, the lava didn't flow down the volcano. It only gushed up like a geyser and went back down. He assumed the volcano only did that for intruders that managed to succeed on taking the gourd.
Once they were sure the volcano was done, they flew down to where the water was where Suzuki was waiting for them. The moment they landed, even after Akihiko ended Saitou's summoning, Hiroki was clinging onto Akihiko in fear. Never had the silver haired man seen his friend like this.
"Hiroki, we're safe now," he assured him, "You can let go of me now."
Cautiously, Hiroki raised his head and looked around. After looking around and realizing they were indeed safe, he looked up at Akihiko and realized how he was clinging to him. Swiftly, he let go; his face red.
"Stupid Akihiko," he snapped, "I was clinging on like that because I didn't want to fall. It wasn't because I was really scared or anything."
"Yeah, sure," Akihiko replied, "Aren't you going to fill the gourd up with the water? You'll really need it if you're coming along with me."
Hiroki rolled his eyes before walking to the water with the gourd. As he opened the gourd, he noticed something glowing. What could be in that? Akihiko noticed it as well and walks over. Since it takes two hands to hold the gourd considering how big it was, Akihiko held out his hands as Hiroki dumped out the contents in it. Both screamed in fear with what fell into Akihiko's hands.
It was a rock consumed in a flame. Hiroki scooped up some of the water into the gourd and continuously dumped it onto the flame. He didn't have to worry about it going out as its supply really was endless. However, no matter how many times the cinnamon haired man dumped the water; the flame would not go out. Akihiko managed to calm himself down to realize this. This was a flame that wouldn't go out no matter what. No only that, it didn't seem like the flame was burning his hand let alone consuming it in flame like the rock. He stopped Hiroki and pointed out the truth of this rock.
"This is the flame that never goes out!" Akihiko cried in joy, "This is one of the items I need to get as I travel. Only four more items to go and four more continents left before returning to Damonen and facing my brother."
Hiroki gave a sigh. "Well in that case, it's only natural that you'll need my help the rest of the way. I'll take you to the town in Stahlern. Your next item might be there."
"It's not just the item I need," said Akihiko, "According to that woman Aikawa, I need to gain an alliance with someone in each continent. You're my ally from Feuern, but I don't know anyone else I can have an alliance with."
A smirk formed on Hiroki's face. "You may not know anyone else but I know someone from Stahlern who may be able to help. But we better move fast. Who knows when and if that hunter may show up to stop us."
Akihiko nodded. Climbing down the volcano, they began heading to Stahlern. What was to await them there? Will this person Hiroki knows help them? Akihiko asked himself these questions as they walked across the ruby sand and headed to the border into the Metal Continent.
Pinkshuchan: And now there are two. Just letting people know that I have put up a poll in my profile page for your opinion on Akihiko's next ally. Your choices are Misaki, Nowaki, Miyagi, or Shinobu. You are also welcome to give your thoughts in the review. I myself already know who it is they will be meeting, but I want to hear everyone's opinions. Please Read and Review!