Brothers and the Legend of the Fire Devil by beautiful_destruction

~Prelude~

Black clad priests hurriedly scrambled into a candle lit ages old temple, bolting the doors securely once the last man had entered.

"Quickly, he is fast approaching and we will not be able to contain the soul once the sun has set!" othe head priest urged.

"Right, we will begin the incantation to send this soul to the heavens where it may not return to plague the earth and so He may not make use of it."

another priest concurred.

The holy priests converged on the ancient vessel that contained the soul they were so intent on banishing from existence, reciting the age old incantation that had sent countless evil entities to their demise, but none had ever been as powerful as this.

This particular soul belonged to a great and fearful demoness known as the Fire Devil of the Southern lands, Asahiko.

Asahiko had lived a self imposed life of solitude, never mating or bearing heirs to her lands, as she had never found a suitor that she could deeem worthy of mating with her.

She despised humans and would unleash her wrath upon them if they dared enter her territory.

One such human did chance upon her one day and upon spotting him, Asahiko became enraged, she charged after the frightened human and engulfing the area in flames as she went.

Asahiko spent every ounce of her energy making certain that the impudent human was evicerated, so much so that the moment she laid down and closed her eyes, she died.

That is where the priests found the wicked thief, Onigumo.

He was attempting to use a resurrection spell to revive the demoness so he could use her for his own wicked designs, so the priests trapped the demoness's soul in an ancient soul vessel and brought her back to the temple.

All the priests chanting was brought to an abrupt halt as the bolted doors burst open, the old heavy wood splintering as a cloud of noxious haze wafted into the temple.

One by one, the priests fell to the floor unconscious from lack of fresh oxygen as a dark figure calmly strode into the temple.

"So I see you are already in the process of sending away the only being that could help me gain posession of the Shikon no Tama, how very inconsiderate of you." the wicked thief, Onigumo purred.

"Yes you wicked man, you are a fool to thinkn that you could ever command the power of the Fire Devil of the Southern Lands, she will destroy us all if you continue with your impudence and stupidity!" the head priest shouted.

"Back away priest, I intend to finish what you so rudely interupted."

The priest merely stared Onigumo down, not budging from where he stood.

"Priest, I said if you don't mind, I'll be returning that soul to its rightful owner so I may gain favor with her." Onigumo said, taking a bold step forward.

"You really are a fool!"

Onigumo laughed briefly before uncovering the item he had hidden in his robes.

"where did you get that?" the priest shrieked, shock and fear registering on his weathered face.

"I had to steal it from a witch whilst she was busy quarreling with the priestess,Kikyo, I take it you know of this book's evil nature then do you not?"

The priest gawked at Onigumo, holding the Book of Dark Souls, the one book that had the power to bring even the most holy man to his knees in fear.

Onigumo slowly cracked open the cover of the book and immediately, the pages began to flip furiously of their own accord, coming to rest on their desired content.

Shadows began to pour from the book, dull grey shadow creatures that desired nothing more than to suffocate the life out of any being in their path.

The shadow creatures swayed, howling pitifully as they swam about the room killing the candle light, before descending upon the fallen priests, sucking out their souls and exstinguishing their lives.

The head priest remained still, but erected a strong protection barrier around his person to fend off the foul shadows that Onigumo had unleashed.

He covered his eyes from them, there was a crash, and the priest turned to see a firey orange orb pulsating in the middle of the temple, the shadow creatures dancing about it in hunger.

The priest recognized this as being the soul of the Fire Devil.

"You fool, your shadows have released her!"

The soul began to pulse in the shade of a bloody red, the power emanating from it driving the shadow creatures into a frenzy.

All at once, they engulfed the soul, pouring over it like a dull, lifeless ooze as they attempted to smother its light in their death and decay.

Darkness reigned for a mere moment before a great explosion erupted, decimating all the shadow creatures and sending the priest flying clear of the temple.

He landed hard on his side, but looked up to see if Onigumo had been thrown out as well, but was dismayed to see the insolent man standing just beneath the Fire Devil's soul, which now pulsated with a strong anger.

"Get out of there fool, the Fire Devil is angered and her soul is crying for vengance, get out while you still have time!" the priest screamed.

Onigumo seemed not to hear the priest as his head turned skyward and his arms outstretched, waiting to recieve what he believed was going to be his reward for destroying those who had taken the Fire Devil's soul.

The pulsing soul grew larger, angrier, edging closer to the insolent being that now stood in its way, the one it would now impose unimaginable pain and suffering upon.

Rage and fury combined as one to encompass Onigumo's body in bright orangey-red fire.

At first the fire was but a tingle to the disstorted senses of Onigumo, but then his eyes opened and he screamed as every fiber of his being began to burn and scorch.

Flesh turned black and began to fall away from muscle and tissue as the Fire Devil exacted her revenge, the soul knew Onigumo was about to use her and would not permit such a lowly creature to control it.

Half of Onigumo's face had now melted away, he fell to his knees and onto his side where he lay in exscruciating pain, his blood chilling screams penetrating the forests and clearings surrounding the temple.

The priest, seeing the soul vessel was still intact, rushed in to retrieve and hopefully finish what he and his now slain bretheren had set out to accomplish.

He sprinted inside the temple once more, grabbing the soul vessel firmly in his hands, he turned and was about to run out when he slid on some liquidy substance on the floor.

He looked in horror to see that the substance was not liquid, but melted skin and blood!

The priest picked himself back up and dashed out into the open courtyard directly in front of the temple.

He positioned himself in front of the soul vessel and began to chant as loud as his lungs would permit.

No sooner had the priest begun to chant, when the Fire Devil's soul began to weaken, the once enraged ball of fury transformed back into a pulsing soul.

The priest chanted earnestly until the soul was well within the boundaries of the soul vessel, then he laid an ofuda atop the vessel which sent the soul spiraling into the heavens above.

Upon hitting the clouds, the Fire Devil's soul lit the sky up like a flash fire with its remaining fury, briefly changing the lovely azure blue to a lusty orange until it disappeared altogether.

Only then did the priest ceaase his chanting, dropping to his knees and breathing a prayer of thanks to the gods above that the ordeal was no over.

When he looked inside to see if he could locate the remains of Onigumo, he was shocked to find a trail of blood and flesh leading out an alternate entrance.

"May the gods have mercy on the fool." the priest thought as he wwearily turned to set about burying his brothers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And we all know where evil boy wound up don't we?

Anyhoo, that's the prelude to the actual story so, next chapter up in just a few moments.