F.E VII (Color Your Night)

Rakuyō: F.E 7 𓇢

??? VII

Color Your Night

Back at the street of red Victorian houses, the sound of explosions radiate through the air, the area quakes as red particles and smoke fly through the air. A neigh screams from the explosions as the sounds of hooves clapping against pavement echo,

“C’MON YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT NOW!” Blaze's voice roars as he bursts out a cloud of smoke riding on Inferno with both of his arms surrounded by cannons made of molten rock.

Smokey across him swirls in the air pushing away the embers and smoke, “Crap!” he says to himself panicking.

“He’s not letting up for even a little bit!”

He quickly ducks as a beam of magma fires above him, chipping him. “ERK!” He grunts falling towards the ground.

Blaze continues to rush him, smirks seeing him falter, he thrusts both his cannons straight forward. “I’ll give you a taste of hell before I send you down there!” he yells as the holes of his cannons shine a bright orange.

“No!” Smokey shrieks, putting his arms together aiming them for Blaze.

Dark energy surrounds his palms as his body starts to ache from the overuse of energy. “This is it, this is all I can do!”

Inferno neighs once more as Blaze fires his blast of magma “HA!” he shouts as his hair flutters backwards from the force blowing his hat away.

Smokey across him fires his own blast of dark energy, pouring everything he has into it.

The two beams clash, exploding on impact, shockwaves and smoke scatter across the area, “AUGH!” Smokey shouts being blown away.

Blaze covers himself, tapping Inferno. Inferno raises its front legs as it stomps into the pavement, molten rocks form around its hooves as they stick to the stone.

Blaze holds onto Inferno as the pressure starts to blow him back, “Heh-heh!” he chuckles as debris and smoke hit across his face.

The pressure fades as the smoke dissipates, Akuji on top of nearby houses looks down at Smokey laying on the ground, he crosses his arms rolling his eyes.

“Well, it seems like this thing is done for.” he sighs “That was fast, barely even put up a fight against the bastard.”

Smokey on the ground twitches, the black energy from his body starting to break apart, his mask begins to break as black smoke seeps from it.

Inferno pulls its leg out of the ground, starting to walk towards Smokey, Blaze aims his right cannon down at him preparing to shoot him.

“One contestant down, now I just need to find that bitch who trapped me here.”

Blaze’s cannon begins to glow brighter “Thank me, ending an abomination like you is a favor, I’d hate to live life looking like that.” He smirks “Bless God he gave you the mercy of meeting me.”

“Erk…” Smokey grunts trying to move. “No, I can't die yet… Soley, I need to find Sole-” before he could finish his sentence violet mist appears before him as Akuji materializes from it, “Hold on there before you shoot the poor boy.” he says holding his hand out.

Blaze raises an eyebrow “Oh look who finally decided to return to fight, eh pretty boy?” He laughs “Now why should I listen to you about blasting you both to ash!”

Akuji scoffs, turning back to Blaze, “I couldn’t care less about you or this kid, I just need information.”

“As I told you before, it's against the rules to attack you since you’re a part of the living. Shutting you up isn’t worth the consequence.”

Blaze cackles “Living?” he repeats “You talk like you’re some higher being, all I see is a weirdo in a robe! So move along before you get turned into ash!”

Akuji turns around facing Smokey “Aye, mind telling me where Danya is before this continues?”

Smokey continues to tremble on the ground, not answering. “Great…” Akuji mutters to himself. At that moment the feeling of heat brushes against his neck as orange light shines over him.

“Hm?” he hums, quickly swiping his arms, slapping the blast of magma away. He faces Blaze flicking his wrist “Didn’t I just tell you-” he starts to say before.

“Who the hell do you think you are ignoring me? Son of a bitch!” Blaze shouts out, charging another blast. “Think you all high and mighty huh?, let's see how much blast you can take!”

Akuji chuckles under his breath. “You know what, fine, you want a fight so badly?” He says lifting his palm as black energy forms in his palm. He turns back into violet mist instantly reappearing next to Smokey's body.

He looks down at Smokey as energy continues to leak from his mask, cracks spreading faster across it. “Count yourself lucky.” he says with a low voice as a smile contorts on his face.

He puts the sole of his foot under Smokey's body, flicking his foot upwards launching Smokey’s body upwards. Akuji quickly grabs his neck with the palm the energy was forming in.

Smokey struggles flailing in Akuji's grasp, Akuji holds his body towards Blaze charging his cannon.

Black energy bursts from Akuji's palm surrounding Smokey’s body. “I told you before I’m not your issue, but since you persist…” Akuji says to himself as his violet pupils dilate.

Blaze sucks his teeth “Both of y’all go straight to hell, hear?!” he shouts firing another blast, Inferno stumbling from the pressure alone from the force of it.

As the blast reaches the two, black energy bursts from Smokey’s body. A scream then pierces the air as it starts to distort. Smoke and embers fill the surrounding air.

Blaze flicks his cannon gritting his teeth, “Piece of shit… I wasted more energy than I needed, would have been better if this was The Demon of The West.” he snorts then spits on the ground. “Tch..” he sucks his teeth wiping his mouth.

He pats Inferno on the neck, “Let’s go, we have to find a way out of here.” The sound of Inferno's hooves clap against the pavement once more as it turns around.

At that moment a low distorting growl comes from the smoke, “Huh?” Blaze grunts as his eyes widen. The smoke then bursts and scatters apart as the growls then turn into a distorting scream. “What in all hell?!” he exclaims, turning back to the smoke.

“Ugh!?” Blaze grunts in shock seeing Smokey floating in front of Akuji, the black energy now raging across his body, his claws bigger and sharper as a crack in his mouth forms into a mouth shape.

Smokey leans forward as the mouth breaks apart revealing nothing but a pitch black void as a face. He roars charging at Blaze leaving a trail of black smoke in his wake.

“Wha-!” Blaze stutters trying to point his cannons at Smokey, before he could Smokey appears in front of him swiping his claws down breaking through Blaze's right cannon.

“EUGH!” Blaze screams as blood leaks from his arm, sweat runs down his face. Instinctively he raises his left cannon charging an orange light.

Smokey sticks his claws out rushing towards Blaze.

Inferno’s legs buckle as it starts to panic trying to flee, violently thrashing trying to run away. “UGH!” Blaze shouts as he accidentally blasts the pavement. The light from the blast stripping away the stone, turning it into a yellow light.

Akuji from the distance grins watching the two battle, “It was a gamble but it seems like his body really is just made up of pure energy.” he chuckles to himself. “Adding existing dark energy to him just filled the beast. What an odd creature.” He looks down at the yellow hole on the ground under Inferno's panic, raising an eyebrow.

“What is that?” he says to himself “Hold on…” he mutters turning his head looking around the entire area, yellow holes litter the ground as the stone slowly fades away into yellow particles.

“Is that a part of the guy's Core Ability?” he turns back to the fight “Now I need to pay attention even more.”

Back at the battle Inferno flings Blaze off its back, continuing to scream in terror. Smokey roars once more swirling towards Inferno crossing his claws together.

Blaze in the air looks down as his eyes widen.

“NO!” He screams as the sound of skin tearing apart and blood dropping fills the air, Inferno's last shriek makes Blaze’s body cringe. The sight of Smokey slicing through Inferno’s body like a blade, both of its halves dropping onto the ground.

Smokey turns upwards facing Blaze as he’s already pointing his cannon down at him.

Smokey’s voice lowers and growls. He launches up towards Blaze.

“Erg!” Blaze groans as he quickly fires another blast of magma down at Smokey. Smokey once more swirls around the blast leaving black smoke trails.

He quickly reaches Blaze, cocking back his arms, Inferno's blood still dripping from the tips of his claws. Blaze's eyes widen one final time.

“Wait- No!” he screams before Smokey slashes his arms towards his chest, ripping it open.

Blaze screams in agony as blood sprays out of the slash wound, his eyes roll back into his head, as ribbons of his red suit tear off from the impact.

Akuji from below watches as Blaze’s magma blast pierces the ground, he leans forward watching as the yellow light reappears as the light from the magma makes contact with the ground.

“Light…” Akuji says to himself, “So light causes this kind of reaction to this place? But what does the yellow mean?”

He opens his palm and creates an ember of violet flames, “Hm…” he hums. “Only one way to find out.” he tilts his head back up to Smokey.

Smokey grabs Blaze by the face, shifting their positions, Smokey now above him cocks back his other arm.

Blaze lets out a low groan as Smokey's growl distorts and radiates, he then lets out a roar. “GWRAHH!” arcing his claws downwards, slicing the same wound he already cut.

He lifts his other palm off Blaze’s face, slashing it down against the wound again.

Again and again he repeats slashing and mutilating Blaze’s body while falling through the air.

They crash onto the ground leaving a crater, Smokey slowly rises floating, looking down at Blaze’s body spilling blood.

Smokey remains silent for a moment as he then mutters “Soley…” in a low monstrous voice. Violet mist appears next to him as Akuji materializes from it, looking down at Blaze’s body. “Wow.” he says flatly “How cold.”

“Eugh!” Smokey grunts in shock, flicking his arm backwards ready to slash Akuji, Akuji lifts one finger blocking the strike. “Cool it, ghost boy, I’m not trying to fight you.”

“GWRAHH!” Smokey shouts once more, lunging his other hand trying to stab Akuji.

“Tch..” He sucks his teeth drifting back. “It seems you’ve lost your mind. Do you understand anything of what I'm saying right now?” he says, touching the ground.

“SOLEY! WHERE IS SOLEY?!” Smokey screams out. Akuji narrows his eyes “Soley? I don’t know who that is.”

“Look, we can find this Soley-” before he could finish Smokey claps his hands together firing a dark blast of energy towards Akuji, its ripples tearing apart the pavement.

“Damn, there's no getting through this thing.” Akuji scoffs, lifting his palm as violet flames form inside of it. He launches a ball of flames at the beam, and they both detonate on impact, purple light shines from the explosion stripping away the pavement below into a yellow light.

“So it is light! Got it.” Akuji says to himself, stepping back. “I need to throw this thing into it to see what it's even about.”

Through the smoke Smokey flies out from above, he presses his claws together once more, charging another blast. Akuji looks up at him “Tch..” he sucks his teeth instantly turning into violet mist.

“Guh!?” Smokey grunts watching Akuji disappear, he starts to look around frantically, a streak of violet mist falls before him, he quickly turns his head upwards to the sight of Akuji already in the motion of cocking his kick back.

“AH-” He starts to shout before Akuji strikes him with a roundhouse kick straight to the mask, “AUGH!” He shouts, launching to the ground. Before he could crash into the pavement a purple light shines over him.

He turns his head to it, seeing a blast of violet flames heading towards him. “EUGHH!” He screams as the flames engulf him as he falls.

The violet from the flames upon the pavement strips away to surface into yellow light, as Smokey approaches the light the hole grows bigger, and then at the final moment as the blast reaches the ground it falls through the hole.

Akuji from above raises an eyebrow watching his blast go through the hole, “Hm… so it really is an exit?” he clenches his fist. “But where does it lead? I don’t want to take the chance of just being lost somewhere else.” he says to himself.

At that moment the ground below starts to quake, “What?” he mutters to himself, as in the distance a crimson beam erupts from the ground blasting into the black sky.

“D-Danya?!” Akuji shouts, his eyes widening. “That was her energy for sure! So she's actually here!” he says watching as the red beam pierces the sky opening a white hole. He turns back to the yellow hole below him.

“Damn this girl! It's always something with her!” he shouts, diving down into it without hesitation, and as he passes through, everything changes to a bright yellow, his white locs and cloak flutter back as he falls through the lemon sky, he looks down to see a wide field of sunflowers swaying from light winds.

“What the hell is this? Now it's sunflowers!?” he scoffs, as he turns his gaze down seeing Smokey continue to fall still blazing violet. “Tch, good, at least he should rip another hole as it crashes into the ground, it gives me more momentum to find Danya and get the hell out of here.”

Smokey below him grunts as he falls, he spreads his arms as he creates dark energy around his body pulsing it outwards, causing the flames around him to push forward, he stops himself midair shifting his focus upwards at Akuji.

“GWRAHHH!” He roars creating more dark energy around his body, he thrusts his palms upwards aiming them for Akuji as he falls.

“DIE!” Smokey's voice distorts, bellowing as he blasts a giant dark pulse up at Akuji.

Akuji watching the beam come at him sucks his teeth “Fine!” he shouts raising his palms as violet flames erupt from them. “If it's a beam clash you want! It's a beam clash you’ll get!”

He swipes his palms and blasts a wave of violet flames down at Smokey’s dark pulse, the downward blast collides as instantly Akuji’s flames start to engulf Smokey’s pulse.

“Erg!” Smokey grunts trying to pour more energy into his blast, the heat from the amethyst inferno approaching him, Akuji above him grins as his eyes start to glow violet, he chuckles before saying “You know, let's just destroy the entire place.”

Flames start to emit from his entire body as a violet glow surrounds him, he aims his palm downwards as more flames emit from it. “This should get me to where I need to be faster.” he says, unleashing a bigger wave of flames down towards Smokey.

Smokey’s blast completely breaks apart from the pressure of Akuji’s blast, “UGH!” He shouts panicking, watching the inferno come closer to him, he turns around flying towards the ground, running away from the blast.

“NO!” He screams as the light shines over him, reaching the field of sunflowers, the green grass surface starting to peel apart and open an orange hole, Smokey turns his focus to the new hole rushing towards it as the blast grows closer to him.

The orange hole grows wider, as Smokey shifts his body aiming for it, he presses his arms together, sticking them out as he dives into it. The light from the fire rips the hole open wider, as it too follows through it.

Akuji from above chuckles, rushing down chasing after Smokey. A hunt that seems never-ending.

—--------------------------------------------------------

At the same time during Akuji and Smokey's battle, in the mountainside realm, Soluna falls through the sky, her pink gaze locking onto Anito as she too soars downwards towards the grassy field.

Soluna grits her teeth, flicking her wrist, brown branches start to form on her arms, she thrusts them down aiming for Anito as the branches burst and stretch, shooting at her.

Anito turns around as she flies down, her hair fluttering back from the wind. “Ugh!” she grunts as the branches approach her, they instantly wrap around her, as their thorns dig into her skin.

“AUGH!” Anito screams as they tighten around her and squeeze her.

Soluna above her pulls herself down, retracting the branches causing herself to rush towards Anito.

Anito grits her teeth as green particles appear around her, they start to grow in size as they begin to burst like firecrackers.

The sparks from the orbs hit the surfaces of the branches around her, as the wood starts to sear and burn apart.

“Erggg!” Anito growls as the bursts grow bigger, behind her Soluna approaches rapidly, she sticks her knees out, ready to dig them into Anito’s back.

Before Soluna can fully reach her, Anito bursts out of the branches, shifting her body to the right. “Huh!?” Soluna grunts, continuing to fly towards her.

Anito flexes her legs, cocking her right one back, the moment Soluna approaches her she flips her body unleashing a roundhouse kick to her head.

The force of the kick shakes her body, “UGH!” Soluna screams as her eyes roll back, leaving her pupils blank, blood erupts from her mouth.

The force of the impact pushes her downwards, as she starts to fall through the air, Anito pants lifting her arms as green orbs surround her, each of them starting to elongate into an oval shape.

“BURN IN HELL!” She bellows slamming her arms downwards, as the orbs start to rapid fire at Soluna. As the beams fire down at Soluna her pupils return, as blood runs down her mouth.

“Erg!” she grunts struggling to raise her palm, on instinct a white flower grows from her palm blooming into the shape of a giant shield, the white petals glow as if they’re hit by sunlight.

The orbs shoot down colliding with the flower shield as they disperse on impact, each bullet pushing Soluna down with more force.

(Growing a moon lily which naturally reflects light and adding a phenomenon some lifeforms naturally have called bioluminescence across the petals. She was essentially able to make the flower into a light shield.)

The bullets continue to push Soluna towards the ground. Instantly in that moment the area begins to quake as red particles and light shoot past the two.

“Huh?” Anito gasps looking to her right from where the light came from. “Qin Jiu!” she shouts, dissipating her orbs.

Blood leaks out of her body from the wounds of Soluna’s thorns, she turns to where Qin Jiu is surrounding herself with green energy, bursting forward towards her.

Soluna continues to fall watching Anito fly away, “Damn it!” she hisses as her flower shield starts to break apart, her vision starts to break up, as a searing pain radiates through her head.

She crashes into the green grass fields facing the sky, her eyes barely open as her body twitches. “I can’t pass… out.” she struggles to say. She coughs as blood sprays out her mouth. “Ugh…” she groans.

Her eyes grow heavy as she tries to move. “Smokey…” she whispers. “Where are you?”

Anito arrives at where Qin Jiu and Danya are battling, the grass surface stripping apart into an indigo blue. She looks down at Qin Jiu who's struggling against Danya. “Qin!?-” Anito stutters, her eyes widening.

On the ground, Danya leaps forward, moving her arm swiftly into a quick blur. “UGH!” Qin Jiu grunts, stepping back, as blood leaks from her nose and mouth. Instantly Danya lands a clean slap on Qin Jiu’s right cheek. “Augh!” Qin Jiu shouts.

Danya then shuffles her feet, sweeping her right leg under hers, causing her to stumble back, she then locks her elbow, twirling as her cloak and hair spin with her, she launches her elbow at Qin Jiu’s face before she could recover.

Qin Jiu’s head snaps back from the blow, “AUGH!” She groans as she flies back, dropping to the ground rolling back.

She covers her face rolling on the grass.

Danya walks up to her giggling “Seems like I didn’t even need my scythe for this, I just summoned it to look cool at this point.”

She sighs “Is this really all you’re capable of? Come on, I'm barely trying here.”

She shrugs “What more did I expect from a Gen-sei. You’re nothing like the Spirits of Kakuriyo.”

“Y-you!” Qin Jiu growls under her palms, she uncovers her face as her pupils dilate and her teeth clench.

“YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS! I’LL KILL, KILL, KILL YOU!” She screams as red energy surrounds her, she then bursts into the air leaving behind a red trail.

She looks down at Danya as blood still pours out her nose and mouth. “GRRR!” she growls. “QIN JIU!” Anito calls out. Qin Jiu’s ears perk as she pauses for a moment “Ani-” she stutters turning around “Anito!” she screams as she watches Anito approach her.

Anito stops floating next to her, they both lock eyes then turn their focus down to Danya, who's standing still with a smile on her face. “Pull yourself together!” Anito shouts, “I’ve just encountered 2 other contestants and they’re high level!”

“We can’t afford to go easy on anyone here!” she exclaims, Qin Jiu scoffs “Fine! If it’s no more games! We have to turn into Gwong Ling!”

Anito nods “Exactly that! We need everyone here gone, they're too dangerous!” She grabs Qin Jiu's hand as a green light shines from her palms, Qin Jiu tightens her grip on Anito's hand as a red light radiates from her palm.

“YOU DOWN THERE!” She shouts at Danya who's watching them, “LET US SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU UNDERESTIMATE US!”

They turn to each other pressing their bodies causing their beasts to touch, they spin together as the red and green light around them starts to swirl around them.

Danya puts her hand on her forehead watching them as the light shines upon her “Oh! That's kinda pretty.” she says to herself, as the ground below her starts to rip apart into an indigo light.

She looks down, raising her eyebrow, “Indigo?” she says to herself. “Wait…” she mutters to herself, losing focus on what's happening.

Is the ground reacting to the light they’re emitting? I remember seeing green when I shot Impulso Di Morte in the sky. So this realm reacts to light!

That's my way out of here! If I can get them to destroy the place I’m free.

“Shouldn’t you be focused on us here!” A voice calls out from above.

Danya looks up as her eyes widen “What the-” she mutters at the sight of the two of them now one person, her hair black with rainbow streaks underneath it, a halo of prism-shaped crystals surrounding her head.

Her outfit is now a mix of Anito’s shorts and Qin Jiu's wrap, as the wrap around their bodies shines with a rainbow outline.

Gwong Ling spreads her arms as light spanning every color of the rainbow radiates from her, the rays continue to rip the ground apart, as they even reach the sky, which starts ripping into a green light.

“Disappear into the endless white light.” Gwong Ling mutters to herself as more rays start to shoot off her, Danya below her grits her teeth, holding her arm out summoning her scythe from red mist,

“Well, now I actually need to use this…” she says, preparing to leap forward. Gwong Ling in the air looks down at her, her eyes complete white, radiating streaks of rainbow light.

“400 nm!” She screams as more streaks of light burst out of her body, white particles scatter from her, as the blue sky, mountains, and grass begin to bend.

“What the?!” Danya says to herself watching as the realm starts to break apart, blue streaks of light pass her as they charge towards Gwong Ling, the wind pressure rises as Danya’s hair and cloak blow north towards Gwong Ling.

Danya grits her teeth as she feels her energy start to disappear once more, “What is going on!?” she shouts.

Over where Soluna lies, the ground starts to rip apart below her. “Ergg.” she groans, still unable to move, she opens her eyes slightly to the sinking feeling of her body about to fall through the ground.

The sight follows the blue light passing her before she falls into the indigo abyss.

Back at Gwong Ling, she starts to curve and arch her back, she closes her arms together, folding them, her hair and bottom wrap whip from the pressure of the winds, as light continues to emit from her, shining from every direction.

The realm continues to break, as the mountain completely turns into blue light, the blue sky completely gone and made into a white light.

Danya grits her teeth, as sweat runs down her face. “Okay, I might be screwed here!” she says to herself looking up at Gwong Ling.

She quickly whirls around and leaps forward, jumping into the indigo void. “I can’t be caught in whatever she’s doing!”

Back at Gwong Ling, she continues on with the blue energy. 'This is it. With this she’ll be nothing but particles, I can hunt down the remaining contestants trapped here.'

She closes her eyes, 'Mimi, we kept our promise to you, to return to Malaysia with all the healing power across all worlds. You won’t have to suffer anymore, we'll get this wish for you and everyone else who’s fallen ill to the virus'.

She looks down at the void watching Danya fall through it. This is only one step closer to the goal.

She unfolds her arms, aiming them downwards towards Danya. Blue shines from her like an illuminating star, “Fantiu…” she whispers as the blue shines brighter.

“Gwongbaau!” (Sky-Burning Light Burst) She then roars as a giant blue orb forms below her, the blue streaks of light swirl around it like a planetary ring.

Danya from far below notices the orb, her eyes widen as her mouth opens slightly. “That's not good… That’s not good at all!”

“Cazzo!” she screams. “I can’t do anything against that!” she clenches her fist. “I refuse to die here! I refuse! I need a way, I need a way to avoid that thing!”

The orb starts to fall towards her, and as it falls through the indigo void it too starts to rip apart into white light from the sheer force of the blue orb.

With Danya only moments away from disintegration, Soluna already deep into the void, Santana unconscious, Blaze dead, and Akuji and Smokey falling through the layers, it seems Gwong Ling may be the one who wins the power of Host.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------

Rakuyō: Frontier Escapade 7 END (X)