Genbu spun in the water, looking around frantically for Masahiro. Being a water shinshou, he had no trouble maneuvering in the water. The current around him moved to his will, becoming his shield and spear.
Where was Masahiro?
He didn't need to worry about Kouchin and Rikugou, they were shinshou after all and a strike like this should leave them none the worse for wear. He focused for a moment before extending his awareness beyond himself, letting it travel with the current. With the water itself as his hands, he reached forth, feeling around the muddy bottom and its many nooks and crannies, looking for the small form of the boy. He thought he had chanced upon something when abruptly, the water under his control swirled unnaturally. Baffled for a moment at the sudden disturbance, he realized with a start that the water had become warm, the strange currents intermingled with the aura of rage. He winced as in seconds, the warmth of the water crescendoed into boiling hot, bubbling with furiously with the scent of youkai.
"Touda !"
He knew that the monster fed on humans, Masahiro couldn't be far away then.
Genbu twisted in the water, darting forth with an agility that only he possessed. It wasnt long before he broke through the impenetrable darkness of the muddy water, tumbling to a sudden stop before the limp from of Masahiro, as Touda faced off with the monster off to the side.
Momentarily stunned by the scene before him, he found his voice and shouted Masahiro's name, his voice distorted by the churning current.
This was bad, Masahiro was unresponsive, his limp body rolled loosely with the water, anchored to the muddy bottom by seaweed and debris. He clearly wasn't breathing and in the darkness of the water, his face was a pallid blue. This was terrible. A chill passed through him as Genbu realized that Masahiro might die........ no.... he would probably die.
Genbu looked around in panic. The monster was wholly focused on Touda, who crouched before him, covered in flames that made the water sizzle and bubble on contact.
Now was his chance. He took hold of Masahiro's limp form, pulling him free of the debris and seaweed entangled in his clothes. His frantic hands were just pulling off the last strands of seaweed when he realized that something was wrong. His awareness through the water prickled and stung as he looked up frantically in time to see Touda seemingly double over in pain, as he became enveloped in a pillar of flames that lashed outward with alarming speed.
Genbu's gasp of horror was cut short as the explosion met him full force.
For a horrible moment, he had felt as though he would be torn apart, the current sharpened by the explosion would tear him limb to limb until there was nothing left.
A hail of sand and pebbles in his face brought him to his sense as he found himself adrift, himself reeling outward on the current with the sand and rocks.
"NO!!!" Genbu felt through the darkness.... he couldnt have lost Masahiro.
But no, relief washed through Genbu as he reached toward the familiar aura and grasped waterlogged fabric.
He wasted no time as he locked his arms over Masahiro's chest and shot for the surface. They broke surface of the water with a splash, and Genbu focused, and gritting his teeth, pushed at the water with all his strength to create a barrier, a round patch of calm in the expanse of wildly churning sea.
The barrier was completed none too soon as Touda's pillar of fire roared to the surface, turning the surrounding water to steam as the crimson flames licked at the sky, becoming one with the last violet clouds of twilight.
Genbu winced, even within the barrier, with the distance of the ocean between them, he could feel the heat singing at his hair and eyebrows. Touda's flames seemed to scorch the sky itself, and even with the his barrier, the water around them heated up at an alarming rate. This wont do. At this rate, the barrier wont hold and Genbu shuddered to think what would happen should they be hit with Touda's flames.
Genbu gritted his teeth as he came to a decision, taking hold of Masahiro, he darted for shore with all his strength. Masahiro's safety was his top priority, all else mattered little now.
Genbu was a shinshou of the water, but never before had he appreciate so much, the feel of land beneath his feet as he laid Masahiro on the shore.
The impact of the previous explosion had caused Masahiro to choke up some water, be he remained unresponsive, his face a bloodless grayish blue.
Genbu prodded him in panic, unsure of what to do, when a shadow rose from the water behind him, and he turned to see the sodden form of Rikugou rise from the surface.
"Rikugou !"
Rikugou peeled the wet hair from his face before turning to look at the pillar of fire on the horizon that linked the sea and the sky. Behind him the sea still churned with unearthly rage. He had found himself fortunate enough to be bypassed by the flames. He wasn't sure if he would have survived had he been caught. Touda's seal had been broken, unleashing his full strength power that even he himself was hard pressed to contain. Unsealed, he was the strongest, most aggressive of the shinshou, none of the others even came close to his power. His was a power that few could even dream of, hellish flames that would incinerate anything and everything in its path, unchecked and inextinguishable, swallowing everything in its path to expand endlessly with Touda at its center. The ability to turn entire civilizations into expanses of scorched earth was beyond the imagination for most, but that was Touda's reality.
Rikugou and Genbu both turned their eyes from the ocean as Taiin and Narachika appeared at the edge of what remained of the sand bar, their gaze locked in horror on the pillar of fire in the distance.
"Did you catch the last monster? " Genbu asked.
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