It gets ready to ram it's head into Zen, But to his surprise, before the raghod could even react, Zen appears out of the trees and impales the Infernal's eyes, making it growl loudly in pain, jerking it's head left and right frantically, going insane.

"Follow me!"

As soon as Zen says that, He launches himself up towards the branches of the Ashened tree. despite its Ashened look, the tree is actually as sturdy as an actual one.

Ryuji, Though not as fast as Zen, is still able to climb the tree well. Having a great physical and spiritual foundation is good for small tasks like this at least.

Before the Raghod can come back to his senses, Ryuji reaches the top.

Immediately after, The Raghod rams it's head into the tree, shaking it to it's roots. Ryuji stumbles a little and hangs down, Barely holding himself using it's leafless branches.

Zen helps him get up, before another jerk sends tremors through the whole tree, Almost making Ryuji slip again.

But being aware about it beforehand makes it harder for the infernal to knock them down.

Zen holds the branches firmly, Plowing his fingers deep inside the ash to hold it more firmly.

Then, he goes on to ask:

"You are fast to catch on. What did you do while you were on Earth?"

Trying to hold the branch in a similar way, Ryuji replies:

"I was a Samurai."

"A Samurai huh?"

Zen looks down at the Raghod for a while, then says:

"How good were you with the sword?"

Ryuji turns his head towards Zen, holding himself well through all the earthquakes the guy below them was causing.

Then, looking back down at the Infernal, he replies calmly:

"I can stir something within you."

Zen chuckles.

"Is that so?"

He lets go of the branch from one hand. Yellow sparks start appearing out of his hand. The sparks soon turn into a long string of light and starts taking shape. Soon, it materialises into a long, black, lusterless Katana.

It's not all that impressive, Nor is it Stylish enough to be weilded by a samurai shown in a Japanese TV Series, But it's definitely not useless. Having a bad weapon, And not having a weapon at all made a huge difference in a life-and-death situation.

And something to make a difference was all Ryuji needed.

Ryuji and Zen didn't need to share many words after that.

Zen hands over the Katana to Ryuji.

Ryuji takes the sword carefully from him.

Ryuji was never handed a sword by a family member, Instead, he chose to wield it willingly. Whenever he picked up a blade, it was from either the blacksmith, or his own waist.

Being handed a sword by his own father, this man, who should've been old and frail if he lived with him by now, looking all young and handsome now. It was unbelievable. And it filled Ryuji with a kind of fire. A dedication. Rage. He could've seen Ryuji learn their family's sword style as he grew up. But... Now it didn't matter. He will show him.

Ryuji lifts the sword up, His pupils dilate, and he looks down at the Raghod. No, He stares at the Raghod.

His veins pop out of his forearm, and he grips the blade tightly.

The Raghod rams it's head into the tree again. And again.

Everytime it rams it's head into the tree, the tree shook. Cracks could be seen on the trunk of the tree. It would soon fall down, and that would mean Ryuji lost.

Whenever the Raghod rammed it's head into the tree, It momentarily closed it's eyes, almost a second before the trunk and it's head made contact.

And as soon as he rammed itself into the tree, It'd experience a short moment of disorientation. It'd shake it's head and then open it's eyes again, Backing off to get ready to ram again.

'Found it.'

A short window was all Ryuji needed. A window enough for gravity to do it's work properly to help him get down.

As soon as the next earthquake was about to be caused, the Raghod closed it's eyes to protect them from getting something in there.

In just the second the Raghod does that, Ryuji immediately loosens his grip on the branch, slowly rolling down like a cog in a gear, his sole still touching the branch as he is about to start falling upside down.

The moment of contact comes, and the tree suddenly shakes.

Ryuji pushes his legs with all his might, pushing them against the branch of the tree.

The branch launches him faster than the speed with which the gravity alone would've pulled him.

The lusterless black katana in his hand is pulled back in his right hand, His left hand extended far in the front. Almost imitating a Javelin thrower getting ready to win a gold medal in their sport.

But Ryuji doesn't throw the Sword.

As Ryuji's body closes towards the Raghod, it's eyes open, Not giving it enough time to process what's happening, Ryuji's brain signals make his Right hand launch to his front, Plowing the Katana deep in the Infernal's eyes long before Ryuji would've reached him.

The Infernal's eyes release a fountain of blood long before the Raghod's brain could send the stimuli of pain to his brain.... Or no.

Before The Raghod can even react, Ryuji is standing on it's head. His left foot below it's right eye and right foot on top of the creature's nose.

The creature's mouth suddenly opens loudly to roar. But before It can go crazy, Ryuji Pushes the Katana down like a lever. Red blood gushes out of the Creature's eyes, making Ryuji bath in it.

Anyone would expect the creature to go crazy.

But not Ryuji.

The Raghod's body goes limp and falls down on the ground. Ryuji standing on top of it. Like a proud King.

[You have slain a Shrouded Carcass, Infernal Raghod.]

What Ryuji did was cut off the creature's brain in two parts. It wasn't hard to predict where the creature's brain would be, considering how small it's head was.

He had predicted it long ago, he just knew his hand wouldn't survive the heat in it's body if he were to pull the brain out without being careful.

Zen is left with his eyes twisted in a weird style.

He recognises the style...

It is the same style, right?

Zen's mind is only left with more questions than answers, but one revelation hits his mind:

'Dad's style? Ryuji Sora...Are you... perhaps, actually from our side of the Sora Lineage... Are you actually...'

Before Zen could finish the thought though, Ryuji hears the Familiar sound of the Glitch happening behind his back.

His Father did recognise him.

He did stir something within him afterall, just like he said.

Somehow, the thought of his father recognising him was so fresh to him. It felt like he had someone who knew him finally existing in this lonely place.

"That was... Uh... Excellent."

Ryuji hears Zen's word. It is easy to realise that Zen is confused about something. If Ryuji's hunch is correct, Zen doesn't remember how he killed the Raghod. He would only remember their conversation, then nothing, and then the image of the Raghod's corpse bleeding heavily.

But uh... This blood... Is certainly very hot. The infernal lives up to it's name.

**

Before getting out of the area, Zen reveals another Soul Bond he had, a small cloth pack which could be used to carry stuff in his Core Sanctum.

Ryuji was especially interested in it, since that thing defied logic. You could try to stuff in something much larger than it's mouth, and it'd somehow devour it. The only limit was it's small capacity. After the Raghod's corpse was put in it, The pack was full.

It was a shame if they looked at it in a way that they could only put one such creature in the pack. But Ryuji was expecting to carry that thing on their backs. It was relieving that they wouldn't have to do so.

Walking further, Ryuji and Zen made some talk.

Zen said he'd have given the sword to Ryuji if he didn't have an Ashened core. Even if Zen didn't remember, and made an impression as if he remembered how it happened, he couldn't deny the fact that he felt changed after it.

Somehow, he felt different towards Ryuji. Perhaps it was admiration. Or it was something else entirely. To Zen himself, it felt that he deeply loved Ryuji's swordsmanship, but due to some unknown reason, he couldn't quite remember it.

Ryuji was an extremely curious man. He quickly asked him about the runes that appeared after he killed the infernal.

Zen went on to explain that these creatures are the Abyssal creatures. They are said to be born long ago, but the reason isn't known well among the residents of hell. It is heard that even Elysium is infested with them. But ofcourse, how would someone in here know? None of them had ever been to Elysium. They had only heard tales here and there, and the sources weren't trustworthy either.

Nevertheless, Zen explained everything he could to Ryuji.

He explained the Different levels the Creatures were divided in.

The first and foremost was the Carcass type.

Just like the Raghod, A Carcass generally wasn't that intelligent, and/or smart. It resembled a beast more than a horror.

After that came the other classes -

Screamer

Reaper

Malformation

Sovereign

Ete... Wait... Uh... Zen was sure there were two more.

It was similar to how Humans were ranked. Or more like, their soul core ranks.

This wasn't where the Abyssal creature's ranks ended though. They all had been divided further based on the number of Cores they had.

Those were -

Shrouded

Eclipsed

Bound

And... Uh... I guess there were two... Or three more?

"Um... Sorry... I don't seem to know much"

Zen's apologetic voice sounded too innocent to Ryuji. It seemed people in hell weren't that well informed.

They didn't know how soul cores were ranked.

They didn't know how the Abyssal creatures were ranked either.

Life in hell is really that detached from everything.

Going about their route, They are halted when one of them notices a Corpse to their far left...

Ryuji's concerned voice sharply travels through the forest, "Is that a human?"

Zen's eyes move in the direction Ryuji is looking at too.

Behind a tree, the hand of a human, lying lifelessly on the ground is visible to their far left.

Everything is smeared in blood in such a way that it's hard to discern weather it's a male or a female corpse from that distance.

Both of them decide to check it for themselves and walk towards it.

The sight in front of them though, makes Zen puke.

When they look at the corpse from the front, they discover that the body of the person had been half eaten... In one bite. The bite mark was too perfect, which made it look horrifying in itself...

Ryuji had lived the life of a samurai, hence he had seen enough gore in his life to not be affected by it anymore. But this was simply too... Repulsive.

The left half of the human had been eaten clean by whatever did that. Ryuji couldn't even begin to imagine such a monster. Even animals didn't eat that way. Seeing an unmangled corpse shouldn't be disturbing compared to a mangled one... But one like this wasn't something which you could simply forget.

Moreover, the blood was fresh. Infact, the direction the corpse was facing was riddled with... Flesh.

Something terrible had crossed through a large settlement.

"I think there is a settlement nearby. There could be people in there."

Zen says in a concerned tone, Looking at the corpses and flesh lying in front of him disturbingly.

But hearing about a settlement in Hell confuses Ryuji.

"A settlement? Here in hell?"

Zen's calms himself down, trying to remain cool and rational, "Humans must've hid somewhere here, or gathered enough strong people to protect themselves from the demons."

"Ah"

Humans seemed to be really scared of the demons. Are they even scarier than the Abyssals?

But right now, he had to drag his feet where this horror went.

Honestly, the idea was a little scary to Ryuji, but for some unknown reason his curiosity wanted him to venture further.

Just like Zen.

Both of them walked further. Going further, the amount of corpses and flesh only increased.

Zen warned Ryuji about the area they were about to enter. He told him that it was home to a horrifying Abyssal Species known to eat it's prey alive and slowly digest them. Very few people were known to survive getting devoured by one.

But this place was empty... Totally... The even scarier part was seeing those long serpentine creatures tore open. They were at least 10 feet long and as fat as a car. And they were all lying lifelessly on the ground in rows.

Whatever thing had done all this had started to scare Ryuji a bit more too.

Silence hung in the air, only the sound of their soles scrapping against the ground, and the rhythmic sound of their breaths was audible to them.

Not much later, They reach a small human settlement, hidden behind a large row of trees with hanging leaves spread across a large distance. If not for the trail of blood, Ryuji and Zen would've probably never found it.

Though, they soon realise what they just might be getting themselves into when Zen realises what they were up against.

In front of them, under a large structure looking like a town hall, stood a menacing blue horror. Looking almost as tall as a small house.

It had large and sharp claws that seemed to be made out of some black metal.

Fur covering it's legs and body. It's legs almost looking human, just disturbingly large, heavy and blue with toes looking like an elephant.

The most disturbing feature was it's face though. Looking almost human, It's white eyes looked full of rage, with it's skin popping up in a way that it looks like it's crying... It lets out shrieks and screams that sound like crying too.

In front of the abomination a small boy, looking almost 15 is lying with fear filled in his eyes. His hands and legs trembling, and eyes filled with horror as he looks at the creature salivating nonstop, crying horribly looking at him.

Ryuji's instincts want to rush at that creature and kill it before it can put it's hands on the crying boy, but before he can take a step, Zen says it's name, as if he recognises it:

"The weeping brother"