Astral's Adventures

Astral put his back against the wall as stone surrounded him. He held his head up as Sentinel charged directly at him. Aiming a punch at his skull as Astral was ready for the end. He struggled against the wall as he ducked his head down at the last moment. He couldn't free himself from the wall as he felt they were different from the stone around him.

'Awaken yourself from your prison! Become yourself!' A voice spoke from above Astral as he recognized it from somewhere. Sentinel dropped his hand downwards to try and slam it onto Astral as he caught it with his left arm. Breaking free of the magical seal as Sentinel sent a blow to Astral's ribs with his free hand.

Astral felt the air escape his body as it all left from the force of the punch. He snapped the rest of the rocky bindings off as he fell to the ground. Deja vu struck as Astral felt a tingle down his spine, his body moving on its own while he caught his breath. His right arm holding all the weight of Sentinel crushing him.

"What's a human like you to keep up with me physically?" Sentinel was irritated at the notion of it all as he backed up. Astral stood up as parts of his iris were hollowed out with no color, translucent, seeing to the back of his eyes as the rest remained cyan. His pupils shrank as he felt like this man was worse. "I would have to love to squish your skull like a grape."

Astral closed the gap and stood in front of the man's chest as one hundred punches sounded off. Each one hitting with the force fast enough to break the sound barrier as Astral snapped and couldn't stand what he heard, but why? Sentinel took each blow laughing. "Punches and physical damage I can ignore, and while you may rupture my internal organs, I don't need them to live as I will heal. You will not." He grabbed Astral by the skull as a leg struck his hand. Freeing himself from the grasp.

Sentinel looked at Astral confused. This human was clearly not normal as his iris became whole again, just with cracked lines across them. "What an interesting human, the Hybrid Queens would pay very well for you." Sentinel charged in and slammed a hand into Astrals chest with a palm strike as Astral slammed into the wall.

He fell to the ground again as he struggled to get up. 'Why is there so much trouble, why so many blank spaces?' He asked himself as he stood. A punch came at him from the left as he parried it and launched himself upwards kicking Sentinel. Astral took a moment in the sky and looked down at Sentinel.

"You got this Astral!" Tina shouted out to him as he came crashing down and created a dust storm. Sentinel could see directly through it as Astral covered his eyes. The dust he stirred allowed for the sand to pelt him as it started to peel his skin away slowly as Astral slammed his shield down. Sending it all upwards as Sentinel appeared behind him and slammed his elbow directly into Astral's back as he became limp onto the ground.

Sentinel started to laugh as Astral looked up to see Lilac's hammer in the arena, he realized this man was a giant nail. Astral was to be the hammer as he crawled over. "Now don't think like you are just going to grab that and win." Sentinel rested a foot on Astral's back. Astral couldn't claw forward far enough as some shadow appeared above Astral. Sentinel took a half step back as he looked up at Astral's shadow.

Astral rolled upwards and lifted the hammer with one hand as Sentinel stood confused as the shadow vanished. Astral didn't cackle or cry, letting no emotion leak out as Sentinel charged at him. One swift swing with the hammer sent Sentinel into the wall as he took a second to recover. 'That's not normal, his regeneration and that shadow.' Sentinel held his ground as Astral set the hammer down. Pulling out Muramasa as Sentinel recognized that blade from urban legends.

"A blade of gods?" Sentinel looked at it. "Wielded by you. Impossible." Astral rushed past Sentinel as he felt his pinkies fall off as Astral stood behind him holding his shield in one hand and his katana in the other.

"I would say it is more along the lines of a custom, but made of gods? It is a blade above blades." Astral turned around as the ground slowly lifted to the normal level. Sentinel bowed down as the demons looked confused.

"You may not be our leader, but you do command respect for yielding to a challenge. Even if you downplayed your powers." Sentinel stood up. "Now leave. And take the other human with you, I have no qualms with you. No longer as a goal has changed." The demons looked frightened as Sentinel heard a horn in the distance as his head peaked upwards. "We move west shortly. I recommend you run fleet footed humans. And pray you do not fall for when we face again."

Astral nodded as he cracked open the cage as the man crawled out, Lilac stood up before she morphed into a mouse and crawled into Astral's shoulder pad. He picked up Tina in his right arm as the man grabbed a couple of things from the demon camp they may need. A tent, a couple of pots and pans, rope, water containers and a bag to store anything else they find.

They sprinted south away from the demon camp as the man kept up with Astral as day turned to dusk. Astral and the man were exhausted as they made it to a heavily wooded area as pine trees over them. Astral stopped as did the man. They looked at each other in a collective agreement to rest for a moment.

"I never asked for your name back there." Astral set Tina down as she yawned. Lilac morphing back into a human as the two cuddled resting on a pine tree. The man set the bag down as he unpacked the tent from the bag.

"The name is Sora, don't be too crestfallen to exaggerate my abilities, but I am a simple man." He bowed as Astral looked at the mask on his shoulder, something didn't feel right about him. His aura felt off putting. He filled up a stew pot full of water as Astral watched closely, staring at the man as he felt a disturbance.

"So, Sora, what are we having for food?"

"A simple potato and broccoli soup. Those demons raided a farm, and didn't eat their veggies, so its up to us to do so." Sora motioned for Astral to start a fire as he gathered a few twigs and lit the fire with magic once again, surprising them both as they heard a twig snap.