Life After Death: The Strength Of Suffering

My hands, covered in the soil of my home and my family's blood trembled at my sides, not from fear nor exhaustion but from the fury coursing through my veins.

My Cursed Energy, a wild and chaotic mess had destroyed the mountain along with everything and everyone, still on it.

I felt rays of light descend upon my bare shoulders and looked up to witness a sight I had never seen before. 'Is it gods?' Chains of ethereal golden light wrapped around my body, restricting both my movement and Cursed Energy. I could feel my knees being forced down. 'Is it-'

Rage coursed through me as I let out a bitter laugh. "You think something so fucking weak can stop me?!" I felt one of the chains fade as my Cursed Energy overwhelmed the restrictions Heaven was trying to impose upon me. "You think, after losing so much a second time that I'll rest?!"

More chains broke free and a roar erupted from my chest, causing an explosion of aura to flood the surroundings while also destroying the remaining chains. I watched the golden rays fade and turned toward the direction Hana-kozō had said the golden man was, then took off.

~Scene Change / ? POV~

"Shouldn't you be preparing?"

I looked down at the filthy woman with whom I had entered a Binding Vow with. "Do not question me, filth." I turned my sights upon an apparently empty space before it shook as that man's Cursed Energy closed in. "I was already aware he was making his way here long before you."

She turned, sweat dripping down her face as she realized something didn't add up to her plan. "W-what did you do?!"

I raised my hand toward her before sighing and standing up, granting her the luxury of a response. "I merely had Aoi who appears to have died, kill that man's wife and newborns. I am quite disappointed in his response to it all, though."

'I was hoping he would be different, that he would stand beside a god like myself.' Sighing, I looked up as I felt the man arrive in Heian-kyō.

"How could you do that?! I told you he was already unhinged!"

I looked down at her with a tilt of my head and closed in on her with a single step. "I will not say it again, mortal. Do not question me."

I turned back just as the woman's eyes widened, and just before the walls of the place were destroyed, she created a barrier.

'I shall put you out of your misery.'

~Ryou POV~

'They are all to blame.'

I entered through the main gate, my hands and body dyed crimson as I ran through anyone unlucky enough to be in my way. I clicked my tongue, feeling the countless eyes of people fall upon me. 'I can feel him here.'

I raised my foot as I saw Sorcerers, mixed in with the crowds of hundreds begin to panic. They either tried to run or helped others escape, causing me to snarl.

"Cursed Technique: Fifth Step!"

The words tore from my throat, laced with grief and rage as my foot slammed into the ground. The surge of Cursed Energy rippled outward, tearing through stone and timber like paper, shaking the very foundations of the once beautiful city.

Buildings crumbled. Walls disintegrated. The screams of the helpless were swallowed by the deafening roar of destruction.

I stood in the wreckage, the city now reduced to rubble around me the dead littering the ruined streets. "Still not showing yourself, you coward?!" I roared into the desolate ruins before clicking my tongue and raising my foot once more. "Cursed Tec-"

I stopped midway as I heard footsteps slowly approaching. I turned and saw the bastard.

"I truly am disappointed in my-"

I didn't let the blonde speak. In the blink of an eye, I appeared in front of him, my hand covering his face before dragging him along the ground.

"Tremor!"

With a roar, my Cursed Energy surged through my hand creating a shockwave that blasted around his head, sending him crashing into the rubble behind him.

"You tore everything from me!" I yelled, walking toward where he landed, still feeling both the heat radiating from him and his Cursed Energy clashing with my own.

"I was going to live a quiet life with my family and clan!"

He emerged from the rubble with a burst of heat and flames. I hesitated for a moment before gritting my teeth and charging toward his dismissive face.

"I'll fucking kill you!"

He smiled in response, causing me to lose further control as I blitzed in front of him—

"Heavenly Purge."

I felt his hand on my chest for a brief moment before my heartbeat vanished. Looking down, I saw my chest with a hole larger than my head. 'M-my healing...'

I could hear my blood drip down before I regained control, healing myself and grabbing the blonde's outstretched arm. He looked down at it.

"Filthy creature." he spoke, then looked me in the eyes as I raised my other arm to rip his heart out.

"You are a mindless beast."

I retreated as flames burst from his body, settling around him like a coat. Gritting my teeth, I wrapped Cursed Energy around my body like armor, causing my skin to take on a hue of purple and red.

"Do you really think you can beat me in the state you're in now?"

I frowned as I charged in, sending a kick to his head once I was close enough. He dodged by tilting his head and responded with a fiery palm strike to my shoulder, blowing it off before it healed a second later.

"Die!" I roared as I punched through his coat of flames. His body wrapped around my fist before I launched him in the direction he came from, chasing after his retreating form.

'I'll rip your spine out!' I thought, my vision blurring for a moment.

~Scene Change~

Arriving where he landed, I eyed his fiery form sitting on a throne. A woman next to him had a barrier surrounding herself, looking at me with an emotion I recognized as fear. 'His woman?' I shook the thought from my head as I walked toward him. He looked at me as though he hadn't been punched all the way here.

"Are you in grief?"

I stilled at his words.

"Are you in rage at the fact a filthy mortal, one you would have outlived, died?" 'What did he call her?'

"Do you believe that the destruction you've caused today was worth a few lives that didn't matter?"

My shoulders shook as his words swirled around my head. 'How fucking dare he.' I took a step forward, my Cursed Energy crackling around me.

"You called me a mindless beast before, right?"

He stood up, and we both released all of our Cursed Energy, causing it to clash in the air, fighting for dominance over the space.

"Let me show you what a beast can do when it has nothing left to lose!"

With a roar, I pushed my Cursed Energy and my weight onto my toes, shooting off faster than he could react. I wrapped my hand around his head, feeling his skull creak under the pressure before launching us both in a random direction. 'Can't use that so close to Kaede…'

The thought of the woman I loved caused me even more grief and rage as I dragged the blonde's body through the ground. He gripped my arm, setting it on fire and charring my skin until bone showed, yet I didn't let go. I didn't stop until I saw a clearing after minutes of moving faster than even the strongest of Sorcerers could track.

"Tremor: Cataclysm!"

With a roar, I felt my bare bones crack as I released a shockwave that cracked the blonde's skull before throwing him into the earth just as he erupted in golden flames.

"Filthy creature!" he yelled as I healed my arm and glared at him, mirroring my actions.

"I, Reiji Takahomare, the son of Amaterasu, shall bless you with death!"

I grinned as our Cursed Energy collided once again, causing the ground beneath us to either corrode or be charred.

"I'll rip your spine out and parade your head around the land, Takahomare!"

With a deafening crack, the ground beneath us shattered as we surged toward each other.

~World POV~

The land trembled as two men of untold strength clashed, one wreathed in light casting a soft glow over the approaching night, while the other was cloaked in a chaotic mass of evil. Their energies collided, shaking the very ground beneath them as the earth cracked and rose. Then, the two retreated and unleashed their techniques.

"Solar Cloak! / Tremor: Cataclysm!"

One technique summoned a rain of fire, while the other unleashed a shockwave that tore up the land. Both clashed violently, each fighting for dominance. But Ryou blitzed past the flames, stomping the ground with a roar of rage.

"Cursed Technique: Third Step!"

The earth shook once more and the land split beneath them, causing Reiji to lose his footing for a brief moment.

"Filthy creature!" Reiji yelled, sweat dripping down his neck. 'How dare this filth cause me to fall so low!'

With fury burning in his chest, Reiji decided to end this fight.

"Rejoice, mortal, for I shall use something only one has ever witnessed before!"

Ryou charged forward just as Reiji placed his palms together.

"Domain Expansion: Celestial Furnace!"

The once churning earth transformed into molten lava, and the world around them brightened painfully. Ryou froze, the light blinding him. He looked down at his hands, which caught fire and began to melt his skin, slowly dissolving his flesh.

"Inevitable Burn. Anyone caught within the domain will burn, no matter their defenses."

Ryou looked up, rolling his shoulders despite the agonizing pain of being cooked alive. Rage burned through his veins.

"It is over, Sasaki Ryou. Die silently now and let yourself rest."

Ryou released a burst of Cursed Energy, pushing back the effects for a moment before charging toward Reiji. But he was frozen in place as chains of flame pierced his body, his hand mere inches away from Reiji's face.

Reiji walked past the hand, raising his own toward Ryou's chest.

"Your name along with that woman's, will be forgotten."

With that, Reiji clasped his hand onto Ryou's chest, burning a hole through it. He watched as the rage in Ryou's eyes faded, leaving them hollow, signifying the death of The Eastern Bandit Leader and the Clan Leader of the Shinrou Clan.

"A true shame."

Reiji dismissed his domain and began walking away, unaffected by the havoc he had caused. 'I believe Aoi mentioned a filthy Sorcerer with the ability to summon Shikigami... I wonder if any of them could-'

He turned as Ryou's body twitched. Reiji raised his hand toward its.

"Heavenly Purge."

A beam of compressed fire shot from Reiji's hand, completely destroying the body.

"Like a cockroach."

Reiji rolled his eyes and turned away, walking off as though the destruction was nothing more than a passing inconvenience, leaving a crater behind him.

~Scene Change / Ryou POV~

Drip.

...

...

Drip.

...

...

...

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

"Fuck..." I mumbled, feeling the drops of Cursed Energy fall on me as I floated in the black void of... somewhere.

"Fuck..."

I raised my hand to shield my eyes, the weight of despair threatening to make me crumble. 'I failed... again!' I clenched my teeth, my shoulders shaking in sorrow. I had lost everything... again. I hadn't been able to avenge what was taken from me... again.

"I'm so fucking weak!"

I sat up, my hands gripping my face as I ignored how my fingers tore into my skin.

"Why can't I find happiness?!"

'Why me?!'

Drip.

I looked up at the swirling pool of purple crackling Cursed Energy, then over to a smaller pool of calm blue energy. The energy I hadn't used in years, yet it remained, even after death.

'Reiryoku...'

Shaking my head at the thought of using it, I stepped towards the violent purple energy peering into it with growing anger.

"She's gone, Ryou." I said aloud, my voice hoarse as I stared at my bloodied hands.

"She isn't coming back."

I gritted my teeth, desperately fighting back the tears that stung my eyes.

"However, the man who took away my happiness is walking away right now."

With a snarl, I reached out to the pool of energy, my fingers brushing its surface.

"So we'll fucking kill him, even if it means sinking all of Japan!"

With that, I dove into the purple energy, the roar of my determination echoing through the black void.

~World POV~

Reiji turned sharply, frowning as an overwhelming wave of bloodlust descended upon him. 'How is—' His thoughts were interrupted as the body he had thought destroyed emerged from the crater. Ryou clawed his way out and with every movement, his muscles and skin began to heal, stitching together until his hollow eyes regained their light, burning with an even deeper hatred than before.

"Seems there's more to you than I—" Reiji began, but he was cut off as Ryou mimicked the motion of withdrawing a blade, raising it high above his head and roaring to the heavens.

"Nemesis Cursed Slash!"

A massive arc of dark purple and red energy, larger than any building tore through the ground towards Reiji. His eyes widened as he instinctively raised his hand to defend. 'It does not matter—' But his defence failed as the slash tore through his passive Cursed Technique. Blood poured from his shoulder and torso in a thick river.

"I let it blind me..." Ryou muttered as frustration and confusion swirled inside Reiji. His body erupted in a flare of flames, healing the wound in a blur as he glared at Ryou.

Ryou, his head tilted in a way that sent a shiver down Reiji's spine, spoke coldly. "I shouldn't have let my emotions get the better of me, but at the end of this, I'll fucking kill you."

Ryou blurred out of sight, only to reappear in an iaido stance, swinging his hands as if drawing a katana.

"Twice Over: Cursed Slash!"

Reiji barely managed to raise his defenses in time, blocking the first slash with a burst of flames. But the second strike cut through his defenses, severing his arm. 'He's gotten stronger.'

"If a domain won't end you, then the world will need to suffer for a moment." Reiji's eyes narrowed as the ground beneath them began to melt with an influx of heat. "This is something I only ever used during my birth."

Ryou, realizing this was the final push, raised his hand overhead once more as both warriors prepared for their ultimate moves.

"Inferno of the Heavens!/Soul of the Sinner!"

Their auras morphed. Reiji's becoming a phoenix, while Ryou's transformed into a dragon's head, crowned with six horns.

"The Flame That Bends the Stars!/The Gap Between Within and Without!"

The land trembled as the air around them thickened with the weight of their power. Even Sorcerers watching from afar felt the ground shake beneath them, as if the very earth itself was holding its breath.

"Gravitational Fury, Witness My Wrath!/Scale of the Dragon!"

Their Cursed Energy surged to a boiling point, their energies manifesting into titanic forces that threatened to tear the world apart.

With one final roar from both of them, they called out the names of their attacks to the world.

"Celestial Incineration!"

A miniature sun, as bright as a thousand stars, erupted from Reiji's control, speeding towards Ryou.

"Final Requiem: Cursed World Slash!"

Ryou swung down with a devastating force and for a split second, a katana with a jagged red blade appeared in his hand. The weapon disappeared almost immediately but the slash it created was so massive it dwarfed mountains as it sped towards Reiji's attack.

The two cataclysmic forces collided in a blinding flash, a burst of light so intense it consumed the very land of Yamato, forever reshaping it.

~Ryou POV~

The rubble shifted as I forced myself out, my body aching from the magnitude of our clash. The land was torn apart a deep scar dividing the earth so violently I couldn't even see the far end. 'Unless we wiped it all out.' The thought barely registered before I looked at the chaos around me, my body still trembling with the aftereffects of the technique I had used.

'So taxing.' I swallowed hard and tried to focus, my eyes drawn to the sight of Reiji still standing, blood dripping from his torso as the wind howled across my now naked skin. 'Did we really fight for an entire day?'

I shook off the thought and moved towards him, ignoring the way my body ached. My feet crunched against the shattered ground beneath me. The blood from his injuries painted a disturbing contrast against the bright sky. His left shoulder to his right hip was cut clean through, a gash that should've killed him. Yet, he was still breathing trying to heal himself, wheezing with the effort.

I raised my foot and kicked his torso over before making way to his head and looked down at it for a moment. "Die." My voice was a hoarse whisper as I raised my foot to his head. The pressure I applied sent a sickening crack through his skull and before he could respond, his head exploded in a gruesome display. The gore splattered across the ground, the sight both familiar and grotesque.

My heart squeezed as I closed my eyes, a tired, worn out smile forming despite the blood staining my hands. 'I know this isn't what you would've wanted, Kaede...' I forced back the emotions, but one tear slipped down my cheek, trailing a path through the blood. The sound of rushing water filled the air, our attacks had created a gap letting the sea surge in. 'But this is what I wanted and needed.'

My reflection was cut short as I heard slow, deliberate clapping behind me. My body tense, and I turned, only to find a figure I hadn't expected.

"Hana-kozō… and you are?" I asked, my voice colder than I intended.

Next to him was the same woman I'd briefly seen before I dragged Reiji here. She only snorted at my words, glancing over my lower body with an intrigued look before her gaze shifted to the destruction around us. "My, Sasaki-san, you've truly outdone yourself."

I frowned as a group of Sorcerers gathered nearby, their eyes filled with an unsettling mix of reverence and fear. Some had prayer beads and others clutched talismans.

"What's going on?" I questioned, my tone sharp as I scanned the growing crowd.

Hana-kozō smiled, but it was far from comforting. He began walking towards me, his presence oozing confidence. "As much as it pains me, Sasaki-san, I'm afraid you are far too dangerous to be left unrestrained."

I felt the temperature drop against my naked skin a chill seeping into my bones. My hands clenched at my sides, my blood boiling with rage. "Is that so? Do you plan to seal me away, keep me in check?"

Hana-kozō didn't answer with words. Instead, he simply smiled and nodded as the woman and the Sorcerers began chanting. A bell jingled softly in the distance, and my body stiffened.

"Yes." Hana-kozō said, his voice smooth. "One that's special for you in particular."

Before I could react, he clasped his hands together. My instincts screamed and I blurred forward, only to find my movements frozen in place as ice began to encase my body. My heart raced in panic, but I couldn't break free.

"Hurry up creep." a female voice rang out, as the cold spread further, solidifying around me. My eyes widened as I realized what was happening.

The last thing I heard was the jingling of bells, followed by a soft, mocking tone. "I hope you have a nice deep sleep~"

And then, everything went black.

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{Author here,

And that's the Heian Arc over after almost 54k words! Now I'm aware some might be upset with the last few chapters however it was the only way I could go about my future plans without pulling out some level of IQ that the MC doesn't have.

In any case I have decided on a new upload schedule which is where I rotate each week between my main fanfictions ("My Journey In One Piece!" and "Life After Death: Strength Of Suffering") while also sprinkling some other works amongst my other pages, 

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