In the surrounding forests, around noon, Bakuran, wearing a white tank top and green jogging pants, and Salomé, in a white t-shirt and black jogging pants, had agreed to meet for training. They moved stealthily, destroying trees with a single blow and testing their magical powers.
Bakuran, sweating, complained: "It bothers me every time..." Salomé, intrigued, asked: "What's that?" Bakuran replied: "The fact that I sweat so much; it's not very chic for a handsome guy like me." Salomé retorted with a blasé tone: "Pffft, I also sweat and I don't make a big deal out of it."
Bakuran stopped for a moment, sighed, and chuckled: "You can't make a big deal out of it because you're neither a handsome guy nor a pretty girl, if I must say so." Salomé stopped, hurt, and replied hastily: "You're insinuating that I'm ugly, is that it?" Bakuran murmured: "Well... maybe."
Salomé frowned and responded nervously: "You're sick, how can you say something like that to your own little sister?!!!" She charged at Bakuran, who dodged, and the shockwave pulverized trees behind him. Aware of this power, he said: "Wow... Salomé, be careful; you could have messed up my beautiful face and made me look like you, hahahaha!"
Salomé got even more annoyed: "Shut up, Bakuran !!!" She struck again; Bakuran dodged, and more trees fell victim. This seemed to amuse Bakuran, as explosions were felt in several parts of the forest due to Salomé's comical outburst.
Suddenly, a powerful roar vibrated the air, causing the forest animals and birds to flee, and released a shockwave that made the trees tremble, abruptly stopping Salomé and Bakuran in their playful fight. Salomé asked: "What was that terrifying cry?" Bakuran scanned the surroundings with a serious expression: "It can't be human; what could it be?"
The wind stopped suddenly, and roots advanced stealthily, trying to pierce Bakuran and Salomé. Salomé noticed the roots rushing directly at them: "Bakuran, watch out!!"
They dodged and broke the roots into several pieces. Bakuran noted: "This is strange!" Without respite, vines captured the young Satsujin Otoko and bound them, preventing them from moving. Salomé was intrigued by all this, not understanding what was happening: "Damn, it's like the forest is alive!!"
Bound by the vines, the piercing roots returned and charged at them again, now immobilized. Bakuran looked at Salomé and said in an alert manner: "Use your freezing breath!" Salomé nodded. They used the freezing breath and managed to freeze the piercing roots. With a sudden force, they freed themselves from the vines.
Bakuran said: "We need to gain altitude, follow me, Salomé!" Bakuran flew up to the canopy height, followed by Salomé. During this flight, vines kept trying to capture them. They surpassed the canopy and reached over 600 meters above the jungle, surpassing all the tallest trees. They looked around and then Salomé noticed something several meters or kilometers away: a giant statue made of wood and vines.
Salomé said, pointing at the statue: "Big brother, look at that thing over there!" Bakuran raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the giant statue in the distance. It was immense, possibly over 200 meters tall, with an imposing body. Bakuran asked: "Has this statue always been here?" Salomé asked: "Do you think it's the cause of all these strange phenomena?"
Bakuran replied: "I don't know, given how it's immobile, it seems unable to do anything!" Below, trees suddenly grew and reached their heights, masking everything around them. Bakuran exclaimed: "This is impossible!" The tree branches became enormous, reaching a kilometer high with circumferences up to 400 meters. Their branches transformed into sharp weapons and tried to cut down the young Satsujin Otoko.
Bakuran warned: "Be very careful, Salomé!" Salomé let out a mischievous smile and replied: "It looks like the jungle wants to join our training too, hahahaha !!!" Bakuran, worried, said: "No, Salomé, this isn't the time to have fun; it could be dangerous. We should first understand what's happening and what the source of all this is!!"
Salomé unleashed a colossal killer punch, pulverizing the giant trees over four kilometers around. Bakuran was forced to acknowledge his little sister's colossal physical power. Salomé said firmly: "Let's go towards that strange statue, I tell you!!"
She clenched her fist and said: "Killer punch flame !!!" She struck again and pulverized 1000 square meters around, leaving the rest of the forest in a chaotic blaze. Smoke rose into the sky as Salomé and Bakuran pulverized everything, hoping to reach the statue by flying. But upon arrival, there was nothing.
Bakuran noted: "This statue, it's disappeared." Salomé said: "I say it's involved." Bakuran reflected while scanning the surroundings. Suddenly, a gigantic wooden hand appeared out of nowhere, trying to crush the young Satsujin Otoko.
The young ones took the blow head-on and were propelled over a kilometer from where they were. They recovered and looked ahead. Salomé smiled excitedly: "I was right, it's the statue's fault; it's alive!" Bakuran nodded. The famous statue was indeed alive, over 800 meters tall, covered in vines. Its massive arms seemed capable of creating earthquakes with their movements. Its head was lost in the clouds, making it difficult to see its face. Its presence also created a mist around it.
Salomé cracked her fingers and said excitedly: "I feel we're going to have a blast, big brother !!!" Bakuran smiled and replied: "We hope so!" The young ones charged towards it at incredible speed, not giving the creature time to comprehend what was happening. It lost two arms without understanding how.
Salomé said: "It's not over yet !!!" She charged again at the creature and struck its back, propelling it like a giant toy into the sky. She continued striking the colossal creature, cornering and breaking it into several pieces. Salomé finished beautifully by striking its belly, propelling it towards the ground. The creature crashed onto the ground with a massive hole in its belly, creating destruction around it and a growing shockwave that pulverized trees kilometers away.
Bakuran applauded and said: "Haha... the way you attack this creature, it's like you have a personal problem!" Salomé laughed: "Hahaha, it can't recover from that!" The ground began to vibrate, and the destroyed trees regained life, their lush greenery visible, while the creature, despite its size, seemed to be absorbed into the vegetation.
Salomé noted: "Uh... it ended so quickly, this fight." During this phenomenon, several creatures appeared out of nowhere, made of vegetation, with humanoid forms and over 500 meters tall each. They were over a hundred and charged towards Salomé and Bakuran.
Salomé said: "It's not over, it seems." The creature that had been pulverized reappeared and seemed intact, as if it had never received any damage. It was larger than the other vegetable creatures and seemed to control them.
"Attack !!!" it said in a heavy, rational voice. Salomé and Bakuran were surprised to see that this creature could speak.
Bakuran pointed his arm at the gigantic creature and said: "Pulverization !!!" He released energy at the speed of light that instantly pulverized the creature's arm. It laughed and said: "Hahahaha, don't you see that it's useless?" It quickly regenerated its arm with vegetation.
It added: "My Sylvestre regeneration is innate; I draw from the jungle, the earth, and the surrounding roots to regenerate instantly, making me almost immortal as long as nature exists, you see, you can do nothing but surrender!"
The other creatures attacked Salomé and Bakuran. The blows were powerful, creating craters on the ground. They were able to manipulate trees, earth, and wind, each one, but it wasn't enough to intimidate the Satsujin Otoko. Salomé pulverized each of the giant creatures with a single blow, but she realized they could also regenerate, likely due to a similar regeneration like their master's, or perhaps the existence of their master was the cause of their regeneration.
Salomé thought and realized that they should first attack their immobile master, who was observing the entire scene from its 800 meters height.
The creature sensed that Salomé was preparing something and said: "Vital absorption!" The forest animals began to die, and trees emptied of their vital energies. The gigantic creature was covered in an imposing armor and a luminous sword over 600 meters long and 100 meters wide, made of purely natural energy. This transformation of Zal'Thorr changed the clouds in the sky, making them dark and black with powerful thunder.
"I see you, little one, but accept your defeat; you're no match for Zal'Thorr !!!" it said. It struck towards Salomé with its powerful sword, creating a luminous energy that pulverized everything instantly, extending several kilometers from the battlefield. Salomé dodged, looked at the creature, and shouted: "Your power is impressive, but you seem unable to keep up with our movements!"
The creature looked at Salomé with luminous eyes: "Time will take its toll on you; you're humans and thus subject to fatigue..." Without finishing her sentence, she was pierced by a gigantic metal lance created by Bakuran in her back. She was pierced in the neck from behind, where her light armor did not protect her.
Bakuran said, taunting her: "It's not done to talk too much during a fight!" The lance, over 700 meters long, left the creature in a state of confusion: how could this human have lifted such a lance? How did it escape the vigilance of the other creatures she had created? These creatures saw everything that Zal'Thorr saw, as their eyes were a reflection of Zal'Thorr's eyes.
Zal'Thorr looked at Bakuran, who was heading towards Salomé. Salomé said to congratulate him: "Well done, big brother!" Zal'Thorr said: "You rejoice too quickly; my body is the bane of metals, any metal weapon that strikes me will rust instantly and degrade, human weapons are useless against me, even if you imbued your lance with mana, it won't make a difference."
Bakuran's lance disintegrated suddenly, and Zal'Thorr was freed. Zal'Thorr said: "The only difference is that this one would have taken more time. Now, let's get serious: Blood thorn tide !!!"
A wave of gigantic thorns covered in poisonous spines attacked Salomé and Bakuran to immobilize and impale them. Salomé and Bakuran dodged and destroyed them all while fighting the other giant creatures created by Zal'Thorr. The battle seemed to become more intense, but it wasn't over yet.
Zal'Thorr said: "Hurricane roar !!!" Zal'Thorr struck the ground and released a storm of wind and sharp leaves that swept everything in its path, including even the creatures it had created. Bakuran smiled and said with a provocative tone: "You seem desperate, poor thing; you're destroying even your own friends?"
Zal'Thorr said: "I just wanted to clear the way for this, Zal'Thorr fusion !!!" The jungle floor and vegetation began to tremble. Zal'Thorr had merged with the jungle and was now attacking with gigantic hands formed by raising the jungle and earth around it.
Salomé exclaimed, dazzled: "Wow, it's magnificent !!!" Bakuran said, frantic: "Not now, Salomé !!"
They managed to block the powerful colossal attack of the elevated earth and changed it into giant hands to crush them. Zal'Thorr, enraged, said: "How can beings as small as you stop an attack of this magnitude?!!!"
Salomé asked Bakuran: "Can you protect me so I can concentrate on a direct attack on it?" Bakuran nodded: "No problem!!"
Salomé smiled with a determined look: "Alright, this will be my final attack on this giant thing!" She charged her fist with swirling violet energy. Salomé said: "Killer... punch..."
Under Zal'Thorr's gaze, who felt terrified, they created a massive metal creature that charged towards Zal'Thorr. Bakuran said: "Resilient punch !!!" He also struck Zal'Thorr with combined power. Zal'Thorr was no longer able to withstand; it was largely dominated and crashed against the ground, still victim to the terrifying power of the young Satsujin Otoko.
During this display of power, Salomé and Bakuran noticed something on Zal'Thorr, at the level of its torso where their blows persisted: there was a kind of luminous crystal that stood out. Salomé and Bakuran looked at each other and smiled simultaneously, increasing their powers.
Salomé and Bakuran cried out together: "Aaaaaaaahhhhhh !!!" A boost cry, their powers were multiplied, breaking the crystal and Zal'Thorr as well. A blinding light was observed for an instant, then nothing.
The sky had returned to its natural blue, and the dark clouds were cleared. Salomé and Bakuran were lying on a desert floor; the entire jungle had been razed and turned into a vast desert. They were breathless and panting heavily.
Salomé said: "For a training session, that was a training session!" Bakuran laughed: "Haha, you know our lives were at stake at least? This thing could have struck even our souls; it was way too dangerous. The luck is that it was just too slow for us, otherwise, we'd be talking about something else."
Their clothes were in bad shape, between tears and burn marks, but their bodies were completely unscathed. Bakuran sat up and looked around, seeing a vast desert stretching as far as the eye could see.
A lush jungle that had turned into a desert in an instant... Bakuran asked: "Salomé, what was the effect of your attack on the creature, actually?"
Salomé sat up as well and replied: "Everything dried up." Bakuran said with a disapproving look: "So this huge desert, it's your fault. I thought you were just aiming at the creature like I did by combining my energy with your attack."
Salomé scanned the surroundings and saw the parched earth stretching out, a dry and arid desert for kilometers around. Salomé said: "Wow, I really did a lot!"
Bakuran grumbled on a nearly comedic tone: "That's all you have to say !!!" Salomé, embarrassed, said: "I was thinking that since this giant thing drew most of its power from the jungle and green earth, I had to clear all that to kill it. I didn't know the ecosystem would be destroyed so much; I feel so guilty!"
Salomé saw her gaze filled with regret suddenly; the heat of action had made her ignore the consequences of her actions.
A small blue bird appeared in the sky and landed on Salomé's head. Salomé, surprised, laughed: "Ho... hahaha, it must love me, this bird!"
Bakuran looked at Salomé playing with the small bird for a moment, then looked around again. He stood up and said: "Poor little bird, I should fix everything with a cancellation spell combined with a reversal spell."
Salomé, surprised, replied: "Is that true? Can you do that?" Bakuran smiled heroically: "Of course, it's what we should do, because there was life in this jungle before our fight. Taking everything would be unfair."
Salomé stood up, still with the small bird on her head. Salomé said: "Then go ahead, big brother. The animals will be able to return and live in peace here. I might even come back to train here again."
Bakuran said: "Alright, Renewal !!"
He struck the ground three times, and vegetation, jungle, and trees covered the entire parched earth in an instant. Salomé was dazzled and pleased with the small bird on her head, which seemed content as well. This situation amused Bakuran.
Bakuran said: "Haha, this little bird is so happy; it's almost human." Salomé replied: "Yes, I find it cute."
"It's normal, I am Zal'Thorr!" replied a voice that terrified Salomé and Bakuran.
Zal'Thorr was not dead; it had become a bird. What was its purpose now? Revenge or peace? Many questions could arise at that moment.