Watching as Hircine vanished out of sight, Raiden finally let out a breath of relief. Both physically and mentally drained, Raiden just plopped straight down onto the ground.
"What even was all that?!" Raiden glanced at Yinsen, who was still sound asleep beside him, and regret suddenly washed over him—was he regretting giving Yinsen that power? Or regretting that he hadn't prepared for every possibility and let things spiral like this? Maybe a bit of both.
"Hey, buddy, you nearly got me killed back there. Oh, and maybe landed me in even bigger trouble, too." Just thinking back to the crazed look on Hircine face before leaving, Raiden started to feel like he might be in real hot water now.
But what's happened to my soul, anyway? Raiden mulled over Hircine words, unconsciously putting a hand to his chest as he questioned himself, but it was obvious—there'd be no answers coming.
He glanced over at Yinsen, still lying peacefully on the ground, then shook his head with a wry smile. At the same time, Raiden lifted his right hand… A few seconds passed in tense silence, nothing happened.
Fine, Raiden sighed. He had no clue why he couldn't use Heroic Spirit powers anymore. He'd been able to just a moment ago, right? But, too tired in body and spirit to puzzle it out, Raiden was out like a light almost immediately.
...
To wake up and see the first rays of morning sunlight—what a stroke of luck. Because that's the first bit of warmth in the chill, the very first light in the darkness, and the start of a good day.
Unless, of course, you find yourself in the middle of the desert. In that case, maybe it's not so great.
"Water… water… I need water." A hoarse voice croaked out.
Not far away, a man wrapped up in a wolf pelt turned his head around. With a quick wave, he sent a water orb flying, nailing the speaker right on target.
"Cough, cough."
Yinsen coughed twice and opened his eyes. The world around him was a blinding white, and he was hit with a splitting headache.
"Ugh." Yinsen clutched his head, taking a while to recover—but even then, the world wasn't quite the same.
In Yinsen eyes, there were suddenly so many more colors around him. Shades he'd never seen as an ordinary person—so beautiful. He completely lost himself in it.
"Hey, what are you spacing out for?!" Another water orb smacked him, snapping Yinsen back. He shook his head, confused, then turned to look—oh, it was Raiden. Yinsen smiled at Raiden, but then noticed—where were his clothes? Or his pants? Both Yinsen and Raiden were wrapped up in nothing but wolf skins.
Yinsen walked over to Raiden, pointed at Raiden, then himself, and asked, "Where are our clothes?" Then he glanced around, "And where's our car?"
Raiden shrugged, shaking his head in silence.
"Raiden, where are my glasses?" Yinsen quickly asked.
"Your glasses? Here." With a wave, Raiden produced Yinsen glasses in his hand.
Luckily, the night before, Raiden had noticed how reluctant Yinsen had seemed to part with them and guessed they were important. He'd tucked them into his magic space on a whim—otherwise, they'd have been lost for good.
"But I think you probably don't need them anymore," Raiden said, giving Yinsen a once-over.
Yinsen frowned, clearly confused, but not quite getting what Raiden meant. But the moment he put on his glasses, he realized it. With his glasses on, the world became blurry. When he took them off again, everything was sharp and clear.
"What the…?" Yinsen stared at Raiden, still not quite realizing what had changed about his body.
"Maybe your body isn't quite the same anymore," Raiden said, gesturing at Yinsen.
Yinsen quickly opened the wolf pelt covering him. He was still just as skinny, but every inch of his flesh had become muscle. He squeezed his arm and could feel explosive strength under his skin.
"What happened to me…?" Yinsen broke into a disbelieving grin, looking at Raiden as if he couldn't make sense of it all.
"Maybe go check yourself in a mirror. You've really changed…" Raiden had a weird grin on his face, making Yinsen itch with curiosity about what he looked like now.
"All right, all right—fine, man, I know exactly what you want right now. Let me help you out." Raiden threw an arm around Yinsen shoulder and grinned.
With a wave of Raiden hand, a water orb smashed into the sand and made a little puddle, which Yinsen immediately crawled over to, peering down at his reflection. The once thin and aged face was gone; Yinsen features had grown sharper, his face now carrying a hint of determination, as if he were ten years younger.
"Wow, this is incredible." Yinsen climbed up from the ground and hugged Raiden. "Thank you, Raiden."
Raiden smiled and hugged Yinsen back.
Congratulations, you've gained the strength to protect yourself.
Now, Raiden could finally bring Yinsen along to carry out the plan. They were headed to the most dangerous place possible—they were going to find Tony Stark.
...
A jeep with no roof sped through the desert. A man in camo gear sat in the vehicle, glancing around at the surrounding landscape.
Suddenly, from a nearby cliff, a massive figure lunged toward him. But as the figure approached the jeep, it instantly shrunk down to a human size and tumbled into the vehicle. The jeep wobbled from the sudden impact, but thanks to the driver's skill, it quickly steadied out.
Now, there was a naked man sitting in the passenger seat.
"Oh, Yinsen, maybe I really should get you a pair of indestructible Hulk-style trunks." Raiden tossed a set of clothes to Yinsen from the back seat.
"Who's Hulk?" Yinsen asked as he started dressing.
"Uh, some big guy. Anyway, Yinsen, do you see any villages nearby?" Raiden asked.
"No. Raiden, are you sure we can actually find Stark like this? Are you sure he'll come back? And there are so many villages around here—we've already searched seven or eight of them." Yinsen pulled on his clothes and voiced his doubts, though he still trusted Raiden.
But it had been more than a week now. The two of them had been running around like headless chickens, and still not the slightest hint of Stark.
"Even if we don't find Stark, it doesn't matter. We're the grim reapers of this desert, after all. Haha." Raiden laughed at Yinsen. Yinsen could only shake his head helplessly.
Yet in Yinsen eyes, there was a trace of fanaticism—something deeper still seemed to linger in his gaze, but that didn't matter.
In just a week, Yinsen and Raiden names became known throughout the desert. To the terrorists, they were grim reapers. To the common people, guardian spirits.
They visited a total of eight villages in seven days. What they left behind were the corpses of terrorists and villagers dropping to their knees in thanks—thanks not due to God, but to someone else. And in the last few villages, Yinsen and Raiden did not even leave behind any terrorists' bodies. Yinsen, on a whim—or rather, with a bite—had eaten them.
At first, Yinsen was reluctant to eat another human—until he saw the sickening acts of those animals... Those people weren't human anymore. So Yinsen decided they should at least contribute something to the world before they died—by becoming his food.
If Raiden hadn't kept warning Yinsen only to act at night, Yinsen felt he could have taken out every terrorist in the desert by now. Those people who had once seemed so formidable to him now couldn't even put up a fight. Their eyes couldn't keep up with Yinsen speed. Their weapons couldn't pierce his skin. Their shelters couldn't block even the most casual of his attacks.
Yinsen reveled in their screams, but he seemed to be venting something, or maybe hiding something.
"Alright, Yinsen, don't overthink it. Take a good look around—maybe even if we don't find Stark, we'll figure out another way out of here. Sitting around won't make Stark drop from the sky." Raiden patted Yinsen on the shoulder.
"Uh, Raiden." Yinsen suddenly stared ahead with a dazed expression and called out to Raiden.
"Hmm? What is it?" Raiden looked over, puzzled.
"Look at the sky." Yinsen pointed up with his finger.
"The sky? Stark's not about to fall from the sky, you know," Raiden joked, turning back toward the sky... Yeah, there was no way Tony Stark would just fall out of thin air—but what the heck was that with a plane coming down?
Up above, a fighter jet, trailing thick black smoke, was headed straight for Raiden and Yinsen.