"Sometimes the brothers that you need in life are fosters."
Cold, sadistic, and a hint of crazy describes the pyromaniac perfectly. Never choosing to settle down and only taking risky and high paying guild requests and a passion for gambling to surv...
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The Obon Festival was a drug to the people of Himura village.
It didn't matter who died, everyone had a way to communicate with them, at least for a few days every year.
This concept was a popular message that drew the attention of outsiders to the secluded village, making several thousand from all across Fiore convene at the location. This resulted in last year's festival being extremely lively.
And delicious.
Souls danced across the streets and flew around the sky in an abundance unmatched by the previous festivals held throughout the century prior. And all of these celebrating souls were substance to the undead demons that had purposely brought them all here through the usage of her thrall.
You see, souls were an easy way for those who carry the genetics of demons to obtain strength. Through their consumption they can grow in power, however this comes with debilitating returns. The stronger the demon the less useful a weak soul will be. Thus, the former demonic princess, Empusa von Ifriti needed to consume the souls of these pathetic mortals in abundance so that she could be powerful enough to devour her true prey.
Her ancestor, the former demon overlord who taught their bloodline the majesty of flame who could stand toe to toe with the gods, Aetna.
Over a thousand years have passed since his entombment, but despite having been weakened, his soul is still stronger than many wizards will ever hope to match. Such was the strength of his majesty, as even a fraction of his full strength could make volcanoes freeze over as their heat would pale in comparison to his own.
Empusa needed to be confident in her strength. She wasn't planning on using fire against someone who would have much more talent in their art, as even a fool could tell you that would be a losing battle. Instead, she would have to resort to her curses, her masterpieces that would use the sins of the target against them.
The Eight Curses of Purgatorio. Seven for each deadly sin, and one for the reward of being cleansed from sin.
It was these curses that put a target on her head, though. She was a kind woman, albeit with a slight temper. Thus she created curses that would use the negative emotions of the target to generate the curse power she lacked.
The Etherious, Mard Geer, wanted these curses for himself. He wanted to study them, and use them, but was also afraid of them being used against one as great as himself. After all, of all the demons alive, who would have greater amounts of curse power than himself? No one. And these curses could be used to turn his own power against him.
And thus he hunted her down, killing each and every person that might have even a semblance of knowledge about these curses. He feared them as much as wizards would fear bane particles, even if he wouldn't admit it.
