The Demon Slayers Sidekick

With Domino, Rorio, and Risa beginning their adventure together, Rorio decided Risa needed to be re-trained since it had been a while since she last held a blade.

Thus, the two began training with one another. However...

“Ow!” Risa shouted as she fell to the ground.

“Get up. If you don’t recover quickly, an enemy can take advantage of you when you're down.”

...the training seemed to be going quite poorly.

Rorio wasn't very accustomed to teaching people, but between Domino and himself, it was clear he was the far better teacher.

Risa and Rorio continued their training as they traveled over the next two weeks when one day, Risa finally managed to block one of Rorio's attacks.

"I-I did it! I actually blocked an attack! Alright! Hahah!" Risa shouted as she jumped for joy.

This only seemed to piss Rorio off.

"It just blocked a single attack. No need to be that happy about it," he mumbled as they resumed training.

Most days played out similarly to this as Rorio continued to knock Risa around while she got excited after doing something as simple as blocking an attack or successfully striking back.

Domino stayed off to the side watching the two of them while smiling brightly.

“What a nice expression,” he muttered as he looked at Rorio before closing his eyes.

The training continued for a couple more weeks. The group didn't seem to be getting anywhere at this point until Domino came up with an idea.

“Why don't we go treasure hunting?”

This wasn't a terrible idea either. After all, like the Inlands, the Outbursts had their fair share of undiscovered territory.

So, after finding a small village that sold maps of the outer layer of the Outbursts, the group started getting their adventure going.

“Hurry up guys! I’m positive we’ll find treasure soon!” Domino shouted cheerfully.

Risa couldn’t help but smile at Domino’s enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, Rorio tried to appear calm, but he knew if his tail wasn’t hidden, it would be wagging excitedly.

After about two hours, the group arrived at a strange ancient temple located on the map and Domio’s smile widened as he looked it over.

It looked just like a generic temple. Right down to the dusty stone wall and overgrown vines.

As the three of them gazed at the temple, all three seemed to have different expressions on their faces.

Domino's eyes sparkled with excitement, Risa's gaze was filled with curiosity as she had never seen a temple before, and Rorio looked it up and down before frowning.

“I'm skipping this one. You guys go in without me,” he said before walking off.

Domino seemed taken aback by Rorio's words. Between the two of them, Rorio used to always be the first to hop into a temple back when they first started.

However, now Rorio simply ignored the expression of surprise on Domino's face and sat down in some nearby shade.

Risa looked at Rorio, confused as to why he didn’t want to join.

Opening her mouth, Risa was about to ask why when Domino suddenly grabbed her arm and began dragging her off.

“Come on Risa! Adventure still awaits the two of us! Let’s get moving!” he shouted.

"Wah...Wait! Huh!!?"

It appeared Domino had already moved on and planned to bring Risa along with him.

As soon as the two entered the temple, Domino kept his blade at the ready. Meanwhile, Risa fumbled to pull hers out before the two of them started their trek.

Risa walked slowly as she shook nervously while Domino marched forward proudly.

“You'll see soon enough how much fun adventuring can be Risa! Trust me!” Domino shouted.

Despite his words, Risa continued to fidget around.

While she agreed to join these two, adventuring wasn't exactly her forte.

She was certain she’d adjust with time, but she wasn’t quite ready yet.

Still, not wanting to be a burden, she kept her eyes out for possible traps.

And as the two got further inside, a look of worry started to form on Domino's face.

“Weird. Normally we should've encountered a trap by now,” he muttered to himself.

That wasn’t the only weird thing.

He couldn't explain why, but the layout of this place seemed a bit off.

“Eh. I’m probably just imagining it,” he said.

Thus, the two continued walking a bit further before reaching a tiny square room.

Spotting a chest in the middle, Domino walked over to it as his eyes sparkled with excitement before turning to Risa with a huge grin.

“This must be a trap that leads to the real treasure! Let’s activate it!” he shouted.

“Huh? Are you sure about thi-?”

Before Risa could finish speaking, Domino opened the chest.

A clicking sound could be heard as a trap door opened under the two of them.

Domino laughed triumphantly as Risa screamed while the two of them fell into the hole.

Thus, the two began falling.

“...”

And continued falling.

“...”

And still continued falling.

“...”

But nothing seemed to change. They just continued to fall without end.

After a while, the two seemed to grow accustomed to their situation as they had both calmed themselves down.

“Hey, uh...Demon Slayer?”

“What is it?”

“How much longer are we gonna be falling?”

“Hmm...”

The two seemed completely stuck.

After a few more minutes Risa started to grow frustrated

“It feels like we've been falling for forty minutes!” she shouted while they kept falling. And as Risa continued shouting in frustration, Domino began thinking of what was wrong when he suddenly took notice of a strange out-of-place brick that they seemed to pass every five minutes or so.

Trusting his instincts, Domino pulled out his sword and just before the brick appeared again, he tossed his blade forward.

Sure enough, the sword hit the brick with perfect precision and a moment later, a loud clicking sound echoed around the two as they continued falling.

“What the heck was that supposed to do!?” Risa shouted. Thinking nothing was happening.

Domino ignored her and waited.

Just then, the sound of gears moving could be heard from the walls.

And five seconds later, the two’s fall started to slow before they were teleported to a different room.

“Whoa! Oof!” Risa shouted as her fall came to a stop and she crashed onto the hard ground.

Domino landed on his feet as dust shot through the air under him.

Risa got up off the ground as Domino smiled proudly.

“I knew something was off! What an adventure!”

At this point, Risa started to feel uneasy seeing Domino’s gleeful smile and she thought back to how annoyed Rorio always looked when Domino got like this. She was starting to get why this irritated him so much.

A moment later, Risa could hear the sound of something swinging and turned around to find a bunch of giant metal axes moving from side to side before her and Domino.

Feeling goosebumps rise on her skin, Risa looked at the rapidly moving blade.

Domino, on the other hand, looked even more excited than before.

“Aw yeah! Now this is an adventure!”

He was completely ecstatic.

This may have been her first adventure, but with how much Domino had been trying to hype it up, Risa was getting more and more frustrated with how excited Domino looked. However, the man before her just continued to smile happily as he looked in front of the two of them before charging forward and leaving Risa behind.

“Haha!”

“Hey! Wait for me!”

Domino charged forward and easily moved in between the axes without any problem and even managed to catch some arrows that were being fired at him which came completely out of nowhere. It really showed just how agile he was despite his muscular build.

The same could not be said for Risa.

Her hair long hair was cut short as she barely dodged one of the axes.

In the end, she barely made it to the end which led to her gasping for air.

Going through all this, it amazed her that Domino and Rorio did this kind of dangerous stuff for a living.

Having reached the end of the course, Domino and Risa were faced with a singular door. Domino's eyes sparkled as he moved forward.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, Domino started opening the door.

To no one's surprise, another clicking sound could be heard and a new pit opened up beneath Domino and Risa making them fall into the infinite abyss once more.

As they fell, a single word left Risa’s mouth

“DAAAAMIIIITTTT!”

After escaping the trap once more, the two went through a few more before finding themselves standing in front of a temple chest.

Temple chests were a special kind of chest where any and all treasure was stored.

They couldn’t be wired to anything. And the design and mechanics were quite unique which made it impossible to create a fake.

They were basically the chest you’d see at the end of every temple once you got through all the traps and troubles.

Domino jumped for joy as he dashed over to it.

“We did it! We made it to the treasure!” Domino shouted excitedly.

As Risa heard this, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Walking over to Domino, Risa stood next to him as he placed his hands on the chest.

Then, without any hesitation, Domino flew it open and both he and Risa looked inside.

“...Huh?”

It was empty.

Domino and Risa walked out of the temple. Both had empty expressions on their faces as they made their way over to Rorio who was still relaxing in the shade.

He turned his head over to look at the two of them.

“You knew. Didn't you?” Domino asked. His voice devoid of emotion.

“Well yeah. It was kinda easy to tell.”

Risa looked at Rorio confused

“Wait. You mean you can tell if temples have been run through already?”

Rorio nodded.

“It’s something I picked up during my last year of adventuring. There are usually a few different ways to see if temples have already been looted. For example, this temple had scratch marks all around its sides that were way too big to form naturally. Meaning someone came through here and damaged the temple. So it was safe to assume someone had already rummaged through it.”

Domino fell to his knees.

“You mean...we went through all that for nothing.”

Despite Domino’s excitement up to this point, even he didn’t like going through a temple without treasure inside.

It was like accomplishing a great feat with no reward.

In the end, Domino’s excitement led him to be hasty. And both he and Risa paid for it.

Because of this, Domino looked like he was on the verge of crying.

However, the terrifying presence he sensed behind him made him freeze.

“Demon Slayer. Did you really just make me suffer through a temple that didn’t even have any treasure inside it?”

The voice sent a chill down Domino's spine as he turned around. His face grew pale as Risa’s terrifying aura overwhelmed him.

“Ehhh...” was all Domino could muster before he made a run for it.

“Hey! Get back here!”

Risa was quick to follow after him while swinging her sword wildly.

All the while, Rorio went back to relaxing in the shade. Only helping out Domino after he was ready to get moving again.

The trio continued trekking through the Outbursts for another week.

They came across multiple temples along the way which weren't located on the map.

Once Rorio had confirmed they hadn’t been looted, the three of them went from one temple to the next and discovered all kinds of small treasures that would help them on their journey.

One temple, in particular, seemed to pique all their interests.

When the group approached it, they had a good look and noticed a change from the other temples they came across.

The walls seemed to be made of metal instead of stone and while abandoned, it didn’t look that old.

It also gave off powerful waves of magic which were normally uncommon for temples. Meaning there was probably a powerful item inside.

The most offputting thing about the temple had to be its shape which was more like a triangle instead of a square or rectangle.

Rorio did a quick scan of the building before returning to the others.

“Well, I don’t see any indications this place has been looted. However, I also noticed there weren't any wires for traps on the outside either. Meaning whoever built this either planned for it to be explored or rigged the traps from the inside.”

Domino put his hand to his chin as he thought about their options.

What Rorio was talking about was how traps were laid out in a normal temple.

With how many traps were needed in your average temple, most people who made them tried to place the triggers for the traps inside the outer walls of the temple due to how much more space the vacant walls offered.

The way the creators of temples protected these triggers from being destroyed so easily was by covering them with an extremely thick layer of stone that made sure adventurers couldn’t just smash through to the wiring and destroy the triggers for the traps.

However, while outer layer triggers were the most commonly used method of creating traps, some people were so confident in their rigging abilities that they'd set up traps from the inside.

One such example would be traps that could be activated and deactivated by the press of a button.

Like in action movies where the main character dodges traps and pulls a lever that deactivates said trap.

Those were examples of triggers built from the inside.

While both inside and outside were quite similar, one was much more effective than the other. Especially since inside triggers could be shut down quite easily if you’re skilled enough whereas outside triggers are almost always guaranteed to be safe and protected.

According to Rorio, since this temple didn't have any cracks or creases to show wiring had been covered up, this temple more than likely had triggers on the inside.

After a few more minutes of thinking, Domino turned to Rorio.

“In that case, I'll take the lead, followed by Rorio, and then Risa in the back. Understood?

The two beside him nodded.

Despite not being able to do basic necessities such as cooking and cleaning, Domino’s strategies and leadership skills were incredible. Even if such skills were held back by his carefree attitude.

Standing in front of the temple, Risa was trembling with her sword in hand.

While they had visited a few temples up to this point, she still hadn't gotten quite used to putting herself in danger just for treasure.

Still, she still followed behind Domino and Rorio.

She may have been terrified, but she wanted to travel with them. So sucking up her fears and anxieties she walked behind them as they made their way inside.

Before they knew it, the group had encountered their first trap.

In front of them, arrows were shooting from both walls repetitively. Normally, this wouldn't be that different from an average temple. However, something that amazed Rorio and Domino was how the arrows were aimed.

The arrows were sent straight into these strange holes in the walls and immediately loaded into another dispenser that would shoot any arrow that hadn't hit anything.

Normally arrows would just fall to the ground and be left lying there to gather dust.

But this method made it possible to both reuse arrows and have both sides shooting rapidly without running out. A truly brilliant idea.

Risa found herself unsure of how to feel about the contraption. So she just left things to the others.

Moving his hand to his chin, Rorio stated what he was thinking.

“Damn. Whoever made this must’ve been quite the engineer.”

It was a genuine comment.

Stuff like this didn’t appear too often in temples so this was a truly fascinating concept to see in action.

After thinking it over a bit longer, Rorio turned to Domino.

“So what's the plan?” Rorio asked.

Domino immediately gave his thoughts.

“This was clearly set up to ensure that no one could survive the barrage. With that in mind, Rorio! Get your bow out!”

Rorio immediately pulled out his bow on Domino’s command.

Risa wasn't sure what Domino was trying to get at, but Rorio seemed to have faith in what Domino was thinking. Faith built from years of traveling together.

Rorio walked over to Domino who pointed directly at the glowing red button at the end of the passage.

“You see the button at the end of that barrage of arrows?”

Rorio nodded.

“Try to get a direct hit on it.”

Rorio looked at the button for a moment before gripping his bow tightly.

Facing the wall of arrows, he notched his bow and searched for an opening. And then...

“Found it,” Rorio muttered before releasing the arrow.

It shot through the air with incredible speed before slamming right into the button on the other side.

After a moment, the sound of metal gears turning could be heard all around the room and the constant barrage of arrows came to a halt.

As the trap deactivated itself, a door began opening at the other end of the room.

Domino smiled proudly as he patted Rorio's back.

“All right, Rorio! I knew you could do it.

Rorio just rolled his eyes and gave him a light smile before walking towards the door.

While Domino tried running up and taking the lead again, Risa followed behind the both of them. Letting out a sigh.

One look at her face could show just how useless she felt in this situation. Domino used his skills in strategy to solve the problem, while Rorio used his skill to disable the trap. In the end, she didn't do anything.

The trio continued to walk through an empty hallway before reaching a giant solid white room.

“What the hell is this?” Rorio murmured aloud.

Risa looked around as she squinted her eyes at the bright white walls.

Suddenly, the doors slammed behind them and the room turned a bright red as a blaring alarm started going off.

“The heck!?” Rorio shouted.

Domino looked around the room as Risa stood off to the side and tried to wrap her head around what was going on.

It was then that she noticed a strange black liquid had started dripping from the walls.

“What’s that!?” Risa shouted as she pointed toward the wall.

Rorio and Domino turned to where she was pointing and quickly noticed the black liquid.

“Damn. Liquid steel.” Rorio murmured.

Liquid steel. A special type of metal that was heavy as iron, but smooth as silk. A special type of metal used primarily for things such as torture or interrogations. Not something you’d see in a temple. The reason behind this was because of the metal’s inability to solidify. Making it much harder to move around and keep in check. That’s why seeing it here was a rather strange sight to see.

However, the team couldn’t spend time pondering what it was doing here. They had to act fast.

“What should we do?” asked Risa, concerned.

Rorio turned to Domino who struggled to come up with a good idea.

“Tsk!”

Rorio clicked his tongue in frustration. He wasn't great when it came to planning. This wasn't because his plans were bad, he was just terrible at describing them to others. That’s why he liked how easy Domino’s were to follow.

Trying to think fast, Rorio turned to Risa.

“Risa! Now’s the time to show your training! Use that double spin move I taught you to get us out of here!”

“Double spin?” Risa looked at him confused.

She knew what move he was talking about, but she didn’t know how that was going to help.

Rorio groaned as he pointed to a button he had spotted on the ceiling.

“Use that move to get to that button!”

That cleared things up for Risa.

“Got it!”

Trying to act as fast as possible, Risa dashed through the liquid metal around her feet before reaching out her foot and pressing it against the wall.

Then, using all the strength her legs could muster, she thrust herself into the air and jumped off the nearby wall to keep momentum as she gazed at the button.

Then, pulling Xeto off her back, she tossed it at her target

The sword practically flew toward the button.

After a few moments, a loud CLUNK sound could be heard as the sword made contact.

“...”

There was no sound at first. That was until a whirring sound that could almost be passed off as the sound of a vacuum cleaner began to suck all the liquid metal back up into the holes they came from and doors at the other end of the room started opening up.

Rorio and Risa both breathed sighs of relief just as Domino seemed to come to his senses.

“I got it! Quick! We need to-” but it was already done.

Domino looked around confused while Rorio and Risa walked past him.

Thus, the group made their way through the next door and dove deeper into the temple.

Several traps later, the group came upon the treasure they were looking for.

Risa breathed a sigh of relief at this being the end of the trek while Domino started getting riled up about what a fun adventure this was.

During all that, Rorio walked over to the chest and opened it up.

He didn't know what he would find, but it must’ve been worth a lot considering how far the person who made this place went to protect it.

Thus, Rorio gazed into the chest.

However, the only thing inside was a single scroll.

Picking it up, he turned his head to its title.

The scroll simply read, “The Spell of Extinction.”

After the group returned to the surface, they all decided to stop and rest for the night.

Rorio simply told the two of them that what he found was a strange bow that wasn’t worth much.

The reason he lied was simple. He just didn't want them to know what he really found.

The spell of extinction that he found was a spell that, once cast, could kill anything no matter what stood between the user and the target. However, it came at a price. That being the life of the user themselves.

Rorio knew he'd have to discuss this spell with Domino later when Risa wasn't around.

But for now, he decided to keep it hidden. Thus, the group was left rather disappointed that day.

A few hours later, while Risa slept, Rorio discussed the spell with Domino and he agreed they should keep it a secret since a power like that was far too risky for anyone to know about.

With that, another adventure had come to an end. With more no doubt on the way.