Merc's Involvement: Sakura Samsara

Chapter 7: Savior

As Alex extended his hand out to the young Yae, naturally she didn't know who he was so she would've been hesitant to accept his hand, but she just couldn't shake off the feeling of hope that she got from Alex.

"A-Are you sure, you can free me?" She asked hesitantly.

"I make no promises, but I damn will sure will give it my all." He said firmly.

With that, Yae grabbed Alex's hand as the boy carried her on his back and began to make a rush to the Sakura Gate exit, only for the sky to darken to an ominous red color as he noticed the Priest slowly stand up, hand covering his face as a dark aura surrounded him.

"Well shoot. Figures that a punch wouldn't knock you down for the count." Said Alex.

The priest began to speak, however instead of his normal voice, it was now the fiend's voice that was coming from him.

"Sakura.........time and time again I kept us alive, all the while creating this dream world just for you. All I ask of you, is that you stay, WITH ME!" The priest let out a blood curling scream as suddenly a large fire pillar bursted out from the ground and surrounded him as the sudden blast caught Alex off guard.

The boy was pushed back a bit as he firmly held onto Yae making sure he didn't let go of her.

Once the flames subsided, Alex looked on in shock, as now standing where the Priest once stood, was an extremely large, multi tailed white fox with red accents over its fur

The giant fox let out a loud howl into the sky, before immediately focusing its attention back to Alex and Yae, quickly charging up and releasing a large fireball from its mouth.

"O-Oh shit!" Said Alex as he moved out of the way as best he could.

"What the hell are you!? You certainly ain't no damn priest!" Said the boy.

The large fox simply snarled at them before beginning to speak, much to Alex's surprise.

"I go by many names. In this form, I'm referred to as the fox demon, Hellmaru, however, my true identity is the Herrscher of Corruption!" Shouted the fox beast.

"H-Herrscher!?" Said the boy.

He was already in deep trouble having to deal with a giant beast, but now knowing that said beast was also a Herrscher made his job ten times harder than what it already was.

"Sakura, you thankless lowlife! You're no different than those humans you profess to hate! You repaid my trust, with BETRAYAL! You spit on my love, all for this dark haired outsider shit! You tried to kill me twice! I shall grant your death wish! I won't have you betray me again!"

The time for talk was imma over as Alex informed Yae to hang on tight before he sprinted away as fast as he could, all the while being chased by Hellmaru, the Herrscher of Corruption as the fox beast kept shouting out fireballs at an endless pace, never give the boy a chase to calm down and keeping him extremely attentive.

Eventually, Alex noticed the Sakura Gate exit and informed Yae about it.

"Don't worry Yae we're almost there!" He said.

Unfortunately, this was all intentional on Hellmaru's part as it raised its front two legs, and slammed them hard onto the ground, creating an extremely large shockwave that knocked Alex and Yae to the ground, as Hellmaru jumped up and over them, now standing between the two and the gate exit.

"Shit. Knew it was too good to be true." Said Alex as he struggled to get to a knee, being tired from all the running.

"All this time, I've never had a single problem with keeping control of Sakura fate. I've come too far to gain full possession of her body! AND I'M NOT GONNA LET A BRATTY HALF PINT FROM YOU, TAKE IT ALL AWAY FROM ME!" Shouted Hellmaru, as it began charging up a fireball again, this one taking a much longer time to charge.