The Cursed Iris

Sprout 26: Thank You

Kikyo and Atsuko ran up to Katsumi with expressions full of anger. Kikyo kicked him, "Don't ever scare me like that ever again!" she yelled at him.

He chuckled nervously. "I'll try not to for sure."

"Anyways what was that? I thought you couldn't eat flames of a higher tier?" Atsuko asked.

He knew he couldn't, but he also knew he should've died from attempting that. It was a desperation thing. A major gamble that he was glad that it had worked out. Even at the cost of emptying his body completely of spirit energy only for a moment.

"The Phoenix Girl has a point. You should've died from that." Shizuko agreed.

"Well, the thing is I completely emptied out my vessel of spirit energy, essentially I told my soul to be quiet for a second. It was a trick I've always wanted to try it, but my sister forbade me from doing it. Plus there was something interesting Susanoo told me, so I decided to use it."

"That's probably the dumbest but smartest thing I've ever heard. You do know if that went wrong you could've killed yourself?" Shizuko scolded. "I can't believe you're putting my grandfather in danger like that!"

"Grandfather!?" Katsumi asked bewildered. "Kikyo what is that fox?"

Kikyo's expression said, 'I'm still trying to figure out what this thing is myself.'

"Anyways, if a being empties out their vessel then they essentially don't belong to a tier. So you are able to do all types of things; in the case of a Nakajima Clan Fire Demon if he empties out his vessel then he could devour his element of a higher tier. It's risky and it takes a lot of control to actually pull it off. Your teachers were amazing if you have such control at such an early age," Shizuko explained.

"It was more than that stupid fox," Kaiya said in Ayame's voice.

"Well what do you think it was stupid lizard?"

"Don't talk to Ayame like that!" Atsuko and Kikyo yelled.

"When he ingested Natsume's flames, he also slightly accepted Amaterasu's power. He didn't empty his vessel completely; he only emptied the demonic part of it for a moment. Once he did that his body had to quickly accept the flames, or he could've risked dying from that. Emptying your vessel, but also having an affinity with those flames is something else for sure. The central aura point is fragile and something like that can completely shatter it. It's a good thing it was only temporary."

Shizuko agreed. "If it had been any longer you would've died, along with grandfather as well."

It must be an active ability of his that allows him to do that. Shizuko thought.

Katsumi stared at them in shock. "I didn't know that was going to happen, but now that I know I'll only do it when necessary if at all."

Shizuko chuckled, "Oh I don't care about you," she stated bluntly. "I only care for my grandfather."

"Katsumi Nakajima I need you to know, if you wanted to try that again you'd better get stronger. You have the spirit energy reserve, but you haven't tapped into them yet. Recklessness can lead to an early grave."

Katsumi smiled, "Still I was pretty confident that I wasn't going to. By the way could you give Ayame back her body? There's something I want to ask her," he said.

"Fine, fine. Talk away lover boy," Kaiya replied.

Kikyo stared at Katsumi, "The ability to empty and refill your vessel is an interesting trick. Maybe I should try it myself," she mumbled.

"Don't even think about it," Shizuko said tapping her on the head with her paw. "You try that, and I'll ensure to kill you myself. No need to be foolish."