First Arc: The Fallen Kings -- EXTRA -- {Kuroshingon}
Nearing atop the abandoned and rotting buildings, an organized team of robed man instinctively followed their lead into traversing the landscape. Their synchronized movements made howls in the wind as they intricately jumped from gap to gap effortlessly despite the huge distance. They all dropped off a multi-story car park's roof; seemingly subsidizing one of their wounded members. One of the masked people took out a syringe and injected the bright liquid into the person's arm and the wound healed instantly.
"What're we going to do? The Shinigami is becoming more violent with his hunts." the female from before said while tending to the wounded casualty, looking up at the man known as Shadow.
'I'm going to kill you all..~ Hee hee!~' a voice lingered inside the man's head. What was this lanky, girlish boy on about slaying their kind? He didn't seem to care about being affiliated to SCEPTRE at all; he seemed to just kill... for the sheer enjoyment of it. This was quite troublesome, and Shadow knew it. There was one thing that boy struck fear into the hearts of his men; was that the boy felt no remorse and no fear at all.
"That kid.. he-he.. he's not scared.. of us?" one of the masked members said, clearly frightened.
"Yeah..! H-He.. he cut down Koro-kun so quickly we didn't even get to react. And those eyes.. those lifeless... eyes." another chimed in, quite terrified as well.
"We bit through him and wounded him pretty bad, but he still kept on injuring us one by one. And.. his smile.. he was smiling throughout the whole ordeal." another traumatized looking member said. His mask hid his face, but his eyes tell a clear story. "How do we fight something like that, boss?"
"We've codenamed the boy Shinigami." Shadow said, as he took off his mask, revealing black sceleras and red irises for eyes. "He truly is one of our worst adversaries in the 30th Ward, even when we overpopulate the shiroshingons."
"You need to eliminate him, boss." one of the men said.
"If needed." Shadow replied as he sat down on one of the destroyed walls of the building. "Do we have enough provisions for tonight?" he asked, looking quite lethargic at the group.
"We've managed to couple around 30 bodies, today. With that kid around, it's amazing that we survived in hunting down our food." one of the men said.
"Good." Shadow replied, back sighing. A sharp pain then struck his left hip; his hand immediately moved on reflex as he grasped on the affected area to quell the ache. "Aghnngnn.." Shadow grunted as his men came to check up on him. The wound was present on the pelvic area of his hip, there were some damaged bones as well. "I-It's alright, my regenerative cells will kick in anytime soon.."
'Damn.. Shinigami..' Shadow murmured to himself as his eyes seemed as if he was about to faint. 'This wound.. won't... fuckin'.. heal. It feels like it's... eating me... inside..!'
--
"Oi, where and how did you get that weapon anyway, Juuzou?" Badou said to his companions as they walked, presumably finished with the meeting from earlier and heading back home.
"Ah~! What a great question, Badou-kun!~" Juuzou said as he twirled his scythe around his body. "Ichinose had this made for me; many scientists crafted this weapon to suit my needs!~ This was made from the collective shingon (mantra) of my victims.~ For every kuroshingon... and shiroshingon I slay, this weapon becomes stronger.~ It is sentient, it is alive and speaks to me.~ And do you want to know what it says, Badou-kun?~"
"I'd rather not, but I'll humor ya." Badou said, seeming quite worrisome of his partner's shift in mood.
"...I hunger.~" Juuzou spoke in a spine-chilling voice; a sadistic grin forming on his face.
--
"Nnnggaah!--" Shadow grunted once more, pressing on the wound to prevent more blood from spilling out. "Gagh.. agh.. hah.. hah.." Slowly, Shadow continued to palpitate in pain as the wound grew worse and worse. Infections were surrounding it and it swell. "I need.. something.. to eat."
"Hurry! Get one of the bodies!" one of the men shouted. The body of a dead, young female teen sat on the floor. Shaodw gazed upon the lifeless body as his lips started water. Shadow's red irses dilated as he took a bite from the girl's neck. His fangs sucked out some sort of shimmering energy from the body; particles of light intertwining with the body of his canines as they slowly faded into a purple aura. Shadow's fangs released from the girl's neck as he took a gasp of air.
"Shinigami..." Shadow groaned, gnashing his teeth. He took a look at the scar, and his skin completely laced it back in. However, there was a alsting impression on the wound. There was a seal that read 'leftover' in a very Old Gothic text. The man shook in anger at the sight of the gruesome war scar tattooed on his hip. It was mocking him, it was invective.
--
"Oh, and you want some trivia about Thanatos?~" Juuzou said, rubbing at the blunt part of the blade.
"Sure, kid." Badou replied, hands behind the nape of his neck.
"There are only a number of people who can get away from Thanatos and live.~" Juuzou giggled, looking at his beloved scythe. "I put a mantra seal on the edge of my blade to ensure Thanatos' hunger is sated.~ If the target doesn't die, the wound Thanatos left will eat him alive. Thanatos knows if a target it has hit is rid of life, and if it didn't it writes the target's name down if it survives; even through all of that.~"
"That's.. interesting." Badou said, despite being disturbed himself.
"My scythe will give priority to those who've escaped.~ The bloodlust Thanatos gives me is exhilerating.~ I feel like I could take even the toughest of monsters down~!" Juuzou frantically but gleefully shouted. "Y'know, I admire these kuroshingon.~"
"Mm? Is that so? And why is that?" Badou said.
"Because of their will to survive, Badou-kun.~" Juuzou giggled. "...It makes it all the more delicious to cut their insides out.~ To see the despair grow in their eyes.~"
Badou could only look at the little boy with a concerned face, however, he was already used to the fact that he was like this. Hearing him out would be the only comfort he'd have, he assumed.
"At the end of the day, regardless of whether we're moral or not, the kuroshingons are a cancer in this world.~ I'm honored to be the one to cut them down.~" Juuzou said, mocking a bow as he twirled in glee. "Everyone's bound to die someday!~"
"..." Badou could only contemplate on the boy's words. He looked upon the horizon; starry skies and a bright white moon. "I'd be sad if you died, though, Juuzou-kun."
"Mm?~" Juuzou was startled at the statement as his eyes dilated, moving over to the taller male. For once, he didn't know what to say to Badou, but he felt that saying something would ruin his sympathies; even though he didn't care for them. ..Or did he?
"There was something familiar about that person I fought.~" Juuzou said, tapping his chin with his finger. "His scent smelled familiar.~ I just can't put my finger on it~..."
--
"We have to get these bodies to the starving children back at base." Shadow said, trying to stand up as his wound rapidly sped in process; holding onto his scar.
"Are you sure you're going to be fine, boss?" one of the men asked.
"I am." Shadow was not completely sure of whether this injury would be tantamount to something dangerous, then again, he wasn't really sure if it was as well. Something odd was embedded to the weapon that wounded him, he didn't feel right.
"These monsters.." the masked female said as she gripped onto her robe. "They're finding more and more ways to torture us like this!"
".. To them, we're the monsters, Aella." Shadow said. "After all, we weren't born the same way they were. We shouldn't blame them."
"... Let's just go back home." Aella said, dragging the sack of dead bodies with her as she descended down from the base. Shadow could only look down at the dismayed comrade of his as he contemplated on the situation they were in. The 30th Ward, sundered by civil war, their group had already occupied most of the sector. Shadow could only remembered all the gruesome things needed for him to bring his people's ambition to fruition. Shadow stood up and shook his head as a blonde wearing a radioactive gas mask that covered only half of his face came to him.
"You remember our objective." he spoke in a relatively baritone voice.
"I know." Shadow said, looking over at the man. "You think I have doubts?"
"I've known you since we were children, Shadow." the blonde man said. "You were always too soft. Just like the little lady back there with the scythe. You knew you could kill her, why didn't you?"
"That scythe was a detriment to me, I couldn't close in fast enough to--" Shadow said, but was ultimately interrupted.
"Bullshit, Kazuo." the blonde moan said, irked. "Why didn't you kill her?" he said, now in a more asserting tone.
"He's a boy." Shadow said, shaking his head, trying to avoid the question. But the blonde only narrowed his eyes even more "I did try to kill him, his scythe was something that ate through my mayu. I couldn't withstand anymore blows."
"If you killed him, we wouldn't have lost so many men in that skirmish." the blonde said. "There were only two officers there."
"Coming from another city, you really don't know how strong these two are, do you?" Shadow replied, "That was Juuzou, the Shinigami and Badou, the Hachiman. They're investigators we can't really take head on."
"Heh.." the blonde man smirked. "Hahaha! You're really shitting me here, are you?" the man said his eyes looking quite amused. "I stood by and observed and calculated every possible outcome of the match, assessed their shiroshingon. They are formidable, but you could've taken them on, Shadow. Single-handedly if you wanted. You are an akamusuko, after all." (asamusuko: viz "red son")
"Then why didn't you do it yourself?" Shadow said, quite aggravated at the fact that the blonde was badgering him with all these questions. He wasn't the type to meddle around lies, and Shadow's excuses were beaten down by his evidences.
"To test your resolve. So stop dodging my questions." the blonde replied. "Since we're old friends, I'll let it slide. Don't let it ever happen again." he said clearly getting on Shadow's grill.
"Hmph," a dark, really baritone voice said behind them; for some reason it sounded like he was using a voice alterator. The man had jet black hair, wore a plain white mask with a lightning bolt designed one of the slit eyeholes and a red line to symbolize the mask's mouth. For his clothing he wore a long, black, leather trenchcoat. Two golden eyes gleamed inside the mask, Wraith looking quite irritated from inside. "Stop bickering and let's go."
"No need to tell us, Wraith." the blonde male said shrugging as he chuckled.
"Don't be a liability to the leader's plans, Steelshot. We've risked our necks to get you out of Ushinamichi. I won't hesitate to eliminate you from the equation, if that is what you desire." Wraith said.
"Gotcha." the blonde said, pointing his fingers like guns as Wraith faded into smoke and vanished afterwhich, the blonde man had taken his leave as well.
Shadow could only hold onto his scar, chills running down his spine as the blonde male spoke. He knew the other was stronger and he couldn't deny the fact that he could easily die in his hands. "Ranmaru..." he said, looking upwards at the night sky. "Be safe."
-- END