Kuroyuki: Through the Eyes of the Shinigami

Chapter 8: I See Strength

Yuki gave Kuroha a hard karate chop on the head. "What the hell were you thinking going berserk like that? You killed a lot of people too. That's unforgivable."

 Kuroha knew what she did. She only gave Yuki a stern look. "I'm serious about it. We have different beliefs, Nii-sama. I'll continue doing that if it means I can save the oppressed. But right now, we have a very big problem to tend to."

"I certainly won't lose to you next time!" Kuroha added.

"Conflict ei? I'll definitely stop you. I can't let you take things upon yourself. My justice won't lose to anyone." Yuki patted Kuroha's head and smiled at her.

It's still Nii-sama. No matter what his name is. Kuroha thought. She nodded and flew around the city. Kuroha's thoughts shifted back to the real Yuki's words. She remembered the Wills, the ethereal sphere, and the mortal realm. It felt like a bigger responsibility was forcefully placed on her shoulders. She remembered Kai inflicted the wound on her eye. How was it connected to the void? A lot of things bothered her. A lot of questions were still stuck in her mind. And the culling that Yuki mentioned. Is it connected to the bomb? Then all of this was manipulated by the guardian of the book. She silently tried to fit the pieces together, but there seemed to always be a missing link as she tried.

"It can't be..." Kuroha sniffed harder as she was uncertain if she felt it right.

"Did you get something?" Yuki asked.

"Yes. But it's weird. I can sense them from 3 different places... And one of them is accompanied by something unpleasant.."  Kuroha had hate written on her face. Ever since she snapped her cheerful side just disappeared.

"You mean there're three of them?!" Yuki speculated.

It's him. Kuroha said to herself. "I'm sure of it. Only one way to find out then." Kuroha soared through the sky with speed, leaving Yuki behind. Yuki might outskill Kuroha in hand-to-hand combat, but Kuroha's agility couldn’t compare to his.

Kuroha knew that person's scent ever since she started as an Impaler which was now accompanied by another unpleasant smell.

"It's Kai!" She shouted at Yuki who was far behind. She wanted to deal with him immediately to settle terms with her former mentor.

"Hey, wait! Kuroha!" Yuki was left behind.

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"Shiroe, do you know the reason why we need to collect souls from humans who passed away?" Kai landed on top of a building along with Shiroe who carried a large silver vessel.

"To save the souls from suffering and then store them in the void for reincarnation." Shiroe plainly answered.

"Correct. But other than that, it's to keep the balance between life and death; between this world and ours. Without this world, the void cannot exist; and without the void, this world will collapse. Within our world, Mid Horizon, is the Book of Mortality which was created to govern the System of Life and Death by assigning lifetimes or the time the souls have to stay mortal. The souls we harvest produce the energy that the void needs to be stabilized and to keep this universe intact. The energy transition between the two worlds is essential. In order to sustain that, we, the Impalers, were born to preside over that transition and keep it constant." Kai explained as he installed the vessel in place.

"What are we going to do with that vessel?" Shiroe inquired.

"The disturbances caused by the vagabonds destroyed that transition. And to compensate for the energy loss in the void, we opted to take desperate measures."