Hidden In Darkness: Kusanagi Part 1

Chapter 5: Murdered

The two demons approached us and I managed to get a better view of them. The demon on the right had the head of a ferocious white wolf. It wore a contrasting black kimono and had both of its hand in its sleeves. The demon on the left was levitating. It had wings and a mask resembling that of a bat. Both of them were humanoid in shape. The demons demonstrated a powerful and malicious aura that terrified me.
"Typical. They had guards for the girl..." The vampiric demon grunted as he took notice of us.
"What do you demons want?" Yugao questioned them in a serious tone.
The two demons stared at Yugao.
"Oh! We're here to ask directions. Do you know where is the shopping district?" The vampiric demon said in a sarcastic manner.
No response was given for his question as expected. The vampiric demon then turned more serious and strict.
"The hell do you think we're here for!? We're here to kill the maiden." The demon claimed.
"Why are you after her?" Yugao questioned further.
"Isn't it obvious? The maiden is the one controlling the boundary between the demon world and the human world, the Edge. With her gone, the demons will be free to......" The demon responded
"Kudlak. This isn't the time to talk. With have our orders." The demons's partner spoke.
"... Sigh. Understood, Dokumaru."
The demons were done talking and approached us menacingly.
"Narukami! Shizuka! You two will fight the bat demon! Masakado and I will handle the Inugami!" Yugao commanded.
"Alright!" Shizuka and I responded in unison and challenged the vampiric demon known as Kudlak.
"It doesn't matter what tactics you mages use. You all will die!" Kudlak shouted as he charged at us.
I swung my Kusanagi at the charging demon. However, the blade went through the demon as though it was nothing. It pushed me into the koi fish pond and was about to deal another blow. Suddenly, Shizuka shot multiple magic arrows at the demon, which it quickly evaded.
"My...attack didn't hit him." I informed her as I got up.
"It didn't hit him? Are you sure?" Shizuka asked.
"Yeah. It was like I didn't hit anything." I affirmed my statement.
"Tch... Then that means we aren't dealing with a normal demon. We're fighting a vampire. A dark spirit." Shizuka said.
"Dark spirits are demons without a real body. They draw their power through human hosts and physical attacks can't hurt them. Magical attacks can harm them, but we can't kill it." Shizuoka elaborated.
"Then what should we do? All I have is my Sky Rip, and that takes up too much of my energy..."
"I'll distract him. You find the human host and then take him out. He should not be far from his vampire." Shizuka stated.
"Both of you aren't going anywhere!" Kudlak interrupted us and attacked.
Fortunately, Shizuka counterattacked by releasing a barrage of arrows. Kudlak quickly withdrew his attack and began deflecting the arrows using its claws.
"Go. Try and sense the host's mana, it should be the same as the vampire's." Shizuka said.
"Right."
I quickly ran to the opposite direction of the fight to avoid being attacked and began concentrating. I managed to sense the host's energy and pinpointed the location of the host. I actually had more questions about what a 'host' was. However, I knew that it was not the time or place for questions so I refrained from asking anything else unless necessary. When I sucessfully discovered the location of the host, I figured out what they were planning.
"They're just distraction! The host, he's heading towards the room where Miya is!" I alerted everyone.
"Tch! So you figured it out..." Kudlak said.
Everyone turned to me in shock. Yugao immediately turned to Shizuka as he was preoccupied with fighting with the Inugami, as though signalling her.
"I'm on it!" Shizuka assured and ran to where Miya was.
"Not so..."
"Sky Rip!" I shouted.
I unleashed the powerful wind attack and it was a direct hit. Kudlak screamed in agony and faded away. According to Shizuka, it would only stop the vampire temporary, so we might not have enough time. Shizuka and I ran into the house. There were several magic talismans in place to keep demons out of the room. However, since it was a human who went in there, the talismans had no effect. My theory was proven when we discovered the door was open. In the room, we both discovered the human host, clad in a black cloak and a mask that resembled that of the vampire's he controlled, was battling with the youkai that swore loyalty to Miya, Byakko. Fortunately, Byakko seemed that he was not all talk as he put up a fight against his aggressor. Miya was safe as she was staying behind Byakko the whole time.
"Go! Go! Fight on! Byabya!" Miya cheered on childishly, seemingly unaware of the danger she was facing.
"Isolent wench! You dare lay your grotesque hands on Miyamaru-sama? I shall annihilate, then dissect, then mutilate you, then many more activities so sadistic and gory, that the refined ears of Miyamaru-sama must never hear!" Byakko claimed.
Byakko pounced onto the cloaked attacker, with claws out. As Byakko was about to tear the skin of the attacker, Kudlak rematerialised in front of the himself and blocked Byakko's attack.
"Just shut up! You're just a weak, wordy bastard!" Kudlak insulted.
"And you smell like a woman!" Byakko shouted back.
The two demons went at each other throats, their weapons clashing and cold eyes staring down at each other. Both Shizuka and I knew it was not the time to spectate so we interfered. I came in and tried to knock the host unconscious using my left fist. However, the host noticed me and evaded my attack by jumping a distance away from me. Kudlak followed his host and protected him, now adopting a defensive strategy to handle all three of us.
"Tch... I did not expect the Bakeneko to put up such a fight... No matter, you are all just scum to me!" Kudlak taunted.
Kudlak then initiated his next attack. His claws began to glow crimson red and swiped them. A cross shaped projectile was launched at us. I stood in the way, about to use my Sky Rip. However, before I could use my attack, Masakado jumped down from the ceiling and dissipated the projectile by slicing it with his dual blades.
"When the youths of the world are in disarray, I, Masakado, will save the day!" Masakado exclaimed as he made his over the top entrance.
"Masakado-san. What about my father?" Shizuka asked.
"Your papa told me to he could handle it and instructed me to come help you guys." Masakado explained.
"Now then... Kudlak-san, was it?... Prepare to meet your end by my blades! Muramasa! Masamune! Vaporise him into darkness!" Masakado clashed his blades together and taunted the vampire. Kudlak charged in with his claws and clashed with his blades. Masakado was completely non-chalant in the battle. He still acted like a fool and was not treating it seriously, as evident in his sloopish-looking movements and strange and unpredictable attacks. It only annoyed Kudlak even further. Suddenly, as Masakado was about to strike at Kudlak, the vampire vanished and appeared behind him.
"I got you! You eccentric freak!"
All of a sudden, as Kudlak was about to stab his neck, a strange neck armor was formed. It protected Masakado from what would have been the killing blow. Masakado retaliated by kicking Kudlak to the edge of the room. It was only then I noticed, that the host had escaped during the chaos while everyone was distracted. Though it was worrying that the host escaped, Kudlak was the main problem as of then,
"What the hell? What was that?" Kudlak questioned as to why his strike did not work.
All of a sudden, Masakado's neck area directly above his chest, began forming a tatto of a symbol, '慈'. I recognised immediately what that meant.
"Benevolence... Then that means..."
"That's right! I'm a regalia user! Yasakani Jewel, shine!"
Masakado summoned a necklace of jewels shaped as commas. The jewels then detached themselves and orbited around Masakado as a form of offense and defense. I was aware that there were other regalias other than the Kusanagi, but to think that the eccentric paper-bag wearing individual was a regalia user like me. Kudlak got back in his feet as stared colds at us.
"Bullshit! Two regalia users? This was not part of the briefing. Bullshit!" Kudlak yelled in frustration.
A red magic circle appeared in the ground and a stone sword emerged. It seemed that Kudlak was done holding back and was attacking for real.
"Byyako! Get Miya-chan to the next safety room." Shizuka instructed.
"Understood." Byyako replied.
He went back and grabbed Miya by the hand.
"Good luck! Everyone! Fight on!" Miya cheered as Byyako pulled her away from the fray.
"I'll kill all of you!" Kudlak screamed as he began his attack.
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Perspective Change: Keisuke Yugao
"They seem to be in quite a pickle..." Keisuke wondered as he noticed the chaos happening in the safety room.
"You should be more worried about yourself than them." Dokumaru warned.
Keisuke swung his nagitana at his opponent, prompting him to back away. Dokumaru counterattacked by unleashing a storm of paper dolls. The paper dolls began a relentless attack onto Keisuke in all directions, leaving small cuts all over his body. Keisuke then spun his weapon repeatedly, shredding the paper dolls.
"Origin: Jurojin! Squall of Life! " Keisuke unleashed his inner power.
Keisuke stretched his arm and let out a powerful swing with his weapon. A storm of white energy emerged to engulf the demon. Dokumaru unleashed his paper dolls and created a barrier to protect himself. However, he was unable to completely guard the attack. The energy attack ripped through the surface of the demon's skin, drops of blood flew off the demons body. Once the attack subsided, the demon's paper doll barrier was torned and worn out and the demon had multiple open wounds. More paper dolls appeared to cover the wounds to prevent the demon from bleeding out. Dokumaru summoned a wave of paper dolls to consume Keisuke. Keisuke quickly evaded to attack and charged in. He swung his nagitana at the demon, who attempted to block the attack, but the force was too overwhelming for the demon and was thrown like a rag doll.
"Now's my chance! Squall!"
Keisuke unleashed another white energy wave and came in as a direct hit. However, as the demon was hit, the body immediately transformed into paper dolls, which were torn apart from the attack.
"A substitution?" Keisuke wondered,
"I got you now!" Dokumaru announced as he appeared from behind.
Keisuke quickly rolled away. However, he did not escape unscathed as the demon left a wound Keisuke's back.
"Ouch.... Heh, you're tougher than I gave you credit for." Keisuke admitted,
Keisuke held onto the wound to reduce the pain. All of a sudden, Keisuke fell onto his knees. He tried to pull himself back up, but to no avail.
"Paralysis poison. It's amazing that you are still on your knees, normal people would be in comatose right now. Bad luck for you, that only means you'll be conscious when I rip you open!"
Dokumaru summoned a giant swarm of paper dolls. Before Keisuke could be consumed by the swarm, pink butterflies emerged out of nowhere and intercepted the paper dolls.
"It's about time." Keisuke muttered to himself.
All of a sudden, a red-hair woman jumped over the side walls of the area. It was Yuzuki, finally coming in to aid the mages.
"Yugao-san! Sorry I'm late! But it looks like I came at just in the nick of time." Yuzuki said as she made her appearance.
"Hmph! Do you really think that one more person coming in to help you can defeat me?" Dokumaru taunted.
"Well, no. That's why I brought a friend." Yuzuki replied.
Suddenly, another mage came into the scene. He wore a trench coat and wielded a large scythe. The man jumped up from the side walls of the house and smashed the ground in front of the demon, prompting him to back away. The man was none other than Raidou Kibishi.
"The Grim Reaper." Dokumaru sneered after noticing who the man was.
"In the flesh! Yuzuki told me that some tough guys are gathering here, how could I pass the offer?" Raidou replied.
"Now now, Rai-chan. Don't go all hound on him, or you'll break Yugao-san's house." Yuzuki warned.
"Fine. I'll try not to." Raidou said as he pulled out his scythe
Raidou then turned to the Inugami.
"Now then, let's see what you're made off." Raidou taunted the demon.
Raidou took the first strike. He rushed in and swung his weapon. Dokumaru evaded the attack and was about to counter it. All of a sudden, Yuzuki grabbed the demon from behind and threw him away.
"Hey! Yuzu! I thought I told you I had this one!" Raidou yelled.
"Yeah, like I actually trust you not to destroy this place. We'll take him down together, like old times." Yuzuki suggested.
"Sigh, I guess there is no changing your mind. Well, let's do this!" Raidou exclaimed as he charged in once more.
A swarm of pink butterflies followed after Raidou as commanded by Yuzuki. The butterflies guarded Raidou from the onslaught of paper dolls, leaving him open to fight Dokumaru in close quarters combat. Raidou laughed manically as he swung his blade repeatedly and in an unorderly fashion. Dokumaru was a tactical individual, always taking note of opponents' movement and attack pattern. However, Raidou's unrefined yet effective fighting style was too irregular for the demon to predict, only barely blocking Raidou's attacks. Suddenly, Raidou grabbed Dokumaru's neck and chocked the demon. Using his metahuman strength, he lifted up the demon. He lifted his free left arm and charged shadow energy. Raidou grinned deviously as he prepared his signature attack.
"Ghost Hunt!"
A purple projectile was blasted right at the demon at point blank range. However, in a split second, a paper doll appeared in front of the demon's face to reduce the damage. The force was still strong enough to throw Dokumaru across the courtyard. The demon pulled himself up and covered more of his wounds with paper dolls. Raidou walked slowly towards the demon in an intimidating fashion. All of a sudden, a large cloud of smoke appeared from where the safety room was, Kudlak flew out of the room an landed close to Dokumaru. Kudlak appeared a lot more injured than Dokumaru.
"Damn them... The other regalia user was not mentioned by the boss at all!" Kudlak complained, irritated that he was in near defeat.
Kurou, Shizuka and Masakado ran out to the courtyard and challenged the demons.
"Yuzuki-san? Kibishi-san? What are you guys doing here?" Kurou asked, noticing their sudden appearance.
As the mages were in their short conversation, Dokumaru silently pulled out a small communication device. He read a message that was sent recently and grinned.
"Kudlak! We're done here. He's done it." Dokumaru alerted his comrade.
"Unless you want to finish our secondary objective on your own..."
"Well, I've been beaten up, killed one time, humiliated by a talkative cat, and surrounded by mages which two of them are regalia users... Yup. I think we're done here! Let's go!" Kudlak answered.
"Listen up, mages! You may have won this fight, but we had already won the day!" Dokumaru proclaimed to the mages.
Dokumaru unleashed one last swarm of paper dolls and smashed it onto the ground, giving them a cover for their escape.
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Perspective Change: Kurou Narukami
The demons left with an obscure message. All of us wondered what that was supposed to mean. Suddenly, a cell phone began ringing. It was Yuzuki's.
"Hehe... Sorry about this. Hello?" Yuzuki asked as she answered the call.
"Yuzuki-nesan! This is bad! Real bad!" A voice in her phone yelled loudly.
The voice seemed to belong to a boy, no more than sixteen.
"That voice... Is that Sasuke?" Raidou asked.
Yuzuki had no time to answer the question as she needed to deal with the boy on the phone.
"Calm down, Sasuke! What's going on?" Yuzuki asked.
"It's Gotori-san! She's... she's..." The boy named Sasuke began stuttering.
"What happened to her?" Yuzuki began questioning him.
"She's dead!" Gotori-san is dead!" Sasuke said.
The moment everyone heard that, everyone's faces but mine froze from shock. Who's Gotori-san? I asked myself.
"Shizuka. Go with the rest and check what's going on. Masakado and I will take care of Miya." Yugao instructed.
"I understand. Everyone, let's go." Shizuka said.
Shizuka, Yuzuki and Kibishi ran out of the house and I followed suit. While we were on the run, I decided to ask the questions that were bothering me.
"Who's Gotori-san? And who's the boy on the phone?"
"There are three powerful regalias in total. The Kusanagi Blade, Yata Mirror and Yasakani Jewel. You own the Kusanagi blade, Masakado-san uses the Yasakani Jewel, and Gotori-san is the Yata Mirror user. She's also a good friend of ours. I can't believe she's dead." Shizuka said.
"And for the boy on the phone..."
"That's Kibishi Sasuke. My little brother." Kibishi finished the sentence.
"He's pretty much the only son to my old man from how I see it. Doesn't matter though, let's keep going."
We continued running through the streets chasing after one of Yuzuki's butterflies. It seemed to be leading us to where this Sasuke was. After a while, we reached an abandoned warehouse. A boy with short hair and a long muffler was waiting outside, his right arm was bleeding, but the wound did not seem too severe.
"Everyone! You're here!" Sasuke exclaimed as he went up to him.
"Sasuke. You're wounded. Yuzuki-nesan, could you heal wounds?" Shizuka asked
"Sure."
Yuzuki then created more butterflies. They fluttered around Sasuke's wound and it began to heal itself indefinitely. As the wound was healing, the butterflies slowly lost their magic and began fading away.
"Thank you, Yuzuki-nesan." Sasuke thanked.
"No probl..."
"Sasuke, what about Gotori-san?" Kibishi interrupted.
"Aniki? What are you... She's in there, it's horrible..." Sasuke answered, with a clear fearful tone.
Kibishi and I checked inside the warehouse while Yuzuki and Shizuka tended to Sasuke. The warehouse was dark and had an ominous atmosphere. We went deeper into the darkness until we saw the corpse of Gotori. Coldness sept into my very being. Horrible could not describe the nightmarish mess that was before me. There was only a blood soaked skeleton lying on the wall, which was covered in blood itself. The crimson colour on the wall was shaped as though the body was thrown right at it with inhuman force. There was a word made using the victim's blood, it was written as the word '死', in other words, death. It was like some sort of serial murder case. I nearly threw up just by looking at it for a few seconds. Kibishi was not as fazed as me. He gritted his teeth and stomped on the ground in anger.
"Damn it! How the hell did this happen?" He demanded.
Suddenly, Yuzuki and Shizuka entered the warehouse and was approaching us.
"Your brother's alrigh... Oh my god...." Yuzuki said as she saw the body.
Shizuka on the other hand, her reaction was something I nevered expected the refined, stone-cold girl that I knew would do. Her mouth was left a jar, her eyes filled with terror and fear. She began hyperventilating and soon could not take it anymore.
"WAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Shizuka screamed as she fell to her knees.
She screamed and screamed. Yuzuki quickly tend to her, attempting do her best to comfort her. I looked in shock and confusion.
"Was... Was Gotori-san really that important to her?" I quietly asked Kibishi
"She was a friend to us , but I don't think Zuka-tan was that close to her. The reason why she reacted like that is because..."
Kibishi then gritted his teeth even more, as though he was remembering something horrible. He looked at the murder scene again as he spoke,
"Because this is the same way how her mother died..."
"!"
The entire area was filled with utter despair. When I first started this, I knew eventually, something like this would happen. However, I nevered expected the situation to be so drastic. What those demons said was true, we lost. Actually, with the despair all of us were feeling right now, losing was an understatement, it felt like a complete defeat.
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