A moonlit night on the darkened backstreets of Tokyo, as a light mist rain fell. All was quiet and calm; nothing was array, except for that of the rhythmic rippling of a puddle surface as slowly the sound of echoing footsteps grew louder. And then from a side street a figure came running around the corner running got its life, it was a young girl with light brunette hair wearing a white gown, as she ran anyone who could see her could partly see through her as she ran, and an very obvious difference about her was the chain that was attached to a partly opened hole on her chest. She didn’t look older than twelve but was running for her life panting as she ran.
The reason for her running was made abundantly clear when a shadow came around the corner. It was a large humanoid figure with one huge left arm and a smaller, weaker looking left. It had large feet and a stub of a tail. Its entire body was black and had a gaping black hole through its chest, the only real noticeable feature to it was the white crow like mask that it wore with razor sharp teeth, a hissing could be heard as it grew closer to the girl who was desperately trying to get away, as the creature came ever closer to her.
Looking back for a split second the girl lost her balance, before tripping and falling flat on the ground crying out in pain as she landed, panting she tried to quickly get back up, but suddenly felt a heavy pressure on her as the creature was on her with its muscled arm and pinned her to the ground as she struggled to get free.
Letting out a high-pitched chuckle the creature gripped the girl as she screamed. “Oh look what I’ve caught, a delicious looking soul, oh you look good enough to eat, come on give me a taste.” The creature hissed as it lifted the girl up high and dangled her by her arm as it opened its mouth wide to swallow her whole.
“No please someone help me!” screamed the girl as she flailed in the monster's grip as she tried to break free but it was no use as she was raised higher, about to be dropped and eaten.
Time stood still for a nanosecond and everything seemed to move slower as a flash moved through the air and in a straight line through the monster's arm, mere seconds before the girl was dropped. Followed by a spray of black blood from a clean slice through the massive grotesque muscled appendage, and then a scream from the monster as it fell back from the pain as the girl was dropped to the ground and more flashes of lines happened and severed arm was shredded before bursting into black partials and faded away leaving the girl unharmed.
“My arm, what the hell happened to my arm!” The hideous monstrosity cried out as it flailed on the ground unable to tell what had just happened.
The small girl tried to get up but her legs gave out and she collapsed again, she tried again but stopped when she heard footsteps coming down the street she looked up to see a figure approaching through the darkness.
He looked to be a teen no older than eighteen years old with slightly long black hair with the front trimmed but spiked up sharp, he wore dark grey jeans and a pair of wooden sandals on his feet with black bindings. He wore a plain white t-shirt with an open collar showing his refined collarbone and his upper chest somewhat, over which he wore a black blazer with crimson pocket lining and a single white button. His face was refined and he wore a pair of small rectangular sunglasses on his nose with a frame or temple on either side.
He walked through the street casually as the monster flailed on the ground screaming in rage now as the pain faded and slowly its arm started to grow back.
Getting closer the man reached up to his shades and pushed them back in place with his index finger as his brown eyes looked over the scene in front of him and he raised an eyebrow.
“Well, aren't you fascinating? Regeneration and at such a quickened pace I haven’t come across one of you in a while. You might last longer than the last Hollow I killed, that’s if I decide to let you.” The man said with a slight smile stopping under a streetlight as the light caught something moving through the air in faint shimmers around the man as he returned his hand to his pocket.
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The girl looked up to him, shaking, seeing him she was terrified of what was happening not knowing what was going on around her.
Looking down at her the man smiled softly, “Don’t worry little one, I won’t let it hurt you, everything is going to be just fine.” He said in a calm warm voice completely different to the one he had been using when addressing the monster, the Hollow. His voice and aura felt so warm and caring, she immediately felt herself stop tensing. She didn’t know why but she just felt safe around him.
Then the Hollow threw itself back onto its feet with a loud cry as it landed and started glaring at the man, its red eyes flashing under its mask of a face. “You fucking bastard, who the fucking hell are you?! You dare to get in my...” The Hollow screeched only to stop as if its air supply was cut off suddenly.
“My, my what a revolting mouth you have, even for a filthy Hollow.” The man said as he stood completely still, with his right arm hanging by his side, “But seeing as you asked I feel it’s only right to give you an answer, you have no need to know my name as you will not live through the next thirty seconds, not that you’re even alive anyway, so a fitting answer to your question of who I am,” The man said as he once again fixed his glasses back into place and smiled coldly at the Hollow, “I'm just your run of the mill high school teacher, who hates hollow scum like you.”
The second he finished speaking the air shimmered again, only much larger starting from the top of the Hollow’s head straight down and through its entire torso and body as the Hollow let out a pained gasp for air one last time before one side of it fell to the left and the other to the right as it was cut cleanly down the middle like a blade had fallen upon it from above.
As the corpse burst into partials the man fixed his shades again only to turn and kneel down to the girl who was still on the ground, her eyes wide from seeing the monster that had been chasing her destroyed.
The man reached into his pocket and took out a brass signet ring and put it on his right hand, the thick end facing inwards to his palm as he smiled at the little girl.
“It’s alright the monster is gone now, and now it’s time for you to do the same, you don’t belong in this world anymore, it's time you were at peace.” He said with a sad smile placing his ringed hand on the girl's head and she gasped as she was suddenly overcome by a bright light. It made the young girl feel so warm and peaceful, she couldn’t help but smile.
“Thank you.” she uttered just before the light faded and a black butterfly took her place only to fly off into the night sky and into the moon's light.
Standing up the man smiled watching it go until he felt a buzz in his pocket, he reached in and took out his cell phone checking the caller id before he answered it.
“Yeah babe, just wrapped it up here now, everything alright?” the man said smiling but that turned to a neutral expression and then one of shock, “are you sure, is he…” The man started to say before falling silent listening to the other end of the connection, “I see, so it’s finally happened. No it’s alright I was wondering when it would happen, his spiritual pressure was through the roof when I last saw him. It was only a matter of time before that happened, but for him to awaken his powers like that, who was the girl again…” he asked and waited for a moment before replying, “I see, that could be problematic.”
“Will you be coming back?” Asked an obviously female voice on the other end of the line
The man smiled, “Of course I will, classes start up again at the high school in a week or so, it looks like it will be an interesting term this year. See you soon.”
“Don’t keep me waiting.” The voice replied as the connection cut off.
Putting the phone back in his pocket the man held his hand out by his side as slowly the glimmers of light began to come together in his hand and took the form of a bright katana before fading revealing the pristine blade. It was a twenty one inch short bladed katana with only a slight curve to its blade its grip was wrapped in a red cloth with a brass hilt and the signet ring became the pommel of the handle as a red piece of cloth flowed from it the guard itself was a rectangle with a raised rim with a single notch out of it on its left side.
“Well Wai, looks like we’re going home, it will be strange being back after a year, but you can feel it too, can’t you, there’s something in the air, trouble is on the horizon, something is coming and we’d better be ready.” The man said as he tilted the blade catching the moonlight as a voice echoed from it “That we had, partner.” before the blade faded out of sight as the man walked into the shadows.