Carmen's vision of the stray Shinigami has Gabriel's crew on a panic state, if it stays loose for too long a lot of people are going to die, the souls destroyed by a stray Shinigami are not transferred to the afterlife but instead are completely erased

according to what Mak said, he also said that he has a plan to pin it down for a while...

Gabriel-What are we going to do?

Mak-I am going to cast a spell that will bind it in the space of the dojo and it won't be able to escape.

Kevin-How do you know it's still in the dojo?

Gabriel-Yeah, that thing might be moving as we are talking.

Mak-You are right. Kevin, give me the car keys!

Kevin-Ok..what?

Mak-We need the car to go there as fast as possible, we don't have time to argue.

Kevin-Fine.

Kevin gave the car keys to Mak, Gabriel grabbed the wheel in order to drive because Mak had to put his Glamour on and that would cost them some valuable minutes, by sitting in the back seat and casting the Glamour while Gabriel was driving

they minimized the amount of time they needed to get there and to conceal Mak's appearance. Once they arrived at the dojo they head straight to the second floor where they found the body of the man that Carmen saw in her vision, the statue was

also there but the Shinigami wasn't...

Gabriel-Where is that thing?

Mak-Fuck, it's gone already.

Gabriel-What now?

Mak-Let me think...

Gabriel-Do you think it went out the window?

Mak-Probably, it doesn't have to use doors.

Gabriel-Where would it go?

Mak-It doesn't have a purpose so...probably the cafe!

Gabriel-I'm on it.

Gabriel jumped out of the window and landed on the street, he then realized that some people saw him, amazed by the leap they tried to come close to him but he run full speed to the cafe area where he saw the Shinigami draining the souls of the

people sitting there, it was a strange humanoid creature with distorted characteristics and very pale complexion, huge yellow eyes that glowed bright and long hands with talons, it seemed like it was wearing a black torn robe and it was hovering

above the dead bodies, Gabriel's first action was to go close and try to punch it, his punch went right through it but it got its attention...

Gabriel-(Of course! It's a damn spirit Gabe, what do you think a punch can do?)

The Shinigami took a curious look on Gabriel like sizing him up, at that moment Mak got there with the car...

Mak-Run Gabriel!

Gabriel-Why?

The Shinigami also took notice on Mak but then turned again to face Gabriel and continue to watch.

Mak-Hit it with your light attack and run!

Gabriel-All right, "Holy Flash"!

The attack had no effect but the Shinigami seemed shocked, it started to get close to Gabriel, he started to run away, the Shinigami followed him and managed to keep up with his speed, Mak got back in the car and followed as well, Gabriel was

running towards the edge of the town where the forest that Mak was originally from, he figured that since there were no people there that if he managed to lure it he could fight with full strength without worrying about collateral damage. His plan

was a success and now he has reached the forest, the Shinigami was still on his tail, now that he stopped the Shinigami was hovering nearby, it seemed interested in Gabriel...

Gabriel-Ok, let's do this."Holy Flash"

The attack had no effect again but this time the Shinigami was mad, it raised its boney pale hand in the air and a black scythe with a serrated blade appeared from thin air, it was obvious that now it was ready to fight, Mak arrived to witness

Gabriel dodging the slashes of the Shinigami, for some reason it didn't do the same thing like before where it would drain the soul of the victim but instead tried to physically harm Gabriel...

Mak-Oh shit.

Gabriel-Don't "oh shit", I can't hit the damn thing!

Mak-I will start the spell!

After Mak started drawing on the ground something strange happened, the Shinigami paused and started speaking to him with a deep croaky voice...

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Shinigami-A pathetic attempt.

Mak-What the fuck?

Gabriel-You can talk? Why are you doing this?

Koma-My name is Koma, there is no language that you lesser creatures can speak that I cannot.

The fighting stopped and it now turned into a dialogue...

Gabriel-Why are you here? Isn't your purpose as a Shinigami to collect the souls of the dying people?

Gabriel noticed that Mak was still drawing and if he knows what he is doing then he had to buy some time for him, so he tried to distract Koma...

Koma-That was my purpose. Not anymore.

Gabriel-Why? What happened?

Koma-By the awakening of the true God of Death, the whole world shall crumble and all who aid him shall join in on his kingdom.

Gabriel-Who is that?

Koma-I have no reason to tell you, human, or probably not. How did you get so much power?

Gabriel-I have no reason to tell you, Shinigami.

Koma-You are strong enough for me to not drain your soul directly, but this scythe reaps the soul of anyone it cuts, your words are meaningless anyway.

While Gabriel was talking to Koma, Mak had finished the pattern and gave a signal to Gabriel, he then focused his energy and threw a fireball at Koma, that pissed him off and then he dashed towards Gabriel who was now standing on top of the

drawn pattern...

Mak-Now Gabriel, push energy into it!

Gabriel ducked to dodge the incoming slash from Koma's scythe and put his hand on the ground channeling energy and powering the binding spell...

Koma-I told you that won't...WHAT!? HOW!? Where is this power coming from? So much!

The spell activated and Koma was starting to lose the ability to move.

Koma-You insolent mortal!

Gabriel-Serves you right, ashole.

Koma-How can the mere power of a mortal create such a strong catalyst for this spell?

Mak-Gabriel, we don't have time to waste, the spell is going to keep him here for one week at most.

Gabriel-I think one week is enough time to kill him.

Mak-No, in case you didn't notice, you can't damage him with your attacks.

Gabriel-So what should we do? Recast the spell again?

Mak-And then what? Come back once a week to keep him here?

Gabriel-What then?

Mak-We are going to need the knowledge of the Onmyoji.

Gabriel-Come again?

Mak-The Onmyoji are Japanese exorcists who mostly deal with evil spirits.

Gabriel-Sure, but Shinigami are good spirits originally, right?

Mak-I hope that they have a way to deal with stray ones.

Gabriel-So we are going to Japan? Just like that. Are you that sure that my attacks are not effective?

Mak-Yes.

Gabriel-Shouldn't we at least try?

Mak-Physical attacks can't do damage to anything that has a spectral form, your fire and light attacks were also ineffective against it.

Gabriel-We don't even know why it's here in the first place, shouldn't we ask him again?

Gabriel-Hey ugly, how about telling me everything now that you can't move?

Mak-He can't hear you, the barrier acts like a separate space, he can't interact with us.

Gabriel-I guess we are going to Japan then...

So Mak's spell has managed to bind Koma the Shinigami, now Gabriel has to embark on a journey to seek the Onmyoji for their knowledge. He has one week to locate one and to learn their techniques in order to be able to damage and possibly kill

the Shinigami. As they turned around the noticed that the aftermath of Koma's attacks was bigger than they expected, the car was damaged by the scythe and it was in a terrible shape, Gabriel and Mak looked at each other...

Gabriel-Shit.

Mak-Shit.

Gabriel-You were responsible for Kevin's car right?

Mak-Don't place all the blame on me.

Gabriel-Too late, I already did.

Mak-Maybe if we don't mention the car at all he won't say anything and by the time he finds out we will be already in Japan.

Gabriel-It's worth a try.

With Kevin's car broken both Gabriel and Mak were in trouble, suddenly the trapped Shinigami felt trivial in front of Kevin's anger, this isn't the first time that Gabriel or Mak have lost or broke his stuff, with an anxious look on both their faces they

begun to walk back to Kevin's house...