Intro song: https://youtu.be/kZD5kPBBPN4 / Crying Lightning by Arctic Monkeys
The smoke trails are the only thing to be perceived...
The darkness of the tunnel is so prevalent...
Touch... sense...
What's to be felt...
That's the name of the game...
Or rather...
He turns his head aiming his pistol at the presence...
That's where they found themselves in...
A lighter is lit...
A slash is sent...
Gushes of blood fly all over...
But like what is happening...
Nothing can be seen...
But every presence in that very tunnel...
Knows the rules...
Use the darkness to your advantage...
Whoever caves in...
Whoever makes a move... a sound...
Rustling noises of a hand trying to pry open a...
Flask... of rum...
Are heard...
Slash!
The blade effortlessly slices through flesh as if it were like paper...
All precise...
No room for error...
His power...
He's deliberately holding it all back...
The blade starts to spark...
"Heh! This is the real fun..." he chuckles, preparing his stance...
Knowing... that he also...
Broke the silence...
The darkness...
They all came from every direction, with all sorts of abilities...
But...
His entire blade was lit aflame...
And it was...
Black...
Black fire...
It rend through them like nothing...
It was...
"Too easy..." he scoffed, shaking his head, clicking his tongue as his entire body moved with inhuman speeds, it glowed...
A transparent... gust like property...
Each and every strike...
Absolutely burned and obliterated the bodies of those unfortunate enough to cross paths with him...
"Tch! Every one of these geezers... they were spared and locked up here..."
"FOR WHAT EXACTLY?!?!?!?!?" he shouted, breaking the tunnel wide... making it collapse and crush everything in its path... and in grabbing one of them...
He shoves and smothers the puny figure...
Using it to dig a whole new tunnel...
He stares at his newfound victim...
Well whatever was left...
The body of this... thing...
Was absolutely smushed to paste... all that was left was...
Bones...
It crumbles under his hand...
...
A hand grabs his shoulder...
His reflexes do the talking for him, pointing it directly at the assailant...
At their neck...
Causing it to leave a small mark... that bleeds...
"Ugh! Could you be any more out of hand?" the voice complained at the mess he made, he shoves the blade away, rolling her eyes...
"Oh hey... it's you..." he says not expecting to see her...
So soon...
"Well yeah I'm here... and you!"
"You didn't even leave any alive!"
"And how are we supposed to interrogate them now? Or to extract any of their abilities? Hmmm?" she loudly proclaims getting closer to him, her words basically spitting at him
He takes it...
Just staring at her frankly...
"You're too powerful... who knew..."
"The old generations... they don't stand a chance..."
"Against you..." she turns her back on him, inspecting the crumbled bones of his last victim
"Our anomaly..."
"Our one and only..."
She looks back at him, grabbing his hand, leading him out...
"Kuroke Mutsu... Oh you..." she pinches his cheek hard, he grits his teeth looking like a child before her...
Despite his...
Most superior ability...
"Come on Tei-san! You said we had to assassinate them all!" he tried to bargain with her...
But to no avail...
"YEAH BUT ATLEAST HAVE THE COMMON SENSE TO LEAVE ONE!"
"GOD!" she snapped at him, pinching his cheek even harder, in which a red mark starts to form because of this...
"Oh no matter! What's done is done..."
"Atleast they don't have any more..."
"Cards left..."
"This so-called secret of theirs... and with all of their abilities..."
"Who knows what they would've been able to do..."
"Being able to predict the future, abilities that pertain to resources and formation..."
"This was the generation who won... against us..."
"But now... they don't even have their anomaly anymore..."
"Now... they've made all the wrong moves..."
"And with you..." she grabs his chin, grinning widely
"We'll win this war..." but her face shifts to a look of... seeping...
Warped confusion...
"You... Kuroke... you have to deal with him..." she looks at him closely, almost like she was about to snap him in half
"Suzushii..." her hand grabs Kuroke's collar, her hands shaking...
"Me... you... Ko-chan... Mikoto..."
"We're all that's left..."
"Shion... that little bitch!" she curses under her teeth, her rage seeps through it...
She lets go of him...
He looks at the ground...
His mind set on one thing...
Him...
"Mikoto-san... can kill Suzushii... for all I care!" he raises his eyes, directly looking at her eyes, with a defiance that might just take her life...
"Rushiko..."
His fist clenches hard, his black flame lighting around it...
"That's who I want to kill..."
She just sighs at this...
"You'll get that much..." she reassures him
"Just a few more to endure..."
"Just a few more..."
Her eyes flicker, wandering all over...
Who...
Who are these?
Multiple footsteps settle onto the ground...
Awaiting them...
"Looks like our jobs here..."
"Have been generously done for us..." the figure mocked them, waving their hands at their comrades
"Guess we should just call it a day? Grab a cold one... and some ramen?"
"YEAH NOT!" one of them snaps, rushing towards the both of them-
Tei raises her hand, and the other on her hip...
It glows...
Kuroke smirks, not expecting any more...
Practice... to be had...
"Yoo kid!"
"Don't expect me to babysit you!"
"These... won't be like those geezers..."
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He just nods...
Too focused...
Too...
"That's good... all the better for me..."
"ANYWAYS!!!!!!" he shouts, as all of them clash with one another...
The tunnel quakes...
Hungry...
For its fill of more...
Flesh...
And death...
.
.
.
Glasses clink...
Seats are shifted...
Ice cubes are passed-
With the people waiting...
For their supreme leader...
Multiple noises of people arguing and debating are all lined up throughout the long, black and opaque table...
"Ahem..." the man clears his throat, ominously walking nearer and nearer to the front chair...
His face is covered...
With a kitsune mask...
The whole room goes silent...
His footsteps, heavy
His hands, clenching
He rubs his nose and his temple...
Before settling...
Where he rightfully belongs...
"That's good, that's good" he instructs his assistant to fill his glass, he doesn't even speak, and yet his orders are already known...
He raises his ochoku... full of the finest sake...
As each and every person in the room does so too
"Glory..." he pauses, eyeing every person...
His look... is all it took...
To ensure complete submission
He smiles politely...
Scoffing...
"GLORY TO THE GREAT EMPIRE!!!!!!!" he raises his voice, it bellows all across the room
The crowd just follows what he does, their faces turning into mush...
Like they were melting due to the heat...
But there was no heat...
He gulps down the ochoku, smashing it to the ground...
The shards shimmering...
Underneath his figure...
His assistant kneels before him, cleaning it with her bare hands...
He kicks her head in...
Spitting...
"You absolute idiot!" she sobs softly, her hands bleeding upon picking the shards up
"And did you think this would please me?" he scoffs, grabbing her chin and kneeling down to her form
"And look what you made me do..."
"Making me sully my hands and eyes..."
"Upon you... you absolute trash!" he increases the pressure on her cheeks, her face contorting to this...
He takes off his mask...
His face... one of true royalty...
"Be grateful... you're eye candy..." he kisses her hard, her face is bruised up and yet...
She gives in to this... blushing hard... hiding her bruises...
"All you're good for..."
"Don't think..."
"Just submit~" he hums, rising up once again
His hands signal to clean her up and her mess...
His other assistants rushed to the front, complying in a fashioned manner...
"What a waste of my time..."
"Let's begin the meeting already..." he pats his elegant and chromatic kimono, straightening it out, and upon settling in his rightful place...
He snaps his fingers...
The rest only follow...
"Ladies and gentlemen..."
"My needy servants..."
"The time of reckoning is at hand!"
"For we have sacrificed so much... for The Great Salvation..."
"They have resisted us!" he looks at the table...
Knocking his fist at it...
Causing a great crack upon the fixture to show...
"Our great leaders have been whittled down... to a measly four..."
"A deadly number..." he muttered... his hands shaking, he grabbed bottles upon bottles of sake...
Drowning his liver with them...
His eyes focus on the just arriving...
Mikoto...
Who is completely covered in blood, a beautiful crimson red...
Accompanied by another...
A black-robed figure...
Adorning a demon mask...
"Ah..."
"You two..." he waves his hand to serve them drinks
The two are handed some, they sit close to him...
Those whose seats were taken...
Were just shoved to the side...
This crowd isn't of any worth...
They're all just...
His puppets...
Pretty little puppets...
"As I was saying..."
"We only have so few... leaders left..."
"So many died..."
"Killed by our beloved rats... trained and raised by our own..."
"Suzushii..."
"And now... Shion..."
"Oh my sons and daughters... oh how you have disappointed me so..."
Mikoto just stays silent, staring at his drink...
The demon-masked figure just nods...
"But your... supreme leader..."
"Your emperor..."
"Your father..."
"Gives you so much redemption..."
"But not enough to pass around... no?"
He grits his teeth, smothering Mikoto's hand, who just closes his eyes
"Now we've lost the most important leaders... the leader of cultivation... for harvest... the leader reclamation... for... separation... the leader of destruction... for instilling fear... the pair... the leader of malaise and supervision... for 'guidance'... and lastly... the leader of surveillance... for complete control... and total allegiance... to the great empire..."
"Without these... the great salvation is no longer possible..."
"Which means..."
"We have to take their throne by force..."
"My rightful throne..." he then gently pats the shoulders of the demon-masked figure
"With you by my side... my rightful heir..."
"Prince Yoku..." he smiles at him, slowly taking off his mask, to reveal an uncanny resemblance...
"You will take your New Guard and you will raid Tokyo itself... our holy city... ransacked by such blasphemous foreign influence..."
The boy only nods, bowing...
"It will be done... father..."
"Our glorious anomaly... and general will sabotage all of their secrets..."
"And lastly... you... my failure of a son..."
"The greatest failure of them all..." he grabs Mikoto by the chin forcefully pulling him closer...
He just winces...
"Oh relax my boy... you will be given the most important mission of all..."
"YOU WILL ASSASSINATE SUZUSHII"
"NO FAILURES WILL BE TOLERATED..."
"SHOULD YOU... DO THE SAME AGAIN..." he just brushes the hair of the terrified Mikoto, turning his head...
"KILL HIM..."
"Yoku..."
He lets go of Mikoto...
"That is all..." he pauses... breathing in...
The inevitability...
He rises from his seat, turning his back on them all
"The Great Empire will prevail..."
"The Japanese people will rule supreme..."
"Our will... is paramount above all..."
"Your Emperor demands it..." and in turning back to them... most of the crowd all melt away like candle wax...
The assistants can only watch in horror, wishing they don't become like that...
Both Mikoto and the prince get up...
Bowing before him...
"Your will be done!" they both exclaimed
The emperor smiles bittersweetly... looking at his rightful son...
"If only your mother could see you now..."
"You're too much for words..."
.
.
.
The constant whirring of the machinery, the clacking of the keyboards...
Surrounded the entire room...
Every operator is heard talking to each city, town and what may have you...
About evacuation... to all of the hideouts... the bunkers, the ICA has prepared and built...
Just for this very day...
The most likely time...
For a strike...
An ambush...
For The Final War...
To happen...
"So, has every settlement been evacuated in the nearest vicinities of circa here?" the man with the suit asked, his is identical to every suit in the room...
With the exception...
Of his power...
His...
Role...
He raises his specs with his palm...
As his secretary gives him his rep...
"Director... with the exceptions of a few cities due to their dense population... every mass-populated area and or settlements have been evacuated..." she paused... but the director watched the screens of the info flashing before them, being handed his cup of joe while doing so
"And?" he asks, taking a sip of his mug
"A bit too sweet..."
"Well whatever"
"How about... a sit rep on the Red Right Hand?"
"About that... sir..."
He raises his eyebrows as if to say: go on... spit it out
"Well... the omega grades were already... err..."
"Dealt with beforehand..."
"What?" he slightly raises his voice, his mug tips over, causing a small mess to accumulate on the floor
"It turns out... Kuroke Mutsu..."
"Is alive and well..."
Every head in that room turned towards her words, the attention was unsettling
"Jesus..."
"I thought he was already 'dealt with' by Suzushii?"
"I'm sorry... I don't... really have the knowledge to answer that question... err... sir" she stammered before his presence...
His face said it all...
His mind raced with how to deal with this sudden revelation, his eyes moving in every direction to accentuate this....
"Oh..."
"It's simple... really..." he said coldly, his eyes relaxing, sighing
"He did it... how could I forget this possibility..." he snapped his fingers in frustration
"He used the sacrifice..."
"T-the... what? sir?"
"This technique... you can sacrifice any body part of yours... to gain an upperhand in combat... with the extremities of losing such a vital part of yourself... if you time it just right... you can even evade death itself..." he bit his lip
"Lucky bastard..." he muttered.... realizing he still had his coffee, he gulps it all down...
"It's gone cold..."
"Sir..." she raised her voice to grab his attention, tip toeing to wave her hands at his sights
"Yes?"
"One more thing..."
"We also not only saw him with Tei Satsujin... a leader... but also..."
"We overheard her say..."
"He's an anomaly"
The whole room goes silent...
The shock on his face... isn't just his...
It's shared by everyone...
A palpable tone lingers in the air...
He proceeds to pace around the room, the stress absolutely getting to him...
His age... isn't making it any better...
"Ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok"
"Have all bunkers be accompanied and supervised by a Grade A or S agent or more..."
"Lockdown Tokyo and the flights in and out of here"
"Barricade and have every entry and exit here fortified to the brim..."
"I... I've made too many bad moves now..."
"We need to eviscerate them now... once and for all..."
"I underestimated them... sending Atsushi to deal with three of them at once..."
He knocks his head, hitting it hard
"I'm an idiot!" he raised his voice, causing his secretary to hold his hand to stop him further
"He's most likely dead now... and..."
"They know all of our bunkers locations... all of our security measures..."
"All of our backup plans... all rendered to nothing!"
"That's why they beat us to the omega grades..."
"It makes sense now..."
He clenches his fist so hard, it bleeds... and his aura is so thick, it ominously cuts through the air of the room, whirring and cutting through the tiles of the floor
"There's only one thing we can do now..."
"Brace for impact..."
"Alert every Ishiin... tell them"
"Brace for impact... is in order..."
"I... I have to fix this mess"
"I... have to kill him... once and for all"
"Ishigami..."
The secretary salutes him, nodding
"Sir yes sir!"
The secretary gets closer... embracing him...
"Thank you... I thought you'd be long gone... once I told you... about the anomaly..."
"Yotsu..."
"Don't worry..."
"They're hitting us hard..." he brushes the bangs of her hair...
"But I won't let them destroy our nation... Ino..." she just nods... taking in his warmth...
She rushes to alert the operators...
And he...
Broods... over everything...
That got them to this moment...
Ishigami... you're still alive... after all this time...
We...
We both don't have surnames...
It's a tradition...
For the emperor...
After all this time...
All the lives we've both taken...
And reaped...
He chuckled... looking at his feet...
Still remembering the deep mud...
Of the trenches...
We may have won back then...
But you... you never resisted...
You still believed...
In your shitty ass ideals...
Look where that got you...
Just a bunch of insurgents...
Threatening the entirety of Japan!
But I won't let you destroy us...
You found your own anomaly?
Bah!
I'll just have to kill you all...
By my own hands...
Over...
And over...
Again...
A whole century and more of this...
Heh...
I'll never get rest...
Until I see you fall over...
Once... and for all...
He stands over this mountain...
Of every person he knew...
Of every person he sent...
To die...
Is it worth it?
Has any of this been...
Worth it?
.
.
.
Blades are clashed, blood is sent
Blows trade, sudden movement
Kuroke's eyes scan the room...
There are 5 of them...
Two of us...
They seem formidable...
Enough...
He grits his teeth, his blade struggling against the weight of the other's blade
Sparks fly, eyes all glare
His enemy smirks, making a clicking sound
"You are dead... Mutsu..."
"BY ORDER OF THE RED RIGHT HAND!!!!!!!!" he screamed, as all of them started to corner Kuroke, their teamwork and coordination started to build up
Kuroke's feet slide against the blood-soaked rubble, dodging every single strike, his flames creating a trail
A figure vaults the tunnel's curves, spinning all over
Planting multiple aura-based traps...
They look like...
Transparent mirrorballs...
Her figure is elegant and precise, no room for mistakes
Every single embedded area...
Is with purpose...
The enemies notice this, thinking...
We can't counter this...
We're too focused on Kuroke...
Their anomaly...
One of them breaks formation and decides to deal with Tei
He opens his jacket to reveal...
All sorts of firearms... from pistols to ARs, RPGs to LMGs, hand grenades to incendiary round filled shotguns, and with this...
He fires them all at once, his hand moving so fast to fire every single firearm at his disposal to destroy the obviously placed traps...
But they're not just any other aura traps...
They're...
They're like black holes!
Sucking up each and every bullet and explosive sent at it, and...
Everything else in this entire tunnel...
The one with the guns, scoffs...
Pulling up his combat knives, completely clashing with Tei, whose body is so agile
She stops each and every attack with most of her body parts, from so many directions...
Sideways, upside down, lying down-
The enemy spins around to combat her contact movements, a guarantee hit...
And yet she-
Backflips completely.... dodging it all...
And with a swift opening-
His throat is slashed...
And with the slight touch of her palm...
Poof!
His body was completely gone!
Sucked up...
And now just an extra snack...
For her... 'aura reserves'
All of the enemies suddenly start to divert, all of them forming a circle-
One of them forms a round steel dome that surrounds their position
Another forms a water current that floats and fortifies this
The other one grows so many vines, it completely covers the tunnel to the brim, crushing everything that comes across its path
Spewing out so much poison, it bursts all throughout
It's impossible to avoid...
But...
"Heh..."
"DO ITTT!!!!!!!!!!! KUROKE!!!!!!!!" Tei screamed, her orbs completely nullify the poison, sucking up all of it including the water currents...
Her body drops from the ceiling, she slides with her hand to stop her movement
Slouched over
...
A sudden burst of light flashes through
Black flames left over...
Cut through the metallic dome...
All three of the enemies' heads start rolling...
Kuroke's stance determines his slash...
And from beneath him...
The soaked bricks are sent flying, and with him in the air...
"EAT THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the last enemy screamed bloody murder!
Creating a thick aura slash, enough to cut open a mountain!
And yet...
His burning wakizashi blocks the slash, its flames thicker than the slash itself...
It breaks the small blade...
The enemy can only look on before this...
His last sight...
Just before...
"Yum!!!!!!" Tei placed her palm onto his back... catching him in mid-air
Savoring the taste...
Just another snack...
Both of them drop to the ground...
Head face in...
Their bodies spent...
But...
"We're not done yet here..." Tei coughed, struggling to get back on her feet...
Kuroke looks at his chest...
That slash was so thick, it cut his skin...
Scarring him... due to the sheer force of such a strong attack...
"H-hey! You alright kid?" Tei crawls to the wounded Kuroke, who can only admire such an attack...
"I- I'm alright..."
"Most importantly..."
"We just killed actual Grade S agents..." he snickered at the possibility of such a feat...
Tei wraps him with her ripped up jacket... treating to his wounds...
He just shakes his head at this...
"You didn't need to do that..." she hears this, giving him a disappointed look
"Yeah sure thing..."
"We've..."
"We've got more on our plate still...."
"Oh Mr. Anomaly!" she nudges his arm strongly, he just takes it
Shaking his head once more, rolling his eyes
"Alright then..."
The both of them get up... limping away from their recent fight...
"Let's get to the real business..." he walks over their handiwork, smirking at his own destructive power...
"Just you wait..."
"You two will see just how much..."
"Vengeance comes knocking..."
"It's pay is due..."
"And how arrogance breeds complacency..."
"Your downfall..."
"Was already predetermined..."
Their footsteps weigh heavily upon the bricked ground they find themselves on...
They're about to do the unspeakable...
And yet...
All he could think about was...
Revenge...
She...
Of all people...
Understood this the most...
If there were anyone to supervise him...
It should be her...
If there were anyone to stop him...
...
It wouldn't be her...
...
Not even close...
-To Be Continued-
...
Ending Song: https://youtu.be/hcvGOUuDGXc / Red Right Hand by Arctic Monkeys