Seiji tightened his fists as he looked out among the horde of undead that was gathered in the front of the shrine. It seemed that they could taste the living hold up in their home. They weren't going to be leaving until they made it inside.

The sight that he faced made Seiji apprehensive. He had no clue what he was going to do and was pretty certain the whole idea was a mistake. Mistake or not though, Seiji had already committed to it. He wasn’t going to back down now that he made such a big show in front of everyone.

Their grandfather stepped out grabbing Seiji’s wrist as he had begun to leave. “What do you expect to do, boy? We don’t understand what’s going on or how something so unnatural is possible!”

Seiji turned his head over his shoulders to look down at him. “Hey old man, weren’t you just saying something needed to be done?”

“Yes, but we need a plan! Going out there on bravado alone will get you killed!”

“Didn’t know you cared so much about my well being,” Seiji sarcastically commented back to him.

Hearing the way that Seiji had talked back to him made something snap in their grandfather. He stood in front of Seiji blocking his path. Seiji was about to go around him when he reached up and slapped him hard across the face. “Never joke about family like that again, Seiji! You’re my grandson!”

It took Seiji back a step, surprised more by the way that their grandfather acted than the slap he received. He touched his hand to his cheek where the dull sting lingered. ‘…family…that’s a funny thing to say considering you’re part of the reason mom left…’

Seiji tried to push past the thoughts and emotions that were trying to surface. The threat they faced was more important. “Well thinking things through ain’t my style, old man! You sit here and think your brain dry!” Seiji stepped around his grandfather and approached the barrier that protected them. His fists pounded together to push away any fear he had. “While you’re doing that, I’ll fight in my own way!”

Chapter 66 – The No Thinking Plan

Seiji pressed through the barrier, not waiting for it to be opened. Before he had much time to consider his next action a swarm of undead charged for him. “Like I said!” He threw out his right fist hitting what seemed like a zombie in the head sending it flying free from its neck. “I don’t need to think!” Next was his left fist connecting loudly with another zombie knocking it backwards into a couple more behind it. “About my fighting!” Seiji took the next two in a charging tackle, dropping them both to the ground as he buried himself into the crowd.

Watching from the safety of the house Shoji, the ghost and their grandfather couldn't help but twitch a little at the sight. “He really is all brute strength and no brain,” the woman commented.

“No one’s tougher than my brother!” Shoji declared with pride. He had turned his eyes up towards the woman.

She smiled back at him, sensing the bond between them. “Think he’ll be able to deal with them?”

“Definitely!” Shoji returned back to see Seiji barreling through the mass without being held back. “Seiji can do anything!”

“Stupid boy…so head strong, just like his mother…” Their grandfather walked away from the stairs and back into the house. The door slid behind him with a punctuated slam.

Seiji grinned to himself as he knocked down anything that stood in front of him. The thrill of the fight had been something that he had been missing for so long. Ever since Yuki changed, fighting had never been the same for him. It was always a release for him, a need to vent his emotions in the only way he knew how.

Yuki had changed that for him. There was something that he felt drained away his anger when he was around Yuki. He felt like he had been given a purpose when he fought with Yuki, even if it might have just been an excuse. However, the purpose disappeared leaving him lost. He thought that he could just fight in Yuki’s place, but he could never get close to him. An awkward wall had been built between them that left him abandoned without direction.

The brief time he had in high school hadn’t given him anymore purpose. A fight would easily break out for him, but it was an empty feeling each time. He would eagerly step forward for the fight seeking what he had lost. Each time he could never find it. Yet in the moment, while he was taking down the strange creations of Yuki’s mind he felt something. There was a sense of drive in each punch and kick that felt so familiar to him. It started as a distant feeling that grew into an avalanche within his chest.

A few minutes had quickly passed leaving an unsettling mess of various undead thrown about the front of the shrine. The last one in the area went down with a screaming punch. Seiji looked about the grounds feeling a little pleased with his results. He raised his hand up, throwing out a victory cry along with an accompanying victory sign. “Oh yeah!”

“You do realize that there are ghosts still,” remarked the woman.

Seiji’s face turned into a blank expression when the comment made it through to him. The empty look hadn’t lasted long as fear poured over him. He turned his head back like a rusty knob when he realized that ghosts started to close looking to feed off his soul. “Ghosts?!” Seiji was gone from sight in an instant speeding away from them as they gave chase.

The woman followed him briefly before stopping feeling embarrassed watching. “…guess not…” She looked over at Shoji with a questioning look. “What’s with him and ghosts?”

“I don’t know. He’s never told me. I just know that he’s scared of ghosts and doesn’t like talking about it.”

“Hmm…”

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The chase soon came to an end when Seiji found that he was outnumbered on all sides. Many of the unholy ass creatures he had thought that he destroyed were back. They had all seemed to be gathering together to deal with him. “So you think you can beat me with shitty ass numbers, huh? You’re all weak shits!” Seiji took out the first one that approached, but was forced to evade a skeleton wielding a heavy club. While the skeleton was off balance Seiji took the opportunity and yanked on its legs. The force was enough to dislocate the joints in the hip giving the entire left leg.

A smirk came across his face as he saw that his idea worked. He hefted the bones up so that they were held firmly in both hands. Once the next undead creature came at him he swung the limb. There was a loud ass crack as bone collided into rotting flesh and struck bone itself. Seiji carried his momentum on through into the next wildly swinging at anything that came in range. “Come on! I’ll take all ya assholes on!”

The woman poked her head out of the house, searching for Seiji, smiling a little before seeing the scene. “He really just does whatever comes to mind…” She pulled herself out of the building. There were several ghosts moving in around him along with the countless zombies, skeletons, ghouls and other types of creatures. “He’s pretty single minded, doesn’t know there’re ghosts near.”

A staggering zombie near Seiji caught her attention that was out of his sight. She bent over seeing a stone carving near her to grab, but when she tried to take hold of it her hands passed through. She tried again with no more luck than before. “Why can’t I grab it? I can touch him…” Out of the corner of her eye she saw that the creature was almost upon Seiji making her rush forward. “Look behind you!”

Seiji flipped his head around with his body barely catching the asshole zombie trying to whack him with a rock. He looked around once he was safe trying to figure out where it had come from. “Hmm?” Unfortunately, there was little time for him to waste as they pushed in closer on him. Seiji fought through them desperately to get free, but more just continued to add on top with arms clung over him. They immobilized him leaving only his cursing voice to fend them off.

When Shoji had heard his brother’s shouts he ran around the porch to the side of the house following the voice. “Big Brother! He’s in danger!” Shoji didn’t even think as he leapt over the railing through the barrier.

He began to run to his brother’s aid a white glow expanded around him. “Let go of my brother!” He raised his hand towards the mob of undead huddled over Seiji. A sharp flash around his hand dispersed the glowing. Immediately after, a beam of light shot down from the sky crashing to the ground creating a dome of white light expanding outwards quickly.

The expanding light turned the nearby creatures into dust continuing in a chain reaction until the light faded. Seiji pulled up his head looking around with surprise to discover that the area was clear. “Huh?”

“Big…Brot…her…” Shoji smiled back at Seiji with his eyes half closed. The shine in his eyes had started to fade before he collapsed to the ground.

“Shoji?!” Seiji rushed to Shoji’s side, not certain what had happened to him. “Shoji! Wake up!” He pulled him up into his arms trying to figure out what was wrong with him. The stillness of his body sent a bolt through his body as fears over his thoughts. “Hey! Come on, Shoji! Wake up! What’s wrong with you?” He quickly checked for a pulse. The slow beat of his heart was still present, providing some relief to him. “He’s only unconscious, but what happened?”

A deep moan from approaching undead pulled his attention away for a moment. “There’s still more of you?!” Seiji lifted up Shoji and carried him back over to the barrier out of the reach of the things that invaded their home.

Seiji marched back out to the side of the house staring down at the massive horde still gathered. His head tilted down towards the ground blocking out his eyes. There was shaking in his arms as he simply stood there unchanged by the looming danger. “You can hurt me all you want…”

A wind suddenly blew up around Seiji pushing back leaves and dust towards the column of death. The burning presence that Seiji began to give off made them halt in uncertainty. “But when you hurt my little brother…” White light began to build around Seiji. Small particles sparkled around him rising into the air slowly forming waves pushed around by the wind. “I won’t let you live to regret it!” All of the light exploded away from him shaking the trees. The force was enough to knock back the first row of undead.

He raised his hand clenching it tightly into a fist. It soon began to glow brightly as his body shook with rage. Seiji charged into the mob throwing his fist at anything that moved. The moment it came into contact with one of the undead a sudden dark light grew over it until it vanished. He continued the process yelling like a berserker.

The woman ghost appeared behind at a distance watching the scene unfold. She raised her hand to her chin thinking intently. “For being a priest, he really doesn’t act like one. Shouldn’t he be using something other than his fists?” A thud of another zombie being clocked by raging Seiji made the woman sweat a little. “It works I guess…”

Seiji made quick work of most of the problems that wandered around the shrine leaving only dust to blow in the wind behind him. However, there were still some that weren't being destroyed by his rampage. Left behind unaffected by all of his swings were ghosts and other non-corporeal beings. They still hunted after him with an intensified strength.

The last of the physical creatures were being dealt with when three ghosts flew in after Seiji. In a heightened sense of awareness, Seiji picked up their incoming attack and turned to meet them head on (ignoring the fact that they were ghosts with his blind rage). Using the same tactics he had before he took several quick swings at the ghosts, but stumbled through them unable to land a single punch. “You can’t stop me!”

Still watching Seiji from across the grounds, the woman could only raise her hand to her face in disbelief. “…he’s trying to fight ghosts with his fists too…” After he failed several times she couldn't take the embarrassment anymore and floated over to him. “They don’t have physical bodies! Physical attacks won’t work on them, idiot priest!”

The scolding was enough to snap Seiji out of his tunnel vision. He focused his eyes in determination seeing the three ghosts regrouping for another attack on him. Seiji took a firm stance to prepare for their assault until he found a way to attack them, but they held their distance.

The ghosts moved their arms out to point them at him starting to glow wildly before shooting out a thick purple beam at him. “What?!” He had no time to react as he was taken off guard by the new attack. All he could manage was to cover himself up with his arms out in front to take the hit.

In an instant, the beams exploded on impact blanketing the entire area in blinding light. Seiji disappeared in the blast leaving his condition unknown as the ghosts smirked at their success. Smoke began to billow out as the light slowly began to fade away.

The woman strained to look for signs of Seiji in the dark clouds with no luck. “Hey dumb priest! You dead?” A new light shined from inside the smoke alerting everyone around. “What’s that?” Once the smoke pushed out a flashing transparent light appeared through the remaining smoke cover. A small barrier protected Seiji.

Safe from harm, Seiji looked very confused by the situation. He looked about his surroundings trying to understand what was around him until it faded away. A few thin papers fell to the ground. Seiji leaned down picking one of them. “Another talisman?”

“Hey watch out!”

Seiji looked up from his knelt position to see the ghosts building for another attack. Their anger fueled their power to increase its strength. “That won’t work on me again!” He charged forward making himself difficult to hit as the ghosts started firing at him. Their aim was good, but each blast only hit the ground creating small craters. Seiji was able to keep up dodging the attacks, but he had no chance at hitting them.

“Use those papers!”

“What are you talking about?” Seiji kept ahead of the strikes through the distraction, but nearly tripped in the process. Once he regained balance he took a brief moment to glare over at the woman. “Stop bothering me so I can figure out how to beat them!”

Her temper got the better of her, making her turn away. Groans of pain from near misses echoed around her making her fidget. The blasts continued to get louder and more destructive as the moments passed. She could no longer take it and forced herself back around. “Use the stupid papers they’re charged with spiritual energy!”

Seiji was slightly caught off guard by her shouting, but then he understood. “Oh! I know what to do!” He slid around several beams and pulled himself back away from them. Once clear, Seiji extended his arms out fully as talismans flew out from inside his sleeves. The papers floated around his hands in front of him gathering in mass.

Countless talismans began to glow white with energy as they resonated with Seiji. A spark ran through them, straightening out the material flat to hover around his hands. The talismans pulled in towards his arms wrapping around his hands and back up to his elbow covering any exposed skin. “Right! I’m ready now!”

The ghosts looked a little confused by his action, but resumed their attack. Seiji caught sight and charged forward into the purple beams of energy. As they came into range he swatted them away with his talisman covered fists. The ghosts were taken back by their attacks having no effect and tried to retreat. Their escape was too late as Seiji quickly closed the distance and finally connected with them, shattering them to dust. “Yes! It works! Time for the rest of them to say goodbye!” Seiji ran off, disappearing to the other side of the shrine grounds with renewed vigor.

The woman ghost could only let out a heavy sigh witnessing Seiji’s method of fighting. “He is quite possibly the worst priest I’ve ever seen…” Eventually, the shrine had been exorcized of the undead. She finally decided to search around for Seiji after waiting around for thirty minutes. He was found back in the corner of the grounds stretched out on his back breathing heavily from extreme exhaustion. She looked down at him holding her hands on her hip with a frustrated expression. “You’re fool!”

Seiji grinned back at her. “Maybe, but this fool took care of all those damn things.”

“I don’t understand you.”

“It had to be done. What the hell’s to understand?”

“…so simple…” She sat down next to him resting her head in the palm of her hand. There was something about him that she felt that she could not abandon him even if he was an idiot. “I’m Aoi Toyotomi!”

“Seiji Tsuji…priest in training!”