Saito Headquarters

What the hell is happening? Kiochi wondered as he stormed out of his room on the top floor of Saito headquarters.

[This outcome, although unfortunate, is one of the ways the council can deter Yamamoto from pursuing them.]

The disembodied voice that was Eve explained.

‘I know that! But to think that they’d go as far as to brand him as a terrorist…’ Kiochi said internally as he walked into the elevator and rode it down. Both Yamamoto and Kiochi knew what the stakes were when they challenged the council. But the fact that the council wasn’t pulling any punches made the severity of the situation cement itself into Kiochi’s mind.

Kiochi exited the elevator and entered the overcrowded lobby.

The crowd was concentrated towards the exit. Kiochi pushed and shoved his way past the horde of reporters and various other people until he saw Yamamoto.

The old man was being escorted out of the building by the police.

Kiochi felt his blood boil.

‘Eve, second for-'

Kiochi felt something tug as his arm. He turned around and saw Ichika Kobayashi, Yamamoto's secretary. She was still dressed in her uniform and wore a stern expression.

Why is she so calm? Kiochi wondered.

“Don’t worry. Mr. Saito expected something like this would happen and so he has handed over the operation to us. Follow me, if you please. We must prepare for the next phase of Yamamoto’s plan.” She explained ever so calmly.

Kiochi looked into her eyes and felt an eerie coldness oozing from her. She was calm and collected, even as Yamamoto was being dragged away. Kiochi couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed by how he had reacted.

Kiochi then turned his head back towards the entrance and watched as the police van holding Yamamoto drove off.

“Dammit! Fine.” Kiochi said reluctantly as he followed Ichika back to the top floor where they entered Yamamoto’s war room/office. Waiting for them was Rin, Yassine, David Freeman, Dr. Tahiri and Dalila. Among them were also some Saito staff who were shredding and destroying any evidence of what happened at Vestibule Charlie.

Kiochi also noticed that the mercenaries and Kynigoi trainees were nowhere to be seen.

“Where is everybody else?” He asked.

"They fled, but don’t worry. They’ll be safe, Yamamoto prepared safe houses for them. It is absolutely important that no one catches the attention of the authorities. They are watching, so we must move now. There is a safe place just outside of Tokyo where we can operate safely. Gather your things. I’ll be waiting in the lobby.” Ichika said as she turned to leave.

Kiochi and the others exchanged glances as they processed the information they’d just heard.

Rin walked up to Kiochi.

“Hey, do you think we could pass through the dojo as we leave? I wanna say good bye to my parents before we go under the grid.” Rin said, his expression grim.

“Ok.” Kiochi said before returning to his room where he wore all of his combat gear and strapped on his Nodachi. He walked over to the window. The mirror like glass showed him an unfamiliar reflection. He raised his hand to touch his face and the reflection did the same. The man in the reflection was tall, had smooth skin and had curly hair.

‘Eve, show me the first form.’ Kiochi requested.

[Ok.]

She complied and Kiochi’s skin gradually began to darken.

Spikes shot up from the pores of his skin, turning it into some kind of pelt. He raised his hands and saw ten razor sharp claws. He looked back up at the reflection and saw that he had no face.

Just like the beings that killed his men.

‘Second form!’ Kiochi ordered.

Eve instantly complied and the spikes around his skin sunk, adding to the overall thickness of armor around his body. His fists also had padding in various places, which replaced the vicious claws from before.

Kiochi’s breath quickened.

‘Show me the final form.’ Kiochi ordered.

[What are you trying to-]

‘Just show me!’ Kiochi snapped.

She complied.

Kiochi’s vision gradually gained a blueish tint. His amour condensed and formed an even harder, but thinner layer around his body. He now looked like a perfect copy of the things that killed his men. Except his form was far skinnier and had two ridiculous horns on top of its head.

Kiochi hated the thing he saw in the mirror. In his eyes, it was the ugliest sight he had ever seen.

Its rock like black skin and its faceless head mocked Kiochi in some strange way.

‘What are my stats like right now?’ Kiochi asked.

[All multipliers have been set to 5x.]

Koichi’s temples burnt.

If only I could have transformed back then. He thought.

I could have saved at least one of them.

His regrets transmitted straight to Eve. She felt every single bit of hatred toward himself that he was feeling.

[Kiochi-]

“Yo, Kiochi. Let’s go.” Rin called out from the door.

Kiochi quickly returned to his normal state and followed Rin out of his room and down into the lobby. There they saw a much smaller group of reporters.

The others must have followed the police.

Rin led Kiochi out of the building.

There they say a family van waiting for them. Everyone other than Kiochi and Rin had already taken their seats. They joined everyone in the van and made off for the countryside just outside of Tokyo.

A small monitor in the was on and it was broadcasting an interview with Kaijin Saito.

[So, Mr. Saito. You’re saying that your brother displayed maniac like tendencies at a very young age?]

A reporter asked.

[Yes. Even when we were younger, Yamamoto always seemed unsatisfied with the status quo. But I didn’t expect my brother to go this far with his radical ideals]

Kaijin said as the reporter’s gasped in the background.

[It is a shame, really. But my brother should accept the consequences of his actions as not doing so would tarnish the Saito name even further.]

Kaijin continued.

[So what do you plan to do with Saito as it now has one of it’s heads missing?]

Another reporter asked.

[Well, its pretty clear that the company needs a leader to help it scavenge the remains of it’s reputation. I shall be the one to accept this responsibility. It would-]

“Change the channel.” Kiochi requested.

“Why would Mr. Kaijin do that to his own brother?” Yassine asked from the seat behind Kiochi’s.

“He’s a cruel man with a dark heart. I’m sure he only ever saw Yamamoto as an obstacle.” Dr. Tahiri scoffed.

[… and in other news, the pharmaceutical mega company ZhiznTech’s CEO Natasha Lebedev has seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth. This is after she practically vanished from the media. The her last known whereabouts are still under investigation but what we do know is that the company is being handed over to Andrea Ross. What vision does she have for ZhiznTech’s future? Only time will tell.]

A reporter said.

Some time passed as they weaved through Tokyo's traffic, but they eventually reached thier destination. Ichika stopped the van by the Takahashi dojo. Rin got off and Kiochi followed him out.

“This will only take a few minutes.” Kiochi assured everyone in the van as he and Rin climbed the short staircase and Rin pressed the button that rung the digital bell.

No one answered.

A few minutes passed as the two waited, but no one responded to the bell.

Rin rung the bell again as his impatience and worry gradually began to surface. Kiochi cautiously placed his hand on the door and realized that it was open. Rin looked at Kiochi with a pale face.

“Calm down. Let me go in first. I’ll make sure everything is fine, then I’ll call for you. Ok?” Kiochi said.

Rin slowly nodded as Kiochi entered the dojo.

Kiochi didn’t know why he tried to comfort Rin. Rin was a super soldier just like him, but something about this situation urged Kiochi to do what he did.

Kiochi slowly walked down the main corridor.

The building was quiet.

Usually, Mrs. Takahashi would be scolding her husband about the state of the dojo or something, but none of that was present.

Kiochi made his way to the living area and his nose picked up a strange but familiar scent.

Blood.

‘Eve, first form!’ Kiochi ordered and his body changed accordingly. He then dashed into the main bedroom.

There he saw two mangled bodies and a man standing above them.

The room was dark and the man had his back facing Kiochi but Kiochi didn’t need to see the man’s face to recognize who and what he was.

The man whore a bulletproof vest and his arms were made from some sort of metal. His short back hair and pale white skin meant that it could only have been one person.

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“Izanagi, what have you done?” Kiochi hissed.

Izanagi turned to face Kiochi.

“Oh this? I’m here to collect what is due. What? You’re allowed to be loved, while the rest of us suffer. Does that sound fair to you?” Izanagi said.

“You son of a bitch!” Kiochi cursed as he dashed towards Izanagi. Kiochi threw a punch at Izanagi’s face, but Izanagi caught his fist and punched Kiochi several times in the gut.

“Oh, that’s not nice. You know that we orphans don’t have mothers.” Izanagi said as he dropped Kiochi.

Kiochi rolled away and prepared for another attack. Aside from his metallic limbs, Izanagi looked like a normal man.

So where is his strength coming from? Kiochi wondered.

[Warning: don’t let him hit you too many times. Those punches are capable of sending the force straight through your carbonic armor.]

Eve warned.

Kiochi raised his fists, but Izanagi just stood over the two limp bodies as though he had no care in the world.

‘Second form!’ Kiochi ordered and his body complied. He was now almost twice as big as he was before and almost twice as strong.

Kiochi sent out two punches towards Izanagi’s torso, but Izanagi dodged them easily and as Kiochi prepared for a second wave of attacks, Izanagi grabbed both of Kiochi’s arms.

Kiochi tried to jerk out of the voice grip Izanagi had on him but nothing worked.

“I saw what you did to Trevor that night. That was… inhumane. Quite fitting for a monster such as yourself, no? I’m sure you were starting to think that we puny humans were no match for the likes of you huh?” Izanagi said as he squeezed both of Kiochi’s arms.

Kiochi could feel his bones bending and cracking.

“Arrg!” Kiochi screamed.

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

[Kiochi, he is going to break your arms!]

Eve cried out.

‘I know!’ Kiochi said as he wondered where Izanagi’s anger was coming from. Kiochi tried to think back to the training incident. He couldn’t remember what happened near the end, but he was sure that he didn’t kill Ena.

Kiochi wasn’t the sharpest when it came to social interactions and relationships, but he knew that Izanagi and Ena were close.

“Killing me won’t bring her back!” Kiochi spat.

“Oh, I know. But that isn’t the point of all this. The point is that you should feel what I felt back then. I don’t care how many times I have to kill those you love. I just want you to know… its hard.” Izanagi said as he let go of Kiochi.

Izanagi rubbed his hands through his hair as he paced across the room.

“Its hard. Being what I am, without Ena.” Izanagi said.

Kiochi twisted and turned as let out pained groans on the floor. The pain of having multiple broken bones wasn’t something a person could get used to, even with Kiochi’s powers.

“You know what I hated most about you? No matter what, you always had someone watching over you. Yes, I knew about the weird relationship you had with Ms. Watanabe and even commander Hashimoto. From school, to training and even now. You’re surrounded by people who love and care for you. YOU! A FREAK!” Izanagi yelled.

“Sounds ridiculous, right?” he continued.

Kiochi tried to get up but Izanagi kicked him in the ribs. The carbonic armor did what it could, but several ribs ended up breaking anyway.

“Where did that leave me? Alone! Scared! Wounded! You-"

“Kiochi!” Rin called out from the bedrooms door. Kiochi turned his head to face him.

“R- run!” Kiochi managed to squeeze out.

“Oh, no don’t worry. I won’t kill that one yet. Actually… I should be on a plane right now, so… goodbye for now, Kiochi.” Izanagi said as he walked past Rin, who ran over to where Kiochi was.

“No, Rin! Don’t-"

Rin looked at the two mangled bodies that were in front of him.

“Mom? Dad?” Rin whispered.

Rin walked over Kiochi’s body and examined the two limp bodies on the floor.

Blood covered almost every part of the room and Rin could tell that none of it was Kiochi’s.

Kiochi crawled to where Rin stood.

“Hey- don't- “

“Did he do this?” Rin whispered.

His voice low and malicious.

Kiochi couldn’t respond because even he didn’t fully understand why Izanagi was hurting innocent people either.

“ANSWER ME! DID HE DO THIS?” Rin screamed.

That scream scared Kiochi.

“Y- yes.” He said. His body still convulsing in pain.

Rin kneeled over the two bodies. He gently held the remains of his father’s hands.

“Did he do this because of you?” Rin whispered. Any and all traces of Rin’s boyish innocence had been erased and what took it’s place was hatred in its purest form.

Kiochi remained silent. He didn’t know what to say to Rin, whose eyes burnt with anger.

“cough! Cough!” Both Rin and Kiochi heard one of the two bodies cough.

It was Mrs. Takahashi.

“Mom!” Rin moved closer to her and cradled her body. It was literally torn to pieces.

Izanagi somehow managed to pull apart bits and pieces of her body without killing her.

Multiple teeth were missing and various muscle strands could be seen poking out from her skin. That and she also had large sections of skin missing, almost as though Izanagi was peeling her.

Mr. Takahashi was in a similar, if not worse state.

“Cough! Cough! Cough!” She painfully coughed again.

[We can save her. Using the Third Kamaitachi form.]

Eve said.

‘How?’

[Just trust me.]

‘Ok.’ Kiochi said.

“Rin-"

“DON’T TOUCH HER!” Rin screamed as tears tricked down his face.

“I-“

“If you lay a single finger on my mother, I will kill you!” Rin threatened.

[She’s running out of time!]

Eve warned.

Kiochi was running out of options, so he painfully stood up.

“Sorry.” Kiochi apologized as he sent a kick towards the back of Rin’s head, causing the young man to fall over unconscious.

Kiochi then moved Rin a bit further away, then began to operate on Rin’s mother.

“What now?” Kiochi said out loud, even though his chest hurt with every word he uttered.

[Leave everything to me.]

Eve said.

Then suddenly, black vines started poking out of Kiochi’s skin. They spread and grew towards Mrs. Takahashi’s body, where they pierced into her.

Kiochi remembered seeing something similar on the day the Aethon’s killed his men.

‘What are you-'

[Trust me.]

Eve reassured Kiochi.

Mrs. Takahashi’s body convulsed and shook temporarily but eventually she became still. This process was surprisingly painless for Kiochi.

Or so he thought.

[Initiating ethereal energy transfer.]

JOLT!

Kiochi felt a sharp pain shoot up his body.

JOLT!

The pain was so intense, Kiochi’s eye’s rolled backwards, but he didn’t loose consciousness.

JOLT!

[Ethereal energy reserves at 80%]

Kiochi had recharged his metaphorical ethereal battery before they left Saito headquarters and so he had a full tank to work with. It felt as though the vines were sucking the very life from him.

[Staring phase two: Encasement.]

Kiochi’s eyes returned to their normal positions and what be saw was a scene straight from an alien movie.

Mrs. Takahashi’s body was being rapidly encased in a black cocoon right before his eyes.

The vines birthed millions of tiny strands that spread and multiplied as they covered Mrs. Takahashi in a thick black mesh.

A few minutes of intense pain passed and eventually she was completely encased.

[Starting phase three: rejuvenation]

Kiochi felt himself gradually weaken as something filled the cocoon.

‘Eve! That’s too much!’ Kiochi pleaded, but Eve didn’t stop.

[Ethereal energy reserves are at 50%.]

[Shutting off primary consciousness to maximize usage.]

Oh, not agai-

.

..

SLAP!

“Get up!”

The first thing Kiochi woke up to was a hard slap to the face and some yelling. He quickly opened his eyes to see a beet red Rin, whose eyes were swollen due to excessive crying and the wiping of tears.

“What did you do to my mom?” Rin yelled. His voice sounded like a thousand bells to Kiochi, who felt weak and rather sluggish.

“I’m not sure. But I think she’ll be fine.” Kiochi said as he clumsily stood up.

“What do you mean, you bastard? I checked that freaky shell you made and it doesn’t have any holes. How’s she supposed to breath?” Rin asked.

Kiochi noticed that Rin’s hatred had somewhat cooled, but he still oozed the aura of anger and resentment.

“Just… trust me. Oh, and how long were we out?” Kiochi asked as he looked over to where Mr. Takahashi’s body was.

It was covered with a clean white bedsheet, which had a few blood stains on it.

“Thirty or so minutes.” Rin said reluctantly.

“Where are the others?”

“I didn’t check.” Rin said coldy.

Kiochi nodded in acknowledgement, then stumbled to where Mrs. Takahashi’s cocoon was.

‘Eve, this looks solid. But I can see some seams along the top. How do I open it?” Kiochi asked.

Eve didn’t respond. Instead, his right hand gradually darkened and his fingers were replaced with razor sharp black claws.

Kiochi ran his claws along the seams and the cocoon gradually opened.

Warm steam rose from the cocoon. It smelled like nothing Kiochi remembered smelling ever before.

The smell had a strange sweetness to it.

Rin stood closely behind Kiochi as he watched in awe, although his animosity and suspicion towards Kiochi hadn’t completely disappeared.

Kiochi’s hand returned to normal and he peeled off the top of the tar black cocoon, revealing a naked Mrs. Takahashi submerged in a pool of thick white fluid.

Rin averted his gaze and just as Kiochi reached out to grab her, Mrs. Takahashi suddenly sat up and took a gasped of air as though it was the first she had taken in her entire life.

Some of the strange white fluid splattered onto Kiochi but fortunately for Rin, he was behind Kiochi.

Mrs. Takahashi painfully coughed for a moment, but eventually began breathing normally.

“Go get her a bath robe or something!” Kiochi ordered and Rin dashed out of the room, leaving Kiochi and Mrs. Takahashi.

She looked deep into Kiochi’s eyes. Her skin, although covered in the mysterious slimy white substance, looked more vibrant and youthful. Her face was completely devoid of any marks or wrinkles and her hair looked breathtakingly silky.

Kiochi helped her get out of the cocoon. She stumbled slightly, but eventually found her footing.

Rin quickly returned with a towel and robe. He handed them over to Kiochi.

Mrs. Takahashi looked at the bedsheet that covered the remains of her husband.

Her face reddened and she began to weep. Rin walked closer to his mother to comfort her as Kiochi placed the towel and robe near her and left the room.

He walked towards the training area and even though he couldn’t hear Mrs. Takahashi cry, he could still feel every single tear as they dropped.

He still felt Rin’s slap from earlier as well as the force from Izanagi’s punches.

It was all too fresh in his mind.

‘Final form’ Kiochi requested, but nothing happened.

He wanted to vent his frustrations out on the dojo but neither Eve nor his powers were responding.

Kiochi stomped on the ground.

‘Dammit Izanagi!’ he cursed.

‘DAAMMIT DAMMIT!’ He continued.

“Haaarg!” Kiochi roared as he walked over to one of the walls, raised his fist and just as he cocked his fist backwards, Rin called out to him.

“Kiochi, my mom wants to speak with you.” He said as snot and tears ran down his face.

Kiochi lowered his hand and followed Rin back the bedroom.

There he saw Mrs. Takahashi, clad in a bathrobe, as she dried her hair with the towel.

She was gently seated on the futon. Her eye’s were also swollen from crying, but unlike Rin’s defeated expression, she wore the face of someone with grim determination.

Upon closer inspection, Kiochi saw her hands trembled slightly, but she still held her chin pretty high for someone who was grieving.

“Rin can you give me and Kiochi a moment?” She gently asked.

Rin did as he was told and left the room to Kiochi and his mother.

A moment of silence passed as Mrs. Takahashi stared at the nearly crestfallen Kiochi.

Kiochi tried looking her in the eye, but was met with an unbearable amount of pain every time he tried.

So he kept his gaze low.

“Could you have saved him?” She asked softly.

“I- No.” Kiochi answered.

This was is the time for excuses. Kiochi thought to himself.

He could have attempted saving Mr. Takahashi and ultimately lost both him and his wife, but he didn’t and managed to at least save Mrs. Takahashi.

“I see.” She said with a deep sigh.

She then looked herself over curiously.

Then lifted her robe slightly.

Kiochi lowered his gaze even further.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve experienced that much pain in my entire life... “ She said softly.

“Even if you put together all the pain I’ve ever felt before this, it- what he did to me was...” She paused.

Kiochi’s body tensed up and his brows furrowed. He could even hear Rin, who was just outside the room, as his breath hastened.

“Oh no, don’t worry. He didn’t do that.” She said prompting both Kiochi and Rin to let out sighs of relief. Mrs. Takahashi stood up and walked over to the cocoon.

She touched it and felt it’s every surface.

“Thank you Kiochi, for giving me a little more time with my son.” She said as she stood up.

“But-"

“What? That man had a personal problem with you? Although I have to admit that he was the worst, he definitely wasn’t the first.” Mrs. Takahashi said as she walked back to where her husband rested.

“I’m a wisdom holder and on top of that I was once a politician. I too made my fair share of enemies. It was hard for to go work knowing that my enemies could use my family against me. Fortunately, my husband was a martial arts master whose body was heavily augmented and my son was a Kynigoi, so that helped. But still…” She walked over Kiochi and stood mere centimeters from him.

He kept his gaze low.

“Look at me.” She said.

Kiochi didn’t respond.

“Kiochi, look at me.” She insisted.

He still kept his head low. She raised her small hands and lifted his head. She could see the amount of turmoil that was brewing in his eyes.

“I will not hate you for what happened here today. Rin might be angry for a while, but you are not to blame and besides... How can I hate you if you’re the one who gave me the most precious gift I could’ve asked for. Giving me time with my boy is something only you could have granted, so lift your head.” She said as she let go of him.

Kiochi wanted to run.

Far away from there.

Far away form everyone he knew.

Maybe that would keep them safe…

Idiotic.

Kiochi shook those thoughts away.

“Good. Keep your chin up and don’t worry, I’ll be ok and Rin will have to be strong.” Mrs. Takahashi said.

“Ok.” Kiochi managed to whisper.

Kiochi heard the sounds of several footsteps as well as Rin’s voice.

“Wait, my mom and Kiochi are still busy in there.” Kiochi heard Rin plead.

“What the hell happened here?” Yassine gasped as he and company entered the room.