As Mikkish fought Junior... gravity finally took hold of my body again and I slammed right on top of Mikkish and then rolled a few feet away. I had rolled onto my back... the illusion of the angelic me disappeared, leaving my broken body for everyone to see. The gash on my forehead had spread further down and covered a large portion of my face. my nose was broken in several places, my skull was cracked, my jaw was in an awkward position, obviously broken as well... a rib was sticking out of my abdomen... and finally... my leg was barely being held together by a small amount of flesh on either side of the enlarged hole that had once been a bullet wound. Blood was starting to pool around me. "I failed..." I thought... everything was numb... it was so cold... it was getting dark... "I'll die for nothing... I couldn't even save one of them... you're an idiot... a complete and utter idiot... Joseph... Nobunaga..." I thought, berating myself, I felt a few bloody tears roll down my cheeks. The pain I had gone through was all for nothing. Everyone was going to die. This monster was going to win. I wasn't going to see my mother again. I was probably never going to see any of them ever again... It wasn't fair...! It shouldn't have had to end in such a way...! Everyone shouldn't have had to have gone through all of this... we were supposed to go through school, have fun, learn lessons, steadily form bonds between all of us...! We should have met our ends years from now, surrounded by loved ones...! We should have been able to grow into adults...! "I'm sorry...! I'm so sorry...!" I croaked out. I was so sorry for so many things... for David, for not saving him from this monster... for Mikkish, for having that fight, and blaming him for everything... for Mareck, for leading him into this unfortunate situation... for everyone, for not being able to protect them... for being useless to them in the end... for all of those students that had died in the bombing, for not being able to bring the perpetrator to justice in the end... for my mother, for leaving her in this world and for not contacting her in days, and having her to bear the burden of learning that her son had died while leaving home for the first time... For all that and more; I was sorry. Soon... the darkness overtook me.
Mareck watched as lightning struck some girl he didn't even know was there, Joe got the shit beat out of him, and Joe's friend started punching the gremlin thing. as entertaining as it all was it all needs to calm down at least a little bit if he's gonna figure out whats going on or why he got that message, and from the looks of thing he'd have to do it himself his guns disappeared and he began taking power from the blood around the room, from that Templar, the stains on the floor, the gremlin's blood. he used the blood from the gremlin to form demonic-looking claws on his hands and increase his strength, blood from the floor formed whip-like snares and tried to bind the guy that was controlling all the knives and another girl, and blood from the templar was being saved to be used as needed. then he used the blood on the bullets he had shot into the gremlin, making them become razor-like and spin about to shred the inside of it's body and, as the did so, he charged Joe's friend and sent a kick at his chest followed be a punch aimed for his head, if those hit he would turn to the gremlin slash into it with the claws.
Mareck's assault was completely thrown off when his target, Mikkish, was sent down once again by Joe. When Mikkish and Joe collapsed, however, Mikkish' attempt to keep weight off his injured foot proved counter intuitive, as the angle and the unexpected falling Joe caused Mikkish leg to snap at the knee. The pain was so great, Mikkish' voice ceased to exist. He just lay there with a look of terrible agony on his face. Mikkish was helpless, but the fires created by him grew bigger, spreading to the walls. A fire alarm blared, but went completely ignored. Smoke began filling the room, sailing out into the hallway through the open doorway where Mareck had entered, and floating through the window, up the window well, and into the sky.
The Calvary Junior smiled through the intense pain that Mareck’s blood manipulation was inflicting, tearing his insides to pieces. He’d have to make a note to kill Mikkish after this little period piss ant; That thug loosened a tooth. Junior gave an ugly scowl once Mareck began his assault. He had to give the devil his respect, his magical power was impressive for a child. He readied his blade and took a step forward at the blood boy and.......and vanished. A black blur moved behind Mareck. FAST Junior's blade closed in at incredible speeds at Mareck's back, the demon was opting to severe his spine. --- A loud BANG startled the still few standing combatants and the room was soon engulfed in steam. Mareck felt the demon’s sword stop dead at his back before the creature could complete his attack; a tremor shook the floor. Then another...... Junior's red eyes widened and before he could mouth another F BOMB; he was launched upward by a watery volcanic eruption that crashed through the floor. The demon crashed through the basement ceiling and beyond, building up speed as it went. His black katana dropping in front of Mareck's feet. --- "Shit." Bobby's breathless voice said. "That burned me out but whatever that thing was.....should be dead." The young man who's sudden appreance had yet to be explained looked up at the the eruption blast had made. "I knocked him through the entire damn building." "Don't get to confident." Ace's voice came from the fading steam; he was tending to Joe. "He's far from dead but you did manage to piss him off and keep him busy." "Bobby has tendency to piss people." Morgan chimed though her expression obviously nervous as she eyed the carnage. Bobby ignored her statement and turned to stare at Mareck. "Who are you?" "Not sure." Ace said. "I don't recognize him but best we take him along as well. I'd prefer that thing not kill anymore." Both Morgan and Bobby watched as Ace performed a small healing smell using bits of his own life energy to try and heal Joe, Hikaru and Mikkish. --- FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! Junior clenched his fist his nails digging into his palms drawing blood. He shouldn’t have wasted time…..that piece of shit politician and his goons had gotten the drop on him. What’s worse he’d taken far too much damage in the fight then he’d indented and his blade had been lost in the ambush. No point in going back down to fetch it; locking it up with Ace wouldn't be wise in his current state but crushing the life out of that pretty boy and finish off bloody Jerry. He stared at the clouds as he began to fly away from the scene. This wasn't over. --- Ace's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Seem's he's fleeing." He coughed collapsing to his knee. He'd up pieces of his being in attempt to bring his fallen friends back from the brink of death.
Sirens were finally heard through the apartment walls and any moans of pain. The water summoned to attack Junior with decimated some of the flames, but smoke lingered in the air and in everyone's lungs. The healing spell had, for the most part, mended everyone's injuries except for Hikaru's, who was still completely fried. Regardless, the ambulances which had shown up took everyone involved in the mess aside from Ace, Morgan, and Bobby. The small group of cops that had shown up decided not to enter and looks for evidence until the fired were put out, with the exception of the detective, who needed to get a quick glimpse of the room as it was before he could properly do his work. He dipped in and out. It was strange, what was he doing? You never know in a place like the island. Immediately efter all the injured were taken away by ambulances, the firemen came in and put out any remnants of the flames. It was odd. They wore the same uniforms they would have in the "average" world, but they didn't use the same tools, or any tools. They simply walked in, stared at the coals, and the heat/sparks vanished, leaving only ash. Mikkish lay in the hospital, his leg in a cast, though he probably would be able to use it if it wasn't. Ace was a talented man. And just like when they fought the sniper assassin, their exploits were on the news. Again. This time, however, Mikkish groaned. He was sick of this shit. And changed the channel. They got rid of the Templar, who had refused to help them anyway. Junior survived. And they didn't even get any cool advanced weapons/power armor or any tools with which to fight Junior. What a waste of time. All their injuries. All for nothing.
Mareck looked up through the ceiling at trying to see where that gremlin went but pulled his head back as it's sword fell at his feet, "well then" he mumbled, he looked back up again before reaching down and picking up the sword "hmmm..." he turned the sword over in his hand, examining it. he decided to take it and slipped it into his belt. letting the claws and binds dissipate, he turned to the others and was about to ask for an explanation on what that was all about but he heard sirens approaching 'damn' he thought, not something he wants to deal with. he bolted out the door before the police arrived and took off down an alley, running through it and out onto another street and calmly walked away.
Hikaru's condition While everybody was partially healed by Ace and now were recovering into the hospital, Hikaru’s case was completely different. Ace’s magic managed to just reconstruct the burned tissue, her skin, now completely immaculate. Yet the fact that nearly all her organs were destroyed and most of her nerves completely fried remained. Sure, her body’s anomaly saved her life, redirecting all the remains of magical energy to partially regenerate the tissues of her lungs, heart and brain, however she still remained in a critical condition. When she was carried to the hospital all that could be heard from her was barely a whistle, a remain of a breathing that struggled to maintain her body working the most it could. Academics in the area of magical medicine, a field that only a little were aware of, found themselves unable to even explain how is that she managed to survive, an uncountable quantity of volts traveled through her whole body destroying absolutely everything, still, each individual cell slowly struggled to replicate and repair the damage at an abnormal and fast rate, yet that was just maintaining her alive. Normally, a nerve would take from six months to a whole year to regenerate, with magic, that process could be fastened, even to be made in just days or hours. However, perhaps a part of the same anomaly, her cells died if a healing magic was poured into her only to once again try to reconstruct themselves. To summarize, healing magic was not working on her but her own body was recovering at a rate faster than normal, still it would take several weeks for she to even be able to eat by herself again. A doctor reached to a natural conclusion in this world of magic, a certain condition which wasn’t unusual however her case was a very abnormal one. The man, named Oliver Twain, however decided not to speak immediately in fear of what others could decide to do with her, instead he wanted to know about this girl and thus contacted one of his friends. “Let’s see, Joe Nobunaga right? You are a close friend with Hikaru Kurosawa no?” Asked the doctor to the young man resting in a hospital room. I looked over at the doctor, I still felt exhausted. While physically I was fine, I had used up a lot of my life force in the battle, that would take a while to recover naturally. I was certain I was going to die, that we all were going to die. I slowly sat up, wincing a little, my whole body still aching from the fight. "Y-Yeah... is she alright?" I asked. The doctor fixed his glasses and said "She is in critical condition, breathing through a mechanical ventilator, but she won't die at least" "T-That's a relief... b-but can't you just use healing magic on her...?" I asked tentatively. "I'm afraid that would destroy her. As I said she won't die, hence let me ask a question. Were you aware this girl had been dead?" said the man with a serious tone. "...Excuse me?" I asked, blinking a few times, trying to register what he had just asked me. "Hikaru isn't... she can't be... I mean... she's alive, isn't she...?" I asked uncertainly. The man fixed his glasses again, he also expected her friends to not be aware of that, after all she was an abnormal one. "I see... How are you going with your studies Mister Nobunaga? I suppose you already learned a bit about the Post-Cadaveric Reanimation process. Her body behaves like an undead one at least." "Um... well, we haven't really been in our studies, we only got a little bit into them before the dorms were bombed and the school was shut down." I said, rubbing the back of my head awkwardly. "...So... Hikaru... is undead...?" I asked, tilting my head. What could she be...? The doctor sighed, they did had a flood of patients due to the bombings. "I'll explain it to you. By the using of certain kind of magic it's possible to reanimate a dead body to do one's bidding, this is what is usually called an undead. However, due to the postmortem conditions, the body is naturally rotten and unstable, a reanimated rotten body is what's called a Zombification process, its also expected for the body to not have a proper will or even a consciousness. This girl's cells behave like the ones of a zombie, constantly regenerating and easily destroyed by healing or light magic, however she did seem to have skipped the zombification process, in the sense that her body is perfectly conserved, well without taking into account her damage, also, her cognitive's process are completely normal. In short, her body is dead but not zombified and she preserves her mental capacities." "I see... so she's like a zombie, but not one at the same time..." I mumbled, putting my hand on my cheek. "What could she be...?" I mumbled, I could ask her myself... however... I don't think that she'd just tell me what she was and what happened. I mean... we were friends, but I don't think we were close enough to share a secret like that. "There is something else" Said the Doctor. "I took the liberty to make an analysis of one of her mother's cells. It does seems she had been dead for more than 70 years" "S-Seventy years?!" I asked, shocked, she looked like she was around my age... there was no way she could have been dead for that long...! "Her body is constantly renewing her cells, thus, she doesn't age, she probably has the appareance she had when she originally died or was turned into this condition" The doctor fell in silence for a moment. Perhaps it was a bad choice to ask one of his friends. After a few seconds he spoke again. "I think it would be best to keep this as a secret, it's an interesting and unique case, yet not many support the existence of the undead, it would be bad if some fanatic try to exorcise her or something like that." He offered his hand to Joe and before leaving he added. "I estimate that the girl will recover by herself, however there is nothing we can do to hasten the process. Healing magic is like a toxin for her after all" Then he left I shook the doctor's hand and began to think about what I could do to help Hikaru recover. "Healing magic can't help her... but... maybe... a potion or something...?" I mumbled. I might be able to make something using alchemy... Meanwhile, Hikaru rested in an intesive care room, a gas mask connected to her face plus several tubes connected through needles to her body in different areas. A machine emitting a "beep" constantly lied close to the bed and more than one doctor in the room studying her case.
An awesome experience. That was Tom's initial label to the sequence of events that had just happened. After shooting the fiery knives at the demon, Tom felt like summoning more fire. He felt like he could take on the demon by himself, so much excited as he was. The fire was indeed helpful to burn away some whip-thing someone in the room tried to bind him with. Tom initially thought it had been the enemy. "He can control blood too?" He thought. But then, Tom realized there was somebody in the room forging weapons with the blood around the room. "That's sick!" Tom thought. He watched as the other people in the room were collapsing with wounds and fractures. He did not stand still though. He summoned more flames to attack the creature, when he realized there was already a fire starting in the room! The fires he had now created would only help to spread chaos and injury the already-dying teenagers. He went on to do something different. He tried to manipulate the fire. He started controlling some flames and kept them away from some of the people who were knocked-out on the floor. Controlling the flames was not as easy as he thought it'd be. One those not simply play with fire. Tom knew that. He was doing his best to prevent the flames from physically touching anyone, but then there was the smoke. The smoke would choke all of them in no time. All of a sudden he saw a guy he had not seen yet, and he saw water erupting from the ground. He saw the demon crashing through the roof as it started to fly away. Tom was still on fire. Not his flesh. His blood was on fire. Tom saw a fleshy, scaly thing glistening among the ashes on the floor. Its colour was clearly red and bloody, but the ashes and the flames had charred it, making it grey. He picked it up and realized it was a slice of the demon's flesh, lost amidst all the blood and splintered objects in the room. He put it in his jacket pocket. The fires, which had momentarily calmed after the water eruption, were now growing again. Tom tried to concentrate. He felt the heat of the flames in his skin. The movement of the fire as it tried to swallow everything in its path and become larger. He conducted the fire towards the walls. He led it towards the pools of water which were left after the eruption the newcomer had caused. It was all that he could do, to turn all the fire into smoke. He heard an ambulance echoing in the distance."I need to get out of here." He thought. But where would he go to? He felt the charred flesh warming in his jacket pocket. He saw the demon in his mind's eye. He had touched it. He had touched it with his fire. Tom felt he could connect the demon's body warmth, with the piece of flesh. The newcomer was busy with the others who were injured. "I am going after him", he thought. He ran away towards the streets. He knew he lacked experience, and he had just arrived in the island, but his blood was boiling, so he went.
Mareck headed down the street to a diner, slipping inside and taking a seat in a booth to the side,"phew". he leaned back into the seat as he waited for a waited, when one did come by he ordered some tea. he thought back to yesterday, what was all that? his thought was interrupted by Kayik meowing next to him, he smiled at the cat and pet him on the head "yeah i shouldn't worry about it" he still had that thing's sword he pulled it out and looked down at it before setting it on the seat next to him. The diner was somewhere between packed and dead; a good place to lay or well would have been a good place. To Mareck’s surprise a boy slipped into the chair across from him, he could of been Mareck's age.....or perhaps a few years younger? His baby face combined with the ghostly white hair made it difficult to discern. To cap it off and what really would turn head was his double transparency. Not only was this stranger completely see through but he was butt-ass naked. Mareck just sighed "another spirit?" he said "and who are you?" "Fred." He replied. "My name is Fred." "ah, Fred, alright then" the waiter came back with Mareck's drink, taking it he thanked the waiter and took a sip from it as Kayik crawled over to look at the naked spirit. he then put it down on the table and said to himself "i've walked myself into this one" "FREEEEEEEED THE DEAD HEEEEAD OOOoOooOoOooOoOoOoOOh." The spirit began making cliched ghostly whales. "Ping ching ponk shiiiiiing." He whispered. "That's chains rattling, you must beeeee pretty scared right?" "terrified" Mareck said sarcastically, though he doubted this spirit would pick up on that... "Yeah I knew you'd totally would be." He said with confidence. "I knew that this would be the perfect place to do some naked some scaring. I could never do any naked scaring around Junior he would never let me play." He stood up exposing himself fully to Mareck. "OoOooOoOoOoOoOoOooOoOOh." He said again. "That's noise my mommy makes when alone time with daddy and stuff." The spirit's innocent eyes got wide. "Who are you again?" "Mareck" he said, rolling his eyes at Fred's moans "i'm Mareck" he glanced over the spirit's body before asking "so, who's this junior?" He was silent for several moments."I....am pretty sure he's the sword or he was the sword but now I am kinda the sword but he was the sword but now he's not and he's busy having tea with Mikkish and Joe and the sexy pizza lady." "He was...sword...but now...you're" Mareck said ,confused, but a moment later he had an epiphany "ooooh, that thing from yesterday" he remembered what Joe had said about a demon problem "that was, and now your spirit's in the sword" he said picking up the sword off the seat. "you're trapped in this" "Welll I wouldn't call it trapped its more like I'm can't get out of it and when I try to I can't." He nodded. "But nope not trapped just kinda sorta trapped but not able to move but I have this AWESOME GHOST BODY NOW!" "Do you want to see me go through a wall?" "why not" Mareck said, shrugging. Without another word the naked transparent boy stood and bolted towards the opposite end of the restaurant, kicking off the ground he.....he preceded to smash face first into the wall with a loud 'SPLAT!' Sending several pictures crashing to the floor. The ghost Mareck had met laid on ground. "I am OKAY!" He said raising his fist into the air as he faded away. He faded only to reappear moment later right behind Mareck and had somehow managed to somehow acquire clothing. His white hair now covered by a hat that looked suspiciously like the hat worn by the main character in the Pokemon show, his barebody replaced with a black jumpsuit with white gloves and boots capping off the piece. "Yo Ash Phantom he was just nineteen." He started to sing. "When his parents built a very strange machine! It was designed to view a world unseen and now he's gotta catch em all he is Ash Phantom!" He started throwing punches at nothing. "He's gotta- Oh wait, wait.....I'm getting off track again." He sighed. "What was I talking about again Mary? Something about airplanes and bathsalts." Mareck smirked, this guy was almost as crazy as he was "i believe you left off on something about Joe and a sexy pizza lady" "Oh yeah!" He said. "You think you could help me find them? I know they were having a birthday party with Junior but I think I should let them know that besides getting blown up into tiny small pieces and being like BLAAAAAAAAAAH I AM DEAD BLAAAAH, that I am alive but have become see through." He looked at Mareck. "Sooooo can we go look for them or something?" "sure" He looked at Kayik "Kayik, go ahead of us and see if you can find Joe, they way he looked yesterday he might still be at a hospital so check those first" with that Kayik meowed in response before disappearing to look for Joe. Mareck turned back to Fred ,"c'mon, lets go", and he made his way out of the diner.
I sat in a waiting room area by myself quietly. I wasn't hurt nearly as badly as the others so it was pretty easy for them to heal me up. I was more worried about my friends though. Hikaru I was too scared to ask about her condition and I felt horrible for how Joe got beaten up. I stand up with a heavy sigh. I should at least go see how someone is doing instead of sitting here. Walking out of the sitting area I go to Joe's room and knock on the door. "Come in." Joe called out softly, he was about to settle down to go back to sleep, but he wasn't sure if he would be able to. I walk into the room closing the door behind and look over to Joe. "Hey, I know it's a stupid question but how are you doing?" Joe looked to the side. "Uh... better... not sure what happened after I passed out though, mind filling me in?" He asked. "That Ace guy came in and saved all our butts and that demon guy fled." I say sitting in a chair and crossing my arms. "Though not before all that fire nearly burnt us to a crisp. We all got dragged here.....I'm sorry I couldn't help more. The stupid scheme got you hurt more." "...Ah... I owe him a lot, don't I...?" Joe said, feeling a bit down, knowing that there was little he could do to ever repay Ace for all of his kindness... "...And don't worry... I was... I was ready to die, ya know? I was hoping that... if I could give my life to save all of yours, it'd be alright... eheh... looks like you all were really stubborn to fight." Joe said, rubbing the back of his head. "That was pretty dumb for a guy so smart. You shouldn't just sacrifice yourself for others. There are other fighters.....as dumb as some of them are. Fire only comes to mind on that." I say with a chuckle. "There's nothing wrong with helping in the fight. But to sacrifice yourself? How would you feel if one of us sacrificed themselves for you? I know I'd feel pretty bad." "...I know, I'm sorry... but... they had better equipment, and were far more skilled than us, we were also trapped, so escape wasn't an option with the door shut like that... and when it was open, everyone was injured and couldn't get out without some help. I hoped that everyone would help one another and escape while I distracted Junior or, far more briefly, the Templar." Joe said. "And what you think they wouldn't chase us down afterwards? It's not like any of us has super speed." I say leaning back in the chair. "You really don't need to act like your life would have saved us." I put a hand up to my head. "I don't mean to make it sound as bad as it is but that sacrifice would have done nothing but get everyone's hopes up. We all went into a battle that was bad and got worse. " "All you guys would have had to have done was get out of the building then you would have been able to get out of the situation." Joe said, shrugging. "No point in fighting about this anymore." He said. I nod. "Fair enough....So how long you think you'll be in here? Hopefully not too long. I don't think I'll be able to buy you another book to pass the time." "Hopefully no longer than a day or two... I need to get up and around as soon as possible... I gotta prepare, for when Junior comes back and attacks us again." Joe said. "You aren't the only one who needs to be prepared. We all do. But we'll need to be able to hurt a demon is the part that scares me. He was laughing at most of our attacks." I lean back. "Unless we're gonna find people who've mastered the art of demon slaying I say we're pretty screwed." "Y-Yeah... I mean, my light attacks would be effective if I were only stronger... but I still gotta try, right? I should also learn how to fight with something that's more... close range... and maybe I could make something with alchemy... I mean there should be something that could weaken or be effective against a demon!" Joe said. "Well I'm no expert but if you need help fighting hand to hand or with a knife I'm willing to help you start on that." I say with a smile. "But that's about all I can do." "I-I see... well... hand to hand would be useful if I don't have a weapon with me... but I was thinking about something with a longer reach." Joe said, rubbing the back of his head. "Er... maybe a scythe...?" He asked. "Ah, well I don't even know where you would find a scythe here. Buuut maybe you could ask Ace if he has any connections for you to get one. I honestly need to find a knife myself. I lost it apparently...I'm guessing when the dorms exploded. I usually carry it with me but I guess the one time I left it was the worst time to." I shrug. "But you'll find something I'm sure." "Y-Yeah... I hate to ask Ace, but, it's kind of a matter of life and death now... especially since there are more templars lurking out there... you heard what that one said, 'My comrades will take care of this demon.' But... what else is bugging me is this 'Progeny' he was talking about... I'll ask Ace what it could mean when I see him." Joe said. "Obviously after someone special. A mage I'm guessing. But wouldn't have any idea over who the heck it would be or why they're going after this person. The other question is progeny to what? Whose descendant are they looking for?" I sigh heavily. "And you're right. That wasn't the only templar we'll have the displeasure of running into more than likely....or well following after Mikkish as he charges into." "Yeah, he certainly tends to get us into a lot of fights." Joe said sighing softly. "Well, we know that the person that they're looking for is someone young, a mage, troubled, and doesn't have a father." He said. "...Sounds like a lot of us right now." I said, rubbing the back of my head. "Clearly, this 'Progeny' is a huge threat to them." He said, crossing his arms. "Well I'm in the clear on that case. My father last I knew was alive." I say with a smile. "Though not that they would care. I'd get killed to anyway for being in their way." I go by the window looking out. " I wonder what's so special about this progeny to be a threat? Knowledge, power, I doubt money otherwise that Leon guy would have been a real give away." I chuckle. "Yeah, and he knows his father, I don't know mine, but... I'm not special, not any more special than anyone else here anyway." Joe said, shrugging. "So, that rules you out as a target, I'm very much on the radar... that leaves a few others in our group." He said. "Well we'll have to keep an eye on everyone and make sure they stay alright. And put a damn leash on Mikkish in the meantime." I say clenching a fist. "I swear if he causes one more thing with his bullheaded shenanigans I'm going to tie his ass up and leave him in a cage." "Honestly, I think he should be locked up until all of this is resolved... he just rushes into things and he gets people hurt or killed. I mean... the church was burnt down because of him, not only killing several cops, but also letting us lose important clues that could have led us to the apartments much sooner and have allowed us to contact the proper authorities and gotten him captured instead of killed, and we could have learned a lot more and find the other templars hiding in the city." Joe said, crossing his arms. "Exactly. His fire probably burnt out some evidence in the apartment too. " I shake my head. "But like he's gonna go down quietly. It's really annoying. He's bullheaded and lacks people skills.....And Joe. I'm sorry about what happened with David and that fake....You got really upset. Are you feeling any better from that?" "...Rue, trust me when I say that David wasn't lying, he was real, just not our David, I can tell when someone's lying. In fact, tell me personal details about your life, really obscure or crazy things that no one could tell me, and lie about some of them, I'll tell you which ones are lies." Joe said. "Fine then sounds interesting. I'll tell you four things. I don't know how I got my knife, I learned how to fight from my mother, I have a younger brother, and I remember everything perfectly from when the dorms blew up." I say with a smile as I sit back down. Joe winced as the chains ripped through her, a little from disgust as blood, flesh, and bone flew around the room, and more from pain, the magic tapping into his already weak life force. A tiny trickle of blood flowed from his nose, he wiped it away quickly. "You're telling the truth about the knife, you're lying about your mother teaching you to fight, you don't have a younger brother, and for some reason, you don't remember everything about the dorms blowing up." Joe said, he felt very tired... "....Okay I believe you. Those were all right. One truth and three lies. " I notice the blood and frown. "You alright? I wouldn't try whatever you did again for a while. " I look towards the ground. "Then that guy was real?....Damn." "Yeah, and Mikkish killed him, as for this strange magic, I don't really have a choice... I... whenever someone lies, chains tear them apart before my eyes." I said, shutting my eyes. "Uh... can... we continue this conversation later...? I'm really tired, I'd like to rest for a little while longer." Joe said. "That's fine of course...Just get well soon okay?" I say getting up and heads towards the door. "I'll turn the light off for you." I say turning it off and leaving the room quietly. Joe nodded and lied back on the hospital bed and slipped into a dreamless sleep.
The very next week, the deaths of both killers had been confirmed. In light of this news, the school was to reopen in a week or so and work on rebuilding the dorms was half completed. While the citizens of the island now felt much safer without the killers creating chaos, there was the question of who the "Progeny." It was made clear on the news, that the Templars may attack again in search of this person. Whoever it was. There had also been several cases of young women vanishing. Some considered the idea that there might be another killer, but no bodies were ever found. The disappearances had been taking place since before Mikkish or any of our hero's had set foot on the island, but the media could give it little coverage with all of the insane killings and bombings that were going on recently. And if the Templar and sniper didn't do enough killing, random zombie attacks seemed to be on the upswing. Officials still couldn't decide how many necromancers could be responsible. Mikkish lay in his bed, in his room at the Fraternity hotel building, which was now being used as a frat house. Well, it was actually more of a new dorm building, due to the fact that the Fraternity had many female members and thanks to the many homeless students looking for a place to stay. This of course meant they had to join the Fraternity, leading to high recruitment numbers. The building had upgraded quite a bit since Mikkish first saw it. It looked good as new. No cracks, no cobwebs, no roaches. New paint job. Electricity, plumbing, the works. Some of the rooms even had cable tv. Mikkish almost drifted off as he lay enjoying the AC. When suddenly a firm knock came to his door. Mikkish paused, not wanting to get up. He dragged himself to the door and froze solid as he opened it. In front of him, in the hallway, was the trigger happy, moustache sporting, Heathcliff. "Fuck!" Immediately, Mikkish sent a powerful jab into Heathcliff's gut. "Oooooof!" Drool fell from themercenary's mouth as he slumped to his knees. "Not cut out for close rangecombat." He coughed holding his stomach. "Should of just sent a letter." "Got something you wanna tell me?" Mikkish asked. He could have went on beaten him. But this guy wasn't here for a fight. "What do you want now?" Heathcliff sighed pulling himself up by gripping the door frame. The man had seemed to have made a full recovery from their previous battle. "I'm here on working business." He said twirling his moustache which he'd grown to be much more twirly and villainous. "Not to kill though." He was quick to say. "Lets discuss it in your room." Mikkish walked back in his room, leaving the door open, and sat on his bed. "No shooting" Mikkish said with annoyed tone. Heathcliff kicked the door shut behind him. "You got it amigo." He said. "I didn't bring any." Heathcliff gave an honest grin. "This is going to sound pretty awkward but I've actually been contracted to make you an offer." He ran a hand through his brown hair. "You see I'm no longer in my previous engagement and my new employer seems to have taken an interest in you and your friends." Mikkish' mind went back to the day he got released from the holding cell. He remembered the texts from "D." "Whats his name? Who's your current employer?" "I'm am not at liberty to release such information." Heathcliff replied taking a seat on the only chair in the room. "My employer made the contract very clear and has prepared a second one as well for you. I am not to release any information about their persons except that they would value a temporary partnership regarding certain issues." The assassin produced a folder and handed it over to Mikkish. "Those are the details to the second contract, if you're willing to agree to his terms then I'm kinda have to work for you." He frowned. "My employer wants your friends or well us to handle the local chaos." Mikkish cracked open the file folder. Although Mikkish sucks with patience and would normally skim through things, he was different about contracts. He took his time to read, and comprehend, everything. "So you'll be our personal bitch for the time of the contract. Sounds good. And all we gotta do is fight crime. We already took out that Templar bastard, shit should be easy. Some robbers, thugs, whatever. Petty shit. Alright, Heath. I'm game." "No reason to call me a bitch." Heathcliff replied. "My apologies upon our last meeting, that Junior fellow paid me good money to steal that book and protect him just as my current employer is paying me to help you fellas out." Heathcliff snorted. "But glad to hear you're in this job is going to bring in loads of cash. I'm competing in the World Beard and Moustache Championships this year and the extra dough will really help me try out a lot of different styles." He once again twirled his facial hair. "This is known as The walrus style." "Oh yeah!" Mikkish said, ignoring what Heathcliff was saying about his moustache "That book, you got any idea where Junior took it? Its kind of, well, fucking mine." "Not a clue.....but." Heathcliff said. "My employer said he'd be willing to look into after this was done for you all but first." He stood. "I think we should make like trees and leaves." The hitman snorted a laugh. "We will need the approval of your friends and I've started taking classes here to keep an eye on things. I think we should speak to the others." Mikkish chuckled "You're taking classes here? I don't think they have any barber classes." Mikkish looked out the window, wondering where everyone else was. "Alright, lets round up the homies." "Nursing actually."
I had finally been released from the hospital. They had kept me to ensure that nothing would go wrong with me, since I was on the brink of death when they had gotten me and was worried that I might give out at the drop of a hat. I was relieved when I walked out of the hospital, I hated being confined to that bed with nothing productive to do. I made my way back to Ace's house and walked inside. "I'm back." I called out softly. There was no response from Ace; the only sound was the sound footsteps in the basement and Ace's voice.....it sounded like he was mumbling. "Huh...? Is... Ace okay?" I wondered. I walked to the basement door tentatively and put my ear to the door, trying to make out what was going on inside. "Somewhere in here." Ace muttered, it sounded like he was going through boxes. I opened the door. "Uh... Ace, I'm back." I called down and then walked down the stairs. "Are you looking for something...?" I asked, tilting my head. Ace poked his head from one of the many boxes he was digging through, the floor was covered in them, books and papers. Ace's eyes were bloodshot, his face pale and his hair messier then Joe had ever seen it. Still a gentle smile settled itself upon his face. "Ah.....Joe." He frowned. "You're out? Oh my I....I should of come to visit you. I'm so sorry." "N-No, it's fine, with what happened recently, it's understandable as to why you'd be busy, I mean with the Templar's death and Junior..." I said, rubbing the back of my head. "You look exhausted, you should go rest." I said, concern clear on my face. "No excuses." He said. "Should have visited and most certainly no rest. The Island is in chaos....to much chaos and Junior is still missing, your friends parents are planning legal action against the school." Ace turned to a stack of still full boxes. "Need to keep working." I bit my lip, I was going to ask him for a few favors... but seeing him like this... I couldn't ask him. "Then, at least allow me to help you." I said. Ace shook his head. "No....can't let you." He said. "For your own safety." "My own safety?" I asked, I couldn't help but crack a smile. "Right now, you're going through boxes, I think that my little escapade last week was a biiiit more dangerous than that." I said, I crossed my arms. "Besides, you look like you're running yourself ragged, you've saved my life and have helped me a lot, the least I can do is try and take some of the burden off of you." I said. "No not these boxes." He said. "I'm...I'm doing bad things." Ace swallowed. "Things that can fry your head if you're not prepared." "Uh... bad things? What kind of bad things?" I asked, concerned, now, I was really worried, either it was something that was legally questionable, or some kind of dark magic. "I was....I was only trying to help." Ace slid to his knees, his eyes filling up his water. "And now he's dead, dead again cause of that idiot but you all seemed so hurt but I shouldn't of done what I did. I was just trying to fix things." He wiped his eyes. "Have to fix it." I wanted to ask who was dead... but I couldn't bring myself to ask, Ace was in a lot of pain. I walked up to him, knelt down, and wrapped my arms around him, gently rubbing his back. "It's going to be okay." I said. "Things haven't been okay around here for a long time Joe." He admitted. "This Island is dirty but the funny thing was I always thought I was a little better." I looked at him concerned. "Ace, none of us are perfect, we all make mistakes, it's what we do after we make those mistakes that matter, we can learn from them and try to fix them or move on if you can't, or you hold onto those mistakes and allow them to drag you down." I said, I pulled away from him, but stayed sitting in front of him. "I'd like to know what you're talking about, but I understand if it's too painful to speak about." I said. "Da..." He was fading off into sleep. "David." Ace gave a final mutter before collapsing face first into the ground. "A-Ah! Ace!" I said, shocked. I scooped him into my arms and went upstairs quickly but carefully. I set him down in his bed worried. "He said... David... what did he mean...?" I muttered, I shook my head. "Nothing that I can ask about now, he's exhausted... geez... he's working himself into the ground." I thought. With that, I decided to change my clothes to something that wasn't full of holes and went outside. I think it was time to go and train at Ace's training room... I can't keep being a burden to him, I have to be able to defend myself. I walked towards the skyscraper on Churchill street, I wasn't going to be useless to everyone anymore...!
Mareck was walking on a side street close to Churchill street, he sighed "it's been a week, is Joe even still on this island?" he'd heard that most of the students from the school on the island were staying at some frat building since the destruction of the dorms, he was going to try and find Joe there. Meanwhile Kayik was on Churchill street looking up and down around the building Mareck had first seen Joe, he thought that he ight be back around here at some point...and he was right, turning around he saw Joe walking toward the building, with a flick of his ear he started toward Joe, coming up beside him and Meowing back on the other street Mareck suddenly stopped and said "Aha, there you are" he put a hand on the sword at his side "hey, Fred, we found your friend" and then he turned and made his way through an alley to Churchill street.
I stopped suddenly when I heard a meow. I looked down beside me and saw a familiar little black cat. "Ah! Hi Kayik~!" I said, grinning, I knelt down and scratched the cute little cat behind his ears. "Hm... if you're here, Mareck's probably around here somewhere too, eh?" I asked.
Kayik purred and meowed again as Mareck got through the alley and jogged across the street to Joe. He came to a stop in front of Joe "you're a bitch ta find" he said jokingly "we've been looking for you for a week" he looked Joe over before saying "you were in bad shape last time i saw you, how you doing?" He rested one hand on the sword and Kayik jumped up onto his shoulder and looked curiously at Joe.
"Really? I was in the hospital all week, it was driving me crazy, I couldn't do a thing. I was actually just about to go and train, you know, for when Junior comes back for us, and oh my god where did you get that sword?" I asked, taking a step back, my chest burned as I remembered being pierced by that blade weeks earlier.
Tom slipped another liquorice vine in his mouth. "That's just lovely". He thought. But maybe in the other side of the island there would be a better candy shop... Compared to the candy he'd had in the other stores, this one was tastier; it was juicier when he chewed, and easier to swallow. That was just some medicine to kill his back-pain. Trying to control the green fire of his Ace card made him really tired, and chasing after the demon was even worse! He touched the outside of his jacket pocket. He could feel the charred meat. "Thank God!" It was still there. The past week he had tried to pursue the demon using the meat, but he was not exactly an expert in identifying body heat, and the island was huge! It was like trying to find out which oyster in the sea had lost a pearl. He quickly gave up on his pursuit, and ended up looking for candy. Of course Tom needed his candy! The events from his arrival in the island still flashed on his mind. It was as if he'd watched a movie and couldn't help remembering different scenes from the movie... a girl using an angelic power, another girl embracing electric waves produced by a demon, some other guy being slashed by the demon's sword..., all movie-like scenes. Except he was part of that movie. There were still lots of things he was curious to know: Why were those people in that place to begin with? They kept mentioning stuff about a templar..., probably the guy who tried to shoot him without even hesitating. "I'm here for the Progeny. And you all fit the description...." What had he meant by that? Did Tom also fit the description? How was that possible if he had just got in the room by accident? He had to find the answer to those questions. The movie was not finished. The demon was still out there. He was not going to find it on his own, though. He realized as much. I need to go look for those people. Tom had asked a couple of people information about the templars, and the academy. Most of the information he'd got was relating to zombie attacks, or about how some girls were disappearing. He had remembered a small leaflet he'd found in a DvD rental store the day he arrived in the island: Join the Fraternity... "Why not?" Tom had thought. He had nothing to lose. Tom was sore. His back was killing him, he had not taken a shower for a really long time, his appearance was even more horrible than usual, and the money he'd brought to the island was dwindling. Looking for a way to join Fraternity, he suddenly saw a familiar looking guy. It was the brown haired guy who'd sacrificed himself for the entire group when they were fighting the demon. Next to him was the guy who'd nearly entrapped him with snares. The guy had a black cat next to him, and was exhibiting the same blade the demon had used. Tom kept looking, amazed, towards the boy with straight brown hair as he approached him. "Dude! I thought you were dead!" He exclaimed.
I blinked a few times as I heard someone approach us. I turned to the boy that had wandered into our little mess from a week ago. "Oh, hello." I said, I put my hand on my cheek. "Tom, right? It's good to see that you got away safely." I said, I tilted my head. "As for me... I guess it takes a lot to take me down." I said, chuckling softly.
"hmm, oh that thing you guys were fighting a week ago dropped it, i picked it up before i left" Mareck said "it's actually part of the reason i was looking for you" Kayik meowed again as another guy came up. Joe seemed to know him but Mareck didn't remember seeing him before.
I turned back to Mareck and glanced at the sword. "Um... if you're planning on giving it to me... please keep it... if I never see that thing again, it'll be too soon, as for that 'thing' we were fighting, his name is Junior, he's a demon that killed one of my friends to gain his own body." I said, crossing my arms. "He was trapped inside that sword, it belonged to that friend who died, he possessed him in the end and made him perform the ritual." I said, looking at the ground.
“Is that what that was?” David’s voice came from the sword and as if he’d been standing there the entire time the transparent boy appeared in front of Joe. Sporting the same outfit he’d worn when Mareck had left the diner. Yet impossibly so a transparent guitar was in his hand and he was playing it quite fluently. Then the singing started. "These are my neeeew friends Mary and his pussy." David kept playing. "Joe is heeeere now to and he's still the ugliest girl I knooow." He paused mid song. "Oh hey Joe." David glanced at Tom. "Hey guy who I don't know but looks really scary, please do not devour my flesh sexy zombie man."
"D-David!?" I asked, shocked. I wondered briefly if I had died in that fight... Then it dawned on me. "You two changed places." I said, I clenched my fists. "That despicable...! Oh! When I get my hands on him, I'll, I'll...!" I said, shaking with anger, and then stopped abruptly. "Wait, I thought only mediums could see the dead." I said.
"Zombie?" Tom exclaimed. It didn't take him long to realize he was indeed looking like a zombie, or perhaps even worse! He didn't reflect long on it though. There were other things more important than his appearance, such as the person who had commented on it. He turned to the other (living) person on the place. "Uhm. I think this sword you found doesn't like you very much. Why, it even let out a ghost to complain about it!" Tom said. "I need some introductions around here, we seem well acquainted already. One of you even thinks I'm sexy!" He said to no one in particular. He was about to continue with his breaking-the-ice gibberish, when something really strange caught his attention. He noticed how the warmth of the charred demon's flesh seemed to be compatible with that of the ghost they had called David. He had thrown the flesh away after it had begun to rot and stink, but he still remembered its warmth. He did not really understand how the ghost had any warmth at all, since it was just a presence, a cold presence. But somehow, Tom connected the demon's flesh with David's aura. "Hey! Am I seeing ghosts? Or is that the demon guy we fought last week?" He asked.
"his spirit is trapped in the sword" Mareck explained "so yeah, you are seeing ghosts, i guess" he looked at the new guy, whom he knew as Tom since Joe called him that, thought Mareck neglected to mention his own name before turning back to Joe "he has been able to appear around the sword though he doesn't go far from it" Kayik remained up on Mareck's shoulder looking around as the group spoke.
"Wow, Joe. Ya know, you're a bitch to find!" Mikkish said, walking up to the group, Heathcliff following behind him "I have been looking for you a whole hour. Anyways, I hope you don't mind, but I signed us up for-HOLY SHIT! Junior's attacking again!!" Mikkish shouted, attempting to tackle David...but falling face first as he wound up diving straight through.
"I know, but I have a friend who's a medium, she deals with ghosts all the time, but no one else in the group has ever been able to see them." I said, crossing my arms. "And I'm not quite sure if my lie detection works on illusions or the dead..." I thought, biting my thumb nail. I turned around when Mikkish called out to me, I was about to say something when my gaze suddenly fell on Heathcliff. "Police!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.
“Now, now, calm down boy. Calling the police is bad for business…” Said a monotone voice from behind Joe. A tall figure stood behind him, the blonde man in a business suit with a boring face they met once in the forest before Junior woke up. “Eric Thompson, accountant, here is my card” said the man with the same boring expression in front of Joe’s surprised’s face. After that he walked toward Mareck and his eyes fixated on the sword he carried as well as the “spirit” that possessed it. “This is an interesting effect of the sword. It had enough strength to contain a demon and it also preserved a soul after the demise of its body. It bears a strong curse.” Stated the man and then he glanced at Mareck. “I would like to retain this weapon if possible, it may have the key to vanish that demon.” Said to the young man. It was certainly not a coincidence that this man showed up and that was something they quickly realized. "Right... I was hired by Mr. Ace Stardust to deal with this creature, not an easy task but money is a good stimulant"
