Chapter 7: Fade to Black, Chapter 7 : The Enemy of My Enemy

*FLASHBACK SEQUENCE* 

"They've all been wiped out" Inyo said to himself. He was crouched near a medium-paced stream of dark and murky water. 

"All of these kappas were killed, recently" 

He examined the slain bodies of numerous kappas. The kappas are humanoid creatures with green skin with black spots, webbed feet, a tortoise-like carapace on their back, and a yellow beak. 

Inyo resumed on his path as he spotted more and more fallen kappas until footprints soaked in the kappas's dark blue blood caught his attention. He crouched down to examine them once again. 

"These footprints..." Inyo pondered. "Seems familiar" 

Inyo looked to his left to see one of the kappas with slash wounds in its chest struggling to not get pulled by the stream's current, as it's legs were submerged in the water. Before it could sink any deeper, Inyo grabbed it's arm, and pulled it's body completely out of the water.

"Stu...pid....hu...mans" the kappa uttered, panting. 

"Humans did this?" Inyo asked. 

"Humans...red" 

"Red humans?" Inyo thought.

"Very...long" The kappa added as it reached out to Inyo and touched his nose.

Inyo looked back at the footprints. 

"Red humans with long noses" Inyo murmured. "It must've been the Tengu." 

Inyo rose to his feet. 

"I suppose I should be glad, but why would the tengu hunt kappas?" Inyo wondered. 

"Water" the kappa continued. "Water" 

"You want water?" Inyo thought. 

Inyo scooped up some water from the stream with his hands. As he approached the kappa again, it bowed his head to him. 

"Water" the kappa said again as it rubbed its own head. 

"You want this water...on your head?" Inyo thought. 

Inyo poured the water onto the kappa's head. A red orb that favored a jewel started to emerge from the kappa's chest as water runned down it's face. 

"I understand now" Inyo stated. "This is the shirikoyama, which starts being developed within a kappa's body during the reproduction period. When infused with shallow energy, more kappas began to hatch from it. Basically their version of an egg." 

Inyo placed his hand on the orb and began to pull on it, but he paused. 

"But removing a kappa's shirikoyama would be the equivalent of removing a person's heart" Inyo declared. "I don't know if I should" 

The kappa placed it's hands on Inyo's, assisting him in pulling out the shirikoyama. Inyo allowed it to, watching in awe. Once it was ripped out, blood gushed from the kappa's chest and it fell to the ground. 

"Use...against...tengu" the kappa stated just before it's eyes closed. 

"This is probably what the tengu were after" Inyo concluded as he observed the orb. "Spawning kappa to fight for them." 

Inyo began to run up a mountain trail, following the tengu's footprints. 

"These footprints will lead me directly to the tengu" Inyo thought. "I have to stop them!" 

Inyo followed the trail until the mountain trail until the Tengu's footprints disappeared. He looked up to see the trail split into two with a evergreen forest separating them. 

"I suppose they started flying at this point" Inyo thought as he examined both paths. "Which means he's close to his temple" 

Instead of picking between the two paths, Inyo ran straight into the forest, leaping past a compilation of thickets. Although he was in a lush forest, he was navigating as if there was a clear path was made there as well. It wasn't until he spotted another stream, that he stopped for a second. 

"What is this?" Inyo thought. 

The Forrest ended when the ground met a long stream formed in a circle around a smaller collection of trees. Inyo examined the outline of the smaller forest, until he noticed that the tengu's footprints started again there. Seeing this made him encouraged to keep moving again. There was a plethora of rocks sticking far enough out the water that he could skip on to get across the stream, and he did. He walked up to the footprints and crunched down to examine them, now that he was closer. 

"Hmmm" he thought. "No more blood. The stream could've washed it off" 

He rose to his feet as he looked back to the stream.

 

"I have a weird feeling about this" 

After a brief pause, he continued on his mission. As he went past the main cluster of trees, he was surprised to see a village in disarray. The scene fancied the sight of the massacred kappas. Red, bloodied bodies could be seen laying everywhere. 

Inyo continued further, and also saw a variety of bloodied kappa bodies. 

"What the hell happened here?" Inyo thought as he made his way to the center of the Forrest. 

There he saw one Tengu, sitting upwards with a deep gash in its chest. It was the only one still somewhat breathing, so he walked up to it with haste. The tengu painfully looked up to Inyo, who was standing in front of it. 

"Came to finish me?" The tengu asked. 

"Not exactly." 

"I wish those damned kappas would have." 

"What was your objective when you attacked those kappa?" 

The tengu slowly pulled out one of the red jewels. 

"They were after the shirikoyama, I knew it" Inyo thought. 

"We planned to use them as a weapon." The tengu explained. "But, we didn't know that the kappa that spawn from these things are alot stronger than usual.

There was way too many at once" 

Inyo took a moment to examine the slain kappa bodies in the area. 

"These kappa are significantly bigger than the ones before" he thought. 

"I guess you should be happy" The tengu added. 

"Why?"

"It was the kappa you were after initially, wasn't it? We took care of them. They came back and took care of us. Both of your enemies dead, and you didn't have to engage in any of it. That's the greatest victory one could achieve." 

"No, I was wrong" Inyo corrected. "The kappa could've possibly been different that what we thought before. I should've learned more about them before decided they should be executed." 

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"That doesn't matter now. The new kappa are most powerful and malicious than ever before. I, Miyazaki Tengu, couldn't do anything against them" 

"What?" Inyo thought in shock. "This is...Miyazaki Tengu?" 

"We managed to kill a few of them, but all hope evaporated when they started using shallow" Miyazaki continued.

"Their skill with shallow already exceeds the likes of Miyazaki Tengu?" Inyo thought. 

"Wait" Miyazaki said. "How did you get here?" 

"What?" 

"There's a protective layer around the stream that circles this forrest. The kappa's shallow was so strong they were unaffected by it. But you? I can sense you don't have a kosho within you. How did you get past it without the use of shallow?" 

"I did feel something weird when I crossed the stream, but I do not know." 

"The layer is drawn from our own shallow, so I guess it's just that weak now." 

The Tengu began coughing harshly, spilling a bit of blood as well. 

"If you want a chance of beating those kappa, you have to kill me" Miyazaki declared. 

"Kill you?" Inyo asked. 

"Killing me gives you the right to claim my soul, meaning you and I would become one." 

"You mean...I would become you're koshomura?" 

"Yes, in my current state, a simple blade could do the job" 

Miyazaki leaned his body up so that Inyo could reach his sheathed sword. Inyo reached for it, but hesitated.

 

"A koshomura at it's full potential can easily overpower the kosho alone" Inyo explained. "Me and you both don't stand a chance alone, but together we can defeat them" 

"What's your reasoning for allowing me becoming your koshomura so easily?" 

"The outcome of dying here is eventually returning to Murta, which is worth than having you as a koshomura." 

"What is Murta?" 

"You still have a lot to learn, and I have a lot I can teach. But now, you have to make a decision." 

The sound of maniacal shrieking could be heard from a distance. 

"That's the sound we heard just before they started attacking" Miyazaki warned. "If you care about whoever's on the receiving end of the attack, you have to kill me" 

Inyo finally grabbed the sword and rose it to Miyazaki's forehead, again he hesitated. 

"I guess I really don't have a choice" he thought. 

Inyo slammed the blade into Miyazaki's chest. 

 "One thing we have to work on" Miyazaki stated just before he closed his eyes. "Is learning to stop thinking and let instinct guide you. It's something that holds you back." 

Miyazaki's body slouched over. But within moments, Inyo felt his energy building around his own body. His skin turned red, his nose grew longer, and his back sprouted wings. 

"What?" Inyo thought. "I can't move?" 

"Relax, Inyo" Miyazaki stated as he drew his sword. "This is too dire for me to allow you to be in control, we can't afford mistakes. So, just watch and see what you can pick up" 

"What are you planning?" Inyo asked.

Miyazaki launched into the air, spreading his angelic wings. He soared through the air like a comet, paying alot of attention to what was beneath him on the ground. He flew out of the mountain area, down to a nearby city. There, he spotted one of the huge kappa. 

"There you are" Miyazaki exclaimed as he soared down directly to the kappa. 

The kappa was holding an unconscious human, as it noticed Miyazaki diving towards it. 

"Daioshi!" Miyazaki yelled as he slashed his sword through the air. 

The slash created a gust of shallow that sliced the arm the kappa was holding a human with off. The kappa leaped backwards as blood poured from it's wound. Miyazaki swooped in with another sword slash, but the kappa caught the blade with it's other arm, and threw Miyazaki into a nearby building. It was not long before he came rushing out of it and attacked with another sword slash. 

"Daioshi!" Miyazaki yelled as his sword slash created a gust of shallow that sliced the kappa's chest.

This time, the kappa leaped forward. 

                                      *BOOM*

The kappa punched Miyazaki in the chest, knocking him back to the ground. As Miyazaki fell, the kappa jumped into the air and came down with a stomp. 

"Tsubute!" Miyazaki stated as he rolled out of the way. 

The kappa was trampled with a variety of rocks and boulders that rained down upon it. Miyazaki's skin began to resemble a regular humans. His nose shrunk, his wings began to retract into his body, and soon he was Inyo again. 

"I relinquished control back to you, Inyo" Miyazaki stated. 

The same sound the kappa made before was heard again.

"I wanted to show you how to defeat a kappa before allowing you to attempt it. I hope you were paying attention, because this one is on you." 

Inyo equipped Miyazaki's sword as he readied himself for battle.

"Also, just to up the stakes, I will inform you that if you fail, you will be the only one to feel the consequence. One of the good things about having a koshomura is that if he dies whilst being weaker than you, which you are right now, I'll still continue to live." 

"No further motivation was needed once you were easily able to take control over my body" Inyo declared. "But now, you've put me in a state to where failing is essentially killing myself." 

The kappa finally set eyes on Inyo as it dropped in on the city. Inyo rose the sword as he turned to face it. 

"That's right, Inyo" Miyazaki announced. "No more hesitation"

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