Chapter 9: Fade to Black, Chapter 9 : Familiar Faces

In the midst of the broken world, spirits and demons freely roam the land. These spirits and demons, known as kosho, all hail from Murta. They escaped what's thought to be the afterlife, to live freely once again. As more people began to become koshomuras, a human fused with a kosho's spirit, chaos quickly ensued. Murders, robberies, and various other crimes became normal. The population of regular humans began to shrink, and all that was left were factions, groups of survivors trying to navigate throughout the new world. Tabuke Erijime was the leader of the notorious faction, the Drowning Fist. Their symbol said to represent people set on the old lifestyle sinking to the bottom as his group rises with the lifestyle of the new world. One of the main premises of his lifestyle, was ensuring the safety of his only son. The city in which his son resided, had no traces of the new world. No damaged buildings, clean streets free of blood, and no decaying bodies in sight. However, for the first time, blood was spilled on this sacred ground. It was midnight in the empty and quiet city. The pale, full moon surrounded with a blanket of stars kept the streets well lit. 

"This is great" Yoto thought. "It seems like nobody is here. Nusaru isn't a koshomura, so this should be easy"

"Don't be so sure" Tamuro stated. "Despite having so much darkness around, I feel uneasy. There's something disturbing my senses" 

"You? Feeling uneasy?" Yoto joked. "You're joking, right?" 

"I am aware of everything right now" Tamuro replied. "The darkness from the shadows are plentiful throughout this entire city, and I can feel and see everything that casts these shadows. And I feel something in this city that indicates we shouldn't let our guards down" 

"I'll stay level-headed" Yoto replied. "But I'm sure we'll be fine, Tamuro" 

"Just hurry up and grab him" Tamuro replied. 

Yoto creeped into the building Nusaru was said to be in. As he said earlier, there wasn't a single guard, just a long hallway with stairs at the end of it. 

"Yoto, get Nusaru quickly and leave!" Tamuro insisted.

 

Tamuro's energy made Yoto walk with a faster pace towards the stairs. 

"What's wrong, Tamuro?" Yoto asked as he began ascending up the stairs. 

"Whatever it is that has been throwing me off just entered the building" Tamuro explained. "Same room as Nusaru" 

"Eughhhhhhh" Yoto heard Nusaru whimper from the room. 

Yoto started leaping up the stairs. 

"Yoto, you need to let me take over" Tamuro stated. "It can only be him"

"Not yet" Yoto stated as he reached the top of the stairs. "We have to save Nusaru first. And who is him?"

Yoto darted to the only door on this floor of the building. 

"It can only be...the Skeleton King!" Tamuro replied.

 

                                     *BOOM*

Yoto smashed through the door to see two giant skeleton arms wrapped around Nusaru, squeezing the life out of his body. 

"Eughhhhh" Nusaru continued to scream. 

Yoto rushed forwards quickly, building his aura. 

"Asaibimu!"" He yelled as a beam of shallow energy soared towards the skeleton. 

At this point, the Skeleton had two arms, two hands, a ribcage, and a skull attached on top. The skeleton split into two, causing Yoto's attack to flow through it. The right side of the skeleton rushed towards Yoto and picked him up. 

"shhhh!" It's gravely voice whispered before throwing him down. "gachi gachi"

"Aughhhhh" Yoto screamed as the skeleton's shallow energy floated around him.

 One by one, all of his bones bent and started protruding out of his skin. The bones from his legs poked through his knees, the bones from his thighs poked through his stomach, his rib cage was poking out through his shoulder, the bones in his arm poked through his hands. They were sticking out in a way that resembled the design of a snowflake. Yoto fell to the ground, paralyzed and bleeding heavily. The skeleton king's body reconnected as he focused on Nusaru. He grabbed Nusaru's legs with one hand and his torso with the other. Then, he began to pull. The sound of bones breaking and flesh ripping was enough to bring Yoto back to his senses momentarily. The last thing he saw was the skeleton drinking the blood leaking out of Nusaru's bifurcated body, before tossing it out the window. Tamuro's aura began to flow around Yoto's body. 

"Even if I take control, I won't be able to move in his body" Tamuro thought. "I'll just have to unleash my power from here!"

The skeleton began to hover towards Yoto's body but once it passed the shadow of the window on the floor, it stopped. All of the shadows formed together and flowed around the skeleton like water. 

"Gashadokuro" Tamuro exclaimed. "I'll send you back to the shadow realm!"  

The shadows began to wrapped around Gashadokuro, constricting his movement. It's body began to sink into a puddle of shadows that formed under it. Gashadokuro responded by building his aura of shallow, and it's body began growing again. After sprouting two legs, the skeleton had a full body. 

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"gachi gyutei" it's whispered. 

                                    *SWOOSH* 

The skeleton lost it's physical form, and seemed to be a ghastly cloud in the shape of a skeleton instead of an actual one like before. It began floating as it soared out of the room and into the light of the moon. A pool of shadows formed under Yoto's body, as he began to float a few inches above the floor well. 

"If the body can't move, I'll just have to use my shadows to move it instead" Tamuro commented. 

Tamuro's powers were enhanced at night time, due to the copious amount of shadows and darkness for him to manipulate. Being that only thirty minutes has passed since midnight, he had plenty of time to reach the others, even with the state that Yoto is in. His shadows carried him down the stairs, out of the building, into the streets of the city. Now that he was outside, the pool of shadows that carried Yoto grew massively. This called Yoto to hover above the ground faster. 

"At this rate, it won't take long" Tamuro stated. "I'll just have to explain everything that happen to the kid with Kintaro" 

        *MEANWHILE* (SAME DAY, MIDNIGHT)

"I hope you guys are ready" Shira stated as he dropped the body of one of Tabuke's men. "When we sound this alarm, they're going to come flooding in" 

Mashiko, Shira, and Masami found their way to a Drowning Fist outpost, where a central beacon could sound their horns to signify trouble. Mashiko grabbed a hold of the switch, which would trigger their theme one she pulled on it. 

"Wait" Masami stated. "If things go wrong, what will we do?" 

"If we get severely outnumbered, we'll have to force our way out" Mashiko answered. 

"And if Tabuke acts as if he doesn't care that we have his son hostage, we'll hurt him a little bit to call his bluff" 

"Okay" Masami replied as he shook his head, showing that he was ready. 

                                     *SWITCH* 

                                  

After Mashiko pulled the switch, speakers connected to the outpost station started to screech with the Drowning Fist's signature horns. It didn't take long for the group's adversaries to start pouring in, as various trucks sporting the Drowning Fist symbol were seen raging towards them in the horizon. 

"Mashiko, slow them down" Shira instructed as he built his aura. 

"Sure" Mashiko replied as he built her shallow as well. 

She extended her arms out to the incoming soldiers, who began to struggle against the ferocious, snowy winds she blew towards them. 

"Raging Blizzard!" 

The trucks they were in began to slide backwards, despite the tires rolling forward at full speed. 

"Wow!" Masami thought. "Her attack is so strong, they won't even be able to reach us" 

Masami's thoughts proved to be right as the trucks were eventually pushed back until they were out of sight. Mashiko stopped exerting her powerful winds as she saw the collection of cars slowly disappear into the horizon. 

"She's so strong" Masami thought. "That was way too easy" 

A few moments after, a spiral of shallow energy rose just a few meters in front of the group. 

"Alright, get ready for a real fight" Shira advised.

The shallow formed an old mirror with a wooden frame, as a short haired woman wearing a red shirt with a jean jacket stepped out of it. She was followed by a flock of crows who formed into a woman. Lastly, a tall man with black-spikey hair stepped out of the mirror. He wore orange pants without a shirt, showing of a physique fairly similar to Shira's. He looked down at the ground with his hands in his pant's pockets. 

"Hey, boy" Mara stated as she looked in Shira's direction. "Did you forget my name?" 

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