Disclaimer – I own neither Sekiro nor Resident Evil.


"Wolf.."

Kuro, The Divine Heir, was kneeling on a concrete ground, budging the shinobi, The One-Armed Wolf, by his shoulder. When the shinobi, who was slumped on the ground with his arms and legs extended outwards, failed to respond and appeared to be in a brief coma, Kuro shook Wolf even harder.

"Wolf..wake up..!" he desperately reiterated; his youthful eyes gleamed with genuine concern for the unconscious shinobi. Much to Kuro's relief, Wolf let out a silent grunt and blinked a couple times before fixating his gaze to The Divine Heir.

"My Lord.."

Kuro returned Wolf with a smile. The Divine Heir then snapped his head towards Genichiro Ashina, who, like Wolf, was seen slumped on the ground on his shoulder and waist. While the shinobi sat upright and retrieved his Kusabimaru katana that was close to him with his Prosthetic Arm, Kuro rushed to the commander of Ashina and shook his shoulder while kneeling on the floor.

"Lord Genichiro..!"

Grunting, Genichiro, in aggressive reflex, firmly gripped the hilt of his katana and quickly recovered to a disciplined kneeling stance. He had his frowned eyes glaring onto those of the Divine Heir and had the edge of his whet, stainless blade inches off of Kuro's neck. Genichiro's frown regressed to mercy upon recognizing the so-called key to defeating the Interior Ministry's powerful army. Despite Genichiro's misunderstood surprise attack, the Divine Heir remained unflinched and merely returned his glare to Genichiro in silence.

"Di – "

The grandson of Isshin Ashina immediately drew his blade away from Kuro's neck.

"Divine Heir.."

However, when he gazed behind Kuro to see Wolf recovering to his feet, he frowned once more and gripped the hilt of his katana even firmer.

"Shinobi..!"

Upon hearing the cold voice of Genichiro, Wolf gripped his Kusabimaru and went into his fighting posture, which had him hovering his blade in a reversed fashion with his hands placed close to the side of his head and his blade pointing at the concrete ground below. The stainless steel of his Kusabimaru radiated his respective cheek with a douse of reflected white light. The shinobi's frowned gaze electrified with that of Genichiro, who went into his own fighting stance by widening his legs past shoulder-length, slightly bending his knees, and extending his arms outwards with the tip of the blade facing directly at Wolf's heart. When he saw the One-Armed Wolf and Ashina's commander simultaneously charging at each other like ravenous tigers, Kuro, who predicted this to happen, right away budged in between the two lethal combatants with his palms facing the both of them.

"STOP!" demanded the Divine Heir; his voice echoed past the surroundings. The two warriors came to a halt. They were literally a few meters away from shedding the blood of the other. For now, Wolf and Genichiro abandoned their stances, retracted their deathly frowns from each other, and gazed below to face Kuro.

"Divine Heir..?" said Genichiro.

"My Lord..?" said Wolf. Kuro snapped his head towards Genichiro with a frown.

"I know that you both have scores to settle – "

He then faced Wolf with the same frown.

" – but now is not the time! This fight will continue once we return to the very top of the castle!"

Wolf and Genichiro returned their deathly glares to one another for half a minute before sheathing their weapons for good.

"Have it your way, Divine Heir," complied Genichiro. The shinobi, with a formal bow at Kuro, didn't hesitate to comply as well.

"My Lord."

The grandson of Isshin adeptly twirled his blade once before sheathing his katana in his saya scabbard, and the One-Armed Wolf sheathed his as well. Although they stood down for now, the two couldn't help but still lust for one another's blood. After the two finally sighted their heated glances elsewhere, the warriors shared the similar sentiment with Kuro in assessing their current surroundings that didn't come close to resembling the Ashina-styled architecture.

A modern light-source that was attached on the wall of the platform dimly flickered and was the only thing that paved vision to the three's eyes in this blackened setting. The three were initially captivated by the spectacle of the light-source, which its "buzzing"-sound was heard by them as well, but were too distracted by other aspects of the foreign place to devote further attention to it. Sound of running water was heard in close proximity. A foul stench lingered in the air, but Wolf and Genichiro weren't fazed in the least as they were habituated to the decaying, rotten smell of hundreds, if not thousands, of corpses back in their original birthplace of Japan. As for Kuro, he wasn't fond of the smell, but he, too, didn't seem to be fazed at all.

They were standing on a narrow concrete platform that was attached to a staircase, which was heavily-blockaded by debris that comprised of rusty barrels, large plywoods, and rubbish sacks. The three took notice of the sickly-green water flowing just besides them that had all kinds of rubbish floating on it. It was rather obvious to them where the pungent stench was coming from. Genichiro, who was closer to the water, approached closer to the edge of the platform and assessed both left and right waterways. Soon, Kuro and Wolf joined close to him to assess the waterways as well in deep silence. The left waterway had a narrow, darkened archway with mounds of heaped rubbish seen within, and the right waterway was more extensive in spaciousness with a visible slope sighted fifty meters away from the three's current position.

Kuro, who was standing at the middle of the three, broke the silence.

"Where..are we..? What happened..? How did we find ourselves here of all places..?"

The Divine Heir looked up to Ashina's commander.

"Lord Genichiro..?"

Then to the One-Armed Wolf.

"Wolf..?"

"I do not know, my Lord. I saw..a white light."

"Yes. I recall seeing a white light before my eyes whilst in the heat of battle. And then – "

Genichiro skirted his eyes upwards, assessing the above surroundings from the left to right.

" – I found myself here."

Genichiro's contribution to their short-lived conversation forced all three of them to ponder on the events that were taken place before finding themselves in what seemed to be a sewer. Kuro reminisced Wolf and Genichiro engaging in fast-paced, intense combat at the zenith of the Ashina Castle. He distinctly remembered the clanging sounds emitting from the two's katanas brutally scraping against one another. He remembered seeing the fiery sparks blazing between the ferocious eyes of Genichiro and the calmed yet determined eyes of Wolf with each consecutive hit. He remembered secretly hiding behind the doors, peeking at the two warriors out of curiosity to see who would eventually turn out triumphant. When he realized that the One-Armed Wolf and the commander of Ashina were at a stalemate with neither gaining advantage over the other, the Divine Heir, much to his surprise with his radiating eyes petrified wide-open, witnessed a vortex of white light and electrical discharge forming between the two dogged warriors.

"What could this mean..?" inquired the conflicted Kuro. The modernity of the foreign architecture surrounding them irritated Genichiro in the sense that he was genuinely concerned of possibly finding himself faraway from Ashina for mysterious, and rather supernatural, reasons not yet known. He couldn't imagine the state of Ashina with his absence, so he, wavering his cape, turned his back on the water and headed for the staircase. Kuro and Wolf merely gazed at Genichiro going for the staircase and unsheathing his katana to make quick work of the debris obstructing their path.

"We shall know what we are dealing with once we reach higher ground. Let us make haste – "

The debris in front of Genichiro rattled violently, forcing him to take in his usual fighting stance out of instinct with his katana. Gruff, lifeless moaning of inhuman origin emitted behind the debris in the dozens accompanied with trudging footsteps closing in. The more the unsettling sounds of unknown origin were converging in, the more the debris rattled violently. Kuro found himself involuntarily shivering in his legs once the voices increased in numbers and echoed past them. Sensing imminent danger, Wolf unsheathed his Kusabimaru and faced below to the Divine Heir.

"Remain here," instructed the shinobi. Kuro latched his worried gaze to Wolf and silently nodded in response. Wolf headed next to Genichiro and cupped his left ear, which he placed closer to the debris, to rely on his honed eavesdropping skill to get a better sense of what they were truly dealing with. The voices coming from the debris reminded him of those of the undead patients from the depths of the Abandoned Dungeon – except they were much more deep and guttural in nature. Aside from hearing the encroaching voices, which continued to merge in greater converging numbers, the sharp One-Armed Wolf picked up more troubling disturbances ahead.

"More footsteps," he silently muttered. While Ashina's commander maintained the tip of his blade towards the violently-shaking debris, he inquired the shinobi.

"How many?"

"Many.."

Wolf ceased eavesdropping once the rattling turned to banging and once the moaning turned to cacophonous conglomeration. The warriors stood side-by-side, kept firm glare on the shaking debris, and gripped their respective katanas in their usual stances. Adding to the deafening noise, a high-pitched, blood-curdling shriek emitted behind the debris, prompting Kuro to suggest a different path for not only his own safety, but also especially for the safety of the other two warriors as well in a selfless perspective. While the shriek didn't frighten the warriors, it only further confused them in the origins of their unrevealed, and seemingly monstrous, assailants.

"There must be another way..!" he cried from behind. Genichiro, however, was adamant to remain in his place.

"Do not fear, Divine Heir. It matters not what lurks beyond. They shall all fall before the edge of my blade – "

"It matters not how skilled you are in the art of combat, Lord Genichiro! I intend on venturing through the path that presents the least bloodshed – and I intend on seeing the both of you alive! I am not taking any chances by having us journeying through that perilous route! Please: Heed to my warnings – the two of you! We do not know what awaits us!" interrupted the pleading Kuro. Wolf didn't hesitate to comply to the Divine Heir's demanding suggestion and backed away from Genichiro and the debris to make his way to Kuro. The shinobi's departure was noticed by the grandson of Isshin.

Wolf kneeled close to Kuro with his face drooped to the ground and with his back turned on the latter. The shinobi offered the Divine Heir a piggyback ride.

"My Lord, let us drift through the waters," suggested the One-Armed Wolf. Kuro initially was insistent on walking by foot, but he realized that Wolf's suggestion was worth taking as he could possibly drown due to his short stature. He hopped on the shinobi's back. Before the two went in the foul water, the Divine Heir gazed back to the fearless Genichiro, who was still tenaciously adamant in holding the unidentified assailants at bay.

"Lord Genichiro, please..! Come with us..!"

Genichiro, with his gaze still obstinately fixated to the violently-trembling debris, eventually complied and lowered his blade, heading to Wolf and Kuro's direction.

"Let us make haste then," advised the commander of Ashina. Wolf and Genichiro dunked themselves in the sewer water waist-deep, forming ripples that drifted outwards from them. The water was thankfully of bearable temperature for the sake of Kuro's safety, both thought Wolf and Genichiro. Now, the three had to decide whether to take the left or the right waterway.

"My Lord, which way?" inquired the One-Armed Wolf.

"Divine Heir, it is your decision," offered the grandson of Isshin. The Divine Heir gazed to his left, which was the dark, narrow archway filled with garbage piles, and then gazed to his right, which was the pathway that led them to the declined, "slidable" slope. Kuro took a moment to decide, but didn't want to take too long with it. He found the left pathway to be more unsettling than the right pathway due to its claustrophobic and dark aspects. Additionally, he took account of the water flowing to the direction of the right pathway, so journeying to the right would possibly earn them faster progress in getting out of the sewers, further thought Kuro. He went with choosing the right pathway.

"Let us head to the right," he decided. Genichiro acquiesced with the Divine Heir, giving the latter a nod.

"Very well. I shall lead the way and slay all that stand in our way."

With Ashina's commander spearheading the way with his katana held above the water, the three commenced to the right waterway. The current flowing to their same way of direction speedily favored their progress of sloshing their way through with each consecutive step. Wolf, like Genichiro, wielded the Kusabimaru with his Prosthetic Arm to put it to valuable use once they were to be ambushed by the unknown assailants from behind. He had his other right arm assisting in piggybacking the Divine Heir. While there was seemingly no enemy combatant to deal with for now, the three, however, faintly heard subtle sloshing sounds emitting from the narrow archway behind them.

Wolf and Genichiro ceased in movement and instinctively gripped their katanas. As soon as they snapped behind, Genichiro briskly sheathed his katana and wielded his bow and arrow with the One-Armed Wolf relying on his Loaded Shuriken attachment on his Prosthetic Arm to quickly dispatch the stalking mystery individual. The grandson of Isshin pulled the aged string of his great-sized bow with the base of his arrow and aimed the sharp tip of the feathered projectile to the mystery individual, preparing to fire at any given moment should the individual turn out to be an aggressor. Like Genichiro, who hesitated to release the string for now, the shinobi hesitated to fire a shuriken from the prosthetic.

Much to the three's genuine confusion, the mystery individual standing thirty meters away from them was of perplexing and foreign origin. To add to their further bafflement, they couldn't differentiate the individual apart from man to creature. The individual, armed with a submachine gun, transfixed the iron sight to Wolf and Genichiro with his shoulders leaned forward and his cheek region resting on the black exterior of the gun. The three native Japanese couldn't help but stare at the dark-crimson lens of the foreign individual's gas mask both in caution and in deep curiosity.

A static voice from a young individual emitted from the foreign individual's comms:

"This is Nighthawk. Come in, Alpha. Alpha, do you read?"

While maintaining his arc of fire to Wolf and Genichiro, the mystery individual responded with a muffled voice just as cold, if not colder, than that of the commander of Ashina.

"Nighthawk, this is HUNK from Alpha Team."

HUNK, an American USS operator, had his bearings donned in greyish-black military camo from head to toe. His outfit was near-tantamount in appearance to that of a British SAS trooper with a gas mask entirely concealing his face. The USS operator was outfitted with a helmet covering his entire cranium, guards on his elbows, a kevlar vest, a pair of tactical gloves covering his hands, and tactical bags strapped behind his upper, lower back, and right hip. Sets of flashbang and fragmentation grenades were strapped around his waist. A comms device was attached to his upper tactical bag. A 12-gauge pump-action W870 shotgun was strapped on the same bag. A 9mm MUP handgun was holstered on his left thigh with a combat knife and a Lightning Hawk magnum holstered on his opposite thigh. With his near-superhuman combative reflexes coupled with his loaded arsenal, and with Wolf and Genichiro initially unaware of his presence, the Reaper could've had most likely finished them all off in a split second – but decided to spare them for now due to him being baffled as well of the three's anachronistic presence.

"Man, I thought you were all wiped out. I've been trying to – "

"I'm at Point K12. Need info on my extraction."

"Guess there's no keeping down the Grim Reaper, huh?" continued Nighthawk.

"My extraction point!" demanded the USS operator.

"Relax, Mr. Reaper. I'm headed towards the front gate of RPD. Pick you up there."

"Got it."

With the static voice echoing from the operator's device to all directions, Wolf, Genichiro, and Kuro found HUNK conversing with the comms device to be culturally weird and disturbing. Was he conversing with a floating spirit nearby? They all thought as best guesses they could come up with. And what are all those gears strapped on him? What is he carrying in his hands? A weapon of some sort perhaps? They all further thought out of sheer unresolved curiosity.

Ending the comms, HUNK chose words and not violence to converse with the three Japanese, who he found their attires and weapons to be extremely anachronistic and peculiar. The USS operator trailed his gaze first to Genichiro's armor, robe, katana, and his great-sized bow. The golden kuwagata that rested on the forehead region of Genichiro's black, red-trimmed helmet was the most captivating part of his attire for the operator – like how the three found HUNK's reddened visors to be the most captivating part of his own attire as well. After noting the silvery-white horsehair plume resting on the apex region of the helmet and the fingerless hand guards decorated with distinct emblems, HUNK then gazed at the black, gold-trimmed robe hovering on Genichiro's shoulders and arms, and then looked at his charcoal-black platebody, which had an emblem visible in the very center. Noticing the red laces, the large green bowtie, and the various foreign and ancient accessories all located between the gap of Genichiro's black robe, HUNK then trailed his perplexed gaze to the lengthy sheathed katana of greyish-black color that was holstered at the ancient warrior's hip and looked onwards to the great-sized bow of crimson-saturated background with gold embellishment. He then observed the tip of Genichiro's arrow that was about to be fired on him and shrewdly noticed that it was laced with high-quality metal. The grandson of Isshin's stunningly royal yet combative attire was by far the most eye-catching out of the three for the USS operator.

HUNK then assessed the attire of the shinobi. Aside from noticing Wolf's overall orangish bearing, the scarf wrapped around his neck, his katana, and his ponytail, the Reaper took particular regard for his Prosthetic Arm, which he noticed its bony appearance, the several ropy linings wrapped around it, the summoned, intricately-detailed Loaded Shuriken device on the forearm region, and the quality of the metal laced on the exposed shurikens.

What confused the Reaper the most aside from the sightings of Wolf and Genichiro was the robed Divine Heir clutching on the shinobi's back. HUNK realized the innocence and the youthfulness of his expression. If there was one thing that stopped him from disposing of them behind their backs, then it was most likely because of Kuro due to his childlike, benign appearance. Normally, Hunk took little to no sympathy in other human beings no matter the age, but there was something "pure" about Kuro's appearance that he had never seen before in his thirty-one years of life.

"His shady attire reeks of that of a weakling Ministry rat," said Genichiro with a fairly disgusted tone; he interrupted the brief silence. HUNK didn't understand what the Ashina commander was stating due to his use of the Japanese tongue, but he could guess that it was a genuine threat aimed at him based on Genichiro's tone, posture, and aggressive frowning passed at him. Just as the three native Japanese were deeply bewildered of the operator's modernistic appearance, HUNK himself, as sharp-minded as he was, didn't know where to start with the three's traditional, "out-of-date" appearances. He was left with three options of considering explanations for their chosen bearings and weapons:

They were old-fashioned Japanese tourists that found themselves stuck in Raccoon City after it suffered from the T-Virus outbreak and somehow had smuggled ancient weapons and armors all the way to America.

They were merely posers that somehow had authentically-designed, ancient Japanese armors and weapons at their disposal.

All of them were at least diagnosed with a severe case of mental disorder and still somehow had access to ancient Japanese armors and weapons.

None of these suggestions added up for HUNK – so he addressed them with an inquiry:

"What are your purposes here?" he asked with an interrogative tone.

"What is he saying..?" asked Kuro to the other two warriors while frowning in genuine confusion.

"He speaks in barbaric Western tongue. He cannot be trusted. Foreigners are not to be trusted under any circumstances, especially not during this time of struggle with the Interior Ministry," sternly warned Genichiro.

"Speak English?" inquired the Reaper.

"Are you incapable of presenting yourself in our superior tongue?" aggressively responded the commander of Ashina. HUNK reminded himself that he had a chopper to catch and time was running for his promised rendezvous in the extraction point.

"I don't have time for this."

The USS operator sloshed his way past the three while vigilantly pointing his submachine gun to the One-Armed Wolf and the grandson of Isshin. Wolf returned the favor by still having his shurikens ready to be thrown at HUNK with Genichiro maintaining his aim with his arrow ready to be fired at the Reaper. HUNK continued to aim his iron sight at the two ancient warriors with his back turned on the slope he was steadily heading to. Genichiro, however, wasn't inclined to let the American go just yet.

"Where do you think you are heading to? Where are your manners and your sense of decency? You face not only Genichiro Ashina, but also the Divine Heir himse – "

"Try anything on me, I won't hesitate to kill you all," coldly interrupted HUNK, cutting off the grandson of Isshin. Just before HUNK glided down the slope, Kuro called him out.

"Wait..!"

The operator ceased for now and gazed at the Divine Heir.

"Wherever you are headed to, we were wondering if you could show us the way out of this place," innocently requested Kuro. Due to the lasting language barrier between him and the three Japanese natives, HUNK was at a loss on what Kuro was trying to imply.

"I don't understand."

Genichiro didn't find Kuro's suggestion to be in any way auspicious to their current objective of getting out of the sewers.

"Divine Heir..I say this to you again: He cannot be trust – "

"He means no harm, Lord Genichiro. Please, put aside your bow – "

Kuro then faced the shinobi.

" – and the same goes to you, Wolf."

"My Lord," responded the One-Armed Wolf; he contained the Loaded Shuriken device and lowered his Prosthetic Arm. When Genichiro holstered the great-sized bow on his back and returned the arrow in the bountiful quiver, which was strapped on his lower back with his second sheathed katana, the USS operator steadily lowered his weapon from high-alert as well.

Kuro decided it would be better to use hand signals for the sake of communication. He first pointed to himself with his index finger and twirled the finger in a circle to reference Wolf and Genichiro. The Divine Heir then used both his index and middle finger to animate a walking person and pointed to HUNK. The operator knew what Kuro was trying to state, but he responded with a disapproving "no" by slightly shaking his head to the sides. Out of slight desperation, Kuro clasped his hands together to further convince the USS operator to rethink his decision on allowing them to follow his stead. HUNK took another ten seconds to reconsider the Divine Heir's request and eventually gave in: The least he could do was evacuate the three out of the vicinity of Raccoon City via Nighthawk's chopper.

In the end, HUNK responded with a reluctant yet approving nod to Kuro.

"Thank you for your consideration! We won't let you down!" genuinely thanked Kuro with an amicable smile. The commander of Ashina subtly rolled his eyes and scoffed at the thought of a Westerner leading the way.

"Tch."

Before HUNK had the privilege of leading the group to the extraction point, he approached Wolf and Genichiro, and especially approached Genichiro face-to-face. While gazing at the two anachronistic warriors, the Reaper pointed at their respective weapons from the shinobi's Kusabimaru to the grandson of Ashina's great-sized bow.

"The moment you point those things at me, I will bleed the both of you – real fast," warned and threatened HUNK. Genichiro took offense in the operator's uptight hand gestures and the fact that he had the galls to face him in a face-to-face proximity.

"Are you finished?" asked Genichiro in his native tongue, raising an eyebrow. After the intense staredown between the two, the USS operator backed away from Ashina's commander for now and, before gliding down the slope, issued all three of them a serious warning.

"And should any of you manage to get out alive and run your mouth about this incident, I will hunt you, your family, and everyone you love as well."

Again, due to language barriers, all the three Japanese natives could do was look to one another in utter confusion. HUNK, in the end, was reminded of the language barriers between him and them and quietly let out a muffled sigh.

"We need to move. Time's running," suggested the Reaper. With HUNK slapping the magazine of his submachine gun by its bottom, he led the way as promised. The rest of the three anachronistic Japanese individuals followed the American operator from behind.


Author's notes: This story is intended to be short with only three chapters maximum including this one. The next chapter will be much longer in length and will be much more intense with all the zombies and BOWs introduced throughout HUNK's, Wolf's, Genichiro's, and Kuro's short yet breathtaking journey to the extraction point.