Chapter 3

I do not own either Darksiders or Corpse Princess

The next morning Death returned to the warehouse to see Vulgrim.

"Did you get what I needed?" asked Death.

"But of course Horseman," responded Vulgrim with his usual grin.

Vulgrim then handed Death a large binder completely filled with papers. Death was impressed, the binder was well organized. The contracted monks were alphabetized and put into sections based on the area they worked. They were also listed next to their Shikabane Hime.

"Impressive Vulgrim," spoke Death in a moderate tone. "What have you found out about the boy Ouri?"

"Not much out of the ordinary," said Vulgrim. "At least, not before he was three."

"I'm listening," spoke Death with great interest.

"The man Keisei apparently found Ouri at the age of three and raised him as his brother at the temple orphanage," explained Vulgrim.

"So they are not blood related," said Death, thinking of the similar relation he had with his siblings. "What happened to him before that?"

"To be honest with you I don't know. There are no records of his existence before going to the orphanage. But I did find one interesting fact."

"And that would be?" Death said with thin patience.

"Around the time of the boy's sudden appearance there was also a rash of children disappearing. Evidently they were never given any food or water and eventually died. All, that is, except for one."

"The boy was the only survivor?" asked Death.

"I cannot confirm this but it would make sense," responded Vulgrim.

"So perhaps seeing all those deaths at such a young age gave him some kind of spiritual perception that allows him to see me."

"I suppose that would be possible but again this is only a theory."

"Well theory or not it's better than nothing."

"Oh and one more thing," spoke Vulgrim as he was about to leave. "There have been a surprising number of young people disappearing lately and evidently the only link is a strange rental car they all seemed to rent."

"It's not like you to give away free information," said Death. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Let's just call it a gesture of good faith for my favorite customer," spoke Vulgrim as he disappeared back into the ground.

With that business concluded Death decided to go through the binder and learn all he could about the Kōugon Sect before going to find this strange rental car.

Meanwhile at the local high school Ouri was sleeping on his desk as he waited for the teacher to arrive. He sat there silently as his friend criticized him not caring about some others that had died. As the teacher finally walked in he was accompanied by two new students.

"Settle down," spoke the teacher. "Today I would like you to welcome two new students. "

The first new student was a girl. She had long red hair that was almost as long as her arms had a pink bow tied in her hair and was very attractive, made obvious by the reaction of all the male students.

The other was a boy. He had spiky silver hair that went down to his ears. He wore the same uniform as all the other male students but had a gold necklace with a skeletal horses head. He also had a permanent look in his eyes that said, 'don't mess with me'. He was also very attractive made obvious by all the female students.

"This is Itsuki Yamagami," said the teacher as he introduced the girl while both students bowed to the class. "And this is Victor Shiro."

With the introductions made both students took their seats. Itsuki waved to Ouri which evidently made a friend of his angry because he started to choke him demanding his secrets.

Class ended without any more incidents and thing seemed quiet. Victor was walking around the schoolyard eating his lunch when he noticed the girls that had been following him. They had been following him for a while now; too afraid to approach him because while he was attractive he was also scary when you looked straight at him. As he walked he saw Ouri sitting with Itsuki and could practically smell the jealously in the air around them. But he never got to see any more as a stampede of girls ran right past him. Curiously Victor decided to see what the commotion was about.

When he followed the girls he arrived at the archery club where he saw a young man with dark hair and glasses preparing to shoot a bow. When he shot he hit just outside the bull's-eye.

"And that end our demonstration," said the teacher who Victor now recognized as Takamasa Sogi who he had seen earlier in the day. "There may not be much I can teach you but I'll do my very best. It was nice to meet you all."

"That was a nice shot teach," Victor spoke with a rude tone. "It takes a lot of effort to miss on purpose."

"So you think you can do better?" asked Takamasa with a displeased expression. "Do you even know how to use a bow?"

"It's been a while since I used one but I can" responded Victor.

Victor walked up to the front and took the bow from Takamasa. He then grabbed two arrows, holding one arrow between his pinky and ring finger while aiming the other with his pointer and middle fingers. After about ten seconds he fired the first arrow and it hit the bull's-eye and immediately after that he pulled back the second arrow with his other fingers and fired. The second arrow split the first right down the middle.

"Haven't lost my touch," bragged Victor as he walked out of the club room, some of the girls following him.

Later that evening as Victor was walking home he saw Itsuki with Ouri. Curiously he approached them to hear what they were talking about.

"Going for a drive?" said Ouri

"Yeah," answered Itsuki. "I was asked out but, it was so sudden and I'm kind of scared."

"You mean of the guy who asked you out?" asked Ouri as Itsuki shook her head.

"He said there's this rental car company renting out to kids," said Itsuki. "Could you come along? It would really mean a lot.

Ouri looked at Itsuki while she gave him cute puppy dog eyes. Victor nearly laughed at how she was reeling this boy in like a big catch on a fishing pole.

"I would but I got to work tonight," Spoke Ouri while he was blushing.

"Please Ouri?" asked Itsuki while grabbing Ouri's hand.

"Mind if I join in?" shouted Victor as he walked out in front of them.

"I don't know?" said Ouri.

"Sure," happily said Itsuki ignoring Ouri. "It could be fun."

With that done they all went their separate ways.

Although Ouri was almost strangled by his friends again as they yelled, "Why was it you? Why couldn't it be me?" But Victor disappeared before they could interrogate him.

Later that night Death was on a rooftop overlooking a parking lot with a single SUV in it. After some investigating he had discovered that this was the supposed car that made people disappear. Not long after he arrived a young girl arrived and waited next to the car. Death couldn't sense a soul in her and upon looking a little closer knew who she was. It was Itsuki Yamagami a Shikabane Hime; he knew this from the files that Vulgrim gave him that morning. But what was even more surprising was the young man with silver hair that arrived later. Death knew him but in a much different way. And to add yet another surprise Ouri showed up. And last but not least came another individual in a red baseball cap which upon Ouri's removal revealed the person to be non-other than Makina. All four of them got into the SUV.

"Dust," spoke Death as a large black bird settled on his shoulder. "Follow them from the skies while I'll follow on the road."

With that Dust took to the skies and Death leaped from the top of the building. Despair appeared from under him and they landed on the ground as light as a feather. Death began to follow the SUV, being very careful not to get too close because he knew that everyone in that SUV could see him.

Meanwhile inside the SUV Victor was sitting in the front seat, Makina and Ouri where in the back seats and Itsuki (despite Victor's objections) was driving the vehicle.

"Um hey there Itsuki, you do have a driver's license don't you?" asked Ouri very nervously.

"Can't say that I do," responded Itsuki with an expression on her face that made you believe she didn't have a clue.

After that Itsuki turned the wheel hard to the right causing Makina to slide into Ouri.

"So what's up with that guy who asked you out?" asked Ouri still pressed against the door.

"The truth is I lied," answered Itsuki with a giggle in her voice. "I just really wanted to spend some time getting to know you. But if you have a girlfriend I guess it's a bad idea. "

"She thinks I'm your girlfriend?" asked Makina jokingly while all Ouri could do was blush.

"So you aren't then," said Itsuki. "That's good to know."

"Yeah," responded Makina. "Go right on ahead I won't put up a fight."

"Very funny!" shouted Ouri as Itsuki turned hard to the left making Ouri slide into Makina.

Victor could tell that they were still talking back there but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Or rather he didn't care. Suddenly the SUV almost ran into another car coming in the opposite direction.

"Hey Itsuki watch out!" yelled Ouri.

"You're going a little fast," said Makina. "Slow down."

"But I'm not the one in control of the wheel anymore," responded Itsuki.

"What about the breaks?" asked Ouri.

"Uh, it's not working," said Itsuki desperately trying to push the pedals.

While Makina was trying to break open the door a message started to appear on the GPS screen. It read, 'Welcome to the joyride of hell. The capacity of this car is one passenger. Now let's reduce the number of passengers. When there is one passenger left the car will stop.' Suddenly the middle glove compartment opened to reveal a cash of sharp tools and weapons. Itsuki pulled a gun from the compartment.

"What in the world is this?" asked Ouri.

"It wants us to kill each other," said Itsuki, pointing the gun at Ouri. "That's what it wants. We kill each other here. It won't stop until there's only one of us left and that's the one who lives."

"Don't shoot that thing in here!" yelled Victor as he pulled the gun from Itsuki's hand. "If you fire this thing in here you'll kill all of us from the ricochets."

Suddenly Makina pulls out her machine guns.

"Where the hell were you hiding those?" yelled Victor pointing his gun in response.

"Humans tend to struggle more when they don't want to die," spoke Makina ignoring Victor's question. "Like it or not it's going to happen. Remember that."

Suddenly Makina shot the floor and there was a scream as if the car was hurt.

"Quiet an impressive disguise you've been hiding behind," said Makina to what seemed like nothing. "But it's not them who'll be doing the killing tonight. It's going to be me."

Suddenly there was a knock coming from outside the door. Death was right beside the car riding Despair. He then pulled out one half of Harvester and smashed it through the window of the front seat door. Then using the blade like a hook he pried the door right off the car. He put Harvester away and reached out his hand. Victor was quick to grab it and was pulled onto Despairs back but before he could get anyone else out the car veered off the road and off the side of a cliff. Death saw the left passenger door get blown off by Makina and saw Ouri get kicked out of the car. Death lost sight of the car as it disappeared into the wood below but could hear that Makina was shooting from inside.

"Damn it," muttered Death from atop the cliff. "Get off boy. I have work to do."

Victor dismounted from the back of Despair. Death and Despair then jumped from the cliff and followed the car.

"This is starting to get fun," whispered Victor with a sinister smile. "Maybe this will be worth the effort after all."

As Death was riding looking for the Shikabane car he saw Ouri talking with what looked like a monk.

"They call me the traitor monk," said the unknown monk which caught Deaths curiosity.

Death decided to listen in to what they were saying and learned some interesting facts. He didn't hear much of what they were talking about but he did hear enough.

"They fight only to fulfill a contract," spoke the traitor monk. "If they succeed in destroying 108 Shikabane they can make it into heaven. "

Death nearly wanted to roll over with laughter. If these people knew what heaven was really like they wouldn't kill to get there.

"Shikabane Hime are those who became Shikabane without ever whishing it upon themselves," continued the traitor monk. "They simply don't know how to die. And the Kōugon Sect uses then as if they were nothing more than puppets."

Suddenly a shot from a gun flew right past the traitor monk's right shoulder and in the shadows of the nearby trees Itsuki was seen with two pistols. Death had no idea how she got out of the car, nor did he care. Knowing that this traitor monk was a mere human Death decided to leave in search of a more worthwhile adversary.

Death had a surprisingly hard time trying to find the car Shikabane because it kept moving while it was fighting but eventually he did find it. When he got there Ouri was already there (from dumb luck no doubt) and Keisei had just rolled in on a scooter. Makina was trapped on the roof of the car Shikabane and seemed to be being crushed. Keisei jumped onto the roof and used his staff to pry her out but her arm was still stuck. Makina and Keisei looked at each other and Keisei pulled a sword from his staff and in one sweep severed Makina's right arm. Keisei fell over by where Ouri was and Makina kept shooting with her remaining arm. Death then rode in and swiped Makina off the roof and dropped her by Keisei.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked Makina.

"You've already lost an arm so let me handle this," answered Death.

Suddenly the car changed directions and was heading straight towards him.

"Great," spoke Death as he took the two halves of Harvester and combined them. "I like a good joust."

Death then straightened the blade of Harvester so it took the shape of spear and pointed it at the car Shikabane. He then charged the Shikabane on Despair and when the two collided Death impaled the blade into the bumper and flipped the car end over end. The car landed upside down but somehow managed to put itself right-side up again. As the two began to charge again Death turned Harvester back into a scythe threw it at the car Shikabane and stuck the blade into the engine with the staff facing the windshield. As the two got closer Death jumped off Despair and grabbed Harvester pulling the blade right down the middle of the car splitting it in two. The car then dissolved showing it was dead.

A little later Death was running through the forest with Keisei, Ouri and Makina.

"Now you're sure he called himself the traitor monk?" asked Keisei to Ouri.

"I'm sure," responded Ouri. "He knew about you as well as me."

"Akasha," spoke Keisei under his breath.

"Who is that Keisei?" asked Makina.

Suddenly Makina stopped.

"Wait, don't!" yelled Makina.

"Just an ordinary Soma," said Keisei as he pulled out a bottle with a label that looked like something from an anime poster. "Kōugon Sect special elixir, if it really is him."

"But, doesn't it have a strong side effect?" asked Makina

"With all due respect," spoke Death as he walked in-between Makina and Keisei. "I believe that there was somewhere we should be heading."

Death started to run again and could tell the others were following because he could hear their footsteps behind him. When they arrived the first thing Death saw was another monk in glasses lying against a tree in pain. It took Death a moment to recognize him from the files. It was Takamasa Sogi, contracted monk of Itsuki Yamagami. Keisei leaned over to assess his condition but Death was more concerned with what was in front of him. Akasha was standing in what looked like a circle of long skinny arms and at the center of these arms was three deformed heads sprouting from the ground. Itsuki was tied up lying on the ground in front of those heads.

"Akasha," spoke Keisei as he looked to the monk in the middle of the circle of arms.

"It's been a long time senior," responded Akasha. "Hasn't it?"

"Makina!" yelled Keisei as Makina started to walk towards Akasha. "You can't do anything with your wounds. He's using a Zadan technique.

"A Zadan technique?" asked Makina in a confused voice.

"Like Shikabane Hime, Zadan is a technique that's meant to symbolize the Kōugon Sect," explained Takamasa, still out of breath. "You make yourself head monk within the ceremonial alter. Open a scripture using a holy instrument. This causes a miracle with the help of the stars and infinite power."

"You call that a miracle?" said Death while laughing the whole time. "That's nothing but a pathetic parlor trick."

"You insignificant fool," spoke Akasha unaware that he was talking to Death himself. "You've never seen such an advanced Zadan.

Suddenly more long arms and deformed heads began to shot up from the ground like fast growing plants.

"These Shikabane were created from those who were fortunate enough to become Shikabane after they killed each other in the rental car," continued Akasha. "I gave their lives purpose and trapped them in my Zadan."

"Their regrets," interrupted Makina. "He's using the Shikabane like a dame battery."

Makina tried to shoot Akasha but the Shikabane hands rose up to defend him.

"How is this any different from the Kōugon Sect using the power of Shikabane Hime?" asked Akasha. "I don't allow my Shikabane to keep their pathetic feeling. They are used simply for power. Take it from me; they suffer much less in such an unenlightened state."

"You're wrong!" yelled Keisei. "You murdered those kids not once but twice. Making them kill each other off in cold blood to make Shikabane and the second they resurrected you used them to create that forsaken Zadan."

"You always had a soft spot for the young ones senior," said Akasha with an evil laugh. "If you love your walking corpse this much it's only a matter of time before you love Shikabane too."

"As entertaining as your little reunion was I think it's time to end this," stated Death a serious tone.

"I couldn't agree more," responded Akasha as three of the Shikabane arms moved to attack Death.

Death was about to draw Harvester when three gunshots flew within inched of Death and Destroyed the arms. No one knew where the shots came from because Makina hadn't even drawn her gun and Itsuki was still unconscious at Akasha feet.

"Well," spoke Death. "If that's how you want to play I'll play."

Death raised his arm and suddenly skeletal arms began to shoot from the ground. They were as big and as long as the Shikabane arms, they surrounded Death in much the same way that Akasha's Shikabane arms did. Everyone was shocked at what they had just seen.

"How can you perform such an advances technique?" asked Akasha with intense anger. "You don't have a scripture or a holy instrument."

"I don't need to rely on the powers of other to use my magic," responded Death in a mocking fashion. "This power is my own and no one else's."

Akasha used the Shikabane arms to attack Death but Death countered by using the skeletal arms to intercept. The arms were dead locked with each other and neither Death nor Akasha were gaining any ground. Death then looked to Makina and without saying anything Makina jumped past the arms towards Itsuki.

"We're going to have to cut nap time short princess," said Makina as she shot the arms that were holding Itsuki.

"Makina," spoke Itsuki as she was waking up. "Were you able to patch thing up with Ouri?"

"You're hilarious," responds Makina.

"If you two are done trying to anger each other can you perhaps shoot this thing?" spoke Death with annoyance and anger in his voice.

"Your bullets are useless," announced Akasha as he conjured more arms from the ground.

"Guns aren't necessarily used for shooting," said Itsuki as she waved her hand over the barrel of her pistol revealing blood red symbols of which Death did not recognize.

Itsuki began to hit the arms with her guns and they were destroyed. Akasha looked displeased as the two Shikabane Hime began to shoot up all the arms. Death aided in this by using his skeletal arms (Which now outnumbered Akasha's) to destroy even more arms. Eventually the disfigured heads near Akasha's feet were destroyed, revealing a dark red cube. Keisei ran a grabbed the cube and the moment he did a huge shockwave was released that threw the Shikabane Hime and Death backwards. All the arms from both Akasha and Death were dissolved.

"If you don't have the mediation-," Keisei was starting to say but stopped when his hand started to shake. He then dropped his staff and had an expression of pain in his face.

"Going after the mediation was a wise decision," spoke Akasha with an evil grin. "As you can see this casket is no ordinary instrument. It's the blood of 108 people at the end of their lives."

"Even just one person's regrets can have great power when they transform into Shikabane," explained Takamasa who was still leaning against a tree. "And he said 108 people. Simply touching the box spiritual trauma, any average person would have been knocked immediately unconscious."

"Come on senior," spoke Akasha as he slowly walked to Keisei. "You must have known that this was bound to happen because of your love for her."

Akasha leaned down next to Keisei and grabbed his staff. He then pulled the sword from the staff and was starting to stand up when Keisei spoke.

"You would know better than me about a love for Shikabane Hime, Akasha," spoke Keisei while Akasha had a surprised look on his face. "Is that why you betrayed everyone within the Kōugon Sect? Because you couldn't stand to look your Shikabane Hime in the eyes for one more second?"

"Know this senior," said Akasha recovering from his surprise. "With everything that I have done I never betrayed the Kōugon Sect. They are the deceivers; the Kōugon Sect betrayed me."

Akasha began to raise the sword and with a maniacal look on his face plunged it towards Keisei's head. Suddenly Keisei held the casket up in defense and the sword pierced it and Keisei's hand. Death was surprised that Keisei could move while holding that casket; even he would have had trouble moving with something containing so much negative energy. Death discovered how Keisei did it when he saw the small bottle of Soma fall from his robe.

"Idiot," spoke a very shocked Akasha as the casket began to crack, "Do you realize what you've done? The blood inside will flow out."

"Resulting in the regrets and obsessions of 108 people to fall on us," Keisei finished Akasha's explanation.

"If you suffer a spiritual trauma your body is going to be greatly affected too."

"What can I say it seemed like a good idea. Sorry."

The casket broke just as soon as Keisei finished speaking and the blood fell on both of them.

"My trauma doesn't compare," spoke Akasha trying to overcome the pain he was now feeling. "The pain and suffering will be much worse for you old friend."

Keisei fell over in pain and Death figured this was his chance but as he was walking to Akasha to get answers a shot was fired that got between them and they both fell down backwards. This was not the same as the three shots from before. There was strange magic behind this one and it was from a different location. The power behind it was more powerful than Death thought possible for any human to have. But before he could get up Akasha was already standing.

"This is far from over," spoke Akasha as he made a hand sign.

Death lunged at him but suddenly a bunch of Shikabane arms completely surrounded Akasha and he disappeared into the ground.

"Damn it!" yelled Death. "He got away."

Death turned to see Makina crouched by Keisei who was lying on the ground. Death pulled a light blue potion from his belt.

"Here," said Death as he through the potion to Makina. "It's a mana potion. It should heal the spiritual trauma."

"Why would you help him?" asked Makina.

"Let's just say I can respect a man who fights to protect his brother," responded Death leaving Makina with more questions than answers.

Death then walked away but just when he was out of Makina and the others sight he saw through Dust's eyes the ones who shot the last bullet. It was Sadahiro Mibu and his Shikabane Hime Akira Tōoka and they still had Death in their sights. They probably thought they were well hidden and could shoot Death without being seen. To prove them otherwise Death picked up a small rock and threw it so hard it hit Sadahiro on the head. By the time Akira looked back to find Death he was gone and Sadahiro had a bad bump on his head.

Later Death was on the side of the road where the Shikabane car had driven off the cliff. Victor approached from behind still holding the gun he got from the Shikabane car.

"I must say I'm surprised," spoke Death without even turning around. "I didn't think you could have made those three shot with a human pistol, Strife."

"What can I say," spoke Victor/Strife in a joking fashion. "I always had a flare for stepping in at the dramatic moments."

"Why are you here?" asked Death as he finally turned around. "And what's with that getup?"

"Well I had nothing better to do and I haven't gotten to do anything in a long time so I asked the Council if there was anything I could do and they told me about this mission of yours. As for the disguise… well unfortunately they didn't have any more of those amulets like you got so I paid Vulgrim for a human disguise and false background."

"The Council let you come here?"

"Yeah, guess they're taking this more seriously than you first thought."

"But why are they taking it so seriously? So far these Shikabane have been little more than nuisances. Even when I was fighting against that traitor monk I never had to use more than one tenth of my full power."

"You think the Councils hiding something from us?"

"Or they just don't completely know themselves. Either way there are secrets here that I want to know."

"Sounds like fun to me, what can I do?"

"Well since you're here, try and get close to that boy Ouri."

"Ouri? What for?"

"There's something about that boy that doesn't seem right. Not to mention that he and his brother Keisei always seem to run into me."

"And if I don't want to follow that order?"

"Then feel free to argue about it while you DO IT ANYWAY!"

Strife simply turned around and gave out a loud whistle. Suddenly a haze of mist appeared and from the mist appeared a white horse. From a distance it looked like a regular horse but as it got closer you could see that it was slightly transparent. And as it moved wounds would appear on its body. One second there would be a hole in its stomach so big you could see its ribs and the next it was gone. One second it looked like its lower jaw was torn off and then it would look normal. Almost as if the horse was trying to maintain a memory of itself from happier times.

"Come on Toil," spoke Strife as he got on the horses back. "Let's go."

As Strife road off, Death summoned Despair and road off in the opposite direction.

Two horsemen on the same mission, though Death to himself. This is about to get very interesting.

Third chapter of my first crossover. Please review and comment on my work.