Chapter Seven: Escape
Inugami Kotaro sighed as he leaned against the cold concrete wall of his jail cell. His current predicament was the fallout following the defeat of Agamasaki Chigusa's attempt to take over the Kansai Association.
He instinctively scratched the back of his neck, where he could still feel the slight protrusion of the magical seal that had been placed upon him as part of his punishment for collaborating with Agamasaki. His powers were to be locked away for three years thanks to Agamasaki's failure. At first, he was terrified that he would no longer be able to use magic, but soon came to realize that it wasn't the worst loss that they could bestow upon him. After all, he was still alive and had the ability to focus his chi, and as such he wasn't entirely useless.
Still, the brandishing wand that they had used had hurt like hell, and the inflamed burning sensation was still with him, over two weeks later.
And to think that this all came about because he wanted to make a decent paycheck!
Grumbling he leaned back, his attention wondering. The Kansai Magistrate had told him that he would have to serve out a three month sentence, before he would be released. From there, he would be tracked by the Kansai Association until his probation was concluded and his magical powers restored.
The last two weeks had been hellish, simply because there had been nothing to do. He had merely been cooped up in this cell since his incarceration, with the only thing to look forward to was the three meals that they served him daily and the hour long recess session where he was allowed to stretch his legs from the confining cell. Attempting to occupy himself during this time had been pretty murderous on his system.
The sound of hushed voices suddenly distracted him from his thoughts. Frowning, he looked over towards the entrance to his cell, straining to hear.
As far as he knew the only other people in the cellblock were Agamasaki, and the two guards that were constantly present and they never spoke to either of them, unless it was to take them out of the cell.
The tones were conversation, which immediately piqued Kotaro's interest. What could be going on?
Slowly, he pressed himself against the bars of his cell so that he could pick up the acoustics better. He was grateful when he was rewarded with the sound of distinct voices. They were low, but he could make out what they were saying.
"So you're here to break me out." Agamasaki's voice snorted, "I'm glad to see that Fate is still concerned about being paid."
"He wouldn't have to go to these kinds of extremes had you not underestimated the Springfield child and his ministra magi," came the voice of whom Kotaro could only believe to be one of the guards.
Wow, he thought, that white-haired kid's got connections all the way within the Kansai Magistrate!
"And whose fault is that?" Agamasaki snarled back, "Fate was supposed to take care of them and he got himself defeated. That had nothing to do with me."
"The execution of your plan was flawed." The man replied coldly.
"Yeah, well in retrospect everything becomes so clear." She said snidely, "Look we can argue about who did what, and attempt to shift the blame until we're both blue in the face. How about we quit wasting time and you hurry up and get me out of here."
The man was silent for a moment, "Very well." He finally said.
Kotaro's eyes suddenly widened as he heard an ear-piercing scream reverberate through the cellblock from Agamasaki. Instinctively his body flew away from the entrance as the shrieking scream dulled down into a drowning gargle. After a moment there was nothing but silence.
Then the sounds of footsteps were heard, not fading off in the distance, but slowly rising in pitch, until Kotaro realized that whoever Agamasaki had been speaking to was now approaching his cell.
He gritted his teeth in anger as he realized that he was trapped.
What's going on here! A small voice snapped in the back of his head, attempting to understand the surreal events that were happening around him.
The footsteps came to a stop and Kotaro found himself staring into the dark eyes of the man who had probably just murdered Agamasaki.
"Inugami Kotaro, I presume." There was no mistaking the voice of the man who had been speaking with Agamasaki.
Kotaro didn't say anything.
"Well it doesn't really matter." The man just smiled, a feature that made his face look gruesome and cruel. His right hand came up and gripped the cell bars, Kotaro saw the bars glow momentarily and then they were ripped from their foundations and hurled over the man's shoulder. The sound of metal slamming into concrete was almost deafening.
Now with nothing separating the assassin from Kotaro, and he began to approach him slowly.
Kotaro immediately regained his sense and placed himself in a combat stance, his claws slowly extending to offer him some physical protection.
This didn't seem to faze the man one bit as he continued towards him. "And what do you think you're going to do with those, my boy?" He said casually, as if the young dog-boy offered no threat.
Kotaro blinked and realized just how in-error he had actually been. In that split second, the man struck, gripping Kotaro by the hair to hold him in place, while his other hand slammed a bone-shattering blow to his face.
He had always drawn confidence from his physical resilience. Still, in that moment he was caught completely by surprise. The sheer speed was unprecedented and the force behind the blow, no doubt magically reinforced, caused splotches of darkness to fill his vision and his mind seemed to freeze up.
His arms sagged limp as he felt the beckoning of unconsciousness wanting to snatch him away. Still he fought it, knowing that if he passed out he would never wake up again.
"Now that's a good boy," The assassin cooed as Kotaro felt the ground coming up to meet him. His head never slammed into the ground how as the assassin grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and began dragging him out of the cell and down the short corridor towards the door.
He attempted to right himself, to do anything to deter the attacker, but his body was too weak. It was then, in the fog of his mind he realized that there had to be something more in that punch than merely a magical reinforcement spell. He wondered if some sort of paralysis spell had been cast a well.
Either way, his heart fell into his stomach as he gazed lazily over to Agamasaki's cell as they passed it. He could feel the blood draining from his features as he saw what remained of the woman who had been his employer up until the Sukuna Lake incident.
Blood was splashed all over the cell walls, floor and ceiling, and of course Agamasaki herself. Still fresh, with sickening spurts oozing from where her throat had been torn out.
Kotaro felt the sensation of bile rising from his throat, but he resisted the urge with all his might.
"You've been a naughty boy." The assassin said as they passed the cell. "Killing poor Agamasaki-san like that. You're a bad boy. And you know what we do to dogs that bite their masters don't you." The man caroled sadistically.
Before long they were out of the jail, and shortly thereafter out of the Kansai Association's headquarters and trailing into the surrounding forests.
"Why…" He managed to whimper through the haze that had settled over his body.
"Oh, it's nothing personal," The assassin said, "just having to tie up loose ends, you know clean up." He said with a grin. "Agamasaki was the big one, you just happen to be the lucky scapegoat. They'll think that you killed her while breaking out and that'll be that." His face once again broke into that savage grin. "Oh, and don't worry, they'll never find your body, I've got myself a pretty good incineration spell that doesn't leave many traces of a body."
Kotaro gritted his teeth, thinking furiously on how he was going to escape from this mess. While his thoughts whirled, the man continued talking.
"Oh but don't worry, your efforts won't be lost. My employer was more than a little upset about what happened over at Sukuna Lake. Very upset about that Springfield brat and his servants. Wish I had been given that assignment to be honest with you. After what they did to that Colossus Ogre as well as to Fate-sama, I would have loved to take them on." He sighed, "But instead, I'm stuck having to finish off a woman and some half-breed mutt."
With that last statement he threw Kotaro to the ground, his body landing heavily on the sparse grass and hard soil.
"Oh well, after I'm done with you I can get some much needed vacation time, so if you don't mind I'm going to make this quick." He said as he outstretched his arm.
Kotaro knew that he had to act. He breathed in deeply, mustering all the chi he could to clear his mind and purge his body of whatever had come over him. It worked, to an extent at least, his head cleared and he regained some strength, but he doubted he could take this assassin on in a fair fight in his current state. But he had to do something otherwise he was going to die.
The man's incantation was nearing its end, with a swirling crimson fireball forming in the palm of his hand, aimed directly at Kotaro's body.
He waited until the final word had been spoken when he lunged into action, channeling all of his chi through his body he moved with everything he could muster.
The assassin oddly seemed taken aback by the sudden attack, his jaw dropping as Kotaro tore at the man's extended arm. His claws dug deeply into the man's upper arm. He gripped the perforated tissues within an iron grip, tearing them away and disabling the man's arm.
The assassin screamed in pain as the boy maimed him, but he didn't have time to recover as Kotaro used his other hand to twist the man's arm, aiming his palm into the assassin's face. The incineration spell finally completed its charge and exploded forward.
Kotaro was given one fleeting moment to see the assassin's eyes widen in horror as the fireball suddenly engulfed his face.
Not even a scream came from the man as his head simply disappeared, replace only with a column of ash. The body collapsed to the ground, motionless and Kotaro wheezed painfully as he too collapsed.
He breathed in gusts of air, but all he could smell was the sickening stench of burnt flesh and air.
It was then that the world seemed to regain focus and he looked over at the corpse of the assassin. Looking down at his blood covered hands, his stomach finally heaved as he realized what he had done. He was able to roll over before his stomach finally heaved.
It took him nearly five minutes to regain control over himself, coughing sporadically. He was completely drained, but he knew that he had to get out of here. Despite his own survival, there was no doubt in his mind that now the Kansai Association would believe that he had killed Agamasaki.
Not that it would do him any good, he realized painfully as he turned over and crawled over to a tree to lean against. The Magistrate's tracking spell meant that it would take little time for them to apprehend them once they realized that he had escaped.
Carefully, he leaned over and pulled some leaves from bush next to him and attempted to use it to clean his hands of the blood. The smell was really starting to get to him.
What was he to do? He thought as he attempted to get as much of it cleaned from him.
He then remembered what the assassin had said. Fate was sending someone to go after Negi…
Negi was at Mahora Academy, which just so happened to be within the confines of the Kanto Association, a place that Kansai wouldn't dare to intrude upon. It might offer him at least some temporary sanctuary.
And of course, he couldn't let someone kill Negi before he could challenge him to a rematch either!
Nodding his head absently, he stood and slowly began pacing through the forest, heading in the general direction of Mahora Academy. He had to get there fast, he thought his head still filled with fog from whatever spell the assassin had used on him.
