2

Taiei Shopping Town
12:04 JST

A vibrating bellow echoed throughout the air, making the said air feel icy and cold. Souichiro's hand gripped the scabbard of his sword. Anyone with a weapon followed his example.

Saya moved closer to her parents, "What was that?"

"Assassins," Atsumi answered gloomily, walking in.

The muscles in Yuriko's body tensed when she noticed Atsumi's presence. "You know what that was?"

Atsumi nodded, the look in her eyes made the room darken. "Mercenaries… after blood…"

"Whose?" Saya felt she knew the answer to her question.

Atsumi was quiet for moment, "Mine… and the tiger's."

It didn't require a lot of thinking to understand the innuendo response Atsumi gave.

"Takashi," Saya quietly gasped. She was on her feet in a flash. "We need to find Takashi, then get the fu—"

An agonizing howl interrupted Saya frantic outburst. Making their way to the rails, since they were on the second floor.

One of windigos had the bottom half of one of the survivors of the mall in his teeth. He tried to free himself from the skeletal maw, but his strength was nothing compared to the jaws of the hungry beast.

His painful wails had been silenced when his top half fell to the ground. Shock and trauma set in when he looked down to see everything from the waist down was nothing but a bloody, gory stump; blood pooling around the amputation.

Looking down, the windigo avariciously finished off the human. Looking up, the monster made eye contact with Saya, making her back quickly.

"What is that?" Yuriko stalked toward Atsumi, her tall stature made her intimidating. Atsumi answered, "Windigos."

"Windigos?" Kiriko questioned. Atsumi nodded, "Monsters with an unending appetite for… well, anything alive."

Souichiro had a staring contest with the monster, "How do we kill it?"

"Don't know," Atsumi explained, "windigos originate from Native American folklore. They're normally found in the West, not Japan."

Kohta shivered, "So we're screwed?!"

"Not, necessarily," Atsumi shook her head, "look, its not lunging." She was correct, the beasts only stared at like pieces of meat, but didn't act on their impulses. "Windigos are known for eating anything living they see. But its only been staring at us."

Busujima watched as the windigo sniffed the air before stalking away, "Its looking for something… or someone."

"You and Takashi," Tadashi accused. Atsumi clutched the golden scarab amulet around her neck, "Takashi and I are players to a game he has no idea he's playing."

"Run!" Everyone turned to hear Saeko's voice. She was being carried by Takashi bride style as he sprinted away from the rampaging windigo.

Takashi had to nimbly dodge claws and jaws from a hungry demon. The beast lost its balance, slipped, and fell when Takashi leaped through the food court.

With a few moments to act, Takashi dropped Saeko and grabbed her by the nape of her neck. "Sorry about this." Spinning her around, she was shot at least twenty feet in the air, aimed at the group.

Takuzo—in the form of a blur—raced to the group before leaping. Catching Saeko, Takuzo fell to the ground with Saeko on top of him.

"Thanks for that," Saeko rose up off the ground, giving Takuzo an appreciative hand. Takuzo took Saeko's hand and stood—almost like he didn't fall several feet with Saeko's added weight. "Don't mention it, literally."

"So," Saeko panted, "windigos? Is there any way to kill it?"

Kiriko answered, the venom in her voice not directly toward anyone, "Atsumi says that there isn't a way."

Atsumi shook her head, "I didn't say that. I said I don't know. A windigo is a personification of gluttony, greed, over-consumption, and cannibalism. You can't kill a spirit that embodies an aspect of nature."

"Anything else?"

"The more they eat, the bigger and stronger they become."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Kohta spoke nervously. Yuuki glared at the young sniper, "I swear if you say anything else I'm am going to kick your—"

"Stop it, you two!" Tadashi reprimanded, "We need to come up with a plan, preferably one where engaging them isn't an option."

"Wait!" Hisashi became wide-eyed, "You said the windigos are after you and Takashi, right? Well, I'm not sure about this idea, but—"

"A distraction," Atsumi interrupted, like she was reading his mind. "We distract it while the rest of you get out of here. No sense in the rest of you getting dragged in this mess."

Saya seethed as her face reddened, "Okay, I know you want to be all be valiant and heroic, but sacrificing isn't going to do a damn thing but get you killed! Those things out there don't want you or Takashi because there's not a damn thing special about either of you!"

Her father's hawkish face frowned at the emotional display she was putting on. He'd always suspected his daughter would start looking at Takashi different light. They've been through too much together for her not to.

"You don't get!" The burgundy-haired girl, shoved past the woman with rose-colored hair. "None of you do!"

Atsumi jumped onto the rail, a single step would lead to at least a twenty-foot plummet. The golden scarab necklace around her neck glowed with intensity. "Takashi and I, our destinies our intertwined!"

With a single step, she fell before any of her companions could reach her. Gravity yanked her with the ground exploding in dust and tile. All eyes—even Takashi and the windigos that were distracted—turned to the figure rising from the crater.

Atsumi stood, a glowing aura blazing around with colors of red, orange, yellow, and gold. Her eyes glowed with these same colors, they were so intense that they rivaled the blaze of several forest fires. The weirdest part was that there was a miniature sun floating above her. It's reddish orange flames making the temperature rise several degrees.

Atsumi's voice held nothing but power and authority that made even Souichiro intimidated as it overlapped with a more masculine equally—if not more—intimidating voice.

"If you filthy gluttons can slay an Eye of Ra," the sun above Atsumi's head dissipated in flames that snaked down her arms and swirled aggressively. "You are as mistaken as you are disgusting!"

Yuuki couldn't believe what she was seeing. The preteen girl was fighting the windigos. She was fighting them alongside Takashi, a demigod shapeshifter. The flames she used looked hotter than regular fire.

Even Souichiro was impressed. He saw how the sorceress coordinated her fire with martial arts. It was truly a stunning sight to see.

"So Atsumi is a demigod?" Rei's shaky question didn't need answering.

"She's a sorcerer," Yuriko nodded, "sorcerer, witch, enchanter, necromancer, magician, conjurer, occultist, alchemist. They have many names, but they all are capable of the same; controlling and manipulating otherworldly energies that allow them to bend the rules of logic and reasoning."

"Is she going to be alright?" Hisashi couldn't help question.

Tadashi answered with a sigh, "A sorcerer and shapeshifter fighting hungry windigos that are initially after them. I say let them fight, why put ourselves between a rock and a hard place?"

"Papa!" Rei reprimanded her father, "we can't just leave them!"

Tadashi glared at his daughter, "No, but if they want to stay so we can get out of the crossfire…"

Rei's father didn't need to say more. All of them were faced with the option of moving on. But another matter needed to be addressed—by Morita.

"Wait, we're missing some people!" Morita asked nervously, "Where are Alice and Marikawa-sensei?"

Two piercing screams made ice creep up everyone's back as they all froze with terror.

Sorry its a bit short, needed a filler for the finale. And also sorry about it being several weeks late, took off Christmas break to relax from everything, was supposed to post last week but it got away from me. Hope you enjoyed and always... review.