The infestation of hollows continued. Michael helped by taking one out, but the problem didn't stop. Right now, Ryo was carrying Kalia's body.

"I don't understand. Why are there so many hollows entering the world of the living?" Ryo said. "Something like this shouldn't really be happening." Ryo heard a few hollows howling and saw a couple were coming from the sky. "Hado 33: Sokatsui!" He launched the blue blast of spirit energy and was able to take them out. "I might not be back to full power, but that doesn't mean I'm defenseless. I hope Kalia is doing okay."

…..

Kalia

Kalia kept fighting as hard as she could, but there were so many. She kept slicing one after another down, but she felt like she wasn't getting anywhere.

"How many are there? Why are there so many" Kalia said. She looked around and there were still many more. "This is going to be a long day. I hope everyone else is okay?"

….

The School

Sai and Iori stayed behind with other students at the school to help clean up. Sai kept staring off to space and Iori was wondering what was going on with him.

"Sai, are you okay? You kept staring at something." Iori said.

"You don't have to worry. Why don't we move away from here?" Sai said and pushed Iori to keep them moving.

"What's going on with you? Kalia isn't here, but you're acting really weird." Iori said.

"Relax, everything is okay." Sai said, but he knew it wasn't. 'I have to try and stay calm, but we need to get out of here. I thought I was seeing things, but we're in danger if we stay.' He thought. Sai was able to see another hollow. A snake like hollow was stalking them. "Say, I think everyone else is done so why don't we head home."

"You might be right. Let me just look to see if there's anything left." Iori said and went inside. Sai was left alone and he could feel his nerves coming to the surface. He turned around and saw the snake hollow looking down at him.

"So you can see me." The hollow said.

"You can talk too?" Sai said.

"That's right and I can do a lot more." The hollow said and opened its mouth to take a bite out of him. Sai was able to move fast enough and rolled out of the way. The hollow reached for him with his tail, but Sai ran off as part of the wall came down.

"Hey! I just cleaned those windows!" Sai complained. "What do you even want from me?"

"That should be obvious. I'm hungry and your soul will fill my appetite." The hollow said and went to take another bite out of him. Sai saw that there was no time for him to dodge it, but Iori came running out of the newly formed hole.

"Sai move!" Iori said and pushed him out of the way as the hollow his the ground.

"Iori?" Sai said.

"Sorry about this. I should have noticed that thing sooner." Iori said.

"Wait, you can see it? From how it talked, it sounded like I was the only one who could." Sai said.

"To be honest, I've been seeing weird stuff like that monster and ghosts for a while now." Iori said.

"You have?" Sai said.

"We'll talk about that later." Iori said and looked at the snake. "Hey, you gigantic size of belt material, there's something you should know. Anyone who messes with Sai, messes with me. That's how we work, we look out for each other."

"Is that so? I might as well eat the both of you together." The hollow said.

"Run for it." Iori said as he and Sai started runaway.

"Iori, how long have you've been seeing stuff like this?" Sai said.

"You really want to talk about that now?" Iori said.

"Sorry, just feel like I have to know. Since I saw that snake, I had this strange feeling." Sai said.

"If you really want to know, ever since the last time I had dinner at your house." Iori said.

"My house?" Sai said.

"Yeah. Don't you remember? We were all tossed around and I lost conscious. You collapsed for no reason." Iori said. Sai didn't, but it did sound familiar. Sai and Iori made it on the other side of the school, but they saw a bunch of students were on the ground. "What is this? Why's everyone just laying on the ground?" Sai went over and it looked like one was shot with a purple mark on them.

"I've think they've been poisoned." Sai said.

"That's right." The hollow managed to catch up.

"What have you done?" Iori said.

"I shot everyone with my touch. This will help them become more divine when I devour them." The hollow said.

"Devour? You're sick." Iori said.

"You're about to see how being sick really feels." The hollow said. It opened its mouth and shot a purple dot from its mouth. It came fast like a bullet and struck Iori in the chest.

"Iori!" Sai shouted and ran over to him as Iori fell to the ground. Sai reached him, but Iori was wasn't breathing right. "What do I do?"

"Get out of my way." The hollow said and smacked Sai out of the way with the tail. The moment he got hit, Sai was starting to remember, what Iori was talking about. Kalia and Ryo were at his house and were fighting his Dad when he was a hollow.

'I remember now. Kalia fought my Dad because he was a monster. Ryo called him a hollow.' Sai thought as he slid against the ground. 'This thing must be the same the same kind of creature. It has a hole in its chest and the white mask. A lot good remembering all that does me now.'

"Good, maybe now I can enjoy my meal." The hollow said and was standing over Iori. Sai was able to see correctly and saw what he was going to do.

"Iori!" Sai said. He looked around for a weapon and the only thing he could see was a broom. He grabbed it and ran over. He swung it against the head, but the broom broke. "You better stay back."

"What could you possibly do?" The hollow said. Sai took a look at Iori. He had to fight.

'Iori, you've been my best friend for years, since kindergarten.' Sai thought and remembered back when they were kids. Whenever Sai got bullied, it was Iori that helped him out. 'You were always there to protect me. Kalia was the one to save me from when my Dad lost control of himself. This time, it's my turn to protect you.' Sai was not going to let this happen to Iori. That's what caused something in him to be awaken. Spiritual power was rising from him and soon skyrocketed creating a great force of power and was raging.

"What's happening?" The hollow said and could feel the power that was coming from Sai. "So much spiritual energy. What kind of human is he?"

"Iori told you that if you mess with me, you mess with him. It works both ways. Anyone one who messes with Iori has to answer to me!" Sai said.

"I don't know how you're doing this, but I don't care." The hollow said and Sai readied himself. Sai could feel energy being stored around his hands and feet. He assumed he could use this and attacked. "You're a fool! Now die!" The snake launched his poison bullets, but Sai kept moving and was able to avoid them.

"That's not going to work." Sai said. Sai got close enough and jumped to the mask. Sai brought his fist back and slammed it against the head. The energy that build inside was release on contact and caused the mask to crack all over.

"Impossible." The hollow moaned before he dispersed into nothing. Sai looked back and saw the poison spots on, not just Iori, but all the students were turning to vapor. When the vapor was gone and the poison dispersed, everyone was breathing normally and just seemed to be asleep.

"That's good. It looks like everyone is going to be fine. Don't worry Iori, you look after me and I'll look after you." Sai said and felt all of his strength and energy deplete and fainted. When he did, Kisuke's mysterious guest came over to him.

"Interesting. It's not just this Kalia Kurosaki, but a few of her friends have been given new abilities. He will be a great asset to her, if Kisuke is right, which he usually is."

…

Ryo

When Ryo found a safe place for Kalia's body to stay out of trouble, he went out to look for Kalia herself.

"Come on, where the hell is she?" Ryo said, but another hollow burst out of the ground. "You've got to be kidding me." The hollow was going to attack, but something cut its arm off. "Kalia!"

"Trouble always seems to follow you around, Ryo." Kalia said. Kalia jumped off and sliced the hollow in half and took down another one. "You okay?"

"Yeah. You wouldn't happen to figure out what has been going on?" Ryo said.

"Like I would have a clue. I've been too busy turning hollows into hundreds of little pieces while trying to make sure my family is safe." Kalia said.

"I'm sure they are. You're mother has extraordinary ability." Ryo said.

"Do you have any idea on what's going on?" Kalia said.

"I'm not sure. I've never seen an infestation of hollows like this." Ryo said. "Maybe a hollow, much more powerful than the ones you've been fighting, is behind all this."

"You think this is Drasaki's doing?" Kalia said.

"Hard to say, possibility." Ryo said, but diverted his attention to the sky. Kalia turned to see herself and saw the hollows were coming together and it looked like a black opening was cracking in the sky.

"Now what's going on?" Kalia said.

"They're gathering? I've got a bad feeling about this." Ryo said. First, hollows come out of nowhere and now they're gathering together. What more terror could be coming?

To Be Continued…