3
Taiei Shopping Town
13:03 JST
Atsumi barrel-rolled under the greed spirit's swipe, before sliding underneath it. With several jabs, she targeted her pyrokinetic blasts at its underbelly. With a pain-fueled bellow, the monster leaped away to give itself and Atsumi some space.
Launching herself, Atsumi pulled back for flaming haymaker. But the windigo was fast to learn from its mistakes. The monster grabbed her midair before throwing the sorcerer with every amount of force and muscle it had.
The girl created a rut on the floor from where her fall was broken. Hands and feet were planted in the ground; righting her momentum. Atsumi looked up where she saw the hungry demon barreling towards her like a train; its head and body destroying a chandelier. Her eyes shown light as they heated up, shooting two rays of intense flames.
Takashi's mind blanked in and out throughout his battle with the windigos alongside the sorcerer known as Atsumi. With every blink of his eyes Takashi's vision became redder.
It seemed like a more wild and primal force started whispering into his ears, another psyche nudging his thoughts. With every attack, his lips pulled further and further into what looked to be a cross between a wild grin and malicious snarl.
In contrast to Atsumi, Takashi didn't have magical abilities like pyrokinesis to help him. His method of killing monsters was organic and unaided. Using only his strength, speed, and martial arts training, and let's not forget his fangs and talons.
Takashi flew to the monster before he was backhanded straight into a clothes store. Landing in a pile of clothes, Takashi untangled himself, removed some of the glass that embedded into his skin, and then leaped for the windigo.
The windigo couldn't predict Takashi before the shapeshifter tackled him to the ground by the waist. A crater was made when the two crashed into the ground.
The dark-haired shapeshifter channeled a flood of power and strength from his core. Takashi picked up the much larger beast and slammed him into the ground from a suplex. The windigo got to its elbows but Takashi leaped on the torso.
The hungry demon's head was snapped left and right from every time Takashi's claws swiped its skeletal head. As Takashi continued his assault, the whites of his eyes started turning black and the veins underneath bulged and blackened.
Savagery, brutality, and bloodthirstiness started seeping into his heart. Venom fueled his core with a white-hot feel of energy, rushing into his bloodstream like a form of steroids. The windigo's skeleton muzzle starting cracking under the force of Takashi's attacks.
His aggression was short-lived, especially when the windigo's jaw snapped on Takashi's arm. Its teeth piercing into the muscle, almost down to the bone. If it wasn't for Takashi's extremely dense musculature, his arm would've surely popped off his shoulder.
His newly formed demonic features receded when he released a thundering roar that made the ground the shake. Pain shot through his right arm like lightning. Raising his other arm, he prepared to strike the monster—his ear twitched when heard two high pitched screams, both female; one adult and one a child.
"Alice!" Takashi's pain was lost when his thoughts were on a certain little girl. He roared in agony from what he did next.
Shizuka Marikawa clutched Alice Maresato like a jewel being hidden from vicious thief. The monstrous, death-like monster in front of her advanced slowly, licking its chops hungrily.
The nurse backed up against the glass window of an electronics, the only thing in between her and the glass was Alice. The young girl looked on the verge of tears as she clutched Shizuka's legs. Reaching the two; only inches away, the monster allowed its long tongue to graze Shizuka's cheek teasingly. The nurse turned her head away from the monster.
"Marikawa!" The blonde, buxom woman turned to the group—sans Takashi—where they came from the escalator.
The windigo's throat rumbled when it laid eyes on her friends. Whatever came out of its throat was a hybrid of a chuckling laugh and a raspy cough.
The windigo was able to sense Takashi and Atsumi come up behind it. Saya gasped in shock when she laid eyes on Takashi. His right arm was missing; nothing was there but a bloody stump where the muscle and meat was torn, the bone of his shoulder barely visible. Blood trickled from his amputated shoulder.
Taking its opportunity, the windigo threw Shizuka aside where she rolled towards her friends. It grabbed Alice by the hair; holding her in front of himself like a shield.
"Shapeshifter, sorcerer!" The windigo's voice was raspy, guttural, and whispery; surprising everyone that it could speak. "Walk with us, and the fox lives. Resisting would end in her death."
Atsumi reached inside to channel her energy, lighting her arms with fire. "You're windigos, you don't spare any prey."
"Our mistress has forbidden us from anything other than bringing to her." He stuck out his long, snake-like tongue and licked Alice's cheeks; lapping up her tears. Takashi and Atsumi glared defiantly and hatefully at Alice's captor.
The windigo chuckled lowly, "Our mistress has given strict orders to bring you no matter what. Do you really want to measure your pride against her mercy?"
After what felt like an eternity, Takashi slowly stood from his crouch—although it was a struggle for him because the blood loss was starting to get him. He looked at Atsumi, "Gear up."
The sorcerer couldn't dwell on the shapeshifter's words. Takashi's thundering bellow made everyone clinch their ears from the intense sound. Takuzo and Morita grabbed their heads as an intense pain rung like bells in their heads. They released their howls as well, their voices blending with Takashi's.
Alice—still within the windigos grasp—hugged herself in pain. A red-hot burning flooded her veins, her eyes started glowing a bright magenta. Her body morphed into shapeshifter, with fur the same color as her hair, her fuzzy ears and long, fluffy tail had white tips. Soon her howl was resonating with the others. Alice didn't have the mental strength to take control of the powerful force driving her animal instincts that drove her into unconsciousness.
With their howling song over, Alice—or rather her body—grabbed the windigo's fingers and twisted, forcing it to release her. The greedy demon growled in pain, clutching its broken fingers.
With strength pouring from her core, Alice leapt with a clawed slash to the windigo's exposed side of its torso. Landing on her feet, she challenged the beast with growl; a mixing of hers and a fox's.
Leaping after her, it smashed into the store, completely missing her as she slid under; her claws grazing its underbelly. Atsumi came up and roundhouse kicked into Takashi's waiting arm.
"Everyone, get down!" Atsumi reached inside and greedily gathered hot, blue energy in her hands. As all three windigos came barreling for her, she raised her clasped hands before slamming them into the ground. The entire group crouched together from the overwhelming power they felt in the air, even Takashi shielded Alice with his body.
A shockwave fire burst from her body, completely burning the windigos to ashes. Everything, everyone else, and the entire mall were spared from the azure flames that seemed to phase through everything besides the windigos.
Everyone slowly got up to assess what just happened. The entire mall looked the same as it was several moments ago; a little destroyed from a shapeshifter and sorcerer fighting windigos. Alice and Takashi looked perfectly fine, except for Takashi's missing right arm and the younger shapeshifter seemed to be asleep. Atsumi looked like she just did a two hour, no rest, hardcore workout; her face and her drenched from sweat as her lungs screamed for oxygen from the way her panted breath was uneven.
Saya walked to Takashi when the young woman saw his unfocused eyes and sluggish movement. "Takashi?"
Stumbling, the shapeshifter fell to the ground with a thud. The flowing blood of his started pooling around the area. Saya ran to him where she cradled his head in her lap, her tangerine eyes widening as she saw his olive skin blanching over.
Everyone gathered around Takashi, fearing for his life. Saya seemed hysterical, "Takashi! Takashi! What do we do?! You can heal him, right?! You're a sorcerer, so you can heal him!"
"I can't," Atsumi answered, "but she can." The young girl pointed to Shizuka. The blonde, buxom nurse's eyes widened to dinner plates. "I'm just a nurse, I can't help—"
"Marikawa-san," Atsumi interrupted, "it's okay, they've seen."
The nurse turned almost as pale as Takashi, while everyone looked back and forth between Atsumi, Shizuka, and Takashi. Like there was a secret between them that only they knew.
Next thing they knew, Shizuka and Atsumi were assembling Takashi and Atsumi to lay next to each other; Takashi on the right with Atsumi on the left. Sitting on her knees in between the two, she placed her hands on their chests. A bright, soft green aura emitted from the Alice's body.
It seemed like Shizuka was transferring Alice's green aura to Takashi. Shizuka's right arm—the one on Takashi—energized with light green tendrils of light. This energy transferred into Takashi.
The shapeshifter's skin regained his tanned, golden tone. His quickened breaths slowed to a normal rate. The stump of his arm tightened as the blood flow stopped, the bone of a new appendage grew out, the lean, sinewy muscle surrounded, and then the dense skin covered it. Close to a minute went by when Takashi's new arm was complete, no scars.
Everyone was in shock and awe when they saw Shizuka do what she did, and especially when they saw Takashi's fingers of his new arm twitch faintly.
"He'll be out of it for a minute," Shizuka addressed Takuzo; who put Takashi in a fireman's carry. "But everything should've healed completely, and in place."
Moaning made everyone freeze in place. Turning around, the group saw a large horde of the undead shuffling their way through the mall, hunting the sound they heard.
"You kids get out of here," Kiriko commanded sternly, "we'll distract them."
"No, mama!" Rei rejected the offer completely. Tadashi shouted, "Go!"
"Get out of here, now!" Souichiro roared. His daughter looking at him and his wife with terror and horror.
One by one, including Shizuka, the group of teens left. Saya being the last one, pulled along by Morita who shouldered Alice over his shoulder. Father and daughter had a staring contest, each one conveying their feelings into a single look.
The Miyamotos, Busujima, and the Takagis stood side by side. Weapons at the ready, they didn't hesitate to create a distraction. Creating as much as noise as they could, the horde didn't take long to surround them like a school piranha.
The lives of the many outweighed the lives of the few. It was a truly noble sacrifice, the older generation offering their lives for a newer, younger generation. But the adults knew; innocent or guilty, more blood would shed or offered for the safety of their children.
Hoped you liked the climax of the beginning. Comments and reviews are accepted and encouraged.