Here is the next chapter. The end is getting closer! Enjoy! :)

Author's Note: Blood and gore ahead.


The tunnel was long and winding. It was also dead quiet, just minus the sounds of the trio's footsteps walking down. Sumiko lent a helping hand to her boyfriend as he dragged his bandaged foot along the floor. The lights from their flashlights illuminated the gray stone walls of the cavern. The last time anyone had been down this path was 156 years ago on the night of the Vengeance.

In fact, Akio occasionally saw a ghostly procession of priests and monks walking down the tunnel. The sound of bells being rung and chanting could be heard as well. It was a haunting sound and it echoed all over the cavern, sending chills down the spines of Akio, Sumiko and Shuu. Eventually, they came across a set of stone double doors. The doors were heavy but Akio managed to push them open.

Inside was a large circular chamber. Candles were lit all around the circumference of the chamber, a very long wooden beam was suspended over the floor by seven feet, five stone step stools surrounding a circular design on the center of the floor that had dark red stains on it… A cut rope was tied above the circle. Akio automatically knew what this room was. It was the room where the Flaying Ritual was performed, the Altar of the Blade.

As the trio walked in, they all took in the somber atmosphere of the room. Countless bloody Flaying Rituals were performed here. Innumerable demons and evil spirits were exorcised under blade and by fire. It was also here that the Skinless Man first appeared when the Vengeance first started. It was such a bizarre feeling…

A raised section of the floor caught Shuu's attention and he went over to it. He pressed on it with his foot. A grinding noise came from the center of the floor. The circular design of the floor was opening up, revealing that it was a trapdoor. Akio suddenly had a flashback of the final ritual that took place all those years ago.

Noboru and his niece Masami and nephew Hideo, who being guided by hand by a priestess, came into the chamber and they were followed by several priests, priestesses and monks. They assembled around the chamber and parted ways for the Guards, who were brandishing their Exorcism Knives in hand, so that they could take their places around the trapdoor. Following them was Yamato Inoue. The effects of the drugged sake he was given earlier were starting to take effect and two priests who were taking him to the center of the chamber were supporting him. Akio's point of view changed to that of Yamato's.

After disrobing him, Yamato's wrists were bound and he was suspended from the beam until his toes were dangling above the trapdoor. Due to his drugged out state, Yamato could not fully comprehend his vulnerability. The Guards then began the Flaying Ritual. Their knives began to cut through the skin. Incisions were made on the upper thigh and above the knee, bicep and above the elbow, pectoral muscles and the back. After the cuts were made, another slice was made so that the skin could be peeled off like wrapping paper.

The strangest thing of all, Akio could not feel a thing. Not even a sting could be felt as skin of various shapes and sizes were being cut off and thrown to the floor like trash. All he could feel was a tugging and ripping sensation and fingers prodding his body, making Akio feel incredibly uncomfortable. This turned to nausea when he was sure that he felt that one of the Guards had just castrated him. The Guards worked their way up and soon Akio felt something slice into his face.

Soon something was pulled from his face like a mask. Akio came to the chilling conclusion that he just saw Yamato's face being removed. The Guard then cut the eyelids and tore them off. Looking around, Akio saw the pulsing musculature of Yamato's biceps and pectoral muscles. Blood dripped down in rivers from the exposed muscles.

Akio began to feel very ill...

The Guards then did their best to skin Yamato's bound hands. To make it easier, the rope was cut and the hands were finally flayed. The Guards stood straight up and turned to look at Noboru and the assembled crowd. Most of the priests were trying their best to hide their revulsion while Noboru remained emotionless (Masami's reaction could not be seen due to her mask and Hideo was blind). The Guards then nodded their heads in respect.

"So it is done." He then pointed towards the raised platform. "Open the trapdoor."

One of the Guards followed the command and she stepped on the platform. The trapdoor opened up and Yamato's fully skinned body fell through. Akio watched as the room fell farther away from him as he swiftly descended the shaft. A flurry of sparks and waves of heat took over his vision as Yamato's body landed on the bonfire in the Cremation Chamber. The point of view changed so that of one of the Guards who looked down on the black silhouette of Yamato's body as it burned.

Another figure looked down at the now burning body of Yamato Inoue. It was Hideo Watanabe. He was performing his duties as a Malice Seer. After studying Yamato from his lofty perch, Hideo slowly turned around, his movement guided by his priestess guide who came to his aid.

"The evil has been contained by the fire. The Ceremony of Cleansing is almost complete..." Hideo said to the congregation, his voice magnified by the wide space of the chamber. Noboru nodded and he spoke.

"Excellent. Let us now go forth towards the Secret Honden. It is time to put and end to this Ceremony and begin another thirteen years of peace and prosperity for this land..."

The vision ended there. Akio was left deeply disturbed and sickened. He grabbed his forehead and he shook his head in an attempt to eliminate the memory of what he had just seen. Shuu went over to look down the hole but when he took his foot off of the platform, the trapdoor began to close. He quickly put it back on the platform again and Sumiko went to have a look in his stead.

All she was the flickering lights of torches and the pitch black cremation pit. A strange noise came from the pit. Sumiko looked through the Viewfinder and she saw the body of a man appear with flames covering his body. It was Yamato Inoue. His lingering feelings of grief and hatred still clung to the ashes of the fire that burned his flayed body.

After the photo was taken, the trapdoor suddenly slammed shut. Sumiko fell backward with surprise.

"Hey!"

"It wasn't me! My foot is still on this thing here!" Shuu said in his defense.

True to what he said, Shuu's foot was still on the platform.

"You have seen what outside eyes are forbidden to witness…"

As soon as the voice had finished speaking, a thick red mist began to fill the chamber, covering the whole floor in a thick blood red cloud as well as liquid blood itself. As the mist rose to knee level, the candles in the Altar of the Blade were extinguished all at once. The mist itself seemed to light up the room, albeit dimly, along with the flashlights that the trio were holding. The voice itself was quite familiar. It was Noboru Watanabe.

"The secrecy of the ritual has been compromised… You all must be punished… The penalty is death!"

A shadowy figure draped in the ensemble of a high-ranking priest appeared. Akio and Shuu shined their flashlights on him. A split second after the light touched him, the left side of Noboru's body lost its skin. He then disappeared. Mysterious and eerie chanting began to fill the room.

The three were now on high alert. A frigid cold breath was blown on the back of Sumiko's neck, a moaning noise could also be heard. Freaked out, Sumiko swiftly turned around to find nobody there. Meanwhile from the corner of Shuu's left eye, he saw the bleeding fingertips of Noboru's left hand coming towards his face. Terrified, Shuu immediately swiveled around to confront the Half-Skinned Man's ghost.

But once again, the ghost disappeared before anyone could react. Akio was the only one to see Noboru's ghost, thanks to his sixth sense, but he vanished too quickly before he could do anything. No doubt it was his turn to have an encounter with Noboru Watanabe. But rather than sneak up behind Akio, Noboru had a fouler surprise in store. Akio's sixth sense told him to beware of what was straight ahead of him.

As he turned to face straight ahead, Noboru's gaping mouth and piercing eyes came rushing towards him with arms outstretched. Instead of an ice-cold sensation, Akio felt an intense burning pain that seemed to rip apart the very nerves under his skin as soon as Noboru touched him. It was as if he was being flayed alive… Noboru's eyes, both his normal right one and lidless left one glared intently at him with pure hatred. Akio tried to summon the strength to talk to the enraged spirit.

"Why are you… doing this…? We want... to help you..." Akio wheezed out.

Before Noboru could reply, a blast from Sumiko's Camera Obscura forced the spirit to let go of Akio. Before Sumiko could use her Double Chance, Noboru suddenly rushed backward through the wall. He reappeared again this time in the center of the Altar of the Blade. The Half-Skinned Man then crossed his arms. The blood mist started to flood towards him and rise up to cover him.

After uncrossing his arms with a particular dramatic effect, Noboru was now covered by a pulsing fog. Sumiko took a picture of Noboru again but it had no effect on him. All the light did was "shake up" the mist that now engulfed his body. It was shielding him from the trio's attacks.

"How are we supposed to hurt him now?" Shuu shouted, not caring who answered him.

Noboru however took heed of his question and he prepared to attack Shuu. He rose his right hand up into the air and summoned blood orbs from the mist. The perfect crimson spheres began to float around and home in on Sumiko and Akio while Noboru began to get closer to Shuu. After getting rid of the orbs with their Camera Obscuras, Akio and Sumiko turned their attention towards Noboru. Shuu was desperately charging up and using the Spirit Stone Flashlight to no avail on the spirit.

Just as Noboru wrapped his fingers around Shuu's throat, Akio got a Shutter Chance. He took a picture and it seemed to weaken Noboru's shield. Noboru took notice of this and he charged after Akio at lightning speed. Just as Noboru was about to grab Akio, a blinding flash from Sumiko Yamada's Camera Obscura took down his barrier completely. Seeing that the Half-Skinned Man was now defenseless, Akio unleashed two Shutter Chances on Noboru.

The Half-Skinned Man shielded his face as he vanished before he could take another blast from either Sumiko or Akio. More blood orbs floated up from the red mist and began to chase the trio again but this time they were much faster and they moved erratically. After helping her boyfriend recover from the attack, Sumiko got rid of some of the orbs with her Camera. However, one of the orbs that was still going and it homed in on her and before Sumiko could get rid of it, the orb ran into her Camera's lens.

"Ugh crap!" she said with disgust in her voice.

As she frantically tried to wipe away the blood, Shuu suddenly shouted.

"Sumiko watch out!"

Looking up from the blood smeared lens, Sumiko came face to face with Noboru. Before she could react, Noboru slammed his right fist into the lens of Sumiko's Camera Obscura. It fell out of her hands and onto the floor of the chamber. Just as she swiftly knelt down to pick it up, Noboru's foot stomped down the Camera. A loud crack resounded from the Camera Obscura as most of its fragile components snapped from the pressure and as the glass lens cracked and caved into the stone floor.

The Half-Skinned Man had broken Sumiko's Camera.

All Sumiko and Shuu could do was stare at the wreckage of the Camera Obscura in total horror filled shock. When they looked back up at the Half-Skinned Man, they noticed that his eyes were now pitch black and that black flames were now framing his body. A huge demonic roar echoed out of his lips as he rose his arms up into the air. A black inferno then emerged and it began to engulf the young couple. Their shrieks of terror and pain snapped Akio's attention away from the last blood orb that had been circling around the chamber.

Before he could go save them, Noboru sent a stream of black fire towards Akio. The Pestilence hit Akio with the force of a geyser and it slammed him into a wall. Noboru chortled at Akio's dilemma, taking pleasure in what he doing under the influence of the demons that were possessing him. Despite his back flaring up with pain, Akio's concern for his young friends brought him back to his feet. Unfortunately, Noboru's red mist shield was up again.

Normal film would take too long to take it down and Sumiko and Shuu didn't have much time left. Remembering the power demonstrated by the Type Zero film in Hideki's flashback earlier, Akio quickly got to work switching out the current film he had with the special kind. After he had successfully inserted some, Akio aimed his Camera at Noboru. He clicked the button and in a flash of purifying light, Noboru's shield went down with one hit. Surprised, the entity turned toward Akio.

A Shutter Chance beckoned to Akio and he took it. The damage it possessed caused Noboru to roar with agony as he was violently pushed back through the chamber wall. The fire on Sumiko and Shuu stopped and the two slumped onto the floor with relief. With his sixth sense prompting him, Akio looked to his left with the Camera. Noboru's screaming face came into view but in an instant it was all over.

A simple blast from the Camera finished him. Noboru fell to his knees as a loud howl of pain reverberated from the depths of his throat. The black flames vanished and Noboru's palms gripped the floor as he panted. When he looked up, his eyes were normal and they looked both remorseful and enraged at the same time. He held his glare towards Akio even as he evaporated into thin air.

The red mist disappeared along with him and the candles all flickered back on. Noboru's voice, now free from the Pestilence's possession, rumbled through the air of the shrine.

"It must be done… Finish the Ceremony of Cleansing… Complete the Ritual of Knives… End our suffering… Forever…"

The voice faded off into the depths of space, leaving only a small echo that lasted briefly, like a snowflake landing on a hot surface. With the hair-raising battle now over with, Akio immediately ran over to Sumiko and Shuu. They both looked alirght, just very pale and their eyes were closed. Thankfully they were still breathing. Akio shook them awake.

"Sumiko? Shuu? Are you two alright? Please wake up!"

Regaining consciousness, the young couple slowly opened their eyes and stirred. They looked around with eyes wide open and full of alarm.

"Is that half flayed guy gone?" Sumiko asked.

"Yeah is he?" Shuu joined in.

"Yes he's gone. Can you two stand?"

"Maybe… Let's see."

Sumiko felt her limbs shake a little as she attempted to stand, but she was nonetheless successful since she got back onto her feet. It was the same for Shuu as well. Akio looked at them with fatherly concern.

"How do you two feel?"

"I feel okay… I think…" Shuu said. He looked at his arms and hands and felt his face. No doubt looking for burn wounds. Sumiko did the same.

"Sumiko?" Akio inquired.

"Yeah I'm fine too. We're both just shaken is all…"

"Good… at least you two didn't suffer anything too serious."

Sumiko then looked down at her broken Camera. She became crestfallen and she knelt down to survey the extent of the damage. It was broken beyond repair. Her fifth month anniversary present from Shuu was now a mangled piece of junk. Sensing her quiet distress, Shuu knelt down to comfort Sumiko.

"Its okay Sumi. It can be fixed."

"I know Shuu." She said, responding to the first thing that he had said, "Its just that this was a gift from you. I just feel bad that it's broken now…"

"But it can be fixed-"

"No it can't be Shuu. Look at it."

She pointed towards the frosty, cracked glass shards, the scattered, intricate mechanisms that helped the Camera function and the now exposed film. Shuu knew that the Camera could never be repaired, but he wanted to comfort his girlfriend nonetheless. Sumiko and Shuu began to gather up the pieces in order to place them inside her bag, pushing the Exorcism Knives farther against the one side of the bag so that the cumbersome fragments could fit and not trouble the future acquisition of the Knives. After they were done picking up every last vestige of the Camera Obscura, Sumiko and Shuu stood back up again. The whole time that was happening, Akio had just stood there with a small smile. He thought it was cute how the two interacted with each other.

He thought that they would make a great husband and wife someday if they decided to commit their relationship to that level.

"Are you two done now?" He asked gently.

Sumiko and Shuu nodded in response. Akio then turned his attention towards the other door. With Noboru gone, they could go on towards their final destination. With everyone agreeing that it was time to move forward, they left the Altar of the Blade to its silence. This tunnel was longer than the last one and it felt narrower too.

As the trio journeyed deeper and deeper, they felt a great deal of pressure seemingly weighing down on them. It was a feeling they had all felt whenever they entered the shrine. Tension, anxiety and winter cold air, the sensations of experiencing paranormal phenomenon, it was a sign that they were getting closer to the source of the haunting of Watanabe Shrine. The Secret Honden was getting closer and closer. Besides these feelings, Akio sensed another anomaly within the space of the cavern.

Turning around, Akio looked back towards the path they had all recently traversed down through. He couldn't help but feel that something was watching them. Whatever "it" was, "it" wasn't malevolent and "it" was made up many paranormal presences that were both familiar and unfamiliar to Akio. Curious, Akio switched out one of the Type Zero's for a regular piece of film. He took a picture of the cavern.

The darkness quickly became clouded with an eerie fog, and in this fog, Akio swore that he saw the numerous faces of ghosts, some of whom he could recognize. Yuuta Matsushita and his lover Momoko Kisaragi, Slashed Throat, Hideo Watanabe and his little sister Masami and the priestess who guided him (Kiyone), the Kimura family; Susumu and Kiko with their little girls Chiyoko and Ryou, Hideki Asou, Setsuna Kagome and Nanami and Airi Inoue. Besides them, Akio could also see the countless priests and priestesses, monks and pilgrims who had also died during the Vengeance. Noboru's uncle Hachirou Watanabe was amongst them as well. Every spirit that the trio had ever encountered during the last few nights were all seemingly present except for the yokai spirits.

Even the Guards, Noboru Watanabe and the Past Aku-seijou were there in the mix. Sumiko and Shuu stepped forward hesitantly.

"What are they doing here?"

Akio looked at Sumiko with surprise. She could see them now?

"You can see them Sumiko?" He asked.

She nodded in response and then he turned to Shuu and repeated the same question. Shuu gave the same answer as Sumiko did. Experiencing the paranormal and using a Camera Obscura so often must have given the two the ability to see the spirits without a sixth sense. Sumiko squinted into the mélange of faces and figures and she thought she saw a familiar shape. It looked her long lost aunt Ayumi.

She thought that she could see Daichi and Tetsuo too. However, if it was the Watanabe Three, they were swallowed up by the constant shifting flow of spirits. It was an amazing yet very poignant sight. Shuu leaned his head closer to Akio.

"Mr. Toshim- I mean Akio, what are they doing down here?"

Akio was wandering that himself. A possible answer came to him.

"I think they know that the Vengeance will soon be over and they have come to see their ultimate wish come true at last."

It was a reasonable answer.

"And if we are to free them, we have to keep going." Akio finished.

Akio slowly turned around and continued down the path with Sumiko and Shuu following him as they looked behind their shoulders towards the gathering mass of souls. They could hear the excited chattering of the spirits voices as they went farther and farther down. Soon, very soon… their torment would be over. After the Vengeance was stopped, the trio could all go home, Akio to his pregnant wife and Sumiko and Shuu to Shizuhara and to their families. Even the trio began to feel a little excited themselves.

Just then, the anxious chattering stopped, and the paranormal pressure within the cavern returned. In place of the chattering was an all too familiar sound, the sound of wind blowing. The air became monochrome and chills raced up and down the stiffened bodies of the trio. Slowly they all looked behind them. Farther down the path, was the Skinless Man.

He was glaring at them. The same permanent lipless smile, the pitch black eyes and the intense black flames that surrounded him. This time, there was nowhere that the trio could escape to. They were undoubtedly very far underground and there was no other way back up to the surface except for he path that the Skinless Man was now blocking. They were trapped like game.

A low primal growl was issued from the Skinless Man. He began to float towards them. The trio began to back up even though they knew that running away wouldn't lead them anywhere. With one Camera Obscura destroyed and with the only other extra weapon being a Spirit Stone Flashlight, it was all up to Akio to provide the offense. Summoning up his courage, he issued a command to Sumiko and Shuu.

"Listen to me you two. Go to the Secret Honden without me. I will take care of Yamato."

"But-" Sumiko protested but she soon realized it was futile. There was nothing that she or Shuu could do to help. All they could do now was to get to the Secret Honden and fast.

"Go now!" Akio shouted as he readied his Camera. Looking at each other first, Sumiko grabbed her boyfriend's hand they began to slowly back away before going off on a full sprint, limp/run for Shuu.

"Be careful Akio! Take him down!" Sumiko called out as she and Shuu disappeared down the dark cavern.

"Yeah! Show him whose boss!" Shuu added.

With their footsteps receding off into the darkness, Akio returned his gaze towards the Skinless Man. He had suddenly zoomed up towards Akio's side to get towards the running couple. Akio snapped a photo of him and the Skinless Man hissed with a pained surprise. The last time he was hurt by a Camera Obscura was 104 years ago, and now the same thing was happening again. Angered but also intrigued, the Skinless Man began to approach Akio menacingly.

Holding out his hands, the six black skeletal arms shot out of his back and a taunting growl came from Yamato. Akio was terrified but he didn't dare show it. He had to stop the Skinless Man no matter what, or at least stall him so that Sumiko and Shuu could finish the Ceremony of Knives. Holding up the Camera to his face like he had done so many times before, Akio and the Skinless Man faced off one another for their final confrontation. Meanwhile above ground, the weather seemed to be mirroring the tensions of the final battle.

A tremendous thunderstorm had rolled in. Thunder rumbled across the sky like a quake, lighting flashed along with it, illuminating the dark forest and shrine with blinding flashes of light. A great deluge bombarded the shrine with thick and heavy raindrops as the strong winds whipped the droplets into mist like clouds and blew debris into the Watanabe Shrine complex. The time had come. The actions that would very soon occur would decide the fates of Watanabe Shrine and its ghostly inhabitants forever.

Including its current sole living ones.

Akio Toshimoto, Sumiko Yamada and Shuu Amakura…


Only three more chapters left to go. Hard to believe that the story is almost over. After all of the chapters are done, I do plan on putting a spirit list in as well. Make it feel more like the Fatal Frame games. Thank you all for reading and stay tuned for the final chapters! Thank you to those who have been sticking with this story since the beginning. Thank you for reading and please review! :)