Chapter 36: Information Gathered, Daiki Arrives!
Kiro looked into the mirror, an angered, hate filled face glared back at him. Tilting his head down again, he felt the ice cold water rushing through his black, rough, claw like fingers. He flexed them, rolling them in and stretching them back out. Sighing, he glanced back up at the mirror, his wild green hair flowing down in front of his unhuman, red, patterned eyes.
His mind raced back. The night before seemed to rush to him in big clumps of times he had no control over himself, and then finally realizing where he was.
/Flashback/
/ "I end my turn." Kiro growled, looking over at Kaira. "Do not screw this up, you can win right here." He snarled at her.
"I won't." She snapped back, pulling the top card off her deck. "I first move my Skull Red Bird back into attack mode." Rotating the card on her duel disk, the maroon colored bird monster stood straight up and stretched out is wings. "And it will attack you directly!" She yelled, pointing towards Nori.
With a mighty flap of its wings, a thousand or so razor sharp knives when flying from the feather folds in its wings. All of them aimed at Nori, racing past him with tremendous speed. The rain of daggers was so fast, that the cuts he took from the blades took a while to even start to bleed. He screamed with pain as the daggers finally started to take their toll on him.
Kaira & Kiro-700 LP
Nori-0 LP
Falling forward, Nori's body crashed to the stone tablet where he stood to duel. Hanging over the edge, from his stomach up, he seemed pretty lifeless. The only reason anyone knew of the life that still was in him, was the fact that he spoke to them.
"Well, well, well." He spat out, a puddle of blood was forming around his body from the endless streams rushing out of his wounds. "I have to admit, you both did well. Your next test, the test of the Sea Green Moon, will begin tomorrow night. You'll have to be on top of it Kiro, we no longer have the power to sense your presence."
With his finial words spoken, Nori's body slipped of the edge of the platform. Tumbling through the air until he crashed down on the cold, hard earth below. The rectangular stone, that acted as a dueling stage, began to shake and quiver in mid-air. It lost all the power holding it up, and crashed down on Nori's lifeless body.
Kiro's and Kaira's slowly lowered itself to the ground. Fitting snugly back into the break in the concrete, it appeared as if it hadn't moved at all.
With out warning, Kaira turned and jumped into Kiro's arms. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she hugged him tightly. He, even though he saw it coming, felt helpless to move or stop the girl. He stood there in a bit of a daze as she hugged him.
"Kiro! Thank you for saving me. Thank you for coming. I missed you so much, I was so scared!" She sobbed, rubbing into his shoulder a bit./
/End Flashback/
Kiro walked out of the bathroom and walked down the hallway to the living room. He, as well as Kaira and Chao had gone back to Katana's house when the excitement of the previous night had come to a close.
He walked extra slowly, his foot falls echoing even through the carpeted floor. Walking around a recliner, he parked his rear end in it. Sighing, he looked up at Kaira, Chao and Deo. They were huddled around a coffee table.
"Checkmate!" Deo screamed, throwing his hands back.
Kaira stared down at the chess board in complete shock. Chao just laughed at her. Her complete shock put her into a speechless gawking at that checkered playing mat and the black and white pieces.
"...you're really good at this game Deo." She finally was able to come up with something to say. The overwhelming number of pieces Deo had left and the inescapable trap he had locked her into so quickly baffled her. "I think I'll stick with playing Duel Monsters."
"I bet you would!" Chao snickered. "That is what, the eighth...no wait! The ninth time he has just beaten you."
"Its not so easy! He's really good!" She snapped back, wiping the board clean with a quick jerk of her arm. "Set up again Deo, I have revenge to take!"
Kiro watched, but with a less than interested expression dotting his face. His mind was still wondering, back to the events that took place the night before hand.
/Flashback/
/Finally, Kaira pushed herself away from Kiro. Looking up, she shrank back at the mere sight of Kiro's otherworldly eyes. His stoic expression offered no warmth, but really didn't emit any coldness either.
"What has happened to you Kiro? Why do you look so different?" Kaira questioned. She watched as Kiro's pupil less eyes drifted to the left hand corner of his eyeball.
Chao slid to a stop next to the two of them. Looking back and forth between the two of them, he was afraid to say anything that might upset this tense silence.
Kiro's eyes widened, his gaze dropping to the leather glove that adorned his right fist. The gray orb on it began to glow brightly, seeming to rotate in is socket. Kiro's hair shifted from its normal green, to a shade of calm, collected gray. Kooru was now in charge.
"Its good to be out of that bubble." Were the first words he spoke, stretching out in Kiro's body. Getting confused looks from the other two, he cleared his throat before talking again. "Well, I have a theory about what is going on, but I am not totally 100 percent sure myself. Listen to this as well Kiro."
Taking his gaze down to the rough, black material made fingers, he brought them up to his face really close. Studying them with intense interest, he finally let them drop to his side.
"Kiro has harbored our spirits ever since he was passed down this glove holding our very souls. If he hasn't told you guys already, Hebanu, Heruru and I are all of demonic origin. Thus being so, something that no one predicted to happen, did. With us sharing bodies, our demonic energy built up inside of him. But it lay doormat because it was not the right type of energy for his body to work with. Basically, it was rejected by his human body.
"But, it seems that in a fit of rage and anger, he tapped into this pocket of demon energy. It erupted outwards and consumed his heart and soul. He, as far as I can tell, is a good majority demon now. Very little of him is human, if any at all."
"So now...Kiro is a demon?" Chao couldn't quite register that fact to be true. "That doesn't seem possible. How come Kiro's father, or grandfather, or however far back this goes didn't turn into a demon from having you guy's souls in their bodies?"
"Like I said." Kooru said, turning to the questioner. "I believe that a fit of rage tapped into this power and caused it to explode."
"But wait." Kaira spoke up, her voice wavering at what she was hearing, her mind racing to find any explanation that would prove Kooru wrong. "You mean to tell me that no one else ever had a fit of rage?"
"Well, not like the one Kiro had." Kooru's head dropped down to the cold, gray concrete below them. "Kiro was in a fight for his very life. The instinct he had to live must have made his body reach out for any way, any last hope for survival. The anger must have also made the demonic energy burst up, causing the searching of Kiro's body to survived to grasp onto it cause of its mass amount of power. Thinking that is was the last choice it had to survive. Kiro's body must have then adapted to it, changing him into...this." Kooru brought his hands up, motioning to Kiro's body. Looking up, his eyes were rippling with a mix of blood red and gray. The unnatural state of them made Kaira and Chao shrink back away from Kooru. "...and I don't know if its reversible or not." /
/End Flashback/
"Checkmate!" Deo screamed again, throwing himself onto the floor behind him. Giggling uncontrollably, he looked very pleased with yet another victory to add under his belt.
"How did you learn to get so good!" Kaira questioned the young boy, standing up in a fit of frustration.
"Oh, don't be angry at him." Chao smirked. "Its just a friendly game. So what if he can whoop your butt ten times running."
"I know." Kaira's head bowed downwards. She looked as if she was ashamed of her outburst, but her head quickly rose again. "So, how did you get to be so good? Who taught you how to play?"
The kid stopped rolling about on the floor, his expression shifting south. The bitterness that coursed through his eyes made both Kaira and Chao shrink back.
"I taught myself, I watched people playing in parks and such, and I just got into the game myself." He answered, the forcefulness behind it was more than apparent. "Played against those people in the parks until I was able to beat them all."
Chao's head bowed. "The kid must not have had any family ever. I never really thought about it." His thoughts sent sympathy to the poor kid. Lifting his head, he saw haw sad it was for Deo to even reveal that much. "Really hurts him." He shifted his head upwards and saw Kiro sitting in the recliner. "Hey Kiro, what's on your mind?" He question in an attempt to change the subject.
Snarling a bit, Kiro jerked his head away. "None of your business." Came his abrupt response. Crossing his arms across his chest, he continued to glare off into space next to his chair.
"It hurts him to face what he has become." Kaira concluded, looking at Kiro's visible changes.
His hands and feet that now were more claw like, ridged and raven black with lime green lines cracking across its surface. The metallic looking red palm that stretched up his wrist and then his arm until it vanished under his shirt. His eyes which gave only circles of red iris's, no pupil what-so-ever and the streaks of blood red lines that shot across the rest of his eye ball. Even stranger, Kiro was still changing. His ears were now a bit more pointed at the top, like what people think elves ears look like.
"Kiro is now a demon, and I think he is becoming more so." Kaira pondered, looking at his appearance.
The thick, heavy silence that had blanketed the room make them all feel uncomfortable. Shifting uneasily, they looked back and forth. Chao was the first to shatter the stillness.
"Deo, let me see how good you really are at this game." He got up, and motioned for Kaira to slide over so he could site on the side of the chess board. "I used to play chess all the time with my grandfather. I bet I could take you."
"Yay! Fresh challenger! Let's play." And with that, the two of them began to reset the chess board with the pieces in their correct spots. They both were very methodical with their moves. Calculating every possible outcome and how everything needed to fall.
Katana walked in the room just as soon as Deo once again screamed 'checkmate!'. She laughed at the noises of astonishment that were escaping Chao's lips. Turning, her natural reaction was still to sink backwards at the sight of Kiro. His appearance was defanently shocking to one who had known him so long as a human.
"So what is next? Do any of you know?" Katana asked, drawing the four heads towards her. Kaira, Chao and Deo just shook their head as they had no idea. Kiro though came up with the obvious answer.
"The next trial."
"Well yeah, but what will you be up against?" She questioned, trying to get a better answer out of the green haired demon-boy.
"I won't know until I am being tested, like always." He turned his head downward and saw his duel disk laying on the floor by the couch where he had left it when he had disappeared into the restroom. Bending over, he picked it up and slid it back on his left arm. "Whatever it is, I will win."
"Your confidence is admirable, but don't get too cocky. I'm sure that will come back and bit you in the butt." She warned as she turned and made her way from the living room. Growling, he chose to ignore that advice completely.
Drawing out his deck of cards, he flipped them over as careful as he could with his new claws. Fanning them out, he glanced over each of their faces. "I am confident only because I have the power to be so. I've proven myself far enough times so far."
("No, had you proven yourself enough,") Kooru's voice interrupted Kiro's thoughts, ("we would be out of this prison.")
"So now I'm a prison to you?" Kiro shot back.
("You always have been.") Heruru growled back. ("Just keep yourself though, three more trials and you will be totally freed of us and we will be able to walk among the living again.")
Sighing, Kiro began to shuffle his deck. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was already the afternoon. Not to much longer until the trial to begin. He wondered what kind of tactics would be thrown his way this time, they seem to have no order and no structure. Just powerful decks of whatever their choosing might be.
"I don't care, I will beat them all and get your three parasites out of my body." Kiro growled back, placing his shuffled deck back into his deck holder on his white duel disk. "Then I can finally move on with my life."
("So now were parasites?") Heruru shot back, clenching his fist tightly to threaten Kiro.
"If I'm your prison, you my parasites." A twisted smirk curled up the corner of his lips as he felt Heruru sink back, defeated in words. Kiro felt a new sense of pride, he had never really shut Heruru up like that. He felt power in his new state, more respect from the demons who now he shared the same title with
Getting to his feet, he stretched out. Kaira, Chao and Deo stood up with him wondering what he was going to do.
"Since the testers have no way to tell if I'm even alive anymore, I suppose that I should go wonder around the city and hope that we run into each other." Kiro announced as he started to head for the front door.
"Wait!" Kaira yelled after him, stopping him dead in his tracks. Turning too look at her, she shrank back with the malic that course through his eyes. Even so, she stood her ground and looked back at him. "You think it is wise to walk around in plain daylight looking like you do?"
"She has a point." Chao nodded, agreeing with the blond haired girl. "We have no clue how people are going to react to you. Your now...well, now your pretty unnatural."
"Wait, I have an idea!" Deo announced, running out of the living room. After a few moments, he returned with a fresh pair of shoes, some gloves and a pair of sunglasses. Handing them to Kiro, he smiled showing his dirty teeth, with a few gaping holes were he was toothless.
Taking the shoes from the kid, Kiro looked them over. Looking back down he picked up the gloves and looked them over. They were nice work gloves with a bit of weathering under their belt.
"Kid, they are about two sizes too big for me." He said finally, getting a nod from him.
"That they are. If they were your size, or the size you used to wear, your claws would tear right through them." He explained, motioning to the floor where Kiro tapped his black, ridged toes that looked identical to his new fingers.
A long, drawn out silence filled the room before Kiro attempted to start pulling on the yellow and black work gloves. Careful to not rip the sides up on the ridged spikes of his fingers, he finally managed to get both of them all the way on. Dropping the shoes to the ground, he slowly slid the five, long, black, pointed toes into the hole.
Deo and Kaira bent down and helped Kiro tie up the laces, pulling the shoe tight around his ankle so that the chance of his foot falling out was slim. It had taken an awkward shape, the whole body of it shrinking back, strung out to become the long claws.
Sliding the sunglasses over his odd eyes, Kiro, Chao, Kaira, and Deo all wandered out of the house and down the street. The four of them prepared to wonder aimlessly until time for the test.
Darkness flowed over the city quickly, the milky line of stars rushed through the sky. As promised, the sky was enlightened by a calming watery appearance from the color of the sea green moon. The aquatic light gleaming off of the windows of the buildings, making the area very tranquil and peaceful.
"Where is this asshole?" Kiro growled, growing irritated that they were walking in big circles and getting nowhere. That, and the other three didn't wonder if the moon didn't make Kiro's demon blood boil. "They'd better get her soon. I'm not about to stand here and waste my time waiting for some asshole that doesn't even want to show up." Kiro vented, smashing his fist into the side of brick wall and continued to walk down the sidewalk.
Kaira, Chao and Deo all stopped when they saw the damage that Kiro had inflicted on the wall. The dent in the brick seemed unnatural, cracks were spider webbing their way across the face of the wall. Looking back and forth between each other, they decided that nothing needed to be said and they chased after Kiro.
Finally catching up to their buddy, they found him stopped in the midst of a construction zone. Fenced off by large, light brown boards that stretched high into the air, the area was concealed from the people wondering in. Though they stupidly left the gateway wide open.
Kiro stood staring at a robed figure who silently stared back at him. Smirking, Kiro flexed his claws out. He began to advance on the robbed figure with incredible speed. Thrusting his claws forward, Kiro attempted to shish kabob the tester through the chest.
"Die now!" He roared, a demonic furry as well as a bit of pleasure erupted from deep in his throat.
"No." The calm response from the tester stopped Kiro dead in his tracks. Lifting his head, the robed figure grabbed a hold of the black robe and ripped it off his body. Whipping it around his body, he threw it high into the air and let it float away in the night breeze.
He had a smooth, thin and wiry frame. His hair was brushed back but still spiked up, a pale yellow in color. His eyes were a cool, steel tinted brown color, with the customary triangles drawn underneath. Curling the corner of his lips into a smile, he held up his left arm. On it, a pale blue shield rested that seemed pretty small.
"We shall do battle with our cards instead of with our fists." He spoke, his noble voice making Kiro shrink back in shame against his will. "And we shall see if you truly are good enough to release the demons into the world."
The shield on his arm sprung to life, flipping open panels and turning into more a duel disk type of device. A small, mechanical arm appeared from the far side of it, arching its way down so it rested next to the shield. In its grips was the golden hilt of a sword, the blade popping out and sliding down to form the dueling field. In the center of the shield, a panel flipped over revealing a life point counter, marking the start of the duel.
Growling, Kiro held up his own left arm, the white wrist gadget producing the pure white dueling plate. The life point counter on it came to life, dialing up to 5000. Walking back so that there was a good amount of distance between him and the tester, he placed his shuffled deck into the duel disk.
"Its time to start this test. Let's get this duel over with." Kiro growled, sliding the top five cards from his deck. The gloves make it hard to hold the cards properly, so he pulled them off with incredible speed and let them drop to the ground next to him. Fanning them out, he looked over the possibilities in combos. Reaching up, he pulled his sunglasses off, showing his demonic eyes were burning with rage.
"My name is Daiki, tester of the Sea Green Moon, and the eighth trial you must face." Daiki spoke as he was pulling the top cards from his own deck. "So close to the end Kiro, I would hate to see that you fail here on me. My turn first, I draw a card." He announced, snapping the top card off his deck with authority.
Kiro-5000 LP
Daiki-5000 LP
"First up," Daiki grabbed one of the cards in his hand and thrust it down onto his metal duel disk. Stream of light rushed through the device as the card was read and produced into a hologram. A young, blond haired warrior monster, clad in light blue armor appeared before him. "I summon my Marauding Captain (1200/400) in attack mode. By his special ability, I get to summon an ally of his to the battle ground. I call out now, Command Knight (1200/1900)."
A new monster appeared next to the first, this one decorated in lovely brown battle armor. She whipped her sword out of her sheath, slashing it through the air until it was resting inches from the Marauding Captain's breast plate.
"Command Knight raises the attack power of all warriors on my side of the field by 400 points." Daiki went on to explain, his Command Knights swords beginning to glow in a faint, reddish aura (Marauding Captain 1600/400)(Command Knight 1600/1900). "That is all I can do this turn, but before I end, I cover two cards from my hand." Daiki announced, sliding two magic/trap cards from his hand into slots on the swords blade. They appeared in a rush of light behind his two monsters.
"Draw!" Kiro snapped the top card from his deck and slashed it through the air. "Your double warrior force doesn't scare me in the least, Daiki. I summon a much stronger and better looking monster, Gravekeeper Kiro come out (1800/1100)!" A blast of light on Kiro's field blinded both duelists for a few seconds before they witness the arrival of the avatar of Kiro himself. The buff, shirtless Gravekeeper landed on the field.
Kiro next pulled out his deck from the duel slot and fanned it out so he could see it all. Spotting the one he wanted, he slid it out of the deck with his thumb than slid it into the side of the white dueling plate of light.
"When Gravekeeper Kiro is summoned to my field, Necrovalley is pulled from anywhere and placed on my field." Kiro recited, dark tendrils of sound coursed through his voice as he was showing his pleasure in his move. His monster flexed his muscles as power began to course right through him (2300/1600).
"Impressive opening play Kiro Rinku, just as I would expect. Just so you know though," Daiki pointed to his two monsters that rested on his field. "My Captain prevents you from attacking another warrior on the field, which just works in sync with my Knight, cause it can't be attacked if I have another monster on the field anyways."
"Fine with me, Gravekeeper Kiro, attack and destroy his Marauding Captain now!" Kiro shouted, whipping his arm violently through the air. Snapping it down so it was pointed directly at the young warrior. With a massive push off of his legs, Gravekeeper Kiro sped through mid-air towards the monster. Winding back its fist, it jerked it forward towards its target, only to feel a pain rip through its chest.
"Open reverse card! Kunai with Chain is a trap that switches the mode of your monster to defense mode." Daiki smirked as his set card, already flipped up, had stopped the advancing monster in mid air. The metal was smashed against the chest of the Gravekeeper, stunning him completely and forcing him to fall to the ground below. Stumbling back to Kiro's field, he fell down on his knees.
"So you stopped me." Kiro growled, sliding his card on his duel disk into a horizontal position.
"Not only that, but Kunai with Chain also equips now to my Marauding Captain, giving him an additional 500 attack points." Daiki explained as the long chain was wound around the young warriors hand. He gripped the metal end and smirked at his new power (2100/400).
"I set one card on my field." Kiro continued, anger running through his voice. The new card flashed to life below Kiro. "I end my turn there."
"Good." Daiki nodded, placing his fingers on the top card of his deck. "This will be fun. I first draw." He slid the top card from its place on the top of his deck and slid it into his hand. Taking another card from his hand he slid it into the sword dueling plate. "I start my turn with the magic card Pot of Greed. This gives me the power to draw twice more."
Moving back to his deck, he pulled the top two cards from it and added them to his hand quickly. Smirking at the cards he saw, he grabbed one of them and held it up.
"And this magic card becomes your undoing. I play the magic of Allied Forces!" Sliding the card into his duel disk, the hologram appeared next to him in a ripple of white and yellow light. The card image began to glow, sending streams of light towards his two monsters. "The Allied Forces increases the attack of all warriors on my field by 200 points for each other warrior type or magic user on my field." Daiki explained, his two monsters roaring with power (Marauding Captain 2500/400)(Command Knight 2000/1900).
"Such attack power from two really weak monsters." Kiro muttered under his breath, astonished at the incredible force now staring him down.
"Yes, my monsters may have been weak in attack power to start with, but..." Daiki moved his right hand over his chest, letting it rest on his heart. "...A true warrior in battle will help his allies no matter what. No one is ever left behind to die alone. My monsters are true warriors, they always have each others backs."
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And we move on to Daiki, the eighth tester. Will Kiro have enough power to best Daiki and his 'true warriors' or are they going to be the ending point for him. Either way, you'll just need to wait until my next update to find out. Till then, have a nice day!
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