Chapter 38: Don't Fear the Reaper
"This test is still on, and its my draw." Daiki slid the top card off his deck and whipped it around his body. "Time to see if you have what it takes to make a comeback after this." Taking a hold of all three of the cards in his hand he slapped them down on his duel disk. "First I summon back my Warrior Returning from the Battlefront (1100/1100) in attack mode."
Before Daiki appeared a small, thin warrior in dark purple armor. In its hand it held a thin, flimsy sword that looked scratched and cracked. The head of the man inside the three pointed helmet looked fatigued and worn out, but a fire of battle still burned in its eyes.
"I replay my magic card; Allied Forces, thus granting my Warrior Returning from the Battlefront an additional 200 attack points (1300/1100). But the other card I play this turn is called Axe of Despair and it shall increase my monsters attack by 1000 points (2300/1100)!"
Slipping the sword into a sheath at it side, the warrior held out its empty right hand. In it, a flash of lightning struck outward before a brown handled axe appeared. Whipping it down through the air, the purple armored warrior took a leap into the black night sky.
"Attack directly my warrior!" Daiki cried out as his monster came down on Kiro.
The Axe never actually made contact with Kiro as the monster had terrible aim, but the shock wave from the blade flying inches from him made him slid backwards on the dirt ground.
Kiro-600 LP
Daiki-1300 LP
Springing back from landing on the ground, the small warrior monster jumped back across the gap and landed on Daiki's field. Snapping the axe down across its body, the monster took a battle pose to wait until the next fight. It gave a slight chuckled at its accomplishment, a look as if it had never done anything like that before.
"Its your move now Kiro Rinku." Daiki smiled, lowering his arms. The shield like duel disk with the sword dueling field resting on his arm at his side.
"Then I will make my move." Kiro growled, placing his rough black finger tips on the top card of his deck. Stopping he took a second to think. "I am holding Secret Spirit Guard - Hebanu, Gravekeeper's Assailant, and Djeser-Djeseru. Two of which are now worthless and one is too weak to overpower that thing." Slowly pulling the card so it was resting centimeters over the edge of the deck, Kiro put his back pointed tip thumb on the bottom of the card.
"He is trying to think of a card that can bring him out of this mess." Daiki observed, watching as Kiro's eye lids closed down over his solid red eyes.
"Draw!" Kiro's eyes snapped open as he whipped the top card through the air and past his face. "Magic card go! Card of Demise lets me draw until I am holding five cards!" Kiro yelled, slamming the drawn card into his duel disk. With that, he quickly pulled two more cards from his deck and flipped them over, happy when he saw them. "Perfect." He exclaimed, grabbing one of the cards in his hand and slapping it down on the duel disk.
"You have a strategy to bring me down?" Daiki inquired, watching as the black robed assassin appeared again on Kiro's field. Wielding back its wavy dagger, the Gravekeeper's Assailing prepared to strike, showing it was in attack mode.
"Of course I do, first I summon my Gravekeeper's Assailant (1500/1500)." Kiro pointed to his newly summoned monster with his right hand, that still held the two newly drawn cards. Next, Kiro moved and slid them both into their own magic/trap zone on his duel plate of light. "I first activate my magic card; Gravekeeper's Muscle Burst. This will double the attack points of my Gravekeeper."
Kiro smirked, holding up the two remaining cards in his hand. Sliding them into his graveyard the other card he had placed in his duel disk activated on his field right next to the Gravekeeper's Muscle Burst card.
"I chain my Muscle Burst with my Serial Spell card. Since I discarded my hand, my Serial Spell will copy the effect of my Muscle Burst card and double the attack of my Gravekeeper's Assailant."
Both of Kiro's holograms began to glow as they activated, sending rays of white light floating into the Gravekeeper. Holding up her dagger, the monster began to moan as its body became more buffed out. The rippling muscles could be seen even under all the black fabric (3000/1500)(6000/1500).
"Six thousand attack points." Daiki whistled at the impressive stats of the monster. Knowing full well this was the last move of the duel, he bowed his head and let a smile crease across his face. "Well, he could do it. He must be the one."
"Assailant attack!" Kiro bellowed, whipping his arm towards the skinny little warrior. Rushing across the field, the assassin slid the dagger swiftly through the air and pierced right through the breast plate of the monster. It howled before it exploded into tiny data fragments.
Kiro-600 LP
Daiki-0 LP
Grabbing the cards out of mid-air as his dueling plate vanished, Kiro began to walk across the dirt lot to where Daiki stood with is head bowed. Stopping a good distance away from him, Kiro looked at the top of Daiki's yellowish hair.
Slowly lifting his head, Daiki revealed he was wearing a warm and joyful smile. This made Kiro bear his fangs in anger. Why in the hell was he so happy he just lost? Badly to add on top of that. But Kiro knew he was wrong, Daiki had put up quite a fight and even though it was an odd feeling, Kiro knew he had learned the lesson early on about what Daiki was trying to teach him.
"Well Kiro Rinku, I would say you passed this test with flying colors." Daiki's eyes continued to drift up into the dark night sky. The sea green coloring that blanketed the moon was vanishing slowly. "Bright Pink."
"Bright pink?" Kiro cocked an eyebrow at Daiki who was still staring off into the abyss of space.
"Your next test shall be that of the Bright Pink Moon." Daiki lowered his head, locking his eyes with that of Kiro's "Best of luck my friend."
Kiro watched as Daiki's body slowly began to drift upwards, his body becoming a rag doll as gravity gave way and let loose of him with its tight fisted grip. Higher and higher he want, the limp body not even putting up a fight as it slowly began to pick up speed, hurdling towards the black infinity of space. Soon becoming nothing more than a spec in the distance, vanishing as his body left Earth for parts unknown.
Kaira, Deo and Chao ran up to their friend, all four of them staring up at the spot where Daiki's body has been seen drifting slowly upwards. All four of them lowered their head and stared at one another for a long while.
"I was beginning to wonder how the loser was going to lose his life." Kiro said, looking back up to the night sky with his solid red iris's. "There was no fancy set up of deadly things that would kill us when we lost, just seemed like an ordinary duel.
"Maybe he was trying to make it seem like the pressure is off so you wouldn't be so tense." Kaira theorized to the group.
"Or he was just to dumb to think of anything that would seem threatening so he had the loser float away." Chao chortled at his own joke.
"Probably the latter of the two." Kiro smirked, taking a few steps leading towards the gate of the construction yard. "Either way, that waste of time is over. I have to look forward to tomorrow night and the night after. Then I will be free of these curses and I can get on with my life."
("Kiro...") Kooru began to protest his last statement, crossing his arms across his chest. Sighing though, he let his arms slid down to his side as he stood in the mental chamber. ("You know what, just forget it. Once this is done, we will be free from you as well.")
Running out of the construction zone, the three humans caught up to their demon friend and walked silently behind him for a good ways. Finally, Kaira broke the silence.
"So what now? Do we find a place and sleep for the night?"
"You can if you want." Kiro growled, glaring back over his shoulder. "I'm going home." And with that, Kiro turned down a street that led to his mountain side home. The mountain towered in the distance, standing as a symbol in the middle of the sea of buildings.
"Your sure your up to it?" Chao questioned, looking at the green haired kid. "All the other times, you've been completely wiped out from the trial."
"I guess I'm not this time." Kiro growled again, angry with the interrogation he was getting. "My newly acquired demonic powers must give me more strength than normal. I didn't feel even half of those attacks in that duel, and I know that if I was still fully human, I would be in much pain right now."
Clenching his fist, Kiro thought about how true his last statement really was. He continued to walk into the distance with his three human friends following close behind.
Kiro slumped back into a old chair in a golden stone room. Kaira flopped down on an old mattress on a black iron frame in the corner. Against the wall of the room by the bed where Kaira was laying, Chao and Deo curled up.
"I said I was coming home...why didn't you go to your own homes?" Kiro growled, crossing his arms across his chest. Looking at the three kids staring at him. "Always got to be an inconvenience don't you?"
"Well," Chao started to respond, looking at Deo and Kaira before directing his attention back to Kiro, "thanks to your trials, Kaira doesn't have a home to go home to, and Deo never had one to begin with."
"Besides, you said since it was your fault you would let me stay here for a while." Kaira protested, adding to Chao's argument.
"Ah...you have a point Chao." Kiro growled, but admitted his own defeat. Glaring at the silver haired boy with his red iris, a small smile did start to curl up on his lip. "So then why are you here?"
Chao looked stuck, he hadn't expected that kind of question from Kiro. Fumbling with what to say, he found his tongue tied.
"Cause we are a team, and we stick together no matter what." Kaira defiantly stated, saving Chao's rear.
"Team..." Kiro scoffed at the word. Adjusting in his chair so his back was to them he quickly growled. "Alright, shut up humans, its time for bed." And with that, the four of them shut up and closed their eyes, letting sleep slowly wash over their exhausted bodies. Within minutes, all four of them were out like a light.
Kiro's eyes slowly peeled open. The first thing he noticed was a vast blanket of black, starless sky stretching as far as his eyes could see. The ground was invisible, hidden beneath the thick layer of ghostly white fog. Clenching his fist, Kiro rotated his head slightly from left to right to see the exact same sight.
"Where the hell are we?" A familiar gruff voice asked.
"I don't know, Heruru." Kiro growled, still staring off into the black abyss of the horizon. Then his eyes widened. That voice hadn't come from inside his mind like he was used to, Heruru's voice sounded as if it were behind him. Slowly, Kiro turned his head to see three figures standing awestruck.
They looked like Kiro, though much bigger and more built out. The three demons who had been locked in Kiro's mind all of his life stood there before him in their own bodies. Kiro's eyes drifted up and down all three of them, while they did the same thing to each other. No one could quite explain what was going on.
"What happened?" Hebanu finally asked, drawing his silver haired companions attention to him.
"As far as I can tell, this isn't the real world but rather some kind of dream state." Kooru replied, rotating his body around to look out in all four directions. The same ghostly fog enveloped the area as far as his stone gray eyes could see. The darkness of the sky seemed to grow thicker, making it seem like the fog was glowing.
"You mean we are all having the same dream?" Kiro and Heruru growled out at the same time. Both disappointed that this world wasn't real.
"Something like that." Kooru agreed, nodding slightly. Brining his attention back to the small group, he seemed to be thinking of something. "Though we have never shared a dream before. This is a new experience to us all. I wonder why now."
"So you all can be together when you die in your sleep..." A ghastly voice echoed across the area, making all four of them tense up.
"Who is there!" Heruru yelled, clenching his fist together. He, Kiro, Hebanu and Kooru stood back to back so they could see out all four ways. No sneak attacks were going to get to them.
"Death. Destruction. Hate. Discontent." The voice echoed, the words he spoke were in such a dark and dreadful tone that it even make the four demons shake. Goose bumps forming on their arms. "Your lives are worthless, and you deserve what you are about to get."
"Come out and face us you ass hole!" Heruru barked, screaming it out into the abysmal darkness. "Get out here so I can kick your ass! You coward!"
"Coward? You dare call me a coward?" And with that, the owner of the voice materialized from a ripple in the air. A floating monster in a black robe appeared, wielding a scythe on a long wooden handle. Its eyes and mouth were marked by glowing, light blue ovals.
"I've seen you before. It's the Reaper of the Cards." Kiro growled as he and the other two demons flipped around to the sides of Heruru. The Reaper floated in the air before the four of them, moving his scythe slowly through the air.
"Where have you seen him before?" Hebanu questioned, though not taking his yellow eyes off the grim reaper monster. "I don't recall you every coming face to face with this monster before like this."
"It was in that one dream I had a while back." Kiro replied, his solid red iris's also not leaving the hovering monster. "Right after I beat Andron." Clenching his fist even tighter, Kiro began to smirk darkly. "Though back then I was afraid of you, this time I can rip you to shreds." He said, speaking to the Reaper.
"You don't scare me at all." The reaper, wielding back his scythe over its hooded head, spoke in his dark, hateful voice. "You stand no chance of beating my in this world, no matter your newly acquired demonic powers."
"How does he know so much about me?" Kiro began to wonder, slowly sliding forward on the smooth ground below the white fog. "Either way, I am going to take you down!" He bellowed out, moving forward in a blur to the naked eye.
Moving casually, the Reaper whipped its scythe down and horizontal across its body. A loud crack of wood could be heard as the next sight was Kiro's black claws wrapped around the staff. Kiro was in shock that his attack was blocked so easily, he didn't even have time to react when the Reaper of the Cards pushed the staff outwards and knocking Kiro to the fog covered floor.
"What the?" Kiro looked up in shock that his attack didn't follow through as he had planned. His eyes widened when he saw the Reaper prepare to bring the scythe down on him. He quickly began to roll to the side, the metal tip of the blade crashing into the ground right next to him.
The ear piercing screech echoed through the darkness. Kooru, Hebanu and Heruru began to charge across the area with their inhuman speed. Soon, all three of them were bearing down on the robed monster, shoving their fists into the monsters head and causing it to float backwards a good distance.
"Kiro, you alright?" Hebanu questioned as he and the other two demons landed on the ground in a perfect line. Kiro shook his head as he jumped back up to his feet.
"Of course I'm fine." He growled, bringing his head back to the robed monster. "He's going to be the one who is going to be in trouble in a minute."
"You're the one who over interpreted his demonic skills." Heruru growled as Kiro came to stand next to the black haired demon. "Anyone could have seen that attack of yours coming from a mile away." Reaching out, he grabbed Kiro's shirt collar and twisted it until Kiro was face to face with him. "Think before you act again or you're going to get your ass killed."
"Oh, and like thinking is your strong point!" Kiro snapped back, swinging his arm up to knocked Heruru's away. Just as it barely made contact, it was ripped away and pinned to Kiro's side by Heruru's other hand.
"Shut up you!" Heruru snarled back. "Your reckless and stupid, trying to show off what power you think you have. You are so weak! If you were under Kooru's leadership like we were, you would have gotten seriously beaten to death for something that stupid!"
"What are you babbling about?" Kiro complained, wriggling around to get free from Heruru's relentless grip.
"Its true." Kooru flexed his fist as he spoke to Kiro, though his eyes never left the robed monster that hovered in front of them. "After one beating from a stunt like what you just pulled, Heruru never recklessly ran in again. Not only that, but I was sure to focus my punishment on the battle wounds he got from the attack he recklessly ran into."
"What are you talking about?" Kiro's head drifted from the silver haired demon back to the black haired one who was glaring daggers at him still.
"Hebanu and Heruru were under my command." Kooru simply stated, getting rather annoyed at the idiocy Kiro was showing. "In a battle once, Heruru was stupid enough to blow our cover by rushing into a fight to quickly, thinking he was powerful enough to handle it." Out of the corner, Kooru watched as Kiro's head became focused on him. "That attack nearly killed him as it was, luckily, we still came out the winners. Afterwards, Heruru paid the price for his stupid move."
"It sounds like you guys were in some kind of demon army." Kiro figured, finally feeling Heruru's grip on his arm loosening.
"In a way, we kind of were and army of three." Hebanu confirmed, also unwavering from the Reaper of the Cards. "And even I can say, if you try something that stupid again, I'll beat your ass in."
"Hebanu..." Kiro was in a bit of shock, he had never seen or felt Hebanu that mad before. The kind and gentlest of all the demons in his body had never come across as having a very mean bone in his body. Kiro had suddenly gained a new respect for the sky blue haired man standing on the other side of Kooru.
"Did you all forget I am here?" The reaper asked, making Kiro crank his head to the side so he could see the robed monster. The other three demons hadn't taken their eyes off the monster. "I want to take what I rightfully deserve. Now all of you die!" And with that, the grim reaper monster burst forward across the area.
"Don't think so." Heruru smirked, whipping his arm outwards. A stunned Kiro went flying through the air and crashed into the charging monster, knocking both of them to the fog covered floor.
Stunned, the Reaper of the Cards lifted its head up from its place on the floor only to find itself begging pulled away by the back of its cloak. Cranking its ghostly head, it saw that Kooru had it in his iron grip. The two other demons running on either side of him.
Digging in their feet, Kooru, Hebanu and Heruru came to a sudden stop. Whipping his arm around his body, Kooru threw the monster past him and out farther in the abysmal area. Crashing against the ground several times, the monster disappeared in the violent cloud of fog that was kicked up.
"Well that was fairly easy." Hebanu stated, brushing off his cloths. "The way he sounded, I thought he would put up a lot more of a fight."
"True. But still." Kooru stated, turning his head to his raven black partner. "What have I told you countless times. Your allies are there on your side. No one gets left behind, and I think that was one of the stupider things you've ever done. Kiro could have been killed."
"Your point?" Heruru cocked an eyebrow at the demon. "If you recall, we are no more than parasites to him. And of course, parasites use their hosts to the fullest potential. In this case, dead weight was the best choice."
"Dead weight, huh?" Kiro growled as he slowly made his way up to the group of demons. He was rubbing his head with his hand, his rough black fingers getting a bit tangled up in his green hair. "Remember that, you'll regret it one day."
"I'm not scared of you." Heruru laughed at Kiro's attempt to scare him.
"No, but you should be scared of me." The four of them jerked their heads forward and the same voice came out of the mound of fog. Rising up slowly, the reaper had its head and arms limp, hanging down as it hovered upwards. "If you really thought an attack that weak could defeat me in my own domain, than you are all sadly mistaken." With that, his head snapped up, showing the once blue ovals in his head to be blood red. "You cannot beat me!" Whipping up its arm, he slashed its scythe through the air sending a shockwave blasting out towards the four opponents.
None of them had time to react before the blast sent them all hurdling backwards. Loud thumps could be heard as the bodies hit the hard floor, kicking up mass amounts of the fog. The air in the area became thick with the ghostly white cloud, making visibility very low.
Growling, Hebanu opened his eyes to see the monster hovering next to him with his scythe pulled back to strike. With in seconds, the metal tip of the blade clanked into the hard floor, barely missing Hebanu who had begun to roll out of the way.
"He's fast!" Hebanu yelled, announcing to the others the speed of this beast. "And deadly, watch out guys." Though his words were in motion with his quick rolling to put distance between him and the reaper monster that had its scythe pulled back up.
"Why is he after us?" Kooru began to ponder as he quickly sprung back to his feet. Seeing the Kiro and Heruru were already up, he began to look around for the sky blue haired demon. Not seeing him, he assumed that he was down on the ground covered by the fog. The reaper was hovering with its scythe pulled back over its hooded head.
Before any of them could move, the reaper was sent hurdling backwards by a golden flash of light. Whizzing past the three of them, the hooded monster crashed to the foggy ground and rolled a good distance away.
"Hebanu?" Heruru puzzled looking shifted from the towering cloud of smoke to where the monster once floated. Popping his head out of the cloud on the ground, Hebanu looked around slightly confused.
"What happened?" He asked, quickly jumping to his feet. "Did one of you..."
"No, it wasn't us." Kooru shook his head, his silver hair flopping back and forth with each motion. "I have no clue what that was."
Hebanu quickly joined his companions, the four of them watching were they believe the reaper should by lying on the ground. Kooru quickly cranked his head to look off behind him to see if he could find any other kind of life form. Anything that could have just attacked the reaper.
"Cheap shooooot." A very angry, echoing voice rose with the quick ascension of the grim reaper. His head snapped up and he glared past the four demons into the blackness of the horizon beyond. "How dare you interfere with my hunt. Who do you think you are?" It growled, to nobody it seemed.
"I dare, because no one lays a hand, claw, or sharp metal object on any of my loyal partners." A noble, deep voice echoed across the area. Appearing out of the fog as if a ghost, a tan man wielding a golden, snake headed staff appeared. His white and black robes blowing back in a dramatic wind that had picked up in the world of darkness.
"Gravekeeper's Chief?" The four demons were shocked to see the monster standing on the opposite side of them from where the reaper floated.
"I don't care." The long wooden scythe in the reapers hands was lifted so it was pointed directly at the new opponent, the blade curving down towards the ground. "I will kill you none-the-less!" And with that, a pulse wave burst off the end of the scythe cleaning the gap between them within seconds.
"I don't think so." The Chief of the Gravekeeper's smirked, holding up the golden staff he held just in time. The blast crashed into an invisible barrier, simmering in gold from the sudden disturbance. "My turn, counter attack!" He yelled, snapping his staff down so it was pointed at the Reaper of the Cards. Like the scythe had just done, the staff sent out a pulse wave of gold that traced back the same path as the previous attack.
Being caught off guard, the blast that crashed into the robed monster caused him to go flying backwards with a raging tail of smoke that billowed off. Bone crunching echoed through the world of darkness as the monster bounced along the floor like a rag doll. The fog was parted where its limp body soared through.
The scythe, which had been blasted out of his hands, twirled in mid air for a second before crashing to the ground. The blade stuck into the earth, leaving the wooden handle exposed above the fog at a odd angle.
Kiro, Kooru, Heruru, and Hebanu's heads all snapped towards the Gravekeeper's Chief. They had moved slightly from the attacks that had just passed between them. The four of them were speechless as the watched the monster lower his staff to his side. A smile creased across his face as he looked at the four of them. His eyes locking on the green haired demon, he gave a cheerful giggle.
"It has been a while Gravekeeper Kiro." He said, slowly walking towards them. "I see you've changed quite a bit since the last time you were here."
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A little action of a different sort. Wonder what will happen next? Just got to hold on and see when I update next. Do tell me what you think, I am happy to get any review at all. Till the next time, have a nice day!
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