Chapter 37

20 minutes earlier…

[Ozaki]

"Dammit!" I shouted and punched a nearby tree. Takahata and Nishihara were standing behind me.

"Captain, maybe we should just head back. We've been searching for him since last night." Takahata said and I turned back to look at him.

"No! He's out there somewhere. We just need to keep searching, we'll find something."

"Ozaki." Nishihara called out and placed his hand on my shoulder. "We've searched all around Gamindustri. If he's anywhere, he's in that Gamindustri Graveyard."

I clenched my fists, "I… I know he's there…" I said and grabbed ahold of Nishihara's arm, "but I want to believe that he's out here in Gamindustri. If it is true that the only way to get there is Shadow Travel, as Shizuki says, then there's no way to get there."

"We'll just force the suspect to take us." Nishihara suggested.

"It won't work." A female voice called out to us, we all turned to where we heard it and saw a figure standing by the bush, she had an low cut shirt and tight shorts along with the mask of the beast. "He wouldn't take anyone else but himself to the Gamindustri Graveyard."

All of us raised our weapons, "who are you? Explain yourself!" I demanded, she didn't change her stance.

"I don't wanna." She said, causing me to clench my fists.

"We know you're associated with the suspect. Do you think it's really smart to show up right in front of us like this?"

The girl put her hands on her hips, "why don't you find out?"

Nishihara's fists clenched and he dashed towards the girl, "smart ass bitch!" He shouted and pulled his fist back. The girl didn't move either once Nishihara was in front of her. He swung his fist but another figure dashed out from the bushes and grabbed his fist, holding it in place.

Takahata and I pulled out our pistols and aimed towards them, the other figure had spiky black armor on and he also had the mask of the beast, he had a large build as well, I'm guessing he's a guy. Nishihara swung his fist again, but the figure backed away from him and pressed his palm on Nishihara's chest. Sending him flying back towards us.

"Nice try, but you can't touch me if he's here." The female said and looked at the male. "Take them out for me will you Sanjiro?"

The male, Sanjiro I'm guessing, nodded. "Understood." He said, his voice was pretty deep.

He reached down towards his belt and grabbed an axe that matched his armor and pulled it out, I fired a bullet at him, but it bounced off his armor. He held it to his side as he ran towards Nishihara.

Nishihara threw a quick jab at him, but the figure easily dodged to the side and swung his axe at Nishiharas head, but I quickly intercepted and parried his strike to the side, Nishihara followed up by punching at the figure again, hitting him in the chest. Making the figure stumble back, Takahata ran to the other side of Nishihara and fired bullets at the figure, each of them bounced off of his armor though.

"Bullets won't work on this guy." I pointed out, "Not to doubt you Nishihara, but I don't think your fists will do much either."

"Oh that's fine, I just wanted to test it first." he said and held his hands up, a great sword appeared in his palms and he held it towards the figure. "Let's see how you handle this!"

With that said, the three of us sprinted towards the figure, Takahata and I holstered our guns on our sides and held our swords in our hand. Nishihara swung the great sword with amazing speed down at the figure, but the figure was able to block the attack with his war axe and step back. Takahata and I tried to stab him, but he was able to easily dodge the attack.

He looked between each of us and focused back on Nishihara, he took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the waraxe, "Su-Grah-Dun!" he shouted and wind swirled around him and went to his hands, he dashed towards Nishihara again and started to slash incredibly fast. Nishihara couldn't block all the attacks and ended up getting slashed across the arm, blood splattered from the wound as he gritted his teeth, he slammed the sword on the ground, causing the figure to back away. But Nishihara couldn't hold the sword in both hands he dropped it to the ground and grabbed his arm.

I glared over at the figure, "Takahata. Leave him to me." I said, Takahata looked at me with a surprised gaze.

"Ozaki, there's no way you can take him alone." Takahata replied, "He took down Nishihara this quickly!"

"Put more faith into your captain." I said and stepped towards the figure. I tightened the grip on my sword as I held it towards the figure, "I'm your only opponent."

The figure stood staring at me, "I honor your courage. If we weren't enemies, I would have loved to be under your command."

"You're the type that doesn't fight for someone else, but a higher being maybe?"

"I have no obligation to answer my purpose for being here. Just know that I was hired for a specific reason."

I stared at the figure and we slowly walked around each other. Watching each other's movements, "You can change now you know? Fight for the right side, the side you're on is the wrong one."

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But I'll decide after the outcome." he said and dashed towards me once again. I narrowly blocked his attack, the war axe was right in my face. He pulled it back and slammed it down again, but I side-stepped and kicked at the back of his knee, but it bounced off his armor. He then turned towards me and threw a sharp elbow towards my jaw. I dodged quickly and took a couple steps back. If he hits me with that armor, it might as well be a bunch of knives attached to it.

I studied his movements as he ran towards me again, he power attacks first so… As he slashed down at me again, I moved out of the way and slammed my sword on his axe. Knocking it out of his hands, he stepped away from me and watched as I approached him. But I quickly saw a weapon appear on his side, I slashed down but he grabbed it and blocked my attack. It was a black sword that had spikes on the tip of the sword like the axe and his armor, it shined red in the middle of the blade and it was gray between the black and the red.

He pushed me back and we started to exchange blows together, making sparks fly around with each time we slashed. He slashed one more time before making me slide back a couple inches. "You're holding back…"

"Hm?"

"You're not using your full power. Like that wind power you had."

"I honored your courage, I have no reason to use those techniques." he said, those techniques?

"Sanjiro! Hurry up!" the female shouted and he looked over at her and nodded.

"My apologies. But this is where we stop. May I have your name?" the figure asked, I tightened my grip on my sword.

"Ozaki Shoin, Captain of Alpha Squad in the Lowean Army."

"Ozaki huh…" the figure said, "I hope we meet again."

"I'm not finished yet!" I shouted and ran towards him, but he took another deep breath.

"Fus-Ro-Dah!" he shouted and I felt a powerful force shove me and the others back. We flew off our feet and crashed back into the trees.

I slowly sat up and looked at the two people, "What… what are you?"

"It's complicated." the male figure said, the female stepped in front of him and wagged her finger.

"You three stay right here." she said and turned back to Sanjiro, "Now, let's go get those two girls."

"Two girls…" I said and then it hit me, "Rom and Ram?!"

The male placed his hand on the girls shoulder, they disappeared into the shadow, I slowly stood back up and grabbed my phone. I went to Hikan's contact and started calling him.

"Hello?"

"Hikan?! Where are you?!"

"I'm in Lowee. Why?"

"You need to get Lady Blanc, Rom, and Ram out of there! Hurry!" I yelled, but the call ended abruptly. I tightened my grip on it and gritted my teeth. "Dammit! Takahata, Nishihara. We have to hurry!"

"Right!" they both said as we all sprinted back towards Lowee…

[Hikan]

Blanc and I flew through the skies of Lowee, we were looking down trying to find where those two people went. She had her fists clenched the entire time we were flying around.

"Dammit! Where are they?" Blanc cursed.

"I… don't know." I said, which wasn't reassuring in the slightest, I hope that they hadn't already gone back to the Gamindustri Graveyard, there's no way they could. There was light all around the place, they couldn't find an area to go through.

Blanc flew ahead of me, I upped my speed to catch up to her, "I'll find you… Rom… Ram…" she muttered and we looked to our left, we saw a light that shot into the air. Blanc changed course and flew right towards it, I followed close behind her.

We landed on the ground, we were at the cliffs overlooking the ocean, the figures were standing at the edge of the cliffs. The female had Rom and Ram wrapped up tight with some type of rope. Ram was awake now too.

"Blanc… Hikan…" Rom cried again, seeing them like this just fueled both of our anger.

"Let them go. Now!" Blanc demanded and summoned her axe again.

"Whoa there!" the female said and grabbed the rope. "Step closer and I'll send them tumbling over the edge." she said, I almost took another step, "Don't even try it Red Heart, you won't be able to help them even with your speed."

"Just let them go." I warned, "If you want a fight, fight us."

"He'd be glad too!" the female said and looked at the male. "Won't you?"

"..." the male stood watching me, I could tell even through his mask. I believe his name was Sanjiro, "I will, on one condition."

"Condition?" the female said, "oh come on!"

"What are you talking about?" I said, I put my hand on Blanc's shoulder just in case she wanted to do anything drastic.

"It's already set, it was a lot easier then I thought to get you here." Sanjiro stated looking at me, "Let the girls go."

"What?! But they said we-"

"I only wanted Red Heart to show up. The other CPU's have nothing to do with this." he said and the female cursed something under her breath, she snapped her fingers and the rope came undone, they quickly stood up and sprinted towards us, Ram hugged Blanc's waist as Rom hugged mine, we put our hands on their heads, but our eyes never left the figures.

"CPU White Heart and Candidates. You may leave." Sanjiro claimed, "You don't need to be apart of this."

"Like hell I'm leaving!" Blanc shouted and hefted her axe. "You two will die here!"

"Blanc!" I shouted and stopped her, she looked back at me.

"Hikan. Let me go!" she shouted and tried to yank her arm from me, but I held firm. "Do you want me to break your hands?!"

"Blanc, I understand how you feel. But charging in isn't the best strategy." I said and looked at the male, he had his hand on his side, right where a black war-axe was. "He was ready to parry your attack in a swift strike."

Blanc looked at the male as well, "Whatever." she said and pulled her arm from me, "Rom, Ram. Get out of here."

"What? No way! We want to help!"

"Please…"

I looked at the two, "We're not joking, go and get out of here. This isn't something you want to see." I warned and turned back.

"F-Fine." Ram said defeated as they transformed and flew into the sky. "Kick their butts you two!"

Blanc and I stood side by side with our weapons in hand. Sanjiro took out his war-axe and his sword that he had on his other side. Dual wielding both of them, he spread his legs out and put one above him and the other below him. That stance has so many openings though…

Blanc dashed towards him first as I followed her lead, we broke apart last second and swung out weapons at both sides, but Sanjiro easily blocked both attacks with his weapons and pushed me back, he slashed at Blanc and then spun around slashing again with his sword and axe. Blanc blocked both attacks and quickly slashed with her axe, but Sanjiro crossed his weapons together, and stopped Blanc's attack. He pulled the axe and knocked it out her hands, but I leaped up and caught the axe and charged down towards him, I slammed it on the ground. Causing cracks to appear on the ground.

I stood back up and tossed Blanc her axe back, but my eyes never left Sanjiro's. Then I dashed towards him and slashed once, but he blocked it with his sword and then followed up by swinging the axe. I jumped back and bent over, Blanc flew up and jumped off my back and flipped through the air before slamming her axe back on Sanjiro, but Sanjiro sidestepped and went for a stab. I intercepted the blade before it could connect and then grabbed Sanjiro's mask and pulled it. It came off as he kicked my gut and used that to jump back.

I held the mask in my hand and looked at him, once seeing his face I dropped the mask. "You… You look like…"

Sanjiro didn't try to hide his face, his one brown eye looked right at me. "I never thought that my face would be exposed this quickly." he said.

He had long white hair that went down the back of his neck and a full long white beard with it, his right eye was completely white and he had a scar over it. Most likely the reason why his eye is like that. But it looked almost like…

"You… you look like Saito."

Sanjiro smiled, "I'm flattered that you realized it." he said, "I'm his older brother."

[A/N]

I have another update to make, next weeks chapters will be uploaded on MONDAY; the 26th, and TUESDAY; the 27th. I'm doing this because I will be on Vacation on Thursday and Friday that same week, I won't have any access to a computer there so chose to upload them early. It'll be the same time as the usual upload so you won't have to worry about checking it constantly. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you all later!