Angra Mainyu
Arc Two - Supremacy - Part Three
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Giving into the temptation of the imported chocolates, Tsuzuki took one of the small confections and popped it into his mouth, 'mming' softly at the texture of the smooth chocolate and liquor center melting over his tongue. It was almost as good as brandied apple pie. Opening his eyes, he reached out to take another one when he stopped himself with a shake of his head. Closing his hand in mid-air, he sighed, shadows deepening the irises of his unusual colored eyes. Hisoka was out there, most likely trying to find Muraki and figure out what his connection was to their case. He should not be inside eating like this when the younger male was getting into all sorts of trouble without him. Even though he would deny it venomously, Tsuzuki was his partner and it was his responsibility to watch over him. That's what partners do.
Besides, the chocolate wasn't going to go anywhere unless there were evil chocolate eating mice in the Koneko.
Standing up, he finished buttoning his shirt leaving the top three buttons undone and tucked his shirt into his pants to look at least a little presentable for the public. Leaving his coat and tie behind on the couch so his hosts wouldn't think that he had abandoned them, Tsuzuki retraced his path to the door leading to the back. Stepping outside into the alley, he stuffed his hands into his pockets, humming lightly as he walked out onto the street. Now which way should he go? Towards the small tea shoppe on the corner or the candy store three blocks away in the opposite direction?
Pondering the merits of his choices, the elder Shinigami glanced around before heading off to find Hisoka. The sight of a familiar blond head caught his eye, and with a shake of his head and a grin, Tsuzuki headed in that direction. It was indeed Hisoka standing there, looking none the worse for wear from his night of tracking and thinking. As he got close, he spotted the redheaded Fujimiya standing nearby. At least Hisoka wasn't alone last night in his wanderings.
Feeling cheered by that, Tsuzuki was about to wave and probably say something inanely cheerful when he noticed the looks on their faces and the way they were staring at a dark-haired girl. Blinking, he paused, wondering why they had such odd looks on their faces.
Watching as his strike was absorbed and reflected so swiftly, Hisoka continued to wonder exactly what Muraki had done to the body before him. The linked feel of the man's power between his form and the girl's was unmistakable, but the shape and affect it had on her in comparison to his own curse was a complete unknown. The simple action taken to return his strike, as clumsily aimed as the reflection had been, was enough to tell him that it was more than token power Muraki had lent to her.
There was darkness at work in the girl, something that radiated from her aura as though to overwhelm him in one wave. Something that seemed obsessed on possession was hidden beneath the innocent surface, the want to own and destroy empathically hanging in the air thicker than the worst of fogs. There were few things that held that sort of dark longing for the end of all life, and all of those few things were demons.
Well, it looked like they had found one of the creatures that the ritual had brought forth.
Of course, the timing sucked. For all experienced purposes, he was facing down such a thing alone. As skilled as the assassin beside him was in matters of life and death, Hisoka doubted that the other could hold his own against a demon. When he had died and first been a Shinigami, there was little that the empath had been able to do either; even when partnered to Tsuzuki, at first, Hisoka had required the barriers that the other could create with ease in order to protect himself. It hardly to be expected that Ran could be much better in that sense, having only been dead a few days and knowing of it a few hours.
That meant a basic one against one, which was never good odds against a demon. Perhaps for Tsuzuki - who could summon Shikigami to his aid - or Tatsumi - who could use a person's very shadow against them - it would be even odds, but for Hisoka it was not. He had empathic senses, barriers, and a very basic knowledge of curse mark sorcery, as taught by the Chief of the EnmaCho division - at best, those were insufficient weapons to use as an offense. However, being in a situation with bad odds was not going to stop him. He had felt the taint of the doctor on the girl and was determined to learn more.
Feeling the brush of power - likely an off-shot tendril of his original strike - cut across the concrete beside him, hidden in the light cloud of dust that had arisen when the majority of reflected power struck the wall, the youth kept his eyes steadily on the demon-host. Definitely something to not underestimate, but with Ran's spoken words to not harm the girl, there weren't many other options open to him.
"What the hell should I do then," he muttered under his breath, the clenching and relaxing of his hands the only sign of silent deliberations of what to do. Under a little duress from the situation, Hisoka had to restrain the sarcastically sharp remark that wanted to follow his cold words. It was no time to be snippy, despite his impatience otherwise; Ran had a point in wanting to keep the girl safe, if she was indeed the sister that the other's mind was remembering her to be.
Of course, that brought him down to one problem: How to deal with the demon without damaging the host body.
There was indeed a problem in that, since he could not easily pull the demon from the body, not while the original soul lay trapped. He had tried that before, and felt the power of the Reimaken technique reflected back at him when Tsuzuki's possessed powers broke his attempt. Pleasant was the furthest word from being suitable to how that had felt - it had been more like something was trying to tear one side of him from another, without care for his well being in the interim. It had given him a healthy respect of the rare technique, and one that held him at bay from simply casting it at the moment. Wasting energy on a body where control was absolute in favor of the possessor was not an intelligent action.
That plan of action was on the verge of being discarded when two things happened: The burning in his body from the marks of Muraki's taint doubled in pain, causing him to drew in a sharp breath as pained jade eyes looked to the other cursed one, a clear feeling phasing from her as the form shuddered. It was a sudden warmth filling the nothingness, the true innocence behind the delicate young woman blossoming in a sudden burst of freedom. He could feel it stretching out, as though waking from a long, restful nap. It was the girl; the real girl and the soul that truly owned the body.
Namely, it was what he had been hoping for.
Forcing his breathing to be calm and steady, Hisoka shot Ran a warning look, to remain back for the moment. The reasoning behind it was left unsaid, the sudden option needing speed over explanation to be effective, but the warning remained. The other would be wise to stay away from him, in case the demon attempted to reflect what he was about to do.
Closing his eyes, he let out the last breath he had taken, bringing his hands before him and beginning to speak softly, too quietly for any to hear. All of his concentration was focused inwards, drawing his spiritual energy forward to meld with the words of the sacred technique. Any who knew of what the Chief had taught Hisoka would have recognized the symbols the youth was forming with his hands to be none other than that of the Reimaken, the technique used to strip free a spirit. To say the least, it was a dangeerous technique, and one that Hisoka knew he would be lectured upon for casting 'frivolously' in a situation where risks could easily mean the end. That thought, though, was shoved to the side, his entire being needing focus upon the spell, lest his cast it imperfectly.
Even those without empathy could have sensed the sudden shift in the air, a barrier of light attempting to form around Aya's body to seal it so that the technique could complete its required task. Whether or not the demon within had enough strength to break the field barrier was an unknown, a risk in the already uncertain and dangerous situation. Though, to free and know more from another one touched by Muraki was more than enough to validate the situation in Hisoka's eyes. Anything was worthwhile, if it meant gaining the upper hand against the doctor, even if that meant endangering his spirit and the girl's in order to get that upper hand.
Keeping his jade gaze firmly upon the field, Hisoka summoned forth all of his willpower to keep the delicate technique in balance, a trickle of sweat touching his brow as the effort it required. There was not much longer, though, and he would have the chant spoken and would being trying to separate demon from human, without destroying the soul of the latter.
"... ritsu, zen," he finished, white light gathering in his palms as an unknown wind curled around his form, rustling his clothing with its strength. "Reimaken!" Keeping his control as fine as possible, he spread his palms towards the girl before pulling them apart, each motion of his body now a delicate point and tool used to pull out the creature. The only hope was that the field held so that the Reimaken could be finished, and in that hopefully free the smothered spirit within.
If not, well, then they were in trouble, and he'd likely be feeling a great deal of pain from the broken spell.
--
It was Ken who first heard the commotion going on outside. The screaming and yelling and whatnot. The only thing Ken could figure on was that the bad guys were making their move and Koneko was under attack. Again.
"Omi, Aya took off last night and hasn't come back." It was Youji who glanced up from perusing the memo Omi had left in his hand. When Ken moved away to look out his window, Youji too finally noticed the racket outside.
"Aya's out there. With that blonde kid and the other one from last night. And..." Ken blinked unbelieving of what he saw. He turned and glanced back at Youji and Omi's smaller frame outside Aya's door. "... they're attacking Aya-chan."
The two wasted little time in getting themselves dressed. Youji ran to his room to throw on a dark turtleneck and slacks while Ken had opted for the t-shirt and jeans approach to fashion. Within minutes Ken was in the hall fastening his Bugnuk and Youji was tightening his watch. They might be Shinigami but they had no idea what that meant, so old, tried and true methods had to be used do deal with the chaos breaking out outside. The two glanced to Omi waiting for the signal to move. Without Aya giving the battle commands the next in command was Omi. They wouldn't move without his signal.
The moments of time in which Youji and Ken rushed to dress were hardly wasted by Weiß's manager, who knew too well how dangerous it could be to have Koneko discovered by the enemy, much less attacked. With the advantage of having already donned clothing for the day, Omi only needed to pick up a weapon of sorts, beyond the sleeve of darts that was forever hidden on his person. Emerging again from his room, where he had disappeared to while the others hurried to readiness, he held tightly to the compound bow he had chosen, the strap holding the quiver fit neatly between his fingers.
Far from the best choice for close combat, the bow had the power to drive through a pane of glass as cleanly as a bullet could, and carrying near that much force. His weapon choice alone could have alerted the others to the fact that he had no intention of joining the quartered battle. However, he equally did not intend to simply stand inside and do nothing. His skills lay in distance, and he was planning to exploit that.
"Siberian, Balinese," he spoke, the tones of leadership clear in his voice, "go down there and find out what's up. I'm going to the roof to give cover if you need it." Unspoken was his second reason for heading up instead of down: The night before Hisoka had easily entered their building from the roof, leaving a broken door that was hardly the safest in terms of security. Whatever was going on outside of Koneko, Omi did not want to put too much attention to it and leave the roof unguarded. With the chaotic changes in their lives, everything had to be considered and covered for the safety of the team.
Turning to head for the stairs, the sapphire-eyed assassin stopped and looked back at the two. "Take care, and take these," he added, tossing them each one of the miniature headsets he'd designed for Weiß usage in mission situations. Likely it would prove unneeded, but he wanted to be able to hear what was going on down there, so he could gauge their next move. Letting a smile touch his lips, to lighten the situation a bit, Omi waited for their confirmation. Once they were on the move, he would head up the stairs and the situation could then be dealt with.
--
This wasn't exactly what he expected to see this early in the morning. Especially before breakfast and learning more about the four Shinigami they were here to train. Especially since they hadn't even started to investigate the summoning of the two demons nor done any of the official Shinigami business for the case. But yet there was Hisoka trying to pull the demon away from the young girl, the spell's light familiar from his own experience with demon possession. And there was nothing he could do to help Hisoka with that spell.
Well, nothing that he could do across the street from the battle.
Thanking the powers that be that it was early morning so the streets were relatively free of traffic, Tsuzuki dashed across the street and stopped a few feet to the side of the glowing woman, glancing around quickly for witnesses before shrugging. That point was mute anyways, thanks to the sounds and sights going on at that moment. Really though, Shinigami were supposed to keep this sort of thing from coming out into the open. But Hisoka - and himself if he thought about it - didn't exactly stick to the rules.
"Hisoka baka, not in public," Tsuzuki muttered then got to work. With practiced ease, he focused his spiritual energies, forming a barrier around the four of them, cutting them off from interference from outside influences. Adding a shade of illusion to it to make it look like fog, he took a deep breath and let it hiss out through his teeth. The barrier would not hold against several concentrated attacks, but it would work to keep anyone from getting hurt. And if Hisoka managed to drive the demon from the girl, then he would be of much better use than he was at that moment. He simply did not have the knowledge to cast the spell Hisoka was using, but he did have the twelve Shikigami.
--
Nodding as he watched Omi run up the stairs he lead the way down at a sprint to the front of the shop. He both felt and heard the blonde behind him. Vaulting over the last landing of stairs, Ken paused long enough to hit the automatic opener on the grate to the shop entrance. He didn't even wait for the door to open fully before he dove feet first to slide under the foot high opening.
Not even taking the time to dust himself off, Ken sprang to his feet ready to go running at full speed into the foggy haze across the street.
Youji wasn't far behind him and took a more leisurely approach to getting under the still rising grate, he merely ducked under it when it was high enough to do so. The blonde shook his head as he saw Ken run off half-cocked into the battle but something felt off. He looked up and down the street and noticed that the fog was just there, which meant it wasn't the usual morning fog that plagued the city from time to time from being so close to the bay. Green eyes narrowed on something else. A dead bird not far from the edge of that fog. Not needing any more information than that, Youji let his wire fly in the direction of Ken's feet.
Ken was just about to the barrier when he felt his feet yanked from under him, just as he'd been about to jump into the fog. He glared and noticed the thin wire wrapped about his feet and sent a vicious glare to his teammate. Who simply pointed at the ground and the street. The brunette glanced at where Youji pointed and blinked. He inched away from the fresh corpse of the bird and noted that there was no other fog anywhere else.
Pushing himself up to sit as he carefully unwrapped the wire about his feet, he felt Youji come up beside him. "That fog is solid isn't it."
"Yep. Looks like that bird found out the hard way poor little thing. Prolly broke its neck when it collided with it. Unless there's some sort of energy in there. I don't think so, but then again... I'd be expecting to see some sort of crackling or something. I still don't suggest we touch it until we know more about it."
--
A low hiss fell from the demon's rosebud lips as the burning painful energy of the Reimaken moved through her, that and the outside influence both working to break the seal she had on the pure soul of the host body. The wavering of the air around her to an energy filled fog and the appearance of the form just nearby made a low trembling growl like a wild beast rather than a young girl sound from her lips. This was just not going well at all, and the confinement the barrier Tsuzuki created was just pissing her off. The demon just disliked being enclosed in tight confines with ones she did not chose to be close by, especially when those ones were working rather intently on separating her from her host body by the true one forcing her out.
First things first...
The seal she had created to hold back Aya-chan was strong... but the forces working to shatter it, she wagered they were strong enough to shatter even her seal. But it would take time... and it would be a time, which was better chosen by her. All the demon needed was a way to buy itself some time to get these circumstances a bit more to its liking. Curling its influence around the girl's half awake and timid self, Aya-chan a bit unsure of what was happening to her own body, the demon considered just squashing her back down asleep... but the difficult part of that was if she harmed the soul the host body could be harmed as well. Or if Aya-chan truly felt the evilness that was in her body she'd fight to wake up harder to force it out. So that forceful mushing of her back down was discarded for something a bit more ingenious. Using its powers even as the girl's body shuddered in pain from Hisoka's spell, the sleeping girl was attempted to be coaxed back to her peaceful little inner world of sweet memories and happiness. Instead of the chaos and confusion currently going on around.
A light smirk formed on the girl's lips as she felt the girl retract back into safety. The seal she had to keep Aya-chan back and out of the way was a clever one. While some demons may choose to just have them in an endless nightmare, the demoness had chosen to give the girl a world of her happiest memories, safety and security and childhood innocence. All that sappiness that made the demon want to gag. But whatever worked, worked. Aya-chan could stay there a bit longer... the endless repeating dream would soon end since the seal had been cracked by reality, but it gave the demon a bit more time to work with turning things to its favor.
Staying in her low crouched position, she closed her dark blue eyes and tremored her own power, the hold the Reimaken breaking. Opening her eyes, she pressed her hands down hard against the concrete and let out a long shrill scream, a crash of power flowing out in a perfect circle about her, rippling like waves on a pond of water, ever increasing as it moved out with the demon's own destructive force, powered by her anger. It smashed hard against the fog barrier Tsuzuki had created more for hiding from the public eye and physical attacks. There was truly very little that could stand against the demon's own powers, Shinigami barriers more created for physical protection than to hold up against something so destructive and not quite physical. She stayed crouched low and centered her gaze on Tsuzuki just a few feet away from her, still rippling out strikes of energy to shatter the barrier for the demon's own purposes.
Footnotes:
As promised, another chapter today. And one more coming, to make up for the uber-idle time.
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