A Blood Moon over Night City

"What have I done, brother..?" were the last words of the man, as he stared at his bloodied hands. He had killed his brother out of hatred, even when he showed mercy and love. Centuries passed, before his inevitable defeat... But did he really die? Once more opening his 6 eyes, he finds himself in an unknown, yet vibrant city... The Sengoku era samurai is about to change the future of Night City...

Chapter 1: Awoken from Limbo

"I could never grab hold of anything. Anything at all. I abandoned my home. I abandoned my wife and children. I abandoned my humanity. I cut down my descendants and abandoned being a samurai. But even all that wasn't enough? You said that those who master their paths all reach the same place. But I never did. I could not see the same world that you did. Why could I not leave anything behind? Why could I not become someone known? Why are we so different? Why in the world was I ever born? Tell me... Yoriichi."

'I remember those words clear as day... How long... Has it been? Days? Years? Perhaps even... Centuries?'

No response... Dead silence... It was all there was, until it was broken by a dry chuckle coming from the man floating in limbo.

'Darkness... That's all I got... Even Hell seems to find my soul unworthy of going there... But if this is the punishment for all I've done... Just stuck in this void forever... So be it...' he spoke in an empty tone, closing his many eyes in resignation.

Nothing once more. The man exhaled in a deep sigh, getting used to the isolation.

'Just know brother... I am sorry. I just... Wish I could've done... Something... With my life.'

And finally... There was something... It started out as a glimmer: faint, yet noticeable light shining amidst the all encompassing darkness. The glimmer soon began to expand, slowly reaching toward the man. He didn't notice anything at first, until...

'What is this sensation... No... This is... A scent?' he perked his nose slightly. 'It's like... Something is... Burning?'

Following his sense of smell, he felt something... Something solid beneath his hands and feet.

'This... I can feel... Ground?' the man moved his hands, thinking he might slip through the solid surface back into the nothingness, but it was still there.

He then began to hear sound... No longer the empty and torturous silence, but genuine sound.

'Distorted voices... Odd humming... Distant sirens..?' the man tried to discern the sudden many different noises.

Finally, his eyes had snapped open suddenly, being bombarded with many different colors.

'Am I... No, this has to be some sort of hallucination...' he looked around, noticing that he was kneeling, still wearing his old purple-and-black patterned kimono and hakama pants, with Kyokokukamusari at his side. Turning his head to the sky, he realized it was a night of the blood moon. He slowly stood up, still feeling quite numb, before quickly gaining balance and straightening his posture. He lifted his hand toward his neck, vaguely remembering the feeling of decapitation, but feeling no scar left behind. Extending his other hand, he touched the wall near him, feeling the solid surface. It was metallic, somewhat reflective even. He gazed at himself, noticing that he still had his demon look with all 6 eyes, the one difference being no more kanjis in his main eyes. He decided to do a small test, extending his claws and clenching his hand into a tight fist, puncturing the palm and feeling the stinging sensation of pain. Unclenching it, he looked at his hands once more, noticing the wound was healing about half as slow as it used to, but still relatively quick.

'So it seems I am no longer an Uppermoon, but still remain a demon...' he thought to himself. 'Should I still go by Kokushibo..? Or do I live on as Tsugikuni Michikatsu..?'

Deep in thought, he absent mindedly brushed the hilt of his demonic katana. Glancing down at it, he decided to try one more thing. Taking a breath, he grabbed the hilt, unsheathing the blade with blinding speed and slashing forward in an Iai-motion:

Moon Breathing, 1st Form: Dark Moon Evening Palace

The slash quickly cleaved the wall before him, the chaotic moon blades following behind and adding to the destruction. 'Hm, seems I retained both my breath style and blood demon art... This is no dream... I really am back in the world of the living somehow...' his inner monologue was cut off when the wall fell apart, revealing a sight that shocked even the usually stoic man. His 6 eyes widened and mouth dropped slightly agape, as he was met with the sight of a city, unlike anything he'd seen before. The Tokyo city from his memories looked blank in comparison to the vastly larger and brighter cityscape before his eyes. There were many tall buildings, reaching toward the heavens, with bright, moving signs of some sort along the sides of the majority of them. The roads were filled with what looked to be cars... Way more advanced cars and even... Hovering aircrafts?

'Ah... This is... New...' He muttered, blinking away his shock, once more dawning his mask of stoicism. There was a brief sound from somewhere, before an audible announcement played:

*Don't be fooled by foreign propaganda, we have a latest, most trusted scoop on Night City, only on N54 News*

'So this place is called Night City, huh...' he thought to himself. 'Interesting... I better go look around for now...'

Promptly sheathing his katana, he decided to rid himself of any and all remaining numbness. He moved every bit of his body, flexing his sore muscles, rotating his rusted joints, popping his stiff neck, before finally vanishing in a burst of speed, making his way toward the streets below. Reappearing in an alleyway, he stuck to the shadow of one particular building, with a neon purple sign casting a dim light over his form. Using the See-Through World, he observed the nearby people and noticed another oddity.

'The humans... What are those things?' The demon was confused as to what he was seeing. It was as if they weren't entirely flesh and bone. Almost everyone that walked by looked to have something resembling mechanical prosthetics, whether it was their arms, legs, chests, heads and on rare occasions, entire spinal chords were mechanical. He noted that a few had multiple eyes or other parts of sort, making his own demonic features look less out of place. He observed the different people, focusing on a few men just across the street. He could hear their conversation, thanks to his own senses being greatly enhanced.

"Yo choom! Check out these new mits I got!" a man, who looked to be in his mid-20s, with buzz cut gray hair and odd goggles, waved his hands in front of the other man's face.

"The fuck? How'd you get those?!" the other man, similar in age, with scraggy brown hair and mechanic eye, exclaimed with obvious jealousy. "Cmon man, tell me where do you keep finding such good quality cybernetics?"

The first man just wagged a finger back and forth in a mocking gesture. "Ah ah ah, can't tell my secrets, now can I?"

Scoffing, the second man turned away, reaching his hand into what looked to be a crate, before pulling out an absurd looking object, vaguely similar to the gun that was used by the wind pillar's brother during his 'Final' battle. "Whatever... Not like that's gonna help against one of these puppies."

"Fucking hell, is that a DB-4?" The man with the buzz cut simply gawked at the supposed weapon.

"Damn right. Only 2 shots, but packing enough firepower to blow apart any armor!" the scraggy haired man boasted, leaning the weapon on his shoulder.

"That's if your target is near you, anything from a pistol to a sub to a rifle is gonna blow your brains out from a safe distance." the other man deadpanned.

As he was listening, he heard a different conversation going on a bit closer and out of sight.

"You heard?" a gruff voice asks.

"Yea... Looks like Frank bit off more than he could chew and got his ass smoked." another voice responded.

"And I told that idiot not to mess with those scavs... Fucking moron said ,,It'll all be fine''." he mimicked a different voice, while scoffing.

*The NCPD Advises those travelling beyond official police jurisdiction, to wear bullet proof vests at all times*

After another announcement, Michikatsu continued listening in on a few more different conversations, noting that each one goes along the same lines. 'Seems like this city has a fair share of criminal activity...' Unbeknownst to the demon, some people began to notice his presence, as he began to hear whispers here and there.

"Woah, who the fuck is that guy?" a man with a mechanical arm pointed at him.

"No idea choom, but those eyes are both creepy and badass." the man's friend responded, a bit unnerved guessing by the tone in his voice.

"Nevermind the eyes, look at his whole fit." the man continued. "Aren't those clothes a little old fashioned? And... Is that a fucking sword?"

"Hey, check out that one over in the dark." one young lady eyed him up and down.

"I see him... Tall, lean body build, exotic eyes and hair, definitely a spicy catch~." another girl spoke with a purr.

Realizing that he's gaining unwanted attention, Michikatsu turned around and began to walk away, however there was a group of 5 people blocking his path. One of the men decided to walk up right in front of him.

"Hey, what's with the get up, choom? What are you even supposed to be with those old rags?" he spoke, blunt and rude.

Michikatsu glanced him over. The man was shorter than him, looked to be in his late 20s, with pale skin, short grayish-blue hair and neon green eyes, wearing a black unzipped jacket with green outlines, a grayish-blue t-shirt with red stains, torn up black pants and black-green shoes. With the See-Through World, he also saw that a majority of the man's insides are altered or replaced with mechanics, the biggest ones being what looked to be twin blades inside both arms. The swordsman finally spoke.

"What... Do you want?" he asked in a monotone voice.

The man simply frowned before speaking. "What? Speak in a way I understand, dumbass!"

A different guy from the group, one with dark green hair and brown eyes, chimed in "Hang on, that sounds like Japanese."

"What?" The pale one looked at him with an annoyed expression. "You mean to tell me this guy doesn't understand a thing I say?"

"Looks like it." He shrugged, stepping ahead before speaking to Michikatsu in Japanese. "Well, we saw you lurking around, not really doing much... Care to say anything about that?"

Michikatsu looked at the one with green hair, his stoic gaze making the man involuntarily straighten his posture. "What I am doing doesn't bother you... But tell me... What year is it?"

The green haired man looked a little dumbfounded at the question. Looking to his gang, he was only met with confused stares, before remembering he was the only one who understood the 6-eyed man.

"Well, I don't know where the hell did you come from, but everyone knows it's the year 2076 and before you ask, this is the Watson district of Night City." he explained, still wondering how did this guy not even know the year.

The swordsman stiffened at his words. '2076..? 150 years in that void...' he thought, a little baffled at the time gap. Sure, when he was Uppermoon 1, he was indifferent towards how much time passed, but this felt different. The pale guy was starting to lose patience, when he noticed Michikatsu was spaced out.

"This is fucking going nowhere!" he yelled in anger. Swiping his arms to the sides, two blades popped out of his forearms. "If he doesn't understand words, maybe he'll understand with actions on what we want!"

Michikatsu merely looked at them, as they all pulled out different kind of weapons and began pointing at him. "This is... Irritating."

The man with twin arm blades lunged at him first, aiming his right blade at Michikatsu's face. Before he could make contact, the man blurred out of the way faster than anyone in the group could even blink, as one of his arms was severed clean off. Before he could even let out a scream of pain, his neck was split open and the man's head fell to the ground, blood spraying like a fountain.

"Foolish..." was the one word he uttered to the corpse. It wasn't his normal tone as Michikatsu... No... He was once again... Kokushibo. Switching his target to the rest of the punks, who were now alarmed and noticeably more frightened, he asked "Who's... Next?"

Several of them opened fire with their handguns, but in a flash, the men were left as nothing more than geysers of blood and gore, as they were mercilessly torn apart by Kyokokukamusari. Blood curdling screams echoed in the area, making every nearby bystander flee in a panic before they were met with the same fate. The only one who remained was the young green haired man, who was laying against the alleyway wall, clutching his freshly cut off hand. His skin was pale, as tears rolled from his fear filled eyes.

"Consider that a warning, boy." Kokushibo spoke up before him, kneeling down to dress the bleeding stump of his hand. "And consider this as my thanks for the information you provided."

The young man nodded with a whimper. Kokushibo stood up and made his leave through the now empty street, as sirens were heard in the distance. However, not everyone had fled the area of the massacre. A young woman with white, pastel rainbow gradient hair had watched the entire scene play out from a distance. "Interesting..." was the one thing she said, before deciding to follow her new target.

Hello readers. This story is something I came up with on the spot, seeing as there aren't many Edgerunners fics as of yet, so I thought I might give it a shot... And what better time is it to do so, then during October with Halloween right around the corner? Anyhow, writing this is gonna be interesting, since Kokushibo isn't the most expressionate character, while Cyberpunk characters are more on the colorful side when it comes to personalities and interactions. One more thing of note is that I'll be switching between his human and demon names at times. That's pretty much all for now, see you all in the next one.