Kyoko studied the room she was in curiously. It consisted of an empty hallway with a series of silver-framed dress mirrors hanging on the walls. Something about it gave her a bad feeling.

I have to keep going she thought. Ito-san could be seriously hurt.

With that she strode boldly through the room. She was so focused that when she walked past one mirror she didn't notice her reflection stayed behind on the glass and turned to look right ahead, moving of its own accord.

Crash!

She yelped and spun around at the sound of breaking glass. Despite all the strange things she'd seen so far she almost couldn't believe her eyes.

One of the mirrors had shattered, littering the floor with pieces of broken glass. Standing before the ruined mirror was a figure that looked exactly like her save for the fact that the double's clothes, eyes and hair were a dull grey. Her skin also had a greyish pallor and her face was expressionless. She too was armed with a pipe.

Kyoko ducked just in time as the clone swung at her head. Without so much as a flicker of emotion the clone attacked with a flurry of vicious blows that she blocked or dodged while backing away. The sound of metal hitting metal filled the hallway.

The clone brought her weapon down in an overhead blow aimed at her head, but Kyoko blocked it and kicked her in the gut. Her expression didn't change but she did stumble back. She attacked again with another overhead blow but Kyoko sidestepped and swung her own pipe, hitting the clone in the jaw and knocking her off her feet. She hit the floor and instantly crumbled into a pile of dust.

For a long moment Kyoko stood and stared at the dust pile as her mind tried to process what had just occurred.

"What is this place? What's going on here?"

She finally regained her composure and left the room, fully expecting more of her reflections to come to life and attack. Thankfully none did. After a few moments of wandering through corridors she came to another door.

Okay, let's see what happens in here she thought as she opened the door.

After what felt like hours of wandering through the flooded tunnel Ito had finally found a ladder. It had led to yet another hallway similar to the last one he'd been in although this one at least had plastered walls. Fortunately the floor was clear of the disgusting corpse-things that had littered the last two areas he'd fought his way through. Unfortunately yet more of the blobby creatures were shuffling towards him.

"How many of these things are there?"

Who cares? Just kill them all.

"Thanks for the advice."

Spotting a rack of harpoons against the wall, Ito began snatching up the deadly weapons and throwing them like javelins. Each harpoon impaled a monster which collapsed and melted into a putrid mess. When he ran out of harpoons he simply fought on bare-handed, throwing strong haymakers which caved their heads in. As before the creatures fought back but he managed to evade the worst of their attacks while the mask's healing powers took care of any wounds he did receive.

That's it Ito-boy! You're really getting the hang of this.

The last monster fell. Ito continued on his way but then paused as he heard a low whooshing sound. Curious, he turned a corner and froze as he saw what was making the sound.

On the floor in front of him were four gleaming metal blades. Each one was five feet long and attached to an axel that spun it around like a helicopter's rotors. Behind them was a door.

"How am I supposed to get past that?"

Well duh, you jump over each one said the mask. I suppose we could find another way around if you're too scared…

"No way" Ito snapped. "There's no time to waste!"

Then start jumping.

Ito stepped as close as he could to the first spinning blade and waited. When it was at the furthest point of it's swing he leaped through the air and landed right in front of the second blade. He repeated this process until he'd made it past all four blades. Buoyed by his success Ito pushed the door open and strode through. On the other side of the door was a room that Ito recognised as a Christian chapel.

"Good. This place should be safe" he said.

Just when I was starting to think maybe you weren't that dumb said the mask inside his head. Appearances can be deceiving Ito-boy.

Before Ito could reply something floated up into view from behind the altar. It was a disembodied blue head with features not too different from the mask he was currently wearing.

"Is that a relative of yours?" he asked wryly.

I can see why you'd think that but no, that's just a cheap knock-off the mask replied. Still looks damn good I'll admit.

The blue head drifted towards them and as it did so six more disembodied heads materialised around it, appearing from thin air and rotating around the main head. All of them were grossly deformed and with their inhuman faces twisted into agonised expressions.

One of them suddenly separated from the group and flew right at Ito, its mouth opened wide to display jagged teeth! He raised his arm just in time to block and it savagely bit into his wrist, drawing blood.

He howled in pain as he ripped the head from his flesh and crushed it like a rotten melon. It glowed with white light and vanished. Incensed, he leaped at his attacker and punched out two more of the rotating heads. The main one circled around behind him and as he turned to keep track of it, three more monstrous heads appeared to replace the destroyed ones.

Go for the centre head.

"Got it."

Ito began chasing Blue Head around the chapel trying to destroy its barrier heads so he could get a shot at Blue Head itself. In response it summoned replacements, never more than six at a time, some of which it used as barriers, others separated and counter-attacked Ito by biting him. He forced himself to ignore the pain and fight on, no easy task since Blue Head was far more sturdy than its summons and withstood repeated punches.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Ito landed a blow that shattered Blue Head into fragments. Instantly the summons disappeared and Ito allowed himself to slump against a wall, tired from the fight.

Well you sure helped him get ahead the mask joked.

"We're wasting time" Ito gasped. "We need to find Kyo-chan!" He tried to march off but his knees buckled and he fell to the floor, blood pouring from his wounds.

Easy there Ito-boy. Even with the power I grant you still have limits. I can only work with what I'm given and you're still a fragile little human.

"No! We have to find her! Every second counts!" Ito yelled. His fear and frustration were starting to boil over. As much as he tried to push it away the terrifying thought that they might already be too late kept resurfacing.

Relax, she's fine until midnight.

"What? How do you know?"

It'll take a few minutes until you're ready to go so I might as well tell you a little story. Long time ago a guy named Dr. Henry West was convinced he could open a portal to other dimensions. As you can imagine everyone thought he was a crackpot. Good old West decided he'd show them all and wouldn't you know it he actually opened a portal right here in his very own house.

"He opened a portal to Hell?"

Hell's just a word Ito-boy. The reality is far worse. Anyway, short version is he botched it. The portal collapsed, leaving just a tiny crack between dimensions. Some of the inhabitants of that other dimension can slip through but they can't travel far. They need to keep close to this house. Some don't exactly make it through in one piece.

"The dumping grounds" said Ito.

Bingo.

"What does that have to do with Kyo-chan?"

A pretty girl like her with a heart filled with love? They want her for something special. She's going to be sacrificed to their masters and they won't do that until the in-between hour.

"Midnight."

Two in a row, nice job Ito-boy. Anyway since you're fully healed and more importantly, aren't on the brink of flapping around like a headless chicken anymore, how about we get moving?

Just as Ito started towards another door on the far side it opened and someone stepped through. He felt his heart soar as he realised who it was.