DISCLAIMER: I don't own I don't own some of characters in the story. The characters that will appear in this fic are owned by their respective owners. There are also OCs that are owned by their respective authors.
-/-
"At daylight, you are safe, but at nighttime, you are in danger.
The night is where people known as Summoners obtain mysterious beings known as the Tsukumogami spirits. They are ordinary people during the day, but they are Summoners at night. Every night, they engage in a war among themselves for a certain 'gift' that might change their life forever. The winner will stay in the war while the loser will be disqualified from the war.
However, it is said that a Summoner does not kill an ordinary person that is not involve in the war. That soon change when a string of mysterious murders begin to take place during the war.
The murders soon haunt the city where the war takes place.
What truth lies within the shadows of the night?
The answer lies within the war of the Summoners.
This war is known as…
The Tsukumogami War"
-/-
Tokyo, Japan
Hospital
The city was still dark and the moon was already gone.
Kyuu and his Tsukumogami, Dark Magician Girl, were at the hospital's entrance.
Once there, they have discovered a humanoid beast that appeared to be responsible for the Nighttime Murders.
"Damn… So this Tsukumogami Spirit belongs to the killer…" Kyuu anxiously said as Dark Magician Girl prepared to fight the figure. As soon as the girl raised her staff to lighten the dark place, they could clearly saw who that humanoid Beast was… The Vorse Raider.
"Hmph, so it's another Summoner…" The beast said in a threatening tone as Kyuu and his Tsukumogami saw another shadowy figure behind the beastman, "But a new one."
"I have no time for weaklings like you," the shadowy figure said as he revealed himself to be a man in his mid 30s wearing a formal uniform, "So scram or you will be my master's next victim," the Vorse Raider also said as he aimed his large axe toward the two. The spirit's threatening words confirmed that the Tsukumogami Spirit did belong to the killer of the Nighttime Murder.
"So… You're behind the murders," Kyuu said in an angered tone, "Why… Why did you killed those people?"
"Enough talk, I won't discuss my beliefs to a child like you," the man said as he suddenly showed his deck!
At last, Kyuu and Dark Magician Girl finally meet the mysterious man who is behind the murders as they prepare to fight the killer and his Tsukumogami Spirit… The Vorse Raider.
-/Tsukumogami War\-
XXXXXXX
Chapter 3: the Dawning Summoner
-/-
Dark Magician Girl steps forward to the beast, Vorse Raider, with her master behind her.
"Are you ready, Master?" she whispers.
"Yeah, I remember those rules you taught me," Kyuu replies.
Kyuu and the unknown Summoner clench their right hands simultaneously as they summon their respective Primary Cards. They both take out one card among the four.
"Magus Offensa!"
"Physica Offensa!"
The cards burst into shining lights as they merge with the two Tsukumogamis respectively.
-Summoner Battle!-
Dark Magician Girl's staff emits a shining aura as it begins to form a small orb at the end of the staff's edge as a result, but Vorse Raider's axe has become even larger and, yet, the beast holds it firmly as if it's light as a feather!
Vorse Raider starts his move by lunging toward the blonde-haired girl.
The beast attempts to cut the girl down with his enormous axe, but Dark Magician Girl moves her wand to the right creating a magical barrier to block the beast's attack. "You got him!" Kyuu manages to get behind the beast while holding his card, Thousand Knives. The boy uses the Spell Card bursting it into a purple light as knives suddenly appear behind the detective freak.
"W-What!" Vorse Raider quickly notices the boy as the knives are flung toward the beastman! The beast quickly sets his sight on the knives and spins his large axe to repel the knives. However, this is exactly what Kyuu wants him to do because the beast has forgotten to pay close attention to Dark Magician Girl. As a result, Kyuu's Tsukumogami unleashes her purple energy beam from her staff on Vorse Raider's back wounding him.
As the Vorse Raider is stunned by Dark Magician Girl's attack, the remaining knives impale through the Tsukumogami's skin.
The next thing Dark Magician Girl does is sliding around the Tsukumogami until she manages to get in front of the Vorse Raider so she uppercuts the beast with her rod flinging the beast in midair in a stand position. When the Tsukumogami, Vorse Raider, descends to the ground, Dark Magician Girl unleashes a purple-colored force wave that flings the Vorse Raider aside.
"D-Damn," the Vorse Raider scowls while pulling off the knives from his body, "I shouldn't underestimate you. You're a little girl, but you have incredible power."
The Vorse Raider charges toward with great speed and delivers a punch toward her! The punch on her face leaves her stunned as the fierce beast swings his axe with a ferocious force. Dark Magician Girl quickly recovers from the punch when she notices the beast's axe is going slash her, so she blocks the attack with her staff. However, the impact results with the loss of her staff as the enemy Tsukumogami's axe send her staff flying.
Now unarmed, Dark Magician Girl can't use her magic without her staff. The fearsome Vorse Raider attempts to punch her followed by another slash of his large axe, but when he swings a punch, Dark Magician Girl surprisingly catches the beast's incoming punch. "W-What!" The beast is caught by surprise as the girl knee-kicks the beast's abdomen painfully.
The impact stuns the Vorse Raider in an instant as Dark Magician Girl tosses the beast aside! The female Tsukumogami quickly picks up her staff that's lying nearby and unleashes a pair of purple beams at the beast damaging the Tsukumogami Spirit even further.
Kyuu is left speechless and surprised at the same time seeing the girl's physical strength. Not only she's adept to her magic skills, but she has super strength that he had never seen. If she is this strong, who knows how physically strong she can be if Kyuu had used the Offensive primary card. Even though her strength is quite strong, her physical strength isn't enough to hurt the Vorse Raider as it only stuns the monster for a few seconds.
When Dark Magician Girl let her guard down thinking that it is over, the Vorse Raider takes out a large chain and swings it around like a whip. The beast dangles the chain onto Dark Magician Girl and bounds the girl with it leaving her defenseless. "Now hold still!" The Vorse Raider begins to lose his temper because the fact that a little Tsukumogami girl slowly beats him. The girl tries to break free, but it seems that the chains are very strong that she isn't able to break them easily.
The Vorse Raider grabs his axe and charges toward the bounded Dark Magician Girl.
Kyuu, knowing that his Tsukumogami is in danger, quickly draws out a card from his deck. The next card has the image of a blazing trail labeled Burn Trail. Kyuu quickly uses the card as a ring of fire suddenly appear surrounding the boy! The fiery ring suddenly slams to the ground before it unleashes a trail of fire toward the charging Tsukumogami!
The Vorse Raider quickly notices the flames that are heading straight to the beast, so the fierce Tsukumogami tries to block the flames with his axe. However, the flames goes pass through him until the Vorse Raider is engulfed by fire! Despite the overwhelming heat, the Vorse Raider tries to withstand the heat and pain that is flowing through his body.
"Okay, that'll keep him in line," Kyuu turns his attention to his Tsukumogami only to see that Dark Magician Girl successfully breaks free from the chains. When the flames are extinguish, the Vorse Raider attempts to continue with his assault, but to his dismay, sees Dark Magician Girl casts a black energy ball at him. The beast is caught off guard as the energy ball explodes when it got close to the enemy Tsukumogami sending the Vorse Raider flying and landing nearby.
Kyuu clenches his fist in excitement knowing that their teamwork is able to wound the Tsukumogami. If he and his partner can continue their teamwork, they'll surely win this fight.
However, Kyuu immediately remembers about the Vorse Raider's master. The young Summoner quickly turns his head to the right and he spots the mysterious man charging toward him with a knife on his hand! "Oh crap!" Kyuu steps to his left and barely evades the man's assault, but the knife manages to slit through his right arm!
"Master!" The blonde girl cries. She hurriedly goes to her master's side and holds his injured arm, "Master, are you okay?" Dark Magician Girl asks. Kyuu nods as a response thought his facial expression doesn't hide the fact that the wound is too painful for him to bear. Dark Magician Girl suddenly generates a soft, blue light from her left hand and places her hand onto the young Summoner's injured arm. To his surprise, the blue light instantly heals his arm.
"Master, please be careful next time. I can't heal you if you die," Dark Magician Girl tells the young boy with a worried expression.
"Huh, impressive," Vorse Raider suddenly appears next to his master, the unknown man, "Not only your magic is powerful, but you're physically strong and you have the ability to heal your Master. Not all Tsukumogamis have that kind of trait."
"Yes… An interesting Tsukumogami indeed… Except for the boy," the enigmatic man said as he cleans up Kyuu's blood that's stained on his knife, "Don't you realize that even Summoners can join the fight? You have a lot to learn about us Summoners and their Tsukumogamis."
"Now it's my turn," the man draws out a card from his deck with the image of a silhouette pounding on the ground labeled Ground Smash. The killer uses the card as a green circle appears beneath Kyuu and Dark Magician Girl. "What the-"an invisible force suddenly pounds the two from above! Dark Magician Girl sees this coming when she sees the killer shows the card, so she manages to take the blow for Kyuu. As a result, the invisible force heavily damages her. The force is rather strong as it sends both of them flying away with Dark Magician Girl suffer the worst.
When Kyuu lands nearby, he tries to get up even though the attack also injures him like his Tsukumogami spirit, but not as bad as Dark Magician Girl's. "You're still standing?" the killer twitches his eye, "Then I'll make sure you don't stand up anymore."
The killer orders his Vorse Raider to assault the young Summoner. Quickly to react, Kyuu quickly draws out a card from his deck and sees that the card's image is a large hole with a strange red jewel implanted on the middle of it labeled Trap Hole. "Here goes," Kyuu uses the card as fast as he can before the beast can slice him in half.
The Trap Hole card suddenly disappears from his hand much to his confusion. The fierce Tsukumogami, Vorse Raider, runs closer to the boy as the beast raises his axe higher in an attempt to cut the boy down until a hole suddenly forms beneath the beast! Vorse Raider falls into the hole.
The hole suddenly blazes with red light sending the Vorse Raider out of the hole. The red light actually injures the beast giving it several bruises on its body and his axe has small cracks on it.
"Whoa…" Kyuu is astonished by the powerful spell that he had just casted on the Tsukumogami. He places his hand on his deck again hoping to use another one to aid his Tsukumogami, Dark Magician Girl, in this fight. Just when he's about to draw it, the killer suddenly lunges toward the boy and attempts to stab him on the heart.
However, Dark Magician Girl charges at the man from the right and pins the killer to the ground.
Despite her injuries, she can still move her body. "Dammit, let go!" The killer tries to break free from her grasp, but surprisingly, Dark Magician Girl's strength is beyond human since she's able to hold the man's arms down. "T-Thanks…" Kyuu sighs in relief as the girl smiles at him.
All the sudden, the Vorse Raider appears behind Dark Magician Girl.
The Vorse Raider violently pounds the girl's head stunning her. The beast then grabs the girl by her hair and tosses her aside.
"About time, you idiot," the killer scolds the Vorse Raider as he stands up.
"Sorry, Master," the Vorse Raider bows.
"I had enough of this," the man draws out a card with the image of a large axe labeled Axe of Despair. The enigmatic man uses the card enhancing the Vorse Raider's axe making it even larger and grows small spikes on the edge of its blade. "Not done yet," the man immediately draws another card with the image of a silhouette that is engulfed in red aura whilst raising his arms labeled Might of Glory. The man uses the card as the Vorse Raider is engulfed by the same red aura from the card's image.
"Now witness my might!" The Vorse Raider charges toward Dark Magician Girl.
The girl tries to take the Vorse Raider down with her purple energy beams, but her magic isn't able to slow down the beast due to the effect of the spell card, Might of Glory, which strengthen the beast's skin.
"Oh no!" The girl yelps as she slowly steps backward. Kyuu knows that she's in trouble, so he quickly draws out a card from his deck. Thankfully, he draws out the Black Staff card, so he uses the card emitting Dark Magician Girl with purple light as her staff changes into its new form. "T-Thanks, Master!" Dark Magician Girl quickly releases a powerful purple energy onto the Vorse Raider.
To their surprise, even Dark Magician Girl's new staff still isn't able to slow the Vorse Raider down!
"Don't underestimate me!" The Vorse Raider eventually reaches the girl and smashes her with his large axe. Dark Magician Girl tries to block its attack, but the beast's brute strength is too much for her forcing her to kneel down while on her defensive stance. Next, the beast punches the girl by her abdomen with absolute force that it causes severe pain for the girl.
After the fierce punch, the beast then smashes his axe onto the girl, which knocks her down to the ground and the axe's sharp blade stab her from the back. The pain is too much for her to bear as she's already wounded before. Due to the wounds that she suffers, her staff is forced to revert to its normal form.
"Huh, I thought you're tougher than that," the Vorse Raider mocks the girl as he raises his axe. Surprisingly, the axe has none of Dark Magician Girl's blood stained on it. It is because that the Tsukumogami Spirits aren't humans, and thus, they don't have blood. On the girl's back is a black mark of the Vorse Raider's axe.
"D-Dark Magician Girl!" the young Summoner Kyuu can't bear to see her in pain, so he attempts to get to her side until he realizes that his feet can't move. He soon realizes that his opponent, the killer of the Nighttime Murders, is standing right there on his right 2 cm away. If he tries to move, the killer is likely to pursue and kills him with his knives. Kyuu can try to attack the Summoner first, but due to his inexperience in combat and his lack of strength, he's nothing more but an open target. His only hope is the use of his deck.
Just then, Kyuu notices that his deck begins to engulf by a green light for almost a second. He remembers from Dark Magician Girl's earlier explanation that when a Spell Card is already being used in battle, it'll take time for it to replenish its power. Once the card has replenished its power, it will be restored back into this deck though it can sometimes placed itself in random order.
The boy can feel the tension filling the atmosphere when the mysterious man slowly approaches the boy while holding both his yet-to-be-revealed Spell Card and his knife. "Please… Give me the right combination!" Kyuu quickly draws the card before he begins to run for his Tsukumogami Spirit.
The killer, in response to Kyuu's sudden movement, pursues the boy in a fast pace. Before the man can reach the young Summoner, Kyuu uses a card with the image of a shining sphere labeled Blind Flash. "W-What?" The man doesn't react to the card until a light suddenly flashes through his eye blinding him!
"That takes care of him," Kyuu smirks.
He eventually gets closer to the Vorse Raider, so he draws out another card and it turns out to be the Thousand Knives card! Kyuu immediately uses the card to summon knives around him before the sharp knives are launched toward the Vorse Raider.
Since Vorse Raider doesn't pay attention to the young Summoner, the knives stab the beast on his back! However, even the beast is unfazed by the spell as the enemy Tsukumogami is still standing. The Vorse Raider turns around and glares at the boy who is standing behind him, "You little… That's the second time you use that!" The Vorse Raider attempts to attack Kyuu until Dark Magician Girl suddenly stands up and thrusts her staff onto the Vorse Raider's back before she swings her staff horizontally to force the beast to move to the right and blast him with a large purple energy.
The blast from her magic forces the monster backwards, so Dark Magician Girl has the opportunity to get to her master's side.
"Master…" the girl utters as she kneels down once she's close to Kyuu.
Kyuu quickly gets to her and holds her. The young Summoner discovers that her wounds are much deeper than he had thought especially the blade marks on her back.
"Sorry about this," Kyuu draws out a card and, to his relief, it's the Restoration spell.
"Master… Please don't…" Dark Magician Girl struggles to get up, "If you do that, you'll get tired again…"
"Knock it off, I can't let you fight like this," Kyuu said with a calm tone as he uses the card to surround his Tsukumogami girl with a string of soft light before it slowly releases a crowd of blue orbs at her. Her injuries, including the blade mark, are healed in an instant, but it also results with Kyuu feeling exhausted all the sudden.
"Heh… You risked your life for this girl?" A voice booms in the boy's mind as he realizes that the Vorse Raider is slowly approaching them! He's still uninjured! To the right, Kyuu can see the killer again, who has just recovered from his blindness.
"You do know that you are vital to this fight," the killer said as he draws out another card with the image of a collar that has a mark of a devil labeled Collar of Destruction. The mysterious killer uses the card to summon the collar that fits on the Vorse Raider's neck giving him strength that is even more powerful!
"Shit! At this rate… We're gonna die!" Kyuu snarls at the large beast until he kneels on the ground. The boy tries to draw out the card, but his hands feel heavy that he can't even move them. "I can't use any Spell Cards in this state…"
Dark Magician Girl looks at her exhausted Master with a worried expression. She realizes that she can't let Kyuu to continue to fight, so she has to fight on her own.
The girl flies toward the large beast and begins to fight the Tsukumogami.
She gives everything she got: she bashes the Vorse Raider with her staff and blasts the beast with her purple energy, but to no avail. The Tsukumogami beast counterattacks the girl's movement with several blows from his axe and his fists.
However, she is able to avoid most of his attacks since she's fully healed from her injuries. Despite her advantage, her attacks aren't hurt the beast at all.
The Vorse Raider eventually punches the girl again and, due to her enhancement magic, wounds her as the impact sends the girl flinging backwards. Dark Magician Girl manages to withstand the attack as she notices that she's near her master.
"Hmph, you fought well for a newcomer," the killer smirks whilst watching his Vorse Raider. The man expresses his joy of the battle they just had whilst he turns his attention to the young Summoner and his little magician. "I never felt this excited for years… How I kill them and this fight. I love it," the man grins.
"So… You really are the killer of those Nighttime Murders," Kyuu angrily said as he tries to get up, but due to his fatigued condition, he cannot move his body. The man stands there staring at the boy with a gleeful expression. "Yes, that was all me… I can't believe that I get to kill two people at once, this must be my lucky day," the man immediately orders his Vorse Raider to attack the boy, which the Tsukumogami is glad to obey.
Dark Magician Girl, horrified by the fact that the Vorse Raider is going to kill them both, stands at her current position in fear. She tries her best to defeat the beast, but to no avail.
"Master… I'm sorry, but he's far too strong…"
Those words in her mind are what she wants to say it straight to her master.
On the other hand, she can't say those words to her Master. She can't tell why she refuses to tell this to the boy until that boy holds her by her hand. The girl notices that her Master places his hand on his deck indicating that he's willing to aid her in the fight against the Vorse Raider despite being exhausted. This action shocks the female Tsukumogami magician.
"Master Kyuu, don't! You can't use any spells in your current condition! If you use it, then…"
"Don't worry about me… I know what I need to do…"
Kyuu stares at the killer who is excited to see his Vorse Raider is going to kill the boy and the girl. He knows what he has to do, as long as that killer still has his status as a Summoner and his Tsukumogami, no one will be safe and the Nighttime Murders will remain unsolved.
"Alright…" Kyuu draws out his card, "It's time to end this."
Upon looking at the card that he had drawn, he begins to smile.
Dark Magician Girl notices her Master's smile so she assumes that the boy draws their 'trump card.'
-/-
"Here goes!" Kyuu uses the card, but instead of bursts into purple light, it bursts into a shining yellow light!
"W-What!" The light blinds the killer and the Vorse Raider, the bright light does not affect the young magician Tsukumogami and Kyuu.
The card that Kyuu draws is actually a Weapon Card!
It forms into a sword with a crystallized hilt that shaped like a cross. The sword has a drop pointed blade that has strange marks on it.
Dark Magician Girl glances at the mysterious sword with a shocked expression when she realizes that she had seen the sword before.
"That sword… It's The Fragarach!" she cries.
To Kyuu's surprise, the sword instantly cures the boy's fatigue condition.
The young Summoner can feel the sword's overwhelming powers flowing into his body. Just as Dark Magician Girl said earlier, no matter how weak Kyuu's body can be, the Weapon Card grants its host power to fight his way through.
When the sword is finally formed and is held by Kyuu, the shining light finally fades away.
The killer and the Vorse Raider notice the sword, but even the Fragarach doesn't impress them. "Huh, don't care if you're using a weapon, you still cannot defeat me, Summoner!" the Vorse Raider charges toward the boy attempting to thrust his large axe onto the boy.
When the beast gets close to the boy, Kyuu is suddenly engulfed by wind as the sword's blade begin give out a green aura! "Oh yes I will!" Kyuu suddenly swings his sword in great speed and, to everyone's surprise, heavily damages the Vorse Raider! The beast cries in pain as he quickly backs away from the young Summoner. "Impossible! I-I'm protected by my Master's spells! How could this…" The Vorse Raider examines his own body and discovers a large slash mark on his body.
Despite of being powered by the Spells that grant him brute strength and near invincible protection, the mysterious sword is able to cut through the beast at ease, which surprises the killer. The young magician calls the enigmatic man and his Tsukumogami Spirit explaining that the sword, Fragarach, has the power to see through the Spells' powers and focuses its assault on the real enemy expelling any Spells or anything else that try to hide the enemy from its sight.
"But it's not over yet," Dark Magician Girl turns her attention to her Master Kyuu. They both nod simultaneously as they both charge toward the beast.
"Damn you!" The beast, getting angrier than before, attempts to strike them down with his large axe, but Dark Magician Girl is able to get close to the Vorse Raider and blocks his axe with her wand. The Vorse Raider quickly realizes that he falls for their trap when he notices that Kyuu is right below him!
The magician quickly flies backward when the young Summoner begins to slash the beast rapidly in great speed! The sword allows the boy's swing to move even faster than before. His swings are very fast that the Vorse Raider cannot block his attacks in time. The Fragarach sword proves to be very powerful as every slash it inflicts on the beast is fatal.
Kyuu continues to slash the beast whilst Dark Magician Girl gathers her energy to cast one of her powerful spells.
After a few slashes, Kyuu eventually performs an upward slash that greatly wounds the Vorse Raider. The Spells that power the beast have suddenly disappeared due to the sword's powerful attacks.
The Vorse Raider kneels as a result.
"This… This is not possible," Vorse Raider snarls at the boy.
Kyuu slowly steps backward when the Vorse Raider attempts to stand up. Just when Kyuu stops moving, he suddenly turns on his back and raises his sword only to confront the killer, who is trying to stab the boy from behind.
The killer may try to attack Kyuu again, but because of the sword in Kyuu's hand, the boy will cut him down easily due to his new speed.
"S-So fast…" The killer said as a compliment of Kyuu's Fragarach sword.
The fight is far from over as the Vorse Raider finally stands up again for another round. However, the beast is too late when Kyuu's Tsukumogami Spirit, Dark Magician Girl, finally gathers enough energy to cast her powerful spell. "Here goes!" The female Tsukumogami raises her staff and it gives out a large, purple-colored, sphere-shaped energy!
Dark Burning Attack!
The girl tosses the sphere toward the beast.
In retaliation, the beast swings his large axe onto the energy sphere, but the magician's Dark Burning Attack breaks the beast's axe instead! "THIS CAN'T BE!" The beast is eventually engulfed by the blast. Vorse Raider screams in agony as the black sphere breaks every part of his body until the sphere fades away.
As soon as the Dark Burning Attack is subsided, the creature stands there with bruises and slash marks cover his entire body. "This can't be… Beaten by a couple of… Brats…" Vorse Raider eventually falls to the ground. Once his body lays on the ground, the beast transforms into a glittering light and it merges to the killer's knife indicating that the knife is the beast's artifact.
The knife suddenly shatters into pieces.
"…I-I've lost?" The man befuddled.
-Summoner Battle is over-
The fight is long and tough, but Kyuu and Dark Magician Girl emerge victoriously.
The Fragarach sword fades back into Kyuu's deck as the young Summoner turns his attention to the killer. The serial killer eventually kneels in defeat.
"You know the rules… You're stripped out of your powers as a Summoner," Kyuu slowly approaches the man. Since the killer has lost the fight, his artifact with the Vorse Raider spirit in it is broken and his deck has disappeared as a result.
"You've murdered those people… Just why?"
"You really wanna know? Because I want to kill…" The man grins with his eyes close, "I was bored to death that I don't have anything to do in life, but when I have this power, I find it satisfying! Just to see their pathetic little faces when I stole their lives! It was great!" The man deliberately confesses his insanity and his lust of killing people just to be satisfied.
The boy and the Tsukumogami girl are clearly disgusted by the man's insanity. Kyuu wants to hand him over to the authorities, but he doesn't have any evidence that will help him to turn him over to the police especially that the man is involved in the Tsukumogami War.
"…So what are you going to do now? Kill me?" the man asks with a grin.
However, Kyuu turns his back on the man as a response. "No… I'm not sick like you. You're just a sad soul," the boy said before he starts to approach his latest victim. It is another woman in her 30s and, thankfully, she's not dead. She's still alive but unconscious. "Little brat, if you let me go, I'll just continue to kill people," the killer adds.
"No, I'm afraid that's impossible for you," Kyuu said with his back turn on the killer, "You don't have the brains to cover up your tracks in the real world. Without your power as a Summoner, you are just an ordinary criminal who will be captured sooner or later."
The killer widens his eyes in shock; he realizes that the boy is right. If he tries to kill another victim, the police will identify him as a killer. Thus, it ends his killing spree. The man punches his fist on the ground in frustration as Kyuu and his Tsukumogami Spirit leaves the hospital while the magician girl carries the unconscious woman.
-/-
At the hospital's rooftop, a mysterious man, wearing black jacket with a hood on it whilst wearing a black-colored Full Frontal Mask with red-colored eyes, is sitting on the rooftop's ground while looking down.
"Hmm… From the length of the fight and how the kid fights, looks like he's still new to this 'war,'" the man stands up, "But… To have 'his' Tsukumogami is quite of a surprise."
By then, a silhouette of the mysterious man's Tsukumogami appears behind him as he watches Kyuu and Dark Magician Girl walking away.
-/-
-In'ei Reality fades-
Their fight is over as the In'ei Reality has finally subsided.
Kyuu and Dark Magician Girl/Minako return to their home in time for the 'special dinner' that Kyuu's mom arranges. They warmly welcome the girl as to the family much to Minako's relief and happiness. She's overjoyed by, not just the victory over the killer, but by the fact that they welcome her.
The next day, everyone in the city discovers the killer.
The authorities claim that they found the killer trying to attack another victim at 5:00 AM in an alley, but the killer isn't aware that the police is on patrol so the killer is easily captured. The killer is finally apprehended and the Nighttime Murder case is solved.
Kyuu's Home
11:20 AM
At Kyuu's room, the boy is seen watching outside the window. He can't believe what happen the previous two nights especially that he's involved in the Tsukumogami Wars. Yet, he manages to pull through and wins in the end.
However, even though the Nighttime Murder is solved, he realizes something else after experiencing the war.
He remembers from Dark Magician Girl that the Tsukumogami War lasts ever since the 16th century. Yet, even until this very day, there still hasn't been any winner in this war since more and more newcomers enter the war. This makes the Tsukumogami War an endless war with no winner if new Summoners continue to enter.
Other than that, Kyuu wonders who exactly makes this terrifying war in the first place. He also believes that he can't let anyone else use that war as a tool for crimes like that killer that he fought last night, especially leaving this 'gift' to fall to the wrong hands.
After thinking about these issues about the Tsukumogami War, he resolves that he have to enter the war no matter what and discover the truth behind it. Even though there might be even tougher Summoners out there, he's still determined to discover the truth of the war.
Dark Magician Girl, now as Minako in her silk dress, approaches the boy from behind.
"You did great last night, Master," she said joyfully laying her head on Kyuu's right shoulder, which makes him blush for a girl to lay her head on his shoulder, "I have a good feeling that this just the start of a new life," she smiles gently, which embarrasses the boy even further.
"Hey, Dark Magician Girl…" The boy calls her name.
She raises her head from the boy's shoulder and glances at him with a smile. "Listen, thanks for taking care of me, but… Please, don't be too overprotective," Kyuu said to her.
"Huh? But Master Kyuu, I'm your Tsukumogami. It's my duty to protect!"
"I know, but that doesn't mean I always needed protection."
"Even if you're a Tsukumogami, but you also have a life. I don't want you to sacrifice yourself blindly," Kyuu said to her sparking a concern over the blonde-haired girl. The Tsukumogami, Minako, stands there looking at her Master. "You're not a servant. You're my partner, Minako…"
"P… Partner?"
"Yeah, this is our war, not just mine. So stick with me, okay?"
Those very words have touched the girl's heart.
She knows that her Master is quite different from the other Summoners, treating her like a human not just a servant. The Tsukumogami magician begins to think if there are other people treat their Tsukumogamis the same way as Kyuu did. She gently smiles at the young boy and nods.
"Yes, Master Kyuu," she said.
Little do they know, this is just the beginning of a new life as a Summoner with tense challenges and adventures waiting for them in the future.
End of the Dawning
A/N: Sorry for the delay, I've been very busy lately. This chapter ends the 'Dawning' arc. The next arc will feature similar storyline as Detective School Q, but with more Summoners and Tsukumogamis waiting for them. In addition, Kyuu and Dark Magician Girl will meet a new Tsukumogami that will join them.
See you at the next chapter!