Yes, I am still alive... and lazy. Anyway, I had this done like a week ago but never posted it, and I had the idea for months prior to this. I didn't even know I would be doing it until right before I started writing the first bit. I did the first third in one night, and the rest months later. The thing that I like the best about this is that I set everything up for it in the chapter before, but didn't even realize... Anyway, I hope you like the little cliffhanger I did and also hope you don't want to rip my throat out for who I made their opponent be. Now read it.

Not Strange, Just Different

Chapter 16 The Mysterious Opponent Is… Who?

They walked down the road, seeing a farm not far off. The temperature was lower than what they had been used to back in Death City, but it was tolerable. Across the horizon, you could see the sun coming up from behind surrounding trees. Making sure they would get to the place as early in the day as possible, they left at an extremely early time. After getting to Triesenberg, they decided to ask around to see if they could find out how to get to the place where this guy was.

"This better be worth it. I don't want to get there and find out that I got up ridiculously early and walked in the cold just to fight some wimp," Spirit said, his breath showing in the air as he spoke.

"I don't care about the time, but it is cold. Besides, I prefer a challenge over someone that can be taken care of in 0.5 seconds. It defeats the whole purpose of traveling for hours."

"I know. I was so pissed that one time when we went to the Czech Republic and found out it was just to take down some shrimp."

"We seriously didn't need to be the ones to take care of that," Stein said, showing the same agitation as his partner.

"Anyway, let's just hope it doesn't take forever to get to. I'm in the mood for a good fight."

"You're right. I always love a good morning ass kicking," Stein said, cracking his knuckles.

"You'd kick ass any time of the day."

"I won't argue against that." He smirked.

"Hey, when we get up to that farm let's ask that guy," Spirit said, pointing to a man standing near the fence that bordered his land, giving his dog a bath.

"Alright, works for me."

After agreeing on this they continued down the road and stopped once they got to the man. As they got closer, the tail on the Border collie that the man was bathing started going back and forth, showing his excitement. When the man saw what his dog was doing, he recognized the sign and turned around to see who it was.

He appeared to be in his late 50s, and fairly fit and healthy from doing work around the farm. His hair was a light blonde, and his blue eyes showed that he was an extremely kind person.

"Sir, we were wondering if you could take a look at this address and tell us if you know how to get there," Spirit said, holding up the piece of paper that Mr. Collins had written it down on. The man looked confused.

"Was?" the man asked.

"Wir haben uns gefragt, wenn Sie wüssten, wie man hier zu bekommen," Stein said, taking the paper out of Spirit's hand and handing it to the man. Spirit gave him a weird look.

He wiped his wet hand off his pants and took the paper from Stein's hand, examining it. After reading it, a different look came across his face. He stood for a second, then looked at Stein. The odd look never left his face when he handed it back to Stein.

"Nun?" Stein asked.

Spirit gave him another look. "What the hell, Stein?"

"Shut up," Stein said, then looked at the man and spat out more gibberish.

Spirit listened, trying to make sense of what they were saying. He hated not knowing what they were saying, and it was beginning to make the boy uncomfortable. Due to having a short attention span, he quickly stopped paying attention. He looked down at the dog, who also seemed to have a short attention span, for his head was zipping back and forth in an attempt to watch the birds that flew by, tempted to chase after them.

He heard more gibberish, and although he couldn't tell what they were saying he could still tell by the tone of Stein's voice that he was finishing talking to the man.

"Vielen Dank, Sir," Stein said, folding the paper in half and sticking it in his coat pocket.

"Klar, und viel Glück damit," the man said wishing them good luck, continuing washing his dog with the same doubtful expression.

"Where did that come from?" Spirit asked sounding truly surprised.

"My dad taught me some when I was little. This is Liechtenstein, you shouldn't be too surprised that the people here wouldn't understand English."

"That's not what I was surprised about, and I am guessing 'some' is an understatement?" Spirit asked. "That was flawless. He had to have taught you more than 'some'."

"Okay, a lot. Why does it even matter?"

"Because it took me this long to know that you even spoke a second language!"

"My father was Franken Stein. You should have basically expected it, Spirit."

"Yeah, I guess."

"I am deeply sorry that I forgot to tell you, honey," Stein said as if they were a married couple.
"You should be," Spirit said, using the same sarcastic tone.

"Can we move on now? That guy told me how we can get to this place."

"He did? It was all gibberish to me."

"Of course it was, but yes, he gave exact directions."

"Well, before we go there could we stop and eat something? I didn't have anything before we left."

"And whose fault is that?"

Spirit sighed. "Mine. Can we just go somewhere?"

"Yeah, I don't care where we go just as long as this guy's dead by the time the sun goes down."

"Although I don't necessarily disagree, why does it matter if he's dead before the sun goes down?"

"I don't want to be here all day, and that seemed like a reasonable time to say."

"True that," Spirit said, his head moving slowly to the side, following a bird. Stein looked back and saw what he was watching.

"Are we going?"

Spirit blinked as if coming out of a trance. "Yep," he said, and started walking down the road. Stein rolled his eyes then followed after him.

The two boys walked down the street, looking through the windows of the various stores and shops that lined it. In his reflection, Stein saw the same thing the surrounding people had been staring at the whole time since they had gotten into the main part of town: his screw.

"I swear, I'll never get used to people constantly watching me," Stein said shoving his hands in his pockets, looking back to Spirit, whom was following just behind him.

"I don't blame you. I know I wouldn't want people eyeing me like that. You know, sometimes I feel you have reason to want to hurt people. Maybe then they'd leave you alone."

"My point exactly. But no, 'violence doesn't solve problems'," Stein said in a mocking voice.

Spirit shook his head. "Listen to what I'm saying. I'm agreeing with your sadistic thoughts."

Stein smirked. "Hmm… Maybe I'm starting to rub off on you."

"Please don't say that."

"Before you know it, you'll be running down the halls of the academy with me, hoping to catch your prey."

"I said don't!" Spirit yelled, shuddering.

"What have I said before?"

"'If you tell me not to do something, that'll only make me want to do it more.'" Spirit said in monotone in memory of his partner's saying.

"Good boy, Spirit."

Before Spirit could come up with a remark, Stein stopped walking in front of a café.

"Does this look good? It doesn't appear to be overly trashy or anything."

Spirit sighed, giving up. "Yeah, we can go here."

Spirit went in front of Stein and opened the door, bringing is arm out to lead the way.

"There you go, my dear."

"Watch it," Stein said, entering the building.

"You're no fun, Stein."

"I know, I can be such a drag, can't I?" Stein looked at the boy.

"Yes… Now stop looking at me." Stein looked away, causing the boy relief.

"What do you want?"

Spirit looked up at the menu, then after a minute looked at his partner with a blank expression.

"You know I can't read that."

"Yep, I know," he said, now looking up himself. "How about trying something you've never had before?"

"What do you have in mind?" the boy asked wearily.

"Something simple…" he said contemplating. "Schnitzel and fries?"

Spirit looked up at the menu searching for the word "schnitzel," and saw the picture located next to it. "Yeah, that doesn't look like it could be too bad… Oh! They seem to have a lot of beer. I want that."

Stein looked at him as if he were about to smack him. "No."

"Why not?" he asked in a whining voice.

"Do you remember what happened when you had an energy drink? This would turn out much worse. This is partly for your own good, and partly for others. When I said I wanted to be done as soon as possible, that meant I don't want to take the time trying to get you out of trouble."

"What? I needed some way to stay up. I hadn't slept in two days. Besides, you have to admit that got my soul wavelengths going faster. It helped it."

"Listen to me when I say this: It wouldn't have the same affects."

"Fine," the boy said, crossing his arms. "I'll go get us somewhere to sit."

"Thanks, have fun," he said then went up to order.

Spirit went over to a table in the corner of the room, one that had only two chairs. When he sat down, the sun came through and got in his eyes, so he got up and went to the other seat. Better.

Then he started thinking. Why had that man looked so spooked? He would need to ask Stein everything he had said to see if there might be something that could help explain this.

Soon Stein came back with everything, and sat down in the chair across from Spirit, squinting when light got in his eyes the same way it had for Spirit. He just put his hand up, trying to ignore it.

"What's that?" Spirit asked, pointing to the thing Stein had ordered.

"It's called Käsknöpfle. It was one of the few things that my dad had ever made for me."

"Hmm… Interesting. I have a question."

"What is it?" his partner asked.

"The guy back there, what all did he say? He seemed to be pretty freaked."

"Well, first of all he was wondering why we were trying to find this place. When I told him that we were from the DWMA and that we were sent to take care of the guy that's there, he gave me a weird look. At least one that was weirder than the one he had already made, anyway.

"He told me that the address leads to an old warehouse. Apparently the place hasn't been used in years, which makes it the perfect place for someone hoping to become a kishin to use as their base of operations, I guess you could say. It's not too awfully far off, so it shouldn't take too long to get there."

"How long do you think it would take?" Spirit asked as he picked up a fry.

"No longer than a couple hours. We just have to go through some back ways, so that's gonna add onto the time that it's going to take to get there."

"Sounds good. Do you have any plans on how we're going to take this guy down? He's probably gonna be a tough one from what we know so far."

"I was thinking about that. Since I really don't know anything about this guy, I really can't come up with a strategy yet. I'll probably just have to do it once we get there, after I've had a chance to check him out. What I do know, however, is that we're going to have to be on our game today. We'll have to work together well."

"No doubt about it. I'm just curious about him. In a way, I don't want to see what this guy is gonna be capable of."

"I do. I think it's about time that we have a real challenge for once. I'll probably regret saying this later on, but let's say that if we successfully defeat this guy before the sun goes down, like I said I wanted earlier, with time to spare and a minimum of 3 injuries of any kind, I'll get you a beer before we leave for home."

"That sounds like a plan… I will get beer," Spirit said with a serious, determined tone in his voice.

"Besides, it'll be after the mission so there won't be as much for you to screw up."

"Normally I would take offense, but sadly you're right in saying that."

Once they finished eating, Spirit grabbed all of their trash and threw it out. The sun was getting higher up in the sky, meaning that time was going by and they would need to get moving if he was going to get his beer… or at least if he wanted a better chance of getting it, anyway. There was always a chance of the injury rule crushing his chances.

Now that he thought of it, three wasn't all that big of a number, especially when you don't know exactly what you're up against. And this man had certainly given off quite an impression so far.

Spirit got back over to Stein and asked, "You ready to go?"

"Yep. Let's go find this guy and kick some ass."

They walked out of the café turning right, heading down the rest of the street. When they got to the end, Stein also took notice in how the sun was getting higher. Although he wasn't particularly worried about Spirit not getting his beer, he still didn't want to take long. He quickened his pace slightly, and Spirit did so as well.

After they had walked for quite a bit, Spirit realized Stein was extremely accurate when saying that they would have to take back ways. He was surprised that they hadn't gotten lost yet, and hoped that it wouldn't happen on their way back. Then a thought crept into his mind: If we even come back.

He shook his head, reminding himself that he can't let this guy get in his head. If he would ever have to be focused on a mission, this would be the one. As they walked along, he tried taking some breaths to help calm himself down. It'll be fine, he thought.

It had been two hours since they left the café, and they were still walking. Stein knew they would be approaching soon, and he wasn't concerned with being lost. The man's directions had been thorough and surprisingly easy to follow. It was just taking longer than expected.

Although he was getting a little sick of having to reassure Spirit that they weren't lost, he was pleasantly calm. He thought it was the upcoming ass kicking of a life time that he would be giving his opponent, but he wasn't sure. All he knew was that he wouldn't argue against it; he always did his best when confident.

"Don't worry Spirit, we're almost there," Stein said, yet again.

"Are you sure? You have been saying that for the last hour."

"Yes, I am sure. Before it was just an attempt to get you to be quiet, but I guess it didn't work. Anyway, that farmer we saw earlier gave me exact directions, and we're almost to the end of them. Just a few more streets to go on and we'll be there."

He was almost excited. They hadn't went on a mission in forever, and they needed to be collecting more souls if they wanted to complete their goal. They still had a bit before Spirit could be turned into a death scythe. Plus, he was eager to see what they would be up against. In a way, he hoped the guy would be a tough one. The slight fear he felt when fighting usually gave him a bit of a rush, and seeing the opponent's skull split always topped it off, like the icing on a cake.

Stein turned onto the last row leading Spirit, and, just as the man said there would be, there was a large warehouse. It was easy to tell that it had been vacant for years, and that no repairs had been made since the current resident had come.

There were no lights around whatsoever, which made the boys thankful the sun was out, or else it would have been a hell of a time trying to find a way to get in. The bricks that composed the walls of the building were chipped in many areas, being more severe in some places than others. Also, most of the windows appeared to be broken in… and boarded over.

Stein stepped back from the building and against the one behind it, which was apparently not in use, to get a better view of the big building. After searching it, he went around to the right of the building. Then he came back over to Spirit.

"What were you looking at?" Spirit asked.

"The windows. I was trying to see what was covering them exactly, and it seems as if there are multiple thick, large wooden boards covering the windows. In other words, soundproofing." After he said this, he saw Spirit get a little more tense, getting the same feeling about this as he was.

"Let's try to find a way into this place. I'll take the right, you search the left. Be careful, and try to be quiet."

"Okay…" Spirit said almost quietly.

Leaving Spirit to search out his side, Stein went off to his. As he went around, he looked more closely at the windows. He saw that the outer part of the sill was lined with large razors that looked as if they had been wonderfully sharpened. This man knew what he was doing.

When Stein went to take a step toward a lower window, he almost fell through the ground. Placing his hands against the wall of the building he caught his balance, then took a step back. Crouching down, he inspected the hole in the ground. It had been dug there on purpose, that was obvious, for there was a ridiculous amount of sharp objects—knives, spears, swords, even saw blades—embedded at the bottom of the deep pit, which had been expertly covered. Even Stein, with his super observatory skills, didn't notice anything off. He realized it was intended to stop anyone that managed to get out of the lower window, which was directly above.

He moved on, making sure to both look and step more carefully. When coming upon another low window, he checked for another pit just to see if there would be one there, as well. There was, but this one wasn't exactly the same. It seemed to lead somewhere, probably back to the building, but he didn't intend to find out any time soon.

When he got to the back of the building, he saw that Spirit had also gotten to the end, so he walked over. The boy had a look of fear on his face, but he explained it for him.

"The ground fell in over there!"

"I know. I happened on my end too."

"You don't even wanna know what's at the bottom of it…"

"I'm sure I don't. Did you find any way to get in?"

"The only thing that would seem to be doable is go in through windows, but the pits and boards make it impossible."

"This is usually highly advised against, but I think we're gonna need to take a look at the front door. If it's anything like the rest of what we've seen, there will be some kind of trap there, too."

But surprisingly there wasn't. It was just shut up very well. Stein really didn't like the way they would be getting into this place, as it could very well alert their opponent of them being there, but he didn't see any other option. Well they could try going down the one pit he had found to see where it leads to…

Stein kicked the wooden door extremely hard square in the center, and both of them could see large cracks form down the center most of the way up and down. One more kick is all it would take. So he kicked again, but harder this time to ensure it wouldn't take any more force after that. It broke in. The wood broke into several pieces both large and small. Spirit winced at the noise it made, but knew there really wasn't anything that could have been done.

Right when they went in, they could tell there was something off about the place. It looked as if the man currently here hadn't cleaned during the entire time he had been there. Plus, the contents alone were enough to warn of trouble. There was glass everywhere, shimmering as if someone had just thrown glitter all over the floor. Although it wasn't surprising to find glass in an old warehouse, it was surprising when a good majority of it was covered in dried blood.

The place had shelves lined up along the walls, but now they were all tipped over, looking as if it had been done in a bout of rage. Also, down the long hallway, there were only four dim lights. It made it fairly hard to see. Because of this Stein and Spirit (especially Spirit) walked through carefully. Stein looked to his left, seeing a broken chair lying on the ground. Frayed rope was looped around the back of it.

When they got to the end of the hallway, Spirit stepped on something. It made a snapping noise, not that far from the sound of a branch breaking. He looked down, and Stein thought it looked as if all the blood had gone out of his face. It had been a bone.

"A femur," Stein said almost whispering.

Spirit jumped back and walked around the bone, which had been partially covered in dried blood and a small amount of tissue. He wanted to vomit, but kept himself from doing so.

"I hate this place," Spirit said.

Souls. Two of them, approaching from the right hallway.

The man looked down at his current victim, admiring what he had done so far, much the way an artist regards his work. He studied him—the long slashes, the gouge marks, large bruises, lots and lots of blood. The current work was pleasing.

"I hate to have to pause here, but it can't be helped. However, I can give you a quick preview of what is to come once I get back."

The man pulled out a simple lighter, lit it.

The fear in the man's eyes: one of the most beautiful sights.

He grabbed onto his head to keep him from moving, and ran the fire over his face nice and slowly.

The man's screams of anguish: the most pleasant sound.

After burning a sufficient amount of flesh on the right side of his face, he put the lighter away.

"I'll be back soon. I just have to go take care of a few people," the man said, smirking. He turned around, putting the lighter in his pocket (walking away while doing this). When he exited the room, the helpless victim felt a slight feeling of momentary relief. The psycho can't touch him if he's not in the room. Thank Death. Then his breath caught when the man peaked back through the door.

"Maybe when I get back I'll get the gasoline!" he screamed to the other side of the room to his piece of work. His face went white. What a nice reaction. The man grinned before leaving.

The piece of work threw his head back, sobbing.

Stein and Spirit walked down another hallway and stopped to look at the place. There was more bloody glass, and bones as well, just like the one Spirit had stepped on earlier. There was blood, stored in jars, lined up on shelves, like trophies. On lower shelves there were organs in jars.

"Who the hell would want to collect this stuff?" Spirit asked, covering his mouth afraid that he would finally, actually vomit at the sight of it all.

"Beats me. Sure I like to look at the stuff, but I can't see myself collecting it and putting it all up on display like this guy did."

As soon as Stein finished saying this, they heard long, pained screams coming from far off. Both of them exchanged a look. They both knew that's where the guy would be.

"Let's go in the direction of the sound," Stein said, starting to move forward. But before they got very far, they stopped and it was silent again.

"We'll just have to try to remember where it sounded like it came from and take our best guess," Stein said, looking over at Spirit.

The man came down a hallway, almost to where the two souls he had sensed were. He approached another piece of work, this one female. In a way, he like those ones better; in a way, they were worse. It was the screams. They could be whiny at times, but the positive thing was that they sounded a lot more pitiful, showed just how weak they were.

She saw him approaching, and immediately starting squirming, although she knew it would do no good. Her only thought was, "What's he going to do to me this time?"

She went to scream, so he went up to her. He placed a bloody hand over her mouth and said, "Shhh," in an almost comforting tone. Then with one quick movement, he grabbed his large, sharp machete and cut her throat right open. Blood poured out, and he watched as it dripped to the floor. He grinned, and felt slightly relaxed, listening to it continue to pour out.

A blue, glowing soul came out of the woman, and he grabbed it. He stood for a moment, forgetting his next targets, coddling the soul in his hands. Holding the soul up to his mouth, he stuck it in and swallowed. The soul slid down his throat, a feeling he could never get enough of.

"They were stupid enough to think meisters couldn't consume souls."

Sensing the souls getting nearer, he remembered what he had left his fun for. He had to finish them off quickly so he could hurry back and show a man what it feels like to burn from the inside out.

As he started forward the approaching souls, he stopped, seeing them come around the corner.

"I wasn't expecting that," he thought.

The two boys got to the end of a hallway, but stopped.

"I can sense his soul. He's just down the hallway we'll be turning into next."

As soon as Stein finished saying this, they heard a sweeping sound, and then a liquid sound. Something was dripping. They both guessed what it was, and Spirit winced.

"I can't take this place anymore. Let's finish this guy and get the heck out of here, okay?"

"We can try." Stein said, not as sure that it would end quickly as he was when he first got there.

Stein went around the corner, Spirit following right behind. When seeing who was coming forward his jaw dropped very slightly, he stopped in his place, and his eyes widened a bit. Spirit didn't know he was going to stop, so he continued going and ran into Stein, his head hitting the back of his partner's.

"Gee, Stein, why did you stop like that?" he said, rubbing his forehead. He stopped when he saw the blood-drenched man that they had been waiting to see all day.

Stein asked, "Dad?"

So... What did you think?