"You have got to be kidding me. This can't possibly be the work of one person alone!"
"It seems so."
"But how can it be? It's not that everyone attacked is weak."
The three men continued to bicker with one another. They were completely different in both manners and appearance. The first who spoke was shorter than his two 'companions', with short, blond hair, round eyes, and an athletic built most track runners would kill for.
The second one was taller, with a leaner physique, and well-groomed black hair, reaching to his chin in length, having a more feminine charm.
The last one was taller than the three, with tanned skin and muscles fitted to a wrestler or a weightlifter. He seemed to be the one less patient of all.
"Let's look at the facts, shall we?" the raven-haired suggested. "It started a year ago. It was stab wounds at first, bodies otherwise intact, but the situation changed six months back."
"I don't remember ever allowing cannibalism within our ranks." the tanned one pointed out.
"We don't. Whoever that person is, if it is one person, they're outsiders." he got a quick reply.
"Whoever that person is, some got into calling him red death* or something along those lines."
"I heard that, too! Apparently, it's an extremely violent one. Who knows where they came from..."
That moment, the three of them tensed, sensing an unwanted guest nearby.
And it was, the person stepping closer to them, wearing a white uniform, bloodstained, harmonizing with his naturally red hair, similar to a white rose tainted crimson.
From closer inspection, one could identify said uniform as one of the notorious Teiko High in Tokyo, known for its "Special Course", even more famed by the recently graduated prodigies, the so-called Generation of Miracles. Could it be, this man was one of them? No one was courageous -or foolish- enough to start a bloodbath and challenge three of the five Kings, ghouls inferior in power only to the Divine Beasts.
The unknown man took out a dagger -a Quinque, the three of them could tell- throwing it towards their direction with precise aim and the intent to kill. The force and speed it received was abnormally high for an ordinary human, but then again, this one was a Teiko graduate, who knows, maybe he was one of their carefully crafted monsters.
They managed to dodge, of course, and spared a glance to the man, who seemingly did a foolish move at throwing his only protection and weapon against them. What they expected to see was fear, however, they met with something completely different: a content smirk.
At the same time, the man walked closer to them, confident, fearless. Standing only a short distance away, he opened his mouth, words directly to them, red eyes filled with glee.
"This will indeed prove promising."
It came as a surprise to see the redhead release a Kagune, a three-way, tail-shaped Bikaku with sharp, pointing edges resembling the mythical sky rulers, the dragons. And with one, swift and unexpected move, he initiated his attack.
It was a fierce, 3-on-1 battle, momentarily shifting to a 4-way one, no one willing to give up, no one weak enough to be killed on that way, that easy.
They knew, but left it unspoken, that the stranger who wore all that red similar to a cloak, was a true Beast.
They'd laugh at the irony that, one of the strongest of their kind, had managed, not only to mingle with human society, but also, shelter himself to what seemed to be an impenetrable fortress. However, it was clearly not the moment of it. They could feel they were losing their ground, even after managing to damage his left eye, maybe even permanently.
He stood before them once, like a king standing up from his grand throne, prideful of his victory, taking the time to identify his opponents.
"Hayama Koutarou. Raiju."
"Mibuchi Reo. Yaksha."
"Nebuya Eikichi. Goriki."
The three of them tensed, seemingly unable to move. "Who do you know our names? More importanly, who are you?" Reo demanded an answer.
"I'm Akashi Seijuro, and I have a proposition to you." he paused for a minute, making sure he had their full attention. "I'm here to drag you away from the shadows, and bring you to the world of day."
It was the craziest declaration they ever heard.
(chapter end)
Apologies for the long procrastination on this! I'm a terrible person and truly ashamed of myself. But you should know two things about me and writing, one, I don't have an established writing style, two I'm terrible at writing fighting scenes in detail. But I beat myself to it, and here it is, only a few hours before the last episode.
*My attempt at doing a verbal pun. Akashi's name is written as 赤司 and made it as 赤死my kanji isn't that good so I might be mistaken.
Akashi I'm so sorry about what I did to your left eye! I can't guarantee it'll be rendered useless, but its colour will alter. (I've read somewhere severe injuries can cause colour change? Let's pretend it does, if it doesn't work like that.)
What Akashi wants from Rakuzan's Unkrowned Kings? Well, that's for me to know, for now at least. However, I can assure you that they're not doing bad things in what Akashi calls "world of day". Legal stuff. No killings. Akashi-sama has a name to uphold in human society.
Also, me and my dearest friend Shadow, exceeded our goal of 100 AUs so I was thinking... Would you like me to start a new "story" and gather them all there? Some of them are written already, like one-shots for each, or a bunch of collected drabbles... Let me know!