Demon Arrow
Michael watched as the little girl-like shadow fell to the ground with a thud. He couldn't believe such a thing was even possible. She didn't seem like other Evil Humans. He never saw one so young nor has he ever seen one cry. It seemed like impossibility for such a fragile human being to have turned so dark. She looked young. Michael had always believed that humans were born inherently good, but if that was true could a little girl really have turned evil. He didn't want to believe that evil could creep into a being at such a young age. He wanted to say something like 'children were off limits', but he knew that wasn't true. Nothing was off limits when it came to this world.
Suddenly it spiked back up again. His Soul Perception. It had been gone so long Michael had almost forgotten about it, had something been blocking it? Was something of that magnitude really possible? However, now that the dark veil has been lifted off of his eyes he could see it, the Soul of an Evil Human writhing beneath the surface of the buried rocks. She was still alive. Whether or not that a good thing or not was unbeknownst to him, but it meant he didn't have a choice any more. He readied his bow and took aim.
"Is something the matter?" asked a warm, feminine voice snapping Michael out of his funk as he was reminded of his mother's soothing voice. It was just May's, however, not his human mother. Her tone was almost motherly though, as if dipped in sweetness and compassion. Michael paused for a few seconds and recalled that May's Soul Perception, like all weapons, weren't quite as up to par as his, since he was a Meister. She didn't see the pulsating beat of the Evil Human's heart beneath the pile of rubble. His hand quivered for a second on his bow. Melody was behind him and already losing consciousness, Ash was in the house probably unconscious as well. He could easily let his mother escape into the woods. No one else knew she was here, he could turn around, take Melody away and into the house and let his mother escape, feign ignorance of the event as a whole. No one would be none the wiser.
"It-It is…" Michael's voice wavered for a second as he focused down at the rubble. He had taken a vow…a vow to protect the world from Evil Humans, below him was one of those very same mo-mo-monsters. Not his mom, a monster. He would fulfill his duty as a study and take her down if need be. "There is an Evil Human pinned down down there," he uttered solemnly. "I think we stand the best chance against it if we shoot at it now" He bit back a welling feeling to stop. He had painted himself into this corner now and now he would finish it. He took aim with his bow and drew it back. A small slender arrow emerged in his hand as he took careful aim. Suddenly he let it go. One of Michael's more unique abilities was the one that allowed him to change the density of his arrows to a certain degree including enough to sink through solid rock or to hit solid rock as it was. This arrow was of the first sort and it was possible for it to completely bypass all stones it was a unique arrow for sure and it was his only shot at ending this fight right now before it escalated.
A large chain of purplish smoke shot up and wrapped around Michael's arrow, halting it in on its path. Marburg stopped out of his hiding spot, a large grin on his face as he crushed the arrow using only the gas. "I'm amazed we get to met again, young'uns. Here I thought for sure you all would've perished by now. I suppose it is just a matter of time though." Suddenly Marburg's entire body dissipated into a green fog and split up in two directions. One drifted over to Noelle and lifting her up into his cloud-like form, the other scurried into the cracks of the rubble towards Michael's mother. He stepped forward and took another shot, but he could already tell they were more outclassed now than they were before.
"Stop!" shouted Michael stepping forward and firing a quick series of arrows down into the rubble. Marburg's gaseous form didn't seem bothered by being shot at. Instead it drifted back to the top with both Michael's mom and Noelle's body in tow. Marburg landed on the ground, dropping them both down onto the ground. Michael's mom was unconscious and her soul was starting to waver. "What did you do?"
"Please I have power equivalent to a God's and you ask me what I did to them," Marburg said as he looked down at the dead bodies. A light blue fog was hanging around their heads. Michael had to guess that it was another extension of his disease-controlling powers. This time it was probable that it was a sleeping sickness or possibly even a coma-inducing germ. "Besides," muttered Marburg as he bent down and lifted up Noelle's arm as if examining her body, "I can do anything I want to them. I did create them after all." A black fog began swirling around Marburg's entire body, "although, both of these two were complete and total failures." An arrow whizzed by his head, but Marburg had good enough intuition and sixth sense to completely avoid the arrow. Instead he stood there and looked at it as it embedded itself into the ground near him. Marbug cracked a smile and turned around to face Michael, "what's the matter, boy, you angry with me?"
"What did you just say," asked, no, demanded Michael. He took a giant and forceful step forward. His foot slammed and sunk into the earth. The weight of his own body was crushing the ground beneath him. Michael lifted his bow back into the air and took aim at Marburg, Marburg snickered and shook his head. He couldn't believe such a loser like this was going against him. Michael quickly pulled back on his bow and produced another arrow, however, this one caused a rise in Marbug. Even May noticed something was distinctly different about it. However, Michael didn't. Instead he shouted again, "what did you just say?"
Marburg's attention was more focused on Michael's arrows than his words. The arrow wasn't just a mass of Soul Wavelength like usual, instead this one had taken on a distinct form. The arrow had grown to possess a silver shaft that ended with a bulbous red arrowhead. At the tail end of the arrow was a large red feather with a single white eye in the middle of it. There were stripes of black running through it at certain intervals, but for the most part it didn't seem like something a 'good guy' would be wielding. And if it's appearance wasn't enough, the energy it was leaking out would've convinced you. It felt evil just to be standing around like all the dark forces in the world had a part in creating the arrow. Marburg stopped moving for a second as he looked over at Michael's arrow, "do you know what that arrow is, boy?"
Michael's eyes didn't drift off of Marburg for a second, but May's attention completely switched. It turned to the side and looked at the arrow that was in her body. She was starting to feel weird it was almost as if the arrow had a mind and soul of its own. She knew Michael's soul like the back of her hand. She had been with it for so long, feeling its warm caress along with her own. This one felt different it felt like a monster. No, it felt like a Kishin. "Michael," May's voice quivered out, trying to reach him. Suddenly the eye on the arrow rolled around and focused on may for a brief second. She felt suffocated all of a sudden and her mouth snapped shut against her will.
"It appears that while I was imprisoned somebody was continuing my research," muttered Marburg as he took another tentative step forward, only for Michael to immediately move the bow with him. The arrow's eye never left him now. "I wonder which one of my colleagues it was." Marburg looked over at Michael and smiled. "Despite how I act I consider myself a doctor, a researcher, and an innovator above witch. All of these things are truly who I am. It started back when I was first busying myself with Lord Death. There was a fine line in between us. I liked witches and hated humans, he was the exact opposite. A difference of opinion, but it had already started to separate us. Split us down the middle, and of course the other two refused to weigh in on it.
"That's when I decided I was going to make a change," brought up Marburg, "maybe I could use my brains to find a way to make humans more tolerable, right? Well, I figured Kishins and Witches got along, it was just the pesky third group of humans that seemed to have the trouble coping. So I got the brilliant idea! Transform the humans into Witches!" Michael's fingers tightened up around the bowstring, did he really just hear him right? Was he really that serious? "However, there were some problems with that idea, so I decided to turn humans into Kishins instead. The two you see before you are just prototypes; lucky for me Lord Death never found out about my experiments and sealed me away for completely different reasons."
"You did that?!" shouted Michael as he took another step forward. Marburg felt himself retreat a little, the arrow was certainly menacing. Marburg was still trying to complete his inspection of it…however, it was too far away for him to give it a truly dedicated look over. Of course, he knew how to get it closer, but he'd rather not take any chances. The arrow definitely wasn't something Marburg wanted to meet face-to-face. It would be better if he took a more cautious approach. It would be best for him to slowly divulge more information making it seem like he still had information left to tell Michael in order to prevent him from shooting that arrow. True, Marburg could just defeat him, but if this arrow was a one-time thing he would be wasting a valuable specimen. This arrow was the greatest advance in his experiments he had ever seen, and it was made without him. As all scientists would be, he felt insulted. Insulted that his greatest work was nearly completed without him.
"I did," brought up Marburg, "well, I fronted the project. I had several other people who studied alongside me. Each for their own reasons I assure you. Not everyone was seeking to repair the bridge between me and Lord Death." Marburg paused for a second as he thought about it. He was mentally recalling the list of everyone who worked on the experiments with him. It was a short list only about four names long. Cham, Meriko, Brog, and Rift. Rift and Brog had died before Marburg was locked up though in the Prison Box, which meant that it had to have been one of the other two. He should've looked them up first when he was brought back to this world. However, his brothers were still the most important people to him.
"I'm tired with you," muttered Michael. Marburg lifted his eyebrows up and looked over at him, a bit interested. "I just wanted to confirm that you did that. Now that I know, I don't care about anything else." Marburg snickered. What was this kid going to do? Last time they met, they were nowhere on the same level as each other and yet he still decided to go up against him. Marburg snickered. That arrow he was using was worrisome, but it still didn't mean anything to him. He remained confident even when Michael let go of the arrow and let it fly.
Is Marburg crazy? Probably. Is Michael going to let him get away with it? Probably not. Also, you should really look at those names I had Marburg mention about his old workmates. You REALLY should.