Chapter 6

Motionless in Red (Final)

His footsteps echoed loudly on the concrete floor. His breathing ragged from his constant movement. If it weren't for the fact that he had semi-constant exercise from biking, his legs would have long since given out.

His flashlight from his phone waved across the walls, his grip on it tight as he ran. The walls of this tunnel did have torches (for some odd reason), but the light they emitted was so weak that he had resorted to using the flashlight from his phone.

He looked behind, having felt that he ran a good distance. That was until he heard a loud noise coming from that direction– the noise itself sounded like someone slammed their foot onto the ground.

He turned back forwards and continued to run. His legs finally began to strain. His flashlight gave away his position. He attempted to turn the flashlight off but his phone accidentally slipped from his grasp. He stopped to pick it up but before he did he heard that priest from a distance.

"The hunt is on!"

The stray-priest's footsteps were loud and quick. He was running, and running fast.

Issei doesn't know how long he had been running but at the moment he felt as though it didn't matter. He picked up the phone only for it to slip from his hands again. He cursed and attempted to pick it up again only to drop it again– his grip shaking in his panicked state.

"Crap, crap, crap." He cursed at his phone and at himself.

The echoing of the priest's footsteps grew slightly louder by the second. He was coming.

Ever so closer.

The priest laughed, his cackle bouncing off the walls. Reverberating through the concrete and reaching to the brown-haired victim.

Were it in any other circumstance Issei would have thought that the man was a weird chūnibyō, but unfortunately for him the stray exorcist was a psychopath and was truly attempting to take his life.

"Damn it!" Issei cursed at himself and attempted to grab the phone one last time, his panic caused his hands to vibrate slightly, as well as his sweat glands beginning to leak, he dropped the phone again. In this panic, he gave up on the phone and sprinted through the tunnel as fast as he could, faster than he had ever ran before.

His footsteps echoed through the floor, and his breath grew louder every passing second.

Finally, after running non-stop for a few minutes, he entered a split in the tunnel. He wasn't keeping count, but he had been running for around five minutes in total.

He took a second to stop and turn around. He couldn't hear the exorcist's footsteps anymore but that did not mean that the psychopath was gone.

His breaths were erratic, and he could hear own heart thumping in his chest. Which way? There were two pathways, left and right.

He looked back one last time before looking forward. He took a deep breath and sprinted into the right path.

Perhaps if he stopped to think he would have noticed that it wouldn't have mattered which path he chose.

He didn't stop to think how the psycho priest found him in the first place; after all, there was that one large room with multiple pathways, it couldn't have been a coincidence that the mad priest chose the exact path that he chose.

He kept running aimlessly for the next minute until something finally happened. The tunnel began to shake, followed by a loud roar. Though the roar had been muffled by the walls, the sound still vibrated through the concrete.

What the hell is going on?!

Issei groaned in his thoughts. So many things happening in such a short amount of time, his mind couldn't keep up.

But at this very moment he knew he couldn't stop to think; he couldn't worry, or else he would be dead, so he kept running.

Don't stop. He repeated in his head.

Find an escape, he thought. That's all he has to do. Find an escape, get to safety. Just survive. In his panic he–once again– did not notice the trail he left behind. The crimson energy that stuck to him, leaving behind a strong scent for any curse to find.

For any curse user to see.

The ground and walls rumbled again. He didn't know it yet but the tremors came from a certain fight that was occurring just beyond the walls.

He finally reached a dead end. A square room that held a single lightbulb on the ceiling.

He frantically looked around, trying to find an exit only to find nothing. The walls were solid concrete, and the only exit was the entrance he came from.

"Ah." His breath came out shaky, and his knees finally gave out. The adrenaline rush fading.

"Is this it?" He asked. He wasn't one to be cynical, but what else could he think in this situation.

Once again, he heard the footsteps, the madman had finally caught up. There was still a considerable distance between the two, Issei couldn't even see the psycho priest in the darkness of the tunnel.

But it seemed like the priest could see him very clearly.

Issei stood up, his legs still weak. What was he supposed to do in a situation like this? Is this it for him?

"Ah…" He sighed, leaning back against the wall. His mind is riddled with thoughts, regrets, past ideals. The story that Yuta had mentioned just earlier that day replayed in his head. He would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous.

"I didn't even get a girlfriend yet."

A woosh passed next to him, and he audibly gasped. The wall cracked right next to him.

The blood-crazed priest is still at a distance. Issei couldn't see beyond the darkness of the tunnel.

Yet somehow, the priest had perfectly thrown one of his daggers towards the brown-haired victim.

A large knife embedded itself in the wall right next to Issei's head.

I'm going to die here. That thought finally cemented itself into Issei's head as fact. This will be his last few moments on this planet.

His breath grew heavier. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. He breathed frantically in a panic, just to try and find some way to calm his nerves, it didn't work of course, but at least he knew that he was still alive, if only for a few more seconds..

"Ah, did you already break?" The madman's voice echoed throughout the tunnel. Finally, Issei could see his silhouette coming into view. It seeped out of the darkness so casually– completely ironic considering that the man was attempting to kill Issei.

"Aw man, I was hoping for a little more." His voice growing closer caused Issei's heart to start beating faster.

"Guess our little game's over already." Crimson eyes observed the victim in front of them. A nasty smile spread across the young man's face.

"H-how–" A random thought occurred to Issei at this moment. He's only been running for a few minutes, yet even with that head start the killer had already reached up to him.

"H-How did y-you find me, so q-quickly?" He asked with bated breath. Stuttering on his words from the panic in his heart.

Within a second, the distance between the two closed. The silver-haired killer appeared right in front of Issei.

"Do you really not know?" The killer narrowed his eyes.

Issei unintentionally threw the bait, and the killer caught it. He shook his head side to side.

The killer curiously looked at his victim. Contemplating whether or not he should answer the boy's question.

The former exorcist has seen a lot of cursed users, curses, and sorcerers. He isn't exactly a pro when it comes to cursed energy but he knew his way around the specifics.

The cursed energy that seeped out of the boy did not feel like normal cursed energy. The sheer density of the energy that the boy emitted (unintentionally) would probably suffocate any level 4 curse.

If he had to compare it, the cursed energy seeping out of the boy in front of him is akin to having multiple of Sukuna's fingers in a single room. Primal cursed energy that would scare off any low grade curse and attract any higher grade curse.

"Well, it isn't really my concern." The former exorcist pulled his knife out of the wall. "Perhaps in another life you could have been something."

"Agh-?!" The priest kicked Issei in the stomach, sending the young boy to the floor. He kept his foot on the brown-haired boy's stomach and he held the knife above his own head.

"Not in this life though." With a smile, he brought down the knife, aiming to cleave the boys head in two–

At that moment, the room shook and a large hole burst from the left wall.

A finger bearer ran past the two, releasing noises of panic. It was so close to reaching the wall on the other side, but before it could a wave of blue flame spewed from the direction it just came from.

It screamed as the flame ate away at its body. It kept screaming as it ran through the tunnel opposite to where the priest and Issei were– the same tunnel that they both entered from.

"Fucking rat!" A hoarse voice echoed from the hole in the left wall. A young man walked into the room.

Black hair and sharp golden eyes. The young man walked into the room, and he looked to the side to see the priest with his foot on the brown-haired boy's stomach. A knife in hand and obviously attempting to kill.

"Freed." The young man audibly growled, his eyes sharpened in Freed's direction– reminiscent of a cat.

"Yūrei." The stray exorcist– known as Freed– answered back in an oddly calm voice.

"Why is your victim still alive?"

"It took a while to find him." Freed said without any hesitance.

"Is that so?" The young man– Yūrei– didn't forget about the finger bearer, but his mind focused on something else.

"Someone like that, you took a while to find him?" Even he could sense the pure cursed energy that flowed out of the brown-haired boy.

"What did I tell you about playing with your food?" Yūrei spat. His anger grew slightly. A lick of blue flames flew behind him.

"Look, I'll deal with your whining later, don't you have something to do?" Freed groaned, not wanting to deal with Yūrei's ranting. "Plus, I was just about to kill him, before you interrupted."

Yūrei's eye twitched, before he huffed. "Fine, I'll kill you later, just deal with the pest already."

He ran through the tunnel that the finger bearer entered. And just like that, the two were alone again.

"Sorry about that." Freed sighed. "Now then, where were we?"

"Uh, ah–" Issei attempted to stammer out some response, just to keep the man distracted for a few more seconds. A failed attempt.

"Rhetorical question."

Those were the last words Issei heard before his vision faded.

And the world turned red.

Within a second, Freed moved his hand back and thrusted the knife forward– aiming right at his victim's forehead. It sliced right through the young boy's skull and straight through the brain. Blood spewed as an unconscious gasp left the young boy.

Freed has done this enough times– to the point that he knew where to aim if he wanted to instantly kill his victim. He had wanted to savor the boy's torment, but he knew that Yūrei would get more pissy the longer he took.

"What else would you expect from a fucking pussy." He groaned as he pulled the knife out of the young boy's head.

The blood poured from the brown-haired boy's head; a large gap left from the knife laid bare for the world to see on his forehead.

Of course, not like anyone else was going to see.

Freed swiped at the air, blood flying off his blade.

What a boring outcome, he thought.

He turned around and attempted to leave, but something else happened.

The young boy coughed.

And the air grew thicker.

Freed quickly turned and met the sight with wide eyes. That was the only action he could take as his body instinctively froze in place.

Crimson aura spewed out of the young boy like a waterfall. He coughed once and stood up. His eyes gained a powerful green hew.

Pure and dense cursed energy filled the room like water spewing out of a broken dam.

What stood in front of Freed was no longer Issei Hyoudou. The brown-haired boy looked at himself, observing his hands as though it was the first time he's had hands.

Then he smiled. A smile even worse than Freed's own.

The young boy(?) looked up towards the ceiling and took a deep breath.

For that split second no sound left or entered that room, Freed's ears picked up so many small details of his own body. His heart beating and his mouth breathing.

"ALBION!"

With the force of a hurricane, the boy(?) roared. The force of that roar caused Freed to get sent flying. The walls and floor shook like an earthquake.

The stray exorcist landed on his back with a pained groan.

The suffocating air dissipated and the cursed energy gradually dwindled. The red and green aura faded from the boy's body. The hole that was left in his forehead healed.

The boy fell forwards.

At that moment, Freed's heart had never beaten faster. He didn't know if it was from fear or excitement.

He couldn't say a word.

"I've got you." A hoarse voice said with pure venom. Yūrei's hand held the finger bearer's head, and it squirmed in his grasp. Yūrei had already burned off a leg and both of the curses' arms.

Blue flames spewed out of Yūrei's hand and engulfed the curse. It screamed as the flame began to devour and corrupt its very being.

"This game of cat and mouse is over, you little fucking rodent." As soon as the words left Yūrei's mouth, he cringed. Perhaps he's been hanging around Freed a little too much.

It continued to scream until–

"ALBION!"

A powerful aura filled the air. It caused both the finger bearer and Yūrei to jump.

And as fast as it came, it vanished.

"What the fuck was that?"

He looked back towards the tunnel, it came from the same direction as Freed and the victim. Freed definitely never had something like that up his sleeve, so that only meant–

Was it the boy who emitted such primal cursed energy?

A gurgle interrupted Yūrei's thoughts. He looked towards the noise to see the finger bearer attempting to escape, it only had a leg left so it tried to use that to crawl away.

With a sneer, Yūrei stomped towards the crippled curse, his palm burning with a flame that could burn an entire forest in seconds.

Because of his agitation, Yūrei's focus was solely on the curse; because of this he failed to notice something flying away.

When he noticed it was far too late. With widened eyes he attempted to blast at the sphere that traveled at him at an extreme speed.

It didn't work.

It impacted his face, and his vision blacked out. It felt like he had been hit by a bowling ball that was launched from a cannon.

He regained his senses within thirty seconds.

"If it isn't the little pussy cat, how's it goin' Yūrei?" A feminine voice called out to him.

He groaned and rubbed his head. His vision took a few seconds to focus. When his vision was good enough for him to actually see, he sat up and took a look at whatever had hit him.

"Tsukumo Yuki." He growled at the sight.

The blonde special grade sorcerer had a hand on her hip and stared at him with a smirk. Wrapping around her was the object that had hit him. Her special shikigami Garuda.

She had her left foot on the finger bearer's back. It squirmed under her.

"Glad to see you're still up and running! Your sister's–"

A stream of blue flames cut her off. It engulfed her figure within seconds.

"Now that's just rude." Her voice echoed from the flame, and with a single swipe of her hand it cleared off her.

"Don't you fucking mention her again." Yūrei growled, filled with pure rage.

He quickly stood up and held out both of his hands towards her. He was agitated already, but at the mention of her his rage grew exponentially. He glared at her. Blue flames surrounded him, prepared to burn her to ashes.

"I haven't seen you in so long, and this is how you greet me?" Despite her words, there was only a smile on her face. She knew all too well what the outcome of this battle would be. He knew too.

She looked down towards the finger bearer. It continued to squirm under her foot.

She smiled. "Let's have a little change in scenery." She raised her left foot and stomped on the creature, causing it to explode.

A dark light filled their visions before the scene changed. The sewers reverted back to normal. The tunnel widened and the walls changed. Pipes covered the ceiling and drops of liquid leaked from them. The torches were replaced with normal dim light bulbs.

"Now that's better, a lot more familiar."

She moved her foot– where the finger bearer last lay– and leaned down to pick up the finger. Sukuna's cursed finger.

Before she could stand back up all the way, another blast of blue flame covered her.

She swiped at it again. "That wasn't going to work the first time, why would it work the second?"

He ignored her and shot his flames at her again. The same outcome happened.

"I don't know how it works, but your nullification isn't exactly perfect." He said, looking at the hand that she's been swiping his flames with. It was a small detail, but that hand was gradually growing redder. The flames might not have much of an effect but the heat was.

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Nullification, is that what you think it is?"

Tilting her head with a smile, "Well, you're close." She said with a wink.

She's lying, of course.

The flames from earlier would have burned away at her skin were it not for the shikigami wrapped around her body. It was merely the other side effect of the flames that had no effect on her.

"Then let's see–" She leaped forward, moving her hand to her side. "If you can handle this!"

She landed in front of him and lazily punched (on purpose, mind you) at his shoulder, which seemed almost like something a friend would do when meeting.

But this punch hurt and it even sent him flying backwards a few feet.

"I thought I taught you the importance of dodging. Were my lessons nothing to you?"

"Shut up!" He got up quickly and continued to throw blue flames at her. Again and again all she had to do was swat at the flames, with each swipe the wind carried after it, blowing out the flames.

"Why are you even here?" He continued to spew blue flames out of his hand, aiming right towards her.

Like swatting a fly she continued to swipe at the flames. Creating small gusts of wind in her wake. She didn't even bother to use much of her cursed technique, the gusts of wind created by her swiping was solely from her own physical prowess.

"I had to do someone a favor, that's all you need to know."

They continued like this for a minute longer, and Yuki finally decided to switch things up. With each swipe she took a step forward, closing the gap between the two. She closed the distance by half of what it once was.

"Yūrei!" She heard another voice from the other side of the flames. The spew of flames finally stopped, being replaced with a large wall of pure flame.

She moved her hand towards the flame, but this wall of flames felt different. These flames burned at her fingers even more.

"Smart." She whispered, realizing what he's done.

Using the remaining distance between the two, he set that entire area ablaze with his strongest flames. She could get through easily using her shikigami, but it would take a while, especially if Yūrei is still on the other side, just waiting for her to do so. If she were to swipe at the flames with Garuda then there's no doubt he would replace those flames in a second.

However, she didn't need to do anything to the flames right now. She made an assumption; Yūrei assumed that she couldn't hear them from behind these flames, but she could hear them quite clearly. So she used this chance.

"We have to get out of here." Freed frantically told Yūrei.

"I know, but I'm a little preoccupied."

Freed groaned, "Are you still dealing with the finger bearer? Dude, how–"

Yūrei cut him off with a growl, "No you idiot, Yuki Tsukumo is here!"

"The special grade? Shit."

"Exactly. She has the finger; we can't leave without it."

"That won't fucking matter if–"

Freed's complaint was cut off. All three of them could feel a new presence enter. It was at that moment that Yuki decided to act.

She unwrapped Garuda from her torso and wrapped it in her palm. Forming a ball, she tossed it slightly in the air and took a couple steps back. When it passed her torso and aligned with her knee, she moved her foot backwards and kicked as hard as she could.

It passed through the flames, creating small gusts of wind that made a linear pathway through the thick wall of flames. Yet when it reached the other side she didn't see Yūrei nor anyone else.

Garuda vanished into the darkness before suddenly reappearing to her left. She looked towards the incoming Garuda with widened eyes. At the last second she moved her body back, just narrowly avoiding her own shikigami by a centimeter. The rolled-up Garuda smashed the right wall, creating a massive hole. The walls shook upon impact.

"I don't think so." A female voice called out from the darkness.

Yuki looked behind her, only to see nothing.

"I'll be taking my boys now, thank you for looking after them." The female voice taunted the presence of her and the other two vanished shortly thereafter.

The flames dissipated seconds after, leaving Yuki alone with her thoughts. She held Sukuna's cursed finger in her hand.

"I didn't even find what Michael wanted me to investigate." She sighed, letting Garuda go at the same time.

She turned around and made to take a step backward, but she felt a rumbling in her pocket. Using her free hand she dug through her pocket to grab the compass that was given to her by Azazel. It rumbled in her hand– the red hand of the compass pointing behind her.

"Ain't that something." She said, her work here was not done. She turned back around and followed the direction the compass was pointing at. It rumbled in her hand. The rumbling only got stronger as she walked.

She was getting closer, eventually after a minute of walking the compass stopped rumbling, pointing directly at something on the ground.

The body of a young brown-haired boy laying face first on the ground.

"Oh?" She quickly moved towards the boy, flipping him onto his back. She held her ear against his chest, hearing a heartbeat and feeling his chest rise up and down slowly.

"He's still alive." She muttered– unintentionally releasing a sigh of relief. She observed the boy closely. He looked nothing out of the ordinary; however, there was a large trail of dried blood on his forehead, she looked closely but couldn't see any wound or mark.

She was too preoccupied worrying over a kid she thought was dead that she didn't notice until now– the energy that leaked from the boy.

If she had to compare it, it felt very similar to the energy that leaks from Sukuna's fingers.

No, rather, the boy's presence felt similar to a certain wielder of the White Dragon she met once. It was only one time and it was only in passing, but she remembers that young man's presence very clearly.

Primal aura.

The boy in front of her felt similar to him, though not to the same extent.

"Could you be…" She muttered.

The wielder of The White Dragon has already been found and is currently under the watch of Azazel of the Grigori. His eternal rival has yet to be found– that is, until now.

"I don't think even Michael even knew of this." She said out loud, speaking to herself. A new topic was brought up in her mind.

The compass had rumbled in the presence of the boy in front of her, almost as if it was made specifically to track him down.

"Even a sealed entity can be detected with this thing." His words rang in her mind again, and she couldn't help but smile.

"Old Azzy's hiding something," she said; however, that's something that she would ask him about some other time.

For now though, she picked up the boy and held him over the shoulder.

There's someone she has to see.

In front of an old and run-down church, a dark hole opened from the wall. Falling out of it were two young men.

They landed on the grass roughly, groaning from the impact.

"We didn't get the fucking finger yet." Yūrei groaned. Being the first to get up he whipped the dust off his clothes.

A young woman stepped out of the portal. She stood tall, wearing a white long-sleeve and dark blue jeans. Her hair tied into a ponytail and her forehead covered by a hat.

The hat didn't stay on long though, as soon as she stepped foot onto the grass and closed the portal behind her, she took her hat off–

Revealing a stitched scar running horizontally through her forehead.

"Yes, well, it was either the finger or your lives, you should be happy that I saved you two."

"Didn't need your help." Yūrei muttered.

The young woman(?) scoffed. "Sure, whatever you say, tsundere."

The young black-haired man cringed, but did not bother to respond to her taunts.

"What do we do now?" Freed stood up, stretching his arms and twisting his neck, releasing satisfied groans with every crack.

"You stay here," She said, referring to the two, "I have to go inside." She pointed at the christian church behind her.

"I need to talk to Shiro-tan about something." She said with a smug smile. "You two just stay and behave."

She walked off into the church.

A minute of pure silence passed before Freed spoke up.

"I would honestly be jealous," Freed said the first thing that came to his mind, completely unfiltered. "If it weren't for the fact that there's a nasty old dude in that body."

Yūrei sighed. "Do you ever know when to shut the fuck up?"

"Nope!" Freed responded with a cackle.

Dragon "Synchronization": 5%