Disclaimer:
"Kamoshida talking"
"Other voice..."
Chapter 3: In the Flesh
"I think I broke my ass", Ryuji groaned, sitting up and rubbing his back with a pained expression on his face.
"Ugh, lucky you", Akira groaned back, rubbing his sides while getting up on his feet and dusting himself, his uniform now wet and dirty. Seeing Ryuji still on the ground, he quickly approached the boy and extended a hand, which he accepted.
"Thanks man", he offered, repeating the same gesture as the dark haired boy and trying to clean his uniform. "What the hell happened? Did we get run over or something?"
The question prompted Akira to look around him, trying to find any evidence of the perpetrator: he found none, the alleyway still empty and devoid of anything that could hit them with enough force to throw them into the ground like that. Akira scratched his head, confused.
"Do… do you think it was some biker?", he questioned Ryuji, who was also looking around them for any clues. "Maybe he tried to take a shortcut and came straight to us."
"No way, man. You can't even drive a motorcycle around these streets", Ryuji responded, scrunching his brows and trying to think. "Shit, that was rough. You okay?"
Akira looked down, trying to find any bruises or torn clothes, but found everything intact. "Yeah, I'm good. You?"
"Same here", the blond answered with a sigh, before noticing something on the ground and pointing at it. "Oh, hey, you dropped your phone."
Akira blinked, remembering what he was looking at right before getting his ass whooped. His phone?
He picked up the object from the ground, turning the screen on and gasping: the interface, which was previously mostly black and white in color, now sported a dark blue mixed with golden flourishes that extended from top to bottom. An app was open, showing some kind of map of the area around them, with strange symbols dotting it.
"Ugh, just my luck. Falling on my ass in the middle of some dirty puddle. Mom's gonna kill me", Ryuji sighed again, before looking up. "Well, at least it's not raining any mo- WHOA!"
Akira quickly turned his head towards the blond, only to see him staring at the sky with his mouth agape and wide eyes, like he was seeing something absurd and unbelievable. Lifting his head upwards, Akira understood Ryuji's reaction: the sky, previously grey and morose from the rainy weather, was now colored with a deep shade of red, making the clouds seem ominous and dark like some kind of hellish vision. Whirlwinds twirled around the sky, the clouds coming and going as if the sky itself was alive and pulsating.
"What the… what the fuck?", Ryuji eloquently offered, stepping back and leaning on a wall with his hand. "What is this, some kind of storm?!"
Akira kept quiet, his heartbeat slowly steadying from the fall before. He didn't understand what was happening… hell, the last few days had been bizarre, but this was a whole new level of fucked up. He looked down at his phone again, before a robotic voice once again came from the device.
"Please proceed forward. You will arrive at your destination in… 10 seconds", it informed dryly. Ryuji broke his concentration from the strange sky and looked at Akira's phone.
"W-What was that?"
"My… my phone has been acting up since earlier", he answered, before shaking his head. That was the least of his problems right now. "Anyway, we need to talk to someone. Aren't we close to the school?"
Ryuji perked up, his mouth forming an 'oh'. "You're right! Come on, we need to ask someone what's happening!", he chirped, turning his back on Akira and speeding up towards the end of the alley. Not five seconds later, Akira heard Ryuji scream again, making him gasp and follow the blond to see if anything had happened.
"WHAT?!"
Akira prepared to ask him if everything was alright, but the words died on his mouth as soon as he looked at the building in front of them. Less than 24 hours ago, Akira had been given a good view of the school: H shaped, neutral colored and traditionally built, Shujin had no remarkable visual references, being a normal high school in every sense of the word.
The fact that it now looked like a gigantic castle was enough to make him hold his breath.
"I-It can't be", Ryuji stammered, turning to look at the alley they had just emerged from. "We came the right way! Is this really the school?"
Upon further inspection, the two noticed the usual sign that read "Shujin Academy" right in front of large metal gates, akin to a medieval castle. Above it, many towers and fortresses dotted the view, each with a multitude of windows and balconies lit by torches and lanterns. The castle twisted and swirled before their eyes, as if their sight was playing tricks on their minds.
"What… what do we do?", Ryuji questioned, turning to Akira for some explanation.
The dark boy suppressed the urge to chuckle. He was sure now: he was completely insane. Mad. Cuckoo. There was no way such a thing was real, he must've been tied to a chair in some mental hospital, while Ryuji and everything else was simply a fruit of his demented mind. Yeah, that was it! He would simply close his eyes and wake up.
Any moment now.
"Dude, what are you doing?! Don't pass out at a moment like this!", the voice that his mind had named Ryuji called him with an exasperated tone.
Akira blinked, opening his eyes. The castle was still there: it was no hallucination.
"I…", he tried to find words, his mouth dry. "I don't know."
Ryuji stared at him with a concerned expression, before looking at the castle with a scowl.
"W-We should take a look", he suggested, placing his hands on his pockets. "I mean, someone must know what's happening!"
Akira took a deep breath, catching himself up: he was right, there was no point pretending it was a dream. They needed to know what was going on, and they needed to know why, even if a part of Akira wanted to simply run away screaming.
He turned to Ryuji and nodded. "Okay, let's see if we can find someone", he said, his sudden dumb courage making him step forward without waiting for the blond. Ryuji gasped and quickly caught up with him, walking at a slow pace while observing his surroundings.
They eventually reached the front gate, finding it slightly open, enough so they could squeeze through and enter the castle's interior. The two gaped at the place, a huge salon full of baroque architecture and red tapestries over the wall and floor. At the center, two sets of stairs led to a colossal painting depicting a knight in shining armor.
Strangely, the knight seemed familiar somehow.
"What the hell?", Ryuji cursed when they approached the center of the place, squinting his eyes. "Is that Kamoshida?"
Akira raised a brow and turned to look at the painting again: with curly hair and an enormous chin, the person depicted indeed looked like the man, judging by how little Akira had seen of the teacher. Posing heroically, Kamoshida smiled smugly, an image that gave him nausea for some reason.
"Just how could they build all this stuff in one day?!", Ryuji questioned, spinning around. "Yesterday everything was completely normal!"
Akira didn't have the opportunity to reply, as a shout echoed in the room, loud and autoritary.
"Halt! Who are you? Identify yourselves!"
Turning to look at the new arrival, the two almost soiled their pants at the newcomer's appearance: a bulky, tall person wearing full plate armor, the helm designed to look like a screaming face. With a sword in one hand and a shield on the other, the person (whoever it was) quickly approached the duo, positioning the sword in a threatening way.
"Jesus christ, you scared the shit out of me, man!", Ryuji squealed, before placing a hand on his chest and chuckling. "I thought nobody was here! What are you wearing that for?!"
Akira observed as the knight held his sword even higher, making the boy step back by instinct. He looked at Ryuji, who didn't seem to grasp the situation properly, laughing as he approached the armored person and placed a hand on the shield.
"Man, this looks real as hell!", he quipped. "Nobody told me about any cosplay event!"
As if by reaction, the knight used the shield to ram into Ryuji's core, the boy falling on the ground out of breath.
"W-What the hell! That really hurts!"
"Intruders have been found at the lobby!", even more voices were audible now, Akira spotting at least a dozen knights approaching the scene.
"I don't think this is cosplay", he managed to calmly whisper to Ryuji, before noticing that his own legs were shaking.
Soon they were swarmed, both being tackled by the insanely heavy knights and in the process of being restrained. Ryuji and Akira screamed and squirmed, trying to break free from their grasps.
"What the hell?! Let go of me, you fucks!", Ryuji cursed them, trying to kick one of them but instead hitting the metal of their breasts with a clang.
Akira tried to think of something to say, to protest, to plead, but once again the words died on his mouth as he watched one of the knights knock Ryuji asleep, his body slumping on their arms.
"Lord Kamoshida will want to know about this", one of the knights remarked.
Akira frowned, still trying to free himself from their grasps.
"Kamoshi…?"
He felt a sharp pain on his neck, and everything went dark before he could say anything else.
Ann Takamaki intertwined her golden locks on her fingers, looking through the car window towards the pouring rain completely mute. She only had to keep silent for the rest of the ride, praying that the man besides her would do the same.
"You look great today, Takamaki-chan", he suddenly said, with that greasy tone of his. Ann winced, not turning to look at him.
"T-Thank you", she simply replied, swallowing hard. It was how it usually started.
"Aw, don't be so cold", he continued, and she could feel his malicious smile even without looking. "I'm just stating the truth. How are things at class?"
"Fine", she lied. The rumors, even if she pretended to ignore them, would always make something crawl below her skin. The man responsible for them was sitting right beside her, driving without any concern at all, so the sensation was even worse at that moment. "I'm having some trouble with physics, but other than that, it's fine", she explained. "Stop talking. Stop giving him things to continue this conversation", she chided herself mentally.
"Ah, I see. That's good, Takamaki-chan", he continued, turning the wheel to the right. "But if you're having trouble with a subject, you should ask for help. I'm available, if you want. What would Shiho think if you looked like you were slacking off on physics? She'd be very disappointed, i'm sure."
Ann suppressed the shaking that had spread through her entire body, her eyes watering slightly. She swallowed and kept her posture. For Shiho.
"I'm sorry, but I still have daily check-ins with my doctor", she maintained her cultivated lie. "Appendicitis is serious business if not treated correctly."
The man let out something that sounded like a low grunt, but Ann pretended to not acknowledge that.
"Very well, you should take care of yourself", he said, pulling up on the driveway. Outside, many Shujin students were already heading to class, crowding the narrow streets. "I'll see you around, Takamaki-chan."
Ann opened the door and left the car, waving to the man and forcing a smile. She slowly walked towards the school, climbed the stairs and silently made her way to the bathroom.
Locking the door of one of the stalls, her eyes bawled out in tears, her breath coming in short bursts. She gripped her knuckles tight until they were white with pressure, anger and frustration and fear coming all out at once.
For Shiho.
Inside his car, Kamoshida quietly grunted, the diffuse purple colored figure right behind him growling and salivating in anger. "Little bitch", he barked to himself, before leaving the car.
"... thy strength… -ake up… call upon the cha-"
Akira woke up gasping, his breath uneven and agitated. Coming to his senses and using his arms for support as he sat up, he rubbed his sore arms and legs, looking around him for some sort of explanation. He remembered… knights? No, it was just a dream. There was no way something like that could ever-
"Open this thing, damn it!", the loud yelling ringed on his ear, making him squint his eyes in annoyance. Turning his head, he saw the blonde boy, Ryuji, banging on the cell door and screaming as loud as he could.
Wait, cell door?
Akira jumped from the bed in a single movement, his heartbeat at an accelerated rate as he surveyed his surroundings: the stone wall, humid and wet; the bed he had been lying on, made of wood and hay; the cell door, imposing and metallic, being attacked by Ryuji in a fit of rage.
This, all of this, was fucking impossible!
"Oh, crap, you woke up! Thank god!", he heard Ryuji say, quickly approaching him. His brow was sweaty, evidence of all the screaming and banging he had done. "I thought you were done for!"
"I'm… I'm okay", Akira swallowed hard, sitting once again on the bed and trying to get back his bearings. "How long have we been here?"
Ryuji took the opportunity to sit down on a bench as he began to think, the physical effort now taking its toll. "Shit, I don't know. All I can remember was those knight dudes and then bam! I woke up here", he explained, frowning and turning to look at the door again. "This is so fucking weird. They attacked us! This is a crime, god dammit!"
Akira placed a hand on his chin, thinking about the situation. "Just so we're clear: this never happened before, right? Is Shujin, uh, famous for pranks or stuff like that?"
"Hell no!", Ryuji answered, throwing his hands in the air. "Even if it did, they can't simply knock us down like that! These… weirdos are the real deal!"
Akira agreed bitterly: whoever those guys were, they weren't exactly friendly, and their swords were certainly not for show. He lifted himself from the bed, approaching the cell door while his legs got rid of the soreness.
"No use tryin', it's locked", Ryuji sighed, looking through the bars. "But… where are we? This is some creepy ass place."
Looking beyond the door, they could see a large complex of cells, doors and stairs, all decorated with chains, hooks and strange tables with collars and handcuffs attached to them. Akira shuddered at the sight.
A prison. How fitting, he bitterly thought.
"Oh, I think I can see a way out", Ryuji pointed towards one of the stairs, which led to a large open door that probably accessed the upper floors. "I mean, if we could even reach it…", he concluded, groaning and shaking the bars again.
Akira stood silent for a moment, his ears catching some strange sound echoing on the place. He frowned, approaching the cell door and placing an ear out of the confining cage.
"You hear that?", he asked.
Ryuji raised a brow, scratching his head. "Hear what?", he asked, imitating Akira and holding his head against the bars. "The dripping? I mean, it looks like we're underground, so-"
"No, the other thing!", Akira cut him, his face scrunching again in confusion as he started to hear it more clearly. "It's… moaning."
"M-Moaning?!", Ryuji stammered, before his eyes widened in recognition. "Shit, you're right! What the hell is wrong with this place? It's so messed up!"
"STAND BACK, PRISONERS!"
The multilayered yell scared both boys, making them retreat to the back of the cell as four knights, similar to the ones they saw before, approached the cell with a strange march on their feet. Strangely, they didn't even hear they coming.
"Hey, let us out of here!", Ryuji perked up first, gripping his knuckles. "I don't know what kind of fucked up joke you're playing, but this isn't funny!"
The knights didn't respond, instead unlocking the door and opening it. They formed a corridor on the exit, standing up to attention like some kind of bizarre military formation and pumping their chests.
"It isn't? Hohoho, that's where you're wrong, Sakamoto: this is VERY funny."
That was enough to shut Ryuji up, his eyes widening. "What the fuck… is that…?"
Before he could continue, Akira witnessed one of the weirdest sights he had ever seen in his life: coming through the standing knights, the source of the voice revealed himself, to the shock of both the boys.
A man, wearing nothing more than a thong and with a red cape strapped on his shoulders, walked pompously towards them, scrutiny in his eyes and a crooked smile on his face. His hair was curly, falling on his shoulders as a huge chin supported his smug mouth, his teeth shining as if mocking them.
On his head, stood a golden crown, almost ridiculously large and disproportionate from his body.
"K-Kamoshida?!", Ryuji barked with incredulity, his words making Akira gasp: he swore the man was familiar, and now he was certain. "What the fuck are you doing?!"
Kamoshida (or the strange man that looked like him) cackled loudly, placing his hands on his stomach. He glared at Ryuji, his yellow eyes shining threateningly.
"Ooh, Sakamoto, you're still the same stupid fuck I knew", he mocked, lifting a finger and nodding to the guards. "Hold them up."
The guards quickly swarmed on them again, Ryuji protesting and squirming while Akira grunted in pain as the knight shoved him against a wall, making him dizzy. His head throbbed in pain, but he could still hear their conversation faintly.
"But to think you'd actually come and storm my castle", he laughed again, shaking his head. "Tsk, tsk. I guess I underestimated your stupidity."
"Let go of me! You're gonna regret that, Kamoshida!", Ryuji barked, being held by his arms and neck, struggling to even talk.
"HOH, bold words for a vermin. And you're going to do what exactly, hm? Break your leg on me?"
Ryuji seethed at his words, his teeth grinding against each other. "You motherfucker! You think nobody's going to do anything? They're gonna bust your ass!", he yelled, before the knight tightened the grip on his neck, making Ryuji gasp for air.
"Are you forgetting something, Sakamoto?", he mocked, spreading his arms around. "This is MY castle, my kingdom! I can do whatever the fuck I want, whenever I fucking want to! Those vermins in the volleyball team? Here, I can grind them to a pulp as much as I want, slave them away as much as I need and… ah, have whoever I want from the female division…"
Akira frowned: he remembered the blonde girl from earlier, entering that man's car with a downcast expression. He didn't think much of it at the time, but now...
Kamoshida approached Ryuji, the blonde gagging as the teacher's breath entered his nostrils. "I'm sure you understand, right, Sakamoto? Those looong legs, those firm breasts, aaall ripe for the picking, eh?
He leaned his head back and barked a laugh. "Hah! As if any of them would even glance at you for a second, you fucking pig! Women strive for one thing only: the alpha of the pack, the one on the top!"
Kamoshida suddenly lunged his arm straight into Ryuji's stomach, making the boy gag and spit, a whimper of pain coming from his ragged breath.
"You… piece of shit", Ryuji went on, trashing his legs in a futile attempt of reaching Kamoshida. "I'm gonna… I'm gonna…"
"Oh, stop barking, you dog. Just admit that an useless dog like you can't do anything right", Kamoshida laughed again, before smiling dangerously. "But, if you won't keep quiet… then I have no choice."
Akira watched as Kamoshida raised an arm, holding it in the air for a few seconds. He frowned, not understanding what he was doing. Would he beat Ryuji again? Was he ordering his guards to do something? Was he-
Before he could finish his thought, Akira saw something that made his blood grow cold, his body stiff from fear and unbelief. It was nothing more than a shimmer at first, some kind of afterimage coming from Kamoshida's back. Slowly, something took form, shining and warping as if it didn't belong to this world, a layer of light and fumes revolving it.
It was humanoid, but the wrongness of the proportions and the absurdity of its form made it clear to Akira that it was no human thing: its torso was thin, shaped like a transparent tube filled with vials colored differently, from red, to yellow, green and others. Its arms, eight of them, came from his sides and his back, all of them with long needles at their extremities and squirming as if having minds of their own, contrasting with the synthetic and mechanical look of the entire creature. Its legs were long, shaped like an insect's, bending its body threateningly. Patterns of words and symbols dotted its entire body, the color purple and red being dominant while a few junctions and details were of a shining gold.
On its head stood some strange helmet shaped like a tall crown hiding the creature's face, a face that had no characteristics at all except for parallel golden lines that came from the top and converged at a sneering mouth that salivated in anger. Even without any other expression or features, the creature instilled pure fear in Akira's heart, placing his mind on the events of last month.
A monster made of gold. Him, frozen in place as the police cuffed him. The man sneering as his life was thrown at the lowest depths of hell. Akira whimpered, the words dying on his mouth as Kamoshida and the creature approached Ryuji, side by side.
"『In the Flesh』", Kamoshida uttered, before the creature brought one of its arms down on Ryuji, the needle on its tip penetrating the boy's flesh. Ryuji barely reacted, his eyes widening for a moment before he slumped down with a low sound, his gaze now morose and sleepy.
"You… you…", he muttered and salivated, his entire body seemingly numb and unresponsive.
"Ahh, real quiet now, huh?", Kamoshida mocked and crossed his arms, the cretured removing the needle from Ryuji's chest. "Gotta admit, you're much better like this! Where's your bravado now, huh?!"
Akira now was breathing unevenly, his whole body shaking as he watched the scene. It was the second time he saw something like that, something like that fucking thing back home. His brain tried to comprehend it, while every fiber of his body begged him to look away, to simply close his eyes and cry like he did that night a month ago.
"But you're no fun like this, are you?", Kamoshida kept going, joy permeating his voice. "You see, I have all kinds of stuff here. For example, if I use this one, you get calm and sleepy as sheep."
With a wordless order from Kamoshida, the creature raised the arm that had been used to attack Ryuji, showing the pointy tip dripping with some purple liquid. Akira, resigned to watching, noticed that one of the vials on the creature's torso stirred, specifically the one with the purple substance.
"But! If I use this one", he raised another arm, this one dripping red liquid, thick as blood. "Then things get interesting!", he declared as he brought the needle down to Ryuji's chest, penetrating the skin but drawing no blood. Akira would be relieved by it, if it wasn't for what happened next.
Ryuji let out one of the most horrifying screams of pain Akira had ever heard in his entire life, something he would remember for months to come. Ryuji squirmed and trashed, still under the knights' hold, while almost tearing his throat out in desperation and pain. It only took a second of the needle's touch to make him react like that, making Akira wonder what the fuck had he done to him?
"Yeah, yeah, pretty painful, huh?", Kamoshida cackled, standing back as the monster under his command removed the needle from Ryuji's body. "This is almost as fun as breaking your leg for real!"
"STOP!", yelled Akira, already tired of seeing his colleague suffer. The words simply came out of his mouth on their own, desperate for Kamoshida to stop. The man turned with a brow raised, as if only now noticing Akira's presence. Thankfully Ryuji had stopped screaming, coming to his senses and looking at Akira's direction with hurtful eyes, no doubt still recovering from the pain that he felt before.
"And what do we have here?"
Akira held his breath, already thin from all the struggling he made trying to break free. Kamoshida approached him with a sneer, chuckling.
"Ah, yes, the notorious transfer student! What's that, Sakamoto? You thought that you and your friend here could gang up on me? Don't be ridiculous."
Ryuji gargled and struggled for air, glaring at Kamoshida with one open eye. "L-Leave him… out of this, you asshole!"
"Oohh, but how could I? You see, while you are too much of a pussy to do anything, this guy here…", Kamoshida taunted, turning his head to Akira with a filthy smile on his face. "The one is a real criminal, did you know that? The scummiest of the scummiest!"
Akira's heart skipped a beat. His eyes widened as he stared at Kamoshida, incredulous. Did they know…?
"Honestly, I was surprised when they told me. This kind of filth, in my school?"
Shut up. Shut up…!
"Nonono, this couldn't be. I couldn't let that pass" he laughed, Akira now noticing that Ryuji looked at him with a confused look. Of course: even him would scorn him if he knew. "So I took a measure, of course: I let the whooole school know about this guy and the fucked up shit he did!"
Akira shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, trying to block out Kamoshida's words. No, it was bullshit! He was supposed to try again! He was innocent!
" -eak free-", a voice echoed on his head, making him open his eyes in surprise. It was different from Kamoshida's. "-avage them…"
"I would've enjoyed making him squirm and be shunned by everyone on Shujin. Would he go mad with the pressure? A fitting punishment, huh?"
Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!
Kamoshida laughed once again, grabbing Akira by his dark hair and pulling his head up, staring him on the eyes with a sadistic look.
"Unfortunately for you, I don't think that's and option anymore", he snickered. "Both of you are going to die… but before that, I'm gonna have some fun!"
Shut up, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!
" 'In the Flesh' here is perfect for this kinda stuff, you know? He can bring pain, fear, madness, even happiness if I'm in a good mood!", he explained, summoning In the Fleshto his side. "But today… I'm not in a good mood."
...ge them...
Akira coughed, his head throbbing with a sharp pain. Something kept repeating itself on his head, but he couldn't understand what it said. Kamoshida raised one of his arms, a movement that In the Flesh repeated, and licked his lips.
"Don't worry, this is only going to hurt a bit…", he cackled.
...rava...em…
'What?', Akira wondered, looking straight ahead towards Kamoshida. He realized that in a second, his whole world would explode in pain, that every fiber of his being drowned in a cauldron of suffering. He would beg for Kamoshida to stop, he would hear Ryuji scream again, and he would hear that disgusting man laugh and laugh at his expense, at the expense of his pain. Right now, the feeling he should be experiencing was fear, pure terror, a primal instinct to beg for his life.
Instead, he felt pure steaming rage. And the world came to a halt.
He didn't want to cower from Kamoshida, no. He wanted to put his hands on his neck and squeeze it until his eyes popped out, he wanted to rip his arms off and leave him to bleed out and suffer. He wanted to break every bone of his body, and then, break every ounce of spirit and sanity he had. He wanted him to be consumed to ashes, nothing in this world a legacy of that piece of shit's existence.
And after that rage filled thought, Akira slowly glanced to his side, noticing that someone was watching him very closely. Or rather, something.
...age...them…!
The figure stared straight to him, its red eyes bizarrely formed as if divided in many layers diagonally, its body lean and tall, hunchbacked as a way to level Akira on his eyes. All over it, chains and chains covered the being's body, glowing with a blue flame and moving around as if alive, the torso itself tangled in what could be hundreds of meters of the metallic stuff, spreading to its arms and forming some kind of protective layer. Small metallic pins covered specific spots on its body, where the chains tangled and bended like some kind of knot so complicated no one would ever solve. The whole being was as black as the night, with only the eyes and the strange overcoat it wore being red as blood. The overcoat was actually cut in dozens of thin stripes, covering the body but still fluttering in the air.
..vage them...!
The red eyes and small mouth were expressionless, having no pupils, iris or nose. Above all that, something that seemed to mock a tophat spiked upwards, falling to its side due to the sheer size of it.
...avage them…!
Akira knew he should've felt horrified by the sight, but instead he felt a connection to it so great that he couldn't help but smile. The being turned its head and looked towards Kamoshida.
Our strength is born of captivity, of the rejection of idleness and the rage against the oppressor.
Our is the fury of retribution. The chains that bind us no longer hold us back: they serve us now.
They, like our resolve, are unbreakable.
Akira smiled, a feeling of joy and bloodlust filling his chest. Slowly, he gave his command… no, he simply did it as easily as raising his own arm.
"『Helter Skelter』"
RAVAGE THEM.
Before In the Flesh's needle could even approach Akira, a punch was thrown out of nowhere, hitting it square on the jaw. It was almost as if a car had crashed directly into it: Akira heard bone and skin crack under the pressure of his blow, sending the enemy flying backwards with Kamoshida in tow, the man screaming in pain and surprise.
For a moment, all the knights looked back to see the scene: in one moment, Lord Kamoshida had the intruder under his grasp, only to be thrown back in the next and hit the wall with a loud crash.
Ryuji, still dizzy from the torture session, had widen eyes and mouth agape from unbelief. "What the…"
Akira didn't give the guards time to react: he could feel the ground below them as he willed two sets of chains to snake beneath their feet, locking the legs of two of them tightly in place and lifting them in the air as if they weighed nothing. With a smile and a flick of his finger, the snake-like chains twisted and launched the two towards the nearest wall, the strength of the inertia and impact making their armors break and dissolve in black smoke.
"L-Lord Kamoshida!", they cried, releasing Ryuji onto the ground and turning to Akira with rage on their voices. "You filthy plebeian! How dare you do that to our king!"
Akira felt the urge to laugh, the joy of destruction on his heart too much to bear. Grinning, he recalled the chains back to Helter Skelter before grabbing one loose set and spinning it on his side, waiting.
The knights yelled and pulled out their swords, charging in Akira's direction. The chain Helter Skelter was spinning gathered speed, with Akira commanding it to raise the disc of flaming steel above his head and slash it in his enemies' direction. The first had tried to hit him with an uppercut: obviously a mistake. The chain tangled with the blade, Helter Skelter's strength far surpassing the knight's as the blade fell from his grasp into Akira's own. Helter Skelter spinned in place, bringing the chain slashing horizontally with the sword still stuck on the tip and hitting the two enemies with a single cutting blow, both disappearing with a whimper in a cloud of black mist.
All was silent for a moment. All that was left was pieces and parts of empty armors scattered around, like the aftermath of a battle.
Akira took a deep breath, recalling the spinning chain and Helter Skelter to his side. The effort it took to swiftly dispose of the guards took its toll on him, with Akira quickly supporting his arms on his knees and catching his breath. He would've stayed that way if not by the more pressing matters in front of him.
"Dude…", he heard Ryuji on the ground, grasping his chest in pain but still looking appalled by what happened. "That was amazing! How did you do that?!"
Akira looked at his own hands, still feeling the surge of power from before. What was that? That being that obeyed every command he gave, almost as if an extension of his own body?
"I don't know", he replied, before smirking. "But I like it."
Ryuji lifted himself up with some difficulty, approaching Akira in awe. "I mean, it was like you had psychic powers or some shit!", he cheered excitedly, before pausing and making an expression of realization. "Ooh, is that's why your name is 'Akira'?!"
Akira understood but decided not to acknowledge the reference, instead raising a brow at his words. "What do you mean, psychic? You didn't see it?"
"See? See what?", Ryuji questioned, confused.
Akira looked at his arm, lifting it in the air and concentrating. He tried to summon the power in the same way he did before, focusing his will to reach out of his body. Not a second after, a ghostly arm came out of his own, flickering and diffused, but still recognizable.
Akira gave Ryuji a questioning look, but the blond simply stared at his arm without any reaction. "Your arm? What about it?"
Huh. Strange.
"It's nothing", he sighed, deciding to leave those questions for another time. "We need to-"
"You pieces of trash…", a familiar voice came from a pile of rubble nearby, making both boys freeze on the spot. "I'm gonna… I'M GONNA…"
They quickly turned their heads, only to see Kamoshida lifting himself from the ground, a few bruises on his body but nothing else.
"I'm gonna cut your head off and shit down your necks!", he yelled angrily, raising an arm. "In the Flesh!"
By Kamoshida's command, his ghostly counterpart was summoned from his body, still as terrifying and threatening as before. It's needle arms wiggled in the air, searching intently for their next target.
"Oh shit!", Ryuji yelped, quickly nudging Akira's shoulder. "He's back up! Do that again!"
Akira gritted his teeth and tried to summon Helter Skelter, but the being simply hovered in the air for a second before disappearing, the exhaustion on Akira's body making it impossible for it to do anything.
"I'm t-too tired", he winced, holding on Ryuji for support, to the blond's surprise and panic. "I can't summon it for long."
Kamoshida slowly approached them, the anger on his eyes almost visible as electricity in the air. Both Akira and Ryuji backed against the wall, now without any options or escape routes.
"W-What do we do?!", Ryuji pleaded, a question that Akira had no answer for. The dark haired teen looked all around him for an exit, but found none as Kamoshida and In the Flesh approached them.
"Die you pieces of SHIT!"
In the Flesh swung its arm for a blow, Akira and Ryuji closing their eyes in defeat.
...
Only to open them seconds later to find themselves still unharmed.
"What the…?"
The two looked ahead, seeing Kamoshida furiously trashing and hitting… them.
Two exact copies of the boys now stood against the wall on their left, being absolutely destroyed by Kamoshida, the man yelling and screaming in anger. The doppelgängers fell to the ground, spilling blood and guts all around as their… 'real' counterparts looked horrified at the scene.
Frozen in place, the two hesitated at the bizarre scene, not knowing how to react.
"A-Are you seeing what i'm seeing?!", Ryuji shakely asked, pointing at the bloodbath in front of them. "What the fuck? Who are them?!l
Akira tried to formulate an answer, his brain still trying to wrap around the sight of two copies of themselves being hacked, while they cowered in fear unharmed.
He opened his mouth, but another voice beat him to it.
"Are you two stupid?! Run, you idiots!"
The two dumbly looked around them, confused by the stranger's voice. "W-Who's there?, demanded Ryuji.
"SHUT UP AND RUN! I can't hold it for much longer!", the voice demanded, louder this time.
Akira took a deep breath, eying Kamoshida still attacking their fakes. Right behind the man, there was a large opening that let straight to the cell's door and freedom.
He decided to take his chances. "Fuck it, let's go!"
He grabbed Ryuji's uniform and dragged him out, the blond yelping as he was pulled from his stupor. They quickly exited the cell, supporting themselves on one another running for their lives as they made their way upstairs.
From below, Akira could only hear the sounds of bones crushing and being cut, their copies being left for their fates.
Without a word, both ran as if the devil was on their tails, passing through corridors and passages seemingly at random.
"To the left!", the voice from before commanded, both obeying it without question. Twists and turns, doors and holes, they navigate the place being guided by the voice without a body that saved them from their fate.
Soon, they found large stairs that led to a big door above them, Akira already taking the first steps toward it.
"W-Wait!", Ryuji stopped him, pulling his uniform.
"What is it? We need to run!", he desperately answered, not wanting to spend one more second on that place.
Ryuji stopped and slowly approached a cell window, large enough so they could see an entire section right below their floor. Akira grunted and followed the blond, wanting to see what the matter was.
"Look!", Ryuji pointed downwards.
To Akira's surprise, he saw a whole complex of enormous torture decices sprawled around in a large room: a running machine with spikes on its end, chains and handcuffs hanging on the air, tables with volleyballs beinght thrown with immense velocity at them, all sorts of strange decices that Akira knew at a glance that their purpose was pain.
To worsen it all, they were being used at that exact moment: dozens of people, students and teenagers by the look of it, were subjected to torture as they ran from spikes, were hit by huge volleyballs and tried to dodge a multitude of spikes and spears thrown at them, many if them already on the ground bleeding.
"I-I recognize these people!", Ryuji gripped the bars in front of him. "They're the volleyball team!"
Akira's eyes widened as he looked down at the freak show in front of him, the pieces of a puzzle forming on his mind. Ryuji had said it right after they met: Kamoshida abused the team, downright to physical violence.
But he didn't imagine that it was something on that level.
"Don't stop! You're almost there!", the voice called again, snapping Akira from the sight.
"What?! Wait, we have to save them!", Ryuji yelled angrily at no one in particular, seeing that the voice lacked a body.
"Save WHAT? They're not real, you moron! Just run!"
Akira gritted his teeth, his ears already picking up the faint sound of armored knights coming from the stairs below them. It seemed that Kamoshida had noticed something was wrong.
"Ryuji, we need to go!", he said, grabbing the blond by his uniform but met with resistance.
"We can't leave them here!"
"Ryuji, if we don't run, we're dead!", Akira argued, sweat running from his temples. "They're coming!"
Ryuji looked back and sucked on his lips, his breath ragged from all the running. After a second, he hesitantly nodded, turning his back to the cell.
"F-Fine. Let's go!"
They ran up the stairs, the sound of dozens of knights running and screaming after them, this time not even glancing backwards.
"Holy shit, I've never ran so fast in my entire life", Ryuji wheezed, supporting himself on a fence by his side.
Both had run until their lungs came to the brink of failure, finally arriving at the front door of the enormous castle. Once outside, the two scurried off and hid behind a wall, stopping to catch their breaths.
Akira leaned on his knees, coughing and wheezing from the effort. "Yeah, I think my sides are going to explode."
A few moments passed, the only sound audible being their ragged breaths as they calmed down.
"What…", Ryuji dared to start, looking at Akira. "What the hell was that?"
Akira resigned himself to chuckle. "You'll have to be more specific."
Ryuji groaned. "Everything! What is this place?!", he threw his hands on the air, trying to make a point. "I don't even know how the hell we got out alive!"
"Well, you can thank me for a start", an unfamiliar voice perked up.
Ryuji and Akira raised their heads, looking around trying to find its source. They found nothing, only the same empty corner they took refuge in.
"Dude, you said something?", Ryuji asked, scratching his head.
"Ugh, down here, you morons!"
Slowly, they looked down on the ground, coming face to face with… a cat.
The feline had black fur with spots of white on its neck, from which a yellow cloth hung like some kind of scarf. It looked at them with… a scowl on its face, as if capable of doing such a thing.
"A… cat?", Ryuji questioned, squinting his eyes. "What's it doing here?"
Akira kept analyzing the animal, noticing its uncanny behaviour: its brows were furrowed, its posture was at complete attention to them, and its tail…
The cat moved its tail upwards, showing that a metallic object was being held by its grip and being waved around. Akira's eyes widened, his mouth open in disbelief: he had seen that cat before!
Then the cat sighed.
"I am not a cat!", the creature declared angrily. "You two should be bowing to my presence! I just saved your lives!"
Silence hung in the air, both Ryuji and Akira staring at the talking cat in front of them with blank looks on their faces.
The cat raised a brow. "Uh… why are you looking at me like that?"
Both boys screamed and jumped back to the wall, startled by yet another impossible thing happening in front of their eyes.
"A-A talking cat?!", Ryuji stammered. "For real?!"
Akira rubbed his temples and sighed: a talking feline was far from the weirdest thing he had witnessed that day.
"Not a cat", it clarified, glaring at Ryuji. "My name is Morgana, and I'm human to the bone!"
"Uh…", Akira started, questioning the truth of the cat's affirmation, but Ryuji beat him to it.
"Like hell you are! And if you're not a cat, then you're some weird furry monster!"
Morgana hissed at Ryuji. "Take that back, you monkey! I should've left you to rot down there!"
"Wait… you're the one who saved us?", Akira interrupted the spat between the two, his headache growing stronger by listening to it. "You were the one who guided us up here?"
The ca… Morgana huffed away from Ryuji and turned to Akira, nodding its head.
"Yep, the one and only. You should consider yourselves lucky: I don't extend my generosity so easily", he smugly proclaimed.
"But how?", questioned Ryuji. "One moment we were going to get our asses beaten, and in the next, some… weird copies of us were standing there! You're telling me that was you?!"
"The one and only", Morgana puffed his chest and lifted his head, as if expecting high praise. "Doing that was really easy, tough: everyone was distracted by, you know, wanting to kill each other."
"Oh", Akira mumbled, words escaping him for a moment. He wanted to ask Morgana how he had done it, but acknowledgement of his help was first on the list. "Then… thank you. You really saved us back there", he added, coughing on his hand.
Reflecting upon it, it must've been quite the weird sight: the dark haired boy thanking some smug talking cat, looking embarrassed while doing it.
"Heh, don't be so sure: I don't do charity", Morgana snickered, moving around them with feline swagger. "I've seen your Stand in action: pretty powerful, all things considered. Maybe with a little bit of training, you could be of great help to me."
Akira squinted his eyes in confusion. "My what?"
Morgana leaned his head sideways, looking at Akira as if he had said something really stupid. "Uhh… your Stand? You know, the black and red thingy with the chains?"
"Gotta admit", he smirked. "It did look pretty cool. Helter Skelter, was it?"
Akira scratched his head, Morgana's comment bringing up a question on his head. Where did he take the name from? It wasn't a set of words he would usually use, it had just… sprung on his mind out of nowhere.
"Y-Yeah, that's the name, I think", he answered, looking down at his arm. "If it didn't appear back there, we'd be dead."
"Wait… you're saying you just summoned it for the first time?", Morgana asked exasperated. "Damn! I guess you were really lucky I was around, then! That guy would've crushed you in a second!"
"Wow, wow, wow, hold up a second!", Ryuji chimed in, being left out of the conversation. "None of this makes sense! What are you guys talking about?"
"None of your damn business, that's what we're talking about!", Morgana hissed back at Ryuji.
"Why, you little…!"
"Ryuji, calm down!", Akira interrupted him, making the blond clamp his mouth and glare at the cat. "Morgana, hold up for a moment: we have some questions."
"Huh?", Morgana lifted one ear. "Well, sure, shoot."
"Where… where are we?", Akira asked, looking around the bizarre world around them. The city was visible behind them, its building empty and impregnated with darkness. The castle still stood tall and menacing, and the sky swirled and turned in red and black clouds that always looked like they were on the verge of releasing a storm.
Morgana looked around them, before shrugging with his little cat shoulders. "Well, I already assumed it wasn't common knowledge, so I'll bite", he replied, looking back at Akira. "This… is the Metaverse, the world of human cognition."
"The what now?", Ryuji asked, confused.
"Cognition. Think of it like this", Morgana sat down, starting his explanation. "The whole society has a collective consciousness, a kind of sea of notions and ideas that everybody shares. Every human in the world is a part of it, their own thoughts and perceptions shaping this place, be it individually or collectively. The Metaverse is nothing more than the personification of that: a world where the human thought is real. And very dangerous sometimes, might I add."
Akira nodded, looking down on the ground and wrapping his head around the idea.
"Uhh… I don't get it", Ryuji admitted.
"Ugh, fine", Morgana groaned. "An example for simple minded people: if everybody thinks that dirt tastes like sushi, in this world the dirt does taste like sushi."
"Ohhhh, I get it", Ryuji nodded with a smile, before making an expression of disgust. "Ugh, now my mouth tastes bad."
"Moving on", Morgana continued. "You two were lucky I was exploring this Palace. You really chose the worst place to go in all the Metaverse, it's a wonder you're even alive."
"Palace?", Akira asked, wanting to know more.
"Wait, hold up", Ryuji interrupted again. "I gotta ask: why is Kamoshida here? And why does the school look like a castle?"
Morgana placed a paw below his chin, the two surprised by how human the gesture looked.
"Well, a Palace is a center of distortion: a place in the metaverse where the desires of one person become so corrupt that the whole environment changes in their favor", Morgana explained. "You said that his name was Kamoshida, right? The king of this place?"
They nodded, before Morgana went on. "Well, this guy has such warped perceptions of this place that the entire building became a castle, a palace. I assume he is in a very powerful position in the real world, right?"
"Damn right", Ryuji growled. "Now I get it: her thinks of himself as a king in a castle, so this weird world transforms into… a castle where he rules."
"Congratulations, you understood the basics of the basics", mocked Morgana. "But having deep desires is not enough for a palace to form: the person needs an extremely powerful will for it to form. Basically, only people with developed Stand abilities can have palaces."
"What do you mean?", questioned Akira. "How do these… powers we have are related to it?"
Morgana pondered for a second, before getting up on his four paws and stretching his body.
"Well, I saw your Stand, so I might as well show you mine. It's courtesy, after all", he said, before concentrating and summoning his Stand.
Behind Morgana, something with the shape of a large feline appeared, only it seemed to lack any shape at all: its colors fluctuated all around, like a rainbow of a multicolored spectrum bundled up in the form of tiger or a panther. Its features were hard to grasp, smoke and light coming out of it as the Stand's outline flickered like a malfunctioning TV.
Akira took the sight in awe, while Ryuji was left confused as his colleague looked at an empty spot on the street.
"Don't worry, it's quite stable", Morgana snickered, showing it off by raising a paw, a movement the Stand repeated. "I call it 『Rainbow in the Dark』. My ability is to manipulate the perception of people close to it: I can make things disappear on other's perceptions, make something seem farther or closer than it looks, among other things. Including making people see things that are not there, like exact copies of you two. This is the part where you thank me again."
"Uh, thanks for saving us."
"That's right", Morgana chuckled, before raising a brow. "Well? Come on, show it to me!"
Akira muttered and 'oh!', before closing his eyes and concentrating. From his body, the ghostly form of Helter Skelter appeared, standing by his side without any hint of expression or thought: it was an extension of Akira, like an additional limb. He could feel everything it felt, including its raw power and strength. The sensation made Akira smirk.
"Hm, it does look powerful", Morgana conceded, analysing the Stand from head to toe. "It's the chains, right? Those things cut through those knights like butter! My Rainbow in the Dark doesn't have enough strength of his own, unfortunately: I'm more powerful in the Metaverse than in the real world, being a place of cognition and stuff, but it's more of a situational Stand than a combat one."
"Wait, you can use a Stand outside of this place?", Akira questioned: in his mind, those things belonged in that bizarre world, and not in the real day-to-day reality.
"Of course: This place is nothing more than a reflection of the real world. While my ability is stronger in here, there's a lot of even stronger guys out there: if I went to battle head on with some people I found… well, I wouldn't be here now."
"My point is: Stands are the will of the soul and mind, the strength each of us has inside them. Some manifest it naturally, others need a little push", he added, wiggling his tail where the metallic object was wrapped.
Akira raised a brow. "I remembered: I saw you yesterday, walking in the school's parking lot and carrying that thing. What is that? Where did you get it?"
Now that he could give it a good look, Akira noticed it was actually something resembling an arrowhead: with a sharp tip, the object was made of something that resembled gold, shining where many decorations and carvings covered its surface. It was attached to a broken hilt made of wood, from where Morgana held it in his grip.
To that question, Morgana sucked his breath and scrunched his face, obviously thinking hard on the question.
"Weeell… I'm not sure, really", he admitted, to Akira's disappointment. "As far as I can remember, I've carried this thing around. It's called… a Stand Arrow", he perked up, remembering something. "Basically, there are people with the potential of having a Stand, but they need a trigger for it to appear: this is the trigger."
"If you pierce yourself with it, and you have enough strength of will and spirit, you will be gifted with a power", he explained, before frowning. "But if you don't… well, you die."
"Oh", Akira dumbly replied, suddenly relieved that he hadn't needed to go through that.
"Uh, that's cool and all", Ryuji interrupted the conversation again. "But you still haven't explained why Kamoshida has a palace thingy, or whatever."
"Oh, right", Morgana suddenly remembered the explanation he had been giving before. "Well, normal people's shadow's, that being their cognitive version in this world, don't have the power to actually be anything too dangerous in this world. But, if the person has a Stand ability, along with the notion of self power and a huge ego… a palace can be formed. Basically, this crooked person's shadow becomes the rules of an area of the Metaverse, being shaped by the distorted desires in their hearts."
"So… not all people with Stands have palaces?", Akira asked.
"Oh, god, no", Morgana blew his lips in dismissal. "If that was the case, this place would be way more messed up. Only people with stands and distorted desires can have palaces. You could think of it as a competition: the more powerful and distorted a Stand user's desire is, the more powerful his Shadow is; therefore, the person's Shadow rules the place above all others. After all, there could be many corrupted users in one place, and the strongest of them is the ruler. Even if a non-stand user had desires and thoughts as crooked and corrupt as the others, his shadow's power wouldn't be able to compete with actual Stand users."
Akira and Ryuji lowered their heads in thought, thinking about the castle behind them.
"So that means…", Ryuji started, turning to Morgana. "That Kamoshida's desires are so fucked up that a palace was formed in the school, and that he has this super powerful Stand thing that makes him the ruler?"
"Exactly", Morgana confirmed, looking at the castle towering over them. "To be honest, I've seen even more powerful Palace rulers over the city: this one, while still dangerous, is kinda pale in comparison."
The thought of even stronger Stand users scattered around the city, each one ruling their own little kingdom, was enough to make Akira shudder. But something in the way Morgana explained made him think.
"You said you've been to other palaces?", he asked. "Why? Why were you here inside the castle?"
Morgana's eyes widened, the cat looking down on the ground pondering.
"Well… the truth is, I'm not sure of where I came from", he admitted, downcast. "I'm 100% sure that I'm human, I'm only stuck in this form. But something tells me that if I explore this world, I'll find a way to go back to being human."
Akira nodded, looking at the 'human in cat form' in front of him: while it was obvious that Morgana had the appearance of a domestic cat, something about him (beyond the fact that it talked), made him think that his theory wasn't far from the truth. Besides his physical appearance, he had all the traits a common person had, with naught and a sharp tongue to add.
"And that's why I need your help", Morgana cut his thoughts, making Akira stare at him with a confused look. "While I've been doing fine on my own, your Helter Skelter would be really useful on my side. Aaaand, seeing that I save you life…"
Akira pondered on his request. It was true, he did save their lives not even ten minutes ago. But the thought of actually coming back to that place made his opinion on the request dim somewhat.
"Look, we're grateful for your help, but-"
"DUDE!", Ryuji suddenly yelled, realizing something that had slipped their minds. "We forgot about classes!"
Akira's heart skipped a beat. Shit.
"Crap, if I'm late on the first day, I'm dead", Akira groaned, turning to Morgana. "How do we leave this place?!"
Morgana stuttered for a moment. "W-Wait, what about my request?"
"Look, we can talk about this later", he replied. 'Or never', if the possibility of never returning to that world was real. "Right now, we need to get out of here now!
Morgana frowned at him for a moment, before sighing. "Fine, we'll talk about this later", he said, before perking up again, confused. "Wait, what do you mean you don't know how to get out? How did you even enter this world in the first place?"
Akira's mind raced, trying to find the answer to Morgana's question. Okay, they were walking on the alley, then they… they…
"Dude, your phone!", Ryuji perked up, pointing at Akira's pocket. "Didn't you say it was acting weird?!"
Akira's eyes widened as he realized Ryuji was right. He swiftly grabbed his phone and turned the screen on, only to be faced with the same blue interface he had seen before it all happened.
"O-Okay, what now?", he wondered, panic setting in as he now realized that time was of the essence.
As if by magic, a single prompt appeared on the screen: 'Leave the Metaverse'. Akira never clicked a button so fast.
"Now leaving the palace. Thank you for your hard work."
Ryuji and Akira screamed once again as the world around them distorted and shifted, disappearing after a few seconds. Morgana, now left alone, let out a huge sight.
"Well, that's a shame", he lamented as he pondered about the pair. "But I must admit: the frizzy haired one had potential."
"I hope I see him again", he concluded, before scurrying off, resuming his investigation of the palace.
Stand Name: Helter Skelter
Stand User: Akira Kurusu
Ability: Wielding the chains that once bound him as a prisoner of fate, Helter Skelter has impressive speed and strength, being able to swing its chains either as a weapon, a means of transportation and many more possibilities, depending on the user's wit.
It is said that one who is nothing has the potential to become anything, after all.
To be Continued -
A/N: Oof, there it is. Not only we have our first glimpses of stand battles, but a nice little information dump on the end. Creating the rules of your 'own' universe has a charm of its own.
Other things:
As you noticed, Akira didn't change clothes, and Morgana is not a big headed mascot, his form being a simple cat as he is in reality. The reason for that is because I have some really interesting ideas regarding the ability to change other's cognition of your appearance, although I'll say that their iconic Phantom Thieves clothing will be present, don't worry.
Well, other than that, I really hope you liked the stand and their names. Coming up with cool ideas and names for them is the reason I even started this fic. I'll let you guys figure out where the names come from, though.
Don't forget to leave a review, as it is the fuel that keeps me going.
See ya.