1:57 PM

  Like a Hawk watching mice run in a field below Jin observed every single person who entered and exited Shibuchu ward from the top of Tousen Tower. The deep blue sky void of clouds cast a cold wind at his person, yet his clothes didn’t so much as shift in the gust. Blood red iris with long white lashes and polycoria iris which fused into a slit like shape he grinned. The Toumeikan- no Susanori Kobe was not nearly as smart as anyone had thought him to be. The invasion of the Yakuza which came in hordes of Armored black vehicles and white vans with few windows tinted black as coal numbered in the thousands. From each came dozens of men of all ages and appearance, some wielding metal bats, other wooden ones with nails pressed into them like pincushions. Others had katanas sheathed to their sizes and some chains which they whipped overhead like a lasso ready to noose a bull.

  But the thing they all had in common was that black leather jacket they wore with [透明感: Toumeikan] engraved across the back in big bold white letters. But there was little worry of any civilians getting caught up in the mob, the evacuation had already begun this morning before the sun had even risen and the Toumeikan themselves were to thank for that mostly. No doubt they had a hand in how many companies had canceled work today suddenly, and how roads closed for inspection or sudden construction reforms, with the government in the hands of Susanori Kobe even as little as they were he could pull and stretch his influence as far as need be. Though the Venator Society had also been working on evacuations, despite being a massive ward it was far from densely populated much like its sibling wards Chuji and Shinkaju; Shibuchi was mostly used for commerce, business and entertainment. The few who could afford to live in the ward, politicians and celebrities could afford to drop their things and flee at first warning.

  Checking his clock Jin saw the time at 1:52 PM, he planned to close the barrier at 2:00 PM- but only if all of the Joshin and Hachibuto had entered. The Sanjougou likewise beginning at 2:00 would face their own opponents. It was quite the clean plan, no doubt thanks to Jin of course.

  Using his [Waypoints] as a base he reworked the [Atlas] into a sensor type, and with the use of Nordons [Little Helper: Scan] having a detailed database of all Toumeikan members of note he could infuse that archive into the [Atlas]. Every second they pulsed, sending a message to another and those messages relayed back to Jin like a constant influx of notifications on a phone. Normally a sensor type [Atlas] scanning would be as obvious as a flashing light in someone's eye. To anyone skilled enough in observation they would be able to sense it without issue, but with such a high density of souls from the Toumeikan in the ward that a single beat would be muffed by thousands of other noises.

  “!”

  Jin felt a jolt, like someone had blown wind in his heart as he was notified of the Hachibuto and his four Joshin entering.

  “Amagasaki Aotori, Fuyusai Jingo, Han Yopei, Kinomoto Shinsui and Miyamoto Sho.” He muttered as each name and image flashed in his head. Looking at his wrist watch again he grinned. In just two more minutes he’d snap his fingers and the barrier would form, to not laugh was a struggle. How they’d fallen for the bait so easily, like rats rushing to a block of cheese hanging over a bucket of water. With a snap of his finger a dome surrounding the ward would appear, one unbreakable from the inside with only four openings to each cardinal direction. Each guarded by the Venator Society members who would warp in at the same time. It was a heavy spell, one which took considerable effort to form, and even more mana to cast- but it wasn’t perfect.

  Even with all of his masterful work the tunnels under Tousen were still an issue. He’d studied the map Kanashi had given him, from this height he could see the faint outline of each of them, deep below the ground and covered in millions of runes to make even his [pure eyes] struggle. But that wasn’t the issue, the issue was that those tunnels would be unaffected by his barrier, they would bore a hole right through it even though the barrier should have closed them off as solid as they had above ground. So it was up to the others to guard those tunnels, to make sure not a single person could enter or exit them.

  “Rely on others huh.” Jin laughed aloud, ruffling his hair. The freezing wind tried to beat at him, to throw him from the tower's top but it couldn’t even so much as touch his person. “When has that ever done me good…” He asked with a sigh. Another perfection would be a failure compared to that of Jinen Lutectes, and he knew that for he was the Miracle Sage, the Imperfect Perfection. The title left a sour taste on his tongue which he stuck out.

  Just because others view you as perfect it doesn’t change how you feel about your own convinced failures. Those words came from somewhere in his mind, somewhere he wasn’t sure the origin of, but that didn’t matter. Looking down he saw the clock had turned the hour to 2:00 exactly. “Guess it’s time then huh?”

  Putting his thumb to his middle finger he took not even a moment to hesitate.

  SNAP

  The barrier had formed and the liberation began.

  # # #

  The Karatino casino's basement was unusually cold, a slight chill running up Kanashis spine caused goosebumps to rise on his flesh. Apparently today was the first time in the 10 years since its opening that the casino would be closed for more than a single hour at a time. Even during typhoons or when a transformer blew and the lights went out the generator would bring it back to life. And if those broke? There were always flashlights to light up games of cards and dice. The gambling truly had no end here in the Karatino Casino, so maybe that was why it was so cold down here today. The party had finally ended for once.

  Clearing his throat, Kanashi looked to Kenji who sat across from him in the basement's lobby. Being a hidden basement it wasn’t very large but that didn’t mean it was barren. Tiger skins hung from the walls in all shades including blue and white- as well as gold tapestries, scroll work carved from silk and wood next to signed sports memorabilia including an entire glass cabinet full of signed baseballs. A tv the size of a queen sized bed and about as heavy as a pallet of cinderblocks played live footage from a baseball game. The Mikumori Pythons vs the Keizai Tigers it said.

  Kenji for his part sat crossed legged on the red silk couch with yellow highlights. Rubbing oil on his Katana with a rag and scraping bits of gunk and debris from its metal with his finger nail. He said he’d never had to sharpen the blade before not since he’d gotten in, which made sense since it was only a toy blade but he used it as well as any real katana. It’s a good thing Kenji didn’t need to upkeep his Katana with how tattered his clothes were; it was worth doubting a proper blade would last a year in his hands. But Kanashi wasn’t one to talk, his own Katana Itachi was an anima. A sword created from a person taking a part of their own soul and infusing it into a weapon- how that worked he had no idea. But it meant the blade never needed to be sharpened or rusted and was incredibly durable. If you hit it with a hammer the hammer would break first.

  “...” Kanashi opened his mouth to say something to Kenji but his throat went dry. Closing it once more he licked his lips. It was clear Kenji was bored, and Kanashi knew it was his fault. The man would rather be up in the streets above part of the action, fighting Yakuza and slashing flesh with his blade. Proving himself against those he’d been wanting to fight for a while now. To cut down a Hachibuto and claim their head, to laugh and be covered in as much blood from others as his own. That was the natural habitat of Tatakayaiba Kenji, not down here in a cold dank and lonely basement picking at his sword.

  But it’s not like I’m satisfied either. Kanashi thought with a sigh. “Be the only you you can be.” Jin told him. “But I have to know who I am to do that.” He laughed, ruffling his hair. The crimson red ring on his right ring finger thumped in sync with his heart beat, a whisper inaudible coming from it into his mind. “You’re not someone who wins, you're the person who survives." That’s another thing he’d been told by Jin, something which made the ring on his finger grow just as red hot as his own soul did, hot with a burning thorny sensation, prickly and sharp. He didn’t want that, he didn’t want to survive, he wanted to thrive, to be the hero, to slay the beast and win the girl. He wanted to be selfish, have his name spread across the world engraved deep into gold plates which lasted for thousands of years, studied in the future. For his life to have meaning, that’s all he’d ever wanted. Is that so selfish? He asked himself, starting at the concrete floor with a grimace across his face. “Man, I am the worst.” He laughed. “I spent all day everyday for years reading fiction, playing video games, jerking off and shit posting online and I think I deserve to be remembered.” It wasn’t that funny of a joke but he couldn’t help but laugh so much that Kenji looked at him with a raised brow.

  “It’s nothing.” He lied, shaking his head, pushing hair out of his eyes, hair far too long for him. “I should get this cut soon…” He muttered. He wondered when the last time he’d cut his hair was, maybe around the time he’d learned of magic with Jin- that was a throw back. Now that I think about it, that was around the same time I realized how weak I was. He laughed again, memories of everything up to this day flowing through his head in flashes. Mostly him crying, bleeding and being beaten up to hell and back, still managing to stand up looking worse for wear and limp forwards. Shortly shaking his head he pushed those memories away. Everyday he’d been reminded of how weak he was, how pathetic he was. If not to others then to himself. How many more times could he realize that before he went insane? Perhaps he already was, maybe he was well on his way there. No he surely was, thinking of himself as a main character in a story, someone who could be a hero. That thought alone would have earned him a lobotomy fifty years earlier.

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  With a sigh he flipped his phone open and looked down at the clock, 2:04PM It read. It started already then? I haven’t heard anything. Just then the time changed to 2:05.

  VOOSH

  Kanashi coughed and wheezed, gasping for air as smoke and dust filled his lungs. His ears range and his vision was white. The taste of dirt and other soils rich in his mouth he spit out clumped bits of phlegm.

  “Kenji!?” He screamed out into the seemingly endless white void around him. Looking down he could barely see his own hands- why did he have so many? There must have been eight in total moving in a clean pattern every time he flexed them. I must have hit my head badly. He thought he didn’t feel any pain, but seeing quadruple wasn’t normal either, then again none of this was. Reaching down into the depths of his soul he conjured as much aura as he could, filtered into mana he nearly burst like a water balloon before he released it. Casting the largest [Sonic Boom] he ever had, he wanted to clear every single bit of dust upwards and as far away as he could, he wanted to see anything other than white.

  And then he saw it, the sky above him, as clear as if he was above ground, the entire Karatino Casino gone. “Kanashi!” Kenji screamed as he jumped out of a pile of concrete and rebar, unscathed except for his kimono being ripped to near shreds. “-Oh you're fine!” He sighed, seeing Kanashi spotless other than a scrape or two on his arms and the white powder which still caked his flesh

  . Kanashi didn’t hear what Kenji said nor did he say anything himself, he only stared at the blue sky void of clouds with eyes wide open and teeth grinding.

  Why is the sky there? Where is the casino? What was that noise and that impact, has it really started? Was that some kind of recoil of it all? Without worry he infused his legs with as much enhancement as he could, until they felt like they were made of jelly and he leapt up. Clearin over twelve feet vertically he landed on the street above with Kenji right behind him asking if Kanashi was alright but he didn’t even notice. He only looked around and felt his stomach drop at what he saw.

  It was empty, the street- the buildings which had just stood there a moment before the entire strip mall was gone. As if clipped out of existence not even debris were left behind, or dust floating in the air.

  “Kamikaze…” Kenji muttered, as he too began to look around, his throat clenching and hand reaching for his katana.

  “Do you know how hard it was to find you?”

  Kenji was the first to move, in a fraction of a second; his katana Ikazou was unsheathed and he whipped around with [羅生門: Rashomon!]silver blade splitting the air with a whistle.

  With a flash of red Kenji's blade was thrown backwards, his arm nearly ripped from its socket.

  “D-domushi.” Kanashi choked out as he stared at the man before him. His hair was a greasy blonde mop and his eyes a murky brown like swamp water. His face was covered in unshaved stubble and covered in grease and oils from not bathing. His white shirt likewise stained green, brown, red and yellow with one hand tucked into his baggy jeans pocket.

  “I knew Akatora was the traitor, Atori thought otherwise but he should have trusted my intuition.” Domushi began, waving his free hand through the air with a sigh as he spoke. “I mean the signs were all there now weren’t they? Kuroyama is too big an idiot to-”

  [全壊: Zenkai!]

  Kenji swung Ikazou, putting everything into a blow, all of his anger, fear, despair and hope, pride and ego into a single swing. The blade turned so orange you’d think it would melt as it glowed as bright as the sun, arching straight for Domushi's throat.

  “I’m not talking to you!” Domushi snapped, with a flick of his hand there came what seemed to be bits of dirt and gravel flying from it with a flash of red.

  [Negate: Interia]

  “!”

  Kenji was thrown backwards, his arms, legs, hips and shoulder filled with tiny pin pricked size holes he barely managed to use Ikazou to guard his vital organs from being shredded. Flying into the distance he crashed straight through a building across the street with a series of loud crashes and banging.

  “K-Kenji!” Kanashi screamed, he thought blood might fly from his mouth because of how hard he’d screamed.

  “Hey! Don’t pay attention to him, I’m talking to you!” Domushi barked, slapping Kanashi across the face hard enough a molar from his mouth to the ground below. His cheek growing puffy and colored purple bits of blood dripped from four lacerations across it.

  “Anyways as I was saying- I knew Akatora had been hiding you, but I had no way to prove it. You guys did a pretty good job of hiding you from me huh? Only coming out at night and sneaking around corners, nibbling on scraps? You were a real remarkable rat ya know, but you’ve pissed me off a good deal too.” He growled.

  Kanashi didn’t understand a single word of what Domushi had said. Speaking not only in Edogo but with a cadence so slurred you’d think he had ice in his mouth. But even then if his ears weren't ringing, like a gun shot had been fired in his ear from the slap, maybe he’d be able to make out a single syllable of what was being said. Though none of that even compared to the pressure he exhumed, like standing before an open volcano which boiled with a fury, ready to erupt. He swallowed so hard it hurt, like a lump in his chest which made him feel like he needed to lie down and or vomit. Have I ever been this scared before? He flipped through his memories, through all of the times he’d felt his knees nearly give out or the urge to piss his pants he compared them to right now, at this moment. The only thing he could find was Titan in the woods by Albur, but even then he’d had Julius with him. Even if Julius has been shaking in fear and rage, even if Julius admitted he couldn’t have defeated Titan and they both would have died there if not for things turning out the way they did- he wasn’t alone.

  But now he had no one, Kenji had been blown apart like a roach by a salt gun, he was alone, completely.

  “So anyways,” Domushi continued. “All of this is to say, I’m gonna kill you, But first that Kenji if he isn’t already dead, then the Jin dude everyone seems to be up in arms about and finally Akatora. But I’m gonna save you for last, I’m gonna break you first then make you watch as I kill everyone else, I’ll mangle them and hold them up naked for everyone to see and then I’ll kill you. I’ll make you squeal like the rat you are and have fun doing it. I’m gonna repay you many fold for all the stress and suffering you’ve caused me.

  Death

  That was what had been written across the hand of Domushi in big black and bold letters as the man reached for him. He wasn’t ashamed to admit he emptied his bladder, who wound;t have? His ears were still ringing, his vision still slightly blurred and his cheek hurt, but the thing he could feel most, was the fear which pulsed through his heart beat that rang in his ear like a war drum pounding. He was going to die and no one could save him. The crimson ring on his right ring finger burned, burned so hot it must have melted his flesh to the bone and then charred that black.

  I’m gonna die. He thought, and suffer, be tortured before that, oh God please, Awaleh! Save me please!

  “Who exactly do you think you are?”

  “!?”

  Domushi winced in pain as the vein covered muscular and large hand gripped his extended forearm at the wrist, bone snapping and flesh ripping to expose muscle fibers.

  “W-who are-!?”

  Before Domushi could speak another word Jinen Lutece's fist had embedded itself into Domushi's stomach, and though there was a flash of red the man was still thrown backwards, crashing through a row of buildings in the next strip over which collapsed under the impacts.

  “J-jin!” Kanashi screamed, tears ran down his face, the salt from them burning the gash on his face. He barely resisted the urge to jump into the man- his savior's arms and weep into them. He’d almost died, the closest to death he’d ever been, a second less and he’d be- that thought alone made him almost vomit. He wasn’t sure if his psyche would have lasted the final second.

  “Good thing we evicted this place earlier huh?” Jin asked, looking away from where Domushi had landed to Kanashi with a smirk. His sunglasses tucked into his blazers pocket crimson blood red iris met Kanashi's own crystal clear blue eyes.

  “Jin, K-Keji he-”

  “He’s fine, go that way about 400 meters and you’ll find him. By the looks of it he’s already healing up pretty good.” Jin shrugged as he pointed to where Kenji had been thrown. “Go get him and get outta here Kanashi. You did your part already and now you’re put into trouble all over again. As payment I’ll bring that guy over there to you on a leash.” He laughed.

  Kanshi couldn’t speak, he only continued to cry and his lips and throat trembled.

  “Go on, now it’s our turn.” Jin grinned widely with brows raised as cockily as ever.

  2:07 PM

  We’re here huh, years of planning and imagining how it would go and now we’ve made it… my stomach hurts just thinking about it… or maybe it’s because I haven’t eaten yet.

  [戦黑死退] Sengoku Jidai - War, Dark / Evil, Death, Retreat