[Center][B]Kuruoshi[/B][/Center] --- "W-Why are you doi- AAAAAAGH!!" screams of pain echoed in the Bakemono Shrine. "Stop this at once Kuruoshi!" shouted by an old man with a naginata. Behind the old man were younger people with the same weapon "Have you gone mad?!" added by a man. Kuruoshi didn't mind the crowd behind him and continued walking forward. Just before him is a scythe with red lines, the artifact of the shrine. "Gaaaaaah!!" one of the people rushed to attack the heir of the shrine, but the next thing he new, he was on the ground with a dagger on his throat. "Y-You!! How can you kill one of your comrades?!" and that's when man with the black coat turned around "Comrade? Hah. Don't make me laugh." said him as he sent kicks to the corpse below him "This! Who tried to kill me?! This! Who's trying to stop world salvation?!" then his final kick threw the dead man to the wall. The power of the scythe's already getting to him without even touching it "Just stay where you are and let's start with the Apocalypse Ceremony." No one moved. Either they are scared of dying or just accepted defeat. The scythe is getting closer and closer to him with every step he takes. The power continuously gushes to him as he neared the artifact. "Come out! COME OUT!" he shouted as the scythe was taken from its proper spot "Hahahahahaha!" the laugh filled with darkness echoed through the main hall. "What have you done...?" said by a shrine member as he knelt "We're done for..." said by another and fell to the ground as well. All continued to accept their defeat, except for the old man "... It's not yet the end...!" then he ran outside. "Oh?! You're actually scared?!" mocked Kuruoshi "Good! Good! Run! Run in fear!" The other shrine members ran with the head priest. Kuroshi on the other hand stood before two great doors "You're about to open soon... Hehehe... Hahahahaha!!" then he headed to Aichi. The head priest stood before the giant bell "This is our only hope." the shrine members didn't understand it at first, but they soon realized what he meant and then readied their selves. Some went beside the giant bell and some raised their naginatas to guard the ones beside the bell "Do it head priest! We'll sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the world!" encouraged one of the guards. Raising his naginata, the head priest spoke "Once I remove the seal, start making the bell move." he said to the others. He reached for the seal then started chanting. The others started move the bell as well, but it moved only a bit and would take time to make a sound. Numerous Shades appeared and were flying towards them in high speeds. "DO NOT GIVE UP EVERYONE!!" shouted a member then all yelled their battle cry. Ding. The guard were holding their ground, but the shades outnumber them. Plenty of the dark creatures slips through their defense. Ding. Two of the shrine members were now possessed and are being killed on the inside. "Just a little bit more...!" struggled the head priest. Ding Ding. Only seven of the shrine members are alive now. One by one, all of them are getting possessed and broken on the inside. But the bell finally resonated the sound that would reach other shrines "Huff... Final-- Ahhhh!!" and now there were none. "I'm sorry old man, but you're too late." Kuruoshi thought as he heard the bell give its best sound. Right now, he's flying using the power of the scythe and is picking up speed. And soon after, the Bokarutau Shrine is in his sight "Let's give them a fright." he removed the dark mist that's making him fly and started to dive down the sky. He kept on falling and falling then hit the shrine like a meteor "HELLO EVERYONE! I'm here to kill you." he gave the astonished a smile filled with darkness. Slash, he cut a crowd of shrine members "More! Spray more blood! Die some more!!" and continued to rip their bodies apart. Once he was done with them, he looked around him "Where's the artifact I wonder?" After scanning through the buildings, he found one that looked like the main hall "Must be there then!" he quickly ran towards the building. Inside, he saw a hammer with unique designs and is glowing "Hoho... You're not going anywhere." then he swept the air with his scythe and split the hammer apart. The artifact lost its glow and fell to the ground "Now... Let the game begin." --- [Center][B]Sotoki[/B][/Center] --- Once Sotoki was satisfied, he stood up and carried what he bought "Let's go now, Tako." the cat leaped to his shoulder as he walked towards the station. As he was doing so, a growl came from his stomach "... I didn't even notice." he haven't eaten his lunch. "Katsudon." he ordered to the person behind the counter and gave him the money. When his change came back, he quickly checked if the amount was right 'Good.' It was the right change. Even with these things, he's still being careful. He had experienced receiving lower amount of money than the supposed to be amount before. After picking a table, he set down his food "I hope it's not poisoned..." he looked at the other customers and they seem to be doing fine. "Well. Itadakimasu." then he split his chopsticks and started eating. Below the table, he had opened the cat food that he bought for Tako earlier. He also checked if the cat food is safe before he bought it. Sotoki finished eating a short while after "Come on Tako. You're done too right?" then it forced its way into the bag and made himself comfortable there. "Time to go home." he said to himself and started to head for the station, but something happened. People were running. He ran to the people and heard [I]'Monsters!'[/I] as he got near [B]"What? Monsters?"[/B] but he just scowled at them "Are you all making fun of me?! That's why I can't trust other people!" then he ignored them and cotinued walking. He regarded the running crowd as a bunch of people trying to scare others for fun. Then a black mist flew above him "What?" he stopped walking. He turned around, then he was dumbfounded "W-What the hell is this?!" a giant smoke was coming towards him. No, that wasn't it. Something was amiss, it wasn't a smoke. "W-WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?!" The smoke was miasma that were coming from unknown beings. Some have a skull, but beneath the head is a giant mouth that was devouring people in its path. Another resembled a human, but it was much more like the ghosts you can see in the movies or television. Sotoki had ran unconsciously, probably human instinct "Please tell me this is a dream...!" but he was proven wrong as the person beside him that was also running suddenly got swallowed by one of the monsters "Gahh!!" he ran faster due to fear. He left the computer that he bought earlier, he had no time for it anymore. And just then, he heard a clattering noise, much like one that comes from teeth. He turned his head and there "Ah." he stood frozen stiff. He wanted to move, but his legs betray him. Escape, he wants to escape, but he has no way to do so. Before him is a giant mouth, ready to bite him. 'So this is how I'm going to die? Without knowing what is happening? Hah. Life is so cruel.' he thought as he closed his eyes. ... ... But he didn't die. He opened his eyes and saw a spear in front of him, pierced into the demon's mouth "MOVE IT!" a hoarse voice shouted at him. He quickly moved out of the way and the next thing he saw was a person in a kimono, lunging a spear at the monster. Then the man faced him "Quickly! Go and run with them! Head to the shrine in-" but before he finished his sentence, a black ghost had possessed him "AHHH!" he started to lose his sanity as he sat on the ground. --- [Center][B]Airi[/B][/Center] --- Running. Airi continued to run. 'Why did this have to happen?' is what's repeating in his mind. [I]"Run quickly! We'll take care of this!"[/I] was the last thing she heard from his two bodyguards. She did as they said, but when she tried to look back, two monsters had swallowed their torso, and that prompted her to run. She doesn't want to die, she doesn't want to waste the life that was saved by people that she cared about. Airi had witnessed the abnormality that is happening right now as well. She was about to get attacked by one of the monsters earlier when her bodyguards came to her rescue. She has been running since then. "What is happening?! I don't like this...! I'm scared..!" she exclaimed as she closed her eyes while running, she doesn't want to see them anymore, she doesn't want to see what is happening around her any longer. But then she tripped, she wanted to stand but Airi felt that she didn't trip because of the ground, and she was right. A boy around her age was on the ground, staring in front. Her conscience didn't let her run, she felt the need to bring some sense back to him. "Hey! Hey! Are you alright?!" she asked the boy and reached out her hand. Slap, her hand was rejected by him "W-Why did you do that?" he looked at her and said "I don't trust humans." Airi wondered what he meant and if he said that because he's going crazy or he means it. "W-Well... We don't have time for that! Come on! Let's run...!" she already grabbed the boy and dragged him up. She ran with him and eventually reached a part where the police had gathered "We're safe!" she proclaimed. Just when she was about to stop running, the boy stopped him "Keep running." he said and did what Airi did to him. "O-Okay.." she wondered why. The police was there, they have tools that can protect them, so why did he made her run more? "If you think the police is enough for this, you're wrong." he began explaining. "You also saw the smoke right? It was really huge, but the ones creating the smoke are just about the size of a human. If creatures that small managed to produce a smoke that big, what do you think is the reason?" then Airi answered her quickly "... There are many of those creatures." the boy in front of him nodded. "What's your name?" the boy asked her "Huh? Ah.. Err.. A-Airi Kazumi..." then the boy introduced himself "I'm Sotoki Fujisaki. Kazumi-san, we're going to head to a shrine in Edogawa." Sotoki didn't tell the reason why, but she just followed her. He was going to the right direction anyway. The shrine in Edogawa that Sotoki referred to must be Airi's house after all. --- [Center][B]Nikko[/B][/Center] --- Even though he avoided the sun's heat, it still is very hot for Nikko "Hah... This is troublesome..." But just then, someone called out to him "Could that be?" Looking at where the voice came from, he saw Yoshimi that's carrying something long. Nikko wondered what it was but then he felt nervous all of a sudden. Thoughts like how he should greet her, how should he talk with her and such suddenly flowed into his mind 'Ahh! Calm down Nikko. Just talk to her like you always do.' he relaxed after thinking then greeted her "Hello Yoshimi-san. It's nice to finally be able to talk to each other in person." he gave her a warm smile as he said that. Nikko actually felt happy, to be able to have a real life friend, a best friend. Then he remembered. He grabbed what's inside his bag and after confirming that it's the gift, he took it out "Here's for you Yoshimi-san." he gave the present to her then asked "I'm just curious but, what's inside the bag?" but then he thought that it might be rude to make her talk about things while standing up. "Actually, let's go eat first." then after confirming that Yoshimi's following him, he ventured into the business district. Nikko ordered crab sticks and tempura then waited for Yoshimi to make her order before paying and leaving the cashier. They sat down and started eating. After a few minutes, they finished "I hope the gift is to your liking. I'm not really familiar with that kind of stuff, sorry." he said with a wry smile, actually feeling a bit jittery, must be the effect of meeting in person. "Uh.. So. What's inside the bag?" he asked, but then people started running. He had a bad feeling about this "What's happening?" Just when he went to look, a person was eaten right before him. Looking behind him, a monster, similar to the one that ate a person, was heading towards her "Yoshimi-san!!" he ran towards Yoshimi. He grabbed his umbrella and tried to stop the monster "Run! Quickly!" he continued to stop the monster, but he might give in soon. What is this creature? Where did it come from? Endless questions popped into his head, but what he's prioritizing right now is the safety of his friend.