[center]*BAM*[/center]

The brute of a man had not given Kisheto an ounce of mercy with every blow he launched the boy's way. Now, Kisheto found himself being blasted through multiple walls lining the rooftops as the brute sprinted through them, using Kisheto's back as a battering ram. Kisheto coughed and trembled at the pain, and every attempt to knock the brute's head was futile - he was as tough as he looked. Finally, he stopped his charge and grabbed Kisheto by the ankles, swinging him across the other way and tossing him towards a water tower. Kisheto rag dolled and spun out, hitting the ground and bouncing up a few times before colliding with the towers leg. He simply lay there in pain, feeling his skeleton meet the consistency of glass, as every movement threatened to shatter his frame.

[i]What the hell is with this guy...[/i] Kisheto though as he slowly stood up, leaning against the leg of the water tower. He coughed and panted, as he had overexerted himself when trying to defeat the brute with sheer force alone. [i]How the fuck do you fight a living boulder?[/I]

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Julian's little, temporary throne rumbled as something collided with one of it's supporting legs. The impact traveled through the leg and up to the large, round, water-storing base. Julian felt the rumble and raised a brow, halting his music. He could feel the roar of the brute but chose to ignore it, as he usually did with the day to day anomalies that quickly became routine to encounter. But this was different - this time, they disturbed his peace.

They had killed the vibe. Julian quickly strapped his Lutar onto his back and stood up, running towards the edge of the water tower at a decent speed. As he neared the edge, he pushed off with his legs and leapt into the air, effectively soaring through the sky for a brief moment. In that moment, his entire body began dematerializing into small particles of smoke until his entire entity was exactly that - a thick, black and red smoke that rapidly shot downwards as it changed momentum. Julian's senses all merged when he was in his smoke form. He could not see, hear, smell, taste, our touch. He could simply "feel", or "understand" his surroundings. The smoke quickly reached the ground and came to an abrupt halt near a young lad who was propped up against the leg looking as if he were on the brink of collapsing. After floating in a thick ball of smoke for a brief moment, Julian rematerialized and cocked his head back before speaking.

"In a lil' trouble, brothah'?" he said in his calm voice.

Kisheto flinched at the sight of the smoke at first, but relaxed as it reformed into a human being. "Great. Another whack job, super mutan weirdo. You tryna kill me, too?" Kisheto wiped his mouth and forehead, looking around frantically, as he had lost sight of his pursuer when he was thrown about. Julian chuckled at the sight of the young lad, "Nah listen 'ere, brothah, I don' kill, y'know? I keep the peace." Julian smiled and held out a hand towards Kisheto, but only too soon as a huge roar was heard only a few yards away. 

Julian snapped to his right, catching sight of the large freak that charged his way. The man had began to deteriorate a bit more, his face beginning to crack like shatter rocks and his hair beginning to fall, revealing a cracked scalp as well. His mouth foamed and his eyes glowed a faint blue, only to be replaced by a dark red as he continued his rampage. Julian gasped at the sight, "Oh mercé, he's gon', isn't he..."

Kisheto frowned at Julian's small talk, "RUN FOOL!" Kisheto turned to run the other direction but was stopped by Julian's hand, which caught hold of the back of his collar. Kisheto gagged as it pulled at his neck, and before he knew it, he was being lifted off the ground, watching as the roof too seemed to fall away from him. He looked up, only to see the upper left-most quarter of Julian's body ( his arm included) jutting out from a thick trail of smoke that was rapidly ascending. The brute, who had been accelerating uncontrollably, rammed right into the water tower and staggered back as his head rang with the heavy sound of his impact. Kisheto almost chuckled, but realized he was now falling - Julian had let go of him.

He wanted to yell, but only seconds before he hit the ground was he caught again, this time being carried by the trail of smoke itself. The trail gently placed him on the ground and reformed by his side.

"That oughta' have banged the suckah' right good, no?" Julian said chuckling as he observed the brute fall to his knees. "Alright Senny, do yah thing."

Julian smiled and waited, but nothing happened. "Senny? Yah gonna do it or not, brothah?"

Before Senyuko could reply, and before Kisheto could ask who the hell Julian was speaking to, the Brute roared again, this time in pain, as he struggled to get up. 

Suddenly, the brute's shadow stirred, and the arm of the shadow extended farther than it would have normally, rapidly rising off the ground and forming into a humanoid figure. The figure, completely cloaked in a black shadow raised it's right hand, which formed into a basic blade, and-

*Shhhhhhck*

-the blade ran clean through the brute's skull, causing the roar to instantly decrescendo into silence. As the brute's body went limp, the shadow withdrew it's arm-blade and took a step out of the shadow of the brute. As a result, the black layer that had cloaked the figure slowly faded away and back into the shadow from which it came, only to reveal a mysterious-looking man in its wake.

"The host has to die before the spirit can be absorbed. As long as the human lives, the kage is safe and sound within," Ishigo said firmly, his voice instantly forcing his audience of two to focus and listen in to his implied authority.

Kisheto raised a brow, still surprised by what had just occurred before him. "Wh-what.. Why the fuck did you kill the poor fool?!"

Julian shook his head, snapping out of the small shock he experienced as a result of the sudden kill. "You.. Um... 'Ah mean... We... You saved us? I think?" Almost out of instinct, Julian held his hand over the brute's corpse, which had fallen to its side on the ground. He could hear his kage snicker as the spirit of the dead host weakened, allowing the spirit of the kage to slip out and into his own. 

Ishigo closed his eyes for a second and simply thought about his situation. He turned around and surveyed the empty streets below, before turning back to his two new acquaintances and speaking as firmly as before.

"You two... I want you to follow me. We don't have time for questions. You should know that this water tower is the landmark that the Hellhounds use for getting to their base. You do not want to cross their path," he said as he pointed to the tower.

Kisheto was confused and Julian simply raised a brow and gestured forward. "Aye, well, um-" he looked to Kisheto who simply shrugged and nodded in return, "- go 'head and lead the way, brothah'."