บท 12: Episode 12 - Land of Kings (Part 3)
"Why fight? In the end, everyone just struggles in my threads." - Yurei Moonfang
Aki stepped back in shock. "You want… me?" His voice was barely a whisper, overwhelmed by the wave of disbelief washing over him. The man standing before him slowly pulled back his hood, revealing a striking face marked by a wild, dark aura. Long, disheveled black hair framed the face of a man in his thirties, whose most prominent feature was a deep scar stretching from his left cheek across his nose to the other side.
"My name is Noboru," the man spoke, his voice like a distant thunderclap. "I am the vice leader and chief executor of the Moonfang Sect. We have come to take the fourth demon, Aki Hayashi, to our leader."
Silence fell over the room, heavy and oppressive, until Noboru shattered it. "Hm? No answer? Very well. Yurei, you know what to do."
The second man, Yurei, nodded silently, quickly grabbed Ayame, who had no chance to resist, and disappeared with her from the room. The Sentinels wanted to chase after them, but with a single snap of Noboru's fingers, the rocks above the only exit collapsed with a crash. Dust swirled, and stones fell to the ground—the escape route was blocked. However, Miho, already at the exit, followed Yurei outside. Aki and Tatsuo were left trapped in the stone prison.
A wild chase began as Miho pursued Yurei through the jagged halls. They jumped from rock to rock, shadows cast deep furrows in the dim light, until they reached the top level of the temple. The room at the top was narrow, offering only one exit—Yurei was cornered. With a resigned sigh, he gently set Ayame down, removed his hood, and revealed his dark blue, spiked hair and an expressionless face. A deep purple scarf was wrapped around his neck, shimmering eerily in the faint light. "Well, looks like I have to fight. Don't expect me to go easy on you." His voice sounded bored, almost disinterested, as he got into a battle stance.
While Miho and Yurei measured their strength, Aki and Tatsuo rose up inside the temple against Noboru. Two battles, unleashed in brutal savagery, raged simultaneously—and this time, it was a matter of life and death.
Moonfang Arc
First Mission
Episode 12 - Land of Kings (Part 3)
Yurei breathed heavily as he focused on the battle. "Let's end this quickly. Come, Spectral Threads!" Dark blue threads flowed like living shadows from his wrists, wrapping around his hands and taking the form of dark, gleaming gloves. Miho's eyes widened in shock. "Threads? Impossible!"
Yurei spread his arms to the side, his movements fluid, almost hypnotic. "Summon your module," he said with cold indifference, "so I don't defeat you too quickly."
Miho closed her eyes, collected her thoughts, and calmly called out, "Shinja, help me." In her hands, pink and white gloves formed, glowing like starlight. Yurei sneered condescendingly. "Your module looks like…" But before he could finish his sentence, Miho shouted: "Thread Whip!" With a swift motion, a thick thread shot from her palm, lashing toward Yurei like a sharp whip. He deftly jumped to the side to avoid the strike and immediately countered. "Ghost Threads!" He too unleashed a whip-like thread that slashed through the air. Miho reacted instantly, changing the direction of her threads to block Yurei's attacks, but the ghostly threads slipped through easily, striking her with full force.
Without hesitation, Miho called out: "Binding Threads!" Several threads shot from her fingers, aiming to entangle Yurei. But at the same moment, he yelled: "Spectral Shackles!" Ghostly threads burst from his fingers, binding Miho. For a moment, it seemed as if both fighters were trapped in cocoons of their own threads, unable to move.
In that instant, time seemed to stand still. Both came to the same realization: They were fighting someone uncannily similar to themselves.
"This girl…," thought Yurei.
"This man…," thought Miho.
And they completed the thought simultaneously: "… is just like me!"
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In the temple's halls, the second battle raged. Noboru stood before Aki and Tatsuo, a cynical grin on his face. "Let's see how you handle my module. Rise, Kage no Kiba!" The scar on Noboru's face filled with a dark, shadowy energy, swirling like a living, menacing cloud above him. Aki and Tatsuo exchanged a glance, communicating wordlessly. Tatsuo reacted first. "Dust to Dust!" In his right hand, a brown glove materialized, his module ready for battle.
Aki squinted, focused. Then he leaped forward, shouting: "Akuma, come to me!" A massive, rusty sword appeared in his hands. "Blue!" A blue beam shot from the sword's tip toward Noboru, but he lazily raised his hand. "Wall of Theodosius." Dark shadows formed a massive wall, effortlessly absorbing the attack. The beam bounced off harmlessly.
Tatsuo wasn't deterred. With a powerful jump, he attacked, an earth hammer materializing in his hand, smashing through the shadow wall with brute force. But Noboru casually stepped back. "Blades of Fragarach!" Six ghostly blades shot toward the two boys. While Tatsuo raised a stone wall to shield himself, Aki called out: "Red!" His sword turned into a light red gas, allowing him to maneuver through the blades effortlessly. In a swift move, he dissolved the technique, and his blade struck Noboru directly on the shoulder.
But Noboru only laughed coldly. "I suppose it's time to get serious."
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"What would I do in this situation?" Yurei tried to predict what the girl would do next. He came to a conclusion. "I'd attack. My attacks are stronger than hers, so that shouldn't be a problem." Miho had the same thought. "I need to gain control somehow… I would attack in this moment, so the best move would be to defend now." Yurei called out: "Thread Blades!" Countless invisible threads shot from his palms, their ends sharp enough to count as blades. Miho called: "Thread Blockade!" A large wall of threads appeared in front of her, blocking each of the thread blades until none were left. "What the… Did she predict my attack?" Yurei was shocked but wasn't ready to give up. He formed a ball of threads in his hand and threw it over the blockade. When it reached Miho's line of sight, he snapped his fingers, causing the threads to explode in a blinding light.
The girl was blinded, her senses limited. Yurei ran around the blockade, ready to strike her. Miho sent out cutting threads, sharp-ended threads she shot straight ahead. Each of them missed Yurei, giving him the perfect chance to attack. He unleashed more thread blades, hitting the girl directly. Miho knew what to do. She closed her eyes and stood still. The thread blades weren't enough to seriously hurt her. She listened closely to every detail—the direction of the attacks, Yurei's breathing, and his footsteps. This allowed her to pinpoint her opponent's location. She dissolved the thread blockade and called: "Thread Cage!" Sixteen threads rose from the floor to the ceiling of the room, forming a circle around Yurei. Miho's vision slowly returned, and she smiled when she saw she had trapped the man without even seeing him.
Yurei thought: "The gaps between the threads are so large that anyone could just slip through…." But then he smirked before continuing his thought: "…a novice might think that. Considering the intelligence behind her previous attacks, it's clear she must have thought of that." The man picked up a stone lying on the ground beside him and threw it outside the cage. The thread closest to the stone pulverized it in seconds. "Alright. Anything that leaves this cage dies. By using only a few threads, she not only saves energy but also makes the cage more secure and deadly. Clever thinking, girl. I have no choice but to use one of my strongest techniques—Phantom Blitz."
Suddenly, everything went still. Yurei raised his left hand, and a dense circle of thick threads shot from the ceiling to the floor like a violent bolt of thread lightning. The Phantom Blitz obliterated the threads of the cage completely. The ground shook, a powerful gust of wind blew through the room, and Miho had to shield her face from the dust. As the wind died down, she lowered her hand only to see Yurei's fist right in front of her face. His punch landed squarely, followed by several thread whip strikes that hit her directly. The girl was in an extremely precarious situation. Yurei had gained the upper hand.
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While Miho was executing her maneuver, Noboru grinned and said: "The darkness of this room suits me perfectly… Eidolon's Shadow Image!" As he spoke, he let himself fall backward, sinking into the floor and merging with the room's shadow. Immediately, Aki and Tatsuo stood back-to-back, prepared for an attack from any direction. When they noticed no attacks were coming from the sides, they knew where Noboru would strike. They both leaped forward. A spear of pure shadow shot from the ground and immediately retracted. The boys began to run. Shadow spears erupted from the shadows throughout the room. Each step carried a great risk. Aki and Tatsuo exchanged a glance and nodded. They already knew what to do. Tatsuo struck the ground with full force, causing a light earthquake through his module. Noboru was thrown from the shadows.
"Damn it! How can kids who have barely fought in a real battle come up with such tactics?!" Noboru was shocked at what Aki and Tatsuo could do against him. Calmly, Tatsuo replied: "We're not just any kids; we're Sentinels." Noboru sighed briefly before returning to his battle stance and saying: "Let's see if you can back up that big talk. Shadow Doppelgängers!" With those words, six more shadowy Noborus appeared before the man. The seven fighters charged forward. But they hadn't counted on Aki and Tatsuo. Aki shouted: "Green!" A spiral of green energy swirled around his blade. He leaped forward and destroyed one doppelgänger with a precise thrust. Another doppelgänger came at him from the side. Aki dispatched it with a single blow. Then he switched to "Blue" to defeat another clone from a distance.
"Come on, I can take them all out in one move!" Tatsuo called out, turning the battle into a competition. The remaining three doppelgängers jumped at him all at once. Tatsuo placed his flat hand on the ground, and spikes of pure earth shot up, piercing all three doppelgängers and destroying them simultaneously. In the end, only the real Noboru remained. "This… this can't be!" By now, the man began to doubt whether he was really stronger than the two boys. "Aki, again!" Aki knew exactly what Tatsuo meant—they were to attack together again. He nodded to his comrade and leaped toward Noboru with "Green." Tatsuo encased his fist in earth and attacked the high-ranking sect member from the ground. It seemed they were finally going to land a decisive hit, but Noboru was unpredictable.
"I was… born in the shadows… I am one with the shadows!"
Noboru's expression changed from neutral to furious. He stretched out his hand and clenched it into a fist as if grabbing something. Then he pulled his hand back as if drawing something toward him. His entire body turned into a shadowy, translucent form. When he had pulled his hand back completely, he was at the point where Aki and Tatsuo had been before their attack. His form returned to normal. The man clenched his fists, which burst into black flames. With punches in the air, flame projectiles shot forward. They had only one target—Tatsuo. Aki had already landed on the ground. Tatsuo reacted quickly. He raised a small wall of earth in front of him to block the projectiles, but they were too strong to be stopped by this barrier. Noboru shattered Tatsuo's earth wall and hit him several times head-on. "Tatsuo!" Aki was worried. Every time they thought they had the upper hand, Noboru had another ace up his sleeve. Did they really stand a chance of winning?
Hey, everyone! Noboru and Yurei have finally been introduced to the story, two powerful fighters of the Moonfang Sect. Soon, the sect will play an even bigger role, so stay tuned!
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