[XW1n5t0nX]

In a conference room sit a variety of police officers and detectives, the table and room nearly filled to the brim. At the head of the table sits Chief Banba in front of a screen, information about the recent attacks on it. Todo and Hide stand to his right side, Detective Jun to his left. The police chief raises a hand and the room comes to a hush on command. He lowers his hand then and bows his head. Once he brings it back up he begins to speak.

“My fellow police members we are today to discuss the current crisis. As you all know by now it has been one week since that terrible occurrence at Sakae Underground. According to the medical examiner the death toll was in the 50s. A few hours later on that same day, Captain Funanori came in contact with one up in the mountains. Since then we have heard reports of another one of these ‘Oni’ attacking in the Shōwa-ku ward. At the moment the death toll is in the 20s.

“I do not know where these creatures came from or why they have come here and caused nothing but destruction. The fact of the matter is that we need to put an end to this as quickly as possible before it gets worse. Unfortunately it seems we are entering a fight with a disadvantage. Captain Funanori and Sergeant Watsuki, would you please explain this in more detail?”

The two men nod to show the understanding of the request. They then turn their heads towards the rest of the room.

“Upon engaging in combat with the Oni we discovered our weapons are of virtually no use. Bladed weapons could not stab through or slice through their bodies. Bullets did not pierce through them either and only seemed to just get their attention.” Todo explains, images of Hikari having rather easy control over his fights flashing through his mind.

“Because of this Captain Funanori, myself, and the rest of our squad believe that we need to develop new weapons that can hurt them or, at the most, stun them so we can bring one in to learn more about them.” Hide explains. His voice while serious seemingly cool sounding, it engaging and welcoming many would say.

The chief nods his head. “You and your squad are correct. I will tell the labs to make their top priority the designing and manufacturing of new weapons for you. We must be prepared for the next time they strike.” The elderly man -aged 72- turns his attention then to the detective in attendance. “Detective Hidari have you been able to gain any possible information on this foe?”

“Unfortunately not. Any information I or any other detectives could locate was simply mythological. While Oni are the stuff of legends these are real living beings. This being the case we can’t necessarily use this information to aid us.”

As Jun spoke Todo once more thought of Hikari. What Jun said was true, but he knew that what was real or just a legend was no longer important. The important thing in this case was that both the Oni and Hikari were here. Fairy tales may in fact hold the key to all of this Todo thought, what other option was there?

“Thank you Detective. This brings us to the final piece of the puzzle; the man known as Hikari Sukai. Or as the public has christened him; The Warrior. Like the Oni there is very little information on him, all we have is what Captain Funanori gathered in his interrogation. What little else we know is that he has no known police record. Detective Hidari I want you to conduct a full background check on the man. Funanori.”

At the sound of his chief’s voice Todo snapped out of his daze, his attention immediately turning towards his superior. “Yes sir?”

“Mister Hikari is currently siding with a family member of yours correct?” The chief asked in his usual soft yet stern voice.

“Yes.”

“I want you to keep a close eye on him. By his own admission he is a wanderer, we have to make sure he doesn’t up and leave until we have our own method of dealing with this monsters.” Todo nodded his head in acceptance. Banba nodded in return and stood from his seat, he motioning for all others seated to do the same. “Well then there isn’t much use staying around here when we’re staring chaos right in the face Get back to work.”

All of the men and women in the room saluted the chief and slowly began trickling out. Todo and Hide stayed behind though, Hide looking at the screen with all of the known information. He shook his head and placed his hands in the pockets of his pants.

“So, you think we got a chance in hell of coming out on top?” He asked, his tone showing a melancholy that Todo was not familiar with.

“Who knows? Even if we get those weapons there’s no guarantee they’ll work.” Todo replied in the same tone.

“Then I suppose we have to pray our heroic friend doesn’t leave us high and dry. “ Hide chuckled some and then turned his back to the screen. He gave a wave to Todo before exiting the room and leaving his captain the only one remaining in the room.

Todo stood there for a few moments with his thoughts. “No…he won’t leave us.” He said to himself. With that Todo turned off the screen and walked to the door. The confused captain turned off the lights and then left.

- - - - - - - -

THEME

- - - - - - - -

Legend III: Development

Yuriko Funanori walks out of her house, she dressed in her gardening clothes, they dirty from work she and Hikari have been conducting over the past hour. In her hands she holds two glasses of water. Upon seeing Hikari working in the garden she smiles and begins the walk over to him. “Hikari, take a break and come get some water. If you keep working like this you’ll be dead before lunch.” The woman shouts to him with a hint of sarcasm.

The young man living with her stands up and wipes his brow with his forearm. He shakes his head and smirks some. The man exits the garden and walks over to his host. “I highly doubt that Ms. Yuriko.” He replies directly as he takes the glass from her hands. The two bow their heads (Yuriko rolling her eyes playfully while doing so) and once finished drank from their glass.

“So, how are you enjoying yourself up here?” She asks him after lowering the glass from her lips.

“Very much. I love how quiet and peaceful it is up here and down in the village too. The city is fine, but I prefer it being a bit more intimate where I stay.”

“I can understand where you’re coming from. My parents, grandparents, and uncle and aunt all lived together on a farm. It was busy, but we were all out by ourselves and it made it seem special and welcoming. I lived in the city while I attended college and hated it. It was so noisy and crowded and an utter hassle to get anywhere. I ended up moving up here when I married my husband. I’ll stay here too until it is my time.” Yuriko tells Hikari, her voice saying it all; it warm, nostalgic, and happy. Hikari notes that even as she tears up some at the mentioning of her husband -who is deceased- she still sounds happy. He smiles as he listens on. “Oh my, look at me rambling. I guess it comes with old age.” She finishes with a laugh.

Hikari laughs in response and smiles. “I don’t think there’s an age limit to rambling. Some people even make a living doing so.”

“Perhaps you’re right. Come, let’s get back to work.” She tells him. The pair finishes drinking their water and set the glasses down near the steps of the house. They then return to the garden and continue their work.

- - -

Chief Banba, Todo, Hide, and the rest of their SAT squad push open a pair of doors and walk into the station’s scientific development section. The group walks down a hallway some and eventually enters a room; it lined with various parts of weapons and fully constructed ones. In the middle of the room is a table, a cloth lying on top of it. Behind the table and facing Banba and his men is the head scientist of the division; Doctor Inoue Shotaro -a 31 year old man, his hair short and peppered with patches of grey, a result of his very stressful job. The chief and Todo walk up to the table and bow their heads in respect to the scientist who returns the gesture.

“Mister Inoue, I received word you wanted to bring myself and the SAT members here today for a little revelation?”

“That is correct Chief Banba. Captain Funanori, Sergeant Watsuki, I believed I have been able to successfully create some weaponry for you and your mean to deal with those creatures.” Inoue takes hold of the cloth and pulls it away, revealing to the officers a variety of weapons. The scientists smirks some as he looks at his creations. He then looks over at those in the room, their faces showing to him their shock and awe at how much he has created and how effective it looks.

Todo whistles some at the sight of the new arsenal, he walking over to the table and running his hand over the contents. “Well then Inoue, these certainly look like they would do the trick.”

“That they should Captain Funanori.” Inoue picks up a rifle; it colored gunmetal with dark blue and brown elements. “This is your new standard issue assault rifle; the STX-700. Its clip holds about 50 rounds and its speed will blow everything else out of the water. The rounds themselves are a smaller version of the HEIAP round. The bullet is strong enough that it should pierce through the skin of the Oni. That isn’t all though. You see when the bullet strikes and goes through armor or, in this case, an Oni there should be friction. The heat produced by the frictional of the bullet will ignite a fuse within the bullet. This will cause the round to explode. Simply put the round goes in, explodes, and causes internal damage. And going off of the combat info Captain Todo and his men have given me these Oni have tough skin, so there should without any doubt be enough frictional heating to ignite the rounds.” The man places the rifle back onto the table after explaining, his eyes catching the impressed reaction of the men and women in front of him.

Todo looks down and picks up a pistol, it black and navy blue with a few gunmetal trimmings. “What about this one?”

“Ahh that one. The handgun you’re holding is the SAX Magnum. Basically it is similar to the STX-700. The only difference is that the rounds are smaller and the clip only holds ten.”

“Doctor Inoue the HEIAP is a pretty big round with a big punch. Will the shrinking of the bullet for both the rifle and handgun have an effect on the strength of the round?” Hide asks as he walks up to the table and picks up a STX-700, he fiddling with it.

The doctor nods his head and places his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. “Yes, though that is to be expected. If I was to give an estimate at the strength of a single round, I’d put it at about a level of 6. However with the rifles shooting multiple rounds at once and with your squad fully focused and shooting a target at once, it should be able to hit an Oni with the power of at least a couple regular sized ones. My advice is simply that, gang up on one and let it have it.”

Todo places the handgun down and proceeds to point to a knife. “And that?”

“That is a modified version of the KM2000. There isn’t much to say about it. We made it sharper and gave it a bit more power to punch and slice through the Oni skin.”

Todo turns to Hide and the two nod at each other. The pair turns around and looks at Banba and their squad. Those in the SAT squad smile and nod in return. Chief Banba bows his head at his two men, he then turning his attention towards the doctor.

“When will they be ready for use?” The chief asks in his normal soft tone.

“All of the knives are ready to go. As for the guns my men are finishing putting together the last few. They should be ready in a couple of hours.”

“What about the rounds?” Hide questions. “Do we have enough if the attacks become more regular?”

Inoue releases a sigh and walks past the table to Chief Banba, he rubbing at his forehead. “Unfortunately that’s where a con comes in. I have enough to arm all the squad and a few extra clips for both the rifle and handgun. But I don’t have enough for constant use and reloading.” He explains sadly.

“Whatever the cost is I want you to get as many as you can. We don’t know when these monsters will attack again or, like Sergeant Watsuki suggested, if the volume of attacks will rise. Being that this is a major problem I can probably get those higher up the chain to throw all the money in the world at you.” Banba says.

“That is a relief. All I can suggest is use your training and only use what you have to use. You each probably have two extra STX clips and two SAX clips between you all. Use them wisely.”

- - -

Namiko walks up the hill and through the forest to her aunt’s house, she dressed in a casual blouse and jeans, her hair tied back into a ponytail, a medium sized bandage covering her left eyebrow. As she makes it to the house she sees her aunt and Hikari in the garden working -Hikari himself wearing a white t shirt with black trimming and dark blue jeans-. Namiko makes her way into the garden, the two workers looking up and smiling at the presence of the young woman.

“Ahhh, Namiko! What brings you all the way up here?” Yuriko asks as she goes over to her niece, giving her a nice big hug. “How’s the eye?”

“It still hurts but it hasn’t bled for a while, so I guess its fine. The doctor said it may leave a scar.” Namiko explains, she rubbing at the bandage. “It really itches though.”

Both Hikari and Yuriko laugh, Namiko slowly joining in. When she (Namiko) turns to look at Hikari she smiles rather brightly, he bowing in respect.

“Anyways I wanted to see if Hikari wanted to come down to the city with me. I know he’s been up here for the past couple of weeks so I thought he might enjoy going out and about.”

“If Miss Yuriko says it is okay than yeah, I’d like to go.” Hikari responds.

“Go on now, have some fun while you’re young and not an old timer like me.” Yuriko shoots back slyly, laughing afterwards. Namiko and Hikari laugh a bit.

“I’ll have him back before dinner time.” Namiko replies with an even more sarcastic tone as she and Hikari start walking away. The two wave to Yuriko who watches them until they disappear into the forest.

- - -

Todo and Hide sit in a break room, their uniform jackets off and lying on the table. The table itself is cluttered with various papers, cups, and food wrappers. Hide props his feet up on the table and rubs at his stomach, he stifling a burp.

“These reports just make me depressed. And that makes me hungry. And that makes me feel bloated when I’m done.” Hide jesters as he places his hands against the back of his head.

“You should see a dietitian. Or a psychiatrist. One of the two should help you with your fatty depression.” Todo remarks with a small chuckle as he picks up some papers.

“Can you blame me though? Ever since this Oni shit started all we do is train our asses off and read report after report about killings they may or may not have done, all with glorious pictures. It would turn anybody into a fatty depressant. Either that or a statue of a cop.” Hide replies, he raising an eyebrow at his partner. The facial movement brings the two men to laughing, Todo leaning over and whacking the sergeant with some papers.

“I guess you’re right.”

“How many of those Shōwa-ku murders can we even classify as Oni attacks?”

Todo shrugs his shoulders and sighs as he tosses the papers he is holding onto the table. “Who knows? All of the deceased from the mall had slash markes consistent with that weapon it was holding. Blades like that are common, so we can’t really tell if it was a human or not.”

“I thought the ones from the mall were very deep and almost ragged in the cuts?”

“They were. But if a human is mad enough he can produce work close to that.”

Hide smirks. “You got me there. What about the one in the mountains?”

“There was nobody besides myself, my sister, and Hikari who were attacked. All that one used was his hands. My guess is these things all have different weapons and different looks. In the end we have no real way to distinguish human from Oni attacks.” Todo explains nihilistically.

The room drifts into silence, both men thinking about the harsh reality of the situation. The truth is as grim as Todo put it. Both of them, the detectives, nor other officers had any way of figuring out which race did what crime. It was a game of chess, and the Oni had the police force in checkmate from the looks of things.

Hide looked over at Todo and broke the silence. “So…how is Namiko holding up?”

His captain smiled some and looked up at the ceiling. “She’s doing alright. May get a scar out of the situation, but she’ll be fine regardless.”

“And what about our friend the hero. Or as we know him Mister ‘I’m better than all of you combined.’”

Todo’s eyes shifted to Hide, he furrowing his brow at the final bit of the question. “He seems to be doing well. He helps out my aunt with the gardening and other chores. Seems everybody in the village likes him as well.”

The silence returned with the two of them looking at the table and at the mess of their food and drinks as well as the mess life handed them. Out of nowhere the alert system kicked in, the two men jumping out of their chairs as the familiar voice of Sakurai Yoshi came over the intercom.

“Attention all SAT members and all available officers! An Oni has been spotted at the Nagoya Civic Assembly Hall and it is being reported that it is on the attack. Confirmed casualties for the time being are 5. I repeat, an Oni attack has been reported at the Nagoya Civic Assembly Hall. All available officers are to head to Tsuruma Park immediately!”

The captain and sergeant burst through the doors and run to the SAT locker room, fellow members joining them in the rush. All of the squad gets suited up in their uniforms and head over to the armory. Todo makes his way through the crowd and stands in front of his men.

“Listen up. This will be our first battle using the new weapons. Remember what Dr. Inoue said; we only have so many bullets. Use your training and balance out your shots. Being that these damned beasts are going to want to kill civilians and us go for the kill. Just try not to mess the body up too much so we can dissect and study it. Understood?”

“YES SIR!” The unit responds.

“Then get your weapons and let’s MOVE OUT!”

- - - - - - - -

Hikari and Namiko walk side by side, each of them having an ice cream cone. The pair walks around the grounds of Tsuruma Park, they passing countless other people in doing so. Around the area are various musicians, artists, performers, and food carts for the public. With the warmth and the sun shining it makes for the perfect weekend activity.

Namiko licks at her ice cream -peach- and looks up at Hikari after the next lick. “Todo told me you’ve traveled around the world a lot. Have you seen places like this anywhere else?” She asks, returning to the treat when finished.

“Oh yes. There are tons of parks like this all over the world. I always found the ones in Europe and America to be the best.” Hikari responds with a smile, remembering the landscape of his past roaming.

“Are you saying your native country isn’t good looking enough?” Namiko questions almost sarcastically, he lips twitching into a grin.

Hikari looks down at her and smiles as well, he producing a soft laugh. “No! No! Not at all! I just always thought they looked better. Japan has plenty of beautiful places that are better than anywhere else.”

“Name one.”

“Kyoto as a whole is very beautiful.”

“Name another.”

Hikari laughs some more. “A demanding one aren’t you?” Namiko looks away slyly with a giggle. Hikari shakes his head and answers her question. “I find the mountains here and where your aunt lives gorgeous. It’s the type of place I’d want to live if I ever settled down.”

“You don’t want to settle down?”

“Well, yes and no. I’d like to have a family and just spend my days in a home. But I simply love exploring. I get bored easily and so that with my curiosity makes me want to constantly explore new places.” Hikari explains as the two continue to walk and work on their sweets.

As they make another round around the park Namiko looks down and scrunches her face. She then looks back up at her companion. “How long are you going to stay here?”

Hikari’s face morphs into a myriad of emotions. He finishes up his cone and walks over to a trashcan to toss the paper away. The young woman follows him as he stands there in silence.

“I guess as long as it takes.” He finally answers somberly.

Namiko looks to the side some and watches the people around them. After a minute passes she tosses her ice cream and grabs Hikari by the hand, she bursting off like a rocket down a path. Hikari follows as he is forcefully dragged.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere we can be happy and not think about what’s happening right now.” She replies.

Namiko looks over her shoulder and smiles warmly at Hikari, the sun hitting the side of her face. He smiles and nods his head, he running behind her of his own free will now.

- - -

The SAT squad hard stops in front of the Assembly Hall and move out of the Humvees promptly. People run all over the place in panic, regular police officers attempting to get them all to safety, some running off into the area where the Oni is. Todo looks over at his men and gives them a small nod, they then rushing out to where the officers went.

They move along a side path with foliage to the right and the building to the left. Todo halts to a stop in disbelief, the sudden stop leaving the unit to bump into each other. Hide then walks over to his captain to see the problem, his eyes moving from Todo to the path in front of them, it littered with the dead bodies of cops and civilians. The rest of the crew comes up to their leaders and see the horrific site. Captain and sergeant look at each other, their faces pale and conveying sorrow and anger.

“Let’s go…” Todo commands as he begins to continue forward, making sure not to step on any of the bodies, his men following in suit.

“Bastards…” A female officer mutters as she passes by the corpses.

The squad makes their way to the back of the building where more people and police officers are running around in a craze. In the middle of a four squared garden piece stands the reported Oni, it tall and slender, it resembling a Black Mamba. A male civilian runs past it to escape, the Oni then holding the palm of its hand up and firing a barrage of needles, they piercing into the man’s neck, he dropping immediately.

“Oh great, this one shoots shit.” Hide remarks.

“Enough bellyaching. Everybody get into formation!” Todo orders.

The curious Oni watches as the humans in black run about and into a wide circle around it. A police officer from behind the creature stands up and staggerdly runs past the Oni. The beast is quicker however and grabs the man’s neck, snapping it without hesitation. Todo shakes his head in disgust as he takes his point and ordering all remaining civilians and officers to evacuate the area. They listen some and run into hiding places nearby, some cowering near the building to watch.

“On my command open fire on the Oni. Remember, we only have so much. Make your shots count.”

The SAT squad raises their STX-700s into a firing position, some of the members crouching down for better aim and control. Each officer in the unit looks down the crosshairs at the demonic creature, it turning its head and body around to look at all of the humans surrounding it.

“1…2…3…FIRE!” Todo counts down before issuing the command.

All SAT officers pull the trigger on their respective rifles and let loose a hail fire of bullets. The rounds (as expected) slam into the beast’s skin and go through it, yet no explosion happens. Todo looks over at Hide.

“FIRE!” He commands again, this time with the members shooting more bullets into the creature at once. Again nothing happens.

“Dammit to hell. Empty the clips!” Hide shouts out, Todo nodding in approval.

The unit then empties their clips into the beast, the force of all the rounds hitting it at once forcing the Oni back some, the head bowing down. When the rifles are out those holding the guns lower them and watch the beast. Its head raises up, the eyes very clearly showing agitation as a hissing sound is emitted from the Oni. Continuing to hiss, the monster begins to walk towards Todo and his men.

“Todo…” Hide utters.

“Yeah?”

“We’re fucked aren’t we?”

Todo looks at the approaching monstrosity, his skin becoming pale and sweat rapidly dripping down his brow. “Yeah…I’d say we’re fucked alright.”

- - -

The pair of Namiko and Hikari laughs as they walk along a small park bridge. Hikari suddenly stops and his head shoots to look off to the side. Namiko, concerned, follows his movement to look down. She recognizes the assembly hall and watches as people run away from the building in madness. Before she can even speak a word to Hikari he is off running across the rest of the bridge and down a small hill to the building, she following shortly after him.

They run up to the front of the building, people running all about and passing roughly past them. Hikari reaches out and takes a man by the wrist.

“What’s going on?!” He demands, his voice becoming more serious and less friendly than Namiko is use to.

“O o one of those demons showed up. It’s k k killing everybody in sight. Even the special force is having trouble!” He explains. Namiko’s eyes widen. Oh no, Todo! She watches then as Hikari lets go of the man and runs off to the left side of the building and through a side path.

When he makes it to the other side Hikari’s eyes grow wider as he sees the Oni toying and having its way with the SAT squad, it dodging attempts to physically hit it while taking bullet after bullet. Civilians huddling near the building look over at Hikari, curious as to why somebody had run back here.

“I’M OUT OF BULLETS!” An officer shouts.

“ME TOO!” Another one declares before the Oni thrusts the tips of its fingers into the SAT member’s neck, blood oozing out upon the fingers being removed.

“DAMMIT! DO WHATEVER IT TAKES!” Todo shouts back.

At the sound of Todo’s voice Hikari’s eyes narrow as he watches the carnage happening. His breathing becomes heavier but slowly comes to a normal rate, he then raising his arms up and forming a fist with his left hand, the ring and pinky fingers of his right hand folding to with the others still pointing out. Hikari then brings the fist down to the side of his hip, the right arm down in front of his face.

“HENSHIN!”

Light begins to emanate from his necklace, the brightness of it so great that it grabs the attention of the SAT squad, the civilians who were already watching Hikari, and the Oni, it hissing louder at the sight. Todo, seeing the eyes of his men drift away from the target follows them, he setting his sights on Hikari’s glowing body. The light soon bursts out and vanishes, leaving Hikari in his armored state, his arms resting to the sides of his body fists clenched.

“Look! It’s the hero!” A woman cries out, the rest of the crowd cheering in excitement and crying in hope.

“So,” Hide begins “that’s him huh?”

“Yeah…that’s him.” Todo replies monotonely.

The now armored Hikari runs off towards the Oni, he speeding past Todo and his men. He crashes into the beast and the two lock up, struggling to gain control of the other, the Oni staring into the red eyes of this seemingly familiar foe. Breaking apart the two warriors run to the side facing each other, stopping by a large tree. Hikari begins to slowly move in a circle, the Oni following his movements as everybody watches in awe. Namiko the runs into the back and stands near the civilians and joining the audience.

Hikari lunges forward with a punch, the cobra dodging it with ease before throwing its right leg out. The blow connects with Hikari’s side but affects him only a little bit. He then grabs the Oni’s leg with his hands and begins to spin around, the Oni with him. Hikari lets go and the Oni goes flying off towards some SAT officers, they scrambling away.

“Don’t run! FIRE!” Todo commands.

His men oblige and pull out their new pistols, emptying the clips into the Oni in the gut, neck, and face. One of the rounds slams through the creature’s eye and it screams in pain, jumping to its feet and staggering about, swiping at those it can see a bit. Todo then raises his rifle and aims at the base of the neck. He pulls the trigger and the round bursts out, it piercing into the neck, another scream coming from the creature, it turning its attention to the one who shot him.

“Get him now!” Hide shouts to Hikari.

Hikari nods his head and readies himself. He then begins to race towards the beast, he gaining more and more momentum. The armored being jumps into the air, but out from nowhere another Oni flies in, crashing into Hikari and sending him to the ground. It lands on the ground in front of Hikari, its appearance close to a praying mantis, each forearm having a blade attached to it. Hide, seeing this, rushes over to his captain.

“That has to be the one behind the murders!”

“Then where did that cobra one come from?!” The captain questions madly.

As Hikari attempts to stand up the mantis Oni screeches and brings its arms down in a cross pattern, the blades slashing into the torso section of the armor, Hikari being sent back to the ground. It then mounts its prey and begins to repeatedly slash at the being, the blades coming down against Hikari’s chest, gut, neck, and face, the armor slowly becoming scratched and dented. While this goes on the cobra peers out of its one eye towards those around him. It sticks out both palms and lets off a barrage of needles, they slamming into all of the SAT officers around it, a few stray ones hitting wandering civilians and police officers.

“Todo, we have to do something!” Hide proclaims.

Todo bites his bottom lip and looks around, he noticing his little sister in the crowd, his eyes widening with fear. He returns them to the cobra Oni and then to Hikari, he struggling to get the new Oni off of him. With narrowed eyes Todo takes out his KM2000. From a pouch on his belt he produces some black electrical tape, he taping the knife to his rifle like a bayonet.

“You have a full clip left?” He asks his sergeant.

Hide reaches to the back of his belt and grabs his last ammo clip, he handing it to Todo.

“Kill the bastard.”

Todo loads the clip and stands up. The respected officer runs to the cobra Oni, thrusting the rifle forwards, the blade piercing into the Oni’s back to the hilt. A cry of pain breaks through the air, the monster turning its head to look at the human who did it. Todo moves his arms backwards and removes the blade from the beast. He then pushes the barrel of the rifle into the hole and aims it upwards. The man shoots an angered look at the Oni’s face before pulling the trigger, he shooting all 50 rounds up into the Oni’s body, the screaming so loud it begins to hurt the ears of those in the vicinity. When the clip is empty Todo backs away, the cobra’s neck burst open on a side, two other medium sized holes in its torso, part of its head also opened up by the barrage.

Feeling heroic Todo smiles and begins to chuckle a bit. The smile is wiped off his face quickly by the side of the Oni’s hand, the blow swaying him to the side. Hide and the others look on as the Oni delivers a vicious punch to Todo’s face, the nose breaking and being pushed inwards, the lips split and teeth being shot up into the gums. Todo then drops to the ground in pain, he being assaulted with a barrage of kicks to the gut.

“TODO!” Namiko shouts out as she runs forward and past Hide towards her brother.

The eyes of the Oni shift to the female human, it beginning a march towards her. Seeing this, and having fear and anger flood through his blood, Hikari finds the strength to deliver a punch to the gut of the mantis, the force sending the monster off of him. He then jumps to his feet and dashes towards the cobra, screaming while doing so. Intrigued by the noise the Oni turns to face Hikari. Hikari then slams into the creature but continues to run, he heading towards the Hall. Police and civilians move out of their way as they continue their push to the building, the cobra struggling to escape. As they get to the building Hikari, using his body force and momentum, tips him and the Oni downward, they slamming through the bottom part of the building and the floor inside, they landing in the basement of the building, a giant hole in their wake.

Each of them slowly stands up; they battered by the attacks they have each received. Once more they stare at each other as they move around in a circle. This time it is the cobra that makes the first move, he running at Hikari, his hand and fingers aimed at the foe’s neck. Hikari ducks to the left and brings his body down and his right arm around the left side of his body. When the beast looks down to see where the prey has gone, Hikari uncoils and unleashes the side of his hand on the opponent, it slashing up through the shoulder, neck, and face of the Oni, it leaving a blazing trail. Hikari rolls backwards and watches as the Oni moves all around in agony before it finally collapses to the floor, the body slowly dissolving away.

When Hikari goes back outside he sees that the mantis has some civilians and SAT officers backed into a corner, it toying with them before presumably killing them all. He then brings his body backwards, his arm cocked with fist clenched and ready to take out the remaining enemy. Hikari then propels himself forward towards the foe, the spectators watching in awe. A cornered civilian sees Hikari and beams up.

“GET ‘EM HERO!”

Puzzled, the mantis turns around just as Hikari is about to hit him. Chuckling the beast moves to the side and grabs Hikari by the legs, throwing him into the humans he had cornered, they falling to the ground. Taking advantage of the distraction and before the SAT can act on it, the Oni jumps away until it can no longer be seen.

“Dammit!” Hide shouts as he kicks a rock in the garden.

“Down’t rorry ‘bout hit. Weve fond it ownce. Weed’ll do it agagen.” Todo assures him through his busted mouth, his head resting on Namiko’s lap.
“I know…but how long will it take? And at what price?” Hide counters as his head turns to look at the aftermath of the attack.

Hikari looks around too, he frowning beneath the helmet. He then looks up at the sky as rescue helicopters and medical personnel arrive on the scene. He transforms back into his regular state, his face and clothes scratched and cut up. He looks at the sky for a bit longer before his gaze turns to Namiko and Todo, his frown staying, his eyes becoming sadder.

- - -

In a high rise sits Chief Banba along with several other high ranking officers. They sit at a round table, their faces stone cold.

“Chief Banba, these attacks are becoming a major problem. Countless civilians and officers of the law have perished. The public is in a state of unease. Now we have lost one of these beasts that has already racked up a high death count. We invested in the development of new weapons under the promise that they would work in eliminating the creatures. But clearly they haven’t or today’s tragedy would not have happened. What do you have to say for yourself?” The commissioner of Nagoya -Ishin Mori, aged 45- asks of the elderly Banba.

The chief sits in his chair and sighs. “All I can say is that we’re trying our best to get the situation under control. But if today’s events have given us any form of a positive, it is that we now know to defeat the Oni we must up our efforts. To win this war we need to create the best weapons imaginable.”

“I agree. Besides, this hero is as far as I’m concerned, a vigilante. We have no need for some civilian with a few magic tricks to take care of a matter such as this. It not only makes us look bad but is against the law. Because of this I have already put the next stage of this operation into effect.” Comissioner Ishin states.

“And what is that?”

“The development of our own hero.”

...to be continued