Episode 27 Loneliness

Ryuu suddenly takes a huge sniff as the group continues walking aimlessly through the seemingly tangible foggy darkness. He turns to Arai in the gloom. “What the hell is that smell?!”

“Onion cookie!” Arai replies cheerfully.

“Onion…?!” Ryuu cries, disgusted. “You didn’t steal any onions from those people, did you?”

“It’s getting darker and darker as we go along…” Ivy murmurs, staring around hesitantly at the dark fog swirling about them in the air while Arai and Ryuu continue to bicker in the background.

Kunai nods in agreement, staring at the ground below them, barely visible in the dimly lit conditions. “The ground’s been really starting to slope the last couple minutes…we’re getting really deep in now.”

“To think that someone actually lives down here…” Ivy whispers, as a chilling breeze blows by, “doesn’t the weapon maker that Alcaster mentioned ever get lonely?”

“Perhaps…” Kunai replies, “but then again, there are many people who seek the loneliness.”

“I don’t understand why they would, though!” Ivy cries. “I mean, isn’t it much, much better to be able to see, talk, and listen to other people?”

“Some people are just…lonely like that,” Kunai answers.

“You’re lonely, aren’t you, Kunai?” Ivy whispers suddenly.

Kunai looks up in surprise, squinting his eyes to see Ivy’s face in the darkness. “What…?”

“Yeah, I can see it in your eyes,” Ivy whispers in reply, “you’ve been very lonely, ever since you lost your family down in the Cursed Sanctuary.”

“Yes,” Kunai mutters, “but that emptiness where my family used to be is gone now. All that’s left is an aching loneliness, for…”

Ivy shakes her head, reaching forward and squeezing Kunai’s shoulder firmly. “You’ve got me. That should be enough to cure loneliness, right?”

“Uh…!” Kunai gasps, blushing slightly. He steps back to stop Ivy from seeing his face, forgetting that he is standing in the gloom. “Well…I suppose so…”

“Come on,” Ryuu says gruffly. “Let’s get going, you two. Stop holding us up with your talking.”

“Um…right,” Kunai mutters in reply. ‘That’s funny…I thought Ryuu and Arai were the ones who’d stopped to fight in the first place…’

“Hm…there doesn’t seem to be anything trying to get in our way so far,” Arai mentions, glancing around in the darkness as they begin walking again.

“You’re right,” Ryuu mutters, “it’s way too quiet.”

Ivy suddenly screams as a hand reaches out and grabs her around the wrist. Kunai gives a shout in surprise and raises his Gephart, slashing at the arm.

Ryuu draws his sword as well, illuminating the narrow mountain path with the flickering flare of his sword. The group gasps as one as they see a small Jr. Yeti.

“A Jr. Yeti?” Ryuu murmurs.

“No, it’s not just any Jr. Yeti!” Kunai cries out loud, jumping backwards in surprise as he sees that there is a yellow seal on the Jr. Yeti’s forehead. Instead of pure white, its fur is slightly brown and ruffled, as if singed. Its eyes are yellow rather than black.

“Undead?” Arai gasps out loud. “This is what those three back there warned us about…”

“Who the hell wants to revive Yetis?!” Ryuu growls. “Let’s just take care of this thing and go!” He charges straight towards the Jr. Yeti, but gasps as it gives a soft growl in return and transforms into a larger Undead Yeti.

“It transformed!” Kunai gasps.

The Yeti gives a loud roar, and suddenly charges, pounding the ground with its fists. Ryuu leaps into the air to avoid the impact, and pushes Kunai, Arai, and Ivy to the side as well.

“I’ll take care of this!” Kunai cries out loud, rushing forward towards the Undead Yeti.

“Kunai! Where do you think you’re going?!” Ryuu cries after him.

Kunai leaps into the air as the Undead Yeti pounds the ground with its fists again, leaping over its shoulder and planting a swift stroke into the creature’s neck.

Kunai lands behind the Undead Yeti, glancing behind him as a stream of black blood pours from the monster’s wounded shoulder.

He then lunges forward again, pummeling the Undead Yeti with six swift strokes, finishing with a swift uppercut and landing in front of the Undead Yeti again. He glances over his shoulder, panting slightly as he sees the Undead Yeti’s damaged and severely cut arms.

“I’ve…disabled…his arms…” Kunai pants.

“Amazing!” Arai gasps. “He mastered the bandit skills in almost no time at all!”

“It must be the blood that Alcaster used for his scroll,” Ryuu mutters. “The strength of the Hybrid also depends on the strength of the donator as well.”

“So in other words,” Arai whispers, as the Undead Yeti begins leaning forward and panting heavily, “Kunai is definitely then the recipient of one of the more powerful Joukai there ever were.” The Undead Yeti sways again, collapsing on the ground with a loud crash.

“Wow! That was amazing!” Ivy cheers, clapping her hands.

“No time for that!” Ryuu cries suddenly, “Look behind you!”

Kunai turns as a large claw with long, jet-black nails appears in the air behind him, swiping at him. Kunai leaps backwards, barely avoiding the fatal blow. He lands, skidding several inches behind him in the snow, gasping as he raises his hand to his slightly cut shoulder.

Kunai glances at his shoulder as a steady flow of blood issues from it. ‘Damn…I didn’t even notice getting hit by that thing. What is it?’

“An…Undead Werewolf?!” Arai cries out loud in surprise.

Ryuu dashes forward, swinging his sword wildly at the approaching beast. He leaps into the air, cutting the air several times, landing on the floor as a large Werewolf appears before him, an undead seal on its forehead.

Ryuu bares his teeth, parrying with his sword as the Undead Werewolf draws nearer, swinging its claws wildly at Ryuu. He flips over in the air, surprising the Undead Werewolf temporarily. He lands on the monster’s arm, swinging his sword and leaping off quickly, cutting the Undead Werewolf around the elbow.

Ryuu then rapidly turns, plunging his sword straight into the Undead Werewolf’s hamstring, paralyzing it’s leg temporarily. Ryuu gasps as he attempts to pull his sword back out. “Oh crap! It’s stuck!”

“Here! I’ll help out!” Arai yells, stepping forward and sending a flurry of icicles straight at the Undead Werewolf’s face. It howls in alarm as the icicles attack its face.

Ryuu finally removes his sword, and looks at it in disgust, staring at the blade dripping with black blood. He leaps into the air, cutting the Undead Werewolf from behind just under the head and above the shoulders.

Ryuu lands, running out of the way as the Undead Werewolf sways, shuffling its feet around to stay standing. “With any luck, I just paralyzed that thing! I hit it directly on its spinal cord…”

“Get out of the way!” Kunai cries, as the Undead Werewolf howls, and collapses onto the ground in front of them. Ryuu and Arai quickly jump out of harm’s way, staring at the dead figures of both the Werewolf and Yeti.

Ryuu sighs contentedly. “Heh, that was one fun battle. Took a bit of a fight, but it still wasn’t much of a challenge for me.”

“What about now?!” Kunai cries out loud, pointing into the approaching darkness behind where the Werewolf and Yeti had fallen on the snow.

Ryuu gasps as a large group of Undead Lycanthropes suddenly appear, stumbling forward and howling angrily. They raise their claws, staring down at the group with unfriendly eyes.

Ryuu sighs. “Two, three, four, five, six?!” he yells into the air. “This is way too much to handle!”

“Well, we’ve gotta get rid of them regardless!” Arai mutters. “Or else they could mean a lot of trouble, not to mention the possibility of them summoning more Undead Werewolves.”

“Well, let’s get this taken care of,” Ryuu mutters. He lunges forward, slashing at the knees of one of the nearer Undead Lycanthropes. He gasps as the monster takes the hit effortlessly, bending down and picking up Ryuu in its claws.

“Ryuu!” Kunai and Ivy cry out loud simultaneously. Kunai reaches into his pockets, drawing a Steely and sending it flying into the air and bouncing off of the Undead Lycanthrope’s wrist, causing it to drop Ryuu in surprise.

Ryuu lands heavily on the ground. He quickly turns over and resumes slashing at the Undead Lycanthrope’s knees again, but flips over in the air to avoid getting grabbed once again.

“Man, there’s too many of these guys…” Ryuu murmurs.

Arai shakes his head, drawing his Dark Ritual. He waves it, and sends six bolts of lightning flying into the air and hitting each Undead Lycanthrope around the chest.

Suddenly all six of their eyes gleam madly, as they howl and charge forward angrily, surrounding the group in a large circle. Each Undead Lycanthrope raises its claws threateningly, peering down at the group.

Ryuu stares around haughtily at the six. “Crap, I think all that did was piss them off more!”

“What are we gonna do?” Kunai cries out loud.

“Hopefully…this’ll keep ‘em busy while we run!” Ryuu growls, drawing his sword and erupting a flowing current of fire and lightning in it. He cuts the air with one swift vertical strike, creating a circle of lightning and fire surrounding the group to keep the Undead Lycanthropes at bay.

“Okay, now let’s get the hell out of here!” Ryuu shouts, leading the way out of the circle, leaping over the barrier of flames and electricity.

“Halt,” a dark, clear, unknown voice suddenly rings in the air. A darkly cloaked figure appears in the distance suddenly, raising its hands, which are clenched around a large, dark sword. It swings the sword once, and a loud explosion of wind and darkness blows past Kunai, Ryuu, Arai, and Ivy, headed straight for the Undead Lycanthropes.

In an instant, all six Undead Lycanthropes give off a loud howl of pain, and then there is silence.