Blood Blue Kuro no Ōji [ IC / Started / Not Accepting ]

[Hotaru987]

Minawe followed behind Isa practically bouncing on her heels as he asked where Jenos was. "Onward! To Mu-6!" Minawe said punching her fist in the air and following behind Isa. When they got to the room she was surprised to find Jenos not in there. "Wait! I thought Jess was supposed to be in here!" She exclaimed, "Oh no, did he run away? Did he jump?! OR WHAT IF HE GOT ABDUCTED!?!" Minawe said her voice getting louder and louder, as the picture of each senario entered her mind. The nurse in the room then told them that Jenos was up on the roof. Hearing this Minawe grabbed Isa and started running towards the closest stairway, but due tot he fact that she hadn't a clue where they were going, she let Isa take the lead again.

Once on the roof, Isa made a comment on how the hospital did a real good job on making him better but Jenos disagreed. He said it was something called Messorem.

"Messorem?" Minawe mumbled, "What the heck is that?"

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

Tatsuya immeditaly held his swords above his head to block the incoming attack. "[i]Oh come on! This isn't even a dick move. You practically told me you were attacking![/i]" He was able to block Umbra's main strikes but the black blades were able to pierce a good amount of his deffense and cause cuts on various parts of his body. Next Umbra had appeared in front of him. Tatsuya knew that if he was going to take damage he was going to take the least amount of damage possible.

Tatsuya held his swords out in front of to block the x-shaped slash from the two swords. He made sure to loosen his stance and allowed the x-shaped slash to knock him away. Of course as he did that he had taken some more damage from the black blades but managed to get away before serious harm could be dealt to him. He then charged right back at Umbra sending a energy wave at him as he did. Then using his Soul Slasher to propel him he ran alongside the wave so he'd attack Umbra from the side while the wave covered the front.

[.:Blu:.]

[center][size=5][b]CHAPTER 21: THE REAPER RHAPSODY[/b][/size][/center]


[spoiler=Chapter 21 Synopsis]After running into Shin alongside Kuro as he went back to get Shin, Kinsei now discovers a Shin who views Kuro as an ally and Kinsei, himself, as an enemy. While on Minawe, Isa, and Lumi's side of things, they discovered that Jenos has awaken, but he is acting strangely as well. Both Shin and Jenos then revealed that they have been granted the power of "Messorem", a power that Kuro first claimed to have. Now, two battles where allies are pitted against each other begins, and just what is Kuro connection with all of it? Meanwhile, as Tatsuya and Umbra continue their sparring match, Tatsuya will soon find himself facing against a very different opponent.[/spoiler]


Umbra stopped for a moment as he watched Tatsuya deal with Umbra's first assault. Though Tatsuya was able to fend off most of the black blades raining down hard upon him, several blades got through and was able to cut Tatsuya. Dealing with the x-shaped attack, Tatsuya held his swords in front of him and took the attack head on by blocking. However, Tatsuya wasn't aiming to outdo the attack in strength and so Tatsuya made sure his stance was loose and so that allowed Umbra's attack to knock him away. He received more damage from the black blades still raining down, but not Tatsuya was able to get into the open and quickly launched his counter assault at Umbra in the form of an energy wave. Seeing this, Umbra stood there calmly.

Tatsuya, using his Soul Slasher, then propelled himself alongside the wave and headed towards Umbra. The wave will attack from the front while Tatsuya go for the side. However, Umbra wasn't going to be defeated that easy. Suddenly, Umbra released his grip on his black energy sword, causing it to de-materialized, which now allowed for Umbra to grip his real sword with both hands. "You shall not defeat with such a predictable head on attack Tatsuya." Umbra stated. Suddenly, some of the black energy that was swirling above the sky shoot down towards Umbra's blade and wrapped itself around the blade, creating a massive cloak of black energy around the blade whose mimicking flames in terms of movement. As Tatsuya and the wave of energy continued their charge towards Umbra, Umbra then suddenly took a deep breath.

"Now! Yūgure o Yaburu!" Umbra called out. Umbra then swung his sword downward, releasing that massive cloak of black energy towards Tatsuya and his wave of energy in the form of what appears to be a massive, black fireball, though it isn't fire at all but pure black energy. As the black fireball continued to head towards its targets, the ground beneath began cracking and shattering, demonstrating the capacity of power that attack holds.

-Meanwhile-

"(The power of 'Messorem'...? Just what exactly is this 'Messorem?)" Isa asked himself. As Isa was about to ask Jenos what he meant by that, Minawe instead asked in place of Isa. "(Messorem... That word sounds familiar to me... I know I heard it somewhere...)" Lumi thought. Hearing Minawe's question, a small smirk formed on Jenos' face. "What is it you ask? It's hard to put into words but this feeling of power is undeniably the best feeling one can get." Jenos replied calmly. Jenos then lifted his right hand up and looked at his palm. Suddenly, Isa clenched his palm into a fist. "Ahhh, this feeling is wonderful..." Jenos stated. Jenos now turned to face Minawe and Isa, a calm smile on his face. "Tell me you guys. Has the second exam for BREPT began yet?" Jenos asked.

"No, not yet, but it will two days from now." Isa replied calmly and cautiously. "I see... Then I can tell the BREPT director, Prof. Sugito, that I have made a full, no, that I have become even stronger than I once was. The weak Jenos is now gone to be replaced with the Jenos that ha been granted the great power of 'Messorem'!" Jenos exclaimed. "I think Jenos may have lost it..." Lumi whispered to Minawe. "Not quite. I am very much so sane." Jenos replied to Lumi who was quite surprised that Jenos heard his whisper. "How-" Lumi's question was cut off as Jenos interrupted. "Isn't it wonderful? My physical capabilities have increased substantially. In a sense, my CPU has just been upgraded. Hehe, you can even say that this is Jenos 2.0." Jenos stated, his personality becoming increasingly different from his normal personality.

"Jenos, just what has Kuro done to you?" Isa finally asked. "Hmm, what do you mean? Kuro saved me from being killed." Jenos replied. "He saved you from being killed...? From who exactly?" Isa asked. "From myself, my weaker self... In other words, from Jenos 1.0. You see, if I continued staying at that level, I would've surely died in the future if I were to encounter a powerful enemy as a B-Rank exorcist. But Kuro, he has saved me, and maybe now I should return the favor." Jenos said. "How are you gonna do that?" Isa asked, clenching his fists. "By eliminating you two viruses." Jenos replied calmly.

-Meanwhile-

"The... power of 'Messorem'...?" Kinsei asked with widened eyes. "Yes, that's right. The power of 'Messorem', a wonderful power indeed. With it, I no longer need to be the weak, defenseless person I used to be. I can now defend myself Kinsei, as well as I can defend my friend, Kuro." Shin replied. "Shin... ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOURSELF SPEAK?! IS THE SHIN I KNOW EVEN IN THERE ANYMORE?!" Kinsei asked. "I do not understand you st all anymore Kinsei..." Shin began. "I am still the Shin you know, the same Shin who met you on that fateful day if you still remember. I still remember the promise I made you. However... it seems your pride is even stronger than you are considering it's clouding your judgement as so. You're even going far enough to attack such an innocent person as Kuro?" Shin asked as he took a pause.

"For the very f*cking last time, THAT GUY IS NOT A FRIEND!!!" Kinsei shouted, his canines beginning to grow, his eyes glowing bright blue, his ear becoming pointy, and finally two blue flames appeared above his head. "I pity you Kinsei... You've fallen ever so low... Very well, as your closest friend, it shall be my duty, to eliminate you once and for all." Shin stated.

[Hotaru987]

Minawe remained silent tryint to understand just what Jenos was telling them. When Lumi whispered to her that Jenos may have gone insane she was about to agree, but Jenos beat her to it. 'How on earth did he even hear Luna!?' As he began explaining what the Messorem had did for him Minawe though, 'Just what kind of power is that? Whatever it is it doesn't sound healthy.'

"You should listen to yourslef Jess. This isn't you. You should let us take you to Proff. Otigus. I'm positive he will be able to help you." Minawe tired to reason with him, but Jenos would have it. Instead he told them that Kuro had helped him. From what Jenos was saying Minawe was able to deduce one thing. Kuro was a sick and twisted bastard. When Jenos finally made the statement that he would get rid of us as a favor to Kuro. "What?...H-hey Jess! Come on now! We're friends! You aren't the kind of person to hurt your friends." The last thing Minawe wanted to to was fight Jenos. She didn't even think she had it in her to try and attack him.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

Seeing the attack and the damage it was doing to the ground Tatsuya knew his current assault had no chance. He pointed his swords to the side to quickly launch himself away from his wave and just decided to let it be demolished by Umbra's own attack. "What the hell is this power? When the hell did you even get this power?!" He dug his feet into the ground to slow himself down and eventually come to a stop. "[i]Sh*t. He's fast and powerful. I might have to use a verse if this keeps up.[/i]"

[.:Blu:.]

"(Well, Tatsuya actually managed to dodge my attack. He's gotten faster hasn't he?)" Umbra thought to himself as he stopped his assault for a moment. When Tatsuya dug his feet into the ground and stopped himself from moving, Umbra released his grip from his sword and materialized a black energy sword in his free hand. "Tatsuya, you may not be aware but it seems you've gotten faster. I'm surprised you were able to avoid my technique. Compare to when I first met you, that technique of mine would've completely engulfed you in a matter of seconds." Umbra explained. "And as for how I obtained this power. I've actually been holding this power back, but I feel as though I should train you with this power in order for you to get even stronger. So shall we continue?" Umbra asked before getting back to his two-swords battle stance.

"Now Tatsuya, let us contin-" Suddenly, Umbra noticed a figure walking down the stairs. Seeing this, Umbra stood back to a normal stance. "Someone's coming." Umbra stated. Suddenly, the figure was revealed to be Mayumi who is walking down the stairs. "Tatsuya, I knew I would find you down here." Mayumi said with a smile on her face. "(Who is this woman...?)" Umbra thought to himself. "I see you're training huh? Don't overdo it." Mayumi said. Suddenly, Mayumi noticed Umbra standing far behind Tatsuya. "Huh? Who's that?" Mayumi asked Tatsuya.

-Meanwhile-

"Eliminating us?! What are you talking about?! Has Kuro brainwashed you or something?!" Isa asked in response to Jenos' statement about eliminating Minawe and Isa. "Minawe, are starting to sense a powerful, evil soul radiating off of him." Lumi said, becoming a bit unnerved. "Minawe's right! You aren't gonna hurt your friends now would you?! And I don't want to hurt you either, so let us just go and see Sugito about this." Isa re-suggested Minawe's idea. "You guys are acting so foolish... Now why would I want to go anywhere with the enemy? Anyways, I don't want to make this long so let's just get to it." Jenos replied. Suddenly, a large burst of pixelated soul energy occurred, blasting strong wind towards Minawe, Isa, and Lumi. "Arrgh!" Isa shouted as he placed his arms in front of his face to block the strong wind. "Whoa! I don't like this!" Lumi shouted as he held onto Minawe's hair. Then, once the wind dissipated, a large explosion of smoke occurred, blocking Minawe, Isa, and Lumi's view at Jenos. "Wh-What's happening? I'm sensing a power soul energy coming from the center of the smoke. In other words, Jenos." Isa said.

"M-Minawe, Isa, I'm sensing a terribly dark and dense soul energy." Lumi said in a scared tone. "Jenos! Are you-" Isa was then interrupted as the smoke cleared and he saw something surprising within the smoke. It was Jenos, wearing bone-like armor parts. The parts that Jenos is wearing includes bony armor-like armbands coming down his forearms and stopping at his wrists. Running down the top side of the armbands are four diamond-shaped cutouts. On the back of the forearms of each armband are two long, white spine-like wires connecting the armbands to his centerpiece armor. The centerpiece armor is essentially a large, skeletal CPU chip-like box connected to Jenos' back. He also has on a pair of shades, but unlike his soul shades, these shades had a skeletal design but the actual shades part are still maroon in color, a pair of black gloves, and a pair of wireless, skeletal headphones covering his ears with a spike protruding from the center of each headphone.

His entirely new appearance seems to combine technology with skeletal elements. Seeing Jenos' new appearance with widened eyes, Isa founded himself speechless. "W-What's with all of those bony armor-like pieces Jenos? Where did you even get them?" Jenos asked, still shocked by Jenos' new appearance. Hearing this, Jenos gave a "Humph" in the form of a small chuckle. "I told you, this is the power of 'Messorem' and what a wonderful power it is. I call this power, '[b]Digital Devil Oversoul[/b]'..." Jenos stated. "Digital Devil Oversoul? You're serious about fighting us?" Isa asked. "Of course. Understandably, you're intimidated by this new power. You do not understand it. No matter, I will demonstrate my Digital Devil Oversoul's capabilities." Jenos replied. Pixelated soul energy materialized into a giant, maroon-colored cursor floating above Jenos. Without speaking, the cursor was then launched towards Minawe and Lumi.

"Minawe, watch out!" Isa shouted. The cursor was cruising towards Minawe and Lumi at an incredibly fast speed; Minawe might not even be able to dodge in time at the speed the cursor is moving out. Suddenly, Isa appeared in front of Minawe and launched a punch at the cursor. As Isa's punch and the cursor collided, the cursor was instantly shattered. Seeing this, Jenos stood there calmly, not at all fazed by what had just happened. Then, a single droplet of blood fell onto the rooftop floor. It was shown that the blood came from Isa's fist which was now bleeding profusely. "H-Hey he's hurt!" Lumi exclaimed, referring to Isa. "Minawe... Jenos really meant to kill you just now..." Isa said faintly. "My, my, you risk your own life to save Minawe's life. Oh that's right, you have a crush on her don't you? How could I have forgotten that. No matter, I'll let you two die together. It's only right." Jenos stated. Without speaking, Isa, using his undamaged hand, began unwrapping the bandages from his damaged arm, his left.

"Hmm, what's this...?" Jenos asked. As the bandages fell onto the ground, Isa's arm is revealed to be covered in ancient texts and symbols. "Your arm... What is that suppose to be?" Jenos asked once again. Without answering, Isa launched a punch towards Jenos. The power of Isa's punch created a miniature whirlwind that headed straight for Jenos. Suddenly, a small smirk formed on Jenos' face. "That won't stop me." Jenos stated as pixelated soul energy materialized into a maroon-colored, laptop computer-like object floating in front of him. "Highlight." Jenos said. Suddenly, the whirlwind was trapped by a maroon-colored, transparent cube that materialized out of pixelated soul energy. "Delete." Jenos next said. With that command, the cube collapsed upon itself, destroying the whirlwind that Isa had created with his punch.

"It's pointless to attack me. You won't win. Not against my Digital Devil Oversoul." Jenos stated calmly.

-Meanwhile-

Hearing those words from Shin, Kinsei's eyes widened out of shock. "Y-You what...?" Kinsei asked. "It's for your own good and for the safety of innocent people. Please understand that you're a danger and must be rid of." Shin explained his rationale. "So Kuro has f*cked you up that badly huh...? Fine... AFTER I BEAT SOME SENSE BACK INTO YOUR THICK SKULL, I'LL THEN KILL THAT SON OF A B*TCH!!!" Kinsei shouted fiercely, the flames floating above his head becoming more intense. Kinsei then drew his Bane of Purgatory, and instantly, the Bane of Purgatory ignited with powerful blue flames. "Show me what this power of 'Messorem' is so that I can cut it down and release you from your f*cked up little world!" Kinsei commanded. "Shin, if you don't mind, I'll step back and let you handle this." Kuro stated. "No problem Kuro. I'll make sure to handle the situation quick." Shin replied.

Giving Kinsei another look with his grin, Kuro then walked off. "Come back assho-" Before Kinsei could finish what he was saying, a bullet suddenly whizzed by and scrapped his left cheek. Standing there with widened eyes, blood began flowing down Kinsei's cheek. "I missed..." Shin said as his hand that was holding the pistol fell to his side. Kinsei then narrowed his eyes and looked seriously at Shin. "Looks like I can't kill you, but at least I can kick the sh*t out of you." Kinsei told Shin. "Very well, try it." Shin replied. Suddenly, a explosion of soul energy occurred with Shin in the center of the explosion. The explosion also caused a giant cloud of smoke to cover the area. "Shin!" Kinsei shouted, seeing him being caught in the explosion. Suddenly, large bullet of blue energy came bursting out from the smoke and collided with Kinsei, launching Kinsei into a pole and bending the pole as he collided with it.

"Arrgh!" Kinsei shouted as he fell onto the ground after hitting the pole. "W-What the hell was that just now...?" Kinsei asked in a weakened voice. "Allow me to show you my power of 'Messorem'..." Shin's voice came from within the large cloud of smoke.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

Tatsuya smirked at Umbra after he talked about his power and traing him. "It'd suck if it was any other way. I can't get better if I don't fight opponents better than me. So if I'm against those wimps in the BREPT I might as well get some serious practice." He readied his sword and before Umbra could give the mark to go again they heard somebody come down the stairs. "[i]Sh*t! Did I forget to close the door?[/i]" He was a bit surprised tosee Mayumi. "Good to see you recovered Mayumi."

He looked at Umbra and crossed his swords in a plus shape. "Time out!" His swords turned off and he turned to Mayumi as she asked him who Umbra is. "Oh yeah. You two never formally met. Mayumi this is Umbra. He's a demon I'm able to summon. Umbra, this is Mayumi, my nurse. And no, I don't think I'm in trouble. Am I? I don't remember starting any fights or throwing anything lately...What are you doing down here looking for me for me?"

[Hotaru987]

"Wh-what the? H-how did he get this kind of power?" Minawe mumbled to herself as Jenos' power literally exploded completely engulfing the area in smoke. Within the smoke a dark, sinister energy was growing and it was coming from Jenos. Just what exactly did Kuro do to him? Because this definately wasn't the same Jenos that we all knew. When the smoke cleared Jenos was covered in what looked like a mixture of technology and skeleton based armor. It looked like Jenos was really about to go through with this, but even then Minawe hesitated on preparing to fight. Jenos suddenly fired an attack aiming straight for Minawe, but she didn't even try to move. Even if she did, she wasn't completely sure if she would be able to dodge it.

Minawe was frozen with wide eyes. Suddenly the attack was deflected by Isa, jumping in and punching it away. "A-aruki?" She mumbled surprised. Isa then commented on Jenos actually trying to kill her, before removing the bandages on his already bleeding and damaged arm revealing some strange markings. They seemed to surprise Jenos, but Minawe was clueless as to what they ment. Isa attempted an attack but it was "deleted" by Jenos' power.

"I...I can't attack him.." Minawe whispered to Lumi, not having moved from her spot. "...Perhaps....Perhaps we can knock him or or something, but not hurt him." She knew she was being overly optimistic, but Minawe just couldn't bring herself to attack a friend. It wasn't her.

[.:Blu:.]

"A demon you're able to summon hmm? He looks really powerful. Not surprising coming from you Tatsuya." Mayumi replied with a pleasant smile. "It's very nice to meet you Umbra." Mayumi greeted. "Likewise." Umbra replied. "(There's something off about this girl...)" Umbra suddenly thought. Mayumi's attention drew back to Tatsuya as he asked her if she was looking for him. "Actually I was. I tried looking for you in your room but couldn't find you. Then I remember about this secret place that Prof. Uyagiri let you use for training." Mayumi explained. As Mayumi spoke, Umbra stood idly by in the background watching Mayumi. Though not a glare of distrust, Umbra's glare does show a bit of weariness towards Mayumi. One can even say that Umbra has some suspicions towards Mayumi. Even so, Umbra continued to keep his silence and just watch the interaction of Tatsuya and Mayumi.

"Anyways, I'm here on behalf to take you to go see Prof. Uyagiri. Apparently, he needs to discuss with you something important. Oh, I should probably tell you that he visited me when I awoke and he helped healed the rest of my wounds. He told me that he needed to go look for you, but I guess as your nurse, I wanted to make sure that you were okay." Mayumi explained. "Umm, I guess I shouldn't be thinking things like this, but, for a brief moment before I came and look for you, I actually thought your mental state of being wouldn't be as calm as how you are right now." Mayumi said. "In other words you thought Tatsuya would've been out of his mind." Umbra implied. "W-Well, if you put it like that-" Mayumi suddenly tensed up. "I'm only joking. But I guess someone like myself shouldn't try to joke. I don't think I have the right demeanor for it." Umbra stated.

"Oh, I thought you were serious for a moment there. Anyways Tatsuya let's go." Mayumi said as she ran over to Tatsuya and grabbed his hands then eagerly pulling him towards the stairs. "I don't know why but I'm feeling pretty chipper now. Maybe because I'm able to see my close friend." Mayumi said, referring to Tatsuya in her statement. Then suddenly, a noise reminiscing a blade piercing through human flesh can be heard and droplets of blood can been seen splattering onto Tatsuya's cheek. As the scene came into view, it was revealed that Umbra has impaled Mayumi through her chest from her back with his sword. With her pupils twitching, Mayumi slowly tilted her head to look at a calm Umbra, his emotion hidden by his mask.

-Meanwhile-

Hearing Minawe saying that she can't possibly fight Jenos, Lumi didn't know what to say. Lumi, personally, doesn't know anything about Jenos, but surely if Minawe won't attack, then Lumi knew that he couldn't attack either. "Minawe..." Lumi faintly said. "I-I don't know what we should do..." Lumi replied. "Interesting. Even faced against someone who has the desire to eliminate you, if that person was your friend once, you won't attack? That seems pretty pathetic." Jenos calmly stated. "H-He heard what Minawe said...?" Lumi asked, surprised by Jenos' incredible hearing capabilities. Hearing what Jenos had said, Isa turned around, surprised at Minawe. "(Minawe...)" Isa thought before turning back around to face Jenos. "How are you able to hear here from such a long distance? Even I'm near here and I couldn't hear what she whispered." Isa said.

Keeping his calm composure, Jenos then simply pointed to his skeletal headphones. "'[b]Reaper Radialsphere[/b]'... These special headphones create an almost undetectable spherical dimension that spans an area of almost the entire Norvea City. Within the sphere, I can listen to anything that is happening, and I can also tune out any unwanted noises. Best of all, I am able to choose what I want to listen to and what I want to tune out all at the same time using my mind. Like I said, the power of 'Messorem' is, for you three, unimaginable." Jenos stated. "There are some very interesting things that are happening currently. Do you want to know what?" Jenos asked. "Stop toying around with us." Isa warned. "Humph, very well. I have no need to stall any further. My Soul Shades have already analyzed what those markings on your arms are." Jenos told Isa.

Hearing that, Isa's eyes widened. "Y-You do?" Isa asked. "Yes... It's very interesting if I do say so myself. That practice has long been banned and I also thought people who bared those markings should've all died off due to the overwhelming conflicting soul energy, but I would've never guessed that you would be a survivor. Eliminating you will be interesting." Jenos told Isa. "(Damn, Jenos' power-up is full of annoying surprises, and Minawe... What am I gonna do with her? She doesn't want to fight him, and I can't leave her in the way like this. I can't allow for Minawe to get hurt.)" Isa thought to himself, a nervous sweat drop running down his face. "Minawe..." Isa began speaking. "I know you don't have the heart to hurt your friends even if they become like this, and I understand that. However, unlike you, I'm not such a heartfelt person." Isa stated.

"Please, you should get away now. I'll break this power of 'Messorem' and get our Jenos back!" Isa proclaimed. "And so the war begins..." Jenos stated.

-Meanwhile-

Rising up to his feet again while pushing his hand against the bent pole for support, Kinsei look wearily into the smoke as he listened to Shin's voice mentioning the power of 'Messorem'. "That power... Just what the hell is it suppose to be...?" Kinsei asked as he regained his strength. "(Guess it doesn't matter now. Now I have to face Shin in a battle? Damn, how the hell did it come to this?)" Kinsei thought to himself. "Maybe it's because you let your pride overtake you Kinsei." Shin's voice said. Kinsei's eyes widened slightly hearing Shin responding. "So you can still hear some of my thoughts huh?" Kinsei asked. "Of course. We still have the contract don't you remember? Too bad, now I have to kill you because you've threaten an innocent life." Shin replied, still not showing himself yet. "If by innocent life you mean that bastard Kuro's life then I guess really I have to use action to bring you to your senses instead of words anymore." Kinsei replied.

"'Nirvana Ordinis' code of exorcism, all demons shown to be a hostile threat to the safety of humans must be exorcised, no exception.' I never thought that would imply to you Kinsei, but I guess I was a fool. You're the Prince of Pride, a descendant of Satan, pure evil himself. Of course that rule will imply to you. So now I will carry out those exact rules and passed judgement onto you under the name of the holy Father and Lord." Shin stated. Suddenly, more bullets of blue energy came flying from the smoke towards Kinsei. An explosion then occurred, and next, Kinsei was seen running out of the thick smoke; his right arm having receive some damage. "Sh*t those things are fast. I barely escaped." Kinsei said to himself. Once again, more bullets came flying out from the smoke and towards Kinsei. "F*ck, projectiles are the most annoying attacks to deal with! Blue Flame Tail Smash!" Kinsei shouted before unleashing a wave of blue flames at the bullets.

Once the wave made impact with the bullets, it was able to cut the bullets in half, milliseconds before the bullets exploded. Coughing from breathing in some of the smoke, Kinsei stumbled back with his left arm over his mouth. Suddenly, a figure appeared a couple of feet from behind Kinsei. "Goddamn it..." Kinsei mumbled before turning back to face the figure. Clad in white skeletal armor was Shin carrying with him a calm and cold, also silent and deadly, demeanor about him. Shin's skeletal armor included bony sleeve-like gauntlets running down his arms ending with skeletal-hand gloves; black fur also enveloped the gauntlets' wrists. At the centerpiece of his armor, which the gauntlets are connected to, is a black, open vest adorned with skeletal ribs wrapping around the vest. Another part of Shin's armor are a pair of gauntlet-like boots, completely skeletal and at the knees are knee pads in the shape of skulls with large antelope-like horns. At the boots' ankles are skeletal star-shaped spurs. The most prominent parts of Shin's new attire though are his white scarf with black fur lining and two pistols covered in skeletal parts.

Whereas Jenos' attire combines skeletal elements with technological elements, Shin's attire combines skeletal elements with gunman or cowboy-like elements. Though he may not seem like it, Kinsei was quite surprise seeing Shin's new look, but he kept his composure about it. "So this is your new power?" Kinsei asked. "Yes, I call this power, '[b]Dead Man Don't Sin[/b]'." Shin proclaimed.

[Hotaru987]

Knowing that Jenos heard her, Minawe stared at him in surprise. How could he have possibly heard her when she was speaking so quietly. Isa had the same question, and was answered. Jenos's skeletal headphones basically gave him superhearing. That didn't seem fair. Jenos then continued, explaining to Isa that he knew what those markings on his arms. Isa was surprised, but Minawe wasn't quite sure what they were talking about. Even so, she wasn't truly paying attention to what was going on.

[i]'I can't just let Aruki fight alone...but...' [/i]Minawe gave a quick glance at Jenos and looked back down, [i]'I could't attack a friend. I mean...Even though I don't know him that well...We have class together, and I consider us friends....Even if he's trying to kill me, I wouldn't be able to fight back. I just can't do it...' [/i]Minawe then heard Isa saying that he wasn't as heartfelt as she was, and that she should leave.

[i]'But I can't do that either, how could I run when you could get hurt as well? What kind of person would I be?' [/i]Minawe continued to think. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't fight because she might hurt Jenos, but she didn't want to leave and possibly have Isa's death on her conscious. But if she stayed and didn't do anything she could be in the way. "What should I do?" She hung her head

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

Tatsuya sighed after Mayumi told him he needed to see Uyagiri. "I'm in the middle of training for the next part of the BREPT. Can't this be done later?" Before he knew it she had grabbed his hand and started dragging him along with her. And even quicker blood had landed onto his face. His eyes widened at the sight of Umbra's blade stabbed though Mayumi chest. "Mayumi?" He looked to Umbra whose emotions were hidden by his mask. "You don't even know her and you could tell something was off. I'm glad I didn't decide to kill you when we met."

[.:Blu:.]

Hearing what Tatsuya said, Umbra calmly tilted his head to look at Tatsuya. "You're saying as if you could've killed me when we first met." Umbra lightly joked. Mayumi, who had just been impaled through the chest, suddenly crumbled into dark grey-colored ash along with the blood stains on Tatsuya's cheek. "So I was correct. I could tell something seems unusual about that person's soul and it seems that person is now reduced to simple ashes." Umbra proclaimed. Umbra then placed his hand to his side and looked up towards the staircase. "Show yourself." Umbra demanded calmly. Footsteps can then be heard walking down the stairs. The footsteps seemed calm, suggesting the person is not in any way surprised by what had just happened. "How heartless. Two demons killing an innocent human without mercy. I wonder what if that had been the real Mayumi. Would you have acted the same...?" a voice spoke as a figure descended down the stairs.

"Isn't that individual the one who attempted to kill you several times Tatsuya?" Umbra asked calmly. As the figure finally made his way to the ground below, it was revealed to be Shiratori, a calm, cold look displayed upon his face. "And so we meet again..." Shiratori told Tatsuya. Shiratori then glanced to Umbra. "And that is suppose to be your demon partner correct...? Humph... Ruthless just as you..." Shiratori commented. "Are you the person behind that false Mayumi?" Umbra asked. "Yes. I wanted to see how he would've reacted to see his partner killing his friend in cold blood, but I guess my memory isn't all that well. I keep forgetting the simple fact that that thing has no compassion and so the death of that other woman would not have bothered him in any way." Shiratori stated. "Your arrogance and judgement of Tatsuya is rather deeply rooted with hate. Just what grudge do you hold against him?" Umbra questioned.

"What grudge...? Hehehe... What grudge? HE HAS MURDERED MY MOTHER IN COLD BLOOD AND I HAVE YET TO REPAY THE FAVOR!!!" Shiratori shouted, a slight sense of madness can be heard in his voice. Hearing this, Umbra was a bit surprised. Umbra then looked to Tatsuya. "Surely this isn't true is it?" Umbra asked Tatsuya. Then, Umbra turned back to Shiratori. "No... Tatsuya would never stoop to such a level as to murder someone innocent, meaning, either you're putting the blame on the wrong person or your mother really is guilty of a crime worth being killed for." Umbra proclaimed. Hearing this, Shiratori became incredibly furious. Clenching his fists tightly and gritting his teeth, Shiratori suddenly lashed out towards Umbra. "SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH YOU PATHETIC DEMON!!! DON'T YOU DARE TALK ILL OF MY MOTHER!!!" Shiratori shouted.

Suddenly, Shiratori surged with immense power. Enough so that purple-colored soul energy lashed out in all directions, destroying the ground and other nearby objects. "TATSUYA TAKEDA, I WILL BURY YOU IN THIS VERY PLACE ALONG WITH THAT DAMN DEMON PARTNER OF YOURS!" Shiratori shouted.

-Meanwhile-

"'Dead Man Don't Sin'...?" Kinsei asked, looking at Shin clad in skeletal armor and radiating a powerful soul signature. "Correct. That is the name of my 'Messorem' power. As the name suggests, once I kill you, you won't be able to commit the most dangerous sin of pride ever again. Consider it as delivering you from a further escalated punishment dealt by the righteous and almighty God." Shin explained. "Look," Kinsei began as he turned his entire body around and swung his Bane of Purgatory onto his shoulder. "Your ranting is great and all, but like you said before, I'm the Prince of Pride, my goal ain't getting into Heaven, but getting back to Abaddon so I can gut that bastard Voland for what he did to me, and if you're standing in the way, then I guess I'll just have to cut you down Shin." Kinsei stated. After which, the flames floating above Kinsei's head became larger as well as Kinsei's ears becoming longer and pointer and his canines becoming larger.

"I see. Very well, then you'll just have to die an unforgiven sinner." Shin replied. "Go to a human that, but don't think you're higher than a prince." Kinsei grinned. Suddenly, Shin's skeletal boots began glowing a vivid dark blue color and in an instant, Shin was behind Kinsei, leaving only after a blue, blurry afterimage of where he used to stand. "(Damn he's fa-)" Before Kinsei could even complete his thought or turn around to face Shin, Shin fired a blue energy bullet towards Kinsei. Once it hit, Kinsei was sent flying back in a twirling motion. "GAH!" Kinsei uttered as he was hit. While in the air, Kinsei then stabbed his Bane of Purgatory onto the ground to slow and eventually cease his movement, landing onto his feet. Not even being able to take a single breath, Shin appeared behind Kinsei. Reacting faster this time around though, Kinsei swung his Bane of Purgatory in a wide arc though he missed Shin completely.

Instead of hitting Shin, Kinsei's Bane of Purgatory simply passed through a blue afterimage of Shin and Shin reappeared several feet away from Kinsei. "Damn... Just how fast are you...?" Kinsei asked. "With these '[b]Death Boots[/b]', I have become the fastest of my 'Messorem' brethren, and most likely, the fastest enemy you'll ever face." Shin proclaimed. "Wait... You said, 'Messorem brethren', does that mean there are more people brainwashed by Kuro?" Kinsei asked. "Brainwashed? How foolish of you to say that. We've been ascended. And with this power granted to us, we will eliminate the sinners like you." Shin replied.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

Tatsuya sighed after Umbra had gave his explanation of why he though the Mayumi was an imposter. "That just didn't seem like Mayumi to me. But it did look similar so I didn't want to harm it." Umbra had then looked to the staircase and called out to it. Soon Shiratori had walked down them. "Yeah, that's the guy. He's probably going for attempt number four. You'd think he'd learn his lesson after the first three attempts." There was some more talk between the two. Umbra had said how there was no way he'd attack an innocent. Tatsuya looked at Umbra for a second before mubling, "Umbra...," and nodded his head in agreement.

Tatsuya looked back at Shiratori who was now obviously pissed about what Umbra had just said. "Hey Umbra. It looks like this prick will become our new training dummy. You take his left side and I'll take his right. Attack fast and use multiple attacks. Try to cover as many angles as possible. You should be able to do that fine." Tatsuya grinned before pointing his Soul Slasher behind him. "And if possible block his vision. Just watch out for those eyes." His swords turned on and he immediatly started charging towards Shiratori. "I'll Slaughter You!"

[Hotaru987]

"What should I do?" Minawe hung her head in defeat. She was stuck. Unable to do anything.

"You are such an idiot." A familiar voice said, but Minawe didn't seem to have heard it as she didn't respond. The figure, who turned out to be Rei, walked up behind Minawe and placed a hand on her head. She jumped slightly not expecting the contact and looked up, becoming even more surprised at seeing Rei standing there. "R-rei? Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Listen to me Minawe. I know you don't want to hurt Jenos because he is a friend, but as a friend don't you think it is your duty to help him?" The sudden talk had Minawe a bit confused, but Rei just continued, "He's being forced to do this because of some strange power, and he has also been brainwashed into believing you and that other guy is the enemy. Do you really believe that our Jenos, the real Jenos wants to hurt you two? Don't you think he would want someone to stop him?"

"But-"

"Sometimes so help someone you have to make tough decisions. You've tried talking to him, but it hadn't worked. The only other option is to stop him by force. What if Jenos was in there right now watching, but unable to stop himself from trying to kill you two? Wouldn't you want someone to stop you if you were in his shoes?" Minawe wasn't truly convinced that fighting him was the right thing until Rei's last two sentences. Could the real Jenos be trapped inside, forced to watch himself hurt them and unable to do something about it. If that was her...She would want them to stop her. She wouldn't want to have to go through that.

Minawe looked at Jenos and for a brief second thought she saw something within his eyes, and a look of determination crossed her face, "You're right...I was being selfish. I don't want Jess to go through that when I could possibly do something about it." She grabbed her chakrums, "I'm going to save Jess, even if it kills me."

Rei smirked letting his hand fall to his side, "Thats the spirit."

"By the way...How did you know?" Rei stuffed his hands in his pockets, "We do have a telepathic link you know. Besides, its hard to miss Jenos' sudden spike of power up here. So are merging?" Minawe grinned, "Nope! I'm positive that Luna and I will be enough. Right Luna?" Rei shrugged and stepped back as to not get in the middle, as Minawe pointed at Jenos with her chakrum, "We're going to save you Jess. I promise."

[.:Blu:.]

Listening to Tatsuya's suggestions on fighting Shiratori, Umbra created a black blade from his soul energy. "I see... Very perceptive of you Tatsuya. So I just need to obscure his vision and avoid his eyes. Very well, I shall help you defeat this arrogant boy." Umbra replied. Taking the initiative, Tatsuya charged straight towards Shiratori with his Soul Slasher in hand and yelling out his battle cry, "I'll Slaughter You!" Umbra, taking Tatsuya's suggestion, charged for Shiratori's left. "(Two versus one. This will be too easy of a battle. Considering if he hasn't been able to do anything to Tatsuya, he won't present any problem when going up against mine and Tatsuya's combined strengths.)" Umbra thought to himself as he continued his charge. Once Umbra was at a suitable range from Shiratori, he threw his black energy blade up into the air. As it landed towards Umbra again, he caught the blade and at the same time, threw it quickly towards Shiratori.

"Do you think a single blade thrown at me will be able to-" Just when Shiratori's confidence was high, the black blade thrown by Umbra suddenly grew tendrils. The tendrils expanded rapidly and soon, the tendrils formed into a mass array of blades along with the original blade. Without speaking, Shiratori's eye transformed, and he then fixed his vision onto the sphere of blades heading towards him. In an instant, the giant sphere was forced onto the ground and shattered like glass. "(So this is what Tatsuya means. It seems his eye has the unique ability to control 'events' that can happen to objects. This ability doesn't seem to be something naturally occurring in a human. Unless that eye of his-)" While Umbra continued to think about Shiratori's eye, Shiratori then made his move. "If you want to play with numbers then very well, be my guest. I'm also quite adept at the game." Shiratori stated.

Suddenly, a massive number of black spears with purple outlines appeared, floating above and to the sides of Shiratori aimed at Tatsuya and Umbra. Seeing this, Umbra was surprised even more. "(Not only can his eye control 'events' of objects but his eye can also create objects which he can amass in a single move. Surely this person is more dangerous then he appears. However, that eye is the force behind everything. If me or Tatsuya can effectively blind him, even if only temporarily, we will win this battle.)" Umbra thought. Then, after a snap of the fingers, Shiratori fired all of the spears at once towards Tatsuya and Umbra. Seeing the incoming danger, Umbra took a new, more defensive-oriented stance. As one of the spears neared Umbra, he used his sword to hit aside. However, as his sword impacted with the spear, the spear seems to be unexpectedly powerful and even though Umbra was successful in hitting it aside, the spear impaled the ground only several feet away from Umbra.

"Tatsuya! Be careful! The spears are much stronger than I anticipated!" Umbra told Tatsuya from afar. Looking back to the incoming spears, Umbra began performing a dance-like attack, using his swords, feet, knees, elbows, and even his scarf to knock away the spears. It was rather beautiful to watch in a sense, but in reality, it is a deadly dance that the enemies should instinctively stay away from. Finishing his portion of the spears, Umbra wasted no time in charging towards Shiratori. "(I must avoid his eye.)" Umbra thought. Suddenly, Umbra began to move in an almost zigzag-like pattern so fast that Shiratori's demon eye couldn't keep up. "(Damn it!)" Shiratori thought to himself. Shiratori, knowing that he won't be able to dodge whatever Umbra may do, Shiratori instead created a black metal shield in front of him. Nearing Shiratori, Umbra then managed to land a powerful downward slash onto the black metal shield. The slash managed to cave the shield in a pretty good amount.

"Tatsuya!" Umbra called, signifying that this is a good opportunity for Tatsuya to attack Shiratori.

-Meanwhile-

Noticing Minawe hanging her head down, Isa looked back and his head also lowered slightly. "(Minawe...)" Isa thought. Suddenly, a voice said, "You are such an idiot," and instantly, Isa looked back to see Rei. "Rei!" Isa uttered in surprise, his eyes widened. Rei then proceeded to walk over to Minawe and placed his hand on her head. Then, Rei explained to Minawe that she must muster up the strength to fight in order to protect. He also brought up that the real Jenos may be forced to watch what is currently happening from within an uncontrollable body. Understanding what Rei is urging her to do, Minawe agreed that she must stop Jenos, even if it means risking her life. Hearing all of that, Isa felt inferior to Rei. "(He's such a strong person, both physically and mentally. Unlike me, he was able to convince Minawe of the right thing to do. Rei's in a totally different league.)" Isa thought.

When Rei asked Minawe if she wanted to merge, surprisingly, Minawe refused and instead told Rei that she will be able to save Jenos along with Lumi's help. "Right! But my name's Lumi!" Lumi replied energetically. After Rei's small speech, Lumi felt confident and ready to battle. A smile then formed on Isa's face. "Well, I'm no competition of Rei's, but allow me to help save our friend." Isa told Minawe. Suddenly, a calm clapping could be heard. It was Jenos, applauding Rei's sentimental speech about helping Jenos. "That was very good Rei. Did you made that up by yourself? Extra points to you then. However, it's useless to think that you can defeat me. You would've had a better shot of beating me if you have agreed to perform a possession with Rei, Minawe, but alas, your blatant refusal will cost you dearly. Even with the help of Isa, all of you shall lose, and that, is truth..." Jenos proclaimed.

"Jenos! We know you're in there! Just wait a little longer buddy, we'll get you out, we promise!" Isa suddenly placed both of his hands near his mouth and shouted. "Your foolishness is no longer amusing." Jenos stated, though his face seemed calm, his tone of voice was showing slight signs of annoyance. "Jenos! Stay strong!" Lumi shouted. "Pest..." Jenos said, getting more annoyed. Lumi then looked to Minawe. "Don't worry Minawe, you, me, and Isa will win and rescue Jenos! Umbra wasn't the only one that's been powering up since the last time we met!" Lumi stated. Suddenly, Lumi leaped onto the ground and his fur began to electrified. Next, Lumi's entire body began to glow in a bright yellow color. "I've been working hard to achieve this form, you better not treat me like any ordinary run-of-the-mill weapon!" Lumi told Minawe. Then suddenly, after a flash of yellow light, Lumi transformed into a humongous chakram with eight spikes.

Seeing this, Jenos was slightly surprised seen by his expression. Isa was also surprised. "Whoa! Lumi just turned himself into a giant chakram!" Isa exclaimed. "(Minawe! This is Lumi! I've transformed myself into my Blitzbringer mode. In this mode, I'm essentially a giant chakram! Ain't that cool?! Anyways, you can adjust the size by using your mind but I'm pretty lighter than you think, and oh, if you think I won't be able to cut anything, think again! You see those spikes? Well, we can combine our soul to create a blade of lightning which connects into a circle by those spikes, the intensity of the lightning blade can be adjusted of course! Well, this is basically what I can do to help. You just gotta use me to find out what I can really do!)" Lumi communicated to Minawe via telepathically. "Interesting. Very well, pick up that weapon and we can begin this battle." Jenos told Minawe.

[spoiler=Blitzbringer][img]http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs11/i/2006/200/e/7/orthographic_chakram_by_f14maverick100.jpg[/img]

Except it's a yellow color replacing the red.[/spoiler]

-Meanwhile-

"Well isn't this f*cking convenient? Now I get to know that there are more of these brainwashed people out there. What's more, the brainwashed one I'm facing is Shin and he boasts that he is the fastest enemy I'll ever face. That Kuro bastard really caused many a f*cking unbelievable number of headaches today. I'll make sure to pay him back after this." Kinsei stated. Gripping his Bane of Purgatory with both hands, Kinsei then took a more serious expression. "Now where were we?" Kinsei asked. Right after Kinsei had said that, Shin appeared from behind Kinsei and held up both of his pistols. Kinsei quickly turned but Shin already begun making his attack. Suddenly, Shin unleashed a barrage of blue energy bullets towards Kinsei in rapid succession. "F*ck!" Kinsei exclaimed as he was pelted by a couple of those hundreds of bullets.

Upon impact, explosions were created a small clouds of smoke were formed. Shin did not cease in his firing and continued without any signs of running out of ammo. Apparently, these energy bullets of his is unlimited in quantity. The assault was relentless. It was like being attacked by three of four turrets with enlarged bullets. Finally, a large explosion of blue flames occurred, creating a giant wall of blue flames that shot up high into the air. Seeing this, Shin stopped his unrelenting assault. The remaining bullets all perished as they made impact with the wall of blue flames. Finally, the wall die down, and a seriously damaged Kinsei was revealed. "D-Damn..." Kinsei muttered weakly. Without speaking, Shin appeared right in front of Kinsei and punched him in the face, sending him flying back onto a pile of rubble.

"Disappointing Kinsei. The son of Satan beaten so easily by a couple of bullets. Your pitiful." Shin told Kinsei. "W-What did you say...?" Kinsei asked, clenching his fists. "I said you are pitiful. And you call yourself the Prince of Pride. You shouldn't hold too much pride being how weak you are." Shin insulted. Hearing that, a sudden burst of blue flames occurred, forcing Shin to move back, leaving the flames hitting only a blue afterimage.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

Tatsuya watched as Umbra made the first attack. Him being much faster than Tatsuya he seemed to be able to quickly take the lead. Unfortunately though Umbra's attack was quickly destroyed by Shiratori's eye. Tatsuya grinned seeing the shattered remains of the sword. Seeing the now incoming spears and Umbra telling him how powerful they were Tatsuya tossed his Nulled Demon high into the air. Taking the risk he picked up some of the remains of the sword but managed to get a cut to his side.

Continuing to hold the remains of the sword in his hand Tatsuya jumped into the air and managed to get his feet on Nulled Demon. His two feet just barely made it onto the handle. Suddenly energy burst out of Nulled Demon and sent him flying towards Shiratori and the remaining incoming spears. He also used his Soul Slasher's energy to help manuever him around and to avoid a good amount of the spears. He could help though to get a few more deep cuts. After Umbra gave the signal Tatsuya jumped off of Nulled Demon and towards Shiratori. He quickly threw the debris in his left hand at Shiratori's face and with his right he went for a horizontal slash.

[Hotaru987]

Minawe smirked when Jenos mentioned that their chances of wining would have been better if she had chosen to merge with Rei, but now they were completely helpless. "I think you are mistaken Jess. Aruki, Luna and I will prove you wrong." Isa began shouting, attempting to assure the trapped Jenos that they will save him, but the brainwashed Jenos was becoming annoyed with this. Before the actual fighting could begin Lumi surprised everyone, especially Minawe, by transforming into his [i]Blitzbringer [/i]mode which was basically a giant chakrum. Minawe just stared in shock, "W-w-wow...Luna...You're awesome!!" She exclaimed as Lumi began to explain a few things he could do through telepathy.

Minawe reached out and grabbed the new weapon. It wasn't very heavy, just like Lumi said, and felt more like a paperclip in her hands. She could also feel her and Lumi's souls flowing as one. "Guess I really wont be needed." Rei chuckled lightly, now holding the two chakrams Minawe had tossed to him before arming herself with Lumi.

After oogoling over Lumi's new form for long enough, she faced Jenos again, "Let's not delay this any longer. We have a friend thats counting on us to save him." [i]'Alright Luna. Show me what you can do.' [/i]Minawe thought, and focused on pooling a bit of soul into Lumi, forming a single layer of lightening over the weapon. [i]'Let's start a bit easy yes?' [/i]Minawe threw the Blitzbringer towards Jenos, stumbling back slightly.

[.:Blu:.]

[center][size=5][b]CHAPTER 22: THE REAPER RHAPSODY 2 [THE DEATHBRINGERS][/b][/size][/center]


[spoiler=Chapter 22 Synopsis]As the battle against Jenos reach its starting point, a troubled Minawe was brought new hope thanks to Rei, and Lumi reveals a new power. However, a battle against Jenos' "Digital Devil Oversoul" won't be an easy one to win, especially when Jenos reveals a deadly new ability. Elsewhere, Tatsuya and Umbra faces off against an increasingly crazed Shiratori who will do whatever it takes to kill Tatsuya. And Kinsei on the other hand has his fair share of troubles facing off against Shin who boasted that he is the fastest opponent that Kinsei will ever face thanks to his "Dead Man Don't Sin".[/spoiler]


After forming a single layer of lightning on Blitzbringer, Minawe then threw it towards Jenos. As Blitzbringer was thrown, the air began to electrify and small busts of lightning occurred on the Blitzbringer's path towards Jenos. "Interesting, but a projectile weapon layered with lightning isn't enough to harm me." Jenos stated. Then, Jenos placed his left hand over the floating keyboard and began to type something. "Ctrl:Create:Missile." Jenos calmly said as he finished typing. Suddenly, pixelated soul energy burst from the laptop's screen and formed into a giant missile, about the same size as Minawe's Blitzbringer. Without any command given by Jenos, the missile suddenly fired on its own and headed straight towards the Blitzbringer. Jenos stayed calm, he seems confident that his missile will easily defeat Minawe's new weapon.

However, as the two weapons met, the Blitzbringer sliced Jenos' missile in half with ease and continued its path towards Jenos. As the missile was sliced in half, it exploded, causing a small cloud of smoke to form. Seeing this, Jenos was a bit surprised by the outcome. "It seems I've miscalculated..." Jenos said quietly. "[i]A single missile won't be able to stop me![/i]" Lumi's voice emanated from seemingly nowhere. "Alright Lumi! You got this in the bag!" Isa shouted. Hearing this, a calm smile formed on Jenos' face. "Highlight." Jenos commanded. Suddenly, the Blitzbringer was entrapped by a transparent, maroon-colored box. "Crap!" Isa exclaimed, seeing that the Blitzbringer was trapped. "[i]Oh no, I'm stuck! He's gonna delete me![/i]" Lumi exclaimed. "You see. I told you that you can't possibly wi-" Jenos' statement was suddenly stopped as he saw a surprising thing. "[i]Just kidding![/i]" Lumi exclaimed. Suddenly, the maroon-colored box was instantly torn to shreds by the lightning blade layered onto the Blitzbringer.

"H-Hey, Lumi broke through!" Isa said in relief. Without another word, the Blitzbringer, once again, made its way towards Jenos, rotating at an unbelievably fast speed. Jenos' calm smile, now wiped from his face, resorted to taking the defensive move. "Firewall." Jenos commanded. With that command, pixelated soul energy enveloped the ground and build itself into a transparent, maroon dome. Unbeknownst to Lumi however, Jenos' Firewall can cause a burning sensation if attacked, and Lumi is still continuing towards it while Jenos calmly stands there. "Oh no you don't!" a voice shouted. "Huh?!" Jenos was caught by surprise as Isa appeared leaping up towards the Firewall. "I know about this Firewall of yours all too well Jenos! I'll take the pain!" Isa shouted before launching a powerful punch at the dome structure.

Once Isa's fist made contact with the dome, it instantly shattered. Jenos was quite surprise by this. "(He-He broke my Firewall...!)" Jenos thought to himself as he gazed at Isa. "Hehe!" Isa smirked as his punch was able to destroy the dome. "(He has monstrous strength-)" Jenos' thought was interrupted as he heard the "buzzing-like" sound coming from the Blitzbringer, or in shorter terms, Lumi. Instantly reacting, Jenos created a huge cursor which he then leaped onto and flew up into the air, dodging the incoming Lumi. Missing Jenos, Lumi then turned back towards Minawe but not before hitting the ground and causing a large explosion of lightning. "Whoa!" Isa exclaimed as he jumped away from the huge pillar of lightning created by Lumi. Though not saying anything, it was clearly shown on Jenos' face that he was caught off guard by Lumi's power.

Finally, Lumi flew back to Minawe, being caught by her with ease as if she was handling her small chakrams. "[i]Aww man, looks like I missed! Hey, we should probably dial down the power a bit, you don't seem to know just how powerful your soul and mine's are when they combined.[/i]" Lumi told Minawe.

-Meanwhile-

"(Damn it! This demon's one slash was powerful enough to dent my shield?!)" Shiratori thought to himself. After the signal was given by Umbra for Tatsuya to make his move, Tatsuya jumped off of his Nulled Demon, which he had been riding on to get to Shiratori while evading the incoming spears. Finally off, Tatsuya threw some debris towards Shiratori in order to either blind him or at least serve as a distraction while Tatsuya went for a horizontal cut. Taking the bait, Shiratori crumbled the debris upon itself, however, know he won't be able to dodge Tatsuya's attack. Fortunately for Shiratori, he was able to move his shield just in time so that Tatsuya's attack would slash the shield instead of Shiratori himself. Even so, as Tatsuya's slash went clean through the shield, it also managed to slash Shiratori across his chest though not by much.

Shiratori quickly dropped his shield parts and leaped back to safety. "Excellent work Tatsuya." Umbra complimented. Gritting his teeth with his fists clenched, Shiratori narrowed his vision onto Tatsuya, but suddenly, a black cloak blocked Shiratori's vision. "What is this?!" Shiratori asked. Then, tendrils burst from the cloak and headed towards Shiratori, aiming to impale him. Seeing this, Shiratori quickly collapsed the cloak upon itself along with its tendrils. After that, Shiratori was now faced with Tatsuya and Umbra who was right in front of Shiratori. "Tatsuya." Umbra said, suggesting that they go for a simultaneous attack. For Umbra, he aimed a pushing kick right for Shiratori's stomach.

-Meanwhile-

Once the flames have died, Kinsei was shown standing there, looking rather calm once again. "Man oh man, have you really crossed the line with that comment. Telling me I'm pitiful? I don't care if you are Shin, for that I'm gonna make you pay." Kinsei told Shin. Shin wasn't intimidated a bit by what Kinsei had just said. "Funny. All this time I've been the one doing the beating and you haven't even landed a single hit on me. How do you suppose you're going to make me 'pay' when you can't even catch me?" Shin asked. Suddenly, Shin appeared above Kinsei, aiming one of his pistol down towards Kinsei. Without another word, Shin began firing out another barrage of blue energy bullets. Seeing the incoming attacks, Kinsei began running to avoid the bullets. "(How the hell am I suppose to keep up with his damn ureal speed?!)" Kinsei thought to himself.

As the bullets that had been fired pelted and exploded on the ground, Shin reappeared several feet in front of Kinsei and let off another belt of bullets. "Sh*t!" Kinsei exclaimed before placing his Bane of Purgatory in front of him to block the incoming bullets. As they impacted with Kinsei's Bane of Purgatory, the bullets exploded, enveloping Kinsei in a cloud of smoke. "He took a direct assault. Even if he doesn't die that barrage of attacks should-" But before Shin could finish what he was saying, a long, black tail emerged from the smoke and shot towards Shin at high speed. However, Shin knew the tail would never be able to catch him due to his superior speed and so Shin disappeared from his place and reappeared into the air.

Then, Shin was caught off guard as the tail suddenly wrapped itself around Shin. "What?!" Shin was then smashed right into the ground by the tail. As Shin smashed into the ground, a small crater was created. In the aftermath, the tail recoiled from Shin and stepping out from the smoke cloud was Kinsei, how seemed to be unharmed. "B-But how...?" Shin asked weakly as he saw Kinsei. "Heh, I almost forgot myself but my demon wings can act like a powerful shield and due to your predictability, I was able to catch you with my tail. Now you wanna take back that comment from earlier?" Kinsei asked, feeling rather confident about himself.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

Tatsuya nodded his head after Umbra said his name. "Let's show this bastard why he shouldn't f*ck with me." Tatsuya dropped his Soul Slasher and quickly stepped closer to Shiratori in a boxer-like movement. Again, like a boxer, both his fists were raised up. Umbra was going for a kick to Shiratori's stomach so Tatsuya was going for a series of punches to Shiratori's stomach. He was also ready to move to accomodate for the push from Umbra's kick. For each punch he put in more and more power. "Hey Shiratori, did you notice?"

[Hotaru987]

Minawe was in complete shock from the second she released Lumi. He wasn't kidding when he said he was training during the time that he was absent. He was...Well, awesome! There were a few times where Minawe became worried, like when Jenos tried to 'delete' Lumi, or when he put up his 'Firewall'. She remembered what it did and was going to call Lumi back but Isa surprised her by punching the dome and completely destroyng it. Minawe knew he knew the effects of Jenos' ability and gave him a thankful smile, "Thanks Aruki!"

Seeing Lumi returning to her she redied herself and easily caught him. "Y-yeah, we should. I want to minimize the damage to Jenos as much as is afforded." She said in responce to Lumi's suggestion. Minawe looked up at Jenos, "Hey Lumi, do you remember the first fight with Rednose? Jenos is pretty fast, but if we can deploy that same strategy you could get a direct hit on him. Do you think it's possible?"

[.:Blu:.]

After a moment had passed, Isa suddenly fell onto his butt while grabbing onto his wrist of the hand he used to destroy Jenos' Firewall. "Ahh! Holy crap that burns! Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch!" Isa comically repeated as he was shaking his hand. Back to Minawe and Lumi, Minawe suggested that they should go with the plan that they used on Rednocte during the first time they fought him. "[i]Oh, do you mean electrifying the atmosphere until the point that I can attract metal? That's an awesome plan but only one little problem...[/i]" Lumi began. "[i]JENOS DOESN'T USE METAL!!![/i]" Lumi scolded. "[i]Unless it's another strategy we used, I suggest thinking of a new plan for this battle.[/i]" Lumi said. "H-Hey you guys watch out!" Isa shouted. From above, on his cursor, Jenos began dive bombing towards Minawe and Lumi.

"[i]Wahhh! He's coming after us![/i]" Lumi exclaimed. "Ctrl:Create:Bombs." Jenos commanded. Suddenly, two panels on the underside of the cursor opened up and released a flurry of pixelated bombs toward Minawe and Lumi. "[i]H-Hey, I can't run so you gotta get me outta here Minawe![/i]" Lumi proclaimed. As the first few bombs hit the ground several feet away from Minawe and Lumi, they caused powerful explosions, way more powerful then the larger missile fired last time by Jenos.

-Meanwhile-

With their combined attacks, Tatsuya with his flurry of punches and Umbra with his barrage of kicks, the two were managing to deal some major damage to Shiratori, especially Tatsuya. Each one of Tatsuya's attacks became increasingly more powerful. Tatsuya then asked Shiratori if he noticed his power increasing, but due to the unrelenting attacks, Shiratori could not answer at all. Finally, with a last punch and kick combo, Shiratori was sent flying back and hitting the ground hard. "That should put him down for awhile." Umbra said. However, the persistent Shiratori began getting back up. "Be smart, stay down." Umbra warned Shiratori. "Hehehehe... HeheheHAHAHAHA! YOU THINK YOU'VE WON???!!! FAR FROM IT!!! WITH MY NEW POWER, I'LL MAKE YOU FOOLS TREMBLE UPON YOUR KNEES BEGGING FOR MERCY!!!!" Shiratori shouted, an overwhelming madness in his voice.

"You arrogant fool... Still being blinded by unjustified vengeance... To those who seek vengeance, there will be no path to true salvation..." Umbra proclaimed. "Shut up! What the hell do you know?! You're just a demon! Don't talk about retribution as if you're a priest! This thing murdered my mother and I won't rest until I've killed him or he kills me!" Shiratori replied. "Tatsuya, must we break his bones in order for him to stop?" Umbra asked. "Hehehe, break my bones...? Do you really think you two can do that?! Let me show you the power of 'Messorem'!" Shiratori shouted. After that, a massive explosion of purple energy shot up from Shiratori into the air, creating a high pillar of purple soul energy. "Unbelievable...!" Umbra muttered seeing the sudden, immense burst of soul energy coming from Shiratori. "This power... It's unreal...!" Umbra added.

After a moment, the pillar of soul energy instantly disappeared, replaced by a large amount of smoke. "T-The energy is gone... Tatsuya, are you alright?" Umbra asked. "And the demons gathered within the plains of the tainted. Only a single deity stands to relinquish them of their certain eternal torment..." Shiratori's voice came from within the smoke. Though they can hear him, they cannot see him. Then, as the smoke cleared, a figure clad in white armor was shown. It was Shiratori, transformed by the power of 'Messorem'. On top of his academy clothing, Shiratori is now adorn with white skeletal armor, the trademark of those influenced by the power of 'Messorem'. A solid mantle with the structure of bone with a large skull in the middle of the mantle that only has one huge eye socket now rests upon Shiratori's upper body. At the bottom portion of the mantle are strands comprising of tiny, individuals diamonds with bone-like structure connected together. Shiratori now wears skeletal gloves and has skeletal armor around his hip. Flowing down and around the skeletal armor is a black waist cape with white fur lining.

On his left leg only, Shiratori now wears a skeletal greave along with a skeletal solleret. On his face, near his demon eye, there is a skeletal plate consisting of two skeletal strips, one above his eye and one below, that connects with one another near his ear. Finally, and the most distinguishing new feature of his powers, are seven small, circular, skeletal objects floating in an ark around Shiratori, with three being of his left and right and one floating above his head. Each floating object has a circular socket in the middle of it with a floating gem inside, and each gem are colored differently. Seeing the new Shiratori, a calmer yet still cold-looking Shiratori, Umbra was quite surprised at his appearance. "Just what in the world is this...?" Umbra asked. "This is the power granted to me by 'Messorem'. Its name is '[b]Messenger of The End[/b]'..." Shiratori stated calmly.

-Meanwhile-

"I see... So you think my movements are predictable correct...?" Shin asked Kinsei. Suddenly, Shin appeared right in front of Kinsei and lifted his gun towards Kinsei's forehead. "You shouldn't have been so cocky..." Shin stated before letting off a point-blank range soul bullet. As the energy shot passed Kinsei's face and hit some nearby debris, a massive explosion of blue soul energy occurred, showing how powerful that single attack was. Instantly, without showing his head, Kinsei fell onto his knees and then onto the ground while Shin looks on. "You've let your pride get in the way and thus you let your guard down. Even you can't survive a point-blank range blast from my 'Death Pistol'... How foolish of you Kinsei..." Shin said. After a moment of silence, Shin then turned the opposite direction and walked off, leaving a gravely injured Kinsei laying there.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

Tatsuya sighed as Shiratori got back up, clearly refusing to give up. "I guess he didn't notice. He didn't notice that we weren't using our weapons or powers and not actually going for any fatal blows." Tatsuya was slowly losing interested in Shiratori altogether until he said one thing he shouldn't have. He said Umbra was 'just a demon.' Rage filled his eyes but not because he had just insulted his demon partner. "You F*cking Moron!" He was about to charge at Shiratori with his fists clenched but suddenly there was a large explosion of purple energy.

Tatsuya quickly picked up Nulled Demon and jumped back. He landed next to Soul Slasher and picked it up. "I probably should mention that this whole purple energy thing is new." After the energy dispersed there was a huge cloud of smoke. From the smoke they could hear Shiratori's voice. "What the hell is Messorem...?" He readied his two swords for combat. "Whatever the hell this power is it's going to be tough to beat. No holding back now." He looked at Shiratori his eyes still holding some of their earlier rage. "Hey dumbf*ck! You're mother was a demon too! And guess what?! You're just as much of a demon as me you hypocritical bastard!"

[Hotaru987]

When Lumi completely ripped a hole in her plan, Minawe sweatdropped using her free hand to scratch the back of her head in embarressment, "O-oh yeah. I'm just brainstorming here." She tried to say in her defence. Off to the side she could hear Isa complaining about the side effects of Jenos' [i]Firewall [/i]ability. Sadly that was the least of her worries. Jenos was begining his attack, flying overhead and dropping bombs at Minawe and Lumi. A few of the bombs hit some feet away from her but even so, the shockwaves had Minawe being sent back. To keep herself from flying off of the roof she had to dig Blitzbringer into the roof.

"That power is no joke. I've never seen anything like that." Minawe said as the rest of Jenos' bombs were coming at her. She attempted to jump out of the way, but the shockwave - now much closer - propelled her even further and which much more strength. The edge of the roof was coming quickly, but instead of trying to stop herself she instead, aimed at Jenos and threw Lumi towards Jenos hoping to catch him off guard by her quick attack.

Minawe caught quite the lucky break by being able to grab the edge of the roof, preventing herself from falling off. Even so that was the least of her concerns, "Did I get him?"

"You should worry about yourself idiot." Rei scolded quickly running over to where Minawe was. He was temporarily blinded by the explosion and had lost track of Minawe during that time. He helped her up. "Thanks."

[.:Blu:.]

"(Crap! Even though both Minawe and Jenos are long-range fighters, Jenos also has defensive techniques, and if Jenos uses his Firewall again then Lumi won't be able to even reach Jenos! I gotta do something!)" Isa thought to himself even though his arm was still feeling as if it's on fire. After Minawe had threw Lumi towards Jenos, instead of using his Firewall, Jenos planned to evade Lumi completely. "(It won't reach me-)" Suddenly, Jenos' thought was interrupted as Isa leaped towards Jenos, attempting to knock Jenos off of his cursor with a punch. "Humph, this time, your attack won't make contact with anything..." Jenos stated before pressing his finger against his left gauntlet as if there was an invisible button there. Suddenly, blood shot up into the air, and it was revealed that the blood came from Isa's arm, the one that he was attempting to punch Jenos with.

Isa's arm muscle was somehow severed by some unseen force. "(What the-)" Isa thought to himself with widened eyes as he saw the sudden deep cut on his forearm with blood shooting up into the air in a manner similar to water being shot from a squirt gun. Then, Isa fell onto the ground, without completing his purpose of knocking Jenos off of his cursor. "[i]Isa![/i]" Lumi shouted as he continued his path towards Jenos. Before Lumi could reach Jenos, Jenos took a left turn and flew off to avoid the attack. "[i]I'm not letting you go that easily![/i]" Lumi stated before taking a turn of his own. Seeing this, Jenos was a bit surprised. "(So it can also turn instead of just heading straight. Interesting.)" Jenos thought before turning around on his cursor. "Highlight x5." Jenos commanded as he placed his hand out towards Lumi. After the command was given, one transparent, maroon box appeared just a couple feet ahead of Lumi.

"[i]That won't stop me![/i]" Lumi pushed on. Easily, Lumi destroyed the box and caused a small explosion once Lumi had slice through the box. Then, two more boxes appeared in front of Lumi. "[i]What the- More?[/i]" Lumi asked. Once again, Lumi easily destroyed those two boxes. Once again, two more boxes appeared and Lumi easily destroyed them as well. Jenos continued to create the boxes until Isa suddenly jumped up from behind Jenos, catching him off guard. "Hah! Got you know Jenos!" Isa exclaimed with a big grin. Jenos quickly tilted his head with widened eyes but it was too late for Jenos to do anything about it. "Hey Jenos, if you're in there, then I'm sorry about this next one! It's gonna hurt!" Isa said before delivering a powerful headbutt right onto Jenos' forehead. "Ugh!" Jenos grunted as the literal head-on blow connected, and sending Jenos falling off of the cursor.

Then, at that moment, Lumi sped up and went in for the final attack. As Lumi connected with Jenos, a medium-sized explosion of lightning occurred and shocked Jenos for a duration of about five or so seconds. "Gahhhh!" Jenos shouted as he was shocked. Finally, the lightning disappeared and Jenos fell onto the ground, limp and unconscious. Isa also fell onto the ground on his butt while Lumi flew back to Minawe to be caught."Ouch! Damn, this rooftop is hard!" Isa complained. Finally, in the aftermath, Isa stood up, with both hands limp. "Hey you guys, I think we got 'em." Isa said, looking at the unconscious Jenos who was still clad in the skeletal armor however.

-Meanwhile-

Shiratori stayed completely calm and composed as he listened to Tatsuya's rage-filled shout. "Are you finished? You talk too much..." Shiratori told Tatsuya. Before Tatsuya could respond hastily, Umbra suddenly held his arm out in front of Tatsuya. "Don't do anything rash Tatsuya..." Umbra said. "We've no idea just what kind of power he has with this form so we have to go into this battle with a level-head. Turn your rage into strength but use that same strength to control your rage." Umbra explained. "Now, we outnumber him two to one. I can adapt to situations better than you can so let me go in first and when it's the right time, you can strike." Umbra said. "Are you two going to attempt to attack me or will you two just stand right there the entire time and talk?" Shiratori asked with an impassive tone of voice.

"No matter, I want to show you something Tatsuya Takeda..." Shiratori said. "You see these seven objects floating around me? I call them '[b]Heads[/b]' and one particular Head will see to it that a person close to you suffers..." Shiratori stated. Suddenly, one of the Heads, the one located at the top of the three on Shiratori's left with a black gem, began glowing. After a second, a rift opened up and what came falling outside the rift was a surprising sight. Mayumi, in her patient gown and still unconscious, fell from the rift, only to be caught by Shiratori with his left hand. As he caught Mayumi, the rift closed and the Head's gem stopped glowing. "That's-" Umbra uttered when he saw Mayumi. "I can assure you that this Mayumi is the real one, and now, she's going to suffer because of you..." Shiratori stated.

"Tatsuya... The soul signature coming from that woman... She's definitely real..." Umbra confirmed Shiratori's statement. Suddenly, a blade materialized in Shiratori's right hand. "Now, do you think she'll wake up if I impale this blade through her arm...?" Shiratori asked.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

Tatsuya was about to jump out at Shiratori but Umbra put his hand out in front of him to stop him. Tatsuya stopped to listen to what Umbra said about his anger. "I'll try but it'll be hard with how badly this prick pisses me off." Umbra had then said he'd go in first because of his better adaptability in battle. "Fine. But after you do that I'm going to wipe the floor with him." Tatsuya sighed as Shiratori began to talk. "I really don't give a f*ck. And he complained about me talking too much..."

Tatsuya looked unimpressed at first by the rift but his eyes quickly widened after seeing what dropped out. "You bastard! Trying the same dirty trick again?!" It wasn't until Umbra said it was the real one that he really believed it. He tightened his grip on his swords and his eyes widened even more after the sword appeared in Shiratori's hand and he made the threat. "No...No. No! NO!!! Don't You F*cking Dare Hurt Mayumi!!! Leave her out of this! She has nothing to do with whatever the f*ck you think I did."