71 Bardo

They were in a dimly lit room. In complete contrast to where they were previously, the room they were in was cold and metallic. Along with the cold feel of the room, the atmosphere had a touch of death in the air. Arata and Ryouma were lying down on two metallic tables with symbols and runes carved into them. Eamon stood quietly between the two tables, whereas Eva and Granny Mo stood on the other sides of the tables, Eva next to Ryouma and Granny Mo next to Arata. Granny Mo spoke to the two boys.

"Do you remember what your objectives are?"

Arata nodded.

"To infiltrate the Demon's Valley, implant the Memory and extract as much information possible."

Ryouma then spoke up.

"To create the necessary distractions to allow Captain to enter freely, undetected."

Eamon nodded.

"Now, time will be limited. If you spend too long inside, we may not be able to pull you back out, so move quickly."

The two boys nodded. Ryouma held his blade between the two tables. Arata gripped the handle, as did Eamon. Granny Mo gave Eva a look and the two nodded in understanding. Eamon blinked and his eyes were now glowing white. He seemed to be looking far off into the distance, searching for something. He finally found what he was looking for and spoke.

"This a spot quite close to their territory. I can't deliver you inside as they have barriers in place and they will detect us if we get too close. It will come down to Ryouma whether or not you can get through unnoticed, Arata."

The two boys on the table nodded before closing their eyes. Ryouma tapped into the Energy within the Kurou no Tatsu. Eamon also added his Energy into the blade. The symbols on the tables began to glow brightly. Arata and Ryouma felt a surge of pain coming from the blade, their hands seemed to be stuck to the blade, as if it was magnetized to their palms. Eva and Granny Mo began to channel their Energy, waiting for Eamon's signal. He frowned in concentration as the glowing seals on the table began to float of the table and attach themselves to Arata and Ryouma.

As the seals found a place on their bodies, Eamon sent a powerful wave of Energy into the blade and into the two boys. The two boys began to shake violently as they were hit by this powerful surge of Energy, but the seals began to glow brighter and sealed them into place. Eamon yelled hoarsely.

"Now."

Eva and Granny Mo gathered their Energies into their palms as they slammed their hands on the boys chest. A powerful strike of concentrated Energy rushed at their hearts, stopping them. The two boys stopped breathing and became completely still and silent. The symbols continued to glow and their hands were still stuck the the blade, but the rest of their bodies were completely limp. They were dead.

Eva and Granny Mo closed their eyes as they flowed Energy into the two boys "dead" bodies, while Eamon closed his eyes and began to focus in on the Kurou no Tatsu's Energy signature.

"Let's see what the two of you can do."

Arata and Ryouma opened their eyes. The pain they had felt was excruciating, but it was then followed by nothing. A numbness. They felt that they couldn't feel, like they were void of any emotions or any sensory feelings. It was a strange state to find yourself. They didn't know how long they were there, as they couldn't even feel a sense of time, but the next moment, they were at the entrance of some sort of valley.

They looked up and saw the two large rocks that made the outsides of the valley, it went up so high that neither of them could see the top. They looked towards each other and were stunned at what they saw. The two of them were covered in a strange, dark Energy. They were also able to see through each other, they had become transparent. Arata sighed.

"So, now we're ghosts, huh."

Ryouma chuckled. It seemed that they could still speak and hear each other. Arata moved over to the large rock formation to his right, a part of the valley walls, and placed his hand on it. He could partially feel the rock on his skin, but he also felt that he couldn't if he didn't want to. He focused on this thought and his hand passed through the wall. He nodded his head.

"Interesting."

He pulled his hand back and looked towards Ryouma.

"We don't have long, so we should get a move on."

Ryouma nodded as he followed Arata into the Valley. The two boys were in a realm and state of being known as Bardo, one of the states between life and death that Eamon explained to them.

"I need to kill you and your Shadowguard."

Hearing these words, Ryouma had a shocked look on his face as he froze in place. Did he just say that he wants to kill us? Ryouma urgently looked at Arata and was stunned to see him calmly nod in reply.

"You wish to send us as Necromantic Scouts."

Eamon grinned.

"You truly are your Father's son. I doubt many people could make that connection from my statement. Young Ryouma, for example, seems a little tense."

Arata looked at Ryouma and grinned.

"Don't worry, we are only dying temporarily."

Ryouma frowned.

"And that makes it better? Can someone please explain to me what is going on."

Eamon looked over to Eva who nodded as she stepped forward. Her hands began to glow as she made different hand gestures in quick succession, before bringing her palms up. Light shot out of her palms and created four revolving symbols.

"The Demons of the Valley are a Dark Guild that specializes in Necromancy and corruptive souls. There is an aura of Death that covers all of its members. The Valley that they reside in has a barrier that prevents those with an aura of life on them from entering. So for us to get you in, you must either kill so many innocents that your Soul and your Energy becomes corrupted, or you need to die."

Ryouma made a look of disgust. Most people despised something as dark and twisted as Necromancy. The thought of forcing the dead to become your slaves was a sickening thought to most people. Ryuouma, as did most people, had a hate for Necromancy and all those that used it. Arata could see the thoughts that Ryouma was having.

"There are no inherently evil powers and abilities. There are only those that use those powers for evil purposes. Yes, there are dark aspects to Necromancy, but there are some battles that can only be won with the use of it. Now that you are in the Sato Clan, you must always remember that we fight in the shadows. And that means that we must also use the powers and abilities of the shadows. Sometimes to defeat your enemy, you must beat them at their own game."

Eamon nodded his head with a solemn look on his face.

"Even if that means we need to embrace their techniques to do it. It is better for our souls to be tarnished than have innocents blood be shed."

Ryouma realized that Eamon and Arata had pained looks in their eyes. He understood that they are only doing what they need to, they willingly embraced the darkness so that others could live in the light. He felt guilty for his quick judgement towards Necromancy. Eamon looked back to Ryouma and continued, gesturing to the floating symbols Eva had made.

"For those that study and use Necromancy, there are four states of death that you must be aware of. The first is Ascension. This is the common state of Death, where the person dies and the soul leaves their body, and either leaves to the afterlife or re-enters the Reincarnation cycle. The second state is Purgatory. This is where a soul or Spirit is trapped between life and death, unable to fully be in either. This can be caused by the body refusing to let the soul leave, trapping it in place, or when a dead body is used by a Necromancer, the spirit is unable to move on as their body has been forcefully resurrected, restricting their spirit from continuing on it's journey. The third state...."

Eamon paused as he looked at one of the floating symbols. Arata and Granny Mo also looked at the symbol with solemn faces. Eamon shook his head.

"We can talk about that one another time. The important one for us is the fourth state. Bardo. Bardo is one of the most important states for a Necromancer. It is a state of being where the soul has left the body, but remains connected to this world in an ethereal form. When trained to certain levels, spirits in the Bardo state can attain extreme power and reach heights that the person may not have been able to in life. There are times when people die with powerful feelings of regret, anger and despair. Those emotions can be strong enough to keep the soul attached to the world. But this state is difficult to maintain without enough power and will."

Arata nodded.

"And that will be the state that we will enter. With a large enough source of darkness and death, and Master Eamon's guidance, we should be able to enter the Bardo state for a period of time and enter the Demon's Valley."

Ryouma was shocked, but he forced himself to remain calm.

"But where are we going to find a source of Dark Energy that can sustain the Bardo state? From my understanding of souls, you would need a large amount to keep the connection of just one of us."

Arata grinned as he tapped the blade on Ryouma's back.

"With Kurou no Tatsu, that shouldn't be a problem."

Ryouma was still not willing to die yet, so he raised another concern.

"What about after the mission is done, how will we get back?"

Granny Mo chuckled.

"That's why you all came to me. Enough with the questions, we need to move fast."

The two boys entered into the intimidating entrance to the Valley. Ryouma was looking at his arms as they walked forward.

"You know, it doesn't feel as bad as I thought it would."

Arata chuckled.

"Death ain't so bad."

There was a large gate before them and a barrier in front of it. This was the barrier that kept those with an aura of life from entering. The two passed through the barrier quite easily. The gates began to open slowly, sensing their presence. Arata nodded at Ryouma as he made a few symbols with his hands and seemed to melt away. Ryouma's face changed to one of sadness and pain as he looked towards the gate. He walked a few steps forward when two young men appeared, walking out from inside the gate. One of them chuckled as he saw Ryouma.

"It's just a kid. Seems like a despaired soul. For him to die this young, must have been pretty tragic."

Although he said this with a seemingly sympathetic tone, he had a sinister grin as he stared at Ryouma. The other man yawned as he saw the kid.

"It's just some brat. Let's head back inside."

Ryouma began to yell as he channelled his Energy. He found that his Energy circulated differently in this state, it was moving a lot faster. He could also feel the power of the Kurou no Tatsu within him, flowing seamlessly. He roared as his Energy exploded.

"Bastards!!! I'll kill all of you!!"

Ryouma had a look of wild rage and fury. The two men looked at each other and grinned.

"Seems like the kid has some power, not bad."

The other nodded his head with a vicious grin.

"That is a powerful piece of Dark Energy. I can feel the hatred coming from him. It will be a nice addition to the collection."

As the man walked forward, three more men walked out of the gate.

"Hands off, Marco. This one is mine."

The man called Marco turned around with a look of indignation.

"Finders keepers, kid. This one's mine."

Before he could react, Ryouma had rushed up behind him and slammed into him. Marco was stunned as he was sent flying towards the gate in an explosion of black flames. The three men dodged out of the way. The man who had called out before looked at Ryouma with a look of hunger.

"Dark Flames. I need this one."

Ryouma roared hysterically as he charged at the men. As he clashed with them, they summoned up spirits of their own. These spirits were mere shadows as they tried to latch on to Ryouma. Ryouma roared and yelled as he struggled against them.

"Get off me, you bastards!! I'll kill all of you!!!"

More people came out of the gates, curious to see what was going on. As they felt the Energy coming from Ryouma, they all had looks of greed as they entered the battle as well, each trying to gain control of this powerful Spirit. Spirit's also gathered as they watched this rampaging Spirit go wild. Amidst the chaos, a shadow moved off of Ryouma and worked it's way under the frenzied Necromancer as they channelled their magic, focused fully on Ryouma. As the Shadow entered through the gate. It then seemed to grow as a young boy appeared in the midst of the other spirits that were watching. The young boy grinned as he slowly turned around and moved inside.

"Nice acting, Ryouma. Keep everyone entertained for a bit longer."