Enter The Dolphin

Silence filled their surroundings except for the painful groans coming from Albert which was music to Rei's ears. It continued on but it wasn't long before Albert got back on his toes. He wiped the painful expression and the blood oozing out from his right eye with his forearm before he staggered towards Rei.

Rei was lying on the ground like a poor piece of charcoal left inside a grill. Albert was taken aback by what he saw but after a few seconds, he raised his head with a conceited smile and said, "Well… we won… I guess I didn't SEE that coming."

"Aaaahlllaaaghhhaaa…" Rei followed where the voice had come from as he shook his body like a stiff piece of broken firewood that he was. His whole face had been burned off to the point that even the back of his jaws was toast. His eyes were hollowed and his tongue had been torn off but he was still able to raise his arm to show Albert his middle finger.

"Oh… my bad... Am I going too far?… But still, thanks. " Albert smiled. "I should really be grateful… maybe I am, still BLINDED by my arrogance."

"Ffffaaaaaaaaaaaa…. Aaaaalaaaaaagghaaaaaa" Rei swayed his head from side to side while Albert continued to laugh as much as he could until Tanaka caught his attention.

"Oh, I SEE someone's getting burned right… oh, wait… give me a sec." Tanaka came out of the door and grabbed his knees to catch his breath. His throat was as dry as sandpaper and he felt like his body needed a third lung to function. He lifted his head and wiped the sweat dropping at the bottom of his face before he resumed his calm demeanor. "I'm too old for this type of exercise… anyways, where's Mary?"

"Huh?" Albert scratched his cheek and replied, "Isn't she supposed to be with you? Actually… I think heard her down… below…"

They shared the same worried look on the faces before their backs straightened out with panic. Tanak ran towards the side of the roof and saw a thin red line on the walls of the building up front. The line started at the cracked piece of concrete on the third floor down to the bottom and that's where they found her. She was drenched in her own pool of blood like a deformed popsicle left to melt on the floor.

Tanaka stretched out his arm and revealed his broken fingers. He squinted and gritted his teeth as he tilted his head before he was able to conjure his strings to fetch her. It didn't take long before they saw what happened.

She looked like she got hit by a bus. Her eyes followed their movements until they lied her down together with Rei. Her legs were snapped like a match with its bones sticking out of her flesh. Her arms were dowsed with blood. She lost a few fingers and the remaining ones had their skin and nails torn off.

"What the hell did she do…" Albert looked towards the straight cuts on the floor and scratched the back of his head.

"I didn't think that it would end like that… I didn't think that she would agree…" Tanaka cleared his throat and rubbed his palms together, he felt uncomfortable as if there was something lodged in his chest. "Well… at least she's alright… at least we're alright"

"Waaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaheeeeeennnnn…. Wwwwwaaaaaaaaahaaaheenn… " Rei reminded them that he was still there.

"Well, I guess soo…" Albert sat down on the floor and poked her cheeks until their eyes had met. "Well… I don't mind having Rei hear this but I want to say t-"

"Two of them are about to die, one is old and one is half blind." A white man covered by the guise of the darkness entered their space along with a few imps and apparitions around them. They came in all shapes in sizes but they shared the same gaze like a pack of wolves in front of their dinner.

"Damn it… Did they really do it?" One of them shouted from afar.

"These bastards… they killed… they killed Uncle James…"

"Don't worry… we'll make them pay" Said the man as he walked forward. Albert took the chance to draw his knife and the man just gave a nod to his side. "Lenard, do your thing."

Tanaka grunted as he walked forward to protect those who are behind him. He raised his arm and made a ball out of his bloodied hand which were now covered with strings. He took a sharp breath through his nose and said, "I'll take care of this…Albert. Close your eyes"

"What?" He replied. "Am I… like a kid or something?"

"Hoooh… the old man is stepping up." The one named Lenard walked and cast his shadow towards his side. "You sure you'll be able to do this on your own? It looks like the other could put up a better fight, I don't like beating old people."

Tanaka turned his head to Albert and said, "Shut up and close your eyes. I need this."

Albert then swallowed his saliva and shut his eyes. Mary did the same thing and with that, Tanaka had his breath of relief. Lenard just smiled and grabbed his shoulder. He pressed his fingers onto his bones and he pushed him back saying, "You wanna g-"

Tanaka snapped his fingers. Lenard was engulfed by a coil of strings and his body was dragged to the side of the roof and down the building before they could even react. It left a thick trail of mashed flesh on the floor like a line made by a melted crayon on a heated pan.

It left with an impact that shook the ground and that became their wakeup call. The man that lead the group of imps and apparitions jumped back but Tanaka waved his hand and erased him before his feet could even land. This angered the others that surrounded them and they all roared as they went in to attack him.

Tanaka seemed to have the upper hand. The first ones that got into his space were reduced to paste but some of then managed to push through. A few managed to land a blow or two before they disappeared while the imps just got torn to pieces until one was able to reach his leg.

A set of violet chains then caught his left arm before it managed to catch the other one. The remaining spirits stepped back and kept their distance as the seemingly never-ending number of imps swarmed in. He covered himself in a thick layer of strings but that didn't stop the fangs of those imps as they sank their teeth through his skin.

Albert couldn't take it anymore and as soon as he heard Tanaka scream, he opened his eyes and rushed to his aid. He managed to bury his knife and kill the two imps that gnawed Tanaka's head and shoulder but, the woulds on his leg and his missing eye didn't help that much.

An imp jumped onto him while his knife was still lodged on the neck on the other one and it brought him down. He chose to sacrifice his left arm and he used it as a gag to keep that imp at bay but that didn't stop the ones that went for his legs.

It took a while before the two remaining reapers lost their strength to fight. Tanaka remained on his knees with the set of chains that kept his posture while Albert was left staring at the sky, floating at a pool made by his own blood and the saliva from the beasts that ravaged him.

One of the spirits walked up to them once they have called the imps to their side. He pressed his feet onto Albert's forehead."You put up a good fight… you managed to kill more than we have expected… any last words"

Tanaka leaned forward to utter a few words but before he was able to move his tongue, six pillars of lights appeared through the horizon and it caught all of their attention.

"Shit" The man removed his feet from his face and looked onto his comrades as the imps that helped them disappeared. His face showed panic and grief, he opened up his mouth with the eyes like he was about to cry and said, "They foun-

Something pierced through the clouds and came down with the force that shook the entire floor along with a huge cloud of dust. The spirit raised his hand in an attempt to help the others but a fire ax flew by and sunk its fangs deep into his chest before he could even start to comprehend what happened. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and tilted his head before his lifeless body fell onto the floor.

Tanaka finally found the strength to open his eyes as the tight grasp of chains left his body. The dust had cleared and he saw an entity of the dark that carried a head on its right and a mutilated corpse on the other. He couldn't help but smile.

"I… I never thought that he's real…" Tanak said as he welcomed the feeling of relief that entered his heart. The beating of his heart had reverberated through his body as he felt like he could finally relax.

"What.. what is…" Albert followed, two of its muscular arms stuck out of its cloak and it carried its victims on its hands like it was nothing. It left a spot of destruction in its wake and all the bodies that they had a hard time fighting before had been torn off like a piece of wet bread, but that wasn't the thing that he found disturbing. "What the hell… Who-what the hell is that!?"

"It's the damn Dolphin" Tanaka replied with a gaze filled with awe as both of them saw its gray head covered by the white blood of its foes.

"MeeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeErrghhh"

It stood there in the distance and stretched its arms with a form full of masculinity and menace.