Mysterious group

As Koku, Yoru, and Kurai made their way deeper into the mist-bound forest, something became clear. "We're being followed," Koku whispered to himself as he looked behind himself, only to see nothing apart from Yoru and Kurai. "They're definitely strong enough to take down Miststalkers and Swifthorns, but if they come across any of those three types of monsters," Koku worried as he'd end up telling the girls to keep going without him since he had something to take care of, and that he'll catch up later.

With this, Koku slowed down, getting behind the girls and eventually stopping entirely as the girls kept on moving forward. Soon after Yoru and Kurai were out of his sight, Koku opened his mouth and began to speak aloud, making his intentions clear. "If you think I wouldn't notice any of you, you're sorely mistaken," Koku smirked as he turned around in the direction opposite of his intended path prior to this.

After a few silent seconds, someone began to emerge from the mist, wearing a dark robe with dark purple markings. From the rather large sleeves, two chain-style weapons seemed to be dropped while also being dragged behind the moving person. "Hostile, huh? Are we?" muttered Koku in his head. With this, he summoned Voidpulse, transforming its form from a sword into a spear. "In terms of weaponry, I have the disadvantage when it comes to skill." After a few seconds of simply walking forward, this hooded person began running at nearly blinding speeds towards Koku. Luckily for Koku, his eyes could keep up, the same with his reaction speed. As the hooded individual got close to Koku, it threw one of the chains at him. Dodging it easily, Koku looked at the chain as it flew past him, noticing that the chains had dagger-like weapons at the ends, which seemed to be laced with some kind of poison.

Activating the Eyes of Genesis, Koku quickly figured out which poison it was. 'Paralysis,' Koku mentioned aloud as he grabbed the passing chain, pulling it towards him, making the hooded person fumble slightly for a second.

"What's wrong? Lost footing?" Koku mocked this person as he then grabbed the other chain that this person threw in retaliation to the first chained weapon being grabbed. Now having both weapons within his hands, Koku pulled even harder, making sure enough strength was used to ensure this person couldn't jump backward in time after letting go.

When Koku let go, with the spear version of Voidpulse, he used the body of the spear to hit the person in the chin, knocking the person off their feet, undoing the hood. As the person who attacked Koku fell to the ground with the hood no longer up, from every direction, people wearing hoods appeared in an instant. "Just what the hell is up with this place… ever since I got here, I've been doing nothing but fighting," Koku talked aloud, showing his frustration to the group of onlookers who might be his next opponents.

"Your time is not yet… but now we must test your development as the chosen sacrifice, oh Void-struck child," one of these hooded individuals mentioned aloud as he walked forward out of the group. "Looks like the leader," Koku told himself as he could see this hooded person had somewhat of a different-looking hood.

To be exact, this person's hood was black with a purple swirl marking, and inside that swirl was the number 15. "Are you some kind of a pervert?" Koku asked aloud with a smirk, making sure the person on the ground who Koku had beaten was in a hostage position, having Koku change Voidpulse from a spear to a sword again. "All of our members are willing to die for our cause," said the person Koku thought to be the leader of this group. "Well, seeing as you keep walking towards me, you don't care about this person," Koku stated as he drove the sword into the person's neck.

Koku looked at the person he'd just killed and could see something strange. "Black blood?" he questioned, losing focus for a slight second. Seeing his Eyes of Time react, Koku jumped back just enough for this person to grab ahold of himself.

After dodging this attack and seeing the black blood, Koku seemed wary. "Demonic blood in people… w-wait, forget that, why did I feel Void aura seep out of that person the moment I killed him?" Koku was left in awe as millions of questions ran through his head.

But just as Koku was swarmed by millions of questions, the hooded leader continued to walk after attempting to catch Koku but failing. "I'm sure you have many questions; one of those questions I'm sure is, are you the leader… and the answer to that is, I am indeed one of the leaders, just the lowest-ranking leader," this person stated to the curious and confused Koku.

"But please, don't worry, we won't kill you right now; all we have to do is place something onto you." Saying this, the 15th leader signaled to someone in the group of mysterious people as the 15th leader himself rushed towards Koku.

Noticing the sudden hostility, Koku parried an attack coming from the leader, but then just as he was about to move away, someone teleported in front of Koku trying to kick him, causing Koku himself to kick back as a way to fend off the sudden attack. Straight after this, Koku began to use Cursed God's Gift, making his power much stronger.

Growing the black marking around his body, the group seemed to be excited for some reason, and upon closer inspection, Koku noticed that the person who teleported trying to kick him had the swirl marking with the number 8 in the center. Upon noticing this, Koku felt a sudden rush of pain as he was kicked in his ribs and then from the back all at the same time.

"I couldn't see the attack even with my eyes…," Koku said to himself, surprised and in shock. "My ribs… some are broken," Koku muttered as he then ended up having to fight while heavily wounded. The 15th leader seemed to be giving it half of his strength, while the 8th leader seemed not to try to do so much damage to him.

In a sudden attempt at escape, Koku used Lightning Flash (also called Lightning Entrance) to escape, and to his surprise, he was caught by the neck while in the middle of the move. "So fast…," Koku muttered as the 8th leader held Koku's neck, muttering, "Let's get this over with…." This person lowered the hood over its head, revealing a girl with black hair and purple light eyes, almost like his very own. After seeing the features of this girl for a simple second, the girl pressed her lips against Koku's lips while squeezing at his throat. "I'll pass out at th-this~," as Koku struggled to breathe, his vision seemed to begin blurring out, while the Void space seemed to show the words "Curse of Void-stricken… has been nullified by the Void." After this happened, Koku felt his body fall, and while regaining his vision, he could no longer see the people there or even around him as he coughed heavily.

"Just what the hell… who the hell are they…," Koku wondered as he stood up weakly due to his ribs being broken and his whole body injured as well. After standing up, Koku looked in the direction that Yoru and Kurai had gone, and followed right after them at the best speeds he could, which was his normal speed, just him forcing it.