Chapter 10 - Creature

Ex walks into his mother's hospital room. As soon as he walks in, his phone starts ringing. Ex looks down at his phone and then rolls his eyes. He answers it not knowing who it is.

"What?" Ex asks annoyed.

"It's Kasumi. There's something going on with Sato."

"What's wrong with him now?"

"He just started hearing this high-pitched ringing. And he said it's in the direction of an abandoned temple."

"What?" Ex becomes even more annoyed and frustrated.

"This is just a hunch, but I think he can locate these things that we're supposed to fight."

"That's impossible."

"Are you really willing to take that chance?"

There's a brief pause.

"Dammit." Ex starts angrily. "You are nowhere near ready to fight something like this. You couldn't even take me on."

"But what if this thing gets to the city? We have to stop it before then. We have no idea what they are capable of or if there is even only one of them."

"Tch. Point made. I'll be there soon. Just...don't do anything stupid."

"Whatever."

Ex hangs up the phone and tucks it into his pocket.

"I'll be back later. I have to take care of two dumbasses first." Ex leaves the hospital room. And fixes his jacket on the way out.

***

Sato's headache goes away and he tries to stand over the sink to clean the blood out from under his nose. Kasumi puts his phone down and rushes to his side.

"Sato!" She says. "Are you ok? What the hell just happened?"

"I have no idea. What'd he say?"

"He's on his way. Whatever that means."

"What do you think this means?"

"Well, you said the sound was coming from a certain direction. I think that noise is coming from one of the things I'm supposed to fight."

"This is happening way too fast. You're nowhere near ready to fight it. We don't even know what IT is!"

"I've already heard that. I don't care. I can fight it with what I've got."

"Kasumi, I know you've got a fiery spirit and that it's damn near impossible to get you to back down because you're so goddamn stubborn, but let Ex handle it." Sato argues.

"What?"

"I saw his power in action. I have a feeling that he'll be able to handle it."

"What? That smug-faced bitch? No!"

Sato chuckles a little bit, making Kasumi clench her fists.

"What the fuck are you laughing at?" Kasumi asks.

"I've never seen you so worked up before."

"Whatever! That doesn't mean anything. I am going to kill this creature."

"No you're not. Let him take care of it."

"No."

"Would you listen to someone for once in your life, Kasumi?!"

There's a tense pause as Sato cleans the blood from under his nose. Kasumi looks down at the ground. She clenches her fists so tight she draws blood.

"I'm going to take care of this creature. With or without him." Kasumi states with a dark and malicious undertone.

"Kasumi?" Sato asks, worried.

Kasumi's eyes turn dead as she stares ahead, drawing even more blood from the palms of her hands. She clenches her teeth and smiles as if she is an entirely different person.

"Kasumi? Are you ok?" Sato grows even more concerned.

Saliva starts dripping from her mouth as her smile deepens and her eyebrows arch together evilly.

"Kasumi!" Sato grabs her by her shoulders which snaps her out of whatever state she was in before. "What the hell? What just happened?"

"What do you mean? Sato I'm fine. Did something happen?"

"You're losing touch with reality." Kanai states.

Kasumi whips her head around to see Kanai standing there with her eyes blocked by shadows.

"What?" Kasumi says quietly.

"The more that you use your power, the more you'll start to lose yourself." Kanai explains. "I can't wait until I can see you again, Kasumi. It'll be sooner than you think."

Kanai fades away. Kasumi's heartbeat picks up.

"Kasumi, what are you looking at?" Sato asks carefully. Kasumi looks back towards Sato. "Kasumi? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I-I just thought I heard something."

Just then, there's an impatient knock at the door.

"You called me over here, idiots. Open the door." Ex says through the door. Sato goes and opens the door to reveal Ex with his arms crossed. "Are we going to go or what?"

"Sato, do you remember where it was coming from?" Kasumi asks.

"Yeah. Vaguely."

"Good. Then let's get moving." Ex orders.

Sato goes to his room and grabs his bow and tucks it into a bag. He grabs his phone before they leave. They follow the sidewalk. Ex and Kasumi are walking in front while Sato is walking a few feet behind them. Sato dials Yoshiro's number but he doesn't answer.

"Dammit, Yoshiro." Sato mutters.

"I don't want you to do anything. Just let me handle it." Ex says to Kasumi.

"No way." Kasumi argues. "Wasn't I given this power for a reason? Might as well put it to good use."

"It's way too dangerous for both of us—for you to even attempt at doing so."

"We don't know how big this thing is or if it's alone. You might not be able to take it on your own."

"That's where Sato will be able to help."

Sato directs his attention to their conversation to hear what Ex is saying.

"If he shoots the eyes, it makes them significantly easier to fight. However, if you try to fight them, you'll only be putting yourself in danger which also puts me in danger." Ex explains matter-of-factly.

"Right. You've made it perfectly clear that you only care because of what will happen to you if I don't do my job."

"That's right. Don't forget it."

"What happened to you to make you this way?" Kasumi mutters.

***

"Promise that you'll live a long and peaceful life, Ex." Ex's mother states warmly.

"That's impossible." Ex says.

"Please? For me?"

"… I'll try."

***

"Hey, guys. We're getting close." Sato snaps Ex out of his thoughts.

"How close?" Ex asks.

"A few blocks from here."

They walk the rest of the way in silence. Kasumi tenses up again, clenching her fists and teeth. Her eyes begin lighting purple.

"It's close." Kasumi says, distorted.

"Calm yourself, half-pint." Ex tells her. "I told you that you're not going to do anything." Kasumi smiles, ignoring Ex. "Whatever. I'll cut your arms off if you do anything."

"No you won't." Sato intervenes.

Ex shoots a glare back at Sato and Sato glares back.

"Don't test me or I'll cut your arms off first."

Just then, the ground starts rumbling. Ex instinctively steps in front of Kasumi in a ready position. Sato sees this and smirks slightly.

"What are you doing? I don't need protecting!" Kasumi shouts.

Ex ignores Kasumi and listens to the rustling of the bushes and the grass. He follows the rustling with Kasumi and Sato following close behind him. Sato gets his bow ready and an arrow clipped on the string. After only a few seconds of following the rustling noises, a giant rock the size of a car starts hurtling straight towards Kasumi.

"Kasumi!" Sato shouts fearfully.

Kasumi shuts her eyes tight and puts her arms above her head, expecting impact at any second. When she doesn't feel the impact she opens her eyes to see Ex fully transformed and his sword drawn in front of her and the rock split into two pieces on either side of her. Ex is slightly out of breath but only because of shock.

"Woah." Sato mutters.

"Kasumi, you have to be more aware or you'll die." Ex states, his voice slightly distorted.

"Got it." Kasumi agrees, shocked.

"That was badass." Sato mutters quietly to himself.

"Keep moving. It's closer than we think." Ex says.

Ex keeps his flaming sword drawn. The flames die down and the color also dies down but his clothes stay the same. They continue walking in the direction that the rock came from. Ex relaxes himself but still grips the sword tightly ready to go. Sato is more tense with his hand ready to draw and shoot at any moment. Kasumi is just walking behind Ex and looking behind her unable to read what just happened.

"Heads up!" Sato shouts.

Another rock flings up but it lands to the side, out of everyone's way but still close enough for all three of them to feel the aftershock. They press on and then reach a clearing. When they do, there is a large and slim creature the size of the trees that surrounds them.

"Sato, shoot!" Ex orders.

Sato wastes no time in drawing his weapon and shooting. The arrow lands in the creature's shoulder and it roars. Ex lowers himself and gets ready to fight.

"You call that being a sharpshooter?!" Ex shouts angrily.

"Give me a break I've never shot at anything alive before." Sato defends.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Kasumi asks, unamused.

"Just sit back and do not get yourself killed." Ex orders.

"I can do stuff too!"

"Just listen to him, Kasumi!" Sato intervenes.

Sato clips another arrow onto the bow and draws back. He aims right for the eye but barely misses. The creature growls and trains its eyes on Kasumi.

"There you are." The creature's distorted and ugly voice says. "You're quite small for someone with so much power."

The creature reaches down to grab Kasumi but Ex cuts off its hand before it can even touch her.

"Nice try." Ex says.

"Oh and you're the guardian I suppose." The creature looks towards Ex.

Ex grits his teeth at the creature's remark.

"I'm nobody's guardian." Ex says.

"That's not what the boss told us." The creature taunts.

"Us..?" Kasumi mutters.

"What do you want?" Sato asks.

"Well, the boss gave us only two instructions. Destroy Earth and kill her." The creature smiles.

"Her being me?" Kasumi asks.

"Yes."

"Bring it." Ex states.

The creature's hand grows back. Kasumi and Sato stare at it surprised while Ex is unphased and ready to strike. Sato takes his chance to shoot at one of the eyes. This time, he hits the target and the creature screeches in pain.

"Agh! You must be the extra one boss told us about." The creature says to Sato. The creature stares Sato dead in the eyes. Sato glares back. "Not as powerful, but somehow the most important one."

"Shut up!"

The creature turns its attention to Kasumi and smiles. "I might just keep you as my pet, small one."

Sato loads his bow and shoots out the other eye. Ex wastes absolutely no time and sprints up the creature's arm as his power reactivates. Ex slices straight through the creature's torso, splattering blood on him and the area close by. Ex lands and keeps his sword tight in his grip as he looks back to see if the creature is dead. It falls to the ground and goes limp, but it doesn't look dead.

"Wait…" Sato says.

"What is it?" Kasumi asks.

The arrows that were previously shot into the creature fall out of its skin and it regenerates. Ex takes a step back. Kasumi steps up next to Ex, ready to do anything while Sato loads another arrow. The creature splits into multiple smaller versions of itself and surrounds them into a circle.

"Uh, what do we do know Mr. "I'll handle it all"?"

"Now's not the time to be sarcastic." Ex says.

"There's always time to be sarcastic." Kasumi retorts quietly.

"Guys! Stop arguing and think of a plan." Sato intervenes yet again.

Sato looks around desperately until he finds something. Among all of the multiple creatures, there's only one that has a beating heart inside.

"That one! Get that one!" Sato shouts.

Sato points but the creature quickly picks up what he was doing and mixes all the multiple bits of itself.

"Dammit! Which one?" Kasumi shouts.

"The one with the heart inside!"

"What? I don't see a heart anywhere!"

"Sato, you're the only one that can see it." Ex says.

"What? That's crazy!" Sato says.

"Sato! Which one!" Kasumi shouts.

"Uh.." Sato searches desperately. As he's doing so, he loads his bow and gets it ready. Once he finds the one with the heart, he follows it and then shoots the shot. He hits the bit with the heart. "That one!"

All the other bits start attacking them. Starting off with just scratchin. One of them goes for Kasumi and bits hard on her shoulder, tearing a chunk of skin off.

"AGH! Son of a bitch!!!" Kasumi shouts. Kasumi throws the creature off of her.

"Kasumi, what happened?" Ex asks.

"One of them bit me."

"Dammit. We're running out of time-" One of the creatures heads straight towards Ex and he cuts the head off of it.

"We're running out of time! Grab the girl!" The creature orders.

"Fuck! Kasumi, get behind me." Ex orders.

Kasumi listens to Ex and hides behind him. Sato loads his bow and starts shooting trying to shoot one of them at least. Ex slices through four of the miniature creatures and they disintegrate. The one with the heart slices at Ex's legs, trying to immobilize him and grab Kasumi.

"Fuck! Goddamnit. I'm not going to heal in time."

Ex looks behind him to see that Kasumi is in the death grip of the creature that is now building back up to its original form.

"I can't hit the heart with her in front of it." Sato says to himself.

Kasumi struggles silently. The creature stares Kasumi straight in the eyes. "The boss was right about you. You're very weak."

"I'm not weak." Kasumi says, strained.

"Fight back!" Kanai shouts. "Don't let this creature take you! If you do, it'll finish off Sato and Ex!"

The creature tightens its grip around Kasumi, straining her. Kasumi grits her teeth out of pain and pure anger.

"I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!" Kasumi shouts with anger, transforming completely. Her clothes change and bright purple glows from her hair and eyes.

"Go for the heart Kasumi the heart!" Kanai shouts.

"GO BACK TO HELL!" Kasumi shatters the hand that once gripped her and straight through the torso of the creature, grabbing its heart in the process. She emerges from the creature covered in blood from head to toe with its heart in her hand. Ex straightens his posture and keeps his sword out ready to keep fighting while Sato stares fearfully at the situation. Kasumi approaches the dying creature and looks at it straight in the eyes.

"You won't live through this. Boss won't let you." The creature says.

"When you get back to whatever hellhole you crawled out of, tell your boss that I'm not fucking weak." Kasumi says evilly.

The creature locks eye contact with Kasumi, snapping her out of her powerful state and terrifying her. The creature strikes Kasumi, making her fall hard to the ground and drop the still beating heart. The creature manages to stand over Kasumi. Right before it could kill her, Ex stabs the heart that fell on the ground, causing the creature to disintegrate. Ex reluctantly helps Kasumi stand, blood dripping from every inch of her body. Kasumi passes out right next to Ex. He's forced to catch her before she hits the ground.

"Disgusting." Ex mutters.

"KASUMI?"

"Stay back. She's fine." Ex orders Sato.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She used too much energy. The more she uses her power, the more her energy will extend over time. But right now, she's weak."

"That didn't look fucking weak to me."

Ex ignores Sato's remark and walks over to Kasumi. He puts away his sword and transforms back to normal. The cuts he obtained during the short battle disappear.

"Should we take her to the hospital?" Sato asks.

"Psh. And say what? We got attacked by this slender, hellish creature? No. I can heal her just fine but we need to get somewhere secure."

"How far is the cabin from here?"

"We're not going to the cabin. My home is closer."

"How far away is it?"

"A 10 minute walk."

"Can Kasumi survive that?"

"She'll be fine."

Ex grows reluctant to touch all the blood but sucks it up and turns her on her back.

"Be careful." Sato says.

"I've carried her once before. I won't drop her this time either." Ex picks Kasumi up bridal-style. "I hope this doesn't become a habit of hers." Ex and Sato walk to Ex's home with Kasumi passed out in Ex's arms.

They soon appear in front of Ex's household.

"Dammit, I didn't think of this." Ex looks around trying to find a way to get his keys from his pocket. "Sato, I need you to hold her while I open the door."

"Ok sure." Sato says.

Sato puts down his bow as Ex leans Kasumi on him. Sato holds Kasumi in place while Ex quickly fumbles with his keys and opens his door. He comes back and picks up Kasumi so that Sato can grab his bow. Ex carries Kasumi inside his home and into the bathroom. He puts her inside the bathtub. Sato sets his bow down besides the front door and closes the door behind him. He follows Ex to the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" Sato asks.

"Waking her up."

Ex turns on the cold water through the shower nozzle and aims it at Kasumi's face. Not only waking her up, but cleaning a little bit of the blood off her face.

"What-What happened?" Kasumi asks.

"Great job, dip-shit. You did what I told you not to do." Ex says, annoyed.

"What did I do?"

"Anything but nothing."

"Relax, she did save our lives." Sato defends.

"Yes but I told her not to do anything."

"She would've died if she didn't."

"I would've gotten to her in time."

"I'm sorry I didn't follow your orders, know-it-all." Kasumi says weakly. "But I'm not sorry for what I did."

Ex rolls his eyes.

"Whatever. You're not getting away with this. Training will be double the work tomorrow."

"Great. I look forward to it." Kasumi remarks.

"Again with the sarcasm."

"It's a part of my personality. You're going to have to deal with it."

"Whatever. After I heal you, go home and get rest. You're going to need it."

"Fine."

Sato laughs internally while watching Ex heal Kasumi. It's funny how stupid they are to each other.

After Ex finishes healing Kasumi, she gets up and out of the tub.

"Thanks." Kasumi says briefly. She leaves without a second thought.

"Thank you again." Sato says more sincerely.

"It's what I'm supposed to do so no thanks needed."

"Right."

Kasumi leaves the house swiftly with Sato trying to keep up behind her.

"Why are you walking so fast?" Sato asks.

"I'm just tired." Kasumi responds briefly.

"You cut it really close." Kanai tells her. "Future battles will be worse. You need to be stronger if you want to keep living."

Kasumi narrows her eyes and walks faster.