The Culling

Shindo awoke to the beeping of an alarm clock; one that was for a certainty installed by Raitaro. "Damn, that thunderbrain takes things way too seriously," he muttered to himself. "Thunderbrain? That's a new one," Kami-gatta said from inside his head. "Holy cow! I almost forgot that I had a living headache," Shindo said in an attempt to hurt the old god's feelings. "Living headache? You think I'm a headache!? I'm gonna need a bit more respect or you'll see what happens!" Kami yelled. "What? You're gonna separate from my body and go disappearing into that void of nothingness that you're so afraid of?" Shindo responded as he got out of bed, making his way to a nearby bathroom. He waited for an answer, receiving only silence. "That's what I thought," he said before hopping into the shower.

After getting dressed, he waltzed down the stairs, pausing at the foot of the staircase. He looked around before facing the open door, making eye contact with pocket Raiju before the storm creature scampered off. Shindo ran after him, trying to close the gap but realised that it was hopeless while maintaining his human form. "Okay, you got this Shin, just a little corruption to get by," he muttered, trying to reassure himself. He powered up drastically, feeling a familiar heat in his chest. He began his chase again, moving almost ten times faster than before. The gap between him and Raiju was quickly narrowed down before he tackled the monster into a clearing.

As he got up, he heard echoing claps throughout the trees surrounding him. "Not bad. I was expecting you to be a whole lot faster but we can work on that later," an unfamiliar voice, a feminine voice, echoed. "You actually have expectations? This fragile maggot looks too weak to bring any expectations to mind," a second unfamiliar voice, a deep masculine one this time, said in response. "You know, you two talk big for people too afraid to face me," Shindo said in retaliation. "Afraid? You think we're afraid of a mere infant?" The masculine voice asked in a tease. "Child, you have no clue, do you?" the feminine voice said before the ground began shuddering. "The scales draw level. The fate is sealed. One's true nature to be revealed. Should they not quake, or flee in fright. Then they stand attest to display their might," the voices spoke, doing so in unison. The voices repeated the mantra several times as two figures appeared out of the thick forestry: One, a woman in all white, walked out of the woods to stand straight ahead of Shindo and the other, a man in a black and red robe coming out into the clearing from Shindo's left.

"So I'm getting jumped? By adults? I bet you feel hella proud of yourselves," Shindo said. "Hey Snowflake, can I be the one to slit his throat?" The male figure asked. "With pleasure dear. Just don't leave a mess," the female figure replied. The male figure grinned, revealing a set of unrealistically sharp white teeth. He casually walked up to Shindo unarmed as his eyes gave out a red fiery aura, no doubt a sign of immense chaos energy. "Show it too me!" he demanded. "What?" Shindo asked with a confused look on his face. "Was I not clear? SHOW IT TO ME!!!" the man yelled in a monstrous tone.

"I know what you said, you idiot. I was asking about what you want to see," Shindo stated casually. The man quickly developed a blank expression on his face. Shindo turned to face the woman and asked, "He's not very bright, is he?" She held back a laugh and shook her head. "Your corruption darling. He wants to see it," she pointed out. Shindo nodded as he took a few slow steps backwards. He took shallow breaths before he shut his eyes, reopening them to reveal the familiar green hue enveloping the entirety of his eyeballs. "Don't kill yourself boy," Kami said in a strict tone. Sure thing Kami, he responded mentally. He summoned his kusarigama, attempting to look as vicious as possible.

"Are you sure that's going to be enough, young one?" the woman asked. "Listen lady, I know that I don't look like much but I stood my ground against Shiva. Trust me, forty percent is more than enough," Shindo replied in multiple pitched voices. "Forty percent!? I know human perception is distorted but I didn't know it was this bad. Let me show you what forty percent really looks like," the male figure said as he drastically charged up. The air pressure rose so high in so little time that Shindo quickly found himself prostrated, frantically gasping for air. When it levelled out, he slowly lifted himself back to his feet, with sweat running down his face.

"Impressive. You're still conscious. As a reward, I'll let you have one shot," the man said in a calmer tone now. Shindo dragged himself over to his opponent. He gripped the hilts of his scythes as tight as he could before swinging diagonally. The very moment they made contact with the man's skin, they shattered, leaving Shindo in shock. The man grinned maniacally before grabbing Shindo by the neck and driving him into the ground. He then grabbed him by the hair and flung him several feet away. "Still think I'm all talk, you peasant!?" he said as he walked over to Shindo's bloodied body. He lifted Shindo to his feet, keeping him balanced by grabbing the collar of his shirt.

"Your throwing is as terrible as your breath," Shindo said proudly. He slapped his attacker's hand away before spitting out blood. "So what now? You're gonna kill a kid?" he asked. "If this is supposed to be a question on my morality, you're deeply confused, young one. I was never gonna kill you. This was a test, a challenge...one that you are most certainly too weak to pass. Stick to school. The universe isn't worth the risk of losing your life before your time," the male figure said before walking away.

"Too weak? You think I'm too weak!?" Shindo asked aggressively. "I'll show you who's too bloody weak!!" He yelled as green lines formed throughout his body. "You're a dead man!" he shouted before going into attack mode. He persistently kicked and punched leaving no visible effects on the man in red. Suddenly there was a cold feeling along the base of his abdomen. You had one job Shindo! One bloody job!  he could hear inside his head. As his vision began to blur, he looked down and saw a separation of his upper body from his lower body.

"I told you...the universe isn't worth the risk," the man in red said in a calm tone as he hovered over Shindo's limp body. Everything around him faded to black as his body grew colder.

"Well, well, well. Shindo Nakajima. You died earlier than initially anticipated," a familiar voice said. "Anubis? Am I dead?" Shindo asked, still dazed. "Obviously. But fear not, I'll see to it that you make it to a suitable afterlife," Anubis answered in an ecstatic manner. Not while I'm still breathing, a deep, hollow voice chimed in. "Y-you? But that's impossible!" Anubis said, suddenly agitated by the newcomer.

My realm is the very fabric of possibility. Now leave this place, the strange voice commanded sternly. "Y-yes, oh Great Elder. Excuse me," Anubis said before disappearing. Now, time to deal with you, young one. Shindo looked on in shock as a tall, pale figure stepped out of the infinite shadows. He had greased hair, was in a blacked out suit and trench coat and walked with a cane. "Who the hell are you?" Shindo asked. The man's crimson eyes pierced Shindo's very being, causing him to choke. Tell me child, what do hammers and nails, and chaos and death have in common?

Shindo remained silent, analysing all possible answers. SPEAK CHILD! the newcomer demanded. "Validation!" Shindo yelled in response. Care to elaborate? the newcomer asked. "W-well, if hammers didn't exist, nails would be invalid because of the hardship to use them. And if nails did not exist, hammers wouldn't have any regular use," Shindo explained. And chaos and death? the newcomer asked. Shindo looked at him with a blank expression.

The newcomer sighed, releasing dark ash and smoke. Chaos gives death validation by leading to it. Death acts as a leading factor of chaos giving it validation as a pain response, he said calmly. Shindo nodded, still in shock. I bet you have several questions to ask too: 'Who is this person?' , 'How did I get here?' , 'Why is he speaking telepathically?' , 'Why does he look so drop dead handsome?'. Okay maybe not the last one. But nevertheless, all will be made clear in due time. Now, I will leave you with a proposal in exchange for your resurrection: Do you want to make it rain hellfire on your enemies? the newcomer asked as a mischievous grin grew on his face.

...

"The murder was a bit much, don't you think?" The woman in white asked as she observed Shindo's body. "The brat had it coming," the man in red said in response. Suddenly, Shindo's body began to vibrate as sinews reached out to connect his top half to his bottom half. The pair watched on as his body repaired itself leaving no signs of injury. "He sure is a lively one," the man in red remarked. Shortly thereafter, Shindo shot up, breathing heavily while patting himself down before remembering where he was. "Okay, let's finish this," he said energetically. The pair simply sighed in unison before walking back into the forestry, leaving Shindo alone in the middle of a cold clearing.

How the heck did you not die? You should be dead. Are you a zombie now? Kami-gatta yelled frantically in disbelief. "My father is right. How are you still alive Shindo?" Raitaro asked. Shindo looked him dead in the eye and smiled. "Where the hell have you been, Sparky?" Shindo asked in response.

"Watching from a distance. You are the first person I've seen who passed and failed a test at the same time," Raitaro answered. "Test? This was a bloody test!?" Shindo yelled. Raitaro nodded casually before wacking Shindo on a pressure point, putting him to sleep instantaneously. He whistled, triggering a Raiju summon, with the storm beast holding two swords in his mouth. "Let's go home," Raitaro said as he waltzed back with Shindo slung over his shoulder