Cast To Damnation

Everything is black. But I'm still alive. I can move- barely, and I still have the faintest sense of touch. My mouth tastes of blood, and my ears ring perpetually. I can feel myself sinking. Deeper and deeper into the ocean. I feel completely removed. As if I'm viewing myself from the third person. Why was I here again?

I jerk in discomfort as the water around me shifts. My hands twitch, blue sparks crackling at the tips of my fingers. A tickling sensation. That was funny. My soul was still firing off. 

A rush of sensation darts up my arm, prompting me to roll on my side. I clench my eyes. What is this? The same sensation shoots through my other arm. I gnash my teeth, now writhing. It feels as if shards of glass are being stabbed into them. 

Was it Jigoku?

No. He had probably long since abandoned my body. 

It's spreading to my chest now. My hands instinctively begin to grope around my ribs. My legs now. My face. My eyes gloss over, and I fall limp beneath the waves.

---------

Sand crashes beneath his feet as he falls back down to the earth, clothes in near tatters. Clenching his fist shut, Hellcutter shatters into ethereal sparks, rising into the night sky. He wipes his forehead clean of sweat.

Jigoku knew he wasn't meant to kill Okoramo- his orders had been to keep him locked within the complex until Lady Aura arrived. He assumed that under the circumstances of his escape, however, that execution was necessary. He could see now how that boy had defeated Frivia and Aurelia alike, but he was nowhere CLOSE to Jigoku's level. 

He still hadn't pinned down how he had done that...Underworld Discharge? Is that what he had called it? The exact process was called Splicing- he knew that from Aura's experiments- but he had never seen ANYONE pull it off. Let alone TWICE. Jigoku sighs, resting his hand atop the katana at his side. He still had work to take care of. That Yuji man and his little gang were beginning to become more of a problem than he had expected. He might as well take care of them before Aura screamed at him to do it.

The authorities had already begun corralling people out of the city. The wreckage had spread far- and not just from his own battle with Okoramo. It seemed as if he had fought the Demon Wizard as well. That one didn't sit right with Jigoku. When he had arrived, it seemed as if he had zero potential. Hell, he couldn't even use his Twitch effectively. But the great one and Atticus took a GREAT liking to him. With his amplified powers, he was a MASSIVE threat. He could even recreate Tamajutsu. The ring controlling him had given him a measurable increase in battle IQ, allowing him to use his Twitch at a higher level. The last he had checked, he figured out how to make himself talk at immeasurable speeds, ensuring nobody heard what he sang next.

Walking down the streets, Jigoku was still left with a sense of unease. Okoramo's Twitch was also strange. He had gotten intel from Aurelia and Byakusen about a month back when they had run into Okoramo's group. They had told him that his twitch allowed him to summon Anime Women. That had sent him into a howling laughter. But what he saw just then was nothing even COMPARABLE to what they had described Sure he could still summon that anime lady, that much was fine- but everything else he did wasn't even related to that. 

He vaguely remembered a name for people with attributes like that...

A low rumble catches his attention. He snaps his head back toward the shore. Legions of waves crash outward from the sea, pulsating. 

Suddenly, a pillar of light explodes out from the ocean, its black form immolating into the sky. Piercing the clouds. A bead of sweat runs down his face as he stares down this calamity.

He remembered now. They were called Manifestas.