Chapter Text
My hair was plastered to my face with sweat. Smoke and ash curled up into the air, making my throat itch. Beside me, Akutagawa coughed heavily.
I braced myself, right arm turning into the tiger’s in a flash of blue. Somewhere above us, a new enemy attacked incessantly. It had only been around two hours since we’d defeated Fukuchi and the vampire outbreak, but there was no rest for anyone.
We looked at each other, wordlessly communicating.
“Just the two of us?”
“Do we need any more?”
That was what we said a couple minutes ago. And it was true. Even this crisis… required no more than us.
Through the dust, I saw a bright glow of purple. Sending power to my legs, I leaped, using my tiger strength to propel myself far enough.
The mysterious opponent slashed his illuminated sword towards me, aiming to cut off my head. Shit!
I grit my teeth and hooked a furred leg so that the bottom of my foot layed on the flat surface of the blade. Readying myself, I pushed down hard, successfully flipping above my enemy and avoiding the blow.
“ Akutagawa! ” I screamed, trying to make my voice carry to the ground. As it turned out, the effort was unnecessary. The black-haired mafioso was already lunging to my aid, and Rashoumon rushed out. The shadowy ability opened its large jaws and aimed for our opponent. The person phased away right as Rashoumon clamped down on empty air.
That left a new problem. Both of us were in the air, and there was nothing solid around us.
“Weretiger. Use Rashoumon to jump down.”
My only response was to follow his command and roughly land on the black shape. I jumped in what was the direction of the ground, even though I couldn’t see it through the smoke. I hooked my arm around Akutagawa’s torso, pulling him along with me. His strange armor made it a slightly difficult job, but not enough to hinder Byakko. My tiger strength threw my body to the ground, but the animal insticts allowed me to land smoothly. My “passenger” slid out of my grip, glaring daggers at me.
Oh. I probably wasn’t supposed to grab him…
Luckily for my general wellbeing, he didn’t have time to focus on that right now. The strangely dressed enemy was back, standing menacingly atop a truck across from us. We both tensed.
A purple beam began to charge, aimed directly at us. I burst away from the ground, and Akutagawa ran the opposite direction. The light of the beam grew too bright to look at, and I angled my head away. I expected it to blast the space we had both been previously, but suddenly the agonizing brightness dissipated.
Huh?
My confusion was short-lived. The white-haired man flickered back to existence in front of me, and the beam shot faster than I could dodge. Not only that, but it didn’t stop at my body. The light kept going swiftly reaching Akutagawa. We both flew backwards, smashing painfully into a building, the other underneath me.
I groaned as my body shook from the impact. Akutagawa sucked in a sharp breath,
“ Get the hell off! ”
“It’s not like I did it on purpose. Give me a second!”
Unable to fully gather myself and move, I rolled away to free him. A sharp, glowing sword slashed the ground only inches away from my throat.
The mysterious figure raised his weapon again, poised to strike. At this point, I was in no position to defend myself. I could only close my eyes and rely on the tiger’s healing to survive. He brought the blade down, and I winced.
But the blow never came.
Warily I looked to see what happened. In front of me, Akutagawa stood gracefully, hair flowing in the dirty wind. Rashoumon viciously bit at our enemy. The steel armor on his raised left arm had a large dent in it.
“Get up. We’re not done here yet.”
For a few seconds, all I could do was gape. The figure slashed at Rashoumon, and she hissed and retreated.
What am I doing, sitting around here? I need to help him!
Blood trickling down from my mouth, and his forehead, we both planned our assault. Even if our opponent was strong, it didn’t matter. He and I had defeated powerful enemies before. Now was no different.
Determination flooded through us both once more.
“Rashoumon…” He started.
I activated the full strength of my ability, completely crossing man and beast.
“... Demonic Armor! ”
Black cloth encased my body.
This was it. The fully realized power of our combined gifts.
Usually, this form would leave him vulnerable, but now Akutagawa was covered by his armor, his ability stemming from where his coat was somewhere beneath.
Finally using our trump card, I lunged at the figure. Closing that large gap took no time at all. I reached out, claws extended, ready to end this.
He dissapeared.
Catching myself, I landed on a car behind us, forming a crater in the metal. Unfortunate for the owner of the vehicle, I guess.
Quickly Akutagawa and I gathered on the ground, ready to attack our enemy the second he reappeared.
But after a couple minutes, he didn’t.
We waited longer. He didn’t come back.
“Is he gone?” I ask.
The mafioso scowled. “I suppose so.”
“Then… what now?”
“We go our separate ways. I find the Port Mafia and report back to them, and you locate the Armed Detective Agency.”
“Ah. Yeah. Obviously,” I mutter.
And it was. What else would we do? Yet, for some reason… I dreaded the thought of parting.
He squinted into the distance, but the fog of destruction made it too hard to see anything.
Eventually, I transformed back and he recalled his gift.
“Weretiger, we should exit the battle area together just in case. Follow me.” He didn’t wait for me to respond, instead just leaving me to chase after him.
“Akutagawa, wait! Why are you even in all of that gear?”
He didn’t stop walking as he answered. “I didn’t put it on, and I can’t take it off. It just appeared when the fog did.”
Weird. Maybe both the fog and his outfit were part of an ability?
Coughing softly into his hand, the mafia member crept carefully, trying to make his way out of the smoke.
“You know what’s weird?” I ask.
He frowned again. “Don’t waste my time. If you have something to say, say it.” Still, his voice didn’t sound as hostile as it did in our previous encounters.
“I hear nothing. At all,” the only sound was our footsteps. “No birds, no people, no cars.”
“Does your Agency pride you on those superb investigation skills?
“I didn’t hear you mentioning it, did I? It wasn’t that far of a stretch to asume you were too stupid to notice!”
He whirled around angrily, and Rashoumon lashed out at me. “Shut it, weretiger. You can talk once you actually do something useful.”
I quickly leapt away from his strike and yelled back. “What are you talking about? Neither of us even injured him!”
He looks angrily back at me, but he calls Rashoumon back. “You spent the entire time being tossed around. Of course I didn’t hurt him. I had to make sure you didn’t die .”
“Whatever. Let’s just stop arguing.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
We continue our walk in tense silence. The terrain becomes bland and desolate as we move, but neither of us comment. Finally, it seems like we have arrived at the end of the fog.
I pull my aching body through that final stretch. When we exit the smoke, the sudden change in appearance of the world forces us to take a few moments to gather ourselves.
I rub my eyes vigorously, then squint and take a look around. I see Akutagawa’s head move to grasp the setting.
In the distance, a large, looming castle stands firmly. Flags waved from the highest points, as though it came straight out of a story book. Around it, houses in strange, old-fashioned styles speckled the land.
I couldn’t help but feel completely flummoxed. “What... the…
“… hell? ”