It seemed that he had made some enemies tonight. Rather than give him the option to retreat as their comrades pinned Cinwi, the pair continued to attack and force Jin to defend himself. Though he managed to weather their attacks without too much trouble, it was at the cost of constantly giving up ground. ‘Right then...’ He’d worry about the other half once they actually joined the fray; not like keeping them at bay would be of much use if both of them died fighting those already here.

He leapt back to try and open a gap, but one of the Youkai was faster than he had expected. Mid-air when the beastkin caught up in an instant Jin grimaced as its claws raked across his arms, drawing blood and throwing him further back. Nonetheless he could use this and rolled with the blow, his Spirit bringing its firearm up on aim as he came to a halt. Wisps of ethereal smoke drifted from its barrel as it opened fire, and there was no place to hide in the open street. They managed to survive for a moment, weathering the storm of fire before their bodies simply failed.

Course he couldn’t do the same for the pair over Cinwi, and the other Youkai were probably closing in. “Discard M40, M249. Javelin, longsword, ready, set, load.” The thin spear had barely manifested in his Knight’s hand, still indistinct, before it reared back and launched the projectile at one of the Youkai. With the utter lack of sound their comrades had died and its focus held by Cinwi, the monster didn’t even notice until it was knocked off of her. Propped up momentarily by the ghostly spear, as it faded a nice hole appeared in the Youkai’s shoulder and sprayed blood.

Jin might have tried to close the distance and assist, but was forced to defend himself instead. Sparks flew as his hand met some sort of projectile, and he frowned as all four hands were dedicated to defence; a literal shower of sparks erupting in front of him.

Cinwi was angry, which in of itself wasn’t too much of a surprise, but that anger only grew hotter every time a claw raked her skin, or a fist struck her cheek. Still, the Youkai pinning her were strong, the angle of her limbs held awkward and impossible to wrench free, all she could do was snap at the hands coming towards her and thrash with her legs in the hopes of kicking them off.

Until of course one of the bastards quite literally flew off of her, propelled by some forceful object moving too fast for her to pay attention to it. The other Youkai paused in its beatings to look after where his comrade had gone, and Cinwi wasted no time in curling her fist, propping herself up, and smashing hardened scale and claw alike into the beast’s face. She heard the nose shatter, but didn’t stop until she was on top of him, wailing slash after slash across his face. In the work of a few moments, the Youkai had been reduced to a pulpy, bloody mess, and while Cinwi herself was dripping red and covered in scratches as well, the key difference was that she was alive. Breathing heavy, she looked back to where the human was, to see if he was still alive as well.

‘Course… sickles.’ The sharp gashes in the asphalt hinted at the Youkai he faced, but as far as Jin could tell there were only two of them at most. A gale tore through his Knight as it reared back to launch another javelin, but it simply parted like smoke for a moment before its form “solidified” again and the projectile was launched. The brief lull as one of his attackers was forced to take cover was enough for him to spare a glance at Cinwi, and it seemed like the opening he had made had let her take care of her attackers. “Move it!”

Surprisingly, the cutting winds ceased the moment he called out. Still wary, he nonetheless managed to see two figures disappear from the nearby rooftop in retreat. What started as a sigh turned into a painful hiss as blood seeped from numerous gashes and cuts over his body; not life threatening, but certainly unpleasant. “Guess they didn’t want to go to the death,” he muttered, walking over towards Cinwi. Given it was impossible to tell what was and wasn’t her blood, he figured his question was warranted. “You gonna pass out on me?”

When the dust had cleared so to speak, the guy still stood, albeit he didn’t look in any better condition than she was. Nevertheless, the Youkai had fled and she sat back, letting out a long, ragged breath and spitting some of the blood from her tongue onto the ground.

”You fuckin’...with me? Pass out? Please, couple scratches...ain’t shit,” she said, pulling herself up onto her feet. Everything was sore, everything stung, she hated being outnumbered. ”What about you, squishy? You look like you’ve seen better days. How long’s it take your kind to bounce back from being shredded like that?”

“Nice to hear.” That was one problem he didn’t have to deal with, and as Cinwi got up Jin fished out his cellphone to check something out. He blinked at the message, but was apparently satisfied on reading it and placed the phone away. “Oh, better nights have been had, feel like a dozen paper cuts just got opened up, so probably a couple days. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll find someone to patch me up.” He frowned as even a shrug caused a bit of pain and clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Anyways, feel like sharing why nearly a dozen Youkai wanted your head?”

She looked herself over as he talked, the scaled portions of her arms were fine, no nicks or scratches to be seen. She only wished the rest of her body was as durable. Ah well, at least the scales on her cheeks had sustained most of the blows from the Youkai that pinned her, and the slashes on her lower neck and upper arms would heal fine. His last question did snap her attention back to him, anger tainting her expression.

”Maybe I look like someone they know, got one of those faces,” she said, looking back to her wounds. She took off what was left of the scarf and tore it to tie separate parts over the larger cuts. ”Maybe it was you. Fuckin’ chaser walkin’ around you’ve gotta be used to that shit by now, can’t expect a pack of Youkai to resist a free meal.”

Probably not the most gentlemanly of ways to get information, but the damage done revealed the slight gleam of scales underneath torn clothes. Gave her a dragonic vibe when coupled with her claws and fangs, so that was probably a good start. Since it seemed like she really didn’t want to answer that question and it only seemed to piss her off each time he asked, Jin raised his hands once again with a resigned sigh. “Right then, dropping that question then.”

Seeing as his main reason for dropping by didn’t look like it was getting an answer, he figured it was time to take his leave; already got more excitement out of this encounter than he had bargained for. “Cya then I guess. Don’t get jumped by what was left of them after I’m gone.”

Cinwi pursed her lips at his response. Seemed like she needed to let up on the snappiness, fuckin’ softie. No, dammit no, it wasn’t his fault, this was what happened when you didn’t hold normal conversations with people more than once every blue moon. Either way, Jin seemed done with the subject and the situation as a whole, bit of a stiff about the whole thing in her opinion. Man nearly got mauled by a pack of Youkai and la-di-da on with the rest of the night? Fuckin’ Chasers, weirdos.

Still, as he would have gone, she looked back to the buildings and the dark alleys that had once promised her cover and protection. He was right to warn her about keeping an eye out, there likely wasn’t a safe nook or cranny in the city at this point, and Cinwi didn’t need tactical expertise to put together that she wouldn’t last through another fight. Not like that, anyway.

”Hey, wait,” she said, cringing at the sound of her own voice. Fuck, swallowing pride was hard. ”You uhh...I don’t think it’s safe for either of us right now. We’re prolly both on their shitlist tonight so...fuck I dunno, maybe it’s best if we stick together for a bit. You heading somewhere? Maybe I could escort you, make sure you don’t get your ass ripped apart or nothin’.”

‘Somebody needs to make a medic rifle...’ Fanciful thoughts aside, Jin had been about to take to the rooftops again when he instead glanced back at Cinwi. A raised eyebrow was about the extent of his reaction, and he crushed the urge to reply with some smartass comment. She didn’t seem like the type of person to reach out easily and there wasn’t a good reason for him to insult her attempt, even if she had to throw in that final jab.

Well… maybe he did let her sweat a bit as he took a few moments to “consider” her offer before he nodded in acceptance. “Right then. Can you handle roof tops or are we sticking to ground level? And we’re heading to Dengeki if you’ve ever heard of it. Should be a healer there tonight since there’s a gathering.”

Cinwi would be lying if she said she wasn’t relieved to hear him accept her offer, but her composure was kept up as best she could. She looked to the roofs again and found herself wondering how the fuck she was supposed to get up there in the first place, and how Jin imagined he would do it either. Did the guy have wings she didn’t know about? Maybe the steel doll could fly. Either way, she was confident that there was little to no way she could reliably travel across the rooftops.

”Streets would be best. Don’t know what might be up there. No idea what the hell Damnchecki is, but a healer sounds good to me so lead the way,” she said, giving her shoulders another roll to test the waters. The scales there were fine as well, but their edges had cut the nearby skin a bit, she couldn’t help but feel bad for the potential medic, the two of them likely looked like they’d be a handful to take care of.

“Guess that’s a no,” Jin muttered under his breath as he watched her consider the roofs around them and, ultimately and as expected, suggest they stay on ground level. “Must be new around here then,” he said as he began to lead the way, “small shop to rest up at. Got a job board where Crimson Sky related “missions” get posted, so pretty popular.” At that mention though, he perked up as if remembering something, turned, and walked pass Cinwi.

Jin had been so caught up in the aftermath, but as he checked each “corpse” the Chaser wasn’t disappointed. Though their bodies had either begun to dissipate or already disappeared, a trace had been left behind by each of the Youkai slain. An average Soul Stone marked where they had died and he gathered them without regret, bagging them and slinging it over his shoulder. If she had anything to say on the matter, well she’d have to walk and talk because he simply walked past her and kept going.

She watched him gather the...actually, she had no real idea what it was he was snatching up. The dead Youkai were more or less dissolved, which in of itself was a bit unnerving. Cinwi never liked to think that if it all really did end that’s what would happen to her, but it had been hard to run away from that fact as of late.

”The fuck’s that?” she asked, speeding up to walk beside him. ”You digging out dead kidney stones or what?”

Yet again he raised an eyebrow, glancing at Cinwi in surprise, as he fished out one of the Soul Stones and tossed them towards her. “Remains of Youkai apparently, left behind when they die. Red gems are the essence while the black stone is the actual material remains. Least that’s to my understanding.” Jin shrugged as he finished his explanation as if to say he wasn’t certain if that was the truth. Frankly he wasn’t, but the Merchant hadn’t done him wrong in the years he had known it, and he didn’t particularly care other than they could be sold for a fair bit of cash.

Cinwi held the stone in her hands, and she felt a pit form in her stomach as Jin explained just what they were supposed to be. She looked down at it, trying to see if she could find the dead Youkai’s essence or form inside of it, as if the soul itself was travelling somewhere between the glimmers on its surface. The dying and disappearing thing had been bad enough, but leaving this behind?

”So these are...like…all Youkai have these inside of’em? she asked, trying to listen to her heartbeat, see if it sounded particularly earthy or crystalline . ”And you do what with’em, exactly?”

It was great to have two sets of eyes at a time like this, so he could pay attention to their surroundings and watch her reaction as she examined the Soul Stone. It was odd that this seemed to be the first time she had ever encountered them since she seemed to have had a fair bit of run ins with Youkai. Nonetheless, Jin eventually turned his attention to the path rather than his “companion”, even as he answered. “Some Ferals don’t, but those are the weakest, barely able to form. Beyond that I haven’t seen a Youkai that didn’t leave one behind. As for me, I just sell them. Some Youkai named Merchant purchases them from me for human money. Beyond that I have no idea.”

Cinwi grimaced down at the stone, catching her reflection in it and immediately prying her eyes away. If the Youkai she’d killed before left these behind, she’d never noticed them, though she rarely hung around for long afterwards. Now she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to know at all.

”You Chaser’s are fuckin’ sick,” she said, giving the stone back. ”No one’s sellin’ my rock if I bite the dust, I can tell you that.”

He took the Soul Stone back with a slight shrug at her venomous response. It was a reasonable reaction to learning that others profited from the death of her “kind”, even if their associations were loose at best. “I suppose we’re pretty horrible for profiting off the remains of the dead,” he admitted quietly, though it was something he had long since come to terms with.

“For what it’s worth I would hope not. You seem to be a decent person, Cinwi… even if a bit abrasive.” An honest statement from the brief moments he had known the dragonic Youkai aside, Jin sighed as the smell of blood in the air caught his attention despite of already being covered in it. “And we’re so close,” he muttered softly before he glanced towards Cinwi. “Let’s move, we’re only a minute out or so.” Hopefully whatever had spilt blood nearby wasn’t looking for more.

---

“Shh! Keep quiet or it’ll hear us!”

“Are you sure it’s even there? I don’t see it and I can’t sense anything else around…”

“The rumors say it only appears at midnight, right? We’ll wait a few more minutes before getting the jump on it.”

“But it’s half past midnight already!”

“I said keep quiet!”

The gathered trio of Youkai kept their distance from the looming mansion that seemed to glow crimson, the home of a great and terrible monster. One was a raven, the other a frog, and their leader was a wolf. Humanoid in appearance, each of them had powers that could far surpass that of the average Youkai, or so they liked to believe. Of course, none of them seriously considered winning in a fight alone with their target for tonight, the aforementioned monster that was said to roam this very palace.

Ordinarily, all of them would be spending the time scaring each other silly with pranks and stories of Youkai much greater than themselves. But tonight was different for the fourth member of their happy group had been kidnapped and stolen away by the Monster of the Grave. A Youkai so dangerous that no one dared to challenge it, be it Chaser or fellow denizen of the Crimson Sky. But the bond of their friendship held strong and true and they would do anything to save their friend. So now they lay in wait for the time to strike, each of them having a set of binoculars in hand.

“Since I’m obviously the strongest out of all of us, why don’t I cause a distraction? That way you guys can have enough time to search for Yoshida,” the wolf suggested.

“Are you insane?” the frog put in. “The Monster will tear you apart before we even get the chance!”

“So you’re saying that we give up? That we just quit? We can’t do that idiot! We have to be strong for Yoshida!”

“Hey, guys? I think one of the lights is turning on. Maybe the Monster is already inside? Er, doesn’t that mean that we’re practically screwed if we try an invasion now?”

“Oh I don’t know about that. The Monster might just be using it as a decoy. Don't you think?”

“Right! Of course! We’ll charge in full force-h-hey wait. Who’s voice was that?”

All three Youkai turned to see a girl crouching right next to them. She had a matching pair of binoculars with her, scanning the mansion just like them. When she noticed that she was being stared at, she placed the lens down and gave them all a happy wave. The sound of terrified screaming soon pierced the air as they dispersed almost immediately away from the girl.

“R-Run! Abort the mission, abort the mission!”

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!”

"Fuck, we're all gonna die!"

The girl only laughed at their panicked fleeing, comparing the helpless trio to that of headless chickens. She had pranked this particular group of Youkai in a similar manner twice now and would continue to do it for another five times.

“You kids are no fun,” the girl called out, bright smile never leaving her face. “Ah, but the spark of youth never does fizzle out. Maybe I’ll pick off the raven next.”

Humming to herself, the Monster of the Grave glanced up at the scarlet moon high above. The Crimson Sky was such a beautiful place with such a beautiful color. Summoning a green parasol in her hand, the girl gingerly opened it up and began to trek back to her secluded home. It would serve as a quick rest before her search began anew for the one that interested her the most.

“I wonder how long it’ll take for them to realize they were standing on their friend's remains,” she mused softly to herself. “Perhaps I’ll let dear Yoshida greet them herself next time. Yes, that does sound wonderful.”

---

“Hello again Zane,” Kusanagi said boredly, not even sparing him a glance from the magazine she was reading. Frankly, his whole mad scientist vibe was a little too cliché for her tastes, not to mention the creepy obsession he seemed to have over their resident, popular, and robotic guest. Her attention was more focused on the article she was reading, the topic discussing the rising popularity of that accursed tea shop down the street.

Some rumors floated around about the shop secretly being owned and run by some top notch ninja vampire maid. It was as ludicrous as it sounded but it was still making more money. Narrowing her eyes, the pawnbroker sighed as she placed the magazine away on her counter. Maybe she should have invested in more than just tea.

“You guys just gonna stand there or are you gonna move us along?” she called out to the people gathered at the mission board. “Pick one already so I can run a business here.”

Ruu didn't know how much time passed, considering the glutton she was probably not much, but in the end it didn't matter as no one was disturbing her anyways. Having finished her meal and leaving a bloody mess behind, the girl was satisfied.

'Now that we're finished, how about returning home for the time being?' Ruu shook her head in denial. "No." Ruu simply denied, while Faust was only talking in her mind, the Youkai girl always communicated back by not giving any fucks and talking out loud.

Of course, the language they used wasn't english japanese at all, but going to great lengths as reverse english, german or wingdings in place of normal english was just silly!

'Bu...' Pushing his voice aside, Ruu ascended onto the top of a building before putting her nose up into the air. There were a lot of different odors, some stronger, some weaker, this place was a goldmine for someone as curious as her and each day there were new things to explore. Ultimately though Ruu decided to go for the smell that was kinda similar to the guy she just ate. It wasn't even that far away, not like it would have been a problem though, considering her means of transport through the shadows in the night. Thus, Ruu headed for two certain individuals.

...

Emerging from the shadow of a wall close to her targets, Ruu could confirm that this was indeed what she was looking for. The male human that Ruu locked her eyes upon smelled similar to the Youkai, though there was a small, but important difference for both of them. While the human had something metallic in his scent, the female Youkai carried a wild and cold note.

Considering Ruu couldn't even fathom that a Youkai and human could get along, Ruu obviously thought they would go at each other any second, thus, the silly Youkai decided to wait and continue stalking and drooling.

Tamashi puffed her cheeks. Another hard shell to crack, to be sure. She wasn't inclined to simply let Geoff turn her away; she'd get in on the SSS mission if it meant fighting him there and then! Or so she dreamed... The youkai was nowhere near the level of most Chasers in terms of combat, and while her ethereal fox-friend could aid her in that regard, he too ultimately would be unlikely to best anyone. A buzzing in her pocket drew her attention away from the brooding Chaser. Reaching into her short's pocket and retrieving her phone, she was elated to see a text message displayed on the home screen.

'This is Jin. Need healing. On way to Dengeki,' it said. Stuffing the phone back in her pocket she looked up to Geoff and grinned. "Oh well then. Your loss! If you need me though..." she fished out a business card with her number on it," Feel free to seek me out. I'm sure you will, sooner or later." She gave a salute before jogging out of the pawn shop. The severity of Jin's injuries didn't seem to drastic given the simplicity of his text message, but just in case, Tamashi always hurried along. She was surprised far too often with Chaser's ability to remain calm despite being near-death.

Down the street, Tamashi caught sight of her Chaser-in-need. Jin, along with another individual she did not know, were walking together towards her. She ran up to them before surveying their wounds. At her level of skill, it didn't require much to simply heal someone regardless of what their injury was, but she always had to make sure she only applied as much energy as was needed. Over-healing rarely resulted in something pretty. Figuring the gashes and cuts on them were the majority of it all, she snapped her fingers and a flash of white light enveloped both of the Chasers briefly. In an instant, their wounds had vanished and their bodies rejuvenated. The sense of tiredness lingered vaguely, however.

She rested her hand on her hips and spoke up, "Simple enough. What happened to get you two beaten up so hard?" Jin thanked her for her 'troubles' before handing a reasonable sum of cash. With how alive they were without her, she didn't even initially expect a reward, though holding the cold hard cash in her hands nevertheless brightened her eyes.

"No trouble at all my friend."

Yuudai snapped out of her small daze as she got closer to the pair and Cole addressed her not saying hello "Sorry, sorry" She gave a small bounce in her step as she said that, coming to a stop in front of them both and opening up her takeout box. "Don't worry, this beautiful girl will pay you as much attention as you will like." The oni spoke in a teasing manner as she started to munch on a strip of chicken, listening to Cole's idle thoughts about the world around them.

Unlike the others she had not visit the pawnshop on her own, though it was not due to the fact that she disliked the time that she spent there, just with the combination of both being Reiko's student and sister she did not have the time to do so... Still for all the talk of tea and food she was so glad she had gotten food. As Cole was getting ono his bike and turned his head to look at them Yuudai was already holding out a fork full of chicken and noodles for him "Ok, say aww~ I promised I would pay attention to you after all" Teasing him like this was fun, she never did give up until he just accepted it.

"Hora~ Come on~"

Cinwi let Jin's last comment simmer for a bit, and it took an active will to bite her tongue back and say nothing, if only just to spite that 'abrasive' part. Decent person? What the hell would he know, they only met a little while ago and he still didn't know who she was or what she'd done. Even still deep down the comment did lift her spirits ever so slightly, and she legitimately wished it was warranted. With any luck, the next time she got involved in an incident he wouldn't be around to see what she was really like.

At length they were approached by another Youkai, another humanoid one like herself. However the woman was tall, and white where Cinwi was blue. Fox ears topped her head instead of horns, and a fluffy tail extended from the back of her robes. Er...sort of robes, maybe thirty-percent of a robe, really, with how much seemed to be present. Regardless, she looked overwhelming soft, and a bit fuzzy, Cinwi couldn't help the thoughts of 'prey' snaking into her mind.

Then without a word the Youkai snapped her fingers and everything went bright, almost blindingly so. Cinwi covered her eyes with an arm, a guttural growl rumbling in her throat. However the instant she noticed her pain had vanished along with her wounds, the jumpy reaction turned curious. The light faded and sure enough, her body was in tact. The tears in her sleeves showed untorn, unscratched skin, and when she unwound the scarf segments covering the deeper gashes, she saw that those too had mended. Well shit, when Jin said 'healer' he really meant 'healer'.

Jin paid the woman and thanked her, and Cinwi realized she hadn't yet done that. Not that she had any money on her, but thanks to the healer if she ran into any more shitheads soon she'd at least be ready to take them. Oh well, it was easier to thank another Youkai than it was a human, let alone a Chaser. "And uh...thanks too."

Yuudai snapped out of her small daze as she got closer to the pair and Cole addressed her not saying hello "Sorry, sorry" She gave a small bounce in her step as she said that, coming to a stop in front of them both and opening up her takeout box. "Don't worry, this beautiful girl will pay you as much attention as you will like." The oni spoke in a teasing manner as she started to munch on a strip of chicken, listening to Cole's idle thoughts about the world around them.

Unlike the others she had not visit the pawnshop on her own, though it was not due to the fact that she disliked the time that she spent there, just with the combination of both being Reiko's student and sister she did not have the time to do so... Still for all the talk of tea and food she was so glad she had gotten food. As Cole was getting ono his bike and turned his head to look at them Yuudai was already holding out a fork full of chicken and noodles for him "Ok, say aww~ I promised I would pay attention to you after all" Teasing him like this was fun, she never did give up until he just accepted it.

"Hora~ Come on~"

Cole sighed as the Oni apologized and continued eating her food as she hung out with the two of them, she then said that Reiko would give him the attention he craves, and Cole sighed again looking away from the Oni as she tried to tease him, when Cole tried to hand Reiko the helmet Yuudai tried to offer her food to Cole, and when she did she made a big mistake holding her fork out towards him and telling him to say Ahh, and saying she would promise to pay him attention, Cole put the helmet onto the motorcycle's handle bar and got off the bike.

The white haired man walked around the bike to the Oni who was still holding the fork, he grabbed the rest of her food from her other hand and quickly ate it." Thanks, I was starting to get hungry anyways." Cole said wiping his mouth." So you starting a delivery service if so thanks, but I don't have any money for a tip for you Yuudai." Cole told her while a smile formed on his face as he walked around to the other side of his bike wondering if Yuudai would try to fight him or something after he at her food, if so he was ready to take the Oni on.

Oh? Someone else wanting a slice of the SSS pie? The Caucasian man looked a little too old for a mission that was as stressful and insane as something along the lines of stopping whatever was causing incidents large enough to effect both worlds…but hey, Zhu Feng was old, and he was still relatively capable when it came to Youkai-busting! Smiling brightly at the stranger (who also looked more like he was going out for a camping trip than a run through the Crimson Sky), Hoshiko graced him with a small curtsy, lifting up the ends of his oversized shirt just slightly.

“I’m Tsukino Hoshiko, wielder of the Thousand Stars and practitioner of Bai Ji Quan. I’m 14, but I can say I’m 18, if that’s your thing.”

There was another prospective teammate that popped up soon after his introduction, this time a familiar, if not somewhat unlikeable, face. Tamashi, the foxy Youkai healer with magical abilities that might as well be considered cheating. She was elegant and cool and was probably stinking rich, and helped quite a few of Hoshiko’s bros out when they got themselves shredded by some Youkai or rogue Chaser…but having an anti-death addition to the party really killed the mood.

Thankfully, the foreigner had balls, if nothing else (or maybe he just didn’t know how much of a boon Tamashi was), and shooed her off. Maybe he was a bit of a dick about it, but the raven-haired boy was alright with unintentional dickery, when it was useful for him.

“Well then, let’s not take up too much more of Kuso-chan’s space, eh? Gotta keep the pawn shop nice and empty, after all.”

With that, Hoshiko tore the message off the board and pocketed it…somewhere, before walking out. He would have liked to stick around until after his master popped up, but the old man was slow today, for whatever reason.

“Someone tell Zhu Feng that his princess has already been taken away by Bowser, kay?”

Geoff fought back the instinct to vomit, then the instinct to back away while scouring the crowd for angry policemen. He quickly made a negative gesture and cut into the young lady's speech with a slight note of panic and a much larger one of disgust.

"No, no I'm not, thank you."

Geoff, not quite sure what to say in this scenario, just followed the 14 year old out of the shop. He wondered absentmindedly if he was Bowser in this scenario [the thought making him shudder as a wave of disgust once again rolled over him], or if the mission was Bowser and he was like... Luigi? Toad? He'd ask the child about it later. Who Zhu Feng was, and what "the Thousand Stars" would need to be answered at some point too, seeing as google was failing him at the moment, and he was eager to know what his new companion could do.

He caught up to the surprisingly fast child, and introduced himself. "I'm Geoffrey. Geoffrey Windsor. I..." He wished he had something quite as flashy as 'The Thousand Stars' to brag about, but couldn't think of a way to spin his abilities in such a flashy manner without sounding like a mall ninja. "Well, I've got a bunch of guns, and I know how to use them.". Changing tacks slightly, he continued. "Seems odd that someone your age would be so interested in a reconnaissance mission, I guess. Is it just the danger you're looking for?"

He stayed in step with the child as he waited for a response.

Tsuyoshi had left the shop after someone had caught his attention with whisperings about the SS. However, Tsuyoshi had decided that if he investigated, then there would be no harm in that. It's not like he's going after the contract... right? Now all Tsuyoshi had to do was get into the Skies. Tsuyoshi wanted to rush off as soon as possible so went to the place he always knew was guaranteed to take him there. Tsuyoshi made the turn into the street and now the sky was red, and a smile slowly grew on his face. Now... the second order of business, where the fuck should he go? Hmm... maybe somewhere high. Tsuyoshi walked towards the first alleyway he saw to find a pipe that would lead him to the roofs. After that, Tsuyoshi had a pretty good view of the Crimson Skies.

Susan didn't really have anywhere she was going, but she didn't let that dissuade her. She'd danced this dance a hundred times: she sets up shop, she tries to alleviate some of the blandness and drudgery from the place, and then within a year or so brainless monsters find her and send her on her way. She once tried staying in place, and held them off for weeks, but once some of these brainless troglodytes find her it is only a matter of hours before enough swarm her that it is just more convenient to move, the endless hours of monster slaying and constant vigilance hurting not only her recreation but her complexion. She hopped along the dilapadating buildings, portals appearing and disapprearing as she traversed the tall structures. She didn't run into problems, thankfully, but in the distance she could make out the herds of mindless creations on their exodus from whatever was going on to the south.

After a few hours of walking, broken up by a rather productive break, during which she figured out how to activate the 'Game-Boy' and finally realized what all the fuss was about, she spotted a figure in the distance. A young man, unmistakably human and standing with the self-assurance that indubitably marked him as a Chaser. From a safe distance, placing him almost at the edge of her abilities, she called out to him, announcing her presence for politeness rather than any fear that he had not noticed her.

"Hello! Are you friendly!?"

Tsuyoshi whipped around to the voice, which belonged to a woman standing a fair distance away. Knowing the nature of this place, she was either a Chaser or a Youkai, with the appearance of a human. He cautiously began to draw his sword. "Well, that depends, are you friendly!?" He called back as he placed a hand on the handle.

Susan smiled slightly, though she doubted her new friend could make it out. She shouted back, her voice holding slightly more mirth this time around. "That's an awfully stupid question to ask. Doesn't anyone learn game theory over in the human world these days? There's something called the 'Prisoner's Dilemma'." Susan opened a portal directly in front of her and another a safe distance from her opposite, near the edge of the roof the man stood on. Walking through, she waved slightly, absentmindedly fixing her hair, disturbed in the journey over.

"And last time I read one of your books on it, apparently we're meant to Ally"

"Prisoner's Dilemma? That applies here? I must be mistaken or something but I'm pretty sure I'm not a prisoner." He smiled as he snapped his fingers with his free hand as a flicker of fire appeared over that hand. "Ally? I mean... we could do that..." he began, trying to hide the fact that he was amazed by the portal and thought it was super cool. "But I don't really think you want to? Correct?" He inquired.

"Why wouldn't I? I'm sure we can help each other in some way. I doubt you're in this red hellhole just on a whim, and I certainly have matters that could use a helping hand." She kept her distance. Despite her desires to be friendly and exchange services, she knew full well that there really was nothing stopping this man from trying to cut her head off and sell it for a handful of drachma, or whatever these "japanese" called their money.

"Now, last I heard that Great Wall had come down, and everyone in Asia liked capitalism again. So, lets trade. What can I do for you ?"

Ughhh, history wasn't for another two days! Tsuyohsi did not wanted to be reminded about school in the Crimson Skies. This was his escape from it. "Well then, in that case." Tsuyoshi said, as he put his katana back in it's saya after extinguishing the flame. "Let's talk." He said with a smile. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. "Now, I've heard stuff about this thing causing a lot of disturbances in my world and yours. Know anything about that?" He asked

"I don't have a clue, but whatever it is, it's been nothing but trouble. Whatever it is, monsters don't want to be around it, and apparently they decided that they'd flee into my quarters. I'd be happy to help you look into it, though I'm not sure how much help I'd be." Honesty was the best policy when bargaining with someone that might be able to kill you. Al had been very clear about that. "Why do you care? What has been happening in the Human World? It has been too long since I went back, I fear."

So, the rumour's not true. "I was told that this thing wasn't a thing rather than a bunch of things, with a leader. But... if nothing dares to go near it, then that makes Chaser's jobs a lot easier." Tsuyoshi explained. After a tiny bit of silent deliberation, he suddenly clapped his hands together. "Right! Now for you, you said Youkai have been invading your space. Now that you've helped me, I suppose the best I could do is help you. What do you say we clear out a couple of the bastards, huh?" He offered as repayment for her information. He then offered his hand out. "I'm Tsuyoshi, by the way." He introduced himself.

Susan did not move from her perch on the other side of the roof, but smiled, miming a handshake with the air and giggling to herself slightly at the obsurdity of the gesture. "I'm Susan, at least for now. So, shall we be off?" Susan opened a pair of portals for her and her companion, and resumed her travel, her course changing to the one place she did not particularly want to go.

A slight shiver ran up Jin’s back as he hurried along and his Knight whipped its head around, scanning for threats. He had the vaguest sense of being watched, and it irked him more than an actual attack would have. Still, he calmed down a bit at the sight of Tamashi further down the street and coming their way. Even if they were attacked, with her presence even death, apparently, wasn’t permanent. He waved a hand in greeting, halted to let her survey the damage, and sighed in relief as he felt his body stitch itself back together under the fox-lady’s magic.

“Band of Youkai tried to take us apart. Nothing too big,” he explained as he reached into one of the pouches on his belt and took out a wad of cash. While it was likely she wouldn’t have charged for such a menial job, Jin was hardly short on cash. She had come through for him on several occasions, even if she made it look trivial, so he always paid her for the time. He turned to Cinwi and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at Tamashi’s, “This is Tamashi, best healer I know of in the Crimson Sky. Make friends, or at least acquaintances with her.”

With the minor injuries taken care of, his main reason for visiting Dengeki had vanished. The sensation of being watched had not quite disappeared and his Knight had continued its observation albeit to no avail. If either of the two Youkai had noticed, then they gave away little indication. Oh well, he wouldn’t rope either of them in for the moment then. “In fact, I’ll leave you two alone to do just that.” He turned about and walked back from where the two of them had come, pausing to address Cinwi, “Feel free to call if you need help. 90-4185-5143.” With that and not a moment of hesitation, he turned into a pitch dark alley to begin his search.

They...were not fighting? Ruu was genuinely confused and the fact that they were meeting up with a second Youkai wasn't helping. "Faust! Why aren't they killing each other?!" Ruu asked him now.

Faust was silent for a moment, considering what answer he should give. 'They are ... allies.' - "Allies? What's that?" - 'They help each other out'

Ruu started to pout. She was clearly dissatisfied with his answers. Not to mention, Youkai and Human working together? What sort of comedy was this supposed to be? Regardless, it looked like the human was actually splitting from the group, in fact, he was actually moving towards her!

For a second she considering just eating him but ultimately decided against it, no, Ruu just devised a fantastic plan. That would show Faust to not mess with her like that!

---

If he had stayed on the street he probably wouldn’t have been able to hear anything, but under the alley’s darkness Jin’s ears strained to catch any noise. It wasn’t quite distinct, so he could have been mistaken, but all he heard sounded like gibberish. Useless for the most part, but it did alert him that the other party wasn’t alone. The javelin was twirled silently in his Knight’s hand as he crept forward quietly, halting when the voice stopped.

There was no further sound of movement though and Jin quietly began to move further into the alley, scanning above him, before he rounded a corner. His Knight was posed to strike, but of course there was nobody there. “Where are you,” he murmured quietly, hoping the voice would jolt the other party into action and give away their position.

Mhm! It looked like he was searching for her! That would have been the perfect time to strike, alas Ruu decided for something different. Merging with the shadows in her hiding spot it was easy to get a few metres behind the male human and emerge from the dark wall. "Ruu!" Hopefully, she managed to scare him.

While Jin’s body didn’t turn, the spirit attached to him whirled about independently and brought its weapon to bear at the Youkai. He might have been able to see well in the dark, but the soul saw the world in its own way. Not nearly as detailed or beautiful, but effective in its own right. It… well she now that he had heard her voice, looked odd, but then again he perceived humans differently from one another. If he had to describe it, Jin would probably say her soul looked bloated, larger than he would have expected.

Nonetheless, his body turned to face the Youkai and he raised an eyebrow at her attempt to… scare him or something? He wasn’t exactly certain what her plan had been, but it didn’t seem like she was dangerous at the moment. Oh the scent of blood was certainly thicker around her, but he wasn’t about to run her through just because of that. “What’s that? Your name?”

He...didn't seem scared at all! Curses. Ruu already failed. Regardless, now that she was closer, he actually seemed a little bit off, but nothing too unusual.

Now, Ruu continued to talk...or at least she tried to, after all, all what Jin could understand was some sort of gibberish.

Well then… apparently the Youkai couldn’t actually speak Japanese, or any human language given he didn’t recognize a trace of what it said. Did that mean it also couldn’t understand him? “Problematic,” he murmured mostly for himself before he walked past her and motioned for Ruu to follow. Maybe Tamashi or Cinwi would be able to understand her if she spoke some default Youkai language.

Ruu continued to talk her gibberish, in fact, it seemed like she was having a conversation nonetheless, though apparently not a pleasant one.

Understanding his motion though, Ruu actually decided to follow the human, for now, revealing her tattered one pieced simple dress and her bloody and dirty body in all its glory.

‘Multiple entities?’ It would also explain why her soul seemed larger than he would have figured and given the continued gibberish and pauses in between, it seemed like Ruu was in the middle of a conversation. So a plausible explanation, but not the only one to keep in mind for now.

As traces of light filtered in from alley’s entrance, Jin paused to turn and actually look at the Youkai he had encountered. ‘Oh...’ He hadn’t really expected a pretty picture, but a loli covered in blood with a torn dress was certainly out of expectations. Naturally, given her inability to communicate Jin could also surmise that she was either rather young or had simply not learned of human culture. Either way pointed towards her as someone who probably fed on humans and was covered in the lifeblood of her latest meal.

“Well then… go on back I suppose.” His Knight waved with its spear tip aimed at Ruu for her to retreat back to the shadows. While personally he didn’t have an issue with the whole eat humans to survive most Youkai for the most part, he was fairly sure that this close to Dengeki would not be conductive to Ruu’s health if she was in the open. Soaked in blood as she was, he was certain that there would be some Chaser who would love to harvest her Soul Stone tonight.

---

Ruu continued to brabble on, her voice became a little more heated until she pouted, crossed her arms and stomped one of her tiny legs onto the ground, giving away some of her Youkai strength further enhanced by Terror.

After that, it didn't take long until Faust suddenly stood there. Humanoid in shape just looking at him could give one a headache. He looked familiar, yet every time a word, a name, a feature was coming to mind that could describe him it was like all his features had changed. Heck, was he actually here the entire time?

Regardless, he gave the human a bow before beginning to speak in the local human language. "Greetings, Chaser. You may call me Faust." Ruu in the meantime, was apparently impatiently waiting for something, hence her not standing still at all.

He watched impassively as the Youkai grew agitated, enough that she began to engage in the destruction of property. Couldn’t be certain if that was any useful gauge of her strength given how casual the gesture was, but it didn’t seem too out of hand.

Naturally his attention drifted towards the humanoid that appeared next to Ruu and his Knight tightened its grip around the javelin’s shaft. Not quite jumping straight to violence despite the creature’s suspicious appearance, but certainly unafraid of the possibility. He grew tired of the being’s rapidly shifting appearance rather quickly and instead turned his focus back towards Ruu; much easier on the eyes.

He could still see the other creature from the corner of his eye and Jin reciprocated the bow even if his gesture wasn’t nearly as low. “Wow,” he murmured, actually surprised a Youkai would take such a name, “really looking to put people off with your introduction, huh? But what do you want?” The Youkai had obviously showed itself for a reason and he was curious; Ruu seemed rather unique as far as Youkai went, though it seemed like Faust was the true intelligence behind the amalgamation of creatures. At least, if there weren’t any other intelligent creatures stored within their soul.

Faust was silent for a moment, his shape making it impossible to figure out what exactly he was thinking he spoke up. "If this little girl here would do what I want, we wouldn't even be here." Faust made sure to let the rude Chaser know that he wasn't really happy with the situation. "You see, the little one wants to be your ally."

There was probably more to that, but for now, Faust decided to wait and act based on the human's reaction. Ruu spoke now again too, at which Faust replied in the very same language, a single word, but enough to make Ruu look a bit disappointed.

“Smart,” he remarked, easily picking up that Faust hardly liked the situation as it stood. Well at least it clarified who was in charge, at least for the moment. “And why would she want that?” Jin asked as he tilted his head just slightly to express curiosity and interest. He supposed Ruu was still fairly young as a Youkai and if she had seen him next to Cinwi it was probably fairly odd. In fact this right here was likely strange as Jin figured if she ever met Chasers it generally devolved into combat fairly quickly.

Just as the male chaser guessed, Faust confirmed his conclusion, kind of. "She saw you with another Youkai and was genuinely confused why you got along." He paused again, before giving off a sigh. "As you can surely conclude the little one is still very young. I decided it would be for the best to make her realize not all humans are...food."

He sighed again, telling a Chaser that Ruu was a human eating Youkai wasn't in the best of his interests, especially considering where they were, but then again Faust figured he already knew anyways considering Ruu's attire.

"'Allies help each other out.'" Faust quoted in a regretting fashion. "You see, if you let her eat your finger, she considers you an ally... in return she also lets you eat hers." Of course, that last bit, while serious, was out of the question, but hey maybe he actually had some young girl Youkai eating fetish and it would all work out? By now, Ruu was hanging in there, in fact, she was silent and bit deep into her own hand to ease her desire.

“It’s nice being right,” Jin muttered offhandedly, before addressing Faust, “and, again, smart. Tend to live longer the earlier they realize that.” Perhaps other Chasers might have called him a monster for letting a maneater live, but they would he didn’t really enjoy wallowing in hypocrisy. Unless they were of the “Murder all the Youkai” mindset, as far as he knew Chasers generally had some sort of interaction with some Youkai. Which meant they dealt with creatures that sustained themselves off either humans or lesser youkai that ate humans at some point.

Those thoughts aside he raised an eyebrow at Faust’s odd proposal. The closest thing he could think of was some vampire ritual where the two parties exchanged blood to form some sort of bond. Still… even if he knew of something that resembled this, Jin sure as hell wasn’t about to just form a contract or bond with Ruu at random. “Interesting, but I’m not up to feeding some random Youkai my body parts. Bring a geis or the like next time and I’ll consider it.” If he could reign Ruu in and wean her diet to one that didn’t consist of other people than it would be a worthy use of his time Jin supposed.

From Ruu’s subdued manner though, it seemed like she was just barely holding herself back. A voracious one then, given it couldn’t have been long since she just ate from her state. “I suppose some blood is acceptable though, if that’ll work.” As far as he knew even vampires, with their expertise in blood magic, couldn’t do much with blood if it was freely given. Something about the act of taking it allowing for manipulation, or the sort, he hadn’t really gone in depth with their discussion.

Faust was dissatisfied with this answer. Of course, it wouldn't have been as easy as he hoped for. "Of course, you have every right to be suspicious." How was he supposed to handle this? They were way too close to the Hunter Association.

Paying no attention to the Chaser for the time being, Faust got into a conversation with Ruu. Freeing her hand from her mouth, the strong bite wound she had created already started to close itself as she replied to Faust. Whatever they talked about, Ruu seemed dissatisfied at first, even glaring at the male Human.

A few words later though she seemed all harmless again and stepped with big eyes closer to him. "She would agree to your blood, but she wants lots of it." Faust gave him to understand.

Jin would admit it was a bit irritating to stand by and watch as the two Youkai discussed amongst themselves, no doubt about him. Ruu’s glare might have been intimidating with the whole covered in blood thing, but her loli, yes he was familiar with the term, appearance sort of ruined any chance of that. He did note that she also seemed to have slight regenerative abilities.

“Well she gets as much as I want to give, so tell her to deal with it. Also, safety precautions.” He didn’t know if the taste of blood would send her instincts wild, but Jin didn’t exactly feel like dying because he decided to feed a Youkai like some sort of pet. He stepped closer to Ruu and the Knight reached down to wrap a gauntlet around the Youkai’s neck. His grip was firm, but with a simple flex he would snap her neck. At the same time the tip of its javelin hung inches from her heart, ready to pierce it without hesitation. All of this was done slowly though, giving Ruu more than enough time to escape. If she couldn’t deal with that, well better luck finding another blood bag.
”...!” How could he have been so stupid? Trusting in some foreign human like that. Sounding way more serious now, he again talked to Ruu, who, unlike Faust, seemed pretty chill about the entire situation.

"Ruu!" Either she was oblivious to the danger she was in or was not feeling threatened at all.

A bit surprising to be honest, but maybe her child-like mind didn’t realize the dangerous situation she had just put herself into. Faust on the other other hand didn’t seem to like their positions, even if his rapid-fire gibberish seemed ineffective at convincing her. “Ruu indeed,” he murmured as his Knight tightened its grip to hold her steady and Jin ran the edge of one hand over the palm of the other. A thin line was drawn over the toughened skin, and he held it over the Youkai’s mouth. With a squeeze, the red ran free and he watched her carefully for any reaction.

As the sweet red nectar was traveling down her throat, Ruu's eyes became more tranquil, her face started to blush and her body temperature increased. If it wasn't already clear how much she enjoyed those meals, it was about to become clear day when the Youkai girl actually started to moan slightly. His blood was apparently very delicious?

“Joy…” Jin muttered dryly as he felt her skin flush as she drank his lifeblood. If he wasn’t wro- Oh, yeah, there it was. He actually scratched at his head with his free hand as he clenched and unclenched his fist several times to speed up the flow of blood. This… would be beyond compromising if anyone actually saw. He tugged his hand away for a moment just to see if she was satisfied with how much she had drank, still ready to provide a bit more if necessary. “You can tell her to stop being greedy at any time,” he muttered towards Faust, understanding that she might simply keep drinking for the taste or, evidently pleasure, rather than to sate any thirst.

Getting fed more, sooner or later, Faust actually decided to speak up. ”I'm honestly surprised she hasn't devoured you whole yet. As for her greed, she won't stop even if I tell her.” Faust didn't ever bother talking to Ruu this time, he knew he couldn't reach the girl when she was like that.

“That’s nice to know I suppose,” Jin deadpanned, shaking his head at Faust’s uselessness in the situation. Ruu didn’t seem to have noticed that the source of blood had been pulled away, savoring the leftover taste that stained her mouth. He gently tapped her forehead with a finger to try and get her attention, blood drops dripping onto her through clenched fingers. His Knight’s grip ensured she couldn’t try and snap at him though. “Hey, that’s enough.” She probably didn’t understand him, but she would have to get the message one way or another.

It took Ruu a few before her eyes indicated she was capable of absorbing her surroundings again."Ruu?" She looked confused at the Chaser though some quick words of Faust cleared up her confusion rather fast.

"Ruuuu~~!" She looked dissatisfied, clearly wanting more!

Now he hadn’t bled himself completely dry just because he had foreseen such a scenario, but Ruu seemed fairly young and impressionable. If Jin gave her more blood just because she complained or demanded it, he would probably teach her some bad habits. “Faust. Does she actually need more, or is it just a craving now?” He turned his attention to Ruu momentarily, flicking her on the forehead sharply. “Shhhh~ keep it down.”

If she was supposedly still hunger then Jin would give her a bit more blood, but not nearly as much as before. “That’s about as much as I can spare, tell her that.” He kept an eye on Ruu in his Knight’s grip, but began to wrap the cut with a strip of cloth for the moment. Tamashi might be annoyed that he came looking for her again within the hour, but oh well.

'Ruu is always hungry.' Could have been something Faust could have told him, but telling him that would only prove to be disadvantageous. Instead, Faust exchanged just a few words with the Youkai loli before she put her small hands onto the Knight's gauntlet and tried to free herself.

Thankfully it was only after he had dealt with his minor wound that Ruu began to struggle against his Knight’s grip in earnest. Well, he didn’t see any reason to hold her any longer, so Jin took a step back to give himself some distance. The grip around her neck was loosened even as the spear’s tip remained pointed at her heart. “So, she satisfied with that or what Faust?”

”The little one won't harm you, you are now allies, after all." Faust answered his question. Ruu was about to take a step forward, but stopped as the spear reminded her that it was still there, looking confused for a second, she happily grabbed it and tried to bend it!

To her disappointment, surprise, or perhaps both, her hand would simply pass through the shaft without any noticeable effect. “Right then,” Jin murmured as his Knight raised the weapon out of the way so it no longer threatened Ruu. “So what now? She been to the human world yet?” He didn’t have any idea what actually an ally meant to Faust or Ruu, beyond he, probably, wouldn’t be snacked on at a whim. If she followed him of her own will than that would be nice in a manner he supposed; would let him test foods with her sooner rather than later.

She stood standing watching the little place swarming with the cancerous beings that were chasers. Behind her, a shadowy monster stood on all fours behind her, breathing hard and she tapped her hand on her thigh "I could just...blow it up, I mean that would be easier right? No? Dont talk much do you?" she looked back at the monster, which simply bowed and laid down, completely showing that the women had dominance over the beast. "Fucking useless sometimes..." squatting, her eyes watched the chasers headquarters thinking of some fun idea of how to destroy the place in an entertaining way.

"Well now. Aren't you interesting."

The voice came from the girl's side, having not been there the moment before. Its tone withheld no emotion, and yet, revealed the entire spectrum of component thinking. Had the girl turned to the side, she would have seen a very peculiar figure standing next to her. He wore a dark outfit with white hair crowning his head. But that wasn't what striked his appearance to be odd.

The man turned to the girl to reveal a mask that covered his face. Two eyes that reflected the color of the Crimson Sky gazed back into the girl, the sclera a gray coloration. The man tilted his head once, as if studying the girl before seeing right through her. If he was fazed at all by the massive shadow beast that stood on guard for the woman's protection, he did not show it.

"You are Ikkime Oi, yes? I want to tell you that your presence here is....interesting."

She looked to the side, looking the man up and down "I don't know who you're talking about, Ikkime is my first name but my last name changed....a long long time ago, so if you don't mind telling me how you know my real name, I wont kill you, or this building, with you in it" calmly said, she looked back at the chaser headquarters, ready if the man decided to pick a fight.

"I know who you are because you are you," the man answered calmly."As for the building, its interests do not interest me. You, however, are an interesting example. A living study."

The masked man moved closer now, his concealed visage mere inches away from Ikkime's. An impossible case for an impossible scenario. The mysterious figure waited for a response of answer of some kind.

The shadow beast behind them now, stood up and it howled, suddenly, ten or more of them began rising from the shadows, still looking at the headquarters, she laughed "Start making sense, or those things wont be so nice as Im being."

Once more, the man was unaffected by the summoned creature, who had now multiplied to many more spawn. The masked man spared a single glance at them before turning to Ikkime.

"It would seem we are at an impasse. Your stubbornness never changes, even as a refuge. You shouldn't be here Ikkime Oi. And yet, here you are. I can see it even now. You will attempt to kill me, only to realize the futility in your actions. In doing so, you have only gauged my interest more so for you. However..."

The man's eyes gleamed for a fraction of a mere moment.

"I can see clearly your connection to the existence calling herself Lucille Ferris."

At the mention of her spouse Ikkime stopped smiling and thinking of destroying the headquarters. Standing, her body seemed to be outlined with a purplish black, her eyes seemingly getting darker "You, who do you think you are, to utter that persons name?" she stepped forward and moved closer to his face, looking into his eyes.

The beast all howled and moved towards her and the man "If I break that mask of yours, who am I going to find behind it?"

"I am nothing. Yet, I am everything. And anything."

The man once more stared at the woman with unreadable intent. With one swift motion, he walked forward, passing right through Ikkime as well as any attacks her hounds wanted to throw at him. He stood at the edge of the roof now, staring at the sky, before turning back to the woman.

"Though I suppose it would make it more convenient for you to call me by a title. Very well then. You may address me as...the Jester of the Court."

Moving or rather...gliding across the floor of the roof, she moved past her beasts and towards him "I know what I choose to believe is what is dearest to me, I know what there are dimensions, I know that someone has to be responsible for all of them, when you say you're everything, are you to say that you are that person? A god? and if that's the case why are you here right now, and why am i not to suppose to be here?"

"Those questions mean nothing to me," the Jester said dismissively. "But your existence is a unique one. I am here because I will it to be. You are here because you are lost, separated from Lucille Ferris. Well....would you like to see her again?"

She snapped and more of the beast started to appear, this time, more then thirty appeared on this roof and the a dozen or so on the other, she looked back at them and then to the man "Do I want to see my love? After this long, my I ask why you appeared now?" she turned and stood in the middle of her beast putting one about the size of a house, while the others relatively were around the size of a pickup truck.

"Do what I brought you here for" the biggest beast bowed again, before howling and running of the other side of the building, the one facing the headquarters, the sixty or so beasts, also jumped off and into the air, forming a darkness that no one inside the headquarters would be able to see in the pure of night. Ikkime waved her hand and turned, as an enormous dark dome formed over the building the headquarters was in and the surrounding buildings. This amplified the monsters power now barreling in a wave of shadows towards the shop. Anyone within the dome would have a hard time seeing without a source of light and even then it would only allow them to only so far in the dark.

"You're very persistent in your methods," the Jester observed. "But all the same, your situation is a unique case. Why would Ikkime Oi willingly kill Chasers, the very people you once worked for and considered family. But above all else..."

The Jester was gone from sight, now appearing beside Ikkime once more. While the chaos flamed all around them, he stood still as always. His red eyes gleamed in the night's darkness. The wheels of fate were turning ever more.

"Isn't it interesting that there are now two of you, Ikkime Oi?"

"Because I am not Ikkime Oi, have no been a long time..." hearing him talk about the other one, the one that she use to be like, she turned again and started walking towards the dome to watch inside "If you know that, then you know my answer to that, Jester..." she looked back "You wont stop me will you? If not, then why are you here." Turning she saw that he was gone and she nodded "Interesting indeed..."

---

Ikkime was in the back with Eleanor, and Eos, making tea and cutting rapidly and skillfully slices of things and making platters for the now quickly apparent people in the headquarters. Eleanor sat on the counter top and whistled, skinning fruits and looking at Ikkime and Eos in silence, Ikkime used her power and purple aura tails appeared, helping her work with the food and carry them "Alrighty Eos! Ill be out there, you gonna stay with me of or her?" she looked back at Eleanor who was still peeling fruits.

"Ill come and help serve, Ill be back E-Sama" she jumped off and walked after the purple tails holding trays of tea and treats varying with what she had. Upon entering the room, she saw everyone for the most part was talking, Eleanor went over to the window and looked outside at the darkness of the outside "It's...so dark sis....yeah it is weir-"

"Hoi Eleanor, help me please!, hiya, Im Ikkime Oi, one of the resident senior chasers, did I hear SSS rank mission being wanted?" she looked at some of the people who had begun forming plans "Well we have a couple senior chasers on deck so, if you want it, ask one of them, including me and my sister" she nodded off to Eleanor who held her hands behind her back and bowed slightly. She started to hand off tea, till her ears started picking up noise outside. "Hey Eleanor, wanna go check that out for me?" Eleanor already ahead of her, moved towards the door and went outside. Suddenly, the outside seemed to be completely pitch black, the street lights that had been shining seemed to disappear and then Eleanor could not be seen.

Putting all the tray's down, she quickly formed a spear "Kusa-Chan, sound the alarm, we're under attack, it's her again! Everyone else, I need you to prepare yourselves for a fight, a hard one, this is the SS rank, she wont show herself, but her power...it's dangerou-" Eleanor got thrown through the window and slid to a halt on the floor.

Getting up and brushing herself off, she opened her hand, a huge scythe appearing, looking at everyone, armor had appeared and an eye patch over her eye "Well what the fuck are yall waiting for? Get your asses in gear god dammit!" one of the shadow beast jumped through the window and she grabbed it with her hand, by the neck. "You see this thing?" slamming it into the ground "It's what we like to call, a pain in the ass little fucker, you cant kill them, only make them disappear for a little, before they return. Only way to make them disappear, is-" the beast tried to struggle, before Eleanor, or rather Lilith, pulled it's head from it's body and threw it back into the darkness of outside. The body seemed to go misty and dissipate into the air, but outside dozens and dozens of howls were heard "Oh, and don't let them slice you, it will infect you and you will go mad until we can take you to a chaser hospital" she jumped back into the darkness outside and Ikkime sighed.

"Light wont work out there, so try to stick together alright everyone?" she looked at them, before her body was completely engulfed in purple and took on the shape of a fox humanoid shape, roaring, she jumped into the outside and disappeared leaving the others.

Zhu Feng sighed to himself as he finally stepped out of his tea shop, locking it up behind him. He had refused Lei's offer of a ride to the pawn shop, as he'd been embroiled in an argument over telephone with one of his tea suppliers. It was things like this that made making a legitimate living so difficult. Looking back, life as a Triad hitman had been easier, until he'd been given responsiblities over others, that was. Sighing, he looked around to make sure that there was no one in the area and ducked into a side alley before channeling chi through his body. With his enhanced strength and speed, he leapt up onto the rooftop and began hopping across them towards the pawn shop.

As he passed through the streets, Zhu Feng took a moment to look down before his eyes widened. Five corpses, all mutilated and hung up in the middle of the street. People gathered around the bodies, whispering fearfully to themselves as they wondered what was going on. Too bad that Zhu Feng knew. It had to be the work of a youkai. A particularly bloodthirsty one. In his ten years as a Chaser, he'd seen scenes like this, but not quite so blatantly in the open. Whoever did this wanted to be chased.

The old man grinned. This was the kind of challenge he had been looking for. With a quick hop, Zhu Feng leapt off of the rooftop, and touched down in the Crimson Sky. He had a battle to seek.

<Snipped quote by Kitsune>

Cole sighed as the Oni apologized and continued eating her food as she hung out with the two of them, she then said that Reiko would give him the attention he craves, and Cole sighed again looking away from the Oni as she tried to tease him, when Cole tried to hand Reiko the helmet Yuudai tried to offer her food to Cole, and when she did she made a big mistake holding her fork out towards him and telling him to say Ahh, and saying she would promise to pay him attention, Cole put the helmet onto the motorcycle's handle bar and got off the bike.

The white haired man walked around the bike to the Oni who was still holding the fork, he grabbed the rest of her food from her other hand and quickly ate it." Thanks, I was starting to get hungry anyways." Cole said wiping his mouth." So you starting a delivery service if so thanks, but I don't have any money for a tip for you Yuudai." Cole told her while a smile formed on his face as he walked around to the other side of his bike wondering if Yuudai would try to fight him or something after he at her food, if so he was ready to take the Oni on.

Yuudai was being so kind and generous to pay attention to Cole and give him a bite of her food, those were the thoughts she was distracted with as Cole decided to take it on himself to devour the entire box! The oni was shocked at first but soon gained a none too pleased look on her face, biting the food off the fork before hopping up to stand on Cole's bike. "Oi, oi. That wasn't very nice." A devilish grin crossed her lips as she stared down to Cole, her arms crossing under her chest as she was standing on his weak spot, such a nice guy to go to the other side and leave it unprotected~ "Maybe I should just turn your bike into scrap and sell it as compensation? I am sure I could afford at least two more orders if I did." Yuudai was confident she could scrap with Cole and win, if he kept to a straight up brawl, but since they were out in public and her sister was here the oni instead decided to live up to her name and threaten to turn his motorcycle into a rubix cube.

<Snipped quote by Spriggs27>

Yuudai was being so kind and generous to pay attention to Cole and give him a bite of her food, those were the thoughts she was distracted with as Cole decided to take it on himself to devour the entire box! The oni was shocked at first but soon gained a none too pleased look on her face, biting the food off the fork before hopping up to stand on Cole's bike. "Oi, oi. That wasn't very nice." A devilish grin crossed her lips as she stared down to Cole, her arms crossing under her chest as she was standing on his weak spot, such a nice guy to go to the other side and leave it unprotected~ "Maybe I should just turn your bike into scrap and sell it as compensation? I am sure I could afford at least two more orders if I did." Yuudai was confident she could scrap with Cole and win, if he kept to a straight up brawl, but since they were out in public and her sister was here the oni instead decided to live up to her name and threaten to turn his motorcycle into a rubix cube.

Cole noticed the shock in Yuudai's eyes and grew a small grin knowing she would get angry by the act, then something happened that Cole didn't expect, the Oni jumped up onto his motorcycle's side car, then threatened to turn the bike into scrap metal, along with the side car, Cole gave Yuudai a stare and grinned." You can break my bike, but two things will happen, one it will just force me to carry Reiko onto my back everywhere we go and that's no problem with me, two it may actually make me show you how my blood really works." Cole threatened the Oni.

While he spoke he took off his coat and set it onto a near by parking meter, revealing his slate grey combat sweater, he cracked his gloved knuckles and stared the Oni in the eye." And I can tell that you want to go after I've eaten your food. So if your feeling froggy then jump, if you beat me here on the street, then I'll buy you another meal when I see you again." He played on the Oni's stomach having a feeling that he knew that she would accept the challenge and he would honor the deal if she was willing to honor it as well.

As the white haired man waited for an answer he sized the Oni up and took a moment to guess how he would do against the Oni since they were out in the open he felt that she would hold back or at least not show her power in public, the good thing for Cole was that his power wasn't something that would be too much seen and he didn't need to hold back like she would, unless he shape shifted into another person or brandished a weapon he felt that he would be fine in this fight, then again there was also Reiko, she could try to stop the two from getting into a fight or something might happen and she could get hurt, so he would have to watch over her if Yuudai took the fight too far.

“Recon mission?” Hoshiko tilted his head to the side at that odd statement, before fishing out the mission notice once more. Skimming over the short description once more, he wondered if Geoffrey had read the wrong mission or whatever, before turning it over to the older man. “Let’s see…. ‘Dead or Alive’, and ‘Stop cause at all cost’…I honestly can’t imagine where you’d get the idea that recon’s involved!”

Of course, there was that whole thing where the message read ‘Do not engage without extreme caution’, but that’s not THAT important. Any Chaser knew to approach scary Youkai with caution, so Hoshiko was just fine. Then again, Geoff looked to be a little lamer and more skittish than the Japanese Chaser had initially imagined. Ah well, it’s not like Hoshiko wasn’t accustom to carrying people.

“It’s not the danger I’m looking for, so everything’s going to be daijoubu,” Hoshiko continued, picking up his pace now that Geoffrey proved that he could keep up, “It’s more because I have friends on the border, so it’d be bad if they couldn’t sleep well due to some SSS-rank problem making noise, you know?”

“What ‘bout you though? Need money to treat a sister on life support or something?”

Reiko kept to the sidelines as she observed how Yuudai and Cole were interacting. To think that she, Asamiya Reiko, would've banded with types such as they was rather funny indeed, specially when she was considered to the family's read, suceeding Ginko when the elderly woman's inevitably comes to its end. But, that was not the kind of life she had in mind for herself and, all-in-all, Tsubaki would make for a better head, since she had that aura of confidence around her that made it next to impossible to ignore her demands.

"Well, what happens, happens..." she said out loud, before turning to Yuudai and Cole "Cole, I think we should get a cab. I don't want to leave Yuudai behind" Reiko said as she finished her current cigarette, just to light yet another "Also, what do you say about we going out for a drink after talking with Chikage? I heard there's a nice place at the old industrial district." Then, she started to move up the main street in order to stop a passing cab, before she turned around to wait for them.

However, what Reiko saw was that her two partners had once again returned to their default behavior, which was quite a burden, to say the least. She exhaled a plume of smoke and went back to them, delivering a swift dope slap at both "Now, if you're going to have another brawl, do so after we finish our job. What do you think I'm paying you to do, anyway?" she said ignoring the fact she didn't paid them at all, since their income came from the split rewards off their missions.

@Spriggs27@Kitsune





"I'll be there in a moment!" Eos said as Ikkime and Eleanor went back to the storefront holding a round of refreshments, she wasn't sure why, but the mere act of holding a service tray triggered a response from her emotional processor that could only be descrined as longing, almost to the point of melancholy. Eos took a few spare moments to reflect on this strange sensation, thinking that it was a good source of inspiration for new lyrics, though it wouldn't last long.

A in a matter of seconds a great darkness took over the Dangeki pawn shop and soon enough Eos heard the sound shouts and then of something crashing into the wall. "What is it?" she asked as she came runing from the back, her casual dress vanishing in a cyan haze and in its place her battle outfit and drones being materialized. She took a oment to scan her surroundings before dashing straight into the darkness and saw that Ikkime and Kusagi were well, but Eleanor -or rather, Lilith- had been smased against the floor and right next to her...

"You! How many times have I told you to leave you alone, you stalker?" Eos said, pointing her drones at the obvious culprit, which in this case was none other than Zane, though she couldn't proccess how he got control over the shadows in addition to his already sizeable arsenal.

@Crimson Raven@AgentFallenSoul@TheWindel





A girl dressed in a dark lolita style dress observed as Tsuyoshi and Susan exchanged pleasantries, from a safe distance. She was rather interested in both the boy's skittish nature and the Youkai's natural distrust of the fledgling Chaser "Fufufu..." she chuckled upon herself, as she stepped out of the shadows waving her right hand to call for their attention.

"Oiii~ mister and miss over the nearby building! Can you help me please?" she shouted, loud enough that she was sure they heard her and made a a brief pause to catch her breath before continuing "I came here searching for some vague information regarding a dangerous Youkai, but lost my way. Could it be possible that you know how to navigate these buildings? I'm but a mere country girl, so a city this large scares me." she said with a coy smile in her lips, and then falling silent as she waited to see how the two would react.

@GingerBoi123@Eschatologist

Akuma rushed through the Crimson Sky, feeling more alive than ever. That was such a good meal he thought to himself, licking his lips with a noticeable smile across his face. He suddenly felt someone enter where he had entered, and turned around. There was a Chaser coming for him, it was like a dream come true, he hadn't drained a Chaser in such a long time that he wondered if they still tasted good. Akuma quickly summoned his horse and went out on a little trip to find a way to lure the Chaser to him, he liked to play before battling.

Akuma darted through the streets until he found a gang of about 15 weak Youkai simply standing there. Perfect he thought to himself as the horse burned away and he walked to the gang. There was no time to play with them since that time would be occupied with the Chaser that seemed to come for Akuma. The monster used his telekinesis to quickly send dozens of pipes flying towards the gang, stabbing them into a wall. "Fuck! Please let us go, pleeeeeeeaaaaaase!!!" they screamed in their language, crying. Akuma simply got close and leaned in to deliver a swift bite into the Youkai's neck, making him more skeletal with each second that Akuma drained it.

Just before it died, Akuma let it go and moved on to the next one, and the next, and so on, until they were all weak and bony-looking. Too weak to move, the Youkai all howled and screamed, pleading to be let go but Akuma didn't care. He would go to a small house, and then from there lay a trail. Each time Akuma reached a checkpoint, he would stab a Youkai into the ground with its insides squeezing through the wound. None of them spoke, but twitched and sobbed as the horse carried the remaining Youkai through their trail of torture. Akuma continued to stab each Youkai in the same manner across a path he had created that led to some street in the city.

Once done, Akuma returned to the house which he had to occupy through questionable means and cleaned out the family's bodies from the house before sitting down, waiting. The trail of suffering Youkai started near the entry point to the Crimson World through which the Chaser had come, it was just a matter of him finding the trail. Akuma twitched with anticipation and began to laugh maniacally as he simply waited for the Chaser.

Zane had been patiently waiting, keeping to himself in the corner until the pawn shop was suddenly draped in darkness. He jumped up, knocking over his chair and immediately tried to make a light. It failed. He heard a commotion nearby and felt an evil presence nearby.

"You! How many times have I told you to leave you alone, you stalker?" Eos said, pointing her drones at the obvious culprit, which in this case was none other than Zane, though she couldn't proccess how he got control over the shadows in addition to his already sizeable arsenal.

"Tch, If you think this is my doing, then your circuits need to be cleaned. Zane replied coolly. He knew she couldn't see him, but he gave a wider smile in her direction. "Besides, how could I study you in pitch black hmmm?" He chuckled. , "That aside, lets do something about this darkness that keeps me from seeing you." He was playing up to expectations a little, and not caring what they thought of him. He focused his power, his drones guided by his thoughts. , "Aparturum." He said, waving his hand horizontally. A portal to the Crimson Sky opened, which he stepped through and repeated the process, forcing the portal to open right outside the dome of darkness. He went through, leaving the portals for any of the others, who wanted to use them. He immediately felt a powerful presence on top of the building nearby. Its was the only noteworthy power around, so he knew it had to be the owner of the dome of darkness. He gathered his Dynamos behind him, and propelled himself up past them. He moved forward and landed in the middle of the pack of shadow beasts. Once his feet hit the ground, his Dynamos detached and surrounded him. At his mental command they started firing blasts of plasma at all of the beasts. He turned to the figure and said, , "Excuse me, but you are interrupting my study," His two largest Dynamos moved over his shoulders and trained their cannons on her."And I detest being interrupted." He spat.

It didn't don on Cinwi until Jin had left to wonder just what a Chaser was doing with a Youkai healer in their pocket. Did the woman do this sort of thing a lot, or was it a one-off thing? Was she here on her own will or were Jun and his other Chaser buddies holding her hostage? Either way, she didn't need to think on it long, as there was little doubt the "Dangeki" place he had been talking about was a veritable hub for Chasers. The sight of so many set her defensive nature off, red flags flying panicked in her head, and she scurried away without another word. Best of luck to the Jun guy, but fucked if she was gonna be around that many of those bastards for any extended amount of time. She'd had enough unfriendly run-ins to know that most would attack first and ask questions after, and in Cinwi's case, neither were good outcomes.

So with her newly-regained energy, she clambered atop one of the nearby building's fire escapes and ascended to the roof. Peeking her head out, she was relieved to find it empty, and though she no longer had most of her disguise, the hood would do well enough to hide her face. It took Cinwi a few moments to register that there wasn't much for her to do except hide, that much of what was going on in the city would mean her death if she misstepped. She nevertheless meandered along the adjacent rooftops, careful not to fall and careful not to do anything too over-exerting on the off chance that the healer's magic was a hack job. It seemed like she would be holing up for the night beneath an awning until a particularly gruesome sight caught her eye.

Trailing down the street were more than a dozen Youkai, all prone and sprawled out, some writhing, some still, all alive and in immense agony. Her mouth went agape, and the familiar pit started forming in her stomach. She pushed it back, and her cautious fear was unsurprisingly replaced with anger. Fucking. Chasers. Did she have the best relationship with her own kind? No, but damned if she was gonna sit by and let some uppity shithead human rampage through the streets leaving them for dead.

Cinwi made her way down to the street-level, whereupon she followed the trail of groaning Youkai. It took more than a slight amount of self control to keep from trying to talk with them, she knew there was nothing in her power that could help, and like hell was she going back to that Chaser nest. The best thing she could do was hope to find whoever had caused this, or find out if anyone had been left truly alive. At length she came upon a house, at which point the trail of Youkai ceased. It looked to be in pretty shitty shape, but then it was likely the scene of a battle. As she prepared to enter she thought over what she might do. Close quarters were her advantage, and if she could catch the Chaser by surprise there'd be no fight at all, unless they were some fucking master in which case... she didn't want to think about that, just go in, rip and tear, and get out. Easy peasy. She took a deep breath, her claws at the ready, and charged inside, a ferocious roar bubbling in her throat.

And yet the moment she entered it died away. What she found was no Chaser, clearly, the seated figure's mere presence attested to that. There was blood everywhere, but she could see no body, and for what it was worth the fucker looked pretty pleased with himself. She blinked, surprised, and her savage preparations for attack waned away. Instead she stood up straight and looked around. Holy shit, was she late? Her attention turned to him, and though she wouldn't dare admit it, the guy creeped her the hell out.

"You alright? Looks like you already took care of whoever the fuck this was," she said, motioning to the red splatters. "Hey there's prolly gonna be a shitload more Chasers heading this way soon, so you might want to get moving. Not smart to test your luck with these fuckers."