It continued to rain after that. By that time I was in one of the vans, taking watch at the trunk with the door open. Tyrell made some hot water ahead of time and gave me a thermos of some coffee for each of us. The kitchen had a lot of useful things around. Some of them no need of selling. I guess it actually pays to raid and salvage from abandoned facilities.
My daisho was kinda sharp and my ofuda charms are still good. Same for my knives and other stuff. But I look at my bow as I didn't use it this time. I didn't have much use for it now other than hunting. Maybe it was about time to retire it as it was just getting in the way in fights.
However there wasn't any fight to get into to begin with. Our fires were out and the engines were off. We have a few oil lamps on in the car but it barely helped with the visibility. Even with my Magus Eye there weren't any animals or more monsters around. It was just a blank space, only for the chi of the plants and the mana around. Looking above I see were below a leyline. It was glowing and radiant. But as I turn off the Magus eyes I could no longer see it.
Besides me however was Mr. Williams on his binoculars to check on the distance. He puts them down for a second to rub his eyes a little. He takes a sip of his coffee to keep himself awake. "You got anything?" He asked me. "Same as you. Nothing." I told him.
"It looks like the rain is making all the monsters find shelter." The man says, "It's no different from us when we were hunting for megabeast. Back at the surface."
"Yet here we are again with the hunting thing." I point out.
The rain continued to pour a bit louder. Winds were strong to put out our candles. Some of the wax even went on Mr. Williams's hand. He shook his hand as it gave him slight pain. But as the man was a stoic, he didn't give a single noise. 'I guess pain is barely in a military man's vocabulary.' I thought. The man then forgets about it and just continues to drink coffee like it never happened.
With that the man decides to take care of his crossbow. There were a lot of complicated parts in his crossbow from bolts, hinges, to gears. After that he cleans and reassembled his crossbow, the man dry fired his crossbow and pushed up the stock. Mr. Williams pushed it down for the drawstring to be pulled back and ready for another bolt.
"That's a new feature." I commented.
"A guild member told me to switch from a carbine stock to a hunting rifle stock to make this. It was pretty useful for today." Mr. Williams said.
"...damn I barely noticed that." I replied rather surprised.
"With you getting better neither of us shouldn't get left behind, you know." The man said.
"Have I really been hogging most of the spotlight?" I humored him.
"To be honest I'm rather used to it. I cripple while you finish. But you never cease to amaze me." He chuckled.
We continued to maintain our weapons. With all the rain I managed to soak my whetstone in a bucket of rainwater. But doing so triggered another memory as I saw something in the horizon. I imaged myself in a same situation as this. It was at the Kenjutsu dojo at Japan and I doing the same thing as the rain during monsoon season.
We were going to have any class for today since a typhoon hit Tokyo but it didn't mean my other job was done. Out comes Lilith, drenched and barely recognizable. "Do we have to do this mission? I'm getting soaked here." She whined. "That rogue omnyou mage has been giving death threats to the Mirai clan and sent a few shoujou spirits to flood the head priest's manor. The idiot even summoned a typhoon...so yeah... we have to take care of this." I told her.
"But it's the clan's problem. It's not our fault. Why do we have to do it?"
"They said that it's below them to kill a corrupted omnyoji. But you know them, their pride matters more than their humility."
I hand her a towel and waited for her to dry off. Lilith looked pissed. "Your clan is full of pricks. Yet then again...why are you doing this quest?" She questioned me. "Even if I'm of their blood I'm just an associate. So...this makes me the one that does the dirty work." I replied.
"As usual...elitist mages having a stick stuck at their ass to the point it sticks out of their mouths...How do people like this exist?"
"At least we're getting paid. My dad just got remarried and my step-brother's birthday is coming up and my step-sister wants to go on a few English courses."
Lilith finished drying her hair. She takes out a smoke and takes a seat. The woman was stressed . I handed her a poncho and an extra pair of sweatpants. She smiles and snatches it from my hand. "Always prepared aren't ya?" She says, "It's surprising how you manage to keep your head up despite the fact how much shit people give you."
"That's why you're here. I can't be a fudge packer if I don't have any space. Besides...my ofuda talismans aren't waterproof...not all of them that is." I replied.
"So we're cracking jokes now?"
"You're the one who told me to have a sense of humor, remember?"
"So you DO listen."
"Just don't put your guard down. The guy managed to get a hold of a ghost whale."
"A ghost whale...really?"
"Yeah...they really pissed this guy off."
And that's where the memory ends as I calm down my mind. I hear a moaning sound at the distance. Both me and Mr. Williams look at the sky to see something odd. It was a floating whale skeleton covered in an aethreal body. The ghost whale was coming right towards us. It woke everybody up and startled the whole group. Everybody pointed their weapons at it while Tyrell hid behind his seat. That was when I lowered all of their weapons slowly with my telekinesis. "The Bake-kujira or bone whale doesn't attack people unless harmed. If we do then we might get spread a plague." I told them.
"How do you know that? That could be a ghoul." Richard put out.
"I just know. Just wait for it to pass by us." I insisted.
The man looked at me suspiciously. But Richard saw the seriousness in my eyes. But the man sighs and puts down his gun. "Looks like we're not gonna get any sleep tonight. That giant pack of ghost blubber is loud as fuck." The man said.
We watched the Bone whale go towards us. it soon flies upward. And to their surprise, I was right. The aethreal body floats upwards and passes us. All we could do was watch it float away at the other direction. The being was loud and gave deep moans. The celestial body shined like light going through water. It was an amazing sight as it was menacing. The Bone Whale was passing by us in a slow pace.
Ten minutes later the thing managed to make it a few yards away from us. We could see it still at the horizon but it didn't help with the moaning. That and the fact the apparition is a walking plague. None of us felt sleepy at all after that. Everybody went on watch duty after that. We were on high alert but mostly we were about to shit our pants. For all we know some other messed up monster of the night would jump on us. So much for the rain being our cover.
But it wasn't that bad. Some of us were even able to sleep an hour or two before the sun came. I on the other hand I was on top of the van to get a good vantage point. It was there I learned something new. If I covered one eye using the bird shikigami I would be able to get an image on the what that charm was seeing on that eye. I managed to make the charm soar for a few meters while using magus eye on the other. It was hard to focus though. But too bad I wasn't able to use the magus eye on the shikigami. It would have been a it easier to find a meal with the sun barely out.
I could spot a few figures from below the shikigami. It was a buck, sleeping just a few meters from us. "You find something?" Sakuya asked. "I think I found breakfast." I said.
"I'm not that much of a hunter. You want somebody to come with you?"
"I'll fine on this one. Besides, I think we might need to take it easy with the lack of sleep."
With that I took my bow and went at my way to find my prey. It may have been just a few meters but it was hard to navigate through the tall grass. I wanted to cut it but it might just attract some attention and scare my prey away. This was a Laputa breed of deer. These things were just known to be very sensitive. But I wasn't far from my target for long. Just a few feet away I could see the deer.
Slowly I walked forward to draw out my bow. Quietly I pulled the bowstring back with arrow at hand. I relaxed my breathing to hide my presence. My mind was blank and was just focused on my target. But before I could even release the bow, something was wrong. The buck raised its ears. My guard was lowered as I was getting confused by the deer's response. After that the deer ran away for its life.
I used my magus eye to see what was going on. Again there was nothing going on. nothing was around the are. But it was there I saw a small spec of chi coming out somewhere. I went up to the source to find again that same flower back at the abandoned camp site.
I plucked it out and my sight from my magus eye was back to normal. I could see the mana all over again. But by pulling out the flower I sensed it again. I look behind me to see something behind me. A dark glowing figure. It charged after me with incredible speed that it sent me flying a few feet. But only that moment that I sensed something. It turned out to be bloodlust coming from a horse with black fur with large goat-like horns. It was a bicorn. A dark, mystical steed able to send fear by their presence.
As I laid down the ground, the bicorn raised his front hooves up was about to stomp on me. At the nick of time I rolled away from the beast. I looked around for my bow, only to find out that the bicorn destroyed below the beast. The breath of the bicorn could be heard as it was about to take another gander to charge at me. As it came at me I threw a knife and it hit the creature's eyes. It goes wild and becomes insane. It moves wildly, freaking out by the injury.
There I unsheathed my sword and jump to slice the beast's head. But something unexpected happens. The bicorn snaps out of it's shock and raises his two front hoofs up the air and slams them at the ground. Out comes a shockwave of dark clouds around the bicorn and sends me flying once more but with a bit extra. The clouds were laced with a fear spell. Visions of my past. Forgotten memories were appearing in my brain. I could hear the sound of skulls cracking? But that's where I saw something strange. It was the image of seeing a couple kids around my age at the time, stabbing themselves with needles. Their veins were black and they were laughing maniacally as they swung baseball bats, decapitating and destroying limbs with a single swing. The smoke of the bicorn smelt like musky, bitter miasma, much as it was back then.
Remembering that got me pissed. My hands shot out a bundle of astral strings in the form of genki ito. They attached at the bicorn's body at its joints. I then got my reserve hand and cut the palm where the genki ito technique was being casted. The blood flowed out and turned the strings crimson. It felt like the first time in awhile since I used the Kokujou technique as the sensation still felt new to me. It felt hard to describe as there was something in my mind that made me feel as if I knew what was doing. Pain circulated at the pressure points of the bicorn. The beast fell on its side.
The spell was deactivated but the effect of the spells were still there. From where the areas spell hit caused physical gaping holes and turned the flesh around it into a blackish red. I remembered seeing this in Kenshin's memories but it wasn't to this effect. But that's when I saw another memory coming. It was of those same jacked up kids on those drugs gaining being affected by this spell. I used Kokujou on some to stop going on a rampage. However even with the pain, all they could do was laugh in pure chaos as they were crying black blood with an insane grin. I ended them all the same. A knife for each, levitating above them. With my telekinesis I pierced the knives through each of their eye sockets and they died in an instant.
It was the same with this one. But again I decided to remain calm and do that. If I lost it now then something might attack me from behind. I used my telekinesis to push the knife on the bicorn's eye socket even further. Just a quick lowering flick of my wrist, the knife sunk. I could hear the bones crack in the skull. The beast jolted a little but its body laid dead after. My mind was swelling as information started to rush in my brain. Its lifeless body stayed there but it there I realized what those blackish-red areas were. They were signs of corruption.
The center of my brain felt like it was being pierced by an iron rod as the surge of memories came in. Fear took over as I was gasping for air. I could remember killing those kids. I struggled to breathe and tried to remain calm but it was hard to keep control. But that was where my mind was disarray that I was sent to the white room. Standing in front of me was Furukizu. He squats next to me. I could sense his disappointment even without the mask. "Why the hell are you trying to reject your memories?" He asked me.
That shook me. The sensation dispelled after hearing those words. He then grabs me by the collar. "You think I don't know that I'm aware that you try to force yourself not to remember? I see saw it end halfway. All of it was bland chitchat and yet you make it stop there when the blood comes in. The meaning of such memories you make them stop." Furukizu calls out.
"What are you trying to say? How is the memory incomplete? How am I controlling the memories. I can't even calm my fucking head!" I questioned loudly.
"I know you want to make them stop! Don't lie to me! Ever since your little blood havoc at LA you stopped remembering faces! I was the one who helped you kill at that time! Yet where were you after?! A lifeless harlequin and the wall!"
"Don't you dare mention that to me! I was barely in control!"
"Yet you wanted something to possess you! I took over to kill every asshole at that riot and yet you forgot about me after! I know that those memories flashed once the kids were being murdered at the dojo!"
"Shut up! Shut up!"
"Don't you dare hide your face from me! At that time at the riot, you remembered the Amakusa Massacre! And yet at a state of panic you refused to remember their faces. Much is like you refused the memory of those kids dying at that riot!"
"Just shut up!"
He then tosses me at the side to fall at a pit. I wake up to remember an unusual site. It was a room split in two. One side was of the dojo back at LA while the other side was at the school hallway of the Amakusa Academy. Both were full of dead bodies. And yet the only problem was that both of them had all the victims faces censored. "Take a gander." He says, "These are the things you want to forget ever since that thing at LA happened. For a week you were sent to the hospital for recovery at your wounds but deep down all you did was your best to forget the memories that came to you."
I stood up and took a look. Fear went up my spine. Terror was in my head. But most of all sorrow and moaning can be heard in my soul. The mosaic of all the faces started to move and react in a digital manner. "You try to forget and yet you came to the conclusion of censoring it. With your experience with psychology you figured if you blur them for awhile it can help you forget the longer you don't recall their faces. But deep down I know it is an entire lie." He reminded me. The reminder of such was bitter I tried to close my eyes but he used Genki Ito to keep them open. "Have you considered yourself asking why do you see mosaic? Don't you have the urge to see more?" He questioned me.
"Let me go!" I shouted.
"As if! Let's see what happens if you touch the junkees." He said.
Furukizu used the aethreal strings to control my body and touch one of the junkee kids that did the massive shootings. By a single touch I recognized who they were. They were the school's baseball team. I could see all their faces from the seniors and juniors. I even helped play as a stand-in in two to three games in their practice sometimes and helped the manager in sorting out the paperwork in their games.
Nana was the club manager at the time. She was a petite girl, the average lolita looking girl with a sporty ponytail. I helped her a lot in her things as she was undergoing problems on her own. Until one day one thing lead to another and she ended up killing herself. The team went a crisis and was losing a lot of games after. One day I caught them doing steroids at the side. I was going to rat them out but they pulled me back, begging that they were all planning to get college sports scholarships for Nana. They begged in front of me to not tell. I turned a blind eye for it. But to think they would evolve to this was ridiculous. The censored faces disappeared to see a bizarre sight. Their faces crazy expressions, bloodshot eyes and foaming mouths. Their expressions were filled with euphoria. But that's when the memory came. A person hiding in the shadow with long unkempt hair with a manic smile. Hiding in darkness with his straight jacket. All flesh and bones containing insanity.
From their I broke from Furukizu's binds and started puking. But the setting changed for me at the school courtyard. It was full of people with their faces still covered in mosaic. At that moment something happened. A large object hit the floor hard in front of me. It was a body of a teenage girl in her winter uniform. She hit head first and blood was all over me. The head exploded at impact, not knowing who it was at first. But the impact was barely noticed until somebody tripped on the body. The person saw the cadaver and screamed. Everybody was freaking out. Some pulling out their phones and to share the whole thing, sharing the mystery corpse.
Next to me I saw myself at my younger days next to me. My face was blank but kneeled on the floor. There was barely an expression to me. But soon the memory comes of who that was. A school handbook fell from the skirt pocket. I could see a handbook showing a school ID. I didn't want to know but in my mind something did. The mosaic disappeared on its own to show the identity of the student. It was Nana. She was the cheery energetic mascot of the baseball team and yet she stood in front of me as a dead corpse. At that moment I can recall what was going in my head. I may have been silent but in my head all I could do was scream. But at that moment I can see that it was the beginning of the end. This was the moment where things went to shit.
With a snap of Furukizu, the setting disappears. I was teary eyed. "You remember their death and you don't know how those lives have lived. How can you learn from your past if you refuse to accept it?" He questioned me.
"I just have to put up with it. If I don't, I'll die." I said.
"Oh really? So are you just going to be some tragic hero? You may act like a hero but you act like a self-righteous bastard." He rants, "Do you seriously wish to die?"
"Then give me those skills and spells."
"Not if you keep on torturing yourself to not remember. I know deep down you want to deny all that has happened because you're afraid of doing it again. Just like your dojo at LA where a bunch of kids under your care got killed because you decided to play hero, again."
"Shut up!"
"This is the third time you decided to forget your memories. Don't you think it's about time you pretend for things to be alright and admit something is wrong?"
"I am capable in doing these spells. I managed to take down the bicorn, didn't I?"
But that's when he grabs me by the neck and lifts me up to the air. His arm strengthens as his arm was turning black. I gripped his arm to escape his grasp. But it was no use. His grasp was a vice grip and his hand much like iron. I was flailing around as I was running out of air. A dark aura could be felt around the man. Even with the mask I could still sense the anger around him.
"You forget the value of these spells! These are not tools! You dare treat your efforts as object?!" He shouts in anger, "All that effort those skills you learned wasn't just you! The importance of those skills...are you seriously going to toss the memories you made just to learn them!"
Memories started to flow. They were of happy memories. They were of me training in the dojo at Japan, living a school life with friends, even a eating table with a complete family of five. They felt so warm, so blissful. But for some reason I was scared. Sorrow came as I was feeling empty and mourning. Why did I feel like this? I wanted to see more however the blurred faces made me feel not worthy of seeing them. I was about to pass out soon. The grasp was getting tighter. But soon the grasp was loose enough to escape the masked man's mask. I fell hard at the floor, grasping for air. Oxygen managed to pass through my windpipe and slowly repair itself. I barely managed to look up at all floors to see Kenshin's hand on Furukizu's hand. "Easy Furukizu. Don't get your emotions control you. I'll take care of it here." He told me.
Kenshin then leans in front of me. "Rin...one way you have to face your memories or they will come to you. The most brutal of memories will come with the spells that you need." He tells me, "Whatever you do, face your fears. Before you learn the spells you worked so hard for, find the reason why you learned them. Remember who you are. "
With a snap of his fingers I was back at the real world. The bicorn was still there but I look at the corpse and I felt something move. But the more I looked at it I saw something. Black blood was flowing out of the bicorn. The corruption was taking course but as it flowed I saw an vision of the baseball team captain laughing as he bleeds. Joesaki was his name. At baseball he was the best of them all but ended up falling into this. But he soon jumps at me as he refused to die without taking my life. With a snap of my fingers I shot out a sonic flare spell from my index finger. But the memory stops only for the sonic flare to be shot at the dead bicorn.
It was just a memory. The bounty was ruined a it was nothing more than a unrecognizable mound of tattered and scattered meat. A crystal fell in front of me along with the head of the bicorn, almost an inch away for the horns to hit my groin. Despite the loony predicament, all I could do was stare at the dark crystal. It was big as a baseball but showed my reflection. What the hell am I supposed to do with myself?