See, Hear, Speak, and Do no Evil
After the fight at Dracula's castle, Death needed assistance from one of the mentors in order to stop an upcoming attack possible in the continent of Asia. Europe has shown signs of darkness taking over but it has remained on a level that it will not raise any chaos, but they are still watching over it, while in Asia most of the continent has alarming rates of people suddenly believing the existence of such mythical and or legendary beings, and Japan seems to be an enigma. For the organization that Death and his Angel has created in order to ensure balance. Their Organization is made up of all the Reapers he created.
He called on Beowulf and Finn on a meeting about the arising issue.
"I ask you to find, the first Emperor of Japan" Death asked calmly, the 2 stopped drinking as the task sounds impossible.
"Sorry? The first emperor of Japan, what is Japan?" Finn asked.
"Emperor Jimmu, yes, it is a country in the east"
"Isn't he dead, or did you or your Reapers managed to take him?" Beowulf asked.
"No, as you now he is the son of Barna, in Japanese myth, Susanoo, God of Storms"
"That explains a lot, so why did your children create children?"
"To ensure balance, since the 14 of them were stripped away of their power, we needed good men and women such as yourselves to go down to the people and ensure that balance is maintained"
"So, like, prophets?" Finn asked, "Is that now what you did before?" He added. Death became quiet from what he said.
"NO! It is more like, defenders, not preachers"
"I visited, this places called libraries, and I seem to read all of it. The world was plagued with wars before, are we to blame it on your disappearance" Finn pointed to Death.
"Yes, well not really, I was here all along, while my children reappeared during 1986"
"So, how did you make your return?"
"1974, was the first time that a real mythical creature reappeared, Nessie, or other Mythical creatures did appear. Creatures did appear out of nowhere before, but on a level that is not to be worried, they can come out into the world, and return, but suddenly over 50,000 spawned in one area, and it was alarming"
"And before?"
"It was only in the hundreds, but 1974 was the turning point, so many of them appeared during that year, and that is probably why you are also awakened"
"That explains a lot, I remember I was dying, then the next day, I was hearing something above my head" Beowulf said, and he seemed annoyed.
"I apologize"
"No problem, then I went outside and everything is weird, the forest where I once lived in was, destroyed and it was replaced by modern houses and such"
"Well, Death. Does this mission require the both of us?" Finn asked as the conversation is dragging.
"Yes, one must go to the grave of the first Emperor and the other must go and investigate a missing person"
"Are we a 'Police' organization now?"
"Investigation, yes. We investigate the Unexplained and put a 'explainable' façade for the humans to understand and comprehend, if they were to know out existence, it only means...."
"Means?"
"The End of the World, Beowulf"
"Oh, oh no"
"Exactly, there has been unna-"
Finn cuts off Death by bringing up a question that has baffled him since his revival, Death asked him to say it and so he did.
"What is the difference between supernatural and paranormal?"
"Paranormal creatures are the ones that we hear from folklore, or other things whose existence is based on experience. Supernatural are the things that have existed and cannot be explained by the natural law"
"Ghosts, and angels.. like that?"
"Yes, if you oversimplify it"
"So where are we going?"
"I can't see a way from, a bar to Japan, we have to use those iron birds right?"
"Airplanes"
"Yes"
"No, we do not need that... Use this door behind me"
Death moved out of his way in order for them to see what door he is talking about, the door has the kanji character for 'Death' on the door, but none of the 2 knows Japanese.
"Peculiar"
They stood in front of the door but noticed is that there are no handles, it is a Japanese traditional sliding door called shoji. Finn opened it accidentally and the other side is a traditional Japanese house and trees surrounding it .
"Is this in the middle of a forest?"
"Yes, and in a mountain" Death clarified.
"What are we hunting for again?"
"A huge brown or black dog, about has tall as you, but taller than you on its hind legs, hungry, red eyes, smelly breath, and the sense of smell is keener, so be careful. When you first encounter it, kill it"
"if we don't?"
"Then it will know that there are people capable of killing it, it smelled your scent so it knows which ones to avoid"
"Kill it as soon as we see it then?"
"Yes, Finn"
"Good luck to the both of you. Bring some authentic Japanese Rice Wine"
"Can you even taste it?"
"Yes now go"
The 2 gets through the door and it closes shut behind them, Beowulf opened it and it is just an empty room, he opened and closed it several more times and the results are the same. Back on the pub the door turns back to normal as the design slowly fades away as Death took his hands off it. The 2 looked around and took in the fresh smell of the forest, and dawn starts to come out. The sun is slowly rising from the east, the direction on which they are looking at.
"Ho wow, this is breathe taking, I have never been in another land before?"
"Is this Really, Jah Pan?" Beowulf said, Finn chuckled and clarified his friend.
"Japan, its one word....wow will you look at this"
They walked slowly down on the front of the house and looked around in order to get a much more idea of where they are exactly. They looked at the house with simple Japanese architecture, and 2 person praying.
"What tongue are they speaking?"
"Clearly their own language"
"Of course, but what exactly"
They stood up, put on their kabuki masks and greeted the 2 by bowing. The 2 had no idea how to greet back and they bowed down as well. They did not noticed the 2 standing straight back up, so they were still bowing when one of them spoke. She spoke English, but not fluent; obviously. The 2 raised their heads and sees them. Both are wearing black and white kimono with the lilies design on the Otaiko for the woman, and the man on the shoulders of his Haori jacket.
"Welcome to Japan, fellow Warriors" She said softly and slowly, politeness beamed through the way she spoke.
"Warriors, you're a woman?" Beowulf is shocked. He is not used to women fighting.
"Is that a problem?"
"No, that is incredible, what do we have to call the both of you?"
"I am Heiwana Shi"
"And I am Yugana Shi"
"You can call me Hana, and you can him Yu"
"You, nice to meet you we, uhm"
"Beowulf and Finn"
"Right, yes"
"Do not worry, Karito-Sama, has informed us of your arrival before-hand, please come inside and let us talk about our task in hand" The 2 stepped aside and she opened her arms for them to enter back in again.
"Of course"
"We should've stayed inside"
The 2 stepped back up but stopped, they noticed Yu swiping the floors probably because of them. They took off their boots and light armor and put it on a small table by the stairs, they are just in their old shirts and pants from their respective timelines.
They sat down in crossed legs and feels guilty for Yu who had to clean up their mess. They only sat down there as the other 2 got busy, 'we should help' Beowulf insisted and the 2 helped. As the 2 was about to help they were already sitting down, and they sat back down as well. Awkwardness surrounded them, but the 2 is unbothered. Hana puts down tea which for them still has flavor, the 2 immediately fell in love with the flavor of the beverage, and called it 'refreshing'.
"Incredible swords" Beowulf said, he sees the 2 katanas behind them.
"Do you want to try them out?" Hana asked.
"Can I?"
"Of course you can, come"
"Oh no, after this please"
Beowulf felt guilty as she just sat down and he is already asking her to do something that requires standing up, and they have to talk about something anyway so the request was denied by default. They look down on their tea and as the water stay still, the powder starts to build up on the bottom of the cup, Hana swirled the water and it starts to mix, the 2 thank them.
"So, about the creature that we are hunting, have you seen it?"
"Yes, we have been tracking it, attempting to kill it, but it proves itself to be smarter than expected"
"Kill it? You know you cannot do that right?"
"Yes we can, we are no longer Grim Reapers, for now we are Angels of Death"
"I thought there is only one"
"No, there are thousands of us, beings that has lived for over a thousand year. Angels of Death that is what we are, it is different from THE Angel of Death"
"How?"
"The Angel of Death, is Azrael-sama, he watches over the World of the Dead, he fights and questions those who enter and those who harm, he takes shape of a massive bird with 3 pairs of wings, when Karito-Sama calls him he immediately responds"
"So the Angels of Death such as yourself, can fight?"
"Yes, and out Imperium is as strong as the 'Guardians'"
"Guardians?"
"Like Merlin and Themis-Sama, and like you.. but if we want to, we can become much stronger"
"So a Reapers is a much weaker version of you?"
"Not quite, for the first 25 years they will be invincible and nothing will be able to kill him, except for the oath, for the next 75 years they will become Grim Reapers, their Imperium will suddenly disappear and their roles are only to collect souls. But they have only dusk till dawn or dawn till dusk if they broke the Oath regardless of rank, depending if the sun was rising or sinking when they broke their oath, their Imperium will come back to them and kill them, they can fight one last time, if they fail a crow's feather will appear, if they at least did something to sway the tides on our side a dove's feather"
"That is sad"
"Our subjects seems to be straying, please about the creature that we hunt" Finn steered back to their objective and main topic.
"You must hunt it Finn-dono"
"Yes, I shall"
"You and I are in charge of fighting that being, and you Beowulf-dono must join Yu in looking for our First Emperor"
"Understood"
They start to discuss their mission, Yu and Beowulf are partners in finding the Emperor, his revival will be of massive help to them in fending off their enemies, his power is believed to be as near as an Archangel, after all being a child of one.
"They are attracted to his power, the enemy, we have heard of Mammon, and being the Sin Of Greed, he will go after a powerful being and turn him into his pawn"
"Yes, Death informed us of what he did to Dracula, monster"
"We all are"
The second partners are Hana and Finn who will hunt down the Mountain dog in order to find the other minions, for some reason they attract one another, probably to consume it for the essence of corrupted imperium within them. The Mountain dog is last seen hunting down people for something, the local news has already seen it and several investigations has been conducted in order to find them.
"I am guessing they will be used to sacrifice?" Beowulf asked.
"It seems to be that way, we have saved 7 people yesterday, some of them are recovering under our care, and they seem to repeat something, a chant"
"Will the dog hunt?"
"No, it moved once more, south, since we fought it"
The prefecture on where it has been spotted again is in Shizouka prefecture. The prefecture has the most mountains in all of Japan, and it also where Mt. Fuji stands tall. Night came in and the 2 has completely changed outfits, Yu discarded their old armor and clothing and gave them similar kimonos.
"Why?"
"Your armor is starting to rust and break down, when it was much more obvious when you dropped it earlier"
They start to close down the whole house as they will move south to the prefecture as soon as they are done, but instead of doing as they are tasked Finn is distracted by their masks that they have on for so long.
"Why do you wear masks, Ms. Hana?" Finn brought up the question out of the blue, but she does not seem to be bothered; either because of the mask or the fact that emotions are nothing to them.
"Does it bother you?"
"No, just asking, perhaps that is your Concealing item?"
"No, our outfits are"
"Oh, what are the masks for?"
Hana took off her mask, she has a black stripe across the part on where the eyes holes are supposed to be, Hana also told him that for Yu it was from the forehead down to the chin of the mask. He looks closer and sees that it is a blindfold across her eyes, and her hair hides it from behind.
"Blind?"
"See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil, and Do no evil, do you know what that means?"
"No?"
"this are the 4 wise monkeys. For me My sight was taken, Karito-sama said that this was my punishment in my past life, but he will not say it as will break my oath"
"....."
"For Yu he has no tongue and his mouth is covered, a punishment as well"
"But he still drank the tea earlier"
"Of course he drinks through it, the 3rd one, Shizuka Shi, has no ears a fabric is wrapped around her head, and the last one Kojin Shi, has no mind of his own, all of the wraps around us can be seen on him and his 4 limbs"
"No mind, elaborate will you please"
"He will only fight, do as he is told, a shell basically"
"Do no evil, you people must have done something bad that Death has to take away something from you"
"We must have, but now we are in service to him. And Now we must go"
She puts on her mask and grabs her 3 swords a katana, wakizashi, and a tanto. The swords go vertically from biggest to smallest, and she changes into a kimono that fits the situation. The 2 also given a brand new kimono with the same designs, Finn noticed the same fabric is used as the same ones in the school. She also gave them a pair of masks, and he brings up his question earlier regarding their mask.
"The mask will hide our aura, but the creature will still be able to smell us, this will just hide us from its sight"
"Oh, good"
They got out of the wooden house and as soon as they did that the house breaks down. Slowly from the dirt saplings starts to sprout and immediately to a fully grown tree. Their visions became clearer, and they can talk to each other telepathically.
"Incredible"
"Now what do we do?"
A raven as big as a cat flew on top of their heads, with closer look the bird seems to have 3 legs, the Yatagararus. The first emperor's guide in order to find his way back home. It lands down and seems to communicate with Yu, after a few minutes he looked over to them and nodded.
"Go with him Beowulf-dono, you will be safe"
"I wish the best of luck for the both of you"
"And you as well"
The raven flew back up and headed north-westward down to Nara prefecture, back to the first emperor's home.
"I am guessing we are in Shizuoka already?"
"Indeed"
"....."
"Now we must hunt"
They ran the opposite direction and they ran in superhuman speed, as they run Finn noticed that they are in the middle of the forest, he sees glimpses of the city and the ocean. Immediately they stopped by and arrives in a small village, and in the middle is the Oi river.
"When you mean this prefecture is filled with mountains you mean it"
"Of course, come we must go talk to the people"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, they will be of help"
They jumped down in the dimly lit village of kawanehon and it appears to be abandoned, on the other side of the river lies the shimoizumi station, and there seems to be a train leaving it. The people in the village must be terrified as their area has sightings of such a deadly beast, there are several more villages that lie in the river northwards and southwards, but most of the sightings and attacks happens northward as the population is much smaller compared to the south where the major cities of Shizouka lie.
The 2 walk around the village and everyone closes their houses from them, anything to cover themselves from the outside, as a foreigner speaks in a different language and by himself.
"They cannot see you, how foolish of me"
"Of course... The Yamainu will be able to pick up my smell if I attack it, but for now it will sense my presence"
"Hmmm, I should talk to this people, but I cannot speak your tongue, what should I do?"
"Hold my hand"
"Hold your hand?"
"I'll be able to posses you for as long as I hold you, only if you will allow me"
"Sure, but-"
"I'll do the the speaking, you do not have to worry"
They approached the nearest house and Finn knocks on the door, he knocks once more until someone responds asking for their identity. Hana speaks for Finn and he hears them speak in English, she asks how they are doing and they weren't able to reply.
"I am looking for the Yamainu, can you help me?"
The old lady can only point northwards toward the other villages, she closes the door and wishes them luck and asks them to save them from this peril, Hana replies with an 'of course'. After that they continued walking up the river and the only sound they can hear are Finn's footsteps, breathing, and the rustling wind and the train earlier, Hana seems to not leave any footprints on the ground.
"So, how do we kill it?"
"We need to incapacitate it and cuts its head off"
"Aren't they supposed to be nice?"
"Not anymore, they are escort dogs and helps lost travelers unless provoked or corrupted"
"And those devils have control over them huh?"
"Yes, but not the Vulture"
"The Vulture?"
"The sin of greed, the one demon we are facing is a Herald of Envy, for he was exiled and the only known weapon that can kill him is the Dojigiri, one of the 5 Great Swords of my Country"
"hmm"
"It is a set of weapons capable of hurting a demon, as well as the Archangels that we serve"
"Really?"
"Yes, and it is missing"
"Missing!"
"Yes, it was taken, the sword has its own aura and when it disappeared, darkness starts to loom over, they replaced it with a replica but our government does not notice it"
"Why not tell them?"
"It will be too suspicious for them and we do not want to expose our existence"
"So where does this demon live?"
"On Mount Oeyama on Kyoto prefecture, north of Nara"
Finn stopped on his feet and he starts to feel fear, knowing that probably the most powerful being that they will face is just north of them. Finn felt much more pressure if their mission were to fail, all hell will literally break lose. Hana stops as well and asks him to continue.
"Do you think we can do it?"
"We have no choice but to DO it"
"So why not attack him already, why do we have to find this dog?"
"The lair of that Demon will be different from the lair of this Dark Imperium, there's a gate we have to find it and seal it, because if we go directly to Shuten-doji, being a Herald of Envy he has control over all legions of lower-demons in this country.. and if we allow him he can destroy it entirely"
"So Dracula could have done the same?"
"Yes, but unlike him.. This Demon gives away portions of his Imperium and when he is revived he will return and awaken the others and they will offer themselves up to him, portions of his soul"
"Find the dog, kill it, look for the center of all this activity, seal it, and then go help the other 2?"
"Yes, that is our plan, and there will be no room for errors, even if you lose a limb keep fighting"
Realizing how many things are pushing down on their task, Finn prepares himself for the worst. They started to run once more in that superhuman speed up the river and quickly they did, they can feel and see the menacing aura that the animal has. They arrived at the scene and a village is currently being ravaged by the massive dog, and Death's description is completely accurate as if he was the one who created it. Hana holds on to her katana and Finn unsheathes his sword and pointed it at the animal, it jumps to them and the 2 engaged it.