Chereads / The Eternal War / Chapter 5 - Chapter Final 2.2: Shadows Within School

Chapter 5 - Chapter Final 2.2: Shadows Within School

Engulfed in rage, Akito could not make sense or awareness of anything but the enemy threatening what was essential to him. He takes a step forward and starts to look up to his opponent. With a deadly cold stare onto him, Fujel drops Satoshi and grips The Blade of Sinar with both of his hands, and as the night falls upon them, he starts to feel his power manifest.

"Fool, You think you have a chance against a Devil. We, the great Devil race, have the blessing of the "Dark Lord." When a night in any dimension falls, our magical power starts to grow!" As he finishes his sentence, he glares at Akito only to see him not listening. "Ahh, I see, you're someone who doesn't like to talk much in battle, neither do I!"

Fujel then changes appearance, and he becomes a shadow. He lets down the barrier and disguises himself amongst the shadow of the tree.

"You see, we the Shadow devils are a clan known for their ability to carry out missions in disguise, never to be seen, never to be heard, but you had sensed me from the beginning. How?" He questions the still standing Akito

*Silence*

"Well, you don't want to talk? As he started to charge at Akito, he swung his sword and could have sworn he had a clean-cut through his arm only to see himself struggling to cut through the flesh of a human.

"What! How? Impossible, after all, you're only a human now!" He says while trembling in fear.

"A human you say, I don't know what or who I am, but I promise you, today I will make sure that your soul departs this flesh of yours" He looks up as both of his eyes are now missing their pupils, pure white, his body surrounded by a dark with blue outlining "mana" release. He then vanishes and appears behind the Shadow Devil and punches him, knocking him down to the ground, where he makes an impact, both his back and the groundbreaking. Also causing Fujel to return to his devil form.

"Ahhh, I knew I had no chance against you, but for the Dark Lord, I would die in vain!"

Akito picks up the Blade of Sinar and looks towards Fujel, engulfed by his thirst for revenge. He tells the Shadow Devil to pray to his God and say his final words to his flesh.

As Akito pointed the sword's tip into the sky, the sword became supercharged by the "mana" released from Akito's body, now the blade sparkling in the dawn. The Shadow Devil Fujel smiles, and under his breath, he whispers, "I'm glad I will go out by you, my son Narel. I'm sorry, and thank you for becoming my blade." Akito, with no hesitation, drives the blade into Fujel's heart, causing him to die right on the spot slowly. Still, before he departs this world, he is shown a glimpse of his dying son Narel, a sick child who had sought to become a high ranking Devil but could not due to severe illness, so in return, he offered his life and body to his father, to become his blade that was his final dream. Back to his senses, Akito just now realized what he had done, but he had no time to waste.

He drops the blade, runs over to his brother, and slides over to him; he picks up his head and places it upon his knees. "Are you okay! Satoshi!" he says in fear of losing his older brother. "Yes, yes, I'm fine," he says in agony. "Did you kill him? Is it over?" he slowly says to Akito? "I… uhh… I don't know Satoshi, everything went dark, and I couldn't fully control myself, but I was there watching as I drove that sword into his heart. It felt like another force took me over." He quietly says to his brother staring down to the ground. "You did what you had to. Akito, you're a hero, don't let it consume you now. Your magical brother!" He says with an apathetic smile as he even feared his brother. "Should we call for help?" He asks Satoshi. Then before Satoshi could answer his brother, bright small light beams started to float up to the sky from Fujels's body, but Fujel lost a part of him into the dark sky with every beam. Not understanding what it meant, the brothers looked on in a daze. "What's happening? Is he not dead yet!" Akito Screams down to his brother! "I…" when his reply is cut short by a whispering voice. "My son. My blade. Where is he, please" utters Fujel with blood coming down his chin. Akito then looks over to the blade. He places his brother's head slowly back down and picks up the sword. "WAIT! Akito, no" screamed Satoshi at his brother. "It's okay, Satoshi, that's enough, he won't hurt us now" Akito looked at his brother with a smile. He walks over to Fujel's body and places it upon his chest. "Here," he tells him. He watches as he hugs the blade, the hug full of raw emotion, causing a teardrop from Akito. He falls onto his knees and begs Fujel for forgiveness. "Forgive me! Forgive me, and I wasn't myself! I'm sorry" he reaches over and holds the hand of Fujel, and he starts praying from the bottom of his heart to a god who he now knows exists. "I forgive you. You only did what you had to, son, protect what's important to you, love what's yours, and cherish your time with the ones you have," he utters. As Fujel and the blade completely disappeared, Akito felt at ease, and he whispered with a warm smile, "Rest easy." looking up into the dark sky. He got up walks over to Kazuto, and made sure that he was still okay. "He is okay but badly beaten, that's all, thank goodness." He then reaches for his phone and dials for an emergency, stating that a couple had robbed them of gangsters, but they refused, and that's when it went downhill. He made sure both Satoshi and Kazuto were fine, physically. As the siren got closer and closer, Akito's eyelids became heavier and heavier, causing him to faint. Now the three are unconscious but alive.

The aftermath of the battle left the three in a state of shock, causing them to miss school. Rehabilitation and mental therapy paid in return as the boys became more at ease with what they had seen, though the story the boys told never amounted to the true horror they had endured. Yet, behind the lies laid raw emotions.

...

Now having spent almost a month away from reality, the boys had it coming. Knocking at their door was Responsibility. Now in all of the time, it has been proven, and the proof stood before them. Gods and Devils alike do exist! So Akito, Satoshi, and Kazuto now must take responsibility to find out the truth behind what had happened to them and why it was them who Fujel had targeted?

...

"Ahh, finally! The smell and warmth of home," say Akito as he stretches up and wide. "Welcome home, dears," as their mom announced, welcoming them in after a long time, and *boom* "Welcome back!" As a crowd stood behind, the mother shouted from the top of their lungs! The boys felt even more at ease with their situation. In front of the public, Akito and Kazuto saw Yui standing in front of the group. Now walking towards them with a fierce look into her eyes, screaming "murder." Shivering, they hear: "STUPIDS!" As she punches Akito and Kazuto on top of their heads. A powerful noise came speaking: "What were you thinking! You should've just given in to their commands. Is money that important?" She yells at them, gesturing with her finger. "N...No ma'am," they both say hopelessly. She smiles and giggles. "I'm just glad that you guys are okay!" She says while wiping her tears away. Both looked at her with a sparkle in their eyes. They knew deep down that some people cared for them, who wanted to see them succeed. Those people are not only people but "family."

After the party, Akito heads up to his room. As he closes the door behind him, he collapses to the floor and starts to utter and repeat slowly to himself. "I'M A MURDER. I'M A MURDER. I'M A MURDER!" He stands up and opens the door, and heads to the bathroom. He slowly and nervously closes the door behind himself and stares into the mirror. Scared, he washes his hands crying. "The blood. His blood is not washing away. Why, please wash. WASH OFF!!" He continues crying. He turns off the water and crouches with his hands on top of his head. Akito continued to think about what he had done and comprehend what had unfolded in front of him.

On the other hand, Satoshi was in his room shivering in fear as he thought another would show up to avenge his fallen comrade. Rather than sleeping, he sits up out of his bed and starts to pray. With all of his heart, he prays to forget about what has happened. After his prayer, he hears footsteps approaching his room. He immediately then covers his head over with his blanket. The door slowly creaked open and then peaked out of his cloak and saw his younger brother. "Hey, Satoshi, can I… can I sleep in your bedroom today? I brought the futon too," said Akito in a low, shy pitch. "Y...yeah. Come in," he answers his brother. Now both the brothers are staring into the ceiling, wondering what will happen next Akito asks his older brother if what they had seen was real and was left unanswered. In dead silence, Satoshi finally utters out, "I don't know what that was, but for now, let's go to sleep."

The following day the brothers are up earlier than usual. "Satoshi, Akito, Breakfast is ready!" came a scream from downstairs. "Okay, mom," answered Satoshi. in contrast, Akito was in his room getting dressed. Akito then heads downstairs. Instead of having a seat to eat breakfast, he walks past his family and heads over to the door. He wears his shoes and takes off without a single warning. "I'm off," he waves to his family. "Wait, darling! I made your fav… " his mom said to him only to have her sentence cut short as the door slams shut. "He's okay, mom. He's just on a diet," said Satoshi as he was munching like a machine through his bowl of rice.

Akito was walking all alone wearing his hoodie at school, and he looked like he was trying to avoid everyone. But that scheme did not seem to last too long as Yui was running towards him with a smile waving at him.

When Yui caught up to Akito, Kazuto was right behind them, welcoming them with a little different attitude than usual. This morning he seemed more enthusiastic, but deep down, Akito was in a shaken state from the incident.

"What's up with you this morning Kazuto?" Said Akito. "Oh, I should be asking you that. Why did you look like you were trying to avoid someone? In particular, I and Yui I'' said Kazuto with an aggressive but reassuring tone. "I wasn't. I just wanted to get to the cafeteria so I could buy a fresh hot cream bun," Said Akito with a blank but convincing look. Then, with Humming noise and crossed arms, Kazuto shook his head in agreement to believe his best friend.

"Can you two please just stop acting like that, and why are you so enthusiastic for Kazuto?" Said Yui with her head tilted sideways.

"I found two people willing to join our club!" Said Kazuto in excitement. "Hah? Isn't it a little late for that now?" commented Akito. "No, the deadline isn't until five days from today," Kazuto replied with an intelligent look. "WAIT! REALLY!" Both Yui and Akito said with a relieved look.

"So! Who are the new members?" Asked Akito. "Umm, at first, it was this girl named Rikka. I happened to come across her while checking out the abandoned room we were going to use for club activities, she was in there with our poster in her hands, and well, you know, me being me" he pushed up his glasses against his nose bridge. "I interested her into joining the club," he said with pride. "Lame," said the two friends simultaneously. "Anyway, who's the other club member?" Yui reminded Kazuto. "Ohh. Haha, Akito, it's Akito's older brother, Satoshi." He said with confusion building in the faces of the three. "What!!! But why would he join? He didn't like it at first, and now he wants to join?" Said Akito while the three made their way to Yui's homeroom, which was right next to their own. "I don't know. Ask him when you have the chance, Akito," said Kazuto. "Anyways, have a good one, Yui. See you at lunch break. "Yeah, same to both of you," as they waved goodbye to each other, parting ways into each of their classrooms.

While seated down in class, Akito thought to himself, why would his older brother all of a sudden join the club he wanted to form.

"It can't be for that girl! Rikka! the one that Kazuto mentioned, can it now?"