Warhol continued to shoot the green magical 11 foot arrows at Duri. It was like Duri was teleporting, he was shifting to multiple positions at once, as the arrows were breaking the ground and the remainder of the walls.
Warhol exclaimed, "In a dark room…where colorful strobe lights interfere with the night…there will still be shadows…the colors bond and make contracts with the darkness…you will still see the colors and the darkness at the same time…that is what I'm looking at right now!"
Duri kept avoiding the arrows by teleporting and jumping everywhere at fast speeds, but the arrows were catching up with him.
Duri thought, 'This feels so smooth to me..I feel like I can control my abilities now. Marshy told me years ago when she was training me that I have the ability to bond and merge with someone else's power, but I never believed her. I also realized I can only bond with and borrow one power at a time. Now…I see what she means. I can feel my own shadow powers cooperating with this borrowed power that I bonded with. Let's end this damn fight..and mess up this guy who tormented me for two hours straight..'
Warhol was jumping around too, shooting the arrows in stylish ways.
He said, "Creatures like you are what drive a man to become stronger! For his family! We need to protect ourselves against monsters like you!"
Duri answered, "Oh I'm a monster now?! Not too long ago you wanted my powers, dumbass nerd!"
"I am the influence. I am the way to prosperity. I am the cure to the disease of weakness."
"Bite me!"
"This is how it should be, Duri."
Warhol made 10 arrows form this time, and shot them all at once, all spreaded out around the room aiming at Duri.
But while they were still in flight, Warhol ran right behind them, hiding behind the arrows at a quick speed, and a blue aura rapidly circulating him.
Duri got down low like a dog again, and started pedaling and jumping across the floor, using his tail to knock away all of the arrows that were coming at him.
Duri said, "Hoh? Shooting the arrows and then running behind them to catch me off guard. Not going to work!"
"You'll end up like the people of the shadow realm. Dead."
Duri and Warhol jumped at the same time to face each other, Warhol threw a punch, and Duri disappeared then reappeared above Warhol.
Duri's arm was in it's shadow form again, and he said, "Goodnight bitch."
Duri slammed his shadow fist on Warhol's face, and blood splattered everywhere, and Warhol smacked the ground hard.
Warhol's eyes were dull, and he foamed at the mouth.
Duri was turning back to normal, and he grinned, "Okay, time for the kill."
Duri was about to finish Warhol off, but Marshy came and grabbed Duri's wrist.
The other Hosts walked over to them, and Marshy turned her direction to Warhol.
"I'll be the one to kill him."
Tetsuya said, "I know how you feel, Marshy. But he's already down. Duri has already defeated him. It's over."
"...It's not over until I fucking say it's over."
"Killing someone while he is down puts a bad rep on us. We'll be seen as murderers. And that's not what we do, you know that, Marshy."
"...You think I care about how people feel about me?"
"Marshy.."
Marshy looked at the other Hosts, and then looked at Duri's bruised up face.
Marshy said, "I don't like it when people hurt him."
Marshy turned around, and stomped on Warhol's stomach. The floor was splitting off the impact, and Warhol had blood coming out of his ears.
Sith commented, "Hehe…nice.."
Tetsuya shook his head, "Are you satisfied, Marshy?"
Marshy answered, "I won't be satisfied until this guy is dead. But I won't kill him…for now."
Over on the side near the vertical chambers, Kedarah was standing near them with Hanako.
Kedarah said to everyone, "Oi, guys, there's a woman and two children in these chambers."
Chaos instructed Kedarah, "Get them out of here and take them to the nearest hospital."
Tetsuya added, "It seems like those chambers are keeping them alive."
Xenon put out his cigarette, and suggested, "Or maybe, we burn them alive and hide the remains."
Sith replied, "Yes! Haha! I agree!"
"I'm joking, Sith. I say leave their asses here. They have nothing to do with us. We came to get Duri and beat up the guy who took him."
Kedarah said to Xenon, "Xenon…you're just joking, right? If you were being for real, that's mean."
Xenon just looked at her without saying a word.
Then he said, "Get them out of the chambers, Kedarah."
Duri was being tended to by Marshy. Duri was against the wall as Marshy was pulling wipes out of her pockets to clean Duri off, and Duri kept shooing away her hands.
"Marshy, Marshy, I'm fine. I'm FINE."
"I can sense your pain. I don't like it."
"Marshy you're embarrassing me. They're all watching like weirdos."
"I don't care if they watch us. I'm trying to clean you off. Now stay still."
"Marshy you're too damn rough!"
"Shuuut up. I cleaned you up all the time when you were little. Why be like this now?"
"Cause' I'm not a kid anymore."
"You're still a kid, Duri. Hold still before I lock your pressure points."
"Hehh? I'm not scared of that anymo-OW OW OW OW OW!"
"Ya like that shit?"
"No!"
"Good!"
Behind them, the Hosts were saying:
Chaos : "Uhh, is it me or…their mother-son relationship is a little different than other mother-son relationships?"
Tetsuya : "It is beautiful."
Kedarah and Hanako were getting the family of 3 out of the vertical chambers and Kedarah said : "It's so endearingly adorable! Hehe, I can't wait to spoil him next!"
Sith: "Oi, Duri, fight me! You're pretty damn strong for a brat!"
Xenon: "Cool tricks he has up his sleeve. Though I'm not surprised. Nor convinced."
Hanako: "He is strong."
Duri and Marshy turned around, and walked over to the Hosts.
Tetsuya stuck his hand out to Duri, and went, "I congratulate you-."
Duri smacked Tetsuya's hand away, and asked Marshy, "Who are these people?"
Marshy bonked Duri on top of his head, saying, "Idiot. These are the other 6 of the strongest Hosts."
Duri replied, "...Oops. My bad. I'm kinda on high alert right now."
Tetsuya laughed, "Haha, don't sweat it kid. I know how you feel. Apologies for what you've gone through today. My name is Tetsuya."
"Don't apologize. We won in the end. Well, I did."
"Haha, indeed you did. You are pretty strong with tons of potential. Don't waste it."
"Yokai."
Duri's hand started to hurt, and he pretended like he didn't feel it. It stung wildly like he was getting stung by bees and wasps at the same time.
'As soon as I smacked this Tetsuya guys hand, my hand started hurting. Is he really this strong?'
Duri looked at Tetsuya, and Tetsuya was grinning with his eyes closed.
Kedarah ran up to Duri, and grabbed his cheeks, saying, "Awww! You're so adorable! Such a young little fighter! Oi, Marshyyyyy, can I have him?"
Duri told Kedarah, "Get off of me."
"Aww! He's so stern!"
Marshy said to Kedarah, "No, you cannot have him, Kedarah."
"Marshyyyy, be nice for a cchangeee."
"Never that."
Duri thought, 'Her name is Kedarah. Her grip is tight. Even if I wanted to break free from her grasp, I couldn't. The power from her hands are making me nauseous. Yeah, it's that intense.'
Sith walked up to Duri, and pointed his dagger at Duri, saying, "Hold this."
Duri grabbed it, and he fell to the floor. The dagger was too heavy for Duri to hold up.
Duri scoffed, "What the hell is this made out of?"
"HAHA! Still a rookie aren't ya?! I still wanna fight you! Have a sparring match with me! To the death!"
"Let's do this then. I can still move."
"Yeah! That's the spirit! Ke ke ke ke.."
Chaos got in between them, and said, "Yayy, the time for joking is over, haha. I think there's been enough fighting for today."
Duri asked Chaos, "Who the hell are you?"
"Well, (*Clears throat*), I am Chaos."
"Your name is Chaos."
"Blame my parents for that. I actually think it's pretty badass. It matches my fighting style, pretty cool right?"
"Can we fight?"
"Haha, like I said, my name is Chaos for a reason. Maybe another day."
"Yikes. I'm so scared."
Xenon, who was leaning against the wall, asked Duri, "You still think about going to the exams?"
Duri responded, "Yeah. You knew I had doubts about it?"
"I can read people easily, if you hadn't noticed."
"I had my doubts about it from time to time. Then I'm reminded of how much I wanted to compete in the power tournaments."
"Is it the impatience?"
"No, the hell.."
"It might be. Getting into the tournaments is a process. This is the real world."
"I get that, dude. What's your problem?"
Chaos whispered to Duri, "Oh, that's just how Xenon is."
Xenon said, "Watching you perform was entertaining, yet mediocre. You seem to hold back at times, afraid of what you'll do to the others around you. In tournaments, you'll lose easily if you keep that mindset. But don't worry. I'll turn you into a beast one of these days. And with Marshy training, it makes it ten times better."
Xenon started lighting up another cigarette, and he was walking away.
Duri said, "Nuh uh, I'm not letting him anywhere near me."
Marshy added, "Why does he even want anything to do with Duri?"
Tetsuya suggests, "Xenon is a…strange man. Lazy as hell sometimes, a little badass, nonchalant and sociopathic, but he has a heart in there."
Lastly, Hanako walked up to Duri, put her fist and hand together, and bowed slightly.
Duri nodded at her, saying, "Pleasure."
Chaos whispered to Tetsuya, "He's so nice to her.."
"Is that strange to you?"
"...Good point."
Tetsuya asked Marshy and Duri, "What are your plans now when you get back to Japan?"
Marshy put Duri in a headlock, and replied, "I'm gonna get him patched up some more, then we'll just chill I guess."
Duri was trying to get free of the headlock, saying, "Get off of me! Let me go!"
"Noooope. And oi, guys…we'll talk later about Harvest. I think I got something on the way down her."
Tetsuya responded, "Hopefully it will lead us into the right direction of finding the headmaster and his wife, and then taking down whoever is leading Harvest and trying to resurrect Reborn."
Duri asked Tetsuya, "Who is Reborn? And who the hell is Harvest?"
All of the hosts looked at each other, then looked back at Duri.
Kedarah pleads with a smile, "Can we pleasseeeee tell him?! He can handle it."
Sith added, "He might go and spill the information around his little school…ke ke ke ke ke…"
Duri grinned, "If it'll make me popular then yeah sure, why wouldn't I tell the entire school I'm involved with the Hosts personal business?"
"SEE! HE ADMITS IT!"
Chaos made a point, stating, "I mean…if Harvest continues to go on a rampage with their tasks, then everyone would know about Harvest. Right? That's like…logical."
Tetsuya agreed, "You have a point. But now is not the time to explain everything to Duri. We can continue this some other time."
Marshy said, "I'll fill him in later. Since Reborn is kinda involved with his situation."
Duri exclaimed, "Bro! There's so much I wanna know!"
"Me too, Duri. Now let's get outta here."
"Wait…how did you even get here? Seems like we're far from home."
"We teleported, duh. But we have to see where we go first to teleport there."
Marshy was walking away with Duri, leaving the other Hosts to look at them leaving.
Sith says, "Interesting brat. Unique power. Ke ke ke ke ke.."
Tetsuya answered, "He has Titan and Shadow blood within him. He is truly gifted. But he's got a long way to go to reach higher levels."
Kedarah smiled, "I'll be his second mom! Hehe!"
Chaos said, "He'll definitely help us when the time comes."
Hanako added, "It was fate."
Duri and Marshy were outside walking side by side, and Duri was looking at the ground.
Marshy asked Duri, "Xenon was right, wasn't he?"
Duri responded, "You knew he was."
"You held back in the fight against that doctor man, afraid that we would be affected?"
"I felt so much power in me when I bonded with his power temporarily. I felt like I could've done so much damage, but hurt you in the process."
"Mm. You care about me huh?"
"What kind of dumb question is that? Of course I do. You took me in when I first got here. You took care of me for years, protected me, trained me, beat me up, took me places, and other things too. You're…my only friend."
"...When I first met you, I hated your thieving dog ass. But when you protected me against Conan, I knew you weren't a bad kid at all. You're still a brat though."
"Hehhh? You're the brat!"
"And you're a dummy."
"And you're a monster."
"Didn't you turn into one earlier? Oh, okay then."
"You wanna fight?"
"ANYTIME. YOU KNOW I LIKE FIGHTING, DURI. You've never beaten me."
"But I'll get there."
"You will. No doubt about it. You're growing. Like I always tell you, you are special. Special to me too."
"You always say that…seems like you enjoy this."
"I've always wanted this shit, Duri. Always wanted to be a mom. Lost a little hope when the situation with Reborn came along. But you came right after, and I felt like everything was falling into place."
"That's sweet and all, but what happened between you and Reborn? WHO THE HELL IS REBORN? And you never told me anything about your past, where you come from, and your power level. Why keep those things from me?"
"I'm not keeping them from you, Duri. There's a time for everything. I will tell you everything in due time. You just have to trust me and not question me so much, okay?"
"Marshy..?"
"Okay?"
"...Yeah. Yeah whatever. Got it."
Marshy grinned, and put Duri's head on her chest, smiling, "You beat the hell out of that guy earlier though. And that other guy. I'm proud of your ass."
"Hell yeah. Idiots tried to mess with me, they got sat down. Like you taught me."
"Nahh, you were born like that. To make matters more interesting, you were bred like that by the guardians of the Shadow realm. Bred to be killers, destroyers of realms."
"Sounds kinda badass if ya ask me."
"Hell yeah it does. Maybe you should tell the entire school that tomorrow."
"Ha! I should, shouldn't I?"
[6 hours later]
[Nighttime]
[Saitama Japan]
[Mansion of Ferrow]
Inside of the fifth large and fancy living room of his manor, a man named Ferrow was standing on the highest floor of his house, looking out of a big window, looking over the city.
Ferrow had orange and red hair, a scar across his face, and a black band covering his eyes. He was wearing a red suit too, and holding a glass of wine. He was one of the leaders of the group HARVEST.
He said, "I know you're standing there son…come out."
Ferrows' son, 18 year old Katai, came walking through the door of the dark room. He had long brown hair in a high ponytail, one red eye, and one hazel eye and a serious face.
Katai said, "Father."
"What did I tell you about calling me father, Katai? Only Reborn is our father. I am merely a vessel of a dad for him, for he is the true father of us all. Once we resurrect him, he'll finish where he left off, his plans in world and realms domination. He will be the true leader, not like his brother Zabel who wants to control the hell out of us."
"Understood, dad."
"That's fucking better, son. Everytime you accidentally call me father, I'm forced to remind you of what our true purpose on earth is."
"Yes, I understand dad."
"Now, what did you want? Why summon yourself to me?"
"I've come to collect more power.."
Ferrow turned around to Katai, going, "Hoh? More power?"
"Yes. I'm competing in the tournament tomorrow afternoon, and I've checked who was going to be competing in it along with me. And the competition will be tougher than any other fights I've been in before."
"You want more of the blood?"
"Yes."
"Look to the right of you, son."
Katai turned to look to the right, and he saw a pile of dead bodies, just laying there in the dark.
Katai looked back at Ferrow, but Ferrow was in another corner, taking a sip of his wine.
Ferrow said, "When those men and women asked for more of the beast's blood, they showed me how greedy they were. Those who are greedy do not fit in with Harvest. And taking too much of it, you'll cause havoc, go in a rampage, and then kill yourself. Too much blood of mythical beasts injected into the human body is too much. Those missions of causing havoc are not for you, but for Harvest's small subordinates who'll do anything for the cause. They do those things, causing havoc and such, to make Reborn's job easier when he returns, to soften this world up and thin everything out before the arrival."
"..Am I gonna end up like them? On the floor?"
"I will not give you more of the beast's blood, son. Only for your protection. If the other leaders of Harvest find out you asked for more power, they'd kill you. Your mother was a follower of Harvest, she charged me to protect you. And this is me protecting you. You've trained hard for years, do not doubt your abilities, you are strong. You haven't lost a single tournament yet. Keep the streak going."
Katai sighed, "Right. Yeah, okay. I understand completely. I'm sorry to bother you. I'll make my way out, dad."
"Goodnight, son."
"Goodnight."
Katai left the room, and began walking down the dark hallway.
'The men and women on the floor are his followers, followers that wanted more power like I did. They covered for me when I found the place where they distributed the beast's blood. I know that consuming too much of the beast's blood will cause me to go on a rampage, but as long as I have my healer friend, and control the amount of dosages I take of the blood, I'll be fine. Yeah…I have a few bottles of the beast's blood in my possession thanks to the dead guys on the floor. I was just asking my dad for more to throw him off track, I know they're investigating who raided the stash place. And I wanted to see if he wanted to give me more of the blood himself. Guess he does care about me, but I don't give a fuck. I make my own decisions. I'll show him.'
[Cocoon city mall]
[Saitama, Japan]
Seven and Nine were walking beside each other, eating ice cream while holding bags of clothes and shoes with them.
The mall was packed, with over 400 people there.
Every guy that walked past Seven and Nine, they tried to talk sweet with them or get to know them.
Seven and Nine's answers were:
"No."
"No."
"No."
"Helll no."
"Definitely not."
Nine asked Seven, "You don't get sick of that?"
"Get sick of what? Losers trying to get with me? It's kinda fun. Are you sick of it?"
"I just wanna beat them to a pulp, but not in front of all of these kids around us."
"You've done it before, Nine."
"Mmmm. MAYBE I'm turning over a new leaf."
"Yeah THAT'S A DAMN LIE."
"You're the one to talk. You beat the hell out of kids who were making fun of your tattoos in 3rd grade. Gnarly shit though."
"Well they deserved it."
"They did. You wanna grab something to eat?"
"Your eatery recommendations have been slacking lately. I took a fat shit from the last place we ate at."
"I SWEAR I THOUGHT THEY HAD GOOD FISH! I'll beat them to hell next time, I promise."
"Mhmm. I think I have an idea."
Seven and Nine saw a crowd of people surrounding a bunch of TV's.
Seven asked, "Whaaat the hell is going on?"
Nine replied, "No fucking way…it's Duri."
"Duri?"
"Hohhh? Your face is getting red. Ya know, everytime I mention his name, your face gets red."
Seven's face was red, and she said to Nine, "I'll choke you to death."
Seven and Nine watched the giant screens, and it was a full length video of the battle with Duri vs Yoshida, a battle that happened earlier. It showed everything, every little detail.
The headline read: "Birthmark boy, also Host Marshy's son, battles with an unknown man from another realm, winning against him in a brutal fight to the death. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED."
The crowds watching were saying:
"Wow.."
"Marshy's son is so strong…"
"Yeah, just like her!"
"I heard his name was Duri or something!"
"He bonded with that guy's power?! I heard only shadows can do that!"
"Yeah, before they went extinct. Duri must be the last of their kind.."
"They're both moving at insane speeds, the mountains are constantly blowing up due to their strength!"
"This video is everywhere on Bloggerz! It has a total of 3 billion views already!"
Seven asked Nine, "Didn't I tell you he was different?"
"No, actually."
"Well I'm telling your ass now."
"Tell me, are you attracted to his skills?"
"No."