Al's Cafe was outside of the city in a rural area and because of this, it wasn't within the jurisdiction of the military police. As a result, the crime rate is 50% higher and many war veterans have moved out of the city to become mercenaries. Regardless of that, Daniel's idea to meet here was genius because this was a low profile cafe and not many of the locals of the city would care to come here. And if someone did follow them they would see it coming much clearer than if they were in the city. Haru is sitting across from him in the booth, he is staring intently at the menu. "We're not here to eat." Daniel scolds him; "You're not eating, I'm gonna get a whisky and some fried chicken" Haru replies before laughing.
Suddenly Daniel's muscle begin to tense up, the same menacing aura from the masked man is nearby, the killing intent was similar to a rabid alpha wolf ; Haru feels it too but his relaxed smile never leaves his face.
Haru stairs through the cafe windows which wrapped around the building, as he attempts to locate their enemy. But there was nobody outside; and the only people who were inside were a couple of chefs, a bartender and two young lovebirds who were on a date. The masked man is somewhere in the darkness; there was a foreboding feeling in the air.
[Aristocrat District Gate : 10:05pm; 20 minutes ago ]
'He was definitely here at some point' Brakus thinks. He discerns this from the hole in the gate left behind by Haru as well as the tire marks tattooed into the ground. "Gramps really loves speeding huh? He probably has road rage.." Brakus cracks a joke. His legs are quivering, causing his whole body to shake; funny enough Brakus was still afraid of the dark, but this didn't inhibit him from tracking down criminals during the nighttime.
Brakus looks up and down to gain a picture of his surroundings before stroking his chin in thought 'I didn't pass him on my way here..I wonder, maybe he left the city but nothing is nearby-'. "Wait a minute! I have an idea!" he exclaims, before dashing to a newspaper dispenser and snatching a few papers from inside.
He flips through the pages until he gets to the advertisement section, there are over 20 different restaurants listed with addresses and phone numbers next to each one. 'If he left the city, it would probably be to a bar this late' ; some nights, his Mother would leave the house around this time.Brakus was aware of her drinking habit it was one of her ways of coping with the loss of his Dad.
"There are only three bars open that aren't in the city, and those are...." he voice trails off for a moment until he points at three bars listed under the 'outside of city limits' section before continuing his quiet monologue, "Al's Cafe, Dry Drinks and The Tiki Club...ummm.. shit. I'll check Al's first because they're the only one that serves food.". His stomach begins to rumble causing him to recoil, "And I'm definitely up for some burgers right about now" he says before revealing a wallet with cartoon characters on the front. He runs towards the outskirts of town ignoring the needles of pain tearing through his body.
[Al's Cafe: 10:25pm]
"I'm gonna go outside and confront him, I told myself I wouldn't hide anymore" Haru leaps from the booth landing skillfully; for an old man his movement was extremely smooth and flowed like water. Daniel's eyes widen with shock, and he reaches for Haru's should to , attempting to stop him. But Haru brushes his hand away as defiant. "You can't go out there , I couldn't even hurt him. and his slashes came quicker than my eyes could see, even my teleportation was useless...." Daniel murmurs with a look of defeat in a last attempt to prevent him from facing the strange man directly.
Haru marches to the cafe's front door and bursts through them to outside, he a observes the small parking lot for any signs of life; the air is still and there isn't a single sound for a moment. This doesn't last lost however, because the man in the oni mask materializes in a plume of smoke right before Haru's eye. This stunned Haru, he wasn't expecting an enemy to appear right I'm from of him; he draws the Golden blade and it begins to glow .The bright light illuminates the entire parking lot, causing the masked man to shield his face from the light.
Using this opening to his advantage Haru is already on the offensive, he shoots into the air and swan dives; slamming into the masked man. Before the man could retaliate he was already being ran through by Haru's blade, all he can do is hiss angrily as the wounds from the blade burn through his flesh; the masked man kicks Haru away, putting his hand to the hilt of his katana and draws his sword counter-attacking in an instant. Haru parries this attack causing it to miss himself entirely.
"Painful isn't it? this sword is a prized possession of mine, it's name is Fukushū, or revenge. It's kind of ironic.." He says in a cold emotionless voice, his eyes were focused on the masked man as he stood motionless with his sword ready. The masked man speaks for the first time "Your death will be quick... We have no reason to keep you alive." his body twitches as he cackles at Haru.
Daniel appears next to Haru with his weapon drawn and locks eyes with the man's demon mask, anticipating his next assault. Before long, the man rushes Daniel with murderous intent , attempting to slice him in half. But Though Daniel is prepared for this and quickly raises his sword to deflect the blade; Haru draws his automatic rifle and begins discharging silenced rounds into the masked man, but he seems to be unphased by the impact of the rounds. The masked man adverts his attention onto the source of the gunshots.
Daniel uses this distraction to his advantage and stabs downwards, impaling the masked man's foot. He let's out a bloodcurdling shriek of pain and kicks Daniel, which dislodges the sword sending him careening through the air before slamming into the ground and tumbling across the pavement. 'Im starting to hurt from our fight earlier... I'm glad Haru is here" Daniel thinks while eyeballing Haru, who is locked into an intense standoff with the masked man. He releases groans of pain and continues to think 'The old man is holding out... but we need to take this guy out together' Daniel deliberates for a moment before scrambling to his feet.
The small parking lot of Al' Cafe has become a dueling ground, the employees and the couple from earlier are cowering Inside as Haru and Daniel proceed to exchange blows with the man in the demon mask.
He easily blocks and parries their continued assault of slashes; even with both men attacking in unison, his wounds didn't seem to be slowing him down and his rage grew with every moment. The masked man has overwhelming speed and his aura was making it nearly impossible for them to breathe.
He pressured their defenses by increasing the rate of his slashes. "How are we supposed to beat this guy, we can't even land another attack!" Daniel exclaims desperately in Haru's direction. Haru only winks at him in response, Daniel's eyebrows raise in surprise "Got it!" Daniel's says.This was a signal for Daniel to use his power and create an opening for Haru to attack.
At the exact moment that this exchange finishes, something crashes into the masked man at high speeds causing him to stumble to the ground. The figure who just arrived looks down at the man, who is now on his back and is reaching for his sword. The figure swivels to face Haru and Daniel and waves to then childishly with a giant smile; the figure is Brakus, he finally found them and it was just in time.
Haru's eyes widen with bewilderment at the sight of him but he has no time to greet him as he is already preparing to launch his counterattack on the masked, he explodes through the air like lightning bringing his sword down towards the man's heart.
In a dire effort to save himself, the masked man scrambles to gather his sword from the ground; but it was too late. Haru's blade pierces directly through the man's heart, tearing through his body and slicing into the earth; slightly cracking the pavement below.
The wounds ignites, exploding into a blaze that incinerates the masked man from the inside out; shrieks continue to tear from his throat until they are replaced by a gurgling sound.
The man in the oni mask lays defeated, the flame from his corpse is dancing against the moonlit skies as it continues to burn. The nightmare was finally over, or was this just the beginning...