Ascending from the bodies of Diablo and Kit, were two golden wisps, and they began to fly out of the building, and make their way to the outside, spreading out amongst each other.
The way this happened was because of Rukong's "Timeless Favor" skill, in which he speaks to the bodies of those he killed, and the energy from his voice would be heard by their passing souls, turning their souls into temporary pawns, and would go out and manipulate people and take them. A wisp can only last for a full hour, but will self-destruct if attacked.
The wisps made their way into the large city, slithering past crowds of people.
The wisps stayed in the sunlight, which they were unable to be seen within it since they were bright golden. They avoided dark areas, since they would be exposed. If they did run into dark areas, Fighters around would spot them, some would question it, but the wisps wouldn't take or manipulate Fighters if they were watched or spotted, and the wisps knew if they were being watched or not.
The wisps mostly performed their powers on multiple people at once, just to distract other Fighters from looking at other people vanish, which would cause them to be most likely spotted; since when most Fighters vanish, uninvited shade could interfere around the wisps, which would expose them. Which could increase the risk of a Fighter trying to attack the wisp. But if there are Fighters around that cannot be manipulated, and they are watching, the wisps wouldn't do anything. But that's only if the wisps notice them first.
Despite the wisps being temporary familiars, they had slight intelligence.
The wisps touched people, and they vanished in thin air, but there were some Fighters their manipulate and capture abilities wouldn't work on, so they ignored them. And the reason why the power doesn't work on some Fighters? That's yet to be explored.
The Fighters disappeared so quickly and subtly, it happened all around, so they were only focused on who they had been with. As the wisps planned, they caused it to where other Fighters were distracted from seeing other people vanish.
"What?!"
"Oi! Karama!"
"Shinji!"
"Bell?! Bell! Where are you?!"
"Vinny!!!"
"Baek-Hyun?!"
"He was just here!"
"It's happening again!"
The wisps continued to move in silence, gliding through the sunlight. Fighters were looking all over the place, searching everywhere.
[The Division guild headquarters]
In the meeting room, Kaiju, Kell, Emma, and Grey stood near the table in front of a large TV screen, while Carter, Telli, and Macch stood on the other side, looking at the screen too.
On the screen, it showed the dead bodies of Diablo and Kit.
Carter said, "So Court said he had to run some errands, giving you guys the phone with the pictures, and then taking off?"
Kell answered, "Yep. Just took the hell off."
"Are you covering for him? I've known Court since the Tower of Valhalla appeared, he's done mysterious things like this before."
"Mysterious things? Like what?"
"He may seem like a lazy bum with no goal or infrastructure in his arsenal, but he's overprotective, especially over young ones like yourselves. Before, he stayed behind on a raid full of teens just to let them escape, and he stayed back to hold off the raid target."
Emma sighed, "I remember that. We were there."
Grey nodded.
Kaiju exclaimed, "Hoh? So he's a hardcore warrior like me?! Interesting, interesting!"
Suddenly, Kell heard Court's voice in his head. Court said, "Kell."
Kell thought, 'Huh?'
"I'm tracking someone, someone that might be related to the disappearances. If those Division nerds ask about me, tell them I went to go catch a drink or something. I don't even want Emma or Grey knowing what I'm really doing."
'How are you speaking to me?'
"My Echo ability. I can use my skill "Echo" to send my location and telepathically talk to certain Fighters that I have talked to in the past 3 days, but won't work if it's anything past that. It also won't work on Passive Fighters. I'm leaving now, Court out."
Kell sighed and said to Carter, "You know what, I actually remembered that Court was going to get a drink after a hard day of work."
Emma agreed with an angry face and with an angry tone like always, "Mmmm, he does love his drinks."
Grey adds, "He drinks it like water."
Macch whispered to Telli, "You think they're telling the truth?"
Telli answered, "They could. Since Court is known for doing things like this, my suggestion is that he's going off to pick a fight. He must've seen something."
"Because of his power.."
"Right. My guess is that it came in handy again."
Carter said to everyone, "Alright. Guess we'll move on then-."
Kell interrupted, "Are our jobs done now?"
"You are free to leave whenever you feel like it. But it's suggested to stay with us, we're the only ones who could probably debunk everything that's going on. We'll be able to find your sister fast. Hopefully."
"…Proceed."
Carter looked at the screen, and a punch of diagrams began to draw around it digitally, leaving Kell to think, 'I'm surprised technology is this advanced even inside of the tower…'
Carter explained, "From the zoom-in lenses, we can obviously see animal hair. Can we all see this? Or am I hallucinating? You can NEVER be too certain in the Tower of Valhalla. Just wanna make sure we are all on the same page."
Kell answered, "We're not blind."
Emma nodded, "I can see it!"
Grey implied, "I can't see it."
Everyone looked at him.
Carter asked Grey, "YOU CAN'T SEE IT?!"
Grey chuckled with an emotionless look, "Kidding."
"You had me worried for a second there, Grey."
Emma punched Grey in the arm, saying, "You had me scared too!"
Grey replied, "J-O-K-E."
Kell thought, 'Fools. This is no joking matter.'
Carter continued, "Looking at the wounds, they were impacted through multiple parts of their body by something cylinder-like.."
Kaiju added, "The wounds are truly circular like..that reminds me…*Gasps*"
Telli asked Kaiju, "What is it? Do you know something?"
It was silent, then Kaiju answered, "It can't be.."
Carter asked, "What do you mean?"
Kell asked Kaiju, "What's your deal?"
"…Animal hair..can your little computers scan what kind of animal hair that is?"
Carter responds, "Doing that now."
Kaiju walked closer to the screen, thinking, 'It can't be..it can't be..the only being that father lost to..he can't be alive! He has to be dead! We thought he was dead..don't tell me..'
The scanning finished, and Kaiju was shocked to see what appeared.
Carter says, "The animal hair is a 98% match to a monkey. Does that ring a bell…Kaiju?"
Kaiju stepped back, with his eyes shaking.
Kell thought, 'A being to where even Kaiju is trembling, it's gotta be serious.'
Emma asked Kaiju, "What's the matter?"
Kaiju told everyone, "It's..It's Rukong…"
Everyone stated, "Rukong?"
Kaiju continued, "Circular wounds..monkey hair..it's Rukong..the last remaining being from his home world, which were overrun and wiped out by the Takahashi's…"
Kell gasped, "Oi…you're kidding. The Takahashi's? Aren't they..Sho's family?"
"Yeah, they are. That's the only reason I know of the Takahashi's..but they play a huge role in Rukong's life. If this is actually Rukong, and not some other being, we're in trouble..he was the only one who defeated my father. My father was widely known through the other worlds, famous for his strength.."
Carter thought, 'An animal being, inside of the Tower of Valhalla after having his home world killed off..by the Takahashi's? Interesting..'
Telli asked Kell, "Do you know anything else about this Rukong?"
[City 3]
Very high in the sky, was a small castle made out of clouds. Inside, there were clouds and gold everywhere, and Rukong was in it.
Rukong was sitting on a floating cloud, holding his staff. He was in the latest area in his cloud castle, and it had some light inside of it.
Rukong sat there with his eyes closed, and all he heard were screams, screams of his world that were killed off. He used that to raise his drive to continue what he had left off on his world, he used those screams to gradually increase his determination, no matter how traumatic it was. Because at times, he found himself losing hope.
Rukong still sat there, until his ear flickered fast.
Walking behind him was Court.
Court was smoking a cigarette, looking around and whistling, "Phewwww, nice place. Loving the aesthetic."
Rukong didn't say anything, he continued to sit there.
Court walked around, looking at everything, "Ya know..you almost got away. To think you almost got away from me. Ya see, I have the ability to see the invisible, and also the spirit world that's all around us. That's how I saw you in the building.."
Court kept walking around looking at things, and continued, "At the time, I didn't say anything..because there were children around us. They wouldn't have stood a chance against you. When I saw you there, I checked your stats. You're the highest S class Fighter I've seen so far since I've been in the tower. But like, I'm guessing you're trying to figure out how I got here-."
Rukong's staff darted across the room, and it pierced straight through Court's face, ripping his head clean off and hitting the cloud wall.
Rukong says, "Enoug-."
Court started to get up off the ground, and his head grew back.
Rukong sensed his presence, and stood up.
Court said, "Okay, ow, that kinda hurt. And I think it was actually pretty rude that you did that while I was monologuing."
Rukong thought, 'He regenerated..'
Court continued to say, "Like I was saying, I found you because, well, I can smell really good, and I can fly. I just tracked your scent back to this crappy ass home. Yeah, I don't like it anymore after you threw your cane at me."
Rukong turned around slowly, asking, "What is your goal?"
"Mmm, let's see, I-."
Rukong teleported near Court, and ripped his head off with one punch, then stabbed through Court's chest to grab his heart, but Court made his heart move to another spot, and Court regenerated again.
Court grew white wings on his back, and flew backwards, floating in the air, "Oi! I'm trying to talk, dumbass."
Rukong thinks, 'He can move his internal organs around. What is his weapon?'
Court asked, "Since you're acting like a damn nut job, I'm guessing it was you going around stealing people and shit."
"Stealing? You must be confused, human."
"Confused? I graduated school pretty late, but I always have a grasp on certain things that keep me interested. I have a lot of questions for you, why didn't you attack us at the junkyard?"
"Wasn't in fighting condition. But you will be attacked by me now."
"Why are you doing this?"
"You would understand..if you were a king like me, human."
Rukong teleported, then got behind Court, grabbing the back of his head.
Rukong squeezed down on Court's head, and continued, "Why do you come up here alone, if you are weaker than I, human?"
Court gritted his teeth in pain, responding, "I came..I came to make a deal with you."
"A deal..? A king does not accept bribery."
Court lied, "Listen to me, you have my little brother. You took him. Let me take his place, and you release him. Also..I know a place where they constantly harvest magic rubies that give you insane perks, magic rubies of all colors. I can deliver them to you, but only if you let all the people you stole go. In all honesty, I don't want to attempt to fight you, but to just talk.."
"Foolish human. My familiars' abilities don't work on certain humans and other beings. They only work on those who are weak minded. The powers do not work on you, so you are not weak minded. But you are weak..you stand no chance against me. You may be able to regenerate and move your organs around, but there is a loophole to everything in existence."
Rukong lifted Court up, and threw him down, making him slam against the cloud floors hard.
Court had blood come out of his mouth as his back collided to the floor.
Rukong can manipulate clouds as well, he could change them from being solid, or not solid, and can make as many clouds as we wanted.
Court started to crawl, saying, "What are you planning on doing..with all the people you stole? What's your objective..here?"
"I can ask you the same thing. What did you expect to happen when coming up here alone?"
"I just wanted..to bargain at least..I thought maybe, you could take me instead of keeping my little brother….or a chance to get stronger than you are now..
"You have confidence in your regenerative abilities, which influenced you to approach my domain."
"Kinda..yeah. Well, yeah.."
"I find the loophole around your ability, and kill you. But you do not understand what's going on around you. You must not have heard of my name."
"..Remind me?"
"I was the king of world Rune. I was a king for many years. It was already destined for me to be king, to rule over the people of Rune, to lead them, to guide them, to influence them, and to help them. I trained my entire life to be ready for king, even traveling to different worlds to take on their strongest warriors. I became king, loved it.."
[FLASHBACK]
[15 years ago]
[World of Rune]
Rukong was standing in the middle of an arena with another monkey like him, a much taller one. That being was his brother. Surrounding them was a crowd of beings like them, cheering in the stands, with Rukong's mother and father sitting on thrones higher than everyone else's seats.
Rukong was holding a staff, and he pointed it at his brother, saying, "Today..I will be crowned, brother."
His brother was holding a staff also, replying, "We'll see about that!L
'I've trained too hard to lose here. I will finish him in one blow.'
They both dashed towards each other, but Rukong jumped over his brother, twisted his staff above his head, and pointed it at his opponent, and the staff extended 17 feet, smashing against his brother's head at light speed and hitting the ground.
Rukong then started jumping in the air, going back and forth really fast, punching his opponent back and forth, creating loud thugs.
Rukong then hit his brother in the stomach with his staff, making the entire arena rumble, and shooting his brother into the sky, breaking every bone in his body.
Rukong stood there, as the crowd cheered wildly, and he raised his staff up, roaring with his sharp teeth pointed outwards.
His mother and father eventually came down there, along with others, and they cloaked Rukong in some expensive clothing, and putting a brown on his head, and then declared him the new king of Rune.
[FLASHBACK END]
[PRESENT DAY]
Rukong continued, "Then years later, it happened. After I was successfully fluffing my duties as the new king, everything shattered. Those damn Takahashi's..they came bursting into my world, slaughtering everyone. I watched them all drown in death, hearing the screams in my ears, and feeling my people's blood soaking in between the creases of my feet."
Rukong started to remember it, envisioning the slaughter, how the Takahashi's sped through the Rune world very fast.
Rukong said, "Those Takahashi's, they were strong..and fast..nothing I haven't seen before..but impressive. They even had one lady with them that they called a Conqueror. I fought them off for the sake of my kingdom, for the honor of my world, but I wasn't able to keep them all off. In fear, out of the fact that I had lost hope at that moment, I fled. And now I regret leaving. I trained my entire life to become a king, I even prophesied it to myself at times. Now..I will bring my kingdom here, in the Tower of Valhalla, where I am much..very much stronger than before."
Court stood up, bleeding all over the place, replying, "What..?"
"My staff hold's many skills. Later on today, everyone will be my people. I will rule over everyone, and everyone will see me as someone they fear and respect. If I wasn't able to govern my world but run due to fear, I will fulfill my kingship, and not let my efforts be wasted. This Tower will become my kingdom."
"You can't do that..do you even know what this Tower is?"
"I know I am strong, I know I have a goal. I fear nothing."
"…Why did the Takahashi's slaughter your world off?"
"I do not know why. Do not ask foolish questions. Now, I shall beat you until I find the backdoor to your power."
Court thought, 'My lighter weapon skill, "Untouchable", can only make me invincible for 5 minutes. It's been two minutes already. The real reason I came..was to invite THOSE two. To tag my location..to alert THEM. I used my skill "Echo" to send my location and send messages to certain Fighters that I have talked to in the past 3 days, but won't work if it's anything past that. It also won't work on Passive Fighters.'
Landing inside of the room this time, was Rudy and Darthen, and they stood bedside Court.
Rudy said, "Are we late? DAMN you're messed up!"
Court answered, "Yeah I look like shit, so what?"
"You totally look like you got crushed by a circus elephant."
Darthen wrote in the air, "Shitty."
Court responded, "OKAY WE GET IT! HE WHOOPED MY ASS!"
Rudy then looked at Rukong, and asked, "So you're the one who's behind all of this?"
Court added, "Be careful..he's strong."
"That's why you alerted us, right? You even texted us before you got here to get ready. Us three against this guy, we couldn't lose. Two S class Fighters against one. We'll force answers out of him! Haha!"
Darthen wrote in the air: "Absolutely!"
Court smirked, "Remember, don't kill. I know we outnumber him, but we shouldn't hurt him too badly."
Rudy smiled, "Let's gooooo! Let's kick some ass!"
All three of them dashed forward really fast, and Rukong stood still emotionless, and said, "Fools. You may outnumber me..but you're still no match for your king."
Rukong's eyes turned red, and he had a line of gold and white feathers coming out of his head like rope.
Court, Darthen, and Rudy gasped in shock.