Hiro was overseeing the stalls and workers for the night, everything had to be perfect with it being a grand celebration. Everyone had been working early morning to get everything set up to make sure the students and guests had a wonderful night, Hiro didn't want to disappoint his mom with how much generosity she showed in helping fund the trip.
Once everything was set up, everyone enjoyed the setup for the New Year's Eve party. Everyone was enjoying their time eating the food from the meat buns and Yakitori skewers, and enjoying the live music performance Tatsuya was giving, all were having a great time. Kaede and Rumi were enjoying the food stalls and cheering on Tatsuya, Tsukikage was eating the meat from the skewers with a great appetite, and Tsurara was in Rumi's arms enjoying a caramel apple.
Natsume saw the two and ran up to say hi to them.
"Hey, what are you two doing by yourselves? Where's your brother and sister?" She asked wondering why they were there by themselves.
"Nee-Chan is having alone time with Kou Nii-Chan. So I'm watching Rumi-Chan till the fireworks." Kaede said not caring for Natsume's questioning.
Natsume almost sobbed that Itsuki got some time with Koutetsu, but she cheered up when Rumi held her hand in her cuteness with her smile.
"Rumi you're such an angel. I can't wait to see what kind of woman you'll become in the future."
"That's enough from you boobzilla, c'mon Rumi-Chan let's get some more treats from the stalls before the fireworks go off." Kaede grabbed Rumi and headed to the next stall, Natsume sobbed again feeling alone, till Ryuji bumped into her.
He didn't pay attention because of the mountain of food in his arms. He was keeping up calorie intake being he was still an exercise nut even at the resort where he was supposed to relax.
"Sorry bout that, this stuff is great you should try some Prez." He said with his mouth full.
"Hmph, ever the brute Sakurai, can you ever just be a gentleman for once." A disappointed Natsume retorted.
Ryuji felt embarrassed for a bit like it upset her greatly. He asked the stall for a bag so he could put all his food in it that way he could speak to Natsume normally. He was rubbing his neck trying to sound nice to her without being too much like a meathead, more than he usually was.
"Sorry, I'm not the gentleman type like you said. But since you're here by yourself I can accompany you till Hayashi and Shirayuki get here."
Natsume was surprised by his gesture, he was usually the type to ignore feelings. Natsume was appreciative of his attempt, so she decided to walk with him to the other stalls for more snacks and have fun either way, even Ryuji was relieved she didn't think he was a big gorilla with no manners.
Itsuki and Koutetsu were changing into their outfits for the night after their hot spring bath time. Itsuki had a stunning white kimono with blue snow crystal designs on it and a flower hairpin on with geta clogs for her feet. Koutetsu wore black streetwear style hakama pants keeping within his taste, tabi sport shoes, a baggy white shirt, and an unbuttoned short-sleeved black kimono jacket. The resort loaned them clothes for the festivities, they had a multitude of styles for their customers' tastes. It's what made the Yagami resort so popular because of well they stayed with current styles and trends for customers.
Itsuki held hands with Koutetsu on the way there, he let her do it in keeping with making her happy. He was putting on a good face, he was enjoying his time with her after getting the negative thoughts from earlier out of his.
'After we get back home I'm gonna take her on a real date and go from there. I don't have much experience in dates, not sure if she'll like karaoke or maybe a movie like she did here. In those old games I played the protagonist had multiple choices to go over or go back on if the choice was bad. Well, I'm gonna give it an honest try and see if we do mesh well as a couple.' He looked at Itsuki after finishing his thought.
Itsuki was in such a good mood that Koutetsu saw tiny hearts popping on top of her head like in his old manga books. It made him exhausted seeing the trope in person and not on paper.
'On the other hand, maybe I'm setting myself up for something crazy in the future. Please anything but a bad rom-com moment, those were my least favorite cliches In manga.'
Itsuki and Koutetsu had made it to the festival area. Rumi ran up to him excitedly, he picked her up at her request so she could snuggle up on him for the fireworks later. Itsuki laughed at the display, they were bonding so quickly, it just felt natural to her to watch like they had known each other forever.
The resort had a great finishing end to the night, the concert Tatsuya sang for them got their spirits up, he stopped for a minute to begin the countdown as everyone shouted from 10-1, soon the fireworks shot up in the sky, and the sights of the colors and shapes made it more majestic for the night sky.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!" Everyone shouted. Tatsuya continued the concert and stalls resumed the cooking and games.
Rumi was beginning to fall asleep as it was getting late, Koutetsu could see she was doing her best to stay up but couldn't keep up anymore. He was going to take her to their room to rest and rejoin the others when his phone rang, the caller ID was from Major Komon, he had not spoken to her in a while, so it was unexpected for her to call him this late, especially on New Year's Eve.
"Hey, Ryuji can you hold Rumi for me? I gotta take this call it's important." Ryuji had food in his mouth so he answered with a look instead. Koutetsu handed her off to him to answer the phone, Itsuki saw him about to leave, but he told her it was a call he couldn't ignore asking her to keep an eye out on Rumi for him. Itsuki agreed letting Koutetsu go to a secluded area to answer the call in peace.
Koutetsu made sure no one was around while he hid behind a tree to accept the call.
"Hello Major, long time, what do I owe the pleasure of this late call." He politely asked.
"Hello Koutetsu, it has been a while. I hear you're in good health and enjoying studies at Kamui."
"Thanks to you I am. But I'm guessing this isn't a social call is it."
"Unfortunately no, I'm sorry it's very late and an inconvenience for you but it was a last-minute decision to call you due to the urgency of the matter. But by chance has a little girl named Rumi visited you recently?"
He didn't like where this was going. It felt ominous.
"No, why?" He lied trying to get information out of Major Komon.
"We're trying to find her. She ran away a few weeks ago. It may come as a shock but it has to do with Mana."
"What do you mean? How's Mana involved?" He asked not liking this more now.
"From the intel we gathered, Mana gave birth to Rumi as part of a surrogate mother agreement to help a childless couple out. Mana claimed custody of her after a legal clause in the contract, but there is a custody battle over Rumi right now that just happened recently."
Koutetsu's eyes nearly popped from his head. Those were the last words he wanted to hear. His voice was breaking as he was trying to talk. He didn't want to believe what he heard.
"What do you mean gone? What happened to my mom?" He panically asked.
"I'm sorry son. We didn't want to tell you till we could find the right moment. Last year Mana went missing. Someone invaded her home, we wouldn't have known if not for the fact she dialed my number for the first time since she disappeared to alert me of the attack. When me and my team went to investigate all we found was a traumatized Rumi and blood at the scene. It took a while with the doctors but she was able to talk again. Eventually, she heard about you as her next of kin, and she begged us to get photos and information about you to learn more about who her 'big brother' was. After Rumi's Primary Mother and her partner were alerted about Mana, they told us they changed their minds and demanded her return."
Koutetsu was panicking hard. Jado said he and his fellow Monarchs put up a barrier to keep Jagan and their vassals confided. He mentioned how it was getting weaker, did Shiro find another loophole to get out and come after Koutetsu again only to get at Mana?
"What happened exactly? And why do the mothers want Rumi back? Didn't they give her up? How's this possible?" He struggled to ask.
"We don't know the complete details, but Rumi said that a pale lady, the one who came for you, broke in and attacked Mana. She fought back but was badly injured. The pale lady took her away afterward, but she didn't get Rumi thankfully because of her True Skill ability that saved her. We learned from after examining her over she's an Esper." Koutetsu heard that and was confused. Rumi an Esper, it didn't seem possible.
"Rumi's an Esper? I checked her out, she was a normal kid when I coded her." He said not sure how that got past him.
"Rumi has a very unique skill. It's called Darwin, her body can instantly adapt for survival and self-evolution. My guess, when you coded her, her body automatically adapted to block out your coding without you knowing. It's why the women want her back, they pulled strings with all their connections to find out more details about Rumi's medical records that we obtained after they got the call about Mana's disappearance. She has too much potential with an ability like that, enough that the women who discarded her changed their minds and wanted their parental rights reinstated. We've been in a custody battle right now to make you her legal guardian since your Mana's only living next of kin and half-sibling since Mana's DNA was used for the birth injection, however the women found out about your medical records regarding your PTSD from Akane's death so it's been a harder case to fight now with them claiming your unfit mentally. They're painting you as a possible danger to her safety. We were going to discuss this with Rumi, but before we could she ran away."
"Major respectfully how can I believe this? I got a letter from Mana not too long ago saying she be home. Who wrote that letter if she's gone?" It was sounding like a bad joke now to him with the backstory he was told.
"I suspect Rumi did. We caught her practicing Mana's handwriting and watching old videos of her. Rumi is highly intelligent for her age, her Darwin skill develops her brain quicker the more she practices and studies. I caught her hacking into my personal computer one night to get your info, I punished her for it but my guess is after she got it she's going to use it to get to where you're living so she can stay with you. Koutetsu if she shows up you have to return her. By law we have to put her in child services for now till the custody battle is over, we'll fight harder to get you as the legal guardian as best as we can and prove you're mentally fit for the role but if she turns up before then, it'll be a bigger mess for you and her. Contact me if she arrives, please. Hello?"
Koutetsu didn't respond he dropped the phone and fell to the ground with his back laid on the tree. His eyes were dead with his face in complete emptiness. His mind finally broke, he lost Mana, and his last remaining parent was gone. The hope to see her has burned away. It was a total mental lock he was in.
The worst trigger for a Thanatophobiac to have happened. His emotionless head stared up into the sky, his memories of Mana flooding in. He didn't move from the spot, there was no will left in him.
The fireworks were done with their display, and Tatsuya was finishing the last of the songs to end the night.
Itsuki was worried about Koutetsu not returning, she saw Rumi in Ryuji's arms tired and wanting her brother back.
"Hey, Sakurai do you mind taking her back to her room? I'm going to find Koutetsu I'm starting to get worried for him." Itsuki asked.
"Yeah I don't mind, make sure to give that hothead a good smack to the head when you see him for leaving this one behind."
Itsuki nodded, she asked Tsukikage for help since he could sniff out where Koutetsu was. Tsukikage was about to when his nose caught a whiff of something else, something that made him growl in a protective fury.
"Hey, what's wrong with him? Never seen your little furball act like that before."
Tsurara also joined in she was holding her ground in front of Ryuji to protect Rumi.
"Something's not right. They're both freaking out bad. Hey, what's that?" Natsume pointed in the direction where she saw something coming from the woodline, the smell of rotting flesh hitting the air, the groans echoing out, and the sight of the marching dead bodies. Everyone gasped at the sight, the Ghasts arrived, and the minute they smelt living flesh they sped up their pace catching people in their paths to devour and turn.
Hiro saw them, he was horrified to see the abominations invading his family's resort but more so the deaths that were happening on his watch.
Hiro created a longbow to fire shots at the Ghasts that were going to catch some of the children, the security detail along with the students who could fight back helped out including Barnaby and Megumi.
"Everyone gets to safety! Get to the rooms and apply security sutras on the doors to keep them out. Those that can fight help protect the civilians." Hiro led the front lines, Ryuji handed Rumi to Natsume while he and Itsuki ran to help out. Ryuji hardened his body into metal, the Ghasts couldn't bite through his armored skin. He took out a pair of smooth knuckledusters to increase his punching strength as he bashed their heads.
"Impressive, seems you've getting stronger since the arena match."
"Shut it rich boy and fight. We can't let a single one of these deadheads get through or there's going to be more dead bodies on this land."
Hiro and Ryuji kept up the pace, Itsuki's ice magic slowed down the Ghasts helping to destroy them. Tatsuya jumped mid-air off his stage to help out as well. He grabbed a megaphone to blast a powerful sound attack with his Osbourne skill.
"DIE!!!!"
The attack reverberated to the Ghasts, Ryuji and the others were smart enough to cover their ears so their eardrums wouldn't explode. Tatsuya landed on the sand after the sound blast, his throat took a hit from using that much strength and the megaphone busted up as well since it was an ordinary device.
"Are you ok?" Natsume asked.
"Yeah, it's just using a strong sound attack with that much power like that is harsh on my throat. I need my guitar to fight better but I left it back home. I messed up, I didn't hear them coming since I had the headphones on for the music." He lamented blaming himself for not noticing their arrival with his hearing.
Tatsuya threw the megaphone away now that it had broken from the recoil, he started heading to help Hiro and others after asking Natsume for help.
"Natsume watch out for the kids, I'll help out the others. Get Koutetsu over here, his flames might be the only thing that can bail us out." Natsume acknowledged, she tried calling him again but no answer, Rumi clung to Natsume crying in fear, Kaede watched the fight worried for her sister. Tsukikage dashed to help Itsuki out, while Tsurara left to find Koutetsu. Tsukikage made it in time before a Ghast snuck up on Itsuki, his tattoo markings illuminated changing him into an adult-sized wolf.
Tsukikage started biting the head off the Ghasts, he then telepathically talked to Itsuki after he finished another off.
"Master, are you ok?"
"Huh, is that you talking Tsukikage?" Itsuki asked unaware he could do that or even change his appearance.
"Alert, familiar conditions met. Familiar, Divine Animal Tsukikage skill unlock. Skill; Guardian mode activated. Tsukikage can now change into Guardian mode with increased stats and the ability to communicate with the contracted master."
Itsuki got the message. It must have been the Ghasts arriving that his role as her protector was fulfilled and now he gained his ability to fight back.
"Yes Master, I can speak to you now. Master, I'll protect you while you perform your magic, we need to fight them off till we find out who's controlling them."
"Where's Tsurara?" Itsuki looked around but couldn't see her anywhere.
"Don't worry Master. She's looking for Koutetsu right now but I fear it may not be enough with this many dead coming our way."
Tsukikage was right the number of Ghasts was increasing. This was more than they all could handle right now.
Tsurara looked around following her master's scent, she was able to find Koutetsu thankfully but he was still in a feeble look after his phone call. She tried to get his attention but he wouldn't budge. Tsurara even bit him and nothing. Koutetsu looked at her with his dead eyes, she was trying to get him to help the others, Koutetsu didn't respond verbally, his body only moved because it was on autopilot at this point. He stumbled his way to where everyone was at a slow pace.
Some of the Ghasts broke through the line killing the security detail and the some students who helped fight them off making more Ghasts, Megumi tried to shoot her flames at them, but her black flames were flames of intense rage, if she missed even by a hair she would have killed the civilians in an instant who didn't have magic resistance to them. Barnaby was burning out as well, the energy he was using to produce his guns and bullets was taking a toll on his hands, he needed a rest but it wasn't available at the moment.
"This is loco, I've never seen this many of them and this strong too. Where in the blue hell did they come from, this seems to be coincidental doesn't it?" Barnaby said.
"Who cares Yankee, we just need to get rid of them fast. There has to be a master here controlling the numbers. We kill that and it'll make it easier to slow them down." Megumi charged forward, she ripped and clawed the Ghasts on her way through to find their leader. Megumi dodged in a rapid moment when a wicked sickle chain flew in her direction almost decapitating her.
She jumped back to look at the wood line to see where it came from, the sight she saw terrified her.
Four DreadKnights, the ones who lead the Ghasts appeared. Everyone who saw them almost lost hope. DreadKnights were the last evolution before becoming a Grand Lich. They had intelligence and high combat capabilities. One was bad enough, but four was a horrifying task.
"Damn, this is a worst-case scenario. Even if I had my old Bloody Reina personality I don't think I could take on all four of them. One Grand Lich maybe but this many Ghasts and those four is gonna be a tall order."
"You took down a Grand Lich by yourself. How arrogant you are human." One of the knights who wielded a battle axe with a three-half-skull decoration on his gothic helmet replied.
"Dreiz, she must be the one that killed Grand Lich Daemon. The black flame user Bloody Reina. We must avenge our Master's fallen brother."
The other knight with the four-half-skull helmet said holding the sickle chain that flew at Megumi earlier.
"Who are you why are you here?" Megumi shouted demanding an answer.
"We are here to collect, human. These lost souls are hungry. We will feed them before we leave. You can't beat us. We're stronger than the normal DreadKnights you know of. We are the Schwartzreiters(Black Riders). And we will complete our ride." The lead knight with a single half-skull helmet and Zweihandler sword announced. The knights marched toward Megumi deeming her the biggest threat, Barnaby jumped in to help Megumi out, he was bleeding on his face from an earlier Ghast attack that scratched him barely avoiding his brains getting eaten.
"What you a gentleman now?" Megumi joked trying to keep her cool.
"Well, I have my moments. If we survive this you want to grab a nightcap, my treat?"
Megumi laughed at how bold Barnaby was after the annoyance she had been with him since they met.
"Tell you what. You live after this I'll give you more than a nightcap."
"Hehe, well I'm not one to turn down a bet, and I do like a pretty Senorita who can kick my ass." Megumi snickered at the comment as both she and Barnaby continued to fight off the Ghasts as the Knights kept their slow but menacing march of death toward them.