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Chapter Text

In the shadows of the dark lonely void of the Netherworld emerges a lone figure which strides with purpose through the shadows and towards a distant light where the voice of his followers await his return to the human realm. For too long he has been trapped in the world of his birth where he was forced to endure the pains of loneliness and suffers through the constant power struggles his race is eternally trapped in. But now thanks to the humans who remained loyal to him even in his defeat this Aradama will finally be free and able to finish what he started twenty years ago.

The figure has a robust dark body illuminated by orange lines that criss-cross across his body and light up his eyes. On the Aradama’s back is a long Okatana with a curved blade and a gold grip. For many people who had the misfortune of seeing this sword when it’s drawn the shinny blade was the last thing they ever saw.

Looking back over his shoulder, the Aradama gives his prison one last look before whistling to summon the only form of comfort he had in his time in the Netherworld. Within seconds a dog the size of a bare appears with razor-sharp teeth and evil-looking eyes. There are many Aradama who look down on taming the lesser intelligent members of their species, but for this Aradama they will always be useful whether it be as decoys, cannon fodder or in the case of this giant dog, a loyal companion.

Stepping into the light together the Aradama and his pet begin their journey of conquest that was cut short the last time he attempted this trip. Only this time intends to get some revenge as well.

When the light fades it is still dark outside only this time when the Aradama looks up he can see stars above his head instead of the empty void of the Netherworld. The Aradama feels the wind for the first time in years and soon notices one of his most loyal followers is there to greet him along with three other robbed figures.

“Now that you have seen him with your own eyes I suggest you start to be more cooperative with us in the future,” The Aradama’s right hand and trusted follower tells one of the robbed figures as she approaches.

The woman is a tall elegant looking woman with long black hair and sharp brown eyes that never miss a thing. Wearing a black dress and veil any onlooker would mistake her for a grieving widow, so the smile that graces her lips seems out of place, but the women aren’t in mourning. Despite the loss, the woman suffered the outfit she wears is a constant reminder of why she must tear this world down. With an Okatana on her hip she is ready to fight by this Aradama’s side as long as he continues to aid who own quest for revenge.

“We will need to rely on your help in the future, so I hope this will get you to come around to our side,” The black-dressed woman continues to tell the robbed figure before turning and facing the Aradama.

“Ye… yes. I understand,” The robbed figure replies and the Aradama can sense the fear coming from the figure. “You’ll have my help when you need it.”

“About time,” Another robbed figure snaps clearly irritated.

“You shouldn’t have resisted in the first place,” The final robbed figure adds causing the reluctant on the lower their head in shame.

“Enough you two,” The black-dressed woman orders before bowing down to the Aradama. “It has been too long since you were taken from us, but the cult is ready to fight my master. I’m sure you will be pleased with the two young ones behind me, they may be ill mannered, but I trained them myself, and you will find very few people who will be able to match their abilities with a blade.”

With a nod of his head the Aradama acknowledges his follower's assessment of the young cultist. One of the black-dressed women's many talents is training people in the art of the sword.

“I’m sure they will serve me well,” The Aradama says looking down at his follower. “Now let us get back to our base, we have a lot of work to do.”

Chapter Text

Kamakura City Hospital

The city of  Kamakura has a long and interesting history, and its streets are filled with such an odd mash-up of both traditional Japanese building and modern designs that the city itself attracts a lot of tourists. But despite the flourishing tourism trade, the town is usually the target of Aradama attacks.

Laying in beds in the of the cities hospital are the two Toji that stopped the latest Aradama attempt to destroy the human world. Hiyori Juujou a black-haired, flat-chested Toji of the Heijou Institute and Kanami Etou, a brown hair Toji from Minoseki Academy who many refer to as a sword freak due to the young girls love of swords and sword matches. These two girls who only just recently returned to the human world early this day after spending nearly two months trapped in the Netherworld after sealing away a powerful Aradama princess.

Although both these Toji deserves the peace and quiet, they are getting right now only one of them can appreciate the downtime. While as Hiyori is happy to read one of the books Akane Origami, the new head of the Special Sword Administration Bureau brought for both Kanami and Hiyori to read the Minoseki Toji is restless and doesn’t seem to have any interest in laying still and keeping quiet. Hiyori can’t help but scowl in irritation as she hears her friends bed creak and the constant rustling of sheets, she just can’t understand why Kanami doesn’t want to rest after everything they have been through.

“Hey, Hiyori,” The gentle voice of the Minoseki Toji calls out making Hiyori groan in annoyance. She knows what her friend wants, she knows Kanami’s answer to deal with boredom all too well.

“No,” Hiyori quickly tells her.

“But you don’t know what I was going to ask,” Kanami whines.

“Yes, I do,” Hiyori tells her. “You wanted to find someplace where we can have a sparring match ignoring the doctor's order that we stay in bed and rest.”

“But…”

“Kanami we have been through more than anyone could ever ask of us,” Hiyori cuts hers off. “We need to take a break while we can.”

“…” Kanami lets out a groan as she falls back onto her bed and stares up at the ceiling.

“You can always read a book if you are bored,” Hiyori suggests which only gets another groan of annoyances from her friend. “You could at least take a look Kanami. Akane left some books with lots of sword fights just for you.”

Kanami again complains at the suggestion of reading as she rolls onto her side and stares at her Okatana. The Minoseki Toji can’t understand how her friend can just lay there are read about swordfights when they both have their Okatana’s close by and can take part in the real thing any time they want. Rolling over for the countless time that night, Kanami faces her friend and feels her heartbeat pick up and her breath hitch at the sight of her friend. Hiyori is sat there reading her book with a rare smile formed on her lips that makes Kanami feel all warm inside whenever she sees it. There is only one word that Kanami can bring to mind to describe her friend, beautiful, the Minoseki can’t think of any other word worthy of describing Hiyori other than as beautiful.

Kanami can feel her cheeks heat up as a blush forms on her face and has to quickly roll back over so she doesn’t have to explain to Hiyori as to why she was staring or why she was blushing. In truth, Kanami doesn’t know herself why she feels the way she does about her friend, but she wouldn’t trade this feeling in for anything in the world.

“If you are still restless then why don’t you go for a walk,” Hiyori suggests annoyed with the constant movement of her friend, and in an instant, Kanami jumps up and goes to pick up Chidori. “Leave your sword here.” As soon as she hears those words, Kanami turns to face Hiyori with a look on her face you would expect to see from a child after you tell them they can’t have any candy or play with their toys. The unexpected sight causes an unfamiliar warmth to spread through the Heijou Toji’s body that Hiyori doesn’t understand. “The… the doctors said to take it easy, but if you're just walking, you should be fine.”

“Fine,” Kanami sighs, setting her Okatana down next to Hiyori’s before she moves towards the door.

Behind the Minoseki Toji Hiyori struggles to explain the pain that forms in her chest as she watches Kanami leave and contemplates calling the nurse as worries about that warmth from early and this pain being something serious. But in the end, Hiyori does nothing as when Kanami waves as she leaves the room and says she will be back later the pain lessens, and Hiyori’s eye widen as she remembers the book she is reading. In the latest chapter of the book Hiyori remembers that the character had the same feelings she just experienced and that those things she felt were caused by her lover for…

Hiyori blushes hard as she realises that the main character in her book felt the way she just felt when they were in love. The character in her book is a female detective who was partnered with a burnt-out detective who she hated at first but slowly came to love. Whenever they saw each other, the detective felt the same warmth Hiyori feels when she is near Kanamai. Whenever they parted, the detective felt a pain in her chest just like the Heijou Toji just experienced.

Hiyori drops her book but barely registers the thud of the book hitting the ground as her face becomes a bright shade of red. Right now Hiyori is glad she hasn’t been hooked up to a heartbeat monitor as she feels her heart pounding away in her chest and the last thing Hiyori needs is for a bunch of doctors and nurses busting into her room thinking she had a heart attack. Quickly burying her face in her pillow, Hiyori feels like screaming, but nothing comes out.

“How could this have happened?” Hiyori asks herself. “How could I have fallen for someone who is too dense to notice my feeling? Someone who will never feel the same way I feel about her?”

A loud bang of an explosion makes the Heijou Toji jump, and soon the room begins to shake. When Hiyori looks up, she sees pieces of plaster fall down from the ceiling above her, and when the young Toji looks out of the window, she almost feels like screaming as Hiyori sees a pair of black souls eyes staring at her from the other side of her hospital window. Hiyori’s training takes over, and before she knows it, the Heijou Toji has got out of her bed and grabbed her Okatana. The young Toji draws her weapon just in time as a pair of claws smashed through her window.

Kanami falls to her knees as the whole hospital shakes and a deafening howl echoes through the building. All around her Kanami can hear the screams of patients and staffs as the main lights go out leaving only the dim emergency lighting left to guild the young Toji. Then Kanami hears something that makes her heart freeze. The sound of smashing glass coming from the direction of her room where Kanami left the Heijou Toji all alone.

“Hiyori!” Kanami yells as she runs towards the door only to be tackled to the ground moments later.

Kanami soon finds her shoulders pinned to the ground and her eyes staring int the cold silver eyes of her assailant. Struggling to free herself Kanami can’t help but feel fear start to seep into her body as she feels the unnatural strength of her attacker holding her down and her theory as to why is soon answers as she sees her assailant’s eyes start to glow a dark orange.

“My master wishes us to bring you to him,” The lifeless voice of her attacker says as a second person soon appears.

Both of the Minoseki Toji’s attackers are elderly men with thin limbs and weak looking bodies, but with the Noro in their blood they are both stronger then they were in the prime of their lives. Kanami struggles harder as she sees the second man approaching her with a needle in his hands containing a clear liquid.

“Get off me!” Kanami yells as she tries to kick the man holding her down, but he doesn’t even flinch. “Let me go!”

“Stop struggling,” The second man growls at her as he grabs one of Kanami’s arms and lines up the needle.

“No!” Kanami closes her eyes as she feels the needle pierce her skin, and in an instant, all of the strength has left the young girls body.

Soon the Minoseki Toji’s body goes limp, and Kanami can’t move a muscle, but she can still hear and see everything around her once she opens her eyes. She tries to speak, but Kanami finds nothing leaves her mouth. Kanami can only watch as her two attackers stand up.

“Let’s take this one to the drop-off,” The man who pinned her down says. “The other team should have secured the other girl by now.”

“…” Kanami tries to yell out at them, but only air leaves her mouth. The Minoseki Tojo wants to scream at them to leave Hiyori alone, but she can’t make a sound. All Kanami can do is helplessly lay there as she is lifted up and carried away.

Special Sword Administration Bureau

The command room of the Special Sword Administration Bureau is awash with activity as voices call out and video screams show the ongoing battle. All-around the room everyone tries to understand what is happening as a peaceful night has been turned into a nightmare as several Aradama appeared out of nowhere to assault multiple locations across the city.

“Squad three and four have arrived at the town hall, and squad one and two will reach the central park in a few minutes,” A former Toji reports. “Squad five and six are requesting S-Equipment be deployed to the airport.”

“Deploy the equipment right away,” Yukari orders as she rubs her head trying to see some pattern to this attack.

“I have reinforcements from my school ready to be deployed,” Yukina says as yet another report comes in of a snake-like Aradama appearing in a residential area.

“Send them to deal with this latest Aradama,” Yukari says looking up at the screens. “This seems to be random, but something doesn’t feel right. Bring up a city map showing the locations of the attacks.” In an instant one of the many screens displays a map of the city with red dots showing the locations of the attacking Aradama. “Yukina has one of your helicopters fly over that area.”

“I dispatch one now,” Yukina quickly replies pulling out her phone.

“These attacks may only be decoys to hide their real attentions,” Yulari tells the room. “I want to hear any unusual activity, no matter how minor it sounds.”

All around the room, the stress of the night's events are starting to show as sweat forms on foreheads and nervous begin to show. More reports soon begin to be called out from police reports to things being posted on social media pages, and soon two locations begin to draw notice. The cities hospital witch has suffered a blackout and a report of a winged monster being sighted nearby and a street in the Gifu prefecture.

“Yukari!” Yukina suddenly shouts with her face white with fear. “The helicopter was just taken down by an Aradama when it was flying over the hospital.”

“That’s their main target,” Yukari says standing up. “Dispatch all available squads to the hospital right away. Maki, Suzuka we are going to the hospital. Akane you're in charge here until I get back.”

Kamakura City Hospital

Hiyori barely dives out of the way of the shattering glass as her window shatters under the bird's claws but instead of entering the room like Hiyori thought it would the Aradama flies off towards the sound of a distant helicopter. Quickly getting to her feet Hiyori only has a split second to act as her door is kicked open and an old lady enters her room followed promptly by one of the doctors. But before the Heijou Toji lowers her guard, she notices that both of the people in her room has the impure glow of Noro in their eyes.

“How about you do this the easy way and just give up, and we can reunite you with your friend,” The doctor says as he takes out a needle from his coat.

“What did you do with Kanami?” Hiyori asks with a glare in her eyes as her hands tighten their grip on her Okatana activating her Utsushi.

“Looks like it’s the hard way then,” The elderly woman smirks as she pulls out something from her purse that makes Hiyori’s eyes widen. The Heijou Toji can only dodge the projectile fired from the anti-Toji handgun the old lady pulled out thanks to her speed. “Just as fast as she said you would be.”

“We can still do this the easy way if you drop your sword and surrender,” The doctor tells her as he two draws out his own pistol. “You can beat us, our master is too powerful.”

Hiyori can barely dodge the next attack as both the doctor and elderly women work together, aiming with great accuracy where the Heijou Toji is moving to.

“We already have your friend,” The old lady tells her. “Just give up, and you can be with her again.”

Hiyori feels her blood boil hearing that Kanami is in the hands of people like the two before her.

“If you have hurt Kanami I will kill you,” Hiyori snarls at them readying herself to attack as the sound of an explosion rocks the building and the glow of a nearby fire lights up the room.

But before anyone can make a move their head turn towards the broken window, the sound of a struggling engine grabs everyone attention. Hiyori only as a split second to notice the helicopter hurtling towards her before she is thrown off of her feet when the aircraft crashes into the building.

Outside the building, several cars quickly pull up into the parking lot unable to move closer as a stream of fleeing people block their advance. The small group of Toji and officers from the Special Ritual Riot Squad that Yukari managed to assemble is forced to disembark and push their way through the crowd as chaos grips the city.

“I want a squad with me to go inside,” Yukari orders. “Everyone else is to secure the permintor and assist with evacuations.”

The first thing Hiyori notices when she opens her eyes is the heat in the room feels like it's been turned up all the way and there's a burning in her throat that forces the Heijou to cough. Then everything starts coming back to her as she remembers the helicopter, the people attacking her and that Kanami has been captured already.

“Kanami!”

Hiyori’s mind suddenly goes into overdrive as she remembers what her assailants told her about her friend. “We already have your friend,” The words repeat themselves over and over again her mind as she struggles to her feet. Hiyori finds herself struggling as her legs feel weak and her head foggy, but she manages to get to her feet and pick up her Okatana and Kanami’s before she leaves the room.

“I’m coming Kanami,” Hiyori thinks as she stumbles out of her room. “I’m coming.”

Gifu prefecture

On a small quiet street in a house that doesn’t look any different from any of the buildings around it, a real nightmare is unfolding within the building. A young man kneels on the floor, clinging the wound on his shoulder as blood starts to stain the once white shirt a crimson red. Meanwhile, beside the boy, his father's body falls to the ground as the monstrous dog that crushed his skull releases his lifeless body.

“You have your mother to blame for this,” A woman wearing a black dress tells him as she circles his kneeling form. “She and her friend have brought this on you.”

The boy’s eyes are quickly brought back to the dark figure in front of him as the human-shaped Aradama raises his sword. With one swift stroke of his blade, the bys head falls from his body. With a look of satisfaction, the Aradama shives his blade and looks to the women in black.

“Have my followers captured the other two?” The Aradama asks.

“We lost contact with them, but I have faith in them, and they will bring the girls to us,” The women black assures him causing a faint smile to form on the Aradama’s lips.

“My vengeance against those who banished me will be complete tonight,” The Aradama says. “And tomorrow we will resume our conquest of the world.”

“Master!” A follower bursts into the room. “Toji units are heading right for us.”

“Lets retreat for now,” The women in black suggests and the Aradama nods in agreement.