Chapter 7- Revelations Version 2.0

Chapter 7- Revelations Version 2.0 Part 2

Chapter 7- Revelations Version 2.0 Part 2


"Who are you?", a voice spoke out, but it wasn't the creature speaking, it was Vaugn. Yet his voice seemed to be coming from the very bulding itself as if it was the one speaking.

"Who am I? Isn't it obvious? I am Jinkara.", the creature replied, looking at its hand and flexing his claws.

"I see. So you're a ‘Jinkara'. Mind telling me just what the hell that is exactly.", Vaugn replied, his voice once again eminating from the building.

"I am a demon, ape. I was once held in a jewel that was possessed by a family of respected priests and priestesses, but eventually came to rest in the hands of an old man who had no more spiritual strength then a slug.", Jinkara laughed, his cold voice echoing madly around the empty rooftop.

As if someone had turned on a light bulb, memories flashed through Vaugn's mind like he was watching a movie: A withered old man was smiling insanely, and held tightly in his hand was a blood red jewel that pulsed with evil and glowed with anticipation as the man touched it to Vaugn's forehead.

"So I did know that old man!", Vaugn breathed, sounding as if he had just solved the world's greatest mystery, "The one that was murdered.",

"Murdered!", Jinkara laughed loudly as if the thought was a highly amusing joke, "He wasn't murdered! He was slaughtered. Slaughtered by my hands. A fitting end to a respulsive life!", he snarled, casting a loving glance down at his clawed hands and flexxing his fingers.

"So then what does that old man have to do with me?", Vaugn asked slowly, unsure why he had a sudden flash of memories that he had no recolection about up until now.

"The old man that you met was the decendant of the greatest priests and priestesses to ever walk this foresaken planet. They were my...guardians, as it were.", Jinkara purred happily, "Millenia ago, I was imprisoned in the jewel that the old man possessed and was passed down from one ancestor to another. It was believed that, as his family was full of such powerful holymen, they'd be able purify the evil that was constantly seaping from the jewel and protect the people of this world from my wrath. But as the years passed on, and the rightouse blood that flowed through their veins became weaker and more diluted with commoner blood, their spiritual power became weaker and weaker, and soon I was able to start controlling people with a mere whisp of my true power."

Jinkara paused to savour the thought of what he had just recalled. The sun, which had almost set behind the Tokyo horizon, was glowing like an enormous red ruby.

"As time passed, my evil had grown so powerful that even the priests could not fully purify it. At first, I controlled people of power. The Roman Empire felt my fury. I drove their emperors insane. They started to invade more and more countries, killing thousands upon thounsands of men, women and children. The mudering of Julious Ceaser by his councilors, and Nero himself who played the fiddle while his great city burned were my doing. My pleasure grew.

"When the Roman Empire fell, I was sealed away by the priests at the time, and remained dormant for many centuries. The gaurdians were no longer able to take care of my prison and purify it like they were tasked to, so they took the cowards way out and disposed of me. How long I was sealed away, I don't know, but I had time to brood and seathe. My vengence would be absolute when I was unlocked. When I was unlocked, I couldn't believe my good fortune, I was found by a decendent of my first guardians. My vengence would know no limits.

"Twice I plunged the world into global wars that would see to the deaths of over a hundred million people. The world was stained with blood, anger, hatred and pain. Families were shattered, bodies mutilated, lives destroyed. I never dreamed that with a simple whisper in the back of the mind of a single human that I could destroy so much. My mouth watered with pleasure, and yet the descendant of the once powerful guardians continued to cherish me like I was their God, oblivious to the signs that were all around them."

Like the dramatic conclusion to an amazing movie, the sun completely set at the end of Jinkara's story and the city all around him came to life. It was truly beautiful how one by one, each and every skyscraper lit up in sequence causing the city glow a variety whites, blues, pinks, reds and oranges while the sky glowed a magnificent dark blue that hovered high above the ground. Far on the street below, ambulances roared by in a line of flashing lights and wailing sirens, while in the distance, helicopters zig-zagged back and forth, scanning the streets and buildings with the powerful search-lights, a clear sign that the city police had not given up on finding the monster calling itself Jinkara.

"But what does any of this have to do with me?", Vaugn asked, unsure of what this meant to him, if anything.

"You see, the old man who you met was the current gaurdian of the stone, the oldest in his family who was destined to inherit my prison for guarding. His brother was the origanul barer of my jewel, but as you may or may not remember, that pathetic mortal killed himself. His brother was such a fool and so easily manipulated. I slowly drove him mad, whispers at first in the back of his mind that he would casually ignore until they grew louder and louder, until his entire life was consumed by the evil voices that controlled his mind. They were trully evil voices at that, telling him to kill his wife and family and feast on their corpses, which he did in hopes of quelling the voices in his head. But with no reliefe to be had from my vicious whisperings, he turned to suicide to end the voices. On a night very much like this, he tore his neck in half with a knife while I watched. How easy the weak are to control and bend to your whims.", Jinkara snarled, his lips twitching into an evil smile, "With his brother dead, there was no guardian for me, so I was passed onto the next oldest in the once powerful family. Yes, I was passed on to the old man, and even though I was startled to find out just how different he was then his weak brother, I knew that I would one day have my vengence. This man, he was strong. He was able to fight off my powers, and thus, stayed sane despite my best efforts.

"For years I tried to control him like I had controlled his brother, and thus end my imprisonment by his god foresaken family. I came close to achieving my desire, oh yes, there were days when I thought I could finally wrap myself around his heart and bend him to my will, but yet he managed to fight meoff at the last second, and thus, my victory and vengence were stripped of me. When the day came when he married and had children, I knew that if I wouldn't beable to bend him to my will, I would take my vengence on his wife and children and destroy them utterly. I crippled two of his children from birth, their bodies mere shells of what they could have been and utterly useless to them through their short, pathetic lives. I killed his wife the first chance I had. The sickness I struck her with withered her before the old mans very eyes, ravaging her body and turning it into a mere lump of flesh that was bed riden for the rest of her painful life. Pity to, for a human she was rather pretty. I infected two of his nine grandchildren with the same disease that killed their grand-mother, their lives ended at the tender age of five, unable to live full, happy lives. The suffering I spread was great. The sadness and sorrow was absolute. I was pleased.", Jinkara growled, an evil joy flowing through his body like an endorphic drug.

"Your wrath is unmerciful. Just like a demon's should be.", Vaugn said, acknowledging Jinkara for what he was, "But that doesn't explain why you're here and now."

"I am here because of a prophecy that was made of you and I over two thousand years ago. Unfortunately, I myself don't know of the full details of the man uncovering the prophecie, but yet he somehow found of the foretelling of my rebirth. When I was imprisoned, Lucifor made a pact with the angel Fate that I would be reborn onto this plain when the Mark of Angels appeared on a human with a soul pure enough to contain me. The prophecy predicted a human that was of such pruity that I would be unable to free myself of their soul and would stay imprisoned as part of the vessel for all of time, and when he died, I would be purified and sent to heaven with his soul. Sent to live with the angels, a common sprit, the end of the Lord of Demons. Wishful thinking on their part, but even the purest can be infected and tainted by sin." Jinkara laughed, his laugh echoing around and chilling the air of the rooftop with its shear evilness.

"So is that why I'm here? Because some sort of fortune teller made a prediction about me before I was even born? And now we're bonded at the soul to eachother?", Vaugn said incredulously.

"Bonded at the soul!", Jinkara chuckled, shaking his head in disbeliefe, "I haven't bonded with your soul. We'd be dead if I did that. For you see, demons can't bond with people's souls, like many of you apes believe. No. I'm merely sharing it with you. Renting it if you will. I share your body and soul so as to give me physical form. You may remember the dream you had a while ago.", Jinkara said, slowly stepping onto the ledge of the building and looking down over the street like an eagle.

"The one with you destorying my body, yes...So with you attached to my soul, is the family now safe from your wrath? The gauradians family?", Vaugn asked, trying to understand what the difference between being attached at the soul and sharing a soul meant.

"Yes, they are safe now. I was unable to kill as many as I would have liked to, but I was atleast able to take revenge on some the ancestors of the ones who kept me imprisoned. The grandchildren who are still alive will live normals lives from now on. But the old man is dead, and his blood sealed your fate.", Jinkara purred, running a clawed hand through Vaugn's hair.

"What do you mean?", asked Vaugn, and despite not really understanding what was going on, unable to hide the slight note of curiosity

"You see, the guardians were the purest of the pure for their time. When Satan himself gave the stone to man, one of the origanul barers of the stone fed me a drop of his blood. That was how he sealed me to his family and to this plane of exsistent. It gave me exsistance on this plane, but for only aslong as I was imprisoned in my jewel. When my jewel was placed upon your forehead, I shared your soul, but it wasn't something that would have lasted. For me to be truly reborn and able to share your body and soul, I had to feed once again on the blood of the guardians. As the old man had the blood of his ancestors coursing through his veins, he was able to bond me permanently to this plane of reality like his ancestor had done thousands of years before. His blood and your soul were all that I needed to be reborn.", Jinkara replied casually, slowly and gracefully walking back and forth on the ledge of the building like a tightrope walker.

"So does this explain all the strange happenings that I've had to unfortunate pleasure of going through?", Vaugn asked, hoping he had finally found answers to the bizarre happenings that had filled his life as of lately.

"Yes it does. I was merely testing your body. I had no idea a human could go three days straight without sleep and not die. But because of me, there is no turning back now. You and me are one now. And I'm the one in control.", Jinkara said with a growl and an evil chuckle.

"So you think, Jinkara, so you think. But tell me, what makes a demon? ‘Cause from the looks of it, you're just some sort of poltergiest.", Vaugn said casually.

"Poltergiest? You insult me!", Jinkara roared as his body shook with laughter "But a demon, as you were wondering, is the embodyment of evil. Pure evil, malice, wrath and raw hatred. When a human dies with a heart full of anger and hatred, or if a soul is ripped from it's body before it's time, a demon is born. The human soul, which is purity embodied, cannot bear to hold anger and hatred, so those feelings are expelled from it. But as the soul needs a body to keep itself alive, it forms and molds those feelings into the demonic body in which the soul is protected and housed. The demon keeps the soul alive until it can be purified, at which point it can rest in peace.", Jinkara elaborated, now hopping lightly from one leg to another as he skipped the length of the roof.

"So that means that you were once human, doesn't it?", asked Vaugn slyly

At Vaugn's words, Jinkara's foot slipped from under him and he toppled over the edge of the building. With a powerful tug and the feeling of his organs being shifted around inside him, gravities powerful grasp wrapped around Jinkara and pulled him forcefully down to earh. But before Jinkara could so much as fall a single foot, a clawed hand shot out faster then lightning and sunk into the hard stone face of the building. Seething and panting out of rage, Jinkara slowly dragged himself up from the side of the building, clawing and tearing at the building wall, and back onto the rooftop.

"How dare you talk about something like that!", Jinkara roared, and for the first time since learning who this monster was, Vaugn could tell he was angry.

"What's wrong? Don't like talking about your human side?", Vaugn goaded Jinkara, trying to taunt him the best he possibly could given the unusual situation

Jinkara's inside burned with anger. His eyes blazed like out of control fires and his body shook with surpressed rage. It was strange that a demon that could talk about killing countless humans as easily as talking about the weather would be so enraged by simply talking about once being human.

"Yes, I was once human. I died a death before my time.", Jinkara snarled, each word shaking with white-hot rage, "I lived in a small village when I was a child. When I was only fourteen, I was accused by my father of beating my sister. The true culprit was the boy who lived in the hut next to ours. He beat my sister when she refused to give in to his perverted desire as he tried to force himself on her. I was accused of beating her, as I was the only one found around her when the adults returned home from hunting. In my village, attacking another villager was a crime that was punished with death. When I died, I died with hatred and anger in my heart for this injustice. I swore that one day I would return to this plain of exsistance and take revenge on human kind for the injustice I suffered.", Jinkara finished, every word seathing with anger,

"And I would have succecced to had I not been imprisoned for two thousand years in the damned jewel.", Jinkara added in a snarl full of anger, more to himself then to Vaugn.

"Well isn't that nice? I'm starting to learn something about my new roomy...or should I say souly? I don't know. I've never had someone share my soul before.", Vaugn said conversationally, enjoying the fact that it was enraging the demon now possesing his body.

In the distance, a low rumbling drum like beat echoed across the night sky, steadily growing louder and louder with each passing second. Slowly turning, Jinkara saw that a bright white ball of light was racing towards him at top speed. Confused for a moment as to what it was, Jinkara's brain seemed to kick him slightly as he realized it was one of the helicopters that had been flying above him earlier that night.

On the street below, sirens screamed into earshot with red, blazing lights that streaked across the walls of the surrounding skyscrapers, and moments later, several cars screeched to a halt outside the building that Jinkara was standing on. Dozens upon dozens of police officers and armoured police officers dashed out of their cars like soldiers invading a beach from their boats and formed an enormous half circle on the street below, their guns pointing and aiming skywards, holding Jinkara firmly in their sights the best they could from the great distance seperating them. A group of burly police officers were wheeling out what appeared to be two large spot lights out of the back of a large police truck, and after a moment of running cables and wires, the lights burst to life, casting their morning sun bright light beams upwards into the night sky and focusing perfectly on Jinkara as he stood on the ledge of the building.

The thundering rumble of the helicopter had reached deafening levels, and castinga quick glance over his shoulder, Jinkara saw that the helicopter that had been speeding towards him moments before was now hovering above him in the night sky, it's blazing spotlight shining down upon him like the lights from the street below.

Though the roar of helicopter engine was deafening, and the typhoon force winds pounding against his ears, that didn't stop the voice of an angry sounding police officer from booming across the great distance and thundering in his ears.

"Who ever you are, we have you surrounded! Your spree of destruction has come to an end. Our Special Forces teams are coming to arrest you as we speak!", the voice rang out, and sure enough, Jinkara saw several men running into the building from the street below, "If you value your life, stay where you are, and don't move.", the voice roared, shaking Jinkara's bones slightly from the deafening volume.

Just as before when Jinkara had managed to destroy an entire semi-trailer with a wave of his hand, an enormous crowd was gathering around the base of the building, their faces all turned upwards in shock and awe. Even from up on the ledge of the skyscraper, Jinkara could see that the crowd was atleast twenty people deep, all of them shoving and pushing one another as they stood shoulder to shoulder, forming an enormous half circle around the base of the building.

Amongst the hurridly assembling and gathering crowd of curious spectators, Imari, Nikkai, Shentin, Asuke and Kihari were fighting their way to the front of the crowd where a police barricade had been set up once again. Squinting through the darkness and blazing lights, the five friends could see the creature that used to be their friend Vaugn standing on the ledge of forty-five story tall building. The creature seemed to be confused as it's head kept swivelling around, glancing down on the street below to the helicopter hovering above it.

"So let me get this straight.", Asuke said breathlessly, squinting at the tiny figure on the building, "That thing is Vaugn, but isn't Vaugn?"

"That's right. That's Vaugn's body, but that thing, that monster, has taken over and it's doing whatever it feels like doing. It's completely independent of Vaugn and does whatever it feels like. Vaugn was saying something was taking over back in the alleyway, and that's what he eventually became.", Nikkai replied, trying his best to explain the strange happenings they had scene.

"So if that's not Vaugn then, what's going to happen when they catch that thing?", asked Imari uncertainly, wringing her hands in worry as she squinted up at the creature on the bulding ledge.

"When they find out it's not human, they'll probably take it away and cut it up for scientific reasearch to see what makes it tick. Or else anything that get's to close it will end up being torn to shreds, which would most likely be a bad thing for Vaugn.", Shentin said in a very serious, a small chill running through the five friends at the thought of what might happen.

"I doubt it'll go down that easy though. From what we've seen, this thing looks like it'll need more then a few guys with guns to bring it down.", Nikkai said seriously, crossing his arms and continuing to watch the creature from the ground, secretly praying to the heavens to not let anything happen to Vaugn even if he wasn't the one in control.

On the roof, uncaring as to what was unfolding around him, Jinkara was now questioning Vaugn about all the strange things he had seen since taking over Vaugn's body.

"That tall pole in the center of this village, what is it?", Jinkara asked, tranfixxed by the enormous figure that was the Kojuni Office Building.

"That's the Kojuni Office Building. It's the tallest building in Japan.", Vaugn replied in a slightly bored voice.

"The perfect place to announce my dominance of this world.", Jinkara purred to himself, "And those people down there, beside those flashing boxes, what are they?", Jinkara asked curiously, squating down and assuming the gargoyle like squatting position on the ledge as he studied the people below him.

"Those are policemen. They're the ones who enforce the laws and keep the city safe. They make sure that things like you don't destroy the city. And those boxes are cars. It's what we humans use to get around from one place to another.", Vaugn replied, a little surprised that a demon who appearntly was imprisoned in this world for so long wouldn't know what policemen or cars were.

"And the thing behind me? That loud bird that's on fire?", Jinkara asked again in a curious voice., gesturing behind him with a clawed finger at the hovering helicopter.

"It's called a helicopter. It's what humans use to fly. And it's not on fire; it's called a spotlight. It's used to find things on the ground when you're flying at night.", Vaugn replied simply.

"I see. Well, that was a nice break, but this ‘helicopter' is starting to annoy me.", Jinkara said casually, standing up and stretching his arms.

Casting the crowd below him one last time, Jinkara slowly turned on the ledge and turned his face skywards towards the helicopter. The helicopter had clear plastic floors beneath the pilots' feet, and through it, Jinkara could see the pilots jump slightly from shock and cast a nervous look at one another, as if they were scared of what was going to happen. Smiling broadly up at the pilots, Jinkara bent low, and with a powerful push of his legs, launched himself skyward like a missile, his arms pinned at his side and his face alive with an insane smile.

With a shock of terror, the pilots pulled on the controls of their helicopter as hard as they could, and with a deafening roar of propellers cutting through the cold air, reared it backwards as fast as they could, yet it was to slow compared to Jinkara's unnatural strength

In a blur of blonde hair and red eyes, Jinkara rocketed into the air flying head first at the helicopter, covering the distance in a matter of nano-seconds. Pulling his clawed hand from his side, Jinkara drew it back as far as he could, and with one last menacing smile at the terrified pilots -who were strainging against their controls to try and avoid him- threw all the power he could behind the his clawed hand.

In a flash of steely claws, Jinkara's claws tore into the metal skin of the helicopter, ripping it open like it was made of human flesh, tearing through inch after inch of steel and metal like it was nothing. A small spark caught Jinkara's eye as his claws tore through the middle of the helicopter, but this was over shadowed as a hearbeat later, the air was shattered by a deafening explosion, and Jinkara was engulfed enitrely by a brilliant orange, scorcthingly hot fire ball.

"Oh my god!", Imari shouted, clapping her hands over her mouth as she and many others watched the terrifying scene unfolding above them.

The darkness of the night sky was obliterated as the side of the helicopter high above them exploded in a brilliant orange fireball that engulfed the entire side of the helicopter and threw it sideways from the sheer force. A second later, another bone jarring explosion ripped through the sky as the tail of the helicopoter exploded and shot skyward in terrifying yet beautiful flaming spiral while it's propellers rocketed out in every direction in magnificent flaming spears. With a deafening roar, the somewhat silence of the street below was shattered with a deafening boom that echoed maddly around the street and ratteled everything from the cars on the street to the lights in the light stands.

With it's tail gone and rotors missing, the helicopter soon found itself bound by gravity as it plumetted nose first towards the roof of the skyscraper, streaking through the sky like a flaming meteorite. In the cockpit, the pilots braced themselves against anything they could for dear life as the rooftop loomed closer and closer. In a flaming blur that streaked across the street below, the helicopter crashed into the barren rooftop, it's nose slicing into the concrete top as it slid and skidded the entire length of the in a cloud of smoke, flames and obliterated concrete, crashing into the ledge with a deafening crunch and coming to a perfect stop.

"Well that was easy then I thought it would have been.", Jinkara commented casually as he fell gracefully from the sky and landed lightly on his rooftop perch, the sleeves of Vaugn's shirt smoking slightly being the only sign that he had been anywhere near the night shattering explosion that surely must have been scene across the city.

Turning his attention to the flaming helicopter across the street from him, a towering inferno inprinted against the towering Kojuni Office Building, Jinkara could easily watch as the two pilots crawled and stumbled their way out of their fallen craft only to collpase in a heap several feet later, undoubtedly unconscious from their terrifyng ordeal.

"Pathetic.", Jinkara said with a slight snarl and spit of disgust, strolled across the roof to the ledge he had been comfortably resting on and stepped up on it for all below him to see.

"The humans of this world will be easily destroyed if this is the best they have to offer!", Jinkara roared to the crowd below, gesturing to the police officers in the center of the police barricade, "You humans will make excellent fodder and food for the armies of Hell when I reclaim my rightful place as the Demon Lord!"

Jinkara's evil voice left a ringing echo the washed over the crowd below him, all whispers of curiosity drowned out at once with Jinkara's proclamation. Below, Jinkara could easily see as dozens of faces blanched and turned as white as fresh snow, while others whispered hurriedly to their neighbour, as if wondering what exactly he had meant. Satisfied that he had left a large enough impression on the crowd, Jinkara bent low, and with a lazy push of his legs, rocketed into ther air in a wide lazy arc, sailed across the street below and over the building opposite, disappearing completely from sight to the people below.

"Quick, follow him!", a police officer in the middle of the baricade bellowed to his fellow officers.

"W-what exactly did that thing mean?", Imari shakily asked her friends as the officers in the police barricade dashed maddly to the closest police vehicle and jumped in.

"I dunno, but given what it's done so far, I wouldn't have trouble believing it was serious!", Nikkai shouted, his voice almost completely drowned out by the sirens that screamed to life in the middle of the police barricade.

"So do we follow it then if that thing is serious?", Kihari asked uncertainly as the police vehicles screeched away in a puff of grey tire smoke, speeding down the street at full throttle break neck speed.

"Of course we do. We've come this far and I'm not going to give up now.", Nikkai said decisevly, and running his fingers through his red-streaked hair, began pushing his way through the crowd of shocked and confused spectators in an attempt to follow the monster that had high-jacked his friend's body.

With the proclamation of the monsterous creature still ringing strong in their ears, the five friends pushed their bodies as hard as they could in an attempt to keep up with it so as not to lose it again. Nikkai, who had been injured in the powerful downtown blast a quarter of an hour earlier, lead the pack of friends, pushing his legs has hard as he could, despite the constant spasms of pain that would jolt through his body with every second or so step. None of the pain mattered to Nikkai though, as with each shot of pain, he and the others drew closer and closer to regaining their friend from the grips of his own personal Hell.

Panting and sweating profusely, the five friends dashed maddly through the streets of Tokyo in hot pursuit of Jinkara. Together the friends would dash wildly out into traffic with reckless disregard, hurdling through row upon rows of cars that missed them by mere inches, or else sliding over the hoods of cars that came to screeching halts a second to late. Countless citizens were forced to jump and leap out of the way as Nikkai and Shentin plowed through the crowd head first at break neck speed, the three girls apologising to everyone in passing as they sprinted hard to keep up with their seemingly possessed friends.

Occasionally the friends would catch a fleeting glimpse as Jinkara would bound playfully across the street ahead of them, disappearing onto the rooftops of the buildings surrounding them and out of sight. With every emergance and vanishing of Jinkara, the desire with the friends to retreive Vaugn from it's evil clutches was strengthened one hundred fold.

***

The excitement Jinkara was feeling was palpable in his fanged mouth, the way it watered and dripped from his vicious fangs. His heart was racing, and with the powerful rush of blood to his head, his sences were heightened to supernatural levels; the way he could smell a womans perfume from the roof of a sixty-seven story tall building; the way he could read the magazine headlines from his skyscraping vantage point; how he could hear a man whispering into the ear of his girlfriend. The rush of excitement was almost to much for him to stand.

After what only felt like a matter of seconds of leaping from building top to building tops as he left the police officers behind in his wake of destruction, Jinkara kicked off powerfully from the ledge of a dark office building, and with a graceful cannonball-like sommersault, flew over three buildings in a single bound and landed gracefully in the middle of a barren roof.

The Kojuni Office Building towered high above the skyscraper Jinkara had landed on. Soaring one hundred and fifty stories upwards, the building cast an enormous night shadow all around it that consumed several square blocks and plunged them into an even greater darkness. The building was truly impressive from the way the building grew from being square at the base, melding upwards into a triangle, and further melding and reshaping itself to a perfect circle at the top.

Like it was a magnificent palace, the Kojuni Office Building was surrounded by an enormous sixlane highway that encirlced the entire office building like a moat, decorated with a ring of blossoming cherry trees and wheeping willows that swayed in a gentle breeze that blew over them and the lawn of emerald green grass. The building stood atop a magnificent pedestal that glowed white in the evening shade and stretched to the very edges of the street with long, gently rising steps of pure white marble, single rows of trees spaced around the pedestal that rose from the street to the top of the pedestal adding a definite air of beauty to an already beautiful building. The street was alive with activity as kioskes and booths were seeling toys, food, trinkettes, magazines and a wide variety of other things to the countless people crowding the sidewalk, while countless motorists slowly cruised the enormous ring road around the office building, the cabins alive with laughter and happily talking people.

Everything in Tokyo seemed to cumilate at the Kojuni Office Building, as dozens of streets ended at the sixlane surrounding road. It was like the Kojuni Office Building was the heart of the city, and the countless streets it's veins and arteries.

"Yes. This will be the the perfect spot to announce my dominance of this world and all those who call it home.", Jinkara snarled, striding across the rooftop and stepping onto the ledge, admiring every inch of the Kojuni Office Building.

A wail of sirens and screeching brakes shattered Jinkara's mesmerization as far down on the street below, dozens upon dozens of police cars and vehicles screeched to a halt, and in a flood of humanity, countless police officers flooded from each and every vehicle.

The once peaceful scene blow Jinkara was instantly shattered as orders and commands were shouted from police officer to police officer. Several police officers were busy stopping traffic, blowing whistles loudly as they darted into traffic, waving frantically to stop the cars as quickly as possible, angry and surprised motorists blaring their horns in annoyance. An army of police officers were busy trying to erect a police barricade, setting up large orange barriers with flashing lights while still other police officers were roughly pushing back and throwing aside many confused and protesting nightgoers and shop owners as they tried to clear the surrounding street of Kojuni.

Smiling broadly to himself at the scene unfolding below him, Jinkara turned his attention back to the Kojuni Office Building infront of him, and bending low, pushed lightly off the ledge of the building and soared silently through the air.

A scream of shock and surprise erupted from the street as the crowd below watched Jinkara soar over their heads like a missile heading straight to the wall of the Kojuni Office Each and every face followed Jinkara like spot lights, each and every face slack jawed and wide eyed. With several roars of fury, the police were not about to let Jinkara escape for a third time that night, and immediately began barking orders at one another.

Before any of the police officers could make good on their orders however, Jinkara threw his clawed hands out infront of him and likes spears sinking into human flesh, Jinkara's clawed fingers sunk deeply into the stone face of the Kojuni Office Building, and swinging his legs around below him, pierced his clawed toes into the wall aswell. Casting a one last glance on to the street below him at the upturned faces and scurrying police officers, Jinkara pushed himself upwards, clawing and tearing at the building walls.

"Now what do we do?", Imari asked the group as they watched Jinkara climb the building like the many other shocked and gawking Tokyo citizens. They had managed to catch up to Jinkara just as the police were setting up their barricade and clearing the street around the base of the Kojuni Office Building.

"We gotta get to the top of the tower.", Asuke replied quickly, clearly thinking as quickly as she could.

"But how exactly do we do that?",Kihari asked desperately, wringing her hands together, "The building's completely surrounded right now."

"If only we could past the police I'd beable to get to the top no problem.", Asuke muttered, more to herself then anything, and with a knod to herself, she bgan scanning the enormous police barricade infront of her, clearly looking for any sign of weakness.

Realizing that doing something was better then nothing, the others joined Asuke scanning for the police barricade the best they could for any sign of weakness. The police, possibly learning from their last two encounters with Jinkara had brought out every police officer possible. There must have been atleast two hundred police officers present, all of them standing guard around the barricade they had erected, keeping an eye on every single gawking spectator possible or else setting up equipment for what surely would be a long nights stand-off the monster that was slowly escaping skwyards along the wall of Kojuni. The police officers were like stone sentinals, their eyes scanning the crowd for any sign that someone would try and jump the barricade. They had formed an unpassable wall of human bodies that was unbreakable as the greatest bank vaults.

No matter where she looked, Asuke saw nothing but jostling citizens and stoney police officers. No matter where she looked, every space was taken by a human body that seemed rooted to the ground beneathe it, unable and unwilling to move for fear of losing their perfect spot to watch the action unfolding. No matter where she looked, Asuke saw nothing but an endless wall of humantiy blocking her and her friends from resucing Vaugn.

With realization setting in that their luck may have finally ran out, Asuke's heart sank. She had expected that like before, some miracle would come to their rescue and allow them to continue onwards to their ultimate goal of finding Vaugn, but saddly, it appeared that was not the case this time. The others appeared to have come to the same, sad realization as a definite ripple of depression washed over the the five friends, their faces falling and eyes full of sorrow.

Shentin's head tilted backwards and he stared at the sky, his eyes transfixxed on the darkness above him, his face telling Asuke that he was trying his hardest to keep his emotion in check. Imari and Kihari were leaning against one another for support, looking as if their families had just died and they were the soul suvivors left to bury them. Nikkai, who probably had had the most determination to find and rescue Vaugn, ran his fingers through his hair, and with a frusterated sigh, turned his face away from his friends in an attempt to hide his frustration which seemed to be almost overwhelming for him.

Without having to speak, the five friends knew that their racwe was over. Next time they saw Vaugn, the chances are he would be dead, and the five of them powerless to stop it.

"Hey pigs! Step off! I ain't leaving and you can't make me!", a voice roared across the wall of humanity, echoing wildly off the building walls.

Casting a glance over her shoulder, Asuke's heart was instantly a hundred lighter as the sight she saw must have been a gift from above.

Far off to Asuke's right, four young men dressed in fine suits were fighting tooth and nail with police officers as they were being forcefully dragged from their vehicle. The police officers, merely trying to assure everyone's safety, were trying to escort them from their car, but to great resistance as the men pushed and shook to the officers off, trying to stay with their car.

"I said I ain't leaving!", a man with red hair and a black suit yelled, and before any officer could stop or restrain him, he drew back his fist and threw it forward with all his might, smashing firmly into the jaw of the closest police officer.

With a roar of fury, dozens of police officers from the barricade jumped into the fray, grappling and throwing the men to the ground as they faught desperately with the surrounding police officers. The mass of anger and fury was a storm of fists and feet, several police officers bleeding terribly from broken noses and broken teeth that were the results of lightning fast feet and fists. Cheers from the crowd echoed wildly around the street as spectators cheered on the fighting men, who admittedly were in the middle of a losing battle as more and more police officers joined the fray. Before the men could so much as regroup or even run from the police, they ahd been wrestled to the ground and being fitted with shining silver handcuffs.

"Perfect!", Asuke breathed to herself, "Come on! This way guys!", she said excitedly, and without another word to her friends, pushed herself forward and dashed along the back of the crowd at top speed.

Quizzical looks replaced the down-troddened expressions on the friends faces, yet feeling that doing something was better then doing nothing, the friends urged themselves forward as they dashed to keep up with Asuke.

Asuke's heart raced with excitement as she dashed along the outer edge of the gawking group. Just when it looked like all was lost, when their only hope of finding Vaugn and resucing him was lost, the Gods of luck and fortune smiled down upon them, giving them the perfect opprotunity to rescue their friend once and for all.

Skidding to a halt on the sidewalk, Asuke was panting excitedly as far infront of her, the large group of police officers were busy escorting the rebelling Tokyo nightgoers away from the scene, three or four officers to a man who continued to fight as hard as they could to break free. Many of the gawking crowd spectators were booing loudly and throwing pieces of garbages at the officers, who were hurrying the four men away as fast as they could, leaving the barricade empty and unprotected.

"Asuke, what are you doing?", Nikkai panted, as he and the others caught up with Asuke, all of them giving Asuke a very confused and concerned look.

"Follow me and stick close! I'm gonna get us to the top of that tower!", Asuke said with an evil smile to her friends, and without elaborating any further, she slowly began twisting and weaving her way through the gawking crowd of booing and catcalling crowd.

Following Asuke's lead one by one, the friends began following slowly in her wake. It was rather difficult for Nikkai and Shentin -easy for Imari and Kihari- to weave and side-step their way through the crowd, as they were rather broad in the shoulder. Nikkai thought while weaving through the crowd appeared to be an easy task, it was in reality like trying to walk through a minefield. Every second, a body or body part, rather shoulder, foot, arm or whole body would jut out into their path, and they be forced to side-step the part so as not to gain any unwanted attention. One flase step on Shentin or Nikkai's part, and the only hope they had of reaching Vaugn in time would be lost forever.

After a minute of carefully stepping past gawking spectator after gawking spectator, Shentin and Nikkai emerged at the front of the crowd, and the sea of abandoned and idling cars that were now clogging the wide sixlane street running around the permimeter of the Kojuni Office Building. The crowd was still mumbling angrily and all eyes were turned towards the group of police officers that were now busy forcing the men into the backs of four squad cars.

"Where are the girls?", Nikkai hissed to Shentin as they watched the men being arrested like the rest of the crowd but in reality discretely searching the area around them for any sign of the girls.

"Psst! Nikkai, Shentin, over here!"

A small whisper like misquito wings buzzed in Nikkai and Shentin's ears, sending a small chill down their spine. Acting like they had heard nothing, yet their eyes darting around them maddly, Shentin and Nikkai searched desperately for the person who ahd called their names.

After a moment of searching, Nikkai felt a small poke in his ribs, and looking beside him, saw Shentin gesturing infront of him with his eyes, trying to be as secretive as possible. Following Shentins eyes, Nikkai saw that Kihari, Imari and Asuke were all waving to them from under one of the abandoned and idling cars, telling them clearly to sneak under the barricade and join them before anyone noticed.

Leaning over and pretending to tie his shoe lace while Shentin bent over to pick up his wallet he purposely dropped, the two boys cast a cautionary glance around them to make sure no one was watching them and with a knod to one another -knowing quite well what would happen if they were caught- the two friends crawled hurriedly under the police barricade and pushed themselves on all forwards in an awkward sprint, keeping an eye on the police officers around them as they dashed in between cars and under vans and trucks.

"Geez guys, what took you so long?", Imari asked with a smile as she, Asuke and Kihari shimmied from under the car they had been hiding and joining the two boys who dove and rolled behind the car for shelter.

"Okay, so now that we're here, now what do we do?", Shentin asked, casting a glance around the back bumper of the car they were hiding behind to make sure they weren't scene.

"We get to the top of the tower.", Asuke replied simply, casually dusting the front of her shirt of dust and dirt.

"Sounds reasonable. And how do we do that?", Nikkai asked sceptically, thinking it'd be easier to break into the presidential palace then the Kojuni Office Building given the circumstances.

"Elevator.", Kihari replied simply, smiling at the boys broadly.

For a moment, Shentin and Nikkai stared at the three girls in slight surprise. Even with police guarding the entire building, they were talking about breaking into the Kojuni Office Building as casually as if they were planning on ordering out for dinner. Yet the girls seemed sure of themselves, and despite all of them knowing that if they got caught, they would probably end up like the four men who made this all possible, they all seemed sure it'd work.

"Alright. Alright, lead the way if you're sure it'll work.", Nikkai said with sumitting shrug, Shentin knodding in agreeance.

"Oh, we know it'll work.", Imari said as she crawled to her feet, preparing herself for their stealthy breaching of the Kojuni Office Building

"And why is that?", Nikkai asked sceptically, thinking to himself of all the possible things that could go wrong with their plan

"Because you have me.", Asuke replied simply, smiling at Nikkai and crawling to her feet, prerapring herself for a mad dash to the front doors, "Come on, we gotta hurry!"

Nikkai had to admit that even though he had known the girls for years, he had never been more impressed with them then he was now. The girls must have really thought this plan out, Nikkai thought to himself as he watched them crawl under cars like soldiers under barbed wire, dove through open vehicle doors left by their owners in their haste to oblige the police officers, or else managing a quick sprint as they weaved and dash from car to car, keeping a constant eye on the police officers around them.

There must have been a powerful being smiling down upon the five friends, Nikkai thought to himself, as without so much as a whisper from the crowd, the five friends were swiftly climbing the steps outside the Kojuni Office Building. As stealthily as acient assassins, the five friends dashed swiftly and silently along the shadowed bathed bases of the rows of tree rising above the steps leading to the front doors of the Kojuni Office Building.

With one last look behind them, Asuke gazed over the gawking crowd behind them with eagle like eyes, and satisified that no one had spotted them, least of all the law officers, she knodded to her friends, and they silently dashed the remaining few steps to the top of the pedestal and the large set of double doors waiting for them.

Pushing open the doors revealed a spacious lobby with black granite floor tiles and gold grout filling the spaces. There were two fountains in the lobby, with water gently tinkling into the base of each, a desk in the center of the room with a sign that read "Receptionist", several padded benchs for people to sit on, and several live trees that added a comforting atmosphere to the room.

No one seemed to have noticed that five teenagers had snuck past an enitre army of watchful police officers and gawking spectators alike, sneaking silently into the lobby of the tallest building in Japan. Breathing a sigh of relief, Asuke gazed around the lobby, and spotting the silver elevator doors at the end of the lobby, silently dashed across the lobby, Asuke mashing the ‘up' button as hard as she could.

"How high does this elevator go?", Nikkai asked Asuke, as they watched the digital counter show what floor the elevator was at. In the short time that he had been moving, Nikkai suddenly found himself looking at Asuke with a new found respect for her daringness.

"It goes to the one hundred and thirtieth floor, and you need an access code to get any further then that though.", Asuke replied in a matter of fact tone.

"Okay, but do you know the code?", asked Shentin as the elevator flashed that it reached the twentieth floor.

"You bet. Dad braught me here for parent-child work day, and he took me to the 142nd floor because he had to meet with someone. I just hope that they haven't changed the codes since then.", Asuke said as the elevator chimed lightly,and the doors slid silently opened.

Together, the friends hurried into the mirror-walled elevator car and Imari pounded the one hundred and thirtieth floor button as hard as she could. The doors glided silently closed, and with a gentle shove downwards which seemed to squash their organ into their feet, they started to ascend the immensely tall building, bringing them closer to the end of their night long ordeal with each passing second.

***

Despite the sheer size of the building, and the terrifying strong winds that were blowing over and around it, Jinkara had managed to climb each and everyone of the Kojuni Office Buildings one hundred and fifty stories in a matter of minutes.

Despite the immpressiveness of the building, the roof was a slight let down. The roof, like the others of the Tokyo skyline, was barren and empty, except for a stair well that lead to the lower floors of the building and a helicopter pad complete with helicopter in the center of the roof.

Crawling over the edge of the roof, Jinkara slowly climbed to his feet. Looking over his shoulder to the ground below, Jinkara could clearly see the humans below fighting and warring with eachother like apes fighting for land. Smiling to himself, Jinkara shrugged to himself and slowly walked across the roof and strode over to the helicopter. Gently, Jinkara laid a hand on the shining skin of the helicopter, feeling how smooth the skin was. Stopping on a slightly reflective spot just to the behind the door, Jinkara admired his glowing red eyes in the shining metal before sunking his claws into the metal of the aircraft. As easily as if it was made of cork, Jinkara lifted the helicopter completely off the ground, and with no effort at all, lazily tossed it over his head and over the edge of the office building.

Striding back to the ledge of the building, Jinkara watched as the helicopter plumette to earth, bouncing and crashing against the wall of the building, spinning maddly out of control, scattering pieces of debris from it's rapidly deteriorating shell. On the ground, the police officers which were momentarily stunned by the sight of the falling helicopter, began desperately pushing the gawking crowd backwards for the sidewalks, as moments later, the helicopter slammed into the ground, crushing several police and passenger cars alike, their bodies flattened like tin cans underneathe a giant boulder

"Hmph...I thought you said those things could fly.", Jinkara purred with a wry smile

"Normally they can,", Vaugn replied, simply "So, now that we're here, what exactly are you planning on doing?"

"First I must regain my origanul body. After that, then I'll merely have the simple task of asserting my dominance of this world of this pathetic world.", Jinkara replied, and Vaugn could feel Jinkara's pleasure at this thought, a dark, malicious pleasure that he never knew exsisted in any creature, alive or dead.

"And how do you plan on reclaiming your body?", Vaugn asked very suspicously, not liking at all where the conversation was going.

"By killing you ofcourse.", Jinkara replied, with a low laugh.

There was a pause when neither of them spoke. The wind blew around Jnkara and whistled loudly in his ears. The cool night air stung at his skin and eyes alike. Continued screams of shouts would shoot skywards in shrill gysars of sound that clearly told Jinkara that the people below were scared and confused of what was happening around them. Vaugn had heard what Jinkara had said, but yet he didn't believe it.

"I thought that if I died, then you'd be purified and sent to live with angels in Heaven.", Vaugn said slowly, remembering what Jinkara had told him earlier.

"Not quite my dear ape, not quite. For you see, if someone were to kill you like so many of you apes have a habit of doing, they free your soul from your body and you die. Since your soul is free, and I share your soul, I become purified, as I no longer have a physical body to give me shape and exsistance. In this case, if a demon were to kill the soul that they are bound to, they gain freedom by ridding the body of it's origanul soul, so all the demon does is bond itself to the body once the soul is gone and in doing so, regain their origanul form.", Jinkara said in a matter-of-fact tone, "And that's how I'll do it. I would have done it sooner, but it takes a certain amount of power and strength to kill a soul. But now that I have regained my full strength, it will be a simple for me to get my body back by ridding this world of one more ape.", he finished and Vaugn could feel an evil, burning excitement coursing through his body.

The second silence on the roof was the most absolute. Everything around Vaugn and Jinkara seemed to have been quelled in a heart beat. Though the wind still stung at Jinkara's flesh, it made no sound. The shouts of angry citizens no longer reached Jinkara's ears as if the lives of everyone below had been snuffed out in a second.

"You wouldn't.", Vaugn said shakily, and for the first time that night, there was a definite not of fear in his voice.

"Wouldn't I Vaugn, woudn't I?", Jinkara snarled, letting out a cold, merthless laugh.


***

Smoothly and silently, the elevator doors slid open, and with a gentle chime, a small screen above the door flashed red, letting them know they had reached the one hundred and thirtieth floor. Like sprinters after the starting pistol was fired, the five friends flung themselves out of the elevator and hurriedly searched the long, granite floored, woodpaneled hallway for anything that would let them reach Vaugn on the roof. At the far end of the hallway they spotted a silver and cherry-wood door that had a punch combination lock with a sign that said, "Upper floors above."

"That's the one! Come on, we have to hurry!", Asuke said hurridely , sprinting down the hall at top speed towards the door.

Sliding to a stop infront of the door, Asuke quickly punched in the combination four-one-seven-eight. With a small, whisper quiet click from the door, Asuke grasped the handle and twisted with all her might. With a rush of reliefe, the handle turned and the door opened.

With Vaugn the only thought on their minds, the five friends flung themselves through the door and up the stairs behind it, running as fast as theirs legs would carry them, wasting not even a single breath for something as simple as talking.

With each step they took, pain started to shoot through their chests and sides the more they ran, growing larger and larger until it felt as if their bodies would burst. Each breath was sharp in the five friends' lungs and burned their throats, feelings as if with every gulping mouthful of air they were inhaling pure fire. Their hearts were beating furiously against their chests, wanting to tear out of their bodies and escape the owners that were abusing them so mercilessly. Their legs were screaming in protest, the muscles burning from the work, threatening to tear from the sheer strain of being so brutally worked. None of this pain mattered to the five friends however, as the only thought going through their collective pyschy was getting Vaugn bak safe and sound.

"F-f-floor 145.", Asuke panted to the others, her legs finally giving out from the strain of running so much that night and reducing her to a weak, slightly stumbling walk instead of a powerful run, "Almost th-there!"

"A-awesome, I c-c-can barely go o-on.", Shentin gasped, wiping sweat that was now pouring down his face and clutching a painful stitch in his side.

Emerging onto the final floor, the friends stumbled onto a small, square, flat floor big enough for the 5 friends to stand on. There was a door on the floor that had a punch combination as well. Out of breath, Kihari and Imari collapsed against the wall and slid down, gasping for breath and sweating profusely. Nikkai and Shentin were doubled over, their hands on their knees as they supported themselve as they gulped in lung fulls of air. Assuming it was the same combination as the lower floor, Asuke stumbled across the landing and punched in ‘four-one-seven-eight'. Weakly grasping the handle, Asuke twisted it the best she could, but nothing happened. A tad confused, she tried again, but the handle didn't move.

"It didn't open?", Imari asked from the floor, pantingt and wiping the sweat from her face.

"Hold on, maybe I hit the wrong buttons.", Asuke said in an offhand voice as she again entered the combination. Again, when she turned the handle, nothing happened.

"The code must be different then, and I don't know what to do!", Asuke said desperately, running a hand through her sewat-matted hair and looking to her friends apologectically

"Shentin, should you and me give it a shot?", asked Nikkai, his breathing much calmer after his rest but still rather heavy, looking at Shentin and nodding

"Definetly.", replied Shentin, wiping the last of the sweat away, and standing up properly, stretchuing his back and arms.

"Stand back ladies.", said Nikkai in a buisness like tone, taking several last deep breaths and preparing himself.

Asuke backed away from the door while Imari and Kihari watched cautiously from the wall they were resting against.

"What are you going to do guys?", asked Imari from the wall, but her question was answered immediately as Shentin and Nikkai ran as hard as they could at the door like olympic sprinters, and with their full weight behind them, threw their shoulder into it, hitting it as hard as they could. With a loud crack and scereech of metal, the door opened slightly, and they could see light through the crack.

Slightly rattled and dazed from what they had done, Nikkai and Shentin staggered backwards and dropped to one knee, holding their shoulders and trembling slightly from pain.

"Are you okay?", Kihari asked shakily, crawling over on her hands and knees and looking very concerned for her two friends and their well being, both physical and mental.

"Pretty much. But it feels like a broke my shoulder.", Shentin replied, trying his best to lighten the mood as he slowly stood up, swaying slightly on his, he and Nikkai rubbing their shoulders.

As Kihari and Imari attended to their injured friendsb -fussing and checking them over- Asuke quietly crept to the door and grasping the handle, pushed the door open a fraction of an inch and peered through the small crack into the darkness outside. What she saw made her heart skip a beat.

Vaugn was standing tall in the middle of the roof on his own two feet. It appeared to her that Vaugn hadn't heard the ruckus that Shentin and Nikkai had made, but that didn't matter to her. All that mattered was that he was alive and well.

"Guys, it's Vaugn! He's okay!", Asuke whispered to the others, closing the door slightly as she turned and beamed broadly at her friends, looking close to crying.

A collective sigh of reliefe went through the friends. Shentin patted Nikkai on the back, undoubtedly for his unwavering determination which to find Vaugn, and Imari, clearly overcome with happiness that all the suffering she had to witness and experience that night was worth it, burried her face in her hands and shuttered as she cried out of happiness.

With a wave of her hand, Asuke gestured the others to follow her as she slowly pushed the door all the way open and crept through. Feeling that their long nights ordeal was finally over, the friends silently dashed after her, their hearts beating with excitement, forgetting all about the pain their bodies were in..

The cool wind washed over the friends the instant they set foot onto the roof, stinging at their sweat soaked faces and tossing their sweat-drenched hair around wildly. Even though the wind was blowing wildily around them, it seemed oddly hushed, the whistle a mere whisper in their ears instead of a raging storm. Unseen to the others, a chill ran through Nikkai's spine as the same sensations of being cut off from the outside world was present on the rooftop just as it had been in the alleyway.

As the friends slowly crossed the roof, they saw Vaugn sway on his feet and stumble sideways, looking terribly off balance. Raising a hand to his head, Vaugn rubbed his head, groaning loudly as if he had a terrible mihgrain headache.

"Vaugn? Is that you?", Asuke asked cautiously, as she and the others slowly crept across the wind swept roof.

At the sound of Asuke's voice, Vaugn's body stiffened instantly as if her words had sent a powerful shock through his body. Whipping around, Vaugn's face was alive with fear and shock, his lower lip trembling terribly. His face was pale and glistening with sweat that dripped from his nose like a tap. Vaugn's arms and leg were shaking terribly, as if he was sick and using every bit of energy he had just to remain standing.

"Asuke...what are you guys doing here?", Vaugn gasped, stumbling backwards from his friends as if he was scared of them.

"What do you mean? We came to get you Vaugn.", Shentin said with a smile as if Vaugn was being stupid.

Vaugn's face blanched and what colour he had left him completely. The trembling in his body slowly intensified, reach seizure like levels.

"No...no,no,no!", Vaugn breathed slowly shaking his head as he stumbled away from his friends, "You gotta get out of here! You need to run! You're not safe here!", he gasped, trying to put as much space between he and his friends as possible with each trembling step.

"What do you mean? We came here to get you Vaugn!", Kihari said, her face and voice full of shock.

"No! You need to get out of here right now! You'll die if you stay!", Vaugn shouted at his friends, tears welling in his eyes as if he was in great pain, "You need to g...",

Vaugn's voice caught in his throat as an intense stab of pain shot through his entire body, feeling as if the inside of his body had been set on fire. Vaung tried to speak, but his voice was paralyzed with pain, only small gasps able to escape his throat. The seizure-like tremours that had been raging on through out Vaugn's body reached their limits, his legs shaking so violently they collapsing under him and sent him tumbling to the rooftop, seizuring uncontrollably on his back.

Vaugn gasped for air, his heart was racing, his eyes bulging from his head. A laugh of pure evil was filling his ears, drowning out everything around him. The pain in his body had reached its limit, every nerve ending on fire while his muscles felt as if they were being sliced to shreds with a rusty knife.

Vaugn's chest heaved, looking as if his heart was going to be ripped from his body, and for the first time since his body had been consumed by pain, his voice returned.

Unable to control himself, Vaugn screamed at the top of his lungs. It was a bone chilling, blood-curdling scream; the scream of someone who was being tortured horribly. Vaugn's stomach lurched upwards, and his spine arched, his spine threatening to split. His face was alive with pain, his jaw stretched so wide it looked as if his cheeks would tear in half. Vaugn's eyes were bulging the furthest they had ever bulged, looking as if they were only a second from popping from his head like a pair of golf-balls.

"Oh my god! What's happening to Vaugn!", Kihari gasped, grabbing at Shentin arms and squeezing it tightly with all her strength.

"This is what happened to Vaugn in the alleyway!", Nikkai gasped, taking several steps away from Vaugn as the thought of the first transformation was still in fresh in his mind, "We got to get out of here right now!", Nikkai barked to the others, and grabbing Asuke and Imari's arms, started pulling them powerfully towards the stairwell, Shentin following suit and pulling Kihari away from Vaugn.

"Nikkai what are you doing!", Asuke shouted at Nikkai, straining against Nikkai's powerful grip as she faught desperately to run back to Vaugn, Imari on the other hand following close to Nikkai as if not wanting to be left behind.

"We have to get out of here right now! If that thing gets out it will kill us all in a heart beat!", Nikkai shouted back, firming his grip on Asuke's wrist as he dragged her powerfully to the door, unpertubed by her desperate struggle

"Oh my god...Nikkai !Look at Vaugn!" Asuke shouted, and her once powerful struggle against his grip suddenly vanished as if the life from her body had been abolished in an instant.

Casting a glance over his shoulder, Nikkai's heart skipped a beat and his breath was lost. His vice-like grip gradually loosened, until Imari and Asuk's arms fell from his hands.

Turning around on spot, he joined Asuke, Shentin, Imari and Kihari as they stared transfixxed at what was unfolding bfore them, their terror-stricken bodies momentarily wiped of all strength.

The city that the Kojuni Office Building overlooked was glowing, not just glowing, but glowing brighter with each passing second as if the lights were being fed more electricity, while the rooftop of Kojuni seemed to be darkening, the light being absorbed into a giant vacuum. The darkness seemed to be creeping over the rooftop like an evil fog that was pouring from Vaugn's body..

What scared them the most though was what was happening to Vaugn.

Like worms and snakes rearing from the ground, what looked like dark ribbon streamers were sprouting from Vaugn's body, and floating gently up to the sky, twisting and intertwinging with one another. Rising taller and taller, the sky seemed to glow all around the ribbons, and even though the night sky was dark and black, the ribbons seemed to be darker then darkness itself. As the friends watched the scary yet stranegly beautiful display -which showed no sign of stopping their unearthy emergence from Vaugn's writhing and arching body- the ribbons began to twist around one another, forming long spindly groups of ribbons that, when seen as a whole, resembled something like a human body. The ribbons of darkness were undisturbed by the wind that was blowing over the roof, instead swaying to their own accord, and with the odd stick figured completely formed in the sky, a rippling wave ran from the feet to the head of the figure, and the once fluid, snake like strands of darkness became rigid and stiff, the base of the figure which had been sprouting from Vaugn's body breaking and forming the legs of the dark stick figure, which was standing tall and stradling Vaugn.

With the appearance of the odd stick figure in the sky, Vaugn's strength finally left him, and his non-stop, blood-curdling scream was finally extinquished, as with a small spasm running through his arched back, his body collapsed to the ground and he was as motionless as a corpse.

Darkness seemed to be pulsating from the odd figure standing above Vaugn, which must have been atleast a hundred feet tall. The sky that the figure was imprinted against was slowly being consumed by a creeping darkness, like a slowly approaching fog that crept slowly along the ground, covering everything within its thick mass.

Before Asuke or the others had any idea of what they should do -either run for help or stay with Vaugn and risk the conseguences- everything infront of the friends went dark as pure darkness exploded from the heart of the dark stick figure, consuming the entire roof of Kojuni in a impentetrable wall of darkness. The darkness washed over the friends in an instant, and with it, they were consumed in a mass so black and dark that their eyes strained and stung as they searched for even the slightest spot of light. The darkness was as cold as the wind, stinging their flesh and biting at their faces. Like they had been hit by a wave of water, a crushing weight of evilness washed voer the friends, constricting their hearts and strangling their throats.

Just as quickly as the wave washed over the five friends, it passed and they were born into the bright night sky. The light of the city brought tears to their eyes as they stung from the sudden shock of light that seemed out of place in a Tokyo night. The momentary feeling of crushing evil was lifted the second the light of the city had touched them, their lungs filling with cool night air in grateful gasps of air. Rubbing the sting and tears from their eyes, the group blinked several times as their eyes slowly readjust. With the city glowing brightly infront fo the friends, what they saw made them all wish that they had ran for safety when they had a chance.

A giant black figure one hundred feet tall was standing over Vaugn, who layed motionless between it's enormous feet. The monster had long, vicious claws on it's enormous hands, long muscely arms and legs, the chiseled chest and stomach of a man, and the head of what lookd like a dog that was covered in rows of spines, complete with two, glowing red eyes. The creature was darker then darker, it's body imprinted against the sky that glowed around it.

Though the creature appeared to be made of pure darkness itself and its defining features were easily distinquished, the creature seemed oddly flat, as if it had been cut out of paper.

Neither of the friends knew what to do. In a flash of pure darkness, a monsterous creature had appeared out of thin air and was now towering above them like a terrifying statue. The creature was slowly surveying the city before it, it's red eyes sliding back and forth slowly over the countless buildings and the expansive city that was Tokyo.

Far below, the gawking crowd that had been scattered by a plummetting helicopter was brought to life by a shout from a terrified woman and a shaking finger pointing skywards. One head after another turned skyward, and with their gaze fixxed firmly on the heavens, screams of shocks and terror rang out from the mouths of the citizens and police alike. Imprinted against the dark sky was a monsterous creature unlike they had ever scene before.

Nikkai and the others watched as the black monster's eyes swept over the city, their bodies rooted on spot from fear. This creature, whatever it was, looked as if it could kill one thousand humans with a single wave of it's clawed hand and looked as if it could crush the five friends and Vaugn underneathe a single clawed toe.

As the creature's eyes swept past the friends, they noticed it's red eyes do the slightest of double takes, and for the first time since it appeared on the rooftop, it's gaze dropped from the city to the roof of the Kojuni Office Building. For the first time since the monster had arrived it had noticed the five friends standing in its prescence.

The creature stared at the friends with slight curiosity for a moment, before a wide, evil grin spread across its face. With its mouth stretched as far as it could, its fangs bared for the entire world to see, the monster threw its head backwards and roared to the heavens.

It was a roar unlike they had ever heard. It was truly monsterous, a roar born of pure evil, hatred and malice. The roar shook the five friends to their bones, chilling their blood, and freezing their breath in their lungs. The roar itself seemed to pierce the friends to their very souls, threatening to shatter them with it's menacing force.

"Yes! I am reborn onto this plain of reality! I, Jinkara, most powerful of the demons of hell, shall destory this world, and all that call it home!", the creature roared to the heavens, and the group of friends could hear screaming civilians from the ground as the police that were on the scene try to maintain order, despite knowing quite well that this monster was something not of this world.

"And what do we have here?", Jinkara snarled evilly,his eyes dropping from the sky and fixxing his eyes once more on the five friends standing before him,"Ah yes, you must be the friends of this mortal!"

Neither of the friends answered. The fact that Jinkara, the self-proclaimed ‘most powerful demon' was speaking to them directly had robbed them of any all strength.

"Yes. You are. From the moment I was placed upon this ape's body, I knew who you were. You're the apes he's always with." Jinkara sneered with a smile, and the friends could see rows upon rows of long, seraded teeth and a forked tongue like a snake's, "Yes, this mortal who you call ‘friend' was very determined to keep you safe. He ran from you knowing very well that if I were to take over, you'd be the first I'd slaughter. But to think! You'd actually chase after him, slowly drawing closer and closer to your own demise! You played right into the very hands Vaugn was trying to protect you from!", Jinkara laughed, his flat body quivering with heaves of laughter and a lazy wave of his hand.

At Jinkara's feet, Vaugn's chest heaved and he gasped for breath, the first sign of life since Jinkara appeared over him. His body was shaking and his fingers were spasming. Like a hook had been stuck in Vaugn's bellybutton and was slowly being pulled upwards, his back once again began to arch upward, pulling tighter and tigher, threatening to snap. Vaugn's eyes were wide and his mouth was moving silently, a clear sign that he was in great pain.

"Yes...I have finally sucked enough of this mortals soul that I can cross over.", Jinkara purred happily, waving his hand a second time and letting Vaugn collapse motionless onto the roof.

Slowly, Jinkara raised a clawed hand infront of him, and studying it closely for s econd as if it were made of pure gold and diamonds, pushed it out infront of him, like pushing open a door. As if the air had suddenly become solid, Jinkara seemed unable to stretch his arm any further infront of him, stopped cold at mid-reach. Jinkara seemed to have expected this, as he didn't push any further or show any sign of annoyance. Infact, the invisible barrier seemed to please him instead.

Tiny at first, little sparks danced around the tips of Jinkara's long claws, which were resting on the invisible barrier, but these steadily grew larger and larger until they were full grown lightning bolts that jumped, arced and bounced wildly around, shooting to the rooftop or else skipping around the invisible barrier. The bolts of lightning were seemingly born from the end of Jinkara's fingertips, as if a powerful charge was flowing through his entire body. Clearly pleased by what was happening, Jinkara gradually pushed on his hand again, the palm of his hand squashing and flattening against the barrier. Asuke, Imari and Kihari let out a collective gasp of shock as the once paper flat hand passed through the invisible barrier, and as if by magic, the hand was suddenly and terrifyingly defined and three-dimensional.

"Yes...it's working. I will soon have my body back. And you,", Jinkara snarled, pointing to the friends with his now re-embodied hand, "Will be the first to die!"

Throwing his head back, Jinkara roared with merthiless laughter that shook the five friends to the very core. But with a sudden, shuddering gasp, Jinkara spluttered and his once evil laughter transformed into an ear splitting roar of pain that was even worse then his insane laughter. The friends stared transfixxed at Jinkara, unsure of what had caused the sudden change, but with a heart-stopping wave of shock that washed over them, they could easily see what had caused the sudden change. Jinkara's hand, which moments ago was as solid as anyone's, now looked as if it were on fire, the flesh bursting into red hot embers and flames, blowing away in a cloud of sparking coals and ash in the cool night breeze.

"What in Hell's name!", Jinkara roared furiously, ripping his hand backwards and back to the two-dimensional plain of exsistance his body was in, "What the hell happened!"

"What do you think happened, you pathetic half-wit monster!"

The friends nearly jumped a foot off the ground for a voice they knew all to well boomed across the rooftop.

Tearing their gaze from Jinkara's monsterous visage and down between his feet, the friends saw that Vaugn was slowly heaving himself upwards off the ground, his body trembling and swaying on his feet yet holding himself firm as he stared upwards at the flat face of Jinkara, his eyes blazing with rage.

"But how could you...I had sucked enough of your soul ....you were almost dead.!", Jinkara roared furiously, his entire body trembling with rage.

"Remember the prophecy Jinkara, or have you forgotten them? You and me are bound together for life! No matter what, you can't kill me! No where in those prophecy did it say you could ever escape!", Vaugn snarled, an evil grin of his own flashing across his handsome face, "You've been beaten by some pathetic ape!", Vaugn added, throwing his head back and laughing, matching Jinkara's own evil, malicous laughter perfectly.

"No!", Jinkara breathed, and for the first time, he sounded scared.

"Oh yes Jinkara! You and I are stuck together for the rest of my life!", Vaugn said savagely, slowly backing away from Jinkara, and with all the strength he had, stumbled backwards towards his friend, "No matter how hard you try, no matter how many times you try, we're stuck together, connected by soul, trapped in my body. And with not only the lives of my friends, but the entire world, at stake, I'd sooner kill myself then let you win. You lose Jinkara!", Vaugn snarled defiantly and definitevly at Jinkara.

"You bastard! I'll kill you!", Jinkara roared furiously, his eyes burning with a newly found rage, "No one stops me! No one! Least of..."

Jinkara ‘s voice caught in his throat as quickly as if he had been punched in the neck. His eyes widened and he gasped for breath, his chest heaving out of desperation. Jinkara seemed to be choking on his own, forked, snake-like tongue, as all he seemed able to do was splutter and gag. His entire body was shaking, his arms and fingers the worst of all, looking as if he was having a terrible seizure.

"You bastard!", Jinkara gasped, every word shaking with pain, "What are you doing to me!", Jinkara roared, and in a blinding explosion of bright white and blue flames, Jinkara's body erupted into flames.

Vaugn and the others screamed in shock as the flames engulfed Jinkara's entire body. Rising from the ground, their dancing flames licked and washed over Jinkara's flesh, burning and singeing it away instantly. Smoke rose heavily from Jinkara's flesh as patches of his his skin were torn away by the white-blue flames -which gave off no heat that the friends could feel or any light for that matter- raged uncontrolably over his body. Jinkara roared uncontrolably as flesh fell from his body in smuldering heaps at his feet, the flames growing brighter as the flesh was consumed and burned away.

In a matter of moments, Jinkara had been reduced to a skeleton, screaming in agaony. His flesh completely consumed by the heatless flames, Jinkara's skeleton had been charred and burned black. Inside his skeletal head, his eyes still burned as brightly as ever, giving the only sign of life. One by one, pieces of his body began falling off, tumbling and crashing to the ground only to be used as fuel for the raging flames.

"You pathetic mortal!", the skeletonized Jinkara roared furiously, pointing his one remaining arm at Vaugn, the other having already fallen off, "If you think this will stop me, you're dead wrong! I will escape in the future, and when I do, my fury with one thousand fold!"

With a last, menacing roar of rage, the flames that had consumed Jinkara's body found new life, and with a menacing whoosh, shoot two hundred feet in the air in an amazing tower of white-blue fire. Jinkara's body was completely consumed and wiped from view of the friends, not even the faintest of shadowed outlined in the menacing flames could be scene. Jinkara's roars echoed maddly around the city, rattling windows and shaking the earth and human bodies alike.

Just as quickly as the flames had erupted at Jinkara's feet, the raging inferno disappeared, reatreating earthwards at alarming speed, leaving nothing behind in it's wake except Jinkara's last cry of fury, that was left to echo throughout Tokyo like a chiming church bell.

A peaceful calm that had been absent in Jinkara's presence swept over the rooftop. The wind whistled happily around the friends, blowing through their air and rustling their clothes, no longer biting at their skin with its chill but rather almost feeling like a warm spring breeze. High above the rooftop, the moon and the countless stars twinkled marrily, their return a welcoming sight in the sky. An odd, comforting warmth had spread over the rooftop, as if Jinkara's evil was itself sucking the warmth from the air, chilling it like ice.

No sign of Jinkara remained on the rooftop, not a footprint, not a clawmark, not even a pile of ash could be found that anything out of the ordinary had happened on the rooftop moments ago. The street below was alive with shouting, the confused police officers and citizens alike searching desperately for answers as to what they had just been witness to.

Reliefe passed over Vaugn like a warm breeze. Jinkara, a demon who's soul purpose it was to destroy all of mankind was now gone. Not only were Vaugn's friends safe, but the billions of lives of the world were safe from a fate that was arguably worse then death. Somehow all the suffering that Vaugn had gone through tonight was worth knowing that he had kept so many people safe.

Vaugn's body was weak, his legs shaking terribly as Vaugn forced himself to remain standing. The pain inside Vaugn's body seemed to be robbing him what energy he had, his insides feeling like they had been torn to shreds. Vaugn's entire body was aching, the torturous transformation he had to endure still lingering in his bones and muscles, the way his muscles seared with pain each time they were moved and the way his bones felt as if they had been shattered and reset over and over again a constant reminder of what he was forced to endure that night.

"Vaugn? Are you okay?"

Looking over his shoulder, Vaugn saw that each and every one of his friends were white faced and scared. But despite their own fear that they were feeling, their eyes were full of concern for only Vaugn. Imari, Asuke and Kihari were trembling from what they had scene, but even that didn't stop them from thinking of nothing but Vaugn. Shentin and Nikkai were wearing very relieved smiles, their smiles telling the world clearly that despite what they ahd to go through that night, it was all worth it to see Vaugn alive and well. After what he had been through, Vaugn had to admit that it was good seeing his friends again, no matter what risks they took or how many times they risked their lives for him, and it was rather foolish of him to think that they wouldn't have wanted to help.

"Yeah. I'm all right.", Vaugn said with a weak smile, his knees buckling and the remainder of his strength evaporating, "I'm all right guys.", he breathed as he toppled forward, passing out before he hit the ground.

***

When Vaugn came to, he was staring at a blazing white light above him through his curtains of long blonde hair. Vaugn was sure that he had been outside in the darkness of night seconds earlier, so the blazing white light above him was call for some concern on Vaugn's part. Slowly sitting up, Vaugn pushed his hair from his eyes and looked around him for some sort of sign as to where he was. Where moments ago he had been ontop of a dark rooftop in the cool of night surrounded by glowing buildings and pitch black clouds, he was now sitting in a room that seemed to be made of pure-white light. Vaugn could only call it a room despite the fact that he saw no visible signs of walls, corners or even a ceiling. The light was warm on Vaugn's face, and the ground he was sitting on was just as warm as his face.

Standing up for a better look around, Vaugn noticed that his legs were no longer shaking. Infact, his entire bodily had magically healed itself, the pain being erased like chalk from a black bored, leaving only a feeling of lightness and peace.

"Okay...where am I?", Vaugn asked slowly, looking around him for some indication of where he was, "Oh no...no,no,no,no,no...the white light, no pain...oh man, I'm dead!...fantastic, fan-freaking-tastic.", Vaugn groaned, running his fingers through his hair, looking stressed to the point of almost shedding a tear.

"Dead? Hardly, Vaugn Ashton. You are far from dead my good sir", a gentle voice chuckled from somewhere behind Vaugn.

Vaugn spun around and tried to find the speaker, but nothing was there. After a moment of searching the white-light room -which looked the same no matter where he looked- he realized that the voice seemed to come from the very room itself, just as his voice had done when Jinkara was in control of his body.

"Is someone there?", Vaugn asked out loud, his voice not even leaving the slightest bit of an echo behind as it died away.

As if to answer Vaugn's question, a small patch of light infront of his eyes caught his attention. Gradually at first, a patch of blazing white light that was slapping Vaugn in the face was steadily getting darker and darker. With the emerging darkness in the sea of light, Vaugn could just make out the outline of a human body slowly walking towards him. With each passing second, with each soft footstep, the body steadily took shape and more defined until a person emerged completely from the wall of light infront of Vaugn.

He was a thin, tall man, about five or six inches taller then Vaugn. He had a very thin, somewhat pointed face that gave him a somewhat sinister look. His skin was pale white and seemed to glow on it's own, let alone from the light that was surrounding he and Vaugn. His hair was very white-blonde and reached to the middle of his back. His nose was thin, and his eyes, though shaped like a normal humans, had piercing red pupils.

The man was wearing what seemed to be armour from acient Rome. The man's chest and stomach were forged into the metal itself, and seemed to have viens of silver and gold running through out the chest plate. The armour on his legs and arms were also of the some design, the muscles over exagerated as Vaugn could tell he was actually quite skinny and not muscular at all. What caught Vaugn's attention most of all was the fast that the man was wearing what seemed to be a very tall collard cape that, while stretching well above his head, only stretched to about the small of his black, and looked to be made of red velvet. Looking closely at the cape, Vaugn realized that it wasn't a cape, but infact was a set of folded and tattered wings. Wings?

This man, whoever he was, had appeared out of nowhere like a phantom, and given the fact that Vaugn had no idea where he was, it took everything he had to remain where he was and not go running off like a chicken with it's head cut off, searching for a way out.

Studying the man closely, Vaugn saw that he didn't look threatening or was even trying to be. Instead, it appeared to Vaugn that the man was actually happy to see him and was trying to look as welcoming as possible, given the strange situation.

Figuring that having someone to talk to was better then not having someone, Vaugn thought it best to ask the question that was probably the most important of all in a case like this.

"Who are you?", Vaugn asked, trying his best not to sound rude but failing spectacularily.

"I am Lucifor, Vaugn. The fallen angel. Satan.", the man said, smiling broadly at Vaugn and showing no sign of offence at Vaugn's question.

Vaugn heard the man but didn't really understand what he had said. The man said he was Lucifor. Lucifor, as in the devil? The King of Hell? Vaugn knew of the devil, but he didn't believe in it...him...whatever. He always thought it was just a story religious types told their children to scare them into being good. But yet, here was a man claiming to be the devil, and given Vaugn's recent experience with creatures from Hell, it almost made sence.

But with the thought of the devil standing before him, the part of Vaugn's brain responsible for common sence kicked in and with a deafening yell of cool logic, Vaugn realized that it had to be joke. It just had to be.

"Man, I don't need this!", Vaugn groaned, rubbing his eyes in a very stressed manner, "First my body get's highjacked by a demon, I almost die, and now some guy dressed like a dude going to a halloween party is telling me he's Satan. I must have hit my head or eaten a bad piece of meat, ‘cause there's no way this is real!"

Somewhere in front of him, the man laughed appreciatively, as Vaugn had clearly said something that ahd pleased him quite well.

Dropping his hand from his eyes, Vaugn stared infront of him, and seeing that the man was still there, realized that he wasn't a figment of his immagination created by a poorly cooked piece of meat or a bump to the head. Shaking his head slightly and shrugging hugely, Vaugn started pacing back and forth, muttering to himself and trying to figure everything out.

"I'm in a white room, with no exit, and this guy comes out of no where, calling himself the devil, and I'm supposed to believe him. I have to be dead, or insane, cause none of this is making sence.", Vaugn muttered to himself slightly hysterically, pacing back and forth purposefully, "In all my life nothing this strange has happened, so maybe this is just a normal phase in every pubescent teens life where, they think their dead and some guy calling himself Satan comes and talks to them!"

"Vaugn, if you'll do me the courtesy, I can explain what has happened, and what is happening.", Lucifor said with a warm smile, watching as Vaugn paced back in forth in a state of psuedo-pychosis.

Realizing that anything was better then him pacing around, muttering to himself with greater and greater insanity, Vaugn stopped his pacing, and with his back to Luicfor, he let out a loud audible sigh and a shrug of grudging submittance.

"Okay. Okay. I don't know why, but something is better then nothing right now. And no matter how insane your explanation, it's not like anyone believe me, not after what happened tonight.", Vaugn sighed with a shrug, turning around and facing Lucifor properly.

"Very good Vaugn.", Lucifor said happily, clapping his hands together, "Now you maybe wondering why I'm here?", he said uneccessarily.

"I can honestly say that thought had crossed my mind.", Vaugn replied with a knod, looking around in a somewhat exasperated way.

"Well you see Vaugn, this is your mind.", Lucifor said simply.

For a moment, Vaugn looked at Lucifor quizzicaly. Somehow Vaugn was expecting a much more extravagent answer, rather then the simple explanation of being in Vaugn's mind.

"Really? I didn't expect it to be so blank...and bright.", Vaugn replied, crossing his arms, looking at Lucifor with a very questioning look.

"It is indeed your mind Vaugn. But that's not why I'm here.", Lucifor said, his tone changing from friendly to business in a heartbeat, "I am here on very serious business Vaugn. For you see, I'm here, because you've strayed from the prophecies made two-thousand years ago on the hour of Jinkara's imprisonment.", Lucifor said in a very serious tone, his eyes piercing into Vaugn like spears

"Strayed? What do you mean strayed?", Vaugn asked, trying his best to keep on pace with Lucifor despite his mind being a jumble of random thoughts that had escaped in his confusion.

"You see, two-thousand years ago, a prophecy was made that would set your future in stone. It stated that a man would be born with the mark of the angel -that's you and your birth mark Vaugn- that would be pure of heart and gentle of nature. Which you are, Vaugn. It was prophecised that he would be so pure of heart, that when placed upon his body, Jinkara could not bare to share his soul.", Lucifor told Vaugn, his red, unblinking eyes sending chills down his spine, "But Vaugn, something had gone terribly wrong. Not only could Jinkara share your soul quite comfortably, but he could also over power your soul and control you. You were not as pure as we expected, and because of it, you have put the world, and human kind in grave danger.", Lucifor said, sounding more and more serious, a stark contrast to his gentle demeanor of moments ago.

"What do you mean ‘put the world, and human kind in grave danger'?",Vaugn asked, and even though giving it is all, he still had no idea what any of this meant.

"Hmm. I guess maybe it would be best if I started from the beginning.", Lucifor replied, studying Vaugn's confusion thoughtfully, rubbing his chin like a college professor.

"That would be helpful.", Vaugn said with a slight note of exasperation.

"You see, the overlords of Hell imprisoned Jinkara because he almost destroyed human kind once. Two thousand years ago, the Wars of Hell raged out of control, lead by Jinkara himself, and in the chaos that overwhelmed the demon and angel armies, Jinkara and his followers almost escaped. Jinkara and his followers were, and still are, some of the most powerful demons residing in Hell, powerful enough to slaughter a hundred demons with a single wave of their hand.", Lucifor told Vaugn, trying his best to explain everything as thoroughly as he could for Vaugn, "Had they succeded and escaped Hell, the humans of this world would have been obliterated by the demon hordes of Hell. There wasn't a single demon or angel that was powerful enough to stop Jinkara, not even I, and our only hope was to imprison Jinkara, and set a prophecy in place that would lead to his destruction. We had planned to place him upon you from the time when he was captured as the angel Fate saw to it that you would be born with the purest heart and soul possible. We knew that you would beable to hold him in your body, and let him share your soul as punishement for trying to escape Hell. For you see Vaugn, if it had worked, your purity would render Jinkara powerless. A common spirit held within your body. It was planned that when you died and your life ended, you would ascend to heaven, and Jinkara without a soul to give him form, would wrot and decay until he was purified, rendered helpless once again. But sadly Vaugn, when Jinkara managed to control your body and take over, the prophecy was broken, and the protections that I had put in place were shattered. You were not as pure as we thought. You failed us Vaugn. And because of this, you are responsible for what is unfolding.", Lucifor said coldly in an almost accusing tone and stare to match.

"I...I'm sorry. I didn't know.", Vaugn spluttered, looking shocked. Vaugn found it unfair that he was being blamed for something that was so out of his control, yet he felt as if he had to apologize.

"You did well, we must admit, by showing defiance to Jinkara when he was planning his escape, and kept him sealed in your body, sharing your soul. He failed to escape and he will stay with you for the rest of your life. But by doing this, the Feral Twenty have escaped the Western Prison of Hell, and are attempting to destroy this world and all that inhabit it.", Lucifor went on, starting to pace back and forth like Vaugn had done.

"I'm sorry, but this isn't making any sence to me!", Vaugn cried, his brain starting to hurt from what he was being told, "You're talking about angels, and ‘The Western Prison of Hell', and soemthing called ‘The Feral Twenty'? What the Hell does this all mean!"

Stopping in his tracks, Lucifor studied Vaugn closely for a moment, as if choosing his words the best he could to make it the most understandable for Vaugn, "When Jinkara was attempting to escape, he had many followers, Vaugn. But none of them were as powerful as the demon horde that called themselves the Feral Twenty. They were, and are, twenty demons that, for one reason or another, adopted animal instincts and behaviours. They were Jinkara's loyal followers. When Jinkara was imprisoned by the Heaven Army, and myself, they faught savegly to achieve Jinkara's ultimate goal of escaping Hell and destroying this world, but with their leader gone and their desperation palpable, we manage to subdue the Twenty only with a large loss of the forces of Heaven. With the demons subdued and their leader imprisoned and powerless, we locked the Feral Twnety were locked in the Western Prison of Hell. It's a place where the worst demons are locked, unable to escape, and there they remain for all enternity.

"Now, for the years that Jinkara was locked away, the Twenty were easily taken care of. The capture of their master seemed to have broken their spirit. For two thousand years they were nothing more then mounds of demonic flesh held within their cells. When the first part of the prophecy was fulfilled and Jinkara was placed upon you, that single act seemed to have broken them even worse. I could feel as their demonic aura began to fade, growing weaker and weaker with each passing second, and I had to admit that my heart fluttered with the thought that they'd fade away and be purified by the sheer loss of hope. To them, the prophecy had truly been fulfilled and all hope was lost. In the matter of a few weeks, you had reduced twenty of the most powerful demons to something no more powerful then a common sprite", Lucifor told Vaugn, enlightening him the best he could.

Taking a deep breath, Lucifor rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he stared at Vaugn, his red-eyes having yet to blink and cease their piercing stare.

"But tonight Vaugn, when Jinkara took over your body on the train, the prophecy was broken. With the prophecy denied, the Feral Twenty began to stir. They knew the prophecy had been broken, and with it a new hope stirred inside of them. In a matter of hours, the power that was lost to them was regained in ten fold, their power more terrifying and deadly then ever before. With their master back in power, they knew what they had to do. The guards that were tasked with watching over the Feral Twenty were slaughtered in a heartbeat, and without so much as a scratch on them, they escaped, ending their two-thousand year imprisonment. From the instant Jinkara took over, they were planning on rejoining him when he regained his body to continue their task from over two thousand years ago. But when Jinkara failed to kill you and regain his body, their anger was unprecedented. Never have so many demons been felled in a fit of rage. Thousands upon thousands of demons were slaughtered; even the Angel Soldiers were no match for their rage, their bodies torn to shreds like it was nothing. With their rage unceasing and the former imprisoners powerless to stop them, the Twenty vowed on a mountain of slaughtered corpses to not only destroy Jinkara, but you aswell, Vaugn.", Lucifor finished, looking Vaugn in the eye, his eyes blazing with seriousness.

Vaugn was speachless. His brain was working overtime trying to understand everything he had been told in the past several minutes. Lucifor had mention the Wars of Hell, and the angel Fate, and something called the ‘Feral Twenty'. Though none of this made any sence to Vaugn -sounding just like a bunch of random words to him- Lucifor had mentioned Jinkara taking over Vaugn's body, so this meant to Vaugn, no matter how insignificant, that he wasn't completely full of hot air.

"Okay. Okay, let's just say I hypothetically believe you, and say I ‘understand' you. Why do these ‘Feral Twenty' as you called them, want to destroy me?", Vaugn asked Lucifor, in a voice of someone trying to understand something well over their heads.

"Well, we're unsure why they had a sudden change of heart, but we believe it was because their master they had once would have followed to the ends of the earth was unable to overcome a mere human. They wasted away for two thousand years in prison, only to see their master beaten and subdued by a mere human. They probably want to take revenge on Jinkara and you for making them suffer as they did.", Lucifor replied thoughtfully, showing every sign of being as mystified as Vaugn.

"Okay...makes sence...in a very convoluded sort of way.", Vaugn replied, cleary trying to understand yet falling short altogether.

Once more, Vaugn thought of what Lucifor had told him, yet the longer he thought about it, the more his head hurt and he realized just how asinine everything was beginning to sound. No matter how much he tried to wrap his head around the whole concept of bloodthirsty demons out to destroy him and the world, the more he realized that it sounded like something out of a bad dream.

"Listen. I'm sorry ‘Lucifor', but this makes no sence to me. I mean, sure, the demon taking over my body was strange enough, but here you are, trying to tell me that the demon that took over my body is now going to be killed by the demons that you said followed him in these ‘Wars of Hell'? I'm sorry, but this is too crazy, even for me.", Vaugn said bluntly, finally getting fed up with all the crazy talk going on around and about him.

"I understand that Vaugn. It's not easy for humans to comprehend things like this. You're all used to being able to explain everything through science. But when something comes along that science can't explain, it confuses you.", Lucifor said, agreeing fairly with Vaugn and understanding his confusion, "But my time is very short here. I wanted to warn you. Your life has taken a turn for the worse Vaugn. You are no longer just a regular sixteen-year-old schoolboy. You are all that stands between the continual exsistance of your species and the utter annihilation of it. The demons that are after you will not play around with you. They will do what ever it takes to destroy you and Jinkara, and will slaughter countless humans to do so. This may sound crazy, and sound almost impossible, but if you want to survive and save this world from destruction, you and Jinkara will have to work together at any cost. I'm entrustiing you and Jinkara to destroy the Feral Twenty. You two may despise eachother, but you two must co-operate with one another if you two want any chance of surviving. If you can do that, and manage to destroy the Feral Twenty, as a reward I will lift Jinkara from your soul so that you will be free of him for the rest of your life.", Lucifor told Vaugn, his voice cold edged and serious.

"And just how am I supposed to destroy these...these ‘Feral Twenty'?", Vaugn asked in a very exasperated tone.

"When that time comes, Jinkara will help you, I am sure of it. Knowing Jinkara aswell as I do, I'm sure that he won't take the betrayal of his former followers to lightly.", Lucifor replied with a warm smile at Vaugn, "Now I must go Vaugn. Again you and Jinkara may not like eachother and wish the other destroyed, but you two must work together, not only for your survival, but for the survival of this very world. Now I bid you farewell Vaugn Ashton. If ever you need me, I will be there for your aid. Good bye.", Lucifor finished, bowing to Vaugn in a very respectful matter.

"Wait! I still have more questions...", Vaugn began, but it was to late as the room around him began to fade quickly as if the lights were being dimmed, lucifor disappearing rapidly into the growing darkness.

In a matter of seconds, the once blinding light was gone and Vaugn was surrounded by darkness. Vaugn's entire body was aching, a stark contrast to how it had been moments ago. His heart seemed to be pumping liquid pain around his body, as with each beat his muscles would spasm with searing pain. His head was once more throbbing, not only from being thoroughly abused by a human hating demon but by the weight of knowledge he had learned from the man calling himself Lucifor, all this stretching and swelling his brain to near bursting levels.

To add to the throbbing pain that Vaugn was feeling, sharp taps kept striking his face. It felt like his face was being attacked by a deranged woodpecker. Vaugn groaned as he shook his head slightly, trying to shake off whatever was attacking him, but to no avail as it continued to attack him over and over again.

The air around Vaugn bit and stung at his skin. He could feel that he was drenched with sweat, and the cool night air blowing over bit fiercly at him. Random sounds and noices flooded Vaugn's ears, using his eardrums like a punching bag, trying to beat their annoying sounds into his brain mercilessly. And for some reason, the sharp taps continued to annoyingly bounce off Vaugn's face.

Managing to raise a throbbing hand from his side, Vaugn waved it lazily around his face, trying to shoo away whatever was attacking him. With an enormous effort, Vaugn managed to raise his heavy eyelids with felt a hundred times heavier. Out of focus shapes swam infront of Vaugn's eyes while swipes of light flashed overhead in smears of blue, red and white.

"Vaugn? Vaugn! Are you okay?", a distant voice asked, spearing through the jumble of noices and sounds and pricking at Vaugn's eardrums.

Forcing himself to focus the best he could, the formless shapes began to swim into focus gradually. Slowly the blurs began more and more familiar, one of them had emerald green eyes, another a rather large nose, one of them had black hair streaked with red, another with unpolluted jet black hair while another had large hoop earrings in her ears and light cinnamon brown hair. For a moment, the shapes swam in and out focus, until with one last push of determination, the faces of his five best friends in Japan came into foucs completely.

Asuke, Imari, Kihari, Shentin and Nikkai were all gathered around Vaugn. Their faces were all pale white and glistening with sweat. Each of the girls looked as if they had been crying, as their eyes were all rather puffy, while Nikkai and Shentin were both trembling, their hands balled into fists as they tried desperately to stop them from shaking.

"Vaugn, are you okay? How are you feeling.", Imari asked right away, her voice rather choked as she spoke.

"Like shit, but I'll survive.", Vaugn groaned,staring up at his friend's pale, yet newly smiling faces.

"Thank god you're okay! We were so scared that you had died.", Asuke said in a very relieved voice and a watery smile.

"Me? Die? Please!", Vaugn groaned as with a great deal of awkwardness, he pulled himself from the ground into a sitting position, swaying slightly on his backside, "I got way to much to do before I die.", he said with a weak smile at his friends

Turning his head the best he could, Vaugn could see a great deal of commotion going on around him. In the background, the Kojuni Office Building towered above the street and disappeared into the darkness of the sky high above. Enumerous emergency vehicles, both police cars and ambulances, were scattered around the scene. The police cars had formed something of a perimeter around the front entrance of the office building, eight burly police officers guarding the front doors while a constant stream of police officers and investigators marched in and out of the front doors in constant intervals. Paramedics were busy attending to people who had appeared to have been injrued by flying debris, wounds ranging from small cuts on their faces to spurting gashes on their arms and legs. Several tow trucks with yellow flashing lights were busy dragging away four or five flattened and destroyed police cars while a crane lifted the reminants of a destroyed helicopter onto the back of a flatbed truck. Scattered throughout the emergency workers and vehicles were dozens of news vehicles with small satelite dishes mounted to their rooves. Cameramen and news reporters were busy interviewing groups of people, reporting on the strange occurances and eyewitness reports to the masses of transfixxed Tokyo citizens who were at home, most likely glued to their TV screens.

"It seems that Jinkara has gotten quite a bit of attention.", Vaugn groaned, drapping a hand over his stomach which throbbed painfully, feeling as if he was about to throw up.

"You got that right Vaugn, but all that matters is that you're alright.", Shentin said, knodding to Nikkai, and together they grabbed Vaugn in the pit of his arms and lifted him off the ground, "Now that you've had enough action for one night, it's time to put you to bed.", Shentin added as he and Nkkai let go of Vaugn and let him stand on his own to shaking legs.

"That sounds good to me guys. Lord knows you guys have had enough excitement to last a life time." Vaugn said, and with some difficulty, managed to push himself forward in a limping, wobbling walk, passing reporters and emergency workers. Vaugn felt that given everything he had learned that night, it'd be best if they got home right away so he could fill his friends in on everything that had happened.

None of the friends spoke for two blocks, all of them knowing that if they did, they'd probably ask something rather suspicous, that if overheard, could land them in trouble. It wasn't until they had walked some five blocks from Kojuni and were close to the entrance of the nearest subway station was the silence amongst them broken.

"So Vaugn. That thing Imari and I saw you become in the alleyway, what was that?", Nikkai asked, looking curiously at Vaugn and finally asking the question that had been burning in his mind. The streets were much thinner now, most of the night goers gathering at the Kojuni Office Building to see what all the commotion was about and safer to talk outloud.

"That was a demon by the name of Jinkara.", Vaugn replied quietly.

"That thing, Jinkara or whatever, didn't escape like it wanted to on the rooftop, did it?", Nikkai asked, in a hushed yet scared voice.

"No. It didn't. It's still inside of me. Sharing my body and soul, just like planned", Vaugn replied quietly, thinking of the prophecy that Lucifor had told him about.

"So, it's over right? It failed to escape, so it has to be over...right Vaugn?", Imari asked as the group stopped at a crosswalk of a busy city street, waiting for the sign to turn green so they could cross.

Glancing around him, he saw that the faces of his five friends were focused on him, each and everyone looking scared at the thought of repeating the night's horrific events. Vaugn knew that there was no point in lying to his friends, as they had risked their lives to try and find him despite knowing quite well that they could have died.

"No Imari,"Vaugn sighed, as the sign turned green, "It's just getting started.", he added with a small frown and slowly crossed the street, leaving his friends rooted on the spot.


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