Red Moon Nightmare: Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Zero awoke the next morning in a hospital bed, feeling very tired. His sword and something to eat was on the table next to him. Looking outside, it was the middle of the norning, just before noon. Outside, the city appeared far worse than before due to even more damage from the brutes. “Just what happened last night…?” Zero thought until memories of last night’s events on the island flashed through his mind. “Right. Now I remember. Last night…I almost died. I was about to be finished off. That’s all I remember.” Zero said, looking at all of his injuries. It took him some time to prepare himself to leave, but when he was ready, he got going, looking at the further dustruction from the brutes as a result of the previous night. “Great, I just forgot. Nobody knows I was hospitalized because of demon attacks except for the doctors. Nobody has to find out about this.” Zero thought as he walked around the city, looking at all the rubble and dustruction that was caused.
From atop a building, Zac was watching Zero while he had an innocent man stuck in a cage to be fed to the Shadow Sharks. Zac dragged the cage down to where the Shadow Sharks lied, and then pushed the entire cage inside with the man in it. The sharks ripped apart the man and ate the entire cage with no part of it returning before they returned underwater for their next meal. “Those things really have an appetite for humans…and iron cages. How could one book turn regular sharks into killing machines like those things? It’s just screwed up. Although, what can I do about it. I’m only in this for information about the sword I’m after. Nothing else. This city can burn to the ground for all I care.” Zac said, looking up at the sky to see the sky was starting to get darker for the night. “About time.” Zac said.
Zero could hear seven separate roars from the Red Moon Brute clones as they approached their intended arrival as the Red Moon rose at its usual time. “This time, I have to take out at least one of them. If I don’t…Star City will eventually be destroyed completely at this rate.” Zero said, dashing towards the location of where one of the brute roars could be heard. Zero headed for the shopping district where a Red Moon Brute was too preoccupied with eating fruit to see Zero. “That must be one hungry brute.” Zero thought, sneaking past it to try coming up with a plan to defeat it while it was distracted with eating to notice him. “A Red Moon Brute with a rather large appetite for food that humans eat. When it eats, it’s far too distracted to notice its surroundings as it eats. This brute seems to have a stomach like a black hole or something. I will deem this one the Red Moon Glutton.” Zero wrote down into a notebook he found in the hospital before he sketched the Red Moon Brute. The “Red Moon Glutton” ate constantly without end until the food was gone in the area it was eating in. Afterwards, it roared and a large hole opened up in the brute’s stomach. Like a vacuum, it sucked up every piece of rubble and building that was in the straight range of the brute’s vacuum stomach. After a bit, the hole closed up, and the glutton went to eat more food. Zero was shocked at what he saw. A stomach that acted like a powerful vacuum that sucked up everything in range. “What was that?! That seemed like a black hole stomach or something.” Zero said somewhat loudly which attracted the glutton’s attention. It looked around a bit, and then kept walking towards a location of food. “Did that thing seriously just ignore me and kept going? I guess food is the only thing this one thinks about. This brute has that vacuum stomach, but it really lacks common sense. Maybe I can use that to my advantage.” Zero thought, sneaking through again to observe the Red Moon Glutton, along with finding a way to destroy it.
After looking around the shopping district for a while following the Red Moon Glutton, Zero was unable to find much that he could use to destroy it except for a few tomatoes he could use to distract it, and a box of matches. Although, after some walking around, Zero stumbled upon a few boxes of bombs. Zero decided to take one of the boxes since he knew what to do about the Red Moon Glutton and its vacuum stomach. He grabbed his tools, and started planning out his attack. “Ok, that thing has a stomach like a black hole. If I use the matches to light the bombs when that thing opens it stomach, I could end up blowing it up from the inside. Although, how do I get it to open up its stomach? That’s the problem. Wait…it’s still a Red Moon Brute. It knows its job is to kill me off, so if it notices me, it’ll attack quickly. That’ll work perfectly. Time to get to work.” Zero said, looking around for where the Red Moon Glutton was. It was walking around, eating fruit off the ground without noticing where Zero was. He put the matches in his pocket, and carried the box of bombs and the tomatoes with him. “Hey, Red Moon Brute, try this for a change!” Zero said, throwing a tomato at the Red Moon Glutton. It quickly turned around and ate the tomato before it was hit. It finally noticed Zero, and let out a loud roar before its black hole stomach opened up and tried to suck in Zero. He quickly got a bomb and a match out, and lit the match before lighting the fuse for the bomb. “Have a taste of this.” Zero said, throwing the bomb into the brute’s stomach.
The hole closed up, but the Red Moon Glutton breathed out smoke, and stepped back a bit. “Good, the bomb worked. It must’ve exploded upon its stomach closing up. This is perfect. At this rate, I can kill this one by midnight.” Zero thought as the Red Moon Glutton let out an even louder roar, and the hole in its stomach grew bigger, and its power to suck up things like a black hole grew stronger. Zero tried to resist being forced into the monster’s stomach by lighting and throwing two more bombs into its stomach, causing a far worse explosion on the Red Moon Glutton than before. The brute was enraged, going into a complete frenzy as its pitch black body turned bright red, and it started rolling around the shopping district, destroying everything that got in its path. Afterwards, it stopped rolling, and its stomach hole grew to an immense size when it started using its vacuum-like powers. The force of the vacuum-like attack was far stronger than before. Zero got a match out and lit another bomb, but before he was able to throw it, he was soon vacuumed into the black hole stomach of the Red Moon Glutton. It calmed down and burped before going back to what it was originally doing.
“A stomach like a black hole. Black holes are endless things. Nothing, no matter what it is, can come out of one. Does that mean…I’m dead? No. This can’t be it for me. There must be something up with that black hole stomach. I would’ve died the second I made contact with it. I don’t know…..maybe I’m just floating around somewhere, maybe I am…maybe not. I’m not sure…not in the slightest.”
Zero woke up in a somewhat shallow lake of blood somewhere. The walls and ceiling were pitch black, and the general area was huge. Zero got his bomb out of the blood, which turned out to have been defused. “What happened? The last thing I remember is getting absorbed by that black hole stomach. Now where am I?” Zero wondered, looking around to find any type of exit, but it seemed like he was completely trapped in the mysterious location. “Great…how do I get out of here?” Zero thought. He walked around a bit, looking for an escape route out of wherever he was. All around him, Zero could hear a faint beating from below, like that of a human heart, but far slower than a human’s heart. “Something’s really screwed up here. This place isn’t normal. It’s like there’s something underneath all of this blood. Something unnatural. I may as well go check it out.” Zero said, holding his breath before diving down into the water. Under the blood seemed far deeper than it appeared while above it. Zero swam through the blood as fast as it would let him. He looked around and saw what looked like a snake tail swimming around. Zero swam back up for a breath of air before going back down. He heard a snake hiss as he looked around again.
Zero swam down the blood water to reach the bottom while holding his breath. Every so often, he could hear the hissing of a snake. Zero nearly reached the bottom before something grabbed him by the leg and pulled him away quickly. Zero was thrown out of the blood water back onto solid land before a large, demonic snake rose out of the blood and let out a roar. “Great…a snake. This is going to be one long night.” Zero said before dodging a powerful strike from the snake with its attack causing a large splash of blood water. Zero tried to get behind the snake, but it grabbed him with its tail and smashed him into the water, trying to drown Zero. He managed to get one of his hands free from the snake’s grip, so he took out his sword and cut the part of the tail that was constricting him. The snake let out a cry of pain as Zero swam up to the surface. The snake’s tail was slowly starting to grow back somehow, so Zero took action by throwing his sword at the snake’s head. The sword hit the snake in the jaw, causing it to fall to the ground. Zero quickly ran onto the snake, took the sword from its jaw, and then got on top of its head and thrusted his sword into its skull multiple times without mercy. The snake recovered and started going berserk to try shaking Zero off. He held tight onto his sword to prevent flying off of the snake’s head. Zero thrusted the sword into the snake’s skull one more time to pierce his blade through the snake’s entire head. Blood gushed out of the snake’s head like a geyser of water as it fell into the water with Zero still holding on. He grabbed his sword before falling underwater with the dead snake. After some drifting down, Zero fell out of the blood water into a strange red chamber out of the water that seemed to have a heart of some kind in the center of the room. Its slow beating pulsated through the room strongly. Zero took the last bomb he had out along with a match. “Alright, let’s blow this up and get out of here.” Zero said, lighting the match before trying to light the fuse on the bomb, but it failed. He tried to light it again, but it still failed. “This isn’t good. I think that blood water screwed up the bomb. This thing won’t spark at all.” Zero said as he tried to light the fuse on the bomb many times until the match was useless. He used three more matches until the fuse finally lit.
“About time. Now, time to book it out of here.” Zero said, putting the bomb next to the heart. Just as he started to leave, the snake had woken up, fully recovered. It shook its head and glared at Zero, ready to attack. “That thing’s still alive?!” Zero thought as he started to run with the snake chasing him. It slithered after him at a fast speed while Zero looked for an escape route. It took a bit of time, but he found the exit just in time. Zero ran through it, but it closed up before the snake could get through it.
Outside, the Red Moon Glutton was feeling weird. Its black hole stomach opened up and spit up Zero. Afterwards, a ton of smoke came out of its mouth as it fell to its knees. The Red Moon Glutton felt weird and soon exploded into nothing as the dark power that it possessed soon headed back up to the Red Moon. “Well…that disaster is finally over. One down, six to go.” Zero said as the sun soon started to rise for the morning. “Crap. The salesmen around here will be coming soon. That demon ate all the food here. I better get going before I get blamed for this mess.” Zero said, running off. On a rooftop of a building, Zero had to patch up all his injuries from his fight against the large snake that was inside the Red Moon Glutton’s stomach. From a distance away lied the power plant, but lately, the power has been flicking on and off constantly, along with the corruption of machines. Zero jumped off the building and headed for the power plant. Since there was no school at all, Zero was free to go around during the day until nightfall.
Once Zero reached the power plants, many corpses with melted faces were scattered around the front gate for some reason, but they seemed rather recently killed. “How did this happen? These guys look like their faces were burned off by a powerful acid. I have a really suspicious feeling about this place, especially since the gate is closed up.” Zero said, walking towards the suspiciously dead corpses. He climbed over the fence and felt a very strange presence within the power plant. Zero took his sword out and walked into the plant. More corpses without faces and a strange path since the floor was burned in a path of some kind. Just then, the power went off suddenly. Zero could only see a faint glow of green coming from a distance away. A flash of light was also faintly seen before a loud roar could be heard followed by the power coming back on. “Ok, that was weird. That power outage was rather sudden.” Zero thought before he continued walking through the hall. One of the doors appeared melted down for some reason, so Zero went through it into a large generator room. There were signs of something making contact with the generator since there were two strange prints on the generator. It was faint, but still able to be noticed. Soon, the power went out again. A strange, electric looking creature came out of a large computer towards the generator, absorbing energy from it. “Is that a Red Moon Brute clone? No, that’s impossible. Red Moon Brutes only appear at night.” Zero thought as the electric looking creature absorbed energy from the generator.
Somewhere in a mysterious chamber in an underground path underneath a large mountain, Zack woke up, chained to the wall, appearing human, but there seemed to be blood splattered all over the room nearby. On a nearby table seemed to be some type of light blue heart. Zack couldn’t move at all, remembering that the other heart given to him by Mr. Shadow was the new heart he has as a replacement for the old one, leaving him heartless, but still alive. Two masked figures and Zac soon walked into the room, talking about what they were to do next. “So, you’re awake? I’m surprised you’re still even breathing without a heart. You must have some moxie to stay alive without a heart. Although, Mr. Shadow was the original creator of your replacement heart. He is a fool. The modifications on your new heart are in progress. Hopefully, you’ll manage to stay alive.” Zac said.
The electric creature absorbed energy before noticing Zero. It smiled at him with a row of deadly sharp teeth before throwing a lightning bolt at Zero. He dodged quickly to avoid getting hit by the lightning bolt. “This power outage and this lightning creature. I think this monster is a Red Moon Brute clone.” Zero thought as the lightning creature laughed and threw another lightning bolt at Zero. “A possible Red Moon Brute able to absorb the energy from Star City’s power plant to use as a powerful lightning ability. It appears to have no legs, but it has a strange circuit of electricity behind it where its legs should be. It’s also able to hack into anything electric. Until I understand the full nature of this possible brute, I will call it the Red Moon Electric.” Zero wrote in his notebook as he dodged another bolt of lightning. Zero tried to slash at the Red Moon Electric, but the sword conducted the electricity and Zero ended up getting zapped by the electricity. He stumbled back and fixed his hair since it ended up getting screwed up due to the electric attack. “Ok, so I can’t use my sword to fight this thing. How do I kill it without my sword? I don’t really have anything rubber on hand to counteract this thing’s electricity. Wait a minute…” Zero thought before he was struck by a blast of lightning at full force. He couldn’t move as a strange side effect of the lightning blast, giving the Red Moon Electric the edge for the time being. It moved away from the generator and circled around Zero, doing an observation on its enemy. Afterwards, it put one of its hands on the generator to regain electrical energy.
With fully charged energy again, the Red Moon Electric prepared to throw another lightning bolt at Zero. He was finally able to move again to narrowly dodge a faster lightning bolt that ended up flying outside and destroying a streetlight. The Red Moon Electric seemed to be rather attracted to the streetlight. It fired a red lightning bolt at Zero before turning into pure electricity and going into the generator itself. The power soon went back on before the bolt of red lightning smashed down to the floor, starting a large fire. “Elemental lightning? That’s new, but really dangerous. I need to get out of here to stop that Red Moon Brute clone from draining all the electricity from the city. It had a strange look when it saw the streetlight, and with a whole city with electrical objects, it could drain all of it before laying waste to the city.” Zero said as he jumped out the window towards the single streetlight.
Strangely, the electricity was drained from the streetlight completely with lightning powers. “That thing just drained the electricity from that streetlight. If it was attracted to the electricity inside that one streetlight, then it’ll be attracted to far more than just that streetlight. I have to stop that thing quickly. Problem is my sword is useless against that thing since it conducts electricity. I’ll need to find another way to destroy this one before it drains every drop of electricity from all of Star City.” Zero said before running after the Red Moon Electric, trying to figure out how to destroy it.
The Red Moon Electric drained electricity while Zero dashed after it, but it was far too fast for him while it was in the electrical circuits. Soon, Zero stopped running, exhausted while the Red Moon Electric drained energy without a challenge. “This is impossible. How can I fight something I can’t even touch?” Zero thought until an idea came to mind. “I think I have an idea. I’ll need a lot of buckets of water, and I’ll have to bring the level of electric energy on the generator really high to lure the Red Moon Electric out.” He added before getting to work, worried that the Red Moon Electric wasn’t already fully charged with electricity strong enough to destroy the city.
Back at the generator room of the power plant, Zero had placed ten separate buckets of water a distance away from the generator for quick access. He tweaked the generator to increase its electrical energy to lure out the Red Moon Electric. The lights turned off, and Zero could hear a familiar laughter. The Red Moon Electric emerged from one of the lights on the ceiling. It was charged up with electric energy far more than before. It let out a far crueler laugh than before. “I guess all that absorption of electricity made it even stronger now. I’ll have to finish this fight up fast before it drains the generator and destroys the city.” Zero said, putting on rubber gloves and preparing to fight off the Red Moon Electric. It shot many bolts of electricity at Zero, but he used his sword as a lightningrod and his rubber gloves prevented any damage. “I knew this idea would work. Rubber doesn’t conduct electricity, so taking care of you will be a simple feat.” Zero said before charging full speed at the Red Moon Electric, dodging bolts of electricity. Instead of attacking with his sword, Tyrant picked up a nearby bucket of water and threw it onto the Red Moon Electric. It’s electric body somehow went out, making it appear to be a regular Red Moon Demon. “Easy kill.” Zero said before kicking the Red Moon Electric down to the floor before finishing it off. After Zero removed his sword from the demon’s chest, the Red Moon Electric got up and flailed around a bit before exploding into a blast of electricity. Many bolts flew around the plant after the death of the Red Moon Electric, destroying things they made contact with. One of the bolts hit Zero, striking straight through him like a large bolt of lightning during a storm. Zero felt weak and dropped his sword before falling to the floor into unconsciousness.
Somewhere on the strange island, the Red Moon Shadow and the remaining Red Moon Brute clones were discussing their future plans. They were in an old temple with a strange red glow in the entire temple. All of them were at a large table with no chairs while they discussed their plans. “The Red Moon Glutton and the Red Moon Electric have recently been defeated by that human.” One of the clones said, sitting in the shadows. “Ha! Those two were weaklings. They didn’t stand a chance. Both of them were too caught up in destructive goals instead of killing that kid.” A man said, holding a crystal ball.
This human appeared mostly average compared to most regular humans. He had short, slightly spiky purple hair with white streaks. He had the cold yellow eyes of a Red Moon Demon, but overall appeared to look like a human in nearly every detail. He wore a light blue t-shirt and some black pants, all stained with blood. Other than that, he wasn’t wearing any shoes.
“You appear rather confident in your abilities, Psychic. Why don’t you go after the human? Your powers give you a human form already to blend in with the humans.” the Red Moon Shadow said. “I’m already one step ahead of you with my strategy. I’ll let him come to me. I have a disguise to keep up.” The human said. “Perfect. This meeting will come to a close. Red Moon Psychic, I need to speak to you alone regarding the mission.” The Red Moon Shadow said as the other brutes walked out except the Red Moon Psychic and the Red Moon Shadow.
“The human is rather elusive. You’ll need to trick him into going to you at night.” The Red Moon Shadow said. “I know that. I already have a few humans under my control who go to that kid’s school. A bit of gossip, and he’ll easily be lured in with false hope.” The Red Moon Psychic answered. “Excellent. I expect a successful job out of you, Psychic. Now, get going.” The Red Moon Shadow said before the Red Moon Psychic walked out of the temple towards the other brutes. “Looks like I’m up next tomorrow morning.” The Red Moon Psychic said to the other brute clones. “You’re bound to screw it up, Psychic. This kid may be human, but he has the mark.” One of the brutes sitting in the shadows said. “That’s no problem. The mark doesn’t always activate. That gives me an edge, especially since he wouldn’t kill innocent people. Trust me, Reaper, I have this all set up already.” The Red Moon Psychic said, feeling rather confident about its abilities. “I find that rather hard to believe. Although, just in case you manage to screw everything up, I’ll have to clean up your mess. That mark can’t counter my special curse.” The Red Moon Reaper said, staying in the shadows.
Zero was surrounded by absolute darkness, completely silent. He was unable to move any part of his body at all for some reason. Zero had no idea what happened only what felt like it was recent. His battle against the Red Moon Electric. He awoke in the strange sword graveyard, but after what he saw from his first visit, the place was not where Zero really was. Like before, he didn’t have his sword with him, and he had a major injury on his chest somehow. “What…happened?” Zero thought, standing up.
He walked through the same path he took in his first visit to the graveyard, finding only the same old stuff. Zero walked straight ahead far longer than his first visit to the area until he found an old monk temple. Zero walked up the many stairs leading up to the front doors until they were right in front of him. The mark on Zero’s arm started to glow, and it caused a strange reaction, making the door open up on it’s own. A bright light quickly flooded out of the door and engulfed the entire graveyard, including Zero.
After the door to the monk temple opened up, Zero awoke underneath a large tree on a hill in Star City. It was still night, and the Red Moon was going down slowly for dawn. He felt like a spear was thrown straight through him. “What happened to me?” Zero wondered, looking around the area to figure out where he was. The Red Moon was soon gone from the sky, returning Star City to it’s semi-normal state as the sun started to rise. “It’s finally morning. I better get to school.” Zero said, standing up and grabbing his sword. He had a hard time walking as a result of the pain he felt as he headed into the city.
Zero managed to get to the school on time, but when he walked in, people looked at him without saying anything. They all noticed Zero was seriously injured, but nobody bothered to mention it to Zero. “This pain is far worse than I thought. I can’t stand it.” Zero thought as he walked towards his classroom. On his way there, he heard some gossip about a strange fortune teller. “Did you hear? That weird fortune teller guy’s fortunes actually become a reality.” A girl said to her friend. “It’s like that fortune teller can really see the future with that crystal ball of his.” A guy said to his friends. “There seems to be a lot of talk about a fortune teller with the ability to see the future. That’s impossible. Seeing the future is a useless effort.” Zero thought as he walked into his classroom and sat down in the back row.
Throughout the day, Zero heard talk about the fortune teller, but nothing about where to find him. As usual, Zero left the school to go eat lunch at the clock tower himself while his injuries healed. Meanwhile, Zac was walking through the city with a bag full of tools he picked up. As he walked, he found a strange fortune teller sitting on the sidewalk, holding a weird crystal ball. The guy’s face was hidden by a mask of tragedy, and he wore a strange red, demon-like cap on his head. Zac sensed really high levels of dark energy coming from the fortune teller. “Something feels wrong about this fortune teller…” Zac thought before continuing to walk by.
Once school ended for the day, Zero headed back towards the clock tower for a bit until he saw the fortune teller was right in front of the clock tower. “Is that the guy?” Zero wondered, approaching the fortune teller. “Ah…hello there, young soul. I am Master Psychic. I already know why you are here. You want me to read your fortune.” The fortune teller said. “Well, I guess so.” Zero answered, slightly confused. “Good. Let us see what your future holds.” The fortune teller said as the crystal ball glowed blue, along with the eyes of the fortune teller. Time went to a standstill as the fortune teller received the vision of the future. Afterwards, time returned to normal speed, but at that moment, Zero noticed that the Red Moon was already rising. “You will have an encounter with a young maiden. You will forget about the time. Your feelings will be conflicted by the end of your meeting with the girl. Although, I see more in your future.” The fortune teller said as Red Moon Demon roars began to echo through the city. Zero stepped back and got his sword out as the fortune teller stood up. “I see you will be killed by me. That is also in your future.” The fortune teller said as his crystal ball started glowing red and shot a blast of energy at Zero. He didn’t expect the attack, and took it directly before being sent flying into a nearby building.
Zero quickly got out of the rubble and headed towards the fortune teller. “Just what was that about?” Zero asked before quickly dodging another energy blast. “I predict you die tonight. You die by my cla—I mean hands.” The fortune teller said before firing another energy blast at Zero. Zero managed to luckily dodge it, but it quickly exploded afterwards. “That kid…such a fool.” The fortune teller thought, assuming Zero was dead before starting to walk away. Although, after a few moments, he quickly dodged a sword tossed at him. Zero walked out of the smoke from the explosion, mostly unharmed. “Impossible. How did you survive that explosion?” the fortune teller asked as Zero picked up his sword. “I was able to avoid the attack itself, but the explosion got me after that. It was really weak, though.” Zero said before nearly landing a clean hit on the fortune teller until claws came out of his fingers, blocking the attack. “Impossible. There’s no way that’s possible.” Zero said as the fortune teller pushed Zero back with a wave of psychic energy. “Foolish boy. I’m surprised you didn’t see the truth by this point. I may appear human, but I am far different than you see me to be right now. Allow me to show you what I mean.” The fortune teller said. His crystal ball started to glow red again, and the fortune teller quickly became a humanoid Red Moon Brute. “I am the Red Moon Psychic. Master of psychic powers.” The new Red Moon Brute said.
Back in the mayor’s office, the Red Moon Shadow was busy planning out what to do next while drinking some coffee. “Just what is this weird human concoction?” the Red Moon Shadow thought before slamming the cup onto the table, easily causing it to break. “The Red Moon Psychic is bound to fail. Hopefully, Reaper is on standby until he finds out that Psychic was killed in battle. Things are going well for now.” The Red Moon Shadow said until something started slamming on the front door. Something big. The doors flew open, and a Red Moon Brute with an entire body of crystals walked into the office. “Ah, the Red Moon Crystal. What are you doing here? You should be on standby or killing humans.” The Red Moon Shadow said. “No, because being on standby is boring, and these humans can’t even break through my defenses. In fact, sending just one of us to go after that swordsman kid is the dumbest plan ever.” The Red Moon Crystal answered in a loud, demanding voice. “I need to keep you brutes alive. That’s why I only send in one at a time unless the situation calls for it.” The Red Moon Shadow answered, but the Red Moon Crystal slammed its hands on the mayor’s desk, easily breaking it with its brute strength. “That kid wouldn’t be a problem if you just let Reaper curse him.” The Red Moon Crystal said.
“You don’t get it. The Red Moon Eclipse is coming up soon. I need to preserve as many Red Moon Demons before the eclipse as possible. That’s why I’ve proceeded with the plan this way,” The Red Moon Shadow said, moving over to the window, “You understand how this works, right? With a large enough horde of Red Moon Demons, we can kill the remaining humans, including the one with the mark.” The Red Moon Shadow added.
“So you were a Red Moon Brute clone this entire time, huh? This could be a problem.” Zero said. “You don’t know the beginning of the case of a problem. Let’s see if you can fight those you can’t kill.” The Red Moon Psychic said, snapping his finger. In minutes, a large group of people with a strange purple glow around them and red eyes soon entered the area, surrounding Zero and the Red Moon Psychic. “How’s this for power? Humans are such fools trying to trust a Red Moon Brute of my type.” The Red Moon Psychic said. “What did you do to all these innocent people, Red Moon Psychic?” Zero asked as the Red Moon Psychic coldly laughed.
“Every human that dared visit me to get their fortunes were put under my control. All of these humans have become my personal puppets. No will of their own can fight my power.” The Red Moon Psychic said. “You monster! Why would you do such a thing to all these innocent people?” Zero shouted, but the Red Moon Psychic simply laughed some more. “Humans are nothing to us Red Moon Demons. We are almighty, so it’s simple we should have a complete rule over humans. Especially a Red Moon Brute like me that can actually control them with my powers,” The Red Moon Psychic explained, “And as a result, now I have myself a large army you can’t kill.” The Red Moon Psychic added. “So, you demons act as if humans that can’t defend themselves from darkness are nothing more than tools to benefit your own sick goals. Sure, humans aren’t magical demons that came from a Red Moon. We may be weaker than you demons, but there are things we humans have that you can only dream of.” Zero answered before the Red Moon Psychic laughed, along with all his hypnotized minions. “Your little saying won’t be helping you escape this fight. Minions, attack him.” The Red Moon Psychic said before all his minions took out knives and started their attack on Zero.
At the Star City News Station, the camera crew was ready for the 7 o’clock news broadcast. Sean Andrews had finally recovered from his whip injuries while being tortured by Mr. Shadow, and he was put back to work. He was sitting in a small room with his assistant, drinking a cup of coffee and grabbing his camera. Soon, Sean’s boss walked into the room. “Andrews, come with me.” Sean’s boss said before walking outside. Sean put his coffee cup down and followed his boss to his office. The office was fairly large with a few large reading chairs. The carpet was a bright red color, and there were many bookshelves and old cameras in the room. “Sit down, Andrews. I have a job for you.” Sean’s boss said. He quickly did what he was told, and sat down.
“I know it’s been a while since your last job, but there’s some really important things going on in Star City. The mayor’s disappeared. No signs of the biker known as the Shadow Rider. Stronger monsters are running around at night as well. Plus, I recently heard there’s a large group of people near the clock tower. It’s weird for a cult thing while the Red Moon is out. I want you to go check it out, and make a good report for the eleven o’clock news for tomorrow morning.” Sean’s boss explained, handing Sean a camera. “Bring a camera crew if you need one. Just be careful out there, Andrews.” Sean’s boss added. Sean nodded, and left the office, heading down towards the parking lot. “A cult thing, huh? Something tells me this is more than just a cult. I also bet that weird kid who rescued me before will be there.” Sean said.
The Red Moon Psychic laughed while Zero was being attacked by all the controlled people. “Slice him to bits! Rip him apart! I want to see over three thousand knife marks all over this dumb kid’s body while he bleeds to death.” The Red Moon Psychic ordered. “I…can’t kill these people. They’re innocent. The Red Moon Psychic is a cruel monster. I won’t let it end like this.” Zero thought until his mark started to glow. A strange wave from his mark pushed all the controlled people back as Zero got up. The mark spread again, starting to show on Zero’s right hand and his neck. “Finally, I get to fight you at your true strength. Let’s see what you have now, kid.” The Red Moon Psychic said.
“Crystal, you know you wouldn’t even exist in this world if it wasn’t for me. You already owe me for that.” The Red Moon Shadow said, but the Red Moon Crystal simply punched the wall. “You really think I should devote what I have right now for life to an idiot who doesn’t think outside the box? I’d rather bow down to the humans.” The Red Moon Crystal loudly answered. The Red Moon Shadow simply approached the Red Moon Crystal, preparing to strike. The Red Moon Shadow clawed at the Red Moon Crystal, but it used its left arm to take the hit, leaving three claw marks on his left arm. “So you can actually pierce through my crystal body? If you want a fight, you got one. A Shadow Battle.” The Red Moon Crystal said. “Fine. I’ve wanted a good Shadow Battle to prove my dominance over the Red Moon Demons.” The Red Moon Shadow said.
Sean and his camera crew left the news station in a news van and headed for the clock tower. Zero looked around him as the controlled people walked towards him. He got his sword out, and glared at the Red Moon Psychic. It was ready to launch an attack, but before it could use its magical powers, the news van sped in and slammed into the Red Moon Psychic, sending it flying into the clock tower while causing it to drop its crystal ball. The news van backed up a bit, and the camera crew got out of the vehicle, along with Sean. Zero watched the camera crew set up for their broadcast without saying anything.
It took them a few minutes, but the crew was ready. Sean was handed a mike, and got ready to roll. “Ok, action!” a guy said as the cameraman turned on the camera. “Good evening, Star City. This is Sean Andrews; live at the scene of a possible mystery cult here in the middle of the city at the clock tower.” Sean said before walking over to one of the controlled people. “So, kind sir, tell me something. You’re a member of this cult, correct? Do you know who the cult leader might be?” Sean said to the guy. “Kill…swordsman.” The guy simply said before Sean pushed the controlled person away. The camera quickly went off somehow, and large waves of psychic energy pushed back everyone but Zero, who wasn’t fazed by the attack. “You…are a thorn in my side…human.” The Red Moon Crystal said as it walked out of the clock tower, picking up its crystal ball. “I had a feeling it would survive that. It’ll take more than a news vehicle ramming into a Red Moon Brute to kill it.” Zero said as the Red Moon Psychic walked over to Zero. It let out a cruel growling sound, preparing to attack.
The Red Moon Shadow and the Red Moon Crystal stared face to face before they started fighting. The Red Moon Crystal created many crystal bolts of lightning using its powers before throwing them at the Red Moon Shadow. The Red Moon Shadow closed its eyes and quickly slashed around at mach speeds. When it opened its eyes, the crystal bolts ended up being chopped up like confetti, causing no harm at all. “Pathetic. Watch this.” The Red Moon Shadow said as it sank into the ground. Afterwards, many Red Moon Shadows emerged from the ground and circled around the Red Moon Crystal. They all didn’t say anything and punched the Red Moon Crystal every two minutes. “Stop trying to fool me with your illusions!” the Red Moon Crystal said before smashing his hands onto the floor before many large crystals came out of the ground around the Red Moon Crystal, destroying all the illusions. He wasn’t aware of where the Red Moon Shadow was before getting clawed at his back. The Red Moon Crystal stumbled back a bit before shooting a crystal at the Red Moon Shadow to try keeping it pinned down, but it didn’t work.
Sean got up and noticed the camera was still filming, so he quickly picked it up and kept the recording going. “Powers of the seven dark psychics, come to me in my time of your use. Assist me in destroying the boy with the special mark. Unleash absolute darkness!” the Red Moon Psychic chanted before his crystal ball glowed black and a dark energy started to pour out of it. “This is amazing.” Sean thought as the dark energy went up into the clouds, spreading around the area in the sky, blocking the light from the Red Moon and leaving only darkness. A dark aura surrounded the Red Moon Psychic as his eyes turned red. “Something’s wrong. Its energy has rose up to an extreme stage. It feels far worse than before.” Zero thought. The Red Moon Psychic roared, unleashing a wave of dark energy, pushing Zero into a tree. “You see, in this type of darkness, my power grows. It grows beyond regular psychic power. Now, you will witness firsthand what kind of darkness I can unleash.” The Red Moon Psychic said.
A large amount of darkness soon began to radiate from the Red Moon Psychic’s crystal ball before a large blast of energy was unleashed from it towards Zero before violently exploding near its intended target. Zero charged out of the smoke towards the Red Moon Psychic, but it was able to shoot a blast of energy at Zero before exploding in his face. “That mark is protecting him. Although, it can’t last forever. Once the mark wares off, he’s finished.” The Red Moon Psychic thought, moving back before Zero walked out of the smoke, unharmed. “What is up with this kid?!” the Red Moon Psychic said before Zero went in for another attack. Before Zero was able to attack, the Red Moon Psychic launched a blast of energy at Zero, immediately exploding after being released. “There’s no way he’ll still be alive after that attack.” The Red Moon Psychic said until Zero’s sword flew out of the smoke, and went through the Red Moon Psychic. Its crystal ball broke into pieces, and the Red Moon Psychic fell to the ground with the sword stuck in its chest. Zero walked over to the Red Moon Psychic and pulled his sword out of its chest. “So, this is how I go down. It sucks I won’t be alive to feel the power of the eclipse.” The Red Moon Psychic weakly said. “What eclipse?” Zero asked, but the Red Moon Psychic laughed as the light of the Red Moon started to shine again. “Figure it out…yourself.” The Red Moon Psychic said before disappearing into nothingness.
The Red Moon Shadow charged at the Red Moon Crystal, but before the attack was successful, the Red Moon Crystal managed to grab the Red Moon Shadow by the neck. “Crafty little basterd. Time to finish you off.” The Red Moon Crystal said, turning it’s free hand into a crystal sword. He cut the Red Moon Shadow with the sword, but the Red Moon Shadow only disappeared in a burst of smoke. “Damn, it was an illusion.” The Red Moon Crystal said before the real Red Moon Shadow appeared from the shadows and cut the Red Moon Crystal’s sword arm off. No blood came out since the arm was made of crystal, but the Red Moon Crystal let out a roar of pain. “No more games. I should’ve used this move from the start.” The Red Moon Crystal said before pressing its hand on the ground. “Crystal Seal!” the Red Moon Crystal said as the floor around the Red Moon Shadow started to glow light blue. The Red Moon Shadow tried to get away, but it was as if it was completely frozen, unable to move a muscle. Crystals came out of the ground all around the Red Moon Shadow, trapping it. “The seal isn’t so easy to break, Red Moon Shadow. Face it, you may look different, but you’re still just a Red Moon Demon. It’s natural that Red Moon Brutes have far more strength and skill than a simple Red Moon Demon.” The Red Moon Crystal said, putting its arm back on. The seal soon took its effect, and the Red Moon Shadow was sealed up in a crystal prison.
Zero sheathed his sword after the Red Moon Psychic died before starting to walk away until he heard the braying of a horse. “I had a feeling that Psychic would easily fail. That mark is quite the annoyance.” A voice said. Zero turned around to see the Shadow Rider, clad in black armor and riding a pitch black horse with a flaming mane of black fire. “The Shadow Rider?” Zero wondered until the Shadow Rider charged at Zero with a scythe. He quickly dodged the attack, but an aftermath wave of darkness smashed Zero back towards the clock tower. “I’ll be taking care of that mark of yours. Watch and learn, kid.” The Shadow Rider said, jumping off his horse and grabbing Zero by the throat. He made a strange ball of darkness appear in his hand, and thrusted it into Zero’s arm at the center of the mark.
Zero flailed around as the mark reacted, glowing red. A dark red aura soon started surrounded Zero as he fought to break free from the Shadow Rider’s grip. “This energy…it’s far different than before. What is this kid?” the Shadow Rider thought. Zero’s hair soon started turning brown, and he was growing angrier by the moment as the Shadow Rider tried to force the ball of darkness into Zero’s arm. He was slowly losing control of himself, nearly ready to rip apart the Shadow Rider until something he heard stopped him in his tracks. “Don’t do it, Zero!” a voice shouted out. Zero quickly calmed down and returned to normal. The Shadow Rider shrugged, and dropped Zero. “It’s obvious he doesn’t have the willpower to control the true power of the mark. The graveyard is where you’ll find me. Try to face me if you dare.” The Shadow Rider said. His horse brayed, and galloped away. “If he can control the mark’s true power…he’ll be unbeatable.”