[Fall – Blue City]

The gunshot fired from Jennings pistol and petrified everyone whom it had caught off guard. Both humans and horses alike ran full speed beside their fellow crowd members, away from the chaotic scene, as if the stage had been set ablaze.

Meanwhile Jennings and Penny were aghast, separated at each end of the stage. Isiah remained not only unharmed, but glaring and glowing by the negativity of his own darkness as he stood from his seated position and threw his chair aside in a stout fit of fury.

With a sardonic grin, Isiah decried his son.

“So today's the day your balls finally fucking dropped huh Johnny? Don't you dare think for a second that I wasn't prepped for ya'!”

As if trying to intimidate Jennings, the aura around Isiah continued to expand. It now cast a void of light around the towering man, with a filled-in outline bursting at its shapeless seems.

Stepping back a few paces as a precautionary measure, Jennings was emotional and refused to sway. Focus had always come through at the most convenient moments for him in the past, growing up in Sureal. He was compelled to confide in it once more.

However once another shadow Agi aura manifested beside Isiah, the expression upon Jennings face changed, processing the new information. Soon the environment would be reflected by the gloominess seeped into the sky. The power supplied by using a doubled shadow energy in unison was fierce. Emerging from the seeping stream of black was the outline of a familiar figure. Potentially one of the few men in the world that could remind Jennings about the existence of fear, Fujeh Yorokobi.

Instead of remaining paralyzed, Jennings displayed his own form of supportive Agi. Enlarging by the breathe, hurricane-like icicle swirled in place to entomb the wanted man.

“Run Penny May!”

At the top of his lungs, he requested to his companion, simultaneously launching a horizontal line of sharp ice-Agi engulfed blades in the direction of his enemies. He added effort to ensure the safety of Penny with layers of blue as she began to flee per his request. Their meet up spot was achievable by foot, she would help by being the first to listen to Jennings in recent memory.

Two of the guards that Penny was directly sprinting by, collapsed onto the floor. Seemingly due to the chunks of ice debris lodged in the rear of their skulls, they had fallen from the stage and filled their mortal wounds in with a red flare of carnage. The remaining guards did have their weapons drawn but were overcome with cowardice and scurried for a hiding spot nearby, choosing not to engage further.

Some initial shards had no effect on the two menacing shadow Agists. They simply absorbed the attack with their abilities, winding and weaving backward to establish distance. While Jennings rolled to cover, attempting to avoid their line of sight, Isiah persisted to lecture his son amid the destruction.

“You know Johnny boy, I was the only one stupid enough to raise you and your brother. The same damn brother you yourself killed, if I ain't taken for a pull.”

Revealing his head from his slouched position behind the wooden podium, Jennings let out a primitive yell to epitomize his anger. He fired off three successive bullets at the opposing duo. Juggling his movements, he also correctly predicted a counter-attack by forming a layer of ice to shield himself from the hip-shot blast of shadow Agi emitted from Isiah.

To the outlaw's dismay, although he was able to block a shadow Agi strike, once again the bullets seemed ineffective from longer range, as it gave Isiah enough time to create a shadow mass the size of a human being in front of them. A much larger area than the ones seen previously by Jennings along his mission to eliminate the users of the dark art.

Isiah concluded his lecture by leaning over to Fujeh and saying, “Kill him.”

The aged shadow Agist took one step forward toward Jennings and brandished a short blade with a silver-flowered kilt and handguard. The peach trim glimmered in the glare as shadow coils of darkness shrouded the tip of the scimitar-looking weapon. The blade did not remain bright for long as the same fear-inducing void enveloped its blade.

Fujeh took another step, progressing closer to Jennings was his current motivation and he was a master of executing his own will. While the outlaw promptly prepared to counterstrike, he knew that if he were to attempt to initiate combat, things could end up being a repeat of their last encounter. Before any move is made by either party, Fujeh began to speak in a stern, projected voice.

“I disagree with your clear motives. Agi has the potential to do a lot of good, but yet you refuse to do what's best for it as a force from above. I cannot let the Agi lifestyle become tainted and corrupted by your anger-filled hands.”

In that instant when Fujeh uttered the last word of his statement, a simple blink would have allowed anyone to miss this next motion. He swiftly turned and attempted to stab Isiah with the shadow Agi powered blade. The blade approached within inches of Isiah's flesh, allowing the void point at the edge of the blade to form a mouthlike shape and began to enlarge its agap, shadowed mouth of nothingness at the heavy man.

Once more, he was able to respond by sending out a shock wave-styled, shadow Agi spell. Clouds of dust around the stage billowed out from beneath their elevated position. The force launched both Fujeh and Jennings to their knees, disorientated amongst the debris.

As Jennings recovered and gained back his footing and more importantly, vision. He heard his father's expected response being yelled through the disaster engrossing him.

“You soggy old fuck! How dare you try to backstab me!”

No follow-up voice was heard as the area’s debris began to dissipate. Jennings fixed his attention onto where both men should have be positioned, only to make out the shaded silhouette of Isiah stabbing Fujeh with his own sword. The respected Agist slumped forward, grasping feverishly at the point of contact before he collapsed to the floor motionless. His eyes swelled to a permanent gloss.

With the scene morbidly calm, both men assessed their surroundings. As Jennings rose to his feet, sweat rolled off the back of his hand that wiped his forehead into a dirtier state. His father fixed his sight on him menacingly and professed some unwarranted words.

“Fine, you know I never had a problem handling this my damn self. Same damn burden your mother left me. You really do take from her like she leached from me.”

Knowing that it wasn't a suitable time to be lonesome, Jennings picked up his pistol from the floor next to him and fired in Isiah's direction. None of the bullets found their mark as once again they were absorbed by a colorless orb. He was able to buy enough time to come to the realization that hand-to-hand combat may be risky, but the best approach. Isiah was somehow able to mitigate the effectiveness of small metal bullets, no matter their speed, due to the assistance from the shadow Agi.

Jennings conjured a rain of sharp shards which briefly loomed over Isiah unable to find their mark once they had fallen. He was able to narrowly avoid them by jumping to the side. Only one big chunk of ice found its home in his right forearm, after landing. The opportunity arose for Jennings to rush straight to Isiah and send a blue-glowing, ice covered left fist at his father. His face grew a worried expression as the shadow Agist had caught his entire fist in his palm.

Isiah peered into his son's honed mind. Across from their attached arms he retracts his grasped palm firmly before vanishing behind a black sheet of Agi.

“I got you Johnny.”

The initial sheet that had separated seconds earlier continued to expand at a frightening rate. The fat man proceeded to shroud the entire stage into a murky, transparent black mass with only his laughter able to escape.