Saito headquarters

Kiochi had spent the previous night at Mr. Takahashi's dojo learning about the Kamaitachi martial art and learning more of Rin's embarrassing childhood moments.

Apparently, Rin’s fear of bugs surpassed everything else in the world, Kiochi took note of that, in case he and Rin became enemies one day.

Maybe he would wear a bug suit, if they ever happened to cross blades.

Kiochi also met Rin's mother, Mrs. Yuma Takahashi.

She was a gentle woman who didn’t say or do much.

Well, there was one odd moment when Kiochi and Rin reminisced about their training as Kynigoi.

Rin recalled getting injured and suddenly the air became quite chilly.

Kiochi looked around to check if wind was blowing in from an open window but instead his eye’s met Rin’s mother’s.

The shear intensity of her gaze far surpassed that of Rin’s father.

At that moment, Kiochi vowed to never lay a finger on Rin unless he had to.

The morning came quickly and for the first time in a long time, Kiochi was excited.

Mr. Takahashi told Kiochi that he would teach him the Kamaitachi martial art and from what Kiochi had seen, the art allowed even humans to surpass the limits.

Kiochi got dressed in some casual clothes, but wore his bullet proof vest under his hoodie.

[Aren’t you a little too excited?]

Eve asked.

‘Not at all!’ Kiochi replied energetically.

He took the executive elevator down to the lobby but found Ichika Kobayashi waiting for him.

“Good morning, Mr. Suzuki. Mr. Saito asked me to tell you that you should come back from training as early as possible as Mr. Saito has an announcement later.” She said.

Kiochi gave her a thumbs up and skipped out of the building.

After taking a cab he arrived at the dojo but found that it was empty.

He entered the dojo and was greeted by Mrs. Takahashi.

“Good morning Kiochi. Rin and his father are waiting for you in the training hall. Oh and please get changed before you enter the training hall.” She gently asked.

Kiochi complied and changed into the dojos uniform, except he removed the top and wore his bulletproof vest.

Kiochi walked into the training hall and saw Mr. And Mrs. Takahashi standing near the center along with Rin.

“Oh, my. I don’t think that’s how you’re supposed to wear that.” Mrs. Takahashi said.

“Boy, what’s wrong with you? Don’t tell me you go everywhere with that thing.” Mr. Takahashi said.

“Oh, this?” Kiochi innocently pointed at the vest.

“Sorry, sometimes I just put it on subconsciously, hehe.” Kiochi laughed awkwardly.

He did look a bit odd, seeing as he was dressed in black pants and a bulletproof vest, compared to Rin and his father who wore the complete Takahashi dojo uniform.

As for Mrs. Takahashi, she wore a beautiful kimono which was in stark contrast to the casual attire she wore the day before.

“Bah, appearances matter not! We are here today to train, not to look good.” Mr. Takahashi said.

“Ok, now I want to see something for myself. Rin, you’re going to spar with Kiochi whilst he’s in that weird form of his.” Mr. Takahashi said but Rin wasn’t completely on board with that plan.

“Wait a minute dad! That’s not fair! Didn’t you see the footage from that night? You know what he can do when he’s like that and yet you still want me to spar with him?” Rin complained.

“Listen to your father Rin. I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.” Mrs. Takahashi said and Rin’s tantrum instantly came to an end.

“Ok.” Rin said as he reluctantly walked to the center of the dojo.

Mr. and Mrs. Takahashi stepped further backwards.

“Um… will Mrs. Takahashi be ok with the transformation?” Kiochi asked.

“Oh, her? Don’t worry she’s also a wisdom holder. Actually, she many times smarter than this old man, it’s a miracle she’s not on the council, Haha!” Mr. Takahashi said proudly.

Kiochi gave a nod in acknowledgement and faced his opponent.

Rin might have been an easygoing person on the inside, but he was still a C ranked Kynigoi.

As for his specific rank, any Rank below B doesn’t have a specific number assigned to it, that’s because there are so many of them.

Also, this incentivized C ranked Kynigoi to work hard to become B or even A ranked Kynigoi who get their own specific number.

‘Eve?’ Kiochi prompted and almost instantly, she responded.

[PHALANX MODE]

Kiochi’s skin became darker and darker as it’s texture changed from smooth to solid lava like.

He didn’t cover his face with the mask though, as he didn’t want to give Mrs. Takahashi nightmares.

“Oh my!” she gasped.

“See mom? This is what I meant when I said that I didn’t want to fight with Kiochi!” Rin whined.

“Excellent. Now, for the first drill, I want to see how much damage Kiochi can absorb. So Rin, attack him with a you’ve got and don’t move a muscle Kiochi. Also, remove that ridiculous thing.” Mr. Takahashi said.

“Ok.” Kiochi Took off the vest, revealing his torso.

Putting aside his rock like skin texture, one could still see his well defined muscles and his sturdy frame.

“Oh my!” Mrs. Takahashi gasped again.

“Mom, stop looking at Kiochi like that!” Rin complained.

Kiochi ignored their family bickering and readied himself for Rin’s attacks.

Rin calmed himself down and focused on Kiochi.

For Rin, being in the same room as Kiochi was enough for him to start sweating by the bucket load, sparing with him was a matter of its own.

Rin took a deep breath then dashed towards Kiochi and with all the strength in his body, he punched Kiochi in the face.

[PHALANX MODE has additional effects. Impact compensation is one of them. When something strikes you, the force will be distributed across your entire body.]

Rin stepped away from Kiochi seeing as he barely flinched, then tried giving him a surprise kick to the face.

Kiochi took it head on and barely moved again.

Actually, it looked like he was being affected less and less the more Rin hit him.

Rin let out a flurry of attacks, each aimed at vital points, but they all had little to no impact.

‘How are our ethereal energy reserves?’ Kiochi asked and a blue pop up message appeared before him.

It displayed all kinds of information.

[Name: Kiochi Suzuki

HP: 750/750

STR:100/100

END: 80/80

EP:50/150

CG: 5% Boost

DMG multiplier: 1x

SPD multiplier: 1x

Passive skills:

Phalanx mode

Active skills: none]

The information was laid out in such a simple way that Kiochi understood what it all meant instantly.

‘Wow, thanks Eve!’ Kiochi said. ‘but I don’t know what some of those mean…’ He admitted.

[HP is your overall health. I’m constantly monitoring your body’s vitals and in devised a way to show you how “healthy” or “alive” you are. I’m still running a diagnosis on what exactly your muscles and bones are made of and there’s still the mystery of where your strength comes from, but I’ve devised a measurement that allows me to gauge and compare the current you with the previous you. STR represents how much stronger you’ve become. END is your endurance which is currently pretty high due to your training, but we could always improve on it, especially since we don’t know the limits of your body. EP or energy points represents the total amount of ethereal energy you can store within your body. Take now that I’m slowly becoming more efficient at processing it, so soon we’ll able to do more stuff with less energy. CG boost is how fast I can boost your cognitive speed, since mine is several times higher than yours, I can synchronize with you and boost your thinking speed to various levels. Of course I’ve taken into account that you still have a relatively normal brain so I know the limits of what you can handle.]

Kiochi’s mind spun while Rin tirelessly and uselessly threw punches and kicks at his opponent.

[DMG multiplier is pretty simple. This multiplier rises when you add ethereal energy to your attacks. I’m not sure what the results will be though… SPD multiplier is pretty self explanatory. I’m pretty sure that you’re aware of your current and only skill.]

Eve explained.

Kiochi must have been listening to Eve for a while because before he knew it, Rin was on the floor and out of breath.

“Magnificent! That armor of yours is something else. Can you sustain it indefinitely?” Mr. Takahashi asked.

“No. I can only hold it for about two or so minutes and the time decreases with the more damage I take.” Kiochi explained as his armor dissolved and sank into his skin.

After taking a short break for Rin to recover, it was now time for the second part of Mr. Takahashi’s observations.

“Now, I want you to attack Rin at your highest speed without killing him.” Mr. Takahashi instructed and Kiochi nodded.

“What? Isn’t that a bit too reckless?” Mrs. Takahashi asked with a concerned look.

“Not at all, I trust Kiochi will be careful… I hope.” Mr. Takahashi whispered the last bit.

Rin was too tired to complain at this point and so he raised his guard.

Kiochi did some light stretches.

‘Umm… Eve, can you increase my speed?’ Kiochi asked.

[Yes. However, increasing your speed multiplier will consume EP.]

Eve cautioned.

‘It’ll be fine. Do it.’ Kiochi said.

[SPD multiplier set to 2x]

Kiochi felt a burst of energy rush it’s way to his legs.

He was curious as to how fast he had gotten and so he dashed towards Rin, who couldn’t even blink before Kiochi was in his face.

Kiochi was about to punch him when he realized that he couldn’t stop himself.

He tumbled forward and fell clumsily on his butt.

“Whoa!” Rin, who had escaped death mere moments before was shocked to see Kiochi in such a state.

‘Reduce the multiplier!’ Kiochi said.

[SPD multiplier set to 1.5x

EP: 40/150]

Kiochi dusted himself off and then stood in front of Rin again.

Rin’s guard was still up but he had been rattled by Kiochi’s little slip up from before.

Kiochi dashed towards Rin, this time with more control.

He punched him in the face, kicked him behind the knee and threw his body onto the ground.

“That’s enough!” Mr. Takahashi announced as Mrs. Takahashi ran to her son.

Kiochi got up and gave the two some space.

Kiochi didn’t know what happened.

“Kiochi… how did you do that?” Mr. Takahashi asked.

“What? I punched him then-"

“Not that. We didn’t even see you move. It was like a blur.” Mr. Takahashi cut Kiochi off.

‘Eve… just now… how fast were we going?’ Kiochi asked.

[Very fast.]

Eve said.

“I…” Kiochi didn’t know what to say, because this was all also very new to him.

“Rin’s fine. He’s just spooked, that’s all.” Mrs. Takahashi said as she accompanied Rin out of the training hall.

They were all making the expression Kiochi was all too familiar with.

The face he and his comrades had when they were slaughtered by the Aethon’s.

It was the face one would make when they were truly afraid.

“Ok, now it’s time for the real training to begin.” Mr. Takahashi walked to the center of the hall.

“Same conditions as last time. I want you to he as human as possible, ok?” Mr. Takahashi asked.

Kiochi nodded and Eve placed all the limiters that she had before on Kiochi’s body.

Then suddenly, Kiochi started choking.

The room became very dark and was enveloped by a dark purple fog.

It was becoming very hard to breath for Kiochi.

“To be completely honest with you, I was very surprised by what you did back there. So much so that I wondered if I was doing the right thing by teaching you the Kamaitachi art. But the fact that you didn’t harm Rin even at those speeds shows me that you’re good person to some extent.” Mr. Takahashi’s voice said from somewhere Kiochi couldn’t see.

“I have decided to teach you the full Kamaitachi art but in all honesty, I do not have the power to do that. Actually, it is the Kamaitachi themselves who will teach you this most sacred art. Think back to the story… what do you remember?” Mr. Takahashi asked.

Kiochi thought about the story.

About how a wounded soldier was found by the Kamaitachi on the battlefield.

It was then that Kiochi experienced an intense amount of pain on his right arm.

He looked but and what he found made him weep.

His right hand was missing.

It had been cleanly cut, so much so that the blood vessels were open and flowing with fresh blood.

“Harrg!” Koichi screamed into the never ending purple fog.

But his voice soon choked up when his eye’s fell on a black creature.

It was about half a meter tall and had pitch black fur.

It’s dagger like claws and razor like teeth ate away at Kiochi soul even though the creature itself didn’t move.

Kiochi could see what looked like fresh blood dripping down its left paw.

“Make your case Kiochi. Tell the Kamaitachi your troubles.” Mr. Takahashi’s disembodied voice said.

But that thing just cut my hand off! Kiochi cried internally.

The Kamaitachi must have read Kiochi’s thoughts because just as he had those thoughts, he felt a sharp pain just below his knee.

He looked down to see his most of his left leg missing.

Kiochi fell backwards under his own weight and let out choked sobs.

“Please lend me your strength, Kamaitachi!” Kiochi pleaded.

“Our leaders have failed us. I’m not sure why but they have turned their backs on an ancient promise and now all of mankind may pay dearly for it!” Kiochi said as tears ran down his face.”

“Please, help me save my people. Help me save mankind.” Kiochi begged.

The fuzzy black creature approached Kiochi.

He could feel it’s warm breath on his face as it came face to face with him.

Kiochi realized that ever since he met the Aethon’s, he was beginning to felt more and more afraid.

He had experienced many kinds of fear since then and the Kamaitachi were only added to that list of fears.

Kiochi looked straight onto the creature’s black eyes.

It’s eye’s felt like they were calling him.

“Kiochi, think back to the story… what did the soldier offer the Kamaitachi? What will you offer the Kamaitachi?” Mr. Takahashi asked.

Wait a minute! Kiochi thought.

The solder offered to stay with the Kamaitachi, but I don’t know where the forest is. Kiochi thought.

The Kamaitachi sniffed Kiochi curiously.

Kiochi was relived with the fact that he didn’t lose another body part.

What to offer it…

“Come with me… ” Kiochi wheezed.

The Kamaitachi froze.

It tilted it’s head comically.

“Come… with me.” He pitifully wheezed again.

“The world might end soon and I’m pretty sure that’d be more exciting than sitting around in this fog all day.” Kiochi said.

Why was Kiochi speaking like this?

Was it the adrenaline speaking?

Or the loss of blood?

Who knows.

But when Kiochi looked into the Kamaitachi’s eyes, he saw something akin to a pet.

A bored let that was in desperate need of a master.

Yes, the Kamaitachi had a history of dismembering their victims, but they must have been tired of all that, no?

The Kamaitachi stepped away from Kiochi and was enveloped by the fog.

Leaving Kiochi alone as he suffered.

“Crap.” Kiochi cursed as he sobbed.

A few minutes of silence and pain followed as Kiochi wept his pain away.

He was gradually getting accustomed to it.

He deceived himself into thinking that the pain was always there and that it was always a part of him.

But those efforts were futile.

The next thing Kiochi saw was three Kamaitachi running out of the fog and jumping onto his chest.

Then they started viciously chewing at it.

“Aaahhhh!” Kiochi screamed into the never ending fog as the Kamaitachi ripped away at his flesh and broke several of his bones.

Then, after several minutes of endless pain, the Kamaitachi burrowed into the cavity they had made.

Kiochi convulsed wildly in agony.

“Kiochi, what happened? Where are you…”

“I can’t…”

“Kiochi…!”

Mr. Takahashi’s voice began to fade as the Kamaitachi had their way with Kiochi’s innards.

Kiochi’s mind went blank.

Then he saw a blue light.

[K-]

Followed by a buzzing noise.

..

[Kio-]

Another buzzing noise.

.

..

[KIOCHI!]

Eve yelled.

‘What? What’s happening? Am I dead?’ Kiochi asked.

[You’re not dead. Something was interfering with my connection with you and then it integrated itself into your body. I’m analyzing it now.]

Eve explained.

What? Kiochi wondered.

Had the Kamaitachi taught him their arts?

Kiochi tried opening his eye’s.

He saw Mr. and Mrs. Takahashi faces.

He was on a futon.

“What… what happened?” Kiochi asked.

His voice was strained and speaking was rather painful.

“I was hoping that you would tell me. What happened in the fog?” Mr. Takahashi asked.

“They went inside… they’re went inside of me.” Kiochi explained and both the Takahashi’s gasped.

“Impossible. They were supposed to lead you to the forgotten forest and teach you their arts. Unless- Kiochi… what did you offer the Kamaitachi?” Mr. Takahashi asked, his face graver than Kiochi had ever seen before.

“…” Kiochi remained silent.

“Well?” Mr. Takahashi pressured.

“I asked them if they want to come with me to the end of the world, hehe.” Kiochi laughed awkwardly then proceeded to cough painfully.

He could still feel the horrendous pain the Kamaitachi had felt within the fog.

“You did what?” Mr. Takahashi exclaimed.

Mrs. Takahashi held her hand over her mouth to cover the fact that it was wide open.

“I’ll go prepare some dinner. Even though it’s already past midnight.” She got up and left Kiochi and her husband in the guests bedroom.

“This is unprecedented. You know you’re an idiot, right? You were supposed to offer an arm or a leg or something. But to actually summon them here. I don’t know how that is even possible.” Mr. Takahashi pondered.

“But I didn’t want to give them my limbs!” Kiochi complained.

“It’s not literal, you idiot! It’s only meant to test how resolved you are.” Mr. Takahashi hit Kiochi gently on the head.

[Analysis complete. Unidentified program has successfully integrated with all current systems. Designation: Kamaitachi arts.]

..

[You have gained three skills]

..

[First Form

This skill alters your PHALANX MODE armor, giving you sharp blades instead of fingers and optional teeth.

Pro: It increases your speed multiplier to 2x

Con: It sheds 45% of your armor, making you more susceptible to damage.]

..

[Second Form

This skills alters your PHALANX MODE armor, by increasing the overall thickness of the layer of the carbon layer around your body.

Pro: you take 20% less damage and it increases your DMG multiplier to 2x.

Con: Your speed multiplier is reduced to 0.5x]

..

[Third Form

This skill allows you to use the power of the third Kamaitachi to heal certain injuries using ethereal energy.

Pro: you do not have to be in PHALANX MODE to use it.

Con: Unlike the first two which use up 50 EP, the third form uses up 100 EP.]

Eve completed her rundown.

“You want me to show you what I learnt?” Kiochi asked and gradually Mr. Takahashi’s expression shifted from one of worry to one of mischief.

“Definitely. This is the first time this has happened, so if course I want to see what you can do!” He said excitedly.

Kiochi got up and the two made their way to the training hall.

“So, normally a Kamaitachi arts user is given three techniques. The first one increases your overall speed, the second adds significant amounts of power behind your attacks and the last one allows you to stop bleeding to a certain extent.” Mr. Takahashi explained as he got into position.

He demonstrated the first form, which was pretty impressive considering that he was human.

He dashed here and there, coming to a stop in front of Kiochi.

“Now it’s your turn.” He said excitedly.

“Ok.” Kiochi stepped backwards a little.

‘Eve.’ He prompted.

[KAMAITACHI ART, FIRST FORM]

Usually, when Kiochi’s [PHALANX MODE] armor appears, it’s as a black liquid that convers his body as it hardens.

But, this time it was completely different.

Thousands, if not millions of black hairs emerged from Kiochi’s body.

They all multiplied until his entire body was covered in them.

Then they all proceeded bend to their side’s, which made Kiochi’s skin look smooth and almost seamless.

Mr. Takahashi gasped in awe at the sight before him.

Kiochi’s fingers had also been replaced by ten centimeter long blades that looked razor sharp.

Kiochi hadn’t worn the membrane over his faces, so his ink black eye’s were still visible in the moon lit training hall.

“So… what do you think?” Kiochi asked.

Mr. Takahashi just stared at him silently for several seconds before answering.

“We have a lot of training to do.” He said with a monotone and almost exhausted sounding voice.