Chapter 2 THE PAINS OF OBLIVION

The transfigured corpses feasted on the bodies of the living. The people cowered in fear. The population of humans in the surrounding area reduced at an arithmetic progression. Kai was left dazed.

"Come, dearest grandson, let us live forever in the life after death." Kai's grandmother requested of Kai.

"Leave my son alone!" Mr. Nagano growled, unsure of what to refer to this anomaly as. "Babe, we need to take Kai and get..."

He turned around to see his wife getting assaulted by five able-bodied mutants with no place to run to.

"Just like the good ol' days. Am I right, dude?" One of the freaks commented, digging his arms into her breasts.

"You said it, man." Another freak agreed, raising her yukata to reveal her underwear.

"No!" Mr. Nagano exclaimed.

He dashed forth to save his wife, but was speared by a large mutant. It forced him to behold the spectacle they would make of his wife.

"Please, don't do this," Mrs. Nagano broke. She was helpless, and her husband had no choice but to watch her get raped.

Just as one of the mutants was about to take off her underwear, a spark of light rushed through. Before the corpses could comprehend what had happened, their heads were severed from their bodies.

Kai beheld his grandmother's head dismember from her body as she quickly turned back to her skeleton form... Dead again.

The protector revealed himself in stunning fashion. His all-white battle attire flexed his rugged, sinew muscles that had been honed to perfection. With a face that only spelt business which complemented his patterned scars on his arms, he got ready to take off again.

"You did this. Are we gonna die, mister?" Kai innocently asked the mystery man.

"No, Kai. Not when I'm around." His smile reassured the young lad. "See you again... soon."

Like a passing comet, he was out of sight. Mr. Nagano picked up his wife and sought to get his family to the safest place possible.

"Who were you talking to, Kai?" Mrs. Nagano's pointed out the bigger picture. She hoped her son wasn't one step closer to mental instability.

"You didn't see him?" Kai inquired.

They shook their heads 'no' in unison.

"He was the one who saved your life... and mine too." He replied. "I have to thank him."

"No!"

It was too late to stop him, he had already rushed off. He was too fast.

"What's the point stopping him? You raised him that way, right?" Mr. Nagano reminded her. "'You should always show your gratitude to whoever does a good deed to you.' Yeah?"

"What are you saying, Hiroshi? There's a freaking zombie apocalypse happening right now! And you're letting him go?" Mrs. Nagano dared to raise her voice to her husband for the first time since their marriage.

"It's not like we can stop him, Akari. He was already long gone." Hiroshi enlightened Akari. "Besides, we have whoever saved you to protect him, right?"

"You think this is some fictional story where there are heroes to save us from villains? This is the real world, honey."

"Where we supposedly get attacked by mummies who have awakened from the dead? As crazy as it sounds, I'm positive things will turn out just fine."

Hiroshi was a man of his beliefs. A sign had come in form of Kai's vision that the people would be saved. He stuck to it, placing his hopes unto the man that saved his wife.

"Y-y-ou lo-ok pr-et-ty," a monster flirted with a young girl.

This ignited a hellish squeal that invited the attention of the saviour.

'The undead coming to life. Granted otherworldly perks... Releases after I sever technique's target's head. This is probably by means of Seance.' The Man speculated within his mind. "Just what are you up to, Yumiko?"

The mysterious man showed no sympathy, chopping off the head of the monster with his right arm in a charged sprint.

"Oh my God, what was that?" The girl screamed, witnessing the quick demise of the monster as it turned back to a skeleton.

"Where are you, Yumiko?"

Sakura Grove became a centre for survival of the fittest. Innocent lives departed from the world one after the other. The hero could only do this much. He switched gears and found a better course of action: to stop killing the puppets and go for the puppet master herself.

But, where was she?

•••<>•••

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Yumiko's excitement was evident, but short-lived.

"What's your aim, Yumiko?"

"Shujin!" She revealed his name. "What a pleasure!"

"You shouldn't be in here. Aren't you aware of your role as a Daemon?" Shujin inquired.

"Oh, I'm well aware of that."

"Then you should know better than to misuse your powers like this. And, worse of all, on humans?"

"Oh, please. Save it, Shujin. You care more about that sweet little boy than any of the humans. You and I are well aware of that fact." Yumiko hit the nail on the head.

"Stop this, Yumiko. Relinquish your technique, or be prepared to face the consequences."

"Oh I was ready long ago, Shujin. And, know that if you kill me now, my technique wouldn't stop until my heart's last target is eliminated."

"Kai..." Shujin muttered. "You would do no such thing, Yumiko."

"Oh?" She exclaimed. "Watch me!"

Yumiko dashed out of sight. Her sole purpose transitioned. Claiming the life of that which Shujin held dear had its eternal worth to her. Claiming the lives of every human that passed her as a souvenir, she encountered the young lad for the first time.

"Hello, Kai."

"Uh, hey, old lady." Kai responded. "By any chance have you seen a man in a white outfit? I want to thank him for saving my life."

'Impossible... He can see me? He's only human! Unless...'

Her thought process could not be completed. A kick to the medula from behind sent her crashing to the ground.

"What the hell, Shujin!" Yumiko cursed. "You're willing to hurt your kind for this piece of trash?"

"There are things you're unable to understand now, Yumiko. Soon enough you will. Relinquish your technique, and get lost."

Shujin stretched forth his right arm. "Do I need to repeat myself, Yumiko?"

The helpless Daemon got crushed to the ground by an unknown force. Blood splattered all around her, denting the face of Kai.

"Do what you want, Shujin. Until all and sundry are eradicated from Japan, my technique will live on. That's the beauty of my world."

"With pleasure." Shujin readied for another attack.

"Please, don't fight because of me." Kai interrupted.

"Silence!" Yumiko had had enough. A great impulse of energy emanated from her, blasting Kai a great distance from where they were. Kai bled profusely, unconscious and half-dead.

"No!" Shujin exclaimed. "Killing one of my own when they go astray is my duty. You can't force them to change. Their minds are made up already. Sending you to the afterlife is fitting... granting you eternal rest."

"Take me then, great warrior! Show me that eternal rest!" She cackled in the grand facade of her technique's supreme art. An army of the undead emerged from the earth, and Yumiko altered their forms.

Moulding an uzumaki of a blast, she invited Shujin to the gates of hell.

"Esoteric Art..."

The cold, dead words of Shujin caused serenity in Sakura Grove. Conjured from nothingness, azure flames sparked unto reality. Shujin controlled its essence with two fingers of his right arm.

"Convergence!"

Pointing his fingers to the moon, the flames began to converge to form an uzumaki of his own.

"Goodbye, Yumiko." Shujin's final words to Yumiko echoed the fate of death in her ears. "Burn."

In an epic climax, the Daemons unleashed their techniques. The whole of Sakura Grove and all of Tokyo alike were succumbed to the overwhelming, overpowering flames of Shujin. Every transformed corpse turned to ash.

Esoteric Art– he had set the technique to only damage the resultants of the technique and the wielder herself.

Yumiko Kurogawa was defeated, killed by the consequences of her ignorance.

In the aftermath of the confrontation, Shujin sought for Kai. Unbeknownst to him, The remnant of Yumiko's body being her upper body crawled to deliver her final words to the unconscious kid.

"You... you are the cause of my demise! I wish I could complete the process of your death! But, I can grant you something worse than death. Hear me now... the emotion of pain overwhelming my being will be the starting point of your suffering in the journey of life. Kai Nagano... you will know, henceforth, the meaning of true pain!"

The rest of her body sizzled to dust. Shujin soon found his body. Forming a symbol on his forehead, he sealed his memories of the event that had occurred that day. Placing his left palm on his heart, Kai's body glowed white, healing him and restoring him back to full health.

"Goodbye, Kai. See you again..."

He vanished.

"Kai! Kai!" Akari screamed at the top of her lungs as she was united with her son once again.

Hiroshi checked his pulse. Everything seemed to be fine. "He's just unconscious. Let's take him home. This was one heck of a night. He needs some rest."

With Kai on Hiroshi's back, the Nagano family embarked on the journey back home.

••• ∅ •••

"Hey... can I ask you something?... Have you ever known... true oblivion?"

••• ∅ •••