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| - The starry night sky was dark. The beauty of the gleam in the sky accompanied by the cool breeze felt calm to the touch. All of nature was seemingly at peace..for a moment. Disrupting the peace, a swirling portal erupted from the sky. The full moon shined magnificently as young man appeared from the portal. He sported few wounds, slowly healed from the time spent in the escaping portal. A scowl was across his face as he looked around; the towering trees stood overhead and the cows of birds flying overhead were sounded. "Oh, how I hate nature" he said distastefully, before leaping toward the branch of a tree. Within a few more leaps and bounds, he found himself perched atop a tree in a park, reminiscing of his past battle and escape that had only occurred 24 hours ago, give or take an hour. Eying a couple that sat at the park bench below him, he grinned wickedly. In seconds, a set horrific screams sounded and then..utter silence. The mangled body of two lovers lay in the grass, and towering over them, ZenchÅ Maebure. "Oh, how I love their blood." he said, licking his lips slowly he read the shirt of the male, "Davis, Year 11 at Karakura High School". --- Myst was talking to one of her many spies that had links back to the Seireitei. He had news that sent shivers down the woman's spine, a rare thing to accomplish these days. The spy informed her of a Reikon Kyuuban who recently appeared out of nowhere, effectively nowhere at any rate. From the sparse details that were known, she knew that whoever it was was an expert at hiding. As the spy walked away, Myst pondered how to find the man, the few details she was given would make even the most hardened tracker become lost in the chase unless he knew what to look for. Just as tried to think of someone, she mentally face-palmed herself. I have his cell number, why not call and see if he can help me? Without a moment to hesitate, she dialed the numbers rapidly, hoping she could get hold of him before it was too late. "Come on, come on....I don't have time for this." Finding she had reached his voice mail, she had to find a way to word the reason for the call. "Ryuichi, It's Myst. I need help. Something big's going down and needless to say, I cannot handle it alone. Call me ASAP. Thanks." she said, hanging up and already wondering who this new Reikon Kyuuban was. --- He drummed his fingers across his desk as he examined ADA's body laid flat on what appeared to be an operating table. His eyebrows furrowed in thought, as he examined the readings on his laptop. A myriad of data ran across the screen and with each passing second Ryuichi's frown deepened. ADA had grown increasingly....erratic the past week, every since his battle with that psychotic Shinigami. He knew the dangers of this dark energy she was accumulating but he had no idea that the rate would increase as it did by using the Final Form. It had exceeded all of his expectations. Hmm perhaps--- "--essage for you master." Drawn out of his thoughts, he glanced towards ADA. He was almost startled to find her mere inches from his face. Blue eyes, with a hint of something...foreign stared back at silver, and he was forced swallow the lump in his throat. Sometimes that stare held a sense of admiration, respect...even longing. At other times....it was like looking in the eyes of a predator. This was one of those times. And they were becoming increasingly common. His mind however raced back to her previous comment, and although he only caught a fraction of it, he still understood the message. No pun intended. "Yes, ADA, what is it?" He asked, giving her a pointed look that conveyed in so many words, that she was invading his personal space. Apparently taking note of his discomfort, ADA casually distanced herself, walking around his desk with an almost sensual charm. How a mechanical construct could even conceive of, let alone pull it off astounded him. "Myst has left you a voice-mail. She sounded...distraught. She requires your aid, it appears urgent. Perhaps you should...?" She let the question hang in the air. He might have been able to fool his classmates, hell even his own father, but he could never fool her. Her growing rampancy had all but dominated his thoughts since their return. He had spent countless hours toiling away from a solution that was intent on evading him. Still, Myst was a friend, probably one of the few he had in this world, he could do to help her out. After-all he did give her his word. "Alright, I'll contact her, prepare my things ADA." She was already underway before the words left his mouth. Just another reason he felt so helpless. ADA was silent, but even he could see the worry in her eyes. Not just for herself but him as well. Regardless, they had a job to do, idly he wondered just what sort problem Myst had gotten herself into as he dialed her number. --- Myst knew Ryuichi would take a short while to get ready, given how he was prepared for everything. However, such a matter as the one that she was in left little time to sit around. She knew the list of places where the monster decided to feed and the names of the victims. Never before had any Reikon Kyuuban in history, as far as she knew, carelessly fed on people, almost leaving the trail of corpses to taunt anybody who knew the truth of the murders. The mass media portrayed it like gang violence and hoodlums taking advantage of the "Twilight" film series' popularity to effectively find more fictional ways to kill targets. Myst knew better. The way the corpses looked so shrunk and hollow. A mere mortal could never have done that, only a true bloodsucking monster could. Whoever the guy was, he was giving RK in general a bad reputation. She thought of calling her friends in the Gotei 13, but threw the notion away as soon as it came. Not that Atsuya would decline helping her, but him openly aiding her would put his very existence at risk, and their friends' as well. Something in the list of the drained people commonly showed up. They all attend the same school. Not to mention the times of death were consistent with when RK normally feed and some of the locations are near the school to begin with. Something tells me that if I stake out the school long enough, whoever it is will show up, or perhaps make a mistake. She thought, walking over to her closet and debating to blend in with the crowd or just sit outside and wait. Wonder if a few of my contacts would be able to pull a few strings? Deciding to just go take a look around, she was able to get to the school with little trouble, mostly because there was no class that day. Whoever the killer was, he was extremely good at hiding the unmistakable feel of the RK's hardwired sense of malice that lingers days, sometimes more, after the kill. "Nothing. Just nothing. So, he doesn't kill here, but every victim attends...He's probably well liked in that case. I wish I had another hint, something that would tell me about this guy." She whispered to herself. "Sometimes, the absence of evidence is in of itself a clue." A voice said behind her. Myst turned to see none other than Ryuichi, dressed in his typical school uniform. With just a glance it was obvious that Ryuichi had gotten stronger since their last meaning, likely having refined his existing techniques. Yet to her perceptible eye, she could tell there was a noticeably wear in his eyes, faint signs of stress dotted all across his normally masked features. He seemed so...old. Ryuichi took the time to examine the area, drifting from one spot to the next, hands carefully tracing themselves across grass and concrete in a precise manner. It was almost as if he already knew what to look for, and was just verifying his own intuition. This continued for over ten minutes, and once he was finished he returned looking less than pleased. "You were right to contact me. Whoever this is, he's good at hiding his presence, fortunately not good enough." He began. The praise seemed odd given his usual demeanor, but the way he described the man's skills hinted at the gravity of the situation. "I found traces of residual spiritual energy, usually they would have faded after a few hours, since most students rarely have enough to leave a fresh trail for long. But I've been able to track the victims. When I realized that, I had ADA analyze their spiritual frequency just to be sure, and found an anomaly." He paused as though gathering his thoughts, though it was likely he was trying to find some analogy in explaining his findings. After a moment, he continued. "Every spiritual power has a unique spiritual wavelength associated with it, a frequency if you will. In the victims I detected a variance, it was as if something had superimposed itself over their spiritual power. Unless you were a Quincy, you wouldn't have detected it. Given the times of death, we can infer that he spent some time tracking them in the early evening and then struck later." His gaze spoke volumes of his control. He was furious, the fact that so many murders had occurred at his own school. The fact that he hadn't even noticed until now must have been eating at him. "I'll need to examine the bodies." He asked rather than stated. Myst nodded. "Then come. I will take you to the poor souls who've fallen to this monster." she said, opening her signature wormhole to her now overly vacant mansion's lowest level . "Ryuichi, I need to tell you something first. Before we see their bodies, you need to know that a Reikon Kyuuban did this." she said solemnly, entering the portal. Once Ryuichi was safely in the room, she walked to a table and yanked off a sheet that covered a young woman who's skin was taut and dry, the tone grey and lifeless. "Sorry I have to show you your classmates like this. Honestly, it kills me to have to, but you're the only one I can trust with this." He recognized them or what was left. Kikyo from mathematics, Akira from physical fitness, and more. Over half a dozen bodies littered the area, each one more gruesome than the next. He swept his gaze over the mounds of mutilated sunken flesh and bone. In others it was as if a wild animal had torn them to shreds, leaving only pieces; an arm here, a leg there. It showed a total disregard of life. In his mind, he could hear their hollow screams of agony as this monster ripped through them, as it drowned itself in their blood. "We will make him pay master." ADA's voice assured him. But even with her assurances, he couldn't shake the feeling that he it was his fault. Had he not been so preoccupied he would have immediately noticed the signs. He should have been able to stop this, he could have stopped this. Instead, six families will have to bury their children without a body. His body shook with rage, but he steeled himself for what was to come. For now he would gather his evidence, and with Myst's help they would plan a course of attack. No matter what happened this night. The bastard was going to die. He pulled out his forensics kit, and began taking samples from all the bodies. He was methodical in his proceedings, and spoke to the bodies, conversing with them as though they were alive. He knew their spirits, had been devoured, existing as nothing more than a fleeting source of power for this fiend. Once he collected the evidence, he had ADA materialize and transform herself into a large piece of machinery, a miniature lab of sorts. He began tirelessly examining the samples for clues, from blood samples, to hair follicles to concentrated vials of residual spiritual energy. All the while Myst conversed with her contacts regarding possible locations and the nature of these attacks. It seemed that even her own subordinates found this to be appalling. It was only an hour into his research that he made a breakthrough. It took some time, but he was able to piece together a working sample of the targets general spiritual composition. Mind you, recreating a specific wavelength of energy, one that would lead to the origin is extremely difficult. He had to decipher which fragments of energy where the students, then separate them. Then he had to create a link between what little physical evidence he obtained to the spiritual, but with ADA's help, what would have taken days took less than sixty minutes. Within his hand, was an isolated aura of energy, the vampires energy to be exact. Now that he had a trace, he could finally begin tracking the monster down. "I've got it!" He said, grabbing the attention of Myst. "I've managed to isolate his spiritual energy signature. Here, take it, make sure everyone knows it, with this we should be able to get a fix on his location. I assume you have a plan of attack?" He asked. "Yeah. I got a plan. You'll get your vengeance this night. My subordinates will track him down and send us the information we need." Myst replied. "I wish I found out sooner. I could have stopped him." Not long after Myst sent the information, messages were coming in, detailing where the monster was. "Ryuichi, we need to move. We got him cornered." she said, opening the portal, only this one didn't lead to where they were, or anywhere Myst or Ryuichi ever were, but the details that she received were enough to conceptualize where to do. The two emerged from the vortex quietly. The place was little more than a run down shack on the outskirts of town. Without a moment's pause, Myst transformed, turning her hair silver and her eyes red. This was too easy. That's never a good sign, but why look this gift horse in the mouth? her mind's eye saw both outcomes as equally likely, success and failure. "He's either here now, or somehow he knew. The signature's faint." she whispered to her partner in this endeavor.
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