His blade cleaved through flesh with ease. A few times he even heard resounding booms as Katy clearly found small groups and took care of them using lightning instead of her sword. Kito was conserving his magic and his strength. He knew of only a few things that could potentially cause this. Of course, if there was a stray Zombie in the nearby woods, or one from a neighbouring town miles away, this kind of thing could start and within a week or two it would spiral horribly out of control. Kito had heard of it happening in smaller towns in the more populated and busy continents. One or two Zombies would shamble in under cover of night, and one person would lie about a bite. Before any of the townspeople know it, the epidemic is already too large to be taken control of. That wasn’t what happened here. From all of the reports, this particular outbreak had only occurred at most two days before they had gotten there. Kito felt his brow crease into a deep frown as realisation dawned. They were dealing with a Necromancer.

Katy was in full extermination mode. She was much better at clearing out crowds these days than Kito was. He could still see bright flashes of light and the booms of her specialised Tonitramancy style wiping out Zombies like they were nothing more than blades of grass under a lawnmower. Kito focused his senses. Occasionally stopping and closing his eyes, trying to mentally pinpoint the epicentre from where the explosion of Necromantic energy occured. That was the only explanation for this. He’d be willing to bet if they passed by a graveyard, every single grave would be empty. A Necromancer had done something, raised some foul beast of some kind and the magical energy used had exploded outward, barely reanimating everything dead within the blast radius. Zombies were by far the weakest and least intelligent of all undead creatures, and so easy to raise that Xan had controlled over a hundred-million at his height of power. Easy to kill in small numbers, devastating should one let them… Surround them. Kito had stopped in his tracks. So absorbed had he been in his thoughts that he had ended up completely surrounded on what appeared to have once been a busy main street. Men and women in varying states of decomposition - a few barely more than skeletons - were shambling in from all sides. Kito sighed and brandished his steel, the blade singing in the wind as he rushed the nearest wall of rotting corpses. They came apart easily, his blade feeling practically no resistance as he weaved through the crowd. Some of them lunged, though his katana was faster. Blood splashed and splattered and suddenly he was on the other side, whirling his sword without looking to dispatch the few that still made grabs for him. He began to put the groaning and moaning behind him as he moved on.

Kito was zeroing in on the source, he knew he was. The streets here were practically brimming with necromantic energy. The Zombies around these areas were also sparse, he noted as he ran through the streets decapitating them as he went. He was sure it was only a few turns away when he was suddenly blasted off of his feet and hurled through the wall of a partially destroyed house, slamming into the opposite wall of what was once a living room, dust exploding around him and clouding his vision. Leaping to his feet, Kito was about to dart through the dust cloud when a fist came from the obscurity, rocking Kito’s helmet and sending him staggering back against the wall again. The assailant came at him again and Kito managed to duck a punch, but an elbow fell between his shoulder blades and he grunted as he slammed into the floor hard. Next thing he knew, he felt hands on his coat and he was being hauled up, then there was nothing under him but air. He cleared the dusty room and sailed through the hole he had made beforehand, crashing into the street and sprawling onto his back. He took a moment to catch his breath before flipping to his feet. Bringing his hands up, loose and open in front of him, he sighed. His sword had been lost in the flurry. The unknown attacker appeared from the dust, blurring towards Kito absurdly fast. Definitely not a Zombie, or a Revenant. Kito sent a small wave of Aura magic towards the figure on instinct and leapt backwards, though the man simply turned his shoulder into the attack, letting the blue energy wash over him before continuing his dash towards Kito. A punch once again came dangerously close to rocking Kito’s helmet, though he was quick enough to dodge backwards, bringing his foot up and slamming the figure back with a stiff kick. Finally, with some space to get his bearings, Kito took in the man before him. A mass of tattered dark material, it looked as if he was wearing many layers. A long coat, a hooded cloak, baggy trousers and thick boots. Kito could tell he was tall and built. From the power of his hits and Kito’s throbbing cheek, this guy was very strong. Settling into a more practical stance, Kito’s eyes flashed blue. This was a fight he’d need to go out all on, and his Sight Discipline would help him pick up on how the stranger fought. Maybe he’d even notice a few weaknesses or patterns he could exploit. The man darted in again, though this time Kito saw it coming. He ducked in towards the hooded man, avoiding the punch and coming up with an uppercut coated in crackling blue energy. The man staggered back as Kito drew in, bringing his arm back for a giant right hook, which the man of course saw coming, his guard coming up on his left side. Kito suddenly flashed blue, leaving a faint imprint of his right arm drawn back for the punch, while his left leg flew up into a powerful Aura-charged roundhouse kick. There was an audible gasp of surprise as the man tried to change his guard, and while he was very quick, he wasn’t fast enough. His right arm crunched against his ribs as bright blue flashed from the impact, Kito’s swift kick lifting him off of his feet with a loud ‘oof’. A little more exertion on Kito’s side and Aura magic exploded in crackling blue sparks, blasting the man away from him as Kito twisted on the spot, his leg going around then down. There was a crunch as the dark figure slammed against the concrete and bounced, rolling to a painful stop.

Kito let his breath out slowly, giving his left leg a little shake. It had been a while since he’d used all three of his magical Disciplines in conjunction like that. Sight to notice the movements of his opponent and piece together information faster than he would normally, coming to the realisation that this man seems to open up any clash with a straight left jab, and adjusting accordingly. His Mirage Discipline then let him catch his opponent off guard by using a right hook as a decoy. Mirage was a very difficult Discipline to master. A fighter using it could focus magic into creating a temporary phantom copy of themselves, or a ‘mirage’ used to feint opponents. At higher levels, users of Mirage could even create solid clones, and with good enough reflexes, summon a less solid clone as a replacement and switch places instantaneously using a short-range teleportation ability known commonly as ‘blinking’ to allow an attack that otherwise would have landed to hit a disposable clone instead. Kito liked to use Mirage in tandem with Aura, a straight-forward attacking Discipline to weave around opponents like he just had, often hitting them before they have a chance to realise what had happened to them. As the man got his feet, however, Kito realised it was going to take a lot more than some fancy magic tactics to beat this opponent. Looking to his left, he caught sight of his sword. Smiling, he threw his hand to the side and a blast of Aura sent the sword sailing through the air towards him. Kito caught the handle perfectly, dust sweeping around him as he whipped it to the right across his body with the momentum. Looking at his opponent again, Kito settled into a stance with his sword up, pointing at him with blue energy beginning to build up around it. The man took a moment, surveying the situation, then dropped into a low combat stance. No weapons, not a very common fighting style, but Kito wasn’t about to complain. The two fighters sprinted at each other.

Kito hadn’t been anticipating the clash enough. The stranger had let Kito’s blade slice straight through a temporary Mirage clone as the man weaved around and blasted Kito flipping off of his feet with a solid hook backed up with a massive gust of wind. Crunching into a wall, cracks spider-webbing from the impact, Kito fell into a standing position but staggered backwards, his vision blurring slightly. Throwing an arm out to steady himself, Kito tutted in frustration. This guy could use Mirage as well as Elemental magic. It had been a powerful wind attack that had thrown Kito clean through the wall at the beginning of the encounter. Another well-timed dodge, Kito ducked around a lightning-quick hook kick and rose with an arc of his sword, the blade leaving a glowing blue trail wherever it moved. The man backed up and threw a handful of fire that sent Kito stumbling back with a small explosion of flames. He smacked against the wall and rebounded, pirouetting to avoid a strong side kick that cratered the thick stone wall. Kito brought his blade down quickly, and while the man flashed blue, it wasn’t quick enough to dodge the strike. Blood splashed from his shoulder as he switched places with his clone a little too late. Leaping back, his hand pressed against his shoulder as Kito swiped his sword to the side. He would have celebrated, but he could tell just as well as anyone that this fight was frustratingly equal at this point. His opponent also had a third magical Discipline that Kito hadn’t seen yet. Potentially another level of powering up and winning this fight, while Kito had already laid all of his cards on the table. Not so equal, he supposed.

The stranger blurred in once again, Kito bringing his blade up in a clumsy diagonal arc to block any potential attack on instinct, managing to force his opponent into defending, his boot coming up and smacking Kito’s hands aside, the blade with them. Kito decided to throw caution to the wind, spinning with the momentum and bringing his sword round in a powerful strike, though before it landed, Kito flashed blue, a stream of light shooting around his opponent and with another blue flash, Kito appeared behind the stranger, the massive swing ending in a single-handed slash across the man’s back. Before the man could retaliate, Kito brought his free hand up and the wave of Aura that erupted sent the man head over heels, flipping through the air with blood spraying as he flew. The crunch when the stranger landed made Kito flinch, his opponent crumpled on the concrete.

His breaths were coming quick, his arm shaking. A few decades ago, blinking like that would have been no problem, but he could feel the toll blinking only once had taken on his magical stamina. Blinking again would be risky. His shoulders slumped and his face fell in dismay as the stranger began getting to his feet once again. The hood was down, now, the mask that was shrouding his face now lying on the ground. Kito caught a flash of black hair as the man staggered slightly once standing. Kito brought his sword up, though he doubted his opponent couldn’t see how much his hands were shaking. Then the man turned.

Kito couldn’t move. His muscles had knotted up, his eyes wide and his mouth opening to say something that simply wouldn’t come. He was such an idiot for not piecing it together before this. The man was incredibly pale, and his eyes were a bright red in opposition to the black Kito remembered, though it was very clearly the same man. Long, straight locks of black hair were swept haphazardly off of an angular but handsome face with deep cheekbones and dark lips. Kito dropped his stance and took a single, tentative step forward. He should have known it would happen the minute they had taken up a mission in this town. After all, it was here that they had left Seiko’s ashes.