The Captain peeled off his uniform jacket and tossed it aside, now in just his black combat vest. His eyes glinted with anticipation.
"Give me all you've got, hero boy."
Boom!
A leg shot toward Takami's face. His eyes widened, barely catching the strike in time with his blade, but the sheer force launched him backward.
He tumbled across the ground, then dug in his feet to stop.
"What…?" he muttered, eyes locking onto The Captain, who now approached slowly, red eyes glowing, lips curled in a deadly grin.
"Did he just bypass Predator's Insight…?" Takami thought, shaken.
The Captain chuckled darkly.
"Come on, that little trick's not supposed to bother you, right?" he said, drawing closer.
"Show me what a real Spirit Slayer really looks like."
"Tch." Takami tightened his grip on his blade and burst forward, launching a barrage of rapid slashes. The Captain weaved through them with effortless grace, dodging each one like he was dancing.
Takami spun into a high kick.
Caught.
The Captain grabbed his leg mid-air.
Takami wrenched it back, landing clean.
"You won't win staying at a distance, you know" The Captain taunted.
"Up close is where the real fun begins."
Ignoring the jab, Takami leapt forward again, stomping down as he landed. The Captain dodged at the last moment, but Takami pressed in, relentless.
Slash. Slash. Slash. Again and again, until…
Grip.
The Captain caught Takami's wrist, pulled him in, and slammed a fist into his back, driving him into the ground.
"You're making this boring, hero."
Takami gritted his teeth and pushed himself up, blade trembling in his grip.
⟨Drive Skill: Active⟩
In a flash, he struck.
A slash across the Captain's elbow.
A pivot, another across the back.
Then a spin kick.
Boom!
The Captain was sent flying across the field, tumbling.
"Huh… So you had that in your back pocket?" he said, standing up slowly. The wounds closed, sealing with tendrils of dark spirit energy.
He turned, smiling.
"Surprised?"
His face flickered, briefly becoming something inhuman. Shadows danced across it. Spirit. Then back to human.
Takami's eyes widened.
"What the hell…?"
Flashback...
The day Takami was about to leave okutama, during his first visit.
"Come back some time would ya?" The Innkeeper said.
Takami paused, then gave a rare smile.
The innkeeper chuckled. "First time I've seen you smile since you came here."
Takami let out a light chuckle, turning for the door.
"One more thing you need to know." The innkeeper added.
Takami froze, then he turned back.
"There are a lot of people who are starting to make fusion contracts with spirits for power. Sharing one life but manipulative ones, ones that let the spirit control the person whenever they like in return for power. Killing innocent people in disguise as one of them" The Innkeeper said, "Be careful of who you trust and who you think you know, don't underestimate anyone, they might be standing right in front of you… not me though." The old man chuckled.
Takami laughed, "Thank you, noted".
He headed out.
Current Time…
Takami's grip tightened as it all clicked.
"So that's what he meant…" he whispered, straightening.
The Captain smirked.
"Did I ring a bell?"
BOOM!
He disappeared, then reappeared with a brutal gut punch, followed by a sharp blow to the face, sending Takami flying like a ragdoll.
Takami hit the ground hard, coughing blood as he forced himself back up.
He spat, steadying his stance, and slowly dismissed the 'Slayer Blade'.
Then he raised his fists.
"Fine. Let's play by your rules."
The Captain's grin widened, wicked.
"Now you're talking."
The air cracked before fists even collided.
Takami blinked forward, a blur of motion. The Captain shifted an inch, just enough. Takami's punch sliced the air, missing by a hair. The Captain twisted, countering with a crescent kick. Takami ducked low, sliding on one knee, popping up with a sharp uppercut that forced The Captain back a step.
"Fast," The Captain muttered, brushing off a cut on his cheek. "But sloppy."
Takami didn't answer. He was already in motion. A flurry strikes rained in from every angle. Knees, elbows, hooks, and jabs with machine-gun speed. The Captain weaved through them with uncanny precision, his movements cold, efficient.
Then his eyes glowed deep red.
Takami's punch was caught mid-air.
A bone-chilling crack echoed as The Captain drove a knee into Takami's gut, lifting him off the ground before hurling him away. Takami flipped in the air, skidding across the floor, his boots carving trenches in the concrete.
He wiped blood from his lip, eyes gleaming.
The Captain strode forward.
Boom.
Takami vanished again. This time, using his foot to ricochet off a wall. His heel nearly got The Captain's skull, but it was caught. The Captain threw him down again, but Takami twisted mid-fall, landing like a cat, then lunged up with a spinning kick.
This one connected.
The Captain's jaw snapped sideways. He stumbled.
Takami followed up with a savage blitz, body shots, low kicks, and a finishing elbow to the neck. The Captain was launched back like a cannonball, flipping mid-air before crashing through a pillar.
Everywhere fell silent. Dust floated.
Takami stood there, breathing hard, blood dripping from his knuckles.
The rubble shifted.
The Captain rose, sluggishly. His vest was torn, his face bruised. But his grin? Still intact.
"Impressive," he said, voice roughened. "You've forced my hand."
Takami's eyes narrowed.
Suddenly, the air felt heavier. A spiritual pressure flooded the place. The Captain's body began to flicker, his outline glowing faintly, his form starting to phase between flesh and spirit. Ethereal shadow armor started forming over one shoulder.
"I believe," he said slowly, his voice now layered with something ancient, something not human, "it's time I took you serious."
Takami didn't flinch.
But he smiled.
⟨High-Class 2 spirit detected.⟩
"At least now the system recognizes what you are." Takami said
The pressure thickened, wrapping around him like a suffocating fog.
The Captain's form twisted, then snapped into focus, cloaked in writhing shadows. His armor was made up of some spectral black substance, pulsing like it had a heartbeat. One eye glowed crimson, the other pitch-black. His body moved like mist, fluid and terrifying. No doubt it was a shadow-type spirit.
He was… faster now. Way faster.
Takami barely raised his arms before a punch folded the air and cracked against his guard, launching him like a ragdoll. He rolled, using momentum to bounce to his feet, skidding backwards.
He didn't even see the punch.
"Okay," Takami muttered, shaking his arms, already numb from the impact.
The Captain didn't answer. His voice was gone, replaced by silence and eyes that studied, not spoke.
Takami lunged back in, flipping mid-air, spinning heel aimed at the Captain's temple. But this time, the Captain didn't dodge.
He caught the kick, clean with his hand.
Boom!
Takami was yanked mid-air and slammed into the floor. The ground cracked like glass. Before Takami could blink, a knee dropped toward his torso. He rolled left, barely dodging, and twisted up with a rising uppercut. The Captain disappeared in a shadow blur, reappearing behind him.
Takami felt the punch coming, ducked and countered with a wicked spinning elbow. This one landed, cracking across The Captain's jaw, sending shadows flaring off like ink in water.
Takami didn't stop.
He blitzed, high-speed combos, slicing kicks, rapid strikes with purpose. Every hit, every motion was precise. He wasn't fighting desperate, he was fighting smart.
He knew the Captain outclassed him physically now, so he turned it into a test of reaction, misdirection, flow.
And for a moment… it worked.
He slipped under a haymaker and drove a knee into The Captain's ribs, then vaulted up with a twin-palm blow to the chest that knocked the shadow beast back a few feet.
Takami flipped and landed, crouching low, panting.
Then…
The Captain vanished.
Boom!
From behind.
Takami barely turned in time to deflect a rising fist with both arms, but the force sent shockwaves down his bones. He flew back, spiraling. Blood laced the air.
Mid-air, he recovered, twisted, and landed with a three-point skid.
"Just a little more…," he muttered.
The Captain appeared again. This time, a shadow tendril lashed from his arm like a blade.
Takami ducked, rolling beneath it, and retaliated with a rising axe kick. But before it connected, gone. The Captain dissolved into mist.
"Shit!"
Crack!
A heavy backhand sent Takami sprawling, shadows wrapping around his arm like chains, slamming him to the ground.
"Grrraaahh!" Takami roared, muscles flexing, breaking the binds. He slid back, chest heaving.
And grinned.
"That all you got, shadow boy?"
The Captain's form pulsed with more darkness.
Suddenly, Takami raised a hand and summoned something, Beast's Fang Pendant.
The Captain paused, tilted his head.
"Let me test something," Takami whispered. He put on the pendant and it disappeared.
⟨Equipped.⟩
⟨Speed +5 | Strength +5⟩
A sudden burst of speed erupted from Takami as he shot forward like lightning, a burst step enhanced by the pendant.
Clash!
He reached The Captain before the shadow could reform. A clean strike to the gut, followed by three more to the chest, chin, and temple. A final spinning back kick blasted The Captain across the place, crashing through pillars like a wrecking ball.
Takami didn't stop.
He blitzed through the falling debris, grabbed The Captain mid-air by the face, and drove him through the floor, dust and rock exploding outward.
"You're not untouchable after all, " he barked.
But in the silence after the slam…
Something moved in the crater.
The Captain rose, his form flickering. Shadows coiled tighter around his arms, now forming claws. His smile was gone. For the first time, he looked annoyed.
Then… nothing.
No pressure.
No footsteps.
No wind.
Just… gone.
Takami froze.
His instincts screamed.
"Wher—"
The Captain was inches from his face.
No sound. No warning. Just there.
His arm cocked back, one hand glowing with dense shadow energy shaped like a jagged spear.
The killing blow was coming.
Takami's eyes widened.
Everything slowed.