Ishin pulled out his phone.

He swiped his finger through a darkened screen with twelve white dots on it, drawing two Zs. A normal one, and an inverted one.

A bunch of notifications greeted him as he unlocked it.

Someone had posted an image on TakRan, ZipraMusic had recommended twenty-three new songs, and there was a new update available for his phone. He got rid of them, leaving his 9-Swords wallpaper and the digital clock.

It was half past eight.

Finally! He would end his patrol in fifteen minutes.

Ishin was walking through Wet Wood accompanied by Amp, who was leading the way. It had been a humid but rainless night, which was odd when it came to the area. After all, it was called Wet Wood.

“God, it’s freezing out here!” Amp said, rubbing his arms against his body to warm himself.

Despite the distorted tone which his mask applied to his voice, Ishin could still hear Amp’s hard R’s from time to time.

“Told you to wear another jacket,” Ishin replied.

He also recognized that his enunciation wasn't perfect. He pronounced the K’s and D’s way too hard, and sometimes even added R’s behind them. Although he was getting better at it.

“You know we have to use our uniforms,” Amp said, turning his body so he could face Ishin while still walking backwards.

“We have customized uniforms. I don’t think wearing an additional jacket would matter that much.”

“It would definitely ruin my aesthetic! You think those sturdy jackets would match this?” He asked, pointing at his clothes.

“Dude, it’s not like they’re from a famous designer.”

“They’re better than that! After all, I made them,” he said while looking up in a proud manner. “They reek style and are way more unique than some clothes from a “famous designer”,” he said whilst doing air quotes.

“I don’t think reek is a good thing, though.”

“It’s a way of speaking.”

“And if you’re so proud of your clothes, why don’t you buy a jacket and customize it?” I’m sure such a good designer like you would be able to do it,” Ishin said in a sarcastic tone.

“Yes. I… Would be able to do it…”

“Then?”

Amp turned back and continued straight. He then, annoyed, muttered something that Ishin wasn’t able to hear, which only amused him further.

Although he had just mocked Amp, he could understand what he meant.

Sort of. Amp was still very…Well, Amp.

Costumes were very important to heroes. They served as protection and kept your identity a secret. But they also represented the people wearing them. Costumes were the projection you wanted to give society. The image people would associate you with while on the field. Some heroes and villains went the protection first route, others preferred having more of a flashy or striking appearance.

Amp opted for the personalized costume.

He was wearing black boots and trousers with a personal touch of purple. The violet color rose from the shoes’ soles, passing the pants with two mauve and thin lines that grew wider as they made their way through the garment.

It was a pretty simple design overall except for some elements on the upper half.

The top part of the costume was mainly composed of a T-shirt, a jacket on top, and Amp’s mask. The T-shirt was an average plain black shirt with no trace of personalization, meanwhile, the jacket was the most decorated and stylized piece of clothing out of the entire outfit.

It had a dark purple zipper, the areas near it being similar in color and tone, although slightly brighter. At both sides, left and right, were four lines colored in dark pink. The lines were long, almost reaching shoulder level, and had an oblique end which tilted to the left in the right shoulder, and to the right in the left shoulder.

The back of the jacket was occupied by a purple and pink dragon inside an hexagon.The beast had been painted using oriental dragons as reference. Its long whiskers and the absence of wings made it clear right away. That only left his mask and pink dyed hair.

The mask wasn’t like the ones heroes used traditionally. It resembled more to the masks you could find at EDM concerts. Basically, it had a screen at the front that displayed several shapes made out of dots colored in yellow, blue, and red, changing and moving to the beat of some silent song.

Amp had told Ishin that he had made his costume with a cyberpunk style in mind.

He could see it in some aspects.

Ishin guessed the color choice was based on the purple and pink neon lights, and the mask was supposed to replicate the robotic or augmented parts which frequented the genre. At least that’s what he thought.

It honestly wasn’t a bad suit.

Ishin had thought of going a similar route with his own costume, but decided otherwise.

The costume he normally wore consisted in a mix between traditional clothes from multiple japanese martial arts and more common infantry uniforms. The costume he was using right now wasn’t very different from the one he regularly used, but it was made to endure cold and damp weather.

The bottom part of his own costume was composed of a blue and traditional hakama, with some pants under it, and black trainers. He had to admit that it was a weird combination. Not a terrible one, but weird indeed.

He also had a belt which made it easier for him to carry his katana. He had had it for a while now, but he wasn’t accustomed to the weight of the steel. It wasn’t exactly heavy, but wooden swords were far lighter compared to metal ones.

The upper part of his costume was made out of black jacket with protection, similar to how motorcycle equipment was, and a white mask with a long nose.

The mask lacked any specific features. It had been built with straight lines for the face.

The top looked like a square, the chin and jaw had a diamond like shape, and the eyes were made out from short, inverted triangles. All of the curves on the mask were located on the long nose. It acted as some sort of contrast for the general shape of the mask.

It didn’t have any stylistic purpose. The only reason why he had chosen that mask was because he liked it. He liked how simple and elegant it was. At least for him.

He kept walking with Amp in front, waiting for the last minutes of his shift to pass.

It hadn’t been an interesting night. The only thing they had done was scolding some kids who had been graffiting on the back of Nadia Highschool. At least the drawings they did had been cool.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t listen to music?” Ishin asked, making small talk to distract himself while they turned left on the sidewalk.

“I’m not. I mean, I want to, but I’m low on battery right now. Need to save every bit if something happens.”

“If it came down to it, I could lend you my phone.”

“Nah. I’m okay,” Amp said, raising a hand as a gesture of gratitude.

“Your call,” Ishin said as he shrugged to himself.

They continued walking in silence until a yelp pierced through it.

“BACK OFF! GET AWAY! HELP, SOMEONE, ANYONE!”

The screams didn’t seem very far away from them, by the intensity of the sound.

Amp and Ishin began sprinting towards the cries for help.

Ishin quickly grabbed and unlocked his phone, smashing a phone number in it after.

“It’s still a little early for your patrol report,” the voice at the other end greeted him.

“We’ve heard screams of help from what we guess is a man. We are somewhere near the mall in Cintia, and we’re about to engage in the situation.”

“Roger. Assess the situation first and only help if the threat seems a level C or less. You won’t be useful if you're injured or taken as a hostage.”

“Sir. I think we’ve proven to be-”

“I don’t care what you’ve proven. Follow my orders just as they come out of my mouth.”

“Understood,” Ishin said after a pause, biting his lips.

He then ended the call as they crossed the street.

Ishin didn’t understand why he kept reminding things like that one. They had been in this for almost a year now, and it was true that they were giving results. Why? They could help…

Still, they weren’t going to leave just because Robert said so.

“HELP!”

The screams were close. They were coming from the next alleyway to the right.

Ishin and Amp entered it shortly after the last scream.

“Sir, we’ve come to help! Where are you?!” Amp said, leading the way deep in the alleyway. “Sir-”

Ishin was able to see something in the corner of his eye just as Amp was struck by a dark figure. He was sent flying into the concrete wall to Ishin’s right.

Ishin stepped slightly to the right.

He then made his shadow appear.

He was able to hear how something large collided with his second self. He then turned to the left and saw the object.

The white shadow, which emitted a dim light around it and was identical to Ishin, was in the same position he had been before sidestepping, with what looked like a huge spine with serrated teeth on one end trying to cut it in half.

The pale figure then copied Ishin moves and sidestepped to the right, disappearing after it did so.

“I found you!” An angry voice said.

The same voice that had been asking for help.

“I was almost an A level threat! I had worked my ass off for my position! I was a true villain, respected by my fellow peers.”

The spine-like object contracted on itself and began to pull backwards, revealing the man speaking.

He had a long black coat which had its ends teared and a brown shirt and jeans. His head was covered by a deformed human skull with sharp teeth and horns that grew to both sides.

Boneclaw.

“But in a moment of weakness, you had to come! You had to ridicule me while I had a cold, in my only vulnerable state.”

Ishin grabbed his sheath and began drawing his sword. He quickly checked up on Amp, who was laying on his back and on the broken wall, among crushed bricks and pieces of concrete.

It was hard to spot in the alleyway, but his chest slowly grew and fell. He was still alive.

“Do you know how it feels? To be respected, and then become the laughing stock?! I was even compared to fucking Dark Knight! And that idiot let’s kids like you punch his stupid face while he only does some minor public damage, for God’s sake!” His voice reverberated inside the skull and Ishin was able to see some saliva fly through the eye sockets. “But that doesn’t matter now. Because it all ends here.”

“Surrender now and drop to the floor!”

“Oh, but you are the one who’s going down. In fact, you’re going to be perpetually on the floor. Because I’m going to make a fucking throne out of your bones!”

Boneclaw moved his right arm, the spine-shaped weapon following his movement. It then launched towards Ishin.

Ishin lifted his sword and struck downwards, completely missing Boneclaw’s weapon by a large gap.

He was able to discern the finer details of the object thanks to it approaching at an incredible speed.

He had been right to assume the spine-like shape of the weapon. Although it was fairly similar to a normal human spine, the vertebrae had been stretched out and fused with each other by a cylinder made out of bone.

It also had on one of its ends a long row of sharp teeth, the last one and closest to Ishin being as long as a human arm. The rest were only a fraction of the bigger tooth.

They didn’t look like they had come from a human’s body. Instead, they resembled more wolf or even shark teeth. However, the huge tooth might have come from a megaladon.

The serrated spine came even closer, centimeters from Ishin’s face.

He then brought his shadow to life.

It copied Ishin’s movements with exact precision, hitting the skeletal weapon and cutting its end in half.

Or at least that’s what it looked like.

Just as the bone splitted in two, the cut end from the still connected chunk of spine dissolved, revealing a crocodile skull filled with more teeth than any live specimen would have.

Ishin saw how Boneclaw’s right arm moved. The skeletal whip responded with a zig-zagging movement, avoiding the pale shadow and opening its jaws as it approached Ishin.

He grabbed his sword with both hands and tried to deflect the incoming skull-whip.

Ishin struck the left side of the skull and used his whole body to push it out of the way, yet a small number of teeth were able to grace his chest.

The skull was launched backwards, moving after as a snake and retreating back to his master, coiling around the unmoving figure, specks of blood visible between its white jaws. His shadow then disappeared.

This was looking bad.

Ishin and Amp had been able to beat Boneclaw before. But the fight had been a two versus one, and Boneclaw hadn’t even known what their abilities were or how they even fought.

But that was now different. He was prepared this time.

His current weapon, the spine whip with a skull, was significantly different from his signature boneclaw. It had more range, probably not as much piercing force as the claw did, but it compensated for what was the worst thing about it. Its flexibility.

The whip was able to change directions mid-attack just enough to avoid Ishin’s second self. And him having to do the movements of his shadow beforehand wasn’t any good in this situation. He was basically announcing which path not to take to Boneclaw.

At least it seemed that Boneclaw wasn’t able to manipulate or create any bones while controlling his whip. Apart from the whip itself, of course. Which was a big relief. He didn’t believe he was capable enough to deflect the little arrows he had created in his previous fight while dodging the skull-whip.

If Amp was still conscious he could make him dizzy with his vibrations…

Music. He needed music.

But he didn’t know what music Amp was into. And that was really important.

Maybe his ringtone was his best bet?

Ishin pulled out his phone just as the skull propelled forwards.

“You’re not calling anyone. This is going to be a private and painful date between you and me.”

The whip crawled across the floor at a tremendous speed while keeping its snake-like movement.

Ishin jumped and called his shadow. He then used it as a platform to jump even further at the same time he slashed the air in front of him.

He was launched into the air with his shadow’s jump just as he saw how the whip followed him, quickly turning directions close to his shadow.

It then copied his slash.

The whip broke just in the middle. Ishin used this moment to search in his contact list.

(Where is he, where, where…!)

But he hadn’t accounted for the skull to fire a volley of teeth.

Ishin used his body to protect the phone. Despite the body protection, there were some teeth which got to penetrate his skin.

He then began to lose momentum.

The fall was somewhat high, but it wouldn’t do as much damage as a skull chewing him.

Or Boneclaw tackling him.

He felt how a cold and rigid armor struck his side. Boneclaw launched him into the wall with a forty-five degree angle, causing Ishin to bounce and hit the pavement, tumbling afterwards and hitting some trash cans in the way.

Once he stopped, Ishin found himself covered in filth from the trash cans and with something on his insides injured, most likely a broken bone. They were always the ribs.

He reached for his sword, but couldn’t find it. He then searched for his phone, which he was able to locate. It was less than a meter away.

Ishin then crawled to the device, but his legs weren’t responding like they should. He began pulling himself across a puddle with his bare hands, slowly approaching it.

He reached for his phone.

But his arm got pierced by a boneclaw.

“Argh!”

The pain was burning his whole arm, the blood spilling onto the dark pavement and tainting the puddle crimson. He could see his own reflection.

His mask had been damaged. Its nose was missing and the right upper corner had been crushed, revealing brown hair with some slivers of the mask tangled.

Then Boneclaw laughed.

“And they thought you were better than me. This really proves how dumb people are and how great I am!” He said before laughing again. “Although, I gotta hand it to you guys. You did beat me, the great Bonesaw, even if I was at a low point. That’s why I’ll-”

Machine guns and screams then filled the air.

“Get her! Put on the gas masks and throw her the toxic gas!” Some voice said in the distance.

A silence only interrupted by the regular gun fire established in the alleyway.

Ishin used the confusion to try to reach the phone, but it proved impossible with a sharp bone piercing his arm.

He hoped Amp wouldn’t get too mad at him…

“What’s that now? Oh! Is someone else having fun?! Maybe I should check it out-”

“Sarah, call… Carlos,” Ishin said with a raspy voice and a burning throat.

The phone then began to buzz. And Ishin’s head then was stomped against the floor.

“Don’t interrupt me!” Boneclaw said. “God, what is with kids these days?! Not even a little amount of… Respect!” He then kicked Ishin's side. “Is it too… Hard?!” He kicked him again. “Huh?!” And again.

(Please.)

The sound of another phone buzzing appeared. Then a song came through.

“Standing here. I realize! You were just like me…”

The song then continued with multiple guitars and drums following the singer.

Boneclaw turned around and began laughing after a moment.

“Oh, that’s the one you decided to call?! Really?! You think he’s gonna help you?! Boy, he's following you to the afterlife! The little shit made my headache worse.”

He then kept on laughing, but Ishin couldn’t hear him. He was only able to hear a heart beating. And it wasn’t his own.

Thump… Thump… Thump, thump, thump, thump thump thump thump thump…

The water mixed in with the blood began to move. As if something was making it vibrate.

He then was able to hear a high pitched sound.

“Okay now,” Boneclaw said, trying to hold in his tears. “Time to die. At least you have a parting theme. Even though it’s a shitty one.”

THUMP.

“What did you just say?” A third voice asked.

Boneclaw turned around and formed a claw in his other hand just as he began to swing it. But it was stopped.

Amp was gripping the claw with his right hand.

The left side of his mask was missing, revealing a young white man with very defined cheek bones, black hair, and brown eyes. He had blood flowing from his forehead, barely avoiding his left eye.

Amp then crushed the claw, reducing most of it to dust.

“What the-”

He then punched Boneclaw in the chest, just as he was forming an armor around his body.

The incomplete suit was made by plaques of bone with tiny spikes placed in a regular manner, trying to imitate the complexity of his own body. But the sounds of bones breaking pierced through.

As well as a tiny sonic boom.

Boneclaw crashed into the wall opposite to Amp. Brown chunks of bricks, bone, and dust flew into the wet corridor. The high pitched sound was still present, making the air particles vibrate and create weird distortions around him.

Amp closed and opened his fist, making the air particles around it accelerate and decelerate.

He was always fascinated by what vibrations could do. They could generate sound, augment heat, and basically, break anything. That didn’t mean Amp was able to control such intense vibrations… Wait. He never really tried to test himself. Maybe he could…?

“ENOUGH! This won’t happen again. I WON’T LET IT HAPPEN!”

A bloodied Boneclaw stood in the middle of the still remaining dust.

“Surrender now. It won’t do you any good.”

“You will DIE!”

Boneclaw then formed an ever thicker coat of bone around him.

The horns in his skull grew larger and now pointed upwards. The eye sockets and jaws tightened whilst the sides of the skull pulled backwards and his chin forwards, becoming sharper. His chest, arms and legs were covered in what looked like muscles made out of bones, three long claws emerging from both hands. The armor had the appearance of a demon. And it also looked real tough.

This could be a good test.

Boneclaw then charged with both arms open.

Amp’s posture relaxed.

He extended his right arm, the clothes covering it made to threads, while Boneclaw approached him. Once he was right next to him, he just snapped his fingers.

Amp was able to feel the air around him vibrating at a crazy speed while Boneclaw’s armor disappeared as if it were dissolving along with his clothes.

And unconscious and practically naked Boneclaw then fell to the ground, blood coming out of its ear drums.

Amp crouched and checked if the criminal was still alive.

Fortunately, his heart was still beating and the villain was still breathing. Although he wasn’t so sure about how well his hearing would be after this.

Amp then stayed in his crouched position for a while until he decided to call Robert.

He answered almost instantaneously.

“What’s the situation?”

“Ishin and I confronted the problem. It was Boneclaw.”

“Didn’t I tell your partner not to engage? You need to know your position. You’re also still under training and I specifically said-”

“He saved me! I got knocked out first and he fought until I was able to wake up and take care of Boneclaw.”

An awkwards moment of silenced continued.

“Is Boneclaw neutralized?”

“Yes-”

The constant gunshots suddenly stopped, which made Amp notice them in the first place.

“I’m now going to check out some gunshots near my location.”

“Don’t.”

“But, sir-”

“I’ve already sent Gravity to check them out. You don’t have to worry… Good job.”

Amp smiled.

“Understood, but could you bring someone to treat our wounds and take care of Boneclaw?”

“I’ll send in an ambulance and some soldiers.”

“Thank you.”

The call then ended suddenly.

“See? It’s not so hard to simply not be an asshole,” Amp then muttered to himself.

He then began to navigate through his own thoughts when something pulled his attention.

“Hey. You mind helping me out?” Ishin said, still pinned to the ground.

Amp got up.

“Oh. Yeah, my bad.”

He then approached his friend and helped him out.