Screams...Nothing but horrified screams.

He tried to open his eyes, but all he could see was darkness. At least the filter of static had faded.

The somewhat visible figures were being thrown around by some strange force that he couldn't see.

He wasn't even aware of the fact that he was alive. The unsettling scene continued to play out in front of him, leaving him no choice but to watch.

Before long, some feeling did return to him. It started with him being able to lift his middle finger, his other fingers following right after. His chest struggled to draw air into his lungs, his skin quivered as he recognized the puddle of water.

With all of these things returning to him, the one thing he didn't feel was pain.

...

..

.

"Ah!" Colt sat up and gazed around the dark forest. "Blood?"

He rushed to rub the back of his head, feeling nothing but a healthy head of hair.

Upon further inspection, a pile of men had been scattered around him. Bullet shells and discarded guns were randomly tossed amongst them as well.

What the hell was that? Did I get shot?

He stood up and walked towards one of the men, "He's wearing a suit." He pulled the man's wallet out of his pocket and searched through it. Nothing relevant but a few hundred dollars, which he did take.

Following through on his little search, he ran through the pockets of all the other men, accepting any money he found as a charitable donation for the confusion.

Hey...I just made over a thousand bucks off of these guys.

But even worse, they don't seem to be the same people who had those spears earlier. I need to get a hold of Jax and Hisa-

"Um...S..s..sir?"

Colt turned to the direction of the voice to see a young woman with emerald green hair halfway hiding behind a tree.

"Me?" he asked.

Shit...I hope she didn't see me rob them!

"Y-Yes. Are you okay?"

"I'm good..."

"Oh. That's good." She slowly stepped from behind the tree. "I'm n-not evil or anything, I was just worried about you."

The small dress she wore on her body looked to be made from nothing but plants. She wore no shoes, and her hair was tied into a braid that rested on the side of her shoulder. She looked to be around his age.

Her delicate voice made that hard to believe, but he had heard a thirty-year-old speak with the inflection of a mouse before.

She was a little on the short side, but taller than Yuri.

"Wait-Are you from that village out here?" asked Colt.

"Village? I am," She stepped forward, "Are you searching for it?"

"Do you know where I can find it?"

"Sure! Follow me." She cut through the trees, motioning for him to follow her. into the trees and motioned for him to follow her.

"Wait-Isn't the village out North?"

"North? No! That's where the bad mafia guys are."

Bad mafia guys?

Those villagers lied to us!

-

Serpent's Forest, Northern Quadrant

Seishin Realm

2:34AM

Jax dashed through the dark forest, dodging an onslaught of wooden spikes. "Where in the hell are these things coming from?" He leapt into the trees for a vantage point, but the branches stretched out and stabbed him in the arms.

Defending himself with his scales, he leapt back to the ground. "Hisa!"

"They're coming from the trees! We're in danger!" A wicked smile etched itself onto her face as she went to chop down every tree in sight, "Where are you hiding?"

The falling wood from the trees shot towards Hisa, prompting her to step out of harm's way.

A large man with a mohawk stood in front of them both, with his head held high, and his arms crossed behind his back. The air surrounding him wavered, with his fierce gaze weighing down upon them.

"Who are you two? Tell us, and you won't have to die." he asked.

Jax removed his glasses and threw off his shirt, covering his entire body in scales, "A suit? What're you, a real estate agent?"

"Fuck talking!" Hisa swung her axe at the large man, only to be stopped by a large shield of wood. "Again?"

A significantly shorter man with spiky blonde hair stood next to the large man. He stabbed his broom into the floor and smirked, "Touya, what are we even talking for? Let's kill them!"

The larger man, named Touya, shook his head, "We shouldn't. As long as they leave the forest peacefully, no one will have to die."

Jax pulled Hisa closer to him and leaned into her ear, "The big one seems to be levelheaded."

"Let's kill him!" she expressed in a whisper.

"No you moron...We're running."

"Why?"

"These guys aren't from the village! There's no point in fighting them!"

"I'm not running! I've been waiting too long for a fight!" Hisa elbowed Jax away from her and charged towards both of the men.

"Fine..." Touya's expression darkened, "I see you want to use force." He jabbed Hisa in the throat with his large fist, sending her flying past Jax.

"Hisa-" More wooden spikes stabbed into his body from almost every angle.

"Damn! Those scales are protecting him!" The man with the broom hopped on it and flew past Jax, "Touya, he's yours! I'm killing the girl!"

Touya held his large arms out, letting two large chains fall out of his sleeves. "Listen boy, I don't want to do this."

Jax grit his teeth and knocked the spikes away.

Dammit! How did we get separated from Colt? And that punk ass villager probably lied to us!

He ducked as the large chain whipped through the air, threatening to tear his head off.

Taking the initiative, Jax began to dart around Touya, using the trees as stepstools.

There's no chance I'm overpowering someone that large. I'll use my speed as an advantage.

Firing scales from his body only resulted in them bouncing off of Touya, as if he were a wall of steel.

"Trying to out speed me, eh?" Touya whipped his arm back, snatching Jax from the trees with his chain, slamming him into the pavement.

Shit! His reflexes are sharp!

Jax landed on both of his hands and sprang back up.

Normal scales won't work on him...so I'll just have to use it...

Jax dodged a large hook and aimed both of his arms towards Touya. Channeling every ounce of core energy in his arms, he planted his feet in the soil beneath him.

Dragon Scale Blast!

Jax shot core energy infused scales from his arm, nearly getting blown back from the recoil himself. A series of earth-shaking explosions went off as the cascade of scales shredding through an entire gathering of trees. The dark skies luminated with the sparks of the freed scales.

The sound of his scales resembled that of a turret, blasting through an entire fleet on its own.

After a nonstop session of firing, he finally let up on the assault.

There was a large crater in his wake, stretching for miles with smoke rising into the air.

Jax shook the sweat from his face and smirked, "That got him..."

Touya emerged from the clouds of smoke unscathed.

"What? How?"

"You are too weak, child." He wrapped his chains around his fist and punched Jax straight in the face, blasting him into the pavement.

He's strong-

With no room for a breath, Jax was snatched from the ground and flung into a tree. Not even his armored scales could mask the force that reverberated through his body, numbing him as he crashed down in a heap of exhaustion.

Damn...my scales are starting to fade...I'm out core energy...

Touya stood in front of Jax and retracted his chains. "You don't have to die, just leave."

-

"You haven't said much this entire time girly. Are you scared?" asked the strange man floating on his broom.

"No!" Hisa grazed his neck with a wide slash, "I'm just excited! Aren't you a member of the Futsunushi?"

The man stopped flying around and jumped off of his broom. "How do you know that?"

She winked, "I guess you could say that I'm a fan!"

"Oh really?" He hopped back onto his broom and started flying circles around her, "I guess it's too bad that you're going to die at my hands then."

"It's fine. I think your name is...Kutoki."

Hisa cleaved off his right arm with a lighting fast swing.

"Ah!" Kutoki crashed into a tree and stared at his missing limb on the ground with horrified eyes. The color drained from it as blood spilled from the point of separation, "You bitch!"

"You see..." Hisa shook the blood from her axe and pointed it right as his head, "I've done tons of research on you guys, but it's not out of love. I just want to fight you all."

"What the hell? Are you some yandere or something?"

"No. I literally don't care about you all. I just want to fight you guys. Aren't you like-assassins? Fighting you would be fun!"

Kutoki's skin went pale as his eyes began to roll to the back of his head. Blood continued to gush out, soiling the cold dirt beneath them.

"Aw...You're about to pass out just from losing an arm?" Hisa chopped the severed arm in half, relishing in the swift ease at which it gave in. "I guess you're the weakest one."

"Kutoki!" Touya swung his chains towards Hisa, prompting her to jump away. "Damn! She got you! We need to get you to the boss! He'll fix you..."

Touya turned around to glare at Hisa, "As for you-" His head snapped to the right as Hisa cracked him with her axe.

It didn't cut him?

Touya grabbed her axe and launched her into a tree. "Listen girl. Your friend has been defeated. It'd be wise if you left now."

Hisa stood up and spat blood from her mouth, "You took my axe, and now you think you can win?"

Touya's eyes widened as he dropped the axe to the floor, cracking the ground beneath him. "How much does that thing weigh?"

Instead of providing an answer, Hisa smashed her fists into the ground, sending rocks and debris up into the air.

"A screen-"

She rushed through the smoke, landing an explosive kick on the larger man, forcing him to take a few steps back.

Just as the smoke had cleared, she was hoisted into the air smashed through the ground. The rich, bitter taste of the soil merged with the metallic taste of blood. Only shooting a euphoric rush through her body.

"Stay down-" Touya stepped away from her, with beads of sweat rolling down his face.

Hisa sprang up and spat his thumb from her mouth, "Don't chicken out now, it was just a stupid thumb." She snatched her axe from the floor and took another wild swing, only to see that he had vanished.

Touya rushed in as she swung and caved her stomach in with a core energy infused punch. "And...Stay down!"

She was sent barreling through the trees until she slammed her axe into the ground, springing back into action with a crazed smile on her face.

This guy has chains wrapped around his neck! I saw it when I got close to him!

Before she could get any closer, a large tree crashed into her face, flipping her onto her neck.

Touya took a deep breath as he retrieved Kutoki, cringing at the sight of his missing arm. "She was a wild one. I hope there aren't any more intruders." He turned away and ventured off into the darkness of the North side of the forest. "What a shame. A pair of teenagers overwhelmed by greed. I'm sure they've heard of the village's miracle. They have no idea what they're singing up for."