The Night [Katsugiya Jukkei's Awakening]

 Katsu was fond of the night.

 He liked being able to at least take an invigorating stroll at his home's grounds. It wasn't rather spacious, but hey, he had at least strenght enough to walk a little, right?

 That day, he ended up going to Little Tokyo, because it reminded him of Japan and he always made a little detour on his way home in order to just feel himself at Japan again. It wasn't such a big deal, in fact. Just a little nostalgia. And as such Katsu was having his nightly stroll at Little Tokyo after being held back due to club activities. So, while to most people it would be a losing situation, Katsu had a win-win, since he was having his nightly stroll WHILE walking around on Little Tokyo. Two birds with one stone. It must be as they say: the early bird gets the bookworm. Or something like that. He was no specialist in popular sayings.

Little Tokyo has always been a bustling mass of activity and culture. Everywhere you go, you could see the life cultivating the the everyday festivals that take place during the evening. There was little reason to fear the evening, it appeared, with so many people still carrying on with their daily festivities. Of course, there were calmer parts of the district that practiced further restraint. As Katsu continued to stroll through, there was a kind of "odd" feeling that was permeating through a path ahead. Further down in the direction he was meandering through, there seemed to be the much more lesser-known and even quieter areas of Little Tokyo.

That "odd" feeling continued to beckon him down further, especially towards what seemed to be an alleyway. The sound of something snapping and crunching could be heard from there.

Katsu did not notice the odd feeling in the air until he entered what seemed to be a side street of Little Tokyo. Little Tokyo always seemed to be a pretty safe place since it was almost everytime full of light and people. Not on that alleyway, though.

It seemed to be quiet and dark as it really was, like all of his occupants were already sleeping and closed everything way too early for Little Tokyo's standards. The air seemed really weird down there and the sound of something gnashing and crunching wasn't particularly a soothing melody. It could just be a hungry dog biting a bone in order to escape hunger, but Katsu wasn't on his best to verify that. Turning on his knees, he prepared to go back the way he went in, believing that he just went by a wrong street and that he'd be at home soon enough.

The noise stopped strangely. Something sniffed the air. And someone began to move towards Katsu's direction. Out of a corner came something black and something huge. In his very mind, he couldn't understand what he was seeing. It was utterly otherworldly. In what seemed to be its hand...? Limb? Tentacle? The figure seemed to be clasping onto a piece of bone before finally tossing the rest into its maw with a dull crunch. Whatever it was, it eyed him with relish and began to step towards him.

The noise stopped suddenly as Katsu heard the sound of something sniffing. It was a little too big to be a dog. Katsu felt cold sweat racing down his spine. And then it came.

It was black, rather amorphous and huge. It was too alien, too otherworldly, too strange for his mind to even destroy itself in the oldest instinctual conflict ever: fight or flee. The figure was holding a piece of limb of something that was as inhuman as itself. It finally crunched down the rests of the limb before turning to Katsu... And began approaching.

Katsu could perhaps try and stay, just to put up a good fight. Katsu could do it. Maybe he could stand a chance.

But Katsu wasn't going to stay and discover that.

He ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could.

When the creature noticed the boy decided to turn tail and run, it began to roar and thunder towards his direction. Before he could even get far enough away, it leaped into the air and landed with a resounding crash in front of him. It spun around to face him. Even should the poor victim would try to flee in the other direction, it grasped him by the neck and held him up in the air. It was a vice-grip that threatened to squeeze out not just the air in his body, but his short uneventful life. Just like many of the unfortunate shmucks in this city, there were always victims despite the critical supervision of the Cadets.

Whispers began to flood Katsugiya Jukkei's ears, threatening to turn him mad. It came from the creature, as if beckoning his very psyche to crumble and to show subservience. As he could feel his mind being invaded, something was beginning to awaken. It wasn't just his own sense of self-preservation. A small seed of mania, implanted in his brain all those years ago began to sprout. At that moment of opening, his potential would awaken anew and his inner self would become prevalent. As that burst of power exploded, the creature howled as it was thrown back into the alleyway as it let go of Katsu.

The boy would then find himself face-to-face with his alter-ego and his body masked to protect themselves from the toxic murmur from the demon. As it happened, it was now easy to see what that demon truly was. With his eyes finally free of the obstruction of his once-tethered mind, it was clear that the monster was shocked and furious.

It was too fast. And strong. Katsu began to run away but that... Thing... just landed before him and, before Katsu could think about running in the opposite direction, it grasped him by the neck and and began squeezing. Katsu fely his mind going dark as he thought "This thing will kill me... I'll be just found dead in an alleyway, victim to the demons..."

By instinct Katsu grabbed the hand of the demon and did his best with the little strenght he had left to release himself from the demon's grasp, but to no avail. He heard a devilish whisper convincing him to give up. The white haired one felt like he was in a book by Franz Kafka: condemned without guilt by a faceless executioner. He was almost giving up, when something happened. It was like a seed inside his head cracked and a plant had finally emerged from it, piercing the earth to show the world it was here. It was alive. A burst of power and the demon was blown backwards, thrown into the alleyway and releasing Katsu by default.

His clothes... Changed. A seemingly military overcoat, a jacket with a furry collar... And the mask. Along his alter-ego ready to defend him. To fight for him. And now he was able to see the monster, now in a state of shoc and rage. It resembled a classical oni, having even the club. But Katsu did not have any fear now. He was strong enough to fight it, as now he had the means to counter. He had his persona.

"Come forth, Lockhart!", Katsu yelled, feeling great, like he'd never felt on his entire life "Agilao!"

The demon was angry at the sudden attack, but before it began to attack, Katsu would notice something fall near his feet. There appeared to be a firearm and ten rounds of bullets to use, laying there as if beckoning him to pick them up. It would be difficult to notice where it came from. But somewhere at a distance, someone was watching the exchange...

Oni, Level 5:

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Katsu noticed it. The handgun and the ammo. Wait, when did it appear at his feet? Nevermind. He grabbed it before the attack landed. Better saying, attacks. Two powerful hits that ended up hitting him, but for some reason he still could fight. And hell, that was good.

Katsu then summoned Lockhart once again and ordered "Lockhart! Agilao!" with the orange flames exploding right in front of the demon as Katsu ripped off his mask.

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C-crap. Katsu's mind had became too restless, too unfocused, too panicked in order to gather the necessary in order to summon Lockhart. Son of a...

Even so, Katsu had his means of fighting. The Oni was ablaze and Katsu had a full-loaded handgun ready to be used. He knew the name of the gun after having a look at its slide, which said "**** Arms Model 000000001 Nuckleavee .454 Casull ACP". Katsu did not hesitade. Aiming as he could, he went for a headshot as the demon was burning right before him.

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Damn! Katsu missed! But still the demon was seemingly too busy with the flames in order to quite attack him. And Katsu still had at least nine more bullets. So the japanese then took aim again and shot against the Oni, as he watched the demon still burning before him.

Weird thing was: that gun was just perfect for him. Too perfect. When did it appear? And how? Those questions were brushed aside to the back of Katsu's head. He could ask himself those questions whenever he felt like it after killing that goddamn demon.

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