CHAPTER 23: BLACKOUT

Photos were snapped of Rinka and the others and information regarding them and their arrest has been sent by Rimin for the other guardians to see.

It's 12 AM now, the prison is dark and quiet, Minaro and the others (except Rinka, he's asleep against the wall) are all awake, upright idly in their prison cell.

Minaro: … None of us can go to sleep?

Doa: … Yeah… I just can't believe all of this happened.

Imma-Ite: I still can't believe we're in jail.

Maya: I still can't believe we lost Ashi.

Everyone looks at Rinka, sleeping soundly.

Doa: … I hope Rinka doesn't feel too bad about all of this.

Minaro: Yeah, me too… I'm worried, since he was forced to kill someone.

Imma-Ite: … Yo, we don't just plan to sit here forever, right?.. We have to break out.

Doa: If we break out, we'll be hunted down.

Maya sighs.

Minaro: … I have an idea.

Minaro summons a rift and pulls his phone out of it, then turns it on.

He sighs.

Minaro: Damn, I was hoping I would be able to call Sumairu to send Bukkaru over here and bring us back, but there's no service.

Imma-Ite: … Wow. How unlucky.

Doa: … There's probably service somewhere in the prison. It'd be stupid if there wasn't.

Minaro: Probably… Our best bet on escaping this place is getting Bukkaru to teleport us out.

Imma-Ite: Can't we just break out? You know, using brute strength?

Minaro: It's better with Bukkaru. The Guardians wouldn't be able to find us.

Doa: … Tomorrow, during break hours or whatever, we can try to get a gist of the prison and figure out a way to get service. Or something.

Minaro: … Let's do that.

…

Everyone's sleeping now. It's 3 AM. Abruptly…

Rinka stands up, yawns, and looks around. He stares at Imma-Ite, who's snoring, and gently lifts his head a little. The touching causes Imma-Ite to slowly wake and open his eyes. Rinka smiles at him.

He then quickly snaps Imma-ite's neck and a loud sound is produced, waking up everybody.

Minaro: … Rinka?

Rinka drops Imma-Ite's lifeless body, Maya and Doa stare at it, they're traumatized.

Maya: … W- what the hell!?

Then the void manifests and forms around Rinka's shoulders, down his arms and ultimately wraps around his fist.

Next, he slams both of his hands into the floor and a big, black shockwave is made which destroys everything around them. Minaro, Doa, and Maya are launched away.

Minaro: Rinka!

He runs away and deep into the prison. The three who were blasted stand up and huddle.

Maya: Wha- what the hell just happened!?

Minaro: I don't know!

Doa: … Oh m- my god.

Maya begins to tear up.

…

Rinka enters the prison's kitchen, grabs 2 knives, and holds them tip up. The void wraps around them giving the objects a fire-like tip.

With that, he goes on a killing spree, claiming the life of any inmates he sees. The guards and staff of the prison notice him running around and a loud alarm activates.

…

Minaro, Doa, and Maya are a little startled by the alarm.

Maya: … W- what d-do we do?

Doa: … WHAT do we do?

Minaro: … We've gotta go after Rinka.

…

Rimin, who is still in the city, hears the alarm. He gets in his car and drives towards the prison which has several giant lights scanning the area now.

…

Furthermore, several news reporters are heading to the prison and people are waking up due to the alarm.

…

Rinka continues to massacre everyone in the prison, the walls and floor are covered in blood. He's getting closer to the back of it.

Several inmates use their Skills to try and stop him, but he quickly dodges and runs around them, slitting their necks also.

…

Minaro and the others are advancing. They spot and stumble upon all the dead bodies and blood on the floor. Maya covers her mouth in shock.

Minaro: … Fuck… Rinka wouldn't do this… Maybe that Guardian hypnotized him?

Doa: … That might be a possibility.

Minaro: That bitch!

…

The void wraps around Rinka's shoulder and fist again, and he slams them into the floor. An enormous black shockwave is made a second time, ripping that part of the prison apart.

The news helicopters passing by notice the wave and fly over to it. Rinka starts running into a forest he's revealed thanks to his attack. But is uninterrupted by Rimin, who suddenly runs towards him and swings his katana.

Rinka dodges that and tries to impale Rimin with his two knives, but he and his hands are pushed back by Rimin's telekinesis.

They stand a couple of feet away from each other.

Rimin: … I didn't think you were actually this evil.

Rinka smiles, and Rimin shoots strings at him while moving forwards. Rinka moves too and slices the attack up. Rimin then tries to push him back with telekinesis.

So Rinka stabs a knife into the floor and holds onto it to resist the push of telekinesis, then he jumps into the air leaving one of the knives in the floor and lands behind Rimin.

He swings his remaining knife, Rimin quickly turns around and blocks with his katana. Rinka attempts to kick him, and Rimin grabs his leg.

He lifts his vacant hand and a big string of the void comes out from it and wraps around the knife he left in the floor. It's pulled towards Rimin, who reacts and dodges it, but it still cuts a little of his nose.

Rinka catches the knife and holds it with the tip down. He attempts to quickly stab Rimin in the heart, who uses telekinesis to push his arm away. As Rinka is moved, he uses his other knife to stab Rimin in the side of his stomach.

Rimin uses his telekinesis again, even more, to launch Rinka away from him. The void string pulls his knife back to him. Blood leaks from Rimin's side, he holds it and stares at Rinka, who grins.

"... His grin looks familiar."

…

Rimin remembers the day of Nunda's execution, he watched as Nunda got a lethal injection, and his last words were, " I'll be back one day. The darkness of this world will always exist!" Said with a grin, an undeniable one.

…

Rimin's eyes widen, and Rinka runs towards him.

Rimin: You remind me of someone I hate, So I'm going to make sure I kill you!

They run towards each other, Rimin uses telekinesis to knock Rinka down. He fails to stab the floor this time and that occurs. Rimin lifts his katana up and tries to impale him next, however, he raises both of his legs and kicks Rimin. He then quickly stands up and tries to stab him. Rimin grabs his hand and throws him. In the end, they stare at each other again.

Rinka stretches and yawns.

Rinka: … I have somewhere to be, so I'm done playing around. I'm gonna have to kill you now.

Rimin: I'm also done playing arou-

Rinka appears right in front of Rimin and slices his neck open, dashing past him and turns around after. Rimin grabs his neck with one of his hands, blood seeps all over it.

Rinka runs towards him, and they swing their weapons at each other repeatedly, managing to block each other's attacks. But as Rimin swings more, he gets more and more tired. While Rinka seems to only get faster and faster.

Soon enough, with the blood loss and energy output, Rimin is overwhelmed by Rinka's attacks and has his chest and stomach stabbed.

He trips and hits the ground, Rinka looms over him, and slices him over and over again just to make his death more agonizing.

Suddenly, Rinka is launched back by an enormous telekinesis wave, and Rimin stands up.

"Ultimate Skill, Hyper Fixation Guard."

Thanks to an extreme and immense amount of telekinesis, Rimin can force his wounds to close and his body to move. His eyes broaden as he runs to Rinka, and several telekinetic waves pulse out of him that push trees and his opponent around.

Rinka stabs the floor and holds onto his knife, he blocks with his vacant hand when Rimin tries to cut him.

Another wave comes out and Rinka is launched away, after that, several strings shoot out of Rimin's katana. Rinka does a spin mid-air and slices all of them, then he heads for Rimin.

He stabs the floor and a void shockwave is summoned that pushes Rimin back and blinds him. Right after, Rinka jumps out of the void shockwave and stabs Rimin in the throat and pins him to the floor.

Rimin tries his best to stand up, but Rinka is holding the knife tightly. Out of nowhere, several of the prison guards find him and start to attack.

One of them runs towards Rinka with his arms bulging, another one morphs his hands into flesh swords, another one launches long blue tendrils to him, and the last one shoots fire at him.

He pulls his knife out of Rimin's neck and runs towards the guards, quickly dodging a punch from the one with bulging arms and stabs his throat, the flesh swords head for him.

Rinka dodges them and slices the guard's neck open with an uppercut. He runs and weaves around the blue tendrils and dodges the fire, then stabs the remaining guards in the neck.

Rinka turns around, his breathing getting slower, and looks at Rimin, who is lying on the floor lifeless.

Rinka runs away from the scene and deeper into the forest, the news camera in the air tries to catch him but they lose sight due to the number of trees.

Several ambulances and police cars are present, the news reporters look away from the gruesome scene and change to reporters.

…

A few minutes have gone by, Rinka hears a voice.

"Hey, long time no see"

Yutsu walks out of the forest's shadows and approaches Rinka.

Rinka: Oh, hey I didn't expect you to come here.

Yutsu: I was watching the news and heard about your arrival and since it's been so long I thought you'd need help back to the base.

Rinka: Yeah, it's been some time since I've killed people out here, I missed it.

Yutsu: Is that so? Anyways, we should get going.

They walk off.

Suddenly Yutsu tries to hit Nunda, he quickly reacts and blocks.

Yutsu: … Just had to make sure it was actually you.

Rinka laughs.

Yutsu and Rinka continue walking down the forest.

…

Minaro and the others are outside the prison, they wander around while he's holding his phone.

Minaro: … Where the hell is the service? Did my parents forget to pay the phone bills?

The 3 walk around the city in the dark, everyone is distracted dealing with the prison break.

Minaro: … Oh, okay! This place has service. Here, write Sumairu's number.

Minaro hands the phone to Doa, she writes Sumairu's number and calls him.

Sumairu: Hello?

Doa: Sumairu, It's me, Doa.

Sumairu: Doa? Why are you calling me? Aren't you supposed to be in prison?

Doa: A lot happened, didn't you see the news?

Sumairu: No, I was asleep.

Doa: That Guardian that showed up hypnotized Rinka to kill a bunch of people and break out of prison!

Sumairu: … No way.

Doa: … Tell Bukkaru to take us back home, we'll tell you more when we're there!

Sumairu: … Are you like… On the run? Since you're out of prison?

Doa: No, the guards and authorities are too focused on the situation with Rinka.

Sumairu: Okay, Bukkaru should get there in a few minutes.

Doa: Thanks! Bye.

Minaro: … Glad he still trusts us.

They patiently wait for Bukkaru to arrive.

…

Guardian Defei and Guardian Liz are standing, eating bread while watching the news.

Defei: … Rimin's dead. Should I be sad?.. I didn't really like him, and he was kinda crazy.

Liz: … There's no reason to be sad. He was very problematic.

Defei: … I'm more pissed than sad, he was pretty strong… If only we knew sooner that someone left the prison we could have prevented this.

Liz is silent.

Defei: … We have to find the guy that killed him.

Liz: I know we do.

Defei: One thing I noticed, the killer seems to resemble that kid Rinka we spoke to a few days ago.

Defei picks up a photo of Rinka off a table next to pictures of Minaro and the others.

Defei: Rimin sent us these photos today cuz they were arrested for killing 20 people, but isn't it a weird coincidence that someone who looks like Rinka kills Rimin and breaks out of prison?

Liz: I'm pretty sure the killer is that kid.

Defei: … Jeez, wonder what happened in such a short amount of time to make him massacre everyone, he seemed like a super nice kid over the phone

Liz: ... I might have an idea of what happened, but I'm not sure. I'll tell you about it once I confirm I'm correct.

Defei: Okay, you're the smartest so I'll wait.

Liz: ... We're going to have to hunt Rinka down, right?

Defei: Yeah, I think 2 or 4 of us will be enough. We'll go out whenever we can get a good idea of his whereabouts.

Shima, a guardian with long light green hair that covers one of her eyes enters the room. She has an off-shoulder red long sleeve shirt and blue jeans on. Her eyes are green with a little bit of dark green at the bottom.

Shima: … If we're going to search for someone, can I go? I wanna go outside and do something.

Raskan, a guardian with sharp short light brown hair and yellow eyes with darker yellow in them also walks into the room. He has a blue jacket on under it and a light yellow shirt, he also has white jeans on.

Raskan: Let me go on the search too! You'll need me if you want to find the dude.

Defei: … If you both want to go, feel free to go… We'll let you know when to start searching.

Shima: Alright.

Raskan and Shima walk off.

Liz stands up and yawns.

Liz: I'm gonna go to bed, talk to you tomorrow.

Defei: Alright, good night.

Liz walks off, and Defei continues to watch the tv.

…

A purple ball appears in front of Minaro and the others, Bukkaru steps out and meows.

Doa: Bukkaru! You're finally here.

They all stand up and Bukkaru surrounds them with the purple ball.

Everyone is back in their room in the skill center, Maya quickly groans and throws herself onto the sofa. Doa and Minaro take a seat at the table.

Maya: … What the hell is going on!? We got arrested, lost 3 of our friends, and escaped prison all on the same day!

Doa: … So much has happened.

Minaro: … And it all really fucking sucks.

Sumairu opens the front door of their room.

Sumairu: Oh, you're here now... Are you guys okay?

Minaro: Yeah, we're fine.

Sumairu: … Anyways, you said Rinka got hypnotized by the Guardian, but the news confirmed Rimin's death.

Minaro: He died?

Doa: … What? Then what's going on with Rinka?

Sumairu: I don't know, it's either something unknown or something to do with Rinka's mentality.

Doa: Rinka's mentality is not an option, he'd never do this.

Minaro: She's right. It has to be something unknown. No event wouldn't change him into a mass murderer.

Sumairu: … Maybe we should try asking him ourselves?

Minaro: That's what I want to do, but we have no clue where he is.

Sumairu: … I bet the Guardians are gonna hunt him down. I could ask them if I could help, and learn his location.

Maya: But the Guardians are gonna want to hunt us down too!

Doa: … Photos of us were taken and sent to them. They know what we look like and believe we're still responsible for the 20 deaths in Cazuya.

Sumairu: Ah… Well… I'll try my best to convince them it wasn't you guys. I've worked alongside them for years now, plus, the others aren't as horrendously strict with things as Rimin was.

Minaro: … Okay then. Let us know when you have his location. I'll be ready to find Rinka.

Doa: Me too!

Minaro and Doa look at Maya.

Maya: Rinka saved me from a horrible life with my family. So I'm also ready!

Sumairu: Alright, I'll let you know when everything is ready. Goodnight.

Sumairu walks away, Minaro, Doa, and Maya head to their rooms.

…

3 days go by, in those 3 days, several bodies of people brutally stabbed and beaten to death in small towns and some outskirts of cities have been found, totaling to around 182 confirmed deaths.

The prison has been rebuilt and people are being alert of the brand new "Void Murderer" going around.

Rinka was the one responsible for each death. On the fourth day during the afternoon, Rinka wandered into one of the biggest forests in the region in search of more people to kill.

LossPalleys Forest, shrouded in somewhat massive trees and filled with some villages.

Little did Rinka know that near LossPalleys forest is where one of the bases where guardians live is. Their base is about the size of an apartment and it stands in the emptiest part of the forest but shrouded by some smaller trees.

Raskan and Shima are running through the forest.

Raskan: … We finally found where that murderous motherfucker is.

Shima: … We have to be careful. He killed Rimin so he must be pretty strong.

…

Thanks to Raskan's tracking skill, after a few days they were able to locate Rinka.

…

Raskan can look at any person or video/ image of any person and track them down for a minute, if they are near him.

…

Minaro, Doa, Maya, and Sumairu are standing at the top of a hill in front of the forest staring down at it.

Minaro: …. This is the place the Guardians told you to come to?

Sumairu: Yup. We have to find him before they do.

Minaro: Alright.

"I'll find you, Rinka. I'll figure out what's going on with you, and nothing will stop me."

TO BE CONTINUED…