Chapter 11: Joe Rin

Isabel walked through the cold rainy neighborhood with her bow close. At the end of the road was a house with a broken door and yellow tape around the fence.

"Did you guys find anything so far?" Naomi asked via X-foliate.

"I found a crime scene just now. Nothing but dry blood and more dust particles." Jenna answered.

"I'm inside one currently and it's quiet. Nothing suspicious yet." I answered.

"Nothing so far, but I'm approaching one right now." Isabel answered. She entered the unknown place and stepped on the cracked flooring. Isabel froze the flooring to walk on it easier and continued inside.

The wind whistled through the empty yet messy house. Glass was scattered across the floor along with photos. She picked up one of the photos which was the Don but with his head crossed off.

"Found something new. Uploading to our data folder via x-foliate." Isabel announced via x-foliate. She began uploading the photo and put it in her pocket.

"Isn't this the Don? Why is his photo inside that house?" Naomi questioned via x-foliate.

"Maybe our killer has a connection to him. Perhaps he is a long-time citizen." I answered via x-foliate.

"I found a photo as well. It's a little girl and her face crossed off as well. Uploading now." Jenna stated via x-foliate.

Isabel viewed the photo and found writing on it.

"Why her?" Isabel read out loud before she heard some noise upstairs.

…

She slowly walked towards the kitchen to the sound of a toaster oven ticking away. Isabel looked inside the oven and found two detached fingers still moving. She covered her mouth after realizing what it was and went to the sink to throw up.

"I found some fingers in a toaster. Might belong to multiple victims." Isabel explained via xfoliate.

"Hm. Look for any dust particles nearby for more info." I answered quickly.

. Isabel began to scan the area and found dust on the handle. She scanned with her x-foliate and a beeping sound played indicating its completion.

"Uh, the scan indicated that this dust was created 30 seconds ago." Isabel said. Footsteps echoed from upstairs and Isabel immediately turned around.

"Looks like I got company. I'm going to take a look." She said while heading up the stairs

. "Isabel, wait! We'll come to…." Naomi began to say but static played back in the ear piece and Isabel didn't hear the rest of the message.

"Looks like the comms are down." She thought as she reached the top of the stairs. She turned left from the stairs and rushed into the bathroom at the end of the hall to trace back the noise.

…

The window was opened and the sound of the waves was all she heard. She turned to the right and looked into the cracked mirror at herself. The edges of her hair were wet from the rain and she started fixing it before it got in her way.

Suddenly, the mirror crack'd more and a shadow stood behind her with dark menacing eyes. Dust surrounded the shadow's hand and tried to punch her but she dodged the attack. Isabel jumped through the ceiling with her bow in her hand.

Landing on the roof, she looked across from her to a person sitting on the roof towards the beach.

"You're the serial killer." Isabel stated. The person's body was wrapped in bandages and the only visible features were his black eyes and hair. The boy stood up slowly and faced Isabel with an intense stare.

"Way to state the obvious. Now, do you want to fight?" He replied.

Isabel's cyan aura surrounded her as she shot an ice arrow at him at intense speed. Dust rose from the cracks of the roof quickly and blocked the shot within a second.

"Not bad. But my dust is faster." The boy said while tilting his head sideways. Isabel dashed at the boy and clicked a button on the bottom of her bow splitting it into two blades.

The boy shifted into a weird stance with a foot spread apart and fist guarding his stomach. The two started to clash as the rain continued to fall. Dust surrounded the boy's hands as he punched Isabel's blades. She started to defend herself as the boy's attack quickly grew in strength.

"Sinner!" The boy yelled as his movement confused Isabel. He snuck an uppercut to her gut and sent her flying into the air. He jumped back and lifted his foot up.

"Spinning blitz." He whispered and blinked in front of her with a barrage of brutal kicks. Isabel managed to block a few before the kicks grew faster in speed and became unblockable.

"His kicks are getting stronger…!" Isabel thought. She ate a couple of kicks before he punched her down back into the bathroom. Isabel fell to the ground and coughed out some blood before opening her eyes to him coming down with a punch.

She rolled back to evade the attack and kicked him through the window. She flipped out the window while reforming her bow.

"Angel tears." She whispered as her hands moved at lightning speed releasing a barrage of ice arrows. He tried to block the arrows with his dust but the arrows were too fast to see. Blood gushed from the fresh wounds as some arrows stabbed him but Isabel wasn't done.

She let go of the bow and flipped mid air grabbing it again to perform another ability.

"Piercing Icicles." She whispered.

An arrow pierced his stomach and didn't do anything.

"This arrow did nothing. Already ran out of aura?" The boy asked. He tried to pull it out but it formed into a giant icicle and crushed him into the ground.

Isabel landed on the ground panting as she started walking towards the boy.

"You tell me, little brat." Isabel replied.

…

"Isabel? Are you okay?" Jenna said via x-foliate.

"Hey, in battle right now." Isabel said as she grew closer to the boy.

"We'll be there soon. Be —" Jenna said as static interrupted.

The icicle disappeared leaving a dust pile with no trace of the boy. The boy blinked behind Isabel and tried to sneak a hit but she blocked it with her bow. The two clashed while the rain poured harder.

"Not bad, miss." The boy said while his fists clashed against her bow.

"What's your name?" Isabel asked.

"Call me Joe Rin." He said before tripping her and punching through her chest. He tried to grab her heart but couldn't find it. Instead, the body began to freeze Joe in place while Isabel appeared on top of the roof.

"Sup." Isabel stated.

"I see. You never left the bathroom after you kicked me out the window. This was an ice clone that freezes its target when it dies." Joe said with his unfrozen face.

"Correct, your ability to read situations is impressive." Isabel said.

"Where are the others?" she wondered.

"I have work to do, Isabel. These people have sinned in various ways and must be punished for their actions. Only then may she come and save us from it all." Joe said.

"What are you talking about?" Isabel asked, confused by his statement.

"The past is not corrected." He replied before grinning menacingly. Isabel suddenly fell to one of her knees and began coughing violently. Dust surrounded Joe and formed into a wolf with red menacing eyes.

"Chase her, dust wolf." He said calmly.

…

Jenna, Naomi and I rushed searching for Isabel's last location.

"Her X-foliate isn't working and I'm worried she's fighting." Jenna said.

An explosion appeared at the end of the streets and I can see a bunch of ice arrows flying down.

"She's over there!" I said as the three of us dashed. We swifty jumped across roofs of the houses effortlessly while raising our auras.

"If Isabel gets hurt.." I thought as we closed the distance.

Isabel stood across Joe while grunting in pain. She looked down to her fresh wound on her stomach and started applying pressure with her hand.

"I must go. I can sense your allies heading this way." Joe said while melting this ice with his dust. "Shoot. What the hell did you do to me?" Isabel yelled as she jumped back and aimed at Joe. "Careful. My dust will paralyze you if you continue to use your aura. Perhaps we should end this fight." He said as bandages started to cover his wounds and body.

Isabel released an ice arrow anyways but Joe's dust blocked it.

"I'm sure we'll see each other soon." He said before turning into dust and escaping. I landed behind Isabel with Jenna and Naomi by my side.

"Isabel, are you okay?" Jenna said, running over to her.

"Yeah, I'm..." She said, slurring her words and starting to fall. Jenna caught her and started calling her name but there was no response. Naomi scanned Isabel's body and noticed dust in her bloodstream.

"We need to take her to shelter immediately. Isabel is in danger." Naomi said in a serious tone.

"Should we tell Don Kraig what happened?" Jenna asked.

"Not a smart idea. If he sees Isabel in this state, it might blow our cover. Let's take shelter in the house right here." I stated.

…

We entered the broken house and sat in the living room in silence. Jenna bought up some debris and threw it in the fireplace.

"Mordecai, please light this on fire. It's cold as hell." She said while shivering. The broken window allowed the cold air into the room which only made things more tense. Isabel laid on the couch as Naomi was healing her.

"Okay." I said and went to the fireplace with thoughts flooding my mind.

"That word in my dream. It's the name of my fire. What was it again?" I thought.

"Quickly Mordecai. It would help me heal Isabel faster if I wasn't cold." Naomi demanded.

"Sorry, just trying to remember something." I said before remembering the word.

"Moyasu." I whispered and a purple flame appeared in my hand except this time it was different. It looked like it wasn't part of the dimension and I didn't understand what was happening. The fireplace lit up and warmth quickly entered the room which felt toasty.

"Oh my goodness. It feels so good!" Jenna said as she sat on the floor next to the fireplace.

"Thank you Mordecai." Naomi said.

I checked the time on my x-foliate and sat down next to Jenna.

"It's 3:30pm. How long till she recovers?" I asked as Naomi stood up.

"I did the best I could. Hopefully she wakes up within an hour." Naomi responded as she sat next to me and laid her head on my shoulder.

"Tired?" I asked her.

"Just using your shoulder to rest. Healing takes a lot." Naomi replied before yawning.

"Good work." I said.

…

An hour passed before Isabel woke up. Naomi and Jenna were both sleeping on both of my shoulders while I remained awake.

"Mordecai?" Isabel said as she rubbed her eyes.

"Back from the dead, Isabel?" I asked. She started coughing up some dust on the floor which signaled me to wake the other two.

"The killer's name is Joe Rin. He's a little boy with a man's voice and capable of fighting to the highest degree. I couldn't keep up with some of his attacks." Isabel stated. Naomi stood behind her and continued healing her.

"What is his aura ability?" Jenna asked as she stood next to the door.

"He controls dust. From what I can conclude, he can somewhat negate attacks with it." She answered.

"Interesting." I said getting up and walking to look out the window. The rain has stopped and the sun pierced through the clouds.

"He's clearly not normal." I finished.

"Honestly, this is someone we should not take lightly, especially when he hurt my best friend." Jenna finished while looking at Isabel.

Isabel closed her eyes and nodded.

"He's up to something. He believes that this town is full of sinners and that she will save them all." Isabel continued.

"Who is she?" Naomi asked with curiosity.

"Sadly, I don't have an answer. But if you think about it, what if we aren't the only ones after the blood?" Isabel said, realizing how crazy that sounds. The three of us looked at her fearing that she may be right.

Suddenly, the ground started to shake fiercely and the house started to break down.

"Get out." I yelled. We jumped outside before the house collapsed with no scratches.

"Everyone good?" I asked.

"Mordecai, look!" Naomi said. I turned around and faced the shore of the beach where Joe stood with his arms open.

"The past is not corrected.." He said as the ocean began to split.

"I don't know what he's doing but let's stop him." I yelled over the commotion. We ran down towards the shore of the beach.

"Isabel, shoot an arrow while he's off guard." Jenna said via X-foliate. Isabel charged her bow and shot towards him but dust surrounded him and blocked it.

"So you came with your friends, Isabel." Joe said as the sea almost finished splitting.

"Welcome to the ritual." He started as eight dust piles rose from the sand and formed into clones of himself.

"Shit, I didn't know he could do that." Isabel said via X-foliate.

"This will be a wonderful afternoon!" Joe yelled as his clones charged towards us. Naomi took out her warhammer and started attacking the clones.

"Hikari." She yelled while she entered her aura state. She dashed towards each clone and uppercutted them with her warhammer. The clones exploded in the air and returned to dust.

"Nice, the clones are gone." Jenna said via X-foliate.

However, giant sand clones spawned and surrounded us quickly.

"Okay, nevermind. I jinxed us." Jenna said as the rest of us raised our own auras.