CHAPTER 3 : PAPERCUT

The man leapt, hearing the loud revs of the motorbike zooming through the empty streets. He could tell from a simple glance that it was a police officer, pausing as he stood on the building. The woman leapt next to him, wondering why he had stopped. 

"So, we need to stop those two, right..??" The woman spoke, leaping. Her fists and legs were showered in the blood of the Kage Sakkon, until she was suddenly grabbed and pulled back. The man looked at her directly in the face as he started smelling the blood. 

"That stinks. But honestly, you should've stayed where the Sakkon was. Don't you remember that-" He spoke before he was suddenly cut off by her realization. She frantically looked around, trying to shake the liquid blood off of her arms. The man simply glanced at her, sighing. 

"You're hardworking, relevant, and TOTALLY NOT A SLACKER, aren't you, Roya?" The man looked, scoffing before looking over at the bike. Roya pouted her lips in annoyance, walking over to him and gently pushing him before pointing,

"I'd like to see YOU do your job now! See if YOU'RE a slacker or not, CERA." Roya smirked as she sat down, pulling her phone out of her dress before aggressively typing. Cera looked down at her, rolling his eyes as he flipped off, landing on the ground.

***

The policeman holding Shiro had heard an echo, but chose to ignore it. Hearing it, he decided to move even faster out of fear. But what he didn't know was that he was being followed. 

"Shiro, your name was? I hope you know how much trouble you've got yourself in.." The policeman sighed, noticing the bike had slowly come to a stop. The police officer was confused. You could hear the tires screeching against the ground like they could move all along...But he decided to hold his gun as he looked around. He looked as the wheels as they came to a fast stop, continuing to examine the bike. What he didn't notice was that hordes of Kage Sakkon were marching down the street. 

Shiro's head had started to violently ache as the Sakkon got closer, causing him to fall off the bike, his body mentally and physically weak. He tried his hardest to reach his arm out to the police officer, hoping he could tell him indirectly. 

"Shiro? What do you....." He spoke before looking to his left, seeing the horde of Sakkon coming their way. He quickly panicked, pulling out his gun as he fired at them. However, this didn't do anything. They simply moved out of the way, starting to run instead of simply walking. This triggered the fight or flight in the officer, and he chose to run, leaving Shiro behind, barely able to stand. 

All the Sakkon ran directly at Shiro now. He needed to conjure up all the strength he had in his body, and make a move. "All I can do is cower and hide in fear...WHY AM I SO WEAK RIGHT NOW?! My body won't even listen to itself...It just wants...to throw up. I can't have a moment of peace, can I...This is all useless. I thought I died before, but now, I'm just going to die again. What THE HELL IS THE POINT IN ME STILL LIVING?" Shiro thought to himself, starting to breathe heavily as he slammed his fist on the ground, wincing in pain as it started to bleed. 

As they stood only a few feet away from him, he saw a sheet of paper descend from the sky. It flipped slowly, giving Shiro enough time to read what was written on the sheet of paper, "LOOK UP." With a blink and shift of his head, he watched as a figure in white flowing robes descend from the skies, gently landing in front of him. His luscious white hair tied up into a large bun, his bronze skin, and as he shifted his gaze back to Shiro, his eyes were a dark blue like the endless sea. 

"You read the paper, so you've got the gist of what I'm about to do, right?" Cera looked as he stood up, a bundle of paper forming together around his left hand to create a sword, blitzing as he created turned the blade into a large fan, using large gusts of wind to propel them all backwards. 

"Let's get to the fun part." He spoke as he launched large sheets of paper directly at the Sakkon, suddenly disappearing into thin air. The Sakkon had their guard up, trying to tear through each sheet of paper aggressively before noticing that one of them had already dropped dead from a papercut around the neck. With a flip of another paper, Cera's leg soared across another Sakkon's face, planting them into another one, causing them both to fall. 

His whole body had re-appeared now, holding the paper blade that he now used to stab through the Sakkon's chest, looking at the other 2 to his left and right, then he stopped. He turned around, walking over to Shiro as Roya had suddenly appeared, roundhouse kicking the Sakkon before Cera's papers had pierced through the both of them. The fight was over, a wave of calm passing over the three of them. 

"Geez, I can smell it seeping from this guy. Don't you think we should cleanse him first, Cera?" Roya glanced over at him, noticing that he had a glowing piece of paper in his hand already. She watched as he placed the paper on his forehead, its energy starting to surge throughout his body. The talisman seemed to be healing Shiro of his current disabilities, re-enabling his ability to stand, speak and function like a regular person. 

"I..can talk again. First of all, thanks for saving me. Second of all, what WERE those creatures, THIRD OF ALL, WHO ARE YOU??" Shiro looked, his voice progressively growing into a panic. Cera and Roya both looked at each other, smirking as they started to laugh. 

"Those were Sakkon, don't pay much attention, My name is Cera." 

"And my name is Roya." She butted in, slapping Cera on the back as she smiled. Shiro looked at the two of them, rubbing his head nervously. He had nowhere else to go, so.. 

"You guys wouldn't mind if I tagged along with you...right..?" Shiro looked, squinting.