SIN

With thousands of glaring eyes staring at both Shiro and Kami, they looked at each other before preparing for the worst. The talisman on Shiro's head glistened a bright rainbow as hundreds of large humanoid monsters had leapt on top of all of them. Shiro looked back at Kami, who seemed to be holding 2 fingers together. 

"Light." He spoke sharply as both of his fingers glistened, his hair flowing from the large gusts of wind that flew. A large beam had fired, re-directing itself through each monster, tearing them apart like sheets of paper, with blood splattered across. Within seconds, every monster had dropped dead. Shiro looked at his power with shock, smirking. He was finally able to make a change. With a sharp gaze, he summoned his blade, running to the side of Kami, spinning before delivering a direct slash to a monster that wasn't completely murdered. Kami looked back at Shiro, giving him a thumbs up with his other hand before he spoke, 

"We need to move deeper. With all these monsters hurdled up like this, there's no way they don't have a boss." Kami spoke as his fingers returned back to normal, grabbing Shiro by his robe's collar, slightly pushing him in front to give him a boost. Shiro looked back with a smirk before focusing on what was in front of him. With what felt like a surge of lightning in his feet, he moved at an immense speed, beyond anything he had ever ran before. 

"The talisman seems to be in full effect...That's good. Don't worry, Roya...I know how much you care about people..." Kami thought to himself before lunging and catching up to Shiro within 5 seconds, who seemed to be coming to a stop. With a slow stare, they both looked up, as they seemed to have found their target. Standing at the center of Deeper Averune, The Castle of Memories, where the Forgotten had stayed. 

"I don't know anything about this place. You, Shiro?" Kami spoke, looking over at Shiro, who seemed just as confused as him. 

Shiro stared into the blank nothingness known as the castle, gritting his teeth as he took in the smell; empty. With a sharp look in his eyes, he looked at Kami, pointing at the top of the castle. 

"We're making it up there. I'm assuming it's like a final boss with their headquarters at the top. But it's not safe to leap that high." Shiro evaluated the situation carefully, annihilating all of the risks. Kami looked at him, not expecting to see this side of him, especially since he looked like the aggressive reckless fighting type. 

"So we make it from the bottom-up, huh...Let's make it flashy." Kami smiled before pointing his fingers...like a gun..? Shiro looked at him, slowly sliding to the left as raw traces of energy started appearing, becoming a small projectile, violent and aggressive in power. He took a deep breath before he shouted. 

"BANG!"

The projectile soared across the path with immeasurable speed, Kami's face covered in the light of the explosion, laughing as he grabbed Shiro by the collar once again, running across the path as he jumped into the building, laughing. It felt like time had slowed. In the distance, Shiro looked at a little girl who seemed to be tormented by the stronger monsters. But, she didn't look like them...Nobody could live that long in Deeper Averune without getting annihilated. Within that split-second, they both agreed to their roles they would take for the next 30 seconds:

RETRIEVE THE GIRL. 

ELIMINATE THE MONSTERS. 

Shiro felt Kami's grasp on him loosen as he ran to the horde of monsters, stabbing his sword through ones chest, tackling him to the ground as he continued to run, looking at the girl, quickly spinning around, using his foot as he landed in front of her, preparing to defend her.

"Are you okay? You don't have to cry anymore." He spoke as he heard her cries, looking back. She was young. Anybody could tell that. But her body...it was bruised, scarred, tortured. Shiro's eyes widened in fear. He tried paying attention, but the image was stuck in his head. Her suffering...It reminded him of somebody else. Somebody he used to know. 

With the grit of his teeth, he quickly picked her up, tearing the arms of his robes off, placing her on his back, holding his sword as Kami had quickly shot the other monsters dead. Shiro jumped past all of them, showing her to Kami, who looked just as scared as Shiro did, holding his hand out as he created a healing talisman on her head that affected her entire body. With the confirmation of their healing, they both nodded as they decided to advance to the next floor. Finding a flight of stairs, they quickly sprinted up, witnessing how much more serious the situation got - a victim of abuse in a castle where memories stay. How and why could she be there? Her bruises, dark, caved and red like the lava spewing from a volcano. A sense of panic, an overwhelming force filled the castle, pushing their courage to step forwards back. Shiro looked at Kami, who locked eyes with him. They had to be prepared for anything that could happen. But Kami knew; with such a powerful force, he had to eliminate options. 

It couldn't be one of the Nullum they were engaging against...

It couldn't be anyone stronger than him...

And the force was twisted. Immemorable. It never felt the same way twice. Distorted. 

With a slight nod, Kami signed to Shiro, signaling for him to stay back. With a flicker of his figure, he vanished. A single sound flew past Shiro's ears. An explosion had occurred. Despite the occurrence of the warped energy, he stood tall. His figure unwavering as he forced his leg forward. 

Moving. Forward. Forcing his legs, his soul wavered in pain, but clenching his chest, he knew he had to do this. There were too many people that cared for him for his death to be written into reality. With the final 3 steps, he reached the first floor, where Kami stood, his form aggressive as if he was in a fight. But it was too dark. Shiro couldn't see anything, until the talisman flashed...and he could see everything. 

"Isn't this just nice!! 2 men...full of their nutrients, ready for me to devour..!!" A feminine voice shouted, a flutter of wings in the distance. With her land, the shifting of her demonic tail could tell everything you needed to know. Simply from the words that she said, Shiro could tell everything he needed to know about her. 

Kami looked back at Shiro, who quickly noticed that he was completely unscathed..? Kami hadn't been touched once. If anything, the woman looked more hurt. With her grey skin, and her purple, thick blood, she could see it in Kami's eyes. He wasn't a threat to be messed with. But now that Shiro had arrived, she had a way to exploit Kami's weakness - his care for others.