Inverse Infection: Ground Zero [BLACK WORLD ARC SERIES EVENT THREAD] (2024)

Kuro Okami felt his blade being blown away out of his grip, but he did not seem unduly bothered by it. The blade spun around a few times, before it finally dropped onto a flat surface. Gravity would return it to its shadow – that was the benefit of fighting while there was still light. It returned to Kuro’s grip all the same. When she replied to his burst of killing intent with her own oppressive response, Kuro also… did not seem unduly bothered by it. Why should he? If he could project that kind of absence of heart, to the point where he could mercilessly splatter the blood of his enemies along ceilings, walls, and floors… why would it have bothered him?

In fact, it did not even cause his spine to bend or any similar discomfort. It merely made him widen his eyes slightly. It did not matter much to Kuro that she did not elect to respond to his comment, either. Each scenario which emerged did not seem to faze him. Despite the assault he had made with his tendrils, they were seemingly easily batted aside. However, even this action had consequence. After all, she had waved her arms in order to perform this action. As the energy was ripping away from her body to destroy his attack, a dagger of shadow would emerge from beneath her arm, sliding itself smoothly into where her outstretched hand was. It was knocked away as well, but it was more of a warning shot than anything else.

Looking up at her from his position on the ground, he was silent. With the wave of her hand, she produced yet another devastating attack. This time, however, it was directed at the Captain of the Stealth Division. He watched as the attack approached, his eyes widening as he pulled a dagger with a line of wire attached to it out of his pocket. Without pause, he tossed the dagger at the incoming attack. The dagger slid along the side of the blow, and in that instant the shadows between the wire in Kuro’s hand and the shadows created from all the rubble she had produced lined up.

Kuro held the wire while several strands of shadows emerged from her attack that was moving towards her, as if they were using the vacuum of air created by her attack to move back towards her body. These strands of shadow were razor sharp, though individually not very strong. The point of the matter was how numerous they were. Because of the amount of rubble she had kicked up, Kuro had been able to access quite a significant amount of shadow. This darkness, in turn, became linked with his own abilities, allowing for him to animate it and assault her with it. The strings would attempt to lash out at her body, binding it from every direction and then attempting to drag her down into the rubble.

Kuro, meanwhile, slid into the shadows at his feet. The large attack passed over where he had been laying, and a splotch of red emerged from the shadows that remained there. Kuro’s body crawled out of another shadow at the base of the rubble, his eyes still locked on his opponent as he breathed slowly in and out. Along his right side were several small scratches, as if the wind pressure itself had ripped open his uniform. The pain did not quite reach his brain; it was ever so slightly annoying. He could feel the wounds, but the bindings of shadow that appeared from beneath his clothing quickly applied pressure to his nerves and stopped the majority of the pain.

”Embrace the Shadowy Sky…”

With those words lightly whispered, Kuro closed his eyes, slowly falling to one knee as his hand gripped into the shadows.

”Surroundings optional…” He muttered as out of the ground appeared several more wires made out of shadow. Pulling them out of the shade that the rubble had made, he reached his left hand outwards, drawing more shadows from behind buildings to himself. As a result, the wires in his other hand began to thicken, and with the movements of his fingers and mind he could practically ‘feel’ where each individual strand was. Piero, man it. He commanded his Ziamichi Spirit, who laughed maniacally in response.

Finally! I get to kill someone! It laughed joyously, Kuro’s left hand merging and shifting as it changed from a blackened human-esque arm into something much more… eldritch. The lines of shadow flowed into Kuro’s altered limb, and they seemed to almost be merging with his flesh as finally a vaguely human hand emerged. However, the fingers had far more joints than normal, and it seemed to have several layers of wrists that went up to his forearm. All this was done while she began posturing and increasing her defenses. About two years ago, Kuro had learned this technique as a method by which to kill immensely durable opponents. The objective was to bind them with the shadows, and then, fling them bodily into the nearby terrain. Eventually, the weight of their own defenses would crush them, or be reduced enough by the constant smashing for the razor-sharp wires to finish ripping them to pieces.

So it was that Kuro’s left arm became autonomous from the rest of his body and mind.

Now that his preparations were complete, Kuro took a moment to behold the multitude of dark colors swarming around Demonica’s body. His right hand was open as he casually absorbed more of the shadows that she was producing. Each and every time that she caused for a new layer of shade to appear on the ground, Kuro was waiting for it. This amount would not grant him something as powerful as the wires, but it was always good to have some excess shadow on hand. He was hoping that he would not have to resort to using his own private stock, at least while he was in Shikai.

His gaze remained looking up at the sky as she tried to produce her energy. She would find the task a bit more challenging than she had anticipated… as the lines that Kuro had produced were now wrapping themselves like hundreds of nooses around various points on her body. They were layered and thick, and began to drag her downwards, before Kuro’s variety of wrists flicked themselves. Over the length of the wires, this translated into a gigantic smashing motion, one which would attempt to rip her out of the sky and send her plummeting into the ground down below.

Of course, there was also the matter of the explosion in the sky. Kuro’s eyes were fixed upon it, before he sighed.

”Black and white net. Twenty-two bridges, sixty-six crowns and belts. Footprints, distant thunder, sharp peak, engulfing land, hidden in the night… Sea of clouds, blue line. Form a circle and fly through the heavens.” Kuro’s lips stopped moving, his eyes looking directly at the attack before sliding his glowing right finger along his left arm. ”Bakudo 78: Hexagonal Barrier: Million Shield.”

With that word, his left arm disintegrated completely.

…I’m not a hero… but at the same time, I was the one who insisted on coming here by myself. As a result, Kuro felt responsible for this large attack. His arm disintegrated as it flowed along one of the wires, a wire that was rapidly encircling the explosion. Spread thin down to the very edges of his flesh, it stood as a giant loop as the attack impacted it.

A terrific noise emerged as it crashed against the barrier around Kuro’s arm. His wire continued circling the attack, attempting to bind it as more and more of the explosion was contained. Large beads of sweat rolled down Kuro’s chin as he fought to keep the spell in place. Thankfully, the echoing explosions against the magic caused a brilliant display of light, and the smoke that was produced by the explosion itself created thick shadows on the ground. Kuro desperately absorbed these as well, before one eye slowly opened back up again. He was still there, though Piero was screaming incessantly inside of Kuro’s head. That was almost distracting to the male.

”Not going to lie, that’s pretty cowardly…” He said, falling to one knee as he panted. ”But if you try doing that again, I’ll just respond… the same way.” He explained, before finally looking up at the woman. ”You understand me, demon scum…?” The Night Walker asked the woman, his mouth slowly opening as his teeth clenched. Once more, that killing intent washed over the city, and anyone who had not yet evacuated would have the unparalleled desire to flee. All… except for the woman before him.

At last, the majority of his arm had returned to him. All of his fingers were now missing, and there were a numerous amount of small holes and missing bits. Despite this, it was his arm, and already shadowy digits were reforming as the wires spooled around, tightening themselves once again. Kuro’s eyes looked to the ground as the shadows slid into them effortlessly, the wires dashing along the ground as he deployed the refreshed wave. That killing intent was still present as it they went rippling along, empowered by Kuro’s own shadow energy now.

At the end of their line, they exploded out of the ground. Moving at near-instantaneous speed, they slashed out along Demonica’s body, before they finally tightened themselves. With that, they attempted to drag her body downwards, sending it crashing into one of the destroyed buildings. His fingers slid together, before cupping and pulling towards his chest. Her body, if it was still ensnared, would be dragged forcibly along the structure, before with a final flick of his wrist Kuro would launch her into another one. If he had not properly caught her, however, the attack would instead merely slam into her as the lines wrapped around, like a great net, before continuing along their intended course.

Kuro was panting as he rose up once again, but his grip on the lines was firm, his eyes giving not the barest hint of mercy or leniency. This was in fact a battle to the death, and if she would not fight him, then he would attempt to slam her into every destroyed building and monument in this city.