"Destiny has arrived," Kuzaki scoffed.
The light in the sky had completely vanished and the stars were visible. Kuzaki leaned against the brick wall of a building. His hoodie was green and his jeans were ripped.
Its fluorescent lights beamed, making Kuzaki visible.
"I bet you were just waiting for me," Zenatori said.
Kuzaki went into the building and gestured for Zenatori to follow. The convenience store had its flashy manga covers, canned foods, and other items.
"So," Zenatori said. "What's the plan?"
Kuzaki walked down an aisle and knelt. He took a pack of ramen.
"While we're there I want to do two things. First, find something secret like an artifact or centuries-old history. Then see a Shibatsu with my own eyes."
"Doesn't that seem really risky? What do you know about the Shibatsu?"
"Heh, I'm glad you asked," Kuzaki said. He stood up with the packaged ramen in hand.
"From what I've read, they're massive beasts with red hardened skin."
"Aren't those books fictional?"
"They probably have some truth hidden in them."
"What else?"
"They also, uh..."
"You're telling me you've read who knows how many books, but your information is that limited?"
"Most of the books I read don't go that far into it."
He walked to the counter and paid.
"Will this be all, sir?" the clerk said.
"Yeah. Have a good night."
The two walked out of the store and Kuzaki slipped the ramen into his hoodie pouch.
"I can only wonder what he's doing with that," Zenatori thought.
They continued their journey down the street. Zenatori noticed the barrier was becoming increasingly more visible, signaling that they were getting closer. He felt his chest and notice a slight elevation in his heart rate.
"Is Kuzaki not nervous?" He thought. "How will the guards react to two teenagers leaving casually? What is actually going to happen? There are too many unknowns."
They had finally made it to the gate. It was a border crossing and a guard sat idly in the booth. Kuzaki stepped to the booth and cleared his throat.
"Excuse me, sir. Can you open the gate?
The guard looked up in slight shock, but complied.
"Are those teenagers?" he thought.
He then shrugged his shoulders and tried to ignore it. He clicked a button on a table in his outpost.
"It has been years since I've seen someone leave," he lightly mumbled as they walked through.
He leaned back his chair and sighed.
"Just looks like kids having fun."
They finally reached a good distance outside and Kuzaki finally began to run.
"Zenatori! We did it!"
"Yeah, we did I guess."
"Aren't you happy?!"
"There's literally nothing."
Kuzaki looked forward and saw trees. Hundreds. There was a gravel pathway that continued forward, but nothing else notable. Birds called in choruses of quiet chirps. A grass-like smell withered in the air.
"Look, Zenatori!" Kuzaki said as he kneeled and pointed toward the ground.
"What?" Zenatori said, raising an eyebrow.
"It's grass!"
"There's grass in Kyoto."
"But this is nature grass!"
"What does that even mean?"
Kuzaki admired the trees and picked at flowers.
"Hey," Zenatori said. "Let's just call this a waste of time-"
"Yo let's go further in. We haven't seen the surface."
Zenatori's brow slightly deepened, but he sighed and agreed.
The two followed the trail and Kuzaki looked around, taking everything in. With every step Zenatori took, his hesitance only grew.
"Why are we even doing this?" he thought. "We're risking our lives for nothing."
Zenatori grabbed Kuzaki's shoulder.
"Aren't we getting a little far? We've been walking for like 5 minutes."
Kuzaki swiped Zenatori's hand off and chuckled.
"What's going to happen? We die? Besides, if you die, I'll die. So it's an equal cost."
"That isn't reassuring at all!" Zenatori thought.
Kuzaki stepped on a branch and as the branch snapped, a voice called out.
"Who's there!" a man called out.
Kuzaki had grabbed Zenatori by the arm and rushed behind a tree. As the footsteps closed in, leafs would the sound of leaves getting crushed would sound out with every step.
"Who is that?" Zenatori whispered.
"How would I know?!" Kuzaki snapped back.
"For someone who knows so much about the outside it seems that you know nothing."
"Why you-"
"If you don't come out," the man said. "I'll have to assume you are a Shibatsu. Come out now!"
Zenatori raised his arms and walked out. Kuzaki hesitated, but followed.
"Well isn't this interesting." the man said. "You two look very young."
"You also look very young," Zenatori said.
The man didn't look older than twenty. His face was fresh and his blonde hair was styled cleanly. He wore a white t-shirt with baggy black sweatpants. His shirt had a small symbol on it Zenatori didn't recognize.
"Huh, well this is awkward." he said, scratching the side of his head.
Zenatori slowly lowered his arms.
"Uh, where's your gun?"
"Gun? Syneji artists don't use guns."
Kuzaki quickly grabbed Zenatori's shoulders.
"Dude, it's a syneji artist!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's almost anticlimactic."
"Hey sir!"
"What?"
"I have a LOT of questions for you."
"How about we save that on the trip back?"
Kuzaki paused.
"We're leaving?"
"You two are too young. I'm not sure why the border guard let you through," he said palming his face. "I would ask for your clearances, but I honestly can't be bothered."
He sighed and turned around.
"Welp let's go."
As they walked the syneji artist was bombarded by questions from Kuzaki.
"So what exactly are Shibatsu?" Kuzaki said.
"I'm honestly not sure-"
"You've said that to all of my questions!"
"Then ask more reasonable questions."
Kuzaki put his hand on his hip and sighed.
"How about-"
"Look kid, what exactly do you want from me?"
"I've been interested in all the secrets and syneji artistry in general since I was twelve! I wanted to see the outside and just know more."
"You still look twelve."
"I'll have you know I'm fifteen years of age! You don't look that much older than us! Stop dodging the question what's out here?"
"There is nothing out here! Get it? I get you're just curious, but jeez."
"It seems those two are going at it," Zenatori thought.
He ignored their rambling and looked into the starry night. Their was no grey tint shielding the marvel. It was completely clear.
"It's beautiful," he mumbled, admiring the sky.
"So there's literally nothing..?" Kuzaki said. "That's impossible!"
"Do you see anything? There's nothing out here-"
The syneji artist froze.
His arm flung back, stopping Kuzaki and Zenatori in their tracks. Kuzaki looked around frantically.
"What is it-"
"Don't make a sound."
A twig snapped.
They heard breathing, but it wasn't from either of them.
The shrubs were skewed back and the trees hunched forward. A monstrous amalgamation crossed through the leaves and made its way in front of the three.
It's skin was red and resembled hardened floor tiles. It towered over the syneji artist and held long thin arms, but disproportionally enormous hands. Its back was hunched, and had the hind legs of an ostrich.
It stared at the group with its bright red eyes, and breathed heavily.
"I guess I can afford to show off a bit," the syneji artist grinned.
"He's looking at that and isn't afraid?" Zenatori thought.
He kneeled before he gritted his teeth and palmed the ground.
"Kaigen Series: Faultline."
The ground shuddered and spikes of rock flew from out the ground, traveling toward the Shibatsu. It recongized the threat and jumped back.
The syneji artist dashed forward before Zenatori and Kuzaki could process he moved. As he traveled, he physically grabbed at the ground and it was effortlessly peeled from the soil. He then mashed it together and formed it into a solid rock.
He leapt through the air and his spear-like weapon pierced straight through the Shibatsu's hard skin. Purple liquid gushed from the wound, but the syneji artist didn't let up.
He then grabbed the rock spear and cut off the entire side of the Shibatsu. The Shibatsu flinched back as it regurgitated its blood.
Zenatori and Kuzaki could only look in awe.
"Is this how strong syneji artists are?" Zenatori thought.
The Shibatsu then clutched the rock with its hands and shattered it with its grip. In front of the syneji artist's eyes, the skin and flesh knitted back together, repairing the former wound.
But he wasn't faltered.
"Looks like I'll have to try a bit on this one," he said with a bright smile.
He readjusted his posture and cracked his neck.
"You two get back!" he yeller.
Zenatori and Kuzaki ran behind a set of trees.
"Now," he said, cracking his knuckles. "Let's wrap this up, I have things to do tonight."
The beast jolted toward him, but he didn't even blink.
"Kaigen Series, Absolute: Geographic Collapse."
The ground violently trembled, knocking the two boys off their balance. Multiple giant rocky spikes erupted from beneath and nearly instantly struck the Shibatsu.
The ground beneath the Shibatsu collapsed and folded over, burying the Shibatsu in debris. The sediment bursted upward, slinging the Shibatsu into the sky.
The syneji artist sprung with all his might, trailing the Shibatsu. He formed a hardened rock layer on his fist and struck the Shibatsu square in its chest.
The velocity flung it deep into ground and collapse the area beneath it. An explosion of dust sounded as it cratered into the ground. Dust filled the area of the forest; nothing could be seen.
Zenatori and Kuzaki moved from their post. The syneji artist crashed to the ground and had blood coming from his face.
"What happened," Zenatori said, as he coughed from the dust in the air.
The syneji artist shakingly stood back up and grinned.
"I used quite the amount here."
"Are you okay?" Kuzaki said.
"I'm alive aren't I?" he sneered.
Zenatori looked into the dust.
"You think it's still alive?"
"If it survived that," he chuckled. "I don't know what'll put it down."
"That was insane!" Kuzaki called out.
"Heh," the syneji artist said. "Let's get out of here-"
A piece of rock moved.
He quickly turned back, but his response was delayed from the wounds.
The long arm raced forward and struck through his back. The syneji artist yelled in pain before he gritted his teeth and inhaled.
"I-" he muttered as blood trickled down his lip.
He attempted to move, but couldn't.
"Did it hit my spinal cord?" he thought.
The Shibatsu grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled from both opposite sides.
"I wasn't enough," the syneji artist said.
Both sides split.
His insides spilled out as his bones visibly broke under the pressure. A pool of blood fell to the ground as his body was shattered.
They saw it all.
Zenatori witnessed in horror and couldn't move.
"Why. Why would any species do this?" he thought.
"Zenatori, run," Kuzaki said.
Zenatori watched idly.
Kuzaki raced forward, and grabbed Zenatori's arm.
"We have to go!"
The two then did a full sprint to the barrier.
"I knew we shouldn't have done this!"
"There's no time for regrets! The barrier isn't far, let's go!"
They finally saw the checkpoint and began the final stretch. Zenatori looked back and the Shibatsu was only a few meters behind them.
Zenatori and Kuzaki had used strength they had stored their entire life. They jumped and crashed straight through the checkpoint. The guard woke up and shook.
"Huh, what?"
Zenatori and Kuzaki caught their breath as sweat dropped from their face.
"What happened?" the guard said.
"Its..." Kuzaki said, gasping for air. "A Shibatsu!"
The Shibatsu jumped toward the barrier and reached its arms out. As it went through a horrible screech rang through the city, waking everyone in the vicinity.
Hundreds of lights flicked on in the surrounding buildings and doors flung open as a gossip quickly filled the air.
The ghastly sound continued to holler through the city, as the Shibatsu's body crossed the barrier.
The area fell silent.
No twitch. No sound.
What was left was a burnt, mangled corpse lying on the street, on full display for everyone to watch.
"A Shibatsu?!" a woman called out.
"My God..." a man said.
"That's the first I've seen in 40 years," another man yelled.
Zenatori and Kuzaki could only look at eachother.
"What did we do...?" They thought, exchanging expressions.
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