AngelSubzero - Douma's Adventures

"We were sealed away for centuries. Forced into statues that encased our being into mindless displays vulnerable to such insignificant instances and lifeforms." Aka Manto pushed Douma away with a flick of his claw. The yokai swiveled down and tried to land another slash of his large crimson claw on Douma but he didn't manage to do that on time. Douma flew away and knocked the back of Aka Manto's neck with his fan.

Yushiro gulped after hearing Aka Manto's explanation on their origins. Beside him, Shinobu eyes darted to him. Something's fishy here.

"You're not hiding something are you?" The violette whispered to Yushiro in a mocking tone. He almost stepped away from here but managed to prevent himself from falling over. That would mean having to take a step to maintain his composure and luckily he didn't give in to the fear that washed over him when Shinobu questioned his odd behavior.

Shivering, Yushiro took a deep breath. His hands were shaking and they went cold. "Well I might have broken one of the statues. I tripped over it so uh yeah."

"It doesn't matter anymore. Keeping these guys frozen isn't going to stop them from doing these awful things. Douma is going to put an end to their troubles, I'm sure of it." Glancing at Yushiro, Shinobu stood there watching the battle. She felt much comfortable staying in her spot than moving around, it's a good thing Yushiro thought of a solution to their situation fast.

"I suppose you're right."

Curling his fingers, Aka Manto whipped the blue and red toilet paper rolls towards Douma's direction. Once again, the blonde grabbed the roll closest to him, kicking the other one which shoved it to the ground.

The red-cloaked entity was attempting to slice his limbs with the toilet paper rolls. He kept pulling the red toilet paper roll away from Douma who stopped his plan but the blonde's hold on it was too strong.

"Amidst the unwavering silence, the underworld still seeks out unfortunate victims."

Both Shinobu and Yushiro watched Aka Manto summon a large scorching opening on the ground below Douma's feet. Smoke and flames erupted from the entrance to this supposed underworld followed by screams of agony.

Yushiro choked he could feel his eyes forcing themselves to shut off from the events happening around him. No I can't doze off now. If his body collapses he might end up landing on one of the lasers.

"Yushiro!" Shinobu cried, she immediately tip-toed over the areas on the floor that she believed were points that the lasers had positioned themselves and caught the teen who was close to falling over.

Even Shinobu herself couldn't believe that she moved across the congested space. Panting, she spun around looking in both directions to wait for the worst that could possibly happen. She had no choice, Yushiro was about to fall she couldn't just watch him give away his life just like that. If only there were exceptions to the rule of these kinds of games.

Seconds passed and nothing happened. The violette sighed in relief, she waited for Yushiro to regain his consciousness but it was proven difficult given that the gates of hell were still open underneath.

"Come on Yushiro you're gonna be OK. Take a deep breath..." Unlike Shinobu whom Douma unleashed his spell so she wouldn't pass out or encounter the worst effects imaginable from witnessing such events and abnormalities, Yushiro was completely defenseless against them.

"Shinobu... you moved away-" He weakly said, unable to finish his sentence when he let out another cough. The violette adjusted her hold on Yushiro so he won't feel tired from leaning backwards.

Several frail decayed hands emerged from the fiery pits below, reaching out to grab Douma. The blonde sliced the hands with the toilet paper roll that he still held onto. When he flew away he summoned a wave of frost on the roll that traveled upwards to the bundle in Aka Manto's hand.

The entity barely had time to react, the frost inflicted a sharp numbing pain on his hand which led to Aka Manto backing away while the toilet paper roll shattered into pieces. The fiery opening immediately returned to being the forest's grass and soil.

Shinobu and Yushiro stayed in their spots, the red toilet paper roll vanished and the bright red streaks came to view again, blinking a few times before disappearing without a trace.

The green-haired teen supported by Shinobu regained his strength looking up to see the forest clear of any obstructions. He knew Aka Manto was shorthanded now but the seething pain in his head was making it hard for him to concentrate on his surroundings.

"My head hurts." Yushiro rubbed the back of his head lethargically. Shinobu watched him get up from the floor. She walked alongside him to a resting spot under a tree.

"I won't let my efforts be in vain. My friends... they don't deserve this." Aka Manto flew higher and clenched his fists.

Douma narrowed his eyes at the entity surrounded by dark crimson clouds in the sky. This power he's giving off, could it be...

"Metamorphosis!" The dark crimson clouds surrounded the yokai for a while until they went off, revealing the extended edges of Aka Manto's cloak.

Aka Manto's appearance changed; The entity had the head of a skeletal giraffe. His boney hands sounded like rattling chains and the cloak he wore was spread out like a bird's wings.

"He transformed..." Yushiro stared at the entity in the sky.

When Shinobu was about to call out to Douma, the green-haired teen beside her grabbed onto the tree in exhaustion. She rushed over to him, insisting that he sit down and rest.

"The carnivorous gem in the abysmal cave, Mandhezua, the captor of the sacred light."

Mandhezua let out a screeching roar, emitting streaks of red, yellow, and green down to the ground. Yushiro limped away from the approaching beams on the ground, Shinobu making sure he doesn't collapse again.

 A sudden surge of energy flowed through Yushiro's veins, at that moment he stood upright and stared at Shinobu who blinked at him in confusion. "Yushiro? Are you alright?"

"That's strange I feel energetic yet scared at the same time. It's like the pain in my body disappeared after Mandhezua appeared."

Shinobu's gaze diverted to the skeletal creature snarling at Douma who got his golden fans out. The fear that Yushiro was experiencing sunk in the longer she stared at Mandhezua. "Yeah I feel... afraid." The violette didn't know how to describe this fear, she couldn't bear to continue walking away from the fight without having to glance behind every now and then. To see if Mandhezua was sneaking up on them even though he paid no attention to the two friends.

"Scattering Lotuses!" Douma's ice sickles swiveled to Mandhezua who summoned two large plates with dagger-like edges that rotated on each side of the entity. They sliced the icicles into pieces when they came into contact with the sharp ends of the bronze plates.

The skeletal creature flew over to Douma and swung the rotating plates in the blonde's direction.

"Mandhezua is a vicious entity that wiped out the constellation seekers in the meridian universe."

Shinobu looked at Yushiro who was watching the battle intently. The loud metallic sounds of Douma's fans clashing with Mandhezua's rotating plates in the background serving as a constant reminder that the battle was still ongoing.

"I read up about it at the library. The Mandhezua found them after discovering their connections with constellations by slipping into a fabric of space. The realm of constellation seekers can't be accessed by anyone within the dimensional space but Mandhezua found his way to the realm somehow." Yushiro continued, recalling everything he read from the book about cosmic horror.

"Why did he wipe them out...?" Shinobu asked quietly. It was disturbing to hear this tale especially since Mandhezua was right in front of them.

"He didn't have a reason for destroying their realm and every bit of research they had about constellations, he just happened to stumble upon one of the constellations they were researching on. In the meridian universe, the constellation seekers were known for their excellency in deciphering constellations and behaviors of the cosmos." The green-haired teen turned to Shinobu who listened to his explanation intently. "At the end of the day, it's just a tale. There are people out there who believe that the beading dark accumulation of gas in space is the aftermath of the Mandhezua's destruction of the constellation seekers realm. The blood of their faction that remains in the cosmos, an outlier in the dimensional space."

Yushiro leaned against the tree, crossing his arms. "According to the tale, the reason why we don't hear anything from the meridian universe is because Mandhezua's destruction of the constellation seekers' realm brought the entire universe down with it. So that dark gas isn't just the unconsolidated remains of the faction, rather the encapsulation of the dead universe. An indication of its once known presence."

"As the saying goes, if you ever encounter the Mandhezua, keep your thoughts quiet."

Shinobu stood there processing everything Yushiro just told her. She decided to take some of the explanations with a grain of salt since it was just a tale. Mandhezua was a merciless foe, it was apparent in their encounter but ruining other people's fun at an attraction? That was a questionable decision on his part.

Regardless, Mandhezua's presence could send Dice and Roll Valley into a spiral which is why Shinobu has been calling out to Douma but instead of giving her a listening ear, the blonde just ignored her.

The skeletal creature grabbed Douma's hair and dragged him around. Roaring at the blonde, Mandhezua brought the rotating plates closer to him.

Douma teleported away from Mandhezua, his golden fans radiating a scorching energy as he dived towards the entity and slashed his fans at him.

The same forcefield that blew away his ice sickles appeared except this time the hurricane that came with it were dark crimson clouds that knocked the blonde away.

"Your attacks do nothing. Admit it, you targeted my friends solely because of their inferiority. A fool like yourself never expected another fight to be this hectic." Mandhezua swung his rotating plates at Douma like yoyos.

The angel smiled and braced himself for the incoming plates. "I'm just testing stuff." He said moving in between the plates before they collided with one another like cymbals.

Displeased by the subtleness of Douma during this supposed confrontational battle to avenge his friends, Mandhezua dragged the plates alongside Douma who moved away when one of them nearly sliced his knee.

"Radiance!" Douma concentrated the energy given off by his golden fans and fired a radiating air slash from one of them. The golden air slash colliding with the forcefield and crimson dark clouds emerging in front of Mandhezua.

Eventually the golden air slash cut through the barrier resulting in a conflicting explosion that gave Douma the chance to land another hit amongst the clouds of smoke.

Before Mandhezua could lift up his rotating plates, Douma smashed the closest plate into pieces with his fan.

Widening his eyes, Mandhezua swung the remaining plate at Douma, sending him backwards.

Shinobu and Yushiro were amazed by how Douma managed to break the rotating plate with the littlest effort. An ordinary human would need a lot of strength to leave the slightest dent on its surface.

Douma climbed on top of the rotating plate. When he unleashed the clouds of frost towards Mandhezua, the plate shattered into pieces from the strong force traveling towards the entity.

"Do you think I will let you off that easily after everything you did to separate the mutuality we yokai formed between each other? Take your time reflecting about that on the ground." A bright glow emitted from Mandhezua's chest as he blew out a purple dust along his palm that flew towards Douma and surrounded him.

The strange dust turned his wings numb, Douma felt his limbs stiffen as he fell to the ground.

Mandhezua grinned when he saw the blonde lying on the floor, unable to move while the dust particles absorbed his energy. "Now I'll finish you once and for all."

Shinobu and Yushiro watched in horror as the entity moved closer to Douma with his claws getting bigger with a shade of dark crimson.

Douma looked up and reflected the accumulation of the purple dust at Mandhezua. The entity stumbled back when the particles turned his entire hand stiff. He almost wanted to break it off and regenerate his hand, the numbness followed by Douma having the upper hand every time was infuriating.

Holding onto his left wrist, Mandhezua roared and tried to slice Douma with his claws. The blonde moved back whenever the entity swatted his hand at him over and over again.

Forcing his left hand to overcome the restrictive numbness by the mere thought of finishing this battle, Mandhezua snarled and flew up. He raised his arms and summoned a portal above him.

Douma observed the portal, when its formation was complete he saw the vast purple space on the other side. It was empty but the sounds echoing within and beyond the portal sounded like voices of trapped spirits.

"I might as well take everybody's souls too! This will be the definitive end to our battle and there's nothing you can do to stop me! I will avenge my friends!" The portal turned violent, acting as a vacuum.

Douma raced towards it in a hurry. Both Shinobu and Yushiro stood there talking amongst themselves about what the blonde was going to do before everyone's souls get sucked into that portal. Mandhezua had a lot of tricks up his sleeve, right after the purple dust that Douma brushed off like dirt, the entity just had to unleash another one. Only this time it involved everybody else who wasn't a part of the battle.

When the blonde was a few feet away from the portal, Mandhezua extended a yellow roll of toilet paper towards him.

"The yellow toilet roll won't kill a victim but..." Yushiro darted his eyes at the other yellow rolls coming down from the bundle in Mandhezua's hand. "You'll lose a head I guess."

"Hold on, isn't it supposed to be the other way around? It's the body that runs away." Shinobu replied, exchanging glances with Yushiro who shrugged.

The yellow rolls wrapped around Douma's limbs, the former roll constricting his neck. Douma tried to move around in order to snap the elastic bands.

"Why can't he just rip them off? They're just paper." Shinobu retorted.

"No those rolls are elastic. Notice how they never snap off? That's because they're not ordinary paper." Yushiro replied, glancing at Shinobu who realized that. The rolls never seem to break apart despite making contact with the branches and rocks, they were sturdy.

"Now that you mention it, yeah there's no shreds of paper lying around."

Douma stood his ground, Mandhezua held onto the rolls wrapped around the blonde thinking of ways to get him away from the portal.

"When I activate this roll's power, the victim's head will come off and the rest of their body will run far away from them. It will be impossible to attach them back together." Mandhezua sneered.

I have to destroy the portal. Everyone at Dice and Roll Valley is in danger. Bringing his hand close to the roll wrapped around his neck despite the strong grip it had on his limbs, Douma tried pulling it away.

Mandhezua tightened the yellow band's hold on Douma's neck, "It's no use. These bands will never come off no matter how hard you try to tear them to shreds."

Shinobu couldn't bear watching the scene happening in front of her. "We gotta help him." The violette said to Yushiro.

"I don't know..."

"What are you talking about? Douma needs our help! We can't just stand here and do nothing!"

Grinning, Mandhezua adjusted the yellow rolls' positioning on Douma's limbs until the blonde was directly facing the portal.

"Let me intensify the portal's pressure by a little bit."

Since Mandhezua and his portal are right in front of me that means I can launch a direct attack without any obstructions. Douma watched the entity focusing on the speed of the portal that had gone up. It reminded him of a turbine. The blonde had to hurry.

"This should do." When the entity looked at Douma, he gasped in shock at the iridescent formation emitting in between the angel's orbs.

Mandhezua backed away in fear. "No what are you doing? Stop this!"

Douma fired his iridescent ray in Mandhezua's direction, casting a major explosion when it struck him. The portal above the entity burst into sparks of energy, vanishing along with the yellow rolls.

Both Shinobu and Yushiro watched the skeletal creature, burnt to crisp, fall to the ground.

"Yikes!" The green-haired teen clutched the side of his head, wincing in pain. Just like last time, the iridescent ray was causing him to feel feverish. He tried to fight back the pain and the effects that came with it mentally.

Stumbling, Yushiro crouched down which worried Shinobu. "This always happens when I see that ray." Yushiro choked.

Rushing over to her friend, Shinobu looked up to see Douma still in the sky. "You need to rest Yushiro." The violette knew what he was trying to say, Yushiro wasn't used to seeing these things.

"Aka Manto!" Junbo cried running to the yokai lying on the ground. His red cloak was badly torn with holes all around the fabric.

Sighing, the yokai who had returned to his normal form glanced at the kappa and Sukimori gathered beside him. The kitsune brushed away the strings of web that he broke out of. "I can't believe we let him get away with it. He killed our friends, it's not fair for them." Aka Manto croaked, taking a few deep breaths in between his sentences.

Junbo blinked at Aka Manto, perplexed by what he just said. "He didn't kill our friends. It was a very tall and frightening man on that island."

Aka Manto was taken aback by Junbo's response. "What do you mean? Junbo don't tell me you can't recognize the murderer whom you saw slaughtering our friends."

Standing upright, the kappa raised his index finger and continued explaining. "This guy isn't the one who killed Yurei and Hitotsume. Someone else did and he got away."

"Yeah Junbo's right, we just happened to stumble upon these three friends in the forest." Sukimori added, crossing his arms.

Groaning, Aka Manto continued laying on his back. He was deceived by his own assumptions. "Junbo why are you such an airhead? Is it that hard for you to give me details that aren't vague? Look what you got us into."

"Uh yeah sorry about that." Junbo said, scratching his head awkwardly.

The three yokai spun around when they heard footsteps approaching them.

Douma stood there with a stern expression on his face. The three yokai felt inferior to the very same opponent who took down all three of them. The battle must've felt like a walk in the park for the blonde.

Pointing his golden fan at Aka Manto, the blonde spoke. "This is why you shouldn't act upon your own irrational decisions. It's not worth the risk. There are other ways to get around such unfortunate cases, but jumping straight into violence isn't always the best solution to one's problems." His golden fan still pointing at the same direction threateningly, Douma watched the three yokai settle down while reflecting on their actions.