Trisaha 6

Well, here we are, Book 6. As I said on the Book 1 hub, this one is still in the process of being revised and created so I will be updating this hub from time to time, adding in new things or taking some old, out dated stuff out.  I will put the revision number after the title in angle brackets.

Currently this book is 25 chapter long, that's over 130 pages worth I think, I speculate I am only half done.

This book will encompass several story arcs. Right now I am in about the middle of the second arc.

This book picks up where 5 left off with Kynoto watching over the Tribulations Seal that he placed on Knifes and Blackheart.

It was in the dead of winter in a small town called Emerald Town, which it got its name from the giant green crystal at its center. When the town was founded, in the year of 3420, the city officials had hired all of the strongest men in the world that they could find to try and remove the stone, but it was to no avail. The stone was then considered a holy object, for it was as if the very earth would not let it go. The city was built around it, and eventually they built a park with the stone in the center of it. It was in this park that an old man of an undeterminable age was. The old man had been there since even the oldest person could remember, always in front of the stone he was, standing, sitting, sleeping, and even eating. He was partially bald, with a ring of white hair around his head, his eyes were a deep blue, and his clothes looked extremely old. On sunny days after school, the children would ask him to tell them a story. His stories contained all sorts of delightful and thrilling actions, feats of great bravery, courage, and some of great shame. Thus he gained his nickname by which all of the children called him; The Story Teller, almost everyone called him that for they had no notion of his real name, he had never spoken it. If someone asked him his name, he replied with either The Story Teller or the greatest fool who had ever lived. There was one thing odd about this town though. It was the only place that ever had monsters in it. They had all supposedly been wiped out by a biochemical agent that was developed several hundred years before hand, but it did not seem to work on these ones. Every year, on the night of the twenty-fourth of December they came in all directions from the park. It was suggested that the old man was the cause, but that rumor was soon put to rest. But not everyone had the same views about the old man.

“Hey, you, yea you, old man. We know that you’re the cause of those monsters that come from here. We had some good friends that got killed by them, so we have a proposition for ya. How about you leave this town and never come back here?” some street thugs from a near-by gang said as they brandished their weapons. The man did not move, he merely looked up from his food. “We warned ya old man, now were gonna kill ya!” The thug in front said. The seven men began firing guns at the old man. A cloud of smoke and dust enveloped them all and when it cleared what the thugs saw astonished them. The man had drawn a sword and had deflected all of the bullets with it. Some of the bullets had ricocheted off of the blade and struck a few of the gang members. “WHAT?! How the Hell?! And with a sword? Who the hell uses swords anymore? Come on guys, lets get the Hell outa here,” The leader of the gang said as they left, baffled by the actions of the old man. When the police arrived; they had received a call about someone shooting in the park, they questioned the old man, but he did not say anything to them. The cops assumed that it was gang related, cleaned up the bodies, and then left the park in search of the rest of the gang that had been there. After this, the children returned, even in the cold of winter, to hear his stories.

“Father, The Story Teller told me something interesting today,” a teenage boy with long blond hair told his dad as he looked out a window at the snow covered street.

“Oh? And what did that lunatic tell you Itachi?” asked his dad. Itachi turned around to face his father. He was seventeen years old, and stood at about five feet eleven inches. His eyes were colored a deep crimson.

“He told me that every year on December twenty-fourth, the stone glows and produces those monsters. Today is the twenty-fourth, don’t you think that it could be true, what the old man says?” Itachi asked his father in a quizzical voice.

“No, no I don’t. Everyone knows that those so-called monsters were just started up by some drunken man when everyone saw a large dog in the shadows and mistook it for a monster. You shouldn’t be worried about such trivial things my son, you should be more worried about your senior year,” Itachi’s dad told him sternly, “now go to bed, its one in the morning, you were supposed to be asleep at eleven.” Itachi turned and walked up the stairs to his room, glancing, for what had to be the five hundredth time, at the many rifles and guns that lined the walls of the staircase. His dad was a gun collector and had, over the years, collected at least three hundred different firearms. Itachi was more interested in swords then guns and had the walls in his room covered with braces each that held a countless amount of swords. When he reached the top of the stairs, he turned to the right and opened the door closest too him a little; it was his sisters room. He looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary, so he closed the door and went back to the left of the stairs to his room. As he walked in he shut the door behind himself and turned off his light. As Itachi lay there, he wondered if the old man would be all right. Soon sleep crept over him and took him to a carefree world where the sun would never set. His dad opened his door to check on him as he passed by to go to sleep and left it open, not thinking of the consequences.

Several hours later Itachi awoke with a start, something had tickled his leg. He looked over at the clock; it was five in the morning. He put his head on his pillow and stared at the ceiling, more or less intrigued by the black area that was darker then the rest of his room. Then he swore he saw it blink a pair of gleaming yellow eyes. He reached for a sword that was hung by its lonesome above his bed; it was there for it was his favorite, a double-edged Shigathian blade; a very rare and very deadly blade. As he drew it from its sheath the moonlight glinted off of its shiny surface and illuminated the corner. What Itachi saw terrified him. It indeed looked like a dog, but it was definitely not one. It looked more like a demon in the form of a dog, its body rotting in front of his eyes. It bared its yellow teeth and lunged at Itachi, who reacted quickly and cut the creature in half. Its green blood stained his room’s walls, his bed, and his sword. Then he heard a window break and his sister scream. He rushed to her room to see that another one of the monsters had her pinned down on her bed, getting ready to kill her. As Itachi ran forward, he plunged the sword through the creature’s back turned his blade sideways and lifted the thing off of his sister and hurled it back out of the window. His father had witnessed the whole scene.

“What in the…? That…what was that?” he said shakily.

“I believe that was one of the old man’s fake monsters,” Itachi said sarcastically. Then they heard indistinct shouting coming from somewhere in the park. Itachi glanced at his dad who shook his head in amazement.

“Margret, watch after Alica, Itachi and I have to go have a chat with the Story Teller, we shouldn’t be too long,” Itachi’s dad told his wife, who had just walked into view.

“Daddy, I want to come too,” Alica said in a high-pitched squeaky voice. She was seven years old, had jet-black hair that fell to her ankles, and she had big, forget me not blue eyes. She was only about four feet tall.

“Alica, any other time I would have you come with us, but not tonight, its too dangerous,” Her father told her.

“If it is that dangerous Harold, then why are you and Itachi going?” Margret asked curiously.

“Because Mom, there’s got to be monsters everywhere out there and we’re gonna go talk to the Story Teller and see if we can’t stop them once and for all,” Itachi said quickly as he got a gun off of the wall for his father. With that they left and barricaded the door from the out side. Out side was chaos, the monsters were tearing the city apart, and on top of all of the fighting that they had to do to get to the park, they had to fight their way through the blizzard. Once they entered the park the blizzard stopped, they saw that all of the monsters were concentrated at the center. There was a flash and an explosion as the left section of the monsters flew against a wall behind the stone, their green blood sloshing across the ground. Several more flashes ensued as the rest of the monsters were eliminated before their eyes. Then they realized who was doing the raving. It was the old man.

“Well now, you want me do you?! Well too bloody bad, but come try your best anyway!!” He shouted. They saw several of the creatures meld together forming a gigantic version of them selves. It attacked the old man who sliced it in half. He looked around and then said to the two bystanders, “Come come, they are all gone now, but I swear. Every damned year, and they are getting stronger too.” As he said this he neglected to see a creature creep up behind him, its slobber melting holes in the cement as it hit it.

“Look out!” Itachi yelled as he lunged forward, sticking his sword in the head of the fiend, killing it instantly.

“A Shigathian sword, how’d you come by that young man?” the Story Teller asked, in a mystified voice.

“So, you’re the famed Story Teller eh? If you must know, that sword has been in his family for over thirty decades,” Harold said. “But never mind that, what were those things?”

“Demons from Hell, a Hell that I helped create,” the old man replied. Itachi looked dumbfounded.

“You mean…you’re him?! You’re Kynoto?!!”

“Ahh, quite a smart boy you have there Mr. Lendoridal. Yes, I am indeed Kynoto, and Knifes is right behind us in that rock,” Kynoto muttered as he turned around. Itachi rushed over to it and looked hard into its cloudy green surface. Sure enough, he saw a boy inside, with white hair.

“Demons you said? Where did they come from exactly?” Itachi asked quickly.

“Ah, yes, I believe I already told you, they come from the stone, every night on the twenty-fourth of December, a feral reminder of the evil that resides inside of that gem with Knifes. Black Heart; I can still feel his power, but it is weaker then ever, so I am guessing that he was trying hard to kill me so that he could break the spell. What’s this strange sensation….ughh!” Kynoto fell to his knees, coughing up a small amount of blood, then his body glowed with a strange light. When he stood up, he appeared to be youthful. “How strange…this shouldn’t happen unless..! You, boy, Itachi was it, come here for a minute,” Kynoto said, staring intently at Itachi. As he walked over, Kynoto placed his hand on Itachi’s head for a second and then recoiled it, a small burn mark had been made on his palm. “That proves it. You are the one Itachi, the one who will take my place. Harold, your some is about to become a semi-immortal being, responsible for the safety of this planet. You will gain all of my powers, as I gained them from my master and he from his master and so on. The legend of the Hero of Light is a false one, for it also has a dark side, one that I had to access, but you should not unless you absolutely need to, for it will much more powerful then mine. Now, receive my power!” Kynoto shouted before Harold could object. A beam of light left Kynoto and flew into the skies where it amassed into a ball of light. The ball descended and enveloped Itachi, who let out a yell of surprise. This, however, did not stop Harold from objecting.

“What the hell, doesn’t his father get a say in this?!” Harold demanded.

“Father, it is alright, you will understand it all in time,” Itachi said in a calming voice.

“Normally I would now train you, but I have waited much too long, I must go now, but before I do, I have put up barriers on your new power, and you will only be able to access your strong Trianchu when this stone breaks. If Knifes should still be evil, please destroy him. Now goodbye, I will be back when that event happens,” Kynoto said as he fell over into the snow; he was dead. After a few seconds his body shined white and disintegrated. In the crystal in front of them formed a small crack; Itachi could feel power irradiating from it; strong and evil. Stunned at what had just happened, Itachi and Harold went back to their house. They sat down in the living room and pondered over what Kynoto had said. Itachi lifted his hand to his face in fatigue and as he did so and a vase on the table rose with it. This caused Harold and Itachi to jump in surprise.

“ How did you do that?!” He exclaimed. Itachi replied in a confused tone,

“I don’t know, I…I just thought about it and it happened.”

“So this is Trianchu? Just what is it exactly?” Harold asked Itachi, who replied,

“Well, it is a mental force…it would just be easier to show you.” As he said this, a black ball appeared in his hand, this caused Harold to jump yet again.

“What was that….was that Trianchu?!” He yelled in surprise.

“Yes, well Black Trianchu at least. You see, there are several types of Trianchu. Black; the destructive Trianchu. Red, which is a Trianchu that increases your speed. Blue which controls time allowing you to slow it down, speed it up, or even stop it. Purple; a fusion of Red and Blue Trianchu. It allows you to travel through time to the future or past and bring back one object, effectively cloning that object, or creating it if it doesn’t exist. There are others, but I don’t understand them yet. There are also elements. Darkness; also known as Noir or Shadow, Light, Wind, Fire, Lightning, Water, and Earth. There is also an elemental Trianchu that combines all of them together, its called Omni and it is the strongest form of Trianchu. That’s all I know,” Itachi finished. His dad stared in awe, for he had never before heard of such a power as Trianchu.

“Well, let’s hope that it doesn’t interfere with our everyday lives. Now lets get some sleep while we can, its seven in the morning,” Harold said yawning. Little did they know that they were now involved in something much larger then they had bargained for. After that night, the monsters stopped appearing and no other incidents occurred, but on every twenty-fourth of December, the stone glowed and the crack grew longer.

Itachi tried to remain as normal as he could, but incidents were bound to happen. He was thrown off his schools basketball and wrestling team for cheating; he had accidentally used red Trianchu. He left whispered conversations in his wake as he passed people in the halls and on the streets. People often confronted him about his powers, calling him a devil spawn, a monster, that he was evil, while some people just avoided contact with Itachi all together in fear that if they made him mad he would hurt them or do something with his powers. Then on the night of December twenty fourth, ten years later…

“Itachi, wake up! Something is happening to the stone!” Harold, now in his fifties, exclaimed in a raspy voice. They rushed to the center of the park to see that many of the village men had gathered there as well. The crack had spread from top to bottom and it was emitting steam, Itachi also felt an immense power coming from inside of it.

“Everyone go back to your homes, bolt your doors and lock your windows, you cannot do anything at this point, I must take care of this,” Itachi hollered to the men in the park. Itachi had gained respect after he had gained his powers, but it was a fearful respect. They did as they were told. Soon only Itachi and his dad were left. Itachi knew that the time that Kynoto had described was about to come to pass, but he was not sure if he could handle this being, his power was immense.

The gem exploded open, Itachi threw himself in front of his dad forming a shield of Trianchu that the shards bounced off of as they flew in all directions acting like bullets, piercing anything they hit. After a minute the steam cleared a little and a figure stepped out of the wreckage. Itachi stood waiting for something to happen, trying to see through the cloud of green smoke. He drew his sword and positioned himself for anything that this person might do, if he could even block the attacks at all. Then a voice that chilled his blood came from the mist,

“Ah, so good to be out of that Hell, but who is this that stands before me with a Shigathian sword? Could it be, a new Hero of Light? Ah, then Kynoto has perished finally?”

“Are you Knifes… or are you Black Heart?” Itachi asked, his voice quivering slightly.

“Ah, straight to the point are we? Well then, I am most assuredly Knifes, but I have embraced the evil with in me. I am no longer good, so out of my way number one hundred!” Knifes shouted.

“My name is Itachi, not number one hundred!” Itachi replied back to Knifes.

“Number one hundred, Itachi, there’s no difference, you’re still the same person who is in my way and I will not hesitate to kill you!” Knifes threatened as he shot a blast of Black Trianchu at Itachi, who dodged it. The mist had been cleared from Knifes’ attack. Itachi saw him clearly for the very first time. He looked like a normal nine year old kid, if not for the black aura that was surrounding him Itachi would never have guessed that he was so evil.

“You think that I am weak?!” Itachi exclaimed shakily.

“Oh by no means, at least not against a normal enemy, but you see, I am far from normal,” Knifes said as he powered up. Itachi was stunned; he not felt this much power before and he was overwhelmed by it. Kynoto had told him that Knifes would be strong but this was ludicrous. Knifes fired off another blast of Black Trianchu, but this time it was a much larger attack and it would have killed Itachi if Kynoto had not deflected it.

“Knifes, leave him alone! He is not ready to fight you yet!” Kynoto told Knifes, who was trying his hardest not to look surprised. Itachi saw that Kynoto was now a normal human, though he could still feel trace amounts of Trianchu in Kynoto.

“Ha! The powerless Kynoto shows his face, how just that you, of all people, would become a mortal, and it seems that your once again forty-five eh? Heh, well, now that you see your folly I will get rid of it for you, as well as this miserable town. They tried to destroy my prison! The nerve, and to think that it would have killed me if they had succeeded,” Knifes exclaimed, a flame burning in his eyes.

“I see that you’re still evil, so Black Hea…” Kynoto was interrupted.

“No, not Black Heart, I am Knifes but I chose to become evil when I absorbed Black Heart,” Knifes told Kynoto, a twinge of anger in his voice.

“Eh? You chose to become evil so that you would keep your power? Foolish, that power can be undone. For you see, if I had my full powers still, I would rip Black Hearts soul out of your body, leaving you powerless. But that’s what Itachi is for, to do that very thing. Itac…,” Kynoto stopped and looked at Itachi, he was hunched over grabbing at his stomach as if he was in pain. Itachi’s power had not shown itself fully yet but now it was as if some one had turned on a water faucet and broken the knob off. A white dot appeared on his forehead as he stood up straight. Kynoto had no idea that this kind of power existed; it was neither good nor evil; as if Itachi had yet to choose to become good or evil, but it was there, it was much too strong not too be.

“What is that power?!” Knifes exclaimed as he shielded his eyes.

“I have no idea, it is not the power of the Hero of Light, I am sure of that,” Kynoto said then went silent. When Itachi looked at them his eyes turned a golden white color, Kynoto felt the full force; he knew what had to be done. He walked foreword and placed his hand on Itachi’s head. He then whispered a few words and Itachi fell to the ground; he had passed out.

“What did you do?” Knifes asked tentatively.

“I placed a seal on his power, yet even though it is the strongest seal that anyone can perform, I already feel it cracking under the strain of holding back his power. Hmm, I have never seen this before, he is even stronger then you Knifes. You couldn’t break the seal that I used on you, the Maze, I used it on him and he’s already breaking it. Apparently the restrictions for using high-level seals have been released; seeing since I can use the Seal of Tribulations with out much power, or is it that I can use it because I have used it before? But still, this is unheard of, I must explore this further,” Kynoto said, enticed by what he had discovered. Kynoto realized that he had a chance to beat Knifes with this boy, so he would train him, and well for he would have beaten Knifes if Kynoto had not sealed him into the Maze.

“Heh, well I will be taking my leave now, have fun Kynoto, I am sure I’ll be seeing you again soon, heheh,” Knifes sniggered as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Kynoto turned back to Itachi, the seal was barely holding, but he was safe for now, but just to make sure, Kynoto put a level thirteen binding spell on the seal he had already created. The newly reinforced seal was holding well now, but Kynoto was still anxious about what had transpired. Kynoto lifted Itachi off the ground and took him back to his house. When Margret answered the door she almost fainted, she thought Itachi was dead. Harold took her to their room so she could recover while Kynoto took Itachi to his room. The next morning Itachi woke up to see his bedroom. He last remembered a voice inside his head say ‘Release your power!’ but he did not know what it meant. When he confronted Kynoto about it, Kynoto looked stern.

“Well, there was a prophecy about the one hundredth Hero of Light, that would be you. It said that that person would be twice blessed, but also twice cursed, that he would face incredible trials on his sanity and his life. Of course, no one believed that it would be true, but the voice you described to me makes me think that the prophecy could be true. Tell me something Itachi…. have you ever shown signs of any Trianchu abilities at all before I gave you my powers?” Kynoto asked tentatively. Itachi pondered on it for a few minuets and replied as Kynoto assumed he would,

“No, I haven’t, not the slightest.”

“Hmm, see this is the thing, this voice suggests that you do have your own Trianchu powers, but what I don’t get is why they didn’t manifest before I gave you mine. Maybe, in time, this will all become clear,” Kynoto mentioned half-heartedly, seeing Itachi’s confused look. “Well, let’s not let that hold us back, we start training today. I need to teach you how to use this new power that is native to you. Funny actually, that the most fabled power in existence has been forgotten and unused for so long,” Kynoto mused as he and Itachi walked out to the back yard. “Now, first things first, I know you have a sense of what it is but not how it works. So, first thing I am going to teach you is how to increase your power level. It’s done by feeling your power, then forcing it to rise. Go ahead and try that now,” Kynoto told Itachi and he did so with no success. Finally, after five more tries, Itachi managed to raise his power slightly. Kynoto was pleased, for even though it was only a small jump, it proved that Itachi had control over his powers. “Alright, now, I want you to increase your power till I tell you stop Itachi,” Kynoto almost whispered. Itachi did as he was told and powered up. Ten thousand, twenty thousand, forty thousand and Itachi showed no sings of strain at all, which was not bad for a person who had just received his powers ten years ago and had hardly used them. Then Kynoto told him to stop when he reached three hundred thousand. “Marvelous Itachi, its stunning that you can go so high and not show signs of stress, this shows that you will be absolutely strong once we unlock your true potential, which is still a long way away, but we are making some progress. Now, I want you to concentrate every fiber of your bring into forming a ball of Grey Trianchu,” Kynoto said eccentrically. Itachi again did as he was told. “Now, Form a ball of Black Trianchu and force the two together,” Kynoto ushered. Itachi was rather reluctant this time, he knew that the two forms were not entirely compatible but he did as Kynoto bade. This formed a much more powerful form of Grey Trianchu, opposite to what Itachi had thought. “Good, good, this shows that you can control your Trianchu’s malleability with unequal components. That is a good sign; you won’t lose control of your power under normal circumstances. All right, one last thing before we stop for today, come to me, I am going to remove a little of the seal I placed on you,” Kynoto said happily. As Itachi walked forward, Kynoto put his palm on his forehead and Itachi felt something in him ease up, letting his power out a little bit more. “Now, power up as far as you can Itachi,” Kynoto insisted. Itachi did as his instructor asked. His power topped out at four million; this, of course, astounded Kynoto for he had only removed a small portion of the seal. Kynoto could see that he was in for a fun time, training Itachi, for he would be very strong indeed, stronger then Kynoto could have ever imagined, not after witnessing Knifes. He walked inside and closed the door behind them, keen to resume.

Meanwhile, Knifes was regenerating his power, the Seal of Tribulations had drained most of it. He had also gained some followers to whom he gave a great gift. He had somehow found out a way to give mortals Trianchu. He trained these people to the best of his ability and with frightening results; they were all extremely strong.

“Good, good, very good Armath, you shall be my second in command of our little gang (as he fondly called it),” Knifes said joyfully slow. Armath showed no sign of reaction to this, which was probably why he was the strongest next to Knifes. Knifes had a total of eight followers and they all had significant powers. With in weeks they had mastered Trianchu on a level that took Kynoto hundreds of years to complete. Knifes was breeding an army for Itachi to fight, for Knifes felt his rouge power that lay beneath his consciousness, unknowingly held back by his will. Knifes would kill him before Kynoto had the chance to unleash it. But unknown to Knifes, several of his followers displayed the same traits, especially Armath.

It was two weeks after that night that the weakest of Knifes recruits and Itachi met. Itachi had been sent out to fetch some groceries for his family, Whelip had been sent out to scout for a new territory to inhabit; they had grown so much that their current place was much too small. As Itachi took a shortcut across the park Whelip recognized him from Knifes description and he wanted to see if Itachi posed a threat to him. Itachi noticed Whelip only when he was on top of him, a sword pressed to his forehead.

“I don’t see what Master is worried about, this lil’ boy ain’t that strong, he couldn’t even sense me commin’ towards him, checheche,” Whelip said, a crazy laugh in his voice, almost as if he was possessed by a spirit. “Well, let’s kill this runt here, save Master the trouble of having to do it, heh che,” Whelip whispered as he held his hand in front of him, a ball of what looked like air began to amass and when it was clearly visible, he hurled it at Itachi, who almost dodged it. The ball caught him in the side and sent him flying into a brick wall behind him. Itachi got the wind knocked out of him, he had never seen such a peculiar form of Trianchu and he wondered who this ‘Master’ was, but none the less, he stood back up and fought back, proving what Knifes had said. He let his power unfold and expand, and then he dashed behind Whelip and stabbed him through the back with his sword. This was enough to scare Whelip off. He ran off cursing and swearing every time a foot hit the ground, causing pain to encompass his whole body. Itachi was not without injury though; he had broken a few ribs and his femurs. When he got back home, Kynoto healed him then asked what happened. As Itachi explained it dawned on Kynoto at once that this so called ‘Master’ was really Knifes, having heard of this term used to describe him before. He wondered how Knifes taught a mere mortal how to use Trianchu, for he thought it impossible, unless Knifes where to have given him his power, but that could not be the case, for Knifes would not do that unless he absolutely needed too. This was puzzling indeed, Kynoto had to train Itachi faster and harder then ever before, if Knifes had given mortals Trianchu, then there was sure to be more of them.

“Itachi, we need to speed your training up, I have a very bad feeling about all of this,” Kynoto told Itachi after a few minutes of thought, his voice permeated with concern. The next day Kynoto drove Itachi like a slave, but he did not complain, for after that day was done, Itachi could feel that his power had increased by more then fifty percent. Kynoto was amazed at his improvement as well, but he realized that it meant that Itachi had a little less power then Kynoto had thought at first. After three months of grueling training, Itachi was fully prepared for just about anything. Kynoto was unsure of what to do next, Itachi had reached the limit of his potential and the seal that Kynoto has put on his power could not be removed anymore then it already was, which surprised Kynoto. Something other then Kynoto’s seal had been holding his power back, something else was wrong. Kynoto was determined to figure out this mystery but he had more pressing matters. While he had been training Itachi, he had meet a lovely redheaded girl, her name was Hakuya, who, amazingly, had Trianchu powers of her own. As far as Kynoto could tell, she was not related to any of the original five users and she had not come in contact with Knifes. This was an astonishing blow to Kynoto, for now he began to think that Trianchu was not a power bestowed on a select few by the Gods several hundred million years ago.

“Itachi, Hakuya, I need to go check something out, there is something that I must research to stop this quell of curiosity that this affair is welling up inside of me. I should be back in a few months, keep training, and watch over each other, strange forces are at work here and I am determined to find the answers behind all of this,” Kynoto announced one morning. The pair looked from each other to Kynoto and said simultaneously,

“Sure, we will.” Kynoto sighed and left Itachi’s home, and eventually the town, and headed to the South, towards the ruins of his true home, the ruins of Nelshia, the origin of the Hero of Light, and the origin of Trianchu. It took him three weeks to reach his destination. When he arrived, he felt a strange unease in what was left of his powers, as if they were fleeting away then returning every few seconds. As he treaded through the remains of the shrine, he felt as though something or someone was watching him. He at last came to the center, the only place still wholly intact. It was more of a giant library then a shrine, but these were no ordinary books, the Gods had written them in an ancient language. They held record of all that had happened during each gods reign, until Fenrir came into power, he liked to keep his knowledge as his own and had buried the Shrine of the Nelshia, an ancient word for Gods, and it was not until recently that it had been discovered, yet only one who knew and had the power of Trianchu or a God or Goddess could enter it. It seemed as though even though the shrine itself had been destroyed, none of its protection from mortal eyes had wavered. Since Kynoto only had a residual amount of Trianchu left, it was possible that the protection on the Shrine was being driven back and forth between two choices, to either emit Kynoto, or to expel him, for when his powers left him he felt a slight force pushing him backwards but it disappeared once his Trianchu returned. Finally, after three hours of struggling, he got into the center. He blew dust off of a marble table and looked at the many rows of books. He decided to start from the beginning, Belfore’s row. Belfore was the first God ever to keep records, as he had a hard time remembering everything that he had seen during his reign. Kynoto took the first thick volume off of its stand, opened it and began to read. Belfore had witnessed many wars, blood baths, sacrifices, and executions in his time. As Kynoto finished the seventh volume, the last volume, he realized that had the first God created Trianchu, he would have mentioned it but he did not. It was not until he reached the seventh God, a Goddess actually, Lilithm that he had found something useful.

‘Here in lies an account by the Goddess Lilithm of a strange event on the day of Delcitha fourteenth of the year six hundred and thirty, “It was looking as though this day would be boring, in a mornings work, I had only witnessed three wars, and four sacrifices. I was about to give up hope when I found something extremely interesting. A mortal had developed a rare cell disorder, it allowed her to use some unknown mental power, I am still trying to think of a name for it but I only have thought of one name for it, this name I came up with derives from the fact that it uses three parts of the brain to function, and that name is Trianchudillum.” As Kynoto read this, his heart skipped a beat. He kept on reading and came upon a new reference to Trianchudillum in the thirteenth Goddess’, Tellisa’s, records.

‘The following statement comes from the thirteenth Goddess Tellisa on the seventeenth day of Telirath of the year fourteen sixty-five, “I was reading the past Gods and Goddess records when I came across a strange ability, Trianchudillum. Lilithm was childish when it came to naming things, so I will rename this strange yet marvelous power to Trianchu, a power of the Gods, that I shall bestow on my unborn son, Triasha,” Kynoto gasped as he read this. He never knew that Triasha’s mother was a goddess, in fact he had always thought she was a Demi-Angel, a half demon half angel entity, “in hopes of fulfilling my ambitions.” A few pages further, Kynoto saw another record, but this one was somewhat frightening.

‘The following statement comes from the thirteenth Goddess Tellisa on the twenty-fifth day of Ulraith of the year fourteen sixty-five, “My calculations were wrong and my experiment went horribly array. In an attempt to try my theory before administering it to my unborn child, I have inadvertently caused a disease known as The Dolgols Sickness. It is a strain of bacteria that changes the DNA structure of the afflicted being, giving it the Trianchu Gene, I managed to stop it before it was wide spread but still the damage was significant. Fifty mortals have gained access to this gene but luckily none of them have found out how to use it, I can only hope that after a few hundred years of breeding, the mortals will worm out this problem.” Kynoto put the book down and stared at the ceiling.

“So, it was as I feared, lots of people can use Trianchu, even in this day and age, but they don’t know it yet. But in Hakuya’s case, she must have seen Itachi using it and something must have clicked into place, and in the case of Knifes followers, he was teaching them how to use Trianchu after he unlocks the strain of DNA that allows the Trianchu Gene to grow. Hmmm, this is most complicating; anyone could potentially have this Trianchu Gene. This trip was helpful, but that still doesn’t explain Itachi’s problem,” Kynoto said out loud. As he stood up to leave, a section of the wall crumbled and several books fell out of a hiding place. Kynoto looked around then went to pick up the tomes. He went back to the marble table, which was now covered in several stacks of thick books, moved some of the books out of the way and began to read. They were the books of a God who had only kept very important records and it was thought that the books had never existed, since he came to power after Fenrir, the one who forbad all Gods and Goddess to keep records. This God was called Fukurokuju, one of the smartest Gods ever to rule and he was also said to have possessed some kind of psychic ability, like a future-sensing form of Trianchu.

‘The following record is an account from Fukurokuju on the day of the second of Marinjopi in the year of nineteen fifty, “I have today witnessed a great travesty. The son of the Goddess Tellisa has disgraced five centuries of Gods and Goddess today. He called himself the one and only true God and slew fifteen million people in the name of himself to quench his thirst for blood, a trait that his mother undoubtedly gave to him. She also gave him the power of Trianchu, which makes this matter even more difficult. Several of the villages he attacked are now executing those who have this so called Trianchu Gene; they are calling it Dark Magic, a Forbidden Magic that if seen used is punishable by death and are denouncing the Gods. If we ever catch Triasha, which is beginning to look unlikely since he can use Trianchu and can even destroy a God or Goddess, as Trianchu is a very frightening skill, we will banish him forever into Hell and take away his soul for all eternity. But this task will be difficult to say the very least, for he has already killed three Gods and two Goddess, including his own mother. I fear that I might be next so I will make only this record today. We remaining Gods, except Fenrir who was executed by Triasha just yesterday, have created an anti-Triasha character to fight him and put an end to this foolishness. We have dubbed him the Hero of Light, a person who will put an end to the Darkness. Alas, Triasha has already disposed of three Heroes of Light already, but this new one; I sense something in him, some strange Trianchu. It could be very possible that over the centuries (one year to a God equals about two hundred mortal years) of evolution that the Mortals have developed more then one version of the Trianchu Gene. It is the only theory I can come up with, even after experimenting on countless Mortals. I fear that I will be the final God to keep record for it is said that those who do are cursed to an unlucky life, but I shant care, as long as who ever can read these finds the false wall I shall hide these tomes behind. Listen strange one; if you find these books, you should know something about this Trianchu Gene. There are bound to be millions of types of them in a few hundred million years, and I can’t have a notion of what they will all do, as I will be long since dead. But what I can tell you is that there is one very specific Gene, an evil Gene that was possessed by the God of death, Emma-O. It is a Gene of great power, and it is said that this Gene has a spirit of its own, and talks to the possessor if he or she is asleep or unconscious. It is a very dangerous Gene as well, it can become extremely powerful and is generally only found in those who’s blood lineage has felt horrible shifts from one family to another, from one blood line to another, and this Gene is the most powerful of them all. If you should ever come into contact with such a Gene, destroy that person at all costs, for it is the Gene of destruction and was held by Triasha, the Demi-God of destruction. Now I must stop, my time has come to an end, I feel Triasha coming; strange warrior, be careful, Emma-O’s Gene is nothing to trifle with.”

As Kynoto read this he became aware of what this meant. Knifes had the Emma-O Gene, Triasha also had had it, and there was a very good chance that Itachi had it. He also realized that Trianchu wasn’t a gift, it was a disease, a blood disorder. This news hit him like a fright train. He had gotten himself deeper then he wanted, for he now had to train Itachi to never use his power for evil and he had to destroy Knifes, and possibly Itachi if the Gene took over him, but Kynoto would deal with that when and if that time ever came. He could not believe what he had read in the shrine that day, all the false truths had been lifted and Kynoto saw the one true truth for the very first time. The Gods, however reverent they were, experimented on humans for their pleasure and curiosity. They even started wars and genocides for their own personal amusement. The thought of this made Kynoto sick, for he had once been an angel, a servant of a God, a creature that does his or her God’s bidding. He would have to tell Gabriel what he had discovered; he would have answers for him hopefully. Something else was bothering him. In one of the tomes of the God Velrisilous, Gabriel’s name was mentioned. He was supposedly a General in the Hana War, a war of genocide started by Velrisilous. Kynoto would go back to Itachi and Hakuya for now, Gabriel could wait. As he left the shrine he heard a creaking noise from behind him. As he turned around, he saw the shrine collapse.

“Good thing I brought these with me, heh,” Kynoto said as he brandished several old and musty tomes. He was about to start back to Emerald Town when he felt someone watching him again. He spun around to see a dark figure moving toward him.

“Very good stranger, to be able to sense me,” said the figure in an un-naturally high voice. As the sunset, its light filtered over the figure reveling what Kynoto had hoped not it to be. A Shrine Guard, dressed in all black, only his eyes were visible through the clothing; they were pale blue. He held two double bladed daggers in each hand, playing with them skillfully, looking at him as if Kynoto was the mouse and he was the hawk, staring down his prey. “Why have you defiled this sacred place and taken that which is forbidden?” He asked, still toying with the daggers that he held.

“I came here in search of answers, and I have taken these tomes to continue my research. Do you know who I am? I am Kynoto, the ninety ninth Hero of Light,” Kynoto said harshly.

“Number ninety nine eh? Do you think your previous status allows you to trounce into a holy place and take that which was forbidden? To defile the Shrine of the Gods? To take that which should never have been created?! Number ninety nine, you are no more welcome into this shrine as you are to Heaven or Hell, you are an outcast, a defector, a traitor and I shall kill you here, for your reward, ‘Eternal enlightenment to the first person who brings me number ninety nine’s head’ he says and we obey his command, but you had become undetectable and we thought you dead. But time has shown me the answers and the truths about you number ninety nine, and of number one hundred; the Heathen. I will destroy you number ninety nine,” The shrouded man said, throwing his daggers into the air and catching them so that they were in a position that Kynoto had remembered from long ago, the position of the Gamitchi, a demon of death.

“You?! But how, weren’t you killed by Triasha!?” Kynoto shouted in confusion.

“Ahh, hehehe, now he sees the truth. Yes, me, and yes I was killed by Triasha, yet the Gods took pity on me and revived me, put me through training of the most honorable sort, and charged me to guard their most sacred and holy place. The place that you just destroyed and stole from. Now…. Brother…. get ready to die!” the black clothed man yelled as he jumped into the air and landed in a tree behind Kynoto. Kynoto turned around and drew his sword just in time to block the four daggers aimed for his heart. The man pushed with all his weight against Kynoto’s sword, but it did not slide aside as he had hoped. He shoved himself backward, off of Kynoto, and said, “Ahh, my brother has grown use to a sword now has he? Always peaceful was his way was it? Then why does he have a sword? Swords beget un-peaceful acts, how well he knows this, how much he loathes the sword, yet he is holding that which he most loathes now, does that mean he has fallen from his path? Yes, yes it must mean that, his honor has been diminished by deceitful acts of love and anger, of lust and desire, of pain and suffering, but now he stands before me, claming his title of the Hero of Light will save his soul, but it will not, for the Hero of Light has become tarnished, never shining again, a miserable reminder of a creation of the Gods,” Kynoto’s brother said, circling him like a hawk once more, a ring of glee in his voice. Then Kynoto felt something odd and his brother split into five and attacked. Kynoto was hard pressed to dodge all of the blows, for his brother was a very talented ninja, but he had gone funny at an early age, talking about the truths in the truths of false truths, about the darkness inside of people’s hearts, and about their true desires. Kynoto’s sword was starting to become chipped from the constant onslaught of daggers. Kynoto concentrated and felt his brother’s movements. He slashed to the right side of himself and his sword came into contact with a body. After that the onslaught stopped and all was quiet. Kynoto had slammed his sword through his brother’s stomach, causing his clones to vanish. “So, he has learned the way of the sword, against his father’s wishes, against his way of life, he has cast himself into the despairs of war and death. No more shall Kynoto be known as the Hero of Light, for another has arisen, one more terrible and far more powerful then his predecessor. A deluge of blood will flow once his power fully awakens,” he said hoarsely as he pulled himself off of Kynoto’s sword and dragged his body back into the shadows. Kynoto had won for now. He set off for Emerald Town in great haste, something didn’t feel right.

As Kynoto left the jungle, he sensed something bleak on the air, like the smell of burning blood; it filled his senses and drove him into worry. He ran as fast as he could back to Emerald Town, but it still took him seven days to get there. When he arrived he didn’t like the look of things. The town was disserted and a mysterious smoke lay over the ground. Not a soul was to be seen anywhere as Kynoto trudged through the city, the smoke like fog swirling around his feet as he walked. Kynoto noticed that the ground felt unusually squishy, but he assumed it had been made that way from the rain. As he came to Itachi’s House, he saw Hakuya huddled against a wall, her clothes shredded, shaking and muttering something indistinct. As Kynoto leaned down to hear, she said,

“My God, my God, Itachi has gone insane.” Her eyes went wide as she seemed to come to her senses. “Kynoto, is that you?” She asked

“Yes, its me. What happened here…. and how come you asked if it was me?” Kynoto said soothingly to Hakuya.

“Kynoto,” she shouted, “Itachi’s gone mad! He’s destroyed the city, killed all the people, he blinded me so that I wouldn’t witness it. Knifes and his people left three days ago, saying that something bad was about to happen. Kynoto help me!!” She screamed deliriously again. Kynoto tried to calm her down again, but it didn’t work as well this time, but she started listening again.

“Where are the people at if Itachi killed them all, Hakuya?” Kynoto asked sternly as he asked her.

“The ground…. the ground! The ground!! The ground!!!” she screamed as she passed out. Kynoto felt a twinge of fear pass through his heart at this. The ground, what was it that made it squishy? Was it the rain…or something much much worse? As Kynoto fanned some of the fog out of the way he saw his fear, more gruesome then he had hoped. Body parts littered the ground all around them, causing the streets to become paths of gore. Kynoto realized that he was too little too late, and yet Knifes had sensed this coming; another mystery added to the many. Kynoto gave some sort of pill to Hakuya that revived her and asked,

“Where is Itachi now?” Hakuya was taken aback by the deadliness in his voice.

“The park,” she whispered.

“You get out of here and find some place to hide, I’ll deal with Itachi,” Kynoto said sternly again. When Hakuya didn’t move he yelled, “Now! Get out of here, I’ll find you once I am done here!” After that she fled, shrieking with each step she took as her feet met the feel of flesh. “Itachi, what have you done,” Kynoto asked sadly, a dash of extreme anger in his voice, as he walked into the park. Hundreds of heads that been erected on stakes, Itachi’s sister’s among them. Itachi was standing in the middle of the scene, his power vast and, as if he were Knifes, extremely evil. As Kynoto walked into the clearing, Itachi turned around, his eyes wide with fear and despair. His shirt was wet from sweat and tears, while the rest of his body was covered in blood.

“Kynoto! Help me! Make me stop!” Itachi cried as Kynoto saw that he was in the process of maiming his mother and father’s dead bodies. Kynoto stared in disbelief as Itachi’s hand, shaking from Itachi straining to hold it back, entered his fathers chest and pulled out his heart.

“Itachi, what in the hell are you doing!” Kynoto yelled. Itachi replied with a sad cry,

“Something is controlling me and I can’t stop it. I was only able to stop myself from killing Hakuya, but I couldn’t stop myself after that. It’s like something inside of me is trying to break out of my head. When I resisted I ended up killing people, like a form of torture I saw everything I was doing, unable to stop myself.” Kynoto finally realized that Itachi indeed had the Emma-O Gene. He ran over to Itachi and sent a killing blow to the back of his head, but it did not kill Itachi, instead something slimy and black came from the slit that Kynoto had made. When it fell to the ground, Kynoto trounced on it, turning it to mush. Itachi fell into a crumpled heap as he fainted from exhaustion and terror. Kynoto felt partly responsible, for he was not there and could have prevented this. He looked around at the gruesome scene as a foul wind blew the fog off the ground, revealing the body parts of the townsfolk. Kynoto heaved Itachi’s Lifeless form onto his shoulders and carried him out of the town where he found Hakuya sobbing behind a rock only thirty feet from the entrance. She had apparently heard what Itachi had said. When Kynoto arrived she looked up and saw Itachi hanging from his back, she scrambled backward on all fours as Kynoto set him down.

“Don’t worry Hakuya, he isn’t dead and I extracted the creature from him. He didn’t do those things of his own free will, he was being controlled by a powerful being known as a Trianchu Gene, he had an Emma-O Gene unfortunately,” Kynoto said as he looked down on Itachi. When he saw Hakuya’s confused expression, he sat down and explained everything.

“So… Itachi had this Emma-O Gene you called it?” Hakuya asked, Kynoto nodded, “And it made him do all those things against his will? Thank God, I thought he turned into a lunatic, but you also said that he remembers all of it?”

“Yes he did, but I hope that the jolt I gave him to the back of his head makes him forget, because if he knew what he did to his family and the rest of Emerald Town, I’m sure he’d attempt to kill himself,” Kynoto answered curtly. “We had best not mention this if he has forgotten, it might make him remember. Also, let’s get away from here, this place is way too depressing now, and it might trigger a response in him when he wakes up that won’t be very pretty.” Kynoto picked up Itachi and started to walk to the east, Hakuya followed. After about three hours Kynoto glanced back at Hakuya and said,

“We need to find a spring so that you two can wash up.” It was indeed as Kynoto said, Hakuya had wounds that needed to be cleaned and Itachi was covered in blood, they would make quite the commotion if they walked into a town as they were. Soon Kynoto located a hot springs and left Hakuya to her privacy while he cleaned up Itachi. Once he was done with Itachi, he opened a bag that he had been carrying around with him and took out some pants and a shirt. He threw them over to where Hakuya was, who said,

“Thanks!” When she reappeared Kynoto saw that her cuts on her arms and face were healed or in the process of doing so, undoubtedly an effect of her Trianchu Gene. “He still hasn’t woken up? You sure you didn’t kill him when you knocked him out Kynoto?” She said; she seemed to be her self again. Just as she said this Itachi groaned. This caused Hakuya to jump in fright; she had been hovering over his face. He opened his eyes and sat up, and then immediately rubbed the back of his head.

“Ouch! What happened? One second I was training with her and the next I’m here,” Itachi said, rubbing the back of his head. It appeared that he had indeed forgotten what had transpired.

“Hakuya hit you a little too hard,” Said Kynoto, laughing a little, he was relieved. Hakuya threw him an inquisitive look but then began to catch on.

“Oh yea, heheh, I hit you a little to hard and you got knocked out,” she said in the same tone as Kynoto. Kynoto took a dagger out of his cloak and sliced the back of his head open and pulled out what looked to be a glowing, golden pile of sludge.

“ Itachi, roll on to your stomach, I’m going to put some ointment on your head wound,” Kynoto said as he put the sludge into a jar. He put his hand in and pulled out the goop and spread it along Itachi’s cut where it seeped in to his head. Itachi fell asleep almost at once, Kynoto had guessed right. He stitched up his and Itachi’s wounds and then explained what he did to Hakuya. “I put my Trianchu Gene into his body so that he might be able to keep using Trianchu. He should be more powerful too, but not as the Emma-O Gene made him. He needs to rest now so that the Gene can become familiar with his power and become stable, otherwise Itachi’s body will reject it and he will die,” Kynoto said, his voice turning serious. Itachi slept for a week after that and part of another before he awoke once again.

“Man, I feel weird, like some one injected drugs into me or something,” Itachi said as he stood up and swayed into a tree.

“Yes, the ointment does that, but its only temporary, should wear off in a few minutes. Now, we need to focus on training, Knifes has gained many followers and we need to put an end to them before we can even touch him,” Kynoto began when Itachi interrupted,

“Sensei, why are we out here and not in Emerald Town training?” Kynoto was hard pressed by this question. On one side there was the truth, though it would drive Itachi mad if he knew. Then there was the other side, a lie, which was more favorable but if Itachi should ever remember those events, he would be even angrier. Hakuya began to tell him a lie but Kynoto stopped her and said carefully,

“No Hakuya, I’ll tell him. Itachi, what I’m about to tell you might seem overwhelming at first, but just remember that you had no way of stopping what was going on, absolutely no way, and that the fault for it happing lies with me and me alone. Now with that said, Itachi, everyone in Emerald Town is dead. Knifes killed them through you, through your Trianchu Gene; it happened to be an Emma-O Gene; it can be controlled by a possessor of the same Gene. He made you kill everyone, but you managed to thwart him off on trying to kill Hakuya here.” Kynoto’s prediction was correct, Itachi seemed dazed, almost trance like, when he heard this.

“Everyone?” he whispered quietly. Kynoto replied with a grimace,

“Yes, everyone, Knifes was taking his revenge on the city for trying to destroy the crystal he was held prisoner in. It was a cruel twist of fate that you should have been his instrument for doing so.” Itachi looked from Hakuya to Kynoto and asked calmly,

“Where is Knifes now?” Kynoto replied,

“I have no idea, and I have no easy way of finding him. It will take some time to locate hi….” Kynoto started but Itachi yelled,

“Where is that bastard, I’ll kill him! Not only for my family, but for Hakuya’s too!” As he said this, a surge of light flowed through him; almost like electricity, it was blinding and hot. It left the ground around him charred. Kynoto was baffled; he never knew that his Gene was capable of such a power as Itachi now held. Itachi’s power was also growing stronger, his rage greater as he remembered slamming his sister’s head onto a pike. He raised his hand into the air and sent a stream of fire upward. Kynoto guessed that his body was trying to siphon some of the power out. It did eventually work. Kynoto was amazed, mastery over fire, air, and earth; a deadly combination of powers. Itachi was indeed the true Hero of Light, the one spoken of reverently, a powerful being who was a threat to evil in its many forms and potencies. Kynoto wondered if Itachi had enough power to destroy Knifes, for Itachi’s new power was one third of his formal power, which meant that he was half as strong as Knifes now. Only time would tell, but Kynoto was restless all the same. He intended to train Itachi and Hakuya for a few more years then send them after Knifes and that was the plan that he would stick too from now on. Itachi passed out once again, a more recuperative sleep then one of adjustment. Though Kynoto had to stay awake because every so often, the ground around Itachi would catch fire and Kynoto would have to put it out.

The next morning Hakuya awoke to the sounds of Itachi and Kynoto sparring, they had let her sleep for a few hours longer. Kynoto and Itachi were both sweating heavily and bleeding slightly from their hands.

“Your fighting has gotten quite better Itachi,” Kynoto said, heaving for breath as Itachi struck his chest. Itachi didn’t say anything to this; he just resumed his position once again, ready for another round. This time Hakuya watched carefully as Itachi left his right foot open to attack, Kynoto noticed this also and took advantage of it. When Itachi came running at him he moved to block and caught Itachi off guard with a sweeping blow to the feet. This sent him crashing to the ground.

“Ouch, hehe, guess I deserved that one, left my self open,” Itachi said jokingly.

“So, what’s the score Itachi?” asked Hakuya attentively.

“Thirty seven to forty favoring me,” said Kynoto quickly as he dodged a blow from Itachi only to be meet with a knee in the stomach, fist in the face, and an elbow in the back. “Make that forty to forty,” Kynoto said, his voice muffled by the ground as Hakuya laughed.

“You missed one Kynoto, I also tripped you,” Itachi said comically.

“No you didn’t, I tripped myself!” Kynoto yelled before he could stop himself. They all laughed at hearing this. They took a break to eat lunch, which consisted of fish, a type of sweet bread that Hakuya made, and water. After that, Kynoto and Itachi resumed while Kynoto sent Hakuya to train herself in a clearing a few minuets away from the campsite, it was best that she trained alone, she was a better healer then a fighter. The sparring match resumed at forty to forty, dead even. Kynoto attacked first, he almost hit Itachi in the side, but Itachi had become faster, Kynoto had a difficult time keeping up at this point with out using Trianchu. This training was to train the body, not Trianchu. Itachi sped behind Kynoto and unleashed a salvo of punches and kicks into his back. Kynoto was thrown into a tree from the force of the attack.

“Forty eight to forty now eh? This is getting interesting. Hmm, lets throw a little Trianchu into the mix shall we?” asked Kynoto as he let a miniscule amount of Trianchu into his body. Itachi did the same. By the time Hakuya had returned Itachi and Kynoto both supported many cuts and scrapes and even a few broken bones.

“Oh you two!” Hakuya exclaimed, agitated by their recklessness. She used some of her new powers to mend the bones and heal the cuts. Kynoto was happy that Hakuya had made this much progress. It was well into the night before Itachi and Kynoto had stopped sparring, Hakuya was barely awake when they had called it quits. She asked what the score was and Itachi replied happily,

“One hundred and seventy four to one hundred and thirty five.” Hakuya was impressed, though this was not with his full Trianchu powers, Itachi still had won.

“Good job Itachi, good job to both of you, your training went well, better then I expected actually,” Kynoto said as he made a fire. They had a small dinner then went to bed. What seemed only hours later, Kynoto awoke both his charges and told them to be quite. They heard a rustling in the trees and bushes as several dark figures appeared at the edge of their vision. When Kynoto set a tree on fire they saw who their would be attackers were; several of Knifes followers, they all had a mark of a giant ‘K’, it had four daggers for the parts of the ‘K’ and a short sword crossing over them all horizontally where all four points met, burned into their skin. Many of them held up guns of all shapes and sizes, while others had swords or no weapons at all. Kynoto had a bad feeling about this lot.

As Kynoto watched the group like a hawk, he failed to notice the second contingent behind them.  As Kynoto got ready to instruct Itachi what to do, they were covered in an electromagnetic net, which temporarily paralyzed them.  Kynoto heard a chuckle from behind him and Knifes walked out from the shadows in front of them just seconds after they had been captured.

            “Well, well, what have we here; a washed up fool, a boy who hasn’t taken control of his powers, and a young maiden.  Quite the trio wouldn’t you say Gelshang?”  A large and bulky man standing to the left of the campfire laughed as he picked up Itachi and Kynoto’s swords.  He brought them to Knifes and then said, with an unmistakable ring of glee in his voice,

            “Let us have the girl, you don’t need her, Master.”  Knifes seemed to ponder on this for a moment and then said with a grin,

            “Once were finished here and Kynoto and number one hundred are dead, then yes, you can have her.  I would have no use for such a worthless lump of meat anyway.”  As Knifes walked toward the captured threesome, the others started to circle them.  Knifes kicked some dirt into Kynoto’s face, causing him to cough and wheeze.  Knifes chuckled again as he drew his sword and pressed it against Itachi’s head.

            “Hmm….ah, I see you found ‘that’ thing, Kynoto, and what’s this?  Ha!  You have no Trianchu Gene.  Then this brat must have it,” he said, turning his blade back onto Itachi, “Gelshang, do you care if she’s dead or alive?”

            “Haha, either way, I don’t care,” he shouted.  Knifes pressed his blade to Hakuya’s chest and said,

            “You’re going to cause too much trouble if you live, with your healing power and all.  So I am going to kill you before you can threaten my plans!”  Knifes yelled as he lifted his sword and swung down.  There was a loud clash and Knifes staggered backwards.  Itachi had lifted his arm and deflected Knifes’ attack.  Hakuya looked over at Itachi and screamed.  His eyes were black and his power was manifesting itself around his body as an aura.  He ripped through the net as if it wasn’t even there and lunged at the nearest person, tearing out the man’s throat.  Kynoto grabbed Hakuya and jumped out of the clearing into a nearby tree and made their escape to let Itachi deal with Knifes and his gang.  Knifes marveled at Itachi’s increase in speed and power; he was like a hurricane, a force that couldn’t be stopped.  Soon the ground had turned into a muddy red as Knifes men were killed one by one until only he was left.  Knifes held up his sword and attacked.  Itachi grabbed the sword with his bare hands, he sustained a large cut but he didn’t let go, and wrenched it out of Knifes grasp.  With a loud growl he tossed the blade aside and went after Knifes, who used a special Trianchu attack.  The attack caught Itachi in mid air and froze him into a gigantic block of ice.

           
            “Well, that was unexpected,” Knifes said, rubbing his forehead as he looked upon his massacred troops.  He looked back up to Itachi, took his sword and slammed it through the ice; blood began to trickle from the holes that Knifes sword had made.

            “This is the last time you interfere!” he yelled and he did the same to the right side of the ice, but this time, his sword got stuck.  He heard a growl from in front of him, he looked up to see Itachi’s fist coming straight at his face.  He couldn’t dodge the attack; it was too fast.  Knifes was hurled backward against a tree as Itachi destroyed his icy tomb in one blow.  Knifes realized what was going on, something that Kynoto had not figured out yet.  The Emma-O Gene came in two parts; the Gene itself and the miniature Genes in the blood stream.  This was to allow the Emma-O Gene to regenerate should it be damaged, but since Kynoto removed it, and not the Genes in Itachi’s blood, they were conflicting with his new Gene, warping it into a sticky mess of good and evil, and Itachi’s transformation was a result of it, yet he was also incredibly strong.  Knifes landed a well-placed blow on the side of Itachi’s arm and his suspicions were confirmed.  Black blood began to ooze out of the cut; the Genes were turning his whole body into one giant Emma-O Gene.  Knifes had to act fast, for if it were allowed to happen, he would surely be killed.  Knifes powered up as far as his injured body would let him and pushed all of his power into his sword, preparing a final attack.  As he prepared Itachi was distracted by a soldier that was still alive, although he was mortally wounded.  Itachi grabbed one of the man’s arms and pulled on it until it dislocated.  The man fell to the ground and Itachi pounced on him and started to feast on the arm he had just dislocated.  When the man had died Itachi turned back at Knifes and started forward slowly. When Knifes saw Itachi walking towards him, he charged at Itachi, who was already half way between Knifes and the soldier that now lay dead on the ground.  When Sword met skin, the night sky turned to day as it was brightened by an explosion so great that it shook the ground for miles and miles around.  Knifes was completely drained of all of his power, but Itachi only sustained minor cuts and injuries which startled Knifes.  But then, Itachi’s eyes seemed to grow gray, and his power lessened as he fell to the ground in a slump.  Kynoto returned just in time to stop Knifes from decapitating Itachi.  Knifes swore under his breath as he saw Kynoto coming and fled.  Kynoto thought that it was a bit odd, until he realized that Knifes had no power.  Kynoto looked at Itachi; he was once again covered from head to foot in blood.  Then Kynoto noticed something peculiar, a cut on his right arm was bleeding; the blood was black.  After he had washed Itachi up and went to retrieve Hakuya, he consulted one of the books that he had apprehended from its resting place in Nelshia and began to read.  It was almost four o’clock in the morning before Kynoto got to sleep.

            “So, the Emma-O Gene is comprised of two parts, the Gene and Blood.  This will be most difficult, but at least the blood only manifests during the night, when it is strongest.  I shall have to watch him closely from now on,” Kynoto thought as he fell asleep.

            As the crickets chirped and the morning life began to stir, so did Itachi.  For some reason or another, he felt a great pain, a great and horrible pain, from the back of his head.  Kynoto had not read the whole section on the Emma-O Gene, so he had no idea of what was going to take place a few hours from now.  But he would regret it for a very long time.

            It was now nine o’clock in the morning and Hakuya was awoken as something grabbed her around the waist.  As she opened her eyes she saw that it was Itachi, but she sensed that something was wrong when she saw a pair of gleaming yellow eyes staring back at her.  She let out a scream as Itachi lifted her and threw her against a tree.  Kynoto awoke with a start.  When he saw what was going on he rushed over and knocked Itachi out.  Hakuya had been severely injured; she had a deep cut on her stomach that was bleeding heavily.  Kynoto lifted her shirt and applied pressure around the wound forcing what looked like bits and pieces of fingernails out of the wound.  When the blood turned black he backed away in fright, she had been infected.  Kynoto had to act fast; she was moments away from becoming like Itachi.  He seized some extremely large leeches from a nearby pond, took off her shirt, and attached them to her arms, stomach, and chest hoping that they would be able to filter out her blood.  The leeches in these parts were well known for their extensive blood filtering capabilities but Kynoto had his doubts about whether or not they could do the task he assigned them, but it was all he could do.  After he stitched up Hakuya’s wound.  He now examined Itachi and what he found disturbed him.  He placed his hand upon Itachi’s head and felt a stab in his heart, but nevertheless kept his hand on.  He felt the presence of two Trianchu Genes fighting for control; his, Kynoto’s, Gene and the Emma-O Gene.  The Emma-O was the stronger but Kynoto’s Gene had more resistance to evil then almost any other so Itachi had not been retaken by the Emma-O yet, but he could feel its power slipping.  He placed a seal over Itachi’s power, a very strong one that would be able to hold the Emma-O back until Kynoto’s Gene was strong enough to fight back against it, it had been weakened by last nights events.  Hakuya gave a nasty rattling cough as red blood trickled from her mouth.  Kynoto was relieved.  This meant that he had gotten rid of the infection, otherwise the blood would have been black, but just incase, he left the leeches on a little longer.  Itachi awoke before Hakuya.  When he did, Kynoto put a hand on his sword, just incase Itachi was still virile, but he was not.  He looked over at Hakuya and began to cry as he said,

            “I…I couldn’t stop myself Kynoto, some...something was controlling me.  Where are we?  This isn’t Emerald Town.”  Evidently last nights events had cause some memory loss of the past few days.

            “Yes, it is about time I told you what you have forgotten,” Kynoto said, unsure if he was about to do the right thing or not, his reaction would be different this time.  Itachi looked at him with a blank stare as Kynoto told him about the events that had taken place two nights ago.  Once Kynoto was done, Itachi was border lining on suicide.  The thought that he killed his parents and his sister only intensified his sobbing.  When he heard that he also slaughtered the townsfolk he couldn’t stand it any longer.  He picked up a dagger that Hakuya had been carrying and tried to slit his throat, but Kynoto caught him just in time.

            “Itachi, killing yourself won’t bring them all back!  Besides, Knifes instigated this whole thing!” Kynoto exclaimed as Itachi gave him an astonished look, “Yes, I was amazed when I first learned this too.  He had that man you ran into that night slip you a drug that would wait until I had left before it began to take effect.  I found this bottle in the coat pocket of one of the corpses.”  He brandished a bottle filled with a red liquid.  “This is called, I believe, a Trianchu Gene enhancer.  It makes a Trianchu users gene stronger then normal, but it does its work slow so that the user won’t notice a thing until its too late.  This caused your Gene to grow stronger and take over your bodily functions, though no normal Gene should do that, well you had the Emma-O Gene but still, it should not have been able to take control.  But what I didn’t realize was that the Emma-O Gene has two parts; the Gene itself and smaller versions that inhabit your blood stream.  If the Gene should ever be damaged, the smaller genes replace the original.  Now as you know, I removed the Emma-O and replaced it with mine.  Though my Gene is evil resistant, the scuffle last night weakened it just enough for the smaller ones to take control again.  When you reverted back to yourself, that was because I was near you and my Gene regained a little strength, you see, since I had that Gene in me for over two hundred thousand years, it grew accustomed to me, so it is stronger when I am near it.  Though mine is regenerating inside of me, it won’t inside of you unless I am near you.  So just be sure to not wander off for a few weeks.  I have also sealed your power completely until I can figure out how to remove the genes from your blood stream.  As for Hakuya, she did not originally have the Emma-O Gene so I was able to use the leeches on her, but they won’t work on you,” Kynoto said as Itachi glanced over at Hakuya.  She let out another rattling cough as more red blood leaked from her mouth.  Kynoto moved over and removed the leeches; they had done their job.  He then clothed her and tried to wake her up.  On his third attempt she opened her eyes.  She looked from Kynoto to Itachi and asked,

            “What happened?” Kynoto looked to Itachi and said,

            “Nothing worth telling, I actually was expecting something like this to tell you the truth, but everything is under control again.”   Hakuya looked at Kynoto suspiciously then shrugged.  Kynoto helped her to her feet and said, “We need a place to stay for a few weeks, Knifes is sure to try again, and I don’t want to be caught out in the open again.  I think I know Just the place too.”  Kynoto led Itachi and Hakuya out of the forest over the course of the next three days, what awaited them out side of it was numbing.  Kynoto fell to his knees as he looked over the barren and seared land that stretched out miles before them; it had once contained a large city; its population was at least five million. 

“W-what happened?” Hakuya asked.  Itachi said nothing; he was momentarily paralyzed from shock.

“Damn it, Knifes, what did you do?!” Kynoto shouted

“Oh, Knifes did not do this Kynoto,” said a voice from behind them that made them all jump.  Kynoto whirled around to see Gabriel standing there in glistening white armor that was speckled with green and red blood.

“Gabriel…b-but what are you doing here?” Kynoto asked, dumbfounded.  Gabriel’s expression was dire; he was as pale as a sheet.

“Ah, so you don’t know Kynoto?  Hell decided the time was ripe for a war,” Gabriel said, motioning to the burned out fields, “and that is the result of a five day war.  In the end Heaven won the battle, but we also lost more soldiers then the forces of Hell did.  They have a strange warrior on their side; I have never seen him before, but his power rivals yours when you were an angel so many years ago.  I hear they call him Clestil, he is Hell’s General, but I suspect he has other motives.  Well, I must get going, I have a very long report to write,” Gabriel said as he vanished, teleporting back to Heaven.  Kynoto turned back to the wasteland before them and sighed as he said,

Knifes sat in his cave, listening to a report on Itachi, Kynoto, and Hakuya’s progress, also on what the war was about and who looked to be winning.

            “So, Hell has the upper hand then Feldof?” Knifes said uninterested in this bit of news.

            “Yes Master.  Hell seems to have a new and very strong General.  He knows how to use Trianchu as you do Master,” Feldof reported.  Knifes sat up and looked his servant in the eyes and said,

            “You are sure he has powers like mine?”

            “Yes Master he does, I have seen them myself.”  Knifes was now formulating a new plan to get rid of Kynoto and his charges, but this would be a difficult task.

            “Very well, I am going away for a while, Armath, you’re in charge till I get back,” Knifes said a few hours later.  Armath simply bowed as Knifes left the cavern and vanished into the misty twilight.  He knew where to start if he was to gain this General of Hell for himself, and that was at a battle between Heaven and Hell.  He walked for four days and three nights and on the evening of the fourth night he came upon the battlefield.  Corpses of Angles and Demons lay like litter as far as the eye could see.  Knifes got his first look at this general at this point.  His skin had a dark bluish hue to it; his eyes were deep red in color.  He had the body of a well-trained and disciplined fighter; it allowed him to move very fast.  In a flash six more Angels fell before the tyrant.  A voice, that came from behind Knifes startled him,

            “Knifes…what are you doing here you fiend?”  Knives spun around to see Gabriel staring him down, his hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword.

            “Heh, still haven’t gotten out of the habit of sneaking up on people eh Gabriel?” Knifes jeered.  Gabriel gave him a stern look and said firmly,

            “Answer the question.”  Knifes’ smile was wiped from his face as he answered,

            “If you must know, I am here to collect that man over there.  I need him to kill Kynoto and his whelps.”

            “You know fully well that I can not permit that Knifes.  We are at war, and Hell’s General must be destroyed, and I will do it myself, so help me God, I will destroy him, whether or not you involve yourself Knifes.  I am stronger then you are, if you try to stop me I will not hesitate to kill you!” Gabriel yelled as he stalked off after Clestil.  Knifes clicked this tongue as Gabriel walked away from him.

            “Gabriel, Gabriel, Gabriel, I thought you would have learned by now.  You are far weaker then me!” Knifes shouted and let his power flow outward, encasing himself in a ball of Trianchu.  As everyone felt his presence, they stopped fighting and looked around at him, astounded by the amount of power he possessed.  Gabriel turned around, yet he seemed different somehow, or it could just have been that Knifes had never seen him hold a sword.

            “I warned you Knifes, now you shall fall, Kynoto will be pleased,” Gabriel said, an unusual hate vibrating from him.  Knifes smiled and drew his swords then charged at Gabriel with such fierceness that he almost bowled Gabriel over.  Gabriel looked at Knifes in shock, he had forgotten who this boy was and who taught him, this was going to be harder then he thought but he would win, he had too.  Gabriel calmed down considerably then with much force he threw Knifes off of him and retaliated with a speed that Knifes could just barely keep up with.  Knifes locked Gabriel’s blade between his two swords as Gabriel came at him with the intention of slicing him in half.  Knifes barely stopped the attack, he sneered at Gabriel as he snapped Gabriel’s blade in half with a mighty grunt.  Gabriel looked panic-stricken upon seeing this act.  He stumbled backward as Knifes advanced on him, the wind blowing his black cloak around him like a shroud.  Gabriel finally understood how Knifes was so strong.

            “B-black Heart?!” He stuttered.  Knifes smiled and said,

            “Ha, figured it out finally have you.  Yes, Black Heart is apart of me.”  Gabriel took on a new light as he stood up, calm as ever, he even smiled slightly as he said,

            “What a fool I have been, to think I could compete with you in power.  Heh, but I won’t be giving up that easy!” Gabriel’s power shot upward as he summoned a new sword.  He slashed at Knifes, cutting his aura where he had once stood.  Knifes became tense very suddenly, he felt something well up inside Gabriel at the precise moment that he had slashed at him, a supreme power, greater then he had ever felt from an Angel.

            ‘What was that?’ he thought.  Then he felt it again, he didn’t dodge it this time however.  Gabriel’s sword struck him in the arm.  Knifes immediately felt all the nerves and muscles in his left arm slacken and die.

            “Heh, know you see my true power, the power to reorganize any matter that comes into contact with my sword, that was how I could slice through your aura,” Gabriel said triumphantly.  Knifes wore a look of confusion and mortality.  But this quickly turned to anger.

            “Well then, heh, if you want to up the stakes Gabriel, then how does this suite you,” Knifes yelled as he made several symbols with his right had as he said, “Celis Sumpation Futiroun Neumour!”  Gabriel’s eyes widened as a green smoke rose out of Knifes out stretched hand.  The mist formed seven separate clouds around him; once they were all in place they took form into creatures unlike Gabriel had ever seen.  One attacked him, he swung his sword at it and it passed right through it, not leaving any damage what so ever, but the creature still advanced on Gabriel.  When it came into contact with him, Gabriel screamed as loud as his vocal cords would allow as his arm was melted away to the bone. He fell to the ground sobbing from the pain.  He shot a glance at Knifes who was laughing maniacally.  His anger welled up and he began to glow with a red hue.  This caused Knifes to stop laughing, but he did not look worried until Gabriel stood up, his arm fully healed.  Knifes sent another cloud after Gabriel who did not retaliate, but let the cloud hit him.  This time, nothing happened.  Knifes was stunned, Gabriel had found a way to block this attack.  “Well well, full of surprises aren’t we.  Well then, my arm should be fine now, so let us finish this.  Mystic attack, Angel Destorye…,” Knifes never finished his attack, about thirty Angels now swarmed around him.  He was now a little fearful.  A rather big Angel to his left said,

            “We won’t let you leave here alive Knifes, we were on our way to kill you when Hell decided to invade, but now you pose more of a threat then does Hell.  Now, Angels, attack!”  A horde of Angels threw themselves at Knifes who stood their motionless, stunned by this turn of events.  Knifes felt the cold steel of tens of blades passing through his body, pricing every inch of him.  As the Angels withdrew, Knifes fell to a heap on the ground; blood was running everywhere.  He lifted his hand in one last attempt to use Trianchu but he failed and his hand fell to the ground, lifeless and mangled.  Gabriel had a disgusted look on his face as he surveyed what was left of Knifes.  As he turned to go back to the war, the ground rumbled.  Gabriel looked around to Knifes body, which was where the tremors were originating.  Gabriel didn’t understand, he felt no Trianchu coming from Knifes.  Suddenly, Knifes let out a gasp of pain as he was lifted up off the ground; all his bones disconnected from their joints with a sick popping sound.  As they re-joined with the same sick popping noise. Gabriel sensed his power; it frightened him.  Again, all the Angels turned around to look at Knifes.  He had an evil grin on his face as he pulled a gigantic evil looking sword out of the ground.  He held it up in front of him and it pulsed several times as it was awakened.  It glowed with a black light as Knifes shouldered it.

            “Ready to die?” Knifes asked the Angels sinisterly.  A female Angel behind Gabriel let out a faint yell as Knifes power tripled.  Gabriel knew what he was up against now, the demon that Knifes bore had finally awaken; Black Heart was alive once more, yet he was a part of Knifes energy now so he could not materialize himself anymore, but he still made Knifes very powerful none the less.  At the precise moment that Gabriel moved to attack so did Knifes; with startling speed at that.  In a flash he slew half the Angels standing around him in a tornado of gore.  Clestil was now focusing on Knifes, for he had never felt such a power as Knifes’ before; it was completely evil and corrupted.  In what seemed an hour to Gabriel, but in reality it was about fifteen seconds, only he was standing.  When Knifes came at him he did not move.  Knifes’ sword struck Gabriel in the mid-drift causing him to keel over in pain.  He looked up at Knifes, straight into his eyes and understood.  “That’s right Gabriel, I am killing you last because of your sins.  You now of what I speak.  You slew so many thousands of humans during that war, before you died and bought your way into Heaven.  By all rights you belong in Hell,” Knifes said as his sword surged with power.

            “That was a long time ago, but I have not forgotten what price that war took on me. Those Neanderthals slaughtered my family; I had to restore my honor as a human!  Some unholy force did aid me that day; I should have died long before I really did.  I paid my debt since then Knifes, you have no right to pass judgment on me anyway, not when you yourself have done the same!” Gabriel retorted.  Knifes smirked.

            “Oh really now?  You expect me to believe that, ha!” Knives said as he spat in Gabriel’s face.  He then raised his sword and swung down.  All was silent and then an explosion of power, fed by anger, came from Gabriel.  As the sword bit into Gabriel’s shoulder, his Trianchu doubled and became strong enough to force the sword out of his body.  Knifes stared wide-eyed at Gabriel.

            “If I am to be judged then so are you Knifes!” Gabriel yelled.  “Way of Heaven, secret spell thirty seven; Heaven’s Wrath!” Gabriel shouted with every fiber of his being.  His Trianchu amassed around him and flowed upward into a ball of Light Trianchu.  It grew and grew until it was massive.  Gabriel flew up to it and fed in more power as he did so, Knifes moved in to kill him before he could use this attack.  Gabriel saw him coming and shot him with a blast of Light Trianchu so powerful, it rendered Knifes unconscious.  Once his attack was ready he hurled it at the ground below him where Knifes lay.  Knifes awoke to see a ball of light soaring at him, he barely had time to put his hands up to try to catch it.  He did but it burned his body as he did so, causing his skin to turn red in several places.  He then endowed the ball with Darkness Trianchu, turning the attack into Omni-Elemental.  Gabriel, to his horror, saw this new ball coming back at him.  He dodged it and went after Knifes.  He was an inch from Knifes when he heard a roaring from behind him, Hell’s army was running straight for him.  Without time to think the yelled, “Selutih Hunmishim Delfoiath!”  This attack decimated the soldiers running at him, but as he turned around he saw that Knifes was smiling.  He whirled around again to see the ball of Omni-Elemental Trianchu coming for him at top speed.  He thought quickly and then it occurred to him.  “Trianchu attack, White Slasher!” he yelled in haste.  Several swords of white Trianchu formed and slashed at the ball, causing it to turn into a white attack, which Gabriel let hit him as he absorbed it.   Knifes looked dumbstruck, he had never heard of such a thing.  “Heh, see, you know little of Trianchu.  Omni-Elemental takes the form of what ever last was added to it, and since it absorbs Trianchu, any Trianchu attack can change its form!” he yelled as his power regenerated.

            “B-but how, how the Hell could you know that?  I am the strongest being in this universe, how could you evade me like this.  Never mind, I’ll be sure to kill you this time.  Hell-sync!  Way of the Demon, First Strike!” Knifes yelled as he caught Gabriel off guard and pummeled him with twenty attacks  “Second Strike!”  Forty attacks hit Gabriel.  “Third Strike!”  Eighty Dark Trianchu attacks now hit him, Gabriel’s back arched and bulged with pain.  “Forth Strike!”

            “Ah!” Gabriel gasped with surprise as this attack hit him.

            “Fifth Strike!!” Knifes yelled once more as one hundred and forty more attacks hit Gabriel.

            “Now I understand!  I understand Kynoto hahaha!” Gabriel yelled. Knifes halted in the middle of his next attack.  Gabriel became suddenly angry and shouted with a fury that was Hell-bent, “Knifes!  Your dead!”  Knife resumed his attack, but he realized his mistake much too late.  Gabriel’s back exploded open as a third wing sprang from it; a black wing.

            “WHAT!?  How the Hell!?” Knifes yelled astounded at the transformation he had just witnessed.

            “Hahaha, I finally understand how Kynoto made it this far, the answer was pain, pain was the answer.  Unearthly pain causes an Angel to unleash its power, yet not every Angel can do this, many have died in the process, but I am different from the rest, I alone have endured the pain of loosing loved ones to tyrants like you Knifes!  Now get ready to die!” Gabriel shouted as he dashed at Knifes who began to run for his life.  He had never seen a Shadow Angel before, he had only heard Kynoto’s description of one, but now that he saw one first hand, he realized why Triasha was so afraid.  Their power was harmoniously high, outrageously strong.  Stronger then he could ever now become.  Gabriel caught up with Knifes and punched him into the ground where his head made a sickening crash.  Knifes did not get up.  Gabriel laughed sinisterly as he picked Knifes up off the ground, when he looked into his eyes Gabriel dropped him and backed away, a stunned look on his face.  He had just seen something no living creature should ever have to see and that was evil, the purest tainting evil ever that could be imagined, the power it possessed almost lured Gabriel to the dark side, to Hell’s side.  He turned his anger into righteousness and his third wing turned white, his power lessened slightly, but he was free of taint now.  Knifes put his hands to the ground and snickered as he hoisted himself off the ground on to him feet.

            “Ha, I see now.  Well then, now that you are free of hate, I really will kill you!  Black Heart, give me all of your power!” Knifes yelled into the sky as his body formed small flashes of black electricity.  His clothes were rippling without any wind, his power was growing ever greater, and Gabriel began to worry.  Suddenly Knifes let out a howl as the full force of Black Hearts power flowed into him.  He lunged at Gabriel, his nails turning into short daggers which he used to cut any inch of Gabriel that he could reach, Gabriel finally threw him off and kicked him a way as he drew a second sword from a sheath on his back and said,

            “I swore never to use this sword, but this is a special occasion.”  He ran at knifes and hurled the sword through Knifes heart.  Knifes seemed to die, he fell to the ground, lifeless, powerless.  Gabriel flipped him over with his foot and surveyed him.  His eyes were wide in terror, and his power was completely gone.  He leaned over to listen for a heartbeat.  A few seconds passed and he heard nothing, then he felt something odd, like a slight pulse of Trianchu and a spike came from Knifes chest, catching Gabriel in the stomach, injecting poison into him.  Knifes eyes flicked to Gabriel’s face and a grin slithered on to his.

            “Though I was dead didn’t cha?  Ha, it’ll take more then that to kill me!  Darkness bomber!” Knifes yelled as he let off several attacks of Dark Trianchu, since Gabriel was once again a normal Angel, this attack had a great effect on him.  “Now, for the finish!” Knifes said as he rolled up the left sleeve of his shirt to reveal an arm with evil looking tattoos covering it up to the shoulder.  There were a number of strange pentagrams as well as a strange seven-sided symbol on Knifes’ forearm.  A cursed arm, a diseased arm that the Necronomicon had left him with.  The poison had temporarily paralyzed Gabriel so he could not move.  He lay there staring at the arm with reverence; he knew what was in store for him.  He wanted to run, escape his fate, but something other then the poison kept him bound there gazing at the tool of his destruction.  As the setting sun glinted off Knifes’ sword that was held in his left hand, his right arm began to glow black as Knifes thrust it upon Gabriel’s head and sang in an ancient language, “Sundlovach Belsishnoch Meloshlivak Reliciochirigack Penoshlikach!”  Gabriel was turned into dust in an instant, his mortal body melting away into a pile of ashes.  Knifes had effectively destroyed his mortal coil, he was neither in Heaven nor Hell, he had been erased from all existence. As this happened the sunset, bathing all in shadow and darkness.

The death of Gabriel had severe repercussions in Heaven, with its General destroyed, Hell advancing quicker then ever, and with the short supply of soldiers, Heaven was beginning to crack under the stress of the war.  Heaven’s army was down to having only one third of its soldiers left, Hell was gaining the upper hand, and things were not looking good.  There had been rumors going around that Kynoto had been asked to return and lead the army of Heaven but had refused to do so.  This only dampened spirits and lowered moral even more among the Angels, if Kynoto would not help then he must realize that they were fighting a losing battle, they thought, and without a strong General it would play out just like that.  Hell’s army was far more superior without Gabriel standing in their way.  Clestil was as powerful as ever, normal Angels fell before him in an instant, none but Gabriel could have stood a chance against him, and possibly Kynoto.  At each battle Heaven lost more and more Angels; their forces were thinning out and were easily killed.  In the last bloody battle, Hell’s army killed many humans, as well as Angels, Clestil was saying that Humans and Angels needed to be destroyed, that Hell was the planet’s rightful owner. 

This made Kynoto’s blood boil when he heard the news.  He had been training Itachi and Hakuya as hard as ever since Gabriel was killed, he was going to make them strong, strong enough to be able to defend themselves against Hell should something ill befall himself, for Knifes made it clear, when he went after Gabriel, that all of this would lead to his death, or so he heard from the report made by an Angel who survived Knifes slaughter long enough to give a verbal report.  Kynoto was uneasy, what was Knifes planning, what could killing Gabriel possibly have enough effect on to lead to his doom, it puzzled him, usually Knifes had very intricate plans that often almost succeeded, this one seemed more like a stab in the air then a certainty, but still the fact that Knifes beat Gabriel, Heavens top fighter, meant something to him, Knifes had indeed fused with Black Heart, and that the Necronomicon still existed.  The later worried Kynoto much more, the Book of the Dead, not something to be played with, had been used and absorbed by Knifes yet something did not happen that should have.  The book should have stolen Knifes soul when he used it, but it did not, such a misbalance in a natural flow of such an evil object could not mean well for anyone, but could be all the worse for Knifes.  Kynoto was determined to keep a sharp eye for anything suspicious, for Knifes was resourceful and cunning, doubly cunning now that he was fused with Black Heart.  Kynoto could afford no more mistakes, Itachi and Hakuya had to be trained for as long as possible before Kynoto came to that point and time, otherwise, Itachi’s power would run away with him again and he would probably end up killing Hakuya.

“Itachi, that was good, you blocked all my attacks, you’re getting better every day,” Kynoto told Itachi as he puffed and huffed for breath.  They had just finished a vigorous training session.  Itachi was not satisfied though.

“Kynoto, you give me too much credit, you were holding those attacks back, I could feel it.”  Those last words haunted Kynoto a little bit, how could Itachi feel attacks that had no Trianchu in them? He asked himself.  It was highly unlikely that you could do that and even if someone could, they would need to have so much training, much more then they had received from Kynoto, in order to accomplish that high level of sensory.

“Heh, you’re right, I was.  Anyway, is dinner ready Hakuya?” Kynoto asked.

“Yep, it is,” Hakuya replied as she brought them a huge basin of what appeared to be stew.  As they ate, Kynoto watched Itachi, he seemed himself, but what he had said earlier still seemed to haunt Kynoto’s mind, then he finally asked,

“Itachi?  When you said you could feel me holding my punches back, what did you mean by that?”  Itachi looked into the purpling sky and said,

“Well, it was just, I could feel the muscles in your arm straining to not use their full strength.  And when you did hit me, you contracted your fist much too early to have been a full punch.  I also sensed that you used very little Trianchu in those attacks.”

“Itachi, I wasn’t using Trianchu at all with those attacks, remember, I can’t use it anymore,” Kynoto said sternly but Itachi smiled and said,

“Yes you were, I could sense it, it was very very faint but there was Trianchu in your attacks.”  Kynoto was amazed; he could not feel any Trianchu in his attacks earlier yet Itachi said he had, and what would he gain from lying about that, so Kynoto deducted that he had to be telling the truth.  Kynoto rummaged around for a book that he had taken and began reading.  Towards the end he found an interesting bit of information.

“Those who possess the Emma-O gene can feel Trianchu more fluently then those without one, this is because while the Emma-O gene is evil, it is also more in-tune with nature, and there for can have greater sensory capabilities then most normal genes.”  Kynoto finally had his answer.  He still could not believe that he was still using Trianchu in those punches; he had thought he had lost all of his Trianchu.  Kynoto would sleep a bit easier that night, knowing that there was nothing wrong with Itachi’s extra sensory capabilities, but something else was bothering Kynoto that night, the war between Heaven and Hell, something did not feel right.  Finally Kynoto dozed off.  He dreamt many dreams that night, some good, some bad, but one curious thing, they all ended with Knives standing over him, his sword at his throat.  Suddenly, Kynoto was awoken by a huge explosion that rocked the ground all around them.  Hakuya started screaming, Itachi jumped up and looked around for the source.  Kynoto looked up in the sky and saw Clestil fighting with a strange Angel, an Angel who could use Trianchu.  For a second Kynoto thought it was Gabriel, but when he saw his face he was dumbstruck.  It was Triasha.  Kynoto was lost for words; how Triasha, the tyrant he was and had been, could get to be an Angel had Kynoto lost for words.  Triasha used some skill and Clestil retreated, Hell’s army behind him; Heaven had won this battle.  Triasha was heaving for breath when he sensed a strong source of Trianchu; he looked straight down and saw Kynoto, Hakuya, and Itachi.  He began to laugh as he flew down to them.  When he landed Kynoto nearly bowled him over as he gave his long lost friend a gigantic hug.

“Triasha! How could they let a monster like be an Angel?!” Kynoto said jokingly.  And he replied the gesture,

“Same as you, you old fool!”  They all fell about laughing.  Kynoto introduced Triasha to Itachi and Hakuya.  Triasha kept a wary eye on Itachi.  “Kynoto, you do know he has ‘it’ don’t you?” Triasha said, keeping his voice low.

“Yes, but he and I have it under control for now.  Listen, there is much to tell you.  About Knifes, Naomi, and many things,” Kynoto said carefully.  Triasha gave him a quizzical look and asked,

“How is Naomi, I feel bad for leaving her alone all these years.”  Kynoto held back a tear, he almost didn’t have it in his heart to tell him, but he had too, it was only just that he did so.  When Triasha heard the full tale he sat down, unusually quite.  Itachi looked from Kynoto to Triasha, he had not heard any of it, they were whispering.  Triasha looked up into the brightening sky, fighting back tears of anger, sadness; trying to keep his emotions under control, trying to keep his anger under control.

“Triasha, I know how you feel, but killing Knifes isn’t going to bring her back and you would probably just end up like Gabriel did if you fight him, he has gained much strength since you last fought; Black Heart, the Necronomicon, part of my powers, he is much too strong for any of us right now, only Itachi here can defeat him,” Kynoto whispered to him.  Triasha gave him a frustrated look and glanced at Itachi, as though he were sizing him up.

“Him?  How can he fight against that much power, he is a weakling, least as I see him now he is,” Triasha said out loud.  Kynoto gave him a surprised look; Itachi gave him an offended one.  He stormed up to him and kicked Triasha in the stomach.  Triasha felt his power then said with a surprised gasp, “How can you hide that much power?!”

“I had to put a seal on his power.  He is like Knifes was at first, his power, or in this case the Emma-O Gene, yes, it was not Kynotoishi that controlled Knifes, can take control of him.  So I put a strong seal on it.  There is more to tell Triasha, please wait to pass judgment on Itachi till you have heard it,” Kynoto said.  As Triasha listened, he understood.

“So you met your brother?  The one that lost his mind?” Triasha asked Kynoto who replied,

“Oh no, he didn’t lose his mind, he is as sane as you or I, but he did have something happen to him.  You killed him, he awoke probably in the Nether Realm, and learned the truth about all truths,” Kynoto said in the same crazy voice his brother used, this made Triasha laugh a little, it lightened his mood also.  But when Triasha heard about Knifes using Itachi, his anger returned.  This time Triasha did not try to hold it back.  His Trianchu soared upward, Itachi was amazed by its potency, he was as strong as Kynoto had been, probably stronger.

“That little bastard!” Triasha said through clenched teeth, his power fluctuating on every syllable.

“Now now Triasha, keep that temper under control, I know its hard with everything that’s happened, but please try to,” Kynoto asked.  Suddenly Triasha looked fearful and turned to Kynoto.

“That’s right! I forgot to tell you!  Kynoto!  Something is happening, you can see it up in Heaven, the planet is dieing.  Parts of it are tuning to a blackened wasteland,” Triasha said in a rush.

“We know, from the war right?”

“No! Not from the war, from something much more sinister.  When you stumbled upon that area when you first met Gabriel, he was investigating it, though Heaven is under strict orders to say that it’s the aftermath of the war.  I think Knifes’ release has triggered something.  Something very very bad,” Triasha said tiredly.  Kynoto looked at him for a second as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, Heaven ordering its Angels to lie, it sounded preposterous, unless this was something extremely dire. 

Now that Triasha had joined them, Itachi and Hakuya could be trained much faster.  Kynoto realized this as Triasha sparred with Itachi, who was hard pressed to not be hit.  Triasha was a better fighter then Kynoto, always was.  So Kynoto stuck to working with Hakuya to strengthen her healing abilities.  Triasha asked Kynoto to release a little bit of the seal on Itachi, just for a few hours, he wanted to see how well he would do with Trianchu.  Hakuya and Kynoto watched.  Triasha let Itachi power up as far as the seal would allow, then he matched it.  Now the real fun began, Itachi was now as fast as Triasha, which surprised him.  Itachi had the upper hand now, Triasha was surprised, which meant his attention wasn’t fully focused, Itachi faked a left punch, tripped Triasha then sent him sprawling with a mighty uppercut to his face.  Triasha laid where he landed, laughing about his little slip up, and how Itachi had played on it.  Kynoto was laughing the hardest, he knew that Triasha would be embarrassed that he had called Itachi a weakling. Triasha stood up stiffly and said,

Kynoto awoke to see that he was the last one to awaken. Triasha and Itachi were training, and Hakuya was making lunch.  As Kynoto sat up he heard Triasha Shout,

"Kynoto, finally up you great log?!"  Triasha supported a gigantic bruise on the right side of his face, no doubt from Itachi's attack yesterday.  Hakuya called them all to her; lunch was ready.  As they ate, Triasha commended Itachi about his fighting, while Hakuya tried to remove the bruise on Trisha’s face with her Trianchu powers, a kind of test to see how far her training had advanced.  Kynoto sat thinking about the feeling he had felt last night, it was some strange power off in the distance, just staying still as if it were waiting for the right moment to move in for the kill.  Kynoto decided to ignore it for now, for it posed no threat, but he did wonder why Itachi and Triasha had not felt it yet.  Once lunch was finished, Itachi and Trisha resumed their training while Hakuya worked on her healing powers.  Kynoto watched Itachi and Triasha battle across the sands, it was really something to behold, Itachi was just as good as Triasha at physical combat; something Kynoto was never really good at, Itachi would gain more experience from bouting with Triasha then with him.

"Kynoto, remove some more of the seal again, I want to see what he is capable of," Triasha said, getting himself ready.  Kynoto looked at Triasha and shrugged.  He walked over to Itachi and took off one third of the seal.  Itachi powered up, Triasha matched it.  Kynoto noticed something, the power off in the distance began to move; towards them.  Triasha was amazed, that even with only one third of the seal removed that Itachi could have this much Trianchu, he was gaining a little more every attack.  Triasha was also hard pressed to keep up at Itachi's speed, which, like his Trianchu, increased a little every attack.  Kynoto was paying close attention to this moving power, he didn't like it; it was too sudden.  Then, just when he thought the power had turned away, he felt the full force.  It had to be one of Knifes' men; it was the only explanation.  Triasha had finally felt it too, Itachi, who should have felt it before them all, did also now feel it.  They stopped and looked at Kynoto who turned around to face them.

"Go get Hakuya Itachi, make sure she is hidden well.  Knifes is testing us once again, though I think after last time, he is being more cautious, he sent only one of his men," Kynoto stated as Itachi scrambled to find Hakuya.  Kynoto turned to Triasha now, "Triasha, I will need you to stop this person, I would but my Trianchu is in short supply these days, heh," Kynoto said with a smirk.   Triasha nodded and powered up.  Kynoto took one last look outward to see a trail of dust surging to their position.  "Be careful Triasha, this person is not to be underestimated," Kynoto warned as he left.  Triasha looked back to make sure Kynoto was well away before striding into the path of the now visible man that was hovering towards him.  He seemed to be using the dirt to lift him off the ground and fly; he would undoubtedly possess some strange form of Trianchu.  As he saw Triasha he stopped in his tracks, the cloud disappeared as the man landed on the ground.

"Triasha?" he asked tentatively, and Triasha nodded, "Knifes said that you were dead, that he killed you himself...so why are you here before me?"

"I was dead, but I was made into an Angel.  I just happened to be in the neighborhood and an old friend asked me to stop you," Triasha said coolly.  The man took a step back then said,

"So, Kynoto and the brats were here.  Move aside, I have nothing to fight with you about," the man commanded.  Triasha gave him a look of interest and said in a half laugh,

"You expect me to just let you pass?!  You might be strong, but you aren’t that good in the head are you?  If you want to get to Kynoto and those two you need to get through me first."  The man huffed and said,

"Well I guess it doesn’t matter," he now grinned, "since Knifes had two of us coming from opposite directions."  Triasha hesitated and searched, sure enough, he felt Itachi fighting someone about half a mile south of him.  Triasha powered up and moved in to attack the man but his body turned to sand and vanished.  Triasha was now running to help Itachi.  When he arrived he saw the sand man and some other person both fighting Itachi, who supported wounds that had been made by some sort of spike attack.  Itachi was near death when he let out a blood chilling howl of rage; it was at this moment that Triasha felt the seal Kynoto had place break apart as if it were wet paper and Itachi’s power flooded into him.  Triasha saw what Kynoto had described, and agreed that it must be contained.  Triasha grimaced as Itachi ripped out the second mans heart and turned on the sand man who vanished into the ground.  Itachi then spotted Triasha and ran at him, grabbed him by the throat and hurled him to the ground.  Triasha fought for breath as he wheezed,

“Itachi, its me, Triasha!  Don’t you remember me?!”  Itachi suddenly looked calm and fell, unconscious, to the ground.  Kynoto was standing in front of Triasha; his hand raised, he had replaced the seal.  “Kynoto! What the hell was that?!” Triasha exclaimed as he gasped for breath.

            “That, my dear friend, is why I have a seal on his power.  Though it seems to break in very stressful situations,” Kynoto smiled weakly.  He picked up Itachi’s body and ushered Hakuya out of a large bush.  Triasha was amazed, this boy was stronger then even Knifes, though his power was not tamed yet, and it took control of him whenever it surfaced, but still he was stronger then Knifes.  At that moment, an Angel appeared next to Triasha. 

            “Triasha, Sir!  We need you on the front line Sir, Hell has mounted another offensive,” the Angel announced.  Triasha looked into the sky and said,

            “Thanks for informing me Azrael, I will be there shortly.”  With that Azrael was gone, like a wisp of smoke in the wind.  Kynoto had the most peculiar sensation that he had heard that name from somewhere, but he couldn’t remember.  Triasha turned to the group and said, “You lot be careful, Knifes will surely want another go at you, and his attempts will be getting better as he collects data on you Itachi, so you be extra careful not to let that power of yours control you.  Kynoto, keep them safe, they might be the only chance to defeat Knifes.” With that he also vanished.

            When Triasha arrived at the battlefront he saw a barren wasteland, covered in blood of Demons and Angels alike.  Clestil was standing in the center of it all, his sword dripping with blood, and his armor was caked in it, with some feathers here and there.  He grinned sinisterly as Triasha charged at him; he drew a sword from the sheath at his side.  The blade was made of stunningly white pearl, though it was hard as steel, and was very light, letting Triasha have quick and accurate attacks.  As they fought tooth and nail, swords screaming in delight of battling one another, emitting sparks at every blow, something was happening to the surroundings of the battlefield.  The armies had stopped fighting and were now watching their leaders struggle, wondering who would emerge victorious, for who ever did so would mean their side was sure to win the battle.  Triasha used a Trianchu attack, and Clestil mimed it, causing it to null out.  It seemed that the pair were evenly matched.  Triasha then started using some Trianchu attacks of his own design, one of which tore off Clestil’s arm, which he promptly regenerated.  He flexed his new arm and said, his deep, slow voice carrying over the silence,

            “Now, now Triasha, lets not get hasty, we have all eternity to fight one another, so lets make the battle fun and enjoyable.”  He grinned and Triasha merely smirked a little, Clestil reminded him of Kynotoishi, wanting to have a proper fight, with equal chances, a good fight to the death where only one would leave.  Triasha let out all of his power and Clestil did the same.  Now the sparks became balls of fire, scorching the ground and anything else the touched except for the two lords fighting.  And then finally, swords nearly destroyed, Trianchu nearly gone, they stopped holding back, Triasha used his most powerful attacks, as did Clestil, each blow sustained weakened the fighters.  Till, at last, they had no more power left.  Clestil stood up and sniffed the air and held up a hand to Triasha, something was amiss, something strange was happening.  Triasha looked up to the sky to see that the once white clouds were now blackened and violent with thunder and lightning.  A gigantic burst of Trianchu, which soared from the clouds, hit the plains and in the resulting shroud of fire only Triasha and Clestil were protected; their fighting had caused a shield of Trianchu to form around them. It reduced the hordes of Heaven and Hell to blackened ash, their blood spilled across the plains, causing a look of utmost decay.  Only Triasha and Clestil stood remaining in the plains of carnage.  Then a rift opened and two creatures of great power stepped out.  One was dressed in all white, had a bow of giant proportions fastened to his back and his head supported a crown, the other was dressed in red battle armor and held a massive sword to his shoulder. When they spoke, their voice seemed to echo from everywhere,

As Triasha told his experience at the battle, Kynoto began to remember something but he wasn’t quite sure what.  When Triasha was finished Kynoto sighed and said,

            "This is disturbing, yes, but we have greater things to deal with at the moment.  We need to focus on Knifes for now.  If he gains Clestil into his ranks, we will be hard pressed to fend him off if he decides to jump us like before.  Itachi, we need to get your power tamed as soon as possible.  I know of only one way, but it is very risky.  And we would need to travel to Onishindo, the world of the spirits," Kynoto added in seeing Itachi and Hakuya's expressions, "where an item called the Oni Star resides.  It's said to be able to suck the malice out of people, yet it also could steal your soul if you are not strong-willed enough to stand the excruciating pain.  This trip wont be nearly that easy though; let's just say, the monsters in there are very hard to kill," Kynoto chuckled, remembering his last encounter with a demon in that realm.  Triasha looked at him and said,

            "You do know I wont be able to follow you correct?  Angel's are not allowed into the Oni Realm."  Kynoto dawned a look of realization, and swore under his breath, then said,

            "Forgot about that, hahaha.  Hmm, Triasha there might be a way for you to enter, watch.  Give me half of your Trianchu."  Triasha did as he was bidden.  Soon Triasha and Kynoto had equal powers.  Kynoto flexed his power slightly and said, "Ah, feels good to have a tangible amount of Trianchu again.  Now, Triasha, you should find that you can pass into Onishindo, when you gave me part of your powers, you became a Demi-Angel, and so did I. It is only temporary but it should last long enough for us to enter."  Triasha laughed slightly and said,

            "As innovate as ever, eh Kynoto?  Well, let's get a move on then, Hakuya, stay close to me and Kynoto and Itachi, you won't stand a chance against those monsters in there, since your Trianchu is mainly for healing and not offense."  Hakuya looked at him and nodded.  Kynoto said something in a language Itachi did not understand, not until Triasha whispered "Vampire" to him did he understand what this language was.  A rift opened in front of them some fifteen minuets later and they stepped inside.  Kynoto gave a small gasp as the land became clear.  Everything was blackened, just like the plains that Kynoto, Itachi, and Hakuya had witnessed.  The Monsters were still present, though they looked weakened, but something was defiantly not right, how could the war between Heaven and Hell spill into the Oni Realm, they could not enter.  Something smelled fishy to Kynoto; he would ask Triasha to consort with some Angels when he returned to Heaven.  Triasha picked up on the same thing that Kynoto did for he wore a very much-surprised look.  As they walked the ground crunched under their feet.  Monsters that saw them ran away, very unlike them to do so.  After a while Kynoto stopped and said,

            "What has happened here?  Everything’s blackened, the monsters are afraid of us even.  This isn’t very well boding.  Hmm, well let's carry on."  They continued, everyone seemed calm; everyone but Itachi; he looked tense, as if straining to hear something.  Kynoto noticed this and asked him what was up.  Itachi replied quietly,

            "I can hear something, like a low humming, also I can feel a great power to the North of us, it feels like Knifes but different somehow."  Kynoto looked to Triasha who looked back to Itachi.  They drew their swords and expanded their Trianchu.  Kynoto now also felt what Itachi did.  It intrigued him, for indeed, it felt like Knifes was standing just north of them, but he could also not enter here.  Or could he; Knifes did have the Necoronomicon at his disposal, so he could very easily be there waiting for them.  But there was something else, Kynoto felt like he was being watched by someone or something, and the feeling eradiated from all around them, he could not pin point it and this worried Kynoto.  Triasha had a slight frown upon his face as he said,

            "Someone is watching us, I can feel it.  And that sure does feel like Knifes, but I sense an array of powers coming from that one spot.  They can't all be Knifes.  I wonder if he used the Necronomicon to bring some of his followers here.  Anyway, let's keep going, standing here isn't gonna solve this."  He started forward then froze.  "Kynoto, did you just feel that?" he asked attentively.  Kynoto nodded.  He had felt it also.  The presence of four Emma-O Genes lied in the direction of the Knifes like power.  Kynoto held up a hand and motioned to Hakuya and Itachi to move in closer to him and Triasha.  They continued to the north.  Kynoto could now distinguish the powers.  One was indeed Knifes, but the others seemed masked somehow.  But Kynoto could deffenatly feel Kynotoishi, Shintriasha, Knifes, and one other person.  Kynoto told Triasha to take Itachi and Hakuya and travel due east of where they were, the Star was likely to be found that way.  Meanwhile Kynoto would hold off these four people.  When Triasha said that he would go fight, Kynoto told him that Itachi and Hakuya would need him more then himself.  Triasha finally nodded and went with Itachi and Hakuya as fast as he could to the east.  Kynoto continued to walk north, when he felt the powers shift to the east he used a special technique to appear in front of them, his Trianchu had fully regenerated by this time.  He saw, standing there in front of him, shadows, shadows of Kynotoishi, Shintriasha, Knifes, and the Evil Knifes.  Kynoto had now wished that he had Triasha there with him, these people would surely be much stronger combined in a group like this then apart.  The Evil Knifes shadow stepped forward and said, his voice was high-pitched but also deep,

            "Ah, Kynoto, what an interesting surprise, though we knew you would come, we just weren't sure if you would be mortal or not.  So, you have regained you powers it would seem, good then, you won’t die like a weakling!" Knifes Shouted as he and his other half fused into one.  His power was far greater then that of the others in the first place but now the others were dwarfed.

            "Now, now Knifes, we all want a shot at him, so don't get too carried away," said the Kynotoishi shadow.  Knifes lunged at Kynoto who was caught off guard.  Punch after punch was landed by Knifes yet Kynoto was determined not to fall, for he knew what attack would follow if he did.  Kynoto raised his power past the safety point and fought back against Knifes, effectively pushing him back into the group of shadows.  Kynoto jumped backward as far as he could to distance himself.

            "Aw, come now Kynoto, you don't surely think that we were going to finish you off this quickly, no, we want to have some fun with you first!" Shouted Shintriasha as he and Kynotoishi flew at him with stunning speed.  They both caught Kynoto in the stomach and set him sprawling.  In a flash Kynoto was being attacked from every direction as Kynotoishi, Shintriasha, and Knifes fought him.  After a while of this Kynoto was sick and tiered of the madness and let his anger flow into his Trianchu, causing it to double, he let out a yell as he expanded his aura and threw off the shadows and retaliated with bone crushing accuracy.  After a minute, the shadows were trying to keep themselves distanced from Kynoto.  He had surprised them with his power, for he was stronger then they were now, he had had the time and the training to push his power further, he had to if he wanted to be able to be able to remotely be able to control Itachi.  He said something and he split into three different versions of himself.  Each one chose a target and went after it. 

            Meanwhile, Itachi could feel Kynoto's battle and was amazed at his fighting ability with Trianchu.  Triasha was also wary of Kynoto's battle, but he also sensed another Knifes, the real one, in the palace ahead of them.  This castle was also blackened like the rest of the Oni Realm, but nowhere nearly as bad; some spots of brilliantly shining silver were still visible.  As they crossed over a drawbridge, Triasha stopped them.  Knifes was standing in front of them tossing the Oni Star into the air and catching it.  When he saw them walk up he tossed it far into the castle.  Triasha dashed forward and locked blades with Knifes shouting all the while at Itachi and Hakuya,

            "Get in there and find the Star!  According to Kynoto all you need to do is touch it and you will be able to control your powers for a while.  The proper taming will have to be done later back in our Realm, now go!"  Hakuya and Itachi wasted no time.  They ran headlong into the castle while Triasha kept Knifes from following.  Once they were in, Itachi could not feel Triasha or Kynoto's powers, but he sensed that the castle had an anti-sensory barrier on it.  Itachi shielded his eyes from the light and looked into the darkness and saw something glowing with a purple hue some two hundred yards in front of them.  As they reached it they saw it was the Star, but before Itachi could pick it up a giant rock golem fell in front of them.  It said, its voice booming around the walls of the cavernous room,

            "Who dares enter here?  Who dares seek the Oni Star?"  Itachi replied awkwardly,

            "We mean you no harm, we only want the Star.  We need the star so I can save myself from myself."  This seemed to confuse the golem.  He picked Itachi up then immediately let go of him as if he was piping hot to the touch.  He then said, anger in his voice,

            "Evil one, you shant get past me!  I can feel your evil, like the one who was here before.  Though I failed to stop him, I will not fail to stop you!"  The Golem smashed his hand into the ground where Itachi and Hakuya were standing; when he lifted it he saw they were not there.  Itachi had had a split second to react and Half Stepped, a skill that makes your movements incredibly fast, to avoid the attack, taking Hakuya with him.  The golem spun around to see Itachi's fist flying towards his face.  He could not dodge this attack; it was to fast.  Itachi fist hit the golems face with a sickening crunch as all the bones in his left hand and arm broke.  He fell backwards to the ground moaning in pain.  Hakuya rushed forward and tried to heal him but Itachi was already starting to lose control.  He sprang up, and charged the golem once more, but this time the golem was ready and dodged then grabbed Itachi.  The golem then sensed something inside of Itachi wriggle and spikes shot out from his body.  They seemed to be made of a kind of mist.  Hakuya guessed that Itachi had forced the aura surrounding his body to converge at certain points then form into spikes of energy.  They pierced the golem’s hand into rubble.  As the golem hollered out in pain, Itachi ran for the Star.  As he reached for it his body contorted as if attempting to foil him from touching it.  Itachi overcame the contortions and was within a hairs width from the star when he felt the Emma-O Gene force his aura to for a shield between himself and the star.  Itachi forced his hand through the shield and touched the star.  As this happened the star purple-cratered surface began to pulse slightly and he felt his power lower drastically, his body lost its will and laxed up, and he felt the Emma-O Gene go completely dormant.  Hakuya had ran forward and was attempting to heal the golem.  She had managed to repair his hand when Itachi walked back up and said,

            "I'm sorry I had to do that, but if I had not reached the Star soon, I would have killed you."  The golem looked up and said,

            "Hmm, interesting. I guess you can have the star then, I have been defeated again, please kill me; defeated twice, unheard of.  I have never been defeated once in over seven millennia, much less twice in one day."  The Golem kneeled, waiting for Itachi to put an end to his life, but he did not, he only said,

            "Death is a cowards way out.  If you die now, you will never become stronger, and if you don't become stronger, you will always be beaten."  The golem looked up, stunned.  He stood up and walked away, Itachi's words had stirred something in him.  He vanished into the darkness.  Itachi could now feel the power coursing through him, he felt the power; it was under his control now, now he could make Knifes pay.

Kynoto was fighting tooth and nail against the shadows when he felt Itachi's power.  He stopped fighting, as did the shadows, and said,

            "My God, finally.  No need to worry about them anymore."  Triasha also sensed Itachi's power, as did Knifes who swore loudly.  Triasha turned around to see Itachi standing in front of him, eyes glowing red slightly, a look of utmost loathing on his face.  He said,

            "Knifes!  Today you die!"  Itachi's power rose and rose, topping out at five hundred million; many times greater then Knifes could go in his present state.  Knifes blew on a slim almost flute like device and Kynoto saw the shadows disappear then sensed them reappear in front of Itachi.  Kynoto ran as fast as he could towards the Castle of the Oni.  Knifes was now laughing as Itachi surveyed the shadows.  He jumped forward and did a sort of windmill kick and allowed his Trianchu to flow into his feet, causing blades of Pure Trianchu to fly from them, which sliced the shadows into pieces.  Knifes laughter died off instantly.  He was shocked; Itachi had defeated the shadows in one attack.  Triasha grabbed Hakuya and teleported to Kynoto and told him to keep his distance.  Kynoto gave him a look of surprise until he felt the full force of Itachi's power at which point he agreed with Triasha.  Knifes was fighting for his life now, Itachi was a more formidable opponent then he had first foreseen.  Knifes was also out powered by about three hundred million levels of Trianchu.  All Knifes could do was block the attacks, Itachi was so fast that Knifes had no openings for attacking.  After a while of this Knifes got angry and accessed Black Heart's and the Necronomicon's power, allowing him to put up a better fight, yet Itachi was still attacking ferociously, the memory of the butchered citizens of Emerald Town and that it was his hand under Knifes control that did it drove him mad for the past seven weeks, and now he was releasing that pent up anger unto Knifes, who was starting to level out the fighting.  Soon Knifes was fast enough to attack back, he unleashed a devastating attack of light and darkness Trianchu blasts that Itachi sustained.  It stunned him for about half a second before Itachi was back at ravaging Knifes.  Knifes now used a stronger version of his previous attack and this time Itachi was stunned for about five seconds, this allowed Knifes to prepare some strong attacks, when Itachi came around Knifes hit him with a special attack that caused paramount pain to course through Itachi. Itachi began to get used to the pain and staggered towards Knifes, who increased the amount of Trianchu he was using.  Itachi fell to his knees yelling because of the pain.  Knifes knew he had Itachi where he wanted him now.  He raised his arm, which was glowing with a black light; he placed it on Itachi’s forehead and waited.  Itachi was screaming now, the pain was insane, it was as if his body was being torn into fifty million pieces, but slowly, tortuously so that he could feel it happening.  Kynoto, Hakuya, and Triasha heard the screams of agony, but Kynoto stopped Hakuya from rushing to Itachi.  When Hakuya looked at him for a reason why he was allowing him to be killed Kynoto said,

            "Don't believe everything that you hear, Itachi is in pain, great pain, I can feel it, but he is nowhere near dying, trust me, in a few seconds Knifes is going to get the surprise of his life."  Triasha looked at him quizzically then decided it was better to just wait and see.  Knifes could feel Itachi breaking now, his power was weakening; yet he had not yet been torn to shreds, which was a little odd.  Knifes then felt something even more odd, Itachi's power was lessening but his strength was increasing, Itachi was waiting for something to happen before he broke out of Knifes attack.   Knifes let all of his Trianchu flow into the attack and Itachi saw that the time was just about right.  He let out a tremendously loud scream and Knifes attack ceased.  There was a silence.  Kynoto had a surprised look on his face.  Triasha looked at him furiously as Hakuya fell to her knees.  Then a small power emanated from Knifes’ location.  It got greater and then it exploded upward with suck force that the air around them was forced away so hard that by the time the wave reached Kynoto, Triasha, and Hakuya it was like a hurricane.  It was Itachi, he had absorbed Knifes’ attack; all of it and now Knifes had little Trianchu left.  Knifes stared at the monster in front of him, he could not believe that he had absorbed all of that power.  Itachi now stood up, his body casting a shadow as he moved, giving him the appearance of a ghost.  He punched Knifes once, but Knifes felt seventeen fists slam into his face.  He went flying and landed twenty yards away, his body twitching.  He stood up, bleeding heavily from his mouth and nose, heaving for breath.  He cursed loudly then disappeared.  Itachi then fell to the ground, exhausted.  Kynoto ran to him, Hakuya and Triasha at his heels.

            "Hakuya get over here! Heal him, quickly!" Kynoto yelled, he could see his bones had been broken in many places, that was probably from the speed of the last attack, he was moving faster then his body would allow, and his Trianchu was fractured in many places; most likely from Knifes attack, it was the same one that was used on Gabriel, but Gabriel was much weaker then Itachi, so he was vaporized.  Hakuya could heal Itachi's broken bones, but for his Trianchu to heal it would take many days of rest and recovery.  Triasha was astounded.  He did not speak for several hours once they returned to the rift to their own world.  Kynoto decided it was best they stay in the Oni Realm; Itachi would heal faster here.  Triasha looked at Kynoto for a long time then said,

            "Kynoto, how did he absorb that much power?  No one, not even you, could have done that and survived."  Kynoto looked to Triasha and showed him the last volume of one of the Tomes from the shrine.  Triasha read from it for the rest of the night, intrigued by its knowledge.  He fully came to understand what Itachi was that night and what exactly gave him these powers that he had.  He also learned about the truth behind Trianchu, and like Kynoto, was enraged by it.  But more still by the knowledge that his mother had spread it in the first place.  If she had not, millions, if not billions, of lives would not now rest on Triasha’s conscience and all of the events that had happened would never have come to pass.  Naomi, Mirror, Itachi’s family, and the rest of Emerald Town would still be alive, and Knifes would not be evil, there would be no war going on, and no one would have suffered any pain from any of them.

            The next day Kynoto sat conversing with Hakuya about why Itachi was to be asleep for a few days, about how his Trianchu was fractured when something dawned on him.  He called Triasha over and said,

            "I just remembered something.  I knew I had heard the name of Azrael before!  Back in Kyoto we had an ancient myth, a myth of the Four Horsemen, riders that brought on the Apocalypse.  They appeared to nurture the Apocalypse on by causing several plagues across the world; pestilence, famine, war, and eventually death.  Azrael was the name of the second Horseman, we call that Horseman Famine." As Kynoto said this, a monster took them by surprise and captured him and Triasha in its talons.  Hakuya was left standing there watching Kynoto and Triasha getting squeezed to death.   Triasha croaked out,

            "Hakuya, get Itachi and get out of here as quick as you can."  But Hakuya did not move, she looked at the monster reproachfully then, in a huge burst of power, she caused a flash that made it turn to water.  Kynoto and Triasha fell into the pool, stood up and stared at Hakuya, they were baffled as much as Hakuya.  "What in the devil was that?!" Triasha exclaimed.  Hakuya looked dazed, but then Kynoto understood, he saw that Itachi was sitting up.

            "Itachi, did you just take control of Hakuya's body?!" Kynoto asked mystified, Triasha and Hakuya spun around to see Itachi was awake, but before he could answer he fell unconscious again.  "That must have taken a lot of power to do, his Trianchu is fractured even worse now!" Kynoto said loudly.  He ran forward and sealed all of Itachi’s power.  "There, no more Trianchu for you for a while Itachi, anymore fracturing and you will lose yourself awareness and your soul will die."  Kynoto sat down and sighed, then said, "Well, Triasha, we have our work cut out for us eh?"  Triasha only nodded as he gazed at Itachi.

Knifes had arrived back to the cave in horrible shape.  When his followers asked what had happened, he did not reply.  He was still fuming about how strong Itachi could become; he had to destroy the star before Kynoto had a chance to work its magic on Itachi.  He slept four days recovering before he could barely move.  He called Armath to him on the fifth day.  He told him all that had happened and for the first time that Knifes could remember, Armath spoke, his voice was very deep,

            "What is your will Master?"  Knifes looked at him, momentarily stunned, then he regained his composure and said to Armath,

            "I want you to go to the hideouts, round up everyone and bring them back here.  Be as quick as you can, time is everything."  Armath nodded and set off, using Red Trianchu to increase his speed.  Armath returned that very day bringing word with him that all of Knifes soldiers were on their way.  Knifes was pleased, Armath was a true second officer; he had made a wise decision.  Soon, hundreds of men and woman were standing in the cave.  Knifes struggled to stand on his bed, above them all, and said,

            "I am glad to see you could come.  We have a problem.  Kynoto has found an object that can tame Itachi's power; this object is called the Oni Star.  Its a stone about the size of a coconut, it glows purple.  I want you to destroy this object.  How you see me now is the result of not but a taste of what that rock can do for Itachi.  If Kynoto tames his power in full, we will not stand a chance.  You must not fail; kill the boy if it is not possible to destroy the stone.  Oh, and be mindful, Triasha might try to interfere, he is more powerful then when I fought him, so be careful, all of you are important to the vision of our ‘little gang’.  You have your orders, set out at first light tomorrow!" Knifes finished and collapsed.  He had overdone it; his body was still much too frail.  This however enthralled Knifes followers into action, they set out that very night.

            Meanwhile Kynoto, Triasha, and Hakuya were trying to figure out a way to keep Itachi's power from fracturing anymore then it had, it would already take several more days to recover as it was now.  Yet Itachi would not stay still, for some reason he wanted to go train.  Triasha and Kynoto had to take shifts during the night to keep Itachi in bed so he didn’t sneak off during the night to train.

            "Itachi, if you go and train in your current condition you could very well lose your Trianchu powers for good," Kynoto lectured Itachi two days later, it had been seven days since Itachi's run-in with Knifes.  Kynoto had moved their group out of the Oni Realm after the monster attacked them.  Itachi was going to need about three more days of recovery before Kynoto could attempt the Taming, yet for some reason Itachi wanted him to do it now, he said he could feel something bad coming over the horizon and it would soon be upon them in a matter of days.  Kynoto did not doubt that Knifes might try something again but it would be too soon for him to try anything, Itachi had injured him greatly, he was amazed that Knifes was able to escape after that last blow.  Two more days passed before Kynoto noticed that the feeling of the area changed; a change only hundreds of large Trianchu powers could cause.  On the third day Triasha could feel a large group of powers and said to Kynoto,

            "Kynoto!  A small army is headed this way, three guesses to who they belong to," Triasha smirked grimly.  Kynoto brought the Star out and told Itachi,

            "Itachi, I guess its now or never, I know you can feel that horde coming our way, so hurry and put your hands on the Star."  Itachi did so, his arms were shaking as he did, again his body was contorting away from the star, keeping Itachi from touching it; finally Triasha forced his hands on it.  Triasha took Hakuya and told her to go find a cave and hide in it until he came for her.  She ran off as Triasha looked to the west, he ran back to their camp and shouted,

            "Kynoto! They’re coming; hurry up, there’s too many for me to handle alone!"  Kynoto gritted his teeth, it would take a full ten minuets for the Star to take full effect, and if they stopped any sooner Itachi might not be able to attempt the Taming again.  Kynoto now heard explosions as Triasha battled the countless people charging at them.  Kynoto kept making worried glances at the horde when Itachi said,

            "Kynoto, don't worry, I'm fine, this is fine."

            "No it's not, you need to fully complete this, and it might not be possible ever again!" Kynoto urged.  Itachi looked very calm for having about four hundred people intent on killing him running toward him.  He looked up at Kynoto and said,

            "Kynoto, go help Triasha, I can speed this up, but I don't want you near to witness it, you would not approve."  Kynoto looked stunned but Trisha’s resumed shouts seemed to wake him.  He got up and went to help Triasha.  Itachi now focused only on the Star.  He let most of his power flow into it, making it shine so bright that it hurt Kynoto's eyes and he wasn't even looking directly at it.  There was a loud explosion from behind Triasha and Kynoto as the Star exploded into a thousand fiery pieces.  Kynoto did not care though; Itachi had tamed his power.  His body was pulsating slightly as he hovered about three inches off the ground.  He landed and faced the horde, which stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of him.  Itachi moved Kynoto and Triasha out of the way with his aura and powered up, stretched out his hands and shot a strange purple Trianchu from them.  They surged through Knifes Army, though no noticeable effect was happening.  Then Kynoto felt the attackers Trianchu decrease to slightly above zero.  He was stunned, was this Itachi's true power?  He could manipulate his and other people's Trianchu?  If so he was the strongest Trianchu user he had ever seen.  It also meant that no one could defeat him, he could just drain their Trianchu.  The beams stopped and Armath stepped forward.  He yelled out over the horde,

            "Our Master expected this, and because of that suspicion he gave me a special gift!  I share this gift with all of you now!"  Armath began to glow and in a flash every member of the horde had their Trianchu restored and doubled.  Kynoto looked on in disbelief.  So this was Knifes second hand man?  He was strong, no doubt about it, but he also had a power very similar to Knifes.  Itachi did his attack again, and then once more focusing it fully on Armath, on whom it had surprisingly no effect.  Armath laughed and said, "I see, it would be useless to recharge them again, they would just be drained.  Very well, I will have to deal with you myself.  Master said as much, 'If you can not destroy the Star, then destroy the boy' and I will fulfill my orders."  Armath unsheathed a massive battle sword.  He let it slam into the ground before lifting it and shouldering it.  He charged Itachi with stunning speed, Itachi dodged and Armath dodged with him, catching him off guard and almost cut him in half with his sword, Itachi had summoned his own sword and stopped Armath's only after it had bit into his side.  Armath removed the sword and jumped back to view the damage to Itachi.  Itachi was panting heavily, and gripping his side painfully.  He used a strong form of White Trianchu.  When the skill ended the wound was still there.  Armath laughed again as he blurted, "Hahaha, now you see my swords power, the wounds from it can not be healed by Trianchu, har har har."  Itachi looked stunned, so did Kynoto, he had never heard something so ridiculously insane.

            "Very well then, Power of White, Healing power of the Phoenix!" yelled Itachi.  A brilliantly white phoenix appeared and started to sing.  The song had a weird power to it, because Kynoto could see Itachi's wound was healing over and his Trianchu was becoming whole again; it had still been fractured.  Armath looked on amazed.  He said,

            "Eh? Healed?! Interesting, you are an interesting opponent.  Now, let's see how you fair against this!  Power of Helios, Triple Helix Drive!"  As he shouted this, he split into three and they punched Itachi into the air, jumped up after him and started spinning, causing a whirlwind of dirt and leaves.  As they enveloped Itachi in this skill, Kynoto could feel Itachi taking on many wounds all over his body, soon blood was also whirling around in the twister.  Armath fell from the twister and back flipped to the ground.  As the attack ended Itachi fell from thirty feet high, he barely recovered to land on his knees as blood, dirt, and grass fell to the ground around him.  He was heaving for breath as his wounds healed, the last healing skill he had used was still in effect evidently.

            "That is a nice attack.  It would have killed anyone less then me," Itachi said heavily.  Armath smirked and started an onslaught of strikes with his sword, Itachi wasn’t even trying to block, and Kynoto thought this a little weird.  Soon Itachi was again covered in wounds, and again they healed.  Armath was now getting frustrated,

            "How can that healing skill still be in effect?  It should have used your Trianchu up by the second time."  Itachi smirked and said,

            "It did.  But my Trianchu can rapidly regenerate, which is why I didn't block your attacks just now."  Kynoto was taken aback, he had never heard of this kind of power.  These two were unique Trianchu users.  Itachi powered up and moved to Armath so fast he had no time to react.  Itachi landed seventy-five hits onto Armath, this made his Trianchu reduce drastically.  Armath growled and retaliated whth a devistating attack.  Itachi was once again covered in cuts and wounds.  He was huffing and puffing for breath again and the wounds were healing slower now.  His skill was at its limits.  Armath smirked and moved in for the kill as Itachi stood up and prepared a massive attack.  Then something lurched within Itachi and everyone there felt it.  Armath skidded to a halt and was looking tense now, he had heard the reports of when Itachi lost control of his power and he had no wish to witness it first hand.  He took a few steps backward.  Kynoto looked fearful, he was sure he had just felt the Emma-O Gene try to take control, but it was being kept from doing so, but that still did not ease Kynoto's feeling of unease.  Itachi pulled his arms back and pointed them at the ground, but it was no good, his control was slipping, the Emma-O Gene was winning, somehow it even overrode the Star's powers.  Itachi was straining with all his might to stay in control.  Itachi shook off his discomfort after a few minutes and started after Armath again.  Kynoto breathed a sigh of relief and Armath rushed at Itachi again.  As Armath and Itachi continued their furious fighting there was a giant explosion of power that blew Armath backwards.  Armath hit the ground and bounced off of it and started to skid and roll towards the edge of a cliff.  He put both of his hands onto the hilt of his sword and slammed it into the ground to stop him self from going over.  He left a thirty-foot scar in the ground as he grinded to a halt; his left foot was half over the edge of the cliff.  Itachi stood stock still, his eyes shadowed as he looked to the ground.  He looked up with yellow eyes and a sinister grin on his face.  The Gene had taken over.  He stood, his arms pointed at the ground; dirt started to float up to them where it circled, he pointed them at the sky and he turned the sunlight to fire, which mixed with the dirt, turning it to lava.  He lowered his arms back down so that they were pointed at Knifes’ horde.  He then yelled, "Magma Buster!!"  Kynoto barely had time enough to move himself and Triasha out of the blast radius.  Armath had to use some strong red Trianchu to get as many of his fellows as possible, but he still only managed to save about one hundred and fifty before the attack launched.  A giant ball of magma flew at the horde, exploded and the contents flooded forward, turning everything in its path to ash.  Armath looked upon the mass destruction and ordered a full retreat.  Itachi fell to the ground unconscious as Kynoto rushed over to him.  Triasha looked at Kynoto and said,

            “That Gene is not a normal Emma-O Gene Kynoto, you must realize that by now.” Kynoto nodded and said wearily,

            “Yes, I know, but I’m still amazed that the Star, with all its power, could not tame it.  I think we need to take some stronger measures Triasha.”  Triasha stared at him for a bit then said, a hint of foreboding in his voice,

            “You really think they will let him into Heaven?  Not even if his powers were sealed away completely would they agree to that.”

            “That’s where you come in Triasha,” said Kynoto happily, “You can get him amnesty in Heaven for a short while, I will place the Maze on him once more, since he isn’t conscious, he wont be able to break it this time, and it will remain there till I release it.  Fair enough?”  Triasha pondered this for a few minutes then said,