Freedom at Last: Pt 02: Chance to Shine

Kurai's head tilted lightly, a light, and strange, smile wrapping its way around. "I've never felt better," he spoke to Death, his hands dropping as he managed to get up, his wounds throbbing a third time, sore from the fight again. "Quite put together in fact with a soul to devour." The egg forced him to pat his finger against his torso. "After all, it is weak. Just a mortal soul." He raised his hand to his mouth and began to chuckle lightly. "Madness madness all around; madness and more is sound!" He wasn't in control of himself at the time.

Stein beckoned Death Scythe and he promptly approached him. After Death Scythe transformed, he landed in Stein's hands. "Soul Thread!" they said in sync with each other. Stein grabbed Kurai, and unleashed multiple threads made of soul wavelength, which stitched up Kurai's body leaving him immobilized. This attack took quite a lot of concentration from both weapon and meister, however it meant that Kurai could not cause any harm while he was stitched.

Kurai found himself stitched in place by Stein and Death Scythe's wavelength. He tried to struggle, but he couldn't. "Reminds me of when I first took over," he spoke. "I promised to save souls for him... And yet all we did was devour more, and more, and more." The kishin began to chuckle for a second time in a row, his eyes looking to Death. "What do you plan to do, separate me? What of your precious meister, or should I say weapon? You will likely damage his soul by prying me free, and he'll be forced to leave the academy, won't he," he questioned. "He can't control me; you could try to help him, but he can't... And he's falling, so far into his soul I will eventually take over thoroughly."

"My, my, what an arrogant kishin egg. You really thought that we had no idea that this could ever happen?" chuckled Death, with Stein joining in slightly. Stein then looked to Death, and nodded. "I thought we might need to do this... You see, there's a technique that certain meisters are able to learn that specifically targets evil. Stein?" spoke Death. Stein nodded to Death, and began to resonate with Death Scythe. The scythe glowed blue and grew larger, gaining another blade. "Witch Hunter!" exclaimed Stein, after he attempted to slash Kurai, having broken the Soul Thread. If it was successful, the blade would not affect Kurai's human soul and would directly target the kishin egg.

[If it extinguishes the evil, that leaves the strange power of the soul behind doesn't it? In either instance, will he just be a normal weapon now or still some sort of awkward is-but-not kishin? xP]

The kishin egg (referring to what it is) used Kurai's eyes to look at the scythe's blade change. The thread had lasted just long enough for it to be unable to dodge, the kishin crying out as the blade went through Kurai and left through the other side. The egg seemed to come from Kurai's body and begin to float towards the sky as it broke apart. "Have fun teaching him how to use my power... Thieves," it seemed to growl before it was dissipated into the atmosphere completely. With the egg taken from his body, Kurai's soul seemed to shrink a bit, closing in on the empty space at the core where the egg had been. The boy's head lowered, his hair covering his face as his soul began to recover control of his body, his arms hanging with the restraints attached.

As though unable to breathe and awakening from a nightmare, when he was back his head lifted up and he gasped for hair, eyes widened before his face settled, the individual looking to Death momentarily before he immediately lifted his arms and shot his gaze to them. He seemed a bit panicked before he breathed in and out once in calamity, sighing as he looked over to Death. "I thought I was going to drown," he told the shinigami. He looked down a bit in shame. "I... I thought I could handle it... But it was latching to me; it was burning off my own skin and replacing it... It felt like my eyes were melting out." He wiped his eyes before he felt his wounds throb for another redundant time, Kurai's breathing shifting a bit. "I guess I still thought I was some strong meister when things are different... Please pardon me Death." He seemed to have no recollection of what the egg had told Death, the boy lifting his head looking to the oddly-shaped figure of no symmetry while his armor seemed to appear and disappear in small intervals as though it were a ghost, the only difference being the eyes were glowing when it was present.

"I still feel strange though... I know what it felt like without it and with it... And I still feel like it's there..."

(Joining at Fang's Permission)
The disadvantage of being an upperclassman without a weapon included, but were not limited to, being an errand boy.  A professor had just handed him a box and told him to take it to a room.  He was well on his way when he heard the sounds of combat and screaming from a door.  Typically he was used to it, but this sounded significantly more intense then just some training fight.  Checking the door he found it unlocked and shrugged. Jonathon cracked open the door and was shocked to find himself staring down a long gated path. "The Death room? Neat..." He said, dropping the package and entering the room. He knew this probably was breaking every rule of the school, but Jonathon just couldn't resist this opportunity. Eventually he found the source of the noise and hid behind one of the gates, watching the scene unfold.

Stein approached Kurai again and performed the Soul Perception technique. He was a skilled meister, and was able to see deep into Kurai's soul. He then spoke, "On the plus side, the egg is destroyed... however, some fragments of the egg managed to fuse into your soul. This won't mean that you'll be taken over again, and it won't really have much effect on your strength either, in fact, it's not even kishin egg anymore, however, this will mean that there will always be a small power-hungry part of you that has no morality or compassion, a dark side to you, if you will.". After a slight pause, Death broke the silence, "Well, that means you're a normal human weapon now! That means you can enrol here, if you so wish. I'll let you think about it, meanwhile, I think I have another visitor..." he said, looking towards Jonathon.

"Small... Power-hungry," Kurai mumbled hearing Stein speak. He could feel a couple of Stein's soul threads worming their way from his face, though there were still some present around his body. Their usual, white color shined before his armor arose, the threads in it as they turned a pure black. "You mean like eating souls," he cried out a little maniacally, turning towards Stein as he tugged and tugged at the restraints, a single link breaking giving him the ability to swipe his armored hand towards Stein and Death Scythe. He seemed to miss Death's note about enrollment for his now power-crazed personality. Kurai's eyes seemed to be glowing a bit red. If his eyes were capable of being seen, they'd be bloodshot from the lust for power and blood he was feeling.

Jonathon cursed when he was called out. Knowing that running or continuing to try and hide would most likely end poorly for him, he stepped out into the room. "Sorry, I heard a noise and the door was unlocked and I couldn't help myself. I'll just leave now and forget everything I saw if that'll keep me from getting in trouble. I really just wanted to see what was going on in here I promise. I only hid because I don't have any way to defend myself. Please don't expel me or something."

Being probably the two most powerful meisters known to the academy, Death and Stein evaded the attacks with slight ease. Stein turned to Death as they were dodging, hesitating as he spoke due to the attacking weapon before them. "It seems -- that because -- he changed so suddenly -- he was unable -- to resist it --" he blurted out. He then swiftly moved backwards to give himself some time, and cried to Kurai, "You have to resist it. Remember the training."

Kurai stopped his attacking momentarily, rearing his hand for another strike as light blades showed up from the tips [of his fingers]. He would've grinned, but his armor didn't have muscles to do such; he could only emit a very dark chuckle. "Resist? Resist what?" He lunged toward Stein for another attempt at striking the meister, his sense of smell useful since he couldn't really see from within the armor. "Tis only nature... I will consume your soul and then spread your blood all over the academy!" The weapon was jumping as opposed to walking since his legs were restrained a bit, though with some struggle he snapped chain links to be free. "And then the students, perhaps the world will be next!"

Stein dodged the unexpected attack gave him a small cut on his forearm. "Damn it..." he said, "He can't resist it... It must be because the dark fragments merged with his soul, he's not being controlled, this is just a part of him." Stein lunged forward and placed his hand on Kura's chest. "Unfortunately I still cannot allow it," he said, before unleashing his soul wavelength, blasting Kura's soul directly.

Kurai stood, watching Stein as a lot of energy was rushed at him. All there was was a flash of light before he was sent back a few feet, digging the blades from his toes in the ground to slow himself to a stop. After the light amount of smoke from the explosion cleared, it was revealed that a lot of his armor around his stomach and torso was gone, fragmented into nothing from the surge. "Quite a skill," he spoke to Stein, the weapon using his own wavelength to recover the armor. "But not impressive... Not for a high-classed meister like yourself..." The weapon directed his attention to Jonathan then. "If I cannot take you, I will have him..." The weapon then lunged forward, his speed faster than when he had been restrained. "I will have bloodshed!"

"How remarkable... In this state not only is his power greatly increased but his healing wavelength as well. What an ironic twist..." he said as Kurai healed himself. Suddenly Kurai lunged at Jonathon. Death and Stein gasped, but at the speed Kurai was moving they wouldn't have been able to get to him in time to stop him, Jonathon was on his own.

Jonathon stood in shock as the thing lunged towards him. For a brief moment he froze in complete terror, life flashing before his eyes. Then he went into combat mode, looking over his surroundings. He quickly grabbed a large flat metal tray and swung with all of his might at Kurai's head. If things went according to plan, this would knock him aside and, hopefully, knock some sense into him.

Kurai watched Jonathan pick up the tray, though it didn't sway his motions at all. He continued to run forward, though when the tray made contact, it cracked the side of the armor over his head and made him have to roll to the side. Snarling towards the meister, he directed his gaze back to Stein. "Yes, quite ironic is it not... Strength, speed, and healing... All while I am numb to your pitiful emotions." He felt his head throb then, Kurai putting his hand over the crack in the armor before it broke into pieces, Kurai's bloodshot eyes revealed as he stared at Stein and Death. He blinked a couple of times, the last of Stein's thread falling from his face. "W, what happened," he asked, unable to recollect the present events.

[Kura needs an app update~ o3o]

Stein and Death looked at each other, then approached Kurai. "When your kishin egg was removed, part of it had already fused with your soul. It's not anything like a kishin egg now. Think about it this way, imagine your soul is a jigsaw puzzle. All of the pieces represent aspects of your personality. However, one of the pieces is not like the others. It's unfeeling, and power-hungry, and yet much stronger than the other pieces. It doesn't normally really affect you at all, but it seems that it is able to drain the power of other soul wavelengths to temporarily become much more powerful. This means that it is activated when either someone attacks you directly with their soul wavelength, or when you resonate. If you're planning on finding on finding a partner, they'll need to become very skilled before you will be able to resonate, as even in weapon form your soul will try to consume theirs and control them when you are activated. I don't think there's anything we can really do about it, without destroying your entire soul."

[One of these things is not like the others!]
[Making extra posts because I'm attempting to include Jonathan in the posts that I write, even if right now it's at a small degree D:]

Kurai listened to Stein and Death talking to him. "So essentially I can lost my ability to reason," he mumbled to himself before he looked over to Jonathan. "I apologize," he spoke to him before redirecting his gaze again to the two most powerful meisters. "Death, would it even be safe for me to be at this academy? Most of the training exercises are about resonance... It would make no sense if each time I resonate, I lose control." He then looked down. He began to reminisce about every recent event going on for him. First he was captured, then he was freed, and then he was nearly killed by a kishin and brought back to learn he really had no control over his own spirit. His mother was deceased as was his father, and he had just shifted from being a high-ranked meister to a kishin egg and now a weapon of skill. Through this all the world still seemed to be turning. "Perhaps it is not a meister that should learn, but I," he spoke, having spent a few minutes in silence to recollect his past. He looked up to Death and was shedding tears since it was apparent he had only Death to view from a sort of familial perspective.

"If it takes over when I resonate, then I should learn how to keep it from grasping someone's wavelength... It would be this or I learning to control it when it does take over, smothering it back when it rears up." He seemed to be showing thoughtful analysis, though his eyes spoke a different story towards Death; he was viewing himself as some monster like a kishin, but he wasn't one. Even if he had a wavelength that healed, what different would it make if he was the one that harmed, or worse, slaughtered an innocent to begin with. "Should I just ponder death instead of offering myself to gruel training and new imprisonment," he asked himself in thought. "I doubt Death would really mind; I'm more of a hassle than I was as a kishin egg; at least I wouldn't be allowed to roam the halls then... I'm more of a threat now. So much for being 'good.'"

"Uh...excuse me?" Jonathon said, setting the tray back on the table. There was now a sizable dent in it from Kurai's skull. "Crazy idea, what if he became my weapon? I mean, I've been here for a few years now and have plenty of training. On top of that, I still haven't found anyone to be a weapon. I'm willing to undertake any further training I may need, and I understand the risk of it from what you have been saying. So, what do you say? Sound like a plan?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," replied Stein, "You see when you train your soul, your entire soul becomes stronger. The power is spread out through your entire soul, I'm afraid you can't just give power to one specific part of it. However self restraint may be possible to some extent, if you can try to hold it off, and stay in weapon form, then your meister should be able to fight without being consumed by the darkness.".

Kurai listened to Stein, walking over to the table Death had set up. He sat down there, turning his head to Jonathan before back to the table. "I'm not going to be meistered yet," he spoke, though he grasped a pen and signed his name on a paper. "I'm just not ready for it... I'm not really ready to even resign my free will to another." He folded the sheet and stood up, walking over to Death still pondering lightly the benefits of possible death. He handed the sheet to the shinigami. "There's your contract..." He then held his arms out. "I am a threat for now, so you'd be best to restrain me anew and take me back to my cage to prepare whatever you will since this is a special case." He wasn't being bossy; he was just being logical. "If the meister wants to come that's his choice... Best to let him see what he's getting himself into."

"Fine, what if I just sort of went along with you. I won't be your meister and you won't be my weapon. I'll just provide a bit of help in case you need to come to your sense." He said, picking up the tray again. "Like I said, just an idea."

"Although perhaps directly being his meister may not be the best idea, at the moment at least, perhaps acting like his partner and simply helping him complete his missions like you said could be okay; being his partner without being his partner. However, I feel Kurai may not be ready for another partner, as he recently lost his partner and may need some time before he is ready," said Death, trying to obscure the last part from Kurai slightly as not to upset him.

"Now there's no need to lock you up in a cage, need I remind you that even with the dark fragment in your soul you are still less dangerous than you were before. Just as long as you avoid any direct interaction with your soul you'll be fine. Well, as I said, we would be happy to enroll you as a student here," said Death.

[Bleh it's been so long xP]

Even though Death could try to masquerade what he meant with differently-chosen words, Kurai still knew what the odd figure meant. Upon listening to him speak about being less dangerous, he lowered his arms to his sides. "Isn't that going to be difficult, especially in courses here," he questioned Death. "Don't most exercises involve some sort of spiritual contact? Or do you have another set of training exercises planned out?" He looked towards Stein before Jonathan, his gaze eventually rotating right back towards Death. "And is that even permitted... Most meisters, if not all, at the academy have partners, not 'partner yet not partners'."

Jonathon shrugged. "I've been here for a while now and still haven't found a partner, special case I guess." He said, smirking and putting his hands in his pockets. "That being said, I am trained in various classes of weapons. That way when I do finally get partnered, I won't have to spend as much time training in how to use the weapons." He then motioned towards the tray that he had rather expertly used to stop Kurai with his head. "I feel like the head master will be willing to make this exception."