He had been strolling along the soft sand and pebble stone pathways. And had stepped onto the Butsudan Hall's wide veranda, relis.h.i.+ng the typical placid floral scent from the wooden floorboards.

The loud argument between War and me had made his eyes rolling. So he went to dispel our spat behind the building.

A short while later. He had returned to the veranda by the time Pesti and I had left the Central Courtyard area.

The sight of a stranger standing before the building's entrance made him pause with a frown. The man was well-to-do in a formal navy-blue business suit and wide brim hat called a Fedora. It had been a while since he had seen someone from the outside granted entry into Gat s.h.i.+em.

He approached the man and saw Shuso standing next to him.

"Shuso introduced me to Abraham Reiner, who had travelled from a place called h.e.l.l's Labyrinth to entrust an artifact he and his men had discovered there."

I gulped nervously when Death mentioned that another man had stepped onto the veranda to stand next to Abraham.

This man wore a dark uniform of a military officer. A black veil with an inner layer, s.h.i.+elded his eyes from view. However, the X-patterned scar, on the side of his neck near his collarbone, was visible beneath the veil's material.

Death was given something of an eccentric dismissal order from Shuso. He politely took his leave, crossed the Central Courtyard, walked past the long Temizuya water basin and entered the moonstone Archive Tower.

He greeted pa.s.sing monks in blue samue or kimonos with cordial bows as he followed a fudge scented trail down s.h.i.+mmering stone corridors to the cataloging room.

Inside the room, he pa.s.sed between rows of gla.s.s cabinets (shelves stocked with objects of various shapes and colors), travelling a spiral path to the circular center where his obsidian alter and tools for alchemy laid was laid out on the surface in readiness for his work.

His thoughts of the strange men were pushed aside with an intention of talking to War about it later.

Sometime had pa.s.sed when the droopy-eyes monk named Adams-san had entered to supervise his work. He was running through his checklist of the shelved objects locked away in the cabinets.

I knew that Death and Adams-san were close because of their archive responsibilities, but I would never have imagined the relations.h.i.+p that they had formed. Instead of supervision, Adams-san had disrupted Death's work to make out with him.

Death sighed, confessing to their affair that began by accident due to a mishap with an artifact. They had been dating for a while.

"The number of times we made love in that place makes me feel ashamed. I couldn't stop. I was addicted to him." He lowered his head. "I'm sure this ghost form is Buddha's punishment for me."

He looked to his ghostly hands held out before him.

"Have you forgotten everything Bulldog taught us? People punish people. We punish ourselves. Buddha offers a way to enlightenment." I firmly rea.s.sured him, prompting him to carry on.

Death continued.

Fortunately, they had finished with their nookie and was doing some actual work at the obsidian alter by the time Shuso had entered the room.

He led in Abraham and the black veil man who was holding an iron box patterned with several wardings and protection symbols from the Sacred Word.

"I was told that the box contained an object called a Denbora Tsazcuth."

Abraham knew of the name because it had those words wrapped around the object when they had accidentally discovered it. Several his men had suffered ailments or lost their lives to the object whilst they were trying to contain it in the box.

He had further described the tsazcuth object as a glowing white ice cube that had no feeling upon touch and no other markers to the senses aside from its visual aspect according to some reports. It was an object that existed, but didn't as soon as you took your eyes off it.

Shuso had Death open the box and use his empathy power to identify the magic belonging to the object.

"I was a fingertip away from touching that thing when I recoiled my hand."

The pain he had felt from being close to the magical ice cube was beyond excruciating. It had left him screaming with a madness as he felt his timeline reeling backwards in his head. The transition of emotions and sensations to his body moved at a rapid pace.

"I was being picked and pulled apart within seconds. Feeling everything. The tearing, bleeding, splintering... You can't imagine how painful that was." Death's voice trembled.

Shuso had closed the iron box and moved Death away from it with apologies.

When Death had regained his composure, he told the men that he suspected the power contained was the fabled Power of Null. A demiG.o.d power that was rumored to negate any barrier, warp time and matter into a single destructive force. It was used as a reason to pa.s.s-off people's substance abuse, mental disorders and obsessive-compulsive natures not explainable through factual science and known theories.

"I get it. You had stumbled upon the Power of Null. Why would that make you feel bad?"

I felt frustrated and panicky at the time it was taking for Death to get through his story. At the same time, I was aware that he had to say things at his pace. So, I released a few breaths to relax and continued listening.

"We took that thing into the Magenta Vault. Shuso and the men had left once they saw the iron box stowed on a shelf in the vault."

Adams-san and Death had been left alone to lock up the vault as usual.

Death mumbled about how they had made love in front of the vault's entrance before locking up its reinforced iron double doors. He was sent on ahead to the cataloging room to freshen up. Adams-san had remained to lock the way to the Magenta Vault as per usual procedure.

Death felt all his guilt, shame and the after effects from the tsazcuth festering within himself. He wandered out of the Archive Tower seeking air and headed down a path that would take him back to Sangha Hall.

"I felt at peace when I saw you and Pestilence watching the sky with innocent eyes." His ghostly lips twitched with a smile, which faded to a desolate expression.

"You had no idea you were staring at warning colors of a magical disturbance." Death explained about sensing the strong power that was neutralizing Gat s.h.i.+em's protective barriers.

His fear made him sprint back to the Central Courtyard where he saw strange lights flickering in the distance near the Torii.

He raced for it and stopped for breath just short of the archway's steps. There he saw Adams-san with the iron box that they had taken to the Magenta Vault earlier.

The lid of the box was open to release some Power of Null out into the dark open s.p.a.ce between the posts.

He opened his mouth to call out to Adams-san then closed it when he saw a countless number of red sashes rus.h.i.+ng through the gate, realizing that they were connected to the waists of black-clad warriors.

He retreated to the Archive Tower, sprinting as fast as he could for the warning bell at the tower's side entrance. The attacks started before he was able to sound out the bell.

Adams-san waiting for him at the tower's entrance with Abraham and a troop of black-clad warriors flanking their rear.

Death was dragged by the hair, by two of the warriors, to the Central Courtyard before the wors.h.i.+p hall's entrance. He caught sight of the Butsudan being desecrated when he was pinned down to the ground by a pair of boots on his back.

Some power caused his strength to weaken and his body remain to the ground to witness the surrounding devastation. His heart was breaking with pain. Body aching from a torrent of emotions running through him.

The panic and pain he felt from the innocent animals affected him the most. He acutely suffered their infliction, constantly, throughout every part of his being. It was unbearable. He was begging and pleading for them to stop.

"Now watch what your part of the plan has brought about," Adams-san coldly said to Death.

He forced him to watch and feel the pain of his monk family decapitated and slain by the red sash warriors.

The acrid taste of spilled blood made him regurgitate bile to the ground.

"Remember. It was you who allowed this to happen when your hand reached out for the Power of Null," Adams-san cruelly whispered into Death's aching ears.

"You should have heeded warning when you let me in between your legs." The dastardly monk landed the killing blow to Death's pride.

Death had lapsed into unconsciousness at that moment.