Jump 9: Tsukihime - Waxing Gibbous

A couple of months have passed since my previous (and first) update and I don’t even know where to begin honestly.

Maybe you should start at the beginning?  It’s where most things tend to start after all.

Leo now really isn’t the time for this.

But I think it is.  I’ve been waiting for my chance to invade your journal longer than you know.  Start from the Tuesday where weird things started happening.  Well, weird for you anyway.

It’s as good a start as any I guess.  On that day, everything I thought I understood about the world came into question.  It started like any other day would.  Wake up early, prepare breakfast for myself and Karen and finish any cleaning that I left for the morning.  I made pancakes that morning, my specialty.  They turned out better than usual that day.  After enjoying breakfast and light conversation I gathered my things and headed off to school.

School proceeded as it normally would.  I paid attention in class, some students I barely knew were begging me for the answers to the homework and every male was awestruck by Ciel as always.  I remained my usual aloof self and passed on any invitations to hang out, promising to make up for it at some point.  I ended up staying at the school and staring out of a window until it got dark that day.  On the way back to Karen’s house I saw a man with a girl from my school that looked distressed.  He somehow got her to go into a dark alley with him.  My curiosity couldn’t be quelled so I went to see what was going on.  If it had just been what I had expected I would have been fine and my life wouldn’t be so…so…

Different?  Changed?  In danger?

All of those and maybe some more.  I took a look at what was happening and nearly dropped my school bag.  The man was...biting the girl’s neck.  It looked like she was shriveling up, but before she was dry the man bit his own wrist and allowed the blood to drip down her throat.  I was horrified.  What made things worse, is that the blood seemed to revive the girl from near death, but I felt there was something inherently wrong about it.  I took a step back, ready to run, but the noise alerted them to my presence.  There were no words spoken, only the sudden burst of speed the two of them used to tackle me to the ground, which knocked my glasses off.  If I hadn’t trained with Leo I wouldn’t have thought to cover myself in electricity to force them back.  I quickly got up and saw that if they had been normal humans my attack would have left them severely burned, but the injuries meant nothing to them. 

They charged at me again and something in my mind just…clicked, and I was suddenly calm.  I used my bag to block a punch from the man, and ducked under a swipe from the girl.  The wall next to me showed what would have happened had I not dodged it.  I shot a bolt of lightning at the guy and sent him flying back.  In a swift motion I called upon some power I didn’t even know I had by chanting some Latin phrase in my mind.  The result was a myriad of light arrows being fired from my hand directly at the girl.  It was over before she even realized I attacked the man.  The arrows mutilated her body, leaving a plethora of holes in places where I could once see her lines of death.  One was down, but the man was extracting his broken body off of the ground.  I retrieved my glasses and calmly walked over to him.  Not wanting to leave things unfinished, I focused my eyes to see his lines of death then, using a strength I didn’t know I possessed, chopped right through it.

My head began to suddenly throb in pain as the lines on everything around me began more prevalent.  I quickly put my glasses back on as my mind was returning to normal, and tried to make sense of what just happened.  It was like my mind and body went on autopilot, and I was just watching a first person movie.  I could recall the phrase I used, but simply repeating it did nothing.  I tried punching the wall, but only managed to hurt my hand.  I could have sworn I broke it, but it was fine a little later.  I should have been freaking out more in all honesty.  Not only had I been attacked by some…. things, but I used my known abilities with a mastery I didn’t possess, and drew out another dormant power I wasn’t aware existed inside me.

My calm state of mind remained as I realized that I should hurry to Karen’s before she got too worried.  When I got back Karen gave me a lecture about staying out so late and before she finished, asked me if I had gotten into a fight.  I’m not sure if it was something on my uniform, a scratch on my face or something else entirely, but she had her suspicions.

A woman’s intuition can be a scary thing. She’s even picked up some of the times I only thought about fighting.

Before I could even decide if I was going to try and lie, Leo came from somewhere in the house and sniffed the air around me.  He confirmed that I had a run in with something bad, and assumed I fought back and won since I didn’t look too disheveled.  Karen just sighed and told me to just go to sleep for the day.  She and Leo discussed some things in my absence.  When I got up in the morning, Leo was waiting for me outside of my bedroom.  He told me there wasn’t any time for cleaning and led me outside to the back of Karen’s home.  Karen was waiting for us, but she didn’t say anything. 

This is probably my favorite part.

Leo stood across from me and motioned over to Karen.  She retrieved two wooden swords from behind her that I hadn’t seen and tossed one to each of us.  Leo caught his with ease, and I clumsily didn’t drop mine once it touched my hands.  I turned to ask Leo what was going on when he charged at me and swung his sword down at me. I took a step back in surprise and attempted to block the strike.  It didn’t connect with anything but my sword, but Leo caught one of my legs with his foot and made me fall to the ground.  When I regained my bearings I was staring right at his sword.  He moved it away, helped me up, and simply said, “Again”.  I quickly realized what this was going to be and adopted a training mindset.  When Leo next lunged at me and swung his sword I blocked a number of his strikes and went in for one of my own.  Leo responded by knocking my sword out of my hands.

I should have given up then and accepted that was as far as I could go that time but something inside me urged me not to falter.  I dodged Leo’s increasingly faster swings as I cautiously made my way to my weapon. Once I was near enough I used my lightning powers to produce a flash of light to blind Leo before I dove for my wooden blade.  It worked as I intended it, but Leo recovered quickly and I was put on the defensive again, before eventually tiring out and getting hit on the head hard.

You put up a good fight there.  I was surprised you remembered so much instinctively.

With the conclusion of that training session I realized that I was probably late for school by that point.  Luckily, Karen had called the school and told them I was sick since she was technically my currently guardian even though I don’t really need one at my age.  After Leo laughed at my high school student specific worries he ushered me inside to have some breakfast to talk about what happened yesterday.  I told them all I could recall about it from the fight, to how my mind and body felt like they had tapped into some forgotten memories.  They listened closely to my story and didn’t interrupt me.  When I finished, Leo sighed and stood up.  He transformed his hand into a razor sharp set of claws in an instant, looked me in the eyes and told me that he was a vampire.

I honestly thought you’d be more impressed.

He explained that what I faced that night were called “The Dead”, familiars of a Dead Apostle, a powerful vampire.  He also let me know that he himself was one of these Dead Apostles, albeit not recognized by any of the others or even the church as such.  There are 27 Dead Apostles, and an “extra” one, recognized by the church for his power and threat to humanity, but not the other 27 because of his refusal to follow their paths to immortality/eternity.  Why this extra one was so important was because I fought and defeated two of his familiars.  Michael Roa Valdaamjong, known as the “Serpent of Akasha” and “Infinite Reincarnator”, had begun trying to take over Misaki Town.  He couldn’t be all that strong now, but given enough time he would become a force to be reckoned with again.

I finally realized that if Leo so easily was able to detect the presence of Roa’s Dead, something was probably keeping him from being detected in a similar manner.  He told me I was pretty perceptive and took out the ring he normally wears. It was used to seal his powers and make him seem like a normal person.  He only took it off to use his vampire abilities and when he got in a fight.  For the purpose of my “training”-

Remembering is really a better way to put it, don’t you think?  It’s not like I know how to use a sword or do any of the cray stuff you’re capable of.

Whatever the better term is, Leo would be using more and more of his power as I increased in skill.  I ended up being targeted a few random nights I was out alone.  I removed my glasses and let my eyes see the lines of death in each encounter.

Call the power its proper name: “Mystic Eyes of Death Perception”.

I used my mystic eyes to land the decisive blows to put an end to Roa’s familiars.  With a lack of proper control of my other powers, I couldn’t take the risk of not finishing the job.  I took to carrying a knife around just so I wouldn’t have to use my hands to cut the lines.

Not like you really need it.  You’re body’s more durable than most of the vampire’s I’ve encountered.  The Dead shouldn’t be an issue really.


Regardless, ever since I started using the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception I’ve begun seeing the lines more clearly, and even points of death in things that are alive.  I couldn’t even see Leo’s lines at first, but they become more pronounced the more I use my eyes.  I even… I even continued to see the lines after I put my glasses back on before.  I don’t know how to deal with it honestly.  Leo tells me not to worry but…  Anyway, I have to finish training and get back to Karen’s to do the cleaning.

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