Re: Pathos Facility
Koike answered as he moved in the direction that Jack and Gil had taken. "We call them Shadows. They have a wide variety of forms. Occasionally there's a normal person that won't change during the Dark Hour. Without the ability that the three of us have, they can't defend themselves, and the Shadows will prey on them. The result is a broken, almost empty, shell that was the victim. That's the real cause of the AAD cases that I've dealt with in the past."
After a couple of minutes, the pair start to cross a bridge. Halfway across, they'd hear a wet plop, followed by several more. Behind them, a large blob like mass of black...something...had climbed over the side of the bridge. What appeared to be a steel mask was clinging to part of it, and was facing them.
Koike shifted so he was between the thing and Bell. "There's one right now, actually."
It started to pull itself towards Koike. He merely reacted by smirking. In a taunting voice, he shouted. "The bigger you are, the more fun."
He reach into his coat with his left hand, and cross-drew what looked like a compact handgun. In the same voice he'd used to taunt the Shadow, he added, "Let's rock."
Then, he swung the gun up to his left temple in a sideways manner, and pulled the trigger.
Unlike what one might expect, there wasn't a spray of blood. Instead, a few shards of bright blue flew out from Koike's head. His eyes flared the same color, as a stream of the shard began spiraling up around him. As the swirl extended above Koike, a figure began to appear, as if a mist were rolling away.
It had a silver torso, dark violet arms and legs, a dark green scarf, a dark gray Greek comedy mask, and silver hair. A bright violet light was shining from under the scarf and behind the mask, and it was holding an electric guitar at the ready. Its other hand was raised in the "rock on" gesture.
A voice echoed. "Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul I cometh. I am Zagreus, master of revelry."
It struck a power chord, and a flash of fire erupted from the Shadow.
Koike got on the comm. "Jack, Gil, get back here. We've got a big one!"
