As the man with the crows glided closer, an unsettling stillness preceding his movements, Kubo Eniro, his youthful face etched with a sudden resolve, stood his ground.
"What are you?!" he exclaimed, his voice ringing with a courage that belied his earlier fear.
His body tensed, every muscle coiled and ready to spring, his eyes darting across the man's form, attempting to decipher his fighting style, to anticipate the coming onslaught.
The man halted abruptly, remaining unnervingly still for a long moment. A shared confusion flickered between Kubo and Ha-gi.
"What's he gonna do? Is he planning on a sneak attack?" Kubo muttered under his breath, his gaze unwavering, his senses on high alert.
Without warning, the man erupted into motion, a rapid blur of dark energy and flapping wings. He lunged towards Kubo, his hand snaking out with surprising speed, clamping around the boy's neck.
A cruel smile stretched across the man's face as Kubo gasped for air, his initial bravery dissolving into a stark discomfort. The man began to strike, a brutal series of blows aimed at Kubo's body, each impact sickeningly loud.
"Get the fuck away from him!!!" Ha-gi screeched, her voice raw with a sudden, furious rage.
Driven by an instinct to protect the boy who had so recently defended her, she dashed forward, her leg arcing in a powerful roundhouse kick aimed at the man's head. But the crows that swirled protectively around him absorbed the brunt of the impact, their dark forms momentarily coalescing into a shield.
He evaded Ha-gi's follow-up attack with an unsettlingly graceful cartwheel, his arms remaining unnervingly still. Then, with a casual flick of his wrist, he hurled Kubo's limp body at Ha-gi, sending them both crashing to the hard floor in a tangle of limbs.
The man's grin widened, a manic laughter echoing through the ruined house. Kubo, groaning, pushed himself up, his arm instinctively reaching to help Ha-gi to her feet. They stood back to back, facing the oppressive darkness that seemed to emanate from the crow-covered figure, as an infinite number of crows detached themselves from the man, swirling and coalescing to trap them in a suffocating, pitch-black space.
"I call this…..The Black Zone.."
The man stated calmly, his voice seemingly to come from everywhere and nowhere at once as his shadowy form appeared and disappeared within the impenetrable darkness.
Kubo and Ha-gi braced themselves, their senses straining against the sudden sensory deprivation.
"Hey… my name is Kubo Eniro..." Kubo exclaimed, his voice surprisingly steady despite the terrifying circumstances.
His body tensed, every fiber of his being preparing for a fight he couldn't see. His eyes darted around the absolute blackness, searching for any sign of their unseen enemy.
"You good?... Why are you telling me your name at a time like this? Huh?!" Ha-gi questioned, her voice laced with a mixture of fear and bewilderment, her own eyes darting around in a futile attempt to pierce the darkness.
"I just want to be known and to know the girl I'm fighting alongside against a bad and extremely powerful guy, that's all,"
Kubo mentioned, glancing in Ha-gi's general direction, a strange sense of camaraderie blooming in the face of imminent danger.
"Alright..." Ha-gi said, a moment of hesitation in her voice before a flicker of determination ignited within her.
"I'm Ha-gi Young... but you can call me Ha-gi," she added, her words stumbling slightly.
"What a beautiful name... Ha-gi... Young..."
Kubo uttered softly, a brief moment of unexpected tenderness in the suffocating darkness, his eyes closing for a fleeting second as if savoring the sound.
"Now, enough with the meaningful speech, let's do this!!!" Kubo exclaimed, a sudden surge of adrenaline coursing through him, his voice filled with a raw, desperate energy.
Suddenly, the oppressive darkness erupted as a swirling swarm of crows swooped in, charging straight for Kubo and Ha-gi.
The impact was brutal, the sharp claws and beating wings tearing at their clothes, causing them to stagger back. The crows repeated their assault relentlessly, striking again and again, each impact more brutal than the last.
Eventually, Kubo's body could no longer withstand the onslaught. He collapsed, overwhelmed by the cumulative effect of blood loss, a rapidly rising blood pressure, severe tissue damage from the relentless pecking and clawing, and the agonizing pain of several broken bones. Darkness claimed him as he fell unconscious.
Kubo crumpled to the floor, his body limp. But just before his head struck the hard surface, Ha-gi, her movements fueled by a desperate urgency, rushed to him, cradling his head gently in her hands.
Tears streamed down her face, hot and uncontrolled, as she sobbed, the horrifying realization dawning on her that in a split second of selfless bravery, Kubo had leaped in front of her, taking the full force of the crows' vicious attack. His downfall was a sacrifice, a selfless act that left her heartbroken and consumed by a guilt she didn't understand.
"Why would you defend me...? We don't even know each other... So... why...?"
Ha-gi choked out through her tears, her voice breaking with each sob as she clutched his wounded body tightly to her chest. She looked up into the impenetrable darkness, her eyes burning with a raw, untamed fury and a bitter, consuming hate, a storm of incandescent anger building within her.
"You son of a biiitttccchhhh!!!!" Ha-gi hollered, her voice a primal scream of anguish and rage as an immense, pulsating purple aura erupted around her body, a visible manifestation of her grief and fury, the energy bursting upwards towards the unseen ceiling of the Black Zone as if she had suddenly tapped into an unimaginable power.
She continued to scream, channeling her pain into a raw, destructive energy, her muscles tensing, preparing for a desperate counterattack.
With a furious roar, she charged towards the unseen wall of infinite crows, her body a purple blur against the absolute blackness. She broke through the dense mass of birds, the force of her attack killing many in the process, their lifeless bodies falling silently into the void.
Her sudden surge of power and her ability to pierce his seemingly impenetrable defense surprised the crow-wielding man, a flicker of genuine acknowledgment crossing his shadowed face as he began to recognize her as a potentially powerful foe.
Ha-gi dashed towards the man with a singular, murderous intent. He responded with a chilling smile, opening his arms wide as if offering an eerie embrace, or perhaps daring her to land a hit. But unexpectedly, as Ha-gi closed the distance, a dense, swirling vortex of crows erupted from the man's clothes, a sudden, violent gust of dark feathers and beating wings forming a protective barrier around him, shielding him like a living, impenetrable armor.
Abruptly, fueled by her grief and rage, Ha-gi shattered through his crowy defense, her fist connecting with his face with a sickening crunch. She rained down a relentless barrage of punches, her small fists striking with surprising force and speed, until she was on top of him, her fury finding a physical outlet in the brutal assault, leaving the man's face a bloody mess.
She paused, her chest heaving, and then charged up a final, devastating punch, striking the ground with immense force, unaware that the man had seamlessly escaped her assault and was already healing his injuries within the cover of the remaining crows.
She looked up, her breath ragged, stopping not because of her own exhaustion, but because a primal instinct screamed at her to halt. The man stood before her, his menacing aura radiating from his body with an even greater intensity than before, a silent testament to his power.
"Congrats, congrats..you win...For Now…" the man hissed, his voice laced with a chilling amusement before he vanished into the darkness.
And then, the crows Ha-gi had thought she had killed suddenly returned to life, their dark forms swirling around each other in an upright vortex before disappearing as if they were a black hole, imploding inwards and pulling only themselves into oblivion.
A sudden, sharp pang of guilt pierced through Ha-gi's rage. Remembering Kubo's sacrifice, she whirled around and rushed to his side, her movements frantic. With a desperate heave, she hoisted his limp body onto her back, throwing his arm over her shoulder for support, and began to sprint towards the nearest hospital, her mind racing with self-blame, the weight of his unconscious form a heavy burden both physically and emotionally.
"Don't... bla-blame... your... r... s-s... elf..."
Kubo uttered weakly, his voice a faint, broken whisper before his grip loosened and he finally succumbed to the darkness.