Torment

After a few days of repeatedly killing me and bringing me back to life, Dr. Kurushimeru explained that the icy landscape I was in was called a soul gate where when a soul is going to either pass on or reincarnate in its final moments the gate reflects their current personality before death. It didn't faze me since dying the first time made me not care about anyone or anything until about two weeks in something that made me feel again happened. That morning Dr. Kurushimeru said that he would give me a break from all the tests and that he had a special visitor for me at that point I wasn't excited because I thought it was probably my parents checking up on the thing since they thought it would be a good lesson for Dr. Kurushimeru to endlessly torture me.

But about 2 hours before the mysterious person arrived, Dr. Kurushimeru entered my room with a red pill in his hand.

"Boryoku take this pill and it will help you change the world just like I said you would."

He handed me the red pill without a second thought I swallowed it and the taste was like blood but I just sat down on my dirty mattress and Dr. Kurushimeru left. I had only my thoughts with me when I was in that room which slowly drove me to the brink of insanity and yet again all I had were my thoughts until the visitor arrived. When it was time for the visitor to arrive the guard opens the door to my room and the visitor was wearing a hoodie so I couldn't see who they were.

The guard leaves us alone but was no doubt listening in and reporting to Dr. Kurushimeru the visitor pulls down their hoodie it's Yuki when I saw his face it was like he brought me back to life for good I came back to my senses I was a human again I was, alive again. Yuki's smile dissipates and the look on his face becomes serious compared to his cheerful demeanor.

"Sora I've decided to become a part of this project and shut it down from the inside will you help me?

I was in shock but was still happy to see my only friend.

"Yuki you can't be serious they'll kill you over and over again for their selfish purposes please reconsider I don't want the same that they put me through every single day to happen to you too!"

"It's too late now I've made my mind up you can't stop me and besides by stopping this operation we stop them from hurting other people and I know you want that too now once again are you with me?"

"Yes I'm in but how did you figure all this out and how did you find this place?"

"Have you forgotten Sora my father is a government official so all I had to do was go into his home office after you left the fort and dig through some of his files there I found out about this project which is government funded and I saw your name under the list of subjects so I knew I had to help so I snuck out of the house and night and arrived here I'm guessing my father knew of my plan and informed them I would be coming or else they might not have let me in." After saying that Yuki frowned a could tell something was bothering him.

"What's wrong Yuki?"

"While digging through some of my father's files I found something on beings from a 4th dimension called "Yojigen" they are very powerful beings with snow white hair and the file listed my father as the prince of the 4th dimension married to the queen and my mom is a human which means I am a bastard."

"Yuki that must have been pretty hard to find out."

"Yes it was indeed heartbreaking but while I was digging I found something that may be the thing we need to shut this whole thing down for good it's called "Regulus."

"What's that?"

"Regulus is a special power unique to Yojigen which makes not only stronger but able to move way faster and with the fastest reaching beyond hyperspeed and each generation's regulus gets stronger than the last and me being a hybrid I may be able to reach Godspeed."

"Woah Yuki that's amazin-" 

At that moment the effects of the pill kicked in and I lost consciousness. When I awoke I was covered in blood and the room was covered in ice and blood. I must have, killed Yuki Dr. Kurushimeru planned this from the start, didn't he? I let Yuki become a part of the project but at the moment I was filled with despair I couldn't think straight.

Then Yuki came back to the room he was my new roommate but something was different about him this time he acted as he did before. He didn't say anything for about 2 hours when he looked like he was going to say something he stops himself. Finally, he did say something that I remember 23 years later.

"Sora before they brought me back to the living I was in a hellish landscape and I was by horrible creatures, but that motivates me to carry out the plan."

Now that I'm older I now understand why he saw hell as his soul gate he was rejected by the soul keeper probably because the soul keeper was afraid of a soul hunter with the power of Regulus would destroy the balance of the universe. Despite having to go through that every day at night we would never go to sleep I try and help Yuki achieve Regulus. One night I realized that the pill that Dr. Kurushimeru gives us every single day is to forcefully awaken soul hunter-like powers.

Even though I continued to help Yuki try to achieve Regulus I also trained with my ice abilities on the rare days Dr. Kurushimeru gave us breaks from tests. Our current plan was to have the other kids to help us rebel but they were too afraid of failure. The day was November 23rd it was thanksgiving in Japan so they sent all the kids back to their families for a day so they sent me back to my parents and little brother.

Since the others didn't want to help the new plan was to just focus on becoming stronger so we decided to strike in on Christmas day which only gave us a month to train. The visit to my family was.. the worst day of my life. Dr. Kurushimeru dropped me off at my front door I had a slight resistance against the cold but I hated the cold at the time so I forced myself to knock on the front door. 

It wasn't my parents who opened the door it was my brother he was too short to fully reach the door on his own so he used a stool from the kitchen. My brother said nothing to me and walked away leaving the door wide open so I entered the house and sat down on the dirty dark green couch. I sat for about five minutes with no sign of my parents then I decided to walk around the house and I saw a turkey on the table. 

I decided to speak to my brother so I went up to his room opened the door and saw him on the floor.

He was laying on the floor.

He was lying in a pool of his own blood with a kitchen knife next to him. I heard the front door open and my parents walked upstairs seeing me standing over my brother's lifeless body I have no idea what was going through their minds at the time.

My father went inside my parent's bedroom. When he returned he pulled out a gun and pointed it at me. At that moment a wave of emotions hit me all at once but I mainly felt rage toward myself if I hadn't defended Yuki my brother wouldn't have killed himself no, I killed my brother.

This time I didn't pass out but I still lost control... I covered the house in ice. My parents were impaled by spikes of ice and my brother's body was buried in ice I began to exit the house destroying it with every single cold step I took. Yuki lived right down the street from me but when I saw him on the street I ignored him.

I was covered in blood I was heading back towards the palace but then Yuki grabbed my hand and took me in the direction of our fort. Yuki said nothing the whole time he dragged me to the fort I gave no resistance. When we arrived at the fort I climbed the ladder subconsciously it was like instinct. 

"Sora what happened to you why is your house covered in ice and why are your clothes covered in blood?" I didn't answer it was like I couldn't hear him but I could hear him at the same time. Yuki slaps me across the face then I finally realized what happened at the house.

I remember just sobbing and falling to my knees at that point it was almost like time was moving in slow motion. At that point I blamed myself and myself only became the monster my parents thought I was.

"Yuki I killed them I killed my family."

Yuki's face went blank in horror.

"It was an accident right?"

"My powers it went out of control I didn't mean to do it!"

"I believe you Sora I'm so sorry.''

A black armored vehicle pulled up to the side of the house. The vehicle belonged to Dr. Kurushimeru once we saw that vehicle we knew we had to run away. We stumbled out of the fort and ran into the neighboring woods running as fast as we could.

We run for about 5 minutes before a bright white light blinds us and I tripped over a small tree branch. The last thing I heard before dying was Dr. Kurushimeru's voice.

"Damn you child now we have to cover up a murder!"

I remember hearing a loud bang and feeling a sharp pain in my head he... shot me in the back of my head then I heard another bang he shot Yuki and then it went black. I opened my eyes again and I was back in my icy soul gate I sat on the top of a pile of snow and cried for about 17 minutes.

Then I woke in my room with a bandage on my head I looked up at the bed and there Yuki was sitting up.

"Oh, your awake."

As he says this the memories of the night's previous events flood back into my brain. A feeling of pure hatred towards everyone involved in the project comes over me. But it goes away because I thought of my brother's smile and the emotion I was feeling at that point was determination.

"Yuki, we have to train harder than before and shut this project down I'm doing this for Arashi no not just him everyone involved in this nightmare!"

"Right!"

That night we began training but Yuki was making very little progress toward achieving Regulus. On the other hand, I realized something I would never master my ice powers because they only respond to my emotions. But at the same time, I felt that if I believed enough it would work how foolish I was.

3 weeks had passed it was December 25th a Tuesday it was heavily snowing outside in the dead of night everyone else was in a deep sleep which was a side effect of the red pill Dr. Kurushimeru gave us every night I and Yuki would fake taking it by putting it in our mouth's swallowing it and when Dr. Kurushimeru left we would make ourselves throw it back up.

That day we learned that Yuki's father would be visiting Yuki that day and we decided to enlist his help. So it was time to strike when Yuki's father visited we informed him of where Dr. Kurushimeru would be. The plan was for Yuki's father to distract Dr. Kurushimeru in a conversation while I and Yuki sneak up behind him.

There was one problem Yuki had yet to achieve Regulus but his father told us something that could help Yuki achieve Regulus.

"A vital point to achieving Regulus is to focus on putting all your Jigen in your legs ."

Yuki's ears perk up

"What is Jigen?''

"Jigen is energy that all 4th Dimensional beings possess and since you're the first hybrid in 100 years you should still have Jigen within your system."

At that point, we only had 7 minutes which didn't give Yuki any time to achieve Regulus but we didn't have any time to think about that now we were focused on getting everyone out of there. Yuki's father walked up to Dr. Kurushimeru in the hallway and began a conversation but I couldn't hear what they were actually saying. Then Yuki's father gave us the signal to attack but as I and Yuki were lunging at Dr. Kurushimeru he turns around pulls two objects out of his coat pocket while he smiled sadistically. He laughs loudly.

"Children think they could get the better of me I have eyes and ears all over this place and what a shame Sora you were the 2nd child who didn't see hell every time he died well this project was a failure but don't think I'll let you get away Sora do you remember that chip I implanted in your neck?"

I nodded my head which just gave him more pleasure.

"Good."

He pressed the small shiny red button I felt immense pain in my neck to the point where I thought was going to die but I didn't pass out he wanted me to see what I would do. I turned around facing Yuki my hand became icy cold it was the feeling of when my powers were activating I had no control over my body It was like I was a video game character and Dr. Kurushimeru was the player.

"Yuki run, run far away now, and don't look back!"

Dr. Kurushimeru tackles Yuki's father to the ground and injects him with some sort of medicine.

"Damn I didn't have Regulus activated! What did you inject me with?" 

"Let's just say you won't be using that pesky skill of yours."

Yuki had run down the hallway as fast as he could but by that time it was already... too late. Five spears made of ice had pierced his back with his blood covering the walls. I killed my best friend I let every kid in that project down.

Dr. Kurushimeru smiles and laughs with an evil tone.

"Now to cover my tracks I'll spare Sora for last."

He pulls out a tablet-like device.

"System kill every subject except for Sora Aoi and Inazuma send Inazuma to Basho."

I wanted to know who Inazuma was.

"Who is Inazuma and what is Basho?!"

"That is classified anyways it is no concern of yours since he will be the only subject surviving I just wanted you to feel despair in your final moments on this planet I have a bomb that will explode in 5 minutes."

Yuki's father then stood up.

"Eh, how are you standing up that medicine should have paralyzed you not to mention temporarily taking away Regulus from you."

"The rage I feel as a parent should never have a child taken away from them in front of their eyes activate Regulus Berserker!"

A bright red aura surrounded Yuki's aura and it felt like the room was in flames. I looked at him my eyes began to hurt badly my brain was trying to comprehend the speed he was moving at but still, I was motionless all I could think about was Yuki.

"I would kill you in the worst way possible but Yuki would hate me if I did so I'll make sure you can never do this ever again!"

My eyes felt like they were on fire so I blinked but when I opened them again Dr. Kurushimeru was missing his left eye and his right arm and had been slashed in his chest with blood painting the room a dark red. The only thing I could make out was Yuki's father kicking Dr. Kurushimeru through a  wall and onto the snow outside.

"He's unconscious that's a waste." That red aura he had disappeared. He motioned for me to come here. I walked up to him I still felt no emotions.

"I'm sorry you had to see that in a few days men in suits will train you to use your powers until then you will be staying with me."  He fell to his knees and embraced while sobbing.

At that moment I began sobbing with two emotions inside me anger and Torment. Dr. Kurushimeru was handed into the police I was at the court hearing he got.. 7 years no doubt in my mind it was because he worked for the government I felt rage but the men in suits who I would later find out were soul hunters told me that the artificial abilities I gained were dangerous because they relied upon my emotions. At their Tokyo base,  they awakened my true riki which is the power the soul hunters use my riki was water and while I stayed at Yuki's father's house he was like a father I never had teaching me how to live properly.

At Yuki's funeral, I tried concealing my emotions but ice still formed at my fingertips. A few days later I was released from Yuki's father's care and officially became a soul hunter working at soul food.

Character case No.4 Yuki Tama

Blood type: AB
Threat level: None
Height:4"1
Favorite food: strawberry Ice cream 

And that concludes Soul hunter Gin character case no.4!