White Soul

by G L Rathweg

  “Foolish boy, what about me would make you think we’d ever do something like that? No, here is the plan…” Dangun began, with an evil grin.

  “Well, this is probably going to be a bad idea.” I whispered, giving Freak a fearful look.

  FIVE MINUTES LATER…

  “Faster boy! Faster!” Dangun yelled, over the high pitched whine of the minivan’s engine.

  My eyes were wide and I had a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel as I floored it. I cussed under my breath as we sped towards the building’s entrance.

  Dangun’s bright idea had been to crash through the wooden gate arm and right up into the entrance of the main lobby. Since I had no other good ideas that was the reason we were going ninety miles an hour down a Lake Mary side street and beelining directly to the bad guys. I had the minivan’s headlights off and it took a little bit longer than normal for the two demons at the little guard booth to spot us.

  When they did however, their reactions were so comical it made this entire stupid plan worthwhile. We rocketed down the road and in seconds we were at the driveway. I kept the minivan straight on course. The vehicle crashed through the weak wooden gate with a loud crack, but didn’t slow down in the least. The demon guards jumped out of the guardhouse and chased after us, but I left them in my rearview mirror.

  My attention was forced back to the front as we came to the end of the road and the minivan hit the steps of the building. Metal screeched as we bottomed out on the stairs. I kept the wheel straight and the gas floored even as the minivan was shaking uncontrollably. We were up the stairs in a flash and flying through the air into the glass entranceway of the lobby.

  I enjoyed a brief second as the demons inside saw us. Time slowed as their surprised looks turned to fear and they scrambled for cover. Time sped back up and we hit the glass with a loud crash, shattering the glass windows way down both sides on the entranceway. The minivan hit the marbled floor skidding out of control through furniture and demon alike.

  The steel of the old minivan plowed through everything living and nonliving as if they weren’t even there until we hit the lobby’s security check-in desk. Talk about the hammer and the anvil. The front end of the minivan crunched in and the desk did as well. The desk and car continued forward, propelled by the force leftover from the crash and through the back wall of the lobby. The minivan stopped halfway through it, ending the tornado of destroyed metal, concrete, and drywall, it’s engine steaming and body wrecked.

  Good for me I was wearing my seatbelt so I stayed put and Freak had clung to my shoulder. Dangun wasn’t corporeal, but the guards behind the desk were another gory story. I don’t know how many were in there using the desk as cover before we hit it, but I counted at least eight different limbs or heads. They were all dead as fuck. That didn’t even the numbers that much, as I would soon find out.

  “Come on boy! Time to fight, don’t waste the element of surprise.” Dangun called, as I struggled out of the seat belt and wreck of a vehicle.

  By the time I was free and out of the minivan, the demons that had survived our spectacular entrance had recovered and were coming out themselves. I counted ten at first. More and more started to appear until I was surrounded by twenty disheveled, black suit, white shirt, black tie wearing demons. And they were pissed off.

  Dangun appeared sitting on top of the minivan and gave a nod of satisfaction as he took in the scenario.

  “Good, not that many and they are all weak. Kill them fast.” He said, voice imperious and dismissive of the demons.

  This made them even more angry and I could visibly feel their killing intent rising.

  “Thanks, Dangun.” I said, sarcastically but I activated my Ki and dropped into a Pugilists attack stance.

  He was right about one thing, judging by these guys auras they were weak as fuck. Time to show them what I learned during my training.

  “You’re gonna be meat human.” One of the demons said, I took him to be the leader and I focused on him first.

  “It looks like you brought a knife to a gun fight fuck boy.” I said, grinning wolfishly at him.

  “What the fuck are you talking about? Gun? Knife I’m a demon mother…” He yelled at me or tried to, but I was already gone.

  “Die little bitch.” I whispered from right behind him, my lips just inches from his ear.

  His eyes widened but before he could react I flared the Ki on my fist and punched him right where his heart was. My pure white Ki covered fist blasted through the back of his chest. My Ki burning black demon blood away instantly cauterizing the wound as I attacked.

  I was pretty surprised by the effectiveness of my attack but didn’t let it show. I ran with it as he fell to his knees to the ground. I turned to the rest of the demons, grinning like a madman.

  “Well done boy! Kill em all!” Dangun roared with glee.

  Freak was now perched on Dangun’s shoulder. When he switched from mine to his I didn’t know. But I didn’t have time to think about that now, I had demons to kill.

  “Lightning Step!” I called, then began my deadly dance around the room.

  TRACK 19 – TIGER KINGDOM SPACE CAMP – GRIZ

  The last demon fell and turned to ash. I extinguished my Ki, giving one last look around the room.

  “Not bad boy. You made good use of the Beongae Dangye and raw strength, but I sense the ones on the next floor up are a bit stronger than these ones.” Dangun said, pointing a finger up at the ceiling.

  “How many of them are there and how strong?” I asked, looking around for the elevators and the stairs and trying to decide which to take.

  “I’d say about twice as strong as these guys were and I can only sense fifteen of them. It looks like they are bunched up around the elevators.” He informed me.

  “Ok good, I’ve got a plan this time.” I told him, with an evil smile.

  THREE MINUTES LATER…

  “Alright, hit the button Freak.” I internalized from my position at the entrance to the second-floor stairwell.

  A mental meow was returned to me and I heard the ding of the elevator from the second floor.

  “There are thirteen of them in a half circle around the elevator area and two watching from your position at the stairwell. They are all tense now that the elevator is coming. Now go! Oh, I forgot to tell you they all have those gun things.” Dangun said, throwing that last part in as an afterthought.

  “Fucking asshole.” I swore under my breath but still went with the plan.

  The two demons had their backs to the door. They were standing a few feet in front of the stairwell entrance, both staring at the elevator with submachine guns pointed that way. The stairwell door opened on my side, so I waited with bated breath until the elevator arrived. A few seconds later the elevator doors opened with a loud ding. The thirteen guys standing in front of the elevator with submachine guns pointed let loose, spraying the elevator’s open compartment.

  I used the firing of the weapons and opened the door, sliding silently up behind the guard on the left. I stabbed him through the back of the heart with a Ki covered fist. The second demon noticed me then and turned his gun on me, but I Lightning Stepped behind him and repeated my attack. He dropped to the floor like the first had. It had all taken just a few seconds and the demons firing at the elevator had just stopped, now realizing that the figure in the elevator was still there and not dead or dying.

  “Hello demons, my name is Dangun the Celestial Emperor. Kneel before me.” Dangun commanded, from inside the elevator.

  The hundreds of bullets had passed through his noncorporeal form and the demons looked around at each other in confusion for a moment. Some looked at their weapons and tapped them slightly, making sure they were ok.

  “Boss, aren’t these bullets silver lined to kill other demons and stuff?” One of the demons asked a fairly larger demon in the center.

  “Yeah, they are Travis.” The larger demon replied.

  “So, what does that mean?” The
first demon, Travis asked.

  I had used their momentary confusion to retrieve both my downed targets’ weapons. I had one in each hand as I stood tall and lined up my shots one on either end of the demon line.

  “Well Travis, it means that the guy in there is not a demon, magical monster, or Martial Realm Practitioner. I’d guess he is a ghost or astral projection or something.” The boss replied, in a very professorial tone.

  “You were right with your first guess.” I called, now having lined up my shots.

  “Who the…” The boss started to say.

  I pulled the triggers on both submachine guns, tracing bullets back and forth along their line.

  I had taken them by surprise and from such a close distance, my automatic fire hit more often than not. All thirteen demons dropped to the ground dead or dying in seconds. The guns clicked empty and I let them go to clatter on the floor. Dangun and

  Freak came over to me. And we all stared in satisfaction as we admired our handiwork.

  “I must admit those weapons are very convenient for low level demons. These guns would come in very handy for defeating peasant armies and such.” Dangun said, nodding his head in satisfaction.

  “Do you think I should bring some with us?” I asked, bending down and starting to loot the bodies.

  Dangun was quiet for a moment while he thought about it.

  “Yes, they will be handy for the next four or five floors. For the higher ranked demons, they will be useless. They have skills similar to your Iron Body. These metal flechettes will not penetrate their skin.” Dangun explained.

  “Wait a minute, you are saying my Iron Body skill makes me bullet proof?” I asked, incredulously.

  “Did I never mention that? You are also impervious to arrows, crossbow bolts, and other low-level ballistics. Magically enhanced attacks are another story.” He explained.

  “Didn’t they say these bullets were specially made with silver to kill monsters and Martial Practitioners like me?” I asked.

  “Yes, but silver is only for magical beasts and the enchantments on them are too low a level to break through your Iron Body. Maybe if you had come previous to your training in the Spirit Realm, but now they can’t hurt you.” Dangun explained, completely sure of his analysis.

  “Ok, if you say so. This changes our plans a bit. We are going in guns blazing Terminator style the next few floors. We will be taking the stairs, let’s go.” I said, now armed with magazines and a couple submachine guns.

  A couple of the dead demons had radios and calls of what was going on sounded over them. I didn’t bother answering because I’d soon be telling them in person. Even though Dangun said I was bulletproof I wanted to make sure. I decided to test his proclamation out on the third floor.

  “Hey fuck wads! I’m over here!” I yelled, kicking the stairwell door open and giving double birds while making humping motions in the doorway.

  My tactic stunned them at firstf but they quickly recovered just as I leaped back around the door frame and they started firing. Bullets fired through the opened portal like a hailstorm. I took a deep breath then stuck my arm out in a fist and closed my eyes.

  The first bullet that hit my arm freaked me out, the second less, and third not at all. I opened my eyes and was smiling uncontrollably. I was fucking bullet proof! I pulled my arm back and stood up, stretching a bit and readying my weapons. The firing slowed then stopped. I used it to step back into the entryway. They had all reloaded and were pointing their weapons at me. I was so close and filled so much of the doorway they couldn’t miss. It didn’t matter, I was fucking bullet proof!

  “Hey guys, fire away, I’m sure gonna.” I cackled, then pulled the trigger on both my weapons.

  This broke the momentary cease fire and they fired back, lighting me up from all sides. The bullets hit my Ki hardened body, bouncing off harmlessly. While my bullets took out the demons one by one till they were all crumpled lifeless to the cheap office flooring. Freak and Dangun appeared by my side and looked on.

  “Now that you believe me, can we move on?” The spirit asked, impatiently.

  “Yep.” I replied, still glorying in my newfound power.

  The three of us hurried up the next four floors with similar results. Although, I didn’t pause to test the bullet thing again. Instead, I continued on my demon killing rampage. The building was eighteen stories high and we were a little more than halfway up by the time Dangun said the guns would be ineffective.

  “So that means six more stories till the top?” I said, more to myself than anyone else.

  “That’s correct. Wiman is at the top with your woman and grandmother. I can sense them from here. There is good news and bad news about the next nine floors, which would you like first?” He asked.

  “Bad then good.” I replied.

  “The bad is that the enemies you will be facing are much stronger than the ones you have so far. They will all have the ability to hurt you and they all have much more experience in battle than you. That isn’t including Wiman, She-He, and whoever else they have as elite bodyguards. Each floor is going to be a battle from now on.” Dangun said, solemnly.

  “What’s the good news?” I asked.

  “There are many less enemies and you can take the elevator now since there are no more stairs up.” He replied, his demeanor doing a one-eighty and becoming cheery all of a sudden.

  “You need to work on your definition of good news.” I said, in surly tone as I walked over to the elevator.

  “Oh, come on don’t be like that. Aren’t you curious to see the results of your training against actual opponents? You didn’t go through all that hardship for nothing did you?” He asked.

  I just growled in response, but he was right. I did want to test myself out and see if I was different than before. It was fun playing games in god mode but there was always more satisfaction if you won the hard way. This was like a video game with the stakes raised by a million and I wanted to see how I stacked up. The elevator door opened and I stepped inside, then pushed the button for the next floor, ten.

  Some elevator music played, I think it was Cocomo by the Beach Boys but it stopped as soon as we reached the floor and the doors opened. Contrary to all the last floors when the elevator doors opened, there were no demons were standing in front of it with machine guns. Instead, I stepped out into an indoor lake that was way out of place in this office building.

  “What the hell?” I asked, looking around in wonder.

  “It’s a magical construct. The room has been connected with a pocket dimension creating a space inside that is unconstrained by the physical world. Wiman has invested much in his stronghold. Pocket dimensions are not easy to create or maintain.” Dangun explained, appearing mildly impressed.

  I nodded as I scanned the area, senses fully alert. The lake went as far as I could see in all directions. The horizon stretched so far that I didn’t really know how big the lake, not to mention the dimension, actually was. The one thing that I did see were two men sitting in Lotus position just fifty feet away.

  They were identical and each had long blue hair and skin the color of sea foam. They had Korean features but also supernatural ones that made it easy to tell they weren’t human. Pointed ears, fangs, glowing blue eyes and white skin were the main giveaways. They looked to be twins and even wore matching hanboks in colors that mirrored the water and waves.

  It looked like they were sitting right on top of the water, but when I looked down I could see large flat rocks at least five feet in diameter. They were all placed just an inch or so below the water’s surface. This room and these beings were more than meets the eye.

  “Be careful Hiro. These are water Imuji, you can also call them fallen dragons who will never attain true glory. They are shells of their former selves and destined to root around in the dirt like snakes. Never to fly in the sky like their heavenly brethren ever again. Their Ki is water based and they are skilled in the use of the Water Element.” Dangun said, his t
one dismissive of the monsters.

  The Imuji heard Dangun and judging by the way they glared at the spirit, he had hit a nerve. Both stood up in unison mirroring each other in a way that was creepy and reminded me of the girl from that Ring movie.

  “What are you waiting for boy? Get in there and take care of those wannabe dragons.” Dangun said, loud enough for the spirits to hear then continued in a much lower voice only I could hear. “Remember to keep your Ki tight so you don’t waste any and time your strikes and counterstrikes so your Void Element disrupts their Water Element. Remember your training.”

  I nodded and stepped through the elevator doorway. I gingerly set my foot down onto the closest underwater stone. The stone was soft, almost porous, and a little squishy. It was like standing on the material at a water park. That rubbery hard substance that lets you not die if you fall on it. They also rocked and bobbed a bit, so I had to keep my balance as I stood there. Eventually, it settled and went still, but this changed things. The moving platform altered my balance making everything even more difficult.

  “Well brother, looks like the chattering monkey’s disciple has finally worked up the courage to face us.” The twin on the left said, his voice soft and effeminate.

  “Yes brother, looks like it. Let us welcome him to our playroom.” The twin on right said, his voice a perfect match of his sibling’s.

  That just increased the creepiness factor, it was time to shut these creepy fuckers up.

  “Listen, I know you two fuck buddies like to dilly dally and play tug the sausage with each other, but I’m not really into that kind of thing. So, if you could pull your dicks out of each other’s mouths long enough to fight me I’d really appreciate it.” I said, making sure I laughed a bit at the end to add insult to injury.

  It worked like a charm and they both snapped their mouths shut with an audible clack and dropped into identical stances, eyes glowing brighter with evil sea blue Ki.

  “That pissed them off royally. Good job Hiro!” Dangun called, from the elevator doorway.