Rize quirked an eyebrow at first at the child’s question. Of course she liked scary movies with lots of guts it turned her on more than hard core bondage porn. Then she felt a room temperature hand grasp her ankle and shestared at the monsters rising and remembered what the child said, “Arise.” It was like something out of a manga, the one with edgy boring characters that only wanted to do good things and dress black. The way the boy looked on impassively while Rize smelled her kills spoil around her was disconcerting. Then there were the invisible pawprints that appeared on the blood-covered floor. Something large and heavy was prowling closer to her, and her flight or fight instincts were telling her to get out. There was nothing keeping her, her prey was already spoiled beyond recovery, and the little shit who ruined her meal kept his distance and watched as the zombies turned to her and launched themselves mouths open to bite her flesh. The table had turned, and she leaped away to avoid becoming food herself.

 

She dashed to the boy's side to see his eyes tracking her like she was a slow human, which pissed her off even more. “For the innocent people you killed, I’ll put you down.” The boy lifted his hand, and Rize leaped up as a tentacle made of damn darkness shot off from the ground and tried to wrap around her. This wasn’t happening; she must have been so far in a food haze she saw things. 

 

“How interesting what’s wrong, Rize? You can’t handle a midget?” Jason, in the white suit, said.

 

She cursed under her breath as the boy kept his attention on her. “I have my orders; you’re coming back with me.”

 

“Shrimp, I don’t have any orders about you. Would you mind staying put so we can have some fun later?” Shadows blasted out from behind Jason and caught the man.

 

“Call me shrimp again, and you’re going out the window.” The boy said she heard a growl from something she couldn’t see.

 

“And you put some clothes on.”

 

“What’s wrong? See something you like?” Rize said and exposed her form a little in the light. The boy climbed higher.

 

“I knew you were a cannable but a shotacon that has to be crossing a line.” Rize blinked and chuckled a little despite the situation.

 

Quinque rounds blasted through the building, and the zombies shot across the rooms and blocked the bullets from hitting the boy. “Nemean, watch my back while I deal with this.” The boy raised his hand, and she was certain he was crazy. But by the zombies gathered around him like a protective wall, what else could he do? Then his scent found her through the smell of death.

 

He smelled delicious, and Rize felt her mouth water. The boy was human and definitely tasty. She shot off towards the boy, mouth wide open, intent on taking a bite, when she felt a massive paw impact her stomach. For a brief second, she saw a massive lion with cameras instead of eyes. She felt its claws dig into her, but they weren’t kagune or quinque steel, so all the lion managed to do was crush her guts. Her kagune shot out and sliced into the lion’s paw, only for the limb to heal as she cut it off. Shadows lashed out, and she was forced to throw herself out of the way before she was caught like Jason.

 

A plane of glass shattered as the gatling gun flew through the window and settled, hovering above the boy, defying gravity. “Finder’s keepers,” The boy said before stuffing it inside the backpack that was smaller than the formerly helicopter-mounted weapon. She really was in a shitty light novel.

 

She felt something try to hold her still but just by moving, the control broke easily. The boy frowned.

 

“I think the world stopped making sense when I stepped on this floor. Is there a gas leak?” Jason asked, and Rize was feeling the same way.

 

“Nemean’s claws can’t damage you another time.” The boy said and floated off the ground.

 

At that point, she wasn’t surprised anymore and decided to roll with the punches. “Where are you going?” Rize asked.

 

“Somewhere,” he said and floated away while the zombies remained behind.

 

The second the shadows vanished, the undead dogpiled Jason while she retreated.

 

Spotlights searched the buildings while she followed the most delectable scent she’s ever smelled to the edge of the 20^th ward. Rize barely recognized she had done it. One moment she was climbing down a building; the next, she was halfway across the city. Finally, she felt a breeze, remembered she was naked and retreated. She found him once she would find him again.

 

…

 

Special Class Ghoul Investigator Itsuki Marude didn’t know what to think when he read the report on his desk. A mass murder orchestrated by the binge eater, the capture of the 13^th ward’s Jason, and victims of the binge eater rising from the dead. They were taken to the hospital under the care of CCG personnel. They didn’t have heartbeats, their body temperatures were room level, and they didn’t need to breathe. Each of them underwent a full medical exam to find even more peculiarities. Some kind of energy flowed through their bodies, animating them. 

 

It was something out of a horror movie but was it really that bad. Sure, they were dead, but they retained all their memories and weren’t a danger to society. Hell, they managed to hold down a ghoul until investigators arrived. Of course, Marude wasn’t going to condemn them out of hand after something like that but how they returned was concerning.

 

Each claimed a boy they referred to as the master raised them from death. Admittedly, it was some light novel shit; still, he had a bunch of zombies in his lap. He didn’t know what he was going to do with them yet, but if they were willing, he might be able to turn them into agents. By the physical reports, they had become far stronger than humans upon death.

 

…

 

Harry found himself in the 24^th ward, where death qi bubbled up from the ground. The young necromancer felt empowered by the death qi and the night. He immediately raised some skeletons and had them begin working on his new base. A couple of them happened to have been construction workers, electricians, and plumbers in their former lives, which would help a lot. Once they knew what he wanted, which was more or less Dracula’s castle, they got to work.

 

An interruption in the form of a purple-haired boy with a smug smirk irked him something awful. He was about to start work on his next powerful undead before the boy found him. “Greetings, my name is Shinji Makari, and I am the 2 of clubs of my glorious leader Jester’s deck,” Shinji said and gave barely a dip as his bow. Harry understood from the second they met that Shinji didn’t respect him. If all the bugs with too many eyes crawling out of the teen’s pants legs weren’t a dead giveaway, his smirk would have been.

 

“Harry Potter apprentice to Zoran; now that the introductions are over, what do you want?” Harry asked.

 

“Tell me you’re an introvert without telling me you’re an introvert, Harry. Come on, don’t be so grumpy; we’re both students of big powerful guys who love to cause a little chaos. We should be friends, and I think the best way to go about that is to have coffee together. So, buddy, let’s go to the 20^th ward and have a cup of coffee. Come on, there are some pretty waitresses, and a little one down the line, there will be one only a couple years older than you.” Shinji said.

 

“How did you find me?” Harry asked.

 

“Come on, where did the mistrust come from. I’m not a bad guy, really. And besides, it's not like you can do much more here. Your base will need time to build; honestly, I’m jealous you found the best spot. That was smart of you, and your master wanted you to make friends with your peers.”

 

“Fine,” Harry said.

 

“Great, I have a car parked nearby if the ghouls haven’t stripped it for parts while my back was turned.

 

Shinji’s 2014 Ford Mustang was a metallic purple, a little shinier than Shinji’s hair. Harry didn’t like how people looked at them as they drove through traffic. The women especially made him feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t Harry’s culture, and Shinji preened like a peacock under attention.

 

They parked in one of the 20^th ward’s parking garages before making their way to the street. “You’ll really like their coffee. I heard it’s the best in Tokyo. Harry nodded slowly as the sun peaked over the horizon. As the sun rose, Harry realized he preferred the night after all.

 

Harry felt drained like a dry sponge when the sun's rays hit him. He struggled to hide his death qi from the prevailing light even as his Sephiroth power skill gained strength. The feeling of the sun overhead was unpleasant. He felt most of his options vanish with the morning, leaving him with telekinesis and cutting. If this affected him, then his undead would be much worse off.

 

“Come on now, don’t get down just because you exposed the weakness of your mage craft to me. Everyone knows the weakness of necromancers, but it's good to know you’re not an exception.” As Harry’s powers faded, he shifted a shadow. Shinji tripped and waved his hands, searching for something until Harry caught him with telekinesis before his face hit the concrete.

 

“Whatever you say, bug boy,” Harry said and pushed open the door to Anteku.

 

Shinji snorted, “so I finally got a rise out of you.” Shinji said.