Enter The Fox [Open, Japan]

It was a cold night, chill and windy as the sun had just set. A day late in October meant it was well into Fall, so temperatures were dropping as the days went by. Did it mean anything to the metal behemoth that walked the beaten path at this time? Wisps of frigid wind brushed along the unfeeling armor that encapsulated the wandering machine, like water splashing up against a cliff face. The current blew through the holes riddling the spacious hull of the machine, echoing off the walls and producing a low melodic tone as if a wind instrument were being played. Not quite, as far as Pon was concerned. It was his state of disrepair that caused his frame to be lacking in armor, allowing for small breaches seen from the outside; exposed wiring and mechanics at the mercy of the late night torrent. Thankfully, the technology was tough enough to hold out against Mother Nature, built to last. Age; age was clear on the form of the titanic robot as its dark armor almost blended in with the darkness of the night. The color was clearly supposed to be copper, like an American penny, and yet its sheen had disappeared long ago. Now as rust has crept up along the outer shell, it was apparent that Pon had been in commission for many many decades. A story could be told from the state of the robot, as it appeared ancient.

He trudged forth still even against the powerful winds, unaffected and unwavering. His stiff march followed a worn dirt road that cut through a dense forest, and his massive metallic girth unfortunately broke several impressively aged branches and occasionally knocked down a lamentably-situated tree entirely. But none of that mattered to him, just as the wind and cold. He looked out with his eyes—the two white lights that shone through what could be considered the head of his form, as he was designed somewhat after the human body. He looked out, and he saw his destination. It was a small town, simple and out of the way of any major civilization, but still something. The road led right up to it and through it. Pon's pace would quicken for a short moment before once again slowing to more of a walking speed. He shouldn't hasten, he thought while looking slightly downward to his outstretched hands. He held them strangely before him, enclosing a small space as he held them together. It was as if he was carrying something in his grasp that he couldn't bear to let slip through his fingers. Still, Pon returned his gaze to the town as he neared it, also wanting to reach the place more quickly. It just was not an option.

As the titan was finally edging out of the forest and more into a visible open space, it let out a loud but low monotone call. It shook the land with tremors by itself, easily perforating the walls of buildings and sounding out to all of the city's inhabitants at some volume. The impending sound repeated itself after a short moment of silence, announcing its presence quite obviously. However, after a short time as dozens of officers began to stream out of the town in unison, Pon knew his appearance would be unsettling to the humans. But no matter, he continued, as he had to.

The human realm was such a strange and wondrous place... especially when compared to 'home'. Everything here moved so fast... with so much purpose. It wasn't really a surprise, though - humans were a short-lived race. Compared to Kite and his people, they were like flickering falling stars right next to real stars in the sky... brilliant, beautiful, and so terribly short-lived. A Guardian Beast could say 'I will get to it in one hundred years' and be totally serious - a human had trouble even justifying pushing things back for a few days. And maybe that was why Kite enjoyed traveling through this realm from time to time - just to soak up the different atmosphere. After all, he was technicially half human! Even sharing some of their traits, although that wasn't exactly something positive to him. Apparently, he had all the bad parts about being human, and none of the positives... if there even were positives.

Tonight, Kite was just observing and thinking - sitting in the shadows on top of a roof. Even this small town was very diverse, especially when compared to the rest of villages in the vicinity - back home, Kite could travel for weeks from one settlement without ever coming across a different one, simply because of the vast space. The Guardian Beast on the roof stared up into the sky - so many stars, but only one moon. And it didn't even shine in any interesting colors, just boring old white. Then again, this moon actually reflected sunlight, and didn't shine out of itself... Not that Kite understood the science behind that. The pesky laws of physics weren't really something he ever had to concern himself with - simply the fact that he could turn into a small ball of fire and then re-emerge made all people that knew of the law of conversion weep. Different worlds, different rules...
Kite was only torn out of that weird wandering of his thoughts by something shaking the ground like a small earthquake. Earthquakes weren't exactly rare in japan, but it was still enough to nearly make him fall down from the roof - so he decided to do the unreasonable thing, get onto his feet and stand at the very top of the roof to see better. This didn't feel like an earthquake... More like one of the walking landscapes of his homeland. Could that be possible? Well, the veil between worlds wasn't exactly as powerful as before... But no, he would feel that. Giant Guardian Beasts weren't exactly good at hiding their aura. That's when Kite's eyes saw the big colossus.

Where did it come from? What did it want? Those were just two questions in Kite's mind. The other thing in his mind was 'cool, a giant robot!', since seeing one of those wasn't common, even for someone as old as him. He didn't even know that robots like this existed. Though, if they did... why didn't he see more of them in the human world? Questions that this robot might be able to answer, if he could speak. So without really thinking about it, the young-looking Guardian Beast jumped down from the roof and landed in front of multiple officers that probably got scared half to death by his sudden appearance and defying of gravity - Kite landed softly on his feet and moved towards the giant made out of metal with skipping jumps, before starting to apparently walk through the air upwards, leaving a slight trail of blue sparks behind, before stopping a small distance from the robot. The Demigod wasn't afraid of this metal machine, or person - why should he be? Being afraid of something for no reason only lead to stupid decisions.
"Hello there, nice to meet you." The voice that came from Kite now was soft and a bit monotone - as if he lacked emotion in them. But that was normal to him, and he was of course speaking the truth. "I've never seen someone like you before. My name is Kite, Kite Outsway. Who are you, big guy?"

As if the weather reflected the tension in the immediate area, the wind suddenly shifted directions, blowing into Pon's back into the faces of the officers standing guard at the village's gate. The machine hardly noticed the abrupt increase in power from the gale, as he simply had more significant things on his mind at the moment. The temperatures seemed to drop down another level, but still the machine ignored such forces of nature. What was important that the men not shoot though they threatened it. With the giant robot incoming toward their town, they pulled out their various weapons and aimed at the titan shouting out orders to cease moving forward immediately. However pathetic it seemed, Pon feared the chance of that happening, immediately slowing down but not stopping altogether. It let out another synthetic tone through the air, tinged with the emotion of panic—though it would probably not be understood well by the humans. Instead it seemed to only scare them further; the shouting became more frantic but Pon couldn't stop. He'd break them all if necessary. He continued at a reluctant pace, treading lightly now as he held his enclosed grasp closer to his chest. They looked like they were just about to shoot...

And then a mysterious shadow dropped out of the darkness from above... something. Pon was so focused on his quest that he was so oblivious to his surroundings. It took several seconds for his brain to work the eyes, which then focused on the mysterious blur to find a rather human form approaching on thin air. The appearance jolted the squad of men out of their intense focus as well, most probably preventing them from immediately firing. The figure paid them no mind, but it was not something Pon could put out of his mind too; they still had their weapons. Half-looking at the seemingly male persona that came up to him, half-looking at the men behind him, he listened to the casual introduction made. Pon was left in silence, letting several chaotic emotions flit through his mind but not exhibiting any of them through his cold metal face... if you could call it that. Rather, it responded with its panicked robotic tone again, this time with a sense of urgency, as it held its massive hands forward toward the hovering figure. It almost looked like the titan was going to swat the tiny being right out of the sky, but that was merely a product of Pon's hurriedness. Rather, the pair of metallic hands stopped abruptly before him, and slowly opened. When the light of the moon finally hit the inside of Pon's grasp, what was revealed to be inside was... a young female.

She was curled up in the fetal position, with hands clasped together under her head like a makeshift pillow. She was wrapped in many layers of clothing, a snow cap, and a blanket as well, yet still it could be seen how the brisk weather was affecting her. She was unconscious, sleeping and unable to wake up, yet her breathing was fevered and each time she exhaled a cloud of snowy mist would blow out of her thin lips. The only visible skin was from her face, and it was whitening from the night's chill; she did not look healthy at all. This girl, held within the hands of the mechanical titan, needed shelter and care. Pon's luminous white eyes stared directly into those of the stranger that dared come close, and he pushed his hands forward again to emphasize his need. He was trying very hard to communicate it to him; this girl needs help. And she would accentuate the fact with sudden gasps for breath.

Well, this was both surprising and quite dire of a situation. Unlike the humans, Kite actually understood what the metal giant was trying to say, on an emotional level - spoken words weren't the only kind of communications that Guardian Beasts used, and the sound of distress from the titan was easily understandable to him. Thanks to his kindness, and thanks to always assuming only the best in people - and to him, a giant made out of metal was 'people' till proven otherwise - he didn't even flinch when the giant thrusted forward his hands and revealed the figure of a female in rather bad condition. So THAT was the reason why this giant was here! Obviously, this woman needed help... starting with a warmer climate. Thankfully, Kite was the exact right person to call for such a job.

"So that's why you're here, big guy... don't worry, I'll help you! I can't heal like my mother, but I can do this at least..." Closing his eyes for a split second, a beautiful, blue flame flickered out of Kite's fingers, and he then proceeded to 'form' the brilliant flames into multiple smaller flames, which he then directed with another motion of the hand. The dancing lights surrounded the weakened girl, spreading warmth and light in the dark and cold night from all sides - these were Azure Flames, the speciality of Kite. Their fuel was Kite's own life force - thanks to being what he was, he had an abundance of life force, and it regenerated quickly too. These small flames were basicially eternal unless something knocked Kite out of his senses.
"Alright, this should warm her up a bit! Keep her close to these small flames, alright? Give me a signal if they get too hot, I'm not the best at adjusting to human temperatures." The male Guardian Beast explained with a friendly, small smile on his face. Then, he looked back over his shoulder, towards the humans that got startled by both the sounds of the giant and the sudden appearance of Kite. Just a few warm fires weren't enough to help this girl... She needed a doctor or healer. Sadly, this wasn't his home world, or the demigod would simply call his mother - but materializing in the human realm wasn't possible for her. And dragging a weakened human into the atmosphere of the Guardian Beast realm was a stupid idea - while generally not harmful to a normal human, human souls got destroyed by breathing their air, and this girl was dangerously close to losing the connection to her body, at least as far as Kite could tell. Was she even human? Heck, he didn't know, but the risk was too big!
"I should try talking to these people. Maybe one of them can help the girl. Shield her and the flames from the wind, alright? I'll be back in a moment, Golem." Kite gave a friendly pat onto one of the metal hands holding the girl, before dashing away through the air - and landing in front of one of the officers, still smiling faintly, and just looking incredibly... inhuman, for someone who should look like a teenager to them.

"No reason to panic. This golem seeks help for someone - is there a doctor around?" Maybe golem wasn't the right word for such a titanic robot, but a 'golem' was the closest thing Kite saw in his homeworld to this giant. For now, it'd have to do as a substitute name, until he found out what the giant was actually called.

Pon's glowing white hues centered on the poor girl that was revealed, his hard metal hands cradling her as softly as could be done. He cared for the lady in many ways, most unfathomable to anyone who laid there preconceptions out before them in judgment. A mere artificial intelligence holding any degree of compassion for a human being? That's the question that would be asked in their mind whether it was outspoken or not, and the answer would be an unsurprising 'no'. Still, what being stood—or rather, floated—in front of the great behemoth of steel was not human, judging books by their thick hardbound cover. He observed the poor sick girl and at least at the most basic level understood the circumstances of the situation. He spoke of help and that's what Pon sought; he held his hands even closer at the mention of a chance. In return, the small boy conjured an azure light that cast its warm glow against the rusted metal of Pon's fingers. With a few deft motions the light evolved into a ring of fire that began to serenade the unconscious form of the girl. Waves of heat wafted inward toward her, hardly capable of being seen, but definitely there. Pon watched intently, wordless and anxious for a sign that she was being helped.

Sounds were coming out of the boys mouth but for the moment Pon's focus was preoccupied with the scene. It took several moments for the subtle sign to appear, and it finally would after almost a minute. The girl's body suddenly flinched, and she gasped in a quick breath. Her breathing which once was shallow and irregular, began to normalize. Relief would flood into the robot's frame, and it would release a sigh of release if it was at all possible, but rather there was no visible change to his appearance. He only shifted an inch or two further curling his hands up around the girl like castle walls to protect the princess in distress. He rescinded them back closer to his chest, giving one last lingering glance in high hopes for her health. It appeared to be working, bringing happiness to the protective titan. Only then did it tune the rest of the world back in, realizing that the human-like boy had wandered off toward the men at arms down below. Conversation was occurring between the two. Was the boy translating his plea for help to them? Pon couldn't hear over the howling winds, but if such a thing was fact, he couldn't be more gracious at this moment. It was a miracle.

That's when the flame were extinguished by an unusually powerful gust of wind. Pon was startled, as even he felt a degree of chill from that. It was eerie, especially considering the wind was travelling into the titan's back. How could it have blown out the flames? The girl shuddered suddenly, emitting a soft sound of discontent as she pulled her body further closer to herself. Worried yet again, Pon began the motions of turning around, in no way subtle or silent. His white-lit eyes peered out into the dark forest he left behind, and as if on cue a monstrous howl emitted from it, piercing all silence in that instance. Then as one cry sounded, consequently a hundred followed in a chorus of demonic cadence. The blades of grass in the field beneath their feet stopped moving, freezing in place as a glacial aura settled over the area. The outer plating of Pon's body crystallized in extremely thin patches of ice, as did the walls of the buildings behind them. Breath became visible, the air more difficult to breathe. Pon let out a tortured hum from the core of its metal shell, and could only think one thing.

They caught up...

Kite was still waiting for an answer - the humans seemed both shocked and startled by him, a strange boy in strange clothes, red with odd markings that nobody in the human realm could read. But before any of the men at arms could regain their composure and actually think about the request of the Guardian Beast, Kite turned around so fast that a few of the men accidentally dropped their guns from getting startled. They weren't exactly equipped to deal with either giant robots or users of azure flames, after all, and also not trained for it. The reason why Kite turned around was simple - something blew out his Azure Flames.
These weren't just flames like any old fire mage could conjure. Azure Fire was rare - Kite was the only known user - and powerful - they burned life force instead of spiritual energy, so their warmth and intensity was especially high. For someone to blow them out needed strong spiritual power - and the cold wind that was now cutting even into Kite, who had a way higher body temperature than most humans, making him quite resilient to the cold. His tone towards the humans actually shifted a bit now - only very slightly, but it had a sense of urgency, and something commanding within it.

"Something is coming... something big." Loud roars or screeches, together with more cold winds. Kite was not surprised to see icing on the golem's body. "Run, humans. All of you, run! Take the civilians and flee - bring them to safety. Hurry!"

With those words, Kite darted forward again, leaving behind a cloud of blue embers and sparkles in the air, as the Demigod rushed through the air and to the side of the robot again. The wind was really doing work on the poor girl - and on the Azure Flame God as well, considering his limited power supply in this 'fake' outer form. He didn't want to transform just yet, though - that might startle the iron giant even more than the things behind them.
"Protect the girl, golem! Whatever is coming, I'll stop them." With those words, Kite slowly raised both of his hands, crossed over as his arms were stretched out completely, and he began chanting - in an ancient language, one that only very few could still speak. The language of the gods - the old Guardian Beast language.
"From within my soul, I call the fires that will burn away the darkness. Let a new dawn be revealed, as I cut through all that is evil - to reveal the Empty Sky!"

A ring of blue flames exploded away from Kite's hands and disappeared - and within each hand, he was now holding a shortsword. The blade and hilt were curiously formed, as if they were malformed or naturally grown instead of forged - with two 'eyes' sitting on the part where each hilt went over into the blade. And even more, both swords had three blades - one longer one in the middle, two shorter ones to the side. Not that they were that much shorter, though. The Empty Skies - a soulbound weapon that belonged to Kite only, infused with the same flames as his entire body. Furthermore, Kite concentrated - and multiple blue flames started erupting out of his body in various places, such as the forehead, his arms, shoulders, and feet, which furiously fought against the icy winds, directly fuelled by Kite now. The unlikely duo faced down the threat now - small man and gigantic golem against whichever foes were attempting to hurt this girl.

"Creatures of darkness! I will give you one warning. Retreat now, or Kite of the Azure Flame shall burn your souls into ash." That boast and threat... seemed rather lackluster, thanks to the lack of emphasis in Kite's voice, but that was just his usual manner of speaking. If someone with as much fire within him as Kite wasn't emotionally very stable and calm, then the results would be incredibly dangerous and volitale.

He did not wait. The police officers aimed their guns at him when he sought their help, now running scared back into their village as forces beyond their comprehension danced outside their borders. The blue flames brought a meager tease of warmth to his charge only to be wisped away by the spirited winds, and now the flame's creator focused his attentions elsewhere. The individual unleashed an oscillation of sweltering energy that even Pon could detect in some deep recess of his being, and then stood like a great wall between him and the army of darkness that marched through the forest toward them. But his showmanship did not thaw the frost that began to crystallize along what hair the girl in his hand had poking out from under her snow cap. The soft brown transformed into a chilled grey, and given more time it would become a snowy white no doubt. This unnatural wintry bite was affecting her much more than any other, and it showed that not Pon was their target, but the innocent female, who's soul seem to attract them like a siren's call. Even if Pon could fend them off, how could he heal the damage that would be done if she were left exposed to this atmosphere much longer? There was only one answer to the machine, and it was the same conclusion that he came to in the first place.

While the blue-flamed hero slung his threats into the cold air, Pon whined a subtle tone as he realized what actions these demons would take. His shift of feet, of course, could not be concealed by the screaming winds, and within seconds the titan was fleeing the scene into the town. The humble gate was obliterated, the militia nearly squashed by a mere stamp as Pon rocketed over them, hurling himself through the main street—the only one wide enough for him to travel down. A cringe-causing shriek came in retaliation to the 'Kite of the Azure Flame', which struck fear into the heart of the titan even from the increasing distance between them. Shortly following, the Hollows revealed themselves. It was like a curtain of shadow had suddenly shrouded the horizon from view and the only light to be seen was that of the dull reflections coming off the eerie masks of the creatures. There were hundreds upon hundreds, each unique like a snowflake, showcasing its own brand of misfortune with sinister curves and points. And one above them all, with a cloak massive enough to eclipse a patch of stars in the sky, let out a most terrible roar that shook the ground and rattled the bones of those within his sweep. Menos Grande.

Like a battle cry, his howl lit the scene alight, as the army swarmed forward in mass like bats. A chaotic harmony of shrill screams overtook even the powerful winds in sound, and their sheer numbers blotted out the sky as they took flight through the air and along the ground. Such numbers were absurd, especially in the real world; under no normal circumstance could this occur, surely. Yet here they defied such an expectation. They would be upon Kite soon, as he need only stand his ground to meet the first wave of hollows within the minute. They were simple, dull, weak; but as a collective even the strongest had to possess some degree of fear from them. As for Pon, he did not know why these monsters were after this girl, nor how to escape them. Hopefully the strange boy would be that answer, or maybe he would be consumed in their path and at most a speed bump. Regret welled up in Pon's metal chest, but did not alter his trajectory in the slightest. She was more important.

So he continued to run, past the town and into the wilderness again.

Well, this was... unexpected. Sure, Kite had fought Hollows before - and worse things than Hollows - but his last dance with an entire small army happened centuries ago. This was just crazy - no wonder that the Golem decided the best course of action was running away! But Kite wouldn't run away. If he had learned anything from his father, then it was to keep the retreat of his allies secure - and as far as he was concerned, this girl and her robotic protector were now his allies and friends. He wouldn't allow even a single Hollow to get past him! But to make sure of that... simply fighting in this form wouldn't be enough. Even the Azure Flames couldn't burn this many targets at once without some more power behind them... And while Kite didn't exactly like using his heightened stage of power, it didn't seem like he'd have a choice today.

"I... tried to warn you. Whatever happens next... Is your own doing..." Kite spread out his arms to his sides as the army began charging - and more Azure Flames seemed to explode out of his body and engulfed him. Before the fires fully concealed his body, a single tear could be seen falling from his left eye, and down to the ground deep underneath the floating figure. The ball of blue fire now even had some black flames within itself - before multiple crescent blades, made out of searing-hot fire, flew out of the figure within the ball, dispersed the flames and crashed right into the first few Hollow. The brilliant light that erupted was incredible - each flame had the ability to devour the Hollows, burning their souls to a crisp. And right there, Kite stood - but something was different. His entire body looked... ragged, distorted - held together on what seemed like scars and sewing marks, looking similiar to a zombie. Another explosion erupted from both hands of the being, as the extra two blades on each Emtpy Sky extended outward, revealing the true gruesome form of the weapons. This wasn't simply Kite of the Azure Flame - instead, he now WAS Azure Flame Kite, a personification of flames.
Instead of words, all that came out of this creature's mouth now was a long, grazzling sigh - this form wasn't able to speak normally. Not because of lowered mental capacities - but because it was virtually made out of fire underneath the skin now, and it didn't have internal organs capable of forming words in modern languages. Even speaking in the old language would be very hard in this form, but at least not impossible.

As the beasts grew closer on the ground and in the air, though, Azure Flame Kite didn't simply sigh - now, he screamed, a deafening roar to counter the roar of countless Hollows. The frame of his was instantly covered in blue flames again that vigorously fought against the cold winds with a heatwave - and with extremely precise, but wild strikes, the fighter sent out wave after wave of destructive blue flames at the Hollows, determined not to let a single monster past him and into the town, or after the Golem. If any targets dared come close enough, then he'd give them a direct sample of the Empty Skies - each blade was sharp and hot enough to cut through any normal Hollow like a warm knife would through butter. From the town and beyond, the spectacle of gigantic, dancing flames could be seen, as they burned not only evil spirits, but also the lands on which they walked - these fires didn't take prisoners, that much was for sure.