Violet Eyes

35: ...To Become the Hero

Danny stepped forward with pure hate and rage lacing his gaze. He gripped Damien's knife tightly in his hand, wanting nothing more than to drive it into Kuroi's neck. The head of the Erebus clan stood his ground, not showing an ounce of fear in his face.

"Where is my daughter?" Kage asked sternly as he held his own hands behind his back.

"Oh, Soul? She's a little busy at the moment." Danny responded as he spun the blade in his fingers. "Besides, I thought you wanted to see me."

"Awfully bold you are. Almost as if you aren't aware that you won't be leaving this room alive." Kuroi growled calmly as he lifted his hand at his side, twisting his arm in the same motion he did before.

Nerissa's eyes suddenly widened as she recognized the gesture, "Danny, he's going to summon shadow puppets!" She yelled out to try and warn him, a second after she yelled three shadow puppets stepped out from the shadows cast on the walls in the room. Danny looked around at them with slight concern on his face. These things had claws, large claws. Danny watched as Kuroi moved his hand and pointed at Danny. The puppets attention all turned to Danny and moved towards him at a determined speed. Danny's eyes widened slightly, but held his ground, waiting for the perfect moment. The puppet close to him pulled its arm back and a vision crashed into Danny. He saw the puppet drag its claw across Danny's throat harshly. When Danny was brought back to reality he reacted instantly and shifted his left foot across the ground as he bent his right knee. He ducked under the claw as his foot collided with the puppets foot, causing it to lose balance and fall forward. Danny brought up the dagger and sent it into the puppets neck. Danny quickly released the grip of the blade and grabbed it with his other hand as he moved his free hand to the puppets stomach. He pushed up with his hand that was on its stomach and the puppet was lifted off the ground. He then flipped the puppet over his head, sending it crashing into the second puppet as it tried to close the distance. The second puppet was sent stumbling backwards as the first slammed onto the ground, immediately fading away on impact.

Danny didn't waste a second as he bolted towards the stumbling puppet with a slight grin on his face. He whipped the knife at the stumbling puppet and it stabbed straight into where its mouth would be, if it had one. The force of the throw caused the puppet to be stuck to the wall for a moment before it faded away, leaving the knife stuck into the wall. Danny continued running towards the blade, knowing that the final puppet was close behind him. Danny leaped up slightly and gripped the handle that was sticking out of the wall as he planted his feet on the wall under it. He grunted slightly as he pushed off with his legs and turned around, the knife was pulled out of the wall and he brought it in front of him. It stabbed into the chest of the last puppet, the force of Danny's weight sending it onto the ground. Danny landed on top of it before he jerked his knife up through the chest of the puppet, cutting it from the chest to the bottom of its chin. The puppet faded away into black wisps before Danny stood up and locked eyes with Kuroi.

"You're gunna have to do better than that." Danny said in a dark tone as his tossed the blade into the air, it flipped once before Danny caught it again. Kuroi's eyes narrowed slightly, wondering if this boy was just being cocky. Danny, on the other hand, knew he wasn't cocky, he was confident, determined.

Kuroi let out a short hum, "It appears I will." He said in a low tone as he lifted his hand upward with two fingers pointed towards the ceiling. Three shadow tendrils lifted from Kage's shadow and snaked around him before he shifted his hand so that the two fingers were pointing at Danny. The tendrils shot towards Danny, way faster than Damien's shadows moved. Another vision crashed into Danny and he saw all the tendrils stabbing into his own heart, all of them disturbingly accurate. Danny was brought back to reality as the tendrils began to close in, Nerissa's eyes growing wide in fear and worry. Danny quickly shifted his weight to his right foot and pivoted his body as he brought up the knife. There was a loud CLANG as the tendrils collided with his blade that he had brought up to protect his heart. The force of the tendrils sent Danny stumbling backwards until he hit the wall with a grunt.