A Fight with your Life on the Line Part 2
Hokusei’s throat screamed horsely in bitter resentment. He yanked roughly on his newly stained sword, freeing it from the lifeless corpse that toppled beneath his feet.
His gaze swept past the 5 remaining Cannibals, before he stared directly towards Satou. The disgustingly familiar face was about 30 feet away from him. Those bloodstained eyes were curved into sinister crescents, while the mouth that had been sullied with human blood sported a carefree smirk. Urged by Hokusei’s recent cry, Satou threw a momentary glance towards the desperate man.
The two of them briefly met eyes. Upon contact, Hokusei growled a primal roar, his eyes surging with rage. In contrast, Satou looked on coldly, his expression displaying a sense of callous indifference, although under that guise was a twinkling insanity that festered on the madness around him.
Satou smirked coldly before he broke the fleeting moment of transparency. He turned back around to face his current opponent- a wide eyed, and all too obviously fear filled redheaded girl. In his eyes, the girl’s remaining shield posed little threat, but he found it fascinating- Cher was perfect in his eyes. Ripping up, tearing, crushing, and finally killing people was fun, but in order to truly enhance the experience, one needed the perfect… prey.
Cher was the perfect prey.
Without so much as another parting glance, Satou completely blocked out Hokusei’s existence within his mind.
In the face of this display of callous disregard, Hokusei’s blood boiled. His eyes seethed red in rage while he prepared to charge at the smirking man. Unfortunately, his intent was not realized. The remaining cannibals, whether it be in response to their dead comrade, or the obvious shift in their Boss’s mood, all focused their current attention to him. Their eyes glowed red in blood lust, as they sauntered over. Their canines were bared wide in hunger and sharpened with killing intent.
Hokusei bitterly grimaced. His previous running start, had come to an abrupt screeching halt. He looked on bitterly at the approaching enemies, fully aware of his body’s current condition. He braced for the coming assault, just as the first Cannibal lunged at him.
***
As if an unspoken command had been uttered, throughout the whole battlefield - the fighting had split into two main group.
One group was Satou and Cher. They flitted around and danced wildly in the open space, a dangerous game of cat and mouse in the process. At first glance, it looked like an even battle- both sides exchanging glances while at the same time, counterattacking. In truth, it was a one sided assault. Rather than battle, it was more like Satou was playing with Cher. His sword danced wildly, seemingly without direction, but close enough to warrant danger to Cher. Her shield occasionally struck metal, but most of her attention was focused on dodging.
Without even realizing it, her body was being controlled and maneuvered, like a puppet, whose strings danced to the whim of its puppeteer. Their battle carried them all the way over to the other side of the room, to an open space close to where the Library entrance was located.
On the other side of the room, was a sole figure resisting fiercely under the brunt of the combined strength of 5 delirious and crazed Cannibals. Hokusei weaved in and out of clawing arms and chopping teeth as he struggled both to maintain his strength and prevent his lethargic body from toppling over due to collected fatigue. His body grew continually weaker and weaker, the effects of a certain magic skill already wearing off.
Under the thin piece of fabric that poorly masked his face and mouth, Satou gritted his teeth, determination his only stepping stone in this life threatening battle.
In between the Cannibal group and Satou, Hina stood in the middle, both unable and undecided. Her current mana supply limited her attack potential, while at the same time, she was mentally torn over the clearly struggling and physically fatigued President and Cher- who could only frantically dodge in fear under the pressure of Satou’s mad attacks.
Her inability caused her much anguish as she resentfully bit her lip while her eyes scanned both battles simultaneously. After much hesitation all within the span of 3 seconds, she dashed off, towards the sound of hungry moans and the grinding of burnt flesh.
****
Staggering back, Hokusei barely dodged an open set of canines that had been aimed towards his throat.
Even before he could breath out in relief though, another Cannibal lunged at him, this time, its hands held open in claw formation, revealing a set of badly maintained nails that had been sharpened to a dangerous point. He clumsily sidestepped out of harm's way, just as his sword blurred, and he launched a desperate counterattack.
Swoosh!
The sound of flesh against metal confirmed his success. His slash severed the left wrist of a cannibal, but the half-monster, half-man barely registered the pain, and instead merely continued its endless string of attacks.
A swipe here, a lunge there, a set of bleeding gums in front, claws at the back, an oddly bent kick at the side- slowly but surely the lone Hokusei was being overwhelmed under their combined might. Without their primal sense of preservation guiding their minds, the cannibals were able to focus all out in attack, much to the anguish of the President. He struggled desperately, fighting through the ever growing sluggish feeling in his body while his eyes scanned tersely for any opportunity. His decreasing stamina, the growing feeling of lethargy, even the onset of blurry vision that had begun to overtake him… he did not want to face reality, but he knew that Cielle’s earlier magic skill had begun to wear off.
While it was an unfortunate realization, he could not help but recall the incident from a few moments ago. The incident, and the individual who had restored his strength in the first place. About the familiar girl who had given him the chance to fight.
****
While Cher and Hina fought, Cielle ran through the cafeteria, past moaning cubicles and half conscious students, she ran until she saw a familiar face from childhood.
Brief memories surfaced, the type she would have rather forgotten, but she forced those all down as she focused on her current situation. Her moving feet came to an abrupt stop as she reached the familiar face.
The barely conscious figure of a bespectacled youth lay sprawled along the floor. Besides him were other people- a collection of 2 individuals who showed no further signs of movement.
Hokusei’s hazy mind barely acknowledged the new presence besides him. Through slit eyes and a screen of haze, he made out the familiar face of a stoic girl, whose reddened cheeks and panting expression felt out of place with the images in his memory. It was Cielle.
Her sudden appearance had brought on confusion, but also a lingering sense of relief. The first thing that popped in his mind was an apology. Images from his past surfaced. Memories, more fragments really. Of a boy, of two girls. An old elementary school, friends, enemies, childhood stupidity. Bits and pieces that filled his heart with regret and unabashed shame.
At first, Hokusei wanted to talk to her. He wanted to apologize, to say a greeting, to make conversation. He wanted to do trivial things, but almost instantly, his mind refocused on the current situation. The fire that loomed in the darkness in front of him brought on an onslaught of different questions. What was the current situation like? Who was fighting right now? Was Hide here? Was Hina here? Was Hina in danger? He wanted to ask, but couldn’t. His body simply refused to obey. His mouth simply refused to move.
He could only lie there, in a pool of his own delusion and angst as he struggled to sort out his own feelings and talk. Instead, he opted to listen. With barely functioning ears, he tried to make out the words Cielle was currently mumbling.
“... trouble…. Won’t last long…. help…”
The softer than snow voice came off as broken and choppy in Hokusei’s hazed mind. He could only wonder as to what her real intent was.
“..ue.. mini… eal…”
Cielle’s soft exchange of words continued for a while before they abruptly faded into the darkness. Instead, taking their place was a blob of blue that suddenly floated out from Cielle’s opened palm.
The magic lingered there for a moment, floating freely in the air besides her, before it darted forward. The light blue mass of semi-liquid flew and enveloped the whole of Hokusei’s body.
Cielle waited expectantly for the familiar process to start. For the mass of blue to melt into his body and fix whatever illness was bothering him. Instead, Cielle’s hopeful expression was eventually crushed, as the mass of blue stayed stubbornly ontop of him, like a layer of dead skin that simply refused to fall off.
In a fit of frustration, Cielle recalled the mass of blue back besides her.
Cielle’s expression which morphed into an unsatisfied pout, quickly disappeared just as the magic before her slowly dissipated into the air around her. She then pondered for a while, recalling and thinking what to do. The brief thought of, “What would Hide do?” popped into her mind, before it was instantly replaced by a sudden twinge of memory and the slight touch of inspiration.
She knelt down besides Hokusei’s prone body. The brief instant of hesitation was painfully obvious, but she acted as if nothing had happened as she stretched her open palms out towards his chest, like a priest getting ready to give his blessing.
Hokusei watched the following process. After a few seconds of agonizingly long silence, a faint white light illuminated his body. He felt strength return to his veins. It was slow at first, merely a trickle of power in an ocean of helplessness, but slowly and surely, his strength flowed with increasing vigor.
The process was unexpectedly tiresome to Cielle, and took a fair bit amount of time (almost over a minute). She reasoned that this was due to the neglect of this particularly forgotten skill, but nonetheless, it was the only arsenal available in her pocket.
Before long, Hokusei regained enough strength to sit up without much difficulty. His skin retained a healthier shade of pale scarlet, while his once blurry vision had lightened. Despite these improvements though, he had not made a full recovery. Obvious signs of the Wisp’s effects were still present, but his condition was noticeably better than before. A fraction- maybe about half of his total strength had recovered.
Regardless of the drawbacks, he was nonetheless immensely thankful. The person before him was like a benevolent angel who had given him the strength to fight. A magnificent sage who had restored his body and will.
He looked up at Cielle with widened eyes. His first instinct was to thank the girl, but under the pressure of her unchanging- almost hypnotic stare, any such intentions quickly crumbled and he reflexively looked away. After a brief moment’s hesitation, he was able to straighten himself out and observe the current situation.
Reinforcements had shown up, but the situation had taken a dire turn of events. Hide was nowhere to be seen, a shield wielding girl- one whom he easily recognized, was currently fighting Satou, and all around them, spires of flame floated endlessly, while 6 or so charred black monstrosities roamed and attacked. Glancing around, he was shocked to discover that Hina was also there, near the back and had a look of extreme concentration plastered on her face.
The scene before him prompted him to immediately stand and filled his mind with the intention to help. The moment he steadied himself on his two feet though, his knees instantly buckled, and he was once again brought down to the ground. He grimaced scornfully, directing unhinged anger at his own weakness.
Although Cielle had healed him, he fully understood, with both his mind and body, that he hadn’t fully recovered. Yet, that did not stop him.
He once again stood, this time steadily supporting himself with the base of his sword. As Hokusei rewrapped a piece of thin fabric around his face, he glanced down at his friends. One of them had unfortunately died, but the remaining two were still alive- albeit in a state of physical deterioration.
He glanced back up at Cielle, wondering whether or not she could heal them. When he did, it was only then that he noticed that Cielle wasn’t alone. Besides her, Emiko stood with a piece of fabric over her thinly expression.
He exchanged glances with her, momentarily overcome with joy that she was still alive before he refocused, and glanced back down on Cielle.
After a moment’s hesitation, he finally asked, “Um… Cielle, could you heal these guys as well?” He indicated at his fallen party members.
Cielle looked at them for a moment, before she brusquely nodded. Seeing her agreement, Hokusei’s tight expression sighed in relief. Immediately afterwards, he began a one sided conversation.
“Things aren’t looking to well out there.” He said, glancing out into the battle. “ That girl and Hina will eventually be overwhelmed if things keep progressing like this. That’s why, I’ll go to help. But, um, if it’s not too much of a bother… Cielle, can I also ask you to heal an additional person?”
Cielle looked up from her current process of healing, and stared directly at Hokusei. After a moment’s silence which lasted not even a fraction of a second, she finally nodded, agreeing.
Hokusei’s expression lightened once more, as he continued. He pointed to a certain corner of the cafeteria and said, “Over there should be where Miki- our group’s skill possessor is. She’s probably knocked out right now, but we might need her power, so it would be good if you healed her, I mean, um… if that’s alright with you…”
Without another word, Cielle once again nodded before she turned back around and continued healing healing Hokusei’s friends. Her turned shoulder and obvious disregard for him was clearly obvious from her current mannerisms.
“Then,” Hokusei turned towards Emiko. “Emiko, you stay with her and protect her. It would be bad if anything happens.”
“Y-yes! Leave it to me, President!” Emiko spouted out clumsily, her cheeks flaring up as she stared directly into the youth’s serious expression. Sensing what Hokusei was about to do, Emiko then added, rather shyly, “And… um, P-President…”
“Yes?” He questioned gently, his back already turned back around to face the rest of the cafeteria.
“... Please be careful.”
Hokusei momentarily turned to look over at Emiko, but did not say anything. After a brief moment, he refocused on the scene before him with a sigh. His breath still caught in his throat, his legs still wobbled, and his vision was still hazy, but he did not care. With a forced smile, Hokusei practically threw his body forward, and with a running start, entered the fray of flayed limbs and frenzied mouths.
****
Back in real time, Hokusei was still locked in a battle with the cannibals.
He had been battered, bit, and scratched at. The damage he had taken was not light at all, and as if to prove it, the crafted armor he wore was scratched and torn all over, with varying levels of blood stain across its plate.
Fortunately though, not everything was bad. He had just managed to strike down another cannibal, just as 2 new shadows approached his back. At first, his tension rose as he began to expect the worst, but it quickly disappeared upon realizing who those two individuals were.
His friends, people from his group. It was the teacher and the remaining twin. Although their conditions weren’t optimal, and the twin - Kathy Bernard- was suffering from emotional damage, it was still a huge relief to receive additional support.
Hokusei’s pale countenance which spoke much about his current condition, but seeing his friends joining in on the battle, new vigor and determination filled his spirit. In addition, he found a familiar face smudged up against the wall.
Looking closely, a wash of mixed emotions overwhelmed him as he instantly recognized Hina’s sweat plastered face. She looked over towards him, before a column of fire gushed out and practically incinerated a leg off a cannibal. Unfortunately, the cannibal shrugged it off and continued limping forward, but there was a new found sense of security in Hokusei, knowing that there was a strong ( and familiar) force behind his back.
Hokusei’s fight was smoothly progressing and his efforts were bearing fruit.
On the other side of the room, a fierce battle was raging on.
A single minded assault. A flurry of continues attacks. And endless torrent of bombardments confronted Cher as she twisted and turned, dodged and rolled. She expended her body to its fullest capabilities, all in the sole effort to avoid serious injury from Satou’s blade.
Her desperation intermingled with fear pushed her body beyond its normal limits. It was to the extent where she gained two new stats, [Flexibility], and [Kinesthesis]. Of course, she did not have time to enjoy this small pleasure since a moment’s hesitation would lead to a stab to the side, or a jap to the eye.
With Satou’s full attention focused solely on her, and with no further assistance available from Hina, Cher’s situation was not at all a light one. She knew her job well, as well as her current limits. She was incapable of killing him. It wasn’t a matter of emotion or hesitation- if given the opportunity, Cher would have killed Satou twice over- it was a matter of physical limitations. She was simply overwhelmed by his ferocity and raw physical strength.
She did not know what level Satou was at, but going by stats alone, his was greater by a wide margin.
As such, her current job was to stall time. To survive long enough, until Hina and the rest finished off the cannibals, and together, they would bring an end to the mad man. She held this faint glimmer of hope, as she dodged and avoided every single attack.
Throughout this battle, Cher had not suffered a single injury. In return though, her stamina was practically evaporating away, as she expended more and more limited energy.
On the other side of this assault, Satou’s confidence only continued to soar.
Going into the battle, he was already fairly certain of his victory, but the longer and longer this battle dragged on, the greater his ego inflated. His strikes became bolder, more grandiose, as his mood eventually shifted from bloodthirsty battle to an amusing pastime.
That’s right, to Satou, this battle had turned into nothing more than a way to kill time.
He slashed a wide arc in front of him, and just as he expected, Cher jumped far back, like a swerving toad.
With a smirk, he removed a hand from his pocket, bringing out a collection of small tiny marbles. A bemused smile plastered on his face, he threw the marbles towards Cher’s direction.
His dexterity stat wasn’t high, actually, it had barely increased from when he was level 1, but his goal was not accuracy nor precision, but simply chaos. A haphazard throw in her general direction sent the marbles sprawling across the sky and the floor.
Cher’s eyes widened in short surprise before she immediately jumped back and away from harm’s way. In doing so, she allowed the thrown marbles to thunk uselessly on the floor.
With narrow eyes, she watched as those same marbles melted the floor they landed on. A bitter grimace colors Cher’s face as the image of her own melting body floats to her consciousness.
From far ahead, Satou gloats triumphantly, as he fishes out another collection of marbles from his pocket. “My skill’s pretty great isn’t it? It can even do convenient stuff like this~”
He tosses the marbles once more. This time, Che fully anticipates the action, and side steps more than five feet away from her original position. The sweat on her face flies freely in the air as momentum and air whisks it away.
“Oi, oi, Stop dodgin’! I won’t be able to hear any screaming if none of these hit you!” He grabs another handful of marbles and dashes forward. His blade leads the charge, making the strike an easy enough attack for Cher to deflect or counter with her shield, but she does not do so. The fear of melting away her only weapon is too great of a feeling.
Instead, she jumps uselessly out of the way, but Satou is relentless.
“[Magic Clad]!” He chants a short prayer before tossing the collection of marbles towards Cher’s face.
The distance between them, and Cher’s current momentum is too great for her to dodge. As the marbles whistle through the air and towards her face, she makes a desperate ploy, and yanks the fabric clamped to her face upon instinct.
She blocks the aimed marbles with the thin veil of cotton, before she drops the whole thing on to the floor with due haste. Just as quickly, the fabric melts away in a pool of acidic yellow. Beneath it, the floor also melts.
She watches as the fabric corrodes away with vacant eyes. Strangely enough, while everything else around it melts, the marble itself is completely intact. Not a scratch upon its glistening surface.
“HaHAHAhA!” Satou’s sharp cackle brings Cher’s attention back to reality. She glances up at the distorted face, with its crescent eyes and ugly twisted scowl. “Oi, what’s wrong, what’s wrong, Cher? Why haven’t you been attacking?”
Another slash. Cher barely avoids.
“Come on, put some more damn spirit into this! You could die if you’re not careful, you know?”
Satou lunges out with his sword, while Cher, in response, twists her neck at an impossible angle and dodges by a hairsbreadth. Following up, Satou’s empty palm rushes towards her face. The fear of melting, of her face falling off and corroding in a bubble of acid, moves Cher’s body to react. Her neck cranes once again at an impossible angle, just as her feet kick out from underneath her, and hit Satou squarely in his chest, causing the man to stumble helplessly back.
“Guh-” A micro expression of a scowl surfaces on his face, just before it disappears, only to be replaced by that overconfident smirk of his. “That’s right, that’s right. Make this interesting for me. It won’t be fun if you don’t struggle!”
Cher tries to ignore him. She tries to block out his taunts, his jeers, his constant berating. Hearing his voice alone brings a cold shiver of fear in her mind. His voice reminds her too much of the past. Of her times spent in dreary starvation, in a classroom that smelled like piss, sweat, and blood.
Dozens of marbles- wave upon wave fly endlessly in the air. The brief question of where does he fit all those marbles pops up in her mind, only to be subdued by the instinctual need to dodge.
So that’s what Cher does. She dodges. She dodges each marble, each sword thrust, even the occasional leg kick (for fear that Satou’s shoes also held the ability to corrode concrete and melt flesh). She dodges with irate desperation. Of course, not everything is dodgeable. The constant flow of varied attacks and the strain on her mind play a big toll on Cher’s ability. In the end, she can’t help but block a stray sword slash, or an incoming marble.
Slowly but surely, her shield corrodes away, worn down and destroyed by Satou’s broken skill. Of course, it starts small at first. Hide’s designed shield, as well as its system characteristics as a real weapon cause the corrosion to lessen, to slow almost to a crawl. But one strike, eventually becomes two. two becomes four, and four becomes eight. Each strike builds up and build upon the damage from the previous strike.
Eventually, after blocking what felt like the 100th attack, Cher is forced to throw down her weapon.
Now, she truly was defenseless. In the face of Satou’s confident smirk she can only pale in fear. She noticed she has stopped sweating a while ago. She might have lost too much water, or the fluid she needed to sweat all congregated in her tear brimmed eyes. Cher did not know. She was too busy to think about useless things like that.
For one, her attention never left Satou. A swirling darkness of bitter emotion, this time, the most palpable of them fear. The manifestation of all these dark and swirling thoughts was Satou. A man who confidently sauntered forward.
Cher could do nothing but press her back against the wall. She did not even notice up until now that she had long since been cornered.
“Oi, oi, what’s wrong Cher?” Another question. Another maniacal smirk. “Are you already done? Are you already out of options?”
Cher’s eyes scan the cafeteria. From the distance, she could see Hina still battling it out with the remaining cannibals. There were still three of them left. She wondered why was it taking them so long? Why couldn’t they hurry? The passing thought of how long had she been fighting flashed through her mind, only to be followed by a bitter realization.
It had been less than 2 minutes. Cher could not stall for enough time. Cher had failed her job.
“You know Cher,” Satou lightly spoke, his face temporarily morphing into a thoughtful smile. “In truth, I’m actually quite surprised at your growth. Who knew you could get so… so good in as less than 3 weeks. It’s really quite surprising.”
The mock compliment did not go to deaf ears, but for some reason, it only made Cher’s growing anxiety increase.
“You’ve gotten so strong, and I’m happy. After all, if you’re strong, that means you’re somewhat of a high level right? I can’t wait, your experience will be very delicious to devour. HAhahaAHha!”
Satou licked his lips perversely as he stared at the end of his sword. He imagined an invisible dew drop falling off its tip and melting the floor beneath it. “For a coward like you, this was quite a valiant effort.”
Cher’s eyes shake, he was only 5 paces away from her.
“For a weakling like you, this was quite an enviable struggle.”
Her knees wobble, he was down to 3 paces.
“For your pathetic existence, death by me is a luxury y’know?”
Her shoulders tremble, he was at 2 paces.
At 1 pace away from Cher, Satou’s march abruptly stops. His smile morphs into a hideous smirk. “For a backstabber like you, dying for your “friends” is pretty hilarious, y’know.”
Her ears ring. Her eyes dilate.
“Betrayal is in your blood. The cafeteria, then my group, I’m wondering whether or not given the opportunity, would you betray your current group as well?”
“....”
“Hahaha, I guess the issue with you though, isn’t if, but rather when, am I right?”
“....”
“It’s an interesting thing to think about. Someone like you, you’d probably stab your friends if it meant you could live, right?”
“....”
“Afterall, that’s what you are.”
“...p…”
“A backstabber.”
“...op…”
“A traitor.”
“...stop…”
“A betrayer.”
“STOP!”
Cher’s body suddenly bolts forward. Her eyes were not masked by the tinge of fear from before, instead, a blood red anger overcomes her. Her feet barely touched the ground before she was on top of him.
Satou let out a surprised groan during the impact, just as his feet left the ground and he is hurled 5 feet into the air, before he crashed down on the tiled floor with a back breaking crack. He does not even have the opportunity to recover. His outstretched arms are held in place to the ground. A pair of dirt stained thighs pressing down on them, not allowing for any motion or resistance.
Cher sits on top of his chest, a look of absolute rage masks her usual expression. She glowered menacingly at the person below her.
The smirk that barely registers in her mind, sends her in a fit of fury.
THUMP
A fist comes crashing down. A crack resonates in her ears. Blood gushes out from a broken nose. The body below her jolts from the impact.
“Gufu-”
Before he could let out a another word, another fist lands down. He feels a row of teeth shake and loosen. The metalic taste of blood so vibrant it makes him hungry.
Another fist. This one opens up a cut directly below his right eye. A fist follows that one, opening up a bloody cut above his left eye.
A mix of shame and unhindered fury overtake Cher’s mind. Her hands move without her knowledge. Before long, they are stained red with blood- her own and his, but she does not stop. Continue. More, more, more. She was in constant motion, fist after fist, bone crunching sound after bone crunching sound. She did not stop.
After a while, her barrage halted. She pants hard, and lowers her hands to look down at the person in front of her.
Satou’s battered face, barely recognizable through the thick veil of blood is smiling. One eye is so battered and bruised, he cannot see out of it, but he squints with the other. The hazy figure of the redhead above her only widens that smile. A set of canines, most of his teeth were missing, but he did not care. He continued to smile.
After a while, a torrent of blood, wrenches out from Satou’s parted mouth, it stains the floor beneath his head, and the blood slowly trickles outward, reaching all the way to his open palms.
“Haha…” A soft chuckle, as if he had heard a quiet joke at the library. “HAhahahaHAHA” The soft chuckle turns into manic cackling.
He continues to laugh, causing his whole body to vibrate. This only worsens the wounds on his face, but Satou does not care. The taste of his own blood exhilarates his mind.
The laugh is annoying. The laugh is irritating. The laugh pisses Cher off. Her anger once again resurfaces, and before long, she finds herself punching him relentlessly.
But the laughter does not stop. The torrent of cackling which completely dwarfs the pain filled moans and even the sound of her own heavy panting, is relentless and ever present. Even the usual squelching of battered flesh and cracking of broken bones does not register in her mind. Only the sensation. Only the sensation that whatever it was she beat on, was undoubtedly breaking.
Yet, why does the laughter not stop?
Cher keeps punching. Over and over. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Her fists do not stop. They start to hurt, the knuckles bloated and bled, but she does not stop. Her wrists started to hurt, a soft stinging sensation indicating she was punching incorrectly, but still, they do not stop. Always, left, and right, left and right, a monotonous action filled with raw emotion.
The anger that overtook her slowly makes way for a new type of emotion. As the laughter only grows louder, a sense of unease wells up within her. An uncertainty. Was she really killing this man? How long would it take? Why was he not dead yet?
An unease, uncertainty, weariness, fear. These swirling emotions take control of her heart, and culminate in an abrupt silence. The laughter finally stopped. Yet Cher’s fists do not. They keep moving. They keep hitting.
Thud, thud, thud, squelch, thud.
Broken bones and face matter. She is pretty sure splinters of bone are now stuck in her raw knuckles, but still those arms kept moving. Was he dead? Cher did not know, but something compelled her to keep hitting.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, squelch, thud, thud, crack, thud, thud.
Endless repetition, after what seemed like an eternity, her fists finally lift off. She glances down at the mess of red beneath her.
She does not recognize it, but she confirms one thing as she continues to stare; He was still alive.
A raspy noise echoes in his flared nostrils.
A slightly parted mouth that oozes out blood breaths unsteadily in and out.
It was amazing in a sense. This person, whose face does not look like a face, was still alive. It was an amazing display of human perseverance, but it only served to send a chill down Cher’s spine.
“Uu-” A low rumble escapes from those barely recognizable lips. It causes Cher’s shoulders to stiffen while her expression morphs into horrified shock.
“...ic… ad”
She could not make out the words it had spoken, but an unearthly premonition of primal fear takes over.
In the next instant, an open palm grabs her right arm, sending a cold chill down her back. The hand that seizes her is stained and covered with blood, blood that oozed down from the Not-a-face’s face and stained the floor underneath him.
The same face makes a barely recognizable smirk, as it repeats, this time, in a much more audible voice, “[Magic Clad],”
Instantly, a piercing pain jolts throughout Cher’s body. She screams, but the noise does not register in her ears. She knows, her body instinctively knows, her nervous system that’s constantly overworking her pain receptors know- her arm is melting.
She tries to free herself, jerking her arm up, but that only makes the pain worse. It only causes the blood- the acid to spread further out. She can’t help but scream once more.
Amidst that screaming, the laughter resumes. This time, a familiar cackle. One that doesn’t even register in Cher’s overloaded ears.
Satou’s grip on her arm tightens. It was then that Cher noticed that the acid had already eaten away the first layer of skin. It was now corroding her arm muscles.
Satou’s upper body jerks upward. He sits upright, while Cher feebly crumples at his lap, her arm spasming constantly. It pains her to realize, but she could no longer feel the fingers on her right hand.
While all this is happening, Satou never once loosens his grip. Instead, he nonchalantly riffles through his pocket using his free hand, before pulling out a red vial.
He downs the vial in an instant. The bloating in his face lessens, and he regained vision in his other eye. But he does not stop there. He pulls out another red vial. He gulps that down as well, his face now recognizable, albeit through a heavy veil of blood- his own and Cher’s.
Eventually, Satou pulls himself up and stands. He hauls Cher with him, pulling her up by the strands of flesh and muscle on her melting arm. He noticed that the corrosion is slow going. Despite taking a time that would have killed a normal person by now, the acid had only eaten away at half her upper arm.
Satou shrugs this fact off. It did not matter how long it took. In the end, the result will still be the same.
He incircles Cher’s neck with his free arm, all the while maintaining the grip in his other hand. He begins to limp towards the center of the room. His gaze scans the cafeteria in an instant. He discovers that all of his underlings are dead. This irritates Satou- not because he cared for them, but because his exp was stolen. They were rightfully his. He had raised them, but someone else had taken them.
It was so annoying, that he could not help but tighten his grip on her arm. By this point, he had reached bone.
“You should have killed me…” A raspy chuckle escapes his horse throat, only for it to whisper in Cher’s ears. Despite that, he does not think for a second she heard him. Her screaming was simply too loud.
A little further ahead, Hina, the President, and the others, were still a fair distance away, but they were making short work of that gap. Soon, they would be upon them. Satou had no choice but to use Cher as a hostage. In fact, that was his original plan.
“You should have killed me…” He repeats once more, this time for his own amusement. “Why were you so weak? Those punches did not even hurt? Why did you not kill me?”
He endlessly questions, but he knew he was not going to receive an answer. He knew, but he asked anyway. He was bored. Those punches from before felt like light taps. The only exhilaration he felt was the fresh taste of his own blood, but that too had faded.
The acid is climbing up her arm now. In a little while, it will pass the elbow, and move further up to devour the rest of her body.
Satou laughs dryly upon discovering this, but his limp forward does not stop. He soon sees Hina- that annoying flame conjuring girl. He sees her prepping her magic with a desperate look on her face. Satou reacts by tightening his grip on her neck, indicating full well the consequences of her actions.
Hina hesitates. The person besides her - The President, also hesitates.
‘I’ll kill that girl’ Satou thinks. ‘I’ll kill the fire magic girl first, then I’ll kill the president. Afterwards, I can kill Cher, then everybody else in this room can follow.’
He continues to step forward. The numbness in his body is clearly defined now. He can’t even feel the floor beneath him. Yet, he does not stop. He shuffles his feet forward, intent on his goal.
From the corner of his eye, he could see others. A group of six, arriving from the corner of the room. One of them was the other intruder- a girl with long black hair that covered most of her face. The other was the library committee member. He does not recognize the others, except for the girl with the wizard hat. That one was trouble.
“I’ll kill them later,” He mumbles softly to himself. His throat was too tired to laugh, and his mouth hurt to smile.
He continues walking, one step at a time, over towards Hina.
He does not know how long these last few steps took him, and he does not care. There was no sense of urgency, only a feeling of eventuality. He looks up at the girl’s expression once more, only to be surprised when he sees a set of saucer sized eyes.
Her expression looked surprised. Why? Was she shocked to see how close I was to her? So close she was to her own death?
Just then, he heard a quick set of taps- almost like footsteps- except they were getting louder and louder. He wanted to turn around to check, and that’s what he attempted, but even before he could twist his neck, the distinct sound of metal against flesh filled his ears.
****
Swoosh!
“... Eh?”
A dumb sound leaked out from Satou’s agape mouth just before the first lines of blood made themselves visible on his neck. In no time, those faint lines grew and surged forth, finally culminating in a flowing river of blood that seemingly gushed endlessly as the top half of Satou’s neck began sliding to the left.
Even without the confirmation given from the [Fatal Blow] window panel that appeared in front of my eyes, I could already tell that Satou’s life, in this moment, at this instant, caused by my own direct actions, had ended.
I did not feel regret, nor the burden of taking a life. It was all a physical experience. The act of moving my arm, the act of my dagger slashing through flesh, the act of [dissect] activating at that instant, it was as if the turmoil and mental anguish that I’ve carried for these past few weeks were all for nothing.
Killing was easy.
Finally, after what felt like an excruciatingly long amount of time, his head toppled to the floor, leaving behind faint traces of blood upon impact. It rolled helplessly to the side, almost at the same instant when Satou’s rigid, upright figure finally toppled forward, landing chest first into a pool of his own congregated blood.
My body continued to move forward though, and I caught the falling Cher with outstretched hands. I made sure to avoid her melting arm though. The corrosion had already excelled to the point where bone was visible, and it only continued to spread. It had already reached her hand, and was now making its way up her right forearm. Eventually, it will pass the elbow and proceed to the main body.
This scared me.
I do not know what limit Satou’s ability had. Will it continue to progress until it corroded everything? Will it actually ever stop? Does it even have a limit?
These questions popped up in my head, and without hesitation, I took out a red vial from my back pocket. I set Cher’s whimpering figure onto the cafeteria floor, just as I funneled the entire vial into her slightly parted lips.
“... It’s no good…” After a while, I let out a dejected sigh.
The potion only arbitrarily brought up her hp, but it did not stop the corrosion. In fact, as the corrosion continued, Cher’s hp steadily decreased. I do not know what will kill her first, hp loss, or the corrosion.
I pulled out another potion, this time, instead of oral intake, I directly spread the red substance onto her open wound. It did not work. A hissing sound resonated in my ears, as the red liquid evaporates upon contact with the acid.
By the time I confirmed this second failure, Cielle reached my current location. Glancing up, I saw a heavily panting girl with flushed cheeks and messy, obsidian hair. Even before I could say anything, she had already conjured up a blob of [Blue Gemini], and soon after, it enclosed in on Cher’s growing wound.
It worked for a while. The corroded parts of her arm heal and repair for a short while, but in the end, it was a futile effort. The healed parts slowly damage again, and even blue gemini starts melting. The acid melted away Cielle’s skill and we were once again back to square one.
Cielle’s expression paled horribly, while the person behind her- her sister, Hina - had tears running down her cheeks. Hina tried her own magic, [Lesser Heal], but in the end, it was even less effective than [Blue Gemini].
Our only option was gone. We could not rely on magic. As long as the acid remained, Cher would undoubtedly die. Honestly, the only reason why Cher wasn’t dead yet was because of her high stats in resistance. That resistance was slowly crumbling. Soon the acid would eat up her entire arm, then her shoulders, eventually reaching her heart.
Cher will die.
If I do not do something, Cher will die.
Then, in my mind, there was only one option left. Only one option available to us. Only one option I could think off.
The dagger in my hand. Efhermet’s Dagger. It was a tool meant for combat, but for now, it will do.
I raised the blade slowly, its obsidian husk catching the light of the fluorescent bulbs. I stare at Cher for a moment. Her face was pale, her sweat glistened, and her expression contorted in pain. She was not screaming, she was only whimpering. Soft, almost imperceptible sounds that resembled that of a dying puppy.
Without anymore hesitation, My blade dropped, [Dissect] activated, and Cher’s arm severed at the elbow.
Not even a scream came out of her mouth. Just a sad, soft, pain filled whimper. A whimper that died out within the darkness of this sparsely lit room.
****
Author's Note: Probably the longest chapter for this fic so far, hoped you guys liked it.
If you liked the chapter, or this story in general, please rate/review. I appreciate it.
Hokusei’s throat screamed horsely in bitter resentment. He yanked roughly on his newly stained sword, freeing it from the lifeless corpse that toppled beneath his feet.
His gaze swept past the 5 remaining Cannibals, before he stared directly towards Satou. The disgustingly familiar face was about 30 feet away from him. Those bloodstained eyes were curved into sinister crescents, while the mouth that had been sullied with human blood sported a carefree smirk. Urged by Hokusei’s recent cry, Satou threw a momentary glance towards the desperate man.
The two of them briefly met eyes. Upon contact, Hokusei growled a primal roar, his eyes surging with rage. In contrast, Satou looked on coldly, his expression displaying a sense of callous indifference, although under that guise was a twinkling insanity that festered on the madness around him.
Satou smirked coldly before he broke the fleeting moment of transparency. He turned back around to face his current opponent- a wide eyed, and all too obviously fear filled redheaded girl. In his eyes, the girl’s remaining shield posed little threat, but he found it fascinating- Cher was perfect in his eyes. Ripping up, tearing, crushing, and finally killing people was fun, but in order to truly enhance the experience, one needed the perfect… prey.
Cher was the perfect prey.
Without so much as another parting glance, Satou completely blocked out Hokusei’s existence within his mind.
In the face of this display of callous disregard, Hokusei’s blood boiled. His eyes seethed red in rage while he prepared to charge at the smirking man. Unfortunately, his intent was not realized. The remaining cannibals, whether it be in response to their dead comrade, or the obvious shift in their Boss’s mood, all focused their current attention to him. Their eyes glowed red in blood lust, as they sauntered over. Their canines were bared wide in hunger and sharpened with killing intent.
Hokusei bitterly grimaced. His previous running start, had come to an abrupt screeching halt. He looked on bitterly at the approaching enemies, fully aware of his body’s current condition. He braced for the coming assault, just as the first Cannibal lunged at him.
***
As if an unspoken command had been uttered, throughout the whole battlefield - the fighting had split into two main group.
One group was Satou and Cher. They flitted around and danced wildly in the open space, a dangerous game of cat and mouse in the process. At first glance, it looked like an even battle- both sides exchanging glances while at the same time, counterattacking. In truth, it was a one sided assault. Rather than battle, it was more like Satou was playing with Cher. His sword danced wildly, seemingly without direction, but close enough to warrant danger to Cher. Her shield occasionally struck metal, but most of her attention was focused on dodging.
Without even realizing it, her body was being controlled and maneuvered, like a puppet, whose strings danced to the whim of its puppeteer. Their battle carried them all the way over to the other side of the room, to an open space close to where the Library entrance was located.
On the other side of the room, was a sole figure resisting fiercely under the brunt of the combined strength of 5 delirious and crazed Cannibals. Hokusei weaved in and out of clawing arms and chopping teeth as he struggled both to maintain his strength and prevent his lethargic body from toppling over due to collected fatigue. His body grew continually weaker and weaker, the effects of a certain magic skill already wearing off.
Under the thin piece of fabric that poorly masked his face and mouth, Satou gritted his teeth, determination his only stepping stone in this life threatening battle.
In between the Cannibal group and Satou, Hina stood in the middle, both unable and undecided. Her current mana supply limited her attack potential, while at the same time, she was mentally torn over the clearly struggling and physically fatigued President and Cher- who could only frantically dodge in fear under the pressure of Satou’s mad attacks.
Her inability caused her much anguish as she resentfully bit her lip while her eyes scanned both battles simultaneously. After much hesitation all within the span of 3 seconds, she dashed off, towards the sound of hungry moans and the grinding of burnt flesh.
****
Staggering back, Hokusei barely dodged an open set of canines that had been aimed towards his throat.
Even before he could breath out in relief though, another Cannibal lunged at him, this time, its hands held open in claw formation, revealing a set of badly maintained nails that had been sharpened to a dangerous point. He clumsily sidestepped out of harm's way, just as his sword blurred, and he launched a desperate counterattack.
Swoosh!
The sound of flesh against metal confirmed his success. His slash severed the left wrist of a cannibal, but the half-monster, half-man barely registered the pain, and instead merely continued its endless string of attacks.
A swipe here, a lunge there, a set of bleeding gums in front, claws at the back, an oddly bent kick at the side- slowly but surely the lone Hokusei was being overwhelmed under their combined might. Without their primal sense of preservation guiding their minds, the cannibals were able to focus all out in attack, much to the anguish of the President. He struggled desperately, fighting through the ever growing sluggish feeling in his body while his eyes scanned tersely for any opportunity. His decreasing stamina, the growing feeling of lethargy, even the onset of blurry vision that had begun to overtake him… he did not want to face reality, but he knew that Cielle’s earlier magic skill had begun to wear off.
While it was an unfortunate realization, he could not help but recall the incident from a few moments ago. The incident, and the individual who had restored his strength in the first place. About the familiar girl who had given him the chance to fight.
****
While Cher and Hina fought, Cielle ran through the cafeteria, past moaning cubicles and half conscious students, she ran until she saw a familiar face from childhood.
Brief memories surfaced, the type she would have rather forgotten, but she forced those all down as she focused on her current situation. Her moving feet came to an abrupt stop as she reached the familiar face.
The barely conscious figure of a bespectacled youth lay sprawled along the floor. Besides him were other people- a collection of 2 individuals who showed no further signs of movement.
Hokusei’s hazy mind barely acknowledged the new presence besides him. Through slit eyes and a screen of haze, he made out the familiar face of a stoic girl, whose reddened cheeks and panting expression felt out of place with the images in his memory. It was Cielle.
Her sudden appearance had brought on confusion, but also a lingering sense of relief. The first thing that popped in his mind was an apology. Images from his past surfaced. Memories, more fragments really. Of a boy, of two girls. An old elementary school, friends, enemies, childhood stupidity. Bits and pieces that filled his heart with regret and unabashed shame.
At first, Hokusei wanted to talk to her. He wanted to apologize, to say a greeting, to make conversation. He wanted to do trivial things, but almost instantly, his mind refocused on the current situation. The fire that loomed in the darkness in front of him brought on an onslaught of different questions. What was the current situation like? Who was fighting right now? Was Hide here? Was Hina here? Was Hina in danger? He wanted to ask, but couldn’t. His body simply refused to obey. His mouth simply refused to move.
He could only lie there, in a pool of his own delusion and angst as he struggled to sort out his own feelings and talk. Instead, he opted to listen. With barely functioning ears, he tried to make out the words Cielle was currently mumbling.
“... trouble…. Won’t last long…. help…”
The softer than snow voice came off as broken and choppy in Hokusei’s hazed mind. He could only wonder as to what her real intent was.
“..ue.. mini… eal…”
Cielle’s soft exchange of words continued for a while before they abruptly faded into the darkness. Instead, taking their place was a blob of blue that suddenly floated out from Cielle’s opened palm.
The magic lingered there for a moment, floating freely in the air besides her, before it darted forward. The light blue mass of semi-liquid flew and enveloped the whole of Hokusei’s body.
Cielle waited expectantly for the familiar process to start. For the mass of blue to melt into his body and fix whatever illness was bothering him. Instead, Cielle’s hopeful expression was eventually crushed, as the mass of blue stayed stubbornly ontop of him, like a layer of dead skin that simply refused to fall off.
In a fit of frustration, Cielle recalled the mass of blue back besides her.
Cielle’s expression which morphed into an unsatisfied pout, quickly disappeared just as the magic before her slowly dissipated into the air around her. She then pondered for a while, recalling and thinking what to do. The brief thought of, “What would Hide do?” popped into her mind, before it was instantly replaced by a sudden twinge of memory and the slight touch of inspiration.
She knelt down besides Hokusei’s prone body. The brief instant of hesitation was painfully obvious, but she acted as if nothing had happened as she stretched her open palms out towards his chest, like a priest getting ready to give his blessing.
Hokusei watched the following process. After a few seconds of agonizingly long silence, a faint white light illuminated his body. He felt strength return to his veins. It was slow at first, merely a trickle of power in an ocean of helplessness, but slowly and surely, his strength flowed with increasing vigor.
The process was unexpectedly tiresome to Cielle, and took a fair bit amount of time (almost over a minute). She reasoned that this was due to the neglect of this particularly forgotten skill, but nonetheless, it was the only arsenal available in her pocket.
Before long, Hokusei regained enough strength to sit up without much difficulty. His skin retained a healthier shade of pale scarlet, while his once blurry vision had lightened. Despite these improvements though, he had not made a full recovery. Obvious signs of the Wisp’s effects were still present, but his condition was noticeably better than before. A fraction- maybe about half of his total strength had recovered.
Regardless of the drawbacks, he was nonetheless immensely thankful. The person before him was like a benevolent angel who had given him the strength to fight. A magnificent sage who had restored his body and will.
He looked up at Cielle with widened eyes. His first instinct was to thank the girl, but under the pressure of her unchanging- almost hypnotic stare, any such intentions quickly crumbled and he reflexively looked away. After a brief moment’s hesitation, he was able to straighten himself out and observe the current situation.
Reinforcements had shown up, but the situation had taken a dire turn of events. Hide was nowhere to be seen, a shield wielding girl- one whom he easily recognized, was currently fighting Satou, and all around them, spires of flame floated endlessly, while 6 or so charred black monstrosities roamed and attacked. Glancing around, he was shocked to discover that Hina was also there, near the back and had a look of extreme concentration plastered on her face.
The scene before him prompted him to immediately stand and filled his mind with the intention to help. The moment he steadied himself on his two feet though, his knees instantly buckled, and he was once again brought down to the ground. He grimaced scornfully, directing unhinged anger at his own weakness.
Although Cielle had healed him, he fully understood, with both his mind and body, that he hadn’t fully recovered. Yet, that did not stop him.
He once again stood, this time steadily supporting himself with the base of his sword. As Hokusei rewrapped a piece of thin fabric around his face, he glanced down at his friends. One of them had unfortunately died, but the remaining two were still alive- albeit in a state of physical deterioration.
He glanced back up at Cielle, wondering whether or not she could heal them. When he did, it was only then that he noticed that Cielle wasn’t alone. Besides her, Emiko stood with a piece of fabric over her thinly expression.
He exchanged glances with her, momentarily overcome with joy that she was still alive before he refocused, and glanced back down on Cielle.
After a moment’s hesitation, he finally asked, “Um… Cielle, could you heal these guys as well?” He indicated at his fallen party members.
Cielle looked at them for a moment, before she brusquely nodded. Seeing her agreement, Hokusei’s tight expression sighed in relief. Immediately afterwards, he began a one sided conversation.
“Things aren’t looking to well out there.” He said, glancing out into the battle. “ That girl and Hina will eventually be overwhelmed if things keep progressing like this. That’s why, I’ll go to help. But, um, if it’s not too much of a bother… Cielle, can I also ask you to heal an additional person?”
Cielle looked up from her current process of healing, and stared directly at Hokusei. After a moment’s silence which lasted not even a fraction of a second, she finally nodded, agreeing.
Hokusei’s expression lightened once more, as he continued. He pointed to a certain corner of the cafeteria and said, “Over there should be where Miki- our group’s skill possessor is. She’s probably knocked out right now, but we might need her power, so it would be good if you healed her, I mean, um… if that’s alright with you…”
Without another word, Cielle once again nodded before she turned back around and continued healing healing Hokusei’s friends. Her turned shoulder and obvious disregard for him was clearly obvious from her current mannerisms.
“Then,” Hokusei turned towards Emiko. “Emiko, you stay with her and protect her. It would be bad if anything happens.”
“Y-yes! Leave it to me, President!” Emiko spouted out clumsily, her cheeks flaring up as she stared directly into the youth’s serious expression. Sensing what Hokusei was about to do, Emiko then added, rather shyly, “And… um, P-President…”
“Yes?” He questioned gently, his back already turned back around to face the rest of the cafeteria.
“... Please be careful.”
Hokusei momentarily turned to look over at Emiko, but did not say anything. After a brief moment, he refocused on the scene before him with a sigh. His breath still caught in his throat, his legs still wobbled, and his vision was still hazy, but he did not care. With a forced smile, Hokusei practically threw his body forward, and with a running start, entered the fray of flayed limbs and frenzied mouths.
****
Back in real time, Hokusei was still locked in a battle with the cannibals.
He had been battered, bit, and scratched at. The damage he had taken was not light at all, and as if to prove it, the crafted armor he wore was scratched and torn all over, with varying levels of blood stain across its plate.
Fortunately though, not everything was bad. He had just managed to strike down another cannibal, just as 2 new shadows approached his back. At first, his tension rose as he began to expect the worst, but it quickly disappeared upon realizing who those two individuals were.
His friends, people from his group. It was the teacher and the remaining twin. Although their conditions weren’t optimal, and the twin - Kathy Bernard- was suffering from emotional damage, it was still a huge relief to receive additional support.
Hokusei’s pale countenance which spoke much about his current condition, but seeing his friends joining in on the battle, new vigor and determination filled his spirit. In addition, he found a familiar face smudged up against the wall.
Looking closely, a wash of mixed emotions overwhelmed him as he instantly recognized Hina’s sweat plastered face. She looked over towards him, before a column of fire gushed out and practically incinerated a leg off a cannibal. Unfortunately, the cannibal shrugged it off and continued limping forward, but there was a new found sense of security in Hokusei, knowing that there was a strong ( and familiar) force behind his back.
Hokusei’s fight was smoothly progressing and his efforts were bearing fruit.
On the other side of the room, a fierce battle was raging on.
A single minded assault. A flurry of continues attacks. And endless torrent of bombardments confronted Cher as she twisted and turned, dodged and rolled. She expended her body to its fullest capabilities, all in the sole effort to avoid serious injury from Satou’s blade.
Her desperation intermingled with fear pushed her body beyond its normal limits. It was to the extent where she gained two new stats, [Flexibility], and [Kinesthesis]. Of course, she did not have time to enjoy this small pleasure since a moment’s hesitation would lead to a stab to the side, or a jap to the eye.
With Satou’s full attention focused solely on her, and with no further assistance available from Hina, Cher’s situation was not at all a light one. She knew her job well, as well as her current limits. She was incapable of killing him. It wasn’t a matter of emotion or hesitation- if given the opportunity, Cher would have killed Satou twice over- it was a matter of physical limitations. She was simply overwhelmed by his ferocity and raw physical strength.
She did not know what level Satou was at, but going by stats alone, his was greater by a wide margin.
As such, her current job was to stall time. To survive long enough, until Hina and the rest finished off the cannibals, and together, they would bring an end to the mad man. She held this faint glimmer of hope, as she dodged and avoided every single attack.
Throughout this battle, Cher had not suffered a single injury. In return though, her stamina was practically evaporating away, as she expended more and more limited energy.
On the other side of this assault, Satou’s confidence only continued to soar.
Going into the battle, he was already fairly certain of his victory, but the longer and longer this battle dragged on, the greater his ego inflated. His strikes became bolder, more grandiose, as his mood eventually shifted from bloodthirsty battle to an amusing pastime.
That’s right, to Satou, this battle had turned into nothing more than a way to kill time.
He slashed a wide arc in front of him, and just as he expected, Cher jumped far back, like a swerving toad.
With a smirk, he removed a hand from his pocket, bringing out a collection of small tiny marbles. A bemused smile plastered on his face, he threw the marbles towards Cher’s direction.
His dexterity stat wasn’t high, actually, it had barely increased from when he was level 1, but his goal was not accuracy nor precision, but simply chaos. A haphazard throw in her general direction sent the marbles sprawling across the sky and the floor.
Cher’s eyes widened in short surprise before she immediately jumped back and away from harm’s way. In doing so, she allowed the thrown marbles to thunk uselessly on the floor.
With narrow eyes, she watched as those same marbles melted the floor they landed on. A bitter grimace colors Cher’s face as the image of her own melting body floats to her consciousness.
From far ahead, Satou gloats triumphantly, as he fishes out another collection of marbles from his pocket. “My skill’s pretty great isn’t it? It can even do convenient stuff like this~”
He tosses the marbles once more. This time, Che fully anticipates the action, and side steps more than five feet away from her original position. The sweat on her face flies freely in the air as momentum and air whisks it away.
“Oi, oi, Stop dodgin’! I won’t be able to hear any screaming if none of these hit you!” He grabs another handful of marbles and dashes forward. His blade leads the charge, making the strike an easy enough attack for Cher to deflect or counter with her shield, but she does not do so. The fear of melting away her only weapon is too great of a feeling.
Instead, she jumps uselessly out of the way, but Satou is relentless.
“[Magic Clad]!” He chants a short prayer before tossing the collection of marbles towards Cher’s face.
The distance between them, and Cher’s current momentum is too great for her to dodge. As the marbles whistle through the air and towards her face, she makes a desperate ploy, and yanks the fabric clamped to her face upon instinct.
She blocks the aimed marbles with the thin veil of cotton, before she drops the whole thing on to the floor with due haste. Just as quickly, the fabric melts away in a pool of acidic yellow. Beneath it, the floor also melts.
She watches as the fabric corrodes away with vacant eyes. Strangely enough, while everything else around it melts, the marble itself is completely intact. Not a scratch upon its glistening surface.
“HaHAHAhA!” Satou’s sharp cackle brings Cher’s attention back to reality. She glances up at the distorted face, with its crescent eyes and ugly twisted scowl. “Oi, what’s wrong, what’s wrong, Cher? Why haven’t you been attacking?”
Another slash. Cher barely avoids.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Come on, put some more damn spirit into this! You could die if you’re not careful, you know?”
Satou lunges out with his sword, while Cher, in response, twists her neck at an impossible angle and dodges by a hairsbreadth. Following up, Satou’s empty palm rushes towards her face. The fear of melting, of her face falling off and corroding in a bubble of acid, moves Cher’s body to react. Her neck cranes once again at an impossible angle, just as her feet kick out from underneath her, and hit Satou squarely in his chest, causing the man to stumble helplessly back.
“Guh-” A micro expression of a scowl surfaces on his face, just before it disappears, only to be replaced by that overconfident smirk of his. “That’s right, that’s right. Make this interesting for me. It won’t be fun if you don’t struggle!”
Cher tries to ignore him. She tries to block out his taunts, his jeers, his constant berating. Hearing his voice alone brings a cold shiver of fear in her mind. His voice reminds her too much of the past. Of her times spent in dreary starvation, in a classroom that smelled like piss, sweat, and blood.
Dozens of marbles- wave upon wave fly endlessly in the air. The brief question of where does he fit all those marbles pops up in her mind, only to be subdued by the instinctual need to dodge.
So that’s what Cher does. She dodges. She dodges each marble, each sword thrust, even the occasional leg kick (for fear that Satou’s shoes also held the ability to corrode concrete and melt flesh). She dodges with irate desperation. Of course, not everything is dodgeable. The constant flow of varied attacks and the strain on her mind play a big toll on Cher’s ability. In the end, she can’t help but block a stray sword slash, or an incoming marble.
Slowly but surely, her shield corrodes away, worn down and destroyed by Satou’s broken skill. Of course, it starts small at first. Hide’s designed shield, as well as its system characteristics as a real weapon cause the corrosion to lessen, to slow almost to a crawl. But one strike, eventually becomes two. two becomes four, and four becomes eight. Each strike builds up and build upon the damage from the previous strike.
Eventually, after blocking what felt like the 100th attack, Cher is forced to throw down her weapon.
Now, she truly was defenseless. In the face of Satou’s confident smirk she can only pale in fear. She noticed she has stopped sweating a while ago. She might have lost too much water, or the fluid she needed to sweat all congregated in her tear brimmed eyes. Cher did not know. She was too busy to think about useless things like that.
For one, her attention never left Satou. A swirling darkness of bitter emotion, this time, the most palpable of them fear. The manifestation of all these dark and swirling thoughts was Satou. A man who confidently sauntered forward.
Cher could do nothing but press her back against the wall. She did not even notice up until now that she had long since been cornered.
“Oi, oi, what’s wrong Cher?” Another question. Another maniacal smirk. “Are you already done? Are you already out of options?”
Cher’s eyes scan the cafeteria. From the distance, she could see Hina still battling it out with the remaining cannibals. There were still three of them left. She wondered why was it taking them so long? Why couldn’t they hurry? The passing thought of how long had she been fighting flashed through her mind, only to be followed by a bitter realization.
It had been less than 2 minutes. Cher could not stall for enough time. Cher had failed her job.
“You know Cher,” Satou lightly spoke, his face temporarily morphing into a thoughtful smile. “In truth, I’m actually quite surprised at your growth. Who knew you could get so… so good in as less than 3 weeks. It’s really quite surprising.”
The mock compliment did not go to deaf ears, but for some reason, it only made Cher’s growing anxiety increase.
“You’ve gotten so strong, and I’m happy. After all, if you’re strong, that means you’re somewhat of a high level right? I can’t wait, your experience will be very delicious to devour. HAhahaAHha!”
Satou licked his lips perversely as he stared at the end of his sword. He imagined an invisible dew drop falling off its tip and melting the floor beneath it. “For a coward like you, this was quite a valiant effort.”
Cher’s eyes shake, he was only 5 paces away from her.
“For a weakling like you, this was quite an enviable struggle.”
Her knees wobble, he was down to 3 paces.
“For your pathetic existence, death by me is a luxury y’know?”
Her shoulders tremble, he was at 2 paces.
At 1 pace away from Cher, Satou’s march abruptly stops. His smile morphs into a hideous smirk. “For a backstabber like you, dying for your “friends” is pretty hilarious, y’know.”
Her ears ring. Her eyes dilate.
“Betrayal is in your blood. The cafeteria, then my group, I’m wondering whether or not given the opportunity, would you betray your current group as well?”
“....”
“Hahaha, I guess the issue with you though, isn’t if, but rather when, am I right?”
“....”
“It’s an interesting thing to think about. Someone like you, you’d probably stab your friends if it meant you could live, right?”
“....”
“Afterall, that’s what you are.”
“...p…”
“A backstabber.”
“...op…”
“A traitor.”
“...stop…”
“A betrayer.”
“STOP!”
Cher’s body suddenly bolts forward. Her eyes were not masked by the tinge of fear from before, instead, a blood red anger overcomes her. Her feet barely touched the ground before she was on top of him.
Satou let out a surprised groan during the impact, just as his feet left the ground and he is hurled 5 feet into the air, before he crashed down on the tiled floor with a back breaking crack. He does not even have the opportunity to recover. His outstretched arms are held in place to the ground. A pair of dirt stained thighs pressing down on them, not allowing for any motion or resistance.
Cher sits on top of his chest, a look of absolute rage masks her usual expression. She glowered menacingly at the person below her.
The smirk that barely registers in her mind, sends her in a fit of fury.
THUMP
A fist comes crashing down. A crack resonates in her ears. Blood gushes out from a broken nose. The body below her jolts from the impact.
“Gufu-”
Before he could let out a another word, another fist lands down. He feels a row of teeth shake and loosen. The metalic taste of blood so vibrant it makes him hungry.
Another fist. This one opens up a cut directly below his right eye. A fist follows that one, opening up a bloody cut above his left eye.
A mix of shame and unhindered fury overtake Cher’s mind. Her hands move without her knowledge. Before long, they are stained red with blood- her own and his, but she does not stop. Continue. More, more, more. She was in constant motion, fist after fist, bone crunching sound after bone crunching sound. She did not stop.
After a while, her barrage halted. She pants hard, and lowers her hands to look down at the person in front of her.
Satou’s battered face, barely recognizable through the thick veil of blood is smiling. One eye is so battered and bruised, he cannot see out of it, but he squints with the other. The hazy figure of the redhead above her only widens that smile. A set of canines, most of his teeth were missing, but he did not care. He continued to smile.
After a while, a torrent of blood, wrenches out from Satou’s parted mouth, it stains the floor beneath his head, and the blood slowly trickles outward, reaching all the way to his open palms.
“Haha…” A soft chuckle, as if he had heard a quiet joke at the library. “HAhahahaHAHA” The soft chuckle turns into manic cackling.
He continues to laugh, causing his whole body to vibrate. This only worsens the wounds on his face, but Satou does not care. The taste of his own blood exhilarates his mind.
The laugh is annoying. The laugh is irritating. The laugh pisses Cher off. Her anger once again resurfaces, and before long, she finds herself punching him relentlessly.
But the laughter does not stop. The torrent of cackling which completely dwarfs the pain filled moans and even the sound of her own heavy panting, is relentless and ever present. Even the usual squelching of battered flesh and cracking of broken bones does not register in her mind. Only the sensation. Only the sensation that whatever it was she beat on, was undoubtedly breaking.
Yet, why does the laughter not stop?
Cher keeps punching. Over and over. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Her fists do not stop. They start to hurt, the knuckles bloated and bled, but she does not stop. Her wrists started to hurt, a soft stinging sensation indicating she was punching incorrectly, but still, they do not stop. Always, left, and right, left and right, a monotonous action filled with raw emotion.
The anger that overtook her slowly makes way for a new type of emotion. As the laughter only grows louder, a sense of unease wells up within her. An uncertainty. Was she really killing this man? How long would it take? Why was he not dead yet?
An unease, uncertainty, weariness, fear. These swirling emotions take control of her heart, and culminate in an abrupt silence. The laughter finally stopped. Yet Cher’s fists do not. They keep moving. They keep hitting.
Thud, thud, thud, squelch, thud.
Broken bones and face matter. She is pretty sure splinters of bone are now stuck in her raw knuckles, but still those arms kept moving. Was he dead? Cher did not know, but something compelled her to keep hitting.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, squelch, thud, thud, crack, thud, thud.
Endless repetition, after what seemed like an eternity, her fists finally lift off. She glances down at the mess of red beneath her.
She does not recognize it, but she confirms one thing as she continues to stare; He was still alive.
A raspy noise echoes in his flared nostrils.
A slightly parted mouth that oozes out blood breaths unsteadily in and out.
It was amazing in a sense. This person, whose face does not look like a face, was still alive. It was an amazing display of human perseverance, but it only served to send a chill down Cher’s spine.
“Uu-” A low rumble escapes from those barely recognizable lips. It causes Cher’s shoulders to stiffen while her expression morphs into horrified shock.
“...ic… ad”
She could not make out the words it had spoken, but an unearthly premonition of primal fear takes over.
In the next instant, an open palm grabs her right arm, sending a cold chill down her back. The hand that seizes her is stained and covered with blood, blood that oozed down from the Not-a-face’s face and stained the floor underneath him.
The same face makes a barely recognizable smirk, as it repeats, this time, in a much more audible voice, “[Magic Clad],”
Instantly, a piercing pain jolts throughout Cher’s body. She screams, but the noise does not register in her ears. She knows, her body instinctively knows, her nervous system that’s constantly overworking her pain receptors know- her arm is melting.
She tries to free herself, jerking her arm up, but that only makes the pain worse. It only causes the blood- the acid to spread further out. She can’t help but scream once more.
Amidst that screaming, the laughter resumes. This time, a familiar cackle. One that doesn’t even register in Cher’s overloaded ears.
Satou’s grip on her arm tightens. It was then that Cher noticed that the acid had already eaten away the first layer of skin. It was now corroding her arm muscles.
Satou’s upper body jerks upward. He sits upright, while Cher feebly crumples at his lap, her arm spasming constantly. It pains her to realize, but she could no longer feel the fingers on her right hand.
While all this is happening, Satou never once loosens his grip. Instead, he nonchalantly riffles through his pocket using his free hand, before pulling out a red vial.
He downs the vial in an instant. The bloating in his face lessens, and he regained vision in his other eye. But he does not stop there. He pulls out another red vial. He gulps that down as well, his face now recognizable, albeit through a heavy veil of blood- his own and Cher’s.
Eventually, Satou pulls himself up and stands. He hauls Cher with him, pulling her up by the strands of flesh and muscle on her melting arm. He noticed that the corrosion is slow going. Despite taking a time that would have killed a normal person by now, the acid had only eaten away at half her upper arm.
Satou shrugs this fact off. It did not matter how long it took. In the end, the result will still be the same.
He incircles Cher’s neck with his free arm, all the while maintaining the grip in his other hand. He begins to limp towards the center of the room. His gaze scans the cafeteria in an instant. He discovers that all of his underlings are dead. This irritates Satou- not because he cared for them, but because his exp was stolen. They were rightfully his. He had raised them, but someone else had taken them.
It was so annoying, that he could not help but tighten his grip on her arm. By this point, he had reached bone.
“You should have killed me…” A raspy chuckle escapes his horse throat, only for it to whisper in Cher’s ears. Despite that, he does not think for a second she heard him. Her screaming was simply too loud.
A little further ahead, Hina, the President, and the others, were still a fair distance away, but they were making short work of that gap. Soon, they would be upon them. Satou had no choice but to use Cher as a hostage. In fact, that was his original plan.
“You should have killed me…” He repeats once more, this time for his own amusement. “Why were you so weak? Those punches did not even hurt? Why did you not kill me?”
He endlessly questions, but he knew he was not going to receive an answer. He knew, but he asked anyway. He was bored. Those punches from before felt like light taps. The only exhilaration he felt was the fresh taste of his own blood, but that too had faded.
The acid is climbing up her arm now. In a little while, it will pass the elbow, and move further up to devour the rest of her body.
Satou laughs dryly upon discovering this, but his limp forward does not stop. He soon sees Hina- that annoying flame conjuring girl. He sees her prepping her magic with a desperate look on her face. Satou reacts by tightening his grip on her neck, indicating full well the consequences of her actions.
Hina hesitates. The person besides her - The President, also hesitates.
‘I’ll kill that girl’ Satou thinks. ‘I’ll kill the fire magic girl first, then I’ll kill the president. Afterwards, I can kill Cher, then everybody else in this room can follow.’
He continues to step forward. The numbness in his body is clearly defined now. He can’t even feel the floor beneath him. Yet, he does not stop. He shuffles his feet forward, intent on his goal.
From the corner of his eye, he could see others. A group of six, arriving from the corner of the room. One of them was the other intruder- a girl with long black hair that covered most of her face. The other was the library committee member. He does not recognize the others, except for the girl with the wizard hat. That one was trouble.
“I’ll kill them later,” He mumbles softly to himself. His throat was too tired to laugh, and his mouth hurt to smile.
He continues walking, one step at a time, over towards Hina.
He does not know how long these last few steps took him, and he does not care. There was no sense of urgency, only a feeling of eventuality. He looks up at the girl’s expression once more, only to be surprised when he sees a set of saucer sized eyes.
Her expression looked surprised. Why? Was she shocked to see how close I was to her? So close she was to her own death?
Just then, he heard a quick set of taps- almost like footsteps- except they were getting louder and louder. He wanted to turn around to check, and that’s what he attempted, but even before he could twist his neck, the distinct sound of metal against flesh filled his ears.
****
Swoosh!
“... Eh?”
A dumb sound leaked out from Satou’s agape mouth just before the first lines of blood made themselves visible on his neck. In no time, those faint lines grew and surged forth, finally culminating in a flowing river of blood that seemingly gushed endlessly as the top half of Satou’s neck began sliding to the left.
Even without the confirmation given from the [Fatal Blow] window panel that appeared in front of my eyes, I could already tell that Satou’s life, in this moment, at this instant, caused by my own direct actions, had ended.
I did not feel regret, nor the burden of taking a life. It was all a physical experience. The act of moving my arm, the act of my dagger slashing through flesh, the act of [dissect] activating at that instant, it was as if the turmoil and mental anguish that I’ve carried for these past few weeks were all for nothing.
Killing was easy.
Finally, after what felt like an excruciatingly long amount of time, his head toppled to the floor, leaving behind faint traces of blood upon impact. It rolled helplessly to the side, almost at the same instant when Satou’s rigid, upright figure finally toppled forward, landing chest first into a pool of his own congregated blood.
My body continued to move forward though, and I caught the falling Cher with outstretched hands. I made sure to avoid her melting arm though. The corrosion had already excelled to the point where bone was visible, and it only continued to spread. It had already reached her hand, and was now making its way up her right forearm. Eventually, it will pass the elbow and proceed to the main body.
This scared me.
I do not know what limit Satou’s ability had. Will it continue to progress until it corroded everything? Will it actually ever stop? Does it even have a limit?
These questions popped up in my head, and without hesitation, I took out a red vial from my back pocket. I set Cher’s whimpering figure onto the cafeteria floor, just as I funneled the entire vial into her slightly parted lips.
“... It’s no good…” After a while, I let out a dejected sigh.
The potion only arbitrarily brought up her hp, but it did not stop the corrosion. In fact, as the corrosion continued, Cher’s hp steadily decreased. I do not know what will kill her first, hp loss, or the corrosion.
I pulled out another potion, this time, instead of oral intake, I directly spread the red substance onto her open wound. It did not work. A hissing sound resonated in my ears, as the red liquid evaporates upon contact with the acid.
By the time I confirmed this second failure, Cielle reached my current location. Glancing up, I saw a heavily panting girl with flushed cheeks and messy, obsidian hair. Even before I could say anything, she had already conjured up a blob of [Blue Gemini], and soon after, it enclosed in on Cher’s growing wound.
It worked for a while. The corroded parts of her arm heal and repair for a short while, but in the end, it was a futile effort. The healed parts slowly damage again, and even blue gemini starts melting. The acid melted away Cielle’s skill and we were once again back to square one.
Cielle’s expression paled horribly, while the person behind her- her sister, Hina - had tears running down her cheeks. Hina tried her own magic, [Lesser Heal], but in the end, it was even less effective than [Blue Gemini].
Our only option was gone. We could not rely on magic. As long as the acid remained, Cher would undoubtedly die. Honestly, the only reason why Cher wasn’t dead yet was because of her high stats in resistance. That resistance was slowly crumbling. Soon the acid would eat up her entire arm, then her shoulders, eventually reaching her heart.
Cher will die.
If I do not do something, Cher will die.
Then, in my mind, there was only one option left. Only one option available to us. Only one option I could think off.
The dagger in my hand. Efhermet’s Dagger. It was a tool meant for combat, but for now, it will do.
I raised the blade slowly, its obsidian husk catching the light of the fluorescent bulbs. I stare at Cher for a moment. Her face was pale, her sweat glistened, and her expression contorted in pain. She was not screaming, she was only whimpering. Soft, almost imperceptible sounds that resembled that of a dying puppy.
Without anymore hesitation, My blade dropped, [Dissect] activated, and Cher’s arm severed at the elbow.
Not even a scream came out of her mouth. Just a sad, soft, pain filled whimper. A whimper that died out within the darkness of this sparsely lit room.
****
Author's Note: Probably the longest chapter for this fic so far, hoped you guys liked it.
If you liked the chapter, or this story in general, please rate/review. I appreciate it.
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