Officially named "crotch" man, his sigil is named flame. That's right, just a singular flame, no special properties and was of average size (like a candle flame) when he awakened. Yet, he was able to escape the life of a commoner and procured knowledge. Specifically about runes. He successfully learned a part of the language and their meanings, which led him here today. He was able to purchase a simple spear blueprint from a blueprint workshop and now, here he is, fighting Ran. As for why, only he can answer that.
Slice. Sweat dripped from Rans hidden face as he sliced apart another flame spear. He had been fighting crotch-man for about ten minutes now and every time, he just kept spawning them.
Yeah, I protest! What kind of cheat is this!? Is this Minecraft or what? Should Ran place torches all over his face to stop him or what?
Well, no. Simply, every time he spawns a flame spear, it would only cost him one flame or using his sigil once. And as he grew stronger, naturally, his flame would get bigger and hotter; not to mention his capacity. With the current size of a short spear, it is shown that this man was around the beginning of rank-7; exactly like his other two henchmen. Meaning he had just escaped from his past and was now looking toward the future. Maybe because of his newfound future and status, he felt it right to try to do such heinous crimes? Sigh, the arrogance of power...
And while Rans current capacity was also around rank-7, his purity is not; ,meaning his rank. Nonetheless, it made for a perfect workout as after all, his body was growing stronger and stronger, yet he hasn't fought seriously in basically forever. And the last time he fought for real, he lost something.
Fortunately, with his strength, he could forcefully slice the flame spear apart quite easily; as funnily enough, his sword was having a little trouble absorbing the energy. This meant that indeed, his physical strength had reached a whole level ahead of him.
Yet, fighting consistently for ten minutes was finally getting Ran pumped up. His blood pumped and pumped around his body, fueling him in his endeavors.
Slice. After splitting one more flame spear in half, they both separated about twenty feet (six meters) apart from each other. It was time to shift into the second phase of the fight.
Yet, before crotch man could come up with another strategy, he saw Ran doing something odd. Well, it's more strange and… shameless? After all, who would stretch in the middle of a fight?
Bogus! I, the author, call foul! How could you call that stretching? What, do you think he's doing yoga or something? You see, his left leg is lifted up and his right hand is cocked backwards, seemingly holding something. This was clearly a stance!
The crotch man was a little nervous, but just summoned his trusty flame spear and lightly kissed it; o-kay… Anyways, he began to slowly approach Ran again, but then he saw Ran begin to move again. But, why was he so nervous? He… felt, feels, something. He was tense, his guts churned as he got an uneasy feeling. Something wasn't right!
Ran looked at his right hand and smiled. Ooh boy was he excited.
He lifted up his leg and shouted "batter up" before vigorously throwing what was in his hand toward the crotch-man.
That's right, he was pitching! Where'd he learn to pitch!?
"Batter up!" Boom. In an instant, the crotch man saw what was basically a flash of light arrive right in front of his eyes! Ran had created a small orb of energy and had just thrown it towards him. He was really surprised by the speed as it crossed a distance of about twenty feet in what was essentially an instant.
But, he seemed to have overestimated Rans abilities? After all, why was the orb passing right by him!?
Yep, Ran completely missed.
But who says it cant be on purpose? Just after witnessing the orb flash past his eyes, he witnessed something else… something incredible.
After Ran threw the first orb, the second one was already in his hands. He gripped his sword in his left hand and began.
Momentum. Flow. These two words pretty much described Rans previous sword technique which he used to fight against Queenie. Yet, with this distance, he couldn't even touch the crotch-man with his sword. So, why not add range to it? And that's what he did, what he's going to do… right now.
When he had thrown the first orb, he had already created momentum and he was going to continue as well.
Dancing!? The crotch man thought. That was the only thing that he could explain what he was watching. Yet, the next second, another flash of light was beginning to arrive! But, it didn't end there. No, it didn't. And that's because, this time, his guts began screaming at him. His instincts fired off, blazing! Telling him:
Youz 'bout to die!
The crotch man instantly put his flame spear behind him as his instincts showed him the way. Slice. His spear was directly cut in half before disappearing into the world.
Hiss! The crotch man's back was now completely drenched with sweat as he narrowly avoided death.
Death was encroaching upon his life like a dog encroaching on the neighbors lawn. And in the next second, he got the same feeling. Boom. Another flash of light went right past him. He frantically summoned a spear before it got sliced again!
"F**k!" The crotch man couldn't help but curse out loud as he couldn't give two more s**ts about mannerisms. Those orbs! While the orbs were really fast, it was still within his range of reacting. As long as he destroyed those orbs, he would be scott free. Probably because Rans rank was still rank-8.
But, then, it hit him. A revelation that is. It's because while he prepared to counter the orb, he found out it came from a different direction! Beforehand, they all went to his left, but now it came from the right.
Boom. Slice. He blocked the attack that came from his back once again as he didnt expect to come from a different direction. But that was it. He was prepared now.
Boom. Pop. He was able to destroy the next orb and his confidence grew! He smirked. He only amounted to this much huh. the crotch man thought. Boom. He heard the same sound again and a smile couldn't help but bloom across his face. He just never learns.
This continued for a couple minutes as well and the man noticed the strikes were slowly increasing in strength, but he was still confident.
He was prepared to destroy the next orb too. But then, something else happened. As he saw this orb approach him within an instant, his instincts couldn't help but berate him.
This guy was a dumba** and they knew it!
Just as he was going to destroy the orb, the air around the shiny and reflective orb began to distort as an almost invisible blade appeared from within. The only reason it could be seen is because of the distortions it makes, especially because it appears as if it was made of an invisible fire.
That's right folks, it was kinetic energy, making its appearance once again! Well it was here this entire time, how else did Ran slice those other spears?
The crotch-man was surprised as the almost invisible blade shot across from the orb and came at him. But because he aimed at the orb and not at the blade, it ended up biting straight into his left shoulder.
His bones were shy as they slightly peeked through his flesh, curious about the outside world. They blushed when they saw Ran, almost as if they could see through his hood.
"Argh." The man grunted and his left shoulder was pushed backwards along with his body. Although Ran wasn't there personally, his energy and momentum was contained in that strike and thus, to the crotch-man, he felt as if Ran was there personally; duking it out with him.
After Ran had shot off the first orb, he immediately struck at the second one. Before he had waited until it was behind crotch-man, but this time he didn't. But again, the crotch man became even more prepared. Now that he knows they could come at any point in time, such a cheap shot would not work again. So why not make it harder for him? A smirk was raised.
Then, an orb about the size of a tennis ball appeared in his hand. This orb, however, was strange.
Now, let the dancing begin! As he threw the bigger orb, he stored and magnified the momentum and energy within his body by any means.
And I mean any means. If he had to do a barrel roll, he did it. If he had to do a backflip in midair to do it, he did it again.
Flipping, spinning, diving, rolling, twirling, jumping, heck he even did some undulations like some kind of freaky a** snake. With all these crazy movements, what could be called except dancing!?
It was smooth and went with the flow. There was no stutter in his actions and he seemed to have become a three dimensional pendulum as he moved about the battlefield in odd ways. It was like gravity didn't even work on him because he was in the air (not touching the ground) at least half of the time of this dance.
And eventually, his body began to overheat as his sweat slowly started to evaporate from all the movement. His brown skin turned a shade redder as the blood circulated faster and faster to bring energy and to regulate heat throughout his body. But Ran wasn't the least bit concerned about anything. In fact, he felt exhilarated! It was as if this was the natural state of his body.
But anyways, this strange orb. As it flew towards the crotch man, he actually felt… nothing? Really, no instincts screaming at him? Hmm, weird. But soon, his face changed expressions. That's because he saw it for himself. As the orb came closer in an instant, it suddenly turned into two!
More accurately, it was actually three. The first orb was technically just a shell that hid two smaller orbs within. A simple concept, but surprising nonetheless. In midair, the shell was shed off and the orbs split off into different directions, one left and one right. But the real question is, which one is the one with the strike?
Well, I, the author, have some news for you. Can you guess which one? That's right…
The crotch-man just guessed which one it was and chose the one on his left. Yet what happened next stunned him and made him scream out loud.
As the orb approached him quickly, an almost invisible blade shot out from the orb. He guessed correctly and successfully blocked the attack! Congratulations crotch-man, you are now smarter than a fifth grader… whoopie.
But then, why did he feel a prickly feeling coming from his right?
Checking his body, he saw a bloody gash from his right side that stretched to his abdomen. Only after seeing it with his eyes did his brain register the full pain of such an injury.
That's right… it was both! Wow you guys, the readers, are so smart, definitely smarter than fifth graders! Aw, are you guys blushing? It's just a compliment… a pretty s**ty one too.
"Bloody f**king hell!" The crotch man snarled and looked at Ran, who had already sent another two orbs towards his face, with red eyes. In a fit of rage, he finally let loose.
Boom! He quickly spawned another flame spear and then… what? Well, you heard the boom sound; It… boomed!
Actually, I believe the words are, it blew up. Okay, okay, don't get your loin cloth in a twist. Actually, its panties…
The resulting explosion of his flame spear pushed the orbs far away from him and destabilized them, destroying them.
He clenched his teeth as he withstood the pain from his injuries. "Boy, I'm done playing your silly little games. You think you're the only one with a fetal organ?"
Yep, now for the third and quite possibly the last phase of this fight against the evil crotch man.
Leaving no time to spare, he summoned what appeared to be a metal ball. It was shiny and reminiscent of stainless steel. The ball itself wasn't big and actually fairly small. It was only about an inch in diameter. Yep, that's his fetal organ. A metal ball.
Now, at first glance, it might seem that I, the author, have been unfair when it comes to fetal organs. I mean, both Ran and Queenie have literal swords as their and Bob's has a glass ladle that is also strangely sword shaped. And yet, this poor man only has a ball… and not even a big one!? Except, there's one problem. It's random. Actually, it's more pseudorandom as its state of being is random. But there is one condition which makes it pseudorandom. one's nature. It's a condition that is needed otherwise, the fetal organ wouldn't even be able co-exist.
It's kind of like organs. If you lose an organ and needs to get a transplant, then the new organ needs to be able to have the body accept it. And if they don't match, the body rejects it and… attacks it. In terms of fetal organs, if there was ever such a case where a person got a fetal organ that wasn't his/hers match, then they'll likely kill each other in mutual destruction; whether the person likes it or not.
And the will of the world gives you your first name and it also gives you your sigil. Except, even your sigil isn't something that it can choose who to give it to and who to not. Each and every sigil is made that way because of you and is tethered specifically and uniquely to you and only you. The chances of having the same sigil is already extremely rare and it usually means the two people have very similar natures.
The man makes the sigil, not the other way around.
And the same goes for your fetal organ. It's tailored for you and to support you. As for quality, nobody can say who's stronger as once again, it is yourself that uses the fetal organ. If you can't bring out it's full potential, then that's on you.
But… anyways, the metal ball. Like any same person, crotch-man did what any would do. He combined them!
Well, sticking them together is more of a proper term to call it. Why? Because he just stuffed the ball to the tip of the spear like a madman! From the way he was thrusting that ball in there, it's clear that he is frustrated… Haha. Yeah he can still feel throbbing down there. It's questionable whether or not it would ever calm down. But that's something you guys want to hear, right? Right!?
Yet after the "process" was done, something changed. Rans eyes narrowed slightly as his body tensed up even more. He was ready for whatever came his way. By now, the man was seething with blood wind, but the fact it hadn't turned into mist showed that he was a lackluster threat. That was until he stuck that ball on that spear.
Thanks to the merging of spear and ball, changes happened to the spear. The ball became the focus point as the spear coalesced around it with limbs connecting the spear and ball together. The flaming runes crawled up to the ball as the ball shined brightly. Then, the crotch man's arms lowered as his spear began becoming heavier and heavier.
Finally, with a light push, he threw the spear towards Ran. A red ray of light flashed towards Ran like a comet travelling through space. Dangerous.
Boom! Ran blocked the spear with his sword, but it hit like a truck and he was slammed straight into a tree. Creak, thump. The tree snapped in two and fell onto the ground, along with Ran.
Cough. "Pui. Dang, that hit like a truck." Ran ended up spewing some blood as he patted his clothes, removing the dirt off them. His skin was bruised and his organs, shaken. Nonetheless, the damage he received was actually less than he imagined. He looked at the spear on the ground and up at the man that was going to pick it up. Another smirk was raised.
Ran breathed in, then out. Strands of soul juice, that were thicker than before, appeared from his palm and slithered up his sword's hilt before disappearing. Then, it happened.
Buzz buzz. His sword reacted to the new energy supply and began sucking on that juice. Oh yeah!
That was a Kool Aid joke for those that didn't know. Such a shame if you couldn't figure that out, but…
The sword shook and shook as tiny wisps of ethereal like mist began sprouting from the hole under his swords hilt. It was a ghostly blue that was also semi transparent. After enough wisps spurted out, it coalesced into an ethereal, immaculate pommel-shaped like an arrowhead. It hovered silently under his sword as his sword seemed to have gained a strange heftiness to it. Ran, for some reason, also felt a… connection to the sword. A unique one, one that hadn't been present before, or rather, wasn't strong enough before.
"Heh, yep. I was right. Truly, there's no rest for the wicked." He gripped his sword before taking a stance. Then, just like the crotch-man, he threw it.
Boom! Another ray of light appeared. This time, it was pink. Of course, it was Rans sword. Yet, Ran was stunned just a second afterwards.
Why? Well, you see, it's the arrowhead. Yeah just a normal arrowhead. Oh, you know, like the ones that bloom into flower petals before increasing the sword's speed by multiple times-yeah, you know the one! It was basically like a rocket as it shot through the sky.
The man who was walking to pick up his spear, felt something. He looked up only to see a flash of pink light before a pain seared into his body from his right.
That blooming flower under Rans sword truly did wonders. After being shot into a tree, the distance between the two changed dramatically. It was about one hundred feet (thirty meters) now.
But the suction, whoo! It's a chugger alright. Rans face was much paler than before and his disturbed organs shook a little in pain.
He looked at his right arm only to find it gone! His eyes almost popped out of his skull as he felt his eyes darkening. The pain was intense, intense enough to almost make him pass out. Yet, that didn't stop him from crying out loud like a little baby.
And yet, even with his experience of hunting for several years, he still made another grave mistake. He was too busy withstanding the pain he lost sight of his enemy! Oh, bummer.
Yep, and just like that, he felt another pain. A pain that was like a bull, standing over him, ready to steal his life. Ran had tackled crotch-man when he wasn't looking! Oh man, now it's getting good.
Standing on top of the crotch-man toppled body, Rans cold eyes smiled. Yep, his eyes smiled! Oh no… oh no...
"Hush little baby, don't you cry; papas gonna sing you a lullaby, and if you don't really shut it up, then I'll really have to blow it up!"
Ran lightly slapped the man's face, like a playful child. But what did crotch-man do? Did he heed Rans warning? Of course not! Who do you think he is, an upstanding citizen? No, he spat at Ran metaphorically and physically, only for him to dodge. Who was he kidding...
Rans eyes were still cold as he lifted a leg and then smashed down! Where? Haha, I think you know where exactly…
"Argh! You-you ba***rd!" The man's eye blood vessels burst as they turned red from blood. His breathing coarse, blood leaking from his lower region.
The crotch man had finally had enough and was determined to at least bring down the both of them.
But when he summoned it, he was completely flabbergasted!
Why? Well, it's simple really. He was shocked because he saw with his own eyes, his spear changing colors! At first, only a very small portion was white-pink. But within the matter of a single second, no… even faster than that, it consumed his entire spear, and poof… his connection with it was forcefully severed. The white-pink spear fell from his hands and rolled on the grass for a few feet.
Now, he could only whimper while on the verge of death. Wishing for mercy.
"Great little baby, heed my advice. Don't say a word and just… sleep… tight."
Ran combed the man's rugged and botched hair with his fingers until he nodded. He smiled warmly at the man.
Bam! Non-crotch man (formerly named crotch man) became on the receiving end of an onslaught of punches, raining down on his face.
First, the nose; broken. Eyes, swollen. Lips… actually they were chapped as f**k, so them being sliced apart from brute force could be said to have made them better. What can I say, you shoulda used more Blistex, you'd look more human that way!
Teeth, swallowed. Jaw, broken. Cheeks, sunken. Hmm, that about covers it. Okay, what's next, ah yes…
Non-crotch man, after somehow staying alive, had actually fainted from just the first punch. He had lost too much blood after all. But, the continued assault ended up forcibly waking him up from his much needed eternal slumber.
"Roar!" He let out a primal roar as his instincts completely took over his body. Then, the other flame spear that was far away from him raised into the air before it disappeared; leaving only the metal ball.
The metal ball, fetal organ, began shining. Shining so brightly it became a white sun as it blinded everyone on the battlefield except for the non-crotch man himself.
"Ahh!" Rans eyes burned and he temporarily blinded.
"Roar!" Fluffy, also temporarily blinded.
"F**k! The boss is using that!?"
"S**t! What happened over there?"
Both bow-man and rock-man were temporarily blinded. That's why they were anxious. This move affects everyone, so non-crotch man, or the boss, almost never uses it unless he's in a serious and life-threatening situation. But… it seemed a little too late for that.
Yet, there was suddenly another scream that ringed out across the battlefield. Luckily, with Fluffy's senses, while she couldn't sense out where they were, she could sense the general direction. She slashed out her claws and three thin and unstable black lines shot outwards. Two of them were too unstable from Fluffy's inadequate concentration and training and just puffed out of existence. But the third one survived and hit the jackpot. A thin, black line spread across the rock-man's neck as it began going through a process of necrosis.
He screamed out of terror as he felt his cells die right in front his eyes and eventually he couldn't feel anything as his spine, along with his nerves, also quickly died. Eventually, the rotten flesh known as his neck flopped off with a rotten smell and his head was separated from the rest of his body. He watched for exactly one second as his brain recorded one last memory before going into a coma and died. his body stood there, like nothing ever happened; a betrayal to his actual emotions of horror and pain… and sorrow. losing consciousness… forever, that, THAT, was the last thing he saw. A betrayal.
***
Non-crotch man quickly and powerfully shoved Ran off before disappearing… silently. Well, that's what he thought. His movements were quiet and stealthily, an achievement gained from his years of hunting. Yet, there are just some things you just can't remove.
Not that any of that matters though.
Why? Again, it's quite simple… really, this time. There's one reason. Gravity. Well, it's more complicated than that. Put simply, as Ran did his little dance thingy, he touched upon a little thing known as the ground. Because of that, some of his energy was transferred from his body to the ground… and now you can see where I'm going with this.
Quake. Non-crotch man suddenly felt the ground a few feet around him quake slightly and cracks began spreading throughout the area. Thankfully, and to Ran's advantage, the ground around here was quite firm. Makes for a good vice.
His foot slipped and entered one of the cracks, unable to get it out for the time being. His loss of blood and pain… mixed with that push to get rid of Ran had taken its toll on him. He barely had enough energy to stab something, which was his plan, only for even that to fail. Yet, his hearing seemed to be perfectly fine. In fact, they worked better than ever!
Tip tap. Tip tap. He could clearly hear footsteps… And they were coming closer. His swollen and quickly darkening eyes managed to capture an image of a white figure. One holding what appeared to be a bright white-pink spear. The figure was in front of him now.
Ran was blind, yes. But unfortunately, his improved senses, his nose really, was improved through a bloodline. One that's sole purpose was to find and consume prey.
In other words, thanks to the ability which I now officially call smellovision, what Ran saw in front of him wasn't a person. But rather, a glob of pure and unadulterated scent. Blood and sweat. Soul juice. Body odor and… tears. It was everywhere, but the source will always remain the same and the most dense.
Well, technically, it was just chemicals entering his nose and his olfactory nerves sending the information to his brain for it to interpret. But who cares about that...
Holding the spear in his hands, he looked down on this pathetic and awful smelling man. He had long lost control of his bowels. His eyes remained cold and unfeeling even when in the face of a dying man. One created by his own hands.
And those very same hands didn't shake one bit as it thrusted the spear through the man's head, ending his life.
"Sleep tight…" Ran whispered.