An exit came to me in the form of a ladder.
After having walked upstream for what seemed to be hours, I finally managed to bring myself to the end of the line. A crossing of roads it seemed, as water from different parts of the city met each other in this small maelstrom of current.
Still, even with the water being significantly slower than those further down the line, I did find it surprisingly hard to navigate through.
"Ayayay," I muttered, as I slowly dipped my feet into the water. "Come on buddy, you got this!"
I was making my way through the murky waters, and there was a very good reason for this.
Across from me, at the other side of the crossing roads, lay a small elevation which led to a higher level of the sewers. Seeing that this would most likely lead back to the surface, I had absolutely no time to waste! Alas, the water kept on dragging me down, slowing everything out.
I pushed and pushed and pushed.
It was taxing to do such a thing over and over again, but after having deduced a certain route which led me straight through the slippery slope, I finally managed to make my way to the other side.
All that was left for me to do was to simply get up to the higher ground and continue my walk from there!
Thing was... How do I exactly climb up?
After all, one of my arms had been injured. Holding onto the ledge as I try to haul myself over would easily do the job, but I did not think my body was ready to do such a thing!
Fortunately, as I had said earlier, the exit came to me in the form of a ladder.
After having scanned the walls for anything that might help, my sights were quickly glued onto a ladder located not too far to my left. It was an old ladder, but I was certain it could do its job more than fine.
As I finally arrived in front of the ladder, I was indeed greeted by the sight of rusty metal. Sure, it was a fossil but the fact that it managed to stand against the test of time proved to me enough that I had nothing to worry...
Or should that be the other way around?
"Well, here goes nothing," I said to myself, as I began my ascend.
Making sure that none of the rungs would break underneath my weight, I did end up taking quite a while to actually get over to the top.
Unfortunately, things were never that simple now, were they?
"Oh, lookie here," a familiar craze-filled voice suddenly came.
As soon as I realised that I was no longer alone, it was already a little bit too late.
A kick. A simple kick, and yet it packed so much punch that I was immediately pushed back to the waters underneath.
"Damn," I cursed out, wincing from the pain of the fall. Fortunately, things weren't as bad as what they could've been, with me being able to prevent further damage to my already weakened left arm.
But with this, came another consequence which I needed to bear.
As I rolled my body sideways mid-air in an attempt to focus the impact onto the right side of my body, the rifle which I had been carrying all this time was sadly thrown out into the far distance of the chamber.
I couldn't tell where exactly it had fallen, but it was definitely somewhere on the other side.
Let's just hope it doesn't get carried away by the currents before I actually find it, I thought sourly to myself.
Thus, as I was unable to go and directly get my rifle back, I was now forced to fend off myself with nothing but my own fists. It wasn't exactly the best of odds, but it would have to do.
After all, little white-hair here didn't strike me as the most threathening member.
"So, how have you been since the last time we met?" White-hair asked as he jumped down. "I see that your arms are injured. Poor you, but good for me!"
Without even a single delay, he immediately bolted towards me in speed that I would never thought possible to be out of those thin and weak-looking legs. Barraging me with punches, the only thing I could do in the beginning was to continuously evade his advances. Even with me being able to manage all of these attacks, the insane amount of pressuring that I was being subjected to caused me to be on my toes every second along the way.
Seeing that there was a lack of light, I too became much more dependent on my hearing. This unfortunately did not go very well, for our footworks and the splashes of water they caused made it very hard to actually know what was going on.
Simply, I was going by instinct and instinct alone.
What I didn't expect was that white-hair here had an instinct of an actual beast.
At first, I thought of him to be nothing but a playful fox, only exhibiting his skills for show. Having gone back and forth though, I finally realised what he actually was. A cunning wolf, keen on wearing me out.
He's smarter than he looks, I thought as the two of us continued our dance.
However, this short moment of thought was all that he needed to break through my defenses. Sidestepping to my left, he drilled his fist right into my guts, following up with a quick one-two punch. Staggering, I could only try to remain on my feet as my head spun in dizziness.
Breathing heavily, I tried to get my head back on the game when suddenly my vision was filled with white-hair's soles.
A flying-kick.
The sheer impact itself sent waves along my body towards the injured arm, causing me to cringe slightly. Not to mention, my feet had finally failed me too. Crashing onto the water below, I gasped for air as my body tried to recover.
Not wasting this small opening, white-hair quickly placed his hand around my neck, burying my face underneath the water.
"DIEEEEEE!" He screamed loudly.
I stretched out my arms and tried to reach out to anything in desperation. I was losing strength. There was no way that he was going to let me off the hook that easily. Darkness began enveloping me yet again as my consciousness dripped out of the tip of my finger.
Damn. Drowning twice in one day. Gotta be a new record.
"You ain't wrong..."
"Shut up, you damn reaper!"
A burning sensation spreaded around my right arm as bubbles began to form around me. Steam. I was burning with his Authority.
"Sorry, my guy, your luck has just run out," I yelled out as I quickly turned the tides towards my favor.
Desperate times called for desperate measures. I was more than willing to take whatever the price that came with overusing my Contract if it meant not dying.
Rising up, blood pulsing, I grabbed onto white-hair's neck and threw him across the chamber. It was only a small burst of energy, but even this had already put a large strain on my body.
Still, I fought against the pain and continued to fight.
What I got as a response was not what I had expected. Laughter. Laughter ensued from where white-hair was supposed to be, and even amidst the adrenaline rush I was having, this caused me to hesitate.
A madman, just like me. How convenient.
"Oh wait!" I heard him mutter among the laughter. "Killing you is a no-go now, isn't it?"
He continued to laugh as I circled my way around him. Such a peculiar man, I had to admit, but the aura that he carried was surely not one that I could underestimate. For all I knew, he could jump across the whole chamber in less than a second and unleash a fury of madness.
And no, we did not want that.
As if reading my mind, white-hair here wasted no time in getting back up. Still chuckling, he raised his right hand and pointed straight towards me.
"I'm going to bring you down, my guy," he said adamantly. "Not going to kill you! But definitely bring you alive with me!"
With pure determination oozing out of his words, I could only respond to the guy in the way I knew how.
I would be the one to take the initiative. But what exactly should I choose to do?
Should I try to go for the kill with my bare hands? Or should I risk it and go out of my way to get my rifle back?
Both certainly had their ups, but both of them also quite certainly had their downs. If you were to ask me this as a hypothetical question, I might have just taken a full minute to fully think it through, but with the predicament that I was in, I knew that time was not on my side.
And so, I went with my guts and approached my foe with confident steps.
I was going to end it.
One-on-one.
"Now that's more like it!" White-hair shouted out as soon as the two of us came into range of one another. "Show me what you got!"
Sure I will, I thought to myself as the plan in my head became clearer and clearer with time.
Having just run straight towards him, I pulled my right fist as far as I could in an attempt to hit him with a solid jab. However, knowing that this was an easy counter opportunity, I stopped the motion midway and quickly changed course.
Jumping out of the way just as I was about to be slammed down onto the ground, I stepped to the sides and crouching down, swept ole' white-hair here off of his feet.
Giving him no time to recover from gravity's wake, I followed this small sequence of steps with a kick straight to his back.
Thump, his body went as it landed onto the watery floor.
"What was that, you bastard!" he shouted in disgust. "Bailing out just in the last minute!? You disgust me!"
"Sorry if I did, buddy," I responded as I came prepared myself for another go. "Not really my problem though now, is it?"
Although I certainly did not have the upper hand here, having just homed in one solid punch really did allow me to be much more inquiring with my desire to take him out.
Unfortunately, so was he.
Annoyed at this blatant "foul" of mine, white-hair rushed straight across the whole chamber to get to where I was.
Quick! was the last thing I thought of before I was being sent into the air by an uppercut. But just as I was about to defy gravity, I was sent back down again by a roundabout kick. Truly, he was not playing around.
Barely managing to recover from this, I slowly balanced myself as the situation grew worse. My body was fully set on being dead tired in a few minutes, and my opponent had just turned on his killer-mode.
Things were looking as bright as the darkness around me to be honest! Superb!
Once again, the two of us sized each other up as we each took for ourselves a breather. One eager to throw hands again, the other wanting to just get it quickly over with.
"Guess I gotta get on with my plan then," I muttered, as the ticking time-bomb on my back began growing louder and louder.
I needed to finish this now! Otherwise, I might just pass out again. This time, unless I manage to subdue my opponent first, permanently.
"So, tell me...You think what you're doing is right?" I asked out of the blue.
Eventhough goading the guy wasn't exactly the most fireproof method in keeping his focus divided, it was definity worth a shot. Besides, I had no better idea.
"I bet you've killed many innocent people yourselves in the past, so do you think that's right?"
Silence. I was met with complete silence.
Unsure of whether he was still there, I was just about to call into the darkness again when suddenly, right in front me out came a man filled with pure intent on defeating me.
"It's never about being in the right or not!" He let out, as the two of us clashed. "What I care is only the safety of my family! As far as I am concerned, my family are the only ones that matter!"
He ended this response of his with his a sudden burst of enerrgy as he kicked me in the gut, delivering me a couple of feet away from him.
Just as planned.
Coughing, I didn't stop my continuous baiting.
"You think that justifies what you did? You know the people you're with aren't saints, right? They're filths, savages who kill people for no reason. Now that's not exactly--"
But before I could even finish my sentence, a shadow dropped by out of nowhere right in front of me.
Eyes bloodshot from anger, white-hair came in flying as he kicked me with another rocket kick straight to my face.
Yep, just a little bit closer now.
Falling back to the ground, I did my absolute best to not give a single thing away. All I needed to do now was to keep myself conscious for as long as I could.
Oh, and I also needed to brace myself for angry boy's rant over here.
Except such a rant never came.
"I don't care if they're demons nor murderers..." He started. "Me being accepted is more than enough of a reason for me to want to protect them! Losing any of them is not an option! It's never about what's right, it's never been about that! It's about what's left, and I don't want to have a bunch of nothing waiting for me back home! No. No, I don't."
The amount of genuineness that I felt in his response was surprising, but even then, I was spared no time to think.
Blinded by his emotion, he continued to put pressure on me as he grabbed me by the collar.
"I- I know that the people I've killed have their own families," white-hair's voice shook as he looked at me in the eyes. "I know that! I know that what I am doing isn't right, but it's the only way that I can ensure mine remains. And that's all I've ever wanted, so I don't mind being a demon if that means keeping that..."
Hearing this unexpected response, it took me quite some time to let these next couple of words out of my mouth. I don't know, a weird lump had just suddenly popped up along my throat.
I didn't like it.
"You know, you're being used right?" I said, after much difficulty.
"Used? I am not being used."
It was at that exact moment that it finally dawned on me. He really did whole-heartedly hate this life of his. It was clearer than day to me from the emotion which he wore on his sleeves. Pitiful yes, but justified? Certainly not.
"I really pity you, kid."
But who really was I pitying on?
I had seen those look in his eyes before. It was the pain that came with Love, and the fact that he had just made it clear to me what he cared about, simply made things so much easier to understand.
To put the ones you love on a pedestal, this was what he had done. He was yet just another soul stuck in this cycle of hatred borne from Love; taking the life of others in the name of that exact same Love that he was advocating.
And that... That was sort of like looking in the mirror.
I hated it.
"I'm sorry, man," I said as I looked down upon him. There was nothing that I could do, his life had been lived and his fate had been sealed.
He had been silence all this time, but the shaking that continued throughout his body told me everything I needed to know.
He had to have kept this feeling all to himselves for years by now, penting it up all up within him until it was only a single prick away from bursting. It was just his bad luck that today was that day when he would be pricked.
"You think this would shake me!?"
Without any notice, I was once again thrown across the chamber's floor. I looked around me, and sure enough, it was there.
My calculation had been right. I was just not sure whether I liked that or not.
Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself for what was about to come.
As I heard the splashing that came with white-hair's jump, time began to finally slow down. All was silence. Without a single moment of hesitation, I grabbed onto my rifle which had been flung just an arm's length away from me and turned around.
The moment that I opened fire, it was as if the whole world was in black-and-white, with only the two of us in focus. Without even a single word uttered, I shot and I shot and I shot until there was nothing but the echoing sound of gunfire enveloping the two of us.
It was only until the deafening silence came back that I finally returned to my senses. It was only until I returned to my senses that I saw the mess that I had made.
Red paint had been splattered all over the canvas.
With his streak of white hair finally cut open to reveal a pair of brilliant blue eyes which had grown faint in radiance, he stood proudly and tall during his final moments taking in all of the bullets which I had just shot. He panted and he gasped for air, eventhough it was a fruitless effort, and yet at that exact moment, I looked at him with nothing but solemness. It was only when it was clear that he was on his final stretch, that I was finally able to ask.
"What's your name?"
...
...
"Stevie..."
"Stevie? Well, you really did good job there. Almost had me beat."
...
"Really..."
"Yeah," I gulped.
And yet no answer ever came back after that.
The moment that his eyes finally closed to signal his end, his whole body moved in unison as if a marionette whose strings had finally been let go. His whole body turned rigid and down into the water it went. Even without me having to look, I knew that it was being carried down by the current.
He was dead. That much I knew to be true. Even without me having to look at it, the smell was already evident enough.
...
Or was that the sewers? I couldn't really tell.