None's POV:
Mea stared at the easily irritable blanker standing behind the two other titled blankers.
The Manslaughter blanker stopped what he was about to do and stood up.
They both stared at each other for a short moment. The Survivor blanker still sitting on Mea.
"Hey, Kasai. Fancy seeing you here." The Manslaughter blanker spoke out.
"Fancy my ass. Your voice ticks me off."
"We found a nice toy. If you want, we could let you in on the fun." He moved to the side to show the girl they've captured.
"Fuck off, I'm not interested."
"Come on, man. We're from the same clan. Why be so cold towards me? Didn't we know each other back in the days?"
"I quitted the clan a long time ago, deadass. I've got no connections with you, anymore."
"Oh, then do you want to join us, anyways? It's not everyday you get to have your way with a girl without consequences. She's so fragile, too. I bet her moans are just as good."
"Like I said, I'm not interested. Your voice is really starting to piss me off."
The Manslaughter blanker was not impressed. The atmosphere became tense.
"Then what are you going to do about it? Play hero? Even if you used to be our clan mate, I won't go easy on anyone because of that. Not even you, Kasai, the prodigy of the Phoenix Squad."
Kasai took a step forward and started walking. He kept his head forward and didn't bother looking at them.
"Tch. I could care less about her."
Kasai was now closer to him, but he doesn't seem to be trying to pick a fight with the Manslaughter blanker.
"Oh, really? Then where are you going, Kasai?"
"Where? To kill, of course."
Kasai walked past the Manslaughter blanker. Then in that moment...
"Starting with you!"
He raised his feet for a swing kick. It caught the Manslaughter blanker off guard and his face got bashed.
It knocked him off to the side, leaving a mark on his head. He still kept his balance but was struggling to stand.
"Bro!"
Kasai wasn't done. He charged forward preparing a series of blows that made the Manslaughter blanker to be completely on the defensive side.
With every punch, Kasai's movement became faster and faster landing blows after blows on the defending blanker. Most of his attacks were blocked off but the quicker ones manage to land on his face and shoulders.
"You son of a bitch!" The Manslaughter was prepared to retaliate.
He ducked down avoiding the rest of Kasai's attacks. He targeted Kasai's feet and focused to throw him off balance with his kick.
Kasai hopped away from his kick and landed another kick into his face knocking him back once again.
The hand he had defended with wasn't strong enough to absorb Kasai's kick and was smashed instead. Leading the kick to connect to his hand and face.
The force was enough to send the Manslaughter blanker rolling on the ground.
The Survivor blanker came into the scene.
"Bro, are you okay?!"
The Manslaughter stood with his right hand completely wrecked, and his other arm was pretty beaten up, too. A huge mark could be spotted on the area he was kicked. He exhaustedly regained his footing.
"Let's gang up on him." The Manslaughter wiped his face with his right hand and prepared to launch a double attack.
'Tch, I was hoping to break both his arms off before they group up.' Kasai took a stand, his battle truly begins now.
The two blankers rushed Kasai in unison and were able to quickly close the gap.
Kasai waited in anticipation as the Survivor blanker threw a punch at him.
Kasai dodged it effortlessly but another attack was thrown at him from the other side. Kasai reacted by throwing out his fist, too. Both their fists clashed and created a shockwave that pushed their hands away.
The Survivor blanker sneaked an attack behind Kasai, but it was still easily dodged as Kasai performed a sidestep follow by a roundhouse kick.
The Survivor blanker reacted by blocking it with an arm only to have it smashed in and deformed.
The shocked Survivor blanker fell to the ground and cried in pain as he held his broken arm.
Before Kasai could follow up with a finishing attack, he was interrupted by swift footsteps behind him.
A glass shard teared through his skin and stabbed through his spine.
'Fuck, I couldn't react in time.'
"Hehe, doesn't it hurt? It hurts. Does it not? It hurts, right? Hey, tell me. It's must hurt like hell, doesn't it?"
He stabbed it deeper inside him that only made Kasai flinch.
Kasai grabbed one of his arm and threw him to the ground in front of him.
"Kwack!" The unsuspecting Manslaughter blanker hit the ground and his rebounded.
"Damn it!" Kasai was exasperated, the pain was definitely hard to bear.
He pulled the glass shard out of his back and threw it on the ground. He proceeded to stomp on it breaking it into pieces.
"Curse you!" The Survivor blanker tackled the weakened Kasai to the ground and started beating his face with one arm.
Kasai defended against the consecutive heavy blows with his arms. Each hit boomed in the air and created a small dent in his arm. His arms will break if this continue on. The Manslaughter blanker was starting to get up, too.
"Die! Die! Die! Die!" The Survivor blanker continued on with his rampaging attacks.
Kasai's arms gave in and he lost all control as they dropped to the ground. His face is now completely defenseless.
"HAHAHAHA! Die! Die! Die!" The Survivor blanker let out a malicious laugh and started beating his face.
"AHHHHHH!" A loud battlecry came from behind him. Mea had stood up and readied a sharp twig in the air.
It stabbed into the back of the Survivor blanker's head and into the hollow insides. It wasn't strong enough to pierce out the front but had made the Survivor blanker stopped punching.
The laughing also stopped. It didn't take long before he collapsed on his side.
Mea stood there with her hands shaking. She had picked up the twig she was hiding the moment her hands healed.
Kasai pushed the slightly chubby body off him and whined, "Damn it! It fucking hurts!"
His face was all beat up and some areas were completely pushed into his head. His entire face is like deformed clay.
Mea sensed someone's presence behind her and instinctively turned back to look at the Manslaughter blanker. But it was too late.
Three blades of sharp glass sliced the upper part of her head off. The "cap" of the head fell to the side as the it exposes the inner empty space inside Mea's head.
Her body knelt down lifelessly.
The Manslaughter blanker kicked her entire body to the side to clear his path.
"A useless hoe like you should act like one! That fucking got me into a bad mood!"
Three shards of glass were impaled into his wrist and aligned like claws. His right arm hasn't completely healed from the damage Kasai dished out on him, but was still enough to move around with.
Kasai stood with his back arched. The Manslaughter blanker stared at him and he stared back.
"Even if you get on all fours and beg for your life, I'm still cutting you up." The Manslaughter blanker stated, a hint of annoyance in his voice was audible.
"Like hell I'd do that! I'm going to fucking kill you!" Kasai barked back.
"WHY DON'T YOU COME AND TRY!" The Manslaughter blanker lunged at him with his arms flailing in the air.
Kasai lifted his chin as he looked down on his opponent.
A fight in the lobby gives everyone an equally weak and lightweight body. Nothing determines a fight. Not strength, not vitality, not weapons. Only skills and techniques mattered.
A battle against two blankers of the same body build puts him at a disadvantage. If he takes too long to finish his opponents, they will wear him down with numbers. If he gets joint locked even once, it's over.
A fight like that might as well be suicidal. Time is the essence. With time, you can regenerate the sections in your body that have been damaged.
A team of two could swap places and recover in the back and continue this process safely. Against a single enemy who has to constantly defend against attacks, there is no room for him to heal whatsoever.
But now is different. With one of his opponents down, it had significantly increased his chances of winning. Even though he's still holding major disadvantages against his current opponent.
For starters, his opponent now have a working weapon in his possession. Unlike a shard of glass that you need to hold like with a knife and possibly knocked out of your hand, a claw stays consistent in it's position.
A fight of two sides whose both arms were thoroughly beaten up turned into a one-sided battle. A claw could easily tear through his body with ease if given enough momentum. And they are easy enough to follow up with another attack and also consist of fairly swift patterns in a fight.
A small error in movement could very well be the loss of a limb in an instant. Despite that, Kasai was confident in his abilities.
In a duel, Kasai excels both in close combat battles and speed. His naturally sharp senses and quick decision-making is, after all, what earned him the title as the prodigy of the Phoenix Squad. A squad led by Haruto and the strongest damage dealing party in their time.
Even with both his arms beaten up, he still had his feet. And that's all that he needed to take down the Manslaughter blanker.
The first slash was easily dodged with Kasai's swift movement. He did the same to the next attack after and after.
"I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO KILL ME?!"
Kasai waited for the right moment to kick his claws. The impact wasn't strong enough to knock them off his wrist but was able to stop the Manslaughter blanker's increasing momentum.
The Manslaughter blanker lunged himself at Kasai, again. This time, Kasai knew his pattern and readied a counterattack.
Kasai ducked from the first slash and kicked the blanker off balance. On the process of slipping, he was greeted by a knee to his face that knocked him back on his steps but was then quickly followed by a side kick that bashed the side of his face.
The impact caused the blanker to spin in the air before falling on all fours. The blanker relied on friction of the ground to stop his body from sliding.
The blanker lifted his head slowly. His body was shaking with rage. That kick on his face made him furious. He will not tolerate getting humiliated like this.
Kasai took a stance, preparing for another attack.
The blanker disappeared from his original position and darted across the roadway, straight to Kasai.
He leaped towards Kasai. His claws pierced through the air as he aimed for Kasai's head.
Kasai side stepped and connected another punch.
This didn't stop the blanker as he slashed for Kasai's torso.
Kasai ducked and followed with a snap kick.
The blanker anticipated it this and blocked the kick before it could gather momentum.
Kasai jumped and spun around for a roundhouse kick midair.
The kick connected and bashed the blanker's head even more.
The blanker's body hit the floor hard and rebounded high into the air.
Kasai closed the distance swiftly and followed with another downward kick that smashed the blabker's ribs. Kasai proceeded to stomp on the wound continuously.
The blanker screamed out in pain with every strike of the foot. He tried to go for Kasai's foot this time. Only to have Kasai's foot directly stomp on his wrist before he could lift it.
The blanker's hand had healed by now. He threw a punch that missed but got Kasai off of him.
The other healed hand embedded the blanker's glass shards which the blanker had not realized.He was cautious this time. All the attacks he'd initiated so far were fruitless.
Kasai knew this and went on the attacking side. His arms were already healing, too.
The blanker panicked and slashed at Kasai prematurely, but the shards were cushioned by his own flesh. Kasai didn't bother dodging it and took the punch in the face.
He then grabbed onto the blanker's wrists and turned around to position his footings and threw him against the ground. He didn't let go of his grip.
Kasai firmly stepped on his shoulder keeping him in place. He twisted the blanker's arm which led him to scream in pain.
The blanker moved his head uncontrollably and struggled to stand up. He kicked the floor and tried to turn to his side desperately.
Kasai twisted it more and made a sudden jerk which completely separated his arm from his body.
The blanker tossed around the floor crying out in pain.
Kasai took a step towards the blanker whilst still holding his detached arm.
The blanker flinched and struggled to crawl but fell due to the lack of balance with a single arm. He hit his chin on the floor.
The blanker turned his head to see Kasai take another step while trying to pluck the glass shard out of the arm.
He was too scared to think straight. Instead of standing up, he panicked to crawl away with a single arm before realizing it's futile.
He turned back again.
"Stop!! I get it! You can keep that whore and the fatso! Just spare me!"
"Spare you?"
Kasai got a single shard of glass out and proceeded to cut the arm whilst still walking towards the Manslaughter blanker.
"Yes. You wanted the title, right? You can kill the fatso and do whatever you want with the girl. I'll leave and never show up in your face again, alright? Just spare me."
"The other title needs me to at least kill 3. Why should I exclude you?"
"I'LL HELP YOU HUNT! I HAVE OTHER PAWNS WITH ME THAT COULD BE OF HELP TO YOU AS WELL! HOW DOES IT SOUND?!"
"Not interested."
The Manslaughter blanker let out a low cackle.
Kasai didn't know the reason for it, nor does he care. But something is unsettling him...
Kasai turned around to see the Survivor blanker completely healed up. His title was still Survivor. He had managed to sneak behind Kasai while they were exchanging dialogues.
The Survivor blanker tackled Kasai to the ground, with no time to react. Both his hand gripped tightly around Kasai's neck, choking him and crushing his throat slowly.
"Die! Die! Die!"
The Manslaughter blanker laughed even louder as he watched the helpless Kasai struggling to break free.
"No one has survived having their neck destroyed! That's the weak point, you see? YOU'RE DONE FOR!"
The Manslaughter stood up and made his way to Kasai.
Kasai's breathing became harder and his progressively in a worse state with more and more force applied to it.
"How does it feel to be all high and mighty for a few seconds?"
Kasai's current state wasn't enough to break free from the Survivor blanker's clutches. He's too weak to even keep his concentration without his vision blurring.
He moved his hand aimlessly searching for something on the ground until he stumbled on the glass shard. He grabbed it and thrusted it into the blanker's jaws.
The Survivor blanker's title disappeared. The dead body fell on it's side. He's truly dead this time.
As Kasai slowly breathe in and his neck began to puff back, he regained his strength and stood back up.
"One down."
Kasai lifted his head to indicate his next target.
The Manslaughter blanker stood in shock until he heard something in his vicinity.
Mea had just regained her consciousness and her head was still fuzzy. She looked around.
The Manslaughter blanker dashed towards Mea. He held out his last piece of sharp glass from his pocket with his remaining one hand. The best course of action right now is to take the girl hostage.
Mea shrieked at the sight of someone coming at her. She covered her head.
The sound knife cutting through flesh.
Kasai blocked the glass with his bare hands wide open. It cut through his palm and out the opposite side.
"Bitch, your opponent is me." Kasai asserted.
The Manslaughter blanker scream with rage and cut even deeper and deeper into Kasai's arm until it's completely sliced in half. He wasn't gonna stop there, he's going even higher towards Kasai's face.
Kasai head butted him before he could slice his body. The blanker fell to the floor and Kasai jumped on him.
The blanker raised his glass to stab Kasai but was interrupted by a sharp object to his wrist, completely pinning his hand down.
THUD!
Kasai bashed his head against the blanker's face. Again, and again, he continued doing it. It was an attack that of an animal.
THUD!
THUD!
White pieces flew into the air every time he bashed his head against the blanker's face. It kept going. The sound went on.
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!!
The Manslaughter's title vanished. His face completely bashed in, and his corpse motionless.
Kasai inhaled and exhaled deeply. All the fighting until now has made him out of breath.
Mea watched all that unfold without making a single blink, her body still trembling from the shock.
Kasai turned to look at her. An arm of his still split in two. His head was a little deformed as well but he still kept it lifted up high.
The two blankers lay dead on the ground.
Kasai didn't know what to do.
Silence filled the air.
Mea didn't know what to do. Afterall, she is still in a state of shock.
More silence ensued.
A cry of anger emitted from a person who had leaped from a nearby hedge. This blanker punched Kasai in the right cheek.
Kasai wasn't able to react in time and flew across the field. He fell on the ground, he had used his remaining energy to stand up, his whole body was completely sore. Despite having been healed, the fatigue didn't fade.
The third blanker jumped on top of him and punched his face over and over.
"HOW DARE YOU!" The blanker roared.
Mea finally snapped out of it and called out to the blanker.
"STOP IT, RYE!"
The blanker immediately froze in place.
"YOU GOT IT WRONG, RYE! HE SAVED ME! HE'S BADLY INJURED, STOP HURTING HIM!"
Mea had rushed to them. Rye quickly got off Kasai and held Mea's shoulders.
"Are you okay, Mea?!"
"Rye, you idiot! Why didn't you come sooner?!"
She began hitting his chest.
"I was so scared... so scared. I thought I'll never see you again."
She let herself lay on Rye's chest and sobbed.
"Tch."
Kasai stood up and clicked his tongue. He then proceeds to leave the two behind to do continue their touching reunion as he tottered away.
After a while, Mea was finally able to calm down.
"What happened?" Rye asked.
Mea explained the situation to Rye. How a crazy blanker attacked her and how she got into this mess. She also explained how that blanker helped her and even used his own limb to protect her.
"Let's head back for now." Rye suggested.
And they both headed towards the toppled building.
~~
None's POV:
Kasai continued to walk slowly. It hasn't been long since he left the two love couples.
His wounds were slowly healing which puts him at a much better condition for walking overtime. Though, his fatigue remained.
He glanced at his split arm, it hasn't even begun repairing itself yet.
'Tch. Why did I even bothered blocking it? It's not like she'll die. She could've just regenerated her body for herself. I must be stupid.'
His pent up annoyance only served to annoy him even further.
'That guy. I should've punched his face back before leaving. Did I seriously just took the beating and did nothing? Am I some sort of pushover or something?!'
"Damn it. Profile."
>User:Kasai
>Title:Beta-Tester(2)
>Class:Null
>Rune:Null
>Mastery:Null
>You have Mail(1)
"Read mail."
>Dear User,
>
> Congratulations on completing the
>quest "Cull the Weak."
>
> Your have successfully received the
>completion reward for your quest.
>Titles:
>
>1. Beta-Tester
>2. Survivor
"Inspect title two."
>Title: Survivor
>
> This title is given only to the worthy
>hunters of The Lobby. The user in
>possession have successfully slain
>another user during the "Cull the Weak"
>quest event to obtain this title.
>
> Upon equipping this title, the user will
>nullify all attacks for 1.5 seconds upon
>taking lethal damage.
>
> This is a one-time use title and will
>disappear after activation.
>
> Will you equip this title?
It was then Kasai could hear rapid footsteps behind him. He knew who it was before he even looked back. That voice and what he's saying made it clear.
"Hey." Rye's voice came from behind. It wasn't a demanding tone. More like an apologetics one.
Kasai ignored him and continued walking.
"Hey." Rye called out multiple times but still didn't get a reply.
He overtook Kasai and stood in front of him.
"I'm sorry for attacking you earlier." He bowed down and waited.
"Please hit me! I can't forgive myself for what I did. You can even break all my limbs."
Anger pent up inside him. Rye had came to Kasai himself to receive a beating.
"Tch." Kasai walked passed him, still ignoring him.
'This deadass made me lose all my drive to punch him.' Kasai thought as he walked on.
A loud noise could be heard behind him. The sound of something hollow that clashed against a hard object.
"And thank you. Really, thank you. I can't thank you enough for saving Mea."
Kasai glanced over his shoulder to find Rye down on his knees with his forehead on the ground. He was completely bowing down to him.
Kasai didn't say anything. He only continued walking.
Even after walking a distance, Rye still kept his head down. Until Kasai was no longer in view.
Mea stood on the side, watching.
~~
None's POV:
It was midnight. The place was filled with nothingness illuminated only by the abundant blue flames inside each room.
Outside the room labeled the sideways sign "5543." And inside sat Hades. The sofa he was sitting on was on it's side but he didn't care. He sat on the high vantage point. Though, the room is exactly as it had been except it's now sideways with a few cracks and broken parts in the wall.
"Oh? I didn't expect you to get here so quickly."
Hades appeared to be talking to someone.
"Where is your partner? Why are you alone, blue-string boy?"
Out of the shadowed corner revealed a blanker slowly walking towards Hades. A blue ribbon string was properly tied on his wrist.
Rye stared up at the skeleton.
"I'm all that's enough to take you down."