[If you're enjoying the series, be sure to support it's continuous growth by getting the new Vol 2 copy since Vol 3 is coming out soon along with Vol 4!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0942FDTY1?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tpbk_1&storeType=ebooks ]
Takumi swiftly moved through the area, avoiding the bodies of the dead Ikigai. His movements created a turbulent breeze behind him that blew the snow up behind him with each quick step he took. Geira and Bougra kept their eyes on him, unaware of what he planned to do. Takumi checked out all of the blades he passed, in search of the best one. When he saw one that seemed perfect, he reached for it upon passing and tore it out from the skull of its previous owner. Followed by a full spin and a single whip, he arched his back.
It happened too quickly for Geira to counter. To anyone looking on, it'd seem as if he spun and then a bright purple flash spread out when in fact, Takumi shot the blade straight towards the on-looking strays, having added his Retsu. The rippling vortex of purple wind surrounding the saber blew the snow below it aside. The strays' sights were blinded momentarily. The two Setsu had disappeared when the cluster of snow erupted behind the blade that was headed straight at them. This raised their alertness.
In an instant, the larger Stray slid in front of Geira and repelled the saber with nothing more than his iced forearm. The sheer pressure blew away his cape, revealing the heavy set of armor he had underneath which was riddled with odd carvings. Shiro and Takumi came down from the cloudy sky, slamming their forearms against Bougra's own as the vibrations spread out and a small crater formed below him. He checked both Takumi and Shiro out as they zigzagged along each other in order to confuse them.
Seeing the Setsu advancing, Geira whipped her hand back signaling the one inside to open the front entrance. "I welcome you to have a taste of a sweet, inescapable horror." The gigantic metallic doors creaked open, pushing away the snow that had accumulated in front of it. Dredger whipped his hands over his head, dramatically swinging them back down.
From within the darkened entrance, a dozen black-haired beasts dogged onto the field. The rabid creatures tumbled over each other impatiently seeking the exquisite scent that called to their hunger; unbeknownst to everybody, that scent came from Hanami herself. They all flew into the air and crashed down moments later in front of Geira, their fur sticking out like quills and shaking wildly. The beasts didn't have any visible eyes where those would normally be; instead, they had a single eye for a nose that zeroed in on the potential prey up ahead.
"Two, three dozen just inside, and another dozen coming right at us. Can't have a party without an after party," Shiro tried to lightheartedly joke, but Takumi ignored him.
The teen bent his fingers inward, cracking them as he felt his black claws elongate once again. It rotated around his arm tightly, sliding out of the tips of his fingers covered by dark gloves. Five of the initial dozen beasts tore their claws out from the frozen ground and took off stampeding directly towards him. Takumi took in the seconds that their paws touched the ground and when the first one lunged at him, he front-flipped over and landed on top of the second one's back.
It tried buckling around in an attempt to get the young Setsu off of its back to no avail – Takumi already had his claws aimed at the Shiki's nape. He slashed through, severing its nerves and rendering it completely immobile. The beast crashed into the ground face first, and he used its back as a stepping board and turned towards the cloudy sky as three dove onto the one Takumi had been on.
In anticipation, the other Shiki that followed jumped up after him but as they came up they found that Takumi had swiftly spun over, directly facing them now. He had slid his pistol out and had it aimed their way. With a single tap of the trigger, a series of purple particles accumulated at the tip and a flash of light spread out, striking the central beast that was about to turn around in midair. It was too late: it yelped as its body incinerated along with the frozen ground below, a gaping hole where it would have landed. Hot boiling water bubbled, swishing around the opening.
Takumi landed back down, as the other two did on his left and right. The other four had passed by him, headed towards Shiro who swiftly slid on the ice as if ice skating and when the first one came up baring its fangs out at him, he swept his blade up in a clear slash that cut the beast down the middle. The ground ahead sunk in as the air rippled. The other two beasts circled around him and stopped in their tracks, bringing themselves forward from the two angles. In response, he stabbed his blade to the ground and spun in a circle, releasing a rift that blew the creatures away.
Another one headed towards Haruna and Sango, and Takumi looked back concerned but turned back as another lunged at him. He barely side-flipped twice as he blocked the beast's attempts at biting him, and he spun over and kicked the beast aside causing it to yelp with every crash it took as it was shot into the icy cold waves of the same hole its companion had fallen in.
All the while Shiro rushed by Takumi, getting directly in front of the beast before it could get any closer to Haruna and Sango, and slashed through the beast's chin. Connecting from the left side of its neck, he curved the deep cut up in a V slash that severed its head. Black liquid splattered, forming into smaller creatures that he quickly dispatched before they had time to become a threat. "Don't worry about them! These are low level Shikinikis... if any get through, miss Hana can handle them! Come on!" Shiro nudged for Takumi to follow on as he ran past him.
The two increased their pace, but Geira and Bougra had taken in their avid movements. "Great, I'll take on the smaller one!" Bougra spoke behind his mask, mesmerized by who he picked. Geira silently nodded and prepared for contact. Her pink dreads swayed around as she raised her forearms up, elongating her violet claws about eleven inches, stretching them onto the rigid frozen floor. Her nails scraped against the icy ground, creating a cringey screech.
The two prepared for Takumi and Shiro. Their hearing focused on the fast steps both made over the snow. "I've got that lump of scrap metal," the teen stepped aside to shift his direction as he eyed his target. Takumi and Bougra moved at the same time and dashed to their right. Once they were 20 ft apart, they both stopped and shifted their direction, headed directly at each other.
Bougra lifted the raspy sword and stabbed it into the ground. The snow beneath the blade spread along the corners of the weapon, expanding as if an actual gigantic shield were being made. The large surface clearly showed Takumi getting closer in its reflection, which didn't stop the boy in the slightest. He aimed the tip of his claws at the shield and as he got close to striking the center, he suddenly whipped over to the left and aimed again. This time, for Bougra's neck.
Bougra only smirked, effectively preventing the claws from reaching him. To Takumi's surprise, the stray managed to grab his wrist. "Come on now, baby boy, is that what you call a strike?" Bougra sneered and threw Takumi to the side.
On the other side, Shiro slammed his saber onto a set of claws that came from Geira's left arm. He took a leap aside, and she narrowly managed to graze his hip with her right. Cut her arms off. His body reacted and followed his intentions but it wasn't as easy to execute, as his saber kept getting caught between her nails; to make it worse, they had curves made out of snowflakes that served as hooks.
Thankfully, the vibrations from the contact shattered the icicle curves away but Geira continuously stabbed her claws into the ground, so every time she slashed upward with one, the other would be submerged in the snow below. It didn't take long for Shiro to understand this. The sight of his fellow Setsus' splattered blood on her mask infuriated him, amplifying his killing intent.
Haruna stared at Takumi and Bougra, taking in the fight before her. Takumi could feel her dark oak eyes piercing through his back as he fought, this being the second time she watched him fight that night. Although the situation was a very serious life or death situation, she started to smile. She couldn't quite place her finger on what exactly was going through her mind at that point. Why do I feel this way? what's this... I'm feeling? Elation? Though, watching from the sidelines isn't any fun. She thought she heard something, prompting to peer over her shoulder twice. Within herself, she knew something was off. Her attention quickly returned to Takumi.
"Squirt, watch out!" his voice snapped her out of her mind, and she just noticed that there were new wolves that slipped by Takumi and Shiro and headed for her and Sango.
She slipped protectively beside Sango, a deep frown on her face. "Use the hover bike!" she prompted the woman, yanking her weapon. Haruna slammed the blunt surface of her saber into the snow and drew a line. "I'll hold them off, go hide in those bushes over there!" she ordered the woman, pointing over to a tree line nearby.
"I won't leave you to fend for yourself, let's run!" Sango tried explaining, but soon got onto the hover bike.
"No worries, I can look after myself! It's you I'm worried about. Please go or this'll be harder to get through!" Sango listened to what she said, but still found herself frozen in place on the hover bike. "We have to get through to save your daughter! Do you wanna die!?" Haruna raised her voice strongly and watched as Sango's expression turned into a sad one. The woman turned away and took off to hide as one of the Shiki turned their attention to her but Haruna ran into its line of sight, showing off her metallic kendo blade along her forearm. "Here boy, do you like this shiny nice toy?" Haruna asked. "Now, I can go all out!" Haruna muttered while looking over her shoulder to make sure Sango was hidden, but the woman was still struggling to use the hover bike properly, clearly too slow. "Okay... I just have to hold them off!"
She then smashed her blade onto the incoming beast's head, and she felt the impact soften its skull as the body rolled naturally down it's back. The job wasn't done however as two came at her from both sides, diving down onto the one she smashed. A faint giggle escaped her lips.
Run... but she stands no chance! You're leaving a child; you can't leave her there! That thought alone prevented Sango from running off to hide. She looked back, if only for a second, before she forced herself to resume using the hover bike to reach the safe spot. "I'd only get in the way," Sango told herself, terrified by the monstrosities.
All of the Shiki were now focused solely on Haruna, trying to get hold of the alluring scent she gave off. It was an aura that made the beasts' putrid mouths overflow with saliva at the mere idea of a taste; their twisted smiles showed exactly what the toxins within the fluids did, for it even affected the gums of these beasts creating germ filled holes.
Fearlessly, two beasts of the remaining nine, took on the challenge of ripping her to shreds. Their voices moaned out between their clenched jaws. "Kill!"
"A.... arm... joints... hu...urt..." a second voice said in an old, raspy voice.
"What?" Haruna wondered, but by then the two charged at her. Reacting as quickly as possible, she made the choice to slide under one, even if it meant risking its jaws on her. "Maybe if I destroy those weird eyes they have on their nose!" Haruna went for the one to her left and slid with her feet aimed at it. Right as its head went down to tear her apart, Haruna spun herself over, grabbing a hold of its leg and managed to slide under its stomach while the one that had been chasing her, crashed head on with the one she had ran at.
Both of their noses rammed onto each other, rendering them immobile. Haruna staggered back onto her feet, grabbing a chunk of the beast's black hair in order to stand back up. She huffed, surprised she managed to survive that.
"Hit their noses... okay. Let's give it a go."
She prepared herself, as the next massive beast came in. Its tails thrashed around behind it, each thrust blowing clusters of snow, masking the others that were behind it. She swiped her blade aside and then swung it over her head, tightly gripping the hilt with both hands. She closed her eyes for a split second and inhaled deeply, listening closely to the sound of its paws grinding against the snow as it vaulted towards her and stretched its mouth open.
Opening her eyes again, Haruna met the creature's eye just as its gigantic face was right in front of her. The beast had its claws sprawled out having had planned to dig them into her side so that she wouldn't be able to escape but it wasn't her who had to run away.
Focusing into that single moment she yelled out, "Kaizen!" and the black blunt Kendo blade swung straight down with full force, thrashing the beast's mouth shut before it could have gotten to her.
The snow that once covered the surrounding ground erupted high into the sky, sending chunks of ice backwards in the other beings' direction. The chunks were unavoidable, as they'd gotten too close at the wrong time. Though their senses alerted them of danger in that instance, their bodies were swept backwards as snow filled their ears.
"W-what was that!?" Sango cried out, worried the beasts got Haruna. She couldn't spot her teammate at all, only big pieces of ice raining her way. Sango quickly turned around, nearly tripping but managing to get behind a tree just in time to feel the hits against the bark. Other chunks flew right by it, landing nearby. When they splattered, the mushy mess slapped her legs.
As soon as the tension ceased, she peeked at the scene unfolding, worried for the girl since she had heard a loud crashing sound and hadn't seen her anywhere amongst the new fog. She couldn't help but look over to the battlefield, and her motherly instincts screamed for her to get back over there but fear kept her in place. Never had she seen such monsters, far fiercer than the lions she'd seen in a zoo.
"How could she face those?" she wondered out loud. "Oh Himari, please be safe."
As the fog cleared, Sango spotted three figures diving about, causing the snow to stir. Amongst them, Haruna. At first glance, it seemed like the teen was in a tight bind but upon taking a closer look, Sango realized she was landing precise strikes on the beasts, blocking their attempts at getting to her at all costs. Her heart pounded in exasperation, and she focused in on what was going on around her with eyes wide open.
Haruna was repelling them and keeping them from catching her, but they were all jumping at her from different angles which made movement for her very hard. Two in particular fixed on her at that moment and she only had one way to go: she maneuvered between them, sliding through the numerous grab attempts by the other beasts. Each time, she struck at them whenever they extended their claws or came in to bite. Whenever they jumped, Haruna avoided them and struck their rib cages, steadily wearing them out.
Sango flinched at the close calls; at any moment, something could go wrong. Her nails dug into her palm out of sheer anxiety, and although she couldn't take it she kept her eyes open. "What can I do? Can I do anything!?" Sango gasped, feeling powerless.
Fully surrounded, Haruna struck the jaws of one of the beasts that came at her while another charged in from another angle and bit down on her sword. "Heeee... help me," a hushed voice cracked from it as it bit down harder, causing the blade to bend slightly. Try as she may to tug the weapon from the beast, it wouldn't let go.
Haruna's mind raced, her sight turned in all directions out of distress. The other beasts caught on to her predicament and seemed to sense something was off, turning to her with their fangs bared. Being in such a dangerous situation sent the girl into a panic. "N-no!" she exclaimed before blacking out, her state of mind shifting for a split second. "Let go!" Haruna desperately tried yanking the blade from the beast's mouth. "Let go!" she repeated louder and to her terror, the beast cackled at the predicament she found herself in.
She felt trapped.
Stay still! A voice within a haunting memory spoke aloud in her mind, and random flashes of a small girl shaking blinded Haruna's sight. She was frozen in place, like a sitting doe waiting to be devoured by a ferocious creature roaming in her vicinity. Just like a predator would, the beast sought its opportunity by approaching silently from behind, the low growls enough to resonate even though the girl was too far gone to pick up on it.
Seeing what was happening, Sango stumbled out from behind the tree. "I'm... too far!" All of her thinking made her forget about her legs, as she tripped over. Sango scuffled to get up and cried out, "Behind you!"
Haruna's heart skipped a beat and her pupils dilated as something snapped inside her.
Out of the blue, the creature lost its footing and plummeted face first before it could ram onto her; its horn dug into the ice, but Haruna turned around and took it head on. Though it scraped along her ribcage, she landed with her feet planted on both inner sides of the horn and with no mercy, she shoved her entire arm into the eye of the beast that wouldn't let go of her blade. It released its hold on the blade and let out an unnatural scream unlike anything Sango had ever heard, something that sounded like the cry of a child with the hysteria of a crazed old man at the same time. The sheer force of it shaking its massive head back and forth whipped Haruna up into the air like a rag doll.
As she flew in the air, the beast that was going for her collided with the other. Haruna spun, adjusting herself in the sky before she came straight back down towards the two. She smashed the broken piece of the horn she'd gotten bluntly into the Shiki's skull and at the same time, ruptured the spine of the other below it. The shattering of bones echoed all throughout the area, and her mouth curved into a delighted smile at the sound.
The beast's head created an indentation against the ground, and Haruna stepped over the clobbered creature and kicked the dead one only to see that the other one was still alive. Instead of ending its misery, the girl went on to crush its claws, shattering them into dozens of little pieces. The Shiki clenched its eyes shut.
Haruna giggled to herself, commenting "How cute. Weren't you eyeing me a moment ago like a piece of eye-candy? Here; take a better look then!" She reached down, gripping the side of the creature's eyelid and ripped its closed eye back open so it could see her smile clearly. The growls turned into screams, eerily that were similar to that of a human.
What am I... doing? Haruna asked herself, watching the beast's face indent inward every time she struck it with her blade barbarically. The bloodlust overcame any other feelings inside, but it didn't manage to silence the voice that was now trying to reason with herself. No... this isn't okay... stop! The more the beast resisted, the more she wanted to end its existence and secure her own safety. The scuffle and screams turned into whimpers that steadily died down and were replaced by the sound of the blade slugging into mush. The other Shiki looked on, petrified.
Her blade became bloodier and bloodier with every smash. She went on and on, until finally there was nothing left of the beast's face but unrecognizable flesh and teeth. A baseball sized eyeball laid in the center still untouched and Haruna stomped her foot down on it, squashing it on impact before directing her attention to the sky with a laugh, as the rest of the Shiki's body started twinkling away. The skeletal remnants of a human rested at the center of where the creature's massive form once laid amongst giant wolf-like bones.
The remaining Shiki stepped back in fear that they'd be next, initially; their killing intents withered away as hers washed over them, and they saw themselves overpowered. Haruna turned to look at them with complete rage in her eyes until one of them came forth.
"Please!" human voices started calling out from within these beasts, but it did little to faze the girl. "End!" it added, taking another step forward. "Please!" Haruna swapped the blade to her side, causing the blood to splatter off of the ridge and onto the snowy ground. She began calmly walking towards the remaining beasts as they all turned away, except for the one in the center that called out, "End pain!" in a crazed voice. Haruna rushed right by them and appeared in front of the center one.
In a single swing, it was slugged up against the beast to its left. Its massive teeth shattered from the impact, as its neck snapped backwards upon colliding against the solid icy ground. The two bodies broke apart, revealing two child-sized human skeletons.
Haruna woozily dropped to her knees, unable to control her spinning vision. The kendo blade pressed into the snow, offering her support until the dizzy spell subsided. Her head started throbbing as the world around her became nothing but a blur, and all she wanted was for it all to stop. Haruna reached down, clenching her gut.
Because it seemed safe enough to go out, Sango started marching straight for the girl. "Haruna!" she called to her, only for her to wave off.
"Please, stay back!" she cautioned Sango, to her confusion. "I don't think I'm myself, I'm not sure... what's happening." Haruna's head continued to throb profoundly and she clenched her eyes a second time in order to stop herself from looking down at her gooey arm. It was still drenched in slimy fluids from the battle. Pain started coming up along her knee as her body rose on its own, and she dropped her arm to her side and started to walk in Takumi and Shiro's direction as clashing in the distance grew louder.
Sparks blew across Takumi's jacket as every aimed slash of his claws were blocked by Bougra, who now bore a look of disappointment. "It can't possibly be that this boy is of the Hachi domain," the stray whispered. "Yet... those eyes resemble... Takeshi."
Bougra suddenly got close to the teen, too close for comfort, and did nothing but stare closely at him. The freakish stare was enough to creep even Takumi out, who in response whipped his pistol at him but was blocked at the second strike with Bougra's blade before he swung his fist down on top of Takumi's head.
Takumi caught onto the movement of his opponent's arm and avoided it by twisting his torso over so he would miss, taking the chance to grab hold of Bougra's arm to spin himself over and land on Bougra's slumped shoulder. The stray's fist was compacted in the snow, making it hard for him to tear it out for the time being. The other's armor's slippery shoulder pads didn't make things any easier, forcing Takumi to quickly leap backwards off Bougra, who quickly managed to break free.
Takumi landed, smashing his left palm against the slippery floor as he slid backwards. The impact shattered the icy ground below his palm, enough to indent it so he wouldn't slip back too far, and he pushed himself up in a defensive stance. "Ah, if he knows that, then he really is..." Bougra observed the young Setsu form a Y with his claws, after which he slipped his free hand behind his back, pointing it at his boots. Bougra knew the stance all too well, for only the Rikutos of the Hachi were taught of the fencing style. Takumi had his right hand aimed at Bougra's eye. Without bothering to move, Bougra simply laughed.
The stray tilted the tip of the blade in front of himself and swiftly swung it, believing Takumi was headed straight at him and had no time to change out of his striking stance. The Setsu had been coming at him full force, his intentions apparently clear to Bougra, only for...
"What!?" Bougra cried out in shock.
Instead of attempting to slash at him with his claws as he had predicted, Takumi stepped back just as Bougra swung his weapon. The metal surface cut through twinkling snowflakes as he replayed the moment in his head; Bougra intended to slash Takumi's abdomen, but the teen smirked at the botched attempt. That was the moment Takumi took a step back and withdrew his pistol smoothly as if it was his plan all along – he had used his killing intent as bait, and it had worked. Takumi assessed the areas Bougra left open in his moment of shock, and aimed for the money shot.
"That brat is-"
The boy moved the pistol around, stopping three separate times. With no hesitation he pulled the trigger, one clear shot followed by two others. Purple particles twinkled out of his sleeve, accumulating at the weapon's center and in a sudden flash the silver pistol popped back, shooting a concentrated shining light at Bougra's feet – Takumi had purposely pretended he was aiming at his chest as a distraction.
Bougra jumped forward and took the shot head on though, slashing through what he could as he managed to get through some of the shining light as it breezed past him and burned both sides of his blade, heating it up to a simmering orange. It was stronger than Bougra had anticipated, and the moment of shock once again gave Takumi time to maneuver closer. The fact that the Setsu was so unpredictable made Bougra laugh under his breath.
"You're just like him," the stray said as he directed his attention back up ahead, but Takumi wasn't there. He searched desperately for the eyes he wanted to slowly gouge out. "Definitely gotta get those first," he told himself.
He quickly shut his lids and sniffed, turning his sights to his right side with barely any time to block the incoming attack. He could only duck as Takumi was above him, coming down with a swift right knee intended to twist his neck back upon impact to his jaw. Takumi continued onward as he was unable to land the hit and slid across the ice while keeping his eyes on Bougra while out of nowhere a twelve-foot-long necked Shiki broke out from the icicle surface of the lake, aiming its widened mouth down for Takumi.
It attempted to swipe its humongous paw down at him but the teen shot at the ice in order to change his direction; he slid backwards five feet and stabbed his left hand into the ice in order to stop himself and quickly unloaded another blast up, this time point blank at the oncoming Shiki's face. The air in front of the gun heated up and blew through the creature's skin, thick grey smoke flying up with its flesh blowing away with the wind leaving only a skeletal smile with a single eye in one socket that stared at Takumi as it collapsed slowly into the snow, submerging into the frozen lake it had come from.
Piles of fluffy snow raised up high towards the sky upon the collision and spread back down, forcing Takumi to raise his left forearm up for a brief second as his fangs perked from his upper lip. When he glanced ahead Bougra was already swinging his blade down towards his head, and he met the blade with his pistol. The two weapons clashed, causing a rift of wind to blow past both of them.
Takumi's eyes had no fear. They were faded, as if they held no life in them – only emptiness. The very eyes reminded Bougra of eyes he had encountered only once before in the past. With a grin, the creature asked, "Tell me boy, are you a relative of Takeshi's? How is he these days?"
Takumi's blood boiled upon hearing the name; the very fact that he was even taking part in this assignment went against what he had sworn to his father. He recalled himself a year prior at the office, proclaiming he'd never serve him as he walked off. Reinforced with this memory, Takumi frowned with his eyes widened. "Don't say that name again," Takumi growled, his fangs growing more than they already had. The bottom of his boots gritted, as he stomped firmly in front of himself, in search of strength to overpower Bougra.
His opponent felt like he was losing his grip as his feet began to slide back. This kid, Bougra assessed with concern, but bolstered confidently as a means to get under his skin. "Like father, like son, huh?"
"Enough!" The yell empowered Takumi and blew Bougra's blade back, surprising the giant. "Fuck off," he said in a low tone as he extended his pistol outward, pulling the trigger furiously. Bougra swung his weapon low and shifted it up to cut the tip of the pistol but the explosion forced it down as its wielder was hit and crashed several times backwards, sliding on his back. His armor took visible damage as steam engulfed it and swirled down; with a whip of his forearm, his tattered cape blew off and he reached behind his back.
Takumi glanced at his pistol before looking on the side, and he noticed only one single flickering purple light remained in a line of dots that were once all lit the same color. It had been used over four times. Think straight, don't let him get the best of you, Takumi told himself.
The single light indicated that he'd only be able to use it one more time before he'd have to wait for it to charge up again, and much to his anger there wasn't an abundant supply of Retsu around the field. Thus, he swirled the pistol along his fingers and slid it into its holster, then set his attention back to the Stray that did nothing more than piss him off. Clearly to him, the individual had a grudge against the Hachi. Bougra grunted, standing back up – his heavy breath was spread by his messy beard.
"How this body has weakened, tch. Though that small outburst was nothing more than a baby's tantrum. So... you're really the son of that devil."
Takumi only hummed in response. "I may be, but I don't see what that has to do with anything."
"Don't play dumb," the stray scowled. "You reek of blood, all sorts of it – that left hand of yours especially."
"So, you think I've killed your Setsu?"
Bougra sighed, his frown only deepening. "That doesn't matter; what matters is that I remove those eyes of yours and feed them down Takeshi's throat."
"Go ahead. I'd like to see you try," Takumi said with a teasing smile on his face, cracking his fingers about. He reached up to his right glove, yanking it down to make sure it was put on well before he aligned his thumb with his other fingers. Black claws spread out of the glove's tips, coiling and fusing with one another to form what resembled a pointy pole-arm tip along where the teen's fingers once were. It spiraled up to the Hachi Emblem on the upper shoulder of his uniform.
Takumi's arms fell to his side as he stepped onto the ice field and headed towards Bougra once more, increasing his pace with each step. His enemy knelt over in a starting position that resembled a runner's, and took off towards Takumi as well. Just as the teen was near, Bougra shot red marbles towards his feet – Takumi didn't hold back and slashed across as he did too.
Sparks flew with each connection and both backed away only to move back in for more but as he did so Takumi slipped over the marbles, forcing the young Setsu to slap his palm onto the ground. He found that the small red objects formed into rabbits that grabbed at his legs in order to keep him from moving. Bougra took advantage and slugged the blade down towards Takumi who immediately knew that if it connected it'd run straight down the center of his head, slashing right through his skull.
The sharp end of Bougra's weapon loomed over him, reclining swiftly with Takumi unable to move fast enough.
"Got you!" Bougra shouted, believing he had the boy right where he wanted him but as the blade swung down, cutting the very air that surrounded it, another sword met and forced it upwards just in time with a clanging echo. Shiro had arrived in time to save Takumi, who watched in awe as his superior put all his force into keeping him alive.
Unbeknownst to both, Geira was right behind him, getting close and preparing to pierce his back – she however did not account for the fact that they weren't the only ones ready to leave everything in the battlefield.