After jogging for a bit I think I finally lost Adam. I stopped hearing his pleas for me to slow down a few minutes ago, so I should be able to get my books in peace. Speaking of getting my books, I find myself in front of the bookstore.
Even though it's nighttime, there are street lights on the roads and the bright full blood moon allows me to see the shop's sign above the store reads " Books N' Stuff". I can get books and stuff on top of that? Beautiful. With a grin on my face I attempt to enter the shop when something bumps into me, causing me to fall to the ground. I angrily look at what hit me and it's Adam. God damn it.
"Quincy I finally found you! I got scared, I thought I was lost. I was running all over the place and couldn't really see where I was going so sorry about hitting you," Adam apologizes.
"You better help me get up right now or I'm killing you. You just ruined my book shopping experience," I threaten.
Adam quickly gets up and gives me a hand.
"W-wait, how could I ruin your book shopping experience? You're not inside the store yet."
"Well you see Adam, I was about to go inside, but then an idiot hit me."
"Oh no, who did that?"
I facepalm. I swear this boy is getting dumber.
"Oh hey the store's here. Wait...oh s-sorry that was me then. I did tell you to slow down...I wanted to get a book too," Adam points out.
I've known Adam for a few months now. We've talked quite a bit but in all that time he's never told me he liked books. I'm actually curious about what this man reads. I swear if he reads the same books Marianne does, I'm out.
"Before we head inside, I gotta ask, what book did you want to get?" I question.
"Oh well, it's not the type of book you read. It's a comic book. It's called Kyojuro. The latest volume came out today and I want to read it asap. It's getting really good," Adam explains.
Kyojuro? That sounds Asian as heck. I read dozens of books about this world and I never saw a name as Asian as that.
"Y'all got Asians?" I ask.
"Asians? I don't know what that is. It's a comic series from Albium. Most of the cool comics come from there. No one knows what the state is like on the inside nor do they allow their technology to be shared but they do allow their art to be distributed," Adam elaborates.
"Oh yeah Lordess Jana's state right? That was the one state I couldn't find any info on. All I know is that they're the smallest and apparently most technologically advanced because their land is in a magic dead zone or something," I add.
"Yeah that's all we know. No one's allowed in or out. But like I said, they make cool comics."
With that being said I nod my head and enter the shop with Adam. Since it's nighttime there are lanterns everywhere lighting the place up. It's quite small for a bookstore and there's dust everywhere.
There are multiple stands throughout the shop with signs labeling which stand has which genre. I'm pretty sure that my room in Colonus has more books than this place. I see a cashier in the very back being occupied by a bald old guy with a gray mustache. His eyes are closed yet he seems to be reading a book. Besides him there are a few other old people browsing.
This world is doomed; young people don't want to read books. Adam walks past me and goes straight to the comic stands. I might as well see what this comic looks like since Adam made such a big deal of it. I can get my books afterward. All I want is a history book and a notebook for Ice Cube. If I can't understand the girl normally, the least I could do is let her write her thoughts out. I walk with Adam and immediately his face goes red upon seeing the comics.
"U-ugh Quincy I didn't expect you to follow me. I expected you to go straight to the history section," he says.
"I wanna see this book. Besides, it's not gonna take me long to get what I want," I reply as I look at the comics myself.
Upon seeing the comics a chill goes throughout my body. Some of the comic books straight up look like anime, specifically the art style. The characters have really big eyes and the outfits don't leave much to the imagination. Will is gonna lose his mind once I tell him about this.
Adam looks around nervously. He doesn't know I have something very similar in my world. I'm not gonna tell him either; I can have fun with this. I find the comic called Kyojuro and pick it up. On the cover is a girl with two samurai swords out. Oh my god this is hilarious. I give Adam a deadpan look.
"L-look, I can explain. The s-story is very-"
"Adam it's ok, you don't have to explain a thing. If you want to look at 2D porn that's your prerogative. Looks like Nerva was right about you being a pervert."
"I-I'm not a pervert! T-that's just fan service ok? The primary demographic is teenage boys so they add stuff like that. I r-read it for the story and action, ok?"
"Uh huh," I say with a huge smile.
"I mean it! The action is awesome and the characters are really good. Plus it has a nice romance. It's what drew me in," Adam remarks.
Wait...romance? No one besides Will knows this but I'm a fan of romance stories. Does this mean that Adam and I have something in common? Oh hell no. I can't allow that. Adam and I cannot bond over things, that's against the laws of nature. I also can't let the people of this world know either. That would be embarrassing.
"Q-Quincy are you ok? You became really serious once I mentioned the romance. D-do you like romance?" Adam questions.
I immediately slap him across the face.
"Ow! Why'd you do that?" Adam says in pain, holding his right cheek.
"Boy, stop it. You are having thoughts you shouldn't have. Take this 2D porn, and go to the register. We will never speak of this again," I order.
"But Quincy it's ok if you like romance, I-"
"Shut up! Imma slap you again," I threaten as I raise my slapping hand.
"Ahh ok fine I'm going," Adam groans, scurrying off to the register.
I take a deep breath and head to the history section to try to forget all that's happened. I browse the books for a bit and I eventually settle on a history of the early ages of the Elven Empire.
It's actually called the United Confederacy of Elven Peoples. Ignoring the redundancy of its title, the country appears to be the only democracy in this world. They have a unicameral legislature and an elected monarchy which sounds way better than this medieval/holy roman empire system the humans have going on.
This specific book goes over the democracy's early years which I don't know much about. I could go into more detail but I might as well save that information for when I tell it to Will via a rant.
After picking up the book I proceed to another section containing school supplies. Mostly textbooks but as I hoped for, a few notebooks. I pick up a nice sky blue notebook and with my books head to the register. Unfortunately a line has formed. There's four old people in front of me and Adam has just purchased his books. As I stand in line he decides to wait with me despite me urging he really doesn't have to. I can't catch a break today.
Behind me I hear a ring indicating someone else has entered the store. I flick a look back to see it's a cloaked figure. They're about 5 '9 and I wouldn't give them the time of day, except they have a huge samurai sword on their back. It almost scrapes the ground as they walk. I guess they're a knight but I don't know, I have a bad feeling about them. I keep a close eye on them as they head towards the comic section. They pick up the same comic Adam got.
"They have it," the figure cheers as they do a tiny hop of joy.
The voice was surprisingly monotone. It was monotone yet loud. How does that work? Because of the hop of joy, the hood falls off the figure's head revealing the face of a girl as she walks towards the line. She has a pretty face fit for a model. Her eyes have this dark crimson red hue and has long silky black hair.
Something is off about her, her eyes looking like they have a thousand-yard stare. She's seen things, alright--so maybe she really is a knight. She's behind me now but I'm no longer looking at her. It'd be weird to stare at the person standing behind you in line. Adam doesn't know this.
"Oh wow you like Kyojuro too?" Adam excitedly asks.
"Yes," The woman replies in a deadpan tone.
Man I thought Adam passed out when talking to girls? Has he grown? Or is his love for 2D porn overcoming his fear of talking to women? Probably the latter. I hope Adam doesn't drag me into the conversation.
"This arc is getting really good isn't it? I hope Kyojuro is going to win in his fight against Queen Naoto," Adam says behind me.
"He will. He got that power boost from training with the snow hermit," the girl replies.
"Oh yeah huh he met that pervy snow hermit at the end of the last arc. That training section had some nice romance development with Kiyumi. I hope she gets with Kyojuro at the end instead of one of the other girls."
"She won't. She's the worst girl and childhood friend. Yuko is clearly the best girl. She's the strongest."
"But Kiyumi and Kyojuro have better chemistry. Kiyumi was there from the beginning so I think it'd be sweeter if they got together."
"Don't get your hopes up. She'll confess but end up getting denied because he's gonna choose the best girl."
"Hmph I disagree. Hey Quincy, you like romance; what makes more sense? The guy getting with a girl who's been there since the beginning or the strong girl who he has no chemistry with at all?" Adam asks me.
This boy is gonna die now. I'm gonna slap him so hard for saying that, his head is going to explode. I slowly turn around already knowing that I have an extremely angry look on my face.
"Ugh Quincy are you ok?....Oh no. Don't kill me, I'm sorry!" Adam pleads.
It's too late for this boy, he is dying. Nothing he can do can change that. I slowly raise my hand and I can feel my aura being emitted from my body. Yep, this is gonna end him.
"Wait. I think I know who you are," the girl cuts in.
That catches me off guard. My anger subsides as I lower my hand and direct my attention towards her. I can hear Adam breath a huge sigh of relief. He lives for now.
"Are you the One of Blackness?" she asks me.
"No, that's a different guy."
"I see. Forgive me for making assumptions," the girl apologizes though it's hard to tell if she means it with that monotone tone.
"But Quincy, aren't you the One of Blackness? That's what everyone in Colonus calls you isn't it? You know it's like your secondary title besides being called the Second Hero," Adam says.
The girl's eyes widens. She quickly grabs my arms, so fast I couldn't react. She throws me through the store's display window, making me roll on the ground outside.
"God damn it Adam!" I curse as I spring up.
Even though I just got thrown out of a window, it didn't hurt. I guess my aura activated as soon as she grabbed me. I was right about this girl. I'm gonna have to kick some ass.
"Quincy!" Adam calls out as he runs out of the bookstore.
He joins me. The girl then exits the bookstore. She closes the door behind her, puts her book into her pocket and looks at me. I can already tell this is gonna be some bullshit.
"I'm gonna have to kill you now. Your friend can leave; even if he likes the worst girl. I don't want to kill more people than I have to," the girl states nonchalantly.
"I-I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving Quincy-" Adam attempts to say before I force him into a huddle with me.
"Adam, you idiot, listen. She's letting you go which we can use to our advantage. Go get Warren. I think we passed a tavern on the way here. I'll try to hold her off," I whisper
"B-but don't you need me for this fight?" he asks.
"No. No, I don't. Listen, you being here makes my chances of living through this go down because you've really pissed me off and there's a good chance I'm gonna kill you instead of her."
"W-well ok but be careful. I got a bad feeling about her. Don't die Quincy!" he says as he quickly turns around and runs off.
Now it's just me and the girl.
"I have a feeling you're gonna fight back. If you don't I'll make your death painless," the girl informs.
"Wow that's a really good offer and if you asked me earlier today I would have said yes but right now I'm gonna say no," I reply as I get into my boxing stance.
"Very well. Then you shall meet your end for my resolve is stronger than yours," she says while she slowly unsheathes her long katana and takes her stance.
Wait, what did she just say?
"Pfft. Your resolve is stronger than mine? What type of cringy talk is that? You a dork ain't ya?"
"No, that line is cool. Don't insult the blood samurai," she retorts.
"Oh my god the 'blood samurai'? That is so lame," I insult.
"Your death will be painful. Let's begin."
She and I dash at each other. I throw a jab but she ducks under. She attempts to perform a horizontal slice across my stomach but I grab both of her arms.
"Ha got ya bitch," I cheer but she quickly gives me a kick to the head.
I get another kick in the head by the other leg but I still hold on. With anger building up inside me I flip her over, slamming her onto the ground. I expect her to reel in pain but instead she twists her body around making me fall to the ground as well, releasing her arms. I try to get up but she stomps me in the face with her right foot. Her heel drives into my forehead.
She attempts to thrust her sword into me but I catch it with both hands. My hands bleed as she tries to put more force behind her thrust. The blade slowly inches its way toward my chest. I could tell she was strong but didn't think she'd be stronger than me. She didn't look like she had the build for it.
Desperately I push the sword back and roll to the right. I hear the sword get thrusted into the dirt. I get up as she attempts to take it out and give her a right uppercut to the face. The hit forces her to let go of the sword and she steps back from me. I don't give her any time to adjust; stepping in and releasing a flurry of punches. She puts up her arms in defense as they absorb the blows.
Each punch I give her makes her slowly go backwards, further away from her sword. I corner her by making her back press against the wall of a building. As I attempt to throw my strongest attack yet, she sidesteps and with her right arm grabs the back of my head, slamming it into the wall. My head goes through making me dazed. I don't have time to think, I have to keep up the attacks. I yank my head out of the wall and feel blood dripping down my forehead. Unfortunately, she plucks her sword out of the ground.
"You're not too shabby. Too bad all of that only made me use 10% of my full power," she declares as she makes her way towards me.
"Lady, every time you talk, I wince. What's next? You're gonna say that you're not even in your final form?" I chide.
"How did you know that?" she asks, shocked, stopping before me.
I look to my right and left to see if anyone else can be a witness to this cringe. Unfortunately I'm all alone on this blood moon lit street. Where are the city guards when you need them?
"When I kill you I'm gonna be doing your parents a favor," I say.
That seems to have angered her because immediately after saying that, I feel a blow to my stomach making me fall to my knees. She knocked me with the butt of her sword. She might not be kidding when she said she was only using a little bit of her power.
A red aura emanates from her and she looks pissed. I attempt to get back on my feet but she gives me a kick to the head making me tumble down the street. Feels like I just got hit with a hammer with a heel attached to the end of it.
I open my eyes and I notice I'm lying flat on my back looking up into the nighttime sky. In better circumstances, the sight of hundreds of stars in a red sky would've been beautiful. I try to get up but a heel presses down against my throat. Can't breathe. Not good.
"You shouldn't have mentioned my parents," she growls as she prepares to plunge her sword into my face.
Did not think this was how I was gonna die. I expected to go out while reading a book, preferably when I was an old man. Yet death doesn't scare me for some reason, probably because I had already died.
"Any last words One of Blackness?" she asks.
I flip her off as my final words.
"Huh, that's how one of Kyojuro's party members died," she remarks.
The next thing I expected was a sword through the head but instead a knife flew toward her. She catches it. Her heel is still on my throat so I roll my eyes upwards to witness a figure slowly walk towards us. Can't really tell who it is because to me they're upside down.
"You're a Reaper aren't you?" the figure asks.
Wait, that voice sounds familiar.
"W-Warren?" I barely get out.
"Yep. Hey Quincy," he says nonchalantly, eyeing the girl.
"I have no quarrel with the homeless, you should get out of here. I'm only here to kill the One of Blackness," the girl replies.
"Can't do that. Quincy's my friend and you have some information I need. Let him go and I won't have to kill you."
"No we're killing her regardless, she pissed me off," I state, still being choked by her heel.
"Doesn't matter how many people you bring. I'll kill them all. Don't make me do that," the girl says looking down at me.
"You're arrogant. QUINCY NOW!" Warren commands as he throws another knife at the girl.
His directions may have been vague but I know what he meant. The girl is surprised as she grabs the other knife thrown at her. This makes her distracted long enough for me to act. I attempt to break her leg by punching it with my right arm. I hear something shatter but it's not bone. I broke her heel in half. Why is her heel so freaking long? I thought I was aiming for her knee.
She gives me another stomp to the face. She then performs a kick with the leg that has the shattered heel which sends the rest of the shoe flying towards Warren. She leaps off me and dashes towards him. I roll over onto my stomach to see Warren quickly take out his machete and slice the shoe into pieces. It was a distraction as the girl got behind Warren.
"Warren behind you ack!" I warn.
My throat is still torn up from almost being choked to death. Luckily Warren hears my message as he gets down, dodging her horizontal sword strike. In the same motion he performs a leg sweep making the girl fall to the ground. Warren follows up with an overhand punch, landing it on her chest. She coughs from the blow forcing the air out of her.
I get up and rush towards them. Before the girl could do anything else I gave her a kick to the body making her bounce down the street like I performed a kickoff with her as the football. She rolls for about 2 dozen feet. This reprieve gives me time to catch my breath.
"You ok, Quincy?" Warren asks, patting me on the back as I cough a bit.
"Ugh yeah I'm good. I almost died is all. Where's Adam?" I ask.
"Oh, a bottle was thrown at his head as soon as he entered the tavern, knocking him out," Warren informs me.
That doesn't surprise me at all.
"That boy makes me sad, Warren." I sigh.
"Give him a break, he's grown quite a bit these last few weeks. We should focus on the girl who can easily kill us."
I turn away from Warren to see the girl walking towards us with her sword drawn. Oh my god she got tiny. She must have removed her other heel because now she looks like she's only 5 feet tall. Regardless, she appears as dangerous as ever.
"Hey Warren, you should tell this asshole to kill herself. Save us the trouble," I suggest.
"Do it yourself," he replies as he gets into a fighting pose.
"Hey asshole! Kill yourself!" I call out as she comes closer to us.
She stops a dozen feet from us and proceeds to. . . do what I ordered? She takes out one of the knives that Warren threw at her, calmly cutting her left forearm.
"Wow, I didn't think she'd actually do it," I remark.
"Good job, Quincy," Warren says.
"You two have surprised me. I may have to use 40% of my power," she says as the blood starts to drip from her arm.
"Why is she talking like a comic character?" Warren asks, confused.
"I don't know man, she's weird. That's why we gotta kick her ass."
"Now. . . come at me!" she orders. "I've been waiting to use that line. I'm so cool."
I heard that last part, the more I hear this girl the more I cringe.
"Let's do it."
"Yep. Right behind you," he concurs.
Warren and I sidestep away from each other and surround her. We both leap in. I attempt to throw a punch to the gut but she spins around me making my fist hit Warren in the gut instead. Oh god Warren I'm so sorry.
She's to my left and she attempts to slice Warren but he's able to dodge most of the swing. His right arm gets cut. As she dashes towards Warren I attempt to tackle her but she's even faster than before. She's already out of my arm's reach when she unleashes a barrage of sword strikes at Warren.
Warren is able to block most of the attacks by deflecting with his machete but she's moving too fast for him to adequately keep up. I witness the clanging of blades as they fight their way away from me. I try to run to them but suddenly I feel a sharp pain go through my left calf. The pain makes me fall to the ground. I peer down to discover a large spike of blood emanating from the ground is the cause. What the hell is this? I attempt to punch the spike hoping it'd shatter but it morphs apart and then shoots itself through my right palm, creating a hole in my right hand.
I scream out in pain.
The stream of blood circles around me. Great, I gotta deal with this nonsense while Warren is doing the real fighting. I'm able to make a quick glance at Warren and see that he's getting cut all over. She's too fast for him. He tries to get an attack in but it turns out that was a bad move.
She was able to move past the machete so she's right in front of his chest and a short blood blade forms in her right hand. She plunges it into his stomach and lifts him up into the air. After a brief moment of suspension, Warren's body is thrown into the ground. He moans in pain.
I need to get to Warren asap. But first I gotta fight freaking blood. I try to keep track of the blood that's moving across the ground but it's surprisingly fast. This thing acts like it has a mind of its own. Dang it, I may have to use a move Armstrong taught me to handle this thing. It's blood so it's not like I can punch it so I'm gonna have to deviate from my normal strategy. Armstrong taught me a defensive move but I don't like using it because I can't move when I do it and because I hate Armstrong.
It's why I didn't use the move in the fight against Bartrem. But if I use it here I can at least protect myself from the blood and hopefully it'll distract the blood girl, giving Warren some breathing room. It involves summoning aura around my body and hardening it to make an impenetrable shield. I'm reluctant but I have no choice as the blood leaps at me, ready to puncture my body.
"Fortify!" I scream as a thick layer of black aura envelops me.
The blood attempts to go through my chest but is stopped by the aura. It's on my body and crawls around, attempting to find an opening. It's really freaky.
This catches the blood girl's attention. She runs towards me with her sword and starts slicing me but to no avail. She looks frustrated as she puts more and more force into her swipes but they're all for naught. This is good, she's forgotten about Warren. He rises, cuts all over his upper body. He hits himself in the head to make himself focus. He picks up his machete and surprisingly calls out to the blood girl. Dang it Warren I wanted you to do a sneak attack.
"So I take it that your ability is to manipulate your blood. You probably have been using that ability to have superhuman reflexes and strength. Our abilities are somewhat similar," Warren reflects as a white aura starts to emanate from his body.
This is surprising. Warren has never used any aura or magic abilities in the fights we've been in. I was starting to think he didn't have any special abilities.
"My ability is that I have complete control over my body. I can make my brain release any chemical I want for any given situation. Like right now, I'm about to release a huge dose of adrenaline," Warren reveals.
The blood girl stopped hitting me as soon as Warren started talking. The blood continues to prod for an opening.
"You seem like an experienced fighter. Why tell me your ability?" the girl asks.
That's a good question.
"Because I'm about to show you that when it comes to body enhancing abilities, you're outclassed," Warren brags as he leans forward looking like he's about to pounce.
"Hmmm then let's see. I'll go all out for you...because that line was really cool," she says.
Before she could get into position Warren dashes forward at a speed I've never seen him go at before. I could barely see it. He elbows the girl in the stomach hitting her off the ground. He then grabs her feet and slams her onto me. I'm as tough as a rock right now so I know that's gotta hurt. He throws her into the second floor of a nearby building. I thought she would be dazed but she immediately comes out with her red aura flowing and flies into Warren.
They crash into each other making them fly down the street. All I see are a white and red blobs constantly clashing against each other as I hear the clanging of swords. I need to get back into the fight but the blood is still attacking me.
Wait a minute, this stuff is liquid. What the heck am I doing? The solution has been in front of me the whole time. I quickly eliminate my aura and resummon it in my hands and do a thunder clap before the blood could penetrate me. This causes the blood to dissipate. Hooray science.
I look down the street and see that the fight is more evenly matched. Warren and the blood girl are constantly engaging then breaking away, each trying to find an opening in the other. I take a huge breath and create a bunch of aura around my body. It's not as much as I'd like but I should be able to help Warren out.
I sprint to where they are at an amazing speed and when I get there Warren gives the blood girl a punch to the face making her fly back towards me. With this opportunity I gave her a straight punch to the back making her bend, but unfortunately it wasn't enough force to break her back. She flies back to Warren where I hoped he would slice her.
He attempts to but she must have recovered on the way to him as she dodges the swipe midair and knees him in the face. I jump in trying to help but she lands and body flips Warren on top of me.
We both slam into the ground. She attempts to plunge her sword through the both of us but Warren quickly gets off me and I move to my left. I unleash a cacophony of blows at her and she dodges most of them but I get a few good punches in. We're in close quarters so it's hard for her to use her katana. Warren helps out by performing a few swings with his machete as we fight our way down the street but doesn't cut her anywhere vital. We're moving fast so we're many blocks away from where this fight originally started.
We have her on the ropes as she defends herself from my punches and Warren's machete swipes. I successfully give her an uppercut to the liver and then grab her head to give her a knee to the face. I jump back to let Warren give her a kick which sends her flying into a building. We both stop, staring at the hole Warren kicked her through expecting her to fly out to attack us. We're out of breath as we anxiously wait. But after a minute of waiting, nothing happens.
"D-did we win?" I ask Warren.
I look at Warren and he's still on edge. He stares at the hole with great intensity.
"Can't tell," he finally says.
"Well she's not coming out so maybe we killed her."
"That would be bad. She's a reaper so she must know where my friends are. Quincy can you go in and check if she's alive?" he asks.
"Hell no."
"Hey what's going on here?" I hear a voice call out to us.
A city guard with a lantern joins us.. About time one of these idiots showed up.
"Hey you, go in there and see if the girl we knocked into that hole is alive or not," Warren orders.
"You did what now to a girl? Look I need to know what you two were doing out here. We've got reports of a large disturbance happening in this part of the city," the guard asks.
"Chill out, I'm the second hero. This man here is in my party, we just took out a high ranking member of the peasant rebellion. So if you wouldn't mind, go do your job and arrest the woman in there," I command.
"Ah I see, you must be the One of Blackness. Wow, I didn't think you were actually black, thought that was because of your ability or something," The guard says as he makes his way to the hole.
If this guard died I wouldn't feel bad.
"Don't worry about it," Warren tells me, attempting to make me feel better.
"Wow yep there is an unconscious girl in here. I'll put her into some cuffs and take her to the station. We'll have her interrogated by some knights. You guys are gonna have to come with me though, you know, to fill out the report," The guard calls out to us.
"No problem," Warren replies.
Wait, I don't wanna do that. Maybe just Warren can just do it. I wanna sleep. A figure emerges from the hole and it isn't the guard. It's the blood girl with the guard's sword, her arms bloodier than before and the guard's sword covered in blood. She's breathing heavily.
"Back up!" Warren orders.
The next thing I knew the blood on her arms shoots out towards us.
"Forti-" I attempt to say but the blood goes right through my throat like a sharp blade.
God damn it, she got me before I could activate my ability. Warren couldn't respond either. Blood shot through his throat as well. We both collapse to the ground holding our throats, trying to keep the blood in. Warren tries to get up but the girl stomps his head into the ground.
"You two put up a good fight, I can see how you all took out Bartrem. But like I told the One of Blackness at the beginning, my resolve is greater. Good-"
"Stop it!" A voice yells.
It's the last person I expected: Adam. Oh god if he's our last minute backup we are so dead.
"You again. I thought you ran away," The girl says uncaringly.
"T-there's no way I was going to abandon my friends. I didn't know where you guys were but I followed the path of destruction. N-now let them go," Adam orders.
"I can't. I have to do my job. If you interfere you're gonna die," the girl warns.
"T-that won't happen. I'll stop you," Adam promises.
His legs are shaking and his voice is wavering. He is out of his element right now.
"Are you really willing to die in vain?" the girl asks.
Adam starts to come closer and replies "I-I won't abandon them. A..a real man doesn't leave his friends behind"."
I look at the blood girl and her eyes widen upon hearing him say that.
"You just quoted Kyojuro. That won't make you like him," she states.
"We're just gonna… have to see about that," Adam says with a smile on his face that he's trying way too hard to force.
The blood girl seems to ignore Warren and I, going to Adam. We both can't exactly move with holes in our throats. We can only watch Adam get slaughtered.
"I'll make your death painless," The girl promises.
"I-I won't be dying today," Adam says.
The blood girl is out of breath and beat up while Adam looks like he's in prime condition but that literally means nothing in this case. He's gonna die.
"Let's begin," the girl says as she gets ready to pounce.
"Shield barrier!" Adam yells.
Before the girl can move a blue bubble encircles her head. The heck? It looks like she has a really small blue helmet on now.
"Y-you read Kyojuro so you must know what this is. I-I lied earlier. I have been watching you fight since Warren arrived. I know you can control your blood but that means when it's out of your body, you are losing valuable oxygen. You are now tired as well. If you exert any more energy, you're gonna pass out from the lack of air. You can't make any sudden movements right now, that bubble is airtight," Adam explains.
Adam was watching Warren and I fight this girl the whole time? I don't know whether I should be mad at him or not. On the one hand he didn't help us, on the other he was forming a strategy.
"You're doing what Kyojuro did to Enda in the first arc. Too bad I can leap at you from here and kill you in one strike. Once you're dead this bubble will disappear," the girl claims.
"I-I wouldn't talk if I were you. You're wasting more oxygen," Adam points out.
The blood girl isn't listening. She's about to strike him. I gotta do something. I gotta knock her out now. I can't move with this hole in my throat though. As I ponder what to do Warren crawls over to me and grabs my shoulder.
"Aura on hole. You got more than...me," Warren barely gets out since you know it's hard to talk with a hole in your throat.
I'm confused at first about what he means but then it hits me. He wants me to use my remaining aura to close up the hole in my throat. It's no healing magic but it should be enough to let me take out this girl before she kills Adam.
I try to concentrate most of my aura on the hole and it works, to an extent. It feels like someone is putting pressure on the hole, not like it's sealed up. I get up and slowly make my way towards the girl. I focus the remaining aura that's not on my throat into my hands.
"I-I would turn around if I were you," Adam warns.
The girl turns around and her eyes widen. She tries to move but it's too late.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA," I yell as I unleash a quick succession of blows at the girl. I know it's a bad idea to yell when you have a hole in your throat but I couldn't help myself, I'm having fun with this. She's taking each blow at full force, not having time to put up her arms to block.
I yell one last "ORAAAAAAA" as I deliver the final blow to her body, making her fly over Adam and makes a loud thud when she hit the ground. I fall to my knees as Adam comes up to me, emitting a green beam from his hand, starting to heal my body. With his other arm he emits another green beam which goes all the way to Warren, healing him as well.
"This won't heal all of your wounds but it should close up your throat. After this we gotta go to the hospital," Adam informs.
After about two minutes of his healing Warren and I are good enough to move, albeit with a lot of pain. Warren comes up to us and pats Adam on the back.
"That was a good plan Adam, good job," Warren congratulates but starts to cough up blood.
"Guys we need to go back to the tower now," Adam insists.
"Yeah we're going. Gotta get the girl first. I need to interrogate her," Warren says, making his way over to the unconscious girl and proceeds to pick her up.
"Wait no, no torture!" Adam orders as Warren comes back to us with the girl slung over his back.
"That's gonna be up to her," Warren replies.
"Warren..I'm with Adam on this one. Maybe not be as brutal with her," I propose.
They both look at me with surprised looks. I ain't gonna lie, I'm shocked too. I guess seeing Bartrem get tortured got to me more than I expected.
"We'll see you two. Let's go," Warren notes as he heads off in the direction of the tower.
We had fought our way closer to it this whole time. The tower is only two blocks away.
"You are surely going to the tower's hospital ward right?" Adam asks as we walk.
"That's the plan. First I gotta lock this girl up in the basement of the tower and first thing in the morning I'm gonna talk to her," Warren reveals.
"What no! You two need to stay in the hospital ward for a few days," Adam commands.
"Adam it'll be fine, once I get my info I'll go right back to the ward. Quincy you don't have to leave the ward, just stay there," Warren suggests.
"Hell no, after all we have been through I wanna see what she knows. I'm sticking with you," I respond.
"Very well," Warren says, now before the tower's entrance.
Warren opens the door with the blood girl and immediately collapses to the ground. I follow suit.
Before I fade into unconsciousness I hear Adam murmur "Ugh I knew you guys shouldn't have walked back."
My eyes close on their own and I enter a deep sleep.