The wind was the only thing that cut through the tension on the gazebo battleground. With the moonlight shining below us and D. intriguingly staring at us from his tower perch, ready for a good fight, we stared each other down trying to decipher what the optimal first move would be.
"Do you even have a plan for this hokari? You're not exactly an earner, so I don't see you straightening out this kid. Remember, Your insanity energy's a load a shit so your options are slim pickings." Jack advised me very kindly
"Jeez, you're pretty harsh there, but don't worry I got a plan, I'm just not telling you because you won't support it, ok Jack?" I assured him, although, in reality, I wasn't one hundred percent sure myself. If I told him, I'm sure he rat me out for being reckless.
"We're part of the same family chief you don gotta do me like that! I guess I won't put ya through a shakedown though, but I'd keep this thing of ours down low I swear Goombah. Anyway, I'll bite, let's see if you can make one's bones." With Jack's final encouragement, D. held up a large red flag in one hand that signaled the start of the duel. Wherever he had found it, I didn't know but it was typical of him to be prepared for any way to impress. I twitched getting ready to meet Kraven in battle, but, He didn't move an inch, and instead, stepped forward to speak.
"I've already given away my fighting style so I won't waste time with testing you out. I'm going to annihilate you with my insanity creep Nightmare Realm." He wanted to end this fight as soon as possible, believing he had won from the start. I gulped, doubting if I was ready for the oncoming nightmare, but I steadied myself. Kraven took a deep breath and activated his Insanity creep. Once again, a black sphere seemed to emerge from his head, enveloping me and the gazebo, and likely D. himself. The same dreadful feeling spread over me, the same as before, and I was caught in his web of lies. Kraven had asked D. if he wanted him to make sure he didn't affect him with the creep earlier, But D. assured him that he would be fine and that he wanted to truly see its power firsthand.
"Seeing as you're going to lose anyway, I'll explain the weaknesses of my ability to you to increase your training. The only two downsides to it is that whatever illusion I create cannot be overly similar to reality, I cannot just make myself a few centimeters to the left. The second downside is that it can also be escaped by inflicting physical damage on the real me, but I doubt you could pull that off. Be thankful I'm teaching you this, it might help you live longer if I ever decide to kill you for real!" Said Kraven, who had suddenly vanished once the creep overwhelmed me. His disembodied voice still echoing around me. I waited alertly, my eyes darting around to see whatever terrifying illusion he would summon. I had to remember that no matter what I felt, none of this was affecting me in the real world. The only viable strategy would be to keep up my defenses while waiting for the effect to wear off, or for him to attack me in real life, and intercept him, although that would be easier said than done. I gazed up to look at D. for some advice but he just met me with an encouraging nod and pointed to the floor. I didn't notice his hint until I felt gravity shift below me. The entire castle had begun to slowly rotate and the gazebo was now at a 30-degree angle. Panic-stricken, I reached for the ground to get a grip but the bricks were crafted much too well and had no wear in them and my hand failed to grip a thing as the castle turned more and more. The roof, or well floor of the gazebo was way too far for me to jump to, I would likely end up falling off the edge. I could now see the moon staring at me below, maybe if I fell I'd at least land on it, or so I hoped. I slowly started to lose my grip as the castle neared 90 degrees and I finally slipped off into the abyss. As I slid down the bricks I clawed at the floor to no avail until finally slipping off. The freefall was just as real as you'd expect. My stomach felt like it was left back up at the castle, and the wind pounded my face as I tumbled, spinning around and around as the castle grew smaller and smaller above me, but as I was falling I remembered. This is not real. He was trying to get me to open up my defenses for a perfect kill, and the perfect time to do that would be as I was falling without control. He would strike me now, from my back, I knew it. Ignoring the cries of my body telling me it was impossible because of the intense gravity, I closed my eyes and attempted to swing my knife around the area of my back.
"What?" I opened my eyes to see Kraven staring at me in disbelief, my knife hovering in his cheek, but not wounding him due to D.'s Insanity creep. Luckily it still had the effect of shattering his Insanity creep, as evidenced by its shards raining down like snow, and my feet being planted firmly on the ground.
"Wonderfull! That was unquestionably a striking display of strategy young Hokari!" Said D. clapping his hands. I was sure a professional like himself knew exactly my thought process, so his compliment truly motivated me. Wherever he was during the freefall, I was quite jealous of him, although I assumed he might have turned into a bat or something just like Dracula.
"Hey chief, that was pretty good but if that's the ace up your sleeve, then, you're positively fucked. He's got plenty of fight left in him." Said Jack, a constant thorn of realism in my side. Unfortunately for me, my club phone had hit the mark exactly. This had only seemed to pump up Kraven even more.
"That's exactly what I want to see! Struggle as much as you want but you can't escape my nightmare. I'll toughen you up so you'll be indebted to me forever!" With that, he quickly jumped back out of range and lowered his hat to block out his eyes. This appeared to be his sign that things were now serious, as evident by both of our fights now. Knowing his style, this time I didn't wait for him to charge at me or risk a deadly attack. Kraven had high skill but he wasn't much of a planner at all. If I did something that he didn't expect or broke his rhythm then I could defeat him. Our weapons met in flashes of violence, both of us aiming for a direct kill. D. could be heard cackling in joy above the sounds or scratching metal and sparks. I was able to hold up decently against all five of his finger knives by holding my knife sideways letting me block all 5 but that made me quite predictable. After a considerable amount of blocked strikes from both of us, he caught on and slammed his palm into my blade with full force, nearly knocking me off my feet. Barely able to hold my ground, I repurposed his forward momentum, sidestepping in a flash and letting him dive towards the ground. Before he could regain his standing I dove behind him and went to slash at his back, but he cartwheeled away from it in the blink of an eye. Each second I spent not ending the fight here was a second wasted. In about a minute he should be able to use his insanity creep again. D. had not informed me about a refractory period regarding insanity powers, but It could be assumed that powerful attacks like that would take time to recharge. If he let out another insanity creep I doubt I'd be able to wiggle my way out of that without using my ace in the hole. No sooner than Kraven retreated had he raged back towards me dragging his claws on the ground tearing up bricks and sending rubble flying. When he swung at me, I leaned back and crouched low to the ground, his claws narrowly missing me as they swung in an upward arch. Taking advantage of his opening again I went to try and trip him with a leg maneuver, swinging my leg towards his shin to topple him, but Kraven's instincts were too fast for me to contend with. With his other hand, he grabbed the scruff of my shirt and threw me after spinning me around with mighty force. He gave up this opportunity to stab me, although at the time I didn't know why. I thought I was in for a lucky break until I realized the momentum I was hurtling back at. The edge of the platform drew nearer, and with quick thinking of how Kraven's claws slashed the ground earlier, I stuck out my knife, imbued with energy, and cleaved the ground serving as brakes for me and slowing the flight of my body until I came to a stop just in time, almost careening over the edge, and sending my body sprawling out on the floor. I got back on my knees, foolishly catching my breath, as I looked up clutching my knife, which thankfully was not damaged from the ground, I already knew Kraven had found the time to activate his ability once more. I didn't realize its effect and the dread feeling, as I was much too preoccupied but, no sight like this could fool anyone. Staring me down, was a giant Kraven that had multiplied his size by about 50 times. He resembled King Kong almost with his posture, hanging onto the side of the main tower above me by one hand.
"WELCOME TO PRIME TIME HOKARI! YOU'RE NOT ESCAPING THIS TIME!" Kraven's giant form bellowed, its voice shaking the entire castle. Truly he was right, everything he had would be the best of the best from now on, I had missed out on taking care of him earlier. Wasting no time generating fear, He lurched over towards the gazebo, reaching out with his not-armed side, his giant hand seeming to push through the very air itself, rearing up to slam on the gazebo and crush it and me like a bug. I Thought to dodge for a second, but it would not be wise and would leave me open. The hand crashed through the stone roof below me and crushed me into the floor, likely breaking all of my bones. I screamed in pain, It felt like my body was being cracked like an egg, but I had to remember this was all an illusion, although it was quite hard. The pain made me so nauseous and I was thankful I couldn't see my mangled body in the rubble under his massive hand. I could faintly hear D. in the background in awe of the gigantic display. Before giving me enough time to process this, he dug his hand into the tower like a toddler digging in the sand at the beach and came up with a fistful of ruble and Hokari meat. My head was lucky enough to get a front-row seat, being propped up in between his thumb and pointer finger. I couldn't feel my body anymore below my head, it might even be torn off for all I knew. Kraven brought his fist to his head and stared at me, his eyes starting to turn a shade of pitch black, another terrifying addition of his. This fight no longer resembled that of a competition, we were both in the mindset of a life-or-death cage match.
"Time for the grand finale, You won't wake up from this!" Kraven howled, close to my face so that his loud voice pushed back my hair and I could smell his admittedly quite clean breath, although it was still disgusting. He was likely about to make his move back in reality right now when I would least be able to defend. I knew it would come to this. Deep down I hoped I could simply best him through skill alone, but I was left with no choice but to choose the risky option.
It was time to test my theory that I had bet this entire fight on. My energy was much too volatile to form into anything particular, like how D. could create tools. Normally this would leave someone in a helpless position without any way to combat others' deadly abilities. However, a thought had entered my head while I was gazing at the tools earlier in the room. If I were to use my insanity energy, it would be too volatile and implode when trying to conjure any effect, but what if I could use that against someone? The thought occurred earlier but it wasn't until I remembered that my knife was made with D.s energy that I had an idea. Although it took all my concentration, as I couldn't feel my body let alone the energy, I tried to imagine myself in the real world with my still intact body, and this time, instead of pooling my power into the knife, I pulled its power into mine and tried to imagine forming a replica knife in my other hand. There would normally be no point in creating another knife, but my theory had a second phase. If I created something out of both my insanity energy and the stable energy from D, it would be incredibly powerful, using the stable energy to keep my own held in place, while still using the naturally powerful and destructive force of my insanity energy. Focusing on dragging it through my body, slowly, from the knife to my hand, then through my chest. Right before the last possible moment, it finally erupted from my hand, but it wasn't just a knife that I had created, it was something far greater.
It didn't even fully materialize before the fake giant Kraven was torn apart. With one quick slash from the primordial knife that appeared, a wave of purple energy decimated the illusion of Kraven, tearing him in two from the hand up, shattering his insanity creep as he roared in pain, smashing back into the castle. In the real world, my attack shook the entire battlefield, knocking Kraven off his feet from the shockwave. Once again I had returned from the hell that was Kraven's nightmare. Standing proudly, with my legs and arms back, I hoisted a massive Iron greatsword, half my size above my shoulder, that throbbed with my Insanity energy. The fusion hadn't just worked, it had become some sort of insanity black hole that was seeking to absorb all of the energy it could find. Leftover flakes of Kraven's Insanity energy from his creep, filtered into my sword, intensifying as it drew nearer to the vacuum. The sword itself had such fine craftsmanship, and its edges shone in the moonlight, while its body pulsed, barely keeping its shape, as a few cracks could be seen with bright purple energy shining through. Kraven couldn't even form a countermeasure to my creation as he did not dare to step close to the blade, as it was giving off such a sheer amount of energy that he paled in comparison to it. I raised my blade to finish this. No point in delaying the inevitable, There's no way he could ever counter this without being prepared. With one swing I let all of the energy go at the top of the massive sword's arc, sending a wave hurtling towards Kraven, gushing and surging like lava erupting from the ground. Strangely, even though the sword would appear to weigh tons, I hoisted it flawlessly, like it was meant for me from the day I was born. There was nothing he could do. This attack would normally eviscerate someone from the skin down, tearing apart their body like pulled pork, but because of the properties of the castle, it simply displaced him. The second it hit him it blew him clean off the balcony and sent him flying toward a belltower where he slammed into a bell, stopping his momentum, and violently rocking the bell back and forth, cartoonishly creating a loud ringing noise to alert everyone of my overwhelming victory.
"YOUNG MANDID YOU JUST EXECuTE AN INSANITY TRANSFER?" D. leaped over, infatuated with my victory, while screaming vehemently. I turned over and blushed a bit, letting my massive sword hit the ground with a bang, cracking the bricks, and letting the energy fizzle out to put D. at ease, although I still doubt I threatened him.
"Oh yeah, hehe, it's nothing special though," I said.
"No young man, you don't understand, nobody has ever done that before without perishing!" D. explained exasperatedly. "I know I was interested in you, but golly, color me astonished, that is a feat to remember!"
"Well it just occurred to me, as something that might work y'know, and I had to beat him so I just kinda did it," I said, trying to calm down the situation as D. was growing paler and paler, and beginning to look like a child that just found out they were going to Disney world if that still existed. I really didn't understand the big deal yet.
"Hokari, do not take this lightly when I tell you, but you have the potential to reach the very top of the club," D. said. " The amount of possibilities that Insanity transfer opens up is tremendous, for starters, you can absorb some of the enemy attacks by clashing with them, plus you can charge up your own dreadful clapbacks, me oh my, I don't know-" D. got so sidetracked his mind simply cut out from excitement. All of a sudden, He poofed into the form of a bat from overstimulation in a cloud of smoke, much like that of Dracula, and fell slowly, spiraling down carried by his wings, to the ground exhausted landing softly with a plop. It occurred to me now that everyone here was unconscious except me. Nervously I looked around. Kraven was knocked out at the bell tower and luckily had landed on its roof and not fallen off, and D. had fainted on the spot here. That's my reward for making history huh? Now I'd have to find a way to lug these sorry members back inside, which seemed many times more daunting than any of what I'd done so far.
I lay in my newly claimed bedroom, content for the first time in ages. My stuff, or the few possessions I had on me since my experience at the museum lay in a bag beside my bed. The bed itself was lavish, though very old feeling, like the kind you'd find at a grandparent's house back in the golden days. A few paintings stared at me, and the shelves were lined with fancy pottery and fine china. They spent all this money on unclassy decor but they couldn't even afford a fan. That sucked for me, as I missed having something to draw my attention to. Without that, I was alone with my thoughts, A dangerous thing, on some days. After the battle, another club member who was much kinder than the ones I'd seen earlier had shown up to help me take everyone back inside and to the infirmary. They tried to check me out for my insanity transfer after D. pestered them about its dangerous effects normally, but they found out that I was A-OK. D. himself, regained full consciousness and profusely apologized for his unexpected transformation, as well as that he had pressing business to attend to tomorrow. He begged me to stay put until he could teach me more. Kraven begged the opposite. He told me that I had earned his respect and he had practically forced me to take him under my wing. I ended up shaking his hand on a deal that we would work together in our endeavors, although I'm yet to decide if I really want to cooperate with this volatile revenge seeker, but allies were nececary in a club where everyone's goal is to have someone dead. Either way, things would play out tomorrow, the one thing for sure is that for once, I had a Goal. For once, I had a purpose, and that gave me such a warm feeling inside. That night, for the first time in ages, I slept soundly, and although the concept of time flowed differently in the castle, I knew that I slept well. I didn't even count a fan's rotation once.