Our swords clashed again in an X formation as we backed up from each other with the crowd circle expanding ever so slightly. Tsubaki had a rage in her eyes, one I had only seen somewhere else or rather, someone else. It was me 12 years ago, confronted with a youthful rage hell bent on nothing but revenge for life being ever so cruel. It is how she feels but I had a teacher to have me learn self control, she...she has lost it all
"I will defeat you Black Lightning, that I can promise, so just surrender and I can make this easier for the both of us." She called out as I kept my lips sealed in the matter, as I didn't want to provoke her more than she already was. Instead, I sighed and blinked a few times before sheathing my Katana back into its holster and clapped my hands together as the crowd around us began to murmur.
"Then come and get it." I taunted raising my fists ready to combat her hand to hand. Everyone including Weiss and Tsubaki were surprised at this sudden change of events. I waited silently for her to begin the attack as she growled in anger or rather I would say, hissed. Then the foot-work began as she charged with a wide berth to my left side ready to strike me down. In a matter of seconds, she was right on top of me as I raised my left arm, her Yamato blade striking against the metallic appendage. Sparks igniting as the metal struck with massive force, I side-stepped as she continued to try and find some sort of opening in it with no avail. I rolled backwards, jumping up as soon as I regained my sense of direction. I squeezed my left hand hard before pressing a button on the forearm, a strong spring bolted forward as a blade slid out of left forearm and over my hand.
"A blade arm!?" Tsubaki called out as I dare to say let out a small smile with the reveal.
"I had a few modifications in case I ever lost my weapons. Don't act so surprised now sweetheart." I said as she scoffed resuming her blade works with my arm now becoming an effective parry weapon against her sword. I in fact did not want to harm her at all, it seemed she was under the influence of someone powerful but more so than I could see.
"DIE DAMN IT!" She screamed as she raised her hip and swung her boot across my face with a swift roundhouse kick as she brought down her blade from a vertical swing right to my head.
"KYRAN!" Weiss screamed pushing past the spectators as I grabbed the blade with my right hand just before my face. Blood dripping down the blade and onto the ground as I chuckled softly. My eyes turned into a sky baby blue and my hair extended past my shoulders to my waist becoming a bright silver white.
"What sort of treachery is that demon?!" Tsubaki demanded as I ripped her blade from her hands with my own bloody one and threw once more into the ground. I swung a heavy punch into her stomach while retracting the blade from my left and bringing it across her cheek, knocking her out cold and to the ground. I panted softly as the wound on my right hand was completely healed and gone, the spectators had gone quiet with fear as I walked past them towards Weiss was within the circle. She followed me out of the crowd and back to the open street where I stopped briefly to speak to the crowd.
"Ensure the authorities take her into custody." I mentioned as my hair turned back to black and my eyes the darker blue that they were as I continued down my path with Weiss still speechless.
"K-Kyran?" Weiss finally said something after her outburst only moments ago.
"Not here, come on." I whispered going down the road, taking a left at the intersection where sirens blared past us as I saw the sign of a graveyard up ahead. Moving forward, we entered the quite yet eerie area of the city where the dead were laid to rest and to be mourned for all of eternity. "You probably have a lot of questions don't you Weiss?" I asked her as she cleared her throat quickly, understandably furious.
"What the hell is that ability? How did you even obtain it? And I thought you didn't have aura?" Her questions kept coming as I only siphoned out those which I figured were important to me.
"I didn't ask for what this was in my body. It was forced on me at birth. Tell me Weiss, have you ever heard of the Ethereal Grimm?" I asked.
"Only the legends my sister Winter told me about. A Grimm that nearly destroyed Remnant in days and was stopped by a lone hero carrying the blade called Kusanagi." She explained.
"Well it is no legend, it is very real. What you say was just a fraction of its power, a taste if you will. The Ethereal Grimm chooses a host of high capability or aura and saps off its energy until death of the host and finds someone else to repeat the process. Eventually, it'll be reborn through its final host and the cycle of vengance and blood will continue. In short, I have the Ethereal Grimm inside my body and I am it's host." I explained my dark circumstance as she kept silence considering it all and taking it in slowly.
"Then how can you beat it? Something that is inside your body?" She wondered.
"To this day I am not sure, all I know that even with the strength of this demon, it is still not enough to defeat your father which is why we will go to the deserts of Vacuo and meet with Raven Branwen and gain enough strength to overcome him." I said heading into a single row of headstones and stopping before one that had multiple weathered roses at the base and the name of Captain Arianna Rhodes engraved in the stone. With the words: A true hero against a determined foe." I stopped just before her grave and keeled down with a small smile.
"This is..."
"The grave of my older sister who gave her own life, to protect me of all people." I said softly as I let a tear fall from my face onto the grass with more soon following me. "12 years ago, Flyresa, was severely injured. We had to break into a hospital to get medical supplies and while we were successful, it was not without cost. She was bleeding heavily and decided to sacrifice herself so that I could survive. To this day I still remember her final words as if I just heard them yesterday." I said crying now.
"What were they?" Weiss asked.
"Go baby brother...make me proud." I said. "And then like that she was gone. It hurts me more than anything to see her like this. Her death motivated me to join the service, and then...it was my fault that she died." I said as Weiss finally said something.
"No it wasn't. She did what she had to so that you could survive." Weiss countered as I got up from knee and turned around to face her, tears covering my face.
"She died because I wanted to save Flyresa, because I was desperate to have her survive no matter the cost. Yet now, she's in the ground because of me, and it is a guilt I have to live with everyday." I hissed as she wrapped her arms around me tightly and held me tightly to her chest.
"I can't believe that Kyran. Regardless of what you think, your sister wouldn't want you to blame yourself for her death. She knew the consequences of what would happen and took them into consideration before doing what needed to be done. She loved you more than this world could ever give, and she gave it all up just so she could save you." Weiss sobbed into my own shoulder as I stopped crying as I completed the embrace as we both held each other tightly, comforting each other.
"Weiss I..."
"No, don't worry about it. Just promise me that you won't blame yourself." She said slightly muffled into my coat.
"I...I promise Weiss." I said softly.
"Thank you Kyran...thank you..."