Surge 34
Bold + Italics = Japanese
(THE LATEST SURGE HAS ARRIVED! The finale approaches us as The third Rebel has arrived! Read on if you dare!)
Previously on Academic Surge...
Sora Minakaze, a former mercenary of the notorious Black Lotus. Having had lost his memory of his time before he entered the academy, He finally remembered his past. Feeling ashamed about his past, he decided to tell one of his closest friends, Makoto Nanaya. This caused an unfortunate chain of events that resulted in his best friend remembering that he was the one who nearly killed her, her running away and the subsequent chase afterwards.
When he ran after Makoto to try to get her back, he was unknowingly followed by Hunter Long who has been suspicious about the identity of Sora Minakaze. Now in a cave, in the middle of nowhere, tensions are high between these two as Sora wants to save Makoto while Hunter wishes to protect her. The question is, What does Makoto want to do in this situation? Well... that is for us to find out.
And Now, the continuation of Academic Surge.
Sora and Hunter both readied themselves for each other's attack. Their movements were stiff and precise, breathing as shallow as possible. They both have tangled with each other before but the rules are different. There is no ars magus that will dampen the severity of their blows, no judge that will stop them from fighting, no action that is too great or dirty. This is how wars and battles are fought, a battle that Sora is familiar about.
Sora's feet ran with a pace he was familiar with, gripping his pipe with an intense determination. He decided to test Hunter once again by swinging the pipe down, Hunter dodging the pipe with ease. Jumping back, he regripped his pipe once again, hesistating. He knew that if the situation grew worse, he might be forced to kill another person with his two hands. Why was he even considering that option in that first place, he was no longer a mercenary, he is now just an ordinary person with a bloody past.
'NO!...I cannot kill another person ever again. I want to start new and I will not end it right now!' Sora thought as he strengthen his grip. Looking at the impressive weapon that Hunter was holding, he knew that it was not an ornamental piece despite the rather intricate looking sheath. Suddenly, Hunter leapt right for him, swinging the black red sword right for him. Smashing it down on the ground, Sora could feel the killer intent coming out of him. 'I don't want to kill him... But He wants me dead!' he thought as he leapt out of the way.
After leaping out, Hunter pointed the tip of his blade and thrusted it forward along with himself. Sora could only hope to dodge out of the way by the skin of his teeth as it not only knicked his clothes, it managed to cut a bit of his skin. What should have been a simple wound felt like a burning iron being placed on his body as Sora held the wounded area. "TELL ME SORA! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MAKOTO!" Hunter demanded as he continued to swing his sword in a rather wild manner.
Dodging them with some difficulty, Sora remained quiet determined to focus on the match and remain silent. This simple act angered Hunter greatly as he wanted answer and right now. Sora was too busy trying to figure out Hunter's weapon to answer the man himself as he tossed his pipe at Hunter, in which he dodged it with ease. Using it as his chance, Hunter ran straight for him with his blade raised high in the air. Swinging it down, Sora used his palm to push away the direction of Hunter's attack to a rock, the sword easily slicing through the rock.
'Sharp!' Sora thought as Hunter struggled to pull out the blade from the rock. It was buried quite deeply but he was able to pull it out afterwards, the blade burning off the rock that was stuck to it, turning it into molten lava. Makoto, who was looking at this entire situation, was mortified at the sight she was baring right now. "What on earth...is with that sword." Makoto said in shock, cowering under the rock she was hidden behind.
She was the main reason why this fight was underway. She was the person who Sora Minakaze and Hunter Long are undertaking their second battle right now. Makoto still felt fear staring at Sora but it was slowly disappearing with clouds of doubt being seeded in her mind. Was she right about Sora right now? Is Sora Minakaze really still the same killer who tried to murder her that day? She clenched the rock with uncertainty and fear as Sora continued to dodge Hunter's attacks.
"SAY SOMETHING SORA! WE ALL DESERVE TO KNOW THE TRUTH!" Hunter demanded once more, Sora thinking that he thought he had a moral high ground in this case. Hunter was not wrong for demanding the information but Sora felt that he did not deserve to keep on bugging him like this. "What truth do you want to know Hunter? What truth!?" Sora demanded back as it was enough to distract Hunter for that one moment.
As soon as he heard that and turned to Sora, he felt something hard and metal slam into his head as he recoiled forward. Running forward, Sora jumped on his head in order to try to retrieve the bent pipe. Before he could leap however, a hand managed to wrap around his leaping leg. Looking at the offending hand, he was shocked to see the look on Hunter's face as he tried to send him crashing down to earth. Wasting no time, Sora used his free leg to kick the pipe closer to his hand before swinging it down hard on Hunter's back. The force of his swing was hard enough for Hunter to release his grip, making Sora leap out of the way the moment his feet touched the ground.
What Sora wanted to do was to think about what he was going to do just to get to Makoto. What he did not expect was a gigantic maw coming for his directly as the sounds of chain releasing rang loud in his ear. "I won't let you get away!" Hunter shouted as Makoto saw the maw bite hard on Sora's leg. Before Sora could even scream, Hunter yanked on the chain, sending Sora crashing to the ground as Makoto gasped at the sight. The rocks around him broke as the chain began to drag Sora to Hunter.
As Sora slowly got dragged, he managed to get his hand on a large rock and tossed it directly at Hunter. Out of instinct, Hunter formed a barrier right in front of his face, breaking his concentration as a huge cloud of dust kicked up in front of his face. Hunter felt his maw lighten significantly as soon Sora had performed a disappearing act, the maw lying on the ground Sora was at. Sora took cover in the darker portion of the caves, using the darkness to his advantage as he pulled his hood up to hide his obvious hair.
As was taught to him in the Black Lotus, the darkness was his friend. When you need to hide from your opponent or need to form a quick plan, use the darkness to your advantage. Taking a deep breath at the corner of of a pillar, Sora began to form a quick plan to reach Makoto. This fight was completely and utterly pointless in his eyes and Hunter was not thinking straight most likely. He needs to get to Makoto and try to calm her down, that was the thing and person which was on his mind at that moment.
'Makoto... I need to get to her right now... otherwise even if we get out of here, she might not recover.' Sora thought, his head deep in it. As he began to think, he noticed a bright light shine. Taking a small rock from the ground, he tossed it to the rocky walls to see where the light will go. The moment he did so however he was surprised to see the flame still proceed his direction as he hid his back on the wall once again. Placing his hand on the wall, it touched his knife sheath as he felt the handle of a familiar blade.
Wrapping his fingers slowly around it, he began to think about the blade as he pulled it out. It was a knife, not to small or too large, as it had a crimson dry red look to it. The blade still shining brightly as if it had been forged out of a red metal. In truth, it was the blood of his little sis that coated itself on the blade when Sora... Had to end her life. 'Saeko... can I really do what is needed if I have to?...' Sora thought in his mind as he didn't want this to end with another life gone.
As he thought of all of this, he forgot to pay attention to the light source that was rapidly approaching his destination. As he turned to look, he was shocked to find the light continually approaching him. Deciding to try redirecting it once again, He tossed out another rock to a corner that was one step before his hiding spot. As he did so, he felt a heat source from behind rapidly approaching as Sora quickly dived out of the way back into the light as he saw to his shock, it was a harmless floating ball of light and the flame he felt from behind was a literal fireball.
"I FOUND YOU!" a voice shouted as Sora looked above. The voice belonged to Hunter as he had his maw pointed for his direction as it had opened to reveal a living fire brewing in it's mouth as he fired it directly for him. Sora dodged out of the way as he heard the distinct rattling of chains as he quickly tossed a rock at the maw. The maw snapped at the rock and continued to charge for him. As the maw did so, Sora managed to dodge out of the way to let the maw smash the ground as Hunter landed on the ground panting.
Hunter himself was pointing the maw of breathing fire right at Sora, ready to fire at him once again. "SORA!...Who are you really?! Why are you always so secretive!?" Hunter demanded as he charged once more. Swinging his blade once more, Sora dodged out of the way yet again as he kicked Hunter to the rock wall. Taking a deep breath, Sora looked at Hunter as he stood up, feeling the pain. Sora's eyes when back to Makoto who was constantly in deep confusion. As he did so, he noticed something prowling for Makoto's direction as he immediately went for her.
Makoto meanwhile was stunned to see what she was seeing right now. If she had to tell this to anybody, not only they won't believe her, they would think she was crazy. Her friends fighting against each other, one was a serial killer for profit and the other has a weapon that is supposedly a weapon of mass destruction. This was soo much shit for her to take in that she had to hold her head together literally. 'Please let this all be over soon... Be over Soon.' She begged in her mind as she heard a low growl coming in front of her.
As she heard the growl, she quickly turned to the source of the growl. There she was, staring at the body of a chimera, staring right at her. Baring it's fangs, it's eyes looked at her like she was a meal to it. Standing up straight, her knees trembled greatly as she still managed to find the resolve to ready a punch. 'You can do this Makoto...You can do this...' Makoto thought and repeated in his mind as the beast lowered it's body, ready to pounce on it's intended target, her.
Makoto did not back down from the beast's challenge, steadying her shaking knees to a bare minimum. She was scared shitless right now that a chimera, an animal of the wild, was right in front of her right now. But this fear she was having right now was leagues behind the fear she had for her friends who were fighting to the death right now. The beast finally sprung into action, baring it's sharp fangs and claws right at Makoto's face.
"YOU CAN DO THIS!" Makoto shouted as she released her fist and slammed it down on the beast's face. Her fist was true as the beast slammed on the pillar and ran away scared. Holding her chest with her hand, she began to pant heavily. She managed to punch a chimera...She punched a chimera! It was not a proud moment for Makoto but she was glad she had done so. But instinctively she readied her fist in the air once again as she felt uneasy.
"BEHIND YOU MAKOTO!" a voice shouted as she turned around to see a beast in mid pounce. As she was going to punch the thing, something quickly got in the way of the beast, making it gnaw on the person's abdomen but before it could penetrate through vital organs, had it's head stabbed right through cleanly. As the person managed to pull off the chimera's fangs, he turned around as Makoto stared at the white hair with blond tips this person had as she stared at her.
"Are you alright Makoto?!" Sora asked with concern heavily coming out of his voice. Despite the wound on his abdomen, he goes straight to her instead of tending to his own wounds. Makoto was greatly confused by this action as she stared at him wide eyed. "I...I should be asking about you!..." Makoto said with reluctance as the urge to run away was still there. Her fear was still crawling to her back and Sora could see it, but he was determined to calm her down to the best of his abilities.
"Makoto...don't worry so much about me. How about you?" Sora bluntly said as he asked yet again how was she. Makoto's heart was now in great conflict, on one hand, she wanted to run away from this person, who she knows is a killer and murderer. On the other hand, right in front of her was a person who wanted to help her and is showering her with attention, despite the wound he has on his abdomen. She saw his hand reach out for her, a kind hand as he did not make an attempt to smile but she felt the gentleness of his heart.
Makoto was now starting to doubt herself. Was this person right in front of her really trying to kill her right now? Was this person really evil? Why is referencing Sora as this person? He is her friend not some stranger. "Y-Yes...I am..." Makoto stuttered reluctantly as her heart began to relax. Her mind began to clear as she slowly stretched her hand for his. Sora was beginning to slowly smile at her slow acceptance.
Before they could hold hands thought, Sora immediately felt a hot presence approach him as he pushed Makoto out of the way to spare her skin as he dived with her. As soon as he did that, the wall he was standing at had dissolved, small trails of fire remaining as Makoto's eyes went wide at what they saw. Hunter had pried himself off the rocky wall, pointing the blackened maw at their direction. His eyes were wild and his teeth bared it's fangs as Sora saw the sight of this and knew what he had to do.
"Stay here Makoto. I will be right back." Sora quickly said, retracting his hand and quickly heading to meet Hunter head on. He didn't know what was wrong with him right now, so caution was going to be his best friend here. "Hunter...Listen to..." Before he could even finish his sentence, Hunter lunged for him snapping the blade out of the maw once more. Sora had no time to react as his flesh was sliced open in a violent manner, easily cutting through his scar ridden body.
For the first time in a long time, Sora felt pain. What he felt before was not pain, it was the mere speckles of it. Leaping back, he panted heavily as blood gushed out freely from his body. Hunter did not relent however as he leapt forward and chased after him. Swinging another lethal strike, Sora dodged out of the way as even more blood spilled from his body. Soon, he was met with a barrage of lethal slashes and strikes that began to pick up speed immensely.
Makoto herself was in shock and awe at what she saw. She didn't know what she should be seeing right now as the battle intensified. Hunter's posture as he slashed endlessly was that of a wild animal, unrelenting and ruthless. Sora's own stance on the other hand was that of a calm individual, trying to use reason to stop the madness that he was experiencing right now as the multitude of slashes slowly began to crawl up on him, wounding his body further and further.
'Hunter...why...are you so angry and violent right now...and in contrast...Sora's...what's going on now...' Makoto thought as she struggled to get her thoughts together. The sight of her two friends fighting, the events that happened today, all of her brain power was being used to just process her survival. Who should she trust at this moment of time? Can she trust anyone right now. All of this was overwhelming to her as she just closed her eyes tightly, hoping for the bloody images she was seeing would stop.
Meanwhile, as Makoto was desperate to erase the images in front of her. Sora was desperate in trying to bring some sense into Hunter Long. "HUNTER PLEASE! SNAP OUT OF IT!" Sora shouted but he got no reply, as he huffed and puffed greatly. His eyes looked vicious as he slashed his leg which was bad because he tripped to the ground. Continuing to roll to the side each time Hunter tried to slice him in half. Sora was beginning to run out of options and didn't want to do the last possible option.
"DAMMIT HUNTER! LISTEN TO ME!" Sora shouted as he dodged one slice and used the heel of his foot to kick Hunter's stomach forcing him to slide on the rocky ground. As soon as Sora got to his feet, Hunter was already at his face as he continued his crazed slicing rush. This was near overwhelming for the veteran as the volume of slashes sped up in his eyes. He swore that in his eyes, he saw spins in the middle of some of those slashes.
Sora's eyes slowly began to close as his thoughts were flowing like a waterfall. The unrelenting thoughts were like a torrent that could never stop. Their momentum was becoming faster and faster, the words clearer and louder. It was either kill or be killed. But at the same time, as much as he wanted to do this option, he knew it wasn't the only option he had at this moment. There was another way, he didn't have to kill Hunter Long or get killed. He wanted to believe that there was an alternative way altogether to avoid the pointless bloodshed.
"I won't go back...I won't...I WON'T!" Sora yelled as he pulled out the blood stained knife from it's sheath. Thrusting it forward, a small blade couldn't hope to stop something as massive as a zweihandler, let alone a zweihandler capable of melting rock. This was going to be the worst idea in his life as Sora's eyes remained closed. Knowing that in the end, he may never get the chance to see Makoto again.
"Big Bro...Don't give up!" A small and meek voice said as Sora's eyes opened as the knife for a split second shined as it connected with the massive blade of the maw. As it did so, it stopped the attack's momentum completely causing a gigantic gust of wind to blow. The moment it did so, Hunter Long stared at the small knife that stopped his gigantic blade. It was not only unbelievable, the red knife did not break from the pressure he was applying onto it. No matter how much he tried to do so.
Hunter was greatly bewildered by this action, "W-What!?" Was the only word he could amass in his shock as Sora stared at the knife, it's intentions now clear to him as he quickly retracted and used the handle part of it to smash Hunter's stomach before kicking him away. As he did so, Sora chased after him as his mind had finally decided on the reason why he was even fighting in the first place.
Makoto Nanaya had more of an importance than all of these combined. As long as her life was in danger, he shouldn't be hesitating to stop this madness right now! 'What am I doing...I need to stop this madness right now!' Sora thought with ferocity as his heart began to blew a gust like no other. Suddenly, Makoto and Hunter struggled to hang on for dear life as Sora's hair blew up revealing his bandaged eye. As it did so, traces of a bluish green light were present as he ripped out the bandages, exposing his right eye once again.
As he did so, Makoto and Hunter beared witness to the right eye of Sora Minakaze, As it had become bluish green. A weird contrast to the brilliant yellow present in his eye. As he stood firm on the ground, his fisticuffs began to swirl around with the same bluish green like energy as he charged right for Hunter, the reluctance to fight having finally been dispelled. "HUNTER! PREPARE YOURSELF!" Sora shouted as he swung his fist right for him. As he did so, he countered easily and sliced through Sora's back.
As he did so however, Sora ignored the pain he felt and grabbed the hot searing blade. A burning feeling that he had never felt in his entire lifetime began to eat away at him. He couldn't bother think about the pain itself as he had to focus on his survival. Pulling at the blade, Hunter found himself being pulled towards Sora as he kneed him in the stomach. Hunter finally snapped out of whatever was in his mind as he soon saw a bluish green fist heading for his face.
"SOARGH!" Hunter yelled as he bit on his tongue by accident as he soon found himself staggered heavily. Makoto saw the situation suddenly change as the momentum of the fight itself have shifted to Sora's favor. More and more of Sora's attacks began to go through Hunter's guard, the barrage increasing with each hit. Sora didn't know what was happening with Hunter right now but he was a danger right now.
But he was not going to kill him, which sounds so hypocritical of him right now. Before, when he was presented with this exact same situation back in his mercenary years, he would have not hesitated and murdered those that stood in his way. And now, he was not going to do it because he was not a mercenary anymore. He could either laugh at that hypocrisy or just focus on the task at hand, which he chose the later.
'No matter what happens...I WILL GO FORWARD!' Sora thought as Hunter and Makoto felt the environment change around them once again as Sora threw his left fist right for Hunter's face. Trying to block it, Hunter was stunned as his fist looped over his guard and gave him a strong punch. Makoto watched on as she saw Sora's eyes never fade away from what he was trying to do, determination brimming brightly in his eyes.
"DEN!" Sora yelled as his fist connects with Hunter's Jaw. Instead of launching him in the air as he did with Jin, Sora immediately sent a right fist at his temple that kept him firmly planted on the ground. "RI!" This move also staggered Hunter greatly as he struggled to see straight. As his vision slowly returned to him, he felt an intense gust of wind sucked him in as he could no longer fight it.
"SO!" Was the final words Hunter hear Sora say as multiple punches flied right for Hunter's chest. Each punch looked like they ripped their way through the air approaching his chest. The punches accumulated until Sora finally readied both fists at the same time. Yelling out loud, He launched both fists at the same time as they connected with Hunter's chest. As he did so, two gigantic tornadoes formed behind Hunter's back as Hunter stood still, unmoving. Makoto was horrified at what may have happened.
Did Sora kill Hunter? Did he mean to? What was this going to mean right now?! All of these questions would have to be answered. But...Unknown to our trio, a pair of eyes prowled around the scene. Observing what was happening right now and taking in all the information. It's eyes then landed on Makoto as it licked it's lips and laid low. Growling silently, it finally leapt out of it's hiding spot for Makoto.
As the next few seconds, will change everything in an instant.
GREETINGS LOST SHEEP OF FANFICTION! SO! The end of this story is approaching! Is anybody going to miss this series? If any of you are? Let me know if you are going to under the reviews! I have had a great journey writing this story and I plan to continue the Blazblue Series even after this! I believe in the power of writing good stories as I have to be thankful for the Two Guests who reviewed my story. I may not know your name, just know that I am grateful for the time you gave to just leave a review. This is a great experience for me as a fanfiction writer.
NOW! WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO OUR TRIO OF ACADEMY STUDENTS!? IS HUNTER REALLY OUT OF THE GAME?! IS IT HUNTING SEASON FOR OUR FAVORITE SQUIRREL BEASTKIN!? IS SORA OUT OF THE HOOK YET!? WILL YOU QUESTION WHY I CHOSE TO WRITE THIS PART OF THE STORY IN CAPITAL LETTERS!? WHO KNOWS ABOUT THE LAST QUESTION! BUT I KNOW IT MAKES IT FLAREFUL! ALSO! EXPECT SOME NEW NEWS ABOUT THE BLAZBLUE SHOW I PLAN TO DO MOST LIKELY NEXT CHAPTER! SO! STAY READING MY DEAR LOST SHEEP! AND DARE TO DREAM!