Chapter X – Who He Is

Jin watched as the fireballs danced around her in rhythmic fashion. He continued his feeble attempt to get back on both feet but stumbled upon nearly reaching that goal. Rena took her time with her finishing attack and had her fireballs ready in case Jin decided to pull a fast one. She wanted to see Jin suffer a slow, painful death. But Jin had other plans.

"It's not over yet, Rena!" he said with his knees refusing to cooperate with his mind. "I-I can't die yet!"

"How courageous of you, Jin-sama," she replied with a snicker, "but in your condition, you can't do a thing. You can't even speak without coughing up more precious blood. Ha, and to think, you're the one causing your own death by using up so much energy. This is wonderful!"

Jin gripped his sword with both hands this time and somehow stood up with a battle stance. Rena watched in amazement but soon that turned to utter disgust.

"Why don't you stay down, fool!"

She lifted her index finger and aimed one of her fireballs at Jin. Then suddenly, a pale green aura surrounded Jin and nullified the incoming attack completely.

"W-what's going on!" Rena demanded to know. "What is that!"

The pale green aura continued to flow out of Jin's body and healed his open wounds. He was still fatigued from battle, but he felt strong enough to hold his ground for at least another round.

Distraught by Jin's unexpected and improbable recovery, Rena shot her remaining five fireballs at Jin. However, Jin cut through all of them and nullified any damage caused by the explosion with his unknown barrier. Upon taking care of Rena's fireballs, he searched for Rena but could not locate her. Then she ambushed him from above and drew out her diamond dagger. She landed on his shoulder and bent forth to take Jin's heart. Seeing this, Jin avoided the desperate attack by stopping the dagger with his left hand. Despite the pain and blood, Jin threw Rena off his shoulder and charged at her. He was going for the three strike combo again.

"Ha, useless!" she proclaimed. "Learn from your mistakes!"

And like the first time, she avoided all three attacks from the sword. However, the final attack pushed Rena back slightly as a result of Jin's aura. She lost some more clothing on her shoulder but did not remain preoccupied for long, for she knew Jin would come back for more. And he did, going for a Fire spell. He summoned a small flame quicker than usual but Rena countered with her fire ability.

But little did she know, it was just a decoy as Jin dashed in front of Rena and drew out the Rainbow. Again, a ray of light shone but this time, with a green outline. Rena did not know what to expect so she quickly summoned a diamond-like armor around her for protection. However, Jin's new powers allowed him to pierce and penetrate the thick coating; such power allowed Jin to hit flesh and Rena's diamond wall disappeared.

"Impossible!" yelled out the Diamond WEAPON as blood started to come out of her mouth.

"This is it!" Jin said as he unleashed his bided pale green aura, sending Rena in the air and crashing on to the ground. Rena did not escape damage this time as she started to twitch in her place and had a hard time coming to.

Jin walked moved over towards Rena, who was dying at a rapid pace. She coughed up blood and gasped for air. The cut near her left breast was too deep and bled massively. Her magic level decreased significantly and was left virtually helpless. Jin watched her as she struggled to stay conscious and almost felt guilty he had to inflict such damage. Rena weakly motioned for Jin to come to her. She still had some last words before her death and she reached for his face. Jin kneeled down cautiously and listened.

"Jin-sama…" she said. "I've always liked you… Y-you were always kind… to me and…" she gasped for air, "I…"

Rena finally reached the sweaty face of Jin and pulled him down gently so that they met eye to eye.

"I have something… to tell… you… Jin-sama… about your… identity…"

Jin said nothing as he started to feel the effects of overworking his body during the recent battle. Rena moved Jin's head so that she can kiss his cheeks and move towards his left ear. Feeling no more threat coming from her, he dropped his sword and listened intently.

"You… that aura…" she struggled to say. "You are…"