Chapter Nine

Mage Slayer appeared inside a dimly lit space. The lighting was ambient, seeming to radiate from everywhere despite the lack of light fixtures. It was a deep crimson and was wavering like an unseen flame around the area, casting shadows of mysterious shapes at odd angles.

The only discernable thing was a person, hanging in midair before Takeki. Her wrists were pressed together above her head, seeming to bear her entire weight. Instead of shackles, blue-bordered runes of white flame encircled her hands. They rotated around lazily as if conscious of the eternity that they may be serving. The figure was dressed in a simple hooded robe of earth-colored cotton, the hood up and concealing her face.

"Hey, Trash," Takeki addressed the woman, snidely. "I know you're awake. Raise your head."

She did as commanded and smiled under the hood. "I thought you would be in a better mood."

"Don't give me that crap!" Takeki's temper flared. "I should destroy you for that stunt you pulled!"

Musujime caught a glimpse of her eyes in the darkness of the hood. They were softened with pity. It was a sickening sight for him. "My only intent was to help the man I love."

Takeki was before her in an instant. His hand lashed out and slapped her with all the strength he could muster. The cowl fell. Her head was completely bald. Her brown eyes sat on dark, black and blue bags. Numerous scars crisscrossed her face. Despite the throbbing, red mark on her face, her eyes still held a humane compassion for her persecutor.

"How many times have I told you? You are a monster! A creature of abnormal origins! You don't understand love! It's just a word that you picked up and use to pretend to be human!" Takeki took a few long, sharp breaths through his teeth. Her sympathetic eyes wouldn't leave his. He couldn't stand to continue seeing them and turned around. "This is my body! You have no authority to use it! How did you?"

"The same way you tap into my power and my personality," she whispered, her eyes dropping.

"The spell must be getting weak," Takeki concluded. "You shouldn't have the strength to take control."

"The spell is still functioning efficiently. I can't force my will upon your body."

"That doesn't make any sense. You're lying."

"No," though he wasn't looking at her, she shook her head. "You wanted me to help you."

"What?" Takeki gritted his teeth to bar in anger as he spun towards her.

"That girl, you fell for her."

"Stop talking," Takeki breathed.

"You wanted to convey your feelings to her."

"I said shut up." He kept control of his volume, but his words were smeared with bloodlust.

"I love you. And therefore helped you."

"Shut the hell up!" Takeki buried his fist in her gut, pitching her forward. Saliva and a throaty groan dripped from her mouth. Her eyes were wide open in pain. Takeki grabbed her chin and jerked it up so she could see his hate-filled eyes. "What did I just tell you? Love is not something you are capable of feeling. You were programmed with a borrowed personality. You are not able to form an original thought, let alone grasp such a human emotion like love."

She barely heard him over the pain.

(***)

Tsuchimikado hadn't been lying. Strangely enough, Gunha Sogiita was standing in the open under a street lamp. It was in a rundown district at an intersection of completely deserted streets. Takeki had watched him stand there for a full hour. According to Motoharu's informants the Level 5 had been standing there all day.

Takeki was sure that it was a trap.

Yet, at the same time, this was the clearest shot he would ever have at the Esper.

After seeing him stand there, nothing moving but Gunha's white jacket, Takeki searched each building on both streets. There was nothing. Everything was perfectly abandoned. No snipers. No booby traps. No runes. No security cameras. No robots. Nothing.

Takeki sat down against a moldy, brick wall. This was the last building he had to search on the four blocks that cornered the intersection. Silver moonlight painted a rectangle on the floor by his feet. He wished he had more information on Gunha. He had come to the conclusion that this was a challenge and not a trap. If so, Gunha had so much faith in his ability that he was willing to take a cheap shot before the battle started. In a fight between high level Espers, that was absurd.

Takeki teleported to another rooftop in the area. He had discovered several abandoned steel beams there earlier. He peaked over the edge of the roof to check on Gunha. The fighter hadn't moved an inch. Turning back to the beams, he laid his hands on them and closed his eyes.

A series of heavy crashes came from the intersection. He had sent all ten beams into Gunha's space. If Gunha hadn't moved his body should be torn up by the materials displacing it. Musujime walked back to the railing and looked towards the intersection.

His eyes went wide.

All ten of the girders were laying in a heap at Gunha's feet. The man hadn't even moved. Even now, he regarded the shafts with disinterest.

"Shit," Takeki cursed. This was going to be harder than he thought. If Gunha had at least dodged the beams Takeki would be happy. But he hadn't. The Level 5 was evidently immune to teleportation displacement. Takeki may be able to teleport Gunha himself, but he wouldn't be able to take him out from afar like he had Kakine.

Takeki teleported across the street to another rooftop and picked up a discarded lead pipe. He glanced back over the edge to make sure Gunha hadn't moved and then leapt off the side of the building. He let himself fall about five feet and all at once swung the pipe like an axe and teleported.

The pipe bent in half and rattled Takeki's arms. Even as his hands went numb and lost hold of the pipe his experience-honed instincts forced his will onto Sogiita. Even though his fingers throbbed he still smiled. It would certainly be difficult to get past that force field, but the battle was now on his terms. With that defense the Level 5 had given up all his attacks.

Takeki let his shoulders relax and put his hands in the pockets of his jacket. Looking down his nose, he waited for Gunha to realize what had happened. That look of surprise, either in the form of fear or anger, when the "mighty" Level 5 realized he had no control over his power. At that moment Takeki would attack. He would take control of the flow of the fight and seize victory. He would-

Gunha turned, slowly, away and stared into space. After a moment he looked back to Mage Slayer and laxly straightened his posture, stepping away from the light pole in the process. Takeki's smile deepened in anticipation as the fighter slowly stepped back into a striking stance and began concentrating.

"Amazing-"

Sogiita thrust his fist forward.

"-Punch!"

Takeki flew backwards down the street, propelled by the force of a brick wall hitting him at high velocity. Reflexively he latched onto that technique. He hit the ground fifty feet away, tumbled backwards once, then as he went over the second time planted his feet on the ground and got his balance. He slid to a stop after another five feet and tried to catch his breath.

He was starting to understand why Level 5's were regarded much higher than Level 4's. Even in the midst of a battle he was revising his theories on them. There must be something he was overlooking that would explain why he wasn't shutting them down. Against both Kakine and Mugino he had theorized that the minds of Level 5's didn't register physical enhancements as a power. In those cases he had to manipulate another power. He didn't think that was the case with force fields because they were an external force even if they were limited to the body. Maybe Gunha was an anomaly in that sense; maybe his mind genuinely believed that the field was part of his body.

While that was viable, Takeki decided not to make any more assumptions; that last attack had hurt a good bit. The first order of business was to check if the field was still up. If it wasn't then that theory was debunked and he would be able to simply displace Gunha's body with whatever items he wanted. If it was still up this would be a long and drawn out fight.

Takeki spit blood from his mouth. He teleported to a stray, rusted trash can and made it disappear with a touch. It clunked to the ground at Gunha's feet.

Musujime gritted his teeth. This was a bad situation. He had to try to shatter that force field, or otherwise make Sogiita drop it for a moment, and sneak a shot in. He could do it with the spear, but that was always a last-ditch option.

Mage Slayer appeared behind Gunha and realized that the Level 5 had already begun spinning. Like the leader of ITEM, Gunha was able to sense his teleportations. He teleported again to the other side and began to swing his fist. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Gunha lift his foot and there was an impact against Takeki's stomach. He had tightened his abs in time and continued with the attack. The palm strike connected an inch away from Sogiita's third vertebrae. Noting the size of the field, Takeki fell into a boxer's stance and took a few quick and measured steps away.

Keeping light on his feet, Musujime waited for Gunha to attack. He was surprised by that rear kick and had barely prepared himself. All things considered Gunha was at least as learned in martial arts as Takeki was so he would have to be careful.

Rather than approaching Takeki, Gunha simply punched from where he was. Takeki scarcely remembered in time that Gunha could still fire telekinetic force and avoided it with his teleportation. The stray shot blew a hole in the building Takeki had been standing in front of. As Musujime reappeared he saw his opponent swinging the opposite fist forward and teleported again. Though Takeki was teleporting further and further away, Gunha was still able to keep track of his teleportation and continued to send Amazing Punches at the teleporter as soon as he reappeared. It wasn't until Musujime was a full block-and-a-half away that Sogiita finally lost track of him. Half the buildings on the street had been destroyed by Gunha's attacks.

Once he was out of range, Takeki took a moment to reevaluate his situation. He considered going back to Touma's apartment, but decided he wanted to get a better idea of Gunha's abilities. All the teleportation had sapped much of his strength, so he had to finish the fight up quick. He decided there was one last thing he wanted to know and teleported back to Sogiita.

Sogiita had sensed Takeki teleporting towards him and moved to face him. Takeki measured his teleportation to land just outside of punching range, keeping close enough to deter Gunha from using his telekinetic punch. As he appeared he threw a kick. Gunha didn't bother blocking, but instead moved his leg. Takeki felt a rib crack without seeing the kick that had done it and staggered backwards. His discipline brought his hands up defensively and tucked his chin. Gunha didn't attack right away, so Takeki advanced towards him. He saw Gunha's hand flash, but didn't see it actually connect. Pain flamed through the side that Gunha had previously kicked and Takeki dropped to his knee. Before Sogiita could get another strike in Takeki retreated.

He landed on Touma's balcony and peaked through the window. He was in luck and Touma didn't appear to be home. Teleporting inside, he went immediately to his duffle bag and unzippied it. At the bottom of the bag was a wooden chest. He retrieved it with a grunt and set it on the floor. The chest was roughly two feet square and a little over a foot tall. A rune was carved into the lid and colored with gold ink. Designs traveled from its end points and wrapped around the entire surface of the box. The chest was made of polished, lacquered white ash and devoid of any wear.

Takeki placed his hand on the rune and spoke the words "sanctus eternus." A ball of light appeared at the lip of the lid and slowly rotated around the perimeter of the chest. When it had made a full circuit the lid popped open and there was a flash before the room went dark again. Takeki reached inside the box and pulled out a coil of gray bones. The bones were a series of vertebrae, each one etched with dully pulsing Celtic runes. At the end was a barbed stinger that had been long stained red.

Takeki hesitated as he always did; lost in thought at the sight of the weapon. He was shaken from his stupor by the sound of keys at the front door. Before Touma got the door open Takeki was half way across town.

Musujime had his shoes off and was standing waist deep in the river that cut through Academy City. His left hand held the end of the strand of bones. The stinger was left floating down stream. Takeki's right hand crossed himself three times before hovering in front of his sternum, fully extended with the palm facing his left side where the length was dangling on the water. As he prayed in Latin the runes began to brighten. The vertebrae polished from gray to a pure white. The water slowly stiffened the cord, pulling each bone against the next with a click, forming an ordered line. Mage Slayer felt power surge through the spear as it neared completion and lifted it above his head as he chanted. As he finished his prayer he looked up at the weapon, a tingling fear tugging at the corners of his heart. The faint light of the moon gleamed against the bleached shaft and outlined the dark spearhead. He took a moment to think about what life meant to him, the meditation he always undertook before employing the weapon in combat.

Filling his lungs with a long and trembling breath, Takeki teleported back to that silent, ravaged district.

Gunha was still standing there as Takeki expected. He didn't give the Level 5 a chance to turn around. He teleported to the fighter and thrust the spear with his left hand. Gunha took a step, ignoring the spear, and brought his left arm around for a hook. Takeki raised his right elbow and blocked the blow. The spear struck Gunha's telekinetic field and sparks flew. The barbed point shook against the air for a moment, and then went through the barrier and glanced off of Sogiita's shoulder. It ripped through the jacket as if it was a light veil and tore away some of the flesh.

Gunha gritted his teeth and Takeki, despite his now-injured forearm, grinned. He teleported again and struck immediately. Gunha sidestepped the spear and made to punch. Takeki disappeared before Gunha could do so and reappeared behind him. As soon as he did, he vanished again, teleporting to his previous location as Sogiita turned. Takeki struck while his opponent was turning. Gunha reflexively summersaulted forward, the spear sailing over his head. Takeki teleported to where Gunha was rolling and brought the butt of the spear down. Not threatened by the blunt end, Sogiita used the momentum of the roll to launch himself off of his feat in a flying uppercut. The spear pressed down on his shoulder, stopping him from getting closer to the Mage Slayer, but he sent gathered his strength and sent a blast of telekinesis into Takeki's stomach. Takeki flew backwards through the air and landed on his side.

He was staggered and used the spear to get himself back up to his feet. He was breathing heavily and there was a scrape under his eye from the landing. Gunha used the opportunity to send an Amazing Punch down the street at his enemy.

Takeki grinned like a devil.

In one fluid motion he turned and raised his bare foot like he was kicking an opponent Gunha couldn't see. As the punch struck Takeki in the back he rested the spear between his toes. At the moment that the punch threw him forward, Mage Slayer put his power to task one last time.

The spear punched through Gunha's back and into his heart. Takeki, affected by the momentum just as much as the weapon, crashed into Gunha and the two went tumbling down the street. After a moment of labored breath, Takeki wearily got to his feet smiling. He walked over to the defeated Esper and grabbed the spear sticking from his back. He used his power to remove it- extracting it manually was nearly impossible- and using the spear as a third leg managed to garner enough strength to flip the dead body over.

The dead body smiled up at him.

Horror filled every bit of Takeki's being. His body rattled uncontrollably. He let go of the spear and stared. He couldn't speak. He couldn't move. It took all his will power just to remain standing.

An eternity passed as what should have been a corpse grinned at him.

"Every artery in your body is pierced by barbs," Takeki whispered, as if trying to convince the body that it was dead. "Your heart is a sieve."

"What the hell are you?"