Horison Chapter 14

Running towards the crouched Sanguine, Noir and I spilt away on either side whilst Silver continued running towards the man whose straight razors were held protectively in front of his face. Silver spun his staff around his body in a large spiral before swinging it towards Sanguine who bowed lower to avoid the blow, Silver swung the blunt end of his staff at Sanguine's feet, finally hitting and knocking him into the air then slamming him towards me. As he reached my feet I let loose with my katana delivering a flurry of blows before kicking him towards Noir, who punched Sanguine down to the ground at her, flipping one of her concealed hunting knifes into the air, catching it backwards with her right hand, as she thrust the sharp knife towards him, he grabbed the blade and threw it away from him, his bright red aura protecting his hand from harm. He rose and slashed his blade at her face but the shadows bent to her will and she disappeared at the last moment.

As Sanguine began to laugh once more I threw another kunai towards him but this time he deflected the kunai, leaving an opening for Silver who dived at Sanguine holding his staff like a spear and lunged with his blade at the villain's shoulder. The force span Sanguine around, he then deflected Silvers staff using his razor and swung a clenched fist at Silver who rolled forwards to avoid the attack. Sanguine span towards Silver ready to assault him, a maniacal expression on his face, but Noir appeared again in front of Silver blocking the attack with her knife, Sanguine continued to repeatedly hack at Noir. "Please keep your girl tamed, she's in my way!" He timed his words with his strikes, Noir clung onto her knife with defiance but the final strike knocked her to the ground in front of Silver.

"Noir!" Silver shouted, leaning over Noir, his staff in front, in-between her and Sanguine. A small tornado blew Sanguine far from the two of them, formed instinctively by Silvers anger. "Well that was rude, keeping me away from the party but it's you who I really need anyway little miss River!" He spoke unnervingly softly whilst pointing towards me and smirking, I looked back and forth between Sanguine and his maddening expressions to Silver helping Noir to her feet but she was exhausted, Silver was helping her and Horati was still frozen, I was all alone, again, but free from his control I had to fight him and now was the time.

I held my katana high as I ran towards Sanguine who reacted simply by placing both his hands behind his back I sliced down with my katana but Sanguine gracefully evade the attack. I swung my katana to my right then span my arm over my head to cut right once again but Sanguine continued to evade my attacks effortlessly, he smirked and chuckled so I continued to swing left then right then down then diagonal, diagonal again and again. Stab left, then right, then stab. Pull downwards with so much effort I fell forwards but regained my stance. I swung and sliced continuously, desperately, starting with poise and ending as mad as him. But, Sanguine continued to dance around the edges of my blade "River, my dear, why are we fighting? You know what I say is true, you can do anything, make people do anything, kill… anything" He continued to speak so softly but it felt like his words were burrowing into my head "Shut up!" I shouted. "You are a weapon without a wielder, just unused potential, let me be the one who aims you, the one to control you." "Stop…" I was tiring I continued swinging my katana, but to no avail, as Sanguine continued to dodge my swings even whilst speaking "Let me guide you and together we can make this world so beautiful! You can kill anything."

"You!" I screamed whilst letting out an almighty stab to Sanguine chest and this time, he did not evade it, the blow lifted Sanguine off his feet and finally I saw the bright red light, his aura, shatter around his body he flew far from me until he landed on his feet but still slid backwards until finally coming to a stop by stabbing the ground with his razor. "I can kill You."

Sanguine still tried to grin through the pain but it was obvious that he was hurt. "You see River, this is the power I was talking about!" He winced slightly. "You are such a pretty perfect specimen! Now just let me finish these two and we can chat some more" He hinted towards Silver and Noir who was still leaning on Silver for fear of fainting from exhaustion, he limped towards them but before he could hurt them. "Stási!" I shouted and the three of them froze in a blue light as a slowly walked, weak and weary, towards them.

I stood in-between Sanguine and the others before the blue light faded, a sudden intake of breath was heard behind us, Silver and Noir turned to see Horati coming to and beginning to stand up, he held his head for a moment and shook it before finally realizing the situation, he ran to Silvers side "What's happening?" He inquired "I… Im not too sure" Silver replied worriedly. I looked up to face Sanguine and I looked deep into his eyes "I finally understand what you're saying…" I said with a level voice, "I am powerful, aren't I? I really can do anything" I smiled and looked at my katana still shimmering with blood. "FINALLY!" Sanguine shouted as he held out his arms "You finally believe me! Now let me be the one to wield you so brilliantly! HAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed piercingly and excitedly and began limping towards me, his hand held out to my face.

"River! What are you doing!" Horati shouted in desperation, I span around and pointed at him "Isychía" He began speaking so quietly none of us could hear what he was saying even in this decrepit, deserted warehouse. I moved from pointing at Horati to point my hand towards Silver and Noir "Empistépsou me". Even without the knowledge of the words I said their faces all perked up, subconsciously knowing to trust. I winked at them and they all slightly nodded. Sanguine stopped laughing and then turned to look at me once again "What are we waiting for then, let us begin! Oh, but first my dear, I can't be without both my weapons, now can I? Fetch me my other razor like a good little world killer" He explained mockingly but adheringly, I slowly walked over and flicked his razor off the ground, using my currently heightened reflexes to catch it on one finger and roll it over my knuckles, copying Sanguine. I slowly walked back over to him and held the razor out in front of him in both palms. "Good girl." Sanguine went to grab the razor but as he did I clenched my fist hard on the handle, the blade flicking out and he retracted slightly but before he could react I darted forward slashing at the side of his neck making a neat cut which began leaking blood "Ahh! You little B-" Sanguine raised his arm into the air ready to strike me "Im no little girl! Horati NOW!" I screamed and Horati dived forward, his fist glowing brighter than the sun in the middle of July, he let out the most triumphant roar and struck Sanguine so hard he blasted away so fast I barely saw him move until the smash he made as he crumbled against the far wall.

We all stood for a moment breathing heavily, the fight had taken its toll on us all me and Noir most of all, the thoughts of what I had done still echoed in my mind unable to remain on a single thought long enough to forget the trauma. "Everyone okay now?" Horati asked still with a glimmer of rage in his words "I guess so," replied Silver after quickly looking at us all, we all turned to walk away until we heard coughing coming from the dust. Sanguine was still alive below a crater shaped like him in the wall, surrounded by dust and debris, he was in a terrible condition. Even his outfit was torn in multiple places showing his pale skin, mapped with lacerations and bruises like wild fire all of which slowly leaked blood like the cut on his neck. "Heh heh, didn't know you had it in you, kiddo," he coughed. "But I will have the last laugh if I can't have her no-one can." He began to move from the crater but could hardly move due to the pain, I began to turn away from Sanguine, he was defeated and didn't pose a threat anymore, but Horati stood looking down with his eyes closed his fist shaking vigorously, he nodded to himself then turned around and began walking towards Sanguine "Horati don't… there's nothing else we can do" Noir pleaded but he ignored her and continued to walk.

I moved in front of him and placed my hand on his shoulder, he stopped but did not look at me. "Don't do this Horati, he's beaten, we can go back to school and have a normal life, please don't do this for me, I know he hurt me but we are better than him. You are better than him." I pleaded, he looked at me through the corner of his eye and announced, "I need to do this River but not for you, for me." He gently pushed me aside and walked up to Sanguine who was still squirming from the pain but trying to move "You again? I liked you better when you were a popsicle." He joked trying to cover the pain.

"You never stop do you? And that's your problem, you don't know when to give up! What's to stop you waltzing into beacon and slitting our throats in our sleep! This I why I need to do this, not just for me, not just for my team, not just for Vale! But for the good of Remnant…" Horati pulled back his sword arm "Keep telling yourself that kid, whatever helps you sleep at night." Sanguine winked as Horati paused for a moment before delivering a lightning fast stab to Sanguine's side. Sanguine squirmed in even more pain than before with a mixture of coughing and laughing before finally… he stopped.

Horati pulled his sword from Sanguine's side and walked solemnly back towards us, he sheathed his blood stricken sword on his belt we all looked shocked at what Horati had done and even though I did not want him to do it, I understood why and hopefully Silver and Noir will do too, again we stood in silence with our breathing the only audible noise until finally Silver spoke. "Well I guess we beat him to the… Punch!" Silver spouted in a gleeful tone, Noir and I giggled slightly "Or how about, erm, oh I guess he got the… Point!" Silver spouted, again Noir and I giggled some more. "Silver your…" Horati spoke aggressively but he closed his eyes and exhaled for a moment before opening his eyes again, they were back to normal, "your puns need work" He smirked whilst placing his hand on his hip. We all let out a small sigh of relief to see Horati back to being himself again.

We started walking out of the warehouse to call up the school as Silver went again. "Well it's good to see that you have… cooled off Horati!" Silver spouted and I stopped, scared of what Horati would say, but jogged to catch up as Horati smiled, shook his head and laughed. "Oh that one, that one was good, everyone gets one good one."

Final chapter for this volume! There will be Volume 2 in the new year. Here are your translations. Stási- Stop, Empistépsou- trust. -Tschuss