Hello guys ^^ I have no excuses for this 'hiatus' of sorts, so I'll just hope you forget it after reading this :P Also, big thanks to those you followed, favorited and reviewed! This means a lot to me! Onto the chapter, now!


Soul in the Dream

CHAPTER 19

(Normal POV)

"Are you sure you want to do this...?", Tatsumi asked Hitomi, who put his Teigu on his forehead.

"Hey, don't worry, bud.", Hitomi smirked. "I don't feel weak at all, thanks to the wall."

"Heh, you're an interesting one, all right.", Daidara chuckled. "Let's see if you keep that persona while fighting!"

Without warning, the bigger man lunged at Hitomi, bringing his axe down. The teen smiled and sidestepped, easily dodging the attack. Daidara followed by turning on himself while swiping his weapon, horizontally, this time. Again, Hitomi easily dodged by crouching under the deadly blade.

"Please, you can hit faster than that, White-eyes.", Hitomi taunted before jumping back, avoiding another slash.

"Tsk, tricky one, aren't you...", Daidara growled. His opponent shrugged.

"What can I say? People love me like that."

"Haha, perfect, then!", the bigger man cheered with a smile. "I'll earn lots of experience after this fight!"

"We'll see about that, big guy!", Hitomi smirked. He raised his blade, getting ready to attack.

"I wonder...", Daidara started. He lowered his axe, confusing Hitomi. The older man then separated his axe into two smaller axes. "How will you avoid this!?", he yelled as he threw his weapons.

Raising an eyebrow, Hitomi sidestepped to dodge the blades. He was about to brag about it, but...

"Holy hell!", he yelped when he ducked just in time to avoid the axes. Unfortunately, one hit his shoulder. It was just a scratch, but enough to draw blood. "I see, so your Teigu can be thrown like that..." He dodged again by ducking. "... And it'll pursue me... Well fuck..."

As Hitomi continued to dodge the blades, Daidara let out a laugh. "Hahaha! You're exactly right! There's no way you can keep dodging forever!"

"Yeah, that's true but..." In a surprising burst of speed, Hitomi was right in front of Daidara, ready to slash his throat. "These blades are not as fast as Akame!"

With a surprised gasp, Daidara put his hand on his throat to cover it before jumping back. He winced at the pain but soon started to chuckle as he watched his bloodied hand. "Hehehe, you're certainly better than I expected..."

"Wow, I'm impressed, Hitomi!", Bulat's voice was heard. He was standing beside Tatsumi with a smile on his face. "I was about to intercept, but it seems you have this fight under control!"

"I feel accomplished." Hitomi did a thumb up.

"You're doing awfully well...", Daidara pondered, looking at Bulat. "Don't tell me you smacked yourself against the wall like this kid..."

"Wh-What..." Bulat turned to face Hitomi, who smiled sheepishly. "No... I didn't..."

"Oh, I see.", Daidara concluded. He noticed some blood on Bulat's leg. "You cut yourself with a blade instead."

"Hey, the headbutts still work! I was about to wreck you!"

Ignoring his blonde teammate, he introduced himself to his opponent. "I'm Night Raid's Bulat. You can call me Handsome."

"I am Esdeath-sama's servant. Daidara of the Three Beasts.", the axe-wielding man introduced himself.

"Tatsumi, Hitomi, watch how I fight. And memorise it." Bulat took a combat stance.

"Oh, you are SO not taking my kill!", Hitomi glared at Bulat, who put his Incursio armor on.

"Trust me, Hitomi.", the armored man reassured before lunging at Daidara. The axe-wielding warrior grinned as he saw Bulat approaching.

"This guy is worth a lot of experience!", he shouted before rushing at Bulat as well, expecting a good fight.

Suddenly, two other people jumped out from behind crates scattered around, all aiming at Bulat. It was a trap from the beginning.

"Bro...!", Tatsumi tried to warn him, but it was soon proven useless. Bulat, in a powerful movement, jumped high into the air, confusing his opponents.

"Eh?", Nyau let out before getting hit in the chest by a strong punch by Bulat, sending him flying away. But the Night Raid assassin wasn't finished. He quickly spun his body to be behind Liver and delivered a solid kick to his back, sending the older man crashing on the ship's wall. Bulat's next target was Daidara. He intended to bring his weapon down to split the Beast in two, but to his surprise, Daidara managed to dodge by jumping back.

(Hitomi's POV)

"Holy hell!", I exclaimed. "That was seriously awesome..."

"I knew you were strong...", Tatsumi spoke, impressed by Bulat's capabilities. "... but I didn't know you were this amazing, Bro!"

"Right?", the armored man laughed. "My nickname back when I was in the army was '100 man slayer Bulat'."

"But strictly speaking...", we heard a voice say. It was the oldest of the three. "You had actually killed 128 people.", he precised. "At the time, you were doing very well against the special forces." The old man seemed to analyse our comrade's armor. "That Teigu... that strength... So it is you, Bulat...!"

Tatsumi and Bulat seemed highly surprised that the man knew Bulat... Was I missing something here? Bulat's hand tightened around his spear.

"General... Liver..."

"I'm no longer a General...", the man replied. "After Esdeath-sama saved me, I became her servant."

"Classic backstory...", I muttered with a deadpan face. Liver glanced at me but brushed it off.

"If you were my ally...", Bulat started as his weapon twirled around his fingers. "we could have a drink to celebrate this reunion... But for appearing as an enemy... I must kill you! The mission must come first!" He took a fighting stance as he prepared himself to battle Liver.

"You took the words right out of my mouth. I absolutely must complete my mission." The old man removed the glove he had on his right hand, revealing a ring shaped like a dragon head. "And I will, using this Teigu I received from my master."

As he showed the ring, pillars of water rose from surrounding barrels, pretty much giving away its ability.

"Water control...", I mumbled. "In a place surrounded by water like this, we're actually at a disadvantage..."

"Yes!", Liver shouted. "And this will be your downfall! Water Cannons!" As the older man said the name of his attack, the water raising from the pillars changed directions and headed straight for Bulat.

"Don't get ahead of yourself!" As the armored assassin said those words, he brought his spear in front of him and twirled it between his hands, deflecting the water that came his way.

I noticed some movement coming from beside me and saw Daidara was running towards Bulat, hoping to disrupt him. "Oh, hell no!", I shouted as I rushed in the Beast's direction. He noticed me and blocked my strike with his axe.

"Oh, I forgot about you...", he growled. "No matter. I'll just have to cut you down before continuing!"

I raised my blade in a defensive manner. "Yeah, good luck with that, big boy. You won't be getting rid of me that easily."

"Tch, we'll see about that!" Daidara raised his weapon and attempted to crush me with its weight and power. However, I easily dodged it by rolling to the side. From my crouched position, I then rushed towards him and swung my sword. From reading his mind, I saw that I was faster than he anticipated. He still managed to get away without much damage, my weapon only having scratched his shoulder. Daidara then separated his Teigu in two, throwing each parts at me. As I dodged the blades, I read his mind once more with Spectator. 'Belvaac'll be the distraction while I rush him with my hands.' I chuckled a bit.

"I so love Spectator..." Surprising Daidara, I ran towards him while he was unarmed. What he didn't know was that I could 'see' his Teigu's location from looking at his face. He was bound to have small thoughts regarding his weapon's location, so I would be able to dodge without real problems. He reached out his fist to punch me, but I rolled to the left, ending up behind him. I closed the distance between us, attempting to slash him, but the man actually managed to surprise me...

"Heh, nice try, assassin!", he growled. I didn't have time to react as he hit me full-force with the back of his fist right on my stomach.

"Gahh..!", I let out as I hit the wooden deck. His strike wasn't enough to draw blood or anything, but it still hurt...

The bigger man was approaching me with a victorious smile. "I think I get your little strategy here.", he said. "You can see my moves with that eye from looking at my face, correct?" He was pointing at my Teigu as he said those words. The point he was trying to make clicked in my head...

"I wasn't looking at your face when you struck me...", I said, shaking off the pain. 'I did have Insight activated when I attacked his back... Next time, I should switch to Future Sight...'

"That's right.", he nodded. "You have been a tough foe, worth a lot of experience, but I'm afraid it's time to kill you now!" He took Belvaac's pieces and raised them to finish me off, but droplets of water interrupted him. "Huh?" We both looked to the side and saw Liver on a huge water serpent, glaring down at Bulat.

"H-Holy hell...", I muttered. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I could clearly see what happened... Liver brought his hand down, causing the serpent to rush head-first towards Bulat. 'Wait...', I thought. 'That think'll probably destroy the ship if it connects!'. I wasn't exactly sure what to think, but these thoughts were quickly washed away as Bulat jumped in the air, slicing the serpent in two with his spear. I was about to sigh in relief but I gasped in surprise instead as multiple water serpents emerged from the water, continually hitting Bulat. I think I even saw some pieces of Incursio fall off...

My senses suddenly yelled at me to get away. Following them, I barely dodged a strike from Belvaac, which shattered the wood I was on a few seconds ago. "Oh, right... you.", I muttered as I shook my head. "Alright big boy, sorry about that distraction just now. I was, well, distracted."

He replied to me by swinging his Teigu, hoping to cut my head off. Of course, using Spectator, I dodged easily by ducking. "Grr... You're starting to annoy me, boy...", Daidara growled. "Stop moving!"

"Yeah, nah.", I shrugged. "I mean, I'll die in one hit if you hit me with that." The bigger man separated his Teigu in two parts once more.

"That's the idea!", he shouted as he threw the pieces. However, instead of coming right at me, Belvaac's pieces flew to the sides, probably hoping for a kind of pincer attack with their return trip... "You're mine, now!" This time, he didn't wait for me to make a move. He started running towards me, fists raised. Slightly panicking, I stepped back to avoid him.

He gave me a smirk. "Heh, gotcha." That's when I realised: I couldn't dodge his attack... Daidara was in front of me and two different blind spots were targeted by his Teigu... Even with Spectator's mind reading, there was no way I could dodge everything!

"Shit...", I muttered. 'Wait, there's still a way to survive! How about this...?' Concentrating on my Teigu, I switched from Insight to Future Sight, helping me analyse movements. Taking a chance, I turned around quickly to see the projectiles' positions and speed. I tilted my body, hoping to at least minimise the damage I would take from the axes. I hissed in pain as I felt the blades cut their way through my arms, leaving somewhat deep cuts.

"Oh, you actually survived. I'm impressed.", Daidara praised as he caught the pieces to make the axe whole again.

"I really hope this doesn't scar...", I whined as I looked at my arms. "One's enough..."

"Your scars don't matter when you're dead, boy!", the big man shouted again before rushing me. Using Future Sight, I dodged his strikes and jumped back. I needed a new strategy.

'Oh, yeah... I can do that...' I contemplated my choices and decided on one.

(Normal POV)

"H-Hey, where are you going!?", Daidara yelled as Hitomi ran and hid inside the ship. Growling, he followed the assassin inside. He searched around for his opponent, but couldn't find him. 'This is frustrating...', he thought. 'Where the hell did he hide!?' A small noise to his right made him alert. "There you are!" He raised his axe and was about to attack the person, but who he saw clearly wasn't his enemy. "E-Esdeath-sama!?"

"You are disappointing me, Daidara."


There you go, everyone! This is honestly the first I've written a completely 'original' fight so I want feedback on this. Was it good? Too much slow-paced? Not enough action? Please tell me! Oh, and also, I guess it's pretty easy for you guys to guess what exactly happened at the end ^^'