They kept going at it, smashing their swords into each other with all their force. "I won't lose all that easily!" Kesenai yelled as he sliced upward.
Utagai blocked by slicing downward, "Sorry, I won't lose that easily against you as well…" They both then kept slashing at each other, trying to kill each other by the every slash, hack, and failed attempts of stabbing.
Allen was watching the whole fight "Amazing…" he thought.
Kesenai jumped back, "I know this isn't your full power, start using it or I kill you." he growled.
Utagai smirked "How did you know about that?" as more dense energy flowed around his sword.
"I can tell if an opponent is holding back because I myself am doing the same." he answered. Kesenai then swung his sword in the general direction of Utagai, sending an x-shaped wave of energy at Utagai. Utagai then jumped high in the air, dodging the attack, then spinning in mid air. Kesenai jumped at Utagai, ready to stab him. The stab had missed by about a centimeter since he was spinning a lot, so Utagai stabbed Kesenai on his right arm, but that failed since his arm was more dense than a sword, so the sword just shattered at the attempt. Quickly, Kesenai's right hand's index finger turned into a claw and he stabbed Utagai with the claw. Utagai took the hit, but then just faded away with the wind. Kesenai thought "What the hell?!" and felt as if he was being sliced from his back, stomach and on his left arm. Then, as if he had really been sliced, blood came out of those specific areas. "Gah!" he grunted and hit the ground harshly, wondering what happened. Utagai reformed in front of him.
"Enjoyed my Wind Scythe?" he smirked.
"Heh, that made me lose a hell of a lot of blood…" Kesenai laughed as he began to stand up.
"How the hell are you getting back up with all those wounds?"
"It's because… I refuse to fall… I refuse to die… In this damned world…"
"Then I'll continue killing you until you finally do f--" he was cut off by Kesenai appearing behind him, his sword to his throat.
"Too slow!" he slit his throat deeply.
"Not just yet…" Utagai got back up.
"Damn you and your fast healing!" Kesenai growled and stabbed him more and more with his sword, all the futile attacks just resulted in just his body healing the older ones. Kesenai growled and jumped back, trying to study the effects of Utagai's powers. "Hmm… He seems to heal quicker with just my sword attacks… So maybe…" he thought, coming up with a new idea. Kesenai sheathed his sword as his fingers on his right arm turned into claws. "If this works, then maybe I might have the upper hand…" he thought taking battle stance.
"What the hell? I doubt that you could win with just claws…" Utagai said.
"Don't worry about it." he replied, charging at the opponent. Utagai sighed and made the movement to slash Kesenai in a sideways movement. Kesenai jumped to dodge and then landed on the blade, bringing the sword down to the ground. Quickly, he stabbed Utagai with his claws, charging Innocence energy into the claws. He then jumped back to watch his experiment. The wounds from the Innocence claw stab were not even healing that fast. "So you can't heal so well from an attack made by Innocence…" Kesenai smirked.
"Seems like you figured it out…" Utagai smirked, coughing a bit of blood.
"Looks like I win. I can finish you off now that I know your weakness." he began running at Utagai. Utagai faded away with the wind, smirking. Kesenai's body began getting sliced at from even more places.
"You're going to die…" Utagai's voice echoed.
Kesenai sighed and called out his Level Two "Arm of the Sinner…" All of the circles that were originally etched onto his arm were fully erased, then new ones etched themselves onto his arm. A dark green glow formed from a different circle. He then placed his right hand on his body, his wounds beginning to heal on their own at a faster rate than the usual human rate. "Now then…" he raised his right hand up as if he were a student going to ask their teacher a question. A navy blue and crimson red glow began to form, the air pressure becoming more and more dense.
"Ugh!" Utagai grunted, now in pain.
"So when the air becomes filled with pressure… You become in pain…" Kesenai whispered.
"Yes… How'd you know?" he growled.
"I knew because anything that becomes a part of the air molecules, or takes to the sky has to be affected by changes in air pressure…" Kesenai explained scientifically.
"Damn you…" Utagai began to rematerialize that way he wouldn't be in pain from the pressurized air.
"Now then… Be prepared to die…" Kesenai got up, the dark purple and red glow beginning to show up (Like in chapter 18 or 19, Arm of the Sinner.)
"Sorry, I have other matters to take care of… So…" Utagai turned away and faded away with the wind breeze. Kesenai's right arm turned back to normal and he wrapped the bandages around his arm again.
"I feel like I'm in pain… It hurts… A lot… Even worse than usual… What's going on here..? Is this the effects of healing myself..?" he thought as he began to fall face forward. Allen ran to Kesenai and caught him.
"Are you alright?"
"A bit… To some extent…"
"I think you need the hospital again."
"No. Lets just keep moving… We need to find that Innocence before that Noah does… Remember the mission… Forget the people on the mission. Whatever happens to me, has already happened…"
"I don't work that way."
"Too bad…" Kesenai growled. Then, he suddenly fell unconscious.
--
Utagai had reappeared next to the Earl "Earl, sir…" he said.
"What is it?" the Earl asked.
"Who is that child? Kesenai. He seems to have figured out my weakness faster than anyone else ever did…"
"He's a smart child, but I didn't think he'd actually use his smarts against us. Seems he's done plenty of research on the Noah clan… And Road seems to have a very high particular interest in the child…" he chuckled.
"I see. Do you want me to go get Road?" Utagai asked.
"No. No need for that. She went to their side on her own free will, we'll take her back onto our side when the time comes…" the Earl chuckled again.
"So what should I do?" Utagai asked.
"Stay on guard and keep watch on Allen and Kesenai. I get the feeling they'll meddle deeper into the affairs of the Noah clan if we continue to let them wander around, unsupervised by a Noah." he answered.
"Yes sir." Utagai disappeared, leaving to do what he was assigned to do.
The Earl chuckled "Don't worry Kesenai… Your troubles will be over… And so will yours… Allen Walker…"
--
James, Amber, and Marco were now in Springfield, Ohio. They were looking for someone that apparently seemed to have killed 34 men in just about 3 days. The reporters even had a good description of what he looked like. All dressed in black, red hair, crystal blue eye pupils, 7 pitch black crosses across his forehead, and gray skin. This was definitely another Noah that they were going to deal with here in Springfield, Ohio. Sadly, it would be hard to find someone like that since everyone seemed to be in hiding, barely anyone walking the streets. "Where could that Noah be?" James asked himself.
"Why not we split up? It would make it easier since this is such a large place." Amber suggested.
"Sure, just try not getting lost." James replied, heading in a separate direction. Marco went south, while Amber went to cover the eastern side. If they found nothing, then they would meet back where they had split up.
About an hour had passed…
"I found nothing." James sweat dropped.
"Same here…" Amber sweat dropped as well.
"Yeah…" Marco sweat dropped as well. They all hung their heads in shame.
"This seems too futile… We might never find that Noah…" James stated.
"We can't just give up! Not yet!" Amber said.
"Do you even know how big this place is?" James twitched.
"Yes, but we should continue this split up, it might work at some point." Amber explained.
"I agree…" Marco said.
James growled "Fine. But we meet back here again if we see anything at all. If nothing, then keep your damn searching going." The three of them split up again, still looking for the Noah… Little did they know, the Noah they were looking for was one of themselves…
--
Disclaimer: … Do I have to say it again? I do not own D.Gray-Man and I probably never will.
Author's note: … I think I have nothing for this note… And that's a lot to say coming from someone who does this almost every chapter.
