XX. Dancing
The world around them had transformed. It was no longer the world of Outo, where the people were simple and no one had any concrete or plausible to worry about other than getting through demons like sliced paper. No, they were now in the world of Edonis – the real world.
In a matter of seconds, Seishiro, the Interloper, had shattered their version of reality.
He was now at the top of one of his creations, a tall demon, looking down at the decaying ruins of Fairy Park, at the unlikely group of perplexed players below. One person in particular, the one named Kurogane, sparked his interest.
He could see the glow of Kurogane's eyes even from a distance; it was a fiery blaze, the perusal of one who delighted in the prospect of battle.
"Just stay here…I've got a score to settle with this guy." Throwing the white creature over his shoulder to the one named Souma, the warrior starts off, but the others start to protest as he leaves.
"Kuro-puu, what are you doing?"
"You can't fight here."
"Yeah, you're not the game anymore!"
"This is reality – there is no restarting here!"
"If you fight, you could actually die. Don't be a fool!"
The warrior stops in his tracks. Without looking back, he states, "What's the point of fighting if nothing's at stake? You guys go. I've got a promise to keep."
To himself he adds, "I promised the kid that he could fight him alone. But Syaoran is gone now. It's my turn to draw."
He didn't seem at all perturbed by the huge beast in front of him, nor did he of Seishiro. But that was about to change.
"Are you the one who had those demons attack the Cat's Eye?" Kurogane stated more than asked.
Seishiro replied calmly with "I am."
"What'd you do with the kid?"
"I'm afraid he's dead."
Pause.
The last word reverberated between them as soon as the cloaked man let it escape his lips.
Seishiro could not see an inch of movement on the warrior's face. No widening of the eyes. No collapse into tears. No weakness in the gait. No twitching.
Nothing.
He was a blank slate.
His eyes retained their hardness, maybe growing even more so.
It was abundantly clear…he was used to death.
Just as Seishiro was.
"Too bad." His voice was as hard as steel. Kurogane unsheathed his sword, and held it close to him. "'Cause now …it's your turn."
Kurogane sprung from the siding and sliced the air as Seishiro, apt as ever, flipped over, dodging the warrior's strike, plummeting down towards the broken roof of a former establishment, and landing at the same time as the other fighter.
"Quick with the sword, hunter. But you still missed me." Seishiro says as within a millisecond, in an ironic twist of fate, his tan robe slips off of his shoulders and splits into two, falling to his feet.
Kurogane looked up. "Looks like I didn't miss you completely, does it?"
Not even remotely fazed, Seishiro takes his glasses from his left breast pocket and puts them on. "Well this could be fun. It's been a long time since I've had a good fight." He put his right arm out and let the energies within him materialize into a sword.
In the distance, Seishiro could hear the disturbance of rubble as his demon struck the ground, leaving the group to flee in its wake.
With that, the two began to fight, one sword clashing against the other, again and again and again. Kurogane swoops in from the side, barely missing Seishiro as the bespectacled man flips in the air once again, as easily as if he had been using the molecules in it for support. The warrior swipes the ground below Seishiro's feet, again barely missing him, as Seishiro flips once more and lands, the warrior and he striking lances. They struggled against the efforts of the other, though their faces would say otherwise.
"Syaoran was carrying a sword when he died. I assume you were teaching him how to use it." Seishiro said, hoping to get a rise out of the fellow fighter.
"I showed him some things." Kurogane replied, his voice firm but showing pride in his pupil.
Seishiro blinked, and his eyes narrowed, a smile at his lips. A slithery demon took form from his sword, separating itself and aiming for the other warrior, who easily struck it down. Seishiro took control once again; his sword struck against Kurogane's a few more times, their forms strong and fluid in movement, until he then took a hold of Kurogane's hilt, grasping it firmly between his nimble fingers, feeling the etching in the hilt as his synapses reminded him of another familiar action. He could see the mix of surprise and annoyance in Kurogane's eyes from what he was doing.
"He was strong, and a lot quicker than before. You must have been quite a teacher."
Kurogane answered back, "He's a fast learner; you should remember that. You taught him how to fight – heck, you move just like the kid."
A flare of recognition and spite set itself in the pit of Seishiro's stomach. In an uncharacteristically childish move, he shifted his left foot somewhat, aiming to make the warrior lose his balance, but the other knew better as Kurogane repositioned his footing, aiming to strike his lance against Seishiro's head. Abandoning his sword for a quick moment, Seishiro gathered his energies and used them to push Kurogane back. Now Kurogane was befuddled and uncoordinated. In a spite second, Kurogane stood back up, his form at the ready for another go.
Seishiro towered over him from the ledge. Kurogane didn't defer. The tendril of Seishiro's sword tingled and writhed within his hand, aiming for the soldier before him, and his palms starting to sweat. It didn't matter though – this was something that needed to get done.
It was like a dance – one in which where the dancers constantly trying to outdo one another, showing their areas of expertise, their strengths, but inadvertently showing their weaknesses at the same time.
Kurogane spoke first. "There wasn't person left in my home world that was worth fighting. You're actually a decent opponent. Beating you should be the best challenge I've had in years."
Seishiro's left eye twitches. He had heard accolades about his fighting skills many times before. It got tiring after a while hearing how good he was from mediocre opponents, but this time, when Kurogane said this, he could feel a swelling feeling in his chest.
To further this, he replied, "Too bad about that curse you're under. That rather complicates things, doesn't it? You really want to do this?" He hears a breath from the fellow warrior. He continues, "Everytime you defeat someone you lose some of your own strength. A high price to pay, isn't it?"
Kurogane took his sword and held it in the typical fighting style a seasoned warrior would, tight in his grasp. "You already killed the wizard and the kid. Curse or no, I'm going to fight until one of us in the ground."
With that, Seishiro had his sword at the ready within seconds. "All right - Then let's get to it, I have more important things to do."
At once, in one seamless motion, the two warriors, who had both experienced the hunting and being hunted, rose into the air, their lances ready to strike the killing blow.
Suddenly, a burst of light appeared between them, blinding the two and settling them back to the ground, staring at the apparatus as the light disappeared and a stick with a note could be seen.
Kurogane picked it up, one of his eyebrows cocked confusingly. "What is this?" His tone was deemed incredulous. He looked over and saw the magician, the girl responsible for programming the game, the princess, the white creature that had been the source of the light, and Syaoran.
"Yoo-hoo! Kuro-puu! Hey!" Fai waved nonchalantly, welcoming the soldier.
Said soldier's eyes bugged open at the sight. "What the f-!" His face morphed into a look of irritation. "Someone better explain this."
His eyes hovered over the warrior, then to the group of the newly revived, and then to Syaoran. A grin tugged at Seishiro's lips. It was amusing to him just how Kurogane could easily lose his composure over his friends. It was amusing how anyone could really.
"Glad to see that you and the magician made it here safely. Memory back?"
Kurogane turned to Seishiro, no doubt confusion wrapping his brain. "You knew they were alive?"
"Outo wasn't real, Kurogane. It was just a dream." Syaoran stated.
The warrior grew more irritated and perplexed with every moment. "People keep saying that."
Seishiro's lance disappeared into thin air. "Too bad – looks like our fight's over, swordsman."
Kurogane defiantly kept his sword raised. "Oh we aren't done. We're finishing this."
"It was done when your friends arrived. With them alive, your thirst for my blood is gone."
Kurogane stayed silent, again with an eyebrow cocked upwards.
Seishiro straightened his posture, his eyes decisive. He knew what he must do.
"I came here to do one thing, and now I can."
For Seishiro, the supposed Interloper, the dancing of fates and the fanaticism behind it was easy to decipher. Controlling fate was a very different matter.
