Hello, everyone. Hopefully you all made it through July safely, it was a hell of a hot month. After the rotating focus of last chapter, this one's going to be more focused in following the perspective of our leads. Fair warning this chapter is going to get a little brutal in certain scenes. Now, without anymore waiting, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!
I do not own anything.
Lesson16-Lessons in the Arena Pt.1
There had been times as a teacher when Ririko couldn't wait to go on her summer vacation. While she loved teaching, she also loved her own private time. Rarely though, there were times when she needed to just take some time off from work. This summer school session had proved to be one of those times where she was left in need of a vacation. She would even say dire need of one. This had been without a doubt the most…extreme session of summer school she'd ever experienced. It was a start to summer that she would never forget for her entire life.
Temporarily stopping her packing, she walked over to her desk and leaned back in her seat. She'd done it half a dozen times over the past two weeks. Roughly two weeks, that's all it'd been. In that time, the school had been turned upside down, all thanks to a drug epidemic the likes of which the academy had never seen before. At the heart of it lay two criminal students, both scions of two of Japan's oldest and most dangerous clans. Also at the heart of it had been her first human pupil. Her first human student…and her favorite.
Just thinking about Tsukune made Ririko's heart beat several ticks faster, something she was keenly aware of, and dismayed by. She'd gone from seeing him as just another one of her students to now being one of her favorite students, on top of someone she just thought of as…as…
"Reliable." Ririko whispered to herself. It was a one-word mantra that she'd settled on. It was simple and a totally normal way for a teacher to see a student. Especially at this school where danger lurked around every corner. Tsukune had been more acutely aware of that as a human being. She fully suspected that danger had been a subconscious block to his studies. A part was always worried, always scared of being outed as a human being. If he was, it would be his death. Alternatively, keeping the secret had been nerve-wrecking for him, she'd seen it in their private study sessions. It wasn't surprising, a rabbit couldn't relax while it was in a forest filled with predators able and more than willing to sink their death into it. Unlike his predecessors though, Tsukune had found protectors. No, more importantly, he'd found friends who were willing to watch his back even with knowing his secret. That group included her, and the thought made Ririko's heart once again flutter in ways she tried to deny.
Her face became a fusion of nostalgic joy and sorrow. They'd taken such a strange journey, which began with her forcefully attempting to tutor him. Had she not done so, she never would have been called to the Headmaster's office and thus figured out his secret. Had she not done that, had she not been there with Saizō came after him…
Sitting up, Ririko defiantly shook her head. She didn't even want to entertain the possibility of something horrible happening to Tsukune, especially at the deprived hands of Saizō.
Looking back, she found it odd how she'd played an unwitting and even unwanted role in bringing their feud to a violent conclusion. She planned on dealing with Saizō herself, but in the end, it ultimately fell to Tsukune. A humorous chuckle fell from her lips remembering how she'd originally saved him from the orc's wrath when his female friends left for break. That'd been the other catalyst for all of this, for Tsukune's involvement with the Stix debacle. Without the rest of his female friends…he was exposed, on his own. Or he had been for a little while. Like a magnet, he attracted new guardians, except she felt like these new allies stood on equal footing with him. Most importantly, Ririko saw that Tsukune was no longer content to have others protect him. He wanted to be the one doing the protecting, and he had. Thinking about it made her heart race and her cheeks turn a slight pink hue.
It wasn't like she felt like she needed to be protected, at least not all the time. It's just she…she liked a man who knew what was important to him and safeguarded it. She'd watched Tsukune learn how to do the latter, and do so with valiant effort. Speaking of valiance, he had that in abundance, he had more of it than a quarter or even half of the male population of the academy put together. Ririko's eyes shimmered as she remembered the righteous anger that had coursed through him when he'd gave voice to the numerous flaws in the academy. He'd even gone as far as lay his hands on the Headmaster in anger at her injuries. No one had ever done that for her, no one would ever even think of doing such a thing. How ironic that the first person to do so was a human, and he did so for her.
Self-awareness suddenly nipped at her, like a claw grown angry at being ignored. "No, no, no, no! Enough of this! He's your student, he's your damn student, Ririko! You've already turned him away! Sent him on his way! Sent him back into the arms of girls he should be with!" It was a like a fire fighting a wind storm. Each word only gave the latter strength so by the end, her resolve was no more than a fluttering candle light. Storm clouds moved in and with them came a depressing downpour. Even worse, the storm clouds had names and faces. "Urgh, one of them is who he belongs with. Not me, a woman ten years his senior. E-E-Especially not while we're…teacher and student." She honestly didn't want to think of it as just a fetish; on a subconscious level Ririko knew it was more than that. She knew it yet trembled in fear at the truth. The truth had partially revealed itself when Kotsubo took her and several other women captive, and Tsukune had came to their rescue.
Groaning, she found herself thinking about that little adventure. It was only three days old at the most, but it'd shaken her to her core. Not because of Kotsubo's final descent into depravity and subsequent death, those she'd made peace with quite easily. No, what set her heart into a blazing flutter and left her emotionally distraught was Tsukune. Throughout her entire speech, his face had been what she thought of when she spoke of what she wanted in a man. She didn't just see him as a student or a kid, she…he was…
"Fuck, I…I need a drink." One of the few perks allotted to being an adult in frustration was drinking. This time, she'd relish in drinking alone. She knew company was the last thing she needed. Ririko needed to be alone with her thoughts, and she would need the alcohol to wash them down.
It was tempting to go get a drink now. Usually, she had a rule passed onto her from her grandmother, no drinking before nine p.m. It was still late-morning, Ririko knew she had a few hours to go. Maybe this time she could make an exception. Not to mention she could use it to drown out the sorrow of her ignoring Tsukune for the past few days.
All the joy and confusion she'd been wrestling with twisted into self-hatred. Despite it being a choice she made believing it was best for the both of them, it still hurt. A lot. As loath as she was to admit it, she finally knew what some of the characters in her shoujo stories felt like when they made such decisions. Of course, those were fictional stories where they reneged on their choice and it turned out to be for the best. This was real life though, so…she should have stayed the course, right? There was absolutely no way that they could be together, right?
Actually, began a cautiously optimistic voice within her. That voice was also most likely the romantic in her, having been given a serious boost thanks to these forbidden but undying emotions. You two can. If not now…how about when he graduates? You already broached the possibility when you spied on him and Nikhil training. Tehehe, matter of fact, waiting until he's graduated may just be like picking ripened fruit.
That voice sounded extremely like her feline coworker and best friend. Shizuka had already left for vacation, a blessing that Ririko was quite grateful for. The last thing she needed was her two cents on this, she'd already gotten enough of that.
Speaking of enough, she knew she'd crossed a line when she used those damn binoculars to spy on Tsukune and Nikhil's training. It was a violation of privacy! It was…it was…Ririko bit her red lip in flustered irritation as she thought of what she saw through those high-tech specs. As much as she wanted to blame Horiguchi, she knew the blame lay with her. After all, she was the one who'd given into temptation. She was fighting temptation now.
Groaning, she sat up. "Oh yeah, I'm definitely going for a-"
The breeze that rushed through the hallway was heard long before it reached her door, which swiftly swung open. Already, she knew Maki had come by, and based on how he'd arrived, it was an urgent matter. That was cemented seeing the dead serious look on his shades-covered face.
"Ririko," he called. "I need you to come with me to the Headmaster's office. Something's happened." His usual jovial voice was likewise gone, replaced by the gray bleakness that preceded a storm.
She was up and on her feet in the next breath. He turned around and began to walk, her keeping pace with him. "What happened?" She immediately questioned. At first, he didn't respond, which fed the growing knot in her stomach. Possibilities ran wild at what this could be about. They utterly buried the temptation she felt to pour herself a drink; that was going to have to wait until this was over with. Whatever this was.
As they came upon the oh-so-familiar door, one possibility began to rise above all others. It chilled her racing blood and made her once frantic heart slow to a near crawl. Ririko felt every haunting echo as she pushed the door open and stepped inside. Her gaze immediately fell on her superior. Like Maki, gone was his constant, and at times disturbing cheery good mood. His ghostly eyes stared back at her with a mixture of seriousness and sorrow; it was in the latter that she found her answer.
"Where's Tsukune?" She asked storming up to the front desk. Her focus was on him and no one else in the room, all of whom kept their distance. They felt the storm about to break loose.
Looking her straight in the eye, the Kishin spoke with a voice tight with sorrow. "Ririko…half an hour ago, the bus carrying Tsukune back to the human world was attacked. He was kidnapped."
She remembered hearing stories of the Olympian gods, the rulers of her ancestorial homeland in Greek. None were more feared than the king of the gods, Zeus himself. There were little things in the cosmos his lightning bolts couldn't annihilate. Stories went that before oblivion took the unfortunate recipient of his wrath, they suffered. The divine lightning tore through every fiber of their body breaking it apart in the most painful way possible before there was nothing left. It all supposedly happened faster than a single second, yet it felt like an eternity of agony.
Ririko felt like she'd been hit by one of those lightning bolts as her brain processed the news.
Tsukune had been kidnapped.
Tsukune had been stolen away from his rightful return home.
Tsukune was…Tsukune was…
Her Tsukune was missing.
THUMP!
Everyone save for the Headmaster jumped as she slammed her hands against the table, rattling the hard wooden structure.
"Where is he?! Who took him?! Who?!" Ririko's voice was like a thunderclap, shaking the decent-sized office. Though not everyone jumped, they did tense up even more. They watched hypnotized as they watched one of their own grill their leader. Only a very select handful had done such a thing. Even fewer had been able to do so with the Headmaster wearing such a resigned expression. He was accepting of every bit of the math teacher's outburst; his shame and guilt were enough to get him to remain still and take it. On some level, the monstrous teachers realized that he felt he deserved it.
They were all certain that his parents would agree with him, and likely be putting the lot of them to the fire as well.
All that said, everyone recognized the fury Ririko was extolling over the missing human wasn't rooted in some parental feelings. Not with the way tears were willing up in her eyes, sorrow mixing with anger.
"Ririko, Ririko," called Hinoi stepped forward, the oni placing a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder. "Ririko, Ririko, we're looking! Believe me, we're doing everything we can to find him!"
Amazingly, her words got through, though the fire that burned in her wasn't quenched. It continued to burn at her as she withdrew her hands from the table. They tightened into fists so thick that the lamia's knuckles began to turn white, a rarity for her. She looked away from the Headmaster, she looked away from everyone. Ririko simply stared down at the floor, tears slipping from her eyes as her entire body trembled with a mixture of rage and heartache.
"We…found this at the bus. According to Ide, he surrendered himself to the enemy in order to save her." It took several seconds to compose herself and find the strength to look up. When she did, Ririko found herself regretting it.
Her jaw fell open at the sight of the blessed silver knife that Tsukune had been given and kept on his person at all times. It'd been his means of salvation and survival against the onslaught of danger that had visited him and the rest of the school. It was the weapon he'd used to fend off Saizō and his thugs to save her. It'd been the weapon he'd used to cut and slash his way through Kotsubo's tentacles and eventually used to kill him once and for all. Fittingly, it'd fulfilled its purpose in slaying monsters, yet ironically, it'd been used in the defense of monsters. The weapon had become a thing of contradiction, much like its wielder. With trembling hands, Ririko reached out for it.
The hilt felt cold, much to Ririko's chagrin. It should have been warm, residual warmth from the grip of its owner; Tsukune had an iron grip on it save for that one time she'd seen him throw it. The shot was nothing short of impressive, the archery club would have questioned if he could replicate such a feat with a bow and arrow. His knife wielding was so superb that the kendo club might have also wondered if he were to be given a bokken, what could he do with it. Both possibilities were rooted in this holy weapon that one of the school's most shadowy students had given to him for whatever reason. Regardless, Tsukune had used it well, he'd used it to save his own life and many others, including hers. It belonged with him, not in her hands, not knowing where he was.
Slowly, her grip on the weapon tightened. Her heart that once pulsated with despair was replaced by something else, something new. This feeling welled up inside of her then burst into the air like a geyser. Her coworkers sensed the transformation, especially Hinoi and the Headmaster. The latter's forlorn expression subtly transformed into one of stoic determination.
Ririko's determination wasn't stoic. It was concentrated fire, boiling hot in her blood and waiting for a target to be directed at. "What are our leads?" She simply asked. This time she was ready to listen to a response, though the eagerness for an answer remained. It might have even been stronger now than it had been seconds ago. Tsukune, wherever you are, I will find you, I swear it.
How…do I…still have all my teeth? He could feel he still had most of his teeth via running his tongue along them. Even that took some effort on his part though. His entire face hurt, and unless he did something it was going to hurt even more. Not to mention he really was going to lose all of his teeth.
His opponent's fist came flying at his face again. This guy was going for victory by a knockout, and so far, he'd been edging closer and closer to that. He threw some fast and powerful punches; many of them had connected and left his head ringing. That said, not all of them had, and he was getting used to his speed. Yes, the more the fight went on, the more accustomed to his speed he became. Tsukune could feel it, he could do this.
So he did.
As the next series of punches came he dodged them. His heart pounded, his head rung like a bell, and his jaw continued to hurt, but he could see where the punches were coming from. Moving out of the way, he noticed the slight irritation on his opponent's face. In response to his dodges, he swung at him with his legs, a little changeup that he might have faltered at, but he didn't falter. He raised his right arm up, blocking the side kick. That block turned into a grapple that had him forcing his opponent onto the floor. What came next was natural.
CRA-ACK!
After his leg brought, Tsukune lifted his fist then swiftly brought it down atop the back of his head. His face connected with the floor immediately. If not for the light groan, Tsukune would have guessed he was dead.
Someone grabbed his hand and hoisted him to his feet. Their voice proclaimed him the winner and the crowd cheered. He couldn't see either of them, his vision was a blur now that the fight had ended. It was like without it, everything in his mind became scattered, and he was sure it wasn't because of the pain.
There were lights above him and a sea of noise around him. People were chanting his name, except…they weren't.
"Aoiyajū! Aoiyajū! Aoiyajū! Aoiyajū!"
That was him, right? That was…Tsukune Aono?
Aono…Courtesy of his last name, people tended to wonder how good he looked in blue. He didn't have blue eyes, but apparently his ancestors did. That's where their surname came from. Tsukune remembered he didn't wear blue that often, but he did have a slight fondness for the color. Was that why they were calling him that?
No, none of these people knew who he was, and he didn't know any of them.
Who were they? Where was he?
A gong sounded, and with it his mind fell back into focus. His vision cleared as he looked straight ahead at his next opponent. Excitement and relief raced through his veins as he surveyed them. Another man, shirtless just like the last one, and like Tsukune believed himself to be. He felt a slight breeze tickling his nipples. A moment later and he felt heat, raw, smoldering heat that carried with it a whiff of dangers. It was enough to get his body to move, and just in time. His opponent was fighting with claws. Tsukune saw the elongated nails slicing through air, then coming for him.
Each cut could have torn his skin up and sprayed the arena floor with his blood. That's definitely what his opponent was aiming for. Tsukune looked into his eyes and saw the near feral bloodlust he possessed-the desire to spill his blood.
A similar feeling rose within him, leading him to raising his arms up in a guarding position. His opponent's claws came down on his skin, but he didn't feel the pain that he should have, only a light scrapping against his flesh. He felt his arms throb, his muscles tighten, then explode with power. His opponent was forced to step back in shock from the burst of power that Tsukune had expelled-he seized on the opportunity in going on the attack himself.
It felt normal swinging his fists forward. A barrage of dozens-hundreds-of punches thrown at his opponent in less than a second. One jab to the gut seemingly ended it, but he felt his opponent wrapping his hands around his right arm. Blood splattered on it as his foe raised his head and looked at him. In his red eyes Tsukune saw rage and determination. While he didn't know about the former, he knew he had the latter; it guided him in his next attack.
A left hook stunned him long enough for Tsukune to free his right arm. It was reared back, then launched forward in an uppercut that sent his opponent skyward. The awe-struck gasping of the crowd was a faint murmur in his ears. He focused on watching his opponent's body come down, and down it came. Again, he heard the faint sound of breathing signaling his continued life. Though he was alive, the fight was over. The announcer declared it, raising his arm up again. How many victories did this one make? Tsukune wasn't too sure, but he did know that he'd managed to stay alive up to this point. That must have meant that he'd been winning, even if he'd taken some blows along the way. The ringing in his head was gone and the dull aches across his body were all receding. Just in time for his next match.
He sensed his power as he entered the ring. Six foot-three, all of it scarred muscle. Worn bandages wrapped his hands, which were raised in a fighting position before the bell even sounded. Looking into his dark red eyes, Tsukune saw a man brimming with fighting instinct, just like him. As the gong sounded, it was unleashed.
WHOMP!
Tsukune tasted blood in his mouth while his right abdomen exploded in pain. His opponent was on him, having closed the distance between them in less than the blink of an eye. First, he'd struck with his left fist, and his right was coming at his face. He stepped out of the way, but his enemy was on him again, throwing a new salvo of punches. They were coming in too fast for him to dodge them all, so he brought his arms up in a guarding position-each blow felt like a hit from an aluminum baseball bat. Then came the battering ram. Pain exploded through his arms causing his knees to buckle if only for a second, but it was enough for his opponent. His leg struck out, hitting his left side. Tsukune gasped feeling the blood seeping through his gums; things only got worse as more punches followed. He as on the receiving end of a barrage that was going to put him down if he didn't do something.
The lights he'd knocked his previous opponent toward were suddenly so close, practically within arm's reach. And then they weren't.
Pain exploded through his backside. He only had seconds to realized he'd been thrown up then slammed back down, then he felt something hard slamming into his chest. Tsukune screamed feeling the incredible pressure on his chest, enough that he could barely breath. Then, that pressure was lifted only to come down again, and again, and again.
His own screaming filled his ears. It was preferable to the crowd, whom he imagined were wondering if his winning streak was at an end. It certainly seemed possible.
If you lose…you're going to die. Spoke a voice that was faintly familiar. Through the pain, he looked up into the lights above. Sharply contrasting them was a flickering mass of darkness. If you lose, you're going to die.
CRA-ACK!
As he screamed, he felt the pain of something in his chest cracking. Something was broken and it hurt, but like the voice said, it was just a prelude. If he lost, he was going to die. Tsukune knew this wasn't going to end with a tap out, partially because he didn't want to tap out.
The roar of his own voice suddenly filled his ears. His muscles tightened with power which then exploded outward through every pore of his body. It felt amazing, a rush that overpowered the pain sweeping through his chest. Speaking of which, the pressure on it was suddenly thrown off, yet he knew the danger wasn't gone. He saw a fist coming at his fist, descending like a lightning bolt aimed at him. The floor tremble as he rolled out of the way; he knew if he hadn't his head would have been crushed.
He came up with an attack, a rising uppercut that his opponent dodged and attempted to counter with a punch of his own. Tsukune was too fast though. With his dodge, he went on the attack himself. There was something enjoyable in being able to throw his fists; unfortunately, few of his punches landed. Still, a handful grazed his opponent, he saw the gashes on his face as his fists came close to his face. He returned the favor in throwing his own fists, forcing Tsukune to dodge them. Despite his evasive actions, he kept on launching punches at his opponent. He was both on the offense and defense, just like his opponent.
Their auras clashed against each other, expanding with each of their attacks and colliding into one another. The air around them cackled with raw power, turning it hot and heavy. As their clash grew the colliding powers continued to struggle against each other. In doing so, the clashing auras grew, expanding out to encompass the entire arena. If either combat bothered to look, they'd have seen the various pillars around the arena forming a barrier to contain the expansion, it was all that stood between it and the rest of the arena. But neither Tsukune nor his opponent thought about that, they only cared about each other-about the fight.
Despite knowing that danger was still a heartbeat away, Tsukune felt excitement. It roared in his veins alongside his racing blood, fueled by his heart yet also fueling its frantic beats. The rush circulated throughout his body, and even through his very soul. It felt like it was on fire, and Tsukune was more than happy to feel its burn.
Who'd ever think that he'd feel this way in a fight. He never could have imagined that a fight could make him feel this excited. This rush pulsing through him was so alien, yet he accepted it. Why though? He wasn't a fighter.
Was he?
Here he was in the arena, scoring victory after victory. The crowd cheered for him. One opponent after another stepped up, some proving to be a challenge like this current one. All of it was so…exhilarating.
WHAM!
His right fist collided with his opponent's left. Their respective auras condensed around their arms as they each tried to overpower the other. The veins along their arms bulged as they put all their strength into doing so as well.
Win. Win. Win. Win. Win. You've got to WIN! Tsukune heard. The voice came from within him, a constant, near maniac chat that refused to be silenced. He knew it was right, and he wanted to win. The problem was, so did his opponent. This was a fight with two willing combatants. One of them was going to have to fall.
The aura around his fist began to change shape. Tsukune could feel it, yet he could also feel himself shaping that change. In his heart, he knew what he had to do, and he did it, if only subconsciously.
Water wrapped around his fist, condensing into a giant bumble around it. His opponent couldn't react as the bubble burst, carrying with it explosive force that knocked him back. Like a torrent let loose, Tsukune surged forward, slamming his left fist into his opponent's gut. The residual droplets reformed around his right arm as he reared it back for another attack. As he hurled it forward, his opponent recovered and met his elemental punch with one of pure power, his own black aura flaring up. The aura-coated fist collided with his water fist, resulting in a draw. Tsukune felt the floor beneath him shake from the two powers canceling each other out. That didn't mean the end of the fight though, far from it. Instead, the fight simply went on, the two of them lobbing their empowered punches at each other.
Those are…I can use those. Amidst the flurry of fists, Tsukune saw the spraying droplets of water from his attacks. He saw his reflection in them, but only briefly. He was sweaty and bloody, but he was alive. Alive and he had a plan.
It was a little tough moving the droplets into place while keeping up his punches, but he did it. Those droplets gathered taking, forming into bubbles right before his opponent's red eyes. He realized what they were seconds too late. Each one popped with small but powerful force. Seizing on the opportunity, Tsukune landed one jab to the gut, then another, then a third, fourth, and a fifth. Just as he went in for a sixth, his opponent recovered, how he didn't know. It really didn't matter since he suddenly found himself gasping for breath takes to the jab to his gut. Then came two hooks that had him tasting more blood in his mouth. Something powerful gripped his arm, then the next thing he knew he was spinning, then he was flying.
Whatever he slammed into, it hurt. A lot. Through the pain, he saw something approaching him fast, a blur of red and black. Before he could respond to it, it was on him, and he was in even more pain. Sandwiched between whatever wall he'd slammed into and the fist in his gut, he couldn't help but scream in agony. His screams grew louder as something-a hand-grabbed his head and slammed it backward. Tsukune could have sworn he felt a hundred needles being jabbed at his head. The pain quickly raced from the back of his skull to the rest of him. Then it happened again. It wouldn't have surprised Tsukune if he had blood pouring from the back of his skull. Even if he was, he had to push past the pain. He had to win.
His hands spread out, water amassing in them to form ever-growing spheres. In seconds, they reached the right mass, each exploding with the force of a bomb and pushing his adversary back. Tsukune curled his fingers, quickly reabsorbing the water into his hands. As he did so, his opponent came back at him with a right fist aimed squarely at his face. He was moving fast, as was his fist. Luckily, Tsukune was faster, and in the span of a single second he came up with a plan. The second his opponent threw his punch at him, it was put into motion.
While he didn't know what the force field around their arena was made of, Tsukune knew that it hurt. His opponent had enjoyed slamming him into it, so it was sweet karma when his fist slammed into it thanks to his last second dodge. Tsukune felt his lips curl into a grin as he watched his hand smash into the force field, sparks flying from it as its energies administered a violent backlash; it earned a short but audible scream from his bald-headed opponent. He pulled his arm away and shot a murderous death glare at Tsukune.
"You're going to pay for that, you little bastard!" he seethed.
Tsukune had cupped his heads together, then launched them forward. From his outstretched palms came a blast of water that nailed his opponent. He screamed in outrage and pain as he was launched to the side, eventually hitting another side of the barrier.
Once he was stunned, Tsukune rushed in. He felt himself only take one step forward, but that one step was enough. Coming in range, he returned the favor for the head slams from earlier, albeit he simply used punches to drive his opponent's head against the barrier.
"Don't get so cocky, you little kid!" His opponent yelled catching his right fist. Once again, Tsukune found himself slammed against the barrier, the pain spreading throughout the rest of his back. "Your winning streak, your life, it all ends here!" His left hand was on his throat and his right hand was pulled back, cackling with demonic energy. Once again, it came at him with the intention of turning his head into paste.
WHA-UMMPPP!
It wasn't water that coated his left hand, it was darkness. Pitch-black darkness tinged with streaks of dark blue. Flacks of darkness stained the bright light of the ceilings, which his opponent was heading toward. In a single jump, Tsukune surpassed him in height. The darkness that coated his left fist now coated his right arm. It was swung downward simultaneous to his opponent swing his own darkness-coated fist at him. The two attacks collided resulting in an explosion of dark energy tinged red and black. A mixture of gasps and awes tore through the audience, who were spared the brunt of the blast's shock waves thanks to the barrier around the arena.
Tsukune didn't care about the fluctuations of the barrier around him. His mind never once thought of taking the opportunity to break the barrier and escape. No, his focus was on his opponent, still alive but now stuck on the ground. Using his still abundant power, he launched himself at his enemy, ready to finish their fight.
He struck with his fists while his opponent countered with a tried and true kick, their collision resulting a shock wave of pure pressure across the arena.
Boom!
A second boom was born from the bald-headed fighter's second kick. His first had parried Tsukune's punch, and his second had sent him flying. Though he'd raised his arms up in defense just in time, the force still propelled him across the arena; his feet were inches off the ground, but they weren't going to descend until he came to a stop.
Something stopped him, but it wasn't the arena barrier or his own efforts. Tsukune had seen his opponent move, but he was just a sliver too fast for him to respond to. He felt his opponent's arms wrapping around his waist; he had a grip akin to a boa constrictor. Just as Tsukune moved his hands down to free himself, he felt himself moving through the air. One minute he was going up, and then the next he was going down. His head hit something hard-really hard. For a minute, he honestly wondered if his skull would crack open and his brain would ooze out. That wasn't helped by the grip on his throat. Focus was suddenly achieved, and with it he saw his opponent looming over him. Once again, he had his fist ready to come down on him. It seethed with dark energy akin to his own, except it was tinged red instead of blue like his own.
Wait…wai-NOW! His fist came down fast, yet not too fast he couldn't perceive it. Maybe it was the fact that he knew this attack would end his life if it connected that helped him focus. Every cell in his body screamed for him to act, and he did. Something about it felt natural to him.
Both his fists moved in like pincers, catching his opponent's punch. In a fraction of a second following that catch, he kicked with his right leg. Feeling his attack connecting, he let go of his opponent's wrist and allowed his leg to carry him away; his throat was freed in the process allowing him to breath easier. He used that breath to flip himself back onto his feet, coming into a crouch with his fist reared back. An aura of darkness exploded around him, part of it coursing into his hand. Tsukune felt the rush reverberating through his soul-it was both exhilarating and terrifying. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew this power was a dangerous thing, something he had to be weary of, but that caution wasn't going to keep him alive. It wasn't going to win him this match.
CRACK!
All he saw was his opponent getting to his feet and raising his fists up to respond.
"A feint? Heh, you're certainly thinking, aren't you? To answer your question, yes. Definitely. Feints can be quite effective in battle, but they also depend on how well you're able to pull them off. Remember, Tsukune, for a feint to work, your enemy has to fall for it, even if only for a second."
"But then it falls to me to be fast enough to exploit that opening."
"Exactly. Here's an extra bit of advice, the deeper your opponent is in the flow of battle, the easier it'll be to throw them off. If you do though, try to make it count."
His memories of his training sessions were fuzzy, like the screen showing them was cracked and on the fritz. Regardless, the image it showed was complete enough. He saw the face of the person he was speaking to-a classmate, a friend, a teacher.
Nikhil…Nikhil.
What would he have thought of his fighting so far? What critiques would have given? What praise?
Closing in on his opponent, Tsukune wiped those thoughts away. They were unnecessary, the fight had entered its final stage and he needed to focus on that.
His opponent saw him coming with his right hand. Tsukune threw it, already seeing him lifting his left arm up to parry the punch. It was just what he wanted; he almost grinned in glee at how his opponent had fell for his feint. If he had smiled, then his opponent might have realized something was up.
Suddenly, his right fist pulled back and his left surged forward, almost moving twice as fast. It was fast enough to catch his opponent in his blindside. Quickly, Tsukune threw his right fist forward, this time for real. He caught his opponent in the gut with the empowered punch, knocking the air out of him, yet he remained standing. That was cause for him to launch into a flurry of punches, all of which hit home. He knew now was the time to go on a complete offensive.
As he landed blow after blow, Tsukune could have sworn he felt his strength growing instead of decreasing. It was like each punch was giving him strength in exchange for what he used up to launch it. He had to admit, he liked it, and he was more than happy for it to keep on going. Throwing a barrage like this was costly to his ki reserves, but with this replenishment, he felt like he could throw a thousand punches and get all the energy used up in them back. Speaking of which, had he thrown a thousand punches? He knew for a fact he'd far surpassed a hundred, and he was still going. The possibility of reaching that amount excited him, leading him to throw even more.
WHAM!
All his thoughts grinded to a halt as a fist slammed into his face, a powerful, darkness coated fist. Though he felt himself slide back, he wasn't thrown back entirely. He pushed past the pain and throw more punches. The fist had his face broke off; blood splattered across his face-his opponent's blood. Somehow, it helped him see clearly. His opponent stood before him, pained but enraged, looking at him with murderous fury-he still intended to win this. A red-coated aura of darkness flared up around him. In response, Tsukune summoned his own dark aura and poured it into his right arm. One last punch, one last punch was going to end this.
"The rules are simple, you fight. If you win, you live. You lose…you die. It's simple."
Boom!
All the adrenaline came to a screeching halting, as did most of his thinking. Tsukune stood still, frozen in place as did his opponent. Actually, the same could have gone for everyone else in the arena. A spell of utter silence had descended upon the entire arena, quite literally cast by Tsukune's hand.
Upon pulling it back, the spell seemed to break. Blood dripped from his right fist as he pulled it back, crimson red and shimmering black. The dual-colored blood quickly pooled around him as he hit the ground, courtesy of the fist-sized hole in his chest. His heart had once been there, but it'd been obliterated with Tsukune attack, which had also been the killing blow. It'd connected before his opponent's could, and thus the match was over.
Unlike his previous opponents, this one was obviously dead. The life had completely vanished from his eyes and his breathing was entirely absent.
Tsukune breathed hard as he kept his eyes focused on the corpse. As the crowd returned to life, shouting in triumphant joy at the kill, he watched something else, something that couldn't be seen with normal eyes. He watched as a mass of ethereal energy rose from the body of the man he'd just killed. It took shape-his shape. His unbloodied face glared at him, the malice eventually changing into solemn acceptance. With that acceptance, the spirit-the soul dissipated. No, it passed on, moving to its rightful place in the afterlife. As he stared at the now totally lifeless corpse, Tsukune couldn't help but note how that could have been him if he'd been seconds slower and who knew how much weaker than his opponent.
Still panting, he looked down at his right fist, uncurling his fingers. There was absolutely no sign of his opponent's heart, only blood. Only the blackish-red blood that had coursed through his veins. Speaking of back, he realized that was the color of his veins as well. Just as his eyes began to follow his unnaturally colored veins, his arm was gripped and raised up. The referee announced his latest victory, much to the roaring applause of the crowd. No one seemed to care about the man he'd just killed.
Did Tsukune care?
He watched on in silence as a group of workers dressed in black rushed onto the arena with a stretcher. Unlike with his previous opponents, they brought a tarp with them that they threw over his opponent's corpse. As silently as they'd arrived, they left, not losing a step as they carried the corpse off to who knew where.
"Well, what'll it be, Aoiyajū?" He looked to the referee, who'd been entirely absent for the bulk of their fight. Scratch that, all his fights. Dressed in a classy suit with pitch-black shades obscuring his eyes, Tsukune felt something dark and dangerous emitting from him, but most importantly, his face was bent in a cocky smirk. "You can call it quits now, having won ten straight matches. No shame in taking a little break, ya' know."
Ten matches? That's how many fights he'd had?
A voice within him called for him to stop now. Ten matches were enough, right? There was no need to go any further, right?
Slowly, his fingers curled back into a fist. The steady drumbeat of his own heart returned to his ears. His breathing calmed as he looked the referee square in the eye. "Who's next?" he simply asked.
The shaded man grinned, throwing an arm up and announcing his decision to the rest of the arena. It got a roar of approval from the audience. They began chanting his name anew, but Tsukune didn't care about that. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the opposite end of the arena. He could hear the footsteps of his next opponent approaching. With each step, his blood began to race with excitement. A new fight was about to begin, and that was all that mattered to Tsukune.
"Hmm, waking up, are you? You're building up some resistance to the sedatives. Impressive, but don't get used to it. We need you to stay still for this."
Blinding light and faint voices, such a wonderful combination. He couldn't tell where he was via his sight or hearing, so he immediately turned to his nose. As best he could, he took several whiffs of the myriad of smells around him. Surprisingly, there were quite a few. He detected several sets of body cologne, some masculine and others feminine. Amongst those were other scents, ones he didn't recognize, not completely. They made his nose wrinkle in irritation and unease.
"-test Subject 608,"
Tsukune stirred. "H-Huh?"
"Seems like you react to your designated name, huh?" Came a feminine voice above him.
"My…name…my name is-"
"It's 608." The same voice repeated with cold indifference.
Irritation grew within Tsukune. He had a name, and that name wasn't a three-digit number. In trying to move he realized that his arms and legs were bound. Whatever it was, it was strong enough to keep his limbs from moving. Trying to summon his ki was no good either. Tsukune could actually feel it rising up within the depths of his body and soul…and then something stopped it. Gnashing his teeth, he tried again and again, but that same barrier was there. He quietly realized that whatever restraints were physically holding him back were also keeping his ki from fully activating. Blinking up at the bright lights above him, the took a few seconds to calm down. Getting frustrated wasn't going to get him out of this, focusing was.
"Sometimes you have to build up your strength, then let it burst out. If something's restraining you, amass a force greater than it. Think like a river growing so mighty it's able to overwhelm even the strongest dam."
That's exactly what he thought of. He pictured his ki within him, brewing like some great underground reservoir. As it grew, it strained its containers; they would eventually fall and the water would burst forth. It swirled within him like water in a bowl. Tsukune did his best to keep it swirling knowing it'd eventually tip over, if he did he'd be able to free himself.
His captors knew that and quickly worked to ensure that didn't happen. Tsukune heard voices around him, some had a slight edge of panic to them while others were in awe. They were impressed that even with the power-sealing restraints on him, his energy was still apparently flaring up. Minor as it was, he took a small bit of pride in that. More importantly, his impressive power meant that he had a better chance of breaking free than he initially thought. Even as he felt the restraints on him tighten, he flared up his ki all the more to counter it. It was his willpower against the restraints these people had on him. Faint memories of the battles he'd fought before raced through his mind. He'd won those fights no matter how tough they'd been, so he could beat this. He was going to beat this.
The voices of panic grew louder. Above him, the lights flickered; on top of that, he saw wisps of darkness flickering across the bright whiteness. Knowing that darkness was coming from him, he struggled even more. He felt his restraints tighten around his wrists and legs; his response was to try harder to break them.
"My word, you are proving to be quite the rare specimen. It's no wonder young Kinmaru took such an interest in you." Spoke a voice from his left.
Amidst his struggling, he turned his head in that direction and popped his eyes open. As best he could, Tsukune drunk in the sight of the lab-coated man that stood over him. His coat was bellowing thanks to the contained gale that he was kicking up with his ki. He was smiling like instead of front seat to a raging storm he was catching a summer breeze. Tsukune had a feeling that this man was one of those types that would consider a typhoon pleasant weather. He looked straight into his dark brown eyes and knew that for certain-this man had a screw or two loose. The constant warnings of his coworkers further confirmed that.
"Dr. Konishi! Dr. Konishi, please! We must restrain him! Now!" Shouted one of the doctors.
"Yes, yes, I know! But just a little longer! This one's showing promise! He managed to retain hydrokinesis much longer than the others did, and use it quite effectively!" Was his response to their warnings.
Hydrokinesis? Me? I-Oh, wait, yeah. As enticing as that rabbit hole looked, Tsukune chose not to go down it. This Dr. Konishi had said something else that caught his attention. "Kinmaru? Kinmaru?" Immediately, he remembered the mysterious student that had came into his life during summer school. He'd literally had one of his men pluck him up on his way to school for a morning chat while giving him a knife that was bane to monsters. Even now, he still had no idea what Kinmaru's end goal was, and what he wanted with him. Amusement? Was that what this whole thing was? Yōkai Academy was just the "preliminary" round and now he'd dragged him here to these fights? Gnashing his teeth, he felt a surge of anger rising within him. It gave him a much appreciated boost of strength. "Kinmaru! Kinmaru! Come out here! If you want to see how much 'luster' I've got, then take these restraints off and let me show you!"
The black-haired man above him chuckled. "I'm afraid that the young lord is not here at the moment."
"Then go get him! Tell him if he doesn't let me go, I'm going to kill him! I don't need that knife he gave me to do it!" In the back of his mind Tsukune wondered what had happened to his silver knife. Upon thinking about it he suddenly felt…exposed without it. Those feelings were fleeting as he went back to struggling against his restraints, and screaming. He wasn't even sure he was screaming for Kinmaru, he just wanted to be free of this place. His yelling drowned out the voices of the doctors.
Until an invisible hand clapped down on every fiber of his body, including his ki. This time, the hold was stronger than it'd previously been. Tsukune struggled against it but found he couldn't break free, no matter how hard he tried. At best, all he could do was move his head. He naturally looked to his left to man called Dr. Konishi.
His hand was stretched out with something wrapped around his wrist, something that glowed an ethereal purple. He knew whatever it was, it was helping restrain him. "Alright, I think you've thrashed about enough, 608. We really do need you to lie still, it's for your benefit as well. You fought fifteen consecutive matches. Even with your impressive stamina and durability, you need a break, especially after the twelfth match."
By what seemed to be sheer coincidence, Tsukune felt his abdomen burst into pain. His struggling ceased as that agony quickly overwhelmed his body. More boulders of pain rolled in after the first one, like a rocky avalanche. They quickly started burying him beneath their weight.
Amused laughter from above echoed in his ears. "See. You held off the pain for quite a while, but now that the adrenaline's wearing off, I'm afraid the pain's coming back. It seems rather angry at you for keeping it at bay."
"F-F-Fuck!" He growled.
"Hahaha! Yes, fuck indeed! Now then, you'd best lie still and let us treat you. Wouldn't want to die now, would you? Especially after surviving so much." Dr. Konishi beckoned.
"Su-Surviving…s-so…much." Tsukune whispered.
"Yes, I hear you had quite the semester at Yōkai Academy, Tsukune Aono. Quite impressive for a human being, especially one without any special abilities or lineage such as yourself." He continued.
His mind was being submerged in a sea of pain and haze. Just before it went under, he voiced his confusion. "Y-You…know about…Y-Y-Yōkai? A-A-And…m-my-"
"Yes, Tsukune, I do." Miniscule as it was, he was glad that this guy was at least referring to him by his actual name. It helped him hold onto his identity, and from it Tsukune felt like he could better fight towards remembering what happened to him. "You've quite the resume, one that I'm quite impressed by. Actually, several of my colleagues here are, even if they won't admit it. More importantly, you've continued to impress us. The injection of Stix-D has bonded quite well to your blood. We're going to give you another once you're fit enough for it. Perhaps this time we'll be able to get it to stick permanently. Just imagine how much stronger you'll be if we're able to do that!"
Ordinarily, that should have sent him into a panic. Stix-D? What the hell was that? Some kind of upgraded form of Stix? That stuff was now inside of him? Tsukune knew he should have been asking question after question about it, but he was too tired to. Between the pain gnawing at him and the exhaustion suddenly catching up to him, Tsukune just felt ready to close his eyes. So, why as he fighting it?
It seemed like his subconscious answered him. First came the image of his parents, his family. Then came an image of Yōkai Academy. Indeed, it wasn't a place he was supposed to have survived. He thought of the people that had helped him to survive it, the people whom he now cherished so dearly. The newspaper club and his friends in it. More than potential admirers, they were his friends who'd he liked to spend summer with. The second set of friends he'd made during summer school. An unlikely group, but people he trusted with his secret, and whom he trusted his life to. He wanted to see them at the start of the fall semester.
Finally, he thought of a woman, a grown woman with round and clear glasses, a beauty mark on her chin, and red lips that were almost always curled in a smile. He found something comforting and enticing in that smile. In the way that her lush brown hair fell over her face.
Tsukune wanted to see them all again, but especially her.
"Ri…rik…o." he whispered before his consciousness finally went under.
As he shifted around, he felt something surprisingly soft beneath him. Whatever it was, Tsukune liked it. Even better, he didn't feel anyone poking or priding at him, or hitting him. The climb towards consciousness was gradual and done at his leisure. At the rate he was going, it'd probably be an hour before he was full conscious.
He had a feeling it wasn't that long though. His arms shook as he pushed himself up, groaning all the way. Tsukune lifted his hands up to his face, which he felt around. After all the hits he'd taken, he was expecting to feel something amiss, but all he felt were bandages. One prominent bandage was stereotypically wrapped around his head. Another was on his right-side cheek. Opening his mouth, he felt around using his fingers. He still had most of his teeth.
"I'm…I'm whole. I'm…whole!" He shouted with jubilation.
"Hehe, so you are. You're damn lucky, skilled, or maybe both. Still, you came in here looking like shit."
The female voice made him jump, which nearly caused him to roll off the sleeping mat that he'd apparently been given. Thanks to it, he finally took stock of his surroundings. Unsurprisingly, he was in a cell. It was actually somewhat on the roomy side being roughly ten by ten feet. The walls were a dull grayish-blue with light provided by an overhead lamp. His cell was bare, just a sleeping mat, a toilet, and a desk that could he could kneel at, nothing more. Tsukune was immediately hit by the feeling of being a prisoner. That feeling was amplified as he realized that he had handcuffs around his wrists and his ankles.
"What the hell?" He questioned examining them. First, he looked at the cuffs around his ankles.
"Noticing them, huh? Well, whatever powers you end up with, you can forget about using them. Those cuffs are not only made out of enchanted metal, they've got another layer of enchantments on them. Even if by some fluke you awaken some major divine powers, it won't do you any good. These bastards are damn good at turning people into powerhouses and keeping them under control."
It was a lot to take in, but Tsukune processed it pretty fast. Tsukune looked at the metallic bindings on his ankles and his wrists. Trying to call forth his ki resulted in nothing happening, except maybe the red lights at each cuff glowing a bit brighter. His face morphed into a deep frown as he stood up.
"Don't try to break them. Others have tried and it hasn't gone well." The voice from the behind the wall in front of him called.
"Did you try it?" Tsukune asked.
"Yep, and it failed. I've tried again and again though." She answered with a bit of annoyance.
Despite accepting his words, Tsukune still felt like testing the boundaries of his bindings. Being metal, they had a little bit of weight to them, but not so much as that he couldn't raise his arms or legs. A surge of boldness overtook him leading him to thrust his right fist out. His fist pointed at the wall with nothing happening, no cracks or imprints from pressurized air or manifested energy. Still, his punch had moved fast for a human's strength. Silently, he threw a couple more punches, ending with a kick. Throwing those moves proved he could move his limbs, but nowhere near with the amount of force he was used to. Not to mention doing so left him a little winded; Tsukune wanted to believe that was because of his lingering exhaustion and nothing else.
That exhaustion brought him down onto the bed roll, his back against the wall and his hands in his lap. "This sucks."
"It fucking sucks." Came the conversationalist from the next cell over.
He laughed, a somewhat relaxing gesture. "Yeah, it does. It really fucking sucks. I…I don't even know how I ended up here. I was…I was supposed to be on my way home."
"Yeah, that's a common story here. Some of these assholes actually grabbed us just before we were able to make it home, something that helps them get their kicks." The woman explained with obvious disdain.
"Was that what happened to you?" Tsukune asked with sympathy.
There was a short pause on the other end. He wondered if he'd hit the mark or if he made the woman think of her home. Tsukune was certainly thinking of his, and it made his heart twist into a painful knot.
"I'm sorry. You…don't have to answer that. You…don't have to answer any of my questions." He quietly apologized.
"No, it's okay. I know you've probably got tons of questions. I have one myself, what's your name?" She tried to sound a little upbeat in asking him for his name. He appreciated it.
"It's Tsukune Aono. It's nice to meet you." He hoped there was a little bit of cheer in his voice to match her own.
"Miyumi Hosoda, it's nice to meet you too. Wish I could see your face though. Feels kind of sucky to have an introduction like this." She finished her statement with a humorous and self-mocking chuckle. Tsukune smiled at it, though she couldn't see it. "In case you were wondering, the guards brought you in a little while ago. Maybe about twenty minutes ago. I hear that you've been on quite a winning streak in the arena."
Memories of his time in the arena came to the forefront of his mind. Tsukune felt his hands tremble as a myriad of emotions coursed through him. "Yeah…I…have. I…I…"
"You've never killed before you were dragged here, right?" Miyumi theorized with evident sympathy.
His hands closed into fists as his eyes closed. "No. I've…I've killed before coming here. The first time was in self-defense. The second time was…to stop someone from hurting people that I cared about." Despite being alone, he could feel dozens of eyes on him, judging him. Tsukune always had a feeling that this feeling would come to him. The rogue possibility that it'd come to him in a cell had crossed his mind, but not a cell like this.
"If it was to protect yourself and the people you care about, then don't beat yourself up over it. I've done the same. You did what you had to do, and if you hadn't those people would have died. That would leave you feeling even worse, trust me."
Her words reminded him of the comfort that another woman gave him, especially as he sorely needed it. Flexing his hands open and close, he thought of how much he wanted to see the person who'd spoken them, but she was so far away. His heart ached enough that he closed off that yearning as best he could. Now wasn't the time for him to be dealing with that. "What about…the killing I've done in that arena?"
"…Would you rather they kill you instead?" Miyumi asked, not in a cold tone but in one that was definitely forcing him to think.
Tsukune did think, and it made him bow his head in resigned acceptance. "Survival." He declared.
"Yeah…no one ever said that survival had to be pretty. Not…when you're dragged into this kind of world." Came Miyumi's equally resigned answer. From her tone he could tell she'd had far more experience at this than he did. Rather it was from being in this underground fight ring or she'd led some troubled life, he didn't know. All he knew was that she was right, he'd seen how right she was. "Listen, I know it won't be easy, this life is-"
"I know, Miyumi." Tsukune cut off. He didn't mean to sound harsh, not to the only person who was showing him genuine kindness. Down in his lap, his fists slowly closed; he breathed in and out, an eerie calmness settling over him. "I stepped into this life back in spring…and I've got the resolve to see it through. That includes the resolve to get the hell out of here."
A rather upbeat laugh came from the other end. Hearing it actually put a small smile on Tsukune's face, one he wished Miyumi could see.
"Where are we?" he questioned.
"You're in Yokohama. Specifically the-" she stopped hearing the loud groan that he impulsively mad. She gave another humorous laugh. "Not a fan of the town?"
"No, I've actually always wanted to visit some parts of it. It's just…I'm from Tokyo and I was…on my way home."
"Heh, well, sorry to break it to you, buddy, but you were dragged on quite a little detour. The good news is if you somehow make it out, Tokyo's not too far away. I'd recommend the Odoriko Express."
"I'll keep that in mind." Yokohama, huh? That's not the worst place to be. At least I'm in an actual city instead of some secluded place in God knows where. It also means that I won't have to look far for a phone. His optimism was quickly short-checked as he realized that he didn't have any money on him. Not for a phone and definitely not to check himself into a hotel, even a low cost one. Alright, let's stop and take this a little slower. Tsukune told himself to keep his mind from being overwhelmed. "Earlier you said we were in Yokohama but U cut you off. Sorry about that. Do you know precisely where we are?"
"As a matter of fact, I think I've worked it out. The arena we're fighting is called Wakamoto Stadium. You might have heard of it. Well, aside from football games and the occasional hockey game, it hosts these underground supernatural brawls which we've been a part of. You can thank its new owners for that-the Hirayama Clan. They're-"
"Yakuza, and a clan formed up of oni. Yeah, I know."
"They're the ones running this whole operation. The little fight club they've got going is their way to test out how well their wonder drug-"
"Stix." Tsukune interrupted again. "I've…ran into it. It turned my time in summer school upside down."
"Summer school, huh? Which subject was it, math?" Miyumi casually joked.
"Yep." He answered with an unseen but totally genuine smile. "I absolutely funked it, along with a handful of other subjects." His smile fell as he looked up to the ceiling in quiet wonder. "I…can't help but wonder if I hadn't failed my semester then I might not be here."
"From what you've told me, that would have been the case. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Ain't that the truth." But…maybe I was also in the right place at the right time. If I hadn't been at summer school then…
"So, what happened? Someone was trading Stix at your school and things went to hell?"
"Pretty much. One maniac broke into my dorm room thinking that I'd stolen his stash. Fighting him off was…my first time killing someone."
"I'm sorry, Tsukune." Miyumi offered.
He shook his head. "It was…someone very special to me told me that I did what I had to do. The advice she gave me helped get me through summer school, which went from being quiet and boring to…an adventure." Tsukune bowed his head and laughed at his words. He wasn't being entirely honest with Miyumi. Without his friends, he would be mostly on his own-a human at a school for monsters. If anything, he was being optimistic in believing he'd be able to keep his head down low enough to avoid trouble. As it happened though, trouble found him, with or without his monster girl friends. "All that said it…wasn't all bad. Like I said, it was an adventure, and some good came out of the whole thing."
"Hehehe, well, sounds like it wasn't all bad for you."
Certain faces came to mind, but most importantly was one face that made his heart swell in his chest. He was glad that he was alone in his cell with no one to see him for the first time. "No, it wasn't." The image of their faces-her face-brought him temporarily relief. Still, it was only temporary as he pushed them aside to refocus on the most pressing matter at hand. "These cells and that lab I was in, are they in the stadium or underneath it?"
"Underneath. Beneath the stadium is an entire underground complex, one that connects to a warehouse via a subway that the Hirayama use."
"I don't suppose we could hitch a ride on it, could we?"
"Cool idea, but I don't know how viable it is. I know there's a couple of other underground passages leading up to the surface. They're the sort that you could sneak out of then hopefully disappear into the city."
Tsukune took that information to heart. It sounded like just the sort of thing he could use, although he needed to know the layout of this place to do that. Not to mention he'd need to know the layout of Yokohama. Finding a map of the latter shouldn't have been too hard. His train of thought was interrupted by a sudden series or screams and roars coming from beyond his cell. Tsukune didn't get up and go to the bars to investigate, he just listened.
"Does…that happen a lot?" He asked.
He could almost picture Miyumi shrugging from her rather casual tone. "You could say that. The experiments the Hirayma have been running with Stix are sick. Instead of just a temporary boost, they've been trying to figure out a way to make sure it stays in a person's body. Like a permanent enhancement. I heard them say something about turning them into a…a…Stygian. Some kind of creature of the underworld, Greek underworld, but you get the idea."
That caught Tsukune's attention. His eyes widened and his blood turned a touch colder. He looked down at his hands, as if seeing them for the first time. Actually, he was now wondering exactly what was running in them for the first time. Jumping back to his matches, he recalled how several of his opponents had manifested black veins-just like those who'd ingested Stix back at Yōkai Academy. The power boost they'd gotten was insane, especially Kotsubo, whose rage seemed to help fuel his boost. His memory reel quickly shifted to a more recent time-his matches. Tsukune felt his throat go dry as his hands began to tremble more than ever.
More than blood, he remembered the clouds of darkness that had surrounded his arms, empowering them to levels he couldn't possibly reach with his own power. In accordance with that dark energy, he remembered how that shadowy power seemed to run through his veins. He felt it pulsating within him alongside the pure adrenaline that had carried him from fight to fight. They formed into dozens of black and white lights that carried him toward on unescapable conclusion that made his heart slam against his chest as he spoke the words.
"I…was…injected with Stix. I-It's…i-it's in me." His hollowed voice echoed through the cell.
"…Yeah, it is. It's in all of us, Tsukune. The question is how much of it is in us. We've all been…tainted."
Every second was marked by another eerie beat of his heart. The screaming of his fellow cellmates was a distant echo that he hardly paid any attention to. Everything about the outside world just fell away as he came to grips with the revelation.
He wasn't human anymore. Not entirely.
He'd been injected with a drug that was more than likely created from the Greek underworld.
That drug had given him superpowers, dark superpowers.
He was…he was…
Not quite human anymore, huh? Feels kind of like a bad joke, doesn't it?
Sweating up a storm, he turned to his left. "Y-Y-You're…y-you're…"
"Tsukune," Miyumi called with caution in her voice. "Just breath, breath, okay. I know this is a lot to take in, but trust me, you can't panic. Just take it slow and easy. Slow and-"
"HOW THE FUCK DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME! WHY, DAMMIT! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!"
It all came spilling out. His rage, his frustration, his sorrow, all of it. Hunching forward, he slammed his fists into the ground, again and again. He didn't stop, he couldn't stop. Not now that the dam had broken and everything he'd held in came pouring out. It washed away everything in its path without mercy.
"I NEVER ASKED FOR ANY OF THIS! I NEVER WANTED IT! I JUST WANTED TO SURVIVE! I JUST WANTED TO LIVE! I NEVER WANTED TO GIVE UP MY HUMANITY! SO, WHY, WHY GODDAMMIT! WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS! WHAT! WHAT! WHAT!"
The flood burst deafened him to not just Miyumi's voice but the unseen alarms blaring in his cell. The power that he'd previously called up came back to him, gushing in like a storm surge. Something tried to beat it back, but this time the flood of power was greater. Whatever tried to restrain him failed.
Tsukune felt himself rise to his feet. For the first time, his face turned to the bars of his prison. With a primal roar he threw himself at them. Something beat him back, but he wasn't discouraged. His fists slammed into one of the bars and he felt the metal bend from his strike. That was all he needed-more strikes against the bars followed. That invisible force pushed back at him, but he kept on hammering at it, shacking the cell. Voices shouted to one another, but they were a distant murmur in his ears. All he could hear was the roar of his own raging heart, still a mighty tempest. It wouldn't subside until it'd destroyed everything around it, until it destroyed the people who'd ripped him apart and put him back together as murderous monster.
They wanted a monster and they would get a monster. One more ferocious than any they'd ever seen.
As consciousness came back to him, Tsukune tried to move his arms and legs. Realizing he was restrained again, he couldn't help but groan in annoyance.
"Really, it's for your protection as much as ours, Tsukune." Came a familiar voice.
"Now's the time for me to say I really don't give a damn about your protection, in fact, I'm interested in the opposite of it." He spat fully opening his eyes. Once again, he was strapped to a table, staring up at operating lights. This time, Dr. Konishi was on his right, wearing that same chirpy smile. "You drugged me. You pumped me full of drugs." He accused with cold malice. His head was pounding with memories of the tempest-like rage that had surged through him. How long ago was that? Minutes ago? Hours? Days even? How the hell was he knocked out anyway? The power he felt running through him made him feel like he could fight on a whole monster army.
"Yes, that was me. Part of the Stygian Project, you see. Congratulations, Tsukune, you've been one of our greatest successes!" The bronze-eyed man proclaimed. "You managed to make a hell of a dent in your cell, something that only a handful of our subjects have managed to do."
"Oh, well, I'm honored." He humorously stated. "Tell you what, let me go and I'll show you just how much of a success I am."
"Sure! We actually mean to test your abilities after that little outburst of yours! It helped catalyze the Stix in your system!"
Tsukune frowned. Honestly, that's not what he expected at all. Blinking, he kept on staring at Dr. Konishi as he was suddenly wheeled away.
Well, he said he's going to let you go.
You're back. The seemingly plain statement held a hint of relief, something that didn't go unnoticed by his imaginary friend.
Ahhh, you missed me! You never should have worried though.
I've had a lot to worry about, in case you haven't been keeping up. Tsukune retorted. Annoyance returned, intermixing with relief. For all the craziness of his current situation, he felt relieved to hear his inner voice back to verbally sparring with him. A little bit of familiarity went a long way into putting his mind at ease, if only for the moment.
Fight, just like you did at the academy. Fight with all that you have. That's more than you had before, yet it is different. It is the opposite of that holy light you wielded. The voice advised, the humor replaced with dead seriousness. You probably know this, but it's going to be fight after fight. Don't waver, don't let up. Eventually, the fight that will free you will come, and when it does…win it just like you have the previous ones. It's that simple.
Is it? He asked. The calmness passed and with it came a sense of anticipation that made his heart race. The lights above him were replaced by singular bulbs that illuminated the hallway he was being led down. He didn't know where he was going, but he had a feeling that at the end of it lay another fight.
What else can you do? Wait for someone to rescue you again?
Something tightened within him at that accusation. It was an accusation and not a suggestion.
Hey, think of it this way. All that anger that you had within you…it's still there. You're going to get the chance to let it all out. Doesn't that sound nice?
The gurney he was on came to a stop. There was a metallic click, followed by his arms and legs being raised. He saw the subtly glow of the cuffs around his legs and his arms. Getting the hint, he moved his body of his own accord, and with it the glow died down. The doctors around him kept their distance save for Dr. Konishi, who stayed within arms' length of him. Rather it was arrogance that his control was ironclad or some foolhardy bravery, Tsukune didn't know. He stopped short of the threshold ahead, Tsukune kept on walking.
He wasn't surprised to find himself standing on one end of a massive rectangular-shaped arena. It faintly reminded him of a football field, except instead of grass the floor was hard dark gray metal. He scoured it and found that it was stainless; his gut told him that wasn't going to last long. Looking up he saw a collection of lights that illuminated the arena-they had to be about thirty feet up. That was high enough that fighters could get some good airtime, and a fall from that height might hurt if someone was hit hard enough from it. Finally, looking to his left he saw a glass window stretched out over an observer box. Lined up behind the window were a collection of scientists and individuals in suits. All of them had their eyes on him, and he kept his eyes on them.
Eventually, Dr. Konishi joined them. Grinning, he waved at him.
"So, who am I fighting?" he shouted. There was no need to beat around the bush with this. He knew why he was here.
"Three fights, that should be enough for us to see how you've progressed! Win those and you'll be free to go back to-oh, actually. If you want, you'll get some very luxurious rewards! That should be ample motivation, eh, Tsukune!" The demented doctor answered. "All you have to do is-"
"Win." Boomed a new, masculine voice. "Now, shut up and fight, kid."
The hairs across his body stood up on end. His instincts told him to put his guard up, and he did. It saved him as a black and pink-colored blur came charging at him. He threw his arms up in a cross guard. Despite the blur's velocity, it failed to make his so much as budge. Tsukune looked down and saw the dark-colored gleam of the daggers that had been meant to penetrate his flesh. As for their wielder, her ebony black hair was done up in a pony tail with a pink face mask covering most of her face. Her eyes though were fully revealed to him-bright yellow, silted pupils and black sclera. That last feature was quite familiar to him.
"Bastard!" She spat at him.
Yeah, like I'm going to let someone like you do me in. He thought. She went on the offensive, suddenly coming at him with a flurry of knife slashes and thrusts. Her blades had her ki coursing through the blades, but it wasn't enough to penetrate his skin. Still, watching her fight made him feel a little nostalgic. Man, I wonder what happened to my knife. I hope none of these bastards took it. The possibility, no matter how shortly entertained, sent a ripple of anger through him. Tsukune felt that anger surge through his body, which impulsively acted on it.
His fist crashed into her face, stunning her. In that short exchange, Tsukune realized not only was he more durable than her, he was far stronger. As he went for a second punch, he realized he was faster too. He could win this.
That thought was challenged as his female opponent vanished in a blur. Spinning to his right, he held his arms up and blocked and energized X-shaped blasted of energy. He had to admit, it had a bit of power behind it, but he shrugged it off. As he did, he realized that a multitude of slashes were coming at him from all directions. Rather than take his chances in tanking them, Tsukune simply jumped up, evading them.
A shadow quickly loomed over him. Recognizing its lean and straight shape, Tsukune raised his arms up again-this time he was going to tank the attack, and use it to get a hold on his opponent. To his surprise, the leg came down with more force than he expected. His opponent may have been lean and speedy, but she still had some power, enough that he actually had to take notice of. Another kick forced him back down to the ground. Though he hit the ground like a bowling ball, he landed on his feet, feeling barely anything at all from the sudden drop. Tsukune spun around, knowing his enemy was behind him. She lashed at him with her daggers, launching into a flurry of pink-colored slashes.
WHOMP!
Coming at him from both sides was a mistake. Tsukune docked low and struck at her with his right leg. He struck again with his left leg, catching her on the opposite side. Gripping her daggers, she attempted to lunge at him, but Tsukune took one step forward, and it brought him into striking range of her. His right fist found its target in her abdomen. Through her mask, she gasped for breath as the air was forced out of her lungs. It was short-lived as Tsukune aimed his next punches at her face. One such punch was so strong it dislodged her mask.
"Huh, no wonder you wear a mask." Tsukune remarked. All his time at Yōkai Academy had numbed him to various inhuman features. That included a raw of razor-sharp teeth that could tear flesh and bone alike to pieces. Seeing such teeth aimed at him in a feral snarl hardly phased him.
Knock 'em all out of her mouth. Whispered his inner voice with wicked glee.
Saliva flew from the woman's now exposed jaws as she launched into another series of attacks. This time, Tsukune used his fists to parry her blows. Their reinforced edge felt dull against his fists.
Jumping back, she poured more energy into her daggers, causing them to flare up with pink and black energy. With a roar, she launched another X-shaped slash at him. This one was over three times as large, coming at him with the speed of lightning.
Energy coiled around his fists. Slowly, Tsukune felt it take on a more…liquid-like state. He quickly realized the dark energy had been transformed into water. How and why, Tsukune didn't know, but he knew that this water could hurt if it hit its target.
Boom!
It collided with the energy slash, pushing it against for a few seconds before plowing straight through it. Tsukune's fists flew, firing several more blasts of water. Tsukune saw that like his opponent's own energy, his watery attacks were a mixture of sparkling blue and black-black water. Each was deflected by the razor-mouthed woman's daggers. Still, the water splashed across her.
Splashed.
With wide eyes, Tsukune thrusted his left hand out, not with a balled fist but an open palm.
KRRRA-ACK!
"W-W-W-What the hell is this!" Screeched the yellow-eyed woman as her body became coated in a layer of black ice. Everywhere that the water had splashed had turned to ice, and that included most of her upper body.
Not bothering to wonder what had just happened, Tsukune lunged forward, delivering a powerful uppercut to his opponent's jaw. She flew straight up, covering two-thirds of the distance between the distance between the ground and the ceiling. The last third was covered by Tsukune launching himself up and driving his left fist into her gut.
"Gaaaaah! Gaaah…g-garrghh…d-d-damn…you…to…" Tsukune withdrew his fist and allowed himself to fall back to the ground. The thirty-foot drop hardly bothered him. It certainly didn't bother his opponent, who was dead before she hit the ground.
"Wonderful! Send in the next combatant!" Dr. Konishi's voice sounded.
His ears heard the ringing thud! of heavy footsteps against the hard metal floor. "Well, that was fast." Tsukune mused to himself. All too soon, he laid eyes on his next opponent, a hulking brute of a man shirtless from the waist up. Demonic tribal marks coated his body all the way up to his face. A growl at him revealed a pair of fangs that couldn't have belonged to a human, neither could the horns on his head. Tsukune might have guessed he was an oni save for his shockingly normal-colored skin and the fact instead of a kanabo he was wielding a massive war hammer-something else that a normal human couldn't possibly lift. Like his opponent's daggers, it radiated a demonic aura that screamed how much of an evil weapon it was.
Roaring, he came at him hefting the hammer up. He was pretty fast, almost as fast as his previous opponent, but Tsukune obviously faster.
Sidestepping his hammer allowed him to see the shockwave that tore up the metal floor. Tsukune didn't know how strong it was, but his intuition told him that this floor, and the rest of the room, was reinforced. The fact that it was so easily misshaped meant something.
The hammer swiftly rose, forcing Tsukune to step back again to avoid it. To his chagrin, it came closer to him than he'd have liked to admit.
Okay, he's faster than I thought! Gotta remember that! He thought as he fell in a rhythm of dodging. Once he saw an opening though, he threw a punch. Annoyingly, it was dodged by his six-foot-four opponent. The height difference was extremely noticeable, but Tsukune knew he could close the distance and plant his fist in his face, or in his gut if he wanted something easier.
BAM!
"Sorry, but those weak ass punches aren't going to cut it with me, punk!" Shouted the hulking man as his right fist slammed into his gut. Tsukune felt like he'd just punched the hull of a tank; he actually felt the painful backlash racing through his arm. That painful lesson came with him catching the a side kick to his left side, then a punch straight to his face. It hurt, but Tsukune quickly pushed past the pain to see the massive demonic lump of metal heading straight for his face. That would hurt a lot worse.
THOOM!
Sweat poured down his brow as he jumped to the side fast enough to avoid the downward swing that would have pulverized his skull. The hammer rose again in his direction, coming at him while swirling with black and red energy.
Ice! I can control ice! I need ice! His previous display of cyrokinesis had involved changing water into ice, but Tsukune needed the latter immediately. He dug deep into the power inside of him and willed it to manifest, and it did.
Cra-ack!
Though the ice wall shattered, but it did its job in giving Tsukune a second to catch his breath. When his opponent swung at him again, he was ready.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The subterranean arena seemed to shake with every clash of his fists against his opponent's hammer. Tsukune felt a sliver of the reverberations racing up his arms, but he was far from detoured by them. Each clash hardened his resolve to overcome this towering foe. The more he came at him, the more determined Tsukune felt.
WHAAAM!
It was all so fast. One second he felt the cold metal slamming into his gut, then the next he felt himself into the wall, nearly kneeling over in pain. There was no time for that though as his opponent was coming up on him to finish the job. Once again, his hammer was raised and brought down atop his head, but Tsukune threw his arms up just in time to catch it.
His teeth gnashed so hard he almost felt like they'd crack. From within he summoned his dark power. Tendrils of arctic ice rolled off his arms as he channeled those cold energies into his hand.
"Don't get cocky, kid! This hammer's broken fire demons who could melt your ice like it was nothing!" Barked the older man.
Not caring about what he said, Tsukune simply concentrated. He felt the hammer itself fighting back against his freezing. It felt like a battle of wills, his against a weapon's. Quickly looking down, he came upon a crazy idea, but one he was willing to try.
While keeping his hold on the hammer, he raised his right foot, seemingly in position to kick his enemy away. As he did, he amassed water around it, bone-chilling water that he launched forward alongside his kick. Both flew stretch up, hitting his opponent between the legs. He went cross-eyed as he howled in pain; his moment of agony was all Tsukune needed. The hammer froze completely and he tossed it aside. His right fist reared back, the launched straight forward into his opponent's face. He heard his jaw cracking beneath the force of his right cross. Just as he went in with his left fist, his opponent countered, hitting him in the face. Tsukune kept on going though, only diverting his punch to the gut. He put all the force he could into it, and it worked. His opponent gasped for breath and stumbled back. Blood and saliva dripped from his lips as he glared at him.
"You fucking-"
Power coursed through his right arm as he threw it forward, socking the man in the face and cutting him off. From his head on down, black ice materialized over his body. Rather, his body became ice itself, the flash freeze reaching all the way down to the tiniest cells in his body. For a split second, he was a complete statue, but the momentum from Tsukune's fist sent his head flying. It rolled across the floor leaving his decapitated and hunched over body before the black-veined teenager.
"And that's two! One more to go, Tsukune!" Sounded the mad doctor.
At least…he's not doing…color commentary. Tsukune huffed as he rose to his feet. Just one more fight to go. He felt a mixture of exhaustion and exhilaration as he looked to the opposite end of the arena where all his opponent's had come. So far, they'd all came out of the gate roaring and attacking. Maybe it was time he did the same.
Once his opponent came into view-a strapping older woman with flowing silver hair and a cold, merciless blue eyes, Tsukune launched himself at her. He watched the woman's lips curl into a smirk, then they flew open. Suddenly, all his momentum was lost and he found himself being pushed back, on top of his entire body hurting like hell, but nowhere more so than his ears. His hands flew to them, clamping over them in a futile attempt to shield them.
Ending her sonic shriek, his opponent moved in, and she was fast at it. He avoided her initial attack, but that just gave her reason to scream again. This time, it was up close, and Tsukune was hit with the full brunt of her sound-based attack. Just as quickly as he was suffering under it, he was freed from it, only he became the recipient of a barrage of punches and kicks that pushed him back. Each blow hurt leaving his whole body wrecked with pain. Finally, the combo ended with another sonic scream.
Crying out in pain, Tsukune found himself on his knees, tasting blood in his mouth and feeling it in his ears. While he panted, he heard the amused cackling of his opponent. "I'll admit, you've shown yourself to have some skill, but this is as far as you go, boy. Don't worry, even with the power of Stix, there's only so much a human can do. Tap out now and I'll put in a word for you. In fact, I may even take you on as a student, give you some refinement."
His hands moved from his ears to the floor, which he used to push himself up. Next, he got to his feet, his body brimming with pain and determination. Looking the woman in the eye, he said only one word-a word packed with all the strength and defiance he could muster. "No."
"Poor boy, fine then. Have it-" her eyes widened as she saw something he couldn't see. Whatever it was, it terrified her. Air was quickly absorbed into her mouth then expelled as she let loose another sonic shriek. As the soundwaves traveled his way, they bent the metallic floor.
BOOM!
It was like wading through water, tough but doable. Tsukune did it. He barely felt the pain that he should have from the attack. Matter of fact, he fully believed there was none. In one felt like a single step, he closed the gap between him and his opponent. Her eyes were wide with fear as her sonic scream was overpowered. The fear intensified as he slammed his fist into her gut. This time, Tsukune kept on going while pushing her down. The floor exploded into a crater as he drove his fist deeper down, punching through flesh until he hit the metal below. Everything around him vanished in an explosion of black, blue, and purple. As the glow faded, Tsukune looked down at the remains of his final opponent. Everything from her skin to her flesh to her even chunks of her bones had been incinerated leaving behind a barely recognizable corpse.
Thoughts of horror and guilt were far from his mind as he rose and looked straight up at the viewer's box. He couldn't hear them, but he could see them talking amongst themselves. He saw them through the cracked glass. He saw Dr. Konishi grab the mic in preparation to speak.
Tsukune had something to say first. "KINMARU! GET THE FUCK DOWN HERE! I DON'T WANT SOME PRIZE! I JUST WANT YOU, YOU BASTARD!"
His booming voice stunned the lot of them, a handful even expressing slight fear as his voice seemingly shook the entire arena. In its wake an eerie silence fell.
It was broken by a voice, the booming masculine voice he'd heard initiate the trio of fights he'd just finished. "Hmph! Considering you're just a kid, I'll let it slide that you think he's the one in charge of all this. That twerp could only wish he was."
Tense as a wound-up spring, Tsukune turned around to his right. Standing just a few feet from him was a man. Six feet at least dressed in a black business suit with a red tie. He radiated power and authority as befitting of someone high up on the chain of command. That was especially evident in his eyes, bright orange like raging flames. Those flames raged at him with mercy. All the moisture in his body evaporated with his very strength being next to feel the brunt of the heat. With each second that passed Tsukune felt the heat scorching him down to the bone. His gaze was locked with the older man. As his eyes roamed his black hair, he noticed how short and spiky it was. Something about it seemed familiar to him.
In the back of his mind, that familiarity connected, as did something about his facial symmetry. "Who…are you?" Given how paralyzed his lungs felt, saying those three simple words were a miracle.
"I'm Asahi Hirayami. You've gone to school with my two baby brothers, Kinmaru and Hitori." His answer seemed to cause a small heat wave to ripple across the room.
Tsukune could have sworn his knees came close to buckling. "B-B-B-Brothers?! Y-Y-Y-You're Kinmaru's brother!"
"Yeah, and believe me, I don't appreciate having to say it, but I suppose you at least deserve that much information." The disdain he held for the young oni Tsukune knew was obvious.
Speaking of which…said young oni apparently wasn't the one who'd kidnapped him and injected him with Stix. His older brother had. That realization did something to him. He stood up straighter, tightening his fist and leveling his harshest glare at the black-haired man. "You're the second Hirayama to kidnap me."
For a minute, the man's cold demeanor broke. "I see. Must have gotten that bird brain to do it. I'm sure you've met his little band of losers. I promise you, my operation is far more professional and well organized."
"Is that supposed to be a sells pitch?" Tsukune swiped. He gave a nonchalant shrug before going back to his cold glare. The differences between Ashai and Kinmaru were becoming more evident by the minute. Whereas the latter had something of a casual and relaxed mood about him that was a little accepting, the former was the opposite with only small breaks. Tsukune couldn't believe he found himself preferring the enigmatic stranger that'd air-napped him. "Whatever you want from me, forget it."
"You're talking like you've got a choice." Ashai spoke. The tightening of his fists intensified. It didn't go unnoticed by him. "You've got power, but don't think for one second it's enough to match mine. Not even close, kid. Stick with me though and-"
"I don't want this power! I never wanted any of this! You…you…you turned me into a monster!" He roared loud enough to fill the massive room. "I just wanted to go home, but you dragged me into this!" His words didn't elect any response from Ashai. All he did was continue to glare at him with that same look of cold indifference. "You-"
"I made you into a fighter, something you had the potential to be."
Tsukune froze, blinking twice at the empty space where the older Hirayama used to be. He was behind him, he could feel it. The problem was he'd not seen him move-not even a second's worth of a blur. H-He's faster than me. He realized with cold shock.
"I'll admit, my brother was right in seeing something in you. The thing is, he's an idiot who doesn't know how to tamp the potential out of what he's got. Me, on the other hand…"
"I don't…I…" Tsukune was at a complete loss at what to say, or do. His logical brain told him there was no way he was getting past this man, not without a hell of a fight. He'd been fighting on and on, so…why was this different?
"I don't know if anyone at Yōkai Academy told you, but the minute you stepped foot at that school your life stopped being normal. You walked down a path you could never turn away from, especially when you chose to stay. All things considered, it's a good thing you did. Toughing it out there, especially during summer school, made you into the perfect test subject." Ashai stated.
A surge of white-hot anger shot through him. "You bas-"
WHAM! WHAM! BAM! BAM! WHAM! BOOM!
Pain. It was something he'd experienced so much of in the last who knew how many hours. Ashai's fist though, thought him that up until now, he'd experienced nothing. The world spun around him-he could barely see, hear, taste, smell, or feel anything. They all changed in seconds though.
"Gaaarrgggh! Gaaaaahhh! Aaaarrrgggh!" Words couldn't describe the agony in his gut, the pain of fire eating away at his flesh. His hands grabbed at it to no avail. Slowly, he opened his eyes and stared down at the hard, burning thing that was lodged in his gut. It took him a few seconds to realize it was an arm, specifically an arm made of molten rock. "W-W-What…t-t-the…hell?"
A grunt drew his attention upward, there he met Ashai's bemused sneer. "Don't get so cocky. The power granted to you by Stix is great, but like I said, it's nothing compared to my power. Your black water and ice, I can melt them like they were nothing! You can call up all the power amassed in your body and I'd need less than a quarter of mine to crush it!" He pulled his fist back, only to use it to grab his throat. Tsukune squirmed in his grip feeling the superheated grasp choking his throat. The smell of flesh-his flesh-burning filled his nostrils. "Don't worry though, Tsukune. You aren't at your ceiling just yet. I'll help you reach it though."
"I…don't…not…urgh, you. I…" it was a combination of the pain lingering in his abdomen and the vice grip on his throat that stimmed his voice. His voice and his consciousness. He could have sworn that it was being burnt away by the scorching heat Ashai was still emitting.
"Let's get this cleared up, Tsukune. You don't work for Mikogami, you don't work for my brother, you work for me." His words never rose above a whisper, but they were charged with malicious determination that he attempted to hammer into his skull. Tsukune didn't want to admit it was working. "Everyone you care about, your family, your friends, especially those four little bitches so smitten with you…I can reach out and crush them whenever I want." His eyes widened at the blunt threat; he didn't question it. He could see the truth of it in Ashai's eyes. "Good, you're listening. Now then, you're going to fight. First in this arena, and then we'll see where you can go from there. Based on what I've seen…you've got a bright future ahead of you, Tsukune Aono. So does your family and friends, but it all depends on you."
He could feel himself blacking out, either from the pain, the emotional turmoil, or both. They worked together to wear down what little strength he had left. So too were Ashai's words. The faces of everyone he mentioned flashed through his mind.
"Everyone," he whispered seconds before his eyes closed and the last vestiges of strength left him.
"Urrghhh…"
"Mornin',"
"Is it morning already?"
"I don't know. I think so. I think the inability to tell time is supposed to help keep us disoriented. Hate to say it, but it seems to work. As for your question, I heard one of the guards talking, so I'm assuming it's morning."
That was the first confirmation of time he'd gotten in he didn't know how long. He thought that it could have been morning when he was led back to his ceil after his "trial" and "talk" with Ashai. Tsukune hadn't had the strength for anything other than crawling onto his bed roll and sleeping. Admittedly, a part of him wanted to sleep and wakeup believing everything he'd experienced had just been a bad dream. Waking up to the dull gray ceiling above him minus the light told him it was all real.
He was a prisoner and a slave to a yakuza crime boss, who'd also injected him with a supernatural drug.
"Tsukune," Miyumi called.
"I was wrong." He simply answered sitting up. His hand went to his stomach where Ashai had punched burned him. While the doctors treated him, he heard a few whispering about the severity of the wound. It's what had killed most of his strength. If Ashai wanted to, he could have punched through him, ironically, just as he'd killed a few of his opponents. He wondered if the oni was aware of the irony and wanted him to sit on it.
"You were wrong about what?" His cellmate called.
"About who kidnapped me. Turns out it was the brother of the person I thought, the brother who I never even knew existed." He hung his head in slight disbelief. "Man, I feel like an idiot."
"By person you mean…I heard that the boss of the Hirayama clan has a little brother."
"Yeah, Kinmaru. He goes to Yōkai Academy, though I didn't meet him until I landed myself in summer school." It dawned on him that there were a couple of things he hadn't told Miyumi. There hadn't been a need before, but now recounting his story seemed like a good way to pass the time.
"Yōkai Academy," he heard Miyumi muse. The short silence that followed told him that she knew about the school. "Tsukune, earlier you mentioned your humanity…you were originally a human, weren't you? A full-blooded human."
A knot formed in his gut. "Yeah, I…I was. Emphasis on was."
"Oh, Tsukune, I'm so sorry. I imagine that you went through a lot that Yōkai Academy. It's-"
"Not a place for a human being. Yeah, I know, Miyumi. Believe me, I lived nearly every day of my life there in terror at being exposed. All that said, I…enjoyed my time there." He felt his lips curve upward, yet he couldn't bring himself to fully smile. "I…made friends there. Friends who…friends who…"
"Based on what I've seen…you've got a bright future ahead of you, Tsukune Aono. So does your family and friends, but it all depends on you."
"Alright, inmates, time for breakfast! Just sit still and we'll slide the food trays in! You all know how this goes! For you newbies, well, this'll be your first experience in dining in Cell Block B!" Came a guard's voice.
A rumble of excitement rolled through the cell block. At the very least no one was going to be starving. Tsukune imagined that would have been counterproductive to turning them all into living weapons. They needed polishing and feeding.
"Tsukune," came Miyumi's concerned voice. "I know you've got a lot going through your mind now, but please. You need to eat. The food here isn't winning any culinary awards, but it'll keep us from starving."
"That's good enough for me, Miyumi. Besides, I'm going to need the strength for when I fight my way up to Ashai."
A new tense silence settled over him and his unseen confidant. The two of them remained quiet as the rest of their cell block broke into pre-breakfast chatter. Despite their previous discussion being centered on food, it seemed it was now the furthest thing from either of their minds.
"So," Miyumi began. "You plan on fighting your way to Ashai, huh?"
"…I'm going to kill him, Miyumi." His voice was barely above a whisper, yet he knew it was heard by his companion in the next cell. Though his power was shackled, his declaration seemed to chill the cell. "I don't care who I have to go through or what I have to do, I'm going to kill him."
"I hope you do, Tsukune, if not you, then I'm going to do that. You're not the only one who that asshole has hurt."
The kinship he felt with the unseen woman grew stronger. He took comfort in knowing that she supported his quest for vengeance. Somehow, Tsukune could simply feel the malice she held for the flame-eyed oni. It seemed to match his own, and he found comfort in that. Comfort and seeming strength. Tsukune knew he was going to need even more power to accomplish his goal.
He got stronger through fighting, and here he was trapped in a series of brutal battles. They'd help him grow. He'd grow strong, and once he was strong enough he was going to put his fist through Ashai's gut.
Tsukune would do it, even if it were the last thing he'd do.
Quite a dark chapter, huh? After the tease last chapter, I decided to go all out in showing what happened to Tsukune to show how he might have ended up as he did at the end of last chapter. Speaking of endings, this chapter was originally supposed to end with Ririko seeing him in one of his arena fights and that being the cliffhanger for this chapter. Instead, we got a declaration of bloody vengeance from our now very much physically and mentally transformed protagonist.
Now then, regarding Tsukune…let's get a few things out of the way. Let me start with saying I'm not going to take Tsukune entirely down a grim dark direction. He's still going keep major aspects of his canon character, but he's going to have to fight to hold onto some of them. His time in Wakamoto Stadium is going to be his darkest point in the story and he's going to have to struggle to rise above it. I'm sure you can guess who's going to be helping him do that. Similar to the Summer School Arc, this arc is going to involve Tsukune building himself up, albeit in this chase he's going to be building himself back up after what he goes through as an enslaved fighter. For whatever reason, the idea of Tsukune becoming some type of fighter always tickled me, maybe because it's such an opposite of what he is in canon and for him to be thrown into a situation like that would have to be pretty extreme.
Next up, obviously, Tsukune has not become a vampire. As of this chapter he is no longer human. Stygian is an adjective that refers to anything coming from the River Styx of Greek mythology. It can also simply refer to anything relating to the underworld just like the word chthonian. The word can also refer to anything black or dark in color. Both definitions will come into play in this story as Stygian be a classification of monster-particularly a monster either from or related to the underworld. As central players in this story, I'm going to show what sort of abilities they have over the course of this arc as they're going to be recurring monsters for obvious reasons.
I had Tsukune go through a lot of blackouts this chapter, something I'm not entirely happy with, but went with. This was one of those chapters where the POV character slips in and out of consciousness. Another thing was I wanted it to be somewhat ambiguous how time is passing between the chapter jumps. This chapter occurred near simultaneous to the previous one up until the ending. The next chapter will make things clearer, as well as move the story along.
Given the heavy focus on fighting, I threw a couple of fighting game references into this chapter. Particularly toward the end with Tsukune's last three opponents, I based them all off of Mortal Kombat characters (MK 1 is looking incredible so far); I think who they were based on is pretty obvious, albeit one is a little obscure. Finally, I slid in a shout-out Nicolas Cage's Ghost Rider since I felt that scene with Ashai just fit perfectly. Speaking of Ashai, one of the overarching villains of this story has officially been revealed, and I hope he made quite an impression. He's a very different character in contrast to Kinmaru, and Gyokuro who'll be butting heads with him when Fairy Tale enters the scene.
That's all to say for now. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to the next one! Until next time, keep safe, readers!
