The tower, FL: ?, morning
I was sitting in silence, my room just as silent. I sat flat on my knees. If anyone were to see me, they would be thinking I'm praying, which isn't untrue but I ain't praying to god though. I got up from the ground, dusting off my pants. "Well, I'm off mother." Opening the door let in some cool air, it felt good. "Don't worry mother, I'll come back victories." I shut the door behind me gently, I didn't want to disturb the atmosphere here. After giving it a few seconds, I shifted gears. "All right Masaru, let's go," I told myself as I walked down the corridor...
The tower, FL: 2, morning, one day before the execution
"Hermes!" *bang* Iori's Persona zoomed towards the enemy. Its fist made contact with the white worm's side, shortly after, an explosion impacted against it, making the demon die off in one go...
"Another burnt worm, another victory for me," Iori celebrated. "Don't let your guard down, there are more of them." "And if more of them come back, I'll just burn them to bits." "Just make sure you kill them more quickly, we can't waste any time." This Nidhogger demon was a minor distraction from our present objective. I was trying to find the tracks we picked before. I don't know how old they are but they were something at the very least. There were four different tracks, can't say for certain that it belongs to the group Kazuki is with so we're heading in with uncertainty in the forefront of our heads...
"Shizuka-san, are they his tracks," Yuki asked me, crouching down to the ground. "I don't know, I don't want to throw the possibility out of the window, but plausibility is to be taken with a grain of salt." "So do we follow it?" Considering that there would be a zero percent chance of that infiltration team, odds of this actually leading us to them would be at least to a good 50% or maybe more. "We're going to continue to follow it." "Sounds good." Yuki got up from the floor, his legs buckled down for a moment. "Yuki, are you alright?" "Yes, I am fine, just a bit exhausted." Yuki might have been modest on his exhaustion. While we were scaling the first floor, I caught onto something: Yuki was pretty weak. It seemed he was still able to summon his Persona but it seemed like it was impossible for him to switch Personas, and to the matter of his original Persona, it's not really powerful but he should be able to handle small time enemies. However, his body is as weak as his Persona; I guess his Persona is evidence of that.
"Listen, how are you feeling now?" "I feel quite fine, even if I'm not, I have no choice but to keep going." He walked alongside the tracks, using his scabbard to help him walk. I heard he was able to use different Personas, I guess they did something to him while he was here, experimentation probably...
Following the tracks didn't lead us to anyone yet, the desert was vast, so who knows how long it'll take for us to find Kazuki.
"God, it's so hot," Iori vented, flapping his hat at himself. "I know, I think I'm going to drop dead," Takeba added on. "Just don't think about it, think of somewhere cool." The one place I could think of was the manga cafe with it's at least above average air conditioning. I remember Kazuki taking me there one time, it was such a foreign shop to me. Thinking back on it now, it was odd on my first visit...
9/6 Sun, Manga cafe, Port island strip mall, Morning
"Kazuki?" "Yeah?" "The protagonist in this book uninteresting." "I told you." "Furthermore, the fights in this are also anti-climatic." "Yep, you gonna have to expect that with that type of manga." "And there's also the matter of all the female character fawning over the main character. I don't get the main attraction to him other than his strength. It just makes no sense." "It's basically to self-insert yourself." "That sounds pretty boring." "It is." I had closed the manga, I put it back where I found it. "Is there anything better than that?" "Well...there are some pretty good shonens' that have good stories, let me go find some." Kazuki walked over to the shonen area. I continued to look around the area I was, trying to find something interesting. "Hm?" I saw something that caught my eye. I grabbed the manga in interest, the cover art was drawn in a style that makes it look like like a clear but messy painting of a character on the cover; it had the feeling of a tragic story was to unfold. "Interesting." I opened the manga and began reading...
"..." "Yo Shizuka, I found stuff that might interest you. Oh, what are you reading?" "..." "Um, Shizuka? You there?" I was entranced by the manga to the where I wasn't even responding to Kazuki. "Must be pretty good, let me read with you." He had knocked his head next to mine just so he can read the pages. As we continued to read the pages, the manga was already catching my attention with its main character. He wasn't as interesting in the beginning but that's what I found interesting about him. The author must've wanted us to get a glimpse of his average normal life, only for us to see the life he'll later lose.
As I kept reading, it got to the part where the protagonist's tragedy happens... I closed the book. "I'm buying this." "All right then, let's buy you a manga..."
The tower, FL:2,?
Remembering back at that time was...strange to me. It's strange since-
"Hm?" I sidestepped from where I was. In sheer seconds, 6 knives stuck into place, all of them lined up, not even an inch off. "Where the hell did those come from," Iori yelled as he was getting his sword ready. Takeba took out her bow and an arrow. I, on the other hand, picked up the knife. Upon inspection, I saw a familiar engraving on the handle of the knife. I used sensory ability to find our knife-wielding friend.
"Found you." I threw the knife at the enemy with lighting quick reflexes. "Nice dodge but you can come out now; it would be rather annoying if I need to keep throwing these to fight you." The enemy came behind from the humongous rib cage.
There were two enemies that stood out. They were wearing the same mask as me. Which means...
"Oh crap. Everyone, use your Personas on them if they get close to you!" Takeba and Iori surrounded Yuki. I took out the two swords I had resting on my waist. Two masks charged for me but they split when they were four feet in front of me. They reappeared behind me, just as I knew they would. I immediately turned around, slashing at the arms first. I got one of both of their arms. I tried to go for their heads but they moved out of the way. They drove the tip of their fingers at me. Their fingernails are sharp enough to rip through me in one go. I ducked down, I then slashed at both of their stomachs while moving away from them. I pulled out my Evoker, summoning my Persona. It had called down a bolt of lightning to vaporize the both of them...
"That was too easy." And it would've been had it not been for the enemies coming out of the dust cloud unscathed. What's more, they both kicked me with a great amount of force; I needed to stab both of my swords into the ground to stop my body from moving backwards. Their kicks literally knocked the air out of me, the area where I was hit was pounding heavily.
"Damn, I thought I had burned them to ashes." The two then proceeded to pick up their detached arms, putting them at the point of where they were cut off. They began to attach themselves back on...
"I guess this means I need to burn everything." I put my evoker to my head. *Bang* Thunder came crashing down on them. I can sense that they're still alive and I anticipated that, so I began to dash over to them. The Ziodyne attack was merely a diversion for them. I jumped towards them, spinning my body around along with the blades. "HYAAA!" *Slash* I had hit my mark, I had cut at the enemies' eyes, then, in a burst of a second, I cut both of their arms legs off, immobilizing them completely. There was still the risk of them being able to regenerate their bodies. "This time, I'll burn both of you to a crisp." I called down lightning one last time, this time, with enough force to destroy a building. When the lightning made contact, it made a clap-like impact, it was almost amazing. After that attack, I didn't feel them, they were destroyed.
"*Pant*" "*Pant*" That a lot more energy out of me more than I would've wanted... I looked over to the others, they seemed to have taken out their opponents as well. "Is everyone oka-" I felt an intense bloodlust coming straight at me. I blocked with both my swords. One of them broke after the attack, but I wouldn't have noticed that the enemy missed if my sword didn't break.
"Nice reflex, though, if I'm being honest, Shizu-chan, you've gotten a bit slower." I knew who that voice belonged to. "You didn't expect to see me any here, did you, Shizu-chan?" It was Ichirou. "Ah, I see you brought an ensemble of colorful people. Didn't think you would be able to score friends, that means you left me in the dust, sister." "Wait, huh," Iori fumbled on his words, dumbfounded. "A sister?" Makoto repeated what Ichirou said. I wasn't going to elucidate upon this because...
"*Chuckling*" Ichirou let out a childish laugh under her breath. Then, out of the blue, she let her childish laughter elevated to out loud laughter. "Hahahah, oh, oh man, I got you guys good didn't I?" She was laughing at her little joke as if she was a regular trickster.
"Huh?" "What's going on?" Iori and Takeba were utterly confused about the sudden turn of events. "She was messing with you all." "Th-that's right, I'm not her sister," Ichirou laughed in between her words. "I cannot believe that you guys fell for it. Oh, boy!" He kept laughing on for a little while longer until she finally started to calm down. "Okay, okay, I'm calm now...*Deep sigh*" She put her hands on her hips and peered over to me.
"Shizuka, I came here for you, master wants to see you; he was extremely upset when you left us you know." "You act as if I care. I don't desire to see him and you already know that." "Perhaps, I just thought if I told you'd consider it, but I guess that was dumb of me, huh?" "It was." I walked over to Ichirou, passing her without issue. "Shizuka, I won't let you go yet." She grabbed my arm, tightening her grip. "What are you doing, I thought we were done here," I asked her, trying to break out of her grip but it proved difficult, she's much stronger than before.
"We're done we I say we're done, and..." I heard a shot go off, and a shadow was overhead of us. It was Hermes. Ichirou caught the fist that was coming towards her. "So, there are other Persona users out there. This one, in particular, is cool looking but not impressive!" She slammed the Persona into the ground and so after, driving her fist through its chest, destroying it in one shot. "ARGGHHH!" Iori cried out in pain. "Now you pink, summon yours." When Takeba took her Evoker out, I jumped up to the air, I used my legs to get a hold on Ichirou's head, bring her down to the floor. *Thud* "Don't summon yet," I yelled to Takeba. "Oh my Shizuka, you're playing a bit rough, but I don't mind." She got back up to the floor despite the added weight to her head. "Go long Shizuka!" Ichirou threw me as if I was nothing, naturally, I landed on my feet.
"Iori are you alright?" "Yeah, I'm fine!" He slouching his back, using his sword to himself up. "Who the hell is this person?" "That doesn't matter, we just need to break through her." "Then what are we waiting for, let's get'em." Iori charged in with his Katan. "Wait for me!" Iori swung his sword at Ichirou but all she did was take a step to her left. He kept up his barrage, Ichirou kept moving back or to her sides. "As I said about your Persona: it looks cool but lacks strength. The same goes for you, you lack the skills for this gig!" She caught his blade. "Now it's time to put an end to this farce." She lifts him up to the air, then drags him back down to the ground with a force greater than what a human can handle. I had my Persona shoot lightning at Ichirou. With all her attention on Iori, it was able to make contact. Iori was laid out on the ground, taken back a bit from the sudden shock to him but its better than getting slammed to the ground.
"That was sneaky, very sneaky Shizu-chan," Ichirou criticized. "But that's what I expect out of you: hitting the unexpecting opponent. But let's not get into that now." "I'm not here for you, so I'm not gonna fight you." "But I'm not going to let you pass, so you have no choice but to fight me." "Actually, I don't need to. Not now at least." I put away my swords and I picked up Iori by his jacket. He was wobbling around but he was able to walk. "I'm not gonna fight you now Ichirou." I went up to her, looking down at her. "We'll settle this another time, but not now. But until then, tell that man he'll see me when I want him to." She let me pass her this time.
"Shizuka, are you really betting on your ginny pig to pull off this crazy stunt?" I just kept walking, not answering her question...
The tower, FL: 2, morning
Pant* *Pant* *Pant* I ran all the way here, carrying all this crap and running was a pain in the ass. When I stopped, I saw a giant case of steps. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me." "You're out of shape bro," Ko said. "No, I'm not, I'm just tired." I mean, I consider myself pretty fit, in fact, I'd say I have plenty of muscle, yeah! "Um, are we going up bro?" Huh, oh yeah. "Well, at least they're not big steps.
A few moments later
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" I jumped up the last step like I was bed spring that suddenly got pressed down on. I was breathing heavier than when I was running here. "I-I hate this place so much right now." Those stairs we real torture. When I was done breathing all the air I can, I saw a road leading straight ahead. But more notably, the road had an overall grayish-white to it while it had these lined patterns that are golden-yellow. There were building (probably houses) that were acting as a wall for that whole road.
"Smell anything dangerous Ko." "I don't know, there is a smell but it's a pretty complicated smell." "Guess we'll have to see what it is." I walked down the way. It was, to say the least, a pretty long path. I reached the end of the path. There is was a fountain in the center of the two different paths. In front of me was an alter object up ahead from the fountain. And on that alter was her.
"Fuuka." I walked down over to her. "Kazuki-bro, her smell is weird." "What does that mean." "That means she has a scent of a demon, not human." "Could it be from her Persona?" "No, then it would be the same scent as you, or nearly identical." So it's probably a demon in disguise. I'd hate to admit he's right but if he says so then...
"Ko, are you sure, like one-hundred percent certain?" "Yes." "Okay then." I swallowed hard, knowing that my next move could be wrong. "Persona." Skeith rocketed over to her, a fist aiming for her. I heard the fist make an impact but, she was still standing there. "She caught the attack," Ko confirmed. "Very impressive human, you were able to see through this disguise." Her form began to change shape into something bigger, something that had a larger figure. The torse had six-packs on them, bigger than any I've seen. But it's head was the thing that stuck out the most. It had a minotaur on its head.
"I am the guardian of this dead city, Minotaur! Allow us to skip formalities and let us battle." Minotaur threw my Persona into the fountain. It then jumped towards Skeith. I had him withdraw. The demon's attention was turned to me. It quickly threw its fist at me, and with some last-second reflex, I turned my body to dodge the attack. But this came at the cost of the attack ripping my bag open. "Shit." "Ugahhhh!" Ko was swinging by the torn pieces of the bag, trying to hold on as tightly as he could. I took the bag off. "Stay here, and keep protecting that box!" Ko nodded his head. "Persona!" Skeith punched the demon but the demon dodged and grabbed Skeith by the arm, pulling him forward and punching it.
"Ughh!" The damage was sent over to me. If felt like a whole was in my chest, and just from that one punch. Its strength was great.
"Okay then, let's crank this up a notch." My body was feeling good, the soreness through my whole body was gone. "Yep, I'd say this cuts it." With a second of relaxation, I reflexively switched on Shadow-mog. "Oh yeah, now that feels right." Now we were cooking with gas. "You have an interesting aura coming from you now. No matter, that alone will not beat me." Minotaur jumped into the air. "Not this time." I jumped to the air as well. I thrust my shoulder to its chest, stopping it in its tracks. I turned my body around so I could kick its face. It was sent crashing to the ground. I landed two seconds after it. And without delay, the demon shot out fire from its mouth. Being quick on the draw, I hastily jumped to the air. I was descending back down just as fast as I got up here. However, when I was, I spun my body while I stuck my right leg out. It had struck Minotaur's head, and in addition to that, shutting its mouth closed. And the second I landed I started punching it with my left hand. After enduring an onslaught of attacks, it caught my arm. It tried to retaliate by punching me but I caught it with my other hand.
"A stand off it seems." "Not quite!" I lifted my feet up to his face. I pressed both of my feet against it. Its grip on me weakened. I got my hands freed and delivered two swift punches. I then grabbed it by the arm. I used all the strength in my body to toss this thing to the ground. I pined both of its arms on the ground with my feet. "Sorry about this." My fist was like a comet coming down to its face. Before I could hit it, the Minotaur's mouth opened, I thought it was going to shoot fire, but it didn't. Instead, it let out a roar that would be able to shake mountains. It was so loud enough to knock me away from it. I was rolling on the floor like a plastic bag rolling in the wind (okay, that was a weird one).
"Human, your strength is great. However, this battle has only begun and I intend to mingle in this battle just a little longer." The Minotaur's muscles began to expand in size, air started to come out of his nostrils. "Kazuki-bro, he's charging up for an attack!" Crap, I can feel its power rising. This demon was ready to attack. "Labrys strike!" It whipped its head left and right. I saw something coming but I was too late to react to it. A cut suddenly appeared on my shoulder. I jumped to my left, another cut appeared on my leg. "Oni-Kagura!" It lung itself towards me, his horns colored red. I grabbed its horns but it just threw me with them. It then shot fire at me. I took off my hoodie before the fire hit and threw away from me. When the flames hit me the intensity of the flames were surreal, luckily, shadow-mog made it so that I won't have my skin damaged so easily by fire but it still hurt like hell. "Tch!" I took out my sword. "Ocean's stream!" I shot it at Minotaur who took it on. My body crashed to the ground, a bit of smoke coming off my body.
"Ow, that hurt like hell!" Seriously, I'm just lucky my hair is still in one piece and my clothes as well. "Y-you! You broke my horn!" Minotaur's horn was broken off in its hands. Wait, this could be my chance. I'm gonna end this in one last strike.
I heard Minotaur take a deep breath, it was getting ready to breathe fire again. And as expected, it spat out fire, but what I didn't expect was it letting out a loud ass roar again. It was louder than last time, I thought my eardrums were gonna burst. It was painful even after it was done; I felt like my head was gonna explode. My ears weren't the in the greatest shape but even I could hear a monstrous stomp when it's coming from in front of me. Minotaur was saying something but I couldn't hear him. All I know is that it was threw its fist at me, and I felt that it would be his most devastating strike. I needed to figure some way to dodge this attack at this distance or else I'm really gonna die.
Without thinking about doing, and it was like it was on autopilot, but my leg just suddenly lifted itself up and kicked the demon's wrist with a ridiculous amount of force. "Huh!?" The punch flew over my head, missing me by a couple of feet, yet, I still felt the pressure of the attack. And without warning, I quickly delivered a kick to Minotaur's face with the same amount of force I did with the wrist. I moved on to its leg. I simply pressed down on the demon's kneecap. "ARRRGHHH," the demon let out a sharp cry as I crushed its kneecap. And for the final touch, I used my sword to slash down through Minotaur.
"*Gasping* I have been defeated, bested by a child. So be it, I have been taken out by a mighty warrior like yourself." He began to crack apart until he split apart into pieces...
"*Pant* *Pant* *pant*" I dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. I turned off Shadow-mog, didn't want to waste it.
"Bro, did you beat it," Ko asked as he walking over to me with the metal box in hand. "Yeah, I beat it." "I knew you could do it. Also bro, can I check your body." "Go ahead doc." "Is that my nickname?" "I mean, I can't really shorten your name or anything, so Kid doc is kind of cool, right?" "Yeah, it's totally cool!" "Then you are hereby nicknamed: Kid doc!"
I could call him K, but then it would sound as if I'm saying my own name. Ko healed the slash wound on my leg and shoulder. Ko's healing magic was pretty strong, most of my wounds would be gone in an instant. I would have to say it's a step up from Yukari's (though hers isn't bad, it just Ko's is a bit more potent).
"Your skin is fine, just chard, but if you would've kept that jacket on it would've soaked most of the flames," Ko stated. "Yeah, that's true, if I kept the hoodie on it would've taken the damage. But it would've been burned to a crisp." I picked it up from the ground dusting it off and waving it around in the air. "This jacket is pretty special to me." I threw on the jacket on. I looked ahead, the giant object didn't seem too far off.
"We could go over there by ourselves, but I think we should get back with everyone else," I said, slinging my hands to the back of my head. If there was gonna be another guardian for this floor like there was with the first one, it would be better if I had a team to work with. I know I don't have all the time in the world right now but what Ko told me before was right, I shouldn't rush into danger half-cocked.
"Yo, Ko, we're gonna go find the other, okay?" "Okay, but what about your stuff?" Oh yeah. I glanced at my bag, the thing was torn to shreds. Anything that was in there (save the metal box Ko is holding) was destroyed. "Welp, at least there was nothing important in there." "No, I mean how am I supposed to be carried," Ko abruptly said. "You could walk." "But then my feet will burn off!" "You probably just don't want to walk." "No, I swear. If I walk on it, I'll probably sink in too." I don't think he was that short but it could probably happen...maybe.
"All right, I'll let you ride on my hoodie for a while longer, but after this floor, you're gonna start walking." "Deal." Ko climbed to my hood. I can feel the weight going to my shoulders. "*Sniff* *Sniff*" "What, smell something." "Yes, I smell something. It smells like you." "Um..." "I meant that they might have a Persona because they have the same scent as you. But it has something else to it..."
I heard something, something coming fast, something coming closer to us. Where is it coming from? "*Sniff*" Ko suddenly jerked his head up. "Something is coming at us from the sky!" I looked up, there was a blue object coming at an alarming rate. I ran away from my spot. When it was getting closer to the ground, I was able to make it out. It was a blue flame. When it hit the ground, the heat was so much that it was unbelievable. Minotaur's flames paled in comparison to this; it was like a bomb went off and the flames were the dust clouds made from it. The flames finally calmed down. Footsteps were echoing through, it was the only noise other than the crackling of the fire.
"Took you long enough to make it here, and I thought you were gonna keep me waiting." I knew that voice. "Katsu." "The one and only." We both didn't make any sudden movements, it was as if making one would be a fatal mistake...
"Hey," Katsu said. "Why you so tensed, we're not gonna duke it out here. We're going somewhere else more open." Katsu turned his head to his left and right. "Damn, you and that demon sure did tear through this area. It's cool though, not like this city was being used anyway." "What is this place then?" "It's like an obstacle course, it seems like it was used for something important but really, it's really just an area where climbers go to hide in the safe zone." "So this place is just a prop?" "Yep, of course. Really though, you can find some good loot here if you look through this place but it's whatever to me. Plus, the safe zones really aren't all that safe, the people in them call them that mainly cause they think they'll be able to keep themselves safe in there. But in reality, any demon as strong as Minotaur could break in there and kill them all, or I could." "Do they?" "Nah, only the small fry do, and it would be like hitting a child."
Katsu pointed his fist towards the giant pillar. "We'll fight there." "Isn't there a boss of this floor? Wouldn't it pretty inconvenient if I had to fight two enemies at once." "Yeah, I thought of that, so I did something about it." Katsu took out a key from his pocket, it was dangling from a lace that runned through it.
"You see, the boss monster always has a key on them. So you see, now we don't need to worry about a thing." He pocketed it and began to walk off over to the destroyed alter. "Come on, it'll be faster if you follow me." "Wait, I have other people with me." "I don't care about them, the only thing that matters is our fight. Besides, if they're strong enough, they'll come to the door by themselves. Now come on, we don't got all day."
Katsu jumped off the of where the altar was. There was something off with Katsu here. Out of the three times I've seen him. there was something different about him now; something more powerful. "Kazuki-bro, he's dangerous." "I know, but we don't have a choice, I need that key." I edged over to the end of the road, Katsu was waiting for me. Staring down here would be not as unnerving if I didn't feel this overall pressure on my back.
"(Okay Kei, you got this!)" I slapped my cheeks, trying to reaffirm my resolve, I need to do what my heart tells me;and it's saying to go.
"Let's go Ko." "O-okay."
...
"Okay, we're here." Katsu and I arrived at the place where we're gonna fight. "Alright now, who makes the first move," Katsu asked. "Guess it'll be me-" Out of the blue, there was a loud sound that echoed out loud. "Huh?" "What the hell was that?" "Umm..." I knew where the sound came from, from me. More specifically: my stomach.
"Was that...your stomach?" "Y-yes." This was so damn humiliating, we were having a serious tension-filled moment and my stomach ruined it. "You didn't eat anything," Katsu asked. "Yeah, all my food was in my bag, and before that got destroyed, all of it was gone." I glanced back at Ko who was trying to fain innocents.
"You aren't serious, are you?" "Sorry, but I really am dying of hunger here. You don't happen to have something, do you?" Katsu stared dumbfounded at me for a moment then he snickered to himself. "You're a pretty odd guy. Fine, I guess it can't be helped." Katsu went over to a pillar right next to me. It seemed like he was digging something up...
He presented a plastic bag in front of me. "Go on, take it. I promise it won't kill you." I took the bag from his hands, cautious, I opened the bag slowly. Inside was a plastic see-through box, and inside was some food. "Whoa! This looks so good! Are you sure I can have this?" "Yeah, no sense on fighting someone who isn't even able to muster up the energy to fight." I opened up the box, poking at the food with the fork that was inside. "If you're sure about this..." I dug into the food, tearing it apart with the fork.
"This is so good!" "Better be, I cooked the damn thing." "Wait, you can cook?" "Yeah, can't you?" "Yeah, but this beats mine out the water." I could do basic dishes but nothing this good. The way the sauce was poured on the pork was excellent, there wasn't too much, but enough. It helped enrich the flavor to high heaven.
"Yo Katsu?" "What?" "You're acting less mean." "What are you talking about?" "You know, you would either be throwing insults or just trying to be threatening." "Oh, I didn't notice." Katsu turned his head away from me. It was quiet, but I heard him say, "Did I sound that dumb?" If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was trying to be scary.
"I have another question." "What?" "Why do you want to fight me so badly? What makes me special?" "Hmm... It's not that you're special, but rather because I haven't beaten you, so I need to defeat you. And no, I don't care about being the strongest person in the world so you don't have to worry about hearing about that from me." "So what? You're doing it for the sake of just not wanting to be defeated?" "No, but what's the point in telling you, it's not like it'll matter."
Katsu walked off ahead off ahead of me but stopped mid-way. "And Kazuki, why I'm acting a tad bit more serious. It's because I don't plan on underestimating you and screwing around, I plan on being serious about this fight; because this is my last chance."
I finished up my food. I threw the box on the floor. "I can agree with you on one thing: this battle should be taken seriously. I got someone to save so I can't screw around either. I plan to hit you with all I got!" "Good." I took out my sword from the scabbard. I threw away. I took a stance. All Katsu did was put his hands in his pocket. "Let's do this Kazuki, our last serious fight!"
The winds of the desert was the only thing that was making noise. My foot felt heavy, my hands tensed up. Why am I getting nervous, I've beaten this guy before, I can do it again.
"..."
"..."
That brief moment of silence, a moment that was one of the determining aspects to a showdown was finally ended after Ko sneezed. I rushed in towards Katsu. The battle had begun...
The tower, FL: 2, Prop city, morning
I followed the trail left behind chasing whatever he saw. When I entered the city, I saw someone walking about, so I thought about following them. There's also the note of the city being kind of weird on how it's designed. Most of the buildings were placed in such a way that it was pretty inclosed; almost like a maze. I had entered a building empty. There were no decorations or anything of note. But I saw the figure come in here, so where could they be hiding.
"Finally, we meet, at last, Ryota." "*Gasping*" This voice. It was clear, firm, but at the same time, it was soft. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. "Master?" She said nothing, I saw the look on her face, it told me everything I ever needed to know.
"Master, you're here." "Yes, I am." She was wearing a white cap that was covering her whole body and the hood was lifted up. "Master." "Yes" Ryota?" Without thinking about anything else, threw my lift fist at her as hard and as fast as I could. She caught it with her left hand without any trouble whatsoever. The strength behind that punch would've destroyed anyone else, but not her. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO IT!?" She wasn't flinching or emoting, just standing there, holding my fist. "Is that what you came all the way here for, just to ask me that question?" "No, it was to kill you! But I wanna know why. Why did you kill all of our unit?"
She still remained silent. She pulled me over towards her by dragging my fist. She then placed her knee right for my guts. *thump* "UGH!" The hit made me want to puke. But that wasn't the end of it. I tried to retaliate but she just grabbed the fist I aimed at her by grabbing it with the other hand.
"Is this the best you got." I was going to rebuttal but before I could, she let go of my fist just so she can land some blows of her own. It was two swift palm strikes to my face followed up by two other strikes, one to my stomach the other to my chin. She then slammed me down to the ground with hand on my neck. My back was in pain of all things. She hadn't lost her touch. She stepped away from; she was inviting me to get back up. And to nobodies surprise, I got up. "Master, this weapon is for you." I clapped my hands together to summon an energy weapon, or rather, several. I summoned knives to my hand. I threw them at her, and she dodged them by ducking and striding. I kept throwing them at her until I caught her by throwing two different pairs at her from below and over her. It seemed as if she was trapped. And without wasting time, I summoned the bastard sword, vertically dragging it down towards her. "It's over!" I had trapped her in one position, a position that would be advantage worthy for me. So why, why was she still able to close the distance in the blink of an eye. No, how and why did I underestimate her skills? I thought I had her trapped but no, she had me cornered. She was able to escape my trap by shifting her body and pressing against the wall behind her, but she did it in a way where she would be able to get on her feet once she wanted to. And as for me, she swiftly and gracefully disarmed me by separating my hands. She then grabbed my arm. And not before long, she brought down her other arm's elbow on my arm, breaking it.
"ARRRGGGHHH!" I grabbed my broken arm as I was yelling and squirm from the pain. "Ryota, this fight is over, and so is your mission." Master dropped something. It was a key. "Take that, it let you out of the tower." "W-what?" "I'm saying go home Ryota. In your current state, you'll just die here." "No, I won't." It was difficult to speak with all this pain in my mind. "I won't stop, I won't run from you. I promised myself that I would one day kill you, that I would avenge my fallen comrades. And even with this broken arm, I'll still beat you, so you can take your key back!"
Master sighed to herself. "I see, so this is your resolve, is it?" "Yes!" "But what about your feelings, are you showing all the feelings that you want to convey to me?" "What?" She got down on her legs and placed her gaze onto me. Her eyes...sky blue, her eyes were always so clear, almost like the blue sky I used to see in books.
"Ryota, you have the strength but you lack something else that all real soldiers have." "What I lack? What are you talking about?" She closed her eyes and got up from the ground. "That is something you must discover on your own because it is something only you can figure out." As she walked away from me, she stopped to say one last thing. "I'll be waiting for you at the last floor of this tower, and when we fight I want you to know your true feelings and gain what real soldiers have." "And if I don't?" "Then you will never be able to fulfill your mission." And with that, she walked out on me. I was left lying on the ground, beaten and broke. "(Echoing) Ryota!" Hisoka, I wonder where he was. Sounds like he wasn't far from me. Goof, I'll just rest here for a while. No, I had to go after her! Try as I might, I wasn't able to lift myself up, I just felt weak...
"Ryota, what the hell happened to you!?" Hisoka was in the building now, yelling for answers. I wanted to answer him but I felt weak from the pain. "Hey, stay with me, don't you dare drift off to sleep. All that yelling wasn't gonna help. Without even trying to fight it anymore, I shut my eyes closed. The last thought or rather image on my mind before I lost consciousness was master and the rest of the Desert Hound unit...