February chapter up! My job makes this way too easy…

thanks to any and all once again for reading! Let me know what you think!

The metallic peal that rang would call out to any man, beast, Noah, or akuma that hadn't heard the sound of the first clash. If that wasn't enough, Daisya caught up to the ball before it even hit the ground from his first kick and gave it a second. Nobody could miss that at the speed he hit it. Wind gusts would have to work to catch him.

By now the ground was soaked, the rumble of thunder mid-distant and approaching. His limbs went like pistons as he ploughed forward over slick leaves, skidding from heel to heel and never slowing. Thank God or whatever that he had the Charity Bell activated. As thin as the trees were, he'd be smacking into them without the light that flared off around it.

Now if only he could figure out how that worked! Maybe he'd be able to use it as a weapon, you know, blinding people, and all that. For now he was just glad to have visibility.

Daisya chased after the ball like it was the last kids' match before tourist season. He didn't have anything worry about if he just kept moving.

He'd survived worse.

There was more reason to keep driving his Innocence forward than just the lighting. Each time he made contact he let it ring just a little, enough to reach out to anything within a couple of hundred metres.

The forest didn't echo so much. Living wood was flexible, it didn't rattle around. Metal, though, sounded like nobody's business. It was that idea that made him so good against Level Ones. The Bell would tell him where his enemies were before he came into their range.

Hand, foot, hand, foot, Daisya kept the extra movements to a minimum. You couldn't be flailing around at the start of a game and expect to still be that fast at the end.

It sounded like the akuma were gathered together someplace close by. He'd have to time this carefully. Keeping up with the Bell at a dead run meant anyone shooting would be aiming for him in the flashing, splashing rain, and missing, too. That only helped him so far. If enough akuma aimed at the same spot, they didn't need to be accurate.

Best he could do was hit them from as far out as possible. The pitch black of night would blend in with his cloak. The rainfall was going to hide his footsteps. When push came to shove, he could hide against one of these tree trunks but, damn it, he wasn't that skinny anymore! It'd leave him way too exposed. Nah. That would be a last-ditch kind of thing.

His breath was humming in his ears. He had to be careful not to tire out and get stuck with bad reflexes late in the game. They were right on the doorstep now. He could hear them. Once he saw the first face, it was going to be too late.

Yeah, he could do this.

Daisya kept his eyes forward and tried to keep calm.

The Bell was coming back to him now, bouncing from trunk to trunk like a pinball. The glow around it was strong enough to leave an afterimage zigzagging like lightning behind it.

Here went nothing!

Daisya leapt, grabbing a branch overhead for a fulcrum as he kicked with the full force of a pivot. The kick would've jarred his ankle if he'd been even a tiny bit off, but Daisya wasn't the best for nothing, and the screaming metal ball changed direction like a comet going back to space.

As he came to the top of the swing he twisted. Both arms spread out for balance, he landed sideways on the ground with knees already bent to peel off to one side of the bunched akuma. They'd look for him coming along the Bell's path, not this way. They wouldn't notice when he ran circles around them.

Daisya took running off before both his heels could touch down.

It was harder to navigate in this stage of the fight, without the light skimming ahead of him. Daisya found himself flinching at every shadow as his eyes adjusted. Hell, half the time he was just going by sound and feel. It forced him to drop back his speed. Well, he didn't want to slip on anything! The fact that his chest was starting to hurt was only part of the problem.

There was still his connection to his Innocence bouncing around his sense of space, telling him how close he could find each akuma. So what if he wasn't as good as Marie, not even after all this time he spent doing whatever he told him to practice. He was good enough. The sounds rippled in his mind around their slow bodies like a stream around pebbles. Almost there…

Huh.

There were more of them than he expected. That would be a problem—for somebody else. Daisya was good, and dusting akuma was what he was good at. Trying to figure out those Innocence puzzles always ended up in pain or—aaargh—telling some embarrassing juvenile story to a bunch of ghosts that one time.

Things went better when he just shut up and kicked the snot out of them. Besides, with the blood leaving his head for his legs, he was floating on a high.

Turning in place, the shapes at the centre of his circle reacted to something they didn't need to chase. The signals he got from the Innocence and the akuma had overlapped in a perfect circle of sound. He heard a smattering of gunshots. Followed by a barrage. The Charity Bell would've cut through them while they were busy firing at an untouchable target.

Each one that it hit, he felt like a chest cough.

Time to blow their joint.

Still stepping from patch to patch of twigs and last fall's old rubble, Daisya let the resonance grow within him. This had to be a killing blow. He didn't know when Kanda would be back to pick off the rest.

The humming that was always in the back of his mind, at least when he was activated, rattled his ribcage. He had to hold off. Just a little bit more...

When the ringing crescendo hurt his teeth, Daisya let it go.

At the edge of his range, the akuma's metal shells snapped like rubber. Like no metal was ever designed to. He counted eight explosions, all unseen. At least twice that many were still kicking.

Daisya shifted from a jog back into a run for the next stage. He'd hit the same attack from the side this time, ninety degrees up, then skirt around the whole group to come back at them across from his position here. Right back to where he started. Simple. The best part was, they'd never get it! Level Ones didn't go in for that high-level thinking.

It was hard to tell whether the explosions hurt his ears or if the thunder was on top of them. His head was starting to go numb.

Well, the rain definitely fell harder than it did five minutes ago. With his pace he was cutting through it sideways before it had a chance to hit the ground. Daisya could feel each drop spatter across his face.

Hah. If the lightning didn't come in time, he'd give it to them himself!

A faint—only faint with all the other cacophony—ringing noise was his only warning as the Charity Bell caught up to its owner. Skidding in his mad dash, Daisya passed it back to the akuma horde that had started to churn out of view. They were milling around. Looking for the culprit in larger and larger circles around their original spot. They'd be coming after him, if he let them.

There was no time to check exactly how many were going down with this attack—the longer he could run, weaving back and forth to throw off their aim, the longer he could survive.

And that would leave enough time for Kanda to reach him. As much as Daisya loved to win on his own, it was something else to see Kanda fighting. Not a twitch of his movement was wasted. It was like water tunnelling through limestone. The force of the ocean all crammed into one—

—narrow form. Wait.

Oh, n—

Daisya yelped as he skidded down a slope he hadn't seen.

It wasn't too steep, just a drop-off into an old creek bed, but that was more than he'd thought about. Damn it! He'd thought the ground was flat around here. To stay on the flat ground, he'd have to either backtrack or hew too close to the akuma.

Before he could finish falling, Daisya stuck his hands out and scrambled in the dirt just to get back up. He couldn't afford to get stuck!

The shock jolted his lungs, forcing him to slow down once he was back on two legs. To compensate he stayed as close to the edge as he could, as far away from the akuma. That gave him time to think.

What was a guy to do? Any other day he'd just throw himself back into the fight. Now he had to be careful. The firing squad would be turning towards him now. Unless he wanted to risk losing his way, he'd be trapped up against the gully that cut through here and funnelled up to the top of his one-man pincer manoeuvre. Hopefully they wouldn't notice, but—were akuma really that dumb?

Daisya considered it for a moment, then decided 'no.' The Charity Bell would land any time now. Once they realized it, they'd think he was going to keep going around the circle.

Besides, Kanda was coming! He—

—holy hell!

The grin was wiped right off Daisya's face by a burst of woodchips. It was the thunder roaring in his ears. It'd hid the staccato rattle of bullets he'd been listening for. Come on!

He ducked sideways, pressing his back against one of the thicker trees. Maybe he was feeling just a little panicked. Not that much. Just because Kanda was taking too long, yeah?

Daisya's breathing sped up to match his heartbeats.

Okay. Status report: he could feel the splinters brushing his face as the akuma strafed the area, and then moved on. If he could just pick it off from here…but there was only one that he could sense. It wasn't an attack. They were just sweeping. If he struck back, he'd have them all on top of him.

Now he was thinking. It wasn't a perfect plan until somebody saw through it. Anything that went to plan could be predicted. Now that it was off track, that left him to do all the improvisation he wanted.

He felt the Charity Bell hit the ones still congregated as he stood there, panting, and set it off as soon and as hard as he could. The akuma at the centre of the herd would be following its return path towards him in a few minutes, but the important part was, the one that had just swept over would be going towards the source of the sound right now.

He let his head loll back in relief.

Glancing around the side of the trunk, he almost laughed. He was right again! The white mask was gone and the popping shots tracked away from him. Time to move.

Daisya kicked off the mangled tree, back along the creekside.

And, presto. Lightning started right on cue.

One faint flash was all it could to throw the ground up in relief. Daisya tried to remember any surprise sticks or stones that he hadn't noticed in the dark. It was spring, at least. No fluffy piles of autumn leaves hanging around the place to cover up badger holes.

Sliding right to the edge of the bank, Daisya stopped. He waited. He concentrated on the feel of the Innocence pushing air aside. All the commotion coming along behind it wasn't important right now.

Just one second...

The Charity Bell arrived, and without a thought for the slick forest floor, he planted his feet. One rock solid on the sliding layers of leaves. One springing off in a roundhouse kick that should be strong enough to snap somebody's arm. He relished the sound of it. Steel toecap on steel bell made it hard to ignore even with the clanking akuma, caustic gunshots, tumbling thunder.

His boot dug through to the topsoil when it hit the ground. He'd just given up his one and only advantage here—stealth. It was time to get a new one.

Daisya dropped to the ground and slid into the creek.

There was enough rainfall now that it splashed when he hit the stone-strewn bottom. Probably still some snow coming down off the mountains to make it this cold, too. His boots were already soaked through. Whatever. He was going to get a lot wetter.

Daisya crawled along the akuma's side of the water in the dark, feeling with his hands to see how the bank sloped over him. It was slow going, especially now that his clothes were sodden.

Pop, pop, pop—the Charity Bell hit its targets with a feeling like a popped eardrum. He had to do this perfectly.

Speeding up to a hunched run, Daisya found a place where the dirt climbed straight up with a bit of an overhang. Some small patch of grass and shrubs had held the line where the rest had worn away in spring floods. This was the spot!

He pressed himself into the muddy roots there and waited. They were coming for him. Getting a chill was going to be as much of a threat as getting shot if this dragged out too much longer. Lucky for him, Daisya wasn't about to get beat by a bunch of akuma. They should've brought a Noah with them.

On second thought, maybe he didn't want to see a Noah right here. It'd be inconvenient.

Annoying.

If he kicked the bucket right after he decided to actually try to do things right.

Yeah. It wouldn't be any fun.

Daisya nodded to himself.

Besides—

Right on schedule, his guests had showed up.

The akuma lit up the place better than lightning with their gunpowder flashes. He stayed put where he was even as they shook the ground, strafing in methodical lines. The bullets spewed up chunks of dirt and leaf mould one metre at a time. Daisya could see the creekbed churn to rubble as they moved towards him. Forget the virus, he'd be sausage meat if he got caught in their line of fire. Closer, closer…

That should do it.

Each of them should have a hole right through it. Daisya hadn't set off the last attack. They didn't know how the Bell worked. They probably just wrote it off as a miss or a misfire. Boring! Daisya was counting on it. In all the time it took for them to reach him, he'd been building up the biggest boom anyone had heard away from artillery shelling.

Letting go, Daisya tolled them hard enough to turn an army into mud.

It was what Marie called a suspended chord. So wound up and tight with tension that even humans could barely stand it. His own teeth buzzed in his skull. It was exhilarating. Not just fun—there was just something beautiful about it. One moment he could see the shadows of them cast on the bank, in the lightning right before the thundercrack, and by the next strike they were gone. He was the one running this damn puppet show!

He couldn't help it. Daisya laughed.

"Ta-da!"