Where Does Life Begin?

Flashes of bright light cascaded from the great arch standing above the city. Each clash of the two blades honed by Geo Barros brought with it a force which scattered the freezing air that surrounded the two combatants. As the crimson and indigo blades met over and over, both the students of the swordmaster began to understand more and more that swordplay alone wouldn’t win either of them the duel. It was this thought which drove Axel’s next course of action, as he caught Slater’s blade with his hand, reinforced by the blood cradling his body, and held it in place. His fist came from the side, only catching air as his body put all of its force into a swing. Slater dodged backwards, extending his blade to allow himself to move as Axel still held it, holding Axel in place as well. It retracted shortly after, with Axel rushing after the white-clad boy. Before he could catch up, Slater drove his blade into the arch, then disappeared in a cloud of the dust he kicked up by doing so.

Swinging around, waiting for what his opponent would do, he looked for what angle he would come from. When he turned left, however, he felt a force hit him square in the backside of his head, knocking him to the ground. Slater had spun around around the entire circumference of the arch with a string of aether, just to hit a surprise lucky punch at Axel’s head. Once his feet hit the floor, he outstretched his hand as the blade launched itself from the ground, and with a series of timed retracts and activations, controlled its trajectory as it landed directly in his outstretched hand. His blade was aimed at cutting right down Axel’s torso, but the Wendigo’s last minute dodge instead positioned the slash cutting through the armor at his right shoulder. Separating the armor on his right arm from the main flow of blood, it burst into droplets.

With a momentary weakness exposed, the blade of aether thrusted at the exposed skin, but Axel was quick enough to regenerate it before the point penetrated his skin, grabbing the edge as he was pushed backwards. He smirked for a moment, savoring his victory, until his victory went up in smoke, the very smoke now coming off of his bare, exposed hand which had caught the blade. His entire arm had been coated once again, but his blood had sloppily stopped just short of his wrist.

“Feeling lightheaded, Axel?” Slater asked, with a determined grin. He would’ve said it with a taunting tone, but was struggling to keep Axel from taking his blade too much to commit to it.

Axel, however, did not respond.

I’m running out of blood… Dammit! He gritted his teeth, kicking Slater backwards, sending him flying along with his blade. If I don’t do something soon, I may lose, and losing up here is practically a death sentence. With that, a thought came to his head.

As he stood, breathing heavily, Axel let out one question:

“Why do you fight?”

Slater returned his gaze with a shocked confusion in his eyes as they widened, before narrowing.

“I was not satisfied with our supposed tie our last bout, and therefore I am trying to best you again. But you, you still struggle. Considering the fact you have yet to go down, you can’t be fighting purely for self defense. So, what are you fighting for?” His tone pierced into Slater’s very being more than any of his blades of blood had.

“Why does any of that matter? I just fight to protect everyone around me, it’s as simple as that.” He gave his answer, turning his sword into a spear as the blade extended straight at Axel’s head.

Before it could connect, however, a gaping maw of blood appeared from the blade Axel held in his left hand, collapsing its jaws down on the spear, leaving nothing left as the blood itself turned into a red haze. Before Slater could search for Axel, he burst through the haze and clasped his still armored hand, which had thrown away its sword, on his face and lifted him off the ground. While Slater grasped at the hand holding him up, Axel spoke:

“Protect everyone? What about that girl who you fought me with? Could you protect her?”

This had been Axel’s greatest gamble, and what he had noticed. That girl and Slater had both evaded him during their first meeting, so where was she now? He saw many others besides Slater, and she had fought as well if not better than him, why wasn’t she here as well? Since they passed through No Man’s land, there was only one explanation. That explanation is exactly what he intended to exploit.

“L-Lillian…” Slater muttered, his voice changing from determined to somber as he began quivering.

Perfect, I was right on the mark. In that case… The hand holding up Slater squirt blood into his eyes, preparing for Axel throwing his body as it bounced and settled at another end of the arch. As he approached his opponent for the final slash, he created a blade in hand and dissipated the rest of his armor to do so.

“This always was a duel between swords, I cannot end this with anything but a strike from a blade… But I also can’t have you getting back up now that you’ve lost.” Axel laid his intentions bare for Slater, but omitted the fact he had removed his armor to preserve whatever blood he had left by returning it inside his body. Now, his wound which had brought his armor on was sealed by a seal of solidified blood.

As he waited for Axel to bring his demise from however he planned to slice him, Slater had once again been shrouded in darkness. He had heard Axel’s words to him, but had retreated soon after to a place far from the arch, and far from the city ruins. All he heard now were the imp-like jeers of two familiar figures.

No matter how far you run or how high you soar, you’ll always come back here, won’t you Slater?

The boy with fiery hair rested a hand on his shoulder, bringing his face down to the boy who was still in the pose he had fallen into when he had been thrown.

You always try to make it out like you escaped this place, but we all know you never can. After all, you love coming here don’t you? To be able to say you aren’t good enough and wallow in self-pity?

The man in the jumpsuit rested on a knee at Slater’s other side, tearing into him as well.

If pleasure is what you’re after, it seems our sister will join us here soon. Won’t that be fun?

The boy spoke excitedly, as the blurry form of a woman appeared before Slater. The voice called out to him, the familiar, yet shrill, voice of his sister.

Why? Why couldn’t you have died instead of me?

Her wails pierced his ears, with the phantom clawing closer and closer to him, dragging its blurred body on the floor. It climbed on top of him and reached out to claw at his face, but was pulled away before it could tear out his eyes. The hazy ghost squirmed for a moment, but was torn in two as it dissipated into a white mist. The woman with blue cracks all over her figure now stood over Slater, giving the boy a pitiful look.

This again, huh?

She got down on one knee at Slater’s feet, far from where the other phantoms sat.

You keep assuring me you’ve moved on, but you can’t let them go, can you? Do you really think this is how they feel?

Slater covered his eyes as he felt tears welling up, trying to protect a sliver of his dignity.

“I lost Elio, and Theo died for me… Why would they be happy at leaving someone like me behind?”

So you can’t give them up, because you’re more concerned with feeding your impostor syndrome than moving on?

Before he could rebuke her claim, he felt a kick from the woman that sent him rolling backward in the dark space. She chased after him like a kid after their soccer ball, before putting her hands on his shoulders and pulling him up, giving him a fierce headbutt.

These are not the Elio and Theo you knew! They’re just shadows! Copies you made to remind you of your weakness, but you’re not weak anymore! So, give them up. Unless you do, you’ll never escape from here!

“But, if I let them go…”

But, nothing! Do you remember what Theo told you back then?! Would that Theo have wanted any of this?!

Knowing where she was going, the two shades’ faces were painted with concern. They rushed with their hands outstretched to subdue the woman, knowing what would happen if her words got out.

“He… Said…” Slater began to remember, but it was the blue woman’s words which fully brought it back to him. The moment Theo turned back to him and said those words to him. As the two shadows jumped, trying to grasp at the figure in blue ahead of them, it was already too late. A small blade of blue had generated in Slater’s hand as he pushed the woman to the side and kneeled downwards. The blade grew into a large sword of flame, as the woman and Slater said in unison the final words Theo had left his friend with:

“Slice this world apart.”

With those closing words, the dark space filled with a blinding light and the two shades dissipated. The light lead Slater back to himself at the top of the arch, where he was assuming the same kneeling position, and his blade had just cut across the torso of Axel, whose blade was just short of slicing Slater’s neck.