Chimera Vs. Pacifist.

The distance closing dash concluded with the landing of a skull bashing headbutt directly upon his foe.

Tremedously overwhelmed by this headbutt, his foe's eyes retreated to the back of his head with small rivers of blood emerging from his nose.

His body naturally began toppling as well but this action was halted by the human arm gripping on his borrowed cloak forcing his body to maintain a slanted posture.

This was hardily done with good intentions but rather to have his body remain a stable target for what the hand's owner had in store.

A hammering rain of punches from the bear shaped fist bashing in the facial plane of his skull into his brain's safe space disfuguring and bloodying his face and the fur covering this fist consequently.

This continued steadliy building to a conclusion only for the attack to realize--

My body won't make me land the finishing blow-

With his fist being frozen in the middle of his concluding attack not cooperating dispite it's master's intention.

The disfigured face broke down into a mocking smile. A smile that notably should've been impossible under normal circumstances seeing as the mouth, jaws and teeth-- all the fundamentals of a smile had been lost in the fist-face collision. So how?

It had been all the damage had been forfeited. No, it was as if the damage was distributed rather unevenly.

The contorted face had rapidly regressed to undamaged state pushing all the damage back to its source rather unfittingly. With a 0% and 100% distribution ratio, gushes of blood again splashed into the grass.

A face that taken no punches bled violently as the mold of its  skull was crushed into pieces contorting its form resultingly.

Hastily releasing his grip from the borrowed cloak, the man began smothering his battered face with his only humanoid arm as he staggered backwards dizzied by the sizzling pain.

Throbbing nerves and the overwhelming sensation of bones piercing muscles on his face that they were meant to protect betraying themselves in an agonizing tragedy overwhelmed him.

It was as if he were forced to lay in the bed of thorns, he had made for another face first.

"MMMMMMHHHHHHHMMMMM!!!" rushed through the air of the forest in a muffled tone as he no longer had a functional mouth to properly voice the writhing pain coursing along his nerve center.

This was not all done instinctively however--

So, what happened earlier wasn't a side effect of gene shifting. This man really does possess such as troublesome ability.

He was an opportunist. He had used this chance to make sense of his situation under the guise of being lost in pain. Perhaps he had taken a page out of the book of the unconscious child that had evaporated from his mind in the heat of battle knocked out on the grass a fair distance away from him.

There's also something else...something that I makes me rather uneasy......but I can't know for sure unless....

Was what he thought as he slowly moved his morphed hand into his cloak....

"Inner monologue? No fair, let me in on your mental progression! Let this build towards a more entertaining climax!"

Shouted a voice that was overshadowed by the blood and accelerated heartbeat rushing into his ears. He was in the middle of something.

He had lost all usage of both his eyes as a result of his blows being returned to him, so he had resort to other methods.

Feel. The gentle push of the breeze. The rustling of the trees. Going westward. Distinguish between west and what is contrasting by heading east. And pace. Pace. Pace. Pace.......

"Uncompliant aren't you. Well, I guess it can't be helped seeing as we don't share the same viso-"

That's it.

Something had rushed past the chatty face soundlessly scratching his cheek slightly in the progress. When he had turned to face what had done this-

"Rather self-destructive aren't you."

A bear- shaped thumb was etched into a nearby tree.

The talkative man had turned to face the stoic man as he said this with the same mocking smile and what greeted him had confirmed his suspicions.

A slim metal sliver bow being grasped by a bear-shaped arm with his head in its sights as it aimed in down. It was also slightly covered in blood with its strings dyed in bright red.

The bear shaped arm was also bleeding profusely from a bloody stump of bone in the place of a thumb.

Seems I was right to worry. Right before I fired my heart leapt and I missed. Purposefully since I knew that shot would've killed him. As if I were scared to kill him. I should've figured as much seeing what had happened earlier. That kid's always been somewhat impulsive, but he's never been too expressive about it. Even me. Just a moment ago what I felt was definitely real and what I was doing did seem like it was coming from me, but something felt odd. Almost as if.... there were puppet strings stitched into my heart and yanking out what I was feeling. Plus, what was up with him also having a floral gown? Was he wearing that earlier? This is quite tiresome.

"Now you're just being rude."

"And you're getting too comfortable."

At the end of this spilt second exchange, the finger etched into the tree exploded into a sizeable pool of blood grabbing the chatty man's attention almost instantaneously.

As he turned back to face his opponent-

"Wha- Hmph. Should've expected as much from his character's lack of his investment."

His opponent was nowhere to be seen. Vanished. Leaving not even a trail of blood behind.

Of course, this was yet another delusion created by this man's uniqueness.

Admis the conference of trees, again perched upon a high branch he hid. He was unnoticeable because of his relationship with the tree. They were both of the same color and texture--as if he had merged with it.

His skin had taken a new form. His entire body resembled reptilian scales that shared similarities the tree.

Bits of muscle, skin and bone structure slowly began to return to his face. He wasn't just hiding idly as this happened though.

I was right in believing this'd be tiresome. I'm almost breathless after putting that hallucinogen in my thumb to slow down his perception. It's a miracle how he wasn't able to deflect that as well. This would've been a bit less burdensome if I could get to the rest of my equipment but it's too risky to go near Quo's corpse with so many unknowns. For now, I'll just have to make do with what I have. This is the end result of rushing in ahead of your temper you fucking block. Goddamn it.

Becoming slightly aggravated at himself nearing the end of his thought process, he accessed the situation.

"*Sigh* I hate having to resort to cliches, but I guess there exists no real alternative. My hand was forced! I only do this for the sake of progression!"

The small rant that had been coming from several meters below him brought him back to his senses. It had also allowed a violent wave of emotion to come rushing through the vessels of his newly formed eyes.

The chatty man had been standing before his fallen comrade- Quolian's body and was motioning to hoist it upon his slender shoulders.

"Ehem. If you don't want me to violate this already unfortunate boy's remains, then you will show yourself vermin!"

No fucking way! It should've taken him at least 5 minutes to---the hallucinogen! So even long-winded attacks have same effect?!

"This growing impatience might work to consume my rationality so you better act with haste!"

What's the move? Think! Think! Think! Rushing in now would just be me playing to his pace and that's the last thing I'd want to do! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

"Okay! That's it! This narrative has dragged on for far too-"

"ALRIGHT I CONCEED!!"

A loud scream buried the exchange. This was followed the man jumping from the height of a nearby tree closing the distance between himself and his opponent.

They now stood a few steps away from each other but there wasn't a hint of the earlier tension.

The slender youth moved the strand of his silky magnetic that had fallen before his eye before commenting:

"What's this?"

"Me conceding."

The youth's voiced shock was retorted by a deadly calm accession of the current situation.

"Thinking back on it, my subordinate was the one who initiated everything. If he hadn't mindlessly attacked, we wouldn't even be in this situation to begin with. I blindly followed suite without really thinking about it. As you can see, we both paid the price for our actions. I see no real merit in continuing this foolish exchange as I am clearly out matched and am too cowardly to risk suffering any more loses. I ask of you to humbly forgive us and allow me to retreat with the remains of my fallen comrade."

His plead ended with him bowing before the youth as a sign of total submission.

"Tch. Anti-climactic."

The bowing man slowly tilted his head upwards in response to this almost soundless whisper and found himself covered in snow cold sweat as a result.

Looking down upon him was a face so tightly stitched with rage that it seemed that at any moment, it could burst into a volcanic eruption of blood.

One of the stitches came loose as the youth regained some level of awareness. He slapped his face with his free arm and slopped his left shoulder and released his grip on the body rested there. As the body fell to the grass, we walked a far distance away from his bowing foe at an accelerated pace.

Seems I was correct even though I didn't expect that to work so well. He's the type to pull because he expects you to pull back. Never would he had imagined that I'd loosen my grip entirely and get swallowed by his pace. Before I was thinking exactly how he thought I would, and I was lucky to realize that before it was too late.  This still was a big gamble even by my standards. And there are still lots of unknowns, so I have to act out of vigilance. Plus, he can still use that heartstring ability again... even though... if he had really intended to, he would've done so already. The dumb bastard might even be too flustered to consider it at the moment. For now.... I'll just observe him while I recover my stamina. Or maybe I should...

As youth came to a stop at a measurable distance and reached into his borrowed cloak, the kneeling man began to slowly motion towards the discarded corpse all while keeping the youth within his pupils.

It seemed that the youth took out a beverage of sorts to dine on; possibly to help him regain his composure. After swallowing a mouthful, he mopped the remains with the sleeve of the borrowed cloak.

" Was it the everlasting blackness you had to bask in what you were gonna show me in order for me to understand what brings your thoughts together? Or was it the light that you were able to see afterwards Lei?"

With Quolian's body within his grasp, the stoic man--Lei froze in place with his throat clogged up to his tongue.

"Reconnaissance isn't my forte. It's really hard to juggle so much with only two hands and a single mind so mistakes...take my poor delivery just a moment ago for example...do happen. No worries though! With everything now sedimented. I believe that I should be able to make you give this your all! Isn't that fantastic!"

"What..how did you.... what are you babbling about?"

"I was right in believing that you would be an absolute thrill to antagonize but admittedly *shrugs* I lacked to potency to pull a performance out of you so....I did a little background checking and my my my my my my my my MY! I am utterly baffled! I've heard stories about the animalities' like the cardinals, but this is the first time I've ever heard of chimera! A human soul, already lost to the world is brought back by the will of nature but denies the redemption I tried to bestow upon him! Is it because of his lingering attachment to his newly borrowed life? His fear of judgment or even- "

Lei was paralyzed by shock.

"Oh...I seemed to have gotten a little carried away there. My apologies. You know.... I've been thinking that this exchange would not only be weightless but also would take no time with this current standing. So...in order to give it a little more humph... I'll throw all my cards to the wind so that we can reshuffle them and create a completely new game."

Lei was dumbfounded into complete silence.

"I am Ejack Boown, a well-intentioned pacifist that uses his blessings to weave in purpose into the cheap fabric of human life. Though my blessings are far from being one and few..."

He then allowed one of his arms to retreat into his borrowed coat.... revealing a crisp but brown piece of paper:

"This theory I was able to borrow from the late Count. Ed Ann herself as well as this glossed vest washed in the state one water of the beloved river play the most pivotal rule in me weaving these narratives into the soon to be saved, as well as keep me unburnt by the flames of their hostility towards salvation respectively. I've realized however that weaving in narratives takes away from the dynamism at times, so I only do so when absolutely incremental. IN THIS SITUATION HOWEVER I WAS UNABLE TO RESIST QUILLING IN MY VISION AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A WASTE!"

The vocal climax of the youth's soliloquy echoed throughout the forest.

Of course, Lei's ears weren't an exception except--

How did he.... when did he....was it when he touched the body...or before.......how much did he know.... how much of my actions did he foresee....was I.....by thinking I was playing the game ahead of him I was probably on the palm of his hand this entire time......SHIT!SHIT!SHIT!SHIT!SHIT!

None of it was being processed. Lei's brain was too preoccupied with contemplation to even try making sense of any of the youth's babblings.

The small hairs that decorated his skin began to arise in animalistic awareness of his surroundings. His instincts were trying their utmost to communicate the level of danger he had carelessly plunged himself into.

His breaths flew out of pattern and landed squarely upon his sense of unease and situational pressure. He tried to compose himself by resting his unmutated hand around the base of his cloak-covered chest. This was an effort to calm his raving heart.

This was all in vain as his pulse was in too far lost to lunacy to understand or even acknowledge this request to return to stable sanity.

Platoons of sweat began to flank the before dry regions of his face coldly drowning them in lakes of panic.

His knee's buckled weakly in the mist of all this forcing his once stretching self from towards Qiaolian's coarse to fearful imprisonment within the grass. He was now truly bowing in submission.

Not specifically to the young man standing before but to what he represented.

The quietness. The unfeeling. Tasteless. The calm. The black. The endless. The thing that he was once acquainted with.

Death.

It had been looming around this youth's existence in all its character.

Ejack Boown, in a matter of seconds, came to mean death for the man named Lei.

Huh? Staring down a likely possibility of death put him in so much dread? Fascinating! Oh, I must use this exchange as a chance to learn more about this blackness! This Eval Behemoth creature they seemed to have been in pursuit of on the other hand though....

Ejack's internal screeches of excitement slowly trailed off into honest wonder as he cycled through all that he had learnt over the course of the interactions he's had.