Blood Soaked Night

The energy that channeled through Seiji felt different from before. It was hot and uncontrolled worming its way through all parts of his body. None of it mattered to him. The odd sensation meant nothing to him. Blood dripped down his arm and it was nothing. Night disappeared from his sight. To his eyes, it seemed a bright and clear sunny afternoon. He could clearly see his enemy that he had to kill. No doubt or concern filled him.

Seiji disappeared from the sight of the attacker. The thrown sword failed to meet its target. All he saw was several chunks of earth tossed up when Seiji moved. A ripple rang out from the man’s feet altering the terrain and darkening his appearance further. Crunching metal and earth sounded off behind him. He turned around planning to find Seiji, but he remained out of sight. Another crunch rang further away.

Beyond the Field, Seiji set down Nerine in a safe spot. Using his torn tunic, he gave her a rushed bandage to try to stop the bleeding. He turned away staring into the distance at the enemy.

Nerine coughed feeling lightheaded from the blood loss. She didn’t know if she would even live much longer. The sight of Seiji’s back and the blood that covered made her wonder how he remained standing. ‘He should be exhausted… He couldn’t move a moment before…’

Seiji tightened his hands in preparation. “Don’t move from that spot. I don’t know…how much of my reason is left… All I know right now…is that I want to kill him!” The damn earth cracked around his feet again from the pressure of his legs. “I can’t forgive… So don’t watch…please…”

She opened her mouth, but had no words for him. ‘…going so far for a stranger and someone that’s supposed to be an enemy…’ He disappeared from her sight, signaling the start of the new battle. A bloody and savage battle began born of nothing but pure violence.

Chapter 152 – Blood Soaked Night

Pounding and crunching through the shitty ground turning up metal and earth telegraphed Seiji’s movements, even with his speed it made him impossible for human eyes to follow. The enemy held up two simple swords waiting for the arrival of Seiji. He baited him in presenting a clear target for him. A smirk lined his face eagerly anticipating the moment.

Seiji suddenly appeared with his fist extended already. A percussive blast ripped up the crappy earth outward, throwing away chunks. However, the crumbling sound of damn metal stopped him before reaching his target. All that made it through was the force of shit wind from his flying fist. Seiji’s eyes narrowed judging his situation.

The soldier’s smirk disappeared a little when he realized that blood dripped down his cheek. A cool breeze stung his thin wound. However, the man’s surprise didn’t last for long. His smirk returned with an excited hungry appearance turning even darker than before. It made his face seem almost pitch black. “So you’re able to cut me with just the force of wind created by your punch? Very interesting…”

After the damn metal fell away, the man charged forward after Seiji. An arc of shit light flew through the air at Seiji. He dodged a couple of the damn swings, but not all of them. Blood and ash dripped from his minor wounds. It forced him to increase his speed and disappear. However, a damn blast and crash of metal exploded only a short distance away. It sent Seiji reeling backwards.

He stared up at the collapsing junk of crappy metal. It had little form left from his impact. He looked at his hand to find the small cuts on it and blood coating most of his skin. The image confused him. He was certain nothing sharp enough cut him.

Quickly closing the distance, the Atlantean bastard brought down his two swords on Seiji’s defending arm. The weapons rattled in disappointment. Ash fell down from his arm. Seiji’s arm remained safe. Failure didn’t prevent him from continuing the onslaught of attacks. Wild slashes came in from all directions in numbers impossible for the two the man wielded.

Seiji’s raged fueled mind didn’t comprehend what happened to him. All he managed was to step back with each attack and stay mostly unharmed. Burnt edges blew away from the gathering at his feet, but new pieces returned after the next attack.

“I can see you’re confused,” the man said between attacks. He smirked as wide as before unfazed by his challenging opponent. “Perhaps you should look at your feet more carefully. The ground which you walk upon is not so simple.”

Glancing down, the truth of the man’s words came out. The soldier’s entire Field lined with the damn swords of all make and type possible or impossible. Everywhere as far as could be seen, swords coated it all in metal. The presence of an armory weighed down the atmosphere. Like the man’s smirk, the Field felt soaked deeply in the dark pleasures that even the moon refused to reflect on their blades.

Everything was out of sight for Nerine with the pain and night making it difficult to see. However, she saw the man that attacked her long enough. It worried her. ‘Who is he? I’ve never seen him before in the barracks. I thought I knew all of the MPs stationed at the South Gate. And his Field…’ She didn’t understand how someone so powerful could hide within the troops without anyone knowing.

“Since I have you here… I only grant this privilege to those that I’m about to kill. You can take my name with you to the grave.”

Seiji moved to attack the bitch, but an array of swords came up pointed at his neck. It halted his action. “I have no need for your damn name. You’re the one that’s going to die here.”

The man’s smirk widened further, pleased to see the defiance still holding. “I’m very glad you still have plenty of fight left in you. It’s quite boring taking an easy kill. Otherwise, my skills dull.” He leveled his right hand at Seiji, pointing the blade at his nose. “But in all seriousness, you’re going to die. And I always give those I slain the name of the one that killed them. That and it gets really awkward using generic nouns to identify me.”

Exhausted of patience, Seiji grabbed up a damn sword from the ground and swung it at the man. “Enough talk!” However, his eyes narrowed in confusion to find his hand empty.

“Tsk,” remarked the man. All of the blades around Seiji moved in closer to restrict his movements further. “Really now, you should know better than that. Not all of my swords in my Field are actually real and even if one was I can make it disappear before you can do any harm with it.” The man pressed his sword’s tip to Seiji’s nose drawing up a thin line of blood. The man held back a laugh while watching his target squirm. “Honestly already, the name—“

Seiji jumped up and grabbed the sword blade by his teeth. He ripped it from the man’s hand, but it disappeared from his mouth a moment later. In the next moment, Seiji spun his leg around knocking all of the weapons out of the way. He finished by ramming his fist into the damn earth. A faint flash of light surfaced just moments before the explosion of earth blacked everything out. Seiji followed up by throwing the chunks of earth at the man.

He jumped forward as a helluva lot of swords tried to come up at him, but earth got in their way. His hand gripped the hunk of earth and slammed it into the man’s face. Seiji railed his arm through crushing the man into his Field of weapons. The force from Seiji’s hand pulverized the chunk into powder leaving the man’s face stained brown. Still holding his hand to the man’s face, Seiji leaned down to speak to him. “I don’t care! I could kill you in an instant, but I’m going to make you regret your actions with pain before I kill you!” The swords and earth bent a little with Seiji applying pressure to the man’s face.

The man’s eyes flipped an annoyed glare off to something unknown (fine…the name’s Cosmas, this’ll probably be the last moment of comedy in a while, so cherish it…). Cosmas focused his vision back on Seiji. Swords drew up taking swings at him. Blood and ash fell around him, but Seiji's stubbornness kept him on top of Cosmas. The pressure on his head felt like it was going to smash him in. It actually stole away his smirk when he felt the taste of mortality and the blood rage of Seiji’s unwillingness to accept anything less than what he promised Cosmas.

A ring of light rippled through the Field underneath Cosmas. The smirk returned to his face with deadly darkness following it. “You know at the center my power is at its zenith!” Swords flew in from multiple sides ripping up everything in the way. Blood sprayed across Cosmas’ face only worsening his presence.

No longer held down by Seiji, Cosmas stood up. He dusted off his black leather clothes that completely covered him. In the night, it made him almost completely disappear. However, it seemed to be the first time his presence peeled back to be seen. A glance over at Seiji made his eyebrow lower in disappointment. “I’m a little surprised. You made it out with only taking that much damage. That’s some speed and toughness…even with my first upgrade…”

Seiji narrowed his features noting the condition of his hand. Ash still fell from his hand covering a spot at the ground amongst the blades. Blood slowly dripped down soaking it crimson. The tips of his right pinkie and ring finger were missing. A normal person in such a situation would scream and perhaps even collapse to the ground. However, Seiji wasn’t a normal person and in his state that took his unusual status to new levels. All he did was clinch his fist together and swing unleashing a shockwave of wind at Cosmas.

The swords of his Field erupted up to block the incoming attack. They shredded to pieces as though they were nothing but the wind. Several more walls of weapons rose to dampen the effect to nothing. “That’s a strong fist even at that distance. So you’re a reverse Field type?”

“I’m the type that’s gonna kick your ass!”

Cosmas smirked at the thought. It made him even more excited to kill Seiji. “Well you are one of the few that has survived my first upgrade. So I’m going to enjoy this next part!” Several dozen weapons broke from the surface of the Field. Cosmas manifested two swords in his hands to accompany his arsenal. Only his eyes reflected the pale light of the moon, turning his face into one of a demon. “The part where I slice you apart one piece at a time!”

Fighting a demon didn’t bother Seiji. He felt like one himself. Two demons under the moon felt just right to him. ‘He has no remorse or hesitation… I’ll kill him!’ Seiji rammed his fist into the ground hard, breaking the damn earth and turning it up. Several blades stuck into them. However, two flashes of light appeared in the slab of earth breaking it apart. Cosmas appeared on the other side of the light.

He brandished his weapons at Seiji and brought in the others to float around them. “My upgraded swords can slice through something as soft as earth. You’re going to need something denser if you plan on stopping them.”

Seiji rammed his fists into two of the pieces of sliced earth. It sent chunks of it into the air. He directed it all to go flying at Cosmas. However, the damn swords floating around him sliced them all into fine cubes. Seiji didn’t stop as he already held the largest piece in his arms, swinging it like a bat at Cosmas.

The action took Cosmas a little by surprise, but his swords responded quickly. They reduced his blunt object to nothing. Yet Seiji charged through hitting all of the swords while they finished. His fist shattered them into a shitty rain of metal shrapnel. Seiji ran through, but found a barrier of swords rising with their blades aimed at him. Then around behind him, all of the blades he shattered already reformed and sped towards him.

Cosmas held his smirk witnessing the eventually bloody end of Seiji with all of the weapons attacking him. He held ready with his swords to begin slicing Seiji up at the first moment after his swords struck. However, his lips lowered again with disappointment. Seiji disappeared from sight leaving only a trail of blood and ash behind where the swords started their taste.

His eyes darted around the field detecting the echoes of his field responding to Seiji. It bounced around until it suddenly moved straight for him. Each pounding and crushing quake came closer. “…so stupid…” Cosmas mounted all of his swords in front of the incoming Seiji and strengthened his Field’s defensive barriers.

Chunks of crappy metal flew everywhere in the face of the unstoppable train. Seiji’s movements slowed down to become visible again, though blurred. His fists wailed on everything that stood before him. Ash and blood flew on the wind behind Seiji as he drew closer to Cosmas. His eyes carried the unstoppable will of crushing Cosmas. It consumed his being.

All of the swords directed at Seiji. Some of the blades pierced his body and others shattered. Flashes of light blinked from him. Seiji charged in undeterred with shitty swords sticking through him. He sent out an earth-rending roar bringing up his arm finally in reach of Cosmas. All of the muscles in his body tensed, shattering the metal that ran him through and pushed it out. Blood jumped from the wounds, growing Seiji’s intensity.

The sight made Cosmas sweat a little in the last seconds. He recovered in time to bring down his swords against Seiji. Seiji’s fist ran past Cosmas only deflected after breaking off Cosmas’ sword. It saved Cosmas from the full impact, but the wake of the punch still sent him flying away. The Atlantean bitch flew through the air and tumbled into the earth amongst his weapons.

A cloud of debris covered up Cosmas in his recovery. He slithered back up to his normal stance. Laughter burst from the fading cloud. It didn’t even bother him that the earth shook with the stampeding of Seiji. Freed from the veil, Cosmas held his hand over his face with only his mouth visible. His laughter leaked through just as strongly. He narrowed his eyes through the gaps of his fingers before removing it. Impossible as it seemed, his features became even darker than before. “Amazing!”

Seiji charged forward with no regard for the reason for Cosmas' laughter. He ran his fist behind him preparing to take out Cosmas. In the last moments, he extended his arm already blasting out wind from the force. His fist ran Cosmas through the stomach ripping up his clothes and spraying his damn blood from his mouth. Seiji’s fist exited the back coated in blood. His eyes suddenly flipped to his side with the touch of something on his shoulder.

Cosmas rested his hand on Seiji, standing to his right completely unscathed. “Making me use my second upgrade, impressive…but can you survive another minute?” The Cosmas with a hole in his chest disappeared. Then two swords appeared from below and arced through the air with blinding light.

Blood sprayed everywhere.

Seiji’s eyes widened in surprise as his own blood rained across his face. His right arm was cut lengthwise in two parallel lines all the way up to his shoulder. The wide wound showered blood across the scene. Seiji’s shock didn’t allow him to scream or feel the pain.