My heart is bursting through my chest as I take my stance. How long had it been since I was about to push my body to its max? The last time I did something like this was in the White Room.
I began to examine Kiyotaka's body from head to toe. He was bruised all over, but nothing was lethal enough to hinder his movement.
I relaxed my body.
I took one step towards him, and he took his stance.
Second step.
He bend his knees, distributing his weight evenly to the balls of his feet, and found his rhythm. It's a stance that protects him from me getting under his guard. Usually, he would have an attacking stance, but... this isn't really his body.
Third step.
Now we are just five steps apart.
I started to raise my hand, positioning it in front of his eyes to limit his vision.
...
I began to take another step, but then I put pressure into my feet and exploded towards him with everything I had, covering a big space. My left hand came forward and threw a jab at his nose.
He tilted his head just a little, letting it pass, and trapped my wrist using his hand, then used his other hand to throw an elbow towards my ribs.
I aborted the momentum of the jab and dove below the rising elbow, and before he could adjust, I put my leg inward, trapping his own leg, and began to make him fall on his back.
Kiyotaka, instead of resisting, used the momentum against me by planting his palm on the ground, twisting his hips, and throwing an inverted kick right towards my jaw. I leaned my head back, dodging it by a hair's breadth. I began to grab his leg to put him in a submission.
I stopped midway and bent my knee, absorbing a strike from his other leg. He instantly changed his posture, driving that same foot straight toward my stomach. I blocked the impact with my hands, but the sheer strength was enough to drift me back, forcing me to use the momentum to jump backward.
Now I was in the air and he was on the ground. Whoever reached their feet first would deal a lethal blow.
I looked dead into his eyes while coming down, and he did the same going up. My left hand came upward, making a pistol gesture towards him...
A vine snapped from my finger as I hit the ground, riding through the air at hyper-speed straight toward Kiyotaka. He spun dynamically, countering with a black substance that was incredibly sharp.
My vine and the object he threw... a Vowalker's nail, collided, stopping each other's momentum.
I didn't stop. Freeing a Vowalker's nail from my sleeve, I whipped my hand and hurled it toward Kiyotaka's head, simultaneously aiming my left hand a few steps behind him.
Kiyotaka, from whatever position he could muster, spun onto his back, but my vine got there first, piercing the side of his stomach. It should have been lethal, but I doubt it would do anything to him for now.
Another Vowalker's nail came into my hand and I rushed towards him. These nails are as big as a combat knife, though their grip can't be compared.
Mid-sprint, I suddenly stopped and jumped back. A hidden nail shot directly through the space I had occupied a millisecond prior, buying Kiyotaka enough time to scramble up and adopt a fresh stance.
...
He was practically half dead with a lethal hit to his stomach and clearly tired. He was barely able to open his eyes right now.
...
Let's end this.
I rushed again with everything I had and jumped up, my hand with the nail coming towards his head. Kiyotaka's own nail came towards my nail, blocking each other. Right then, I let my nail drop, catching it with my opposite hand to slash where the vine hit.
Kiyotaka didn't panic and just leaned his torso back. My nail still cut through his skin, but it was just a scratch. Instantly, his own blade flashed toward my neck. It was too late for me to step back, and I didn't mean to, either. My left hand made a finger gesture directly to his head.
I am an illusion, but you are not. Do you really wanna trade?
A vine snapped out from my fingers, which he barely dodged, causing another hit to his head that started to bleed. He was forced to abort the throat strike.
You are exactly where I wanted.
My elbow, at high speed, went up, hitting him directly at his chin as his eyes went up and so did his head, and he began to fall down.
...
I urgently pulled my head back. Utilizing the momentum of the impact, his hand flew blindly toward my eyes. I evaded the worst of it, but the nail still bit my cheek and ripped across my right eyebrow.
Kiyotaka dropped hard, hitting the dirt and rolling immediately to my right.
I desperately tried to see where he went, but blood poured into my eye from the eyebrow, making my right side blind.
He had fallen down, so his reach couldn't be high.
I blindly shot towards my lower right, hearing it pierce human skin. Suddenly, something sharp stabbed through my leg multiple times, and a hard pull flipped me off the ground.
During the fall, I aimed my finger gun upward toward my back in case he was jumping down on me, but I slammed into the ground and nothing followed.
Desperately, I rolled and wiped away the blood, spotting Kiyotaka running far away, his body bleeding from everywhere. He was practically limping, yet he fled with struggling speed.
I gestured to the Vowalkers to pursue him and began running after him myself.
He was half dead, limping with every step, but he ran struggling.
I had chosen this village as our fight destination because just behind it was a large river stopping him from running away, just a few meters away.
I was so close. After forcing him to make big movements... I let my guard down at the very last second, thinking he wouldn't be able to recover from it.
...
We finally reached the river. His limping figure bent his knees and leaped upward, plunging into the current and leaving a few trails of blood dancing on top of the water.
The Vowalkers rushed towards the riverbank but then stopped.
I couldn't help but just laugh at this.
Two hands shot from the water, dragging a Vowalker down by the leg. A head surfaced briefly, pulling the creature under.
Our eyes met for that brief second. He was staring at me with those eyes of his.
I took a bit of dirt from the ground and began to press it on my eyebrow.
I walked towards the remaining Vowalkers, and they began to shake. Then... I began to kill them one by one.
"Dry Water, I told you that I will throw him down myself without killing him. Why did you interfere in our fight?"
I didn't lose my guard by mistake. Dry Water... you interfered. This is betrayal.
I sighed and continued killing the Vowalkers.
*****
Rewritten.
Holy fuck, This chapter was 13k words long but after rewritten I finished it in 1.3k.
But it is better this way.