Taiga

Unfair. I curse myself as I duck under a swing from Polly's machete. I then attempt to get in close but am immediately met with a spiked brass knuckle to the forehead. Then, in a spurt of all the power I could muster in that short amount of time, I take the side of her arm and push the fist away before it could make contact, however Polly then takes the momentum from that push to jump away and create distance between us. She quickly readies her sling, launching a small bullet at incredible speeds. Unable to dodge, I hold out my hand focusing all the anku in my body into the point of contact so that it doesn't punch a hole straight through my hand. The bullet makes contact, I'm launched backwards, my feet dragging across the soil creating a line through the dirt, the pain reverberates through my entire body like a wave, vibrating through my very bones.

I never cursed my lack of skill more than I did now. Here I was, with nothing but my two fists, versus two machetes, two spiked knuckles, a slingshot, caltrops, and I can't be sure that that's the full extent of it, she has short range with her knuckles, mid range with her swords, and long range with her sling all covered, what do I even do? Once this entire thing is over I've gotta learn how to use some damn weapons. She loads her sling and menacingly starts swinging it around, threatening to launch it any moment.

She’s too careful of me now. I’m not going to get an opportunity like last time to close the gap. I jump out of the way as another ball comes barreling towards my head. Frustration begins to boil in my stomach. It was such a cowardly way to fight, none of the skills I’ve acquired over the last couple of days can be put to good use, when I can’t even get close to her!

Stop. Calm down. Frustration never helps you accomplish your goals. You need to keep a cooler head than her. I begin giving myself a pep talk. Remember, she’s facing— my thought process is interrupted as Polly loads up another shot and fires it at me.

Ah, never mind just run at her until she breaks.

Rudeus

Toena stands ready as I aggressively run right towards her. Tricks, these Shesuans are all about their tricks. Anku floods into my eyes as time slows down. If I can get past all her tricks and force her into a match of pure fighting skill I will win. What do I need to be careful of? I observe her cheeks, puffed out for an unknown reason, she’s definitely got something stored in there, need to be careful of that. I then dig my feet into the ground and jump away. As thousands of tiny blades suddenly flood the air, like a swarm of locusts.

Her second trick, shredders, tiny lightweight aerodynamic blades that can easily be controlled. Their weakness? The range shrinks depending on how many shredders used. I cut the palm of my hand, letting blood flow on my sword, and then immediately throw it with as much force as I could muster. Toena is forced to break concentration and dodge as the sword flies past her neck , half of the shredders immediately fall to the ground. I use that opening in order to sprint at Toena at full speed. Break the distance, She stands no chance there, and she knows it. In response, Toena jumps away, but backs up into my blade on its return trip. I threw it with the intent of making it like a boomerang. She is forced to dodge the flying sword once again, even more shredders fall to the ground, leaving her with only a fourth of the amount of blades she had initially.

Alright, this amount of shredders I should be able to reliably dodge for the most part, I just have to constantly break her attention so that she can't reactivate all of them at once. My blade begins to fly around her like a pest, I could see an annoyed expression on her face as she has to shift positions over and over again.

Yes! All I need to do is get close now and- A massive swarm of shredders rise out of the grass, far greater in number than what I thought she was capable of. I quickly lose control of my sword, cover my eyes with my arm, and reinforce my entire body.

I crack a jaded smile, god damn it this woman is annoying.

Taiga

My breath comes out raggedly, am I really this helpless? No matter what I do, I just can't get in close enough to threaten her in any way. I lunge to the side as another unexpectedly fast bullet barrels towards my head, only to be met immediately with another ball already heading in the direction which I dodged. How—?! Fortunately her prediction was slightly off and the projectile missed me by mere inches. I didn't expect for two balls to come at me at once. She loaded the sling while it was still spinning, allowing her to fire two in rapid succession.

However, these are my only chances to get in! Anku gathers in my foot as I slingshot my self forward. Ah... here it comes. First comes the machetes. Even if I got through the bullet storm, the reach and guard with her swords were always there to stop from getting any further. I back off as she swipes at me with a double horizontal sweep of her blades, and then, the second I have to step back, she jumps away, loading her sling.

It has become a battle of attrition, it was either that she runs out of her little projectiles, or I get too tired and get hit. It seems like the former is becoming more and more likely. Seriously, where did I get all this confidence from? Beating Celestia with Rudeus'and Torika's help, Rudeus always complimenting my growth and skills. I forgot that I wasn't strong in the slightest, and I don't know how deal with being weak either, since I was always the strongest before I came here.

…Alright I accept it, I’m weak.

Now, how do I break this cycle? In other words how do I do something she won't expect? I watch the Toena and Rudeus fight out of the corner of my eye. The patch of blood I left on Rudeus was still there, an idea comes to mind.

Rudeus

I crouch down as if charging up a spring, and then take a monstrous leap into the air. As I rise up pain slices through my arms, my legs, my body, everywhere imaginable, I feel my scalp loosen as a portion of my hair gets sliced off; however, the majority of them were shallow cuts. I make it out of the cloud of blades, I take my bleeding arm off my eye, shift my anku towards my eyes, and then look down, time slowing to a halt. The blades were following me into the air, if I hang around any longer I'll be turned into a paste. My eyes shift towards my fallen sword lying just next to Toena. It's a pretty tricky maneuver... Do I have any other options? I bring my eyes down, at the impending doom. Alright no time to think.

I retake control of the sword and plunge it into the dirt ground at an angle, giving it leverage. I wasn't anchored to the earth directly, but with this- I felt a tug as my body began accelerating in midair, I can make it act like an anchor. I start flying towards Toena, avoiding all the shredders erupting into the air. Toena widens her eyes and turns around, seeing my blade plunged into the ground.

In a split second decision, she rams the handle further into the earth and then draws her Sek's, the small lightweight swords that Shesuans often dual wield with. I stop flying towards the sword midway before she could impale me and land just outside of her striking range.

I smile, my entire body bleeding from all the cuts. I loosen and take out the scabbard of my sword for a weapon. Now that we're at close range; it's time for you to feel some pain.

Taiga

The answer was pretty simple. If Polly doesn't want me to get in close, then I'll stop trying to get in close. Instead, I'll turn my attention to Toena.

I begin running a wide arc around Polly; I just need the right position and timing to jump in on their fight. Then Polly will be forced to close the gap herself to prevent us from taking Toena down 2 on 1. That's right. I'm the weakest one here, so I can't do anything by myself. I need to fight with Rudeus.

As I run, I whip and weave around two more sling shots, my eyes starting to get used to their patterns. I keep on running and running, until my back was facing Toena and Rudeus' fight, and my front was facing Polly. Please for the love of God Rudeus, do not let Toena get by and pincer me with Polly when I'm in this position.

"Mercenary! Watch out for the boy if he tries to get in on your fight!" Polly shouts across the field, keenly aware of what I was thinking of.

Toena simply nods her head, keeping her eyes trained on Rudeus.

"Hey Rudeus! I'm coming over to your side now!" I said in response. I taunt a smile at Polly, and start running full speed away from her. My goal wasn't to take down Toena, it was really to force Polly to fight on my playing field. Make it so that she has to do more than just fling rocks at me all the time. Toena glances at me as I run, but quickly turns her attention away as Rudeus descends on her.

Although, taking down Toena in the process would be nice. As she turns her head away from me, I take all the anku stored in my left foot, and transfer it all into my right foot. My foot digs into the ground, ready to take that explosive step. At the same time I activate the anchor located on Rudeus' arm. My body distorts in a blur and shoots itself forward like an arrow, going even faster than my previous fight with Polly.

Rudeus

I feel a tug on my arm where Taiga left his bloodstain. He activated it! I hold my stance to avoid getting dragged away myself. Toena notices this and immediately jumps away to try to create distance between us again. However, I predict this and dash forward the same time she jumps back, actually overshooting and coming up next to her, sandwiching her right between me and the oncoming boy.

Gotcha. I duck and swing my scabbard at her legs, knowing Taiga he’ll probably aim for the upper part of her body. An explosive amount of smoke suddenly erupts out straight from Toena’s belt, she must have activated a mechanism of some sort.

I feel the satisfying crack of my swing directly connecting. However, I hear the whoosh of something flying right above my head. Taiga missed huh, no matter.

Toena’s legs give out and she crumbles to the ground. I aim the scabbard straight for her head then slam it with enough force to cave her head in if she wasn’t prepared for it. Toena puts her hands out stopping it before it reaches her head and bites her lip as the bones in her palms shatter under my force. Both her hands and legs are unusable now this should be our chance!

I take a vicious swing once more straight into the side of her head. However, Toena quickly crouches with unexpected dexterity and swings her legs across mine. I fly off the ground as they make contact and land with a thud, my head spinning dizzily. A fog enters my head. What just happened? I can’t think. I can’t think! I immediately start swirling Anku around my head, turning it into Sananku and clearing my head. I see Toena disappear into the smoke, running away on her two legs.

Shit! That bastard knows how to use Sananku. She must have kicked me when I wasn’t paying attention to her legs. I get up to chase after her but immediately fall back as the blade of a Sek slices the area I was just standing at. Polly appears from out of the smoke, her blades drawn, staring me dead in the eyes.

Taiga

I tumble and fall onto the ground, I cough under the stench of the strange liquid I’d been soaked in. She managed to douse me in it as I flew over her head, it smelled like some sort of synthetic chemical sharp and pungent, piercing right through my nose.

“Taiga! Careful of Toena!” A voice from within the smoke shouts.

Toena appears from within the smoke rushing me down. I scramble off the ground, but Toena is too quick and is already right in front of me before I have the chance to stand up. However, instead of striking, she thrusts her head forward completely exposing it. Like a natural born instinct I reach into my pocket full of sand then whip it straight into her eyes. She reacts to this and closes her eyes. However, the sand was soaked with my blood, so even if she closes her eyes… The sand begins sticking to her eyelids, tightly clumping together as if it were magnetic. If she opens her eyes, the sand will just immediately blind her.

I lunge forward and slug her right in the stomach. She coils over in pain, I try to jump back, but then I feel my foot tear as I put my weight on it. I trip and lose my balance. Shit! Did that foot wound reopen?! I thought Rudeus fixed it! She then reaches her arms out and wraps them around me, trapping me like I was in a coffin.

Rudeus

“Taiga! Careful of Toena!” I shout, then charge at Polly.

I need to get to Taiga as fast as I can! I swing my scabbard down at her with as much force as I could muster. She creates an X shape with her blades catching the scabbard in between the two blades before they make contact. As I do this I get a whiff of something strange.

Lamp oil? Why would that be…A sudden realization runs through my body. Alarms going off everywhere in my mind.

“GET AWAY FROM THAT WOMAN’S MOUTH!”

Taiga

Toena opens her mouth and spits out a sort of clear liquid. Unable to break out of her grasp, I watch helplessly as I notice the contraption attached to her teeth. She clacks her teeth together, creating a spark from the flint and steel attached to the top and bottom of her teeth.

The very next moment, my world erupts into red, flames erupting everywhere on my body.

Pain. Agony. I’m thrown into the fiery pits of hell. I flail around, trying to escape, trying to get away from it. But it’s no use. The agony is following me everywhere I go. Stop it, get it off me! GET IT OFF ME!

I scream as my skin begins to peel off. My feet lift off the ground, I register in bewilderment that someone had just impaled me straight through the stomach. The pain begins to subside as I felt an odd sense of peace wash over me like an ocean wave.

Wait… don’t die. What is my body doing? I still haven’t learned anything yet. Why… why are you giving out so easily! What was my purpose? Why did you send me to this place?

I begin laughing mentally. Ahahaha! God, whoever you are that sent me here! I hope you get the karma that’s coming for you.

“That’s not a very nice thing to say isn’t it?” There it is. That genderless voice again.

“Who are you?” I speak from within my mind trying to get some more answers before I inevitably cross over.

“Hmm… Letting you know right now would ruin some of my fun, so I’ll save the grand reveal to you for some time later alright? But for now, let me take over for a bit.”

Dundee

The boy named Taiga grabs the the handle of the Sek impaled into his stomach. Toena, startled, jumps back as she had thought that he was already dead. The boy then effortlessly reaches in and tears the blade out, blood spurting everywhere. The blood he had lost was already sufficient to kill a human, but this boy had changed into something else. The boy looks around then snaps his fingers, the flame instantly fading away like a whimper. Even his clothes seemed to be undamaged. However, this wasn’t Taiga. The boy’s mask began sprouting strange symbols and decorations. Until it eventually resembled that of a demon. It was someone much greater.

Both Rudeus and Polly immediately recognized that mask for what it was, for it was the mask worn by a certain man.

"Alright, now let me introduce myself. My name is Dundee, I'm a Drifter."