After jogging for a bit I think I finally lost Adam. I stopped hearing his pleas for me to slow down a few minutes ago, so I think I should be able to get my books in peace. Speaking of getting my books, I’m in front of the book store so that’s great. Even though it’s nighttime, there are street lights lighting up the roads and the full blood moon is quite bright allowing me to see that the shop’s sign above the store says “ Books N’ Stuff”. Ah snap, I can get books and stuff on top of that? With a grin on my face I attempted to enter the shop when something bumped into me, causing me to fall to the ground. I angrily look at what hit me and it’s Adam right beside me. God damn it.

“Quincy I finally found you! I got scared, I thought I was lost. I was running all over the place and couldn’t really see where I was going so sorry about hitting you.” Adam apologizes.

“Adam you better help me get up right now or I’m killing you. You just ruined my book shopping experience.” I threaten.

Adam quickly gets up and gives me a hand to get up as well.

“W-wait how could I ruin your book shopping experience? You’re not inside the store yet.” Adam questions.

“Well you see Adam, I was about to go inside, but then a retard hit me.”

“Oh no who did that?”

I facepalm. I swear this boy is getting dumber.

“Oh hey the store’s here. Wait...oh s-sorry that was me then. I did tell you to slow down...I wanted to get a book too.” Adam points out.

I’ve known Adam for a few months now. We’ve talked quite a bit but in all that time he’s never told me he liked books. I’m actually curious about what this man reads. I swear if he reads the same books Marianne does, I’m out.

“Before we head inside, I gotta ask, what book did you want to get?” I question.

“Oh well, it's not the type of book you read. It’s a comic book. It’s called Kyojuro. The latest volume came out today and I want to read it asap. It’s getting really good.” Adam explains.

Kyojuro? That sounds Asian as heck. This world has Asian people? I read dozens of books about this world and I never saw a name as Asian as that.

“Y’all got Asians?” I ask.

“Asians? Ugh, no, it’s a comic series from Albium. Actually most of the cool comics come from there. I like the art style. No one knows what the state is like on the inside nor do they allow any of their technology to be shared but they allow their art to be distributed.” Adam elaborates.

“Oh yeah Lordess Jana’s state right? That was the one state I couldn’t find any info on. All I know is that they’re the smallest and apparently the most technologically advanced because their land is in a magic dead zone or something.” I add.

“Yeah that’s all we know. No one’s allowed in or out. But like I said, they make cool comics.”

With that being said I nod my head and enter the shop with Adam following in tow. Since it’s nighttime there are lanterns everywhere lighting the place up. It’s quite small for a bookstore and there’s dust everywhere. There are multiple stands throughout the shop with signs saying which stand has which genre. I’m pretty sure that my room in Colonus has more books than this place. I can see a cashier in the very back being occupied by a bald old guy with a gray moustache. He looks weird, his eyes are closed yet he seems to be reading a book. Besides him there are a few other old people looking at potential books to buy. Well this world is doomed, young people don’t want to read books. Anyway Adam walks past me and goes straight to the comic stands. I might as well see what this comic looks like, since Adam made such a big deal of it. I can get my books afterwards, all I wanted was a history book to get and a notebook for Ice Cube. If I can’t understand the girl normally, the least I could do is let her write her thoughts out. I walk with Adam and immediately his face goes red upon seeing the comics.

“U-ugh Quincy I didn’t expect you to follow me. I expected you to go straight to the history section.” he says.

“Yeah but you made such a big deal about this comic book I may as well see for myself. Besides it’s not gonna take me long to get what I want.” I say as I start to look at the comics myself.

Upon seeing the comics a chill goes throughout my body. Some of the comic books straight up look like anime, specifically the art style. The characters got really big eyes and well, the girls on the covers have big ol’ boobs. Will is gonna lose his mind once I tell him about this, we both liked anime and manga in our old world so he’s gonna be ecstatic. I look back at Adam and he looks nervous. Ah he doesn’t know I have something very similar in my world, I’m not gonna tell him either, I can have fun with this. I found the comic with the title called Kyojuro and picked it up. On the cover is a girl in a scantily clad bikini with two samurai swords out with blood sprays all over the place. Oh my god this is hilarious. I give Adam a deadpan look.

“L-look I can explain. The s-story is very-”

“Adam it’s ok, you don’t have to explain a thing. If you want to look at 2D porn that’s your prerogative. Looks like Nerva was right about you being a pervert.” I cut off.

“I-I’m not a pervert! L-look that’s just fan service ok? The primary demographic is teenage boys so they add stuff like that. I r-read it for the story and action ok?”

“Uh huh” I say with a huge smile on my face.

“I MEAN IT! The action is awesome and the characters are really good. Plus it has a nice romance. The romance is cute. It’s what drew me in.” Adam remarks.

Wait...romance? No one besides Will knows this but back in my world the manga I read the most, when not reading my books, were romance manga. Does this mean that Adam and I have something in common? Oh hell no. I can’t allow that. Adam and I cannot bond over things that’s against the laws of nature and I bet all the Gods and Goddesses would concur. I also can’t let the people of this world know either. That would just be embarrassing. Oh shoot when he said that I must have stopped smiling.

“Q-Quincy are you ok? You became really serious once I mentioned the romance. D-do you like romance comics?” Adam questions.

I immediately slap him across the face.

“Ow! Why’d you do that?” Adam says in pain holding his right cheek.

“Boy, stop it. You are having thoughts you shouldn’t have. So take this 2D porn, and go to the register. We will never speak of this again” I order.

“But Quincy it’s ok if you like romance, I-”

“Shut up! I’mma slap you again” I threaten as I raise my slapping hand.

“Ahh ok fine I’m going” Adam says as he scurries to the register.

I take a deep breath and head to the history section to try to forget all that’s happened. I browse the books for a bit and I eventually settle on a history of the early ages of the Elven Empire. It’s actually called the United Confederacy of Elven Peoples. Ignoring the weird oxymoron of a united confederacy, the country appears to be the only democracy in this world. They have a unicameral legislature and an elected monarchy which sounds way better than this medieval/holy roman empire system the humans have going on. This specific book goes over the democracy’s early years which I don’t know much about. I could go into more detail but I might as well save that information for when I tell it to Will via a rant. After picking up the book I proceeded to another section which had a bunch of school supplies. Mostly textbooks but as I hoped for, a few notebooks. I pick up a nice sky blue notebook and with my books head to the register. Oh great there’s a line now. There’s about four old people in front of me and it looks like Adam has just purchased his books. As I stand in line he decides to wait with me saying he doesn’t want me to be bored.

Behind me I hear a ring indicating that someone else has entered the store. I turned around to see that it’s a cloaked figure. They’re about 5’9 and I wouldn’t give them the time of day, except for the fact that they have a huge samurai sword on their back. It almost scrapes the ground because of how long it is. I guess they’re a knight but I don’t know, I have a bad feeling about them. I keep a close eye on them as they head straight towards the comic section. They arrive at the comic section and pick up the same comic that Adam got.

“Yay, they have it!” the figure cheers as they do a tiny hop of joy.

What’s really weird is that the voice was monotone. It was monotone yet loud how tf does that work? Because of the hop of joy, the hood fell off the figure’s head revealing the face of a girl as she walked towards the line. As she comes closer I can see more details and see that she has a pretty face, almost like a model to be honest. Her eyes have this dark crimson red hue and she has long silky black hair.

Something is off about her, her eyes look like they have that thousand-yard stare. She’s seen things, alright--so maybe she really is a knight. She’s right behind me now but I’m no longer looking at her, I look ahead towards the cash register. It’d be weird to stare and bother the person standing behind you in line. Apparently Adam doesn’t know this.

“Oh wow you like Kyojuro too?” Adam excitedly asks.

“Yes.” The woman replies in a deadpan tone.

Man I thought Adam passed out when talking to girls? Has he grown? Or is his love for 2D porn overcoming his fear of talking to women? Probably the latter. Well whatever I hope Adam doesn’t drag me into the conversation.

“This arc is getting really good isn’t it? I hope Kyojuro is going to win in his fight against Queen Naoto.” Adam says behind me.

“He will. He got that power boost from training with the snow hermit. He learned a lot of cool moves during that,” the girl replies.

“Oh yeah huh he met that pervy snow hermit at the end of the last arc. That training section had some nice romance development with Kiyumi. I hope she gets with Kyojuro at the end instead of one of the other girls”

“She won’t. She's the worst girl and childhood friend. Yuko is clearly the best girl. She’s also the strongest out of all of the harem girls”

“I mean yeah but Kiyumi and Kyojuro have better chemistry. Kiyumi was there from the beginning so I think it’d be sweeter if they got together.”

“That’s a nice thought but it’s not happening. Don’t get your hopes up. She’ll confess but end up getting denied because he’s gonna choose the best girl.”

“Hmph I disagree. Hey Quincy you like romance; what makes more sense? The guy getting with a girl who’s been there since the beginning or the strong girl who he has no chemistry with at all?” Adam asks me.

...This boy is gonna die now. I’m gonna slap him so hard for saying that, his head is going to explode. I slowly turn around already knowing that I have an extremely angry look on my face.

“Ugh Quincy are you ok?....Oh no. QUINCY DON’T KILL ME I’M SORRY” Adam pleads.

It’s too late for this boy, he is dying. Nothing he can do can change that. I slowly raise my hand and I can feel my aura being emitted from my body. Yep, this is gonna end him.

“Wait. I think I know who you are” the girl cuts in.

That caught me off guard. My anger subsides as I lower my hand and direct my attention towards her. I can hear Adam breath a huge sigh of relief. He lives, for now.

“Are you the One of Blackness?” she asks me.

“Nah that ain’t me. Now you look like a nice girl so I ain’t gonna call you racist, I’m just gonna call you ignorant. You see just because I’m black doesn't mean that I’m the one of blackness. Don’t go around assuming that all black people you see are the same person, that makes you a racist fascist and you don’t want to be that.” I point out.

“Oh I see. Forgive me for making assumptions.” The girl apologizes though it’s hard to tell if she means it because her voice is so monotone.

“But Quincy aren’t you the One of Blackness? That’s what everyone in Colonus calls you isn’t it? You know it’s like your secondary title besides being called the Second Hero” Adam says.

The girl’s eyes widened. She quickly grabs me by my arms, so fast that I couldn’t react. She throws me through the store’s display window, making me roll on the ground outside for a few feet.

“GOD DAMN IT, ADAM!” I curse as I spring up.

Even though I just got thrown out of a window, it didn’t hurt. I guess my aura activated as soon as she grabbed me. Anyway, getting thrown out the window isn’t what’s important right now, it’s the fact that I was right about that girl. I’m gonna have to kick some ass.

“Quincy!” Adam calls out as he runs out of the bookstore.

He’s now beside me. We look at the front door of the bookstore to see the girl exiting it. She closes the door behind her, puts her book into her pocket and looks at me. I can already tell this gonna be some bullshit.

“Hey I’m gonna have to kill you now. Your friend can leave though. Even if he likes the worst girl. I don’t want to kill more people than I have to.” the girl says nonchalantly.

“I-I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving Quincy-” Adam attempts to say before I force him into a huddle with me.

“Adam, you idiot, listen. She’s letting you go which we can use to our advantage. Go get Warren. I think we passed a tavern on the way here. I’ll try to hold her off.” I state.

“B-but Quincy don’t you need me for this fight?” he asks.

“No. No, I don’t. Listen, you being here makes my chances of living through this go down because you’ve really pissed me off and there’s a good chance I’m gonna kill you instead of her.” I threaten.

“..Well ok but be careful. I got a bad feeling about her. DON’T DIE QUINCY!” he says as he quickly turns around and runs off.

Now it’s just me and the girl staring down at each other.

“I have a feeling you’re gonna fight back. Just so you know if you don’t I’ll make your death painless.” the girl informs.

“Wow that’s a really good offer and if you asked me earlier today I would have said yes but right now I’m gonna say no” I reply as I get into my boxing stance.

“Very well. Then you shall meet your end for my resolve is stronger than yours.” she says while she slowly unsheathes her long katana and takes her stance. Wait what she just say?

“Pfft. Your resolve is stronger than mine? What type of cringy talk is that? You a dork ain’t ya?”

“...No that line is cool. Don’t insult the blood samurai.” she retorts.

“Oh my god the ‘blood samurai’? You’re a walking pile of cringe” I insult.

“....Your death will be painful. Let’s begin”

Quincy vs. Blood Samurai Fight Music

She and I dash at each other simultaneously. She’s right in front of me as I throw a jab but she ducks under. She attempts to perform a horizontal slice across my stomach but I grab both of her arms.

“Ha got ya bitch” I cheer but she quickly gives me a right kick to the head.

I get another kick in the head, this time by her left leg but I still hold on. With anger building up inside me I angrily flip her over, slamming her onto the ground. I expected her to reel in pain but instead she quickly twists her body around making me fall to the ground as well, releasing her arms. I try to get up but she stomps me in the face with her right foot. I can tell she has heels on because of the feeling on my forehead. She attempts to thrust her sword into me but I catch it with both hands. My hands are bleeding as she tries to put more force behind her thrust. The blade is slowly inching its way towards my chest. I could tell she was strong but I didn’t think she could be stronger than me. She didn’t look like she had the build for it. Desperately I push the sword back and roll to the right. I hear the sword get thrusted into the dirt. I get up as she attempts to take it out and give her a right uppercut to the face. The hit forces her to let go of the sword and she steps back from me. This is perfect, she doesn’t have her sword now which should make things easier for me. I don’t give her any time to adjust, I dash and release a flurry of punches. She puts up her arms in defense as they absorb the blows. Each punch I give her makes her slowly go backwards, further away from her sword. Even better, I’ve just cornered her by making her back press against the wall of a building. As I attempt to throw a blow that would make her go through the wall she sidesteps and with her right arm grabs the back of my head and slams my head into the wall instead. My head goes through making me dazed. But I don’t have time to think, I have to keep up the attacks. I yanked my head out of the wall and felt blood dripping down my forehead. I look to my left and right to see where the “blood samurai” went but I can’t find her. Oh god I know where she is. I look back to where the sword is and see her pluck it out of the ground and turn back towards me.

“You’re not too shabby. Too bad all of that only made me use 10% of my full power.” she states as she makes her way towards me.

“Lady, every time you talk, I wince. What’s next you’re gonna say that you’re not even in your final form?” I chide as I get back into my boxing pose.

“...How did you know that?” she asks, shocked, stopping 6 feet in front of me.

I look to my right and left to see if anyone else can be a witness to this cringe. Unfortunately I’m all alone on this blood moon lit street. Seriously where are the city guards at when you need them?

“Girl when I kill you I’m gonna be doing your parents a favor.” I say.

That seemed to have angered her because immediately after saying that, I felt a blow to my stomach making me fall to my knees. I look up and see that it was with the butt of her sword. She might not be kidding when she said she was only using a little bit of her power. There is now this red aura emanating from her and she looks pissed. I attempt to get back on my feet but she gives me a kick to the head making me tumble down the street. Feels like I just got hit with a sledgehammer with a heel attached to the end of it. I opened my eyes and I noticed that I’m lying flat on my back looking up into the nighttime sky. Wow, there are a lot of stars in this world, back in my world you had to go to the countryside in order to see the stars, too bad the red hue kinda ruins the look. Dang it I really did get hit hard in the head, I’m having irrelevant thoughts right now. I try to get up but I feel a heel press down against my throat. Can’t breathe. Not good.

“You shouldn’t have mentioned my parents” She said as she prepares to plunge her sword into my face.

Did not think this was how I was gonna die. I expected to die while reading a book, preferably when I was an old man. But you know death doesn’t scare me for some reason, probably because I had already died. Well if I’m dying I ain’t dying a coward.

“Any last words One of Blackness?” she asks.

I flip her off as my final words.

“Huh, that’s how one of Kyojuro’s party members died.” she remarks.

The next thing I expected was a sword through the head but instead I saw a knife flew toward her. It doesn’t kill her though because she catches it like it was nothing. Her heel is still on my throat so I just roll my eyes upwards to see a figure slowly walk towards us. Can’t really tell who it is because to me they’re upside down.

“You’re a Reaper aren’t you?” the figure asks.

Wait, that voice sounds familiar.

“W-Warren?” I barely get out.

“Yep. Hey Quincy” he says nonchalantly, eyeing the girl.

“I have no quarrel with the homeless, you should get out of here. I’m only here to kill the One of Blackness.” the girl replies.

“Can’t do that. Quincy’s my friend and you have some information I want. Let him go and I won’t have to kill you.”

“No Warren we’re killing her regardless, she pissed me off” I state still being choked by her heel.

“Doesn’t matter how many people you bring. I’m gonna kill them all. Don’t make me do that” the girl says looking down to me.

“Hmm well it seems we’re at an impasse. We all want different things. Too bad for you it’s gonna be us getting what we want. QUINCY NOW!” Warren commands as he throws another knife at the girl.

His directions may have been very vague but I know what he meant. The girl is surprised as she grabs the other knife thrown at her. This makes her distracted long enough for me to act. I attempt to break her leg by punching it with my right arm. I hear something shatter but it’s not bone. What the hell? I look and see that I just broke her heel in half. Why is her heel so freaking long? I thought I was aiming for her knee but I guess that’s not the case. She looks down at me and gives me another stomp to the face. She then performs a kick with the leg that has the shattered heel which sends the rest of the shoe flying towards Warren. She then leaps off me and dashes towards him. I roll over onto my stomach to see Warren quickly take out his machete and slice the shoe into pieces. It was a distraction as the girl is now behind Warren.

“Warren behind you ack!” I warn.

My throat is still torn up from almost being choked to death. Luckily Warren heard my message as he got down dodging her horizontal sword strike. In the same motion he also performs a leg sweep making the girl fall to the ground. Warren follows up with an overhand punch and it lands on her chest.

“Ack!” she coughs.

I get up and rush towards them. Before the girl could do anything else I gave her a kick to the body making her bounce down the street like I just did a kickoff with her as the football. She rolls for about 2 dozen feet. This quick reprieve gives me time to catch my breath.

“You ok, Quincy?” Warren asks, patting me on the back as I cough a bit due to the choking.

“Ack ugh yeah I’m good. Just almost died is all. Hey where’s Adam?” I ask.

“Oh a bottle was thrown at his head as soon as he entered the tavern knocking him out.” Warren informs me.

That doesn’t surprise me at all.

“That boy makes me sad, Warren.” I sigh.

“Give him a break, he’s grown quite a bit these last few weeks. But anyway we should focus on the girl who can easily kill us.”

I turn away from Warren to see the girl walking towards us with her sword drawn. Oh my god she got tiny. She must have removed her other heel because now she looks like she’s only 5 feet tall. She looks just as dangerous though.

“Hey Warren you should tell this asshole to kill herself. That’ll rattle her.” I suggest.

“Do it yourself” he replies as he gets into a fighting pose.

“Hey asshole! Kill yourself!” I call out as she comes closer to us.

She stops a dozen feet from us and proceeds to. . . do what I ordered? She takes out one of the knives that Warren threw at her, calmly cutting her left forearm.

“Wow, I didn’t think she’d actually do it” I remark.

“Good job, Quincy.” Warren says.

“You two have surprised me. I may have to use 40% of my power.” she says as the blood starts to drip from her arm.

“Why is she talking like a comic character?” Warren asks, confused.

“I don’t know man, she’s weird. That’s why we gotta kick her ass.” I explain as I get back in my boxing pose.

“Now. . . come at me!” she orders. “I've been waiting to use that line, man I’m so cool”

I heard that last part, the more I hear this girl the more I cringe.

“Warren let’s do it.” I say.

“Yep. Right behind you” he concurs.

Warren and I sidestep away from each other and surround her. We both then leap in at her. I attempt to throw a punch to the gut but she spins around me making my punch hit Warren in the gut instead. Oh god Warren I’m so sorry. She’s now to my left and I witness her attempt to slice Warren but luckily he was able to dodge most of the swing. His right arm got cut though. As she dashes towards Warren I attempt to tackle her but she’s even faster than before. She’s already out of my arm’s reach as she unleashes a barrage of sword strikes at Warren. Warren is able to block most of the attacks by deflecting with his machete but I can tell she’s moving too fast for him to adequately keep up, he’s stuck on the defensive. I witness the clanging of blades as they fight their way away from me. They’re about 10 feet away as I try to run to them but suddenly I feel a sharp pain go through my left calf. The pain makes me fall to the ground. I look down to see a large spike of blood emanating from the ground is the cause. What the hell is this? I attempt to punch the spike hoping it’d shatter but it just morphs apart and then shoots itself through my right palm (which is still bleeding by the way) causing there to be a hole in my right hand.

“AHHHHH” I scream out in pain.

The stream of blood is now circling around me. Great I gotta deal with this bullshit while Warren is doing the real fighting. I’m able to make a quick glance at Warren and see that he’s getting cut all over. She’s too fast for him. He tries to get an attack in but it turns out that was a bad move. She was able to move past the machete so that she’s right in front of his chest and I witness a short blood blade form in her right hand. She plunges it into his stomach and lifts him up into the air. After a brief moment of suspension, Warren's body is slammed into the ground.

“AH” he moans in pain.

I need to get to Warren asap. But first I gotta fight freaking blood. I try to keep track of the blood that’s moving across the ground but it’s surprisingly fast, it’s hard to keep up. This thing acts like it has a mind of its own. But maybe it’s controlled by her. If that’s the case, I got some more info though I don’t know how to take advantage of it. Dang it, I may have to use a move Armstrong taught me to handle this thing. It’s freaking blood so it’s not like I can just punch it so I’m gonna have to deviate from my normal strategy. Armstrong taught me a defensive move but I don’t like using it because I can’t move when I do it and because I hate Armstrong. It’s why I didn’t use the move in the fight against Bartrem. But if I use it here I can at least protect myself from the blood and hopefully it’ll distract the blood girl giving Warren some breathing room. It involves summoning a bunch of aura around my body and hardening it to make an impenetrable shield. But like I said, I can’t move when I do it. I have no choice though as the blood leaps at me, ready to puncture my body.

“Fortify!” I scream as a thick layer of black aura envelops me.

The blood attempts to go through my chest but is stopped by the aura. It’s now on my body and crawls around, attempting to find an opening. It’s like I’m fighting a spiderman symbiote. It’s really freaky.

This catches the blood girl’s attention. She runs towards me with her sword and starts slicing me but to no avail. She looks frustrated as she puts more and more force into her swipes but they’re all for naught. This is good, she’s forgotten about Warren. As she continues to attack me I can see behind her Warren getting up. He has a bunch of cuts all over his upper body as he hits himself in the head to make himself focus. He picks up his machete and surprisingly calls out to the blood girl. Dang it Warren I wanted you to do a sneak attack while I’m the distraction.

“So I take it that your ability is to manipulate your blood. You probably have been using that ability to have superhuman reflexes and strength. Our abilities are somewhat similar.” Warren reflects as a white aura starts to emanate from his body.

This is surprising. Warren has never used any aura or magic abilities in the fights we’ve been in. I was starting to think he didn’t have any special abilities, just hacked people with his machete.

“My ability is that I have complete control over my body. I can make my brain release any chemical I want for a given situation. Like right now, I’m about to release a huge dose of adrenaline.” Warren reveals.

The blood girl stopped hitting me as soon as Warren started talking. The blood is still attacking me though so I’m still stuck.

“You seem like an experienced fighter. Why tell me your ability?” the girl asks.

That’s a good question, why did he do that?

“Because I’m about to show you that when it comes to body enhancing abilities, you’re outclassed.” Warren brags as he leans forward looking like he’s about to pounce.

“Hmmm then let’s see. I’ll go all out for you...because that line was really cool.” she says.

Before she could get into position Warren dashes forward at a speed I’ve never seen him go at before. I could barely see it. He elbows the girl in the stomach hitting her off the ground. He then grabs her feet and slams her onto me. I’m as hard as a rock right now so I know that’s gotta hurt, plus the fact that she said “AH” also tells me it hurts. He then throws her into the second floor of a nearby building. I thought she would be dazed but she immediately comes out with her red aura flowing and flies into Warren. They crash into each other making them fly down the street for like 20 feet. All I can see are a white and red blob constantly clashing against each other as I hear the clanging of swords. I need to get back into the fight but the blood is still attacking me. Wait a minute, this stuff is liquid right? What the heck am I doing? The solution has been in front of me the whole time. I quickly eliminate my aura and resummon it in my hands and do a thunder clap before the blood could penetrate me. This causes the blood to dissipate. Hooray science, if you cause a strong enough wave any liquid disappears. I don’t know the specifics but it worked so yay. I look down the street and see that the fight is more evenly matched. Warren and the blood girl are clashing swords, dashing away from each other, then colliding again. This is some DBZ-type stuff right now, I gotta get in on this. I take a huge breath and create a bunch of aura around my body. It’s not as much as I’d like but I should be able to help Warren out. I sprint to where they are at an amazing speed and when I get there Warren gives the blood girl a punch to the face making her fly back towards me. With this opportunity I gave her a straight punch to the back making her bend, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough force to break her back. She just flies back to Warren where I hoped he would slice her. He attempts to but she must have recovered on the way to him as she dodges the swipe midair and knees him in the face. I jump in trying to help but she lands and body flips Warren on top of me. We both slam into the ground. She attempts to plunge her sword through the both of us but Warren quickly gets off me and I move to my left. I unleash a cacophony of blows at her and she dodges most of them but I got a few good punches in. We’re in close quarters so it’s hard for her to use her katana. Warren helps out by performing a few slices with his machete as we fight our way down the street but doesn’t cut her anywhere vital. She’s making sure to defend her vital organs. We’re moving very quickly so if I had to guess we’re many blocks away from where this fight originally started. We have her on the ropes as she defends herself from my punches and Warren’s machete swipes. I successfully give her an uppercut to the liver and then grab her head to give her a knee to the face. I jump back to let Warren give her a kick which sends her flying into a building. We both stop, staring at the hole Warren kicked her through expecting her to fly out to attack us. We are both out of breath as we anxiously wait. But after a minute of waiting, nothing happens. I think we just won.

“D-did we win?” I ask Warren.

I look at Warren and he’s still on edge. He’s still staring at the hole with great intensity.

“Can’t tell,” he finally says.

“Well she’s not coming out so maybe we killed her”

“That would be bad. She’s a reaper so she must know where my friends are. Quincy can you go in and check if she’s alive?” he asks.

“Hell no” I answered.

“Hey what’s going on here?” I hear a voice call out to us.

Warren and I look to our right and see that it’s a city guard with a lantern coming up to us. About time one of these idiots showed up.

“Hey you, go in there and see if the girl we knocked into that hole is alive or not.” Warren orders.

“You did what now to a girl? Look I need to know what you two were doing out here. We’ve got reports of a large disturbance happening in this part of the city.” the guard asks.

“Chill out I’m the second hero. This man here is in my party, we just took out a high ranking member of the peasant rebellion. So if you wouldn’t mind, go do your job and arrest the woman in there.” I command.

“Ah I see, you must be the One of Blackness. Wow, I didn’t think you were actually black, thought that was because of your ability or something” The guard says as he makes his way to the hole.

If this guard died I wouldn’t feel bad.

“Don’t worry about it,” Warren tells me, attempting to make me feel better.

“Wow yep there is an unconscious girl in here. I’ll put her into some cuffs and take her to the station. We’ll have her interrogated by some knights. You guys are gonna have to come with me though, you know to fill out the report.” The guard calls out to us.

“Yeah no problem” Warren replies.

Wait I don’t wanna do that. Ugh maybe Warren can just do it, I wanna sleep. A figure emerged from the hole and it wasn’t the guard. It was the blood girl with the guard’s sword, her arms bloodier than before and the guard’s sword covered in blood. She’s breathing heavily. If I had to guess she just cut herself some more.

“Quincy back up!” Warren orders.

The next thing I knew the blood on her arms shoots out towards us.

“Forti-” I attempt to say but the blood goes right through my throat like a sharp blade.

God damn it, she got me before I could activate my ability. In my peripheral I see that Warren didn’t have time to react either. The blood shot through his throat as well. We both collapse to the ground holding our throats, trying to keep the blood in. Warren tries to get up while holding his throat with his right hand but the blood girl stomps his head into the ground.

“You two put up a good fight, I can see how you guys took out Bartrem. But like I told the One of Blackness at the beginning, my resolve is greater. Good-”

“Stop it!” A voice calls out before she could finish her statement.

With my hand still on my throat I look to see who it was and it was the last person I expected. It’s Adam. Oh god if he’s our last minute backup we are so dead.

“You again. I thought you ran away.” The girl says uncaringly.

“T-there’s no way I was going to abandon my friends. I didn’t know where you guys were but I followed the path of destruction. N-now let them go.” Adam orders.

“I can’t. I have to do my job. If you interfere you’re gonna die” the girl warns.

“T-that won’t happen. I’ll stop you.” Adam promises.

His legs are shaking and his voice is wavering. Adam you are so out of your element right now.

“Are you really willing to die in vain?” the girl asks.

Adam starts to come closer and replies “I-I won’t abandon them. A..a real man doesn’t leave his friends behind”.

I look at the blood girl and her eyes widen upon hearing him say that.

“You just quoted Kyojuro. That won’t make you like him.” she states.

“We’re just gonna… have to see about that,” Adam says with a smile on his face that he’s trying way too hard to force.

The blood girl seems to ignore us as she walks past the two of us and goes to Adam. I look at Warren and he’s still conscious but he’s in the same position I am. We both can’t exactly move with holes in our throats. We can only watch Adam get slaughtered.

“I’ll make your death painless.” The girl promises.

“I-I won’t be dying today,” Adam says.

The blood girl is out of breath and beat up while Adam looks like he’s in prime condition but that literally means nothing in this case. Adam’s gonna die.

“Let’s begin” the girl says as she gets ready to pounce.

“Shield barrier!” Adam yells.

Before the girl could pounce a blue bubble encircles her head. The heck? It looks like she has a really small blue helmet on now.

“Y-you read Kyojuro so you must know what this is. I-I lied earlier. I was watching you fight since Warren arrived. I know you can control your blood but which means that if the blood is out of your body, then you are losing valuable oxygen. You are now tired as well. If you exert any more energy, you’re gonna pass out due to the lack of oxygen. This means you can’t make any sudden movements right now, that bubble is airtight.” Adam explains.

Wait so Adam was watching Warren and I fight this girl the whole time? I don’t know whether I should be mad at him or not for doing that. That actually sounds like a strategy since he was studying her powers. I’m surprised to say the least.

“You’re doing what Kyojuro did to Enda in the first arc. Too bad I can leap at you from here and kill you in one strike. Once you’re dead this bubble will disappear.” the girl claims.

“I-I wouldn’t talk if I were you. You’re wasting more oxygen.” Adam points out.

The blood girl isn’t listening, I’m looking at her body and I can tell she’s about to strike him. I gotta do something. I gotta knock her out now. She’s distracted with Adam so she’s wide open. I can’t move with this hole in my throat though. As I ponder what to do Warren crawls over to me and grabs my shoulder.

“Aura on hole. You got more than...me” Warren barely gets out since you know it’s hard to talk with a hole in your throat.

I was confused at first about what he meant but then it hit me. He wants me to use my remaining aura to close up the hole in my throat. It’s no healing magic that’s for sure but it should be enough to let me take out this girl before she kills Adam. I tried to concentrate most of my aura on the hole and it worked. Well kinda, it feels like someone is putting pressure on the hole, not like it’s sealed up. But regardless I get up and slowly make my way towards the girl. I focus the remaining aura that’s not on my throat into my hands.

“I-I would turn around if I were you” Adam warns.

The girl turns around and her eyes widen. She tries to move but it’s too late. I’m about to do what I’ve always wanted to do.

“ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA” I yell as I unleash a quick succession of blows at the girl. I know it’s a bad idea to yell when you have a hole in your throat but I couldn’t help myself, I’m having fun with this. She’s taking each blow at full force because she didn’t have time to put up her arms to block. It’s great, each punch makes her look more and more contorted as my punches suspend her in the air.

I then yell one last “ORAAAAAAA” as I delivered the final blow to her body, making her fly about fifteen feet up into the sky. She flies over Adam and makes a loud thud when she hit the ground. I fall to my knees as Adam comes up to me emitting a green beam from his hand, starting to heal my whole body. With his other arm he emits another green beam which goes all the way to Warren, healing him as well.

“Ugh this won’t heal all of your wounds but it should close up your throat. After this we gotta go to the hospital.” Adam informs.

After about two minutes of his healing Warren and I were good enough to move, albeit with a lot of pain. Warren comes up to us and pats Adam on the back.

“That was a good plan Adam, good job.” Warren congratulates but then starts to cough up blood.

“Guys we need to go back to the tower now.” Adam insists.

“Yeah we’re going. Gotta get the girl first. I need to interrogate her.” Warren says, making his way over to the unconscious girl and proceeds to pick her up.

“Wait no, no torture!” Adam orders as Warren comes back to us with the girl slung over his back

“That’s gonna be up to her.” Warren says.

“Warren..I’m with Adam on this one. Maybe not be as brutal with her.” I propose.

They both look at me with surprised looks. I ain’t gonna lie, I’m shocked too. I guess seeing Bartrem get tortured got to me more than I expected.

“We’ll see you two. Now come on let’s go.” Warren says as he heads off in the direction of the tower which I can see in the distance. We must have been fighting our way closer to it this whole time.

“You are surely going to the tower’s hospital ward right?” Adam asks as we walk.

“That’s the plan. But first I gotta lock this girl up in the basement of the tower and first thing in the morning I’m gonna talk to her.” Warren reveals.

“What no! You two need to stay in the hospital ward for a few days.” Adam commands.

“Adam it’ll be fine, once I get my info I’ll go right back to the ward. Quincy you don’t have to leave the ward, just stay there.” Warren suggests.

“Hell no after all we have been through I wanna see what she knows. I’m sticking with you Warren.” I respond.

“Very well,” Warren says as we are now in front of the tower.

Warren opens the door with the blood girl and immediately collapses to the ground. I follow suit.

Before I fade into unconsciousness I hear Adam murmur “Ugh I knew you guys shouldn’t have walked back.”

After hearing that my eyes close on their own and I enter a deep sleep.