Okay so after leaving Quincy’s group to have a fun time in the hospital my group headed off towards the outskirts of town. Manchester suggested that we arrive stealthily and have Ryder place bombs throughout the battlefield. I remember this being the same tactic he used against me when we fought, and it was a pain in the butt to deal with. Nevertheless, if the monk dude is strong enough then these bombs won’t be anything, but mere annoyances to him. I still don’t know how I feel about setting traps for an honorable opponent, but All is Fair in Love and War right?

We arrive at the outskirts of the city and all I can see are rundown unoccupied buildings as far as the eye can see. I wonder why the monk would choose to have a fight here. It would make it much easier for him if he were to attack the tower with everyone unprepared. Is it because he wouldn’t want any innocent people getting hurt, or maybe it would allow us to fight to our fullest without having to worry about saving the civilians from random explosions and debris? Either way I don’t have the time to think about his motive. All I can do right now is to think of a way to beat him.

“Ryder my boy, are the explosive traps ready to go?” Manchester asks.

“Yeah they are, I’ve set up about a thousand bombs throughout the outskirts of town. Once Snickerdoodle comes in he’ll be met with a fury of blasts,” Ryder answers.

“Good, you said you had the ability to make bombs out of ordinary objects right? Well make a few of these pants explosive, I bet he’ll be in for quite a surprise as he won’t be expecting the first hero’s party to fight like this,” Manchester surmised.

“Doesn’t this all feel kind of underhanded?” Lilith questions.

“I feel you, if we were strong enough I wish this could be an honorable duel, but right now we have to focus on doing whatever it takes to win,” I said nervously.

“You know if you 're going to have an honorable duel then I wouldn’t even be allowed to heal you during the battle, you know,” Azura mentions.

I’m starting to feel less inclined about honor now.

“Heh, what’s wrong with using every possible tool you have in your arsenal? Our opponent will do the same, so I doubt he will see this as dishonorable,” Nazuko argues.

“Yes and this is coming from our most honorable fighter in our party,” Remi says sarcastically.

“What did I do that was dishonorable?” Nazuko inquires.

“You punched Will in the balls!” Remi yells.

“Well he almost shot a kid, so at that moment he deserved it,” Nazuko adds brutally.

“Oof, don’t bring up bad memories, I still remember how that felt,” I say while unconsciously cupping my balls.

“Don’t worry my friends, as I have fought this man before I know Snickerdoodle will just see this as our fighting style. I agree with the short, pants wearing girl, indeed there is nothing wrong with using everything you have against your opponent. In fact the monk may find that holding back would be the most dishonorable thing you could do,” Manchester states.

“See Remi I am right!” Nazuko says smugly.

“Oh screw you SHORT, pants wearing girl,” Remi fumes.

“I’m not that short!” she argues.

We all just look at Nazuko who is barely tall enough to reach Ryder abs.

“Yep. Not. Short. At. All.” I say sarcastically.

“See Will gets it,” Nazuko adds to her defense.

Everybody else is just trying not to laugh at Nazuko who apparently missed my sarcasm.

We all just wait around in the middle of the abandoned outskirts until finally a man wearing a black martial arts gi shows up in front of us.

“You have finally appeared, Snickerdoodle! This time I shall not lose to you! For I have added the power of friendship to my arsenal, as well as some more pants,” Manchester declares.

“I can’t believe he actually called him that,” Remi whispers.

“I know, doesn’t that sound kind of disrespectful? We don’t really know if that is his actual name,” Azura says in agreement.

“Maybe he’s provoking him, it could be a strategy to throw him off,” I suggest.

“No I really think Manchester believes his name is Snickerdoodle,” Ryder tells me.

“Oh,” is all I have to say.

The monk in front of us takes in a deep breath in response to Manchester’s comment.

“It seems you have misheard me when we first met. I shall say this only once. My name is Sirius and I have come here to take the life of the hero of Westphalia. PREPARE YOURSELVES!” he shouts intimidatingly.

“Mythril give me his info here, what are we dealing with?” I ask mentally.

Name:

Sirius

Class:

Monk -> Aquatic Taekwondo

Element:

Water

Defense Level:

Form Dependent

Aura and Magic:

Heavily focused on Aura

This man has three main forms, River, Whirlpool and Storm. His river form is his defensive form, where he’ll focus on counters. To get past his defense you will need to apply a great deal of pressure. His Whirlpool form is his offensive form, here he’ll try to build up momentum--in other words, each kick will be stronger than the last. His last form, Storm, is the one to watch out for. This is what defeated Manchester. Here his single hits are immensely powerful, avoid being hit at all costs. Lastly he will use water to augment his attacks as well as defense.

“Perfect, thanks. I’ll come up with a plan to deal with this guy’s abilities.”

“Alright let’s go have a SIRIUS battle guys!” Nazuko shouts as she draws her small blade.

In the corner of my eye I see that Remi has cringed at Nazuko’s pun. To be fair, I would have if she didn’t, it did kind of ruin the tension, but her pun somehow calms me as well.

“It seems that I know who must be taken down first,” Sirius says in response to Nazuko.

“Wait, let him make the first move,” Ryder tells us as we all draw our weapons.

Oh right the landmines, I’m glad we didn’t just rush headlong into battle like we usually do or else our underhanded tactic would have worked against us.

“What’s wrong? If you don't approach then I shall make the first move,” Sirius says as he unknowingly steps forward into the minefield.

The man takes two steps forward before being greeted with an explosion that goes off right in his face. He reacts swiftly and jumps up into the air to avoid the explosion.

“Guys now, from Manchester’s report he’s limited in the air, let’s go with plan javelin,” I command.

“Ok let’s do this Ryder!” Nazuko says as she hops into Ryder’s cannon.

“Alright get that monk Nazuko!” Ryder yells as he shoots her out of his cannon right at the airborne monk.

Nazuko attempts to strike with her short sword using the force of Ryder’s cannon.

“Don’t underestimate me simply because I’m airborne,” Sirius says as he twists his body in midair to avoid Nazuko’s strike and proceeds to kick her in the sides sending her flying away the length of a football field.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!” she yells as she gets sent flying.

I open up a portal to catch her and bring her back to the fight while Sirius lands firmly on the ground.

“Well that didn’t work at all,” I sighed.

“Fret not, if one plan doesn’t work, then go with another. For the path to success is wrought with many failures,” Manchester tells me confidently.

Damn, I’m going to remember that quote, for when I have to be motivating.

Suddenly Sirius charges forward through the minefield with the agility of a cheetah. Everytime one of Ryder’s bombs goes off, he just sidesteps or jumps away before the blast reaches him.

I hinder his approach by shooting wind bullets at him whenever he’s forced to avoid the landmines, but he shields himself with a protective barrier of water made from his blue aura.

“Damn, my bombs are only like mere annoyances to him,” Ryder curses.

“Remi, if Sirius gets past the minefield then you actually have a chance to prove your worth,” Nazuko tells her.

“Then it’s finally my time to shine, you can count on me,” Remi says with confidence.

Remi then summons both her wolf and bear at the same time.

“Whoa, this is the first time I’ve seen you summon two spirit animals at the same time,” I say impressed by her feat.

“Heheheh, go on, lavish me with all your praise,” Remi brags.

“I don’t really think she’ll make a difference,” Nazuko whispers to me.

“I heard that you little ...” Remi starts to swear.

“Stop bickering guys he is almost here!” Azura commands.

Lilith puts up her shield and gets in front of our party. As the smoke from Ryder’s mines dissipates, suddenly Siruis rushes out of the smoke and throws out an axe kick that lands on top of Lilith’s shield.

“Tch, his kick is so heavy!” Lilith complains as she’s left reeling from the recoil of blocking Sirius’s attack.

I take advantage of the ½ second before Sirius can pull his right leg back and slash my right sword at his left leg. In defense a protective barrier of water meets my sword and he jumps back out of my sword’s reach.

“In that brief exchange I’ve identified each of your roles. Two swordsmen, one tamer, one archer, one thief, one pants obsessed idiot. Therefore the last one who has yet to attack must be your healer,” Sirius determines.

The monk quickly jumps over Lilith and I as he heads towards the rear members of our party. He lands amidst Azura, Remi and Manchester and attempts to kick Azura. Just in the nick of time Manchester stops his kick by immobilizing his leg in pants.

Dang for once someone actually goes for our healer. This isn’t someone we can mess around with.

“I daresay, you shouldn’t undersell me so,” Manchester tells him.

“This trick again, huh,” the monk says as he turns his attention to Manchester.

“Yes, but with a twist this time,” Manchester says right as the pants wrapped around Sirius’s right leg explode.

Everybody gets back into formation and as the smoke clears we see that Manchester’s attack actually did some damage. It’s minimal since his aura protected him from the brunt of the blast, but the pant legs of his gi are now damaged.

“I hate to deal damage towards a person with nice pants, but don’t think this fight will go exactly as it did last time,” Manchester threatens.

“Hmph, is that so? Well that just makes this all the more entertaining,” he responds.

In the next moment he is simultaneously attacked by both Remi’s wolf and bear. He dodges both spirit animals effortlessly, but now has to deal with consecutive attacks from me and Nazuko. I continuously slash at his legs while Nazuko jumps over me and throws a kunai right at his chest. He grabs the kunai with his hands and tosses them back at me which I block with my left dagger. Ryder also assists by shooting him with his flintlock to cut off the monk’s options.

Each of us is interweaving attacks right as one of our attacks ends putting enormous pressure on the monk. Only a few attacks manage to hit and the unguarded or dodged attacks are met with his protective barrier of water. However, he forces us to back off as he summons a wall of water and sends it right at us. Lilith ends up putting up her shield barrier protecting us from the wave of water, causing it to split off to the sides.

“Your team is very coordinated, you work together and fill in the gaps where others would fail to assist their teammates. Good. I can confidently say that my team would not work together as well as yours,” he says praising us.

“He’s praising us yet, we’ve barely managed to lay any attacks on him,” I whine.

“Keep it up, there’s no way he can dodge forever,” Lilith tells us.

“Heheh, while you guys were distracting him I’ve also managed to replace the landmines that went off,” Ryder boasts.

It seems that the monk may have heard Ryder’s comment as he summons his aura and stomps the ground as hard as he can. The resulting action causes an earthquake that ended up sending all the landmines into the air. We see that icicles start to form around him, he then does a spin kick sending all the icicles into the landmines causing them to explode.

There goes that plan.

“Dangit, fine, if you set off those explosives I still have more,” Ryder says all agitated.

Ryder then proceeds to chant his spell that causes a bombardment over a wide area.

“Ryder what are you doing, we are right in the center of that blast, that won’t only hurt him you know,” Azura lectures.

“Don’t worry I have a plan,” Ryder assures her.

Ryder goes up to my ear and tells me exactly what the plan is to deal with the monk.

“Ok I got it,” I tell him.

As we witness all of the bombs Ryder summoned start to drop from the air right into my portals.

“Do it now Will!” he yells.

I focus on the opponent before us and proceed to open portals in every direction surrounding the monk. All angles are covered, up, down, left, right, I have covered every escapable angle, wrapping our opponent in a bubble of portals. I have successfully managed to entrap him in a prison of explosions sending our opponent directly to the center of the sun.

Soon all we hear is the loud consecutive bang of constant explosions.

“Alright if that didn’t do any damage, I’m going to be pissed,” Ryder claims.

“It’s still not enough, I can sense it, his aura, his strength still burns bright,” Manchester informs us.

As soon as the sound of explosions cease, I close the portals to see Sirius surrounded by a barrier of water, looking somewhat damaged. It seems that he put up his barrier a bit too late, and a few explosions got past his defense.

“I’m still glad it did damage,” Ryder boasts.

“Celebrate the little things,” I tell him.

“It seems I cannot take your party lightly hero, fine then let’s see how you deal with my whirlpool form,” Sirius says as he gets into a different pose from before.

I can feel the change in his aura, I know just from this feeling that we are both to see a change of pace.

“Azura I need you to perform that one spell that saps an opponent's strength. From what Manchester told us, he has an ability where he builds up strength with each kick, I need you to slow that down as much as possible,” I command.

“I can do it, but it will take time, I need to be guarded in order to cast the spell,” she tells me.

“Ok guys you heard her. Don’t let Sirius get near Azura,” I inform everyone.

We all get into a defensive formation with Azura in the back. She starts to chant her spell and in response the blue haired man starts to move rapidly around us as if he were looking for a crack in our defense.

“Don’t think that I would allow you to do whatever you want,” he says as he charges towards us.

He runs up to Lilith performing what looks to be the same kick she blocked last time, but he does a feint with his right leg and uses his left to kick her legs, knocking her to the floor. He slips past my sword strikes and does a push kick that hits me directly in the stomach, the force of his kick is strong enough to separate me from the group, knocking me back a dozen feet. I feel like I want to throw up, but I use every bit of will power in me to hold it down. The monk then makes his way past me to be met with Remi’s spirits. He does a few swift kicks knocking the bear off balance, but doesn’t react to Remi’s wolf in time as it tries to bite down on his left leg. However the man seemed somewhat unfazed, caring little for defense as he spins around so fast the wolf falls off and is spinkicked right at Remi. He jumps into the air over Ryder, Manchester and Nazuko, and tries to perform a spinning hook kick on Azura. Right before his foot makes contact I open up a portal separating the two and another portal next to the monk’s chest. His eyes widen as he can tell exactly what’s about to happen, but he followed through with the kick and can no longer pull back. His chest is met with the force of his own kick sending flying a few meters back, but still managing to land on his feet. At this moment Azura manages to finish casting her spell and we see a purplish black circle encroach on the monk and zaps him. Black orbs start to erupt out of the circle and start flying back to us allowing us to absorb their power.

“Tch, draining my strength now are you? But at this level it’s nothing but a mere trifle. This will barely make a difference,” he tells us.

“You are confident in your strength, but a battle is won not just through brute strength, but also through tactics and determination,” Manchester claims.

“Yeah, he’s right, every little bit helps,” I say as I plunge my sword into the ground to help me get back up.

From what Manchester said in his report, when he uses his whirlpool form, he focuses on the offensive and starts to build up his strength with each kick. The original plan was to cut off his movement options with Ryder’s mines, so we could surround him and limit his mobility. Yet none of that is going to plan at the moment. The best we’ve accomplished is minor damage plus getting Azura to drain his strength slightly.

We continue into a downward cycle of us attempting to attack, but each time he kicks he evades as quickly as he approaches. Lilith is starting to look worn down, from tanking all of the monk’s kicks and I don’t know how much more she can take. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her so worn down from a fight, so that’s how I know we are in dire straits. Ryder is starting to lose his cool too as a few mistimed explosions managed to hit some of our party members as well. Everyone has at least taken a single kick from the monk, even Azura. I don’t know how much longer we do this. He’s so agile and his ability to evade our attacks is outstanding. With this battle raging on it’s taken everything I have just avoided his kicks as with each kick his strength magnifies.

Battle Theme: Enfin Apparu

No. Stop. Focus. I close my eyes and think. Remove all the irrelevant thoughts from my mind. There’s no need to contemplate every possibility. Cut away the infinite possibilities and dig deeper. In my mind’s eye I can see it. A void, an empty space. The one singular correct answer and my final conclusion.

The Book of the Void has opened.

I take a deep breath, grip my sword and push away all the residual pain in my body. I’ve only ever felt this feeling once before, when I first awakened my specialization. I saw it then, this void that appeared in my mind’s eye. This is the result of all that grueling training, the cumulative experience of every battle I have had, all pushing me towards this singular moment. I’ve entered a state of pure focus, one in which every skill has been heightened.

“You shouldn’t let your guard down like that. It’s time for you to die,” Sirius says as performs a roundhouse kick right at my head with the force that a reaper would use to decapitate an unwilling soul.

“Will watch out!” Lilith yells.

With minimal movement I barely move my head to the side, narrowly avoiding his death kick and counter by slashing for his face. The reaper not expecting my counter barely manages to dodge my strike with my blade making a small cut across his cheek. Surprised, he puts one hand to his cheek wiping the blood away.

“Your aura, something about you has changed. Interesting, you should be capable of giving me a far more entertaining fight now,” Sirius comments.

“...”

There’s nothing to be said in response. There’s no need for any extraneous thoughts.

I charge forward without striking at my opponent. I make a severe change in the way I’m moving. With his speed, he is capable of weaving in and out of attacks, therefore I need to be able to keep up with him. Focus not on attacking, but moving. Eventually my chance to strike will come. I know the perfect technique to use in this situation, the movement techniques of Niten Ichi Ryu.

Autumn Monkey's Body: With this method, you are to start off by assuming a posture in which you are not to use your hands. You are to think of getting your body close to your opponent before striking him. However, if you think of reaching out both of your hands, your body will remain distant. This is why you must always think of quickly getting your body close to the enemy. When you are distant, you will exchange blows of the sword, and it will be rather easy to move closer to your opponent.

Sirius sends out a flurry of kicks, but none manage to hit. When he does a high kick at my head, I notice that there is a blind spot to his right side. I take advantage of this fact and slam my blade into his side. He can’t dodge it, his only option to put up a defensive barrier of water. The blunt force of my attack still penetrates his barrier, smashing his kidney. We continue like this for a few more exchanges, with each ending like the last. I can see his aura waning, with each landed strike his barrier loses its thickness. A few more stray hits and it could be fatal. I feel myself getting lost in this battle, this clash of skill and strength, it’s exhilarating.

“How is Will moving like that, it's as if he’s fighting like a wild beast,” Remi remarks.

“I don’t know, I never trained him to fight like that,” Lilith responds.

“It doesn’t matter, it's working. Kick his butt Will!” Nazuko yells.

When he kicks there’s a small windup caused by him pulling his leg back to generate more force. Use that small window to encroach, and get within striking distance. If I get close enough to him, I can force him to use kicks that don’t require him to pull back. These are far less devastating, and are unable to make use of his built up momentum. Move like the wind and stick to my opponent like glue.

Body of Lacquer and Paste: With this technique, one's objective is to get close to the opponent and stick to him. When one is to do this, one must first behave as though one had been strongly glued to him with one's feet, head, and body. It is generally known that during combat, most fighters will have a tendency to have their body hang back while their heads and feet are extended forward. One must attempt to paste one's body against the opponent's without leaving any area in which the bodies are not touching.

Within the next encounter I begin my attack at a range that to an outsider would seem like I would definitely miss. But as my right sword makes a horizontal motion I open two portals between me and my opponent. This attack takes my opponent off guard as he’s cut across the chest. It’s a shallow cut, but one that wasn’t completely stopped by his aura. If all I can manage is to make small cuts like that, then I’ll never win. I need an attack that can deal massive damage. He attempts to counter my attack with a devastating push kick. At that same moment I throw the dagger in my left hand right at his chest. He blocks it with his hands and delivers his kick right into my abdomen. At that last moment I barely managed to lay my hand on the wound on his chest, before I’m sent flying away.

When I get up my vision is blurry and I start to cough up blood.

Danger! You are in need of immediate healing! You have about two minutes before you suffer critical organ failure, approximately five minutes until death!

“Yeah I know Mythril, I can feel that. But on the other hand he should be feeling a similar burden.”

The monk takes two steps forward as if he were about to deal a killing blow, but all of a sudden he places his hand on his chest and makes a wheezing noise.

“I can’t breathe! What did you do to me?!” Sirius says as he clutches his chest in pain.

“Heh, in that last encounter I sent a burst of wind through that small wound on your chest. That caused a massive increase in pressure inside your chest cavity, which then caused your lung to collapse,” I inform him as I pluck a healing potion from my pocket dimension and consume it.

The potion should stave away the immediate threat of death, but everything else still hurts.

“I see now that I need to end this fight quickly. In that case I shall show you the result of my lifetime of training. The last form, Storm,” Sirius states.

I can feel a dramatic change in the air as he concentrates his aura. He’s charging so much power I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said I felt the ground shaking. No way! He’s still capable of so much even with one of his lungs collapsed. This man is insane.

In one swift motion he charges up to me, kicks at my left hand that I used to block with my dagger. I can feel his foot make contact with my left hand, disarming me and breaking my left hand. He then performs his strongest kick yet, one enhanced with the full force of his aura.

If I get hit by that I will die. I can’t avoid it in time. I am going to die. I am going to die. I am going to die. My entire life flashes before my eyes. Am I really going to die like this? I have so much unfinished business to deal with. I don’t even know what happened this morning with Remi, I just teleported myself away before I could think about it. Wait, that’s it.

Right before the death kick comes into contact with my chest, I teleport my body away, reappearing right next to my party. The force of his missed kick causes a massive amount of air to be sent in our direction, nearly knocking everyone over.

My hands are shaking, I can barely grip my sword and my breathing is ragged.

Back then I did not realize it, but I was not shaking just out of fear, but in awe. To think that someone could go so far and become so strong. He truly was an amazing opponent.

“Will, are you okay?! I’ll start healing you immediately,” Azura says as a green light is emitted from her hands.

“Sorry to say this, but it doesn’t look like we’ll get that chance,” I respond.

I can sense the monk’s desperation mounting, he’s going to want to end this fight as quickly as possible so he can go heal.

“Nonsense my friend I believe you’ve done enough. You can leave the rest to your allies. This is my chance to get even after all,” Manchester assures me.

Manchester then utilizes his most powerful technique, summoning all of his pants to his presence and his body starts to bulk up. He whispers something to Ryder right before charging forward to attack the monk. Ryder begins chanting a very familiar spell, the very one that causes a massive explosion and uses up all his energy. Sirius then tries to take out Manchester with one extremely powerful kick.

“I will not fall to that this time!” he yells as he narrowly avoids it, grabs his leg and tosses him as far as he can. There is about a 400 ft difference between us now. The perfect distance as Ryder’s bomb lands directly atop Sirius causing a massive explosion that could be heard from the knight’s tower in the center of the city. Quincy if you can hear that, take that as a sign that we are winning.

“Ah yeah it was a direct hit, there’s no way that he’s still standing after getting with my most powerful attack,” Ryder claims as he plops down onto the ground.

As the smoke from the explosion clears, we see the blue haired man crouched in the distance with one hand on the ground, the top of his black gi now destroyed. On his topless muscular physique we can see a tattoo of a wave, as well as that of a shark.

“Oh come on, how tough is this guy,” Ryder complains.

“Well at least he’s not standing any more,” I say comforting Ryder.

“Be ready my friends, for I feel we are approaching the end of this battle,” Manchester announces.

Azura finishes healing my life threatening injury and I stand up ready to finish this fight. Our two opposing sides have a brief stare down at one another before hearing the sound of a fallen tree in the distance. That sound starts the final encounter. All of us (except Ryder who’s lying on the ground) start running towards Sirius as he gets up and starts running in our direction.

The man launches a final attack by doing a flying jump kick to end the battle. Manchester covers his fist in a ton of pants and strikes meeting his foot. The two attacks clash and start to push on one another. It looks like Manchester is about to lose this clash of strength, but is saved due to Remi’s bear hitting the monk with a swipe of its paw, launching him into the air. He then is assaulted with simultaneous attacks from both Lilith and Nazuko, launching him even higher. I finish the fight by opening a portal and sending myself right above him and hit him with a punch to the gut, sending us back down to the ground.

“Is it finally over,” Lilith asks, looking all worn out.

“Yes I think it is,” I answer.

A minute passes before Sirius opens his eyes staring at the rest of us.

Unable to move all he has to say is this,

“I see… I have lost. Well, what are you waiting for? Kill me. For I believe that a true battle is only won, when your opponent is dead. I have dedicated my entire life to developing my martial art. To have a battle like this, well, it is not a bad way to go out,” he says with a soft voice.

I think to myself, wondering what I should do. In my heart I already know what I want, I can’t kill him, that isn’t my way. Plus what I really wanted was …

“No. I won’t kill you,” I say as I stand over him.

“What? What are you saying? I tried to kill you,” Sirius says in a confused tone.

“Can I ask you a question? Why do you fight? Why would someone so honorable such as you fight for the man of stone?” I ask.

“My entire life, I’ve spent fighting. I have only ever lost one match in my entire life, to the man of stone. My loss against him, it gave me a reason to fight. He told me to fight for him, he promised to lead me down a path where I could become the strongest. To be superior to everyone else in terms of strength and to never lose a fight again. I never really cared about the rebellion or his plans nor did I support the idea of getting into the graces of demons,” he responds.

“When we fought I felt that our clash was exhilarating. Putting everything you have, everything you are, against an equally skilled foe. Isn’t that one of the best feelings in the world?” I ask him.

Hearing my words causes his eyes to widen,

“Yes... yes it is. I truly had forgotten why I fight, it was not solely to become the strongest, but to evolve my martial arts. I forgot why I had wanted to become strong in the first place, I forgot the feeling of joy when you are forced to surpass your limits. I remember now, I wanted to meet an opponent who could match me blow for blow, for that feeling truly is the best in this world.”

“If possible, I want to fight you in an honorable duel,” I tell him.

“I see. I understand.” he acknowledges my words as if he can sense my intent.

“Azura heal him. If anything at least heal his fatal injuries,” I command.

“What?! Will what are you saying? He almost killed you remember? If I heal him he’ll just come after us again,” Azura states harshly.

“No he won’t. Isn’t that right Sirius?” I ask already knowing the answer.

“That is correct. To the man who reminded me of my true purpose, I am only grateful to you. I promise you all that I shall no longer fight for the man of stone. I felt no pleasure serving him and my strength was only utilized to create terror and fear. I was not fighting for myself, nor what I believed in, thus I did not grow. I shall leave Ayana, and set myself on a different path,” he reveals.

“Tch, I’m not sure about this, but if he attacks us again. Then I told you so,” Azura says nervously.

Azura manages to heal Sirius’s collapsed lung, and fixes him to a walkable state.

“First hero, these are my parting words to you. With the other reapers, you mustn’t show this kind of mercy to them. A few of them may not be so reasonable. Swordsman might be reasoned with, for she is a strange being, but you will absolutely regret sparing the thief. He is abnormal. Kill him with everything you have, same goes for lancer if you fight him. With Archer I recommend bringing an army, but even that may be too little-- that man is only second to the man of stone. As for your unwillingness to kill, I feel that you are a little too naive. Sooner or later you will be forced to kill, whether you want to or not. If I was not someone who had basic morals, this fight would’ve ended by a simple assassination. I pray to Vienna that you shall survive,” Sirius informs me.

“Thank you, I shall take heed of your words, but I won’t kill,” I respond in kind.

“If you say so. First hero the next time we meet we shall have that duel, one on one.”

The blue haired man shakes my hand as a parting gesture and goes off on his way, his immense aura felt a lot more solemn compared to the intensity that was portrayed only a few moments ago. It was as if the tide had changed and the storm had ceased.

“Should we really be letting him go like this?” Remi doubts.

“I trust in Will’s judgement, so we’ll be fine. He even gave us information on the other reapers,” Nazuko argues.

“Ok guys I am exhausted, I think we’re due for a rest back at the tower,” I decide.

As we walk back to the tower we pass by Ryder who is still lying down on the floor.

“Guys some help would be nice?” Ryder pleads.

Remi’s bear goes up to Ryder, picks him up by the jaw and tosses him on his back. This would be a cool image to see, a really buff guy riding atop a bear. Except for the fact that Ryder’s head is facing towards the bear’s butt. Oh well it’s a spirit bear, I’m sure they don’t pass gas.

“Remi I think your bear exploded,” Ryder says as we all start to smell something.

“I didn’t think spirits could do that,” Lilith says astounded.

“Nah, that was all Remi, disgusting,” Nazuko says covering her nose.

“It wasn’t me though!” Remi yells in her defense.

“I wonder if Ryder is into those kinds of explosions,” I say under my breath.

And thus we are back to our usual bickering. That’s two reaper fights down. I hope the rest aren’t as painful as this.