I remember trying to save a cat from a tree once. I was… I think ten years old, back of the schoolyard, a cat just frozen on a high branch, it looked scared and very few people were around. I don’t know how it got up there, probably a gust of wind from a cruel classmate. The place I went to had a very wide range of ages, from elementary to almost fully adult. A lot of students there already had well developed Tetsu which enabled incidents like this to happen.

And so I prodded and poked the tree, then tried to climb it, but once I reached a certain height there was just this branch. If I jumped, I could definitely reach it, but if I missed I would fall all the way down, so I climbed back down. Then I tried to climb it again…

And again…

And again…

But every time, I would climb back down when I reached that point, losing my nerve when it really mattered.

Eventually, the cat jumped down by itself and scuttled away. Apparently their bodies are really good for falling from high places. I was actually the one keeping it from getting down cause I was scaring it.

That incident never really left my mind, in fact I was reminded of it frequently over the years.

I’m not really that ‘average’ or ‘normal’ per say, just a bit above the midline. I’ve always been pretty good at a lot of things, but there’s always something stopping me from moving forward.

Despite knowing what I want, despite knowing all the steps I have to take to get there, despite knowing that I can accomplish it.

I feel paralyzed.

I hold my back against a wall, my heart going through my chest as Saen and an unknown number of assailants battle it out just across the corner.

Frost slowly spreads through the ground, across the houses, through the air.

My breath comes and goes quickly, my vision turns distorted as a thin film of ice crystallizes across my eyes.

I shake my head a couple of times and then after a couple of seconds I manage to clobber my senses together. As I peak over the corner.

Saen steps and turns, his sword spinning around at unfathomable speeds, even his body was a blur to my eyes. Sparks flying everywhere from left and right.

There were three, no… just two people there, and one of them was just sitting down watching.

Who is he fighting then?

Wait did I just see three people or am I imagining things?

“Are you lost young lady?”

Before I even have a chance to gasp a hand gently cusps over my mouth.

“I know you’re curious, but for your own good I advise turning away, you might hear something you shouldn’t hear.” All I could tell was that it was a male voice.

I frantically try to turn my head. Who’s there? Who’s next to me? Should I just blast them now?

Or should I pretend to be a civilian?

Wait, I'm here to help, I can’t just abandon him.

This is your only exit, your only chance.

I can’t, I can’t! I knew I was going to have doubts, but I have to go through with it or else I’d just be… Pathetic.

It’s fine to be pathetic, you’ll still be alive.

I…

“I’m sorry! Please let me go! I swear I’ll disappear forever.” I blurt out.

“Okay, scurry off then.” I get a light shove and the pressure from my mouth disappears. I look back to a young man turning away back to the street.

I suddenly feel uncomfortably warm as I get a mind numbing hot flash, I don’t know if it was from embarrassment or stress.

Water drips down from my hand.

“Wait, I’m actually here to help out a friend.”

No turning back now.

The man turns back and gives me a jagged smile. “I knew that, but you’re so obviously way in over your head that I felt a little bad.”

“Don’t treat this like a game.” I respond.

“Hey, I’m just trying to be nice.”

The water stops dripping as it crystallizes into frost, lacing my fingers.

The man’s slight grin quickly turns into a frown as he pats his clothes down looking for a wet spot.

“Too late.” I whisper, I’m in the skies right now, my head in the clouds.

A woman comes flying out from behind the street, droplets of blood floating across the air quickly followed by Saen bursting forward.

He turns to meet my eyes.

The first man’s arm, all the way up to his shoulder instantly turns to ice, bringing him to his knees.

Icy fog begins to form around the street, emanating off my skin.

“What the hell is going on here?” A third face pops up behind the corner.

“That’s our Tetsudo.” The man with the frozen arm points.

In the background Saen continually wears the woman’s defense down step by step as she scoots away.

An icicle forms in my hand, and I rear back preparing to throw it like a javelin.

…

Right, there’s absolutely no way I’m going to hit them by just throwing it at them.

“Are you sure you thought this through?” They both say simultaneously.

Actually did they say that or did I say that? Holy shit, I’m a mess right now. Do I really think I can take down trained assassins? What is wrong—

STOP THINKING

I throw the icicle. It comes out slowly, but Wind Tetsu curls out of my hand and accelerates the icicle into a spinning dart.

The third man quickly brings his sword up, parrying the icicle into shards of ice. He quickly ducks down, letting the shrapnel fly over him, careful not to let any of the sharp edges touch him.

Another one.

Fwoosh. Another icicle flies, flies past and breaks against the side of a house.

A third, fourth, fifth. I stop counting and fire off rapidly as I catch the two in a dance to avoid my projectiles.

I aim downwards, the icicle flies into the ground and shatters, flinging ice all over a large area. Finally I manage to nick an arm, before blood even comes out, the area of the skin freezes solid.

Changing up my strategy, I begin to take advantage of the shards, aiming to the ground to purposefully shatter the ice.

The street fills with dangerously fast moving shards of ice flying all over the air, as the two speed up even faster.

The one without the frozen arm gets dangerously close, managing to grab my arm however quickly recoils back, shaking his hand.

“Grabbing her will not work. We’ll have to knock her out.” He says without skipping a beat.

“Got it, go flank on the left.” The other one says, communicating with ruthless efficiency.

…

I lean in and strain my Tetsu, clouding my brain with exertion, all my practice with the icicle ended up being very useless, I was no longer thinking, just doing whatever came to my instincts first.

All the ice scattered around the ground instantaneously melts, forming a thin layer of water across the ground, seeping into cracks and the bricks.

A second later all the water refreezes, expanding into ice, cracks instantaneously scatter all over the street as if it were made out of glass. creating an extraordinarily slippery and uneven battleground.

In the back Saen gets a major blow as he nicks his sword across the entirety of the woman’s torso, creating a cascade of blood down her shirt, the cut just being centimeters away from spilling out all of her guts.

She clicks her tongue. “Fine, you win. I can’t mess around anymore.” She cracks down on her teeth, staining her teeth red with blood.

The two then dart around the battlefield even faster than before as Saen gets pushed back on the defensive.

The two men quickly draw their swords and drag them against the ground to propel and keep their balance as I send a storm of ice against them.

It hits.

The one with the frozen arm, his sword slips on the ground, causing him to lose balance and fall into a flurry of sharded ice, embedding into his skin and freezing his flesh hard as a rock.

He falls and doesn’t get up.

I break out of my trance and stare confusingly.

I didn’t just…?

I…

…

I can’t think, don’t think. I throw up both my arms to the right and throw up a wall of ice to deflect an oncoming strike as the other man comes running in with a leather scabbard in hand.

“AH!” I scream as my legs suddenly explode with pain, as he sweeps down in the other direction. My entire world turns upside down as my sense of space rotates towards the ground.

For a second I spot my shins, now bent in an unnatural way. Broken.

And then—

Marne

I chop down at the back of the Tetsudo’s neck, making her lose consciousness as she flips over.

I quickly scoop her up before she hits the ground and let her slump against my wrist.

I hold her there for a couple of seconds, making sure she was truly out of it before I relax.

“Lem?” I call out hesitantly.

“You still with us?” I look back to his body slumped against the icy ground. I walk over slowly and flip his head up.

…

I let it back down.

“Scary stuff.” I remark quietly.

I look back behind me. Janit was still struggling against Saen, and judging from her speed she had popped her Anku drive.

“Want any help yet?” I ask.

“Shut the fuck up!” Janit yells as Saen once again takes back the advantage with a cheeky feint bait. I shrug and sit back down to observe tightly.

Out of all the assassins of the red division, Saen was probably the most blessed one by a fair margin, even Roko probably doesn’t match against his speed, power, and above all else, his focus. Which is why Yeluh put him on such a tight leash rather than just killing him, it was hard to come by talent like him these days.

Fortunately his major weakness was that he was never trusted with an Anku drive from Yeluh, blood pills which allow the usage of external Anku temporarily before fading out.

I maneuver my tongue around the inside of my cheek, bringing the pill underneath my teeth. These are very costly to make, so it’s a shame Janit felt compelled to use her’s instead of asking us for help.

But from my understanding, it was a pride thing for her, and Yeluh explicitly told me and Lem to not interfere if she decides to fight alone, so nothing I can do.

Janit once again gets nicked by the tip of his sword, a red line running across the side of her neck, down to her collarbone.

I very slightly squeeze my teeth, putting pressure on the pill. If she dies, this will turn south really quick.

The two go back and forth for a while with neither making any progress. Janit slips up once again. Resulting in a slice across the cheek. At this point she was leaking blood everywhere, the ground gets splattered with streaks of blood with every pivot and movement she makes.

Not bad but a little overrated, he’s very efficient, but his movements are a bit too safe and predictable. Perhaps it’s an adaptation to the Anku drive, but he doesn’t take advantage of a lot of openings or opportunities and opts to just wear her down.

Can’t see the next one going well for her. I watch with morbid anticipation.

Saen gradually slows down as Janit begins to lose steam, matching his pace with hers, waiting for one sloppy strike to fully let loose.

I draw my sword. Alright, I have to be reasonable here. I’m sure Yeluh will be understanding given that he’s always reiterated his desire to avoid pointless deaths.

I come in from Saen’s blindside, making sure to mask my steps. I lean and thrust forward for the kill.

.

Saen swings back with blinding speed, so fast that he creates a distortion of tearing the air itself behind his back.

How the hell did he just…? Was he holding back against—

My throat opens up to a fountain of blood sputtering across the ground.

Oh, I’m dead.

I stumble backwards a couple feet and then drop to the ground.

Saen

As soon as I kill Marne I lower my sword downwards.

“You still want to keep going?” I ask Janit.

“I do not care. The situation has not changed in the slightest.”

Janit slashes forward, inching close to my throat as I sway backwards.

I pay close attention to the direction of her gaze. She was looking at my knees, the wind up of her body was pointing strike towards my legs.

It’s a bad habit of hers to use this as a feint plus my sword is already towards the ground, so I’m guessing…

I duck in close to the ground and drive my shoulder forward, ramming her right under the ribs, her arm brushing against the side of my head uselessly.

I then drop my sword reaching over her shoulder, holding tightly, and ram my elbow in the same spot, determined not to stop until I feel the crunch of broken ribs.

“Ahphhhhh.” Janit gasps in pain before winding up and tensing.

I immediately relax my body as Janit knees my stomach, letting the impact carry me a couple feet away. Leaving me with very little bruising or damage without very much Anku.

In fact most of my Anku was left for the rebound as I ruthlessly move in to strike forward again and again, not letting her catch even a moment of breath.

Her Anku drive ran out, but…

I scowl deeply, and begin to aggressively speed up, making sure I didn’t didn’t go for anything too vital however.

The two of us exchange blows until we lock out our swords together, pushing in a contest of strength.

“Give up.” I say. “I’ll always be over you, nothing you do will change that, not the pill, not more training, nothing.”

“But you won’t kill me right? But I am, and that’s all that matters, that’s —all —that —fucking —matters.” She enunciates the last part slowly.

She lets go of the tension and quickly positions her sword to her chest, letting go of all self-preservation instincts as I swing my sword down into the base of her neck.

I immediately twist my sword to the dull side and bring my hand down as she stabs forward.

My hand turns numb as I grab onto the edge of the metal, the tip of the blade poking through my palm before it could reach my heart. A sharp throb runs through my arm.

Janit’s stance crumbles a little bit as I bring my sword down to her shoulder. However, the damage was nothing substantial.

“Fuck! You- Damn it! Why do you have to be like this? Don’t you have any shame?” I yell.

“I don’t care anymore, please die.” Janit responds coldly.

Of course, had to have been my worst possible opponent. Anyone else I could just kill and be done with it.

I take step after step back as Janit begins to swing wildly, leaving behind huge openings, but she knew that I wouldn’t take advantage of them.

“I’m sorry. I know how you feel about me and mother, but just this once. Please, I’ll never come back.”

“Oh no, you don’t get the happy ending, not after all those years of shit.

“Sis—“

“Do not call me that.”

“I know, I know. I just…” I stop, at a loss for words.

I glance down at Marne’s slumped over body. If I could get the Anku drive out of his mouth… No, that’s not the issue, I have to find something else. Is there really no way out of this without killing her? Think, think, think.

Parry after parry, sparks of steel rain over the ground. I subtly direct the direction of the fight, through subtle changes in angle, power, and timing of my strokes.

Clang.

Ring.

Clatter.

Clang.

Suddenly, Janit’s grip falters, losing stability for a split second, a minor mistake, but noticeable enough for me to recognize it.

I charge forward, wrapping my arms around her waist, tucking my head into her stomach and driving forward.

She quickly swings at me, however her arm wraps around my back and the blade hits nothing but air, I was too close.

“Oomph!” The two of us fly into the air as I tackle her to the ground.

She manages to wedge her legs under my torso right in the nick of time, lifting me off and over her head before I could pin her down.

However, that was a possibility I had already planned for.

I thrust my arm down and jam my sword into the ground, reversing my momentum and swinging a kick right through back of her head as she falls down, the most vulnerable part of the human body.

That should be it. I think to myself as she immediately goes limp, almost certainly experiencing a concussion. Even with Anku it’d be hard to ignore the trauma her brain was experiencing.

I let myself relax and look away.

Hmm… Where is a good rope now? Need to tie her up for a couple days.

From sheer danger instinct alone, I lift my sword behind my back colliding with the unrelenting but unmistakable pressure of Janit’s blade.

“What? How is that possible?!”

Midway as I turn around she strikes again; I barely manage to deflect it out of the way, grazing me on the chest on the way, drawing blood on me for the very first time.

She’s fast! Way faster than when she took the Anku drive!

Janit’s pupils jut from side to side uncontrollably. In fact most of her body was jittering. Every single one of her muscles were so tense that I could see the striations underneath her skin, veins pumping blood leaving ripple through the skin.

“What did you do!?”

She viciously flings her sword at me, leaving behind an afterimage from her position, it was like she was skipping forward in time, I could only see her in discrete intervals.

Her sword leaves a deep ridge in the edge of my blade, any harder and it would have gone right through.

Her shoulder pops as she stabs forward, wrenching out of position but she doesn’t even notice as I duck under her blade only to come face to face with her knee.

She’s not reinforcing her joints properly when focusing Anku on her muscles. Is she really that desperate to squeeze out every last drop of power? Or is it… A lack of control?

My nose shatters as I’m launched backwards, blood welling up in my mouth.

Damn it that hurts! My mind begins to swirl but I quickly bring it back in control.

I need to reel it back defensively, she must have used some freaky Anku drive, but might take herself out before taking me out.

I roll and jump back, making as much distance from me and Janit as possible, short of straight up running away.

Janit tries to close the distance, but because of all that extra running, her next attack was extremely well telegraphed.

I do a half-dodge, half-parry to avoid too much stress on my sword, then hop back again. Same as before, just wait it out.

I stand ready, waiting for Janit’s next move. She has to take the initiative here, she has a time limit before I’ll outpace her again. Desperation will make her sloppy.

But she stops.

…

Her attention was turned somewhere else.

I follow the direction of her gaze, then instantly tuck in and explode forward.

She looks back and raises her sword to block; however, I let go of my sword before we even make contact and reach forward, spreading my hand across her face, gripping painfully tight as I push down and slam her to the ground. The stone bricks crack against the back of her head, allowing me to drive her through into the dirt underneath the path.

“I will destroy you.” I whisper menacingly. “Don’t think about it.”

“I know she’s bedridden right now, won’t be able to move for weeks, if she wants to recover.” She moves her mouth underneath my palm.

“You know it’s over, even if I can’t beat you. Roko will come, Yeluh could pay you a visit personally, maybe even both. Just let me kill you. I promise our mother will be safe.”

… I open my mouth to respond, but no words come out.

“I—”

Janit strikes upwards like a snake and counter grabs my face, easily overpowering me and driving me through the ground like I did her, clouding up my thoughts as my head spins.

“Thanks.” I faintly hear Janit say as she drives her sword through my heart.

I’m tumbling… Can’t breathe… I inhale a nose-full of water, choking as a mass of water washes over us.

…

That was the Tetsudo! She woke up! Despite the situation my mind quickly adapts, as I begin to work out my next move.

I dig my heel down and stop dead in my tracks, as a strong current of water streams around my foot, creating a spray, flying into the air.

Janit was also already on her feet as well, charging forward like a bull, drenched clothes and hair.

I carefully shift my foot to redirect the spray into her face, temporarily blinding her, then jump up and smash a kick into her chest, causing her to stumble back and lose her grip on her sword.

I float into the air with the momentum, quickly whip a glance behind to check on the Tetsudo as she takes aim towards the ground and fires a chunk of ice underneath my feet, the ice shatters and explodes into hundreds of pieces

“DON’T KILL HER!” I turn my head around to scream at the Tetsudo. I have no idea what these people are capable of; I have to get my point across boldly.

“She won’t.” Janit’s voice comes from an unexpected angle down below.

Oh, Shit! but Janit grabs my leg and yanks me down to earth. Those fractions of seconds when I had my head turned allowed her to approach me unchallenged.

I jam my arms behind the back of my head, as I slam into the jagged path. I cushion my fall well, but a rattled shock still reverberates down my spine, sending tingles all over my limbs.

Two times in such a short amount of time she’s brought me to the ground. Whatever she just consumed, her abilities are soaring to places no human should even be able to reach. She’s throwing off all my instincts and timings. I try to wrap my other leg around her arm in an attempt to bring her to an arm lock; however, she snakes out my grasp, and finally brings her fist down upon my face.

Squinting, my eyes are throbbing, everything is too bright. I desperately pull my hands over my face. With a single hand she grabs and shoves one arm out of the way.

I twist my neck and push my entire body to the side trying to rotate her off my body, her knuckles glance off the side of my cheek and bumps against the ground, milliseconds away from being a clean hit, drawing blood as if it were a knife.

However, in the same instant I feel a sharp pain right underneath my diaphragm, causing my breathing to spasm and constrict, as she knees my stomach.

I can’t get a fucking grip! Nothing I do is working!

“Get off him!”

Suddenly I’m dragged off the ground like a ragdoll. Dozens of sharp, icy, cold, numbing blades stick into my back as Janit uses me as a shield from her attack.

The Tetsudo gasps. “No! I didn’t mean…”

I don’t hear the rest of what she had to say before I’m slammed back into the ground. None of my senses are working anymore, I can’t see, I can’t hear, I can’t breath.

A numbness spreads across, starting from my face, traveling down my torso. Defenseless, Janit punches me over and over again, each one seemingly breaking a new bone in my skull.

That’s it, I’m dead.

That Tetsudo girl screams something and for a moment the pain stops; however, I have already lost consciousness.

Taiga

Hundreds of millions of noises emanate through the city, from large to small, from voices to the sounds of small rats scurrying.

To my south, 27 degrees, 13 miles away. I pinpoint an unmistakable voice. A yell that penetrated through the fog of noise.

I lower my head and concentrate, bringing all my senses to that specific location.

Swords ringing, stones breaking, the sound of labored grunts.

There was something going on that I wanted to interrupt, something that only I could do.

From the peak of a clock tower, I take one step to the air, letting gravity overtake me as I drop into the streets down below.