62 A monster II
3rd Person POV
"Kuh!" Kouki grunted in pain.
Kneeling down, he swallowed back the blood that was about to come out from his insides.
His body was riddled with slash wounds, but they were not deep enough to cause him to bleed out instantly. His enemy was purposely avoiding his vitals, it was just one attack after another with no intention other than to torment him. Her ability to turn invisible made it difficult to deliver a proper counter attack and his way of fighting was a poor match given the wide openings he left whenever he swung his lance.
On the side, Tobio had it the worst with an enemy that used an avatar that resembled a bear plushie, and while his avatar, Jin, would not seem to have issues on a regular day. The pair of them that bear avatar and two other men, cause him to be unable to fight back. If Jin got far from Tobio to attack the bear, a man who spits acid slimes would target the lone Tobio, while another man would immobilize him after the mouth on his hand chanted something in an unknown language. That prevented Jin from venturing far from his owner.
Her avatar was taken down after a small exchange, and Natsume faced a single woman. She had a pair of eyes that would shine at times and the first time it happened, she caused Natsume's avatar to crash down after striking it. Not only she was capable to predict the attack path of the avatar, but just from simple movements, she knocked it out leaving the young woman undefended. Nonetheless, Natsume was not one to easily give up. She did not grieve for her avatar for too long, or rather, she did not have time. Her enemy was about to attack her so Natsume picked a branch that fell off during Griffon's dive. Although her actions proved unsuccess when her enemy easily disarmed her and used that chance to dislocate Natsume's shoulder to reduce her fighting capability. The girl managed to get some distance from her enemy, but her fighting power was even lower than before. Yet, she still signaled to Sae and Shigune to stay behind her so she could protect them.
Clinking his tongue, Kouki swept his eyes at the remaining enemies that did not move a finger. Lavinia had warned them of the possibility of finding people like them, fellow Sacred Gear users, but this was a worse situation than what they imagined. While he was wary of his current opponent, she was just toying with him so he could just manage. However, if some of the spectators joined the fray, it could be very tricky.
Just when he thought of rolling on the ground in an intent to avoid his invisible attacker, that he was beginning to read the rhythm of the attack, he felt an incredible bloodlust that caused him to stiffen in place. His first thought was that another enemy had appeared, but soon the bloodlust no longer targeted him. It seemed to be focused on their enemies since they all turned in one direction.
From between the trees, Nora's figure slowly appeared. His eyes were bleeding for some reason, but he looked fine nonetheless, he held a pair of small axes in his hands. The way his eyes swept at everyone present sent a chill down his spine, and Kouki could feel the sheer anger barely hidden below his expressionless look.
Stray-sensei, as Kouki had nicknamed him, suddenly vanished when all the eyes were on him. His location was closer to Tobio, and there was someone who reacted before anything happened.
"Careful, he will-"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
The screams of the man who tormented Tobio with curses was heard, and it became easy to tell what had happened. An ax was stuck on his ankle, the deep location of the blade made known that it was a vicious attack.
Nonetheless, Nora did not make himself known. His presence had vanished, not a trace of the previous bloodlust could be perceived.
"Hehehehe! A new 'friend'!"
The crazed woman, who called herself Salient Stalker, did not seem to care about her injured comrade. Her voice filled with glee could be heard and she appeared to have shown interest in Nora.
The kneeling Kouki grunted from pain, but he managed to stand up. He could not let the boy deal with the crazed woman alone, or so was his line of thoughts. Armed with his lance, he coated with lighting and swung it blindly in front of him. However, he did not connect the hit. The woman was already gone.
"You bastards! Give me a hand! Argh!"
Angry, the man with an ax embedded in his ankle called for help, but he was forced to the ground. The ax in his ankle disappeared and the sound of digging flesh was heard next. The man had no time to scream, an ax had been lodged on his neck with immense strength, almost snapping it. The gruesome sound was heard clearly.
Nearby, the woman who commanded the bear took a step back looking left and right.
"Q-Quickly! His eyes! If we cannot see him, he must not see us!"
Yelling frantically, the woman, who did not show signs of a clear mind since she appeared, called out.
One of the bystanders took a step forward and pulled out a pair of sunglasses with him.
"Shiki-san! Be careful! Reni-san warned us about him! Don't look at the statue he is carrying, it will take your eyesight." Tobio shouted.
Recovering after freezing when Nora's deadly attack took down one of the men who was fighting with him, the young man warned, however, Nora-
"...IT WAS YOU!!!" Nora's figure was seen once again.
His expressionless look was distorted into anger and grief.
"You took her eyesight..." Nora began shaking. "I see, I guess that makes sense. Knowing about you, I should've guessed."
The man put on an unconcerned look and smirked, slowly putting on his sunglasses, he signaled his avatar to advance.
"I don't know what you are talking about..."
Following his actions, his comrades all covered their eyes, and before Tobio's group did the same, they saw Nora staring hatefully at that man.
They only caught a flash before slowly lifting their heads and watching Nora still in the same position.
"Heh, you guys can take care of him now."
Certain relief could be seen on the face of the man's comrades before the woman controlling the bear smiled creepily and signaled her avatar to attack Nora.
From his position, Tobio noticed Nora's eyes looking somewhat different, it was not only the eye color but rather, they lacked something that people normally had.
"No...!" Tobio hastily ordered. "Jin!"
Trying to offer assistance, he sent his avatar to stop the bear, but it was too late. The paw was already above Nora and when everyone thought that he would suffer a terrible injury-
"I see, so this is what they all went through..." Nora muttered. "Kuroka-chan, I am sorry. It is because I am not a real hero like you think I am that you end up like that."
Looking directly at the approaching paw, a whitish aura covered Nora's body. It was tinged slightly in green and slightly in red, but mainly white. The speed it covered Nora's body was instantaneous, and above all, it did not simply cover a small layer of his body, but rather, it almost seemed like a bulky armor surrounding him.
In his hands, claws were formed using that aura and Nora evaded the descending paw dropping the axes and attacking the bear.
His movements did not seem like the ones who had just lost his eyesight and that caused the woman to be a step late to react.
Getting close enough, Nora aimed at the legs of the bear, causing slash wounds on both of them. The sound of rippling fabric was heard and the insides of the plushie spilled out. The boy rolled on the ground and soon appeared behind the bear, slashing at the legs again before the bear could turn around. The sound of rippling fabric was heard again and the damage made the bear fall to the ground after all the damage its legs received.
"I don't have that ability to get there in time." Nora's eyes were on the woman. "The only thing someone like me can do is to kill..."
By the time Jin had arrived to assist Nora, the boy had already dashed in the direction of the woman.
"Run, you dumb bitch!"
The woman's comrades tried to warn her, but the woman was unable to take a step away. She was standing there frozen. Tobio could understand why the woman was unable to do so because, at that time, he saw them, Nora's eyes, they almost looked like they could swallow you.
"H-How...? Y-You should not be able to see!"
Frightened, the woman mustered her courage to speak.
Run, Tobio felt that impulse when Nora actually tilted his head with his emotionless eyes.
"I wonder, I know about your situation, all of you, but somehow... I don't feel inclined to feel pity." Nora said.
"H-Help... Please, l-leave me alone! It was not my fault!"
Her voice cracked up, and her knees failed her.
"I guess this shows how crooked I have always been on the inside..." Nora closed his eyes.
"S-Stay away! M-Monster!"
Pausing his advance when he stood in front of the woman, he dispelled his aura and slowly grabbed the woman's head despite her resistance.
"I am truly a monster" Nora twisted the woman's neck.
The sound reverberated through the location and the woman's corpse fell to the ground.
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Author's Notes
Sorry again, kind of my catch phrase lately. Well, yeah, I had to lay in bed for awhile so my health was crappy. Taking medicine, but it makes me too sleepy to write so I barely made this chapter. Hope you enjoy it.
Not sure when I will get better.
Sorry for cutting the chapter, the character limit is such a pain.
