22 Blood Moon (Part 3)

Jesse was quick on the draw, Curt was proud to note. A barrage of spiraling flames flew towards Damang. But Damang's preparations were already complete. The totem he wore had begun to glow, and with it, both of his fists became covered in luminous, blue light.

Curt had seen men dodge bullets. He'd even seen men shoot bullets out of the air — hell, he's done it himself. But he had never seen a man catch bullets out of the air, barehanded. If his glowing hands counted as barehanded, that is.

Smoke rose from the man's fists as he snuffed out the flames of Jesse's bullets. Jesse didn't let up. He continued to pelt Damang with a hail of bullets; bullets that twisted and wove around the man to strike from every direction relentlessly. Jesse's barrage swarmed his foe until Curt couldn't even see the man through the flames.

There was no way Damang could avoid getting burnt, even if he caught all those bullets, Curt thought. Even from the sidelines where he stood, Curt could feel the waves of heat from the bullets. He could even see the air around the ring begin to distort from the inferno.

Jesse stopped firing. He was panting hard, the bombardment of bullets obviously took a toll on him. Bullets of fire still swirled and dove around where Damang stood with no signs of stopping.

A mighty roar came from inside. Like a candle flame blown out by a puff of breath, the surrounding fire vanished as Damang emerged from within. It was as if his bellowing blew away all that fire. His skin didn't look the least bit burnt. How the hell did he get through all of that?

"An interesting weapon," Damang commented. "But weak."

Damang ducked forward. Jesse couldn't even react in time as a shining fist landed on the side of his left arm. Curt heard the sickening crunch. The revolver in Jesse's left hand fell as his arm went limp. Damang followed up with a punch right toward Jesse's stomach. The young gunslinger doubled over, coughing.

But Jesse was still standing, barely. A loud bang rang out. Damang jumped backwards with a look of surprise. Curt noticed he had a new cut on his right leg. While doubled over, it looked like Jesse made a shot for Damang, but only managed to graze him with the bullet.

Jesse staggered, but managed to make himself stand up straight. His left arm hung loosely by his side, but his right had a revolver trained on Damang. Damang was glancing down at the small cut on his leg with an inscrutable expression.

"For a man who prides himself on his body, I can't believe you let a kid scratch it," Layil chuckled.

"Hmph." Damang stared up at Jesse. "I was careless. I didn't anticipate him to still be conscious, let alone standing, after those two blows."

"Done making excuses, yet?" Jesse didn't wait to hear a reply. He pulled the trigger, firing a single shot.

Damang's hand flew out to catch the shot at a blinding speed. Just before his fingers enclosed around it, the bullet took a steep dive. Curt watched as Jesse poured all his concentration into guiding the bullet that whizzed around Damang, narrowly avoiding getting snagged. It was like watching an angry bee irritate a giant bear.

But the bullet was quickly losing size. The vibrant flames that coated it before were now flickering, and Damang noticed. He gave one last swat toward it before turning his attention to Jesse. Even if the shot landed, it wouldn't do much more than singe his skin slightly.

Damang charged at Jesse. In a blink of an eye, he was already right up to Jesse. He struck at Jesse's right hand that still held a revolver, knocking it outside of the ring. His fist began to glow brighter, and he pulled back for a punch. The anger and annoyance in Damang's expression told Curt that it was blow Jesse wasn't meant to live through.

Curt had his revolver pointed at Damang. His finger was already on the trigger, pulling it back. But Jesse was faster.

Flames burst around Damang before Curt could fire himself. Fire stemmed from Damang's foot, where Jesse had fired. In his left hand, Jesse gripped the fallen revolver, its barrel still smoking. He had kicked the revolver up into his left hand the moment Damang started that charge. If his arm hadn't been broken, he might've been able to have aimed it properly.

Damang reeled back. His glowing hands made quick work of the fire. Once they were extinguished, Curt saw that the man looked as unharmed as always. He seemed more surprised than hurt by the attack.

Layil was laughing. "That's the second time against this kid. Should I be considering your retirement soon?"

Damang ignored him. He was staring at Jesse, and no trace of anger was left in those eyes. Jesse stared back, his left hand shaking. The young man's face was drawn into a grimace as he tried, desperately, to lift the gun up. But his arm wasn't obeying him.

Damang stepped toward Jesse until he was right in front of the him again. He slapped the gun out of Jesse's hand. Curt watched Jesse wince in pain as the revolver clattered to the floor. Jesse's expression was pained, and beads of sweat dripped down from his forehead. It was probably taking all of his energy just to keep standing.

"You've lost," Damang stated. "Surrender."

"As… if," Jesse ground out.

"I acknowledge that I have underestimated you, but this is your limit. Out of respect for your tenacity in the face of your betters, I'll let you leave this ring, still intact."

"Fuck off."

A blaze ignited right behind Damang's head. The dying bullet that had harassed him earlier was blazing back to life. Jesse never dropped concentration on it. Curt hadn't even noticed the bullet making its way to Damang during that entire conversation. The feeble wisp that it was make it impossible to notice. But now it was crackling with fire, immense and threatening.

Jesse was swaying, and his shoulders sagged. But he didn't drop his gaze.

"If… you don't… want… to get incinerated… you better sur—"

The bullet vanished. Jesse collapsed onto the ground. Damang was silent, but then he turned his back and began to exit the ring.

"You can count this as my loss," Damang said. "That I was even put into that position against someone as green as him is shameful." He didn't bother to look back once as he walked back into the shadows.

"Very well," Layil said. "Victory goes to Point Blank. When the boy wakes up, give him my regards for the amusing spectacle."

Bauph and Curt rushed out to collect Jesse. His left arm was badly bruised, but Bauph should be able to fix that. As Bauph chanted his healing spells over the unconscious Jesse, Curt was left to his own thoughts, unable to help.

A victory. They actually nabbed a victory from Blood Moon. Granted, it was because Damang decided to take the loss. Even so, Jesse had done much better than Curt had even imagined. He had to give the guy credit. The young man had a lot of potential.

Mahku came over to kneel beside Jesse. Turning toward Curt, he said, "Do you know why he won?"

"No? Why?"

"He knows he's weaker. Because he knows that, he was able to use his opponent's strength against him," Mahku answered. "He copied the way you would have fought, Curt."

Curt raised an eyebrow. "How would you know how I'd fight? You've never seen me in a proper fight where my guns didn't explode."

"A feeling," Mahku replied simply.

Layil's voice interrupted them. "Let's get right to the next match, shall we?"

It was just Otto, Bauph, and Mahku left. Curt evidently wasn't going to get a chance to fight. Otto pulled out another cigarette. His pack looked nearly empty. Curt wondered how Otto fought. He was their guild leader, but he doubted Otto was the strongest of them.

Unlike Layil. Curt couldn't imagine those monsters bowing down to anyone weaker than them. That meant that, somehow, the boy was the strongest of Blood Moon. As hard as it was to believe.

"It seems like Bauph is busy healing at the moment, so let's see how you fare, ex-dojo master Mahku."

Mahku got up and went into the ring without complaint. The aura of calmness around the man made it seem like he knew he was going to be selected. Curt felt relieved that Mahku was fighting. Out of all of them, Mahku was only one who was probably truly on par with Blood Moon's fighters.

"To make this a truly fair fight, Fellen will be your opponent."

A cloaked figure emerged from the dark and stepped into the ring. Fellen tossed his cloak away, and Curt realized what Layil meant by a 'fair fight'. A piece of cloth was wrapped over his eyes — Fellen was also blind. The man carried a sword with a stout blade. All along the metal were different runic inscriptions. The two men faced each other, not seeing with their eyes, but Curt was sure they could each perceive each other more clearly than Curt could.

"Mahku, from Point Blank."

"Fellen, from Blood Moon."

Neither of them bothered to move as Layil raised his arm to signal the match's beginning. Such a signal seemed like a poor choice when the fighters were both blind, but as the arm dropped, Mahku and Fellen lashed out at each other.

One of Mahku's rosary beads glowed as a red magic circle appeared before him, spewing out a torrent of fire. Fellen cut through the air with his sword, sending a wave of ice crashing toward the fire. The two elements clashed violently, before both dissipated into vapor.

Both were already following up their moves. Mahku created another magic circle, this time causing lightning bolts to strike down where Fellen stood. Fellen dodged each bolt deftly while slicing the air and sending crescents of magical energy toward Mahku. A magic circle appeared under Mahku, and the large man was sent upward into the air, dodging the waves.

Floating there, Mahku threw pieces of paper shaped like birds toward Fellen. The paper morphed midway, becoming alive as they began to flap their wings and snap their razor sharp beaks at Fellen. Fellen retaliated by sending out a swirl of dark energy from his blade that swallowed the birds up.

"Both are multi-element users," Tera said in awe. "I guess this is how Mahku became a dojo master so young."

"Is that something special?" Curt asked.

"It's extremely rare," Tera answered. "Most people can only use one element. Two is rare, but not unheard of. More than that is something special. But even if someone has the ability to use multiple elements, it takes a genius to actually be able to learn how to use them."

"This is a fight worth watching," Xujen said. "Both Mahku and Jesse's fights have made me realize how much I have to still improve."

Tera bit her lip and ducked her head. She had lost badly, and she knew it. Curt thought of what Mahku had said; the reason why Jesse had won. He doubted Tera lost much, if at all, during her time at Sahnju. Was that really the difference?

The two continued to clash. Collisions of fire, ice, lightning, and shadow lit up the room. Curt observed that there was only one still cloaked figure from Blood Moon's sides. It seemed like Layil wasn't lying when he mentioned that they'd have five matches because only five members were available. He wondered how many members Blood Moon had overall. Their headquarters were certainly big, but he hadn't seen any members roaming its corridors.

There was a lapse in the fighting. Mahku and Fellen faced each other, both of them not looking tired at all despite throwing out such powerful magic. In fact, the two of them were smiling. Curt had never seen Mahku look so lively before.

"It has been a long time since I got to fight someone so evenly matched," Fellen remarked.

"Hah! Evenly matched, you say? We will see about that," Mahku said, grinning.

"If only there was enough time to," Fellen said.

Mahku's grin faded as he agreed, "You are right. It has also been too long since I've enjoyed myself in a fight, but this is not a fight that will be resolved anytime soon."

"A draw then?"

"Agreed. We can find another time to resume this fight."

The two of them stepped out of the ring at the same time. Mahku returned to sit by the still unconscious Jesse. He was back to looking his usual, tranquil self. Curt found it hard to believe that moments ago he looked like an avatar of destruction.

Layil sounded disappointed as he said, "A draw! I was hoping to see more."

"You know that if we continued fighting, an entire day might pass," Fellen said from somewhere in the shadows.

"Perhaps more," Mahku even added.

Curt found it hard to believe. It felt like at any moment their fight would've ended, with each unleashing such devastating magic. The ring still bore signs of their combat, some portions of it seared or cracked or cut.

"There's only one match left then," Layil said. He tapped his cheek thoughtfully. "With this, Blood Moon has won two matches, and Point Blank one. If — by some miracle — Point Blank wins the next match, it'll be two to two. That won't do."

"Does the score really matter? The whole duel is just for your entertainment anyways — it's arbitrary whether or not you're going to help us anyways," Curt said.

"You're right; it is all up to me whether I lend Point Blank my aid or not," Layil replied. "So you should watch your tongue." He leaned back in his chair, legs crossed and arms folded in front of him. He didn't look his age. Instead, his eyes seemed like they belonged to something far more ancient.

"I'll let the rest of you decide who goes next," Layil decided. "As for Blood Moon, Rosa, you're the only one left."

The last of the cloaked figures stepped into the ring. Whoever they were, they were smaller than the other fighters, save for Aversis. They weren't particularly tall or broad from the looks of it.

Curt glanced at Bauph and Otto. They were the only two who could fight. Curt could volunteer himself, but he doubted Layil would let him go after that comment on a broken mana center. Bauph looked like he had finished doing his best to heal Jesse. Otto was avoiding meeting everyone's eyes. It was clear he didn't want to fight next.

Bauph stood up. "I'll go," he said.

Otto nodded hastily. "Y-yeah. Do your best."

Curt shook his head. "Are you sure, Bauph? You're the only one on our side who can heal. If you got injured…"

Otto glanced at Curt in alarm.

Bauph kept walking toward the ring. "I'm sure. I'm not much of a fighter, but I'm pretty resilient. It's best if I go so no one else has to get hurt."

Layil smiled as Bauph entered the ring. "Don't worry. Rosa knows how to heal, though it isn't her specialty."

"Good to know," Bauph said with a drop of sarcasm.

"Rosa, from Blood Moon." She threw off her cloak. Curt recognized her as the young woman from the audience hall. This time though, she was armed. On her back was a scythe that looked too big for her to wield. She grabbed the handle with her left hand, ready to draw it at any moment.

Bauph mirrored the movement, grabbing the handle of his large cross with his right. "Bauph, from Point Blank."

And Layil signaled the start of the last match.