Group C VS Kire

"My son... my wife... was taken from me, because of that damned Asterio and Nova... I'll kill them both... and if you stand in my way, I'll kill you," Kire said.

It was quiet, the wind blew through his hair, and his look of irritation was one of the worst I've seen. For the first time in my life... the pain I've gone through meant something.

"I'm sorry for your loss... I really am, but we're not the people you want to fight. That belongs to Genesis and Nova... why were you looking for your sun?" I asked him.

In a fraction of a second, his saber swung horizontally at my head. I dove backward, watching the tip of it barely scathe my nose, and I backflipped to regain my footing.

"You don't have to fight us! Why are you in Quake, Kire?" I asked him. Alatus kept her bow drawn but didn't fire at my discretion.

"To get revenge," He shortly said. He ran at me with the saber again, and I prepared my dagger.

I slid against the length of the saber, watching the handle get closer and closer. On Kire's handle, there was a small hook, presumably for my dagger to take it away from me. That meant I couldn't clash with him for long, and had to make my move soon.

I flipped it backward and held onto the handle, pushing it away, and swinging upward with the dagger.

I swung through to his face, up his jaw, and through his eye. I watched it blow up from the damage, and while he was distracted from the pain, I took Needle, and plunged it into his chest, right over his heart.

He took the hit and staggered backward. The strands were flickering in his body.

"Your revenge... it isn't with us, it's with Genesis and Nova," I muttered. From the little, I heard about that name... Nova... I knew that she was the sister to Red, a girl that woke up on Sky's beach. I don't hear much about her, but I knew she must've been important.

Anything to get Kire away from this area...

"You're wrong... if you're not with me, you're against me. If you don't want to kill Nova and Genesis, then you are my enemy," Kire muttered. His red-hot strands came back on after he regenerated his eye, and he cut through another building.

It fell on top of the debris of the other one, scattering smoke and dust on the field so I couldn't see anything.

"That can't be how you work, Kire! There's something else, isn't there? Something else you lost along the way? What is it?" I shouted through the smoke.

A beam of strands pierced my arm, causing me to fall to the floor.

"Stop talking to him! You aren't an anime protagonist, if he's gonna try to kill us, we need to fight back!" Alatus said. She ran past me, pushing the dust away with exceptional use of her Essence Strands, and cleared the battlefield of every hidden detail behind the smoke.

"Where did he go?" Fudo shouted out. Essence Strands did a good job healing him... which was surprising, because I thought Strands could only heal them, not the Essence Ones.

"Behind you," I heard a slight whisper, turning around, and using my dagger to block Kire's strikes.

He had daggers... just like I did...

We went at each other, sliding against the daggers and pushing each other back.

His strength, as a grown man, was undoubtedly overwhelming for me, and every time he pushed, I had to follow through with him.

I flipped over some of his strikes, trying to shove the needle into one of his joints, but he countered every hit, slightly zapping the needle with the red-hot strands to counter the strike. It couldn't be melted or disintegrated thanks to it being composed of Essence Strands, but it still burned my hand a lot.

We went back and forth. Sparks from the daggers were shredding the blades apart. They no longer had an edge, and we were just slamming pieces of metal together, again and again, to see who would run out of stamina faster.

Kire slashed upward and cut the joint to my thumb, which caused the dagger to fly out of my hand. I winced in pain and his dagger started to move toward my stomach when white strands exploded out of my forearms to catch it before impact.

"Strands...?" He muttered. Fudo, Alatus, and I all had reasonable confusion as well, which caused the battle to come to a standstill.

I panted, trying to understand where the strands came from...

"White Strands... an Asterio's Strands?" Kire muttered.

That's impossible... they can't belong to me, I'm a Danafall...

"You are... an Asterio...?" Kire asked me. The look in his eyes was crazed... absolutely psychotic...

They twitched an uncomfortable amount. I got chills looking at him, feeling his bloodlust. I remembered that feeling on the beach when I killed Domin. I remember that look from Sky, and my legs locked in place.

I can't escape... I'm forced to constantly relive that memory. That was me, he was one of my first kills, and I can't forget it. I saw Domin's look in Kire's crazed eyes.

And in a bout of anger, the strands rearranged my dagger, sharpening it for me, and launching it into Kire's chest, right where his heart was.

Blood shot out like raindrops everywhere as the impact from the dagger shot a shockwave out all around us. All recovering smoke around the two of us has launched away for good, and Alatus and Fudo kept a distance, bracing against the shockwave.

Alatus drew her bow and fired it at Kire, piercing his chest again with an Essence Arrow.

"Are we done here? Ready to die? Or surrender?" Alatus asked, walking closer to Kire carefully.

"You won't let me see my son?" Kire asked, pulling the dagger and arrow out of his chest.