War

--Shike's Perspective--

--15 Minutes Until Providence's Arrival-

"So, the name is War, huh? That's pretty... interesting. Why is that your name?" I asked him. I tried to maintain eye contact, but his character was so frightening that I couldn't keep it for as long as I wanted to. War seemed to know that, as he smiled when I looked away for the first time.

"I get the name from the same thing you're thinking of. I'm called War because I start Wars. Is that why they call you Shike then? Do you cause Shike's?" He asked me.

"Possibly, if my name was as simple-minded as yours. Tell me, why are you here?" I asked him. War had his great sword stabbed into the ground, so if I attacked now, I could probably get a good hit in, but it looked like he was experienced enough to not be that stupid.

I had to use as much of my intelligence as I could right now. I'm not here to spill blood for fun, I'm here to win. Whatever it took, I would do it.

"Well, I thought it was obvious! I'm here to keep Sky safe until Providence gets here." He told me.

"There's that name again... who is that? Even Miss Ali knows that name." I said to War.

"She's one of the Three Primordial Deities of this universe, don't you know that? No, of course you wouldn't, you're only trapped here." War said out loud.

"So, I'm not supposed to be here... I get it. How do I get out of here?" I asked War.

"You took that surprisingly well. You're only concerned with how to solve the problem, not why. I wonder, what do you think is on the other side of this egregious plain?" War asked me. What was on the other side...?

"A place without you, if I'm lucky," I commented. I got a laugh out of War and he smiled, looking back at me.

"Wrong. It's a place full of me. On the other side of this God-forsaken world stands a world where Sky lives another life. His memories have been completely sealed off, with no chance of recovering them here. There are dangerous people there, much more dangerous than you or any of your friends. The Goddess of Wrath is there, Sky is there, and most importantly... maybe I shouldn't say his name." He said.

"Goddess of Wrath...? Sky? It's an entirely different life?" I asked War for clarification. He nodded and pointed up.

"A place that's better than this one, that's for sure, but not a place without me. Tell me, Shike, what is one of your dreams?" He asked me.

"One of my dreams is to keep Belle and Alexia safe. What about you, War? Are you capable of dreams?" I asked War, drawing my sword and shield.

"I'm capable of a few. But, if you'd like to fulfill your dreams, then I wish you the best of luck fighting me. The second you lose, I'll overwhelm Belle and Alexia and have them killed." War told me.

"You shouldn't reveal your secrets to others. Because now that I know that, I won't let you get away." I rose my sword and charged in toward War.

He blocked my attack and went to swing his great sword straight into my head, but I used the shield to deflect the attack and slid the blade of my sword along his arm. Instead of black smoke, as I expected, actual blood poured out of his arm and he winced in pain.

War took another swing with his great sword and I easily deflected it with my sword and slammed the base of my shield straight into his face. War flinched in pain and retreated to recollect himself.

"I should've known you were going to make this as hard as possible. So, you want to continue this fight? Looks like I can't hold back as much." War said.

"You expect me to buy that?" I replied with a laugh.

I was soon proved wrong as the look in his eyes turned full of rage and he launched off the ground at the fastest speed I could react to. I couldn't block it in time with my heavy shield, so I dropped it to the ground and grasped the attack with my left hand. It didn't damage me and it stopped in place. To War's surprise, he tried to retreat, but I had already dropped my sword and grabbed his right arm with my other hand.

The blast of his attack blew it straight out of the socket and left him pouring out blood at a frightening volume, but I didn't let my attacks stop there!

I slammed my heel into the edge of the shield and kicked it up toward his face, then threw all of my weight into a punch that launched the shield at his face.

He took the hit like a champ and slid backward on his feet. The shield dropped from his face and I could see that I badly deformed it, even showing tiny pieces of his skull chipped away near his jaw and forehead.

"Amazing! I've never seen this power before! You have to really try now!" War said. He put his hand up at a perfect right angle to his body and Rubeki started to climb out of the ground.

"I thought only Death could control these things?! You son of a bitch!" I said to him. I didn't have any other kinetic energy saved up, so I would have to do this with just my sword and shield!

I cut through as many Rubeki as I could and eventually ended up taking a slight scratch because there was too much to focus on.

I absorbed more kinetic energy and pulsed it around my body, clearing the area of all Rubeki while panting and searching for War.

"From above me came the great sword once more. I let it slam into the top of my head and absorbed all kinetic energy. Unfortunately, some slipped out and the ground underneath me cracked. War's surprised face gave me the energy I needed to put my hand over his face and launch all of his power back straight at it.