Impaled

Kou bent his knees, waited for the right moment, and charged up his energy. "I can't believe it. A brat like you is trying to fight me? I've seen what you're capable of and have everything written down in my book." Rosi claimed and bounced her chain. "You have an 11% chance of winning. I know that your ability drains your pressure by a dozen."

Kou locked his gaze on her knowing that she wasn't wrong. "She's right. When I was running from those soldiers, I ran out of energy too fast. I don't want to know how quickly I'll run out of it now that I'm in a fight. But, if I plan on keeping what I promised, to get Louisa out of there, then the only choice I have is to win before that time runs out." He thought.

"I haven't grown used to my abilities, and my body's still not built for it. I need to develop it further, and the best way to do it is to finally prove myself by beating that woman." He shut his hands into fists and twisted his feet to the side. "Would you mind getting this over with?" she questioned.

They stood their ground, looking at each other. Both waited for a cogent wind to blow past. It curved up a weaker hurricane and disappeared. "Here I come!" Kou shouted and launched from his spot forward at flat-out speed.

Rosi swung her arm unwrapping her chains and causing them to extend toward Kou at a fast speed. They locked onto him, revealing a sharp hook.

Kou tilted his body to the side, letting the hooked chain speed past his chest. He used his right leg in rotation to line his movement straight.

Rosi pulled her chain back, preparing to cut Kou with the same hook. He noticed and turned his body left of it, letting it pass him again. "She can shift her chain in any way or form? How long is that chain?" he asked and looked back at her.

The chain wrapped around her arm again, but she quickly released it, swinging it forward diagonally. It whipped toward Kou's head, which he didn't anticipate. He needed to defend himself.

He lifted his left arm, supporting it with his right palm, and allowed it to whip its metal into his skin. It was heavier than at first sight and dealt great damage to him. He could tell that Rosi put pressure on the swing. It was enough to injure him. "It hurts!" he thought but tensed his teeth.

He knocked the metal chain away with his arm, stomped forward, and darted toward her while he still had the chance because Rosi needed to pull her chain back. He sped to her up close, dragged his right leg, and hoped to deliver a kick to her skull.

Rosi hurriedly jumped high in the air to dodge his kick. That gave her enough time to close the gap between her hook and the chain. Kou knew that having the hook further away from her was his best shot to strike, so he balanced his foot after the kick and launched himself in the air.

He wasn't fast enough to outspeed the chain and instead noticed it return to Rosi's arm. She swung her arm straight, tossing the hook on the chain toward him. "That's sharp!" he flicked his finger forward and released a wind-like cannon attack. It had enough force to bounce the chain back. But it also fired back at Kou with a ricochet.

It shoved him back toward the ground. He controlled his mid-aerial body to land on his feet before his back could get slammed against the floor. Rosi tossed the chain toward the building's edge and wrapped it around. She grabbed the chain, tore off a part of the building, clutched the chain with her second hand, and then pulled it close.

The torn-off piece was dragged with the hook and then maneuvered behind. She circled the chain around and then swung it forward. She hoped she could ram the rock against Kou's frail body.

He spotted the massive rock flying toward him from the side. "You've gotta be kidding me! How strong is that chain? Or should I say, how strong is she?" Kou wondered and sprung into the air.

He jumped over the rock and observed it smash into the frail wall of the house. It rammed through it like a wrecking ball and made pieces of it fly around the area. "I should have enough time to attack." He believed, until becoming amazed. Sweat dripped down his face. He noticed the detached hook flying toward his head.

He moved his head back by a hair, but the tip of the hook sliced through the side of his cheek, nearly making the fatal injury. He fell down as his blood squirted in the air. When he landed, he grabbed his cheek and felt it sting.

The hook returned to Rosi, which she then hurled and attached between the two chimneys. She landed dropped toward the chain and landed on it like a walking clown in a circus. "Kou. Are you alright?" Bow questioned and looked at him. He tried to approach Kou, but he noticed him swing his arm behind, raising his palm. "I'm fine." He slightly removed his hand, revealing a deep slice in his left cheek. "Your face!" Bow seemed astonished. It was a disturbing wound that was quite brutal.

Kou needed to keep his left eye shut because of it. "It's not as bad as it looks," Kou explained, but Bow easily managed to read his lies. "Don't be stupid. That wound needs to be treated. Keeping it on your face could come to an infection."

Kou turned his face around in fury. "I told you that I'm fine! Get your act together, Bow! If you came to help us, then stop watching over me like I'm some sort of a baby! I'll have the wound treated when I say so! Now stay back!" Kou dashed forward, stubborn and irritated.

"What the heck is with that kid? Last time he reminded me of a coward. Today, he's been putting others' lives as a priority. It couldn't have been Tim who made him this confident. He was unconscious when Tim fought Muro. He kind of reminds me of Yumiko; stubborn, but understanding."

Rosi kept her eyes on Kou. "You're lucky that you dodged that attack, or it could have been deadly." She explained and dropped down from the chains. She detached them from the walls and wrapped them around her arm. "Like hell I'm lucky!" he replied, loudly. "I'm keeping my word, just like somebody else did to me!"

Kou pulled back his arm. He directed his fist at Rosi's face. She swung the chain forward, ready to stab Kou, but he vanished from her view and then appeared behind her. "I'm going to keep my word!" he yelled. Rosi's eyes shook from surprise as she spotted him behind and sweated.

His fist was nearing the back of her head, readying to deliver the final blow. He was determined to finish it, but just as he had hoped he would finally land a critical punch, Rosi reacted.

She drove her elbow back and rammed it into Kou's stomach. It prevented him from finishing the punch and stunned him in place. He couldn't hold back the force and coughed out saliva. His eyes shivered rapidly.

He couldn't breathe like usual and collapsed onto his knees. It didn't just surprise Bow, it shocked him too, enough to call out Kou's name.

Rosi stood still, looking down at collapsed Kou. "You got overconfident with that attack. You didn't think I only fight using a chain, did you? Why that would be silly, but even a kid like you should be able to understand." She explained, expressing intimidation. Kou raised his eyes to meet hers. "I'm... not... a... kid." He stuttered with his voice because of pain and couldn't connect his sentences perfectly.

"You're not a kid? I think your friends there can confirm." She slightly flicked her head to the side, pointing out to Bow. He tried to intervene but looked at Kou. "Kou. That's enough! You're fighting with stress. You've proved more than enough so far. Let me help you out." Bow begged.

Kou's mouth shivered. "Shut up! I told you that I'm going to win! I... don't care what happens to me! But I promised... her. I promised Louisa that I'll get her out of the cell, and there's no way that I'm going back on my word!" He shouted. "If I win, then I'll accept that I'm worth at least something. But if I lose here and die, then that means I didn't deserve to come on board with Tim and his friends. It will mean I'm a sore loser. I'm not going to let a single woman ruin my dream!"

Kou held onto his stomach ache. "If Tim managed to keep his words to princess Ireene, Yumiko, and even me, then I can't back away. I'll keep my word and I'll do it myself. I'll do whatever it takes to get Louisa out of there!" Kou claimed but then noticed that Rosi kicked with her leg forward. He was struck in the face and then knocked back.

Force was more than he expected. It shoved him back through the air. At that moment, Rosi swung her chain forward in a pattern and suddenly a massive chain of the wall puzzled itself behind him. Like before it was shaped like a spider web, but this time the chains grew spikes.

Kou zoomed straight for it, and just then, it happened. "Kou!!!" Bow's voice echoed out and before he could do anything, Kou's entire body ended up getting impaled on the spikes. The spikes stabbed through his body parts; arms, legs, back, and almost his head. His blood squirted out and splattered on the ground.

Kou's eyes became lifeless and the spikes that were protruding from his body were covered with blood, like his clothes and skin. He was like a fly caught in a web. He was trapped.

Tim at the bottom of the stairs heard Kou's name getting shouted out, and it reverberated throughout the whole sky. He stopped in place and then looked up at the top of the hill. "Kou?" was Tim's only word.

To be continued...