Chapter 5

This is fine. It's very much okay. It's been a day since Mura was gone, and in his place, I have.. him in physical form? I'm not exactly sure how it all works, but I digress. The current situation I find myself in makes me feel small again.

The opponents I was fighting and killing? It turns out they weren't even that strong! I thought they were at least respectably formidable, but no, they weren't. How did I discover this? Simple. I got knocked out. That's it. Knocked out.

The fight started like any other, with me assessing my opponent. He was probably 5'7", an older bearded man who had to be at least 60 years old. The moment the fight began, he kicked my butt. I had no time to dodge; he appeared in front of me like a ghost. Have you ever seen an old bearded man standing still one moment and then, in the blink of an eye, he's so close you can feel his beard tickling your face? No? Well, I have. And then, before I knew it, I found myself on the ground, cradling my own liver as if it had just been hit by a bus, only to look up at the ceiling after a well-placed knee smashed into my nose.

The only sound I could hear was the sickening crunch of bone breaking. And now? I found myself facedown on the floor. Just as my consciousness was fading, I felt the old man grab me by my hair and whisper into my ear, "Those folks you were fighting? They aren't anything, no rhythm, no style. They're nothing compared to us, the ones you'll be fighting from now on, until you die or give up. And just like them? You aren't anything, brat." And then my world went quiet.

*Ugh*

"My everything hurts. That pluming old man I'll get him back for this," I manage to mumble, finding myself back in the fighter's area. First, I realised that I lost. Second? No money because I lost.

"This pluming sucks."

"Pluming? What an interesting choice of words. Something I wouldn't expect from you." Great. Just great. Of course, the old man is here. Where else would he be except right near me?

"I don't swear, and I'm leaving," I reply while picking myself up and making my way to the stairs that lead to fresh air.

"I see. Make sure to come back tomorrow so I can fill my pockets again. Oh, and I also fixed your nose back up, no need to thank me!" he informs me with a grin, as if it's Christmas.

*Ugh*

As I make my way out of the bar and into the streets I take a review of what's happened.

'When Mura died he left his physical form which if I had to hazard a guess is similar to how those with Sacred Gears are. Like how Issei manifested the Boosted Gear which I'm guessing is stored in his own soul, in turn Mura kept his physical form in my soul and when he died it was expelled. that's just the theory that I thought made the most sense the problem lies within the fact I haven't felt the "full effects" of the Insanity, which has me worried as well as excites me. And the part that excites? that scares me. The next is a simple looking katana, nothing fancy a black hilt and a silver blade and the sheath also being black. that's it nothing that symbolises that it has a extensive history. Another thing to add to this is the katana's heavy. I've never held a blade other than a knife so I don't know if all katana's are heavy or just Mura being a fat blade so it's been another learning curve. And while I don't know exactly how others feel around me with exuding bloodlust but I think it's pretty tame, no hearts exploding nor anyone kneeling. Whatever happened to Mura also seems to have cha-'

'Oh'

'Oh no this isn't good'

Koneko Toujou?! 

of all the people that I can run into it has to be someone who is sensitive to their surroundings, If I just walk by normally everything will be fine.

"you dropped this" 

If I ignore her she won't exist, that's how this works.

"Excuse me?"

Just keep going you're almost there Ryou, Just keep go-

*Ack*

I had been grabbed by my hoodie by a upset 4'10 Cat, So I being great do the one thing I know best when for one, being grabbed by a female, and two someone who could probably kick a building down with ease.

I run.

"hey! wait!" that's all I hear as I run down to the love hotel, no wait I can't go to the love hotel, I'll be thought of as a pervert! she'll tell the Redhead and the Redhead will tell Glasses! I can't have that happen that'll cause too much trouble, So I start to run in another direction towards an abandoned park that I was using for training.

Taking random streets that I've come to know over the past week hoping to anyone above that she hasn't followed, and looking back, she hasn't.

That's when I look ahead again seeing the park in view, sitting on a worn down bench I now start noticing it. Light red smoke slightly leaking from me, and the Insanity hits like the old man from earlier.

*ugh*

Clutching my head looking forward and trying to focus my gaze on something and that's when I notice a child on a slide, and his head is barely attached to his neck like someone stopped slashing halfway through.

And with that I turn and throw up whatever I had left in my system, and that reveals blood, blood coating the ground everywhere and hands, so many hands like zombies trying to claw their way out of the ground and into the sky.

the blood starts rising. 'You always do this!' 'It'll be fun!' 'Why don't you understand me?!' 'I don't want to get married!' as it starts rising past my knees voices are getting louder, what in the fresh pineapple is this?

'Just let go Ryou, you'll be safe, you can re-'

I manage to bite my hand and return to reality

"That was awful, beyond awful god that's the Blood River in full force?"

Collapsing onto the ground with my head on the bench I stare into the dark grey sky.

"I need to head back to the arena"

with that I head back to the arena in hopes of delaying the Insanity.

I can have hopes can't I?

Now back at the arena, I politely ask the referee if I can fight next, and he kindly agrees. Huh, sometimes being nice actually works.

As I make my way over to the Fighters' area, I notice the old man is still here.

"Oh, well if it isn't 'Devil's Lance.' I didn't think you would return. It's been a day since you left; normally, you come every day."

A day? Grabbing my phone and checking the date, he's right it's the 10th now, I spent a whole day in the park wasting time. I really need to get this under control. I take a seat on the benches, tuning out the old man as he rambles on about something.

Half an hour goes by, and I find myself heading up for my match. The opponent is uninteresting, to say the least.

"Begin the fight!"

With that, I close in on him, and he does the same. I duck under a straight jab, keeping my guard close. I shape my hand into a spear and aim it right at his liver. The feeling is disgustingly exhilarating. Shaping my hand into a claw, I rip it out and watch him kneel over.

Using his blood as gel, I comb my hair back and walk away, hearing the bell ring. I head towards the old man, locking eyes with him. I faintly notice the red smoke leaking from me and say, "Thanks for your warning yesterday, old man, but I think I'll be fine."

With that, I sit down.

"Oh? Perhaps. I guess we'll just have to see, Devil's Lance, if you can keep striking true, now won't we?" His smile at the end of the sentence is slightly unnerving, but I can't let it bother me. After all, I have a tougher fight to deal with.

I have twenty-one days left.