The Power of a Side Character

*Many years ago - somewhere in the jungles of South America*

A much younger Jun, looks to be 8 or 9 years old, stood alone in the thicket of the jungle; he wore a traditional hakama that was dotted with beads of his sweat. He actually looked similar to the body he is currently inhabiting.Young Jun was also blindfolded while he carefully navigated through the brush and vines with his sword in hand.

"M-mother?!" Jun called out in hesitation. Each step he took was small and cautious - his face was that of a frightened lamb who could feel the prickles on its skin that a predator was close.

He heard a small footstep somewhere behind him.

Jun turned quickly to his right with his sword stretched out.

Two more footsteps.

Jun turned to the opposite end and pointed his sword in any direction he could. "Is that you, Mother?"

"I told you, Jun." A female voice echoed out among the many trees. "Out here I am not your Mother. I am your enemy. You must sharpen your instincts. Your eyes will at times deceive you so don't just rely on what you can see."

He heard the sound of someone now running.

"Uhhh, Mother?!"

A female appeared out of the gap between two nearby trees with a wooden sword in her hand. She also wore a similar hakama. Without hesitation, she struck a swift blow at the back of Jun.

"Ahhhh!" Jun yelled out as he lurched forward from the blow and tripped over a branch. He was thrown off balance and fell face first onto the jungle floor. "Owwww, Mother it hurts!" He said as he tried to reach the part of his back that was hit and his face at the same time.

His mother had a thin frame with very sharp features. In her left arm she wielded her wooden sword, but her right arm was amputated up to the elbow.

"Does it now? I warned you. I even made it intentional not to soften my footsteps so you could hear me coming. Really Jun, how daft can you possibly be?"

A tear dripped out from behind Jun's blindfold. "Why can't we practice at home? I don't wanna be here! I want to see my friends!" He said as he hit the ground with his fist.

"Good, I want you to be mad. Feel helpless that you're unable to change your situation." She slammed her foot down on Jun's back where she struck him moments ago. "Feel a fraction of the frustration every day when I look at my right arm and know my dream was taken from me."

She reached down with her wooden sword and lifted Jun's blindfold slightly with the tip. "Want to stay down there under my foot? Or, would you rather be in my position right now?"

Jun stared up at his mother with a glare that reflected the emotional pain that clearly was not done by any physical weapon. He knew there was only one answer she would accept.

*Present Day - Crimson City*

Jun and Athos were on a collision course as they decided to gamble it all on this next exchange. It was clear that they both had a special weapon that could change the entire fight in one swing. Neither one had been successful so far in stopping the other's best attack.

Which Athos was fully aware of. With his superior speed, he was fast approaching Jun.

"Let's end this, Athos!" Jun declared.

"Agreed, Satori Jun." He replied.That's when Athos made his move - he quickly disconnected the two daggers and threw one of them straight at Jun.

Jun expertly slashed out his sword to deflect the dagger away. However he learned from his past encounters with Athos and greatly shortened his sword stride - this allowed him to be able to quickly transition to a second attack if he needed to.

This can't be his whole play here, thought Jun. In either case I need to find my opening!

Like clockwork, Athos quickly vanished out of sight in a burst of speed and into Jun's blind spot once he had deflected the dagger and was already honing a well timed jab of his dagger at Jun's chest.

Jun's heightened senses and vision saw through it all - not to mention it had become clear to him that Athos was one to turn to more tricks than direct combat. So now he was always weary of the possible facade of an attack.

Jun swung his blade down to meet Athos. "Your speed won't fool me." He said as it was clear that his swing speed outmatched Athos's. Jun's blade was going to strike first.

"Yeah? Might want to re-think that statement." Athos confidently said. As those words were spoken, Jun noticed that his lips didn't move at all. Jun's sword whiffed right through what should've been Athos's sword, but he realized something frightening.

It was only an after-image of him.

Athos had finally revealed his top speed in the 11th hour - a tactic that he had been building up to the entire fight to achieve this single opening.

As Jun was in the finishing stroke of his blade, Athos had already retrieved the second deflected dagger that had still been in mid-air and recombined them to reactivate Phantom, Ravager of the Wicked. He immediately jabbed the combined blade forward as the front blade vanished.

You should never expect someone to show their full hand at the beginning of a fight, Athos thought. I always save my top speed for the most crucial moment to make the biggest impact! Even you can't adjust to this speed the first time seeing it.

"You mistake my words," said Jun. "I said that with the knowledge of your surprise attack."

"Wait, what?"

The blade reappeared behind Jun and plunged towards him. Jun, with his back to the blade, launched himself in a backward spin, deflecting Athos's attack. "I never was dumb enough to assume you reached top speed." He then landed and quickly dashed off the ground towards the airborne Athos.

< Flow >

He had kicked off and activated Flow at the same time so that he moved with such directness and speed that Athos truly was a sitting duck.

Jun's swing was so fast that even Athos didn't see his arm move.

I-I don't feel anything, Athos thought as he was stunned for a moment. He wasn't even sure if Jun had even attacked or not.

Athos peered out of the side of his eye to see a nearby light pole start to crack as it split halfway down the pole and toppled over to the ground.

He looked back at Jun. "Verdict...gets sharper the more you focus."

Jun skidded to a stop as he dropped down out of the air. "Your dimensional attacks are indeed powerful. But, they have a major flaw. Just as I can't predict where you'll attack from, you can't predict where I will move to within the short time lapse between your blade vanishing and reappearing. So you choose to use it in close combat where my movements can be more predictable and contained."

"Your...point...?"

"I knew you would ultimately try to finish it with your ability. So I knew I just had to wait for that opening you wanted to appear and it becomes a lot easier to know where your next attack will come from…..with the way you had set it up, an attack with such space between us could only come from a blind spot."

Yellow fluid burst out from a diagonal cut that stretched across Athos's entire body. He dropped his weapon to the ground and fell to his knees. He could already feel his body starting to go quiet on him.

"Looks…like you were a step ahead of me…." said Athos. He knew it wouldn't be long now until his body would completely decompose along with his soul. Being slain by a cursed weapon was a true death sentence for them after all.

Jun let out a sigh. He was almost afraid to let himself relax, but he could feel the pain from his wounds throbbing as the tension started to break. He turned to walk away to recover his sheathe when a thought struck him.

Wait, he thought. Once he vanishes...the archangel core will appear. Iris isn't here to retrieve it!

Jun looked to the archangel as he was busy looking up to the sky.

What should I do? I can't just leave it or it'll become tainted! Jun thought. Should I...should I take it myself?...

He was brought out of his thoughts when he saw an oddly terrified look on Athos's face. He stared up at the sky as if his worst nightmare was about to come to fruition.

Jun looked up at the sky as well and just noticed that it had turned completely black at some point during their fight. He had been so focused that he hadn't even noticed.

"No...no no no," Athos muttered.

"What? Do you know what's causing that?" Jun asked him.

"He's coming."