Chapter 31

Rena's eyes shook as she stared at the monstrous figure before her. His grotesque body made her want to puke, while his face made the dread of the situation set in. To see a man who was there in many parts of her life, a person she had called a friend for many years, was in a state far worse than dead.

In a swift motion, Akiyoshi's blade meets Daniel's. Akiyoshi glared up at the tall bloated figure with his blue glowing eyes. When Akiyoshi was pushed off, he didn't waste time enclosing on him again. Arrows fly through the air puncturing the figure's flesh but when they make contact the arrows begin to be absorbed inside of him. 

As he tightly grips his Katana, shimmering blue energy envelops the blade. When he was in range Akiyoshi swung the sword with incredible speed, like a hot knife cutting butter, it tore through the creature and sliced it in half.

Akiyoshi kept his gaze fixed on the monster that wore Daniel's face. With no additional signs of movement, Akiyoshi took his focus off him, When he looked at Suki she remained prepared with an arrow. Akiyoshi anticipated that she would lower her aim, but she surprised him by pulling the string back. When he saw this Akiyoshi could feel the pressure of the wind to his right changing, he held the Katana's handle with one hand and the flat side of the blade with the other. A blade clashes against his, feeling his footing waver, Akiyoshi is thrown through the room against the same. 

With her teeth clenched, a vibrant orange energy swirls around the tip of the arrow. After Letting go, Suki quickly readied another. While getting back up strings had shot from one half to the other and were reconnecting the bloated figure's body. As they charged through the air the arrows tried to stop this process, but no matter how many she fired, the strange monster became whole once more.

Rena's mind raced as she observed everything happening before her. She struggled to accept the situation, unsure whether to express her emotions through tears or screams or perhaps neither of them. This wasn't what she had hoped for or expected, deep inside her heart she wished time could turn back to a point before her world went up in flames. In this moment of weakness, someone's face popped back into her head. His blond hair lay sloppily on his head as a rough beard grew on his face, his blue eyes could still see the world but were devoid of life. "Is this how he felt."

"Hey, are you coming to the training center or not?" Rena lifted her head and spotted a younger Daniel in a school uniform. She shook her head and glanced back at him.

"What's wrong?" Daniel found her actions strange, causing him to get closer. Rena blushed as they locked eyes, and she promptly stood up. "I'm fine let's go."

Rena observed two people wearing smiles when they arrived. "Rena!" A girl with flowing ginger hair was sprinting towards her. "It's been a while." With their arms around each other, the girls hugged. "I missed you too, Ashley."

Rena, looking over Ashley's shoulder, noticed a young man with blond hair and glasses. Daniel greeted him as he walked past them, and they engaged in a brief conversation. The two men laughed before turning their attention to Rena and Ashley. "Let's get ready for training." Daniel's words got Rena and Ashley to stop hugging and follow them.

While making their way to the locker rooms the blond young man walked beside Rena. "How was your vacation, Rena?"

"It was good and what about you, Noah?" She observed Noah nervously playing with his hands. He kept his gaze forward as he thought for a few seconds. "I had an enjoyable time off, but." They locked eyes, holding the gaze momentarily before Noah averted his gaze. Rena leaned forward and gazed at him with a puzzled look. As she noticed his trembling body, she moved closer. 

"Are you two coming or what!?" When Rena looked to her side, she spotted Daniel standing in front of the male locker rooms. "Yeah, we'll be there in a second!" She turned her head and glanced at Noah."Are you alright?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine." He nodded his head but didn't look her in the eyes. Rena shrugged her shoulders and walked to the female locker rooms with something that bugged her, his face was red.

Rena watches as the world around her fades into darkness, only to reopen her eyes and witness Daniel's bloated body falling to the ground. With Katana in hand, Akiyoshi came down from above with a fierce strike, but before his blade could connect a hand stretched down from the darkness above. Akiyoshi swiftly alters the direction of his sword as he sees it rushing towards him with an open palm. He propels himself backward, and slides across the floor, while his gaze is fixed forward.

"Well, well, you all sure know how to hold on." A man with green hair and green eyes caught everyone's attention as he walked into vision further down the room. "But sadly, I don't have the time to continue entertaining a bunch of interlopers." His skin was gray and stitches stretched over his neck and other visible parts of his body. While she stared at this figure with a focused gaze, Rena could feel her heartache.

As his fist came towards me, I swiftly moved my arms to protect myself. Thrown a fair distance, I stumble over the ground before getting up. While I fixated on ginger-haired man, a growing number of men dressed in white and golden clothes surrounded me. "Look what we have here a filthy little bat." The ginger-haired man smirked as he spoke.

As I was being encircled, I quickly glanced at my surroundings, trying to find an escape route. "What are you looking for?" The ginger-haired man's words made me look back at him.

When I took out the knife given to me before coming to the surface, the smile on the ginger-haired man's face expanded. "Get him." With his words, everyone began to enclose on me. I let out a sigh, while I briefly paused before swiftly moving to my right.

I drive the dagger forward, piercing the of one of his men. Without wasting any time, I quickly moved him aside, while I past him a trail of his blood moved toward my right arm. I didn't even get a few meters away before two of them caught up with me. I turned my body to the right and pointed my finger at one of the figures. Blood to accumulate in front of it and as quick as it appeared the sharp red cylinder shot forward piercing their skull.

As a sharp blade finds its way into my back, an intense pain shoots through my body, causing me to scream in agony. I continue to rotate my body, causing my arm to slam against the head of the man, resulting in him stumbling and falling to the ground. When I fully turned three hundred and sixty degrees I lifted my left leg before kicking my feet down right onto their head. 

I sprinted as fast as I could, but their pursuit remained audible. I swerved through the crumbling town and tried to get them off my tail, but the trail of blood that followed me was easy to track. While clenching my teeth I moved my hand towards my back.

Intently following the trail of red on the ground two of the men stopped when they saw its end. The two glanced at each other, before looking to their sides where the four others stood. Without saying a word, all six of them split to search the area.

I hid behind a crumbled wall of a building and held my breath while having every fiber of my being concentrated on the wound on my back that still had a dagger lodged in. By doing this, I was able to stop blood from running, but now the question had to come, how I was going to get out of this situation.

Aware that I couldn't stay still like this for much longer I silently tried to breathe. I could feel the tingling sensation of blood streaming down my back as I moved my arm. With my mind no longer preoccupied with controlling the flow of blood, I firmly grasped the handle and slowly started extracting the dagger. With the desire to scream overwhelming me, I resorted to biting my lip to keep my emotions in check for the entire duration. 

After having removed the dagger, I felt incredibly weak, and I didn't know how much more strength I could muster. As I lowered my arm my body shuddered when through my incompetence the blade of the dagger made contact with the ground.

Fully aware of what was to come I didn't begin to run or even move, I waited while taking as many breaths as I could. With my gaze lifted, I swiftly planted my hands on the ground and sprung back up. A sword came crashing down with such force that it effortlessly demolished the brick wall I had sought refuge behind. 

From my right, a man wielding a mace charged towards me. I moved out of their fast swipes and stabbed them in the chest. Right when I was about to pull it out, a figure with the same weapon bashed the blunt object into my side. As I stumbled I let blood move over my body and towards my right arm and with a quick turn a sword made of blood manifested in my hand and began to sever through the robed figure's body, halfway through the weapon got stuck.

With not much other options, I grabbed the man in front of me and pushed it towards the nearest person, causing them to fall on the ground. Before I could do anything else my eyes stopped on an axe traveling towards me. With nothing to defend myself, I instinctively raise my right arm and with a quick strike, the axe cleaves through my arm.

Overwhelmed by pain, I desperately grab hold of the stump on my arm, feeling the warm rush of blood flowing out. My eyes grew even brighter as I glared at the figure standing before me. Fully in control of the blood, I manipulate it to converge around my right arm, solidifying it into a sharp spike that I thrust straight through the figure's chest. In his last dying breaths, he raises his leg and kicks me in the chest, causing me to fall to the ground. Lying down two daggers pierce both my legs. As I raise my chest, I make a determined effort to impale them with the spike, but my attack is thwarted when someone else swiftly kicks it down with their feet.

exhausted my control wanes causing the hardened blood to liquefy once more. As I inhaled and exhaled, my eyes remained fixed on the ominous figures standing tall around me, their readiness to strike hanging in the air.

"You kept up longer than I expected." As their leader approached, I turned my head and glared at them. His bright green eyes locked with mine. "Is this how you're going to greet the person who killed her?"

His words filled my expression with anger and when he saw this the ginger-haired man smiled. "Much better."