26: Killing Toll

Dan was teleported in a cave along with three other people. Vic and Hiro. The third was a black man, he wore a titanium mask with a giant battle axe on his back. Around his waistband, he holstered a combat knife and a handgun.

"Where's Laura...?" Dan murmured his thoughts.

Hiro walks up behind him and taps his shoulder, "I'm sure you're girlfriend is safe," he said comfortingly.

"K- Kanojo nandayo?" Dan angrily blushes.

"Eh? Chigatte?"

"Sh- She's just my partner."

Vic walks up beside Hiro, "well, what do we do about him?"

"Faster to just ask," Dan mumbled. "Oi, omae dare?"

Kanojo nandayo = What girlfriend?

Chigatte? = Not it?

Omae Dare = Who the hell are you?

The man dropped his axe and approached the three slowly, sparks appearing as he dragged his sharp axe across the floor.

"William the Skull."

"William, huh?" Dan said in a mocking manner.

"Yeah, it's William, he said it," Hiro whispered in reply.

Dan turned to Hiro, "uruse naa," he replied in an annoyed tone.

"Well, let's just kill him."

Uruse na = Shut the fuck up

Vic conjured up a grenade launcher and fired away without any warning. The grenades traveled quickly at William. He swings his axe with his axe head acting as a flap, he deflects the grenade like a tennis ball.

The grenade was heading right at Dan, he raised his fist, casting Black Veil but was late. He managed to block only half of the explosion. The three were blasted backwards. Dan tries to stand up, but his hand stings from the burns.

"Couldn't you have made them impact grenades?" Dan moaned.

From above William was slamming down with his axe directed at his face. Dan rolls to his right and William misses by a hair. Vic aims a handgun at William's head and pulled the trigger as fast as she could. The bullet hits his skull mask and ricochet, leaving not so much as a burn mark.

"Heh, that's cute," he scoffed. He pulled out his own handgun and takes a shot at Vic. She rolls to the side and the bullet went through the ground.

Vic got up and aimed at William's unprotected body, the bullets fly through him as he disappeared from her view. She quickly got up and focused on her Mana sense. He's a Core-User, but he should still be detectable.

A foot thrusts at the center of Vic's chest, she lost grip to her gun and was slammed into the wall. She feels her inside well with blood as she drooled blood mix with saliva. Her eyes were a bit blurry as her glasses were knocked off her face.

"S- Shit..." She murmured.

William slowly walks towards Vic who was helpless. She tried to conjure any firearm but she couldn't gather her thoughts. William leaps forward, planning to land a knee to her head and caving her skull. As he was mid flight, he slowed down, becoming afloat and weightless. "What...?" He was in awe.

Dan had his hand out, gripping tightly William's gravity. He then gets up and throws William against the far wall as hard as he could.

You're getting better at this, Jon's vestige pats Dan on his back.

Thanks. Dan scoffs proudly.

Dan stands and turns to William only to meet his knee about to hit right in the middle of his nose. Jon channels mana to his head and tried to protect his skull as much as possible, even late. Dan fell backward and rolled about a dozen times on the ground, blood dripping profusely. He immediately got up, despite his disorientation. 

Dan realized how close he was to Vic, he loaded his arms whilst casting Dark Gauntlets. He glares at William who was walking slowly towards him, dragging his axe on the floor. He leaps forward as he flung his axe towards Hiro. The contemplation distracted him, splitting his focus in two. Hiro seemed to be frozen in fear, not even perceiving the axe flying towards him.

Dan focuses on Hiro and slammed Hiro to the ground, the axe flew above him and landed across the room and was stuck to the stone wall. Dan tried to raise his guard as much as he could, but it wasn't a matter of guard, simply weight and speed. William lands a punch in the middle of Dan's chest that was slightly cushioned by his left arm. Dan was sent flying to the wall and crashed next to Vic. 

William followed up with a left body punch, then a hammer fist to the top of his head. Dan did as much as he could to shell up and cover his body. Despite being blocked, William's strikes hits like a truck with the speed of bullets, not only that, his unwavering endurance overwhelmed Dan.

"HIRO!" Dan yelled out.

Vic conjures something that was out of her element, which was a molten knife. She manages to stab William at the back of his thigh, albeit shallow. That distracted William momentarily, it was enough of an opening for Dan.

Dan leaps off the wall behind him and lands a superman punch directly on William's chin and disorienting him. Dan casts Black Veil big enough for her and Vic. He drops onto one knee to catch his breath. "Thanks for that," he pants.

William quickly recovers and tries to punch through the veil but his hand was easily repelled. 

Thank god he can't punch through this easily.

"That's a strong defense spell you got there," William said, annoyed. 

William pulled out a jagged combat knife that reflected almost like a mirror, then he turns to Hiro.

Oh fuck...

Vic conjures a handgun and takes aim at William.

"Don't, the bullet will just bounce off," Dan warned.

"Can't you make an opening?"

"This spell is still kind of new, so I can't manipulate it yet."

"Then turn it off."

"He reacts too fast. I can't."

"Shit!"

Dan feels the fear of Hiro might dying a brutal death to William, he wants to join in on the fight and help him out. Vic knew what Dan was thinking and warns him, "don't."

"He's going to die," Dan clenched his teeth.

"Both of you'll die like this."

Dan grits his teeth and tries to recover quicker somehow. Just him thinking wishfully, Jon.

There isn't a way for you to heal, Jon shook his head. Just take a few minutes.

Hiro doesn't have a few minutes, Dan replied. Jon understood the urgency of the moment, yet he doesn't have a legitimate way to recover quicker.

Then just wait for one minute.

"HIRO!" Dan yelled. "You better turn up!"

Shit, Hiro slurred as he was slightly panicking. He conjures up two wakizashi katana, its blades were laced in gold. He held both swords in a reverse grip, and unorthodox sword fighter was what he was.

William leaps forward, faster than Hiro could see, but not react. As William slashes what would be Hiro's throat, a cut that would easily decapitate a man, Hiro turned to a ball of light and reappeared behind William and tried to slash his tendons in his panic state. He missed by two inches lower.

Kuso! I missed!? Ore baka darouka!?

Kuso = Fuck!

Ore baka darouka= Am I an idiot?

It got William's attention as he raised his foot and tried stomping Hiro like a bug, his foot crushed the ground, caving it in.

Fuck! Majide hayai zo!!!

Majide hayai zo = He's really fast!

Hiro turned back to a ball of light and reappeared at William's eye level, he tries to slash across William's mask but barely made a scratch.

BAKAYARO! His mask is fucking bullet proof!!!

Bakayaro = Idiot

For the third time, Hiro turned to a ball of light and reappeared to create a shallow cut on William's tricep. Hiro repeats the process until William thought of the fight to be dull and boring.

"Hiro, Doushita!? Korosuze!" Vic yelled. "He's holding back, he could easily cut his neck."

Doushita = What's wrong?

Korosuze = Kill him!

Hearing Vic's words only made Hiro panic even more, transforming even more frequently, managing smaller and smaller cuts across William's body. For the ninth time, WIlliam predicts that Hiro would be behind him and lands a back kick directly to Hiro's face.

Hiro was nearly out, dropping his blades on the ground, he barely manages to stand on his feet. William walks up to him and grabbed a handful of Hiro's hair and slammed his face to his knee.

Jon, I'm going.

Wait, Jon replied. Just thirty seconds.

Why!? Dan felt uneasy leaving Hiro to break slowly.

Charge everything on your right and both your legs.

Despite his nervousness, Dan followed Jon's suggestion and charged Dark Gauntlet on his right hand. The flames circulating combined with dark blue. Then he charges Dark Boots, tensing his muscles as much as he could, condensing his mana to the absolute fullest.

Hiro was on the ground, balling up, hands above his face, shielding himself from every heavy blow William was raining down upon him. Twenty seconds had passed, Dan stayed discipline and began counting.

Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six...

Take the veil down and pull him in, Jon said.

After Dan counts down to three, he took the veil down and connected himself with William. Increasing William's mass virtually and pulls him himself in at near Mach speed. William was lifted off the ground and became a weightless object. Dan tucked his hand back and lands a straight punch at the center of William's chest, above his abs and in between his ribs. Directly in the solar plexus.

Dan felt the punch bursts through William's body and reverberated his organs to break. William crashes against the wall and hits the back of his head. Dan glares at William with murderous intent. He reached his hand out to the side and William's axe magnified to his grip. Making the axe virtually weightless he leaps forward and slams the axe down on William. He held his hands up, but the blade cuts through his flesh and bones, the axe head sticks perfectly into his collar bone.

At that point, William was done for, he might survive for another few minutes but would die eventually. Dan presses on, cutting even deeper. He pulled his right hand back and lands a palm heel strike to the top of the axe and easily cuts down to his chest all the way to his abdomen. William slowly slides to side, blood flooding out of his orifices and immobile.

Dan takes a few steps back, panting heavily. He takes in the sight of his first ever kill. He feels his heart beat harder and heavier, his ears rang as his eyes blur in and out. Wha...? He asked himself. His hands were shaking as his mind went blank.

BLACK ROOM

Dan sits on the couch looking down to his trembling hands, blood dripping from the tips of his fingers. His looks of awe mixes with confusion and fear. 

Jon sits beside Dan, you killed a person, Dan. That's why,

"I thought..." Dan didn't really know where his train of thought was going, he was just trying to rationalize the burden that's suddenly latched onto him and weighing him down. "I had to do it, didn't I? Hiro and Vic would've died."

Yeah, Jon nods. There was no other way.

"Does this mean... I'm a..."

A murderer? Jon predicts what Dan would say, and before Dan could reply with anything he thought to be conclusive he spoke, it's what sorcerers do. If you didn't kill him, the law and its enforcer will. The political world of sorcery isn't exactly considerate.

Dan tried to replay the scenario in his head, thinking of a different outcome, "if I had broken his limbs?" 

Did you think you could've?

"Maybe?" Dan shrugged a sigh. "Volta taught me a lot of limb-breaking techniques."

Thinking too much into this isn't something healthy.

"I'm just... Trying to conceive this properly."

Dan, let me tell you, Jon leans back to the couch. There are three types of killers. One; the maniacs, two; the indifferent, three; the burden takers.

"What does the last two mean?" Dan asked.

The indifferent ones kill without a thought of joy or anger or sadness. Just kill them. The burden takers are hypocrites. They know the value of life and how much they need to keep it, yet they also kill without a second thought. If I knew better, you cannot change the weight of a kill. Merely a make-belief solution to forget.

Dan pauses and takes in Jon's answer. Then he asked, "which are you, Jon?"

Good question. Jon scoffed. I'm not sure. I can't remember.

REVERT

Vic was attending to Hiro, wondering what she should do to get him to feel better. Vic knew he was still breathing albeit knocked out. Dan turns to see the two up against the wall, he walks towards them quickly then crouches down to one knee.

"Do you have your phone with you?" Dan asked.

"I do,"

"Try and call Kai."

As Vic reaches for her phone, one of the walls in the cave opened up and revealed a long passage to them.