You’re in My Way (Chapter 4)

Third pov:

After the rabbit-masked man made his declaration he forcefully pulled out Itami's hand from his abdomen, and they started to trade blows at high speeds that were barely visible to human eyes.

 At first, it seemed like Itami had the upper hand, but the two masked men knew that wasn't the case. 

Although Itami was currently landing the most blows and seemed to be more powerful with the golden aura oozing out of him, there were two main problems only few would notice if they were in the room.

 Problem number one is that the rabbit man hasn't even taken a proper step yet. The most he's done is move slightly back and forward to shift his weight. 

This shows the man's expertise as he can dodge the enraged Itami's blinding strikes whilst barely moving. 

In fact, from afar it looked like he was moving in slow motion as he briskly danced past Itami's attacks with ease. 

Vice versa Itami looked like a mess technically. His punches were wild and out of control, his footwork was a mess, and the only thing that saved him was that his body kept regenerating no matter how much the bunny-masked man hit him. 

Still, even though the skill gap is that deep he might have hope to win and escape if not for the second problem. 

The second problem is that the rabbit man hasn't activated his aspect yet while Itami was fighting full force from the beginning. 

This was all physical strength! This may not be a big deal to some, but a person's aspect, especially at the higher levels, is 75 percent of their strength. 

The handicap one has by not using his aspect is like fighting with two of their arms chopped off. Easy in stories, impossible in real life. 

Rabbit man's POV: 

Honestly, I'm disappointed. Is this the extent his powers measure up too? 

When I saw the glare in his eyes though I played it off I was very spooked. Not because he could hurt but because it was very reminiscent of his father. 

Speaking of which, I'm disappointed in him too. Every kid in the continent of Kamakura is trained in basic ether arts and control from the age of 6, but what of his son? 

I would be pressed to believe he was eight years old if his mother hadn't told me. 

He's weak and scrawny if he's in the clan he'd probably die in a week of training. 

While, if he was at a prosperous family he might not even last an hour. How did I even let him injure me?

 He sucks at hiding his malice and telegraphs every single one of his moves.

 It's either Kage's murderous ether distracted me or I'm growing soft. Regardless when I get home I should pick up my training or else one day a measly unranked might kill me.

The third pov 5 minutes later

Soon Rabbit (yes I changed it to rabbit to make it shorter cry me a river) started to get impatient and decided to end things quickly. 

He suddenly jumped back and activated his aspect. 

"Bound," he said with a grin. Although he knew it was overkill, Rabbit still activated it because he could do his two favorite things, show off and torture his enemies. Even so, the word enemy was a bit of a stretch for Itami. 

After Rabbit activated his aspected, they started trading blows again, if one could call it that, and it was clear Itami was outclassed. 

Rabbits' aspect, bound, allowed him to create invisible surfaces in mid-air and bounce off of them. 

When doing this Rabbit's speed quadrupled, and every one of his kicks felt like they were coming out of a cannon. 

Knee to the ribs, kick to the chest, and an ax kick to the skull; 

every single one of his attacks landed in succession, and there was nothing Itami could do about it.

 This torture continued for another 5 minutes until Rabbit felt satisfied and decided to use his calling card.

 Boyaketa sora, the blurring sky blitz, was his favorite move to finish off an opponent and it revolved around surrounding his opponent with, tenkuu, his surfaces, and attacking them from all directions at supersonic speed.

 Seeing that he was about to put an end to the with this last hit Rabbit's eyes rolled back once again in ecstasy, but that would be short-lived as a black crow manifested in front of him and slashed him across his body from his shoulder to his hip. 

**Splash** Blood exited out of the rabbit's body like a fountain, "Why uncle?" Rabbit said, holding on for his last breath. 

"Because, you got in my way, dear nephew."

Karasukage pov:

I always knew I had a foolish nephew, but I never knew how foolish until he got stabbed by an unranked brat who couldn't control his aspect or ether.

 How pathetic can he be, seriously? Every day I question our relationship. 

He's supposed to be the heir to the clan but lost his position to his younger cousin. 

Now we've been given an important mission, and he's continuously messing it up. 

We were supposed to be in our territory by now, but he insisted on torturing the boy for a vendetta. 

Now he wants to fight the boy instead of simply knocking him out. 

How troublesome. 

A simple slash-and-dash job has become such a mess. 

I guess I'll let him fight and blow off some steam. 

As much as I don't want to postpone the mission, it's much more troublesome to deal with his complaining. 

When I get home I should find a talisman which allow to temporarily seal someone's vocal chords. 

It may cost me a hefty sum, but there are too many fools in the family. 

I don't have the strength to deal with it. Well, that's for later I should observe the fight to make sure no accidents happen. 

 As I observed the fight all I could say at first was that he was too weak, but as the battle kept raging on I became enamored. 

They first started with an exchange of hand-to-hand combat which was my nephew's strong suit. 

Although he was a fool in many areas as a chevalier, he was a master of his variation of family movement art, Kyūryū

, rapid water steps, and created his hand-to-hand technique that focused on his legs. 

When paired with his aspect it made him powerful compared to other lower leveled chevaliers, but that wasn't what captivated me. 

As a bishop-ranked chevalier, he should overpower him, an unranked, easily, but the fool instead decided he wanted to show off. 

Instead of going all out from the start he sealed his aspect and stood in place, barely moving as he'd dodge or deflect his attacks. 

This clearly showed his lack of experience. 

A True chevalier understood that using their full strength when encountering an opponent was a necessity because they knew that one mistake could cost them their lives. 

I'm not saying don't have trump cards, but purposely holding yourself back for reasons like showing off would get you killed in the field. 

On the other hand, the boy was wild and uncontrolled, but this is what excited me. It seemed like his aspect implemented a fight or flight response to protect him. 

Although it's rare, it's not uncommon for aspects to have berserk modes.

 After all, if the host dies the spirit dies with it, but this is the first time I've felt such immense aether coming from an untrained boy. 

 The best way to explain the boy's fighting style is free and beastly. He truly used every element of his body whether it be his nails to slice at Sora's throat or his spit to momentarily blind him. 

At some points in the fight, he'd sacrifice body parts and take critical wounds to get an advantage over Sora. 

It was truly astonishing to watch the boy because even in a berserk state he understood that in a fight for your life, anything goes. 

He understood that he must steel his will and push past pain. 

Contrary to popular belief, in a berserk state one doesn't lose their mind nor do they get possessed by their spirit because if that happened then obvious signs would show like growing wings or horns. 

What happens is the opposite. 

The spirit kickstarts your body and makes you run efficiently to 90 % of your abilities. 

Human beings have natural limiters on their body and ether because their soul or mind can't handle both past 80% normally. 

In times of danger to preserve the host's life some spirits will take the risk of upping those percentages by sealing things that make up the mind to free up space and capacity. 

These things include the feelings and the memories of the fight before and afterward isolating techniques, muscle memory, pain, and the will to survive. 

So yes he can still feel pain, but despite that, he chooses to push his body past its limits which shows his strength of will. 

He doesn't shy away from tricks that others would consider unthinkable or dishonorable which is impressive, especially knowing who his father was and his heroic tendencies.

 If only my nephew could be half as brave as him, maybe our family wouldn't be in this predicament. 

Watching my nephew gave me disgust, but watching this boy gave me goosebumps.

 At one point he'd thrown a bad punch and Sora caught him and pinned him down.

 However, by breaking a couple of bones in his arm and shoulder he was able to escape. 

I could hardly believe this was the boy I had tortured for the last two months. 

During that time he'd only cry and pathetically beg for his life. 

Typically, I wasn't one of those who felt contempt for the weak, but what he was doing was pitiful. 

As the fight raged on Sora looked at my face, and could see the contempt in my eyes for him. 

This made Sora very displeased, so although he wanted to continue the fight he rushed to finish the boy off. 

Sora jumped back and activated his aspect, Bound, and my eyes immediately went back to their dead state. 

I knew this lovely battle would soon end, but what I didn't expect was how it ended. 

While Sora was bouncing in the air, I suddenly felt a hint of malice from my nephew, and I knew immediately he was going to use his trump card, sky blitz. 

Seeing things start to get out of hand I readied myself to intervene, and sure enough they did. He was aiming for young Itami's life, and disregarding the mission. 

However, he was in for a surprise of his own. Once he was about to give the delivering blow I cut him down. 

I already told him not to kill the boy, but of course, in the typical fashion of my nephew he asked "Why uncle". I responded simply and coldly "Because you're in my way."

AUTHOR:

Thank You for Reading. as always if you have any critiques, opinions, or things you want me to add or edit please let me know. Know I will not listen to every request, and I can't compromise certain things.