Chapter.40: The Water Blade And The Black Widow

Rina emerged from the shadows into an isolated area she had set up earlier before for a meet-up to see Koutetsu. She took her time to dig up a box with her black widow gear inside, putting on her shackle of an outfit, her collar of obedience.

Rina felt emotional putting it on, she had the vacation guaranteed but she couldn't stay longer without feeling more broken in her heart. Just being near the area was hurting badly, if not for the years of practice in the Black Widow Style on emotional control and learning to walk with the shadows as if she was using magic to deceive her enemies, she would have run back to the bath to apologize again and stay the whole trip.

She couldn't though, Rina needed to leave before her mental state reached the breaking point of becoming an empty shell of the person she currently is now.

As Rina stood still letting her thoughts run through her head, she heard rustling in the area, someone found out the location she had carefully picked out to avoid being seen. She was cautious about who was coming her way, she picked the spot perfectly for isolation. Her skill as Esper tried to analyze the area, and detect any emotions in her vicinity that had hostile intent. Her fingers twitched with anticipation, she concentrated hard to notice anything that could give a warning sign. Soon her wires flung behind her once she felt the emotion of a hostile attack, it was deflected by a blade. The blade was the SuiRyu, Ren was there waiting for her, she had no idea he would be there, it seemed out of character in his duties to be at the resort without Asuka. He was invited to come, but he had other reasons for coming to the resort, none for the relaxing reasons.

"How did you find me?" Rina asked with a cold demeanor.

"Easily. I had a suspicion about you since the first time we met at the party. I knew the Yozora family had a secret child they were keeping hushed because of the scandal. So I looked into it more using every resource available to the Mizuno family. The secret was buried well but I found out the truth about you, once I realized it I gathered info about your life and the the shadow guarding Sen-Dono. Doesn't take a genius to know the truth and your real skills."

Rina glared at Ren behind her mask, he was staring at her with cold intent in his eyes. She was taken aback at how he dogged his determination to find out about her identity. It was commendable in a way, she could almost admire him for it. But in this case that wasn't going to happen. Knowing her secret was bad for her safety, she had to get out of there before it could reach Lady Yozora.

"Why are you here? This is a vacation trip, a shadow like you doesn't have a right to enjoy the light without permission. What's your reason for being here?"

Rina wouldn't answer, and Ren wouldn't believe her unless he knew she told the truth about her reasons.

"You came for someone, didn't you? Did you come for Hayashi?"

Rina twitched hearing it, Ren guessed right on the first try.

"Stay away from him. I'm not friends with him personally but I can tell you're going to hurt him more doing this. Your fate is yours and your family's alone, don't drag someone else into your little family drama." The order he gave her had a negative result for him. He only fueled her anger even more telling her what to do when he wasn't in her position.

"What would you know?" She shouted finally letting her emotions explode.

Ren tensed the muscles in his legs, he was preparing in case of an attack. The outburst of emotion she blurted out made him nervous. Rina attacked him with her wires, he blocked the strikes with his sword, the wires increasing in speed reacting to her hate.

"Do you have any idea what I've been through? How much hate I had to bear for something that wasn't my fault. How many times I've tried to kill myself but never was allowed to go through with it!"

The wires increased in speed, and Ren was struggling to keep up, the wires had range, and the thinness made it hard to see them in the fading daylight.

"You're just a lapdog, a weak Esper whose only good quality is swordsmanship. You have a good family to serve who treats you like a human being. I'm stuck in a cage called the Yozora family who treats me like a tool without any regard for my soul, my only chance of being free from them is to be transferred to another cage in hopes it'll be a lesser hell. The only real thing I have is someone who really wanted me around, not for killing, not to erase a shame, someone who treated me like I was a real person. Do you know what it feels like to be treated like an object to erase someone else's mistakes and not be truly allowed to live your own life?"

Ren couldn't respond, he would never admit it but when he was sold to the Mizuno family he was still a kid from a cheap orphanage. He was meant to be a throw away blade at first but his Master was kind to him and adopted him like he was his own child along with Asuka always showing him kindness and respect. He wondered if circumstances were different would he have ended up like Rina did? Rina tried to leave, but Ren wouldn't let her, not until he made some sense go into Rina's head.

"If you care don't leave then. You leave now, do you think he'll recover from that? Abandonment is the worst thing you can do to someone. You of all people should understand that pain, the pain of being alone."

Rina couldn't respond properly. She didn't want to leave, but she needed to. She only came to say her goodbyes before the ceremony would begin in the later months not start a fight with Ren. Rina snuck an attack behind Ren, he dodged it in time before another one came from the side. Ren struck each attack with swift movements with the SuiRyu, he was doing his best to not get hit again with those wires.

Rina sped up the effectiveness of the wire attacks more, her emotional state was empowering them more. Ren had to concentrate, Rina was right that he was weak, he had no special Esper powers or skills like Ryuji and Tatsuya, and his sword skills were the only trait that made him of value.

A wire grazed his legs, he grunted in pain as it cut deep, just missing a vital point that would have permanently damaged him. Jumping back to gain some momentum, he jumped against a tree to use for an extra boost in dodging before the next strikes nearly sliced him in half. The cover of darkness from the trees' shadows proved to be a big advantage for Rina, it was her field of expertise she used many times when eliminating threats to Sen.

Ren had to think fast, unable to now track the attacks as daylight began to fade more increasing the shadows, it was becoming more challenging for him. Ren activated the power of the SuiRyu, the blade was generating its water coating on itself. The addition of the water and Ren's skill added to the strength of the SuiRyu and his chances of fighting off the rapid strikes.

"Mitsurugi Ryu San no Kata(Third Blade form), Mugiri(Mist Slash)."

Ren sent a slash wave of a dense mist in a crescent shape that blocked the attacks and covered the area. Rina's field of vision was subdued temporarily, Ren took the chance to strike her with the blunt end of the blade, and she was hit in the back of her legs by it. Rina pulled darts from her ouches filled with paralysis position. She threw them at Ren when she finally caught him in an opportune position. Ren swung his sword, the blade sent water drops at high speed like miniature bullets at the darts stopping them from reaching Ren.

"Mitsurugi Ryu Go no Kata(Fifth Blade Form), Mizu Dan(Water Bullet)."

Rina had enough, she refused to be beaten by Ren after the lecturing he gave her. Rina memorized Ren's movement and when he would use the SuiRyu's power, she released a smoke bomb that created a fog that was thick and concealed her presence perfectly. Ren tried to keep his guard up, but the wires hidden inside the fog struck him relentlessly, he was going to lose if he didn't find a way to win over the concealment Rina put up. He needed to track the wire's movements too, even without the smoke he had trouble tracking them to begin with.

Ren closed his eyes, and concentrated hard on his senses, from sight, smell, and touch. He focused hard on shutting off his sense of sight to strengthen the others. In his mind all his surroundings appeared clear as day, they looked like they were drawn in brush strokes, the colors changing to match the time of day with the wires appearing in red.

Ren's sword struck down the wires the instant they became near him, his movements were getting faster as well, Ren could feel his body become lighter, his strikes more accurate.

"Level Up. Unique Skill obtained. Unique skill processing. Continue use to fully manifest for realization."

Ren heard the announcement from his screen. Ren found his skill, he was utilizing it at the moment to beat Rina. The more he would use it in the fight the more he could discover its full potential for the future.

"I see. You finally found your Unique Skill. I'd be happy for you if this was a different circumstance. However, a skill you just acquired won't beat me. Try again in ten years boy." Rina's wires converged and hardened themselves into a drill shape, the new weapon launched furiously at Ren, he tried to block it but the impact was harsher than he expected, as it knocked him on his back against a tree. The wires wrapped around his body to pin him down then to his face and started suffocating him till he passed out. Rina let off on the strangling, she had no intent to kill Ren just make him go unconscious so he wouldn't follow her.

Rina began to walk off and heard the words repeat in her head from what Ren told her earlier.

"If you care don't leave then. You leave now, do you think he'll recover from that? Abandonment is the worst thing you can do to someone. You of all people should understand that pain, the pain of being alone."

Rina clenched her teeth. She didn't want to admit he was right, she would never want to make him feel as alone as she felt. She let out a frustrated scream before striking everything in sight, cutting down the garden branches, and slicing the trees wildly, all the memories she had with Koutetsu bombarded her mind. A memory of Lady Yozora approaching her when she kid during her training days popped up. Her uncaring face not even looking down at her when she was bloody and bruised in training, made her mad more to force her wires into a large blade coming down a tree in response. She fell to the ground with her head buried in her lap after her tantrum, unsure what to do at the moment. Her fingers clenching her legs tight, Rina was breaking, she was reaching a limit where she didn't know if she would be able to face Koutetsu again even if it was allowed.

She was hating herself, her life, Lady Yozora, just hating it all. It felt unfair to her. Her name as it was spelled was with the kanji for beautiful, felt like a joke to her now, as she would never get that feeling in a real sense. She wasn't beautiful in her eyes, she was a tool of murder, a bloody knife that stabbed everyone in the back, including her only friends. She grabbed her mask, remembering when Lady Yozora gave it to her, and she furiously threw it to the ground crying hard. Her wires came out, aimed at her own throat, she attempted to cut it herself but stopped because if she did Sen would be in danger without her. More so Lady Yozora would go after Koutetsu now that there was no reason to make her back off.

She continued to sit there crying, just begging for something to save her even if it was the devil at this point. Anything to save her from her fate.