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| - “No Sword Style....” Shiroe breathed, the breath emerging from his mouth as chilly white as his name and appearance, himself crouching down slightly with his hands held out behind him, “..Infinite Blade SLASH!” With that, his eyes jerked open, and the bounty hunter shot forward, his arms arching through the air and striking Pura across the stomach! The swordswoman gasped, blood not only spilling from the slashes across her stomach, but also from her mouth. She dropped to the ground, stumbling but managing to keep her footing, sluggishly forcing herself to her feet. Throughout all of this, her eyes remained locked on Yamiryuu, focusing on it with an incredible amount of intensity. Come on, Yamiryuu, she thought to herself, I’m ready! Listen to me! Before she could continue, however, Shiroe moved again, his hands slashing across both her shoulders. Pura shuddered, stumbling forward as blood spilled from the two new wounds. Before she even had time to recover, the bounty hunter whipped around and lunged forward, delivering two blows to the same locations, albeit to the other side. Pura stumbled forward, only for him to appear and slash her in several more locations! Shiroe began to move at truly incredible speeds, dealing blow after blow to Pura and slicing her body up. The swordswoman could only stumble around as slash after slash cut into her, her opponent moving so fast he appeared as nothing more than a blur attacking her from all angles! And throughout all this, after taking blow after blow, Pura forced herself to focus on her blade once more, putting all the thoughts of suffering out of her head and firing her concentration like a bullet towards Yamiryuu itself. Her eyes narrowed as a few slashes grazed her forehead, but she kept staring at only one thing throughout the web of blade slashes. Yamiryuu... she thought to herself, scenes of her past replaying themselves through her mind, haven’t we been together for so long? Haven’t we fought together for so long? From the beginning, once my mother died... you were there, standing beside me and fighting with me. Why are you rejecting me? I don’t understand it. I don’t understand it at all. He said that I have to treat you like my partner... but haven’t I been doing that from the beginning? As the wounds continued to pile up, her mind began to become slightly delirious, and she began questioning what she was doing in the first place. I don’t get it! she thought angrily, I keep speaking to Yamiryuu as best as I can, but it’s not responding at all! I’m fighting as hard as I can to stay conscious and break through, but... it’s just not responding. Her hand began to droop, her grip on her blade slackening. Is it... even... aliv-? And right then, the answer hit her! Her eyes flew open, realization gripping her! It IS alive! she thought, ...and it isn’t! A sword is a complete existence, defined and shaped by the one who wields it. Could it be that... it’s not responding, because I’ve been trying to act like it’s still not part of me, not an aspect of me, just something that I could reason with like another person, when in actuality... Yamiryuu is a part of me! The way he was using his hands as blades, it all makes sense! They’re a part of him, so he can trust it and they can trust him... Yamiryuu is like that! A part of me, not a separate person! An important part of my identity as a swordswoman, a vital limb that I can’t lose... and that I must trust as it trusts me, as my limbs trust me and I trust them! That’s it! It’s so... simple! With this realization occurring, time seemed to... slow for her. The flashes that consisted of Shiroe’s movement seemed so simple, so predictable. Pura slowly reached down with her other hand, gripping Yamiryuu firmly with the both of them... and the moved! Her sword flashed through the air, and in an instant it caught Shiroe across the chest, raking across it as she knocked him in the air, blood erupting along the line she cut as he did so! “GRRRAAAAHHH!!!” Shiroe cried as he was flung backwards, smashing into a snow dune a few feet away, skidding a few feet before halting. Slowly, the bounty hunter forced himself back up, clutching his chest in an effort to stem the flow of blood, as he finally saw Pura. She stood silent and confident, ignoring the blood running down her entire body as she gripped her blade tightly and with confidence. As she noticed Shiroe’s attention, she allowed a small smile to appear. “Thank you,” she said, “Yamiryuu... it feels so much lighter and right now.” “You.... you figured it out, huh?!” the bounty hunter both coughed and chuckled, forcing himself to his feet, his body trembling slightly as the actual weight of the wounds took hold, doing a number on him. His left hand gripped his chest, stemming the flow of the blood, as the other drooped slightly, falling naturally into his usual No Sword Style formation. “I’ve... gotta say...” he finished, “that’s pretty... damn impressive...” “I’m the one who should be complimenting you,” Pura said with a quick bow, “without this battle, I wouldn’t have grown the way I did. I would’ve missed a concept that would be important to my overall goal. You’ve helped me become a stronger swordswoman, and for that, I can do nothing but thank you.” “But!” Shiroe suddenly said, his lips curling into a devilish smirk as he released his other hand, the bounty hunter leaning downwards and preparing for his next attack, “you still have to beat me, right? To make sure that I don’t go and take out your captain before Khan-sama is finished with him?” “Correct,” Pura answered, resuming her fighting stance as well. The two stood there for a few silent instants, staring at the other, their muscles tightening and preparing for battle. Snow fell softly around them, blown into flurries by intense winds that seemed to have left their little arena alone... And then they lunged! They exploded through the air, blade meeting hand-blade as sparks flew! They clashed viscously, sending attacks weaving and whispering through the air between them, so much so that the very space around them seemed consumed by a massive amount of black slashes and white lances of snow, arcing for each other and colliding, causing more and more shockwaves and sudden gusts! Blood spurted from both combatants, but they kept up their fight, launching attack after attack, blow after blow, strike after strike, slash after slash, each one determined to not let the other win, no matter what happened! Their mouths jerked open in animalistic yells, as their colliding blades reached a fever pitch! Finally, the two swung their blades at each other one last time, the two strikes colliding and sending a shockwave, bigger than before, circling all around them!! Time seemed to slow once more, the area around them fading, detail being covered up by a vague, darkish-blue light that was gentle, yet ominous. They moved slower than they had before, their blades moving through the air, knocked back by their last exchange, and moving towards each other. For Pura, it seemed as if her entire life, nay, her entire existence, was moving towards this point. She felt purpose building up in her hands, channeled directly into her blade itself, and she found it to be moving at a much faster pace than Shiroe’s lashing sword hands. “Tengoku no....” she almost whispered, the words being torn from her mouth almost on instinct, as Yamiryuu’s blade began to take on a yellowish glow.... “TSSSSSUMMMMEEEEE!!!!!” she cried, swinging the blade through the air with as much force as she could possibly muster! All of a sudden, the world seemed to return to normal, and the glowing blade of Yamiryuu lashed seemingly straight through Shiroe’s being itself, the bounty hunter jerking spasmodically through the air as it lanced through him, leaving behind a massive, cross-shaped glowing scar! Silently, without a single word, Shiroe’s body drifted back, as time slowed once more... Pura’s sword struck the ground harmlessly, and the swordswoman landed on the ground, her knees shuddering and the strength leaving her body like a passing wind... Time resumed its normal course, and Shiroe collapsed onto the ground, blood exploding mightily from his defeated form. Pura staggered forward, leaning slightly on Yamiryuu, staggering forward as the wounds she had received bled freely, leaving her light headed and completely exhausted. “Hold on... guys...” she said, staggering forward, her deliria from bloodloss preventing her from completely noticing her body was moving in the opposite direction from the control tower, “I’ll be there... soon... enough....” And then her eyes widened, taking in the sight before her. A line of Marine ships, heading straight for the island. “Oh... no....” she thought, blackness beginning to move in on her vision... Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
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