In the distance, he saw it. A flare had been shot up.

His hand tightened on his red spear.

He was there.

#

Kagami’s fist rose and met the treant’s own fist. The two met, and a shock wave exploded. Tree branches rustled and the tall man who witnessed this shot forth a flare in the sky.

Kagami was blown aside. He had lost the exchange, and the treant drew closer to him as he pulled himself up.

He looked at his fist.

It was still wasn’t right.

That feeling he felt, as if glass had broken, he wasn’t sure how he did it, but this was the second time he felt power like that since he came into this world.

Power.

He was breathless, blood dripped down his left arm.

The only thing true was that in order to fight, he needed to learn how to do it. And that meant practice.

The treant's claws sliced the air, and Kagami dodged. He ran underneath the treant’s arm, striking him with another blow. He felt a dull thud climb up his shoulder that told him he failed again.

A shadow of his claw came into view. Kagami rose his arm to block it. It did almost nothing. It crushed his guard and he was flung aside like a ragdoll. The back of his head hit the the tree and for a moment he blacked out.

He woke when the treant held him up, squeezing the air out of him. It gave a jagged smile that looked like it was carved from a knife.

“Your head is nice. Like a jewel.” He grabbed his head like a grape ready to be plucked from the vine. “Very refined. As if you were a prince. Hairs messy though.”

He couldn’t even budge, despite his best attempt to force his way out.

“Stop it.” The treant grumbled. “Your face won’t look good if you strain yourself.”

“Fuck off!” Kagami managed to say.

“It is the victor that decides what to do with the loser.” The treant reached for his necklace with a third arm. “Make a face like this.”

The head he held up had a face of a beautiful woman. Her expression etched on her face showed her final moments well to Kagami. She looked peaceful and happy. As if sipping on ice cold tea on a hot summer day.

Kagami couldn’t understand how she could make such a face, not when he knew that she had died from this treant.

Rather than giving him the expression that treant wanted, he wanted to give him a defiant look. The creases on the treant’s face deepened.

“You won’t either will you. That’s fine.” He felt a sharp pain in his left leg. He couldn’t see his leg. A needle like vine whipped up into Kagami’s view. “I have given you a drug. You shall feel at peace.”

He was already feeling it. His head felt light and his vision blurring. Everything was starting to melt around him, swirling and pulling him in. His senses all the way from the tips of his fingers and toes swirled into a great vortex.

Everything about him was slowly becoming one.

And then a divine voice boomed from the heaven’s.

Consider the happiest moment of your life.

He-

Happiest moment.

He manifested at that night when he met his wife. She hopped off the truck, pulling her katana free from its scabbard. It was a beautiful sight to behold. A pure white blade, her golden hair danced in the cold wind, but she smiled at him as if they were long time friends.

She was weaker than him, but he felt a sliver of fear run down his spine that he couldn’t understand. Until they fought that one night.

A fight that would transform into a chain of moments between the two. He-

Pain bristled in his right leg and the world was sucked aside, snapping him back to reality. Sweat dripped from his face and he was dropped as a terrible roar resounded above him.

“What have you done?! I was close! You ruined it you ugly human.”

In the corner of his eyes, he could see the tall man turned to stonew cower in fear as he dropped a bloody dagger.

Kagami was still out of it, but he knew what had happened. The stone man had stabbed his leg, bringing him back to reality. Kagami pushed himself up, only to fall under his own weight. Whatever he had been given, it was strong.

He focused his efforts on doing one thing at a time. Placing his hand underneath his chest. Then his other. Pushing up, shifting his weight, positioning his leg, pushing himself up.

Slowly, but surely, he stood. His face plastered with sweat, blood, and mud. He leaned against a tree, and tried to walk forward, but pain bristled in his right leg. A crimson flower blooming on his pants.

The treant smashed the stone man into the ground. Dirt exploded and as it settled, the man laid in a crater, no longer stone.

Then the treant’s attention went to Kagami. Its eyes widened and glowed bright crimson.

“A stab shouldn’t have woken you up. I gave you enough poison to die.”

Kagami didn’t have an answer for him. He felt like he was about to die. He could just die, and he could just let himself rise from death once more. He had killed himself many, many times.

But…he felt that by doing so…he had lost something.

Those memories with his wife told him that.

Gripping his thumping heart, he felt hot tears run down his eyes.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

He didn’t want that.

He didn’t want to lose himself and become someone unrecognizable to her.

There was a banging somewhere. For a moment, he saw a giant gate.

And it slowly opened.

Power permeated from him and the pain seemed to vanish.

The treant rose a bushy brow.

“Aura?” In response, it ate a blue fruit plucked from its tree branches.

Kagami saw a soft glow envelope the treant, moving like a candlelight. When looking at his hands, he noticed that he too was enveloped by the same glow that monster was.

He felt so light.

The treant rushed towards him, and Kagami felt good. A smile cracked across his face as he caught the blow with his left hand. The treant’s arm was shaking as it tried to pull away from his grip. Kagami ripped part of the arm, leaving a hole. The rest was crushed, turning into woodchips.

The treant pulled his arm back, looking at the damage Kagami caused. It took once glance at him, and its gaze grew serious.

Many vines erupted from its branches, all of them had needles and poison. They wildly attacked him. Nothing could hit him. He felt free. His body moved as he wished. As he drew closer to the treant, its desperation grew.

Kagami reached its midsection and hit it with a blow.

A mirror had broken.

#

The treant made a hideous gurgle. Green blood erupted from its mouth and where the prince had hit, left an imprint of his fist. The tree it fell on, snapped like toothpicks. Its crimson eyes dimmed.

The prince fell forward and took another step to stop himself from falling. He rose his head high in the air, and yelled in vindication. Tears streamed down his face as he held up his fist in triumph.

And then, he fell into the ground. Blood from his wound formed a small puddle where he had been stabbed by him.

Summers snatched the dagger he had dropped. His back ached from the blow the treant had given him, but he stood up and made limped towards the sleeping prince.

He had stabbed him in the leg, hoping to cut an artery, but he had missed. At that time, he had thought if he was going to die anyways, he may as well snatch the bounty on the prince’s head.

Thinking clearly, it was the right move. The man that hired him had promised his family money. He knew he didn’t have what it took to survive this death match. The man had of course defeated him and the other two with him with ease.

All he had to do was kill this man, and he would be set free.

Fuck him.

He hovered over the prince, his grip on the dagger tight. His shadow stretched like a blanket that covered the prince. He plunged the dagger but stopped right at the chest when he heard a sound.

The prince was snoring. His face was unlike the rumors he heard surrounding the prince. He was sleeping peacefully. An image of his son and the prince overlapped and it made him reconsider what he was doing.

Just as he readied himself once more, he felt a tremor. Knowing the source, he froze in fear and closed his eyes away from the reality.

“That is my prey.” The treant murmured under his breath. “Move aside, and I shall let you live today.”

The dagger in his hand dropped, and the hilt hit the prince in the face. The prince grumbled and stirred awake. He looked up at the treant and swore under his breath.

“I guess that wasn’t enough,” the prince rubbed where the handle had hit his head and then noticed him. “Stand back.”

Despite how much Aura he expended, he was able to stand defiant. His body was shaking, and Summers could clearly see that he was in no shape to continue fighting. Resting was the only way to recover.

The treant knew this too, its mouth ripped into a jagged smile. Its finger stroked the fist imprint on its trunk.

“This will stay forever. I no longer want a peaceful face from you. I shall make sure that your face is etched in the most horrible pain when I rip it off.” Multiple vines rose from behind the treant. Its needles dripped.

“I won’t die so easily.” The prince rose his shaking fist.

In the corner of Summers eyes, he saw hope. The treant must have noticed his gaze. A red spear erupted from his chest, and the treant groaned in pain. The spear rose, splitting the treant in two.

The green blood gathered in the red spear the man held, turning it slightly green. He had long crimson hair that hung down his shoulder and his blue eyes regarded the two of them closely.

“Luke?” The prince stepped forward. “Why are you here?”

The Red Spear ignored him, turning his attention towards Summers.

“What happened to the other two?”

“Dead.” His throat felt tight.

He nodded at that. “You will get their share.” Then, he turned his attention back at the prince, saying his name with venomous intent. “Cedar.”

Then, he stabbed the prince.

#

Kagami dodged the stab, letting it pass between his arm and ribs and caught it between the two. There was a struggle for him to hold it there.

“Do we really have to do this?” Kagami asked Luke.

“Killing you will free me from this. I still need to live. I have somewhere I still need to be.”

Pain stabbed Kagami’s side and his grip on the spear released. The spear had small spikes that retracted. Luke pressed forward with the initiative, stabbing at Kagami. He dodged each of them, hearing a pop where it had stabbed the air.

Luke brought his spear down. Kagami had thought he had dodged it, but the spear extended, biting his left shoulder. Kagami reached to grab it, only for the spear to retract. Blood from his wound floated towards Luke. Kagami had never seen that before, but his eyes adjusted and he could see the same candlelight surrounding Luke that had surrounded the treant.

He was far more dangerous than their usual spars.

The spearman seemed to notice. “You can see it too can’t you? Aura. Killing you now is the best. If I let you go, you’ll only get stronger.”

His chuckle hurt his wounds.

“It’s not like I can die.”

“I’ve thought hard about that Cedar, and I know I can kill you.” Blood gathered at the tip of his spear forming into a red and green circle. He released it and a bar of blood pierced Kagami through his stomach.

Kagami gasped. He touched his new hole. When he looked up, Luke was already forming another round. Kagami tried to move, but his legs were anchored to the ground, as heavy as lead.

Another red and green bar passed through him, this time ripping through his thigh. Kagami crumbled onto the ground. Everything felt so heavy. He wasn’t light as he was when he fought the tree monster.

Luke stood over him, planting the butt of his spear into the ground. He looked down at Kagami as a morbid child would to a dying insect.

“You’ll revive. No doubt about it,” Luke said. “But I’ll kill you over and over again. Everything has a limit. Even your deaths do.”

He didn’t want that. He didn’t. He grabbed his ankle, only for him to slap his hand aside with his spear. His eyes were full of hatred and sorrow. Kagami saw a reflection of Yoru within him. They both hated him, not for what he did, but for what he was.

The Prince that killed someone they loved.

“It’s not my fault.” Kagami tried to stand up. “I didn’t kill the ones you loved.”

To that, he was met with a boot. His chin was shot up, and he fell on his back. Luke pressed his boot against his chest, and pointed his spear at Kagami. The circle of blood cycled in front of him. His head would explode once he released it.

He…Asa.

The beam slammed against his head.

Dirt exploded.

And Kagami still hadn’t died.

The beam had bounced off of him, but he was sure it wasn’t him that did this. Luke opened his mouth, and then clamped it shut as his eyes grew serious.

“Who’s there?!” He yelled. “Come out!”

“Coming out would be foolish.” A man’s voice echoed from somewhere.

Luke looked around for the source.

Then something slammed against him and the ground exploded. He was flying in the air and then caught by a blue haired man in an oni mask that covered only his mouth. A black horn spouted from his forehead and he saw that they were on a branch.

Kagami looked down at Luke, blood orbiting him, as he seethed in anger.

“Give him back!”

A he flung another blood bar at them and it hit an invisible barrier that surrounded them. The man gave a laugh.

“Fat chance.” Kagami saw it. A flash came out of his mouth and the area bloomed in a bright light.

The man carried him over his shoulder and hopped between trees by landing on branches. After several minutes, they arrived at his hideout and dropped Kagami gently.

He took off his mask waved his hand like a fan to cool himself off.

“Thank you,” Kagami said to him.

The blue haired man turned to him, surprise on his face. And then he laughed.

“Cedar Oswell, thanking a mercenary like me? I honestly didn’t think anything could have surprised me, but it did, but you can rest, there won’t be any harm on you.”

“Who are you?” He had to ask that question.

The mercenary widened his eyes again. “You really don’t remember me, Cedar? We worked together quite a bit. My name is Subaru. I’m a mercenary.”