Quietly Jack looked at the hospital. It was the same he had been born in, a large ugly slab of concrete rising to the sky. Every other time Jack would have stopped to make fun of this world and their preference for ugly buildings, at least for public ones, but today was different. Nervously Jack grabbed the knife in his pocket. Chances were good that he would have to use it today.
To get into the hospital was the easiest part. Jack simply walked inside as if he was visiting someone. The bigger problem was to actually find the man. Sadly Jack couldn’t use his Qi senses, as the area was still a void zone and he would risk losing his cultivation again, just like he did after he was born. Instead he had to use more mundane means. He waited for an unsupervised moment, then he borrowed a computer for a moment. A short inquiry later and he found out what he needed. The man he hurt, a Larry Sanders, 27 years old, was currently placed in room 5.372. His operation had just ended and the man was luckily out of mortal danger. Jack let out a sigh of relieve when he read this.
A moment later he frowned as he read more. The man had lost his arm during the attack. That was bad, his potions, weak as they were wouldn’t be able to heal something like that. With a sigh Jack shook his head. He had no way to increase the strength of the potions either, the plants he had used were already the strongest he had, even though they were weak by the standards of his old world. And special techniques to increase the potency of the potions by using his Qi were something he wouldn’t be able to use, not with his low cultivation. Even if he could, stronger potions would have bigger side effects, especially to mortals. Either way, he had to give up on being able to heal the man completely and had to accept his limits. He would simply heal him as good as possible.
Still, Jack couldn’t just walk towards the man, with the doctors and nurses around he wouldn’t get even inside the room, not to mention get him to drink the potion. He would have to wait until they all left. Quickly Jack found a small, rarely used storage room on the third floor and hid inside.
After several hours and a close encounter with a nurse, barging unannounced into the room, it finally started to get quieter outside. Jack waited for another couple of minutes before he walked towards the door and looked carefully outside. The long hallway was empty and through the large windows fell moonlight. It was later than Jack had thought and for a moment he was worried that his parents might have already returned only to find him missing. Especially after what happened earlier they would be worried sick.
‘Even more reason to get this over quickly. Let’s see… 5.372, that means it is two floors over me’
Jack walked down the hallway until he reached a small stairway. Just a few minutes later he stood on the plastic floor of the 5th floor. The hallway was as empty as those of the 3rd floor had been. With quiet steps Jack walked along the row of doors until he came to the one he had searched for. Jack reached out and turned the handle.
Suddenly a shudder run over Jack’s back. Instinctively he jumped backwards. Not a moment too soon as with a metallic shriek the door split right where he had stood earlier. A fancy looking broadsword, covered in small runes, had pierced through it from the inside.
With a curse Jack pulled out his knife. Its dark tendrils seemed to pulse as if in anticipation of a fight. With a grinding sound the sword vanished back inside as the door opened slowly. A small smile that didn’t reach her eyes was on Rin’s face as she stepped out of the room, showing the empty chamber behind her. Larry wasn’t here. The pale moonlight from the windows illuminated her body, yet her face was barely visible, only her eyes were burning with righteous fury.
“I knew you would come to end what you have started, demon. But this will be the end of you. Didn’t you think it was strange that no one was here, not even a night watch? Or did you not care? Either way, today you will die”
Threatening she lifted her sword and the runes covering it flared to life as Qi started to course through them before being send to Rin herself. Jack could only shake his head at her theatrics. Clearly she couldn’t be reasoned with. He grabbed his knife tighter.
It was Rin who moved first. With a shout she jumped forward, her sword carving a glowing path in the twilight of the hallway.
Quickly Jack lifted his knife, his own weapon a dark flash, and parried the strike. Sparks flew as the two weapons clashed, lighting up the dark hallway around them. Jack cursed as his hand became numb. Rin with the Qi of her sword cursing through her body was a bit stronger than himself.
‘Well, it’s not as if I can’t change that’
Qi began to course through Jack’s body. The numbness in his hand vanished and he felt himself getting stronger. What surprised him however was the look on Rin’s face as she noticed the change. It was filled with disgust and rage.
“Demon”
A single word came over her lips, but it was spoken with such contempt that even Jack was taken aback. Suddenly he understood that it was probably the Qi inside of him that made Rin so hostile against him. But before he could say anything Rin moved again.
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Again the sword flashed through the air towards Jack’s neck, but with the Qi inside Jack’s body, hastening his senses, it looked as if the sword was moving much slower than before. Effortlessly he leaned backwards, evading the slash.
Enraged Rin gritted her teeth and swung her sword again, trying to move faster. The runes on the sword started to glow brighter as Rin slashed at Jack again and again, forming a bright pattern of glowing paths into the air. Jack continued to evade, but a look of worry crept into his eyes.
With each moment Rin was getting faster. Looking closer Jack noticed the glow of the runes slowly spreading to her hands. His eyes widened as he recognized the signs. Rin was getting corrupted by the sword’s Qi.
Being distracted Jack almost didn’t notice another slash aimed at him. In the last moment he reacted, barely managing to parry it. He winced as the sword opened a small scratch on his arm. In the moonlight the small trickle of blood looked almost as if it was black.
Rin’s face twisted into a satisfied grin before she continued her assault, becoming faster and faster. Jack couldn’t evade everything any longer. Sparks began to fill the air as he started to parry the attacks. He couldn’t even start to attack on his own.
Quickly Jack noticed his knife showing signs of strain. Small cracks and cuts began forming. Even with the rune, it was only enchanted with the Qi of a Qi gathering cultivator, much weaker than whatever had been used to make the sword. Hurriedly Jack sent more Qi into the rune, strengthening it enough to hold off the worst damages.
As the fight continued Rin’s movements became more and more aggressive. Jack could see anxiety inside her eyes. Obviously he wasn’t the only one who noticed the starting corruption and she wanted to end the fight as soon as possible. Jack felt himself getting pressured, but simultaneously it loosened her defence. Jack crouched under a fast, horizontal slash and made a step forward, closer to Rin.
He could see her eyes widen. Now he was too close for her to hit him with her sword. His knife however didn’t share the same problem.
The knife flashed with a dark light as it drew a line of blood over Rin’s sword arm. With a pained yelp she jerked back, but Jack didn’t stop. A new wave of Qi was channelled through his body, strengthening himself to the limit his body could endure. Resolute to end this fight he focussed all his strength and his arm pierced through the air. With a sickening crunch his fist crashed into Rin’s face.
Stunned Rin stumbled backwards, holding her bleeding nose with a hand. Jack hesitated for a moment, then he shook his head slightly. Despite the hostility she showed he didn’t want to kill her or even hurt her if he didn’t have to.
“Stop this madness, Rin! The sword has already started to corrupt you! If you continue you will lose yourself to it”
Rin’s eyes widened at his words, a look of surprise filling them. But the next moment it was replaced with rage.
“How dare you!”
With a roar Rin slashed forward, completely unperturbed by the wound he had made on her arm, her sword glistening with light. Startled Jack only barely managed to parry the attack. He hadn’t expected her to react like this.
‘Okay, then it’s the hard way’
A new wave of Qi burst forth from Jack’s Dantian. Guided by Jack it flew to the knife, but this time it wasn’t absorbed by the rune. Instead it started to form a sharp edge on the knife’s blade. It was hazy, as if formed from thin shadows and when Jack lifted the knife against Rin’s sword it left behind a path of dark mist.
Again sparks flew as the two weapons clashed, but this time something had changed. A small cut had appeared on Rin’s blade. In exchange, the edge on the knife had vanished again, all its energy spent to create it, but after a moment it reappeared again as Jack created it anew. Rin noticed something was amiss. Looking downwards at her sword she saw the small cut and stilled.
For a moment Jack hoped that she would stop now, worried about her weapon, but that hope shattered as Rin’s face twisted into an incarnation of hatred. With an animalistic growl Rin threw herself at Jack. Faster than he could react her hand reached out, carving a path of burning pain over Jack’s face.
Jack jumped back, distancing himself from her. He had to blink as something dripped into his eye. Lifting his hand he whipped it away, staining his hand in a dark red. He looked at Rin. Her hands had changed, her fingernails replaced by short claws. Small strands of coarse fur covered her hands.
A frown appeared on Jack’s face. He didn’t know how much time she still had, but the Qi corruption had started to affect her now. As long as her mind remained she would be able to turn back, but he had to hurry to end this fight or it would be dangerous. For both of them.
---
Rin knew her time was running out. She was using too much of the swords powers and it had started to change her. She knew that if she didn’t stop she would turn into a demon herself. She knew… and yet she didn’t stop, couldn’t stop, not if she was already so close to killing the demon in front of her.
He bled, was hurt. His blood was on her claws and soon it would cover the ground- Rin paused. Since when did she have claws?
A quick look down confirmed her worries. She had changed even farther than before. She- She had to stop this, cutting off the connection to her sword and… But wouldn’t that be exactly what the demon had told her? This disgusting being had warned her, mocking her with the fact that all her power was nothing more than the sword in her hand, a power that would make her fall into the same kind of being it was already.
The warning words of her uncle came to her mind, forbidding her to act out against the demon. It was too much of an unknown, something was strange about it, and so on. And every of her tries to convince him to do something had been ignored. In the end she had to sneak out of the house alone.
Rin’s grasp on her sword tightened. She would get this demons head. To show her uncle that there was nothing to fear about it. She would simply do it before she could change any further. Yes, that was the best way.
Deep inside of her something started to grin manically, its form hazy and made out of pale Qi.
‘Yes, let’s kill’
---
Jack’s view focused on the sword in Rin’s hand. This thing was the source of her power and the corruption that came from it. If only he could get it away from her she would be helpless. But his former efforts, while successful were much too slow. He needed another way to get it away from her.
Once again Jack cursed the lack of Qi in this world. As a cultivator he was more used to fight using magic and techniques, which were now useless as the pain of ejecting the Qi from his body would slow him down too much. Luckily he could use the energy of the Qi directly when he influenced something in contact to his skin like the knife, otherwise he would be in deep troubles. He wasn’t like those sword freaks that were living their whole lives for their weapons and would have thrived in a world like this. Now however he deeply wished that he had trained at least sometimes with the knife instead of stumbling into a fight without a clue of how to use the thing.
A simple plan began to form in his mind and quickly Jack rushed forwards. Letting out a roar Rin jumped forward and slashed at him. With an explosion of sparks Jack parried.
He closed in on Rin, but with an enraged growl she let go of the sword with one hand and clawed at Jack. A slight smile formed on his face.
‘As I thought’
Avoiding the claw Jack made a step to the side. Aiming at Rin’s sword arm he pierced his knife forward. Rin tried to pull her arm back, but she was too slow. The knife pierced into her wrist with a force that would have made it penetrate a normal human’s body effortlessly.
Sadly Rin wasn’t exactly human anymore. The knife managed to pierce a few centimetres into her skin, then it got stuck. With an enraged howl Rin swung her arm against Jack and he was thrown backwards.
Jack flew through the air for several metres before he crashed on the ground, the plastic floor hard as stone. With a quick roll he was back on his feet. Opposite of him Rin pulled out his knife out of her wrist. For a moment she looked down on it, then she snorted and threw it away. Her eyes, having changed their colour to a bright yellow and looking inhumane, focused on Jack and a crooked smile appeared on her face.
‘Ah, fuck’