Suta pov

Blood trailed down Suta's arm. The gash cut him deep, but his eyes were just as alive as when he undertook this challenge. He snorted a copious amount of blood back up his nostrils and spat out a thick phlegm of blood against the ground. Then, prying his two fingers into the gash marked against his arm, he ripped out the 2cm black spike and tossed it aside. Verdi was swift in its flight towards the wounded arm.

In seconds, the tiny fairy held out its dainty hands over the gushing blood. Verdi's lowered its large eyes, and a soft-spoken chant began flowing from its lips. A white light appeared over Verdi's two outstretched palms. And tiny green particles began filtering into Suta's wound. He winced in pain but soon felt a slightly soothing sensation. He blinked a few times more, and the hole in his arm had already started melding itself together again. The once luminous light surrounding Verdi was gradually dimming. Concerned about the fairy's well-being, Suta moved his arm and lightly prodded it against its head.

"That's enough." He smiled weakly.

Verdi looked almost pale but managed to nod a few times. It needed to catch its breath and rejuvenate a little of its brightness.

'Brightness.'

Suta had only recently learned of it. The strange light illuminated around Verdi. According to his appraisal skill, brightness was considered positive energy. An enrichment of potent natural energy, its power relied heavily on Verdi's circadian rhythm. Suta exhaled a deep breath before he grappled the two daggers out into position. He carried Red Tooth in a reverse grip while holding Moon Drop by its traditional handling. Its sharp point was aimed towards the enemy.

The little hunched troll clicked its wide maw in frustration. But it continued to slow approach. Suta had worked out roughly the timing of its attacks. Its reach and the level of its club swing he could parry or have to dodge.

The only problem was the second creature. Purposely keeping a distance, surveying his movements and almost disrupting his rhythm from afar with dead-eyed precision. Those spikes, Suta thought darkly, not daring to stop his movements while he continued creating distance between himself and the hunched-back creature with the bone mace. What made the short horror troublesome was its arm's length. Suta almost fatally discovered that the creature held no real restrictions in its limbs. Its arm could extend, curve around, bend awkwardly, and generate enough power to shatter bones and stone.

He blinked once, and two black spikes whistled with the wind's song. Suta barely dodged. He lowered himself into a half squat before pushing off to one side. The short creature's arm extended and smashed the ground where he stood moments ago. Suta exhaled and charged towards it.

{Double Slash}

His body felt light as he hopped into the air and twirled. His hips moved like a ribbon as he brought two arch slashes down against the outstretched arm joint. Iron whistled through the air again, and the trajectory of his first slash met the clanging interception of a spike. The second slash just about nicked the retreating forearm. And spilt blood gushing into the air. Suta was midair, just above, poised to land when he felt a heavy force burying itself into his instinctively formed crossguard.

In the beast's rage, it had thrown its usually prone arm forward in a desperate attempt to knock Suta's attack trajectory off course. That heavy attack sent Suta's body flying a short distance away before he landed rather heavily against his side. He flipped his dagger up to avoid friendly fire before swiftly flipping onto his heels and resuming his crouching stance. His heartbeat skipped. He sensed impending danger and dashed to one side abruptly. Four Spikes dotted the ground.

*Du-du-du-du*

During his retreat his ankle twisted awkwardly, a twinge of fiery pain shot through his nerves. Suta wilted for just a moment, but that split of a second lapse in his movement spelt trouble. Spikes split the air like butter, caught him against his lowered hand, and sliced his thigh. He buckled before crashing face-first to the ground. He was briefly locked in a daze, staring at the foggy lens of his rattled brain. It took him a few seconds to snap out of it. He gasped aloud before rolling a few feet away desperately.

Thankfully, there was no follow-up to the attacks. The hunched grey-skinned humanoid was making gentle whimpers while inspecting the bleeding slash against its arm. Suta was ragged, drenched in sweat and sweltering wounds. He was tired in body, but not of his mind. He was more annoyed at himself, chastening his lack of strength. His body had grown, he felt it, perhaps beyond the capabilities of an average human. Otherwise, compared to these creatures within this strange world, He was still dancing on death's door whenever he fought them.

He had grown accosted into understanding something entirely consistent with these creatures.

'The stronger they were, the more intelligence they carried.'

"Grr, I can't keep on the defensive. I must attack. I need to attack." His mind never stopped thinking. Suta observed the nightmarish-looking zebra covered in faces and black spikes. The blood pumped furiously through his tired limbs. His thoughts began piecing solutions together. One of the most cherished improvements he had made, which he took the most pride in, was his mind.

Unlike in his old world, where his over-focused mind was treated like a disease. Within this world, it was almost like a hidden skill.

Urging his thoughts to quicken through his cerebral like lightning. Suta's eyes flashed wide, and his mouth formed an O shape. At this moment, his focus was as poised as a great eagle's. He forsook the state of his body. The well-being of Verdi, his fractured memories. He forsook it all and focused.

'More…focus…more.'

His mouth slightly opened, and drool began to fall out of the side of it. Hundreds of countless possibilities flashed through his thoughts like cue cards per second. After a short while, a wry smile curved the top of his lip up, and there was a strange grin set against his boyish face.

'I…I found one.'

Suta stilled his fast-pacing heart and dashed towards the centre ring where the hunched creature awaited. His dagger twirled against his finger. He could feel an extra bounce beneath his heels. Sweat couldn't remain settled in one place and slid off his smooth brown skin. His pink dreadlocks untangled wildly against the soft air. Suta birthed a broad smile, almost laughter, and a sense of euphoric wanderlust filled his entire body. He was running on an adrenaline boost and couldn't have imagined awakening then.

Prior to this, he hadn't felt comfortable holding two daggers; it was awkward, like having to put his left and right hands together. But now, his arms felt fluid, and his mind, devoid of any distractions, could feel things—almost everything.

The hunched creature speared towards him, swinging its grotesquely shaped bone club before setting its bludgeoned helm upon him. Suta never blinked or wilted, but his eyes shifted towards the side. Just as he had thought, the second creature's attack was sent towards him, right on the beat. Suta had gotten the hang of knife throwing after practising it countless times on spiders. He sized the trajectory and exhaled a murky breath before tossing red tooth in a smooth, quick motion.

He twisted his helm slightly, narrowly evading the spike and the falling hammer strike. The ground broke like soft tissue, kicking up a large gust of dirt mixed with tiny stones. Suta switched moon drop to his favoured right hand.

{Double Slash}

The second arch tore through flesh. He dodged unconsciously. Two spikes grazed him.

{Double Slash} again

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The first arc tore through flesh. More spikes whistled, but they all missed.

{Double slash}

{Double Slash}

Ribbons of blood danced across the air. The hunched creature cried out pitifully as it rocked backwards. Suta exhaled. He felt pain wrecking throughout his entire body, but he darted low and hunted with the spryness of an elite athlete. His body charged straight towards the grey-skinned creature. Suta grit his teeth down to bear the surmounted pain against his bones. He swiped down and tore straight through its neck. He swiped again and again and again. Moon drop flashed forward and punctured the beast straight through its head. It rocked backwards and parted its arms.

The hunched-back creature had died.

Suta heard a rousing neighing, clomps from heavy hoofs clattered the ground. For the first time, the second creature appeared out into the open. Its hideous form was brutal to look at. It carried countless faces over its striped body, tiny pink writhing masks of horror. Countless spikes slowly slipped onto their tongues. As for the main larger face, in particular, the one with a long tongue wrapped over the iron knife

Its crazed eyes coiled everywhere it could.

Suta steadied his breathing. Wisps of tiny, thin mana streams moved slowly through his body to help reinforce his unsteady frame. That creature was just like a porcupine. It could send spikes from anywhere across its body without a second thought. But the largemouth was the primary concern.

'That would be the barrel of the smoking gun.'

Suta had already figured that the duo fought the way they did for a reason.

'This creature fights at a distance to hide its weaknesses of close combat. And that hunched-back ugly was the in-fighter. In theory, they're the perfect pair.' He did find it strange that two predators had teamed up. That went against what he thought he understood about this jungle.

'Maybe they encountered a predator troubling enough to illicit that strategy. ' Whatever it was, Suta was at least glad he had one creature to deal with. From a few looks, he sensed that the zebra-looking creature did not want to engage.

Normally, Suta might've retreated and called for a truce. But his eyes had already locked onto red tooth, which he had tossed earlier, buried into its lower neck. He strolled towards the corpse and scrunched a good amount of its worn tunic in his hands. He lifted the large creature, parted his two legs, and measured the distance. He adopted the same motion as a shot put thrower. His heels twisted, and his body turned. Gathering as much momentum as he could, he used the gathered momentum and tossed the hunched creature's body directly at the zebra-looking beast. Spikes spat out furiously. The two bodies collided as the creature made an irritable cry for help. It tried to trot away, but Suta had already moved.

Swooping around it like a cheetah, his eyeballs widened whilst he handled Moondrop in a reverse grip. He charged ahead and met the incoming tongue carrying a single black blade.

Iron met iron but moondrop was always wining, the black blade chipped, Suta held his footing, and dodged its attack, he was a few seconds slow and got nicked against his abdomen. His baggy shirt took most of the force away, but he saw a line of red against his stomach. He reacted and swung moon-drop again furiously

{Double Slash}

His bones almost screamed at him after passing the threshold of using that skill. But he found its mark and sliced the elongated neck. He severed the long tongue in the process. And heard a slimy sound as its flesh hit the ground. The creature shrieked maddeningly, and countless spikes quickly spat out from the tiny heads. Suta couldn't have hoped to avoid them all, but he was set to sacrifice flesh to put it down once and for all. Now that its tongue was missing, Suta hopped towards it and slammed the moondrop directly against the main face. Then he spun around it. Spikes hit him directly but he didn't stop, he moved his right hand over its neck and felt a red tooth.

He grabbed hold of it by its hilt, pulled it free and stabbed wildly. He severed and punctured its muscular flesh over and over again. The creature lashed out and slammed its body to one side. Sending him flying across the ground. Suta bounced and rolled harshly. His entire body was in a poor state, the worst it had ever been if he ignored when the thorny princess had almost succeeded in killing him.

Suta pried his battered body upright and unsteadily rushed to his feet; he stumbled to one side. But his hazy eyes refused to give up. He rolled to one side out of instinct and screamed out of defiance, quickly flashing his dagger to his front, unaware that by the time his eyes locked onto the creature again, it had already keeled over and died.

A silent but painful calm swam through his veins. His dagger immediately slid down his palms. He finally exhaled, and all the stored tension ran away from his bones. His body suddenly turned into heavy iron. His knees bent, bringing him crashing down against the ground.

A great wash of exhaustion fell upon him as he felt his body anchored into a void-less state of rest. Suta stared at the bright red skies, the distant eyeball forever watching over them all.

Something spurred him into stretching out his hand towards the eye—some kind of childish response to being able to cover it with his entire hand from this far. Of course, he knew the eye wasn't truly covered, but from his view, it did seem that way.

"Heh…I did it.' His inner voice felt glad. Glad enough to allow his heavy eyelids to fall softly. 'Just a little rest. I'll nap for a short while.'

Just before darkness encroached on his gaze, Suta heard the gentle fluttering sounds of light-weighted wings. Moving so quickly, they almost stirred the buzzing noises pestering his ears. Within the partial darkness, his eyes parted slowly. The hazy image of a tiny green-haired figure graced the fuzzy scene. Suta smiled unconsciously while he allowed Verdi to douse the last wisps of its brightness over him. He couldn't protest; feeling so weak, he just wanted to sleep. Suta found himself swimming in the sea of his dreams in the thick comfort of darkness. Two voices danced in a tangent of noise. Soon, he managed to separate their voices. And a conversation spilled forth. A man and a woman

"Shoba?"

"Shh, don't wake him, dear. He's worked so tirelessly so far. He deserves a rest."

"Hahaha, he does, he does. You see my boy out there? Fearless! He gets that from me ya know"

"Oh shush you. If memory serves me well, I recall a certain grandfather enrolling him into martial arts lessons at an early age no?"

"We-we-well…"

"Fufufu, you see. It was all my doing. Besides, he gets his recklessness from my side of the family. You always love to remind me about that."

"Buahaha, you know it's true. He may have my handsome looks, but he carries your temperament. That reminds me, my love. Shall we think about you know…"

"Oh heavens, we said we'd discuss that later. I told you I wanted a career before having more children."

"Yes, yes, I Understand. The Nagato family business has been left in your lap. I expected nothing less from the password child."

"Hey don't be mean about it, I just meant that we should take our time and not rush into things. You understand the mountains we've climbed to get my father's approval. Let me work under him like we agreed for a while…then…then we can try for a second child."

"Ara! Our beautiful family will only get bigger. Little Shoba, I can't wait for you to have siblings to play with finally."

"I know you've already got names picked out, right?"

"Ahaha, of course, if it's a girl…Ringo."

"Our beautiful Apple? I like it, and if it's another boy?"

"Hmmm, how about…Suta?"