Tanuki felt every heartbeat in her chest, each pulse pounding against the cold truth that the odds were against her. The Poacher’s blade gleamed as he watched her approach, his expression calm, amused, his face devoid of the panic she had come to expect from her enemies.
Her balance was off without her arm, each movement throwing her further off-kilter, but she gritted her teeth and pushed harder. Her Aura spike, crude and jagged, jutted out like a makeshift spear from her shoulder, every inch of it a painful reminder of what she’d lost—and what she had to gain. She wasn’t just fighting for survival anymore. She was fighting to prove something, to reclaim her pride, even as her body weakened.
The Poacher dodged her spike with ease, his footwork precise, his blade flickering toward her in a lethal arc. Tanuki barely managed to dodge, but as she twisted, her blood splattered across the ground, her strength fading with each heartbeat.
“Getting slower, Ghoul,” he sneered, taking a step forward, unhurried. His eyes locked onto hers, taunting. “But keep fighting.”
Her response was silent, her narrowed gaze locked onto him, her breath heavy and uneven. She wouldn’t let him win—not like this. Gritting her teeth, Tanuki lunged forward again, a last burst of speed propelling her forward with every ounce of strength she had left. She swung her spike, aiming for his throat. Her body screamed in protest, her vision blurred, but she pushed through, ignoring the pain, the fatigue.
The Poacher sidestepped at the last second, his blade flashing as it nicked her side, slicing through her flesh like paper. Tanuki staggered, her legs barely holding her up, her Aura flickering as exhaustion set in. She dropped to one knee, panting, sweat mingling with blood on her face.
The Poacher laughed softly, his voice cold. “End of the line, Miss Osaka,” he said, raising his blade for the final strike.
Caught in the web, a twinge of desperation crept into her gaze. Her torso felt paralyzed. No matter what she did, it wouldn’t move.
Tanuki barely deflected the Poacher’s blade with her Aura spike, her arm trembling under the force. Her breath came in ragged gasps, and blood dripped down her side, but she managed to create a few steps’ worth of distance between them.
The Poacher moved slowly, his face darkened by shadows, that icy gaze locked onto her with deadly precision. She felt a thrill of dread course through her veins, but she shoved it aside, focusing instead on the deep-seated rage simmering within her.
Energy swirled around, flaring like dancing flames. This energy wasn't Aura. Her eyes glowed brighter. The glow was radiating from somewhere deep inside her soul.
“Soul Resonance”
“Scarlet Tempest”
These words escaped her lips. And as soon as they did, the air around her completely changed. For sometime the chaos in the hall stopped, as everyone turned to look at her, the center of this pressure they were feeling.
And then she began to move.
Her entire body shuddered as if awakened, the scar on her thigh igniting with a vivid, crimson glow. Blood seeped from it, trickling down her leg, but instead of weakening her, it filled her with an almost explosive surge of energy.
A new fire burned in her eyes as her speed intensified, her movements blurring in a whirlwind of red. The ground beneath her feet trembled, each step creating a shockwave that destabilized the Poacher’s footing.
With a snarl, Tanuki launched forward, her form splitting into afterimages that danced around him, moving so fast they were almost indistinguishable from the real her.
She slashed at him, each strike quick as lightning, but he was relentless, parrying with an eerie calm, his movements efficient and measured. Despite his skill, her relentless movement created a distortion, each shockwave making his swings just a little off, his strikes less precise.
“A lowly Ghoul like you… attaining this power?” The Poacher’s face twisted in disbelief, but his voice remained cold, steady.
Even if he was striking her, the paralysis wasn’t working.
It simply couldn’t keep up. With every step she took, the power within her surged, her blood flowing like molten fire through her veins, clearing the numbness just as it set in.
Tanuki’s pulse thundered as she darted forward, an unyielding blur of crimson and shadow. Her movements defied expectation, every slash of her Aura spike loaded with an energy that threatened to tear the air itself apart. She didn’t need precision anymore; her blood-fueled momentum shattered the distance between her and the Poacher, and her strikes were raw, instinctual. She was all fury, all momentum — an unstoppable force charging through his measured defenses.
The Poacher met her charge head-on, his blade clashing against her Aura blade with sparks of black and red. His gaze remained focused, but there was a tightness to his jaw, a tremor in his arm that hadn’t been there before.
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“Is this truly all you’ve got, Ghoul?” he taunted, voice cold but taut. “I thought your kind was supposed to be terrifying. Savage.”
She met his words with a bitter, humorless laugh, a laugh so raw it was almost a snarl. "That all you’ve got to say, Poacher? Just stall tactics from a coward pretending to be strong."
With a flicker of irritation, he thrust forward, intending to drive her back. But she was faster, twisting out of the way with a grace that left him off-balance for a fraction of a second — just enough time for her to close in with another flurry of strikes.
Her Aura spike whistled through the air, each blow forcing him further into the defensive. The combination of the blade and the spike turned out to be a deadly one. The scar on her thigh throbbed, fueling her with each beat, each drop of blood adding to the fire burning within her.
The Poacher gritted his teeth, each parry becoming slower, each step back less assured. He was powerful, that much was clear; his stance was impeccable, his reflexes sharp, his swordsmanship without flaw. But Tanuki wasn’t relying on finesse. She was the storm, relentless and erratic, pressing him harder and harder until his foot slid back — and his heel met a crack in the floor from her shockwave. He stumbled, a fleeting moment of imbalance that didn’t go unnoticed.
Tanuki pounced, her Aura spike slashing toward his torso, but he twisted at the last second, deflecting the attack. She felt the cold steel slice into her side, but the pain only drove her forward. Her blood surged, an intoxicating rush as her movements intensified. She saw the strain beginning to show in his eyes, and a vicious smile curled her lips.
“What’s wrong?” she taunted, voice like gravel. “You’re the mighty Poacher, aren’t you? You’re supposed to be hunting me.”
“You think this little tantrum of yours scares me?” he sneered, deflecting another of her strikes with a calculated, narrow miss. “All you’re doing is tiring yourself out. Ghouls like you always burn bright but short.”
Tanuki let out a laugh, short and harsh, throwing her head back just enough to keep him on edge. "Burn bright, huh?”
She pressed forward, her Aura spike blurring as she struck from every angle, each blow forcing him further back. He could no longer hold his ground; every parry came a second too late, every counter deflected with an unrelenting precision that left him on the edge of panic. She watched as the controlled set of his mouth faltered, a flicker of irritation slipping through.
"You think you’re strong because you’ve survived this long,” he hissed, shifting his grip. His blade came down in a calculated arc, aimed at her neck — a strike intended to end it all. But Tanuki anticipated it, twisting to the side just in time, letting the blade slide past her as she delivered a brutal kick to his side. She was confident now, and confidence brought power with it.
The Poacher stumbled, the breath knocked from his lungs, and for a brief moment, his face betrayed an emotion Tanuki hated: happiness.
He snarled, his composure wasn’t cracking even a bit. This man, this monster who had hunted her kind with ease, was feeling happy being cornered? It was crushing her spirit.
"Come on, then,” she said, voice low and dangerous. “Let’s see if you can still act so high and mighty when you’re the one running.”
“You’re a fool,” he spat, his sword lifting defensively, but she saw the shift in his stance — an unguarded, inviting posture. He was thrilled.
She grinned, feeling the adrenaline surge even higher.
Her steps became even faster, a blur that left afterimages in her wake. She circled him like a predator, her every movement a challenge, her Aura spike gleaming as it sliced through the air with a hum that echoed in the stillness of the hall. She was forcing him into a corner, step by step, her strikes now coming from unpredictable angles, each one demanding his full attention.
The Poacher’s blade seemed less sure now, his calculated counters showing cracks. He grunted as one of her attacks slipped past his guard, leaving a thin line of blood across his cheek.
The Poacher’s eyes blazed with a desperate fury. "You think you can win by brute force alone? Fine," he said, his voice laced with venom. “You want to see what true power looks like? You asked for it.”
In one swift motion, he raised his blade, the metal dissolving in his hands as it morphed into a dense, shadowy mist that spread across the hall like spilled ink.
“Soul Resonance”
These words escaped from his lips.
His pressure, it was way worse then what Tanuki had previously released.
The mist engulfed everything, its touch cold and suffocating as it spread to every corner of the room, swallowing up the light and plunging them into a world of shadows.
Tanuki felt it immediately — a deep chill that numbed her fingers, sapping the strength from her muscles as though every step weighed her down with unseen chains. Her senses dimmed, her limbs heavy as if the shadows themselves were clinging to her, dragging her down.
The Poacher’s voice came through the darkness, a low murmur that slithered into her mind. "Paralytic Abyss of Shadows," he intoned, his voice echoing from every direction, making it impossible to tell where he was. "The more you struggle, the tighter it grips. Every step you take, every movement… you’re only sinking further."
Tanuki gritted her teeth, forcing her body to move despite the encroaching numbness, despite the shadows creeping up her arms, her legs, sapping the strength she had only moments ago. She could feel her muscles locking up, her pulse slowing. But she wasn’t going to let him win. Not now.
"I told you," she managed, voice tight with defiance, "I’m not like the others you’ve hunted.”
"You’re all the same,” his voice echoed back, cold and detached, as if she were nothing more than a trapped animal to him. “Vain, thinking you can rise above your kind. But in the end, you’re still just prey.”
His words grated on her, sparking the fire she’d built up in her bones. She forced herself forward, each step a battle, each movement tearing through the paralysis inch by inch. Her blood still flowed, still surged, her Aura spike burning like a torch in the darkness, keeping her grounded as she pushed forward.
The mist thickened, swirling around her, encasing her like a prison, and then she felt it — the sharpness of a thousand ghostly blades materializing within the fog, circling her like a pack of wolves.
She heard him laugh, the sound cold and devoid of mercy. "Time to end this," he sneered, his voice closer now, looming.