Prepared with the intent to kill, Dino shot crystal spikes at Megumi! She nearly dodged, as she moved and ducked with a few grazing and scraping across her body painfully.

She winced from the pain and when she looked back up, Dino was already in front of her, ready to strike with his crystal hands.

With his sharp crystal fingers outstretched, he swiped to finish her in one strike.

Cider quickly got in front of her, blocking with his black bladed arms. His arms weakened and just before it gave way…

Megumi attempted to punch Dino again. But this was caught by Dino's free hand. The three were completely interlocked with the odds seemingly against Dino.

"You damn bastards." Dino hissed.

Using all his strength he pushed Cider away followed by Megumi.

Dino pushed forward, as he whipped his leg around, kicking Cider. He quickly raised if left hand, shooting spikes at Megumi once again, asserting pressure onto her as she's forced to flee.

She stumbled and ran out of the way of the spikes he shot out, each one barely grazing and whizzing past her.

Mustering some courage, she stopped to cross her arms and focused a red energy into her arms. The red energy flowed like water into her arms, and she braced herself for impact.

The crystal spikes shot fast like lightning but shattered upon hitting her. While it did hurt a little, that pain she expected was much less than what she anticipated.

"It just as Liang said."

Cider leapt back into action outstretching his arms and attack with what little strength he had left in in him. He slammed it down to the ground covering the area in a cloud of ash.

Dino scoffed. At this point he could hear Annabelle screaming at him. He changed tactics to close combat with his target being Megumi. He dashed out the smoke screen of ash readying his attack.

Unsure what to do, she panicked. "U-uhh. Okay. F-focus o-on-"

Dino was already on her and she quickly crossed her arm again to block whatever attack he was sending. Dino gave an annoyed grunt and grabbed her to her instead.

She gave out a surprised gasp and was tossed straight in to the air with ease. all the while Dino prepared to shoot more of his spikes at her.

Cider not far behind caught Megumi in the air, bringing her back to the ground with a loud thud and creating another cloud of ash around them.

"T-thanks Cider. that was close..."

"Megumi you should go. If you get hurt, you-"

"No." She interrupted. She got back to her feet preparing to fight. "I'm not going to leave you again. This time I want to help you… Besides, didn't you say that anything goes in this game?"

Cider glanced back up at Megumi, seeing her calm down a little. He smirked, understanding and accepting her sentiments.

"Alright. Let's go all out then."

"Wait... I have a favor to ask..."

Cider perked his ears as Megumi told him something.

"Sure. if that's what you want, I don't mind."

"Thank you, Cider."

The smoke dissipated, revealing that Dino had been waiting for them to leave the smokescreen that was created.

They both immediately ran in separate direction from each other. "Alright, which one of us will her go after first." Megumi wondered.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Opening her eyes, she found that Dino chose to chase after her!

He attacked her head on with his crystal hands, but she blocked it just as quickly,

"Hold him there!" Cider blurted.

Hearing Cider, Dino tried to escape but was quickly grabbed by Megumi. "You-!"

Unexpectedly, Dino changed directions, charging straight into Megumi into time avoided Cider's slash.

"L-let me go!" Megumi followed with a clumsy punch that Barely grazed him. Her hand stung from hitting him and he pinned her straight to the ground. But this didn't last long as he dashed away to dodge yet another of Cider's whip arm that nearly struck.

Cider continued a relentless wave of whip attacks with his arm blade eventually cornering Dino. Cider swung his arms true with Dino being slashed upon becoming an inevitability

Just before it connected however, Dino's entire body became crystalized and completely deflected cider's attack!

"W-what!?" Cider yelped.

Dino grabbed his arm, returning to normal and pulled Cider towards him. In an instant punched Cider in the gut.

"Cider!" Megumi rushed in with a punch of her own, but it was easily caught by Dino.

With his hand gripping Megumi's fist, Dino quickly crystallized it and squeezed hard on her fist, crushing it.

"Aarrgghhhhh!!!"

Hearing Megumi's painful cries, Cider swiped his blade arm up towards Dino's face, forcing him to retreat.

She quickly grasped her left hand, trying to recover from the pain. However, Dino charged back into action, not giving them room to breathe.

He clashed with Cider again, his crystal hands against his bladed arms cloaked in black.

He raised his other hand, shooting his crystals at Megumi who dodge this attack. she ran behind him and swung her fist.

In the last second, Dino pushed Cider away and rolled out the way. He glared at them with annoyance and quickly Placed his hands on the ground.

"CRYSTAL WONDERLAND!!"

To Megumi's shock the entire area around them erupted with crystals after crystal, turning essentially the entire arena into the city of crystals.

Megumi, looked back for Dino after the brief distraction on to find that he suddenly disappeared.

"W-where'd he go!?" she questioned.

"Megumi watch out!"

Dino's hands outstretched from the crystal behind Megumi. She turned in time, finding the hand aiming to grab her face.

Dino spoke up. "I didn't want to have to do this…"

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Cider raced with his arm blade ready, but suddenly, he was grabbed by the leg and fell over. Dino's arm in front of Megumi stopped and retreated back to within the crystal, confusing Megumi.

a second later Cider was ruthlessly dragged into the large crystal behind him, trapping him withing the crystal!

Cider got back to his feet, within the crystal and hopelessly watched as it turned black, and his voice muffled as he tried to break out.

"Megumi!" he called before he was completely silenced.

Dino pulled himself out from a crystal in the center of the world of crystals he made. Soon all the crystals around him turned black as though to close off any semblance of escape.

"That's better, Now I can kill without issue"

"What did you do to Cider!?"

"Don't worry about him, I'll be dealing with him when I'm done with you." Dino aimed his palm shooting more spikes. Megumi quickly braced herself behind a large crystal.

C-crap!"

The sounds of the crystal spikes colliding with her cover, stopped. Her senses told her to duck, so she quickly did so in time. A moment later the entire top half of the crystal fell off.

Dino sheathed his blade back behind his hip, a hint of annoyance smeared across his face. He crystalized both his hands once more going on the attack.

He went on the offensive, as he practically swung his arms wildly, leaving Megumi with dodging as her only option.

He whipped his feet towards her, forcing her to duck, and letting him shatter the crystal of his own making.

Smoke filled that air and spikes of crystal shot out once more. She blocked taking the full brunt.

"Ugh! What do I do!?

Suddenly Dion jumped out from the smoke with his combat knife in hand. He swung, cutting through Megumi's arm to her shock.

The pain was enormous and was unlike anything she's felt until now. This was followed by a numbness of no longer feeling her own hands.

Her eyes dilated, and despite not seeing anything bloody she felt queasy.

Dino was ready to finish her off, but Megumi was able to reorient herself in time to dodge the last attack.

"You're making this harder than what this needs to be." Dino said. "Stop moving and I'll make this quick." He held his knife threateningly.

Megumi steadied her breathing. "Calm down Megumi. Calm down…"

Slowly the cut hands stitched itself back together, confusing Megumi. "W-w-what? H-how did I-?"

"N-no that doesn't matter right now." Megumi moved the fingers of her hands finding it to be normal again.

Dino as shocked as he was, charged back in to attack Megumi. she arched herself back avoiding his latest attacks, keeping her focus on him and him alone. violent swipe came after violent swipe, until her leapt into the air to strike his knife down with a vengeance.

She dodged this and watched as he clutched his knife even tighter. it was clear that he was getting even more frustrated.

"I can't keep dodging like this I... I have to do something!"

"What's the problem Megumi?" Liang suddenly shouted.

Megumi jerked her head around finding that Liang awas waiting atop an unscathed building.

"How do you expect to help your friend if you hold back?"

Dino became on guard. "Another one!?"

"KIll him too if you have to," Annabelle Echoed to Dino.

Dino could only clench his teeth in frustration.

Liang continued to speak. "I thought you'd try using the power of your sin by now. Unless you want my help that is."

"I-I'll handle this myself!!" Megumi shouted back.

She turned her gaze back to Dino whose full attention was now on Liang.

Liang noticed this but didn't pay too much attention to this. He simply sat himself down to enjoy the spectacle.

"I'm just here for the show," Liang reassured.

Dino slowly turned back to Megumi, clearly more weary.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, she began to channel the red energy into her hands. She though back to when Liang told her about the power of sins.

********

Both Megumi and Liang stood just at the base of the black crystal tower.

Liang spoke. "Now for the sake of time I won't go too much into the specifics, but for now, just know that there are seven total sins of this world."

"Like the seven deadly sins, right."

Liang smiled. "You catch on fast... Now the sin I think you have is just a hunch, But I believe it's potentially associated with conjuring weapons" Liang gave an example, pulling his sheathed sword out of nowhere and making it disappear again.

"Kinda like that."

Megumi made a mental note of this. "Should I try it now?"

"I wouldn't recommend it." he said.

"Why?"

"Because once you do you have a chance of completely exhausting yourself. the worst-case scenario, you'll turn into a core where you'll be vulnerable."

"T-then how will I be able to use my powers, if i don't try?" she questioned.

"Thats the kicker, isn't it. You'll have to pray that you get it your first try."

Megumi gave Liang a scrutinizing look.

"Hey, as long as you don't conjure a frying pan, I think you'll do just fine."

Megumi could only sight at the last statement his made as he continued giving some additional instructions.

********

"Focus… Focus…"

Slowly red energy she gathering started to take form. A tip of red and black blade began to poke out with a curve from her left hand. "A-am I doing it!?"

Her excitement started to grow, but upon glimpsing back upon, she freaked out seeing Dino charge straight at her with his crystalized hands.

She yelped and instinctively raised her hand to block his attack. To the shock of both of them, a curved blade colored in black and red completely ejected out from Megumi's palm blocking this attack.

"W-what the-!"

Dino tried pressing his blade furth but as he did, he found that his own knife was getting cut!

He quickly backed away from Megumi, unsure what to make of what he just saw.

Glancing back at his knife, sure enough the cut was still there. But slowly the knife repaired itself with time.

Dino readied his knife once more. Megumi followed him and she posed with her left arm, and she held it with her other hand.

Suddenly laughter erupted from above. She recognized that it was Liang's laughing. She glanced seeing that he was pointing at her as he continued his laughter.

"You're holding your hand like it's a weapon! Thats great!!"

Megumi could feel a vein bulging from his forehead as she became red. "D-did I really do it wrong??" She wondered. Looking back at Dino she could display a face of pity.

"I-I don't need your pity!" She shouted.

She readied her hand with the blade again. This time she made the first move.

She charged in readying to slash with her hand.

Both Megumi and Dino clashed blades, Dino angling his blade just enough for it to avoid being sliced.

She bawled her fist and tightened her fingers around the blade that protruded from her palm. She instinctively swiped her blade in and blocked an incoming strike from Dino in time, snipping the tip of his knife.

She moved to stab the blade at Dino who dodged this. He turned to shoot spikes of crystal her way too little effect as some were blocking her large blade from her palm.

"Tch!"

He moved to circle around Megumi using the cover of the black crystals around her. He jumped to ambush her, but each and every time she would somehow dodge and block his attempt as if she could sense his very presence.

Becoming more serious, she kept a look out for Dino. Catching a glimpse and shading the blade his way, cutting through the black crystals to both their surprise.

"You gotta be kidding me! It's like her senses have sharpened. And it doesn't help that, that damn blade in her hand can cut about anything. It's like it was made to cut the soul itself!"

Megumi continued to cut through the crystals one by one at random.

"What the hell is she doing now? Wait a minute- She's trying to take away my cover! But this won't help."

"There!" Seeing an opening Dino took it. Leaping once again in the air he was posed, ready to strike.

"It's done." She said, she twirled around, her blade hand now prepared.

Dino quickly crystalized his hands and shot a huge crystal pillar towards the ground lifting himself over her.

He snapped off the growing crystal from his hand and landed back on the ground, sliding back. "Damn it!" He quickly charged back in; his knife posed to strike the heart.

Megumi turned, ready to meet him head on as her eyes gleamed an even bright red than before. Suddenly a red aura pulsed from her brown hair.

"This feeling. It feels weird, but so familiar…" Megumi thought.

Dino's eyes widened seeing something strange occur. Liang, who was also watching, raised a brow as his attention to Megumi focused.

Before the two, the shade of her hair erupted into a scarlet with her three natural bangs turning a crimson.

Dino tried stopping himself but got too close as Megumi swung the blade hard at Dino. He blocked in time, putting all his will to ensure his knife would withstand the blow. "I-impossible!! How is she-"

She completely sliced through his knife, slicing through his chest to his utter shock. "T-this fast??"

Megumi exhaled and the red in her hair dispersed at that moment. "That was close, I thought you had me for a moment."

Dino fell to his knees with a big gash across his chest. "H-h-how???"

There was a silence for a brief moment before Megumi spoke up a little awkwardly.

"L-look I don't want to kill you." She offered a hand to Dino to his surprise. "Just give Cider back. Thats all I want."

Dino laughed at her statement. "Y-your too nice for your own good." he wheezed. "If it were up to me, I would've never attack you two."

"You were supposed to kill her!" Annabelle echoed to Dino. "I should've realized it was useless to rely on a hunter like you."

A shock was sent through Dino's very being. His eyes bulged as he clutched the collar around his neck.

"What's happening!?" Megumi questioned.

"R…. RUN!!!" Dino cried out.

Liang watching this finally noticed the collar around his neck. "This is bad," he noted. His eyes opened slightly, revealing the yellow pupils hidden in his squinted eyes.

"Oh, how I wish I could tell that girl what is in store now. But it looks like she found a way to block me. Not that it matters anyways since now you can eat her soul!" Dino could hear the gleeful tone within Annabelle's echoed voice.

"Then she'll cease to have ever existed in the first place!"

"N-nooo!!" Dino yelped. He could hear Annabelles cackling in his ears, unable to tune it out.

Slowly Dino's eyes became black with a white narrow pupil.

All Megumi could do now was watch as the crystal exploded and erupted in and around Dino in a frenzy as he screamed in pain.