Ichi ran into the depths of the forest, and the girl with the silver sword followed after. Renya was laughing. Ichi was scared. She struck him again and Ichi turned to face her strikes with the orc sword. Each strike of hers seemed to multiply before his eyes. His heart pounded as he watched his sword whirl around blocking each strike. Ichi could only see silver flashes. His left arm holding the sword had black and blue splotches all over it. It felt numb to Ichi. The strikes stopped, and Ichi ran from the girl.

The look on Renya's face, he'd seen it before. When he was in the city sometimes he'd walk around at night, looking for trouble. Since he didn't talk to anyone no one bothered him. However, he did see people who were walking around like zombies. They had a glazed look on their face, a weirdly strained smile.

Renya was drunk. Ichi understood that at glance. His eyes flickered to her cat ears as she pursued him through the forest. A black and white tail swiveled behind her butt. A plan formed in his mind as he ran, and a grin spread to his face.

Ichi sniffed. The waterfall was close. Cats hate water.

He dashed to the edge of the river as Renya followed after him. She launched herself onto him chanting his name like it was his birthday party. At the same time she stepped into the river. The water bubbled around Renya's legs as rose as steam. Ichi circled around her, placing the waterfall at her back. A burst of silver flashes rained on him as he put his numb right arm to work again. Sweat dripped down his face as he felt Renya cut him across his forehead. Then her strikes stopped and she lost her balance on her own, stumbling to the her side.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Ichi didn't miss the chance. He threw the orc sword away and changed his body into bigfoot. His thick hairy right arm punched into Renya's body, launching her straight into the cascading water. Her body stopped as steam flooded all around her, clouding over Ichi he got the sense he walked into a hot bath. His vision was covered in gray. If he were attacked now, he'd be dead.

The steam drifted into thin strands. Ichi saw Renya sitting under the waterfall with her knees touching, her head hanging down. She wasn't moving, even though her eyes were open.

"Creepy." Ichi said.

He sighed as he undid his bigfoot transformation, snapping up the orc sword. He held it out with his hand like a stick, moving close to Renya. He poked her cheek with the thick sword. When her body didn't move he sighed.

He looked at his left arm holding the orc sword. It was completely healed. Ichi stood over Renya.

He gripped the orc sword in his left hand. In his right, he held the black part of the stick. His left hand tightened. Then, his right hand lifted up to the sky.

"Combine." Ichi chanted.

But, he felt nothing. Ichi stared at the black stick in his hand. No response. He couldn't feel the energy in it either. Ichi thought of a cellphone with no reception. Ichi's arm went down. He took one last look at Renya cooling off under the waterfall then headed back to Rikya, his nose guiding him.