“For god’s sake, this is awful! How are we supposed to know where he is now?”

As soon as she had recovered enough from the surprise gas, Anten had left the house to search for any signs of Julian and where he might have gone, but he had somehow left no traces that she could spot. As such, after just a short while, she returned to the house with a dejected and upset expression.

“You need to calm down, Anten. This is how it should have gone anyway,” Dauma nonchalantly spoke, having not shown any immediate concern throughout her search even after realizing that the man had disappeared.

“Oh, really?” she snapped back at him, “I’ve got questions to ask you, too. What were you thinking, encouraging him like that? We are supposed to be on the same side, you know! Why didn’t you take my side, Dauma?”

“As I mentioned before, I am only interested in our current mission of finding the Particles. Based on his story, it doesn’t seem like helping him would help us a whole lot in that regard. Besides, we shouldn’t interfere in people’s personal matters. Wasn’t that also an issue for you back when we were with the Foxes?”

“Yes… but this is different! Mister Mayor never meant this to happen to him, he wanted to start over, he wanted to be better! Why must we let him be killed when he is making amends?”

Dauma closed his eyes in response and replied, “I don’t know. To be honest, I can’t decide whose side I’m really on here. I think the both of them are not wrong with their decisions. That’s why I think we shouldn’t step into this.”

“Ghh…”

Anten threw her hands up into the air in defeat and stomped towards the end of the room, trying her best to come up with a counterargument to his point, but seemingly unable to find the right words to do so.

“… what about… what about Miss Yuu? She got hurt because of the attack… and we agreed that… we should not let any harm come to her… or any other Particle. What… do you say to that? Don’t you… feel angry?” she eventually asked, a sudden knot in her throat cutting her questions up into portions.

There was a brief pause before he responded again.

“… yes.”

“Huh?”

Opening his eyes again, Dauma walked closer to Anten before focusing his eyes on her and admitting the truth.

“Yes, I do feel angry at that. In fact, if not for the fact that I do not wish to interfere, I would have tracked him down and attacked him with all I had.”

“Wait, seriously?” she blinked in disbelief at the sudden 180 of his character.

“Of course. If someone hurt one of us, I would naturally want revenge. I would do the same for you if you were hurt.”

“Then, what was all that nonsense about ‘letting go’ earlier?”

“I’m still not interested in messing with the whole situation. I just want to make sure he pays for hurting Yuu.”

“I don’t think that makes a lot of sense, but…” Anten thought for a moment before settling on a compromise, “how about this? If we can find where the two are, I will handle Mister Mayor, while you focus on your revenge against Mister Blake or whatever. That way, both of us can do what we want to do. Agree?”

“Mm…”

I guess since I’m a devil anyway, I should do what I want when I want.

“… yeah, sure.”

“Huh, that was quick.”

However, even if they had both agreed on their next move, they still had to figure out the pair’s location. If they were too late, either one or both of their objectives were not going to be fulfilled.

“Nngh… we still need to find them. How can I find them? How can I find them? My senses can’t find the Particle’s effects if it’s too far away, and--”

“Ahem.”

Anten had begun pacing around the room, rapidly muttering to herself, but Dauma cleared his throat before quickly speaking to get her attention.

“I have another confession to make.”

“Huh? What is it? Can this wait?”

“No,” he explained as he stretched his hand out towards her, “I want you to take a closer look at my palm.”

As she stopped pacing and walked closer to it, she could indeed see something small and thin sticking out of the center of his palm. It looked like a toothpick, but upon closer inspection, she soon realized what it was.

“Is it…”

“Yes. I can track his cut. Better safe than sorry.”

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me this earlier?” she remarked exasperatedly, her mood having lightened a little from the revelation, but she was still slightly annoyed at him.

“I was going to tell you eventually. I just wanted to wait until—”

“Are you serious? Come on, let’s go already!” she shouted as she quickly ran out of the room, and Dauma promptly followed behind her as they left the house.

“Which direction is it?” she hurriedly asked as they stepped back out into the town.

“It’s that way.”

With a single pointed finger from him, she had immediately taken off in the indicated direction without asking for further clarifications.

She had already begun to fear the worst as she flew through the air with all she had, but she pushed those thoughts away as she kept her hope for the best outcome.

“Please don’t do anything stupid…”

**********************

“Took you long enough.”

“… yes, I know.”

As he opened the doors and heard the person in the back addressing him, Julian’s prediction on where he was supposed to go turned out to be correct.

Blake was waiting for him in the abandoned church that he often visited at sunrise on certain days. Situated quite a distance away from Edelweiss, but not so long that he could not walk to it, it sat on top of a large grey dirt hill, with the main building itself located right next to a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean.

He did not know why, but perhaps it was due to the cool, stinging sea breeze that always blew towards the shore or the view from the cliff that always made him want to return to the place.

Regardless of what the reason was, he would always spend a few minutes going inside, sitting in the empty pews, and silently gazing at the dusty altar, even though he never did any serious praying.

“…”

Now, as he entered, he could only see the young man from his unwanted past standing inside the chancel and looking back at him with great disdain.

Just like before, Blake was holding a gun in his hand, but he was not freely twirling it this time, and he guessed that that was because of how heavily bandaged both his hands were, preventing any kind of bombastic movements from being carried out.

He had taken off his cloak, revealing the whole extent of the modifications that were done to his body.

Metal attachments ran all over his arms and legs, with a few on his sides, and seemingly to avoid any complications, he wore a simple grey tank top that avoided clashing with any of them. His outfit was completed with camouflage pants and boots that Julian could recognize all too well.

“I trust that you have left your bodyguards behind?” he spoke loudly, his voice echoing around the nave where his target was standing in.

“They’re not my bodyguards,” Julian clarified, “they have nothing to do with me. After all, this feud is between you and me only, so I left them behind.”

“Good, good. That saves us any trouble then.”

As Julian walked down the aisle, Blake also began to walk out of the chancel and closer towards him before abruptly stopping near the pulpit, his eyes remaining fixed on him throughout the entire duration.

“Since we are alone, we can do this properly,” he remarked, “I don’t have to kill you immediately, you know. You are still free to choose how you want to go out.”

“… I don’t mind. After all, I still have to pay for what I did. But…”

“But… what?”

“I have to ask you something.”

“Tch, alright,” Blake grumbled as he turned and leaned against the wooden stand, “since it’s gonna end for you anyway, what do you want?”

“Do you… ever want to stop?”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“…”

There was no answer as Julian watched him look down, his brow furrowing and his jaw clenching.

“What do you want out of all of this? Revenge?”

“…”

“Do you really want that?”

“Of course I do!” he suddenly yelled as he hit the pulpit with his fist, wincing a little as he did so.

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t try to persuade me out of this, doctor. There’s nothing you can say that will change my mind. I will kill every single person who was involved in my friends’ pain and suffering, simple as that. You are no exception.”

“Is it really that simple though?”

“Ugh, don’t even…”

“Is this what you truly want?”

“…”

“Please, Blake. Tell me—"

“SHUT UP!”

Angrily flinging himself away from the stand and towards the nave, he pointed his gun at Julian and cocked it without any hesitation. There was a murderous look in his eyes, and his voice had become more cracked and distorted, as though multiple people were speaking through his mouth at the same time.

“This is…” Julian responded with slight shock as Blake snarled at him.

“YOU REALLY THINK THAT YOU CAN DECIDE MY CHOICES? YOU THINK YOU HAVE ANY SAY OVER ME? THEN WHY DON’T I CHOOSE HOW YOU DIE, HUH? LET’S DO THAT!”

“I didn’t mean anything by—”

“TOO LATE! THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!”

“… guess I won’t find out. I’m sorry, Blake.”

“BANG!”

Right as Julian closed his eyes and accepted his fate, a loud bang rang through the church. However, it had not come from the gun.

“What?”

Blake stared suspiciously at the church’s front doors that had suddenly been blown open before he saw something hurtling towards and curling itself tightly around him.

“What the fuck is thisssssssssssssss?”

Before he could process that the thing wrapping around him was some kind of flaming rope and subsequently respond to the action, he had already been forcefully tugged off the ground by a strong force and thrown towards the back of the church.

“Guh!”

He let out a pained grunt as he smashed into the altar before falling back down, a shower of thick dust accompanying his sudden impact.

“Hahhh…”

Letting out a deep exhale as he touched down onto the aisle from the entrance where he had jumped from, Dauma took a quick glance backwards to see if he had hit Julian before turning back to the broken altar.

“You again?”

Unsurprisingly, as he opened his eyes again, Julian was not happy to see the devil standing in front of him.

“What are you doing he— mph!”

“Sorry!”

Preoccupied and upset, he failed to notice Anten sneaking up behind him and covering his mouth instantly before he could finish his question.

“I got him!” she called out as she grabbed him by his armpits, “now just keep Mister Blake occupied while I bring Mister Mayor to a safe place! Don’t kill him, got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.”

Carrying the struggling mayor in front of her like she was a groom carrying a bride, she flew out of the church. As she did so, Dauma stayed put, watching as Blake slowly stood back up, emerging from the dust cloud.

OUTPUT: 30%

“Fuck… fucking hell…”

Blake had barely avoided the brunt of the impact by increasing his power output in the nick of time, but that did not mean he had not been completely unaffected by it.

Wiping away the small trickle of blood from his nose, he retrieved his gun, got up and scowled at the devil nuisance who was casually standing in the same spot, not bothering to move at all.

“I thought I told you to stay away.”

“Well…” Dauma shrugged in response, “I can’t have you walking away without paying you back for what you did to my companion.”

“That’s not on me, that’s on you.”

“… anyway,” he continued, ignoring him completely, “considering that now I have to keep you occupied, how do you want to do this?”

Blake quickly started as he saw his opponent instantly create a sword out of thin air and point it towards him. Seemingly made out of pure fire, he was slightly unnerved by its appearance and watched him cautiously for his next words.

“I was told not to kill you, but… that doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you.”

“… is that so?”

The shock had already washed over him, and he now cracked a sly smile at Dauma’s challenge. Even though his target was still currently escaping from him, his tone took on a cockier and more confident edge as they menacingly faced each other at opposite ends.

“Did you forget how our last fight went? I was overwhelming you, devil. You never even stood a chance.”

“Hm, that’s true. In that case,” Dauma replied, “I want a fair duel.”

“Oh? Heh.”

Blake’s smile grew even wilder at his proposal, and he began to chuckle to himself.

“The doctor must have told you that fact, huh? Then, so be it.”

Deep down, he knew he had to avoid getting attacked by both that strange burning rope that had flung him without control and the new sword in Dauma’s hands, so he settled for a compromise.

“For our duel,” he declared as he firmly pointed towards his opponent, “we shall fight with only our fists. Objects can be used as well, but no obvious weapons are allowed, so put down your blade, and I’ll put down my gun.”

“Hm, alright,” Dauma remarked as the sword quickly disappeared from his hand, and in response, he promptly threw down his gun as well.

OUTPUT: 70%

“I will make this quick.”

Both of them slowly raised their fists in unison and stood their ground, maintaining their respective positions, and he took this time to do a quick survey of their readiness. While he was at his most optimal fighting stance, Dauma’s stance was less coordinated but still sturdy.

The stage was set. Both fighters were ready. The fight, without a bell or any other clear indicator announcing so, had started.

“…”

“…”

Wordlessly, they each began to take a step forward, then another and another, faster and faster, building up speed as they charged before inevitably meeting at the middle, near the end of the nave.

“Argh!”

“…”

Blake fiercely yelled, but Dauma stayed quiet as their extended fists made contact in front of them, the resulting small shockwave upending the pews around them and pushing the both of them back in the direction they came from, before they both screeched to a halt at the same time.

“Nngh…”

“I’m ready for you this time,” Dauma smugly remarked before the both of them charged at each other again.

Once again, their fists met, but this time, they resisted and stood their ground, allowing them to keep attacking each other viciously, repeatedly laying down strikes and blocking incoming retaliations, as the continuing waves only pushed the things inside the church further and further away from the both of them.

“Tch…”

Blocking Dauma’s punch and responding with an attempted strike to his torso, Blake was only getting more and more troubled by his failing attacks, slowly beginning to lose his cool as the fight became longer.

He’s tougher than before…

While he could still keep up with him, the devil’s attacks were much quicker, wilder, and more aggressive compared to his own attacks, which were more precise and targeted, and focusing on a mix between offense and defense.

To his annoyance, he was not going down as easily as before either, and even as he landed a few good hits in, his opponent remained unfazed and continued his assault, not backing down at all.

Soon enough, the stress from the ever-prolonging battle was wearing him down, and his attacks began to falter a little, causing Dauma to seize the chance and throw a heavy punch to the side of his head, forcing him violently to the left end of the church.

Fuck!

OUTPUT: 80%

Turning and steadying himself in the air as his dark aura grew, he kicked one of the wooden pews, easily shattering it into two as it flew towards the devil at high speed.

“Hmph.”

With a simple flick of his wrist, Dauma pushed the incoming obstacles out of his way. At the same time, using that distraction to his advantage, Blake sneaked in another charge attack towards him.

“Hah!”

OUTPUT: 90%

Increasing his power output to ensure he could land a powerful hit on him, Blake’s fist came from below and rammed into the devil’s waist, causing him to fly upwards and backwards in the air.

Crashing through and breaking the exterior wall and tinted windows, the attack quickly pushed his opponent out of the church.

“Hah… hah… ggh…”

In spite of the continuous flow of blood slowly leaking from his mouth, and the slight weakening of his muscles causing him to stumble a little, he ignored both of them and apprehensively stared at the newly opened hole in the wall.

Fuck, I can’t wait any longer. I have to—

But as soon as he took a step back towards the broken front doors, a large force slammed into him, causing him to fly past the other side of the church and into the opposite wall before rapidly approaching the edge of the cliff right beside it.

“Gah!”

It was not hard for him to quickly figure out that the devil had tackled him hard with his own body and held onto him, even as he rammed his feet into the dirt to slow their momentum before they went over.

“Mmggh!!”

His feet sank deeper and deeper into the ground, and chunks of dirt flew in every direction, with some even splattering on both of their bodies, but he kept resisting until he finally slowed down, a mere few inches away from the edge and dropping into nothing but air.

“Uraggghhhhhh!”

His momentum halted for the time being, he now tightly wrapped his arms around Dauma. Even though his feet were still wedged inside the dirt, he pushed forward with all his strength, breaking off a small chunk of cliff behind him in the process.

“…”

The devil promptly responded to the move by digging his feet under the ground as well, forcing the momentum to a halt again. Grabbing his hands and holding onto them, they began to wrestle with each other, their bodies going further and deeper down in the process.

“Ah… gah… rgh…”

OUTPUT: 100%

This… is bad… very bad.

Even at his current output and strength, Blake’s muscles were getting strained to their limit, and as more blood flowed out of his mouth, his bloodshot eye twitched angrily at the devil who had not seemed to have even broken a sweat throughout the entire fight.

“You… fucking… devil!” he roared, his voice cracking again.

“You can always stop, you know.”

“Fuck you!”

“Alright.”

With his offer rejected, Dauma stood his ground and his hands tightened around Blake’s, effectively locking him in place. Quickly achieving that, he then twisted his body around, the force dragging the man out of the ground in one pull, before swinging him around and around.

Letting go once he had gained enough speed and force, Blake was launched back towards the church, where he approached the bell tower situated above the main hall at a blazingly fast speed.

“Gahhhhhhhhhh!”

OUTPUT…

“BONG!”

Unable to find any way to stop in time, he hit the giant rusty bell, generating a loud ringing noise that anyone in the surrounding areas could hear.

Although his strength allowed him to easily break through one part of its metallic surface, he could not make it all the way through, the initial impact having greatly lowered his speed, causing him to fall back down into the church through the roof.

“BONG!”

The bell, which had been knocked loose off its fittings, followed him down, smashing onto him with another loud ringing chime and promptly breaking further parts of the church roof with their combined weights.

“…”

A prolonged silence followed the major crash.

As the dust slowly settled, and the chunks of roof continued to fall into the church, nothing else seemed to be happening as far as Dauma could see.

“Hoo…” he exhaled as he watched out for any movement inside the church.

“…”

But there was no response. Blake did not attempt to jump out at him. No telltale noises could be heard that would suggest he was coming back.

“Hm.”

If I killed him, I don’t know what Anten will say…

As a further precaution, even though it was against the rules of the duel, he swiftly created his sword again before leaping up from the ground and landing on the edge of the roof’s open hole.

“…”

Even as he peered down into the exposed hall, he still could not see anything moving, either under the bell wedged into the floor or anywhere else inside. Even Blake’s body could not be seen, and he guessed he was still most likely trapped under the big bell with nowhere to go.

I guess I should dig him out.

“Hah…”

Right as he heaved a sigh of exhaustion and prepared to jump down inside, he noticed something. Bending down to get a closer look, he saw it with his own two eyes.

“What the hell…”

“HNGHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The bell was rapidly and violently shaking, being slowly lifted from the broken floor, and below it was Blake, primally roaring as he pushed the heavy load off him. Tossing the bell to his side, he looked up at Dauma, who recoiled as soon as he saw him.

“This is…”

He was nearly unrecognizable from his original appearance. His ponytail had come off again, which was unsurprising given the crash he had just experienced, but that was not the thing about him that caused the surprised reaction.

“Grrr… grrrhhh…”

The aura that had been surrounding him throughout the whole fight had grown massively, creating a pressurizing sensation that Dauma could feel. It was intimidating, it was cold, it was… strong.

Cracking his knuckles and breathing gutturally, Blake continued to glare at him. Blood was now flowing freely all over his face, not just from his nose and mouth but also from his eyes, staining his eyepatch with a dark red hue, yet none of that seemed to be affecting him in the slightest.

This is not good.

Unknown to Dauma, the outcome of the fight had caused the young man to reach a potential that he had only ever reached once before.

A highly unstable level that affected his body greatly, but that could turn the tide of any battle and the odds stacked against him. A great power that most humans could only dream of reaching, yet one that he was now harnessing with the intent to beat his opponent. A mode that went beyond his known limits and into something untamed.

MAXIMUM POWER OUTPUT BROKEN. CURRENT OUTPUT: 200%

“GRAHHHHHHHHHHH!”