“Get…lost?” The pain of his wounds subsided as the revelation of Repo’s words settled in; they were testing him, testing him to see if he was good enough to be Urn’s guardian.

Repo nodded at Ralph, kneeling down as he gathering up all the steel weapons, dropping them one by one into his bag. “Yes. You may have been deemed a worthy guardian by his grandfather; but that doesn’t matter to us.”

“What would you know, asshole-!” Ralph shot towards Repo, punching at the fighter with the restraint of a caged beast, yet Repo neatly avoided every blow before catching Ralph by the wrist. Throwing Ralph into the air, Repo swung his leg upwards and struck the guardian in the belly with enough force to send blood shooting out of the wounds on his belly like bullets.

Ralph, blinded by rage, planted a hand into the ground and flipped back onto his feet. Ducking underneath a swift kick from Repo, he jabbed at the man’s ribs- only for Repo to neatly sweep Ralph’s fist to the side, and followed up with a kick across the guardian’s face, sending him stumbling into the wooden pillar behind him.

That should take care of it. Repo studied Ralph, who was slumped against the pillar limply; yet in Ralph’s eyes, he could only see determination, and not a trace of defeat. “I don’t want to fight you.”

“I do.” Ralph slowly pulled himself off the floor, leaning against the pillar. “I’m Urn’s guardian. If you want to replace me, you’ll have to kill me first, asshole.”

Annoying. Repo thought with a sigh, and lunged towards Ralph with a fist raised, striking the wooden pillar, but not Ralph, who’d seemingly vanished. Rolling his eyes, he took a step back from the dented pillar and glanced around, trying to find where Ralph had possibly run off too. Catching a blur of orange flash past him, he spun around and swiped at the air, catching a goldfish in his palm; it was Ralph. Almost as soon as Repo caught it, Ralph shifted from fish to man, grabbing onto Repo’s extended palm and slamming an elbow towards the man’s neck. Repo caught Ralph’s elbow promptly, and twisted it as if were rubber, letting go after hearing the gross pop of Ralph’s bones. “Stop doing this. It’s pointless.”

Tears streaming down Ralph’s face, he stared down at his grossly bent arm and clenched his teeth, advancing with an unflinching resoluteness. Again and again, Ralph swung at Repo like a madman, his efforts fruitless yet his determination, unwaning.

Or can one even call this determination? Repo thought, neatly evading each and every one of Ralph’s blows. It’s more like he’s a tool that refuses to break until it’s no longer of service to its owner. I bet that’s how Banjoko made him; a puppet whose only desire is to protect and stand by it’s master.

Snapping his leg upwards, Repo sent Ralph flying back with ease, and then yanked his bag off his back. Throwing the bag into the air, dozens of the bird-like steel blades fell from the bag in circles around Repo; and then floated into the air, one by one, before launching towards Ralph.

Each blade sunk into Ralph’s body, leaving horrifyingly deep wounds all over him; one in his skull, the other in his shoulder, two in his knee, and three embedded firmly in his throat. Repo pulled back his hand, and the blade s shot out of Ralph in unison with his movement, falling back into his bag. “Yeesh.”

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As blood streamed from his wounds like rivers of blood, Ralph fought to keep his eyes open. The pain of having blades repeatedly stab into his body; it was very much there, and yet. …Right now….it just feels like background noise. Ralph shakily lifted his hand, and wiped some of the blood running down his head, and rubbed it into his eyes. Rising from the ground slowly, the tattered, bloodied guardian slammed a foot through the tiled floor and walked towards Repo, leaving tracks of blood in his wake.

Repo felt a chill go down his spine and turned; Ralph stood behind him, his fury so great it seemed almost tangible. His eyebrows raising in surprise, Repo slammed a fist into Ralph’s stomach, yet found it slipped right off due to the thick blood coating it. Ralph pulled his head back and Repo widened his eyes and ducked, barely avoiding Ralph as he swung his head forwards, headbutting the wooden wall and leaving a head shaped dent in the wood.

Darting away from Ralph, Repo watched as Ralph slammed his hands into the ground and yanked out tiles from the floor, flinging them full force at Repo. Repo quickly flipped away from the flying tiles, landing onto a wooden podium at the corner of the room. Glancing around the room, he noticed that Ralph had once again vanished. Once again a fish, Ralph flew towards Repo’s flank and shifted once again into a human, but transformed into a fish just as Repo struck towards him, the shift in size allowing Ralph to escape the blow harm free.

Transforming back into a man, he slammed his leg towards Repo, who barely blocked the strike this time, skidding backwards shakily. Wow. I could break his bones- but something tells me he’d just get back up again. How depressing for him; but not so much for us, perhaps. Repo thought.

“Doesn’t it bother you in the slightest that your willingness to protect Urn is not your own? It was all just put into you by Banjoko; they aren’t your original thoughts.” Repo asked, dusting himself off casually.

“Don’t care.” Ralph replied.

“I thought so. You aren’t smart enough to think outside the box Banjoko placed you in, anyways.” Repo murmured, putting a hand to his chin. “But on second thought, perhaps you could be useful.”

“I don’t care what you think of me. If you people keep trying to manipulate him, I’ll do whatever it takes to stop you.” Ralph retorted, taking a step forward.

“Trust me, we aren’t trying to manipulate him. All I want is to see him unlock the full powers of the locket; once he does that, our goals will be realized.” Repo reached into the pockets of his cloak and pulled out a handkerchief, wiping away the blood on his fist. “And you might actually have what it takes to protect him. That, I see now.”

Ralph halted. “Realize the full powers of the locket?” He asked, the question more so directed to himself. He didn’t know much about the true power of the locket or Urn’s full potential; what would awakening the full potential of the locket end up doing? “I wasn’t asking for your consent anyways. Urn will always have me to rely on, no matter what kind of sick shit you people are cooking up, you got that?”

“Sure.” Repo shrugged his shoulders, and then extended a hand. A blue aura extended from his fingertips, spiraling into a floating circle of energy; and within the circle, the exterior of the Maze Temple could be seen. “Go through the rift, and you’ll get to Urn.”

“Wait, but, uh, one more thing. I thought you said I was weak? I thought I’d have to kill you to get you to change your mind to be honest.” Ralph wiped the blood coating his forehead and rubbed at his stinging eyes.

“Oh, you are.” Repo said matter-of-factly, as if it was plain as day. “But the weak can be more powerful than the strong. As a weak person, I know that better than anyone else.”

“Weak? But you’re not we-” Ralph felt a wave of exhaustion pass over him, the pain of his injuries suddenly intensifying. Falling to his feet, the damage of his wounds began to kick in at last. He rapidly shrunk in size as his flesh turned into scales, turning back into a fish, lying tattered and bloodied on the cracked floor.

“Hm. How do I administer first aid to a fish?” Repo muttered to himself, picking Ralph up by the tail and stepping through the rift.