“Answer me.”
Ghady held his breath.
‘Not now, anything but right now…’ The demon was a near-death experience by itself. Another fight– especially against someone armed– will never turn out good.
The best option is to escape.
Ghady turned a corner and ran.
The boy in blue followed after him, lunging and slicing with his sword. ‘Would save you and me a plethora of time if you just confess…!’
Both of them dodged the messy objects scattered around the area, while Ghady was simultaneously evading the slashes.
Ghady ducked down and grabbed a discarded bicycle tire, flinging it straight towards the boy's head. The boy reflexively swerved his shoulder down, barely dodging it.
Neither seemed to show any signs of stopping. They crossed another corner, and in their way, was a metal fence. Ghady jumped on top of a car, and took a leap of faith. The boy watched in silence as he jumped over 2 meters and crossed above the fence, landing on his back.
“The world record for a vertical jump is 46 inches…” The boy went through the old fashioned way– climbing the fence. Ghady now had a great distance, he kept running and running- until at last, Ghady found himself cornered at a dead end. He turned around to the boy, and brought his arms to his face, in a boxing stance. The boy sprang towards Ghady's left, and swung his sword. Ghady shifted his guard towards his left, but the boy feinted his slash and gave a blow straight on the nasal bone.
Blood gushed out from his nose, as he stumbled backwards. The boy raised the sword up high in the sky, and lashed it forward. Ghady crossed his forearms and blocked the slice, his arms now bleeding. However, it didn't hurt.
He survived a strike that should've left his arms incapacitated. For some reason– reasons that Ghady couldn't explain, his body felt a lot stronger, yet with every movement that strength seemed to deplete.
Ghady warded off the attack and responded with a kick on the stomach of the boy, launching him to a wall opposite.
The impact caused the wall behind him to crack and deteriorate a little.
The sword fell out of the boy's grip. He narrowed his eyes. ‘Odd.’ The boy muttered as he picked up the blade again.
That singular kick almost took all that energy out of Ghady. He was panting for air as something inside him tried to crawl up his body. Blood streamed from his mouth and nose as he nearly fell to the ground. The boy seized the opportunity and tackled Ghady to the floor.
Raising his body up again, as he loomed over Ghady, he held the sword up with both hands, and pointed it straight at Ghady's forehead, his foot constraining Ghady’s hand. ‘I hate to kill, so answer me.’
Ghady kicked the boy away again, this time with less force,
‘You're quite persistent. What's with your strength?’ He twirled the sword.
Ghady got back up on his feet, back again in the boxing stance. The boy swooped down, and tried to do a sweeping kick, but Ghady jumped up in time. While he was mid-air, the boy took the chance to do a kick-up, hitting Ghady in his stomach. Ghady rolled backwards, hitting a metal bin.
In his peripheral vision, Ghady noticed a metal bat, the same one used by a member of his. Used to be.
He picked it up, and stood up flimsily. Ghady sprinted towards the boy, leaning low, his arms hanging as if uncontrolled. The boy raised his sword, preparing to intercept. But Ghady stumbled, catching the boy off guard,
swaying away to the side only an inch from the blade's edge. Before the boy had time to rearrange himself, Ghady twisted his torso, launching a power swing aiming for the boy's jaw. But the boy faced his head towards the sky, moving just enough to not get hit. The boy retreated backwards.
“He's acting differently…” The boy narrowed his eyes.
Ghady dragged the metal bat on the floor, shoulders loose.
Almost like he wanted to collapse. But it felt like a trap.
Ghady sprinted forward again– the boy expected a swing from below. He guarded his stomach with the sword, but then– Ghady twisted his shoulder to the back, bringing it upwards in an unnatural arc. He never planned to swing from below, it was just an act. The boy realized it too late, he tried to bring his sword up to block it, but he had already committed too much force in his previous guard.
CLANG!
Ghady struck the boy's sword, knocking him off balance, and slamming him to the ground. Ghady continued to put force on him as they continued clashing. Ghady lifted his bat up, preparing for a devastating strike, and whipped it. In the nick of time, the boy slid in between the gap of Ghady's legs– the swing before him struck the pavement instead.
“How interesting. You’re using ‘Zui Quan', aren't you?”
Ghady turned around and gripped the bat even tighter.
“Your swings are unpredictable, and your movement is that of a drunk person.” The boy spoke in an impressed tone.
While Ghady was still processing what the boy just said, the boy suddenly dashed forward. He kicked the dust and sand on the floor, going into Ghady's eyes. He strangled Ghady by his neck, pushing him to the wall and putting the sword at his throat, “Though I'm certain of one thing now. You definitely know a thing or two about the core, correct?”
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Ghady's eyes twitched. He couldn't move, at the same time, the feeling in his body didn't stop rising.
With the last of his energy, Ghady pushed the boy away and dropped to the ground, leaning against the cold wall in blood and sweat.
“You've got to run… NOW!” Ghady warned.
He couldn't stop it any longer, the creature in his body was trying desperately to take over, overwhelming the already overwhelmed Ghady–
So, it took over.
—----------------------------
Veins of black popped out on the wrist of the hooded man. His face darkened and his eyes glowed. It was as if he were a monster, a creature created from darkness.
‘What a way to answer my question…’ Kiri watched from a distance as the man began to rise. ‘He’s just like the Man in the mirror.’
Suddenly, Kiri remembers something from back in the vault.
‘Warning… Must find Warning.’
He took out the jar that he had in his bag, the goo inside was glowing now.
Yep. Without a shadow of a doubt, this was caused by the core. The core of Darkness.
Kiri took a stance as the transformation was about to complete. He held the sword in front of him. But before he knew it, the man appeared in front of him. He grabbed the sword by the blade, and tugged it out of Kiri's hands, then threw it aside. He didn’t even have time to react when a palm wrapped around his face, fingers gripping the sides of his head so unfathomably hard, his skull felt like it was going to snap inwards. Kiri was lifted off the ground and was heaved straight through a brick wall.
Blood trickles down Kiri’s forehead. The man, possessed by the demon, walks towards him.
Kiri tried to stand up– but his legs refused.
The man stood in front of Kiri.
Picking him up by the hair, and once again, throwing him around like a ragdoll. This time, he landed at a four-way intersection and rolled onto a pile of broken glass bottles.
The strap of his bag broke off of his shoulder.
The man was getting closer. This will be the end of the line unless that brain of yours thinks up of something.
Sunlight poured through the intersection, reducing the possessed man to little more than a dark silhouette.
He's getting closer, walking slowly. Very slowly, like a blind man trying to navigate their way. Kiri pushed himself onto one elbow. The strength of it earlier, the speed of it before this. It doesn't match how he's behaving now. He was aggressive only moments ago. Now, it's taking steps– waiting, then another. It seemed to be looking at its own feet.
No– it's eyes aren't even open.
Kiri tried to lift his leg. The sounds of the glass bottles clanking against one another echoed through the alleyway as he moved.
It snaps its head towards the direction of Kiri.
The possessed man walked towards Kiri again, slowly and cautiously.
But then, the sound of something else snapped its head the other way. A bird eating the scraps of whatever remained of a rotten pear. It stomped on the bird with hellish force, its blood splattering onto the surface of the walls, and onto Kiri's face. Blood dripped off of his chin and hit the ground.
Its attention reverted to Kiri again.
It's reacting to sound– maybe echolocation? But it couldn't be. If it were, it wouldn't be distracted by the sounds. It's most probably plain old, keen hearing.
Kiri held his breath.
It kept marching towards him.
Forty meters. Thirty-five meters. Thirty.
At the perfect moment, a bold idea appeared.
Cautiously, Kiri slowly unzipped the front pocket of his bag. Teeth by teeth, making sure not one decibel escapes.
The man was twenty-five meters away.
The pocket was open.
Twenty.
Kiri took out something.
Eighteen.
He held it up to his eye– the emergency serum.
Fifteen.
Kiri stood up, and smashed it on the rough asphalt, full force.
The glass tube shattered, and the substance erupted into fizzling bubbles.
The possessed man bolted straight at the sound.
Kiri could only blink before the man crossed the distance in less than a second.
Its foot stepped right on the bubbling liquid. The reaction was immediate. The bubbles bursted all at once.
Thick, pale, purple vapor erupted around its leg.
Its black veins recoiled violently beneath its skin, twitching as though the substance itself had become poison.
The possessed man staggered back and fell to the ground.
Its leg was fighting between the poison and the creature’s regeneration, pushing back and forth.
Kiri was not taking his chances, he tried to crawl away from the scene. He dragged his bloody ankle across the cement, not making a single noise. But while he did, Kiri made a crucial mistake. He crawled deeper into the darkness.
—--------------
The possessed man stood in the dark alleyway. His leg was burning as a mark of overcoming the poison. In his hand – a knife. Kiri stopped right in his tracks. He knew going into darkness was a mistake, and now he was about to pay the price.
Kiri took a stance again. If he was going down, he was at least going to try.
Suddenly, the creature appeared behind him, knocking him against a wall. The knife in his right hand lifted. This was the end. It was over.
Several bullets darted across Kiri's sight.
The hand that Kiri accepted death to, exploded right before him. The knife was flinged several yards away.
The creature possessing the man made the screeching sound again, before it began to restore its lost limb.
“Mister Volvana,” said a voice from a distance. “Stay put, I am your ally.”
The figure walked into the alleyway. He looked about the same age as the man, older than Kiri but definitely not an adult.
He wore baggy pants and a blue shirt with the logo, “AZR” on it. Scars covered his wrists, his hair went upwards.
Then, his arm shifted, his skin turned into metal and the fingers warped into the shape of a barrel. It turned into a shotgun.
“That person is not human anymore.” He aimed at the man. “That is a monster.”