“AAAAAAAAAARRRGGHHH!!!”
“COOORRRRYYYYY!!!”
“MAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! IT HUUUUUUUUURRRTTTSSSS!!!”
The mother and her son have reached a room where, no matter where they look, they can only see the blue sky. The floors below them were all clouds. It seems like they are standing on the cloud surrounded by the beautiful blue sky.
The son, Cory, has a really big swell on his neck caused by the same venom that was inhaled by Kasumi.
“OHOK!! OHOKK!!”
The mother also started coughing severely as she felt that her breathing had become heavier than before, and she also dropped to her knees because of it, almost letting her son fall from her hold. She puts him down as she tries to recover from her severe coughing. There is a big swell under her neck, signifying a swelling blood vessel that interferes with her breathing.
“MAMAAAAAA!!! ARE YOU OKAY?”
“I-I’m fine, son! Let’s keep going!”
The mother toughens herself up and stands up. She picks her son up and starts running across the cloudy room.
*THUD*
“UUURRGHH!!”
*THUD*
“HUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”
But all of a sudden, she felt that her legs were a lot weaker than they usually are. She fell to the floor while her son was thrown away a bit from her because of it. Her son started crying loudly because of the pain in his head, hitting the floor, plus the pain in his neck also worsened.
“C-Cory. . .”
“MAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! HUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”
The mother is losing her physical strength as time goes on. Eventually, she passed out while her son crawled to her as he kept crying and calling out to her mother.
.
.
.
*BWOOSSHH*
Kain charges forward at Kasumi and swings his left handsaw at her neck.
*CTANG*
Kasumi lifts her katana upside down to the left and blocks the handsaw. Kain swings his right handsaw vertically at Kasumi’s head.
*ZRRRTTT*
*ZAP*
“AAAARRGGHH!!!”
Kasumi activates her Faith power, and her katana electrifies Kain’s handsaw, and it flows into him directly and zaps him greatly.
*CTANG CTANG*
Kain drops both of his hand saws as his hands feel numb.
*THUD*
He also falls to his knees again. He tried so hard to fight back against the numbness of the zap. Kasumi immediately took a stance as she sheathed her katana.
*!*
Kain notices her stance. She is about to strike him with the same attack as previously.
*FWIP*
Kasumi vanishes from Kain’s vision.
*CTANG*
“LIGHTNING IAI SLASH!!”
Kasumi reappears behind Kain, already slashed Kain with her katana. But Kain was almost too late to block her attack. He resummons his handsaws in both of his hands and barely blocks Kasumi’s slash.
“UURRRGHHH!!”
*CTANG CTANG*
Though Kasumi’s slash also zapped him again and made him drop both of his handsaws yet again.
“Tch!”
Kasumi immediately turns around and takes another stance.
“I’ll keep attacking you like this, no matter how many times you block it! Eventually, you’re gonna slip up because of how numb your body feels!”
“HAHAHAHAHAHA!! INTERESTING!! THEN I’LL KEEP BLOCKING YOUR ATTACKS NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU THROW IT AT ME! YOUR WHOLE BODY IS ON A TIMER FROM MY VENOM AS WELL!!”
Kain turns around once again, with his whole body trembling from the numbness, yet he feels very excited about the situation.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA!! THIS IS GOOD, YOUNG MISS!! I LIKE YOU!! STATE YOUR NAME!!”
“Name’s Kasumi Coldhart!”
“VERY WELL THEN, COLDHART-SAN! LET’S SEE WHO FALLS FIRST!! YOU AND THAT MOTHER AND SON SUCCUMBING TO MY VENOM, OR ME, SUCCUMBING FROM YOUR LIGHTNING ATTACKS!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! NOW THIS IS WHAT I LIVE FOR!!”
“Your wish is granted!”
*BWOOSSHHH*
Kasumi charges at Kain again. Kain has already resummoned his handsaws back into his hands, even with his shaking hands. She vanishes yet again.
*CTANG*
And Kain blocks her Iai slash yet again.
“Urgh!!”
Kain drops his handsaws once again as he feels the numbness in his hand worsen.
*THUD*
He falls to his knees once again. Kasumi immediately turns around without a rest and goes into her stance once again.
“(KEEP GOING!! DON’T LET HIM TAKE A BREAK!! OVERWHELM HIM WITH CONSECUTIVE IAI SLASHES!!)”
*!!*
*Thud*
But Kasumi suddenly also falls to her knees.
“Urgh!”
“(I feel very weak. . . Not good. At this rate, he’s going to kill me without me ever fighting back.)”
*pant pant pant*
Kasumi’s breathing became even heavier. The doses of venom inside her body have increased exponentially.
*!*
Multiple of her blood vessels on her arms, legs, neck, and right cheek have started to swell in red slightly.
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“(Not good. . . This might hinder my movement even more!)”
Kasumi slowly stands back up. She activates her Vein Armor once again and takes a stance.
*!!*
But Kain was already in front of Kasumi. She didn’t even notice him running towards him, though her danger sense did alert her, but she was distracted by the venom.
*ZRASH*
“URGH!”
Kasumi quickly jumps back, but she was grazed on her left forearm, though the wound was very shallow.
*THUD*
She lands two meters away from Kain.
“Kh kh kh kh! I’ve grazed you with my yellow saw!”
*?*
“What are you implying?”
“My yellow saw has a different ability! It causes the venom inside your body to quickly rise in temperature and---”
*!!!*
*FWOOOMMMMM*
“AAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!”
Suddenly, Kasumi’s entire left forearm burst into flames.
“AAAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!!”
“—THE FLAME WILL SPREAD THROUGHOUT YOUR ENTIRE BODY!! IT WILL BURN ALL THE VENOM INSIDE YOU AND YOU WILL EXPLODE INTO A GIANT FIREWORK AND YOUR BODY WILL TURN INTO A CRISP AND SPLATTERED EVERYWHERE IN THE ROOM!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
*!!*
“AAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGHHHH!!!”
Hearing Kain’s explanation, Kasumi decided to make a quick and painful decision. She tears the right sleeves of her sweater and binds her left upper arm very tightly to the point that it hurts her. She bites and pulls hard on the leftover sleeve to increase the tightness even further.
*!*
“O-Oi! W-What are you doing?”
Kasumi places her burning left forearm on the floor below and lifts her other hand upwards, holding her unsheathed katana.
*ZRAAASSSHHHHH*
“RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
Kasumi greatly groans in pain. She cuts off her own left forearm to avoid the fire spreading across her entire body. She sacrifices her left hand to save her life.
*Thud*
Her cut-off left arm falls to the floor and burns brightly, until it becomes completely pitch black and crisp.
In her intense and great pain, she toughens herself out and unravels the bindings of her upper left arm, and repurposes the cut-off sweater sleeve to tightly bind and close the stump on her left forearm.
“HHHHHRRRGGGHHHHH!!!”
She continues to groan in pain as she keeps focusing herself to bind the wound in order not to lose blood.
*pant pant pant pant*
After a few minutes, she finally finished doing first aid on her cut-off arm. She immediately, slowly, and steadily struggled to stand up once again.
*pant pant pant pant*
Her face became so wet from how much she was sweating from screaming in pain. She holds her katana with her right hand while her entire body is still shaking. She felt so weak, yet she still stood up to face her opponent. She looks to Kain with a serious set of eyes.
“Come!”
. . . . . . .
Kain was watching her the entire time. The sheer tenacity and willpower to live truly impressed even a murderer like him. He could’ve easily disrupted Kasumi when she was treating her wound, yet he chose not to. After all, his entire motivation for killing people was the thrill of life and death situations, rather than the act of taking someone’s life itself.
*!!*
*CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP*
Kain unsummons his handsaws and starts clapping, giving Kasumi applause for her effort.
“YOU ARE MAGNIFICENT, COLDHEART-SAN!! I HAVE TEARS IN MY EYES! THAT SHEER FORCE OF YOUR WILL TO LIVE IS SIMPLY IMPRESSIVE!! YOU DID EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO OVERCOME MY FAITH POWER!! LET US CONTINUE IN THIS MANNER, COLDHART-SAAANNN!!!”
Kain is feeling very ecstatic about this fight. He has a giant grin on his face. He resummons his handsaws in both hands and enters his battle stance with excitement.
“. . .”
“(My Iai technique isn’t complete. I can only use that one attack, and my current condition won’t allow me to unleash the full potential of it. I might have to improvise. . .)”
*!*
Kasumi enters a different battle stance than before. She slides her left leg to the front and bends her upper body a little bit, and raises her right hand above her head, holding her katana forward with its sharp tip facing upward.
“What’s with the stance? You’re gonna unleash a different technique or something?”
“Let’s find out! I have no idea myself!”
*?*
“What an odd response! Well, then, shall we?”
*BWOOSSHHH*
*BWOOOSHHH*
Both of them activate their Vein Armor and jump forward at each other. Kain retracts both of his hands to his left and swings both of his handsaws at Kasumi’s neck from the side.
*WUUSHHH*
Kasumi ducks down in midair, dodging Kain’s slash completely. She swings her katana diagonally upwards against Kain’s torso.
*ZRRRTTTT*
Purple lightning engulfs the blade of her katana.
*CTANG*
But Kain spins himself using the momentum of his own swing beforehand, to completely swing both of his handsaws 360 degrees and blocks Kasumi’s swing. The power of his full circle spin deflects Kasumi’s hold of her own katana, as her gripping strength was very weak. But Kasumi swung her right foot at Kain’s head as soon as her katana flew out of her hand.
*BAM*
“URGH!!”
Kain spins himself yet again to let her foot hit his back instead of his head. He was sent flying a bit away from her. But he quickly recovers midair and lands safely on the floor.
*BWOOSSHH*
As soon as Kasumi lands on the floor, Kain immediately rushes after her again.
“HAAAAAAAAA!!!”
*BWUNG*
He throws his red handsaw at Kasumi.
*CTANG*
Kasumi resummons her katana and deflects the red handsaw away.
*!*
*BWUUNNGG*
And then the yellow handsaw came flying at her as well during the motion; she deflected the red handsaw. Kasumi drops her body to the yellow floor below, and the yellow handsaw hits the floor and bounces off multiple times, three meters behind her. Kain runs towards Kasumi and resummons his two handsaws. Kasumi quickly stands up and lifts her katana above her head.
*!*
*ZAP*
*ZRRRRRTTTT*
A purple thunder suddenly strikes from above, hitting her katana, and her katana becomes perpetually enveloped by her purple lightning. She points her katana at Kain as he is still running towards her.
“Elegant Bolt!”
*!!!*
*ZAP*
*ZRRRAAAARRRRTTTT*
“AARRGGHH!!”
A purple thunderbolt strikes Kain on his chest from the tip of her katana.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!”
His entire body was zapped in its entirety, and his entire body became number even more.
*CTANG CTANG*
He drops his two hand saws yet again.
*THUD*
“AAAAAAAAARRRRGGHHHH!!!”
But this time, even Kain himself falls to the floor and grovels in pain as his body is still zapped by the purple lightning.
*Step step step*
Kasumi slowly walks towards Kain.
“My Faith power is called Binding Thunder. It is an Armament-type Faith power that allows me to summon this katana, in which I can channel my lightning as freely as I wish. My purple lightning will continue to zap someone for as long as I wish, but I can only bind one target with it at a time. It also works properly like normal lightning with its own electromagnetism. Metal and such easily conduct it, while rock, dirt, wood, and such are obvious isolators.”
*!*
“AAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGHHH!!”
*ZZRRTT ZZRRTTT*
Kain realizes something conflicting from her words despite her actions beforehand.
“I’ve only been using my Iai technique for my whole life, because it was a technique that connects me to someone very important to me. Though he has long left this world.”
“AAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!”
*ZZRRTTT ZZRRRTTT*
Kasumi has reached Kain and is standing near him.
“But you’ve shown me that being stubborn of only fighting using one technique made me a one-trick pony who can easily be countered. I even lost my left arm because of it. Not to mention that my Iai technique isn’t exactly perfect either, as I’ve only been taught about the very basics that can’t even be considered as fundamentals.”
“AAAAAAARRRRRGGHHH!!!”
*ZZRRRTT ZRRRTT*
“I have to break who I am to overcome this venom and win against you. Thank you for this experience! It was a real eye-opener.”
Kasumi lifts her katana upwards.
“I don’t know if I currently even have the strength to knock you out with my Vein armor, so I’m going to have to kill you to escape this venom. I apologize! But you’ve said it yourself that you’re a murderer who already took a lot of lives before this game, so it kinda made my hesitation go away a lot easier. This is going to be the first time I’ve killed someone. Don’t hate me for it! Unless you wanna release the venom that is.”
“AAAAAAAAARRRRGGHHH!!!”
*ZZRRRTTT ZZRRTTTT*
“Oh, I guess you can’t really speak like this. . .”
*!*
Kasumi discards the purple lightning from engulfing Kain’s entire body, and the pain immediately goes away.
*PANT PANT PANT PANT*
Kain is heavily breathing on the ground. He’s lying down with his face facing upwards.
“So, then, will you turn off your venom on me, the mother, and the son as well?”
*pant pant pant*
Kain gives off a grin towards Kasumi.
“It’s okay, Coldhart-san. . . *pant pant* Over my dead body! My life should end here! I am satisfied. You showed me the thrill of life and death situations. But there’s no point calling it a life and death battle if both of us lived, right?”
“. . .”
Kasumi suddenly hesitates despite her declaration. She remembers Quroe’s struggle with his killings despite him being a Judge. Now, Kasumi wonders if this is the right thing to do or not.
“Do it, Coldhart-san. . . You’re saving yourself, the mother, and the son anyway.”
“. . .I know.”
*BING BONG BING BONG*
*!!!!*
“The announcement?” said Kasumi.
“Tch! What a timing. . .” said Kain.
“Sakurai Hana has killed one of our officers, Darius!”
. . . . . . .
And then the Game Master’s voice can no longer be heard. He wasn’t being thrilled or excited as he usually was. He also never mentioned anything about how Hana killed Darius in the announcement, like he usually does.
. . . . .
“(H-Hana-san. . .?)”
Kasumi was suddenly struck with so many thoughts regarding Hana. She no longer has the will to kill and finish off Kain despite her, the mother’s, and the son’s predicament.
“Urgh!”
Kain is still lying on the yellow floor, grovelling in some leftover pain.
“. . .”
Kasumi walks to the side of Kain’s head and crouches down. She unsummons her katana, clenches her right fist, activates her Vein Armor, and gathers and exerts as much physical strength as her body currently allows.
“Go to sleep!”
*BAM*
“AARRGGHH!!”
Kasumi punches Kain in the face, but he does not lose consciousness. She resummons her katana and lifts it high above with its bottom handle facing Kain’s face.
*BAAAAAAMMMMM*
. . . . . .
Kasumi hits Kain’s face with the bottom handle of her katana as hard as she possibly can. His nose was broken as a result, and he finally lost consciousness.
*!!*
All of a sudden, Kasumi’s body stops shaking and trembling. The venoms inside her body suddenly disappeared when Kain fainted.
*SIGH*
“Finally. . .That mother and son should also be fine by now. . . *pant pant* I completely forgot that I don’t need to kill him. . . to make the venom go away. . .”
*THUD*
She falls on her back freely to the floor.
*pant pant pant*
“Master Quroe struggles so much not to kill anyone anymore. I shouldn’t tarnish his struggle just because I grew hatred towards my opponent. I must follow his brilliant example.”
. . . .
Kasumi closes her eyes and falls to sleep.
