Kasumi slowly stands up. She uses her katana as a cane to help her raise her body.
“(My chest felt incredibly painful. . . What was that? I didn’t even see it coming. . .)”
“OHOK!!”
*splat splat*
Kasumi coughs up blood yet again, and it spills to the floor.
“(If I didn’t have my Vein Armor, my lungs would’ve probably been destroyed.)”
*GRAB*
*!!!*
“Oohhh, Kasumi-san! Did I hit you too hard? I apologize! Does that hurt? Are you okay?”
All of a sudden, Hana grabbed Kasumi by the neck. She moves so fast that she couldn’t even see her coming.
*ZZRRRRTTTT*
*GRAB*
Kasumi activates her Faith power on her katana and stabs Hana in the chest, but Hana catches her katana on its blade. The purple lightning on the blade did not contact Hana’s hand at all. The thick amount of pitch black aura on her hand pushes back Kasumi’s electricity, preventing direct contact.
“Why are you so stubborn, Kasumi-san?”
“You’re not, Hana-san! WHO ARE YOU? STOP MANIPULATING HANA-SAN!! FREE HER!!”
“I have no idea what you just said. Are you daydreaming because of your wounds?”
*CTANG CTANG*
Hana pulls away Kasumi’s katana and throws it to the side.
“Kasumi-san, let me ask you one more time!”
*BAAAAMMMM*
“AAAAAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!”
Hana slams Kasumi to the floor with her back, hitting the floor really hard.
“OHORGH! OHORGH!!”
Kasumi coughs up blood once again.
*pant pant pant*
She starts panting.
“Can I go ahead and kill that guy now?”
*pant pant pant*
Kasumi did not answer. She’s too busy coughing up blood and absorbing the pain.
“May I take your silence as a yes?”
*pant pant pant*
“OHOK!! OHOK!!”
“SWEET!! IT'S TIME TO GET OUT OF THIS STUPID MAZE THEN!!”
Hana quickly lets go of Kasumi on the floor and runs towards the door to the previous room, though she isn’t running at the same speed as she was when she approached Kasumi.
*!*
When Hana reached the door, she felt that something was flying towards her, aimed at her back.
*FLAP*
*BWOOOOSSHHH*
She quickly turns around and flaps her left wing. Kasumi has stood up in pain and thrown her katana at her. Her katana was blown away by Hana’s powerful wing flap, and it fell near the sky wall, south of the room.
“Why did you stand up?”
*pant pant pant*
“WHY ARE YOU SO PERSISTENT IN PROTECTING A FUCKING MURDERER, KASUMI-SAAAAAAAANNNNN?”
*pant pant pant*
“You’re wrong. . .”
*?!*
*pant pant pant*
“I do not care even the slightest bit about that guy. . .”
*pant pant*
“. . .THEN WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?? YOU’RE GETTING IN THE WAY OF MY REUNION WITH MY KAITO-SENPAI!!”
“Because I do care about my ideals. . . I believe killing is wrong no matter the circumstances. . .”
*pant pant*
“Master Quroe is struggling so much about this. . . Seeing people inside here killing each other so easily annoyed me so much that I almost puked. . .”
*pant pant*
“THIS ISN’T ABOUT PROTECTING MURDERERS! EVERY FAULT AND BLAME SHOULD FALL TOWARDS THE GUY WHO FORCED US INTO THIS SITUATION IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE GAME MASTER!!”
*pant pant*
“THAT’S THE GUY WHO SHOULD PAY FOR EVERYONE WHO DIED INSIDE THIS GAME OF HIS!!”
*pant pant*
“MASTER QUROE IS SOMEONE WHO KILLS CRIMINALS AND WHATNOT! AND EVEN HE IS STARTING TO RETHINK HIS WAYS OF DOING THINGS, AND IT’S BEEN EATING HIM ALIVE!! THE SAVIOUR OF MY LIFE IS PONDERING SO MUCH ABOUT THIS. I WILL NOT LET ANYONE TAKE THIS MATTER LIGHTLY!! ESPECIALLY YOU, WHOEVER OR WHATEVER YOU ARE WHO’S CONTROLLING HANA-SAN!!”
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Kasumi summons her katana in her right hand and enters her battle stance.
“. . .”
She raises her katana above her head.
*ZAP ZRRRRTTTT*
“Kasumi style!”
A purple lightning strikes her blade out of nowhere.
“ELECTRIC PILLARS!!”
*ZAPPP ZRRRRKKKSSS*
Kasumi swings down her katana, hitting the floor below. A line of purple thunderbolts suddenly rained from above out of nowhere, moving and approaching where Hana stands.
“SILENCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”
Hana shouts loudly, disregarding anything Kasumi said.
*BWOOOSSHHH*
She vanishes from her spot, and Kasumi’s line of thunderbolts misses their target completely. Hana moves very quickly and approaches Kasumi with her insane speed.
*!*
When she appears right in front of her, she thrusts her right wing at Kasumi’s belly.
*CTANG*
*DAHK*
*!!!*
But somehow, someway, Kasumi was able to react to Hana’s insanely fast wing thrust. She blocked her wing with her katana and redirected its trajectory to hit the floor instead.
“HHRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
*FLAP*
*CTANG*
Hana thrusts her left wing this time at Kasumi’s right waist, but once again Kasumi was able to react to its insane speed and blocked the wing with her katana.
“(HOW?)”
*FLAP*
*CTANG*
*DAHK*
Hana thrusts her right wing again at Kasumi’s right leg, and again, Kasumi blocks the wing and redirects it towards the floor instead.
“(TCH!! WHAT’S GOING ON? I COMPLETELY OUTSPED HER, AND NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN, SHE CAN REACT TO ANYTHING I THROW AT HER??)”
Hana thrusts her left wing at Kasumi’s face. But Kasumi once again blocked her wing and redirected it to hit the floor.
“(GRRRRRRRR!!!!)”
*FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP*
*CTANG CTANG CTANG CTANG CTANG CTANG CTANG CTANG CTANG CTANG*
*DAHK DAHK DAHK DAHK DAHK DAHK DAHK DAHK DAHK DAHK*
For 2 entire minutes, Hana kept thrusting her wings left and right in succession, while Kasumi successfully blocked and redirected every single one of her wing attacks to the floor.
“(HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW? HOW DID SHE BLOCK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY WINGS? I DON’T GET IT!! HOW ON EARTH IS SHE DOING THIS?)”
“(I can do this! My danger sense couldn’t pick up her insanely fast wings! But her wings have that uneasy feeling that made me scared so much that I started sweating. The closer her wing gets to me, the more scared I become. I can easily use my own fear to react to her attacks! What a stroke of luck! I couldn’t have possibly thought of something like this if her wings didn’t give off such a dangerous feeling.)”
After realizing that none of her attacks land, Hana changes her attack. She retracts both of her black wings backward and flaps them really hard at Kasumi.
*FLAP*
*BWOOOOOSSHHH*
She sends out a powerful air blast at such a short range towards Kasumi.
*!*
But Kasumi easily saw this coming, given Hana’s insane speed. She already jumped into the air to completely avoid the air blast. The powerful air blast hits the sky wall behind and quickly disperses. Kasumi falls towards Hana with her katana ready.
“Kasumi style.”
“. . .”
“CIRCULAR SAW!!”
*CTANG CTANG*
Kasumi reaches Hana and swings her katana in a full circle vertically. Hana simply moves her two wings to cover her head and blocks the slash.
*thud*
Kasumi lands in front of Hana and immediately spins herself while crouching.
“Kasumi style: SWEEPING EDGE!”
Kasumi swings her katana in a full circle, horizontally this time, at Hana’s leg.
*FLAP*
Hana simply flaps her wings and jumps a bit into the air to completely avoid Kasumi’s attack.
*BWOOOSSHH*
*!*
Kasumi follows after Hana and jumps high into the air. She’s approaching her from below with her katana ready yet again.
“Kasumi style”
*ZRRRRRTTTTT*
Her katana shines purple with its blade completely engulfed by her purple lightning.
“ELEGANT BOLT!!”
*ZAP ZRRRRTTTT*
Kasumi thrusts her electrocuted katana right at Hana’s chest. But before her hands fully extended forward, a purple lightning bolt shot out of the tip of the katana, and the lightning bolt travelled at lightning speed towards Hana’s chest.
*ZRRRTTTTSSSSKKKK*
*!!!!*
Hana suddenly vanished right before Kasumi, making her attack miss its target completely. The purple lightning bolt hits the sky ceiling and disperses. She landed at the center of the room on the floor.
*!*
But she left out many floating black feathers all around Kasumi whilst she’s still in the air.
*ZRRRTTTT*
*!*
The black feathers around Kasumi are sparking red electricity.
“AAANNNNDDDD----”
*SNAPS*
“—DONE!!”
Hana snaps her fingers, and all of the black feathers let out a large discharge of electricity each.
*ZAP ZAP ZAP ZRRRRRKKKKKKKKSSSSSS*
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!”
Kasumi was zapped in midair as she couldn’t have possibly moved away and dodged all of the red spark discharges.
*THUMP*
Kasumi was electrocuted by red lightning for 2 entire seconds, and her body fell freely towards the floor. Her back crashes against the floor below, and she bounces up once, and now she’s lying on the floor with her face down.
*sssssshhhhhhhhhh*
Her body has steam coming off from the heat of the red lightning.
“(Dammit. . . She has lightning powers too. . . And a lot more powerful than mine as well. . .)”
*pant pant*
“(How many Faith powers does she have?)”
*pant pant*
“(First that aura of hers, and then the black wings. . . and now red lightning. . . Who on earth are you, Hana-san?)”
Kasumi raises herself by pushing against the floor with her right hand.
“Hrrrrrggghhhhh!!! Aaaaaaarrrggghhhhh!!!”
She’s in so much pain from simply moving her body. Her muscles felt numb, and her skin felt very hot from the zap.
*pant pant*
She’s sitting on her knees as she tries to catch her breath.
*Thud*
Hana flies towards Kasumi quickly and lands right in front of her.
“You had enough, Kasumi-san?”
*pant pant*
“You’ve been out of breath so many times beforehand. You’re pushing yourself way past your limit. Stop being so stubborn, give up, and lie down!”
*pant pant pant*
“Not answering? So stubborn.”
Hana lifts her right hand above her head and straightens her palm.
*ZAP ZRRRRTTTT*
Red lightning sparks violently on it, and it extends to 1 meter in length.
“I’ll relieve you of your pain! Go to sleep now!”
Hana swings her hand down at Kasumi’s head.
*ZAAAPPPP ZZZRRRRRKKKKKSSSSS*
*!!!*
Once again, Kasumi moved away from her spot on the floor. She activated her Vein armor and exerted her entire body to its absolute limit, and jumped away from a lying position on the floor. She lands and stands 3 meters to Hana’s right.
*SIGH*
Hana lets out a giant sigh of exhaustion, not from physical exhaustion, but a mental one.
“This is a waste of time. . .”
*pant pant pant*
Kasumi is still catching her breath, but has her katana ready, and she points it at Hana. Hana looks carefully at Kasumi’s eyes and sees that there is no sign of giving up at all. Her eyes are full of determination, gazing at the truth of her ideals, no matter who stands in her way.
“No. . .”
And that firm gaze pisses off Hana even more.
“No. . .”
Hana puts both of her hands on the sides of her head.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
*BWOOOOOSSSHHHHH*
The pitch black aura surrounding her entire body rages wildly and goes awry.
*!!*
“(The uneasiness intensifes a lot. . .)”
Kasumi starts sweating from how scared she feels.
“THIS WON’T DO, KASUMi-SAAANNN!!! FOR EVERY SECOND I REALIZED I COULD’VE BEEN REUNITED WITH KAITO-SENPAI, BUT THEN I REALIZED I AM NOT, I AM LOSING MY FUCKING MIND!!!”
*!!!*
And then all of a sudden, Hana appeared behind Kasumi. She already thrusted her wings right at Kasumi’s neck from both sides.
“(I can’t react. . . I’m dead. . .)”
. . . .
“(Master Quroe. . .)”
Quroe’s face flashed really quickly inside Kasumi’s head.
Hana is 100% trying to kill Kasumi just now. But then----
*!!!*
Kasumi was suddenly engulfed by a bright white light that turned into a sphere.
*DAHK DAHK*
“URGH!”
Her two wings were deflected immediately, and she was launched away from how close she was standing to Kasumi.
A bright white light shoots out of the top of the sphere towards the sky ceiling high above. The bright white light pierced through the ceiling of the room, but it didn’t break it. The bright white light and the sphere turn slowly into lilac purple.
Hana has landed 5 meters away from the sphere of light.
“Is that. . .?”
After a few seconds, the lilac purple sphere breaks apart and reveals Kasumi on the inside.
“Are you kidding me??”
“. . .”
Kasumi looks at her own body and appearance.
“Is this. . .Second State?”
Kasumi Coldhart has unlocked and entered Second State.
