Fragile Steel

Several thoughts flashed through Seiji’s mind. He thought of the difficult position he found himself in. His life was moments away from being stolen. He could have another loss. He thought of what would happen to Nerine if he failed. Seiji couldn’t stand such a thought. She didn’t do a damn thing wrong. ‘She fought well and followed orders. She shouldn’t be executed for such behavior. I won’t let her die!’

While Seiji knelt motionless before Cosmas, he slipped behind drawing up his swords for the finishing blow. A small cackle escaped his lips, still plastered with a smirk. “Guess it won’t even be ten seconds.” Cosmas brought his arms down creating two arcs of white through the air.

The ground cracked a little underneath Seiji foretelling an ominous event. Seiji’s face narrowed severely, drawing down his eyebrows until they covered up the top part of his eyes. He spun around grabbing one of the blades with his bare hand. Blood spurt from his hand mixing with ash. The other sword embedded in his right shoulder spraying up blood in the air. Seiji’s eyes turned pale as a faint shine covered his chest.

Cosmas narrowed his focus, struggling with Seiji’s strength. The smirk disappeared beneath his determined grunting. He didn’t understand how Seiji kept going, but was so close to finishing him. “That stubbornness won’t save you…”

Seiji pushed back with his body starting to stand up. Blood burst up again from his shoulder as he forced the blade in deeper. ‘Sorry Yuki…but this is one man I can’t forgive!’ Suddenly, hundreds of papers materialized from the air looping around his disabled arm. They kept spinning around his arm faster until becoming a blur. Their loops became smaller until sticking to his skin. The paper quickly wrapped up his arm, closing up the two long wounds and molding his arm back into one. A stronger glow came from his arm as it began to move stiffly.

A deep roar welled up from inside Seiji. He took hold of both weapons and stood to his full height. The act left Cosmas a little stunned and confused. Seiji stepped forward forcing Cosmas back. His hands tightened around the blades, shattering them to pieces. Once freed from their threat, Seiji slammed his foot into the ground, breaking it up around him. He rammed his fist into Cosmas’ chest.

The punch blasted out a shockwave around the Field slicing up metal. Cosmas nearly folded around Seiji’s arm from the rushing force. A moment later Cosmas flew away, the impact finally carried through his body creating momentum. Trails of dust sped off Cosmas as he careened over the ground before finally cast into the earth.

Seiji stood over it all with his fist still extended and the look on his face unforgivingly harsh.

Chapter 153 – Fragile Steel

It took almost a minute for Cosmas to recover. He still felt shaken. The arrogance knocked off his face by Seiji. He pulled himself up coughing periodically. Once he stood up, he forced it all down. Cosmas focused himself to keep the fight going. However, he coughed again with blood spraying through his teeth. ‘Impossible!’ He looked down at his bloodied hand.

The darkness that surrounded him disappeared, but it actually made him appear even more sinister. It turned the air foul and a deathly atmosphere surfaced. Cosmas wiped away the blood from his face. “Don’t think you can actually win!” His hands took hold of two new swords unlike the past ones. The blades were serrated to a ghastly appearance with black forged metal. “Forcing me to get serious…it’s been a while…”

None of the crappy posturing made an impression on Seiji. He began marching towards Cosmas with a look that said ‘I’m finishing this’. However, Cosmas didn’t give Seiji a chance to make an attack. Five damn forms of Cosmas appeared around the Field. Seiji panned his eyes around trying already knowing what Cosmas had planned. He charged forward to the one that he knew was Cosmas before he had a chance. Seiji rammed his fist into Cosmas, but it burst through weakly coughing up blood on Seiji. A shitty fake, he realized too late.

A flash of black arced through Seiji’s back. Blood sprayed from his body. Not even flinching, Seiji spun around, throwing out his arm. Bone cracked painfully as his forearm slammed into Cosmas’ neck snapping instantly and killing him. The force still sent his body flying away until it disappeared. ‘Another…he’s afraid…I don’t care!’ Rage ran uncontrollable through his eyes as he thrust off from his feet. He quickly took out three more fakes before the others got a few more swings on him.

Mocking laughter erupted again, but no longer from a specific source. Cosmas' voice broadcasted through the air as though each particle emitted his words. It proved impossible to locate or escape. “I’ve been doing this since before you were born. You can’t beat me!”

The laughing started to grate on his nerves, however Seiji had no room for frustration in his body. Unforgivable anger filled every corner of him. He couldn’t even understand the first step of Cosmas willingly killing allies. All Seiji could do was swing his fists around destroying each bitch ass fake. ‘He’s in here somewhere. I’ll keep killing him until it’s the right one!’

Nerine’s appearance quickly became paler with each passing minute. Her stumps might have been bandaged, but it didn’t stop the blood from flowing. She coughed periodically with each making her head feel even lighter and foggier. Her body felt tired. It begged her for rest, yet she denied it. The fear of death didn’t hold her on to reality. The sight of Seiji struggling painfully because of her kept her attached to the world. She still had trouble understanding it. ‘He’s already so injured, how can he keep going? What’s holding his body together?’ Her eyes remained transfixed by him burning everything in her mind.

Blood dripped upon the weapons of the Field. Seiji stormed across to deal with another batch of fakes. He already killed more than twenty of them without finding the real damn one. Through all of the rage, he realized that the numbers never decreased. ‘Endless…’

Cosmas orchestrated his fakes to make quick attacks on Seiji that focused on speed over power. He planned to chip away at him until he fell. It wasn’t a tactic that he had to use often, but against ones with the endurance to overcome him head-to-head, it was effective. He would eventually win.

The fight felt a little disappointing once he got serious. It always bored him when he had to do things more roundabout. An execution had to be direct and exact. The fact he hadn’t yet won felt like a bit of a failure in his job. He still had to deal with Nerine after the rebel.

He felt the battle starting to wind to a close with Seiji covered in small wounds all over his body. Blood coated most of his bare chest. It soaked into his pants. The fact he stood still after everything was impressive. “You’ve become so boring. You were much more interesting when you weren’t just swinging your fists around aimlessly.”

Seiji panted heavily from his spot, glaring at all of the copies of Cosmas. They all looked completely identical and their swords just as real. His body screamed at him, but he refused to listen. Everything in his eyes focused on Cosmas. He needed to bring him out.

Roaring with blood trailing off him, Seiji dug into the ground to increase his speed. He disappeared from the sight of Cosmas. Explosions of Seiji’s powerful fists erupted around him. Half of the clones died horrific manners before fading away. Cosmas replaced them immediately, but it was difficult to keep up. His hand subconsciously wiped away a bead of sweat from the side of his face. ‘Persistent still…’

All of the clones died at his hands, but they came back. Seiji paused with them all surrounding him. They didn’t wait to attack. He fended them off with relative ease. However, none of them were the real one. ‘I’ve killed them all! Where is he?! Where is he hiding?’

Seiji rammed his fist into the earth casting chunks in all directions along with a powerful shockwave. It ripped apart the shitty clones. Hunks of stone claimed the remaining bastards. His head glanced up at the terrain around him. Even all of the effort still brought on more of the same Cosmas. In fact, he was certain the numbers increased. It made Seiji slam his hand into the ground again, blasting out another chunky shockwave.

The pounding made Cosmas legs vibrate and stagger. He found the frustration rather amusing. “Finally reached your end, eh? Giving up!? I told you couldn’t win! It’s futile! I will kill you and then I’ll kill the woman you turned!” Another quake broke through the ground nearly knocking Cosmas off his feet. He didn’t understand Seiji’s purpose, so he just laughed.

Pounding out a repeating pattern into the ground, Seiji built himself a deeper crater. He grounded out his teeth at the thought of Cosmas making good on his boast. Seiji took one final swing into the earth. Light blasted out from his wrapped arm. Chunks of earth sliced up in an instant and flew away surfing the shockwave.

Seiji’s eyes widened for a second and he disappeared.

Cosmas glanced around expecting to see his clones dying, but nothing. Silence pervaded the air. Not even the explosive weight of feet echoed. He held his breath and lowered his grin a bit. Confusion sank in as the seconds became prolonged. ‘Where’d he go? Did he flee?’

“…behind you…” whispered a deep menacing voice.

Only two words entered Cosmas’ ears, but it made his body run cold. The voice penetrated so deeply into his body even he didn’t understand why it bothered him. Sweat dripped down his face. His eyes slowly peeled behind him wanting to know who stood behind him, while his mind already knew.

Cosmas tilted around, finally confirming Seiji towered over him. A dozen thoughts sped through his mind in the single second he stared. ‘Impossible, I’m invisible!’ However, Seiji stared down at him with no doubt in his face that he found Cosmas. The next second came and Cosmas swung his swords down at Seiji, but they never made it.

Seiji grabbed Cosmas’ forearms while still in motion, predicting his action. Even though he fought with someone he couldn’t see, his hands didn’t lie to him. His hands tightened around his arms to crushing pressure. Wrinkles grew around Seiji’s forehead and eyes. The shaking in his hands didn’t stop. Seiji teetered on the line. His rage told him to follow his emotions. The light bits of reason he regained suggested something else that he didn’t want to consider.

Everything still tried to process through Cosmas’ head. The pain in his arms blocked some of his focus. He tried to escape, but could only gather his clones to deal with Seiji. ‘I’m completely invisible with no flaws…how…How?! How?! All he was doing was punching the earth! How did he find me?’ Strain on his bones from Seiji’s hands snapped him back and shattered his concentration.

The invisibility granted to Cosmas faded away. The sight of Cosmas made Seiji’s hands latch down harder. Seiji saw the other clones coming in at him. He didn’t back down from his hold of Cosmas. Rather, Seiji forced Cosmas’ arms to block the incoming swings. Using his available leg, he kicked the clone out of the Field before swinging Cosmas’ whole body to knock out another. “I’m not letting you go!”

Forcibly overextended, Cosmas joints in his arm complained to him. He knew that he could do nothing to break free through strength alone. ‘How is someone this strong? It’s not possible!’ The use of clones was pointless as Cosmas saw with the way Seiji swung him. His body felt bruised and nearly broken from the violent swing.

Awestruck, Nerine needed all the time to figure out what Seiji had just done. Her mind became more sluggish, she realized, as she knew what he did was very simple. ‘He used the shockwaves from his punches to figure out the location from the slight disruptions caused by colliding with the invisible body. To figure that out in the middle of fighting… Is his mind winning over his heart?’

Seiji dropped Cosmas back to the ground, still holding his arms. The crippling state of Cosmas put him towering over him. He nearly snapped his arms in two in the motion. It had him at his mercy. Seiji felt his hands hesitating in what he wanted to do. He delayed. “…can’t…forgive…”

Amongst the difficult stance, Cosmas regained some of his composure and with it, his focus. He coughed against the pain in his arms. “Thought you were going to kill me…”

A flip of Seiji eyes locked onto Cosmas. He saw the weak smirk growing back. It channeled his emotions back into his arms. “…you…” Seiji roared aloud.

Cosmas managed a small laugh. “Can’t go through, eh?” He narrowed his eyes as they renewed their deathly gaze. “Don’t worry, I’ll show you how to do it right.” A faint flash reflected in his eyes.

Seiji’s eyes slid around his head as he spun around seeing the meaning of his words. Numerous swords flew through the air targeting the crippled Nerine. Seiji didn’t hesitate in what he had to do. He threw Cosmas’ body into the path of the weapons.

The unexpected throw cast Cosmas through his Field. A dust cloud of metal and earth covered his body and route, but it came to a stop in front of Nerine only a few meters away. Swords disappeared into the cloud in silence.

After the throw, Seiji disappeared to stand next to Nerine. He looked down at her making sure nothing got through to her. Nothing appeared through the cloud. However, a weak laugh made its way to him. It alerted him to the survival of Cosmas. ‘…damn…’

A shadow surfaced from the cloud before it faded away. Cosmas regained all of his arrogance and stature. The moments before did not even seem to register to him. His lips stretched and raised in an awful grin. “You didn’t think that would actually hurt me did you?” Veils of dust blew away to reveal Cosmas completely unharmed by his weapons, though dirtied from the fall. “Did you think that someone from the Omega Division would actually fall for that?!”

“Omega Division?” questioned Seiji, his face showed little interest in the meaning of the words.

Nerine’s face widened with shock. “Out here?! It can’t be!”

“We’re everywhere…always watching…” Cosmas warned. His face narrowed a bit to focus on Seiji. “However, that’s all the time I have for a dead traitor and rebel…”

Seiji’s face twisted in confusion, but changed quickly. He heard Nerine groan and cough weakly before collapsing next to him. It pulled him away from Cosmas. One of the swords pierced through her chest. He stretched out for her, but found more than a dozen blades running him through from his arms and legs to his chest. Seiji coughed up blood still futilely trying to reach out to Nerine. His arm ignored the sword pushing the blade through. He managed to reach her hand before her eyes closed and his soon to follow.