Fists' Answer

As one would expect from Seiji, the battle crazed, a wide eager smile of excitement grew across his face. “I like the sound of that!” He pounded his fists together working himself up. The fight turned out to be a lot more than hoped for and it only got better, in his mind. This fight more than made up for how annoying his last fight was.

She never showed her true form to anyone since she never had a need for it. Training never required it and service made it even more pointless. She hardly had any practice using it. The strain that she put on her body while in it worried her. Nerine didn’t know how long she could keep up with it. She knew that she needed to compete with Seiji.

However, even amongst the worry her body felt calm and at ease. The bruises and wounds that she took gave her no sign of pain. She felt ready for it, even wanting it. ‘It’s a strange feeling doing this… I don’t get the same feeling from the start of the fight…’

The light faded away revealing Nerine’s final form. A new outfit replaced her Atlantean uniform, which received extensive damage. Her new clothes left her barefoot in close fitting dark purple pants with a matching shirt. Over top, a tanned brown vest kept the shirt from a loose hold on her figure. A white waistcloth closed the seam between pants and shirt, while also matching the wrapped strips of cloth that tied down at the ends of her limbs.

Her empty Field no longer held any weapons. She looked more exposed then before, but a new light gathered at her legs and arms. Metal enclosed her limbs completely until only her vest and waistcloth remained. The metal ran completely smooth with a simple design that didn’t try to appear flashy. Engravings lined the metal along the wrist and ankles. A strong sturdy presence came from them in their simplicity. They were meant for nothing but combat with no elegance.

Nerine held up her hands sliding into an offensive stance. “I’m ready.”

“Let’s see what the hell it can do!” Seiji charged forward with his fists raised to begin the first damn attack.

Chapter 151 – Fists’ Answer

Seiji’s fists met with a damn column of flame in front of him. His fist only made it part way in before he stopped. It left his skin slightly burned, but it gave the distraction that Nerine needed. She appeared around at his flank just after he pulled back. Her fist stretched out, leveling a crushing blow. Seiji’s cheek took the hit and spun him through the air.

Jetting with the thrust of her weapons, Nerine charged forward after Seiji to keep up the assault. However, Seiji righted his body and slammed into the earth throwing back debris from his feet. He sprinted off, not allowing even the rocks time to settle. His arm raised up taking the blow from Nerine’s next punch. The impact sliced a shockwave that tore up the earth between them and threw up the chunks into the air.

Nerine’s fist rattled against Seiji’s forearm for a few moments. She then brought in her other fist to punch through his open side. Not taking the defensive block, Seiji dodged a little and grabbed her arm. It took her by surprise, but she quickly responded with a kick at him. He didn’t wait for her leg as he threw her away.

He jumped off from the ground crashing through the careless cast aside debris towards his target. Seiji extended his arm going for a quick punch through her defenseless body. His punch didn’t fully make it in before she spun around in the air kicking Seiji in the head. Whether stubborn or through momentum, Seiji’s body didn’t budge from the hit. Nerine followed it up with another, spinning around to bring her foot down from above. The crash blew out wind that sent the debris flying into projectiles that cratered the ground hundreds of meters away.

Seiji took the kick and sped down to the ground from the force. When the earth came up to him, he landed in a knelt position. He still managed to crater the area, throwing up chunks of rock again. His head tilted up to see Nerine shooting herself down with her leg extended. Seiji braced him for the impact, but caught water as Nerine spun downward. Immediately behind the water, flames burst out casting steam through the area.

The steam created a fog-like mist that made it too thick for Seiji to see through. Nerine took advantage of the poor visibility and unleashed a powerful array of blows. Each impact blew out parts of the mist until nothing remained to hide Seiji.

She jumped back to measure him up after her assault. ‘He’s still holding strong, but it looks like I’m hurting him.’

While Seiji held no serious injuries, his body dripped with blood. His face had blood dripping from both sides of his lips and a long stream down the side of his face. Bruises lined the muscles of his chest and arms where he took hits. Only his endurance kept him from collapsing from the attacks. Seiji felt a little heavy on breath, but still grinned. “Hell yeah! I’m feeling those punches nicely!”

Nerine still felt a little confused by his overly eager sense of battle. Her head tilted a little. “You’re taking this with an unusual amount of excitement for a fight. Don’t you have any anger?”

“Why should I feel angry when I’ve got such a fun fight? There’s nothing better than exchanging blows with a worthy opponent and seeing how far you can push your limits!”

“I’m not sure I understand those feelings. Especially for someone that’s supposed to be a rebel.”

“Don’t sweat the small stuff. Let’s just enjoy the fight and see who’s standing at the end!” Seiji grinned at her wanting to resume the fight.

The infectious nature of Seiji's enthusiasm caught on to Nerine more than she realized. She caught herself smiling again. “I’ll admit I’m curious as well.”

“Well let’s not let talking slow us down!”

“Agreed.”

They charged for each other. Nerine threw out her fist directing columns of earth at him from her hands. Seiji rammed his fists through them and shattered the hardened earth to pieces. When he reached the end, Nerine was already gone to a different side. He picked up a couple of the pieces, throwing them at her when found her new position. They passed through her eventually disappearing.

Nerine ran directly for him, throwing her leg down into the ground a meter away from him. The impact blasted chunks of earth away directed at Seiji. Through the debris, she sent flames to engulf everything. Molten pieces landed on Seiji, as he blocked. It burned at his skin until he cast it aside. During the distraction, Nerine came in behind and unleashed a spin kick against him that he barely got an arm up to block.

It still sent him flying away off his feet, while a destructive shockwave ate through the terrain. Nerine bounced through the air and shot towards Seiji. She appeared over top of him to punch him into the ground. However, he grabbed her wrist, reducing most of the force to only a minor air wave that blew a small hole into the earth. She tried with her other fist only to meet the same results.

They found a stalemate in a strength check, but Seiji held the greater strength. She already understood that from before and rediscovered that fact as the metal complained to her. It kept reforming through the will of her mind, but she couldn’t keep up with him in a direct brute force exchange. Nerine poured water over her armor and charged it with electricity. It forced Seiji to release her and still carry a charge that jumped around his muscles for seconds afterward. She spun around delivering a kick into his ribs that his arm failed to block. It sent him off in a new direction.

Air kicks turned around Nerine and directed her to Seiji. As she neared him, he slammed his fists in the ground bringing him to a sudden stop. It sent her flying past him, over shooting her target. While she recovered from her mistake, Seiji went on the offensive. He charged through the remaining debris chunks punching through a large piece into Nerine. Already off balance, Nerine flew off her feet. Her body careened into the air with him closing the gap.

Seiji delivered several blows to Nerine, each punch vibrating through the area. The last sent her flying back down to the ground. He had to wait for his body to stop moving upward, before he could descend. The recovery time for Seiji gave Nerine all she needed to escape Seiji’s drop. His fist rammed into the earth up to his elbow with the force he pushed through. He glanced over to the direction that Nerine dodged and ripped his arm free, casting debris in her direction.

Nerine spun her leg around lighting up a quick inferno before washing it all with wind to reverse the direction. Flaming chunks of earth sped towards Seiji. It forced him to swat them down and break through to reach Nerine, but she already moved to a new location.

She appeared speeding in from an air kick catching Seiji off-guard in the cheek. The hit sprayed blood with a shockwave ripping through the earth. Seiji tumbled over but in the last second grabbed Nerine by her vest and brought her with him. He slammed her into the ground as he spun away. His body fought to twist around and gain footing on the ground landing a couple of meters away from her. The plan to follow up had to be put on hold as Nerine staggered up and forced herself to speed towards him with another air punch.

Seiji jumped out of the way, as Nerine’s fist hit the ground. All of the earth exploded outward, digging a quick shallow crater. She slowly pulled herself up panting heavily, but closed her mouth and charged anyway. Nerine leapt into the air, bouncing through the air with kicks and punches to hit at Seiji from all sides. He barely kept up with the barrage and as he staggered back. Blood sprayed with each punch and earth rent around them.

Even Seiji found his breathing difficult and his body sore. He felt certain that she might have broken one of his damn ribs with all of the blows that he took. However, he didn’t care. All he did was grin and keep up his defense. When she paused for a split second to recover, Seiji charged in with his fist landing a solid hit on her torso. It rang out and knocked Nerine back a little. Some fresh blood dripped from her lips, but she ignored it going back in.

Their exhaustion tore away their interest in defense or anything fancy. Seiji didn’t feel the full strength of his punches anymore. Nerine couldn’t feel her arms or legs. Her body felt like it turned to paste from everything she took. The protection afforded to her was the special properties of her clothes, which was the only thing that saved her from Seiji killing her out right.

Even though their fight completely changed the landscape of the area, the intensity that they laid into each other with their fists didn’t diminish. Their knees buckled a little with each blow landed, but their body refused to give in. Each punch cracked the ground around them. Quakes echoed away from their feet like the sound of a thousand stampeding animals.

They could not stop.

Both held wide grins on their faces.

After an impossible display of stamina, the winner finally surfaced. Nerine’s last punch stopped against Seiji’s chest, no longer moving. Weakness in her arm spread into her body until her legs no longer had the strength. She fell down into the dirt, her armor fading and uniform appearing on her body. The dirt Field around her remained, a sign her consciousness hung on thinly. Her breathing ran her throat course until she didn’t think she could take it any longer.

Seiji smiled content. “…I…won…” His legs fell out from underneath him. He collapsed on his back with his chest heaving. “I haven’t had an enjoyable fight like that since my times with Yuki. Thank you!”

Nerine rolled over on her back, matching Seiji’s position. The two warriors end up nearly at each other's sides. She felt at ease with the fight, even though she lost. “It’s strange… I don’t feel bothered losing…” Her eyes glanced over at him. “I’m actually pleased… I don’t know why…”

“That’s because you had fun!”

“Fun?” She pulled her gaze back up to the night sky. “Is that it?”

Seiji lifted himself up enough to sit. “Hell yeah!” He tightened his hand into a fist to emphasize the accuracy of his answer. “You know what having fun is, right?”

“Have you read the background on Atlantis?”

“…oh…right…”

She joined Seiji to sit. The soreness and broken body did not matter to her. “…hmm…” He looked at her with the same eyes as before, even after everything. She was no more than a fight and that thought actually made her happy.

“You’re not going to give any more explanation to that are you?”

“The implications are enough for the audience, if they haven’t figured it all out yet they’ll know in twenty chapters.”

He still didn’t feel better, but his strength started to return. Seiji stood up and offered a hand out to Nerine. The toll of the fight he knew had to be even worse for her. ‘She actually pushed me to my limits…’

Nerine stood up still holding his hand. He grinned back at her. She found it just as infectious as before, even with all of the grime and blood that coated his face. “You’re the first person to see only me without any of the titles or masks…” It seemed a little odd to her that it would be a stranger, a rebel that did. He was supposed to be the enemy. She glanced over at the camp. “You’ve defeated me. So I’ll let you pass and look for your comrade.”

“Thanks! I’d like to fight with you again sometime!”

Nerine tilted her head a little smiling back at him. “Yeah, I think I’d like that!”

The sky suddenly seemed to go pitch black with all of the stars bloated out. Time slowed down for Seiji. A strange wind of bloodlust carried through the air. It immediately made his eyes narrow and shift around. He caught sight of a flash of white light moving in a fast arc towards Nerine. She was too fatigued to react and Seiji still felt his body’s sluggish movements drag him down. He didn’t know if he could make it in time. “Look out!” Seiji leapt out in front, his face painted with panic.

“Traitorous actions will not be forgiven!” slithered a deep voice from the void of shadows. A low grunt came from them in response to a wet spray.

Seiji groaned in pain. A deep slash ran diagonally across his arm, blood sprayed across the interloper’s face. He pushed back with his good arm at the attacker. “Why are you attacking your ally?!”

A wicked smirk lined the individual’s face. “Allies don’t act friendly and aid the enemy!” Behind the two of them, Nerine let out a deep bloody scream.

Confused, Seiji turned to find that both of Nerine’s arms laid on the ground and blood sprayed everywhere. Seiji’s face wrinkled and turned dark. Damn shadow masked out his eyes. He tilted head back around at his enemy. His clenched fists tensed up the muscles in his arm. The rage inside boiled up in his body providing him with new fuel. He took a step forward. The spot that his foot landed cracked and bent in. “I’m going to kill you! You bastard!”