Elegy: Lost Shadow

The security guard laid on the ground inside the booth as he thought, Another clash of magic…Let's see, that should be the boy's now…..and then. Oh, I see ... .that's where you are. He got back to his feet. "It's been so long, I was starting to think that I wouldn't find you. I am sure it will be fine if I leave here. Asa will have it covered, I hope."

 Meanwhile,

     Out of the five hexagonal pieces that replaced the cross guard on his blue crystalline estoc, the four that surrounded the center piece began rotating around it. No sooner had they started than water began condensing around the blade. 

     In front of him, four spheres of water began forming. They stood at eight meters from each other as though they were vertices of a square.

      The Panthera Leo Krugeri bystier roared as it released two fireballs from its mane and a stream of flames from its maw.

       "Water art: Discordant Torrent " he exclaimed as the four spheres each released a stream of water. The streams of water converged at the center of the imaginary square and formed a circular layer of water made up of four streams of water, flowing in opposing directions.

      Upon impact,  the flames from the  fireballs scattered as steam formed. For only an instant, the stream of flames made contact with the circular mass of water. After which, they moved from each other generating space between them as they both tried to repel each other.

      Kano grinded his teeth as he felt the water pushing him back. His feet barreled into the ashen soil as he tried to hold his own. 

      Gradually, the circular mass of water began to thin out. "Damn it!" He exclaimed as the stripe that wrapped itself around his elbow tightened. He groaned in pain as he clenched the hilt of his blade that much tighter.

"No….Water Art: Discordant Torrent;  ALPHA CASCADE."

      The glow around the estoc increased as the blue aura from the rest of his body shifted and became concentrated in his left arm. From the rest of his body, a black aura began being released. The four hexagonal pieces began rotating much faster. 

       As soon as the water that condensed around the blade scattered,  the five hexagonal pieces disappeared. At the center of the circular mass of water, a blue light appeared as they began forming from it.  They were increasing in size.

      As they were forming,  the water scattered. The stream of flames then made contact with them. As soon as they made contact, a Shockwave was generated forcing not only him but the bystier back.

      He crashed into the ground as he continued hyperventilating. The five hexagonal pieces then reappeared on his blade. He felt droplets of water strike his body as the sound of drizzle meeting the ground echoed across his mind. His body began shivering as his eyes changed from blue to black.

      The beast groaned as it began breathing heavily. It then started taking steps towards him. He forced himself back to his knees as he struggled to catch his breath. His fingers were twitching. He could barely keep holding his sword.

      As he was watching the beast walking towards him, he saw someone running towards them from behind it. Their head was covered by a hood as they wore a black coat with gray stripes outlining the edges of the coat.

      As soon as they got close, they jumped, their target, the back of the beast. The bystier's eyes rolled to its right as it saw them descending at the corner of its eye. No sooner had it seen them than they landed on it back. They delivered a blow to the back of its skull.

      As Kano looked on, his eyes widened as he saw its skull burst. Its eyes popped out as its blood splattered on the ground. The bystier then fell to the ground. 

     He saw them stand on top of the beast as they were looking towards the sky, the rain washing  off the blood that stained their bull patterned mask. That gray and black mask. Their arm was drenched in blood as it swung with every move they made. 

    Their gaze shifted towards him, a blue gem stone swinging from the necklace they wore. He clenched the hilt of his blade tightly before he dashed towards the stranger. He swung his blade aiming it at the stranger. He was hyperventilating as he felt everything blur out for a moment.

      "The hell are you trying to do," the stranger said, even with a blade pointed right at him, he never stopped walking,  not even for an instant. 

      "Lose the mask," Kano ordered as he stared directly at the stranger. He clenched the hilt even tighter.

       They sighed in return as they took it off. They also removed the hood covering their head. Silver eyes? White hair? He wondered as took a look at his face.

       "Now that I have done what you asked of me, I want you to do something for me as well," he said before he placed his left hand into the pocket on his coat. He pulled out a grapefruit.  The fruit's outer layer was partially tanned silver.

      "I want you to eat this," he added.

"Right, like I am just going to accept to eat something from a stranger. Besides, I can tell, there is nothing normal about that fruit," Kano replied as he thought, it's laced with alot of magic. It is essentially him telling me to eat poison. 

       Kano went for a vertical slash as his blade became enveloped in a blue aura. The glow of the stranger's eyes brightened as his hand became enveloped in a silver aura. He grabbed the blade with his left hand. He pushed it away before he leaped backwards. His right arm was still swinging.

      "You know, I would advise you against resisting…just eat the damn fruit. Listen, as things stand right now, your body is in an excitable state. If you stay like that for too long, your dark attribute will spiral out of control," he said before he smiled.

      "I don't care,  I still won't eat it. That thing is imbued in way too much magic." The former replied as he continued hyperventilating. 

     "Have it your way….just try and resist." The sound of sparks began being heard around the stranger's body.

      Kano dashed towards him before he said, "Water Art: Shifting Tide." He went for a horizontal slash swinging from his left to right.

     The stranger's eyes rolled to his right as he saw the blade moving towards him. He jumped to avoid it before placing his left hand on its blunt, he flipped through and delivered an axe kick to Kano's shoulder forcing him to let go of the blade.

    He let go of the blade as he placed both his hands on the ground preventing himself from crashing face first into the ground. He rolled to his right to avoid the descending stranger. He got back to his knees as he aimed two fingers from his left hand at him. "Water bullets."

    His opponent dodged the incoming volley.  The former slowly made it to his feet, as soon as he did, he briefly stopped to catch his breath.  He had only shot ten bullets in total.

     In that brief moment, the stranger dashed towards him, fainting an uppercut before delivering a knee to his torso. This forced him to open his mouth.

     He forced the fruit into Kano's mouth, crashing it in the process. He grabbed, shut Kano's mouth before slamming him to the ground.  He then removed his hand before he exhaled. 

     Before he could even realize it, his mouth was bleeding and he had already swallowed the fruit. He grabbed his mouth as he could taste his own blood. His aura dissipated as he looked at the stranger's silver glowing eyes looking down on him. The necklace he wore was still dangling. The shade of black in Kano's eyes darkened as a murder of crows emerged from the trees. They flew around the sky, flames coating their talons as they flew north.

     As he looked at the sky, covering his mouth as blood was dripping from it, he began screaming.  He felt as though every muscle in his body was about to burst. The stranger then smiled before he shifted his gaze towards Anemone.  She was lying helplessly on the ground,  barely hanging on. Her breath ran shallow as her pulse too was slowing down.