Hunting Darkness

Chapter 37

~Black Mist~ I fly swiftly through the night, and Mizuki follows on the ground. She seems to be catching up fairly well. I look ahead, and I see three glowing figures plus one whitish black. They've arrived.

We stop three feet from each other. Astral and I stare each other down. Astral grins.

"Well, Brother. Now that we're here, how about one of your games?"

"Not really up to it," I respond.

"What a shame, Kasai. I was hoping to have fun."

"Oh, no, no, no. I just want blood tonight." I smirk. "No games."

Astral matches my grin. "What a coinquidink. My light side promised I could do the exact same." He crosses his arms. "Fair fight or play dirty?"

"Astral!" Justice exclaims.

"Play dirty," I say, ignoring the Warrior.

"Weapons or no?"

"None."

"Tag team or single?"

"Single. This'll be between you and me."

Astral uncrosses his arms, then snaps once, pause, twice. The three fall back reluctantly.

~Dark Astral~ As the three fall back, Black Mist stares calmly at me. I know he's boiling mad, though.

"You might want to back off, Shiro, " I tell the white feline. " If you get killed, Astral may never let me hear the end of it."

Obediently, Shiro hops off of my shoulder and into the hands of Asterite. I grin.

"Now, shall we start?" Black Mist gets into a battle stance, and he attacks before I can even register he moved.

I crash into the ground, and I stay down for a while, catching my breath. I grin, and I get up, ramming my head into Brother's chest. When I do, I feel a little dizzy, but it's nothing.

Brother falls back, then he attacks with his tentacles. I block with my own.

~Black Mist~ When Astral blocks my tendrils with his own, I'm slightly taken aback. Then, I grin. "Interesting," I purr. "So, you can use them, too. Very interesting."

"I'm a quick learner, " he explains. "Very helpful, by the way."

"Oh yes. Very." I chuckle and strike again, intending to stab his neck.

Astral anticipates this move and drops harshly, catching himself before he hits the ground. I scowl.

We rush at each other and clash, throwing expertly-aimed punches, kicks, and stabs at each other. Needless to say, we're pretty much even in power. We can hardly even land blows. This evil side is much stronger than I anticipated. Astral finally makes one fatal mistake : he lets his guard down for a second. I take advantage of that and strike my fist against his temple.

"Astral!" Asterite screams, and the cat mews as well.

Astral goes back to his normal self and lays on the floor, unconscious. I laugh in triumph.

"Tell your precious leader that we'll continue this another time when he can better control the two sides," I taunt. I fly off with Mizuki in tow.