The cold breeze passed by, fog in the distance. The heavy snowflakes created almost 3 or 4 feet of snow. Trees blocking most of the view. Jay stood there panting holding a sword in his right hand, his left hand was on his right arm covering a wound where blood was dripping down to his palm. Blood also dripped down from his head, he could even taste it in his mouth.
His opponent in front of him, brown hair in a ponytail, face covered by a shadow. The only feature you could tell was his black eyes. Piercing. A black cloak that reached down his ankles though it was ripped at the bottom, white buttoned shirt and brown baggy pants with knee high socks and black shoes. You could tell he tried to maintain or replicate the 1700s style. He held a rapier in his hand pointed at Jay. A grin grew across his face.
"Ya know, I'm not even trying". He lunged at the demon as he said that. Jay blocked the attack. The opponent's hand turned into a black claw and punched him on the side of his waist. The pain was immense, Jay felt like his bones shattered for a moment. The regeneration was already at its limit, he kept pushing it non-stop. He wanted to hold out a bit more. For what though? What was there to wait for? He didn't know himself, only that he needed to hold out.
Blades clashed back and forth. Defense and offense over and over, Jay couldn't even land a hit on his opponent, everytime he had a plan it was blocked. Is there even a way to stop him? Any weakness? All there was to continue attacking and defending.
"You're not tired huh?". He commented.
"Those human qualities are gone,". The opponent responded as another rapier appeared in his hand and slashed at Jay leaving a cut on his forehead. A drop of blood hit the white floor and sinked in. Between the two this was a scuffle or a fight. Or was it more. At this point the two didn't know. They continued fighting, blades clashing with one another. Though there were tricks the other had under his sleeves. The opponent constantly kept using his abilities which consisted of his hands becoming claws or spikes coming from the ground. Dodging was hard as they kept coming, one by one. Jay lunged at him as an attempt to get back, it failed as a huge hand emerged from the ground and blocked the attack.
...
Behind the trees, there was a hooded figure riding on a horse through the woods. The wind beneath his hood. The outfit they were wearing was something made for the winter, a white baggy sweater or something meant for fighting. A black chest plate, shoulder plate and armor plate for sleeves. A belt around their waist holding various weapons, like a sword sheathed. Combat boots. A white scarf around their neck with a golden cross dangling. On their back was a bow but no arrows. It was weird. They stopped mid in their tracks, the wind blowing the leaves like they were showing the way. The hooded figure followed, they could sense energy, a kind of demonic energy. It wasn't a lot but easier to locate.
Getting there didn't take some time, more of pinpointing. Though there was a path of destruction: chopped trees though most of them are slowly disintegrating from a black flame. The figure never saw this before. A trail of blood sinking into the snow. This was intriguing to them as they slowly followed the trail.
The fight was still ongoing, the two looked each other in the eye. Both of them panting. Who knows what we're goin through in their minds.
"Hey, Ren... you tired or is that one of your human qualities removed?". Jay asked jokingly.
"I live for battle, child. Not sleep,". The opponent known as Ren said. The rapier in his hand disappeared. "Ya know I have the thing to wrap this battle up,". He had a smug look on his face. The demon was already on alert, but wasn't sure if he should strike. If he strikes another trick will appear and if he stays in place a trap catch and whatever captures him will engulf him. There was no time to think as he ran at him, he clenched the blade in his hand hard. Blood and sweat covering the handle. One big swing at him, and slashed his face. It took Ren off guard as a kind of black liquid dripped from the cut. He put his hand to his face.
It dripped to the ground and sizzled through the cole white powder to who knows what. One good look at his hands and he laughed, it was a psychotic laugh that echoed through the woods. Birds flew away as they got spooked, then let out cries. Ren put a finger on the cut and slid it like he was tracing it, the wound healed. A psychotic smile on his face, it was as wide as the Cheshire cat. Kinda freaky, as he chuckled. The same black liquid that was dripping from Ren's cut was dripping from Jay's blade. It sizzled as it burned into the ground.
"You're making a mess, Mother Nature won't like that". Ren said.
"What do you know about Mother Nature?". The demon asked as he pointed the tip of his blade at the other. A black hand came from the ground and attempted to grab Jay who dodged. Small liquid-like hands wrapped around his legs holding him in place. Was this how it played out? Still a dream? Memory was still foggy and his brain couldn't decide. Felt like it was playing tricks on him or someone was causing the tricks. There was the feeling who the culprit was.
There was no time to decide as a claw emerged from the ground and struck him. The cold floor made contact with his back. It all went black. Is this how it's supposed to go? That cold day... that rough fight. Was this still a dream or a memory? His mind couldn't decide on what was real or what was fake. Soon the feeling of the cold ground faded until there was water. Just liquid water.
Red glowing eyes were staring at the brunette as he sank into the water, eyes closed. The deeper he fell, the red eyes continued to follow. The feeling of demonic energy was developing further, like it was going to the next stage. Evolving. A transparent hand grabbed The unconscious demon and lifted him up in front of the red eyes to examine him. Whatever it was that was examining had a feeling it could not understand.
...
Ren laughed as he felt very triumphant, finally the battle was over. Just over. Now he could finish him off. His eyes suddenly widened as something pierced his shoulder. One look at it and it was an arrow? When did I get hit with an arrow?! He thought. A burning sensation started filling his shoulder, the immense pain. He instantly pulled it out and examined it. An arrow tipped with angel poison. The burning pain increased a lot over 5 seconds. Who shot this? Surveying the area, there were no signs of someone else being there.
Another arrow was shot, Ren dodged quickly. He looked at the direction of where it was shot from. A shadow in the trees. A huge smile grew on his face. "This was gonna be fun,". He thought.
"For an archer, you seem to be skilled at missing your target". He said. The archer in the woods said nothing as they kept their bow pointed at the being in front of him.
"You seem to be skilled at not finishing your opponent,". The archer responded as they got off their horse and walked out of the trees. They adjusted their mask and walked forward being face to face with Ren.
"I would be glad to finish him off but I don't like interruptions,". He replied and lifted his left hand out where a sword appeared. He pointed the blade at them, they were unfazed, only pulling out a small knife from their belt.
"The heavens blessed me with the gear of finally finishing you,". They responded.
"What blessing is that?". He asked.
"Your shoulder,". They responded. The realization slowly hit him, the burning sensation. The arrows tipped with angel poison, and their weird demeanor on how they walked. Could it be? But there's no way. Honestly no way they could be?
"Hey, are you religious?". He asked.
"What does that have to do with the situation?". They asked. Suspicions were filling his head. If they are a blessed heaven, he was in real trouble. Blessed by heaven or The blessed are those who are rewarded by heaven for their belief and then trained to be an exorcist, but not your usual run of the mill exorcist. Assassins take on demons or spirits on a higher level. Their weapons were dipped in angel poison or created by angels and blessed by priests or monks.
Weapons that are made by angels were made by peach wood for the pacifist or those who rely on angelic magic. Iron or steels for those who want bloodlust. Other weapons were of course made and blessed. Ren felt he was in trouble. If this new opponent was a Blessed, his life is already doomed from the start. He had to tread carefully now as he moved into a defensive stance. His left hand sticking out, the blade pointing inward. The two stood there waiting for one of them to make the first move. Heavy breaths shown by the coldness of the cold.
...
Scared panting sounds echoed across the woods, the sounds of horse's hooves against the snowy floor echoed also. Ren hated this a lot, he never liked running away but he had to. The archer was extremely fast, faster than him as he didn't have time to recover his full strength. The archer constantly kept firing his bow, arrows stabbing into the trees as they were constantly missing. 2 were sticking out of Ren's back. The burning of the poisoning was currently weakening his abilities. He couldn't escape into a shadow or anything. Could he even recover his full strength? Half of it was used fighting Jay.
Ren tried thinking of ways to get out of this with his foresight, no matter what ideas came out the outcome was still the same. It was dire. That was all the foresight told him. It was like a calculator you use on a test, no matter how many times you put the numbers in and you did the math perfectly, the number didn't match one of the answers. This answer to his problems wasn't the one he wanted. He wanted a different outcome. He just kept running more and more. Black liquid hitting the ground sizzling. The inside of his body was sizzling as the angel poison was purifying the evil essence inside.
This was the power of a blessed. Enough to make a higher level demon tremble. The archer shot 4 arrows in front of Ren, he stopped in his tracks and looked behind him. They stopped and looked at the injured brunette.
"Was this game fun to you?". They asked as they got off their horse and they pulled out a sword out of their belt. Walking over to him while pointing the blade. Angelic markings slowly started glowing on the blade.
"H-hey, let's talk about this". Ren backed up a little. Could he jump over the 4 arrows? He closed his eyes and used foresight, it was 50/50 but it didn't hurt to try. An attempt to continue running away was made, the archer stood still, their focus still seemed to be on something, the angelic markings. The thought that he was scott free filled his brain. That was cut short as a barrier electrocuted him to the point of being unconscious.
"Now to heal the world,". The archer spoke quietly.
"You sure you want the contract to be destroyed?". He asked. Their eyes widened, their hands which were clenched around the handle of their blade started to shake, but not out of fear. It was out of anger. Anger for what? What was there to be angry about. They have no connection to Ren or Jay.
"What contract?". They asked.
"You'll find out anyways,". He responds. There was no way to get an answer out of him. They closed their eyes and focused hard on a ritual. Angelic words started coming out of their mouth, the ground beneath Ren's weak body started giving a yellow glow with a type of writing you couldn't read or understand unless it's taught to you. Chains shot up from the ground with a yellow glow and wrapped around his body, pulling him into a portal. Ren never once resisted or struggled to escape, he just let himself get sealed. Archer felt suspicious of this but they had to go check on something else.
...
Jay sat up with blood dripping down from his chest and stomach, he looked around, Ren was nowhere to be found. There was a path of destruction leading somewhere. He wasn't sure if he should follow it. Slowly getting up and wobbling side to side and nearly falling. Someone caught him though. The vision felt blurry but slowly felt less blurry as seconds went by. He turned his head to see the archer's masked face. The mask was kinda like a ninja mask with a gray veil. It was hard to tell what their eye color is, light brown color.
Jay's eyes widened. The feeling that he knew who was under the mask, it wasn't familiarity it was a relative feeling. He stared for a moment, trying to wrap around this.
"Z-Zensaku?". He quietly asked. The archer shook their head no "Don't fucking lie to me!". Jay grabbed the scarf of their outfit. They said nothing, just looked at him.
...
"Hey!". A smack hit the back of Jay's head. He jolted awake and looked around. The bus. He turned his head and glared at the culprit who hit him. Rose looked away quickly mentally sweating.
"You didn't have to hit my head,". He replied, annoyed.
"Well, you didn't wake up instantly after I shook you awake when the automated voice said the next stop was the mall. What were you dreaming about anyways?". She spoke. Jay was silent for a moment.
"Just the snow that'll come during winter,". He smiled.