“Xie Jie…” the man known as Xuefeng stepped backwards, his sword hand shaking ever so slightly. “That’s impossible… Xie Jie is dead!”

“Hahaha, that is true, he is dead!” the child laughed, throwing their head back. They pushed their dirty, reddish brown hair out of their eyes, revealing one green eye next to one blue one. “Just as Raikou Yazama died in his home country… but my will… the will of the Accursed Blood… lives on!”

“..!”

The child dashed forward, their sword of crystalized blood aiming for Xuefeng’s heart. But they never reached the swordsman, as Honon’s lightning fast fist stuck them in the ribs. The child should have gone flying, but they stood their ground somehow.

“As long as one drop of my blood exists, I won’t die! When my body was killed by that damn swordswoman, my soul escaped along with my blood through the palace’s rain gutters...” They slashed and stabbed with bizarre movements, like they were being controlled by a puppet’s strings. Their blade danced through the gap between the two fighters, but every single strike landed harmlessly off Honon’s gauntlets. “And found a broken, nearly dead host, so desperate to survive she practically begged me to take this body!”

Xie Jie’s face twisted, their left eye bulging out of their socket slightly

“Quiet down, bitch… this ain’t your body anymore!” the deranged monster punched itself in the face, drawing a line of blood from their lips. “So just shut up already!”

Xie Jie had said the body he possessed wasn’t quite dead when he took it… does that mean the child he possessed was still inside of them?!”

A wave of disgust washed over me at the thought of that psychopath using an innocent child like that. But I felt helpless to do anything about it, I could only sit and watch.

Xuefeng dashed in, slipping their blade past Xie Jie’s guard. The twisted sword cut into the child’s outstretched arm, but a burst of their cursed blood knocked it away before any lethal damage occurred.

Xie Jie fought much more recklessly in that body, likely because they didn’t consider it their own. It seemed the Xie Jie I fought before wasn’t the original either, but he only showed this side of himself once I had cut off his arm.

From the wound in their arm, Xie Jie’s demonic blood shot forth into a rain of needles. Xuefeng predictably teleported through them, reappearing behind the child. The swordsman’s blade swung down in a spinning slash towards the cursed assassin, a slice so strong it could likely cleave a man in two.

But the blade dug into the rocks and dirt below, with Xie Jie’s body distorting unnaturally to flip over the sword. They landed on top of the grounded blade, their small, bare feet balancing on the backside of Xuefeng’s sword.

While it wasn’t a single edged blade, a sword isn’t quite as sharp as one expects, especially when not moving. So even if it dug into their skin a little, it didn’t do much of any damage to the assassin standing atop it.

Xie Jie, or what was once Xie Jie, leapt forward, their blood sword reaching out to claim Xuefeng’s head. But the small child passed harmlessly through Xuefeng’s afterimage, landing in a roll against the cold stone street below.

“I will end this!” Honon howled, rushing towards the girl. His speed was unmatched, it wasn’t even possible to see his movements with the naked eye. His deadly fist flew towards the girl like a cannonball, crashing into their small body. Blood spurted from them, but they dug their heels into the ground and took the attack without budging.

A dozen spears of blood burst out of Xie Jie’s stolen body, crystalizing in an instant. They pierced through Honon’s arm, then retracted into the girl’s body. The bloodied and battered child staggered away, laughing, while Honon retreated with a pained look on his face.

“To let my guard down like that… I deserve this pain.” he panted, blood running profusely down his arm.

“It hurts!” Xie Jie’s voice screamed, the voice of a scared little girl. Had the damage they had just taken woken up her original personality? “Momma… I’m scared! I don’t want to fight anymore, it hurts!”

I knew then that I couldn’t let these three kill each other, not when one of them held a small child hostage like this. Xuefeng and Honon looked to be ready to end this fight, now taking the child before them as a serious threat. They circled around the child in opposite directions, Xuefeng going left and Honon to his right.

Honon’s power surged inside of him, his chi gathering in his fists. He was going to strike them down with his ultimate attack, there was no doubt about it. And then, the child would die. I couldn’t let that happen, I wouldn’t let it happen.

Xie Jie regained control of the body, licking the blood off their lips. Their mismatched eyes twisted into a deranged, dangerous expression. The blood running down the side of their body moved and twisted as it had done when I fought them before.

There was only one way to save the child I could think of, but even that was just delaying a problem. Everyone before me was my enemy, after my life… if one side fell, I would become their target once more.

“Thundurus Breaker…” Honon spoke calmly, one fist pulled back at his side, the other pointed to the sky. Lightning surged around him as his Chi was transformed into pure energy. Honon prepared to use his ultimate attack, and Xuefeng stood opposite him to prevent Xie Jie’s retreat, a well thought out combination.

“Heaven’s Punishment!” Honon’s voice echoed as a bolt of lightning struck his outstretched hand, drawn towards him like a magnet. He then thrust his other fist forward, a massive bolt of electricity blasting its way through the air.

Xie Jie cackled as he ran towards the attack, unfazed by the daunting attack. Was he confident he would survive, or just so crazy he didn’t care anymore? I wasn’t sure, but there was no way a child’s body would withstand that attack, and I was forced to act.

“Zero!” It put a heavy strain on my wounded body, but I activated my Skill anyways. My left eye felt like it was about to burst in my skull, and my entire body was wracked with pain, but I didn’t turn off my ability.

It only needed to be one second, just one moment. If my power could reach them, the tide of battle would shift. The wave of nothingness created by Zero swept over them at the same moment that Honon’s attack reached the charging Xie Jie, erasing the scene before me in a flash of white light.

Xie Jie’s hand landed on Honon’s chest, their palm laying flat against the large man’s body. Honon’s face twisted in agony as hundreds of spears of blood pierced him from the inside out. In the same moment, Xuefeng rushed towards his comrade, but Xie Jie threw a spear of blood towards them, the makeshift weapon piercing their shoulder.

Honon fell to the ground, unmoving. I’m sure he was dead, and it was my fault. But, both sides were my enemy, so I only felt remorse for a split second. He had come to take my life, and lost it in the process, it was completely justified.

“One down…” Xie Jie smiled, licking the blood from his borrowed hand. “Two to go.”

Xuefeng looked conflicted. He clutched at his wounded shoulder, trying to decrease the blood flowing down his body. His partner had just been killed in front of him, but his enemy now held a complete advantage over him.

As soon as blood touched the air outside of your body, Xie Jie could freely manipulate it remotely. At least, that was how his power seemed to work when we fought. So now that Xuefeng was bleeding, he would only get more injured if he entered XieJie’s range, which didn’t appear to be very long. As long as he kept his distance, he would be fine.

“I’ll never forgive this, Xie Jie!” Xuefeng shouted, returning to his sword stance.

Xuefeng charged forward, his sword poised to strike. Xie Jie laughed, several blades forming behind him from Honon’s blood. The floating blades launched forward with the strength of a ballista.

Xuefeng vanished, his afterimage breaking apart against the rain of crystal blades. Appearing behind Xie Jie, he returned his sword to his belt, then continued to walk down the road. Both Xie Jie and myself looked on, confused by his actions.

“But if I kill you here, you’ll just find a way to resurrect again, correct?” the swordsman returned to a calm, collected voice, no longer sounding enraged by the assassin’s actions. “Therefore, our rematch will have to occur at a later date when I can be sure you never return.”

And then, the swordsman disappeared.

And I was left alone with the Assassin. Well, Lei was still here, but he was out of the fight for now. I recovered the dropped sword I took from him, and stood in front of the severely injured but still standing girl. Her eyes looked terrified, but also menacing, reflecting both personalities within them.

“Yo, Yi Zen… glad you see you survived our last encounter… so I could taste your despair again!” Xie Jie’s disgusting personality hadn’t changed, but I now understood why they were such a monster.

For how long had they been trapped in this world, moving from body to body? A wretched existence, I’m sure he’s forgotten who he was originally long ago. And from the trauma of being killed over and over, his psyche has shattered, forming the demon that stood before me. Cruel, with a complete lack of empathy or remorse in his actions.

“Thanks for getting rid of those two, I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage myself, to be completely honest.” I took up my mother’s one handed sword stance as best I could with my damaged body, and waited for them to make a move.

“You’d make a good assassin with that mindset, kid.” they replied, dragging their broken body towards me. The blood they spilled trailed behind them, like a macabre shadow.

“I’m sure this was reported to the guards almost instantly, so why did it take you so long to show up, you getting slow in your old age?” I said sarcastically, far beyond the point of thinking about the consequences of what I had just said to her.

“I’m still quite young, thank you very much.” Xuan Yan landed in front of me in a flash of light. Her platinum armor shone brilliantly, not a single scratch on its polished surface. She strode towards the girl before us, her wide hips swaying back and forth under her armor plated skirt.

That’s really not where I should be looking right now, or ever.

“You cockroach, crawling out of the grave after I punished you for hurting my poor, sweet son.” Yan’s eyes flared with rage, her sword in her hand. “I’ll send you to hell this time, so just accept your fate and quit struggling!”

This was bad, she didn’t understand the situation, I needed to stop her before Xie Jie escaped again. Killing them here wouldn’t do anything but delay him from returning again.

“Wait, mom!” I called out to her as she dashed towards the assassin. “His soul has possessed a civilian, but they’re still alive!”

She stopped instantly, her blade one centimeter from the child’s neck. Xie Jie laughed, taking a swing at her with their blood sword, but my mother didn’t even have to try to avoid an attack like that.

“Now now, what will you do, Yi Zen? Can you kill me if it means this poor little girl dies with me?!” Xie Jie laughed, their eyes widening in a psychotic fit.

“Oh, is that all?” Yan smiled, sheathing her blade. She raised her left hand, chi flowing of of her fingertips. “I haven’t used this Skill in a while, so bear with me for a moment, ok?”

I had no idea what she was doing, but her serene demeanor erased any concern I could have. The Platinum Knight could do anything.