Warren and Akane found themselves walking through a massive garden. Daffodils, roses, sunflowers, carnations, and lilies glistened in the moonlight, each type of flower secluded in its own little plot of land. Connecting each section were cobblestone paths which all converged at the center at the garden, where a grandiose fountain was located. James Mason stood in front of it, staring. .

“Pretty huh?” James asked, his eyes remaining fixated on the fountain.

“I’ve seen better,” Akane answered.

“Hah! Guess the Otani estate does look better than this. Shame you’ll never see it again. You know, since you’re dying tonight and all. I’m burying your body over there.”

James pointed to the group of lilies. “Your body will make good fertilizer for them.”

He spun around, pointed at Warren.

“As for you, I’m trying to decide between the sunflowers and the carnations. Which do you prefer?”

Warren raised his sword, pointing it at James. Its blue tinge reflected the moonlight giving the blade a bright glow.

“I’m killing you with this sword Mason. Let’s get this over with.”

James’s eyes widened in mild amusement. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a pencil.

“And I am killing you with this fair weapon here.” James said with a fake aristocratic accent.

Akane tensed up, got into a defensive posture.

“Watch out Warren, it's freshly sharpened!”

Without thinking about it, Warren also took a defensive posture. He immediately felt very stupid. James bursted into a fit of laughter.

“Ah you guys are so serious it’s actually funny. I’m gonna remember you guys for a while. Let’s do this.”

Warren and Akane vs. James Mason

“Akane!” Warren yelled.

“Yeah!”

The two disappeared, leaving nothing but dust in their wake. They reappeared, flanking James on both sides. Both swung their swords, aiming at his neck. James nonchalantly ducked and shot his arms out, knocking Akane and Warren in their guts, sending them skidding back about a dozen feet in opposite directions. Warren recovered quickly, looking up to see James was already in front of him. Warren swung his sword but James dodged it, flipped the grip on his pencil and stabbed Warren five times in the chest. The quick attacks made Warren stagger, giving James an opening. James did a small hop, then with both feet kicked Warren in the chest, sending him flying into a tree and sending James across the garden like he had just used a springboard.

He flew over to Akane in a parabola, looking like an acrobat doing a trick in a circus. Akane swung her blade, hoping to cut James in half before he touched the ground. But James contorted, dodging the attack, landing behind Akane. She spun around, dashed to him. She threw a vertical slash while his back was facing her. But, sensing the incoming strike, James sidestepped to the right and launched a back kick, breaking Akane’s nose. He spun around, stepped in, stabbed Akane six times in the right shoulder. She ignored the pain, tried to headbutt him now that he was in close. James saw the attack coming, threw a headbutt of his own, hitting her with twice the force that Akane employed. Akane’s head shot back and her body would have crashed to the ground had she not turned the fall into a cartwheel. When she got back on her feet she was about 6 yards away from James. He smirked, motioning for her to approach. She crouched, tightened the grip on her blade when Warren appeared behind James, about to strike.

To help, Akane rushed in, leaning far forward to attack him from below as Warren was about to attack from above. Before their attacks could make contact, James punched his arm into the air, hitting Warren’s chin upwards, sending him about a dozen feet into the air. With his other hand, he blocked Akane’s blade. Sparks flew from the resistance she was now encountering. She saw that her katana was being blocked by the pencil. A part of her was impressed, another offended by the feat. It was then that she noticed James’s aura. A light grey was emanating from his body. Akane tried to pull her blade back but James stomped his foot onto the weapon preventing her from moving it. Then he launched a quick kick to the head, making Akane let go of her katana and roll across the garden, crushing rows of flowers. Warren fell back to earth, where James kicked him like a soccer ball. Luckily Warren had put his arms up to block the blow but was still sent into the nearest tree.

Warren got up with his back against the tree, the whole garden in view. James wasn’t focusing on him right now. He was in an exchange with Akane. Without her weapon she had entered hand to hand combat with James, fighting their way across the garden, crushing more flowers beneath their feet. Akane threw kicks and punches, but none of them landed. Each strike was blocked and countered as James rapidly cut her with his pencil, a bright smile on his face. He was toying with them pure and simple. James’ arrogance was getting on Warren’s nerves. It was time to stop holding back. In a quick sprint, Warren picked up Akane’s katana so that he held the long blade in his left hand, the sheriff’s sword in his right. He quickly traversed the garden, leaping in between Akane and James. As James was about to jam the pencil into Akane’s right eye, Warren deflected it with the katana then immediately performed a horizontal slash with the other blade, hoping to disembowel James. However James jumped back, his tank top the only thing that got cut. He was about to say something when Warren pressed him, swinging both swords as if Warren had been dual wielding swords his whole life. The exchange made them slowly go back across the garden, allowing Akane to catch her breath.

“Look at you go! Now this is more like it!” James exclaimed, dodging the barrage of sword swings.

“Were you always able to dual wield? You should’ve done this from the beginning! This is so much more fun!”

The truth was that this was the first time Warren ever wielded two swords. He was using his ability to accomplish the feat. The dominant hand is stronger and has a faster reaction time than the non-dominant one. This is true for all motor functions the body performs, including combat. So to give himself the attack power needed to fend off James, Warren rewired his brain. He was now ambidextrous, at least for as long as Warren used his ability. This is what allowed Warren to wield two swords with efficiency, despite having never done it before. Of course, James didn't know this, who, despite his confidence, was struggling to find an opening. James had thought he already figured out Warren’s fighting style. He was wrong. Warren swiped the katana horizontally, aiming at James’ neck. James ducked, only to witness Warren shift his legs and launch an uppercut with the other arm. The sword’s guard slammed into James’ face, shooting his head up. Warren followed up with a powerful kick to the stomach, making James skid back 4 feet. Internally Warren felt more concerned than triumphant over hitting James for the first time. That kick was supposed to have sent his opponent crashing through dozens of trees yet it didn’t even knock James off his feet.

“Warren!” he heard Akane yell.

He quickly turned around, saw Akane was holding her left arm out, slapping the forearm. Warren immediately understood what she was getting at. Without a moment’s hesitation, he threw the katana like it was a javelin. The blade plunged into her arm, the hilt being the only thing having prevented it from going all the way through.

“Yare yare dawa. You should’ve told me it was time to get serious.” Akane said, slowly taking the sword out of her arm.

Blood began to percolate out of the wound. Much more than anything that came out from the pencil wounds. The blood dripped to the ground then after a brief moment sprung to life. The blood traversed the garden with the speed of a panther. It stopped right in front of Warren then jutted out of the ground. Two blood spikes went past Warren’s head, heading for James.

The HDF leader was caught by surprise. He narrowly dodged the first one but got punctured by the second. It went through his right shoulder into the tree behind him, keeping James in place. Warren came in, unleashing a flurry of strikes on the immobilized man. Dozens and dozens of cuts were inflicted on James’ chest. Despite the assault, James didn’t become mincemeat. To Warren it felt like he was hacking away at a large piece of meat in a butcher’s shop. James’ skin was tough, so tough that he couldn’t make his blade go in deep enough to cause real damage. His opponent’s aura defense was something else. Akane noticed this from afar and stepped in to help, joining in the barrage of attacks. Together they hacked at Mason but they might as well have been trying to cut a slab of pure titanium. Suddenly the attacks were put to a halt. Mason had caught their respective weapons.

He lifted his head, said “Not bad. I’d rate that….6/10”

“How dare you, that's at least an 8” Akane shot back.

James broke into another laughing fit. As he did so Warren and Akane tried to pry their weapons free but when they tried, they noticed James’ grip strength increased dramatically. Just because he was laughing didn’t mean he wasn’t paying attention.

“Man, this girl is hilarious!” he exclaimed. “By the way, is this blood?”

“No.” Akane answered.

“So it is. Very interesting. And let’s see Marshall your ability is probably internal. Otherwise you would’ve done some crazy shit by now. Well if this is the best you two got I’m gonna have to end things here. My curiosity’s been satisfied. It’s a shame, you two would’ve made great HDF members. Council level even, you know since you killed the previous members. That reminds me, I need to find their replacements. Do you two know anyone?”

Akane and Warren ignored the question, tried to pull their weapons free once more and failed.

“Guess not. Oh well.”

Suddenly James twisted his shoulder, causing Akane’s blood to break apart. He stepped forward and pushed with enough strength to force Akane’s and Warren’s arms upward. Knowing they were both open, they tried to step back but James unleashed his own volley of attacks. With his pencil he stabbed them dozens of times in a flash. He hit everything from the legs on up. Once he got to their necks he stabbed Warren in the side of the neck, Akane in the side of the head. To finish things James grabbed their heads with each hand, and slammed them into the ground. He ran across the garden, dragging their heads across the dirt, uprooting countless flowers. He reached the fountain, lifted his arms to see that Warren and Akane had wrapped themselves around them. Akane was on the right one, Warren the left. Their legs coiled around like snakes and both had dropped their swords at the base of the fountain. Akane put her left arm out, where a spurt of blood shot out, seeking to impale James’ eye. He tilted his head, dodging the attack. While he did that Warren took out a knife, plunged it into James’ left palm, forcing James to let him go. Warren dropped to the ground, sprung up, grabbed his sword and swung at James’ other arm, hoping to cut it off and free Akane. Seeing the incoming attack, James made a fist with the injured hand, socking Warren in the face so hard he flew deep into the treeline, causing a dozen or so trees to fall to the earth.

Despite Warren having failed, it gave Akane time. The blood that had missed James was now behind him and shot itself into the back of his left knee. He staggered and with both hands, Akane grabbed James’ right thumb. She yanked it to the side, breaking it. Unable to be held any longer, she fell to the ground. She stood up, picked up her blade, and jumped back 15 yards to get some breathing room.. In her peripheral, she could see James nonchalantly fix his broken thumb by putting it back into its socket. He looked at her, eyes wide. She could tell he was about to come after her. To defend herself, she cut her other forearm with her katana, causing more blood to fall to the ground. James appeared in front of her in an instant. He threw a punch but it was blocked by the blood wall that erected in front of Akane just in the nick of time. Knowing his view of her was obfuscated by the blood, she created a hole in the middle of the wall, plunged her sword through it, embedding the sword into his stomach. But like all other injuries so far, James was undeterred. He punched through the hole, hitting Akane square in the gut and made her roll 20 yards away over the lilies. Akane sprung to her feet at the end but coughed up blood.

“Oh my. That ability of yours is quite something isn’t it?” James called out, slowly walking towards her. “Is that how you beat Kaya? It must be.”

He pulled Akane’s katana out of his stomach, threw it to the side.

“It’s a tricky ability. Very unpredictable. My ability is different, yet similar. It’s hard to explain so I’ll just show you.”

James stopped about 10 yards away from Akane. He put his right arm out to her, the palm fully opened. He quickly closed it. Akane narrowed her eyes, trying to see what happened. Nothing in the environment changed. Then it hit her. An intense pain was felt in her stomach, causing Akane to fall to her knees.

“Ah!” she yelled, having no idea where this pain came from. It felt like her insides were on fire.

“Your ability allows you to control your blood. I can control the blood of others. Now it’s not as extensive as yours, I can only control it for a very brief moment but it does the trick. I just used it to compress the blood around your spleen so hard that it exploded. Cool huh?”

Akane looked up, beads of sweat rolling down her face as the implications of James’ ability became fully realized. If he had used this from the start, she and Warren would’ve been dead by now. If her spleen was destroyed with ease, what about the other organs? If he wanted to, James could make her heart explode at any moment. She eyed him, trying to figure out a counter measure. Nothing came up, her mind was blank. James laughed seeing how helpless she looked.

He reached his hand out again, getting ready to close it. Akane didn’t know the specifics of what his ability needed to be activated but it was clear his hand was essential. In a desperate ditch effort to survive, Akane sent her blood to James' arm where little red strings wrapped around his fingers and pulled back, preventing him from closing his hand.

James widened his eyes once more, amused by the sight.

“Oh? You catch on quick. But-”

Akane didn’t let him finish. Utilizing the rest of the blood available, she enveloped James in a dome of blood. He couldn’t see anything on the outside. Using the brief moment of respite, she ran to her sword, picked it up, then disappeared into the treeline where Warren was flung off to. She had to get to Warren and warn him about James’ ability. She couldn’t risk him coming back into the fight only to have his heart explode. But first, she needed to figure out where he was. To ensure she didn’t leave any footprints for James to track, Akane jumped from tree to tree, moving as light as a feather. She followed the path of destroyed trees. Seeing how many there were made her begin to worry about his safety. If Warren was decommissioned that’d make things a lot harder for her. One couldn’t use the power of friendship if the friend wasn’t available. After traveling for about 2 minutes she stopped. She looked down, seeing Warren laying on the ground face up. She dropped down to him. Upon closer inspection she noticed his eyes were closed but was breathing. He was simply out cold. James must’ve hit him in the head harder than she thought.

She bent down, said “Warren. Wake up.”

It didn’t work. She slapped him across the face. That didn’t work either. She pondered what to do next. At this moment she remembered the comic Assault on Titan. In that comic the main character kept getting knocked out because he sucked at fighting pre-time skip. One of the side characters had to keep waking them up by stabbing them with a blade. Of course it’s different here. Akane was clearly the protagonist. She was stronger. She had a cowboy hat. Regardless it was the only thing she could think of so she took her katana, plunged the tip of it into Warren’s left shoulder. His eyes quickly opened, and was about to scream but Akane covered his mouth with her hand.

“Shhh” she hissed.

Warren quickly regained his bearings, nodded. Akane pointed at a nearby tree. The two jumped to its top branches in order to hide from James though both knew it didn’t matter where they went, James was going to find them quickly. All the more reason to make a plan.

“Warren.” Akane began. “I have no spleen.”

“What?”

“Mason made my spleen explode. His ability is like mine, but worse. He can control the blood of others for a brief moment where he uses it to make organs explode.”

“So that means-”

“Yes even if I used 85% of my power we would’ve died had he used it from the start. He could’ve made our hearts explode at any moment.”

“Then how’d you escape?”

“I believe he has to close his hand to do so. I prevented that which gave me time to find you. I don’t know if there are any other conditions that need to be met.”

Warren stretched his arms, spat out some broken teeth.

“Plan’s simple then. We cut his hands off.”

“But we tried cutting him. His aura defense is too high.”

“I think his limbs are weaker than his torso. I was able to stab his hand to get free.”

“What about the time he grabbed our swords? They should’ve gone through his hands. ”

“Aura redirection. He must’ve transferred the aura from his torso to his hands so he could catch them. That has to be it. His hands aren’t heavily protected otherwise. If we catch him off guard, those hands are coming off.”

“What happens afterwards?”

“We’ll figure it out.”

“Spoken like a true comic protagonist. I approve.”

“Thanks I think. You’re gonna have to be the one to cut his hands. Your ability is better suited for it. Trap him with your blood when the time is right and do it.”

“What’re you doing?”

Warren took the grenade launcher off his back, reloaded it.

“I’ll keep him distracted. Have to let him continue to think he’s in control. Might let him use his ability on me a few times to give him a false sense of security. He won’t kill me right away, he enjoys toying with us.”

“Can’t do that. It’s too great a risk. Let me distract him. He doesn’t know you’re awake.”

“No. He’ll be on edge with you since you already prevented him from using his ability. Trust me Akane.”

“But-”

“Trust me...please.”

Akane nodded, took off her cowboy hat.

“Take this.”

“Why?”

“Because of friendship.”

“I really don’t think-”

“We’re friends so you have to. Take the hat.”

Warren reluctantly took it and put it on. He felt he looked ridiculous.

“You look great,” Akane complimented.

“....”

“I’m gonna go set up the trap. Don’t die. If you die, I’ll kill you.”

With that Akane leaped into a different tree, out of sight. Warren sighed, dropped to the ground.

He began to walk past the path of destruction James had made him inadvertently make. Unlike the moonlit garden, the grouping of trees that surrounded James’ manor blocked the moon’s light, making it difficult to see. This gave Warren the advantage. Using his body modification ability, he adjusted the rod and cone cells in his eyes to allow him to see clearly. After doing so, he could see James casually approaching him. Realizing the hat may give James a hint that Akane’s nearby, he quickly threw the hat to the side. He didn’t know how but he felt that she was angry off in the distance.

“Well look who’s still kicking” James commented, sitting on a destroyed tree like it was a bench.

“You’re gonna have to hit harder than that if you want me dead.” Warren replied.

“It appears so. I’ll make sure to rectify that. Where’s your girlfriend? I’m more interested in her at the moment. She ran away?”

Warren shrugged.

James laughed, said “Nah she’s around somewhere. Probably licking her wounds. That’s an Otani for you, they are good at hiding. Oh well, if I make you scream she’ll come out.”

He stood up, cracked his knuckles.

“Well Marshall let’s-”

Warren shot his grenade launcher, exploding James’ position. Smoke and debris rose into the air, making it hard for Warren to see. Out from the smoke James appeared, looking unphased, he dashed in front of Warren, kicked him in the ribs, the blow sending him through more forestry. Despite this Warren landed on his feet, only to see James appear in front of him again. Warren raised his arms to block an incoming punch. But abruptly James redirected the punch into an uppercut, slipping past Warren’s guard. His head shot up, exposing his neck. James took his pencil, stabbed Warren in the chest 10 times, finished it off with a roundhouse kick to the chest. Warren fell on his back, but to James’ surprise, he bounced right back up, kicking James’ face in the process, knocking a few teeth out. Warren’s white aura was stemming from his body at a much greater amount than at any previous point in the fight. He wasn’t holding back anymore, despite knowing how quickly this power output drained him.

The kick made James stumble back a few feet. When he looked back to Warren he saw that the barrel of the grenade launcher was inches from his face. Warren pulled the trigger, making the grenade explode at point blank range. The blast sent James through multiple trees this time. James eventually landed on his back, where he heard the thump once more. An explosion occured to his right, enveloping him in smoke once more but this time, he didn’t know where Warren was. He got up, felt a slash go across his back. Instinctually James pivoted, and threw a punch, making part of the smoke blow away. Warren wasn’t there. He pivoted back around. Warren was there this time, who gave James an aura infused punch to the face, breaking James’ nose, followed by a grenade shot to the body, once more given at point blank range. James was blown back again. The forestry that had surrounded his manor was quickly becoming nonexistent. This time James didn’t land on his back, instead his back hit a tree, allowing him to remain upright. He looked ahead, and saw Warren rush up to him. Thinking he was about to shoot his grenade launcher at point blank range again, James put up his arms in defense. However this was what Warren hoped for. Instead of using the grenade launcher, he swung his sword, aiming right for James’ hands. James saw this through the gap between his arms, and quickly transferred his aura to them. Despite Warren imbuing his aura to his weapon, the sword barely made a cut. He tried to pull the sword back but was kicked in the stomach, skidding back a dozen feet and coughed up some blood.

The enjoyment that James was having throughout the fight disappeared. If he hadn’t reacted fast enough, he would have lost his hands and thus the ability he gained from injecting demon blood into his veins. A scowl appeared across his face as he eyed Warren who was clearly tired from emitting so much aura.

“You put up a good fight Marshall but I’m getting tired. Time to draw out Otani.”

James put his hand out, closed his palm. Warren tried to rush in before it took effect but it was too late, a massive burning sensation was felt in his chest. He crashed to the ground in front of James, spurting out blood.

“You feel a burning in your chest? You should. I just exploded your left lung.” James revealed.

Warren didn’t answer. He just laid there on the ground. James kicked him.

“Come on Otani! I know you’re out there. Your friend is gonna-Ah!”

James felt a sharp pain in his left foot. He looked down, saw Warren had plunged a knife into it. He backed away, pointed an arm at him and once again closed his hand. Warren coughed up even more blood.

“And now you don’t have a small intestine Marshall.”

James walked back to Warren, stomped his face into the ground.

“Andrew told me about what happened. How you and your friends were meant to be sacrifices to start the demon wave. I can see why you’re angry. But did you ever stop and think why? Why my nephew did it in the first place? Humanity is threatened. You’re too young to have remembered the war clearly but I was part of it. I saw first hand that humanity cannot defend itself. It needs greater strength to defeat the hordes of non-humans that wish to destroy this land. We need the power of demons. You want to know something crazy Marshall? The prophecy says that the upcoming demon wave will result in the end of humanity. This is true but also false. True that humanity as we know it will fall, but something will rise in its place. The next evolution of mankind will emerge. The demons will give us power that humans can never achieve alone. Only then will humanity fulfill its destiny. So you see Marshall, there are greater things at play than your petty drive for revenge. Greatness beckons.”

Having said his piece, James tried to crush Warren’s head beneath his boot but he encountered resistance. He looked down, and saw that Warren's head was pushing upwards, slowly elevating James’ foot.

“I...don’t...care...about...any...of...that.” Warren growled. “I...just...want...you...all dead. Akane now!”

Out of the woodwork from all directions came massive thick lines of blood. They stuck to James’ limbs like gum, then pulled back, forcing the limbs to stretch outward. It appeared like he had been caught in a giant spider’s web. Akane dropped from a nearby tree, bolted towards them in a flash of red. She stopped right in front of Mason, raised her sword, about to cut his right hand off. Warren, despite the pain he was feeling, rose and lifted his sword to take care of James’ left hand. James tried to redirect his aura but it was too late. Together they chopped down, swiftly cutting the hands off. Next they tried to cut his head off but like at the beginning of the fight, James ducked. Then he closed his legs with enough strength to free himself from Akane’s blood. Now free, he kicked Akane in the face, knocking her head back. Warren was kicked on the side of the head, making him stumble. While they were discombobulated, James darted away.

“Warren!” Akane called out, wanting to ensure Warren saw where James went.

“I see him go!” Warren replied.

They sprinted after him, the trees becoming nothing but blurs. Neither knew the layout of this place very well but it was clear that they were heading away from the mansion to the outer rings of the base. They were heading to where the rest of the HDF lived.