《Nephilim: Beyond Good and Evil》Chapter 33: Light and Darkness
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The loud chopping sound of a tree being cut in half could be heard. The tree slowly fell over causing a loud roar to take the Earth by surprise. The battle between the two Nephilims was continuing and they were now deeper along the forest.
Fighting amongst the trees, Terios figured he could use the might of the bark to slow Kazuki's down, yet, his blade was sharp enough to cut through them without a lack of movement.
Terios was being pushed past his limits as he clashed with the light that was Kazuki. His light speed ability was something to be truly afraid of. It was the perfect counter to his darkness abilities.
His darkness wasn't strong enough to fight off the power that Kazuki could release with his light. Sparks flew as metal rammed against each other in quick succession.
"You're doing well." Kazuki said.
"Just barely. Your speed is something else. I can't go on the offensive with you."
Not yet anyways.
"I think it's time I put this fight to rest. Terios Kiyomizu you proved to be a worthy challenge but now this will end."
Kazuki placed his blade back into his sheathe which was a signal that he was going to prove him with a light speed slash. This would most likely end things between them and there was no way in hell that Terios was going to let that happen.
Kazukis hands gripped the blade loosely and soon it was there. The feeling that this battle was about to be decided by this one swing. His light was going to cut through Terios' darkness in one fell swoop.
Terios could feel the tension rising and initiated a change in the color of his eyes; from crimson to light grey.
Kazuki's blade moved at speeds so fast it appeared to be invisible as the human eye couldn't even register it as movement. This was what he was dealing with; light at its finest hour.
The sound of metal crashing into each other could be heard as their blades were against one another. The katana was aiming for the neck while his chokuto managed to block it just in time.
A look of confusion appeared on Kazuki's face as this was the first time someone had been able to stop his attack.
"Don't be so surprised. Your father unlocked me to my full potential."
"Troublesome Angel."
"I'm getting the hang of this now. You won't be a problem anymore, Kazuki. I'm putting an end to this fight right now!"
Kazuki noticed a change in this man. He sounded more confident and it showed as he had managed to forced him to defend against his flurry of attacks. Those two blades struck out with the intention of stopping him.
Terios' speed was different it was actually on par with his own now. But that was impossible how could he have adjusted to his speed? In the beginning he couldn't even see it. Now, he was bringing the fight to him.
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Was this the determination of his darkness? Could he really be able to stop him? Kazuki was silenced as he focused on his defense. Fighting Terios was difficult since he had two blades and had somehow matched his speed.
Terios' fighting style contained leaps and overhand strikes along with twirling slashes. It wasn't a traditional way of swordmanship, but it was effective against Kazuki's more quick and deadly style.
"How did you?"
"It's simple really. I needed to change in order to beat someone like you. I am a shadow and if you can move at light speed then I can move at dark speed."
"What are you talking about?"
"Light is the fastest thing on this planet. But, what happens when you turn off the light switch in your room? It becomes surrounded by darkness in just an instant. I'm the perfect counter to your light. I am your shadow."
"My shadow? You think you can copy all of my movements?"
"Not just that I'll out maneuver you with my improved version of Shadow Stalker. Allowing me to move at the same speed as my opponent."
"Speed won't be enough to beat me."
"I'm not just about speed."
Terios came right at him, his speed was nearly instant and Kazuki responded to him by swinging his katana along his body, slicing him across the chest. Like before his body was reduced to a dark colored mist.
Immediately following, Terios appeared behind him, swinging both blades at him. In just the nick of time, Kazuki avoided the attack.
However, Terios turned into dark mist again and appeared in three places at once. Only one of him was real the other two images were just after shots of him. Kazuki wasn't going to be caught off guard. He stood his ground, keeping his hand on the hilt of his blade.
In one smooth motion he unleashed his omnidirectional slash sending a wave of light along the area, cutting every image there. Terios had blood shoot out from his body from the attack while the other two faded away.
"You may have matched my speed, but I'm way out of your league."
"Lucky shot. I wasn't expecting that."
"A rookie mistake that will cost you."
The two charged at each other, clanging blades with one another. Their fighting was chaotic and they moved all over the place. Trees continued to be chopped down and small cracks formed along the ground.
A giant surge of wind surrounded the area, causing the remaining tree branches to sway along. Terios and Kazuki were still at it, but something was changing. One of them was losing speed.
Looks like even someone as strong as Kazuki had a limit to how long he could stay at light speed. His attacks were getting sloppy and Terios easily blocked them and after a series of attacks, a large gash was forced onto his face by the chokuto.
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Lines of blood dripped out and this caused Kazuki to take a few steps back as he moved his hand to feel his cheek. He showed a shocked expression as he realized that he was losing blood; that he had been cut.
"Are you getting tired?"
"I'm tired of a lot of things. I've been fighting for so long."
"I can tell. I noticed my speed dropping as well. Yet, I was only able to land a clean hit because your performance is dropping!"
"…"
"Give it up. I won't hold it against you. I know you had good intentions and I can respect you for that."
"You're saying I should just give up?"
"You're in no shape to battle."
"Hahahahahahahaha! Hahahahaha!"
"…"
"You just... don't understand do you!? You don't understand how far I've come!? I'm already here and I'm not going to turn back from what I know is right! You think I've started this just to have one person stop me!? A person who rather keep things the way they are."
"That's not what I want."
"It is! You refuse to fight for your freedom as a Nephilim. You continue to let your brothers and sisters die!" Kazuki went back to laughing as his cheek began to heal. His hand rested along his face, covering his face.
"Kazuki..."
"You've never witnessed it before. The look of anguish on my mother's face. The woman I cared so much about. Seeing an Angel kill her in cold blood without showing any remorse! An Angel is supposed to protect people! Stop them from witnessing bad things!"
Kazuki began to chuckle a few times before he sighed softly and allowed his hand to drop by his side. He slowly placed his katana back in its holder and simply stared over at Terios.
"I know. I know exactly how you feel. I was almost killed by an Angel myself. My own sensei! Hearing about what you had to go through... I can no longer see the benefit of having Angels around."
"You called your ability Shadow Stalker? An interesting name. I'll call my ability something then. My main ability."
"Your main?"
"Distortion. The power to distort anything. This is the power that someone receives when they lose someone who means the world to them! This is the power someone needs to make a change!"
Kazuki stood there and around him the ground started to rumble and crack before splitting apart. Terios took to the skies as the ground beneath him crumbled.
Kazuki hovered slowly in the air, keeping his hands free as he simply stared at his opponent.
"This is my power!" Kazuki shouted as he raised up a single hand.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened, yet Terios felt like he had angered him to the point that one of them wouldn't make it out of this battle. Kazuki's original intent of just forcing Terios to submit was changing. Now he's going for blood.
Pain spread across Terios' body. Deep gashes were shown on his arms and forced him to release his blades from how sharp the pain was.
"Do I even want to know how you manage to hit me?"
"It's simple. I simply distorted the air around you. Making it extremely sharp enough to cut you."
Kazuki threw his arm and caused the invisible blades of wind to continuously cut around Terios, his screams of pain were heard sharply and his clothes were ripped and tattered. His body was painted with red and there was nothing he could do to avoid this attack.
"Imagine being so helpless! Powerless to challenge the being that controls your life! Well, I'm sick of it! Things are going to be different and it'll happen whether you want it to or not!"
Clenching his teeth together, Terios ignored the amount of pain he was feeling and how much blood that was being lost. He slowly began to approach the Nephilim, coating his right fist in darkness.
"This isn't the right way to do things. I'm not going to let you screw everything up! I'm not going to let you destroy this world!"
Saying this Terios charged for him. Kazuki had no intention of stopping his locked on attack and kept the blades on him, however it wasn't enough to stop the fist that shoved its way into his gut causing a wave of darkness to flow out of him.
Kazuki coughed up blood from the force of the attack. He leaned forward against Terios was bleeding nonstop. The two were giving it everything they had just to prevent the other from holding one another back.
"I'm sorry." Kazuki muttered.
"Huh?"
Kazuki put in a lot of force to a sharp piercing slash which severed Terios' dominant arm. Blood shot out like a geyser and his arm spun around as it descended onto the ground. The amount of pain caused him to wince before he cried out in pain.
"Haaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhh!"
Terios felt himself losing his strength rapidly as he slowly descended below. Everything was acting out as if in slow motion. His eyes blinked once before closing. Kazuki stared down at him and held out a hand.
This was end game. All of the power that Kazuki had at his disposal was being revealed. His hand began to bend and twist the air until a small black ball was formed. This mini black hole.
"All Nephilims have varying degrees of regeneration. Some can regenerate cuts others organs and limbs. But, they have to be in one piece to do so. This will suck you up and rip you apart piece by piece until you're nothing. You'll meet your end here. Goodbye, Terios Kiyomizu."
Kazuki hurled the black hole down at the falling Terios who didn't even know it was coming. He was out of it at the moment unaware of his certain end.
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