~Notes~
Blah. I’ve been bogged down by schoolwork this entire week! You won’t believe all the essays and tests I had to prepare. Anyway. I didn’t mean to give you guys another suspenseish ending, but it was starting to get long and I decided to split the chapter at the last moment.

Episode 62 A Darker Evil: The Successor of Fyx

Lord Gilford approaches Ivy hurriedly, a large, evil grin planted on his rough features. Ivy steps back, but trips over a loose stone on the ground. She stumbles onto her knees, just as Gilford reaches her.

Gilford swings his axe, intending to knock her out, before Rill appears out of nowhere, throwing his arms up in the air and taking the bulk of the attack. He sinks weakly to the ground, closing his eyes.

“Rill!” Ivy screams, her eyes widening.

“No one left to save you, woman!” Lord Gilford howls, swinging his axe again. He brings it down with a rush of wind and speed.

“No one left, you say?”

As Gilford’s axe goes down, it suddenly meets with a strong resistance, forcing his axe to skid to a stop in midair. Lord Gilford glares, looking up to find Kunai standing between him and Ivy, a thin black sword held firmly in his right hand.

Lord Gilford pauses, thrown completely into shock for one brief moment.

Kunai smiles grimly, his black eyes glittering slightly in triumph. “What’s the matter? Never seen a Hermit with a sword before?”

Tide breathes slowly, deliberately, as he glares at the man standing before him. Instinctively, the fingers of his right hand coil around the hilt of his Zard. “A Fatalist, huh? Sorry, bub, but I never heard of ‘em.”

“Never, huh?” Recelo repeats, his voice dark and grim. “That’s all right.” Recelo reaches inside his pocket, and places a Black Mamba over his right arm. “You will learn soon enough. Fatalist Rank Number 77. Recelo.”

“Rank seventy-seven, huh?” Tide blinks. Suddenly, he bursts out laughing. “So, so, that must mean that there’re seventy-six other guys stronger than you, huh? Haha! Piece of cake!”

Recelo’s eye twitches irritably. “Wh-What are you laughing at?! You really don’t know anything, do you, kid? We are Fatalists. We’re not ranked in order of how strong we are…

“We’re ranked by the number of human lives we’ve taken!”

Tide’s eyes widen at the sound of these words. “Human…lives?!”

Recelo grins evilly, giving himself the thumbs up. “I’m awfully proud of myself, too. My ranking just jumped up quite a bit thanks to that airship crew I slaughtered!”

The memory of blood, gallons and gallons of blood spilled on the floor, written in drying streaks on the walls, everywhere, suddenly returns to Tide. He grasps his forehead, screaming out loud. “So it was…it was you! You slaughtered all of our men!”

Recelo grins widely, the whites of his teeth showing demonically. “Finally caught on, eh? I was wondering how long it would take before you realized it.”

“You…”

Tide and Recelo both turn at that moment, as the soft, angry voice of Silver breathes into the clearing. “You killed them all?!”

Tide himself widens his eyes, as he stares at Silver’s livid face. ‘I’ve never seen Silver so angry…it’s almost scary, the way she looks right now…’

In a flash, Silver draws her bow, stumbling even as she struggles to stand on her injured ankle. “I’ll…” Silver stutters, “I’ll butcher you to pieces!”

However, without warning, Recelo disappears from view, and jams his fist straight into Silver’s throat. Tide turns, having heard the movement before actually seeing it.

Silver stumbles and bends over, throwing up blood onto the ground. Recelo releases his grip on her, and she falls straight to the ground without protest.

“SILVEERRRR!” Tide bends over Silver, shaking her vigorously. Blood drips down from her jaw, as she lies lifelessly in Tide’s hands. “SILVER!” Tide shouts again. “What have you done to her, you bastard?!”

“Nothing yet,” Recelo sneers. “I’ve only knocked her out. My next attack will kill her immediately, though, of course.”

Tide slowly rises to his feet, anger pulsating throughout his entire body. He draws his Zard, a resolute expression on his face. “You’ll have to get past me, first!”

Recelo howls in laughter. “Hahaha! Are you kidding me?!”

Tide frowns, his face falling slightly. “What’s so funny?”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Recelo roars maniacally. “The reason why you’re not dead right now is because you’re not even worth killing!”

Ivy opens her eyes at last. As her blurred vision becomes adjusted to the scene again, she catches Kunai standing in front of her, a drawn black sword in his hand as he holds off Lord Gilford.

“K-Kunai!” Ivy cries. “Your sword…”

“Step away from us, Ivy,” Kunai interrupts. He turns briefly to glance at her. “Stand back and heal Rill. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“B-But, Kunai!” Ivy protests. “Are you going to be fine—”

“Don’t argue!” Kunai replies forcefully. “Just do as you’re told.”

Kunai loosens his sword’s pressure against Gilford’s axe. Gilford slips forward expectantly, but Kunai slips under him, turning round and slashing at him from the back.

Lord Gilford quickly reacts, spinning in place to parry the attack. He easily uses the weight of his own weapon to throw Kunai back.

Kunai floats through the air, landing roughly on the ground, sliding dangerously in the wet ground. Water splashes up into the air as he lands, and through the flying puddles of water, Gilford sprints through them, waving his axe.

Kunai leaps into the air, dodging the head-on collision just in time. He flips, and swings his sword, but Gilford stops it easily. Suddenly, Kunai feels a heavy, gloved hand grab him around the wrist.

“What the—?!” Kunai chokes, as Gilford grabs him by the wrist. Suddenly, he swings him round and round in a circle, before hurling Kunai far into the air.

Kunai recovers right away, bouncing right back up as he crashes headfirst into the ground. With an agile leap, he pounces once more on Gilford, swinging his sword with deadly precision. However, Gilford still somehow maintains a nonchalant defensive stance, easily defending each of Kunai’s fierce strikes.

Meanwhile, Rill stirs, as his head lays in Ivy’s lap. She is bent worriedly over him, holding her Thorns over his body. A soft green light emits from it, as a humming whisper rings.

Rill jerks wide awake suddenly, as he realizes the situation. He jumps into a sitting position, and winces, as the wound on his side begins to shed blood again.

“Rill, stop!” Ivy cries. “You have to lay down and rest, or else you’ll only open up your wounds again! Look how much you’re bleeding…”

“I’ve got to…” Rill gasps, finally coerced into silence by the pain at his side. His eyes narrow as another spasm passes through him. Suddenly his eyes jerk wide open, as he stares at the scene.

Kunai is dancing circles around Gilford, as the two of them exchange blows, Gilford with his axe, Kunai with a narrow, black sword. “K-Kunai has a sword?!” Rill gasps in astonishment.

“Stop moving around!” Ivy yells warningly, attempting to push him back onto the floor.

Rill pushes Ivy away, gingerly rising into a standing position. “I should help Kunai,” he grimaces.

“You’re in no condition to fight!” Ivy protests, tugging fiercely on Rill’s sleeve.

Rill shakes his head, reluctantly pulling away from Ivy. “No, I can’t,” he replies hoarsely. “I should go help him. Kunai will die if he faces Lord Gilford alone.”

“You’ll die too, if you don’t—!” Ivy screams.

However, Rill ignores her, as he leaps back into the fray, drawing and equipping his Sapphire Slain. He reaches into his pocket, and draws out two Tobis.

“Take this!” Rill shouts.

Kunai slashes at Gilford diagonally with his sword, pushing himself out of the way as Gilford counters with a heavy swipe of his axe.

As the whirring of the flying stars approaches, Gilford turns, and stretches out his arm. A soft crunch sounds, as the two stars collide with heavy metal armor. Gilford snarls, and crushes the two Tobis clutched in his hands.

“He…he grabbed them right out of the air!” Rill cries, shock etched across his face.

Lord Gilford sneers, seeing the shocked look on Rill’s face. “Surprised, kid? Trying a sneak attack on me from behind will get you nowhere, especially when you’re so damn weak.”

“God damn it!” Rill curses. However, the next second, he screams out loud, as a gray blur darts past him. A heavy fist slams straight into Rill on the abdomen, throwing him far into the air.

“Rill!” Kunai cries. He darts past Gilford, catching Rill just as he lands. Next second, however, Kunai drops Rill immediately again, as Gilford swings his axe at him, not giving him a break.

Kunai bares his teeth, anger flashing in his eyes. “That’s enough, Gilford!”

“Hm?” Gilford raises an eyebrow interestedly, as he watches Kunai closely. “What are you gonna do, kid?”

“Take…this!” Kunai howls. He sprints straight towards Gilford, so quickly that he completely disappears from view for a moment. However, the next, he reappears, flashing his sword. A bloodthirsty, red light blazes past Gilford.

“Power Strike!”

Lord Gilford meets it head on, not even blinking as the impact of the approaching Kunai collides straight into him. He raises his axe just before the collision, and counters the move.

Kunai freezes, his attack stopped right in its tracks. His eyes widen in a powerful surge of surprise, as Gilford cuts a large dent into his sword with his axe.

He takes a step back, stumbling slightly. Blood pours out from his left leg and side, as he holds his sword shakily, his arms convulsing violently. The next second, a loud explosion sounds, and the entire blade of Kunai’s sword collapses into a thousand shards.

The pieces of black glass fall toward the ground like rain drops, faintly reflecting the light of the sun far above in the blue sky.

“My…my sword!” Kunai cries under his breath.

“Some sword,” Lord Gilford smirks. “It broke the second I smashed into it! You actually expected to beat me with that?!”

“Damn it…” Kunai swears softly. “I—” His eyes widen from a sudden, invisible interruption.

Gilford stares at Kunai with puzzlement, as he just completely freezes in place. However, he leaps back, as the shards of black glass on the ground erupt with violent vigor, and surround Kunai, becoming a flowing, black wall.

The shards hover around Kunai, spinning rapidly in place around him. A great whirlwind forms around him, as Gilford is blown away, forced to use his arms to shield himself from the great wind.

Ivy digs her heels deeper into the ground as well, using her Thorns to help keep her balance, as the immense force from the hurricane-like spiral continues to explode with black lightning.

“What the hell…is this?” Gilford growls, watching the scene from behind the cover of his arms.

Behind the black smokescreen, Kunai reels, growing dizzier and dizzier as the black walls continue to surround and whirl at top speed around him. He spins suddenly, as a rough, coarse voice begins to call out to him.

“Hello there, Kunai…”

“It’s…you!” Kunai grits his teeth. “What do you want now?! I’m in the middle of a battle.”

“You don’t recognize me, Kunai?” the voice responds in a faint tone of surprise. “We’d been apart for too long, I suppose.”

“Damn it, answer me!” Kunai shouts. “Who are you, and what do you want with me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Kunai,” the voice replies. “You should already know who I am by now. I am you. I am the part of you that was destroyed when the First Triplicate struck us. We were torn apart by destiny…but destiny has brought us back together now.”

“Why…” Kunai mutters, “why do you keep bothering me? I need to fight. Why do you keep getting in my way?”

“I am not in your way,” the voice continues. “Rather, I am offering you my help. How slow are you? That was Azuma’s purpose when he showed you the method of soul fusion. He knew you would become stronger, because of me. He knew precisely what he was doing when he brought us together again.”

“And I did grow stronger, didn’t I?!” Kunai shouts. “That was what all the training was about.”

“That was as far as the physical training could take you,” the voice replies, “but haven’t you realized by now that there was a lot more to it than that? Join me, Kunai. Together, we can become infinitely powerful. You call that feeble sword power? I’ll show you true power…”

Kunai glares down at the broken sword in his hands for a long moment. All that remains of the sword in his clenched hands is the tiny black hilt, devoid of a proper blade.

“Power?” Kunai repeats, his voice echoing in the strange center of the black wind-wall.

“Give me what you got.”

Suddenly, the pseudo-tornado stops whirling, and the black walls part, giving way to a rushing flurry of black smoke. As the smoke floats away higher and higher into the air, Kunai steps lightly out of it.

In his right hand is a thin, red hilt. A tail of red thread hangs from it, just barely brushing the watery surface of the ground. From the hilt stems a curvaceous, one-sided blade, with the guard extending to the whole length of the silver blade. Altogether, the entire sword resembles an oversized butcher knife.

Kunai shoulders the blade, resting the blunt edge on his shoulder. A soft expression of a subtle will to fight runs through Kunai’s face, as he brings the sword down, and points its flat edge straight at Gilford.

“What…the hell is that?” Gilford mutters under his breath, staring appalled at the sword in Kunai’s hands. “Is that even a sword?”

“Th…the shards of Myou rearranged themselves into a new sword!” Ivy hisses fearfully, stepping back. She cowers under the weight of seeing Kunai. “Impossible!”

“Are you ready, Gilford?” Kunai taunts. Lord Gilford suddenly turns his attention back towards Kunai, jerked out his train of thought.

“Because I’m coming for you!”

Next Time: Episode 63 The Fatal Number

Tide: Next is my turn to shine, and don’t worry ladies, I’ll give you something to cheer about!

Silver: Will they be cheering for your death so they can be rid of your annoyances?

Tide: Ouch.

Otis: If you don’t like blood, don’t read this next chapter!

Episode 63 The Fatal Number coming soon!