~Notes~
Right now, I am like totally on medication, and it’s making me sleepy and difficult to think straight. I took it right when I was doing the editing for this chapter, so I hope nothing weird shows up. Anyway, besides that, I really hope that Blod’s attack in this chapter isn’t as sickening in your mind as it is in mine.

Episode 64 The Appearance of Familiarity

Tide dances around in pain, as he dodges each of Recelo’s carefully timed attacks. Tide turns, and notices the Doombringer headed straight at him. “Crap!”

He wildly draws his Zard, swinging it like a baseball bat. Amazingly, he manages to parry the giant sword, setting it off course. The Doombringer flies off, landing on the ground sticking up.

Recelo pulls on a thin, nearly invisible piece of wire attached to the hilt of his sword. It immediately leaps into the air, right back into Recelo’s grasp. “Tch,” he smirks, “come on! I thought you were gonna do more than just dodge my attacks! What happened to knocking off my head?”

“Damn you,” Tide curses. “He’s too fast!”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, kid!” Recelo howls. All of a sudden, we waves his hand over the blade of his Doombringer, and it multiplies into three identical swords. “Triplication!”

Tide’s eyes widen, as he gives a loud groan of despair. “Crud, are you serious?!”

“Take this!” Recelo hurls all three swords into the air at once, spinning them violently round and round in his hand to gain momentum. They cut through the air like a windmill, the blades moving so fast that they become only black blurs.

With a heave, Recelo hurls all three swords at once, straight at Tide. He leaps into the air, narrowly dodging the first one. The second one follows right after the first, and hits Tide across the side of the arm. The third comes last, floating through the air.

Tide holds his Zard out in front of him, challenging the last Doombringer and preventing a direct hit. The last sword clatters to the ground at his feet. “Phew!” Tide pants. “That was a close one!”

In a blur, Recelo darts past Tide, gathering up all three Doombringers at once. They become one again, and with a shove, Recelo grabs Tide’s shoulder, throwing the blade upon him.

Tide parries the attack with his sword again and draws back, but Recelo merely stabs once more as he comes down, hitting Tide on the thigh. Tide collapses, grimacing, but not before Recelo stabs yet again, a third time.

Comprehension suddenly dawns on Tide’s face. His eyes widen, and he kicks out futilely, but the subsequent fourth, fifth, and sixth attacks come all at once, landing deep, bloody wounds across Tide’s chest and arms.

Recelo’s shadow finally disappears from view, as he stalks slowly away from the heavily damaged body of Tide. He shoulders his Doombringer, idly picking his nose. “You honestly thought a runt like you could beat me, huh? Pfft. You’re real pathetic, kid.”

Tide turns over onto his stomach, glaring up at Recelo from the ground. Streaks of blood cover his face, as he struggles to maintain consciousness. “Hey! Get back here! I’m not done with you yet!”

“Hm?” Recelo mutters, glancing back at Tide. “Not bad. You can still speak after that? I have to give you some credit, kid. You really are stubborn that way.”

Recelo windmills his sword again, letting the blade come to a halting stop on the ground near Tide’s face. “Look closely, kid,” Recelo growls, “you see this blood on the edge of my sword? It’s your blood, moron. Forget it. You may not wanna lose just yet, but it’s over. With the kind of attack I hit you with, you’re lucky to still be breathing. Just lay down there like a good boy and bleed to death already, will ya?”

“Never, bastard!” Tide lunges forward, grabbing Recelo by the ankle.

Recelo turns yet again, his grip tightening on his sword. A wide, evil smirk crosses his face. “So you really haven’t had enough? Tch. How stubborn can you be?”

Ryuu and Ayame watch dazedly, as Wing confronts Blod. The fairy remains standing in front of Lily, protecting her from Blod’s imminent attack. Sword wounds bleed freely across the fairy’s bloody arms, as he holds them up shakily.

“Wing,” Ryuu growls, “do you have any idea what you’re doing? You’re essentially breaking the pact you made with the Myougun by helping us. I thought you only cared about the fairies?”

“Kriel’s dead, Ryuu!” Wing shouts. “The fairies will not stand idly by anymore and allow this nonsense to continue! You hear that, Fatalist?! You’ve brought down our hammer of wrath!”

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Blod sneers, “it only means more fun opponents to fight.”

She draws back her sword, intending to finish Wing. Meanwhile, the fairy raises both his arms, clenching his eyes shut in preparation for the final blow. It never comes, however.

Wing slowly opens his eyes, to find Ryuu holding Blod by the wrist, preventing her from lowering her sword. “That’s enough,” Ryuu growls. “If you wanna fight, I’m your opponent. Don’t drag the defenseless into this.”

A wide smirk fixes itself on Blod’s face suddenly. Ryuu draws back in alarm, but she does nothing. Instead, Blod crooks her arm backwards, and it gives a loud snap.

All of a sudden, Ryuu cries out loud in surprise, as the arm that he is holding detaches itself from Blod’s body entirely. No blood spills from Blod’s wound, as she kicks Ryuu in the chest, taking back the sword still being held by the amputated arm.

“What the hell is this?!” Ryuu howls, flailing about. He grabs the amputated arm, and stares at it at arm’s-length. It wriggles slightly, twitching nervously.

Blod waves the sword in her still-attached left arm like a conductor’s wand. Suddenly, the detached arm snaps violently, and throws itself forward, grabbing Ryuu around the neck.

The fingers clench and tighten brutally around his neck, choking him. Ryuu stumbles forward to his knees, his eyes popping madly. He grasps the arm and attempts to pull it off, but its grip only tightens further.

Ayame cries out loud, bounding forward to Ryuu’s side. She grabs and tugs on the arm futilely, as Ryuu begins to fall to the ground, blue in the face.

“It’s no use,” Blod grins madly, drawing everyone’s attention towards her. “If you pull on the arm, it will only tighten. If you cut off the arm, it will only release poisonous chemicals that will burn the lungs immediately.”

Ayame draws back as if hit with an attack, unsure of what to do. She looks down at Ryuu, who is now gasping for air, as the arm continues to coil around him.

“Damn it!”

All of a sudden a blur of blue dashes up to Ryuu. As Ayame spins to see who it is, she realizes Wing is bending over Ryuu, nursing him. “Wing, what are you do—!”

Wing suddenly grabs Ryuu’s sword, and struggling for a moment under its heavy weight, he swings it across Ryuu’s chest, slashing off the arm. The arm falls to the ground limply, and melts right away into a blackish pile of dust.

Green vapors of some poisonous substance ooze out of the hand still clasped to Ryuu’s neck. “Cover your mouths!” Wing warns, as the gas melts into the air.

Ayame and Lily do as they’re told, covering their mouths and noses with their hands. Wing himself takes a deep breath, his mouth puffing up like a blow fish. He quickly waves his arms over the gasping Ryuu, writing a bluish seal in midair.

His hands glow with an electric blue light as he holds them over Ryuu. Immediately, Ryuu’s wounds begin to heal, and he begins to breathe easier. The poisonous mist, meanwhile, disappears into the air.

“It should be safe to breathe now,” Wing says, his voice calmer and more relaxed.

Ayame lowers her hand, just as Blod comes at her, swinging her sword violently. Ayame jerks her Geta up to guard herself just in time, blocking the attack. Blod swings again, despite not having perfect balance due to her missing arm.

“Impossible,” Lily murmurs from the sidelines, “if she’s missing an arm, her balance should be off. If that’s the case, there’s no way she can fight so well without it. It’s almost as if this type of attack was planned, practiced for…”

Blod casually tiptoes on one leg, leaping off the other and swinging her katana in a wide horizontal arc. Red lights blaze past Ayame, as she counters each of them with an attack of her own.

Ayame draws back, and briefly casts a spell. “Savage Blow!” A red seal appears before Ayame, as she blasts at Blod, striking with six successive strikes.

Blod agilely dodges each one, dancing left and right in circles around Ayame to elude them. On the last stab, Blod hops into the air, slashing at Ayame directly.

Ayame screams out loud, dropping to one knee. She holds her arms to her face, as blood pours out from her front. Blod easily darts past her, heading straight for Wing and Ryuu.

Wing braces himself again for the imminent attack. However, this time, a jolt of yellow electric light shocks past him, in an eruption of booming lightning. Claps of thunder explode and roar over the droning noise of the burning city.

Wing pulls Ryuu’s body back, as the ground before them collapses, eroded by a powerful strike of lightning. In the space where the crater is now smoking stands a second person dressed in a black kimono.

Specks of blue hair poke out from behind the skull’s mask on this man’s face. In his right hand he holds idly a Blue Marine staff. Sparks of lightning and ice tremble at the tip of the staff, mixed in with a blurred screen of fire and poison gas.

“Who the hell are you?!” Ayame screams.

This new arrival is standing in front of Blod, coldly grabbing her by the wrist. He holds her still, as surprise and bewilderment cross the girl’s face. The Fatalist turns his attention towards Ayame, his blank face hidden behind the skull mask.

The man raises his staff, and a cluster of white, yellow, blue, red, and green lights form around it, swirling about in the burning wind. “Fatalist Rank Number 4. Ice.”

Ayame takes an angry step forward, waving her Geta threateningly. “Another Fatalist?! Just who are you guys, and what do you want?!”

Ice raises his staff warningly again. “Stay back, woman. Otherwise, I shall obliterate you from this planet.” Ice turns harshly to Blod now, staring her down.

Blod bares her teeth angrily, glaring back at Ice, who glares back. “The mission we were sent here to do has been completed. All tests have been performed, and the data collected. It is time to go. We have no more business here.”

“Damn you!” Blod howls. “It was just starting to get interesting! If you’ll just let me—”

“No arguing,” Ice interrupts, “it is the will of Lord Duncan. We cannot disobey him.” Ice pulls, almost drags, Blod along, as he shoves a hand in his pocket and draws out a Teleport Scroll.

“Humans,” Ice mutters to the others, “though I interrupted your battle with Blod and thus consequently saved your lives this time, do not count me as an ally. I am far from it.”

“W-Wait!” Ayame cries, hurrying forward.

“Disappear,” Ice murmurs. He raises the scroll into the air, and it glows brightly for a moment. The next, he and Blod melt away into thin air together, leaving no trace but the still-burning forest.

Ayame stops in her tracks, having failed to reach them in time. She holds out her arm limply, and lets it fall, having nothing to grasp onto. Ryuu, meanwhile, rises into a sitting position, his breathing heavy and ragged.

“Fatalists, huh?” he says. He looks around for a few moments, inspecting the town that is now burning to the ground. “Shame to think that every time we visit Ellinia, it blows up in our faces, literally. And to think today started off so peacefully and normally too…”

Tide screams out loud, as blood pours from yet another wound on his back. Recelo grins maniacally, as he continues to stab Tide randomly again and again, while he lies helplessly on the ground.

Meanwhile, unnoticed by either of them, Silver suddenly stirs. She shakes her head on the ground softly, awakened by the screams coming from nearby.

Suddenly, she opens her eyes wide, as she stares about, her memories returning to her. She finds Tide lying sprawled on the ground, blood pouring from all over his back. “T-Tide!” she screams, but hardly loud enough for anyone to hear her over the screaming.

“Damn…” Silver croaks, “my voice hasn’t returned. I must be pretty badly injured.”

Laying out her hands in front of her, Silver slowly forces herself into a half-crawling position. Slowly, very slowly, and agonizingly, she pushes herself onto her knees. Immediately, Silver reaches for her Asianic Bow, and strings a loose arrow into it.

Recelo finally notices at last, as he finds the bow pointed straight at his heart. “Stop!” Silver shouts hoarsely, pointing her shaking bow at him. “Or I’ll fire.”

“Heh,” Recelo smirks. “What can you, a little injured girl do?” He stalks up to Silver, spinning his Doombringer playfully. “Maybe I’ll just cut off that pretty little head of yours…”

A sudden bolt of lightning blasts down from above, and Ice appears, already grasping Blod by the wrist. Recelo’s eyes widen in alarm, as Ice arrives just in front of him.

“I-Ice!” Recelo cries. “What’re you—”

“The mission’s complete, you idiot,” Ice interrupts coldly. “Come, it is time we head back to Lord Duncan.”

“What about these two?” Recelo asks, tilting his head towards Silver and Tide.

Ice glares coldly at Tide for a moment. “You know better than to waste your time on useless weaklings. Let them live as they will. They may still be able to be put to use, as all humans are capable of being.”

Recelo’s eyes widen in realization. “Wait, you don’t mean to say—?!”

Ice sighs, turning to Recelo exasperatedly. “You truly are slow for a Fatalist, Recelo. Of course that is what I mean. What else could we have come here for, then?”

“Very well,” Recelo bows to Ice.

“Well then,” Ice replies, “let us leave.” He reaches into his pocket again, drawing out another Teleport Scroll.

As he prepares to leave, Ice turns once to Tide, who remains lying still on the ground, half-conscious. “Be warned, human,” Ice addresses him, “do not take Lord Duncan and the Fatalists lightly.”

Without another word, Ice, Blod, and Recelo disappear, cast away like dust into the winds. Silver collapses to the floor, as the sun breathes its warm sunlight down upon her. “The battle’s…over, for now.”

Next Time: Episode 65 Do Not Interfere! I

Kunai: Next time…comes…the conclusion of my fight with Lord Gilford! Who will win?!

Otis: I will! Mwahahahaha!

Kunai: What was that laugh just now?!

Otis: Scary, isn’t it?

Kunai: No, it sounded more like a ticklish fat person getting tickled on the foot by a feather!

Otis: …

Episode 65 Do Not Interfere! I coming soon!