One and Only

Ch. 22 A Very Bad Day

'Shit, shit, shit! Where the fuck did he come from!?' That question raced through my mind as I drew my swords. Satoru activated his technique again, this time sending the man flying back into the air. Suguru was quick to send out one of his cursed spirits to eat the man.
"Satoru!" Suguru called out to him. He and I were by his side to check his wound. Before I could begin to inspect him, Satoru held out a hand to us.
"It's fine." He gave us a smile.
"What? You were stabbed!" I began to protest.
"Yeah, I was. My cursed technique didn't make it in time, but he didn't hit any vital organs. And I reinforced my cursed energy to make sure the sword didn't do any further damage." He got up and dusted himself off. "Kinda like a safety pin going through a knitted sweater. Really, I'm good." I wasn't convinced, the feeling of unease that I had didn't lift. I shifted my weight from one leg to another. "Amanai is the priority. I'll take care of this," he motioned to the oversized cursed spirit. "You guys hurry on to Tengen's place."
"I'll stay, Suguru is more than enough to escort them down." I made my way to stand next to Satoru. "I don't like this. Something feels off."
"What? No way, go with them." Satoru tried to wave me off.
"I'd feel better if she stayed too, Satoru." Suguru gave me a nod of approval. I returned the gesture. The cursed spirit gave a jolt. "Don't let your guards down!"
"Who do you think you're talkin' to?" Satoru smirked, putting his sunglasses away. "Mai, don't hold back."
I didn't say anything back. A sword thrusted and sliced through the cursed spirits body, its purple blood splattered the ground. From the massive wound stood the man, holding a different sword than what he used before. A Worm like spirit circled his body.
"Where did that curse come from?" I whispered out to Satoru. He didn't reply.
"Where'd the Star Plasma Vessel go?" The man surveyed the area. "I was hoping to finish you off with that strike. I'm getting rusty." He murmured.
'That's rusty?' I could feel the hair on the back of my neck begin to stand and sweat form on my forehead. This man had a laziness about him, but I couldn't shake this feeling of dread and fear.
"Amanai's bounty's been lifted, you idiot." Satoru said through a cocky smile. I took a peak at him and realized that he was sweating as much as I was. 'Was it from the wound or over using his technique?'
"Yeah, because I took it down, Mr. Hotshot." The black haired man began to explain. "For guys with no openings like you, I took the advantage by creating an illusion of achieving goals. It's regrettable that none of the sorcerers with you died, but if there wasn't any time limit on the bounty you probably wouldn't have stopped your technique until the end."
"Is that right?" Satoru used his technique, creating a vacuum like suction. Before the man could get caught in it, he jumped to one of the neighboring buildings. I decided to use that time to jump after him, slashing at his chest. But he jumped again before I could land my attack.
"Mai." Satoru called out to me, I jumped back down to where he was. "He doesn't have any cursed energy." I looked to Satoru, eyes wide.
"What?" Disbelief filled me. 'He doesn't have any cursed energy? At all??'
"Yeah. I'm having a hard time reading his movements. I can keep bringing him back with my technique, but you'll need to fill the gaps. I'm entrusting you with the close range fighting." Satoru finished. I didn't say anything in return as we watched the man switch swords. I couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity.
He lunged at us, both Satoru and I let out our cursed techniques. Mine to give us space, and Satoru's to redirect him to crash into the building to our right. Smoke billowing from the now large hole.
"Is that your treasure? Too bad you can't get close enough to use it." Satoru mocked. As the smoke cleared, he wasn't among the rubble.
"Shit, where did he go?!" I cursed under my breath. Satoru and I closed the space between us and were now back to back. Satoru was at a disadvantage since he was used to fighting others with cursed energy. I could feel his body tense up.
"Calm down, Satoru." I tried to tell him, but my own body was betraying me. I let out a ragged breath to try to calm my nerves.
"Got no choice." Before I could ask Satoru what he meant, the buildings around us began to crumble and cave in on themselves. Satoru was destroying every building that was surrounding us. There wasn't anything but rubble left. "Hiding in the forest?" He looked over to the wall of trees. We both snapped our heads over to the stairs, a faint buzzing sound coming from it.
"Are those..?"
"Fly heads?" Satoru finished my sentence. Satoru grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him, activating his Infinity. We were surrounded by a massive swarm of them.
"I see, using them like a chaff grenande." Satoru thought out loud. So that was his plan, he wanted to mess with Satoru's senses.
"I could use my technique to get rid of them.." I began.
"He could use that as an opening." Satoru turned down the option. I tightened my grip on the swords, trying to formulate a plan that could help us get to victory.
"He could be using this as a distraction." Satoru stated.
"To go after Amanai." Just as we turned to begin heading to the others, he came out of nowhere. There was a look in his eye, like that of a wolf that caught his prey. He slashed at my thigh, leaving a gushing wound. I fell to the ground, and he took advantage of that and slashed at Satoru. I pulled myself back up and rammed myself into the man's side.
"Shit, Mai!" Satoru grabbed my arm to support my weight.
"I remember you now," I let out a groan. "You're from the Zen'nin clan, aren't you?" I stared as the man picked up his sword. He didn't reply. "I remember that scar, the one on your mouth."
"Sorry, can't say I remember a brat like you." He lunged at us. I brought up a hand and let out a wave of my curse technique. He dodged it and slashed at us again. I pushed Satoru out of the way as I felt the blade sink into the flesh of my belly. I placed my fist on top of the wound, the hot liquid coating it.
"Mai!" Satoru yelled out to me. The man continued towards me, giving me no time to compose myself. I gritted my teeth and swung my own swords to pary his. The strength of his swing was hard enough to cause our swords to spark when met. I held off his attack as I saw Satoru release his technique. He used Blue to get the man off of me, but that's where things went wrong. He let himself get taken, and he used Satoru's technique against him. The man sunk his blade into Satoru's neck.
"No!!" I cried out. Trying to slash at him with my own swords, but he kicked me on the side of my face. I felt the wind rush past me as I fell onto a pile of rubble. I scrambled to get up, but my thigh couldn't support my weight. I turned and watched in horror as I saw Satoru fall to the ground, and the man stab him in the brain. I nearly choked as I felt the rush of tears close the back of my throat. "You piece of shit!!" I let out a roar as I forced myself up and ran at the man. With a cynical smile on his face, he watched as I ran at him. I saw red. How dare he sit there with that fucking smile when he just murdered Satoru?
"I've been called worse." His smile only growing bigger. He dodged as I swung the swords down as hard as I could, leaving a small crater where he originally stood. I grabbed Satoru's body and tried to run to where the others were, but the man was already in front of me. He grabbed onto Satoru's shirt, pulling him away from me as I felt him kick at my stomach. I landed a few feet away with a harsh thud. My back ached from the punishment, my belly was in searing pain. If the wound from before wasn't deep enough to cause concern, it was now. I laid on the ground, choking as I felt blood fill my throat and lungs. I heard gravel and debris crunch under the man's footsteps. He kneeled down to my level and grabbed a fistful of my hair, forcing me to sit up and look at him.
"Now that I get a better look at ya, you're that kid from last year, right? Were gonna marry Naoya or somethin'?" I could barely see, my vision was doubled. No words came out either, only ragged breaths. I felt him tug at my hair, forcing me to fall over onto my side. He then dragged me back over to where Satoru laid. I pulled at the hair in his hands, ripping it out to try to free myself from his grasp. "Stop that, you're making this way harder than it needs to be." He loosened the grip on my hair and brought his fist down to punch me. This time, he grabbed my hair at the base of my scalp and I let out a pained yelp. I clawed at his arm, I could feel my nails bend and break from the force I used. This only made him angry. He used his free hand to land blow after blow on me. "Told you to stop."
I used my arms to cover my face. I couldn't see out of my right eye, my brow and cheek were so swollen that they were blocking my vision. He let go of my hair as I laid on the ground. The wound on my stomach still bleeding out. I dont know how much blood I lost, but I could feel myself growing colder by the minute.
"Well, you're as good as dead. Might as well and finish you off." He let out a groan as he straightened his back. Grabbing one of my swords, he sunk it into my chest and I let out a cry. I grabbed it by the blade to stop him from plunging it further. "Oh? Still got some fight in ya?" He mocked. I felt the blade slowly slice the palms of my hands and chest. Tears formed at the corner of my eyes from the intense pain. He put both hands on the handle of the blade and pushed further. I felt my strength leave my body as my vision went black.