Mortal Masks

Chapter Twenty Seven

With a ragged breath, Yuta lunges low, his blade angled, locked onto his target. He drops to his knees, just missing the arc of the spirit's claws that swipe above his head.

"Are... Are we really talking about this now?!" He pants, gritting his teeth as he swings his dagger, ready to send this spirit back, only it dissolves into shadow and mist, reappearing a few feet away.

As soon as it materialises, a wall of ferocious wind slams into its body, pushing it back towards Yuta and his hunter's blade, "Your feelings are dangerous", Doyoung whispers, his energy focused on conducting his powers rather than the execution of his words. However from Yuta's rigid stance, the messenger knew that his friend had heard him.

"I don't have feelings" Yuta demands, before charging towards the spirit, hoping his friend's words get drowned out by the whirlwind of shadow and the deafening screeches of anguish that were to come.

Only, even as he engages with the spirit in a lethal dance of blades, Doyoung's voice rings out above it all, "Are you forgetting that you let me into your head? I saw everything, I felt everything"

Grunting, either at the physicality of the fight or his partner's words, Yuta tries to forget about whatever feelings are currently bubbling under his skin because of this conversation and instead tries to focus on his strength, spinning on his back foot and smashing his elbow up into the spirit's face. Yuta's next words are as heavy as the spirit's fall to the floor, "What you felt was nothing more than pity and curiosity"

Doyoung focuses his powers, ceasing his calling of the air element and instead engaging with the earth beneath their feet. He sinks to the floor, his fingertips planted against the ground.

Yuta watches as thick vines begin to burrow through the earth's surface, wiggling with life as they slither over the spirit's body, restraining it as it holds them against the ground. The hunter wastes no time in hovering over the monster, his blade pressed against the spirit's chest, ready to pierce the skin.

"I'm just saying, she's dead"

With a slight jerk, Yuta's dagger impales the spirit's chest, and blue light floods the woods they found themselves in.

Doyoung's eyes soften at Yuta's slip of the hand, at the fumbling of his dagger.

Yuta stares at the spirit before him, at the lifeless black eyes, "Believe me, I know", he murmurs, and he doesn't dare look Doyoung in his eyes as he rises to his feet, not even bothering to clean off his dagger as he sheathes the weapon and pockets his stone, "We should get going, we don't want to miss too much classwork"

And watching as his partner begins to walk away, making so hastily for the place that he's often felt trapped within, Doyoung calls after him, "And since when did you care about classwork?"

"Since you ambushed me to talk about my feelings!" Yuta responds, whirling around, having the decency to look Doyoung in the eye whilst he wallows in his denial, "Which don't exist, by the way"

Only Doyoung shakes his head, taking a few steps towards Yuta, "You want to see her again"

It was a statement, not a question. He could see the intrigue in his friend's eyes, he could feel the rapid beating of Yuta's heart when his mind drifted back to that first meeting, and his own heart felt so heavy upon observing this.

"And you're going to tell me that it's a bad idea?"

"I'm going to tell you that it's an impossible idea" He speaks, and as soon as the words leave his mouth, Yuta stills, "She avenged herself, she has completed her unfinished business and can now rest"