Under the Blood Moon

Cognitive Pressure

Shiki pov: "Every day I have been going into my cognitive space and have been trying to fight the personification of my fear, but Kishima kept beating me every time. I didn't stand a chance."

"Damn it, why is he so strong?" I asked

"...." Black Len just sat there silently. I looked at her, expecting her to say something, but she never did.

"You need to focus, damn it!" White Len shouted right in my face. I leaned back to try to get away from her, but she straddled me like a horse.

"It's hard to focus when I'm being yelled at!" I commented

"You wouldn't be getting yelled at if you just won!" She yelled I rolled my eyes in annoyance at her advances; she really was trying to get under my skin.

"Look, Shiki, you would be able to beat him if you switched to my personality," Nanaya stated.

I glared back at him and furrowed my brow, clenching my fist until it bled "never again...." I growled at him, not after what he did to Yumizuka. I will never forgive him, even if I did have to use him against Miyako. I won't let him hurt anyone else.

"You could just switch to my personality and I'd win." Ryougi said

"Yeah, but that isn't really my power; you are me but also not me at the same time," I said.

"Well, technically, you are the weak version of myself that I made to repress my power," Nanaya stated.

I could feel my mental barriers begin to slip. Soon enough, my seal on Nanaya would break and he would be free. I would have to constantly fight for control of this body.

"Maybe you could kill Kishima if you didn't keep thinking of that Yumizuka bitch." Nanaya scoffed in disgust.

"She is not a bitch!" Ryougi and I spat in annoyance. Nanaya just rolled his eyes and sighed at me.

"You are both pathetic," he said.

I gripped my Nanatsu-Yoru and gazed at the blade, studying it. I had to slice through Kishima, and in order to do that, I had to get close, and if he grabbed me, I was doomed, so I needed a strategy in order to win.

In between my cognitive training, I was doing work for Akiha, and I had to take care of Kohaku, but since she has now woken up, I can focus on this training.

Black Len stared at me from the distance, and I was weirded out by her as of now since she is acting really odd. She was so talkative before, but all of a sudden she's not talking to me for some reason.

"It's time you beat him this time..." White Len told me

"Wait what!?" I yelled

"You have to beat Kishima; if you don't, then I'll give Nanaya his body back," White Len told me.

I gulped and shook my head, trying not to fret, but I was shaking in fear: "I can't have like three or four more chances." I asked

"No, this is the last chance you have." White Len sternly told me I wanted to question why, but she seemingly read my mind. "You aren't strong, so we can't rely on a weak version of you to fight," she told me.

I understood that we needed a strong version of myself, so I prepared to go fight as I was transported back to the place where Kishima was sitting on a tree stump.

"Oh, you're back for more Nanaya?" He laughed

"I'll defeat you here and now...." I said

"No, you won't, you're still too weak," he laughed.

I sprinted his way and slashed at him with my Nanatsu-Yoru; he stepped to the right, dodging, while he reached out to grab me with his left hand. I quickly jumped back, barely dodging his grasp.

"Damn it...." I said, questioning why he's so fast: "There is no way I can keep up."

"Nanaya, how can you be a warrior and a demon hunter but not be strong? All you have is speed; it's pathetic. " Kishima said

He lunged at me and barely got a hold of my shirt before blasting me with fire and throwing me at a nearby tree. My face was burned horribly, and I crawled, pulling myself up by grabbing onto a tree branch.

"What the hell?" I panted as he walked over to me and stomped on my back, blasting it with fire and searing into my back.

"Ugh...." I snarled in anger and pain as I struggled to crawl away. He grabbed me by the back of my neck and lifted me up before a pillar of fire shot up and engulfed me.

"Urahhhhhhh!" I screamed, but then I suddenly passed out, and the last thing I could see was Nanaya smiling at me.

"It's time for me to end you..." Nanaya stated as he threw his tool over my body.

Kishima lunged at me once again and tried to grab me, but Nanaya vanished, appearing behind the big man. "Pathetic," he scoffed at Kishima.

"You won't be saying that when I kill you!" Kishima said

"You kill me?" Nanaya said mockingly, "Don't make me laugh." He sighed.

Kishima went in to grab him rapidly, but Nanaya kept dodging, and when he saw an opening, he lunged forward, slashing Kishima's neck with Nanatsu-Yoru.

"I thought you said you were going to kill me," Nanaya stated.

"Give me my body back!" I yelled as I battled for control.

"No, just let me take control. We'll win from now on!" Nanaya told me

"I don't care if I don't win, just let me control my body!" I yelled

I barely managed to beat Nanaya and took control of my body. I saw that Kishima was now fully healed now that I was in control, but now I had a strategy. I felt like I knew how this body worked now better. I grabbed my Nanatsu-Yoru and began to fight as I ran at Kishima. We did a mutual strike, and despite that neither of us won, I knew I had a chance.