Of Angels and Demons

Rose: The Blossom and The Thorn

As I sit up in the bed I fell asleep in, I look around. This looks exactly like my room. I think to myself as I get put of bed and look around. "How did she memorize how my room looks?" I mumble to myself. Suddenly there's a knock at my door. "Kai, get dressed, we gotta train some more." Rose says from behind the door. I look in the closet and see some of my clothes. She even knew what clothes I had. I think as I sigh and grab a white shirt and white cargo pants. I quickly change and run out of my room and jump down the stairs. I quickly run outside to see Rose leaning against a tree. "Today I'm gonna alter your releases." Rose says with a smile. "What do you mean? How can you alter my releases?" I ask. She smiles and lifts her shirt showing where her rose tattoo was. I notice the tattoo is gone. "Wait, didn't you have a tattoo there?" I ask. She smiles. "I still do." She replies as the rose forms on her stomach. Wait, how did she do that. I think to myself. "Your releases put too much of a strain on your body, since you exert energy from your whole body. If you have one point to release energy is can spread better, making you stronger." Rose says as she starts walking back toward the house. "Where are you going?" I ask. She smiles. "I'm gonna change real quick." She replies as she walks inside. After a few minutes she comes walking back outside. I look at her and see her wearing shorts and a tank top that only goes down to the middle of her stomach. "I need clothing like this for you to understand how releasing from one point is stronger than releasing energy from your whole body." Rose says as she smile and reaches into her pocket. She pulls out Nirioki and smiles. "Make sure to have your weapon on you at all times." She says as she tosses me Nirioki. I nod. "Summon Nirioki and fight me." Rose says. But she doesn't have a weapon. How will she fight back? I think to myself as I summon Nirioki. Rose pulls her hands in front of her face and smiles. "Attack me with everything you have!" Rose yells. I quickly run toward her and swing my sword toward her ribs. She quickly jumps up and stomps down on my blade. As my blade hits the ground she lightly taps my face with the back of her hand. "Try a little harder." She says as she jumps backward. I quickly start running toward her and jump up above her. I cleave downward to her. She quickly jumps next to me and kicks my sword away then lightly taps my face the the back of her hand again. As I land on the ground my sword lands a few feet away. I slowly walk over and pick it up. "Come on Kai, at least make this kinda difficult." Rose says as she pops her neck and smiles. I grit my teeth and try to go into my release. I feel energy surging around me but my body doesn't change at all. "Something not right." I mumble to myself as I look at my hair and notice I don't have a tail. "You're so accustomed to having a physical release that this seems weird, right?" Rose says. "Physical release?" I ask. "A physical release is when you exert energy from all over your body. It also changes your body to actually be able to withstand the energy. Without changing form in a physical release the energy would build up to fast and you would explode." Rose says with a grin. "So why am I not changing then?" I ask. "Well this is my universe, I can decide how much power you can release here. If you don't have a release like me you can't go into any releases." Rose says as she smiles. "So I gotta fight you without a release, great." I mumble to myself as I ready my sword. I quickly run toward her and swing my blade toward her ankles. She jumps up and smiles as she reaches to touch my face with the back of her hand again. I smile and punch her in the stomach. She grits her teeth then smiles. "Not bad." She says as she kicks me back. I slide back a few feet. "So since you touched me, I can go into my first release." Rose says as her rose tattoo starts changing and more rose blossoms form around on her stomach. She smiles and pops her knuckles. "Now, hit me again." Rose says as she puts her hands on her hips. I smirk and run toward her. As I swing my sword she vanishes and appears above me. I see her shadow appear on top of me and I quickly look up. She lands right next to me and smiles. "I'm alot faster now." She says as I swing my blade at her ribs. She quickly ducks under my blade and kicks upward into it. My blade gets knocked over my head as I loose grip on it. Nirioki goes flying and sticks in a tree. I quickly run to Nirioki and pull it out of the tree. As I turn around I see Rose smiling. "Come on, you can hit me." Rose says as she puts her hands on her hips again. I grit my teeth and charge toward her. I quickly swing at her ribs again. I got a plan no matter what she does. I think as Rose ducks under my blade again. I smile as she kicks upward and kicks my blade out of my hands and the blade lands in the dirt behind me. As she's rolling back to her feet I run to her and punch toward her face. She quickly looks toward me and smiles as I punch her. She gets knocked back a few feet but quickly rolls to her feet. She smiles and rubs her cheek. "That wasn't half bad, but still, sacrificing your sword to hit me isn't the best idea. Suddenly marking start speaking from the blossoms. The markings resemble that of thorns. The thorns slowly move all over her body and spread quickly. 2 lines of thorns go up her neck and right over her eyes. Her eyes suddenly turn orange and she smiles. "This is my 2nd release." Rose says as she pops her knuckles. "You might wanna get your sword." Rose says while laughing. I quickly run back and grab my sword from the dirt. I quickly turn around and run toward her. I swing my blade and she stops it with one hand. I start to jump away but she grips my sword too hard for me to pull it away. She easily pulls my sword from my hands then throws it behind herm in an instant several acres of trees are cut down from my blade going through them. "There is no way you can beat me now." Rose says as she smiles. Damnit, how do I beat her now? I think to myself as I grit my teeth.