[I spent eleven years watching through another person's eyes, not being able to move a single muscle. My little brother died before my eyes yet I couldn't do anything, I didn't have enough power to do a single thing]
The wind split around them, not just a physical force, but a tangible tremor of magic. Mana howled through the courtyard, a living storm that whipped Domino's silver hair around her face like strands of molten moonlight. The very air thrummed with a raw, primal energy, a symphony of destruction in the making.
The Rogue Witch, a blur of tattered black against the swirling chaos, jumped backward, desperately putting distance between them. Her shoes screeched against the rough ground. Her amber eyes, usually so predatory, held a flicker of alarm as she assessed Domino's relentless advance.
Domino, however, didn't flinch. Her movements were slow, deliberate, each step a calm counterpoint to the raging mana. She adjusted her sleeve with an almost casual gesture, blowing away a fine layer of dust that had settled on her arm. Her brows, though, were slightly furrowed, and a faint grit of her teeth betrayed the underlying calculation.
"The hell are you doing? Why're you resisting so much, Audrey?" Domino's voice, a low murmur that seemed to come from within Audrey's own mind, carried a note of impatient frustration.
[Go save Hoshimi! He's going to die] Audrey's plea, a desperate, internal scream, tore through Domino's thoughts, raw with terror for the boy lying injured.
"He has that sword and especially that scabbard inside him, if he dies, I'll be more impressed than anything else." Her tone was cold, almost mocking.
[What the hell are you saying!?]
A sonic crack rippled outward from Domino, distorting the air around her like a heat haze. The very fabric of the world seemed to lag behind her speed, objects momentarily blurring and then snapping back into focus.
When she reappeared, it was directly in front of the retreating Witch. Her leg, a conduit of raw mana, burst with densely collected energy in her shin, slamming into the Rogue's waist with concussive force.
The Witch doubled over, a choked gasp escaping her lips, pain momentarily overriding her consciousness. But Domino didn't cease her attacks. Her grip was instant and brutal. She reached up, grabbed a handful of the Witch's greasy black hair, yanked her head back, and slammed her into the courtyard wall.
Stone split with a sickening crunch, the sound of fracturing marble echoing across the silent campus. Dust exploded outward from the impact, mingling with the scent of ozone.
"Still breathing?" Domino's voice was even, almost casual, as if discussing the weather. Before the Witch could even think of transforming, Domino rammed her fingers into her stomach, targeting the core of her mutant mana.
The Witch coughed, a spray of crimson blood mixing with a defiant, broken smile. "Shit."
"What's wrong?" Domino replied, her head tilted, the silver hair shining faintly in the harsh moonlight. Her lips curled into a predatory smirk. "Cat got your tongue?"
The ground beneath them shuddered violently. The Witch's body, already half-destroyed, collapsed into a black, bubbling liquid again. But this time, it didn't reform as a humanoid. Instead, the viscous sludge spread outwards rapidly, covering the courtyard dirt like ink seeping through porous paper.
It pulsed and churned, an unsettling, organic mass, and then, slowly, dozens of small, pinprick red eyes opened across its surface, like malevolent embers in a sea of darkness.
"Oh," Domino said, a note of detached curiosity in her voice. "That's new." Her gaze swept across the growing, monstrous form, her mind already analyzing its new capabilities.
Tendrils of the black mass shot up from the pool, whipping at her from every direction like frantic serpents. Her heel twisted on the slick, black surface, calmly dodging the first few, but three more lashed around her waist and throat, slamming her to the ground with brutal force. The air exploded from her lungs as she hit the cold stone, a sharp pain radiating through her ribs.
The Witch's voice rose from all around her, distorted and echoing through the vast black mass, a chorus of malevolent whispers. "I finally caught you, you little rat!"
Domino's eyes narrowed, a cold glint in their pitch black depths. "Really? Is that what you thought?" Her voice was calm, almost dismissive, even as the tendrils tightened around her.
She breathed in once, deeply, drawing in every ounce of mana from her surroundings. Her chest visibly expanded, glowing with an internal, green light. Then, she screamed.
The air detonated. A concussive sound wave tore across the courtyard, ripping through the tendrils like paper, shredding them into ribbons of black mist that dissipated into the night. The force of the blast hit the far wall of the campus, shattering it to dust and sending debris flying. For a moment, everything was still, windless, soundless, the world paused mid-collapse. The sheer power of her scream left a ringing silence in its wake.
The Rogue Witch flinched, the dozens of red eyes on her surface blinking in unison, momentarily disoriented by the raw, overwhelming force.
Then Domino was gone again, her silhouette flickering through the night like a phantom, leaving only afterimages in the shattered air. She reappeared directly behind the Witch, her fist already raised for a devastating strike. But before she could land the blow, a tendril, thinner and faster than the others, pierced through her shoulder from behind. Domino froze, her eyes widening as she looked down at the new hole in her body, blood sizzling and steaming where the blackness touched it.
"Got you," the Witch whispered behind her, solidifying from the mass, a razor-sharp grin spreading across her face, blood already smeared across her chin from earlier impacts. Her amber eyes gleamed with triumph.
Domino turned her head slowly, her silver eyes flat, devoid of surprise or pain. "You really shouldn't celebrate early."
As if in response to Domino's words, the puddle underneath the Witch trembled violently. A large serpentine amalgamation of black sludge, coiling and writhing, came rushing towards Domino from within the mass, catching her off guard with its unexpected speed.
"Vigil Hexa!" Domino shouted, mana flaring around her as a translucent, hexagonal shield shimmered into existence.
The attack was repelled with a resonant crack, the Hexa shattering into sparkling fragments. The Rogue, propelled by the impact, jumped out from within the dispersing black mass, landing a powerful kick onto Domino's face.
Domino landed hard on her knees, skidding across the ground, the impact momentarily disorienting. She wiped away the warm blood resting on her lips with the back of her hand, her gaze still fixed on the Witch.
Then, with a sudden, primal roar, Domino dashed forward, her movements a blur. She caught the Witch's face in one hand, gripping it tightly, and slammed it into the ground with enough force that the courtyard dirt cratered beneath them, sending splinters of stone and black fluid splattering outward.
Steam rose from the impact, and the air reeked of burning metal and ozone.
"Vitae Core," Domino muttered under her breath, a faint green glow emanating from her body.
She let out a slow breath, flexing her shoulder. The hole in her arm was visibly sealing itself, muscle and skin knitting back together at an accelerated rate. "Fuck..." The word was a raw exhalation, betraying the physical toll the fight was taking.
"Honestly," she muttered, her eyes narrowing as she watched the Witch's mangled form.
[She's adapting, and I have no real way to permanently put her down. Her regeneration is too fast, and this sludge form is tricky.]
The Witch's half-destroyed form melted away again, the black mass oozing between the cracks of the yard and disappearing into the earth below. The wind now carried a low hum, like a chorus of whispers, too many to count, rising from beneath the ground.
In response, Domino straightened, her eyes narrowing further. Her silver hair seemed to float slightly in the rising mana pressure, sensing the widespread, diffuse presence of her opponent.
"Ah," she said softly, a dangerous smile playing on her lips. "So tell me, Malachite. Who chose that shitty ass name for you?" Her voice was a low taunt, filled with a knowledge that shouldn't be possible.
The Rogue Witch, her form vaguely coalescing from the shadows of the surrounding bushes, froze. "How the hell?" Her voice, usually so confident, was laced with pure shock.
"If you're wondering how I managed to find out your name," Domino began, pointing her finger towards her own pitch black eye, which pulsed with an ethereal, violet light. "I can see your soul. Every single piece of information about you." The statement was delivered with cold, absolute certainty, a revelation of a power far beyond what Malachite had anticipated.
"You're lying. If you really knew everything about me then you would've eliminated me immediately". Her voice cracked slightly.
The ground around Domino tore and fissured, not from a physical attack, but from the sheer, contained power she radiated. Domino smiled softly, a knowing, almost predatory expression.
[Of course that was a lie, but that also means that her ability has a weakness that I can exploit, an immediate point that I can exploit. She thinks if I knew everything, I'd have ended it already. That means her weakness isn't immediately obvious, it's not like I can see information about her body...]
Hands burst out from the stone, black and twisted and clawed, hundreds of them, reaching for her ankles, her arms, her throat. They clawed upward, grasping, dragging her toward the pit forming beneath her feet.
Domino dashed from side to side, stomping down the hands one by one.
[My mana pool is really unstable, it's hard to draw from it, it's all because of Audrey]
Malachite came up from the shadows as she stood right behind her, her arm transforming into a large black blade as she launched a strike aimed towards her waist.
Domino jumped into the air, her body spinning as she kicked her straight in her jaw, causing her to stumble backwards, her hand gripping onto the steel fence, her free hand turned into black sludge, launching a projectile straight towards Domino.
Moonlight entered through the broken school windows, its rays cut thin, silvery lines across the marble floor. Dust filled the air, like ash, suspended in mid-fall.
Hoshimi's body jerked once, twice.
His violet eyes flickered, then burned blue.
A faint pulse of light rippled from his chest, slow and uneven, like a dying heartbeat that still remembered its rhythm.
Then silence.
The world was different when he opened his eyes.
He stood in a flat plain of darkness: not night, but the mere absence of everything, no sky, no stars, nothing but a void that swallowed the horizon. The only color in that infinite black was the little patch of grass under his feet. Its green seemed almost artificial, too vivid to be true.
And there, resting perfectly in the center, was a sword.
It shone with a light so sharp it hurt to look at, every reflection breaking into pieces before his eyes. The engravings shimmered, alive, but impossible to read because of the brightness, each line shifting, rewriting itself the longer he stared.
Beside it sat a scabbard, its gold trim looking faded, almost fake, like painted plastic that had forgotten what metal felt like.
Hoshimi walked closer towards the patch of grass, his eyes unnaturally fixed onto the scabbard.
"Where in the world am I?"
No answer. Just the hum of stillness.
He squinted at the sword. "Is this what Reina meant by… having a conversation with my reincarnation?"
He crouched slightly, his eyes still glued to the scabbard. "Guess my past life was a swordsman. But if that's the case… where's the swordsman?"
He chuckled then, softly, a dry sound that didn't reach his eyes. "Don't tell me he turned into the damn sword. That'd be poetic, sure, but also really pathetic". He scratched his chin, studying the weapon's shape. "Wouldn't be the first time reincarnation turned out to be some stupid fuckin joke."
Hoshimi held his chin, calmly staring blankly at the sword.
"I really do hope it's someone famous or strong. Like Miyamoto Musashi or Diarmuid, but I'm not going to hope for too much, this is just luck based after all, I just hope that it's not someone pathetic".
"Pathetic"?
Hoshimi froze and jumped backwards slightly.
"What in Bleu-"
His eyes narrowed.
"You scared the shit out of me".
He straightened, squinting at it "So, you can talk".
"Talk is a generous word. Let's call it.. Remembering".
It was a quiet, measured voice, but beneath, an edge—like an echo that cut both ways.
Hoshimi crossed his arms. "Alright then, who the hell are you"?
"You".
He blinked. "That's not what I asked, who were you before you reincarnated into my body"?
"The part of you that was once me. I am but a sword that once laid at the bottom of a lake, I was returned there once you had died, but ever since you had reincarnated, I was returned back to my Lady".
"Okay…" Hoshimi said slowly, "So who is this lady then"?
"My benevolent creator".
"Yea that doesn't help, so what does a sword such as yourself want anyways"?
"Those who can wield me are kings, you are still a puppet. I shall mold you into a king, enough to wield my power".
One boy, one blade, stared at each other in a silent moment, both of them haunted by the same silence. Then Hoshimi smiled again, small and dangerous. "Well," he said, reaching out, "Really"? His fingers brushed the hilt, trying to pick up the sword as hard as he could, yet it didn't budge the slightest inch.
"I will be waiting for the next time we shall meet".
"Wai-".
Hoshimi jolted awake, his hands roaming over his own chest, trying to search for any injury on him, yet the only evidence that he was damaged in the first place was his torn shirt. His eyes widened as his breathing became more erratic, he cracked his knuckles, looking over his shoulder, at the fight below in the courtyard.
"Shit, I still had so many questions. A king"? Hoshimi's heartbeat increased dramatically from excitement. "If it's who I think it is, then… I shouldn't get my hopes up, just for them to get destroyed".
He stood up, his fingers shaking, his eyes glowed a bright blue.
"I should go help Audrey".