Soul Spark

27 - Duality Warfare, p1

[✦]

“You...” Kaito said, looking at Hiroshi. The crystal’s interference resulted in not only his own soul being captured, but also that of Hiroshi - as the special exception of the mechanism. They were in it together.

Hiroshi didn’t react. He was unaware of what the environment around him was, or how he even received a chance to fight on again. He saw the man who was, for the entirety of the life he remembered, his loving parent. And now, all that he was reduced to was a treacherous murderer.

He took a step back in fear, while Kaito, partially just as confused, glared at him with hatred.

“The crystal’s effects...”

“His presence here indicates that the crystal messed up the mechanism. And the only way I can think of ..”

He took a step towards Hiroshi.

“I’ll force it back into its place.”

[✦]

“Did it work?!” Ichika asked, rushing to the scene. She ran up to Sakuto, who had just finished sticking his body back together and properly healing everything. They looked in front of them, at Kaito, who, despite not being paralyzed, still looked to be in great discomfort.

The crystal was sticking out of his chest, with the cracks on his body being lit up with a pure white. His body was twitching, and he was slowly starting to recover his stance.

“He...he’s...” Sakuto thought, before blurting it out loud. “He’s not immobilized?!”

“Fuck...this is bad...”

“I don’t know. But...it’s doing something to him.” Ichika said, taking a stance herself. “We just have to keep fighting it, maybe we can do something against it now.”

“You think so?” Sakuto asked, a little hopeless. But, the next few occurrences that he saw changes his outlook on the fight. For the first time after Kaito’s complete awakening, the tide of the battle shifted. It was no longer a one-sided beatdown and the imposition of Kaito’s purpose upon the world, it was now a proper battle.

Kaito coughed up blood.

“Hey, wait...he just...” Sakuto tried to say, but his battle instinct took over faster than he could finish the sentence. He rushed at Kaito and struck him with all his might, knocking him back into a nearby building. He felt something crack on Kaito’s body.

When he shadow stepped next to him and swung his blade, he cut him open. Kaito quickly zoned out and kicked him away, but Sakuto, before trying to engage him again, took a moment. He was stunned by the strange feeling of hope that emboldened his soul.

He noticed that the small cracks that emerged as a result of their brief engagement weren’t recovered properly. His divine-like regeneration and the uncompromisable nature of his body were diminished the moment the crystal touched him. Now, he could bleed. Very little, and after tremendous effort by the monstrous soulfuls the likes of Sakuto and Ichika, but...he could bleed.

“Ichika!” Sakuto yelled, swinging his blade again. “He’s taking damage!!!”

[✦]

Kaito, surprised, crouched down in pain. Chapters fırst released on NoveI-Fire.ɴet

“I have to...simultaneously control my body outside, as well as dealing with this...” He looked up at Hiroshi.

Hiroshi sensed that his father’s invincibility was compromised. He looked vulnerable, he looked human. It gave him the necessary push in willpower to approach him, transforming his status of prey into that of a boy who would confront the white crow.

“Dad...why did you...”

“I don’t have time for you...” Kaito said, slowly getting up. He approached Hiroshi and pushed him away, the nothingness behind him being shattered into a gateway to a place familiar to both of them. As Hiroshi was still stunned, Kaito kicked him back.

The area was engulfed in a brief light. Kaito and Hiroshi were now at the old GSC office. The same place where the whiteboards were, with the coalition’s symbol being drawn on them next to splatters of blood.

“What the hell is this?” Kaito asked, angered even more. “Is this the soul crystal? Are you in control of this, you mutt?!”

“Why did you do that to me?!” Hiroshi yelled, slowly starting to cry.

“Because that’s what your purpose was.” Kaito said, continuing to approach him. “Now listen to your father, and stand still.”

“It’ll take me no time to kill him again and get this shit over with. Even without-”

He stopped for a moment.

“Huh...?”

“My soul prowess...it’s gone? No, I clearly have it outside, but here-”

The crystal’s most unique trait in general was its ability to mend the soul through a personalized approach. It would construct a daydream, and in the process, it would usually strip the person of soul prowess in order to prove a point or teach them something.

In this case, while it did recognize Kaito as a soul present in the environment, it decided to defang only him. Hiroshi retained some of his soul prowess, enough to give him a fighting chance against a relatively stronger adult man.

Hiroshi started tearing up. He clenched his fists, he was still scared. But, remembering everything that he went through just to get to look into his father’s eyes, he wouldn’t let all of it go to waste. Some people had faith in him.

So he ran towards Kaito and swung his fist...

[✦]

Sakuto slammed his fist into Kaito’s face again, knocking him back. Kaito corrected his stance and went for a counter-attack, but Sakuto, seeing the fist reach him, quickly dipped into the shadows and popped right behind him. He kicked him forward.

From the front, however, Ichika was posing a serious threat. She rammed her claws into Kaito’s head and body before summoning her Kunai and stabbing him in the forehead.

“Flash Freeze!”

His head was covered with a thick layer of ice. Kaito, getting a moment of clarity to focus on the predicament, watched Ichika go in for another stab, all while Sakuto was repeatedly stabbing him in the back. He released a circular flying slash around him, the impact of the prowess knocking both fighters away.

His regeneration was near-instant, but from some point onwards, it was so instant that it felt like a type of armor. And slowly, his pure white and black appearance, especially around his face, was cracking apart.

Immediately bouncing back, Sakuto propelled himself forwards and grabbed a hold of Kaito before launching him into the sky - chasing him down. There, the two clashed ferociously, each engagement and evasion leaving heavy wounds on Sakuto, and minimal but existing damage on Kaito. Amidst the many clashes with their blades, Sakuto was caught off-guard and knocked down.

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Kaito rushed to finish him off, but Ichika swept in and kicked him away. She chased him down faster than Kaito anticipated, and before Kaito was figured to fight back, Ichika quickly pulled away and stabbed the ground.

A gigantic formation of ice erupted, knocking Kaito upwards. Ichika continued her advances, this time - remotely, throwing a sequence of frozen spears and daggers at him, all of which reached their target. Kaito swept the weapons away, before sensing something in the ice. Something that travelled between shadows, and should’ve been caught by the attack...

Sakuto popped out of the ice, grabbing Kaito by his clothes, tripping him and slamming him into the ice. Bolts of soul prowess accumulated around Kaito’s hands, as the ice formations were completely destroyed. But Sakuto, despite the fall, didn’t let go of him.

“Ichika, now!” Sakuto yelled.

“On it!” Ichika replied, taking a deep breath. “Now that he won’t walk away unharmed from it, let’s see how he handles this!”

“ ✦ Befall. ✦ ”

Kaito immediately shifted his attention to her. He tried to quickly break away and send a flying slash towards her, but Kaito wrapped multiple shadow ropes around him, immobilizing him for just a moment. When he sensed Ichika’s presence spike, he quickly pulled away.

“ ✦ Abyssal Frostbite!!! ✦ ”

The attack hit Kaito head-on. His body, and even parts of his soul were frozen. Parts of his body started cracking, with Kaito’s own body now visible. As the layers of ice were destroyed, it was too late for Kaito to try and evade further. Sakuto was already onto him.

With all of his power, he kicked Kaito down into the ground. And before the latter could recover his footing...

“ ✦ Divine Acclamation Release... ✦ ”

He swung his blade, empowered by the full complexity of the colorful gray.

“ ✦ Soul Breaker!!! ✦ ”

The strike landed perfectly...

[✦]

The office shook violently, and Kaito felt a sharp pain in his chest. Parts of the ceiling cracked open, revealing a strange, hollow light that seeped into the room.

Hiroshi landed the punch successfully, even he was amazed. He dropped Kaito. He felt scared, but was upset enough to keep his voltage going. He soccer kicked Kaito in the side of his stomach a few times, before trying to swing again.

“This...worthless...piece of shit...” Kaito thought. He quickly moved his leg, sweeping Hiroshi to the ground.

He got up and tried to reach for him, but Hiroshi quickly got up as well, and they wrestled. Hiroshi had the strength advantage, but Kaito’s maneuvers allowed him to keep the fight under control. He was pushed into his desk and later the whiteboard, which fell over.

Sensing the exchange wasn’t exactly beneficial to him, and that outside, his body that at this point fought purely on instinct, he headbutted Hiroshi. The move was painful, but it didn’t drop Hiroshi like he anticipated. He instead let go of the hold and grabbed a cup from his desk, throwing it at Hiroshi.

Hiroshi was stung, parts of the shattered cup struck his eye. That’s where Kaito kicked Hiroshi in the liver with all of his strength. Even with some reinforcement, it was still a very painful strike to absorb.

“It doesn’t matter how much fucking soul prowess you have...” Kaito said, wiping some blood off of his lip and spitting some out. “You have no idea how to fight.”

Wiping his eyes from the tears and the small drops of blood from the cuts on his forehead, Hiroshi launched himself at Kaito with an almost primordial scream. The latter tried to trip him and step aside, but Hiroshi managed to grab a hold of him and drive him through the wall.

They broke through it as if there was no resistance. Despite the area being in a completely different part of the building, they now found themselves in the GSC meeting room - the place where Kaito managed the coalition and built it up, brick by brick and command by command. Hiroshi, with a kick that wielded unexpected power, knocked Kaito away from the speaking podium.

Kaito tried to get up, but he saw something more concerning in Hiroshi’s hands. A knife made out of raw soul prowess.

“What is this...his soul expression decided to act up? It should be impossible.”

“This fucking crystal...”

The realization hit him harder than the attack that caused Hiroshi’s increase in strength.

“That ability...soul breaker...it’s destabilizing everything further and further.”

“Come on then, Hiroshi. Are you really going to do it? Kill your father?” Kaito asked, taking more and more steps back. “You don’t have the guts to do it, nor do you have the strength.”

“All that is left...is to break this fucking tool in half...”

“I’m not going to let this miserable creature stand in the way of my purpose...”

A fraction of the events were observed by the destabilizing factor.

[✦]

“He’s inside...” Sakuto said, his voltage sparking up, his face suddenly hopeful. He kept swinging his blade at Kaito, achieving not too much but enough to hurt him. “Hiroshi, he’s...he’s in that thing. He’s in the crystal.”

“What?!” Ichika asked, confused.

“I don’t fucking know, he’s just there!” Sakuto exclaimed. Kaito tried to kick Sakuto away from the ground, but Sakuto instead dodged the kicks and summoned a series of shadow spikes from beneath him, all of which pierced Kaito. A second later, ice spikes pierced him too.

“Which means...”

“He might still be alive.”

Kaito quickly rose up, the motions of his wings created a strong enough gust of soul prowess to knock them away...but this time, Sakuto wouldn’t let him escape. He launched a set of shadow strings to keep him in place. Ichika charged in, swiping at him and placing her hand on his shoulder.

“Flash Freeze!!!”

Kaito lost a limb.

It took him a few seconds to regenerate it, but the damage was done. The new version of his arm had a lot of cracks on it.

Kaito, enraged, through raw strength alone freed himself from the grip. He leapt back, releasing a flurry of remote slashes at the two. They shielded themselves with ice barriers and shadow-made shields. A few seconds later, Kaito unleashed a slash strong enough to shatter all of their defenses and strike them directly. They thought they’d be goners...

“It’s not just his defenses that are weakened...” Sakuto thought, quickly healing himself back up.

“His offensive power is on the decline too!”

“Hiroshi, whatever the hell you’re doing in there, keep doing it. It’ll take us a while, but we’ll kill this asshole.”

He felt a small hint of dizziness.

“No, it’s fine. I’m used to fighting under exhaustion. I have quite a bit before I reach my limit anyways.”

Kaito emerged from the dust, effectively blitzing Ichika. He successfully punched her away, trying to chase her down and finish the job. Sakuto interrupted his advances, but Kaito, instead of properly responding to him, circled around him and chased Ichika further - hitting her with multiple small prowess releases before landing a devastating body kick.

“Hands off of her!” Sakuto yelled, shadow stepping in front of Kaito and grabbing him by his throat. Kaito, with one quick motion, cut that hand off. Sakuto, in response, almost instantly replaced it with a hand made purely from shadows. He hit Kaito in the jaw as hard as he could, rocking him a little.

“Sakuto, you gotta...land it again...” Ichika said. Before taking a few seconds to heal herself back up, she unleashed a large ice blast that knocked Kaito and Sakuto away.

Sakuto, not losing the opportunity, kicked Kaito down.

“He’s taking damage, but despite all of that, he’s the one completely in control of the fight. If I didn’t intervene...”

The thoughts alone caused him to zone out a little.

“You piece of shit...”

Sakuto charged at Kaito again. What he failed to account for, however, was the possibility of Kaito anticipating that move. As soon as Sakuto got close, Kaito used his elbow blades to deliver heavy, tearing attacks to him. Sakuto quickly released multiple shadow spikes that circled around him, and in order, popped out of each one of them - attacking Kaito from different angles at a time.

Kaito, on the other hand, started regaining his voltage. He caught Sakuto off-guard badly, and after evading one of his ferocious hand combinations, he found an opening to strike. He punched through Sakuto’s stomach.

Sakuto saw bolts of soul prowess emerge around his body. He tried to pull back, but even he recognized that he would get struck by it regardless.

Until help arrived.

“ ✦ Befall. ✦ ”

Before Kaito could turn his attention, there she was. Her outfit bloodied, her face scarred, and her eyes full of resolve and concentration...

“ ✦ Abyssal...Frostbite!!! ✦ ”

Kaito’s body was briefly paralyzed by the extremely dangerous freezing attack. He tried to break out of it, but the regretless soulful in front of him delivered another strike.

“SOUL BREAKER!!!!!”

[✦]

The floor shook rapidly and collapsed. Kaito and Hiroshi fell onto a setting that they didn’t understand at first. Soon, however, Kaito realized what place it was. It almost made him fall to his knees, the emptiness of the room that he used to share with the only person in the world that made him feel alive...

As he closed and reopened his eyes, all that was left of that place was outlines. Black outlines that didn’t exist, drawn over a pure white canvas. Hiroshi was still in front of him, with a rising soul presence...