Rangers Endgame

Chapter 112: The Silent Assassin

Fuyumi burst forward with her Bloodhound Fang coiled to strike at his heart. Yuurei's ear twitched, and he sidestepped as she thrust forward. Swinging his blade up to dismember her at the wrist, she reacted swiftly and released her grip on her dagger while snapping her hand back. His blade whistled harmlessly past her hand as she dropped low and let her dagger fall back into her grip before it hit the floor, then swung for his legs.

As she half expected, he'd backstepped to avoid her counter, but she pressed the attack. As she strung together lightning jabs and slashes in a seamless flow of focused lethality, Yuurei evaded and countered with equal deadly precision. The chamber erupted with sharp bangs as the two matched each other blow for blow.

The longer their duel dragged on, the more frustration leaked into her movements, hindering her concentration and diminishing her precision. He showed no indication that he was blind, as his own movements were as confident as someone with sight. The way he targeted her vitals, his impeccable footwork weaving him through the rubble of the collapsed ceiling. As Fuyumi grappled with impossibility, he effortlessly turned her sight into a disadvantage.

Deflecting a blow meant for her throat, she spun and sliced where his head was, only for her blade to meet air. He slid under her strike, managing to slash her across her side.

She leapt back and fired an arc of radiance. He responded by firing his own arc, a white-gold crescent, that cleaved her projectile in two and slammed into the wall behind him. His projectile soared towards her undeterred, and she was forced to leap away as the crescent split the room along its path and crashed into a boulder behind her.

She constantly kept a mental note of Ella's position to herd Yuurei's projectiles away. However, doing so meant she had to split her focus, something she wasn't used to. Yuurei exploded from the dust and thrust in the general direction of Fuyumi's throat. She snapped her head to the side, just narrowly escaping death as his blade drew a red line across her cheek.

Pivoting his lead foot, he spun and swung backwards, clashing against her dagger as she blocked. With his second dagger, he plunged towards her midsection, but she caught his blade within the serrated edge of Armor Killer.

They struggled for a moment with their blades locked, redirecting each other's momentum in a deadly dance of strength and wit. Yuurei's face frowned with boredom, and his knee shot forward with surprising force into her stomach. Fuyumi slammed into the wall behind her, her throat stinging with bile as she brought Armor Killer up in front of her neck.

Again, his blade crashed into her with a resounding bang. She tried to sneak her Bloodhound's Fang into his side, but he'd somehow anticipated that as he deflected it before pinning it to the wall.

He pushed his body weight into the handle, inching his blade closer to her throat. Sweat beaded on her face as her strength wavered. Panic stirred inside, and her breath became more shaky as she felt its cold edge begin to press against the thin skin of her throat.

Desperate, she let go of Bloodhound's Fang, still pinned to the wall, and hurled a fist towards his head. She felt her knuckle crack against his jaw as he staggered back with a grunt. Using the small opening she'd created, she pushed off the wall while dragging Armor Killer across his thigh.

He bit back a scream as his left hand reflexively dropped the dagger it was holding to press down on his wound while he stumbled around to face her. She half expected it to disable him, but in her haste to remove herself from the near-death experience, she only managed to leave a relatively shallow gash.

"It seems I have underestimated my prey. But I believe I have a better understanding now," he said, leaning slightly as he was careful not to put too much weight on his injured leg. "The way you infuse your ferocity into your knife play. The way you target my vitals with ruthless precision. It all reeks of outrage."

"You don't know a thing about me." Fuyumi hissed, raising her remaining dagger defensively.

"No," Yuurei panned his head, his 'gaze' sweeping over the crevice Ella was still tucked away in. "But one doesn't need eyes to see you're battling something deeper."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and her knuckles turned white as her mind flickered back to the last time when a certain witch pried. "What, you're going to give me therapy now?"

"I have no experience in that field, but I do understand a glimpse of what you feel." He paused for a beat. "You have a family, yes? A father. Maybe a sibling or two. A mother."

She coiled in warning, ready to pounce, but he ignored it, even when he knew her movement judging from the twitch of his ear. His free hand reached for the bandages around his face, and he loosened them. Curiosity dampened Fuyumi's anger as, one by one, the bandages slowly unraveled and hung down from his head.

As the bandages finally fell around his neck, Fuyumi's curiosity turned to horror as she unconsciously took a step back. Horizontal scars were carved across the top half of his face, deep enough that a portion of his nose was missing, and two holes sank into his skull where his eyes should've been.

"I lost them while protecting my own family from a pack of razorback wolves."

Fuyumi rewrapped herself in her blanket of calm and resumed her stance. "Why should I care?"

Yuurei turned his head, his predatory senses still scouting for Ella. Even though the girl was still hidden away, it still made Fuyumi anxious. "I got lucky. But there are some things you cannot defeat without a helping hand."

Her mind went back to the bloodhound that nearly killed her if it weren't for Aoi.

"Fortunately, the Savior was generous enough to offer me such help."

"Congratulations, you're his pawn." She mocked.

"By the end of this, I'll be a survivor." He countered ominously. "But, naturally, those who threaten our survival..." Golden-white radiance coalesced around his side before clawing across his form, taking his physical body with it. "...must be eliminated."

Fuyumi infused her dagger and fired a shot where he once stood, but her projectile hurled past and struck a boulder on the opposite side of the ruined chamber.

He was gone.

Realizing this, she released her radiance to keep herself from emitting a signature. She steadied her breathing and reduced her movement to make as little sound as possible. As she shuddered with nervous anticipation, she became hyper-aware of her heart rate, afraid his heightened hearing would detect it.

She almost gulped but held herself when the mere shifting of her tongue was deafening. She even feared moving her eyes as the natural lubricant sloshed when she did.

She contemplated moving to Ella to better protect her, but she'd be giving away her position. Fuyumi could try waiting out Yuurei's camouflage until he ran his channels dry, but the elixir has granted him more radiance in his reserves than normal.

Her mind scrambled for a solution, but no matter what angle she looked at it from, she couldn't find an answer to her dilemma.

A pebble shifted behind her, and she reacted on reflex, spinning around and raising her dagger to protect herself. But nothing happened afterwards. Realizing it was a trap to reveal herself, she whipped back around and saw the faintest distorted light from the corner of her eye.

Without knowing where his attack would land, she threw herself back, attempting to stay out of range. The distortion still managed to slice into her side, and she stumbled to her knee, clutching her bleeding side and holding back the grunt. However, it didn't matter because something sharp slashed through her shoulder.

She clutched her arm, blood seeping through her fingers, as she whipped her head back and forth trying to find the distortion, but the poor lighting made it nearly impossible. Despite the pain she was in, she stayed collected.

She glanced in Ella's direction to check if she was still there, and her eyes widened. Ella was peeking out from her hiding place, lifting one side of her blindfold to nervously spectate the altercation. Fuyumi didn't have time, nor the luxury, to shout for her to get back. She could only hope that the child was perceptive enough to read the frustration and warning on her features.

Movement from behind caught Fuyumi's ear, but instead of acting on reflex, she restrained herself and turned back. A few pebbles were skidding across the floor, but she saw no distortion. Realizing Yuurei was using the same tactic to drop her guard, she turned forward again and saw faint warped light silently approaching her.

Quickly infusing her dagger, she fired a shot towards it. The projectile went up in a fiery eruption that echoed through the chamber, almost muffling the howl of pain that followed. He bled profusely from wherever she’d struck him, the distortion flickering as he tried to mend his camouflage.

Now was her chance. As he was recovering, she readied her dagger to deliver the decisive blow. Then, she heard a faint sound to her right that stopped her in her tracks. A sound that would make her heart drop. Because if she heard it, Yuurei heard it too.

The sound seemingly killed his grunts as his distorted form turned towards it. Fuyumi did the same, and to her horror, Ella had disturbed the stones around her, causing them to roll quietly but loud enough to stop their fight.

Without looking at the assassin, Fuyumi broke into a sprint towards Ella. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Yuurei's faint form beelining for Ella to finish what he'd started.

Every second felt like an eternity as time slowed. Regret was etched into Ella's round features as she cowered into a corner. Despite the debris in Yuurei's path and his injuries, the combination of his resolve, heightened senses, and nimble figure made it easy for him to speed through the obstruction.

He was closing the distance faster than she could, and in moments, he was raising his weapon above his head. Fuyumi gave in to desperation and leapt forward, her outstretched hand inches away from Ella.

Then Yuurei brought his blade down. And the last thing she saw was a spray of red.