13 The Pursuers

Kuoh Town is by no means big, but it is still a town. One would need to run for nearly an hour to reach from one end to another.

That's not the case for me. I can make it from one end to another in a couple dozen minutes, and that time decreases drastically when Primal Energy gets added into the equation.

The night lights up in gold as I activate my eyes.

From what I can see, there seems to be three humans closing in on her, all servants of the Himejima Clan. They're all practitioners of Shinto Magic, able to wield the element of fire through the blessing of their patron god. On them I can see all sorts of weapons, all different sorts of blades.

Not so worried about the fire, but those weapons are another story. Durable as I am, getting myself cut and stabbed is still a hazard.

I continue running, but I begin slowing down as I approach where Akeno is right now. Soon, I come into a small clearing. It's a small park of some kind, with benches and all. It's long abandoned though, with weeds growing all around and the benches grimy and shaky.

Sitting on one of those benches is Akeno. And now that I'm here, seeing her in person, the discomfort in my chest feels even worse. I've seen homeless people before—I was homeless once myself—but she looks worse. Beyond a lack of food and shelter, I can see bruises and scars hiding underneath her rags.

They aren't injuries. Those scars aren't from battle.

They came from struggle. From torture.

I take a breath, and forcing a smile on my face I rip away the two Ofudas stuck on my right arm. 'Silence' and 'Invisibility' fall away, and Akeno squeaks as I seemingly appear from thin air. "W-Who are you!?" She asks, glaring as she presses her back against the bench.

My smile is tight. "Hyoudou Issei." I introduce myself. "I'm the…" I stop for a moment, not quite sure what to say. I mean, what am I? I shake the thought away. "I'm just someone who looks out for the people in this town." I shrug. "If someone starts kidnapping people or whatever, I'll probably be there to knock their teeth in."

Her eyes light up at my words, both suspicious yet hopeful. It's a deliberate move; I wanted to see if she'd react the way I expected. And she did. She's naturally distrustful, but whether it be my age or the simple fact that I'm not from her clan, she holds some hope that I'm someone that can help her.

But the people chasing her are close.

So I walk up to her. She looks a little confused, and even more so as I place Kanada into her hands. "She's a Tsukumogami," I explain as I pull out an 'Invisibility' Ofuda from my pocket. "She'll keep you calm." I gently press it onto her forehead, and the Ofuda glows. Her form shimmers out of sight, though still clearly visible to my eyes.

"There's three people chasing you." I continue. Akeno stiffens then, her breath quickly picking up, but I gently tap her forehead. "Don't worry, the Ofuda I used will keep you hidden." I put a finger onto my lips and make a quick wink. "Just stay quiet, okay?"

Akeno nods, still quite confused. Kanada is quick to act though, and I can see the calmness Kanada is pushing to the frightened girl.

I walk past her, and I wait. I can feel her eyes on me, but I don't turn. My eyes are trained solely on the three pursuers, watching as they slowly come closer.

Then, out of the shadows come three people. Two men and one woman. Dressed in dark robes that cover all but their eyes, with all manner of weapons held both hidden and in sight. They walk and stand the same; a synchrony born only through training. They eye me in confusion, wondering who this child before them is.

My eyes tell me more. They are servants of the Himejima Clan, trained from when they are children to serve the Himejimas with all their abilities. Unquestioning and fiercely loyal to the head, it wouldn't be wrong to see them more as drones than actual people. They have no current dreams, no emotions.

They too have committed sins I see irredeemable, but I can't help but feel pity still. It isn't their fault. They are naught but tools of their master.

I silently sigh.

It doesn't change what I need to do though.

"Hello," I say, my voice carefully flat as I take note of all the weapons they carry. "What're you three doing here today?" They don't answer. I can see them reaching for their weapons, and again I sigh. "Alright then."

I take a breath. The ground cracks, and suddenly I speed forward. The distance between us is crossed, and I slam a fist onto one of the men's faces before any of them can do anything. His skull cracks beneath my hand, and he crashes into the ground.

I prepare to sock the other man in the face, but I turn to find a blast of fire. It crashes right into me, burning my shirt away. But I'm used to heat, and I feel grim satisfaction at the shock in the man's eyes as he sees me emerge unharmed. It gives me the chance to strike, and so I punch his neck. He gasps in pain, and I quickly follow up with a kick to the gut.

Suddenly I feel my eyes warn me. I quickly spin to find the woman behind me, her shortsword swinging at my neck. Primal Energy floods my hand, and I counter her sword with a punch. A shrill sound echoes as her sword shatters.

The woman's eyes are wide with surprise, but she quickly leaps back before I can hit her. But then the other two appear by her side, and I frown. I'm sure I've knocked them out, and yet there they are.

My eyes glow, and they tell me one thing.

They won't stop until they're dead.

I…assume my eyes are saying that these three have been trained to quickly awaken after being knocked unconscious. I don't know how, and I'm not going to find out in the middle of a battle.

The two men pull out their own shortswords, and the woman brings out a pair of knives. I bring my fists up, steam slowly rising from my skin as Primal Energy coils in my arms.

They leap at me, and I at them.

I try to strike them with my fists, but they've figured me out. They weave and bob away from my fists, only striking when they're sure I can't attack back. They attack sparingly, carefully using their weapons knowing I can shatter them in a punch. They move as a single unit, fighting together and covering each other's blind spots.

And quickly I'm finding myself overwhelmed.

In the end, our difference in experience is showing. They have trained in fighting for all their lives, while I hardly know anything at all. They have struck me tens of times by this point, my burnt shirt completely turned to shreds by their blades.

The only reason I'm uninjured is my eyes. Now that I've become more used to the pain, I can use my eyes to literally see the future. Only in short bursts, and only milliseconds forward, but that's more than enough to warn me. I'll quickly flood certain parts of my body with Primal Energy, and their blades will bounce away instead of digging into my flesh.

But this can't last forever. I'm spending Primal Energy like crazy to keep up with the three of them, and even more to strengthen my skin from getting pierced. I can't win a battle of attrition.

I need a decisive move. Something to stop them from moving.

So I take a breath, and I wait. I hold my arms over me in defense, curling into myself like a turtle as I wait for an opportunity. All the Primal Energy spread around my body is pulled back into my heart, gathering them all into a single point.

With no Primal Energy permeating the rest of my body, cuts and stabs begin making it through my skin. They're shallow, but they're still cuts. And seeing this, their attacks only become fiercer. Blood streams down my chest, falling onto the dirt below.

In the corner of my sight, I can see Akeno staring at me, her hands pressed over her lips as she tries not to scream. She's close to tears, and my eyes tell me that she's more than tempted to reveal herself to stop all this.

Anger rises within my chest; a burning, coiling vitriol that feels almost physical.

Then, a chance appears. The three have moved right into place, with the woman right in front of me and the two men on my right and left.

It's the perfect position.

So, at my beckoning, my Primal Energy surges. It zaps straight from my heart and into my right leg. And with a roar, I lift my foot and smash it down into the ground.

Bang!

A small earthquake shakes the ground as my foot crashes into the soil. Chunks of dirt and rock fly meters into the sky, and sharp slabs of stone are uprooted, rising into the air like a blooming flower.

The three pursuers are stunned, and I quickly move. I reach into my pocket, and before the woman can do anything, I slap an Ofuda right onto her forehead and kick her away. And without turning my head, my hands lash out and I grab onto the necks of the two men. They try stabbing my arms to free themselves, but all the Primal Energy surging in my limbs render their blades useless.

The woman staggers back, clearly confused. She tries to grab onto the Ofuda I slapped onto her forehead, but by then, it's too late. The characters on the paper begin to light up, and I can see the dawning realization in her eyes.

'Explosion' it reads on the Ofuda, the characters now glowing a bright white. A small, grim smile comes onto my lips, already knowing what's going to happen. Then-

Boom!

A massive explosion happens right on the woman's head. Smoke covers the scene, but it's no obstacle to my eyes. So I'm able to see what exactly the explosion did to her. Her entire head, from top to her neck, all blown to bits. Chunks of flesh fly out, accompanied by a river of blood and bone and sinews and-

I shut my eyes.

The two men are still trying to attack me. They've forgone attacking my arms, and are now stabbing into my sides. Their swords are cutting into me, but they're shallow at best. My fingers begin clenching around their necks.

They know what's about to happen, but they're attacking still, their swords still making shallow cuts into my skin.

That's respectable, at least.

So I take a breath, and with immense strength permeating my arms, I squeeze.

I hear a crack, then two, then a series of cracks and snaps. And suddenly the two men go limp, their arms falling to their sides and their swords dropped onto the ground.

I free them from my hold, and the two men drop lifelessly onto the soil. They're dead now, their eyes empty and their vertebrae snapped.

I take a deep breath, basking in the cold night air as blood pours down from the hundreds of stabs and cuts on my body.

And just like that, it's over.