CH - 29 [ a shot in the dark ] 3

Grey was spewing. He had thrown up twice now. His stomach was completely empty but he still felt unbearably fucked up. He could hardly stand up at all. "What the hell… did you do to me?" Grey asked Domian, panicking.

"Some very heavy stuff," Domian answered, mysteriously. "I won't give you a name, but I'm sure you won't need to remember it, since you'll be dead soon."

Grey struggled horrendously to attempt to get up. Each time he tried, he fell back down to the ground, on his hands and knees or his back. The man was having the hardest time trying to fight this off. He hadn't been beaten in a physical fight in all his life that had this kind of effect. This was a poison that was inhibiting all of his functions. His sight was blurred and his limbs were weak. He could hardly even speak properly. He tried to push it all out of his system by puking, but it wasn't enough.

"I suggest you stay down and let it take you. Your time as a warrior has long since passed. You were on your way out anyway," Domian said. "I just moved it along a little faster."

Finally, feebly , Grey managed to get his shaking legs underneath him, and his body upright. He almost collapsed again but caught himself. Near breathlessly, he said "I don't… know… what this is… but… it's not… gonna… stop me!" he stepped forward ferociously. "I will not let some pathetic demon-lover be the end of me!"

"How are you… even standing?" Domian gaped. "You should be one your way out the door, old man! JUST DIE!" Domian tried to throw a punch at Grey, but it was intercepted.

Grey threw up his right arm to block the blow. Then he retaliated with his own. He thrusted his left arm fully in full force toward Domian's stomach. It blasted into his torso with the power of all his might.

Domian doubled over in exploding surprise. He clenched his stomach his both his arms. "How are you doing this?"

"I've traveled these seas for decades, fighting monsters and assholes alike. I have survived plague, poison, blade, bullet, and powers of the divine again and again. I will NOT go down now! This is nothing to me! This is just a bad hangover!" He grabbed Domian by the head and then smashed his right fist into his face, knocking him onto the ground.

Domian laid out flat, trembling on the ground in the dirt and grass.

Kazuki finally caught up to the cultist sniper. There was a trail of blood leading from tree to tree. He was injured pretty badly, so he was slowing down. Whoever this guy was, he had it in him, that was for sure. But that moment… I swear….

The cultist ducked down into a clearing in the forest where there was no light from the moon or any outside sources. They had gotten pretty far from the rest of the others now. Kazuki could only imagine the cultist was trying to find a place to hide while he took care of his wound. As bad as it was, it needed immediate attention. Kazuki could still hear him from way up above in the treetops. He sat quietly and listened.

"This guy is good. He's wasting his talent though. What the fuck is he doing all the way out here?" and then he groaned in pain, surely bandaging the stitches. "What the fuck am I gonna do though? Nobody else it out here to help. I'm losing. This guy is smarter than me..."

Bo? There's no way…

Kazuki slowly moved to get closer, wanting to climb down the tree. He rustled the leaves. He had alerted the man.

"I can hear you out there!"he shouted. But it wasn't Bo's voice that he was hearing. It was the voice of some random man was what threw Kazuki off. But he acts just like Bo. Kazuki had a weird feeling.

The sound of a cocking rifle alerted Kazuki.

Shit.

A bullet whizzed right past where Kazuki was standing. He had to drop down immediately behind the tree and nearly hurt his knees trying to land this time. His distraction had roughed up the interaction. He should have been ready, but he wasn't.

This guy can't even see me, and he's got that good of instincts… but how could it be… Wait, I remember… a needle? Kazuki could tell his memory had been tampered with. Everything within a certain timeframe felt muddled. Something had definitely hit him, and he had to be hallucinating. And if I wasn't the only one that got hit…

The cultist charged at Kazuki. He could make him out only barley in the darkness. But with as close as they were, it was enough to make out the body and the way it was moving. He had a knife in his right hand ready to go.

But if this is… How do I…?

The cultist lunged at Kazuki. He grabbed the man by the knife arm and wrestled him to the ground. "Don't! Bo!"

"RRAAAAHHH!" The cultist kicked him in the stomach and flung him off himself. "How the fuck do you know my name?" He jumped at Kazuki again and this time got Kazuki down on his back. Bo was trying to stab him in the chest. But Kazuki was able to hold him off from stabbing him because his own shoulder was injured and he couldn't put in a hundred percent strength. Kazuki was pushing back with all his strength.

"BO! Listen, it's me, Kazuki!"

"Don't fucking lie to me, you damn demon worshipper!" Bo pushed harder, and Kazuki could barley resist. Bo was a lot stronger than him, that was always the case.

"I'm not lying! I'm not one of them! I need you to think! We were hit by one of that guy's needles. Domian! He can inject people! He's using hallucinogens to get us to kill each other!"

"What kind of crap is that? Or you're lying to me, and the second I give up, you're gonna turn around and stab me!"

The knife began to dig into Kazuki's chest. It was only just a small cut, but the blood began to pool.

"Bo… please! I know you feel this is off! Trust your instincts. They're always right!"

Bo held the blade for a moment, pondering… and then pulled it back. "Kazuki?"

Kazuki exasperated a sigh of relief. He could feel the pain of the wound he had been inflicted. But it wasn't the worst he had been through. "Yes… it's me." He laid there flat, smiling.

Halcen began another game of ducking and dodging Kumajin's attacks. He was far from being done with the man, and wanted to kill him with all his might. But the bear-man had little capability to tear through the armor of willpower Halcen had put up against him. This was the only reason Halcen was still alive.

Halcen threw himself against the monster again and again, trying desperately to get a grip against the giant. Each time, Kumajin was able to return with claws and grip far stronger than his own, and then tear Halcen from his body and throw him aside.

"This is boring, you weakling!" Kumajin shouted.

"I agree." Halcen said. "Neither one of us seems to be able to hurt the other. We appear to be at a stalemate. Except…"

"Except?"

"I don't have any weaknesses."

"And I do?"

Halcen dived under the bear Zoan's legs as it rushed towards him once more time. He twisted around and then jumped on the bear's back. The monster roared in annoyance. Halcen dug his feet and legs into the giant as he climbed his way to the head. Halcen wrapped his arms, hardened with the blackening of his Haki, around the grizzly man's neck. He pulled tightly, beginning to choke the beast.

"When you go for what you think are your enemy's weak points, you point out your own. You thought tearing out my neck would help. And you showed me your own weak point in the process."

Halcen continued to tighten his strangle-hold on the would-be god.

The beast squirmed and writhed beneath him. "You punk! Do you think this is going to kill me?" He attempted to scratch Halcen off his body with full slashing claws. "'I'll gut you for this!"

"You've already tried."

Slowly, despite all his struggling, Kumajin started to fall to the ground, and whimpered in a quiet, not cute way. "You fucking pissant." And then his body became limp.