Ryo lowers his sword to his side. A hush quiet washes over the crowd around them, individuals wait with bated breath for someone to make the first move. Only the crackle of wood burning echoes around them. Raull sneers raising his ax upwards then brings it down onto the ground. A dust field kicks up, spreading out across the ground. In his defense position, Axel raises his sword vertically, gripping it with both hands, ready for a counter. Around him the objects distort into blurs then fading into shadows. The dust field grows thicker and Raull’s shadow melts away.

Axel glances to his left and right, his feet slide against the dirt. A dust field? What is this power? Caught off guard, he tries to figure out where the next attack will come from. Loud footsteps stomp in every direction. Behind him Ryo’s shadow disappears, leaving him alone.

“Think you can win against me? I’ll show you the difference in our strength.” Raull mocks him.

To his left side, his eyes catch the faint glimmer of steel falling towards his face. With two sidesteps Axel moves his body to dodge the attack. Raull’s blade misses by inches, however, the miss causes dust to kick up into Axel’s eyes.

“Ahhhh!” He screams out in pain. In a panic, Axel tries to use his sleeve to wipe the dust away. The sting worsens his pain, some dust manages to clog his nostrils.

Unable to see, the littlest noise causes Axel to swing his blade wildly in every direction. The ax comes down, slamming the ground in front of Axel’s feet, knocking him off balance with small tremors. His erratic swings keep hitting empty space. From behind, a hot wind gust slam into him, sending pain straight up his spine. His body screams in agony with the sensation of blood dripping down his back and legs.

“That was barely a hit.” Raull says.

Axel falls to his knees, his palms hitting the ground. Tears stream down the corner of his eyes, sharpening the pain cycle.

Outside the dust field, Finn approaches Ryo. “Are you sure you don’t want to interfere? Looks like he could lose. I know for a moment you sense something too.”

“It’s his fight. If he loses here, it means that his will wasn’t strong enough.” Ryo says back to him, his eyes focused on the dust cloud.

Axel sticks his blade into the ground, using it as a splint to help him to his feet. His body slumps over the swords hilt. “What do I do!? What do I do?!” Axel internally screams.

Whooosh!

A calmness washes over Axel’s body, a heartbeat steadies itself in his ears. A low whistling crescendo to Axel’s right side. A cold breeze circles around his fingertips and up his arms. Right…Right…A low drawn-out whisper sings in the wind. Both hands lift the sword, swinging it directly to his right with full strength. The sword connects to Raull’s ax attack, while also slicing through the dust field. It splits cleanly in two.

“What?!” Raull’s shout of surprise rings out.

Raull clicks his tongue, raises his ax into the air into a downward swing. The wind in front of Axel grows heavy, so he brings his sword upward once again connecting to Raull’s attack. A metallic sound reverberates, with a shockwave of wind exploding outwards across the town. Each wind gust catches the structure fires, suffocating them into submission. Both Raull and Axel slide backwards from the power impact. Raull regains his footing but falls to one knee.

“What’s going on? What is this? The damn brat can’t even see!” Raull’s frustration grows.

Following his voice, Axel lunges at Raull with repeated forward strikes. On the defensive, Raull blocks each attack but each hit sends pain up his arms. Both attackers match each other blow for blow, until Axel changes his into an underhand swing. The full force drives the attack into the center of Raull’s ax blade, sending him backwards onto his back.

The townspeople and the bandits remain silent and in shock at the turn of events. Axel takes a step forward but collapses onto his knees. A release of energy weakens his muscles, draining him of strength. A few raindrops pelted his face from above. He turns his face upwards; the rain grows heavier. All the dust washes away from his eyes and nose. Axel opens his eyes but the world remains blurry. Finn approaches him, kneeling at his side. .

“Axel? How are you doing?” Finn asks him.

“I can’t move. What happened?” Confusion fills Axel’s voice. “I thought I heard…” He trails off looking in Ryo’s direction.

Finn falls silent and grips Axel around his shoulders. Momentum helps him lift Axel up halfway into a crouch. A short distance away Raull stirs from his down position.

“Why, you…” Raull snarls in between his clench teeth. He rises to his feet with assistance from his ax. “I will not let a brat, a lowly insect, make a fool out of me!” He shouts.

The wind picks up around them, several wind gusts become visible like silver streaks cutting through then air. Each streak circles Raull’s weapon when he raises his above his head. Nearby tree limbs come down and isolated structure fires spread move unable to be contained by the heavy rain.

“This wind…!’ An onlooker shouts.

“We need to get of here!” A panic air rolls over the onlookers.  

“No way…it can’t be.” Finn stares at Raull, his disbelief betrays his calm eyes.

A bandit runs to Raull. “Boss! You can’t use that!”

A huge wind gust slashes the bandit across his chest. “Gah!” The bandit gasps, crumbling to the ground.

“You don’t give me orders. He is going to pay for everything, then I’m going to level this whole town until there is nothing left!” Raull roars, a frenzied energy clouds his eyes.

Blood stains appear all over Raull’s body, the wind also rips away at his clothing. His bloodshot eyes jitter back and forth having trouble focusing on their target. Cuts spread up his arms when he swings his ax in front of him. Water collecting at his feet turns murky. A strong metallic scent flows through the air.

”Finn, what’s going on?” Axel asks, his eyes finally clearing up.

“You fool.” Finn whispers under his breath.

Axel struggles to look back, catching a glimpse of a grave expression washing over Finn’s face. His attention turns back to Raull. Pain shoots from his feet up to his head when he tries to stand up. Each muscle screams out for relief but tighten under the heavy strain. Through sheer willpower Axel gets to his feet.

“My boy…you can’t win against this.” Finn grabs his arm. “You aren’t ready!”

“He’s coming.” Unable to form sentences, Axel’s heavy breathing catches in his throat.

“This farce ends here!” Raull shouts. He digs his feels into the ground, push off into a full charge like a bull. The ground trembles beneath him, his arms raise the ax above his head. Screams escape from the residents. He brings the ax downwards.

“Finn!” Someone shouts.

“Axel!” Theresa calls out.

Clang!

A defending metallic sound echoes outward. Excess energy erupts upwards into the clouds above. Able to focus his vision, Axel stares at Ryo’s backside. His feet dig into the dirt with both hands and sword in a defensive position. A small smile appears on Finn’s face. Raull’s eyes widen. One of his strongest attacks deflect like was nothing.

“Wh-what!? My attack!” He howls.

Ryo defects the energy of his ax upwards, swirling the clouds in the sky. He switches the blade from left hand to right. With the opening, Ryo uses his full body to tackle Raull squarely in the chest, knocking him back.

“Arh!” Raull regains his footing, swinging wildly at Ryo. Each swing emits high wind energy aimed at him. With swift movement, Ryo dodges the attacks and parries the ax blade, like he can predict Raull’s attacks. The cuts on Raull’s arms grow deeper and longer each swing he takes. Blow for blow, their strikes match up but Raull’s movements slow faltering from over exertion.

He jumps back, his appearance now reflects a savage animal ready to kill. Ryo steadies himself again pointing the sword towards him. Rain pours around them. Raull kicks off from the ground into another charge. Axel’s attention gets drawn to the tip of Ryo’s blade. A very faint purplish mist forms, spiraling down the sword to its hilt. The unknown mist grows larger, mixing into the rain around him. Ryo lowers his stance.

“What you use is fake. It’s time for the real deal to step forward.” Ryo says.

Raull jumps at Ryo, bringing the sword down in a strong swing. Right in front of his eyes, Ryo disappears in an instant. From below Ryo’s sword connects to Raull’s midsection, creating a large diagonal gash across it.  Behind him, Ryo reappears with his sword back in its sheath. Blood trickles down the side of Raull’s mouth.

“You won’t see the last of me…you will pay.” Raull wheezes. “This…town…is…done for.” He collapses onto the ground.

A hush overtakes the crowd unable to comprehend the scene that unfolded. The remaining bandits disperse, recovering their leader and disappearing into the heavy rain like wounded animals. All eyes remain on Ryo. Axel stares at his eyes, a lonely hollow darkness swirls in the center of his pupils. Through the rain Ryo glances upwards. What am I? Each droplet of rain helps to soften an unknown tightness and rage in his chest.