The atmosphere of the tunnel tensed as Jericho stood firmly in front of the frightening foe, gripping his arm, protecting Tsuki, who was already on the floor with her eyes open in shock.
The man's dark face made it hard to make out his expression, but his eyes stood dull and spiritless, unaffected by Jericho's intervention.
Jericho felt a sense of unease after noticing the monotonous expression that resided on the mysterious man's face; a dreadful aura exuded from the man's demeanor.
But he had no time to truly analyze it, for he was in the middle of a battle with a monstrous, inhuman foe.
The man in black twisted his torso and whirled his leg towards Jericho, attempting to strike him as if his leg were a whip.
In a feeble attempt at defense, Jericho swiftly put his arm up to minimize the damage, but the speed was so absurdly quick that it landed before he could fully block the attack without using both of his arms.
The attack left a stinging sensation on his forearm-- it caused him to be pushed back with his opponent's arm to be released from his grip.
Jericho caught himself and recovered his balance as quickly as he could.
The man was already gone.
'What a slippery bastard!'
His eyes darted around the dimly lit, groggy tunnels--- the sound of dripping water splashing into a puddle put him on edge.
A gust of wind brisked past his cheek, and he heard the sound of water being splattered and the nearly silent patters of a creature tiptoeing in a puddle. Jericho immediately reacted to the sounds, anticipating an attack from behind from the nimble creature.
As he expected, he evaded a fist, performing a swift jab that appeared from behind him.
After evading, Jericho followed up with an attempt at a strike to his gut. Using all of his might, he propelled his fist forward in hopes of taking out this foe in one strike.
To his dismay, he first connected with only the nothingness that lay in front of him.
'Fuck!'
Again, he felt another breeze brush against his back.
He had no time to dread a simple miscalculation; he had to act now.
Jericho was still being propelled forward while off balance from his previous attack--- there was no way he could dodge this blow.
The man in black appeared above him with the wind, his hand balled together in a fist raised above his head.
Jericho knew he wouldn't be able to dodge this, but there was a way he could counter it.
Jericho kicked off the floor while simultaneously kicking his other foot in the opposite direction to spin himself into a 180.
Using the momentum from the kick, Jericho pulled his arm back and shot his fist toward the man's cheek with speed comparable to that of a bullet.
As his fist flung towards his opponent, the man in black's balled fists were also coming down with superb speed near Jericho's stomach.
They were both fully committed to their
Both of their attacks connected, sending them flying back into the ground.
Blood spewed from Jericho's mouth as his back slammed to the floor. It seemed that his opponent had hit some of his vital organs.
The blow was excruciatingly painful. Jericho grabbed his stomach as he lay on the floor.
Jericho sprang from the floor, ignoring the pain. He stood in a stance, awaiting the next vicious blow from his enemy.
Grunts were heard from the opposing side of the tunnel. Across from Jericho lay the man in all black.
His pupils were rolled back, and blood dripped from the corners of his gaping mouth. Jericho had landed a clean hit to the man's chin.
Jericho was still wary of the man; he was a part of the royal guard after all, there was no way he'd go down to a single hit.
So for a few more seconds, Jericho stood in the same place just in case he got back up.
Before he could approach the unconscious man, Tsuki was already in front of his body.
She was bent down with her claws near the man's neck.
"Tsuki!"
Startled, she looked back at Jericho.
"What are you doing!"
She looked confused, as if Jericho were speaking gibberish.
"I'm killing the bad guy."
Jericho's eyes widened, shocked by her nonchalant delivery of such a cruel and mature statement.
"We don't kill, Tsuki, that's just not right. And you're just a kid!"
Her lips scrunched and her eyebrow raised, staring at Jericho with an expression mixed with bewilderment and disdain.
"But he's a bad guy, bad guys deserve to die. Miss Etsy killed my master, so how is it wrong?"
Before Jericho could respond, Tsuki began to be lifted from the ground.
"Tsuki!"
Jericho clamored before attempting to scramble towards Tsuki, but his legs just wouldn't move. Blood continued to gush from Jericho's mouth as he gripped his stomach. The pain was unbearable; no matter how many times he'd been hurt, he had never gotten used to it.
But still, he tried his hardest to get to Tsuki, but his vision was beginning to get hazy; his eyes were drenched in tears, sweat, and blood.
His view of Tsuki became bloodstained; maybe it was an omen for a close future.
Jericho's legs gave out as he fell to the ground.
Once again, he had fallen short, unable to save someone who was right in front of him.
Tsuki tried to claw her way out of the man's grip, but with each act of resistance, his grasp tightened.
Her groans turned into tears--- her cries echoed throughout the tunnels.
Jericho looked up from the ground he lay in; the lower part of his face was covered in the blood he spat up.
Tsuki's screams spoke as if they were a plea; she was begging someone to save her.
'What can I do?'
'Save her.'
He heard another voice in his head; it was a soft, motherly voice.
It was the exact opposite of the one he had occasionally heard in his dreams.
He opened his eyes to see a void, a void akin to the ones he had seen in his dreams when he lived in the slums of Roysolie.
But this time, there wasn't an orb or anything; it was just pitch black with what he thought was only him residing within it.
'Get up, Jericho.'
Jericho tried to turn around to look for where the voice came from, but was instead met with blood-stained vision and an aching stomach.
On the contrary, he felt somewhat better, as if he had gotten a good night's sleep and a cup of joe in the morning.
The man in black was on his feet, still holding Tsuki's arm in the air as she kicked and screamed; It appeared as if he was examining her.
'Could he be deciding whether to kill her or turn her in?'
There was no time to fret on ifs and or buts; either scenario was one that Jericho simply could not allow.
The man raised Tsuki higher before hurling her towards the wall of the tunnel, as her head was about to collide with the thick walls of the tunnel, something scooped her from the air.
They both gently landed with Jericho holding Tsuki within his arms, kindred to a man of steel.
Tsuki's eyes glistened as if they were diamonds resting below the sun; they were filled with a feeling of hope.
A warm smile appeared on Jericho's face, noticing the glimmer in her previously dull eyes.
"I told ya I was gonna protect you, didn't I?"
So this was what it was like to be able to protect those you love.
The hope residing deep within Jericho's core began to swell.
There was still an opponent in front of him, but this battle would be much different than before.
"Alright, let's try this again."
Jericho got into a stance prepared to fight, a few drops of sweat trickled down his face, and his breath was slightly uneven.
The man just stood there across from Jericho without a single movement. The right side of his face was swollen from the blow that Jericho had landed. He held his index and middle fingers to his ear.
Instead of getting ready to fight, the man simply turned around and walked away into the shadows of the tunnel.
Jericho stood there in awe.
'Did he flee because of me? Do I appear to be such a powerful foe that victory was out of the question?!'
Jericho leapt into the air, punching his fist above him in a fit of victory, until he suddenly collapsed onto the floor.
Most of his skin wounds had already healed, and his organs had partially recovered; by now, only bruising remained from earlier. But he was still exhausted, not only physically but mentally.
He lay on the floor with his eyes shut for moments before being interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Aye, wassup bud."
He opened his eyes to be met with the bruised face of an alligator.
"What happened to you?"
Jericho enquired while mustering up the willpower to even speak while in so much pain.
"Some chumps broke into the hideout, but me and Cypher handled 'em. Pretty easy if I do say so myself, heh."
Etsy crossed her eyes and looked up as if she were proud and awaiting approval for her accomplishment.
"Great job."
Jericho replied monotonously before attempting to shut his eyes again.
"Get up before I fuckin' chop your head off, bastard. We gotta get to Jeniell and fuckin' quick."
He let out an egregious sigh before getting up to begin their journey down the tunnels.
"Oh, and carry these."
Etsy tossed two duffel bags into Jericho's arms, causing him to stumble from being caught off guard before running off to Tsuki, who was sitting down near Cypher.
"Fuck you."
Jericho mumbled while looking in the opposite direction of Etsy-- He was lucky enough for her not to hear it.
"Are you okay!"
Etsy smushed her face into Tsuki's cheek and held her tight.
"I'll never leave your side again, okay!"
Tsuki looked up at her with a small glint in her eyes before nodding.
She hopped onto Etsy's back while holding her duffel bag on her back.
Meanwhile, Cypher leaned up against one of the tunnel walls, awaiting the rest of the crew to be ready to continue their expedition.
He was staring at Jericho intently.
"Come here."
Cypher signalled for Jericho to come to him.
Complying, Jericho walked over to him with the duffel bags covering his vision.
"Hey."
Cypher examined Jericho's body.
"The shadowy guy, did you kill him?"
"No, we fought, and after he just walked away."
The tunnel grew silent.
Cypher's brows furrowed, and his nose scrunched up.
"You let him just walk away?"
"If we continued fighting, I would've lost, and Tsuki would have been killed."
Jericho reluctantly added before looking at Etsy to back him up.
But she just looked away as if she wasn't even listening to the conversation.
"What if he's still in these tunnels? How would we get to Jeniell safely then?"
Cypher got closer to Jericho as if he were trying to intimidate him.
"Well, neither of us would make it safe there if we were dead?"
Jericho stood his ground as he responded, puffing his chest out.
"Whatever. Next time you kill a Royal when you have the chance, let's go."
Jericho just stood there with a small bit of contempt residing within him. He felt as if this would be one of many moral clashes between the two.
He signaled for Etsy and Tsuki to follow him down the tunnels. In about 6 hours, they would be in the small village of Jeniell.