Axel couldn't believe it.
The man's eyes were closed, his chest rising and falling slowly.
Faint snores escaping his slightly opened mouth.
He was sleeping.
Axel gritted his teeth, anger and frustration bubbling up amid the pain.
"Hey!" he yelled.
No response. The man still sat casually, leaning back on his hands, asleep. A faint smile formed on his lips.
"He…" Axel broke into a coughing fit, blood spilling from his mouth.
He clenched his jaw and turned onto his stomach. Then he pushed with trembling hands, trying to get up.
His hands buckled under him, and Splash, he fell face first into the water.
Axel looked up. Behind the man, the stickmen were coming, approaching him, walking slowly, mockingly, as if they knew he couldn't fight back.
Scanning the area, he spotted the katana to the left stuck in the ground, he was too weak to reach it, not to mention using it.
I can barely stand.
His gaze returned to the man.
"Hey, wake up!" Axel shouted again. "Wake up!" his voice rang out in the void, over and over, but the man didn't stir.
Axel gritted his teeth and pushed again. His hands shaking like twigs bending under too much weight.
Splash!
He hit the water again, but he wasn't giving in, one more time.
He pushed, roaring in pain. Hands trembling, yet they held.
With one last surge of strength, he rose to his knees.
His gaze darted around, first at the katana, then at the man, and finally at the stickmen still closing in. Their movements still eerily slow.
I could try waking him and probably surrender.
But who's to say I won't be attacked again? Besides…
Seeing the faint smile on his lips, I feel like he's pretending. All this shouting, and he didn't budge.
But I'm too weak to fight.
That doesn't mean I'll lie and wait.
So he took the only choice left and crawled towards the katana.
Groaning, he reached for the katana and pulled it free.
Taking a deep breath, he started dragging the katana, crawling towards the man.
At that moment, the stickmen stopped moving.
Their eery doodle eyes all focused on him, watching, like a show.
Axel's jaw pulled tight, his teeth grinding against each other.
I see, I'm not a threat anymore huh.
Yet he continued crawling, I'll take whatever chance I get.
Yet as his gaze flickered to those eyes, he swore.
If I survive this, you're all dead.
But just before he reached the man, the water rippled, and started crawling upwards…against gravity.
Slowly two dark poles were formed, followed by a torso, and finally a head.
Axel felt his lips twitch at the expression drawn on the stickman's face.
Its head was slightly tilted upward, eyes rolled up, looking down on him and…finally its lips curled slightly as if the sight before it left a bad taste in its mouth.
A look of absolute disdain.
The stickman slowly lifted its leg, Axel tried to move the sword.
But he stumbled, it was heavy, heavier than usual, his hand straining to even move it.
Too slow.
Axel closed his eyes accepting his fate. I should have just given him the katana.
But for a few seconds, there was no impact… nothing happened.
Axel opened his eyes and noticed the stickman's leg was hanging midair.
No, it was dropping, just really slow, as if something held it back.
He looked at the sword…the hilt, glowing green, brighter than before.
Axel gave a weak smile at the sight.
Let's not waste this.
His muscles strained, pulling tight.
Finally lifting the katana.
Internally he screamed move…
His voice broke into a raspy roar as the sword suddenly accelerated, slicing through the air.
Racing towards the man's neck, what little strength he had was poured into this strike.
But at that moment, the leg accelerated again, the green glow flickering off like a burnt light bulb.
And with it, all hope, but Axel clenched his jaw and pushed anyway, refusing to give up.
The leg was almost at his chest, yet the blade was still short of the man.
Axel gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain, refusing to give in, not like there was anything he could do.
Then—blam!
Everything went black as he shut his eyes tightly, unwilling to see his chest caving in.
Then something yanked him backward. Wind roared in his ears. He felt weightless, drifting.
I lost, huh? Not unexpected, Axel thought, eyes closed, a faint smile on his lips. Death doesn't feel so bad.
His arms spread out, feeling the wind rush past him.
But then, something yanked him down, he was falling.
What the…? Am I going to hell? his eyes widened, before he stopped abruptly, landing softly.
"I'm… still alive," he muttered. The floral scent filled his nose, faintly dulled by the handkerchief.
The familiar darkness surrounding him…his reflection looking back at him.
Boots appeared beside him.
Axel looked up to see a young man, silver chain dangling from his wrist.
His long white hair was tied in a ponytail.
Eyes focused ahead, ignoring Axel.
"Stay here," the man muttered and dashed forward. Fast was what came to Axel's mind.
In a split second, he appeared in the middle of the stickmen.
Chains whipping around him.
Axel's eyes widened. Stickmen flew into the air, bodies tearing apart as the chains touched them.
The man's hands turned to a blur…too fast to follow, a clanging sound echoing.
He was disposing of the stickmen, faster than they could regenerate.
A stickman lunged at his flank.
The man flipped, easily avoiding the impact.
He flicked his wrist.
The chain lashed out.
The stickman's body burst like a balloon the next second.
Landing, he pushed off, blasting into the remaining stickmen.
Odd, Axel's eyes narrowed.
The stickmen were faster now. Almost keeping up with the man.
Axel clenched his fist, anger bubbling up as he came to a realization.
"He was toying with me all along…" He muttered.
I'll have been long dead, if they moved at this speed. I should be glad, yet…
His chest tightened, like a lump was stuck there. His teeth clenched, not just at the realization but at his own weakness and arrogance.
I'm pissed.
Fortunately the white-haired man was still faster. His movements blurred, the chain in his hand reaping through the stickmen.
Limbs and bodies flying apart, only to reassemble moments later.
Rushing towards him again, relentless, but not fast enough.
The man halted and swung his chain.
A thunderous crack echoed.
The heads of all stickmen in about a half kilometer radius of him, bursting into dust.
Then with a flick of his wrist, the chain lashed forward, snaking toward the dark-haired man.
Clang!
The sound rang sharp. The chain bounced back, stopped a few centimeters short of the man's face, a ripple forming in the air.
The white-haired man clicked his tongue and twisted his chain. It wrapped around the katana beside the dark-haired man.
Lifting it into the air.
The chain pulled back like a catapult and flung it toward Axel.
The katana spun through the air, a whistling sound following.
Before Axel could react, it stabbed into the ground. Just a few inches from him.
Axel twitched. What if that impaled me…?
The stickmen rushed the white-haired man, their speed staggering now. Yet he didn't face them this time.
He simply leapt up, high, higher than a normal human.
The stickmen lunged upwards, climbing over each other, trying to reach him.
Ignoring them, he swung the chain down, towards the dark haired man.
It coiled around the man. But oddly his coat did not wrinkle or tighten, a small separating the chain from him.
A creaking sound filled the air, ripples shimmering around the man, as the chain tightened.
The white haired man pulled harder. web-like cracks forming in the air around the chain.
Crack.
The sound of shattering glass echoed.
The dark-haired man's eyes finally opened. He tried to move, but it was too late.
The chain tightened around him.
Yanked him upward.
Then slam!
His body hit the water.
The white-haired man landed beside Axel, forming a hand sign.
"Shackle."
The world trembled, then it shattered. The dark domain, the stickmen, the water, the scent, all of it vanished, as if it was all a dream.
Axel squinted as light flooded his vision. They were back on the street.
He blinked, disoriented.
People were staring, of course they were. He was sitting on the pavement, next to the white-haired man.
The chain around the man's wrist shrank into silver bracelets.
Then a commotion erupted a few meters away.
Axel turned to look, but before he could see, the white-haired man grabbed him by the collar and leapt up.
Arching up, they landed on a rooftop.
Then the man sprinted.
Jumping between buildings, like a sort of ninja, his white hair whipping in the wind.
Axel tried to keep his eyes open, but everything blurred. The pain, the blood loss, the exhaustion.
And then darkness swallowed him.