The Disillusioned Land

Chapter 37 - Confrontation

I feel the frigid wind blow past me as I stare down my opponent, the two of us sharing a moment in silence before getting at each other's throats once more. To falter here would spell my end and betray the trust Reimu and my allies have placed in me, I can't allow that to happen. I take the initiative and perform a quick horizontal slash at Ran, to which she leaps high up into the air to avoid. She twists her body in the air and swings her giant left arm down at me, I brace myself and hold my knife up with the blade facing it. As the claw nears I allow the knife to slice cleanly through it, splitting it in half and causing the entire limb to dissipate and fall off of her. She gives me no time to relish this small victory and immediately begins firing a volley of danmaku down at me. I sprint forward to avoid them and wince in pain as some of them scrape against my back, then slam open the door of the next carriage and enter it.

I take a quick breather and look out the windows trying to see where Ran was, then spot a spinning yellow mass of tails flying outside and pulling up to the left side of the train. As Ran passes by she fires bullets towards the windows and I dive onto the floor to avoid them. I hear glass shattering and try to protect my head and neck with my arms, feeling some of the shards cut into my flesh. I get up and see that Ran is no longer there, I turn around and spot her again intending to perform the maneuver a second time. This time I execute a series of quick slices with my knife, launching arcs of light towards her. They cut their way through her barrage and reach Ran who expertly weaves around them as expected, but gets grazed by the last one, leaving a shallow cut on her. She returns fire once more and I run towards the next carriage again, slicing the door open and stepping inside.

Only now do I take notice of the faint glow my knife is emitting, absorbing the droplets of my blood that fell on its blade. A memory begins to surface in my mind but I'm unable to fully recall it when I notice a gap opening up in front of me at the other end of the carriage, which Ran then lunges out at me from. I narrowly manage to avoid her by stepping to the side and feel her claws dig into my right arm, I grit my teeth and turn to slash her in the back, the audible hiss of pain she lets out confirming my attack had landed. Before I can perform a follow up slash a gap opens in front of her which she leaps into and it closes behind her.

I take a glance at my knife again and see blood being absorbed into its blade once more, I hold it up in front of me for closer examination. The red lines that run across the blade's surface appear to be shimmering and I freeze up gazing into them. Instinctually my left arm gathers more blood from my wounds and spreads it across my weapon's visage, and I feel it become lighter in my hand. The light coming from the knife becomes a bit brighter, and the realization hits me. The current trial I face may not be as insurmountable as it appears.

In the midst of this stalemate my attention is taken by a blinding bright blue light coming from my blade, I try to squint through it to little effect, and I'm blinded by a flash of light. The instant I'm blinded I feel the pressure Ran was placing on my arms had left, and as my vision clears I see that Ran had stumbled backwards. I take advantage of this opening and do a quick cut, the resulting slash forcing her back somewhat, but she makes a swift recovery and fires a burst of danmaku at me, knocking me off my feet and causing me to fall back into the carriage.

I land on my back which forces the air out of my lungs and brings me into a short coughing fit. As I get my bearings I flinch when I see yet another gap opening up in front of me, without hesitation I grip the hilt of my weapon with both hands and thrust it forwards.

The sound of metal piercing flesh.

A gasp of pain and surprise.

Something warm flowing over my hands.

We stand frozen for a few seconds as we both process what had just happened, then I wrench my knife out of her and she staggers backwards. She falls down to her knees holding the newly opened wound in her stomach and coughs up blood, the substance painting the floor of the carriage. I feel myself shudder at the sight, then let go of all my inhibitions at the moment and stretch out my right arm to point my blade at her face, the weapon feeling weightless after absorbing her blood. The air is filled with our pained breathing as we stare at each other, Ran looking at me with an expression of fear and what seems to be sorrow. The silence continues until Ran lowers her gaze from mine.

"I concede" she says in a strained voice.

Before I can say or do anything a gap opens up below her and she disappears along with it. I keep my guard up and look around, making sure that this isn't some trick of hers to set up some surprise attack. When I finally feel confident she isn't coming back, I feel all the tension leave my body and heave a deep sigh, then shuffle over to a nearby seat that was left intact from all the carnage and sit down. I look up at the hole in the roof into the endless expanse of eyes gazing down at me.

I hope the others are faring better than me.