The Price For Immortality

Clear and Blurred

Lui laughs. "You?! Kill me?! In your dreams."

"I mean it. Give me Wakiya's heart or you'll be dead in two seconds." Hoji glares right into Lui's eyes. "Wakiya's my best friend. I want him back, and the only way to get him back is if you give me the piece of him that you stole."

Lui scoffs and rolls his eyes. He tries to shut the door.

Hoji slams his hand against it, holding it open.

"The only person who should have Wakiya's heart is Wakiya himself." Hoji growls. "Give it to me so I can give it to its rightful owner."

"This is a waste of my time." Lui turns to walk away.

Hoji grabs the back of his jacket. "You wanna know why they didn't wanna fight with you?"

Lui looks at him silently.

"Because you're a waste of their time. Now give me Wakiya's heart or I'll take yours instead."

Lui's eyes narrow.

"Here's something that someone should've said a long time ago. Your battle strategies are all ones that you've stole from other people. You're completely unoriginal. You're a carbon copy of the first place Blader in the world. You've got no original Blading style, no originality whatsoever. And that's why you'll never succeed."

Lui's eyes widen. "Why you little-"

"I'm not done." Hoji's eyes narrow. "You'll never be number one, Lui. No matter how hard you try. You think stealing strategies will get you first place, you're wrong. You think stealing lives and scaring everyone into obeying you will help you get to the top, you're wrong. You've failed four years in a row. What makes you think this time will be any different? Face it Lui. You're second best. And you always will be. Now give me Wakiya's heart back."

Lui's eyes were the size of saucers. His mouth hung open. Hoji couldn't see it, but Lui felt a strange sensation in his chest. He had no clue what it was, but it wasn't pleasant.

"Go away," Lui growls.

"I've gotta hand it to you, though. Being cold and heartless did get you pretty far. Tuning out your emotions really helped you win. Disconnecting from others gave you more motivation to focus on nothing but training. Giving up love. It was honestly pretty brilliant. But cold and heartless people only get so far. They achieve success, but then what? Where will you go after you win? You'll have no one to celebrate with. You'll have no one cheering for you. You're not doing this for anyone, Lui. Once you get up there, once you've achieved your dream, you'll have nothing else to look forward to. You'll just get there... and nothing. That's what'll happen. Like a dog, chasing his tail. He'll chase it and chase it, but then what? What if he catches it? The only thing he can do is let go, and that's what'll happen to you."

Lui had started backing into the room. Hoji had been following him, that entire time. Lui glares right at him, something that would intimidate anyone else, but Hoji didn't show any sign of being afraid.

Why would he be? He's dealt with an angry Wakiya before, and that's pretty scary. Lui? He's nothing that Hoji hasn't seen before.

Lui's eyes flicker to the only other person in the room: Xander. "If I can't scare you," Lui says, "Maybe he can. Xander?"

Xander looks across the room. Hoji Konda. He's one of the nicest people on the planet, but even the nicest people have their limits, and Lui had just crossed that line. Hoji, for the first time in ages, was angry.

Not even angry. He was furious.

Xander walks over. He stares down at Hoji. As much as Xander wishes he could disobey Lui's orders, he can't. Not without giving up his power.