Euphoria

Chapter Seven

Subaru scowled and held his sword tightly as the figure of a raven haired man approached him. He moved forward in an attempt to intercept him but was stopped by a red haired woman appearing in front of him. She wasted no time trying to punch him, but it was effortless for him to respond by grabbing her shirt and tossing her away.

A kunai sped through the air, and Subaru jumped out of the way whilst growing more and more annoyed at the entire situation. He couldn't stop all three of them and his stupid elder brother Ayato was too busy playing with a monster to help him out. Not that Subaru expected him to anyway. 

The red haired woman appeared again, this time punching and kicking at him in a flurry of movements. Subaru easily deflected her punches and her kicks but it was obvious that she was a distraction. Delivering a quick blow to her stomach he abandoned her to chase after the raven haired man. 

"Where do you think you're going?!" Subaru growled, appearing in front of him. 

The man ignored his words, his sword immediately colliding with Subaru's before he  pushed past him to leap into the air. 

"As if I'll let you defeat me." 

Subaru turned to pursue further when he clicked his tongue and knocked away several more kunai. There was only a moment for him to jump away as a blur of what looked like tigers crashed into the space he had been. 

"Damn it, there's more of you?" 

The red haired woman returned to his line of vision once more and seemed determined to land a strike, her hits growing more and more rapid and fierce. 

Subaru huffed and grabbed her wrist that had come close to his face, twisting it and throwing her in the air. Then he turned his gaze to the perpetrator who was throwing all of the kunai. The woman stood in the background beside another woman who was armed with talisman. There seemed to be a spell in the works and at that Subaru had to grin. 

"Fine, I guess I'll play dirty too," He said, tossing the sword from his hand. 

There was a moment of surprise on the kunai wielding woman's face, but it didn't last long. He was too fast for her and immediately appeared in front of her to grab her throat. He lifted her in the air and tossed her into the woman with the talisman. Both women shrieked as they crashed into the ground and Subaru looked around skeptically. 

A gleam in the corner of his eye made him grin wider. The appearance of the tigers only confirmed his suspicions and he instantly moved to the location. The utterance of "Shit!" was cut short by Subaru slamming his fist into the ground. Instantly the ground broke apart, sending a strong shockwave through the battlefield. Without wasting time, Subaru grabbed hold of the gun aimed at his face and tossed it away. 

Before he could act, a wave of what looked like lava formed out of nowhere and Subaru had to step back in bewilderment. Turning only revealed the entire battlefield had become a barren wasteland filled with volcanic eruption and hot lava melting from the rocks.

"You've got to be kidding me. A fucking illusion?" Subaru cursed right as the red haired woman appeared again with several kunai accompanying her. 

While his brother was busy keeping the humans at bay, Ayato was thoroughly enjoying himself with the creature. It was simple and direct with its movements and every wound that Ayato inflicted on it healed moments later. He could cut, pierce, rip, and shred every part of it and it would heal. Even the heart seemed to be a useless target. 

"What are you, a vampire?" Ayato teased. 

"G-gu-ren?" 

Ayato's expression of joy vanished as he watched the creature tilt its head, and for the first time, seem to relax. It was what prompted Ayato to follow its gaze and narrowly miss the blade coming for his neck. 

Ayato jumped back and watched as the man stabbed the creature in the neck with some sort of syringe that forced the creature to screech before dropping to the ground and shedding the black mass from its body. 

"Ah, so it's a human made thing huh? You humans sure are weird," Ayato commented. 

The man that had appeared seemed unimpressed only offering a quick retort, "And you're any better, bloodsucker?" 

Ayato grinned, "Naturally. The great Ore-sama is leagues above the likes of filthy humans." 

His interest in the creature was gone and he looked to his side to find the human girl gone. Instantly, a scowl flickered to his face.

"Oi! Subaru! Where's the pipsqueak?" 

His brother offered no response, his face filled with perplexity as he deflected kicks and punches from a woman yet allowing a puny kunai to catch him off guard and burying into his arm. 

Ayato clicked his tongue in annoyance and a chuckle from the man forced him to glare sharply at his amused expression.

"What's wrong? Lost your prey? It's too bad you're going to die here, bloodsucker." 

"Ahn? Ore-sama dying here? You're mistaken. The only one dying here is you." 

There was a small moment of silence before Ayato appeared in front of the man with his sword. The two weapons clashed and the man grit his teeth while Ayato smirked. 

"You talk a big game, human. Let's see how long you last against the great Ore-sama." 

The trace of a grin found its way to the man's lips. "You underestimate us, bloodsucker." 

Ayato grunted and pulled back before attacking again. Their blades were matching strike for strike and Ayato was growing increasingly annoyed with each second. 

"Fuck! Ayato, stop being useless and get your ass over here!" Subaru snapped.

Ayato let his eyes flicker from the man in front of him to spot Subaru clutching his arm. The youngest Sakamaki was breathing heavily, and though he was keeping the red haired woman at bay, a dark blue color was spreading through his arm. It looked as though there was a talisman attached to his flesh which darkened the color. 

"Damn it. What a baby," Ayato said, rolling his eyes. 

Ayato pressed his blade against the man's sword before shoving past to aid his brother, knocking away the kunai around them and kicking the red haired woman in the chest roughly. 

"For all your tough talk you're such a weakling. Be grateful to Ore-sama for helping you out," He said smugly.

"Fuck you! I've been fighting four of these fucking humans while you've been playing games. There's an illusionist among them, and those damn kunai have poison in them."

"Oh shut up. Excuses excuses. If you need the great Ore-sama's strength just say so." 

"You fuckin' bastard," Subaru growled. His grip on his arm tightened. "We need to retreat. These humans are from the imperial demon army."

"Retreat? Are you insane? There's no way in hell i'm doing that. There's two of us, we're more than a match for these weak humans."

"You say that but--"

"Since when were you such a softie? If you'd actually tried to kill them you wouldn't be such a mess. Oh I get it. It's that Chichinashi isn't it? Is that why you're acting like such a pussy?" 

"Fuck you damn it!" Subaru snapped. 

"Yeah yeah, you know I'm right. Whatever. Just kill them its as simple as that." 

Ayato watched as the humans regrouped. The creature he had been playing with was escorted to the car by the raven haired man while three women blocked his line of sight. Kunai and talisman were held out ready to be thrown while the red haired woman clutched her waist.

"Since i'm the great and powerful Ore-sama, you cover me," Ayato said.

He didn't wait for his brother to respond and instead quickly headed towards the car.