Serial
59: Straight Hunting
January
25th, 33 S.D. 12:55 Ganglan Pass, Sventa
In an instant, Koter’s hand snatched upon the knife’s handle. His fingers tensed up, as if intending to draw the weapon. However, he seemed to hesitate. For several moments, the Field Lead gripped the end, yet he never pulled the blade. Out of restraint, he breathed deeply, retracting his hold while he exhaled.
“No,” he said aloud as he focused his gaze directly on Losha. “Not yet.” He began pacing around, walking along a wide semi-circle.
“Koter, I do not have time to deal with you. I would rather you simply leave,” Losha said.
“There is no business more important that this.”
“Ksh,” she replied, rolling her eyes to the side.
“Ah, I see,” Koter said, sniffing the air and tapping his nose. “You are looking for that fool, Ano. That makes sense then. Allow me to inform you of this: dreck like that do not deserve more than a passing thought. Ano is as harmless as he is meaningless. An idiot of his caliber presents no true threat to anyone, not anymore. You should worry about me, someone who has some real teeth.” He stopped moving.
“Suvla the Olta Fox and Avil the Noven Hawk. You have beaten them both, wiped out TRIBLADE, for the most part, that is. You never defeated me though. I am still standing, after all. There is still a fight we need to finish.”
Losha stared at him for a bit; she could but shake her head. “Is that all you have to say?” she asked, turning her back towards him. “If not, I have heard enough. Take your juvenile sense of rivalry and begone. I am busy at the moment.”
Koter huffed loudly. “Rivalry?” he laughed. “Is that what you think this is merely about?”
She turned her head over her shoulder. “I am the Wolf and you are the Hound, sa? Two opposing characters...”
“I have to say, as poetic as all of that sounds, it is but a single facet of the overall equation.” Koter reached into one of the inside folds of his uniform. From here he extracted three small throwing knives, each slipped between his knuckles. “There are larger forces behind our battle. I like to think of it as fate. Surely you can feel it too, the flow of destiny surrounding us. Things have to be this way.”
Losha turned around completely, bearing a look of sheer incredulity. “What nonsense is this?”
Koter merely smirked at her. “Losha, this is just the kind of crazy world we find ourselves living in. Imagine, the two of us, of all people, compelled to fight against one another. Things simply are not like we remember them.”
“Remember... what?”
Before she could receive a proper answer, Koter launched the knives straight at her. As they hurled towards her, Losha merely brushed her hand over them. Quickly, she cast a kinetic series; like a whip, she countered the projectiles with a stream of unseen energy. As if toys, they were flung to the ground. She frowned, sighing and closing her eyes.
“I dislike combat. However, that does not mean I cannot best you in a match.”
“Sa, this is perfect,” Koter smiled sharply as he grabbed one end of his coat. With a single motion, he threw away the article, discarding it to the wind. Revealing his true appearance, Koter stood there, draped in two bandoliers that crossed his body in an “X”. Dozens of slots exposed a number of additional blades, a complete arsenal of handheld razors.
“I have not spent all of this time idly, Wolf. This dog has learned a few new, rather potent tricks.”
“Do you earnestly believe you can stand against me?” Losha asked, putting her hands on her hips. “I am loathe to brag, but the fact of the matter is that I have toppled your comrades and beaten nearly half of your army. If you wish to challenge my serialization, you will need more than just these dinky daggers.”
Koter raised his eyebrows, growling lowly. “Let us see if that is the case.” Using both hands, he swiftly plucked two knives and tossed them straight at Losha. Waving her hand, however, Losha used another kinetic series to deflect the incoming objects. Koter didn’t relent; he wrangled two more knives, but instead of sending them Losha’s way, he flipped them high over his head. As they rotated in the air, Koter reached for an additional pair and spun them towards the first two. Upon their collision, the second pair knocked their predecessors forward. Angled downwards, the knives twirled at Losha, closing their distance with menacing speed. Despite the danger, Losha calmly performed the same kinetic series she’d previously executed. An invisible strike kicked Koter’s stylish attack to the snow with ease.
“Too slow!” Koter said. Like a human blitz, he drew four short blades at once and chucked them, all before the last two came down from above. Timing everything meticulously, he caught them as they fell and whipped them at Losha. All six blades rapidly zeroed in on her, but with a simple act of raising her hand, she stopped each in its tracks. A blue haze glowed around the knives as she wrapped and suspended them in kinetic energy. Flicking her wrist, she commanded the objects to crash straight to the earth. Not one of Koter’s attacks even remotely reached her.
“Too weak,” Losha replied, dropping her arm to the side. The corner of Koter’s mouth curled downwards slightly. “You are being more showman than soldier. That was indeed a fancy technique, however, it lacked real power.”
“What?!” Koter asked.
“You need to be more direct.” Losha raised her palm and pushed it forward. She serialized a massive force towards the Field Lead, a great turbulent wind. The blast struck him right in the chest, knocking him over on his back and dragging him across the snow for several meters.
“Ugn!” he said through clenched teeth, raising his head up. At that very second, however, Losha cast another series. Ice began coagulating around his hands and feet. Before he could throw himself to safety, his extremities had been encased, effectively chaining him to the ground.
“Aaagh! What is this?” he cried. “This is no way to fight.”
“Correct. I have no intentions of engaging you. As I previously said, I am busy doing other things. Stay put for now.” Losha turned around and resumed her search for the missing Core Lead.
“D****t!” Koter hissed under his breath. He couldn’t afford to let the situation go on like this. He had to break free, but he decided to wait until Losha was out of earshot. If she realized his escape, she’d only bind him up in something more elaborate. After even his keen senses could no longer detect her, Koter started his work. The ice connecting his gloves and boots to the ground weren’t very large; he could pry his limbs loose with enough strength. He chose to use his hands first. Straining his arms, he could feel the base of the ice begin to pull away from its roots. Pushing himself further, he managed to rend his left side clear and then the right. Though he had gotten this far, his hands were still practically immobilized in ice. Like hammers, he pounded his fists against his feet. Bit by bit, the frozen chunks cracked and chipped until at last they split apart. With a few more yanks, his legs were unbound from their cold constraints. Hurriedly, he came upright and pursued Losha.
As one of Henron’s Special Potentials, he was gifted with more than just low reaction times and a superior ability to smell; he was also a perfect stalker. Although the ground lay blanketed with snow, he moved through it in silence. An agile predator, Koter tracked down Losha in short order. Her scent hung about like a mist, directing him to her. True to his craft, he managed to sneak up from behind. Though her head turned from side-to-side, she seemed wholly unaware of his approach. He truly couldn’t have asked for more. He close dthe distance between them in two strides before lunging forward. Jumping high, Koter took two knives in hand. As he swooped down, he prepared to plunge them into her back. However, as he descended, Losha suddenly flew away. His weapons struck empty space. Immediately, his widened eyes shifted, darting left and right. Where had she gone? Losha had used a speed-step to zip far to the edge of his peripheral vision.
“How?” he breathed as he whirled around. His approach had been flawless by any standard, and still it had not been enough. He dispatched the knives at her form, sending them off with a wild, almost reckless ferocity. As she had so often done before, Losha used a serialized field of kinetic energy to bring the knives to rest.
“You hide your seras frequency exceptionally well,” Losha commented. “But you always end up showing it at the very last instant, as if your soul were getting excited.”
“Ksh,” Koter said, jerking his head away for a time.
“You certainly are persistent. Just like our first encounter. However, I know Ano is nearby. If you would please stay our of my way.” She moved her hand as if conducting something. Initially, Koter had no idea what she was doing, however, it became evident as he looked down. A trail of ice raced towards him, cutting along the ground. Instinctively, Koter leaped away; Losha’s attack, however, ran after him. As soon as he landed, the freezing line changed directions and continued towards him.
“Hmmph!” Koter said with a slight smile. Again and again, he sailed away, using his speed to propel himself out of the path. Springing to and fro, somersaulting, back-flipping, even cart-wheeling: Koter used every ounce of acrobatic skill he possessed to stay ahead. Even so, he only proved able enough to just barely keep himself a few centimeters in front of the homing ice. He dived over a large boulder; the ice splashed up against the rock’s side, covering it with spiky crystals. The series ended, and Koter took a moment to catch his breath. He’d been driven quite a ways from his opponent.
“You may have stood evenly with me in our previous encounter but I have grown much in that time,” Losha said. “Though your martial training exceeds mine, I can more than make up for it with my knowledge as a serialist. Let us quit this foolishness. If you will not aid me in Ano’s recapture, leave at once.”
Koter stood up from behind the rock. “I am afraid I cannot do that,” he replied, casually stepping out into view. “Orders, you see. I have a mission to fulfill.”
“I highly suggest you abort, in that case.”
“Nothing doing,” he said as he quickly threw out two more knives.
“Those will never reach me, Koter.” Losha simply gestured at them, wiping them away. The blades appeared to reel backwards, but all at once they swung to the right, as if pulled away. Koter swept his arm in great, sudden, snapping, movements. The knives moved accordingly as they slashed at her in a frenzy. Losha blocked each attempt with bursts of kinetic energy. At first, she didn’t understand what was going on, however, she soon saw through his tricks. He must have been using some sort of wire looped around the weapons. It looked as if it weren’t there at all, but this conclusion made the most sense. Given that, she decided to take effective countermeasures.
As Koter issued another attack - rushing one knife in from the right and another from the left - Losha stopped it in midair. Pulling Koter forward by the wires, she drew him in swiftly with a series. Falling down on his face, Koter gravitated towards her until he was right beside her. He’d lost hold of the knifes as he was raked across the ground.
“Clever, but insufficient,” she said. Losha took her palm and pushed it down. The aura of her seras surrounded Koter’s entire body. His muscles seemed to seize up, as if he were being held down by a horde of gripping hands. He groaned as he twisted his head up slowly, gritting his teeth. “This should keep you down. It is a kinetic force-field, albeit one tailored specifically to your very shape and size. It should properly stop your movements as long as I deem it necessary.” Once again, Losha turned away, searching for her own target.
“Gah! Shrieks, not again...” Koter mumbled. It appeared that he’d finally been subdued, but the young officer was far from done. Losha traveled for a bit, however, she began to notice something startling happening. Koter’s seras surged spontaneously. Upon feeling this change, she paused and glanced back at him.
“Mghh! Nnngh! Unngh!” he grunted as he pressed against the series containing him. His efforts looked futile, but gradually he regained some of his mobility. His back arced up slightly, his quaking hands rose unsteadily, and his neck craned towards the sky. That he could move to such an extent astonished Losha. By her calculations, the force pinning him down should have been something equivalent to four times his own weight. He’d only feel the pressure if he tried to go anywhere, else the series wold have crushed him.
Still, he was beating back the odds. What was this phenomenon? Had she seen it before? Koter wasn’t serializing anything, but his seras certainly seemed to be counteracting her series. Could non-serialists somehow use their seras when things got desperate? Like... adrenaline? In either case, his seratic presence grew stronger. By degrees, he brought himself upright. He came to his hands and knees, then to a kneeling position before propping himself up on one leg.
“Haaaaaah!” he roared as he stood tall. His seras flared up in an instant like a distinct pulse. It disturbed the flow of hers briefly enough to disconnect her series. As the force-field dispelled around Koter, a ripple of air washed over the snow; a gust billowed about Losha. Having found herself with such an opponent, Losha knew there truly was but one way to keep him at bay.
As Koter heaved and regained his composure, Losha calmly faced the Henron officer. Though he had taken off his shackles, so-to-speak, he had lost a lot of stamina. He wobbled some; his breathing was deep. Furthermore, he bent over and clutched his stomach in one hand. In her opinion, Koter looked fit to keel over on the spot.
“Ha!” he managed to say. “Looks you could not keep this dog down. Were are not done yet.”
“Koter,” Losha said, raising her arm out in front of her. In an azure flash, her servai materialized to her will. “Our battle has yet to even begin.”
Koter adapted his stance, leaning forward as he summoned another knife. “Is that...?” he wondered to himself, but before he could ever finish his thoughts, Losha was already standing in front of him. A single speed-step had carried her within half a meter of her enemy. As his brows raised up in alarm, he focused on her strike. The very tip of her servai charged at him as she thrust it straight ahead. Normally, even at that range, Koter’s reflexes would have allowed him to dodge this maneuver. Unfortunately, he was anything but ready. He’d already pushed himself to exhaustion fending off her last series; it took every bit of determination he had just to come away with a minor hit.
He hopped to the right, but his sluggish actions cost him. Her servai bit into him, grazing his upper left arm. He saw a bright, liquid-like substance splatter to the side. His sight told him it was blood due to the color, but it wasn’t dark enough, nor did it smell. It disappeared soon thereafter. What was it then? Koter had no idea that some of his seras had just been ripped off of his soul. Backtracking fast, he wanted to put some distance between them. He might not have been a serialist, but he could certainly tell something was amiss where the blow landed.
Skidding to a halt, he looked down at his arm to see a number of brilliant, crimson sparks running up its length. He experienced a growing pain that wasn’t so much felt as it was realized. The damage caused by losing one’s seras was entirely different from a physical wound. While there were no nerves connected to the soul, Koter became aware of a deeper discomfort, as if his very existence had been harmed.
“Gnngh!” he said, sucking air through his teeth.
There was no time to let the sensation overwhelm him, for Losha was quickly upon him. She dashed in from the side, swinging her servai outwards in a large, backhanded stroke. Koter pulled another knife in each hand, crossing and overlapping the blades to shield him. With any ordinary weapon, this strategy would have worked well enough, but Losha’s servai was no normal tool. Since it was the pure incarnation of her raw seras, it was essentially nothing but energy she could see and control. As such, the blue bar pierced objects with ease.
Her assault tore through Koter’s forearms and gouged into his chest briefly. Again, red seras spilled from him, oozing to the ground before evaporating in a dazzling flash. Koter cried out as he dropped his weapons. He stumbled away from her just a few steps. Scowling, he held himself with one arm as the other lamely hung and dangled about.
“D****t,” Koter cursed. He stole a quick look behind him; the land fell at a great angle into the Ganglan Pass. He was more or less cornered. Weakly, he turned his head back over to Losha.
“Heh,” he smiled wryly. “You got pretty good. Never had this much trouble with anyone else before. I bet you could say the same for me.”
“You have not exactly tested my limits. Not like last time.”
“Sa,” Koter said, raising his index finger up. “But I am still standing. How many others can say the same, having challenged you? Who has faced you twice?” Koter had taken several slashes from her servai, something lesser soldiers could never handle, so he did have a point.
“You have done well, but do not mistake tenacity for strength. I am holding back, you know. I do not wish to be cruel. On that matter, you have not shown a particular interest in your usual violence.”
“What are you talking about?” Koter asked as she straightened up. She aimed her servai directly at him.
“You do not have the same intent to kill as you did in our previous little affair. I may not have the nature of a warrior, but even I can see how your blades have dulled. You are a trained fighter, yet you have lost the lethality you once showed me. It is not merely a case of my being stronger. For whatever reason, it seems you as well are reserving your best attacks.” She lowered her servai, cocking her head to the side. “Koter, what exactly do you want? If you honestly desired to have a true showdown, you would not have made such poor, sloppy mistakes. Tell me, why are you here?”
Although it ached to do so, Koter stood up fully. “Me?” he asked, touching his chest. “Ha, I already got what I came for.”
“A beatdown?”
“You are very observant, Losha. I am not just here on my own accord you know. This is business and pleasure for me. I was sent on this hunt to bring you back, alive.”
“Is that the mission you were given? By whom?”
Koter smiled as he waved a finger at her. “Who indeed? That Losha, is the surprise. I will tell you this,” he said, reaching for yet another knife. “There is only one way to know.”
Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Read Request
My Library
Subscribe
Flag Writing