Raiden blocked two quick punches, his arm aching slightly. Kanesaki threw two more with his other arm, connecting with Raiden's chest in rapid succession. Retaliating, Raiden send a forward kick which Kanesaki blocked with his elbow before uppercutting - Raiden leaned back to dodge quickly.
'You're looking kinda rattled, lieutenant... Something wrong?'
Raiden felt a small bead of sweat fall down his forehead as he smiled admittedly.
'I must say, I'm surprised you can still stand, let alone fight back. Although, it's not common for a Chimera undergoing cracking.'
The word had made Kanesaki pause, he remembered hearing it from Oki and 344 back on the last operation, before he killed them. He didn't know what they meant. Clenching his fist, he pointed at Raiden with a concerned but angry look.
'What the hell is that, huh!?'
A chuckle caught Raiden. His eyes locked onto Kanesaki's.
'Cracking: the term for when a Chimera undergoes severe mental instability, leading to a sudden power spike and immense bodily trauma, as well as an insatiable bloodlust. However, you don't seem to possess the latter, instead you just seem pissed off. The term was given the name since it's recognisable by a Chimera's pupils 'cracking' like glass. Chimera that experience cracking are to be killed on sight.'
Staring in confusion, Kanesaki just clenched his fists harder, sighing too.
'That's why they wanted to kill me, huh...'
Looking ahead, Raiden hummed.
'What was that?'
'Nothing... But thanks for the info, bastard.'
Kanesaki stretched his arms behind him, cracking his back in the process before cracking his neck too. Raiden walked past him to retrieve his spear from the truck.
'Alright... Guess it's time for a proper fight then... And I really wanna kill you now, shithead.'
Holding his spear in preparation, Raiden smiled.
'From bastard to shithead. Your insults are pointless besides amusement.'
Pulling the blade from his body, Kanesaki tilted his head to look at the the lieutenant.
'Meh, don't care...'
Nishihara stood, his body slightly recovered with the YNS. He saw the two getting ready to clash again and went to help Kanesaki, but he put a hand out to the officer.
'Nishihara, heal up fully first... I don't know how long I can hold on against him like this, but I'll try to kill him... You shouldn't be the one killing him...'
Nishihara sighed and smiled contentedly. 'Fine... Just survive...'
Nodding, Kanesaki readied himself as Raiden took quick steps towards him. Kanesaki dashed towards the lieutenant as they clashed, the ground shaking and dust a gust of wind blowing out around them. Sparks flew out as Kanesaki slid the blade's edge along the spear, all the way to the tip before Raiden tried swinging through his stomach - he sidestepped to dodge carefully, thrusting the blade for Raiden's neck as the spear spun up to parry, Raiden bent his front leg, thrusting the blunt end of the spear into Kanesaki's chest, leaving him exposed for an attack. Recovering hastily, Kanesaki parried the incoming swing, blocking a few quick thrusts as lighting empowered Raiden's attacks. The lighting crated a quick flash that left Kanesaki open and stunned. Leaping forward on one leg, Raiden sent a winded up kick to Kanesaki's body, flipping him back through the fiery battlefield, his body hitting a fallen drop ship as he rolled atop it, coming to a stop as he coughed up blood, legs shaking as he stood up.
Raiden approached slowly, glancing over to Nishihara before ignoring him again as he called out to Kanesaki atop the ship.
'Chimera! I must say, you did well to defend yourself!'
Hearing the remark, Kanesaki smirked, one eye closed as he reeled from the pain.
'Oh yeah! Guess that means you're not all that eh, shithead!'
Raiden held out his spear, his eyes pierced through the flames to see Kanesaki beelining towards him. The lieutenant ran too, just before meeting Kanesaki's blade, he slid his feet to a stop and spun the spear, forming a whirlwind of lightning. Kanesaki pulled back, gritting his teeth as Raiden switched to offense, doing an upward swipe that cut Kanesaki's left shoulder. The blood sprayed only a little, fully ignored by Kanesaki.
'Neat move, a lighting spin...'
Raiden spun the spear to get a better grip.
'Made it back in the academy. It's useful for reckless opponents.'
Kanesaki laughed, morphing into a cough of blood before he spoke.
'Calling me reckless, shithead?'
Not another word was said as the two clashed again. Raiden constantly switched from a swift defense to a fierce offense as Kanesaki tried to keep up. He was wounded multiple times over - the pain mounting up as he fought through it. For a moment, Kanesaki found a sudden weakness in the lieutenant's defense, he ducked low and leapt around the spin, blindly swinging upwards, hoping to hit Raiden's head, an eerie grin swept his face. However, as he swung, his wound each burst violently, a shower of blood coating him and Raiden.
Falling to his knees, Kanesaki struggled to breath, blood was clotting up his throat. All he could feel aside from the pain was the electric edge of Raiden's spear lightly cutting into his nape.
'You overworked your body, Chimera. This is your own fault, you don't know your own limitations, especially when cracking.'
Kanesaki choked on his blood as he failed to get even a single word out.
'You're pathetic. I was told that you singlehandedly killed a Yatzul undergoing drastic evolution back in the mining operation. Was that just a lie?'
To cement his words, Raiden pierced Kanesaki's back with the spear as he went on.
'The reports stated that you were the only survivor. Usually, I'd find it surprising that anyone would've survived facing an evolving Yatzul. However, something bothered me, so I ran a few checks.'
The spear was pushed deeper into Kanesaki's back, blood gushing out of the wound as he screamed out, blood pouring like a small waterfall from his mouth.
'The reports stated that an officer had made a call for a transport on a cliff near to the mines, but for some reason, the recovery team found the Yatzul's body within the mines, seemingly killed prior to the call. So, tell me Chimera... Between the time that the Yatzul was killed and the officer made the call, what happened?'
Kanesaki reeled as the spear left his body, the electricity having scorched and cauterised the wound. Raiden stepped back and noticed Nishihara getting up, ready to join the fight again. He scoffed, having to fight his friend yet again bugged him. Grabbing his throat to try and breathe properly, Kanesaki gasped, the blood finally clearing from his throat as he got on one leg, barely able to stay conscious.
'I... I killed them...'
At the words, Raiden's eyes shot down to the weak Chimera.
'Hm?'
'I just said... I killed them... The officer... And the Chimera...'
He stood carefully, his face bloodied as he threw his head back, blood splattering off it onto the ground, his eyes more broken than ever.
'So... You gonna kill me now or what..?'
Raiden's grip tightened on the spear as he lifted it, swung down and watched as sparks flew out, the floor crashing from a sudden pressure. Kanesaki fell back, hit the floor as he looked up, it had all happened too fast and he was too disorientated to register it fully. Raiden scoffed again as his spear was held back by the edge of Nishihara's Odachi. The officer stood, his knees bent slightly, grounding him in the rubble. One of his hands were gripping the hilt, the other was holding the blunt edge and pushing against the spear's force. Raiden's eyes narrowed as he looked seemingly shocked for a moment.
'How did you...'
Nishihara pushed back harder, swinging quickly, the slash wounding Raiden's side, leaving a wound by his ribs. Eyes widened, Raiden peered down, registering the pain as blood spilt down his side. He was left speechless. Nishihara took several steps away, staying on guard in case Raiden went for an attack.
"Oi, Kanesaki.'
Kanesaki stood, brushing dust from his trousers as he cracked his neck, the pain was hitting him pretty hard now.
'I've got him, don't worry. Go on, make sure the others are okay, try find that rogue too.'
Weakly nodding, Kanesaki sighed before dashing past the two. Raiden didn't budge, allowing the Chimera to leave, his focus was solely on Nishihara now. The tears of crimson blood flowed from his eyes, pouring out rapidly as he wiped them away. Nishihara's position switched, his shoulders relaxed as his back foot slid up slightly.
'So you've still got it...'
Raiden fixed up his face, staring coldly into Nishihara's eyes. A little amount of blood dropped from his mouth, he didn't wipe it away.
Chapter 22- end