2 - Light Shadow Counter

“Dude, what’s your deal with me?” Jackal asked with a smirk, defending against Sakuto’s attack. His shadow blade and Sakuto’s Withering Strelitzia clashed. “This is the second time we’ve met.”

“I guess we’re both pretty bad at killing if we meet for the second time.” Sakuto replied. He stepped back and to the side, baiting Jackal to attack. Jackal, on the other hand, chose to retreat.

“Your friend from back then isn’t joining us?” Jackal asked.

“He’s handling other stuff. You know, the world is a busy place right now.” Sakuto said.

“And the elemental?”

“There’s some distance between us and him. I wanted to get a good look at you.” Sakuto said.

“What are you, president of my fan club?” Jackal said, chucking a black spear at Sakuto. The latter dodged, but didn’t expect the spear to bend at the last second and strike his arm regardless. “You yourself have changed from last time.”

“How so...?”

“There’s something there.” Jackal said. “There’s something in your eyes.”

“Really? Why don’t you describe what you see?” Sakuto asked, sending a powerful flying slash at Jackal. It was blocked, but the impact was rather strong. “Hurry up, the elemental is getting closer.”

“Can I really have that conversation with you?” Jackal asked. “You only hunt me per someone’s orders.”

“Nah, this type of life is my liberation.” Sakuto said. After sensing a presence approaching him, he added. “Time’s up.”

Instantly, he dashed in. He swung his blade, while Jackal swung his. Their weapons clashed more and more, with them moving around the road and using their agility to their advantage. What struck Sakuto most was that he didn’t use any fancy shadow moves.

“Did he figure out my adaptation?” Sakuto thought, continuing to assault Jackal. “Or does he have to retain his shadows by his wounds?”

“Oh well, who gives a shit?”

Sakuto, with a powerful swing, broke Jackal’s shadowy blade. Jackal was fascinated. He dashed back and hid in the shadows.

“How can obedience mean freedom?” he asked, popping up from across the street. He sent an X-shaped slash at Sakuto, which was deflected.

“Here’s the thing, man.” Sakuto said. “I have to kill you. If I don’t, a lot of soulfuls are gonna have problems, including some people I’m really close to.”

“Then why not settle the problem yourself?” Jackal asked. “If you have nothing to lose, you can be a fuckin’ unstoppable soulful. How do you think I’m flexing on the Heisei?”

“Nothing to lose?” Sakuto chuckled, pointing his blade at him. “See, this is why I think you’re interesting. You had an ally, didn’t you? You retreated to save him. How could you have someone you trust, and act like you have nothing to lose?”

“Trust, huh?” Jackal smirked. “Been told that’s a bad thing.”

“If I pop out of his own shadow and stab him, I’ll survive this day.”

“It is for sure.” Sakuto said. “Gets you into a lot of shit, and sometimes you trust people without even realizing or admitting it.”

“You can’t trust people?”

“It’s a hard question to answer.”

“You know, I’ve got an idea-”

“Oi, Jackal...”

“Hm?”

“Look behind ya.”

Jackal, with a small chuckle, turned around and swung his dagger. By that point, however, the invisible opponent already flanked him. Jackal was once again stabbed in the back by Ichigo’s blade.

“This guy again?!” Jackal yelled, the shadows around him contracting and expanding. Instead of attempting to knock Ichigo away, he instead redirected the force into the ground.

Quickly, Jackal slipped into his shadow, and appeared behind Sakuto. But that move was anticipated.

Sakuto kicked him away, and jumped in, trying to finish him off with his sword. Jackal quickly conjured a shortsword with his shadow and fought back, simultaneously, his other shadows acted as tentacles to help him move around faster. Sakuto was catching up.

Ichigo, watching the chase, clasped his hands together. He aimed a beam of light at Jackal and was just about to fire it, before he noticed something odd...

Sakuto chased him all the way to a glass building. Jackal’s tentacles quickly let him climb up, from where he bombarded the adaptive soulful with a series of blades and spears. Sakuto blocked and even voluntarily absorbed the attack, despite receiving damage, he needed it to adapt and evolve.

He jumped up with all his might and grabbed onto Jackal, who, with excitement, threw him into the sky and extended his tentacle to slam him into the building’s roof. Once Jackal himself climbed there, he threw a pair of slicing discs made of shadows at him. Sakuto didn’t dodge them, and it was a mistake - the discs knocked him off of the roof.

“By compressing and concentrating my shadows...I can grant them greater speed and piercing power.”

An immensely fast shadow arrow was fired at Sakuto, and it pierced his chest. But instead of the attack ending the fight, it only served to Jackal’s detriment.

“So this is what it looks like?” Ichigo thought to himself, watching the fight from below. He noticed the spark that appeared around Sakuto’s chest, indicating the activation of his ability. Jian, who was also watching the fight from afar, also took notice. “The adaptation system that Mr. Kamiki told us about...”

“This power is no joke.”

“Fighting against it might feel easy at first, but as the battle lasts longer...”

“It starts to feel hopeless.”

Aside from adapting on the spot, Sakuto could also retain adaptations. That not only applies to the fire resistance that he acquired and kept, but also the shadows that he didn’t fully adapt to just yet. This was the third spark. If Sakuto got to the fifth one, he would not only fully adapt to the shadows, but also unlock their perfect counter.

“Just a little bit more, Jackal. I need you to strike me with your shadows.”

“Two more sparks to go, so come on.”

“Spew it all out.”

He locked eyes with Jackal while suspended mid air. As the spark faded away, Jackal didn’t miss the opportunity to attack, despite his instincts telling him to do the opposite. He used the shadows to catapult himself to Sakuto, and the two fell from the twenty-or-so floor building. They struck the ground, and Sakuto noticed that his opponent...was gone?

“Soul Interpretation.”

Jackal was on the balcony of a nearby two story building. With pride in his eyes, he transformed the pool of shadows beneath him into a pair of human-like creatures.

“Shadow Puppet.”

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“I need to get the hell out of here.”

“Getting close to the light manipulator messes up the shadows that are on my body. If they’re off for more than a few seconds, I risk bleeding out...”

The puppets charged at Ichigo, who was surprised. He used his sword’s emanating light to instantly destroy them, to which Sakuto expressed his great discontent.

“Dude, why?! I could’ve used them to adapt!” He grunted, turning around. “Wait...where is he?”

“Wherever there’s shadows.” Ichigo said. “This area is used up, so he’ll probably be-”

“Right there!” Sakuto exclaimed, rushing to the spot. He saw Jackal trying to make a run for it, leaping from one shadow to another. “Need some light here!”

“Got it!” Ichigo said, as his light beam brightened the alleyway Jackal tried retreating to. It was instantly completely lit up, revealing Jackal’s wounded figure running away. They chased after him.

“There’s blood...” Sakuto said, stopping for a moment. “Here, on the ground, there’s blood.”

“He’s covering his wounds with shadows, my light is messing it up.” Ichigo said.

“Get the high ground.”

“What?”

“I said get the high ground!” Sakuto said. “Light the whole place up. He’s gonna bleed to death!”

Ichigo, albeit a bit hesitant, obeyed the instructions. He climbed onto the roof of the building around which the alleys were wrapped. His light exposed every dark little corner of the place.

“He has nowhere to go.” Sakuto said. Instantly, he felt a piercing appear on his torso. He turned around only to see a shadow puppet with a crossbow. Quickly, he disposed of it, but another realization struck his mind.

“Why would he do this? Did he really expect it to kill me?”

“A puppet that’s this weak...”

“Wait a second...it was conjured recently, wasn’t it? Otherwise I would’ve sensed its presence. But why did it have a weak presence when I killed it?”

“Why would Jackal conjure a shadow puppet while being this weak himself? Does he plan to fight us like this? He’d just run out of shadows before he could create enough of them...”

“Run out of shadows...”

“Run...”

“He’s using them as chaff!” Sakuto screamed, breaking into the window of a nearby building and navigating its rooms. “That’s why it was so weak, damn it!”

“The combined efforts of myself and the whole Heisei...we’re never gonna get him weakened this much again!”

“He’s on death’s door, for fuck sake!”

Sakuto was coming closer and closer to Jackal’s location. The shadow manipulator was surrounded by light outside, he hid in a small room. He tried his hardest to regenerate his wounds, but the puppets that were distracting his hunters needed to be maintained. Jackal heard Sakuto’s footsteps.

“Fuck off...if I run outside, I can slide into the metro station, and from there I’ll think of something...”

“Either I fight Sakuto like this...which I clearly can’t...or I make a run for it and run through the reinforced light.”

“No matter how I move, a part of the shadows that cover my body will be destroyed...”

“Think, Jackal, think...”

At that time, Jackal was on the third floor, locked up in one of the apartments. Sakuto was approaching him at rapid speeds, with murderous intent. Jackal quickly approached one of the windows, making sure the light didn't kill him.

“The light is coming from above...”

Jackal noticed the building across the street had windows facing him. There, in the dire circumstances, he thought of a plan. He rushed around the room, searching through the drawers. From there, he found a small mirror, it looked like it belonged to a woman. He carefully positioned the mirror against the windowsill, so that the light would be reflected into the room’s ceiling.

“Shit...come on...” Jackal thought, quickly going back to searching the room. Sakuto was already on the third floor. He was heading towards the apartment, and no amount of shadow puppets or trickery could stop him now.

Jackal got his hands on a magnifying glass that was in one of the drawers. But that alone wasn’t enough. He couldn’t find a second mirror in time, so he chose to break the room’s body-sized mirror and use its shard instead. Sakuto heard the sound and assumed that Jackal decided to risk it. But his presence persisting in the room told him otherwise.

“Where there’s light...there’s gotta be a shadow...” Jackal recited in his head. He positioned the shard in front of the window, so that the light reflected from the smaller mirror would be pointed at the window of the building across. He put the magnifying glass in front of the shard.. The door was broken down, as Sakuto rushed to the room.

“Where there’s light...”

“Got your ass!” Sakuto yelled, immediately releasing a slash of energy at Jackal. It landed right on his back, but it wasn’t enough to kill him.

“There’s a shadow!” Jackal exclaimed. The contraption he had set up aimed to cast light on one of the objects in the apartment on the building across. Since the light was there, the shadow was there too. It emerged, and so did a smile of hope on Jackal’s battered face. Jackal’s manipulation of shadows allowed him unrestricted travel between shadows within his vicinity. In seconds, just before Sakuto was about to pierce him with his blade, he slipped into his own shadow and emerged on the other side.

And now that immediate communication between Sakuto and Ichigo was difficult due to their locations, Jackal was outside of the lit up area, and Sakuto had no way of catching up to a shadow-hopping soulful...Jackal made his escape. He popped up a few districts away, sitting down by a small brick wall in an alleyway.

“Holy shit...” His breathing was all over the place. He was feeling a thrill he had never felt before in his life. His heart beat faster than native drums. All of his concentration was on recovering his potentially fatal wounds.

“Soul-prowess imbued...and amplified...light...holy shit...add onto that the maniac that was Sakuto, he counters my shadows and he hits like a fucking truck...”

“This was the closest I’ve ever come to dying...”

He looked down, and for a moment even questioned his identity. He let out a small laugh.

“The fact that I know who I’m gonna call now, and that I can rely on them to bail me out of this...”

“Do I really have nothing to lose?”

He sighed and got his phone out. He made a call.

“Yo, Q. I need a pickup. And some painkillers...”

...

“He fucking got away...”

“God damn it!” Sakuto yelled, kicking one the room’s wardrobe in rage and breaking a hole in it. He jumped out of the window. Ichigo jumped down from his position as well.

“How the hell did he manage to slip away? We had him cornered.”

“I’d love to know the same.” Sakuto grunted.

“Sakuto, I need to ask you something.” Ichigo said, approaching him. They faced one another. “I intentionally delayed my involvement when you were initially fighting him one-on-one. So tell me, what were you doing in that time frame? Were you talking to him?”

“How’d you conclude that?” Sakuto asked, sounding much more aggressive. “And hold on, why’d you delay your involvement?”

“So you’re Sakuto Hitori?” Jian said, approaching the two. “I’m Jian Fang, Lieutenant-Commander of the Heisei. I believe we haven’t met each other in person. Nice to meet you.”

“His presence is as nonstandard as was described to me...”

“Nice to meet you too, I guess.” Sakuto replied. “Jackal managed to slip away.”

“We know, and this predicament is to set us back a lot.” Jian said. “There will be debates hosted soon, the elections will be finalized. So far, Sheller is in the lead.”

“Jackal will take some time until he decides to act up again.” Sakuto said. “He was barely breathing. The only thing we need to do is to actually catch him.”

“It will be difficult to organize another such operation.” Jian said. “The Heisei will be taking special positions in D.C.”

“There will be no need to do so in the first place. The next time I see him, I will definitely kill him.” Sakuto said.

“And what makes you so sure? Your adaptation?” Ichigo asked.

“Wow, you’re surprisingly smart.” Sakuto said. “It normally takes five sparks to fully adapt to something. Right now, I’d say that my adaptation is around 60% complete. The shadows are easy for me to destroy and they aren’t as lethal to me. That much will allow me to keep up and fight with him, and once the process hits 100%, I will win.”

“Then you will be the one to carry out his execution.” Ichigo said. “We will be taking care of Mr. Kamiki’s other requests.”

“As much as he’s acting like a dick, he’s not wrong.”

“His strength doesn’t just stem from his soul expression. Most soulfuls led completely different lives prior to becoming one, they’re not skilled fighters or intelligent battle planners, they usually rely on their powers to carry them.”

“But Sakuto Hitori is different, just like Kouta Touriki. He’s already a martial artist, fighting for him is like jogging. He’s smart too, he figured out Jackal’s hiding spot...his aggression, martial talent and wits, on paper, make him the perfect wielder of a power as potent as adaptation.”

“Then it’s decided. Thank you for your assistance, Sakuto Hitori. Mr. Kamiki will contact you if necessary.” Jian said, leaving. “And also, my condolences.”

“Right...thanks...” Sakuto sighed. “What are you here for? Go on, follow your commander.” Sakuto told Ichigo.

“We have to work together.” Ichigo said. “Even if we have our reasons to dislike each other, we have to cooperate for this operation. And I can’t cooperate with someone I can’t trust.”

“Shouldn’t have said that word.” Sakuto said. “Even then, I have no interest in catching conflict with you. Wouldn’t wanna make Mr. Kamiki upset.”

“That is a smart way to approach it.” Ichigo hesitantly extended his hand. “We are both on the same side. Internal conflict is the last thing we need.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Sakuto said. He reluctantly shook Ichigo’s hand and quickly let go of it. “You can thank Mr. Kamiki and Hayk’s many warnings not to mess with him. They're the reason we don't have conflict right now.”