Witchbound: My Power Grows With Every Trial

Takuma was the first to attack. He broke forward with great speed and agility, tearing down the conduits that had been attached to his body. As he did, a whirlwind of sparks flew out of them, crackling in the air and then gradually dissipating away. As for the conduits, some of them ripped loose entirely, while others remained fixed into his back, still pulsing black fluid into him. The sound of it filled the surroundings like a sort of mechanical heartbeat that gave rhythm to every motion Takuma made.

Ren barely had time to brace at all. As their blades met, more sparks flew into the air, and the impact of it rang sharply across the hall.

Takuma pushed hard in his attack. His strength had doubled by whatever fed him through those conduits, driving Ren back with each strike. After the third and fourth clash, Ren managed to twist out of line, avoiding a fifth encounter. Takuma's blade carved deep into the floor instead, cracking the stone deeply through.

Ren took advantage after that and attacked through the side, forcing Takuma to move back as well. He slashed upward with his Pact Blade and skimmed along Takuma's arm. Blood should have spilled, but the black fluid hissed out instead, pumping harder as if sealing the wound in its place.

Of course... regeneration. As if this wasn't already difficult enough, Ren thought.

After that, the fight moved from place to place inside the great hall. Takuma pressed Ren relentlessly, forcing him to use all his physical energy with every counter. As for Ren, he moved with it, using momentum to evade when there was no time to counter.

The fight was brutal and majestic at the same time, each blow revealing them as worthy opponents. Two Pact Bearers driven by different powers. Ren fought with the golden burn of Pact magic, while Takuma moved under the corruption Reiji had forced into his veins.

Through all of that, Takuma never spoke. There were no words, no taunts, just relentless mechanical rhythm. Ren felt that there was something deeply wrong with that. He hadn't known Takuma for a long time, and the most he knew was based on the vision he had had. But this just didn't feel like the Takuma from that vision. It seemed as though he had been emptied out, leaving nothing but a vessel that functioned on command. And if this was what Reiji called superior, then his idea of strength was nothing but emptiness dressed as control.

Ren pivoted sharply as Takuma lunged again. But this time, Ren decided on a different approach.

He lowered his Pact Blade and raised his free hand with his palm open toward Takuma. His eyes burned golden for a few moments as the Pact Glyph that had been infusing his Pact Blade with energy glowed brighter as well. Its lines warped and reshaped. It was no longer the regular Pact Blade glyph. It now fused with his Kindling glyph, merging into something new. And true enough, from his palm surged a wave of fire that engulfed everything in its path, moving like a whirlwind straight for Takuma.

And then, for a few seconds, there was only fire and smoke.

As the smoke thinned, Ren caught sight of Takuma still facing him. He was down on one knee with his blade raised across his body, having countered the flames head-on. The weapon must have been bound by its own magic, because nothing else could have held back a wave like that.

"You think you're fighting for her," Reiji echoed from his mechanical wall, witnessing the fight as it was unfolding.

The mix of pity and contempt in his tone irritated Ren, yet he chose not to counter with words anymore. It was useless.

"But the eyes were never hers to begin with," Reiji went on, pressing on Ren's thoughts like burning metal on flesh. "No witch should hold them. That's why the Tsukigata were the better fit to take them... Cunning as they are, at least they understood that much."

Suddenly, Ren's chest tightened. For a second, his focus slipped from Takuma, turning toward the mechanical wall where Reiji stood bound. That name... Tsukigata. He had named the Tsukigata Clan as the ones... who took the eyes?

But that slip in focus cost Ren dearly. Takuma's eyes narrowed, seizing the moment, and he used it to attack before Ren had a chance to recover. The impact drove Ren back a few steps, but even that wasn't enough because Takuma's blade cut through flesh in an instant. The pain surged rapidly, even if muted somewhat by adrenaline. Ren staggered, attempting to stop the bleeding in his arm. His Pact Blade dimmed, and his concentration broke.

Ren forced himself upright, while Takuma prepared himself for a new attack.

"I don't want to fight you," Ren said finally. "You're caught in all this mess in the same way I am. You are a pawn moved around by someone else."

But Takuma gave no reply. His eyes were fixed, devoid of life. And to Ren, that silence was more suffocating than any taunts he might have received.

"Snap out of it!" he then shouted, driving his Pact Blade hard into one of the walls. Perhaps the sudden noise could trigger some sort of response. But it didn't. There just seemed to be nothing human in Takuma's expression anymore.

But then, Ren caught a glimmer of light, something clinging to Takuma's wrist. A bracelet. The same one Ren had seen before in the vision of the past. The bracelet Takuma had given Shiori. He relived that image of a human-like Takuma binding it to Shiori's wrist in a caring way. Gentle even. Nothing like the Takuma he was fighting now.

That's when Ren decided to try again. Because maybe, just maybe, the man was buried deep within and not necessarily gone. And perhaps that bracelet might just be the way in to where Takuma truly was.

Takuma walked forward toward where Ren stood, hurrying his pace with each stride. When he finally lunged, the symbols on his blade all illuminated one by one in a patterned sequence, revealing the infusion of magic flowing through the blade, ready to hit its enemy at any moment. But just as he was about to reach him, though, Ren dropped low, letting the Pact Blade cut where the bracelet was. And true enough, the bracelet snapped free, skidding across the hall floor.