The Snapped-Neck monster tilted its head—right side, then the left. A wet crack resounded with every turn of its head, as if its skeleton was naught but fragmented bone.
Kenji felt a cold sweat form on his brow, and his grip on his bat tightened. He took a step back, foot crunching against the fallen twigs and leaves.
The Snapped-Neck was looking at him. It stared like an animal assessing potential prey. Its slit open eternal grin seemed to widen, the skin stretched against bone. The two sickles in its hand fell, caught on taut rustic chains that hung on its hand. The monster bent its body forward, and its red-stained clothes moved with it.
Kenji's eyes narrowed, and realization dawned. The slight movement tore the thing's skin, spilling blood with such a minor movement.
It moved in a mock bow. Like a marionette puppeted by an amateur, the movement was unnatural.
"What the hell..." Kenji murmured.
It stayed bowed, and Kenji pondered whether or not he should take the moment to run. For a moment, he remained frozen.
Kenji gulped. He stepped back—
SCHIING!
A sharp sting spread through his side. With snapped-open eyes, he looked down to find his clothes stained red. A wet, sickly warmth spread, and Kenji's knees buckled.
"What..."
He couldn't move; any further attempts to step away could result in greater injuries. His red eyes studied the Snapped-Neck.
Still, it bowed, a dancer awaiting its partner. Kenji's teeth grit, realization struck him like a bullet.
'It's waiting for me to bow...'
Kenji gulped, clutching his bleeding side. He took a deep breath, then bowed deeply, matching the Snapped-Neck's gesture. Only then did it raise its body, spine snapping straight.
Kenji raised his own body to meet it.
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[ You have accepted the Snapped-Neck's Dance ]
[ "O' Lord of The End. To you, I dedicate my Death." ]
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The air blurred.
The Snapped-Neck suddenly rushed in, chains rattling as it swung its rustic edge towards Kenji. The boy's brows shot up, and he held his bat up.
Clang!
Sparks flew. Chainbat met rustic sickle; the latter shot away, embedding itself in a nearby tree. Splinters flew, and the bark snapped in two.
'It's fast!' Kenji observed.
But compared to Anselm Grimmel? It was like night and day. Kenji felt a grin stretch his mouth wide.
'But not fast enough!'
Kenji grit his teeth, then jumped back as the other sickle crashed onto the ground.
Rotted tree branches erupted from the spot, shooting towards Kenji like rotting javelins. Kenji grit his teeth, then forced [Subjective Law] to life.
He couldn't risk figuring out whether or not the Snapped-Neck could resist [Subjective Law].
So for now, he used it on himself.
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[ Subjective Law: You are as swift as the wind. Move like a storm, even thunder struggles to touch you. ]
[ Applying... ]
[ Error! Error! ]
[ "The Corpse of [Death] witnesses your dance. You must fight under his terms. ]
[ Limited Application... ]
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'What the hell!?'
The Shroudspace could even resist laws directed at itself!?
'That's so unfair! What the hell kind of lousy ass power did you saddle me with, Corswain!'
Kenji grit his teeth; he narrowly dodged the spiked rotted wood by a hair's breadth. Even under the Corpse of [Death]'s limitations, his speed noticeably increased. He willed for it to quicken him to the point of being far faster, but he supposed he couldn't do it that far.
Still, he was faster now—enough to match the creature blow-for-blow.
But still, the spear-tip grazed his arm. He stumbled back, gripping his chainbat tightly, when he felt it.
A sudden sharp pain right where the wound was.
He looked and froze the moment after. There, on his arm, a branch began to grow. Erupting from the wound, stabbing into him with splinters of rotted wood.
'Shit, Shit!'
It was slowly spreading, branches entering every vein, clogging his own nervous system. Kenji gritted his teeth. He reached out and held the new growth tight.
With one swift motion, he pulled. The parasitic growth tore from his hand, catching flesh and bits of bone with it. Kenji felt a hot, searing pain in his arms, bits of flesh and blood splattered onto the floor.
All the while, the Snapped-Neck was staring at him, clapping and letting out a soundless laugh at his actions.
'This... Bastard...' Kenji fought the tears; he grit his teeth and focused on the rage slowly overtaking him.
He threw the growth away; it crashed onto the wood with a sickly thud. Blood splattered the pine, yet it stood indifferent to his plight.
'I can't use my left arm...' Kenji gritted his teeth.
He summoned [Endless Chains] and wrapped it around his bleeding, torn arm.
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[ Subjective Law | Subroutine — Endless Chains: Partial Control ]
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It felt awkward to use, and using his chains to move his left arm was agonizing. The chains bit into his arms, forcing them through torn flesh and broken bones. When he tested it, it cared not for where his joints were or how his bone was structured.
It was crude and ineffective.
But it'd have to do.
Seeing him finish, the Snapped-Neck straightened its back. It held out both hands, letting the sickles flail under the chains. Its bloodied slit grin leaked blackened blood. Then, it bent its body with a sickening crack.
'What is this?' Kenji thought.
Did it have some honor, or was it moving on a sick, twisted desire to play with him?
Kenji didn't know, and honestly?
It didn't matter.
The Snapped-Neck charged in once more.
Kenji's eye shone a deep orange hue. He wrapped the chains around his bat and rushed forward.
The monster spun one of its rustic sickles around the chain, shooting it towards the front. It pierced the ground where Kenji was rushing into, a large torrent of rotted wood pierced upwards and threatened to skewer Kenji once more.
But this time, he didn't move back. Kenji stepped to the side—
His Chainbat roared as the wood met serrated spinning jaws. The tree bark buckled, bent, and tore itself, cleaving just enough of a path for Kenji to slip into without getting cut skillfully. He felt his breath strain his lungs, his heart hammering in his chest.
But he didn't stop—
Kenji rushed in.
The Snapped-Neck's lone slit-mouth seemed to quirk downwards into something resembling a pseudo-frown. He pulled the weapon back, the sickle stuck in the ground, wrenching itself free before shooting back—
With Kenji in its immediate trajectory! The boy noticed it quickly and held out his bat. The sickle crashed onto the metal, sparks flew, but then—
'The other one!'
Another sickle rushed in, threatening to split his head from his shoulders. Kenji grit his teeth, then ducked just as the sickle flew past his head.
He didn't wait, rushing up to grab the chain and pulling with as much strength as he could muster—
Kenji met resistance; it felt like pulling a tree down while its roots still lay buried deep underground. And yet—
'Pull! Dumbass! Pull!'
His feet dug into the floor, and with an unnatural strength, the Snapped-Neck was pulled forward. The creature stumbled, its body flailing as it wasn't ready.
Kenji didn't waste any time as the creature stumbled forward. He held the chainbat with his bad arm, the chains around his bleeding, torn limb were forced to life. Kenji gritted his teeth, then forced himself to move forward.
He pressed the tip of the bat towards the Snapped-Neck's gut and then—
REV! REV! REV!
The motors roared! The chainbat began to feast, eating at the snapped neck's stomach. He felt a soft, disgusting resistance, but still the serrated teeth bit and bit. If the Snapped-Neck could cry, if it could scream—
Kenji liked to think that it did. Now entirely eviscerated, the Snapped-Neck stumbled back.
Its innards hung from an open stomach. Flesh, bone, organs, all fell down the Snapped-Neck's body. It stumbled back, nearly collapsing except...
It forced itself back up.
'What the hell!?' Kenji gawked.
He recalled the description, then.
'Forsaken by Death...'
Meaning—
'The bastard can't die!'
How the hell was he meant to beat something like that!?
The Snapped-Neck gave Kenji little time to think. The sickles found their way back to their hands, and they leaned forward once more to start the dance again.
Kenji gritted his teeth, but he noticed a crucial detail.
Its eviscerated stomach still hung loosely, innards and blood gushing down like an unending torrent. Though the Snapped-Neck couldn't die, the creature couldn't regenerate.
If Kenji couldn't kill the Snapped-Neck, then he'd just have to incapacitate it. Easier said than done, especially since his own hand felt as if it were on fire.
'I need to take out every limb...'
The hands held the sickles, the feet pushed its body at blinding speeds. For the Snapped-Neck to be incapacitated, all four have to go.
With renewed vigor, Kenji held his bat out once more. The Snapped-Neck mirrored the boy, readying itself. With both dancers now in position, they charged at one another.
Above, the shining Moon was made witness to this dance.
The Deathless and the Batter who sought to do the impossible.
The Batter swung his chainbat towards the Snapped-Neck; the creature responded in kind. A flurry of sparks followed, steel crashed against steel again and again. With gritted teeth and his orange eye shining, Kenji thought to use his Subjective Law. If edits to himself were impossible, then what about those to the [Chains] itself? While he was outside of their direct influence, the chains were Corswain's.
He'd test their might, then. Whose powers were stronger—
'Give me something useful, Coffee-addicted bastard!'
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[ Subjective Law — Subroutine: Your chains burn, they burn with the fury of a thousand suns. Even Death can't reach you. ]
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His chains burned; they ignited in a pure orange light. The Moon recoiled at the sunlight, yet Kenji let the inferno bathe his bat. He rushed forward once more, and the Snapped-Neck seemed to jolt as Kenji struck the creature in its arms.
Rev! Rev! Rev!
Flames burnt the creature's body, and the teeth bit into his arms. Blood and rotted ichor splattered, some scorched by the inferno. The fire spread throughout its body, forcing it to contort and dance.
Kenji rushed in; he didn't give the bastard a chance. While distracted and in pain, he pressed the teeth onto the Snapped-Neck's arm. With a click—
It bit, it ate. It consumed the very flesh and tore the creature's arms off its shoulders. Kenji gritted his teeth, remembering the thing's resilience.
He didn't stop.
Grabbing the creature by the collar, he swung the Chainbat towards its torso.
Splatter. Crack.
In one gruesome move, the serrated chains danced into its flesh. Separating the top from its bottom. With gritted teeth, Kenji forced the bat through, tearing the creature in two. With a final push, he kicked the upper half back, sending it crashing towards a tree. The bark bent, snapping halfway, sending the Snapped-Neck tumbling through the foliage out of sight.
Kenji breathed, collapsing on the floor from exhaustion.
He grit his teeth.
"I need... to cut that thing's other hand off." It can't die, and it's not dead. He didn't want to know what else it could do.
Standing up, Kenji began a painful trek towards the creature. His bones ached, his muscles felt like they were on fire, and he felt dizzy from the blood loss. But he forced himself to walk—
Yet when he peered through the bushes, he found a clearing. The Snapped-Neck creature was convulsing in pain, blood spilt from its stump. Kenji would've jumped in to eviscerate the cbeast, tearing it limb from limb to ensure it wouldn't get back up.
But he couldn't.
Because it wasn't alone.
There, in the clearing, another figure stood by. Cleaner, less grotesque, hooded by a cloak, and barefoot. The figure carried a lantern, softly glowing in the paradoxical darkness of the moonlight.
Kenji froze, and soon a pair of silver eyes turned to him.