Axel couldn't believe it.
The man's eyes were closed, his chest rising and falling slowly, faint snores escaping his mouth.
He was sleeping.
Axel gritted his teeth, anger and frustration bubbling up amid the pain.
"Hey!" he shouted.
No response. The man still sat casually, leaning back on his hands, asleep.
"He…" Axel broke into a coughing fit, blood spilling from his mouth.
He tried to push himself up, but splash, he fell back into the water. His hands trembling, too weak to hold him.
Axel looked up. Behind the man, the stickmen were coming, approaching him, walking slowly, mockingly, as if they knew he couldn't fight back.
He scanned the area and spotted the katana stuck in the ground, but he felt too weak to reach it, not to mention using it. He turned to the man.
"Hey, wake up!" Axel shouted again. "Wake up!" his voice rang out in the void, over and over, but the man didn't stir.
Axel gritted his teeth and tried standing up again, his hands shaking like branches bending under too much weight.
He fell again, but he wasn't giving in, one more time.
He pushed again, roaring in pain, and this time he managed to get on his knees, he winced and clutched his side.
His gaze darted around, first to the katana, then the man and finally the stickmen still walking eerily slow.
I could try waking him and probably surrender, he thought. But who's to say I won't be attacked again? Besides, I feel like he's pretending. All this shouting, and he didn't budge. I don't buy it.
I'm too weak to fight, but still, somehow I don't feel like just lying down waiting for my imminent death.
So he took the only choice left, he crawled towards the katana.
He groaned, reaching for the katana.
Pulling it free, he dragged it through the water, crawling toward the man, oddly the stickmen stopped moving.
Looking at him, watching him like a show.
Axel gritted his teeth, his jaw tight, I see, I'm not a threat anymore huh, he continued crawling, as sickening as this is, it's all I can do.
But just before he reached him, the water rippled, and started crawling upwards, against gravity, slowly forming two dark poles, a torso, and finally a head.
Axel felt his lips twitch as he saw the expression drawn on the stickman's face.
Its head was slightly tilted upward, eyes rolled back, looking down on him and…finally its lips curled slightly as if the sight before it left a bad taste in its mouth.
A look of absolute disdain.
The stickman slowly lifted its leg, Axel tried to move the sword, but he stumbled, it was heavy, heavier than usual, his hand straining to even move it.
Too slow.
Axel closed his eyes accepting his fate. I should have just given him the katana, he thought bitterly.
But a few seconds passed… nothing happened.
Axel opened his eyes and noticed the stickman's leg was coming down, but slow, as if a force was dragging it back.
He looked at the sword…the hilt, glowing again, brighter than before.
Axel gave a weak smile at the sight.
Let's not waste this.
He pushed himself, lifting the katana with what little strength he had. He screamed in his mind, move…
Axel broke into a hoarse shout as the sword suddenly accelerated, slicing through the air, racing towards the man's neck, his last remaining strength poured into the slash.
But at that moment, the leg accelerated again, the green glow flickering off like a burnt light bulb.
Taking with it all hope, but Axel clenched his jaw and pushed anyway, refusing to give up.
The leg was almost at his chest now, yet the blade was still short of the man.
Axel gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain, refusing to give in, not like there was anything he could do.
Then Blam!
Everything went black as he shut his eyes tightly, unwilling to see his chest caving in.
Then Something yanked him backward. Wind roared in his ears. He felt weightless, drifting.
I lost, not unexpected, Axel thought, eyes closed, a faint smile on his lips. Death doesn't feel so bad.
He spread his arms, letting the wind rush past him.
But then, something yanked him down, he was falling.
What the…? Am I going to hell? his eyes widened, before he stopped abruptly, landing softly.
"I'm… still alive," he muttered. The floral scent filled his nose, faintly dulled by the handkerchief. The familiar darkness surrounding him…his reflection looking back at him.
Boots appeared beside him.
Axel looked up to see a young man wrapping a silver chain around his wrist. His long white hair was tied neatly in a ponytail, his eyes focused ahead, ignoring Axel.
"Stay here," the man muttered and dashed forward, fast was what came to Axel's mind.
The man vanished almost instantly.
Axel's eyes widened. The man was tearing through the stickmen…too fast to follow, a clanging sound echoing as he flicked his hand, multiple stickmen flung into the air.
A stickman lunged at him. The man flipped, easily avoiding the impact, then a whipping sound echoed, followed by the body of the stickman bursting.
Then the man dashing forward the next second, continuing his rampage.
Odd, Axel's eyes narrowed, the stickmen were faster now, faster than Axel had seen till now.
Frustration welled up as he realized something.
"He was toying with me all along…" Axel muttered, watching their speed, realizing he'll have been long dead if they moved at that speed while fighting him.
He felt a certain weight in his chest, his jaw tightening, not just at the realization but at his own weakness and arrogance.
Fortunately the white-haired man was still faster. His movements blurred, the chain in his hand reaping through the stickmen.
Limbs and bodies flying apart, only to reassemble moments later, rushing towards him again, relentless.
The man suddenly stopped and swung his chain, a thunderous crack echoing, obliterating the stickmen approaching him, and then with a flick of his wrist, the chain lashed forward, snaking toward the dark-haired man.
Clang!
The sound rang sharp. The chain bounced back, stopped a few centimeters short of the man's face, a ripple forming in the air.
The white-haired man clicked his tongue and twisted his chain. It wrapped around the katana beside the dark-haired man, lifting it into the air and flinging it toward Axel.
The katana spun through the air, a whistling sound following.
Before Axel could react, it landed beside him, embedded into the ground.
He twitched. What if that impaled me…?
The stickmen rushed the white-haired man, their speed staggering now. He simply leapt up, high, higher than a normal human, the stickmen lunging towards him, but not reaching.
Ignoring them, he swung the chain down, towards the dark haired man.
It coiled around the man, but didn't touch his coat, a small space left, as if something was between. A creaking sound filled the air, ripples shimmering as the chain tightened.
The man pulled harder. webbed cracks forming in the air from where the chain made contact.
Crack.
The sound of shattering glass echoed.
The dark-haired man's eyes finally opened. He tried to move, but it was too late.
The chain tightened around him, pulling him upward and then slammed him into the water.
The white-haired man landed beside Axel, forming a hand sign.
"Shackle."
The world shattered. The dark domain, the stickmen, the water, the scent, all of it vanished.
Axel squinted as light flooded his vision. They were back on the street.
He blinked, disoriented. People were staring, of course they were. He was sitting on the pavement, next to the white-haired man.
The chain around the man's wrist shrank into silver chain bracelets.
Then a commotion erupted a few meters away.
Axel turned to look, but before he could see, the white-haired man grabbed him by the collar and leapt up.
They landed on a rooftop.
Then the man sprinted, jumping between buildings, like a sort of ninja, his white hair whipping in the wind.
Axel tried to keep his eyes open, but everything blurred. The pain, the blood loss, the exhaustion.
And then darkness.
Axel passed out.