Corpse March

Chapter 16

“So… you’re the guide?”

“Aye.”

When Tsumugi said that she had a guide prepared, she imagined someone who’d be a little bit more mature than the shrimp in front of her. And Haru doesn’t just mean ‘shrimp’ as in “She’s a little small for her age.”, she means it as in “This girl’s age must have just entered the double digits.” It shows especially in her face’s roundness and the short twintails her hair is kept in. And yet, the storied veteran inside of Haru feels a tugging kinship in the girl’s dead eyes. Those are the eyes of someone who has either taken a life or had a life taken from them. Haru can no longer tell the difference… anyway 0/10, pass.  

Haru takes a good, long look around her, trying to see if she can see anyone else who might be her guide. But alas, she finds only herself, the girl in front of her, the seemingly endless wall behind her, and the eerie stares of the deathless guarding the checkpoint in the distance. She isn’t sure how, but she knows that they’re looking at her, she can feel it in her bones. 

“How old even are you?”

“Twelve.”

Knew it.

“And you, you are Haru Hamamoto?”

“Know any other foreigners?”

“Hmph.”

“What? Does my humanity scare you?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Good.”

The small child stares at her with a severe expression. The small child looks at her up and down, sizing her up. The small child is judging her. Haru has no proof but she feels it in her bones and that’s reason enough for her. 

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

Her voice is small, high-pitched, but above all else, grim. Like she’s forgotten the meaning of the word ‘Joy’. 

“Like this.”

Haru scrunches up her face in an exaggerated version of the face the girl’s showing her. The girl only crosses her arms.

“Are you the only one they could send?”

“How rude! You know, back in my day, children actually respected their elders!”

Haru feels the smallest twinge of guilt inside of her as she becomes the very thing she hates, her own mother, but it’s all worth it to show up this small child. Hm. Something about that line of thought only makes her feel worse. 

“Please don’t take it personally, I’m merely second-guessing Lady Tsumugi’s decision.”

“Mhm. Yeah sure.”

“Your heart rate is increasing. You are upset.”

“How can you even tell?!”

“I can hear your heartbeat.”

Cool. Annoying and creepy as shit. She’s on the verge of punting the child into the stratosphere and just going it alone. 

“Alright, look here kiddo. I’m not tolerating any more of this bullshit. Either you leave me alone or–”

She gives KANNIBAL a nice, threatening spin, its wicked edge gleams in the sunlight. Then, with a mighty slam, she slams its tip into the ground beneath her feet.

“–I make you.”

The girl’s stare hardens into a slight leer. 

“I was asked to be your guide, so your guide I will be.”

“Just try it.”

Rings of arcane symbols and mystifying geometries dance as a magic circle blossoms from the center of her palm. The incantation teeters on the edge of her lips. They stand there, both their feet and eyes deadlocked.

“Fine! You asked for this! Flame Bol–”

Huh?

One moment, she’s about to roast the ever-loving shit out of this child, the next, all she sees is the sky. There’s a throbbing feeling being suppressed in the interior of her skull. She’d be confused if she hadn’t already basically married the feeling while sparring with Kuroko. She just got swept. By a literal child no less. She feels a different kind of pain that her pain suppression enhancements do nothing to ease. 

“H…ha! Hahahahah! You’re– You’re good!”

Forcing a laugh from her throat, she scrambles to her feet. It’s a desperate attempt to save face that she suspects might have had the exact opposite effect. The girl’s standing a few feet away with her arms crossed. Her facial expression hasn’t changed. Still unreadable, still blank, still severe. Hmmm… this is bad…

This girl… She reminds her too much of Kuroko. Her temper flares. It comes out in the form of a grimace-like grin on Haru’s face. 

“Let’s go again!”

“Let’s move. We have little time to waste.”

The girl starts walking away. 

“Just one round!”

There’s an overt ‘Whether you like it or not’ in the tone of her voice. 

“Very well… it seems I have little choice.”

“Just a warning, but I won’t be going easy this time.”

Ah, this is embarrassing. Not only is Haru seconds from going all-out against a child. Not to mention that she’s not fighting to win anymore, no, she’s now fighting to beat the shit out of her enemy. Once again, Haru’s conscience reminds her that her enemy is a child but she brushes it aside with a practiced ease.

“Perfect Strike.”

Haru’s vision sharpens to an impossible degree. She sizes up her opponent’s physical enhancements, measures the distance between them to the third decimal place,  and analyzes the weaknesses in her stance all in under the fraction of a second the spell lasts for. There. She opts for a barrage of frenzied swings, all of them concentrated at her center of mass. It’ll be hardest for her to evade KANNIBAL that way. She only needs to topple her and that should be enough to prove her point. 

“Hmmm… That spell you used, it’s similar to my Gift.”

“Your gift?”

It takes a moment for Haru to put the puzzle pieces together. 

“Oh-hoh. Is that what they call Sorceries in Takakumo? I didn’t think that you’d know how to do that.”

“It was a gift from your master.”

“My master?”

“Lady Tsumugi.”

“I prefer to think of our relationship as a mutually beneficial agreement.”

Haru cracks her neck. 

“Well, that’s enough small talk. My name’s Haru, Haru Hamamoto, Adventurer Musician.”

“I was briefed on your profession by Lady Tsumugi.”

“I know, but it’s polite to introduce yourself before a duel begins.”

“These are the rules of the outside world.”

“These are the rules of mercenaries. Remembering the name of the people you defeat is the least you can do for them.”

“Then you may call me Asuka Katame. Remember it when you strike me down.”

The girl balls her hands into fists as she touches her hip with her elbows. Her eyes are locked onto her opponent. Haru slumps forwards like a puppet held up by a single string. Every single muscle in her body relaxes to its absolute limit. The only thing keeping her standing is her grip on KANNIBAL. In spite of how light Haru makes it look, at the end of the day, it’s still a humongous chunk of solid metal. 

“Come at me, Hamamoto.”

Haru snaps backwards like her spine is made of rubber. She feels her muscles stretch to the point of fraying. When the pain sets in, that’s how she knows when it’s time to let go. She lets her muscles naturally rebound in the opposite direction, towards Asuka. Teetering on the edge of falling over, she runs with the momentum, letting her body jerk drunkenly to throw off her enemy. 

Then, she lashes out. There. First, a brutal sideswipe aimed right for Asuka’s ribs. Just as planned. At her speed, and at the paltry quality of Asuka’s physical enhancements, there should be no way for her to dodge this. And yet, she does. KANNIBAL grazes the hairs on her skin as she leans away from the ax’s path. It should be impossible and yet, she’s witnessing it happen. 

Haru shifts her weight, bringing KANNIBAL to a complete stop before coming around on the backswing. Even if it’s not decisive, this next blow should at least touch her. And yet, it doesn’t. Again, again, and again. It’s as though Asuka is oil and her frenzied swings are water. Finding the path of least resistance, Asuka dodges again, and again, and again. Little by little, Haru’s fatigue begins to outstrip Asuka’s

“I see. You’re surprisingly quick for someone with such a heavy weapon.”

One moment, she sees Asuka’s eyes blazing a steely red, and the next, all she sees is the sky. 

“What…?”

The word leaves Haru’s mouth but she’s not actually confused about what just happened. She was outmaneuvered. Simple as that. Asuka managed to ‘vault’ over her swing, and then struck her in a quarter-sized spot next to her knee, deadening the entire leg. A nerve strike. She’s seen these before. To very little success.

What she doesn’t understand is just… how. Why is it this little girl who manages to unerringly hit just the right nerve point? How is it that she dodged all those attacks? It just… shouldn’t be possible. Those reflexes are superhuman– no– beyond human. Haru takes a moment to just stare at the sky and let everything sink in. The fact that she almost beat the shit out of a child, and that a child just beat the shit out of her. She isn’t sure which is worse. 

“Shit. Aight… I give up. Now tell me how you did that so I can beat your ass next time.”

“I already told you, didn’t I? My ability is just like that spell you used.”

Haru didn’t notice them earlier but now that Asuka’s leaning over her, she sees the magecraft symbols glowing subtly in her eyes. She feels them pierce straight through her with just their stare. 

Identify

At this range, with all the symbols visible, she doesn’t even have to speak out the spell’s name for it to activate.

“Hm. So you’re right.”

Pure information flows into her brain in the form of thoughts that almost pass for her own. She feels the veins in her right eye enlarge and go bloodshot from the strain the spell puts on them. Haru maintains the spell for only a second longer before pulling away. Any more would render her blind. 

“I see…”

“Has your curiosity been satisfied?”

“Well, sort of.”

Haru stretches her body out before jerking her body back onto its feet. Truth be told, she’s still feeling sore about losing to Asuka but even she knows when it’s time to quit. With an ability like that… There's virtually no way for her to win against it. At least, not right now with her comparatively paltry Sorcery. Haru lets out a deep sigh. It might be time to hit the books again. 

“Let’s go. There isn’t much time.”

“Ugh, fine fine, you win.”