Duel Blade Ch.3

Dual Blade
Ch.3

Axel awoke to a ray of sunlight in his face. With one hand blocking the sunlight from his eyes, he looked around in a daze. He was in a cluster of trees on the outskirts of a small park. From the position of the sun, he could tell it was around noon. The trees around him were lush and green so he guessed it was summer or at least near the end of spring. As he looked around, he noticed the beauty of the trees and plants around him. "I never thought about it before, but I guess places like this still exist, untouched by the war. In places like this I could completely forget about the war."

Axel ate his meal of instant noodles and canned fruit. After his meal, he gathered his supplies and prepared to move on. As he was picking up his twin blades he thought about the events of yesterday. It was then he began to wonder what had happened yesterday. "How in the world did stop that attack that was charged with demon energy?" Then he remembered the surge of energy he felt when he was about to kill Azazel and the auras that appeared his blades. "Where did that power come from?" After a while he decided to let it go. He figured it was connected to his memories somehow so he would figure it out eventually. "Until then, I'll just keep moving." As he stood up, he looked around at the land that still held the beauty of world before the war. It pained him to do it, but he had to keep moving. He had to regain his memories. As he left, he turned around for one last look at what he hoped wasn't the last place of its kind, a place untouched by the war. He turned around and began walking away, not noticing as a man stepped out from behind a tree. As he began to walking after Axel, light that had made its way through the canopy of trees hit a long curved blade. The blade of a scythe.
Axel made his way through the ruins of a small city. As he looked around, he noticed this city looked like the last one; destroyed, over run by demon spawns, but the most depressing thing was that it was devoid of human life. He felt a sharp pain in his chest as he thought of this.

Axel continued his trek through the ruins. As he walked through one of the building, the only sound being the sound of his footsteps, he heard a hollow sound coming from the floor. At this he stopped and examined the floor under his feet. After a while, he found the entrance to a cellar. He wrapped his hand around the latch, the metal worn from years of use. When his hand completely closed around the latch, a jolt of alarm shot through him. The latch held warmth, human warmth, as if it was recently used. Axel wondered if someone lived here. His heart pounded against his chest as he pulled the latch and opened the hidden door.
A staircase was revealed as he opened the door. The stairs descended into darkness. Axel stepped down on the first step. It creaked under his weight but it held. He continued down the stairs, sunlight to his back and darkness ahead of him. He was about half way down when he felt someone watching him. He turned around, drawing his blades. As he looked at the entrance, he saw the outline of a little girl. Both of them stood there, their eyes locked on each other. Axel began walking back up the stairs, but as he took his first step, the girl ran.

"Huff huff," the sound of Axel's heavy breathing could be heard as he chased after the girl in full sprint. The girl ran in sprint as well. She was slower than Axel but was obviously knew the area and could maneuver through the ruins better than him. "Wait, I'm not going to hurt you." He shouted after her trying to get her to stop running. As he ran after her it occurred to him why she was running away from him: she probably thought he was a demon. "Wait, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not a demon, I'm human." He saw the girl twitch as she turned to look at him. It was in that moment when she turned to look at him that she lost her concentration. Her foot slipped and she fell off the side. She grabbed on the ledge but just barely and her grip was slipping. Below her, metal rods jutted out of the ground.
"Aaah!," the screamed as she hung over the metal rods. "No!," Axel yelled as he watched her. Axel ran as fast as he could, no longer caring to avoid the rubble and debris which cut him as he ran. He could see that her grip was slipping but his feet just could not carry him fast enough. As he ran, his foot got caught on a slab of concrete, tripping him. The girl's grip was about to give, and he would never make it in time now. "Damn it, this shit can't be happening. I can't do anything. It's just like with Sara." "Aaaah," the girl screamed, "help me!" Her scream rang in his ears reminding him of Sara's scream before she was killed. "No," he said with new determination, "never again. I won't let anyone else die because of my incompetence." At that moment he felt a surge of energy fill him. As he stood up, the surge of energy grew. Summoning all his energy, he dashed toward the girl, shattering the ground as he moved, just as her grip gave out. Within seconds he was at the girl. Without thinking, he drew his swords and cut the metal rods at their base. Then he jumped and caught the girl. When he landed, he noticed the black and white aura flowing around him.
Axel looked down at the little girl. She had her eyes shut and she was clinging to his chest. Now that she wasn't running, he could see her clearly now. She was about 8 or 9 years old. She wore a pink dress that came down to her knees. She had silver hair that she had in two ponytails. When she opened he eyes, he saw that they were sky blue. She stared at him as she clung to him for a second. Then she blushed, yelped, let go, and fell out of his arms. "Ow," she whined as she hit the ground, landing on her rear. "Are you okay?," Axel asked. She looked up at him teary eyed. "You didn't have to drop me you know," she said in a pouty voice. Axel laughed, "I didn't, you jumped out of my arms." She blushed again. "Yeah well..." she cut her self off as Axel extended his hand out to help her up. But as she took his hand, she saw a curved blade heading for his neck.

The sound of clashing metal was all she heard as she closed her eyes; when she opened them again, she saw Axel holding off a scythe with one of his swords. "Damn it. Who the fuck are?," Axel asked. He threw the scythe's blade back. The scythe's wielder landed on his feet ready to strike. The wielder was a guy, about 16 or 17 years old. He wore a black jacket with read inner lining that had a cross-strap across the abdomen. He had pitch black hair and amber brown eyes. He wore a claw necklace, though Axel couldn't tell what kind of claw it was. His scythe was unusual. The blade of the scythe was long with a dip in it giving it a serrated look. It was attached to a yellow circle with four dagger-like blades suspended on the back of it. "You don't need to know my name because you're about to die demon." He dashed at Axel. "Wait I'm not a..." Axel was cut off as the scythe reached him. He blocked the attack. "Don't even try your lies, I know what you are." The scythe wielder said. "Well if you won't listen," Axel said as he repelled the scythe, "then you leave me no other choice but to fight. Don't blame me if you die." The scythe wielder laughed. "Bring it on but I will be to blame WHEN you die." They dashed at each other. They swung their weapons at blinding speed. They attacked and countered each other over and over again. They clashed and threw each other off. "You're pretty good," Axel said smiling, enjoying the fight. "You too," said the scythe wielder, "but it's time for me to end this." At that, a black energy coated him and the scythe. "This will end it. Reaper's Dance!"
"Stop!" The little girl stood in front of Axel. Her eyes were filled with determination. "Don't you hurt big brother." "Big brother!?," Axel and the scythe wielder repeated, both surprised. "CUT IT OUT!," a voice yelled. At that moment a girl appeared out of now where and punched the scythe wielder in the face sending him flying in to a slab of concrete. "What the hell Pyro!," the scythe wielder yelled at the girl. Axel looked at her. She was about 18years old. She was tall and slender. She had light brown hair that went to her shoulders. She wore a red t-shirt that said "I heart Chainsaws" on the front and a pair of blue jeans. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of dark brown. In all, she was a very attractive woman. "I'm sorry for before. I'm Pyro and this idiot is Haseo," Pyro said with a warm smile. "Don't tell him our names, he's a demon," Haseo said walking over to her side, his weapon drawn. Pyro tensed up at the word demon. "I'm not a demon, I'm human," Axel replied. "You can't fool me. I felt your reiatsu. It was the same as a demon's," Haseo walking over to Axel. "Wait," Pyro said holding out her arm to stop him, "I'll settle this with Judgment."

"What?" Axel asked. "You'll see," Pyro said. She reached behind her back and pulled out two chakrams. They were red and gold with a cross in the middle. She held one of them in front of her. As she held it there it burst into white flames. "This is Divine Judgment. If you are human as you say, these flames will not harm you." "However if you are a demon, you will be turned into ashes, slowly and painfully," Haseo said with a smirk. "Well I have nothing to hid," Axel said wanting to piss him off. Axel stood still. "I'm ready when you are." Pyro threw the charam. "Divine Judgment." The chakram flew around him creating a flame vortex. At first nothing happened, but then Axel began to feel an intense heat. "Ahg!" Axel yelled. "See, I told you he was a demon. He's nothing but a pile of ashes now," Haseo said without even looking. "Aahhgg!" The yell came from inside the vortex. Haseo looked at the vortex shocked. "What's going on? He should be dead already." "I don't know," Pyro said. She was as shocked as he was. They stood there watching the vortex. As they watched, they saw a black aura seep out from the vortex. "See, that the demonic reiatsu I sensed earlier. Let me in so I can finish it," Haseo said as he readied his scythe. "Wait," Pyro said, pointing to the vortex, "look." As they watched, a white aura began leaking out with the black aura. Pyro gasped. "That's an angel's reiatsu." She held her hand out and the vortex died. The chakram returned to her hand, the flame extinguishing as she grabbed it. Axel fell to his knees panting. "Well you are human, but you're not normal," Pyro said as she helped him up. "Well now that that's out of the way you can introduce yourself," Pyro said. "I'm Axel and this is um…  Now that I think about it I never asked you your name," he said turning to the little girl. "My name is Lina, nice to meet you," Lina said smiling.