Return of the Fallen Volume 3 Chapter 40
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch40
Shin sat quietly on top of a nearby roof. With his eyes shut, he decided to meditate to both replenish his power while at the same time clear his mind of his current anger.
Breathing in through the nose deeply, he held it for a few seconds before releasing it out of his mouth steadily.
Feeling the cold wind rustle his clothes and dance upon his skin, Shin felt a calm entering his heart. Releasing a heavy sigh he slowly opened his eyes.
(Why does it seem like I’m always the odd man out. Being summoned to this world should be a dream come true. I have power and strength, this should be the greatest time of my life, yet all I’m ever doing is running from my enemies and butting heads with people who are supposed to be my comrades. Am I the problem?)
Shin’s thoughts started to once more turn sour. Standing up on top of the roof, he inhaled deeply and was just about to breathe out when he choked and coughed as he spotted something in the distance.
(That’s! Zetsu!)
Shin spotted the centipede monster near the entrance of the cave. A wave of unexplainable anger filled his heart and he roared.
“ZETSU!”
Shin jumped forward before racing towards Zetsu.
(They all think I’m a clown, just watch, I cut through his armored flesh before, I’ll do it again. They won’t be able to treat me like shit after that.)
Kazuki and the others heard Shin’s shout coming from the roof and raced outside. By the time they got out of the Dining hall, Shin’s figure was already disappearing into the distance.
“SHIN WAIT!”
Kazuki yelled at Shin’s back but Shin didn’t even bother to turn around.
Kazuki could see that he wasn’t stopping and decided to at least warn him.
“DON’T LOOK INTO ZETSU’S EYES!!”
Shin’s eyes were locked onto Zetsu.
(This stupid bug, it really decided to show itself after taking so much damage. In its weakened state, I should be more than enough to slay it on my own.)
Shin’s speed was quick and he arrived at Zetsu’s side in no time. With his energy replenished, Shin willed his power forth and roared two words within his mind.
(VIPER WHIP!)
Shin jumped into the air and kicked out three times in total. What came after were 3 wind blades each over 3 feet in length. Shin’s target was focused on one spot and one spot only.
The three wind blades rushed out and headed for Zetsu’s head. Shin planned to end this in one move.
Coming from behind silently and using his most deadly attack, Zetsu should have stood little to no chance. However, as soon as Shin’s wind blades were kicked out, Zetsu, as though he had eyes in the back of his head, coiled his body and dodged. Then like a whip, Zetsu spun about and smashed his armored head directly into Shin’s chest, delivering a heavy blow.
Shin’s eyes widen as his body was thrown into the distance. He felt several of his ribs had broken but it wasn’t over yet. Shin slammed hard into a tree behind him and he felt his arm break on impact. Falling down to the ground, Shin had the wind knocked out of him. Only after he coughed up some blood was he able to inhale and gasp for air.
*Cough cough cough wheeze*
Shin struggled to stand before Zetsu came upon him.
Zetsu spun once more, intending to kill Shin on the spot when the scenery in front of Shin suddenly changed.
Shin was now by Asuna’s side as she had teleported him before he died.
Shin felt bitter seeing it was Asuna who had saved him but there was nothing he could say in this situation.
At the same time, Kazuki and Sam began their attack while Nunully and Kimi backed them up.
Zetsu swiftly dodged the two and turned his armored back toward Nunully’s ice spears. Kimi tried to distract Zetsu with her light but Zetsu merely ignored it. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t focused on the battle at all and seemed to be looking at something or rather someone.
Zetsu had only looked away for a split second but that was more than enough for Sam to swing his Warhammer, slamming it into the side of Zetsu’s body.
*WHAM!*
Zetsu was actually lifted off the ground from this blow and crashed hard into the side of the mountain. Sam himself was left in awe and he looked down at his hands momentarily. Zetsu seemed to struggle to get up and Kazuki and NUnully took this opportunity to deal more damage but Zetsu coiled once more.
Kazuki fell back expecting Zetsu to whip his body around but surprisingly, Zetsu turned and fled into the cave. His movement had been so abrupt that everyone was left wondering what happened.
Everyone was left standing around dumbfounded. Nunully and Kazuki came over to Asuna and Shin’s side.
Nunully grabbed Shin’s arm, causing him to scream in pain.
*AHHH!*
Nunully snorted.
“Hmpf serves you right. What were you thinking?”
Shin was startled by Nunully. She usually was quieter and kept to her self but inside the Dining hall and now when she was treating him, it was like her personality had done a complete 180.
“Nunully what’s going on with you, why are you acting so weird.”
Nunully began healing Shin’s injuries before she shook her head.
“Not weird, just more honest. And once again what were you thinking, to actually face Zetsu alone, do you have a death wish or something?”
Shin was left tongue-tied. He didn’t understand where this new Nunully had come from and he wasn’t quite sure how to feel about her flip in attitude. As for him taking on Zetsu by himself. Shin lowered his head in regret and didn’t speak. He was overconfident that he could take on a weakened opponent but the facts were laid out plain as day.
Kazuki noticed that Asuna was contemplating something and asked her.
“Asuna, you’ve grown very quiet, what are you thinking about?”
Asuna shook her head.
“It’s weird or maybe I’m losing it but I don’t believe that creature we just fought was Zetsu.”
Shin grew almost defensive by Asuna’s statment and barked out.
“What the hell are you talking about? I just got the shit kicked out of me. We all saw it’s moves we all saw it’s centipede-like body and human-shaped face, don’t spout bullshit.”
Asuna gripped her fist, feeling the urge to punch Shin well up inside her. Thankfully Kimi interrupted her thoughts and asked her.
“Eh, if it’s not Zetsu then who?”
Asuna felt her anger cooling. Not only did Kimi seem to believe her right off the bat but she was even asking about it.
“Did anyone notice that it had no wounds on its body. Last I saw before I was hit with the soul attack, it was bleeding purple blood from its side. Afterward, you all told me about the rest of the fight. You said that another wound was created on Zetsu’s back, right? What we just saw though were no wounds, not only were there no wounds but there was none of that purple blood either.”
Kimi started to grow anxious and she wrapped her arms around Sam.
“Asuna are you sure? I mean it’s not that I don’t believe you but its night time and very dark, couldn’t you have just overlooked its wounds.”
“Kimi, have a look yourself. If it really was wounded it would have left that purple blood all over the place. Throw your light into the sky and check it out.”
Kimi did just that. She shot an orb of light into the sky and the world lit up. However, a fear soon entered her heart. Looking this way and that, she couldn’t find a trace of Zetsu’s purple blood.
Kimi started to tremble.
“No way no way, there can’t be two, there just can’t be.”
Kazuki had his own questions and after a moment he asked.
“Asuna’ It’s true that there’s no blood but that doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t Zetsu. I mean maybe he heals incredibly fast. How can you be sure that Zetsu just isn’t a fast healer? I mean look at the work Nunully is doing right here in front of us. Shin’s broken arm is already set and she’s fixing his arm as we speak.”
“I can’t be sure that Zetsu isn’t an extremely quick healer but there are three oddities that stand out that lead me to believe that this creature and Zetsu are two different beings entirely.”
Asuna pointed at two sticks laying down in the distance. Everyone followed the direction of her finger.
“Can anyone tell me how long those two sticks are?”
Besides Nunully, everyone had superior senses than the average person and could clearly spot the two sticks lying far away on the ground. Still, none of them could tell their exact measurements from so far away.
“Mei, could you go grab those for me.”
Mei was excited to have something to do and ran over to get the sticks.
“The shorter stick is 2 ft and 3 inches exactly, while the longer one is 2 feet 9 inches and 1 cm.”
Mei soon brought over the sticks and everyone looked at them. Though they still couldn’t tell the exact lengths of these sticks without a proper measuring device, they knew where she was going with this.
“I’ve said it before, in order for me to teleport, I have to know exact distances and measurements, otherwise my power will either not work or an accident could happen. Space magic is that detailed. What I saw from that centipede, both of its measurements were off. Zetsu is 97 feet long wile this new monster is 94 feet long. Not only that, its body was slightly thinner as well. Even its legs were a few inches shorter. These features aren’t the only reason. When Sam struck it with his Warhammer, that monster was sent flying. While we were facing Zetsu, the most Sam could do was knock it off balance.”
Sam nodded along.
“She’s right, this time when I hit Zetsu or um, fake Zetsu, it felt lighter, a lot lighter.”
“Right, your blow did a lot more and this creature even seemed to struggle to get up. Your attack must have done a lot because, after that, it turned and fled. Tell me if Zetsu was healed do you think he would flee so easily. Not only tha…”
Before Asuna could finish her sentence. The centipede reappeared and raced out of the cave.
Everyone was left unprepared but still, Kazuki and Sam turned to face the threat. Before they could act though, fake Zetsu grabbed an unaware Mei and raced back into the cave without looking back.
Kazuki and the other’s eyes widen and before anyone else moved Kazuki had filled his legs with ki and chased after them at his top speed, leaving everyone else in the dust.
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