Return of the Fallen Volume 6 Chapter 32
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch32
Before he even opened his eyes, waves of pain assaulted his senses. Everything hurt and Kazuki found it difficult to breathe. He gnashed his teeth as his nerves felt as though they were both on fire and freezing simultaneously. Slowly opening his eyes, he was his own witness to the horrible condition his body was in. Bones that were broken all over and protruding from his skin with twisted limbs and lacerations that bled profusely.
Kazuki tried to lift his head and felt a shocking stab in his back. Pieces of bone fragment severed several nerves in his lower back. Right now, Kazuki was similar to a sack of meat and bones rather than a person. Ki was already circulating throughout Kazuki’s body. It was suppressing some of the pain but Kazuki’s body was so racked with wounds, that for the first few minutes he couldn’t tell whether or not if it was actually working and healing him.
His mind grew dizzy and against his will, he fell in and out of consciousness many times.
At some point, he awoke. The pain was still fresh but bearable by now. Laying there for a long while, he patiently waited for his bones to reset and his flesh to heal. During this process, he finally had the strength to turn his head and see his right arm completely missing. In its place was a small stump where he forcefully stopped the bleeding and fused the skin over it, covering his shoulder with a flab of folded meat.
The pain was something not many could endure, yet he had done it. This though wasn’t the worst part. Kazuki had survived so many frightening and deadly situations. Every time he would use his head the best he could and fight with everything he had, tooth and nail to overcome…to survive. Every time, he had made it through one fucked up situation after the other and had managed to make it out in one piece but this time was different.
Staring at his stump, two hot tears streamed down his face. To go through all of that, to survive time and time again, maybe it was inevitable maybe not but losing a limb was still an excruciating heavy blow.
He had been fast, he had been strong and he had even been smart but none of that matter because his opponent was faster, because his opponent was stronger. Kazuki couldn’t stand up to the overwhelming strength of the ugly creature.
Images flashed in his head as he thought about the cave entrance. He was mere steps away from escaping the goat-headed monster and finding safety inside the aura filled cave but in the end, he just wasn’t fast enough. Seeing his chance of survival slip away as though grains of sand in one’s hand, was devastating.
Kai watched his little brother suffering on the outside and felt as though someone was stabbing him in the heart. How he wished he could give Kazuki an arm or trade places and bear all of his pain. Danny as well knew of such pain but what could one say in such a scenario. How could any words make it better? Kai and Danny could watch this no more. The two waved their hands and the clouds dissipated in the sky. They each took a branch from Kazuki’s soul tree and began to spar with one another.
Kazuki cried for a long time as he pushed all of his dark feelings out of himself. He cried until it hurt and cried until no more tears would fall. Once he reached this point he once again fell asleep and dreamed for a long long time.
Waking up once more, Kazuki had no clue how much time had passed. Slowly sitting up, his body still ached but most of the pain was now gone. He couldn’t help but grab his right shoulder, hoping beyond hope that his arm was still there. Finding only a stump, he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
“So it wasn’t a dream. It really is gone.”
Sitting there for a while, Kazuki wondered if this was the feeling Kimi felt. Just like her, he lost an arm, and just like her, his arm was eaten.
(The fact that she went through that and still pushes on, Kimi is actually amazing.)
Kazuki felt strange praising Kimi and shook the thoughts away.
(If I told her that she might think I’m an impostor who stole my own body. That would be hilarious.)
*Pffft*
“Forget it, none of that shit matters.”
Kazuki looked around and saw his black ruler a few feet away. Looking at the boulder he was on, it was mostly flat on top and was about 7 feet wide and basically that long as well. Grabbing his ruler, Kazuki tried to stand up to fast and felt the world around him spin. He stumbled backward and nearly fell off the rock like platform. He quickly fell forward and landed smack dab on his face.
Rolling over onto his back, cold sweat poured from his face.
(That was too close.)
Kazuki rolled over once more and crawled on his hands and knees as he peered over the edge of the platform.
*Tss tshh*
About 15 feet down below was a pool of yellowish-green stomach acid. It continuously bubbled and popped emitting a foul, trash like smell. Kazuki curiously tore a small strip from his pants and tossed it over the edge.
*Tssshsss*
It was gone nearly instantaneously. The acid melted it down to nothingness and it disappeared completely into the liquid.
(So this is my next obstacle.)
Taking his black ruler, Kazuki used his aura and changed the broken ruler’s shape into a long-ass pole. At first, he dipped the end of it into the acid as though he were testing the waters of a pool. After leaving it in for a few seconds, he quickly pulled it out and examined it closely.
On the surface, he couldn’t see anything wrong but delving deeper with his ki, he inspected it even closer and found something troubling. The tip he had just dunked into the acid was starting to erode bit by bit. It wasn’t a large amount of damage but where it was damaged, it no longer worked properly and finally, after a few minutes, the tiny part he had dipped into the acid broke off and disintegrated away.
Kazuki sat down and took everything in.
(My ruler can only last a few minutes in this stuff before it completely breaks. If I turn it into a suit of armor, I won’t have much time and if it fails, I not only lose my ruler but my life along with it when the armor melts away and my flesh is bare to the acid.)
As Kazuki was lost in thought, his vision began to blacken. The effects of the silver powder rocks were starting to fade. Kazuki quickly opened one of the chambers of his ruler. Thankfully he had nearly filled one of these chambers to the brim with the glowing silver powder before he was attacked by the monster.
Kazuki poured out a handful and swallowed the muddy tasting powder down in one gulp. Almost instantly the light began to return to him as his eyes glowed with a silver hue.
(This silver powder, as long as I take it in a large dose it seems to last for quite a while. Even though there’s no point in seeing in this place, going back to darkness after finally being able to see again just doesn’t sit right.)
*GRRrrrrurr*
Kazuki’s stomach began to grumble loudly. After having the silver powder, his stomach felt as though it had been teased and was clearly angry with him.
Kazuki slowly rubbed his stomach.
“Sorry I don’t have anything for you just yet, wait a bit more. As soon as I get out of this place, I’ll find something for you ok.”
Kazuki felt a little weird talking to his own stomach but not having an actual person to talk to for so long, he decided to let this slide. After all there was no one to judge him… Thinking up to here, he remembered his brother and Danny would see this and the two would definitely laugh at him later.
(Damn them. If they laugh, I’ll have to kick their asses.)
After testing a few more times, Kazuki did his best to waste as little of his ruler as possible. He had to do this to make sure the melting time was the same no matter how thick or thin he shaped his ruler. He did this so if the melting times were different he could adjust accordingly. In the end, he found that the thickness didn’t matter and it all melted through at the same rate.
After those experiments, Kazuki began to change and mold the shape of his ruler to something that would wrap around his entire body. After many trials and errors, Kazuki shaped it to his body, yet at the same time, he continuously supplied it with energy. This allowed him to shape it on the go so he could move his body along with the armor. If he didn’t do this, he wouldn’t be able to move at all and would be just like a statue.
*GrrrrRRRuururur*
Once more Kazuki’s stomach called out to him and Kazuki snapped at his belly.
“I know I know just shut up already!”
Kazuki could feel his body weakening and even with ki, he couldn’t supplement it for food much longer.
“We’ll eat soon enough now be quiet until then, you got it!?”
His stomach made no noise and Kazuki nodded to himself.
“That’s what I thought.”
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