Capítulo 26: Ray VS the Puppeteer: Round 2

Ray clenched his fist and grabbed a knife. He could feel that he needed to do better if he wanted to win this time. The situation looked the same as when they fought in Delhi a month ago; the fight earlier and the chase had used up a lot of blood, so he knew he wouldn't be able to stay in blood pact mode for too long. It also took away Ray's prosthetic arm.

But still, Ray was determined to win. He clamed himself down by saying to himself, "Calm down, Ray. You're not in that much of a bad shape as before. You can do it. Re-inforcements are coming. Just come down and buy time. You can do it."

Ray got in a fighting stance. The puppeteer said, "Now that's more like it. Let's play."

Ray lunged at the puppeteer and got in front of him in a moment. He amassed all his strength in his left hand and channelled spirit energy into the knife in his hand. He swinged the knife, aiming at the puppeteer's neck.

But the puppeteer blocked the attack with his cane and held onto Ray's arm with his hand. The puppeteer said, "You're using the same old tactics again? These won't work, boy. You disappoint me."

He picked Ray up by pulling on his hand and then threw him away. Ray went flying, but he soon got control of his body and landed on his feet. Without stopping he jumped again towards the puppeteer. This time he started circling around the puppeteer. The puppeteer kept an eye on him. Ray threw the knife at the puppeteer. In quick succession, Ray took out two more knives from his belt, channelled spirit energy in them, and threw them at the puppeteer from different locations with all his might. He then took out another knife and ran straight at the puppeteer.

The puppeteer blocked all three knives with his cane and kicked Ray in the stomach. Ray felt this one as all of the momentum Ray had in his run came back to hit him. He flied back and hit his back on a stone. Ray struggled to get up. As he tried to get up, he saw the puppeteer coming towards him.

The puppeteer came close to him and extended his hand to grab Ray, but suddenly a spirit arrow hit the puppeteer's palm of hand. The arrow created a hole in the puppeteer's right hand.

Sakura said, "Sky, multiple arrows. I'm counting on you."

Sky replied, "Yes, mistress."

Sakura aimed her bow at the puppeteer and took a deep breath. Five spirit arrows appeared on Sakura's bow. Sakura perfectly lined up her shot and let go of the bowstring.

The arrows flew towards the puppeteer. But the puppeteer was ready for the shots after the first arrow hit his hand.

He quickly jumped back and dodged the attack. One arrow went by really close to Ray. But the arrow didn't hit him. Yuki noticed this and yelled, "SKY!! Check your shots."

Sky too yelled back, "I am. I'm not as clumsy as you. My shots will never hit a friendly."

Sakura quickly started running and moving from branch to branch as she kept firing arrows at the puppeteer.

But the puppeteer kept dodging the arrows in a really peculiar way. It almost seemed like he was dancing.

Sakura's expression remained the same as she kept firing.

The puppeteer was laughing loudly as he dodged all the arrows. Suddenly, as she was too focused on shooting the arrows, she misjumped, lost her footing and fell down.

The puppeteer swung his cane, and a small horde of ants ran towards where Sakura fell.

The puppeteer then turned at Ray and said, "These pests keep meddling in our game. Shall we start again?"

Ray had gotten up on his feet by that time. But he was stumbling. He felt something wet on the back of his head. He put his hand there and then looked at his hand.

There was blood. The hit had cut the back of his head.

Ray flicked his hand to drop the blood that was stuck to it. He said to himself, "There's no time to focus on that. I gotta make sure it doesn't affect my speed."

He puts his hands towards his belt to get a new knife but can't seem to grab any. He looks at his belt and finds out that he's out of knives.

He gets a bit scared but holds on to his composure. He makes a fist with his only hand and gets in a fighting stance.

The puppeter looked at this and said, "What happened? Out of toys? Ok then. I'll play with you without my toy too."

The puppeteer planted his cane to the ground and stood up straight. He said, "Let's make the playing field a bit more even."

He put his right hand behind his back and made a 'come at me' gesture with his left hand.

Ray lunged at the puppeteer and got in front of him again in a blink. The puppeteer smirked, thinking he'd got Ray again. But to his surprise, Ray quickly moved to the back of the puppeteer and threw a straight kick at his back. The kick sent the puppeteer flying. But Ray didn't stop. He used the chance to strike at the puppeteer. He ran behind him and, while he was on air, punched his stomach and sent him upwards. He jumped higher than the puppeteer and kicked him down to the ground. The puppeteer's uncontrolled body slammed to the ground.

While going down, Ray made a kick with his right leg and slammed on top of the puppeteer's chest. The puppeteer coughed up black blood.

The puppeteer spit a little blood to the side and said, "This is the second time you've made me bleed. No one was able to do it before you. Amaging. You really are interesting."

Ray clenched his fist to punch the puppeteer. But just as he could punch him, a load of spider web wrapped around Ray's stomach and pulled him away.

A female voice was heard. The voice said, "Why do I always have to save your ass?"