章 11: 10] Dear Brother II

(Zero POV, somewhere in the eastern continent)

Shin steps out of the portal after draping it in something red.

Zero- "Why'd you do that?" He chuckles a little bit.

Shin- "Oh, nothing much. I just don't want Hikari to find out about the portal, luckily she won't look too hard in my room. Plus, coating the whole room in my blood makes it hard to see anything out of place." I nod at his decision.

Zero- "Very good idea, but... We should probably sleep until the sun comes up at least. I want us at top shape before we fight." Plus I want to make a good spectacle for my observers, those being my bodyguards.

Shin- "Great idea, do you want to stay at my house? I've got comfy beds and AC. You shouldn't have to worry about being quiet, I made sure Hikari was asleep. She won't wake up until around nine~ ish... I'm not to sure on the exact time, but it should be fine if we leave by eight."

Zero- "I'll also be needing some money to buy some modern luxury. Do they have anime there?" He laughs before answering all my questions, bringing me into his world.

I spend the night in a guest room, and we wake up by 7:00 AM due to the miracle called an alarm. Stretching happily due to the music that is blaring, I get up quite easily. I go down his hallway and see him humming as he makes food.

Shin- "*Hmmm* Dah! Dah-Dah! *Hmmm*" He's listening to music or something, but he stops once he notices my presence.

"Ah, morning Zero. I was just about finished here, we can go buy your electronics soon." We finish eating the breakfast I've craved for a while.

Zero- "Hey, before we go again, can we get some ramen? I've been dying without it." He chuckles, but nods his head.

Shin- "I'll just but the instant kind, and then you can have it in your world. I'll also be sure to get some like, electric burners or whatever. Solar power!"

Zero- "Do you have the money to just buy all of this?"

Shin- "Uh, yeah? I'm a little bit rich, my 'job' pays pretty well. The main issue is getting to a store that sells that crap, as you can see... City B5 has basically nothing, it was destroyed like, two weeks ago." He points to the direction of another city.

"Wanna race?"

So, we begin our race. Initially, we just start running. But he's way too fast to be human. I end up having to use [Flicker Step] to surpass his speed, and I am currently double his speed. Until he begins flying, which causes him to move about 50% faster than I am. So I use some surrounding shadows to my advantage, using [Shadow Movement] to teleport from shadow to shadow.

He notices that I'm essentially cheating to double his speed, so he begins to propel himself with fire coming out of his hands and feet. He is matching my current speed, but I'm ahead of him. So now it's a battle of stamina. Until the shadows that I'm using start moving away from me, drastically reducing my speed.

We reach the entrance to the other city, and it took us about a minute to get here.

Shin- "Crap! We tied!" I notice that he's not out of breath, so I conceal my exhaustion. Luckily Seraph's Song actually replenishes stamina and MP, so I'm fine after waiting for a minute or two.

We go on a shopping spree, spending thousands of dollars. Most of it on tech that I find useful, and about $400 on food.

By the time we make it back to his house it's 8:26, so we hurriedly go through the portal.

After a while, we decide that it's time to fight. I throw a secret signal into the air, pretending to stretch. It says something along the lines of 'don't interfere' or something like that.

I get into a fighting stance, and he just stands there full of openings. Thinking that this is a trap, I slowly draw out a wooden sword. He doesn't change his stance, just smirking. I position myself to use [Flicker Step] but just as I'm going to use it, I'm suddenly floating.

Zero- "What the hell? What did you do?" I flail around a little bit, putting on a show.

Shin- "You think I'll freaking tell? Don't you get mad at those dumb anime characters who explain their abilities, and then complain when they lose because they described their weakness to the enemy?" He makes a downward motion with his hand, and my body slams against the ground.

I hear a crack as some of my ribs break.

"Whoops~ Looks like I hit a little too hard, let's try that again." I'm suddenly picked up into the air again, and flung to the ground once more.

I throw a wooden throwing knife at his head, but it stops in mid air as well.

Zero- "Damn it!" He slams me to the ground once more, and without an ounce of hesitation use [Flicker Step] to appear right behind him, swinging my sword at his body. It hits, but I feel like it didn't do anything. He turns to face me, a huge malevolent smile on his face.

I already got away the moment I saw his head turn, I'm currently in a tree.

He holds up his arm, palm facing to me. His smile is still present on his face, before he covers it with his other hand. He shakes his head and begins mumbling to himself. His hand falls to his side and a black sword shaped object appears.

Shin- "Sorry, got a little carried away." I remember the stories about how he got carried away during the 'Devastation Arc' in his book, inciting a silent gulp from me.

Zero- "Are we using weapons now? Isn't that a disadvantage to you?" He laughs innocently, a direct counter to his previous malicious persona.

Shin- "I'm pretty strong, even if you're better at using a sword than me. You'll find it tough to keep up." He gets into a familiar stance, mimicking Kirito. I follow his pose, with the same one.

Zero- "I see you have good taste, I based my first few years off of the Aincrad style. Let's see how well you do."

I [Flicker Step] directly in front of him, and use Horizontal Square. He counters with Deadly Sins, making me have to dodge his last three strikes. I use Octagon, and he uses a mix between Vertical Square and Honor Guard.

We fight for a while, he seems to have more stamina than I do. It's fine because of Seraph Song though, but his physical prowess is impressive. I'm using my superior techniques, while he has barely the basics down. But he's keeping up with me because of his immense raw power.

I assume he gets bored of matching power, because black tentacle emerge from his back area and start attacking me as well. His black sword disappears, and he crosses his arms as his tentacles do all the work.

Shin- "You admit defeat yet?"

Zero- "HA! No way! I can still beat you, I have nearly limitless stamina!" He raises his hand and wagging his index finger like sonic, he sighs.

Shin- "There you go explaining your power, stop that bad habit." As if making his point, ten more tentacles sprout, and start whipping the crap out of me. He sees that he's not doing much damage to the clothes, so he assumes that he's not doing damage to me... Which is NOT true, I am feeling all of it.

His tentacle strikes start getting more fierce, ripping my shihakusho apart. I eventually am injured so bloody and bruised that I can't move or speak.

"Whoops... I did it again... At least I can fix this..." He begins spreading a green aura around me, and I can practically see my HP going up.

Once I'm healed enough to speak I call out.

Zero- "Which one of you imbeciles decided to not give me a potion!?" Shin seems confused, but understands when a person appears in front of him wearing the same outfit as me.

Guard- "Sorry sir, we didn't know what your orders were. You told us not to interfere, 'no matter what.'" I groan as I forgot about that.

Zero- "Fine, I forgive you... But I would like a potion or six." The guard leaves and comes back with six potions in hand, rendering Shin speechless.

Shin- "That was quick! I didn't realize that other people could Flash Step like you, I thought you were the only one." The only thing I could do was chuckle.

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Name: Zero

HP: 467/2,400 ➕⬆

MP: 54/63

PWR: 234

SPD: 232 (+5)

MAG: 66

END: 236 (+5)

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Skills: [Limit Break] [Focus Point] [Wind Slash] [Fatal Strike] [Observe] [Bloodlust] [Non-Lethal Strike] [Flicker Step] [Precise Hit] [Air Step] [Shadow Movement] [Danger Sense]

Proficiencies: [Dual Wield, S 100%] [Swords, S 100%] [Daggers, S 100%] [Throwing, S 100%] [Shooting, S 100%] [Spears, S 100%] [Axes, S 100%] [Scythes, S 100%] [Environmental weapons, S 98%]

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Equipment: [Seraph's Song] [Headband] [Steel Katana x2] [Steel Daggers x2] [Steel Throwing Knives x5] [Shihakusho (Damaged)]

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