₊˚.༄ God Complex
CHAPTER THREE:
( the sword that became human. )

"i'll be your slaughter, your killing floor,
your morgue and final resting."

"Again," Seira's demanding voice barked at the boy.

It had been several months since Aki and Seira had been paired together. Grueling as it may have been at first, slowly with time, the two had learned the others quirks, and set boundaries that made it manageable to be around one another. Although, the training Seira had put the boy through was certainly not something that got easier with time.

Sword training, along with any combat training, was not something Aki thought he needed. Seira had thought other wise though, and a week after being acquainted with each other she had taken him up the mountains to an abounded shrine. He thought she was going to kill him, for she didn't dare answer his pestering questions on the way there, but once they reached the court yard and he was thrown a sword he knew what she was ordering him to do.

He had protested the idea at first, telling her he didn't need training, and she simply retaliated by swinging her sword down on him, sending him flying back and hitting the arc of the shrine. The wind was swiftly taken from his lungs, stolen like a mans last breath. His whole back surged with electrifying pain and the ringing in his ears made it difficult to focus the rest of the day. She never bothered to heal, nor check up on the boy, for he had quickly found out that pain was yet another form of training to her. She was a sadist, and he swore he'd get back at her one day for this.

He remembers the words that came next perfectly though, "Any devil you fight along side me will either be as strong, if not stronger, than my own abilities. You must become your own version of myself."

He couldn't deny her comment either, for he knew Seira was fighting devils that ruled over the darkest places of hell while everyone else simply dealt judgment out to petty creatures of fear. Her name was a legend amongst everyone in Public Safety; she was a double edged sword because on one end her name was sang with praise and the other was muttered in fear.

Seira was a devil in itself, or so Himeno had told him.

Aki liked Miss Himeno, and at times wished they would've been buddies rather than the sadist woman who he swore could kill him with her piercing eyes. Miss Himeno was a lot more down to earth and friendly, and he was shocked when he found out that Seira and Himeno were friends, for he never thought such a sultry woman would indulge in companionship. They were polar opposite as well, and it was difficult at times to watch as Himeno drank and preached nonsense in public while Seira stayed steady chain smoking just to keep her mouth busy from speaking unflattering responses.

Aki had thought he'd pick up quicker than Seira had thought, but he was yet again proven wrong and proving her right. During the difficult month of hard training and unimaginable pain that showed disgustingly all over his body he still hadn't landed a hit on her. Everyday she proved that she had an unimaginable powerful devil residing in her. She was fast, like a mountain lion, claws and teeth hard as a blood hounds, and he could only imagine what type of sword master had trained her because when a blade was in her hand he had already given up on the idea of a good outcome.

Today was one of those days, and Aki only fed his doubts more when Seira had refused to allow him lunch. She was pissed, and he hated being her punching bag, for the markings she left would send any normal human running for child protective services. She was cruel and unjust, and he hated the idea of her producing offspring, for he knew she'd be a horrible mother.

"Stop thinking," Seira shouted at him as Aki started to pick himself up from the ground, "This all has to come naturally to you. Second nature, if you think too much on the battle field you will be dead in seconds!"

If Aki had a dollar for every time Seira had told him that line he'd be rich by now. He begrudgingly picked up his sword from the dirt, shocked that it hadn't shattered from the many inhuman blows it had taken over the month. He wished it would break today, maybe then he'd finally get a lunch break, or better yet find the comfort of his bed.

"I know you're angry with me right now, so let it fuel you. Make the anger energy," Seira told him, and she was right, he was angry. His hands shook with anger, and his jaw twitched as he clamped down to keep himself from lashing out at the woman. "Now, let it go and fight me," Seira said calmly.

She swiftly charged at him, swinging the silver blade at his side, and Aki quickly blocked the attack with his own sword. The force that Seira had forced him skidding across the dirt, leaving an engraving of his path and dust to settle in the air. She quickly came from above, swinging her sword down on him, but he quickly reacted by blocking the attack with his own. Seira was inhuman though, and they became locked together, and the sheer strength of the devilish woman had Aki slowly kneeling to the ground.

Fear attacked Aki like rabid dogs to flesh, for this was either the moment his blade shattered under the strain of its battles, or the moment Seira killed him for his uselessness to her.

He refused to die though, he had too much to prove, and he certainly wouldn't prove another one of her points right.

Aki Hayakawa was not weak like Seira Rika would like to think.

Aki, with all his might, swung his leg into his masters side. Relief hugged him warmly when he felt the weight of the woman leave him, and he watched as she skidded a few feet away from him. He finally had the upper hand, and he wouldn't let this moment go to waste. He quickly got to his feat and charged at the woman. She hadn't even given him a glance, still in shock that he had finally disabled that attack. He swung his sword at her just as she looked up at him, and he stopped himself from going any further with his attack.

Those eyes, the eyes that he swore saw right through every defense mechanism that he had built from the ground up. Seira's eyes saw something in him that even he did not know what lie dormant in himself. He could never pinpoint what it was, but when he saw her eyes glimmer with determination at him he knew that she saw something hopeful in him.

"Never become distracted," Seira's comment broke him from his trance, and he was too slow to react as Seira grabbed at his arm and threw him aggressively into the ground before kicking him a few feet away from her.

He coughed and spit out the blood forming deep in his throat, gasping for air as he drowned in his own blood and saliva, and he slowly got on his feet, stance ready for whatever Seira threw at him next.

"If you have any hope of ever being useful to me or others then you need to let go of any humanity you have left. Devil's are not human, and some humans are not what they seem, don't let foolish things such as expressions get the best of perfect opportunity's to strike," Seira commented, her voice calm but laced with venomous hatred.

"You keep telling me all this, but it does nothing to help me improve! You barely allow me a lunch break, you string me a long as if I were a mutt, and worst of all you act just like the woman you supposedly hate! You are worse than miss Makima!" Aki had come head first with his breaking point, trying to drudge up any insult that could get under the inhumane woman's skin. He wished to hurt her in any way he could, wether it be with his words or his sword.

"Aki Hayakawa, if you do not become one with your sword here in a matter of seconds, I will kill you," Seira broke the unnerving silence that had settled.

The fear from moments before had come back tenfold, and he knew Miss Rika was being dead serious with her words just by the look in her eyes. She was dead set on killing him here in this moment, for she had finally plucked the last of her straws that kept Aki's uselessness around. He watched as she drew her foot back, readying her sword, and all he could fearfully manage himself to do was raise his blade, and wait for her final blow.

It was mere seconds before she was in front of him, and they both traded blows and blocks with one another. Seira had the upper hand though, for she was fearless in everything she did, and Aki held fear in his heart for everything he did. They were so similar, yet so distinctively different, and Aki pondered on how that had came to be. How both simultaneously were so a like in nature, yet so difficult to get a long with. He hated Seira for that, for making him feel so seen and acknowledge for who he was and what had happened to him, yet making him feel like those same things made him a peasant to the revolving world.

He swung his blade with all his strength and power, never taking notice to how Seira's blade swiftly left her grasp and landed several feet away from them. He never once looked into her eyes either, for he knew those eyes would turn him into stone with just one passing glance. He forced his blade at the woman, and all time stopped as he finally opened his eyes to see what he had done.

A small graze, nothing that would put the woman's life in danger, but deep enough to allow red liquid to seep its way out and cause a scar to form with the healing process. He couldn't help but stand there, blade still at her neck, and watch as the blood continued to slowly fall from the wound he had left upon her pale skin. He finally met her gaze, and he couldn't help but become unnerved by the creases that formed by her eyes, and the simple pleasure of her smile that curved upon her lips.

It was the first time he had ever seen her wear another expression besides wrath or depression, and he couldn't help but feel some sort of longing to keep her face like that. He wanted to make her pleased by his accomplishments, like a child fighting for their parents approval.

"Let's have lunch," She simply said, and Aki couldn't have agreed more.

( WORD COUNT ) 1880
—— unedited

guess who's finally back with an update, a longer one at that, can't tell if i like this chapter, but oh whale. after the next chapter we'll start progressing into at least the first act's storyline, which yes, revolves around how aki and seira know each other and become close, but were slowly coming up on all the battle field type stuff and progression into them getting close. I'm trying to keep this act short, so we can get into the storyline, but also not so short were i miss important detail's for the second act. this all sounds so vague, but I'm trying not to spoil anything for y'all, haha. as always, don't forget to comment, vote, and share, and i love you, my lovely little souls.