(TATB) Ch 34: Appearance Of The White Mask, End Of The Battle!

(Vu)

It hurt.

God, it hurt.

I clutched my stomach, trying to press down on the wound that felt like someone had shoved a hot iron straight through me. Which, technically, they had. That red spear had torn right through, and now I was bleeding all over Nemu's arms like a kicked puppy.

Still, even through the pain, even with my head swimming and my body begging to black out, I couldn't stop watching.

Victor was... insane.

No, not insane—impossible.

He moved like he was made of smoke. Viral's attacks were fast, faster than anything a normal Lilli could pull off, especially with his Geist Élan boosting him. Viral was a monster in a fight. A blur of red light and sharp death.

And Victor?

Victor was just... dodging.

Effortlessly. Fluidly. Like he wasn't even trying.

Nemu's grip tightened around me, and when I looked up at her, I could see it—she was amazed too.

"Who... who is he?" I found myself mumbling.

No one answered. Probably because no one knew.

I turned my eyes back to the chaos in front of me, ignoring the stabbing pain in my gut.

⸻

(Victor)

"Alright, alright, seriously," I said as I backflipped away from another one of Viral's wild swings. "Can we please stop trying to kill me for like... five minutes? Maybe talk like grownups?"

Viral's only answer was a sharp thrust aimed right at my head.

Yup. Cool. Great talk.

I ducked low, felt the spear whistle past my hair, and rolled across the dirt, popping back up with a grin I was barely holding together.

"I'm offering negotiations, you psycho!" I barked, trying not to sound like I was dying from the thousand tiny cuts already slicing across my arms and sides. "You know—words? Sentences? The thing that separates us from, I dunno, feral sewer rats?"

Viral finally backed off a step. For a second, I thought maybe I was getting through to him.

Nope.

"There is nothing to talk about," Viral spat, slamming his spear into the ground.

The earth glowed red around him, and before I could even say oh, that's not good, the ground erupted with crimson spears, hundreds of them shooting straight up toward the sky like a death forest from hell.

"Ah, come on—" I yelped, jumping high into the air to avoid being skewered.

It half-worked.

I dodged most of them, sure, but a few sharp tips grazed me, ripping my jacket, slicing into my arms, even nipping my leg.

By the time I landed, I was bleeding—nothing fatal, but enough to sting like crazy.

Viral was laughing. Actually laughing, like he was having the time of his life watching me get turned into a human pin cushion.

I glanced at Nemu and Vu, seeing the horror on their faces. Vu looked like he was barely conscious, Nemu like she was about to start throwing punches if she could stand.

I sighed, shaking my head. "I guess I have no choice."

I lifted my hand in front of my face, fingers trembling a little.

God, it was cold.

Like my body knew what was about to happen and was fighting me on it, like it didn't want me pulling that particular trigger.

Heavy. Crushing.

Pressure built in my chest and shoulders, every breath feeling like it might snap my ribs in half.

I kept pushing.

Slowly, my hand descended across my face—and as it did, a white, smooth mask formed over my skin. No holes. No designs. Just blank, empty white.

I exhaled, feeling the shift snap through my body like an elastic band snapping.

Across from me, Viral's eyes lit up like a kid seeing a new toy.

"So you have one as well," he said, grinning wide enough to split his face in half.

I dropped into a stance, feeling that pressure harden into something sharper inside me. Cleaner. Deadlier.

"Yeah," I said, voice calmer now.

"I guess I am."

***

(Viral)

I grinned as I rushed him, feeling my blood boil with excitement.

"You really think a mask is gonna help you in a fight?!" I barked, driving my spear forward with enough force to punch through stone. "What are you gonna do—headbutt me to death?!"

No answer.

Victor just kept dodging, slipping past my strikes like I was swinging at smoke. It was irritating. At first, I thought he was just lucky. A fluke. But the longer the fight dragged, the more I realized something was... wrong.

He was getting faster.

Each time I struck, he was already somewhere else. His movements didn't make sense—no wasted energy, no hesitation. Like he knew exactly where I was aiming before I even swung.

"Hold still!" I snarled, slashing horizontally, vertically, thrusting—anything—to land a blow.

Still nothing.

Still that annoying, calm way he ducked and weaved.

And that stupid mask—

Wait.

I blinked, almost missing it mid-swing.

The plain white mask wasn't plain anymore.

Black, empty eyes had formed. Sharp, jagged teeth were cutting themselves into the white surface. Red and blue lines, like lightning streaks, crawled across it, and four little horn-like things jutted out of the sides and back.

A shiver ran down my spine.

"I hope you're ready," Victor said casually—casually, like he wasn't about to ruin my life—as he grabbed the shaft of my spear mid-attack and stopped it dead.

"What?!" I gasped.

And then he moved.

No, moved isn't the right word.

He vanished.

A blur—no, a hundred blurs, each of them hammering into me, forcing me back step by step. I tried to react, tried to counter, tried anything.

Didn't matter.

He was too fast.

A punch to the gut—

A kick to the side—

A blow to the wrist that sent my spear flying from my hand—

Before I could even think about grabbing it, I felt a heavy weight slam into my chest.

I hit the ground hard, gasping, the air punched out of my lungs. The dirt bit into my back as I struggled to lift my head, only to find Victor standing over me.

Foot planted squarely on my chest.

Arms crossed.

Mask grinning down at me like some smug, faceless god.

"So," he said, voice infuriatingly calm, "maybe now we can talk."

I glared up at him, chest heaving, pride burning hotter than the pain.

I hated him.

I hated how easy he made it look.

I hated how he wasn't even trying to show off—and yet here I was, on the damn floor like a bug.

But most of all, I hated how a tiny, traitorous part of me... kinda respected it.

Damn it.