Heroes to Hunted

***Kamida POV***

I always thought of myself as an apex predator of sorts. Throughout my years, I discovered the weakness of others and preyed upon them with deadly efficiency.

That was my job, my place in the hierarchy. I had to indebt others to my boss for a constant revenue stream and fund our operations.

Because of my persuasion prowess, no violence was ever necessary during our dealings. It was a skill that made our encounters with the authorities negligible. I was totally unmatched and infallible.

Despite all of that, I had to wonder. If I was an apex predator, what would you call the furry brown monstrosity towering above Takagi? An apex-er predator?

I now realized just how outmatched we humans were on the food chain.

"Takagi!" Agawa shouted next to me while amateurly tending to the wounds of an unconscious Nakamura. "Run, you idiot!" she followed her commands with frantic waving.

But he only smirked back, pulled his sword towards his hip, and thrust forward. Responding in kind, the beast threw an arm toward Takagi, glancing his left arm with its serrated claws.

With a mighty sweep of its arm, the bear ripped the strapped leather bracer on Takagi's arm clean off. Beyond that, it left three shallow but large lacerations on his skin. Within seconds, his forearm was covered with blood.

Takagi wasn't deterred from striking back despite the gushing crimson soaking his arm and blade. He stepped diagonally toward the beast's side and twisted his hips, winding up a deep slash. Given his swing and posture, he looked more like a reckless baseball player than a swordsman.

"AGGHHHHH!" he grunted loudly. In an instant, he threw his strike with high velocity, like his arms were bound up by a pulley and released. The sword swung so intensely that even the air around the blade cried from being cut. Finalizing the slash, the blade's edge slid though and split the top layer of the beast's skin.

The attack was undoubtedly impressive, and he'd definitely wounded the beast. But it was nothing compared to the lacerations the bear paid him back. 'He's just a man in the end,' I shook my head.

The fur on it was too thick for any significant damage. All Takagi managed with such a wild strike was to draw small streaks of red. The blood trickled down the beast's belly, coating strands of bushy fur before dripping to the mud below.

Unlike when he slashed its snout, the beast didn't react to Takagi's attack. Instead, its response was to throw another paw to hack at Takagi's leg.

Again, he backstepped, receiving a narrow blow to his leg. Over a few seconds, and despite his armor, a purpling mark swelled up where the bear's attack had landed.

"I'll pay you back for that!" Takagi snarled.

Using the beast's recovery after the swing, he spun around to its backside, ignoring the pain in his arm and leg. Once in position, he made a slice for the hind leg opposite the one with the embedded dagger.

The blade's edge glided across the bear's unseen flesh, parting it into an exploding gout of thick blood. The crimson sprayed with such intensity that Takagi had to back away for fear of being blinded by the rapid jets of red liquid.

The bear bellowed in loud agony as Takagi threw more blows in a wild fury.

"He's very Impressive," I muttered, in awe of Takagi's raw fighting talent. Though I'd known he was a bit of a violent character, I never could've guessed he could hold his own for so long against such a monster.

Despite that, I couldn't help but take notice of his glaring flaw.

'Yet such an amateur..." Sadly, though he was certainly good, his movements were reckless and inelegant.

He stumbled steps, he missed attacks, and, rather than keeping his eyes on the enemy, he was foolish. He retreated rather than pressing his advantage, and focused on stemming his arm's bleeding. So much so that he failed to see the impending danger approaching him.

In the second Takagi looked away, the wounded bear launched at him and slashed at the leg he'd received his original gash. Like the bracer on his arm, the armor was torn clean off.

"Oh, you fucker!" Takagi shouted as he pressured the chunk of missing flesh and jumped further away.

However, his reaction was too late. By the time he realized and retreated, the damage was already done. Even worse than the arm wound, the beast created a gash that ran deep into Takagi's left leg.

"I'll pay you back for that!" he howled in rage, probably too doped up on adrenaline to feel the pain.

Takagi tried stepping toward the bear but fell to one knee. "No! Not now, dammit!" his expression became furious with the body holding him back. "GET UP!" he angrily exclaimed, beating his leg with one fist.

Instead of obeying, his body remained rooted in place.

"TAKAGI!!!" Agawa shouted, her face contorted and twisted in horror. "Get out of there!"

Despite having wounds of equal severity, the bear was a combat veteran. It must've experienced injuries such as these daily. Which is why it was capable of pushing through them.

Howling triumphantly, the beast sprinted to Takagi and wound up its killing blow. Meeting its charge were the frantic screams of my comrades.

'He put up a good fight,' I thought solemnly. Unfortunately for him, it looked like his journey was finished.

Time stagnated as the scenes before my eyes became increasingly slow. It was like the events of each moment were halted to emphasize every second of his death.

Though my companions behind me were undoubtedly crying their desperate pleas for Takagi to escape, the noise deafened out. No…my attention was solely focused on the events transpiring ahead.

'Is there anything I can do?' I wanted to help him; I truly did.

Aside from him being so young, I was indebted to the kid for helping me escape from that wretched town. One thing you'd learn about me pretty quickly; a debt was something I never took lightly.

'I have to do something... You have to do something, Gin!' I clenched my fists and exhaled loudly.

I wasn't sure what to do, but anything was better than standing here, gawking. Glancing at my allies, it didn't look as if anyone else would take action.

'It's time for me to do something! Time to repay my debt!'

Beyond my principles, the thought of protecting another was enticing to me, too, truth be told. Plus, indebting a man like Takagi would've proven to be a great boon for the future, indeed!

"I'M ON MY, SIR!" I shouted, feeling the excitement resonating from my bones. I bolted from the safety of the tree roots and took hold of the sharpest stone I could find on the ground.

"Allow me to aid your fight!" I triumphantly declared, winding up my best throw. I then hurled the rock with as much force as I could muster toward the bear's head. The beast was stationary while it prepared a finishing slash on Takagi, so I was confident in my accuracy.

My mouth curved in a wide smile as I watched the rock stride through the air. 'What a marvelous throw!' I thought smugly. It was a throw that would've surely disoriented the bear when it landed dead on the pupil of its right eye.

However, I was never a physical man. That's why the rock veered off-course completely, missing its mark and accomplishing nothing. Well, I did feel a wave of crippling shame at my failure, so there was that.

'Of course,' I chuckled hopelessly, 'I can't do a thing without words...'

I stood there, frozen and embarrassed that I was too useless to even achieve a successful distraction. I was always this way. I was always only capable of talking my way out of disputes. When push came to shove, I was always the one getting shoved.

Despair had no time to take hold of me, though, as a fast-moving yellow blur sped past at breakneck speed, challenging the swiftness of the beast's strike on Takagi.

Between the blur and the bear's swing, every millisecond became essential when deciding Takagi's ultimate fate.

Once again, I became inelegant as I hoarsely cheered for the blur's success. "GOOOOOO!!!! AGAWA!!!"

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