Axel's finger twitched, his eyelid shifting as his eye slowly opened, he groaned and slowly sat up, wincing in pain, his hands trembling, static rising from his skin.

He sat against a tree, his vision still blurry, head throbbing, fire licking his abdomen as the pain radiated upward, his ribs worsened by the smash.

Axel winced and struggled to clench his trembling hand, trying to recover his motor skills, his orientation still off.

The forest around him looked like it had been mugged by a thunder god, trees split in half, others smoldering, the ground pockmarked with craters. Smoke hung thick, stinging his eyes, and the air reeked of ozone and roasted plants.

"I'm surprised I'm still alive at all," he croaked, voice rasping like sandpaper.

His brain still rattled from the shock, taking in the scene, hardly believing it was from just a rabbit and a deer.

Scanning around, there was no sign of the two monsters, he deduced they had finished the fight till his eyes stopped, a red glow from what looked like a crater caught his attention.

The Gishiki at his side suddenly glowing red as well, but not the usual glow, this time it was the entire blade, as if reacting to something, Axel looked back at the glowing crater.

A sudden urge to go check what it was rising.

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

"That shock must have fried my brain," he whispered with a weak chuckle, after all, what normal person would prefer to move towards danger, and in his condition.

He looked down at himself, he could feel his muscles still spasming, his hand twitching, his body was in absolute pain, yet a feeling of curiosity and yearning to head towards the glow filled his head, almost numbing the pain, almost though, he winced.

But it could be something useful, perhaps resources or a power up, he looked towards the Gishiki, or at least something useful to the Ginshiki, he thought as he reached out for the katana, noticing the abnormal redness of his fingers.

"...Yeah, definitely fried something," he said, then sighed. "But fine. Let's go poke the glowing death crater. What could possibly go wrong?"

He pushed himself upright, using the Gishiki as a crutch. The movement made his side flare with pain, but he gritted his teeth and limped forward. Each step sent tiny shocks up his legs. The smell of burnt hair followed him like shame.

After what felt like forever and enough tripping to qualify as interpretive dance, he reached the crater's edge.

Do I really want to, he hesitated at the last moment, red means danger after all.

Axel looked at the Gishiki, its glow and that pull in his chest overriding every hesitation, I've already come this far.

His grip tightened on the Gishiki, his left hand moving to the thread of continuity, he gulped hard and took the last step.

Looking in, his breath hitched, he quickly took a step back, placing the katana in front of him in a defensive posture, anticipating an attack.

But after a few seconds, nothing happened, he exhaled and peeked into the crater again.

The rabbit was lying there, broken, bleeding from multiple holes in its body, close to death, barely hanging on, its small paws extended, reaching towards two antler-like crystals in the middle of the crater, the source of the glow, ash around it.

Seems the rabbit won, but at a huge price, although still alive it isn't much for this world, he concluded, that should be what the Gishiki wanted right, he looked at the red crystals.

The Gishiki vibrated violently in his grip, then tore itself free, yanked toward the crystals by some invisible force.

"Hey—!" Axel stumbled forward, dragged with it, his boots sliding through ash.

The rabbit's eyes snapped open, blazing blue.

Its horn started glowing blue, lightning already crackling across its body.

Axel's eyes widened, as golden threads appeared around him, the next moment, lightning filled the crater, crackling, thunderclap following a second later, the sound echoing in his ear.

As he fell outside the crater, perhaps due to his injuries, he wasn't able to teleport farther, he curled himself into a ball, hoping the lightning didn't spill out of the hole.

When the storm finally sputtered out, dying down not too long later to Axel's relief, his luck pulled through as no stray lightning got to him.

Axel laid face up on the forest floor.

He coughed weakly. "That... was close. And here I thought my day couldn't get any worse." He laughed, a hoarse, tired sound that turned into a groan halfway through. "Note to self: stop thinking."

The air sizzled faintly with leftover static. Cautiously, he peeked over the crater's edge.

The rabbit was still alive, barely. Its blood pooled beneath it, its gaze flickering toward him with something like disbelief.

Axel grinned, shaky but defiant. "Yeah, I'm alive, bastard. Surprise."

The rabbit just stared, unmoving.

"Out of juice, huh?" Axel smirked, wiping dried blood off his chin, "how does it feel knowing you wasted your last attack."

The Gishiki was unscathed as expected, but one of the red crystals was gone, instead the Gishiki stuck where it was supposed to be.

It absorbed it, Axel concluded. Does that mean anima can absorb other things?

He slowly stepped into the crater, one leg in, the other out, ready to react in case of another attack, but the rabbit just continued glaring at him, no reaction, it was truly spent this time.

Axel smirked, satisfied with his test, he slid down the crater, towards the Gishiki and pulled it out, the katana looking as normal as possible, no discernable change, at least for now.

He glanced at the remaining crystal.

It pulsed softly, warm and inviting. Against better judgment, he reached out.

Warm, was the first thing that came to mind as he touched the crystal, its surface smooth.

The crystal resembled a horn, its length almost as long as his entire forearm.

The width wasn't much, perfectly fitted in his hand, a certain warmth radiating from it.

His eyes widened as he felt the warmth suddenly snaking its way up his hands, wrapping his body in a slow, crawling warmth. The pain dulled. His breath evened out.

"Oh… that's nice," he exhaled, almost sighing. "Finally, something here that doesn't try to kill me."

Then the warmth stopped.

Axel frowned. "Did I just… absorb it?" The crystal looked smaller, shorter than before. His body definitely felt better—still sore, but less "dying horribly."

"But why did it stop," he muttered, brows knitted, "what activated it in the first place." He clenched the crystal again, but nothing happened.

"Hmm, I'll deal with that later, for now," he grinned looking at the rabbit from the side of his eye.

"Let's deal with you shall we," he turned to the rabbit, its eyes now bloodshot, glaring at Axel.

"Were you that starved for attention," Axel said in a mocking tone, a grin on his face, "don't you worry, I can't forget you, not after all you did to me."

He approached the rabbit with a maniacal grin.

He raised the Gishiki. "Don't worry, I'll make it quick."

The blade came down with a clean ptui, penetrating its skull.

The rabbit's final squeal was faint, almost pitiful, before silence returned to the ruined forest.

Axel blinked as warm blood splashed on his face, he took a deep breath and pulled out the katana, his gaze lingering on the rabbit.

He sighed and wiped the blood from his face, but he froze, his eyes sparkled as one of the rabbit's horns fell, glowing blue.

Confirming his thoughts, the crystals were like energy sources or perhaps the essence of the creatures.

"Guess I was right," he said, crouching to pick it up, only to yelp as a jolt snapped through his hand.

"Hmm, that didn't happen before," he mumbled, brow arched, looking at his hand, so the crystals have different properties depending on the creature huh.

He reached out for it again, slowly this time, trying to confirm, but he lifted it without any trouble, a slight frown appearing on his face. I was wrong.

The horn wasn't smooth like the crystal before, rather it was more like a polished diamond, its edges sharp, but its surfaces smooth.

Axel clenched it like before, but nothing happened, hmm, there must be a trigger or I'm doing something wrong, he concluded, but for now, he stood up, I have to get out of here.

He pocketed the crystals and hoisted the rabbit onto his neck.

"I'd be crazy to waste meat" he mused, "but this little guy is one brutal opponent."

He glanced toward the blackened remains of the deer. Only ashes.

I sure am glad it was on its last legs, else… I shouldn't think about it, he started climbing out the crater.

He grimaced from the pain at his side, but still held on.

"Now," he muttered, adjusting the rabbit carcass over his shoulder, "time to head back to the cave. Maybe this time I won't almost die on the way."

He limped forward, smoke swirling behind him.

"I should've lost the bolf by now," he said, voice fading into the crackle of the burnt forest.

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