Shido's shadow expanded, swallowing Takeshi's shadow despite the flickering moonlight striking the city directly.
"Unfortunately for you, you'll die at the hands of my shadows, stranger."
Shido said that with a wicked smile stretching across his face. Takeshi tightened his arms, preparing to defend and attack as well, but something unexpected happened.
"I can't move!"
He tried stepping back, but he felt something pulling him violently toward that shadow. His legs, to be exact, froze in place even though they hadn't touched that vast darkness.
Shido sank into his own shadow and vanished inside it, and faint waves rippled within the darkness, heading toward Takeshi.
"You can't escape me!"
A thin, pale hand emerged from the shadow, grabbing Takeshi's leg and attempting to drag him into the depths of the darkness. Takeshi struggled, but the shadow itself began pulling him in along with that frail hand.
'Damn it! I didn't expect him to appear in the first place, let alone be this strong! He's stronger than that bastard Yamikaji!!'
Koji froze in place out of fear, unable to do anything but plead.
"Stop, Shido! Did you forget that using abilities in public places is forbidden!!"
Shido didn't listen to Koji. The place was empty of people and police anyway.
Takeshi raised his right fist, bent his back, loosened his knees, and swung his fist to punch that hand with all his strength.
The frail hand released him and sank into the pitch-black shadow after his strike cracked it.
Suddenly, Takeshi's eyes widened. He grabbed the fist he had just used; it was trembling.
"What happened?!"
A fierce pain took over his hand, weakening his guard. The dark waves in the shadow retreated toward their source as Shido emerged again, his brows knitted as he glared at Takeshi.
"A strong punch, but unfortunately, as long as we're inside my ability's range, any pain I receive automatically transfers to you."
Takeshi took a breath, focusing on every part of Shido's body. Just a second passed before Shido sank into the shadow again.
Takeshi gritted his teeth, enduring the agonizing pain in his hand as he thought:
'I'm in a terrible situation. There's only one thing I can do to affect him… He said ability? That means there are many who possess powers.'
New waves swirled in the darkness, and from them emerged black spears without edges, all aimed directly at Takeshi. There were five of them, and with his immobilized body, Takeshi was as good as dead.
'Doesn't that mean he intends to die too? Or is there a trick to this?'
Takeshi extended his trembling hand, a wicked smile forming on his face.
"I have no choice. If my guess is right, then this is your weakness!"
Before the dark spears reached him, he gathered all the steadiness left in his body into his uninjured hand and punched the wrist of his injured one, causing a slight fracture.
The pain was unbearable, but because he harmed himself, the spears stopped just a hair's breadth away from his body, then sank back into the shadow. The waves became chaotic, forming a whirlpool from which Shido emerged, holding his arm and gritting his teeth.
He lifted his head and stared at Takeshi with trembling eyes.
"You…"
Takeshi managed to move his legs and stepped backward. Koji, unable to grasp anything, simply retreated and stared at them. But Takeshi quickly answered his confusion.
"You possess a strange ability, but the moment you revealed yourself earlier, I realized a fatal weakness in your power."
Shido's eyes widened further, and he looked at his injured arm, thinking:
'So he noticed the injury in my arm!'
When Takeshi punched the frail hand earlier and his own hand was injured afterward, Shido had emerged from the shadow — with the same injury on his arm.
Takeshi lifted his uninjured hand, his eyes burning with excitement.
"Your ability relies on shared sensations. Simply put, if I get hurt, you get hurt too!"
He leaned his body weight onto his right leg and dashed across the shadow toward Shido.
"If it's a battle of endurance, let's see who lasts longer!"
Takeshi stepped forward, raising his fist. At the last moment, a black shield formed around Shido, but Takeshi didn't stop — he punched through the shield, smashing it and hitting Shido's face, sending him flying.
Takeshi balanced himself outside the shadow's range and grabbed his fist.
"Painful!"
Striking the shield caused a faint sting in his hand, but he hadn't used full force — he also needed to stay intact.
Shido stood on his trembling legs, feeling a sharp pain in his face and fist. He shared the same pain as Takeshi.
Shido's shadow crawled back to him, returning to normal, but Takeshi didn't stay still. He took advantage of Shido lowering his guard and charged at him with a prepared punch.
Before Takeshi could reach him, many black spears suddenly surrounded him — some even grazed his skin.
Takeshi looked down to see the spears erupting from his own shadow. He raised his gaze to Shido.
"Aren't you worried about your own body—"
But Takeshi immediately stopped speaking when he saw Shido unharmed. His body didn't share the same scratches Takeshi had taken.
Shido brushed dust off his clothes with a faint smile.
"Why don't we stop here? Honestly, I don't like killing people who possess real combat talent like you. Besides, I never enter a fight I'm not sure I can win."
Takeshi stood still as the spears sank into his shadow, staring sharply at Shido.
'Is he kidding me? You think I'll trust you that easily? Still… I don't fully understand his ability. That gives him the advantage…'
Shido turned toward the dark alley reeking of blood and spoke to Koji.
"Don't worry, Koji. I won't tell anyone about what happened here!"
Then he addressed Takeshi:
"As for you — don't rush to get your sword back. It won't be sold or taken out of the city. Just use aura detection and you'll find it!"
Takeshi stepped toward Shido after he mentioned the sword, but Shido had already vanished.
In truth, aura detection wouldn't help Takeshi at all — he only used its lowest level, where every aura appeared as a tiny dot with no distinctive traits.
Takeshi placed his uninjured hand on his chin, sinking into thought.
'What does my sword have to do with aura detection? Does my sword have an aura? But Orphen said only humans possess aura! Wait… is that why the Refarge beasts never approached my hut all those years—'
His thoughts were interrupted by Koji, now standing in front of him.
"Thank goodness things didn't get worse. You're incredibly strong!"
Koji raised his right hand to shake his, but upon noticing Takeshi's injury, he switched to his left hand.
"I'm Koji!"
Takeshi shook his hand with his uninjured one and answered:
"My name is Takeshi, and I'll work with you, Koji, to bring down the King Skull Gang!"