Chương 35: Damned Butler

A pang filled June's heart; both horns that grew out of his eyes were torn out, one of the wings was on the ground, and the other one was turned into a crumbling reflection of a third arm. His clothes were ruined; these were his nice clothes too. His body was still in a semi-perfect condition; his opponent, on the other hand, was also in a perfect condition, as was their clothing. Only their monocle stood without its lenses, and that was as far as June was able to damage him.

But no, the pang that filled his heart wasn't because of Lillia, or his clothes being ruined, or the pain, or even that he couldn't hurt the damn butler.

'I'm not getting that $5 back from that movie ticket.' He already devoured most of the snacks before the movie started; the rest were turned into a fine bile in his nice, but now ruined, sweater. Luckily his letterman jacket was wrapped around his waist before the fight started; it wasn't secured properly and fell off, so the only damages would be a bit of dust and maybe a bit of fluid when his head was nearly caved in.

"Dammit, old man, I wasted $5 on that movie ticket." His favorite shirt was in tatters, his favorite sweater was somewhere unknown, and his pants were covered in blood and torn.

'Torn pants were popular; maybe if I just wash the blood a little—' The old butler shot his arm out in a fleshy growth, extending it like a tendril to pierce June, and June batted it away with the old man's own severed talon.

"Let me think to myself, dammit."

'He also used body manipulation like I do, so maybe a little brain damage wouldn't hurt too much.' Despite that, the old man wasn't much of a threat to anyone but June, and therefore June didn't really have the motivation or motive to hurt him; any damages the old butler received were superficial enough to be healed immediately. He was getting tired of parrying and dodging; it was a good workout, but June was getting bored of it.

"So old man, why do you want to kill me?" Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Regardless of his casual cadence, June danced around; most of the mouths that opened around his body had closed. His triangular mouth had long returned to its original image since June had no plans of tearing the old man's throat anymore. Some of the slit mouths covering his body stayed open and continued singing.

"Because, boy, you made a move on Milady's."

"And you have the gall to use your powers like my old lord." June didn't know who this old lord person was, nor did he care.

"I didn't make a move on her; she just so happened to be walking with me from the same store to the theater." The old man wouldn't let up his onslaught of attacks.

"LIES, boy, I know those eyes, and you cannot be smitten with Milady's."

'Why does he keep saying Milady's?' June got tired of dodging and decided to close the distance.

"Couldn't we just talk about it? Chess? Tea? Whatever it takes for your posh ass to get out of my face. June turned and slammed the flat of the buckler into the old man's chest; The flame had already died down a while ago since June didn't want to immolate the seemingly frail man. The butler stumbled back and fell down seemingly out of breath.

June walked closer to the fallen old man and extended a hand to help him get up, and the old man swiped his cane caving June's kneecaps in, making him yelp with a stifled scream.

"God dammit, you ruined my only pair of nice clothes, and you made me miss my movie." He layed on the ground, letting his legs pop back into place on their own; healing often hurt more than the initial pain and its echoes. The old man was not truly out of breath; it was bait, and June fell for it, but June doesn't make the same mistakes twice. The cane flew towards his head again; it was hard, but not too hard as to not collapse the roof of the mall.

June caught glimpses of the inside from the skylight and saw it was empty. June considered smashing through the roof to run from the old man, but he didn't want the property damage to be linked to him somehow. June twisted to the side to narrowly avoid it, then kicked the old butler in the chest with both legs. Blunt damage took a little longer to heal than severing wounds, but at the same time, they were less likely to be lethal, that is, if they held back.

The old man staggered back, and June used the brief respite to grow his spine through his tailbone. He was going to try to mimic some videos he saw online of a kangaroo's kick. At this point June was just throwing things at the wall and hoping they would stick; he never thought of fighting an immortal enemy with the same powers as himself. Not to mention there was a vast gap of physical strength and skill between the two. June was fighting a losing battle.

His only ideas of stopping the old man non-lethally were brutal, but at the same time he had to control his strength the right amount to hurt him and at the same time not blast his head into chunks.

'I don't even think I'm strong enough to blast him into chunks like he could to me.' The fight went on for a while; it typically was a repeat of June trying something new, it working or failing, then taking damage, dodging a fatal hit, and repeating. The fight by now had gone on for 20 minutes, and it had gotten more violent by the time Lilia found her way onto the roof. The butler and June seemed to have made a sort of silent pact to not let Lilia near their fight. so the two fought their hearts out.

And eventually, the two collapsed laughing.