[Skill: Evasive Counter Activated!]
Akari swiftly dodged the toxic strikes from Ryoko, not even letting her get a chance to use her skill: Viper's Aura. Another attack from Ryoko's Chaotic Strike missed, prompting Akari to use the same dark energy she had used since this fight started with her.
Akari then saw a brief message from the system as she knocked Ryoko away onto the ground and into a subway tunnel.
Anger shrouded her mind even further from the message as she stood across from Ryoko.
[Ashiro's Revenant is fading; within 5 minutes, he will die.]
Akari felt the anger getting stronger and stronger. Why can't she save anyone? Could she even save someone so undeserving of death like Ashiro? Those thoughts plagued her mind as the dark energy faded from her body, shifting over to a standard aura of revenant. "Dammit!" She cursed in anger as she struggled to control the energy coursing through her. Akari punched Ryoko, but she couldn't even damage her now that her innate technique wasn't functioning properly.
Ryoko quickly notices the fluctuations in Akari's output and control over that dark energy. Confidence floods her mind as the outcome in her eyes seems fairly obvious and biased in her favor. "Looks like a rookie still needs to learn her place." Akari went through the wall from Ryoko's strikes, but something was different. She could feel herself trying to control the revenant not just with her body, but even with her soul. Her fist crashed atop Ryoko's face once more, but this time, sparks of black energy burst from the attack, and a message from the system appeared.
[New Skill learned!]
[Skill: Death Burst activated with tenacity!]
Ryoko previously didn't think much of the attack until she was hit by the death burst.
Death Burst-
By controlling both your output and control of the revenant simultaneously, you can delay it to a thousandth of a second. The move itself is not the flashiest, but depending on the user, its strength varies in lethality and brutality as well.
Ryoko's body bounced off the ground, blood leaked profusely from her nose, and her face brutally crashed face-first into the ground, causing a massive crater to be formed from the impact of dark energy.
[Personified Emotion: Malice is functioning again!]
The dark energy surrounds Akari once more, giving her that same feeling of malice and the will to ruthlessly crush the opponent in front of her. "THINK I'M STILL A ROOKIE NOW!?"
[Your mastery over Personified Emotions has increased to B-Rank!]
[Multiple Skills unlocked!]
[Skills: Emotional Aura and Constructs of Emotions!]
Ryoko quickly rises from the ground, rushing at the distracted Akari with a message popping up from the system.
[Physical state is under 50%]
[Any further damage will severely injure you!]
Ryoko ignored the message, swiping it away as she rushed at Akari, and she did the same. Their energies clashed with one another, like two disasters tearing through the land and reshaping it. Windows from the buildings break as Akari dodges another aggressive formation of attacks from Ryoko.
[Skill: Evasive Counter Activated!]
The first strike was aimed at Akari's face, but she sidestepped it and blocked the follow-up attack aimed at her gut. Ryoko tries to reel her hand back, but Akari holds on tightly and punches Ryoko twice; once in the liver and the next in her face, breaking her nose and sending her flying through the building.
Akari jumped out of the same wall that she had knocked Ryoko through, but something felt off, and her legs hit the ground hard. Her vision becomes blurry as the air becomes thick, and Akari begins coughing up blood. "(What the fuck!?)"
[Skill: Viper's Aura activated with killing intent!]
Akari held her chest in pain as Ryoko got back up, kicking Akari across her face as more blood splattered from her mouth, groaning in more pain than before. Her veins then turn dark green, just like Ashiro's. Akari needed to find a way to combat the poison, but she couldn't be given the chance as Ryoko kept wailing on her with more chaotic strikes with the same toxic energy. Ryoko then began rambling on about something, and Akari could barely make it out, but she could hear her constant yapping. "You thought you could beat me with one measly Death Burst!? I was ordered to strike fear and chaos upon this town by a special someone a few hours ago. You never would have guessed who it was."
Akari coughed up more blood, spitting on Ryoko's face. "Go fuck yourself." Ryoko swiftly punches her in the face, causing more blood to spill on the ground. "I tried holding back like Jashi said, now I do things my way."
Akari struggled to move or even get up; it looked like the poison was suffocating her lungs. Ashiro was probably dead; at least she would join him shortly. But she then heard the wind flowing through what sounded like a jacket and a necklace.
Akari could barely move, but she could sense who it was. Kodak Kawanari and Fumiko Haruka. Ryoko grabbed Akari with her hair and smiled with a twisted look. "LOOKS LIKE YOU'LL MEET THAT BOY IN HELL YOU INSUFFERABLE BRAT!" Ryoko goes to punch Akari again with a Chaotic Strike. But she suddenly felt a rough, strong hand grab her, tossing her away through the ruined city.
Kodak walked over to Akari, putting his hand on her back and nodding towards Fumiko.
[Destructive Energy Activated!]
Akari winced in immense pain as Kodak surged the destructive energy through her body. "What are you doing!?" She struggled in anger, but Kodak suggested she shouldn't do more. After all, this would only be temporary pain. "You shouldn't move; it makes it harder for Fumiko to heal you." The pain quickly faded as she felt Fumiko's hand contain warm and peaceful energy enter her body. Her vision came back, and the toxins were being purified through her body.
[Fumiko is using Agony to heal you; the toxic energy is being purified!]
Akari jumped up, ready to fight, but Fumiko grabbed her and shook her head in denial. "You only get in the way. Plus, Kodak is going to win with a little difficulty!" Fumiko's face was illuminated with confidence as they both activated Wingless Flight, flying in the direction of Ashiro, Masashi, and Himari.
Ryoko tried chasing after them, but Kodak sped in front of her, grabbing her by the face and slamming her into the ground. The impact sends a massive shockwave as destructive energy echoes through the town.
[Skill: Destructive Shockwave activated strongly!]
Akari swiftly turns around, hearing the massive shockwave happening behind her as buildings are torn through like paper. "He's getting started," Akari said while smirking as she screamed in excitement within her head. Fumiko looked across the city, quickly finding Kohaku crying with the others as they held Ashiro as he mumbled to her. "I'm... sorry."
His life force faded as Kohaku screamed for help. "SOMEONE HELP!"
Fumiko and Akari descended, acting quickly and trying to heal and prevent the death of Ashiro.
Ryoko smirked in amusement as Kodak slammed her through another building, and more blood leaked from her mouth as she laughed in a twisted manner. She was showing how insane she had been. "AHAHAHAHA! I never thought a Kawanari would be here! Much less Kodak Kawanari, but I guess Jashi's plan is working!" Kodak dodged the attack, immediately putting Ryoko in a chokehold. "What the fuck is Jashi's plan!?"
Ryoko smirked and shrugged in an unserious manner. "Why not? I'll tell you the plan, but just promise you'll kill me in the most brutal way possible!" Kodak stared at her coldly before giving his answer. "I was already planning on that, after what you did to Ashiro." Destructive energy radiates strongly as Ryoko begins drooling at the sight of Kodak's destructive energy. "Oh, I can't wait to be slaughtered so brutally by your hands!"
She said while scratching at her neck and her figure. Kodak stared at her in disgust and shook his head in disapproval. "Yeah, yeah. Just tell me your plan with Jashi!"
Ryoko pouted at Kodak's reaction. "Hmph, you're so boring. But fine, I'll tell you. Our plan is the revival of Jashi and the seven great calamities." Kodak's eyes widened as he heard that name, but it was interrupted by Kuroi. "(Looks like that group is being revealed finally.)"
Kodak questioned Kuroi about the seven calamities, wanting more answers. "What's a calamity?"
"There are seven great calamities within this world. Plague, Chaos, Malice, Control, Beast, Falsehood, and Destruction." Kuroi said while wearing a worried look on his face.
"(Hopefully, this woman doesn't reveal the true nature of the destructive ruler.)"
Ryoko then smirked, slamming her head into Kodak's face, and blood leaked from his nose as he barely moved from the attack. "Dumb move." But before he could do anything, Ryoko shoved a sharp elbow into his liver, making blood cough up from his mouth.
"Gah!" Kodak slowly descends, but he stops and rushes at Ryoko. Destructive energy then radiates through his body.
[Aura core selected: Menacing Destruction!]
Ryoko felt her body being weighed down by the mixture of auras emanating from Kodak as he delivered a crushing attack, a single impact that turned into ten. Catching Ryoko off guard, as her jaw was dislocated from the attack.
[1st Destructive Martial Formation: Tenfold Impact Activated Aggressively!]
Ryoko gets sent flying down straight to the ground, causing a massive crater from the attack. The ground rumbles as rubble flies in all directions from the destructive attack, but Kodak doesn't stop, flying down to dropkick Ryoko in the stomach. But to his surprise, she moves out of the way, headbutting him in the face, breaking his nose. Kodak stumbles a bit but shifts his nose back into place, showing the grit and determination to win the fight that Kodak had. "You'll need more than that!" Dark flames then erupted from Kodak's body as he waved his hand, spreading the flames across the city.
[2nd Destructive Martial Formation: SoulBorn Flame Breaker Activated Strongly!]
Ryoko puts her hands up against the flames, quickly feeling her skin bubbling and melting off her bones. The pain was immense and ever so painful, but she loved this feeling and would savor it for as long as she lived. Ryoko then screamed out in pleasure at Kodak, freaking him out. "YES, PLEASE KEEP GOING! THIS FEELING IS AMAZING, NOTHING ELSE IN THIS WORLD GIVES ME ANYTHING LIKE YOU DO!" Kodak didn't answer, and his hands lit up with the dark flames as they raged even further. But Ryoko dove through the flames and kicked Kodak in the face, sending him through the city. She kept up her assault, grabbing and dragging Kodak across a large building, destroying it instantly.
Rubble flies even more destructively as Ryoko's laughter can be heard through the city as Fumiko helps Ashiro onto his feet. "You look like shit, Fumiko." He said in a joking manner, only met by Fumiko's middle finger directed at him. He chuckled at her response, but before he could say anything else. Kohaku tackled him to the ground, firmly hugging him. "I thought you died!" Tears wept from her eyes as they bled onto Ashiro's white t-shirt. "I'm sorry, Kohaku. I didn't mean to worry you. But where is that vile woman I was fighting?"
Fumiko pointed behind herself. "Kodak's fighting that weirdo. She tried attacking us when we were trying to get over here to heal you, but he grabbed her by the face and slammed her down. That shockwave dealt a great deal of damage to her, hell, he's probably gonna kill her now." Ashiro then rushed past the group as messages from the system popped up.
[Skill: Flaring Flight Activated!]
[Revenant Radar Activated!]
[Revenant user: Kodak Kawanari is struggling!]
Below, Ashiro's shoes lit with flames as he shot towards Kodak's direction, hoping to join in the fight with him. Kodak then sensed Ashiro heading over towards him, but that brief moment of distraction led to Ryoko landing a lethal thrust kick straight to Kodak's liver, the heels on her feet, pierced through the combination of aura reinforcement and radial aura. Blood leaks onto her feet as Kodak groans in pain. "Aw, looks like the Kawanari's aren't as strong as I hoped. Do you think my fight with that blonde bitch was my strongest level?! YOU ARE DUMB AS YOUR FATHER!" Kodak's eyes then locked onto Ryoko, his gaze piercing into her as it caused Ryoko to back away in fear of what stood in front of her. "HOW ARE YOU UNAFFECTED BY CHAOTIC PLAGUE!?" Her eyes stared in horror as Kodak ripped the heel of her shoes out of his liver, the wound instantly regenerating. "Wait a damn minute. Do you have a healing factor?! But you haven't even accessed your agony!? How are you this strong!?"
Kodak smirked at her for a moment before the aura combination from his Menacing Destruction skill amplified in strength. Ryoko fell straight to the ground, feeling her entire body being crushed as Kodak's destructive energy soared even higher. The energy crackled across the city as Kodak let out a roar from using this skill.
[Skill: Destructive Amplification Activated strongly!]
Destructive Amplification- By tapping into the deeper regions of his destructive energy pool, Kodak can trigger something astonishing. The destructive energy makes contact with his soul, thus making him roughly 10 times stronger, along with being able to damage someone's soul, but this is only active for 5 minutes. After that duration, Kodak is left in a weakened state and cannot use destructive energy for 5 minutes.
Kodak's face smirks as his hair fully turns white with streaks of dark purple in it. "You should be lucky. No one has ever pushed me this far since Kuroi." Ryoko's face smiled as she activated Viper's Aura, making the air dense as they walked around each other. Circling for a moment, before disappearing and reappearing once again, clashing. But something was different. Kodak had a blade, and not just any blade. It was the artifact he had not used ever since this started. "Nice blade, huh? It's called Nagomi, it's an ancient artifact that's bonded with my soul. Giving me a nice boost!" Kodak shoved her off as the dark tone of the blade changed to a dark tone of purple, and sparks of energy radiated from the blade. The toxic energy placed on it by Ryoko was destroyed instantly, shocking her immensely. "(That blade neutralized chaotic plague instantly. If I were to be struck by the blade, I'd face massive damage.)" Ryoko leaped at Kodak once more, more wary of the blade. "(She figured by now that Nagomi is an artifact that is an amplifier for my destructive energy, so naturally she'd try to disarm me. But who gives a shit if she does!)"
Ryoko and Kodak throw out their attacks, both of them dodging them effortlessly as they get closer and closer to hitting one another.
[3rd Destructive Martial Formation: Voidbreaker!]
[Skill: Chaotic Strikes Activated strongly!]
Kodak's precise slashes aimed at Ryoko's neck, liver, legs, and even her arms. And even though he was precise enough to hit them, her aura was too dense to slice through, though it didn't seem impossible. So the attacks are blocked until Nagomi is sparked with destructive energy, shattering through the defenses of Ryoko. He then lined up his blade as Kodak felt the blade charge up with Voidbreaker once more. But this time, he used a different aura core.
[Aura Core: Bladed Destruction selected!]
Nagomi absorbs even more destructive energy from Kodak, amplifying the power surging through him even further. His eyes then flash red, and he rushes down, instantly moving toward Ryoko, slashing with even more tenacity and vigor than before. "(I should use my chants while I have this chance, after all. I want to do as much damage as possible.)" Ryoko punches Kodak, but his figure disappears after the punch, and Ryoko fills with fear as Kodak's body vaporizes into thin air.
[Skill: Fakeout activated!]
Kodak smirked as he thought back to the training period between him and Kuroi when he finally woke up. "Looks like you're finally awake, Kuroi. I learned a lot about myself, including that my kinetic energy evolved into destructive energy!" His voice radiated confidence as Kuroi scanned him with revenant radar. "Hmm, looks like you achieved this by absorbing and circulating Mania into your revenant pool, thus creating an entirely separate technique. But this has led to you being unable to use the destructive arts techniques. So to help you with your pathetic nature, I'll teach three skills that every martial artist should use in battle. The first is called: Fakeout. A double of yourself that is only used for diversions and catching the opponent off guard. The second one is called Destructive Amplification, a technique that uses your traumatic memories to ignite the destructive energy enough to reach your soul, thus amping your power for 5 minutes. But the third one is the most dangerous, so use this sparingly."
Kodak nodded his head in agreement, wanting to find new strength for the battles ahead of him. "I'll do whatever it takes." His eyes burned fiercely with the same intensity that Kuroi remembered from Kenji Fujiwara. "Good, 'cause I'm not gonna say this again. The third and final one is not a skill but rather a usage of revenant that we are gonna apply to your current destructive energy technique.
A message then popped up from the system in front of Kodak's eyes. A confident look spreads across Kodak's face as he charges up destructive energy.
[Your system has evolved into the intermediate stage named: Divine system!]
The memory ends as Kodak chants a few words as he inches closer to his target. "Intermediate Skill: Blade Breaker!"
[Intermediate Skill: Blade Breaker Activated with Killing Intent!]
Kodak's blade doubles in size as he swings it. Ryoko tries reinforcing her aura even further, but it's no use. Kodak's Nagomi had cut through her aura, damaging her soul greatly. Ashiro quickly arrives as he sees his friend cutting down Ryoko with Nagomi, and pulling his blade from her neck. Thoughts ran through Kodak's head as he reeled his back to himself, swinging the blade once through the air, flicking all the blood off the blade. "(That felt too easy, and does she have such weirdly colored blood?)"
Ashiro looked in front of Kodak, seeing a pair of snake-like eyes through the pile of dark rubble. "WATCH OUT!" Ashiro shoves Kodak out of the way and they both see the body of Ryoko below them, which melts into a puddle of acid. Kodak's eyes dart in front of him as he sees a dark-toned shortsword flying through the air at blinding speeds, piercing through Ashiro's chest. "ASHIRO!" But to his surprise, his friend rises, removing the shortsword. It revealed a shield of rock covering his chest as he tore the ripped-up t-shirt off his body. "It's gonna take more than a simple construct of toxic energy to take me down!"
Kodak then looked back at the pair of snake-like eyes, followed by two more pairs of eyes looming over him. "WHO ARE YOU!?"
Multiple figures walk out, the first one is Ryoko, the real one. Her body was scaly like snake skin, and her eyes were a dark yellow. They pierced into Ashiro as his body was covered in a dense formation of rock. "I'm gonna crush you like the slithery bastard you are!"
[Elemental Aura: Boulder Guard activated with perseverance!]
The formation of rocky armor surrounding Ashiro's body left nothing but two spots for his eyes to see properly through. He raised his hand, emitting a bright light from the ground beneath him. "Shatter, Impact, ruler of the earth. Seismic Expulsion!"
[Elemental Discharge: Seismic Expulsion Activated!]
The ground then ripples forward, aimed at Ryoko and the two other mysterious figures that still stood hidden in the rubble.
[Skill: Chanting Code Activated!]
A voice then spoke from the rubble one Kodak knew all too well. "Block, repel, amplify."
The Seismic Expulsion from Ashiro suddenly stopped and was reflected at him, even stronger than before. Ashiro extended his hand, trying to disable the technique but to his surprise it didn't even budge.
Ashiro then jumped away from the attack as Kodak did the same. The voice then spoke once more. "Turn, Brown-haired boy." The ripples of Seismic Expulsion suddenly took a sharp turn and aimed straight at Ashiro, catching him off guard. The rippling force from the ground explodes forward, blasting at Ashiro. But as the attack tears through his armor, Kodak swings his blade down at the reflected attack.
[3rd Destructive Martial Formation: Voidbreaker!]
Destructive energy surges from Nagomi as Kodak neutralizes the attack and saves Ashiro as his rocky armor is barely enough to cover his face. "Jeez, thought I was gonna be chopped liver for a second there." His face was sweating from nervousness as the other pair of eyes walked out of the shadows.
"Hello boys, missed me?" The fatherly tone and the way he dressed. It was Satsujin Tensai, but next to him stood a man with yellow hair with black streaks in it. His skin was faded, almost like plastic. The teenager's veins were showing on his skin, almost like lightning. "Miss me, you Kawanari trash!" Thunder echoed through the city as the sun slowly disappeared and all that was left were the dark starry sky, and the sound of thunder crackling throughout the night sky. Kodak quickly realized who this was. "It's you, Azar Tento!? Lemme guess you brought upon the revival of Jashi, here to kill me and the others." Azar laughed at him. "Although I hate Kawanari, I must say I forgot about our rivalry for some time, but if you push it I'll kill you!"