"Table Lotus!"
Two white sealing bands shot from Ryuuto's hands mid-air, snaking around Beast's bulky frame before he could react. In seconds, the mutant was wrapped like a blue burrito, locked tight as Ryuuto grinned, twisted, and dove toward the ground—his prisoner in tow.
"Damn it! Get off me!"
"I'm not! What are you gonna do, roll me off?!" Ryuuto barked back, voice sharp with mockery as they spiraled down.
Nearby, Seraph—still locked in brutal combat with Ryuuto's ape summon—traded another earth-shaking punch. Both staggered back several steps, muscles trembling from the collision.
"Boy! Take this—Ten Thousand Ice Spears!"
Lauf's fury finally boiled over. He thrust his hands forward, summoning a forest of glittering icicles. Frost exploded outward, cutting through the air toward Ryuuto like a storm of glass knives.
At the same time, the Destroyer charged from the sky, crimson light burning in its eyes. The machine moved with terrifying speed, like vengeance given metal form.
Countless ice shards surrounded Ryuuto, the air itself frosting over—yet his pace never slowed.
"Haha, Lauf, you never learn, huh? How many times do I have to beat your frozen ass before it sticks?"
The taunt hit like a slap. Lauf blinked—and froze. Because now there wasn't just one Ryuuto falling from the sky. There were five.
"W-what the hell—clones?!"
He spun around, panic clawing up his throat. Every direction he turned, another Ryuuto smirked at him. Even the Destroyer found itself cornered by duplicates.
"No! These are fakes!" Lauf roared. "Destroyer, ignore them! Hit the real one—kill him!"
Too late. One of the clones drop-kicked him square in the chest, sending him tumbling into the dirt before he could finish shouting.
BOOM!
The explosion ripped through the ground, dust swallowing everything. Ryuuto used the momentum to leap away just before impact, watching Beast slam headfirst into the pavement. The blue mutant's body sank halfway into the concrete, twitching once before going limp.
"Down for the count. Sweet dreams, Smurf."
Ryuuto dusted off his hands.
"Bastard! You'll pay for that!"
Seraph roared, eyes glowing crimson. The heat rolling off him warped the air. His fists hammered like meteor strikes, forcing Ryuuto's Monkey King Clone to stumble back, losing power with every blow.
"Kid!" the monkey bellowed. "Ape King Mode's burning out! You better wrap this up, I'm clocking out!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it!" Ryuuto replied, chakra flaring. He darted forward in a red flash. "Rasengan!"
The glowing orb of chakra spun in his palm, shrieking. He slammed into Seraph, driving him back several meters.
"Ape-dono, thanks for the backup. Get some rest—I'll treat you to bananas next time."
"Hmph! You still have some conscience left after all," the monkey grumbled, fading in golden smoke as he returned to the Summoning Realm.
Seraph's rage only grew. "That damn ape's gone? Good. Now it's your turn to die!"
Ryuuto twirled the Rasengan, its light reflecting in his eyes. "You sure about that? You look nervous, big guy. Don't tell me you're scared of a little chakra ball?"
"I'm not afraid of anything!" Seraph barked, but instinctively stepped back, his gut twisting with dread.
Ryuuto grinned wider. "Then you'll love this next part."
He lunged forward, Rasengan roaring to life. Seraph tried to dodge, grabbing a broken cement slab and hurling it in panic.
"Eat concrete!"
The spinning orb tore straight through it—turning the slab into a cloud of gravel. Seraph's eyes widened in disbelief.
"You're kidding me—"
"Nope." Ryuuto pressed forward. "Time to send you flying."
He rammed the Rasengan into Seraph's gut. The mutant's body arched, face twisting in agony as the attack howled with wind and chakra.
But instead of retreating, Seraph gritted his teeth, his hand shooting out to clamp onto Ryuuto's wrist. "Gotcha!"
"Now!" Lauf shouted, crawling out of a pile of rubble. "Destroyer, fire!"
"High-Heat Laser—engage!"
Twin beams of crimson light surged from the machine's eyes. The ground sizzled as the twin blasts roared toward Ryuuto and Seraph locked in midair.
"Shion," Ryuuto muttered through gritted teeth, "status check!"
[Ding! Host caught in a two-man pincer.]
[Recommendation: improvise, or die dramatically.]
"Helpful as always," Ryuuto spat.
And then the world lit up in red.