Soul Spark

26 - Heaven Pierce

The wind was howling...

“There is no point in continuing this fight.” Kaito said, slowly descending. The ground felt like it wasn’t intended to withstand a creature like him at the moment. His presence wasn’t simply above all else, it was fundamentally different. It had a sense of finality within it, as if its existence was a denouement, an irreversible change to the world.

“None of your weapons can harm me, and nor can any strength you muster up.” Kaito continued. “Whether or not you attack me will not make a difference anymore.”

The Heisei watched in silence and disbelief.

“You...” Sakuto said, taking a step forward. His allies were shocked to see him dare approach the disastrous being.

“Hm?” Kaito was just confused.

“You’re the reason...they died...” Sakuto growled. His own presence skyrocketed. “You’re the reason he’s dead...”

“I’m the reason you’re alive right now.” Kaito replied.

“You killed him!!!” He yelled, in just a moment, shadow stepping behind Kaito and stabbing him in the chest. While his blade pierced him clean, Kaito didn’t seem like he even cared.

Sakuto continued the assault, kicking him off of his blade and sending a flurry of prowess releases at him, all of them hitting Kaito hard, almost severing his body completely. Quickly giving himself a pair of shadow wings, he charged at Kaito at full speed, tearing his way through the many bits of debris laying around, all in order to grab a hold of him.

Once he did just that, he dragged him and tossed back into the air. A series of shadow tentacles emerged behind him, all piercing him clean. While Kaito was, at least visually, receiving dangerous amounts of damage, the sight was more concerning than hopeful.

“This isn’t it...something’s off.” Ichigo thought. “It’s like he doesn’t care...”

He looked down at the small spark on his chest. He, and the rest of the combatants, began to feel a shift in Kaito’s presence - not up or down, but ‘sideways’. Into a type of existence that was only achievable by the likes of him.

“His goal is to trigger the event...considering that he hasn’t done it yet, there’s something stopping him.”

At that time, Sakuto rushed to Kaito and chopped his head off clean. However, his presence didn’t disappear. Sakuto exhaled, as if venting all of his built up anger out, and that left him distracted...

Kaito’s body quickly regenerated. He struck Sakuto with an uppercut and kicked him down into the ground, where he crashed with enough of an impact to tear it apart. Jian, quickly reacting, fired a shot and pierced Kaito’s stomach with it, but it regenerated just as fast.

“Nah, there’s no way...” Zawadski said, preparing to engage. “No way we’re letting this shit happen without putting up a fight.”

Kaito gazed in his direction and launched a release of soul prowess strong enough to cleave him apart. Zawadski needed a few dozen saves and reloads just to dodge it successfully.

“ ✦ Divine Ring Of Exorcism!!! ✦ ”

Kaito was showered by the light, the light powerful enough to be regarded as an extremely potent and dangerous attack...and he walked out of it, retaining a calm expression. The hollow sun appeared slightly blighter, and so did his halo.

He blitzed Ichigo, grabbing him by his throat and crushing it almost instantly. Three wings left. After the resurrection, Ichigo’s eyes started to have a much more noticeable bleed. Yuuka and Jian tried to jump in, but neither of them captured Kaito’s attention as much as Ichika’s advance did.

He quickly kicked Yuuka away, and Jian, who destroyed the entire right side of Kaito’s head with a well-timed shot amidst hand-to-hand exchanges, was grabbed by her uniform. Kaito’s regeneration looked like it didn’t even care about the damage done, it simply erased any and all signs of injury from his body.

“I’m impressed. Only a captain can be this stubborn...” He said, as he prepared to kill off Jian and turn to properly deal with Ichika. As he was about to unleash a flying slash right at her head, Ichika blitzed in, faster than he anticipated, touching his head with her palm.

“Soul Interpretation: Flash Freeze!”

The entire upper half of Kaito’s body was frozen. And Ichika quickly jumped back, along with the rest of the fighters.

“Sakuto! Now!” She yelled.

From the shadows, Sakuto emerged, wielding the soul crystal dagger in his hand. Kaito didn’t previously care about any of the attacks, but that was a lie...there was one exception. He quickly broke through the ice and intercepted Sakuto’s attack. He struck him with an uppercut and sent him flying into the air, but Sakuto, quickly adapting to the change of elevation, fired a series of shadow tendrils to grab Kaito with.

Pulling the white crow towards him, he swung his blade manically - trying to find any type of opening to strike him with the crystal. He mixed quick swings with the crystal with regular blade attacks, but Kaito’s evasion and counter-attacking granted him the status of the superior in those exchanges. As Sakuto disengaged for a split second, Kaito turned around and punched a hole through Ichigo’s stomach.

Ichigo was invisible, trying to fly behind Kaito and at least temporarily hold him still. Kicking him away, the light manipulator was left with only two wings. Jian fired again, destroying a large chunk of Kaito’s body, which was recovered almost instantly.

And yet, the most destructive attack was under Sakuto’s orders. The colorful gray spread around him, and the full brunt of the destructive factor struck him at once. Kaito’s body was completely disintegrated.

“Holy shit...wait...”

“His presence...!”

As if out of thin air, or the shallow remnants of soul prowess left in the environment, Kaito returned. His body was completely recovered and intact.

“What...in the world...” Jian started to feel the weight of desperation on her shoulders. She tried to take aim, but she knew that it wouldn’t even matter.

“This type of soul regeneration...”

“Despite everything, you still choose to underestimate me?” Kaito asked, grabbing Sakuto by his clothes, as if to prove a point. “This is not simple regeneration. This is the guarantee of my purpose. For as long as even the idea of a soulful and a world dedicated to them exists, my body shall not crumble no matter the punishment it takes.”

“You pathetic fucking vermin...”

“Watch me closely...”

“Yume...”

Kaito looked like he started zoning out a little.

“I wish...you’d see me like this...

“Your body...?” Sakuto asked. He broke free of the grasp and shadow stepped behind Kaito, flanking around him, getting just enough time to unleash his most powerful attack.

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At the same time, another soulful decided to strike with everything she’s got.

“ ✦ Befall // Divine Acclamation Release... ✦ ”

“Abyssal Frostbite // Soul Breaker!!!!”

His soul was attacked by abyssal frostbite’s lethality, but that was an attack that Kaito could allow himself to absorb. Soul breaker, however, was something of a much higher level. It struck not just his soul, but also the mechanism inside of it - shaking everything apart, like a lousy housekeeper shaking a peaceful ant farm that just managed to start prospering.

Kaito tried to strike back, but Ichika leapt up into the air, swiping at Kaito and knocking him down into the ground. Sakuto shadow stepped right next to him and launched him back into the air...

“Sakuto! Don’t forget!” Ichigo exclaimed.

“This attack...” Kaito thought. “It...delayed my body’s adaptation to the mechanism.”

“It tried to...”

He wasn’t moving around, he was taking the beating from Sakuto head on. But amidst those strikes, a terrifying spark of concentration filled his abyssal eyes.

Sakuto grabbed the dagger once more, but before he could stab Kaito with it, his arm was blown away.

“✦ I’ve had enough. ✦ ” Kaito said. Sakuto, in despair, tried to reach the crystal with a shadow tendril, but Kaito’s arm tore through his torso, tossing him away.

“Sakuto!!!” Ichika yelled, in a wake of devastation, leaping towards Kaito again. But Kaito, without as much as an expression in his face, launched a series of slashes at Ichika with sufficient force behind them to slam her into the ground and almost kill her completely.

Kaito looked down, noticing that the crystal was no longer part of the severed arm that laid on the ground.

He released a series of slashes around him, all not only destroying the environment, but also the soulfuls inside. Ichigo, who was invisible, was exposed - his resurrection following his death due to the prowess releases revealed not just him, but also the crystal’s whereabouts.

“Ah...so that is where your hope is...”

He felt something graze him, it was Jian’s attempt at shooting him down. It didn’t even scratch his forearm. He went down to try and retrieve the crystal, but Jian quickly shot it further away. Kaito was even a little impressed by the decision.

Ominous bells began to ring in the skies above the white crow, signifying the forthcoming of the soulful world.

Ichigo, with only one left wing, tried to put up any kind of fight against him. He swung, but Kaito caught his hand, tossed him away, and released a flurry of slashes strong enough to dismember him completely. The beacon of light was left wingless.

Zawadski took a stance.

“Come on, if I can just distract him for long enough...”

He sprinted towards Kaito. Every single meter between them required dozens and dozens of saving and loading to get through, the power of the flying slashes was far too great to avoid easily. They required movements that were difficult even for a soulful like Zawadski. As he got closer and closer, the storm of soul prowess intensified, and it wouldn’t be too long before he found himself in a position where there was no possible escape.

Receiving a few of those slashes head-on, he was thrown away into the distance. The only one left was Yuuka.

“I used my divine acclamation not too long ago...if I try too hard...”

“Ahh, this is the only chance...”

“So focus, Yuuka!!!”

“Kyaaaah!!!” She said, mustering up all of her strength into her fist and driving it into Kaito. The latter’s body was punched through, revealing a large wound that didn’t bleed. Kaito, taking a step forward, kicked Yuuka away.

Another circular release of soul prowess confirmed the Heisei’s complete and utter defeat.

Only one soulful was left standing. Sakuto shadow stepped next to him and charged at him, swinging his blade. Now that he no longer had the crystal on him, he didn’t care at all about all of Sakuto’s attacks except one.

“What a shame...” Kaito said, completely regenerating from the wounds without even trying. “I thought you would support my goal considering what type of person you are. I thought you would be standing by my side.”

“Don’t...talk to me...” Sakuto growled, his own powerlessness infuriating him. He tried to swing again, but Kaito grabbed him by his arm and threw him up into the air, before blitzing him and chasing him away.

The battlefield was left empty...

Only Ichika was there, slowly trying to walk towards where Sakuto and Kaito continued their fight, which was more akin to a one-sided scolding if anything. But while wandering, she searched for something, and eventually, she found it.

She carefully grabbed the crystal, parts of it beginning to cover up with ice, as if being forged into something new. She tapped on her earpiece.

“Sakuto...”

...

“ ✦ Divine Acclamation Release-”

Kaito destroyed Sakuto’s arm as he prepared to land the attack. His halo shone as bright as the hollow sun itself...

The soulfuls worldwide, marked with the small spark on their chests, noticed it get brighter and brighter. Contrary to that, a special type of darkness surrounded the soulless, one that could only be seen by the soulfuls.

“I really am curious about what made you stand against me, you know?” Kaito asked Sakuto, as he saw the latter quickly regenerate his arm with shadows and rush at him again. To his slight confusion, he was looking behind him quite often.

“It’s all because of you...” Sakuto said, each swing and strike filled with more of his hatred. “You sent us to that damn stronghold, you made us kill each other...all the time, all those deaths...”

]Kaito’s reinforcement was high enough that Sakuto couldn’t even properly slice him anymore. So he kept swinging at him with his blade, until a few such connections later, he managed to cut him into two. Of course, Kaito recovered as if nothing had happened.

“Do you think that I would put anything else above my purpose?!” Kaito said, much more angered.

“All of you...did you think you’d be able to defy it? Did you think you’d be able to defy her?!” He yelled, grabbing Sakuto and throwing him into nearby rubble. Before Sakuto could properly get up, Kaito was right next to him once more, scarring his face and torso with his elbow blades and swiping him away. Sakuto shadow stepped behind him to avoid the knockback, but Kaito reacted quickly, punching him in the stomach and dragging him back into the air. He held him by his clothes.

“The soulful world is upon us.” Kaito said, throwing him away. His presence shifted once more, it felt like all of its accumulated power was about to strike the world, all at once. Its targets were already set, and the change it would make was known to both the fallen combatants, and the harbinger himself.

“Soulfuls...are the only ones who deserve to live.” ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ novel⦿fire.net

He raised his arm, and Sakuto’s body was split into two.

“The soulless must simply...”

“ ✦ Be erased. ✦ ”

“...”

“Wait...”

“I...did not attack Sakuto Hitori just now...?”

He took a better look at Sakuto. He saw that there was no sign of any lingering white soul prowess...the two halves of the body weren’t even properly split apart. The two halves were somewhat held together using shadow strings...

And most importantly, he saw something in the middle. Something with a sharp and shiny tip and its own soul presence, that was flying exactly towards him. The object flew right through the two halves of Sakuto’s body, and an instant later...

The only possible scenario where the calamity would be halted...became reality.

KAITO KAMIKI WAS PIERCED BY THE SOUL CRYSTAL, DELIVERED BY A FROZEN SPEAR!!!

The destabilization of his soul presence could be felt across the battlefield. His halo looked like it was glitching out, constantly flickering, rapidly changing its brightness. Bolts of soul prowess covered Kaito’s face, which was devoured by pure panic. He, with his seizing arms, tried to grab onto the spear. While the ice itself was destroyed, the crystal remained in place.

Kaito’s body contorted. It released violent pulses across the world, and for Kaito himself, he felt like he was plunged into the depths of an uncaring sea. His vision became blurry and doubled for a few seconds, before he was completely blinded. Then, as more time passed, he slowly opened his eyes.

While he still stood in the battlefield of Rome, he was also in a completely different place. It was fully white. Some parts of it were gray, some parts - black, contrasting well with the rest of the environment. And most importantly, the sky was filled with hollow hexagon patterns.

And yet, at the same time, he was completely lucid in Rome. Outside of the soul crystal, he still retained thought, motor function. He saw double, the outside, and the inside...

Normally, the crystal would come into contact with Kaito and instantly paralyze him, trapping his soul inside. However, Kaito’s soul wasn’t the only one dwelling inside his body. The six souls that belonged to figures in charge of fractions of the world had been silenced, suppressed and subdued under the mechanism the moment they were devoured. However, an exception was in place for one specific soul.

A soul that was imbued in the central element, and one that would complete the shape and act as its center...

Kaito had to fight a war on two frontlines. Within the confines of the crystal, Kaito looked ahead and saw Hiroshi standing in front of him.