Chapter 12-28 - Duality Warfare, p2
28 - Duality Warfare, p2
“What the hell...is going on?” Kaito asked himself, mustering up all of his strength and standing up right. “Where’s the room? Where’s that room?!”
The sight of Hiroshi standing there, with at least the slightest bit of resolve in his eyes, infuriated him.
“Where is it?!” Kaito yelled, preparing to approach Hiroshi.
“Dad...” Hiroshi spoke up. A pair of wings emerged from his back, made of pure soul prowess. He held onto the dagger tighter, tightly enough that had it been a piece of glass it’d shatter under the pressure.
“You fucking insect, you just had to try and ruin everything...” Kaito grunted, taking a step forward. Despite it being an uphill battle, he was willing to engage. “Do you even know...why you’re alive in the first place?!”
Hiroshi didn’t answer.
“Your life, everything that you’ve experienced...you owe it all to me and her.” Kaito said. “You didn’t even have your own heart. You were revived from the dead, all because I thought that’s what she would’ve wanted...”
“And you’re spitting in the face of her dreams?!”
“You’re right, I owe everything to you, dad...” Hiroshi said. Instead of the mental deterioration that Kaito anticipated Hiroshi to go through as a result of his harsh words, Hiroshi’s determination seemed to have been on a steady increase.
“Because of you, I never got to properly go to school, and live like everyone else does...” Hiroshi said. “And b-because of you, they held a gun to my head, and they dragged me around and almost got me killed...”
“But that’s just...what my life was supposed to be.” Hiroshi said. He swung the dagger, and it released a small burst of soul prowess aimed at Kaito. It ended up carving a rather deep wound on the white crow’s arm. Kaito looked in slight disbelief.
“I made a friend...I...b-became a soulful too...” Hiroshi said, his voice shaky but firm like steel. “If that’s what my life is supposed to be, that’s okay...but...I don't want you to take it from me. I want to...live...and...and...”
“Can’t even fucking speak properly...” Kaito said, infuriated. “I-”
“I’m gonna stop you from killing everyone.” Hiroshi said, his presence flaring up.
“Because it’s the right thing to do, and...people have faith in me to do it.”
“You...stopping me?” Kaito asked himself. Just the idea of Hiroshi being the one to halt his purpose infuriated him beyond the point of recognition. In a furious fit, he rushed towards Hiroshi. “Just who the hell do you think you are, you fucking tool?!”
However, despite the emotional outburst, he didn’t lose his combat instincts.
Instead of tackling him, he feinted a jab, getting Hiroshi to swing one of the daggers in panic. Kaito took a quick step back and kicked Hiroshi in the stomach. To his surprise, his body felt tough. He came to realize just how much of a difference soul prowess really makes.
Kaito stepped back again, avoiding two more desperate dagger swings. He struck Hiroshi with a heavy oblique kick, only slightly hurting him. As Kaito expected Hiroshi to try and swing again, Hiroshi pushed in closer and grabbed him by his clothes. Kaito tried elbowing him and striking him with knees multiple times, but Hiroshi’s firm grasp and tough durability allowed him to retain the offensive. Hiroshi, overpowering Kaito, pushed him into a non-existing wall and broke him through it.
On the other side, Kaito found himself in the room again. He wanted to explore it. Instead of trying to fight properly, he quickly freed one of his hands and poked Hiroshi in his eye. As the latter was distracted for a few seconds, Kaito broke free. He looked around in excitement and fear, eager to devour every corner of the place. He still had hope that he’d see someone there.
But alas, no one was there. No one except a voice, which rang inside Kaito’s head like an antique church bell.
“Do you still think she’s here?”
“And who the hell are you supposed to be? A reflection of myself?” Kaito thought, as he ran around, exploring the rooms one by one. Hiroshi tried chasing him down, but Kaito’s familiarity with the apartment’s layout made him hard to catch. “Is that how the crystal works?”
“She won’t come. No matter how stubborn you are.”
“Yes, because she is already here.” Kaito said, tapping on his chest. “She’s with me.”
The room shook a little, as the walls began cracking. Kaito quickly looked around. He didn’t explore only one room, the kitchen. He was too scared to enter it. So instead, he chose to confront Hiroshi again.
Hiroshi swung at him with the dagger, but Kaito evaded the blow and stepped to the side. He placed his foot behind Hiroshi’s and tried to push him to trip him down, but Hiroshi, with raw strength alone, reversed the initiative. He dropped Kaito on the floor. Kaito tried to roll around and grab onto Hiroshi’s leg, but Hiroshi, with a strong kicking motion, tossed Kaito away. He flew through the wall...
The new environment was a classroom. Kaito was supposed to work on a group activity with someone, who ended up recognizing him.
“This is...”
Kaito jumped out of the desk, finding the one next to him empty. Hiroshi entered the classroom through the crack in the wall and instantly charged at Kaito. He threw remote slashes towards him, but Kaito quickly moved out of the way. They only scarred his sides.
“This is where I met her for the first time.” Kaito said, slowing down a little.
“I know, every story has a beginning.”
“And what’s the point of you talking to me? Can’t you see that I’m dealing with something?!” Kaito said, angered at his own thoughts that he heard out loud. Hiroshi came dangerously close to him, but Kaito repelled him with a well-placed Jab right at his nose followed by a right hand to his eye.
“This isn’t what you’re really dealing with.”
Kaito was taken aback by the thought. He’d gotten used to thinking about this type of stuff, but something about those words rubbed him in a strange way. Kaito found Hiroshi dangerously close to him. So close, in fact, that Hiroshi swung his dagger and inflicted a large slashing wound onto Kaito.
“I know what my purpose is.” Kaito repeated to himself. “I know better than anyone what was taken away from me, and why I choose to live despite that.”
“You don’t know a thing about living.”
“Get out of my head!” Hiroshi suddenly yelled, momentarily closing his ears. “Who are you? Get out of my head!!!”
Kaito was surprised to see it, but he did take advantage of the opportunity. He rushed at Hiroshi, using his technique to grab him and take him down, slamming him on the classroom’s floor.
In reality, what Hiroshi heard was a gentle voice. One that expressed how content it was with everyday life, how it felt happy. He couldn’t comprehend that it belonged to his adoptive father, his voice and even demeanor were so much different.
The soul crystal’s objective wasn’t to imprison a soul or to be a solution to Kaito’s divine power. The imprisonment was a side effect. Its purpose was to mend the souls within it...
[✦]
Sakuto breathed heavily, his body was scarred. Ichika was the same, a little blood started building up around her eyes from the constant fighting. She wasn’t used to utilizing her divine acclamation release so often.
“Can you feel it? His presence...” Sakuto said in between the heavy breaths. “It’s slowly lowering...I think...we might have a chance...”
“As long as you keep hitting him with soul breaker...” Ichika replied.
Though, their enemy was still Kaito Kamiki. He looked bruised and battered, with many cracks covering his body, tears on his wings, and even blood on his face. The crystal stuck in his chest shone brightly, acting as the beacon of hope.
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Staring into the white crow’s eyes, Sakuto charged in!
He struck him with his blade, and the two engaged in a series of fast-paced swings that left both of them scarred. Ichika flanked behind Kaito and struck her in the back with her Kunai, Sakuto used the chance to cut Kaito’s head off. Except this time, something felt off. Instead of smoothly cutting it off and watching Kaito regenerate it, Kaito’s neck protected itself from the strike. A scar was left there, more specifically, a crack in his armor.
Sakuto quickly jumped back, as Ichika kicked Kaito away into a nearby building, tossing a large chunk of ice towards him.
“His regeneration is weakened!” Sakuto exclaimed. He focused for a second, crouching and touching the ground with his palms. Seconds later, a large dragon-like creature emerged from underneath Kaito, swallowing him whole. Ichika repeatedly fired icicles at it, some of them piercing Kaito. And Kaito, with one fell swoop, cut the beast down and prepared to engage the two again.
“Come on, Hiroshi, whatever is happening in there...stay fucking strong...”
“Maybe you hate us, but I hope you hate your piece of shit dad more.”
Sakuto parried Kaito’s quick advance and kicked him away, and Ichika, with an ice blast, launched him into the sky.
“Soul Interpretation: Cluster!”
She fired multiple frozen cluster bombs, all of them detonating in spectacular fashion, the frozen debris dealing heavy damage to Kaito. Amidst that, Sakuto launched a pair of shadow daggers at him. One of them pierced Kaito in his stomach, and the other one, quickly circling around him, allowed Sakuto to shadow step right behind Kaito and kick him down.
On the ground, Ichika continued the offensive. She struck Kaito with a multitude of heavy attacks, all both knocking him back, applying nasty frostbite to the areas of impact, and continuing to crack his body further and further. With a heavy swipe, she sent Kaito flying a notable distance.
And while Kaito was mid-air, Sakuto popped out of his shadow and clasped his hands. A powerful release of compressed shadows in the form of an arrow pierced right through Kaito’s heart...or at least the area it was in. Kaito grabbed onto Sakuto to stop his momentum, but Sakuto quickly kicked him into the ground before piercing him with shadow spikes that quickly emerged from the ground.
And despite everything, Kaito still stood up. But now, he looked to be in serious trouble. Especially considering the piercing wound on his chest, which started to bleed quite a bit.
“This is it...” Sakuto said. “Just look at him. He’s...”
“Starting to look killable.”
However, one thing that Sakuto failed to notice properly was the integrity of Kaito’s wings. They looked to be perfectly in shape. Kaito’s next prowess release was fast and strong enough to almost cause serious trouble to Sakuto, but he luckily dodged it at the last second.
“Huh...?”
Kaito rushed forward. Sakuto tried to parry him and repel his attacks, but Kaito was now much more dangerous in combat. His constant strikes, paired with the wings constantly releasing flying slashes and the elbow blades’ sneaky danger, made Sakuto slowly retreat while absorbing significant cuts.
“Did he...give up on protecting himself? Is he just going for the kill now?!”
“Get off of him!” Ichika exclaimed, joining the fight from the side and trying to tackle Kaito away. But this time, Kaito was ready to counter. A perfectly timed kick to her body stunned her for a few seconds, and a follow-up strike with his elbow blade cut her badly.
“Ichika!” Sakuto exclaimed, before a powerful gust of flying slashes struck him almost head on. He shadow stepped in front of Ichika to protect her from incoming slashes too, but Kaito, instead, pushed at him directly.
“ ✦ Strike with your freezing wrath... ✦ ”
Ichika’s presence spiked, as Sakuto tried his hardest to hold Kaito off. He was starting to lose the fight. So was Kaito, he was accumulating damage, but his own offensive power was lethal.
“ ✦ With the impact of the deep, dark abyss... ✦ ”
Kaito released slashes into the ground, knocking Sakuto upward. As the latter tried to remain in the fight, Kaito quickly lunged towards him, grabbing him in the air and throwing him away. And he perfectly predicted Sakuto’s next move.
As the latter tried to shadow step behind him instantly and deliver a blow, Kaito quickly turned around, catching Sakuto with his guard down. With one decisive punch, he sent him flying into nearby rubble, following it up with multiple slashes.
Finally, he turned his attention to Ichika, who was his new primary target.
“ ✦ Befall! ✦ ”
Kaito swung with all his might, but was interrupted by an attack behind which was all of Ichika’s resolve.
“ ✦ Abyssal Frostbite!!! ✦ ”
It struck him nearly instantly. Not only did it attack Kaito directly, it also caused a tremendous ice blast to occur, with a gigantic buildup of ice emerging on the battlefield.Kaito growled in pain. His defense was beyond powerful even without concentrating on it, but the attack’s impact shocked him, going as far as paralyzing him for a few seconds.
At the same time, Ichika felt something warm flow down her cheeks, and a moment later felt a rather sharp pain in her eyes and head. She was reaching the point of exhaustion.
She summoned her dagger and took a step towards him, ready to deliver what she thought to be a decisive attack. But Kaito, despite his weakened protection, still broke out of the ice. He struck Ichika with insane power, imbued with flying slashes from his wings. It knocked her almost half a kilometer away, removing her from the battlefield. The power behind that single attack was ridiculous...
And yet, Kaito’s own body started crumbling. He started bleeding from parts of his body, and he felt awfully cold. The remnants of the ice that seeped enough into his body started slowing down his movements.
Sakuto rejoined the fight, lurking in the shadows.
Kaito felt his presence around him at multiple points. He was seemingly inside of the ice. He carefully looked around, and eventually, bolts of soul prowess escaped his fingertips as the environment was destroyed - the scattering around. Kaito looked around, and he didn’t see anything special. It was only when he tried to move that he felt something, something that restrained him. He saw that a set of shadow ropes were tying his feet together.
He broke free of them, but at the same time, from multiple sides, shadow harpoons were launched and all pierced him. The damage was negligible, in fact, the piercing wasn’t the main issue. It was the volume of the projectiles. Kaito, with the little room for mobility that he had, tried to fight back against the onslaught.
Then, he understood what the purpose of those weapons were. They weren’t meant to kill him, they were meant to act as a distraction. What he didn’t notice though was that they were also meant to restrain him.
Some of the spears that remained attached to him extended their handles, which transformed into ropes that were attached to debris and building remnants in the environment. They, for just a few seconds, held him still. From one of the incoming shadow spears, Sakuto emerged. He was preparing to swing his blade.
Kaito quickly reacted, feeling genuinely concerned. He used all of his strength to tear the ropes apart, and despite them being imbued with an impressive amount of shadows, he succeeded.
“ ✦ Divine Acclamation Release... ✦ ”
Kaito quickly released a set of extreme, almost fatal slashes at Sakuto. They struck their target. Parts of his body were split open with deep slashing wounds, and the entirety of his left arm was cut off. But through the purgatory Sakuto made it to his target.
“ ✦ SOUL BREAKER!!!!! ✦ ”
The attack landed perfectly...
[✦]
Breaking through the classroom’s floor, the two found themselves in a different setting. Actually, an entire sequence of them. As the crystal tried to do its job, it made it difficult for the two to be on a battlefield on which they could fight reliably.
Kaito looked around, finding himself in a small café. A blink later, he was in a park, and Hiroshi was there, right in front of him. Hiroshi quickly headbutted Kaito in the stomach, causing the white crow quite a bit of discomfort. He then tried to kick him, but Kaito quickly dodged back. Kaito looked around, he saw an absolutely calm environment where nature reigned supreme, and there were flowers...a lot of them, too many to count. And not a single blade of grass was there, it all looked so peaceful, like that’s how it was supposed to look since the beginning.
“Take a good look around you.”
“This is what the crystal does, I suppose.” Kaito thought. “It tries to meddle with your thoughts.”
“And? You’re acting as if confronting yourself is not what you needed.” Kaito said, appearing in front of him, with a calm voice. “You’ve fallen into a hole, and you think the only way out is to blow up the earth.”
“Get out of my way.” Kaito said, punching Kaito with all of his strength in the stomach. As the illusion of himself shattered, Kaito saw that the victim of the punch was actually Hiroshi. And it stung him pretty badly. He prepared to punch again, but before it landed, he found himself in a more lonesome patch of grass. Despite the lines in the sky, the starful night sky could be seen clearly.
As Kaito was distracted, Hiroshi stabbed him in the side of his stomach.
Kaito screamed in pain, quickly leaping forwards and freeing himself from Hiroshi’s weapon. He held onto the wound, taking more and more steps back before tripping and falling down.
“There is no such thing as life without my purpose.” Kaito thought. “She’s looking down on me, and the world I’m shaping, and...”
“She’s proud of me!” Kaito thought. He tried to get up, but a powerful force held him down, strongly enough to destroy the ground beneath him and transport him into a different place. This time, it was the city, at night, just before the fireworks were about to go off.
“I’m never going to abandon my purpose, because doing it would be the same as abandoning her!!!”
And as the fireworks began detonating in the sky, it cracked. And a moment later, it shattered. That was the moment Kaito was struck by the full might of soul breaker.
He fell down. He felt a crippling pain in his chest, and a sense of weakness rushing through him. The environment was made up of nothing but the pure white everywhere and the black lines in the sky. Nothing was left except the white crow and Hiroshi.
At the same time, Hiroshi felt things too.
“He’s right there, I...I can do it.” He said. The soul prowess felt like a sweet embrace and a guiding hand. “I’m strong enough to do it.”
“I have it.”
“I have the courage to do it...and act as I think is right.”
Kaito slowly stood up. He bled from his lip and his stab wound, and his eyes started leaking blood too. Hiroshi took a stance, his presence increasing a little more.
[✦]
And outside, Sakuto was the last available fighter to take a stand against Kaito. Despite both of them being heavily injured and nearing exhaustion, neither wanted to back down...