Chapter 26 : Fist of FuryAnother explosive punch met Sayanee’s face and blew her back few feet. “Ugh-”
Jurina smirked. “How’d you like that?”
Sayanee wiped the blood off her mouth and returned a scoff. “Is that all you’ve got?”
“No.” Jurina then stomped her right foot on the ground as two Alpha blades protruded from her back and pointed at Sayanee’s direction.
Sayanee too activated her Alpha blades and pointed them at Jurina’s direction. “There is simply no way for you to achieve Alpha level in such a short amount of time…”
“That’s because you haven’t tried dying before.” Jurina smirked. “Would you like to find out how it felt?”
“Dream on!” Sayanee leaped towards Jurina swiftly and slammed her blades on her.
Jurina retaliated with her very own blade and attempted a punch but got blocked immediately. She continued with a flurry of fiery fists while her blades still defending against Sayanee’s powerful blades. With her newfound powers, Jurina could actually be on par with an Alpha. She had never even dreamt of being able to place a scar on an Alpha back when she was still a Beta. But this goal doesn’t seem too far away for Jurina now.
Both of them exchanged punches and kicks and finally was able to get past each other’s defences. Jurina landed a successful punch on Sayanee’s face while the latter landed a powerful kick on Jurina’s stomach. Upon impact, both of them flew back a few feet. Sayanee crashed onto a tree while Jurina fell right beside Rena. Looking at how severely injured Rena was, Jurina’s body got heated up in anger. She placed her hand on Rena’s face and caressed her. “Just give me a few more minutes, Rena. I will avenge you.”
Rena slowly mumbled. “Ju……ri……na…”
“Shh…” Jurina placed her finger on Rena’s lips. “Stay put and rest.”
That time, an army of undead Spectres ambushed Jurina and jumped towards her at the same time. “RAAAGGHHHH!!!!”
“I once promised Rena that I will never kill a human… But you guys aren’t really human anymore so I don’t have to hold back.” Jurina used one blade and swung it 360 degrees around her with full strength. A single swing tore all the ambushing Spectres in half, painting the field and herself in red.
“Jurina… She…” Itano trembled a little at the drastic change in Jurina’s power level. “Even I need quite some time to take out one… She took out that many undead Spectres with only a single swing… She keeps getting further ahead of me!”
“Haven’t you learn in basic combat lessons never to look away in a battle?” Atsuko came down with a slash.
Itano was this close to being cut in half but she managed to roll away just in time. “Tch- Get her!” Itano ordered a few Spectres to attack Atsuko.
As the Spectres rushed towards Atsuko’s direction, she merely stretched her body to the side and smiled a little. “Oh boy.”
“Good luck! HAHAHAHA!!! These Spectres have especially high tolerance in pain! You won’t survive in a battle of stamina!” Itano laughed.
“True.” Atsuko’s nose twitched. “Unless there’s nothing left to tolerate.”
“What!?”
Atsuko unclipped two fully charged lasers and pointed at the army rushing in towards her before clicking on the buttons simultaneously. It fired two huge laser beams at the crowd, vaporising them in a single flash. One laser was strong enough to destroy at least 10 of them already. 2 lasers took out almost 20 of them in one shot. “I think you’re forgetting the types of weapons in a Judgement, Itano. There’s no need for stamina for using the laser.”
“H-H-Hahahaha!!! But I also know that it takes 30 seconds till you charge the next one so I will have plenty of time to attack you!” Itano laughed again. “Attack her again!”
“…” Without uttering a single word, Atsuko clipped the used Judgement back on her belt and unclipped yet another 2 fully charged lasers and destroyed them once again.
“What the!?”
“I already charged 4 lasers while you were fantasizing about Jurina earlier. As long as you keep your eyes off me for a second, I will always be one step ahead of you.”
“Don’t get too full of yourself!” Itano attempted a blade attack but got knocked away by her Judgement swords. “!!!”
“Have you forgotten? I defeated an Alpha Spectre before. I have all the right to be full of myself while facing a Beta. Don’t I?”
Itano started trembling. The more she thought of it, the more she started accepting the fact that she wasn’t as strong as she thought. There were a lot more out there stronger than herself. Her pride had been blinding her. She thought by joining this secret organization, she would be a force to be feared of. But she thought wrong. It was only an illusion. “…”
Atsuko told. “I’m not sure what issue you all have but clearly it seemed like you’re trying to pick a fight with us on purpose. There’s definitely something weird going on here. For some reason, my gut is telling me that you and Sayanee have a different goal compared to Yuko. Why don’t you spit it out so I can understand this situation better.”
“…”
“Silence. So I was right. You weren’t targeting us because we captured Omega didn’t you? You target us because you want to get rid of us. Because we’re a threat to whatever you’re planning behind the other Spectre’s backs, right?” As expected of witty Atsuko. Her intuition was completely spot on.
“…”
“Well it doesn’t matter to me at all. I’m a simple person. I don’t care if you’re a human or an alien or whatever. If you don’t hurt me, I won’t hurt you. But if for once you even attempt to kill me… I will not hesitate to kill you.
“I…”
“Itano please. I know you never liked me. None of the Spectres did. But I’ve been staying in the same home as you for two whole years. During the span of two years, I can roughly know what kind of Spectre you are. You’re just a very angry Spectre with a lot of pride. Angry of the fact that you could never defeat Jurina. You’re better than this. So I’m giving you a chance to explain your true motive and walk away OR don’t say another word and come at me.”
“…”
Atsuko continued. “But bear in mind… If you choose the latter, I won’t be responsible for any dismemberment. Your choice.”
Itano felt shivers down her spine suddenly. “…”
“You have 5 seconds to choose before I assume that you’re going for the second choice.” Atsuko started counting down.
“Wait!” Itano called out suddenly.
Atsuko smiled and retracted her sword. “Good choice.”
“All I wanted was to be strong. To be an Alpha…” Itano said softly. “Defeating Jurina used to be my goal. But now… It’s getting further and further away. There is no way I can ever defeat her now.”
“Do you know why Jurina is stronger than you?” Atsuko asked.
“Why?”
“Because Jurina swallows her pride. She doesn’t allow that to blind her from her goal.”
Itano nodded. “I think I get it now… I’m going to tell you everything I know.”
“Don’t worry. I will make sure nobody will be alive to witness this.” Atsuko assured.
Itano stepped closer and whispered. “The reason why we targeted Team Taka was because…” All of a sudden, Itano’s blades extended towards Atsuko’s torso. “Because we hate you all!!”
“…”
“…”
Atsuko shook her head and sighed. “I knew you would do that… But I brushed it off thinking you would turn over a new leaf… I was wrong.”
“Ugh…” Itano’s blades stopped right in front of Atsuko’s face as she looked down on her chest. Two of Atsuko’s swords were piercing right through both her shoulder joints, inflicting fatal damage upon her.
“You should have known your cheap tricks would never have worked on someone like me…” Atsuko shook her head. “Even till the very end, you weren’t able to swallow your pride. And that alone brought you your own death.”
“Ugh-” Itano spit out more blood before falling on her knees and laid on the ground motionless.
“That is why pride is one of the seven deadly sins. Take your time and sleep it off, Itano. I hope you would turn over a new leaf for real if you ever wake up.”
*BOOM*
Sayanee’s giant fireball just exploded right at Jurina’s face and sent her flying back few feet. “Hmph! So what if you have the power of an Alpha, Jurina!? You’re still no match for me!”
After spitting out some excess blood from her mouth, Jurina engulfed her blades in fire and swung them at Sayanee in a vigorous manner. The blows were extremely heavy as each and every one of them sliced past the rocks and trees easily. Sayanee retaliated with her very own flaming blade attacks. The impact of the blows sent explosions around the whole area. Then Jurina saw an opening. She went in for an explosive punch. Upon contact, Sayanee’s face blew up.
Jurina was confident that that punch dealt a lot of damage to Sayanee. When the smoke subsided, Jurina was shocked to find that her fist was just connected to Sayanee’s face. It did very little damage to her. She scoffed. “You call that a punch?”
“Take this!!” Jurina spun and slammed her flaming blade on Sayanee but got blocked. Immediately, she went in for a flaming kick which also got blocked.
Sayanee smirked. “Is that all there is to your powers? Don’t make me laugh, Jurina!”
Sayanee retaliated with a punch on Jurina’s face that cracked her cheekbone almost instantly before pulling her in for another punch again. Jurina tumbled backwards a little before getting kicked away. “It hurts doesn’t it?”
“Ugh…” Jurina groaned from Sayanee’s brute strength.
Sayanee smirked and showed her fist at Jurina. “And I haven’t even engulfed them in flames… So tell me what happens if I were to engulf my hands in flames and punch you again?”
“Go to hell!!!” Jurina rushed in and attempted an attack.
“No… YOU go to hell.” Sayanee engulfed her fist in flames and landed a successful punch on Jurina’s stomach.
“Gwak-!!!!!” Jurina was sent flying at least 20 meters back, crashing past a few huge rocks.
“That is what you call a punch.”
“Ugh…” Jurina was in a lot of pain. The punch burned her stomach badly and crushed a few ribs.
With a kick on the ground, Sayanee propelled herself towards where Jurina was in an instant and slammed her blade on her. It was a direct hit.
“AARRRGGHHH!!!!” Jurina’s stomach got slashed badly.
“You still think you have a chance against me? Acting so tough after you gained a little more power than before...” Sayanee scoffed.
Jurina then retaliated with a powerful double kick that sent her tumbling back a little. She was trying to keep a distance from Sayanee for now since it was disadvantage for her. Right when she tried to hop away, Sayanee grabbed her leg and slammed her on the ground.
“Where do you think you’re going, Jurina!?”
“GAAAHH!!!” Jurina aimed her blades at Sayanee and swung it at her. Sayanee used her very own blades to block while still pinning Jurina down.
“I’m disappointed, Jurina. When you came here and claimed that you had new powers, I thought you would actually put up some fight. I was wrong. As the fight prolonged, you got worse.”
Sayanee raised a blade and slammed it down, piercing through Jurina’s torso. She then used her blade and lifted Jurina up effortlessly.
“Ugh...”
“You’re so naïve, Jurina… You actually thought you can take me down even when you’re not used to the powers of an Alpha yet. What a joke… You will never ever defeat me, Jurina. You hear me?”
“Ha……haha…….ha……” Jurina started chuckling all of a sudden.
The fact that Jurina was still laughing made Sayanee a little pissed off. “What so funny?”
“You seem to be underestimating my powers, Sayanee…” Jurina’s whole body suddenly engulfed in flames. Super-hot and bright flames. Not one part of Jurina was not covered in flames. “I have yet to show you my full power.”
“What!?” Sayanee was surprised with Jurina’s sudden burst in fire power. Sayanee was actually feeling hot for the first time. She could feel Jurina’s flames scalding her blade. If she left her blade in Jurina’s torso, she might actually get burned for real. So, Sayanee pulled the blade out of Jurina.
To her surprise, Jurina was grabbing onto Sayanee’s blade tightly, not allowing her to pull it out of her stomach. “Why pull back now? What’s the rush?”
“What the!?” Sayanee couldn’t pull her blade out for some reason and Jurina’s flames continued burning her blade.
“You just made a huge mistake belittling me, Sayanee.” With one hand gripping onto the blade tightly, Jurina raised the other hand and slammed it down on it, immediately breaking the blade in two.
“Argh!!!” Sayanee screamed in pain.
Only then, Jurina pulled the dismembered blade out of her stomach and kicked Sayanee on the head. This time, the kick was far more powerful. It almost broke Sayanee’s neck as it sent her flying far away. “What the hell happened??”
Sayanee groaned and stare back at flaming Jurina slowly walking towards her. For some reason, it sent shivers down her spine. It was as if she was staring at a demon for a moment. All of a sudden, Jurina was already standing in front of her. She did’t see that coming.
“Shit!!” Sayanee was caught off guard. With her whole body engulfed in flames, Jurina went in for a series of fiery gatling punches. Sayanee couldn’t even catch on to Jurina’s speed now. She kept getting punched again and again. Every punch landed on Sayanee’s body cracked a bone each. Jurina pulled her fist downwards and ended the fight with a powerful flaming uppercut that broke Sayanee’s jaw and sent her crashing onto a nearby rock.
“I won.” Jurina exclaimed as the fire from her body slowly faded away. Her whole body was in pain from overusing her Alpha powers. For the first time in forever, Jurina defeated an Alpha Spectre. “Didn’t see that coming, did you?”
“Ugh…” Sayanee was completely beaten to the point where she almost lost consciousness. Her whole body suffered extreme burns despite fire being her main element. Jurina’s flames were proven to be more powerful compared to Sayanee’s.
“I told you before this. That I’ll be the one to kill you. And that I’m the true flame Alpha Spectre. Any last words?” Jurina asked as she looked upon Sayanee laying flat on the ground.
Sayanee broke into a laughter suddenly. “Go ahead. Kill me. It won’t change the fact that Rena will soon die as well. Just so you know, the Spectre serum isn’t permanent. Once the effect runs out, she will be gone like she was supposed to be!”
“!!!” Upon hearing this shocking revelation, Jurina turned her head towards Rena.
Engulfing both her legs in flames, Sayanee used all her strength to double kick Jurina away from her and watch her slam past few trees. The impact was powerful enough to break at least 6 of Jurina’s ribs. To think that Sayanee still had this much strength left inside her even when she was defeated showed just how powerful an Alpha should be. By the time Jurina got up, Sayanee was gone. She managed to run away.
“Gack-” Jurina held her stomach in pain from the severe injury she got from the fight earlier. Despite obtaining the power of an Alpha, Jurina was still reduced to this state even though she won the fight. Sayanee really was a formidable opponent.
Jurina slowly dragged herself towards Rena’s motionless body and kneeled down in front of her. She then brushed her hair aside. “It’s alright now, Rena…”
“Ju…ri…na……” Rena weakly mumbled.
Jurina nodded. “Yes, Rena. It’s me.”
No matter how much Jurina tried to ignore it, she still cannot let go of the sentence Sayanee told her earlier. She might have said that as a trick to escape. But who knows? She might actually be telling the truth. Rena did start to feel pain when Sayanee was brutally assaulting her. If she was telling the truth, it simply means that Rena wouldn’t have much time left in this world. And Jurina wasn’t ready for that to happen for a second time. But for now, she tries to focus on trying to help Rena as much as she could and hope for the best.
“Come out come out wherever you are, Taka!” Yuko screamed in the forest. “We’ve done this a million of times before! Stop being a coward and come face me like a hero!”
“The word ‘coward’ doesn’t exist in my dictionary.” In an instant, Takamina appeared from behind and slashed. Luckily, Yuko was fast enough to block the attack. “It’s called a sneak attack.”
“Sneak attacks?” Yuko grinned and swung her blade at Takamina’s direction.
Takamina hopped up onto a tree and disappeared again.
Yuko cracked her neck. “I’m not the kind of Spectre who fancies the game of hide and seek.”
As soon as she said that sentence, Yuko spread her blades out and hopped up high before spinning her body in an incredible speed. As she was spinning, she released a barrage of fireballs from her blades that instantly burned down all the trees surrounding her. This made Takamina hop back onto the ground and face Yuko. “…”
While the other fights were happening, Takamina and Yuko’s battle was brought further and further away from the group. They’re now fighting on an open cliff. After sparring for a while, both of them kept a distance between each other.
“For more than 10 years, we have never concluded our fight…” Yuko showed Takamina her fist. “Today will be the day our fight ends! Only one of us will walk out of this fight alive!”
Takamina got into her fighting pose. “Stop wasting time then…”
Takamina was completely out of Judgements. She used up all her Judgements to set up traps to bomb Yuko. Out of all, only one got her. Both of them already had scars all over their body earlier. Yuko cracked her neck. “You’re all out of weapons, Taka.”
Takamina raised a brow. “So what’s your point?”
Yuko smirked. “It’s becoming more and more one sided.”
“Well then I’ll have to balance this fight out.”
“With what? Your arms? Don’t make me laugh, Taka! You’re as good as dead!” Yuko engulfed one blade with flame and the other with electricity and started swinging them at Takamina’s direction.
Using her fast reflexes, Takamina dodged every single hit and slowly got closer to Yuko. Then, a chance came. Takamina managed to kick off the ground hard to evade the blade thrusts and landed right behind Yuko. “Gotcha!”
“!!!” Yuko did not see that coming.
Takamina trapped both Yuko’s blades under her arms and started wrenching on them, attempting to pull them off. Figuring out what Takamina wanted to do, Yuko released some elbow strikes to the back to get her off. None of the strikes connected to Takamina even from that close distance. Takamina was just that swift in evasion.
“So that’s how you want to do it, huh!? Alright then!” Yuko pushed herself backwards violently and slammed Takamina against a rock. That wasn’t enough to pry Takamina off just yet so Yuko continuously pulled her body front and kept slamming her back on the rock. The continuous impact did some damage to Takamina but still wasn’t enough to pry her off.
“Still persisting!?” Yuko engulfed her blades with electricity this time and shocked Takamina along.
Despite being shocked by the electric current, Takamina was actually increasing her grip strength on her blades.
This left Yuko in a state of panic as she desperately tried to slam Takamina off her back once again. “GET OFF! GET OFF! GET OFF!!!”
“I…need these…OUT OF THE WAY!!!!!!” With a scream, Takamina placed her right foot on Yuko’s back and yanked on her blades with full force. With the amount of force released by Takamina, both Yuko’s blades were ripped right off her back, causing jet streams of blood spurting out.
“ARRGHHH!!!!”
“…” Takamina then tossed both Yuko’s torn blades onto the ground as they started shrivelling like a slug on salt.
“Gack-” Yuko spit out a lot of blood from that devastating attack. That was the worst kind of damage a Spectre could ever experience. Having their blades ripped off. It was so painful for her that her eyes became bloodshot.
“Those things were bothersome…” Takamina smirked a little. “So I got rid of them.”
Yuko punched the ground, creating a large crater before lifting herself up slowly and glared back. “You think that’s going to change anything? You just made things worse…”
Takamina got into her fighting stance. Legs spread out, left palm facing Yuko and her right fist to her side. “You think so?”
“I know so.” Ignoring the pain on her back, Yuko cracked her neck and propelled herself towards Takamina and released a kick.
Takamina spun her body and countered it with a roundhouse kick. The impact generated a force of air upon contact. Come to think of it, this was actually the first time Takamina and Yuko got into a fist fight. All these years they had only been fighting using their Judgements and blades respectively. So neither of them knew what sort of fighting style they use. Takamina increased her strength and managed to kick Yuko’s leg away. As Yuko was stumbling, Takamina took this chance to land a successful punch right on her face.
“Ugh…” Immediately after Takamina’s punch, Yuko grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her in. As it was close enough, Yuko released a knee kick on her torso.
After resisting Yuko’s kick, Takamina replied with an elbow strike but got blocked. Yuko then started a series of crazy swings, leaving Takamina dodging in a state of panic. Despite suffering a heavy injury from her blades being ripped off, Yuko’s movements and reflexes doesn’t seem to be slowing down one slight bit. As expected of the strongest Alpha Spectre. Just when Takamina thought she could dodge Yuko’s flurry of attacks, she got head-butted on her forehead and stumbled backwards. Yuko took this chance to slash her claws down on Takamina, causing a heavy injury on her chest area. Takamina hopped back and held her chest in pain. Her hand was already completely smeared in red as Yuko’s slash wound was really deep.
Yuko smirked. “What’s wrong, Taka? You look like you’re in pain.”
Takamina chuckled and wiped the blood off her face. “I think you need to get a pair of glasses.”
“Ho? We’ll see about that!” Not letting Takamina recover from the wound, Yuko went in for another attack.
They traded blows for a long time, dealing heavy damages to each other. The both of them were so on par that nobody would ever have guessed who will come out at the top. As the fight prolonged, they found out something about each other. Takamina seemed to be more skilful in terms of combat styles while Yuko was more pain resistant thanks to her thick Spectre skin. Takamina had landed a lot of strong punches and kicks on Yuko already but she was still going strong. Whereas Takamina received merely a few claw attacks and she’s already in so much pain. Nevertheless, it was still hard to guess who would win in the end.
“Ugh…” Takamina was still trying to forget about the pain from Yuko’s claw attacks. She cannot afford to let it affect her concentration so her fingers curled into a fist and released a punch on her own wound continuously, numbing the pain. Takamina was bleeding from her forehead, nose, mouth, both her arms and her chest.
“Can’t you see it already, Taka? It’s over for you. It doesn’t matter how many punches you landed on me…” Yuko said as her wounds started healing up slowly. “I can heal. You can’t. This fight is pretty much one sided.”
“So what if you can heal? I will just beat you to the point where your healing factor can’t even keep up with your injuries.” Takamina still has a strong will to fight on even when she’s suffering from serious injuries.
Yuko chuckled. “You see, Taka… That’s what I like about making you my rival. Sometimes you remind me of myself.”
“Really now?” Takamina cracked her fingers. “Then allow me to remind you of the difference in our powers.”
“REMIND ME THEN!!” Yuko screamed and ran towards Takamina.
“RAAAAGGHHH!!!!” Takamina too rushed in.
Both of them slammed their hands on each other’s, fingers interlocking and attempting to push the other party back. Yuko was stronger in terms of strength. Takamina’s feet were literally sliding back from Yuko’s push. Not wanting to lose the battle of strength, Takamina stomped her right foot back and increased her strength as well. This time, she stopped sliding backwards. Takamina then pulled her head back. Yuko too pulled her head back. At the same time, both of them thrusted their heads and delivered a headbutt on each other. The impact was so strong that they both started bleeding from their forehead.
“RAGH!!” Yuko jerked her hand to the side and pulled Takamina suddenly. This caused the latter to lose balance in that moment and was greeted with a punch on the stomach.
“Ugh…” Takamina didn’t let go of any chance at all. As she was getting punched on the stomach, she swung her leg up and met with Yuko’s head.
The result of their actions caused them both to fly away at the same time. Takamina grabbed her stomach in pain while Yuko grabbed her neck. Spitting excess blood from her mouth, Yuko growled. “Not bad, Taka!”
“Why thanks. You aren’t half bad either.” Takamina stood up and rushed in again.
Yuko blocked Takamina’s incoming fist and countered with a kick but also got blocked. This made Yuko wide open. Takamina straight went in for a fist that pushed Yuko off the cliff. As Yuko was losing her balance, she managed to grab onto Takamina’s arm and yanked her down as well. Apparently, falling into the sea below doesn’t concern them at all. Both Yuko and Takamina continued their fight even in mid-air, throwing punches and kicks and hoping to hit. Both of them then dropped into the sea. Takamina immediately started swimming upwards to get some air but was pulled down by Yuko.
“You look like you’re suffocating, Taka!” Yuko grabbed onto Takamina tightly.
“!!!” Takamina released a few desperate elbow strikes towards Yuko but missed all of them.
“I have the advantage here. Spectres can breathe underwater.” Yuko laughed and punched Takamina.
A single punch made most of Takamina’s oxygen came out of her mouth. She was really disadvantage underwater and Yuko’s continuous attacks on her isn’t helping either. She wanted oxygen. She was close to losing her conscious already and started panicking. Her fists and kicks couldn’t even connect to Yuko at all.
“I need to calm down…” Takamina told herself. Holding onto her breath, Takamina calmed herself down and this time managed to kick an approaching Yuko away. She couldn’t use her combat skills too much while underwater. It will use up more oxygen that way. Yuko then tried to reach in for Takamina again. As Yuko was reaching, Takamina dodged to the side and used all her strength to slam Yuko’s arm away before delivering a powerful kick that sliced through the water and hit Yuko’s neck directly. That attack stunned Yuko badly. Takamina continued with a knee kick directly on her face, sending her descending into the depths of the sea. Takamina used that chance to swim back into the surface for a breath.
“PUWAAHHH!!!!” Upon reaching the surface, Takamina desperately inhaled air and swam back to the shore. She then laid down and faced the sky, relieved. She was very close to getting drowned.
She slowly regained her energy and stood back up. There was no signs of Yuko at all. She probably drowned herself when Takamina stunned her underwater. But Takamina didn’t believe it. Yuko is simply too powerful to die from drowning. Just as Takamina expected, Yuko burst out from the water and landed on where Takamina was standing with a powerful stomp. Takamina managed to leap out of the way at the last second.
Yuko cracked her neck once again. “You turned the tables even when we’re under water... I was right about making you my rival! This will be a good fight!”
Their fight continued. They landed quite a number of hits on one another. Within a few minutes, both of them were already covered in bruises and wounds from head to toe. Takamina’s injuries were far worse than Yuko’s since the latter could heal. If this fight prolonged, Takamina would have lost. So, she thought of a way to end the fight quick. “I will end this with my next attack.”
“End it with the next attack!? You’re funny, Taka! I’m in a much better shape than you and you dare tell me you’ll take me down with one attack!? Getting cocky, are we?”
Takamina took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her legs spread out and both fists on her side. She seem to be getting ready to do something but Yuko wasn’t too sure about what she was going to do. “...”
“Closing your eyes? You’re looking down on me!!!!” Just looking at their positions right now, Yuko is at an advantage so she went straight in for the punch. Yuko was sure that her punch would connect with Takamina’s face. She didn’t even show any signs of dodging.
“!!!” To Yuko’s surprise, her punch met the air. Takamina had dodged the punch last minute by tilting her whole body down. She stretched her arm towards Yuko’s chest until her fingertips almost touched it. With her right foot in front and her left foot back, Takamina had a very stable posture and position, good enough to deliver her most devastating attack. Gathering an immense amount of ki in her right hand, she balled it up into a fist. With that, she threw her hips and weight into the punch and delivered an overwhelming punch from that short distance.
The blow literally sent Takamina’s ki piercing through Yuko’s chest and putting a hole through the back of her shirt. As the punch connected, only the whites of Yuko’s eyes could be seen. Yuko was almost knocked out cold with that single punch that made her kneel before Takamina. No injury could be seen from the outside but in reality, Yuko was bleeding profusely from the inside. The punch ruptured her rib cages and internal organs in a single blow. That was the true power of a true hand to hand combat master. The power of the one inch punch.
“Try healing that now.”
“……” Yuko couldn’t even bring out the energy to speak. All she was doing was holding her chest silently on the ground with her body shaking from the pain.
“It’s too much for you to heal in a short time period isn’t it?”
“W-What the hell was that…punch?” Yuko groaned.
“It’s called the one inch punch. Only a master in all forms of hand to hand combat can use this technique perfectly. Releasing a punch devastating enough even from that short distance.”
“…”
Takamina panted heavily after the long fight that used up most of her stamina. “You shouldn’t have looked down on me, Yuko. I can always figure out a way to take you down even with all these injuries… I won this fight.” Takamina dragged her right foot behind and swung it directly onto Yuko’s head with all her strength.
Upon impact, it released a wave of energy that blew the trees in the surroundings. And then her eyes widened. To her surprise, Yuko had her hand up to the side and blocked the kick from connecting with her head. “I…don’t think so…”
“!!!” Takamina definitely did not see that coming since nobody in the entire history of her battles has ever received her one inch punch and still able to even move. “You can still move!?”
“What do you take me as!!?” Yuko slammed Takamina’s leg away and delivered a powerful punch on her stomach that sent her flying few feet back.
“Ugh…” Takamina held her stomach in pain.
Holding tightly onto her chest, Yuko struggled to stand up straight. Takamina really did a lethal amount of damage to Yuko. Her chin was smeared with her blood. Every tiny movement Yuko made caused pain throughout her whole body. Though severely injured, it was a miracle that Yuko could still stand up after receiving Takamina’s one inch punch. “You expect me to go down with a single punch? IN YOUR DREAMS!! You are the one person I will never want to lose to!” Even when Yuko was standing, you could easily see from her face that she was in a lot of pain.
“Crap… How is she still standing after that attack… I’m completely out of energy…” Takamina was panting heavily.
Both parties were severely injured by each other’s attacks and yet, neither showed signs of wanting to give up. But at the same time, they both also knew that only one final attack was needed to take the other party down. Just one. Whoever was able to land another attack on the opponent would win the fight. They really wanted their fight to end right now.
Yuko screamed her lungs out and started rushing towards Takamina. “THIS ENDS NOW, TAKA!!!”
“YOU BET!!!” Takamina too rushed in.
Once they were close to one another, both of them pulled their fists behind, getting ready to channel every last bit of energy from their entire body towards their opponent. As they swung their fists at the same time, the time slowed down. The same thoughts ran through their heads that time. The thought of this final punch, ending their everlasting rivalry once and for all. All the memories of their previous battles flashed through their mind. Their excitement right now couldn’t be explained with words. So excited that both of them actually shot a smile to one another as they swing their fists. As their punches connected to each other’s faces, their minds connected to one another.
A voice echoed. “You’re the only person who has been able to make me feel like this… All these pain I received from you made me feel satisfied for some reason. I felt that it was all worth it. I felt the complete ecstasy of fighting. Somehow, having you as my rival gave me all the reasons in the world to want to be stronger and stronger.”
Another voice echoed. “I know that feeling. The first time I fought you made me realize that there are a lot stronger enemies out there and that I need to train more to be able to protect the ones I love.”
“That’s actually funny to hear… You, an icy cold hearted Reaper actually have someone whom you have feelings for?”
“I do. She’s always been there for me. So I have to be stronger to protect her.”
“So it was love that made you this strong… How I wish I have that type of affection in me… If I had…… I wouldn’t have lost to you………”
Yuko’s body tumbled backwards from the punch and sent her straight to the ground with a loud thud. With her limbs spread wide open and only the whites of her eyes seen, Yuko had been knocked out cold by Takamina. Takamina actually withstood Yuko’s final punch and defeated her in a final attack. After decades of rivalry and fights, the final victor was determined. Takamina let out one final scream of victory over Yuko with blood dripping from all over her body.
“…”
Takmina slowly looked down at Yuko’s body. “Truthfully, I could just kill you right now to end this once and for all because I couldn’t give a shit about what happens to you and I wouldn’t want you coming back at me… But luckily for you, you have gained a lot of respect from me. I have never met anybody as powerful and as strong-willed as you. I’ll give you that. Have a good nap.”
Takamina then dragged herself back to where Atsuko and the others were and just left Yuko laying on the ground there. She could barely even walk properly now thanks to Yuko’s beatings. She has never been injured to this state before. As she approached Atsuko, the latter was shocked with the wounds and blood on Takamina’s body.
“Minami!!” Atsuko immediately rushed in and grabbed Takamina in her arms. “Are you alright?”
Takamina slowly raised her thumb. “I beat Yuko.”
Atsuko held Takamina’s face with eyes full of tears. “It doesn’t matter to me who you beat, Minami… What’s important to me is that you came back alive… And I’m more than happy with that fact already.”
“…” Takamina wiped Atsuko’s tears with her fingers. “Stop. You know I hate seeing your tears.”
“Hey, Minami? After all these are over, do you wanna go out on like…a date maybe?”
“Sure. After you let me get my well-deserved rest.”
“Promise?” Atsuko held out her pinky.
“Promise.” Takamina hooked her pinky on Atsuko’s pinky.
“Let me help you up.” Jurina on the other side lifted Rena up and piggy backed her.
“Ugh…” Takamina groaned as her wounds started hurting once again.
Atsuko sighed. “Jurina, we may need your help to bring Rena to safety now. I have to look after Minami.”
“Get her treated now. Do not let anyone hurt her further than this.” Takamina grabbed tightly onto Jurina’s collar. “I’m counting on you.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to Rena.” Jurina then took off with Rena on her back.
“She’ll be fine.” Atsuko assured while holding onto Takamina.
“Hopefully… If Jurina doesn’t screw up.” Takamina said.
“Of course she won’t screw up. She’s as powerful as an Alpha now.”
“I still don’t like her.”
“Taka…” All of a sudden, a familiar voice called out to her from behind.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Takamina groaned and turned back to come face to face with Yuko once again. “You lost the fight. What more do you want?”
“I admit that I lost. I’m not that petty.” Yuko replied.
“Then what do you want?”
“What else? The Omega! Return her to us!”
“I don’t know where she is and I’m not going to repeat again.”
“Don’t lie to me!!! We received a video earlier that Yui was captured and the coordinates showed that it was taken from Legion! You must have an idea where she’s at!!” Yuko raised her voice.
“I said I don’t know!” Takamina replied.
This time, Atsuko stepped up front. “Yuko. We’re not lying at all. We really don’t know what’s happening or why. But I sense there’s something fishy going on around here. Something hidden from your side and my side. Someone wants us to go against each other. Itano and Sayanee seem to be a part of this. Too bad Itano isn’t in the right condition to speak and Sayanee escaped.”
“You mean… They helped to capture Yui? That’s preposterous! Sayanee is an Alpha.”
“The both of them haven’t been around lately, haven’t they?”
Only then, Yuko realized it. Whatever Atsuko said started to link. “…”
“You have two choices now, Yuko. You can either find Sayanee and confront her about this, or you want to continue wasting your time here on someone who has absolutely no idea on what’s going on. We have absolutely no reason to lie to you. If the Omega is really captured like what you say, I will help you get her back and find out what’s going on. You have my word, Yuko.”
“…” After a long silence, Yuko nodded a little. “I will believe your words only after I see Yui. If what you said was true, only then you will have my gratitud-”
To their horror, Yuko’s neck was suddenly pierced through completely by a sword from behind. “!!!!!!!”
“Gack-”
A sinister voice echoed from behind Yuko. “Your time is up.”
“Gack-” A lot of blood spurted out from Yuko’s neck where she was stabbed. As the sword was pulled out, she gacked out blood another time with both hands holding onto her own pierced neck. Yuko helplessly stare back at Atsuko and Takamina before falling onto her knees and then flat onto the ground.
As Takamina and Atsuko looked back at the one who stabbed Yuko by the neck, they were greeted by a pair of menacing and ominous eyes. Grabbing onto her bloody Judgement sword, she gave it a lick and stared back at them with a very disturbing grin. “Two fresh meats... Let’s play a game, shall we~? It’s called SLICE AND DICE~”
Chapter 26 : Fist of Fury
END
Topic: [Atsuko_love's fanfic] The Ultimatum - CHAPTER 27 (multipairing) 31/03/2016 (Read 118462 times)