by WOTNOPOLIS 34
“Here,” Draco said as he tossed the boy a suit. “Put this on. If you’re going to work for TFK you can’t be seen looking ragged.”
Punkfilter rubbed the fabric of the suit for a moment. From the moment he touched the suit a feeling of power came out of it he couldn‘t describe. He’d lived on the streets of WOTNOPOLIS all his life. Even though he’d seen people wear suits he never expected to have the chance to wear one himself. “Why are you guys interested in me?” Punkfilter asked him. “My powers, I’ve always been told to suppress them.”
“We’re aware you’ve been suppressing them up until now, PF,” Draco said as he looked down at the boy sitting in the car seat next to him. He wasn’t all that old considering the amount of power he was about to be handed. Draco ignored that and drove down the streets of WOTNOPOLIS. “We’re also aware that you’ve been secretly going out and getting into fights. That you’ve been the cause of a recent string of crimes against gangs in the area.”
Punkfilter said nothing but stared out the window. “It seems to me you really want to be in an area where you can fight. But you have no goal or purpose in these mindless killings and attacks you’re doing. Join up with us and you’ll get to do as you please. And you’ll be afforded the opportunity to fight a host of WOTNOPOLIS’s strongest warriors.”
Draco could sense that he’d caught the boy’s interest but hadn’t sealed the deal. PF was riding back to TFK‘s Tower with him so he was making progress. He needed only to keep pushing and he was sure he could win over the newest addition of TFK’s Guard. He laughed and added, “There’s plenty of killing involved in this line of work, too, if that interests you.”
He could tell by the look on his face that it hadn’t gone over well. I guess he’s not like Jose in that way. PF held onto the suit he’d given him with a clear interest and Draco smiled. “You’ll be able to afford as many of those as you want,” he said pointing to the suit he had in his hands. “You’ll be paid very well. Your employment is secure as long as you stay strong and don’t lose. Haha, or do something idiotic like call a cop.”
Furthermore, that’ll be your new home. Close to the top of that tower,” he said as he pointed at TFK’s Tower. PF’s eyes widened with interest as he stared at the tallest building in WOTNOPOLIS. “You’ll get plenty of room up there.”
PF nodded without a word. He could tell he’d hooked him with that. “There is one catch, though,” he began. “If you do take on this job your first assignment will be destroying the Brinckmyster gang. Not only have they been causing us a lot of trouble with the police, but we also don’t want you having any lingering attachments. That won’t be a problem will it?”
His face grew cold as he held onto the suit. The first item someone had ever given him. The first thing he‘d ever owned. His eyes looked out the window at the Tower for a moment. Draco didn’t say a word as his companion thought over the request he’d made. After a while he looked over and saw him with what looked like a slight smile on his face. “I can’t wait,” PF said.
Draco sighed. He’d managed to rope this kid in just like TFK had ordered. He wasn’t sure how powerful this kid actually was, but if the reports he had read were true he’d become a legend under TFK for sure. He also liked that the kid seemed more reasonable than Jose whom he was constantly being annoyed by. And less of a creep than Venomu.
“What’s it like?” PF asked. “Working for TFK?”
“It used to a lot of fun, we were heading to the top and taking over the city. Something no one had ever done,” Draco reminisced. He then changed his tone as he realized talk like that wouldn’t encourage the new member of the Mafia. “We’re the most powerful people in WOTNOPOLIS. Our boss is inconceivably strong and he’ll eventually have the entire city, possibly the entire country under his heel. And as his guards we’re pretty much given free reign over the city. As long as we keep an eye on any threats that might grow up in the city and eliminate them beforehand we’re good. You’ll be taking over the East district of the city and it’s fairly easy to handle.”
The two were silent as he parked the car and they stepped out. As they headed to the entrance of the office building PF stopped. “I‘d like to change into this suit before I meet the boss.”
Draco smiled. “That would be great.”
****
“How pathetic,” the large man said as he stared out the window of his Tower. “That fool couldn’t even kill one girl. And now we have this big mess outside.”
Draco stood a distance away from TFK. He knew better than to stand near him in moments like these. “And Punkfilter is no help to us right now,” TFK continued to mutter. “Draco?” he asked; almost wondering if he still had any competent assistants.
“Sir?” Draco asked and looked his boss in the eye. TFK’s eyes revealed nothing to him as he looked into them. They never had in all their years. His boss’s confidence hadn’t wavered at all.
“Go outside and clean up the mess that idiot couldn’t,” TFK ordered. “And once you’ve made sure everyone is dead chase down the rats inside the Tower. They’ve messed with enough of our equipment as it is.”
“Right away,” Draco nodded and walked toward the elevator that connected to TFK’s office. His boss continued to stare emptily out the window. He smiled as he punched the buttons to the lobby. He couldn’t wait to get back out there and do something.
“It’s just too bad about you, SSS,” Draco whispered as the elevator doors shut behind him. “I won’t relish having to kill you. But you picked a bad time to defect. Not that anytime to stand up to TFK is a good one.”
His mind drifted as the elevator steadily moved to the bottom of the Tower. “I wonder what kind of person was able to kill Jose,” he mused. “I would like to meet them, I think.”
His thoughts focused on the elevator. It had stopped on a random floor. “Hm?” he thought as he held the close door button down. He popped open a control panel and placed his key inside. With that he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else getting onboard the elevator. TFK had long ago secured it so that his top men wouldn’t have to worry about riding with others.
The metal doors of the elevator cracked open. Draco stared at it for a moment. “Hello?” he called out. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait for another elevator, I’m busy.”
The door slid open farther and an object fell into the elevator. He wasted no timing in kicking the elevator doors open and running from it as fast as he could. The grenade blast shook the entire floor as the elevator dropped from the cable it was attached to and fell far below.
Draco stood up and brushed his hair back. A man was standing across the room with light blue hair. He held a pistol firmly in his hand that was pointed at Draco. “Sorry, I’m supposed to be doing something,” Draco said as he knocked dust off his shirt. “Though I imagine if you went through all that trouble you’re not going to give up on fighting me easily, hm?”
The man shook his head as he pulled a bazooka out with his other hand. “You’re going to make a real mess with that,” Draco sighed. “What’s your name?”
“Amaterasu,” he answered. Draco smiled as he understood what was going on.
“Ah, I see,” he said. “Then there won’t be any persuading you away from this. Let’s make it quick, I have some chores to do.”
****
Shiro watched as Death and Dei attempted to land blows on Mikel. The three of them had focused on taking down Mikel while he’d left KKQ and Zergio to fight the horde of people behind them. It wasn’t something that he really wanted to do but they had no choice but to separate their power. And the gunmen stood the best chance at holding them back.
Death landed next to Shiro. She was out of breath and was holding onto her left shoulder. “He’s really fast,” she whispered to him. “There aren’t many people that can land hits on us. We have yet to strike him. So even though I hate working with a cop, do something!”
Mikel was definitely incredible to be able to keep up and land a strike on those two. Shiro also knew that everyone around him was battle fatigued. He lifted his giant metal hammer off the ground where it had been resting and charged toward Mikel. Dei was doing her best to dodge each of his attacks but Shiro could tell she was being overwhelmed.
“Take this!” Shiro yelled as his hammer smashed into him. He felt his hands burn as the hammer’s force bounced back from the object it’d struck. “No way,” Shiro thought as his body flew back. “He deflected that blow by matching the strength of my hammer and then some.”
Shiro slid backward and spun the hammer back into an attack stance. “This is going nowhere,” Shiro thought as he charged forward again. “He’s much stronger than me and he’s much faster than them.”
Mikel dodged past Shiro’s hammer. As it smashed into the ground he snatched the handle and swung it. Shiro felt himself flying through the air before landing on the ground a distance away. When he looked up his heart sank. Mikel was swinging his hammer toward a retreating Death and Dei. “Freaking great,” Shiro grumbled as he hopped back to his feet. “I’m gonna stop him now if it kills me.”
“Nice going cop!” Death yelled as she dodged another of Mikel’s swings. “Next time just give him a bomb. He’d kill us quicker that way.”
Shiro ducked as the hammer flew over his head. “He’s sort of strong, if you haven’t noticed!” Shiro snapped back. He managed to grab the handle of the hammer as it moved past.
He fell forward as he was incapable of holding onto it. “Frick,” Shiro said as he got back to his feet. “This is going nowhere.”
He heard a sickening thud sound behind him. Shiro’s heart sank as he watched Dei’s body fly across the battle field and crash. He could tell by the position her body landed in that she wasn’t going to be fighting any longer. A quick glance toward Death confirmed that they both were thinking the same fate had befallen her.
“Monster!” Death screamed as she glided past Shiro’s hammer. She swung her knife in an upwards direction as her body flew down on him. Shiro watched as Mikel reacted instantly and pulled himself out of the way of Death’s attack.
Blood dropped from Death‘s knife as it sliced across Mikel‘s face. A long open cut ran across his cheek but stopped short of his eye. “So he can bleed,” Shiro said as he watched Death back away from Mikel.
Shiro looked at Death with a smile but it faded when he saw the look on her face. “That’s right,” he remembered as he got back to his feet. “That one mark came at Dei’s life.”
****
Yoyo’s swords smashed into Punkfilter’s blades. The sound of the metals hitting crystal echoed throughout the large room as Yoyo changed the direction her foot was pointing and pressed harder against his block. He parried her blades away and jabbed his own crystallized sword at her.
She swung her shoulders and soared over his head. He followed her and blocked her attack as she crashed her blades down on him. Wind blew the hair out of their faces as the force of the two repelling each other shook them.
Yoyo dashed a distance away and reminded herself to breath. The pressure of the moment was incredible as Punkfilter turned to face her. “The lightning blade and the black smoke sword,” he spoke calmly as he looked at her. “They’re almost as legendary as you, Yoyo. The one known as a demon.”
Punkfilter bolted across the room and pointed his arms towards her. She dodged and blocked his attacks as he unleashed a volley of jabs at her. She continued to move back and forth across his large room as he pressed her relentlessly. Each attack drove her back as the force behind each of them was immense.
She swung the giant black sword in her left hand the moment she had seen in an opening in his attacks. PF blocked the sword with both hands and grunted. Yoyo slashed the lightning blade through the air but he had sprung away from her attacks. He stared at her for a moment and shook his head.
“This won’t do,” he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. “You’re holding back on me.”
Her eyes widened. He was right. A part of her had been holding back. If she went all out now and failed then everything she had been working to achieve would fall apart. She was holding back hoping that she would be able to overpower him. To see what he was capable of first.
She inwardly groaned. She knew that was no way to fight a guy like Punkfilter and yet she had been doing it anyway. “You’ve been holding back, too,” Yoyo said. “Activate your Amplification form and we’ll do this for real.”
Yoyo felt anger grip her as Punkfilter began to laugh. It echoed through the cavernous room as she watched the man chuckle. “Oh my, so that’s what you were waiting for is it?” Punkfilter sped towards her and she threw up her swords. She deflected his attack. Her eyes blinked as his arm flashed past her and she felt her cheek open up. Her blood shot off her face onto the floor around them.
His eyes were inches from her own as he stared at her. He had drawn the first strike in the battle. “I’m sorry to inform you,” he spoke slowly. “But I do not have an Amplification form to activate. However, let me warn you, whatever’s holding you back in this fight you better leave it behind. Next time I’m not going to spare your life by cutting your cheek. I’m going to slit your throat.”
Yoyo slashed both swords through the air. Punkfilter jumped high and dodged both attacks. He landed a distance away. His cold eyes watched her as a smile crossed her face. “Fine,” she said and shook her head. “But remember. You’re the one leaving this room in a body bag.”
Both grinned as they stared at the other. Both eyes were playing the death of the other in their minds. “Good. It’d be pointless if you didn’t fight me like that, demon,” Punkfilter rushed forward.
****
Amaterasu dashed across the mid sized office room. Bullets fired out of his machine gun as he charged TFK’s guard. He was determined not to waste any time when it came to dealing with this guy. He knew better than most how powerful TFK‘s guards were.
“I want to warn you,” Draco said to Amaterasu as he zoomed past him. He could hardly believe his eyes as Draco ended up on the other side of the room. His grey eyes bore into Amaterasu as he spun around. “I am not going to be someone you can beat. I am no pushover. You should give up on this revenge ideas of yours now. Teikiatsu died a long time ago.”
Amaterasu pulled an axe off his back and launched himself forward. Draco swung his fist in his direction and a beam of light shot through the air. His foot landed in front of Draco as his axe sliced through the air. He watched as Draco stepped back from his attack and grabbed his axe by the blade. He held onto it for a moment before it snapped and broke in two.
Draco’s smile faded as Amaterasu’s other hand spun around his machine gun and pointed a bazooka at him. An explosion ripped through the floor as he barely dodged the attack. He looked around carefully before shooting a beam away from him with his left hand. Amaterasu dodged the bright beam through the dust and shot another round from his bazooka.
“You sure have a lot of weapons on you,” Draco said as he flashed away from the man and shot his beam out in an arc. The laser cut through the walls of the office and left it in pieces.
“I fought a girl who had a lot of weapons and knew how to use them,” Amaterasu said as he shot his machine gun at the man. Draco ran away from the hail of bullets and rested behind a pillar for a moment. “And then I worked for Titan and learned even more about weapons. These are all handmade by Titan so you know they’re the best.”
Amaterasu was surprised and dropped to the ground as the laser shot through the pillar towards him. He hadn’t expected Draco to do that. He got back to his feet and shot his bazooka at the pillar splintering it to pieces. As the dust settled he saw that Draco had disappeared.
“Shoot,” he whispered as his eyes darted around the room searching for him. Despite his attacks he had yet to land a single blow on Draco. And now he’d lost sight of him.
He jumped into the air as a glowing behind him told him that a laser was about to be fired from Draco‘s hands. “It’s different,” Amaterasu said as he realized the laser glowed a blue-ish tint. It reflected off the tile floor underneath him and bounced towards him.
As he hit the ground he grabbed his left arm. Blood dripped down it from where the laser had cut through it. He‘d have to remember that these blue lasers could reflect off a surface.
He lifted his head up and his eyes widened. A few feet away from him Draco was gliding past him. His white hair was blown back from the speed he was moving at. Light blue illuminated his face as a beam shot out of his hands and toward Amaterasu at nearly point blank.
****
Punkfilter’s slashes continued to swing through the air as Yoyo evaded each attack. She swung her large blade out and forced him to pull back. She jetted forward and swung her lightning blade through the air at her target.
He deflected the attack away with one arm and jabbed his other arm forward. She dropped to her knees as the blade whizzed over her head. A piece of her hair dropped to the ground as the blade moved over her. Her lightning blade whipped upward and forced him back as she launched herself back to her feet.
“Abeo,” Punkfilter said. A row of green blades shot out of the ground. The black smoke dripping off of her large blade moved instinctively and caught the blades before they reached Yoyo.
She immediately pointed her lightning blade at him and stabbed the air. A bolt of lightning burst forth from the sword. It slammed into a wall of green crystal that had shot up from the ground to protect him. She charged forward as the green wall exploded into a thousand bladed fragments.
The smoke formed a shield in front of her as she charged through the wall of flesh ripping crystal fragments. The shield transformed into a row of spears that aimed for Punkfilter. He moved back and forth as he blocked each spear with his arms and knocked the powerful smoke away. Yoyo slashed her smaller blade through the air and the sound of thunder shook the room.
A crystal wall was formed in front of Punkfilter that reflected the lightning in a circle and back at Yoyo. Her smoke caught the reflected attack and it disappeared into the darkness inside. She continued forward and slashed the lightning blade through the crystal wall he had created.
Yoyo looked into his eyes as it shattered. A wall of crystallized green daggers launched from the ground as the smoke off her sword rained a hail of spears down from above. Both of them dodged and blocked the attacks coming at them without breaking their gaze.
A grin spread out on Yoyo’s face as the two continued to move back and forth across the battlefield. Fragments of crystals shattered beneath her swords and the air filled with the smell of smoke as he sliced through each of her spears. The sound of thunder echoed across the large room while the sound of clanging metal and crystals was ever present. The low thuds of Punkfilter’s attacks hitting Yoyo’s smoke wall was countered by the high pitched creaks of Yoyo’s swords crashing into his crystal walls.
Yoyo’s smile continued to grow wider as the two continued to battle. Each of them expertly dodged and deflected the other’s attack and was ready to counter. Yoyo slashed her lightning sword through the air and Punkfilter’s crystal wall reflected it away from him. It smashed into the ceiling causing several of the lights to explode from the sudden power surge.
The dimming of the lights didn’t phase either of the combatants as they charged at one another. Light orange sparks flew into the air as Punkfilter’s and Yoyo’s blades clashed. A purple glow was constant on the battlefield as Yoyo swung her lightning sword against the onslaught of Punkfilter’s attacks.
After a moment both realized they had stopped battling. They panted as they stared at the other. They could still sense the other without any trouble despite the darkness that filled the room.
“You sure look happy,” Punkfilter finally commented as he got ready to attack again.
Yoyo’s smile grew wider. “We’re evenly matched,” she whispered the thought that had been resounding through her head during the battle. “I can kill him.”
****
Little Shiro had only seen a blur move past him. His body flew across the parking lot and in an instant he’d crashed into the ground. He yelled in pain as his body skidded across the broken asphalt.
Pain ached across his body with each breath he took. Mikel had delivered a powerful punch to his chest in an instant and sent him flying. What shocked him to his senses and got him back to his feet was the cry he heard Death make. Originally he didn’t recognize the sound as his senses had been dulled by Mikel’s attack and the amount of noise already around him.
Once he realized it was Death he’d heard scream he was back on his feet and staring at the back of Mikel. A knife was sticking out of the side of his arm but Mikel seemed unmoved by it. Death was nowhere to be seen. Shiro’s eyes moved over the parking lot as he looked for a sign of what happened to Death. After a moment he noticed something that made his stomach sink.
Mikel held the hammer out firmly. Blood was dripping from it. Shiro closed his eyes as he tried to remember whether that blood could have come from someone else. He reopened them and his stomach sunk even further. His gaze was fixed on the fighting ahead of him.
“No!” Shiro yelled as he ran forward. He wasn’t going to let Mikel get any closer to the others. He wasn’t going to let another ally fall. And he wasn’t going to let Mikel get any closer to her.
Mikel turned and looked back at him. It was like he had forgotten the man existed until he heard him yelling. Shiro leapt high into the air as the hammer swung towards him. Dust flew into the air and chips of the road hit him in the face as he barely missed the attack. “You won’t hit me again with my own weapon!” Shiro screamed.
Shiro felt like he’d just thrown himself into a wall as Mikel’s fist smashed into his face. He hit the ground with a thud. The pain shooting across his face had sent his heart into a panic. He could feel it beating uncontrollably. The fact that he was dangerously open to another attack didn’t matter to him. The pain from that attack splintering his skull had paralyzed him.
As his mind started to recover from the shock he winced. Any second his hammer would smash him and end it. He braced himself the best he could for the strike. His hand twitched and he realized he was regaining his senses. The jarring pain still clouded his ability to think and react but he hadn’t lost yet.
“He’s going after KKQ,” he slurred. He pushed off the ground and stumbled back to his feet. “I have to stop him.”
He marched towards the large man who was swinging away at the crowd of people. Each person he watched Mikel fling away Shiro could feel his convictions grow stronger. He refused to let that happen to KKQ.
“Watch out!” Shiro yelled as Mikel neared her. KKQ looked up as she shot down a row of men and gasped.
“What happened?” she said as she turned to face the giant before her.
“Death and Dei are gone!” Shiro yelled. “He’s way too powerful.”
“Why doe he have your hammer?” KKQ yelled back.
“Who cares! Just dodge!”
KKQ leapt back as the hammer banged into the ground in front of her. She pulled out a metal box and sank a chain into it. In an instant she revved the cord back and a green glow emanated from the box. A loud roaring sound was heard as KKQ waved a glowing chainsaw in her hands.
“I’ll help you take down this guy,” KKQ said as she pointed it at him.
“What about the guys behind you?” Shiro screamed as they bound towards KKQ. She held her chainsaw out away from herself and spun in a circle. Blood shot out in every direction around KKQ as she looked back at Shiro. “I can handle them both.”
“You don’t have to,” a man answered. Both were surprised when a wall of flame shot across the battlefield and tore through the horde of people coming after them. They screamed in terror at the fire and started to scatter in different directions.
Seshimazi walked out of the wall of fire and looked at Mikel. “Giving him a hammer wasn’t a good idea, guys,” he shook his head.
“You’re on our side?” KKQ asked as she looked at him.
“I have to help you guys get my boss under control. He’s a good guy but like this? This isn’t him,” Seshi shrugged. “Besides, I owe Q for getting me out of Shugo’s group.”
Mikel looked between the three of them. He didn’t notice the body sneak up behind him and rip the knife out of his arm. She dashed away from him and landed a safe distance away. She pointed her knife at Mikel and sighed.
“I really thought I was dying for a second,” Death said before glaring at Shiro. “Which doesn’t give you an excuse to say I was already gone, jerk. Freaking cops.”
Zergio continued to shoot at the group of people. Even though Seshi’s flames had held them back they were still trying to break through. He was no match for a guy like Mikel but if he could hold these people back then he could leave it to them. “Heh,” Zergio thought to himself. “Holding back the armies so the tough guy can be taken down. I’m still doing the same job as I was with Clair.”
“You’re not doing it alone, though,” he heard JZ say behind him. A jeep smashed into a group of people and blocked the path of some of TFK’s men.
“That’s true,” Zergio agreed as he continued firing at them. “And we’ll keep doing our part. Hoping that someone can stop these monsters.”
****
Amaterasu did his best to shoot his guns at Draco. He hadn’t managed to strike him yet and he’d been hit twice now by Draco’s attacks. He’d realized that the blue beam would come at him when Draco crossed his hands together. The blue beam could reflect off any surface and cut through anything around it. The yellow beam would slice through most things and cause an explosion.
Amaterasu couldn’t keep up with his attacks. He was doing everything he could to dodge each beam as they were shot at him. The only tip off he got was the glow each one had. That gave him a hint in which direction to jump. “This isn’t going right,” Amaterasu said as he hit the ground. He’d only barely missed being hit by that attack and the explosion that followed it had knocked him to his feet.
“I wasn’t planning to use this until I saw his Amplification form,” he said as he pulled a black stick out of his uniform. “But it doesn’t look like I have a choice.”
With his left hand he strapped his bazooka and machine gun to his back and pulled an umbrella off of his back. “Expecting a rainstorm?” Draco said standing in front of him. “I have no idea what you’re doing but this is a battle and we don’t wait on people here.”
Draco lunged forward with a punch. Amaterasu pulled a switch opening the umbrella and swung it out away from him. Draco’s eyes widened as he watched the man fly away from him. “Are you serious?” he asked.
“Quite,” Amaterasu said as he pulled the umbrella closed and pointed it at Draco. The man dashed backward as a row of bullets peppered the ground around him. He crossed both arms and shot a blue beam at Amaterasu as he ran back.
Amaterasu dodged the attack and the ricochet. He hit the small black stick in his hand against the wall twice. An electric current shocked through it and he held it out away from him.
Draco watched as it expanded in size and came to a sharp metal point on the end. “Is that a lance?” Draco asked.
“Others will soon be available courtesy of Titanium industries,” Amaterasu said as he swung the umbrella out. His body shot across the room and he swung the lance toward Draco.
He barely dodged as the lance sliced through the ground. Amaterasu landed smoothly and swung the umbrella into Draco hitting him in the side. He closed the umbrella and began to fire bullets at him.
Draco blocked the bullets with a laser beam and sped away from him. He couldn’t believe it but he couldn’t keep up with Amaterasu’s new weapons. As he ran he heard something fly past him. He looked over and saw Amaterasu had landed in front of him.
He tried to slow his momentum but it was too late. Amaterasu plunged the lance into Draco’s side. He fell back from the attack and groaned. He hadn’t been hit in an actual battle in a long time.
The spot on Amaterasu’s chest and his arm where he’d been hit felt a little better after he’d finally managed to wound Draco. And he wasn’t going to stop there. He swung the umbrella out and swooped towards him.
Draco dodged the attack and Amaterasu suddenly felt the air pressure of the room shift. A fear seized him as he tried to stand up. He hadn’t even realized he was bent at the knees or crouching low to the ground. His body was trembling. What was going on?
“Amplification form, activated,” he heard Draco say. “It’s too bad for you, former cop. Your fighting style is pretty interesting. But you can’t win here. I am the man with the strongest Amplification form under TFK.”
****
Yoyo’s blades blocked Pf’s attack. She lifted her foot off the ground. Punkfilter hadn’t expected the sudden kick and it nailed him squarely in the chest. He fell back a foot and shook his head. His face remained unchanged as he took a step away from her. She could tell by the look in her eyes that hate was boiling inside him.
She kicked off the ground and swung both blades in front of her in a scissors motion. Both crashed into Punkfilter’s arms as he blocked the attacks. The look in his eyes could have killed as his foot kicked the ground. Yoyo tried to jump back as a row of daggers shot out of the ground and nailed her.
Her smoke managed to block a few of them. She winced as two daggers stuck in her chest and another one in her left leg. Blood dripped onto the ground beneath her. After taking stock she focused her attention back on Pf. He was a small distance away. She swiped her lightning sword through the air and a wave of lightning crashed into his position.
“Shoot,” Yoyo whispered as she watched him fly over the attack and slam his blades against her own. They both shoved the full force of their power into their arms as they tried to force the other back. The blades clanged noisily as they skidded back and forth across one another.
Yoyo could feel his blade slash across her chest. She watched as her blood spilt out of her body and flew through the air. Her own smoke blade had slit open his chest and his blood had been sliced into the air. Their blood crossed paths before splattering across the floor and onto each other.
Neither stepped back or dared to retreat as their blades smashed loudly into each other again. The soft glow of Yoyo’s sword revealed a smile plastered onto her face as she looked at the sight of Punkfilter’s blood on his suit. She had relished to see that for so long.
Punkfilter’s face was empty as it ever had been as he deflected her attack. His left arm jabbed forward and caught her in the stomach. He could feel his blade pierce through and he could see blood shooting out of the other side of her. He could feel his blade cut through her body.
Yoyo felt something primal and powerful from the pain she now felt. Her smile grew larger as her blood seeped out of her. She had felt this way in battles before. She gripped both of her blades and roared.
“So this is the Demon,” Punkfilter stated matter-of-factly as he pulled his blade out of her. Her blood drenched his arm as he moved to block Yoyo’s smoke sword. She stabbed her lightning sword into the ground and picked both of her feet up off the ground.
Punkfilter’s eyes widened as the feet barreled into his chest. He flew backwards and grunted. He had definitely broken something from that attack and he grinned ever so slightly. The pain inside of him and the blood that had splattered his suit was feeding something inside of him.
He had no time to reflect on what it was as Yoyo’s smiling face was upon him already. He blocked both of her swords and shot a series of daggers out of the ground. Yoyo front flipped over them. Their eyes met again as she landed behind him. Both could sense the demon howling inside of the other. This made each of them hunger even more as their attacks became more frenzied.
****
Amaterasu felt the room go still. He had opened his umbrella and held it as a shield against the powerful force that emanated out of Draco. The room had grown blindingly bright after his activation and it was now as if they were locked in a world of white.
He pulled his umbrella down and peered at the source. A mystifying glowing white surrounded Draco. It wasn’t that his body itself was glowing but the air around him. The room was still painfully bright to his eyes but he slowly adjusting to it.
“So this is the power of an Amplification form?” Amaterasu said to himself. It looked as if Draco hadn’t fully recovered from his activation either as he was still moving somewhat sluggishly.
“I possess the power of Light,” Draco said and looked over at Amaterasu. He realized that he had no pupils just radiating white eyes. “In my regular form that allows me to channel light and shoot it at people. But in this form all light has its power magnified a hundredfold. I used to hate this power. It kept me from being able to go out during the day without suffering. But once I learned to control it I‘ve grown to really enjoy being the Light. Can you stop the very power of the Light itself, former cop?”
“I have no idea,” Amaterasu said as he pointed his lance at Draco. “But I’ve come too far to give up at this point.”
“We’ll see,” Draco’s fist plowed into Ama’s face before he could even blink. His body smashed into a concrete wall behind him. He felt himself unable to move from the speed of the punch that hit him.
“W-a?” he muttered as he pulled himself off the wall. Behind him it crumbled and he watched the chunks of concrete fell below him. His eyes grew wide as he looked back at Draco.
“How? I?” He was beginning to panic. Draco merely looked at him with a frown evident on his face.
“This is where it ends. You’re pretty powerful but Amplification forms are beyond you. And mine is too far out of your reach,” he spoke.
“Shut up!” Ama closed his eyes. Fear bit into his heart. The situation was beyond bleak. How could he fight with someone on this level? He had barely been able to fight him before.
“It doesn’t matter,” Amaterasu opened his eyes and pointed his umbrella at Draco. “This is for Teikiatsu. And everyone else here who’s counting on me. Those freaking idiots. They still trusted me even after all I did to them? Do you think I can turn my back on such stupid people? Do you think I can just let you kill them? Forget it! I’m an employee of Titanium Inc. & Co. and you’re going to die!”
Amaterasu dashed across the room. He pulled the trigger of his umbrella and sprayed bullets around them. Draco effortlessly dodged each bullet as it came out of the umbrella and moved out to meet him. “Die!” Amaterasu screamed as he charged his lance toward Draco.
“If it’s like that, well, I guess I can forget about what you did,” Ama heard a familiar voice say. He watched as Draco neared him.
“What did I just hear?” he asked as the room exploded. Amaterasu’s body tumbled outside the building. His mind was swirling as he suddenly realized he was falling toward the ground below.
“No, I’m not falling,” he said as he realized his body was hanging suspended. Something had a grip on his foot. He was suddenly dragged back into the room and tossed onto the ground.
“I’m still going to beat the crap out of you, you know,” she seethed. “But for now, this guy is ticking me off more than you.”
“Knssquad?” Amaterasu asked as he got back on his feet. He looked around the room. The glowing white from before had been replaced with a dark burning black. Fires spread out around the room that burned with an eerie light he couldn‘t have imagined existed before. “What the heck did you do?”
“My boss asked me to blow this tower to smithereens,” Knssquad shrugged and pulled out her banana bat. “I decided to start with this room.”
“Well, thanks, I guess,” he groaned. “Is he still alive?”
“Tch,” Knssquad glared at him for being thanked. “Isn’t that fire light? Isn’t it disturbing? Yeah, he’s still alive.”
Amaterasu couldn’t help but smile. Of all the people he’d end up getting help from it was the one person he had wronged the most. “Alright then,” he yelled. “Let’s do this.”
****
Their blood flew through the air as each one slashed and cut the other. Defending themselves had stopped as both focused only on inflicting as much pain on the other as possible. Punkfilter flung himself forward and slashed both of his arms across Yoyo’s bloody chest.
Her blood gushed out and spilled onto the floor. She paid it no mind as her own lightning sword pierced Punkfilter’s side and slashed it open. He yelled in agony as the shocks riveted his body. She grinned as she kicked him the shins knocking him to the ground.
Punkfilter’s face smashed headfirst into the blood drenched floor. He immediately leapt up but was too late to avoid another attack. The lightning blade cut through his arm and exploded the crystallized arm. He backed away from her as she slid the blade out of him.
He stared at the smiling blood covered girl. He looked down at himself and noticed his suit was far beyond repairs. “Geez,” Punkfilter said as he let his other arm disintegrate. The crystals fell to the floor.
“Giving up?” Yoyo asked in bewilderment. “If you ruin my fun I’ll take it out on you by ripping your limbs off slowly.”
“Not at all,” Punkfilter said as black crystal blades formed around each arm. He slashed them through the air and could feel the power and speed of the new blades. “I just am annoyed that you’ve pushed me this far.”
Yoyo pounced on PF and he blocked her attacks. His new blades easily knocked back her swords. He jabbed towards her and she blocked with her large sword. She was amazed at the power behind the attack. He had definitely raised the level of the battle on her.
“No,” she said. “I won’t allow it!”
She darted forward and crashed her blades into him. The smoke around her was growing thicker as it swallowed the blood off the two of them. “You’ll die here, Punkfilter! I will make this happen!”
She smashed her blades into his. Both blocked the other’s attacks and jabbed at the other. Her lightning blade slashed through the air as he moved past her smoke blade.
“Too late,” Punkfilter said as his arm slit across her face. She fell back and stumbled to stay on her feet. He had managed to cut down from her chin to her left eye.
Her glasses fell to the ground smashed. She had swung in such a frenzy after he had pierced her left eye that she had managed to hold him back. She no longer could see out of that eye.
“Frick,” Yoyo repeated over and over as she felt blood drip down her face. She watched him with her good eye as she held her two swords out. The smoke wafted off her sword and drank the blood off her face. The daggers that had been stuck inside her fell to the ground in front of her.
“Die!” She screamed and charged forward again. As her swords slammed into PF’s blades she noticed it. She wasn’t sure if it had happened just after he had cut her eye or if it had happened when she charged at him but there was no mistaking it.
Her entire body was now covered in the smoke. She felt her attacks matching his again. She slashed through the air and roared as she slashed at him. The lightning exploded the walls behind them sending rubble in every direction as the two of them fought.
“I get it,” Yoyo whispered as she addressed her large sword. “You’re going to help me defeat him, too, huh?”
Yoyo slung PF’s blood into the air and watched as the black smoke reached into the air and drank it. “Are you that excited for this fight? Are you so thirsty for our blood that you’d keep me alive so you can continue to feast?” Yoyo asked the sword. She didn’t care. With its added strength she could now match him again.
****
Amaterasu’s eyes darted around the burning room. He kept looking for any sign of Draco. Their best bet was to strike before he did. With the element of surprise on their side it was just possible they might be able to hit him. Especially since Draco might not be aware that Knssquad had joined him.
He swung his lance as fast as he could and flew back a foot from the spot he was standing. A pair of glowing white eyes had flashed across the room toward him. Draco’s punches hit him in a blinding spree. If he hadn’t been holding his lance up to block them they would have pulverized him. The force from each punch was still able to knock him back several feet.
Draco dodged Knssquad’s kick and turned on her. A series of kicks were exchanged between the two. Amaterasu wasted no time as he began firing his umbrella on Draco. The man dashed across the room away from the bullets but was followed closely by Knssquad. She launched a scoop of toxic ice cream at the man
A hole seeped into the wall from her attack. She didn’t stop as she flew at Draco and forced him to block her kick. “Yes,” she whispered. If she could make him block a kick then she could eventually strike him. That much she knew.
He grabbed her by the leg and swung her away. As her body whizzed across the room she was stopped by a force grabbing her hand. She was shocked to see that Draco had caught her in the middle of the room and smashed her into the ground. “Frick,” Knssquad coughed blood.
Draco leapt over her as Amaterasu’s lance sliced through the air. “You alright?” he asked Knssquad as his umbrella fired on the running man.
“Don’t worry about me, stupid,” Knssquad said. “I have a plan.”
“Really?” Amaterasu asked.
“Yeah,” she said as she pulled herself to her feet. “I think I have the bomb that can end this. But I need you to slow him down so we can make sure it hits him point blank.”
Draco was running against the walls and circling the two of them. Amaterasu could tell he was going to attack them again in a second. “The only drawback,” Knssquad whispered. “Is I never got it to work right, so we’ll definitely die.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Amaterasu yelled as he charged forward. He swung his lance at the man who bounced off the wall to meet him. Draco’s punch splintered several ribs as it made contact with his chest. He didn’t back down from the strike but charged forward and swung his lance.
Draco dodged Ama’s attack as an apple flew over his head. He didn’t have time to think about it as he blocked a kick from Knssquad. He rocketed across the room as the grenade above him exploded. “These two,” Draco said. “To be able to fight on even ground with me in this state.”
A lance sliding against the wall in front of him brought him back to the fight at hand. He dodged the lance and punched Ama across the face. The man didn’t move and Draco felt something tug on his arm.
The hook on Amaterasu’s umbrella had caught Draco’s hand. Amaterasu took advantage of Draco‘s confusion and smashed his head into Draco‘s. He fell back from the direct strike to his face. Blood dripped down their faces. Amaterasu‘s serious face hadn‘t changed.
Draco ripped the handle off his umbrella and tried to retreat. Something pierced him. He screamed as Amaterasu’s lance went through his stomach. Blood spewed out of his mouth and the pain was incredible.
“Die,” Draco roared as he began to punch Amaterasu repeatedly. His punches landed all across his body as he pounded away at his bones. He refused to let go of the lance holding Ama down to that spot. Blood splattered his knuckles and the ground around them as he beat the man mercilessly. Bones could be heard popping and snapping as he was hit with the force of several cars.
“I was planning to,” Amaterasu choked out as he fell to the floor. His eyes shut as he whispered to Knssquad. “Get him.”
“We’ll all die together!” Knssquad screamed as she threw a cup toward Draco. “Apple milkshake shrapnel surprise!”
The explosion shook the entire building for several seconds.
****
“That is your sword’s true form,” PF said as he looked at the girl wrapped completely in the smoke. “We must be truly worthy for it to show it to us.”
“I don’t care,” Yoyo said as she slashed her blades through the air.
PF’s black arms stopped the attack but it took everything he had to block it. The sword had bound itself to her body Yoyo’s attacks had been more than he could handle. It was everything he could do to block them.
He reached out and swiped at the blue blade. He yelled out as the electric blade sliced through his crystallized arm. “I forgot,” he closed his eyes for his own stupidity. The strength goes into both swords.
The lightning blade sliced into chest. He could feel the electric current sending endless pain into his body. He couldn’t breath while she held it inside of him. Even though the agony had only lasted for a second as she whipped it out it had truly felt eternal to him. He dropped to his knees in front of her.
His left arm shattered from where the electricity had shattered the crystals on his arm. He looked down at the blood soaked ground. Punkfilter watched as the shadow of Yoyo’s large blade moved towards him. He gripped his fist and yelled as the sword dug into his back.
The pain continued to wrack his body as he felt the smoke enter inside of him. It leeched onto his blood and organs and sapped away at him. He could feel it drying him out from the inside. He had never experienced anything like it in his life. As if a vacuum had opened where Yoyo had cut into him and it was trying to suck the very essence of his life.
“Not yet!” Punkfilter yelled. Crystals shot in every direction out of his body. Yoyo whipped the blade off of him and a suction sound was heard as the black smoke was dragged out of him. She stood a few feet away from him and parried the flying crystals that were launching in every direction. The power behind the random attacks was amazing.
After a moment the crystals stopped. She watched as his trembling body got to its feet. His eyes looked even more lifeless and his body was pale from the amount of blood loss. She noticed jagged crystals were jutting out of every part of his body. They pointed in every direction but she knew that each one was incredibly sharp.
“They’re stopping his blood loss,” she said. He leaped forward and slashed his arm towards her. The rows of irregular black crystals were barely stopped by her sword. He punched at her and she dodged another arm filled with crystals. “No, it’s more than just stopping the blood loss.”
She ducked as a kick filled with bladed crystals passed over her head. One of the longer ones sliced into the smoke covering her body and opened her forehead. She backed away from him and did her best to keep the man at a distance.
Punkfilter’s suit was in tatters and covered in blood. Barbed black crystals covered his body as he did everything he could to stay standing. His eyes coldly clung to life for the very purpose of killing her.
Yoyo’s body was covered in a moving black smoke that left everything but her right eye covered. Her left eye was useless to her now and she couldn’t see without her glasses anyway. She had been moving based on her senses and instincts ever since. Her right eye glared into him with hatred.
Both of them kicked forward and ran towards the other.
****
Draco wasn’t sure how long he’d stared at the two of them. A loud sigh escaped his mouth as he turned away. “You may have lost,” Draco said to no one in particular. “But you came close enough.”
He limped away from the two unconscious figures that lay on the ground. Neither of them had died. Both clung to life with each breath they took as they lay motionless in puddles of their own blood.
He had seen many fights and he knew the look of death pretty well. Neither of them were going to die there. He had failed to stop them and now he was out of commission. He smiled to himself as he looked down at the stairwell in front of him. “Geez,” Draco whispered as he winced from his first step. “It looks like I‘m about to be done in by stairs.”
Draco had no idea why he’d given up on the idea of killing Knssquad and Amaterasu. It was probably because there was no point in it. He wasn’t like Jose; he had never done this for the killing. He’d always done it to stop the enemies of TFK. That was all there was to it.
But it was more likely because he knew it was over for him. He continued to walk down the stairs. Each step hurt and it was taking him much longer to escape than he had hoped. “Whatever happens,” Draco said. “I’m done for.”
TFK would not take pity on Draco regardless of the fact that he’d won in his fight against Knssquad and Amaterasu. It also wouldn’t matter to TFK that Draco had been his loyal ally and servant since day one. He knew well that once a person’s usefulness was up or he could no longer find ways to interest the boss his time was over. And even if, in some unbelievable scenario, TFK was defeated, then he was one of the most loyal servants of TFK. He was also a murderer of far too many.
He didn’t really regret the actions he‘d taken while working for TFK. Most of the people he‘d killed were low life thugs that had no purpose. It was far better that he kill them while working for the top thug then just be another one of them living in the city.
“Maybe I do regret one thing,” Draco pondered as he held onto the rail. Each step at this point took most of his energy to keep from falling. “Shoot-”
He steadied himself after he’d nearly slipped. His shoes were sticky with blood. He wasn’t quite sure if it was his or theirs. Probably a mix of the two. If the city hadn’t been bombarded to pieces he’d imagine he’d stand out sorely on a city street covered in blood and injuries the way he was. It was possible he could escape. Even though he’d killed a countless number and worked for TFK a long time he wasn’t as well known as Jose or PF. The two of them had always stood out. While his bright lights were always hidden deep in the shadow of TFK’s own darkness.
“The one thing I regret,” he said more sure of himself as he continued to move downward. “Is how I left. I should have left years ago with SSS. When this all stopped being fun and the good times ended. That was probably when I should have left him.”
Even as he said it he knew it didn’t matter. The only way he would have ever given up on TFK and this Mafia would be by losing like this. If he had any strength left in him he’d rush onto the battlefield for his boss without a second’s hesitation.
That was why it was so important to him that those two could live. With each step down he could feel it becoming more true. Each step he took away from TFK it became more real to him.
“Those two are my heroes,” Draco smiled weakly. “They saved me. Even if it was too late, they saved me.”
****
The sound of Yoyo’s large sword falling to the ground was the only other noise that could be heard beside their quiet breathing. His last attack had nearly taken her arm off and she could no longer hold it. She felt the smoke that had covered her disappear off her body and return to the sword.
She was surprised to see what kind of shape she was in. From head to toe she was still covered in blood. But even worse was the number of open wounds she had. If she had seen someone else looking like she did she’d have been sure they were not alive.
Yoyo turned back to Punkfilter readjusting her grip on the one sword she still could hold up. Her left arm hung uselessly to her side as blood dripped down to the ground. Punkfilter’s crystalline body had shattered from the force of her attacks and now only the black crystal blades on his arms remained.
He was down on his knees but slowly worked his way back up to his feet as he watched Yoyo turn to face him again. There was some distance to cross before they could strike again. As they locked eyes they both knew that this would be the last attack between the two of them.
Yoyo’s sword dragged behind her as she limped towards him. She didn’t have the power left in her to carry it. She would save every possible ounce of energy left for this last attack of hers. Punkfilter wasn’t doing much better as he stumbled. He had lost so much blood at this point that he was having an extremely difficult time focusing on Yoyo. He kept walking out of the straight path towards Yoyo without meaning to.
Yoyo felt the Tower wobble for a second. Punkfilter had nearly fallen over from the sudden loss of balance. Something moved in her in that moment and she smiled. “That’s right,” she whispered. “My friends are still out there fighting.”
She looked up at Punkfilter and locked eyes with him. There would be no losing to him here. Yoyo would not fall now. And she wouldn’t let herself die from the injuries she’d already taken on.
When the two had gotten within striking distance neither made a move. Both watched the other. Their eyes bore into each other as they read the other. “The look in your eyes,” Punkfilter said. “Just changed.”
“That’s right,” Yoyo smiled as she lifted her lightning blade off the ground. “With one sword I unleash the demon of hatred within me. And with the other I’ll slay anyone that gets in the way of me and my friends!”
Yoyo’s lightning blade had entered through PF’s chest. His black crystals had sliced into the spot just below her neck. Blood dripped out of both of them. They stood still for a long time. The strength of the other holding each other up.
“You,” PF whispered as he watched his crystalline arms shatter and fall apart. He looked at his hands covered in blood for a brief second before falling on his side and crashing into the ground.
Yoyo slid her lightning blade into the ground and leaned on it. She wouldn’t fall. She wouldn’t fall to the same ground he did. She would remain standing. Movement caught her eye as she watched him roll over. He lifted his head as blood dripped out of his mouth. He spat it out and looked at her.
“You didn’t ask me,” he said slowly as his strength left him. “I expected you to ask me why.”
“You killed them because you were an awful human being. I didn’t need to ask why you did that,” Yoyo said with all the force she could muster. She looked at him and could tell she wasn’t talking about the same thing.
“Why did I let you live?” he leaned his head back onto the ground. His breathing had grown ragged.
Yoyo was stunned. It was a question she had often wondered in the back of her head. And by the looks of things this really would be her only opportunity to find out why he had.
She gripped her sword and closed her eyes. “You’re a monster, Punkfilter. You turned WOTNOPOLIS into a graveyard. It didn’t matter to me why you let me live. All I knew is that you had to answer for what you did. And you had to be stopped.”
Punkfilter closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Yeah, that’s what I thought as well,” he whispered as he took his final breath.
Yoyo wasn’t sure how long she had been staring blankly at the silent room before she realized she was staring at people. “What?” she whispered as she looked at the images floating through the room.
They were faded with time and hardly visible. But she could see the smiling faces of those she’d tried so hard to forget. A tear dropped down her cheek as she watched Brinckmyster and the old gang wave at her with smiling faces. “Thank you,” they yelled in unison. When she blinked they were gone.
Something tapped her on the shoulder and she looked up. A more clear memory stood next to her. Jake smiled at her goofily as he always had. “You finally defeated your demon, Yoyo,” Jake said and gave her a thumbs up. When she blinked he’d gone.
She walked slowly over to a wall and leaned against it. She still refused to lay down but she was too exhausted to stand. She held firmly onto the lightning blade as she stood there. “Geez, how much blood did I lose?” she asked herself and laughed. “I’m just seeing random crap now. Gosh.”
Yoyo looked over at Punkfilter’s dead body for a while. She hated the sight of the slight grin on his face. With a sigh she pulled her eyes away from it and looked up. “Alright,” she said. “I finished my part. Now you guys end this. And you better freaking live or I’m going to kill you.”
****
Q stopped running and smiled. A giant doorway stood in front of him. A man leaned against the door wearing a hoodie. Without looking up he spoke. “Geez, what took you so long? I would have had time to beat TFK three times by now if I hadn’t waited on you,” Bano said to him.
“Pfft, only three?” Q answered back. “Then you’re getting lazy these days. Is everyone alright?”
“Last I saw everyone they were being crushed by rubble, attacked by that psychopath Jose, and being shot at. So they were doing alright,” Bano shrugged. “How about your guys?”
“We got here alright,” Q shrugged. “I flew in a van today.”
“Titan’s here?” Bano asked with a smile as Q poked the large door. “Well that’s pretty cool. I blew up some helicopters with a bazooka. And sliced one out of the sky with my kama. You know, whatever.”
“I got to beat up Dark Raptor,” Q beamed. “Except we left him on the high way to beat JJDomer.”
“Aw, man. I’d always wanted to do that. Winner,” Bano laughed. “Did you glue him to the highway?”
Q immediately started laughing. “Oh my gosh, I remember that. He was so scared when the cars were flying past. Good times.”
“So if you didn’t bring DR with you then who did you get?” Bano asked.
“Amaterasu,” Q rolled his eyes.
“Oiy, him,” Bano sighed. “Well, whatever. Are you ready?”
Q lifted his hand up and Bano high fived him. “I’m ready. Let’s put an end to this. It’s time to kill The First Knight.”
“Here,” Draco said as he tossed the boy a suit. “Put this on. If you’re going to work for TFK you can’t be seen looking ragged.”
Punkfilter rubbed the fabric of the suit for a moment. From the moment he touched the suit a feeling of power came out of it he couldn‘t describe. He’d lived on the streets of WOTNOPOLIS all his life. Even though he’d seen people wear suits he never expected to have the chance to wear one himself. “Why are you guys interested in me?” Punkfilter asked him. “My powers, I’ve always been told to suppress them.”
“We’re aware you’ve been suppressing them up until now, PF,” Draco said as he looked down at the boy sitting in the car seat next to him. He wasn’t all that old considering the amount of power he was about to be handed. Draco ignored that and drove down the streets of WOTNOPOLIS. “We’re also aware that you’ve been secretly going out and getting into fights. That you’ve been the cause of a recent string of crimes against gangs in the area.”
Punkfilter said nothing but stared out the window. “It seems to me you really want to be in an area where you can fight. But you have no goal or purpose in these mindless killings and attacks you’re doing. Join up with us and you’ll get to do as you please. And you’ll be afforded the opportunity to fight a host of WOTNOPOLIS’s strongest warriors.”
Draco could sense that he’d caught the boy’s interest but hadn’t sealed the deal. PF was riding back to TFK‘s Tower with him so he was making progress. He needed only to keep pushing and he was sure he could win over the newest addition of TFK’s Guard. He laughed and added, “There’s plenty of killing involved in this line of work, too, if that interests you.”
He could tell by the look on his face that it hadn’t gone over well. I guess he’s not like Jose in that way. PF held onto the suit he’d given him with a clear interest and Draco smiled. “You’ll be able to afford as many of those as you want,” he said pointing to the suit he had in his hands. “You’ll be paid very well. Your employment is secure as long as you stay strong and don’t lose. Haha, or do something idiotic like call a cop.”
Furthermore, that’ll be your new home. Close to the top of that tower,” he said as he pointed at TFK’s Tower. PF’s eyes widened with interest as he stared at the tallest building in WOTNOPOLIS. “You’ll get plenty of room up there.”
PF nodded without a word. He could tell he’d hooked him with that. “There is one catch, though,” he began. “If you do take on this job your first assignment will be destroying the Brinckmyster gang. Not only have they been causing us a lot of trouble with the police, but we also don’t want you having any lingering attachments. That won’t be a problem will it?”
His face grew cold as he held onto the suit. The first item someone had ever given him. The first thing he‘d ever owned. His eyes looked out the window at the Tower for a moment. Draco didn’t say a word as his companion thought over the request he’d made. After a while he looked over and saw him with what looked like a slight smile on his face. “I can’t wait,” PF said.
Draco sighed. He’d managed to rope this kid in just like TFK had ordered. He wasn’t sure how powerful this kid actually was, but if the reports he had read were true he’d become a legend under TFK for sure. He also liked that the kid seemed more reasonable than Jose whom he was constantly being annoyed by. And less of a creep than Venomu.
“What’s it like?” PF asked. “Working for TFK?”
“It used to a lot of fun, we were heading to the top and taking over the city. Something no one had ever done,” Draco reminisced. He then changed his tone as he realized talk like that wouldn’t encourage the new member of the Mafia. “We’re the most powerful people in WOTNOPOLIS. Our boss is inconceivably strong and he’ll eventually have the entire city, possibly the entire country under his heel. And as his guards we’re pretty much given free reign over the city. As long as we keep an eye on any threats that might grow up in the city and eliminate them beforehand we’re good. You’ll be taking over the East district of the city and it’s fairly easy to handle.”
The two were silent as he parked the car and they stepped out. As they headed to the entrance of the office building PF stopped. “I‘d like to change into this suit before I meet the boss.”
Draco smiled. “That would be great.”
****
“How pathetic,” the large man said as he stared out the window of his Tower. “That fool couldn’t even kill one girl. And now we have this big mess outside.”
Draco stood a distance away from TFK. He knew better than to stand near him in moments like these. “And Punkfilter is no help to us right now,” TFK continued to mutter. “Draco?” he asked; almost wondering if he still had any competent assistants.
“Sir?” Draco asked and looked his boss in the eye. TFK’s eyes revealed nothing to him as he looked into them. They never had in all their years. His boss’s confidence hadn’t wavered at all.
“Go outside and clean up the mess that idiot couldn’t,” TFK ordered. “And once you’ve made sure everyone is dead chase down the rats inside the Tower. They’ve messed with enough of our equipment as it is.”
“Right away,” Draco nodded and walked toward the elevator that connected to TFK’s office. His boss continued to stare emptily out the window. He smiled as he punched the buttons to the lobby. He couldn’t wait to get back out there and do something.
“It’s just too bad about you, SSS,” Draco whispered as the elevator doors shut behind him. “I won’t relish having to kill you. But you picked a bad time to defect. Not that anytime to stand up to TFK is a good one.”
His mind drifted as the elevator steadily moved to the bottom of the Tower. “I wonder what kind of person was able to kill Jose,” he mused. “I would like to meet them, I think.”
His thoughts focused on the elevator. It had stopped on a random floor. “Hm?” he thought as he held the close door button down. He popped open a control panel and placed his key inside. With that he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else getting onboard the elevator. TFK had long ago secured it so that his top men wouldn’t have to worry about riding with others.
The metal doors of the elevator cracked open. Draco stared at it for a moment. “Hello?” he called out. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait for another elevator, I’m busy.”
The door slid open farther and an object fell into the elevator. He wasted no timing in kicking the elevator doors open and running from it as fast as he could. The grenade blast shook the entire floor as the elevator dropped from the cable it was attached to and fell far below.
Draco stood up and brushed his hair back. A man was standing across the room with light blue hair. He held a pistol firmly in his hand that was pointed at Draco. “Sorry, I’m supposed to be doing something,” Draco said as he knocked dust off his shirt. “Though I imagine if you went through all that trouble you’re not going to give up on fighting me easily, hm?”
The man shook his head as he pulled a bazooka out with his other hand. “You’re going to make a real mess with that,” Draco sighed. “What’s your name?”
“Amaterasu,” he answered. Draco smiled as he understood what was going on.
“Ah, I see,” he said. “Then there won’t be any persuading you away from this. Let’s make it quick, I have some chores to do.”
****
Shiro watched as Death and Dei attempted to land blows on Mikel. The three of them had focused on taking down Mikel while he’d left KKQ and Zergio to fight the horde of people behind them. It wasn’t something that he really wanted to do but they had no choice but to separate their power. And the gunmen stood the best chance at holding them back.
Death landed next to Shiro. She was out of breath and was holding onto her left shoulder. “He’s really fast,” she whispered to him. “There aren’t many people that can land hits on us. We have yet to strike him. So even though I hate working with a cop, do something!”
Mikel was definitely incredible to be able to keep up and land a strike on those two. Shiro also knew that everyone around him was battle fatigued. He lifted his giant metal hammer off the ground where it had been resting and charged toward Mikel. Dei was doing her best to dodge each of his attacks but Shiro could tell she was being overwhelmed.
“Take this!” Shiro yelled as his hammer smashed into him. He felt his hands burn as the hammer’s force bounced back from the object it’d struck. “No way,” Shiro thought as his body flew back. “He deflected that blow by matching the strength of my hammer and then some.”
Shiro slid backward and spun the hammer back into an attack stance. “This is going nowhere,” Shiro thought as he charged forward again. “He’s much stronger than me and he’s much faster than them.”
Mikel dodged past Shiro’s hammer. As it smashed into the ground he snatched the handle and swung it. Shiro felt himself flying through the air before landing on the ground a distance away. When he looked up his heart sank. Mikel was swinging his hammer toward a retreating Death and Dei. “Freaking great,” Shiro grumbled as he hopped back to his feet. “I’m gonna stop him now if it kills me.”
“Nice going cop!” Death yelled as she dodged another of Mikel’s swings. “Next time just give him a bomb. He’d kill us quicker that way.”
Shiro ducked as the hammer flew over his head. “He’s sort of strong, if you haven’t noticed!” Shiro snapped back. He managed to grab the handle of the hammer as it moved past.
He fell forward as he was incapable of holding onto it. “Frick,” Shiro said as he got back to his feet. “This is going nowhere.”
He heard a sickening thud sound behind him. Shiro’s heart sank as he watched Dei’s body fly across the battle field and crash. He could tell by the position her body landed in that she wasn’t going to be fighting any longer. A quick glance toward Death confirmed that they both were thinking the same fate had befallen her.
“Monster!” Death screamed as she glided past Shiro’s hammer. She swung her knife in an upwards direction as her body flew down on him. Shiro watched as Mikel reacted instantly and pulled himself out of the way of Death’s attack.
Blood dropped from Death‘s knife as it sliced across Mikel‘s face. A long open cut ran across his cheek but stopped short of his eye. “So he can bleed,” Shiro said as he watched Death back away from Mikel.
Shiro looked at Death with a smile but it faded when he saw the look on her face. “That’s right,” he remembered as he got back to his feet. “That one mark came at Dei’s life.”
****
Yoyo’s swords smashed into Punkfilter’s blades. The sound of the metals hitting crystal echoed throughout the large room as Yoyo changed the direction her foot was pointing and pressed harder against his block. He parried her blades away and jabbed his own crystallized sword at her.
She swung her shoulders and soared over his head. He followed her and blocked her attack as she crashed her blades down on him. Wind blew the hair out of their faces as the force of the two repelling each other shook them.
Yoyo dashed a distance away and reminded herself to breath. The pressure of the moment was incredible as Punkfilter turned to face her. “The lightning blade and the black smoke sword,” he spoke calmly as he looked at her. “They’re almost as legendary as you, Yoyo. The one known as a demon.”
Punkfilter bolted across the room and pointed his arms towards her. She dodged and blocked his attacks as he unleashed a volley of jabs at her. She continued to move back and forth across his large room as he pressed her relentlessly. Each attack drove her back as the force behind each of them was immense.
She swung the giant black sword in her left hand the moment she had seen in an opening in his attacks. PF blocked the sword with both hands and grunted. Yoyo slashed the lightning blade through the air but he had sprung away from her attacks. He stared at her for a moment and shook his head.
“This won’t do,” he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. “You’re holding back on me.”
Her eyes widened. He was right. A part of her had been holding back. If she went all out now and failed then everything she had been working to achieve would fall apart. She was holding back hoping that she would be able to overpower him. To see what he was capable of first.
She inwardly groaned. She knew that was no way to fight a guy like Punkfilter and yet she had been doing it anyway. “You’ve been holding back, too,” Yoyo said. “Activate your Amplification form and we’ll do this for real.”
Yoyo felt anger grip her as Punkfilter began to laugh. It echoed through the cavernous room as she watched the man chuckle. “Oh my, so that’s what you were waiting for is it?” Punkfilter sped towards her and she threw up her swords. She deflected his attack. Her eyes blinked as his arm flashed past her and she felt her cheek open up. Her blood shot off her face onto the floor around them.
His eyes were inches from her own as he stared at her. He had drawn the first strike in the battle. “I’m sorry to inform you,” he spoke slowly. “But I do not have an Amplification form to activate. However, let me warn you, whatever’s holding you back in this fight you better leave it behind. Next time I’m not going to spare your life by cutting your cheek. I’m going to slit your throat.”
Yoyo slashed both swords through the air. Punkfilter jumped high and dodged both attacks. He landed a distance away. His cold eyes watched her as a smile crossed her face. “Fine,” she said and shook her head. “But remember. You’re the one leaving this room in a body bag.”
Both grinned as they stared at the other. Both eyes were playing the death of the other in their minds. “Good. It’d be pointless if you didn’t fight me like that, demon,” Punkfilter rushed forward.
****
Amaterasu dashed across the mid sized office room. Bullets fired out of his machine gun as he charged TFK’s guard. He was determined not to waste any time when it came to dealing with this guy. He knew better than most how powerful TFK‘s guards were.
“I want to warn you,” Draco said to Amaterasu as he zoomed past him. He could hardly believe his eyes as Draco ended up on the other side of the room. His grey eyes bore into Amaterasu as he spun around. “I am not going to be someone you can beat. I am no pushover. You should give up on this revenge ideas of yours now. Teikiatsu died a long time ago.”
Amaterasu pulled an axe off his back and launched himself forward. Draco swung his fist in his direction and a beam of light shot through the air. His foot landed in front of Draco as his axe sliced through the air. He watched as Draco stepped back from his attack and grabbed his axe by the blade. He held onto it for a moment before it snapped and broke in two.
Draco’s smile faded as Amaterasu’s other hand spun around his machine gun and pointed a bazooka at him. An explosion ripped through the floor as he barely dodged the attack. He looked around carefully before shooting a beam away from him with his left hand. Amaterasu dodged the bright beam through the dust and shot another round from his bazooka.
“You sure have a lot of weapons on you,” Draco said as he flashed away from the man and shot his beam out in an arc. The laser cut through the walls of the office and left it in pieces.
“I fought a girl who had a lot of weapons and knew how to use them,” Amaterasu said as he shot his machine gun at the man. Draco ran away from the hail of bullets and rested behind a pillar for a moment. “And then I worked for Titan and learned even more about weapons. These are all handmade by Titan so you know they’re the best.”
Amaterasu was surprised and dropped to the ground as the laser shot through the pillar towards him. He hadn’t expected Draco to do that. He got back to his feet and shot his bazooka at the pillar splintering it to pieces. As the dust settled he saw that Draco had disappeared.
“Shoot,” he whispered as his eyes darted around the room searching for him. Despite his attacks he had yet to land a single blow on Draco. And now he’d lost sight of him.
He jumped into the air as a glowing behind him told him that a laser was about to be fired from Draco‘s hands. “It’s different,” Amaterasu said as he realized the laser glowed a blue-ish tint. It reflected off the tile floor underneath him and bounced towards him.
As he hit the ground he grabbed his left arm. Blood dripped down it from where the laser had cut through it. He‘d have to remember that these blue lasers could reflect off a surface.
He lifted his head up and his eyes widened. A few feet away from him Draco was gliding past him. His white hair was blown back from the speed he was moving at. Light blue illuminated his face as a beam shot out of his hands and toward Amaterasu at nearly point blank.
****
Punkfilter’s slashes continued to swing through the air as Yoyo evaded each attack. She swung her large blade out and forced him to pull back. She jetted forward and swung her lightning blade through the air at her target.
He deflected the attack away with one arm and jabbed his other arm forward. She dropped to her knees as the blade whizzed over her head. A piece of her hair dropped to the ground as the blade moved over her. Her lightning blade whipped upward and forced him back as she launched herself back to her feet.
“Abeo,” Punkfilter said. A row of green blades shot out of the ground. The black smoke dripping off of her large blade moved instinctively and caught the blades before they reached Yoyo.
She immediately pointed her lightning blade at him and stabbed the air. A bolt of lightning burst forth from the sword. It slammed into a wall of green crystal that had shot up from the ground to protect him. She charged forward as the green wall exploded into a thousand bladed fragments.
The smoke formed a shield in front of her as she charged through the wall of flesh ripping crystal fragments. The shield transformed into a row of spears that aimed for Punkfilter. He moved back and forth as he blocked each spear with his arms and knocked the powerful smoke away. Yoyo slashed her smaller blade through the air and the sound of thunder shook the room.
A crystal wall was formed in front of Punkfilter that reflected the lightning in a circle and back at Yoyo. Her smoke caught the reflected attack and it disappeared into the darkness inside. She continued forward and slashed the lightning blade through the crystal wall he had created.
Yoyo looked into his eyes as it shattered. A wall of crystallized green daggers launched from the ground as the smoke off her sword rained a hail of spears down from above. Both of them dodged and blocked the attacks coming at them without breaking their gaze.
A grin spread out on Yoyo’s face as the two continued to move back and forth across the battlefield. Fragments of crystals shattered beneath her swords and the air filled with the smell of smoke as he sliced through each of her spears. The sound of thunder echoed across the large room while the sound of clanging metal and crystals was ever present. The low thuds of Punkfilter’s attacks hitting Yoyo’s smoke wall was countered by the high pitched creaks of Yoyo’s swords crashing into his crystal walls.
Yoyo’s smile continued to grow wider as the two continued to battle. Each of them expertly dodged and deflected the other’s attack and was ready to counter. Yoyo slashed her lightning sword through the air and Punkfilter’s crystal wall reflected it away from him. It smashed into the ceiling causing several of the lights to explode from the sudden power surge.
The dimming of the lights didn’t phase either of the combatants as they charged at one another. Light orange sparks flew into the air as Punkfilter’s and Yoyo’s blades clashed. A purple glow was constant on the battlefield as Yoyo swung her lightning sword against the onslaught of Punkfilter’s attacks.
After a moment both realized they had stopped battling. They panted as they stared at the other. They could still sense the other without any trouble despite the darkness that filled the room.
“You sure look happy,” Punkfilter finally commented as he got ready to attack again.
Yoyo’s smile grew wider. “We’re evenly matched,” she whispered the thought that had been resounding through her head during the battle. “I can kill him.”
****
Little Shiro had only seen a blur move past him. His body flew across the parking lot and in an instant he’d crashed into the ground. He yelled in pain as his body skidded across the broken asphalt.
Pain ached across his body with each breath he took. Mikel had delivered a powerful punch to his chest in an instant and sent him flying. What shocked him to his senses and got him back to his feet was the cry he heard Death make. Originally he didn’t recognize the sound as his senses had been dulled by Mikel’s attack and the amount of noise already around him.
Once he realized it was Death he’d heard scream he was back on his feet and staring at the back of Mikel. A knife was sticking out of the side of his arm but Mikel seemed unmoved by it. Death was nowhere to be seen. Shiro’s eyes moved over the parking lot as he looked for a sign of what happened to Death. After a moment he noticed something that made his stomach sink.
Mikel held the hammer out firmly. Blood was dripping from it. Shiro closed his eyes as he tried to remember whether that blood could have come from someone else. He reopened them and his stomach sunk even further. His gaze was fixed on the fighting ahead of him.
“No!” Shiro yelled as he ran forward. He wasn’t going to let Mikel get any closer to the others. He wasn’t going to let another ally fall. And he wasn’t going to let Mikel get any closer to her.
Mikel turned and looked back at him. It was like he had forgotten the man existed until he heard him yelling. Shiro leapt high into the air as the hammer swung towards him. Dust flew into the air and chips of the road hit him in the face as he barely missed the attack. “You won’t hit me again with my own weapon!” Shiro screamed.
Shiro felt like he’d just thrown himself into a wall as Mikel’s fist smashed into his face. He hit the ground with a thud. The pain shooting across his face had sent his heart into a panic. He could feel it beating uncontrollably. The fact that he was dangerously open to another attack didn’t matter to him. The pain from that attack splintering his skull had paralyzed him.
As his mind started to recover from the shock he winced. Any second his hammer would smash him and end it. He braced himself the best he could for the strike. His hand twitched and he realized he was regaining his senses. The jarring pain still clouded his ability to think and react but he hadn’t lost yet.
“He’s going after KKQ,” he slurred. He pushed off the ground and stumbled back to his feet. “I have to stop him.”
He marched towards the large man who was swinging away at the crowd of people. Each person he watched Mikel fling away Shiro could feel his convictions grow stronger. He refused to let that happen to KKQ.
“Watch out!” Shiro yelled as Mikel neared her. KKQ looked up as she shot down a row of men and gasped.
“What happened?” she said as she turned to face the giant before her.
“Death and Dei are gone!” Shiro yelled. “He’s way too powerful.”
“Why doe he have your hammer?” KKQ yelled back.
“Who cares! Just dodge!”
KKQ leapt back as the hammer banged into the ground in front of her. She pulled out a metal box and sank a chain into it. In an instant she revved the cord back and a green glow emanated from the box. A loud roaring sound was heard as KKQ waved a glowing chainsaw in her hands.
“I’ll help you take down this guy,” KKQ said as she pointed it at him.
“What about the guys behind you?” Shiro screamed as they bound towards KKQ. She held her chainsaw out away from herself and spun in a circle. Blood shot out in every direction around KKQ as she looked back at Shiro. “I can handle them both.”
“You don’t have to,” a man answered. Both were surprised when a wall of flame shot across the battlefield and tore through the horde of people coming after them. They screamed in terror at the fire and started to scatter in different directions.
Seshimazi walked out of the wall of fire and looked at Mikel. “Giving him a hammer wasn’t a good idea, guys,” he shook his head.
“You’re on our side?” KKQ asked as she looked at him.
“I have to help you guys get my boss under control. He’s a good guy but like this? This isn’t him,” Seshi shrugged. “Besides, I owe Q for getting me out of Shugo’s group.”
Mikel looked between the three of them. He didn’t notice the body sneak up behind him and rip the knife out of his arm. She dashed away from him and landed a safe distance away. She pointed her knife at Mikel and sighed.
“I really thought I was dying for a second,” Death said before glaring at Shiro. “Which doesn’t give you an excuse to say I was already gone, jerk. Freaking cops.”
Zergio continued to shoot at the group of people. Even though Seshi’s flames had held them back they were still trying to break through. He was no match for a guy like Mikel but if he could hold these people back then he could leave it to them. “Heh,” Zergio thought to himself. “Holding back the armies so the tough guy can be taken down. I’m still doing the same job as I was with Clair.”
“You’re not doing it alone, though,” he heard JZ say behind him. A jeep smashed into a group of people and blocked the path of some of TFK’s men.
“That’s true,” Zergio agreed as he continued firing at them. “And we’ll keep doing our part. Hoping that someone can stop these monsters.”
****
Amaterasu did his best to shoot his guns at Draco. He hadn’t managed to strike him yet and he’d been hit twice now by Draco’s attacks. He’d realized that the blue beam would come at him when Draco crossed his hands together. The blue beam could reflect off any surface and cut through anything around it. The yellow beam would slice through most things and cause an explosion.
Amaterasu couldn’t keep up with his attacks. He was doing everything he could to dodge each beam as they were shot at him. The only tip off he got was the glow each one had. That gave him a hint in which direction to jump. “This isn’t going right,” Amaterasu said as he hit the ground. He’d only barely missed being hit by that attack and the explosion that followed it had knocked him to his feet.
“I wasn’t planning to use this until I saw his Amplification form,” he said as he pulled a black stick out of his uniform. “But it doesn’t look like I have a choice.”
With his left hand he strapped his bazooka and machine gun to his back and pulled an umbrella off of his back. “Expecting a rainstorm?” Draco said standing in front of him. “I have no idea what you’re doing but this is a battle and we don’t wait on people here.”
Draco lunged forward with a punch. Amaterasu pulled a switch opening the umbrella and swung it out away from him. Draco’s eyes widened as he watched the man fly away from him. “Are you serious?” he asked.
“Quite,” Amaterasu said as he pulled the umbrella closed and pointed it at Draco. The man dashed backward as a row of bullets peppered the ground around him. He crossed both arms and shot a blue beam at Amaterasu as he ran back.
Amaterasu dodged the attack and the ricochet. He hit the small black stick in his hand against the wall twice. An electric current shocked through it and he held it out away from him.
Draco watched as it expanded in size and came to a sharp metal point on the end. “Is that a lance?” Draco asked.
“Others will soon be available courtesy of Titanium industries,” Amaterasu said as he swung the umbrella out. His body shot across the room and he swung the lance toward Draco.
He barely dodged as the lance sliced through the ground. Amaterasu landed smoothly and swung the umbrella into Draco hitting him in the side. He closed the umbrella and began to fire bullets at him.
Draco blocked the bullets with a laser beam and sped away from him. He couldn’t believe it but he couldn’t keep up with Amaterasu’s new weapons. As he ran he heard something fly past him. He looked over and saw Amaterasu had landed in front of him.
He tried to slow his momentum but it was too late. Amaterasu plunged the lance into Draco’s side. He fell back from the attack and groaned. He hadn’t been hit in an actual battle in a long time.
The spot on Amaterasu’s chest and his arm where he’d been hit felt a little better after he’d finally managed to wound Draco. And he wasn’t going to stop there. He swung the umbrella out and swooped towards him.
Draco dodged the attack and Amaterasu suddenly felt the air pressure of the room shift. A fear seized him as he tried to stand up. He hadn’t even realized he was bent at the knees or crouching low to the ground. His body was trembling. What was going on?
“Amplification form, activated,” he heard Draco say. “It’s too bad for you, former cop. Your fighting style is pretty interesting. But you can’t win here. I am the man with the strongest Amplification form under TFK.”
****
Yoyo’s blades blocked Pf’s attack. She lifted her foot off the ground. Punkfilter hadn’t expected the sudden kick and it nailed him squarely in the chest. He fell back a foot and shook his head. His face remained unchanged as he took a step away from her. She could tell by the look in her eyes that hate was boiling inside him.
She kicked off the ground and swung both blades in front of her in a scissors motion. Both crashed into Punkfilter’s arms as he blocked the attacks. The look in his eyes could have killed as his foot kicked the ground. Yoyo tried to jump back as a row of daggers shot out of the ground and nailed her.
Her smoke managed to block a few of them. She winced as two daggers stuck in her chest and another one in her left leg. Blood dripped onto the ground beneath her. After taking stock she focused her attention back on Pf. He was a small distance away. She swiped her lightning sword through the air and a wave of lightning crashed into his position.
“Shoot,” Yoyo whispered as she watched him fly over the attack and slam his blades against her own. They both shoved the full force of their power into their arms as they tried to force the other back. The blades clanged noisily as they skidded back and forth across one another.
Yoyo could feel his blade slash across her chest. She watched as her blood spilt out of her body and flew through the air. Her own smoke blade had slit open his chest and his blood had been sliced into the air. Their blood crossed paths before splattering across the floor and onto each other.
Neither stepped back or dared to retreat as their blades smashed loudly into each other again. The soft glow of Yoyo’s sword revealed a smile plastered onto her face as she looked at the sight of Punkfilter’s blood on his suit. She had relished to see that for so long.
Punkfilter’s face was empty as it ever had been as he deflected her attack. His left arm jabbed forward and caught her in the stomach. He could feel his blade pierce through and he could see blood shooting out of the other side of her. He could feel his blade cut through her body.
Yoyo felt something primal and powerful from the pain she now felt. Her smile grew larger as her blood seeped out of her. She had felt this way in battles before. She gripped both of her blades and roared.
“So this is the Demon,” Punkfilter stated matter-of-factly as he pulled his blade out of her. Her blood drenched his arm as he moved to block Yoyo’s smoke sword. She stabbed her lightning sword into the ground and picked both of her feet up off the ground.
Punkfilter’s eyes widened as the feet barreled into his chest. He flew backwards and grunted. He had definitely broken something from that attack and he grinned ever so slightly. The pain inside of him and the blood that had splattered his suit was feeding something inside of him.
He had no time to reflect on what it was as Yoyo’s smiling face was upon him already. He blocked both of her swords and shot a series of daggers out of the ground. Yoyo front flipped over them. Their eyes met again as she landed behind him. Both could sense the demon howling inside of the other. This made each of them hunger even more as their attacks became more frenzied.
****
Amaterasu felt the room go still. He had opened his umbrella and held it as a shield against the powerful force that emanated out of Draco. The room had grown blindingly bright after his activation and it was now as if they were locked in a world of white.
He pulled his umbrella down and peered at the source. A mystifying glowing white surrounded Draco. It wasn’t that his body itself was glowing but the air around him. The room was still painfully bright to his eyes but he slowly adjusting to it.
“So this is the power of an Amplification form?” Amaterasu said to himself. It looked as if Draco hadn’t fully recovered from his activation either as he was still moving somewhat sluggishly.
“I possess the power of Light,” Draco said and looked over at Amaterasu. He realized that he had no pupils just radiating white eyes. “In my regular form that allows me to channel light and shoot it at people. But in this form all light has its power magnified a hundredfold. I used to hate this power. It kept me from being able to go out during the day without suffering. But once I learned to control it I‘ve grown to really enjoy being the Light. Can you stop the very power of the Light itself, former cop?”
“I have no idea,” Amaterasu said as he pointed his lance at Draco. “But I’ve come too far to give up at this point.”
“We’ll see,” Draco’s fist plowed into Ama’s face before he could even blink. His body smashed into a concrete wall behind him. He felt himself unable to move from the speed of the punch that hit him.
“W-a?” he muttered as he pulled himself off the wall. Behind him it crumbled and he watched the chunks of concrete fell below him. His eyes grew wide as he looked back at Draco.
“How? I?” He was beginning to panic. Draco merely looked at him with a frown evident on his face.
“This is where it ends. You’re pretty powerful but Amplification forms are beyond you. And mine is too far out of your reach,” he spoke.
“Shut up!” Ama closed his eyes. Fear bit into his heart. The situation was beyond bleak. How could he fight with someone on this level? He had barely been able to fight him before.
“It doesn’t matter,” Amaterasu opened his eyes and pointed his umbrella at Draco. “This is for Teikiatsu. And everyone else here who’s counting on me. Those freaking idiots. They still trusted me even after all I did to them? Do you think I can turn my back on such stupid people? Do you think I can just let you kill them? Forget it! I’m an employee of Titanium Inc. & Co. and you’re going to die!”
Amaterasu dashed across the room. He pulled the trigger of his umbrella and sprayed bullets around them. Draco effortlessly dodged each bullet as it came out of the umbrella and moved out to meet him. “Die!” Amaterasu screamed as he charged his lance toward Draco.
“If it’s like that, well, I guess I can forget about what you did,” Ama heard a familiar voice say. He watched as Draco neared him.
“What did I just hear?” he asked as the room exploded. Amaterasu’s body tumbled outside the building. His mind was swirling as he suddenly realized he was falling toward the ground below.
“No, I’m not falling,” he said as he realized his body was hanging suspended. Something had a grip on his foot. He was suddenly dragged back into the room and tossed onto the ground.
“I’m still going to beat the crap out of you, you know,” she seethed. “But for now, this guy is ticking me off more than you.”
“Knssquad?” Amaterasu asked as he got back on his feet. He looked around the room. The glowing white from before had been replaced with a dark burning black. Fires spread out around the room that burned with an eerie light he couldn‘t have imagined existed before. “What the heck did you do?”
“My boss asked me to blow this tower to smithereens,” Knssquad shrugged and pulled out her banana bat. “I decided to start with this room.”
“Well, thanks, I guess,” he groaned. “Is he still alive?”
“Tch,” Knssquad glared at him for being thanked. “Isn’t that fire light? Isn’t it disturbing? Yeah, he’s still alive.”
Amaterasu couldn’t help but smile. Of all the people he’d end up getting help from it was the one person he had wronged the most. “Alright then,” he yelled. “Let’s do this.”
****
Their blood flew through the air as each one slashed and cut the other. Defending themselves had stopped as both focused only on inflicting as much pain on the other as possible. Punkfilter flung himself forward and slashed both of his arms across Yoyo’s bloody chest.
Her blood gushed out and spilled onto the floor. She paid it no mind as her own lightning sword pierced Punkfilter’s side and slashed it open. He yelled in agony as the shocks riveted his body. She grinned as she kicked him the shins knocking him to the ground.
Punkfilter’s face smashed headfirst into the blood drenched floor. He immediately leapt up but was too late to avoid another attack. The lightning blade cut through his arm and exploded the crystallized arm. He backed away from her as she slid the blade out of him.
He stared at the smiling blood covered girl. He looked down at himself and noticed his suit was far beyond repairs. “Geez,” Punkfilter said as he let his other arm disintegrate. The crystals fell to the floor.
“Giving up?” Yoyo asked in bewilderment. “If you ruin my fun I’ll take it out on you by ripping your limbs off slowly.”
“Not at all,” Punkfilter said as black crystal blades formed around each arm. He slashed them through the air and could feel the power and speed of the new blades. “I just am annoyed that you’ve pushed me this far.”
Yoyo pounced on PF and he blocked her attacks. His new blades easily knocked back her swords. He jabbed towards her and she blocked with her large sword. She was amazed at the power behind the attack. He had definitely raised the level of the battle on her.
“No,” she said. “I won’t allow it!”
She darted forward and crashed her blades into him. The smoke around her was growing thicker as it swallowed the blood off the two of them. “You’ll die here, Punkfilter! I will make this happen!”
She smashed her blades into his. Both blocked the other’s attacks and jabbed at the other. Her lightning blade slashed through the air as he moved past her smoke blade.
“Too late,” Punkfilter said as his arm slit across her face. She fell back and stumbled to stay on her feet. He had managed to cut down from her chin to her left eye.
Her glasses fell to the ground smashed. She had swung in such a frenzy after he had pierced her left eye that she had managed to hold him back. She no longer could see out of that eye.
“Frick,” Yoyo repeated over and over as she felt blood drip down her face. She watched him with her good eye as she held her two swords out. The smoke wafted off her sword and drank the blood off her face. The daggers that had been stuck inside her fell to the ground in front of her.
“Die!” She screamed and charged forward again. As her swords slammed into PF’s blades she noticed it. She wasn’t sure if it had happened just after he had cut her eye or if it had happened when she charged at him but there was no mistaking it.
Her entire body was now covered in the smoke. She felt her attacks matching his again. She slashed through the air and roared as she slashed at him. The lightning exploded the walls behind them sending rubble in every direction as the two of them fought.
“I get it,” Yoyo whispered as she addressed her large sword. “You’re going to help me defeat him, too, huh?”
Yoyo slung PF’s blood into the air and watched as the black smoke reached into the air and drank it. “Are you that excited for this fight? Are you so thirsty for our blood that you’d keep me alive so you can continue to feast?” Yoyo asked the sword. She didn’t care. With its added strength she could now match him again.
****
Amaterasu’s eyes darted around the burning room. He kept looking for any sign of Draco. Their best bet was to strike before he did. With the element of surprise on their side it was just possible they might be able to hit him. Especially since Draco might not be aware that Knssquad had joined him.
He swung his lance as fast as he could and flew back a foot from the spot he was standing. A pair of glowing white eyes had flashed across the room toward him. Draco’s punches hit him in a blinding spree. If he hadn’t been holding his lance up to block them they would have pulverized him. The force from each punch was still able to knock him back several feet.
Draco dodged Knssquad’s kick and turned on her. A series of kicks were exchanged between the two. Amaterasu wasted no time as he began firing his umbrella on Draco. The man dashed across the room away from the bullets but was followed closely by Knssquad. She launched a scoop of toxic ice cream at the man
A hole seeped into the wall from her attack. She didn’t stop as she flew at Draco and forced him to block her kick. “Yes,” she whispered. If she could make him block a kick then she could eventually strike him. That much she knew.
He grabbed her by the leg and swung her away. As her body whizzed across the room she was stopped by a force grabbing her hand. She was shocked to see that Draco had caught her in the middle of the room and smashed her into the ground. “Frick,” Knssquad coughed blood.
Draco leapt over her as Amaterasu’s lance sliced through the air. “You alright?” he asked Knssquad as his umbrella fired on the running man.
“Don’t worry about me, stupid,” Knssquad said. “I have a plan.”
“Really?” Amaterasu asked.
“Yeah,” she said as she pulled herself to her feet. “I think I have the bomb that can end this. But I need you to slow him down so we can make sure it hits him point blank.”
Draco was running against the walls and circling the two of them. Amaterasu could tell he was going to attack them again in a second. “The only drawback,” Knssquad whispered. “Is I never got it to work right, so we’ll definitely die.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Amaterasu yelled as he charged forward. He swung his lance at the man who bounced off the wall to meet him. Draco’s punch splintered several ribs as it made contact with his chest. He didn’t back down from the strike but charged forward and swung his lance.
Draco dodged Ama’s attack as an apple flew over his head. He didn’t have time to think about it as he blocked a kick from Knssquad. He rocketed across the room as the grenade above him exploded. “These two,” Draco said. “To be able to fight on even ground with me in this state.”
A lance sliding against the wall in front of him brought him back to the fight at hand. He dodged the lance and punched Ama across the face. The man didn’t move and Draco felt something tug on his arm.
The hook on Amaterasu’s umbrella had caught Draco’s hand. Amaterasu took advantage of Draco‘s confusion and smashed his head into Draco‘s. He fell back from the direct strike to his face. Blood dripped down their faces. Amaterasu‘s serious face hadn‘t changed.
Draco ripped the handle off his umbrella and tried to retreat. Something pierced him. He screamed as Amaterasu’s lance went through his stomach. Blood spewed out of his mouth and the pain was incredible.
“Die,” Draco roared as he began to punch Amaterasu repeatedly. His punches landed all across his body as he pounded away at his bones. He refused to let go of the lance holding Ama down to that spot. Blood splattered his knuckles and the ground around them as he beat the man mercilessly. Bones could be heard popping and snapping as he was hit with the force of several cars.
“I was planning to,” Amaterasu choked out as he fell to the floor. His eyes shut as he whispered to Knssquad. “Get him.”
“We’ll all die together!” Knssquad screamed as she threw a cup toward Draco. “Apple milkshake shrapnel surprise!”
The explosion shook the entire building for several seconds.
****
“That is your sword’s true form,” PF said as he looked at the girl wrapped completely in the smoke. “We must be truly worthy for it to show it to us.”
“I don’t care,” Yoyo said as she slashed her blades through the air.
PF’s black arms stopped the attack but it took everything he had to block it. The sword had bound itself to her body Yoyo’s attacks had been more than he could handle. It was everything he could do to block them.
He reached out and swiped at the blue blade. He yelled out as the electric blade sliced through his crystallized arm. “I forgot,” he closed his eyes for his own stupidity. The strength goes into both swords.
The lightning blade sliced into chest. He could feel the electric current sending endless pain into his body. He couldn’t breath while she held it inside of him. Even though the agony had only lasted for a second as she whipped it out it had truly felt eternal to him. He dropped to his knees in front of her.
His left arm shattered from where the electricity had shattered the crystals on his arm. He looked down at the blood soaked ground. Punkfilter watched as the shadow of Yoyo’s large blade moved towards him. He gripped his fist and yelled as the sword dug into his back.
The pain continued to wrack his body as he felt the smoke enter inside of him. It leeched onto his blood and organs and sapped away at him. He could feel it drying him out from the inside. He had never experienced anything like it in his life. As if a vacuum had opened where Yoyo had cut into him and it was trying to suck the very essence of his life.
“Not yet!” Punkfilter yelled. Crystals shot in every direction out of his body. Yoyo whipped the blade off of him and a suction sound was heard as the black smoke was dragged out of him. She stood a few feet away from him and parried the flying crystals that were launching in every direction. The power behind the random attacks was amazing.
After a moment the crystals stopped. She watched as his trembling body got to its feet. His eyes looked even more lifeless and his body was pale from the amount of blood loss. She noticed jagged crystals were jutting out of every part of his body. They pointed in every direction but she knew that each one was incredibly sharp.
“They’re stopping his blood loss,” she said. He leaped forward and slashed his arm towards her. The rows of irregular black crystals were barely stopped by her sword. He punched at her and she dodged another arm filled with crystals. “No, it’s more than just stopping the blood loss.”
She ducked as a kick filled with bladed crystals passed over her head. One of the longer ones sliced into the smoke covering her body and opened her forehead. She backed away from him and did her best to keep the man at a distance.
Punkfilter’s suit was in tatters and covered in blood. Barbed black crystals covered his body as he did everything he could to stay standing. His eyes coldly clung to life for the very purpose of killing her.
Yoyo’s body was covered in a moving black smoke that left everything but her right eye covered. Her left eye was useless to her now and she couldn’t see without her glasses anyway. She had been moving based on her senses and instincts ever since. Her right eye glared into him with hatred.
Both of them kicked forward and ran towards the other.
****
Draco wasn’t sure how long he’d stared at the two of them. A loud sigh escaped his mouth as he turned away. “You may have lost,” Draco said to no one in particular. “But you came close enough.”
He limped away from the two unconscious figures that lay on the ground. Neither of them had died. Both clung to life with each breath they took as they lay motionless in puddles of their own blood.
He had seen many fights and he knew the look of death pretty well. Neither of them were going to die there. He had failed to stop them and now he was out of commission. He smiled to himself as he looked down at the stairwell in front of him. “Geez,” Draco whispered as he winced from his first step. “It looks like I‘m about to be done in by stairs.”
Draco had no idea why he’d given up on the idea of killing Knssquad and Amaterasu. It was probably because there was no point in it. He wasn’t like Jose; he had never done this for the killing. He’d always done it to stop the enemies of TFK. That was all there was to it.
But it was more likely because he knew it was over for him. He continued to walk down the stairs. Each step hurt and it was taking him much longer to escape than he had hoped. “Whatever happens,” Draco said. “I’m done for.”
TFK would not take pity on Draco regardless of the fact that he’d won in his fight against Knssquad and Amaterasu. It also wouldn’t matter to TFK that Draco had been his loyal ally and servant since day one. He knew well that once a person’s usefulness was up or he could no longer find ways to interest the boss his time was over. And even if, in some unbelievable scenario, TFK was defeated, then he was one of the most loyal servants of TFK. He was also a murderer of far too many.
He didn’t really regret the actions he‘d taken while working for TFK. Most of the people he‘d killed were low life thugs that had no purpose. It was far better that he kill them while working for the top thug then just be another one of them living in the city.
“Maybe I do regret one thing,” Draco pondered as he held onto the rail. Each step at this point took most of his energy to keep from falling. “Shoot-”
He steadied himself after he’d nearly slipped. His shoes were sticky with blood. He wasn’t quite sure if it was his or theirs. Probably a mix of the two. If the city hadn’t been bombarded to pieces he’d imagine he’d stand out sorely on a city street covered in blood and injuries the way he was. It was possible he could escape. Even though he’d killed a countless number and worked for TFK a long time he wasn’t as well known as Jose or PF. The two of them had always stood out. While his bright lights were always hidden deep in the shadow of TFK’s own darkness.
“The one thing I regret,” he said more sure of himself as he continued to move downward. “Is how I left. I should have left years ago with SSS. When this all stopped being fun and the good times ended. That was probably when I should have left him.”
Even as he said it he knew it didn’t matter. The only way he would have ever given up on TFK and this Mafia would be by losing like this. If he had any strength left in him he’d rush onto the battlefield for his boss without a second’s hesitation.
That was why it was so important to him that those two could live. With each step down he could feel it becoming more true. Each step he took away from TFK it became more real to him.
“Those two are my heroes,” Draco smiled weakly. “They saved me. Even if it was too late, they saved me.”
****
The sound of Yoyo’s large sword falling to the ground was the only other noise that could be heard beside their quiet breathing. His last attack had nearly taken her arm off and she could no longer hold it. She felt the smoke that had covered her disappear off her body and return to the sword.
She was surprised to see what kind of shape she was in. From head to toe she was still covered in blood. But even worse was the number of open wounds she had. If she had seen someone else looking like she did she’d have been sure they were not alive.
Yoyo turned back to Punkfilter readjusting her grip on the one sword she still could hold up. Her left arm hung uselessly to her side as blood dripped down to the ground. Punkfilter’s crystalline body had shattered from the force of her attacks and now only the black crystal blades on his arms remained.
He was down on his knees but slowly worked his way back up to his feet as he watched Yoyo turn to face him again. There was some distance to cross before they could strike again. As they locked eyes they both knew that this would be the last attack between the two of them.
Yoyo’s sword dragged behind her as she limped towards him. She didn’t have the power left in her to carry it. She would save every possible ounce of energy left for this last attack of hers. Punkfilter wasn’t doing much better as he stumbled. He had lost so much blood at this point that he was having an extremely difficult time focusing on Yoyo. He kept walking out of the straight path towards Yoyo without meaning to.
Yoyo felt the Tower wobble for a second. Punkfilter had nearly fallen over from the sudden loss of balance. Something moved in her in that moment and she smiled. “That’s right,” she whispered. “My friends are still out there fighting.”
She looked up at Punkfilter and locked eyes with him. There would be no losing to him here. Yoyo would not fall now. And she wouldn’t let herself die from the injuries she’d already taken on.
When the two had gotten within striking distance neither made a move. Both watched the other. Their eyes bore into each other as they read the other. “The look in your eyes,” Punkfilter said. “Just changed.”
“That’s right,” Yoyo smiled as she lifted her lightning blade off the ground. “With one sword I unleash the demon of hatred within me. And with the other I’ll slay anyone that gets in the way of me and my friends!”
Yoyo’s lightning blade had entered through PF’s chest. His black crystals had sliced into the spot just below her neck. Blood dripped out of both of them. They stood still for a long time. The strength of the other holding each other up.
“You,” PF whispered as he watched his crystalline arms shatter and fall apart. He looked at his hands covered in blood for a brief second before falling on his side and crashing into the ground.
Yoyo slid her lightning blade into the ground and leaned on it. She wouldn’t fall. She wouldn’t fall to the same ground he did. She would remain standing. Movement caught her eye as she watched him roll over. He lifted his head as blood dripped out of his mouth. He spat it out and looked at her.
“You didn’t ask me,” he said slowly as his strength left him. “I expected you to ask me why.”
“You killed them because you were an awful human being. I didn’t need to ask why you did that,” Yoyo said with all the force she could muster. She looked at him and could tell she wasn’t talking about the same thing.
“Why did I let you live?” he leaned his head back onto the ground. His breathing had grown ragged.
Yoyo was stunned. It was a question she had often wondered in the back of her head. And by the looks of things this really would be her only opportunity to find out why he had.
She gripped her sword and closed her eyes. “You’re a monster, Punkfilter. You turned WOTNOPOLIS into a graveyard. It didn’t matter to me why you let me live. All I knew is that you had to answer for what you did. And you had to be stopped.”
Punkfilter closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Yeah, that’s what I thought as well,” he whispered as he took his final breath.
Yoyo wasn’t sure how long she had been staring blankly at the silent room before she realized she was staring at people. “What?” she whispered as she looked at the images floating through the room.
They were faded with time and hardly visible. But she could see the smiling faces of those she’d tried so hard to forget. A tear dropped down her cheek as she watched Brinckmyster and the old gang wave at her with smiling faces. “Thank you,” they yelled in unison. When she blinked they were gone.
Something tapped her on the shoulder and she looked up. A more clear memory stood next to her. Jake smiled at her goofily as he always had. “You finally defeated your demon, Yoyo,” Jake said and gave her a thumbs up. When she blinked he’d gone.
She walked slowly over to a wall and leaned against it. She still refused to lay down but she was too exhausted to stand. She held firmly onto the lightning blade as she stood there. “Geez, how much blood did I lose?” she asked herself and laughed. “I’m just seeing random crap now. Gosh.”
Yoyo looked over at Punkfilter’s dead body for a while. She hated the sight of the slight grin on his face. With a sigh she pulled her eyes away from it and looked up. “Alright,” she said. “I finished my part. Now you guys end this. And you better freaking live or I’m going to kill you.”
****
Q stopped running and smiled. A giant doorway stood in front of him. A man leaned against the door wearing a hoodie. Without looking up he spoke. “Geez, what took you so long? I would have had time to beat TFK three times by now if I hadn’t waited on you,” Bano said to him.
“Pfft, only three?” Q answered back. “Then you’re getting lazy these days. Is everyone alright?”
“Last I saw everyone they were being crushed by rubble, attacked by that psychopath Jose, and being shot at. So they were doing alright,” Bano shrugged. “How about your guys?”
“We got here alright,” Q shrugged. “I flew in a van today.”
“Titan’s here?” Bano asked with a smile as Q poked the large door. “Well that’s pretty cool. I blew up some helicopters with a bazooka. And sliced one out of the sky with my kama. You know, whatever.”
“I got to beat up Dark Raptor,” Q beamed. “Except we left him on the high way to beat JJDomer.”
“Aw, man. I’d always wanted to do that. Winner,” Bano laughed. “Did you glue him to the highway?”
Q immediately started laughing. “Oh my gosh, I remember that. He was so scared when the cars were flying past. Good times.”
“So if you didn’t bring DR with you then who did you get?” Bano asked.
“Amaterasu,” Q rolled his eyes.
“Oiy, him,” Bano sighed. “Well, whatever. Are you ready?”
Q lifted his hand up and Bano high fived him. “I’m ready. Let’s put an end to this. It’s time to kill The First Knight.”
