- Xiao, Salim, Lao, Sabu, Julius -
Xiao's three-section staff cracked Salim in the nose. Meanwhile, Sabu and Lao were struggling to keep Julius pinned down.
'His contract should have deactivated by now!' Salim questioned as blood streamed from his nose.
Julius tried to support Salim but couldn't find an opening due to Lao and Sabu's constant pursuit.
'More persistent than I expected them to be,' Julius complimented.
Salim was a blur as he once again launched at Xiao. Salim's dagger skidded across Xiao's staff before quickly shooting for Xiao's neck. Salim was confident that he had finally found an opening until he felt two sections of Xiao's staff clamp around his wrist. The tip of Salim's dagger pricked Xiao's throat as Xiao tightened the clamp, snapping Salim's wrist.
Before Xiao could move to finish Salim, he had to let go of his staff to dodge a stone spear. Julius was riding on a stone slab toward Xiao as Lao and Sabu chased.
'He must not have healing magic!' Xiao inferred about Salim.
Xiao shot toward Salim and drilled his fist into Salim's side. Salim held back vomit before feeling Xiao's other fist push deep into his cheek.
'Have to use-,' Salim's thoughts were cut off.
Xiao was releasing all of his pent-up anger that had accumulated during his mission in Han'ei on Salim. To Julius, Lao, and Sabu, Xiao's thorough beating of Salim seemed almost personal. Julius gritted his teeth and launched from his slab to tackle Xiao. Xiao stomped on one of Salim's ankles and launched Salim into a wall with a palm strike before turning to catch Julius.
Xiao threw a punch at Julius' face. "HIS SKIN IS-"
A spike of stone shot from behind Xiao. Julius smiled before he realized Xiao hadn't been pierced. Xiao had blocked the spike with his other arm's gauntlet.
"STONE!" Xiao finished his sentence as he moved to attack Julius.
Julius used one hand to launch Salim and himself into the sky on slabs of stone. As Julius and Salim hung in the air, he yelled down to Xiao, Sabu, and Lao.
"WE'RE LEAVING! IF YOU PURSUE WE'LL DRAG YOU TO THE GRAVE WITH US!"
Lao ran up to Xiao. "You don't believe them do y-"
Xiao grabbed Lao by the collar. "WHY COULDN'T YOU KEEP HIM LOCKED DOWN!"
Sabu put his hand on Xiao's arm while glaring. "Not now."
- Lucifer, Shiri, Peter, Yvere, Izanami -
Peter shivered as he felt the cold air around Shiri's body linger near him. Shiri was questioning the state of Izanami's body. Izanami was pacing, looking for an opening.
'They know I don't want to attack Zero,' Izanami observed the mist pouring out of Shiri's body. 'The fact that I can feel the cold from here must mean the mist itself is even more potent.'
Lucifer continued channeling fire into the smoke cloud on his palm. 'Shiri, I respect your kind nature but I have no plans on sparing her. It's for the best that you don't know what this attack does.'
'I have to gamble,' Izanami readied herself to move.
Yvere stayed close to Lucifer, her whole body shivering as she glared at Izanami.
'One, two,' Izanami held her breath and shot toward Shiri.
Shiri threw his maul into the air and exhaled mist. Izanami ducked under Peter's attempt to stab her head and tackled Shiri at extreme speed using a combination of wind and martial energy. Izanami and Shiri shot past Lucifer and Yvere.
'Can't...' Izanami thought as the mist from Shiri's body covered her skin.
Izanami and Shiri landed, rolling as they went. Shiri managed to throw Izanami off, much to everyone's surprise.
'Holding my breath won't be enough,' Izanami thought as she rolled. 'Have to finish this now.'
Shiri took control of his flying maul in the brief window of time that he had gained. The maul flew and slammed into Izanami's back.
'Fuck!' Izanami cursed as she felt the head of the maul touch her back.
While the maul had lost all inertia after making contact with Izanami's back, Izanami was still visibly frustrated by the attack. Izanami grabbed the maul and stomped it deep into the ground.
'The interference should take care of that,' Izanami glared at Shiri.
Izanami ran toward Shiri. Shiri put up his boxer's stance that he had used against Susano'o.
'Such a waste,' Izanami mocked as she dodged Shiri's jab and countered with a cross into Shiri's nose. 'That mist must take mana, same as the ice.'
Shiri was barely just barely able to hold out against Izanami due to her being slowed down by the severe cold of the mist. Shiri tried also taking advantage of Izanami's blind spot but to no avail.
Peter approached Izanami from behind. Izanami shoved Shiri and kicked behind her, hitting Peter in the stomach and launching him backwards.
"Can't...finish," Lucifer huffed as his smoke-holding hand burned. "Get Peter, tell him to start," He told Yvere.
Shiri spat out blood as he locked eyes with Izanami. 'I don't know if I can last another minute to this.'
Izanami took a breath and shot towards Shiri once more. Shiri did his best to block Izanami's punches.
'Just stay down!' Izanami thought as she kicked Shiri's calf.
Shiri fell to one knee, barely blocking Izanami's attempted knee to his face but still being knocked onto his back. The white mist pouring out of Shiri's body started to flow out faster, enveloping Shiri and Izanami. Yvere ran over to Peter and told him what Lucifer said.
Izanami blasted Shiri's mist away with a strong gust of wind. Shiri scrambled to get up and away from Izanami. Izanami moved to attack but stopped once she heard Lucifer's voice.
"SHIRI, BLOCK!"
Shiri started to encase himself into ice.
'He wouldn-' Izanami cut herself off. 'He would.'
'Closer,' Lucifer looked from Shiri to Izanami.
Izanami dashed towards Lucifer. Lucifer threw an orange-tinged smoke orb into the ground. An orange smoke cloud exploded outward and blanketed the area.
'What is this?' Izanami blasted the orange smoke away with wind. 'He's controlling-'
Lucifer took control of the orange smoke and made sure to keep it from blowing away. As Izanami closed in on Lucifer, she felt the smoke touch her skin, burning her rotted flesh. Izanami was worried but undeterred as she felt as though she needed to end this now.
'Just stay conscious,' Lucifer told himself.
Lucifer crouched down as his wings covered him. Explosive orbs spawned on the wing's feathers.
"Come on!" Peter shouted at Shiri.
Shiri broke out of his icy cocoon and stood up. The ice on Shiri's body melted away as Shiri's skin turned back to its pale white. Peter was preventing the spread of the orange smoke while Yvere healed Shiri's leg. Shiri looked at the orange cloud.
'Why is it-'
The cloud erupted into explosions, shaking the ground and sending pieces of stone and destroyed huts everywhere. Shiri created a wall of ice for him, Yvere, and Peter to duck behind.
'Have to redirect it,' Izanami tried to focus despite her own thoughts being drowned out by the explosions.
Izanami was in the center of the exploding orange cloud, undamaged, but with a look of severe desperation on her face. Her breathing grew quick and uneven as the explosions continued to envelop her body. Her body shook as she fell to her knees, her teeth gritted, closing her one eye. Her body's shaking grew more violent. She screamed as she threw her right arm up.
The exploding orange cloud finally started to dissipate, leaving Izanami in the center, surrounded by burnt cratered ground. Izanami kept her arm in the air with a fierce look of concentration.
'Release,' Izanami thought as her arm exploded into a cloud of red and orange. 'We lost,' She thought as she stayed on her knees. 'Even if Lucifer dies, I can't fight Death in this state, even with your help.'
Peter was the first to move. Izanami heard Peter's approach and sat up straight, laying her palm on her lap, and lowering her head. The rot on her skin stopped spreading as she steadied her breathing.
"WAIT!" Shiri shouted.
"Pe...Peter," Lucifer mumbled as he stood across from Izanami, his back severely burned.
"NO!" Peter defied. "ABSOLUTELY FUCKIN' NOT!"
"PE-" Lucifer tried to shout but couldn't maintain his strength, "ter..."
Peter stopped running and stood behind Izanami and pricked his blade on her back, behind her heart.
Lucifer pointed to Shiri and held up his index finger. "You have one minute."