Kachiro was on the defense, blocking himself from Seabi's relentless attacks. He was relentless, his movements sharp and precise. Kachiro's breathing became labored as he parried and deflected the onslaught. Finally, he summoned his white blood, sharpening his free hand into an extremely sharp claw. With a swift, calculated motion, he slashed at Seabi's stomach, sending him tumbling to the ground with a deep, gaping cut. Seabi exited his Dying Moon state, his eyes widening in shock.
"Skill 4: Dying Moon!" Seabi gasped, his voice filled with desperation.
Seabi re-entered his state, standing up completely healed. He wasted no time, throwing a green slash at Kachiro. Kachiro dodged it with a quick sidestep, barely catching his breath before a beam of lightning nearly hit him. He leapt out of the way just in time. Sai stood behind him, firing off shock attacks with a fierce intensity.
"How many times do I have to tell you, go for the kill? I know you can easily do it!" Seabi shouted, frustration evident in his voice.
Seabi lunged towards Kachiro, attacking with a flurry of slashes. Kachiro dodged most of them, his movements fluid and precise, before parrying one of them and kicking Seabi in the face. The force sent Seabi tumbling through the ground, but he miraculously flipped to his feet, his determination unwavering.
Kachiro turned his back on Seabi to face Sai. Sai was already shooting off another beam of electricity.
"Sky-," Sai began, raising his hands into the sky. The beam of electricity redirected directly above Kachiro, forming into one massive ball of electricity. "Strike!!" Sai brought his hands down, causing the ball to transform into a massive vertical beam, descending towards Kachiro.
Kachiro backed out of the way, dodging the attack, but Seabi was already behind him, swinging his hatchet. Without looking, Kachiro backflipped over the attack, ramming his sword through Seabi's chest and picking him up with the blade.
"Happy now?" Kachiro asked, his voice cold and unyielding.
Seabi looked almost dead, blood dripping from his mouth. Before Kachiro knew it, Sai, with an electric aura, dashed up to him and punched him in the stomach. The initial punch didn't phase Kachiro, but the shock that followed did. His body lit up with electricity, causing him to withdraw his sword from Seabi and back away, smoke rising from his body. Seabi's body dropped to the ground, but he managed to drop out of his Dying Moon form.
"Skill 4... Dying Moon!" Seabi reentered the state, completely healing and standing up, green magic charging into his blade. "Close call, thanks, Sai."
"Damn, that stung. That would've totally killed me if my blood had water in it. What was that, 6 billion volts? Not too bad for a simple taser shock," Kachiro remarked, his voice laced with sarcasm.
"No way..." Sai's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Yes way!" Kachiro T-posed, both of his hands wide open, his confidence unwavering.
Tons of white blood sprayed out of Kachiro's hand, saturating the area around him until both sides were swamps of the strange liquid.
"I'll try a little more," Kachiro said, his voice steady and determined.
The white blood surrounding Kachiro began to morph, shaping into humanoid beings. There were nearly a thousand of them. In an instant, Kachiro vanished into thin air.
"He's hiding!" Seabi shouted, his eyes darting around in search of his foe.
Kachiro's voice echoed around them, taunting, "At least one of you is bright. But which one am I?"
Seabi swung his weapon, unleashing a powerful green energy that projected a massive slash, cutting through a horde of the blood beings.
"Damn it," Seabi muttered, continuing his assault. He desperately hoped to find the real Kachiro among the throng. Meanwhile, Sai ripped off his burn tag and launched a barrage of red magic balls at the blood beings. He leaped into the air and dropped a large orb of red magic, obliterating several of them.
"Damn it, there's so many!" Seabi exclaimed as he slashed through the endless waves.
"I could just use a beam to—" Sai began, but his words were cut short.
Kachiro suddenly emerged from one of the blood beings in front of Seabi, landing a powerful punch to his stomach and knocking him back. He then gathered all the white blood around him to form a massive blade and swung it down at Seabi. Though Seabi managed to move, he couldn't completely dodge the attack and one of his legs was severed.
Kachiro retracted all the blood back into his body. Seabi gritted his teeth, the pain intense.
"Tch—I'm running out of mana, Sai. And if I run out, Corse will remain in his weapon state." Seabi reluctantly stood up, wobbling due to the loss of his leg. "So I'll trust you, Sai." He managed a weak smile.
Sai's eyes widened in surprise.
In Seabi's mind, Corse's voice resonated, So, we're finally using this. Why didn't we do this from the start?
Because if Kachiro pulled something, I would've wasted a good move, and Sai would be left alone, with no idea of how to beat him, Seabi thought. If I do this now, I can wear Kachiro down. He doesn't want to admit it, but he's also getting worn out from the amount of blood he takes in and out of his body. Not only does that require a ton of focus, but it hurts him.
"Trust me with what?!" Sai demanded.
"The rest. You know what to do," Seabi said, pointing his weapon at Kachiro.
"You're not gonna switch the forms again, are ya?" Kachiro asked, his confidence wavering slightly.
"I'm too drained on mana to even pull another one of those, so I'll do you one better," Seabi replied. "Tsuki No Ono! AWAKEN!!!"
Sai's eyes widened even more, and Kachiro flinched slightly.
"Awaken?" Kachiro muttered.
Seabi's body began to glow white as he transformed along with his weapon. The light intensified, blinding almost everyone in the room. Kachiro, wearing sunglasses, was unaffected. When the light cleared, Seabi was revealed to be wielding two large hatchets. The one in his left hand was red with green glowing lines, and the one in his right was green with blue glowing swirls. Both of his arms were covered in armor matching the colors of the hatchets. His pupils glowed yellow and were shaped like hearts, and his hair stood up. His leg was also miraculously healed.
"Izon No Hatchi," Seabi declared, ready for the next phase of the battle.
Kachiro clapped, a mocking grin spreading across his face beneath his mask. "Congratulations!"
"Huh?" Seabi replied, momentarily confused.
"I thought it would be impossible for you to awaken a magical weapon that you literally live with. After all, you are one of my father's more... questionable creations. But maybe this fight won't be lame after all," Kachiro said, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
In a flash, Seabi appeared directly in front of Kachiro, causing him to instinctively gasp. "Skill 2: Sever Slope."
Kachiro barely dodged as Seabi brought both of his hatchets down, slicing through the air. Suddenly, Kachiro felt himself being pulled in by the slash.
What's this? Kachiro thought in panic. He's dragging me in? Did he cut reality or something?
Seabi's red hatchet slashed across Kachiro's chest, sending him staggering back.
"That didn't cut?" Seabi questioned, his eyes narrowing.
"It didn't cut, but it sure did hurt! This is becoming my type of fight now!" Kachiro shouted, lunging towards Seabi. He barraged Seabi with his sword, but Seabi blocked all the slashes, managing to counterattack and slash Kachiro once again, knocking him back.
"That awakening sure did increase your power!" Kachiro admitted, a glint of excitement in his eyes.
"Yeah, and with this power, I'll knock those glasses and mask off your face!" Seabi declared, putting both of his hatchets together. "Skill One: Bloody Heretic!"
Seabi unleashed a gigantic brown slash of magic towards Kachiro. Instinctively, Kachiro dodged, but the slash continued, breaking through the wall and traveling outside the building. Again, Kachiro felt himself being dragged towards where the move had hit.
He's cutting reality in half again! Kachiro realized, gritting his teeth.
Seabi lunged at Kachiro, hitting him with a diagonal slash from his green hatchet, leaving a glowing green mark in the air. "Skill 3: X-Scab!" Seabi announced, slashing diagonally again with his red hatchet, creating an X that turned brown.
Kachiro gasped and flickered from behind the X to in front of it, right in front of Seabi. So when he mixes the two, he gains the ability to cut through anything.
The X expanded before vanishing, dragging Kachiro back with its force. That was close! he thought, steadying himself.
Kachiro lunged at Seabi again, attacking with renewed fury. Seabi blocked his strikes and countered with slashes of his own. The two warriors went back and forth, attacking and defending in a deadly dance. Seabi finally managed to land a solid slash on Kachiro, following up with a flurry of slashes that all hit their mark, the last one knocking Kachiro slightly back.
And there's one more thing too, Kachiro thought, analyzing the situation. Both hatchets have an individual ability of cutting away at something. One cuts away at my mana, which I'm fine with, but the other cuts away at my stamina, which I can't allow. If I can figure out which does which, I can dodge that one specifically and take the other one. That'll make it easier to stall out his transformation.
Kachiro lunged towards Seabi once more, their blades clashing with a powerful shockwave that shook the entire room.
Suddenly, an arm made of white blood, wielding an exact duplicate of Kachiro's sword, emerged from his shoulder and slashed Seabi across the chest before retracting back into him. The wound instantly healed.
"What—" Kachiro started.
Seabi used this moment of surprise to slash Kachiro with his red hatchet, knocking him back a dozen meters.
"Bingo. So the red one takes mana, and the green one takes stamina," Kachiro said, regaining his footing.
"You noticed? Honestly, I wish I got the stamina or mana that I took from you back. Maybe that'll be a further evolution though," Seabi replied.
"And I also assume that this state you're in keeps the same ability as the activation effects of your fourth skill. But instead of being converted into an attack, it's turned into more temporary power for you," Kachiro deduced.
"Hah, you were always smart," Seabi acknowledged.
"Wait, so let me get this straight. You're immortal, you can cut through anything, you take energy and mana as you attack, and any damage inflicted on you becomes more strength for you?" Kachiro asked, incredulous.
"Actually, yeah, that's all," Seabi confirmed.
"Dude! I shouldn't be the one getting jumped right now, you should! You're literally a raid boss!" Kachiro exclaimed.
Speaking of, where did that other kid go? Kachiro thought, glancing around before looking back at Seabi. "But I'll reluctantly play by your rules."
Kachiro flickered throughout the room before vanishing entirely.
As I expected. He's not even using his full power. He's been holding back on his strength and speed to conserve energy, Seabi thought.
And now, he's planning on blitzing us. Here I thought we were actually doing good, Corse said in Seabi's head.
What exactly is he doing? Seabi wondered.
Stalling for time, obviously! You have two ways of securing a victory for us. You either hit him with a head-on fusion slash and cut through him, or you wear him down to the point where he can't fight proficiently enough to deal with Sai. We're kinda lucky we ran into the one strong guy who could kill us at any moment but prefers to toy with us until the bitter end, Corse advised.
You said it. He forgot one thing though. I know him too well... Seabi realized.
"YOU DICK!!!" Seabi roared, turning around and hitting Kachiro with his green hatchet, knocking him far back and onto his back.
"Caught me," Kachiro admitted.
"Cartoonishly using your speed to stand right behind me? You really don't change," Seabi remarked.
"Oh yeah, I'm sooooooo unserious," Kachiro replied sarcastically, sitting up.
"Oh yeah, why the hell didn't I think of this earlier? That solves the whole 'one shot' problem," Kachiro said, standing up.
"Breaker Mana Burst!!!" Kachiro shouted. He gained a silver, misty aura that seemed to crackle with energy.
"That's a bit better," he said, the aura intensifying around him.
Seabi brought his hatchets together, unleashing a large, brown magic slash wave towards Kachiro once more. However, upon contact with Kachiro, the wave shattered into pieces.
"Well... shit," Seabi muttered, frustration evident in his voice.
"Haaaard counter," Kachiro taunted, standing still and unfazed.
"Dammit... ALL!!! Skill 1: Scatter Broke!!!" Seabi shouted, swinging his hatchets relentlessly. A barrage of red and green slash waves shot towards Kachiro, yet every piece of magic that touched him shattered instantly.
"You need magic stronger than mine to get past breaker magic," Kachiro said calmly. "Try again."
"Damn it then, I'll just hit you!!!" Seabi growled, bringing his hatchets together and lunging towards Kachiro with all his might.
"You still think you have a chance, even after I learned your weakness?" Kachiro sneered.
"No, but Sai will!" Seabi retorted, swinging with all his might. Kachiro dodged the attack effortlessly.
"Both of you haven't even gotten me close to trying," Kachiro said with a bored tone. "How about you take your 'big brain' energy, and come up with a better solution? Break Magic: Breaker Punch!" He punched Seabi in the back with a breaker magic-infused fist. The sound of glass shattering echoed through the room as Seabi was knocked halfway across it. His awakened state dissipated, his armor fading away, one of his hatchets vanishing, his aura disappearing, his hair falling back to normal, and his remaining hatchet reverting to its original form.
Seabi struggled to stand. I still have mana, just not enough... he thought.
"Oh, now I can kill you. Snipe!" Kachiro pointed a finger gun at Seabi. Small puddles of white blood around Seabi transformed into sharp, long spikes, piercing through him all at once before retreating back into Kachiro's body. Seabi fell face-first to the ground, bleeding profusely. Corse, no longer in hatchet form, stood up to defend him.
"Damn, good thing you held on to that last bit of mana..." Corse muttered.
Kachiro lunged towards Corse at light speed, ready to cut him in two. Suddenly, Kachiro was punched in the stomach mid-lunge. It was Sai, his aura looking different—just red, without the fiery aspect. Kachiro was heavily knocked back by the punch.
"That- actually hurt?!" Kachiro exclaimed, shock evident in his voice. "What... have you become?"