As if driven by unseen forces, an abhorrent creature relentlessly pursued the Raishoun gang - Akira, Kazuya, Yeru, and Horka. Possessing no discernible motive, the beast's insatiable tenacity was as baffling as it was formidable. Despite the creature's relentless pursuit, the gang found enough strength to keep it at bay, but they couldn't shake off the unease that came with its stubborn resilience.
Their ordeal was compounded by the creature's peculiar ability - a chilling power to absorb anything it came into contact with. Withstanding any attack, no matter how brutal, the creature was frustratingly invincible.
"Akira, any plans?" Horka asked, his voice echoing ominously in the still air.
Akira, his eyes never leaving the beast, replied, "Quite few. I'm thinking of keep attacking until it has no more mana left.."
"Seriously?" Horka retorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Can't argue with that, it might just be our only shot." Horka grunted in agreement, maintaining a safe distance from the creature.
They all danced a deadly waltz, avoiding contact with the ground to prevent being absorbed by the monster. The creature's attack patterns were as unpredictable as they were unthinking, like a slime.
"A slime... That's it!" Kazuya exclaimed.
"Slime is a high condensed mana entity with a room full of weakness. The asphalt follows the same as an earth-type quirk but in liquefy state just like water."
"We need to freeze yit," Yeru interjected, the realization dawning upon him and his friends.
"Any ice-type skills up your sleeve, Kazuya?" Horka queried.
"None. But if it were for the General of the Blue Lion squad, this would be an easy kill," Kazuya lamented.
"Hold on... I might yave something!" Yeru interjected, his eyes gleaming with sudden inspiration.
"My spatial magic can manipulate cold temperatures. Space yis inherently cold, so yit should suffice."
With a collective nod, Akira, Kazuya, and Horka moved to shield Yeru as he conjured his magic, imbuing Horka's wax-made blade with the frigid energy of space. As they moved closer to the beast, the tension was palpable, their resolve unyielding. The battle was far from over.
They charged forward while using Horka's wax magic to shield them and use Akira's brute to destroy any near assaults while Kazuya support Yeru by using his skill Phase to avoid danger.
Soon after they got near, Yeru stabbed the creature with his blade and froze it in place, stopping it from its unending assault.
As things were going peaceful...
"Yeru, behind you!" The urgent warning was barely out of the Horka's mouth before Yeru reacted, teleporting in the nick of time, but he couldn't prevent Horka's capture.
The creature was familiar, yet its essence had shifted. Now it wore the guise of brick, and with a swift, ruthless motion, it seized Horka, dragging him into the earth's depths.
Akira's senses strained to follow Horka's descent. The speed was blinding, yet Akira tracked the creature's path. It led to the planet's nether regions, a place beyond his perception's reach.
The monster had cunningly thwarted Yeru's perceptions, manipulating its speed and agility to keep Yeru disoriented. Akira marveled at the creature's strategy - it understood how Yeru's power worked, knowing that his teleportation relied on his sensory perception.
From his perch atop a building, Akira hollered to Kazuya, his voice ringing with an audacious plan.
"Kazuya! Let's get ourselves swallowed!" Akira's proposal was a wild gambit.
"Of all the plans you've had!" Kazuya retorted. "Are you a nut-job!? Fine, if this doesn't work out, I'll beat your ass in hell!" Resigned, Kazuya allowed himself to be taken by the creature, with Akira following suit.
The creature consumed them both, transporting them at a dizzying velocity. The journey was suffocating, a peculiar odor rendering Kazuya unconscious, while Akira grimly endured.
They were deposited in what seemed like the world's bowels, encased within a pulsating, flesh-like cocoon. Akira sensed the presence of at least two thousand other people trapped beneath the earth.
With an impressive display of strength, Akira burst free from the organic prison.
His exploration of the world innards was chilling. It was like wandering through a gigantic stomach, a realm of flesh and foul stench. Among the captives, he recognized people reported missing in recent days, victims of the enigmatic creature.
He made a grim discovery - twenty-three lifeless bodies, their life force drained. The place was sapping their mana incessantly. Twelve victims were mere children, their bodies skeletal as if wasted by famine.
Venturing deeper, Akira approached an ominous entrance. The stench intensified, but it was eclipsed by an even more unsettling presence.
He summoned his scythe just in time to parry an unexpected assault.
"And who are you?" Akira demanded, his voice laced with an icy fury. "Playing god, siphoning off innocent people's mana? You better expect consequences!"
"None of your concerns, child," the entity retorted, its grotesque, fleshy form lashing out at Akira with astonishing speed. Unfazed, Akira sidestepped the assault with effortless grace, his eyes never leaving his adversary.
Summoning his Keen Instincts to their full, unbridled might, Akira reached out and grasped the monstrous form. He sensed a presence buried deep within - a reservoir of mana so potent, it made him shudder. At the heart of this monstrosity was a man, encased in a cocoon, gaunt and spectral. His hair was a shock of white, his body skeletal, like a specter.
In a heartbeat, Akira was there, tearing through the monstrous shell with a ferocity that left a trail of destruction in his wake. He stood before the cocooned man, his gaze inscrutable.
"How annoying," the man grumbled, his upper body revealed from the cocoon, suspended midair in the cavernous, subterranean space.
"I am Makia the Carnage," he said, his eyes, pale and lifeless, fixated on Akira. "I must commend you on your resilience against my toxins that can potentially make feeble humans in a coma. May I ask who you are?"
"I am Akira Keita," Akira replied, his brow furrowing in concern at Makia's grotesque appearance. "What happened to you? You look hideous as hell."
"I was created in a lab," Makia confessed, "Turned me into a monster, a carnage that feeds on mana. A monster with the power to morph."
As Makia's words echoed in the cavernous space, Akira was reminded of Yao and Tao, and their similar fate.
"You are unique," Makia continued, "No one has mana as low as yours... Whether by training or birth, no one. You're just like me..."
"Enough story telling," Akira interjected, his tone growing stern. "If you want my sympathy, free those people. Then, we can talk. I got no time to waste! They're dying!"
"Heh... Just like the others, always failing to comprehend my torment," Makia sneered, his monstrous form lunging for an attack.
With a swift tilt of his head, Akira dodged the incoming assault and rocketed towards Makia.
"He's fast," Makia remarked, hastily summoning a flesh shield.
Akira slashed at the shield, his scythe becoming ensnared by its absorption ability. Just like before, he called upon his Blood Blade to free himself, coating his feet in a protective layer of blood to guard against absorption.
"Quick-witted and nimble. I'm quite entertained," Makia mused. "It's been ages since I've had such a challenge."
"A challenge like me?"
"There was a subject, far stronger than I," Makia continued. "We clashed two decades ago, he was more brutal, powerful, and crazier. Later, he was freed by a general from the Thousand Blade squad."
The mention of Akira's squad stirred Akira's interest, his eyes narrowing at the creature's.
"He became a general not so long after, the nerve of him. Having such life outside of that torturous lab, not even saving us from being treated like guinea pigs!" The man's pupil wasn't shown, but his eyes widened as his face grew stiffer.
Akira then concluded...
"Are you... X-44?"
"Yes... I am."