*BOOM!*
Releasing a bright beam from his ring, Doryoku hopped back as a kitsune-clad invader swung their blade at him. There had to be over fifty of them, Doryoku analyzed.
"You're all getting on my nerves!"
With a shout, Doryoku conjured a giant fist made of green magic. Reeling his arm back, the green-haired Furusato Unit member slammed the fist down, wiping out only five or so troops.
Doryoku frowned. 'They're really slippery!'
The ring wielder had been fending off the troops for what felt like an eternity. And, even after such a long time, he had only managed to knock down a few troops every now and then.
Grouping up, the kitsune-clad invaders stared Doryoku down, keeping their weapons and aura prints in hand.
'Really?' Doryoku drawled. He didn't particularly favor the position he was currently stuck in.
"Stand down now, Rogue!" A troop hollered at Doryoku, only to get a middle finger shot right back from said rogue.
The troop growled, his eyes piercing through the kitsune mask. None of the troops of Unit Sakai expected a single rogue to trouble more than fifty of them. Especially since this specific rogue used nothing but the ring on his finger.
The kitsune troop narrowed his eyes. 'He must be holding back if he has only been using the ring this whole time!'
"Unit Sakai!" The troop called out to his comrades. "Commence the Encapsulate Zone!"
In a matter of moments, several masked troops surrounded Doryoku, extending their hands toward their comrades. The act severely confused the green-haired rogue, his ring emitting its neon green glow.
In the palms of every kitsune-clad troop, a color in response to their Aura Sense illuminated. Shortly after, multiple beams shot out of their gloved hands, the magic intertwining with every troop's palm.
Doryoku's eyes widened at a sudden revelation. 'They're planning on trapping me!'
True to Doryoku's words, four separate walls soon formed from the power of the troops, encapsulating the green-haired rogue completely. Each wall of magic varied in color, one side being blue, and the others being red, yellow, and blue. And to further Doryoku's shock, the walls seemingly extended to the skies, leaving no room to escape from above.
Using the large fist from his ring, Doryoku then thrust his right arm forward, pounding one of the walls with great force. The assault seemingly did nothing, Doryoku noted, retracting the giant fist and eyeing the wall he had struck.
"Damnit!" Doryoku hollered in anger, his eyes bouncing off every wall. Not a single opening could be seen, and not even a punch of his giant, green fist could damage the massive barriers.
This 'Encapsulate Zone' was the perfect defense, to Doryoku at least. Using this against someone who prefers brute-styled fighting. It was like trapping a wolf in a cage.
And just outside the Encapsulate Zone, a wave of kitsune-clad troops still remained. Suddenly, one of the troops raised his hand toward the sky.
"Ready!" The troop yelled, garnering Doryoku, and every other troop's, attention. "Seize!"
That doesn't sound good, Doryoku thought. Soon, each troop that formulated the walls started to step forward, moving each side of the Encapsulate Zone with them, slowly closing in on the green-haired rogue.
'Not good, not good, not good!' Doryoku repeated mentally.
Then, in the heat of the moment, Doryoku thought of a plan. Scouting out the area, the green-haired rogue pushed a fist toward the ground below, his ring shining brightly. "A mere cage can't kill me!"
Outside the Encapsulate Zone, the troops looked down as the ground began to rumble, only to scream as green hands sprang out and squished every troop they seized to death. The Encapsulate Zone collapsed as a result, and Doryoku was promptly relinquished.
The hands then dissipated, leaving nothing but pools of blood and seared, squished flesh behind.
"Haha!" Doryoku laughed loudly, steering his sights to every troop before him. "What else!?"
Every Unit Sakai troop assumed various stances, preparing to potentially pounce on the rogue. Doryoku looked on with amusement. He may be stupid, but even Doryoku wouldn't keep using the same fighting tactics.
"Watch from above!" A masked troop warned, assumingly to his comrades.
This call made Doryoku bewildered, prompting the green-haired rogue to spin swiftly, instantly spotting an incoming attack. In the small moments that Doryoku could see, right before he lunged to the side, he could distinguish the crimson-red color of the incoming attack and its disk-likeshape. It almost resembled a… pentagram.
Doryoku's eyes found themselves darting to the source of the assault, immediately finding his eyes glued to a red-haired figure.
With the eyes of a demon, red hair that gleamed in the sun, and an expressionless countenance, every troop person present eyed the new presence with shock.
Yuso had miraculously arrived.
Yuso, with his Shirugeto, scanned the waves of kitsune-clad troops, then transitioned to the lone, cloaked rogue on the side. Prior to his arrival, Yuso had spotted a giant form in the sky, resembling a towering capsule.
Looking at the rogue, Yuso felt disdain, immediately recognizing the cloak and the green hair that accompanied the rogue's traits.
"You," Yuso spoke out to Doryoku. "Where is the vessel of the Kekkan no Sosei resided?"
Ever since the day he failed in Ryakudatsu, Yuso has constantly succumbed to several emotions. Never before has he been so susceptible to such trivial issues, but, somehow, failing to procure the Kekkan no Sosei stirred some internal turmoil within the red-haired male.
"Can't you tell that I'm in a bit of a pickle here, you lunatic!?" Doryoku bellowed at Yuso, glaring at the redhead indignantly.
Yuso panned back over to the troops in masks, contemplating his next choice of action. "Very well, then," Yuso said cryptically.
"Wha—?" Doryoku stuttered, watching as Yuso slowly strode toward the troops of Unit Sakai. Did he plan to fight them all?
"Once I clear out these pests, I expect to be told of the Kekkan no Sosei's location." Yuso declared, his tone monotonous but absolute.
That irked Doryoku. "How do you expect to take them all at once!? Die for all I care, but that's just idiotic! You'll be surrounded instantly!"
Yuso's long hair swayed in the wind with every step he took, the distance between him and Unit Sakai decreasing with every passing second.
"All I'll be surrounded by are dead rodents."
With those words, Yuso charged forward, racing to the wave of troops.
Amongst Unit Sakai, a troop called out to his fellow followers, "Stand strong, Shinkaku!"
The moment Yuso made contact with the first troop, he flung him several meters away. In an instant, Yuso easily and swiftly dodged an incoming blade, grabbing the wrist of the adversary and redirecting the blade to another, killing them instantly.
With one hand, Yuso formed three pentagrams—*swoosh!*—launching them out toward the troops that surrounded him, slicing and killing everyone in the pentagrams' path.
Within moments, Yuso managed to take down several troops. The redhead maneuvered around several incoming attacks, both directing and redirecting several fatal blows. The only distinguishable thing about Yuso was his long, red hair and its free, elegant form, wavering in correspondence to Yuso's every move.
Yuso would skillfully use the space around him to avoid getting hit by aura prints, and with each blade swung at him, he'd make pentagrams to reverse the attack, killing every opponent before they realized what had happened.
*CRACK!*
Yuso then spun and kicked a troop in the face with the heel of his foot, both shattering his mask and knocking them to the ground. As the lone troop fell to the ground, it gave Yuso leeway to throw more pentagrams at the kitsune-clad men standing in the distance, murdering even more as a result.
Doryoku only observed in shock, suddenly feeling a hand land on his shoulder. Looking over, the green-haired rogue spotted his brother, Itami, staring down at him.
"What the hell is going on?" Itami questioned, his eyes making their way to watch the fight before him.
Doryoku hesitated to respond. "It's the redhead from Ryakudatsu—he asked me about the kid we abducted, and when I told him about my shitty situation, he started clobberin' everyone here."
"That isn't everyone." Itami suddenly claimed, confusing his brother.
"What?" Doryoku asked.
"There were more than just these bafoons that Red is fighting," Itami answered.
Doryoku sighed. "Do we just leave him to fight? If he wins, he's coming for me, and potentially all of us, next."
Itami took a moment to respond, watching as Yuso wiped through several troops with relative ease. The thought of him targeting the Furusato Unit was a little unnerving, but now wasn't the time to fret.
"Just follow me, Gimu should be closing in on the rest of these freaks."
XXX
Yuso was relentless, not leaving a single troop alive. Unit Sakai quickly found themselves overwhelmed just by one measly little male. Yuso's prowess overturned a one-sided fight to an all-out brawl within minutes.
Yuso had to credit Master. His strength had surged out of control, and all without knowing. Before, Yuso wouldn't have dared to commit such erratic acts as the ones he's currently doing, fighting several—seemingly high-class—masked men.
Master had informed Yuso of his newfound power, leading to Yuso experimenting. Yuso could feel as if his strength would ostensibly double whether he won or, more rarely, lost a fight—recalling the fight between him and the vessel of the fire dragon, Moeru. The hidden benefactor was still unknown to Yuso, but it wasn't as if it entirely mattered.
"Graggh!"
Shoving his way through more groups of troops, Yuso suddenly found himself halted. A hand had wrapped itself around Yuso's wrist, stopping the redhead completely.
Using his other hand, the troop that restrained Yuso struck Yuso in the ribs, knocking the redhead back a few feet. After landing on the ground, Yuso stood back up, looking back at the troop that successfully knocked him down.
'He feels stronger than any of the others.' Yuso thought, his eyes meeting with the troop's own.
The kitsune-clad troop raised a gloved hand to his mask, covering a portion of his mask. After this action, a voice reached Yuso's ears.
"Such a refined warrior… Such wasted potential."
Yuso parted his lips to speak, "Are you to just stand there, or charge at me like the others?"
The troop chuckled ominously. "You… you're an unexpected guest, to say the least. With the majority of Unit Sakai being swept away, I have no choice but to force my hand, do I?"
"What are you rambling on ab—"
Suddenly, the flesh and clothing of the kitsune troop started to melt like magma. The fabric of the black tunic and hakama pants slowly fell apart, dropping to the ground with a damp clump sound.
The entirety of the troop soon dissolved, but instead of falling to the ground, a figure still stood tall, appearing to be concealed behind the melting skin and clothing.
'Was someone hiding underneath the skin?'
"You see," The voice from before returned. "I didn't expect my troops to win this battle. Just to initiate what I had planned."
What Yuso had noticed since the start of the melting process was that the kitsune mask was the only item to not melt. Meanwhile, every other part of the body disappeared, somehow leaving another person standing in the troop's place.
Although he wore the same mask, this person felt different. For the first time, Yuso felt intimidated. The aura that leaked from this new figure was dense and immensely powerful. Instinctively, Yuso's Shirugeto spun rapidly, his palms glowing a vibrant red.
Yuso assumed a new stance. "Who are you?"
Removing his hand from the kitsune mask that concealed his face, the new figure responded to Yuso's question with a deep and mighty voice:
"Lord Phoenix, at your service."
XXX
I'm back! It took a while for me to start writing again because I lost internet connection with my computer, which may have separated me from you guys for a week or so. But, now we get to see the invasions proceed! Stay tuned for more!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_