Towering over everybody, Lord Phoenix's eyes shined in the darkness of the night, piercing through his fox-like mask. With both his arms outstretched and his hand flat, a Genso-Kyu of the red Aura Sense flared into existence, poised to release a potent beam toward Tanjo.
"Goodbye, Ketsueki!"
The dazed boy's breathing halted as he watched as the red Genso-Kyu grew larger. He had to escape, momentarily flee, and convene with someone afterwards. Trapped in a room with the masked man who could rival the prince of Furusato was far from intelligent—it was suicidal. At least, it was as of this moment.
"RAH!"
*CRRSHH!*
Without warning, Regashi had thrown a part of the floor at Lord Phoenix, not harming the masked man in the slightest. The Lord turned his head toward the brown-haired prince, dumbfounded.
"Was that an attempt to stop me?"
Regashi smirked and said, "No, but it gave your target enough time to vanish!"
The prince then looked to his right, where he expected Tanjo to be gone, running away from the scene so Regashi could continue to valiantly challenge Lord Phoenix—but no, that did not happen.
Tanjo was still there, unmoving.
"Clearly he didn't get the memo." Lord Phoenix stated humorously, his gaze landing on the blue headband-wearing teen.
Regashi's head snapped in Tanjo's direction, glaring at the boy exasperatingly. "Tanjo! What the hell are you doing!? Leave! I was trying to be smart!"
Unfortunately, Tanjo did not respond; his eyes were locked on Lord Phoenix and his red Genso-Kyu. Despite the hazardous situation, the cloak-wearing boy appeared to be more calm than before, his countenance solid and fortified.
Suddenly, Lord Phoenix's eyes widened. "This feeling around me… you're letting your Aura Sense flow around me, you runt!"
"Regashi, attack him now!" Tanjo shouted, concentrating on the masked man up above. "If he fires any sort of magic, it'll blow up in his face! Turns out your distraction worked after all!"
Without fail, Regashi fueled his limbs with his Aura Sense, leaping up charging at Lord Phoenix with the intent to subdue. "Got it!"
Instantly, Lord Phoenix was forced to experience a lethal blow to the chest as the brown-haired prince lodged his fist in the masked lord's body and caused the villain to be propelled through the air.
"After him!" Oritsu yelled off to the side, his hand up to his mouth. "I'll secure the village from any further damage for now!"
Nodding, Regashi followed where he had punched Lord Phoenix, disappearing from the castle.
"And Tanjo! As helpful as that was, you can't intervene—!"
Tanjo boldly interrupted the ruler of Furusato with a yell of his own: "Please, I need you to trust me! I need to be in this fight!"
To Tanjo, what he said was true: he needed the experience to know how warriors who were practically gods amongst men fought; Kronos had sent him here to learn, and whether it be about his lineage or how to become a better warrior, he would learn.
"You're the king of Furusato, and I don't live here. So, technically, I'm out of your jurisdiction. You want to keep peace? Let me out!" Tanjo furthered his retort, his tone bereft of anything but sobriety.
Oritsu stared at the boy, who was identical to his son, sighing. "You could get in Regashi's way. I'm not doubting your capabilities, but the safety of the village is at stake. If my son goes down, I'll have to fight Lord Phoenix myself, and the village is simply left vulnerable at that point."
"Nobody else can protect the village?" Tanjo queried with a quirked brow.
"Not against Lord Phoenix's attacks," Oritsu reasoned, "although he wears a fox mask, Lord Phoenix is a deadly warrior, Tanjo."
"I'm aware of that…" Tanjo replied, unwilling to refer to Oritsu in any manner. It was still difficult to accept that his biological dad, or an alternate version, was standing before him, alive.
"Then you stay here." Oritsu ordered, his tone laced with finality.
For several moments, the two stood still and lapped in silence. The breeze from the hole in the ceiling flowing through the room made Tanjo's cloak and blue headband sway gently. In response to the king's order, Tanjo only had one word to say.
"...No."
With that, Tanjo jumped through the breaching hole in the room, leaving Oritsu alone. The king did not have the time to squander with Tanjo, so he reluctantly and regrettably clenched his fist and ran out of the room at speeds faster than photons, off to facilitate Furusato with his own might.
XXX
"Stay down, Phoenix!"
Ramming his foot into Lord Phoenix, Regashi made the masked lord slide across the ground at rapid speeds, leaving tracks in the dirt stretching across the land.
Lord Phoenix, filled with annoyance and rage, planted the surface of his gloved palms into the earth, only to rip them back out from the grass—*BOOM!*—and discharging a plethora of destructive explosions from underground, sending both debris and Regashi into the sky wildly.
"To think, even with a hole in your waist, you're still so tenacious!" Lord Phoenix grumbled and launched himself upward, narrowing the distance between them both.
From there, the prince and the lord exchanged a series of blows, barraging each other with punches and kicks that would undoubtedly level entire masses of land. In the air, Regashi knew that he could afford to not hold back as much—there was nothing to destroy in the sky except for himself and Lord Phoenix. So, with that in mind, the brown-haired prince began to unleash a little more power than before. Just a little.
"Eat shit!" Regashi roared.
*KABOOM!*
Infusing a hint of more potent magic, Regashi relinquished a blast straight from his palm—no Genso-Kyu was used—to blow Lord Phoenix miles away. The powerful attack could practically be seen from all corners of the nation, lighting up the night sky.
"Haha! Take that, Phoenix!"
*BRRMMM!*
As if to spite the brown-haired prince, roughly five red spheres of magic spawned in the sky, the size of each floating Genso-Kyu dwarfing the land and everything on it down below. It was like Regashi was staring into five stars—they were extremely far away, but the heat still reached the prince immediately.
"...That's really not good." Regashi nearly wheezed, his eyes widening. "Those could level more than just this nation and he's willing to throw those around already!?"
Then, one by one, the five floating spheres of magic released their volatile beams of light.
*KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM!*
'All right… here goes nothing!'
Filling both of his arms with an immense amount of his Aura Sense, the entire length of the two limbs bulging, Regashi forcefully clapped his hands together—*FWOOSH!*—and caused a wide burst of compressed wind to blow outward, disrupting the incoming beams of light and splitting the five of them into nothingness.
"Is that all you got!?" Regashi cheered, laughing.
Or he was laughing until he saw the horrible damage he caused on the ground. Hills were flattened, and every tree in the visible distance was knocked down.
"Damnit…" The prince cursed, saddened. "It's going to take forever to return the land back to normal!"
Sadly, that was the least of his problems.
Like a bullet tearing through the clouds, Lord Phoenix had managed to jump through the air numerous kilometers away and tackle the still-falling Regashi mid-air. The two plummeted toward the earth at an intense velocity, fire encompassing their bodies as they continued to clash with both punches and kicks.
"Let go of me, Phoenix!" Regashi demanded, punching his rival in his durable mask.
"Not until I have your corpse as a trophy!" Lord Phoenix barked, punching the prince in the gut.
They both started to spiral out of control, knowledgeable of what damage may come to fruition from their inevitable collision with the ground.
'Oh no!' Regashi gasped, flipping his opponent over to see the ground. 'We're going to crash straight into Furusato! Damnit! I have to redirect our course!'
"No!" Lord Phoenix cried, gripping the prince' face, clasping one of his arms as well. "You, and your village, will crumble tonight!"
Regashi struggled to spin away from crashing into his village, only one arm free. Even if he tried to blast both of them away, Lord Phoenix would only throw both of them right back into the course.
'...No, please!'
XXX
On the ground, looking up at the night sky, Tanjo witnessed as both Regashi and Lord Phoenix raced down toward the earth, aware of where they would land. From what it seems, the brown-haired prince is currently unable to fight back, or even move, for that matter. The only thing waiting to happen was the destruction of Furusato once they landed.
"Looks like it's time to shine… sadly!" Tanjo announced to nobody but himself, flexing his palms readily.
As if to stop a meteor from razing the village behind him, Tanjo bent his knees and erected a massive barrier in the space above him and Furusato. The shield around the village may be strong, but the jet-black-haired boy knew that it would shatter from the impact. With Tanjo's aura amalgamation in play, however, that was a different scenario to be told.
"Come on… land already!" Tanjo murmured anxiously, his red and blue barrier thickening with every second. "I need to prove that I can become stronger!"
After a minute had passed, the two fighters finally fell within reach—*BUMP!*—crash landing into Tanjo's expansive barrier. The teen grasped for air as he felt his arms buckle under the weight of his magic being pressured downward.
Then, the weight vanished, the smoke from Regashi and Lord Phoenix's collision vanishing into thin air.
"Good thing Oritsu didn't stop me…" Tanjo groaned, slowly letting down the barrier.
*PLOP!*
Once a few seconds had passed, the sound of two bodies hitting the ground rang through Tanjo's ears, prompting him to glance up and see the two rivals laying on the dirt floor, exhausted.
"...I'm… not… done!" Lord Phoenix choked as he lifted himself up, stumbling. His black attire was torn, his cuts healing slowly. "I'll never be done!"
Regashi, too, stumbled onto his feet, collecting his balance. He glared at the masked lord behind his brown hair; his breath was labored. He was beginning to feel the ramifications of exerting so much of his Aura Sense. But, in Regashi's mind, he could still keep going for as long as Lord Phoenix still threatened his home.
"I will not perish until this place is flooded with the blood of your loved ones, Regashi! Know that!" Lord Phoenix proceeded to bellow, clenching his fists.
To the masked lord's shock, a new voice appeared.
"Not while I'm still around, Lord Phoenix!"
It was Oritsu Ketsueki, landing on the ground behind Regashi. Apparently, he was done residing only in the village.
Lord Phoenix growled, "Stay out of this, you fake king!"
The volatile Lord Phoenix knew that he could not withstand both Regashi and Oritsu Ketsueki at once; one of them was enough as it was. The moment Oritsu contributes to the battle, the masked lord will be out in no time. It would no longer be a fair fight—not even close.
"I've realized now that you're too dangerous on this planet, Lord Phoenix. If my son alone struggles to end you permanently, then I will join in. It'd be best for you to concede now." Oritsu Ketsueki spoke with an authoritative voice, standing tall and confident.
The malevolent lord shook erratically in place, clenching his teeth behind his fox-like mask. "I do not care about your presence! Even now, I will still wipe you all out like the fodder you are!"
*CRASH!*
Suddenly, a rift in the sky appeared, sending a stream of light rushing to the ground and crashing not too far from where everyone stood. Tanjo specifically narrowed his eyes on the event, his mouth gaping the moment he saw the cause of the giant rift up above.
"Kronos!?"
XXX
This fight isn't even close to being over! What trick will Lord Phoenix pull in order to win the fight? Why is Kronos falling from the sky and crashing into the ground randomly? What will happen next!? Stay tuned to find out!
Have a Great Day!
Peace - Cr1ticalz_