Four monstrous sized wrecking balls attached to chains spread out from Shanks back. Two of the wrecking balls shot bullets, and the other two shot rockets, Shank could use the wrecking balls however his mind wants him too, moving them around in a telekinetic way with his mind.
Mifu thought, 'Wrecking balls with ammo...I can see right through it. The other two have rockets inside them. If that is the case, then Shank must've merged his wrecking ball abilities with human made guns and ammo. Messy, time consuming even, but smart.'
Shank raised his fist up, yelling, "Die, Mifu!"
The wrecking balls rolled over to Mifu, crushing the ground rapidly as it turned over and over.
Mifu put two fingers together, chanting, "Reaihu.."
Immediately, four clones of Mifu spreaded out left and right, holding swords that were glowing with a gold flame.
All four of the clones rushed forward, jumping over the wrecking balls. Mifu himself was in the air, holding a staff, and he was spinning it in front of him, the bullets coming out of the wrecking balls.
Mifu's staff deflected them, and all four of his clones were running around and cutting the bullets that were shooting at them.
Shank stretched his arms outward, saying, "Go!"
The wrecking balls started to move around rapidly, the chains on them rattled, still attached to Shank's back.
The wrecking balls were spinning in a circular motion up high, and rockets started shooting out of it.
The clones of Mifu were dashing and sliding, dodging the missiles that were blowing up everything.
Shank yelled, "How ya like this huh?! Huh?!"
Mifu asked, "May I ask how you are able to do that?"
"I besieged a military base once I acquired an elixir that could merge two or four items together to make them more powerful. And boy is it awesome!"
"Figures. So why don't you sell those? Seems valuable."
"My own power will never be given to another!"
Shank's wrecking balls were spinning around together fast, maybe too fast; the bullets and rockets were coming out of them, aiming towards the clones and Mifu.
Then, the wrecking balls surrounded Shank's main body, protecting him.
Mifu slid on the ground, he ran to the left fast, trying to avoid all the missiles and gunfire around him.
'Tsk. He's protecting himself with those wrecking balls. They're shooting from all directions, trying to go in from the top is pointless, and trying to go under him is too noticeable.'
Shank grew more wrecking balls with chains attached to them from his back, and he pointed at Mifu, "Go!"
Wrecking balls were up in front of Mifu, Mifu was jumping on them, jumping from one to another, using his staff to deflect the bullets that were coming at him.
'Bullets are fast, but these bullets are different. Even if they pass by my skin, the force from them leaves a cut. I'm guessing the merging elixir increased the power and speed of the bullets too. I've already transferred all of my belongings to another place, so I don't have to worry about anything getting destroyed. But that kid Duri..he's been so in tuned with Marshy's phone, he's been sitting there quietly, ignoring everything.'
The clones were getting shot with the bullets and rockets, and they vanished/evaporated into a cloud of smoke.
Mifu jumped off a wrecking ball in a front flip motion, turned his body downward with his staff, and spun it around his entire body.
Mifu pulled his staff back, and said, "Ko. Enlarge."
Mifu's staff grew about 28 feet long, and 10 feet wide.
Shank yelled, "Haha! You think that's gonna work?!"
Shank motioned his hands upward, then bent them down, and one of the wrecking balls strung out at Mifu in a split second.
Mifu grunted as he threw the staff, and the end of it collided with the wrecking ball, causing a large explosion, sending a loud wave of fire, wind, smoke, and pressure around, making the ground shake and crack a little.
It was quiet for a bit, and Mifu was standing on the ground, watching the smoke clear.
'Wait. I know Shank. That wasn't enough to take him down.'
The smoke was clearing and Shank was getting up to his feet.
He said, "That..hurt…"
Without saying a word, Mifu rushed over to Shank as quick as a heartbeat, holding two karambit blades.
They almost connected, but Shank grabbed Mifu's wrists, headbutted him, and kicked him in the stomach.
Mifu flew back a few feet, but in mid air, he turned and slung shuriken blades at him.
They were going fast, but they expanded at about 15 feet long and 10 feet wide.
Shank grunted, and he jumped back as the giant blades destroyed the ground under him.
"That almost got me, Mifu-!"
Mifu was already beside Shank, and he punched him in the cheek.
A part of Shank's skull head cracked, and he darted through the air, sliding against the rocky ground.
After, Shank got up, and he saw Mifu running towards him, with a white aura around his body now.
Shank thought, 'Fast ass old man. Such a burden. But as long as Marshy is distracted dealing with Conan and Akane, then I have nothing to worry about. I won't have to worry about her interfering. This man forges weapons with the elixirs and power rewards he's acquired. I should focus on that and his speed, he's an unpredictable old geezer. He has an arsenal of things up his ass, I'll do what I've been doing...but I must increase it if I wanna see progression.'
Shank yelled to Mifu, "Run faster! Come on, I'm ready!"
Mifu answered, "Whatever you say."
Mifu's karambits started to set themselves in gold and black fire.
Mifu slashed the air with them, and the crescent shaped slashes crushed the ground, dragging through it to reach Shank.
Mifu was running forward still, and he started kicking the air, flipping and kicking hard, and the force from his kicks created wind blasts, shooting towards Shank at high speeds.
Shank jumped back, 'What else can he do?!'
Shank clenched his fists, and suddenly, five more glowing and red giant wrecking balls came out of Shank's back connected to spiked chains; that made 9 wrecking balls coming from Shank altogether, and they were releasing a great amount of power, even causing Mifu to gasp quietly.
'His power level has increased, meaning, he wasn't going full power before?!'
Shank said to Mifu, "I'm gonna kill you and take the Excalibur scythe, Mifu!!"
Shank stretched both arms forward, and the spiked chains on all of his wrecking balls were set on fire, with red electrify brimming around it and through it.
One of them shot over Mifu, Mifu barely had time to react.
It almost connected with him, and Mifu was pulling up his karambit blades.
A second later, here came Duri.
Duri slid in quick, grabbed the spiked chain of the wrecking ball, spun the entire thing around, turned to face Shank, and launched the wrecking ball over to him.
Shank yelled, "What?!"
He used the other wrecking balls to block the attack, and it blew up, knocking him back a few feet, causing his skull nose to bleed.
Duri's hands were bleeding with small holes in them, and Mifu was looking at them.
"Duri! I've told you fighting is not a good idea before 20 minutes of being healed. I got this. Look at your hands."
Duri smiled, "Marshy's phone is not cutting back on. And I got bored. So, I'm here to help!"
"You're hands, Duri. Do you even care about yourself?"
"Haha, it's fine! I've suffered worse than thi-!"
Duri's heartbeat was loud, and it made his eyes shake.
He dropped down to his knees, and he put his hands on the ground.
Shank saw this, and chuckled, "Foolish hot-headed boy. Rushing in without a plan will fail you against those stronger and more experienced in combat than you. Those spikes in the chains are induced with poison, it is currently eating you up on the inside as I spea-."
Interrupting Shank, Duri charged forward, and punched Shank in the face, blasting him 70 feet in the air with his 9 glowing wrecking balls.
"Ack! Stubborn child! Damn you, brat!"
Shank stuck his hands out, making all of the wrecking balls extend outward towards Duri.
Duri blasted into the air, with Mifu yelling, "Duri!!!...This kid, this kid is incredible...but reckless. I have to stop this."
Mifu coughed and coughed, putting his hand on his mouth. He moved his hand away, and saw that there was blood on it.
'I used to be stronger...way stronger. Until the curse of Reborn. And everyone knows curses can't be healed in this world. Yeah, Marshy doesn't know. Knowing her, all hell would break loose if she did. Dammit. I exceeded my limit of fighting, which only lasted less than 30 minutes, and it gets shorter each fight. I thought I could deal with Shank in a quick time, but he's definitely strong. Duri….gimme a couple seconds, I'll join back in a sec.'
In the sky, Shank was throwing more wrecking balls, screaming, "Die! Die! Die! I will not be defeated by a mere child! Why are you even fighting for them?! Why do you fight in general?! What is wrong with you?!"
Duri yelled back, "I fight for everyone who was beaten in the Shadow realm, and I fight for my bestest friend Jae. They were destroyed. And I won't let you beat up an old man! That's mean! Really really mean!"
"You even speak like a child! Imagine! A weak child thinking he's special because he held one of my power weapons! You're weak!"
All of the wrecking balls came flying at Duri, and Duri didn't falter.
He leaned his body to the right, grabbed the chains of the wrecking ball again, and started swinging it around over his head while turning.
As he swung the giant wrecking ball by the chain, bullets and rockets were being shot all over the place, Duri was avoiding them, using the wrecking ball he was wielding to knock the rockets and bullets away.
Shank thought, 'This kid! The spikes in the chains are sticking into his hands, injecting him with poison to make him weaker, but...but he's still fighting hard as hell! He's using my own weapon against me, like he's done this before! He's not dumb at all, he's very durable, and usable..'
Shank yelled to Duri, "Oi, kid! I'm sorry I said all those mean things to you, how about a proposal?! How about you join me?! We can rule the underground together! You can have whatever you want! Whaddya say?!"
Duri replied, "No! You're a mean and bad man!"
"Tsk. Fine then!"
Shank pulled his arms back, and all of the wrecking balls and chains started to come back to Shank, dragging Duri over to him too.
Down below, Mifu said to himself, "Duri used Shank's own weapon against him to gain the upper hand. Duri may seem reckless, but he's a thinker too. But...Shank might do the same move as earlier.."
Duri was being dragged over to Shank, and all of the wrecking balls began to spin wildly like earlier, twisting Duri around and around.
Shank laughed, "Hahaha! How ya like that?! Not fun is it?! You thought you outsmarted me, what a joke!"
Duri thinks, 'The poison..hurts badly. I'm getting weaker...my hands hurt...I wanna cry...but I'm so excited that this is happening, all I can do is tear up...I gotta beat this guy...he's really strong!'
Shank yelled to Duri, "What are you gonna do, huh?! I can just spin you around and wait for the poison to beat you!"
Duri didn't say anything.
Instead, he decided to put both legs around the chain he was hanging onto, and he started dragging all the wrecking balls down to the ground at high speeds.
Shank exclaimed, "Huh?! How are you-?!"
Duri was covered in blood and cuts, and some parts of his skin were turning purple because of the poison.
Duri was dragging Shank and the wrecking balls down with him, and Duri looked down.
He saw the dome of eyes made by Conan, he wasn't sure if Marshy was in there, but he sensed danger.
Shank screamed, "You bastard! Stop! Stop! You're a crazy ass kid!"
Duri's teeth were gritting so hard, they were bleeding, he was straining himself so much to the point where there was pain all over him, and most importantly, the poison had a huge effect on that too.
Duri yelled, "Go...away!"
Duri grabbed hold of two wrecking ball chains, and he pushed off the air with his feet, heading up to Shank.
Shank thought, 'He grabbed two of them?! And he's moving at an incredible speed with them?! I can't lose to this brat! He's nothing! I'm everything! I'm powerful! I'm rich!'
Shank screamed again, "Die, kid!!"
Duri spun the wrecking balls around quickly, and they made him spin too.
Duri said, "You die!"
Duri rammed then wrecking balls against Shank, then let go of them. Shank shot over to a canyon wall, and crashed into it. The canyon started toppling over.
Inside of the eye-made dome, Marshy was still standing there, paralyzed.
Across from her, stood Conan.
Conan said, "Impressive. I'm surprised you're even able to hold an invisible shield while your body is immovable. I will draw the Excalibur from your body, I'll extract it from the roots of your blood, my work will not be in vain. The years of gathering cultivated power are too many to be wasted on a broad day under the horizon."
Marshy thinks, 'What in the actual fuck is this guy talking about?'
Conan said, "Let's try this again.."
Marshy thinks again, 'My invisible barrier isn't invincible, it doesn't last forever. Another strong attack from Conan would surely break it…'
"Let's go!!!"
Conan ran forward, and he started getting bigger, more muscles were being put on him, his veins were popping tremendously, his hair got longer, and his red and black and blue tattoos shined brighter.
His fists were gigantic too, and he was about to ram his entire body into Marshy.
"Yes, yes! This is it!"
He got closer, his feet pounding the ground, shaking the entire foundation.
Finally, he made contact with Marshy, but the barrier was stopping him from touching her.
Conan's body was like a spinning power drill, driving tons of force, wind, power, and pressure into Marshy's shield.
"That shield won't hold for long, Marshy! Hahahaha!!!"
Each second that went by, the shield was dissolving.
Conan screeched, "Just a little more!! Almost there!!"
Suddenly, the shield shattered, leaving Marshy's entire paralyzed body exposed.
"Got you!" Conan yelled with a grin.
Conan's drill-like body was an inch away from driving through Marshy.
Out of nowhere, Duri came from underground, blasting to the surface, and he stood in front of Marshy, putting his hands on Conan's drill body.
Duri's arms were immediately being battered and cut, and his feet were sinking into the ground from Conan's strength.
Conan said, "Ah, the boy! I didn't know you could hold me back like this! And why are you not paralyzed! Show me everything you've got!!"
Duri's gritting teeth were still bleeding, and he was crying blood now, with his pupils dilated, holding Conan's strong body back away from Marshy, wind being thrown everywhere, the ground cracking, and Conan's body and power getting bigger by the second.
Duri said, "I...I won't let you hurt her..! She...gave me her bagels..!"
Conan replied, "Hoh?! You think your last minute save cliche is going to work? I hate when the heroes in stories win those, and the bad guy loses..! I...am Conan!"
Conan's body got bigger and bigger, and he applied more of his strength and pressure on Duri, causing Duri to get down low, bending on his knees; but Duri wasn't letting up. Even though his body was getting weaker by the second, he still was holding Conan back away from Marshy.
Marshy watched this, thinking, 'This thieving brat...is helping me? Even after he got healed...he could've left and did what he had to do..why is he doing this for me? I called him so many names...I even threatened him a million times...why is he helping me? And WHY THE HELL IS HE SO STRONG EVEN WHEN HIS BODY IS GETTING WEAKER?!'
Duri said to Conan, "You're not strong at all...I'm stronger…"
"No, I am! And once I take the Excalibur and consume it, I'll rival even the Titans!"
"No...I will.."
Duri started to remember a quote that his best friend Jae had said to him; something that stuck with him for a while : "Being strong is the best thing ever, using our power is the best thing ever, but if we lose all of our strength and power in one day, we're still strong, and that is what will make us the strongest.."
Duri chuckled, and he looked Conan in his eyes.
Duri pulled his over fist back, and his fist started to have wind surrounding it. Then, it started to turn dark grey and black because of his shadow powers, and his veins were popping hard.
Conan asked, "What the hell?! What are you doing?!"
"I'm not paralyzed because shadows are never still. I can't use all of my shadow ability...but I'll take you straight to hell! Haha!"
"Dumb brat!!!"
Marshy thought, 'Duri is getting stronger, despite the poison fighting to keep his body weak...this kid has potential to be something great..'
Duri rammed his fist back, and he threw it forward, yelling, "Tuekantu..!"
His fist hit Conan in the face, and it was sitting on it. Conan didn't budge, but Duri was pressing his fist on Conan's, trying to knock him away.
Conan's face was bleeding because of it, he used all of his strength to try and stand upright, using the power in his legs to not be blown away.
Duri and Conan both yelled loudly, but Duri had a smile on his face the whole time.
Duri said, "This is fun!"
Duri moved his fist back, and hit Conan again, and this time, Conan flew 50 feet back, shattering the entire eye dome. Conan's body was broken badly, his legs and arms were shrinking, and his powers were deteriorating.
'Dammit! This can't be! Not to a child!'
Conan fell into a woods area, crashing through some trees, and falling into a pond; his blood polluted the pond drastically, and he couldn't budge. Well, he could only move his right arm.
He coughed over and over, spitting blood out onto his chest because he couldn't move the rest of his body.
"Defeated. By a..child. (*Coughs hoarsely*). Maybe, this wasn't meant to be. I should've stopped a long time ago. All my efforts, a waste. Akane, I will join you. Sorry for using you like this."
Conan raised his hand up, and he made his hands sharper than a blade. He pointed it down at his heart, and rammed his hand in there…
...
Back to where Duri and Marshy were, Marshy was holding onto Duri. Duri had fainted, but Marshy had caught him before he fell.
Marshy was sitting on the ground, laying Duri's head on her chest.
Walking over to them, Mifu said, "Marshy, Duri…"
Marshy looked at Mifu, saying, "I..wanna take care of him. I'm gonna talk to the hosts about it, and get their permission. And if they don't like it, then fuck them I'll leave with Duri. This boy...is something special. I can tell he's been through a great amount of pain and hurt just to be as strong as he is right now. Just imagine how he'll be when he's older…"
Mifu bent down, and put his hand on Duri's back, healing him.
Mifu explained, "Duri has real reasons why he likes fighting so much. His goals and motives to accomplish and succeed are unique for a child his age. Most importantly, he is probably the last of his kind. Marshy, if you do get blessed to take care of Duri, train him like I've trained you, and be there for him. He wants to take down Zabel for massacring his realm, and you and the hosts want Zabel dead because he's trying to acquire an ability that lets him control everyone's thoughts and emotions. And they need Duri to do it. This is all falling into place, I knew for a long time, that you'll be a good mother for him."
"Yeah...but what about his real mom?"
"Time has a way of speaking, Marshy. A little bit louder than patience does. Everything will come into play. I looked through his memories. I'll discuss with you later on what I saw."
"...Yokai, grandfather. And thank you."
Mifu thought, 'Marshy has always wanted to be a mom...I'm glad she's able to fulfill one of her wishes..'
(One week later)
[The hosts meeting temple]
Marshy was standing in the middle of 6 of the strongest hosts on earth. With Marshy being the 7th. There were other hosts in attendance, but they were of weaker ranks. The seven strongest were the ones who were the big shots, the ones under them were not as important or involved as them.
One of the hosts asked, "You want to take the hybrid boy in, what will you do if he ever turns on you out of anger?"
Marshy responded, "I'll beat the hell out of him to get him straight, you know me."
"Yes. We do. At first, Marshy, we weren't going to let you adopt him. Since shadow hybrids are known for their bloodlust and violent behavior. They train kids to be killers at a young age, yadda yadda yadda you get my point, right?"
"Duri is different. Sure, he has a bloodlust for hurting people and a lust for fighting, but he knows right from wrong. He knows who the bad guys are, and he saved my life."
"Mhm I see. And since he is wanted by Zabel, and that we are looking to take Zabel down for wanting to control all of us, this works out perfectly. Zabel wants to use the Titan power inside of Duri to use the beast taming weapon, merging them together in a ritual which will cultivate that weapon to it's Max, controlling everything he wants. We can bring Zabel right to us."
"Do you know what the ritual is called?"
"The ritual to merge a living thing with a mythical weapon is called 'Rakuen Zuen'. With that, Zabel will be able to control all beasts and humans, since Duri's Titan power of creation will create new minds and emotions for everyone; and Duri's human side will cause the weapon to control humans. Pretty damn simple."
"Damn."
"We'll let you adopt that kid, but he is YOUR responsibility if things go south, Marshy. If he gets in trouble, you'll be held responsible."
"Alright, alright, I get it. Fuck."
"Good. And is there any reason why you didn't bring him to see us?"
"Because I remember the rules. Only hosts are allowed in here. I'll let Duri meet you when he's older, I still don't trust any of you."
"Okay okay, just making sure you remember. Good luck, and we look forward to meeting him."
"Thank ya, thank ya."
Over the years, Marshy has been feeding Duri, training him hard, putting him to sleep, and homeschooling him. She did what she promised to Mifu, she always beat people up if they messed with Duri, or Marshy would let Duri beat them up.
She was always there for him, they went on tons of vacations too.
They went:
To the beach together
To tons of carnivals
To watch battle tournaments
To live concerts
To sports games
And even on picnics or walks in the park.
One day, when Marshy was washing Duri's back in the tub, Duri asked Marshy, "Oi...Marshy.."
"What is it?"
"Are you my real mother?"
Marshy gasped in a hush of silence, and she replied, "What makes you think that?"
"I feel like you are. Just a hunch. You take care of me, and you protect me, and you tell me stories every night, and you help me with homeschool."
"Well, do you like when I do those things?"
"Yes. You're amazing, Marshy."
"Mhm, I better be."
"And about school.."
"Mhm?"
"When can I go to the actual school? A public school?"
"...To tell you the truth, when you're 15, I'll let you start public school. I've homeschooled you because...well...I wanted to soak in all the time of actually being a parent for the first time. I've realized I'm keeping you from having real friends, so.."
"So when I'm 15, I can do the battle tournaments AND go to a public school and make friends?!"
"Yes. But, the thing about the tournaments is that you can't just join in. You have to take the exams. Only those who are worthy and strong enough to pass the exams are worthy enough to compete in the tournaments. Titan rules. Because you could die in the tournament, Duri."
"What are the exams like?"
"They're intense. You'll have to use strategy, skill, and strength if you wanna pass them. The exams will start on the same day as school starts...kinda."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"The first three days school starts, you'll be in homeroom classes with the kids you'll be taking the exams with. Or they'll be kids in there that are just there to review. During those three days, you'll just sit in a class and review what you've learned about basic school shit. After those three days, you'll all go take the exams far away. Then when you come BACK to school, you'll be in different classes."
"Awesome.."
"Are you excited, Duri?"
"Yes!"
Marshy inspected the smile on Duri's face, and grinned, thinking, 'That smile is kinda adorable, I hope I'm doing a good job being a parent.'
Marshy's nose started to bleed, and Duri asked her, "Marshy! What's wrong!?"
Marshy replied, "So much cuteness…I couldn't take it. You're a little puppy. I need to get a napkin."
"Oh, oh okay, haha."
(9 years later)
[Outside of Kyoko Side High School]
[Saitama, Japan]
The school was 400 feet long, and 200 feet tall, with a dark brown and pink color on it. It was gated all the way around, and hundreds of high schoolers were walking into it.
Standing there too, was 15 year old Duri, and Marshy.
Duri held Marshy's arm, "Marshy, I'm really nervous."
"Don't be."
"Buuuttt.."
"No buts. Make friends, kick some ass, and get good grades."
"Really?"
"Yeah. And don't worry about anything, me and the six other strongest hosts have a direct line with this school. Well, we partially own it. Since there's a lot of issues going on, we are expected to watch over the kids in this school. We sort of act like the principals and heads of this school, along with the headmaster of this school."
"AWESOME!!"
"Shh, calm down Duri. Now, let's go."
"Yes!"
Now, the story truly begins...