"WE'RE GONNA KILL YOU OUTCAST!" Emily yells at the gunslinger. He shows his half-blasted face and his horrific smile.
"That's no way to talk to your daddy!!!" He says laughing at her. That's her dad?! That would explain why their cursed technique is the exact same. She dashes above him and shoots multiple bullets and he deflects them all by shooting them down. Haru kneels to the ground with her mouth bleeding, she overexerted herself. Everyone is at their limit, we have to retreat.
"We gotta run Emily! We're exhausted!" I plead to her. She scowls at me with tears in her eyes.
"Go ahead and run! I'm staying here and making sure this monster dies here! Plus, he'd never let us leave, he'd shoot us in the back like the spineless killer he is." She explains angrily. He shoots after that remark and she deflects it as well. She dashes at her dad and clashes hitting their revolvers against one another and shooting whenever an opening appears. It was a ferocious assault she didn't hit him and he didn't hit her. At this moment they were equally matched. I can't get in to help her or I risk getting shot myself. The gunshots whizz past us and the violence ramps up. Emily jumps into the air. And unleashes a hellfire of bullets at her father, he runs quicker than they could touch him. He catches her on her descent and kicks her with imbued cursed energy, slamming her into a hill. I take advantage and palm strike his side with cursed energy. It was a technique Principal Brown taught me, it was basically a ball of cursed energy swirling around the palm of my hand. Then once I connect the palm with the body, cursed energy would shoot through the target. He named it...
"NIMBLE BURST!!!" I shout as the cursed energy shoots out of his ribcage. I then sweep his feet and deliver another burst to his face. A shockwave is sent through the ground at which his head is slammed. I dash away and imbue my palms with cursed energy once more. He gets up with blood dripping from his mouth.
"That packed a punch, or should I say palm?" He says jokingly, even though he was coughing blood. He's toying with me, he's tired after fighting Haru and Emily for as long as I fought the other cowgirl and the "Thingamejagger", he has to be exhausted. I dash back he shoots and I zip right behind him and strike his back, sending a shock of energy through his chest. Then struck the back of his legs, making him fall to the ground, then imbuing my foot with cursed energy I slam his ribcage with all my might sending him into the rumble of the barn.
"Haru, I know you're tired but please; use another speech attack when he uses his next attack!" She nods
"Spicy cod roe!" She shouts with a raspy voice.
"Bobu and Naofumi! We're gonna do as much damage as we can to draw out his cursed technique ok?" They nod their heads and dash to the barn. Emily walks over with her poncho partially ripped and blood spewing from her mouth.
"When your dad-" I begin.
"Don't you dare call him my dad! He's the farthest thing from it!" She says angrily.
"When "HE" uses his technique I need you to finish him with yours ok?" She nods.
"DOMAIN EXPANSION!!! HELLFIRE DRAW!!!" He yells from far away. I didn't account for this, he wasn't supposed to use that! A flurry of bullets flies in all of our directions. Fuck! I didn't see this coming. Time stops and the air goes cold, we're frozen by fear, and we can only await our fast-approaching death. A beam of shining bullets penetrates the air as they barrel toward me. I knew we should've run because now... we're all gonna die. I'm sorry everyone, I couldn't avenge you, and I couldn't kill Shinzo.
"Domain Expansion: EAGLE EYE!!!" Emily screams pulling out her rifle and blasting his arm off. The domain shatters and so do the bullets. Haru dashes in front of the screaming man.
"GET BLOWN AWAY!!!" And just like that, he is sent away with a huge shockwave. She belches blood and falls to the ground. Bobu and Naofumi are already waiting to intercept him.
"CURSED TECHNIQUE: MAX GEFORCE!" He falls before Bobu. Bobu's knuckle dusters transform into a cutlass and he hacks away at his arm. I follow up with a strike straight to the back of the head sending a mass amount of cursed energy through his brain. He skids across the plain floor and then he rebounds twirling his revolver. His whole face leaking with blood, he coughs up blood, and his arm was spraying blood across the plane.
"YOU GUYS ARE REALLY SOMETHIN' ELSE!! ALRIGHT DO ARE DIE!!! BLACKJACK!" Purple cards protrude from his back.'
"TAKE YOUR PICK!!!" He slides the cards to each of us.
"TURN OVER!" The cards flip simultaneously and I look at the card. He starts laughing.
"I'M GOIN'... ALL IN!!!!!!!!" He says yodeling and suddenly he vanishes and teleports right in front of Bobu. Before his fist makes contact, black electric energy strings from Bobu's face to his fist. When it connects an explosion of black cursed energy discharges from the hit and sends Bobu flying.
He punches Bobu across the field digging up an entire acre of land along with him. Bobu lied there lifeless, then he dashed next to Haru and punched her in the throat and she vomits blood as he kicks her in the stomach with the same black electric energy. Then he moved on to Naofumi who tried to fend him off but he expelled his block and then shoved his fist into Naofumi's stomach sending him across the field into a shack across from the barm. He moves to me and attempts to knee me in the face but I cancel it with a Nimble Burst. Then he proceeds with a flurry of kicks to my face. My vision goes blurry and he pistol-whips me over and over again until I lose my footing.
"THERE'S A SNAKE IN MA' BOOT!" a shinigami that resided in his boot swallowed me whole.
"ELLIOT NO!" I hear Emily shriek before my hearing is completely drowned out. I couldn't tell if I blacked out or if it was the pit of the snake in which I resided now. Contractions started, I was starting to be digested. Inch by inch my room to move got smaller and smaller. I hear muffled noises through the scales of the serpent.
"Emily! Sweetie, you fought so hard! So sorry but your old man wins again!" He says as I hear a gun cock.
I hear a whirling noise, it was the portal of the banshee. I reach my hand into the darkness. And I feel the presence of my Harpoon and Sickle clashing and mixing into one. I pull out an object, not sure of what it is yet. There's a loud screeching, it was the banshee, the constricting stops and soon it becomes quite spacious. Then pop, the serpent's flesh flies away from me, and in my hand was a katana, not rusty or used, entirely new. I unsheathe the blade and it sends a supersonic wave to the gunslinger. The blade was quite short, the blade had nail scratches on it, the scabbard was a maroon red, and the sword had a blue-purplish shine to it. He turns to me and dashes away shooting a flurry of bullets at me. I slash the bullets as they fly toward me.
"EMILY! TAKE THE SHOT! I'LL TAKE CARE OF THE REST!!!" I yell at her.
"RIGHT!" She says in an eager and excited tone. He and I clash over and over again, my body was moving faster than ever before, although my arm was shot I could still muster the strength to slash my blade. The gunslinger gets visibly angry and shoots 3 times at me. I dodge them instantly and I kick him over and over and swing my blade, it misses. He dodges and points his gun at me, shortly after a spurt of blood appears where I intended to slash him before. I slash again, again, and again from the location where I was, blood spurts from all around his body. Faster, go faster, GO FASTER!!! My slashes become faster and more ferocious and I dash to him and slash him in the chest. He regurgitates more blood, spins his revolver, and shoots my other arm. I shriek out in pain. I fall to the ground and sweep his legs, I jump up and imbue my heels with what little cursed energy I had remaining, and I stomp on his neck and I keep it there.
"EMILY; NOW!!!" I yell at her. She appears overhead, almost as if she were floating.
"DIE!!!" Emily yells at the top of her lungs. The rifle bullet plummets to the ground as if it were an atomic bomb. It penetrates his head and a dust explosion erupts from the ground and blows me away. She falls to the ground and rolls around in pain. I plant on the ground near Bobu. I lie there for a short while wanting desperately to sleep. But I'd lost too much blood, I'd die if I fell asleep now. I get up and walk very slowly toward Emily, with both of my arms sagging dripping with blood. I see Emily walking past her father and then suddenly stopping.
"I'm sorry..." Her father said quietly. She doesn't turn around, she doesn't look at him. She sinks to the ground biting her poncho to stop the tears from flowing. But; they do, she puts her head down to the ground and begins to wail. She knee-walks over to her father like a baby to its father.
"Daddy... I don't... I don't wanna end things... like this." Emily says sobbing and planting her head down on her father's chest.
"Papa's always gonna love you... And... I'm sorry... Papa's goin' to serve his sentence, through death... I know death is an easy way out, but you said it like it was... I'm a coward... But you... You're brave, and strong too... I love you darlin' and don't visit me too soon."He says as his voice fades out. She lies her head on his chest and screams at the top of her lungs, her heart was completely shattered. I lie my head on her shoulder to console her and she holds me tight. I blackout after a few minutes and I hear her frantically call for medical assistance.
"HELP WE'RE AT-" Her voice is cut off as I blackout.
A few short hours later I awake in a hospital room, I turn around frantically, thinking we were still in battle. I look and see Bobu, Emily, and Naofumi sitting next to me. Emily hugs me tightly as soon as I wake up as well as Bobu it hurts, but it's all worth it. Naofumi has a sigh of relief and walks over and smiles. The others have bandages on and I notice Haru isn't there.
"Where-" I begin.
"She just got done with surgery on her vocal cords but she just needs to rest for the next few days," Emily explains to me.
"Well I'm glad you're ok...but I and Emily have somewhere to be!" Bobu says grabbing Emily by the arm, and they run out of the room laughing.
"They were flirting... the...entire...time," Naofumi says annoyed. I smile and rest my head.
"Bobu and Emily... I could kinda see it." I say laughing, Naofumi starts laughing as well. Once we stop I look at Naofumi pensively.
"Naofumi?" I ask, and he tells me to carry on with the question.
"Do you ever miss home?" I ask him. He remains the same.
"No, not really, I'm grateful for the home I've built here," Naofumi explains to me.
"Are you missing home?" He asks me. I look at him and smile and shake my head.
"I know they're safer away from me and I'm happy to have you guys," I say happily, Naofumi smiles and begins to walk out.
"I'll be back later I'm gonna see if Haru is doing alright," he says as he closes the door. I flop back into my bed and look over at my phone and grab it.
"Hey, Mom and Dad!" I say with tears in my eyes.
"Hey, Elli what's wrong?" My parents asked concerned.
"Nothing... I just...I wanted to say... I love you."