"「Iaijutsu - Absolute Cut!」" Kasai unleashes her signature move on Isaka but she's ready for it. Raising up her swords, the cuts merely clash against her steel before falling silent.
"What the–"
"You're getting predictable." Isaka jeers at Kasai as Nakasuko charges her from behind. She takes a massive swing but all Isaka has to do is sidestep and her strike goes wild. Isaka doesn't miss a beat, whirling around and slashing The Batter in the stomach as she retreats.
"Gh–!" She hisses as the burn of the wound sinks in.
"Is this really it?" Isaka laughs. "The extent of the strength of your bond?"
"We're…" The Batter jams her bat into the sand. "We're not done yet! Kasai!"
Kasai lowers herself in preparation.
"One…" Their bodies all tense up.
"Two–!" Taking a page out of Calamity Jet's book, both Kasai and Nakasuko charge Isaka at the same time. Nakasuko gets a solid hit at Isaka's face, causing her to stumble backwards into Kasai's slash. Which then causes her to stumble forwards into a thrust from Nakasuko's bat. Which then causes her to stumble into Kasai's stab. They take turns passing her back and forth but no matter how much damage they deal, Isaka merely laughs. When she's had her fun, she catches the sword between her fingertips and the bat with her offhand.
"Good try. But you'll have to try a little harder than that." She yanks Kasai's sword towards her and kicks her directly in the stomach, sending her flying.
"– !" In response, Nakasuko wrenches her bat from Isaka's grip and dashes around Isaka, straight for where Kasai fell. "You okay?"
"Never… better… Listen, I've got an idea.Take this." She tosses Nakasuko her sword.
"I don't know how to use this."
"Just use it like you would use your bat." Kasai spits blood onto the sand below her feet. "Pass me the bat."
"You don't know how to use it."
"Watch me." Kasai holds the bat in a reverse grip, as though it were a sheathed blade and lowers herself. "「Iaijutsu - Absolute Cut!」"
Isaka conjures two swords and raises them up in front of her protectively. "I already told you, that won't work on me anymore–" But then, both of her blades shatter. Sheer overwhelming blunt force backed up by tremendous weight destroys them.
"Nakasuko!"
"「Taijutsu - Special Homerun!」" Power emanates from Nakasuko as she rushes up to Isaka. Swinging Kasai's sword like she would a bat, she cleaves straight through Isaka's torso, cutting her in half. Again and again, she keeps cutting, slashing through Isaka's arms, Isaka's legs, Isaka's head, until she's nothing more than a pile of scrap metal. But just as Jet warned, Isaka does not die.
"Shit… got cocky…" Isaka's mouth still moves in spite of being separated from the rest of her body.
"ISAKA!" Ryukko calls out while locked in a fierce clash against Calamity Jet.
"Rule Number Two of Iaijutsu! Never look away from your opponent!" Jet draws her second blade from its sheath and Slashes Ryukko's stomach.
"Gh–!" She breaks away from the melee, spinning her spear defensively as she retreats.
"Damn, I really am rusty." Calamity Jet contemplates at least five different points at which she could have ended the fight if only she was in top form. Oh well, it makes no difference. She just has to use the ace in her sleeve. "「Iaijutsu - Twin Hells!」" Purple Miasma radiates from both her swords.
"Show me a good time, Ryukko!" She dashes straight for her at blinding speed.
There's barely any time for the I-C to even raise her spear. The moment she does, it's immediately cut in half by Calamity Jet's blades. She's defenseless, and Jet's done playing with her food.
"「Iaijutsu - Decaslash!」"
Jet's arms blur before coming to a full stop. Then ten lines appear all over Ryukko's body. Two on her neck, two for each of her shoulders, then two more for each of her legs. Her body parts fall to the ground like a crumbling tower of building blocks.
"Ack. It's been a while. I think I pulled a muscle." Jet rolls her shoulders before spreading her arms to her sides. "Ahhh. This is way too nostalgic. I'm getting all teary eyed." Jet sheathes her sword and fans herself with her hand. It's only after the adrenaline begins to fade does she notice both Kasai and Nakasuko staring at her warily. "Relax, I don't bite."
"Why should we trust you?" Nakasuko steps forward between Kasai and Jet.
"Trust me?" She chuckles. "You're stuck with me now. Either you lead me back to the world of the living, or you die. Simple as that." She levels her sword at the pair. The same sword that cut down an I-C like she was nothing.
"Fine. Just don't get in our way."
"Funny, I was just about to tell you the same." Suddenly, Jet's eyes flit over to the side. They turn from relaxed to serious. "Heads up, we've got company–"
Jet was prepared to meet more enemies, she was not prepared to meet an old friend. "Klara?"
"Valeriya?" Klara steps out of a jeep parked on the top of a dune.
"Klara!" She extends open arms.
"Valeriya! Ah, how I've missed you. How have you been, dear sister?"
"Good, good. Been busy, you know, rotting in hell, as usual, which is actually not as bad as it sounds." Jet– or, Valeriya, apparently, rubs her nose. "Anyway, I've decided I've had enough of hell and I'm on my way back to the land of the living."
"Nice, nice." Klara nods.
"Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"We're here for her." Klara points at Nakasuko.
"Me?" Nakasuko points at herself.
"My employer wants you dead. Simple as that."
"You're going to have to get through me first." Kasai lowers herself into a sword-drawing stance, forgetting that she's holding a baseball bat.
"That makes things more difficult." Klara scratches the back of her head. "We were told to protect you."
"What?" Now Kasai's extra confused. "Who hired you?"
"That, I cannot disclose." Klara takes a cigarette from a pack and starts smoking it. "Anyway, please vacate the area. I don't want any collateral damage." Klara aims her index finger at Nakasuko, a swirling, concentrated ball of blue flame at her fingertip.
"I won't let you!" Kasai grabs her sword from Nakasuko's grasp and lets the bat fall to the ground.
"What are you doing?" Nakasuko looks at her, confused.
"What I have to."
Klara sneers. "Oh? And who are you?"
"My name's Kasai Ryusei! And I've made so many mistakes in my life that I've completely lost count. But right now, all I know is that every single fiber in my body is screaming at me to not run away. I won't abandon the people I care about. Not anymore."
"...How touching. I'll go easy on you." She snaps her fingers, and the ball of flame suddenly explodes into a concentrated, sustained jet of raging blue fire.
"「Iaijutsu - Juuchi Yosamu!」"
It consumes Kasai instantly. By all accounts, she should have been burnt to a crisp right then and there. But she does not die. She doesn't even flinch. She isn't even singed. No matter how hot the cinders burn. No matter how much the flames rage. No matter Klara's fury, Kasai stands. Jet was right. When used properly, Iaijutsu really can cut through anything. The sea of fire is parted in two by a lone blade.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!!" The great divide grows wider and wider as Kasai closes the gap between her and the assassin. Klara's eyes go wide from shock. She tries to raise her other hand to double the firepower but it's too late, Kasai's too close. With a single sweep of her sword, she slashes Klara's hand across the fingertip. The flames sputter and die out.
"Like I said…" Kasai levels her sword at Klara's neck. "If you want to touch her, you'll have to get through me first."
"Tsk. I should have known better than to play with my food." Klara says in Russian. She looks at the ground, at the sky, before finally at Kasai. She doesn't know what she sees. Maybe an inkling of recognition from one elder sister to another. Maybe from one city mouse to the other. She doesn't really know. All she knows is that she shouldn't interfere with her destiny. "Fine, fine. I guess I don't really need the money. There's much worse scum out there that I can kill."
Kasai's face lights up before dimming with doubt. "You're going to let us go? Just like that?"
"I respect your grit. Though I cannot say the same for my sister here."
"My name's Nikola but you can call me Iko." A tracksuit-wearing girl with silver hair and golden eyes approaches. Something cylindrical sticks out of her pocket. It almost looks like a party popper. "Forgive me."
Kasai levels her sword at Iko. "I won't just hand over my friend's life. Anyone who wants to kill her has to get through–"
"Yeah yeah, they have to get through you, whatever." Calamity Jet lowers Kasai's sword with her fingertips. Her eyes are locked onto Iko's. "This one's mine."
Iko tilts her head at Jet. Her expression is unreadable. "Who are you?"
"We've met before. Once. When you were still a wee baby." Jet tilts her head at Iko. "Don't you remember me?"
"No." Iko reaches into her pocket and takes out the cylindrical object, revealing it to be a party popper. "But your nose. And your eyes. They're just like mama's."
"Oh, mama. The one good thing in that hellhole we grew up in." Valeriya chuckles to herself. "How I missed her tea."
"Hellhole?"
"Of course. What else can you call something ruled by your devil of a father?" Valeriya's gaze turns spiteful. "I don't expect you to know that side of him, though. You were his favorite, after all. He always loved you more. More than his wife. More than the world. More than me."
"That's… that's not true." Iko stands firm against her sister's fury.
"Hm?"
"This whole time, he's been waiting for someone to come back. There's always an empty seat at the table. An extra portion in the stew pot. An empty room in the house. It was you, wasn't it? He was waiting for you. He was waiting for his daughter."
"Why? He hated me."
"He loved you."
"All he loved was his family. He didn't care about me. He didn't care about me in the slightest."
"Maybe he was like that in the past but he's changed. He's different now. He's doing his best."
"It's just as I thought." Valeriya closes the gap between them before placing her hands on Iko's face and looks her in the eye. "You've been lied to. Manipulated. Your entire world has been manufactured by your father."
"What… What are you talking about? You abandoned us! Where were you when mama fell ill?! Where were you when we needed you?! Did you ever, just for once in your life, think about the people you left behind?"
Valeriya's expression turns from one of shock to denial then to anger."Why should I when you all never once thought about me?!"
"Did you ever give us the chance?! I've never even seen your face before today!"
"Why would I when I've already so much taken away?! And for that matter, so have you! Your father took away any chance you've ever had to grow to be your own person! Why can't you see that?"
"I chose this life! I chose to give up my dreams for mama's sake! I chose to stay by my family's side!"
"You only think so because you were raised to think that way by your bastard father!"
"No! You're wrong!
"Make your own choices for once! What is it that you want to do?!"
"You're not listening!" She reaches into her pocket and takes out a party popper before pointing it at Jet. "I just want my family to be whole again."
"Fine." Jet's expression turns from one of anger to one of concern. "If I have to make you see reason by force, I won't hesitate."
"That's enough." Klara steps between Iko protectively. "I don't know who you think you are, Valeriya, but I won't let my sister be treated that way."
Iko's grip tightens around her party popper.
Jet slings her sword over her shoulder. "You're really taking her side? You're really going to defend the father who abandoned your mother?"
"I turn forty-five this year, Valeriya. I dealt with those demons a long, long time ago. You're forty-three, why haven't you grown up yet?" Klara conjures two balls of flames in her hands. "Besides, whatever choice Iko makes, I'll be there to support. That's what family's for, isn't it?"
Iko steps backward next to Klara's side.
"Family this, family that, is that all you two lap dogs care about?" Jet lowers herself into a sword fighting stance before looking at Kasai and Nakasuko. "You two. Take this opportunity to run for it. I'll catch up with you later."
"...Thanks?" Nakasuko stares at the three sisters before backing away.
Jet wipes the sweat off of her forehead. "Now you two get your sisters and go. I don't want to see any of you ever again."
"Same to you, Jet." Kasai gives her a two-fingered salute. "Same to you."
"Let's go."
"M–mmfh…?" Yuki slowly opens her eyes. "What's… what's happening–?"
"Uh, long and unimportant story, but we're out of here."
"Okay."
Kasai looks over her shoulder at Nakasuko carrying Shosuko on her back. The two pairs of sisters crest the dune they were sleeping against to see a glowing symbol in the distance. A spirit realm gate.