"That was the guy from before back there... these guys must be tough," Haruka said as he hopped over a broken drone. "Bullet holes..."
He tried calling Taka but he didn't pick up. He called Sumiko. It went to voicemail. Haruka sighed. "Hey, Sumiko... this place seems promising. Second floor. By that pizza place and the coffee shop. Get here when you can. B-bye..." He ended the call.
Amari rolled out into view, aiming her pencil pistol at him. "Don't move, Haruka."
He didn't move. That voice seems familiar... He sighed. "Can I turn around at least?"
"Sure"
He turned around.
As soon as he turned around, Amari shot a pencil at him.
Haruka barely dodged the pencil shot. He called out, "You were that exploding girl!"
The two of them stood in silence.
"Amari!" Amari looked confused. How could he forget my name? I beat the crap out of him. No matter... She shook her head before running at Haruka.
They started fighting hand-to-hand. They were blocking both of each other's attacks.
"You are a little more refined than last time," Amari smirked. "Not by much but... what did you do?"
"I got assigned a teacher. Now you have to answer a question from me. Did you send that tall guy after Satoshi?"
"Yes I did." Amari kneed Haruka in the gut.
He seethed as he was blown back. He coughed a little before taking a deep breath. He sighed, "I guess I'll have to take you down now."
"I'd rather fight that girl... she's still more interesting than what you got going on." Amari groaned as she rubbed her head. "Where is she?"
"I don't know. You can look for her when you are running away after this fight." Harukas eyes lost their shine. He was focused beyond belief.
He ran on the wall, jumped, and tried kicking Amari in the side of the head. She blocked with two arms.
What is up with him now? She thought. Amari grabbed his arm and swung him away from her, before rolling up her sleeves. Doesn't matter. I need Ren to tell me if we got the target.
Haruka ran forward again, forming a sword with one hand. He slashed it at Amari, with her barely dodging. She only got a slight cut on her wrist from it. After shaking her wrist from the pain, she threw some scales.
He managed to deflect one of the scales with the sword but the other ones exploded on contact, sending Haruka into the wall. Most of his shirt was burnt off. The scales went even faster than in the previous fight... Haruka thought. "I should be more careful," he said, dropping from the wall. The sword dematerialized.
Amari ran at him, punching him into the wall again before starting a barrage of punches, chops, and kicks. Haruka grabbed her arms and head-butted her before jumping up high and kneeing her chin.
"Agh-" She seethed.
"I know you are only trying to do your part of the group." He kicked her back. "I don't care if you are the leader or not. It's just... I don't want you to win against me again."
The sudden speech caused Amari to step back and assess the situation.
As Haruka formed a crossbow, it took part of his eye rendering it useless. "Whether it's against me or anyone else. I don't want you to succeed."
With the crossbow aimed at her forehead, Amari started a desperate play. She threw and exploded a scale, knocking Haruka off balance. It caused him to fire the crossbow and hit her leg.
She groaned, throwing scales at the ground to create a smokescreen. Her leg was making it hard to walk. It forced her to limp into hiding, where she frantically started a call.
"Ren where the hell are you?" She whispered.
————
He whispered, "A bit busy right now..." Ren was hanging onto a beam on the ceiling with a sword in his mouth.
There was a distant sigh, "Hurry it up and get over here." She hung up
The forest in the mall disappeared. Batch stretched his back. "Takahiro... I'll just call you Taka... go to the student council building and see if you can get Megumi or Yuzuru."
"Who- wait why?"
"We need them here because of the scale of destruction that has and will continue to be caused. Yuzuru is the one with the blue hair and glasses. You'll instantly recognize him. Hopefully, he has his glasses on..."
Taka looked concerned, "Why does he need his-"
"I'm not letting you leave." Ren landed, taking the sword out of his mouth. He had a singular glove on his dominant hand.
"Taka get out of here." Batch formed large vines from his back. Flowers bloomed from them, with one of them dropping an executioner's sword. He caught it and ran at Ren. He swung at Ren, and the blade gained tons of weight suddenly, slamming down towards Ren. The sword might've weighed several tons at one point. Their swords collided and the enhanced weight was instantly removed. "Eh?" Ren knocked him out of the way.
At this moment, Taka took this time to try to sneak out of the building.
Ren grinned. "You also have an infused blade? I reckon mine is a perfect counter to yours though." He lunched forward, forcing Batch to jump back.
Batch regained his stance. What power does his sword have...
Widely regarded as a masterpiece in power core usage, power core infusion has become a staple in military weaponry and weaponry among high authority officials. Someone may choose to take out their power core in surgery, and instead of storing it for future usage, it can be infused into an item (typically a weapon), pre-surgery, by transferring your power core energy into the item. The item gains the power from the core and the user loses it.
Batch's executioner sword was infused with the power of weight manipulation. When the power was transferred into it is unknown. He can apply any amount of weight to the sword, but weights above a ton start to make the executioner sword grow unstable.
Quickly, Batch shot fire from the vines on his back. Ren dashed around him, expertly dodging the flames as he turned and ducked under them, getting ready to cut his legs. He slashed his sword but Batch jumped, using flowers to create obsidian to land on the sword. Instead, Ren slashed clean through the obsidian and kicked him away. He blocked with his blade.
The two of them circled.
It's cutting through things I make like butter... I need to do more testing... Batch formed multiple massive Venus flytraps to attack him.
"That won't work..." He slashed clean through them and made a mad dash toward him, getting ready to stab his stomach.
"For such a thin blade-" He quickly dodged a barrage of slices. "It's fascinating." Batch knocked Ren in the side of the head with the back of his fist.
My head- I'm dizzy. Did he give me a concussion from that one hit? How strong is he- Ren coughed blood as Batch punched his stomach.
"Ōga no kobushi!"
Ren slammed into the wall, coughing blood.
He looked at his fist with a look of shock but gratitude.
Ōga no kobushi is a powerful technique created in the 1940s out of a need for more power. It was a time of heroism, and heroes and villains used this technique. The user will punch an area. Their collection of power core energy then outbursts through the fist, creating an attack that hurts the entire body regardless of where it was hit.
This was the technique Batch had relearned after 36 years.
"You were predictable. Do better next time." He said as he cracked his knuckles.