Episode 27- Stronger
"I'm different now. I doubt you'll survive if you fight me again. Nonetheless, Red Dawn believes you are a good man. She believes you can start to fight on the side of justice. Justice for the ones that don't have a voice in this corrupt city, and justice for the dragons.", calmly states Zero.
"Nothing you have said matters to me except the first statement you made. You 'doubt' I'll 'survive'?", asks Mash with an angry tone, "You have to show me that. I have to witness this battle that I wouldn't survive.".
Mash then presses his knuckles together in order to manifest water clones. Before any clones can be created, Zero dashes to Mash in the blink of an eye and uses his left foot to swiftly kick the hands of Mash, forcing Mash to raise his hands upwards. Mash gets a look of shock while his arms are raised in the air. Mash quickly executes a backflip and attempts to use the momentum to kick Zero. Zero leans backwards and dodges the feet of Mash. Zero quickly dashes forward as Mash stands upright. Zero punches with his left hand and gets dodged, then punches with his right hand and gets dodged. Mash returns with a left hand punch, right hand punch, and a left hand punch. Zero blocks the left punch with his right palm, blocks the right hand punch with his left palm, and side steps the final punch. Zero then kicks with his left foot, and Mash lightly steps back to dodge it. Zero steps forward and gives three powerful right leg kicks to Mash. Mash returns with his own right leg kicks to clash with the kicks of Zero.
Zero then teleports behind Mash and forms a large dragon claw in his right hand. Zero raises his large claw in the air and attempts to swipe downward at Mash. Mash quickly vibrates the air around his right hand, creating small droplets of water around it. "Crescendo!", shouts Mash as he collides his right fist with the dragon claw. The claw explodes into pieces, launching Zero and Mash slightly backwards.
Mash thinks to himself, "He's faster! He's not giving me much time to- !". The thoughts of Mash get interrupted by a powerful right hand punch on his face. Zero throws a left punch at Mash but Mash crouches under the punch. Zero throws a left kick at Mash but Mash leans back to dodge it. Zero throws a right hand punch that collides with the face of Mash as Mash leans back forward. Zero uses his right knee to hit Mash in the stomach. Zero then punches Mash in the face again with a left fist, then a hard right fist. Mash is sent flying backwards off of the building, but slides as he lands on his feet.
Twenty Grandoria soldiers run out from behind buildings towards Mash. "The General needs to recover! Fire on the target!", shouts one of the soldiers. All twenty of the soldiers use their left hands to touch a crest on the right side breast of their armor, then extend their left palm towards Zero.
"You fools! This is not some ordinary foe!", shouts Mash. At the palm of the left hand of all the soldiers appears orange circular magic sigils. From each sigil, a giant ball of flame blasts outward towards Zero. All twenty fireballs collide at Zero's location. The building he was standing on gets incinerated and blown apart into small pieces from the giant explosion. A giant gust of wind sweeps across Mash and the soldiers.
All is silent, except for the sound of the smouldering building.
Suddenly, Zero lands down from the middle of the sky, onto one of the soldiers, breaking every bone in the soldiers' body. Zero then uses both claws at the same time to cleanly slash at the necks of two soldiers on his right side and left side, removing their heads completely from their bodies.
Mash charges forward wildly, trying to prevent more deaths from the ignorant soldiers. Mash closes his eyes for a split second and tackles in front of him. Mash looks in shock as he has actually tackled a soldier, instead of Zero.
Behind Mash is Zero, slaughtering all of the remaining soldiers. Mash hits the ground with the soldier he tackled. He looks behind him to see that his attempt has failed. In a moment, nineteen soldiers have been killed while the fire behind Zero blazes from the destroyed building.
The remaining soldier that was tackled by Mash runs away in horror, realizing the situation all too late. Mash looks at the soldier running away, hating his cowardice, but understanding it's for the best.
Fifty Grandoria soldiers run out of nearby buildings towards the battle. "Stop!", yells Mash as he raises his right hand in the air, "Do not interfere in this battle! I will kill you myself! At least that will give you an honorable death! Respect your General, and watch until the end!".
All of the soldiers steel their hearts and watch, no matter the outcome. The soldiers slowly back away from Mash as he walks towards Zero, then prepares a stance. Mash punches his left fist forward, punches his right fist forward, then drops both of his arms. He closes his eyes, then brings his right fist close to his body and extends his left fist outward.
"Come.", says Mash.