In the early hours of the morning, Naru Toki and Tanyu Kyoya were approaching the city of Yuiken with four golems that were two meters tall. Both of them were moving slowly, mounted on top of a golem.
"Are four golems really going to be enough? I heard there were powerful warriors there," said Tanyu, who was sitting on the golem's shoulder without losing balance due to being quite short and light.
"Our goal is to weaken them, not to crush them completely," said Naru, holding tightly onto the golem's head with both hands.
"They want you to kill Kamiya - can you really do it? You might be fast, but being strong is a different matter," Tanyu approached mockingly.
Suddenly he appeared on the other shoulder of the golem Tanyu was on. "Don't worry, I'll fight with all my strength. Get ready, we're approaching."
Meanwhile, the villagers were prepared, waiting to fight in the outskirts of the village. Midra Seiryo, Akane Koga, Jin Koga, and Tetsu Ryuko were positioned at the front.
Tetsu had very short red hair. He also possessed the blood eyes curse of the Ryuko family, and could use it better than most in the family.
Jin Koga was Akane's younger brother and like his sister, he was also a sword master. He also had the family's dominant silver hair, almost as long as his sister's but he usually kept it tied.
"Sister Akane, your wounds are barely healed, you should have stayed back," said Jin, with one hand ready on his sword.
"It's fine, I'll stay back and watch for a while, and I'll come help if needed," said Akane.
Midra approached. "Rest assured, I'm here, and we also have a Ryuko who can get us out of trouble, though they don't seem very talkative."
Tetsu nodded, pointing forward with his hand. In a very calm and flat voice, he said "I think the enemy is coming."
As they slowly waited for the golems to arrive, "This situation seems a bit funny to me," said Midra. "Are they ever going to get here? Or should we go attack them?" she was laughing while speaking.
Suddenly Naru appeared before them, "I was waiting for Kamiya, I can't deal with you, send him out," he said.
"Naru, come to your senses, you don't have to be against us. I don't know what kind of grudge you have, but Kamiya's hand is extended to you too, you should join us," Akane shouted pleadingly.
"I'm sorry Akane, things are more complicated than they appear. If you trust Kamiya so much, send him out. In return, I won't attack the village, I just need to fight him," said Naru.
"If you want to see Kamiya, you'll have to step over our dead bodies. And I don't think that's very likely to happen," said Midra.
"Look, I don't want to harm any of you," he glanced over his shoulder as Tanyu and the golems were getting quite close, "If Kamiya shows up, we can resolve this without any trouble."
Midra noticed something odd - the people from the Kenshin and Xigua families were nowhere to be seen, with only four golems and two people facing them.
"Nothing else to do. Let's fight," said Midra.
She suddenly leaped forward throwing a right punch, but Naru instantly appeared behind her. Midra quickly spun and kicked, but Naru had already appeared at his side, "You're strong Midra, but it means nothing if you can't touch me."
Tetsu's bright yellow eyes turned crimson red as he focused on Naru, but for some reason he couldn't access his blood flow and energy flow. "How?" he wondered in shock, reverting his eyes back to normal as blood began trickling from them. He noticed Naru glancing at him from the corner of his eye.
"Just one hit would be enough, Naru," Though he threw a flurry of rapid punches, they only connected with Naru's afterimages. Jin was watching for an opening to strike, and when he thought he found the right moment, he swung his sword - though it was a risky move as he had positioned Naru between himself and Midra. He swung the sharp edge of his sword horizontally in a wide arc and was about to cut through Naru, but he instantly teleported away from between them.
Even though Jin tried his hardest to stop himself, his sword was heading towards Midra. Although Midra slowed down the sword with her bracelet armor, it still made a small cut in her lower right abdomen. "I'm sorry, Sister Midra, it was my fault," said Jin.
"It's fine, that was a good move, he got cut too." Midra turned her head to the right - there was a scratch on Naru's back. At that moment, the golems arrived.
Tanyu shouted from atop the golem, "You should have waited for me, Naru!" and then laughed.
Naru walked in front of the golems. "Leave this battle to me, I'll beat them up personally."
"Oh come on, I wanted to have some fun too, Kamiya hasn't even shown up yet," said Tanyu, then stopped the golems and lay down on her back on the golem's shoulder to watch the battlefield upside down.
Tetsu and Akane couldn't join the fight, seeing Jin's earlier move they thought attacking such a fast opponent with too many people could lead to problems.
"That was a good move Jin, but unnecessarily risky," said Naru with a smile, took a deep breath and teleported repeatedly, appearing behind Jin and delivering a solid kick to his head in mid-air, slamming his head to the ground. Jin lost consciousness from the impact.
"Brother!" Akane shouted. "Don't worry, he's alive." Naru looked at Akane with sad eyes.
Taking advantage of this opening, Midra approached rapidly with quick steps and threw left and right punches. Naru dodged the first punch but the second one landed squarely on his face. It was such a powerful punch that Naru was thrown back and slammed into the ground. Tetsu acted quickly, shouting "Element Lava: Melting Ground" as he placed his hands on the ground, creating a splitting lava surface where Naru had fallen, explosively tearing through the ground. Naru briefly lost consciousness but regained awareness at Tetsu's shout and instantly teleported, though the lava had touched his robe, forcing him to quickly remove and discard it.
"I guess I need to get a bit more serious," said Naru, drawing the dagger hanging from his belt. It was an ornate dagger with a purple handle and styled metal blade.
Akane entered the battlefield and took Jin in her arms, retreating to the side, seizing the opportunity as Naru withdrew. Even though she knew Naru wouldn't attack her, she didn't want to be a hindrance to the others.
"What's your name?" Naru asked, turning to Tetsu.
"What does it matter? But since you're curious, Tetsu Ryuko," said Tetsu in his cold and expressionless voice.
"I'm Naru Toki. If I accidentally kill you, I wanted to know your name," he said and suddenly leaped at Tetsu, swinging his dagger toward his face. Tetsu was also charging at him with his fists, thinking the dagger's trajectory was obvious and he could dodge it and land a solid hit, or worst case, escape with his athletic and flexible body, but for a moment he forgot about Naru's ability.
As they both lunged at each other in mid-air, Naru vanished and appeared above and to the left, quickly plunging his dagger into Tetsu's back with his right hand. Tetsu screamed in pain and began losing blood rapidly, the blood from his back quickly spreading across the ground where he fell.
"He'll die if he doesn't get immediate treatment. Akane, take your brother and him away," said Naru, then turned to Midra who was running towards him.
Jumping over Tetsu's body lying on the ground, she launched a kick at Naru. Naru was quite tired, Midra's attacks kept forcing him to retreat and he had no moves left to make. They both played a game of cat and mouse for a while, breathless.
"Doesn't your energy ever run out? Naru, you look like you're about to reach your limit," said Midra with a laugh.
"You should take care of your wounds, you'll lose consciousness if you keep losing blood, Midra," said Naru, also laughing while out of breath.
When Naru mentioned it, she noticed her wound had been getting deeper and deeper. She quickly reviewed her moves - while dodging most of Naru's punches, he had managed to strike her wound lightly whenever he could. Midra realized she hadn't felt anything due to the adrenaline. She focused and began gathering all her strength, and within just a few seconds started emanating an incredible power. "Get ready Naru, I'm going to crush you before I pass out," Midra roared as an incredible aura spread around her.
"Interesting that you've figured out how to use aura, not many people can do that - it requires robust life energy. Don't think I don't have it too," said Naru, who had become angry thinking he was being underestimated, though he was merely playing with Midra as he didn't want the villagers to get hurt.
They were both fighting faster than before, Midra finally landed a punch on Naru. But Naru blocked it with both hands in guard position, and they began trading blows directly,
Naru threw a knee strike, Midra blocked it with her right hand and then dodged two incoming punches. She threw a punch at Naru's stomach, Naru caught the punch directly with his left palm but it still pushed him back slightly. Midra thought he had lost his balance and threw a kick from his right side, but Naru was still firmly planted on the ground - he caught her leg, pulled her in and landed a solid punch with his left hand. Midra's head snapped back, then Naru released her leg and Midra hit the back of her head on the ground.
However, she was still conscious. Naru got on top of her and threw punches, but Midra dodged all of them with quick head movements, then landed a solid right hook. As Naru's head was reeling back, Midra landed a left uppercut directly under Naru's chin and threw him off of her. Naru lost consciousness for a while, which gave Midra enough time to get up and catch her breath before jumping at him to deliver a powerful punch to his head.
Naru teleported to dodge, appeared behind her and delivered a powerful spinning kick to her back, but Midra got up immediately after falling, even more fired up than before. However, she was incredibly tired, taking deep breaths that could be heard clearly. Compared to her, Naru seemed to be doing well as he reset his dislocated jaw, thinking what deadly punches she threw, but judging by her exhaustion he was confident he had won the fight. "Come on!" Naru shouted, making a beckoning gesture.
Midra charged at him quickly. Naru waited until the last moment and lunged, expecting a left punch, so Midra suddenly stopped and prepared to strike, but Naru changed his move and landed a solid punch on Midra's open wound. Midra groaned in pain. Naru seized this opportunity, pulled back his right hand as Midra's blood followed his hand, then struck his face with his bloodied fist, knocking her to the ground. Midra completely lost consciousness.
"You fought well, Midra, now rest," said Naru, looking down with a very sad expression.
"Wow, what an incredible fight!" Tanyu shouted excitedly from behind.
Naru spat blood on the ground and was walking towards Tanyu when he heard voices behind him. "Kamiya, please stop," it was Akane's voice.
Despite all his injuries, Kamiya had gotten up and came to fight with Naru - this might be his last fight.
"Finally, you've shown yourself. Today either you or I will die, come Kamiya Naizen," Naru shouted while smiling.