"Nitaru, wake up...please!" Yuja yelled as Akujin continued her relentless slashing of her golden sword.
Ryota continued to pump his hands into Nitaru's chest, trying to revitalize the unconscious guy. His heart pulsed violently against his chest as he continued his movements against Nitaru's own. It's a desperate attempt to save Nitaru's life, and it was the only hope anyone had left. Blood continued to poor out of Nitaru's critical injuries, and it was only so long before he would collapse from blood loss if he were to ever awake again.
Gyonu watched the fight rage on as he stood protectively near Ryota working on Nitaru's unconscious body. The scene was too much to process; all the movements were so quick and slick that it was hard to even notice them altogether. Yuja was barely holding on, his hands barely grasping his weapon and his legs becoming wobbly and less responsive to the sudden jolts and movements Akujin made him do with her bold stances. Ruka struggled to keep up with Akujin's quickening pace, her arms quivering with exhaustion with even the slightest move, her eyes remained fierce with determination. Zak is the only one to keep up with Akujin's pace, his own matching perfectly in correspondence with Akujin, and he managed to block or evade all of Akujin's moves of her golden sword. Ezra grasped her emergency tranquilizer in her back pocket in case of needing to use it suddenly.
The sword glimmered in the flames rising from the debris surrounding all of them. Each flame flickered higher as the seconds passed, the bright orange heat consuming everything in its path as it continued through the rubble. In the distance, a car exploded from the sudden concrete blocks falling onto its hood from a nearby building that was threatening to collapse at any second. Smoke rose to the thunderous clouds above, and it seemed all surreal; there had to be no way this much destruction was caused in the matter of hours. It seemed to show the intensity of Akujin's strength, and how it was greatly underestimated.
Gyonu cleared his throat, crouching beside Ryota who continued tirelessly to revitalize Nitaru, "Should I call reinforcements from Kyoto? I don't think we can hold up against Akujin-"
"Don't even think about it," Ryota interrupted him, "We will win. Kyoto must be dealing with similar circumstances that we are facing. And I don't think Kyoto would even stand a chance against Akujin...yet we do somehow."
Ryota looked at Nitaru's lifeless face after finishing his sentence, continuing the thrusting of his fists into his chest. Hope had seemed to be slipping slightly from Ryota's expression, but he knew he couldn't give up. There was still a way to beat Akujin somehow. They couldn't give up at all. No way would Ryota ever.
Gyonu stood back up and saw Akujin hurdling towards them. His immediate reaction was colliding his sword against hers, and his eyes darted for Yuja, Ruka, Ezra, and Zak. He saw Zak motionless on the pavement nearby, his right arm sliced clean off the bone and Ruka screaming and crying next to him. Yuja is bent backwards on a bunch of rubble, blood trickling through his grey shirt from his lower right abdomen. Ezra is running behind Akujin, trying to catch up to her fast pace. Ryota bent his head lower to prevent himself or Nitaru from being in the clashes of weapons, and Gyonu continued to fend off Akujin, who clearly was seeking to reach Nitaru, even if he was presumably dead as of now.
"Crap..." Gyonu sighs to himself, struggling to hold his defensive stance against Akujin as she pressed her sword harshly against his.
Akujin grins to herself as she sees his struggle, intentionally pressing even harder against his sword and forcing her body forward to try to push Gyonu back. She knew this was all in order to get to Nitaru, who she wanted to make sure was dead for real. Taking the opportunity of being unnoticed, Ezra reached into her pocket for her emergency pistol, releasing it from its straps and raising it towards Akujin's back. She knew this was a chance for the Organization to have some sort of chance of winning without the revival of Nitaru.
Ezra's eyes focused onto Akujin's shoulder blade, and everything suddenly seemed to slow as her vision blurred. As she blinked, Ezra's vision refocused onto someone diagonal from her to her right. She saw a phantom of Akito, looking directly at her. Her expression paled as she saw her brother before her in such a ghostly form. Just as she saw his smile, Akito's smile faded into a frown and his eyes burned into empty sockets, blood trickling down from the eyelids. Seeing this, Ezra coughed suddenly as her aim on Akujin's back faltered.
Akujin grinned as she heard the cough behind her, immediately bending backwards and clashing her sword at Ezra's pistol. Due to the disruption in the track, the pistol twisted backwards to the right, the bullet firing due to Ezra's finger pulling on the trigger. Ezra coughed again, falling to the ground as Ruka saved her from being diced by Akujin's sword.
"Agh!" Yuja yelled, grasping his thigh where the bullet had entered, blood splattering onto the ground nearby due to the bullet penetrating his thigh so deeply.
Ruka looked back at the sound of his yell, sweat dripping from her forehead profusely as her chest heaved up and down due to exhaustion. She couldn't believe it.
With a shocked yell, Ruka screamed, "Yuja!"
She ran towards Yuja at a fast pace, dodging the debris falling from the nearby skyscrapers that threatened to collapse. Akujin chased after her, her faster speed causing her to catch up quickly. Seeing the danger, Ezra grabbed a spare bullet from her pocket, loading it into the pistol and clicked it into place as she struggled to aim accurately. Ruka turned her head slightly to the right, seeing Akujin catching up and she decided to take an alternate route. Turning a slight left to head directly at Yuja, Ruka went through several bombs and enormous flaming pieces of debris that were falling from the high rises above.
Akujin saw this unique move and followed dangerously close despite the flames that caught fire to her cape as the gusts of wind continued to pick up mercilessly. The ground shook as one of the skyscrapers structure's groaned and began to crack and collapse. Ezra pulled the trigger on her pistol, the bullet traveling at such high speed as it approached extremely fast. The bullet traveled through the burning flames, whirling so fast that smoke begins to come off the bullet's edges and structure.
Akujin throws her sword forward, bending forward to dodge the bullet as her sword spins violently towards Yuja and Ruka. Rubble falls right in front of Ruka, causing her to not be able to move anymore forward but only backwards. The ground shook as all the buildings nearby began to tremble. Continuing its onward path, the bullet hit straight into Yuja's chest, causing him to violently cough up blood from the intensity of its hit. Yuja fell to his knees, clutching his chest with one hand and the other clutching his thigh.
Ruka's eyes widened, her heart tremoring and thumping so loudly that her hearing seemed to blur out all the chaotic sounds surrounding her.
"Yuja! No!" She screamed loudly as she saw the sword approaching him, barely missing him by a couple of inches above his head.
Debris and shattered glass began to fall from above, the pieces engulfed by the huge flames emerging around Yuja. The thunder rumbled in the clouds deeply, the flickers of lightning crackling throughout the expansion of the sky above. Ruka and Ezra stared at the chaos unfolding before them as Akujin made her way towards Yuja's struggling form.
"Yuja, you need to get out of there!" Ezra yelped from her position behind the rubble that prevented her from moving forward, though she was able to see the entire scene that was happening in front of her.
Yuja looked up at the crumbling skyscrapers above and to his right and left. Escape was pointless, especially with wounds like his and no nearby medical aid. If he ran, he would die from blood loss and if he stayed where he was, he would be crushed by the crumbling high rises. He knew he had to do something that would protect the others who were trapped by the rubble nearby. As he glanced in front of him, he saw how fast Akujin was approaching and decided what he was going to do. Yuja coughed up more blood, the red liquid dripping from the corners of his lips and down his chin as he pondered his next move very precisely.
"The Abstruse Art...." Yuja mumbled to himself, barely audible over all the commotion going on all around him, "That's it.... that's what's gonna be done."
Yuja, despite his complicated and devastating injuries, began to slowly stand up, holding the phantom sword weakly in his grasp. He seemed to be about three shades lighter due to how much blood he was losing, but he knew he couldn't give up. He had to do this for many reasons. The air seemed to slow, and he steadied his breathing even with a pierced trachea. Yuja gritted his teeth, pressing his lips together tightly as he fastened his grip strongly on the newly summoned phantom sword that was growing a brighter blue than ever. With practiced movements, Yuja carefully rose the sword above his head, swirling it slowly at first and gradually accelerating the pace to a faster and faster speed. The wind whirled around him, swishing at his movements.
"No..." Ruka stared, grabbing the rubble in front of her roughly as she quickly realized what Yuja was doing, "Yuja! Don't!"
Ezra froze in place, too stunned to even comprehend her own action as she watched Yuja prepare his counterattack to Akujin. Akujin looked surprised for the first time this entire evening, staring at the blue essence radiating off of Yuja's phantom sword.
"What could he be doing?" Akujin said with confusion, stepping closer slowly and cautiously as she hasn't seen this type of move before by anyone in the Organization.
Yuja stopped twirling his sword above his head, slowly bringing it down to his side and raising it to around his waist and sighing softly.
He looked at Akujin approaching cautiously and he mumbled to himself again, his voice hoarse from the punctured trachea, "Do not fear...for I am with you..." he coughed and continued as he held the phantom blade near his side casually, "All things are possible...through the Christ...who strengthens me."
Yuja hoarsely spoke with an inaudible tone, "Abstruse Art... The Blood of Christ"
The phantom sword at his side glowed a brighter blue, then faded to a dark maroon as the flames above in the building that threatened to collapse. Akujin's eyes widened as she saw and heard Yuja's words, her mouth gaping open with realization that she messed up bigtime.
The ground crackled with unprecedented energy as Yuja rose his sword higher, the red phantom blade glowing brighter with such an intimidating glow. Before he set off from the ground, Yuja whispered.
"Protect me, Lord. Let me guide the others to defeat the evil that is in front of me in your gracious, holy name."
Yuja slammed his foot into the ground, the asphalt surrounding him indenting and cracking severely to the point lots of chunks of the pavement lifted out of their positions. Yuja moved so fast that even Akujin was stunned at his sudden burst of speed. She knew that he wasn't close to Nitaru's unpredictable pace but knew Yuja was giving it his all by how fierce his movements were.
"Damn, even with those injuries!" Akujin laughed, staggering backwards from Yuja getting in her face.
Yuja slashed his sword forward, the burning blade burning Akujin's skin severely. Akujin's eyes widened, knowing this was the first time in the night she felt excruciating pain from an opponent. Akujin grabbed her spare golden spear, flipping it to its full size as she clashed it against Yuja. Akujin felt another tear into her skin as the burning increased and glanced in the direction of her burn mark. Yuja, with merciless strength, slammed his sword forward and jammed it into Akujin's hip, the burning sensation increasing.
"Stop it!" She attempted to stab Yuja with her spear, but it failed as Yuja instinctively backed away before stepped close again to pull the sword out of her side. Ruka and Ezra watched, their eyes widening with the intense fight ongoing right in front of their eyes.
Akujin was pressed against a car by Yuja, but she quickly retaliated with a kick to his side, which sent Yuja flying into a nearby building in close vicinity. Dust began to rise over the scene, making it harder to see the fight that was going on. Akujin charged forward, but Yuja managed to rise from the rubble with even more injuries and continued to fight at comparable strength with Akujin. Sparks ignited with each clash of their weapons, flames catching onto Yuja's clothes as he continued his movements with keen precision.
Yuja slammed Akujin against a building that threatened to crumble at any given moment, not caring at all and making sure she was firm against the wall.
"It ends now, 'kujin..." he mumbled with a raspy voice that was barely audible and understandable.
Akujin grinned, stabbing her spear right through his chest against, tearing his ribs and ripping through his lung, "At least for you."
Yuja collapses against Akujin, barely conscious now due to blood loss. At this point, Akujin think she has won due to Yuja's crumbling strength and how he has basically given up. Yuja rose his phantom sword that was dripping burning red flames onto the pavement beside them and crashes his sword into the building at such immense strength. This seemingly made Akujin assume this was his last effort to try and get Akujin to die or get severely injured.
The building's structure tremored and shook intensely as its walls began to crumble and burning debris began to fall. Akujin looked up, seeing burning items crumbling down at fast speed. She was Yuja's last inhale of breath occur, before his last exhale left his body. Seeing the vulnerable dead body gripping her to the wall, she tried to push him away, yet his hands clung to the wall of the building so intensely that she could feel his veins pulsing as if he was still alive.
The building crumbled down, flames engulfing as smoke and the force of the collapsed building caused trees to fling backwards. The shockwave of force shot forward, dust and debris clattering and spreading everywhere as the ground shook immensely. Ruka and Ezra were pushed back far, flinging them towards where Gyonu and Ryota were, still trying to revive Nitaru despite no response from his body.
A few minutes passed without any commotion but the wind blowing and clearing the dust out of the way.
Ruka leaned down beside Nitaru, "Why don't you stop pumping his chest? I have a vitamin that we can try."
Ryota nodded, his hands and wrists red from how hard he was trying and how long he was doing CPR on Nitaru's chest. Ruka grabbed a pill from her pocket, opening Nitaru's lips and forcing the pill down his throat.
"What's the pill for?" Ezra asked, sitting on the ground as she bandaged her knee injury that she got from the intense shockwave.
"It's a pill Tokima gave only Riku and I about two years ago. It's kind of a defibrillator but more convenient." Gyonu said, still cautious and looking around at the growing flames.
Ryota cleared his throat, "I hope it works...Nitaru is still so young..."
"I hope it doesn't work," a voice said from behind them.
Gyonu immediately slashed the air behind them, and the person backed away effortlessly.
"H-how did you survive that?" Ezra said, her voice trembling with disbelief as she stands up with Ruka and Ryota.
Akujin grinned, cracking her knuckles as she sharpens her golden sword, "I used a forcefield to protect me from the debris falling down... unfortunately your friend didn't make it!" She spoke in a almost mocking tone.
Akujin rushed forward, already aiming for Ruka as she rose her golden sword high above her head as she prepared to unleash her technique, "The Sile-"
Akujin coughed up blood, and she is flung back into a nearby skyscraper. Dust rises the scene as everyone looks in disbelief. They all knew none of them moved-so who could it possibly be that sent Akujin back at such a deadly force?
The dust cleared and two daggers were clutched in hands of a person that faced away from them, but his aura was so intimidating and merciless. They all couldn't believe their eyes, seeing the revitalized figure before them with renewed strength and energy.
"Nitaru!" Ryota yelled in disbelief of what he was seeing.
Nitaru spoke with a calm tone, assessing the situation that is at hand, "Gyonu, take Ezra and get out of here. It's too dangerous."
Ezra's eyes widened but she followed the order and walked with Gyonu towards the single opening in the street that led back to the bay bridge, the only dimly lit structure in the entire Tokyo metropolitan area.
"You think us three can handle this, Nitaru?" Ruka asked with uncertainty, not seeing what Nitaru was clearly thinking. It was a bold move to only have three against such a powerful enemy like Akujin.
Just before Nitaru could answer, Akujin shot out of the building she was thrown into, flinging herself forward at such unprecedented speed it was almost unnoticed by Nitaru. With a quick countering move, Nitaru slashed his daggers forward to force Akuijn backwards. Akujin landed in front of the three of them, her golden sword glinting the reflection of the flames surrounding all of them.
"Back from the dead, huh? Must've been a long nap," Akujin yawned mockingly.
Nitaru grinned, his signature smirk on display once again, "Akujin, you really are getting too cocky and prideful."
Akujin readied herself, positioning herself as she prepares to release her next technique. In response to this, Ruka and Ryota fixing their posture as they prepared to unleash their attacks, raising their weapons.
Nitaru flicked his daggers upwards, spinning them smoothly between his hands and looked at Akujin again. Nitaru prepared to unleash his technique "The Dance of the Unforgiving Dragon" as he gripped his daggers harder.
Nitaru spoke with a cold demeanor, "You really don't know what you're getting yourself into, you know? But that's how us humans thrive in life... we get into everything without knowing the resulting consequences. But since you're willing to launch yourself at three while your alone... be my guest. Bring it on, Akujin... this ends now."