Finn's Side
...Who is he?
A mysterious young man had suddenly appeared before him. Finn rapidly ran through his current situation and every piece of intelligence he possessed, trying to profile the youth, but he couldn't deduce his identity. However, the fresh blood dripping from his tonfas and the brutal attack on Raul told Finn everything he needed to know. Categorizing the youth as an absolute enemy, Finn readied his spear.
"Just who exactly are you?"
"I have no obligation to answer that. I'm just going to bite you to death right here."
The youth casually kicked off the ground into the air. The bracelet on his left wrist flashed brilliantly, and something shot toward Finn with terrifying speed. Finn instantly threw his upper body backward, narrowly dodging the projectile.
A hedgehog!?
Looking down from his bent posture, Finn's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. Embedded in the cobblestones behind him was a purple hedgehog, completely wreathed in Cloud flames.
But the youth didn't give him a second to process it. Kicking off a second, slightly enlarged hedgehog hovering behind him mid-air, the youth accelerated instantly, closing the distance to Finn in a flash. He brought his flame-coated tonfa crashing down. Finn immediately snapped his body back upright, holding his spear horizontally to block the crushing blow.
"Wao. Good reaction."
Seeing Finn react far faster than he had anticipated, a sharp, predatory smile crept onto the youth's face.
"...Are you one of Sawada Tsunayoshi's friends?"
Animals clad in flames. The ability to coat weapons in those same flames. Recognizing the striking similarities to Tsuna's abilities, Finn deduced the youth was affiliated with him.
"Friends? Hardly. Sawada Tsunayoshi is just prey to bite to death."
Hibari Kyoya. The Cloud Guardian of the 10th Famiglia. Despite ruling over Namimori's delinquents as their undisputed king, he paradoxically held the title of Head of the Disciplinary Committee. Highly belligerent and absolutely despising crowds, he possessed zero sense of camaraderie and genuinely viewed Tsuna and the others as nothing more than prey. However, his strength was absolute; he possessed the greatest combat prowess of all the Guardians. His sheer power was so anomalous that Demon Spade—a man who had possessed countless bodies and observed the Vongola's entire history closer than anyone—declared Hibari to be a generational monster, possessing a tier of combat ability seen only a handful of times in the Famiglia's entire history.
The duty of the Cloud Guardian. To be the aloof, drifting cloud that protects the Famiglia from an independent standpoint, bound by nothing and no one. Because no one else could embody this role so perfectly, Hibari had been chosen as the Cloud Guardian. Naturally, he himself despised the title.
"...!?"
Finn's thumb twitched violently, screaming danger. The hedgehog embedded in the ground behind him suddenly began to multiply and rapidly expand in size. Finn immediately leaped backward, using the rapidly growing spikes as stepping stones to land safely atop the massive hedgehog.
Porcospino Nuvola. Hibari's Box Animal, which he had named Roll.
Roll utilized the "Propagation" characteristic of the Cloud attribute to rapidly expand its own size, a technique Hibari referred to as Sphere Needle Form.
Furthermore, Roll could use Propagation to literally multiply itself. The second hedgehog Hibari had used as a mid-air foothold was a clone created through this ability.
Fighting here is a bad idea...
Their current vantage point was atop a high building overlooking Daedalus Street, meaning escape routes were severely limited. Leaving his post would sever his ability to command the Familia, but if the fight dragged on here, the unconscious Raul would undoubtedly be caught in the crossfire. Prioritizing his subordinate's life, Finn leaped off the roof, plummeting toward the street below.
Without missing a beat, Hibari jumped after him. Multiplying Roll into a dozen clones using Cloud flames, he expanded them all into Sphere Needle Forms, using the massive spiked balls as stepping stones to casually descend to the ground.
"Roll. Cambio Forma."
As Finn landed, Hibari reverted Roll to its original size and initiated the Cambio Forma. The Vongola crest burned onto his body, transforming his clothes into a modified, long-coat school uniform and attaching bladed armor to his tonfas.
"I hate smart people. I don't hold a personal grudge against you, but you just make me want to make you grovel."
What is this bloodlust...!?
Releasing the killing intent he had been suppressing until now, the sheer, suffocating pressure caused goosebumps to erupt across Finn's entire body.
"Now then. Let's begin, Mr. Genius."
Hibari vanished, stepping into Finn's guard in the blink of an eye. Finn reflexively swept his spear, but Hibari instantly sidestepped behind him to evade the strike.
"Ngh!"
Just as Hibari prepared to launch an ambush from behind, the spear Finn had just swept reversed its momentum, the tip shooting straight toward Hibari's legs. Surprised, Hibari kicked off the ground to escape into the air.
Refusing to let him deploy Roll again, Finn instantly launched his fastest, deadliest horizontal thrust at the airborne prefect. Hibari casually kicked the spear shaft upward with his left foot, deflecting the lethal trajectory entirely.
"...!?"
Pointing the sole of his right shoe at Finn, sharp needles suddenly shot out from the heel. Fueled by the Cloud's Propagation, the needles extended endlessly, rocketing straight toward Finn. Finn threw himself backward to dodge.
A chain with a spiked weight attached shot out from the bottom of Hibari's right tonfa. Slamming his spear into the cobblestones to abruptly halt his backward momentum, Finn used the shaft of his weapon to parry the lethal chain.
Timing it perfectly with Finn's halted momentum, Hibari closed the distance instantly, bringing his left tonfa around in a devastating sweeping strike.
"Ghk!"
Panicking, Finn let go of his spear, dropping his entire body to the floor to narrowly dodge the skull-crushing blow.
As Finn dropped, Hibari immediately drove a brutal right knee toward his face. Finn raised the sole of his left boot, catching the knee strike before grabbing his spear and ripping it from the ground. Holding it horizontally, he spun the spear like a deadly propeller blade.
Hibari instantly leaned his upper body backward, cleanly dodging the meat-grinder barrage of the spinning spear. But when he snapped his body back upright, Finn was completely gone.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over him. Finn was diving from the sky, spinning vertically like a buzzsaw to deliver a devastating downward cleave.
"You're boring me."
Hibari simply raised his right tonfa horizontally above his head. The falling spear clashed violently against the metal tonfa, showering the street in sparks.
When Hibari had leaned back to dodge the spinning spear, his vision had naturally tilted upward. Predicting exactly when Hibari would snap back up, Finn had launched himself into the air, perfectly hiding himself in Hibari's blind spot during the transition.
But even this masterful tactical feint was instantly neutralized. Hibari calmly pointed the tip of his left tonfa at the airborne Pallum.
"...!?"
His thumb throbbing with a violent warning, Finn reflexively kicked off Hibari's right arm to abort the attack. A split second later, a massive, lethal spike shot out from the tip of the tonfa, piercing the space where Finn's chest had just been.
Landing gracefully, Finn kicked off the cobblestones, utilizing his maximum Agility stat to launch a blindingly fast assault. Matching him perfectly, Hibari moved with speeds bordering on the superhuman. A hyper-speed melee broke out, the street echoing endlessly with the sharp clangs of tonfa meeting spear.
He's too strong...!
Even utilizing decades of honed combat experience, his genius tactical mind, and the precognitive warnings of his thumb, Finn couldn't land a single scratch, let alone create a viable opening.
"I'm tired of looking at this. I've already seen through all your little tricks."
"Gah...!?"
Stepping cleanly onto the shaft of the incoming spear with his right foot, Hibari pinned the weapon down, completely sealing Finn's movements. In the same breath, he unleashed the chain from his right tonfa, whipping the spiked weight directly into Finn's forehead. As Finn reeled from the blow, Hibari drove a brutal left knee into his jaw, following it instantly with a devastating right high kick that launched Finn into the sky.
"Gahak!?"
After landing the two-hit combo, Hibari kicked off the ground, effortlessly catching up to the airborne Pallum. With a ruthless sweep of his left tonfa, he swatted Finn out of the air, slamming him violently into the cobblestones.
"What a letdown. Let's end this."
...If I don't use magic, I'm going to die!
Looking utterly bored, Hibari retracted the chain back into his tonfa.
In just a few short minutes, his entire combat style had been completely read and dismantled, leaving him backed into a corner. While Finn felt a cold sweat of panic, Hibari clearly had plenty of strength to spare. If this continued, it was only a matter of time before he was beaten to death. Using magic to forcibly buff his own stats was his only remaining path to victory.
I won't make the same mistake twice!
During a recent battle against the Evilus, Finn had faced a terrifyingly strong opponent, forcing him into a situation where he had to use his magic. But fearing that his subordinates would panic if they lost his tactical command, he had hesitated for a fraction of a second. That split-second of hesitation had created a fatal opening, resulting in Finn taking a critical, life-threatening wound. Without his command, his Familia's morale had plummeted, ultimately leading to casualties among his men. Swearing never to repeat that tragedy, he made the decision to use his magic instantly.
"Magic spear, pierce my forehead that offers blood."
As Finn chanted, his right thumb dyed itself a deep, blood red. He viciously jammed his thumb into his own forehead.
"Hell Finegas!"
"...!?"
Finn's emerald eyes shifted to a violent, bloodshot crimson. Discarding his spear entirely, he launched himself at Hibari with explosive, terrifying speed, throwing a devastating left straight. Hibari concentrated his Cloud flames into his right tonfa to maximize his defense, catching the punch. But the sheer, overwhelming kinetic force of the berserker strike blew Hibari violently backward through the street.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Seeing that Finn was clearly no longer in his right mind, Hibari deployed a massive cluster of Roll clones across the street to restrict Finn's movement options.
"...!?"
But Finn completely ignored the damage, literally punching the spiked hedgehogs out of the way as he charged mindlessly at Hibari. Even Hibari was forced to widen his eyes at the sheer absurdity of the tactic, but he calmly extended the lethal spike from his right tonfa.
"...!?"
Finn didn't dodge. He bit down on the metal spike, shattering it with his bare teeth. As Hibari's eyes widened again, Finn grabbed the broken shaft of the spike. Spinning his body violently, he used the centrifugal force to physically hurl Hibari high into the air.
"Ngh!"
Teleporting instantly to the space above the thrown prefect, Finn launched a crushing right straight. Hibari managed to block it with his right tonfa, but the sheer force piledrived him straight into the cobblestones.
But Finn's assault wasn't over. Raising his right leg straight up to the heavens, he brought a devastating heel drop down on the prone Hibari.
Rolling cleanly to the side, Hibari completely evaded the crushing blow. Finn's heel slammed into the street, instantly cratering the earth.
"...!?"
Suddenly, a pair of metallic handcuffs clamped shut around Finn's ankles. Finn immediately reached down, attempting to rip the metal apart with his bare hands.
"Too slow."
Instantly, the handcuffs multiplied exponentially, covering Finn's entire body in an inescapable cage of metal before he could even register what was happening.
These Handcuffs were originally the weapon of choice of the First Generation Vongola Cloud Guardian, Alaudi. He had been the head of a certain country's secret intelligence agency and the founder of the Vongola's external advisory organization, CEDEF, created by Primo to decentralize the Boss's absolute authority. Alaudi preferred to remain alone, completely refusing to fall in line with the rest of the Famiglia. Yet, it was said that whenever his and Primo's sense of justice aligned, he would slaughter more enemies than anyone else, and show more kindness to his allies than anyone else.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The handcuffs, now functioning as a full-body iron maiden, suddenly contracted, violently crushing Finn's body. Finn thrashed and struggled with everything he had, but perfectly restrained, he couldn't generate the leverage needed to break free. Reduced to helplessness, he could do nothing but scream in absolute agony.
Finally, unable to withstand the crushing pressure any longer, blood erupted from every pore in Finn's body. Losing consciousness, the magic's effect forcibly canceled itself, and his eyes reverted from crimson back to their natural emerald.
"That was slightly more entertaining than I anticipated."
Muttering his final review of the battle, Hibari released the handcuffs and calmly walked away. Left alone in the ruined street, Finn lay completely unconscious, unable to offer a reply or even twitch a single finger.
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