The glowing tower of molten steel beams stood like a glowing, smoking monolith in the neighborhood. The smoke veiled the interior so that not even Amatsuki or Rinji could see inside of it.

"I wonder...could she have survived that?" Amatsuki asked.

" I doubt it." Rinji answered.

Inside, when Lucrezia was certain she was about to meet her end, she found a peace sign necklace dangling over her face. Osamu had shielded her from any harm, arriving just a tad bit late.

Osamu smiled, his skin covered in dirt and sweat. "Sorry it took me so long to get back here."

"Osamu...you are so stupid! Idiotic! Shortsighted! Clinically retarded!" Lucrezia spouted.

"Hey! I save you and you try to hurt my feelings?"

"You're not supposed to die here, idiot! Be more careful! How am I supposed to explain it to your wives if you die under my watch?"

Osamu helped Lucrezia up and held her hand. "Just tell them I was following my heart until the very end."

The anger drained from Lucrezia's expression as she snickered to herself, impressed yet again by Osamu's reckless altruism. All of his past regrets turned him into a hero with no superpower, no cape, and no army of loyal fans. He truly was just a regular man hellbent on being there for those he loved.

"As you can see, the fight wasn't going too well, but I held out, just like I said I would." Lucrezia said. "Those two are strong. They know a lot of kuji-in techniques, too. Rinji seems to possess lightning powers, while Amatsuki mainly possesses fire powers and arsenal summoning. It seems they learned everything from Satori, who learned it all from Bishamon."

"Was that part of your plan too?" Osamu asked.

"Of course not. Satori must've wanted to ensure that Amatsuki would have ways of defending herself once her inheritance made her a target. It was a wise choice, but a double-edged sword in the end. It only makes our job harder. If I weren't trying to take her alive, I'd just use my Katsura feather and end this."

"We're definitely not taking her alive with Rinji at her side."

Lucrezia nodded. "Right. We'll have to take him out first and then extract Amatsuki. You ready?"

"Yeah. Let's do it."

Amatsuki and Rinji waited with growing impatience when they heard footsteps emerging from the smoldering building. They were surprised to find both Osamu and Lucrezia coming out together, both of them relatively unharmed. Amatsuki's hand balled into a fist until her fingernails drew blood from her palm. Her anger permeated in the air and steamed from her mouth and nose.

"You knew all along you'd be fighting the both of us..." Amatsuki growled.

"Unfortunately, I'm not sorry for intervening." Osamu said. "Hold it against me, if you want. Now then..."

Osamu took Bishamon's sword off of his back, it's golden blade shining in the moonlight. “I was given one of these by Satori, shortly before his death. He entrusted this blade to me so that I could find Mizuhame's gourd. Amatsuki, Satori will not come back if you seek vengeance. He wouldn't even be happy. Right now, Satori is resting in a world far away from this one. His pain is already over. Nothing you're doing now will help him."

"...And what do you know of my brother's pain? What do you know about his happiness? You people murder him, you steal his legacy from me, and you dare lecture me about his feelings? You exorcists...all you do is eat away at my life!"

Without warning, Rinji tackled Osamu faster than anyone could see. They both slammed into the construction site with a loud boom, sending chunks of concrete raining down upon the street.

"Osamu!" Lucrezia shrieked.

Amatsuki caught Shinju off guard and delivered a swift, vertical kick to her chin. "Your fight is here!"

While those two clashed once more, Osamu staggered up out of the dirt from Rinji's tackle. Before he could get up, Rinji kicked him into one of the steel rods, which had already cooled from the earlier blast. Though his back was in great pain, Osamu stood up and held his sword.

"Hey...come on...surely you know this won't change anything either, right?" Osamu reasoned.

"All you exorcists do is destroy lives." Rinji said. "Inari's life, Tsukiakari's, and now Satori's and Amatsuki's."

(Speaking of which...he managed to replicate Tsukiakari's lightning dragon pretty well. I know you had to defend your sister, Satori, but did you have to teach her Tsukiakari's most powerful move?)

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"Hehe...no getting through to you, huh?" Osamu asked.

"You know you lack the strength to win here in a physical fight, so you wished to use your words instead. Stop wasting your breath."

"Very well then."

Osamu surprised Rinji when he actually made a run for it, climbing up the stairs of the building.

(Close quarter combat with him is guaranteed death. If I can just lure him...)

"Osamu!" Rinji shouted.

Lightning shot up from the ground floor and up the middle of the spiral stairwell. Streams of lightning struck the wall, just barely missing Osamu as he frantically continued his ascent. Some of the plywood used as temporary material for the stairs caught fire as he ascended, and the lightning kept getting more intense.

The stream began to form the head of a dragon as Osamu's foot went right through the flaming plywood stairs, pinning him in his position. Osamu deflected the lightning dragon's advances with his sword, the blade stealing some of the energy.

(Wait, that's it!)

Osamu finally freed his foot and bravely leaped right at the lightning dragon with his sword, ready to pierce it. The sword absorbed the dragon in its entirety, sapping Rinji's power. Osamu landed on the other side of the stairwell, rolling to absorb the impact of his fall.

"No way..." Rinji mumbled, his teeth chattering.

"Hah! How do you like that?" Osamu mocked.

The plywood stairs gave way, sending Osamu crashing several stories down to the concrete ground floor. He landed with a hard thud, cracking his ribs and injuring his arm. His sword landed right between him and Rinji. They both glanced at the blade and then at each other before rushing to grab it. Osamu rolled towards his sword and pointed it at Rinji before he could rush and attack him. The lightning that was absorbed shot right back at Rinji, resulting in an explosion that blew apart the construction site and sent lightning flying up into the clouds.

Amatsuki and Shinju heard the thunderclap from the street.

"There's no way Osamu could've possibly survived that." Amatsuki snickered.

"You underestimate the guy." Lucrezia said. "He made it out of the underworld even when he was cursed and had shikome swarming all over him. I don't know how, but I'm sure he's alive!"

Amatsuki charged Lucrezia with her knife, the blade imbued with Bishamon's flames. A slash from her blade sent out skin-bubbling gusts of hot air, hitting Lucrezia in her arm. Amatsuki ran and grabbed Lucrezia by her bubbling arm and stabbed her in her side, and another time in her stomach. The blade was so hot and the stabs so quick, Lucrezia hardly felt them at first. When the pain settled in, Lucrezia let out a throat-ripping scream of agony. Lucrezia was brought down to the ground with Amatsuki sitting on top of her.

"Oh my! Would you look at that? Looks like you're going to bleed to death! Tell me, did Satori bleed as much as you are now? Tell me, was his face dignified? Or was it frozen in a state of horror?!"

Lucrezia pushed Amatsuki's hand onto her own stomach, using her abilities to her advantage. The heat from Amatsuki’s cauterized Lucrezia's wound shut. With the other hand, Lucrezia knocked Amatsuki into the air with her concussive blast. The blast threw Amatsuki in the air and sent her flying back down towards the concrete, face first. Lucrezia tried to stand, but her stab wounds brought her to her knees. Every movement she made only opened them up more.

"Damn it! I can't move!" Lucrezia cried.

Amatsuki quickly got up and fired off a small wave of flames towards Lucrezia, which she desperately blocked with walls of water. The water evaporated almost instantly with every hit, producing a small pocket of steam on the street At the same time, Lucrezia was trying to crawl backwards, away from Amatsuki. Amatsuki's left eye was left temporarily blinded and bleeding from the earlier concussive blast, hindering her sight.

"Coward! Stand up and fight!" Amatsuki raged.

At the construction site, Osamu fell onto his bottom after blasting Rinji away. A piece of steel shrapnel had gotten into his arm. His clothes and face were all dirtied from the blast, caked in dust and powdered concrete.

Osamu looked to his side and saw Rinji bleeding from his chest and mouth, completely unresponsive. Horror took over Osamu, as he realized he may have just killed a man. He tried to shake Rinji to see if he was still alive. He checked the pulse in his wrist, and the heartbeat in his chest. All signs indicated the man had died.

"Hey! Rinji!"

(Have I just killed a man?! I know, I know. He was trying to kill me, but still. This isn't what I wanted.)

Osamu looked at his hands and realized they were covered in Rinji's blood.

(Was there really no other way? Did it really have to end up like this?)

In the end, Osamu calmed his heart. Out of respect, he closed Rinji's eyes and put his hands together.

"I'm sorry. You didn't give me much of a choice. I'm very sorry."

Osamu staggered onto his feet and pulled the shrapnel out from his bleeding arm. He looked around for his sword and saw it on the ground, shattered and caked in mud.

(There goes my weapon. I need to check on Lucrezia now.)

Osamu ran out into the street and spotted Lucrezia barely able to defend herself against Amatsuki's relentless attacks. All of a sudden, flashlights blared from Osamu's right side. He turned and spotted dozens of men in black suits, all of them running away from something. They screamed and fired their guns blindly, as if they had all lost their minds.

"What the hell are those things?! Shoot them down!" one of them shrieked.

Two fireballs flew right past Osamu and struck two of the men in their chests, incapacitating them. Seeing the flames, Osamu realized who had taken them out. Sure enough, Kagutsuchi leapt towards Osamu while a small team of six shinigami circled the night sky like ravens, occasionally swooping in and knocking out more of the yakuza.

"Osamu! Are you all right?" Kagutsuchi cried.

"Kagu? How did you find us?" Osamu asked.

"Long story, but your wives warned me that you and Gekko suddenly left! The shinigami and I just stopped a bunch of guys from closing in on you!"

"Closing in? Are they Amatsuki's men?"

"I don't know. It didn't sound like it. I think they were trying to kill all of you, Amatsuki included."

(Holy shit, Lucrezia and Satori were right, then. Her inheritance is making Amatsuki a target even within her own organization. Good thinking sending some shinigami here, Izanami.)

An explosion suddenly rocked the neighborhood, coming from the direction where Amatsuki and Lucrezia were fighting. Among the chaos, Osamu heard the shouts and hollers of more yakuza in the distance. They were going to take advantage of the battle and kill both the girls. Osamu took off, rushing in without any semblance of a plan to try and save them both.

"Osamu!" Kagutsuchi shouted.

"The guys in suits, Kagu! Handle them!"

He hurried with all his might, jumping off of the ledge and landing in front of Lucrezia as Amatsuki summoned Bishamon's Spear.

"Osamu!" Lucrezia cried.

Osamu had nothing to defend himself with. He only had his body to shield Lucrezia