"Mutsu-kun..." Suzushii quietly mumbles as he drops his hand from his pocket, both of his hands emitting a white light.
"Suzu-san!" Rushiko raised his voice, Suzushii seeing his student's battered and bloodied state, his eyes widen as he instantly rushes to his position, but before Suzushii could even reach Rushiko. Kuroke flashes to Rushiko's spot and wraps his arm around him, raising his blade to his neck, Rushiko's face growing pale as he tries to struggle against Rushiko's grasp.
"Mutsu-kun! Let him go!" Suzushii says, trying to grab Kuroke's sleeve. He proceeds to swing his Wakizashi against him, Suzushii instantly dodges it. His feet sliding on the grass, he glares at Kuroke, his fists shaking as he continues to coat it with his aura.
"You want him? Come and get him" Kuroke coldly states, throwing Rushiko away, his body violently rolling on the ground along with blades of grass spreading all across the air, Kuroke feeling his Wakizashi swelling with his fiery aura. He gradually covers his area with a 6-meter radius of smoke. Suzushii flashes to his position, blowing the smoke out of the way with his fist, his fists both releasing gusts of wind, Kuroke dodges his attacks as he creates aura waves all around him with Suzushii destroying all of them one by one.
Suzushii flashes toward Rushiko with Kuroke in pursuit as Suzushii forcefully slams his foot on the ground, multiple projections of him circling around them, many deep holes seemingly on all sides. All of his projections drop a small drop of aura beneath the holes, however, the very moment each of them hit the very bottom-
Strong currents of wind gush upwards as each of his projections are flung towards the sky, all of them falling downwards towards Rushiko. Kuroke instantly flashes above, with his arms spread out. He dives towards the projections, his arms suddenly expanding and widening as his number of arms increases, both of them multiplying into eight.
All of his arms each grasping his blade, he slashes Suzushii's projections as some of them vanish into thin air. The other projections powered all of their aura on their fists, all of them colliding onto Kuroke, feeling the impact of the wind from all of their fists, he grits his teeth as his blades take all of the hits, he slashes the remaining projections around him. He suddenly senses a presence, it's above him!
Suzushii clenching his fist full of his surging aura dives toward Kuroke while he tries to block the overwhelming hit, the brunette soldier crushes all of his blades, the shards spreading around them, Kuroke merges them together and augments a more durable Wakizashi. He takes hold of the new Wakizashi and swiftly throws the blade upwards at Suzushii while he quickly flashes behind him and punches him with all of the strength of his arms, Suzushii grunting as his arm is fully penetrated by the rushing blade, he is sent falling downwards towards Rushiko. The gushes of wind disappearing, he lands on the ash-filled ground, creating a huge crater at the same time.
He quickly gets up and forcefully rips the blade out of his arm, his breathing maintaining his condition and stopping his bleeding, he coats his aura around his body, Kuroke instantly flashing near him. He rams his blade on the ground, releasing an aura wave directly at Suzushii.
Suzushii pulls his arm back, and hits the aura wave, extinguishing it with his fist full of water. Kuroke flashes towards Suzushii, raising his blade while tightly gripping it, he cuts Suzushii's arm off with blood spilling out from his upper arm.
"Suzu-san!!!" Rushiko shouts in disbelief seeing his mentor's arm being chopped off, he slowly crawls over to Kuroke's position with his fingers digging in the soil as he desperately tries to reach him, Suzushii's forearm dropping to the burnt ground.
"Now!" a loud voice is heard, Kuroke's eyes widen as Suzushii's figure suddenly disappears along with any traces of his "sliced arm", sensing another figure in the vicinity, he quickly looks at Rushiko, the swift flash of the figure vanishing along with Rushiko in the blink of an eye.
However, the very moment he laid his eyes on Rushiko, he feels the sudden immense amount of aura crashing towards his face, as he is sent flying downwards on the ash-filled ground. His body is currently being burnt, shocked, crushed, and drowned thanks to the overwhelming amount of water entering inside his lungs, he screams in extreme agony, his multiple arms reverting back to their original state since he is unable to maintain the aura needed for them.
He looks up, seeing a figure obscured by the building fog.
"Why would you join them... after everything we've been through, after everything I've done for you! Why would join those murdering bastards!!!" Suzushii shouts at his former student.
"Why..." he asks, hanging his head low, he snaps his fingers. The overwhelming pressure of his aura being imposed on Kuroke dissipates, he gets on top of him. Holding both of his shoulders and slamming it towards the ground, Kuroke coughs up bloodied water while struggling to speak, he tries to maintain his body's stability, breathing constantly to recover his lost aura.
"L- Like you're any different! I told you to stop, I begged you to!" Kuroke replied as he struggled against Suzushii's control over him, his aura slowly building around his body.
"Yet... you did it anyway, you fucking killed them all!" he shouts, pulling his arms out and reaching to hit Suzushii's face. Suzushii forcefully grabs both of his wrists and slams them downwards. He lets out his aura on Rushiko, nullifying it from spreading any further. Suzushii looks away, his face tensing up.
"I had to... if I didn't, they would've lived to kill even more! I wanted to protect you both from them... I don't want to lose anyone anymore!" he says, then looking back at Rushiko. His eyes watering, his tears dropping downwards, he clenches his fist while gritting his teeth.
"I couldn't bear to see them live, after everything they've done, after everything they've taken from me. I can't take losing any of you! I just can't!" he sobs, he lets go of Kuroke's wrists and grabs hold of his face, rubbing his hand on his cheek.
"Please... don't make me kill you..." Suzushii pleads, he gets off of Kuroke, still lying there. Kuroke looks up to the grey empty sky of this familiar city, all of the life that he's seen in this city. Gone and erased from ever existing.
" Senpai... "-
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A vast blue sky is covered with many clear clouds glistening, though some of the clouds are thick in their shade of gray, small droplets of rain cover the city. Many noises can be heard; of multiple birds chirping, of people talking, the sound of their footsteps gradually getting louder and louder. The sound of engines revving and the sound of vehicles moving. Multiple leaves are flowing and scattering all over the city, but between the clouds in the sky, not a single ray of sunlight peers through.
A door is heard creaking, a young man steps out, he stretches his arm forward with his hand grasping at the light pouring rain, he breathes in the atmosphere and sighs out. Stepping down the staircase, he feels the ground beneath him shaking violently. The huge buildings and skyscrapers around him being shaken to their very core, small cracks form beneath the pavement.
His breathing getting more frantic and his body sweating all over, he turns around and sees the same old street leading to the paths of the places he's always known. His footsteps splashing on the wet asphalt, he moves away from all of the people in his way.
He overhears their voices as the amount of the crowd around him gradually gets bigger and denser. He struggles to push through all of them, their voices getting louder and more panicked.
"It's all gone! like all of it never existed!"
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"Where do we go now?! that's where we lived! where they lived!"
"What do we do!!!"
His heart pounding harder inside of him, he runs faster, pushing through the intense amount of people. The rain suddenly starts pouring faster and harder, overwhelming everyone, but just then. A loud ringing noise is heard, a robotic and monotone voice speaks.
"This message is being disseminated by the Japanese Government and the ICA, multiple Grade S or higher threats have been detected in this area, all residents should evacuate this area immediately." the announcement is seemingly put on loop.
He looks up to the sky and sees multiple helicopters and aircraft entering and leaving the city, but as he blinked. Multiple flashes of light illuminate the whole city, and just then. All of the aircraft explode before their very eyes, the crowd of people around him screaming and scrambling all over.
He forcefully jumps towards the walls of the buildings, his body glowing a white light, he flashes on the walls, running sideways on the shattering glass of the skyscrapers, his body progressively gets faster and faster and faster and faster and-
He jumps and propels himself downwards, his eyes not believing the sight before him, both of them widen seeing half of the city gone, all of it! is gone!
He lands below the ground, making a huge crater. Kneeling before the death and destruction before his very eyes, he crashes his fist on the ground, the hole he made filling up with water, his very position filling up to the brim.
"Mom... Dad..." he mutters, as his whole body shakes and twitches.
He raises his head and sees three indiscernible figures in the sky and a very familiar face. The person's hands glowing an intense but extremely refined darkish blue aura, this person suddenly looks straight at him. His eyes filled with desperation, the young man glares at him.
He grabs hold of his head and bashes it on the cold floor of the earth, he uncontrollably sobs, his tears mixing in with the rainwater, he whimpers and tightens his grip on his head. He loudly shouts from the top of his lungs.
" WHYYYYYYY!!! "
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"Senpai..." Kuroke silently mutters while his arm twitches, a black aura slowly spreading from the tip of his finger to all across his arm. Suzushii looks back at him as Kuroke stares deep into his eyes, his cold gaze never-ending.
" I'll never forgive you "
Kuroke suddenly raises his top half and his arm coated with a black fiery aura, physically burning him. He doesn't fidget, he launches a huge mass of aura towards Suzushii, and without a moment's notice.
Suzushii raises both his arms crossed over, his whole frame being shaken by the pure amount of all that dense aura against his fingertips. He is slowly being pushed by it, his feet sliding on the ashes of the ground.
His hands steadily charged a concentrated, glowing blue aura. He grits his teeth and bends his fingers. Then suddenly, a huge force of water surges through his fingertips, its pressure breaking through the dark aura. The water currents turn into long icy rods, breaking into smaller shards as it pummels Kuroke's body, each of them breaking apart into tinier pieces. But Kuroke's body vanishes into thick smoke.
Suzushii's eyes drift all over the place, trying to find Kuroke's next position, the smoke getting even thicker by the second. He holds his breath and bends downwards; he suddenly stretches both of his arms and releases a vast gust of wind. The great amount of wind dissipates the smoke in the area. But then under his feet, a blade flashes to meet him. He swings his head backward along with his body, dodging the blade by only a hair's breadth; the Wakizashi grazes his cheek and only narrowly avoids cutting his eye open.
A figure flashes in front of him. He grasps his wound, leaving a gap with his fingers. A clear white smoke is seen coming out of his wound, the bleeding stops as he exhales.
He lifts his fists up, the familiar glow of his aura expands but he minimizes the waste of his excess aura, focusing on the edges of his hands, the extremely refined light coating his clenched fists.
"Kuroke... don't make me do this..." Suzushii begs him as Kuroke's frame is filled with murky trails of smoke, his fiery dark aura mixing in with the white fumes, his skin turning red as the grass beneath him is burned almost instantly, only leaving the dirt covered in ashes.
"Senpai..." he mumbles, the black smog around him intensifies.
"Why don't you just kill me already?! The same way you killed all of them!" he raises his burning fist, turning black from all of the anger he harbors.
"The same way you killed mom and dad..." he lowers his hand downwards.
"It's over! Senpai... I'm already dead..." he says, lowering his head. His eyes watched the ash-filled ground.
"Just..." he sighs.
"Take care of Rushiko... don't lose him this time... like you did with me..." he lightly pleads, his face hidden from Suzushii's eyes, the smoke around him clearing if only for just a moment.
"It's really over... now, it's gone". He coldly states, his figure slowly deforming into smoke.
Suzushii quickly lands his hands on the ground, all of the aura on his hands swelling and forming a huge mass of water, a tsunami!
He forcibly exerts his aura all around the bottom of his feet and jumps a great height falling towards the tsunami, the aura on his feet making him hover above the tsunami. He creates multiple projections of himself, all of them powering up their fists.
The stream of smoke moves upwards, a figure is seen forming from within the haze. Kuroke arms expand once more, each of them molding and holding black orbs, he shouts as he hurls them towards the giant tidal wave.
" Black Void ! ! ! "
The orbs start sucking up the space of the massive wave, all of the projections lash out at Kuroke, who sends more of the orbs against them. The projections all vanish one by one, as Suzushii keeps making more of them, all of them overwhelming Kuroke. Hitting him with all of their strength, Suzushii and them scream out.
" Cluster Surge ! ! ! "
A huge blast of blue light fills the empty city, and in the fallout. An eyeball drops from beneath the sky.
Then suddenly, Suzushii is stabbed in the chest by multiple hands coming out of the orbs that were still in place on the giant wave. Suzushii coughs up blood, he grasps the blades. And on each end of all of them, ice is formed as it turns into mere water.
Clear smoke is leaking out of his multiple wounds, he takes a deep breath and disperses all of the water as he falls to the ground along with the orbs. He stretches his arms, covering both him and the orbs with a titanic and vast stone wall. All of the spheres bend and form the stature of Kuroke.
A large amount of blood drops from the hole that used to be Kuroke's right eye. He exerts a huge amount of dark aura, amplifying it further beyond his limits, his cries ringing in Suzushii's ears. Suzushii then clasps both of his hands together, as multiple points of aura form from halfway across the circular wall around them.
" Elemental Surge ! ! ! "
Numerous spikes of ice are sent dashing towards Kuroke's position, he forms a katana and slices all of them up with his black burning aura causing the little pieces to melt. But the water underneath his feet form into sharp stone spikes, penetrating both of his feet. He screams in pure agony as he is held in place by the large spikes.
Suzushii simply waves his hand as both of Kuroke's arms are chopped off by the high pressured water points on the walls. He joins both of his hands, moving the walls closer and closer toward Kuroke, his eyes giving him a look of fear, of regret.
He halts the movement of the walls on his left and right sides, his hands forming a sideways V pose, with both of his index fingers' gap on each other's side. He gives one final glimpse of Kuroke, his limbless and eyeless body hanging on his mind, he mutters his final words to his former student, someone... he considered as a son.
" I'm so sorry... for everything... "
" Surged... Domain... "
Multiple flashes of blue light cover Suzushii's and Kuroke's eyes. Their eyes bid farewell to each other, as all of Suzushii's aura collides with Kuroke's helpless body, he releases both of his hands and clenches his raised fist, releasing all of that energy within that enclosed space.
All of that pent-up aura implodes on itself, crushing and bursting Kuroke's body into a bloodied pulp, his bloody remains (atleast what is left of him) are sprayed on the ash-filled grass and on Suzushii's face and body.
He drops to the ground, kneeling as Kuroke did in front of him on that fateful day.
The same words ringing in his ear, the same moment flashing before his eyes again, of what he said.
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"Remember this, Kakomi" the undiscernible figure said, the other two behind him didn't say a word.
"If any of you didn't leave, if you didn't leave"
"We wouldn't make you suffer like this"
"None of this would've ever happened!"
"Kakomi..."
" An eye for an eye "
"We're not done with you yet..." the figure said as Suzushii looked towards a kneeling and sobbing Kuroke.
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Suzushii quietly sobs covered in blood, he covers his mouth, shaking and breaking down.
Over what he's done...
Among Kuroke's remains, the only part of his that was left intact was his... other eyeball...
A black orb silently rolls beside him as a white light covers the entirety of the hollow city of...
Fukushima...
- To Be Continued -
Ending Song: https://youtu.be/CXbncoiKLn8 / Free in the Knowledge - The Smile