"This..is not... going to... end ....well... for me.."

Shoki breathed out inbetween dodging the dark robed figures wild attacks.

Shoki was starting to get tired out. His breath was heavy and his body was starting to sweat as it overheated.

The dark robed figure on the other hand, showed absolutely no signs of fatigue, or even slowing down, always maintaining the same ridiculous speed it had from the beginning, not giving Shoki a single opportunity for any attack, or even a chance to catch his breath.

"Out of the way, Knife boy!"

One of the several men who were running at Shoki screamed, holding his Baseball bat high like some sort of banner.

The men that were running at him were wearing shabby suits that looked well-worn. Two of the men were holding Baseball bats, while the rest had golden brass knuckles on each hand, and all of them were yelling some kind of war cry as they slowly ran forward.

"We will get him down, one on the head and one in the legs, then the rest finish him off!"

One of the men who held a baseball bat yelled, with the rest yelling out an affirmativly.

The two men with bats ran up to the dark robed figure ahead of the rest, and simultaneously swung at it, one of them aiming for the figures head, the other at it's legs.

"You're done, robed freak!"

Instead of cracking bones however, what followed next was the sound of splintering wood, echoing in the mens ears, one of the baseball bats cracking, while the other broke in half, splinters flying across their vision.

The men froze in their tracks at a loss for words, staring wide eyed at the figure that hadn't even flinched upon recieving two heavy blows that would even make a bear cry out in pain.

The figure stopped its attacks on Shoki, slowly moving its head to the side, as if it had just noticed something.

Shoki, finally heaving a break from dodging its attacks, jumped forward, ignoring the heavy weight of fatigue pushing his body down, he swung his knife at the figure, putting all of his strength into that single attack, knowing that it might be the only attack he would get the chance make.

Instead of the familiar feeling of penetrating skin and muscle, what he instead recieved was the feeling of hitting a hard object. His knife scraping across the figure's chest, creating small sparks from the friction.

"Dammit, body armor!?"

Shoki cursed at his poor luck, wishing he had chosen a better area to place his strike. As it was, the fatigue from having to be on edge for so long was finally getting to him , both physically and mentally, which made him attack without thinking, which was uncommon for him.

The figure didn't even bother looking back at Shoki, instead choosing to keep still, as if thinking about it's next course of action.

--

"Begone, AKUMA!"

Zatoichi yelled out towards the figure clad in wings of flames, resheathing his sword and fastening it at his belt.

"Begging for your life will do you nothing, for you are already as good as dead!"

Skuld yelled, his wings of fire crackling loudly, the flames rising whenever he spoke, as if resonating with his voice.

He held back his giant wings, as if ready to take off flying, and flapped them, causing wind to rush forward at Zatoichi who stod infront of him, Niko having already led Hannah away behind a corner so they wouldn't get in the way.

"I not begging, i simply warning..."

Zatoichi held up his sheathed sword slightly, and rushed forward, he face sweating more the closer he got to the flames.

Skuld put his hands together infront of him, the wings folding together to form one large flaming wing, and pulled the wing to his side, the wing on its side, as if he was preparing to strike with a sword.

As he was running, Zatoichi unsheathed his sword, drawing an arc over his head with it, the sun reflecting in its mirror-like surface, causing Skuld to close his eyes for a moment at the unexpected light.

When he opened his eyes again, Zatoichi was gone. Skulds eyes went slightly wide as he quickly looked around for his opponent.

That one moment was all Zatoichi needed, as once Skuld had finally gotten sight of his opponent, he had already managed to get to his right side. Which now didn't have the protection of one of the wings and was thus wide open.

Skuld didn't have time to react, Zatoichi already having made his attack, his sword already on it's path towards him, all Skuld could do was watch the shining metal as it slashed through the robes that were his pride, and into his body.

"NOT UNTIL I HAVE HAD MY REVENGE DAMNIT!"

Skuld yelled out as he moved one of the matchsticks that he held inbetween his fingers.

Skuld knew that messing around with a powerful technique was not something you did without several other people assisting. It was especially not something you would try in the middle of a battle. He had no choice however, as he had to choose between being slashed to death or the possibility of being blown to pieces.

He much prefered the latter, since it was more spectacular.

As he spun one of the matchsticks, the flames at his side became obviously unstable, flickering wildly from weak to skin metling hot. The matchstick he had spun had already lost most of the flames it was spewing, so he resorted to borrowing some power from the other matchsticks, causing their flames to go beyond what was considered unstable, and now entered the zone of 'run away immediately'.

The flames that he borrowed form the matchsticks were then all poured into that single matchstick all at once, causing the matchstick which was now pointing to the side of his hand, to spew out a large pillar of fire, which would have resulted in a large explosion if he had let down his concentration for a single millisecond.

All of this happened in the span it took for a skilled swordsman to swing his sword.

As Zatoichis sword was already almost touching at his robes, seemingly moving in slow motion, Zatoichi suddenly looked behind Skuld, at his flickering flames, his instincts told him that something was wrong, but his mind was telling him that it would be foolish not to finish an attack, what could possibly happen in the few milliseconds it would take to finish a swing.

Zatoichi trusted his insticts that had saved him countless times in the past, and thus chose to ignore the sound advice of his mind. Pulling his sword back as he jumped backwards.

Not a microsecond too soon and a giant pair of wings had suddenly appeared at the spot Zatoichi was just at, a strange pillar of flames appearing for a moment where the wings were at just less than a moment ago.

Skuld breathed heavily as he observed the wide eyed swordsman. Creating enough propulsion with a controlled almost explosive force was not something he had learned from the priests he studied with or from any book he had read before. It was something created out of panic and desperation, and the fact that it actually even worked, amazed even Skuld himself.

Not willing to waste another moment and give the swordsman a chance, Skuld jumped forward, swinging his combined wings like how one would swing a broadsword, the flames making heavy 'Fwoosh' Noises with every swing.

Zatoichi slowly backed off, avoiding each attack. He was wary of the demon he was facing, he thought he could finish this off with his signature move, blind his opponent and get a clean strike, but it seems that he had underestimated his opponent.

Zatoichi chose to focus on defence and observe his opponent for now, to see if the attack he just saw was something the demon could use at any time, and if it was, then it would probably be best for him to start thinking of an escape plan.

--

The robed figure stood still, unable to decide who it should go after next.

"He's bluffing, he probably can barely stand now, get him!"

One of the suited tattooed men screamed, running and giving the robed figure a hard punch to the face with his brass knuckles.

The sound of metal breaking and bones cracking filled everyones ears, the mans brass knuckles breaking into pieces with the mans hand following after, all of the bones in his fingers breaking into bits, the robed figure still unfazed as before.

The man who had launched the attack flew backwards, hitting several of the other men, which did not decelerate his flight, causing the men in his way to be flown back alongside him and into a faraway wall, the sound of splattering and crushed bones audible even from this distance.

"Fuck this, this isn't worth-!"

One of the men exclaimed in horror, turning around away from the robed figure. Before he could take a single step however, his words were cut short, an explosion of gore splattering to all sides from where he head used to be.

Standing behind the man, with their hands in a clapping position, was the robed figure.

The figure slowly turned its head, looking at the rest of the men, it bent its head to the side, as if trying to decide something.

"S-spare us!"

The men begged, falling to their knees.

The figure started to step forward, but stopped once it finally noticed something.

The figures robes were quickly getting cut up, causing bits of cloth to fall down, piece by piece.

The figure looked back, observing Shoki who was restlessly cutting away at it, trying to inflict any kind of damage.

"Go, you are only in the way."

Shoki said to the remaining men, who stumbled up to their feet and ran away whilst letting out small sounds of terror.

Giving the figure one final slash across its neck, Shoki jumped back, now ready to be on the defencive as the figures full attention was on him now.

The figures robes fluttered in the wind slightly, causing what remained of the robes to fall down, revealing the figure beneath them.

What stood infront of Shoki was a figure that had no eyes, no mouth, or anything else that you would find on a normal human face, what instead looked upon him was a blank almost smooth surface, seemingly made from some sort of rough rock.

The rest of its body was very much the same. Made up from the same rock material, and without any special features to describe it other than a slightly glowing green symbol on its chest, that looked like a sort of cross inside of a circle.

"That explains it...a golem..."

Shoki muttered in realisation.

"So annoying...that means i can't kill it..."

Shoki sighed, the golem rushing towards him, not giving him a moment to finish his thought.

--

"Stop...dodging...you...BASTARD!"

Zatoichi jumped as Skuld swung the pair of wings horizontally, the wings flying by underneath him.

"I have had enough of you running about!"

Skuld yelled and jumped back, detaching the wings from each other so they were once again two separate wings.

"Let's see how you run without being able to breathe..."

Skuld bit his lip in concentration, the fires of his wings growing hotter and hotter, threatening to scorch anyone who was close to it, other than their creator.

Skuld began flapping the wings as hot air, heated by the wings, started to flow through the small street that was now devoid of people, who had ran away at the first sight of danger.

Zatoichi started to cough, breathing quickly becoming difficult due to how hot the air around him was becoming. It was so hot that he thought he could smell his own hair burning.

Zatoichi tore off a a piece of his sleeve, wrapping the cloth around the lower part of his face, in order to avoid having to breathe in the hot air directly, which helped slightly. He knew that he was running out of time before the entire street became unbearably hot, which didn't mean that it would just be the end for him, but also for the Kid with the knife that was also still fighting nearby.

"I told you that this is the end for you, if you don't die from burned lungs then you will die from being burnt to a crisp, and if you hoped that you could outlast me then think again, i am completely immune to any heat that i directly create!"

Zatoichi tried to advance towards the winged demon, but taking even a few steps caused his eyebrows to burn off, any closer would mean certain death, but staying like this would mean death either way.

For the first time in his life, Zatoichi felt stuck, he couldn't attack, and he couldn't possibly flee, he could never let such a demon live, it was against his warriors pride.

Suddenly, something flew in from the side, exploding in a small ball of fire upon hitting Skuld in the back, causing his robes to get slightly burned.

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"What the!?!"

Skuld and Zatoichi looked around, confused at the sudden appearance of a possible new opponent.

Standing at the entrance to the restaurant was Niko, holding above her head a bottle of some sort.

"Uuu.. good bye...dear friend..."

Niko cried as she looked at the bottle.

"Just throw it, Niko!"

Hannah yelled at her as she appeared from inside the restaurant carrying a box filled with similiar looking bottles.

"I will avenge you, my friend, go,ULTIMATE SAKE ATTACK!"

Niko throw the bottle as she screamed dramatically, the bottle spinning through the air, getting closer and closer to Skuld, who simply cut the bottle in half with one of his wings, causing the insides of the bottle to spill out and immediately get set on fire, some of the flames getting a bit too close, causing Skulds hair to smoke slightly.

"What is the meaning of this!?!"

Skuld exclaimed, staring at Niko with a furious gaze.

"You know the thing you said about fire created directly by you not hurting you, i figured fire created from another source would hurt you, and it worked, i'm a genius!"

Niko laughed as she picked up another bottle.

"And now that i know that it works...hmm..something dramatic sounding...aha, LET'S FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE!"

Niko exclaimed after a few seconds of thought, pointing a bottle at Skuld.

"...How stupid..."

Skuld sighed, not bothering to say anything else.

"Go, my children, ATTACK!"

Niko yelled as she started throwing bottle after bottle at Skuld, who simply kept cutting them in half with his wings before they had a chance to reach him.

"Samurai man, take this!"

Niko yelled out inbetween throws, throwing a slightly different bottle at Zatoichi, who swifly caught it.

"What this..water...i not thirsty..OH!"

He quickly realised what Niko wanted him to do and quickly poured the contents of the bottle all over himself so that he was fully drenched.

Skuld, who was busy observing the bottles that were getting turned into small balls of fire above him, paid no attention to Zatoichi, thinking that he couldn't do anything even if he wanted to, due to the heat of his wings.

"Foolish girl, this accomplishes nothing, just accept your fate and DIE!"

He screamed, making a large swipe with his wings that took out several bottles at once, causing their meager flames to disappear into his massive wings.

"I already accomplished what i wanted, stupid!"

Niko taunted him as she pointed behind him.

"...What?"

Glancing back, Skuld noticed a figure of white jumping towards him.

'No it's not a white figure...it's..steam!?!"

He thought as he realised that Zatoichi was gone from where he stood, instead appearing right next to him clad in steam.

'I see, he poured water over himself so he could get himself close to me for a moment...clever...but not clever enough!'

Instead of swinging his wings like before, now that his wings had reached a high enough level of heat, he could just concentrate a small amount of the flames to one side without any danger.

Causing one wing to decrease in size while the other suddenly grew twice as large, causing the heat emitted from it to increase further.

"Damn it!"

Zatoichi coughed out as he was about to swing, the heat causing his skin to start melting as his consciousness started to fade midswing.

"You did well samurai man"

He could hear Niko say, which made him confused, as the whole plan of Niko distracting the demon so he could get a chance to attack failed.

As he was about to close his eyes that he felt would evaporate at any moment, a sudden explosion of fire engulfed Skulds head, setting his hair and clothes on fire.

"Clean strike, alright, i knew trying to become an axe throwing champion would pay off someday!"

Niko laughed and did a victory pose where she held out her hand in a peace sign.

--

"Damn it..this is not good..guess i won't have to revive you after all huh...since we will meet soon anyway.."

Shoki muttered to himself as he barely had any strength in his legs left, jumping and running to avoid the golems attacks that were always beyond peak human speed finally making their way through his stamina.

His legs wobbled slightly, and he fell backwards, too tired to even move, he lay there, observing the golem that was running towards him with both its fists in the air, and closed his eyes.

"AAAAH HELP ME YOU DAMN GOLEM, HELP DAMMIIIIT!"

He opened his eyes upon hearing that strange scream and saw the golem freeze in its tracks.

The golem gave Shoki a last glance before starting to run off in the direction of the restaurant.

Shoki slowly stood up, his legs making weird creaking noises in protest and slowly hobbled after the golem, knowing that he couldn't just leave it alone while he sat and rested.

--

Niko laughed at Skulds pain filled screams, as he ran around, his wings now gone, with his head and most of his robes on fire, occasionally falling to the ground to roll around in a futile attempt to extinguish the flames.

"Not so cocky now are you, bonefire head!"

Niko kept taunting him as he screamed.

Zatoichi slowly made his way to Niko, his body full of burns and clothes heavily charred.

"A feint withing a feint...very clever for your age"

He praised Niko, trying not to cough.

"I'm older than i look you know~"

Niko winked at him, still smiling at the sound of the screams filling the street.

"Shall i finish the Akuma?"

He asked, giving his Sword a testing swing.

"No, let him suffer a bit more, then we can put out the flames and ask him some questions~"

Niko smiled sadistically as she observed the scene.

"I see, smart for such young ojou-chan, information is king in battle"

He nodded thoughtfully.

Suddenly they could see someone or something running towards them.

Niko recognised it as a golem as it was something that looked slightly similiar to the one she had met before, except this one was smaller and much faster than the previous one, so fast infact that after a moment from noticing it in the distance, it had already managed to make its way towards Skuld.

"HELP ME DAMNIT!"

Skuld screamed at it, causing it to look at him quizzically.

"EXTIGNUISH THE FLAMES!"

He yelled again, the golem turning its head to look at some of the random things burning all around them.

"THE FLAMES DANCING UPON MY BODY DAMNIT!"

The golem finally seemed to understand as it started to try to extinguish the flames by patting them, but seeing as that didn't work, it stood up and seemed to think for a while, its master squirming on the ground beneath it.

Finally the golem seemed to decide on something, lifting its fist into the air and swinging it down much faster than any human could see.

It's punch causing a huge crack in the ground, which it grabbed a hold of, pulling the concrete layer up and throwing it off to the side, revealing pipes and wires that went underneath the road, quickly punching them, the wires and the pipes broke, causing water to spill out of the pipes, and small arcs of electricity to appear from the wires.

The golem grabbed the still burning Skuld and threw him at the pipe.

"Wait, no, you idiot, that wire still has current going through it!"

He tried to stop it, but it was already too late as he was flying through the air, landing in the puddle of water near the pipe, finally extinguishing the fire, but not a moment sooner and he started to squirm around for a different reason, the current flowing through the water, whilst weak due to going through the water, was still strong enough to cause a fair deal of pain.

"Aw, aw, G-golem, we are l-leaving, carry me off!"

He said to it, trying to get control of his spasming muscles.

The golem jumped down, picking him up into a princess carry, and started running forward away from Niko and Zatoichi.

"This was not the end, you were lucky this time!"

He weakly yelled at them as he was being carried off.

"No, take the roads, TAKE THE ROADS!"

Skuld yelled as the golem ran straight through a wall whilst still carrying Skuld, disappearing from sight.

"That was....certainly...unique..?"

Niko said at a loss for better words.

"Shall we try to catch?"

Zatoichi said as he prepared to sprint forward.

"No, no, you are almost dead so leave it, besides i think we taught him a lesson he won't soon forget"

Niko smiled.

"Oh there you are, Shoki, how did it go?"

Niko asked as she noticed Shoki who was hobbling towards them.

"...Could have gone better..."

"I see, well i have good news, not only did we beat that bonefire head again, but we now have a new member~!"

She cheered loudly.

"Samurai man-"

"Zatoichi"

He corrected her.

"SAMURAI man, has passed the test, so he is now a member of our team!"

She said as if it was obvious.

"What test..?"

Shoki asked, a confused look on his face.

"Oh you know, Shoki, jeez did you forget, the test that you go through to join our great group, obviously!"

She laughed with a stiff smile.

"Right..?"

"By the way, what is name of this great group i am joining, they must have legendary name if something like this is only test!"

Zatoichi asked, still trying not to cough in order not to show any weakness.

"Oh..name..uh..right...people call us...the league of.... shadows?...no wait that's something else, just a joke..haha.. our actual name is....the parade.. thats right, The parade of shadows!"

She finally exclaimed after quietly muttering to herself for a bit.

"Oh Parade of shadows, must be amazing clan indeed, how many members it has?"

Zatoichi asked, a proud look in his eyes.

"Oh..you know...thousands...THOUSANDS, the great Niko would never settle for any less of course!"

She laughed loudly to cover up for the fact that she feared she might be sliced in half if Zatoichi found out that there was no actual clan to join.

"We might want to leave now, police probably here soon, unless great clan has contacts in police so it is no problem?"

He asked.

"Oh, of course we do... but we wouldn't want to bother them too much...right..so let's leave now!"

--

"Ha...Skuld is as clumsy as ever...this is why you shouldn't send juniors to take care of business...."

A quiet feminine voice came from a shadowed corner of a nearby rooftop, two golden eyes observing Shoki and Niko, slowly moving their attention to Zatoichi.

"This should be a nice way to kill some time..."

The voice giggled lightly as it closed its eyes, its presence disappearing completely.