“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard someone called me by that name.”
Griselda smiled at Tony.
“Other than Shancai, you’re probably the only one that knows that the one who possesses that name is still alive.”
“I guess I should consider it a honor.”
Tony drew two guns from his hoisters.
“The two of us took down Salvatore together, yet you stand in front of me as enemy.”
A wild grin appeared on his face.
“Isn’t life hilarious?”
Griselda stretched her hand to the side and a cluster of black feathers appeared out of nowhere and formed a ringed staff in her hand. The staff was made of black wood with a golden ornament at the top with six rings and a point tip like a spear.
“The Shakujo staff huh? It’s really the favorite weapon of your race, I see.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve used it, so I might be a bit rusty.”
Griselda held the staff beside her and took a fighting stance.
“Liar.”
Tony charged at her with both guns in hand, she smiled and leaped towards him.
“Let’s go see Salvatore, Haruka!”
“Go see him yourself!”
Tony fired his guns at Griselda who was above him, she twisted her body and avoided and then thrust the tip of her staff Tony’s head. Tony lifted the gun in his left hand and used it parry her staff while taking a step closer with his other gun aiming at her.
*Bam!*
Griselda kicked his wrist and caused him to fire into the air. Tony smiled and kicked her in the midsection forcing her back. He then chased after her and fired several shots at her. Griselda brought her staff in front of her and spun it as fast as she could. The shots were deflected and she once again thrust her staff at Tony’s head.
“Woah!”
Tony ducked under the attack but the staff was just a diversion. The real attack came the moment he ducked.
*Bam!*
Griselda hit him with a knee strike to the face which caused him to fall on his back. With his face redden, he looked up to see the staff once again aiming for his head. He rolled out of the way and the staff created a hole in the ground where his head was.
Tony sprung to his feet and fired guns at her again. Griselda didn’t avoid them, she ran into the bullets’ path and blocked the bullets again. She quickly closed the distance between she and Tony and swung the staff at his neck. Tony leaped back to avoid the attack. When his feet touch the floor, the tie around his neck fell to the floor. It was cut while he was avoiding Griselda’s last attack.
“Whew~. Rusty huh?”
He said after seeing the tie on the ground.
“Yes, I am. Otherwise it would’ve been your head and not your tie on the ground.”
“Hahahaha! You’ve grown cocky over the years. Did receiving the blessings of Shancai’s master boost your confidence?”
Tony took off his jacket and let it fall to the ground. He was now only in his black dress shirt and pants.
“Fighting you with these is a waste of time.”
He threw his guns away.
“What’s this? The Godfather of Arms is going to fight without a weapon?”
Griselda was amused.
“I’m called that because of my arms dealing businesses across the continent, not because of my fighting style. Besides, I haven’t used my real guns yet.”
He stretched his hands out and two guns with grenade launchers on them appeared in his hands. It was a pair of Colt AR-15s with M203 grenade launchers on them.
Griselda gulped on reflex when she saw the weapons. In response, Tony smiled and said-
“Say hello to my little friends!”
“Shit!”
*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*
Tony immediately made the power of his weapons known. He fired the guns with a mad laugh. These guns were materialized by Tony’s Anima so their firepower outclassed normal guns an hundred times over. Each shot made the earth shake.
“Dammit!”
Griselda didn’t think of trying to block these shots with her staff despite it being made from Anima as well. She immediately started running and tried her best to avoid the attacks. The bullets from Tony’s gun were like missiles. They tore apart anything they touch without exception. Concrete were like frail dried up leaves in front of them.
Griselda leaped into the air and a pair crow wings appeared on her back. She used these wings to fly up into the air.
“As expected of a Tengu, you’re quick to take to the air.”
Tony said with laugh. He didn’t fire at Griselda who was in the air instead he looked at her with amusement. Griselda clicked her tongue in irritation.
“That bastard, he’s looking down on me. He’s really like Salvatore in that regard.”
A golden light appeared at her index finger’s tip. She used that finger to draw something that looked like a letter in front of her.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Om!”
*BAM!*
“Guh?!”
Tony suddenly found himself on his back with his body laying in a “ཨོཾ” shaped crater. It felt like his body was being pressed down by an invisible force.
*Crack!*
He could hear his bones cracking under the pressure.
“This is the lotus arts of the Pure Land….”
Tony smiled.
“I guess you earned more than just Shancai’s master’s blessing! You even learn some of her teachings. But….!”
Wild Anima started pouring out of Tony’s body like crazy. His muscles bulged as he slow got to his feet.
“But that’s not enough to stop me!”
He roared and lifted his guns in the air.
*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*
He fired dozens of blasts from the grenade launcher on his guns. The blast lit up the sky and scorched the air with massive explosions which caused the surroundings to tremble.
“Hm?”
Tony looked up and saw another strange symbol in the area.
“Reflection!”
Griselda swung her arm to the side and the sky lit up once again as a maelstrom of flames descended from the sky causing Tony’s eyes open wide with shock.
*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*
The flames crashed onto the earth and caused mass destruction on the ground. The rubbles in the area were blown away, the ground was burn black and filled with large craters and smoke covered the area.
“How did you like the taste of your attack multiplied by 2?”
Griselda said.
“Roar!”
The area started to shaking again as a loud roar resounded from within the smoke. A powerful gust blew away the smoke revealing Tony standing in the same spot with only a few burns on his clothes.
“…..You monster.”
“You have to become a monster to live under one for a decade, Haruka.”
Tony said with a laugh.
“Hm?”
He looked to the west.
“Looks like our little skirmish attracted the others. Well, I’m finally warmed up so I guess it’s perfect time.”
*BAM!*
A golden light fell from the sky and landed right beside Tony. The one who emerged from that light was Lucas Emilio.
“Lucas, how you’ve bee-”
*BAM!*
Before he could finish Tony was punched in the face by Lucas and was sent flying through a few buildings over 200m away.
“I’m not here to talk or make jokes, Tony.”
Lucas started cracking his fingers.
“I’m here to kill my best friend.”
The rubble which collapsed was lifted up and move to the side. Tony appeared and started dusting off his clothes.
“A punch right in the middle of me greeting you. Talk about lacking manners.”
“Then what would you call this?”
*BAM!*
A giant piece of concrete was suddenly dropped on top of him. It crack into two and Tony stood there with his fist in the air. He looked up and saw Pearl standing on some rubble not too far away from him.
“Yo, Pearl. Haven’t seen you in forever. How’s business?”
“It bombed.”
“Hahahaha! That’s a pretty good joke. Did getting blown up give you a sense of humor?”
Pearl suddenly appeared in front of him swing her fist, Lucas appeared at his side doing the same.
“Om!”
Two letters appeared in front of the two and caught them by surprise.
*BAM!*
They were hit with a repulsive force which made them feel like they were hit by a truck. They were forced to back off from Tony. They looked up at Griselda who was hovering in the sky.
“Hey, I saved your lives just now so what’s with the glares?”
Griselda said with a frown.
“Haruka, you did something unnecessary.”
Two giant machine gun appeared behind Tony.
“I was just gonna put a few holes in their bodies. No one never dies from that.”
He said with a laugh.
“Besides, aren’t they your enemies too? Why save them?”
Tony looked at Pearl and Lucas and saw that they were bleeding from their mouths after Griselda “saved” them.
(She was able to wound them….Cunning as ever I see.)
“Who are you?”
Pearl spit the blood that was gathering in her mouth and asked.
“No one important. I just want you Three and Cesare dead, that’s all.”
Griselda spread her arms open and countless Shakujo staffs appeared behind her.
“For the good of this city, You three must die!”
She pointed downwards and the staffs descended towards the earth like black rain. The Three Dons could feel danger from each and every one of those staffs. Tony lifted his guns and used the machine guns behind him to tear the staffs coming his way to pieces. Pearl used her wires to cut them into pieces while Lucas threw countless fast jabs into the air and destroyed them.
Griselda didn’t look discourage at all and made a seal with her hand.
“Bloom!”
The broken pieces of the staffs started glowing. Seeing this, Tony immediately started to run.
*BOOM!*
Suddenly the staff pieces exploded and caused a massive explosion which devoured everything for almost a mile. Griselda hovered in the sky and looked at the ground which was now covered by a sea of flames.
“They all escaped. As expected of those three.”
She immediately flew higher into the air as if she wanted to disappear.
“I’m outnumbered so it’s time to retreat.”
She suddenly turned into a black streak and traveled across the sky. Tony was hidden and watching her retreat.
“I guess it’s time to take my leave here as well. Taking those two on can wait until I kill Cesare…..Speaking of which, I’m surprised he didn’t join in.”
Tony smirked.
“He didn’t kick the bucket did he?”
At the same time, somewhere in the city.
“Cough! Cough!”
Someone was laying on the ground covered in wounds and was bleeding heavily. They coughed a little before starting to crawl. Since they were bleeding, they left a trail of blood as they moved forward.
“What’s this? I never knew you were a snail, Cesare.”
Someone walked towards the crawling Cesare with a smile on his face.
“You must be snail or at least a slug since you’re leaving such an obvious trail when you move.”
Cesare turned around and looked at the person mocking him.
“Benny…”
Benito looked down on Cesare and smiled.
“But this is the first I’ve seen you like this Cesare. Looks like I was right to accept help from those guys.”
“Who was that masked woman?”
“If you’re talking about the one wearing the skull mask, she’s called Anput. Now that I think about it, I never mentioned it to you did I?”
Benito stooped down beside Cesare.
“You see I came in contact with a very mysterious group a couple years back. One of them appeared in my office one night and we immediately got along. Well, it’s mostly because I couldn’t hope to defeat him so I did my best to please him. Anyway, he really liked me so he offered me his services free of cost.”
Cesare turned his head and looked behind Benito. There he saw something that shouldn’t exist in this world, yet it stood right before his eyes.
“Oh, this? Amazing isn’t? I never thought that I would be able to have such a thing under my control. It really makes you think doesn’t? Just what is death really?”
Benito started laughing.
“But I have to thank you, Cesare. You made me realize that I really wasn’t cut out to be a politician.”
A cold smile appeared on his face.
“A dictator is more fitting.”
“Hahahaha!”
Cesare suddenly started laughing.
“You really are something, Benny. You’re really the scum of the earth.”
He showed a big grin.
“You’re gonna make me like that thing aren’t you?”
Cesare asked.
“It’s fine, do it! As long as I get to destroy those brats I don’t care what happens to this life of mine. However, Benny. Don’t you dare waste my life. If you’ve come this far, you better see it out to the end!”
*Bam!*
A huge hole appeared in Cesare’s chest and blood gushed out of his mouth. His eyes became dull but his mouth still curved upwards. He died with a smile on his face.
“I was intending to do just that.”
Benito whispered.
“Wow! You really did it, you really killed your friend!”
The woman with a skull mask and was dressed in suit, Anput appeared out of nowhere near Cesare’s body.
“Can you use it?”
Anput nodded.
“It’s fresh so I can use it. But I gotta say, your greed is on a different level for you to kill your friend.”
“Does your organization not approve of people like me?”
“No, we love working with your kind. It’s always fun to see your rise.”
“And my downfall?”
“Of course. That’s fun too.”
Benito smiled.
“I won’t fall no matter what.”
“That’s hubris, Benito Mussolini.”
Anput immediately answered.
“For everything that rises must fall back to the ground.”
“Then I’ll become the exception. I won’t fall no matter what. Even if I have to borrow the power of devils I won’t fall.”
“I’m sorry to break it to you, but you’re already borrowing the power of devils.”
Anput stooped down and started examining the body.
“After all only devils can do the things we do.”
Anput started playing with the hole in Cesare’s chest.
“Speaking of devils….”
She looked towards the north.
“Looks like the Devil King is back in business. I really wanted Lucian to kill him too. I guess it was too much to ask.”
The sound of her smiling could be heard from beyond the mask.