Standing outside of the hotel, none of the three youngsters dared to take the first step into the building, so the one who had to do it was the brown haired samurai. At this hour, the streets of Pandemonium should be bustling with life but there was almost no one outside. A natural consequence of the tragic events that had been plaguing the city, hopefully they would all come to a stop today. With a swift motion the man would open the glass door that led to the hotel, taking the first step inside. Looking around as he entered the lobby, soon followed by the other three, his eyes met with the receptionists for a split moment and he gave her a slight nod. Not sure about how to interpret this, she would simply nod back as she allowed the group of four into the hotel without asking any questions. As their shoes tapped against the soft carpet of the building they would soon arrive at the elevator, heading inside Kigura would press the button numbered ‘12’ taking them to the very top of the hotel. After a while, a ‘pling’ could be heard as the metal doors slid open revealing a corridor with a single door at its far end. It was obviously the penthouse suite of the hotel, the place where Junsei was staying.
The door was made out of dark wood and clearly luxurious from a single glance, approaching it with hasty steps, the group would stop before it. Giving wary glances between themselves, the brown haired man would eventually produce a sword from seemingly nowhere, not much unlike what Mifuyu and Shirou had been capable of. In the blink of an eye the door had been reduced to firewood, dozens of pieces of wood hit the marble floor in unison as the man sheathed his sword. Oda had been unable to see the man draw the blade, assuming he must have moved at such speed that following it with the naked eye was impossible. He could feel a cold sweat run down his forehead, would he truly be able to keep up with monsters like this? Yet, backing out now was not an option because right in front of him were their adversaries.
Before them a grand suit stretched out, glass panels made up both the walls and ceilings of the penthouse suite while luxurious furnishing, made out of the same material as the door they just destroyed, could be seen around the room. At the far end of the penthouse, on its glass balcony, a man with golden blonde hair and white clothing could be seen. Turning around, the three heroes had a vague feeling of having seen the man somewhere before but could not conjure the exact memory that they knew him from. Not far from the man stood two knights, people clad in armor covering their entire bodies made from silver and obsidian respectively, Oda immediately recognized one of the two to be Mifuyu’s killer. “It appears like we have entered the lion's den.” Evelina’s nervous voice could be heard saying.
Not being anxious about the situation in the slightest, or if he was anxious he at least did not show it, Kigura took a step forwards and officially entered the penthouse suite. His three followers would quickly do the same and before long both the four of them and the two armored individuals were standing face to face, the man presumed to be Junsei still standing in the background without showing any signs of wanting to join the upcoming battle. Within the penthouse suite, one would have a perfect view of the town stretching out in every direction and beyond its border, the silent countryside and forests that surrounded it. To the west, one could even see the river that was flowing through the town expanding to the point where even large vessels could dock. The first one to speak up as the six were standing, no one wanting to make the first offensive move, was Shirou.
“So, it seems like Mifuyu’s sacrifice was a waste. Tell me, even after he gave his life away to spare yours, why do you throw it away so quickly?” Looking the armored man straight in the eyes, or rather, the slits in his armor where his eyes would have been if he had any, Oda responded. "If I don’t fight today I will surely die sooner or later anyways.” A moment of silence ensued as the silver armored knight thought about what to say, the hole in his chest still there as evidence of his inhuman nature. “Indeed, we fight to end the world so opposing us would be a natural choice for the purpose of self preservation. But, looking past basic urges and craving and instead seeing the greater picture, ending it is the only logical option.”
After taking in what the silver man had just said, Oda would almost immediately respond harshly to what he had just heard. “You are insane.” That spelled the end of their conversation as Shirou did not respond to that provocative remark. Kigura looked past the two foes right before them, firmly placing his eyes on the man still standing on top of the glass balcony of the penthouse. Realizing that no one was going to say anything else, he drew his sword. “Let’s get this over with then.”
With a swift motion the brown haired samurai would eliminate the distance between himself and the silver knight, being promptly blocked by his bastard sword as he attempted to cut him down. “You know Kigura, I am thankful for all you have taught me both in philosophy and swordsmanship.” With a powerful push the samurai was pushed backwards, not showing the slightest hint of losing balance as he slid across the wooden floor. “But if you go against Junsei, then there can be no other outcome than this.” With a strong step forwards Shirou gathered momentum in his sword as it flew through the air before crashing down onto the man he had just shoved, although Kigura managed to block the swing it was only barely, for as the two swords bounced against each other one could practically see the physical stress being put on his forearm.
Looking to help her comrade, Alice would summon a spear of shadows from the ground and launch it towards the silver knight. But before it could reach its target it had been cut apart in half by the black knight at speeds which far surpassed human perception. What was impressive about this feat was the fact that the spear of shadows had not been cut by a bladed weapon, but rather, the black knight's own spear of darkness. It seemed like it was made out of obsidian and Alice estimated it to be around three meters long. An nervous expression appeared on Alice’s face as she realized that the team would have to fight two foes at the same time. The black knight's attempt to shield its ally was quickly turned worthless as Oda managed to land a clean punch in his face, taking advantage of the fact that Shirou was looking towards Alice who had just attacked him.
Stumbling backwards after hitting the strike, Oda’s arm was jet black with a few veins of gold through it, signaling that the force the punch must have carried had been far beyond what any human was capable of achieving. Despite that, the armored combatant quickly recovered from the attack. With a heavy grunt he launched an overhead strike towards Oda, but was interrupted by a sword slashing the side of his helmet. Kigura, using the opportunity to get an attack of his own in, left a small scratch on the otherwise unharmed armor.
Meanwhile, it seemed like the knight of black would focus on fighting Alice and Evelina as they were battling on the other side of the room. Standing close to each other in case of an attack the girls would look at each other, they had been theorizing about what to do in case they encountered an foe like this and as a result came up with a few combination techniques to use in these situations. “Alice, technique number four!” Evelina would shout as she rushed forwards, initiating an attack against the black opponent. As she moved forwards, in the corner of her eyes she could see black shadows rise up on both her sides, forcing the opponent to attack her head on if they wanted to make a move against the pink haired girl. Looking at the opponent before it for a split moment, the black knight would use its spear to simply sweep through the wall of shadows with overwhelming force and send Evelina flying with the same power.
As the young woman crashed out of the penthouse through one of its many glass windows, the knight would follow soon after, jumping out after her as she flew through the air. Even while she was dozens of meters above ground, Evelina still possessed the mental aptitude to think straight and defend herself from the knight's incoming attack. As the two quickly fell down towards the street below, her opponent would try and stab Evelina multiple times with their spear, each attempt was narrowly avoided by the dexterous girl. When Evelina hit the ground she bounced several meters and landed on her feet about ten meters away from the place where she had originally touched down. Looking around she could see that the street was thankfully empty, meaning that she could go all out against the opponent before her. Looking up towards the hotel that she had just fallen from, she could see Alice looking out the window, clearly worried. Flashing the girl a quick smile as to say ‘everything will be alright’ Evelina knew she would have to fight alone for some time before the black haired girl could get down here and assist her.
Sound of metal hitting metal could be heard through the penthouse suite, Kigura and Shirou were locked in an intense battle, with Oda swooping in to land the occasional rear punch before quickly moving away every now and then. Although he hated to admit it, without being able to access the full power of his manifestation a single attack could spell the end for him. Therefore he had to resort to being little more than an annoyance while Kigura carried the brunt of the workload in this battle. Another clash ensued, neither of the men wanting to be the one to first move away as their blades were locked against each other in a clash of might.
With every second that passed, it became apparent to Kigura that the armored man was his superior in terms of pure physical strength. Although it seemed like he was gonna get pushed back, a well placed punch in the back of the knight's head caused him to lose focus momentarily, allowing the samurai to push his blade back and hit a well aimed swing at the armor's right shoulder, leaving a huge scratch. “You little!” Shouting as he turned around to face Oda, Shirou quickly realized the mistake that had been as he narrowly deflected an upwards slash from Kigura. Had he been a tenth of a second slower, he would have suffered another direct hit. Looking towards the blonde haired man, Oda had already managed to move almost ten meters away since he threw that annoying punch. Noticing that the annoying foe had created quite some distance between himself and the two warriors, Shirou would immediately capitalize the opportunity by going on a full assault towards his brown haired opponent. Swinging down his bastard sword from above with the intention to cleave the man in half.
Barely dodging the swing, Kigura would respond by plunging his sword towards the small hole in Shirou’s chest that Mifuyu had originally created. Although he managed to hit his mark, Kigura’s blade did not carry enough force to noticeably increase the size of the hole. At the same time, being reminded of that slipup seemed to irritate the armored knight as a sloppy swing was aimed towards the warrior. Kigura dodged it easily, however, a second attack soon followed which forced him back. Before Shirou could capitalize on this momentum a strike hit him in the back of the head again, Oda proving to be quite useful even when he's only able to use a fraction of his manifestations true power.
Not letting it get to him, he would take a step forward as he raised his sword, determined to continue forwards at any cost. With a powerful clash of weapons, a shockwave of sound was created that shattered every glass window in the suite, Kigura holding his weapon with both hands and even then he was only barely able to stand under the supreme pressure that the armored man was putting on him. The wooden floor he stood on had been splintered long ago and he was slowly but surely being pressed down into the concrete beneath it. Oda aimed a powerful punch straight onto the armor's back portion, but from the reaction it seemed like Shirou was dead set on ignoring him and eliminating Kigura first, the iron armor moving only slightly after being attacked from behind. With the samurai sword being pressed downwards slowly but surely with each passing moment, it seemed like Oda’s ally had little time left in this world.
Gracefully avoiding all of their opponents attacks, whoever was inside the jet black armor must have practiced for several years to be able to perform such graceful dodges. Even as Evelina tried to split them apart time and time again, all that happened was that the air parted as the target had already moved away in the slight timeframe that her manifestation required to activate. If only she could get closer then that would be one thing, but given that her foe had a three meter long spear Evelina was not particularly keen on closing the twelve meter long gap between the two of them. But just throwing out attacks left and right from afar was clearly not getting her anywhere, however, that was fine with Evelina since she was just buying time for Alice to get here.
While the Alice of old would probably have run away at the first possible opportunity Evelina hoped, no, knew that she had changed and it was just a matter of time before she would get here. While they were about equally matched in terms of ranged attacks, Alice could easily outdo Evelina in terms of accuracy. At the same time, Evelina was much more physically capable than her and as such she did not blame Alice for not wanting to take the risk of jumping down after her. While she knew that every attack she launched was tiring her, the armored opponent seemed to be fine with only dodging the incoming attacks for the moment, perhaps their plan was for Evelina to tire herself out before they attacked. It mattered little, for she needed to wait for Alice to turn this hopeless one versus one situation into a fair battle.
Letting her stream of attacks down for a moment to take a breather, the black knight quickly caught onto this and rushed towards their opponent, spear in hand. Seeing this, Evelina would jump backwards as she split the air in front of her, dissuading the enemy from pursuing her as its movements came to a steep stop right before the space where the air was split in half an instant later. Realizing that the opponent would raise the pressure the instant she stopped attacking, the pink-haired woman threw out another few moves for the purpose of buying time. Taking a step backwards and wiping some sweat from her forehead, a broad smile would appear on Evelina’s face as she saw a familiar figure appear behind the armored opponent. “You took your sweet time getting here!” If it had been the Alice of a few weeks ago, her running away with her tail between her legs had been a very real possibility, but now she had changed. “I’m sorry!” She would say in a meek voice. Perhaps she still shared some traits with her old self. Regardless, the pink-haired woman raised her right hand as something that could only be described as an axe made out of cracked air appeared in it. That was the result of Evelina compressing the entire power of her manifestation into a singular spot, giving it a physical form in the process very reminiscent of reality itself breaking apart.
“Technique number eight!” Shouting that Evelina would rush straight at the armored enemy, raising her axe. This technique consisted of two attacks, first one from Evelina and then one from Alice. The first attack was not meant to hit but rather force the opponent to dodge, lest they be torn to shred by Evelina’s power, that was when Alice would strike them from behind with a spear of shadows. Even if they dodged, unless they were focusing on her alone, Alice possessed enough mastery over her manifestation to curve its trajectory while in the air, meaning hitting the enemy was a very real possibility. But, to both of the women's surprise the armored opponent neither dodged or parried Evelinas' attack. Instead it was blocked completely as the combatant effortlessly grabbed her axe in one hand. The thunderous sound that was produced when all the force behind her attack was annihilated in an instant echoed through the area. In the next instant Alice unleashed her attack towards the knight of darkness, without diverting its attention from Evelina the knight would drop its spear. Before the spear could hit the ground the clearly superhuman opponent had already swatted away with their now free hand Alice’s attack like it was a fly. The lance of shadows was sent flying into a nearby building, causing an explosion that completely annihilated the upper half of it. Grabbing onto its spear again, the knight would increase the pressure on the axe it was holding, and in the next instant it was shattered.
Jumping away from the monstrous opponent, Evelina would have a nervous expression on her face. Truth be told she did not have the slightest idea about how they would be able to take down someone like that, someone who could probably annihilate them in an instant if they went all out. She was just happy that their opponent seemed more concerned about keeping them away from Junsei rather than actually hurting them. The shockwaves from Alice’s deflected attack had ran out through the area, destroying dozens of windows and deafening any normal human unfortunate enough to be within a hundred meters of the impact. It reached far and wide through the city and even beyond its borders, to the docks where a certain American was waiting for his boat.
Looking back towards the city of Pandemonium, Johan would have a somber expression on his face. Although no one else here knew the cause of those two loud explosions that had been heard in short succession, Johan was certain that he knew the culprits. The superhumans who plagued the city, leaving trails of corpses wherever they walked and fought. Inhuman beings who should not belong to this world. He thought about what to do, the older man could clearly see the fear on the faces of the people around him, old women, families, kids. Everyone was uncertain about what was to come, except for Johan, that stuff Oda had been rambling about some time ago did not seem like the ramblings of a mad man or a kid in over his head anymore. Given the circumstances, it was even fair to call what he has said the most likely explanation.
Standing still in the mass of squirming bodies, the bald man thought about what to do. He could stay here and pray whatever chaos was plaguing the city would not be able to reach him. But if he did that, what kind of person would he be? He had braved death in Vietnam more than once and with little left to live for, even if he died here, in this city, Jonathan's life would have been one worth living. With a heavy sigh the man would twirl his beard and begin to make his way through the crowd back towards the city. He had no plan, no hopes of survival if he got mixed up with those monstrous people, but he knew that he would not be able to live if he wimped out now. Especially after what they had done to Mifuyu.
As he headed towards the city, countless civilians would pass by Jonathan on their way away from the danger that had suddenly appeared near the city's center. Occasionally, a lone policeman would try and maintain order in the chaos that was now plaguing the city but their words were steadily drowned out by explosion after explosion. It was almost like someone was exploding a case of fireworks in the city. But obviously, the reaction from the general populace proved that was not the case. Suddenly a loud crash could be heard, turning his head towards the sound, the man would see that a car had crashed into a nearby brick wall. Despite the damage on both the car and the wall, the driver seemed to be mostly unhurt as an older Japanese man who looked to be around fifty years old exited the car. He quickly began continuing the journey on foot, not bothering to grab anything from his car. Shaking his head slightly as a general statement about how easily panicked people were these days, the bald man would continue forwards, towards the heart of the city.
As he walked, the sound of the explosions would get louder and louder. With every step, the bald man would get closer to the heart of the storm, he could feel both his pace and heart rate increasing. Suddenly, Jonathan would stop. The reason for this was that the building he was just about to pass seemed very familiar, it took him a few moments to place it, it was Pandemonium's police headquarters. Looking inside it seemed abandoned, like the people had left in a hurry. That was understandable, given the circumstances. Suddenly an idea manifested in Jonathan's mind, in Japan the public were banned from owning guns but the police were not.
Heading into the building, he would look around, if he was to fight those beasts the very least he should do was to arm himself. After maybe a minute or so Jonathan came upon a steel door that had something written in Japanese on it. Although he could not decipher the text, given that it seemed to be the only steel door in the building he could have betted money on that was where the guns were stored. He tried to press down the door handle. It was locked, obviously. The man thought himself an idiot for thinking they would just leave something like that unlocked. Almost immediately giving up on the idea of getting in the armory, he was about to look through the building for anything else that could be useful when something shiny on a nearby desk caught his attention.
It was a pair of keys, Jonathan would look at them for a second before picking them up. Offcourse they wouldn’t work, that was ridiculous. No one would leave the keys to the armory just lying around, especially not that close to it. Feeling stupid for even trying something this dumb, Jonathan put the key in the metal lock and turned it. To his surprise a clicking sound could be heard as the door slid open. It seemed like he had managed to gain access to the armory that easily after all. Well inside, dozens of handguns of many different models were available for him to choose from. Grabbing two that looked good, Jonathan would turn his attention towards a shotgun hanging on a wall in the room before grabbing it and starting to look around for ammo. Not soon after, he was loaded to the teeth and ready to face whatever inhuman monsters plagued this city. Rushing out of the station, he would look towards the direction of the continuous explosion, the only nearby landmark being the now ruined hotel of the town. He set off towards the battlefield, fully prepared to fight for the last time today.
Barely avoiding the deadly swing, Kigura was clearly agitated by the fact that regardless of what he did it seemed like he was unable to deal any real damage to the opponent before him, his attack causing cosmetic scratches at best. At the same time, Shirou was clearly irritated by the fact that he kept dodging swing after swing. For both combatants it seemed like this would be a battle without end, neither being able to mortally wound the other. Even with Oda’s help, the three combatants in the penthouse were in a deadlock. The blonde would take a quick glance towards the balcony, even after the windows had been shattered Junsei had not moved. Not even gracing them with his attention, the man in the white suit looked out over Pandemonium with his back turned towards the three, the very pinnacle of arrogance.
Looking back at the silver armor he was fighting, he could see that the man had raised his sword like he was going to swing it, but instead of bringing it down he merely held it in the air. Almost instinctively, the two men the armored man was fighting could tell what was going to happen as they could sense physical pressure build up in his fist with each passing moment. This move could be considered his triumph card of sorts, as the pressure within his grip increased it would eventually reach the point where the laws of reality, space and distance, no longer mattered. The two men understood in that instant, on an instinctual level, that if they were hit by that attack nothing but shreds would remain.
Kigura, realizing the incredible power that was about to be unleashed, began to flee, and in the corner of his eyes he could see Oda do the same. Rushing out of the penthouses' broken windows he almost flew in the air over the city for several moments. The blonde man on the other hand had instead grabbed onto a window ledge and was gripping it tightly so as to not get blown away by the winds created by Shirou winding up his attack. Eventually, when Kigura was almost half a hundred meters away from the knight he would bring down his sword. There was no shockwave, no blast of energy protruding from the sword, in fact it wasn’t even aimed remotely close to where Kigura was flying through the air. It mattered little as the brown haired samurai was cleaved in half as a horizontal slash severed his chest in two. And just as suddenly as he had been cleaved in half, the wound had disappeared. One instance it was there, the next it was gone. It was all thanks to the man’s manifestation, the thing that had allowed him to survive this long. Crashing into a nearby building and through the concrete wall, he would almost immediately get up. “I don’t like using my manifestation, because whenever I do, I lose something important.” Looking back up towards the penthouse, he could see the great silver armor staring back at him from above. Despite having put his best into wounding the samurai, they were still at a standstill.
Jonathan looked up towards the object that had just crashed into the building a dozen meters above him, it had completely destroyed the outer wall of the building it hit with glass and concrete shooting in all directions at the moment of impact. He held the wooden shotgun firmly, he had made sure before he got here that it was fully loaded. Jonathan did have second thoughts about coming here, but all that he needed was a few seconds to put them away in the depths of his mind, he was a battle-hardened soldier after all. Looking up at the impact zone, he could see a Japanese man with brown hair looking towards the penthouse. Following his gaze, the bald man's eyes would eventually rest upon a man in a white armor who he assumed to be the samurai's opponent. He was not given long to take in the scene, however, as a loud explosion close by caught the war veterans' attention. As he turned his head he could immediately see a woman he recognized, Alice. The black haired girl that he had tried to save once before, although he ended up getting his ass kicked that time. The explosion he had heard must have caused the huge cloud of dust that was obscuring his vision, preventing him from seeing what was happening further down the road. Before long, the cloud of dust would settle and reveal a woman fighting against a knight in jet black armor.
Jonathan quickly noted her dyed hair that seemed to be a mix of both red and pink stripes, it fluttered from the shockwaves created by her axe when it hit the dark knight's spear, being deflected time and time again. Despite giving it her all, Evelina was unable to get through her opponents defense and since the black knight did not seem particularly keen on taking the offensive themselves, they were just like the other group of combatants; at a standstill. Alice had also noticed Jonathan's presence and instead of shooting projectiles made of shadow towards the opposing foe she rushed over towards him. “It’s not safe around here you should ge-” That was when she noticed the firearm he was carrying, not being used to the sight of guns it had taken Alice a few moments to realize what it was and with that she also realized what the man had come here to do. He must have come here in a vain attempt to save her. Alice could feel a wave of guilt wash over her, this kind stranger had not only risked his life once before for her, but would do so again out of the kindness of his heart. Despite being armed to the teeth, Jonathan was still a normal human being, there was no way in hell that he would be able to keep up with the superhuman monsters who were now fighting against each other.
Thinking about the possibility of having his death end up on her conscience Alice would almost have a tear roll down her cheek, only almost. Extending her arms in a cross shape with her palms towards him to prevent the man from going past her, she would try and stop the much taller man. But her efforts were easily circumvented as Jonathan simply took a few steps to the right and walked right past her. “That's a cute kid, but I wouldn’t be able to call myself a man if I just let someone like you die.” Although he said that, he knew that his actions were far from likely to change the trajectory of what was happening here. Despite that, the man knew that he had to act now or he would never be able to look himself in the mirror again.
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With a single motion he raised the shotgun, using only one hand, and fired a bullet towards the armored combatant, an echoing blast rang out through the area. Failing to even penetrate the black knight's armor, the shotgun pellets simply bounced away without dealing any damage. At most, it caused the knight to glance over towards his general direction for a moment before continuing to fight Evelina. “Looks like I have to get closer.” As the bullets from a gun were fired through the air, the air resistance would decrease their power as they flew. This was especially true for shotgun pellets since they were round. Given that, getting closer seemed to be the only chance Jonathan had of damaging the superhuman foe he had decided to fight.
While trading blocks and parries with the opponent, Evelina would notice the burly man hastily approaching the two. Specifically, he was moving straight towards the black knights back, having now turned their back on the armed man believing them to be no real danger. Seeing a powerful blow coming her way, Evelina was forced to jump backwards just as the veteran reached his target. “Wai-” the pink haired girl could not finish even a single word before he shoved the barrel of the shotgun straight at the back of the armored knight's helmet and pulled the trigger.
Another boom could be heard as the knight's head was suddenly forced forwards, the power of the pellets forcing their neck to bend downwards. A moment of stillness would ensue, Jonathan realizing that his attack had failed to penetrate the armor almost immediately. Despite that, the force might have been enough to give the knight a concussion or knock them out. All hope of that was snuffed out the next instant, as the black knight turned around and faced the gunman. Without even a hint of being wounded, the overwhelming opponent would use their spear like a bat, hitting Jonathan's side with it and sending him flying through the air for several moments before he hit the ground, skidding another meter or so before coming to a halt. Miraculously, despite having been hit by that amount of force the bald man got up almost instantly.
He had somehow managed to soften the impact of the hit, which was very weak to begin with compared to how hard the knight was actually capable of hitting. With that, Evelina’s theory that the jet black opponent was holding back was confirmed to be true. As he got up, Jonathan would quickly snap the shotgun towards the knight once again before firing off another volley of pellets. Bouncing off the black armor once again, it was clear that his constant harassment was getting on the black knight's nerves as they closed the distance with a single lunge. While it was clear that the knight's intention was to pierce Jonathan's shoulder with the tip of their black spear, that did not happen. As if by the hand of god, Jonathan backed up the moment he could see the black knight starting to move, slipping as he did and falling down on his butt, narrowly avoiding the tip of the spear as it moved through the air.
Looking up at the armored being now standing above him, Jonathan would react almost instinctively. Pulling up his shotgun and firing another shot at point blank range. Clearly agitated by the continuous attacks, the knight plunged the spear downwards, aiming to piece the bald man's leg as he lay there on the ground. Despite being slower than the armored foe, Jonathan was still somehow able to roll away from the spear and managed to narrowly avoid it before getting back up on his feet and jumping backwards, creating a bit of distance between them. At this range, all that was required for Jonathan to be impaled was a single movement from the black knight and while he could easily hit the opponent with his shotgun, the firearm had proven to be ineffective time and time again. Despite that, he had no thoughts on giving up as he once again hastily raised his weapon towards the armored opponent while they responded with another sweeping attack in kind.
Looking at the scene before them, Evelina and Alice were uncertain about what to do. They both knew that all that was required was one clean hit from the superior opponent and then Jonathan would be dead. But against all odds, he dodged each and every attack thrown towards his direction while continuously firing buckshots at the knight. When his shotgun was out of ammo, the veteran simply threw it to the ground before pulling out two handguns and continuing the assault all while dodging sweeps, strikes and kicks from the physically superior opponent. It was truly a sight to behold. But the two girls eyes would soon be averted from that fight as a powerful shockwave emanate through the area, looking at the direction that it had come from, they could see Kigura doing his very best to not get cleaved in half, using both his hand to block an downward slash from Shirou while Oda was beating on the armor from behind to little effect. The two knew that they had to help them or something very bad was going to happen. As absurd as it sounded, Jonathan the ordinary human was doing better in his battle than the ancient samurai Kigura and pseudo-beast Oda was in theirs.
Nodding towards Alice, Evelina would be the first to take action, running towards Shirou from behind while manifesting her axe again. As the transparent weapon swung through the air the silver knight was so focused on destroying the samurai before him that he did not even notice when he was attacked from behind. It was not until the transparent and supernatural axe had already pierced his armor and lodged itself into the knight's shoulder that he turned around to face Evelina. When he did so he would be met with an almost sadistic expression of both joy and excitement for having landed the blow and hurt her opponent respectively. Noticing the pressure being put on his sword notably decreasing, Kigura would take the opportunity to disengage as he turned the block into a parry by pushing the knight's weapon to the side and then jumping backwards. Choosing to ignore the samurai for a moment, Shirou turned around completely to unleash a series of slashes aimed at both Evelina and Oda. Despite being physically stronger than the two, the knight made the mistake of dividing his attention between two targets and therefore they managed to dodge the swings, although only barely.
Seeing that Shirou was now in a four versus one situation, Kigura would think about the prospects. He had seen the two women fight the black knight and was certain that they were more than capable of facing Shirou on their own. Throw Oda into the mix as well and it was almost starting to look unfair. That's when he decided that the time to strike had come, with swift movements he ran past the knight and towards the hotel whose penthouse he knew Junsei was in. Seeing Kigura running past him, Shirou almost immediately realized where he was heading and tried to run after him, but he did not get far before his movements were stopped by a wall of shadows. Looking around to find the source of this phenomena his eyes would eventually fall on Alice who looked straight at him with a determined expression on her face. Raising his sword as the strength of his grip began to increase once again, Shirou’s attempt at using a ranged attack was almost immediately thwarted as he was forced to dodge, the air around him being split in half the very next instant. Realizing that he would not be able to get to Kigura while the three of them still were here, the knight instead assumed a neutral position, pointing his sword towards the ground like he was no longer intending to fight. Clearly, he was giving up on trying to stop the samurai.
As he stood there with his guard lowered, something that could be likened to muttering could be heard from the knight. “What’s this? Worried that your precious leader will get hurt?” Evelina said in a mocking tone not long after he began muttering. Turning his head towards her, Shirou would say something unnerving. “It’s not Junsei that I’m worried about.” When he said that the three heroes would look towards the penthouse in unison, watching Kigura ascend it as he ran on its concrete walls, his speed far surpassing the point where gravity would be able to hold him down. Reaching the very top of the hotel, the penthouse area, he would keep moving upwards until he was almost ten meters into the sky. That was when gravity finally did its work and pulled him down to earth again. Landing on the penthouses balcony with a powerful thud, Kigura would waste no time before getting into an attacking position, from which he could lunge at the blonde man before him in an instant. Turning to face the samurai Junsei would have both his hands in the pockets of his white pants who adored golden decorations, a distant expression visible on his face, like the foe before him wasn’t even real but merely an illusion or fairy tale.
Agitated by this uncaring attitude, Kigura would immediately lunge towards the man before him as he unleashed his sword from his sheathe to perform an immensely powerful and fast attack. At this point everyone on the battlefield was focused on their confrontation, Alice, Evelina, Oda, Jonathan, Shirou and even the black knight was staring intensely at the penthouse balcony as Kigura approached Junsei as if in slow motion. Just as it seemed like the brown haired samurai's katana would connect with the blonde's neck, he pulled his right hand out of its pocket and put its palm right before Kigura’s face. The very next instance, a light so powerful it seemed like the very heavens were purging the earth appeared. The light was so immense, so intense that everyone who watched it could no longer comprehend the world around them. There was no longer any Junsei or Kigura, there were no longer any buildings on the ground or clouds in the sky, the very city of Pandemonium seemed to have been wiped out from existence by the light. The sidewalks, the streetlights, the trash cans in the damp street corner, the abandoned storefronts, the few traces of plant life within the city, the parked cars that crowded the side of the streets. Everyone and everything was reduced to a monotone white light that allowed nothing else to exist.
It was an unending sea of divine brilliance that would purify the world.
The year was 1916, at this point in time the town of Pandemonium was little more than a small village consisting of a few dozen wood houses. In this particular village, on this particular day, a child was born. As soon as he was born the boy’s unusual appearance caused distress within the village. Unlike his mother and father, the boy had blonde hair and golden eyes. He looked nothing like either of them and it became only more apparent as he grew up, his skin being unusually pale as well, regardless of how much time he spent in the sun. His father clearly suspected his mother of infidelity, but whenever he tried to confront her about the issue, she would always give the same explanation time and time again. The day before the child's birth she was visited by an angel who wore the appearance of a giant stone slab, she claimed the slab had a prophecy written on it but whenever she was asked about details on it she would always say that she couldn’t recall what was written.
Growing up, the boy did not play with the other children of the village, his unusual appearance and reputation as a bastard child was enough to completely isolate him from the other kids who wanted nothing to do with him. Sometimes after the boy turned six years old, his father came home in a drunken stupor and tried to get his mom to confess what she had done. But she stayed true to the same old story of being impregnated by an angel, as a result of the rage that had built up over the years the woman was beaten to death. Seeing his father kill his mother, the young boy ran away, he did not know where but he did know that he couldn’t stay in this village anymore. He ran as far as his legs would carry him and then he ran some more, he ran until the point where he collapsed under a large tree in the mild summer night. There he lay, thinking about what had happened until his mind gave way to the exhaustion and he passed out.
“Hey, don’t you know that you are supposed to sleep indoors?” The high pitched voice woke the blonde boy from his slumber, looking around him in search of its source he would first notice that the sun was lighting the surrounding trees with its warm summer glow. Then he would notice the small girl standing above him, from a quick estimate she seemed to be around the same age as him. Sitting up, the boy would look at her with an fascinated expression, this was the first time someone of his age had voluntarily chosen to interact with him. Not coming up with what to say next, the black haired girl would continue speaking. “What’s your name? Mine is Shi!” As she said that she would extend her hand towards the boy, offering to help him up. He would think for a moment before deciding whether to accept it or not, after all, no one had shown him kindness like this before. Eventually he made up his mind. Grabbing onto the hand of the girl in the red dress he would state his own name. “My name is Junsei, Junsei Seijin.”
“You must be an odd person, Junsei, choosing to sleep outdoors.” She would say with childish excitement. “Yeah… I guess so.” Was the quiet response the young boy would give her. “Maybe it’s because you don’t have anywhere else to sleep?” She would say, sounding quite philosophical as she did so. Junsei chose not to answer that question, but he did not need to as the girl would almost immediately offer him a solution. “If you want to, you can sleep at my house! We have plenty of empty rooms there.” To the boy who had grown up in a poor village, the prospect of just having multiple rooms empty for no real reason seemed absurd. But, with nowhere else to go he did not reject Shi’s kindness. "Alright." he would say with a soft voice, a distant expression resting on his face as he did so, the horrors of what he had seen yesterday still fresh in his mind. Suddenly, the boy could feel something grabbing onto his face. It was the young girl who was pulling his cheeks upwards into a smiling grimace. “Hey, why are you so sad after making a new friend? Am I not good enough for you?”
“Let go!” The boy would respond as he shoved the girl away. Falling down on her knees after losing balance, Shi would look back up towards Junsei with tears in her eyes. Clearly being the maturer of the two, the blonde boy would quickly try and make amends for what he had just done. “Sorry! Are you alright?” It was now he extended his hand towards the girl, offering to help her up. To his relief, she would grab onto the hand, it appeared like he hadn’t lost this friend yet. But instead of pulling herself up, she would pull back and force Junsei down on the ground with her. Not being able to react to the sudden movement, the blonde boy would fall down next to the girl who was frantically laughing. “I got you! Now we're even.” Although he wasn’t able to understand her strange logic Junsei was relieved that she still saw him as a friend, or perhaps, he was relieved that for the first time in his life he had found someone that he could play around with like this.
Shi’s mother had become barren after giving birth to the girl, yet the Ishin couple desperately wanted a son as well as a daughter. Therefore, when Shi came home to her wealthy family dragging Junsei along with her, they were open to the prospect of adopting the boy despite not knowing anything about his past. In fact, his past being faded in obscurity worked in their favor since they could claim the child was of noble birth, boosting their family's status. His unusual appearance worked as a convenient excuse, allowing them to say he belonged to a family from a distant land. The boy was clearly no ordinary child so he quickly became something of a status symbol for the family. At the same time it became clear that their daughter was developing feelings for the adopted child, and in time, her feelings would be matched by Junsei’s own. When Junsei was twenty years old, he officially proposed his love for his sister. The very same year, Japan went to war with China over land and resources. Being a man of military age, the blonde man was recruited into the Japanese army in the war.
As soon as he set foot on the battlefield, it became clear that he wasn’t any ordinary soldier. It was not long before his comrades began to joke about how the entire unit relied on him, although whether they were truly jokes or not no one knew.
After all, against someone who could seemingly move faster than the eye could see and did not need to rely on weapons to take down the enemy, there was little mere soldiers could do. However, when confronted about his supernatural skills Junsei would always give the same answer in his usual soft voice. “I am merely an ordinary soldier.” His achievements were acknowledged by the Japanese government who was even willing to invest a considerable amount of money into developing his hometown, although it was more so done as a propaganda move rather than as a genuine gesture towards Junsei. Towards the end of the war, in March of 1945, they even allowed the man a break from the frontline despite how needed he was there. During his time in the army, he had exchanged many romantic letters with his lover and during his break he looked forward to spending as much time with her as possible. The young woman was living in Tokyo with her grandparents at the moment, so that was where Junsei was headed for his vacation.
But tragedy struck the day he arrived in the city as American bombers flew overhead, laying waste to Tokyo with deadly firebombs. The war hero could see the flames from afar, and as he rushed through the city he ignored the pleading cries of the people dying in the flames around him, all to get to that one place, all to get to that one person. Shoving the doors to the old house open, Junsei could see how family members, servants and guests were doing their best to stay alive even as the fire raged on all around them. For someone like him, the flames were of little harm but he knew that his dear sister wouldn’t be able to survive them. Rushing through the numerous rooms, he kept thinking one thing over and over with each passing face that writhed in agony; “No, that isn’t her.” Until he reached the very top of the mansion where the flames were at their most fierce. Forcing open the wooden doors with superhuman might, Junsei looked within the flaming room before him and saw a lone figure huddled up in a corner. Her black hair looked like it was at risk of catching fire at any moment and her pale skin seemed to shine hellishly red in the orange glow from the surrounding hellscape.
Rushing over to his beloved, the young man would grab her and hold her tight. Despite the flames raging all around him, he did not think about letting go of the woman or getting out of there, for despite the intense heat all around them, he could without a doubt feel that the body was cold. Not in a physical sense, but a spiritual one, the woman he had loved so much was no longer in this world. But despite knowing that she was dead, he did not let go, he couldn’t.
All the years they had spent together, all the memories they had, he couldn’t let go just like that. Yet, he was forced to, for that was reality. At that moment, a sudden realization struck the man, you could call it akin to seeing one's life flash past one's eyes before dying. But instead of seeing memories from his life, the blonde man saw people. First he saw his mother and father, the woman who had given birth to him and her killer. Had either of them cared about him? No, to his dad he had always been nothing more than proof of infidelity and to his mom he had been the reason for why her marriage fell apart. What about the people of his village then? No, they did not care about him either, to them he was little more than an outcast child. What about the soldiers he had served with in the war, did they care? No, they simply saw him as their ticket to survive the war. What about his adoptive paren- No. What about- No. Wha- No. Dozens of faces flashed past his eyes as he sat there thinking about all the people that he had met during his life, yet, he could not find a single person that truly cared about him.
Suddenly, a face he knew all too well appeared before his eyes. Did she care about him? Yes, she had been the only person to ever care about him, and now she was lying dead in his arms. His eyes would glance over, the life seemingly disappearing as his expression softened. His face assumed an expression that had last been seen fourteen years ago, when he was little more than a child running away from home.
From that day onwards, it would not be wrong to say that the man known as Junsei Seijin died. As the authorities cleared out the town and couldn’t find the man anywhere, he was assumed to be dead legally speaking, and the man changed in a very fundamental way ever since that day. He realized exactly what his mistake had been, the mistake that was responsible for all the pain and grief he was now feeling was one he had made fourteen years ago when he opened up his heart to Shi Ishin. That’s why, the man made sure to close his heart and surround it by an impenetrable fortress so he would never be hurt again. After doing that, all he was left with was a burning rage against the people who had caused her death.
The man, now presumed dead, was free to wage a one man war against the army heads and generals who had been involved in the campaign against Japan. Sparing not even their families and children from death, Junsei indirectly caused one of the largest coverups in America's history as they did everything they could to stop fear from taking hold of the nation. This new serial killer who seemingly couldn’t be stopped by military facilities or security guards was a secret known only to those within the highest level of the government.
A year passed, and then another and then there was no one left for which Junsei could blame the death of his lover on. That’s when it appeared in his dreams; the stone slab, no, the angel his mother had spoken about seeing before he was born. But unlike his mothers Junsei could read what was written on the slab clearly. ‘Seven angels will descend from the sky, six of them will be torn to shreds and the seventh will bring the end of the world.’ With that the man who was without purpose had found something to live for, it was just fair after all, if he couldn’t have his happiness then no one should be able to.
That day, the very same day that he had decided to end the very world itself, the blonde man met a mysterious person. They were a knight, wearing an jet-black armor. He did not know why, but this obsidian knight was willing to follow his very order and as such Junsei named them the second angel. Just like that the end of Junsei's world had begun.
Desperately blinking in a vain attempt to regain his vision, Oda could feel a stone lift from his chest as he saw his vision dimly returning. For a moment he truly believed that he had been blinded for the rest of his life. As his vision slowly returned, the blonde man could see the full scope of the force that had just been unleashed. The hotel was completely gone, in its place there was a smoldering crater of glowing metal and melted rock. The surrounding buildings weren’t in a much better shape; most if not all had had their metal frames melted to varying degrees and some of the ones closest to the point of impact looked like they could give way and fall over at any moment. Truly, it was like the town was trying to live up to its name.
Looking around, Oda quickly noticed Alice and Evelina standing a few dozen meters away from him, helping Jonathan out of some rubble. It appears like he was the last one to come to his senses. Turning to the other direction, he could see both of the knights staring intensely at the hotel, or rather, the burning crater that had now replaced it. Quickly turning his gaze in that direction, he would take a closer look than before, as he did he would notice a person standing in the very middle of the smoldering crater, seemingly unbothered by the immense heat he must have been subject to.
Junei’s glanced over eyes would meet his for a moment, without a hint of worry or fear on his face, Oda knew that Kigura was no longer in this world. Quickly turning his vision back to the two knights, Oda realized that they were now looking at him. He knew that their attempt on Junsei's life had been a failure and as such he prepared to run away. Turning back to face the girls and Jonathan he could see that the three seemed to be doing alright. Running over and joining the group of three, Oda would turn around to see the two knights slowly making their way towards them. Obviously they wouldn’t just let the four go after attempting to assassinate their leader.
“Here they come.” Evelina would say as she manifested her axe made out of cracked air, at the same time Oda noticed how Alice was beginning to gather all the shadows in the area at her feet. Seeing the two girls getting ready to fight, the blonde man did the same as his right hand transformed into that of an black gauntlet. Suddenly, as if sensing that their opponents were ready for battle, the two knights would break out in a sprint. Responding to this Evelina would raise her hand before cleaving the air in half, aiming towards the white knight. She knew very well that her attack would be dodged, but hoped that he wouldn’t be able to anticipate the follow-up attack. For as soon as he moved out of the way of the anomaly, dozens of shadowy projectiles would emerge from the ground towards the knight. The only thing he was able to do was put up his bastard sword in an attempt to defend himself, and although the vast majority of projectiles hit their target, in terms of damage they did very little.
At the same time, Oda was rushing out towards the knight of black with only a single arm to fight with. But it appeared like he wasn’t the one the knight intended to fight as they used their spear as leverage to propel themselves through the air towards Alice, bypassing Oda completely. While in the air, like they were some sort of wicked dancer the knight would perform a complex series of moves before turning their black spear towards the girl, penetrating her shoulder with it as they hit the ground. Letting out a scream of pain, the black haired girl would desperately wriggle around as to free her shoulder from the spear, but at most what she was doing was a vain attempt at escaping, an attempt that did not amount to anything.
Pulling their spear back, it seemed like the black knight was satisfied with just injuring Alice. Turning back towards the other two superhuman fighters, it appeared like the two knights were going to try and perform a pincer attack against Oda and Evelina. "Thk! Taking out the weakest first is common practice in war.” Oda said as he looked towards Alice. Reacting to that remark, Evelina would respond. “No, they didn’t target Alice because she was the weakest, they targeted her because she was the most dangerous. Just look below your feet!”
“Wha-!” Was all that Oda could let out before he was shocked with the sight that met his eyes, he hadn’t even realized it but now when he looked closer it made sense. The ground beneath his feet was completely black as if coated in a thick layer of shadows, it was now he realized what Alice had been doing. Concentrating all shadows in the area to one spot and even being able to maintain them there while her shoulder was pierced, that girl was certainly not any ordinary person. Looking down, it seemed like the two knights were realizing what was happening as well, their attempt at thwarting her having been a failure. For in the next instant the countless shadows crawling upon the ground were released and sent flying into the air. Both Oda and Evelina could feel countless strokes of darkness brush past them towards their two targets. Against the river of moving shadows, neither the black nor the white knight stood much of a chance as they were swept away. Oda could feel a cold shiver run down his spine, in a way, Alice was even more of a monster than those things they were fighting. And then just as suddenly as it had appeared the flood had disappeared, leaving behind it two very disorganized knights.
“Alright let's get out of here.” Oda said as he moved back towards Alice, intending to offer her any assistance she might need. But as he did he could catch something in the corner of his eye, it was the silver knight running towards the group at breakneck speeds. He was moving alone, his black companion seemingly choosing to stay behind. Trying to split the air to get their opponent to slow down, all Evelina managed to accomplish was for Shirou changing his trajectory slightly as he avoided the rather slow attack. “Let’s get out of here.” While the three of them could probably have taken out the knight under optimal conditions, Alice had been wounded and Evelina was exhausted from the previous battle. At the same time, Jonathan and Oda were little more than annoying distractions to the knight, the only way that would change was if the latter somehow managed to gain access to his full power. Clashing her supernatural axe with the knight's sword, Evelina was forced backwards by her opponent's physical might. Jumping back further, she took the opportunity to regroup with the three others who already were running away from the unwinnable situation.
Despite his physical might it seemed the knight wasn’t slow when it came to movement speed as he slowly but surely gained on the four as they escaped. Seeing the white knight gain on them as they moved through the desolate town, Evelina quickly turned around to try and split him in half once again. But as she did, she could suddenly feel a great force hit her temple as she was knocked away from the group. Crashing into a nearby building, ruining the concrete wall in the process, Evelina would catch a glimpse of the person who had attacked her. It was a girl with tanned skin and white hair wearing a gray hoodie, a monstrous person she knew all too well. “Who would have known I’d run into you here of all places.” Looking straight at Evelina, she completely ignored the three people around her. Although it looked like the three had Maru-Maru surrounded, only someone who didn’t have the slightest idea about what the monstrous girl was capable of truly believed that gave them an advantage. Walking towards Evelina without a care in the world, a huge grin could be seen on the girl's face like usual. “That’s weird, I thought you were targeting Alice.” Evelina said, slowly standing back up and grabbing her forehead. A sly smile could also be seen on her face.
Looking back on the black haired girl behind her for a moment, Maru-Maru would soon respond to Evelina. “Don’t make any mistakes, I still plan on eating her. It’s just that I could use an appetizer first.” Without slowing down she continued walking towards Evelina. At the same time, Shirou had stopped moving and was standing about a dozen meters away from the group of three. He glanced towards Maru-Maru for a moment before looking at Oda. “It seems luck is in my favor today.” A deep voice emanated from the silver helmet. Rushing towards the other three, it was only in the last instant that Oda was able to parry the silvered knight's sword with his fist of darkness. He was forced back almost an entire meter from the collision, yet his fist remained intact, having clashed with the blade and come out unscathed.
“If that fist had belonged to the rampaging beast I fought back at the amusement park, I am certain that my sword would have gone right through it. But, you have grown since the last time I saw you.” A nervous smile would appear on Oda’s face as he received praise from his enemy. “But…” In the very next instant the knight had grabbed ahold of Oda's head with an iron grip, trying to wiggle free the blonde man would squirm in his opponent's grasp. “... you still lack control over that power, only being able to tap into a tiny fraction of it without losing your mind, isn’t it so?” Throwing Oda across the sidewalk and into a nearby tree, its leaves long since fallen.
As his face hit the cold wood, it would not be long before the man slumped down on the ground, seemingly lifeless. “Oda!” Alice would say as she instinctively rushed towards the man but in the very last moment she was pulled back by Jonathan. “Get a hold of yourself!” The sudden force janking her back shocked Alice. “Are you just gonna rush into danger without even thinking about what could happen? Think for a moment, why do you think he would do that? It’s obvious, that armored man over there is trying to get you distracted so he can attack you from behind!” Jonathan said as he pointed his shotgun towards the silver knight. “Outrageous!” Shirou said as he approached the two, showing no fear of the firearm being pointed in his direction. “I would never stoop so low as to use such underhanded tactics, no matter who my foe might be. That is the calling card of scoundrels and cowards…” Standing just a few meters from the two now, the knight would look Jonathan straight in the eyes. “... and I am no coward.” Despite being so close to them, the armored foe showed no sign of intending to attack. He would stare at Alice for a moment before turning around. “I originally intended to destroy you both here for trying to interfere with our plan, but I see now that you are good people. Consider this an one-off favor.”
With those words, the silver knight began walking away from the couple. Suddenly grabbing her shoulder as the pain intensified, Alice would almost immediately receive the attention of Jonathan. “Are you okay? We should probably patch that up.” Looking towards Maru-Maru and Evelina, it appeared like the two women were preparing to fight, Jonathan would then look back towards the black haired girl beside him. “You’re in no condition to fight, come on, let’s get out of here before any more of those freaks attack.” Pulling Alice away from the danger, Jonathan would feel the girl resist for the first time. “No, I can’t let her fight that monster alone. It’s a burden that I also should carry.” Taken aback by the timid girl saying something so cool, a light chuckle would escape Jonathan's lips. The very next instant, he grabbed Alice and carried her like she was some sort of princess. “I like your style, but there's no need to die here. She’ll be fine on her own.” Although he said that, he was uncertain whether it was true or not, after all, only time would be able to tell.