Alice rushed over towards the collapsed woman while Oda stood frozen in shock. Had he truly believed that Shi would be able to kill Junsei? He wasn’t certain, he wanted it to have been the case but there had always been a voice in his head, a voice of reason, that screeched that a convenient solution, an deus ex machina, like that could not exist. The blonde man stood still as he looked at how Alice was desperately shaking Shi’s body in an attempt to wake her up. But it was in vain, he knew for a fact that the black haired woman would not move again. Her chest and abdomen had been pierced by several arrows made out of light, even now they were shining as they were firmly lodged in her body, some even having pierced her completely with their tips visible from the other side. If it had been him, someone who could regenerate even having entire limbs torn-off, who got hit perhaps it wouldn’t have been fatal. Or perhaps, someone like Junsei possessed a power so monstrous that once hit, no matter who you were, you would never be able to recover. Regardless, they were now facing down a foe that was much more dangerous than before. Turning his eyes towards the sky, Oda would transform into his monstrous form as his entire body was covered in black skin. He saw Junsei flying through the air, reaching higher and higher, from where he stood it looked almost like the man was ascending towards the stars. For a moment, Oda thought about running away and just leaving all this behind.

Alice was desperately trying to make Shi wake up, she shook the woman from side to side in an attempt to bring her back to consciousness. She felt scared, she felt like she wanted to cry, her conscience could not handle having another death weighing down on her shoulders. Not knowing what to do, Alice would hug the body tightly as she sobbed into the woman's black hair. She did not know for how long she remained in that position, but she did know that a deep rage was starting to well up from within her. What right did Junsei think he had to do all of this? To kill so many innocent people, to destroy their homes and livelihood, and for what? A mad desire to end the world? She felt not only rage but hatred forming in her heart, directed towards the man, a man the world would be better off without. In that instant, she had decided. She would kill the man known as Junsei Seijin not only for herself and those who had given up their lives in the fight against him, but for all of mankind. Slowly putting the corpse down on the lush grass below Alice would look towards the heavens.

As Junsei flied through the sky he could see the heavy clouds above, getting closer and closer. He wanted to leave it all behind, this entire world, he wanted to turn it all to dust. As he looked upwards, it was almost like everything else was already fading away. Like he was enchanted by the night-skies beauty, the man became more and more lost in himself and the sky to the point where he almost didn’t notice the black projectile hurling towards him at immense speeds. It was only in the last instant that the blonde man managed to snap back to reality and move his head just enough to avoid collision with the spear made out of darkness. Looking back towards the earth, searching for the origin of that attack, one thing instantly caught his attention. It was the sight of a pale, black haired girl with green eyes looking up towards him, a furious determination visible in her facial expression. From where he was in the air, hearing what she was saying would have been impossible, but from reading her lips the man could make an educated guess. “We’re still here.” Those were the words she uttered. In the next instant, Junsei felt something approaching him rapidly from behind and it was only in the last instant that he could turn around and face the incoming foe.

Oda had mustered up all the strength his legs could offer, no, even more than that for as he flied through the air he could feel how the muscles within them were completely broken. For a normal man, that would probably have meant being crippled for the rest of their life but for someone with Oda’s power, it was nothing but a temporary hindrance that would disappear in a few short moments. As a result of kicking the ground with such enormous power, he was now flying through the air towards Junsei like a cannonball, feeling the cold wind upon his armor-like skin. Just like what he had done with his legs, the man would do in his right arm as well, gathering power and energy there until it was almost about to burst. Because of that, the instant he was within melee range his fist would shoot forth like a lightning strike through the cold night. But, even as Oda himself was unable to comprehend the speeds he attacked but to Junsei he might as well have been frozen in time. The blonde man effortlessly moved out of the fists path and responded by kicking the monstrous humanoid right in the abdomen, sending him flying back down towards the earth. It seemed like Junsei still had some nuances he needed to deal with before he could end the world properly.

Descending from the heavens, Junsei could see how Oda hit a nearby building, breaking the roof and shooting through it, disappearing from view. Being confident that the man wouldn’t be able to get up for some time, Junsei instead turned his attention towards Alice. The black haired woman was still staring at him with the same expression as before and as he descended lower and lower he could see how she began raising her right arm. At the same time, dozens of black spears started to form in the air all around her. A few seconds later they were launched at Junsei far faster than any bullet.

But even when faced with an onslaught of projectiles heading his way, the blonde man did little but scoff at the attempt, something of that level would never be able to hurt him. Heading straight forwards, through the rain of spears the winged man would weave through them all without fail, moving with greater precision and agility than what Alice had ever seen before. As he descended towards her Alice could barely keep up with the man's incredible speed, putting her hands up in front of her in a desperate attempt at defense, a shield made out of darkness would form in front her right before he was able to collide with the woman. Quickly realizing that he would collide head-first with the conjured structure of darkness, Junsei swiftly changed his position so his foot would make impact with the shield, causing Alice to be knocked back several dozens of meters. But she was still standing, even though the force of the collision had surged through her body and probably broken more than a few bones Alice hadn’t given in.

The shield made of darkness fell apart the instant Junsei’s feet hit the ground, the man having taken no visible damage from the collision. Meanwhile, the black-haired woman was spitting blood. The clear winner of this exchange had been Junsei, who was now simply staring at the woman before him. As his attention was directed towards Alice, a certain someone would appear from a nearby building in an explosion of dust and debris. Lunging towards Junsei like a rocket train was Oda Kaguri, although the wound he had received from the man hadn’t completely healed yet his muscles were in a good enough condition to fight again. As he sped through the air towards the blonde man Oda would open his mouth, an enormous power having been built up within. He had managed to hurt the man with this technique before, although only barely, so he figured that it was the best shot they had at actually damaging Junsei. But, as he approached the man and entered point-blank range, just as he was about to release the immense blast of energy towards the superhuman. Junsei struck Oda’s lower jaw with the palm of his hand, forcing his mouth shut. As a result of the monstrous man’s action, the force that now affected Oda was enough to launch him into the air. The transformed man could feel the energy he had built up wanting to desperately escape from his mouth, to go in all directions, he realized what was about to happen and thought a silent prayer, not sure if he was going to survive another moment.

The result was a bright explosion in the sky, Oda could feel how his lower jaw was vaporized from the force of his attack. The pain surged through his body like a thousand kilowatts of electricity, but he was not dead yet. Looking down, he could see Alice already rushing towards Junsei as they continued to fight below him. Covering her right arm in a dark, shadowy substance, the black-haired woman would soon summon forth four gigantic claws that howered in the air next to her and mimicked the moments of her arm. Swiping towards the man, Junsei would respond by jumping backwards, narrowly avoiding getting hit by Alice’s move. The woman followed up on her attack immediately afterwards, summoning another set of claws that followed her left hand and brought them down on Junsei from above. This time, the man’s plan hadn’t been to dodge the attack but rather negate it. A burst of light shone forth from where he was standing, enough to blind Alice for a moment and when her eyes regained vision both of her claws had been erased from existence. All that remained was the winged man, staring at her with a confident expression on his face.

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She hated it, she hated how smug Junsei always was. Gathering dark power within her right and left hands, Alice would combine the force she had amassed into a small black sphere. It was the same move she had used to hurt Shi before and she would now use an even stronger version against Junsei. Unleashing the orb towards the man, he would look at it for a moment as it flied through the air before slapping it away. With such a simple gesture, the man had been able to completely nullify Alice’s triumph card. The black orb was now flying through the night skill, straight at the falling Oda. Not only had he been able to deflect Alice’s attack but also used it as an opportunity to attack Oda.

Watching in desperation as the black orb approached him, Oda would think of a possible way out of this situation. As his mouth was more or less totally wrecked, there was no way for him to produce a blast of energy to avoid the orb. His brain was desperately searching through his memories for something that would allow him to escape this situation. Suddenly, his mind produced a memory of the knight of black. It was when Shi had kicked the air with such force that the shockwave sent her flying. Oda was not sure if he would be able to replicate a feat like that, but if he wanted to survive he had no choice but to try.

Mustering up every last bit of strength in his legs as he fell head first towards the earth, Oda would kick upwards with all his might. The shockwave he produced echoed through the area as both Alice and Junsei looked towards the man in the sky. The next instant, he was sent flying towards the ground like lightning strike before crashing next to Alice who quickly hurried over to see if he was alright. Oda knew for certain that the impact had shattered every single bone in his body, yet as Alice was helping him get back up on his feet he could already feel how his internal injuries started healing. At the same time, his lower jaw, which had been completely destroyed, was already starting to be rebuilt. He didn’t want to think too optimistically in this situation, but it seemed like he and his manifestation grew stronger and more potent with each passing moment in this battle. Looking towards Junsei, the man clad in white’s expression being unchanged, he knew that their opponent weren’t taking them seriously. If he wanted, that man could kill them both in an instant. Breathing heavily, he would thank Alice for her help as he stood on his own. Taking a step forward, Oda was preparing to engage in melee combat against Junsei. At the same time, Alice was summoning spears of darkness in the air behind her, intending to support Oda from afar as he got up close and personal with Junsei.

Sprinting towards the man, whose appearance was more like that of an angel rather than anything else, Oda delivered a powerful right hook right towards Junseis chin. His attack was thwarted, however, as the man simply took a step backwards and avoided the blow. Oda followed up with strike after strike, each one simply being dodged by Junsei who clearly did not take this battle seriously. As he continued attacking, he felt more and more irritated. Gathering power and strength in his right arm, Oda would deliver a lightning-fast uppercut towards the angelic man’s jaw.

As he dodged blow after blow, spear after spear, Junsei felt his mind beginning to wander, he focused less and less on the battle he was fighting and more and more on memories of his past. Memories of him and Shi when they were kids, playing around in the garden. His mind remembered a certain moment, the first time he fell and scraped his knee badly enough so it would start to bleed. Never having been hurt like this before the young boy began crying but he was interrupted by his adoptive sister shortly afterwards. “Have you forgotten the color of your own blood?” Those were the words she said to the boy, who was confused by them. When she saw the look of confusion on his face, she comforted him. To this day, Junsei still could not figure out what she had meant with those words, it was a mystery that would elude him to the very end of time itself. As he was lost in his thoughts, he did not notice the uppercut that Oda had thrown towards him.

Getting hit squarely in the jaw, Junsei’s head was forced back as he recoiled from the attack. Then a moment of silence ensued, the gravity of being able to land a solid hit on Junsei prevented both Oda and Alice from taking another move and instead they simply watched their opponents next movement in anticipation. Slapping away the transformed man with ease, Junsei would look towards Alice as he brushed away some blood from his lower lip. As he looked down at his hand, Junsei noticed that it wasn’t stained red as he would have expected, but rather the liquid resting on it was completely clear water. Shi’s words resonated through his mind, and in the next instant he would let out a slight chuckle. Oda, who was getting up after the attack he had suffered, looked first at Alice then the chuckling man. Truth be told the transformed man was uncertain about what to do in this situation. Slowly standing up, the monstrous humanoid would look at his enemy intensely, watching every move in precise detail. He had an ominous feeling about what was going to happen next, but never in his wildest fever dreams and nightmares would Oda be able to conjure up what happened next.

In an instant, no faster than that, at a speed so quick that the transformed man, someone who would be able to dodge even bullets as they flied through the air, had been unable to react Junsei had moved next to oda and plunged his fist through the blackened creature's chest. Stumbling backwards from the impact, Oda was taken aback by the pain he was feeling, it was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Unable to breathe, the man could do little but helplessly fall down on the floor as he desperately gasped for air. After looking at Oda for but another moment, Junsei had lost all interest in the man and was now walking over towards Shi’s corpse. At the same time, Alice was running towards the wounded man like he could die at any moment. As he laid there, Oda wondered if he would regenerate this wound as well, in the corner of his eye he could see the black-haired woman coming over to him and he immediately asked her about how things were looking. “Alice… am I hurt badly?” As Alice stood above the man, she could see that the gaping wound in the place where his heart should have been showed no signs of healing. As golden and red blood was spreading out on the cracked pavement beneath the man, it became clearer with each passing second that Oda would not survive. Alice did not want to worry him in vain and gently placed her pale hand on his forehead, the man’s visage now having reverted to that of a human as he ran out of power to maintain his manifestations form. “No, you’re going to be alright.”

He would look at Alice, his vision beginning to blur and even though she was just saying those words in an attempt to comfort him, he admired how composed Alice was able to stay during a situation like this. He wasn’t even sure that Evelina would have been able to do that if she had been here in Alice’s stead. As the blonde man was beginning to slip into unconsciousness he could feel something strange, it was a feeling that was akin to losing oneself, losing the ability to think straight. At the same time, Alice finally understood what Evelina had done to her before she died. To erase the border between oneself and another, it was a strange feeling, but she was now doing that very thing with Oda. For although he might die, a fragment of him would live on within her. As he closed his eyes for the last time, a faint smile would be visible on the man’s face. He wasn’t sure why but he had a feeling that Alice would be able to finish this battle once and for all. When Alice saw the color disappear from Oda’s face she would slowly put the man down on the ground. The next moment, she stood upright and looked at Junsei.

The winged man stood above the corpse of his lower, even in death she was beautiful. As he looked at her black hair, sprawled out on the pavement in a puddle of blood beneath her, he would utter four words to the dead woman. “I’ll join you soon.” As he finished speaking, Junsei turned towards Alice and their eyes met, his pure golden irises being a sharp contrast to her deep green ones. They simply stood there, like western gunslingers each waiting for the other to make the first move and even though in reality the time that passed was less than a second it felt like an eternity for the two of them. Then, like a pair of lightning bolts, the two would leap towards one another, ready to fight until the very death.