Inside a bunker.
— Alright, this should be enough!
Heavy winter clothing and hat, night vision goggles and a bit of blood. She didn't even look like herself, but the interior didn't change. She was the same joyful and energetic Genesis as always.
She went to Russia to gather some information on how to make a Tsar bomba, but not only that. Any military weaponry she could find would be useful. After all, those were preparations for a level 7 fight.
Her power could copy an object to her storage and paste it anywhere. However, physical contact was necessary and she had to understand its composition. Since she was a super advanced android, her memory and learning were perfect.
Leaving the bunker and seeing the sun was refreshing to her.
— I can't wait to see Yuto and the others again!
A lot of soldiers and criminals were laying in the snow. They weren't dead, of course. Genesis had a lot of poisons in her storage, including paralyzing ones. She often visited Mifuyu, the scientist, to learn science and utilize her own power better.
Genesis raised her hand to channel her power. A holographic jet appeared in front of her.
— Alright, this should be fast enough to reach Tokyo in no time!
The jet model was the fastest one Russia had. It could exceed five times the speed of sound. Her Creation had to wait a few minutes or hours to print the object, depending on how complex it was. The hologram was used to highlight its shape and how much progress was made.
— A few hours, maybe? Well, I guess I will make an army of unmanned ones to optimize time.
Her power didn't really have a cooldown, so she could spam it multiple times. In addition, the exhaustion generated by it was minimal. However, the process duration was individual to every object, so she had to time it.
— Well, if I had more time, I could train my power better. Maybe in a few months I'll make this jet in one minute!
Genesis smiled at her own progress.
— I can't be left behind! I need to make up for the time I spent here by protecting them!
At Yuto's home.
— Uh... What time is it now? Has Tatsuya arrived already?
Yuto got up from the bed. He waited for Tatsuya for a few hours after arriving at his old house. But it was late, so he and Haji decided to sleep.
— I need to return his car... People will suspect it's parked in an ordinary house like mine...
He went to Haji's bedroom. She was still asleep. He thought of asking her if she had seen Tatsuya, but it didn't seem to be the case. Yuto smiled, knowing she was resting well. As he closed the door, she woke up, but spent some more time in bed.
She heard some sounds from Yuto's bedroom and decided to check on him.
— Yuto, are you going somewhere?
He had finished changing.
— Yes, I'm going to the restaurant where Tatsuya's wife works.
— Ah, I forgot about that... Tatsuya hasn't arrived yet?
— That's what I'll ask her. Maybe he went to his house instead and forgot to text me.
— Alright, sounds fair... Can you wait for me?
— Sure. His car is fast enough, so no need to rush.
Haji changed as well and they both went to the restaurant. Luckily for Yuto, he didn't need a driver's license, since the car had autopilot. Arriving there, they didn't see Koharu. Actually, the establishment was temporarily closed due to some incident.
— Are you looking for his wife, Yu-chan? Don't worry, I got rid of her.
After hearing the affectionate nickname, Yuto froze. He couldn't forget it even after so many years. It could only be her. He slowly turned around.
Black long hair, red eyes, black scholar uniform. But something was off. Her skin was much paler than normal, her aura was darker and her smile was not the same. She was hiding behind Haji, holding her arms to her back, almost breaking them.
— Ka... Kataki...?
— You're right, Yu-chan! I'm so happy you recognized me after so much time...
Haji finally realized someone was behind her.
How did I not see her before? Or even feel her holding my arms?
She finally broke Haji's arms by forcing them back. She screamed in pain.
— Kataki... Is that really you?
— Of course I am, Yu-chan! Why are you so tense? Aren't you happy to see me?
— I... I don't know... What are you doing?
— Just a side quest! You loved playing games, right? I need to give this specimen to my former master. I'm not saying you're less important than him, okay? Pleased don't be sad.
— I'm not sad... Wait, what do you mean by "specimen"?
— He really needs her now, as a precaution! He promised me he would let me be with you forever after that, so don't worry!
— What are you saying, Kataki? Please stop hurting Haji... She's not a specimen...
— You seem confused, Yu-chan... I will end this quickly, so we can be together forever!
— Wait, please release her... You don't need to do this...
— You're right, I don't... But I promised him I would do one last favor. I'm sorry, Yu-chan. I'll be right back!
Slade jumped towards the roof of a building, taking Haji with her. Yuto, confused, flew towards her.
— Wait, Kataki, please! Why are you doing this?
— I just said it, Yu-chan! I can't break a promise with the Boss! He will provide everything for our empire!
— Empire? What are you even saying?
— We will be together forever, but we need a supplier first! He will give us everything we'll ever need! Our paradise is near, my love!
— I don't understand... Why are you saying we will be together forever?
Slade stopped running. She slowly turned around. Her smile was gone. A sinister aura surrounded her.
— Yu-chan, did someone brainwash you? I will make them pay. They won't steal you from me. Unforgivable, unforgivable, unforgivable...
— N-No, nobody brainwashed me! Kataki, you seem different. Did something happen in those years?
— I won't let them take you from me... This is unforgivable... Yu-chan, please say you still love me. I am the only one you need. Nobody should touch you. You're mine.
— What? You weren't like this before... Please tell me what's wrong! I can fix you...
— Fix me? Yu-chan... I can't believe they changed you this much... But don't worry... I will make them pay, I swear... I will kill them all...
Slade had two katanas. One red, another black. They were both a bit demoniac, different from when she was a kid. After she swore revenge, a black liquid materialized from her back. After a few seconds, it transformed into a clone of her. It took her black katana and Haji and started running away.
— What is happening? Wait, come here!
Yuto started running towards the clone. It took the black katana from its back and swung it towards him. A giant black slash came in his direction. He jumped and looked back to see where it would go. It became larger the further it traveled, until it cut through a few dozen buildings, destroying them.
What is this?! Wait, I can still save them! But Haji will be taken away! What do I do?
Yuto looked where the clone was and saw nothing. It already disappeared in the city.
Shit! She's fast!
Yuto tried his sensory gravity to localize the clone, but the real Kataki hugged him from behind, distracting him.
— I can't believe they made you so dirty, Yu-chan... Those people's lives are meaningless. If you didn't care about ants, you would have catched my clone.
Yuto turned around, pushing Slade away agressively.
— You are the one dirty here, not me! What did they do to you, Kataki? You weren't like this!
Slade didn't expect to be reprimanded. She looked down, disappointed.
— I didn't want to make you mad. I'm sorry... Please forgive me... forgive me... forgive me...
Yuto remembered of his sister begging for his forgiveness right before she died. He couldn't bear the regret.
— W-Wait, don't be like that...
If I push her further, she may destroy everything!
— Please calm down... What about we fight, like in the old times?
— Really?!
Slade finally smiled again. A wide and sinister smile, but still a smile. She took the red katana from her back.
— If you manage to dodge my attacks, it will mean that you have evolved since we fought in the dojo.
Slade swung her katana. A red slash came towards Yuto's head. She didn't want to kill him, but she did trust him enough to do that. It was so fast that a hair string of his was hit while he dodged.
It's too fast! Faster than the sound, maybe? This is her holding back?
He turned his head to see where the slash would go. Slade got annoyed that he cared more about meaningless lives than her attacks.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
— Don't distract yourself, Yu-chan!
She slashed the air again. And again. And again... Yuto was dodging them at the last second, but he wanted to test something.
What if I catch the slashes?
He used his power in one of the slashes while dodging everything. He managed to make it stop in the air. But it got stronger and left his control. Not only did it get stronger and bigger as it went, it also got faster.
I better dodge them...
Slade stopped the attacks and clapped proudly.
— You have evolved, Yu-chan! I'm so proud of you!
Yuto immediately looked back to see the destruction. But Slade was faster. She was already in front of him, looking into his soul.
— Please don't waste your precious time caring about ants, Yu-chan! Our empire is much more important!
She's even faster than I thought! She could have killed me without me noticing! Wait, that means she wants me alive! I can test her abilities!
Yuto punched Slade in the stomach. He expected her to go flying or dodge it, but she just took it.
— Ara, Yu-chan... You want to fight a little more seriously? We can finally have fun together!
Yuto looked at his arm. It went through her body with no effort. A black liquid that looked like blood was dripping from it. He took his hand away and got disgusted by the scene.
— Don't worry, Yu-chan! I can heal myself, so you don't have to hold back!
Her stomach was healing quickly. But the black liquid didn't disappear. He looked at his hand full of it.
— This is just my blood, don't worry! You won't be burned or poisoned by it while it's outside of you!
"While it's ouside of me"? That means it can infect me from inside?
— Yu-chan, you go first. Don't hold back, please. We can have as much fun as we want!
Yuto took the offer and used his gravity forward, launching Slade away. He flew towards her and kicked her from the side, slashing her body in two pieces. She swung her katana two times, sending an "X" shaped attack.
Yuto catched it with his power just enough to dodge it. It was even faster than before, so he couldn't risk being hit. Once he released it, he looked back quickly. Luckily for him, the level 7 alarm had already sounded. So the building and the people were safe. At least that was what he thought.
Slade fell to the street, already healed. She launched more attacks. After one, she changed her position and launched another.
Great! If she keeps attacking me while I'm in the air, she won't hit anybody!
The attacks were even faster. The huge distance between them didn't matter anything to her. They arrived at him in less than half of a second. He tried reflecting them back, but they didn't change direction. Once they were released, they would resume the trajetory. They cut through the clouds.
He dodged them almost easily, so Slade increased the attack speed. She started running so fast that the air was forming a tornado. The slashes changed the trajetory a bit, enough to close the distance between Yuto and them.
She was throwing slashes 10 times a second. Then, 60 times. After a moment, she was attacking faster than a high-end monitor could refresh its image. She reached almost one thousand slashes in one second.
Yuto used his power to dissipate the tornado. But she ran even faster, enough to break any fragile object or person on the ground. The clouds started forming a circle. She was not only running in circles, but in top speed as well. She was now even faster than the russian jet. Almost 17,000 km/h.
Now every building was collapsing from the intense air current. She cut their base and started throwing them at Yuto. First, a house. Then, a major building. A skyscraper. Now, a whole neighborhood.
She was smiling and laughing uncontrollably. It was not even hard for her. It was just a child's play. While the objects were in the air, she threw another thousand slashes in different directions. Yuto could only dodge them because he catched them for a second. It was getting even harder to hold them.
Shit! She's destroying the whole city! And she's just playing around! I need to take her off, but the tornado keeps pulling me!
Slade cut a giant circle on the ground in less than a second. It was big enough to take 5% of the city. She stepped on one border, making the other rise. She took it with her right hand, since she used the red katana on the left, and threw it towards Yuto.
He catched the new island with a bit of difficult, since he was also dodging other attacks. Suddenly, they stopped. Something penetrated the giant object. It was slicing it in two. Yuto couldn't hold it together, so it tore apart.
Slade appeared spinning vertically with her sword, cutting everything in the path. He couldn't react in time. She cut Yuto's left arm.
He never took so much damage before. At least, not apparent damage. When he was knocked out by Zenith two times, his skull and brain took major damage, but the 7-Up could heal him in time. Now, healing an entire arm would take at least a few dozen minutes, while resting.
Slade was still falling from her dash.
— Looks like this is your limit, Yu-chan. I will take it easier now if you want.
Yuto immediately used his gravity on Slade, launching her to the side for around one hundred kilometers. He used all his strength to keep the fight away from the city. Even though the damage was already done, he could still save millions. He also launched himself to her direction.
Since he forced himself too much, he couldn't land properly. He rolled on the ground for a few hundred meters before stopping. They were now in a mountain in the forest, far from any civilization.
— Yu-chan, why the change of scenery? Ah, I get it! You like variety in fights!
Yuto got up with his one hand. He was starting to feel a slight pain. The 7-Up mitigated most of it, but it was still noticeable.
— Yu-chan, I can help you with that.
Slade approached him and placed her hand on his missing arm. He felt pain in that, but it suddenly stopped. A black liquid came from her hand and it turned into a new arm. Even the shirt's sleeve returned.
What is this?! It's inside of me now, isn't it? What if it takes my mind?
— Don't worry, Yu-chan! I could control you from inside, but I would never do that, since you're my special!
That doesn't calm me down at all!
— Alright, do you want to resume our fight? Ah, first, what did you think? Am I stronger than before?
Yuto stared at her in disbelief. He thought he didn't even need to answer it, since it was obvious.
— That's good to know! I kept training to surpass that bitch since she insulted me!
— Who?
— Your sister! She said she would kill me if I became your girlfriend! I'm so glad the hard training worked out!
— What? You must be lying...
— I would never lie to you, my love! She almost killed me after the festival! If she was still alive, I would love to make her pay!
Yuto didn't want to believe what he had just heard. His strong and responsible sister would never hurt a friend of her brother so badly.
— Do you want me to take it easier now? I can always adjust my level for you-
He didn't think twice. His new arm was now through her head, just like his sister did with an innocent officer. But her body didn't lose balance.
— You won't be able to regenerate if I keep my arm inside you, right?!
He was right. The whole in her head was still there. She gently took his arm and pushed it away.
— Yu-chan, this makes the fight boring. Are you sure you don't want to take this more seriously-
Yuto used his supreme gravity in her. Her body disappeared, just like the ground below her. A few meters of empty air was left, just like a well. He looked down. Her sword was still intact. The black liquid started materializing her again.
He didn't stop looking at her, but she was already behind him.
— Looks like your supreme gravity is a lot stronger, Yu-chan. But you won't damage me like that.
This can't be right! Her body vaporized, how is she still alive? I can't let a single molecule survive!
Yuto turned around quickly and kicked her to the sky. He flew towards her and punched her down. He arrived before her and touched her back with the palm of his hand. He forced her towards the mountain. Her body pierced it faster than 10 times the speed of sound.
A giant hole was made in the mountain, bigger the closer it was to Yuto. He then used his power backwards, pulling her towards him at the same speed. He punched her head and kicked her up again.
At a few hundred kilometers in the sky, Yuto kicked her down as hard as he could. She reached the surface in one second. A giant explosion destroyed everything in the landscape. In addition, he channeled his supreme gravity to erase the whole scenery.
After some seconds, it was done. The cylinder of mass destruction smashed the ground, making the air turn into vacuum until it was filled again. Yuto didn't want to leave one molecule behind. The wasteland was so big that it almost reached the horizon.
He felt the urge to vomit, since he forced his power beyond belief. He waited in the sky until the air was safe enough to breath. He could take some air from anywhere and keep it around his head, like an astronaut suit. But he was a bit tired, so waiting was the safer option.
Suddenly, a barrage of slashes came towards him. He flew as quickly as he could to another green area, but one of the attacks cut his right foot away. While he was falling, Slade kicked him a few kilometers away, sending thousands of slashes again.
Yuto forced himself down, opting for the underground. He was digging his way with supreme gravity. Slade threw giant slashes in a triangular form. The ground was divided like a slice of pizza. She grabbed the island with her bare hand and threw it to the sky.
She also took many lesser islands and launched them. She started running in circles again, even faster than before. 22,000 km/h, 34,000 km/h... The tornado became big enough to rip apart any living being remotely close to it.
Slade launched herself towards the giant island while the tornado was still working. She threw slashes from every direction, making it tear apart. Yuto finally got out of it and started jumping on each lesser island to reach Slade. She was also jumping so quickly that the human eye couldn't see.
He landed a punch in her stomach. Meanwhile, she healed his foot.
What?! She can still pay attention to my injury while we're at this speed?
Yuto took the chance and supported his body by stepping on her, launching both of them in opposite directions. While Slade was falling, she threw another hundred slashes. He tried to catch them with his power, but they were too strong. He quickly forced his way down to the surface. His power was so intense that his head took damage from it.
Among the trees, Slade started running in circles around him, but the tornado didn't appear. She was just trying to deceive him. She launched slashes from every direction. They were weak this time. Yuto could dodge some, others hit him. But they weren't lethal, only dangerous. Slade was impressed. While she was running at top speed, she commented:
— Yu-chan, you're stronger than I thought! I thought these slashes would cut through you.
— You're trying to kill me now?!
— N-No, that's not what I meant! I can still heal you!
There was a reason why Yuto was resisting the "lesser" attacks. One of Zenith's cards increased the user's resistance by 100%, while decreased it from everything and everyone nearby by 50%. The other one did the same, but with damage. So Slade was effectively causing 25% of her normal damage to Yuto this whole time, while he was in his 400%.
— And be a huge pile of black slime? I refuse it.
— Oh, my... I don't intend to make my blood change who you are, Yu-chan! You're perfect the way you are!
Yuto realized her slight hesitation and used his supreme gravity again. It was big enough to take her circular trajetory down. He isolated himself from it, so he didn't take any damage. The cuts in his body were slowly healing by the 7-Up.
Slade jumped from the hole and took Yuto's leg. She swung his body and launched him some dozen kilometers from there. He was now in a small town.
Shit! I didn't know there cities in this area! Well, we travelled hundreds of kilometers in a few minutes...
Slade appeared behind.
— Let's see if your body can take this, Yu-chan.
She was smiling even more than before. He turned around quickly, but her attack was faster. A diagonal slash. It cut Yuto's left arm again and his left leg.
What is this? She's becoming faster and stronger! My cards can't do shit against a monster like this!
She immediately healed him, even before he could do anything. He looked back to see the damage of the slash. It cut the whole scenery behind him. The city, the forest, the mountains, even the clouds. It could maybe reach the space.
He used his supreme gravity upwards in Slade. A block of asphalt launched her into the sky. She cut through it, but Yuto used the distraction to punch her in the face. She was sent far away, but could still send a thousand slashes towards him. Some were faster than the others, so his arms were sliced again.
Yuto had a limitation in his power. If he used it too much, his vision would get blurrier. Now, he couldn't distinguish the slashes from far away. He couldn't wait them close the gap either, because it would be instant death. He tried something new.
A supreme gravity. He sent the slashes down the hardest he could. They were pushed away, but their trajetory didn't change. They hit the small city and destroyed even more of it.
I forgot about the city!
Suddenly, more slashes came from every direction. Slade was running so fast that she could attack from everywhere at the same time. He tried sending one of the slashes back, while he dodged he others. He was sucessful. It pierced the ground and he kept it there for as long as he could.
Yuto went to where it was stored and turned his back to it. He was using all his power to keep it stopped. As he expected, Slade was already hugging him from behind and healing his arms. He quickly crouched down and released it.
It had gathered so much speed that not even Slade could sense it. It was probably the second highest speed in the universe, only losing to light. The sound of it was heard minutes after it disappeared. It even reached space.
Slade was cut in half. The tip of her katana was finally damaged. She rolled in the ground for some seconds before stopping. Yuto reached her to see the damage. Her body was recovering slower than normal and the top of her head was bleeding black liquid.
Yuto used another supreme gravity to damage her further. He went to the hole and saw nothing. Slade was behind him again, already healed. But her head and her eyes were still bleeding. She was panting heavily. She was never so desperate before.
— Yu-chan, how about we stop the fight for a moment? I need to rest just a little.
Suddenly, something came from between the trees. It was an ice arrow.