Spirit of Hope

Chapter 6: It’s Going Down Now!

The air grew heavy, as Spectre charged his Seishin. His aura came to life and surrounded him, crackling around him like an electric storm of deep purple with veins of fiery red coursing through it. The ground beneath his feet trembled and cracked, tiny cracks spreading throughout the bridge. His aura slowly subsided, and with a sharp inhale Sohjin dashes towards The Army of the Undead.

Electricity crackled across his body as he leaped high into the air. His finger clenched the hilt of his sword, as he raised his sword above his head, and slammed it into the ground. Creating a large energy slash wave that tore through the zombies in front of him.

Out of the corner of Sohjins eye, a large group of zombies slowly inching their way towards Amp. He immediately e-dashes in front of Amp and in a swift upward motion he slashes through the zombie splitting it in half with a sickening sound.

Sohjin locked eyes on the next zombie, gripping the hilt with both hands, and wildly swung it into the zombie in front of him. The blade whistled through the air, where it finally met the zombie's neck. The force of the strike lodged the blade deep in its neck.

Sohjin froze in fear and his heart rate picked up, as he struggled to get his sword to budge. The zombie’s hastily approached from both sides. With each step, sweat poured down Sohjin’s face, running down him like a river. With quick thinking, he imbues Seishin with his sword. Feeling the same warm feeling in his core surface.

His eye’s flickered with determination, as he twisted his blade. The blade fought him at first, but Sohjin poured in more seishin. The blade suddenly slid free from the zombies neck, severing the head off.

Without hesitating, he jumps off the bridge's railing, quickly spinning around and fiercely dashes back to the ground, cutting through the remaining zombies in a blink of an eye.

Spectre slowly stands to his feet using his sword as a crutch, and struggling to catch his breath.

“impressive, let’s see if you can survive my WRATH.” Crimson yells, his eyes glisten with malice, accompanied with his twisted smirk. He pushes his hair off his face and runs towards Spectre while spinning his sickles.

Sohjin stands with his sword by his side. Pulling it back and swinging his sword into both Crimson sickles, clashing with him. Crimson uses all his strength to force Sohjin to lower his guard. Sohjin counteracts, by imbuing all of his Seishin energy into his sword, and in a jagged motion, he releases his grip with an upward slash.

Sohjin placed the sword in front of him, the tip of his sword facing down. Finally, he places his right hand on top of his left, getting into a fool's sword stance.

Crimson charges at Sohjin, meanwhile Sohjin hastily pulls his sword back and clashes with Crimson. Crimson kicks off of Sohjin, allowing him to jump into the air. With his right sickle, he imbues it with blood and slices in a downward motion causing a sharp wave of blood to fly at Sohjin.

The blood wave viscously slams into Sohjin’s blade, causing Sohjin to stagger back. His feet scrap against the hard concrete, as he struggles to regain his balance.

He places his left hand on the blade. Sweat pours down Spectre's forehead, his muscles tremble from the strain. The blood wave slowly wraps around and breaks through his guard.

“ARHHHHHH!!!!” he screamed, with every bit of energy he pushed the blood wave back and sliced through it.

Sohjin arms fall limp as he tries to catch his breath. Before he could fully recover, Crimson appears in front of him, cocking his arms back and in a blink of an eye slashes across Sohjin’s face and chest.

Pain erupts from his body, blood gushes from his wounds. Sohjin stumbles, his vision blurring for a moment. The blood streaming down Sohjin suddenly flows into Crimson's left hand, forming a dagger of blood.

He thrusts the dagger into Sohjin, who instinctively blocks with his palm, causing the dagger to stab through it. In pain, Sohjin jumps back, feeling the pain rupture throughout his body.

Crimson relentlessly chases him, putting the pressure on him, swinging his sickles with fury and anger. Sohjin grits his teeth, pushing through the pain and parries each attack. The sound of metal clashing fills the air and sparks fly off at contact.

Crimson picks up the pace swinging faster and faster, occasionally slicing his face and body. Sohjin struggles to keep up the pace and e-dashes backwards, gaining little distance.

Crimson continues the chase and slides around Sohjin. He then closes in on his right side. Sohjin notices and quickly blocks the attack. Crimson lifts his right leg and kicks Sohjin into the bridge's railing.

Crimson spins his sickles, placing them on-top of each other by his left side.

“BLOOD ART: Mikazuki No Ikari!” Crimson yells, his sickles glowing with a red aura. In one swift motion, he flings two crescent shaped waves of blood through the air.

Sohjin’s heart skips a beat, as he swings at the Blood Art. The dagger lodged in his hand throbs in pain, and his grip loosens. He bares through the pain, tightening his grip, imbuing more Seishin energy into his sword.

Suddenly, the blood crescent blows up in his face. Blood rains down on Sohjin, Crimson leaps in the air and slashes Sohjin’s left shoulder and with his left sickle, he stabs his liver.

“All this and yet you still stand! JUST DIE!” Crimson roars, ripping out his right sickle from his shoulder and aims for Sohjin’s head.

Sohjin’s heart skips a beat as he manages to block Crimson’s attack with the blood dagger stuck in his hand. His sword slips from his fingers, clattering to the ground. Blood drips from his trembling hand, pooling on the sword below. Trails of blood run down his face.

Crimson laughed, with a wicked grin stretching across his face. “MY MY, THIS DAGGER IS STILL STUCK, ALLOW ME TO HELP.”

The dagger glowed a bright red. “BAKUGATSU SURU!” Crimson yelled, and without warning the dagger exploded.

Sohjin’s ears deafened, leaving his ears ringing. He glanced down, his vision blurring. The pain hadn’t quite registered. Where the top half of his hand had been was nothing but a jagged flesh wound with blood squirting out. In shock, the pain goes numb as he attempts to heal it.

Crimson rips out the sickle from Sohjin’s liver and goes to stab his head once more.

With Sohjin’s right hand, he places it on his face so it covers everything but his left eye. The area he is covering with his hand begins to glow purple as he shouts, “MRS MAGIC!!”

Everyone around Sohjin quickly turned their attention to his newly formed keeper that appeared on his right side, with a long double ended sword.

Her sword was beautiful and indescribable. The sword looks as if it’s a relic from a forgotten age. The two blades extended from the guard, each blade curving outward.

The blades weren’t made of steel, but made of otherworldly materials, to accommodate the materials were little designs that danced and shifted with the light to reveal cryptic carving. The handle was made of dark worn leather that ran up until the guards which were gold.

“How fascinating.” Astren smirked.

She majestically swung her blade stabbing into Crimson chest. Crimson's eyes fill with surprise as he flies across from Sohjin and into the railing. Crimson gets up and examines his wound.

His eyes instantly grew bigger. “HOW ENCHANTING WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, KILLING YOU WILL BE MONUMENTAL ACHIEVEMENT!” Crimson cried, his eyes jolted with joy and his body shook with excitement.

Crimson sprinted towards Sohjin and ferociously swung his sickles at him. Sohjin rolls to his right, narrowly dodging it, feeling the air whoosh by. He grabs his sword.

Crimson pivots and swings but is parried by Sohjin. Crimson flips back while spinning his sickles faster and faster.

“BLOOD ART: JIGOKU NO IKARI” Crimson screeched, pointing his sickles at Sohjin. Suddenly fast cuts of blood fly towards Sohjin.

Sohjin jumped over the Blood Art and behind Crimson. He swiftly slashes Crimson's back in an upward motion motion.

“SOHJIN BEHIND YOU!” Ms Magic instructed.

Sohjin complies and immediately turns around.

“Hey kid. My turn!” Volcon said. His fist shot towards Sohjin’s jaw. Sohjin parried, feeling the force of his strike spread across his blade.

Volcon launches a left hook, Sohjin instantly swung his sword into Volcon’s fist, causing it to get stuck between his knuckles.

With Sohjin's attention on getting his sword unstuck, Volcon lifts his foot and kicks Sohjin, burying his foot inside of his stomach. The force lifts Sohjin, causing him to cough blood. The soles of his feet began to glow bright orange.

“DESPEGAR!” Volcon said, his foot intensified and created an explosion, causing Sohjin to fly backwards.

Sohjin tumbled through the air but managed to slam his sword into the ground, dragging it along to slow himself down.

He came to a stop, gasping for air. Before he could fully recover he felt something looming over him.

He slowly looks up and locks eyes with Crimson who wears a malicious look and a warped smile that reveals his yellow teeth.

“Back off Volcon, he’s mine.” Crimson said, still remaining eye contact with Sohjin.

“He technically fought me first. If anyone should kill him, it’s me.” Volcon replied.

“Now, ladies, I’m flattered.” Sohjin said, leaping back. “But I’m not interested in being anyone’s chew two, let alone a 3 on 1.”

“How about this, we all attack and whoever deals the most damage gets the kill.” Viper says, walking in on Sohjins left.

“That’s an excellent idea, Malachi.” Crimson said.

“You're only agreeing because he’s your brother.” Volcon shot back.

“Am not!” Crimson replied.

“Damn do these guys ever shut up. I don't like these odds. Totally surrounded.” Sohjin thought, sheathing his sword on his back, and healing his left hand.

Sohjin holds his hands in front of him, pouring all of his focus into gathering his Seishin into a massive ball. The energy swirled wildly between his palms, sparking and illuminating his face.

“Come on, come on.” He muttered under his breath. The energy sparked off in random directions.

“You two are the most annoying people I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting!” Volcon shouted.

“After we finish off this brat, you're next!” Crimson said.

The seishin between Sohjin’s hands suddenly flared, forming into a massive ball. He looked down in awe, as the energy stabilized itself. Without a second thought, he turned towards Viper.

“Don’t forget we rank higher than you ever will.” Viper snared.

Crimson laughed sinisterly, “G3 will always be higher than 4”

“You ONLY rank higher from your damn manife-“

“MALACHI LOOKOUT!” Crimson warned.

Before he could reply, the sphere of seishin slams into Viper. Crimson looks at Sohjin in fury and charges at him.

“Not so fast!” Amp shouts, classical music playing.

Before Crimson could react, Amp’s punch connects and sends him into the bridge's railing.

“You two are hopeless.” Volcon said, holding his hands by his side and creating two fireballs and slams them together creating a large beam of fire.

“JACK! BUT HOW.” Sohjin cheerfully said.

“DUCK, SOHJIN!” Amp said, and fired a seishin beam at Sohjin.

Sohjin immediately dove to the side, narrowly dodging the attack. Amp’s seishin beam collides with the beam of fire, exploding on impact.

Sohjin scrambled to his feet and rushed to Amp.

“How are you alive?” Sohjin questions, pulling out his sword.

“Changed the music at the last second, Sorry to keep you worried.” Amp replied, smiling.

“So what’s the plan?” Sohjin asked.

“Our best option is to get over to Hamza and hold out until our team arrives.” Amp said.

Sohjin smirks, getting into a fool's stance. His heart rate is racing and his breathing picks up.

“Hey Sohjin, how about we start the fight with that thing you summoned.” Amp whispered.

“Alright got it.” Sohjin said, anxiously waiting for his opponents to make their move.

Crimson and Viper charge in simultaneously, each with their sickles in hand and a look of vengeance.

“Don’t fail me..” Sohjin thought, as he raised his left hand to his face, this time covering his left eye. “MS MAGIC!” He shouted.

Ms Magic appears in front of Sohjin and slams her sword into the ground creating a shockwave that sends Crimson and Viper flying in the air.

Volcon fires a fireball, but Sohjin easily slices through, and lunges at Volcon.

Volcon steps out of the way, feeling the wind rush by him. Sohjin grips his sword as he unleashes a flurry of attack, each one being dodged or parried.

Sohjin swings his sword wildly, the blade cuts through empty air as his momentum pulls him in an uncontrolled spin leaving his back exposed.

Volcon’s eyes light up as he closes in, ready to punish the mistake.

Before Volcon could strike, Sohjin pivots sharply on his left heel and drives his right foot in Volcon’s lover. A sharp exhale escapes from Volcon. Sohjin plants his foot in the ground and pivots again, and slices Volcon across his chest.

Across from Sohjin, Astren and Cypher who are watching. Astren wears an impressed smirk on his face. Cypher steps forward and gets ready to pull out his katana.

“Would you like me to step in, sir?” Cypher asks.

Astren in a calm demeanor replies with, “No, this is very fascinating”

Before Cypher could respond, he is abruptly hit with a seishin blast to the back, causing him to fall to his knees. He stands back up and slowly pulls his katana out, wielding it in a backhanded style.

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Without hesitation, Cypher charges towards Apollo and leaps in the air and launches a right jab with his sword in hand. Apollo dodges and Cypher’s fist slams into the ground creating a mini crater.

He drags his fist across the ground and throws dirt in Apollo's face allowing him to slice his cheek in the same motion.

Apollo flies above Cypher to gain distance but Cypher is persistent and follows him in the sky and without a second thought attacks Apollo. Before Cypher could reach him, Apollo created a sword of pure light and clashed with Cypher.

A wave of pure energy sparks off the impact of they’re swords. They both grit their teeth trying to overpower each other. Cypher disengages from the clash and does a flurry of slashes, but Apollo quickly parries.

Cypher sliced diagonally, before the blade could hit, Apollo’s Light Sword vanished causing Cypher to miss.

“HUH!?” Cypher said in surprise, as Apollo placed both his hands in front of him.

Apollo’s hands glow bright white creating a wave of pure light that blasts Cypher onto the roof of the student council building.

Cypher recovers by flipping and rolling on the roof to break his fall. Apollo flies to the roof and creates another light sword. Cypher stands and swings his sword, stopping Apollo’s blade from hitting him.

Cypher pushes Apollo’s blade away with ease and follows up an overhead swing. Apollo’s dodges just in time, shifting his stance to aim for his right arm.

Cypher counters with a sharp diagonal slash and successfully parries it. The clash of their blades sends sparks flying.

Without wasting any time, Cypher launches a flurry of swings. His movements were blurred, each strike coming faster than the last. Apollo struggled to keep up, barley managing to parry each attack. Despite his efforts, Cypher’s attacks slipped through, cutting him.

Cypher pressed forward and sliced for Apollo’s stomach. Apollo reacted just in time, parrying the strike, sweat pouring down his face.

In one fluid motion, Cypher flips his blade in the air, catching it mid spin. Before Apollo could react, Cypher disappeared in a blur, the air around him rippled faintly.

A chill ran down Apollo’s spine, as he instinctively spun around. “Damn, a vanishing step!” Apollo gasped.

Cypher raises his blade in an overhead stance and chants the following, “TENSHI NO KAGAYAKI.” His voice resonates with power.

A bright streak of blue and black energy radiates from Cypher's blade, engulfing it. The energy hums and crackles as Cypher swings his sword.

“Impossible! Is this tenshido?” Hamza thinks, bracing for the attack.

The energy violently explodes from the clash, causing the ground to tremble. Cypher’s blue and black energy surges forward like a comet.

Back at the bridge, Sohjin looks up and the commotion.

“Woah, what was that just now?” Sohjin puzzled “I wanna go up and help but..I think I’ll just get in the way.”

“EYES ON THE FIGHT!” Volcon screams, leaping at Sohjin, getting ready to strike.

Sohjin blocks his punch with his sword. With Volcon's other hand, he lunges forward striking Sohjin in the face.

Sohjin backs up, attempting to recover, but Volcon rushes in, raising his leg and slamming it into Sohjin’s thigh.

Sohjin stumbles but catches himself. He grips his sword and swings his sword diagonally, slicing Volcon’s left arm.

“Almost cut it off, impressive.” Volcon says, examining his arm. “BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH!”

Volcon’s fist shot towards Sohjin’s jaw. He ducked, preparing to strike Volcon’s stomach. Volcon smiles, and in a blur his knee crashes into Sohjin’s ribs.

Sohjin’s vision blurred as the pain rippled throughout his chest.

Volcon kicked him back, and launched his foot towards Sohjin’s thigh. Sohjin pushes through the pain and goes to the counter, but Volcon shifts his leg upward, changing his angle of motion.

The sudden upward swing slams into the side of Sohjin’s head. A flash of light exploded through his vision. Blood splattered from his mouth, as he stumbled back. The world twisted around him, as the bitter taste of blood filled his mouth. His heart pounded with fear.

He gasped for air, gripping his sword tightly, even as it threatened to leave his grip. Sohjin refused to fall. His body begged him to stop.

“After all this, you still stand, why? Nobody’s forcing you to fight.” Volcon questions.

“Because…Your IN MY WAY!” Sohjin’s screams

With his left arm, he fires multiple blasts of seishin from his palms. Volcon creates small fireballs and effortlessly destroys his Seishin blasts.

“Pathetic you really though yo-“ Volcon is interrupted by Sohjin, who appears through the smoke getting ready to strike.

Volcon throws a right jab, imbuing his fist with fire. Before his jab could connect, Sohjin e-dashes on the left side of him, and slices Volcon’s upper abdominal area. Volcon jumps back holding the wound.

Sohjin dashes toward him, leaping into the air and holding his face.

“MS MAGIC!” Sohjin yells.

In an instant, Ms Magic appears, bringing her blade overhead. Volcon braces for the attack, as Ms Magic slams her sword into the ground creating a shockwave sending Volcon into the air.

Volcon slams his hands together creating a fireball, and launching it at her. Ms Magic effortlessly slices it in half, and thrusts her sword forward.

Before the attack could land, she vanishes and in her place, Sohjin appears. He imbues his sword with his seishin energy and slashes him.

Volcon drifts upward, placing his hands above him and creates a large fireball. Sohjin chases after him, getting ready to strike. Before Sohjin could reach him, both of them freeze mid-motion.

“What is the meaning of this!?” Volcon choked, his eyes shifting to Astren. “DAMN YOU, WHY!”

Astren's soul force overwhelms Volcon forcing him to drop his hands, the weight sinking him to the ground.

Sohjin feels immense weight and pressure forcing down on him. His body trembles under the strain, despite this he manages to push through and electrically dashes back to the bridge, where he collapses to his knees.

“Damn, it’s this feeling again, who is it coming from?” Sohjin thinks, his muscles aching as he struggles to breathe. Slowly, he turns his head and locks eyes with Astren.

“Fascinating,” Astren says with a smile. “You've managed to push through my soul Force.”

A knot twists in Sohjin’s stomach. “HIS FACE! I can barely make it out.” He mutters. “It’s like a twisted memory or someone in a dream…. I can’t put my finger on it.”

He pushed himself to his feet, breathing heavily, his body weak from the pressure. “WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?” Sohjin demanded.

“I'm pretty sure I made it clear.” Astren said, stepping forward.

In a blink of an eye, Astren appeared in front of Sohjin. “Your enemy.” Astren chuckled.

The air around them seemed to crackle from his presence. Sohjin tensed up and stood frozen in fear.

“Wha..How?” Sohjin choked out. He leaped back, gripping his sword tightly.

“I didn’t even see him move….how did he?” He thought, gritting his teeth and getting into the fools stance.

Astren smiled and waved at him.

“What do I do? I’m clearly outmatched.” His mind raced, panic leached onto him. “No! I can’t back down now!” Sohjin thought, imbuing his sword in seishin, he slammed his foot into the ground and charged forward.

“HRGGGGHH!” Sohjin yelled, leaping into the air, his sword raised and slashed at Astren with all his strength. The clash of his sword exploded and created smoke around them.

“Hmm impressive, you're a fast learner. You were able to figure out how to imbue your sword with your seishin energy. But you’re reckless and don’t take account of what others could do to counteract.” Astren said.

As the smoke clears, Astren stands unscathed with the blade inches away from his face.

Sohjin’s eyes widened.“HUH! WHAT THE HELL. HOW DID—” Sohjin frantically thought.

“This is a unique technique. It’s called Soul Guard, it allows me to use my Soul Force to create an invisible force field around myself.” Astren smirked. “Although it stops things on the outside from reaching me.” Astren calmly said, reaching for Sohjin’s Sword and grabbing it.

“It doesn’t stop me from interacting with things on the outside.” Astren says, twisting Sohjin’s sword away from him

“DAMN! He’s got me good. What should I do?” Sohjin panicked.

Sohjin lets go of his sword and leaps back and places his hand on his face.

“MS MAGIC” He yells. No response, no figure materializes.

Instead blood gushes from his mouth, as he falls to his knees. His heart races in pain, each beat like a hammer. He struggles to regain his breath as gasps for air. His arms and legs shook uncontrollably from the strain.

“No…get up…what am I doing? STAND.” He thought, trying to stand but his body betrays him and his vision blurs.

“You’ve overdone it. You’ve burnt through all your energy. You're a fool to have ever charged into battle without learning to utilize your Seishin.” Astren says, hovering over him, and begins exerting his soul force onto him.

Sohjin’s body trembles, The pressure intensifies, crushing him from all sides. The ground beneath Sohjin’s body cracks and becomes indented. He struggles to lift himself up but the pressure is too much. He lies hopeless and powerless. Tears bubble in his eyes.

“Please…stop.” Sohjin whispered, his voice barely audible from the pain.

“Stop? You wanted to fight. Now you have to deal with the consequences.” He said, throwing his sword in front of him. “You're pathetic. You're nothing but a boy playing hero, thinking you could change the word. But in the end you're a child, pretending to be something you're not.”

Astren bends down, looking Sohjin in the eyes and smirks. “Did you really believe you had what it takes?” Astren said, his voice low.

He slowly stood up, imbuing his fist with moss green and dark blue energy. “May the weak die and the strong get stronger.”

“Breathe…Get up..grab the sword…move…I have…get out of the way..” Sohjin said, his vision blurs as he withstands from blacking out.

As Astren fist dove forward, his fist suddenly strikes a sword, filling the air with a metallic clang. Sohjin slowly opens his eyes and finds himself behind a medium sized man dressed in all white with green outlines with a hood that covers his face.

A slight gasp escapes from Sohjin’s mouth.

“Hey, sorry we’re late, but we’ll take it from here.” The mysterious man says, looking at Sohjin.

Above Sohjin, a streak of light flies past him and crashes nearby Amp. He turns back around and sees the man fighting Astren.

He dodges Astren attacks and brings his sword in front of him, with his right hand hovering over his sword. His sword glows black and white with his hand still hovering, he shouts “TENSHIDO”.

He swiftly swings his sword like a baseball bat. A giant wave of energy in the shape of a sideways U flies off the sword and into Astren.

Sohjin backs up, sheathing his sword. He weakly leans against the cold railing, finally able to breathe.

“WE’RE NOT DONE YET.” Volcon yells, flying behind Sohjin, with two fireballs in hand.

Sohjin’s eyes widened in surprise and reached for his sword. Before he could grab it, he heard someone call out to them.

“HEYYY! HEYYYY! VOLCON ITS ME'' Someone yelled with long hair that split into a middle part, he wore bright purple and red clothes and had a mask that revealed his mouth and allowed his hair to flow freely.

Volcon eyes opened in anger.

“You!” He angrily growled.

“That’s right, the one and only, RYKER” Ryker says, doing a superhero pose.

Volcon immediately switches his focus on Ryker, firing two fireballs at him. Ryker smacks them out the way and flies into him. Ryker then punches his jaw and grabs his leg, throws him into the bridge, almost hitting Sohjin. Ryker slowly lands in front of Sohjin.

“Sorry bout that. While you still can get outa here.” Ryker said.

“I can barely move, let alone breathe, my limbs are too weak and I think I'm on the verge of blacking out.” Sohjin replies.

“Alrighty….. LUNA.” Ryker shouts. “Forgive me for this.”

Ryker turns around and fires an air blast at Sohjin. Before Sohjin could say anything, he is pushed back and falls into a portal.

“Sorry about that. Are you okay?” A girl on the edge of the roof said.

Sohjin looks around and finds himself on the roof of the gym.

“Yeah I’m alright.” Sohjin said.

“You rest. We’ll take it from here.” Luna said, creating a portal. She turns around and briefly looks at Sohjin and then proceeds jumping into the portal.

Sohjin grabs his sword and uses it to slowly make his way towards the edge of the building. He weakly watches as the battle unfolds.

Back at the bridge, Luna appears behind Ryker who is excitedly waiting for Volcon to stand up.

“Oh hey Luna. Is that other guy alright?” Ryker said.

“Yeah, he’s fine. Hygeia is on her way and will take care of him.” Luna replied.

“Hygeia, she’s on the team?”

“Not officially.”

Unexpectedly, Volcon fired a fireball at Luna and Ryker. Luna raises her right arm and creates a portal in front of them, consuming the fire ball.

Ryker places his hand on his head in disappointment.

“You’ve lost your touch.” Ryker mocked, charging towards Volcon. Before he could reach him, the man with white and green outlines comes crashing in and breaks himself using his sword.

“Damnit, Scorn, why do you always get in my way?” Ryker insisted.

Scorn turns to his left and stares at Volcon. Volcon imbues his hand with flames and punches Scorn.

Before his punch could land Scorn, quickly swings his sword creating a windshield and blocks Volcon’s punch.

His punch violently explodes on impact, sparks of fire surround his punch and the ground breaks open below them. The ground forces Scorn to leap in the air. He flips and lands on the bridge's railing.

“My bad, they’re leader is strong. I used my most powerful attack ‘Tenshido’ and it barely left a scratch.” Scorn stated.

“Well to be fair, it's not really powerful if it’s coming from you.” Ryker jokes.

“What was that Ryker? As soon as we get back, we’re fighting.” Scorn said seriously, tightening his grip on his sword.

“Knock it off you two.” Apollo said, flying down to them.

“What happened to you? I’ve never seen you all bloodied up like this.” Ryker asked, examining Apollo’s torn up suit.

“Dealing with Cypher.” Apollo replied.

“So these are the Rogues. Thought there were more.” Scorn said.

“There are more, they have numbers on their clothes. The ones that are here are out of order, varying from 2,1,or 4. I'm assuming that’s a rank based on power” Apollo said.

“I wonder what Volcon’s number is.” Ryker questioned, placing his hand on his chin. “Speaking of him, where is he?”

Suddenly the bridge began to shake and the ground crackled and cracked. Then the ground splits open and Volcon bursts from the ground with his hands by his side. His hand flows with pure lava, with bits of lava pouring off.

“SCREW THIS, I DON’T GIVE A DAMN WHAT ASTREN AND LORD PARASITE HAVE TO SAY. I'M TIRED OF HOLDING BACK.” Volcon screamed, and crushes a microchip in his hand. “WHAT YOU’VE SEEN IS A FRACTION OF OUR POWER, THIS MICROCHIP SUPPRESSES OUR TRUE POWER BY 95% AND ONLY ALLOWS US TO USE 5% OF THAT POWER.” The ground continues to shake. The trees nearby roar in the wind and branches snap off.

“His soul force is wildly increasing! We need to take him down now!” Luna said.

“RUGIDO: TORO ARDIENTE” Volcon yelled, tattoos of a bull appeared as he extended his arms and placed his palms together forming a cupped shape. In between his palms a giant ball forms in his hands, growing larger in size by the second.

As the seishin move continues to form, his tattoos slowly fall down his arm and into the ball of seishin.

The seishin bomb crackles and grows more violently. Electricity of fire surrounds him and his aura intensifies. He brings his arms back, with a powerful shout he thrust his arms forward and fires the attack.

The ball soars through the sky. Luna quickly creates a portal underneath Apollo, Scorn, and Ryker and takes them further down the bridge.

The attack whistles in the air and crashes into the ground. Smoke immediately fills the air.

Volcon sits down in the air with his left knee up and rests his right arm on it.

“This is my favorite technique in my entire arsenal. I haven’t devoted much time to let him out and play, let alone name him.” Volcon said, staring at the smoke.

As the smoke clears a humanoid bull standing on his legs with vengeance in its eyes burst out. Clearing the smoke with its horns and muscular arms. It quickly adjusts to its surroundings and centers its focus towards the others.

“But if I was to name it, I think I like Ciego.”

Flames explode from its nostrils and hooves as its scraps against the ground.

Volcon stares down his opponent’s with furry, clenching his fist. Ryker grins in excitement and gets ready.

“Holy shit…That thing is tall, I won't lie, I'm a little worried.” Ryker chuckled.

“Alright team, we got this. Don’t focus on Astren and Cypher, they’re spectators and won't attack us unless we do.” Apollo said.

“As long as I can fight Volcon. Just leave him and the bull to me.” Ryker said happily.

“I’ll tag along. Scorn, Luna, you guys go help Jack.” Hamza added

“Gotcha.” They said.

“Hey wait where’s soh- Spectre.” Apollo questioned.

“I portaled him to the roof of the gym, Hygeia is on her way. Matter of fact there she is.” Luna says, pointing at a girl wearing an all red and black dress who is waving.

Ciego scraps his hooves against the ground and the fire on his horns becomes more violent. Ryker gets ready, wildly throwing his left arm in the air and right arm in front of him. Luna creates a portal and leaves with Scorn.

“ALRIGHT BRIGADES, LET'S DO THIS!” Hamza yelled, springing into action.

Next time on Spirit Of Hope,

Chapter 7: Oakleaf High School Showdown

BONUS

In a break room everyone we’ve met thus far are standing around a table eating donuts.

“The last sprinkled donut, don’t mind if I do.” Sohjin said, looking around.

Astren hastily reaches for the donut, snatching it from Sohjin.

“Hey, that was mine.” Sohjin said. “Give me the damn donut you already had one.” Sohjin said, trying to take the donut.

Astren exerts his soul force onto Sohjin, Causing him to fall to his knees. “The donut with multi-colored sprinkles on it is mine.” He said taking a bite out of the donut.

“Ok ok, fine. Shit..didn’t need to do all that.” Sohjin said standing up and disappointingly walks to the table where his friends are at.

“I’m glad Ryker and Luna are helping me. The twins are annoying.” Jack said.

“We’re happy to help.” Scorn said, he slowly turns his head towards Ryker who is practically jumping up and down like a child. “Are you ok?” Scorn asked Ryker.

“I’m excited to fight that bull, it looks sick! I can’t wait to fight, next chapter!” Ryker energetically said.

“Hey Hamza, speaking of fighting, when can I fight again? I’m dying to get out there.” Sohjin asked

“Not for a while Sohjin. Maybe not for the next few chapters.” Hamza said.

“AW MAN!” Sohjin said disappointed.

CHAPTER END