Among all the fights taking place, the most silently drawn out one was Yukio's one.

"Um… Everybody has already started, so…" Yukio awkwardly scratched his head, wondering what his opponent was thinking, to be simply standing there silently.

"Oh, you were waiting for me this whole time? Apologies, lad. I assumed you were preparing something."

"Eh… eeeeehhhhhh?!!!!" Yukio's mouth went agape at the absurdity of the situation. They were doing nothing but wasting time!

"Please come at me without reservations. It wouldn't be right for me to raise my hand first against a youth like yourself."

"Is he… not a bad guy after all?" Yukio gulped and reached for the flask at the back of his waist.

"As expected, liquid state user, hmm." He casually groomed his beard.

"Eh? But I haven't even done anything!"

Flinching for a second, Yukio resumed his motion and activated his unnamed armbands, thus improving his fluid control. The water enveloped both his arms and his wrist and floated like some kind of tentacle like limb extensions from each arm.

"Ah, I see! Those armbands are your weapons! I was wondering where you had them hidden, but to think you'd be using such a peculiar and unique tool… Hmm, this is quite fascinating!"

"What… is up with this guy? Is he just curious, or… is he trying to figure me out? Or is it that he's just really confident in his victory?"

If it was the first, the old man might be someone who is interested in peculiar fighting styles. If it was the second, Yukio would need to be cautious. But if it was the third, his opponent was someone he had to fear.

And yet, even if Yukio took an extra second to imagine the old man as someone utterly unbeatable, he didn't find it unpleasant.

Regardless, he was someone that needed to be defeated.

Compared to his previous battles, Yukio was currently at a disadvantage from the start. His ability shone best when he faces a rematch, or has spent enough time in a battle to observe his opponent. Attacking first was not his strong suit. That was something more of a Diavolo or Shin thing to do.

As such, he needed to probe into his opponent and see how he reacted.

Deciding so, he dashed forward mediocrely and whipped at the old man. Unsurprisingly, the water that struck him felt like a rubber ball bouncing off a wall. After two to three more hits resulting in nothing but a stone statue staying in its place, he decided to change things up.

Even if this old man's build was something Yukio had not seen before, he was still human with the same vitals.

He wore the water whips like sleeves onto his arms and only focused a small bit over his fingers.

Yukio did not want to kill him even if he was an enemy, so he wanted to disable him as much as possible and make him give up.

A foolish choice.

It is often said that if one aims for an A, they end up getting a B; or if they aim for an A+, they get an A.

Yukio, who was unable to determine the true might of the opponent before him, was unaware that he needed to aim at his life to do proper damage.

He rapidly fired a barrage or sharp water droplets at the man, making bullet holes over the man's simply made robes. He was primarily aiming for his shoulders, so he could disable his arms. Once his torso was exposed enough, he aimed precisely and kept shooting while the elderly stood there with no reaction.

Finally, Yukio was left with only two palms worth of water when he stopped. He anxiously looked at the man who was about to loosen his crossed arms and let them droop down.

When he saw a slow movement, he was joyous but only for an instant, because those arms didn't droop down, but rose up and… scratched the places where he had hit.

"It… didn't work? Impossible! His flesh is still human, right? Can he really have that high of a defense?! Or was he… negating them with some kind of technique?"

"It isn't my taste to belittle youngsters for their lack of strength, but you must pardon me. I initially thought of defending myself using Takeover and dispersing the water, but it was too pitiful to continue on and I let them hit me. As you may have guessed, my flesh is much more developed than your average bodybuilder. If you want to pierce in, then… hmm… how about adding spin to your bullets?"

"Eh? Is he… helping me? To defeat him?" Yukio was stunned. "No… then it just means I'm that weak. I need to learn… even if it's from the enemy!"

"Here, take your water supply back," he said and the amount of water Yukio lost came back at him from under the ground.

"Th-thanks… I guess…"

The old man simply smiled and, "Let us continue."

Yukio did exactly what he had advised. Rather than simply shooting the water bullets out, he added spin for more penetration power. Yukio thought of himself as being silly, to have missed out on such a simple concept.

But his case of looking down on himself quickly vanished as the new bullet he launched dispersed into dew drops and cool vapour around a mere meter ahead. It didn't even reach his target!

"It didn't work? No, wait. How was this even supposed to work to begin with?! Water is not a solid! If it is spun like that, it's obvious that it won't maintain its structure and just spread everywhere! Argh, I was such a fool to have believed him!"

"This is… unfortunate," the old man disappointingly said. "Seeing the length of your 'water whips', I presumed you'd have a much higher domination range. But for your limits to only be here… it is truly unfortunate."

"Domination… range? What's that?"

SCREEEEEEE

But before an answer could come, he felt a tremendously terrifying aura from another direction. Reflexively turning towards it, he saw the devastating black lightning descend onto Shin.

"SHIN!!!" he screamed and impulsively dashed towards him.

Psshh! Cling! Thud!

Almost immediately a thick wall of water emerged before him from the ground and quickly froze, making him slam face first onto it.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that, lad," the old man declared.

"Let me go! I need to help my friend!!!"

"Do not forget that I am your opponent. Just because I have yet to land a single punch, do not mistake me for someone so naive. I am not on your side."

Soon enough, he heard a strong barrage of hits resound somewhere in a distance.

"HANNAH!!!" He ran in the opposite direction this time, but immediately got blocked by another wall.

"Kuh!" This was the first time Yukio frowned at the old man. But he didn't attack. He helplessly ran as fast and swiftly as he could to get around the wall, but in vain.

"It seems you're quite persistent in ignoring our confrontation. Let's do this, then." And almost immediately a large dome of ice was constructed around them, trapping the two together.

The clear ice distorted the scenery, but not to the point he couldn't make out the colours or silhouettes of the people outside. Even if he couldn't see details, he knew his friends were on the losing side, although much worse off than he himself was.

A bright red glow could be seen from an alternate direction, and the silhouette and colour of the attire of the person outside that source of light did not belong to one of his friends. He knew exactly who was fighting that person.

"DIAVOLO!!!!!" he screamed out louder, but his voice would not be heard.

Horrified, he looked towards where the only seniors were fighting for a ray of hope. But all he could see was a large figure thrashing about something in its hand. Terror struck his heart.

"No… that can't be… even Arashi and Randolf…" He fell to his knees.

The old man did nothing to comfort him and simply stood there. It was clear he wasn't going to help.

"That's right… Layla! What about Layla?!" He looked towards where Suzume and Layla were. But all he could make out was two figures huddled together and nothing more. "Old man! What happened to Layla!"

"It's no use. The lass is too afraid to move and is currently on her knees. The target is trying to keep her together."

Yukio was sent to an even greater feeling of helplessness. "No… but… she was supposed to… heal…"

"Heal?" The old man raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I see. But she doesn't seem suited for combat. If that's the case, what makes you so sure the others won't attack her while she's trying to heal? You need someone to support her while she's doing her job, though. Did you not think this through?" he casually asked.

Yukio gritted his teeth and started punching on the ice.

"Even in this situation, you do not wish to close the gap between us, but want to go to your friends?"

The young man didn't reply and continued to punch.

The old man sighed. "If you continue like that, a simple crack could make ice fragments pierce into your flesh. Try enveloping your fists with the water you recovered. Liquids are incompressible and can serve as great padding if you control it correctly."

Yukio flinched. Even in this situation, he was calmly giving him lessons?

"First you do not attack me. Then you give me lessons. Then you prevent me from helping my friends. And now you're telling me how to break the thing you yourself created to stop me. Just what are you planning?!"

"Hmm, I wonder myself. Although… what made you think I wouldn't re-erect the barrier after you've broken it?"

That was correct. Yukio remembered how easily it was for the old man to create a dome of this size and also with such strength. If he did it once, he could do it again with the snap of his finger.

"Looks like… defeating you is my only way out."

"But you better hurry. Having your friends in that state means our target is open for collection."

Yukio shuddered… and immediately went for the offensive. But he still could not muster up any will to kill this man. Every blow was heartfelt but shallow. They weren't 'attacks' in their fullest meaning.

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"I suppose this is your limit. Do not despair. You did your best. There's no use pushing yourself further at this point," he declared, aiming his open palm towards a panting Yukio.

"What do you—" but before he could finish his sentence, a sphere of water was formed around him that completely submerged his entire body in.

"Guh! Gah!" he choked and groaned in suffocation.

"Fret not. I will release you once you're out cold. Unlike the others, I am not here to torture but to simply retrieve the target as per mission states."

Yukio was someone who could maintain his breath just as well as his two best friends. But caught off guard, he wasn't prepared for this sudden submerge, and thus quickly fell into the abyss after tens of seconds.

----------------------------------------

"... Again… It happened again. Even after working so hard, I'm still a weakling. I'm dragging my friends down again… Just what was the point? They could push themselves to the point of breaking themselves, while here I am, being defeated like an insect. No, worse! Why am I so useless?!"

«Ahem! If you're done blaming yourself, can we move on to the main event?»

"Eh?! W-who is this?!"

«Ugh! Brother, stop being so insensitive! He feels responsible!»

«What's the point if he doesn't do anything? Boohoo, I'm sad, so someone please help me! Like hell that's gonna happen!»

"Um… excuse me…?"

«Just look! Even the other brat has graduated from Natura! I can't take this anymore, sister dear! I'm gonna force it now!»

«Sigh… I suppose now would be better since he hasn't lost his senses like last time… »

"Am I being ignored?"

«Hey, brat! Listen up! You frustrated? Angry? Do you want power?»

"E-eh?!"

«Yes or no?!»

"Y-y-y-yes, sir! Definitely!"

«Good! Let me show you the feeling of emptiness!»

"Empti… what? What do you mean?"

«Sigh… It's alright, little one. Ease yourself. My brother and I shall guide you through. Keep calm and clear your mind.»

"O… okay, ma'am…"

Yukio didn't know where he was or what was going on, but he couldn't feel his body while he was speaking to these ethereal yet willful voices. He was confused and perplexed but everything happened so quickly that he couldn't catch up and was forced to follow their whims.

As Yukio calmed himself down, he felt a small tingle somewhere within him but then immediately a strong tug that drained him of all his mental powers.

"What is—!"

Before he could finish thinking so, everything turned dark. In reality, everything was already dark after he fell unconscious, but now this was a different kind of dark. A dark abyss that spanned everywhere indefinitely. Nothing existed here, not even his own thoughts.

If Yukio could think, he would imagine himself to be in a coma or even dead. But that could not be done. He was robbed of everything. A clear, smooth, everlasting void.

But even amongst this, there was this small strand of connection that held him in place. As if that one thing kept him from completely dissipating and truly becoming lifeless. This strand was not something Yukio could sense, but even if he could, he would, yet again, not be able to think about it.

And then a glint appeared on the strand, immediately after which, countless beams of light erupted everywhere in this dark void and shot towards the feeble 'Yukio' at the tip of the strand.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!"

Countless was not a figure of speech. As these fireworks erupted and bombarded against Yukio, knocking him back to his senses, he truly felt that the needlelike streaks of light were infinite in quantity. Infinite in its truest meaning.

«KAHAHAHA! GOOD! GREAT! IT WORKED!!!»

«Thank goodness he's alright. I was beginning to think we lost him for good.»

Even if this was the world of the unconscious, Yukio felt like he needed to gasp for breath. He felt as if he had experienced zero and infinity simultaneously, and was suddenly dragged out from it in an instant. Now that he could think again, all of that experience felt like it had only lasted a second, no, an instant. As if one would not even be able to tell whether he was even put in there in the first place; that kind of fast. But when he imagined himself to be in 'there' again, and recalled the feeling, he felt as though he had spent an eternity there. Not an eternity like that inside a dream, but 'true' eternity. Something one might not even fathom unless they experience it directly.

"What… just… happened… to me???!!!"

«Hmm, it's a pain to explain, so… just think of it as a place where you draw power from!»

"Are… are you joking?! I don't want to experience that again! I'll die!!!"

«Ah, no, that was because… »

«See, brother!!! I told you to take it slow! But no! You just had to rush things and scare him!!!»

«...My bad… I apologize… »

"???"

«Pardon him, little one. He's rash but he doesn't want to hurt you, believe me. We both need you to… no, we want you to get stronger. This was necessary. Normally, what you experienced would definitely be overwhelming but not as painful as it was for you. It was because the method used was forced and not conventional that it hurt like that. But worry not. Now that you're back and in good health, that domain is free for you to use. Just remember that experience, minus the pain, and draw out the power that you felt coming towards you.»

Yukio was still somewhat skeptical, confused and afraid. But at the very least, the woman's voice was not as hostile nor haughty as the man's one. She seemed more reliable.

"But… who are you people? Why can you talk to me like this?"

«!!! I'm glad you finally asked!!!»

VOOSH

Amidst the darkness, a pair of beaming golden eyes sprouted.

"Uwah!!" Yukio could feel himself tubble backwards in surprise.

These eyes seemed brimming with fiery energy, as if looking down on all creatures on the vast land. Deep black pupils that were vertical slits piercingly gaze down at him. The size might've been as large as or larger than his body.

VOOSH

«Could you stop scaring him?! Seriously!»

Sensing a deep glow from a source behind him, Yukio looked back and saw another pair of similarly fiery eyes looking at him.

Yukio stared dumbfoundedly as the two pairs of eyes moved until they were beside each other.

«We are the Twin Dragon that has forsaken the Hydra race and has stayed behind after the Great Expulsion! We have been searching for the perfect bearer for many generations and finally someone interesting has come!»

"Perfect bearer?"

«We reside within those harmless armbands you're wearing. But having access to the endless pool of energy will now evolve those weapons and allow you to show our true might.»

"Endless… energy? Does that mean…"

«My name is Argon!»

«And I am Neon.»

««Call upon our names and draw out your power! Let our fates and strengths intertwine as we bear our fangs against those who oppose! Let us show these inferior beings who gets to rule the face of the earth!»»

"That sounds scary, so I don't want to!"

««.....................»»

"But I understand that I need your power to overcome the obstacle right now. There are many questions I have before deciding things, so I hope we can have a nice long chat later! For now at least, I'll take you up on your offer!"

----------------------------------------

"Layla! Get ahold of yourself!" Suzume screamed, grasping her shoulders from behind.

"It's over… we can't win!" she said, her voice shaking and body trembling.

"What are you saying! Isn't this why you came here?! If you can heal them, then they can get back up!"

"... I can't. My legs… won't move…" She looked up at her with teary eyes of utter fear and helplessness.

Suzume clicked her tongue. She was contemplating on whether she should carry Layla towards the injured. But then it occurred to her. If she did take her there, who would stand guard while she healed?

"This is no good. We… That's right! Remcon! We need to get Remcon!" she thought and shot her view towards the yacht. However, a few seconds later, she thought it might be too late if she tried. What could she do? What other way was there?

"Should I… use it?" she thought. Her sister firmly ordered her to never use the power of the shard because she goes berserk. She needed to find the right time. If she prematurely attempted it, she would hurt allies instead. She was slowly steeling her resolve. Her heart was in a constant state of tug-of-war between her emotions and reason.

What would be the right thing to do? What if she made a mistake? How would she take responsibility? All this time, her dependable sister had her back. She was always calm and composed. Her decisions would be sound in reason and logic. But now that sister was being tossed around like a piece of cloth.

What should she do? Or rather, who should she save first? Her sister told her that Diavolo was their hope of defeating Hisao. But she wouldn't have gotten so far if it weren't for her sister. And what about her other friends? She can't just leave them! How much would she be able to manage?

"Just why… is this happening? They are such good people. Why… do they have to suffer like this?" Layla muttered to herself.

"If you feel like that then why don't you do something?!!!" was what Suzume wanted to scream at her. Her frustration almost got to her head. But she, who was being useless in this situation as well, had no right to speak of her like that. At the very least, she was expressing her regrets more than Suzume was.

Suzume noticed Splinter leaving the body of Shin behind and heading towards Diavolo and Geralt. He spoke to his leader about something and immediately went to get Tanran who was violently kicking Hannah around like a sandbag. Tanran seemed pissed at the interruption but gave in. The two looked towards Arashi's direction but looked away again, shrugging, making their way towards the frozen dome where the old man and Yukio were trapped inside. They tried peeking and knocking at it like curious animals but to no avail.

"Then… Why was I told to come here… I'm not even needed…" Layla muttered even more softly as her body got more limp.

"...What?"

Before Suzume could attempt at processing what she said, the dome started to glow with a cool and relaxing blue light that quickly turned 180 degrees and gave off a fierce feeling. Splinter and Tanran had faces of alarm. They tried their best to punch and attack, but it didn't seem to have any effect. Just how tough was the dome?

Just when she thought so, the first crack finally appeared. And then the second. And then the third. A final umph, both of them managed to blast the entire dome open with countless shards of ice raining down in the region. It was at this moment another glint had appeared on a different part of the battlefield that Suzume failed to notice because of the commotion.

Inside the broken dome, she saw Yukio preparing a fierce attack of violently surging water towards the old man standing indifferently. It wasn't clear, it also seemed as though the old man could not gather strength in his arms for some reason, since both dangled limply on his sides.

"Did it happen again?" Suzume thought back to their journey by sea, looking at the fierce aura Yukio was giving off. "No… this is somehow… different."

The attack was just about to make contact. And that was when the two goons intercepted.

"The hell are you doing old man?! Trapping yourself in and losing! What would you do if we hadn't shown up, huh?!" she could vaguely hear Splinter complain.

The intercepted Yukio was flung off to a distance, but after a couple of flips, he managed to regain his balance. With the surging water on his arms gone, it was finally visible. In place of the arm bands were a pair of metallic gloves… no, gauntlets. But they fit so nicely that they looked like sleeve gloves.

"He's… using Raze?!" Suzume whispered to herself.

Even after Yukio was rebounded away, he didn't falter. His expression was still the same. In fact, if one looked closely, he slightly looked relieved.

"It's a good thing you came over!" he declared, resulting in confused expressions on the recipients.

Yukio gushed out even more energy than before. Seeing how the surrounding energy wasn't circulating around him, Suzume was even more convinced. Yukio had indeed graduated from Natura!

He swung his arms behind and bent his back forward, stretching as much as could in a short span of one second. And then he swung them upwards in a cross motion.

Following this, a couple of thick water jets gushed out from the ground, as if a geyser had ruptured, and arced towards the three enemies in a cross fashion until they were completely enveloped in a thicker, but less prominent dome.

It was not really a dome, but more like two intersecting arches that wound around them snugly. There were still openings, four to be exact, but none were wide enough for humans to escape. It was an imperfect attempt, but the sheer thickness and girth of the arcs were more than enough to compensate.

"You son of a—!!! Let us out!!!!!" Splinter screamed.

"I have more pressing matters to attend to," he replied and looked towards the closest person, Hannah. But immediately he was taken aback at the scene. Or rather, the lack of a scene.

She was not there!

Following Yukio's gaze, Suzume too looked around, but as soon as she turned to the opposite direction, she saw all of her friends lined up beside each other, except for one man who had laid their bodies here.

Shin.

Hannah was completely surprised and couldn't believe it. Just a moment ago, she saw him out cold and limp on the ground. Just what had happened?!

But then her eyes shifted to a particular thing strapped to his back. A peculiar weapon. A double sided lance? Or a sword? The size and shape of the blades suggested it was some kind of double ended sword. Just where had he gotten this…

And then the realization rained down on her.

Had Shin too started to use Raze?

"Just what is happening? How are they awakening Raze one after another? Wasn't Diavolo-kun the special one?"

"Layla," Shin calmly said. "It's alright now. Can I leave their treatment to you?"

Layla stared dumbfoundedly at Shin, but after a few seconds, she slowly nodded and managed to readjust herself to make it easier to shroud all of them at once.

Diavolo, Hannah, Arashi and Randolf.

"It's fine. I'll manage. Please use your strength for these three," Randolf pleaded.

"Hey… this is really bad!!! Old man, do something!" Splinter demanded.

Yukio heaved a sigh of relief and smiled at Shin who was making his way towards Geralt. He too followed soon after.