“Tatsu No!” Yuri yelled at her as she cut her left arm off. There was no blood, just blazing red light. Tatsu showered in it. Her eyes turned black as she was consumed by it. The severed arm turned to ashes.

Yuri backed off, and so did the soldiers. He had never felt such a heavier presence from anyone, even from Akuna The fire ghoul. Tatsu’s gia signature was stronger than Akuna’s too.

“Hell’s requiem.” Tatsu named her first attack. Unlike her usual fighting style, she gripped the katana solely in her right hand. With a wave of her katana, the soldiers flew back.

“Go.” She told him. “They are my enemies.”

Yuri used the opportunity to lead Professor Clif to the control room. It was packed with soldiers working on their computers.

“Shut everything down!” one of the officers commanded his soldiers. They did not see both of them coming in. Yuri and the professor went straight to killing them while they were distracted. The control room turned into a slaughterhouse.

“Search for ‘nuclear.’” The professor told him. Yuri typed it into one of the computers. He typed ‘Hisantrost.’ into one of the other computers as the one in front of him loaded up.

“What are you doing?” The professor asked him.

“A bit of helpful research.”

After a few seconds, the information page loaded up.

“Nuclear concentrated light particles.” The professor read. “The annihilator! That’s the name of the nuclear generator.”

“How can we turn it off?” Yuri asked.

“The annihilator is controlled in the engine room on the fourth floor. We have to turn off the generator lever before it starts the countdown. Wait, no the countdown has already begun.” The professor squinted and adjusted his glasses.

“What?” Yuri asked shockingly.

“Seems like they panicked and moved up the schedule. This just makes things worse.” Clif replied. He clicked the mouse to load up another page.

“How long do we have?” Yuri asked him.

The professor waited for the page to load up. “Three minutes four seconds.” He announced. “We must hurry now.”

Yuri checked the other computer to see what it had loaded up on Hisantrost.

‘No information found.’ He read.

“What?” He asked himself. “That’s not possible.” The professor pushed him with his elbow and examined the other computer.

“Why are you searching for ‘Hisantrost’? It doesn’t exist anymore.” Clif said as he pulled him to the door.

“I was hoping to get more information on the Hisantrost tragedy.”

The two of them ran outside to the control room, back to the fight. Tatsu, Stu, and Ada were still fighting the army off, but it was mostly just Tatsu flying around the place like a wild animal.

“Fourth floor. We do not have much time. It will blow up in less than three minutes.” Yuri disclosed this to the team. “We need to get to the engine room.”

Stu joined him and the professor as they ran back to the stairs. Tumes and Ada stayed back to assist Tatsu.

The stairs were overflowing with soldiers running in. Yuri and Stu cut them off together.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Temporal flight. Straight slash!” Both of them skipped through half of the stairs while using their katanas to cut the soldier’s bodies into two. They made way for Professor Clif.

The fourth floor was a surprisingly silent and empty dark hall. It was unnerving.

“Where’s the engine room?” Stu asked them.

The professor led the way. He opened every door and checked if it was the engine room.

“Oh!” The professor was startled as he entered the room. There were seven bodies on the ground, wearing white coats. They were all slashed in the chest.

“What happened?” The professor knelt and asked the only survivor who was on the verge of death.

“Master Ryuma had a tantrum. He found something he shouldn’t have.” The man said.

Yuri saw the engine with a timer attached to it.

‘1 minute 27 seconds.’

He desperately searched for the lever. The lights in the room turned off.

“Yuri watch out!” Stu warned him.

There was no Gia presence in the room, other than three of them. Yet, a sword came slashing through the air. Yuri dodged the sharp end by a hair.

“I am at my limit.” The man with the long hair said. “Do not test me.” He was two feet taller than Yuri and had a scar on the right side of his face.

“Ryuma.” Professor Clif recognized the man.

Ryuma did not look back. He continued to swing away at Yuri.

This is not any form I know of! Ryuma was fighting without Gia and any orthodox fighting stance, but he was truly a beast.

This is bad.

Yuri was sure he was going to get killed at any moment. He had never felt such bloodlust before. Every swing of Ryuma's sword was made with the intent to kill.

Stu used Yuri fighting Axel as a distraction. He snuck up behind the two of them to pull the lever. Ryuma pushed Yuri away and redirected his attention to Stu. It was as if he had foresight.

The professor summoned his Gia gun and tried to shoot Ryuma. It was useless, he deflected the invisible bullets.

“Get him out of here!” Yuri yelled at Stu. Both of them worked together to overpower him out of the room. It was very slow, but he was being pushed back.

“No, you don’t.” Ryuma taunted the professor, who was trying to make his way to the lever. He pushed the two of them aside and went ahead to face the professor.

“No!” Yuri grabbed his legs. The professor was still hit by Ryuma’s swing. His back was cut.

The professor hit the lever before falling to the floor. The engine noise in the room died down.

We did it!

Ryuma just stood there, gripping his sword. Despite their success, Yuri knew a nightmare was in the waiting.

“First my brother, and now this.” Ryuma said. “I swear, none of you are going to make it back home.”

Ryuma turned back to cut Yuri’s head off. If it wasn’t for Stu’s immediate block by his sword slayer, Yuri’s head would have been rolling over the floor. Yuri got up from the ground and helped Stu fight him.

Ryuma stabbed his sword into Stu's chest. Yuri pushed him with his katana before the sword went in too deep. Stu panted and then fell to the floor.

Stu!

Yuri was unable to get to him, and Ryuma did not give him the chance. He forced Yuri out of the room.

“You Cassians took everything from me!” Ryuma said to him as he knocked Yuri’s katana down.

“From you? You killed my parents!” Yuri kicked Ryuma’s sword away. “You killed them in Hisantrost!”

Both of them were weaponless, but Ryuma still had the upper hand. He fought Yuri with his fists, which Yuri was not capable of. He punched him in his gut, neck, and finally in the face. Yuri felt his face being messed up by Ryuma's cruel and relentless fists. Yuri started to fear for his life.

I’m going to die.

Ryuma dropped him to the floor and continued to bash Yuri’s face in. He did not feel the pain anymore, his face was numb.

The bombardment of punches from Ryuma finally stopped. Yuri thanked god.

“The attack on Hisantrost, or as the Cassian folk like to call it, The Hisantrost tragedy, was not made by us.” Ryuma revealed. He walked back to retrieve his sword. “We did not kill anyone, but now I do know the answer.”

Ryuma pointed his sword at Yuri’s face. “Don’t you want to know too? Don’t you want to know who really killed your family?”

Yuri’s right eye was closed up from the hits. His mind was slipping away. He could not breathe, but he still wanted to know.

“Ahhh!” Ryuma cried as a scythe shot through his chest.

“I’m afraid it is not for him to know brother.” The reaper retrieved his scythe from Ryuma’s chest. He gently pushed Ryuma’s standing corpse to the floor and smiled, and then he stared at Yuri.

What?

“Yuri!” someone screamed from the end of the hall. Yuri turned his head to see who it was. His vision was blurry and everything started to sound muffled. From his last few seconds of awareness, Yuri saw Axel running towards him with his katana.