Baraka's eyes widened as a barrage of houses and towers rained down towards him.
"Dammit—!", Baraka exclaimed with shock and anger.
He sprinted forward, dodging between falling buildings,towers and skyscrapers, his rock hammer smashing apart everything that fell in his way. But before he could breathe, one of the massive shadow puppets lunged towards him. Its colossal fist tore through the air.
Baraka smirked.
"Too slow."
He weaved past the blow and countered with a devastating kick, sending the puppet crashing through a line of buildings. Without hesitation, Baraka chased after it, tearing through the collapsing structures at intense speeds.
He caught up mid-flight, hammering the monster with a punch so powerful the shockwave shattered the ruins around them. Leaping high into the air, Baraka spun and slammed a brutal kick into the puppet's chest.
But before he could finish it, another puppet appeared behind him, its massive strike slamming him into the ground.
Baraka coughed "What the hell? That was hard". He surged forward again—only to meet another ambush. The second puppet's fist descended, but Baraka blocked it with his rock hammer. He barely had time to recover before the third puppet emerged, booting him across the city with devastating force.
Then all of a sudden, all three descended on him at once—kicking him around like a ball with devastating strength and crushing force.
Baraka's armor cracked as he gritted his teeth. Each blow from the shadow puppets were strong enough to lay waste to mountains without problems.
"Why the hell are these things so strong?! Its like they were built to kill me! Shadow puppets aren't this strong at all. The last person I fought who had this kind of monsterous strength was Garou!".
The puppets pulled back for a final, crushing blow. Baraka's eyes widened with shock as he gritted his teeth "Oh Fuck!", he exclaimed.
Before he knew it, a figure dropped from the sky with a powerful kick. Luck's kick obliterated one puppet instantly, the shockwave spreading round the city.
Baraka was in shock and was also confused "What the..?", he exclaimed.
But another puppet rose behind her, its colossal fist cocked back. Before it could strike—
FWOOOSH!
A green-flamed arrow screamed through the air at devastating speeds, piercing the puppet and engulfing half the city with green flames
Kazui stood on a nearby rooftop. His eyes narrowed.
"You really need to pay more attention, Luck. This is war, remember?"
Luck smiled, brushing hair from her face.
"Thanks, Kazui."
But the last puppet wasn't done. With a roar, it burst up from the ground, charging at Kazui with crushing force.
Tobi immediately blitzed in at the speed of light and proceeded to cut the shadow puppet in half.
He played with his sword and smirked.
"You know what? I'm actually having fun right now."
Kazui turned to Baraka.
"You really held your own there buddy, but you should probably go rest a bit and help other soliders. We'll take it from here."
Baraka exhaled in relief "Wow, thanks. You three saved my ass.". Baraka got up and jumped away.
But then—both puppets roared back to life. The incinerated one reformed with emerald fire still licking its body, while the bisected one regenerated, its frame sprouting deadly spikes across its back.
Kazui smirked, his hair and coat igniting into green flames.
"This one's mine."
Tobi eyed him.
"You're going all out?"
Kazui's head tilted towers Tobi with a smirk.
"Veronica's orders were not to hold back. So yeah—time to go all out."
Tobi's grin widened, his sword shifting into pure red energy.
"Secret Art, Stage One: Sword Demon."
Luck crossed her arms and sighed.
"Oh boy. Kazui's about to burn everything, and Tobi's about to lose it. Guess I'll just sit back and watch."
Kazui looked at Tobi.
"Ready?"
Tobi smirked, blade crackling with a terrifying amount of Crimson energy.
"Yeah. Let's go."
The two launched forward, clashing with the regenerating giants, their power shaking the battlefield.
"I hope you're watching, big sis…" Tobi thought as his sword carved through the air.
Meanwhile—
Zora tore across the battlefield like a beam of light, light arrows cutting down assassins and soldiers with casual precision. Some fought back but were no match for him, some kept up with him and tried to overpower him, but Zora weaved through them. He dodged and obliterated them all with a single beam of light. His movements blurred, each strike reducing foes to ashes before they could even react.
He smirked, dancing through the explosions of his light arrows.
"This is actually kinda fun."
But suddenly—
BOOM!
Mori blitzed in with his hands glowing with blue energy, and smashed Zora across countless buildings with a single punch. The impact leveled several blocks.
Zora rose from the rubble, wiping blood from his lip—only to see three enormous slashes tearing through ground just by flying towards him.
Zora smirked and summoned three massive light arrows and fired, colliding with the attacks in a cataclysmic explosion. The shockwave cleared the area, leaving one figure standing through the smoke. The smoke cleared and it was Mori who stood across the other side of the street. His blue hair glowing and his hands covered with blue energy.
His blue eyes were sharp, he was holding his katana glowing with blue energy.
Zora tilted his head.
"And who the hell are you supposed to be? You want a fight?"
Mori stepped forward, and responded.
"You're Zora. One of the Dark Sign members who escaped prison a couple months ago. You killed two of our strongest soliders and Teachers —Levi and Tomoa. They were very important people to us."
Zora blinked, unimpressed.
"Who the fuck are those? Honestly, I'm terrible with remembering names. Especially the one's of the people I kill."
A huge burst of blue energy blasted out of his body and katana. Mori was focused on Zora, his eyes were sharp.
Zora's grin widened, forming a blade from pure pink light that exploded with a powerful amount of pink energy.
"That's a nice toy. But two can play that game."
They launched forward towards each other. Their clash unleashed a slash so massive it leveled entire districts within seconds.
At light speeds, they fought, swords colliding with sparks of destruction, carving through buildings with powerful and deadly strikes like paper. Mori and Zora were clashing with insane sword skills.
Mori continued to clash with Zora, they both were showcasing insane sword skills as they tried to kill each other. As the fight went on Mori's thought raced with calculations and anticipation.
" I hope the aftermath of my attacks doesn't interfere with the others' battles…"
Zora smirked while keeping up with Mori.
"You're strong. Where'd you learn swordplay like this?"
Mori replied with a casual straight look on his face.
"Nothing special. I grew up training in a shrine on the mountains. Since I was three years old."
Zora chuckled, his blade glowing brighter.
"Heh. The same goes for me."
Their swords met again and again, the city trembling beneath them.
End of Chapter 21