The Sky Fortress came too suddenly. On his way to search for Lord Arima, Ryosuke heard Shinnō's broadcast, and right after that came the destruction beam falling from the sky.
Gorin City covered an enormous area, far greater than Kyoto. To intercept the destruction beam, Ryosuke could only first activate Time Stop, flying at full force for 9.9 seconds.
Even that wasn't enough. In the final second of Time Stop, he had no choice but to inject a massive amount of Ripple into the Ruin Greatsword, hurling it out.
Until now, Ryosuke had always fought while enduring the fatigue after Time Stop. But this time, he finally drew a steady breath.
Chi!
The two-meter-long Ruin Greatsword felt weightless in Ryosuke's hand. The jet-black blade edge carved a narrow afterimage in the air as it swung, and then…
It went against the flow, cutting the destruction beam back in reverse.
"Output! Increase output!"
The smile on Shinnō's face had vanished without him noticing. He roared at his subordinates.
"But…"
The adjutant wanted to remind him, the output was already at 150%. Any further increase and the main cannon might explode.
But before he could speak his concern, Shinnō's hand clamped around his throat.
"Obey. My. Order!"
Shinnō's expression was violent and frenzied.
"Y-Yes, yes!"
The output of the main cannon kept rising. The color of the destruction beam deepened, finally becoming a murky purple-black, like the tide of negative emotions in the underground space.
But it was useless.
The blade's speed of swing rose in tandem.
Strike after strike, Ryosuke hacked, breaking through the destruction beam's impact, and at the same time shattering the faith of the Sky Ninja Corps soldiers within the fortress.
Machines and humans.
The first to falter, the first to burn out, were not the men, but the main cannon they had been so proud of.
"Ryosuke... what… what kind of monster is he?!"
A soldier's voice trembled.
On the screen, Ryosuke was rushing closer. With the night, the black blade, and those ice-cold eyes, he looked exactly like… a killer from a horror film.
Clang!!!
The blade slammed hard against the fortress's defensive barrier. A heavy crash shook the sky, and everyone saw, cracks spreading in fine lines across the barrier.
The next second...
Click!
Killer Queen pressed the detonation. The defensive barrier shattered on a massive scale.
Unit Two was completely exposed within Ryosuke's attack range.
Shinnō stared blankly at the sight, unable to comprehend.
He had considered many possibilities.
But never, not even in his wildest dreams, had he imagined Ryosuke could, without using Stand powers, without dodging or evading, simply with a sword, hack his way through.
"Is that still human!"
Countless gazes, from the Sky Legion, from the civilians on the ground, from spies of every village, from the consortium's agents, all fell upon Ryosuke.
Ryosuke ignored them. He only fixed his eyes on the massive giant before him, thinking about where to start dismantling it. In the end, his gaze locked onto the main cannon, still spewing black smoke.
BOOM!
The long blade came down hard. The fortress's long, protruding main cannon was chopped clean in two. From the ground's perspective, it was as if the head of the Sky Fortress had been lopped off.
This scene seared itself into countless eyes.
———
In the factory, the frail young man widened his eyes, refusing to blink, wanting to etch what he saw into memory forever.
He stood up.
"What are you doing!"
The workshop foreman bellowed, "Sit down! Work! Or I'll fire you!"
Before he could finish, the frail youth took off his work cap.
He wanted to hurl it to the ground, to vent the emotions in his heart.
But he didn't.
Instead, he gently placed the cap in the foreman's hand and walked out.
He didn't throw it down, not out of fear, nor out of hope to return.
He only felt, he was human.
And since he was human, he should have the dignity of one.
"If you step out of this workshop, you're fired! Hear me? Fired! Never hired again!"
The youth looked back at the red-faced foreman. "Do as you like. Fired, never hired again, it's all fine… I'm going to carry out my rights and duties as a human being."
That calm expression made the foreman blurt out without thinking, "What?"
"To protect my family."
Ryosuke had stopped the fortress's deadliest main cannon. Killer Queen's miniature planes had shattered much of the bombardment from the secondary cannons.
Kakashi, Sasuke, and Rei had also contributed.
But there were still ones that slipped through.
Dozens of blasts fell into the city, setting the unfortunate place ablaze. Everywhere were screams, running, cries for help.
The frail youth had to return home. Even if he died, he had to be with his family.
One came first, then a second.
More and more workers took off their caps. Some set them in the foreman's hand, others slapped them crookedly onto his head. They rushed out of the factories, running toward their homes.
Not just this factory, across the whole city, factories erupted in massive strikes.
Riots spread everywhere. And amid the chaos, some tried to fish in troubled waters.
Murder, robbery, some even stopped women to commit vile acts.
A kunai flew, piercing the attacker's groin.
It was Iwamine, with a few "Rats" at her back.
Their abilities could not join the aerial battle. All they could do was save as many people in the city as possible.
"Boss, the brothers can't hold out." The City Blind spoke.
Most of the Rats were ordinary people. Running endlessly had long pushed them beyond their limits.
Iwamine glanced back at the exhausted group.
"Those who can keep going, keep going. Those who can't, find somewhere safe to rest. Victory is almost here."
Once the battle above ended, the chaos in the city would naturally fade.
"Victory… almost here…"
The Blindman asked nervously, "Did Ryosuke find the enemy's weakness? Or do you know some inside news?"
To them, the Sky Fortress was an indestructible citadel, surely filled with many powerful ninja.
The correct tactic would be to destroy its flight systems, bring it down, and then attack it together.
Ryosuke was strong, yes. But one man against the Sky Fortress and the Sky Ninja Corps?
That was just too…
"As long as it's him, it'll be fine."
Iwamine's tone was absolute.
The Blindman and the Rats looked at each other, unable to understand this unreasonable, total trust.
They couldn't understand. But the Sky Ninja Corps now could.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Sky Fortress shook violently, again and again, as if a giant were hammering it without pause.
With each strike, the hearts of the Sky Ninja Corps soldiers trembled along.
The surveillance feed was gone.
Radar… was useless too, because Ryosuke had already entered Unit Two's interior.
They could only guess his position by the ever-closer, ever-heavier pounding, until…
Almost at their side.
BOOM!
The steel ceiling burst open, leaving a gaping dark hole.
In the command room, soldiers looked up one by one.
A face slowly appeared from the hole. His gaze swept the room, finally settling on Shinnō, seated upon the throne.
Ryosuke spoke softly, "Found you."
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