"Boom!"
Lightning cracked across the rooftop as Ryuuto's shuriken sliced through the air toward Domino's throat. She didn't flinch—her alloy arm snapped up, catching the blade with an ear-splitting clang. Sparks burst from the impact.
"Well, you're gutsy," Ryuuto said, lips curling into a smirk. "Didn't expect a lab-made mutant to have that kind of nerve."
He twisted his wrist, flooding the shuriken with chakra, its edge glowing red-hot.
"Too bad guts alone won't save you."
The weapon pulsed. Energy ripped through Domino's defense, tearing into her metal plating and leaving a searing gouge that spat blue sparks. The wound refused to heal.
"You human freak… you'll die for that."
Domino jumped back, eyes flashing with a strange violet halo. The air warped around Ryuuto. His head throbbed.
"What is this? Built-in selfie filter?" he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
The halo spun toward him. Instinct kicked in. Ryuuto flung a volley of shuriken, but the moment they touched the distortion, their trajectories twisted—then rebounded straight back at him.
"Seriously? They bounce now? What kind of broken hack skill is this?"
He blurred forward, dodging his own projectiles, and drew his massive decapitating blade. The edge shimmered with chakra.
"Alright, playtime's over. Say goodbye."
Domino smirked, eyes cold. "Sorry—ladies first."
She rolled, slammed her finger down on a detonator, and the rooftop erupted.
BOOM!
Flames swallowed everything. The shockwave flattened the building, shaking the block like an earthquake.
From above, Domino slid down a rope through the smoke, her expression unreadable. "No one survives that," she said flatly.
A voice echoed behind her. Calm. Mocking.
"Funny. People keep saying that to me."
Ryuuto's chakra flared like fire. He dropped from the dust cloud above her, eyes glowing crimson.
"Even if you're an enhanced clone, you're still just a puppet. And every puppet's strings get cut eventually."
Leaf Hurricane!
His spinning kick slammed into her weapon before she could aim. The machine gun exploded into scrap.
"You—!" Domino's fury boiled over. She lunged, fists flying, alloy arms clashing against his guard in a storm of strikes. Ryuuto's counterattacks came faster—fluid, brutal, precise. Domino stumbled backward, barely keeping up.
"What's wrong?" Ryuuto teased between blows. "You looked tougher in the brochure."
"Keep mocking me!" she snarled, hair wild. "Even if it kills me, I'll crush you!"
They clashed again, fists and kicks moving faster than the human eye could track. Concrete cracked beneath their feet. The rooftop groaned.
Ryuuto vanished mid-step.
Shadow Dance Leaf!
Domino blinked—then screamed as invisible hits slammed into her one after another, her armor splintering apart. Blood splattered across the rubble.
"What—what the hell are you?! Nobody moves like that!"
"Just your friendly neighborhood monster," Ryuuto said, grinning.
Domino, desperate, summoned another glowing halo for defense, but Ryuuto burst from below, kicking her chin upward in a brutal arc. She shot into the air, spinning helplessly.
"Enough warm-up," he said, voice sharp. "Let's end this."
Domino, bleeding and trembling, tore open her combat vest—revealing rows of nano-bombs glowing white-hot.
"If I go down, you're coming with me!"
Ryuuto's eyes widened. "Oh, for—"
Guard of the Sand Crane!
Sand erupted around him like a tidal wave, cocooning Domino and the bombs inside a massive sphere. The explosion detonated inside the barrier with a deep, muffled roar.
When the smoke cleared, the city block was intact. The only thing that fell from the sky was Domino—half her body shredded, her mechanical limbs twisted and burning.
She hit the ground hard, glaring up at Ryuuto with hate so raw it almost felt alive.
Ryuuto landed lightly beside her, rolling his shoulders.
"Still breathing? You really don't know when to quit."
He tilted his head, smirk cutting like a blade.
"Well, let's fix that."