Reino and Sou Lisou attack simultaneously with their punches. Sou Lisou strikes him in the face; Reino does the same. Both are sent flying backward. At the moment of collision, an explosion of wind erupts and slams through the entire area, sweeping everything with it: cars, people, everything.
Reino catches his breath. He wipes the blood from his lips.
Sou Lisou launches at him with lightning speed, a kick loaded with orange energy. But Reino catches his leg and drives him into the neighboring building.
Sou Lisou bursts toward Reino with terrifying speed. The momentum shatters the floor. He grabs Reino by the throat, and they crash into a building together. Sou Lisou drives Reino's body through wall after wall, tearing through the entire structure. They burst out the other side, leaving a gaping hole behind them. Then Sou Lisou kicks him with everything he has. Reino is sent rocketing into the sky.
Sou Lisou tears through the streets at devastating speed, so fast that he leaves a trail of orange energy blazing behind him.
Reino falls, but before he touches the ground, Sou Lisou breaks the sound barrier. A bubble of orange energy erupts behind him. He drives a kick straight into Reino's stomach.
Reino is sent flying so fast and so far that he tears through the floor, shatters the glass of a shop, and crashes into a candy display, and every single sweet in the place rains down onto his face.
Lying on the ground, Reino looks up at the sweets surrounding him. Chocolate has smeared across his entire face. He picks one up and tries it.
"Ehhmm... delicious. Green pistachio with chocolate, that's the finest thing there is."
Sou Lisou shouts at him:
"One more time, I want to destroy you."
Reino slowly gets up. He grabs a piece of paper and starts wiping the chocolate from his face. At the same time, he says with a smile:
"You run at Mach 5... correct?"
Sou Lisou charges fast and sends a kick, but Reino steps right and dodges it. Sou Lisou is left stunned.
Reino, from his right, hits him with a fist full of blue NATURE ENERGY, straight into the face. He sends him crashing out of the shop, shattering the wall.
Sou Lisou is now outside. He spits blood from his mouth and thinks to himself:
"How did he manage to keep his balance at that speed? It seems I need to push even further..."
Reino, from inside the shop, kicks a rock toward him, but Sou Lisou tilts his head right and dodges it.
Reino says with a smile:
"As I remember from the last time we fought, you increase your speed using NATURE ENERGY. You send all your blood and willpower into your legs."
Sou Lisou replies:
"That changes nothing. It's just an observation you have, you can't even reach my speed. You can only use your speed when the other person is afraid. That's why your ability Extinction can't do anything to me, because to touch me, you need me to feel fear. That's why this fight was over before it even began. I've already won."
Reino smiled and replied:
"You're right. Here I can't do anything to you, nor can I beat you with the demon I have. Correct... I don't want devils' existence."
To the right, DEVILS Existence appears, a creature with skin like a plucked bird, white and brown, with a single yellow eye and two horns. Four meters tall. From its body radiates a black energy.
Sou Lisou's face is instantly filled with shock and confusion. The negative energy of DEVIL existence is heavy and overwhelming, spreading across the entire area.
With a deep, hollow voice, DEVIL EXISTENCE speaks to Reino:
"My world is empty, you may bring him. But your energy cannot withstand the energy of those within. That is why I must place him into the WORLD OF EXISTENCE."
Sudden laughter bursts from Sou Lisou:
"Mahahaha! So now you bring this creature with skin like a plucked bird? That is the funniest thing I have ever heard in my life."
Reino looks at DEVIL existence and says calmly:
"We had an agreement."
Sou Lisou, oh, sorry for not mentioning it earlier...
BOOM.
Suddenly the area where Sou Lisou had been running detonates. The orange energy he left behind ignites all at once. Roads are destroyed, cars obliterated. Smoke fills the entire area.
But Sou Lisou is already gone, running fast, constantly pushing his speed higher.
Reino (to himself):
"Damn... he converted his energy into a ballistic explosion..."
The devil's existence begins pulling back from the area, it knows what's coming.
Reino: "No, he's doing something worse. He's increasing his speed. It's not easy; it takes space and effort to build up. Let him come at us. The farther he goes, the more energy he leaves behind, which means he wants to create a bigger explosion. Look at what he's doing, he's trying to form a massive circle of energy to surround us. His energy doesn't run out easily. His blood is heavy; it doesn't flow fast. He's trying to heat his blood to move quicker. We need to cut him off from the right, not chase him."
DEVIL Existence understood immediately. It grabs Reino; they teleport. They appear on the road ahead.
Reino: "He'll come from there. I'm certain."
From the other side, Sou Lisou runs so fast that the energy trailing behind him doubles at a terrifying rate. A wind is born that destroys everything in its wake, a wind so razor-sharp it cuts through people and buildings alike.
Reino raises his hand to his forehead. He sees a flash coming toward him.
It was Sou Lisou.
Sou Lisou spotted him too and says:
"You're smarter than I expected."
Sou Lisou, moving at a speed that has surpassed light itself, goes to pass alongside Reino, pushing to keep building his velocity.
But Reino loads his leg with energy and slams his foot into the ground with such force that the earth rises up, sending a wave of concrete and asphalt surging toward Sou Lisou.
Sou Lisou shatters the wave without slowing, cuts straight through it as if it were nothing. He passes Reino.
But the sheer force of his passing, just moving alongside him, left a deep scratch across Reino's cheek. And the buildings around them? Sliced clean through, as if by an invisible blade.
Sou Lisou keeps running. He has reached Mach 20. His speed has climbed to a level where the buildings around him are sliced apart by his mere presence.
Sou Lisou thinks to himself:
"My fuel is running out soon... but I know something. If I eliminate Reino... I'll reach what I want. The Flower: The Creator of the Living."
As he runs, a fist appears in front of his face. Faster than his own speed.
It was a woman.
Moving so close to him that she whispers in his ear:
"Very fast... almost suspicious. Are you trying to escape your responsibilities... or did you just forget to turn off the stove?"
She smiles.
Sou Lisou is frozen. His own speed has trapped him. Time has stopped.
The woman drives a punch so powerful that his head is buried into the ground.
She grabs him by the hair and says:
"What kind of hair is this? It's so puffed up I think a bird might fly out of there!"
(She shakes him)
"Wake up. I don't have time to waste on idiots. Where is Reino?"
He doesn't answer. His face is destroyed.
The woman sighs:
"What a waste of time with these kids..."
Sou Lisou speaks in a trembling, barely audible voice:
"Who are you?"
The woman replies:
"Even stray dogs on the street have the instinct to recognize death when it looms over them. And yet you... keep barking questions."
(Pause)
"I won't say it again. Where is Reino?"
He answers in a voice so faint it can barely be heard, little more than a whisper.
The woman releases his hair. Sou Lisou drops to the ground.
She leaves the area.
The woman reaches Reino. She calls out to him with irony and a revolting tone:
"Well, well... look who I found. Long time no see."
She says his name:
"Reino."
Reino and Keal turn around.
The woman continues:
"Your little dog is with you too... how lovely. It would be wonderful, two birds with one stone."
Keal's face darkens with anger. He moves to respond, but Reino speaks first.
"How can I help you?"
The woman, in the same tone:
"Help? How sincere..."
Pause.
"A question before you die, let me make it quick and easy. You have been sentenced to death by the lord of the SHINO clan. Do you want the reason? I'll tell you myself."
She takes a breath.
"You founded a school for Ninjutsu training without the permission of the SIX HEADS. No clan among the 6 great ones permits it. And you were forbidden from leaving your city, Sinish, for any other city in Japan. Not Tokyo, not Kyoto, not Osaka. Not a single one of the 792 cities of Japan. Not one of its 183 villages. So... do you have anything to say before your death?"
Reino looks at her. He answers with complete composure, no explanation, no hesitation:
"Do what you were ordered to do. Go ahead, you can."
Reino takes his fighting stance. He steps forward and attacks. Simultaneously Sou Lisou comes in from the right at his insane speed, his leg loaded with energy.
Jane smiles and says:
"I forgot to mention, before all three of you die, my name is Jane Shino."
With a soft, relaxed movement she shifts her body to the right, dodging both the punch and the kick at the same time. But the collision of the two attacks generates a shockwave of energy that sweeps the area, sending both of them flying back.
Sou Lisou heals his body and thinks to himself:
"This woman is not an easy target..."
From his side, Reino thinks:
"I'm certain she's a Hunter Devil. I've seen her somewhere, a few years ago."
Jane looks at them and says:
"Honestly, your effort is so pitiful I'm almost starting to feel sorry for you. You're like two annoying flies buzzing around someone like me. I could crush you with my little finger, but I'm afraid I might dirty my blades. Trash..."
She draws her two weapons, Jitte Electricity. Both Jitte crackle with electricity.
"Tell me, which one of you three will be the first to die?"
All three take their fighting stances. Jane smiles at them.
A sudden voice cuts through everything.
It was Ruka.
"I don't know what you four are doing and I don't care. You, with the white hair, I don't know your name. Where is Akos?"
Reino looks at her. He doesn't want to answer.
Ruka looks around and thinks to herself:
"This city has become nothing but a battlefield..."
Reino answers her:
"Which Akos? I don't know anyone by that name."
Jane bursts out laughing:
"Ha! Are you joking? Have you been living in a cave? Are you seriously telling me you don't know Akos? We're talking about the 'Miracle of the Age', the most powerful Ninjutsu user to ever set foot on this earth! The fact that you dare speak his name without even knowing who he is... honestly, your stupidity is beyond me."
Keal whispers to Reino:
"Reino... we can't tell them anything. This is our plan, before we leave Sinish."
Reino answers quietly:
"I won't tell them anything. Besides, I genuinely don't know where he is, I don't know where Jin is either."
Jane looks at Ruka slowly and says:
"But wait... who are you?"
Ruka looks at her. She draws her weapon from her back.
MISS CURSE SPIKE KATANA
All five of them prepare for battle.