Moments before Chella stepped in, her patience finally snapped.
Her muscles were tense, her fists clenched so hard that her knuckles had turned pale. Every second she spent watching the battle made the frustration in her chest burn hotter.
"Why are we just sitting here?!" she shouted.
Her voice echoed through the clearing.
"Master Ozaki is out there fighting at a huge disadvantage and we're doing nothing!"
Lumei reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Chella, calm—"
"No."
She slapped his hand away and took a step forward. Her eyes burned with anger.
"Why aren't any of you doing anything?"
For a moment, nobody answered.
Yamato remained seated with his arms folded, looking almost asleep despite the distant explosions shaking the forest. Then he slowly opened his eyes.
"In battle," he said quietly, "there is Total Dominance... and there is a Thrill."
Chella frowned.
Yamato lifted his head and looked toward the distant battlefield.
"A Thrill is when you're fighting someone massively below you, but strong enough to make you sweat. Strong enough to force effort out of you."
The wind moved through the trees.
"This fight between Master Ozaki and Kaku isn't a struggle for survival."
He paused.
"It's a Thrill."
Chella's expression tightened.
"You're wrong."
"No."
Yamato's answer came instantly.
"Kaku looks impressive because he's surviving."
His eyes narrowed.
"But have you noticed something?"
Nobody spoke.
"He still hasn't gone beyond Form Four."
The realization settled over the group.
Yamato leaned forward slightly.
"I'm waiting."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"When he does..."
His eyes sharpened.
"We'll break in."
Sora sighed.
"Sometimes I wish I could think like you."
Lumei chuckled.
"Then we'd have two people with no sense of panic."
Even Chella almost smiled.
Almost.
Then another explosion erupted somewhere deep within the forest.
BOOOOOOM!
The ground trembled beneath their feet.
The smile vanished immediately.
Far away from them, the battle had already moved miles from its starting point.
Trees exploded into splinters, massive rocks shattered.
Entire sections of earth collapsed whenever the two combatants collided.
Ozaki and Kaku tore through the landscape like disasters given human form.
The fight had long since abandoned the battlefield where Rujer fell.
Now they stood near the outskirts of a small village.
The sun had disappeared below the horizon, night was beginning to claim the sky.
Kaku stood atop the remains of a shattered tree trunk. His breathing was heavy. Cuts covered his body. Blood stained his skin.
Yet his smile remained.
"You are giving me a tough time."
Ozaki didn't answer.
His chest rose and fell with increasing difficulty.
Silver was draining him.
Kaku noticed.
The smile on his face widened.
"Good."
He exhaled slowly.
"It's a good thing you can only use Silver."
His eyes narrowed.
"Three minutes and forty-eight seconds."
He raised a finger.
"Twelve seconds."
A grin spread across his face.
"I only need twelve more seconds."
Ozaki wiped blood from his mouth, his breathing sounded heavier now.
Phew.
Phew.
Phew.
He had fought Rujer, then Kaku.
His body was approaching its limit and Kaku could see it.
And despite everything, he remained cautious.
Because even now, even wounded and exhausted, Ozaki needed only a single opening.
One mistake.
One.
And Kaku would die.
Kaku slowly raised his left arm, the muscles tightened.
The Ink coating his body twisted violently.
"Case Form."
The air vibrated.
"Form Three."
Dark-red energy crawled across both arms, the pressure intensified.
"Hands of Destruction."
Layer after layer of compressed Ink wrapped around his fists until massive gauntlet-like structures covered both arms.
The ground cracked beneath him, the surrounding trees groaned.
Ozaki grinned.
"Guess I have to increase the scale."
He raised his scythe.
Immediately, the atmosphere changed.
"Silver Ozaki."
A pulse of pale light exploded outward.
"Pact Two."
The scythe expanded.
"Kowichi's Scythe."
Blue lines spread across the weapon like glowing veins.
Ancient.
Divine.
Alive.
The wind shifted, the air grew heavier.
Silver light gathered behind Ozaki.
At first it looked like fog, then shapes began to emerge.
Swords.
Spears.
Axes.
Thousands of them.
They revolved slowly behind him, forming an immense celestial structure hidden within the light.
Kaku looked upward, his smile vanished.
A throne.
A throne built entirely from weapons.
And seated upon it,
Kowichi.
The God of Weapons.
For the first time since this battle began, genuine concern appeared in Kaku's eyes.
Ozaki was growing stronger.
Far stronger.
The command buried within Kowichi was beginning to shake.
The restriction left behind by Kowichi's creator.
If Ozaki's will climbed any higher, it could break.
The thought alone was dangerous.
Neither fighter moved, not immediately.
Their auras collided first.
The ground trembled.
The atmosphere twisted.
The village in the distance shook.
Then both vanished.
BOOOOM!
The collision flattened hundreds of trees.
Ozaki's scythe slammed into Kaku's glowing arms.
A shockwave erupted outward, dust exploded into the night sky.
Kaku roared and threw a punch, Ozaki ducked beneath it and swung upward.
SLASH!
Blood flew.
A glowing wound stretched across Kaku's chest.
Both fighters noticed the same thing.
The wound healed slower.
Kaku clicked his tongue.
Ozaki smiled.
Then Kaku grabbed him.
He lifted Ozaki off the ground and slammed him downward.
CRAAAAACK!
The earth exploded beneath the impact.
But even while crashing into the ground, Ozaki twisted his scythe.
The hooked blade caught Kaku's ankle.
Kaku stumbled.
Both men were thrown apart.
They landed.
They stood.
They charged again, neither willing to surrender momentum.
Kaku rolled his neck.
"Your time is almost up."
Ozaki smiled.
"You talk too much."
Five seconds remained.
Kaku slammed his palms together.
BOOOOOM!
A devastating shockwave burst outward.
Ozaki slid backwards, trenches carving themselves through the earth beneath his feet.
Then he disappeared.
Kaku's eyes widened.
He couldn't track him.
Suddenly, Ozaki appeared behind him.
Four seconds remained.
The scythe descended.
Kaku barely crossed his arms in time.
The impact drove him to one knee, the blade bit into flesh.
Blood sprayed into the air.
Kaku roared.
Energy exploded from his body and blasted Ozaki away.
Three seconds.
The battlefield collapsed around them. Stone, dirt, trees.
Everything rose into the air.
Then both charged again.
The night itself seemed unable to contain the violence of their clash.
Meanwhile, Team Ozaki was running.
Nobody wasted breath speaking, nobody slowed down.
They could feel it, Ozaki's aura.
It was weakening.
Sora hated it.
Chella pushed herself harder.
Faster.
Faster.
Faster.
Ichiha forced his battered body forward despite the pain.
Lumei remained silent.
Even Yamato's expression had lost its usual amusement.
Finally he spoke.
Quietly.
"Master Ozaki's power is falling."
Nobody answered.
They simply ran faster.
Two seconds.
Ozaki attacked from above.
Kaku dodged.
His fist slammed into Ozaki's ribs, blood erupted from Ozaki's mouth.
He stumbled.
Kaku pressed forward immediately.
Both arms glowed red.
"Got you."
CRACK!
The punch slammed into Ozaki's chest.
He was launched backward like a missile.
A massive boulder exploded apart as his body crashed through it.
Dust swallowed everything.
For a moment, nothing moved.
Then the timer ended, the Silver aura vanished.
The power was gone.
Kaku began walking forward.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
The smile had disappeared from his face.
Only hatred remained.
"You are in his way, Ozaki."
A groan escaped Ozaki, his fingers twitched.
Then he forced himself upward.
One knee.
Then the other.
Every movement looked painful, his body shook, his muscles screamed.
Yet somehow, he stood.
An ash-coloured aura emerged around him.
Weak.
Flickering.
Then stronger.
Then stronger still.
Like a dying flame refusing to go out.
Kaku stopped walking.
Ozaki looked up, blood ran down his face.
His voice was hoarse.
"Kaku."
Kaku stopped.
Ozaki smiled.
It wasn't a warrior's smile.
It wasn't confidence.
It was exhaustion.
The smile of a man who had carried too much for too long.
"How I wish I was going to die here."
Silence.
Kaku stared at him.
"...What?"
Ozaki lowered his head slightly.
"Every day I wake up wishing the next mission kills me."
His fingers tightened around the scythe.
"But it never happens."
He looked up again.
His eyes sharpened.
"Because until I use my prime strength..."
The ash-coloured aura erupted.
"...death won't come."
For the first time that night, Kaku became truly angry.
He launched forward.
Ozaki moved.
The clash that followed surpassed everything before it.
They blurred across the battlefield.
Appearing.
Disappearing.
Colliding.
Separating.
Trees collapsed simply from the pressure created by their movements.
The ground shattered beneath every exchange.
Kaku chased relentlessly.
Ozaki retreated and countered.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Neither willing to yield.
Finally Ozaki landed atop a broken rock formation overlooking the ruined landscape.
Blood covered his body.
His breathing was ragged, yet his eyes still burned with life.
He raised his scythe.
"Let's finish this."
Across from him, Kaku stretched both glowing arms forward.
His aura exploded outward.
"I will end you."
The earth beneath both fighters shattered.
The night trembled.
And then.
They charged one final time.