The wolf pack was steadily being wiped out under the assault of Flame Tempest Sky Fang, while Starrk himself was tied down by Tsuna. If this continued, Starrk would lose.
Both Starrk and Lilynette understood this outcome clearly. Lilynette was already roaring inside Starrk's mind, demanding to go all-out against those three oversized "cats," but Starrk firmly refused.
If Lilynette lost control, there would only be one result—she would detonate herself along with her consciousness… and disappear completely.
Starrk had no intention of becoming alone again. No matter what, he had to protect Lilynette.
While clashing with Tsuna using his twin blades, a deep blue light began gathering at Starrk's mouth and chest—it was a Cero. Starrk could fire Cero from any part of his body.
And that wasn't all.
As the energy continued to build, the twin Ceros darkened from blue to near-black.
This was no ordinary Cero—
Cero Oscuras.
At such close range, even if the blast struck Tsuna, the aftermath would also injure Starrk himself. But he no longer cared. He needed to break free as quickly as possible—he had to save Lilynette.
The moment the beam shifted from blue to black, Tsuna was genuinely startled. He hadn't expected the usually lazy Starrk to go this far.
Dodging was impossible.
Without hesitation, Tsuna dropped backward, twisting his body into a ninety-degree angle relative to Starrk, attempting to avoid the blast.
His reaction did allow him to evade the core of the Cero Oscuras—
But this was the Primera Espada's attack.
The sheer thickness of the beam still engulfed Tsuna within its destructive radius.
Starrk didn't even spare a glance at the result. He immediately turned and rushed toward the wolf pack. With his addition, the wolves quickly regained the upper hand.
After they and Starrk killed two of the leopard-like beasts, the last one lost all will to fight. It reverted into a small cat, shrinking rapidly before diving back into Tsuna's arms.
Only then did Starrk take stock of the wolves.
Fifteen.
In just a few exchanges, nearly half of the pack had been annihilated by Flame Tempest Sky Fang.
Inside his mind, Lilynette was raging uncontrollably. She could no longer endure it—she wanted Tsuna to pay for every fallen wolf. If not him, then at least that damn cat.
Only then did Starrk look back at Tsuna—
…and found him completely unharmed.
Even after being grazed by Cero Oscuras, Tsuna stood intact. A layer of green lightning crackled around his body.
In that critical moment, Tsuna had been forced to use a Lightning-attribute special bomb, whose pure lightning enveloped him and granted powerful defensive capabilities.
Now, his Sun, Cloud, and Lightning special bombs were all used up.
Only Storm and Rain remained.
Driven mad by Lilynette's shouting, Starrk charged again—this time keeping a close watch on Tsuna, wary of that leopard suddenly reappearing.
Tsuna widened the distance while firing continuously. The trap had already been set—it just needed time to activate.
But Lilynette had no intention of letting him succeed.
She commanded half the wolves to unleash Bala, while the other half began charging.
The wolves didn't just attack from the front. Under her command, they split into three waves—one covering Starrk from the front, while the other two flanked from both sides as the main assault.
And more than that—
After the first wave of Cero fired, the second wave had already finished charging.
What they released… was not ordinary Cero—
But Cero Oscuras.
Tsuna was momentarily dumbfounded.
Crossfire. Suppression fire. And all of it using Cero Oscuras.
Who could even deal with something like this?
No wonder even Baraggan acknowledged Starrk as the Primera Espada. Thirty ferocious wolves suppressing you nonstop with Cero Oscuras—who wouldn't submit?
Tsuna immediately stacked all his Dying Will Flame defensive barriers in front of him, then tossed a blue bomb into the center.
Blue Rain Flames spread across the barrier, their Tranquility property amplifying the defense to an unprecedented level.
Reforming the shields into a circular formation before him, Tsuna finally managed to block Lilynette's assault.
Even so, he remained suppressed.
Ordinary bombs couldn't compete with Cero Oscuras—they were swallowed before they could even explode.
Under Lilynette's cover, Starrk had already closed in.
Even more alarming—
His twin blades had shifted from light blue Reishi to a deep, dark blue, comparable to Cero Oscuras itself.
Blades… formed from Cero Oscuras?
How powerful would that be?
Starrk answered in the next instant.
With a dual slash, one of Tsuna's defensive barriers shattered instantly. Even the enhanced Rain Flame tranquility couldn't hold. Unlike a fired Cero, these blades were continuously infused with Reiatsu.
Starrk pressed in.
Tsuna didn't foolishly try to block with Storm blades—if even the barriers couldn't withstand it, his attack wouldn't fare any better.
Just as Starrk's blade was about to strike—
A bomb suddenly popped out from Tsuna's belt, as if pulled by an invisible force.
It spun between them.
Starrk's attention was drawn to it—missing the small object slipping from Tsuna's mouth.
The bomb detonated.
No damage—
Only a powerful propulsive force that forced Starrk backward.
And when he looked again—
Tsuna was gone.
Special Bomb: Air Bomb
Low power—primarily used for propulsion.
Using the opening created by the Air Bomb, Tsuna immediately inserted a bomb chain into the skull launcher and fired a barrage of rapid triple rocket bombs, sealing off Starrk's movement and drawing his attention.
Just as expected—
Starrk focused entirely on the chaotic swarm of bombs. With twin blades instead of pistols, his precision and reaction demands were far higher.
"Starrk, watch out!"
Starrk didn't notice—but Lilynette did.
Near his foot was something thinner than a finger—a tiny object with a burning fuse.
There was only one possibility.
A bomb.
It was the miniature bomb Tsuna had been holding in his mouth earlier. When he released it, it rode the shockwave of the Air Bomb straight to Starrk.
Now, with his attention fully occupied—
He never noticed it.
"What—?"
Before he could react—
It exploded.
Special Bomb: Compressed Bomb
Don't be fooled by its size—
Its power surpassed that of hundreds of bombs combined.
Due to its extreme difficulty, Tsuna only had one. Kept in plain sight—yet unnoticed.
BOOM!
The explosion engulfed Starrk completely.
And worse—
The rocket bombs he failed to intercept all struck him at once.
Lilynette panicked.
Though she could still hear Starrk's pained voice in her mind—meaning he wasn't dead—she couldn't stop herself from worrying.
The wolves rushed into the smoke, dispersing it—
Revealing Starrk's condition.
Covered in blood.
His fur soaked crimson.
She had never seen him this badly injured.
Unlike Tsuna's armor-piercing bombs, Starrk's outfit remained mostly intact. His wounds were internal—caused by Reiatsu shockwaves.
Even High-Speed Regeneration wouldn't heal this quickly.
"Damn it!"
One of the wolves glared viciously at Tsuna and spoke in a human voice:
"Starrk—switch! I'll take control!"
Starrk and Lilynette were originally one being. Control could shift between them—
But Lilynette's reckless nature meant Starrk rarely allowed it.
Now, however—
Gravely injured and still in battle—
He had no choice.
Reiatsu surged.
Starrk and the wolves merged into a radiant mass—
And soon, a delinquent-looking blonde girl appeared, gripping a large shotgun-like weapon.
This was precisely why Starrk rarely let Lilynette take over.
Her shotgun-style Cero spread out after firing, making it easier for opponents to evade.
To maintain maximum power, she had to fight at close range—
But she was reckless.
If she led the fight, Starrk might not even retain his Espada rank.
"Die, you bastard!"
Lilynette snarled, raising her weapon.
Yet Tsuna didn't move.
He didn't even bother defending.
Not out of arrogance—
But because Lilynette's awareness… was lacking.
She hesitated, sensing something wrong.
Following Tsuna's gaze, she turned—
And saw it.
That damn cat.
It had somehow gotten behind her—and had grown to the size of an arm.
Its tail was burning—
Almost like it was about to ignite itself—
BOOM!
Gua answered her question.
It exploded.
Just like Starrk's wolves—
It turned itself into a bomb.
And its power was no weaker than the earlier Compressed Bomb.
This—
Was Tsuna's true trump card.
The Gua Bomb, alongside the Compressed Bomb, formed the core of his Storm-attribute Bankai arsenal.
All the other bombs were just distractions.
Against real opponents—
Only trump cards mattered.
Unlike the Compressed Bomb, Gua Bomb could be reused—
But it required time to recharge Storm-attribute Reiatsu.
Tsuna calmly retrieved the now finger-sized Gua back into his belt.
Recharge time—that was its first weakness.
The second—
In cat form, Gua lacked focus and could easily miss its target.
To compensate, Tsuna used matatabi (silvervine) to guide it precisely.
Earlier, when Starrk closed in, Tsuna had already used an Air Bomb to scatter silvervine onto him.
But control had shifted—
So the one hit by Gua…
Was Lilynette.
Looking at Starrk and Lilynette now separated again, returning from their Resurrección—
Tsuna thought:
That should keep things quiet for a while.
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