1st Pov Kyouka Uzen:
Is this some illusion?
What tricks did the people behind me use to create something like this?
Yet the more I looked, the harder it became to dismiss it as a mere deception.
Everything felt too real.
The subtle movements of his eyes as they scanned the surroundings with curiosity. The rise and fall of his chest. Even the way he shifted his weight ever so slightly, like someone ready for combat if it breaks out.
It was far too natural.
Yet keeping me away from reality was the logical sense of some surviving this place alone. Without an ability, it was non-existent but with one, alone, it was a slim chance.
It was unheard of.
My grip tightened around the hilt of my katana until my knuckles turned white. The familiar pressure ground me, reassuring me that this was reality, or what I believe is reality.
Still, doubt lingered.
His appearance and the air around him were different from the last time I saw him. A black haori rested across his shoulders, hanging loosely over a martial arts uniform and a sleeveless black shirt.
My gaze drifted lower, down to his fingers.
The tips had darkened into sharp black claws, resembling talons of a predator rather than hands. They flexed idly at his sides, each movement carrying a quiet yet tense pressure through the air.
My gaze drifted back up to his face.
His eyes were a deep crimson. They seemed to gleam with every passing emotion, reflecting an intensity that made it difficult to look away.
Yet even those weren't the most disturbing part. Beneath his primary eyes sat another smaller pair, that moved around on their own, like there was a second brain at work.
The sight sent a chill crawling down my spine, they were some trick, they were real, no matter how much I tried to dismiss it from my mind.
It was inhuman.
Like something born from a nightmare or dragged from a laboratory where nature has long since been abandoned.
The tribal markings covering his body had changed as well. The last time I'd seen them, they resembled ordinary tattoos, now they looked fused to his flesh, like veins of black running beneath his skin.
"Xicor" I whispered, my voice echoed softly across the cavern walls. For a moment, silence followed.
Then a faint smile touched his lips yet something about it was unnerving. Because somehow, that small smile felt far more dangerous than those behind me.
"Hey, Kyouka" he said, taking several steps forward, "You've grown" he remarked with a raised brow.
I was about to open my mouth to ask a question but he beat me to it, "Let me guess what you're about to say" he said, raising a finger to stop me.
"You're wondering how I survived this long, right?" he said.
He didn't need me to nod to confirm, almost like he was treating this like a game. That unnerves me, his casualness in this tense atmosphere was something that raised my guard even higher than before.
His entrance and the familiarity towards these two strangers are all too strange.
"It's easy, I lived like a rat, I stole from the Demon Defence Force dorms to sustain myself and live in caverns that could fit my size and needs" he said.
"Over the years, naturally, I grew stronger and stronger before meeting them" he gestured his hand behind me, towards the two women.
But something he said, caught my attention, 'live in caverns that could fit my size and needs'
The reports of an unknown figure going around in Mato, stealing from the units, killing members in different ways and discovering their hideouts were automatically given to the chiefs and vice-chiefs to them to keep an eye out for that person.
And now, connecting the dots of what he said drops a heavy, cold bucket of water over my entire body.
"It was you" I said in disbelief, not wanting it to be true.
Xicor raised a brow at my words, "Explain"
"You stole supplies from the dorms, you made those camps in those small caves, it was you who killed innocent people!" I said, my voice growing louder and louder.
Xicor's expression grew in a sneer, "That goes to show how blind you are to the people in your own ranks"
"Tell me Kyouka, have you heard of the Onmyou Agency?" he spat out with disdain, tilting his head.
I nodded, they were in collab with the Demon Defence Force as they were the main reason for those bullets that can kill a Shuuki being created, among other things.
But the dark side to them is the information Yuuki's sister, Aoba, told us was something unbelievable but the proof was in front of us.
Yet what did the Agency have with him?
"The reason your villagers found me unconscious in those woods was that I was being hunted by their secret agents"
My eyes widened in shock, they were hunting Xicor since he was that young!?
His smile grew, seemingly enjoying my reaction, "It doesn't end there as after a couple of years go by, I got attacked by some weird creature, the battle was long and hard for me, but it was thrilling"
His expression grew sober as he looked down at the ground, recalling his past that seems hard to say out loud.
"When I pierced my hand through that creature's chest, its armour began to crack and fall apart to reveal my little brother behind it" he managed to say as his hands clenched at his sides.
"He explained that the Agency and you, the Demon Defence Force did that to him, my brother was forced into a fate worse than death and he was glad he died"
"I will bring humanity to extinction!" he shouted, his voice booming through the cavern.
I took a step back as he released heavier pressure down upon us before it was gone in a second. Something didn't add up, I'd get the Agency and Demon Defence Force but why the whole of humanity?
"Why humanity?" I asked him, my voice tense with what his answer could be.
"If I destroyed both of them then humanity would just rebuild them with the only difference being the name and their slogan"
"Humanity doesn't learn from their mistakes, and only after the damage is far too noticeable did they learn"
"Humanity destroys its birth planet without a shred of thought"
He was gone, the Xicor I knew from that village, or if that was really him or just an act.
He took a deep breath before looking at me calmly, "Kyouka, I have an offer for you"
"What kind of offer?" I asked curiously.
"Join me in annihilating humanity" he said as I felt all eyes on me.
My own eyes were wide in disbelief, "You're insane if you think I'll accept that" I said getting into a combat stance.
His smile disappeared as disappointment crossed his face, "Then you will join the rest of humanity in their extinction"
His eyes shifted to a different person, "But first, a little payback is in order"
Xicor's figure disappeared before the sound of something being hit against the wall rang through my ears.
My head snapped to the source to find the Unihorn embedded in the wall, with Xicor in front of it.
3rd Pov:
"After so many years, I get to see your ugly face at last" Xicor said as he raised a hand.
"Though as much thrill as it would be to enjoy toying with you, I have a task that can't have distractions" he said before pointing a double-finger gun at it.
No words were spoken as Unihorn's body began to fall apart into small cubes before exploding, leaving only a patch of its blood.
Xicor turned his attention to everyone else as they prepared themselves for his next move. Koko's special Shuuki ignored Xicor as its main priority was Koko herself, in the hands of Jouryuu.
It leapt at her, ready to slash down on her but Xicor appeared next to it in the air before driving his foot into its side as its body was blasted into the wall.
Xicor kneeled to the ground and placed a palm on the surface as two small volcanoes erupted from the stone bridges hanging across the cavern, angled to where they were pointed directly at Koko's Shuuki.
The volcanoes launched a beam of magma directly onto the Shuuki as it roared out in pain, its durable skin holding against the scorching-hot attack.
It was only stopped by Xicor raising his palm to block a fist from Aoba. She glared up at him as she threw her other fist at his side but he twisted his body, taking her with him before throwing her away.
Xicor glanced back at Shikoku and Jouryuu with the unconscious Yuno and Koko in her arms, "You go on ahead, there's still something I wanna grab"
Shikoku's smile grew into a grin, "Don't take too long~" She gave a cheerful wave before her shadow sank both her and Jouryuu, as well as Yuno and Koko.
With them gone everyone moved in all at once, Xicor gave a feral grin as he too leapt at them.
The first to come in contact with him was Sahara, with a blazing orange aura around her. Both of their fists collided as Xicor launched his knee into her chin before tilting her body back, dodging the rain of bullets from Himari.
His figure vanished as he appeared in front of her with his fist inches from her stomach, in a blur of speed his fist struck her stomach causing her to spit out saliva and be sent back into a wall.
Out of the corner of Xicor's eye, he saw Yachiho in her usual pose, about to use her ability to rewind time. At the same time, he saw Shushu's faint foot coming straight at his back.
As the foot came inches from him, Xicor clapped his hands as he swapped positions with Yachiho, making her take the attack instead of him, interrupting her time ability.
Yachiho gasped out in pain as she hit the wall, her eyes grew heavy as her body went limp. She was already exhausted from using her ability multiple times to save her sister from Yuno's ambush attacks.
"Ah! Sorry, Yachiho!" Shushu called out apologetically.
Xicor used this opportunity to place both hands on the ground as large grey roots erupted from the ground and snaked themselves around the giant woman.
They continued, even when Xicor removed his hands as he brought his arms up in a cross to block Yuuki's fist, in his slave form.
Xicor skidded back slightly before Sahara appeared behind him, ready to dropkick him but she didn't get a chance as her body slammed into the ground.
He tried to get up as best she can but her body was pressed down by Xicor's gravity. Yuuki came in again, his fist directly at Xicor's chest but it was easily caught.
Xicor cocked his other hand back as it was enveloped by his cursed energy before he thrusted forward and a cursed fist was shot out, carrying Yuuki into a nearby pillar that shook the entire cavern.
Himari staggered up as her eyes landed on her sister's unconscious form. Her arms changed into rows of rockets as she let them all out, all aimed at one person.
Xicor caught Kyouka's katana with his palms holding the blade still. Both stared at one another, "Are you truly going down this path Xicor, Tell me it isn't true!" she yelled over the chaos around them, pushing harder against his hold on the blade.
Xicor scoffed at her, "Of course I am, I have the power to make those who robbed me of my family pay and ensure the future I want comes true"
"But that doesn't have to be the whole of humanity!" she argued, her voice growing into a plea.
"As if I care for those I don't know" he simply said as the rockets were heard getting closer.
Kyouka used her knee to hit his side, forcing him to let go and jump back as the rockets were about to make contact with him.
Xicor whipped his body around while moving his hand through the air like a blade. A second later, all the rockets exploded by an dismantle.
Xicor leapt at Himari at blinding speed but a massive hand grabbed him before he could hit her. He had no time to think as he was thrown onto one of the hanging bridges.
Xicor flipped his body around as his feet crashed into the bridge and it crumbled apart. Before it could start falling to the ground, he bent his knee down before blasting down on Shushu's head as he dropkicked her.
Her giant body slammed into the ground as Xicor landed down softly. He then ducked under a kick that came swinging at his head as he threw his fist at Sahara.
Share twisted her body to block the attack before throwing a flurry of fists at him as Xicor responded with his own.
Each time their knuckles collided, the air was pushed back but as more time passed Sahara's aura began to flicker.
She tried to gain distance from him by jumping back but he didn't allow her to get far, as soon as he landed in a different spot, Xicor was already there, behind her.
Xicor grabbed the back of her head before smashing it into the ground. He was about to do something else but Kyouka came in riding Yuuki.
Yuuki swung his fist at Xicor and he ducked under it as Kyouka came in, intending to impale his thigh. Just as the blade closed in, it was stopped by a faint layer of cursed energy reinforcement.
Xicor grabbed Kyouka's blade and yanked it out of her grip before kicking her away. Xicor used the katana to stab Yuuki in the arm before thrusting his palm into his chest as a burst of flame blasted Yuuki away.
Xicor leapt up on one of the hanging bridges as a beam of energy swept past his position. His eyes drifted to Himari panting heavily with a large railgun arm.
The gun slowly disappeared before she was brought to her knees, her strength completely sapped.
Xicor jumped down as dust and rock were kicked up, he walked out of the dust towards Himari who couldn't lift a finger, no matter how hard she tried.
Just as he got halfway, he lifted an arm to block a fist. Glancing at its source, Sahara stood there with bruises covering her body and blood seeping from her forehead.
Xicor narrowed his eyes at her, "You're boring now, goodbye"
Xicor used his other hand to grab her face and lift her off the ground as she weakly resisted him.
"Cleave" He said, as multiple lines appeared on Sahara's face, she went limp before her head disappeared and her body fell on the ground.
Everyone stared at it in horror and shock before looking at the killer's face and rage overtook their expressions.
He ignored their expressions as he beckoned them with a finger, "So, who's next"