Chapter 6: Amidst The Chaos
The battlefield had become unrecognizable.
Collapsed buildings.
Cracked earth.
BRRRM!
Fire bleeding into the sky.
At its center....Kirigaya stood tall, armor fractured but glowing faintly along it's edges.
Around him....Daito and the full NBA team.
Tasao V rolled his neck.
Zumi C adjusted his stance.
The Woman in White watched calmly, calculating.
And Daito....Bleeding, Exhausted, Breathing heavy.
Kirigaya raised both arms.
The ground erupted.
Stone tendrils shot upward like spears, twisting violently.
BRAKE! BRAKE!
"Rrraaa!"
THWACK!
Tasao charged straight through them, letting spikes tear into his arms as he roared and smashed a fist into the Lieutenant's ribs.
SWOOSH!
The impact thundered.
But Kirigaya didn't fall.
CRACKLE!
POW!
He countered instantly—an earth-forged gauntlet forming around his fist, slamming Tasao across the square.
Zumi moved next.
POW! PANG! THWACK!
He slipped into Kirigaya's blind spot, delivering precise strikes to armor joints—neck, ribs, knee hinges.
Each hit landed clean.
CRACK! CRACK!
Cracks formed.
The Woman in White fired in rhythm—every bullet aimed at weakened points Zumi exposed.
For the first time—
Kirigaya staggered.
Daito watched.
Measured.
Waiting for an opening.
GRAB!
BOOM!
Tasao leapt back in, grabbing the Lieutenant and driving him through a ruined wall.
The Woman in White shouted—
"Now!"
Swoosh!
Daito moved.
Despite exhaustion, his speed surged.
SLASH! SLASH!
CLANG!
He cut through rising stone pillars and closed the distance. His blade carved across Kirigaya's chestplate, shattering part of the crimson armor.
SHINE!
The glow flickered violently.
"Uaargh!"
TREMBLE! TREMBLE!
SWOOSH! BOOM!
Kirigaya snarled and released a shockwave of compressed earth.
All four were blasted backwards.
He stood again, breathing heavier now.
"You," he said, pointing at Daito.
"A pure breed. No sacrifice. No alchemic conversion. No dead Freaked lover fueling your strength."
His eyes glowed through the mask.
"And yet you fight beside Savages."
Tasao smirked from the rubble. "Watch your mouth."
Kirigaya continued.
"You could be greater than them. Stronger. You choose weakness."
Daito wiped blood from his forehead.
"I don't need power stolen from the dead."
Kirigaya laughed harshly.
"You think that makes you noble?"
Daito stepped forward.
"It takes a man to kill a man."
The battlefield seemed to pause.
"That's what my father taught me."
He raised his blade again.
"And I don't need "Savagery" to do it."
* * *
DASH!
BOOM! CRASH!
Tasao charged again but was intercepted by a collapsing structure forced down by the Lieutenant's power.
CRACK!
CRUSH!
Zumi was buried waist-deep in shifting stone.
TREMBLE!
CRASH!
The woman in white was thrown back by a violent tremor splitting the ground.
Kirigaya forced distance between them all.
Until only Daito remained standing in front of him.
Both were swaying slightly now.
Both bleeding.
Both exhausted.
Just close combat.
They clashed.
POW! DODGE!
TWHACK! BLOCK!
Fist to fist.
SLASH! CLANG!
CLING! SLASH!
Blade to armored forearm.
POW! POW! POW!
Knee to ribs.
Daito's movements were slower now—but sharper. Efficient. No wasted motion.
The Kirigaya's armor cracked further with each exchange.
"You're breaking," Kirigaya hissed.
"So are you," Daito replied.
THWACK!
SWOOSH!
The Lieutenant drove a fist into Daito's stomach.
Daito coughed blood—
POW!
But answered with a right hook that snapped Kirigaya's head sideways.
He followed with a brutal elbow.
Then another.
Kirigaya retaliated, forming a small earth blade and slashing across Daito's chest.
They separated briefly, both breathing ragged.
Kirigaya laughed weakly.
"You could have been one of us."
Daito stepped forward again.
"I'm not you."
He gripped his sword tighter.
"And I don't kill for power."
The Interruption
Suddenly—
"Nooo!"
A scream echoed from behind the battlefield.
Not from a soldier.
Not from the team.
From the town.
Daito froze.
Nagare, kneeling and injured near the edge of the square, lifted his head slowly.
"You didn't really think…" he said through blood,
"…we came alone?"
The air shifted again.
A second presence.
Heavier.
Colder.
From the smoke emerged another General—larger, silver armor, carrying a massive chained weapon.
And in his grasp—
Daito's mother.
Her hands restrained.
Weapon knocked aside.
Blood at her forehead.
Daito's world went silent.
The General smirked.
"We needed leverage."
CLING! RATTLE!
The chain tightened around her neck.
Tasao tried to rise but collapsed again.
The Woman in White's expression hardened.
Zumi cursed under his breath.
Nagare looked at Daito.
"This was always the plan."
Lieutenant Kirigaya stepped beside the second General, battered but alive.
"You fight well," he told Daito.
"But you're still just a man."
Daito's hand trembled slightly on his sword.
His mother met his eyes.
Not afraid.
Just steady.
And then—
BRRM! TREMBLE!
BOOOM!
Kirigaya used his power to raise two buildings opposite each other, as he smashed them together to crush Daito.
The second General began retreating, dragging her with him.
Kirigaya followed slowly.
"We'll be waiting," he said.
The two enemies disappeared into the smoke with Daito's mother in their grasp.
Silence fell over the destroyed homeland.
Fire crackled.
A cut split the building into two.
Rubble, smoke and shattered glass everywhere.
Buildings crumbled.
Daito stood there—
Frozen.
Exhausted.
Breathing shaking.
For the first time since he was a child, he didn't know what to do.
The smoke hadn't cleared.
The flames hadn't died.
But the battlefield was quiet.
Too quiet.
Daito stood where they left him.
Where they took her.
His sword hung loosely at his side.
No one spoke.
Not Tasao.
Not Zumi.
Not even the Woman in White.
Something changed in the air around Daito.
His breathing became uneven.
Too fast.
His pupils tightened.
His heartbeat—audible.
Kirigaya's words echoed in his mind:
"You could be greater."
"You're still just a man."
He remembered every Savage ritual he'd heard about.
The sacrifice.
The alchemy.
The conversion of grief into power.
For the first time in his life, he understood the temptation.
If he became one, if he converted the pain, he could crush them.
No more struggling.
No more being outnumbered.
No more watching people get taken.
CRACK!
The ground beneath his feet began to crack.
Not from alchemy.
From pressure.
From him.
His eyes flickered a faint red shimmer trying to surface.
Tasao noticed first.
"Daito."
No response.
Zumi stepped back slightly. "Don't tell me…"
The Woman in White moved forward calmly.
"Daito."
Still nothing.
GRIP!
His grip tightened around his sword until blood ran from his palm.
"If power is what it takes…" he muttered.
FWOOSH!
The air distorted around him.
Not Savage energy, but something raw.
Uncontrolled.
Grief sharpening into something dangerous.
A voice cut through the storm inside him.
Not from outside.
From memory.
His father's voice.
"It takes a man to kill a man."
Not a monster.
Not something twisted by sacrifice.
A man.
Daito's jaw clenched.
His breathing slowed.
The red shimmer faded.
The cracked earth stilled.
He dropped to one knee.
Not broken.
But close.
Very close.
Tasao exhaled.
"Thought we were about to lose you."
Daito looked up slowly.
"I'm not becoming one of them."
His voice was hoarse.
"But I am ending this."
* * *
Far from the battlefield, retreating through forest cover—
TRUDGE!
Nagare ran with the remaining survivors.
ZOOOM!
The second General and Lieutenant Kirigaya moved ahead, transporting Daito's mother to a secured extraction point.
Nagare slowed briefly.
His chest felt heavy.
He remembered when Daito used to protect him from bullies.
When they used to race down these same streets as kids.
This wasn't supposed to escalate like this.
They were supposed to capture Daito.
Break him.
Force negotiation.
Not take his mother.
Not drag civilians into deeper war.
He clenched his jaw.
But he kept running.
Because backing out now would mean betrayal on both sides.
And he wasn't ready to face either.
Back in the ruined Grimvale —
The Woman in White turned to Daito.
"They won't stay local. This was coordinated. Extraction routes are likely pre-planned."
"How long?" Daito asked.
"Two hours before they're untouchable."
Tasao grinned, blood still running down his face.
"Then why are we standing here?"
Zumi cracked his neck.
"I assume we're not waiting for paperwork."
The Woman in White's eyes sharpened.
"This becomes an unsanctioned rescue if we move now."
Daito stood fully.
"She's my mother."
Silence.
Then—
Step....step
Tasao walked past him toward the jet.
"I didn't hear a no."
Zumi followed.
The Woman in White sighed softly.
"…We move immediately."
SWOOSH!
VRRRMMM!
The NBA jet roared back to life.
Daito sat near the open ramp, staring into the night wind.
His mind was quieter now.
But colder.
He had stood on the edge.
And that frightened him more than anything.
Because it felt…
Easy.
He closed his eyes.
"No shortcuts," he whispered to himself.
The jet cut through the clouds.
Somewhere ahead....His mother was being transported deeper into enemy territory.
And this time...Daito wasn't going as a defender.
He was going as a storm.
to be continued....