16 - Run It Back

“Huh...”

“What’s this smell?”

“It’s like I’m drowning in a pool of charcoal. Like, I’ve been kidnapped and placed into a wagon of charcoal on its way to a random city in Asia...”

Sakuto slowly woke up, rubbing his eyes. Radiant beams of sunlight caressed his face, causing his eyes to tear up a little from the unexpected exposure. He slowly got out of bed and put his clothes on. On his way to the bathroom, he finally spotted the source of the awfully natural smell.

“Oh...you’re cooking?” Sakuto asked. Ichika was trying her hardest not to be devoured by the chaos of the kitchen.

“Yeah. I thought I’d make breakfast, we have a lot to do today.” Ichika said, turning the stove off.

“Anything in particular?”

“You’ll see for yourself once we head off.” Ichika said with a smile, awkwardly positioning herself in a way that the food remains concealed.

“I hope I don’t poison him.”

After visiting the bathroom, Sakuto joined Ichika by the table. In front of him was something that he couldn’t really comprehend. The white plate was decorated with a piece of pan grilled cheese, which was fully blackened. Ichika stared at it in embarrassment, while Sakuto reluctantly picked it up.

“It’s...really well done.” Sakuto said.

“You can turn the sarcasm off, okay?!” Ichika said, annoyed.

Sakuto went in and took a bite. His face instantly recoiled from the intense burnt flavors. But nevertheless, he kept on eating. Even his disfigured face soon returned back to normal.

“Look, I know it’s bad.” Ichika said. “You can drop the act now. I’m sorry I messed up.”

“It’s whatever, I’ve adapted to the flavor already.” Sakuto replied. “What matters is you tried, right? Next time, you won’t mess up the temperatures.”

“Right...” Ichika seemed a bit startled.

“If you want to, I can make something new.” Sakuto offered. “I hope she agrees, this is absolutely inedible...”

“That’d be too much effort for you.” Ichika declined.

“It takes me a few minutes.” Sakuto said, getting up and opening the fridge. He grabbed two pairs of eggs and broke them into a glass bowl, mixing the yolks. “I’m used to cooking. Might as well have a nice meal before whatever you said we have to pull through today.”

“Yeah. I can’t imagine seeing him in that state too.” Ichika added.

“What do you mean?”

“Mr. Tsunehiro, he...”

Sakuto was shocked to see a hospital bed in the gym. Tsunehiro’s arms were supplied with medicine through a drip bag that was stationed on a small stand next to it. His stomach was covered in awful burn marks and his eyes were slightly red. Rin was sitting by her side, while Hayk was sitting on the tatami mats, looking defeated.

“What the hell happened?” Sakuto asked Oskar, who was also standing by.

“He got an awful infection.” Oskar said. “Rin is treating her as much as she can, but even that isn’t enough.”

“On top of that, Oskar and Dima had to fight off the police while stealing this equipment.” Kouta added. “The elementals are probably on high alert.”

“So there’s a chance they tracked him down here?”

“Hayk, he needs more antibiotics.” Rin said, configuring the dosages on the medicine. “And some other equipment too. I wrote down a list.”

“Give me a break...” Hayk grunted. “I can’t go anywhere knowing that the likes of Diego can ambush this place at any moment. I’m the only one who can counter him without getting Tsunehiro killed or causing mass destruction.”

“Does that mean...”

“Yeah.” Hayk turned to everyone else. “You guys will have to get him all the meds. I can’t leave this place, because if I do, everything goes to shit including Tsunehiro’s already deteriorating life. Hell, Rin might catch a stray too, and by stray I mean a flaming arrow to her head.”

Hayk tossed a piece of wrinkled paper at Kouta. After catching it, Kouta unfolded it to see the full list of medications.

“There’s a good chance you run into someone.” Rin sighed. “Dima, don’t hesitate to pull them back here.”

“Got it.” Dima nodded in agreement.

“Split the list up however you want. Just get the meds here, fast.” Hayk said, as if shooing the kids away. “Maximum urgency. Tsunehiro is effectively dying.”

...

[13:20. CENTRAL HARAJUKU.]

“Are you sure?”

“Think of it logically, we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.” Dima said, stopping the group for a moment. “If we’re bunched up together, we’re just walking victims of their mass destruction. If we’re separated, they’d hunt each one of us one by one.”

“And what do you suggest?” Oskar asked.

“Shit...nothing comes to mind.” Dima said, squatting on the ground and holding his head. “Assuming all of Harajuku is being patrolled, well...there’s not much. They’re just that much stronger than us if Hayk isn’t with us.”

“Even Diego? Is he strong enough to beat Kouta?” Ichika asked.

“It’s not as much about matchups.” Ausra answered. “Kouta is super strong, but there’s no guarantee that he’s the one who will fight Diego. Besides, the collateral damage alone from Kouta and Diego getting into a fight will destroy half the city and probably kill us.”

“Spot on.” Dima nodded. “In that case...what are we even supposed to do?”

“Kouta, are you confident that you can take on or at least stall multiple of them?” Sakuto asked.

“Yeah.” Kouta said, cracking his knuckles. “Even if it comes down to divine acclamations, I can survive for long enough.”

“Come to think of it, Kouta is insanely difficult to harm or kill.” Ichika commented.

“In that case, why not use him as a magnet?” Oskar asked. Everyone seemed taken aback by the suggestion.

“Hear me out now. We have him attract the soulfuls to him, while we sneak in and get whatever Hayk needs. Once we're done, we pull Kouta back to the gym.” Oskar explained. “If they want to chase us down, they’ll have to deal with Hayk, which is the exact scenario they have to avoid at all costs.”

“There’s two areas to head to, right?” Ichika said. “Me and Ausra can go to the hospital, Oskar and Sakuto can go to the pharmacy. Dima can stay on standby in case any of us needs to be transported away.”

“Won’t they just split off the forces? If they see that they’re being held off too much...unless their goal is to kill Kouta specifically.” Oskar said.

“I’m gonna assume their plan is to kill Kouta rather than worry about us.” Dima commented. "One Kouta is worth a hundred other soulfuls."

“Damn...it’s gonna be a long day for you, Kouta.” Oskar said.

“It is what it is.” Kouta sighed. “Let’s go.”

“Kouta...” Sakuto said. “Be safe, alright?”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Yeah, I got you.” Kouta replied. “Trust me, I’ll be fine.” He took a deep breath, and marched forward. He jumped up into the sky, landing on the roof of a nearby glass and stone building. Once on top, he signaled the rest to quickly scatter. Dima stayed, and the two newly formed groups quickly went by their respective routes...

...

[RING]

Oskar’s phone rang while he and Sakuto were sprinting. They couldn’t spare a second, so Oskar whipped it out of his pocket quickly and answered the call.

“Oskar!” Dima’s voice yelled out from Oskar’s phone, as he hastily picked it up while running. “High alert! Ichika and Ausra got ambushed!”

“What?!” Sakuto quickly yelled, stopping. Oskar took a few extra steps before standing still, but his attention was captured from elsewhere. From the roofs of one of the buildings, a heavy stream of water fell down onto him. Sakuto quickly summoned his weapon, and was thankfully fast enough to respond to the threat ambushing him from behind.

“How the hell...did we not sense their soul presence?”

“Were they this good at concealing it?!”

Sakuto quickly counterattacked with his blade, blocking the opponent’s gray and slightly rusty sword. A strong gust of wind pushed him back, but Sakuto stood his ground and went on the offensive. At the same time, next to him, Oskar summoned his own blade and tried to protect himself against Luca’s almost infinite supply of water.

“Shit...I can’t properly aim with him attacking me all the time.”

Oskar dashed back, trying his hardest to use his environment to his advantage. He ripped out a few street signs and even a small car, throwing them at Luca. Luca pushed through it and blasted Oskar away with a stream of water and chased him down.

Meanwhile, Sakuto was locked in a one-on-one. He was faced with fighting a difficult opponent, though, not because of their strength or abilities, but because of their...

“...Speed?!”

“I can hear it by the howling sounds. He’s using the wind to accelerate himself!”

Sakuto repelled most of his attacks, keeping his distance and properly responding to sword slashes with strikes of his own. He concentrated for a few moments, carefully watching as the wind elemental bounced around the street.

“Just gotta focus.”

His soul presence sparked. Sakuto sharply swung his sword, unleashing a release of soul prowess that hit the building ahead of him. The destruction, paired with the already present environmental damage of the battle, did not help at all in making the city feel safe again after recent events.

“Still, this thing is hard to aim properly!”

“Oskar is handling his own fight...I just gotta focus.”

Sakuto was caught off guard by a few scratch marks appearing on his arms. Parts of his black outfit were being slowly torn away. After quickly thinking it through, he realized that it started happening after feeling an odd breeze passed by him - the reinforced and dangerous wind created by his hunter.

William closed the distance again, swinging his sword. This time it was a double attack - sharp howls of the wind pierced Sakuto’s back, while William himself attacked from the front. Sakuto was out of options. That was the case, until he decided to quickly swing his blade around him, scratching its tip over the ground.

The release of energy that took place in a circular motion knocked William away. Sakuto was amazed by himself at that moment, and he quickly retook the initiative by rushing forward and trying to finish him off. William blocked, and now, the two were in close range combat.

Sakuto’s hand-to-hand skills were more than just remarkable. But his swordsmanship was starting to become dangerous too, primarily because he constantly summoned and unsummoned his blade while fighting. He threw a light combination of jabs and straights at William’s face, who dodged them quite easily. Following it up with a kick, he rushed at him and grabbed a hold of him, entering the clinch. There, he struck William with his right hand, before landing a devastating elbow that almost knocked him out. Using the moment of concussion, Sakuto summoned his blade and went for a decapitation.

William himself wasn’t idle. He recovered himself rather quickly, avoiding the blow. Feeling his pride slowly wither away, he went ahead and tried to beat Sakuto at a similar game - by shooting for a takedown. Taking a hold of Sakuto’s leg, he tried to push him over, but failed to do so as Sakuto wrapped his arm around William’s neck. The squeezing force put an option before William - either he would complete the takedown, or he’d focus on using his soul expression to win the exchange.

But the elemental’s pride was still wounded.

He put his foot behind Sakuto’s, and took him down onto the ground. A few heavy hits on the stomach forced Sakuto to mistakenly let go of the guillotine choke and try focusing on body defense. At this point, William was mounted on top of Sakuto. The latter needed to think of something before he was pummeled into the ground.

Seeing how William was still slightly wavy from the earlier elbow shot, he took the chance to escape bottom position and turn him over. Now Sakuto was the one in charge. He decided to instantly free himself and leave the ground game, focusing more on delivering a precise sword strike. As he almost succeeded in his duty, he heard a pair of words that caused him quite the trouble.

“Soul Interpretation.”

The unpleasant breeze that was nibbling on Sakuto’s clothes and skin suddenly disappeared. Instead, he was shoved back an entire street as a result of a powerful gust of wind. He tried to send a few flying slashes while in the air, but only one of them hit the target, creating a somewhat deep wound across his chest.

...

“What is it? Why aren’t any of them attacking?!”

Kouta was still alone, and worst of all, he couldn’t sense anyone approaching him. He took out his phone, trying to contact Dima. Just at that instance, a few soul presences sparked up everywhere - everywhere except his own location.

“Why aren’t any of them targeting me?!”

He got a phone call.

“Huh? Dima?!”

“GET YOUR ASS NEAR THE HOSPITAL, WE’RE FUCKING AMBUSHED-”

Kouta gasped as the signal suddenly cut off. He put all his might into quickly getting to his comrades as fast as possible. Using his own gravity to pull himself around was an extremely risky maneuver, as it had odd and sometimes dangerous effects on Kouta’s body. Even now, he hesitated to use that technique.

...

Ichigo, who was lurking in and out of his invisibility, and Hwang, who was trying his hardest to assert himself on the battlefield, were the ones attacking Ausra and Ichika. Ichika was the one first caught off guard, receiving a burning injury on her arm and a barrage of small rock projectiles on her chest. She was effectively incapable of fighting on her own since the injuries were pretty bad.

“She’s out of the fight.” Ichigo thought to himself, covering himself in his invisible cloak. “No point in trying to kill her. As for the other girl, it’s best for Hwang to get his ego up so he stops acting like a man-child...”

“Right now, my main focus should be the plan itself. I can’t flare my soul presence too much.”

Hwang, at the same time, was having the time of his life. Not only testing his prosthetic arm, but also fighting off the ‘prideful brats’ that challenged his reputation. He laughed while chucking rocks at Dima, who was trying his hardest to get to Ichika with his portals, and chasing away Ausra, who was looking for an opening to counterattack. Dima stood his ground, before deciding that the only way to kill the raging beast was to outsmart him.

“Think it through.”

“By the time Kouta gets here, I need to have Hwang at least somewhat hurt. I need to hurt him, deliver Ichika to Rin and help them.”

“Concentrate.”

Dima opened a portal behind Hwang on one of the buildings’ walls. As Hwang prepared another massive ground spike to chuck at Dima, Dima prepared to dodge it.

“Focus on the momentum.”

The spike flew at Dima. He quickly weaved to the side, but instead of rushing forward, he took aim. He shot a perfectly-timed portal on the building that was behind him, albeit a dozen meters away. Hwang’s own attack had come back to bite him in the ass, literally.

“The portals are pretty annoying. Hwang’s too stupid to counter them properly.”

“At the same time, the portal caster’s focus on the fight means that he can’t provide strategic support to his allies. He can’t take the injured girl out of the battlefield.”

“Wait...that’s-”

A monstrous presence entered the battlefield. As the environment itself got heavier from his soul presence, the new challenger was revealed to be...

“Kouta Touriki!” Hwang yelled immediately, distracting himself from Dima who tried getting close. He turned to face him so quickly it looked as if he was abandoning Ichigo to deal with the rest on his own. He summoned his weapon and held onto it tightly with his new arm. “I’ve got shit to settle with you!”

Kouta instantly forced a lethal zone of gravity onto Hwang, almost shoving him into the ground itself. Hwang took advantage of this, pushing himself further into the ground and bending the concrete like liquid. At that time, Dima was approaching Ichika to remove her from the battlefield. Ausra propelled herself back and stood next to Kouta.

“Where’d he go?!” She asked, looking around.

“Under the ground...”

“He’s gonna-!”

Kouta used his force to remotely rip a part of the concrete into the sky. The very same piece of the ground itself that Ichika and Dima were standing on was now levitating. Beneath it was Hwang, who had just failed to deliver a perfect surprise attack. Accompanied by a loud thunder-like sound, Kouta rushed at Hwang.

They exchanged heavy blows, and it was clear that Hwang was at a massive disadvantage. Aside from applying crushing gravity, Kouta also weakened it - forcing Hwang to levitate and lose his footing at times. They clashed with their weapons before ultimately resorting to just throwing hands like madmen.

Kouta landed a strong right hook, followed by a jab and an overhand that sent Hwang flying. Before Hwang could even conjure an attack, Kouta had already closed the distance and began a relentless onslaught of strikes. Hwang was completely outclassed. He tried to counterattack, but Kouta evaded the strike and landed an uppercut to the stomach so hard that Hwang coughed up blood. Then, he pulled him in with his gravity and grabbed him by his neck.

He gripped it as tight as he could, with Hwang desperately trying to break free. What saved him from certain death were the few seconds he had to conjure a pair of spikes from the ground to knock Kouta away. But even then, he couldn’t break free. Kouta pulled him back in and grabbed him by his prosthetic arm.

He placed his foot on Hwang’s body and used him as an anchor to rip Hwang’s arm off. Unlike the concert, where he had to look out for Sakuto, here he could fight unrestricted and unrestrained.

With a destructive overhand, he knocked the elemental deep into a nearby building. He would continue the assault and definitely would’ve gotten the kill, had it not been for...

However, a fierce explosion across the street captured everyone’s attention. Beneath a cloud of smoke and a layer of flames was a soul presence high enough to catch them off guard...and assume both the best and worst case scenario.