Immediately, I realized that Ryu was correct; it would be fitting for Steel to hide where we once considered our strongpoint. After all, he was so twisted that something like that might just appeal to him for one demented reason or another. I only hoped that he hadn't done something to Anna before we got there.
I motioned the others for us to get on our way; we had precious seconds that we might lose in an instant if we didn't hurry and try to find our way over to get to Funbari Hill. I know I was being a bit hasty, but I didn't have the time to really consider that; I was only doing what any good husband would do when he has a say in what happens to his wife.
None of the others disagreed with my motion to quickly make our way out, but it seemed that we would need a plan in order to try and combat Steel, that devil of a man. I only hoped that we could figure that out when we were waiting to get over to our location. If not, we might be lucky enough to come up with a strategy in battle (but I hoped that it wouldn't come to that).
On our somewhat long journey, which seemed like days instead of hours to me, we came up with the idea to fight in a quick manner; each would try to find a weak point upon Steel and try to use it to attack him, or at the very least try to slow him down. We knew that if we could slow him down to our level, then we might have a chance in fighting him, but it still would be a difficult fight.
At last, we reached Funbari, and I ran as fast as I could, dodging everything in my path in an attempt to try and get to the inn, hoping to get there before Steel could do anything to Anna. However, this was where my great hast finally came and caught me.
As soon as I ran into the inn, I noticed that I was not in Funbari any more. Instead, I was in a new room, a place that looked hewn from the stones of Patch Village. I saw a number of high rocks strewn about the large arena-like room I was in, and I saw a figure robed by the darkness waiting upon the ledge of the highest rock.
"Steel!" I yelled when I realized it was him. Getting a closer look, I saw that he was holding Anna in his right hand, and then I yelled with more fury, "Give her back, you monster!"
He turned to me, knowing it would only anger me further, he merely laughed. His laugh can still ring in my ears sometimes; it was a cold and bitterly mocking laugh that no person should ever have to hear. Unfortunately, it did have the adverse effect that he hoped it would have on me.
Calling on Amidamaru, who happened to be with me at the time, I grabbed Harusame and tried to create my strongest oversoul possible. However, as I wasn't quite calm or in my right mind (two necessary facets of my fighting style), I could not bring Amidamaru to any level higher than into Harusame alone, relatively weakly as well.
In that blind rage of mine, I could do nothing but look at what little chance I had, and I knew that I couldn't defeat Steel with such a meager attack, but my mind did not want me to believe that truth; it kept me from being sensible. I only wanted to take my revenge on Steel.
The mighty Steel merely snapped his fingers and the three shamans from before appeared. They were easily weaker than I was, but I wouldn't let them have the fair chance I normally had. I instead turned with my brother's glare and utterly destroyed them. I don't exactly know how it happened or why it happened, but I know that they were all on the ground before I knew what happened.
Steel didn't seem utterly impressed. He knew that they were weaker thugs, and with the draining strength of anger, they could fall to a shaman like me. It almost seemed as if he planned that attack to fail so easily.
Leaving Anna up on his pedestal of a rock, Steel leapt down, letting the black cape that had obscured him flutter away. This was when I got my first look at him, and he frankly scared me. His height wasn't the intimidating thing about him (even though he was taller than me), it was his face, or rather the lack of being able to see a face that scared me.
I looked at him and saw the mask and little else. He had small slits where his eyes and mouth could peek out to get sight and air, but that was where his link to humanity ended. The rest of the mask covered his face, but it was deathly white with a menacing red "X" protruding from the corners of the mask, as if to say, "You've run out of luck."
"I'm surprised you've made it this far, Asakura," he bitterly scoffed, trying to use my name against me.
"I don't have time for your games or your insults, Steel," I yelled at him. "Give me back Anna and we can all go home."
"Even in your anger you're a fool, Askaruka. You do deserve to die." Suddenly taking on a more aggressive attitude, he said (almost with pleasure), "I'd be glad to be the one to get rid of your kind."
"Enough talk, Steel. Let's fight," I said in great anxiousness to fight against this incarnation of darkness.
Steel merely leapt back and opened his arms, taunting me to make the first attack. As shot as my senses were, I couldn't help but try and attack him; it was just too good of a chance. So I lunged after him, but I soon found out that my attempt to attack him was nothing more than an empty attack.
Just before I was to make solid contact with him, Steel's mask began to glow and the red "X" seemed to emit an aura of its own and came out of the mask to counter my attack. Not only did the oversoul stop my attack, it threw me back and to the ground.
When I was on my back, Steel asked, "Are you willing to give up now, scum?"
I gritted my teeth and said, "I will never give up to the likes of you, monster."
I leapt back up, my rage flowing stronger then ever. I don't know why, but his insults kept making me angrier, almost in hatred. In blind rage, I again charged after Steel, meeting the same result. However, my furyoku was at its end, and I knew I couldn't fight another shaman without any of it.
I had lost, and it somehow allowed me to calm down a little bit. I was still angry, but I was again calm. If I could let my furyoku come back to me somehow, I might be able to fight with him, but that was not the situation I faced at all.
Steel maliciously mused, "How should I get rid of you?"
However, before he could consider a response, a new voice pierced the scene. The voice, which I easily recognized as Ren's said, "You won't kill him before you kill all of us, Steel."