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Liz transformed in an instant, her added weight in human form tearing Kid off-course, yanking him from Beelzebub entirely -forcing his shot to miss- and being ripped away from him as the unexpected shift in weight separated them. But more importantly, the attacking Kishin from the window completely missed in its strike.
Her Meister was not the son of the god of death without knowing how to adjust to changes in the battle plan on the fly. After the first instant of surprise that crossed his face, Kid, sent Beelzebub to catch the human-Weapon, keeping his focus still on the enemy below that he was now falling even quicker towards, shifting his bodyweight in midair to adjust his position and aiming down so he'd enter the water feet-first.
Get ready, Patty! There was no time left, but Kid took a split second to thank the heavens for BlackStar, without whose training he never even would have been able to fire Patty without Liz in his other hand.
"Ready!"
There were reasons, besides his OCD, that Kid had two weapons, and only used them when he had both. Patty made a determined face as she felt Kid's soul wavelength crackle through their bond, wincing at the pain but remaining strong as they broke through the mirror finish of water, coming barrel-to-teeth with the massive Kishin below the surface.
"Death Shot: Overcharge!" Their mental voices chimed in sync. There was a half-second's delay as the surrounding area lit up in a pink glow...
Liz dove just under the flashing claws going for her head, her hat whipping off and a few strands of hair being lost in the process, then putting her foot flat against the building, she kicked off of it for a sharp rebound. The blonde didn't like being separated from her Meister, even less from her sister. But they could fight apart, even though it wasn't good for any of them.
The Kishin's attention was taken from her when the water below them erupted upward in a blue-green geyser and the eldest Thompson took the opportunity presented to her. Hopping onto the closest open window ledge, she set her foot against the edge of Beelzebub and kicked out with all her might, "Tornado Flip!"
The black board went sailing through the air like a disk of destruction, catching the Kishin right across the abdomen and sending it through the wall of the building across the canal. Liz jumped from the window over the middle of the waterway, transforming as she fell. Kid caught her expertly as he broke the surface with Patty in-hand and climbed from the murky liquid.
"You okay, Patty?"
"Stings, but I'm okay, sis!"
Liz mentally jumped as a tentacle shot from the water. "Christ! Doesn't that thing ever die?!"
All three of them watched in shocked surprise as the limb sped past them all and went... into the building? The trio gawked as the bleeding form rose from the water, huge maw filled with hundreds of razor-sharp teeth showing in a too-wide mouth spread to devour the other Kishin.
"HOLY SHIT! Did that Kishin just-"
Kid tensed, "Eat its fellow? Yeah, that just happened."
Patty mentally leaned forward. "Look! It's healing!"
Kid recalled Beelzebub to gain height as sinister red eyes zeroed back in on them again. "Kid, this is BAD! Get us the fuck out of here!"
"Is this why there weren't any other Kishin?" Patty asked.
"Let's not stick around to find out!"
Kid held them out, preparing to initiate Soul Resonance, when the Kishin sank back down below the water. Yellow\gold eyes watched the area warily, "Did it retreat?"
Liz let out a relieved sigh. "This is good, right? It must have known it was out-matched considering the damage you did to it with just one of your weapons down there. And a Kishin hunting Kishin; it's like our job's being done for us."
"I can't even begin to count all the ways which this is so very not good. That thing was like some higher evolution of Kishin, which would be worrying enough on its own. What Kishin hunts its own kind instead of human souls? Not only that, but the instant healing it received because of it... That was quite the power boost. Its retreat also makes the argument for a concerningly greater intelligence, and who knows how powerful it can become in what sort of timeframe? There are too many variables and far too many ways in which this could lead to something so very bad."
"Okay, I can see your point, but at least it-"
Kid spun Beelzebub in the air and bent backwards like he was playing a game of limbo, avoiding the blade-tipped tail that attempted to decapitate him even as he pointed the twin pistols at the new threat and fired. You, perchance, weren't about to say how it had at least taken care of the other Kishin for us, were you?
"Me? Of course not!"
Patty jumped. "Hide and seek: yay!"
Patty had apparently gotten it right again in another flash of innocent insight: it appeared all the other Kishin had merely been hiding from the one they'd just had the pleasure of playing with. The Kishin dissolved in a glow of light, which just brought to mind yet again how different and powerful the other had been.
A quick scan showed Kishin come crawling out of the surrounding buildings like ants. "Well, the welcoming committee left, looks like the party can finally start, eh?" At the lack of response, Liz looked at her Meister. Kid looking without seeing at the danger around them. "Kid?"
The young god's mind wasn't on the Kishin or his weapons, but the strange heaviness in his veins, the weight in his chest. What is this...?
"Kid! Focus!" Liz screamed as one of the monsters launched itself at them. Her wielder snapped himself out of whatever the hell was bothering him just barely in time to avoid the strike, dropping them straight down and shooting into the space they'd just been; leading his target.
Kid couldn't keep his mind on the fight. This tightness in his chest, this strange, phantom pain... It's... hard to breathe...
"KID!"
Can't you feel it? The pain?
"I can feel the Kishin's breath on my fucking face! SHOOT, damn you!"
Kid jerked and pulled the trigger, taking half the grotesque face off one of the demons. Liz trembled in his hand. He could feel her doubt seeping through their bond along with Patty's curiosity and concern. Sorry. But... Something's wrong.
"Kid, I swear to your father if you're endangering our throats for another goddamned painting..."
No! It's-
"Above!"
Wincing at the painfully blinding glare resulting in his knee-jerk reaction of heeding his Weapons' warning without hesitation that made him look up at the sun, Kid aimed without being able to see and shot off several rounds. The Kishin -this one something like a mutant cross between a panther and viper- screech-hissed in pain, but landed -alive- in the canal below. Awash with guilt at Liz's obvious, honest fear that he'd get them all killed, Kid shook off the painfully increasing heavy feeling in his chest.
Forcefully breathing deeply past the pain, his eyes flicked from one demon -one target- to another, waiting. The smooth-hided lizard on the left was the first to move, and Kid was through messing around. Catching another tensing from the corner of his eye, Kid stood at the edge of Beelzebub, jumping from the board with a super-powered kick with far more force behind it than what Liz could accomplish, sailing over the lizard Kishin in the air and taking it out even as his board cut through the sky at a high enough velocity to whistle. It cut through the Kishin in hit dead center in the chest just as easily.
Kid didn't bother recalling it just yet, kicking off the roof of the building where the lizard had originally been, aiming Patty to the left at one of the monsters and Liz at another opposite and across the waterway. Both Kishin disintegrated as Kid landed on the sidewalk below.
Silence engulfed the dead city. Patty transformed back to human in a flash of pink, "Are they all gone?"
"There were only supposed to be eight, right? Not counting the freaky not-kishin thing we faced, that should be all of them." Liz answered, about to turn back herself.
"But we didn't get that o-"
Liz froze as the sound of water erupting came behind them and Kid spun on his heels in an instant, brandishing her flatly at the cat-viper they'd left injured and squeezing the trigger partway before freezing in place, unable to move any part of his body.
Liz screamed. "KIIID!"
Can't breathe! His heart skipped a beat and he felt an impossible weight crushing his chest, collapsing his ribcage. He couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't think of anything but one searing thought. BlackStar!
Liz breathed a sigh of relief as Patty grabbed Kid by the hand he usually wielded her with and tugged with all her might, likely saving Kid's life, but not before the Kishin managed to score a deep cut on his other arm, forcing him to drop Liz.
"Patty!"
"Right!" The younger Thompson grabbed her sister before she hit the ground, normally-innocent face scrunched in a serious expression as she pointed Liz at the Kishin point-blank and fired.
When they were sure there were no more, Liz transformed back and they both rushed to their Meister, "Kid!" the shinigami was nearly catatonic and liz shook him hard, "Come on, useless rich-boy!"
Patty was on his other side, both hands on his shoulder and shoving for all she was worth, "Wake up! Come on, please! Please, please wake up!"
What seemed like an eternity -but was in all likelihood only a few minutes- later, Kid shot upright and startled both of them, his eyes locked on the horizon, "Come on! We have to go!"
"Go? Go where? And what the hell just happened? Kid! Damn you, stop ignoring me!"
"Something happened back home: we're leaving. Now." Liz and Patty looked at each other, scrambling after the Kishin souls they'd earned as Kid walked off. Realizing they weren't going to get any more out of him, both his Weapons sighed as they caught up with him and transformed again. Kid barely noticed as he summoned Beelzebub and they shot into the air back towards Shibusen. What trouble have you gotten yourself into now, Star?
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