Chapter 25

Kill The Touch

Tatsumi and Mine had quickly met up with Wave and Kurome during the start of the battle, grouping up to better their chances if they happened to run into an enemy. They patrolled the streets, checking in with soldiers on the front lines, who had seen as little as they had of the fighting.

It seemed like everyone was in a different place than they were. They had felt the rumbles through the city as other powerful fighters clashed, they didn't know who was fighting, so all they could do was pray their friends came out alive.

The people they were battling were some of the strongest in their country, and said to be all more powerful than the strongest fighter on the continent they had now invaded.

Many soldiers had already lost their lives fighting against these incredible forces, so it was Night Raid and the Jaeger's job to make sure they didn't die in vain.

Tatsumi stopped in his tracks as they came across a small army of their own soldiers, all incapacitated or killed, scattered across the ground that was soaked with blood. In the center was one man. The man that had already caused them enough pain.

"It's about time someone showed up, I was getting bored." Said a yawning Hendricks, who rose from the ground where he was sitting and faced his four enemies. "Four on one, I say those are pretty unfair odds."

"We're not trying to be fair here, buddy." Mine scolded him like a child, which made him smile like a maniac.

"I meant it was unfair for you." His face twisted into a psychotic grin. "Look around."

His face reminded Mine of Seryu, which made her immediately raise her weapon and start firing a rapid hailstorm of bullets directed at him.

The man was incredibly agile, but did take a few shots as he closed the distance between him and the others. Right as he was in range to reach out and grab Mine, Kurome slashed her sword, just barely missing him as he leaped back.

"Any day now boys." Mine said, her weapon hissing as it cooled down from the volley of bullets.

"Right." Tatsumi and Wave spoke in unison.

"INCURSIO!"

"GRAND CHARIOT!"

Both of them appeared in their armor before the two girls. They powered up to their maximum level, readying themselves for anything.

"Interesting, that's some pretty light armor." Hendricks smiled, dashing in again and tapping both Tatsumi and Wave in their stomachs. "Throw."

Incredible pain shot through both of their bodies at that exact point, blowing them backwards into a church behind them.

"Tatsumi!" Mine cried, only dropping her focus for a moment.

Hendricks was in front of her again, striking forward and hitting her in the throat with the side of his hand. "Cut."

It was like an invisible knife that slashed across the side of Mine's neck, making blood immediately pour out of her new wound. It wasn't a fatal cut, but it was close enough to make Mine immediately focus back up, trying desperately to forget about the pain in her neck. She swung Pumpkin as fast as she could, smacking it across Hendricks' face, knocking him backwards.

Kurome stabbed towards Hendricks, barely cutting his arm before he dodged her in mid-air. He spun while upside down and slapped her on the wrist like a child, mumbling something.

When he landed, he looked back at Kurome with a smile.

"What the hell did you do?" Kurome looked down to her left arm, where a green hue was beginning to crawl up her arm from the inside.

"Poisoned you." He laughed, pointing to her chest. "In a few minutes it will reach your heart, killing you in the most painful way possible. Sorry, sweetheart, but I'm not going to lose to a bunch of two-bit soldiers."

Kurome's eyes narrowed and an incredible fury overtook her. He wasn't going to get rid of her that easily, that wasn't how she was going to die.

Kurome tore off half of her shirt, tying it around her upper arm as tightly as it would go, cutting off all circulation to that area, with the other half of her shirt, she bit down onto it as hard as she could, making pain shoot through her jaw.

Hendricks seemed amused, almost excited at what the girl was doing. Just trying to blind herself of the pain and slowing down the poison wouldn't stop her inevitable death.

She turned her sword on herself, her eyes burning bright at her enemy as she swung it fast, slicing through flesh. Her own flesh.

Hendricks was in shock from the girl's grit and tenacity.

Her arm dropped to the ground, falling lifeless as it fell from her now cured body. The poison was gone now, but she had to be careful to not be touched again, she couldn't lose any more body parts.

Mine was just as impressed at Kurome's showing of power. But now she was down an arm, and they were already at a disadvantage as it was.

"Impressive, but how is that going to help you?" He asked with a smile. "You may have gotten rid of the poison, but who says I just don't do it again, this time to your head?"

Kurome grit her teeth, feeling a little bit of blood drip out of her open wound. She had to ignore it. "I won't let you touch me."

"Say what you will…" Hendricks dashed towards Kurome, even faster than the last time, catching her off guard once again.

Just as he was about to make contact, Wave appeared above him, smashing his fist into the blonde man's back, crushing him into the ground below. Tatsumi was next, he kicked him from his grounded position, throwing him into the sky, where Wave once again attacked, throwing him right at the ground.

Tatsumi caught him before he impacted the ground, punching him right in his ribs and hearing more than a couple of them break. Hendricks grabbed Tatsumi by his helmet and started to speak.

"Force!" He shouted.

A white light appeared from his hands as a burst of pressure exploded down onto Tatsumi, ripping apart pieces of his armor and imbedding him deep into the ground. Half of Tatsumi's helmet was gone and parts of his chest piece were chipped or cracked.

"Tatsumi!" Wave fired down at Hendricks, but was met with a hand grabbing onto his face.

Hendricks had a hold of both Tatsumi and Wave now, each by the face with one hand.

"Forc-"

A beam of light blasted right at him, completely enveloping him in the blast of energy and interrupting his attack.

Mine stood stationary as her three teammates looked back at her, giving her a nod of thanks.

She fired again, hitting Hendricks as he was thrown back from the first attack, making his body scrape across the ground as he was pushed across the battlefield.

His clothes and hair sizzled and burned from Pumpkin's energy blasts. He stood up, brushing himself off and letting his now broken left arm hang down limp at his side.

"Maybe I underestimate you four just a little bit." He chuckled, putting his right arm to the ground and looking back up to the four fighters with an angry face. "Explode!"

The ground underneath them erupted like a volcano, bursting out from under them and throwing all of them into the air.

Hendricks put his hand in the air while they were readying themselves for a landing. "Tornado!"

The wind sped up, spinning incredibly fast in just a few seconds. All four fighters were sucked into the whirlwind, being battered by various debris inside of the vortex.

Hendricks jumped forward and put only his hand in the twister, his eyes narrowing. "Heat!"

The tornado burst into flames, igniting the four warriors that were already struggling to get out of it. They all cried out in pain, feeling the flames slide across their skin and burn them.

Wave and Tatsumi grabbed ahold of each other, their armor was protecting from the flames, but wouldn't continue to do so. They worked up a momentum and threw each other outwards, appearing outside of the tornado.

Tatsumi rushed to his feet just as he landed, immediately attacking Hendricks and throwing him aside, making the flaming twister disappear and drop the two girls inside of it, who fell limply to the ground, burned from the flames and bruised from the flying debris.

Mine had been completely knocked out cold, but Kurome just barely got to her feet, clinging to Wave for support.

Tatsumi rushed over to Mine, picking her and her Teigu up, rushing them to safety. Mine had tears running down her face, the left side of her hair had been burned up to her shoulder, the once gorgeous pink was now stained with black tips and streaks. Her left side had been badly burned from her abdomen all the way down her leg to her knee, her flesh was bright red in some places, and already blackened in others.

Her young lover clenched his teeth, feeling rage course through his body. He had no idea if she was going to be okay after a burn like that, but he did know she was out of the battle for now. Kurome had lost her arm, which the wound had been burned shut in the flames, stopping any bleeding but making her cry out in agony.

Tatsumi burst into a home, coming face to face with a terrified family. He dropped her off to the husband, who took her with confusion and fear in his eyes. Tatsumi turned around to leave, but stopped right before he left through the open door.

He turned back, watching the fear-filled eyes of the husband, who stood strong in front of his wife and two children, a boy and a girl. That was what Tatsumi wanted some day with Mine, and he'd be damned if someone was going to take that away from him.

"Keep all of them safe, this will be over soon." Tatsumi said with a hopeful grin.

The little boy's terrified face turned into a hopeful gaze as Tatsumi left the building, leaving Pumpkin behind by the door.

Wave and Hendricks were battling it out in the street, trading blow after blow. Tatsumi had spent enough time with Wave to know how he felt about Kurome, he was in the same position as Tatsumi was. They were both fighting for the person they loved.

"Wave, let's do it!" Tatsumi shouted, they had been saving this for last, and it was about time they finished this battle.

"Right!" Wave punched Hendricks in the face one last time and jumped back, landing right next to Tatsumi.

"Ready?" Tatsumi faced Wave.

"Ready." Wave followed suit, staring right at Tatsumi.

The two fighters took each other's hands, locking their hands together.

This technique would take immense focus, but if they could pull it off, they could win this fight.

"Teigu: Plus!" Both Wave and Tatsumi shouted at once, making an incredible explosion rock the entire Capital city. Wind blasted through city streets, throwing over some soldiers and civilians, even threatening to blow over smaller homes.

Hendricks watched as both Tatsumi and Wave shined in a brilliant white light, it was so bright it threatened to blind anyone who watched for too long. Their forms seemed to mesh together, mixing with the blinding light.

Eventually both the wind and light faded, and what remained was Tatsumi in a new, pristine suit of armor.

"Teigu Plus: Grand Chariot + Incursio." Tatsumi said, gripping both of his fists.

The armor took abilities and looks from both Teigu, mixing them together to create an unbeatable warrior.

Wave harrumphed, the few times they had practiced the ability had shown them that it seemed to randomly select who was going to use the ability, and now in the heart of battle Tatsumi was going to use it.

"Fancy, but it won't save any of you." Hendricks shot towards Tatsumi, rearing his fist back and knowing he was on target as he closed the distance.

Tatsumi vanished and appeared almost instantly in front of him, driving his knee into the Devil's Core member's face and then picking him up by his hair, slamming him down face-first into the ground and destroying the rock underneath them with his body.

Without wasting any time, Tatsumi fazed behind Hendricks as he stood and punched him right in the back of his head, launching the bastard forward and skipping his limp body across the ground.

"H-how?!" Hendricks was in a panic as he desperately swung at Tatsumi, trying to get in a single hit to do any kind of damage to him.

The evolved assassin had no problem dodging the brash attacks and eventually used an attack of his own, flattening Hendricks with the powerful straight punch.

Tatsumi leaped upwards, gaining all his momentum as he fell and smashing his fist with all of his power into Hendricks' body, decimating the ground with just the force of his one punch. The enemy underneath him fell limp and his eyes grew dull as Tatsumi rose to his feet, stepping off of him and staring down at his fresh corpse.

"Tatsum-"

Wave was interrupted by Tatsumi releasing a furious shout and kicking his leg as hard as he possibly could, throwing the already dead fighter into the air. He let out heavy breaths, adrenaline still pumping through his veins.

"Teigu Plus… Release." Both Tatsumi and Wave's armor returned to their rightful owners, and Tasumi fell to his knees, his body weak from the pressure of using the two Teigu at once.

He slowly rose to his feet, his Teigu deactivating as he limped over to the home he had placed Mine in.

Wave made no attempt to stop him, he slowly made his way over to Kurome, who was still conscious, giving a satisfied grin to Wave.

As Tatsumi entered the house, his heart stopped.

Mine watched him with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face, but she did not react to him opening the door. Her eyes were dull, and her body didn't respond to anything. She was already gone.

The husband looked panicked, but had tears in his eyes too. The mother had hidden her crying children in the corner of the room, covering their eyes from Mine's lifeless body.

Tatsumi had tears in his eyes as he dropped to his knees and crawled across the room, sobbing in pain from his broken heart. He took Mine from the man and cradled her in his arms, holding her close and embracing her body, shaking from his fear of losing his special someone.

His tears fell onto her face, mixing into her own tears as they ran down her face. Tatsumi screamed in agony, this was the one person he promised to protect, that he told he would right by her side.

"Mine!" Tatsumi sobbed, his tears streaming down his face and making him choke up. "Mine, don't die, you can't!"

The family cried along with him, either from fear or sadness, he didn't know.

"We were going to see the world together, we were going to get married!" He screamed down at her. "I have the ring right here, I was going to purpose after this stupid war was over…" Tatsumi pulled a diamond ring from his pocket, holding up Mine's hand and putting it inside, squeezing it for her.

Mine didn't move a muscle.

"You can't die!" Tatsumi yelled at the top of his lungs, making both Wave and Kurome rush inside, stopping in horror at the scene before them. "I can't live without you!"

Tatsumi embraced her once more, squeezing her tightly and hoping for any sign of life.

A light squeeze on his shoulder made his heart skip a beat.

"I-I'll remember t-that…" Mine choked out, coughing lightly. "You weren't ever the romantic type, I'm impressed, babe."

Tatsumi smiled through his tears of what was now overwhelming joy. Mine had come back to him, and he was going to do whatever it took to get that way.

"We need to take a moment to rest, but then we have to get back out there." Kurome said, trying to ignore her missing limb, but not being able to escape the incredible pain that pulsated through her body as she tried to wiggle fingers that weren't there anymore.

"I don't think we can take another battle like that." Wave cracked his knuckles, noticing how bloody and scraped up they had become.

"We can together." Tatsumi said, looking down at Mine with hopeful eyes. "I know it."