Tsukiumi's fear took hold of her and she sent a torrent of water at the Black Sekirei. Karasuba sliced it to droplets with her sword before charging in. Tsukiumi conjured a liquid wall, but it, too, fell before The Black Sekirei's fury. However, it had obstructed her vision long enough to allow Tsukiumi to flee. Karasuba would not be deterred, however, as her bloodthirst would not be left unsatiated.

As the battle on the bridge ebbed, Number 9 and Number 4 fought in the skyline of the night. Number 9 was constantly giving ground, but with each new rooftop visited, Number 4's onslaught drew ever closer...

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"Man, she was annoying," Benitsubasa growled. "Who keeps smiling after they've been punched?"

"She probably won't be smiling much anymore," came Haihane's voice.

"So glad you could make it back, Haihane," Benitsubasa said sarcastically, seeing that her partner, now soaking wet, had clawed her way up one of the concrete bridge supports. "How's the water?"

"Just right for doing laundry," Haihane replied, smirking.

"'Laundry'?" The Red Sekirei was puzzled by her partner's critique.

"Why not? You brought a washboard," Haihane jested, pointing at a certain area between Benitsubasa's heck and abdomen. At this, Number 105 started fume, but then the ditz's Ashikabi broke from where he stood and raced to her fallen form.

"MUSUBI!" He took her up in his arms and buried his face in her shoulder. His tears trickled down the side of her arm.

"Minato!" Number 3 chased after him, caught off-guard by his sudden break.

Unfortunately for Kazehana, the use of her norito had left her powers drained. As such, when Haihane leapt up into the air and sliced at the trusses above her, Kazehana's winds were only enough to stop most of them from coming down on her. She fell, pinned under solid metal, as Haihane pushed off one of the newly-made stumps and landed in front of Kuno and Shigi.

"Sahashi-san!" the other Ashikabi cried.

"I'd worry more for yourselves," she said to the would-be elopers, "but don't let that stop you."

Shigi shoved Kuno back as The Blue Sekirei swept her claws towards the two of them. The talons tore bloody gashes into chest and he felt, his white shirt turning red.

"Shigi!" Kuno cried. She saw her Ashikabi's broken form lying before her, coughing as the crimson stain spread further. For the first time, Kuno found her resolve. She wasn't going to run anymore, or cry anymore. Not tonight, not when her Ashikabi's life was on the line.

She sank to her knees, peering down at her Ashikabi's upside-down face, and gently brought her lips to his. Golden wings of light unfurled from her back, and she spoke.

"Song of my pact, light the path of my Ashikabi!"

A heavenly sound flowed from Kuno's lips, so potent that it shone with her aurelian light. It washed over everyone present, friend and foe alike. Their worries, cares, fears all started to evaporate.

"My strength…" Haihane said sleepily. "What a nice song…"

"Keep it together Haihane!" Benitsubasa snapped, feeling her own vigor sliding away. "We're the Discipline Squad! ... And…"

"Like it? This is Kuno's ultimate attack, 'The Mellow Melody'," Shigi coughed, sitting up.

Kazehana, still struggling to unpin herself, wondered why she wasn't also caught up in the song's effect. She knew this was so because Minato was still a lot closer to the Discipline Squad than she would have liked, and it was still making her heart quake with dread.

Plant life began to slither its way around the captive audience, sliding around Minato and pulling on the girders that lay on top of Kazehana. They began to drag Minato away as the Discipline Squad members' eyes started to slide shut. The girders started to shift, though Kazehana remained trapped.

Then Kuno's song halted as she coughed up blood and fell beside her Ashikabi, who had recovered enough to sit up.

"Kuno!" Shigi lifted her head in his arm. "Why did you use that much power if you knew it would do this to you?"

"Because… I wanted to be useful," she murmured. Shigi smiled at this.

"You're hopeless," he murmured, hugging her close. "But you're my kind of hopeless."

"Jealous much, Red?" Haihane teased.

"Shut up, Haihane!" The Red Sekirei snapped. Haihane just giggled, always getting a kick out of pushing that particular button. The vines grasping at Minato and the girders were suddenly reduced to diced chunks as the Discipline Squad collected itself. Another slash of Haihane's bladed hands and Kazehana's freedom was out of her reach as she stared up at her executioner.

Benitsubasa's ire turned to the Ashikabi in front of her, cradling the fallen Number 88 in a way she knew Natsuo would never do to her. It just pissed her off more.

"Don't you get it? Her Sekirei crest is gone," she said, yanking the kid off of his Sekirei's husk and grasping him by his shirt collar. "She's gone."

Kusano was whimpering where her Ashikabi had left her. She didn't know what to do. The plants that she could summon would only be cut down by the Blue Sekirei, and then what? Minato and Kuno-san and Shigi-san and even her big sister Kazehana were about to die, and there wasn't anything she could do about it.

Her big brother blinked through his tears, his eyes never leaving Musubi's fallen form.

"I'm sorry, Musubi. I'm just no good after all…"

"You got that right," The Red Sekirei sneered. She sent her fist at Minato's face, all of her rage concentrated into a single strike.

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Tsukiumi nearly slipped as she touched down. Her white underskirt had been torn and blood trickled down her back from a wound about her shoulder blades. More gashes lines her arms, the crimson drizzle tainting the waters of her weapons. Her summoned shield in hand, she attempted to stand her ground as Karasuba's blade came screaming down at her. She nearly crumpled under the force of the blow, her shield threatening to lose its coalescence. It began to thrash about, protesting under the enormous power that was being applied to it, jittering around as gobs of liquid began to slosh free It was as if the water itself feared The Black Sekirei.

Seeing what was about to happen, she pulled her arm back and darted backwards, the sword passing through the water and biting into the stone beneath. She threw up another wall of water, but Karasuba thrush her blade straight through it, lancing the tip into Tsukiumi's shoulder. Thankfully, it missed the bone, though Tsukiumi's left arm now hung limp at her side. She was slowly starting to accept her fate, but completely unwilling to embrace it. She reasoned that, if nothing else, she would give the Black Sekirei a fight to remember. 'Twas not a fight that she expected to last much longer, not unless a miracle occurred.

As if in answer to her prayer, Karasuba stopped her coup de grace as something from the bridge caught her eye. Number 04's face split into a terrifying grin, ear to ear, as she nodded towards Tsukiumi.

"Thanks for the warm-up, Nine." Karasuba saluted Tsukiumi with the pommel of her sword and took off.

Tsukiumi sank to her hands and knees, feeling every wound the Black Sekirei had dealt her. She forced herself to stay awake, to remain in the world of the living and not succumb to her injury, but she toppled sideways nonetheless.

Through blurred vision, she saw a shape leap up and land on the ledge in front of her. It loomed over her, its eyes piercing the night.

"You know," it said, folding its arm, "I never got you back for for that 'vile Ashikabi' bit…"

Tsukiumi's eyes slid shut as the last of her strength left her. As the darkness closed in, she felt a giant hand reach under her neck, sliding down her back to where her Sekirei crest would be…

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Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Minato was enveloped by a vision of Musubi's body, floating beneath the calm, clear ocean. A voice resonated throughout; it sounded like Musubi, but older, more mature.

Love... That is your task. Please, teach love to all the little birds.

A pair of yellow eyes pierced the calm and invaded the vision. Minato heard a different voice, this one a man's, wispy like smoke yet a full octave deeper than his own.

Ooooh, is that right? They slurred their words like a predator licking its lips.

No time for pondering as Minato was brought screaming back to reality.

All of the power had left Benitsubasa's hand as it neared Minato. The blow still hurt something fierce, but she was too distracted by the blinding light emanating from Number 88's fallen form. Pink wings of light erupted from Musubi's back, her Sekirei crest actually reforming where it had vanished.

"Mu-Musubi?" Minato stammered. He thought he might be seeing things from being hit in the face by an angry fist.

Musubi's lifeless husk floated up from the concrete, exactly as Minato had seen it in the vision. Her belly shimmered and a wide Sekirei crest formed beneath her breasts, just above a stylized "08". Her eyes snapped open, a raging inferno of fierce determination entering them.

"Those who would stand in the way of love…" she said, placing a hand over her exposed breasts. "I, the Sekirei of Fate, Number 08, Yume, will be your opponent!"

The gathered combatants all blinked. "Who?" they asked in unison.