Setsuna gazed at the boy... and with it, Kaoru's entire body was immediately wrapped in flames. He didn't have Recca's flame resistance. While Recca would certainly cringe in such avenue of attack, the pain of being burned is doubled to a non-flame master.
Kaoru drops to the ground, wincing in smothered agony. His only recourse was to roll around the ground to kill the flame that tormented him.
"Puny human. Your kind deserves to die for good!"
The bird summons Setsuna anew, preparing another round of burning. "I'd rather you speak your last words now before I burn your throat dry." The boy responded only with a smile. It was not of delusion. Rather, a smile of confidence.
"What's so funny?" The phoenix was hoping for the boy to beg for life. Yet such response was not encouraging. Kaoru smirked abit, gathering words.
"It's getting dark." The boy quipped. Houou didn't know how to respond. Yet such a comment made him hesitate until he could be sure that the boy wasn't playing mind games with him. "Look up." Kaoru finally suggested.
Episode 27 - Edge of Immortality
Koga dives down with the Kougan Anki, slashing Setsuna down. It was a split second attack. One that could only be accomplished by his unmatched leg strength. Shukuchi.
Koga landed on one knee, his back facing the firebird's side. "How about a nice bath?" The madougu let his words hang in the air for a moment. After which he helped his master escape the incoming attack.
A shadow quickly grew around the battlefield. Houou, stunned by the series of events culminating into Setsuna's decapitation, was frozen in his place. Narrowly above the bird was a water reservoir, cut down by the Hokage Prince to pour its contents down to the phoenix.
Kaoru and Koga avoided the deluge while Houou bathed in an avalanche of water waiting to extinguish his flame. The phoenix let loose a mighty cry. Yet such desperation could only do little. In the end, while the Planewalker of Fire had all the advantage he needs, he quickly succumbed to a well placed trap.
Kaoru let the Kougan Anki fly away from his hand intentionally, seeing his partner recovering stealthly behind the enemy. They both knew that while they both are powerless to harm the bird, they nevertheless could use the tools around them to supplement their counter attack.
Kaoru used himself as a bait to give his partner enough time to orchestrate the plan. With the enemy's full attention captured, it turned out to be just a matter of time before the plan is executed. Their affinity stretched beyond master and partner. They've fought alongside for years, and they knew each other's thoughts almost as their own.
The two boys stood at an elevation not too far from the flood created from the reservoir. Watching the events unfold as Houou was swallowed whole by the deluge.
"Great job." Kaoru quipped. To the smile of his madougu. "I hope that's enough to stop him." Responded the other.
Hawaiian Coast, 2055
A great oil spill about half the size of the pacific ocean fire swept across the American continent. There were no leads. It was as though the figurative lake of fire described in the Book of Revelation sprang to life in an unsuspecting planet.
Some claimed to have seen a phoenix hovering over the waters. Yet none could validate its existence. In a time and age where fairy tales and creatures are locked only in children's books, nobody believed that a bird wrapped in flames could do such a feat. In fact, the best birds could do that time when set ablaze was to be a Thanksgiving Turkey... and so goes the mocking to those who claimed to witness the truth.
Only a few took the witnesseses seriously. One of them is Recca Hanabishi, predominantly because the description of the phoenix is almost identical to Resshin's flame. Who else is a better person to investigate the incident than the former Flame Master himself? Recca, in his sixties at that time, was living as a regular civilian with his wife in the United States. He had connections in the military thanks to the Ishijima couple, but he often stayed away from anything related to politics and army. That's how he decided to cross the sea. He's more than content living a simple life. That is until one fateful day as he watched the Hawaiian coast burst into flames. There were sightings of a phoenix rising up from the sea to set it ablaze, only to descend from whence it came a few seconds later.
To Recca, his simplicity is a benefit only few could utilize. He was quickly able to infiltrate the nest of the bird. A stealth submarine, a machine coated in polycarbonate and rubber, is invisible to the radar. He disguised himself as a refueling engineer. Locking himself deep into the storage until the submarine leave the docks.
It didn't take long before his suspicions were confirmed. The phoenix is real... and he's the first person brave enough to stand against the bird.
"Why are you burning the seas?"
"As a punishment to your bigotry."
"Why? What have we done?"
"You scoundrels. You humans were given intelligence to tread the land, not defile it. You were given the gift of forbearance, yet you bicker endlessly. You are not worthy to till the earth. I will kill you all... and let the earth care for herself!"
The Planewalker spoke no further. It rolls into a huge ball of fire and struck the Flame Master head on. Recca, well advanced in years, and now with a declining health was quickly overwhelmed. He crashed into the ground as the bird stood towering over him.
His phone flew out of his pocket. It was ringing. The caller's name showed Fuuko Ishijima. Yet now isn't the time to answer a call. For the past ten minutes, the Japanese General had been trying to reach him... to talk him over in avoiding this suicide mission. Yet Recca was resolute. Before the Planewalkers could do any more damage, he'd take one with him to the grave.
Recca pulled out a remote and pressed a button. It was to detonate a bomb he had placed at the roof of the submarine. Water began filling the vehicle, creating a barrier between the phoenix and the elderly Hokage.
For the last time, Recca picks up his phone and answered. Without waiting for the General to acknowledge his voice, he quicklys spoke.
"Fuuko, please tell my wife... that I won't be coming home for dinner tonight."
The Flame master pressed another button. This time, a series of explosion. Fuuko's voice was reasonably loud, calling out his friend's name as she listens to the wreck. The line would soon be cut... and nobody knew about the fate of both.
It was assumed that Recca died with the Planewalker. If either of them survives the explosion, they would never survive the cruel waters of the deep sea. Since that day, Recca and Houou were never seen again.
Fifteen minutes...
"No sign of the enemy." Kaoru sighed in relief. He had fought many in the past, yet none were impervious to his blade. Circumstances has been friendly to them. That, combined with their unmatched battle strategy, turned the tides to their favor.
"We've just pulled off a miracle, master." Huffed the madougu, kneeling on one knee as he recovers from the wound on his back. "You have to check on Kirito." Koga advised, "I'll catch up in awhile."
"Right." Kaoru turns around. But just as he was about to leave, the water that blanketed the Planewalker shot up like a giant geyser. The boy quickly turns around, sensing a great danger for lowering his guard. From the wall of liquid, a laser beam shot out, and only Koga's instinct prevented him from taking a fatal blow. He used the Kougan Anki to block the flame and was thrown back several feet away.
"Shit!" Kaoru quickly ran to his partner, hoping to pick up the weapon to defend them both. Yet as he dashes, a flame whip wrapped around his ankles, and the boy fell to the ground from the hold.
Koga was suddenly surrounded with a flame barrier... and from the ends which connect the glass of flame, Nadare's fireball stormed in from all directions, blasting the defenseless boy within.
Koga screamed in pain as he bathed in the fireball. Homura appears from the water and pulls his whip, sending Kaoru flying to him.
The dragon monk quickly wrapped the fire whip around the boy, and Kaoru quickly suffered the smoldering grip of the ninja's weapon. Setsuna appears the boy and pushed the boy's head to the right, exposing the flesh between the left shoulder and the neck.
"Fresh meat..." quipped the demon dragon. As soon as those words left his mouth, he buried his fangs into the Kaoru's skin, and the boy screams in pain.
"Fools. Do you think that water alone could destroy me? I've been to hell and back with it." The phoenix rises from the deluge. The fire wrapping his body was extinguished, but his powers remain as destructive as ever.
The two boys were restrained helplessly by the dragons. Both suffering their share of punishment. Koga was the first to fall. When his body had enough of the pain, he looks at his master one last time... and soon after, he fades into nothing.
"Kougan Anki!" Yelled the master. Tears crawled out his eyes as he watched his partner disappear before him.
"It was a good fight boys. Yet it will all end in futility." Declared the bird.
Is this the end?
Kaoru's thoughts were interrupted as Saiha appears before him, brandishing the fire blade.
Suddenly, there was another roar. This time, of anguish. The dragons and the boy was stunned for a moment as they switched their attention to the source of the sound.
It was Houou.
Wrapped around his neck was the Director of Elysium. And wrapped around the fingers of the director was ten poison claws. Dokumashin, all of them buried around the Phoenix'es neck.
"Immortality? Pffffft." Quipped the Shishiten. "Let's see how you survive an eternity of poison killing you."
End of Episode 27.
