The grey massed had stalled its movements to regenerate, the beast had finally reached its limits.

Tsubasa rushed forward and cleaved the grey mass in half, and sliced, again and again, doing as much damage as he could to increase it's regeneration time.

Was this thing truly just a large mass, or was there more to it? Was there a core, or something to hold it together deep inside of it? That's what he intended to find out.

"Souta." It felt like a demon whispering into his ear. Except, it wasn't quiet. It was a booming, loud voice.

He froze in place and was knocked backward by the grey mass.

"What the…" He stuck his sword into the ground and used it to stand up easier. "You… talk?"

"…You. Killed. Us." There were agonizingly long pauses in between its speech.

"I…" Tsubasa took a deep breath. "I understand. I know who you are."

"Good." It said.

"If you're what you say you are… you truly are the consequences of my mistake… then…"

In an instant, the grey mass surrounded him from every angle; closing in on him like a dome.

With a circle slicing motion and a gust of wind, Tsubasa cut the grey mass and pushed it away with him with a blast of wind.

"I will save you all!" His words held truth, yet it was not evident if he could or could not pull it off by defeating this thing - his energy reserves were dangerously low.

However, Tsubasa didn't get to close in on it, the grey mass shoot tendril-like appendages, they started to circle around him and close in.

Gin Arrows intercepted the tendrils, running down along it, this bought Tsubasa a second to leap into the air, more tendrils following him.

It was a dozen slashes as he decimated the tendrils. He weaved between them, still slicing, he looked like a small tornado of blades and white streaks.

He stopped in front of the grey mass, thrusting his sword into it. He cut it into pieces, appearing behind the grey mass, it all happened in the blink of an eye. "You're getting carried away!" Tsubasa said, throwing his hand backward to fire an energy blast, but it was caught by a tendril, his entire forearm being engulfed.

He went to cut himself free, but he found his other hand being engulfed as well, his sword fell to the ground.

Before he let it capture his feet as well, Tsubasa kicked the ground, sending the sword slightly into the air. With a kick upward, he sent the sword into a spin upward, cutting the tendrils, freeing his hands. He grabbed the sword, but couldn't react in time as another tendril shot forward and struck him in the chest, hard, sending him backward.

Tsubasa laid on the ground, not moving. He was tired. He could barely fight anymore - but he couldn't give just yet. It was slow, but he made his way up. The grey mass was just standing there. If he didn't know better, he would have thought it was mocking him.

"Wh… what?" Tsubasa said, clenching his chest, gasping for air. "You gonna say some witty line? Rub it in my face?"

"Tsubasa." That time, it didn't seem to be in his head - that voice was actually coming from somewhere. Where? That he didn't know.

Slowly, a figure form in his vision. It was a person, an adult that Tsubasa knew, he looked after him, Yuuka and me in the old world.

Then more came. More and more people, some he recognized, most he didn't however. There were hundreds, then thousands, tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands surrounding him from all sides. The grey mass simply stood in the middle of the crowd.

"Are you… are you trying to get into my head?" Tsubasa walked forward. "Because it's not working!" Tsubasa cut the man's head off, his body disappeared near instantly.

He sliced, slashed, stabbed to keep the people at bay.

"You. Killed. Us." They all spoke in unison.

"I know, I know!" He kept on slicing and stabbing. Tears welled up in his eyes, Tsubasa wasn't one to cry, he didn't emote much. This was too much for him. "Shut up! SHUT. UP!" He was desperate.

Tsubasa couldn't keep this pace up, he slowed down more and more, the people started surrounding him.

They piled onto him, hitting him again and again. "No…! I won't give up!"

A second blade, identical to his first one manifested in his free hand. It was almost instinctual, with a twirling motion he killed hundreds of them at a time with the new burst of energy this blade gave him.

He stood up, panting and looking at the blade, only just now did he realize the weirdness of a sudden blade forming in his hands, but then, the information hit him like a brick. "Moonlight Shadow… Silver Blades of Infinite Burdens…" He paused. "So that's where these came from… that's my power." He sighed and looked forward, pointing his swords forward.

With his new spike of energy, he wasn't nearly at full power, but he could fight at a reasonable level now. He rushed forward towards the grey mass hidden within the crowd. He skewered dozens of the clones or mirages of people on his sword, instantly killing them.

When he got in front of it, he stabbed the grey mass with one blade, it was unmoving and using it's power to project all of these mirages. In an instant, all of the mirages instantly disappeared as it realized it was taking damage. "Take. This!" Tsubasa stabbed the grey mass with the other blade.

"Stop this… Souta!" All of the voices were frantic and panicked.

Tsubasa yelled and pulled the swords out quickly, doing a dozen or so slashes and cutting the grey mass into tinier pieces, but it obviously reformed quickly. He stabbed the blades into the ground and started focuses all of his energy into his hand.

"Vegeneace…" Tsubasa slammed his hand into the grey mass, punching it with his powered-up fist. "BOMBER!" A large beam of energy shot out of his hand and carried the grey mass high into the sky, where it exploded, lighting up the entire sky and parted all of the clouds in the sky.

As the grey mass was eviscerated, it's screams and cries filled Tsubasa's ears, and his ears alone. Despite it obviously phasing him earlier, it didn't now.

His eyes turned red, the same as Togawa, as he started to laugh. "All of them. Fools." He said, chuckling.

He turned his head, seeing flashing lights coming from the mansion. He started to walk towards it, pulling his swords from the ground as he does so.


Yuuka and Togawa clashed swords in the air. Togawa smirked.

"Is this a game to you?!" With quick sword slashes, Yuuka was able to briefly overwhelm Togawa, and with a kick, he sent her down to the ground.

"Take this!" Yuuka flew downward and thrust his sword down towards Togawa, but she managed to block it. "Yuuka," She said. "I think it's time you…" She paused and pushed him back with an energy blast. "Accept that you can't win." She stood upright. "I think I've changed my mind, if you leave, I won't chase you."

In an instant, Yuuka was back in front of Togawa, clashing swords with her. "Like hell I'll just leave!" He shouted as the two fenced briefly.

Togawa dropped down and did a leg sweep, which Yuuka avoided by jumping to the side. She followed up with a series of energy blasts.

Yuuka batted the blasts away with his sword. He closed his eyes for a second, and in an instant, was next to Togawa- he had copied Yoshida's teleportation ability. He managed to land a cut on her shoulder, but with a kick, she sent him backward.

"I'll give you this, Yukka- you're adamant." She paused. "When Ryuzaki first opposed me, he was a pansy."

"...he opposed you?" Yuuka replied.

"At first? Oh yeah, he didn't want anything to do with me, but over time, he warmed up to me. I think you could as well. If we weren't fighting right now." She said.

"Stop with that- I'm not joining you, Togawa." Yuuka replied.

She sighed. "I suppose you're right, a shame, really." She floated up into the air. "You've shown me your power- let me show you mine."

Her large aura flared. "Converge." The word she said was powerful, although simple in nature.

In an instant, her energy around her converged into a small, hand-sized ball of energy. Then, a moment later, it began to suck up the walls, ceiling, windows, the various dead bodies in the room. Everything evaporated on contact with the ball. It began to pull Yuuka forward, but he resisted, but it pulled his sword forward, which he struggled to keep back.

"Are you crazy?!" Yuuka yelled as the floor around him began to be sucked up. "You're gonna suck up the entire mountain Togawa!" He shouted.

Togawa laughed. "If that happens, so be it!"

Yuuka found it harder and harder to keep fighting the pull of Togawa's ability, but then he had a thought. If he could attack Togawa somehow- he could stop this blackhole-like ability.

But how? He can't shoot an energy blast, he can't simply fly forward… he had to attack her somehow so fast, that he or his attack didn't get sucked up. He looked down at his- or Shimo's sword, and then back up. Back down and back up again. He knew what he had to do.

He let go of the sword, and without missing a beat, he drove his fist into the pommel of the sword, shooting it forward and embedding itself into Togawa's shoulder. She grunted and the orb disappeared and it stopped sucking. Togawa fell to the ground and staggered backward.

Rushing forward, he pulled the sword from Togawa's shoulder. Spinning around, he slammed the pommel into her cheek, sending her into the ground. He then kicked her across the face.

"Damnit… Yuuka- wait…" She said.

"No!" He punched her again. "After everything you've done, you expect me to listen to you?" He kicked her across the face again. "You're crazy!" He bent down and stabbed her in the stomach. She yelled out in pain.

"You… you're the reason we've been on the run the four months! You're the reason Tamami is going to be traumatized for the rest of her life! You. Are. Dead. To. Me." Yuuka said, grabbing her by the collar and slamming her down into the floor.

"Vengeance…" He began to charge up a devastatingly large amount of energy in his hand.

Togawa laughed. She knew this would be the end of their fight- and it wasn't the end she expected.

"BOMBER!" He shouted. Yuuka didn't have practice with the Vengeance Bomber ability like Tsubasa, where it is a concentrated beam. No, this Vengeance Bomber came out as a massive explosion. It engulfed and totally destroyed the mansion and left a crater on the cliff - there was really nothing left.

The two laid in the crater, staring up at the sky. They were both still alive. Yuuka tried to stand- but it didn't happen. His surge of power ran out, the damage he inflicted on himself was large.

Togawa, on the other hand, slowly but surely rose to her feet. With a groan she pulled the sword from her stomach, throwing it to the side. She panted, and grunted and slowly made her way over to Yuuka, standing over him.

"I'll admit… Yuuka… you've won. You and Tsubasa, you won - but it doesn't mean you get to live." She stretched her arm out to the side, and the same energy blade manifested out of her palm.

She inhaled, and exhaled, readying her blade. Yuuka looked up at her, unable to speak. She raised her sword. "Goodbye, Yuuka." Then she brought it down.

...However, before it could reach Yuuka, a blade pierced her heart. A white one, Tsubasa's sword. Although the first stab killed her, a second motion with a separate sword took her head cleanly off.

Tsubasa shook the blood off of his swords and sheathed one of them.

"Tsu...basa?" Yuuka was weak, his vision blurry, however even then, Tsubasa's new red eyes stood out to him. "What… happened?" He asked, pained.

Tsubasa smirked. His smirk wasn't that of an actual smile - it reminded him of Togawa's evil smirk. He stretched his hand out to Yuuka. "Stand, Yuuka. We have… things to accomplish." It was like it was a totally different person speaking.

Yuuka hesitated for a moment, but ultimately took Tsubasa's hand.


When they returned home - or to our tent, I was just laying on the sleeping bag, propping my head up and swinging my feet. I was bored, but when I heard the crunching of the leaves outside as the silhouettes, I perked up, sitting down and waited for them to enter.

"You're home-" At first I was excited, I was, but when I saw Tsubasa's red eyes and was instantly reminded of Togawa staring at me from the corner of the room. Those eyes are still burned into my head.

I started to cry, the way he smiled and looked at me, although it was clearly still Tsubasa, I couldn't help but be scared.

Tsubasa walked over and knelt down, patting my head and caressing my hair. "It's okay, Tamami." He smirked. It sent chills down my spine.

I slowly backed up to the other side of the tent, it was hard seeing this as my friend in this moment.

And… somehow, I have the feeling this is the start of something terrible.