Chapter 33 – The Mentor and the Student
[Owari no Seraph, Shaolin Temple – 31st December, 2020 23:20]
The battle between two groups have been started.
Ferid, Crowley and Chess were fighting Shujinko. On the other hand, Yuu and Mika were fighting D'Vorah.
"You…"
Yuu and Mika were continuously swinging their swords toward their opponent. D'Vorah also quickly swung her pincers to block the assault.
However, how fast the assault was from Mika and Yuu. D'Vorah was nearly unable to catch up with their speed.
"Hah!" As long as Yuu and Mika sped up, Mika's sword finally made a wound on D'Vorah's belly, thus forcing her to step back.
"How could you?!" D'Vorah was surprised.
"I told you!" Mika said. "I am going to color my wind into blue!"
D'Vorah's blue blood flowed through Mika's crimson sword. The sword color slowly turned into blue.
"Your sword turned into blue?!"
"Vampire's sword has an ability to absorb blood. Normally, the vines from the sword will extend and pierce through my arm, and suck my blood to strengthen itself…"
"It's bloody red for the most time, but the color depends on the blood it sucks." Mika continued.
"So that's why it's blue now." Yuu said. "Because it takes in the blood from D'Vorah!"
"But that doesn't matter…! Whatever color you have! It doesn't change the fact that this one will end you!" D'Vorah said.
"Are you sure about that?" Mika held his sword vertically in front of his own face. Blue wind started to blow around him.
"When my sword and the wind have sucked some special blood, it becomes greedy and demands more. Do you know what does that mean?"
"Bloody pressure field!"
The air pressure around Mika began to rise, and the color of his surrounding air started to turn blue. A blue air dome was formed around him, and it extended outward gradually.
The dome reached where D'Vorah stood. For all of a sudden, D'Vorah felt pain all over on her body.
Blue blood began to be drawn out from the wound on the belly, making her scream painfully.
"Now I can use this technique safely." Mika said. "This field I created can only drag out the blood this sword desired the most. If I use it without your blood, the field will probably turn Yuu-chan into a mummy. Thanks to you, D'Vorah! I can finally show this technique in front of Yuu-chan!"
"That's cool, Mika. And… it's kind of brutal too…?" Yuu said.
Blood was continuously dragged out from D'Vorah's body. More wounds were produced, thus making more blood to come out.
"This one… needs to… stop…"
D'Vorah extended her wings, and quickly flew out the field. The wounds stopped bleeding.
"Still have the strength to fly out?"
"Then I will snipe her!"
Yuu pointed his blade toward the sky. "Kitenrai!" Green thunders began to drop from the air, and assault D'Vorah continuously.
D'Vorah flew around at extreme speed to evade the thunder. However, there was no stop from the attacks. D'Vorah could not do anything besides dodging.
"Curse you!"
"There is no escape!"
On the other side of the battlefield, the battle between Ferid, Crowley, Chess and Shujinko was still going on.
However, it seemed the vampire team was struggling.
Every single move has been resisted by Shujinko's martial arts. They could not even hit a single time.
Moreover, whenever they attacked, Shujinko always found the hole from their movements, and then countered.
"Not enough! Not enough! Is that all you got? I'm so disappointed!" Shujinko said.
"Damn it! Although we have the memory on how to use the weapons, we're still no match?!" Chess said.
"Then let's try some more, until we could find any flaw from Master Shujinko's moves!" Ferid said.
"Finding flaw from my moves? Are you sure about that, young master?!"
Ferid totally knew that, he could not find any flaw from Shujinko's movements. However, it was not the time to give up since how he had come that far.
Then Ferid threw his razor-edge hat toward Shujinko. Shujinko quickly dodged the assault.
The hat then changed direction and flew toward the old master from behind. Shujinko rapidly jumped up, and stepped on the hat.
He thus used the hat as a stepping stone, and jumped toward Ferid, giving him several hits of bicycle kick on the chest.
Ferid was forced to step backward. Shujinko then jumped off, and revealed the flying hat from behind.
Ferid quickly used his teeth to pick up the hat. Hands were not fast enough for him to pick up the weapon he owned at this situation, which made several number of his teeth crushed by the edge of the hat.
Shujinko then landed. Without a moment, a nunchuck was swept toward Shujinko's head. Shujinko quickly crouched to avoid the attack.
It was Crowley wielding his nunchucks. He continued the swinging toward Shujinko faster and faster, but Shujinko could just use his bare hands to block the assault.
Shujinko then jumped backward and quickly punched through the air with extreme speed. His arms began to ignite, and set a fire around it.
"Flaming Fists? I can do that."
Crowley quickly clapped his hands, and engulfing them into fire.
Both fighters charged, and punched toward each other in an extreme speed.
The fists kept colliding with each other. The speed was going up and up. And then at one point, Crowley finally could not catch up, and got punched into his face, thus sending toward the air high.
After the fist's fight, Shujinko noticed, and rapidly evaded from the point where he stood.
A blue tornado was created from that exact same point. It was done by Chess' fans.
"I missed?!"
After Chess said that while being shocked, "Get over here!" Shujinko shot out a chained spear like the one Scorpion had, and hit Chess' shoulder without a second.
Chess was pulled near Shujinko in a rapid velocity. Then Shujinko just gave a hard kick into Chess' stomach. Chess was also sent toward the sky high.
"Are… are they going to lose?!" Horn said. She and Krul were back from the submarine and saved the poisoned monks. They were now observing the fight.
"So it still doesn't work when they have some memories back?!" Krul said.
Both Crowley and Chess dropped on the ground. They were struggling while trying to stand up.
"How can we… even win over him?!" Chess said.
"Seem like the knowledge from preexistence isn't that helpful…" Crowley said.
Hearing that, Shujinko showed an angry face.
"You all are so useless!" Shujinko said. "So disappointing! You brought back your memories and these are all you got? You didn't learn anything at all!"
After Shujinko finished his saying, Ferid started to think.
"The knowledge didn't help us much…" Ferid said. "If Master Shujinko was brought back to life from Quan Chi, there is going to be a difference between him and us."
"Time!" Ferid continued. "Shujinko has more time than us to train himself. Although there's always limit for how strong we can be, he's totally stronger than us. No matter when we bring back the memory…"
"So what can we do about that?!"
"Hmm… I guess there's only one way left." Ferid said.
"One way?"
"Yes, one way!" Ferid said while pointing his finger at his brain.
"But still, that's not something easy to do either." Ferid continued. "We probably need a lot of brainpower in this one."
"I still don't get it though…"
Listening to the conversation, Shujinko stepped forward. "How stupid you are, Crowley, Chess?
"What?!"
"You really don't get it?!"
Shujinko then turned his head to face Ferid.
"Young master, you seem to have found some comrades who are too foolish…"
"Sorry, Master Shujinko. But I don't think so." Ferid said. "Crowley and Chess're kind of dumb, but not that foolish."
"What the hell, Ferid?!" Crowley and Chess said together.
"They just need some hints, and that's it."
After Ferid finished his words, Shujinko then turned his head to look at Crowley and Chess.
"If that's the case, I'll show what I have learnt for all these thousands of years!"
Shujinko took out several talismans and threw them on the ground.
"Behold, my special new technique!"
The talismans glowed, and transformed into swords that floated in the air.
The sword then flew toward Shujinko, surrounding him and rotating around him.
"Floating Swords of Light!" Shujinko said.
"The swords… are floating?!" Crowley said.
"Aha, what a new technique it is. I don't know Master Shujinko has ever learnt such sorcery." Ferid said.
"In these years, I've learnt a lot of things. New martial arts, sorcery, magic and even science technology. I've learnt a lot, and also learnt how to apply them!"
"That's my Floating Swords of Light! The ultimate technique I combined all my knowledge into one!"
Looking at the floating swords, Crowley and Chess could not know what to do, since by using their knowledge and experience, it was already hard for them to resist Shujinko's normal attacks.
But now, there was even new technique, shown in front of them. "Well, that's too hard… Ferid, you're really messing with me…"
"Are you going to give up already?"
Ferid's sudden words surprised Crowley.
"No? But I guess… we are going to lose. Maybe Yuu and Mika could save…"
"I don't think we really need them."
Crowley was even more surprised. "So you really think we could win?"
"Maybe." Ferid said. "But as I told you, I know a way."
"Then what is it again?"
"You have to figure it out yourself, Crowley." Ferid said. "We can't borrow Yuu and Mika's power. This time, we have to defeat the opponent in front of us by ourselves."
"Think, Crowley. What's the key to Shujinko's new technique? And what's the key to the strength of Yuu-chan and Mika-chan?"
Crowley then began to stare at Shujinko, and started to think.
"A technique that was never seen before… Could the key be…?!"
Crowley turned his head and looked at Ferid. Ferid, just nodded.
"Well, well, well. I think you figured it out." Ferid said playfully.
"If it's just that, you can just say the word out…"
"If I straightly say that, you won't grow."
Crowley turned his head back and looked at Shujinko again.
"Ferid's mentor, I think I know the answer now."
"OK, kid. What's your answer?"
"The answer is…" Crowley put back his nunchucks, and then drew out his sword.
He then swung his sword at an extreme speed. The sword began to ignite and became a sword covered by flame.
"Creativity!" Crowley pointed his sword toward Shujinko.
"Good job, kid! You finally figured it out!" Shujinko said with a smile on his face. "But can you resist my Floating Swords of Light?"
Crowley charged toward Shujinko. Shujinko pointed his finger toward Crowley, and the swords just started to fly toward him.
The swords surrounded Crowley and continuously attacked him by flying around and toward him.
Crowley swung his flame sword repeatedly to resist the attacks. However, since the assault of the floating swords was non-stop, Crowley was too busy that he was unable to attack Shujinko.
"No… if those swords keep going, Crowley-sama can't really fight that old man!" Chess said.
"That's right. Although flame sword is quite creative, and it's quite a suitable weapon for him being a vampire for a long time… There's still a gap between that and Master Shujinko's ultimate technique."
"We also need to come up with something for our own to win this fight!" Ferid continued.
Seeing Crowley's actions, "Look like my technique already gives you a hard time! But that's not all my swords could do!"
The swords started to fly away from Crowley. They then turned around, and pointed the tips toward the foe in front of them.
"Charging begins!"
The swords began to glow. Static electricity was generated around the swords.
"Open fire!"
All swords shot beams toward Crowley. Crowley quickly jumped back.
The beams hit the ground and created a large explosion there. The shockwave even bounced Crowley away.
"That power… What kind of beam is that?!" Crowley said while lying on the ground.
"It's positron beam! I also mixed my swords with some advanced technology!" Shujinko said.
The beam attack surprised Chess even more.
"Isn't that a bit overpowered? How can we even fight him?!" Chess said while panicking.
"How awesome is Master Shujinko. Even antimatter weapon is included into the technique." Ferid said.
"Is this time to compliment the opponent?! Ferid! If this goes on, Crowley-sama will lose!"
"Aha, I have an idea!"
"An idea?"
After Shujinko shot the positron beams, he commanded the swords to assault Crowley again.
Crowley quickly stood up, and used his flame sword to resist the attack once more. The situation has not changed that he was still not able to attack, only resist.
Then after a few moments, two blue fans were thrown toward Shujinko. Shujinko quickly jumped up to avoid the assault.
Since he moved, it also made the swords stopped. Crowley then quickly stepped back to get away from the swords.
"A sneak attack? What are you planning for?!"
After finishing his words, Shujinko landed on the ground. He then raised up his head and looked toward the direction where Crowley was. At the same moment, Ferid was whispering to Crowley.
"Are you sure that will work?!" Crowley said after Ferid had done whispering.
"I think this could work. If it doesn't, we really have no chance!"
"I guess it is… All right, let's do it then! Ferid, Chess!"
After finishing the conversation, Crowley stepped forward, and quickly punched through the air continuously in an extreme speed, and created several fire balls flying toward Shujinko.
"Humph, such a simple trick!"
Shujinko quickly stretched out his palm repeatedly to block the assault. All fire balls were extinguished by Shujinko's palm.
"What's now?"
After all fire balls were eliminated, Shujinko suddenly noticed that he had been surrounded by blue tornado that was created by Chess' fans.
"When have you…?!"
Before Shujinko could finish his words, Crowley shot out more fire balls, and ignited the tornado. The tornado became a firenado.
"Final setup~~!" Ferid threw his hat toward the tornado. The hat started to rotate around it rapidly.
"Combination technique! Razor Firenado!"
The technique was setup, thus Chess swung her fans, and the tornado started to narrow.
"This… I need defense! Come back!"
Shujinko commanded the swords to come toward him, thus surround him.
"Plasma Force Field!"
The swords generated a force field around Shujinko, and completely avoided the damage from the tornado and the hat.
"The technique can't go through his barrier!"
"We need more than that then!"
"Let me do it!"
Crowley's whole body began to be covered in fire, and then turned himself into a fire dragon.
The dragon roared, and began to ram toward Shujinko from the top of the tornado.
"Not good!" Since the top was not covered by any force field, and the swords were not fast enough to generate one on top, the dragon directly hit Shujinko, and generated an extremely large explosion.
"Did we succeed?"
The smoke dispersed, and showed Shujinko within the explosion. He was heavily damaged. Clothes were broken. Wounds were everywhere on top of his body.
However, just within a few seconds, all wounds were recovered.
"Still not working? That's all we can…"
Before Crowley could finish his words, "No, it's over!" Ferid interrupted him.
Everyone looked at Shujinko. He was actually smiling.
"Finally, you've all been grown. I am so glad, my child."
Hearing Shujinko's words, Crowley and Chess were shocked.
"Hold on! What?"
"It's all just a little exam." Ferid said. "I know it from the beginning, seeing how Shujinko fought. If he used full effort, we'll be already dead."
"So you're not an assassin sent by Lest Karr to destroy us?" Chess said with surprise.
"No, I am here because my final wish was granted. I am not even on any mission at all."
"I just hope to see my student and his companions, how much they have grown…" Shujinko continued. "And now, I am rest assured."
"You have grown, Ferid, and you have some good friends with you!"
"Sure, Master Shujinko!" Ferid answered while smiling.
"All right, it's almost time up. I have to go back to the Netherrealm." Shujinko said. "D'Vorah, it's time to retreat!"
D'Vorah was still dealing with Yuu's thunder attacks. She was shooting acid from her bugs while evading the assault.
Hearing Shujinko's words, "You damned old human!" she was stopped.
"Chance!"
A thunder suddenly dropped where D'Vorah stopped. She was directly hit by it.
A scream came out, thus her body started to drop to the ground.
At the same time, the body entered the area where Mika's technique was. Blood once again started to come out from her body.
Just at the same moment, her body suddenly busted, and a large wasp-like bug came out, and quickly flew away from the area.
"You can still do that?!" Yuu was shocked.
Afterward, Shujinko opened a portal behind and was ready to leave.
But before he left, "One more questions…"
"Who are you?" Shujinko turned back and asked.
Shujinko's questions confused almost everyone. Only…
"Ferid Bathory!" Ferid straightly answered without any hesitation and confusion.
The response enlightened Crowley and Chess.
"Crowley Eusford!"
"Chess Belle!"
Listening to the responses, Shujinko smiled again.
"Yes, you are you, not the ones from the past." Shujinko said. "You've surpassed your preexistence. Now, you are the truth 'Shujinko' (protagonist) here!"
"Farewell, my child. May you live long and prosper, and…" Shujiko continued. "I wish you a happy new year!"
The time now has just passed 00:00.
After finishing his words, Shujinko and D'Vorah entered the portal, and left the place, while the other 3 people were smiling.
"Happy New Year, everyone! I guess this conclude the year." Yuu and Mika came near and said.
"Yeah! And we learnt a lot, right?" Ferid said.
"Yup, I am so proud of myself!" Crowley said. "I'd lived that thousands of years, I never felt that glad, what's a new year's eve…"
"But I still don't know nothing…" Krul said.
"Hey, don't be sad! We still have time to find the truth in the new year! You need to be positive!" Yuu just put her hands on Krul's shoulders. "Right, Mika?"
"Uhmm…"
"Hey, don't play that 'friendly' like that?! You aren't that familiar with me! Even Mika aren't allow to do that!" Krul said angrily.
"Oh, sorry, sorry! My bad!"
"And weren't you two the one telling me that you estimated who we were? Why won't you just tell us that?" Krul said while shaking Yuu by holding his shoulders.
"Because you won't grow…" As Yuu responded, Krul stopped. "If we straightly tell you the truth, you won't learn from these experiences, and also…"
"It may be harmful to you, as the memory was suddenly reminded…" Mika added.
"I see you all as my family so I wish to help you no matter what!"
"I guess that's it." Ferid said. "I also hold Yuu and Mika's secret. That's a tie then."
Krul then finally released Yuu. "Humph, I guess that's fine then."
"All right, since we're finished, let's head back to the submarine!" Yuu said. "Krul and Horn, you've set up the teleporter, right?"
"Yes! That's how we went back the submarine and got the antidote…"
"Great, then let's go!"
"I wonder how Inaho and Slaine doing…"
Everyone began to depart, but Ferid just stopped there, looking where Shujinko left.
"Farewell, my mentor, Master Shujinko!"
After thinking that, he also turned around, and followed everyone and left.
To be continued…
