{Lol, sorry bout the late late update, yall. Don't really have an excuse, but please read the chapter. I know you all will enjoy it}

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Ayo, ayo, ayo, its ya boy, NarutoPlug, starting off this Mardi Gras break by typing up this chapter.

Really liking the reviews I'm getting from the last chapter. Again, sorry it took so long for it to come out, but y'all know how college (and my natural laziness) been treating a youngin. Nevertheless, I really do appreciate all the love and support I've gotten from all of you! It really means a lot and I will continue my promise of finishing BreakThrough to the end, no cap!

Anyway, I just wanted address a few things before continuing part two of the last chapter:

So, a lot of people were confused about the ranking of Naruto's peerage members last chapter. Some were asking why people like Kisame and Anna were ranked so low (as in Low-Class Devils) even though they are clearly above the talents of most High-Class Devil. The reason why they are Low-Class Devils is purely because they were never promoted. Remember, before the start of the story, Kisame isolated himself for a long time, so no one knew where went, so he never got the chance to even do anything worth consideration of promotion once Naruto reincarnated him. Also, if they weren't born with rank, most beings reincarnated to Devils start out as Low-Class Devil. (Take Akeno for example, with her being the daughter of one of the leaders of the Fallen Angels, she was still reincarnated as a Low-Class Devil….but maybe this is a bad example because she wasn't born a Devil in the first place….hmmmmm…well I can't think of any other examples at the moment so fuck it). So yeah, their rank has nothing to do with their power level at all. Naruto was promoted into a High-Class Devil in secret before he was sealed, and Hao and Yoh were born Mid-Class Devils because of their family name. The rest of the group were reincarnated as Low-Class Devils and never had the chance to be promoted, but they are well above the talent/qualifications for all of them to easily become High-Class Devils for sure.

Another this is that people were complaining about the Akame ga Kill characters being stronger in BreakThrough than they are in their own show-in which I respond….uh, exactly? Like, y'all thought I wouldn't do that? I promise you, if I hadn't done that, a lot of people would be complaining about how weak they were compared to Naruto's team. The power-scaling and abilities of the characters of DxD compared to Akame ga Kill is, in my humble opinion, heavily in the favor of the DxD characters. Magic is just too OP while many of the Akame ga Kill characters' abilities aren't up to par. I had to give them a boost to make the Rating Game interesting and build tension. Plus, I've been hyping up this fight for a while. If I hadn't amped Team Honest and made it easy for a weakened Team Naruto to take out, then probably a lot o yall would be disappointed.

Pickles are still life.

Hopefully that answered some of yall's concerns. If you all have any more questions about the characters, don't be afraid to leave a review or PM me. I usually check my PM's everyday, so I'll see it. It might take me some time to respond because I'm working on other stuff, but I'll respond for sure (if it isn't sum stupid ass question or you just hater-tho I might respond to that just to be petty, lol).

Oh yea! A lot of yall are really hyping up my My Hero idea, which really makes me want to do it. Knowing my fanbase, I'm almost positive you'll like what I have in store. I've already messaged a couple of yall I know about the idea to see if its realistic and interesting, with pretty much everyone saying that its both a great and unique idea. Again, I'm not promising that I'll make it…. but the chance of me returning to FanFiction in the summer is steadily increasing.

But enough of that. Let's continue the story

BreakThrough

KurokaVsHonest

Rating Game Dimension - Team Naruto's Base

Anna wasn't having a good day…

Waking up in your neighbor's house because yours was destroyed in the ultimate fight against your possessed master after being possessed for a short period of time herself wasn't the best way to start her day. However, now she was fighting a dragon the size of her most powerful spirit, Oh-Oni, in a death match, flying over a burning forest with the smoke getting into her eyes…

She can admit-she played right into Tatsumi's hand. The dragon purposely got her angry by mentioning her fiancée's name, causing her to lose concertation for a moment and lost possession of her main priority: Naruto. Tatsumi's overall strategy was to keep Anna away from Naruto's Goki-possessed body and allowing Akame's poison to destroy him from the inside.

Currently, Akame was flying through the smoke caused by a blast of Tatsumi's fire breath that was blocked by a shield crafted by her giant spirit. 'He's doing surprisingly well keeping up with me. We're evenly-matched.' She thought as she flew through the darkened skies, 'But if I can get to Naruto-sama's body, then maybe I could retreat so I can heal him.'

"Gotcha!"

Anna quickly conjured a barrier to block the massive dragon tail that smacked her back down into the ground, her unprotected back rebounding off the ground from the extreme force of the blow. She held back the scream that climb to the top of her throat as her world became fuzzy. She dropped back down into her small crater. She clutched her bleeding forehead, taking in deep breaths to recover from her dazed state.

From the dark smoke cloud above her erupted Tatsumi's massive dragon form, his maw wide open as he neared Anna with the intention of eating the young Shaman whole.

That would have happen had not Oh-Oni knocked into Tatsumi's body with a powerful shoulder bash, causing Tatsumi to skid on the burning forest floor, creating a deep crater.

"Mama…are you alright?" Oh-Oni asked, standing over his master in a defense position.

"Yea…" Anna clutched her horn as she winced in pain, slowly standing out of her own crater, "This battle is stretching on far too long. We need to retrieve of Naruto-sama."

With the smoke now clearly, the fighting duo could now get a good look at their [King]. The Goki-possessed Naruto was floating a few meters over the burning forest-his wings flapping weakly. By now, the curse tattoos from Akame's poison had now fully taken over Naruto's body and was visibly disrupting Naruto's magic with Goki's struggle to stay a flight as proof. What really made Anna uneasy was the constant drip of blood running from the sides of his mouth and nostrils along with Naruto's sky-blue eyes moving around sporadically.

'That's not looking good at all…' Anna growled. She had tried multiple times to reclaim Naruto so that she could heal him, but Tatsumi would continuously stop any attempt with his overpowered magic blast and strong, armored body. Anna and Tatsumi were neck-and-neck in terms of strength, so any time her focus slipped from their fight to Naruto, he would take advantage and attack.

However, one of the most interesting developments of Naruto's condition was the sudden fluctuations of his magic. During their fight, Anna could sense Naruto's magic spike at times followed by his legendary Power of Destruction enveloping his body in a momentary weak veil before disappearing. Connecting all the dots, Anna had concluded that something big was happening…

'He's going to wake up soon.' She thought as she sent magic into Oh-Oni's body to recover his injuries. It was possible that Naruto was physically conscious already, but Marusame's poison or Goki possessing him (or a combination of both) could be what held him back from regain control of his body. Even though that maybe a possibility, she didn't want to risk desyncing Goki from Naruto because if he was still unconscious, he would immediately be retired from the Rating Game, resulting in their loss.

As for herself, Anna had effectively neutralized Akame's cursed poison from her body, though, it did take a large amount of magic to do so. Anna was proficient in healing physical injuries while Orochimaru was the member on Team Pickle Rick who was masterful with toxics and poisons. 'So, our decision not to revive Orochimaru with the Phenex Tears bit us in the ass so soon.'

Though she had taken care of the poison, Anna's body was riddled with injuries and burn marks. Her dual with the transformed Dragon was brutally even. Tatsumi, even with his armored skin, was injured due to Oh-Oni being an offensive juggernaut along with supportive, long-range attacks from Anna.

"Hehehe…" Tatsumi flapped his massive wings as he flew into the air with Oh-Oni and Anna, "Seems like your master is in trouble. If you don't get pass me soon, his body will give out. Even Dragons can't resist Akame's poison. I'm surprised Naruto-sama's body is still holding after so long."

"Stop acting as if you actually care for Naruto-sama." Anna said with an annoyed glare, "You just want him to be with your toxic [Queen]."

"Because they deserve to be with one another!" the dragon countered, "I don't see why you all don't understand…they'll be great for one another! Their one of the same! Esdeath-sama and Naruto-sama would find true happiness with one another!"

"Just hearing that makes me sick." A pink aura surrounded both Anna and Oh-Oni's body as a dozen magic circles appeared in the air, "You don't know what's best for Naruto-sama so give up trying to convince me that disgusting woman is good for him."

From the magic circles blew out a large cloud of pink dust that quickly covered the skies, enveloping Anna, Oh-Oni, and Tatsumi in the process.

"She's using this dust as a cover…" Tatsumi thought out loud. He pulled back his wings, preparing to blow the pink dust with one powerful flap, "But this won't be able to handle the gust from my wings!"

The strong winds produced by Tatsumi's wings and powerful roar was strong enough to blow out the burning forest below along with ripping up a few trees. However, the pink dust didn't move an inch, still hindering the dragon's visibility.

Tatsumi's danger senses suddenly screamed at him to dodge left, which saved him from being kneed at his side by Oh-Oni appearing out of nowhere before disappearing again in the thick pink cloud.

"You won't get away!" The dragon screeched before washing the area he predicated Oh-Oni to be in with his dangerously hot flames consuming anything in its path.

However, he didn't hear any pained yells from being burnt, leading Tatsumi to assume that he missed. 'But how? There's no way that giant Orc can move that fast...'

Tatsumi grunted when he felt a few shots of magic impact his back, causing him to respond by flying in the direction they came from to bash into it. But again, whatever it was that hit him wasn't there anymore. "This is frustrating."

"I'm sure it is." Said a familiar voice coming from behind the massive dragon. Turning around, Tatsumi saw that the pink dust cloud had split somewhat, revealing Anna a few dozen meters away. Her red horn glowed with power as held a glowing ball of power over her head. "While this doesn't have as much power like when I retired those other dragons, this should still do quite a bit of damage…" she uttered before shooting the orb in Tatsumi's direction.

"Like this will hurt me!" he shouted before releasing a massive beam of green, draconic beam of energy to counter. However, to his surprise, the pink dust closed back in on them just as he released his attack, hiding Anna, her incoming blast, and his own. "What?"

Seconds later, Tatsumi was thrown back by an explosion from his side. All he saw was a flash of red before the pain erupted from his side as he soared through the skies. Even while injured, he couldn't catch a break as he felt the ginormous fist of Oh-Oni collide into his skull in a double-handed sledgehammer drop and sent the dragon down to the ground, falling out of the pink dust cloud.

He wasn't harmed by the burning forest beneath him, his armor providing ample protection against it, as he slowly gathered himself. "That was a cheap shot…" he grunted under his breath.

"You could say that…." Looking back up at the sky, the dragon was surprised to see that the pink dust cloud was diminishing, making it visible to see. Now with on the other side of the forest was Anna, holding up Naruto's body. Behind her floated Oh-Oni and her other guardian spirit, Zenki. "…but I had to reclaim Naruto-sama before his body gave out."

"GGrrrrrr…you witch!" Grunted Tatsumi, not liking the fact that Anna played him into reclaiming Naruto. He was also surprised to see Zenki on the field-a factor he had forgot about. "When I'm done with you, there won't be anything left to piece back together!"

"Too bad you won't be alive for long." said Anna in her usual monotone voice.

Tatsumi was about to charge forward, but he snapped his head behind him when he heard something. His eyes widened in surprises when the blast Anan shot at him earlier was right behind him-too close to dodge. His body was consumed in a massive explosion of white energy that towered into the sky. The eruption caused by the mini nuke made the entire dimension shake, a testament to the power packed into the blow.

During the eruption, Oh-Oni took a glance at Anna who was taking noticeably heavy breaths. "Mama…" he uttered in concern.

"I know…" she said in-between breaths, "But I had to deal some type of significant damage to him…I'll focus on healing Naruto-sama now…you two just hold him back…."

"You don't us to finish it off?" questioned the giant.

"No…" she replied, "It's nearing the time that Kuroka awakens from her Hour's Rest…hopefully she'll be able to help…"

While that was the original plan, the Shaman was unsure as to if that would happen on time as she glanced down at the burning forest. 'That other guy…he was burning the forest…..' Dreed washed through the blonde's body as she realized why Bols focused on burning the forest instead of fighting her. 'He did it because they knew Kuroka can absorb Senjutsu, so he killed off a significant portion of the forest to limit her recovery?'

Her fist balled into itself as a small bit of frustration grew within her. 'These guys…. they came fully prepared…They predicted that Kuroka would be injured from our fight with Naruto-sama and knew she could recover her energy by absorbing natural energy. Knowing this, they sent out that guy to burn through the forest to stop her from fully recovering, and then made sure to gravely injury Naruto-sama's body while splitting us up…and we walked right into it…'

"I don't even know where she went to rest….and her magical presence is nowhere to be found….damn it…" Anna bit her lip, feeling as if they had been played from the start-which they were. "I-It doesn't matter. Naruto-sama's health is most important now. You two focus on facing the dragon."

Anna flew away from the scene, leaving Oh-Oni and Zenki with a large portion of her magical reserves so they had a fighting chance. She grimaced at the blood/foam mixture coming from the sides of the poisoned Naruto's mouth. She quickly started the road to recovery-a strong pink aurora enveloping the duo.

"Grhh….this is going to take a lot…" she thought out loud. Tatsumi's role as an obstacle in healing Naruto and wasting Anna's energy was played well. Judging off the damages done to Naruto's body, she wouldn't have much magic left to fight with, and her stamina was already on the lower end of the spectrum.

"I just have to play my part…and trust in the others…" she said as she began the rigorous process of fighting Murasama's cursed poison.

With Hao and Lee

"Gaahh!" shouted Lee in responses to being kicked in the stomach by the armored-Wave. His body broke through a few trees before skidding to a halt on the ground.

"Seems like you're outta gas…" said Wave, resting outstretched put on the ground, "Even with that useless arm, you put up a good fight, but your stamina ain't the greatest at the moment."

Lee glared at Wave with all the anger he had, but it didn't look too threatening since he was clearly out of breath and his left arm being in a sling. Currently, Lee's skin was a dark red and his pupils were nonexistent as he was in the fourth gate, The Gate of Pain. His body was littered with injuries from his fight with Wave that wasn't in his favor because of his handicap and because of the toll the gates had on his body, but he had to use them if he wanted to keep up.

The Green Beast clenched his heart as a wave a pain went through out his body. He coughed out a glob of blood-his injuries slowly catching up to him. 'Da-damn it…' thought the [Rook] of Naruto Bael in pain, 'I…I can't lose this fight…but my body is nearly out of stamina.'

Wave watched as the bloody Lee, slowly got back to his feet, entering his usual battle stance. "You're gonna die…" sighed Wave from behind his armor, "Listen, just surrender. If you want to live, then surrender to fight 'nother day."

"I'll…never surrender…" growled Lee, concentrating hard to call forth more of his latent magic, "I…He needs us…Naruto-sama needs us to fight for him! I will respect people like you that fight unfairly! You reek of unyouthfulness and aren't true fighters! I, Rock Lee, will fight until my last breath in my master's name!"

From the other side of the light barrier, Hao was dodging holy spears from Run and the speeding bullets from the hidden assailant that he didn't know was Mine. However, his head snapped towards Lee's position as he felt the growth in his magic levels. "No…." he whispered as he watched Lee power up, "No...Lee! Stop! Your body won't be able to take anymore! Surrender now!" he ordered.

The youngest member of Team Pickle ignored Hao's warning as the ground cracked from the immense pressure exerted upon it. Wave summoned his wings to hover in the air as the cracks reached to where he was, becoming unstable and caving in.

"Gate…of Limit…Open!" shouted Lee, opening his fifth gate. His muscles momentarily bulged from his under his jumpsuit, threatening to tear through it a strong gust tore through the surrounding area. Lee winced at the indescribable pain felt in his abdomen, but he fought through it as he readied himself to achieve even greater strengths.

"Damn it! Spirit of Fire!" Hao turned to his massive partner that was currently blocking a barrage of spears of light from Run, "Break through that barrier! I'll hold them off!"

With its new objective, Spirit of Fire marched over to the barrier of light that separate Hao and itself from Lee and pierced it with its claw-like fingers. Spirit of Fire released a low groan as it fought against the powerful barrier, trying to break through or breach it just so Hao could slip through it.

Hao quickly summoned a mass of magic circles that released a flood of fire, burning through the rapid bullets from the hidden Mine and the spells of Run. "Just die already!" Hao yelled, thoroughly angered at the fact that he couldn't help his junior in such a dire position.

Two attacks canceled each other out, causing a massive explosion. Run was floating adjacent of Hao as the smoke cleared, a frown present of the young man's face. "I'm sorry for what's happening right now…" he muttered, "…but I have to carry out my master's wishes. If you can convince him to surrender, then maybe your friend will live."

"Shut up!" yelled Hao, uncharacteristic of how he usually carried himself. The temperature in the air increased by a significant amount as Hao's wild hair fluttered wildly by the powerful magic he was emitting, "You are an annoyance that needs to be exterminated!"

On the other side of the barrier, Wave watched Lee's transformation with enjoyment, using his arms to block the strong winds and debris flying everywhere. "You had this hidden within you all this time!" he shouted with glee, "In your battle 'gainst Sairaorg, you only opened four of these 'Gates' of yours, but there's more?! Hurry and open as many as you can! I want to fight you at your strongest!" he said with his country accent.

A green aura enveloped Lee's body as the strong gust doubled in strength, blowing Wave away as Lee screeched, "Gate of View! OPEN!"

Even with one of his arms in a makeshift sling, Lee looked like a demon to Wave as he glared at him with his pupil-less eyes. With a war cry, Lee jumped, destroying the ground beneath him in dramatic fashion and moving at speeds Wave's brain couldn't register.

One moment he was floating in the air-the next Wave was throwing up blood as Lee's right foot dug into his stomach and knocked him away. He couldn't control his flying body from the immense pressure exerted on him, nor could he try to counter or dodge Lee seemingly teleporting over him and knocking him to the ground with a devastating right hook to Wave's armored cheek.

The crater created by his body dropping into the ground was large enough to fit a small town as he felt his armor crack. It took a massive amount of magic and concentration to repair his armor as his body was riddled with pain. 'Just…how fas-'

The enraged Lee appeared over Wave's body in a green flash. Rising his right arm, he punched Wave's mid-section with so much force that the young adult's body folded into the ground, pushing deeper into the ground and forming a small cave.

The duo was out of sight, but Lee's earth shattering blows could be heard and felt aboveground as the Green Beast continued to use Wave's body as his personal punching bag, punching his way deeper and deeper into the ground. Even while it seemed like he was winning, Hao knew that Lee was on his last leg. The Gates took an extremely large amount of stamina to withhold, stamina the young [Rook] didn't have entering the Rating Game thanks to exhausting himself during their fight with their controlled master just a few hours ago. If Hao didn't reach Lee now, the damage on his body would either be too great to heal, or he would give out-making it easy for Wave to recover and then kill Lee.

"Push, Spirit of Fire!" he shouted at his partner as he neared Run with a flaming fist. Run dodged it with a flap of his wings while shooting razor-sharp feathers at the older Asakura twin.

Hao burned through the black feathers and zoomed after Run, only to be hit in the shoulder by an energy bullet from Mine. He growled, ignoring the pain and closed in on Run and smashed his fist into his back, knocking the blonde down to the ground while leaving a permanent burn mark on the Fallen Angel/Devil hybrid's back.

His eyes were filled with anger as he charged up a shot of fire and turned in the direction from where the bullet that hit him came from and released it. The orange beam of energy flew through the skies like a missile, slicing through the sky until it reached its destination. Mine summoned her wings to dodge the blast as it made landfall, effortless destroying the perch she was on in a flashy display of fire.

Knowing that it would take some time for Mine to find another shooting spot, he flew back over to Spirit of Fire once he received the mental message that it had almost broke through barrier. The spirit groaned as it slowly pulled, showing that its efforts weren't in vain as a small hole appeared. It wasn't big enough for Hao to slip through, but it would grow as Spirit of Fire continued to work on it.

His attention was forced away from Spirit of Fire as heard another thunderous strike from Lee from underground. Wave's armor was riddled with cracks and missing pieces as flew out of the crater and high in the air.

Lee was second to jump out of the crater with his right arm cocked back as he flew at Wave with bad intentions. He grit his teeth together as he felt his consciousness begin to fade. The pain he felt was unbearable, affecting his ability to move and even think as his bones broke with every movement. Even with all of that, Lee was determined to finish off Wave now with hopes to ease the burden for his fellow peerage members.

"This is it!" yelled Lee as he planned his final move, ignoring his pain-ridden body in favor of putting everything into his last attack.

From Hao's perspective, it looked like a green rocket shot from the ground and was locked onto the small speck that was Wave in the air. He watched as Lee flew at Wave with his right hand gaining a distinct orange glow, almost like a fire had swallowed it whole.

Lee was now in front of Wave's unmoving form as he reached back before leaning forward, "MORNING PEACOCK!"

What Hao was expecting was giant explosion to consume Wave and obliterate his body, but instead all he saw was Lee's fist stop inches away from Wave's face. The green glow the consumed him had dissipated as Lee lost consciousness, his blank eyes remaining the same as his body was frozen.

Lee had run out of gas.

"…..heheh…." Wave weakly laughed as he balled up his right fist. With the opportunity given to him, he cocked his fist back aimed for Lee's heart. "Seems like easy pickins' now!" he shouted with the intention of killing him.

His fist stopped, however, by Hao Asakura himself, saving Lee before his body disappeared in a blue flash of light.

"One [Rook] of Naruto Bael has now retired." Said the announcer, his voice stretching throughout the dimension.

But Wave didn't hear the announcement as he was focused on the flaming Devil that was Hao Asakura. He was trapped in the flaming hell that he saw in Hao's brown eyes, his body literally stiff from the fear that trapped him.

Hao stared at Wave with no emotion present on his face. The released Wave's fist from his grasp, but the younger Devil was too caught up in the illusion of hell he saw to even register the fact that he was free.

Slowly, Hao reached to Wave's forehead, tapping his middle and index finger on it. "…So small…" he finally said as Wave's body slowly floated back.

The titanic form of Spirit of Fire materialized behind the frozen Wave, its jaws open as Wave fell back into it. The last thing he saw was Hao's emotionless stare as Spirit of Fire consumed him effortlessly, his body burning into nothingness and being absorbed.

"One [Knight] of Honest Bael has retired." Said the announcer.

Hao felt the boost to his magic after absorbing Wave, but he wasn't focused on it at all. Instead, he was thinking about Lee, worried about his condition. 'He pushed himself so far….hopefully…hopefully he be able to fully recover…'

He was pulled out of thoughts when he heard a metallic 'click' come from behind him. Turning, he was greeted to small, pink-haired girl pointing a large sniper rifle at Hao. The girl, which was Mine, stared at Hao with no emotion-similar to his own stare.

Hao glanced at the rifle before connecting the dots, "…So you're that annoying sniper…" he said, "Well, you did me the favor of finding yo-

"Trump Card." Was all that Mine said before a massive beam of orange consumed both Hao and Spirit of Fire's bodies. The massive beam of energy overtook the entire area, literally consuming the sky and reaching the end of the dimension, a testament of how powerful the beam was. The entire dimension was lit up by the energy blast and the roar from it was deafening. Even with the immense energy of the beam, Mine held her weapon with a blank stare, not at all effected in the slightest.

With Anna

Anna was still healing the sick Naruto while Oh-Oni and Zenki were taking care of Tatsumi.

While the process was extremely tough, she was beginning to see some results in Naruto's recovery as he wasn't foaming from the mouth anymore and she had gotten rid of a good 25% of the curse's tattoo that covered the uncouncious blonde's body.

She was forced out of her concentration when a gigantic orange beam of energy flew overhead and continued towards the edges of the dimension.

Anna rose an eyebrow in confusion as she sensed a familiar presence within the beam. "Hao?"

With Mine

Once the minute-long blast was over and the dust settled, it was revealed that Hao was nowhere in sight. He had disappeared, leaving no trace of his presence whatsoever.

Run flew up to the silent girl as she placed the oversized gun on her shoulder. "Go-good job, Mine." Said Run, not being able to hold back his shock of how strong the girl was. "Is…is he dead?"

"No." she replied with her monotone voice, "He blocked most of it, but was pushed back to the edge of the dimension. We should go back to Esdeath-sama and help her."

"Good idea." And with a flap of their wings, the duo left the scene, headed back to the where their [Queen] was located.

Rating Game Dimension – Honest Bael's Territory

Yoh, with his White Swam armor hovering around his body, was dashing through the city, avoiding the continuous lightning strikes from General Budo who was exuding lighting from his gigantic body. Yoh weaved through the city, dodging the powerful thunderbolts that destroyed anything they touched.

The younger Asakura twin jumped in the air and created an earthen platform underneath his foot to push off on, shooting him in Budo's direction. The general send a mass of thunderbolts at the coming swordsman, but Yoh changed his trajectory again by pushing off another platform and continued to do so, avoiding any attempt at harm from Budo.

Yoh was moving so fast around Budo that he looked like a ball in a pinball machine, jumping all around Budo. Everywhere he went, he left a trail of afterimages that thoroughly confused and threw off Budo as he tried to track down the speedster. "Stand still!" growled Budo as he continued to shoot powerful thunderbolts for nothing in return.

Finding an opening, Yoh blitzed to Budo's back and sent him flying with a powerful kick. Not stopping there, Yoh seemingly teleported in front of Budo with the intention of slashing through his already damaged chest plate, only for the massive man to catch Yoh's sword in his hand.

Having the smaller man in his grasp, Budo planted his feet in the ground the delivered a devastating punch to Yoh's midsection, powered by his lightning. Had it not been for his White Swan armor, Yoh would have surely been knocked into unconsciousness.

Skidding on the ground, Yoh recovered quickly since his armor took the brunt of the attack. "That was a hard hit…" he said as entered a defensive stance, "You're really good."

"And I must commend you for lasting so long, even damaging me to a point." commended Budo, referring to the small cuts that littered his armor and body, "You really are a true swordsman. You represent your master well, Yoh Asakura. Sadly, this will be your last day of living."

"Really? Haven't heard that one before…" laughed Yoh in sarcasm, "But I can't deny the fact that this is kinda hard, hehe….Man, I really could go for a nap…" he said while scratching his neck.

"Even in times like this, you're still laid back." Suddenly, a burst of electricity danced around Budo's body as he held out his hands, condensing the lightning into a medium-sized orb, "That same attitude will be what leads to your death, for I'm no longer holding back."

'No longer holding back, huh?' thought Yoh as he tightened the grip he had on his sword.

Fully charging his spell, Budo shot the electric orb at Yoh at speeds a High-Class Devil wouldn't register, but Yoh was fully capable of dodging the attack easily. However, what he wasn't prepared for was the orb to follow wherever he went. 'It's locked on to me?' he thought as he ran around the city.

"The preparations are set." Stated Budo as he stabbed his lightning-infused gauntlets into the ground, "The more you run, the more lightning my orb will absorb from the ground. You will not escape."

Sure enough, the orb was absorbing the lightning Budo sent into the ground, gaining speed and power by the second. While Yoh still had a sizable lead on the orb, it was slowly closing in.

"Tch…" snarled Yoh as he swiftly changed directions, heading straight for Budo with his sword ready to slash through his body. Budo awaited the incoming [Knight], not scared in the slightest.

Now in front of the general, Yoh attempt to cut Budo in half, aiming for a chip in his armor that exposed his skin. However, he was thoroughly shocked when, instead of entering his body, his sword bounced off his skin like it clashed with metal. '…He's a [Rook]…' Was Yoh's first thought as Budo slammed his fist into his White Swan armor, breaking through it like it was paper and landing a clean hit to Yoh's side.

Yoh's body flew like a rocket, breaking through building after building. His body bounced off the ground before slamming into another house, but he used the opportunity to stab Harusame into the ground to catch himself. He slid on the ground until he stopped. "Gahh…" he groaned through gritted teeth, feeling some of his ribs on his left side cracked. Had he not used a barrier to block the actual punch, his condition would be ten times worse.

His head snapped behind him when he saw the same electric orb that was following him right on top of him. "Shit!"

An explosion of lightning overtook the area and Budo watched from afar, looking for any sign of the Asakura. As he waited, Budo summoned more lightning around his body in preparation for Yoh's return. "That didn't kill you. Stop hiding in the smoke and continue our fight." He all but ordered to Yoh who was hiding in the dust cloud.

His wish was granted as Budo's danger senses forced him to turn and block behind him-his gauntlets clashing against Yoh's sword. Yoh himself was bleed from his forehead and was moderately damaged. His usual calm look was long gone, now donning a serious glare. He glared at Budo before jumping back to avoid Budo's powerful lightning from trapping him.

Yoh landed on the ground a good distance away from the general. He concentrated his magic around him as he began to whisper a spell under his breath. Budo quickly jumped the action, shooting a barrage of lightning strikes at Yoh's position. The speedster of Team Pickle Rick dodged them all as he continued chanting, calling forth a massive amount of magic as a brown aura erupted from his body. "Spirit of Earth: Patch Tribe Spell…"

Budo rushed forward, each step he took break through the ground-unable to stand the force from the monstrosity of a man he was. Closing the gap between them, Budo threw out a barrage of kicks and punches enhanced with his lightning. Yoh weaved left and right, dodging each move with ease.

Budo pushed the swordsman back into one of the nearby building's wall, trapping the Asakura. Thunder crackled around him as shot forth an uppercut locked onto Yoh's head.

"Replusion." Muttered Yoh

An unknown force pushed against Budo's body and sent him flying away. He only stopped when his back collided with one of Esdeath's ice pillars she created while fighting Kisame not to far away. 'What was that?' he thought to himself as he dropped to the ground. Because of his [Rook] status, he hardly took any damage from the blow, but he was confused as to what happened. 'Something pushed me back…but he didn't touch me.'

He was forced out his internal thoughts as Yoh phased in front of him by pure speed. He was crouched down, his sword down to his side as if he were about to unsheathe it for battle. Budo instantly readied himself by dropping his massive, gauntlet-enhanced fist down towards him.

Looking death in the eye, Yoh leaned forward and pulled Harusame from its imaginary sheath. "Amida-Ryu: Gokojin (Amida-Style: Halo Blade)."

Harusame sliced through space between Yoh and Budo's fist at godlike-speeds before connecting with Budo's gauntlet. In slow motion, the sword sliced through Budo's gauntlet like butter, crawling up his arm and cutting through the general's armor.

A sonic boom washed through the area as their collision finished, blowing away what would have been a giant dust cloud. Behind Budo stood an uninjured Yoh, his light scowl still plastered his face. Budo himself was also relatively unharmed, but his left arm's armor fell to the ground, cut by Yoh's blade along with a red streak of blood that went up his arm-confirming that Harusame successfully injured Budo for the first time.

"Impressive." said Budo as he turned to the silent Yoh, "It has been a very long time since someone has injured me. But it was still all for naught."

From the corner his eye, Yoh noticed that a small amount of lightning jumped around his blade, probably coming from Budo after that last clash.

Budo snapped his fingers and the ground beneath Yoh ripped open as a large bolt of lightning consumed him. The strike only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like forever to Yoh as all he saw with white as his body was filled with lightning. He couldn't even scream in pain as the lightning momentarily paralyzed him as it rushed through his body.

Yoh's smoking body fell back on the ground once the blast ended. He dropped Harusame from his hand, the sword clattering against the ground as Yoh laid there-no sign of whether he was alive or not.

Budo approached Yoh's fallen body and crossed his arms over his massive chest. "This entire battle, I've been sending lightning into the ground to use for one attack that would surely knock you out." He explained, not sure if Yoh could even hear him, "Even those giant lightning rods you created…I used to my benefit by calling small portions of lightning from the sky down for them to absorb into the ground. While I commend you for momentarily taking away one of my strongest weapons of natural lightning, you depended too heavily on it, which lead to your downfall."

Up above, the sky was no longer visible as Budo's gigantic thunderclouds filled the atmosphere. Every few seconds there would be another boom of thunder as the sky was charged with lightning. Overtime, small droplets of water fell from the clouds until it was all out rainstorm started.

Budo ignored the rain as he knelt down to reach for Yoh's body, "Again, it has been a long time since someone has injured me. While you will die here, you do have respect, Yoh Asakura."

"Re-replusion…"

Budo was thrown away by the unknown force knocking him away from Yoh, just like last time. He summoned his wings to use as airbrake, catching himself midair. "That move again…" Budo said to himself as he watched Yoh slowly get back on his feet.

"…t-too close…" mumbled Yoh as he grabbed Harusame. He winced as some of the excess electricity shocked him again, but he ignored it in favor of glare up at the lightning general in the sky. "That really hurt…" growled Yoh. Even with his easy-going approach to life, even Yoh had a limit. Budo had pushed the younger Asakura twin to a point close to none has done before…

Yoh Asakura was mad…

Budo's eyebrows rose with interest as the ground beneath Yoh began to shake as the Asakura's magic pulsed into it, filling it with his essence. "It seems you still have fuel to fight…Most would have died from that last attack, which is just another testament to your strength. You really are strong."

Piece of the ground hovered around Yoh as a grey light glowed around them. The pieces of earth then moved to Harusame, covering it. Piece by piece, the earth clumped together and extended Harusame's blade. Yoh's magic filled the earth as it slowly converted into a sliver material, one that Budo recognized.

"He's turning the ground into metal?" questioned Budo as he watched Yoh create a massive, glowing sword that hummed with magic.

"It's called Spirit of Sword." Answered Yoh from below as knelt in a jumping position, "And I'm gonna cut you with it." He said as he jumped in the air.

"Hmph." Budo body lit up as lightning surrounded him. He stretched his left arm out at Yoh and created the orb of condensed lightning-the same move he used earlier. "If that's yo-

"Attraction!" Yoh yelled. Suddenly, Budo's body jerked forward as the same invisible force pulled him towards the approaching Yoh.

"What's this?" said the surprised Budo as he tried, and failed, to break his way out of the invisible force. 'Is this…gravity he's manipulating?'

Magic blasted out of the enlarged-Harusame's guard and shot Yoh faster in the air like a rocket. Yoh's Spirit of Sword blue glow lit up the area, its blade so sharp that it cut through the tiny rain drops that touched it. Thunder struck as the two Devils neared each other, ready to land what could possibly be their last exchange.

Budo put all his strength into his left fist as it neared Yoh's face. His fist was about to break every bone in the Asakura's body had Yoh not shouted out "Expulsion!", followed by the small burst for gravity pushing him away from Yoh and out of reach for his fist to connect with.

Using this opportunity, Yoh created an earthen platform under his foot to jump on and closed the distance between the two again. Pulling Spirit of Sword overhead, a wave of determination filled Yoh's body and he sliced downwards, shouting "Amida-Ryu: Dai Gokojin! (Amida-Style: Grand Halo Blade)"

Blood spewed everywhere as Yoh flew past Budo. Even with the supreme defensive capabilities his [Rook] status granted him, it wasn't enough to stop Yoh's Spirit of Sword as the large blade severed off Budo's left, unarmored arm from his body-the arm falling down to the ground below.

"Gahh…" grunted Budo, covering his new stump with his other arm. It barely did any good as blood leaked through the cracks between his fingers. "He used his gravity manipulation spell at the last second to create distance between us…. very tactical…"

Turning around, Budo was about to create a barrier, but Yoh proved too quick for the general as a shortened version of Spirit of Sword found its way in his stomach, bypassing his armor and rough [Rook] skin.

The blonde [Rook] coughed up blood which landed on Yoh's black hair, but the [Knight] didn't care about it as he ripped Spirit of Sword out of Budo's body. "You were open…" was all Yoh said as put a few yards between the two.

"..Errrhh…" Budo groaned, "This isn't good…" Even though pain wracked throughout his body, Budo kept a level head as he analyzed his current predicament. 'With injuries like these, I won't last long…but before I leave, I must take out this boy now!'

Without warning, Budo flew upwards, leaving Yoh as he took to the skies. Yoh narrowed his eyes, wondering what he was doing before realization hit him like a ton of bricks. 'He's going back for the natural lightning he's been charging this entire time!'

He flapped his wings once, but a wave of pain paralyzed him from moving. Yoh had been ignoring it, but his stamina was shot, and he was heavily injured from Budo's lightning blast attack he took with no protection. It took a lot of out of him to create Spirit of Sword and use his gravitation abilities, both things he hardly used in combat because of their high magic cost, so he was on his last legs now.

'I guess we'll have to do that earlier than planned!' Reaching into his pocket, Yoh pulled out a wad of spell tags and threw them in the air. Activating his spell, most of the spell tags flew into the air, following Budo's lead, while one lone spell tag flew down towards the ground.

Taking in a deep breath, Yoh screamed out in the dimension- "KISAME! NOWWW!"

With Kisame

"Hahaha!" laughed Kisame as he dodged an ice pillar and shot forth a barrage of water sharks at Esdeath. Using her agility and mastery of her ice, Esdeath created an ice dragon she landed on to dodge the sharks. Her rapier pierced the sharks and converted them into ice, putting them under her control as she changed their trajectory and locked onto Kisame.

Kisame didn't' care as he rushed forward with surprisingly fast speeds for someone of his size. A blade of water flowed out of Samehada's maw as it sliced through all the incoming projectiles and attempted of cutting Esdeath's head from her shoulders. All he got was a strand of her hair as she ducked underneath and kicked Kisame's side, sending him flying.

Kisame broke through building after building, but he didn't care as he clawed the ground once he landed on it, literally grabbing the earth and punching a hole through it to enter underground.

Esdeath rode her ice dragon gracefully as water geysers of boiling water shot out of the ground, aiming for the blue-haired beauty on her beast. Esdeath laughed as she commanded her beast to swivel through the deadly fountains bursting through the earth with immense force.

Her eyes gleamed with evil as she manipulated the rain into frozen daggers and sent them into the ground, piercing through the surface and digging down underneath. Her wicked grin grew as she saw Kisame burst out of the ground on top of one geyser riddled with holes that were quickly healing. "Fucking bitch!" Kisame shouted as he converted all the geysers into one massive shark torpedo and sent it at Esdeath.

"How elementary!" she laughed as created an ice cocoon-layered over triangle formation that tanked the incoming typhoon.

Inside of her cocoon, Esdeath knew she was safe from the water outside, however, she wasn't expecting Samahada to break out of the ground next to her and bit her leg. "Damn it…annoying bug!" she said in annoyance as she kicked Samehada's side, but the demonic sword's grip on her leg was too great as he hung on and began feasting on her magic.

She was greeted to the surprise of Kisame breaking through her ice cocoon using pure strength before attempting to cut her with a blade of water that coated his hand. Grabbing Kisame's bladed hand, she shoved it out of the way and used her other hand to deck Kisame in his face, all while encasing Samehada in ice.

Kisame recovered and grabbed Samehada's handle to pull it away from Esdeath's ice. He threw the demonic sword through the hole he created to enter in the boiling waters outside before engaging Esdeath. Dipping underneath another kick, Kisame threw an upper cut on for it to be caught by the woman. He jumped over her and threw Esdeath over his shoulder, but the [Queen]'s battle instincts allowed her to land on the ground safely and create a multitude of ice spikes around Kisame.

A wall of water surrounded Kisame and blocked all the ice spikes. Turning his defense into an offense, he used the water to shoot a compressed water shot at Esdeath, in which she blocked with a barrier of ice. Kisame retaliated, breaking through the ice with immense force, only for to pass by the smirking Esdeath in slow motion before she kneed him in his stomach, only for the Demon to tank the hit and retaliate with by throwing her into the ice walls surrounding them.

"Take that, you fucking whore!" he laughed as he rushed after her again.

Esdeath quickly recovered, meeting Kisame halfway and began trading blows with him. A combination of punches, kicks, mini shark bombs and icicles flying everywhere as the duo went toe-to-toe against one another.

Even though Kisame was doing well, he didn't have Samehada to combat against Esdeath's rapier. The small but deadly blade weaved through his defenses and poked holes in his body. Given the extended range the rapier gave Esdeath, she safely dealt her damage from a distance and dodged most of Kisame's attacks without a problem.

Kisame grit his teeth as he had to focus on fighting Esdeath while healing his injuries. Esdeath was more than matching him blow for blow-she was pushing him in a corner with her supreme agility and weapon. While the damage was small, it was beginning to add up, especially since Kisame didn't have Samehada to help heal him.

"Damn it!" he yelled as he grabbed Esdeath's rapier, a tactic the ice [Queen] was not expecting. Ignoring the blades sharp edge digging into his palm, he pulled Esdeath forward and headbutted her. Three shark bombs grew from the water surrounding them bashed into Esdeath's body, trapping her against the wall. "Gotcha now, bitch!" he yelled as he charged forward with Esdeath's rapier in hand.

"If that's what you think…" The water that pinned Esdeath down instantly froze, also freezing her rapier and began to climb up Kisame's arm.

"Gah…" Kisame said as he snatched his arm away from the growing ice. "This ice shit is too annoying! Just let me stab you!"

"Tempting, but I don't think I will." Joked Esdeath as broke out of her ice column, "However, I have a lot of things that I will do to you, Demon!" she yelled in glee as she blitzed towards him and jabbing her knee into his face, sending him through the ceiling of her ice cocoon and in the air.

"Shit!" growled Kisame as he caught himself midair using his wings. A glob of blood escaped his mouth as he winced from the force of the blow. "That bitch can really hit…" he winced, "Now where the fuck is Samehada?"

"No time to slack!" shouted Esdeath as she flew up Kisame riding a flat, ice hoverboard with multiple, giant ice spikes following her. Kisame quickly put on the jets, flying away from his incoming doom as Esdeath pursued him. 'Fucking Samehada! Where are you!?' he thought as he scanned the ground for his partner.

His search was put on hold as he suddenly flew right into a giant ice wall that towered over the city. He grunted from the collision, but a sharp yell escaped his through as two ice pillars pierced through both of his shoulders, pinning him to the wall.

Esdeath stood on her ice with a wicked smile, looking down upon the trapped shark Demon. "Well, well, well~…" she sang arrogantly, "Looks like you lose, Demon. This entire fight, I've had the upper hand. I'm just surprised it took me this long to finally capture you."

"Capture? Bitch, I'm just taking a breather!" laughed the [Knight], "As if you could ever hold me back!"

"Hypocritical for you to say according to your current predicament." Kisame winced as icicles lodged in his shoulders dug deeper, making the hole in his shoulders bigger, "I enjoyed this rematch of ours, you oaf…and I'm sure that its safe to safe….that I'm not the same little girl you fought during the war…" she finished with evil look in her eyes.

"Tch…yea, you got a little better, but I've got more experience on my side, you crazy thot!"

Esdeath looked behind her to see a black missile closing in on her. "Hmph…I believe you called this your 'Beast Bomb', no? I'm sure that pesky sword of yours had something to do with this.

Without any fear, Esdeath casually created a multi-layer barrier in front of her. For the first time ever, Kisame watched with shocked eyes as Esdeath's shield held strong, blocking one of his strongest attacks with ease. "What the…what type of steroids are you on?!" he shouted over the massive explosion of his Beast Bomb, "Even a damn Dragon couldn't stop that move!"

Esdeath couldn't help but laugh at Kisame's shock. "I assure you, I'm not on any supplements. My strength is all natural. Plus, I know that when you're separated from your sword, your strength is cut in half by 50% because it holds the other half. One of the downfalls of sharing your magic with another being.

"Well look at you…" said Kisame with a bloody smirk, "…ya just know everything about me, huh? If that's the true, you should know how big my dick is, you cock lovin' bitch!"

"Your attempts to buy time for yourself is quite amusing." She laughed to the shark man's surprise, "While fighting, I noticed that your injuries aren't healing as much, I one of my juniors informed to me that your team isn't at full strength….so it must be true that your starting to tire out?"

"Ti-tire out? I've never…." Kisame silenced himself as he scanned himself, noticing the small holes caused by Esdeath's rapier were, while healing, were still there. He also felt short of breath, a new sensation for the Demon. "What the…I'm…fucking tired?"

"KISAME!" Both Kisame and Esdeath perked up at the sound of Yoh's voice reverberating through the air, "NOWWW!"

They both saw the distant Budo flying up in the air, over Yoh's earthen lightning rods and towards the massive thunder clouds above. "Shit…we're doing it this soon?"

"Really, now?" asked Esdeath as she turned back to Kisame, "…and what is this 'it' that yo-"

Out of Kisame's mouth shot a geyser of compressed water, hitting Esdeath right in her chest and sending her into the ground below, creating her own personal creator. He used the water to break through the icicles that pinned him to the ice wall. "Fuck!" he shouted as he pulled them out of his shoulders, also taking note of his injuries not immediately healing like usual.

He didn't worry long about it as his sensed out Samehada and quickly recovered it. "Time to put in work, girl!" he shouted with a grin, getting a screech of agreement from the demonic sword.

Nearing him was the extra spell tag that read 'Attraction/Repulsion' Yoh threw out. "'Bout time." He said as the tag imprinted on his tattered cloak. A purple hue of magic exploded out of it and encased Kisame in its veil as 'Attraction' glowed with power.

The power of Yoh's spell tag forced Kisame in the air with the power of anti-gravity with speeds only comparable to Yoh himself. In a matter of a second, Kisame seemingly teleported in front of Budo and wrapped his arms around the startled [Rook]'s body. "Last time I saw ya, you had an extra arm!" he joked.

"What in the name-how did you get here and what are you doing?" questioned Budo as the purple veil around Kisame surrounded him too, limiting his mobility.

"Just know that I hope this is just a suicide attempt and not me actually killing myself!" laughed Kisame as the two flew into the black thunder clouds, "You probably don't know it yet, but there's one of them dumb spell tags on your back. You're too fucking fat so your stubby arms won't be able to take it off, but you can't move because of it anyway, so that sucks."

"And what do you plan on doing?" Budo said with a glare over the thunderous booms surrounding them. Multiple lightning shot fired around them, but three of Yoh's 'Repulsion' spell tag created a barrier, protecting them from the outside forces.

"Can't tell ya right now, but just use your imagination." He said as they came to a halt, one lone 'Attraction' spell tag, "This plan sucks…but it's the only way to beat you…" he grumbled, "Even with Yoh blocking your natural lightning with his lightning rods, it wasn't for sure that was gonna work the whole time…and that cheap, knock-off Sera-idiot down there was gonna get in the way of things…the only way we can take care of your is by doing sum crazy shit." He said as the lightning around them got wilder and wilder.

"So, you recognize your inability to defeat me…a tall task coming from someone as arrogant as you." Replied the general, "But there is nothing you can do to me. Lightning is my element and you put me in premium position to command it once I'm free from this awkward binding of yours."

"Believe me, I don't want to be this close to your bitch ass either." scowled the Demon, "You smell like shit and look like shit…I hate being around things that remind me of shit…but to protect that fucking idiot of a [King], I'll do anything…cause that fucker saved me!"

The glow on Kisame's spell tag switched from 'Attraction' to 'Repulsion' as a small wave of gravitational force split the two up, creating a few feet a distance from each other. In the small amount of time he had, Kisame's battle instincts were as sharp as ever as he pointed Samehada's open maw at Budo's stomach, "And this is gonna end it!"

The attack came out lightning-quick, too fast for someone like Budo to react to. He was expecting a shot of water or maybe one of Kisame's legendary Beast Bombs, but instead felt a sharp pain in his abandon in the same spot Yoh stabbed his Spirit of Sword in. Looking down, Budo was greeted to the sight of Kusanagi impaled in his stomach. Samehada had literally spit out the sword sent it right the spot where there wasn't any armor protecting Budo.

However, what worried Budo was the yellow kanji inscribed on Kusanagi's blade that glowed to life once inside of the general. "I know you can control lightning…" Budo heard Kisame say as the Demon created a blue sphere around him, "…but let's see if you can ABSORB it all, you piece of shit! NOW DIE!"

All the lightning that surrounded Budo stop for a second, creating a moment of silence in the once loud atmosphere. But that moment of silence is what made Budo, for the first time in his life, develop the feeling of absolute fear and despair as the kanji of 'Attraction' morphed on Kusanagi's blade. The next moment, all the lightning that he was charging since the start of the Rating Game shot right for the lightning rod stabbed in Budo's chest…

From the ground, Esdeath created a massive ice formation for protection as what could only be described as the bright light followed by an Earth-shattering lightning bolt descend from the sky and into the ground. Her structure was instantly destroyed by just the pulsating pressure from the kamikaze attack. She was blown away, out of the walls of the destroyed city and into the nearby forest was ripped from the ground by the destructive winds of the blast. Her ears rang in pain as the boom disoriented her, leaving her vulnerable from all the debris the all-encompassing explosion sent flying.

A ten second lightning strike-the first of its kind that ripped through the entire city, leaving a massive crater in its wake. The only part of the destroyed city that was still standing was the large castle in the middle that was protected by a strong barrier. The attack was so great that is was able to tear a giant, gaping hole in the fake sky, exposing the dangerous Dimensional Gap on the other side of the Rating Game barrier.

Esdeath pushed off a portion of the city walls that fell on her from the explosion. Small portions of her general uniform was tattered and her cap was long gone.

She inspected the damage in awe, truely shocked by that her opponents would pull such a card just to get rid of Budo. "They really planned all of this…" muttered the woman as she marched back into what use to be the city limits. "Now…I just need to locate-"

"One [Rook] of Honest Bael has retired." Esdeath heard the announcer's voice as she made it to the edge of the deep crater.

"So, they were successful in their endeavors…" she thought out loud with a cough after accidental breathing in the dirt that was blown by the strong winds, "And there hasn't been a second announcement of the oaf's retirement, meaning he must still be active."

"Kisame!" Yoh's voice caught her attention as her eyes focused in on him, who was near the middle of the destroyed city-right outside the barrier that protected the castle Honest was hiding in. He was cradling a bruised and battered Kisame, with Samehada laying next to them. Kisame's entire body had lost its blue complexion-now fully black by being burnt into a crisp by Budo's lightning. Samahada had lost over half of its scales as its dark pink flesh was burnt as well. "Kisame, can you hear me?"

"Urh…" Kisame twitched a little as the excess lightning in his body twitched around him, "..f…fuck…give m…me….Sameha….da…" he managed to say.

"Got it." Yoh pulled Samahada's handle into Kisame's palm, noticing that the sword didn't produce its scales since somebody other than Kisame touched it. "Can you move, Kisame?" Yoh asked, extremely worried for the shark Demon. He had never seen Kisame this hurt since the [Knight] could basically heal from any injury.

"…can a… rock do sign language, y-you..*cough*…..dumbass…" he growled. Just by touching Samehada, he could feel is magic reserves double in size, however, that double wasn't much since he used nearly all of his magic to create a barrier to protect himself from the lightning, and even that wasn't enough to block the brute of the attack.

"..so this is…what it feels l-like…to be tired…." He sighed as stared at the closing hole in the sky. He assumed that the organizers of the Rating Game were the ones restoring the barrier. "..It doesn't feel good…..can hardly breath…..and my stomach…is in my ass…" he chuckled, blood leaking out of his mouth.

"Don't worry, Kisame. Just surrender so you can get help." Said Yoh, "You've done enough. Taking out Budo was your job. If anybody else on the team did what you did, we would've fried to death."

"Hehe…guess that makes me the strongest…" Kisame laughed, flashing a bloody smile.

"And the coolest…" Yoh replied.

"Well, isn't this nice." Yoh internal growled as Esdeath hovered over the duo, an evil smirk on her face, "That was really an impressive, taking out Budo. You two are the first to that. Even I have trouble with that brute of a man. However, it seems like your success came with brutal consequences." She laughed.

"Ahh…go eat a…a dick, bitch." Coughed Kisame, "You're just mad that its go-gonna be you eating shit next."

"Oh?" questioned Esdeath with an amused expression, "And how will you be able to do that when you're already dead?"

Yoh's battle senses forced him to jump in front of Kisame as an assailant appeared out of nowhere with their sword aimed for Kisame's neck. Yoh's Harusame clashed against the newly arrived Akame and her Murasame. Red met brown for a moment before the two jumped away from each other.

"Right on time, Akame." Esdeath said as he gently landed next to the swordswoman, "I assume you haven't had any complications since your meeting with their [Bishop]?"

"None to report on, Esdeath-sama." Replied Akame. Yoh's eyes narrowed as he assumed that the two were talking about Anna, "They both have been cursed by Murasame and Tatsumi should be quite the match for her. The only thing that has happen is that we lost Wave."

"Hmmm…sad, but easily replaceable. He was our weakest member anyway, so no harm done." she said with a shrug, "Let's focus on the now, shall we?"

'This isn't good…' thought Yoh as he entered a defensive stance with Esdeath and Akame doing the same, 'I'm not doing to well in the stamina department…and I know I won't be able to handle them both…I'm gonna die if I fight them alone…'

"…heh…..hehehehe!" All eyes moved to Kisame, who was laughing in between his coughs, "Hehehe!...Ohhh man…..this shit is just got interesting!"

"Something you want to tell us, you buffoon?" asked Esdeath with a small glare, not understanding how Kisame could be laughing in their current predicament.

"Ohhh…You bitches are about a' get it!" he said with a wild grin, "You've done pissed off the pussy!"

"'Pissed off…the pussy?'" said a confused Akame.

"He's talking about me, nya!"

Flying in like a rocket, the [Queen] of Naruto Bael landed in front of Yoh with a mystic aura surrounding her. Her magic fluctuated in waves in response to her anger, creating a small twister of wind to gather around her. The [Queen]'s twin tails moved sporadically, her cat-like sclera became sharper and her elongated nails gleamed in her white aura.

Kuroka the Cat had arrived….

"This end now!" she hissed, flashing her fangs for a more intimidating look.

Her display only amused Esdeath though, as she began to clap. "Finally! I was wondering when you would come out of your hole!" she clapped, "Truly a moment that is soon to come. I know that the upcoming battle will be one for the history books!"

"A history of me defeating you here." Kuroka countered with a snarl.

"You honestly think you can defeat me?" Esdeath held back a laugh, "Your youth must be the one that's talking. I don't care how strong you may believe to be, there is now way you can defeat me….and my juniors."

With a snap of her fingers, three extra players made their way onto the destroyed field. Run, Mine with Pumpkin, and Leone landed behind Esdeath. "Honest-sama started to get a little worried with all the booming and explosions, so he sent me out to help!" Leone said with a cheeky grin, "Man, y'all really did a number on the place…. looks like a dump…"

"I'm just surprised that this Rating Game is still happening." Said the quiet Akame, "We had planned for us to win by now, but they still have most of their peerage members active."

"Active, Akame, but not fully functional." Commented Esdeath, motioning to Yoh and Kisame, "The shark idiot is out of commission, and the Asakura twin is on his last legs. We might as well count them out now."

"Don't get it twisted," said Yoh, gripping Harusame's handle, "I can still fight."

He took a step forward, only for Kuroka to stop him by putting her hand out, "No…they're right, Yoh…leave them to me."

"Leave them to you?" asked Yoh to what seemed to him as a ridiculous request, "There are five of them, with most of them not even injured! Leaving yourself to fight them is suicide!"

"And if you stay, they'll kill you." she countered with all seriousness, "You are in no condition to fight now. You've done your part, so don't feel guilty about leaving the rest to me, nya."

"She's right, Yoh." Kuroka and Yoh turned to the charred Kisame, who was beginning to move. The Shark Demon groaned as he slowly sat up, ignoring the immense pain he felt. "We're down with for now…. leave the rest for Kuroka…."

It was shocking to hear Kisame Hoshigaki actually give up on a fight, even if he was heavily damage, but what surprised Kuroka the most…

"You said my real name, nya…" whispered the Nekoshou with wide eyes. She was used to Kisame only calling her by 'Pussy' or 'Cat', or any other negative name the [Knight] had in mind, so hearing him say Kuroka's name was a first for the girl.

"Cuz' I believe in ya." He said as he slowly stood up from the ground, although he had trouble doing so, "I know you've been hiding out on what you can really do, so now's the fucking time to show em' what you got."

"And you, Ice Bitch!" he pointed an accusing finger at Esdeath, "Ya' better get ready, even though it ain't gonna help, cuz you're dealing with someone who's gonna bust ya tits wide open! You and your little group of chihuahuas! Fuck each and every one of you, asshats!"

"Excuse me, but it's a bit hard to take a man who's burnt to a crisp seriously." Esdeath said with an eyeroll,

"Yeah, well at least I'll still be alive in the next couple of hours!" laughed Kisame, "I leave this to you, pussy. Tear them a new asshole." He said with a thumbs up.

"Got it, nya." She replied with a nod.

Starring back up at the sky, he watched as the hole created by the powerful lightning blast stitch together. "…. I give up…. retire me…" he said to no one. Seconds later, his body was overwhelmed with blue light before vanishing altogether.

"One [Knight] of Naruto Bael has retired." Said the announcer, signaling Kisame's retirement official.

"…He really did it…" muttered Yoh in disbelief, "Never would I have thought I would live to hear Kisame actually give up….." he sighed as he manifested Harusame's sheath, "…and I still think I should stick around, but if you want me to leave, then I shall…..just come back alive, Kuroka. Anna would kill me if she knew I left you to your own death."

"Thanks…and I won't die, nya."

Not long after, Yoh gave up as well, leaving Kuroka alone with five adversaries for her to defeat. Esdeath crossed her arms, her ever present grin bringing back the anger Kuroka originally felt when she first arrived. "This is really a turn of events if I say so." she started, "Honestly, you should quit now if you want to live. I'm sure my fiancé wouldn't appreciate it if I killed his [Queen] just because she wanted to play hero. Give up now and you can be a part of our new family."

"Shut up!" hissed Kuroka, "You don't deserve Naruto! You don't even love him, nya! You only see him as an object to have all for yourself!"

"You don't know what you're talking about." Said Esdeath, her smile trading out for a frown as her love for Naruto was questioned by the cat girl, "We are the same. We're perfect for each other with our similar mindsets. Naruto and I want…we need the same thing and have looked for that 'something' for all our lives. I just need him to see my side and it will work. NEVER question the love I have for Naruto Bael, you insignificant scum!"

"Even if it is true, I don't approve…" Kuroka muttered as her aura grew with intensity, causing her kimono to flail wildly, "You're disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. You wouldn't be able to heal Naruto's heart after all the suffering he's gone through. That man fights for the happiness he should've had a long time ago!" she screeched, "Taking in others that needed help! Fighting for a cause that isn't his responsibility! Wanting a to create a better Underworld-the same Underworld that threw him in the garbage for over 500 years! You can never understand him! Help him! You're just selfish with a fake, twisted version of love! You don't deserve him!"

By now, Esdeath's long hair was flailing from the magic coming out of her in waves as Kuroka's rant upset her to no end. However, she slowly began to calm herself and a smile etched itself on her face. "Ohh…I understand now…" she began with an amused expression, "You're in love with him also…aren't you?"

"Yes." Kuroka admitted without hesitation.

The confession was pure comedy to Esdeath as she began to laugh, "Ohohoh! Please forgive me for laughing, but this is just too funny! Little girl, you are nothing compared to me. An ex-con who killed her previous master, picked up off the side of the road like a stray. Hah! Forgive me for not being worried about my competition because, honestly, you don't deserve him in the first place."

"….I don't deserve him…." Muttered Kuroka, her hair shadowing her eyes as her magic spiked again. The ground cracked from the pressure exuded on it. Her two black, twin tails began to glow with power, "But I believe in him. I know…that he deserves someone better than both of us combined!"

The group behind Esdeath staggered at the outpour of power emitting from Kuroka as the phenomenon of her tails splitting began. The original duo split once, creating another pair before splitting again. Finally, another, longer tail grew out of her lower back, signaling the release of all her power.

"Holy shit!" shouted Leone, trying her best not to get blown away, "I knew she was strong, but this isn't what we were expecting!"

"Seven tails?" questioned Run in awe while crossing his arms over his face to block the strong winds, "That's…that's not normal! This power she is emitting is incredible!"

"Her magic is reaching us…" muttered Akame, whisking her hand through the streams of magic that reached them, "This won't be an easy fight."

Esdeath, however, only felt excitement at feeling the power from Kuroka. She grinned, gripping her rapier and pointing it at Kuroka. "Well then…you say I don't deserve him, little girl? Prove it by killing me!"

The Ice Mistress licked her lips in sadistic pleasure as her magic flared around her. "But know that I will always be on top! I will be victorious! No matter what gets in my way! Naruto Bael is mine and nobody is going to take him from me! Not you, your peerage members, the Bael Council! Even the Four Satans themselves wouldn't be enough to stop me from taking what's mine!"

"So take heed, little girl…" continued Esdeath as the temperature dropped due to her energy output, "If you really wish to fight, know that I am not taking any prisoners…so you better fight with all your might because your life depends on it."

"I can say the same for you!" shouted Kuroka a plethora of magic circles phased to life behind her, all targeting Esdeath and her group, "You've caused enough damage! This is where you die, nya!"

Kuroka, Half-Blooded Low-Class Devil, [Queen]

Vs.

Esdeath [Queen], Leone [Rook], Mine [Pawn], Akame [Knight], Run [Bishop]

Kuroka immediately acted once her battle cry was finished by shooting a barrage of Senjutsu-powered magical blast at the group, forcing them to jump away to avoid injury. The Nekoshou didn't stop there, creating more magic circles for each member and continued to fill the surrounding area with targeted beam of energy at the group.

Esdeath, with Mine near here, crafted an ice barrier to block the incoming magic beams. Her eyebrows rose when she felt her barrier waver at the force behind each blow before abandoning it as it blew to pieces, sending her and Mine back with the recoil. 'That was a lot of magic for such a simple spell.' She thought as her and Mine destroyed the rest of the incoming missiles.

Run flew with extreme haste, his Fallen Angel wings camouflaged with the darken skies as he dodged left and right from all the targeted missiles. He nose-dived to the ground with Kuroka in his sights and the beams behind him. Run created a mass of light spears and sent them at Kuroka with deadly intentions, wanting to trip her up before enacting his plan.

Kuroka, without moving, manipulated the earth with her Senjutsu prowess's- creating a giant rock hand that blocked every spear. She didn't flinch when Run whirled around the hand and was feet away from her with a deadly holy spear aimed for her head. Instead, she caught Run's hand and threw him over her shoulder, redirecting the incoming missiles towards Leone who tried to sneak up behind Kuroka, and slammed Run into the ground.

Out of the earth sprouted roots that entangled Run's body, holding him captive. "Gah!" he winced as the roots tightened, constricting against him.

Kuroka ducked as Akame tried to take her head from her shoulders with Murasame and countered by producing a ball of black flames in her hand and expelling them at the assassin. Akame dodged it and seemingly teleported next to Run and sliced apart the roots that held him captive.

"Thanks!" he shouted as he produced two light spears to defend against the pair of black balls of that was nearing them. He was shocked when the balls of flames ate through his spears and continued heading in their direction, threatening to obliterate them.

A column of ice grew from underneath Akame and Run's feet, saving them from certain death as Esdeath shot multiple icicles at Kuroka, only for the cat girl to burn through easily with her black flames. "Nya!" Kuroka shouted as she morphed the balls into rings, creating multiple of them and sent them at Esdeath with ferocity before spinning around and catching a punch from Leone with an annoyed glare.

The impact of Leone's fist hitting Kuroka's palm creating a small burst of wind. "Woah…" muttered Leone before Kuroka reared back and sent her fist into the [Rook]'s awaiting chest. Blood gushed out of the cracks between Leone's teeth as she was sent flying, Kuroka's [Queen] strength plus her Senjutsu being more than enough to overwhelm Leone's [Rook] capabilities.

Changing targets, Kuroka ran at the approaching Esdeath with speeds comparable to Yoh's as she reached into a magic circle she created. To Esdeath's surprise, the cat girl pulled out a single kunai, a tool used mostly by shinobi or assassins, and used it to block Esdeath's rapier. "Oh? What a pleasant surprise." Smiled Esdeath as the duo entered a dangerous dance with Kuroka effectively blocking every swipe from the ice queen, "I didn't know you used actual weapons. Seems like that blubbering fool of yours was telling the truth about you being stronger than previously thought."

Kuroka growled as orange sparks popped off her kunai as it slid against Esdeath's rapier. "He isn't a fool! You're the fool!" she yelled as he pushed Esdeath off her and shot a quick magic beam at her.

Esdeath laughed, splitting the beam in half with an ice sword she created before throwing it at Kuroka. A block of earth grew in front of Kuroka and blocked the sword, its hard surface causing the sword to break into a thousand pieces. Wood spiked out of the ground next to Esdeath with intentions of impaling her with its sharp ends. She quickly jumped away while summoning a giant ice column and shooting it at Kuroka.

"This is nothing!" shouted Kuroka as she created a powerful Kasha wheel. A few balls of black flames spun around the ring at blinding speeds before emitting a huge beam of black fire that pierced through the ice column and exploded from the inside, sending flames and ice everywhere.

"Get her!" Kuroka ears twitched in annoyance to Esdeath's distance laughter as Akame appeared in front of her. The assassin attempt to swipe through her midsection, but Kuroka used her kunai to block the attempt. The two began trading blows, sparks flying everywhere as metal clashed.

To the shock of Akame, a second Kuroka grew out of the ground-an exact replica of the original and blocked the incoming Leone's fist with a barrier before kicking her away. The original and Akame kept fighting without letting up as Leone was pushed back as she dodged an onslaught of blue magic beams the copy was shooting at her.

Akame planted her foot on the ground as Kuroka began to push her back, but was thrown off as the ground sunk in, throwing her balance off. That was all Kuroka need to palm underneath Akame's armed hand before attempting to sink her kunai into her ribs. She was almost successful, but a stray bullet knocked the kunai out of her hands. Kuroka growled as she sensed Mine from far away, probably using the large gun she saw her with early to snipe from afar. 'That won't do, nya…'

The fake Kuroka merged back into the ground as Kuroka kicked Akame away. Her Devil wings fluttered out her back as she took off, flying directly in Mine's location. The silent pink-haired girl quickly stood from her sniping position and took off, the threat of fighting Kuroka by herself being to great.

Kuroka was being flanked by Run and Akame, but she quickly caught up to Mine with her superior speed. "Get back here!" A purple barrier blocked off Mine's escape route as Kuroka caught the smaller girl by the throat.

Mine grunted in pain as she tried to aim Pumpkin at Kuroka, but the Nekoshou kicked the machine away from her. She spun around and held the pink-haired girl hostage as Akame and Run landed in front of them. "Release her, immediately." Ordered the silent killer, Murasame glimmering in the darkness while Run silently conjured more light spears behind him.

"Retire if you want her to live." Kuroka said, showing off her sharp nails that were coated in chakra and putting it to Mine's exposed neck.

The two groups were in a standoff, waiting for the other to make a move. Akame's sharp eyes twitched when Kuroka's nail cut into Mine's throat, a small droplet of blood escaping out of it. "Wait…" she uttered, her grip on Murasame loosening.

Suddenly, Leone dropped down in front of her peers and charged at Kuroka in a burst of speed. Kuroka internally smirked as she pushed Mine into the blonde woman. Leone's anger quickly turned into concern as she caught Mine's body, skidding to a halt on the ground.

The barrier behind Kuroka encircled them all, trapping the group in a purple sphere. Akame fluttered her wings to charge at the Nekoshou, but she didn't travel any distance. She felt the wind against her face as if she were flying, but she didn't cover any distance. "What's happening?"

"This is a time-space barrier!" said Run. The purple ball condensed, shrinking in size. Kuroka's body left out of the sphere, but Akame, Leone, Run and Mine was still inside.

Kuroka held out both of her hands as two massive balls of blue magic with purple lightning dancing around the surface phased to life. Her golden orbs gleamed with anger as she super-charged her spell, filling it with Senjutsu and multiplying their size by four. "Die!" she yelled as she threw the massive projectiles at them.

Suddenly, the barrier the group was trapped in flew down towards the ground, the two energy balls following them closely. "We gotta get out!" yelled Run as he tried to find some way to escape the barrier.

As the group neared the ground, Esdeath ran towards the barrier and coated it in a layer of ice before flying away with it as the two energy balls exploded once they made landfall. The entire dimension shook as what could be consider a cataclysmic bomb ripped through everything, inhaling the entire destroyed city and the nearby forest in a flare of blue energy.

Kuroka floated just above the blast zone in the sky, ignoring the blistering winds as she waited to see if the group managed to escape her wide-scale attack. Her ears twitched to her right as she sensed a group of magic near the ground. "She probably blocked it with her ice…that witch…" she growled, referring to Esdeath as she entire the blast, unphased by it.

Inside the brute of the attack, Esdeath was holding back the blast from hurting her and her juniors with the ice barrier she crafted. "It would help if you all wouldn't fall for such obvious traps." She said to the group behind her. The barrier they were trapped in disappeared once the blast erupted, freeing them from their space-captivity.

"Forgive us, Esdeath-sama, but that bitch can really fight." Sighed Leone, rubbing her stomach where Kuroka hit her previously, "I wasn't expecting her to be able to keep up with us."

"The way she as able to react to everything we throw at her is astonishingly accurate. Her Senjutsu skills are really frightening." Said Run.

"Nevertheless, I need you all to do better." Commanded Esdeath with a light glare, "The plan is for you all to tire her out, not get killed by her. Do your part."

"Hai!" The group excluding Mine shouted.

"….wait….what is that?" All eyes moved to where Leone was pointing on the ground. A small, pink flower grew out of the ground, sprouting fully as if it had been there for weeks. "A flower?"

A yellow substance began to shoot out of the flower, slowing filling the small space inside of the barrier in its essences. Esdeath's eyes narrowed with suspicion, "It's pollen…."

Leone sniffed the air as the pollen began to annoy her sensitive nose, "Ugh…this shit suckssssss….." Her balance became nonexistent as she suddenly tripped over herself, putting Esdeath on edge.

"Grab her! We leave now!" she yelled. Run quickly retrieved of Leone as the group burst through the ceiling. The blast outside had long transpired, but they were greeted to the sight of hundred of sharp wooden spikes all aimed at them. The group split up, flying through the spikes as they chased them down, weaving through the air at insane speeds.

Esdeath created an ice blade to slice through a group of branches as another group chased after her. With deadly accuracy, the [Queen] of Honest Bael cut through anything that came her way with a pleased smile on her face. "This is quite fun, little girl!" she shouted out for Kuroka to hear, "You really were hiding all of this! I'm amused!"

"You shouldn't be, nya."

Esdeath eyes widened as she heard Kuroka from behind her. The Nekoshou emerged from one of the thick branches with a ball of spiraling chakra in her hand. "Wha-" The chakra orb was slammed into the woman's side, sending her spiraling away, back down into the ground in her own crater-a clean hit.

"Esdeath-sama!" shouted Leone from afar, seeing her [Queen] injured.

Kuroka floated back down to the ground and placed both of her hands on the ground. "I command nature…" Kuroka spoke as her eyes flared with energy. The ground began to shake with vigor as magic erupted from her body. The ground began to crack open as steam broke through the surface. Pools of lava breached the surface before the earth rose into the air, leading to the creation of multiple volcanoes.

"I'm the one whose gonna stop you, nya!" she shouted as all the volcanoes erupted at the same time, filling the sky with lava before descending the down to the ground.

Rating Game Dimension – Team Pickle Rick's Base

"One [Pawn] of Honest Bael has retired." The announcer's voice broadcasted as Tatsumi's giant body disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Anna sighed in relief from her hiding spot. "Finally…" she uttered as she felt Oh-Oni and Zenki return to her mental as their battle with the resilient Tatsumi ended. The Shaman was on her last bits of magic, but Oh-Oni was finally able to overwhelm Tatsumi with one last fist to the face, rendering the dragon unconscious.

'Thanks, you two.' She said to the two spirits before returning her focus to healing Naruto of his curse. Overtime, she had gotten out most of the curse from his body, with only a small collection of the curse's tattoos on Naruto's right palm. Even though she was exhausted, she would have just enough magic to rid the unconscious Bael of his curse and saving the team of losing once Naruto died of his injuries.

Anna grit her teeth as she begun the process for the final time, her palms emitting a pink aura that connected to the curse's tattoos and began to remove them from Naruto's body. She felt Naruto's body jolt at the action, and his eyes became full of life before returning to its dull state. He had been doing that for quite some time, and Anna believed it to be Naruto slowly becoming more conscious. Goki was beginning to have problems have full control over Naruto's body as the Bael's will began to force it out.

"Just wake up, Naruto-sama…" she whispered between breaths as she stretched her magic reserves to heal her master.

Because of her heavy concentration and lack of magic, she didn't sense the other magic source nearby or hear leaves crunching under one's foot. It was only when the unknown signal was extremely close was when looked in front of her.

Her heart sank as Bols, [Pawn] of Honest Bael, stood less than ten feet away from her and her thoroughly damaged [King].

Silence rang between the two for a few seconds, but Anna's head was rampant with thoughts. 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I can't believe I forgot about him!' she shouted at herself in her head, 'This…this isn't good. I don't have enough magic to both fight him and heal Naruto-sama! And I don't even know if Naruto-sama is in the condition to fight if he were to wake up! I'm miles away from the anybody on the team….no…this wasn't supposed to end like this!'

"Heh…uh…" Bols began, awkwardly scratching his masked head, "Th-this is awkward…"

Anna didn't respond, rather choosing to stare at the masked man with no emotion. The look caused the [Pawn] to shiver and hid behind one of the nearby trees. "Scary…." He uttered, "W-wh-why are you looking at me like that? I…I didn't do anything to you. I just…ya know…I just did my job a-

"Eerkk…..gahhh…."

Naruto's body jerked again. Zenki's right arm was visible, coming out of Naruto's stomach, before sinking back in. Silence rang again as Bols inspected the struggling Bael from afar. Anna didn't know what the masked man was thinking, which was what the suspense of the situation even worse for her to bear.

Bols' head tilted sideways for a moment, still staring at Naruto's struggling form. "…..He's…..He's not in control at the moment. Akame did say that you were keeping his body conscious only by possessing it with one of your spirits….but he is injured….and his sudden spasms…."

"…He's about to wake up, isn't he?" he concluded.

'Shit.' Anna watched as Bols reached for handle of his flamethrower on his back and slowly aiming the tip at her. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!'

Anna jumped to life, creating a barrier to block the incoming flux a flames that washed the surrounding area in fire. Once the shot was over, Anna dropped her shield to preserve what little magic she had.

"Y-you better stop now…" she uncharacteristically stuttered, "I can hold you back for now, but H-Hao is on his way an-

"You're lying." Anna's eyes went white as her body trembled in fear, "I know you're lying. There isn't anybody else around…its just you, me, and him…"

"If I take you out…then maybe Honest-sama could see my worth…" Bols continued, taking a step forward. Anna took a step back. "He's always complained about me being the weakest member….but if I do this, then maybe…just maybe…he'll be proud of me! I…I won't have to suffer anymore!"

"Please, don't do this." Anna put her arms up in surrender, "If you retire my master, the entire Underworld would suffer! Don't do this!"

"No…He's was bound to fail…that's what Honest-sama said!" Another shot of flames came out of his scared gear, causing Anna to block with a barrier again, but began to wither as her magic was almost out. "He said that you all would lose…and you're going to. Nobody can beat Esdeath-sama. Sh-She's too strong! I…I have to do this! Then…then maybe the pain can stop! Those torture session as punishment for being the weakest….It can all stop!"

"Please! Don't do this!" screamed Anna as a last resort. Another blast of flames came out of Rubicante. Anna defended again, but this time, her magic gave out on her. She jumped on top of Naruto's body, using herself as a shield to block the flames. Her scream was haunting, chill the bones to anybody who heard as she was burnt by the ending flames of the blast.

Bols stood over the two-Anna's back exposed and burnt in multiple places as the flames licked her skin. "It can all stop….It can all stop…" Bols repeated like a man under a spell as he inched Rubicante's tip at the two. "It….can all…end…"

Anna scrunched her eyes close as she awaited the hell flames to burn her alive. However, that pain never came, to her surprise. She heard Bols grunt, confusing her as to why he hadn't shot her up with flames.

Bols' right arm hung limply at his side. All control he had of the limb was gone. "What?" he questioned, wondering what had happened to his arm.

At the corner of the masked man eye, he saw a red light. Looking at its source, his heart dropped when he saw the red aura of the legendary Power of Destruction fizzle to life in Naruto Bael's outstretched hand. He had used his notable Needles of Destruction to destroy the joints in Bols' arm, making it useless to use for a while.

Naruto Bael's eyes were not its usually blue. Instead, Bols saw red. An angry red. A red fit for an enraged Demon about to go on an onslaught of pure destruction.

Naruto Bael was awake…

He held his injured [Bishop] to his chest as he slowly stood to his feet, his Power of Destruction growing with intensity…

Bols' took a step back in fear, unknowingly dropping Rubicante's handle. "Wait…" he uttered, "I…I h-ha-have a wife….a w-w-wife…and a child and-"

The entire area was encased in red…

Rating Game Dimension – Honest Bael's Territory

"One [Pawn] of Honest Bael has retired."

All fighting stopped once the announcement was heard. Kuroka as currently blocking a group of light spears from Run in the air before the announcement, but they stop coming as the announcer's message reached his ears.

"[Pawn]…our only other piece that could be…is Bols.."

"Bols? But he should be okay!" yelled Leone in denial, "That Shaman girl has to be out of magic by now!"

The members of Team Honest stood confused, but a weak smile crept onto Kuroka's face as her sensory abilities signaled her of a growing magic that wasn't there before…. a signal she was very familiar with…

"He's awake, nya…" she uttered in awe, "….Heh…hehe…." she chuckled before regaining her game face, "That just gave me even more energy to take you all out, nya!"

Rating Game Dimension – Team Pickle Rick's Base

Naruto trembled before falling to one knee, panting as a glob of blood escaped his mouth. He didn't care for that, however. What was important to him was checking on Anna's condition. "A-Anna…" he stuttered after taking a deep breath, "Are you alright?"

"Urrghh…my back…stings…." She wheezed out, fatigue getting the best of her, "Fire…. burns…"

If it wasn't for their current predicament, he would have laugh at the rare joke from the Shaman. He took a glance around their surrounding environment, taking notice of the discolored skies. "We're….in a Rating Game, aren't we?" he concluded. A silent nod confirmed his suspicions. "Shit…I…I was unconscious this entire time?"

"Th-the mental strain of Loki's curse was…a lot for you to bare…" she explained as Naruto gently sat her against a tree, using his jacket as a barrier from the hard bark touching her scared back, "We convinced Riser Phenex to give us two Phenex Tears….we left Orochimaru because he was still unconscious from injuries…erggg…Yoh and I used the tears while the rest fought…so far…..Kuroka, Hao and I are the only ones left…while Honest, Esdeath and four others are left."

"Damn it…" He winced again as a sharp pain centered on his palm aggravated him. "What's this?"

"A curse from Akame's sword…highly toxic…" she explained between deep breaths, "It was their plan all along to injury you, causing me to drain my magic healing you…urg…..fighting Tatsumi, and healing myself. If you hadn't awakened…I'd be dead and this Rating G….game would be over…"

"A curse…" Naruto grit his teeth in anger, "I was out all that time while my peerage was fighting for me. I'm so sorry, Anna…"

Anna shook her head in dismissal. "Don-don't worry about that…go help…Kuroka. She's fighting five people…all by herself…just be careful." She warned, "…Your body…is heavily injured from the curse….and….and I don't have enough magic to rid of it fully….."

"It's okay, Anna." Naruto consoled, brushing her golden locks from her eyes, "You all have done an amazing job. It's my turn now to fight." He growled, eyes flashing red in the process.

Anna gave her [King] a weak smile. "Thank…thank you…" she whispered before all she saw was darkness.

"One [Bishop] of Team Pickle Rick has retired." Naruto stood as he watched Anna's body disappeared in a blue light. Once she was gone, the blonde summoned his wings before flying in the air, headed straight to the battle zone Kuroka was at.

He inhaled, flooding his body with his Power of Destruction. The legendary power of the Bael Clan washed through every vein within him, literally destroying any ounce of Murasame's toxic curse. The tattoos from the curse slowly fizzled away as they were overcome with red energy.

Midflight, Naruto lost concentration as a sharp pain in his midsection hurt him badly. He could feel the internal bleeding with him and knew that his body wouldn't last long in a serious fight.

"But I don't have time to think about that…" he said to himself as increased is speed, "She needs my help, and I'll do everything in my power to keep her from dying!" he shouted as he continued his flight to Honest's territory.

Rating Game Dimension – Honest Bael's Territory

Kuroka's wooden sandals clattered against the tough ground as she was tailed by Mine. Instead of shooting miniature energy bullets, long streams of energy came from the small woman's gun like a cannon. She weaved the gun in the air, the energy following like a blade that cut through anything.

The Nekoshou created a barrier to block the energy beam from Pumpkin before countering by creating an array of spikes from the ground and shooting them at the quick sniper. She hissed as she felt Akame close in with Murasame. A thick rock wall separated the two as Murasame's blade bounced off the hard rock. Kuroka kicked the wall from the other side, breaking it and slamming into Akame. Ducking down, the cat girl avoided a punch from Leone before kicking the lioness' feet from her under her. A water dragon created by the moisture in the atmosphere crashed into Leone, sending her flying as Kuroka countered the multiple light spears by producing a powerful flamethrower, the flames eating through all the spears and Run himself had he not flown out of the way.

Producing another kunai, Kuroka's golden eyes gleamed as she her knife meet Marusame. The duo began to duel, with Kuroka pushing the black-haired killer with an overwhelming force as all her moved came out quicker. Their blades bouncing off each other, Kuroka blitzed the assassin as the ground beneath her formed a rock gauntlet. Akame created a barrier to block, but the force behind the blow sent her skidding back.

A giant flower broke the ground, its middle section glowing in green light before releasing a cannon of natural energy, combatting the beam Run created. Mine ran underneath the beam struggle, seemingly teleporting next Kuroka in pure speed as the continuous magical outpour from Pumpkin sliced through the ground. Mine silently swung her weapon down from over her head, but Kuroka caught the bottom of the gun as purple lightning emitted from her body and through Pumpkin's metal frame.

The master sniper received the shock of her life but was outwardly unaffected based on her ever-present blank stare. Once the strike died down, Mine was immediately mobile again, dropping to the ground and spinning, planning on slicing through Kuroka's midsection with her energy cannon.

The ground beneath Mine rose, lifting her in the air. What was going to cut through Kuroka's mid-section was inches from grazing the hairs on her cat ears as Kuroka turned to block a kick from Leone with her arm. Pushing it off like it was nothing, Kuroka decked Leone in her face, following it up with a kick of her own. Fighting through the pain, Leone caught Kuroka's leg as Mine jumped down from the platform, pointing Pumpkin at her back.

"Tchh…" an annoyed hiss left the [Queen]'s lips as branches, to Mine and Leone's surprise, a clone of Kuroka grew out of the ground and blocked the beam with a barrier. The clone used that barrier to tackle Mine, shoving her into the earth wall the original created earlier. The shove redirected Pumpkin's muzzle which was enough for the clone to move in and grab Mine, throwing the smaller girl in the air behind her.

The original did the same with Leone: snatching her leg out of Leone's grasp as a wooden spike grew out of the ground and pierced her stomach. As Leone tried to recover, Kuroka grabbed Leone's throat before throwing her over her shoulder.

The original and copy Kuroka switched targets as blue chakra spheres spun to life. The jumped at their new targets and rammed the spheres into Mine and Leone's bodies, sending them flying away. "Take that….bitches…" she whispered with an intense glare as her clone merged back with the ground.

"Light's Order! Javelin Devastation!" Kuroka's ears perked as she heard Run's spell. 4 massive columns of light flew at Kuroka from all sides, morphing into javelins as they closed in on the Nekoshou.

Run flew to the ground, landing next to Akame as his spell exploded upon contact. The duo watched with keen eyes, looking for any sign of the cat girl. "She's very crafty…." said Run, huffing as the fight against Kuroka was taking a toll on him and his reserves, "Her fighting style is insane…it's too hard to keep up with her."

"Try taking one of her punches…" muttered Akame, wincing as her arm stung. Even with a barrier, the force behind Kuroka's punches were worse than Budo's. "….I'm not sure….if we can take her down…"

"Fuck!" Leone landed next to the duo, clutching her bleeding injury. "Why is she so good? It's like she knows every move before I even do anything!"

Mine made her way to the group as well. The group took notice her left arm which was bent at an awkward angle-clearly broken. "Ouch…" winced Leone as she glanced at the injury.

Run moved to the small girl, "Let me heal that for you-"

The smoke from Run's spell was blasted away by a strong wind that nearly threw the group off its feet. Kuroka stood, arms crossed, casually as three small twisters spun to life. Those twisters suddenly evolved into massive tornedoes, creating winds scooped the group off its feet.

"Is there no end to what she can do!?" shouted Leone as her body was thrown around in the air.

"There is more…." Kuroka licked her lips as she snapped her fingers. The volcanoes she created earlier suddenly exploded, sending lava and hot rocks everywhere as her tornedoes pushed forward, ripping through the air.

Run tried to gain some type of balance in the air for him to fly, but the wicked winds left little to no type of stabilization as he used his light spears to breakthrough flying meteors and barriers to block the lava that threatened to melt his entire body. 'This is insane! She can produce natural disasters like this so easily!?'

"Fuck!" shouted Leone as lava splashed on her arm, she waved her arm around to get the hot liquid off her arm, saving it from doing any more damage. "Damn, that's hot!...Mine! Watch out!"

The [Rook] shouted at her friend from afar as a giant rock was headed right for her. The silent girl used Pumpkin to blast the rock into bits. However, what she didn't see was another giant rock that circled around one of Kuroka's tornedoes and slam right into the girl's small body. All Leone saw was a splash of red as the rock carried Mine away.

"HOLY FUCK! MINE!"

"One [Pawn] of Honest Bael has retired."

A mixture of panic and shock washed throughout Leone's body. "Mi-mine…" she uttered, highly disturbed by Mine's retirement. She didn't know if the pink-haired girl was alive or dead. All she knew was that she was fighting a murderous kitty with the power of nature. She was nothing but a [Rook] that could throw a couple good punches! How in the hell was she supposed to defeat her? They were already losing by a considerable amount. None of them had even landed a hit on her!

"What are we supposed to do?" she whispered as her took in deep breaths, her panic attack worsening. Her body was thrown around by the strong winds like trash, and it was a miracle that she hadn't been killed by any of the lava or large rocks in the air with her. She couldn't care less about her surrounding, all but forgetting about it as her fear increased by the second.

So, when she sensed Kuroka behind her, a rock formed in her throat. Kuroka wasn't even looking at Leone-their backs slightly touching as Kuroka glanced out at the storm she created. Calm winds held them up in the air as they floated in a small bubble amid the catastrophe happening outside of it.

"….You hurt Naruto…." Leone could hear her perfectly amongst the loud crashing and devastation as if she were talking into her ear, "I don't care if you didn't come up with the arranged marriage…all I know is that you're in the way, nya…."

"However…." Leone's trembling increased as her anxiety was getting the best of her. Kuroka was emitting a massive amount of KI that was numbing her brain. "During his time with your terrible peerage…he said that you were one of few that he actually liked, so I'll show a little mercy."

"Me-mercy?" Leone questioned, "You mea-"

"-whether you live or die is up to you." Kuroka interrupted with no remorse, "Just know that I could kill you if I wanted to."

Kuroka's back pushed against Leone, sending her out of the weird space bubble they were in. The moment her body left; she was riddled with cuts as invisible blades wind sliced through her body. Her [Rook] properties were a nonfactor as the wind didn't miss a mark on her body, barely leaving any skin and exposing her insides to the harsh environment.

Kuroka's kimono fluttered as she harmlessly floated down to the ground as her storm subsided. Her wooden sandals gently resting on the ground as Leone's body harshly landed behind her-unresponsive.

"One [Rook] of Honest Bael is has retired." Said the announcer's voice.

Kuroka turned to her opponents, Akame and Run, who were huffing in fatigue, bleeding and burnt on various parts of their bodies. Clearly, they hadn't escaped her hell storm without injury.

"She…she took out both Mine and Leone like they were nothing…" said Run between breaths, "This….this isn't even a fight…anymore…"

"It never was…" uttered Akame as she gripped Murasame. The assassin usually kept her composure, but she couldn't stop her body from trembling as Kuroka stared at them with cold eyes as if she was judging their worth to live. The cat girl had struck a chord within the emotionless murder she thought she didn't have anymore. "Run…..we are going to die."

"You wouldn't have these problems if you were stronger." Esdeath landed in front of the injured duo with a small, playful smile. "My soon to be pet, the creature you made to fight me wasn't enough for my strength. Can you make another one for me….or do you want to start our fight now?"

The entire time Kuroka fought against Mine, Run, Leone and Akame, she had created a massive rock golem to fight Esdeath on the other side of the destroyed city. Other than the small tatters in her clothes, the general was relatively unharmed.

"I would…." Kuroka started, "...but someone special is about to join us."

That's when Esdeath noticed the red rocket approaching them from afar. Her confusion turned into happiness, a wide grin growing on her beautiful as her fiancée, Naruto Bael, dropped next to Kuroka. "Honey!" she greeted with open arms, "Such a pleasure! It's been so long."

"Esdeath…" Naruto growled. The action irritated his throat, causing a coughing fit from the Bael. He dropped to one knee as blood leaked from his mouth.

Kuroka was instantly at his side. "Naruto!" she shouted, "What happened?!"

"That fucking curse…." Naruto's eyes locked onto Akame's, pure hatred radiating from them, "My body was deteriorating fr-from it."

"How did you survive it?" Akame voiced her curiosity, "I knew the Shaman was capable enough to remove it, but Tatsumi should have tired her out. She shouldn't have enough magic to cure it."

"None of your damn business." coughed Naruto.

'He's not in good shape…' thought Kuroka as she used her magic to scan Naruto's body, 'Heavily injured…and his magic reserves aren't the highest either…'

"Kuroka, I'll be honest with you…" Naruto started as he slowly got back to his feet with his [Queen]'s help, "My…body is going to give out soon…Thirty minutes max. Every movement I make hurts, but I'll put u-up with it for now."

"Are you sure?" asked Kuroka, her golden orbs filled with worry for the Bael, "You're hurt. There's no telling how much this could permanently hurt your body, nya. I could do all the fighting."

"No." he instantly shot down her idea, "Maybe if you hadn't been fighting yet and not wasted any magic, then you could take Esdeath on by yourself, but she's….ugh….she's too much for you by yourself as you are now…plus those others two could be problems. I'll be your back up."

"…..Okay…" she didn't like the sound of Naruto fighting in the condition he was in, but they didn't have a choice if they wanted to make it out of this Rating Game alive.

"So you aren't running away! Good! I knew that any man I consider my equal wouldn't run from such unfavorable odds." Clapped Esdeath, "Do you remember what you told me, my beloved? When you declared war on the Bael Council? You told me to fight you like you were one of my enemies in the Civil War….and now that time has come!"

She cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders, preparing for the coming battle. "I will not hold back. You are mine, Naruto Bael. Now is the time that I fight for what I love…and you shall lose…Your first defeat shall be by my hand! This day will be remembered as the day when the great Esdeath bested the hope of the Underworld! Today is the day where you will officially accept me as the only person in the universe to heal the void in your heart because we are the same! WE ARE THE SAME!"

"The same piece of shit that annoys me to no end…" muttered Naruto with a murderous glare, "I told you to fight me like this was the Civil War…so if you really want this…."

"Come."

Kuroka, Half-Blooded Low-Class Devil, [Queen] and Naruto Bael, Full-Blooded High-Class Devil, [King]

Vs.

Esdeath [Queen], Akame [Knight], Run [Bishop]

The ice [Queen] of Honest Bael was the first to move, blitzing towards Naruto and Kuroka on a pillar of ice surrounded by various other pillars. Naruto instantly created a defensive barrier around Kuroka before cloaking his body in Power of Destruction. His aura destroyed the ice the moment it touched it. He went to grab for Esdeath's ankle, but the woman was swift as ever, abandoning her ice for another pillar.

Wood sprouted out of the ground, twisting together to form menacing spears. Esdeath created as ice wall, blocking every pike before summoning a tsunami of snow that towered the skies and was going to bury everything in its path.

"I've got it, nya." Kuroka said to her [King] as she created a barrier in the form of a box, protecting them from the cascading snowstorm.

The duo was quickly buried underneath the snow as it made landfall, covering most of the barren landscape. Esdeath jumped on the surface while manifesting three vast icicles out of thin air. The icicles pierced through the snow, stabbing through the ground Esdeath suspected Naruto and Kuroka to be. Next, she stabbed her right heel into the ground, freezing all the snow into a block of ice. "Let's so you get out of this…" she muttered.

Soon enough, the surface to the right of Esdeath broke through as Naruto flew out shooting out missiles of destruction. Esdeath dodged them all, hoping on her ice hovercraft and swiveling through them while shooting ice at Naruto. The Bael flew right at Esdeath, a clump of red aura gathering in his right hand. A swarm of his iconic Needles of Destruction shot right at Esdeath to disable the ice mistress' movement by destroying her joints.

Run flew downwards, creating a multilayer light barrier that blocked most of the needles. Some pierced through his defense, stabbing him in his left arm and side, but no where of significance. Esdeath slide underneath barrier and jumped at Naruto, her rapier aimed for the blonde's midsection.

Naruto changed his trajectory by using his telekinesis on himself to drop downwards-the tip of Esdeath's rapier slashing a few hairs from his head. Grabbing her ankles, Naruto spun Esdeath around before throwing her away, sending volley of red missiles after her before moving his focus to Run. "You…"

Run's body froze as he stared into Naruto's cold blue eyes. Fear had overtaken his control the instant they made eye contact and stopped him from making any movements. "Na…Naruto-sama…" he stuttered.

"I fucking trusted you and what do I get in return?" Naruto said before entering a coughing fit. His sickness dispelled some of the fear, but it was worthless as two red hands grabbed Run's body, "You sicken me…" he whispered before moving Run's body in front of him, using the Fallen Angel as a shield as Akame, now donned with red tattoos and darkened eyes, sliced Run's core with Murasame.

"Argh!" he cried out in pain.

"R-Run!" said a surprised Akame, not expecting Naruto use such tactics.

The Bael threw Run's body away and moved to Akame. Said girl recovered quickly and jumped away, her new form granting her more agility than ever before. Naruto kept up before being intercepted by Esdeath. "You're supposed to be paying attention me, my beloved. You might make me jealous."

Naruto didn't respond verbally, deciding that his fist would do the talking. Esdeath laughed as she dodged the blow but wasn't expecting a ball of black flames to burst through the ice ground. She quickly kicked Naruto away before jumping away from the explosion of flames.

Naruto didn't let the woman get to far as he ignored the significant pain in his body and forced himself to move. Phasing to life in front of Esdeath, his right arm morphed into the arm of his Golem of Destruction and knocked Esdeath on top of her head.

The woman broke all the way through the ice floor she made earlier, her back bouncing off the ground. Blood leaked from the side of her mouth before a great deal of rage fueled her body as icicles grew out of the ice lake and pierced the skies. She flew out of her crater with a mad grin as she redirected all the icicles at Naruto. "Alright dear! Let's get serious!"

Without a hint of fear, Naruto engaged, dodging and blasting his way through the maze of icicles that threatened to kill him. Zooming through the air, he swerved to his right while annihilating a group flying at his side. Ducking over another, he created a barrier in front of him as Esdeath came flying down with a strong heel drop the broke his barrier with ease.

The recoil sent him staggering, just far enough for a smaller icicle to stab itself into his right shoulder. He growled before dodging a kick from the woman and used his telekinesis to force the icicle out of him using it as a projectile. Esdeath quickly dodged the attack as she pushed forward, ice coating her hand in a blade only for it to be destroyed as Naruto palmed the tip with a Power of Destruction-enhanced hand, the ice turning into nothingness as his hand continued to travel down. Esdeath pulled away kicked at his side, sending him down to the ground.

"Errk…" the Bael moaned as his head pounded when he landed on the ground. The aftereffects of the damage caused by Marusame's curse affecting his every movement. "Fuck…"

Esdeath dropped down in front of him, not giving Naruto a moment of rest. "At attention, dear! You don't want to die before our wedding day, right?!" she laughed as she crafted an ice hammer to slam into the blonde's head.

Naruto charged forward, escaping the hammer's blow and attempted to deck Esdeath in the face. She dodged the attempt with ease, following it up by lodging her knee into his stomach, switching legs and kicking him into the ground.

"Is this all you have to offer me, my love?" she questioned as she stalked over to the gasping Bael. She picked him up by his hear, gripping it harshly as she brought his face up to her own, "All I did was activate a curse that was already on you and then poison you with a curse only dragons could natural tolerate. Nothing special. Someone with talent like ours should easily be able to take such punishment and respond aggressively..." She kissed his cheek before kicking him again, "…but all you're doing is disappointing me!"

"GAAh!" he yelled as his body took another incredibly strong hit from Esdeath. 'She's physically strong….probably stronger than even Kisame…..'

'And my body…is giving out faster than expected…' he thought as he grimaced at the pain overtaking him, 'Shit…I can barely…even move my legs…'

"Naruto Bael, the legendary warrior of the Anti-Satan Faction. Dubbed the 'Compass Needle of Victory' because every direction you pointed was the road to victory." Sarcasm was leaking from her lips like the venom of a snake as she marched over to the struggling blonde, "Is this what you did on the battlefield? Roll around on the dirt like trash?"

If the pain wasn't enough, Naruto's annoyance was growing by the second as Esdeath continued to taunt him. 'Even if she's annoying…she's not wrong…' he thought, 'I just need to calm down…and use what I learned while stuck in the box…plus, I have to buy time for Kuroka…'

He inhaled, closing his eyes as he used his magic to scan his body. 'My heart rate is dropping steadily….so I'm not getting a lot of blood flow…there's a hole in my shoulder…I'm physically exhausted, and my magic is nowhere near at 100% since I was under Loki's control…and I've officially lost all mobility thanks to all of my injuries…..but I've been in this position before.'

Esdeath paused her streak to Naruto's body midway when she felt his magic fluctuate. A white aura with blueish tent bathed his body as he meditated. 'He's not healing himself…' she thought, her eyes narrowing in suspicion, '…nor does it feel like he's about to attack. What are you up to, Naruto Bael?'

Naruto was deeply concentrating as he began to gain more control of his body. 'My body doesn't control me….I can control my body….' His fingers twitched, curling and uncurling as his magic began to take control. 'Pump my heart yourself…I can control everything…..'

His slowly heartbeat began to increase in beats per minutes. Inhaling, he opened his eyes to the world, revealing them to be bloodshot. To Esdeath's surprise, he began to stand from the ground, although with a bit of trouble. "Oh? You do have some fight in you left?"

"S-shut up." He stuttered. 'Supreme Bodily Control is in affect…. but how long can keep this up for?'

"So, you can stand on your feet now like a regular person. Big deal." She said while rolling her eyes, "From my perspective, you look like you will pass out in the next five minutes. Surely, you should just give up now. This game is already won!"

"..He….hehehehe!" A slightly crazed laugh escaped Naruto as he tore his shirt off, revealing the veins protruding from his muscular stomach as blood flow quickened, "Oh, Esdeath…You may not know, but I'm king when it comes to back-up plans. The state I'm in now is just a hinderance, but I w-will be the victor of this Rating Game." His fingertips were encased in Power of Destruction as they moved to his back-specifically, the last unopened, faulty Uzumaki seal imprinted on the lower right corner of his back. Pressing his fingers into the seal, he flinched as his magic ate through flesh, but it was worth the sacrifice as the seal became corrupt-its black ink glowing red as his Power of Destruction began to deteriorate the seal.

"Power of Destruction: Anti-Seal Corrosion." He stated with a bloody smile. The once faulty Uzumaki seal was destroyed as Naruto's Power of Destruction literally ate through the seal, freeing all the magic stored within it.

Esdeath took a step back in surprise as magic erupted out of Naruto's body like a geyser. The ground shook as an explosion of red magic centered around the Bael. "What's this?" she questioned in both shock and awe as the sudden influx of magic created a strong gust, causing her to cover her face with her hands as her long hair fluttered behind her.

"This is what you call a back up plan." He said between deep breaths as his magic was restored by 100%, "I developed this spell just in case my peerage members couldn't free me from that damn seal your little Bael friends put me in oh so long ago. Who would have thought I would use it now in my quest to defeat the same council that imprisoned me! Ha! How the tables turn!"

'There's no use in healing my injuries since it'll take up too much magic...and my body's bound to give up soon regardless…' He thought to himself as his magic began to morph around him into a familiar shape. Two blobs of magic broke off from him and began to change shape.

"You were hiding this the entire time!?" shouted Esdeath over the blowing winds. She couldn't hold back the smile grow as she watched Naruto increase his power. 'We really are meant to be together, Naruto.'

"I've been doing a lot of hiding…" he growled as he created three of his Golem of Destruction before merging them together, "…Over 500 years of hiding…I'm not going to let anybody else push me around ever again! "

"DUBA DUBA DUBA DUBA!" screeched the oversized Golem of Destruction, towering over Esdeath's smaller form by large margin. Its shadow casted over Esdeath as its makeshift yellow eyes locked onto her figure.

"While I d-don't consider…this to be at my strongest, it's a little over 1/4th of it." He said, holding back the yells that climbed up his throat as pain pulsated through his body, "This will still be enough to defeat you."

"Time and time again, you continue to surprise me, my love." Esdeath applauded, "This is what I want to see from you! Very impressive indeed!"

"Heh…" Her eyes widened when she heard Naruto's voice in her ear. She jumped away in fright, however, she figured out she was played when it was a communication spell next to her.

"They always fall for it." An excruciating painful blow to Esdeath's back sent the blue-haired beauty soaring through the air. Her body broke through one of Yoh's large lightning rod rocks that towered the sky and slammed into a nearby one in dramatic fashion.

"You said you wanted it all!" The destruction avatar, sprung to life, flying after Esdeath. "This is it!" Naruto shouted from within his creation.

"Heaven's Spear!" called out a familiar voice. Run, with Murasame's curse growing on his body, held a powerful light spear in his hand as he blocked Naruto's path, "Stop, Naruto-sama! If not, I wi-"

The moment Run's spear touched Golem of Destruction's exterior, it fizzled away. Naruto literally ran through Run's body, his destruction turning the Fallen Angel into nothingness as Naruto passed through him like he was never there.

Not even caring for any announcement of Run's retirement, Naruto released a massive blast of destruction at Esdeath once she escaped her personal crater. Half of the rock formation was annihilated by the blast as Naruto followed after Esdeath.

Esdeath created a magic circle and flew through it. She equipped herself in a strong suit of ice armor as Naruto fazed to life next to her and stopped his punch with her smaller hands. Her ice was being eaten away from the Golem's destructive properties, but she was creating ice as quick as it was being destroyed as she entered a battle of fist and wit with Naruto. Even with its large frame, Naruto's golem was able to keep up with Esdeath, matching her in speed as he threw out kicks and punches with ease.

"Ergghhh.." Esdeath growled as a barrier she created was terminated by one punch before a kick followed. She ducked underneath while creating an ice lance to stab the golem's underbelly but was disappointed when the lance was destroyed the moment it touched the golem's shell. Blood gushed out her mouth as a red fist, similar to the GoD's hand, grew from its leg and landed a clean hit to her mid-section.

Naruto's armored hand was coated in red magic as he sliced downwards, shooting a red blade of energy down at Esdeath. The ice [Queen] dodged at the last second as the blade projectile continued moving, slicing through the protective barrier that covered the massive castle in the middle of the destroyed city and the castle itself, reaching the far left side of it and splitting it from the rest of the massive construct.

Esdeath stared at the damage done to the barrier in shock. "It…broke through Honest's barrier? How…how much power did that one strike have?"

She didn't have a long break as Naruto closed in Esdeath, launching another punch. She quickly dodged while creating her ice hovercraft to retreat. A barrage of red missiles came from Naruto's shoulders, all aimed for Esdeath as he followed behind.

Esdeath used her ice to block the incoming missiles, throwing large pillars and balls of compact ice at them. The missiles exploded on contact, destroying all Esdeath's projectiles in the process while Naruto flew through them like nothing, increasing the magic outpour to the thrusters on his feet to increase his speed.

Another red explosion blinded Esdeath of Naruto's current position, in which he took to his advantage as he flew underneath her and broke through the flying ice disc. She jumped off it just in time and created a gigantic ice dragon and collided into the GoD's exterior, pushing it down to the ground.

"Fi-finally…" she huffed, before noticing her condition. Her heart rate was up, and she coughed up blood. She felt fatigued and, even worse for Esdeath, her pride felt thoroughly damaged. "He…he was able to do all this…in a couple of hits?" she questioned herself. Her hand was trembling she felt out of breath, leading her to one conclusion: "I'm…tired?"

An explosion from below caught her attention as three red beams were headed in her direction. Esdeath sprung to life, dodging them all and summoning a massive ice meteor-similar in proportion to the one she created in her fight against Kisame and Yoh.

The gigantic ice rock was within range of hitting the ground. Esdeath looked on in anticipation, hoping that Naruto wouldn't be able to escape such a massive force. However, that anticipation turned into dread as the once blue meteor morphed into a dark red blue evaporating into nothingness.

"Erh…Esdeath-sama…" Naruto flew up in the air, hovering not too far from Esdeath. In his armored hand was Akame. She was trapped by Naruto's powerful grip, at his mercy as the Bael presented the assassin to her.

"Seems like you left something down there…" he all but laughed at his joke, the crazy side of him taking control for a moment, "Do you want her back?" he asked.

Esdeath growled, her fist balling together at the predicament she was in. 'He's playing with me…' she through in frustration. This was the first time in a long time since she was the one being played with and not the other way around. 'Only a few minutes ago, he was lying on his back-unable to move! Now he's taken command of this fight. Did I underestimate him that much? And have I been ignoring my own fatigue because I was so sure we were going to when with minimum effort?'

Naruto laughed at Esdeath's silence. "Not so talkative now, are we?" His real hand grew out of his Golem of Destruction and chopped Akame on the back of her neck, rendering her unconscious. "I'm letting her live only because we used to friends way back…"

"Duba Duba…" red smoke escaped from the golem's side as Naruto re-entered his destruction avatar. He winced as his chest burned. He slowed his blood flow down to a normal pace, although that didn't help the pain he felt. His God of Destruction fluctuated, weakening as Naruto's injuries began to catch up to him.

Esdeath moved in, knowing that now was the time to attack. She aimed her rapier for the golem's fizzling midsection, but Naruto dodged to the left while countering with a giant fist.

Esdeath ducked under the below, touching the arm and encasing it in ice. Grabbing the ice, she pulled herself up and delivered a staggering ice kick to the golem's transparent dome-where Naruto's head was.

Flipping over the Bael, Esdeath created giant ice fist grew from a magic seal. The blonde destroyed the fist in a blast of destruction and tried to catch Esdeath, but she weaved away from Naruto's other hand and threw three ice spears at the golem. To her surprise, the spears pierced through the seemingly indestructible armor.

"Arrghh!" she heard Naruto's cry. She smirked, knowing she had a chance to end the game now as she pushed forward, planning on pushing the icicles all the way through the golem. "Your overconfidence is what will lead to your downfall, Naruto!"

Esdeath dodged a kick as she moved in but was caught by surprise as another leg grew from it to attack her. She flew over it, but then an arm grew from the extra appendages and grabbed the ice [Queen]. The arm pulled Esdeath in as a hole formed in the golem's stomach.

"Ouch!" said Naruto as Esdeath was closed into the golem with him, "F-fuck…you didn't have to push me…I'm already…injured." He wheezed.

"What in the name-get me out of her this instant!" commanded Esdeath as she tried and failed at moving. Her stomach was pressed up against Naruto's in the tight, confined space as she couldn't even move her arms.

"No th-thanks," he coughed, "but I think I'll head out."

The back of the golem opened, and Naruto fell out of it. The hole closed before Esdeath could escape as the golem plummeted to the ground. "Alright…hopefully, this ends it…" he said to himself as he dug into his pocket and pulled out four spell tags. "Four Corner Containment." He chanted as he threw the tags.

The tags flew down to the trapped Esdeath and emitted a purple barrier, inclosing Esdeath and the explosion of red that followed once Naruto's abandoned golem hit the ground.

"Shit…" muttered Naruto as he hit the ground, groaning in pain. His entire body was burning, and his heart felt like it was going to explode if he didn't calm down. 'But…that had to do something to her….' He thought as he clutched his injured shoulder.

He recalled his spell tags as the explosion ceased. He didn't hear any call for Esdeath's retirement, so she must have survived to his disappointment. Slowly, he stood back up and anticipated the ice [Queen]'s return. "Co-come….come out…" the Bael wheezed out, "I know that you're still there…"

"…. You've done it now, Naruto…" said Esdeath as her silhouette became visible through the smoke. Her KI saturated the air as she marched towards him, "Nobody has ever….EVER!...pushed me this far…."

From the smoke grew Esdeath, riddled with cuts and open gashes. Most notably was the lack of a left arm attached to her body, holding the missing limb in her other hand. Her hair was in disarray, and the angry scowl on her face would have killed a lesser man. "Do you know how incredible hard it was to build a defense to not die from such an attack? Honestly, how do you expect us to get married if my body is erased from existence?"

"I was hoping for that, honestly…" he shrugged.

"Hmph…well then, since you have time for jokes…" The maniacal grin she wore made Naruto uneasy as a massive amount of ice grew from the ground, "…and since your doing so well, maybe I should stop playing and take you out now, DEAR!"

Naruto took a step back as the massive ice column morphed into an ice dragon. It was like comparing an ant to a lion as the beast's yellow eyes glared down at the Bael. "Uh….Kuroka..." he stuttered, taking another step back.

Esdeath flew to the beast head, sealing her detached arm in a magic circle. "This will be the end, my beloved! Congrats on pushing me to my limits, but this ends now!" she shouted as the ice dragon released an ear-piercing roar before heading straight for the blonde.

"uhh…Ku…..Kuroka!" yelled Naruto as he tried to run away, only to fall flat on his face. His heart throbbed as he released a glob of blood from his mouth. "Ga….ha…..thi-this….isn't fun….."

"Sorry, nya!" the earth underneath Naruto sprouted from the ground in the shape of hands. He was pulled high into the sky as the ground was ripped from the earth and lava from numerous magic circles in the sky. The two began mixed as a giant lava golem toward the skies before releasing its own monstrous roar at Esdeath's beast.

The beast dropped Naruto on top of its head so that Kuroka, its creator could catch him. "Thanks for buying time, nya." she said as she held the weakened blonde, "You did good…"

"Hehehe…" he laughed weakly. His eyes were barely open, and Kuroka could feel his life began to slip away. She began to do what she could, using the limited healing magic she knew to tend to his injuries and keep him awake. She would have blushed at their closeness but knew that this wasn't the time or place to get distracted. "Just let me do the rest, nya…" she whispered.

Another roar from Esdeath's beast alerted the cat girl. It was closing in-and fast. Commanding her giant, the beast lobbed a mass of lava in the air, threatening to melt the ice beast.

The dragon flew around the lava and released a large blue blast of energy at Kuroka's pet. The lava golem blocked it by colliding its fist into it. Ice sprouted from the resulting explosion, but Kuroka wasn't worried about as the beast charged forward.

"How exciting!" shouted Esdeath from atop her beast and it continued releasing massive shots of energy. "A lava golem? Your magical prowess is truly outstanding, little girl! But that I won't change the fact that I will be the victor!"

"Still feeding yourself those lies!?" hissed Kuroka as her lava golem landed a clean hit to Esdeath's dragon, "You're not gonna win, nya! Your obsession with Naruto ends here! Along with your life!"

The titans continued to clash, trading blows and blast of ice and lava. The surrounding environment suffered the most-one moment being frozen over before lava rained down from the skies, melting everything it touched.

Esdeath's dragon zoomed through the skies as Kuroka's golem chased after it, throwing flaming meteors at the airborne beast. Dodging them all, the ice beast roared as it headed straight for the golem. Blizting through all its projectiles, the ice dragon closed in. Folding its wings in, the dragon pierced through the golem's stomach, catching Kuroka's by surprise. Half its body came out of the golem's back before ice grew out from its body-a plethora of giant icicles bursting out of its body, including its head.

Esdeath ran up the golem's body before reaching to where Naruto and Kuroka were. "Hello there!" she shouted as she aimed her rapier for Kuroka's head. Kuroka jumped back, only to be shocked when Esdeath threw her rapier at her. She was able to duck underneath the short sword but fell into the ice [Queen]'s trap as she landed a swift but powerful kick to her side, knocking her off the golem and dropping Naruto in the process. "Naruto!" shouted Kuroka.

"Da-damn it…" grunted Naruto as he began his descent down the ground. His heart throbbed again, increasing the pain he felt and distorting his concentration to use his magic.

Esdeath jumped after his falling body with a wicked smile, drooling from her mouth as she could all but taste victory. "Now's the time, my beloved!" she crazily as she flew after him, "This is where it's certified! Together, lets live the rest of lives with each other! Let's fill the void in hearts and become truly happy!"

"No!" Kuroka dived down after them, flapping her wings as fast as possible.

The two flew after Naruto as the lava golem began to explode from the head down. Both [Queen] were set on their goal at reaching the Bael first, not caring about the massive explosion happening above them. Kuroka circled around to his right to get him from his side, but Esdeath had similar plans-flying to his left to easily recover his body with her one arm. As the two neared his falling body, they both saw each other for a moment. Both knew that they wouldn't be able to retrieve of his body unless the other was taken care of, so they reared the arms back as the were inches away from Naruto…

Esdeath and Kuroka punched one another at the same time, decking the other on the side of their face. A river of blood discharged from the two powerful women as they send each other flying away, neither retrieving Naruto's body as they were knocked in the opposite directions as Kuroka's lava golem exploded in epic fashion.

Naruto was able to both use his telekinesis on any falling rocks and lava to move away from himself. He also used his psychic powers to stop himself from falling to his death-catch his body midair at just a few feet from the ground. With a sigh, he dropped himself to the ground.

"Ah..hah…..hah..ha…." he panted as his vision grew blurry. His body was screaming for him to give, but he knew the consequences if he fell to temptation. He casted a small spell, dropping ice cold water on his face to help keep conscious. "GA-aha…..ha…shit, that' cold…." He uttered as he pushed himself up using his magic.

Kuroka groaned as she slowly stood to her feet. She was huffing, clearly tired from her fight. She did not expect Esdeath to use her ice dragon as a suicidal bomber to get in close. "Tha-that…. doesn't matter now…" she said as she began to march over to Naruto.

Esdeath got up from her personal crater as well. She looked more tired than ever before as she walked over to where Naruto was. Her deep breaths and wobbly steps annoyed her to no end as it made her feel weak, but she knew that if she could get to Naruto first, she would win.

"This…this isn't over…" said the blue-haired beauty through gritted teeth, "I will win…I will win…I need him…just…just as he needs me. Move…move….Move, Esdeath! Move! MOVE! MOVE!"

Her shaky walk began to grow into a small jog, before turning out into an all-out run. Kuroka, seeing the ice [Queen] near her [King], ran as well. Thankfully, she had landed closer to Naruto than her, so she would reach him first. 'Don't lose this for him!' she screamed in her head, 'Repay him for everything he's done for you!'

Naruto winced but held up his hand, pointing his open palm at the approaching Esdeath. His eyes glowed red with power as he contracted his magic, summoning a small orb of destruction. "….come…" he whispered.

Esdeath knew that Kuroka would reach Naruto first, and she also knew that she wouldn't be able to dodge Naruto's attack based off her fatigue and knowledge of his control. However, even with the odds against her, she had a weapon she knew they couldn't stop.

A trump card…

"Naruto!" she yelled, "This is my win! My win and my win alone! I won't let some stray alley cat take you away from me! My number one! We'll be the number one person in our lives! That desire you want is a roll only someone like me can fill! My husband!"

Flashback

Esdeath sighed as she lowered herself back down on the bed, wrapping her arms around the distraught Naruto's chest and resting her head on his shoulder. "And now….I have you…we were made for each other….because we've both had to fight out way to the top…..even at the expense of our mental stability…that smiling façade that you have…I can see through it easily….I can see the massive darkness in your heart…I want it….I want to tame it, match it with mine, and take over! We deserve it, no? The world has done nothing for us…. our kind shouldn't have made it this far….Low-Class Devils aren't supposed to be on the level of Ultimate-Class Devils…"

"Tell me….." muttered Naruot, speaking for th first time in a while, "Tell me what you really eant me to know…"

Esdeath smiled into Naruto's shoulder, "I have a hunch…..there's a reason why you associated yourself with both Magdaran and Sairaorg…the two sons of Lord Bael…..you're aiming for the head, aren't you? Knowing you, you aren't going to sit around and let the people that sealed you so long ago live. You want revenge….but not any type of revenge…You want to embarrass them...Overpower them…and then throw them away, just like they did you."

"How do you know all of this?" asked Naruto. He wasn't crying anymore, just listening to the blue-haired beauty speak, "How are you reading me so easily?"

Esdeath chuckled at Naruto's confusion, rubbing his covered stomach with her soft. "I just told you, dear. We are the same. Anything you would do, I would do…that's why I understand you…and that's why you need me, just as much as I need you. We both long for something we've never had in our lives, and we can both fill that hole in our hearts. This marriage is happening, whether you like it or not…"

Flashback End

Filled with determination, a fire grew in Naruto's eyes as his orb expanded, tripling in size. "Not today, bitch." He whispered before releasing a contracted blast of his Power of Destruction.

"Naruto!" shouted Kuroka, only feet away from him.

With a grin, Esdeath stared her nearing death down with absolute confidence. Using a large portion of her remaining magic, the ice [Queen] of Honest Bael calmly whispered, "Mahapadma…"

In an instant, everything froze. Naruto, Kuroka behind him, and even Naruto's destruction cannon that was a dozen feet away from annihilating Esdeath. She grinned, the feeling of victory overtaking her. "For you all to push me so far….hehe….even after being hurt prior to our Rating Game…maybe it was the right call for Run to activate that curse…"

She took a step forward, fighting through the intense fatigue that overcame her from using her strongest spell of freezing time. "This Rating Game will go down in history….with me as its victor…hehe.." she giggled, "All of this…just because you couldn't accept that I am your happiness. You truly are stubborn….Naruto Bael…my husband…"

Another step. "The viewers don't even know what's happening right now. They'll just see me teleport behind you before chopping the back of your neck. A quick way to my win, but with the consequence of happiness…Finally, after all these years…this void will be filled. I want to experience love.

Two more steps, "And even tho-

Had not Esdeath listened to her danger sense to jump back, she would have received a face full of foot as Hao Asakura, donned in his Black Fowl, flew in at extreme speeds. He skidded on the ground to halt, enjoying the utter horror etched on the woman's face. "What? You thought it was going to be that easy?" he questioned, his ever-present cocky grin mocking her.

Esdeath was frozen for a moment as the turn of events was to much for her to process. After a few seconds, she was able to conjure words, sputtering, "H-how…how are you not frozen in time!?"

"Frozen in time? So that's what this is?" said the older Asakura as he glanced around, "Well that explains it…. everything is frozen, but I am the wielder of the Spirit of Fire. My element is fire. You cannot freeze me. I'm immune to the cold." He said, shocking Esdeath even more, "That gun girl shot me to the ends of the dimension, which, to the credit of the creators, is very large. With the injuries I sustained from that battle, it took me a long time to make it here…but it seems I made it just in time…Oh? And just before I forget, let me give this to you…"

The two energy cannons on Hao's back gleamed to life as he pointed them at the fearful Esdeath, "Onibi: White Flower!"

..

Naruto's eyebrow rose as his beam of destruction hit nothing and there was a giant explosion of white flames happening. Glancing to his right, he was shocked to see Hao not to far away from him. "Wha…what happened?"

"Hao?" questioned Kuroka at the Asakura's teleportation. She knew for a fact that he wasn't there a moment ago, so how did he get there?

"To make things short, that crazy lady quite literally froze time. I was immune since cold temperatures don't bother me." He stated as he glared into the sea of white flames, "But, I don't know where she-

"You're mine, Naruto!" shouted Esdeath as she fell down from the air, her missing arm replaced with a dangerous ice blade, "Nothing shall stop us! NOTHING!"

Quick on his feet, Naruto created a barrier to block the arm blade as Esdeath created a wall of ice around the two, separating them from the Kuroka and Hao. Stabbing her feet into the ground, a horde of ice spikes grew from the ground, but Naruto countered by emitting a burst of magic from his body. Ice shrapnel flew everywhere before Esdeath used her control to fling all the ice away as she closed in on the Bael's back. He was opened for her to retire. Nothing was in her way now. Not Kuroka. Not Hao. Not any of his other peerage members. 'This is it! Our futures together will fi-

Suddenly, all control Esdeath once had of her body disappeared as she dropped to the ground. Her ice blade broke as she skidded against the rough surface, landing next to Naruto as he fell to his knees, coughing up even more blood.

"Naruto/Naruto-sama!" Kuroka and Hao jumped around the ice wall and pulled him away from the fallen Esdeath, just in case she did anything else.

"How…." She uttered, starring at the coughing Bael in utter shock, "How…how did you get me?"

"….I…I mixed my own ice with your own…" he stated, continuing to surprise the ice [Queen], "Those ice spikes…was the perfect cover to produce my own ice with my feet…a sm-sma…small piece… that I filled with Power of Destruction….I broke my ice along with yours…you thought dispelling all the ice would lead to a c…..clear path…to me…which it did, but you didn't see the ice I mixed in with the rest shoot into your back…you probably didn't even feel it either, seeing as such…a small injury like that is nothing when high off adrenaline." He explained as he stood back on his feet with Hao and Kuroka's assistance, "…the ice melted inside of you since they were just small pieces, like…..needles..leaving the…clumps of Power of Destruction within them in you….I redirected it to your joints and the rest is history…..hehehe…call it my ice needles of destruction…."

'This entire fight, he hadn't used his ice magic once…' thought the astonished Esdeath, 'He conditioned me into believe that he wouldn't use it at all seeing as I am an ice user. Did he plan that this entire time? Was all he was waiting for was an opening?'

Naruto dropped down next to Esdeath. He knew she couldn't move, so he was safe from anything she could do. "….I…just wanted us to be happy…" he whispered, looking up to him. All the seriousness had receded-her soft eyes filled with both love and worry. "We need each other, my beloved…. You know that…..nobody can be your number one like I can…we are the same…"

The blonde continued to surprise Esdeath as he used his remaining physical strength to pull Esdeath up from the ground and into his arms. It was the first time he initiated any contact between the two, and she couldn't help the same pink that dusted her cheeks.

His hand moved up her back, resting atop her head as he laid his chin on her shoulder. She could feel his warmth, even if his body was slowly giving out. Him…clutching onto her…it felt right to Esdeath. She could feel his body move as he weakly inhaled, before releasing the built-up pressure. It was almost hypnotic to the ice [Queen], being held over the person she had fought so hard over. Her heart was warm as a new feeing was birth within her, though, she didn't know the name of said feeling….only that it satisfied her….

"Esdeath…" she would have shivered as his deep voice filled her head, "You….are an unique person…..somebody I'm glad I've met….because…it was like l-looking….at a mirror…"

Her breath hitched as he continued, "We….are the same…in a lot of ways….but, I know that we're both selfish…i-in our pursuit to fill that void…..we understand one another….but you see me….as a prize…..a trophy…and your want to control everything….will not stop my pursuit of being free from 'them'…and you hurt my family…" she felt his grip tighten, "…and they…..that's MY number one…..you will sacrifice your peerage members to attain a goal….and that is something that I cannot accept…THAT is what makes….us different…..We are not the same….."

A warm feeling filled her body. His hand rubbing her hair, clutching her body…..breathing in his scent…..It was euphoric for the woman…

"So…..find peace in death…"

'…so this is what this feeling is…..' She smiled to herself as her body was filled with red. 'So…peaceful….' Were her final thoughts as her body was turned into nothingness.

"Honest Bael's [Queen] has retired." Said the announcer.

Naruto sighed as he dropped his hands to his sides. "…that didn't feel as good as I thought it would…" he said before entering another coughing fit.

As soon as he did, a warm presence filled his body. It was Kuroka, filling him with her healing magic. "Thanks…." He muttered as she and Hao slung Naruto's arms over their shoulders.

"Not a problem, nya…." She whispered as she looked over to the castle, "…hope you can last another 5 minutes….."

"I should have died a good 10….." he croaked, "Let's….see if I can…."

Kuroka and Hao flew to the castle, with Hao easily burning through the barrier that protected it. The caste was an exact copy of Honest's real castle in the Bael Territory, so Naruto vaguely remembered the inside and where Honest was hiding.

The trio walked through the long halls with Kuroka and Hao supporting Naruto every time his legs buckled. Naruto told them which ways to go as Kuroka could sense where Honest was based off his magical presence. They walked in silence with the occasion direction given by either Naruto or Kuroka as the group made their way to Honest.

Turning another corner, the trio was greeted to the sight of a set of purple doors with the Bael Clan insignia on it. Beyond the door awaited Honest.

"Hehe…Hehee…." Laughed Naruto as they made their way down long hallway, "That's…funny…"

"What could you possibly find funny after such a stressful fight?" asked Hao.

"Heheh…..he….hehehe….." he giggled, "…..It's…..its just that…who would have tho-thought…..that the two pieces…th-that put me through the most…..trouble….and the….longest to convince to join me…are the one's helping me in such a crisis." He laughed. Kuroka and Hao glanced at each other, knowing exactly what their [King] was talking about. "I'm…..so glad you two…..agreed to join me…..thanks….."

"You shouldn't be the one saying thank you, nya." said Kuroka with a soft smile, "We both appreciate you for everything you done for us…"

Naruto grinned as they approached the door to Honest's hideout. "That's nice…"

The trio entered what was a throne room. Honest sat on the throne, chewing on an uncooked piece of meat. In the middle of the room was a red barrier, separating him from the other side. "Hohohoh!" he heartily laughed as the group stood outside the barrier. "Well, well, well! I did not expect you all to actually beat Budo…and especially Esdeath! Cheers, Young Naruto! You've done the impossible! Too bad it was all for naught."

Naruto stared at Honest in silence as pure hatred radiated from his eyes as Honest continued, "I know that you're about to die! You probably won't make the next two minutes based off your condition!" Honest stood from his throne and marched towards the group with his ever-present grin, "You're too weak to break through my barrier. Barriers are my specialty, after all! And this one's made purely out of Power of Destruction. Anything you do is fruitless! All I must do is what on this side until you're gone, and I win! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAH! Oh, what a treat!"

Naruto removed his arms from Kuroka and Hao's shoulders to their surprised as he stood in front of the barrier. Placing his hand on the surface, he released a burst of his own Power of Destruction, only to no avail.

"Hahahah! It's impossible, young Naruto!" the hefty man said again, "While you have created a problem at the fact that half my peerage is dead, that won't be much of a hinderance. There are always those who would give anything at the chance at living in the luxury I have! My peerage will be restored before my next fight in this war you created!"

Kuroka's cat ears flattened against her skin as Naruto released another burst of destruction only for nothing to happen. Honest's barrier was still holding strong. At this rate, he was only quickening his death by using up all his magic. "Naruto…"

"I can do it…" he replied weakly.

"No, no you can't." grinned Honest as he watched Naruto cough out blood, "Akame's curse did much more damage than you think. Your heart is failing. Any moment now, you'll be dead, and I'll be the victor! Thanks for getting rid of that bitch Esdeath for me!" he laughed, "She was become a hassle!"

Naruto exhaled as he released a large amount of Power of Destruction, focusing heavily on destroying Honest's barrier. Veins protruded from his head as his body shook from the outpour of magic. His P.O.D grew like a flame surrounding him as the young Bael pushed forward, his hands sinking into the barrier…

"I can't wait to kill that bastard, Azelf." Hummed Honest, "He has always been a thorn in my side. Hmm…maybe, once I kill him, I can claim some of those maids of his. They are particularly beautiful, and having them in my bed would be just the best way to get back at that fool for all the trouble he-

"Hey….Honest….."

"Hmmm?"

"Shut up."

Fear overtook the older Bael as his barrier began to crack, beginning where Naruto was at and spreading outwards. He took a step back as Naruto roared, his Power of Destruction around him like a sun as he forced through Honest's barrier, breaking it like glass.

"…..But….." Honest took a step back as Naruto moved forward, "….but…b-b-b-b-b-b-but…..this…this wasn't supposed to happen!"

Naruto looked like a zombie to the older Bael as he continued to step away, walking up the steps to his throne. He waved his hands in front of him, "Wait, wait! Naruto, please! Hear me out! Maybe…maybe we could work something out! Wha-wha-what if you became my new [Queen]? Tha-that way….ya' know? We could work together!" Honest tripped over one of the stairs, sending him tumbling down. He would have hit Naruto if not for the blonde's telekinesis holding him still.

"Work…together…." Muttered Naruto, his eyes shadowed by his hair.

"Ye-yes! Let's work together! With our powers combined, there's no way in hell Kyurem or the rest of the council! They pale in comparison to our strength! Just think about- HHIIICCCCCCC!"

Honest felt as if he were being strangled, not being able to breath as the invisible force on his throat increased. His face grew red as he clawed at his neck, hoping to try to do something to save himself. Meanwhile, Naruto's red eyes glared at Honest. Just looking at Honest sickened the younger Bael.

"Do you….remember what you said?...at the meeting?" asked Naruto, but he knew he wasn't going to get an answer from the struggling man. A blade of destruction coated Naruto's right hand, scaring Honest to no end. "You thanked me…for making the war possible…..and that I would regret my decision…"

"PLeuuuuuuush…." Honest managed to say, " JUSssssshhh-…le…lisssssssssstiiiiii to-

In one clean swipe, Honest's head was removed from his shoulders, falling to the floor below in a sick splat.

"….Opps…" mumbled Naruto before falling back.

Kuroka caught him just in time, cradling the Bael as his head rested on her breast. "Good job, nya….." she said as Honest's headless body dissipated in a flash of blue.

"He…..hehehe…." Naruto flashed his [Queen] a bloody smile, "All in a day's work…"

"Honest Bael has retired." said the announcer, "Team Pickle Rick has successfully taken out Honest Bael and all of his peerage members. Because of this, the victory of this Rating Game is awarded to Team Pickle Rick!"

Hao growled as the trio warped in blue light, "I'm changing our team name before our next Rating Game…."

Location: ?

Naruto, Kuroka, and Hao reappeared in what seemed to be an old room. Dirt was everywhere and there was no furniture to sit in.

"What the…" Kuroka said as she clung to the fading Naruto, "Where are we? Where are the doctors?"

"They're not here." Said an unknown voice. Hao and Kuroka were instantly on guard, protecting Naruto as a man dressed in white robes and a wooden bird mask, "All of your peerage members were revived here once they retired."

Naruto's eyes slightly widened as the man stepped out of the shadows. "You….." he said with a raspy voice.

"Who are you, nya?" hissed Kuroka, her seven tails flailing behind her, "Where are the others?"

"They are currently being treated at my compound." said the man, "The Bael's tried to pull a fast one on you lot….messing with the transportation spell's algorithm and sending you here….a shack located no where near any hospital. We're currently a good 200 miles away from the city of Reshiram, where you all had your fight."

Hao's suspicious eyes slackened as he realized just who the man was. "Wait…it can't be…"

"Sure is…" Even though they couldn't see it, they could feel the grin behind the man's mask, "Been a while, eh, Hao? You sure haven't sent any message about you, Yoh, and Anna's whereabouts. Who would have thought you all became this famous in the Underworld in just under a year's time. And you…" the masked man pointed at Naruto, "This is the first time we meet formally, but I would have expected you to come sooner. You have to try out my wife's cooking."

"Wait!" shouted Kuroka in confusion, "Who are you?" she repreated.

"Oh…sorry about that…" the man bowed in respect, "My name is Asakura Mikihisa. You all are now in the hands of the Asakura Clan…"

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Wheeewww! Hehe, hey there! Been a while huh?

I know that you all are sick and tired of my dumb ass excuses of why it took me so long to update…and I really don't have an excuse. I just got lazy as hell this past month and half, cuz. To be honest, I've been avoiding this chapter for a while because, apparently, writing battle scenes ain't that fun to me anymore! I mean, yea, I still put a lot of heart in the fight scenes in this chapter, but I favored all of the talking scenes (which there isn't a lot of in his chapter) rather than the fighting. I don't know….I guess I'm just going through the motions or sum shit…..

I hope you all are well, though. Thanks for being patient with me. This chapter could have come out sooner had not COVID-19 literally ruin my life. Like, I really had plans on working on this chapter a while ago but then, BOOM!- dumb ass viruses kicks me out my college campus with all that good college campus wifi. A lot of other things has gone belly up for me because of this fucking virus, but I just gotta remain positive and work through it-as should all of you, my loyal followers, should do as well! Please wash your hands and practice social distancing.

I'm talking about you in particular, Floridians…

Anyway, the long-awaited chapter is here! I'm glad about how everything turned out. Epic fights, everyone got to shine, and Team Pickle Rick pulled out with the dub! And all it took was….27.3k words to do so! Great…..you know, I keep telling myself to stop with these long as chapters, but it just happens! And I can't stop it for some reason…

So this will officially be the third longest chapter, but Fanfiction might do that weird thing where it adds 1-2k addition words to the word count for no reason every time I update, so…this may 'technically' become the longest chapter to date.

You know….I really say 'Longest chapter' almost every other chapter….

ANYWAY! Good news! Chances of that My Hero story I had in mind becoming reality is increasing. In fact, I want to get some original artwork done for the story to. So if you know anybody or are somebody that is extremely good in artwork, hit me up the pm. I AM WILLING AND ABLE TO PAY! I believe in supporting artist and their work.

Hmmm…I think that maybe it….hmmmmm, ion know….fuck Corona, I guess? Uhhh…don't be a bitch ass xenophobe to Asians! Them some hard working folks and don't need yo hot ass breath all down they throat!

Uhhh…yea…I guess that's it. I thank you all for supporting me so late in the game! A couple of chapter till the end of BreakThrough! I love all of you and keep safe during this pandemic. I'm sure that we'll get out of this if we stick together! Praying for all of you!

But yeah, that's it for me.

NarutoPlug, signing out,

Like a real naker should…