Kyandi: Greetings everyone!
Roksana: We're sorry the chapter was so late today.
Kyandi: My back was really bothering me today.
Roksana: And she's ready to lay down, so we'll be quick with introductions.
Kyandi: Yep. I do want to give thanks to Alpha wolf ML who always takes the time to leave me a review. I absolutely love them and they never fail to make me laugh!
Roksana: Reviews help motivate her and keep her going.
Kyandi: They sure do, so everyone, please enjoy and review.
Roksana: Kyandi-sama does not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN.
Chapter 35 Phantom Knight
"I really did try to warn you."
Roksana Volkov had never claimed to be a particularly merciful person. Especially not after she had given a person a choice and they chose wrong. Normally, if she felt nice enough, Roksana offered up a warning, a choice. If the other person decided not to heed it...well, that was their grave.
As Tarazu and his men had found out quickly.
Roksana looked down at the men groaning on the ground at her feet as one of her box weapons snapped shut, the creature from within, back inside. The room around Roksana was burned, black marks charring the walls, floor and ceiling. Even the furniture and bar had be been burned beyond saving. Roksana tapped her box weapon against her chin, looking around the room.
"Sorry about all the collateral damage, but I did warn you guys." Roksana told the men before she began picking her way over them and towards the door.
"H-how...?"
Roksana looked back at Tarazu as he got that single word out past the pain.
"I know it's rare, and there probably isn't a single other person in Japan with it, but you really should do some research on the Moon flame. If you had known the first thing about its characteristics, then you wouldn't have made half of the mistakes you just made. Bare that in mind because I don't waste my time on ill-informed weaklings a second time." Roksana told him before heading out the door. "Proshchal'nyy privet!"
Calling the farewell over her shoulder, Roksana hurried out into the hall. Now she had to find her friends and salvage the mission before something else happened. It definitely hadn't been apart of the plan to allow themselves to be separated. It especially hadn't been part of the plan for her to end up alone, with no idea as to where her friends were.
"I'm really, really starting to hate this place." Roksana muttered to herself as she came to a stop in a little nook, taking the chance to check the hand held Ryohei had given her. "Something tells me this map is no longer usable."
Looking at the map, and comparing it to what was around her, Roksana became convinced that something had happened to rearrange the building. The map would no longer help her and she would have to find her own way around. Not something she was looking forward to, but she would have to figure it out if she wanted to find her friends.
"Alright, so what courses of action can I take here? I could stumble around, basically blind and hope I find one of my friends." Roksana muttered to herself, but she quickly dismissed the idea. "I could attack the next guard I come across and take them prisoner, have them lead me to the main installation, but that could easily backfire on me. Either way, it's going to be a pain. I guess I'm just going to have to figure this out as I go."
Heaving a sigh, because this was about to become an even bigger headache then before, Roksana continued on her way. If God be willing, she would come across one of her friends along the way. That or the main installation. Either one would be great.
She just had to keep from being captured herself.
Or killed.
-0-0-0-0-
"Eh? How can this be a dead end? As expected, the map and the actual route are different."
Yamamoto heaved a sigh, as he looked from the hand held in his hand to the wall in front of him. Like Roksana and his friends, he was finding that, after being separated from the others, the whole building seemed to have changed.
The sound of a gate slamming close behind him, had Yamamoto turning, juggling Lal on his back. He turned again as another gate opened. His curiosity changed to weariness, Yamamoto knelling to slide Lal off his back when a wave of killer intent washed over him from the open doorway. Leaning Lal against the wall, Yamamoto reached back, drawing his sword from his back.
The man now standing before him, was a dark haired man in the Black Spell uniform, four swords worn on his belt. He didn't move to draw a single one as Yamamoto came into sight, his sword held before him.
"I've been waiting." the man greeted.
"Are you the holder of the Mist Mare ring, Genkishi?" Yamamoto asked. Judging from the look of surprise on the man's face, Yamamoto took that to mean yes. Knelling once more, Yamamoto reached back to pat Lal's foot. "As I thought. I must leave you for a while. But I will be back soon."
With that, Yamamoto entered the room, noticing instantly that there was a thin layer of water on the floor
"How do you know me?" Genkishi asked.
"I saw you on Squalo's DVD. You...are the one hundredth in the "The Path To Be The Emperor Of The Sword" one hundred matches right?" Yamamoto replied.
"Do you have some kind of agreement with the second greatest swordsman of this time?" Genkishi asked.
"Yeah." Yamamoto confirmed, grin on his face.
"Ah. That's right. I allowed myself to be defeated by that guy, to aid the formation of the Millefiore."
"You lost to Squalo on purpose? W-what are you saying?" Yamamoto asked.
"Squalo and the others are not my enemies. To achieve my goals, however, I had to humiliate myself by pretending to lose to him." Genkishi replied.
"Ah! So you don't accept that you lost?"
"I have evened the odds for you in two ways. The first is the advantage of this area." Genkishi said instead of answering the question. "This is artificial rain, suited to your Rain attribute. And the other. I will fight you with my bare hands."
"Wha...you won't use a sword?" Yamamoto asked, unable to believe what he was hearing.
"This is out of respect. As one of the Vongola Guardians you must hold a name in regards to tradition and social status. Also for my actions to be regarded as fighting and not just merely killing, I must place some shackles over myself." Genkishi replied.
Yamamoto's eyes narrowed, a little bit of an annoyed glint entering his eyes as he watched Genkishi. He was most often oblivious, but he understood Genkishi's words enough to know that Genkishi thought him beneath him.
"So, I'm being looked down on then." Yamamoto remarked.
Genkishi's reply was unleashing his killer intent for Yamamoto to feel. It shocked Yamamoto, wiping the smile off his face, when he felt it. It hurt more to feel Genkishi's than to feel Reborn's. This man before him...was a real killer.
"Did you cower?" Genkishi asked when Yamamoto grit his teeth.
"Nope." Yamamoto said, steeling himself. "I'm just shivering a bit. I'm going to fight you as a swordsman. Even if you don't want it, I will make you draw your sword."
As Yamamoto declared this, he pulled out his box weapon, opening it and letting free the Rain swallow. Blue flames flared to life from his Vongola ring, spreading to wrap around the blade of his sword. In one large thrust, Yamamoto attacked. Genkishi, though, countered using illusions, the illusion making it look like two of him now stood, one on either side of Yamamoto.
"The same childish sword technique as Squalo." Genkishi said, landing a hit that had Yamamoto coughing up blood.
Unfortunately for him, the Yamamoto he attacked was nothing more than a reflection on the water at his feet. Yamamoto burst free of the water, swing a slice at Genkishi, who jumped to avoid the swing. Yamamoto instantly moved into the next defensive move, using the water to create a shield over his head to protect him from Genkishi. With Genkishi's field of vision blocked, Yamamoto shifted directly into another attack.
Genkishi, to protect himself, was forced to draw one of his swords, knocking Yamamoto back on his butt, while he jumped back away from the boy. Genkishi peered over his shoulder at Yamamoto as the boy got his feet back under him.
"No wonder they call you Genkishi, the Phantom Knight. But, you know...I got you to draw your sword." Yamamoto said.
"Very well. You shall regret it." Genkishi told him.
"Now we're talking!"
Both attacked again, Genkishi using an illusion to cover him throwing a sword at Yamamoto. Yamamoto blocked it, Genkishi appearing behind him with two more swords in hand. Yamamoto whipped around to block his attack. Shoving back, Yamamoto swung his sword, only to cut through another illusion. Heading whipping around, Yamamoto tried to locate Genkishi, his head falling back when he located Genkishi attacking from over head, all four sword tips pointed down in one point. Yamamoto raised his sword over head, taking the hit on the flat of his blade.
The hit sent Yamamoto flying off his feet, his back colliding with a pipe. Looking down at his sword, he found the blade riddled with cracks.
"Now, the chance of you winning this fight has gone from slim to none. I am on a totally different dimension than you Vongola swordsmen. Squalo is no exception. In my fight with him, I had to fake a convincing defeat. That's possible only because my sword skills are far superior to his." Genkishi told him. "Are you ready?"
While feeling fear in the face of Genkishi, Yamamoto remembered what Squalo had said about fear on his DVD. Squalo had said that fear wasn't a bad thing, rather it was essential for a person to know when their life was in danger. That instead of doing the easy thing and backing out of the fight, Yamamoto needed to do whatever it took to win.
That was what Yamamoto was going to do.
So, even though Genkishi thought it was a waste of time, Yamamoto was going to do all he could in order to win and help his friends. Yamamoto got to his feet, ready to continue the fight, but not before making sure that Genkishi knew that Squalo had been aware of his deceit the whole time. In the DVD Squalo had revealed that he knew Genkishi had faked his defeat, and, in doing so, had left a hint for Yamamoto to use to defeat Genkishi.
Yamamoto also revealed that he was well aware that his sword wasn't cracked at all and that it had just been a trick of Genkishi's illusions. Going up against an illusionist like this, Yamamoto couldn't help but wish he had Roksana with him since the girl couldn't be fooled by illusions. But he didn't have Roksana, so he was just going to have to trust his own senses.
Making use of Squalo's Attico Di Squallo, to temporarily paralyze Genkishi, Yamamoto tried to land the final attack. He threw all he had into his strongest move...only to slam into a steel-enforced pillar that Genkishi had summoned and made solid with a mix of his illusions and Mist box weapon.
"You fell for it. My Mist attribute box produces illusions with the characteristic of "construction". Did you think my ability was only capable of such feeble nonsense as making swords appear cracked? You crashed right into it yourself. These steel-enforced pillars are real. Everything you have seen in this room was a realistic hallucination constructed from my Mist box weapon. Because I deceive, I am the mist. I'm sure that you Vongola do not have a Mist warrior such as me." Genkishi said.
Yamamoto didn't know about that. Given who their Mist guardian was, he was pretty sure Chrome and Mukuro, together, could give Genkishi more than a run for his money. Not to mention that, if it had been Roksana fighting Genkishi, half of his tricks wouldn't have been possible since illusions didn't work on Roksana. That being said, Yamamoto knew he had failed as he slumped to the floor. He could only stare up at Genkishi from the floor as the man approached him.
"Think, if you have any last request before I kill you, I'll listen to them." Genkishi told Yamamoto. When the boy couldn't reply, Genkishi laid a hand on the hilt of one of his swords. "I guess your mouth can't form the words, huh. You're so..."
Genkishi trailed off when he noticed that a centipede was wrapped around Yamamoto's ankle, trying to drag the boy away from Genkishi. The person at the other end of the centipede, was a barely conscious Lal. Heaving a sigh, Genkishi sliced the centipede in half, Lal unable to remain conscious any longer than that. With that handled, Genkishi raised his sword over his head.
"Vongola Guardian of the Rain, I respect you for showing your face. I get to bury you with my sword at its best. Farewell." Genkishi said, before swinging.
A swing that never hit it's target.
Genkishi's eyes widened as the sound of metal on metal rang out, his sword coming up short.
"Yeah, hate to break it to you, but that's not happening."
Genkishi looked down, coming face to face with the green streaked blue-purple eyes of Roksana, her sansetsukon keeping his sword at bay. Shifting her grip on the staff, Genkishi was forced to retreat as she heaved against him, aiming one capped end of the staff for his face. Twirling the staff, Roksana braced it against one shoulder as she stood up straight, putting herself firmly between Genkishi and Yamamoto.
"Who are you?" Genkishi demanded.
"I wouldn't expect someone from the future to know me since, apparently, I've been dead for years." Roksana remarked. "I'm the Vongola Moon Guardian, and, unfortunately for you...am a bad match up for you."
"You believe so?" Genkishi asked.
"I might not be a swordsman, but I do have one advantage over you." Roksana told him.
Genkishi highly doubted that. Already, his box weapon was surrounding her and she was none the wiser. Or so he thought.
"And what advantage would that be?" Genkishi asked.
Roksana tapped her shoulder with her sansetsukon just once before her arm swung out. Genkishi stared in shock as she speared one of the sea slugs that made up his box weapon. Her eyes idly drifted down to the slug.
"You know, I'm not the biggest fan of slugs. They're slimy and disgusting." she remarked.
"You're an illusionist." Genkishi accused.
"God, no. I've only ever met one illusionist that I liked. The others have been rather repulsive people. Out of the three I've met before you, only the female has been decent. I wonder...will you fall into the same category as the other male illusionist I've come in contact with?" Roksana retorted.
Genkishi ignored the question, his mind too focused on the mystery that was how the girl had known his box weapon was there if she wasn't an illusionist and had sensed it. If she hadn't sensed it, then how had she known? It couldn't possibly be a lucky shot.
"How did you know?" he asked.
Roksana's eyes shifted to him. Genkishi only had the slight bending of her knees to give away her next action. He brought his sword up, blocking the swing of her sansetsukon as she rocketed forward at a speed much faster than what Yamamoto had moved in. Roksana moved in close, staring up at him intently.
"Why don't you take a good long look at my eyes. One of the other illusionists I've clashed with, called them "Cursed Eyes". To be frank, I hate the term, but, where you illusionists are concerned...the term is fitting." Roksana told him.
Genkishi's eyes zeroed in on her eyes, once again picking out the vein of green that ran through the pale blue-purple. That little line of discoloration was the only thing odd about her eyes.
"I don't understand." Genkishi admitted.
He tensed as Roksana's face drew even closer to his. He found himself fixated on her eyes, unable to look away. A feeling he had only ever experienced once and that was with his leader, Yuni.
"The reason I knew that slug was there, was because...illusions don't work on these eyes."
Genkishi jerked back, only barely saving himself from what would have been a very painful kick to his crotch. He put a good amount of space between them, not trusting the girl withing striking reach of his anatomy.
"Also, I don't play fair. I usually reserve crotch shots for those who feel the need to call me a bitch, but you happened to have hurt one of favorites among my friends, so, in this case, I'm willing to make an exception." Roksana told him.
"Just because you can see them, doesn't mean you can defeat me." Genkishi told her.
As if to make his point, Genkishi struck, landing two strikes. Only Roksana's sharp eyes and fast reflexes saved her. She got her sansetsukon up in time to save herself from everything but a slice across her left cheek and another across the right bicep. They weren't too deep, but still stung. She could think of one person who wouldn't be too happy with the sight of the cuts.
Genkishi watched as she her eyes drifted down, as if she could see the cut on her cheek, and they to the cut on her right bicep before they came back up to fix in on him.
Now she wasn't pleased.
There was another ring of metal on metal as Roksana darted forward, Genkishi knocking her hit aside. He aimed a swing of his sword at her now exposed side. The sword passed harmlessly under Roksana as she jumped and flipped backwards. Her foot no sooner touched the ground before she struck again. Another few rings sounded as they clashed and parted.
Genkishi could already tell, just from a short time, that she wasn't like Yamamoto. Her range, thanks to her weapon, was longer, she was more agile and had faster reflexes. Then there was the sharpness of her eyes. It was like her eyes picked up danger before there was any, the girl reacting just as quickly. That being said, she didn't have the tricks that Yamamoto had. Her attacks and counter-attacks were all far more straight forward than Yamamoto's. Especially since, unlike Yamamoto, she didn't reach for a single one of the three boxes he could see on her belt.
Genkishi got a feeling, though, that she wasn't really trying in this fight. It felt too half-hearted. Even when he landed another slice, this one across her left forearm, she merely danced back out of his reach. Then her head tilted, as if she heard something he couldn't.
"Tell me, what is your name?" she asked suddenly.
"Genkishi."
"I see. Well, Genkishi...you said earlier that I wouldn't be able to defeat you, right?" she asked.
"That is correct."
"Well, the truth is, I never said I was here to defeat you. I'm merely...stalling."
A grin curled Roksana's lips, the girl jumping back, moving back to Yamamoto's side, crouching beside the boy, as the wall to Genkishi's side, started to crack. Roksana raised an arm to shield her head as the wall exploded inward, taking out a few of Genkishi's steel pillars. Through the crumbling wall, his hedgehog-shaped box weapon floating behind him, came Hibari.
"Vongola Guardian of the Cloud, Hibari Kyoya?" Genkishi asked.
"About time!" Both men turned to look as Roksana as she dusted dust and crumbled wall out of her hair before she fixed her eyes on Hibari. "You and I have a long conversation ahead of us! Telling Tsuna about Nicoli!? I'll find out how you know what name, even if I have to beat it out of you."
While Hibari could voice his annoyance with Tsuna, and had a few things he could say to Roksana, now wasn't the time for that. Genkishi certainly wouldn't let them have the time. Though, as Hibari's eyes traveled over Roksana, taking in the cuts on her person and the blood trickling down her cheek from the cut there, Hibari had the strong urge to kill Genkishi.
Didn't matter to him if Genkishi had actually been responsible.
"Do you feel like you have no obligation to answer my question?" Genkishi asked, drawing Hibari's attention back to him as he opened his box weapon. "Then I guess you'll have to die here."
Roksana could have told the man that was the wrong threat to make when the other person was Hibari, but with the opening of Genkishi's box, a forest of vines and plants spread out from him, growing up around the unconscious forms of Yamamoto and Lal. Though her eyes were telling her that they were illusions, the creation characteristic of his Mist box had given the plants mass, allowing Roksana to actually touch them.
"Hmm...it looks like you're a Mist illusionist." Hibari said, slipping a new ring onto his finger. "I don't have anything against you, but I hate your kind. So I want to make you crawl on the ground."
Roksana couldn't believe that Hibari still had a grudge against Mukuro, even after ten years. Then again...that was about right for Hibari.
"Hibari Kyoya...rumor has it that you're the strongest guardian of the Vongola. I'll see if that is the truth or not." Genkishi said.
He was in for quite the display then.
Genkishi tried to get the drop on Hibari, but what he didn't know was that Hibari, being the prideful person that he was, didn't like being out-smarted in a fight and was a sore loser. After his lose to Mukuro, Hibari had made it a point to make sure that no other illusionist could take him by surprise. He easily blocked Genkishi, even when he used illusions to cover his movements.
"I'm good with illusions cause I hate them." Hibari said.
Roksana winced when Hibari's box weapon, with all it's spikes, crashed right into Genkishi. She knew she would never want to be pricked by that thing. Genkishi, though, blew through the spiked sphere, the vines of his creation, wrapping around his ankles so that he hung upside down from the ceiling.
"You're good. Maybe you have what it takes to be my rival." Genkishi called down.
"I wonder about that." Genkishi raised an eyebrow when Hibari spoke. "You cannot become my rival that easily. I have to test you for what you're worth after I make you mist disappear. Besides...the position has already been filled."
Hibari glanced in Roksana's direction as he released another box weapon. Roksana merely turned her nose up at him, flicking one pigtail over her shoulder. This put a grin on Hibari's face before he turned back to the fight at hand.
Roksana could only sit back and watch as the two collided, attacking and counter attacking, literally bouncing off the walls. Hibari was trying fiercely to break Genkishi's concentration and, therefore, undo his illusions. Slowly, bit back bit, he was succeeding until sea slugs began to rain down from the ceiling.
"So this is your box weapon." Hibari remarked.
"Spettrale Nudiblanc. You're the second person to see them. I am still unclear on how the other saw them so easily." Genkishi said.
"Yeah, I'm not to clear on it, either." Roksana remarked, making the two men look at her before returning their attention back to each other.
"It does not matter. You will be the last to see them." Genkishi said.
Hibari slipped another ring onto his finger as the sea slugs all turned on him, attacking at once. Using the fire on his ring, Hibari used it as a radar to detect the slugs, making it easier for him to avoid them. Once that ring shattered, though, it left him with only three remaining rings, all of C rank or below. It only took one look at his face for Roksana to know that he was about to use some last resort, all in type of plan.
Taking all three rings, he put them on his fingers, a grin curling his lips up. Lighting all three up with his flames, he inserted all three into one of the hedgehog boxes. The flame was too much though, the box shattering in Hibari's hands. Out of the shattered box came what Hibari called Needle Sphere Form: Reversed.
The sphere spread until it completely surrounded Hibari and Genkishi, the needles pointing inward. As it expanded, though, it drove the slugs out, leaving Genkishi without the use of his box weapon and trapped inside.
"Activated box weapons will all get excluded, everything except fighting humans. A completely isolated space. That's what Needle Sphere Form: Reversed is. The highly airtight clouds I used to create this dome with, have the ability to repel. If you keep your back to me for a long time you'll get swallowed up by the destruction. If you don't concentrate, you won't be able to escape." Hibari told Genkishi.
"I see. So this is how you sealed out Spettrale Nudiblanc's illusion." Genkishi said, finally realizing...the air was really thin.
"When I create Needle Sphere Form: Reversed, the Cloud flames burn so heavily they consume oxygen. And in order to maintain the sphere, the oxygen keeps decreasing rapidly." Hibari explained, picking up his tonfas.
"So it's a death match in a situation with a lack of oxygen and spikes surrounding us at every angle." Genkishi retorted.
"Let's finish this quick and easy shall we? I'm on a tight schedule." Hibari merely replied.
"Don't lie. Did you think I wouldn't notice while watching you fight? This space, it's to compensate for a lack of rings." Genkishi said.
The sound of laughter had both men turning to peer at Roksana through the sphere wall. The girl was laughing where she sat. She waved a hand as she got her laughing under control.
"You're kidding right? Hibari? Have to compensate for anything? HA! There's only one thing that he would have to compensate for, and anything to do with fighting sure as hell isn't it!" Roksana said.
While Hibari was curious as to what she believed he needed to compensate for, Genkishi didn't let them dwell on it. Ignoring Roksana and her outburst, he turned his attention back to Hibari.
"Before you ran out of rings and a box weapon fight would become a disadvantage, you used all of your remaining rings to create this space. A scheme to bring about a physical fight. It seems you've got high confidence in your physical abilities." Genkishi said, taking two swords into hand. "Fine...but don't limit that high self-confidence to yourself. It seems you misunderstood. Spettrale Nudiblanc's illusion isn't something to compensate for sword skill. It's something to hide my over-powerful sword with."
While Roksana had no doubt that the man was a skillful swordsman, she had found that, nine times out of ten, when someone boost their skills like that...they couldn't really back it up completely.
"Hmph. So I'll finally see your real skills." Hibari remarked.
"The same goes for you." Genkishi replied before attacking.
Roksana tilted her head to the side, watching in interest as Genkishi drew the last two of his swords, using his feet and legs in order to wield them. She had seen several sword masters during the period when she was still trying to decide what kind of weapon would be her specialty, but none of them had ever wielded four swords like this.
Hibari ducked, avoiding the first slice, raising his tonfa to block the next attack. The attack that followed, sent Hibari sliding backwards, the tip of one spike, opening a shallow cut on his right cheek.
"Could you, at least, avoid the face? That's his only redeeming quality." Roksana called out.
Hibari shot her a look. He actually didn't know if he should be annoyed that she thought the rest of him was crap, or smirk because she actually liked the look of his face. Genkishi, though, drew his attention back to him, the two clashing in an explosion of power. Both pulled out the stops, trying to one-up each other.
Hibari smiled through it all. Even when Genkishi ripped into him, leaving cut after cut. Genkishi couldn't figure out what was up with the man, though, a glance in Roksana's direction, at the expression on her face, suggested that Hibari's actions, were nothing new. Even when faced with the inferiority of his rings verse Genkishi's Mare ring, Hibari grinned.
And Genkishi found out why, very quickly.
Just as Genkishi thought he had landed the decisive blow, the sphere around him falling apart, he got the biggest shock yet. Out of the smoke of the collapsing sphere, Hibird flew. Genkishi followed the bird with his eys as it flew down to hand on an outstretched hand. Genkishi's eyes widened as they landed on, not the Hibari of the current era, but the past Hibari.
"What's all that noise...? Who are you? Don't you know what'll happen if you disturb my sleep?" Hibari asked, dark eyes landing on Genkishi.
As Hibari yawned and got to his feet, Roksana had a feeling that things could either go really well from that point on, or get really bad. Maybe a mix of the two. All she knew was that with the Hibari of the past there with his Vongola ring, things were about get really interesting.
The only question was...would it be for the benefit of her and her friends?
END
Kyandi: You know, I kind of have to agree.
Roksana: With what?
Kyandi: That Hibari's only really redeeming quality is his good looks.
Roksana: I mean, if I really wanted to look deep, really, really deep, then he just might have more redeeming traits.
Kyandi: Do you really want to take that risk, though?
Roksana: Not really.
Kyandi: I didn't think so. Anyway, I'm really for bed, so everyone enjoy and review.
Roksana: We'll be back tomorrow.
Kyandi: Bye-bye!