Chapter 20: Amidst the battle.

Scorpion sprinted straight at Kano. The cyber trickster shot a stream of red plasma from his right eye at the yellow ninja, only for him to dodge to his right and teleport to the Black Dragons leader's left. Hanzo then used his left hand to backfist the trickster in the face and his left leg to throw a heel kick at his left cheek.

The ripper used the momentum of that hit to spin clockwise and threw a right push kick in the ninja's gut, sending him flying and hitting the wall. Kano then shot Hanzo in the chest with his eye plasma, knocking him through the wall.

The cyber eyed mercenary then jumped out of the newly made hole on the wall. Before the yellow ninja hit the ground, he teleported upwards and brought a front flip flaming left heel kick upon the knife user's head. The ripper accelerated to the ground and landed on his face, creating a large crater upon landing.

They both were facing each other on the other side of the gate. Genuinely, Hanzo was surprised that the knife user hadn't had a concussion due to the boost of hellfire. The two kombatants stood still in front of each other before charging straight at each other.

The cyber eyed ripper started the fight with a left thrust attack, to which Scorpion pushed it to his left with his right hand and gave the cyber thief a left knee in the guts. The ninja back gripped his scorpion kunai with his right hand and lit it on fire before charging at the knife user.

The ripper skiddled back a meter before raising his left hand to catch Hanzo's and slashed the right knife at the yellow ninja's neck. Scorpion quickly ducked his head down so that the knife grazed his mask instead of his neck.

Kano took advantage of this and threw a left hook at Hanzo's face and threw a right hook kick at his left side, only for Scorpion to catch the leg in his left armpit. The ninja then stabbed his right, back gripped, flaming kunai into the cybernetic mercenary's knee.

To his surprise, the kunai didn't destroy the knife man's knee like he intended. The bandit just grunted as Hanzo dug the blade in. But, Scorpion wasn't done.

Hanzo held his kunai in the front grip position and slashed diagonally upwards, to his right before slashing before slicing down at the same spot on Kano's body. The ninja then threw a left uppercut, sending the ripper up in the air.

Scorpion quick-drew his katana and sent a wave of fire at the cybernetic thief. The ripper blocked the hit with his arms and shot his eye plasma at the ninja.

Hanzo ducked underneath the beam and sheathed his blade before teleporting in front of Kano and sent him a left flaming push kick at his stomach. As the cybernetic thief flew backwards, the yellow ninja shot his scorpion kunai into his right shoulder and dragged the ripper to him.

The knife man swiped left with his right dagger, only for Scorpion to duck underneath the swing and got behind Kano. The ninja then held the handle of his katana with his left hand in a back grip position and quick-drew the blade as it turned into a long pole of flame and slashed down diagonally to his right at the trickster's back.

The hit split the ground, at least five meters in front of Hanzo, in half. To the ninja's surprise, the piece of land where his flaming sword didn't cut in half was where Kano's back blocked off the hit.

That attack was strong enough to slice a Goliath in half, but it couldn't do as much as breaking the cybernetic bandit's bones. Hanzo widened his eyes and looked at the large wound across the bandit's back and saw that his spine, no whole skeletal system was made of some sort of metal. To make matters worse, the bandit was actually healing for some reason.

Taking advantage of Scorpion's moment of distraction, the knife man extended the knife from his left elbow and elbowed the yellow ninja in the side of his mask. The cybernetic bandit then threw a sideway left push kick at Hanzo's face, sending him flying backwards.

While Scorpion was in mid air, he threw three exploding shurikens at the knife man, to which he ducked underneath them and shoulder charged Hanzo backwards.

The ninja landed on his feet and drew his tanto blade out of the sheath with his left hand and held it in a back grip position. Scorpion then charged at Kano. In response, the knife man shot his eye plasma at Scorpion.

Hanzo teleported left and right to dodge the red plasma beam before teleporting in front of Kano. The bandit shot his eye plasma again, only for the ninja to teleport behind him and swipe right with both his tanto and katana.

The cybernetic thief side flipped over the katana as he drew out his daggers and held them in front grip position. The trickster then slashed right with his right knife, only for Scorpion to push it to his left with his tanto.

The cybernetic bandit thrust his left dagger forward, but Hanzo teleported behind him. Kano turned around and brought the knives upon the ninja, to which he blocked it with his burning katana and returned a low right slash with his tanto.

Hanzo then slashed right with his burning katana, only for the trickster to duck underneath the attack and shoved his right dagger into Scorpion's left ribs, piercing his heart. The yellow ninja screamed as he dropped his tanto to hold the knife and sent a left push kick at the cybernetic bandit's face, throwing him backwards.

With a groan, Scorpion then pulled the blade out and channeled so much hellfire to the wound to heal it, his left ribs looked as if it was a miniature flamethrower.

Kano extended a blade from the bottom of his left boot and push-kicked straight into the yellow ninja's guts. The bandit then used his right foot to send a right hook kick to the left side of Hanzo's head.

The ninja spun clockwise in the air and dropped his katana in the process before landing on his front side. Kano switched his left knife to his right hand as Scorpion got up slowly.

The cybernetic thief then thrusted his right dagger at Hanzo's neck, only for him to sidestep to his left and caught the bandit by the wrist before sending a left palm at his elbow, bending it back in an unnatural angle. Kano screamed in pain and the ninja just threw him over his shoulder.

The cybernetic thief hit his back on the ground and saw Scorpion punch the ground. He immediately rolled to his left to avoid the giant fire column coming from the ground.

The bandit then jumped to the air and took out two knives from his back before throwing them at the ninja. Hanzo followed suit as he took out his right scorpion kunai and held them in a back grip position before deflecting both knives away.

Once they were at the same height, Scorpion stabbed his right kunai into the cybernetic bandit's chest.

"That's for my clan!" Hanzo yelled.

The two then landed on the ground with the yellow ninja kneeling on Kano. Scorpion then held the thief by his neck with his left arm and pulled him up.

"And this is for my wife!" Hanzo screamed as he threw a flaming right jab straight in Kano's nose, creating spider-web crack in the bandit's frontal lobe.

"And this,... Is for my daughter!"

Scorpion lit the chained kunai on fire and jumped over the cybernetic bandit's head and fell through a portal. The chain was burning through Kano's face as the heat from the chain melted.

The portal moved from the ground behind the thief to the ground in front of him. Hanzo then suddenly flew up from the portal and pulled the chain, cutting the bandit in half.

The ninja let out heavy breaths as he landed. He looked behind him and saw that the Black Dragons were slaughtered. Very few Shirai Ryu fell in the battle.

'It's time to finish this.' Scorpion thought to himself before turning to his clan members and yelled.

"SHIRAI RYU! TO VICTORY!"

A few minutes ago, in the Black Dragons's base

Erron shot both of his revolvers at the same time at Kabal, only for the speedster to dodge to the left and ran straight at him. The speed demon threw a right jab at the gunslinger's jaw and a right sideway push kick at his stomach, sending the sharpshooter backwards.

Raven created an explosion under her feet to launch her at the speedster and slashed downward with her odachi. In response, the speed demon held his right hook blade sideways overhead to block the attack.

The raven haired huntress leaned over and used more of her Maiden powers to apply more force on the sword. Kabal pushed her odachi to his right and hooked her right metal gauntlet before pulling her at him.

The speed demon kneed the raven huntress in the guts and threw a left hook at her mask, sending her flying backwards and shattering the mask at the same time. Raven landed on her back and did a left hand stand to throw her back on her feet.

Kabal sheathed his sword and ran at the raven, but shotgun pellets hit the left side of his body armor when he was about five meters away from her. The raven took this chance to slash her katana straight down and large ice spikes rose from the ground at the speedster, who turned to his left and ran at Erron.

The sharpshooter shot his rifle again, only for the speed demon to duck to his right and pulled out his left hook blade. The speedster slashed to his right, but the gunslinger hit his wrist with the stock of his rifle before smacking the barrel of the gun at Kabal's chin, sending the speedster to the air.

Erron then shot the rifle from his hip at Kabal's face mask. The speed demon's head jerked back at the force of the pellets and he saw Raven hit him in the face with an ice orb before kicking him to the ground.

The speedster fell to the ground on his back as the Maiden activated her ice ability and froze him to the ground.

"That should do it." The raven haired huntress said as she put away her weapon.

Almost as if on cue, the speed demon broke out of the ice layer that covered his body and launched himself at Raven. Before she could even react, Kabal shoulder charged her thighs, causing her to flip forward before landing on her back.

The speedster drew both of his blades out when the gunslinger aimed his gun at him. Before Erron could open fire, the speed demon swiped right with his right hook blade and hooked it to the sharpshooter's gunstock before throwing the rifle off his hands.

Kabal then slashed down upon the gunslinger's right shoulder with his left sword and it hooked through Erron's armored flak jacket, into his shoulder. The speed demon then used his left leg to swipe right, throwing the sharpshooter off balance before using the hook to spin the gunslinger counter clockwise and hit him at the nearest concrete pole.

Raven sent many ice spikes at Kabal, but the speedster ran at her and slashed all of them to pieces. The raven huntress held her now ice sword in water stance to block Kabal's X formation slash.

The speed demon hooked the tip of his blades to the raven haired huntress's ice sword and snapped the blade in half. Raven staggered back a few steps before flying upwards and turned her broken Odachi into a large lightning pole before bringing it down upon the speedster.

The speed demon sidestepped to his left before sheathing his blades and threw buzzsaws continuously at the Maiden. The raven haired huntress deflected most of them, but one two managed to hit her.

The first buzzsaw grazed her left knee and the second embedded to her right shoulder. With a scream, Raven fell to the ground.

With all her might, the raven pulled the saw blade out of her shoulder and screamed in pain again. As the speedster slowly approached Raven, he unsheathed his hook blades and let them graze the ground, creating fire sparkles as it did.

Suddenly, two shots rang out as Kabal ducked underneath the bullets. He turned around to find the cowboy aiming the pistol at him.

The ranger took two vials of lightning dust out of his right pocket and threw them at the speedster before shooting his left hand gun at the two vials. They burst into flames and turned the two bullets into two fireballs.

The speed demon dodged to his right to avoid the first fireball and slid under the second one. Erron quickly shot once with his left revolver and thrice with his right revolver, but Kabal just continued to deflect the bullets.

The ranger shot his right revolver at the metal supporter on the ceiling and it bounced off before shooting his left revolver at the speedster. The speed devil raised his right hook sword up to deflect the bullet, but the bullet that bounced off the ceiling earlier collided with that bullet and both of them hit both of Kabal's wrists.

"FUCKIN' AIMBOT!" The speedster swore as he dropped his blades.

At this point, Raven had stood up and charged at the speedster. She threw a left hook aim at Kabal's head, only for him to duck underneath it and caught her arm with both of his hands and threw her over his shoulder before kicking her at Erron.

The cowboy caught the raven haired huntress by the hip and put her down before charging at the speed demon. He transformed his pistols into knives and held them in front grip position before thrusting his right knife at the speedster.

Kabal ducked underneath the attack and used his right hand to punch the cowboy in the stomach. He then threw a left hook to Erron's face before hitting the gunslinger's head through the nearest concrete column.

Raven threw a burning right jab at the speedster, only for him to use his left hand to push it to his right side and retaliate with a right hook along with a left hook. The Maiden was about to throw Kabal a left uppercut, but he already hit her in the face with a right spinning back foot kick.

The raven haired huntress coughed out some blood as he slowly got up when the speed demon picked up a broken piece of the concrete column and smashed it at her left side, sending her flying backwards.

The gunslinger came running and thrusted both of his blades at Kabal's neck, only for the speedster to catch him by the wrist and headbutted him. The ranger staggered back a few steps before the speedster threw a right jab at his face, knocking him to the ground.

The raven huntress thrusted her lightning right hook at the left side of the speed demon's head, only for him to lean back and dodged the attack. She then threw a left hook, to which he ducked under it and a right hook, only for him to catch her wrist.

The speedster then sent a right push kick to her stomach, sending her tumbling on the ground to Erron's right side. Both of them slowly got back to their feet as blood dripped out from their body.

The gunslinger was coughing out blood while the raven haired huntress was barely able to stand straight. They both were clearly in pain.

"Ha! Without your Aura, Semblances and weapons, you ain't shit! I'm still faster than you!" Kabal yelled smugly.

The cowboy and the Maiden then charged at him at the same time.

The sharpshooter tried to stab the speedster with his left dagger, but the speed demon caught it with his right hand before uppercutting the cowboy with the other hand. The force of the hit caused the ranger to backflip and dropped his knives.

Raven then threw a lightning left hook at the speedster, only for him to lean back and spin opposite clockwise before throwing a right elbow at her chin. Kabal then threw a push kick at the cowboy's chest, sending him flying to the wall, cracking both the wall and Erron's ribs.

The speed demon then shoulder charged the raven haired huntress to the wall, cracking it on impact. At this point, the ranger was able to get back to his feet and took out a torso sized broken piece of the wall that he hit.

The speedster held Raven by the neck and looked at her face as she struggled.

"Damn. It's a shame that I gotta break a pretty face such as this one." The speed demon commented.

The Maiden spat blood on the speedster's mask before throwing a right hook aimed at his head, but Kabal was able to counter with a right hook to her face first.

The moment the speed devil did that, a large piece of concrete impacted, and shattered, on the right side of his head. The hit knocked him off his feet and onto the ground.

The gunslinger threw the raven haired huntress her broken odachi, to which she caught with her right hand in a back grip position, before telling her.

"We attack at the same time."

"Agreed." Was the reply.

Raven and Erron charged at Kabal as the latter did the same thing. The raven tried to stab the speed demon in the neck, but he caught her by the wrist with his left hand.

The cowboy took this chance to slide on the ground and kicked the speedster's right leg, causing him to kneel on his left leg. The raven huntress used this moment to deliver a left knee to Kabal's face.

Raven then dropped the broken odachi from her right hand and caught it with her left hand in a back grip position before shoving it into the speed demon's left knee. He howled in pain as he was about to stand up with his other leg.

Unlucky for him, the ranger caught Kabal's right leg and poured acid onto it. The speedster was now kneeling and screaming in pain.

The gunslinger then threw a jar of acid in front of Kabal. Both Raven and Erron stepped on the speedster's head to push his face to the acid puddle.

The speed demon screamed in pain as the acid ate away his face. Once the screaming stopped, the raven haired huntress moved her foot off Kabal's head while the ranger gave Kabal one last curb stomp to make sure that he was dead.

After that, the raven huntress just collapsed on her back as the cowboy fell forward.

"You ain't half bad for a Maiden." The gunslinger said with his face still on the ground.

"Tough mouth for someone who has just gotten the shit beaten out of them." The raven haired huntress retorted.

"You and me both." Erron said.

The sound of footsteps were then heard. Both of them couldn't even stand up, let alone fight anyone, so they decided to let fate handle their lives as they fell unconscious.

The Shirai Ryu was surprised to find the rest of the Black Dragons dead and two unconscious unknown individuals lying on the ground. Hanzo immediately recognised Erron and Raven.

The Grandmaster of the Shirai Ryu ordered them to nurse the two kombatants and cleared any living as he went down to find Ruby.

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Yang blocked the goon's right jab and threw him a right elbow to the left side of his face followed by a left punch to the gut along with a left push kick to the chest. She then shot the goon in the face with her gauntlet as another thug came at her from her left side.

The blond brawler then ducked under the thug's machete as he swung it to his right before using her left arm to swat the weapon off his hand. She then threw five jabs at his ribs and a left uppercut to his jaw.

As he was flipped backwards, the blond sent him a jab straight at his spine, sending him to the wall. Yang then shot the two to her sides before charging at another Black Dragon.

The blond jumped and kneeled on the thug's shoulder as she continuously shot him in the face with fire and wind dust bullets. She then rolled forward to avoid a sword swing at her left before throwing a dust enhanced right jab at the first thug and shot both of her gauntlets at the second.

The brawler then turned around and put her arms in an X formation to block goon's overhead sword swing. She then threw a right elbow at the Black Dragon's left cheek and used her left leg to sweep the thug off his feet before using her right arm to punch him straight to the back of his head, knocking him out.

Yang then ducked her head back to avoid a goon flying past her from her right. She looked at the direction the goon came from and saw her dad panting with dozens of Black Dragon members lying unconscious around the two of them.

Taiyang was using a similar weapon to his daughter, but instead of being a bracelet, it was a metal gauntlet. The gauntlet was black in the front side and yellow at the back side. Yang looked at her father and snickered.

"Overkill much, dad?" She asked.

"Yeah, I got a bit angry. Hell, these guys's weapons can cut through Aura. But, after the hit, I still have my Aura so I still heal." Tai told his daughter.

Yang was about to say something when she was interrupted by a scream. The two of them then quickly ran to the source of the sound and realized what happened.

In front of them stood what seems to be the grim reaper itself.

The thing was wearing Ruby's clothes, except for the fact that it was on fire. The creature was on fire and you could practically see it's skeleton. Yang froze at the sight of Ruby's scythe in it's hands and they were also, unsurprisingly, on fire.

Yang switched her gaze at the floor that is absolutely covered by human corpses and gagged. The dead bodies were either mutilated, deformed, completely burned or all of the above. The blond girl did her best to not vomit on the ground, but failed. She emptied her stomach on the ground once the smell of burned meat got into her nose.

She looked up to see the reaper shaking as if it was trying to hold itself back from killing them.

In Ruby's mind

Ruby reared her scythe back and shot it, pushing her at her opponent. The red Rose swiped left with her scythe, but the twisted version of herself bent back matrix style and sent a left knee to her right cheek. This made the little Rose stumble backwards.

"Weak."It said.

Hellfire Scorpion then shot fire from it's scythe to throw itself at the red reaper before embedding the scythe to the ground and sent a vertical fire wave at the little Rose. Ruby turned into a flurry of rose petals and dodged to her left before flying straight at the revenant of herself.

She turned back to a human and raised her Crescent Rose overhead to bring it upon the revenant. Hellfire Scorpion teleported behind her and hooked the blade of it's scythe to Ruby's.

The twisted Ruby then yanked the scythe out of the hands of the little red Rose. After that, Hellfire Scorpion sent a right sideway push kick at the little Rose, causing her to fall on her back.

Before Ruby could get up, four oni came from the ground and grabbed her four limbs. She struggled with all her might, but to no avail. The demons wouldn't let her go.

"Pathetic." It commented.

The red Rose looked up and saw her revenant bring a flaming Crescent Rose to her stomach. The blade luckily didn't hit Ruby's spine, but the fact that a scythe was in her guts still hurts like hell.

The little Rose let out a painful cry and started gagging out some blood.

Back in reality

The flaming reaper sprayed fire from it's left arm at Tai and Yang. Taiyang rolled to his right to dodge it while his daughter rolled to his left.

Without wasting a single second, the monster charged at the blond girl with it's scythe reared to it's right side. Suddenly, two shurikens hit the reaper's scythe blade and exploded, causing the fire grim reaper to stumble back.

"RUBY!" A voice called out.

"WHY ARE SCORPIONS FEARED BY THEIR ENEMIES!?"

In Ruby's head

"For my clan, I will burn this world in the fire of vengeance! Even if I have to get rid of your fake little family!" Ruby's revenant announced.

Suddenly, a memory came in front of Ruby's eyes.

"Do you know why the scorpions are feared by their enemies?" Hanzo asked.

"Whyisit?"

The little Rose tilted her head to her right as she asked naively.

"It's will. This world is cruel, Ruby. But, no matter how many enemies the scorpion face, it doesn't give up. It either faces it's trouble head on or lives to fight another day. Never once does the scorpion give up, even if it has to risk it's life to overcome it's problems." Her father explained.

"I understand" The little red riding hood nodded.

Ruby's eye's then shot open. She turned into a flurry of burning rose petals and flew straight through her revenant's stomach, exposing it's spine.

"NO ONE MESSES WITH MY FAMILY!" The red Rose yelled in a demonic tone as everything turned white.

Back in reality

A beam of white light shot out of the fire reaper's eyes, covering the whole room with it. The light seems to clear out the fire that covered Ruby's body and turned her back to a human.

The little red riding hood then fell to the ground. Hanzo teleported to her side and embraced her in his arms. Yang saw this and charged at the yellow ninja, only for Tai to hold her back.

"Hey! What the-"

"Let them have a father and daughter moment." Taiyang told his daughter.

Ruby slowly opened her eyes to see a certain yellow ninja hugging her. The little Rose then immediately recognised the outfit and asked weakly.

"D-Dad?"

"I'm here." Was the ninja's reply.

"You,... Left me." The red Rose spoke hesitantly.

"I know,... And I'm dreadfully sorry. I should've been there for you that night. I-"

"Dad?" The little Rose cut him off.

"Yes?" Hanzo replied.

"That night,... You went to save the world, and left me - Your own world. I've always wanted you to be there when I'm sad, I wanted you to be there when I grow and,... I wanted you to be there when I train. But, you were never there. Despite that, I will always forgive you. I will always come running to you when you return." Ruby said in a soft, comforting tone and a weak smile that could melt anyone's heart.

Hanzo broke into tears as he hugged his daughter tighter while his little Rose patted his back and comforted him.

"There, there,... It's alright."

Holy shiiiit! Dis chapter is 4,600 words. This is the longest chapter yet! Btw, I was thinking about shipping Takeda with either Ruby or Yang. What do y'all think? Ruby or Yang? leave a comment. I'd like to hear your opinions on this.