After the business in Yu's world is done, the quartet is now in Kanzakai, a city in Hyde's world. They're in Central Station when they got here, which is damaged like the rest of the city. Currently, it appears to be Hollow Night, signified by the blood moon looming over the skyscrapers and its red moonlight shining down with ominousness.
Emerging outside to the streets, the group looks around and sees distinct red pixels rising up from the ground and everywhere where there's a solid ground. Seems like Infinite wants his presence known to the group through destruction as a reminder of what he had done to seven worlds and their friends and allies. Ragna, Yu and Ruby are unnerved by the thought of it but they wouldn't let it get to them.
Taking the frontlines, Sonic looks around with keen eyes, holding the Chaos Emerald to detect where the next emerald is. Of course he didn't forget about Hyde and judging from him holding System in his left hand, he needs a guide to find and recruit the Unknown Actor to the team.
"Hmm... Where could the next emerald be...? Aha!" Sonic mutters before exclaiming in success when the white emerald glows brightly, indicating the presence of a Chaos Emerald. "I got the emerald's signal down guys!"
"Great! So, where could it possibly be Sonic?," Ruby replies, walking next to Sonic. Her elation quickly turned to a worried one as she asks, "And also, did you ask System where Hyde could possibly be? For all I know, he must be left wandering by his lonesome."
"Oh, please turn that frown upside-down Ruby, my dear," System assured. "Hyde Kido isn't too far from us as, judging from my analysis of him and this world, he's in the Town Center Crossing."
"That so? Good." Sonic responds with a nod. "At least he wouldn't be...Hyde-ing from us and make our search difficult."
His pun earns many groans from the three, with Ragna being annoyed, Ruby not liking his pun but still amused and Yu chuckling.
"Hope that's your first and last pun you make," Ragna grumbled. "I wouldn't want another one of us making puns that makes me want to cut off my ears."
"Whoa, easy there Ragna. Just trying to lighten up the mood." Sonic raises his open hands in defense, thinking he may have ticked the Grim Reaper off.
"I believe he's not gonna follow on that. But I appreciate for you doing that. We need a little humor during this time of crisis." Yu assures him, which makes him smile in return.
Just then, zooming sounds and droning hums are heard accompanied by lasers, swords, cubes and someone flying in the air for brief amount of time behind skyscrapers to their left. Though confused at first, they recognize the sound and red color of the aforementioned objects, which indicates Infinite is present. What's more, based on the location, the sound is coming from the town center, which means...
"Oh no! Hyde might be possibly fighting against Infinite!" Ruby gasps in realization, which is shared by the Sonic, Ragna and Yu.
"What!? Shoot! We need to get there immediately! Come on guys! Let's go!" Sonic urges them.
"Alright! Let's not stand here for any longer. Let's go and confront that bastard and save Hyde!" Ragna agrees, giving himself a head start ahead of the group.
"Right behind you!" Yu simply exclaims before following him.
Being the speedsters of the team, Sonic and Ruby sprints ahead of Ragna and Yu, leaving behind a blur and petals in their wake.
In Town Center Crossing...
"GYRE VORTEX!"
Shouted Hyde as he stabs the ground, causing a red torrent of energy to erupt around him. He's doing this move because Infinite, who is giving him a fight for his life after finding him out of luck, is charging toward him at high speed. Since he didn't have time to slow down, he is caught in his attack, damaging him and flinging him up in the air. "GAAAAAHHHHHH!" Infinite yells out.
Not done with the move yet, Hyde jumps up high and slices him without stopping before throwing him back to the ground with an overhead swing. Once he lands, Hyde crouches down and pants, feeling his EXS energy being weak from giving his all against Infinite.
To his exasperation, Infinite stands up, slightly damaged from his assault now and earlier but no looking worse for wear. "Hmph. Is that all you got, Wielder of Insulator?" Mocked Infinite, floating in the air with utmost arrogance typical of him. "Not even the sword's ability to sever immortality could do much to me. Just to show that I am leagues above you in terms of power than me."
"Tch... Is that...all you're...ever...gonna say...?" Hyde responded with confidence between pants, pushing himself up despite being exhausted. "I am...capable of...damaging you now...that I got...this...gem with me..." He brings up the purple gem he found after separating himself from everyone before putting it back to his pocket. "Even if I'm...gonna fall...I'll stand my ground...until my last breath...!"
"If that's what you're saying, then I'll gladly do so for you!" He exclaims with venom lacing his tongue before charging at him, intent on finishing him off. Suddenly, someone force him back with a charge of his own. That someone is the Blue Blur himself, Sonic, standing in front of Hyde upon seeing him exhausted.
Looking at the hedgehog with surprised eyes, Hyde doesn't get to say anything when Ragna, Yu and Ruby show up, surrounding him at all sides as if protecting him.
"What the...? Ragna? Yu? Ruby?" Hyde says their name as he looks at them with a surprised but relieved look, then it turns to a confused one when he looks at Sonic. "And who's this?"
"A friend me and Ragna saved from that fiend," Ruby reveals, gripping her Crescent Rose as she glares at Infinite with contempt. "With his help and System, we found Narukami and now, we found you as well. We're so glad to see you fine."
"Heh. I'm relieved as well. I thought I would never see you guys again," Hyde replies, standing up straight as he desires to fight Infinite despite being exhausted. Sonic took notice of his state and says, "Hey, stay out of this. You don't look so good so it's bad idea to fight Infinite if you're exhausted."
"What? And miss out fighting alongside you and the three? I may not know you yet but I want to assist you and the others in the upcoming fight. With purple gem in my hands, we can take him on." He insists.
"Oh, you have the Chaos Emerald?" Yu asks.
"Chaos Emerald?"
"Gems containing immense power originating from Sonic's world," Ragna explains. "We've been finding the emeralds so that we can have a chance to defeat Infinite. So far, we have three so we need to find the other four."
Though having questions, Hyde sets them aside as he and the group prepares to take on Infinite, who is glaring at them with his yellow eyes accentuated by his red sclera. "Either all of you are brave, or foolish enough to think of taking on me when all of you aren't strong enough to inflict damage on me. Then again, why am I saying that when I'm about to pulverize all of you to dust with my Phantom Diamond?"
"Probably because there's a chance that you're gonna lose to us regardless of your power." Sonic cockily suggested. "And like Ragna said, we have three emeralds in us so we will have an upper hand against you."
"Even with those emeralds, I'm the one in control of the Phantom World so you have no power here, you mortals."
"Well, why don't you show it to us then? Prove it that you can best us in a fight."
"Hmph. Then I shall grant that for you."
Extending his left palm, Infinite lets loose a flurry of lasers against the group, who all dispersed to avoid it. Running from lasers, Sonic runs up towards him before using Homing Attack against him. Sneering at his predictable move, Infinite swerves to the left, missing the Homing Attack. However, he fails to notice Izanagi-no-Okami batting Sonic back to him and before he knew it, he was forced to the ground by the spinning Sonic. "Ugh!"
"Nice batting skills you got, Yu!" Sonic praises the Persona user for his quick thinking.
"Ah, it was nothing." What Yu says in response.
As Infinite stands up, Ragna seize the opening and let loose a barrage of attacks consisting of punches, kicks, slices and heavy slashes, finishing by unleashing Hell's Fang on him. He's not done yet however as Ragna shouts "CARNAGE...SCISSORS!" before doing his Distortion Skill, throwing him away after unleashing a darkness-infused spin slash.
Retaliating quickly, Infinite flies up in the air. Raising his left hand, Infinite commands all red cubes to swirl above him, coming in many numbers before directing the cubes to charge against the group. The sheer number and size of the cubes make it difficult for them to dodge, which is not helped when Infinite is dead-set on seeing any of them get caught in his attack.
Eventually, Hyde and Ruby got caught, signified by them shouting and yelping respectively.
"Ruby!" "Hyde!" Ragna and Yu shouts their name in surprise.
Before any of them could act, Infinite teleports to the sphere-shaped mass formed from cubes, making he's far from it before causing it to explode with the two still trapped there. As the dust dissipates, Hyde and Ruby fell on the ground with injuries and scorch marks on their bodies and clothes. Chuckling, Infinite, with wicked half-smile, says, "Now that was an exploding situation if I were to describe it."
"Darn you Infinite!" Sonic, whether from seeing Ruby and Hyde get blown or from his terrible pun, runs toward him before jumping in the air and boosting against him. The speed he runs and boosts caught the half-masked jackal off-guard and so, he's on the receiving end of Sonic's assault consisting of kicks, Spin Attacks and finally, using Sonic Wind, which throws Infinite back to the ground near Ragna and Yu.
Not letting the chance to let up and in retaliation to what he done to Hyde and Ruby, the two continue the assault in Sonic's place, ending with Yu unleashing Ziodyne and Ragna grabbing him with his Black Beast-infected hand and crushing him with his Devoured by Darkness skill before throwing him again.
Having enough of being thrown like ragdoll, Infinite teleports to Sonic, Ragna and Yu and each time, he blasts, kicks and pushes them near in the center before he commands cubes to rise up from the ground. The three gets to see the tell-tale sign of little cubes appearing under their feet before they're accosted by the cubes.
"WHOOOAAAA!"
"GAAAAHHHH!"
"AGGGGHHHH!"
Sonic, Ragna and Yu shouted at the same time when they're seized up in the air. The cubes then form a sphere and Infinite is looking forward to make it explode again. "Hope you survive this!"
However, before he can make it explode, a buzzing sound is heard. Knowing he's not doing it, the jackal asks, "What? What is that sound? Wait! Don't tell me...!"
Realizing who's doing it, Infinite attempts to cause the sphere to explode only for Sonic to burst out from the hole he made as a result of spinning his quills to saw it. Ragna and Yu joins him in getting out as Sonic says, "Heh. Turns out we survive your "attack" after all, Infinite!"
Before he can respond, Sonic kicks him on his open face, forcing him back to the ground again. Looking at the battlefield, he sees Hyde and Ruby running towards their enemy, having healed their wounds using the purple Chaos Emerald. The former is thankful for the red-hooded girl for explaining how the Chaos Energy works.
"Hyde! Ruby! He's all yours!"
"What!?"
Moving in for the kill, Hyde, with his pulsing Insulator, shoots out a beam just as Infinite picks himself up. Once he's caught in his attack, he wastes no time in attacking him with his Astral Finish.
"Here goes! RAGING ROAR!"
Unleashing a torrential roar of EXS energy, Hyde sees his opponent get flung in the air, screaming in pain. "Ruby!"
"Got it!" Seeing her cue, Ruby jumps in the air and, positioning her Crescent Rose, caught Infinite blade first in his neck before firing shots to fly up higher in the air. Once she's high enough and in front of the blood moon, Ruby slices Infinite in one swoop with her own Astral Finish, Red Reaper, letting out a flurry of red petals in her wake.
With the fight seemingly over, Ruby aces a three-point landing as Infinite lands on the ground with a thud, apparently defeated. "Woo! A three-point landing! Go me!"
Leaving her defeated opponent, Ruby regroups with Ragna, Yu, Hyde and Sonic, who has seen her deal the finishing blow. "So... Did we get him?" Hyde asks, wanting to make sure their enemy is dead.
"Considering Ruby has Infinite's neck on her Crescent Rose, I'd say he's down for sure." Yu points out.
"Uh... Does that mean I killed him by beheading him?" Ruby asks fearfully, not having in it in her to kill anyone even if it's the one she despises.
"Considering who he is, I'd say it's possible." Ragna bluntly stated.
While Ruby is close to panicking over having her first kill and the three attempts to calm her down, Sonic looks over where Infinite is only to find he's not there. "Huh? Guys, where's Infinite?"
"Eh? What do you mean Sonic? Infinite's right...there..." Ruby's voice trailed off at the end when she sees no sign of Infinite. "What?"
"He was there earlier. Don't tell me he's still kicking?" Hyde asks, hoping it's not true.
"Tch. He wants another round huh?" Ragna stated in frustration, looking around and see if the jackal makes a move and ambush them.
Among everyone who is speaking, Yu stays usually silent as he looks over where Infinite is supposed to be. Unlike the others, he managed to sneak a glance of him, just in time to see Infinite disappear. Not only that, he could swear a bizarre sound is heard accompanying Infinite's disappearance.
Chill runs down on his spine as Yu, looking at the crossing, feels a dread running on his head, so much so that he tells the others to get out of the place now.
"Huh? Why? Is something wrong?" Hyde asks, finding his behavior unusual.
"There's no time for talk. We have to get out of here now!" Turning to Sonic, he says, "Sonic! Use Chaos Control and warp as out of here before... before... before something bad will happen!"
"Okay, okay! Geez, you sure are acting odd."
Doing what he's told, Sonic warps the group out of Kanzakai. It is just in time a shadowy figure appears in the center of the intersection. Earlier, he grabs Infinite when the group isn't looking and, after telling him sternly to take a rest and let him do the deed in killing the team off in spite of Infinite's protest that he can still fight using his Phantom Sphere, is disappointed he didn't get to fight them when they're weak. Regardless, he's looking forward to his first meeting of them, especially when Infinite, being the current observer, will tell him where exactly the group ended up next.
"Yu Narukami... I wonder if since he can use his Persona, he can possibly see mine as well..." The man ponders before a menacing smirk appears on his face. "Well, regardless if he can see it or not, he and the others will not survive against my power. The power to rule all over the world. What possibly could they have to resist my might?"
Thum...
The man disappears after another bizarre sound is heard again.
A fourth chapter is brought to you all by yours truly, Yuujin Zone. Hope you enjoyed the fight between, Ragna, Yu, Hyde, Ruby and Sonic and Infinite, as I was slightly looking forward for the first between our heroes and their enemy and write it to a satisfactory level.
If you're wondering who is the ninth series to be featured in this fanfic, well wait no longer, as the next chapter and the next will show who is truly the man that is working with Infinite alongside the ninth "prime candidate" who will join with our heroes soon. All I can say about the man is the hints at the end of chapters one and four. It's not much but if you focus on certain words and sound effects, I believe you'll get the clue.
I'll see you all next chapter so stay tuned everyone and have a good day!