Nothing much to say except LET THE ASSWHOOPING COMMENCE!
Chapter XXVII woo.
Reno's right cross hit air as Souta somersaulted backwards, foot coming up and taking the redhead beneath the chin halfway through the maneuver. At the same moment, Makoto and Jobs were scrambling to their feet, the Shinsengumi leader scanning the darkness of the temple desperately for the jian that he'd dropped. Rude was bringing up Reno's rear, umbrella ready, so when Reno stumbled back from the uppercut kick he tumbled full-tilt into Rude.
Yuffie was still on the floor, squirming against her ropes and cursing loudly, while Rei tried to get her to hold still so she could undo the knots.
Screw this, Reno thought as he took the opportunity of his stumble to grab his cane, which he'd dropped. A quick rap of the cane against the floor broke its hollow shaft and Reno's prod slid out smoothly, primed and ready.
The moment he looked up, he saw Souta bringing the flaming Kikuichi-monji around in a grand arc in front of him. "Shiranui-ryu – Gōtsui Meisen!"
"DUCK!" Reno screamed at Rude. The bald Turk dropped just in time to avoid the blue thunderbolt, which impacted against the statue of Seiryū and sent exploded jade flying everywhere.
Souta didn't let up, firing off three more Thundering Hammer Howl Strikes in a second, blowing holes in the floor as Reno and Rude rolled out of the way.
A scraping sound announced Makoto's retrieval of his jian from across the temple, and he summoned up his own spirit energy to let fly a Gōtsui Meisen at Souta. The Shiranui-ryu master responded in kind, and the two flaming blue projectiles met –
White-blue light flared up for a moment, drowning out the jade glow of the Seiryū statue, as Makoto's Gōtsui Meisen was blown apart by Souta's. Makoto took his enemy's shot square in the center of his chest and was blown off of his feet and hurled into a wall, but he recovered quickly enough. Apparently his own Howl Strike had been enough to kill off most of the energy of Souta's.
Souta whirled, ignoring Makoto for the moment, as he heard the distinctive click of spring-loaded mechanisms firing, shooting a pistol into each of Jobs' hands from his sleeves as he splayed his arms out. Immediately he took a bead on Souta and opened up, rapid-fire, slowly backing up at the same time to increase his distance.
Reno looked at Rude and jerked his head at Jobs; Rude gave a quick thumbs-up and sprinted towards the ex-Turk while Reno moved to intercept Souta as he charged.
And charge he did. The Shiranui-ryu master streaked forward like a cruise missile, leaping ten feet in the air over Jobs' stream of bullets, Kikuichi-monji cocked to bring down and split the man from shoulder to groin. Reno also leaped, managing to grab hold of one of Souta's ankles for a moment, but he lost his grip as Souta violently twisted in mid-air, going into a complete revolution before landing just to the right of Jobs and attacking.
Rude one-handedly swept the thrust aside with his umbrella and tried an old favorite as a follow-up: the left hook. His gloved fist stopped inches from Souta's face, hovering as Rude strained against an invisible force.
Then the spirit energy around Souta flared up to twice its original luminosity and both Rude and Jobs were blown off their feet to land roughly several meters away. At the same moment that Rude had blocked Souta's thrust, Makoto had fired off four Gōtsui Meisen strikes, and they now crashed square into Souta's back.
Now Souta shone like a beacon, almost blindingly, and Makoto's projectiles didn't just dissipate: they rebounded.
Reno swore and dropped back to the floor as one of the Howl Strikes completely reversed direction after hitting Souta's aura. It screamed over Reno's head before hitting a wall and leaving a generous crater.
"STOP USING THOSE DAMN BLUE BOLTS!" Reno screamed at Makoto. "THEY'RE ABOUT AS EFFECTIVE AS BAD LANGUAGE!"
The Shinsengumi leader didn't respond, because he was too busy being attacked by Souta, who had gone into another backwards somersault after reflecting the Howl Strikes. It was a huge parabolic arc that took him back to the front of the temple where Makoto was standing, penetrating the young man's zone just as he was getting his defenses up.
Knowing he'd never make it in time, Reno scrambled to his feet and charged after Souta. The Shiranui-ryu master landed in a crouch in front of Makoto, who had taken a peculiar stance. All his weight was on his right foot, and he was doing what Reno chose to call the vertical splits – his left foot was high in the air, leg straight, so that his torso stuck out to his right and his legs formed a straight line. Looking closer, Reno could discern through the chaotic flickering of spirit energy that Makoto was pressing the broad side of his jian up against his left foot.
"SEIRYŪ SŌSEI!"
As though his stance hadn't been demanding enough already, Makoto now snapped his left leg back as far as it would go, disengaging the jian from his foot and bringing it down, aflame with spirit energy, at high speed towards Souta's head.
All this happened in about three-quarters of a second. Reno recognized the technique, though he'd never seen it before. It had been what had made such a great splattering sound when Makoto had used it on the Shattered Hand leader. Judging from how much force seemed to be behind the jian, Reno figured that if the strike connected, it would send Souta's brain shooting out his ears.
Souta apparently didn't truck with the notion of saving succession techniques for the final standoff, though. In one moment, Makoto was still on his right foot, his jian arcing down towards Souta's head, and in the next –
"OUGI: MUGENSEI!"
– he was flying, blood streaming from multiple wounds in his chest and abdomen, and the jian had been slammed out of its Seiryū Sōsei to be sent clattering to the floor.
What the hell?
Reno almost faltered as he charged Souta. He'd never seen anybody strike that fast in rapid succession, not even Sephiroth in his ultimate body.
Come to think of it, he couldn't even recall what the hell had happened. Souta had struck so quickly that there was no way for Reno to know how the technique was carried out or how to defend against it.
Oh, well. I've gotten out of worse situations. I think.
Jobs opened up from behind Reno again, bullets whizzing past the charging redhead, aiming at Souta. Reno resolved to yell at Jobs about his field of fire once this was all over. For the time being, he tried not to hiss in surprise as Souta rolled out of the way of the first salvo, came up with his sword ready, and batted away the next five bullets like flies.
The opening was there, but Reno knew that he was too slow to exploit it, even moving at full speed – so he checked to make sure that his prod was still on autoshock, then hurled it at Souta.
Obviously, the Shiranui-ryu master saw it incoming and deflected it, but he didn't do it with his sword as Reno had hoped. Instead, he twirled the Kikuichi-monji in his palm so he held it in only his right hand, fingers wrapped around the blade just below the guard, and knocked the electrified prod out of the way with the wooden hilt.
The blade was now pointed straight down at the ground, and Souta was holding it at arm's length with only one hand, leaving his torso wide open for Reno's flying kick.
A split second before he hit, Reno belatedly remembered Souta's powerful aura that had driven back Rude and Jobs and reflected Makoto's Howl Strikes. A split second after, Reno was arcing through the air, pulling his legs in, in the hope that he wouldn't break anything during his landing.
During all this, Rei, to her credit, was working feverishly at the knots around Yuffie's wrists. However, she was a geisha, not a prostitute – she'd never been given the finer points of doing and undoing cinched knots. Yuffie, in the meanwhile, tried to get her to identify the kind of knot, so she could give her directions as to how it was untied.
Jobs started reloading, Rude rushed to Reno, and Reno dragged himself to his feet in time to see Souta rushing Makoto, who had managed to retrieve his sword but was barely standing.
Just as Souta's aura went down so he could get close enough to deliver the fatal blow, Makoto came alive, obviously having faked his wooziness. Moving with lethal alacrity despite the deep slash wounds in his chest, he crouched underneath Souta's decapitation strike, twisted his left leg around his back, pressed the jian against the sole of his boot, and then let fly.
"SEIRYŪ SŌSEI!"
Makoto's jian exploded out from behind him and took Souta completely by surprise. Its broad side crushed into his gut and completely overrode his momentum, sending him skidding back even as he desperately kept his feet.
With a grin, the Shinsengumi leader shouldered his jian and grinned at Souta. "Liking the Water God's Nest Strike?"
Souta barked a laugh and spat. For half a moment Reno thought about noting that they were in a temple, but he dismissed it quickly enough.
"A lucky blow, Makoto. And I would say that the Infinity Rush has acquainted itself rather more well with you than the Nest Strike has with me."
Makoto grimaced, and Reno took the opportunity to visually inspect the man's wounds more closely through the shimmering flames of spirit energy that surrounded him. They were deep, all right – blood was oozing out of all eight of them at a steady rate, and it obviously hurt for Makoto to breathe. If he hadn't been drawing on the power of the Planet he'd probably have been killed.
"Makoto!" Jobs yelled. "How does the Mugensei work?"
Looking closer, Reno noticed something odd about Makoto's wounds. Maybe it was just a trick of the light, but…
No. "He cut you up in a figure-eight!" Reno interrupted. "The infinity sign!"
Souta did not seem at all irritated by the interruption of the combat. "Yes, Makoto. Do tell them how the Mugensei works."
Makoto glared at the man and then said, "I can't. I haven't mastered the move."
"So you know the style, but not the succession technique?" Yuffie exclaimed from over by the statue of Seiryū where Rei was still struggling with the ropes. "What the hell, Makoto?"
"I couldn't grasp the diagrams," Makoto growled. "They were clearly designed to be conferred to a student by the master. As a novice teaching myself the style, I couldn't make heads or tails of the move."
Souta shrugged. "Natural selection at its finest. Two men specializing in the same field cannot both be masters. There is only one superior being, because by definition there is nobody that can approach him. He secures his position by killing off his rivals."
He sprang, catching Reno by surprise, though the Turk knew he should have expected the move. Jobs had just taken a bead on Souta's head when the Shiranui-ryu master moved on in the attack again, and the ex-Turk offered up a muttered curse at his companions not being able to distract the man for longer.
Knowing that Souta was moving to finish him off, Makoto struck out on the offensive as well, leaping into the air, spirit energy flaring up. "TENKEN CHUSEI NISHIKI!"
Reno knew a little old Wutainese, so he recognized the 'form two' tacked on to the end of the technique. Number two? Reno thought, bewildered for a moment. He'd heard Rei mention Tenken Chusei as the technique that had wiped out the bikers that had gone to attack Makoto at Souta's compound, but never that there was more than one version.
Instead of slamming his jian into the ground and letting the energy explode out in energized seismic waves, Makoto struck from midair. His sword flashed and a surging, glowing wave of air roared out at Souta, a miniature sonic boom echoing through the temple with its passage.
Souta replied, unsurprisingly, in kind. "TENKEN CHUSEI SANSHIKI!"
The third stance of the Heavenly Sword Judgment Strike sent a counter-front of air against Makoto's strike, blowing it to glowing motes and storming on to catch the Shinsengumi leader flat-footed, just as Souta's Howl Strike had done.
"MAKOTO!" Reno roared as the young man toppled, aflame with Souta's energy and not his own, out of his midair perch and hit the floor, hard. The redhead was analyzing what he'd seen even as he moved to bat at the guttering flames in Makoto's clothes, confident that Rude would cover his back and that Jobs might actually land a shot. So it's got three stances – surface-to-surface energy wave, air-to-surface, and surface-to-air. We were already having trouble attacking Souta on the ground, and now we know the air's not safe – and he has his aura on top of that. We're in deep shit.
Slapping at the flames, Reno watched out of the corner of his eye as Souta swerved effortlessly out of the way of Jobs' gunfire, then slid around, deftly evading Rude's umbrella thrust.
"NIZU RYŪSEI!"
Souta whirled in what looked like a spinning kick with his right foot, an incredibly stupid move that left him wide open to Rude. He was too damn fast, though, and when he came full circle, the Kikuichi-monji was pressed up against the toe of his right boot.
The Two-Headed Dragon Rush, as Rude found out, hurt a lot. First the finely honed edge of the Kikuichi-monji bit deep into his shoulder, and the foot following it crushed it in and splintered bone. Rude's left arm went completely limp, and then Souta disengaged his sword with a swift kick to Rude's chest.
Reno managed to put out the flames in Makoto's jumpsuit, but the Shinsengumi leader was still down for the count. Grabbing his prod, the redheaded Turk stood just in time to see Souta drop in next to Rei and knock her out with one blow to her neck. She collapsed, senseless, half-loosened knots still between her fingers. Casting a glance at Rude, Reno saw his partner struggling to get up with only one functioning arm, the pain etched into his face.
Now Souta rushed Jobs, sword trailing behind him, looking intent on making a kill this time. Jobs knew it as well as any of them, and he emptied the clips of both pistols, trying to land a shot. The Kikuichi-monji flashed again and again, plucking bullets out of the air with disturbing ease as spirit energy flared and seethed.
Jobs' guns came up empty, and Souta grinned, moving in for the kill.
Jobs grinned, too. He let the guns fall, producing a mini-frag grenade from his sleeve, and let it fly.
At that point, Souta was only a meter and a half from him, so the explosion hit them both. Jobs was blown from his feet, scorched all up and down his front side, eyebrows burned off by the force of the explosion. If he had it badly, though, Souta had it many times worse. His aura flickered and died under the force of the explosive and he was slammed onto his back, natural orange flames running up and down the length of his robe.
Souta wasn't licked yet, though. As Reno came in for a side attack, the Shiranui-ryu master leapt to his feet, screaming with rage, robe burning in nine different places. He brutally bashed Reno's prod right out of his hand and transitioned into his succession technique. "MUGENSEI!"
Just like I thought you would.
Reno let down his guard, straightening out his right arm so his one-shot Derringer began to slide down his sleeve, propelled by its spring, into his hand.
Instantly, Souta accelerated into a wild blur and Reno felt his chest light up with pain beyond anything he could remember having felt. Focus focus focus focus FOCUS
Even as he skidded backwards from the force of eight simultaneous blows, Reno snapped his arm up, Derringer in hand, aimed it straight at Souta's head, and fired.
Souta screamed when he saw the gun and his aura lit back up. Reno's single bullet thudded into the field like it was a solid wall and dropped to the ground, its momentum spent. Contorting himself into a position just like the one Makoto had adopted against him, Souta screamed, "SEIRYŪ SŌSEI!"
Through the pain in his chest, Reno retained the presence of mind to pull his arms in to his head. The movement saved his life; the Kikuichi-monji broadsided him across his left forearm a second later, the shock snapping the bone clean in half and crushing his head into his right arm. Like a broken doll, Reno tipped over and fell.
Checkmate, I guess.
Rude was the only one of them left capable of fighting, and all he had was one arm and an umbrella. His explosives were back at his bike. They'd come to save Yuffie, after all, not blow the place to hell.
Furiously, Souta batted at his robe until the flames from Jobs' well-placed grenade finally went out. He stared balefully at Rude, who had managed to stand, left arm hanging limply at his side, his umbrella clutched in his right hand.
"Come on," Rude said.
Souta really lost it this time. He gave a bloodcurdling howl and rushed into a thrust at full speed, no strategy or feints at all, the Kikuichi-monji zeroing in on Rude's head.
Rude, his expression showing no sign of resignation or confidence, merely steadied his stance a bit.
As Souta's thrust penetrated Rude's zone, the bald Turk opened his umbrella, snapping it loose with his thumb. The canopy flew open and was pierced straight through by the Kikuichi-monji. Rude pivoted, whirling on the balls of his feet, jamming the blade up against the umbrella's shaft and support struts for the canopy, positioning himself behind Souta.
The Shiranui-ryu master tried to twist with him, but Rude angled his umbrella, keeping the Kikuichi-monji caught firmly. There was a loud splintering sound, the canopy dipped a bit, and then Rude's umbrella came apart under the blade, the shaft literally torn in half. Souta, his sword free, pivoted even faster to bring Rude back into sight –
He turned about-face just in time to run smack into Rude's vicious headbutt. It went straight through the aura that Souta hadn't had time to put up and took him between the eyes, sending him staggering backwards. Souta was not done, though, and he sliced up with the Kikuichi-monji, cutting Rude cleanly across his chest and sending him to the ground again.
Now it really is checkmate, Reno thought bitterly.
Bloodied, bruised, and burned, Souta stood triumphant, his senses recovered, staring coldly at his fallen foes.
"You fought well, but in the end, my system proves superior to yours. It is the way of nature; I will propagate myself and all of you will die. Do not take it personally."
The doors to the temple chose that moment to fling themselves open to reveal Karsk, Arcturus, Mengsk, and David, all holding assault rifles. They immediately drew beads on Souta, confirming that everyone else in the temple was down, and opened fire.
"MORE INTERLOPERS!" Souta dropped to the ground, the bullets flying over his head and thudding into the statue of Seiryū, and he thumbed something in his pocket.
Without warning, Reno's and Rude's bikes both exploded in great orange fireballs, spraying flaming shrapnel everywhere. The shockwave took all four ex-Shin-Ra soldiers down, but not before a flying handlebar took Karsk upside the back of his head. All four men hit the floor, knocked immediately unconscious.
"So much for the cavalry," Reno muttered. At least they'd gotten a chance to fight and hadn't just been blown up on the way here – it figured that Souta had rigged their bikes. All that was left was to wait for the end, and…
Hey, knucklehead.
Reno blinked. I must be losing a lot of blood. I'm hearing voices.
It's you, you moron. What the hell are you doing, sitting there and waiting patiently to die? What is WRONG with you? Have you forgotten the promise you made to Yuffie? You're going to goddamned live through this if it KILLS you.
That makes no sense.
No time for logic. Get up. Don't go quietly, make him regret ever messing with you or your girl. DO IT!
Reno's head cleared and he grinned. Why the hell not?
Breathing heavily, Souta got to his feet and turned to see Reno, slowly, painstakingly working his way to his feet as well. A crimson figure eight was slashed into his chest, blood soaked the front of his zoot suit, his left forearm was crooked and he looked concussed.
And still he stood.
"It's over," Souta growled. "You've lost, Mr. Reno. Accept it."
"Screw you," Reno laughed, voice raspy. "I made a promise to Yuffie, Souta. I told her that if it came down to her or me taking a bullet, I said that I'd take the bullet – and live through it. 'Cause she'd be sad if I died, you know. So you can take your systems, and propagation, and natural selection, and shove it. I love Yuffie, and I'm not gonna break my promise to her."
A bitter smile graced Souta's lips. "Despite your inferiority, I admire a man willing to stand by his convictions to the end. Are you prepared to do that, Mr. Reno?"
"He doesn't have to."
Both Reno and Souta started, then snapped their heads around in the direction of the pronouncement.
"Reno's not gonna be standing by any convictions until his end, because he's not dying," Yuffie snarled. She stood upright, the ropes at her feet. "I'd say that that responsibility falls to you tonight, Souta." She extended her hand, and in it she clearly grasped the Leviathan materia.
Hot damn. She had it in her sleeve.
Souta's face went slack with utter shock, and Yuffie raised the materia and channeled her energies into it.
The thunder of a great wave sounded with crystal clarity, and the jade statue behind Yuffie twitched and then rose majestically to its full height, blazing jade eyes regarding its target.
"PRESUME YOURSELF SUPERIOR TO NO MAN, MORTAL," Seiryū roared, "FOR THERE IS ALWAYS A GREATER BEING."
Met with a being beyond his comprehension for the first time in his life, Souta the Cunning collapsed to his knees.
A moment later, Seiryū crushed him.
