Chapter 18
Forces Collide
Danzo had landed in pool of blood beneath his feet. He looked around to see that he had finally traveled to the point of no return. Several youma emerged covered in blood with their weapons held at the ready. Danzo shrugged his shoulders as he cut them down with ferocious determination. A gateway opened before him as the last of the youma fell, and he jumped through. He then emerged in a small chamber lined with mirrors as more Youma swarmed him. He quickly destroyed the two mirrors with his sword sending shards of glass flying everywhere. The youma, that were invincible soon collapsed to the ground dead as another gateway opened for Danzo to jump through.
In the slums of Asakusa, the Kunoichi were helping Rin, Daidouji, and their boyfriends push the Youma back to the tower. Ryobi took up a sniping position firing at any youma that were either retreating or attacking bringing them down with carefully timed shots.
Rin looked to see her students were alive and well with their ninja outfits still intact. She quickly introduced them to her boyfriend Julian Mercer who was an officer in charge of the US military base in Kobe.
"I guess any friend of Rin's, is a friend of mine," the colonel said, as he fired his hand cannon at an oncoming youma.
Team Hebijo nodded and giggled. Then they raced off at the youma with the rest of their friendly rivals.
Daidouji was fighting with all of her strength when the nearest of the youma challenged her. With a ferocious display of punches and kicks, she emerged on the other side, turned and faced them.
"You're already dead," she said to them.
The youma suddenly exploded in a shower of blood that rained down around her.
Team Hanzo, Team Crimson, Team, Gessen, Team Mikagura, and Team Master were now helping out as best they could to keep the youma back. Fubuki then unleashed her youma power at full burst, then charged wildly at them. Asuka, Homura, and Yumi then transformed into their superforms lunging at the youma with a ferocious determination in their hearts. The remaining youma knew that they had lost and so began to retreat for their realm. While the rest of the soldiers were cleaning up around them, they saw that the battle for their world was won.
"Get outta here you stupid beasts, and never come back!" shouted Alex.
Daidouji looked at him, then gently pressed her lips to his as they wrapped their arms around each other.
Yumi looked to see Daidouji kissing someone which seemed a bit strange to her eyes, but Asuka smiled at the happy couple.
"Even Daidouji needs a bit of love in her life," she said.
"Yeah, It's actually sweet to see her like this with her new boyfriend who's from another land far away from Japan," agreed Yumi.
Murasaki then noticed that Rin was looking at her boyfriend with a warm gaze in her eyes. Julian then took her in his arms and gently kissed her lips knowing that the battle was won.
"You gonna take care of the repairs in the city?" Imu asked her master's boyfriend.
"You know it kid, but hey, if you ever have some trouble with any of those monsters you know I got your back, just as your teacher does," Julian said, shaking Imu's hand.
Soon the Kunoichi were now beginning to feel very relieved as the Military soon began to return to their command center in Kobe. The new friendships that they forged would last for as long as they could remember. As they left Homura looked up at the portal above the tower, She knew that Danzo was up their heading to his appointed final battle with Miyabi's brother.
In the Youma realm, Danzo had managed to reach an area that was surrounded by rock formations all around a large pool of purple water. He walked forwards knowing that it was time to stop his adversary. With his sword ready, he blocked a strike that was about to wound him severely, then pushed his enemy back to see the distinct image of Sato staring at him with a look of pure hatred. But it was really Akira who was in Sato's form holdin the Shadow-Edge in his hand.
"Welcome, what do you think after looking at your father's image?" Akira asked.
"It's like staring into a backed-up toilet. Why do you always stick your nose into other families' business? Come on dude. Don't you have any hobbies" Danzo replied, pointing defiance at his foe.
The two adversaries then started laughing at each other.
"You can still talk big after seeing THIS!?" Akira growled.
Danzo then saw that the power his enemy had attained was beginning to change him completely into a gigantic purple blob.
"I feel the youma's power overflowing my body! The power of SATO!" He roared loudly.
The now mutated form of Sato began to slowly advance towards Danzo with the intent to eliminate him forever.
"Dude, my father wasn't so hideous. Can't you tell by looking at me?" he said looking at his handsome face in the reflection of his blade with a clever smirk.
"Anyway, that shape suits you better. Let us begin the main event!" Danzo declared, as he lunged at the now disfigured Akira.
Danzo slashed at him wildly, but Akira was powerful as he endured the attacks with all of the power he felt in his now disfigured form. Danzo quickly jumped back and fired at him with Silver-Moon and Black-Star in his hand. The bullets collided at him with such a force that they did manage to wound him, but Akira shrugged them off as he morphed into gigantic leeches that would try to swallow him whole. Danzo struck at them with such ferocious flurry of swords as he jumped above them, not even caring if he was out number fifty to one.
Akira was now moving to and from the battlefield trying to bring Danzo down, but he saw that his size gave him the edge to try and struck him. He did so by slamming Danzo into a rock formation, but Danzo quickly got up and charged again hitting him harder in his youma form. Akira however struck back harder than before, knocking the hybrid warrior back with a powerful swipe of his clawed hand.
"Fool! It's no use! Regardless of how strong you are, you're nothing but a half-breed like that traitor Fubuki. You cannot defeat a pure youma, the real SATO!" Akira said, his booming voice echoing everywhere around him.
Danzo gritted his teeth in anger as he saw Akira extend his arm towards him to finish him off. But before he was about to be killed, A beam of light slashed off his hand sending it flying and landing near his feet. The two adversaries looked to see who had done it.
"What's this?" Akira demanded furiously.
They saw that it was Ryuki holding his sword Yamikaze with look of pure hatred.
"DAMN YOU!" roared Akira.
"I've come to retrieve my power. You can't handle it," Ryuki called from a high ledge.
He jumped down towards Danzo and pointed his sword at him.
"Well look at you, making a big dramatic entrance and stealing my spotlight," Danzo said with a look of surprise and disgust.
"Oh really, you don't possibly believe that HE deserves to be our main event now do you?" replied Ryuki, sending Akira's severed hand back to him.
"Now that you mentioned it, you're right Bro," Danzo said with a smirk.
The twin brothers knew that their feud would have to wait as they advanced towards the common foe.
"Do you feel you can defeat me? Defeat the Power of your father, the great SATO!" Akira said furiously at the two warriors.
"You should come to realize you cannot handle the power of Sato," Ryuki stated coldly.
"You're wasting your time, buddy," agreed Danzo pointing defiance at Akira.
He and Ryuki glanced at each other.
"I think he needs to learn the hard way," Danzo said.
"My thoughts exactly!" Ryuki replied, and the two brothers charged in crying out like warriors on an great battlefield.
Ryuki swung his sword at Akira with such ferocity that it began to wound him even further as Danzo leapt over and began firing his cannons wildly before switching to his trusty blade Defiance. The twin sons of Sato where now truly working together as team, but they knew that their feud would still continue as neither one could accept the other's differences. Akira was growing more desperate as he tried to fend them off, but their combined efforts were proving too much for him to handle. The fought their way across the pool until they had managed to subdue Akira long enough for them to get to a safer distance away from him. Quickly Danzo pulled out a small vial containing a poisonous substance that he managed to nick from Haruka who hadn't notice. He tossed towards Akira, and it shattered on contact making him cry out in pain and anger.
"Nice to know that even Haruka's potions and poisons work wonders against these guys," he said to himself with a crafty smile.
Akira groaned loudly in pain, as the two brothers impaled him with their swords on either side. Akira shifted fiercely sending them flying but they quickly recovered and kicked their swords through Akira's body. They collided against each other and soon the brothers had each others weapons, mastering them almost too easily. Akira tried to fight back, but Danzo and Ryuki quickly evaded his attack and cut at him with all their might. They landed behind him with their weapons at their side then quickly returned them to their own hands.
"It can't be! You CANNOT!" Akira said trying to deny that he was beaten.
The twins soon holstered their weapons. Then Danzo quickly pulled out his dual hand cannons and pointed them at Akira who was trying to recover from the battle. Akira struck at Danzo, and inadvertently sent Black-Star into Ryuki's outstretched hand. They pointed the guns at him.
"I'll try it your way for once," Ryuki said calmly.
"Remember what we used to say?" asked Danzo.
"Don't do it!" Akira cried, fearing for his life.
But the two brothers refused to listen to him any longer. They stood back to back holding the guns in an upside-down L shape.
"JACKPOT!" said the sons of Sato, and fired their now supercharged bullets at Akira.
The opposing forces struck with a mighty blast that sent a powerful burst of light around them. Akira writhed and screamed in excruciating pain.
"I HAVE THE TRUE POWER OF SATO!" He shrieked in disbelief at being defeated.
"Not very classy for someone's final words," Ryuki commented coldly, tossing Black-Star to Danzo who immediately holstered it with Silver-Moon.
At that instant, Akira's deformed self began to fade revealing their amulets, and their father's sword in it's dormant form which began to fall through a hall in the bottom of the flowing pool of water. Ryuki saw it and raced after them with Danzo following behind, then jumped into the hole. As they were falling Ryuki grabbed his necklace, and Danzo managed to grab his as well. The knew that with Akira out of the way, they could finally settle their feud once and for all.
Back in the slums of Asakusa, Gekko looked at the portal with her hands in front of her chest as if in prayer. Asuka looked to see her friend's eyes were full of concern.
"What's wrong Gekko?" she asked.
"I'm worried about Danzo, but if he's stuck in the youma realm, he'll never find his way back out," she said.
Yumi slowly walked to her and gently placed her hand on Gekko's shoulder.
"He'll make it out, I just know it," Yumi assured her friend.
"Let's head back to the portal and see what's up," suggested Homura.
The kunoichi all agreed, and soon they all raced back to the top of the Tower of Darkness. Rin and Daidouji stood watching as Hanzo, Kiriya, and Sayuri arrived just in time to see them heading back.
"Be careful, my beloved granddaughter," Hanzo said.
"Please make sure to come back to us in one piece," added Sayuri.
Kiriya looked at them and smiled.
"They'll all right, because I too have been fascinated by the legend of Sato," he assured them.
They stood watching and waiting as dawn slowly approached them from the sky above.