AC: Hello everyone. When you will read this, maybe you missed the release of the previous chapter due to a bug on the Fanfiction site and maybe some of you might not have read chapter 110. I suggest you do so since this one is the follow up to the previous chapter.

Chapter 111: The Reward Of Faith

Drum was the first who reached Tsukikage range with his drill. Tsukikage simply put his katana in the way and deviated the drill with ease before countering with a kick on the chest of the red dragon.

Drum almost lost his balance as he took a few steps back by the impact and grunted as how much more painful it was than expected, Not having an armor makes a big difference, he thought as he prepared to continue his assault.

Ironchain threw his chains, but Tsukikage dodged them with ease as he tried to escape the place, knowing all too well that he wouldn't stand a chance.

When the ninja jumped away, Gao had an idea and use a spellcard, "Blue Dragon Shield!"

The shield appeared behind Tsukikage and his back hit on it before he felt on the ground, falling to escape as Drum rushed at him. The red dragon blocked the blade of the katana with his drill and blocked the next attack of Tsukikage before talking the nanomachine ninja against the wall.

"Hold him there!" Ironchain said as he prepared to capture him.

Zanya gasped when he yelled, "Wait!"

Tsukikage used his special ability and split into small parts of himself. Ironchain stopped his momentum and didn't throw his chains just in time or he could have captured Drum instead. The ninja reformed himself, away from the two dragons when Cat Sith appeared from behind and slashed his shoulder with his small rapier.

Tsukikage was ready to kill the cat when Ironchain grabbed the blade of the katana with his chains, "No way I'm going to let you do that!"

"Now Gao!"

Gao raised his card, "Drum, awake your inner power!" The card shined.

Drum armor exploded into fragments. The fragments started too fused once again in a new form. A bronze samurai armor covered his legs and his tail, but not his body since his breastplate was long gone. His helmet morphed and took the form of a kabuto with the two silver horns changing into darken silver color. A long crimson cape appeared on his back and attached around his neck. He threw his drill in the air and turned into a long katana with thrusters on the handle.

"With the power of Katana world, I am now!" he spun his katana around his hand while a scabbard appeared in his other one and attached it on his flank, "The Great Dragon Samurai Drum!"

Drum charged and slashed with his katana, but Tsukikage blocked it with ease. Drum had fewer problems blocking the assault of the ninja with his katana than with his drill and managed to push Tsukikage against the wall once again.

Ironchain frowned as he showed more restrain to throw his chains just in case Tsukikage tried his trick once again.

The ninja suddenly passed around Drum and slashed the dragon back, but was blocked by Cat Sith who deviated the blade with his own before being thrown against a wall and painfully grunting.

"Thanks Cat Sith," Drum said as he blocked the next attack.

The ninja and the dragon glared at each other's while Ironchain grunted as he prepared his chains. The blue dragon had enough and joined directly in the fight. He attacked the ninja from behind, but Tsukikage pushed Drum away and jumped over him. Drum saw the chains twisting at the last second and missing him.

"Sorry Drum," Ironchain said with an apologised voice before grunting at Tsukikage.

"No problem," the red dragon replied.

Drum took charge once again and ended up in a sword fight against the ninja. As the two fought on, Kuguru used a spellcard to heal Cat Sith before using an item card and prepared her bow.

Zanya was also preparing his spellcard to free his buddy when the time will come, but for now, it wasn't coming with how Tsukikage managed to resist all of them.

Cat Sith watched the battle while Ironchain was waiting for the moment to switch place with Drum and continue the battle.

Kuguru readied her bow and waited for an opportunity to fire an arrow. She waited for the perfect moment and when Drum jumped away from the ninja, she fired and hit on the monster's shoulder. Tsukikage dropped his katana.

Ironchain took this chance and threw his chains and managed to restrain Tsukikage. He held on but the arrow suddenly came out of the shoulder and hit on the blue dragon snout. This took him by surprised and released a portion of the tension on his chains and Tsukikage managed to escape it.

The blue dragon grunted as the ninja managed to escape his chains and tried to capture him once again, but Tsukikage jumped in the air and tried to escape to safety again.

It was then that the ninja monster was hit in the back by something hard and was thrown on the ground.

Tsukikage stood up and looked behind him when he saw Halberd with his weapon and shield ready.

"You will not escape Tsukikage. We are here to free you from the control of however is doing this to you!" Halberd declared.

"Halberd?" Drum and Ironchain yelled surprised.

"I hear it when you talked together Drum. Hanako wants me to help you since I forbidden her to come here," he pointed his halberd at Tsukikage, "You're liberation will begin soon. Sorry for the pain we will cause you."

Zanya lightly smiled when helped came and prepared his card.

"Let me and Halberd take him Drum," Ironchain suddenly said, "Wait for the right moment to come. Let's do this Halberd!"

The red dragon nodded and they both charged at Tsukikage. The duo of dragons attacked in sync with one another and when they attacked, they left no room for the ninja to counter. Halberd was blocking the view of Tsukikage with his large shield while Ironchain aimed where the ninja wasn't looking. Despite that, Tsukikage had good instinct and dodged the chains when they came at him. That was until he blocked the halberd of the red dragon and forced Tsukikage to follow the sharp weapon, which was enough for the chains to grab the ninja and imprisoned him in its metal.

"I got him!" Ironchain grunted as he restrained him.

Halberd turned toward Drum and ordered, "With me now!"

Drum nodded and they both restrained Tsukikage on the ground, making sure he wouldn't try to escape while Ironchain solidified his grasp on the ninja.

"It's time Zanya!" Gao yelled.

"We can save him now big brother!" Akatsuki yelled as he started crying, hoping that his friend would be back to normal.

Zanya grabbed the card and put everything he had to cast the spell, "Cast! Soul Liberation!"

The boy felt his energy starting to drain out of his body and quickly acted. His vision was lightly altered as his eye sight quickly reduced when it came to the surrounding and could see only a small spot. The color also became paler where he was looking, but some spots were more brilliant. He searched in the body of Tsukikage, I have to find what's controlling you no matter what! Zanya thought strongly. As he searched, he thought back about everything that happened since Tsukikage disappeared until that point. His lips were lightly pointing down as he reminded himself of how he didn't fully trust his buddy when he left them, I'm sorry Tsukikage. I should have trust you and keep trusting you. You were always here to help us and helping us when we needed help. You didn't ask for many things in return except to live with us. When you left, I thought you abandoned us because I was weak. I believed those lies, but my little brother didn't. I should have kept my faith in you. I should have noticed that you would never do that or that I should have known you better, Zanya felt his strength decreasing, but managed to find what was controlling his buddy. He couldn't really see what it was, but he noticed that the shape of color of the object was different from the black of Tsukikage clothing. He used everything left in him to free his buddy from the control of whoever was responsible, Tsukikage. I promise that I'll never doubt you anymore as long as my little brother continues to believe in you. I hope you'll forgive me. He noticed that his buddy was looking at him at the very corner of his eyesight, and it was the real Tsukikage, well, that was what Zanya's believed, I almost finish it. Done! "I did it. I don't see it anymore."

He felt on his knee and panted loudly. He felt like he ran the marathon and after reaching his limits, continued running for an hour. The boy panted loudly and felt as that he was about to fell asleep. He felt someone grabbing him before he felt on the ground and looked at the one who caught him. Tsukikage looked at the boy and it was obvious, by how the ninja eyes were shining that he felt joy.

Everyone else didn't know what to say as Tsukikage helped Zanya to sit down just before Akatsuki ran and hugged the nanomachine ninja.

"You're back!" The younger brother said.

"Nin!" Tsukikage replied.

Zanya thought about what he should say to his buddy, but nothing really came to his mind. He just said what he needed to say, without looking in the eyes of his buddy, "Tsukikage..." his buddy turned toward him, "I'm... I'm sorry for thinking that you would abandon us because I wasn't good enough in the tournament. I didn't believe that something happened to you," he gulped as he held with his will, the tears that wanted to come out of his eyes, "I'm sorry for not believing you Tsukikage. I'm sorry that I wasn't like Akatsuki."

Tsukikage looked at his buddy and took out his scroll. Something was starting to appear on it, but it disappeared immediately before he put the scroll in his pocket. The ninja replied, with his own words instead of his scroll, "I forgive you Zanya and never will I hold a grudge against you."

Zanya didn't reply, but he started to lightly smile. His friends congratulated him on his success while Drum was surprised that Tsukikage could actually speak. It was then that everyone heard, "Buddy Skill on."

Zanya saw that his card deck changed form and took the shape of a katana while he had a light blue crescent moon on his forehead.

"Zanya," Gao whispered.

"You have a buddy skill now big brother!" Akatsuki joyfully said.

"I... I can't believe it," the boy in question whispered.

After this, he deactivated his buddy skill and turned toward Gao and his friends, "Thank you for helping us," he found no words to reply.

"There is no problem," Gao replied with a smile as he scratched the back of his head.

"Finally, something good happens," Drum said as he closed his eyes and smiled.

"We are glad you came here Halberd," Ironchain said before giving a strong slap in the back of the red dragon.

"Of course," Halberd replied, unfazed by it while the blue dragon painfully winced.

They talked a little together, but eventually, Zanya asked to his buddy, "Tsukikage. We know someone controlled you. You have to tell us who it is now. We have to find those who are responsible and clean your name."

"He's right. You have murdered two humans and tried to kill three more after all," Tenbu agreed as he played with his pink mustaches.

Tsukikage took out his scroll and nodded, "Nin," but before he could start to explain it, things went south once again.

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next Chapter: Imprisoned, But...