There was another moment of quiet and stillness between the two, before Kanakuma sighed."I suppose there is no reason to fight you holding back. I always hoped you would come around, but hearing those words from your mouth again, seeing your actions again after such a time... I see that we cannot co-exist despite our differences."
Kasen chuckled. "You speak as if you know you'll beat me!"
"That's because there's something you don't know about me. An application of my knowledge." Kanakuma said, raising her claws. "Do you know why, of all the Oni, I am the only one to keep her nails long and sharp?"
"Because you are the worst of them all, who likes to rip apart those in her way!" Kasen said.
"No. So I can do this." She said, before she did something Rumia did not expect. She moved her fingers in ways that must have dislocated them, before thrusting them into herself, clearly drawing blood, which was a very, very pale red, being made up of ethanol instead of water. Her right hand stabbed parts of her upper body, while her left stabbed parts of her legs.
"What are you doing? If you aim to commit Sekkupu that's not how you do it." Kasen said, before Rumia laughed.
"Kasen, are you that blind?" she said weakly. "Don't you notice anything about where she is stabbing?"
Kanakuma's claws were pulled out of her own body, causing the blood to run more, as she cackled in a mixture of pain and glee, her head bowed, her black hair covering it. She looked like a ragged daemon, reminding Rumia somewhat of her true self. "Acupressure: Unshackleing of the Beast" she said, before she moved with such speed Rumia could hardly follow, before Kasen flew into one of the other mountains like a rocket, Kanakuma being in front of where Kasen was, fist clenched.
"Even without her power of teleportation, there was another edge in combat other than knowledge she had." Yuugi said. "Kanakuma was the fastest Oni as well as the smartest. Suika the Pandemonium, Yuugi the Strong, Kanakuma the Swift."
"Suika's title sounds much grander than the others." Rumia commented.
"Well that's because 'big' or 'small' or 'heavy' or 'light' didn't really apply." Suika said.
"And when using her Acupressure, her speed becomes even faster. It allows her to save her teleportation for when she really needs it, as her power is only short-range, and the time between her using it depends on how far she last went." Yuugi explained. "Her raw strength also increases to just below mine, although in her state it's probably around Suika's full power right now, and she loses all weakness in her body, such as feeling pain."
"I can see why she was the one regarded as the leader of the Oni then. Brains and Brawn." Rumia commented, getting up. "But I can't just sit here and let her fight Kasen alone. If Kasen gets one good blow with her Immaterial Arm..."
At that point, Kasen flew out of the mountainside she was slammed into, her arm unbanadged, revealing what looked like an arm made of a dense black mist, reaching out towards Kanakuma, who fluidly evaded, flipping in the air, before her foot collided with Kasen's chin, sending her flying upwards, and she chased after, slamming her to the mountainside with a blow.
"Well, we may have to step in." Suika said. "But there's no way Kasen is getting Kanakuma as she is now. Take this time to gather your strength back."
"Wait, if there's no way she's getting caught now, why would we possibly need to step in?" Rumia asked.
"Because this is also extremely taxing on Kanakuma's body. She can't keep it up long. Our bodies have these limits for a reason, everyone's does. You can train to increase the limit over time, but outright breaking the limits of your body in a way like this is very stressful, and if kept up for a prolonged time would be suicidal." Yuugi explained. "And in her current state, the time period would be even shorter."
"I see, so she has to defeat Kasen quickly." Rumia said, as Kasen flew back up towards Kanakuma, clearly battered by her two collisions with the mountains. Kanakuma did not even let Kasen try and attack, and dashed towards her, this time, puncturing various parts of her body with her claws, points Rumia knew from her own training, before she headbutted Kasen back to the ground. It was a far more brutal version of Futo's fighting style, and Futo seemed to know it from the somewhat upset look on her face as she was making sure Soga was alright.
"Had enough?!" she shouted. "Your limbs should be paralyzed now. Don't worry, you'll be able to move again once your muscles heal." Kasen flew back up, bleeding 'normal' blood from her wounds, a sign of her lack of drinking. Her material arm was limp, and her legs seemed to be so too.
"I still have the Immaterial Arm." Kasen said. "There are no 'pressure points' for you to target on it."
"I can name two, but I would rather not hit those." Kanakuma said.
"The heart and the brain." Kasen added. "Yes, destroying those would indeed render the Immaterial Arm still. But you can't bring yourself to kill me, even now, can you? I guess that's the one good thing about the Oni, they cannot bring themselves to cause harm to those they see as kin. It was the same with the Tengu. I have to admit, I hated using your own good facet against you, but it is also the greatest weakness of the Oni."
Kanakuma dashed towards Kasen again, even faster than before, punching her on the face multiple times, side to side, before she punched Kasen in the gut, the traitor unable to defend herself due to her limp arm. Kasen doubled over, but then kept going, using her chin, and the rest of her coiled body to hold Kanakuma's arm at her gut, as she lunged with the Immaterial Arm. Kanakuma teleported behind Kasen, and delivered a swift chop to the back of her neck, causing Kasen to clearly go limp for a second.
"Just because I won't kill you doesn't mean that I won't beat you to an inch of your life!" she roared, before her other hand slammed on Kasen's back, and her knee drove into her stomach. This time, Kasen spat up blood in reaction to the three blows.
"Does she have to go this far?" Miko asked.
"An Oni does not give up so easily." Yuugi said. "Until Kasen has given up her ambitions, she cannot stop beating her."
"But still, she could cause lasting damage... a blow like that to the spine, especially with her knee at her gut..." Futo said.
"Nothing an Oni cannot recover from. Do not confuse Oni biology with that of humans." Suika said. "An Oni will, given enough time, heal almost anything except a very few injuries, such as a lost eye or limb. Even a broken back is recoverable."
Kanakuma started panting heavily, and Kasen flew back up. "Are you quite done?" she wheezed. The Oni tried to rush at her nemesis again, but was much slower, Kasen turned her shoulder in defense, ramming Kanakuma in the chest, before punching her face with the Immaterial Arm. On contact, Rumia saw a shimmering blue Kanakuma in front of her path, hardly ahead of her, the opposite of an after-image. But Rumia knew what that must have been. The Immaterial Arm did not strike at the body, but the soul. The body was simply following the soul.
Kanakuma tried to get up, but started to cough. "Yes, I would say you are all done." Kasen said, landing behind the Oni, before her arm reached towards the spot of Kanakuma's back where her heart would be.
That was the point that Yuugi and Suika both punched Kasen at the same time, casing her to skate away.
"What were those pathetic punches?" she asked. "Are you two really that tired and injured?"
The two Oni breathed heavily, before Futo, Soga and Miko rose up behind them, unleashing a massive barrage of magic, arrows and general danmaku, which Kasen powered through, using her Immaterial Arm to drive through, before she swung it almost like a hammer, fist clenched, and punched the three of them. Soga in particular, as a ghost, seemed hurt from the impact, and screamed in pain.
"If you continue to get in my way I will be left no recourse but to destroy your souls as well." Kasen threatened, her real arm starting to move again, and standing on her legs instead of floating, the acupressure wearing off.
Rumia sat in the shadow of the clouds, gathering her strength. She would have one shot. An attack power enough to knock out a Deva, she had to have it in her...
Miko stood up defiantly, gripping the hilt of her Seven-Star Sword. "By the name of Prince Shotoku; I cannot allow your deeds to continue."
"And what are you going to do about it?" Kasen challenged.
"Secret Treasure: Armillary Sphere of Ikaruga-dera!" Miko cried, releaseing a growing sphere from her hand towards Kasen, which had many, many smaller spheres which gathered and revolved around it, battering Kasen, but it was just a distraction, as Miko, signaled with her shaku, before crying "Honor: Ranks of Twelve Levels" and unleashing a massive barrage of lasers, which split into an omnidirectional barrage of talismans.
But this too was just a Miko buying time, holding the Oni back, as she again grabbed the hilt of the Seven Star Sword, and this time, pulled it out of it's scabbard. Rumia was blinded by the brilliant light that emanated from the sword for the split second Miko had It out. The light faded just as quickly, and Miko was on the other side of Kasen, who had received a massive gash across her midrift.
"Not bad, Saint." Kasen said, before Miko fell to the ground. What must have happened was clear, Kasen had struck a counterblow with her Immaterial arm despite all of Miko's efforts.
Futo rushed over to Miko, who was still conscious, but not able to stand. The traitorous Oni then walked towards Kanakuma again, limping this time, before reaching for her. "It seems there is no-one left to stop me…" she said, before Rumia emerged from the shadow, and grabbed the Immaterial Arm, in her Shadow form, a blue aura surrounding her hand where she gripped.
"You fool! Why are you grabbing the Immaterial Arm!" Kasen said. "It'll destroy you!"
"I'm willing to take that risk than have to crush the souls of my friends." Rumia said. "It hurt to see you fighting and hurting them while I was gathering my strength back, but now, I know what I can do to defeat you. An attack that can bring down a Deva."
"You're bluffing. If you had something like that at your disposal you would have used it earlier, to defeat those beasts!" Kasen protested, attempting to punch Rumia, but being intangible in her shadow form, failing.
"We'll see about that, since this one was inspited by that Kirin." Rumia said, before her whole body began to spark with dark energy. "For this attack, I need to grab you, but grabbing an Oni is stupid. But the Immaterial can grab the Immaterial, that only makes sense, right? Your own arm will be your downfall!"
The energy surged from Rumia into Kasen, who screamed in pain.
"Dark Energy Circuit!" Rumia said, as the flow of dark energy crackled through both of them, Kasen clearly in much more pain than Rumia was, until Kasen passed out, and Rumia let go, returning to normal, staggering, and spitting up some blood herself.
"Man… pumping that much dark energy through my own body, even in the Shadow form, is painful… stupid stuff likes to explode when it shouldn't…" she groaned, before she collapsed.
Rumia woke up in what had to be the Palace of the Earth Spirits, judging from the stained glass windows. Rin was watching over her, in her cat form, and turned into her youkai form when she noticed Rumia was awake.
"Ah! Rumia! Yuugi said she had a plan for Kasen when she showed up with everyone else and you. She dumped you here and asked for us to make sure you healed up." Rin said happily, before she put on a sly smile. "Koishi looked interested when she went past you unconscious. I wonder what was going on in your head while you were out? It was the kind of look that screams gossip."
Rumia just shook her head. "Where is Yuugi?"
"She's with the others. They're taking Kasen around the underground." Rin explained. "Okku's with them too holding her at… control rod point."
"What?!" Rumia shouted.
"Well Kanakuma had an idea. She said 'We should show Kasen how the Oni live down here!'". She also said 'Kasen wouldn't have believed that the Oni would co-exist with the Satori or the Kasha or half the races down here, but here they are, a sign the Oni have changed already!"
"Wait, Kanakuma's down here?!" Rumia said.
"Yeah, she said something about not wanting to be down here so soon, and coughed a couple of times, but she said she can cope."
"How long was I out this time?" Rumia asked.
"A few hours. The Oni dragged Kasen out of bed basically as soon as she was conscious. I'm not even sure she had stopped bleeding yet. What on earth happened up there? If she wasn't an Oni, she'd be dead with ease with those wounds!" Rin asked. "Not to mention even Yuugi and Suika had some injuries."
"Long fight. She didn't know when to give up and almost won because of it." Rumia said. "What about Miko, Soga and Futo?"
"Suika said to tell you 'The Tao people have gone home to rest. Miko's proud of you for defending her honor by stopping Kasen.' Or something like that." Rin said.
Rumia just smiled upon hearing that, before getting up.
"Well then, now this is all over, I need to prepare."
"Prepare for what?" Rin asked.
"Whatever mess happens next Rin! Whatever happens next."
Author Notes: So that's the end of the Oni story. Next up will be a few chapters focusing on Wriggle. After that, it depends on demand really. Would you guys like a chapter focusing on Renko's training with Mima and another on Maribel's self-training, and of course their interactions, or would you just want to get on with the main story?