A/N: I don't own World Trigger
Mimics
Chapter 67: For The Ones We Love
Yugo stared at the black armor covering Yuma. Though they had been fighting over the Black Trigger for days and both of them kept using the seals, this was the first time Yuma had actually fully activated it in front of Yugo since that day at Tamakoma.
"That's the path you want to take, Yuma?" Yugo asked, dropping a hand to one of his sheathed swords, though he stayed sitting on the ground as he really didn't feel up to standing. He really just felt so exhausted and not in a tired sort of way like he wanted to sleep the day away kind of feel. He just wanted this to be all over.
Unfortunately, his son standing in front of him, Black Trigger fully activated and showing it off, was making the blood inside of Yugo boil to a point that it felt like his skin was going to melt off. It was a good thing he threw his jacket away last night because if he hadn't, he would be tearing it off right now. Just what was left of his uniform from the constant fights this week felt like it was going to melt into his skin.
The twisting emotions from defeat to frustration to pain on Yugo's face almost had Yuma hesitating. He knew Yugo was as tired of this song and dance as Yuma was.
Yuma held his hand up towards Yugo, a seal beginning to form. "If you want to stop being difficult, you can just give up and die already." He almost found himself wincing as he recalled hearing those same words from Miwa months ago. Of course, he said them in a more vicious manner as he actually wanted to kill Yuma out of hatred. Yuma had no hatred here. Only sorrow as he watched Yugo fight a war inside him all week and now how he wanted to just quit but wasn't allowed to.
"Anchor. Plus Bolt Triple!" Yuma ordered.
Just as the seal formed completely to unleash the Lead Bullets, Yugo's hand slapped the pile of rubble next to him. "Bound, double." The rubble went flying towards Yuma, but it wasn't meant to hit him. The job of the rubble was to take the impact of the Lead Bullets for Yugo.
It also worked to block Yuma's vision, so Yugo threw himself to the side to dodge the last of the Lead Bullets that managed to make it pass his rock barrier. As the Lead Bullets slammed into the wall where he had previously been sitting, Yugo rose to his feet and brushed the dust off of him.
Yugo didn't get to so much as breathe before Yuma was blasting apart the rubble he threw at him and came flying towards Yugo. He flipped in the air and twisted to swing a leg at Yugo's head with a Boost seal attached to it. Before it could connect, Yugo threw a Shield up by his head to stop the attack, but to his surprise the kick tore through it and slammed into Yugo's face, sending him flying backwards as cracks snapped all along his face.
Yugo threw a hand out to catch the ground and flipped himself over. He watched out of the corner of his eye as the black Trion spilled from his face, though he could already feel his face beginning to heal from the damage. He had thrown that Shield up in a hurry so he didn't make it a strong one, but it was still surprising that Yuma broke through it. That meant that Yuma had used a powerful multiplier with his Boost to tear through any defense Yugo might use.
A smirk formed its way on Yugo's face. After all these years, Yuma finally managed to land a hit on him. If he hadn't been so hesitant and unsure of where he and Yugo stood in terms of their relationship, he would have managed this days ago.
The sound of a sword being drawn had Yuma slowing his pace in trepidation. He watched as Yugo slammed the sword in the ground to use as leverage to push himself to his feet as the last of cracks on his face faded away. Watching that happen, it really reminded Yuma of how his own body healed when he took damage in his non-combat Trion body.
"You're playing a dangerous game, Yuma." Yugo warned. "Activating your Black Trigger, using powerful seals, damaging me so I have to heal. Keep this pace up and you won't have any Trion left."
"You're already draining me of it so I might as well use it before it's gone." Yuma retorted.
Yugo's eyes narrowed as his side effect twinged at that. It wasn't quite a lie, but it wasn't quite the truth either. Yuma had something else in mind here. "You can't survive without Trion, Yuma."
"Then I better defeat you before I'm all out." Yuma replied.
Again, something in Yuma's words was setting off Yugo's side effect. Eleni had gone to talk to Yuma to not only return the Black Trigger to him, but also because she wanted to see her son and how he had grown. Something in Yuma had shifted from that conversation. It wasn't his will to fight as Yuma had already shown that determination to Yugo when he walked into the church earlier, but there was something different here.
"Boost, Quinte." Yuma seemed to be done with talking as he used his seal to power himself and kicked hard off the ground. He sent himself flying straight for Yugo, unafraid of the sword he held. As he neared Yugo, before he could get in range of the sword, he raised his hand and unveiled the Chain he planted on Yugo when he kicked him earlier, surprising Yugo at its sudden appearance. A second Chain extended from Yuma's hand to connect the two together. Yuma took a firm grip on the Chain and planted his feet on the ground to get leverage. He yanked on the Chain as he twisted his body around and sent Yugo flying through the air, releasing his hold on the Chain towards the end so Yuma didn't go flying with him.
Yugo slammed through the roof above them and kept going through the air. To stop himself from completely flying through the air and then falling back to the ground, he reached out and grabbed one of the Chains that he and Yuma were using as footing at the beginning of the fight. He used his momentum from being thrown to flip himself over and land on top of the Chain in a crouch, eyes locked downwards towards the new hole in the road as he waited for Yuma to make his next move.
*Mimics*
Shun squinted his eyes as he tried to take in the figure that suddenly came up from underground. He didn't see any white, just a bunch of black so that told him it wasn't his friend. "Ah, it was Kuga-san who came up this time."
"Isn't that good? It means Kuga is managing to put up a decent fight." Hayato replied.
"I didn't say it was bad." Shun replied. "I'm just eager for this to be over with."
Kazuma stepped up to Shun's side, his usual cheerful smile replaced with a more understanding smile. "I think everyone feels that way. It truly has been a very stressful week."
"The constant attacks, Border's founders trying to destroy our Black Triggers, Yuma-senpai almost dying multiple times. This week has sucked so much." Shun muttered. "At least with Aftokrator's invasion, it only lasted like an hour." Sure, there were ramifications from that invasion that they had to deal with after the fact, but the actual battle was over and done with in a single day so there was no more risk of anyone dying or getting kidnapped. This week? This attack from Meraki? It was just constant heart attacks from concern and fear and the whiplash of information they were getting. Shun truly didn't care that Yuma's father was a Border founder. Was it interesting to learn? Sure, but in the grand scheme of things, he didn't need that information. He just needed to know that his friend was going to make it out of this alive which was why he wanted this to be over already.
"It's a shame we weren't around for that and made you fight alone." Saeki said.
"Alone?" Shun repeated. "I wasn't alone. I had Yoneyan-senpai and Izumin-senpai by my side the whole time until I bailed out." It was the only reason he was allowed to fight since Director Shinoda said no one could go out to fight without their full squad together. It was lucky Izumi and Tachikawa were allowed to split up which let him and Yoneya work with Izumi because Shun did not want to sit out of that fight. It was frustrating being on the sidelines while a battle was happening.
Like right now.
Shun hated that Yuma had requested to fight his father alone today and the directors and Jin all approved it! They approved Yuma fighting the man that has been trying to kill him all week! It just seemed so reckless to let Yuma and Yugo be so close to each other. Even with all the agents here as backup should Yuma need it, it didn't feel right because they were so far away from the fight. If Yuma needed help, only the snipers could help fast enough. They already had to intervene when Trion Soldiers began to get in Yuma's way while Shun was stuck here just watching and doing nothing.
He hated it.
He couldn't even enjoy watching Yuma fight which was usually so interesting because of how creative he was in his strategies because of how worried he was. Yuma had no bail out right now. Yuma's body was currently falling apart because of Yugo stealing his Trion.
Everything was working against Yuma right now so how could Shun stay calm?
"Kuga-kun isn't alone either." Saeki replied. He turned his hand upwards as he activated his radar, putting his hand between him and Shun to show it off to him.
Seeing his teammate wanting to show him something, Shun forced his eyes away from staring at Yugo to look at the radar. He took a moment to process all the red dots that were marked with all the agents' names thanks to the operators and in the center of the radar was the purple marker that was Suwa's starmaker planted on Yugo. Until Yugo lost the part of his body where the starmaker hit him, they were always going to know where he was.
However...
Shun glanced up at the Chain where Yugo was kneeling then looked back down at the radar. There was someone missing from the radar and by Shun's guess, he should be at a lower elevation than Yugo since he was still underground.
"Why isn't Yuma-senpai showing up on the radar? I thought Usami-san updated his Trigger so we could track him." Shun said.
"His Trigger keeps turning off and on." Kusakabe replied. "I'm not sure if there is something faulty with the quick update Usami-san did or if Kuga-kun is turning it off constantly."
"He wouldn't be that reckless to turn his Trigger off in front of the enemy, would he?" Hayato asked.
"Ah, well," Shun thought about it. Yuma had never done it in front of him, but now that he knew of his Neighbor status and the fact that he held a Black Trigger, things began to make a lot more sense to him. "Maybe he's done it if he is switching between his normal Trigger and a Black Trigger. We can't track his Black Trigger on our radar so we have no idea when he uses it."
"I don't think that is what he is doing. He's able to use his Black Trigger abilities on top of his normal Trigger so he shouldn't be switching between them." Kazuma said.
"I meant in general since I know he switched to his Black Trigger in the Aftokrator invasion. In that chaotic situation, he would have had to do it in the middle of the invasion with enemies around so he would probably do it here too if he needed to." Shun replied. Though, he was pretty sure that it was said Yuma couldn't use his Black Trigger, at least not properly activating it, as it was severely damaged because of Yugo. "He shouldn't be using it though. His ring is pretty much just hanging on by a thread at this point. This fight has already been quite reckless with the way he has been throwing his seals around."
Kazuma prodded Shun's shoulder. When he got his teammate to look away from the radar, he pointed back towards the destroyed road so he could see Yuma launching himself out of the tunnel, flying at a rapid, impossible to track, speed. Despite it seeming impossible to dodge him at the speed he was moving, Yugo still found the time to dodge by jumping backwards to land farther back on the Chain. It was likely he already sensed Yuma coming and was prepared to move before Yuma reached him.
That wasn't what concerned Shun though.
It was the fact, that as Yuma stopped and landed on the Chain, even from this distance, Shun could tell something was different about his outfit. It was still black, but it clearly wasn't the uniform he was wearing with his old Trigger, not to mention the lack of swords in his hand.
"Is that what his Black Trigger looks like when it is activated?" Kazuma asked.
"I've never actually seen him activate his Black Trigger, but considering the lack of Triggers on him, that is really all it could be." Shun said blandly. He really couldn't find it in him to be surprised. Despite the fact that Yuma shouldn't use his Black Trigger because of the risk involved, that was exactly the reason why Yuma would use it. Or, at least, that was the conclusion Shun came to after dealing with Yuma in his reckless, stressed and frustrated state all week.
"Either Kuga is getting ready to finish this or he is going to destroy his Black Trigger and lose. Whichever it is, this fight won't last much longer." Hayato said. "You won't have to be so stressed for much longer, Shun."
Great, Shun could go from stress to either relieved that it was over or freaking out if Yuma lost this fight.
*Mimics*
Yuma planted his hand on the Chain in front of him to help balance himself. He felt his fingers twitch violently, but he refused to acknowledge that as it was a feeling he was quite familiar with as he had to deal with it all week. The pressure building up inside his body as it was getting ready to snap into pieces. Mogami healed him last night and then after that, he got into a fight with Mogami and then he came out to fight Yugo today. He started the fight with just a normal Trigger and seals and that was pushing it since Yuma wasn't able to recover Trion right now since Yugo was sapping it all from him. The Trion Mogami gave him would only last so long and now that he fully activated his Black Trigger to fight Yugo, he was draining the last of his reserves at a rapid pace.
If he hit zero, that would be the end.
He would be dead.
His normal Trion body would fall apart and his real body would come out and die within seconds.
With how much he had been pushing himself in these fights, there wasn't much time left.
Yuma pushed himself to his feet, shaking his hand out at his side to try to ease the buildup of pressure from his mind. He couldn't have that distracting him.
"Oyaji," Yuma called.
Yugo tilted his head towards Yuma.
"Don't think badly of me for what happens in the next few minutes." Yuma requested.
That was a strange thing for Yuma to say. Yuma had been talking for a while about wanting to save Yugo by killing him. It didn't hurt Yugo to hear as he had been wanting to die since he came to the realization that he was a Mimic being used as a weapon. It wasn't something that he would resent his son for doing for him. In fact, he thought he had made that quite clear to Yuma.
Now.
He made it clear to Yuma now.
The beginning of the week he was aware of the fact that Yuma didn't believe that with how harshly Yugo had been attacking him and Border, though they had been more collateral damage in the Kuga family war.
"I could never think less of you, Yuma." Yugo said. "Even your flaws, like your recklessness and stubbornness, have a cuteness to them." Even if those flaws did frustrate Yugo sometimes as it made it harder to keep Yuma safe at times.
Yuma was never going to escape the cute comments it seemed. It didn't help that everyone that called him cute in any way was always telling the truth. Though, right now, it felt kind of demeaning since Yuma was in the process of trying to kill his father. There was nothing cute about this situation.
*Mimics*
"Osamu."
"Jin-san?" Osamu said surprised, keeping the conversation in his head through internal comms since neither Chika or Hyuse had outwardly reacted to the voice. Hyuse would have had a disgusted look on his face if Jin had started to speak to him.
"Did Usami pass on Yuma's message to you?"
"She did, but we weren't going to interfere in the fight before his message so I don't understand why he felt the need to remind us of that." Osamu couldn't even ask Yuma about it since he not only didn't want the agents distracting him from Yugo, but also because Yuma was using his Black Trigger. They really needed to get Yuma a communication device for his Black Trigger.
"If I had to guess, it's because Yuma is about to do something dangerous that isn't guaranteed to work, but it definitely won't work if anyone interferes." Jin replied. "And we all know how you are when someone in front of you needs help so he wanted to warn us once again to not to do anything."
Osamu found himself swallowing heavily at that. To him, it sounded like Yuma was pulling out a do or die, last resort strategy. A reckless move that could get him killed. A part of Osamu wanted to order his teammate down, to tell him they could find another way to beat Yugo that wasn't so risky. There were so many agents here to support Yuma so surely they could devise another plan.
But the words froze on Osamu's tongue when his mind flashed back to his own recklessness.
Of when he put everything on the line to save Chika.
Osamu only got as far as he did in the Aftokrator invasion because of his comrades, but in the end, it was only him and Replica with no guarantee of any backup arriving in time to help. Osamu had to take a risky move because he couldn't afford to bail out. They had to force Aftokrator to leave because it would save Chika.
Because so many top agents had already bailed out because of the humanoid Neighbors and they couldn't pull any more away from fighting the Trion Soldiers.
Osamu did the only thing he could do, and that was to revert to his real body.
To put his life on the line to save Chika.
Because that was what it meant to be an agent.
It was their job to fight for Border and the city, to keep everyone safe.
To save them from the Neighbors.
Considering what he did for Chika, it would be hypocritical of Osamu to tell Yuma he couldn't put his own life on the line to save someone.
Because that was what Yuma was doing.
This wasn't just about keeping Yuma from dying because of his Trion being siphoned by Yugo.
This was about saving Yugo from being Meraki's soldier.
This was about saving Yugo from doing the thing he would hate himself the most for–killing Yuma.
"Jin-san, do you know what Kuga is planning?" Osamu asked.
"I have a vague idea of the future, but if it is the current plan he is working on, I can understand why he is insisting we stand down. With what I'm seeing, if he didn't warn us to stay out of it, I would already be making a plan to move in."
That did nothing to reassure Osamu. During Aftokrator's invasion, Jin knew the kind of danger Osamu and Chika would be in, but didn't warn them or take them out of the line of fire. Instead, he did what he could to set the pieces in place as he needed and when he needed them there so the future would work out in their favor. If Jin was stepping aside, instead of setting up the agents in a way to help Yuma, then he likely saw that the agents wouldn't be able to help or they would make the situation worse.
Jin was basically saying they had to stand back and watch Yuma gamble his life to stop Yugo.
"How good is Kuga's chance of surviving today?"
"It's the highest it's been all week. If I had to put a number on it, I'd say fifty-five percent in Yuma's favor though a lot of it relies on Kuga-san."
The highest it's been, but still not one hundred percent guaranteed. That was what Osamu was taking from Jin's reply.
Osamu looked back towards the battle taking place. His hand fell onto the hilt of Raygust at his side, gripping it tightly there. He would not draw it as he would do as Yuma requested. He would trust his partner to handle this, even with his most reckless strategy because even when the strategy was reckless, Yuma's skill and experience made it work.
That didn't mean it was going to be easy for Osamu to keep himself from moving. Perhaps this was something that Osamu shouldn't watch if Yuma was going to choose a risky strategy, but it was hard to look away from a trainwreck.
*Mimics*
Yuma's face was losing some of his impassiveness. His son was trying to show nothing on his face as he wanted to remain calm and in control, but his expression was starting to slip. There had been a strange flash of pain that passed through Yuma's eyes very briefly. It shouldn't have even been possible considering the fact that Yuma was currently in a Trion body.
On top of that was Yuma's strange words. He didn't want his father to think badly of him. What had Eleni and Yuma discussed earlier?
It was a curious question, but was the answer truly important?
Yugo's goal should just be about how to get the Black Trigger from Yuma.
To do that, he had to defeat Yuma to get him out of his combat body. Although, considering the slight tremor that he could see in Yuma's hand, it was likely Yugo wouldn't have to do anything. If he just let Yuma keep using his seals, he would waste all of his Trion and destroy his combat body all on his own.
Considering the risk to Yuma right now if he was to use all up all of his Trion though, Yugo would like to hope his son wasn't going to do that. It was fine to run out of Trion in a normal situation, but Yuma's situation wasn't normal. Yuma was draining his Trion with attacks on top of the Trion that Yugo was siphoning with no way to recover his Trion. Normally when Trion ran out, a Trigger simply couldn't be used until the user had rested and recovered their Trion. It was very simple to do by simply not using Trion, resting, eating, and sleeping. Just like restoring energy.
With a connection formed between Yuma and Yugo, the Trion was being dragged along that link to be handed to Yugo. Yuma was basically fighting for scraps of Trion to use before it could get dragged away by Yugo.
How much did Yuma have left?
How much longer until Yugo won?
"Boost. Plus, Bolt. Quadra!"
Yugo stared at Yuma. They were standing right across from each other on the same Chain. Being directly across from him, Yuma's attack could only go straight for Yugo if he stayed here, and obviously Yugo was not going to do that.
"Bound!" Yugo slammed his foot on the seal he planted on the Chain in front of him and launched himself to the Chain above them just as Yuma's seal fully formed and unleashed the bullets. With Yugo no longer standing there, the extra powerful bullets flew at a much faster speed to slam into the building behind Yugo. The sheer destructive power of the attack destroyed the building which meant the Chains they were standing on had no more leverage, so they began to wobble under their feet, sending Yugo and Yuma in a free fall to the ground.
Despite falling, Yugo and Yuma didn't seem concerned as Yuma looked up at Yugo, catching his eyes.
Yugo grabbed the Chain as he fell past it. Since it was only hooked to one building now, it swung him towards that building, but it made it a more controlled fall this way and gave him time to think. There was no strategic reason for Yuma's attack now. He used a powerful compound seal that would take time to form. Time that Yugo could take to dodge the attack. He had nothing to slow him down so why did Yuma make a move that was a waste of his limited Trion?
Yuma let himself free fall to the ground where he landed in a crouch on the little part that was left of the road. He felt the ground behind him shift as his weight hit it as he was right next to the part that was collapsing underground from all the explosions.
He truly did not care that Yugo dodged his attack just now. His purpose hadn't been to hit his father. Hitting Yugo just meant damage that Yugo would then heal from. It would certainly speed up what Yuma was trying to accomplish, but it certainly wasn't necessary. Honestly, it was probably the preferred method. Yuma needed Yugo to preserve his Trion as much as possible.
Yuma needed to not really fight Yugo.
With his mother's idea, a fight wasn't needed for Yuma to win.
Which, honestly, made this worse for Yuma. He couldn't win this by simply beating his father.
In fact, he had to rely on his father to win. He had to rely on Yugo acting like the father Yuma admired so much when he was a young child.
That was part of the reason why he hated this plan so much. He needed his enemy to react in the way he needed, which was something that could be predicted. If he played his enemy the right way, he could get the reaction he needed to make his plan succeed.
Unfortunately, this was Mimic Kuga Yugo who had not been acting in any way that made sense since he was a huge contradiction. His back and forth on how he handled things made it hard for Yuma to predict which reaction he would get to determine his own action.
If Yugo just took the Black Trigger from Yuma when he threw it at his face, he would have drained all the Trion and lifeforce Yugo needed to likely get enough control to make a conscious decision that would end this fight. In the end, Yugo only held the Black Trigger for a little bit before Eleni took it back from him. It wasn't that long, but hopefully it would be enough to help Yugo.
To help Yuma get what he needed.
That was something to focus on when he got through phase one of the plan though.
Yugo dropped down from the Chain a few feet away from Yuma. "Are you truly trying to kill me, Yuma?"
"That has been the goal all week." Maybe not Yuma's goal all week, but it has been Border's goal. Yuma had never been against it. He simply had a hard time accepting it as he couldn't make sense of his thoughts and emotions getting twisted around.
"Strange, because for someone with a goal like that, you really aren't trying that hard." Yugo replied.
Yuma pushed himself back to his feet to be standing once more, frowning. He looked around the destroyed street, collapsed buildings, and the Chains that were decorating the area they were in. How much more effort did he need to put in to make a point that he was really trying here?
Yugo followed Yuma's line of sight. "Destructive yes, but I don't see a strategy here, Yuma. There was no strategic value to that last attack."
"Or, there was one, but you just can't see it yet." Yuma retorted.
That was still the truth. What Yuma was doing seemed disorganized to Yugo, but clearly, he was planning something in this, even if Yugo was seeing it as a dangerous maneuverer. Yuma was choosing to waste his Trion on pointless attacks when he should be smart in how he used his Trion so he could beat Yugo while having Trion to spare.
That would be the smart play.
Yugo trained Yuma to fight smart, to think through his plans and never get hung up on a single plan.
Yuma didn't seem to be using a smart plan, but it was also possible he was just hiding his true intention which was smart. It was never a good idea to let the enemy know the plan because they would counter it then.
It was why Yugo's side effect was so useful. Enemies would try to bluff him and he would see through their tricks. Bluffs were a great way to make normal opponents second guess themselves and what they thought they knew. Yugo never had to second guess himself when his opponents weren't afraid to open their mouths because they thought they could play Yugo. It was a lesson Yuma learned at a young age. To keep his mouth shut to avoid spilling anything to Yugo or he could just be honest from the start.
And thus, Yuma was being honest with Yugo. He wasn't letting anything slip about his strategy, but he also wasn't speaking of what he was trying to do. He simply answered Yugo in a truthful, but roundabout way. Yuma knew the most about the lie detector side effect so he was the best at knowing how to deal with someone else who had the same side effect.
"Chain," Yuma suddenly slapped his hands on the ground in front of him. "Quadra!"
Two Chain seals formed where Yuma's hands were. The Chains shot straight towards Yugo who jumped over the crossing Chains to let them go pass him and slam into the building behind him while he landed safely on top of the Chains where they had crossed over each other.
"Bolt." Yuma ordered to activate the seals that were planted on the Chains behind Yugo. Because of how he angled the Chains to hit the buildings behind Yugo, the Bolt seals on the Chain were angled to be pointed at Yugo.
Yugo threw a hand out behind him. "Shield, Triple." The green Shield formed just in time to block the bullets from the Bolt seals. The sounds of cracks had Yugo glancing behind him as his Shield started to break under the attack. Even without looking back at Yuma, Yugo was still ready to throw his sword up to block a Boost powered punch. To neither of their surprise, Yugo's sword did not hold up to the attack and snapped in half.
Yugo, himself, seemed unconcerned as he threw the broken sword away and jumped away from Yuma while also pulling out his second sword.
*Mimics*
It was different. This wasn't the future that Jin had seen the other day when he began to see Yugo's future. That vision had been of Yuma in his black uniform with his swords and Yugo had both swords in it. His swords were not meant to be broken at all. They truly were going down a different path to the future.
"See something interesting?" Karasuma asked. It wasn't often Jin's expression shifted to one of surprise since he seemed to always know what was going on.
"I might shift the prediction of Yuma's survival to sixty percent now." Jin replied.
"Because of a broken sword?" Konami asked.
Jin shook his head. "Because that sword didn't need to be broken. Kuga-san allowed it." It was like how Mogami allowed Jin's sword pass his defenses so he could stab him. A broken sword wouldn't win Yuma the fight, but it took a weapon away from Yugo. Though, it hardly mattered since Yuma's goal didn't seem to be about beating Yugo anymore. It was just helpful to get the weapons out of the way. "Ever since they both came back up from underground, Kuga-san hasn't used any offensive seals."
"Something in their dynamic shifted while they were underground." Reiji concluded.
"That's my guess. Something with Yuma's mother, though I'm sure she wasn't the only thing to influence this change." Jin replied. "She certainly helped though." While he had seen different paths the future could take before the fight started, it wasn't until Eleni appeared that the future began to shift along a more positive path. He knew Yuma had a good chance of succeeding today, but he didn't know what would influence it. He thought it was just Yuma shifting the future as he pushed his father around to get what he wanted. There was no future for a Mimic of Yuma's mother, so he saw nothing of her in his vision, not that he could have since she stayed underground the whole time until Narasaka shot her on Yuma's order.
But, he was convinced she did something.
It was something he would have to talk about to Yuma later.
"Hopefully it was Yuma she helped." Konami said, but she didn't feel too sure. She was a Mimic transformed from the memories of Mimic Kuga Yugo. It didn't sound like it would do them any good, and yet, Miwa squad informed them Yuma was the one to ask Narasaka to shoot her and he killed Yuma's mom easily. They knew Yuma had spent time with his mother based on what the radar told them and what Shiori informed them of was happening and by Kazama squad's concerns.
With all of that information taken into account, maybe, just maybe, Jin was right and Yuma's mother came here with the purpose of helping her son. It made no sense since she came from Yugo's memories and should be on his side, but a lot about this situation didn't make sense anyway.
Still, Jin said sixty percent. That still wasn't that high of a chance for Yuma to survive this which was why Konami's concern had yet to be eased at all.
Jin glanced towards Konami, taking in her frown and narrowed eyes. Konami's concern was a form of tough love. She was a kind girl, but when she got worried, her anger came out towards those who dared to try to hurt those she was close to. For the ones who needed her concern, they got her gentle side like Konami had been giving Yuma all week. It was everyone else that had to deal with her harsher side as her concern came with a rough edge that she kept away from Yuma.
"When Yuma fought Murakami in the B-Rank wars, he only had about twenty percent chance of winning the fight." Jin said.
"Huuuh?" Konami twisted around to give Jin a look of disbelief. The rank wars hardly seemed important right now. "Why are you bringing that up now of all times?"
"When I put Yuma in the path of Viza during Aftokrator's invasion, he had an even smaller chance of victory, but even if he couldn't beat him, Yuma could stall him for a long time." Jin continued, ignoring Konami's question. He sent a look towards her and Karasuma who had also turned to him, though he had a more curious expression on his face about where Jin was going with this. "My point is this. The odds are often stacked against Yuma. Despite that, I'm always willing to bet on him." He looked back towards the father and son duo down on the road. "And right now, the odds aren't stacked against him so I firmly believe he will be fine."
The future Jin saw wasn't guaranteed. It never was, but Jin would give Yuma his absolute trust that he knew what he was doing and let his friend do whatever he needed to do without their intervention.
"You have a lot of faith in him." Karasuma noted.
"He's never given me a reason to not." Jin replied. "When it really matters, when he is truly under pressure, that is when Yuma's strength really shines through." And it wasn't just physical strength that Jin was talking about.
*Mimics*
Instead of chasing after Yugo, Yuma took a step back on the Chain where he froze as he felt the pressure that had been building up in his body finally reach its limit. His head jerked to the side as a crack snapped along his neck, black Trion spilling out.
Yugo stared at the black Trion spilling in the air that Yuma was just ignoring as he was more focused on staring at Yugo. He hadn't been attacking Yuma at all. From the moment Yuma activated his Black Trigger, this was going to be the obvious outcome. Using the Black Trigger and then using powerful multiplier seals on top of that was just asking for all his Trion to deplete at a much faster rate. Yuma would destroy himself without Yugo even needing to do anything. Once he did that, it would be easier to grab the ring from him since when Yuma destroyed himself from wasting Trion, he would not be able to activate any more Triggers. He would not be able to prevent Yugo from winning then.
However, the same could not be said for the agents. Yuma kept saying the agents would not interfere, but Yugo highly doubted they would stay out of it when Yuma destroyed his own Trion body and could no longer fight. That meant that Yugo couldn't waste any time in stealing Yuma's ring the moment his body broke.
Wait.
No.
"But you will save him." Eleni promised. "Because my Aionia were never meant to be weapons. You are more than just a Trion Soldier. The purpose of Aionia were to make them into fully living beings that had once passed on. A way to revive someone. If Meraki stole my design, then how much of it did they copy? You can feel it, can't you? Your own will. You are more than what Meraki demands of you."
Yugo wasn't supposed to want the ring. That wasn't him thinking of how to most efficiently steal the Black Trigger. Those were his orders coming back to the forefront of his mind to remind him what his task here truly was. Yuma's insane strategy of draining his Trion that much faster shouldn't concern him. It would just get them to the end of the fight that much quicker.
It was a positive for him.
It was a negative for him.
Yuma would destroy himself without Yugo needing to physically be the one to hurt him.
Yuma was going to die while Yugo just stood there watching like how when his wife got killed.
Yugo's hand curled tighter around the hilt of his sword. Eleni said his will was his own. In her words, she believed Meraki stole her Inchoate and Aionia design. They were so close to being perfected that Meraki probably only worked on forcing her creation into being a weapon. If that was the case, it would explain why Yugo could feel a sense of being in him. It would explain why he and Mogami were able to fight against the programming telling them to steal the Black Triggers and destroy them.
Destroy.
All they had to do to fully revive themselves was break the Black Triggers. Yugo and Mogami both had the opportunity to destroy the Black Triggers after they stole them, but neither of them did. They spoke of leaving for Meraki, but chose not to do that. They had time to open a Gate and go to Meraki before Border forced the Gates to remain closed, but simply chose not to. Instead, Mogami and Yugo held onto the Black Triggers and just continued to let the Trion and lifeforce in them be siphoned out into them. Had they simply destroyed them like they were supposed to, they would have won days ago.
Why didn't they?
Yugo knew what the mission was. He and Mogami had discussed how they both felt the desire to destroy the Black Trigger. Honestly, Yugo felt a burn in his blood to kill Yuma to free the Black Trigger from being tied to him.
They got their Black Triggers and just did nothing with them until the agents attacked and took Yuma's Black Trigger back to return it to him.
It was his will.
Yugo could tell he was resisting his orders in a way because he was able to prevent himself from plunging a sword in Yuma's chest all week. According to Eleni, the reasoning was because he was draining the lifeforce and Trion of his Black Trigger, he was becoming the true Kuga Yugo. He was regaining his will. His will had always been there as it was the reason he didn't kill Yuma at the old Border HQ the other day, but the more power he drained, the more of his free will that was returned to him.
Yugo's resistance got stronger the more of his lifeforce and Trion he drained from the Black Trigger, and then it got weaker when he expended too much Trion during his battles. It was why Yugo was constantly going back and forth with hurting his son and wanting to protect him.
And right now...
Right now, Yugo wanted...
No, it wasn't about what he wanted.
Yugo had wanted the same thing all week, to die so Yuma could survive.
What he wanted was never the issue. It was about what he could do based on his Trion Soldier programming that kept getting in the way of what he wanted.
He wanted to save Yuma, but could he?
Eleni believed that he could.
His will was his own.
He was Kuga Yugo, Border's former Commander-in-Chief.
Father to Agent Kuga Yuma.
Creator of a Black Trigger.
He had all the power and will of his former self.
He just needed to shove the commands echoing in his head to the back and take all control. Yugo needed to find a way to end this in Yuma's victory.
What to do when their lives were connected by the Black Trigger? Yuma needed it in tact to survive. Yugo needed it destroyed to survive. If it broke, Yugo would survive and Yuma would die. If it survived, Yugo would die and Yuma would survive. The easiest solution would be for Yugo to find his strength of will to die here, but unfortunately, Yuma's life being tied to the Black Trigger which was connected to Yugo did not make that a viable option, especially when Yuma seemed intent on making this even more difficult.
Yugo loved his son very much. He found his son to be adorable, even when he was pouting in annoyance. That didn't mean it didn't get frustrating sometimes when Yuma wouldn't listen. He taught his son to make his own choices, but that didn't mean to ignore the orders he gave Yuma that were there to keep him safe. That frustration formed a headache that he needed to name the Yuma Specialty.
If he was still alive and he met up with Kido after all these years with his son and mentioned that, Kido would no doubt tell him that he deserved it for his years as a lax Commander-in-Chief that let Shinoda and Rindo learn from the consequences of their actions instead of disciplining them as harsh as Kido wanted him to. Considering how Shinoda and Rindo were when he met them the other day, Yugo would argue that they turned out just fine. In fact, they seemed better than fine. They have truly grown so much in the time he had been gone.
Yuma could be the same. In fact, the boy he had been seeing this week, though struggling with facing his father as an enemy, had in fact grown past the boy Yugo was remembering in his memories. He grew from tragedy though. It wasn't fair on Yuma, but that was life. Life simply wasn't fair.
Had Yuma been given more time with Yugo in his life and continuing getting trained by him, Yugo firmly believed Yuma would have grown up as well as Rindo and Shinoda did. Unfortunately, that wasn't how it went down and it didn't do well to dwell on what ifs. For what it was, from what Yugo saw, Yuma grew up as well as he could when the mental trauma from his past was added on top of it.
And now Yugo was just adding more mental trauma on top of that this week.
Maybe that would explain the recklessness of Yuma trying to throw all his Trion away as fast as possible right now.
Yugo eyed the crack on Yuma's neck. It started on his neck, but he could see it spidering up Yuma's neck to head to his face. His face was going to break next. Was all the pressure building up in Yuma's body that it was causing the crack to start spidering out before it finally snapped? Would one more use of Trion from Yuma be the cause for it to snap? How far was Yuma willing to push this?
Yugo got the answer a moment later as he was forced to jump into the air with a Bound seal to avoid another round of Bolt bullets.
So, the answer was that Yuma would take this as far as possible.
Yuma smiled. He smiled even as the cracks spidering up from his main crack on his neck finally snapped wide open, leaving Trion to spill from his jawline and cheek on the left side of his face. There was honestly nothing to smile about. This kind of fight wasn't fun to Yuma. Even when he found the fight fun like with rank wars, he rarely smiled when in them because thinking of how much fun he was having was a distraction when he needed to focus. Getting distracted in battle was basically signing a death warrant.
So, why?
Why was he smiling?
Was it for himself?
No, Yuma wasn't happy. He didn't like this plan, but he had no ideas that would keep him from dying alongside Yugo. For that reason, he would try out his mother's suggestion even if he hated the plan because of how much it relied on his father.
Was he smiling for his friends?
He knew his friends were pretty far away to keep an eye on the fight, but also keeping their distance out of respect for Yuma's wish to fight his father alone. However, he also knew of the snipers that were getting a better view with their scopes. They would have seen how his body was starting to crack without Yugo's interference. He had Shiori pass on a message to remind them not to interfere no matter what because he knew he was pushing himself to his limits and this was going to start up again. If he smiled, it would assure them that this was all according to plan. He didn't need them jumping in and messing up his mother's plan.
But, again, maybe not.
Was he smiling for Yugo?
Was he smiling to reassure his father that everything would be alright?
"What was that smile for?" Yuma asked.
"Because you're his son." Rindo replied, making Yuma glance at him as he listened intently. "There is no reason to overcomplicate this, Yuma. Kuga-san was your father and any father would do anything to keep his child safe. I know he raised you to be able to stand on your own, but a parent's duty is never over. He would want to protect you until the end."
Yuma's smile softened as a sad edge entered it. He brushed his hand gingerly across his cheek to get rid of the last of the Trion spilling out.
Hyuse raised a brow. "Are you out to kill the Mimic for revenge to cover the pain of the loss or are you desperate to see your father again because you miss him?"
"I'm not sure that should be a serious question." Yuma replied. "We all realize at this point that I'm not able to fight him."
"But what is it you want from him?" Osamu asked.
"Would you believe me if I said I want to know why he is attacking us?"
"No." Hyuse said instantly.
Yuma rubbed the back of his neck. "Fair. Though I am after that information." His eyes flickered to the ground. "When my dad died, he was smiling at me. There was no reason that smile should be on his face. He knew he was going to die to keep me alive. I just want to know why he was then."
"Do you really think a Mimic of your father can give you a real answer to that question?" Osamu asked.
"Hey, Oyaji," Yuma called. "Can I ask you a question?"
Yugo raised a brow. "You haven't been shy about asking questions and shouting at me all week, Yuma. Don't hold back now."
Yuma tracked Yugo's eye movement. Though his father was looking at him, he could see that most of his attention was on the left side of Yuma. His hand dropped down from his face to give Yugo a full view of the damage being done. He already told his father that he would not let him run from his actions. Even if this wasn't what Yugo wanted and he didn't want to see the consequences his mere existence caused, Yuma would force him to acknowledge it.
"The day you saved me," Yuma started. He forced a grimace back as he felt the pressure in his body continue to move up through the cracks. The power of his attacks coupled with Yugo's seal use and his constant draining of his already weakened Black Trigger was really expediting the destruction of his combat body. "I disobeyed your orders that day and ran into the Black Trigger assassin. He ripped me to shreds and left me to die from my injuries. It was my own fault, so why? Why were smiling when you saved me? There was nothing to be happy about then. If I had just listened to you, we wouldn't be here right now."
Yugo's eyes traced the cracks starting on Yuma's neck all the way up to his cheek. They were simply cracks on a Trion body activated by a Trigger. Cracks that normally would mean nothing, but it was what was under this combat body that concerned him. He forced his eyes to continue to move so they could catch Yuma's eyes instead. "We don't know where we would be right now if that day hadn't happened. It was a long time ago."
"Five years." Yuma said.
"Five years ago." Yugo corrected. Had it really been five years? Since the memories were so recent in Yugo's head, seeing his son, seeing how childish he looked, it was hard to believe it had really been that long. "In those fives years, had I not died and had you kept your real body, so many other things could have happened. I could have died a different way. You could have continued to disregard my orders and gotten yourself killed another way and maybe I wouldn't have been able to save you in time in that case. Had you not gone through the trauma of being ripped to pieces by the assassin, had you not seen me die, had you not fought in that war after my death, you could have grown up into a different person. Five years is a long time and thus, we can't determine how things would be different. But, that wasn't your question."
Yuma stared at his father, not feeling the need to reply. He would wait for Yugo to get to the point as he was really hoping to get an answer. Maybe he wouldn't get the answer he wanted from a Mimic like Osamu warned him about, but at least he would know what some version of Kuga Yugo was thinking that day. There was also the fact that he felt like Yugo had been completely honest with him. Well, that was obvious by his side effect not activating. What Yuma really meant was that his conversations with Yugo today felt more genuine, like it was a conversation he would have with Yugo before his death. He was direct and honest. The regret in his tone when he spoke. The longing in his eyes for this to be over.
It wasn't at all like the Yugo he spoke to before today. He wasn't talking in riddles. He wasn't being harsh when he spoke to Yuma. He wasn't trying to manipulate anyone or anything to his advantage.
He was...
Simple talking to his son.
It truly was like the longer Yugo existed, the more like himself he became to be.
Yuma just needed to use emotional manipulation to get his father the rest of the way to the point that he needed.
Yugo took a couple steps down the Chain, bringing himself just a bit closer to Yuma. Despite them being enemies currently, Yuma didn't react at all to Yugo getting nearer to him. There was no flicker of unease, no tenseness building up in his muscles to get ready to move. Nothing. He simply watched Yugo with the same careful, assessing expression he had been wearing the whole time.
"I will give a smile when saying goodbye." Yugo said. "I don't want the last thing you see to be a frown or anger or disappointment. I knew it would be the last time we saw each other so I wanted you to see my smile. I wanted you to know that everything would be fine and that I still love you."
Yuma blinked a few times as he rolled Yugo's reply over in his head a few times. That was...a reply he did expect of Yugo his father. The Mimic of Yugo he met at the beginning of the week would not have given him a reply like that. Considering the answer was related to what Rindo and others told him about why Yugo likely made the choice he did, it was very likely these were his true feelings on the matter.
"You made a mistake and were dying because of that. I was upset that you disobeyed me, but knowing it would be the last time we ever saw each other, I didn't want you to remember an angry father since I knew that moment would never leave you. I didn't want you to think I hated you for what happened so I made sure to smile for you. It was meant to reassure you." Yugo watched as Yuma's eyes narrowed softly in surprise and confusion and felt himself chuckle a bit. Based on the fact that Yuma felt the need to ask him that question at all was all Yugo needed to know that Yuma really didn't understand Yugo's actions back then at all. That confusion probably only added even more to Yuma's guilt from that day.
The answer was truly so simple. There was no hidden meaning behind the smile from that day. Yuma just felt that there had to be a bigger meaning behind the smile because he just didn't understand Yugo's actions that day. They felt so contradictory to how Yugo had raised Yuma to take care of himself and to not get involved in things he couldn't handle. For that reason, Yuma always believed there to be a much deeper meaning behind Yugo saving him.
But, no, there wasn't anything difficult about it. Yugo smiled for the same reason that Yuma smiled. It was like when Osamu went with Replica's plan to force Aftokrator to leave. It was a last resort kind of plan that would end the attack and save Chika. Osamu expected Yuma to be mad and upset but Yuma couldn't blame anyone for what Replica decided would be the best plan of action so he found the answer that Replica was still alive in Aftokrator and he smiled. He smiled to reassure Osamu that everything was fine. He smiled because they weren't done. He smiled because there was still fight left in him. He smiled because he believed he could handle this, just like Yugo believed he could handle dying if it meant Yuma survived.
It was why Yuma was smiling now. He wanted to show confidence and reassure himself, his father, and his friends watching in the distance.
No matter how bad things looked, it would all be fine.
That wasn't necessarily true since his current plan wasn't a one hundred percent guarantee going to succeed plan, but he could act confident that everything was going the way he wanted it too. He needed to seem like he was in complete control to keep his allies from acting when he didn't want them involved. Their involvement would only mess everything up.
His father was already at a point where this plan could likely work.
He needed to finish this up before there was another shift in Yugo's personality from his programming.
"So, Oyaji will always save me, right?" Yuma asked.
"I want to, but–" Yugo's free hand curled into a fist at his side. He looked off to the side just to avoid looking at his son anymore.
Yuma held up a hand towards Yugo, another seal forming in front of it. "That is just you trying to make an excuse, Oyaji. Show me the Commander-in-Chief that Rindo-san and Shinoda-san respect so much! Anchor. Plus Bolt. Triple."
There wasn't any difficulty in dodging these attacks anymore. Yuma was being way too direct in his fighting style. All Yugo had to do was jump off the Chain and drop back down to the street below to avoid getting weighed down by the anchors.
Anchor took a heavy toll on Yuma's Trion supply. It was a waste of Trion if he couldn't hit the target with it, but his goal was never about hitting Yugo. If it was, there were more subtle ways to go about it. Well, there were subtle ways but none of them would work on a Mimic who could sense Trion and which direction it was coming from.
It wasn't important anyway. What was important was the trembling in Yuma's legs that brought him down to his knees and the snapping in the cracks that began to spread up to the rest of his face. He felt his left eye snap to pieces, but hardly acknowledged it as he glanced down past the Chain he was on to look at his father, who was staring back up at him with an aghast expression.
"What did your mother tell you to do?" Yugo asked. The son he encountered all week and at the beginning of the fight wasn't like this. He may not have been able to fight against his father, but he was still making relatively smart decisions while facing Yugo. Keeping on the defense, protecting his allies, willing to try to tell Yugo that he was making the wrong choice.
And now they had switched roles from their first fight at Tamakoma. Yuma had refused to fight that day and stayed on the defense, and now, it was Yugo who refused to attack Yuma back.
"Heh," Yuma's smile grew, but there was nothing happy about it as the cracks splintered across his face to reach the other side. "You haven't guessed my goal yet? I suppose there are easier ways to do this."
"Yuma."
"Whatever you choose to do, one part of you will get what you want." Yuma replied.
"Now who is the one speaking in riddles?" Yugo retorted, though he felt like his heart was pounding against his chest at Yuma's implication. His choice? Was Yuma purposefully dropping his Trion down to zero as fast as possible to force Yugo into the same choice he had to make five years ago?
"Call it my revenge, I guess."
"You haven't grown out of your reckless streak at all." Yugo accused.
Yuma shook his head, forcing a wince back as moving like that reminded him of the pressure building up inside his body as it was looking for an escape still. "I've chosen caution for years after your death. My life became very important to me to protect, but since coming to Japan," Yuma paused, and without realizing it his smile became brighter as he thought of all the fun days and friends he has made in the past few months. His smile was actually shining like a real smile, the kind that Yugo always cherished when Yuma showed it to him as it was rare in those first few years after Eleni's death. "I guess I finally found what I lost after your death all those years ago. Something worth fighting for. Something worth putting everything on the line for. Is that so wrong, Oyaji? When you died to save me, wasn't it because you decided it was worth it to put everything, even your life, on the line?"
"Can you really say you're any different though, Yuma? Care to tell me again how you beat Viza during Aftokrator's invasion?" Rindo retorted.
Yuma jerked in surprise, twisting around to meet his boss's stare. "That was completely different. I can handle myself alone in a fight. I took a calculated risk and it turned out fine. I couldn't waste any more time in that fight when Osamu needed my help."
"It was a reckless move, and you and I both know that." Rindo retorted. "But, sometimes, recklessness is what we need."
"Sometimes, this is exactly what we need to win the day." Yuma decided. His single eye met Yugo's incredulous stare. "I trust you, Oyaji."
Yuma's body finally exploded into pieces from the lack of Trion from him reaching his limit, leaving him in his noncombat Trion body, though to the horror of Yugo, even that wasn't in one piece. It wasn't just Yuma's combat body suffering from the lack of Trion and showing it clearly. The whole time, Yuma's normal Trion body was breaking underneath that layer as well, and Yuma had been well aware of that fact.
*Mimics*
"YUMA!"
Konami didn't even get a step forward before a hand was wrapping around her forearm and tugging her back to keep her still. She twisted around, tearing her arm free, and glared at Jin for daring to stop her from getting to her student's side.
"This is Yuma's plan. Going in now will just screw it up." Jin explained.
"To destroy his body?" Konami snapped. "That will kill him!"
"Yuma forced his body back to its breaking point which means attacking Kuga-san at this point will hurt Yuma." Jin replied. "After the past few days, Yuma is well aware of this fact, and despite that, he used all of his Trion up very quickly to get himself to this point. This is his plan. We need to trust in it."
"Is it a plan to kill himself?" Konami wondered, because seeing Yuma back in the state where his body was ready to fall to pieces and return him to his real body made her think of only his death. This was not a state that Yuma could fight in so why did he go down this path?
"I think his plan is to take himself to the brink of death." Jin admitted. He had been thinking this for a while now since it was the only thing to explain the futures he was seeing for this fight, but he kept it to himself. He was worried about interference from the others if they knew what Yuma's plan was before it got to a point where there was no turning back. After this week, after seeing Yuma's body on the brink of breaking for days, none of his friends would accept this plan if they knew what Yuma was doing. It was the reason Yuma kept his message vague about not interfering no matter what. It was the reason Jin kept his mouth shut. He didn't like this plan that Yuma decided on, but considering what he went through with Mogami last night and what his side effect was telling him, Jin was going to put his trust in Yuma. It was a crazy plan, but Yuma seemed to embrace crazy, reckless strategies when things really came down to the wire.
"And you're letting him do this why?" Karasuma asked in disbelief.
"When Mogami-san died last night, all his lifeforce and Trion that he stole the past few days returned to the Black Trigger and repaired the damage done to Fujin. By that logic, the same should happen when Kuga-san dies. However, that doesn't include Yuma's life. Striking Kuga-san through the heart is essentially the same as striking Yuma through the heart. They will die together and afterwards, the Black Trigger will be repaired." Jin explained. At least, that was what he was seeing in the future with his side effect the past couple of days.
"And Yuma taking himself to the brink of death and not able to use his Triggers anymore helps how?" Konami demanded.
"Yuma and the Black Trigger are tied together. The one leeching here is Kuga-san. If we want Yuma to live, we need the Trion and lifeforce that Kuga-san has stolen back."
"I'm sorry. I'm not seeing how Yuma purposefully destroying his body is going to get that back from Kuga-san." Konami replied confused.
Jin put a hand on Konami's shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly as he stepped up by her side, though his eyes were locked on Yuma in the distance. Even if he couldn't get a clear view of his friend this far away, he could see the black Trion spilling in the air around him.
"Jin."
Jin didn't stop moving this time as Mogami opened up conversation again. He couldn't see beyond their swords in the dark so he wasn't willing to stop his momentum.
"I'm sorry."
The sword moved the wrong way.
Jin felt his blade met resistance, but not the usual resistance of his attack being blocked. No, he felt his sword plunge into flesh, a familiar feeling that he felt constantly over years from all the training and battles he found himself in.
With his sword buried in Mogami's heart, Jin found himself standing so close to his mentor that he could feel his breath on his skin. It was still too dark for him to see his mentor though. What he did see was Mogami's sword not making a single move. Mogami had a few seconds where he could have retaliated against Jin, but he chose to do nothing. He just kept his Kogetsu away from his student.
"...Why?" Jin asked, but no response was forthcoming. What he did get in response was the sound of a sword clanging to the ground. As the Escudos slipped away, leaving Mogami and Jin basking in the moonlight, Jin was finally able to see his mentor again.
See the gentle smile that had overtaken Mogami's face.
The relaxed expression with his relieved, gentle smile that someone with a sword through his heart and black Trion spilling around shouldn't be wearing. Cracks began to snap into existences starting at where Jin had stabbed Mogami and moving up to his face where Jin's eyes were drawn to as he stared at the fondness in Mogami's eyes.
An expression that Jin had never seen on his mentor in the past couple of days, but one that was reminiscent of the mentor he knew years ago. Even as Mogami went slack and all his weight began to drop, pulling Jin with him, the content expression never left. Instead of going crashing down with his mentor, Jin released his grip on Fujin so he could guide his mentor to the ground.
Mogami's eyes flickered to Jin, taking in his expression one last time. "We may have been enemies the past few days, but I am so proud of what I have seen from you. You've really grown into a fine agent, Yuichi."
"Because Kuga-san is here. He's always been here, but hasn't been able to do what he needed to stop himself. Now though? It's possible for him to make the choice. The choice that saved Yuma years ago." Jin said.
Reiji stared at Yuma through his scope for a moment longer, taking in the cracks snapping all along his face to the point that there was so much Trion spilling out of him that he could barely see his friend's face. For the first time since this battle started, Reiji pulled away from his scope and lowered his Egret. At this point, from what Jin was saying, there was no place for snipers in this plan. "There is a chance Kuga-san won't make the choice you and Yuma want. This is a huge gamble."
"I said it earlier. When the odds are against Yuma, I will bet on him." Jin replied. Of course, typically, when the odds are against Yuma, he was fighting back. In this case, he had to rely on Yugo to do what he needed him to do.
Karasuma breathed out softly. This was insane. Jin was asking them to trust Yugo, trust the man who had been showing them no mercy pretty much the whole week. "And you're okay with letting Yuma go through with this insane plan?"
Jin smiled. "Hell no, but it's Yuma's choice." He glanced at Konami, smile turning wry. "When this over, we make sure Yuma understands this is a plan he will never do again."
"He shouldn't have to do it now." Konami said.
"Unfortunately, I truly think this is the only chance we have. This is how Yuma's future exists." Jin replied.
"It's cruel." Konami said. "To both of them." Jin was convinced Yuma would survive this, but that wouldn't make it any less painful for him. He was forced back into the situation he found himself in when he was eleven. Not just him, but Yugo as well. If Jin was right and Yugo would really make this sacrifice a second time, then Konami would gain a meager amount of respect for this Mimic of Kuga Yugo. If he managed to override his programming for this, he deserved that much.
"I know."
*Mimics*
Chika's finger trembled. It was left hovering over her the trigger of her rifle. She pulled her finger away from it as Reiji's lesson rang in her hand. Never have her finger on the trigger unless she planned to shoot.
She wanted to shoot.
She wanted to shoot Yugo so much as she saw Yuma down on his knees, body trembling as his body began to fail him. The lesson she learned during the B-Rank wars, the lesson Hyuse gave her, if she didn't shoot, Yuma and Osamu would get killed.
She wanted to shoot.
As much as she wanted that, for this to be over and Yuma to be back at their side, Chika couldn't shoot. It wasn't because she didn't have the nerve to shoot right now. It was because Shiori and Jin told them to not interfere no matter what. This was Yuma's plan and if they did anything, it could ruin it.
That didn't stop her heart thumping in her ears though. Jin's futures were never guaranteed. He saw multiple futures because there were multiple paths a person could take which could change the future. She didn't understand what Yuma's strategy was here, but Jin was not shouting in their ears to move in and save him which told her that Jin still believed in Yuma's plan succeeding. If Jin trusted the future he saw, she would return that trust and keep her hand off her gun. Despite that trust she was putting in them, it did nothing to ease the fear coursing through her veins.
*Mimics*
Yugo couldn't hear anything. It was like he had cotton in his ears. All he could focus on was looking up at his son who had no fight left him. He only had one eye left and the cracks from around that eye were spreading to the other of his face to reach his glazed over right eye. It was going to break.
Yuma's body only had a minute, maybe two, left. It wasn't going to hold out.
On the opposite end, Yugo felt amazing. He felt full of life. He felt full of Trion as if everything he had used up in the fight had been restored to him as the Black Trigger was at the breaking point and he had siphoned the last of its power.
This was it.
This was where Eleni's Aionia would finally be completed for the first time ever.
It was supposed to be her mother, not Yugo.
It was never supposed to be Yugo.
Why was he just standing here watching the cracks snapping along Yuma's face and neck?
Why was he standing here while knowing that under Yuma's clothes, there were cracks spreading all over his body?
It was because this was what he wanted all week.
He was finally accomplishing the mission he had been ordered to do.
It was his win.
"It wouldn't be you." Yuma said, wincing as Yugo squeezed his wrist tightly causing the cracks on his arm to protest that by snapping more along his arm. "Even if using the Black Trigger would give you the chance to survive forever, it would kill me. My father died to protect me. You may have the memories, but you lack the emotions. A man who kills me to save his life could never be the real one."
*W*T*
"What the hell is wrong with you Kugas? As long as you're still alive and fighting, nothing is inevitable!"
*W*T*
"Yuma is the source of conflict. When you're around him, you're a mess of love and hatred for him." Mogami said. "I, on the other hand, have no such feelings for him, so how about I kill him for you and take the ring so we can get on with getting out of here?"
Mogami slammed through the wall, all air escaping his lungs as he slammed into the ground with rubble raining down all around him. Instead of feeling any pain, he just found himself laughing as he rubbed his cheek as he sat up and stared through the hole where Yugo was still standing in the hallway. "That's a much better reaction than that bullshit talk about your son needing to die."
Yugo narrowed his eyes, glaring down at his friend in annoyance. "Was that supposed to be a test?"
"Come on, Yugo. I have no feelings of hostility towards you son. You may be my partner and I'm here to help you retrieve the Black Trigger from him, but I'm not going to strike the kid with my sword. It's unnecessary violence." Mogami pushed himself to his feet. "The fact that you managed to react in such a way shows that holding your Black Trigger for just a few hours has given you some control over yourself."
*W*T*
"Seeing you and Mogami-san like this is really disappointing. I may not have known you before, but I knew Mogami-san and it's painful to see him like this, acting against who he is. And I know Yuma hates seeing his dad like this."
*W*T*
"Is Yuma dead?"
"Not yet."
"Then, you haven't failed yet." Eleni leaned forward and planted a kiss on her husband's lips. "And you never failed me. I may not remember how I died, but I could never blame you. I know you would have fought your hardest to save me, and I'll know you'll put in that same effort for Yuma."
"I didn't save you though."
"But you will save him." Eleni promised. "Because my Aionia were never meant to be weapons. You are more than just a Trion Soldier."
*W*T*
"Playing it too cautious will yield you no results. Sometimes, there are circumstances which demand recklessness. As a father, I'm sure you know this. After all, creating a Black Trigger to save Kuga's life? There was no way you knew that would work or that you could successfully create a Black Trigger. You took a big risk, betting yours and your son's life on it, so don't you go trying to lecture me on foolish moves when you've made the biggest."
*W*T*
"Show me the Commander-in-Chief that Rindo-san and Shinoda-san respect so much!"
"I can manage without your help, Oyaji."
"I trust you, Oyaji."
Yuma toppled over.
He was falling off the Chain.
Yugo didn't even realize he was moving.
One moment he was watching his son's body breaking and falling and the next he was throwing himself under where his son was falling. Just as his son slammed into his waiting arms, his body gave out.
It was just like that day.
Yuma, black hair, limbs missing, organs missing, and bleeding out so very fast with a single eye staring up at him, but truly seeing nothing.
Only this time, Yugo wasn't staring at his son bleeding out on the ground. This time, Yuma was bleeding out in his arms, gasping painfully for air that he couldn't seem to catch.
The nightmare that had been haunting him all week had become his reality.