Confrontation, Part 1
After driving through the streets of Toshima and Shinjuku, Kasumi, Celty and their friends arrive at Minato. With the help of Kasumi's phone and Shinra's directions, they eventually spotted a tall and slim rectangular-shaped building with black tinted windows from a distance. It is built about seven miles away from the iconic Tokyo Tower and has the name 'Nebula' proudly labelled horizontally at the top of the building for everyone in the surrounding areas to marvel at.
Before reaching the corner of a crossroad junction, they instead turn left into a smaller curved road that cuts through the sidewalk and built between the entrance of the building and a large rectangular-shaped marble block laid horizontally with the company's name carved on it, serving as its signage. Both Kasumi and Celty pull up their vehicles next to the curb, not caring if there will be anyone to stop them.
After dismounting from the back of Shooter, the headless rider steps towards the entrance and extends her right arm to the side to summon her scythe. She places her weapon down and turns her helmet to her left to see Kasumi, Masaomi, Mikado, Anri, Shirley and Shinra walking over to her side with their respective weapons and equipment. While Kasumi, Masaomi and Anri all solemnly nod to Celty with their weapons in their hands, Shirley, Mikado and Shinra all groan as they rub the side of their hips.
"My hip hurts like heck throughout the journey." Shirley muttered.
"I think it's time for you to get a bigger car, Kasumi." Mikado suggested to the redhead. "It's not easy having a fourth passenger sitting next to you in the back of a five-seater."
"You're sure it's not because of your kneepads and greaves?" Shinra asked Shirley and Mikado. "Why do you two have to wear them during the ride?"
"Probably because someone decide to have a weapon that takes up nearly the entirety of the trunk!" Shirley cried at him in annoyance.
"Hey, my kite shield deserves respect." Shinra chided Shirley while holding up and showing off his new kite shield which has since revealed its true appearance. With a blissful smile on his face, he gently strokes his other hand across the white decal of the head of a horse painted over the teal and steel layer of his shield. "Especially one that is given to me by a majestic bounty huntress with no head."
As Celty hangs her helmet and plants her left hand on its visor, Kasumi chuckles at her and said, "My friends never ceased to amaze you, huh?"
The headless rider types a quick message on her phone and shows them to her human allies.
"Can we please cut the chatter? We must get inside and stop Saika and Takashi."
Shinra, Shirley and Mikado nodded to Celty in response. The headless rider puts away her phone, takes out her cylinder-shaped device and gestures everyone to gather round her. When they did, they took turns to have their eyes flashed by Celty's device before stepping away from the demihuman.
Celty puts away her device into her pocket and gestures everyone to get inside the building. But when she turned to the entrance and tried to take a step forward, she was quickly stopped by Kasumi who walks over and holds out her right arm in front of her torso.
"Before we get inside, I want you to promise us one thing." Kasumi said to Celty with a solemn frown. "Promise us that you will not kill anyone, including Haruna. Got it?"
Celty nods her helmet in response.
"Not convinced." Kasumi replied as she held up her right hand. "Say it out loud with your hand up high."
The demihuman dematerializes her scythe, types a new message on her phone and plays it while holding up her other hand.
"I vow not to kill anyone, including Haruna."
"Good." Kasumi nodded before both women lower their arms. "Let's go."
However, it is now the redhead's turn to be startled as just before she and Celty can walk towards the entrance of the office, Masaomi suddenly cried out to them, "Wait!"
"What is it now?" Kasumi asked her friend as she and Celty halted and turned to him. Masaomi quickly walks over to the demihuman and snatches the phone from her hand, much to their surprise. The blonde-haired man puts away his weapon, types a new message, and hands the device back to Celty.
"Hold up your hand again." Masaomi said firmly as he held up his left hand. Despite her confusion, Celty did as she was told. "Now say…'I swear I won't kill anyone'. Play your phone."
Celty plays Masaomi's message, letting everyone hear. "I swear I will not kill anyone."
"Yes!" Masaomi cried excitedly as he pumped his left fist. "Just like that scene in Terminator 2!"
"Figures." Kasumi muttered and rolled her eyes while the others stared blankly at another one of Masaomi's antics.
Masaomi draws out his hammer and said to his demihuman friend, "Let's go, T-eight hund-um-Celty!"
Celty puts away her phone, summons her scythe again and nods to Masaomi. They both look back at Kasumi who said to all her friends, "It's time to deal with Saika and Takashi."
Everyone nods at Kasumi in response. They turn to the entrance and walk cautiously towards the glass doors as they begin their mission.
The first thing everyone noticed upon entering the building is the large and wide circular shaped reception desk at the center of the foyer where the receptionists and some security guards would be working behind. Shinra suggests looking at the security footage so they may find where Saika and Takashi headed off to. They all go behind the desk and Shinra takes a seat in front of four computer screens.
As the others stood behind the doctor and watched him turn them on and type the passwords, Celty writes a message on her phone and shows it to Kasumi who stood beside her on her right.
"Before we face Saika and Takashi, I have a question to ask you. Have you found a way to separate Saika from Haruna's body without killing their host?" The demihuman played her message.
"Admittingly, no. Not yet." Kasumi said grimly. "But I will find a way. Putting Haruna to rest should always be a last resort."
Celty quickly types another message to Kasumi. "What if you can't find it?"
The redhead averted her eyes for a moment before looking back at the demihuman with a wan smile when she remembered Hitoha's teachings.
"I refused to believe anything is impossible. As Miyamizu-sama would tell me, when there's a will, there's a way." Kasumi replied.
"Simple, but true." Shirley nodded in agreement.
"Alright, done." Shinra said as everyone behind him looked back at the computer screens. As the doctor temporarily moves aside on the chair, Celty summons a cable underneath her phone, splits it into four, and connects all of them into the computer slots. She swirls her thumbs around the screen of her phone and brings up all the footage from every security camera in the first five floors of the building including the foyer on the computers.
"There's the foyer." Shinra said, pointing his finger at the top left corner of the first computer on the left. He and the others can clearly see themselves standing behind the reception desk right now.
"Rewind the footage." Kasumi said to Celty. The demihuman obliged and swirls her thumbs around her phone again to rewind the security footage. Everyone watched the monitors attentively until they saw the foyer filled with many Nebula employees making their way out of the building.
"Stop!" Kasumi cried and held her hand up, causing Celty to immediately remove her thumbs from her phone to stop the footage. "Forward the footage until the last employee leaves the building."
Celty slowly swirls her thumbs again in the opposite direction and stops as soon as they see the last person leaving the foyer. Shinra clicks on the footage to enlarge it, and they all look at the time and date recorded at the top left corner.
"This happened about eleven minutes after I made the call." Shinra said.
"And I remembered the time we first arrived here, which is about six minutes later." Anri said.
"Now let's see when the two bastards entered the building." Masaomi said with his eyes narrowed. Celty swirls her thumbs again to forward the footage at twice its original speed. It did not take long for everyone to notice sixteen figures entering the foyer.
"Stop." Kasumi said flatly to Celty. The headless rider releases her thumbs again and they all look at the top left corner of the screen once more.
"They came here about three minutes after the evacuation." Shirley said as Shinra uses the mouse to zoom in on the faces of the visitors.
"There's Saika alright." Kasumi frowned at the long-haired girl on the screen.
"And the man next to it is definitely Takashi." Shinra added, recognizing the man beside the girl to be his former employee.
"But who are the other fourteen people walking alongside them?" Masaomi asked as he and the others noticed that the other figures were dressed in casual clothes. Some of them have bandanas wrapped around their mouths and armed with various weapons such as pipes, crowbars, baseball bats, and a metal chain.
"Probably people they've picked up along the way." Shirley answered.
"And judging by their appearances, they are not your normal civilians at all." Mikado added.
"Looks like Saika and Takashi were busy too while we're training." Anri commented.
"Now let's see where they head off to." Kasumi said before turning to Celty. "Play the footage at normal speed."
Celty taps on her phone, and everyone watches Saika, Takashi and their newly acquired henchmen walking past the reception desk on the monitor. Shinra exits the screen to bring back up the other cameras operating on the same floor. They see their enemies climbing over the security gates and walking towards the elevators at the other end of the first floor. The sixteen intruders split into two groups, with Takashi, Saika and seven others turning to their left and going inside the center elevator, and the remaining seven taking one of them on their right. When the doors close, Shinra quickly enlarges the camera footage showing the side of the elevators that Saika and Takashi took, and Celty taps on her phone to zoom in on the panel above the center elevator. Everyone watches the number slowly increase until it freezes at 27.
"They went up to the twenty-seventh floor." Kasumi said.
"Twenty-seven…" Shinra murmured with a frown. He closes his eyes and lowers his head for a moment. "No…I hope not…"
"Shinra?" Kasumi asked concernedly. However, the doctor jolts from his chair, whirls about and walks away.
"What's going on?" Shirley asked.
"We have to go after them now!" Shinra yelled in response. As the doctor now ran towards the elevators after leaving the reception area, Kasumi, Celty and the others glance at each other before they hastily follow Shinra from behind.
Once everyone got inside one of the elevators, Shinra pressed the button to the twenty-seventh floor. After the doors closed and everyone could feel the elevator bringing them up, Kasumi asked the doctor, "So Shinra, would you mind telling us what got you spooked out?"
"Yes." Anri said concernedly to her former teacher. "What exactly is on the twenty-seventh floor?"
Shinra takes a deep breath. "Sorry about that. The twenty-seventh floor is where we-"
Before the doctor could give his full explanation, everyone yelps in shock and momentarily lost their balance when the elevator suddenly came to a halt, and the lights and power went out.
"What just happened?" Shirley asked incredulously. Mikado hastily taps the buttons beside him, but none of them seem to work.
"The power's out. Everything is busted." Mikado said.
"Oh great. What now?" Masaomi asked frowning.
A few seconds later, the lights suddenly turned back on, and the power in the elevator was restored, much to the surprise of everyone. They could feel the elevator moving upwards again, and they watched the numbers on the panel beside the doors increase. However, when they arrived at their destination, the elevator did not stop, and the numbers continued going up.
"We passed the twenty-seventh floor, and we're not stopping." Shirley said.
"Someone is controlling this elevator." Mikado said apprehensively.
"Could it be..." Masaomi said as he and Kasumi turn to each other.
"Yeah…" Kasumi nodded to him. "They know we're here. And they're playing with us." The redhead turned to Celty and she sees the demihuman nodding to her in agreement.
Eventually, the elevator began to slow down, and everyone looked at the panel to see that it had come to a stop at the fortieth floor. The doors slid open, and everyone quickly stepped out and got into their battle stances.
"Be alert, everyone." Kasumi said to her friends.
They turn to their right and slowly walk towards the large pair of wooden doors in front of them. Although the lights in the small hallway they are currently in are off, they can still see their surroundings thanks to the city lights emitting from outside and through the large glass windows at both sides of the building. Shinra turns his head left and right to see that on both sides, there are large red walls blocking the doors beside the elevators that would lead to the office's staircases.
"Blast." Shinra commented as he turned back to the others. "The stairs on both sides of the office are blocked."
"This is definitely Saika's work." Anri replied.
"We need to take out Saika to free this facility, just like what I did back at Itabashi." Kasumi said.
"Guess we have no choice but to play along with her, um, it?" Mikado briefly arches an eyebrow before shaking his head. "No. Them?" He nodded. "Yeah, them for now."
"Dammit! Why do we have to waste our time on this?!" Masaomi said in frustration.
"Relax, Masaomi." Kasumi said calmly to her friend as they arrived at the doors. "The sooner we get this over with, the better."
Kasumi turned her head to her left to face Celty, and they both nodded to each other. As everyone looked to the front, Celty and Masaomi placed their hands on the doors and pushed them wide open. They cautiously step through the doorway and into the large working area. They look around their surroundings and see the entire place is almost dark, with the only form of light emitting from the city lights and Tokyo Tower outside and shining through the large glass windows at both sides and the other end of the floor. They can tell that the floor they are currently on is a normal workspace with six horizontal rows of four work desks with computers and document trays in front of them, and on both sides are managerial workrooms and meeting rooms separated from the rest of the working area by glass windows. Each work desk also has a tall and wide wall that is three times its length and installed beside it on the right.
"Wow! Thank you so much for joining me, folks!"
Everyone gasped upon hearing the mischievous and sinister voice. When they heard a slam, they looked over their shoulders to see that their only way out had closed themselves shut.
Saika emerged from underneath the center-left desk in front of Kasumi and her friends by pushing it down as they got up, sending the computer, trays and documents splaying across the floor. As Kasumi and her friends look back at them and prepare to fight, Saika lifts their left leg up and places their foot on the drawer of the fallen work desk. With their left arm placed above their left knee, and their katana placed behind their head and over their shoulders, Saika gives their enemies a lopsided smirk.
"Takashi and I were right to find it suspicious that the entire building was deserted when we first arrived here." Saika said to them. "So, just to be safe, when we arrived at the twenty-seventh floor, he told me to take another elevator up to a higher floor and set up a trap for any…'potential nuisances'…who would come after us. I'm impressed you all survive the explosion back at Itabashi." Their teeth now break out into a wide, taunting grin. "But I'll make sure this time, none of you will get out of here alive."
"What exactly is Takashi doing on the twenty-seventh floor? Answer us!" Kasumi demanded Saika. The long-haired killer snorted as they straighten their body up and lowers their katana.
"Why can't you just find out for yourself?!" Saika suddenly thrusts their left hand at Kasumi, who quickly holds up her staff in time to block the huge amount of force that was unleashed at her, but it still sends her flying through the air and slamming against the doors behind her.
"Why you!" Masaomi yelled as Celty lowers her scythe and thrusts her left hand at Saika, unleashing a long stream of black smoke at them from underneath her sleeve. Saika easily dodges it by doing a backflip and landing at the center of the working area. After getting up, Saika lifts their right hand up and snaps their fingers.
Upon hearing the snap, seven people suddenly emerged from the bottom of seven work desks behind Saika and at the other end of the floor. They jump and land right on top of the tables, knocking down the computers, document trays and other kinds of stuff in the process. They all grinned maniacally at their guests with their eyes glowing red, and they also held their weapons up, with one of them swinging his metal chain around the air. They soon jump off the desks and make their way towards Kasumi and her friends.
Celty and the others split up as they prepare to fight Saika's possessed followers. Shinra and Shirley went over to the far-right side of the working area while Masaomi ran through the center-right. Anri and Mikado go over to the far-left side, while the headless rider goes through the very center, making her way towards where Saika landed.
However, she sees a man with dark brown beard and shoulder-length hair coming over to her on her left. After climbing over and jumping off the desk beside Saika, the man yells as he delivers an overhead strike onto the headless rider with his pipe. Celty holds up her scythe in time to block the attack and she pushes him away with her strength. The headless rider manages to see Saika backing away and waving their hand mockingly at her before casually turning to their right and walking away. The man runs over to Celty again and they both continue fighting.
At the far-left side of the working area, Anri clashes her katana with a green-haired man armed with a crowbar and wears a red bandana around his mouth. Mikado, who is behind her, tries to help his girlfriend. But he turns to his right and sees a man with his long black hair tied to a ponytail jumping off a work desk and swings his right brass knuckle diagonally at him. Mikado jumps back to dodge the attack while the man lands on the floor between him and Anri. He looks up at Mikado, who gets into his fighting stance, and he lets out a yell as he runs over to the Nebula employee.
The man pushes Anri away from him and swings his crowbar down at her head. Anri holds up her katana to block the attack and quickly kicks him in the abdomen. The man stumbles back, but soon recovers. He runs up to Anri again and thrusts his crowbar at her lower torso. The woman quickly dodges it by turning to her right and leaning herself against the glass window of a managerial workroom behind her. After running past her, the man whirls about and swings his crowbar horizontally at her. Anri ducks down and runs to her left to dodge it, causing the man to leave a large crack on the window instead. As the woman runs away from him, the man yells as he turns and throws his crowbar at her. Anri whirls about and holds her katana up in time to block it, but the impact causes her to yelp and sends her falling to the floor on her back. When his crowbar lands near him, the man sniggered as he picks it up and slowly approaches the woman.
When the man with red flat top hair swings his chain vertically at him, Masaomi dodges his attack by turning to his left and backing away, leaning against the wall of the work desk behind him. He quickly thrusts the bottom of his war hammer onto the man's abdomen, causing him to stumble back. Masaomi now turns to his right and swings his weapon across the right side of the chain-wielding man's head, sending him twirling around and collapsing onto the floor on his back.
However, another man with black buzz cut hair and wears a white headband successfully swings his bat down onto the back of his right shoulder from behind. Masaomi groans in pain before he whirls about and swings his hammer horizontally at him. The black-haired man quickly turns around and rolls over the floor to dodge his attack. Masaomi runs up to him from behind and swings his hammer down at him, but the man now rolls over to his right, causing the dark blonde-haired man to land his weapon onto the floor instead. As the man gets up, he turns around and swings his bat horizontally, hitting Masaomi on the face. The dark blonde-haired man groans as he stumbles back in pain with his hammer still in his hand. The buzz cut hair man grins as he goes over to him, but Masaomi quickly recovers and runs up to his opponent. He delivers another vertical swing of his hammer at the man who holds up his bat horizontally to block it. The two men push their weapons against each other, trying to overwhelm the other.
At the far-right side of the working area, Shirley is fighting with a woman, armed with a pipe, and dressed in a black leather jacket and long purple hair. Behind the orange-haired woman, Shinra is engaged with a tall bald man armed with a metal baseball bat.
The woman delivers two vertical and horizontal swings at Shirley, who deflects them with her gloves. She quickly turns around and grabs an office chair as the purple-haired woman prepares to deliver an overhead strike on her from behind. The orange-haired woman pulls it out from underneath the work desk, places it in front of her as she turns around, ducks down and hides behind it before her enemy swings her pipe down onto the top of the chair. Shirley quickly turns the office chair around and pushes it as she gets up. She collides it against the purple-haired woman, pushes her over to the glass window of a managerial workroom, and pins her against it. The purple-haired woman growls angrily as she swings the pipe still in her hand vertically at Shirley, who quickly stops her attack by grabbing it with her left hand, and the two women glare into each other's eyes.
After deflecting an overhead strike from the man's bat by swinging his shield diagonally through the air, Shinra runs over and collides his weapon against his opponent's upper torso, causing him to groan, drop his bat and stumble back. Shinra goes over to him again and swings his shield across the right side of his head, sending him slamming against the glass window of the same managerial workroom beside them. However, not wanting Shinra to get the better of him, the man growls as he quickly recovers and goes over to Shinra, who quickly holds up his shield in front of him. The bald man slams himself against the shield, which did cause Shinra to stumble back, but the doctor quickly regains his balance and pushes back his opponent. Both men stayed in a stalemate as they try to overwhelm the other with all their strength.
While her friends are busy fighting with their own opponents, Kasumi yells as she runs up to Saika and swings her staff horizontally at them at the center-left side of the working area. Saika easily dodges it by leaning themselves back, with Kasumi's staff barely missing them by the tip of their nose. As soon as they get up, Saika whirls around and delivers two diagonal strikes at the redhead with their katana. Kasumi blocks both attacks with her staff as she backs away before Saika whirls around again and delivers a surprise vertical strike at her head. The redhead dodges it by moving to her left and turning her body to her right. She retaliates by thrusting her staff at Saika's face as she turned back to them. The deranged killer dodges the attack by sliding to their left, and they swing their katana diagonally at their enemy. Kasumi holds her staff up diagonally in front of her to block the attack, and they both gaze at each other while staying in a stalemate.
"This time, I'll separate your head from your body…" Saika said mockingly with their eyes wide. "Just like what I did to poor Suzu!"
As the black-haired girl laughed maniacally at her face, Kasumi grits her teeth and yelled, "Haruna! I know you are in there! If you can hear me, you've got to fight back! You've got to stand up to Saika and regain control of yourself!"
Saika growls as her face distorts into a scowl. "Shut the hell up! She can't hear you! She's MINE!"
As they finished, the black-haired killer thrusts their left hand at Kasumi, causing her to yelp as she is sent flying and sprawling through the floor. When she came to a halt, the redhead finds herself lying where she and her friends originally stood. Saika did a running jump over to Kasumi and prepares to stab their katana directly onto her face. The redhead quickly rolls over to her right before Saika landed, stabbing their sword through the floor instead. As Kasumi quickly gets back up, Saika turns their head to their left right before the redhead thrusts one end of her staff at their left shoulder. The deranged killer screams in agony as they felt the electricity surging through their body. However, they still managed to fight back the pain enough for them to thrust their right hand at Kasumi, using a huge amount of force to push her away. Kasumi yelps as she finds herself flying through the air once more and has her back slammed against the right door. The redhead groans as she lands down on her feet and briefly places her left hand on the floor before standing back up and holding her staff in front of her with her eyes narrowed.
After getting back up as well, Saika removes their katana from the floor and smiles at Kasumi.
"You surprised me with that." Saika's cheeks blushed as their grin widened. "I really love you."
Saika twirls their katana around in their right hand before charging at Kasumi with maniacal laughter.
After Celty blocked several horizontal and diagonal strikes from his pipe with her scythe, the dark brown-haired man quickly swings his weapon down on the top of her head. Celty swiftly holds her weapon up and blocks it with its snath. The man pushes her scythe down with all his strength, causing Celty to tilt her weapon to her left. This made both their weapons touch the floor, and as soon as he sees an opening, the man yells and swings his right leg at Celty's helmet, knocking it off and sending it rolling over the floor. The two briefly whirl around and look back at each other. The man now widens his eyes and drops his jaw as he came to the shocking realization that his opponent has no head. Celty casually shrugs at him before she suddenly fires a stream of black smoke from underneath her left sleeve. The man yelps as the stream hits his chest and sends him sprawling through the floor.
Celty swings her left arm back to pick up her helmet behind her with the stream of smoke. She pulls the stream back and grabs her helmet with her left hand while dematerializing her scythe. The man looks up and gasps as all he could do is watch Celty run over to him, jump up and kick against the wall of a work desk on her right before falling through the air and slamming her helmet onto his forehead to knock him unconscious.
Eventually, the purple-haired woman curls her left hand into a fist and throws a punch across the right side of Shirley's head. The orange-haired woman yelps as she releases her opponent's pipe and stumbles back. The purple-haired woman kicks the chair and Shirley off her, causing the orange-haired woman to stumble back further. She laughs as she pushes the chair away and goes over to deliver a diagonal strike at her.
Shirley looks up in time and quickly grabs the pipe with both her hands before it makes contact with the left side of her head. She pulls the pipe out of her grip, and the purple-haired woman could only stare back in bewilderment as her orange-haired opponent swings it across the right side of her head, sending her falling to the ground.
Meanwhile, the tall, bald man manages to push Shinra off him, causing the doctor to stumble back. The man takes the opportunity to go over and grab him by his tie. Shinra yelps as the man pulls him up as he turns around and slams him against the glass window.
"Shinra!" Shirley cried as she turned to the doctor and his opponent. Before the bald man could throw a punch at Shinra's face, Shirley aims the pipe at him and throws it into the air like a javelin. The tip of the pipe hits directly onto the left side of the bald man's head, causing him to yelp in pain. While he is distracted, Shinra quickly lifts his right knee up to kick him at the bottom of his chin, sending him stumbling back and releasing his tie. As soon as he lands, Shinra gets up and uses his shield to push him away before turning and running away. The bald man growls angrily as he chases after him. But before he could throw a punch at the back of the doctor's head, Shinra grabs the bat from the floor which the bald man dropped earlier, whirls about and swings it across the left side of his head. The man yelps as he whirls around. When his back is now facing him, Shinra tosses the bat aside and charges at his opponent with his shield in front of him. The man cries in pain as his shield collided against his back, and Shinra yells as he kept running and slams his opponent against the glass window face-first, leaving a huge crack behind. As the man rolls his eyes back and passes out, Shinra backs away to let him slide down to the floor in an unconscious heap.
The purple-haired woman gets up and tries to throw a punch at the back of Shirley's head while running over to her from behind. But Shirley slides to her right to dodge her attack. She turns around and delivers an uppercut to the bottom of the purple-haired woman's chin before grabbing her hair. The woman screams as Shirley now pulls her hair, drags her over to the work desk where she took the office chair from earlier, and slams her forehead down on it. As soon as Shirley releases her and backs away, the woman wobbles side to side and groans as she falls to the floor on her back and passes out. Shirley and Shinra turn to each other and smile as they nod their heads.
The buzz cut hair man manages to push Masaomi back and prepares to deliver yet another horizontal swing of his bat at the left side of his body. Masaomi dodges the attack by moving to his right and whirling around. As he does, he swings his hammer horizontally onto the back of the man's head. The man yells in pain as he stumbles forward. Masaomi temporarily places his hammer down on the floor before the man turns around and swings his bat vertically at him. Masaomi dodges it by moving to his left and delivers an uppercut to the bottom of the man's chin with his right fist. As the man stumbles back and drops his bat, Masaomi goes over and grabs his left arm. He turns around, throws the man over his back, and slams him onto the floor. Masaomi turns around and picks up his hammer as the man rolls to his right and tries to get up. But the dark blonde-haired man turns back to him, gets down and swings his hammer down onto his back, causing him to yell in pain and fall on the floor again. Masaomi finally knocks the buzz cut hair man out by bringing the bottom of the hilt of his hammer down onto the top of his head. After his opponent passes out, he sighs and stands back up.
But suddenly, the dark-blonde haired man yelps in pain as he felt a chain wrapped around his right arm and forcing him to turn to his right. He turns his head to his right and sees the red-haired man he thought he had knocked out earlier is standing back up again and grinning maliciously as he pulls his chain to tighten his grip around his arm. Still clinging tightly to the hilt of his hammer, Masaomi growls in agony as he is currently engaged in a tug-of-war with his enemy, pulling his arm and trying to break free.
Mikado backs away as he deflects several punches and uppercuts from his ponytail assailant. The man suddenly thrusts both his brass knuckles at Mikado's head, but he quickly stops his attack by grabbing them with his gloved hands. However, the man lowers his fists, as well as Mikado's hands in the process, and he quickly brings his head down onto his forehead. Mikado yelps as he releases the man's fists and stumbles back in pain. But not wanting him to recover, the man whirls around and swings his left leg diagonally at the right side of Mikado's head, sending him slamming against the glass window beside him. The man quickly goes over and pins Mikado against the window by placing his left arm against his throat, causing the Nebula employee to choke as he struggles to breathe.
When the green-haired man is near and above Anri, he swings his crowbar down on her. The bespectacled woman however rolls over to her left to dodge his attack and she quickly kicks the right side of his head with her right leg. As the man stumbles back, Anri quickly gets up and throws an uppercut to the bottom of his chin with her left fist. The man quickly dodges her punch by moving to his right and swings his crowbar horizontally at her. Anri turned and held up her katana downward and diagonally in front of her to block his attack. However, the man throws his own punch at the right side of Anri's midsection with his left fist, causing her to yelp. As they both lower their weapons, the man pulls Anri's hair with his left hand, and the woman finds herself having the left side of her head slammed against the wall of a work desk beside them and dropping her katana onto the floor.
"A-Anri!" Mikado managed to choke out as he watched his girlfriend being pinned against the wall by her green-haired opponent.
As the man with a black ponytail grins at the Nebula employee and pulls his right brass knuckle back, Mikado snarls at him and lifts both his legs up. He delivers a strong kick to the man's chest, causing him to yelp and release him as he stumbles back. Mikado lands back down on the floor and gasps for air before he looks up to see his opponent angrily running up to him and throwing his left brass knuckle down at his head. Mikado quickly rolls over to his left to dodge his attack, and he gets up and swings his left fist at him. He punched him across his right cheek, and Mikado quickly followed up with an uppercut to the bottom of his chin with his right fist. The man stumbles back, but Mikado goes over and grabs his ponytail. He yells as the Nebula employee pulls his hair down, and Mikado runs over to Anri and her opponent while dragging him along.
Before the green-haired man could bring down the bottom of his crowbar onto Anri's head, he turned to his right when he heard Mikado yelling, and he looked shocked for a moment before the Nebula employee tosses his black-haired opponent over to him. The two possessed men collided with each other, causing the green-haired man to release Anri as they fall to the floor together.
The green-haired man quickly pushes the black-haired man off him and get up. When he sees Mikado walking over to him with a glare, he swings his crowbar horizontally at the left side of his head. Mikado stops his attack by swiftly grabbing it with his left hand, much to his shock. The Nebula employee pulls the crowbar out of his grip before grabbing his collar with his right hand. He turns around and tosses the green-haired man, sending him stumbling forward. The green-haired man turns back to Mikado and drops his jaw as the Nebula employee now yells and runs over to him while pulling back the crowbar that he had taken from him. He swings it horizontally and across the left side of his forehead, causing the green-haired man to whirl around and collapses onto the floor face-first.
However, the black-haired man with a ponytail runs over to Mikado from behind and tackles him to the floor. He quickly pulls the crowbar out of Mikado's hand and tosses it aside before turning him around. As the man now kneels above him, Mikado tried to swing his right fist at the left side of his head, but he deflects it with his left arm and pins both his wrists onto the floor. While Mikado struggles to break free, the man pulls his head back and prepares to deliver a headbutt down onto his forehead, only to be stopped by Anri who quickly runs over to him from behind and swings the bottom of the hilt of her katana across the right side of his head. The man yelps as he gets off Mikado and falls to the floor on his back, and he gasps as Anri kneels above him and brings down the bottom of the hilt of her katana onto his forehead to knock him out.
The woman gets up, walks over to Mikado, and extends her hand to him.
"Arigatou." Anri said to her boyfriend with gratitude. Mikado smiled back at her before grabbing her hand and allowing her to pull him back up on his feet.
As Kasumi rolls over the floor to dodge another horizontal swing from Saika's katana, the deranged killer runs over from behind and delivers a downward strike at her. Kasumi whirls about as she gets up and swings her staff diagonally to block it. Both fighters stay in a stalemate as they are now standing between the far-left and center-left work desks that are the nearest to the doors.
Kasumi manages to push Saika's katana away from her, causing the deranged killer to stumble back. She whirls around and thrusts her staff at their midsection, but Saika dodges her attack by turning to their left and taking a step back. They quickly turned to their left again and performed a backflip over the redhead. While in mid-air, Saika swings their katana vertically at the back of Kasumi's head. But the redhead kneels and bends her body forward enough to dodge the attack, with the tip of the katana's blade barely missing her hair by an inch. As soon as Saika lands, they get up and swing their katana diagonally upwards at her. But when Kasumi whirls about to look back at her opponent, she swiftly swings her staff diagonally upwards as well to deflect their katana with the top end of her weapon and tilting her head to the left to dodge its blade. She swings the bottom end of her staff diagonally to hit Saika across their face, and they yelp in pain as they stumble back. Kasumi delivers a kick to their midsection to send them stumbling back further, and she now did a brief running jump, kicked the wall of the desk on her left to send her up higher, and she lets out a yell while delivering an overhead strike with her staff onto Saika. The deranged killer yelps again as the staff hits the top of their head, causing them to bend forward and look down at the floor while Kasumi lands in front of them. Seeing her opportunity, Kasumi pulls her staff back and prepares to deliver another horizontal swing to their head.
However, Saika quickly looks back up at Kasumi and holds up their left hand to use a huge amount of force to stop her attack mid-swing. As Kasumi groans and trembles while being frozen in place, Saika extends their other hand and uses the same amount of force to lift a computer, mouse and wireless keyboard from the work desk behind Kasumi on their right up in the air. Saika pulls back their right arm and clenches their fist to send the computer, mouse and keyboard flying over to the back of Kasumi's head, causing her to groan in pain as she lowers her staff and stumbles forward. Saika themselves also groan as they lower their arms and katana. They slide their fingers across their upper lip and look down to see them covered in blood, realizing that they are almost at their limit, and sooner than usual after lending more of their power to Takashi yesterday.
Saika and Kasumi recover and look up at the same time, and the latter quickly thrusts her staff at their chest. Saika whirls around to their right to dodge the attack and they throw down their left fist onto the top of Kasumi's head. As Kasumi yelps and bends forward, Saika quickly gets above her, rolls over her body and lands behind her. They deliver a kick to their back to send her stumbling forward. As soon as Kasumi turns around to face her opponent again, Saika thrusts their left hand at her, firing another huge amount of force at her midsection. Kasumi yells as it sends her flying through the air and sprawling through the floor.
"Kasumi!" Masaomi shouted in alarm while watching from a distance. He yells angrily as he turns to his left and uses all his strength to finally swing his right arm horizontally, pulling both the chain and its wielder in the process. As the red-haired man stumbles forward and over to him, Masaomi turns back to him and swings his left fist across his right cheek. He follows it up by thrusting his hammer up to the bottom of his chin, causing his opponent to back away. After Masaomi removes the chain from his right arm, the red-haired man could only look up and cry in terror for a few seconds as the dark blonde-haired man runs up to him and swings his hammer across the left side of his head to knock him unconscious.
As Celty stands where she is, she fires a long stream of black smoke from underneath her right sleeve at Saika. However, Saika swiftly holds out their left hand and stops the stream of smoke mid-air while it is only a few inches away from their palm.
"Not this time." Saika said coldly to the demihuman. Celty quickly summons her scythe in her left hand before Saika swings their katana diagonally to slice off the stream of black smoke. As the smoke dissipates, Celty quickly climbs over a work desk between her and Saika, jumps in the air, and swings the back of her scythe's blade down on the deranged killer.
Saika dodges it by turning around and rolling over the floor before Celty brings her weapon down onto where they originally stood. Saika gets up, turns around and thrusts both their hands at the demihuman to send her flying and sprawling over to the glass windows at the other end of the floor where Kasumi is. The redhead rolls over to her right to prevent Celty from colliding with her.
"Celty!" Shinra cried in horror as he and Shirley watched from the right side of the floor.
"Kasumi!" Shirley added.
As Saika makes their way over to the two women at the other end of the floor, Mikado and Anri run over and place themselves in front of the deranged killer. They both get into their fighting stances and charge towards them. However, Saika easily stops them by thrusting their hands at their throats. Mikado and Anri both widen their eyes and gasp as they feel themselves being lifted in the air. Not caring that more blood is trickling down from their nostrils, Saika spreads their arms out and sends Mikado and Anri flying. Mikado finds himself slamming against the glass window of a managerial workroom at the left side of the floor, while Anri sprawls through the floor and passes by the work desk where Masaomi is currently hiding behind.
Shirley and Shinra run up to Saika from behind, but the deranged killer whirls about and thrusts their right hand at the orange-haired woman. As Shirley sprawls through the floor, Shinra charges at Saika with his shield in front of him. To his surprise, Saika runs up and over his shield when he is near them, performs a flip through the air, and lands on their feet behind him. Both turn around to face each other, and Saika brings the bottom of the hilt of their katana down onto the top of the doctor's head. He yelps as he bends forward and Saika quickly lifts their right knee to kick him in the face. As Shinra stumbles back, Saika swings their left arm horizontally, using another huge amount of force to send the doctor flying and slamming against the wall of a work desk beside them.
After wiping away the blood from their nostrils and lips, Saika chuckled evilly as they continued walking towards Celty and Kasumi, who both got up with their weapons in their hands.
The headless rider thrusts her left arm at Saika and fires another long stream of black smoke at them. Saika turns to their left and backs away to dodge the stream, and they swiftly throw their katana over to Celty. Its blade slashes across the left side of her torso, causing the demihuman to yelp and lower her arm while the katana stabs through the glass window behind her and Kasumi.
"Celty!" Kasumi cried as she turned to her. But while she is distracted, Saika thrusts both their hands at her and Celty, using a huge amount of force to push and slam them against the glass window. Thanks to the pressure Saika is applying onto their enemies, the crack caused by their katana begins to enlarge and spread across the area of the window where Kasumi and Celty are pinned against. The redhead groans as she and Celty throw their head and helmet back, completely helpless in fighting back their opponent.
"I'll finish the both of you, then the rest of your friends!" Saika shouted at them.
Suddenly, Masaomi yells and charges over to Saika from their right as he thrusts and collides his war hammer against the right side of their head, sending them rolling over the floor and slamming against the glass window of a meeting room. Kasumi and Celty both fell and landed back down on the floor safely.
Saika groans and looks up in time to see Masaomi running over to them. They quickly get up and run off to their right before Masaomi swings his hammer down onto where they originally were. Saika goes over to Masaomi and lifts their right leg to kick him on his left shoulder. Masaomi stumbles to the side before turning back to Saika. He goes over and swings his hammer horizontally at them. The deranged killer dodges the attack by ducking down. Masaomi quickly swings his hammer down onto Saika to deliver an overhead strike, but the killer gets up and grabs the hilt of his weapon to stop his attack. As they both stay in a stalemate, Saika chuckled in amusement as a huge smile takes form across their face.
"Wow…such fiery rage!" Saika said amusingly as Masaomi snarls at them. "And you unleashed it soon after I hurt all your friends." They snickered for a moment. "I don't blame you. It would really suck if you can't protect the ones whom you care the most, right?"
Immediately after hearing their last sentence, Masaomi's eyes widened and his jaw dropped as if their words had hit his head hard like a brick, causing a wave of memories to come flooding into his mind.
First, there was a young girl with a pink headband and shoulder-length black hair smiling back at him with her hands behind her back as they stood in front of each other outside Grandscape Ikebukuro. Masaomi cannot forget that his heart skipped a beat that day when they agreed to take their relationship to the next level.
The second memory that flashed before Masaomi was him and the girl clinking their cups of bubble milk tea and drinking them through its straws while holding hands and walking merrily through the streets without a care in the world.
The third memory was him and the girl standing together inside a clothing store at the other side of Ikebukuro. He could remember his cheeks blush as he watched the girl wrap the yellow scarf that she had bought for him as a gift around his neck. When she is done, they both look back at each other and smile. It was a blissful moment. A moment that Masaomi wished would never pass.
However, the last memory playing in his mind was him carrying the girl in his arms while standing inside an abandoned factory. He vividly remembers how much his body was trembling as he looked down to see the girl being cradled in his arms with her eyes closed and her head slumped to the side. She had bruises on both her cheeks, and there was blood trickling down the left side of her lips. But what makes him sick to his stomach the most was the large bruise on her left lower leg, and how much its bone and her foot are twisted to the side. As the boy stood there, all he could do was throw his head back and let out a long agonizing scream.
When Masaomi was snapped back to reality, the man shook violently and grits his teeth as his face distorts into a scowl. The deranged killer jerks their head to the side with an arched eyebrow.
"Something the matter?" Saika asked.
To their surprise, Masaomi pulls his hammer out of their grip as he backs away from them. Saika could only stand there as he furiously thrusts the head of his hammer into their midsection, much to the shock of all his friends. As Saika stumbles back, Masaomi swings his hammer horizontally at the left side of their head, but they quickly recover and hold up their right hand to use a huge amount of force to stop his attack mid-swing. But Masaomi quickly lifts his left leg up and kicks them at their midsection, and the same area where he hit them earlier. Saika groans as they lower their hand and back away while Masaomi swings his hammer diagonally and hits them on the left side of their forehead. Saika bends forward for a moment before they look up and see Masaomi throwing his right fist at them, punching them directly in the face and sending them falling to the floor on their back. Masaomi quickly kneels above them to prevent them from getting back up.
Still not caring about the terrified looks on the faces of his friends, Masaomi places his hammer aside on the floor and lets out a bellow of unbridled rage as he delivers twelve brutal punches across both sides of Saika's head. The deranged killer could only lie on the floor as their assailant leaves several bruises all over their face.
When Masaomi finished unleashing his fury, he breathes heavily as he looks down at his now badly injured opponent. Saika turns to the side and spits out some blood before looking back at Masaomi with a wide mocking grin.
"You do realize that by hurting me, you're hurting my host in the process, right?" Saika laughed. "You and I are the same…violent…and depraved…"
As if their words hit his nerve, Masaomi narrows his eyes and grits his teeth once more as he grabs his hammer from the floor and aims the head of his weapon down at Saika's forehead. He lets out another yell and prepares to bring it down.
However, his strike was quickly stopped mid-swing by a pair of hands wrapped tightly around the hilt of his hammer. Masaomi lifts his head up to see it was Kasumi, now back up on her feet and kneeling in front of him and Saika just in time to stop him from delivering what could have been the final blow. Upon seeing his friend shaking her head with hot tears welling up in her eyes, all his blind rage vanished in an instant as he now realizes what he has done. With his eyes wide and his mouth agape, Masaomi loosens his grip around his hammer, letting Kasumi pull it effortlessly out of his hands. The man gulps before he lowers his head and looks down at his hands.
"What have I done?" Masaomi uttered.
Saika laughed again as they said to Masaomi mockingly, "Once again, another person who don't have the guts to kill someone. That is so cringe!"
"Maybe you're right. We can never kill." Kasumi said flatly to Saika as she turned the hammer around in her right hand. "But we can still do this."
Before Saika could ask, Kasumi suddenly swings the bottom of the hilt of Masaomi's hammer down onto their forehead hard, knocking the deranged killer out cold.
The redhead looks back at her friend and holds his hammer out to him. Masaomi lifts his head up and stares at Kasumi for a moment before he takes his weapon back from her with a solemn frown. Kasumi wipes her tears away before both friends get back up on their feet.
They step away from the now unconscious Saika as Celty, Mikado, Anri, Shirley and Shinra quickly go over to them. The headless rider hands Kasumi back her staff before she spends a minute using a long stream of her black smoke to tie Saika's body and wrists. She placed her in a sitting position and had her lean against the glass window of a managerial workroom. Celty quickly stands up, types a message on her phone and shows it to her allies.
"Now that we've knocked Saika out, the elevators should be back to normal, and the walls blocking the staircases must be gone too."
"Is it really okay to leave Saika like this?" Anri asked concernedly.
Celty types her response on her phone. "My smoke should hold her long enough. But now, it's time we deal with Takashi."
"Let's go!" Shinra said anxiously to everyone. Without saying another word, Celty, Kasumi, Masaomi, Anri, Mikado, Shirley and Shinra quickly turn and run their way out of the working area and back to the elevators.
When they reach the elevators, Shinra quickly presses the down button, and everyone waits for one of them to arrive. After feeling a tap on his right shoulder, Shinra turned to see Celty holding up her phone and showing him her latest message.
"Can you tell us what is at the twenty-seventh floor now?"
Sovereign: I would like to thank Darth Necron and LayLay lives for reviewing, and Jack797 for favoriting and following this story. Thanks guys!