Chapter 63
A little earlier, before the storm dissipated.
"Hyahh!"
"Gahh!"
Yan Min kicks at Johann at full speed, lightning following his every move, but Johann is able to follow the blows, as if reading them, and blocks them with ease, always concentrating on Yan Min's face.
Beginning to get on her nerves, she jumped up and attempted a violent vertical blow with the back of her foot. He blocks it with both arms, cracking the ground at his feet. Yan Min can see the pain on his face, but she barely has time to react as he grabs her leg and crushes it to the ground, then stretches out his arm and pulls out a cannon.
"What the?!" Yan Min wonders.
"I've got more than one trick up my sleeve, kid!"
Just as he was about to fire, Yan Min hit his arm and fired into a container. Then with her arms she propels herself into the air and using her suppleness, aims for the head with her free foot, but he protects himself, putting his forearm out to stop the attack. She pretended to drop her upper body before striking his belly with the palm of her hand. This surprises him and he drops her, holding his body in pain. Landing in a crouch, she pivots to trip him. He falls, but at the same time, a blade springs from his arm, heading straight for Yan Min, who avoids it by doing a back flip.
"How many do you have like that?" She asks.
"I warned you." Johann stood up and charged toward her.
He attempts a diagonal strike, which she dodges, then surprises her by drawing a blade from his other arm and launching a diagonal attack from bottom to top. Yan Min dodges by twisting her body, then delivers a back kick straight into her torso, sending her into a low wall, sliding all the way. He grabs the top of the low wall, and breaks it, taking a piece and throwing it towards Yan Min. She runs towards him and wraps her arm around the electric element, shattering the concrete. Seeing her coming, Johann throws himself to the side to dodge the blow, destroying the low wall. She turns towards him and stands upright, inviting him to attack with her hand.
Johann clenched his fists at the sight of her, then charged towards her, blade forward. She stops him using her fingers, surprised, he attacks with the other blade, which she stops with the tip of her heel.
"What the?!" He noticed that the element of electricity coursed through her entire body.
"It's up to me to raise the difficulty." She said, pushing him away.
She attacks with a combo of punches, which he parries with his blades, each touch sending sparks and lightning flying in all directions. When he has an opening, he tries to slice her in half, but she dodges gracefully, kicking him in the ribs and sending him tumbling further away.
She moves forward to see if he's out of harm's way, but she hears a shot, much too close for it to be farther away, barely sees the bullet as she intercepts it with both hands, recoiling with sheer inertia.
"You coward, are you taking advantage of the dust?!" Yan Min snarls.
"That's what it was made for!"
Hearing the voice approaching, she prepares herself and, just as she sees his shadow in the storm, she uses the cannonball as a weapon and breaks the blade coming for her throat. Then she grabs the base of the blade and rips it from his arm. Reacting too late, Johann pushes her away, looking at the state of his left arm.
"That's a pretty big deal for a kid..." He said with a grin.
"Huh, please don't compare me to the rest of the Kuoh school members, apart from a few exceptions." She scoffs as she approaches her opponent.
"Ha, show-off... Huh?"
As Johann stood up, the storm stopped, letting the dust fall gently, leaving a carpet on the ground.
"Ah at last." Yan Min breathes a sigh of relief, taking a deep breath.
"I see, some of you managed to get through and eliminate Kamron." Johann thinks out loud.
"That's right, it's now time to surrender, Eighths members. Your game of hide-and-seek is over, and you don't stand a chance without it."
"Surrender? You seem to greatly underestimate the Eighth clan."
"Hm?"
"We all owe a debt to One here, so it's impossible to surrender, either we'll win or we'll be defeated, that's the way it is and no other way."
From his arms come a red cable, falling to the ground, two whips at least three meters long.
"It's time to end it kid." He moves into position, grabbing the base of the whips.
"Okay, fine, then me too." She presses her earpiece. "Minerva, release the seal." After a few seconds, a portal appeared beside her, bringing down a two-tailed black whip resembling scales, in the middle of the whips is an ornament resembling the head of a snake with two fangs at the front, and the tails end with a pure electric element stone.
"Oh... It feels powerful..." Johann raises an eyebrow. "But who'd have thought our duel would end like this, with two whip users as weapons."
"...Sorry but my whip is not a weapon..." Suddenly, the tails act as if by themselves and enter her arms, making a snake bracelet appear on her right wrist, the beginning of the ornament in the center comes out of her forearms, bracelets below her shoulders. The ornaments emerge from her shoulders, with the end of the whips behind her. "This is a divine tool."
"I see, so give it all kid!" Johann flings the whip straight.
With a flash of lightning, Yan Min arrived in front of him, but he didn't stop and sent the whip horizontally. Sensing the danger approaching, Yan Min ducks low to dodge the whip, which slices through everything in its path: a wall, a container, a pole...
"It's..." Yan Min doesn't have time to analyze her weapon before she has to dodge the other left whip arriving diagonally.
She leapt to the side, so fast that she left a trail of light behind her. She leaps everywhere, using the scenery around her to deflect her trajectory, avoiding Johann's incessant sweeping, sending his whips slicing through absolutely everything around him.
"The whips... vibrate... it's too dangerous... If it wasn't for my speed, I'd already be cut into little pieces..." Yan Min analyzes.
She jumps to dodge a double cross attack. In mid-air, Yan Min sees that he's aiming his cannon at her and fires. She concentrates her electric element on her foot and strikes into it, deflecting its trajectory and crashing further away. No sooner had she landed than she leapt towards him, ready to strike. Johann reacted by retracting his arm and striking fist against fist. Both can feel the impact running through their bodies, making them tremble with pain.
"How powerful are these prostheses!?" Yan Min exclaims, but she still sees a few bolts and other small parts popping off.
Catching her by surprise, he pulls out the valid blade in his arm and tries to cut her arm with a bottom-up attack, but she quickly disengages. She slams her two fists together, creating an electric current running through both arms. Johann ignores this and attacks her again with the whips, but she ignores it, appearing in a flash beside him. He swings his blade up and down but Yan Min slices it with the edge of her hand, severing his arm in the process, then throws her right fist at his face. He puts his good arm out in front but shatters on contact, damaged by the earlier blow, and takes the fist to the face, sending him flying further away.
Seeing him motionless, she made her whip disappear, breathing a sigh of relief. Then she approaches him, slightly pitying him without her two arms, she asks Minerva to send some people to pick him up but is interrupted by something growing in the distance in her field of vision, near the hangar where Youta is.
"What is this horror?!" Yan Min is disgusted.
"Well then redhead?! you're hiding?! you can't do anything without your powers! It's pathetic!" Scoffs the person hiding in the storm, gun in hand.
"...This guy, he can laugh all he wants, with a pistol in his hand... but he's right, I only have my family's powers... nothing else, I'm pathetic..." Rias complains.
"Rias-sama..." Asia tugs at her sleeve, startled.
Rias turns to her, feeling terribly guilty for feeling sorry for herself. She strokes her head, reassuring her.
"It's all right Asia, I'll find a solution." She said with a smile.
Asia nodded, still trembling, but with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"Now..." She turns the other way. "All that remains is to find out how clearly he can see me through this dust..."
She pokes the tip of her nose out of her hiding place but gets back in immediately, dodging a bullet.
"I can see your hair a mile away, honey!"
"Obviously, my hair, why doesn't that cross my mind..." Rias pondered, looking for a way out of this situation. "Listen Asia, you stay right here, I'll go around him and take him by surprise."
"No, it's too dangerous..!"
"I know! But he'll have a hard time following me into the storm, even with my hair color. Besides, we've got to try something, I can't just leave you here while a lot of people need to be looked after, you know what I mean?"
"...I understand, be careful, I'll be to look after you if necessary." Asia said in a determined tone, flashing the rings of her Sacred Gear.
"Thank you Asia, I'm counting on you."
Without waiting, she takes a deep breath and leaps forward, running as fast as she can, bullets flying around her, some passing through her hair in the wind.
(I knew it, he can see me but aiming in this mess is difficult.)
One bullet grazes her leg, another her hips, but she carries on, gritting her teeth. She goes behind a building and uses her destructive power to punch a hole in the wall and get inside. To her surprise, the storm isn't as strong there, but it's still present.
One bullet grazes her leg, another her hips, but she carries on, gritting her teeth. She goes behind a building and uses her destructive power to punch a hole in the wall and get inside. To her surprise, the storm isn't as strong there, but it's still present.
She looks discreetly out of the window, searching for him, and sees him, slowly approaching, gun pointing ahead. He shoots into another window, as if to provoke her.
"So, we abandon the blonde who was with you? I hope for her sake she doesn't try anything stupid, because one of you is going to find yourself riddled with bullets sooner than expected."
"You're all about provocation, aren't you..." Rias murmurs, backing away from the window. "I didn't think I'd ever use it in real-life situations, but now seems like a good time."
Concentrating, she charges up her devil powers and makes a clone of herself appear beside her. Without saying a word, the clone moves to the other window, preparing its destructive powers. As for Rias, she moves discreetly towards the door, preparing to go out.
That's it, the clone stands in front of the window, firing a wave of destruction straight at the enemy. The enemy notices and stares at it, making it disappear, then fires, passing through the clone who disappears in a smoke screen.
"A clone seriously?!" He exclaims.
Hearing something approaching, he pulls away and sees Rias already beside him, ready to strike. He aims his weapon at her forehead, but she deflects it with a wave of her hand. Then she wraps her other hand in destruction. Sensing the aura of power, he turns to look at it, canceling it but he doesn't have time to dodge, taking the blow in the stomach, causing him to spit up saliva.
But he immediately recovers, pushing her away and tripping her. Caught off guard and unable to see, she stumbles over something, allowing the guy to pull out another weapon and load it.
"It was a nice try missy, but it seems you're limited without your powers, that's a shame, now it's the end." He points his gun at her, but stops himself.
He turns towards a small bluish light shining through the dust, then a blade passes close to his face.
"Bastard!" He huffs, bracing himself to pull the trigger.
But too late, a sword slams into the weapon, with enough force that he's forced to drop it, groaning in pain. Rias takes the opportunity to strike him with his foot, knocking him down in turn. She gets up quickly, but stands still, seeing him with his first weapon.
"I don't know who helped you, but he's got to be really fast! Gaah!" Suddenly, a shadow kicked his jaw.
A second shadow catches Rias and retreats.
"Senji?!" She recognized him directly. "What are you doing here?"
"Sorry, but the real Senji is at the warehouse, we're clones who've come to help as many people as possible..." He explains.
He is interrupted by a bullet passing through his skull, disappearing and knocking Rias off his feet. A second shot is heard, but another clone steps in front and deflects the bullet with a sword.
"Get up President, we'll keep him busy and you'll get rid of him!" He says, then charges towards the enemy.
"Get up President, we'll keep him busy and you'll get rid of him!" He says, then charges towards the enemy.
"We? How many are they?" She wonders, but immediately stands up as she hears the gunfire intensify.
As she wonders how to approach it when she can see nothing and can only hear the battle ahead, she notices that the storm calms down, then stops, the dust gently falling to the ground.
"Damn it, this moron's been had!" The power canceller panicked, faced with the relentless attack of Senji's clones. He manages to make one disappear, a second, but he can count another five.
"You like cloning shinobis, don't you? Cowards! At least heroes are more fun to kill!"
He loads his weapon and aims at one of the clones, who are all about to pounce, but is interrupted by two arrows made of energy hurtling towards him. He stares at them, making them disappear, only to see behind him a young woman with orange-blonde hair and a golden bow in her hand.
"Tsss... this is getting to be a bit much for me, I've got to get out of here."
He starts to leave but someone lands near him, throwing dust everywhere. Without being able to see him, he points his gun at him and shoots. But when he hears a thud, the dust finally clears to reveal a mountain of muscle, having stopped the bullet with a metal hand.
"This is where we stop, members of the Eighth." Kai says.
"Certainly not! I'm not going to be beaten by kids!"
He squeezes the trigger but is pushed aside by a Senji clone, narrowly avoiding Kai being hit. He scrambles to his feet, noticing a brilliant gem of violet light heading his way. He watches it fall to the ground, doing nothing.
"Huh... was there really nothing? Well..." He looks away.
The gem explodes, sending him tumbling and crashing into a wall.
"You guys aren't exactly smart at the Eighth." Tohsaka approaches, her finger pointed at him. "And don't look at me."
"You think you're clever because there are more of you, don't you?" He stares at her and points his gun at her.
But Senji's clone kicks at his hand, making him drop his weapon, and with one blow hits him in the jaw, knocking him out instantly.
"Good job everyone, especially you Rias, for holding out this long." Furan smiled.
"Yes, thank you so much for coming to my rescue, but it's rare to see you use the bow, Furan-san, is the situation that critical?" Rias asks, gazing intently at the golden bow.
"That's for Senji-san to tell us." She puts on a stern face again, turning to one of the clones. "Where's Senji?"
"..." They all remain silent.
"Senji! This is very serious! Need I remind you that you're the target?!" Rias worries.
"As we told you, Senji is at the warehouse where Youta is being held hostage, trying to sneak inside to rescue him and kill One in the process." One of the clones quickly summarizes.
"Seriously?!" Rin exclaimed indignantly. "But he's the last person who should be entering this building!"
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go and help him as soon as possible!" Kai exclaims, pounding his fist.
"What do we do with him?" Rias asks.
"We can leave him there, he'll be knocked out for a while." Reassures Senji.
"Ha! Asia, I left her all alone!" Exclaims Rias.
"I'm here President!" Asia's voice is heard, running towards them with a clone of Senji.
"Hm?" One of the clones notices he's being stared at by Rias. "We went looking for her."
"Senji-san has come for me!... Huh? Why is there another Senji-san...? Am I dreaming?" Asia doesn't know which way to turn.
"But no, it's cloning. I'll leave you to look after Rias and the others, they're probably hurt. In the meantime, we're going to continue helping out as many people as we can. Take care of yourselves." Not waiting for an answer, the five clones dashed off and disappeared further into the complex.
"He's the one who should watch out, this idiot." Rin clenches her fists.
"I couldn't agree with you more, as a senior of Maken-ki, it's my duty to give the boy a piece of my mind when it's all over." Furan said.
"Likewise. Thank you Asia." Rias strokes Asia's head. "I also have a few words to say to him."
"And as his friend, it's also our role to make him understand that he can count on us, isn't that right Tohsaka?" Kai turns to Rin, more motivated than ever.
"Huh... um, yes you're right, we're all in this together after all." She nods.
"Um... I don't know what Senji did, but if he's doing something stupid, then it's important to tell him!" Asia said innocently.
"That's right Asia-chan. Now that everyone is ready, let's hurry and join him." Furan takes the lead.
"Yes!" They reply together.
Vol. 11 End.