Chapter 69
All Might, the heroes and accompanying students can only watch in horror as a powerful column of energy bursts from the roof of the warehouse, smashing into the protective dome and cracking it on contact.
Senji's two clones convulse, falling to their knees, a layer of transparent orange energy forms around them. Their eyes turn red, but with an ounce of sanity, they project daggers and stab themselves in the heart, only to disappear in a screen of smoke.
Everyone looks on in incomprehension and terror, except the members of the occult research club, who can't believe their eyes.
"This aura, it's much more powerful and heavy than the one I felt last time..." Asia murmurs, frozen in terror.
"That can only mean one thing, he's definitely lost control..." Akeno concluded, biting her lips in regret.
"No... Senji-san..." Asia cries, her shoulders rising with each sob.
"...It was bound to happen at some point..." Koneko murmurs.
"If we had been more careful... maybe none of this would have happened..." Kiba regretted.
"..." Rias stares intently at the beam of energy, which suddenly disappears, replaced by a bestial, rage-filled scream. "There's really nothing we can do...?"
"What are you waiting for?! Shoot him!" One orders.
The Eighths fire at Senji, who receives the bullets, slightly annoyed, sweeping his hand away as if chasing a fly. Fed up, his tails begin to wag, then suddenly grow and sweep across the entire warehouse, destroying and slicing like razor blades, the lifeless bodies of the Eighths tumbling in all directions, the lucky few still alive, thrown into the air, are caught and thrown violently towards the walls or the floor, ending up in a pool of blood.
Then Senji opens his mouth, larger than a human being can manage, and spits a jet of flame in the direction of One, who teleports to dodge it, leaving his last soldiers for dead, carbonized on the spot.
"That bastard..." Said One, clinging to a beam still holding the roof with one arm. "He only has eyes for me."
Senji's piercing red eyes stare completely at One, like a predator that has found its prey, which is beginning to frustrate One.
"Don't look at me like that! I'm the predator, you bastard!" He shouts, annoying Senji.
Senji bends down and pulls his body back, deforming it and leaping forward, hurtling towards One at high speed. He teleports to dodge, sending Senji straight into the wall.
As Team 7 and Venus retreat, Kakashi turns to see Inukai stop and look towards the warehouse.
"Inukai, we don't have time to stop, we're still too close!" Kakashi calls out to him.
"Sorry Kakashi-sensei, but I came with Senji's team, and I intend to leave with them. Please go without me." He said, putting his goggles back on.
"What are you talking about? Too late..." Kakashi said, seeing him off, leaving an afterimage behind.
"Ayaka-san, the Filian sisters are afraid they won't be able to contain the power of what's in the warehouse... The dome holds with difficulty." Minerva's voice is heard through the walkie-talkie.
"Seriously?!" Ayaka is surprised. "Sorry, but right now we don't have a solution. I think, for the moment, we need to prioritize a reinforcement of the barrier around the warehouse."
"All right... One last thing, what is this energy, I've never felt anything like it." Minerva asks, concerned.
"...I guess there's no point in keeping it hidden now." Kakashi sighs. "It's the nine-tailed fox demon."
"To everyone around the warehouse! Please take your distance immediately, a great power has emerged inside, please leave immediately!" A voice is heard through the walkie-talkie.
"Let's go." Said Kakashi, taking the lead.
"What was that...?" Sui asks, frightened, as she handles the sea water in contact with the harbor.
"I don't know, but I'm getting chills, it doesn't look good..." Rain replies, hiding behind a container.
"Are you all right?" Inukai stops abruptly in front of the two girls, removing his glasses.
"Inukai, glad to see you in one piece. Yes, we're fine, at least for now, but I don't know for how long, with the monster inside. Besides, you wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?" Rain asks.
"All I know is that Kakashi-sensei said the energy came from Senji." He said, shrugging his shoulders.
"From... Senji..." Rain goes into intense reflection, using her Sigil. "...Why Senji, why does he give off such an aura of destruction and hatred... Oh... oh no... So that's why..."
"Then you know what's going on, because in there it's moving!" Inukai points to the warehouse, where a commotion can be heard.
"Senji has a major problem with his energy. It's unstable and he has great difficulty using it without destroying himself after a while. I just thought it was because his magic circuits hadn't been trained enough, but now it's clear. There's something standing in the way of his energy flow." Rain rambles.
"Come to the fact Rain-san! We don't have time now!" Inukai exclaims.
"Please... don't fight... it's terrifying enough as it is..." Sui asks, shaking all over.
"Senji has the nine-tailed fox demon sealed inside him." Rain concluded.
"...What?" Inukai widens his eyes.
"I was too young when it happened, but I looked into what happened 10 years ago, the aura, that intense rage and hatred and above all that astronomical amount of energy... There's no doubt about it, Senji has opened the seal and awakened the fox demon..." Rain explains, frowning.
"But... why would he do that... and then why didn't he tell you, you're his teammates though?!" Inukai is stunned.
"...Now that I think about it, if he's two years older than me... that means he became Jinchūriki at 6...? That's crazy..." Rain is lost in thought. "Hmm? Why did he transform? Well, Senji's an unstable person, and given the turn of events, that probably means One has slaughtered or at least killed his friend and he just needs to add more and taunt him to... well, you get the idea. As for the secret, well, normally it's one member of the Uzumaki family who should be the Jinchūriki, but the last representative is dead... unless Senji is one, but why hide it by another name? Anyway, it doesn't matter now." Rain pulls out a walkie-talkie. "Ryuji's still inside, I hope with all my heart he's still alive..." She brings the walkie-talkie up to her mouth and turns it on. "Ryuji, do you read me? Please say something..."
"Say something Ryuji, give us a sign that you're still alive." Rain's sizzling voice is heard through a pile of cardboard.
"This is Ryuji, I'm alive and well Rain, I was lucky enough to land in a pile of cardboard during the blast. Is everything okay on your end?" Ryuji asks, motionless in those cardboard boxes.
"Thank God, yes everything's fine on our side, what's the situation inside?"
"Senji snapped when he saw the remains of his buddy's corpse and began transforming into a tailed beast. I'm lucky because he's focused entirely on One. He really wants to kill him."
"Ok, you absolutely have to get out, hurry up."
"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can." Ryuji concluded and put the walkie away.
He moves a cardboard box to look ahead. The box falls, making a slight noise. Ryuji stands still, but nothing seems to be approaching, and he can still hear the fight further back in the warehouse. He clears the rest of the box on top of him, stands up and starts running towards the exit. Suddenly, a wall of flame passes further into the warehouse, and Ryuji turns in panic, running even faster. He gently opens the door and gently closes it, before turning and looking around. He notices Inukai, waving at him from the containers.
"Who would have thought that the situation would deteriorate so quickly and so strongly..." He said as he came up in front of them.
"...You don't seem surprised in any case." Rain remarked with an accusing look.
"You weren't the one standing next to him when he flipped out. I'm alive by sheer luck, okay? I thought I was gonna die. But I had time to think about it, I already knew the name Senji. It comes from the autobiography of a woman imprisoned for murdering her husband. Their children were also called Senji. And that same kid ended up being the Jinchūriki of the fox demon through the sacrifice of the fourth Hokage and his wife, who was supposed to be the Jinchūriki, you get me?"
"I've heard of this book, and it was a hit when it came out, but was quickly withdrawn from the stores." Inukai adds.
"It was already too late, everyone had already bought it or the rumors had already done their work. When it should have remained a secret, a wish of the fourth Hokage. The name of the new Jinchūriki was revealed in the book written by his own mother. A kid who became the host of a monster and was posted by his own mother for all to see. So the third Hokage asked all the adults not to tell the children, at least to anyone who hadn't read the book..." Ryuji explains.
"I understand better the change of family name..." Rain ponders. "Is there any way to get him back?"
"Go figure, aside from the attack ten years ago, there's never been a case where the Jinchūriki has lost control, at least in the state of Konoha." Ryuji replies.
"Poor Senji... I'd rather not imagine what he's been through..." Said Sui, shocked.
"Hmm, I understand his reactions better and even him in general. But how come he's disappeared off the radar, it's not possible with a simple change of surname. Besides, the first name Senji is mostly worn by older people, and even then." Observes Inukai.
"He's the one you'll have to ask, if he's not completely devoured by the fox demon..." Ryuji stops and observes each of them. "Wait, where's Shuka?!"
"I knew there was someone missing. Don't tell me she stayed on the roof?!" Rain looks up.
At the same time, she sees Radames forcing the wall into the warehouse. And the part of the wall in front of them is suddenly gouged by huge claws, having cut through the material like a laser.
"She probably does, let's get out of here." She said, grabbing her suitcase.
Senji crashes into the wall like chewing gum. He gradually peels himself off, clinging to the wall, and turns to One. He leaps up in the air, raises his left hand and strikes, stretching out like a rubber band. His hooked fingers cut through the wall and floor like a laser, leaving red marks. One teleports to dodge. Senji lands and opens his mouth, throwing balls of raw energy, which explode on contact with the ground. One runs to the side to hide among the wreckage of the warehouse. Senji continues to fire a dozen rounds before stopping. His blood-red eyes scan the whole warehouse, until he hears One running in the distance. Senji takes off at full speed, running on all fours and catching up with One in no time.
He turns and strikes at Senji, who instantly loses both arms. He loses his balance, falls and rolls several metres before crashing into a wall.
"So what do you say to that?!"
Senji leapt out of the wall and conjured up a new pair of arms, as if nothing had happened. He wags his tails before enlarging them and hurling them towards him. One sweeps his arm forward, making some of the tails disappear, passing right in front of him and leaping back to get some distance. Senji, meanwhile, grows his tails back and moves forward slowly, as if to assuage the situation.
"Well, I thought he'd become a wild animal, but he's starting to get suspicious... However, what do I do if he can just reappear his limbs?"
As One ponders, he turns his gaze to a still-standing storage unit, containing numerous metal beams. He teleports to gain a few meters and runs. Seeing this, Senji becomes agitated and runs after him. One arrives and hits the foot of the storage unit, which disappears, causing all the beams to fall on Senji, who arrives at exactly the right moment.
"Ah! With this we'll see if you can get up without any trouble!" One exclaims, taking care to step back anyway.
Suddenly he felt the earth tremble, then one of Senji's tails sprang up from the ground, bent down and struck One, who was sent waltzing away. Senji emerges from the ground and uses his tails to grab the beams and send them roughly towards One. The beams fall randomly, only one of them really scaring One, falling a few meters, the others getting lost further into the warehouse, or embedding themselves in the walls.
One sees one of the Eighth's corpses, and heads towards it to see that it has grenades. He only has time to grab one before being interrupted by Senji, who appears next to him and hits him in the stomach. One coughs up blood at the blow, then Senji grabs his head and lifts him off the ground. One recovers from the pain and strikes Senji's head, which disappears. The headless body drops him, then in not even a second, the head returns and bites his arm. He squeezes so hard that he cuts his arm. One falls to the ground in pain, holding his devoured forearm. Senji stands over him, mouth wide open. One picks up the grenade, cuts it up, puts it in his mouth and teleports away to narrowly avoid the explosion.
After teleporting away, he looks down at his still-valid hand, seeing that he's managed to catch his fingers with the grenade.
"It hurts like hell!" He murmurs, suffering silently. "It's okay... as soon as it's all over, the game will let me get back in one piece. But I can't see myself winning, I've got to run..."
Suddenly, a powerful shiver runs through his body, his instincts begging him to flee as quickly as possible. He turns slowly to see Senji's face close to his own, looking up with blood-red feline pupils, he can feel the raw energy covering Senji's body burning his skin. One is completely frozen, and for the first time, he's on the brink of death. His lips tremble, his eyes can't look away, focused on Senji's, who sees only hatred and destruction. Senji opens his mouth unnaturally, far too wide for a human being, and energy begins to flow into it. Raw energy takes on bubble-like forms, beginning to form an ever-larger orb.
The wall next to them explodes, letting through a white mass that rushes towards them and grabs Senji. Surprised, he stops charging his attack, which scatters and struggles, shooting at the slime, but to no avail. He tries to bite and tear it, but all it does is expand on him, covering him completely.
"Radames! It's about time! I was wondering what was taking you so long!" One exclaims, breathing again, but he frowned as Radames came out of his power. "Wow, you're in bad shape, is there someone out there who's been roughing you up this much? Well, I'm going to run away, and as soon as I'm in a safe place, I'm going to teleport all of you, so save as much time as possible, got it?!"
Radames nods, before turning his gaze to where Senji is, he can see he's still struggling inside. Seeing this, One gets up and teleports away, exhausted.
"I'm the protagonist of this game, I'm the winner, whatever happens. I'll always survive and come back for revenge, be sure of that kid..." One murmurs with a disturbed look.
He stops, feeling a sharp pain in his shoulder. He turns to see a chain with a spike stuck into it. He looks up to see a petite blonde, dressed in an expensive red dress, her face showing make-up marred by tears.
"You bitch!" One exclaims, hitting the chain, which disappears.
"You won't run away. The pain and despair you're putting Senji through, I'd do anything to make him give it back to you a hundredfold. I'm going to hold you here, until your sentence comes." Shuka replies coldly, pulling wires out of her dress.
Radames sees the confrontation between One and Shuka. He begins to advance towards them, continuing to spread his power all around him. Suddenly, some of his matter shattered, releasing Senji. Radames points at him, so that a wave of goo catches him and begins to suffocate him. Senji struggles, before spitting flames towards the roof and shaking his head, beginning to attack the goo, which turns black. Sensing the power and heat, Ramades protects himself by forming a thick wall. Senji's fire becomes more and more intense, starting to change color and compact into a laser, and he raises his head, destroying all the white matter in the warehouse, slicing through half the building and crossing the whole harbor to the sea, passing through the transparent yellowish barrier, leaving a gaping split, cracking the whole barrier.
Senji frees himself from the small amount of goo on him and races towards the white wall still standing. His arm glows with a multitude of colors and strikes, completely destroying the wall and following up with Radames' head, which explodes on contact and scatters over what's left of the floor and wall. Senji looks at the liquid coming out of the head, and is surprised to see that it's white. Suddenly, he's pierced in the stomach, then in the arms, then in the legs, and he barely dodges a head strike. He swings his tails and hits a fetus-like giant made of white goo. Senji frees himself from the spikes but can't escape, the giant having caught his tails. He swings him around, throwing him against the floor and walls. The giant stops, seeing Senji motionless in the ground.
The white matter approached him, when suddenly the tails twitched and spun around, destroying the giant's arm, then going into the ground. A few seconds later, four concrete pillars emerge from the ground, which begins to shake...
On the other side of the warehouse, One tries to leave, but is constantly stopped by Shuka, who tries to catch him or cut him with her wire. He tries to attack her, but she hangs on and moves away, as if reading his own teleportation.
"You kids are seriously starting to piss me off!" One snaps.
"And yet you want to run away with your tail between your legs, it's really pitiful..." Shuka scoffs.
She sends her wires straight towards One, who teleports away, but the wires have followed him, catching his leg. He was dragged several metres towards Senji, but he hit the wires, which disappeared. He fell to the ground and caught himself, running in the opposite direction. Shuka, standing over him, throws her wires at him. He teleports at once, coming up behind her and trying to hit her, but she gets pulled away, dodging the attack.
"How?! How can you see my movements?!" Screams One.
"Hm? It's simple though, you're so predictable it's boring..." Shuka replies, before turning to Senji. "Oh..."
One also turns his gaze to see four concrete pillars emerge from the ground and begin to shake, emitting a dangerous energy. He watches Shuka pull herself up to the roof, passing through a window.
"I've got to get out of here... Hurry!" He exclaims, using his teleportation.
On the other side, Radames can only watch, powerless to see what's going to happen to him. The pillars shake harder and harder, fracturing, before exploding, hurling concrete blocks in all directions, completely destroying the rear part of the warehouse, which collapses, with nothing left to hold the structure together.
One looks on in horror at the extent of the damage, but he's especially surprised to see himself above the warehouse, almost touching the barrier surrounding the port.
"What have I done? Did I teleport myself up so high? How did this happen? Was it because I was desperate not to die? Strange, even at full throttle, I'd never managed to get more than ten meters... And here I am, several hundred metres above sea level!"
One concentrates and teleports, landing softly on the roof, but before he can do so, he's caught by several wires.
"You thought you could escape it? Let me tell you. You're going to die today, you piece of garbage." Shuka lowers her hand.
One is pulled down, through a window and held in the air. He has no time to think about using his power when a scream of rage echoes through the warehouse, chilling his blood. Senji leaps out of the smoke of the damage he has caused, catches One in mid-air, who is freed at the last moment. One looks at Shuka, who just stares at him in disgust, before disappearing. Both fall to the ground, One tries to hit Senji, but Senji reacts more quickly and hits his shoulder, crushing it and separating the arm from his body, which sends his arm tumbling further into the warehouse.
"No! Gahh!" One screams in pain.
He can only stare at Senji, who's above him, staring at him with his blood-red eyes and gaping mouth. Senji stands up and shouts to the sky, before dropping his head back to One and gathering energy in front of his mouth again. One is too frightened to use his power, even to move, his body no longer responding to him at all.
"No..." The energy above his face is getting bigger and bigger. "No!" Suddenly, Senji gobbles up the energy. "No! I must not die!" He opens his mouth, revealing a blinding light. "I'm the protagonist of the game! I cannot die!"
Senji fires.
A great white-orange flash passes through the many windows and holes in the walls of the warehouse, before the explosion completely engulfs the warehouse, continuing to grow and grow, causing a deafening, forcing noise and an earthquake so powerful that all those nearby lose their balance. The explosion ball illuminates the entire harbour and even the other side, visible from the town center. The power of the explosion is so great that the storm stops and the wind sweeps away everything in its path.
"Minori! Minori you read me! Tell me you've backed up enough!" Gen's voice is heard through the walkie-talkie.
"I hear you Gen, yes I'm quite far away..." Minori replies, looking at the glowing explosion. "What a horror, there's nothing left of the warehouse..."
"We need to regroup and prepare an action plan... I'm sorry it's come to this, but there's every reason to believe Senji is lost..." Gen's voice is dull.
"Okay, I'm coming..." Minori cuts the call. " Damn it!" Minori screams, throwing out all her frustration.
"Ah, so the saying about how it takes one monster to kill another is pretty much true!" Keiichi exclaims.
Minori turns to her defeated opponent, watching him disappear piece by piece.
"What's that?! Oh no, I hauled your ass all the way here, so there's no way you're disappearing!" Minori approaches, but her instincts tell her not to touch him.
"One is dead, the head of the Eighth clan, that means death for all of us and there's nothing you can do about it. I was delighted to fight you! I'm leaving with a light heart! And I'm going to see if martial arts work on the beings of hell!" He exclaims before disappearing completely, leaving only cubic shapes on the ground, hollowing out his silhouette.
Minori watches in silence, clutching her walkie-talkie so tightly she crushes it. Suddenly, the rain falls like a lash, raining even harder than before. Followed by huge lightning bolts in the sky, striking the protective dome.
After several seconds, the explosion finally disappears, leaving only a huge smoke screen and a gaping crater from which the sea is beginning to seep.
Vol. 12 End.