Chapter 14: Destroy them all
20:26 PM (Japan Time), Saturday June the 14th…
"… How daring of you to show up here…"
"We Osaka folk are daring! Mr. VP!"
"Guess that…"
Enzan grumbled as he entered a garage somewhere.
Future was waiting for him, leaning against a pillar.
The Duel Stage was set on the ground.
"Did you know? The octopus is the king!"
"Of what?"
"Of Osaka, of course!"
"Very funny…" He sighed.
"Blues! My fists are itchin' for a cool battle like last time 'round the clock!"
Destruction Man called out, swinging his fists.
"Can't be helped!"
Enzan sighed and drew his PET.
"Plug In! Blues, Transmission!"
Blues entered the Duel Stage.
Destruction Man readied his fists.
"Destruction Rollin'!"
Destruction Man materialized two rings with spikes on their outer faces.
They rolled towards Blues, and he readied himself.
"Neo Variable Sword"
Blues blocked both wheels.
He suddenly found Destruction Man in front of his noses.
His right fist was accumulating energy.
"Crusher Fist!"
The attack hit Blues on his stomach area and sent him flying.
He hit the ground and rolled across it.
He managed to dodge the attack that hit the landing point.
"Let's go~! Destroy Spinning!"
He spun around his axis and accumulated inertia.
He jumped and shot forward as if he was a torpedo.
Kinetic energy surrounded him as he flew towards Blues.
However, Blues was replaced by a doll of him.
Four shuriken hit his back and Destruction Man was forced to land.
"Iai Form!"
Blues hit Destruction Man from behind in the blink of an eye.
The foe turned around to deliver a powerful kick to his upper torso.
It sent him flying and he crashed upon the ground.
"Dyna Wave!"
The red sensors glowed, and that black hole effect happened.
Destruction Man drew the Dyna Wave and hit the floor with it.
The powered-up attack hit Blues.
"My sensors can make attacks shoot back at 1.5 times its base power!"
"Devil!"
"There's more! Destroy Quake!"
Destruction Man jumped into the air.
His feet glowed with kinetic energy.
He hit the floor and made it shudder.
Blues tried to keep his balance, but the foe loomed over him.
"Gold Fist!"
Blues managed to hit the chest armor and pushed the enemy back.
The sensors were triggered.
"Data Gold Fist!" He chuckled.
"Straw Doll!"
The counterattack hit the Straw Doll and he was hit by its effects.
He was electrified by purple electricity from the Straw Doll itself.
"Dream Sword!"
"Black Hole Chaos!"
Destruction Man's two chest compartments opened and sucked air inside.
The Dream Sword split in two and was sucked inside.
It reformed as two separate swords in both of his arms.
"Black Dream Sword! Double Attack!"
Destruction Man leaped across the air towards Blues.
"Stop Blade!"
Blues stopped both Dream Swords with his hands.
He stole them to hit Destruction Man with each of those.
Powerful wounds formed on his armor.
Some of it cracked to reveal a normal Navi bodysuit under it.
"Annihilator Chip, Slot In!"
"Already!?" Enzan gasped.
"I don't want to be predictable, Mr. VP!"
Destruction Man's armor regenerated.
Black and purple patterns were across it.
He brandished both fists as if challenging Blues.
"Come!" Blues challenged.
"Destruction Dance!"
Destruction Man moved like he was dancing.
He jumped towards Blues while his body glowed with a black aura.
He extended his knuckles forward and hit, plunging them into Blues' body.
A sharp wind made cuts to his bodysuit,
He kicked the foe's face to break free.
Blues stepped back and panted.
His chest emblem pulsated.
He gripped it while he struggled to keep his balance.
"A bug which drains me 5 HP per second…!" Blues cursed.
"Heck! Battle Chip, Energy Bomb! Slot In!"
Destruction Man calmly caught the Energy Bomb with his left hand.
He analyzed it before tossing it back at Blues.
He caught it and threw it back at Destruction Man.
He kicked it and it hit Blues due to its high return speed.
"Battle Chip, Samurai Sword, Tornado! Double Slot In!"
Blues drew the Samurai Sword as the tornado formed around him.
He disappeared inside of its body.
Destruction Man crouched and jumped towards while brandishing his fists.
"Useless!"
However, he was met with a Giga Count Bomb instead of Blues.
The explosion caught him by surprise and tossed him into the ground.
Blues plunged the Samurai Sword into a chest compartment.
The mechanism there malfunctioned.
"The hunter became the hunted!"
"Nice sayin', Mr. VP! But that won't enough to beat me, ya know!"
"Destruction Meteors!"
Meteors rained down from the skies and bombarded the arena.
They caused heat and smoke explosions.
Blues focused on dodging them the best he could.
"Destruction Kick!"
The foe appeared before Blues and delivered several kicks to his stomach.
Blues punched the damaged armor plate to crack it.
Destruction Man jumped away and didn't seem to care about it.
"Battle Chip, Ratton, Area Steal! Double Slot In!"
Blues warped and suddenly appeared in front of Destruction Man.
He slipped the "Ratton" inside of the armor's hole.
It detonated, inflicting damage to him from the inside.
"Battle Chip, Bug Bomb! Slot In!"
"Bug for a bug!" Blues improvised a motto.
The Bug Bomb met its intended target.
Destruction Man's body frizzled.
His chest emblem began to pulsate, and Annihilator Man growled.
"Why, you…! Destruction Dash!"
Two boosters ignited behind Destruction Man.
He shot forward and headed towards Blues.
He hit him but a doll showed up instead.
"No way!" He cursed.
The four shuriken hit his back and two embedded into the boosters.
They detonated and inflicted additional damage.
"Ultimate Destruction…!"
The foe accumulated energy and his sensors glowed with black light.
They were calculating something.
He hit the floor with both fists.
It began to crack, starting at the outer edge.
"Try to defeat me before the whole stage vanishes!" He challenged.
"Battle Chip, Full Moon Kunai! Slot In!"
Blues jumped across the air towards the foe.
He plunged the kunai into the hole in the chest armor.
The sensors frizzled and seemingly became overloaded.
"The sensors have become overloaded!" He cursed.
"Your stunt backfires!"
"Or so you thought! Full restore!"
"Same over here! Full restore!"
Both healed and readied for another round.
"Destruction Dance!"
"Come!"
Destruction Man repeated the dance attack and jumped for Blues.
"Sonic Boom!"
Blues shot the Sonic Boom as he jumped away.
Destruction Man opened his right hand to project an energy field.
It absorbed the attack and shot it back as multiple, short beams.
Blues dodged a bunch of them, but some scratched him.
He ignored them and waited for a chance.
"Now!"
He formed a Long Blade and stabbed the open left compartment.
The device inside frizzled and malfunctioned.
"Interesting! The swordsman can bite!"
Destruction Man's fists glowed with energy.
"Remember that I only momentarily stopped the collapse!"
"And what of it?"
"That don't be overconfident!"
"As if I ever was. Bring it on…"
He hit the floor with both fists.
Flame Towers emerged from different spots, limiting his movements.
Blues closed the gap, drawing a zigzag pattern across the floor.
Destruction Man thrust his right, glowing fist and shattered the blade.
Blues formed another on the left forearm and hit a gap between plates.
Destruction Man formed jets on the front of his boots.
He flew backward to create distance.
"A bug? As if that will stop us!"
"It's a way to return your earlier bug!" Enzan challenged.
"Don't prattle! This is nothing!"
Destruction Man formed two red wings of energy behind him.
He added two weapons over each arm.
"Two weapons… Coming!" Enzan deduced.
"Yes, sir! I'm ready, sir!"
Two beams of black and white energy shot from there.
They fused together inside of the "cage".
It hovered into the air and remained there.
"This is the last resort. If either harms it, we're both gone!"
"… I'm not falling for that stunt. You're not cornered or anything…"
Enzan didn't lose his cool.
"We still haven't seriously fought you, either…"
"Playin' Kindaichi, Mr. VP?" Future laughed.
"Blues. Ignore that lie. Focus on the battle…"
"Delighted, sir! Zeta Step Sword!"
Blues stepped forward and cut distances in the blink of an eye.
He delivered three cuts to Destruction Man.
Parts of his armor cracked and shattered.
He didn't mind those and loaded energy on both fists.
He clashed them together.
A shockwave expanded across the air.
The ground cracked and rubble flew away from there, too.
Blues focused.
"Iai Form!"
He stabbed the foe's left shoulder from behind.
Something below the armor frizzled.
"The control crest is there!"
"Why, you…!"
He flew away and punched ground with both loaded fists.
The arena rumbled and began to collapse again.
"I knew it. That sphere up there is a harmless hologram!"
"Matters little at this point!"
"Say, Boss… Aren't you becoming too fixated with this?"
"… True. Why am I so irked?" He grumbled.
"Maybe it's because Ancient pulled a stupid stunt?"
"What did that man do?" Enzan sighed.
"Didn't see the news about today's horse race, Mr. VP?"
"Horse race?"
"Check it out later, and you'll see the why…"
"Fine…"
"… Let's end this and then I need a data overhaul!"
"Come!"
"Final Strike!"
Destruction Man glowed and formed several weapons.
Lock-on marks formed across Blues' body.
"I disabled moves to swap yourself with other things!"
"Fine… I'll shoot all of them back!"
Destruction Man shot machineguns, missiles and grenades at Blues.
He drew a Muramasa Blade and quickly thrust it to intercept most attacks.
Some hit them, but he turned them into ATK for the Muramasa Blade.
Destruction Man formed two long energy blades over his arms.
He ignited his jets and flew for Blues.
He delivered two strikes, one of which was blocked by Blues.
Blues used the gap between them to plunge his blade into the chest.
Its high ATK values allowed it to piece through the chest.
It emerged from behind Destruction Man.
He, however, locked his weapons on Blues.
He shot an RPG-7 grenade at close range, and an explosion ensued.
The arena finally collapsed, and both were retrieved from there.
They returned to their PETs.
The HP values had dropped to 1 point for both combatants.
Future whistled in surprise.
"That was an intense stalemate, Mr. VP!"
"Must admit it… Hadn't had such an intense fight in years…"
"Guess that my bud needs a data overhaul, too. See ya!"
He climbed onto the bike and drove out of the garage.
Enzan sighed in relief as he looked at the PET.
"At least Blues is safe. That's what matters the most…"
He placed his hand over it and closed his eyes, smiling.
"Let's go rest, Blues…"
20:57 PM (Japan Time)…
"… I found the source of the incident…"
"As expected of you, Search Man…"
"It's very simple, actually. But also insidious…"
"And?"
Prism Man and Search Man were investigating a system somewhere.
The background was playing footage of horse races.
Several Police Navis had cordoned off the zone, too.
"Ultrasounds that only horses can hear…" Search Man explained.
"I see. Humans can't hear them and can't notice them…"
"Also… The bet system had been subtly hacked…"
"Really?"
"So that money bet on the other 3 "survivors" would be reduced…"
"By how much?"
"50%... And that portion flowed into No. 8…"
"Which means that the culprit had an accomplice…"
"Yes. They knew No. 8 was going to make it to the best 4, but…"
"They staged that sabotage to distract attention from the hacking…"
"I guess that some in the audience were agitators…"
"True. They began to push a narrative of a conspiracy…"
"And, in fact, most were reeled in by that…"
"And started a spontaneous protest before the City Hall…"
"Calling for the dismissal of the Governor…"
"Sir. We found something!"
An officer rushed there and reported.
"What is it?"
"A staff Navi that was locked in inside of a locker…"
"Someone replaced them…"
"Yes, sir. Their ID was stolen…"
"Do we have any data on the attacker?"
"No, sir. It was a sudden strike from behind, but…"
"But?"
"It was a blade…"
"Ronin Man…" Search Man deduced.
"Going from what Blues' Operator reported, it's very likely…"
"They didn't delete them to avoid triggering system alerts…"
"I see. Which reinforces the idea of an accomplice…"
"Also… This Navi oversaw bets for No. 8…" The officer added.
"That confirms it. Their goal was to make No. 8 into the top 4…"
"If it ended up first, it'd raise attention, hence why limit it to the top 4…"
"The displays were also sabotaged. The winner had 1M bet into it…"
"I see. To reinforce the "conspiracy" that the race was bought…"
"But since this wasn't an operation authorized by Rama…"
"They might end up expelling him…"
"Even if they do, that doesn't stop him from acting again…"
"Yes. Because Ronin Man is made by Rama, not that man…"
"Any logs that we found of that Navi wouldn't lead us to the man…"
"But there is a possibility…"
"What is it?"
"That the man will attack Dark Miyabi…" Search Man suggested.
"I see. They did have a scuffle some days ago, after all…"
"All we need to do is wait for that to happen…"
"And it might happen sooner than expected, even…"
"Sir. The local police report that there was an anonymous report…"
"About this incident?"
"A man claimed that someone named Toriyama was behind this…"
"It might be Ancient's working name…"
"Possible, sir…"
"Maybe he deceived his accomplice, and he ended up reporting it…"
"It's possible. Doesn't feel like the type to care about accomplices…"
"Or probably uses them and then throws them away…"
"Did they investigate the staff of No. 8?"
"One of them is missing…"
"How convenient…"
"And it turns out that his identity had been stolen…"
"From where?"
"From a drug addict found dead from overdose in a park, months ago…"
"I see. So even if we input his name in the database…"
"Face and name won't match…"
"Something similar might happen with "Toriyama", too…"
"… I checked with local police. Same story, sir…"
"Where did he find that ID?"
"A man who claimed to be a "messiah" and was found dead…"
"Sounds like a cult or a scam…"
"Face was damaged, but was identified through fingerprints…"
"Maybe "Toriyama" changed his face to look like that man, even…"
"Wouldn't be odd. Pose as him to control the gang…"
"And maybe steal the money from the "believers", too…"
"Such stories have happened nation-wide for years…"
"Maybe this man was already at it before being scouted by Rama…"
"If assume that what Past said is true, most were chosen at random…"
"Unless they have something in common and they aren't aware of it…"
"It could be…"
"I see that my show is of your liking, gentlemen…"
"Regal!"
Laser Man appeared atop a tower, laughing.
"However… You are but the side-dish…"
"We knew that…"
"You want the main dish, pour effort into finding it. Mr. Genius!"
Raika fumed.
"I don't need to. They'll come on their own…"
"Because you laid out bait?"
"In a sense…"
"You seized something important to Clark?"
"Possibly…"
"Whatever. Solve it between the two of you…"
"Delighted…"
Laser Man vanished and they sighed in relief.
"Guess that he wants to remind us that he's plotting out there…"
"We can handle it later. Let's focus on "Ancient"…"
"I heard that Rama started a fuss here… What happened?"
"Omega… Been a while…"
"I know. And?"
Omega entered the area, looking around.
"The man known as Ancient is acting on his own…"
"It wasn't Rama per se…"
"Regal did show up to gloat about the show…"
"Classical!"
"And this man might be more dangerous than what we thought…"
"In what sense?"
"Murder, identity theft, bribes, hacking, impersonation, theft…"
"Full course!" Omega sighed.
"But he'll probably come to settle the score with Dark Miyabi…"
"Fine. I'll tag the man and see if he does show up…"
"If necessary, hold him in place between the two of you…"
"Sure. Until reinforcements can make it there…"
"It's possible that Rama will soon cut him off as well…"
"Fine. One less eyesore…"
"We must progress. Little by little…"
"Frustrating. But it's the best that we can do right now…!"