Mantra Bonding! The Power Of Rivals At Their Best

Night One Hundred And Twenty Two

Age 1991

The Red Nation...

Rafflesia City...

"D... Damn it! This thing is only a Viscount but my own attacks don't work on it, and it's learning more moves as it fights..." He growled. The beasts threw its tail out sending Jackson flying back where he crashed into one of the many buildings collapsing on the ground as he began to breath heavily. "And to make matters worse I'm not back to 100% since my last fight..." He growled.

The beast let out a loud laugh as it began to walk towards him. A large black spike stabbed out of its shoulder which it broke off. Lightning covered the black spike as it brought its arm back and threw it as hard as it could sending it towards Jackson who's eyes went wide.

"Eventful Impact!" Hero cried out slamming onto the ground and catching the spike with his transformed arm. His red eyes seemed to glow for a moment as he glared at the beast. "You're going down!"

"Hero?" Jackson asked.

"Don't worry Vice captain Storm." Hero said giving a smirk. "I'm going to take this guy down."

"About time..." Kitsune sighed slowly standing back up as he ran a hand through his hair. "You freaking Devil Bastard waiting for us to do all the hard work than jumping into the fight..." He moved over to Hero's side standing next to him as his tails and ears formed back his flames meeting Hero's as the two boys stared down the Bestia Macht.

Jackson gave a small frown as he looked between both boys and the Bestia Macht. "I mean... It really isn't that strong... Teamed up you two should be more than enough to take down this Bestia Macht... Only issues is it learns as it fights and can eat my lightning freaking punk!" He yelled waving his fist at the beast. "I'll go ahead and let you two try and take it on. I'll jump in if I think you both can't win... This also would be a good chance for the two of you to try out 'that' power..."

"Right!" Both boys said.

"Also!" Hero reached up and ran his fingers through his snow white hair. He pulled out the small golden orb that was Droney the Drone. It clicked open letting out several mechanical clicks as its wings fluttered and it floated in the air. "Droney!" Hero announced. "Fly back and get Ken or someone strong. They're still waiting on the car to get back and I kind broke it... Go get her so she can come kick this things ass!"

The drone seemed to give the closest thing it had to a head as it flew into the air leaving the battle field. "You know there was no reason to do that right?" Kitsune said giving a small smirk.

"Why's that?" Hero asked.

Kitsune pointed his blade towards the beast as his smirk grew even large. The flames spilled out covering his sword as he nodded his head. "This thing is gonna be dead before they even get here." He announced.

The beast looked between both boys as it cocked its head to the side. Its new lightning tail whipped around back and forth as the lightning crackled out of its eyes as its lightning eyes slowly drifted down to look at Hero's right arm. It held its own right arm out which began to bubble up and morph as the lightning came out of it and the bone inside of the arm began to bubble up and form out of the limb forming a large bone clawed hand with bone feathers, and lightning and sound coming off of the limb. The rest of its body began to get slightly bigger as every muscle in its body grew larger making the beast even buffer. A pair of long white horns stabbed out its head as it let out a loud roar. Its large lightning tail glowed and it suddenly separated into nine smaller tails all of them waving around much like Kitsune's nine tails. It stabbed its left arm into its gut and pulled out a large bone katana which began to be coated in the lightning.

"Did it just copy my power?" Hero asked.

"Sucks doesn't it!" Kitsune said.

Hero let out a snort as he raised his left fist up pointing it at Kitsune. "Than let's do something he can't copy. Something that requires two people to do."

Kitsune let out a small sigh before his smirk came back. "It's a little embarrassing to do but fine. Let's use that power. Mantra Bonding. Rivals Power." He raised his right arm up as him and Hero fis bumped.

"Mantra Bonding!" They both announced. A bright green light suddenly exploded around both boys forming bright green auras that made the beast hiss and flinch back. It stared at them in shock as Hero and Kitsune looked at it with new found confidence and for the first time since the fight the beast began to look scared.

Jackson gave a small grin as he let out a chuckle. "The Rival Bonds... Mantra... A form of Life Energy that exist inside of every single person. Those with an Equation can harnesses it and bring it out under certain conditions. The Rivals Bond also sometimes called the Brothers Bond or the Friends Bond allows the users to draw out this power from one another raising all their base stats and harnessing the full potential of the level they are in. They say Master Okami the previous Squad One Captain was able to do this with every member of his Squad. Most people can only do this with a single person they consider their best friend. At this moment Hero and Kitsune are at their full 100% full power. Beyond all their limits. Only weakness with this power is both members can only do it when they are fighting along side each other, and only if they place total trust in each other... If this power can't beat that beast we're in big trouble..."

"Let's do this!" Hero announced firing forward and throwing out his right arm in a powerful punch. The beast countered with its own fist but Hero hit it so hard he literally blasted its right arm right off. The beast let out a loud howl as it jumped away landing across from him as it glared at the boy and sprouted out a new clawed right arm.

Seconds later Kitsune came crashing down as he slashed his katana down letting out a loud cry as his flames covered his katana. "Take this!" The beast raised its own sword up just in time to block the strike but Kitsune's sword simply sliced through the blade splitting it, as well as the upper half of the beast in half. Its legs dropped down as his upper half dropped back black blood spraying out of it as the thing howled in pain.

The beast crawled back as smoke and steam fired out of its lower half and a new pair of legs began to slowly form out as it tried to stand back up. It glared at the two boys with rage and anger.

"Wow..." Hero said still having a small smirk on his face. "We're so strong like this. I' so much faster and hitting way harder! This power is the coolest. Why didn't Jackson tell us about it sooner?"

"I mean he did mention it had some downside?" Kitsune nodded. "Something off about it..."

"Now that you mention it he said something about sharing pain-" The beast fired forward slashing out with its broken bone katana slashing out at Hero who managed to pull his head back just in time... The blade nicked his cheek though leaving a tiny cut. Both Hero and Kitsune let out quiet yelps as they jumped back and rubbed at their face.

"What the hell?" Kitsune asked. A small trickle of blood rolled down his cheek as his eyes were wide. "You're the one who got hit! Why am I bleeding?"

"Oh God damn it don't tell me we feel each other's pain..." Hero sighed. "That's a freaking lame ass downside!"

"Should we test it really quickly?" Kitsune asked.

"Yeah sure."

"But how?" Kitsune asked. "We could-"

Hero slammed his fist into Kitsune's nose dropping the boy to the ground. Hero also fell back grabbing his own nose which was also bleeding now. "Shit! Should have thought that through..."

Jackson let out a sigh shaking his head. "God damn it... Why did I think it was a good idea to give this to the two people who get beat up the most? I have made a mistake..."

"Strong..." The Bestia Macht hissed out.

"It talked?" Hero asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah this one talks..." Kitsune sighed.

"How..." The beast hissed.

Hero and Kitsune looked at each other for a moment as they both gave small shrugs. "Well?" Hero said sheepishly. "This Aura is called Mantra the full power of an Equation. I saw Okami Otoko do this long ago when I was a kid and never knew what it was. He was able to do it and could do so much then. By placing your trust, hopes, and dreams, in another person, and they do the same thing with you, both people pull out all their power and throw it back and forth to on another raising it up higher and higher bringing both of them to their max limit."

"Is it smart to tell him how we're doing this?" Kitsune asked.

"I mean does it matter?" Hero asked giving a small shrug. "Not like he can do anything? We've completely shut him down with ease. And even if he does know about it, it's not like he can do anything with it. I mean who's he gonna bond with-"

The Bestia Macht's eyes went wide as it's nine lightning tails formed together and rose up separating into a pair of long blue lightning wings which flapped out allowing it to fire off into the air as both boys stared with wide eyes.

"Uh where's it going?" Kitsune asked.

"I think he's heading to the civilians..." Hero trailed off.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Shit..."

Over with the Bestia Macht it crashed down onto the ground slamming down so hard everyone on the road and streets were knocked down as it landed several blocks away, where everyone had been evacuated to. Several of the Black Coats stared at the beast which had crashed down out of nowhere. They raised their guns up and opened fire but the bullets didn't do anything to the beast due to the fact they were just normal guns and not Equations...

The beasts eyes glanced back and forth into the crowd until it spotted someone. The lightning fired off it blasting several of the Black Coats and the people in the crowd reducing them to ash in mere seconds.

It let out a loud growl as it stepped forward and stared down at a small fourteen year old girl who's body was shaking. His daughter... His left hand came out gripping the top of her head as she began to yell out in pain and thrash around. he ignored her though as his chest began to fold open showing a large shell inside of him which he stuffed her into.

Her screams were cut off when his body fully closed back down and he trapped the poor girl inside of himself letting out a quiet clicking sound as he bowed his head.

Seconds later the ground once again was cracked when both Hero, and Kitsune crashed back down, as their bright green aura continued to crackle around their bodies. Hero pointed a clawed finger out as his clawed hand glowed and formed into his drill arm. "Alright no more games." Hero said shaking his head. "I can't afford to let you get away again."

"We're taking you out right here, and right now!" Kitsune announced his own flames flaring even brighter as his nine tails wagged around behind him burning most of the street away and the green aura around him and Hero got even brighter.

The beast stood back up and turned to face them as a green aura covered its body...

"That can't be good..."