CHAPTER 8: ASTRAL REALM BATTLE

Doa enters the Skill Center and Minaro is about to enter it too. But he stops when he feels someone tap his shoulder.

He turns and is now face to face with a cheeky Yoshanai, who rapidly grabs his head and hurls him far away.

A few seconds later, Doa casually turns around and notices Minaro is gone, Yoshanai is too. She's a little flummoxed.

Doa: Minaro?

She exits the center and looks around, nothing is in sight.

Doa: Minaro!

…

Minaro reaches a heavily-shaded forest, he bounces on and scrapes against the rugged floor repeatedly until he ultimately crashes into a tree.

He then quickly stands, shook. He's looking straight ahead, and observes Yoshanai walk out of the blue, darkened by the dimness, highlighting his darkness.

Yoshanai: I found you pretty quickly, man!

Minaro is agitated now. Regardless of his prepared stance, he trembles ever so slightly. Yoshanai unbinds from bandages around his hip, a large and thick steel sword.

Yoshanai: Alright. Let's get straight to the point… I'm here to rough you up. Make ya bleed. Make ya cry. Maybe even kill you… Are you ready?

Minaro says nothing and instead creates an enormous ice wave that makes its way to Yoshanai. He laughs.

Yoshanai: Okay! No questions asked. I like that!

He gets into a stance, focusing on the blade.

"Astral Attack 6, Universal Thrust Slice."

In an instant, Yoshanai disappears and a clean giant hole is made through all the ice, it shatters into bits as well.

He reappears right in front of Minaro, who's stunned, and slashes his chest. Blood flies into the air.

"What the fuck!?"

Minaro blinks, and upon opening his eyes, is completely overwhelmed and flabbergasted. He's no longer on Earth, he's in a new realm.

Where a mega bright sun, its center white and it has multiple cyan outer layers that only get darker, illuminates all. Additionally, the walls of the area are perforated clouds, varying from celeste blue to dark sapphire. In their openings, a vast, fascinating blue universe can be seen.

As Minaro takes in the surreal sight, Yoshanai trips him and he hits the ground which is all sparkly, shallow water now. Lifting his head, he spots tons of giant ice mountains.

Yoshanai: In awe? Welcome to the Astral Realm! My humble abode!

Yoshanai spins his blade and then pierces Minaro's neck with it. It's instant death, but the slopped Black Blood shifts and revives Minaro. Instantaneously, he rises with an uppercut in tow, Yoshanai leaps away to avoid it.

Minaro is absolutely horrified, but he calms and that emotion quickly dies and becomes seriousness and slight tenseness instead.

"... Shit. This guy is a fucking lunatic… What should I do? He annihilated my ice… Sumairu said I have a wormhole skill, which seems to be pretty powerful, and that I used it at the lake, but I don't even know what he was talking about, I was barely conscious. I didn't register the seconds after I revived. If I do have that skill, then I can't bring it out…"

Yoshanai snickers.

Yoshanai: I just got a great idea! How about I test how lucky you are! Let's see how many times you can revive!

Minaro is in a stout stance. He creates multiple small waves of ice that rush toward Yoshanai.

"Astral Attack 1, Projections."

Several pellucid clones of Yoshanai, each different colors of a rainbow, appear and maliciously make their way to Minaro.

He hastily creates big ice spikes that hit the clones and cause them to perish. And due to being distracted by the doubles, he doesn't notice Yoshanai, who had vanished.

He emerges before Minaro and attempts to pierce his neck, but Minaro swiftly jumps away to circumvent. Immediately though, Yoshanai pops up behind him during his motion, Minaro's flabbergasted, and spikes his neck, dispatching him again.

Yoshanai points his sword downwards and Minaro's body slides off of it and hits the water. The fresh leaking Black Blood enters his body and revives him once more. He speedily dashes elsewhere, looking quite troubled.

"Fuck! He just keeps killing me!"

Yoshanai bolts around, makes it to Minaro, and swings his sword. Straight away, Minaro brings out a huge tilted ice spike that Yoshanai halts in front of to narrowly avoid.

He then brings out a nimble colored clone that weaves past the spike and powerfully kicks Minaro in the face, knocking him into the water.

Yoshanai: C'mon dude! Step it up! The chances of revival are only getting lower and lower!

Minaro gets up, tense but firm, and with all speed, he summons 50 undaunted clones ready to move. Yoshanai glances around and smiles broadly.

Yoshanai: … This is too easy, man! You just wasted so much energy!

"Astral Attack 1.5, Many-Hued Parade."

In an instant, 100 Yoshanai clones spawn, they sprint and clash with the charging Minaro clones. It's a fisticuffs that they ultimately win.

Afterwards, the Yoshanai clones take a look at Minaro and dart toward him. He quickly produces a bunch of burly ice formations that terminate them all.

Following that, Yoshanai enters the stance from the beginning of the clash, and just like before, he dashes out of sight, tears a hole in some ice, and reaches Minaro, milliseconds away from killing him by piercing again.

Minaro is very dismayed, his breathing is rapid.

"Fuck. I'm already out of energy. This is horrible!"

The tip of the blade inches closer to his neck.

"I'm actually gonna die!"

Yoshanai cackles, and Minaro's curtains close as his blade devastates his neck. Black blood spews out, and Minaro is taken and pinned to the ground.

Water splashes and gains the tint of ink. Yoshanai solemnly stares down at Minaro, who's deceased anew.

Yoshanai: … Wow… You're weak.

He pulls the sword out and dips it in the water to clean it. Afterwards, he continues staring at Minaro, and becomes a little annoyed. Minaro has stayed dead longer than usual.

Yoshanai: … Don't tell me you're actually dead, dude.

…

In an artistic, unceasing space, millions of dazzling stars and wondrous galaxies about, Minaro floats, semiconscious. Random portions of his own distorted, overwhelming, weak, and confused voice echo throughout the zone.

"I'm weak."

"Rinka."

"I got killed."

"Sorry."

"No."

"Why."

"Malicious people?"

"Space?"

"Please."

And many other phrases are heard.

Minaro takes a deep breath and subconsciously closes his eyes, preparing for the eternal slumber. But he can't keep them shut for long as the extreme light from the nearby blazing stars halts the nap.

He opens his eyes and is greeted by a colossal hand made of stars. It's reaching out to him, and he begins to reach out for it.

Minaro's echoing voice stabilizes and becomes more assertive.

"... Awaken from the abyss and rise to the stars, Minaro. Get stronger and never die again. You are the avatar of the universe."

…

Yoshanai is still staring at the corpse, he sighs. He's then abruptly and brutally punched in the stomach by a rejuvenated Minaro.

He hits the floor and quickly stands, baffled. Minaro has risen, recovered, and looks crazy. His eyes are like how they were at the lake.

Yoshanai leers at him.

"Damn, that fucking hurt… But it's good to know this guy is still kicking… Something is off with him though. Gotta stay alert."

He smirks.

Yoshanai: Glad to see you're not dead! We can keep the show going!

Abruptly, cracking, like shattering windows, can be heard, two space rifts form beside Minaro, and unanticipatedly, two long, slender streams of fierce flames come out of them, and make for Yoshanai. They are condensed solar flares. He quickly moves away from the heat and is met by Minaro.

"Oh, he's gotten way faster!"

Minaro gives Yoshanai another welt in the stomach and launches him away. He follows, sticks his hand into a tagging rift, and pulls out a section of a dying star.

"... I can see all that's possible with this skill… I feel powerful."

He slams the star into Yoshanai's chest and a small explosion happens. It greatly burns the spot and Yoshanai crashes into the floor.

He swiftly stands and releases tons of storming clones. Minaro counters by, out of his rifts, firing several modest, differing, and plain asteroids that hit and destroy each one.

Yoshanai is displeased. He grabs the loose bandages on him and ties the sword back to his pelvis.

"... Okay, this has become annoying, quick."

Minaro dashes and tries to punch Yoshanai. He dips under his arm, grabs Minaro's leg, and then hurls him.

Minaro crashes into an ice mountain, little pieces of it fly into the air. Yoshanai pops up and mightily kicks him off of it, and up, and pursues. As Minaro moves through the air, he shoots more asteroids, aiming for Yoshanai, who collides with one, climbs it, and leaps from that one to another, making his way to Minaro.

A rift moves up and aims downwards above Yoshanai. Suddenly, it releases a large blazing meteor that slams into and takes him down. Eventually, he hits the ground, put in a pile of rubble. Minaro surfs on his own lowering asteroid, then lands, and darts for Yoshanai.

He smiles, and claps multiple times. Each smack produces a sizable sound wave that moves to Minaro.

He bolts around them and shoots two solar flares out of his rifts, forcing Yoshanai to rapidly rise and avoid them. Minaro then follows up by discharging two gamma rays, also swiftly avoided by Yoshanai.

Minaro dashes, reaches him, and goes for a powerful kick, Yoshanai blocks it. He next throws a non stop barrage of punches, Yoshanai is able to block that too, and he continues doing it.

They're at a standstill, striking and hindering. Suddenly, 20 Minaro clones materialize nearby, each with their own two rifts beside them, and they fire many gamma rays simultaneously at a presently shocked Yoshanai.

He jumps and sprints away, the beams briskly come after him, and one manages to reach, cover and somewhat burn him, completely suspending his advances and keeping him still.

The rays and clones vanish, and Minaro pulls a vivid, sapphire blue energy orb with tons of thin, fierce streams of power orbiting it, out of a rift. It's a magnetar.

"... I'm gonna kill this guy… I'm gonna fucking kill him!"

Minaro zips, and rams the magnetar into Yoshanai's back, and a giant, radiant, blue blast occurs, and after it, Yoshanai is on the ground, far away, and a good portion of his other side is bloody, smashed, and melting.

Leisurely, he stands and turns around, frightened. Minaro is walking toward him, clutching a larger magnetar.

"I need to get out of here."

The Astral Realm begins to fade away, revealing the earlier forest. Yoshanai turns back around and observes the scene ahead, looking for a practical way out. He finds it, and is ready to move, but before he can, in a blur, Minaro crops up, and one more time, thrusts the magnetar into Yoshanai's stomach.

Like before, an explosion occurs, but this one is way larger and luminous. It breaks up the ground and trees nearby, and submerges the whole area in its blinding shine.

…

Back at the Skill Center, Doa is just aimlessly looking around, basically standing by. Until she notices the explosion and light coming from the forest, and starts making her way over to it.

…

Rinka and Sumairu are walking, and just like Doa, they witness the boom and glow, and are stunned.

Sumairu: Wow! We've gotta go check what that was!"

The two start sprinting.

…

Returning to the spot of detonation, Minaro is on the floor, asleep. Yoshanai is nowhere to be seen, there's a good amount of his blood spilled everywhere though.

TO BE CONTINUED…