CHAPTER 11: 1, 2 AND 3

Imma-Ite shifts quickly.

Imma-Ite: Well, what are we waiting for!? Let's go fuck them up!

The gang moves, heading slowly toward the 3 Skillers until they're somewhat right in front of them. It's a stare down. Rank 1 is the one with the short, sharp hair, Rank 2 has the wavy long hair, and Rank 3 is the girl. They look either smug or irked.

Rank 3: Who the hell are you guys?

Imma-Ite balls a fist.

Imma-Ite: We're here to kill you!

They snicker.

Rank 1: Really now?

And study the gang.

Rank 2: Hey.

Rank 2 points at Minaro.

Rank 2: That's one of the Black Blood Bearers.

Rank 1: Oh, it is. Where's the second one?

Rank 2: Probably in the bunch.

Rank 3 grins from ear to ear.

Rank 3: We'll find out where they are soon enough, when we make 'em all bleed!

A big metal pole erupts out of the ground and Rank 3 swiftly grabs it. Rank 2 spawns a traditional ax and holds it tightly, and Rank 1 clenches both his fists.

Rinka and Imma-Ite reveal their blades, Minaro's eyes change and two rifts emerge beside him, Doa pulls her pistol out, Maya quickly creates a string spear, and Bukkaru casually walks away.

Everyone fumblingly stares at him until he stops next to a wall and immediately falls asleep. The silly event is rapidly forgotten.

Rinka and Rank 1 clash, Minaro takes on Rank 2, and the three remaining face Rank 3.

…

Rank 1 extends his arms out and his nails elongate, turning into vicious whips that trash around. Straight away, Rinka slices them up and continues moving.

Rank 1's hands instantly grow giant, and he claps, attempting to crush an advancing Rinka. But Rinka promptly stops before them, avoiding heavy damage.

…

Imma-Ite ferociously runs towards Rank 3, she sticks her palms out and a wave of hundreds of honed glass bits magically fire out of her skin.

Maya briskly launches a string that wraps around Imma-Ite and pulls him away from the onslaught. Doa aims, and shoots several bullets at Rank 3, which she effortlessly dodges.

…

Rank 2 aggressively swings his ax at Minaro, he avoids it and tries to punch Rank 2. But his fist is captured, and he firmly pulls it away, and jumps away, looking choleric.

"Shit. Should I use my rifts?.. The stuff I bring out of them, will it hurt Rinka? And the others?.. Only one way to find out."

Gamma rays come out of his rifts and Rank 2 moves out of their way. Minaro prepares to act when suddenly he's confused by a very deep voice that is invading his mind.

"Jeez. It's so loud here. All I wanna do is sleep, man! I should have stayed home."

Minaro notices Bukkaru lying on his back, randomly kicking the air, and peers at him. Bukkaru stops, and they lock eyes.

"What are you looking at? I'll scratch you."

Minaro's eyes expand and he smiles a teeny tiny bit.

"What the fuck? The cat is talking! Wow!"

…

Rank 1 summons some floating, average mirrors and smashes them together, which causes an explosion of glass, and the chips head for Rinka. He's lightly cut all over.

Unexpectedly, Rank 2 shows up and so does Minaro, they're tussling, and haphazardly cross paths with Rank 1 and Rinka, causing opponents to switch.

Now it's Rank 1 against Minaro, and the other is self-explanatory.

…

Tons of Prussian Blue ink leaks from Rank 2's shoulders, the mass heads down his arms, dripping off too, and eventually it all forms into two giant attacking hands.

Rinka looks a little concerned.

"… I should try what Sumairu told me to try."

…

In the slightly dark sitting room, Rinka and Sumairu are having a dialogue.

Sumairu: Rinka. Have you heard of "Skill To Weapon" techniques?"

Rinka: No.

Sumairu: Okay! I'll apprise you… So, say, you have a fire skill, and a hammer, you put those two together, and now your hammer is on fire!

Rinka says nothing, just nods his head.

Sumairu: You understand?

Rinka: Yes.

Sumairu: Okay, so, basically, I was thinking, your Void skill, it appears on your sword, right? So, what if you try some "Skill To Weapon" techniques?

Rinka: How? How do I do that?

Sumairu: Uh, It's a kinda silly, kinda cool process. First, envision what exactly your technique is going to look like. Then you're supposed to think of the name of your skill, then the word "Attack." After that, a number, and after that, the cool "creative" name of your technique… Here's an example.

Sumairu gravely pretends to hold a sword.

Sumairu: "Electricity Attack 5, Thunder Wheel!"... See that? Try using a "Skill To Weapon" technique in your next battle.

…

Rinka holds his katana tight, determined. The ink is about to reach him.

"Void Attack 1, Edged Darkness."

The Void quickly flickers on his blade, it then completely catches on fire. It's a sizable, black, and opaque inferno that eventually takes the shape of the sword's edge and tip, creating a much larger weapon that can seemingly cut through all.

Rinka is in awe. He smiles

"It worked! Let's go!"

He rapidly swings his weapon around and slices all the ink up. It spreads everywhere, staining the floor and him.

Rank 2 is a little confused but goes back to an unsmiling expression. He then spawns giant metal crates out of nowhere which Rinka hops over, making haste.

Rank 2 gives a leer, fire whips abruptly form around his arm and head towards Rinka. They squeeze his katana and pull him to the floor.

…

Rank 3 attacks with her pole and Doa barely dodges it. She continues to attack, swinging the pole in many different directions, and Doa dodges only some, the rest she blocks, getting decent bruises.

Imma-Ite attempts to sneakily run up behind Rank 3, to slash her. But she notices him and enlarges her pole, and it rams into his stomach.

She laughs. Asudden, strings fly over to her and wrap around her chest. She's pulled to Maya, where a spear comes for her neck. She quickly shifts her head to avoid being stabbed, and hits Maya's chin with the pole.

…

Tons of beams shoot out of Minaro's rifts which keep Rank 1 alert and moving. Wondrously, out of his palms, he generates a sword made of clean, pointed bones, grips it once it's fully out, and thrashes it around.

Minaro steps back and just continues bombarding Rank 1 with rays. He evades them all and magically summons thick pine green ropes that swiftly tie up Minaro's wrists and haul him.

He's rapidly heading straight for the bone weapon, when suddenly, he teleports, out of the knot and to somewhere behind Rank 1, flabbergasting both.

"What the fuck?"

Minaro hears the deep voice again.

"Dude, go, go! Hit him!"

He looks at Bukkaru, who is pointing at Rank 1 with his paw.

"If you can hear me, I'll be teleporting you around that evil guy, do whatever you want to him."

Minaro nods, dashes, and strikes Rank 1's backbone, and blasts him forwards.

…

Rank 2 steadily takes steps towards Rinka. A heavy sandstorm starts to materialize causing him to squint, and lose sight of Rank 2.

"Oh damn, this sucks."

He looks around, and in due course, spots a dark silhouette. Rank 2 emerges and swings his ax, Rinka only just evades it. Upon the miss, Rank 2 re-enters the shadows of the sand once more.

Rinka continues to look around.

"I can't see shit… Maybe I can do something about this?"

He gently, repeatedly taps on the sword's grip.

"Void Attack 2, Black Bolt."

The robust roar of thunder is heard, catching everyone's attention. Immediately, Rinka morphs, turning into erratic, extraordinary pitch-dark lighting, which lights the sand squall and reveals a spooked Rank 2.

The lightning zooms, striking the spot and stopping right before Rank 2, where in a jiffy, Rinka shapeshifts back to normal and swings his katana for his neck. Rank 2 quickly leaps elsewhere to avoid it. He's fearful.

Rinka takes time to breathe.

"Turning into lightning is super cool… But it takes up a good amount of energy."

…

Rank 1 creates more steel crates and hurls them in all directions, and one is about to hit Minaro, however, he teleports, appearing above Rank 1, kick charged.

Speedily, Rank 1's arm moves up to him, and entirely, and brutally, splits open. Blood plops, skin is stiff, and bones protrude like knives. He has turned his arm into flesh scissors, ready to cut Minaro.

Except, another teleportation occurs, Minaro is behind Rank 2 now, charging up a punch.

...

The strings on Rank 3 break as she advances. Imma-Ite runs towards her and goes for another slash which she easily counters with her pole.

Imma-Ite: Mayo! The! We've gotta start working together! If we do, we can take this bitch down!

Doa: We have been working together though!

Imma-Ite jumps aside.

Imma-Ite: Oh, we've gotta do a better job at working together then!

Rank 3 snickers. She begins to speedily spin her pole around, leaving no openings for attacks. The three pals huddle.

Imma-Ite: … Yo, I think we should restrain her and then completely destroy her with one good attack!

Maya: … I- I think I've got a better idea. We should absolutely overwhelm her! And eventually, she'll get really tired! Then we can off her!

…

Rinka repeatedly swings his sword, Rank 2 easily dodges every attempt to hurt him. He intercepts the katana with his ax, and that's when Rinka randomly, subconsciously, comes up with another void attack.

"Void Attack 3, Soul Search."

A second goes by. Blood soars into the air, Rinka's shoulder has been cut by Rank 2. The ax is lodged in. However, blood is also coming out of Rank 2, he's got Rinka's blade going through his chest now.

Rinka looks scared.

"What the hell?"

Suddenly, the two begin to be enveloped by a mass of complete darkness, the void, until they're totally obscured. And, in just 5 seconds, Rinka witnesses all of Rank 2's life prior to this moment.

TO BE CONTINUED…