CHAPTER 39: ASTRAL CHAOS

Liz continues running, Yoshanai dashes to her ready to attack but Minaro slams into him pushing him aside.

Yoshanai swiftly kicks several times, Minaro steps back, and Yoshanai starts punching, Minaro blocks but every hit gets stronger pushing Minaro farther and farther away.

Projections of kicks fly by and Minaro is hit in the chin and on the shoulder of his broken arm.

"Ow, did he really have to go for my broken arm?"

Yoshanai goes for a punch, and Minaro immediately summons a big ice spike that almost hits Yoshanai, but he jumps away.

Minaro pulls a quasar from his rift and heads to Yoshanai. Yoshanai runs away and as he does, several projections of punches come out and swerve around aiming for Minaro.

Minaro weaves past all of them, Yoshanai turns, he goes for a kick on Minaro. Minaro blocks but one of the projected kicks swerves under his arm and slams into his stomach.

Minaro summons more ice, Yoshanai dashes past the ice before it can grow and reaches Minaro's side. He tightly grabs Minaro by his broken arm and throws him. Minaro quickly summons ice behind him, stopping his motion once he hits it.

"Damn." He thinks as the impact fades.

Minaro leaps off his ice towards Yoshanai. Yoshanai slaps his shoulder and the sound wave pushes him back.

Rifts are swiftly summoned beside Minaro and rays fire out of them. Yoshanai runs away, the rays keep coming and more are launched in different directions, Yoshanai continues to avoid them.

Minaro runs up to him and punches, Yoshanai counters the punch with his own. The fists crash into each other, and the quasar disappears but Yoshanai's hand is intact.

Yoshanai: Surprise!

A coat of colorful stained transparent glass on his entire arm shatters, the pieces float in the water below. This is Yoshanai's Astral Armor, it will break after too many attacks or a strong attack.

Yoshanai fakes out Minaro and smacks him.

"He's got armor, piss off."

Minaro and Yoshanai trade blocking blows.

Yoshanai: I will only get stronger the more I'm in here, I recommend you just let me kill you now! So you won't die to my outrageous power when I'm at my best!

Minaro: I'll never let you kill me, you've got to work for it.

Minaro throws multiple faster punches, Yoshanai ducks down and hits him in the stomach. Minaro walks back, Yoshanai swings his arm, Minaro punches his arm back, and summons ice that rushes to him.

Yoshanai dashes back, the ice follows, Minaro makes the ice smooth and jumps onto it, sprinting for Yoshanai.

Yoshanai leaps high and runs on the ice as well, Minaro shoots lasers, the lasers reflect off Yoshanai, he's unaffected by them thanks to his shield.

"This girly dude will wish he never crossed paths with me!" Yoshanai is lively.

Minaro halts the ice and molds a big wave, which he manages to run up. Yoshanai looks up at the growing ice shadowing him, his expression is dim.

4 minaro clones appear from the top of the ice wave, they come down fast ready to attack. Projection fists rise out of Yoshanai swinging and all the clones are hit one after another.

The real Minaro runs off the ice above and due to the increased speed from the slipperiness of the ice, he catches Yoshanai off guard.

Minaro zooms down and stomps on both of Yoshanai's shoulders with both of his feet, bringing him down. Minaro's fist is quickly submerged in ice, forming a spike. He brings it down to Yoshanai's face for impalement.

Projected fists fly out of Yoshanai's hands, they squirm for space amongst each other and smack Minaro simultaneously, eventually lifting him into the air.

"What can I do here? I can't move!"

Yoshanai jumps and hits Minaro in the stomach, sending him higher, the fists fade away and Yoshanai comes down.

Minaro falls, and a long somewhat thick pole of ice rises briskly from the floor. He kicks himself off of the pole and zooms down.

Minaro strikes Yoshanai in the face, shield bits splash into the air. He crashes into the floor and Minaro slides past him due to the ice.

As Yoshanai perks up, two big walls of ice form beside him. Yoshanai springs up as the walls move, narrowly avoiding being crushed.

Yoshanai: That's cheeky, dude.

Yoshanai lands on the ice walls, Minaro heads for him. He attacks Minaro, Minaro blocks and goes for a kick. Yoshanai slaps his arm and a wave shoves Minaro back. Then projected fists come after Minaro, he takes steps back.

"I can't see."

A projected kick zooms through all the fists, camouflaged, it resembles a long pink worm if it had a foot for a head. The kick slams into Minaro's stomach, saliva drops from his mouth. Then the kick swiftly curves upwards striking Minaro in the jaw.

"All of this is burning me out… But it's fine, I only get stronger! I'll kill him this time!"

Yoshanai emerges near Minaro and throws a punch, Minaro turns, and the punch hits his broken shoulder, his face droops a little. Minaro forces himself to fall, he pins Yoshanai's arm down to the ground with his body.

Yoshanai: Get off me! I'm not into dudes!

Minaro uses his fine hand to hit Yoshanai's head multiple times. The shield cracks and Yoshanai places Minaro in a tight chokehold.

Yoshanai: If you wanna be so damn close to me, you get what's comin'.

Minaro's fine hand is turned into an ice spike and he tries to stab Yoshanai's head. An astral clone comes out of Yoshanai's face and grabs his hand before it can connect.

Yoshanai suddenly feels his skin crawl, he unhands Minaro and immediately throws him. As Minaro lands, small ice spikes rush out of his neck.

"That's a little scary… I'll have to be more careful when getting close to this dude."

The spikes on Minaro's neck fall and break on impact. He summons a wall of ice that is the same size as him behind him and leans on it. Then he kicks himself forward.

Minaro sticks out his foot for a kick, and Yoshanai grabs it and brings Minaro down. An astral clone jumps out of Yoshanai and stomps on Minaro's neck.

Minaro kicks with his other foot repeatedly and Yoshanai moves his head repeatedly. Small ice spikes rush out of Minaro's neck and impale the clone's foot, it fades away.

A Minaro clone jumps out of Minaro's chest and swings its leg toward Yoshanai. Yoshanai quickly leans back downwards which lifts Minaro, the clone slips past Yoshanai and is killed by another astral clone that rises out of him.

That's when cracking is heard, then the sound of flesh being ripped apart. Yoshanai yells in agony, Minaro falls out of his grasp.

A giant ice spike Minaro had on the bottom of his foot cracks a little. Yoshanai's hand and arm have a huge hole in them, blood drops like a waterfall.

Minaro: That's for breaking my arm!

"I was too focused, I didn't sense the damn ice." Yoshanai thinks.

Several clones rush out of Minaro that go to Yoshanai, Minaro breaks the spike off his foot and gets up.

While projected fists block the view and fend off the clones, he grabs whatever is left of his arm and rips it off.

"I can't tell if I'm getting tired or getting stronger."

From the wound near the top of his shoulder, a pink astral arm with claws is created, he flexes the claws, and the flowing blood runs through the arm reminiscent of veins.

The clones and projected fist are gone, Yoshanai turns to Minaro.

Yoshanai: I still have a working arm buddy!

Minaro looks annoyed.

Minaro: … I'll be taking it next.

His fist envelopes in an ice spike and he heads to Yoshanai. Several astral clones come out of Yoshanai's body, and they run to Minaro. Minaro brings out his clones, and Yoshanai rushes to the action.

The clones fight each other and more keep coming from both sides. Yoshanai hops over them and strikes the ground, Minaro avoids his hand. Yoshanai's claws dig into the ice. He dashes and uppercuts, Minaro dodges again and throws a punch.

An astral clone comes out and grabs Minaro's neck, it tries to pull him back but a Minaro clone flies by and kicks it. All the clones arrive and start fighting near Yoshanai and Minaro, even getting in the way of their battle.

Minaro and Yoshanai attack each other but never land a hit, they mostly destroy clones and get hit by them too.

Eventually, all the clones are gone and none are being summoned. Yoshanai's punches and kicks begin to increase in speed, Minaro holds his fist out and the spike increases in size.

Yoshanai tightly ducks down and avoids the ice, he scurries under it and slams into Minaro's legs knocking him down.

The ice breaks, Minaro and Yoshanai get up at the same time, they're both breathing heavily.

They head towards each other, ice rushes out of Minaro's fist. Yoshanai dodges it and grabs Minaro's broken arm and throws him up high. The astral fists rise and pummel Minaro higher.

Ice is summoned, it pushes Minaro away from the fists. He stands on it looking down at Yoshanai but can't find him.

Yoshanai runs up the ice like a rabid beast, gripping on all fours, he climbs up to where Minaro is and stabs his foot with his claws. Minaro makes a face of displeasure.

Then Yoshanai lunges up and strikes his chin, sending Minaro farther up.

Yoshanai: You should have killed me when we first met!

The realm changes back to the pink realm, Yoshanai is colorful again, projections of him fly vertically through Minaro and he emerges above him and stomps on his chest.

Minaro heads down, projections pass through his body and Yoshanai emerges under him ready to strike. Suddenly a clone dives out of Minaro's back, and an ice spike forms on its fist as it falls. Yoshanai dodges it and attempts to hit it in the stomach.

The clone grabs his arm, Yoshanai quickly grabs its approaching fist and lifts the clone, then slams it into the ground, it disappears.

He notices a different Minaro clone holding Minaro and then putting him down. Yoshanai stares off into the distance.

"... Where are those girls at?"

Yoshanai's projections fly vertically again, they go up really high. Yoshanai is in the sky now slipping through his projections searching for Liz and finds her kneeling, healing Doa, with a healed Maya on her back.

"There they fucking are."

Yoshanai's projections head down. Yoshanai appears next to Liz and swings at her, Minaro is sprinting to the conflict.

She dashes back and pulls Doa with her to avoid the attack, Maya slides a little off her back and Iiz pushes her back in place.

Yoshanai: You're a big problem.

Yoshanai bolts forward and grabs Liz's neck and throws her, Maya falls off her back. Yoshanai steps on Maya's neck, bends down to pull her hair, and her neck turns.

Yoshanai: I'm gonna do it.

Liz quickly rises and punches Yoshanai's back, her strength is surprising. He stumbles off Maya's neck, Liz yanks Maya back to her.

"Damn!"

Yoshanai dashes and grabs Liz's face, his claws digging into her skin. She smacks his arms and he punches her in the stomach repeatedly while running with her.

Minaro reaches the conflict and shoots a string at Yoshanai's back. It attaches and Minaro pulls. Yoshanai hits the ground and Minaro kicks him in the head, Liz falls out of his hand and he's sent away.

Liz quickly gets up and sprints to Minaro.

Liz: Thank you.

She puts her hands on Minaro's broken arm, and he flinches. Liz begins to heal his arm as fast as she can. Yoshanai perks up and speeds toward them.

"I need to kill that girl!"

Yoshanai gets in front of Liz, Minaro's broken right arm is fully healed now so he uses it to sucker punch him back.

…

Liz can choose at what rate to heal, with the drawback of, depending on the speed more energy of hers is consumed. Also, her healing does not restore the injured person's energy.

…

Liz: Your friends are all healed now, they're just sleeping.

Minaro: That's great.

…

Yoshanai stares at the sky, he tries his best to slow down his breathing.

"I feel like if I keep going, I'm gonna die… This Is so dumb. Fucking healers, man."

…

Minaro senses something large incoming, he grabs Liz and runs off with her avoiding a giant cloudy hand that swiftly pops out of the floor.

Minaro lets go of Liz, a giant cloudy fist rapidly rises out of the floor and he and Liz are hit. Liz is knocked down, Minaro holds onto a finger, and is lifted up.

The deity has returned, its body finishes coming out of the water. Yoshanai is moving again and several astral clones move out of him. They climb up and dash up the foot of the deity and reach his chest.

Liz gets up and notices Yoshanai running towards her. She runs away.

…

Minaro stands on the deity's palm. It immediately closes the palm and Minaro jumps to avoid the motion, he runs off its hand and onto its arm.

While running on its arm, he looks down. Minaro notices Liz running for her life from Yoshanai.

"I need to get down there!"

Minaro turns and spots the deity's other arm heading toward him, then he notices the astral clones running toward him.

…

Liz narrowly avoids attacks from Yoshanai, he takes a second to breathe after every attack.

"Astral realm, grant me some damn energy!"

Liz looks around.

"Maya and Doa moved."

…

The clones halt and climb under the deity's arm where they hold onto it somehow. Minaro begins to summon ice and cover the entire arm in it.

Minaro then starts to summon a slide of ice for himself, he goes on it. The astral clones quickly form a ladder by using each other and one of the clones swings on Minaro's slide and pushes him off of it.

The clone jumps off the slide and releases a projected fist barrage on Minaro, he's hit everywhere.

"I'm at a height where my momentum will make landing on ice break something… but I've got no choice." Minaro's anxious.

…

Liz dodges another attack from Yoshanai, he flies past her and lands on some ice. That's when he's shot in the neck by a shotgun at point-blank range.

Blood and bullets fly, Doa was hiding behind the ice, she had been moving behind ice left behind to hide.

Doa: I got you, idiot!

Yoshanai jumps off the ice and touches his jaw, shield bits fall from it and blood covers his hands.

…

As Minaro summons Ice, a string wraps around him and he's pulled away from the clone then he's pulled down. Maya, who is standing on some ice, smiles, and waves at him.

Minaro smiles.

…

The deity fades away, Yoshanai kneels, his shield disappears and he breathes excessively, he's smiling wildly regardless of this.

"I'm so dead."

Doa reloads her shotgun after digging in her bag and runs over to Yoshanai ready to shoot him some more.

He gets up and dips but a string is wrapped around his leg and is pulled. He trips and hits the floor. He quickly rips the string off.

"AH! One last stand from me!"

Yoshanai dashes past Doa and tries to slash Liz's neck with his claws. Minaro fires lasers and Yoshanai decides not to avoid them to get Liz.

Yoshanai yells as the lasers burn him but he survives and claws at Liz's neck, whoever she had placed her arm near her neck to protect it, so that got slashed instead.

Yoshanai falls next to her, and she moves away. The astral realm starts to disappear and the surrounding city comes into view.

Doa runs up to Yoshanai ready to shoot when a small, monochrome, cloudy hand rushes out of the water. Yoshanai lifts his head and smiles.

Yoshanai: Fuck you, Minaro!

The hand pulls him into the floor just as Doa shoots. The bullets float in the water, then that piece of the astral realm disappears.

Minaro, Liz, Doa, and Maya just stare at each other.

Maya: We did it?

Liz: We didn't, but it's fine.

Minaro grabs his knee and bends down a little.

Doa sits down. Liz begins to heal her slashed arm.

Maya: … We should definitely all fight together more often!

Doa: Yeah.

Minaro: … We should, but it also doesn't feel like I saved any energy.

Doa: Sorry about that.

Maya: Liz! Your healing is amazing!

Liz: Yes, it is… That was the first battle where I wasn't really able to hide and had to get up in the conflict to heal though… Thankfully all of you were able to beat that Skiller.

Liz is healing her wound very slowly. A few seconds of silence go by.

Maya: Where do we go now?

More silence.

Minaro: … We should go find Rinka.

Doa: We should.

Liz: Okay, but we should get some other Guardians to come along with us.

TO BE CONTINUED…