CHAPTER 47: EVERYONE AGAINST ALL

Zeph's monster enters a somewhat disheveled vacant area of the city, a metal rod impales its foot.

Zeph: Fuck.

Zeph, Zizin, and Mausho land while the monster fades and Yutsu walks up, presenting the orb piece. Mausho adjusts Rinka's body.

Yutsu: I am done chasing you and you are done running.

Zeph grabs Zizin and dashes away, Mausho follows. Time suddenly slows down, Rank 16, Brian, zooms into the scene, fire, and gas are shooting out of his foot, propelling him. He smacks everyone with 2 sheathed katanas, time then returns to normal and everyone is launched away.

Yutsu: You're done running.

Zeph and Mausho stand.

Mausho: The hell do we do?

Zeph: … Let's do what we can.

Mausho gently places Rinka over Zizin's back.

Mausho: Take care of him! Yell if anyone tries to take him from you.

Zizin groans, and Brian charges ahead. Zeph's monster spawns with its mouth open and out of Brian's back come out several katanas, all differently designed.

Those katanas fly into the monster's eyes, Brian then slows down time again and reaches Mausho, hitting him several times.

Mausho is blasted back and lands near Yutsu. Brian turns to Zeph and unsheathes both of his katanas, revealing red shiny blades.

…

Brian has 3 skills.

He can summon katanas from his body made of pure energy that will slash and impale anything. The designs of the katanas are based on his imagination at the moment.

He can slow down time for 4 seconds whenever he sheathes a katana but can only move and attack if he's holding the katana he used.

He can use fire propulsion to move way faster than usual.

…

Brian and Zeph move around at an insane speed. Zeph continuously dodges slashes while Brian dodges his punches.

Zeph's monster comes out again.

…

On a balcony right above the area of the current battle are the rest of the skillers.

Rank 18, Dynima drinks some soda while sitting on a chair.

Rank 20, Panchu is attempting to bring birds closer to him by waving a piece of bread around.

Rank 19, Neishi is doing a crossword puzzle on a small glass table.

Rank 17, Eivee is scrolling through social media, occasionally giggling and smiling.

Panchu: Hey, you guys should be over here, looking at the fight so you know when to go down!.. Unless you guys forgot the plan.

Eivee: Yeah, I'll look right now.

Neishi ignores him. Dynima glances at him.

Dynima: … Just tell us when to go. Since you're gonna go last anyways.

Panchu: … I'm too busy trying to pet these pigeons to tell you… Should I ask Yutsu if we can have some pigeons, or maybe any other birds in our base?

Dynima's face gleams with excitement.

Dynima's: Yes, we should get some pets for our base! I wanna get cats!

Panchu: I said pigeons, not cats.

Dynima: I know, I think we should get multiple pets… Eivee, Neishi, what do you think?

Eivee looks away from his phone.

Eivee: Sounds good, I want a hedgehog.

Neishi looks up.

Neishi: I would like a bunny.

…

Brian slashes the monster's cheek and eye, after. he summons katanas that fly toward Zeph.

Zeph narrowly dodges them and is swallowed by his reappearing monster. Who right after the swallow, spits him out. Zeph kicks Brian into a building.

…

Mausho gets up, Yutsu points his palm at him and metal rushes out. Mausho hops onto it, his feet leaking fire.

Mausho: Now that I'm not carrying that guy! I can fight you.

Yutsu retracts the metal, dropping him, and shoots more. Mausho weaves past and barely dodges some of it.

…

Brian zooms out of the building, rubble falls off his body and he slows down time. He reaches a levitating Zeph and strikes him in the stomach.

Time renews, Zeph is launched but right before he hits a building, his monster consumes him and quickly spits him out.

Time slows down again, Brian slams the katana into Zeph's face. Time renews again and this time he slams into the floor.

"This guy is so damn annoying! Why can he slow down time!?"

Brian flies down with another attack ready, Zeph's monster emerges and it jumps into the air towards Brian. He maneuvers past it and uses his katanas to cut downwards through its skin.

Zeph quickly climbs out of its mouth as it dies and kicks Brian's head, sending him down. Brian stops himself from touching the ground, Zeph falls towards him prepared to attack.

Brian rushes out of his way and slows down time again. He flies and strikes Zeph in the face as much as he can. Once time reverts, Zeph is sent high up.

Brian follows, time slackens again and he strikes him once more. Time resumes, the monster lunges out of Zeph's swiftly moving body and Brian avoids it. He's confused as he can no longer see Zeph anywhere, just the plummeting monster.

Zeph speedily climbs out of the monster's mouth and hops to its tail, the tail dynamically swings, sending Zeph upward and into Brian.

He holds onto Brian's clothes and they tussle in the air. Then Zeph punches his eye, Brian grabs his neck and propels forward. They crash into a building and scrape against the floor.

Brian throws Zeph and summons katanas, Zeph quickly lands and dodges them. He dashes and strikes Brian in the face, afterwards, time slows down.

Brian moves ahead, smacks Zeph's hip and arm, and time is standard again. Zeph hits chairs, desks, and more until he eventually stops, stands, and sprints back to Brian.

Brian speeds over to him and swings a katana, to his surprise, Zeph grabs its blade with both of his hands and halts its motion, disregarding that it had gotten a clean cut on his palms.

He aggressively pulls and swings the katana, dropping more blood. Brian's grip on the weapon slips and he hits a table.

"Let me see how good I am at using this."

Zeph moves his hands to hold the katana correctly.

…

Back on the balcony, Panchu is staring at Eivee.

Panchu: Hey, Eivee, 2 guardians are coming, you can handle that right?

Eivee looks away from his phone.

Eivee: I should be able to.

He puts on his headphones and walks away.

…

Xika and Osora arrive at the scene, they spot Mausho avoiding Yutsu.

Osora: … Mausho is here!

Osora raises and aims his gun, following Yutsu. Right before he shoots, Eivee walks in front of his view, confusing him.

He holds a big red sword shaped like an eight and is humming to a song.

Osora: The hell?

Nothing occurs for a few seconds, Eivee just vibes to his music, eyes closed, while Osora and Xika observe, not amused.

Osora: Who are you?

Eivee continues to vibe, ignoring them. Xika suddenly swings his sword and smacks Eivee's headphones off, they shatter on the ground. Eivee stares at him, dumbfounded.

Eivee: What the fuck?

Osora: Who are you!? I'm trying to shoot someone and you got in the way!

Abruptly, small green missiles spawn out of Eivee's back and head to Osora and Xika.

Eivee: I'm a skiller.

Xika closes his eyes, he and his sword are not seen moving, all the missiles are instantly brought down, causing them to detonate and shoot tons of tiny needles everywhere that stab him and Osora.

Xika ignores the needles but his face of seriousness becomes an unsure one upon realizing something.

"He's not dead? How?"

Xika had also made sure to strike Eivee but nothing happened to him.

Eivee: That was really fast!

"That's outrageous. There's no way he avoided my attacks."

Osora touches Xika's shoulder, they look at each other.

Osora: Are you good to fight, Xika?

Xika quickly nods his head.

Osora: I'm not gonna lie, you look like you're a pinch from dying. Are you sure you're good?

Xika nods his head faster and then sinks into the ground.

"Okay, let's do this."

Osora fires, his bullet quickly bounces off Eivee and hits his lower stomach instead.

"Shit!"

Eivee rushes into the air, coming down with a slash for Osora. Xika jumps out of the ground near him and closes his eyes.

Eivee: That's not gonna work on me!

Eivee is unharmed by his attack just like before. While in the air, he switches the direction of his sword, now holding it by the sharp edge.

Right as he lands, a bullet is shot and Osora appears next to him. Eivee swiftly moves his palm to right in front of his face and a bright light shines from it that blinds Osora, it then fades away.

Eivee's weapon slams heavily into Osora's face, breaking some of his teeth. He stumbles to the ground. Xika lunges out of the floor and bolts towards them, eyes closed, holding his breath, and swings his sword.

Again, Eivee is not harmed at all. He quickly spins his sword back to the sharp side and attempts to impale Osora's foot.

Osora shoots and teleports away, Eivee kicks the air, a grocery cart is magically and instantly built near his leg. It rushes towards Xika, who avoids it by going into the floor.

Osora stands, he is confused and chuckles a little.

Osora: Why is that even a skill?

Xika pops out of the floor, Eivee spins his sword again and blocks a hit from Xika's.

"Even more handicaps than this and I'll die. That's definitely not an option."

…

Rank 16, Eivee has used 5 of his skills.

Skill 1, "Needle Missiles' ', Eivee can shoot small missiles full of needles.

Skill 2, "Invincible", he can produce a barrier around his figure that can perfectly block and even reflect attacks, but only for ten minutes every 2 hours.

Skill 3, "Cart", When Eivee kicks nothing he can magically construct and launch grocery carts.

Skill 4, "Flashbang", from his palm, he can release a quick bright light to temporarily blind anyone near him.

…

Returning to the balcony, Panchu takes a bite out of bread, he is now looking at Dynima, who is reading a manga about ghouls on her phone.

Panchu: It's your turn now, Dynima. 2 more guardians are coming.

She glances at him, then puts her phone away and rises. Dynima looks at an empty bag of bread on a small table.

Dynima: You brought and finished the entire bag!? Who does that? Who just eats an entire bag of bread by itself?

Panchu chews.

Panchu: I'm hungry, dude. Also, the birds ate most of it.

…

Iza and Sosa climb over some rubble, they notice the ongoing battles.

Iza: … Stuff is happening!

Sosa: Indeed.

They start to make their way to Eivee but are interrupted by a long, edged, yellow, and black ax that unexpectedly swings towards them.

Dynima: Hi!

Dynima waves at them joyfully as they jump back to avoid the ax.

Dynina: I'm here to murderize you!

Iza: Okay! Same!

Sosa: Murderize, that's a rare word to use.

Out of the back of Dynima's head emerges big transparent random shapes that eventually mold into multiple skinny but lengthy arms. Sosa uses his fingers to imitate a sword that he brings down to slice them but they are unaffected.

Dynima's ghost hands lunge forward and slap Iza and Sosa's upper halves, pushing them away, and then the hands punch them. Iza attempts to strike a few of the hands near her but her arm phases through them. Dynima dashes and attacks with her ax, Iza steers clear of the hits while being pestered by the hands.

Sosa imitates a cube, the hands are unbothered.

"We can't touch these things."

He imitates a fan next which manages to blow the hands around but not get rid of them.

"Okay. I can do that though."

He observes Dynima and imitates a sword but before he can slash, a hand instantly grabs his arm and throws him a good distance. He lands and is bombarded with tons of hands now disconnected from Dynima.

"... I have a feeling these are going to be really annoying."

Iza avoids the ax once more and strikes Dynima's arm then she dashes forward and punches her in the stomach. Her ghost hands rush forward in an attempt to knock Iza back but she doesn't budge. Dynima stretches her palm out and Iza becomes muddled.

"... I can't move."

Dynima changes how she holds her weapon and now grips it by the sharp end, Iza promptly walks towards her, confusing Dynima.

"Nevermind, guess my skill beats those types of powers too."

Iza: Nothing stops me from moving forward!

Dynima drops her palm and dashes ahead which causes her to intensely crash into Iza's invisible ring. She looks up after the impact and Iza falls from above and slams her fist into her face.

Sosa is now near them, he narrowly avoids hands that are now trying to scratch him. Iza strikes Dynima, who is on the ground, until the ghost hands grab Iza by all her limbs and lift her where they hold her in place until Dynima stands.

"Damn, I actually can't move now."

Iza violently moves around trying to escape but it's no use. Dynima rises, heaves her ax aggressively into the air and it lodges into Iza's stomach, blood oozes out. Some of the blood lands on Dynima's face.

"She shouldn't die from that … She was making me really mad, I was gonna call her pretty too!"

The ghost hands come down a little and heave Iza onto the ground. Sosa runs by and swipes with his fingers, Dynima senses and avoids the invisible slashes then she uses her telekinesis to break Sosa's engaged fingers.

"Ah! Okay, that's gonna be bad for me. I can still work something out though."

Next, she uses the telekinesis to swiftly pull her ax out of Iza, who is trying to stand but is struggling, and Sosa to her, he quickly creates a fist with his other hand and brings it down. Dynima's ghost hands hold back the invisible hammer spawned by him.

Dynima: Dang, Invisible stuff is a little scary.

Sosa struggles but manages to grab his broken fingers and move them down, he imitates holding a spear and thrusts it forward, Dynima side steps.

"Her telekinesis is rough, I could manage Rimin's… But this is stronger, way stronger."

Sosa is now face to face with Dynima and before he can do anything, she strikes near his nose with the ax's handle then flings him away. Once he hits the ground, he imitates a cube right as she moves and causes her to crash into an invisible wall.

"Ow, I hit something invisible again. What the fuck?"

Dynima flips her ax so that the sharp side is out again and attacks the invisible wall. Blood gushes out of one of Sosa's palms but his cube still stands strong. Dynima looks bored.

"What is the point of keeping me here?"

Dynima: Let me out of here or I'll make that cut on your hand even bigger!

Sosa removes the cube and speedily slaps his two palms into each other. Dynima's ghost hands hold back the invisible walls about to slam into her.

Sosa takes a deep breath and begins slapping the air multiple times as fast as he can.

"Actually, invisible stuff is not that scary."

For every invisible attack that comes from these relentless slaps, there is a ghost hand that halts it until eventually, Sosa's arms tire out.

"... I can't do anything to her!"

Sosa imitates a sword with both of his hands and swings them at different angles as fast as he can, releasing tons of invisible slashes. Dynima's ghost hands lift her into the air, abolishing all opportunities for her to be cut.

Sosa stops, Dynima uses telekinesis to hold him still, and then she throws and lodges her ax into his stomach.

"I feel weak for some reason, even though I haven't exerted that much energy… Iza seems to feel that way too, she's never usually down for that long, even if an axe got her good."

Iza is finally up, she bolts over to Dynima who breaks her movement off with telekinesis. Afterward, she walks up to Iza and slightly blows on her face, ice instantly forms all over Iza's body until she's completely enveloped.

Dynima flips her ax and swings it, smashing through the ice and hitting Iza's forehead.

…

Rank 18, Dynima has 4 skills.

Skill 1, "Ghost Hands", she can tap into the realm of the spirits and borrow their hands, which aid her in battle.

Skill 2 is standard telekinesis.

Skill 3, "Cold Mouth" makes her breath extremely cold and capable of instantly freezing anyone with the slightest amount.

And skill 4, her ultimate skill which she has been using this entire time. "Soul Sucking Aura", an extremely helpful skill that steals the vigor of a few foes( that she can choose) nearby. The energy stolen isn't given to her but instead just thrown away for no one to use.

…

Coming back to the balcony, Panchu and Neishi are playing chess on a phone.

Panchu: This game is fucking boring.

Neishi: It is because you don't know how to play.

Panchu scratches his head.

Panchu: You don't have any other games we could play? Chess ain't for me.

Neishi: No.

He sighs.

Panchu: Neishi, have you ever tried a sport?

Neishi: I tried a few when I was a child.

Panchu: Which ones?

Neishi: Baseball, Volleyball and Hockey.

Panchu: Ooh, baseball, I love baseball, how did that go?

Neishi: I hit the ball very far every time and would reach bases but in a team full of incapable people, it meant nothing.

Panchu: The rest of your team sucked ass?

Neishi: Indeed.

Panchu: That's rough, how did volleyball go?

Neishi: Whenever the ball would come to me, I would hit it and it would go so high, no one could get it, so they kicked me out of the team.

Panchu: Wow, bummer. How was Hockey?

Neishi: I actually liked playing hockey for a little, until I started getting in trouble for hitting the puck too hard and causing injuries.

Panchu: … It seems like your experiences with sports have all been disappointing.

Neishi: They have.

Panchu crosses his arms.

Panchu: You know what? After this, let's play baseball! Or hockey! Or volleyball whichever you want!

Neishi smiles.

Neishi: Okay!

Panchu stands up and looks down the rail of the balcony.

Panchu: Oh, more guardians are coming.

Neishi: It is my time.

…

Defei, still holding Kofron, flies into the area.

Defei: Damn, some stuff is going down.

Kofron: A lot of stuff.

Defei swoops down but before he reaches the ground, Neishi flies by, supported by big dark brown bat wings sprouting from her back. Kofron yells and emits a sound wave that reaches her but she is unaffected. She slams a long beige pole that quickly changes to cyan and releases a brutal wave of water into Defei, blasting him back.

Neishi moves ahead, Kofron emits more waves and Defei fires hot water from one hand. She avoids everything and instantly grabs Kofron's foot and yanks him out of Defei's grasp.

She hurls him to the ground, her pole changes from cyan to a bright yellow and tons of lightning spews out of it. While Kofron tries to get up, the lightning strikes him numerous times and keeps him down.

Defei zooms by and grabs his leg, getting zapped in the process, regardless they head up.

Defei: Move man, that lightning is gonna fry your brain.

Kofron: I was trying but those strikes hit hard.

Neishi's pole changes from yellow to dark red, and she zooms toward them.

Neishi: That man is irrelevant to this battle! Get rid of him!

Kofron: I'm not irrelevant, the fuck!?

Defei repositions himself, Kofron pulls out the tiny box that turns into his guitar and tosses himself onto Defei's back, now using him as a board.

Kofron: You'll see who's gonna be irrelevant soon enough!

Kofron prepares to flick his guitar but before he can Neishi speeds by and smashes his face with her pole. A barrage of cuts fly out of the pole, followed by a wave of lava, which burns Kofron's body as he is blasted away and sent an insane distance.

Neishi: He will be gone for a while.

Defei worries slightly.

"That was fast, very fast, and very strong, I've never seen anyone get sent that far."

Neishi turns to him.

Neishi: You'll be gone forever.

Defei flies onward as fast as he can, his eyes locked on Neishi. Suddenly his vision begins to warp and spin, and the colors around change.

"Woah, the fuck is happening?"

Fish fall from the sky, everything is upside down, the floor is an endless void, all colors are saturated and Neishi is a giant. She slams her pole into him, and magma and cuts follow. After the hit, Defei hovers in place, not satisfied.

"This is all fake… Great, how do I deal with this?"

Defei quickly sprays a bunch of water on his face, rubs his eyes, and opens them. Everything is normal now.

"That worked. This is very useful info."

Neishi's pole is beige again and she immediately hits him with it, nothing occurs after the strike, just Defei being sent back.

He locks onto her again, and his vision warps once more, now everything is vertical, the sky is made of oranges, the floor is an endless pool and the contrast of everything has been altered.

"Wow, I can't look at her or everything will get weird. This could be bad. How do I fight someone I can't look at?"

Neishi heads to Defei, he swiftly flies away and places his palm over his head, letting water drip onto his face, after a few seconds, confusion kicks in.

"It's not working."

Defei sprays himself with water, his vision continues to be messed up. Neishi looms over him and strikes his spine, sending him down. The area around changes, his vision of everything is multiplied by 4, everything turns green and buildings nearby turn into trees.

…

Rank 19, Neishi has 3 skills.

Skill 1, "Wings", she gains bat wings that help her fly better and faster.

Skill 2, "Magical Pole", her weapon is a wooden pole that can change into any color, and depending on what color it is, the different elemental powers it harbors.

Skill 3, her ultimate one, "Odd Vision." This skill only works on one person at a time. If anyone looks at her, she can manipulate what they see and it only stops after they've had their eyes closed for exactly 2 seconds.

…

Panchu stands on the rail of the balcony and cracks his neck.

"It's my turn."

He leaps off.

…

Raskan and Shima trot into the area and look around.

Raskan: Damn, everyone is fighting… and I think we're losing.

Shima: Hurry, we have to go turn the tides if that's the case.

They start running, Shima whips out her chainsaw and Raskan observes his watch. About a few milliseconds later, Panchu plummets from above and brings Raskan down, foot on his head. Shima turns and attacks, a thin green spike rapidly emerges out of Panchu's shoulder that punctures the saw and pins it to the ground. He attempts to slap Shima's face, but she blocks but the hit still pushes her far.

Panchu: Nice to meet you! You're beautiful by the way!

The spike rushes back into his body.

Raskan: Asshole! Get off me!

Panchu glances down.

Panchu: Sorry about landing on ya, musta been unlucky.

Raskan: You would get off me if you were sorry, dipshit!

Panchu: I would, wouldn't I?

Shima picks up her saw and ties it to her whip while bringing out vines, they rush towards Panchu, prompting him to jump off Raskan and onto the vines, sliding flamboyantly on them. Raskan stands and touches his neck.

"I think I'm a hunchback now."

He moves.

Raskan: Shima, this is for you!

One of his hands suddenly morphs into a whip, the other into a chainsaw. Shima lashes her saw and Panchu does a flip to avoid it, turns in the air, and slaps the back of her neck. She flies forward and kneels on all fours. A few seconds later while she tries to get up, she vomits.

Panchu: That's nasty.

Panchu turns to look at her, Shima is right in front of him, saw drawn, and he quickly thrusts his palm into her face, knocking her away.

Then he looks at his palm, grossed out.

"Ugh, I got some vomit on my hand."

Shima rises again and this time starts sneezing violently.

"I haven't felt sick in years, this is really messing me up. What a fucked up skill to have."

Raskan dashes by and swings his saw hand. Panchu lifts and collides his foot with the hand and from the top of his foot, swiftly seeps out a gray sticky substance.

His foot sticks tightly to Raskan's arm, he promptly brings his leg down and yanks Raskan down with it. He hits the ground, and Panchu squats down and slaps him far.

Shima runs off some vines and flicks her whipsaw at Panchu, he grabs the rope and forcibly yanks it. Shima flies towards him and he slaps her in the stomach.

Raskan runs to Panchu while coughing aggressively, both of his hands are long whips now. He releases an onslaught of strikes that Panchu resists. Out of his chest pokes out a long spike that is preparing to stab Raskan's arm.

But before it can, Raskan's whips instantly morph into double-barrel shotguns and are positioned at a weird angle, one shoots and tears the spike apart.

Some of the shell pellets hit Panchu, drawing little blood, but from what was noticed, it was black.

Raskan's eyes broaden.

"Black blood!?"

And so do Shima's

"He has black blood!?

Panchu jumps back, Raskan's shotgun hands quickly morph into miniguns and Shima vomits blood, some of it coming out of her nose.

"Ah! This feeling isn't going away! But I literally don't have anything left to vomit out!"

Raskan notices her.

"Oh, Christ, that looks awful, hang on, Shima."

He fires his guns and Panchu runs away from all the bullets.

…

Rank 20, Panchu has 4 skills.

Skill 1, "Sickening Slaps", every time he slaps someone with a lot of force, they will receive some sort of disease or illness. It is completely random what they get, it could be the common flu or a heart disease.

Skill 2, "Spike'', out of anywhere on his body, he can summon a singular long and thin green spike that can stab through anything.

Skill 3, "Sticky", Panchu can release a substance from anywhere on his body that allows him to stick to anything. But he usually uses it to stick onto his opponents during combat and confuse them.

…

Zizin is hiding behind some rubble, spectating all the ongoing fights, Rinka's body next to him.

"... We're kind of losing. Should I go help? What am I saying? What the hell am I gonna do!? But I can't just sit here and watch my friends slowly die!"

He trembles a little and yelps when he feels someone firmly grab his shoulder. Rinka is awake now, a sinister smile is plastered over his face.

Rinka: I'm back! Just in time for the climax!

He breathes heavily and punches Zizin in the face then walks ahead.

His heavy breathing continues.

…

Mausho, grabbing his knees and Yutsu stare at each other.

Yutsu: Have you bothered looking around? Your peers are reaching their ends.

Mausho: They're fine. They'll be fine.

Yutsu summons metal and it zooms forward, a slightly tired Mausho cannot recognize its speed and it is going to impale his stomach.

But right as it is about to, 2 red strings quickly wrap around his waist and lift him away.

The metal stops and Yutsu turns, spotting Maya and Minaro both with strings coming out of their index fingers, putting Mausho down.

Doa is standing right behind them.

TO BE CONTINUED…