Chapter 51: The Heart’s Pain

Now that he looked at them clearly, he observed each individual. They all had different gear that seemed to be suited to their powers if they had any but he assumed they did.

Kaito took step back as the others walked forward to surround him, all glaring at Zatanna and the terrifying Sora.

The pressure Sora emitted was intense but they forced themselves to push through it but Sora could see their struggles, apparent by the way they twitched with each small movement he made.

"Kill them!" Kaito said as he and one of the other men in the group stayed back while the others rushed forward.

They seemed to already have a plan as they split into groups of five each to deal with the both of them while Kaito and the other man watched.

"Keep an eye on Kaito and only interfere if necessary. This is personal!" Sora said darkly as his body surged with chakra.

Zatanna nodded, putting her palms together as a wide blue barrier appeared around the area, enclosing all of them.

A bullet shot towards her but a bubble of mana appeared around her, blocking it as she floated high above their reach, leaving them to focus on Sora.

"Sending your backup away? Not a smart move!" One of them said as he was already in the air, descending towards Sora with a giant hammer in his hands above his head.

"I don't need backup to kill you!" Sora exclaimed as he disappeared just as the hammer smashed into his previous position.

The man was as big as Bane on venom with muscles that allowed him to lift the giant weapon. Before he could get it out of the crater he made, a kick smashed into the side of his face, sending him flying to the side.

Sora leaped into the air, dodging a stream of fire that shot through the air, causing it to sizzle. He traced it to the man who stood at distance with his arms out as the flames rolled off his hands.

He tried to follow Sora with a continued stream but a flick of his wrist sent a dully glowing kunai flying at the pyromancer at high speed.

He was forced to dodge as Sora landed on his feet in front of one of the four women of their group.

She flipped her long purplish hair with a pout as she spoke.

"You wouldn't hurt me, would you?" She asked cutely as a sweet smell hit Sora's nose.

Not even a second passed as Sora appeared directly in front of her with his hand coated in lightning.

"I'd kill you!" He stated bluntly as he thrust his crackling hand forward into her chest as her eyes opened in shock.

Fortunately for her, she was swept away by a blur before the thrust could pierce her heart. Unfortunately for her, while she appeared a moment later quite a distance away to the the side, her entire left arm was gone as it fell in front of a glaring Sora.

"MY ARM!!! AAAAHHHHHHH!!!" She screamed in pain as her stump of a left arm bled profusely.

The one carrying her was forced to drop her as she began screaming hysterically.

'A muscle man, a pyromancer, a pseudo speedster and pheromones. I'm willing to guess the others also have such odd yet strong collection.' He thought with a curse.

Her pheromones would have worked if not for the combination of Art of the Mind and poison resistance.

His blood red eyes narrowed as he watched the nine of them-the still screaming woman included- prepped their individual abilities.

'Nine?' He thought in confusion before he suddenly spun around with his free hand stretched out.

"Ack-!"

The sound of choking was heard as his hand held a neck. An Italian looking man gasped for breath as his airflow was cut off.

Before he could stab at Sora with the knife in his hand, Sora's still crackling hand thrust into his chest before violently pulling it back out.

"One down…I guess you can be counted as the second one." He said out loud as he cast a spell.

[Immolation]!

The corpse in his hand burst into flames as he threw it towards them. They scattered in different directions, evading the burning body save for the bleeding girl who was too slow in moving away.

As the corpse came in contact with her, the flames transferred to her body as her screams began once again.

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT IS THIS!!???!" She screamed as the flames consumed her and the corpse till they were nothing more than ash.

The burning process didn't take more than ten seconds as the others stared in shock with one thought on their mind.

'Avoid those flames!'

"Now it's eight to one. Your numbers are really dropping." Sora said mockingly as his demonic appearance made it seem more menacing.

"You'll pay for that!" One of the girls screamed as a cloud of purple mist spewed out of her mouth into the air.

Apparently the rest of them were prepared as they quickly put on gas masks that they seemingly got from nowhere.

'Poison?' Sora thought as he watched them. The pseudo speedster dashed forward but not towards Sora.

Instead, he ran around him over and over again. Dust cloud mixed with the emitted poison swirled around him, turning into a tornado of poison with him in the middle.

Sora threw out a low aimed kunai with the intention of stopping him but he easily dodged it.

Seeing that Sora hadn't left the ground, the speeding man pushed himself further as the wind was finally strong enough to lift him into the air.

"It's working!" He heard one of them say.

With his body spinning in the center of the poisonous tornado, Sora had a smirk on his face.

'Jokes on you!' He thought as multiple prompts appeared in front of him.

[Poison Resistance has leveled up!]

[Poison Resistance has leveled up!]

[Poison Resistance has leveled up!]

[Poison Resistance has leveled up!]

[Poison Resistance has leveled up!]

[Poiso…]

It kept going like that for a few seconds as the slight dizziness he felt at first immediately disappeared.

His eyes through the tornado easily tracked the speedster despite his speed. Combined with Energy Sense, he stretched his hand out to the side.

[Ray of frost]

A beam of blue-white light streaked out of the tornado towards a seemingly empty space, only for the speedster to run into the spot, not able to stop himself.

Upon striking him, he was completely covered in ice, effectively frozen in place despite his momentum.

Sora control his oddly looking wings as they flapped powerfully, immediately dispersing the tornado.

As Sora began his descent, he saw the buff man waiting below him with his hammer ready. The pyromancer was also in the air beside him with his burning hand stretched towards Sora.

He looked to the side to see one of the three remaining women with a concentrated ball of energy in grasp as she fired it towards him.

They all had victorious smirks as they had him cornered but they failed to see that the smirk on his face hadn't left.

He had felt her building up energy for the attack and it was powerful enough to level a building. Unfortunately for her, he was fully ready.

With nothing but a thought, kusanagi was in his grasp as he swung his sword at the powerful beam heading towards him.

'Counter!' He intoned internally as the famous sword cut made just the slightest contact with it before it was sent back at high speed towards the wide eyed woman.

*BOOM!*

The pyromancer beside him had already fired another stream of flames at him. The flames enveloped him just after he reflected the woman's attack.

Strangely, there was no screaming as his 'body' fell to the ground. Looking closely at the fallen body, they were confused as they were staring at a burning trash can.

"Aaahh!" A scream got their attention as they turned to the poison emitter who now had a sword coming out of her chest, direct in the position of her heart.

Knowing there was no chance of survival, they could only grit their teeth and watch as she fell to the ground lifelessly.

"Three down." He announced with a coldly.

The pyromancer shuffled over to the frozen speedster while keeping his eyes on the boy.

At that moment, the kunai that was stabbed into the ground which was now beside the speedster from when Sora threw it earlier exploded violently.

Chunks of bloodied ice scattered around as the frozen man shattered into pieces.

"My mistake, Four down." Sora corrected himself as the pyromancer and the muscular man got to their feet, pushed back by the shockwave.

"Monster! He's a monster! Ren, that bastard! Why isn't he healing anyone!" The woman who Sora had reflected her attack back asked as she winced.

She was just barely able to stop herself from being killed but she didn't come out unscathed.

Ren had stayed behind with Kaito because his ability was long ranged healing. With him being far from this monster, you'd think he would be able to at least save one person from dying.

She turned back to look at Ren only to see him standing with standing with his glazed eyes. She looked confused until the other woman surviving woman seemed to be in deep concentration.

"He's messed with his mind. You guys hold him off a bit. I'll get Ren!" She said, immediately dashing to their healer.

"Hurry up! I don't know how long we'll be able to give you!" One of the men said, putting his palms together as seven copies of him appeared around them, covering her temporary retreat.

Sora had first noticed him when he attempted to heal the girl with the pheromones. In his fear, the man made the biggest mistake of the day which was looking into those blood red eyes.

He was trapped in a genjutsu into further notice or until the woman got to him but Sora wasn't pleased with that.

"We can't exactly have him interfering now, can we?" He asked rhetorically as the ground opened up under Ren's feet.

"Ren!"

The man immediately quickly fell into the hole despite Kaito's shout. Just as he was neck deep inside the hole, it closed up around his neck, crushing it and killing him instantly.

They were then immediately reminded of Zatanna who floated above them, simply watching.

Sweat rolls down their back as they stared in shock and fear at the fearsome duo of monsters.

'Damn! Are these really kids!?' The muscular man thought with a curse.

Various thoughts ran through the minds of the remaining six, Kaito excluded.

"I'm done playing with you all." Sora said as he stretched his hand towards the muscular man, causing him to freeze up.

[Dominate]!

The man's eyes glazed over for a moment before he suddenly swung his hammer to the closest person to him.

The man with the clone ability being the unlucky man as the hammer smashed into his body, crushing him to paste.

Everyone was frozen in shock at the sudden betrayal but Sora didn't care for that as he spoke clearly and simply.

"Kill them." With that simple order, the man pounced at the pyromancer with his hammer ready.

*Bang!* *Bang!*

Gunshots rang as the only one that had yet to display any form of powers shot at him. The bullet were easily blocked and cut through.

Sora felt a prodding sensation in his head as he jumped out of the way of a shot. He looked to the woman who attempted to save Ren previously.

Her focus was on the muscular man as she and the others tried to stop him but she kept a bit of her attention on him.

Whether she tried to read his mind or was trying to brain blast him would never be known as Sora weaved hand seals.

"Stop this! Come on this isn't you!" The pyromancer screamed as his was flung away by a punch from the big man.

Sora took a deep breath as the gunman aimed his gun, jumping into an position where they were all in front of him.

Just as the finger pulled the trigger, Sora expelled a literal sea of flames that spread widely as it burned towards them.

Before they got the chance to truly admire or be afraid, they were enveloped by the sea of flames. They died less than a second after they felt the heat, giving them no chance of survival.

The fire would have spread out further had it not been for the barrier that Zatanna put up earlier. It took an entire minute for the flames to die down enough for him to see their dead bodies.

He was only mildly surprised when he saw the ground was filled with steaming skeletons, even the pyromancer wasn't spared but that didn't mean it was over.

Sora looked to the far end of the barrier as a grimacing Kaito dragged himself to his feet. Shockingly, besides the fact that his clothes were now ashes, he only suffered a few burns.

"I'm surprised you aren't dead. I didn't expect any of you to survive." Sora said coldly as he walked menacingly towards the nervous Kaito.

"What can I say? I'm built different." He said, managing to pull on his former composure.

Sora brandished his blade as he stalked towards him, his rage resurfacing as he stared at the cause of his mother's death.

[Wrathful Smite]!

The blade got a dull purple glow as Sora's steady steps moved closer to Kaito.

Kaito dashed forward at speed close to the dead speedster, appearing in front of Sora who flared at him with his sharingan.

Sora shifted to the side as Kaito's clawed hand swiped at him, dodging it completely. With a swift slash, Sora was behind him.

"Fool! I'm nigh indestructible." Kaito said, looking behind confidently.

"Your toy can't do anything to m-!" He was interrupted as a large cut appeared on his chest.

"Aack! H-how!" He asked as the large gash bled severely. The gash seemed to immediately begin to close slowly.

"Do you really think this is just any sword?!" Sora said as he kicked the man forward, appearing in front of him again, slashing at his chest once again.

Swinging the blade upwards, he created another gash from his chest to his temple. Switching to a reverse grip, he slashed into Kaito's arms and side, becoming a blur as he riddled the man with cuts and gashes.

[Warning!]

[Intense negative emotion detected!]

He didn't bother reading it as his glowing blade sliced and cut into the now screaming man.

[Warning!]

[Intense negative emotion detected!]

"Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!" Sora screamed in rage as he felt his chakra surge with his emotions. With each cut that tried to heal, he delivered three more.

He was venting all of piled up his rage and hatred on Kaito.

[Intense negative emotion has caused forced progression!]

'Wrathful smite, a spell that deals psychic damage with each hit!' Even as the man seemed to be a shell of himself, Sora finally drove the sword through his chest but not through his heart.

He didn't even have enough of his mind to let out a scream. The chakra within Sora erupted as his the curse mark receded, the wings disappearing first.

Just as they disappeared, purple chakra began to surround him. He felt his vision improve immensely in response to his surging chakra and emotions.

A purple skeletal rib cage formed itself around him as the bony hands grabbed Kaito in a tight grip.

"Die!!!" Sora roared as the pattern in his eyes changed, black flames bursting out on Kaito as he was engulfed in it, actually being burnt this time as the black flames burnt much faster than he could heal.

Combined with the numerous cuts and gashes on him that made him look like a sliced chicken, he was overwhelmed as even ashes weren't left behind.

Soon enough, the skeletal hand was holding thin air as nothing remained of Kaito but Sora wasn't calm.

Feeling unnaturally heavy, he fell to his knees as he let out a cry to the sky that had somehow begun to rain.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" The chakra surged even more as a skull formed above the skeletal rib cage, forming skin like features as its yellow eyes stared into the word.

"ROOAAARRRR!"

The skeletal avatar seemed to cry with him as the surroundings shook visibly. Tears streamed down Sora's eyes as he cried to the sky.

'Mother, I've done it! I have avenged you!' He screamed internally as the rain poured along with his tears.

'But…! Why do I still feel empty!!??' He was more emotionally confused than he had ever been in his life.

The purple skeletal avatar slowly dissipated as Sora's cries lowered.

During his emotional turmoil, soft arms appeared on his shoulders, hugging him from behind as he cried.

He didn't even have the strength nor mental energy to refute as she held him tighter in an attempt to comfort him.

Zatanna who had watched Sora break down felt her heart break, standing helpless as she could only watch. The best and only thing she could do now was to be there for him and that's what she tried to do as she hugged him close to her.

Sora's cries quietened until it was nothing more than silent whimpers under then sound of the rain.

Neither of them moved, opting to stay in that position despite the bones of their former opponents littering the ground.

Sora's eyes relaxed to their normal black color as he let himself relax into the hug, surprising the girl as she held him tighter, giving him a light squeeze for comfort.