AND SO IT BEGINS III (Ch. 119)

Leonardo lands one sledgehammer blow after the other, dispatching his opponents with ease. The mission objective?, To lay each individual affiliate to waste, and that they did, the four made quick, almost comical work of the defenders, Leonardo tanks the futile endeavours from the Shifters pouring out in defence, nevertheless the four make little work of the resistance,

"Set fire to the server systems, find and collects any incriminating evidence linking MERCHANTS to illegal activities and to Hide industries or MURAKAN as well as any other elite" Leonardo orders,

"Understood" Gerhard replies over the intercom, 

"Hazukai?" Leonardo questions, "HAZUKAI!" he bellows over the intercom spinning with his Defence technique: Lion's Roar empowered, a glistening blade glances of his Defence and even as the figure blurs he picks a face, 

(Shingi Kitaro) Leonardo frowns, releasing to empower his ATTUNED arts, rapidly his mind works to deduce the reason why he'd endeavour in such a futile act, the it clicks,

(I think we might've been looking at this wrong, there not here to save MERCHANTS, they're here to destroy evidence!) He concludes with gritted teeth.

Leonardo speeds along Shingi's trail,

"Gerhard" he calls over the intercom, unfortunately this tine he gets no response,

(Fuck!, Did they get to him too?, No it's more likely he's in on it, it shouldn't be nearly that easy to take the German out) he concludes, following the pattern of imprinted 'Force' Leonardo quickly arrives at the chairman's office.

"You're here" Katuro states turning to face him, "good",

"I figured it was you" Leonardo replies,

"That's quite harsh of you Leo" Katuro replies with mockery obvious in his voice, 

"Let's get this over with" Leonardo states as his aura blazes, 

"Oh don't misunderstand, we'll have our battle...one day, today just isn't today" he states. Leonardo stares him down before bursting into a light chuckle, cocking his fist back as he intends to let fly, he quickly turns it to a guard against Gerhard's blow, 

"Since when did the proud Gerhard become the Japanese's dog" he sneers, Gerhard remains unresponsive replying with a hard striker empowered combo of straights quick heavy jabs and uppercuts, Leonardo replied in kind, his superior advancement allowing him ignore less fatal blows as he lands one sledge hammer blow after the other with disgustingly precise technique, Gerhard's hand's and wrists move with rigid flexibility, Gehard gives space igniting his ATTUNED 'Force' art, 'Vabriton', a 'Force' which enabled the user execute beyond human feats through the use of vibrations.

As their battle raged and Gerhard's defeat becomes increasingly eminent Katuro nods seemingly to no one, Leonardo born with the beasts of the wild and as one himself could sense on instinct the danger, without hesitation enacts his pseudo Domain, Katuro and Gerhard blur away and before Leonardo can follow, the bomb detonates.

Shrill screams follow as the top of the sky scraper is obliterated to pieces. Watching from a safe distance away Shingi questions his charge,

"Do you think he's dead?",

"That monster?, Doubtful, he should've taken ample damage though, let's go make sure he is" Katuro replies pulling his suit jacket off. A menacing roar ensues, the air seems to shiver at the imposition of will, Leonardo bursts through the topmost floor's window bulleting down, the ground craters from the impact of his fall, his knees straight, 'Force' arts empowered and pseudo Domain enacted, 

"KATURO HAZUKAI!!!!" He roars as his Auxiliary technique works ceaselessly to heal his injured body, burn marks and fried skin, the smell of cooked meet and caked skin, of burn blood and hot sweat, his mane like hair burnt up a side, but rather than put the lion down it lit his anger, and that gave him strength.

"Shingi" Katuro calls, "contact the others, the imposter king of the jungle dies today" he grins.

A sickening explosion, Cain in a bid to protect himself empowers his ATTUNED arts, red hot flames burn incinerating over a hundred feet in circumference, Darwin and co blur away to protecting with Abel following suit. A pained scream lasting several seconds and from beyond the flames Cain staggers out, heavily burnt but,

(It's all superficial) Mari assess, (some nerve damage, cluttered iris's damage, disorientation which means he'll have trouble with coordination. Most important it's safe to assume he's unable to enact a Pseudo Domain, that leaves the small one) she concludes.

Cain swings, and even from meters away a boiling wave of heat shoots at them, Mari steps forward empowering her ATTUNED arts Auxiliary technique included, her magnetic polarization seems to astonishing freeze the the heat wave, Cain replies with several more hits as Abel blurs in close with his ATTUNED arts empowered, Mari releases her magnetic field bringing the heat wave to a halt, noticing the irregular movement of ambient 'Force' around Abel she moves her magnetic field to hinder the flow of abient 'Force', Abel pushes on regardless his fist compressed with 'Force' and force as he shatters his impact point withing the field, Mari reacts promptly as her hand coils around Abel's for a Judo throw, instantly the latter replies by empowering his Auxiliary technique: re orientation, a technique that enables the user recenter their five senses, mid throw Abel whips his knee against Mari's spine bringing them both to a stumble.

While Mari engaged Abel Darwin Daryun Dennis  and Darren did the same with Cain. Darwin and Darren moved to combat him in close quaters, Darwin with his combination technique enabled cashes his fist against his opponents jaw, ribs and kidneys with vicious strength, while Darren with his Combination technique empowered, encompassing his Enforcer: Re Metabolisation and his Defence: Reverb, A technique that uses 'Force' and manipulation of the muscles and bones to spread evenly throughout the body or negate impact force entirely too the brunt of Cain's vicious retaliation, countering adeptly while Daryun with his  ATTUNED arts encompassing his Striker: 'Force' coating' (Press point), A technique that allows the user to inject anything struck with 'Force' thereby turning said area into a point of accumulating gravity which slows, hinders, destroys or out wright kills the opposition,

Enforcer: Heated tense, A technique that allows the user through the aid of imprinted 'Force' to hold the tensed point of muscles as well as heat their body up like a pressure pot to enhance physical capabilities, and his Defence : 'Bone Armour' (Internal) (Heat), using super heated Bones as first power generators to control and to create cover and contort vulnerable areas, it is a rigid and inflexible but powerful defense art. With aid of these, specific the characteristics of his Striker crashes his kicks into the giants trunk like legs, Cain with every movement notices the points subjected to the blondes strikes increase in weight with every passing second, the strain on the points and his body pile till eventually the giant in spite of his immense strength finds himself unable to move, Dennis blurs to his left with his Combination technique empowered Striker and Enforcer crashes his fist into the giant's Adam's apple releasing a burning stream of rot steam, the already damaged skin very quickly degrading, noticing his increasingly worsening predicament Cain explodes releasing a body wide wave of heat, downing his persistent assailants, the giant turns to find Dexter gone, 

(He's gotten to safety, we need to move) he assess turning to face the downed four when a fully empowered blow from Darwin holding every ounce of his current Shifter capability crashes into the Cain's jaw rattling him, he drops to a knee clutching his head as Darwin drops to a knee coughing violently, a result of the smothering heat, Daryun follow suit landing a viscous kick against the stunned giants skull, Cain releases a pained scream as gravity piles upon his skull. Calling on his 'Force' arts become a task of arduous difficulty as he grasps for stability, he'll get none as Dennis fixes him in a head lock releasing his steam into his face through every possible orifice. Cains screams thrashing violently as the mounting gravity and his rotting face see him drop unconscious, 

(Let's make sure shall we) Darren grins, landing a baseball pitch blow on the giant watching his layed out unconscious frame with satisfaction.

Mari and Abel blur to give space, just as the two move to collide Cain's screams draw Abel's attention, noticing a momentary lapse Mari moves to land a magnetic polarization empowered punch to drop the small teen, she'd been plated, Abel's frame contorts like a paper strip, bending back with a momentary delay like a flickered finder his leg blurs to connect with her jaw with a bang, the ground beneath him rent to bits, Mari's blasted back several dozen meters, but before Abel can press he quickly finds himself surrounded, Darwin Dennis Daryun and Darren, Abel sighs glancing momentarily to Cain,

Mari staggers to her feet willing the patches of black and blur in her vision away, the sight before her the very possibility she'd prayed against,

"You've got to be fucking kidding me",

"Well....fuck", 

"Just great",

"....",

"Let's have some fun" the other four exclaim, their battle was far from over, infact, it was simply getting started.