68.) You Won't Get Past Me!!!

Amidst a slightly large-scale battle between Slith & Jabreeze, and the combined forces of Yolmi, Demetri as well as Aiyama. Their battle was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Kimichi, the god slaying Demi-God. Her purpose was to initially save them and go, but… seeing as her worst enemy is there, a god who completely ruined her life. She chose to attack… and fight!

Slith was completely blindsided by Kimichi as she blitzed him mid-sentence. She quickly severs his right arm and blows him away with a back spinning stiffened kick. She readies her sword and begins to charge a large amount of essence into it. Slith notices and sprouts a snake from his right shoulder, the snake then proceeds to transform into a new arm.

"Pretty damn sneaky, little Morgeesss." Slith says in a cocky manner. Kimichi erupts with more irritation which Slith exploits as an opening. Then slaps Kimichi away from his person, causing her to float back a few feet. He then extends his right arm and turns it into a serpent. "Venom Strike!" He yells and the serpent attempts to bite her neck.

Kimichi: "That won't work! I've fought you once before! Anti-Venom!"

Slith: "Mrhmm!"

A ring of essence comes forth and compresses onto her neck, blocking the snake's bite. The snake was reflected and pushed back as a result. Kimichi swung her sword and cut the head off before Slith could retract it. She blitzes him immediately and attempts to lob off his head, but he ducks. Then she goes for a vertical slash down the center as she does a 360° rotation. But Slith us quick to step to his right while turning. She then goes for a low slash at the legs, but Slith dodges that as well and jumps.

"Damn… slippery little- Hrnm!?" Kimichi is surprised by Slith's sudden axe kick. She manages to block with her right forearm and push him off. She swings her sword at his head once more, but has it repelled by his Zenchi covered right fist. The sword goes floating into the air and is kicked by Kimichi. Sending the sword flipping more than one thousand feet into the cosmos. Slith is slightly distracted by the act and doesn't notice the heavy drop kick coming down on him. His instincts take over and his body responds on its own, scissor blocking the heavy strike as he bends his knees to cushion the recoil.

Kimichi: "Uh-huh. How about this then!!!" *FWIP*

Slith: "Mhm!!!"

She thrusts forward with a snake jab, but Slith manages to intercept the strike. Kimichi follows up with a quick six hit strike barrage. Slith manages to dodge the first five but the final sixth one, had a boost of speed and caused a cut on his face. Slith is slightly irritated and attempts to counter with three jabs aimed at Kimichi's face. Kimichi manages to guard against all three shots then jumps instinctively. To her surprise, Slith boosted his own speed well beyond Kimichi's perception, and tried to perform a low sweep kick.

Slith: "You're a slippery one, aren't ya?"

Kimichi: "No… that would be YOU!!!"

A left kick while she was still in the air, blocked as she rotated her body. Then a right kick follows which Slith blocks with his right forearm. Kimichi speeds up her rotation right after the second strike, in preparation for retrieving her falling sword. The sword comes down in no time and she grabs it with her left hand. Turning her rotating body horizontal and thrusting the sword at Slith's head as he approaches her. Slith notices at the last millisecond and leans back to avoid the edge of the blade. Kimichi flies forward and follows through with her slash attempt. They both land a few feet away from one another. Then they turn around and thrust themselves forward.

Kimichi: "Your head will be mine!!!"

Slith: "Just try it little girl!!!" *FWISH*

*SLISHHH* They both slash at each other, Kimichi using her sword and Slith using an altered serpent sword he sprouted from his hand. They both cut the other's left shoulder wide open. Blood gushing from both their wounds. Slith uses Cell Manifestation to quickly heal the gash. Kimichi on the other hand, invokes Anti-Injury and quickly rebounds to strike once more. Slith is no slouch on the uptake and turns into a literal serpent. Wrapping himself around her blade, but refraining from touching it. He turns back into a humanoid shape from his midsection and up. He extends out his right arm and excretes an extra toxic venom. He aims to use a venom with a high spreading efficiency. Attacking her cells at high speeds to go for an instant kill.

*KISHHH* A sudden attack reached Slith, and his arm was cut off once more by a flaming axe. The axe dispersed and Aiyama appeared before Slith, throwing a right jab that he weaved out the way of. Slith shot yet another snake out his severed arm, and turned it into a basic arm for complete use. Such is the regenerating might of the serpents who bear more serpents within. Kimichi attempts to flank Slith and succeeds. He was completely taken by surprise and was at the mercy of her blade, only for it to be rudely interrupted by the unexpected parry of Jabreeze.

Kimichi: "Tch! Gaaah, god dammit. How'd you get past Demetri and Yolmi!?"

Jabreeze: "Easy… I knocked them out cold and completely destroyed a massive patch of lilies. They won't be sapping essence from their heat to rejuvenate any time soon. Let's… PLAY!!! *SMASH*

"GAH-" *fwiPOOOUGH* She was given no time to process the happenings. First a huge knee to her solar plexus, then a nasty, upside down sword kick to her left collar bone. It had enough force behind it to destroy WORLDS, so one should be quick to understand how fast and hard she flew into the ground. But she was one tough gal and flew right back into the fray, though one thing was different. She left her sword…

Jabreeze: "You sure you have the might to face me without THE GodSlayer?"

Kimichi: "Of course I do."

Jabreeze: *He turns around in shock* (A clone!?) *bnnTOOHHHH*

Jabreeze was punched head on by a beaming, pink Kimichi clone. The clone burst after the punch, but seemed to have left a present.

Jabreeze: (The clone canceled out all my essence I was using for my barriers. She can make Clones made of pure anti-essence!?!?)

Kimichi gave him no real time to process, such as he did her. She dashed past him and came crashing down, right into his face. Her double stomp technique sent him tumbling down but a huge burst of flames stopped any real impact. Jabreeze doesn't exit the flames, but instead he summons an overflowing abundance of water from his mouth and heated it. The water had a special density to it, with a FAR higher count of molecules than the water you'd find on any of the 200 Earths. This allowed for a higher temperature boiling point and an even higher evaporating point. He shot a gigantic, speeding condensed stream of pressurized, scorching water.

Kimichi: "Such an attack will do you no good. I've faced all these elements you're using before. My Anti is beyond them." *FWIP*

Kimichi cocks her arm back and imbues it with a heavy amount of essence. The stream gets within range and… *FWIP* Jabreeze appears before her with an iceberg, three times bigger than the Titanic. Kimichi is surprised and swings her arm outward off instinct, but the extreme stream of water met head on with the Iceberg and caused a cloud of steam to cover their entire battlefield. Meanwhile, as the battle heats up, forces that aim for the same goal start to make their move. Haydes and Hellblazer were headed straight for Gahwardia and would arrive within 20 short minutes.

"We have to be successful in recruiting the kid. It'd give us a step up on that aussi ass tall bastard." Haydes had explained to Hellblazer as they flew forward. Hellblazer gave a nonchalant, lowbrow look to Haydes after hearing his words.

Haydes: "What? You heathen."

Hellblazer: "I know the plan bro… shush and let's hurry and get there. I know you can feel it… The Two Knights of Death are nearly back together. We need to avoid them at all costs."

Haydes: "You're right. So let's speed up then- *fwiTINGG* Hold that thought."

Hellblazer: "Wha-"

Haydes slanted their flight path and edged them over in the direction of the Phoenix Empire. He had sensed the commotion that was brewing and could think of no better opportunity than this.

HellBlazer: "What's your plan?"

Haydes: "Stop the key from being taken or atleast "try" and gain a bit of the trust I've lost. We'll get the keys sooner than later if all goes well."

Hellblazer: "Oh?? I adore this plan my man. Let's enact it at once."

Haydes: "Follow me then!"

The two hurry their approach, but in doing so… they caught the attention of Nekros. Who was staring in their direction so tightly and with such great focus, one would think he could clearly see them. But he was simply honed in on their essence.

Nekros: "Sir Jollister?"

Jollister: "Yo, what's the fuss Nekros, mayne?"

Nekros: "That troublesome godslayer has shown up. And it would seem she has the strength under her belt to defeat them in one on one combat. Allow me to assist them?"

Jollister: "Hmm…"

Hideaki: "Let go of us Jollister-" *prch*

Jollister: "Stay asleep just a little while longer, little mayne. He-Hehe… Hehehhaha! Let me stop. Go ahead, Nekros. That entire empire could be on our asses soon. Might send Uriyah soon after he gets the hang of that damn study."

Nekros: "Thank you, sir!" *Bow*… *FWIP*

Nekros takes off towards Haydes and Hellblazer. He planned to cut them off before they could enter the Empire. Meanwhile, Uriyah sat floating in a veil of his own essence. Using Mental Zenchi to help break down the confines of his new study. He had to remain in an extreme amount of stasis and concentration. To assist, Jollister sat him in a casing created by his Shurikens of the Inventor. Hideaki and the others sat asleep and tied up. Jollister himself waits for the members of STRIFE to reach the checkpoint he set.

Jollister: "Only a matter of time now… Shiishii, my mayne."

Shiishii and the others were already entering the territory for Gahwardia, using Gaia's grand stream as their transportation. They cleared the distance in no time and headed straight for the Phoenix Empire. Thermias and a few others weren't too far behind in distance. With a small battalion of this size, they could completely overtake the battle, even if Uriyah joined. But they had no idea of the opponent awaiting them. Well… or so you'd think.

Shiishii: "Gaia."

Gaia: "Are you worried about this essence we feel?"

Shiishii: "Well of course, it feels like mine and that could only mean one thing. Both Hideaki and Jollister are on our flight path. This could get ugly."

Gaia: "We'll get beyond this obstacle and help Demetri. Let's see what Jollister's presence here means anyway. He won't be stopping us."

Shiishii: "Mhm… (I can feel Vashjai and Curti's energies as well. Pretty sure Ebon's too. Tch!)"

The group continued their flight path down the stretch, their two leaders knowing of the threat that lies ahead.

On the battlefield, Kimichi holds her own against the strange elemental manifestations summoned by Jabreeze. She uses her Anti-essence to pierce the frames of the attacks coming to her person. Jabreeze decided it be best to avoid close quarters with Kimichi. Her unorthodox fighting style was one he could not predict and kept letting heavy blows slip through.

On the other hand, Aiyama was busy matching every manifestation created by Slith. Using his own imagination to match and copy each one. They use their abilities to the fullest while gauging the others weakness and limits. Demetri and Yolmi still remained unconscious on the sidelines.

Yelhana: "The battle has gotten even more intense. I still can't believe Kimichi had the sensory levels needed to sense them."

Clariece: "Indeed. It's quite impressive and the capabilities of the fighters astound me. (Seems another one is on his way there- no… three are on their way there.)

Yelhana: "I do hope they all wrap that up soon."

Clariece: "Huh, why do you say that?"

Yelhana: "Flametress is… so close by now. She's within quadrant 2."

Clareice: "Mhm? Interesting… that one's pretty damn violent."

Yelhana: "Indeed."

While the two of them converse over the current events, Shiishii and the others have officially made it within the Clusterverse known as Phoeno. They make a b-line for the Phoenix Empire and attempt to enter. But to their discovery, a Scythe with a blackened, blood red essence had revealed itself. And from it, Jollister, Joelli, Hideaki and the others all emerged. As the essence stretched and tore a portal into space, Jollister shot a beam from his finger and aimed straight for Shiishii. *PewTEW*

"What the hell was that, Jolli?" Shiishii asked as he lowered his right arm. Jollister smiled at him and spoke of a promise they had made.

Jollister: "It's high time we have our little sparring match."

Shiishii: "The one of all skills huh? Where the stronger have to lower their levels to make it equal? Tch! Well a promise is a promise."

Jollister: "You know it, mayne! But just in case someone oversteps her role. *Whistle* Juullez!!"

Gaia: "Hm!?"

Both of the halves to Jollister's self-split surround Gaia. A girl draped in mage knight ware, with a halo and a glistening white cape. Her armor had a golden trim and she wore a golden sash across her chest. Her hair was white with black highlights and her face had makeup that made her resemble a skeleton. Her eyes were big and red with full lips.

She and Joelli were there to hold Gaia at bay while Jollister and Shii fight. But their true objective… was to stop any interference with the mission.

Dante: "Do we even have time for this, mate?"

Amiyama: "Yeah, I must hurry back in order to help my people. I'll try and wait for an openin-"

Gaia: "Armory of Nefarious: Traveling piece; Transport!"

Juullez: "What!?"

Joelli: "Why you little-" *PRCH*

Gaia: "Leave this to us Amiyama, help your family and people. Keep the damn key safe!"

Amiyama: "Will do!" *FWIP*

Amiyama was teleported to the entrance of the Phoenix Empire while everyone else stayed behind. Shiishii prepared to take on Jollister on the whim of an agreement they had once made. At the same time, Gaia begins her assault on Joelli and Juullez.

Shiishii: "This is a test of skill, so don't think this'll go your way Jolli."

Jollister: "I've had quite the rise in skill, cousin. You may just get swept under the rug today, mayne."

Shiishii: "Hmph!" *he readies himself and gets into his Death-Yu stance*

Jollister: "But regardless of how this goes, none of you will get past me today!" *FWIP*

A match between Death Gods was about to ensue, the group has been cut off and Gaia has her hands full. In the race to gain the Key, the opposing side seems to have many tricks up their sleeve. As the fight for the Key continues…

Next Chapter: My Death or Your Death?