The victory set in stone!

Everyone hears Kaito's words and they all smile, everyone is hyped up, ready to finally end this!

Dust floated through the air like ash 

Rika stood in the center of the wreckage, hands on her hips, chest rising and falling with quick, excited breaths. Her jacket was torn, hair wild from the wind, but her grin was sharp as ever.

Across from her, Con staggered upright, sweat pouring down his brow. His arms were covered in bruises, his stance loose, sluggish.

"You're… tougher than you look," he muttered.

Rika tilted her head, wiped blood from her lip, and smiled. "Aw, you're sweet when you're desperate."

With Kaito's words.

Rika's heart surged.

She let out a laugh, full of adrenaline and pride. "Whew. You heard the guy."

She rolled her neck, shaking the tension from her arms. "Guess that means I gotta put you down, Con. You ready for that?"

Con growled. "You can try."

He charged.

Rika met him head-on.

They collided in the middle of the courtyard, exchanging a flurry of blows, Con's brute strength against Rika's unpredictable speed. She ducked under a wide swing, rolled across the ground, then launched up into a spinning back kick that cracked across his jaw.

He throws the scattered remains of debris at her. Rika runs around, she tosses the giant boomerang from her back, dodging the attacks. Rika spins on the boomerang launching wind at him. 

He stumbled, recovered, came at her again with a roar. She parried, twisted around him, slammed her elbow into his spine, then kicked him forward like she was booting a soccer ball.

They clashed again

But Rika had the edge now. Kaito's voice was still in her head, still pushing her forward.

And then she stopped. Took a few steps back. Spread her feet. Smiled.

"You know what time it is?" she asked.

Con squinted. "What?"

Rika cracked her knuckles.

"Ultimate attack time."

She sprinted in, moving faster than he could follow.

Rika roared, determination deep in her eyes, she would use everything she had learned for this. Putting all her emotion into her next attack. 

And with one precise motion—she kicked Con in the crotch.

Hard.

He gasped. Froze. Then collapsed forward, hands cupped between his legs.

"Wanna guess what it's called?" Rika said, crouching slightly, eyes twinkling. A big ol smile on her face!

She kicked him again.

Con screamed.

"Ball. Breaker. Barrage!" Rika shouted with each kick, slamming her foot into him again and again and again.

Con collapsed to the ground, wheezing, tears leaking from his eyes.

"Okay! Okay! Please! mercy!"

She stopped.

He groaned, twitching.

And she kicked him one last time.

"For safety," she said, standing over him like a victorious warlord. "Never be too sure."

Con whimpered.

Rika sat down heavily on a piece of broken pillar nearby, blowing a lock of hair from her face. "Look, you really don't have to work for Renji. That guy's got a 'doomsday cult' vibe, and you could do better. Go take up knitting or, whatever doesn't involve me doing that again."

She leaned back against the stone, legs stretched out in front of her.

"Alright. Break time."

She closed her eyes and smiled, feeling the burn in her muscles, the bruises forming beneath her skin, and the spark of battle slowly fading. The pain set in. "Good luck guys." Rika softly says. 

The room pulsed with tension. Not chaos, but control.

Nanami had began to understand tells. She didn't need to overwhelm Jay. She needed to keep him swinging, and he did.

Fists like sledgehammers tore through the air, each one heavy! Nanami weaved through them, not flawlessly, but with calculated moves, her movements were tight, each dodge kept her alive, just outside of the danger.

Jay began growing frustrated. "Damn it little lamb!"

Nanami's lips didn't move, she hadn't even realized it, but she wasn't even blinking anymore. Her tech magic had became something more, she didn't realize but she created a skill on the fly. Hey eyes began scanning everything.

She catalogued everything, the slight delay before his left, the overcommitment in his shoulders, the way his back foot dragged when he got eager.

That's the one!

Nanami lifts her arm again. "GURA!" She shouts, Jay smiles as he dodges, "You think i'll keep falling for a voice call?!" He shouts. The energy ball flies away.

Toni panics. "That's not good friend!" He panics.

She let her next step falter, just slightly. Her balance tilted, her stance broke. A stumble, staged to look real. "A brute as big and desperate as him, will see this and go for the final blow without ever thinking twice."

Nanami watched closely baiting him into using the same killing blow he's gone for multiple times!

Jay smiles. "Gotcha now!"

He cocked his massive left fist back and lunged ready to end it, in one clean hit.

Nanami couldn't help but smile, watching all of her calculations playout perfectly. Then she moved.

She twisted her body against the force of the swing, rolled her shoulder under it, and caught hid arm with both hands.

A twist, a pull.

CRACK!

The elbow snapped sideways, bone giving way with a wet pop. Jay howled, stumbling forwards.

Nanami took a step in, eyes sharp. "That was your lead arm," She said calmly, "Now you're down to just rage." She didn't stop.

A barrage followed, knees to the ribs, palm strikes to the jaw, a precision strike to his temple. Each one clean, and efficient. They didn't need to be strong, They just needed to accumulate.

Jay staggered, coughing. Blood smeared his chin. "You can't even put me down," he spat. " What's the point of all that brain, if you hit like a paperweight!?"

Nanami paused. "He's right, I don't hit hard enough to knock him out, even with Toni's help." Then she adjusts her glasses.

She then raised her finger. "But our power isn't the only thing i've been tracking!" She snapped.

Behind Jay, a low hum grew into a roar, the energy ball she'd fired earlier looped back around, spinning like a comet.

BOOM!

It struck Jay's spine dead-on, lifting him off his feet launching him straight towards her.

She stepped in and.... CRACK. Elbow to the nose. His head snapped back. Before his body could ever hit the ground. SLAM! Her foot came down heel-first, crashing him into the floor with enough force to rattle the foundation.

Nanami stood over him, glasses gleaming in the aftermath. "Too predictable."

Jay groaned still awake after all that.

"You're awfully lucky," she said softly, voice steady but edged with conviction. "Kaito doesn't want us killing anyone, or you'd be done for." Her gaze hardened.

"But you have been throwing me around, for an awfully long time!" She clenched her fist and drove it into his face with all her strength, a final blow that rendered him unconscious.

She staggered, her body giving way. Just as she was about to fall, Toni was there, swift and steady, catching her before she hit the ground.

"That was… awesome," Toni said breathlessly, a grin spreading across his face as he helped her steady herself.