Bib lurched up from the ruined cotton-candy machine, powdered sugar and broken plastic showering around him like confetti. His grin snapped into a glare so sharp it cut the tent's sugary air.
"That was totally a cheap move, you damn rookies!" he crowed, stalking toward them.
"We're ready when you are," Shade called back, voice steady as a coiled spring.
Florence's whip curled from her hip, the leather making a crisp snap as she cracked it. "Enough goofing around, Bib. These rookies should be a piece of cake for us." She flicked the whip once more like a conductor setting the tempo.
Del folded his hands calmly and a quartet of swords materialized, hovering behind him in perfect formation. "She's right. We're seasoned veterans," he said with an almost bored precision.
"How about you both shut up and attack them!" Bib barked. His nose shifted grotesquely, transforming into a miniature cannon that spat a shrapnel burst straight at the trio.
Shade had Shi Ji in a tight grip and the three rolled out of the way, but Del didn't waste a breath. He hurled his four swords at Akarui with brutal speed. Akarui flowed around them, dodging as if the blades were nothing more than wind. Florence lunged in on Shade, snapping the whip in a vicious arc. Shade rolled with it, evading; Florence whipped again, and again Shade avoided—until the ground gave under her. A hole opened beneath Florence and swallowed her; when it closed and reopened behind Shade, she sprang up and cracked the whip across his back. Shade spun and threw a punch—Florence slipped it cleanly.
"This is definitely going to be a piece of cake," she taunted.
Shade stepped back a heartbeat, jaw slack in a mock-smile. "I got you good there, rookie." Her mocking smile faltered when his grin returned, all humorless flatness.
"Yeah, you're right, that was a good hit," Shade said, eyes hollow.
"What..?" Florence blinked.
"You hit me good! It hurts like crap!" Shade added with exaggerated pain.
"Then you can have another one!" she snapped—and lashed again. Shade slid free without breaking his rhythm. "No, not right now, at least."
Del's blades weren't idle. He spun a dozen more and fired them like hail toward Akarui, but Akarui moved like a flicker—faster than the eye could easily track. Then, in the space between breaths, he vanished.
"What did he do?" Del exclaimed.
Before Del could finish the thought, Akarui blinked into being directly in front of him. "Eyes on the birdie," he said with a lopsided grin.
"How—" Del started, but Akarui's uppercut slammed into Del's jaw. The blow barely toppled him; Akarui followed with a brutal kick to the stomach that sent Del skidding several meters back, still upright but winded.
"You're a fast rookie," Del panted.
"That's what it says on my draft report," Akarui shrugged. A cannon barked behind them; both Akarui and Del twisted, narrowly avoiding a speeding cannonball. Del barely flinched—then barked across the tent. "Bib! You almost blew my head off, dumbass!"
"It's simple—don't stand in the way of cannon, dummy!" Bib shot back.
"Just be aware of your freaking surroundings!" Del snapped. Akarui lunged.
"Don't forget about me," Akarui said, throwing a fast, clean punch. Del stepped aside and formed a sword in his hand, slashing; Akarui weaved, each edge ghosting past.
"Wait, weren't there three of you?" Bib demanded. At that exact second something tumbled behind him—a clatter that yanked his attention. He turned and found Shi Ji crouched behind a battered popcorn machine.
"There's the bastard," Bib gloated. His eye uncoiled and became a little cannon; he fired at the machine.
"Woah!" Shi Ji shouted and dove at the last second. The little cannonball detonated the popcorn machine into a sugary explosion; the blast still slammed into Shi Ji, flinging him onto his back.
"Ow…" Shi Ji croaked.
Bib sauntered over and loomed over him, a sneer widening. He pointed a finger that warped into a tiny barrel and fired. When the smoke cleared, Shi Ji had vanished—gone as if swallowed whole.
"Gosh, he was fragile," Bib mocked. He froze when Akarui materialized beside him, cradling Shi Ji in one arm.
"What the—How!?" Bib sputtered.
"I'm a fast rookie!" Akarui grinned, sprinting off with Shi Ji tucked against his chest.
"You seriously are just a useless thing, aren't you?" Akarui teased in a low voice as he ran.
"They're trying to kill us," Shi Ji mumbled.
"Yeah, but the only way to get out of this is to defend ourselves. If you don't at least try to help, killing us becomes a lot easier for them!" Akarui barked back.
Bib peered after them. "Where are they running?"
Del, rubbing his side, snorted. "In circles. Just very quickly."
"Shi Ji, have you at least figured out how to use your gimmick?" Akarui's voice was sharp, practical.
"What—No! Not yet!" Shi Ji protested, half-panicked.
"As expected," Akarui muttered, flying low through the tent.
"Not everyone is a prodigy!" Shi Ji objected, indignation tinged with pain.
From above, Bib's mouth split open like a trap. He transformed it into a massive cannon and fired; Akarui read it, launched himself skyward and cleared the shot—only to find Del manifesting a storm of swords aimed at the airborne duo.
"Hey, here's a way you can be useful," Akarui said with a grin. Mid-flight, he hefted Shi Ji like a football and hurled him down, a blazing torpedo aimed at Del.
"AAAAAAH!!!" Shi Ji screamed as he tumbled through the air.
"What the—WHAT!!!" Del howled as Shi Ji smashed into him, the impact driving Del onto his back and leaving Shi Ji flat on his stomach, wind knocked out of him.
"Oooow," Shi Ji whimpered.
"Del, stand up, you idiot!" Bib howled.
Akarui pivoted, eyes like lightning. "Clown guy, you're annoying!" He dove from the sky in a brutal drop-kick that clipped Bib's shoulder—Bib twisted, managing to dodge the full force of it, but the blow sent him stumbling and sputtering through a shower of torn cotton-candy and sparks.
Akarui hit the canvas with a soft roll and popped to his feet like nothing had happened.
"Touchdown," he said, breathless and grinning.
Bib staggered up from the wreckage of the cotton-candy machine, powdered sugar still clinging to his boots. "You're just annoying!" he sneered, sticking his tongue out. In one grotesque, fluid motion it hardened into a barrel and spat a cannonball at Akarui.
Akarui's form blurred; he slipped the shot cleanly. He landed in a ready stance and called over his shoulder, "Are you sure you're professionals? You're both being easily handled by one guy."
Del pushed himself up, wiping dust from his sleeve. "Maybe we should start trying, Bib!" He didn't have to wait. Above Akarui the air roiled as dozens of swords blinked into existence. They fell in a metallic rain. Akarui, a living blur, bent and twisted through every descending blade with impossible grace.
Bib thrust an arm outward; it became a cannon and fired. Akarui heard it—saw the muzzle flare—and flipped into the air like a knife through silk.
Del called, voice carrying the showman's cold delight. "You don't understand the extent of our gimmicks. They can get a bit absurd!" The tent air condensed as hundreds of swords shimmered into being directly above Akarui. Panic flashed across Akarui's features—too late. The blades struck in a storm. They gashed and sliced, grazing flesh and finally punching home with one brutal spike into his leg.
"Sword Shop: Tornado," Del intoned.
The blades spun, whipping around Akarui so fast the world narrowed to a single, screaming sound: blade against flesh. Where there had been a man there was now a wall of tearing metal; the only thing left to witness the violence was the sound of his screams. Then the storm expelled him like a spent thing. Akarui's body dropped from above, a wet, ragged bundle—head to toe scored by deep, crimson gashes.
Del dusted his hands and sauntered over. "He's about dead," he observed, casual as if remarking on weather.
"Serves him right," Bib added, spitting sugar and blood from his teeth.
Akarui lay gasping, claws of pain tearing at him as he tried to push up. The tent wheels blurred around him; the world tasted like iron.
"Wait—where did that fish go?!" Bib snarled, then shrugged. "He seems weak. We can definitely let him slip by; we'll kill him eventually."
Shi Ji, heart hammering, crouched behind a crate and watched. Akarui… he looks like he's about to die…
Bib swaggered over to the injured rookie and planted his palm on Akarui's chest. The back of his hand flickered—metal curls—and the palm domed into a cannon. He fired point-blank. The explosion detonated against Akarui's ribs, hurling his body back like a ragdoll. He coughed up blood, twitching on the canvas.
"You're pretty durable," Bib said, shrugging.
Del, eyes cold, produced a pair of hovering blades. "Blades penetrate him easily, though."
Bib's grin widened. "I guess that's one down." Both of his arms telescoped into cannons; he leveled them at Akarui and began to charge.
Shi Ji's breath shortened. Akarui saved me so many times... I can't just stand here and watch him die like a coward. His fists curled until his knuckles whitened.
"I'll make this one extra charged," Bib gloated, voice bright with glee. The cannons hummed.
Shi Ji's chest burned with an odd, sudden power. A weapon—not from training, not from knowledge—blossomed into his hands: a large trident, its shaft patterned like fish scales, a single long fin running the length of the hilt and blunt, blunt tips that still gleamed ominously. He frowned at it, astonished. Is this… Abyss Piercer? How did I summon it?
He didn't have time to answer. Del loosed a volley of swords while Bib spat scorching cannonballs. Shi Ji's first, panicked thought was defeat—It's over. Then instinct took him. He swung the trident desperately through the air at the incoming projectiles.
On contact, something impossible happened. Steel and iron met the trident's teeth and, as if obeying a different law of physics, liquefied into smooth, shimmering bubbles. The cannonballs and swords split neatly in two and slowed, their momentum bleeding away. The halves drifted like soap-sphere ghosts, circling the two rookies—Shi Ji and the wounded Akarui—before the fragile globes met a tent wall and detonated in a soft, faraway pop.
"What the—" Shi Ji gasped.
Akarui, gritting his teeth against the pain, forced his hand to the ground. "Dang… Darkness… pit." The shadows he commanded pooled obediently, a cold well yawning beneath their boots. The two of them sank into that ink-pool, swallowed and gone in an instant.
Bib roared in frustration. "And they're gone again!!!"
Del sniffed, unconcerned. "They'll be back, and we'll beat the crap out of them again."
Across the tent, the skirmish continued. Shade remained locked in his dance with Florence—she flitted in and out through ephemeral holes and cracked her whip with precise cruelty. Each lash scored Shade across the back; the marks bloomed red, but his mouth kept a smile, thin and empty, as if he welcomed the pain like something old and familiar.
Florence's eyes widened, a tremor of confusion rolling through her like a bell's echo. What's going on with this kid!? It's almost like he's enjoying this... and his chest... The thought clung to her, sharp and disbelieving.
Beneath Shade's shirt, the word START pulsed in brilliant letters, bleeding light through the fabric as if a tiny sun had been stitched to his sternum. Florence lashed out again; the whip sliced through the air with a whipcrack. Shade didn't flinch. He didn't sidestep. He simply bore the strike and moved through it, meeting her with a compact, vicious punch aimed straight at her face. Florence twisted away on reflex, the blow grazing the air where she had stood a heartbeat before.
Her mind raced, anger and incredulity knotting in her chest. What kind of freaky bastard am I fighting? He didn't even try to dodge it! And I can tell that he's not even trying to fight me, yet I feel like he's getting progressively faster... A sliver of something like amusement softened Shade's features as he met her gaze and offered a warm, disarming smile.
"Are you ok?" he asked, voice calm as a surface pond.
Florence's reply came out half a growl, half a stammer. "W-Why are you asking, you weird-ass rookie!"
Shade cocked his head. "You look flustered. I hope it doesn't hinder your fighting ability."
The thought that flared through Florence was pure fury. Oh hell nah, this weird-ass FREAK really must be enjoying this! Her temper braided with adrenaline. "If you want it, you can have it! I'll just create a you-sized hole!!!" She lunged, a hard punch thrown forward like a spear.
Shade sidestepped with effortless grace. Far off, the canvas of the tent tore into a ragged aperture, then—almost immediately—stitched itself closed, as if the fabric had a memory that could unmake the wound.
"What was that?" Shade asked, eyes tracking the distant seam.
"You—little—" Florence began, but before she could finish the insult, the ground beneath her vanished. She plunged into an opening that sealed up beneath her heels.
For a breath, silence held. Then the floor split again behind him and Florence vaulted out, whiplash returning to her hand as she lashed toward Shade. In a move that halted the motion like a blade through silk, Shade snatched the whip out of the air with his bare hand. He yanked her in close—and before she could recover, he struck. The punch landed with brutal precision across her face. Florence slumped; the world folded into black as she crumpled, knocked out in an instant.
"Well, there goes the all-star," Bib muttered, watching her fall.
Del's grin was all teeth. "Let's just obliterate this rookie." He called upon a storm of weaponry—hundreds of swords shimmering into existence behind him.
"You said it." Bib's arms transmuted into sleek artillery; his kneecaps split and reformed into more barrels. Every cannon pointed directly at Shade.
"Oh, hey— you two." Shade waved without a hint of concern.
"What—let's just blow him to bits!" Bib barked, unleashing a barrage of cannon fire.
From Shade's shadow, two figures rose: Shi Ji, and beside him a fully healed Akarui. Akarui's right arm went black, a thick, viscous aura crawling over it until it took the sinuous shape of a dragon.
"Dang: Darkness Breath," Akarui intoned. At that moment Bib's cannons roared and Del hurled his blades. From the dragon's open maw a great, pulsing orb of darkness swelled—thick and alive. It cleaved through the hail of projectiles as if they were mist, and streaked toward Bib and Del with merciless speed.
"What?!" they both shouted, diving aside as the orb charged past. It tore a path straight through the tent and out into the night, leaving a wake of shattered earth and scorched canvas.
"The bastard returned!" Bib spat.
"And he's healed..." Del added, voice thin with shock.
"It must be the gimmick of the fish," Bib muttered, eyes narrowing.
Shade's tone was almost casual. "Oh, you two came back."
"Of course we did. You'd probably die if we left you," Akarui said, the dragon-aura loosening and lengthening until it became an arm-sized, coiling apparition that hovered around him.
"I woulda been fine. Let's just finish this fight." Shade shrugged, impatient.
"You figure out what your gimmick does yet?" Akarui asked.
"Nope," Shade admitted.
"Even Shi Ji figured his out," Akarui said, as if that were proof enough.
"Oh, word?" Shade blinked.
Shi Ji summoned his trident with calm intent. "Here it is..." he offered.
Shade studied it. "Just a weapon?"
"You sound disappointed..." Shi Ji observed.
"I'm not," Shade said quickly, though his eyes betrayed a flicker of curiosity.
"Focus on the fight, you stupid rookies!" Bib snapped. He reshaped a hand into a cannon and fired five rapid shots toward them.
The black dragon intercepted without hesitation—its bulk sliding before the rounds, absorbing them as if they were nothing more than raindrops falling on a massive, shadowy hide.
"The hell..." Bib breathed.
"What's that dragon?" Shade asked, genuinely intrigued.
"It's the true nature of my gimmick," Akarui explained. "It's the dragon of darkness I control—named Dang."
"How does that all work..?" Shade prodded.
"I'll—explain it later!" Akarui cut him off. Dang launched upward and circled, a silent predator wheeling above Del and Bib. The two watched, disbelieving.
"Of course the rookies get the cool gimmicks..." Bib grumbled, envy lacing his tone.
In an instant, Dang dove with the speed of a meteor. Bib stared, frozen in place, while Del barked a warning, "Dodge it, dumbass!" But it was already too late—Dang struck Bib full on. Darkness detonated in a tight, concussive bloom; when the smoke cleared Bib lay sprawled on his back, unconscious.
"Dammit..." Del swore under his breath.
Akarui moved in front of Shade and Shi Ji, deliberate and theatrical. "Consider this a showcase." His left arm ignited with a fierce, bright radiance.
"Dragon of light, Ling." The glow drew itself into a dragon-shaped aura, opposite and complementary to the black thing that had just been Dang.
"What is—" Del began, but in the blink of an eye Akarui teleported—or moved with such velocity it was indistinguishable—and was suddenly in front of Del. He snapped a glowing left fist that met Del's body and sent him flying, hurtling far beyond the tent's rim.
"And that's all of them. What a load of bums," Akarui sneered, dust settling around Del's distant form.
"Woah! What was that?" Shi Ji exclaimed, awe threaded through his voice.
"Light speed. Let's get going—I'm too pissed to stay here." Akarui turned and began to leave the tent.
Shade let out an exaggerated, disappointed sigh. "That quickly?! Just when things were getting fun?! You didn't at least want to play things out a bit, you know... fight a little more? Beating them both in the span of thirty seconds isn't the most exciting thing, man—that's just boring."
"Giving your opponent time to think about tactics for the hell of it is how you lose fights," Akarui replied flatly.
"You're no fun," Shade muttered, and he and Shi Ji followed after Akarui.
Not long after they departed, the large caged lion inside the tent stirred. It yawned, pushed itself onto two massive legs, and blinked against the ruin of the place. This was no ordinary beast; it moved with a humanoid deliberateness that made the bars of its cage feel laughably inadequate.
"What...?" the lion rumbled, scanning the devastation with slow, amber eyes. "Were we... attacked?" With effortless strength it bent the metal bars as if they were twigs and stepped free of its prison.
A predatory grin split its muzzle. "I guess the hunt begins."