The golden light of the impact faded, leaving Raizen Vithar standing in the middle of the crater. Silence fell over the alley.
Ziziak and Goro, the two monsters, stared at him. They sensed that this man was different from the other two they had just defeated.
Raizen wasn't looking at them. His eyes were fixed on his wounded friends. He saw Danky, slumped against a pillar, his arm broken. He saw Diana, unconscious on the ground. Seeing their injuries, a cold anger rose within him. The golden energy around his blades grew more intense, almost aggressive.
Ziziak started to laugh.
Ziziak: "Another one who wants to die? You've arrived just in time to see your friends' end."
Raizen didn't answer. His silence was an insult.
Goro, to provoke him, approached Diana.
Goro: "Be a little patient, kid. Let us finish our work."
He placed his stone foot on Diana's head, ready to crush it.
He didn't get the chance.
FLASH.
Raizen disappeared. A second later, he was already behind Goro.
A dull thud. Goro was thrown backward, far from Diana. Surprised, he touched his neck and felt a deep cut in his stone skin. Black blood trickled from it. He hadn't seen a thing.
Raizen, for his part, seemed frustrated.
Raizen: "No... that's not it yet."
He finally turned to face the two monsters. His energy pulsed strongly. His eyes were cold, emotionless, filled with a single desire: to punish them.
That's when Goro recognized that gaze.
"That look..." he thought, suddenly afraid. "It's the same as Shiro's. I have to kill him. Now."
Goro's fear turned to rage.
Goro (shouting to his partner): "Ziziak! Take care of the other two! I'll handle this kid, he's dangerous!"
Without waiting, he charged at Raizen and threw a massive punch. Raizen dodged it easily. He pivoted, placed a hand on the ground, and kicked Goro's chest.
The monster stumbled back. Raizen immediately followed up.
Raizen: "Celestial Kara: Spherical Slice!"
He began to spin like a top, his blades forming a dome of cutting light, and leaped at Goro. He was so fast that Goro could barely dodge him. In mid-rotation, Raizen kneed him in the neck.
But this time, Goro caught his leg and landed a powerful punch to his stomach.
Raizen was thrown into the distance and crashed in a cloud of dust. A moment later, his eyes, shining with rage, lit up in the smoke.
Meanwhile, Ziziak approached Diana and Danky, six bone blades in his hands.
Ziziak: "Time to die, miserable Astroforges."
He raised his blades to strike Diana. Suddenly, an invisible force seized him and lifted him off the ground. He was thrown violently against a wall, which shattered on impact.
As he got up, he heard a bone crack in his back. CRACK!
Furious, he shouted:
Ziziak: "Black Kara: Bone Thorns!"
A dozen thorns shot out from the dust toward their target. But when the smoke cleared, all the thorns were frozen in mid-air, stopped by Danky's power.
Danky was standing, covered in blood, one arm broken. His good hand was outstretched, and he was smiling fiercely.
Suddenly, iron bars torn from the rubble flew at high speed toward Ziziak.
He tried to protect himself.
Ziziak: "Black Kara: Shield of..."
He couldn't finish. A hand of ice, emerging from the ground, froze his legs, pinning him in place. Ziziak saw that Diana's hand, though she was still unconscious, was on the ground and glowing with a faint green light.
Ziziak: "You bitch! Just you wait..."
The iron bars pierced him from all sides. Black blood gushed from his wounds. At the same moment, a voice shouted from afar.
Raizen: "Celestial Kara: Blade Ejection!"
Several blades of golden energy rushed toward Ziziak. But before they arrived, a gigantic blade fell from the sky and sliced through his neck, shattering his bone armor.
Ziziak (panicked): "Goro... help me!"
Goro, busy dodging Raizen's attacks, gave him a disgusted look and ignored him.
Feeling betrayed, Ziziak screamed:
Ziziak: "Go to hell, you bastard!"
Danky, his face hard, pronounced his sentence.
Danky: "You chose the wrong side."
Then he shouted:
"Celestial Kara: Crush!"
An invisible pressure crushed Ziziak from all sides. His body exploded in a shower of blood and bone.
Silence fell again. One enemy was dead. But the real fight was just beginning.
Ziziak's blood fell to the ground in a dead silence. The air smelled of death and dust.
Danky swayed. The adrenaline that had kept him standing vanished, replaced by intense pain. His broken arm ached, and he struggled to breathe. With his last strength, he used his power to pull Diana's body toward him. He leaned against a wall, protecting her.
Danky (panting): "Hang on, Diana... Raizen is here..."
On the other side, the air was tense. Goro, armless and without an ally, was no longer afraid. Just filled with hatred. Ziziak's death was merely a detail. The real problem was in front of him.
Goro (in a deep voice): "You have the gaze of a killer... I'm going to enjoy extinguishing it."
Raizen didn't reply. He got into a fighting stance, his blades shining with a golden glow. He was no longer angry, just very focused.
The fight resumed.
Goro stomped his foot on the ground. Stone spikes erupted from the floor and rushed at Raizen.
Goro: "Black Kara: Field of Stone Lances!"
Raizen didn't back down. He ran forward, his movements very precise. He dodged the spikes, his feet barely touching the ground. It was the result of his training with Adams.
In a second, he was in close combat. He delivered several quick blade strikes toward Goro's legs and torso.
KLANG! KLANG! KLANG!
Sparks flew. His blades struggled to cut through Goro's stone skin.
Raizen (thought): "His skin is too hard. Direct hits aren't working."
Goro counter-attacked with a wide roundhouse kick. Raizen jumped, used Goro's back as a foothold, and launched himself into the air.
In mid-flight, he pivoted.
Raizen: "Celestial Kara: Rain of Blades!"
Dozens of small energy blades rained down on Goro. The latter didn't move and let the blades crash against his body. The attack did nothing to him.
Goro (sneering): "Pathetic. You can't do anything against my defense."
He raised what was left of his small hands. The stone from the walls moved toward him and formed two new arms, bigger and more brutal.
Goro: "I am this city! You can't destroy me!"
He joined his new hands and slammed the ground. A shockwave spread out, forcing Raizen to jump back.
Raizen knew he couldn't win with a prolonged attack. He had only one solution: his master's technique.
A memory came back to him.
(Flashback – Bamboo Forest)
Takashi: "You strike to destroy. But what if your enemy is indestructible? True mastery is to sever the link between the soul and the body. Learn to slice what is invisible."
(End of Flashback)
Raizen's eyes changed. The glow of his blades became purer. He was no longer trying to break the stone, but to cut the link.
Goro: "Done daydreaming, kid!"
He charged at Raizen, his stone fists ready to crush him.
Raizen didn't move. He waited.
Goro's fist came down on him.
At the last moment, Raizen dodged and pressed himself against Goro's chest. But Goro was ready and headbutted him violently.
The impact was brutal. Blood ran from Raizen's forehead, but he ignored the pain. He was in contact. This was his chance.
He raised one of his blades and slid it across Goro's neck.
There was no sound. Just contact.
Goro stopped, confused. He felt nothing.
Goro: "What... did you do...?"
Raizen: "No, I need to be faster and more precise."
Raizen tried to back away, but Goro grabbed him and threw him against a wall. Raizen coughed, the wind knocked out of him.
Goro (sneering, touching his neck): "You missed, kid!"
He was about to charge, but he felt a weakness in his legs. His connection to the city's stone was weaker.
"What is this feeling?" he thought.
Raizen got up with difficulty. He smiled.
Raizen: "I didn't miss. I just wasn't precise. I won't miss you next time."
Rage filled Goro.
Goro: "I'm going to crush you!"
He slammed the ground. Two brick walls rose from the earth and began to close in on Raizen.
Goro: "Black Kara: Alley Vise!"
Raizen planted his blades into the walls.
Raizen: "Celestial Kara: Repulsive Wave!"
An explosion of golden light destroyed the walls. Raizen charged through the smoke.
Goro was surprised. Raizen wasn't aiming for his head, but for his knees. He delivered several quick and powerful kicks.
CRACK!
The stone broke. Goro fell to one knee, screaming in pain.
Raizen (panting): "You are not the city. You are just a monster."
He prepared to end the fight. But Goro wasn't finished.
Goro (screaming): "DIE!"
Dozens of rock projectiles shot out from his body in all directions.
Goro: "Mortal Eruption!"
Raizen was hit. Several stone shards cut his arms and torso. He was thrown backward. Blood flowed from his wounds.
Goro got up, laughing.
Goro: "See? You're just an insect!"
He approached Raizen to finish him off.
But Raizen wasn't down. He was crouched, one hand on the ground, ready. He had used the explosion to reposition himself.
His face was calm. He looked up at Goro.
Takashi Aomi's words came back to him.
Takashi: "True mastery is to sever the link. Aim for the invisible."
Raizen (murmuring): "I see... the link."
Just as Goro was about to strike, Raizen lunged.
His movement was a perfect straight line. His blade passed through Goro's neck without resistance, as if cutting through air.
Goro stopped. He looked at Raizen, who was now behind him. He had no wound.
Goro: "Missed again..."
Raizen (without turning around): "No."
A thin line of golden light appeared around Goro's neck.
Slowly, his stone head fell and shattered on the ground.
The headless body stood for a second, then turned into a pile of rocks.
Silence.
Danky, from his corner, was speechless.
Danky (murmuring): "He... he did it..."
Raizen stood motionless. He had won, but he was exhausted.
He turned to his friends.
Raizen: "Danky... Diana... Are you okay?"
He took a step, but his legs gave out. He fell to his knees, out of breath.
The danger was gone. But all three of them were injured, exhausted, and alone in the middle of a city in chaos.
The mission in Goma had just come to an end.
End of Chapter 36