Chapter 10: Fade to Black, Chapter 10 : The Peak of Conflict, To Live is To Die

Shira leaped into the air and came down with a strike to the ground. Various pieces of rock shot up towards the group, as they leaped backwards to dodge them.

"Mashiko can handle Mioki" Shira thought. "Mara is troublesome, but Masami will have to deal with her. I can't risk him getting caught by surprise by this new guy. Yeah, I'll face him myself" 

Shira looked to the right to see Masami rushing towards the new guy. 

"Let's do this!" Masami declared as he built his shallow. 

Shira quickly caught up to him and slightly pushed him towards Mara. Then, Shira looked back at Masami in a way that relayed what he was thinking. 

"Release, Obariyon!" 

When Shira looked back forwards, he saw a giant, deformed toddler shrouded in shallow in front of the new guy. The toddler's head was bent out of shape, as if a boulder was dropped on it and one of it's eyes were swollen shut. 

"I want to piggyback!" The toddler uttered. 

Before Shira noticed, the deformed toddler was attached to his back, as he fell to the ground. 

"What?" Shira thought. 

Masami and Mashiko looked at Shira, and began to run to his aid. 

"No!" Shira called out. "Don't worry about me, focus on them" 

Mioki sent her crows flying at Mashiko. Who turned around in the nick of time, to leap out of the way. 

                                   *SWOOSH* 

Mashiko sent back her snowy winds, which disrupted the flight of the crows. With their wings frantically flapping, they began to be trapped in the winds. They remained flowing in circles until Mioki held her hand out towards them. Then, the crows all came together to form Karasu and broke free of the confinement of Mashiko's winds. Karasu and Mioki both began to run towards Mashiko. 

"Bumi, I'm going to need your assistance for this" Mashiko thought as her ice blue staff formed in her hand. 

"Of course" she heard an angelic voice reply. 

"Dammit" Shira thought as he struggled to rise to his feet. "It seems like the more effort I put into getting up, the heavier this thing gets!" 

"I love to piggyback!" The deformed toddler shouted once again. 

"What is going on?" Shira thought as the struggle continued. "Why the hell can all three of them manifest their kosho outside of their body?" 

Masami blocked the unknown guy's punch, but was sent back due to the force. He looked over his shoulder to see Mara approaching from behind. He quickly ducked to avoid her punch, but was knocked to the ground with the kick that followed. He looked to his left, to see Mashiko fighting Mioki and Karasu as he stayed on the ground. Then, he looked to his right to see Shira struggling to get up. He then relaxed his body, and closed his eyes. 

"In the time of adversity, relax your body, focus your mind, and let your shallow flow" he thought to himself. 

Soon, his shallow formed three human-sized koi fish that flowed rhythmically in sync through the air as if it was water. Two of the fish were white with a black spot on their head and one of the fish was black with a white spot on it's head. 

"I wanted to wait until I perfected this" Masami stated as he opened his eyes, and rose to his feet. "But for you two, I don't have a choice" 

"Tosu and Ketsu" Mara recognized. "The two smaller components of Tonketsu, the parallel force." 

She then looked at her subordinate. 

"Daimichi, Shira is the koshomura of Kintaro" Mara informed. "Are do you think your Obariyon can hold him?" 

Obariyon was a kosho that when attached to a target, would increase it's mass and weight so that the target would be forced to the ground, motionless. The weight could also be multiplied by the effort the target used to try to break free. However, there was a limit to the weight Obariyon could be. If the target was able to exert more effort once Obariyon reached it's limit, then Obariyon would be lifted. So, the deciding factor of this match came down to one thing : is the power Shira could exert greater than Obariyon's limit? 

"If he can't, I will" Daimichi replied with an evil grin.

"Focus on keeping Shira out of the fight" Mara declared. "I'll handle Tonketsu" 

Mara built her shallow aura, and sent a collection of projectiles resembling glass shards at Masami. As soon as they were in Masami's vicinity, they disappeared as one of the white fish's black spot starting glowing. 

    

                            *POOF* SWOOSH*

Soon, the black fish's white spot starting glowing and the projectiles reappeared as they shot back at Mara. 

"Just as I expected" Mara thought as she leaped backwards to avoid the projectiles. "Much like Obariyon, he uses your power against you"

"Splitting Image!"

Mara focused her aura as various clones formed out of her shallow. The clones had glass shards protruding out of their skin, resulting in heavy blood pour. They also had glass spirals instead of eyes, that were clouded with tears of blood. 

"Let's see if he can keep up" Mara stated. 

All of her clones began to charge at Masami at once. Seeing this made Masami focus even harder. Soon, five more koi fish formed around him, three being white and two being black. After they got close, the clones disappeared to reappear directly after. Rushing towards Mara as a result. 

"Mirror Domain!" 

Three mirrors formed behind Mara, which soon pulled the incoming clones in. She created more that rushed towards Masami, only for the exact same thing to happen. They disappeared once they were close to Masami, and then were sent back at her. It became clear that it would be a battle of endurance. 

Meanwhile, Shira was on the verge of breaking free of Obariyon. 

"Fourth barrier!" Shira thought as his body flooded with shallow. 

Shira limited the amount of Kintaro's power that he could access into five barriers. The first barrier's maximum was twenty percent of Kintaro's power that Shira could tap into. Each barrier was created to increase the amount Shira could use by twenty percent. At this point, Shira tapped into eighty percent of Kintaro's power, and he began to force Obariyon to his limit. 

"Obariyon is almost at his limit" Daimichi thought with a wicked expression. "Kintaro really is as strong as I've been told. But, there's one thing he won't be able to overcome. The damage inflicted as a result of Obariyon being attached to him for too long" 

Obariyon began to be lifted off Shira's back. 

"Kintaro!" Shira yelled. "Fifth Barrier!" 

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                                   *SWOOSH* 

Obariyon was launched into the air as Shira forcefully rose to his feet. 

"How impressive" Daimichi commented. "You're the first person other than myself that was able to overcome Obariyon's weight and to be able to stand afterwards as well. I'm going to really enjoy this" 

"This is the first time I was actually forced to use my full power" Shira replied. "And it feels great. I live for moments like this!" 

Soon, Shira's aura became that of Kintaro's. His muscle definition increased and his hair turned a dark shade of green. 

"Shira thought so highly of your strength, he allowed me to take over" Kintaro stated as he began stretching his arms before rushing towards Daimichi. "Don't disappoint me" 

Daimichi rushed forwards as well as he built his aura. 

"Die Slow, Kintaro!" 

The two exchanged a slew of strikes before Kintaro landed one that pushed Daimichi back. He rushed forwards once more with a kick that Kintaro caught with one of his hands. With his free hand, he punched Daimichi's leg and threw him overhead. Daimichi landed on his feet and paused for a second. 

"Obariyon! You can piggyback, now." Daimichi announced. 

"Yay!" Obariyon stated as he formed out of Daimichi's aura. "I love to piggyback!" 

Obariyon then attached to Daimichi's back. 

"This is everything I have, Kintaro. You'll have to kill me or die trying" 

"And to you the same" 

Daimichi rushed forwards again, this time with much greater speed. Kintaro took notice of this instantly, as he barely responded. Daimichi's punch was caught by Kintaro, but the force was enough to push him back. Daimichi unleashed a slew of strikes, and connected each time. Kintaro took one step back each strike, as he guarded his entire body with his arms. Soon, his attacks began to inflict serious damage, as the punches began to leave dents in Kintaro's entire body. 

"This sudden spike in power...it's just like Obariyon's piggyback trick" Kintaro thought. 

"Yes" Kintaro heard Shira say. "The more and more effort Daimichi puts into beating you, the stronger his attacks become. But, that also means there's a limit. You'll have to withstand that pressure until he reaches that limit, and then you put everything into one attack. That's how you beat this" 

"I don't know if I will be able to without having major injuries." Kintaro thought as his aura of shallow vanished. "It's not just the power that is increased. His attacks are also getting faster and faster, I can't keep track of them anymore." 

"Don't give in yet!" Daimichi exclaimed as he continued his assault. "Make me have to try harder! Make me push myself further!" 

"How strange" Kintaro thought as Daimichi's hands became smothered in his blood as every attack resulted in deep gashes and cuts. "This is the same feeling Mara gave me when I looked at her all those years ago. I must be on the verge of death again. But, I don't feel bad like before." 

"This is amazing" Daimichi thought as his hands became smothered in Kintaro's blood as every attack resulted in deep gashes and cuts. " I might be pushing way beyond my limits, but im not worried about it at all." 

"This euphoria. This adrenaline." Both Daimichi and Kintaro thought in sync. "To be stoked in the midst of a dire situation, is the feeling I live for. So addicting and fulfilling" 

At this point in time, Daimichi's punches seemed to be coming at a rate that was over triple times the amount in which they began. However, his shallow began to be disrupted, and slowly began fading away. Obariyon disappeared completely and soon after Daimichi's attacks slowed down until they eventually stopped. He tried his best to keep his composure, but his exhaustion became clear. He fell to the ground with an immense amount of sweat. It seemed as if his entire body was panting. 

"This is the opening we were waiting for" Kintaro heard Shira say. "Finish it, Kintaro!"

"I'll show you the difference between Shira's full power and mine" Kintaro yelled as he built his aura. 

Instead of the aura shrouding his entire body, it was focused solely into his right hand. He rushed forwards, winding up an enormous punch and - 

                                     *BOOM* 

Once connected, the punch exerted a force that ruptured Daimichi chest, leaving a massive hole in the middle. His entire chest and upper stomach area was blown away, as his body flew past Masami and Mara. Seeing this made both of them look at Kintaro, who's aura began to fade. He lost his muscle definition and his hair color returned to normal. Shira, now feeling all of the damage inflicted by Daimichi's attacks, fell to the ground. His entire body, from his jaw to his ankle, was covered with fist-sized holes that were oozing colossal amounts of blood. Once he hit the ground, Daimichi mustered up the strength to raise his head. He saw Shira's lifeless body, just before he lowered his head to the ground again. 

"I guess I won, being that I lived slightly longer" Daimichi thought as the life began to fade out of his eyes. "But that won't be for much longer now. Obariyon!" 

The deformed toddler formed beside him, but due to Daimichi's rapidly fading shallow, he was smaller. He now was the size of an actual human toddler. 

"You did good, Obariyon" Daimichi uttered as he coughed up blood. 

"I...want to piggy...ba-" Obariyon stated just before he vanished. 

"Back to Murta they'll go" Daimichi thought. "Hopefully, they'll remember each other and become acquaintances. That'll be nic-" 

"Daimichi really lost" Mara thought. "I'm not surprised. If it wasn't by Shira's hand, it would have been by my own. He always wanted to challenge me, that boy. I suppose he didn't die in vain, he did take out Kintaro after all. Now all that's left is Bumi and Tonkets-" 

                                         *RIP* 

"What's this?" Mara pondered. "The boss's son, I can't sense him anymore. I was positive I left a glass shard with him." 

"Shira!" Mashiko screamed as she ran towards his bloodied body. 

She was stopped in her tracks, as Mioki and Karasu formed out of crows in front of her. 

"You keep forgetting how much of a threat we are" Mioki stated. 

"AWWWWW" Karasu cawed. 

"Mioki! You'll have to finish these two alone" Mara stated as a mirror formed behind her. 

"What?" Mioki replied. 

"The boss's son might be in trouble. I have to go" 

"What about Daimichi?"  

"He's probably already gone, but see what your Karasu can do" 

"Fine, I'll take care of these two alone"

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