Bab 48: Despair

"NOOOAAAAAAAAH!"

A high-pitched scream rang out. Anzu was shrieking, shaking her head over and over as if unable to accept what had just unfolded before her eyes.

"No no! Big sis, no...It can't be true, noooo!" Her words trailed off as the man scooped her up.

With all his might, the man in the all-back suit flung Anzu away. She flew in an arc, resistance futile, plummeting down below the bridge. The sound of her hitting water cut through the painful silence.

The man himself swiftly followed, descending from the edge. It could be seen as an act to try saving as many lives as possible. Sometimes retreat became necessary, even if it only bought a fleeting reprieve before having to fight on until the bitter end when one survivor remained.

"...Huh?"

There was one who had been utterly paralyzed by terror until now. A man who, forewarned of the enemy's might, had resigned himself to inevitable defeat from the outset. But upon hearing Anzu's scream, Kyo slowly raised his head.

Somehow, he staggered upright. His stumbling steps carried him towards the Gantz-issued motorcycle.

"Oi...don't fuck with me..."

All fear had drained away, his face now twisted by an even more powerful emotion.

"What am I supposed to do...how am I supposed to go on without her? Don't fuck with meeeeee!!"

The bike's engine roared to life as Kyo accelerated instantly, leaning half out of the rider's seat to unleash a barrage from his X-Gun.

"Hmm?"

The elderly Nurarihyon's body lifted into the air, all four limbs shattered in an instant.

Mikaruge tried to press the advantage, Kyo steering the bike to follow as the woman's slitted eyes flashed dangerously.

Sensing the threat, Kyo leapt clear just before the motorcycle disintegrated - had he remained mounted, he'd have suffered the same fate. But ultimately, it amounted to nothing.

As he soared through the air, both hands firing their X-Guns relentlessly, spittle flew from Kyo's snarling lips as he roared defiantly without blinking, venting pure hatred at his targets.

"Die, dieeeeeee!"

Twin beams lanced forth from the eyes of the old man and woman, obliterating Kyo's neck. The vestiges of rage froze on his face, draining to a blank pallor as he hit the ground, eyes still open and unmoving.

The middle-aged Nurarihyon and woman made a subtle gesture towards Mikaruge.

"Ooooohhh..."

Cracks formed across body. The seal was shattering, inflicting agony on Mikaruge unlike anything before. Yet the forbidden being still strained to twist off the arms controlling its torment.

Regeneration occurred in an instant.

The rupturing process commenced as Mikaruge dispersed into scattering motes of purple essence. After a faint whimper, it dissipated completely into the air. The shattered seal fragments rained down upon the bridge.

"Hmm, hmm hmm."

"Poh...gyuh..."

The middle-aged Nurarihyon disassembled one of his own hands, thrusting it into Gastrodon as she tried attacking from behind.

She writhed in torment, gaping holes periodically forming through her body before reknitting, the regenerative process gradually slowing. Gastrodon spewed water in thrashing desperation that Nurarihyon seemed to relish consuming.

From within, uncountable miniscule forms devoured Gastrodon, those myriad pieces comprising Nurarihyon's disassembled hand. They gorged themselves merrily until finally recombining into his main body.

"Like this? Ice Beam."

Something freshly emerged from the woman's form, her damp fingertips unleashing high-velocity beams.

They struck Milotic squarely despite the reflective plates she had arranged. Her beige serpentine form rapidly froze over, Milotic's beautiful gaze fixed one final time towards the fallen Kuwabara before being entombed in ice.

"Well now."

The elderly Nurarihyon shattered the icy casing, enormously inflating one fist to bludgeon it apart. The shards glittered in the sunset's glow before shattering further upon impact.

George watched the spectacle unfold in a daze, he had a dim notion that the battle's conclusion was rapidly approaching.

"Still alive, are we?"

Roserade let out a faint cry, managing to turn her face towards him as she dragged her body incrementally closer. Inhaling her intensifying aroma brought fleeting respite from the pain.

Coughing up blood, George met her gaze.

"Please...I beg you..."

Tears spilled from Roserade's eyes.

"Me...take me. I can't bear it any longer..."

The scattered Nurarihyon pieces had already devoured half of George's body. Yet they stemmed the flow deftly, embedding his own regenerative cells to prolong the agony - a calculated cruelty.

"Everything...absorb it all. You alone must survive..."

She shook her head mutely as more vital fluids seeping out.

"Please...let me die."

Roserade moved her flowered hands closer, eyes screwed shut and petals quivering - even George could sense her trepidation. He managed to lay a hand upon her white cranium, stroking it softly.

The draining process began, clearly reinvigorating Roserade yet twisting her features into an anguished grimace, tear-stained and disheveled.

"Ah shit...as expected..." George began but paused.

Her aroma grew overpoweringly intense, more potent than anything previously. Roserade shifted her flowers, tender thorns pricking George's cheek ever so gently.

Sweeter than any blossom, yet without cloying persistence – it had an addictive fragrance he wished to inhale endlessly.

As his vision faded inexorably to blackness, George remained transfixed by the brilliance of her gaze, committing that cherished radiance to his soul.

"You are the most...beautiful..."

Roserade sniffled before leaning over him, cradling the dark smooth cranium. She nuzzled and cooed affectionately against George's head. Then stood, joined by her remaining comrades.

Lucario looked down briefly, his remaining arm straining to staunch the bleeding as that sole eye shone a brilliant azure, his entire being suffused with intensified Aura.

Roserade leapt onto his shoulder for a moment before hopping off - a shared acknowledgment that they would fight to the last.

"Hohohoho."

"Fufufu."

"Hyohyoh."

The three monstrosities laughed mockingly as Roserade and Lucario advanced squarely towards them.

***

"I'm stopping it."

This was an uncomfortable place to awaken, to say the least. More accurately, he was suspended in mid-air, held aloft. Opening his eyes, the ground lay some distance below. Looking to the side, a young man seemed to be carrying him.

"I'm...stopping it! Right now!! Hurry and get out of here!"

Oka felt himself abruptly jostled as the young man roared frantically. He could indeed make out the bespectacled man desperately grappling with a nude woman, blood streaming down his face. The exact circumstances were unclear, but he was undoubtedly impeding the imminent threat.

"No, no! Master, no! Nooooo!"

His limit must have been reached. The bespectacled man had already been lifted up as Oka heard a woman laughed mockingly while crushing another victim's head. The wailing young man could only scream in anguished horror upon witnessing it.

Oka shoved the young man away with both hands. Enough of being carried - he wanted to walk under his own power again, as he had for so long.

"Ugh...grr...I'll kill them. Kill every last one of you..." The young man sobbed as he triggered some spatial distortion, a momentary spherical ripple effect rapidly blinking out.

Seeing this, the alien entities seemed to celebrate this new development, as though an amusing challenger had arrived. Three of them stood assembled.

Most of their allies lay dead. Only Lucario and Roserade yet remained. When they saw Oka, they immediately came over to his side.

This was it. Yet Oka found his sense of self wavering. Up until now, he would have retreated without hesitation in such a situation. Evidently, other battle powers of 100 existed - and there were multiples present. The risks were clearly too extreme. Accumulating points was important, but self-preservation took priority. There had always been the option to hide until time expired.

"Baaaaaah!"

And yet here he stood with the Gantz sword extended as the newly roused Garchomp bellowed alongside him.

"Fufufu..."

The slant-eyed woman lifted something, strands of shoulder-length blond hair twining around her fingers.

Shirona's eyes remained mostly closed, her severed upper torso showing no distortions from fear or agony. The pallid spine protruded starkly, her blood loss nearly complete.

"That one's...mine. My reward. Die..." A burly man, Kaze stepped forward, psyching himself up with a guttural bellow. "Takeshi...now, right now..."

At his request, the young man unleashed another spatial distortion effect.

Lucario inhaled deeply, his entire being flooded with Aura power. Roserade manifested glowing spheres arrayed around them. Garchomp hovered slightly, adopting an aerodynamic forward lean.

The Nurarihyons seemed to await their strikes with keen amusement.