章 248: Bacchus Vs. Kimimaro

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Hidden Leaf Ravine.

November, x784.

While running through Mayuri and Orochimaru's hideout, Alfonzo, Marin, Yoruichi, Kagura, and Guy felt the cavern shaking around them.

"I guess Mira has finally gotten started for real." Alfonzo said as Guy gestured for the rest of the group to stop.

"Will she be okay?" Marin asked, a hint of worry in her tone. "I mean, she's facing off against two of them."

"She should be fine." Yoruichi replied while scanning the group's surroundings. "Even though that guy was definitely as powerful as an S-Class, he was much weaker than the She Devil. And the little girl was at the very bottom of the A-Class. So, she shouldn't face any issues."

"It's a bad habit to look down on your opponents, Yoruichi." Kagura said bluntly. "That arrogance will get you killed someday>"

"Nah, I never look down on my opponents." Yoruichi said while waving off Kagura's warning. "But I've got more than ten years of experience as a wizard. So, I've got pretty good insight when it comes to stuff like that."

As she spoke the last part of her sentence, Yoruichi glanced at Guy, who was currently disarming a trap.

"Even though those two are more than meets the eye, they still shouldn't pose a problem for the She Devil." Yoruichi continued.

"What is she a Transformer?' Alfonzo thought stupidly as he imagined Mirajane transforming into a motorcycle. 'Not that I'd mind riding her all day long.'

Immediately after having that thought, Alfonzo shook his head forcefully to dispel it from his mind.

'What the hell is wrong with me?' Alfonzo thought to himself.

"Alfonzo, are you okay?" Marin asked, concerned by Alfonzo's strange behavior.

"Yeah." Alfonzo replied with a wry smile on his face. "I'm just a little frustrated that I can't sense very much in this cavern, that's all."

"Oh, I know what you mean." Marin replied. "I can usually sense all magical signatures in a little over a 1,600 foot (approx.. 500 m) radius. But now, I can barely sense things sixty-five feet (approx.. 20 m) out."

Nodding in response, Alfonzo was just happy that his stupid thoughts were not exposed.

"That skill still feels like you guys from Fairy Tail are cheating." Yoruichi said with a pout. "I'm just glad that there aren't more people, especially dark wizards, that know how you do it. Otherwise, like half of my skill set would be useless."

"Well, at least your fast enough for it to not matter in most cases." Alfonzo replied with a smile.

"Are you trying to butter me up?" Yoruichi asked, batting her eyes flirtatiously. "You're trying to get me to give a sexual favor or two, aren't you?"

Deciding to ignore Yoruichi's teasing, Alfonzo was saved from any more sexual harassment when Guy spoke up.

"Alright, it's taken care of." Guy said, standing up from beside the dismantled trap mechanism. "Now, let us continue. Our youth will burn brightly as we subdue these evil doers."

"Uh… Sure." In a surprising level of synchronization, Alfonzo, Marin, Yoruichi, and even Kagura replied in unison in the same bland tone.

With that, the group continued running down the corridors of the hideout, disarming traps and checking every room they came across for prisoners.

Meanwhile, back in the corridor where the group left Bacchus to fight Kimimaro, the two were engaged in a high-level melee confrontation.

Using the armor on his left arm, Bacchus redirected a slash from one of the sharpened bones Kimimaro was using as a pair of short swords. Then, taking advantage of the short gap created by Kimimaro's left arm being moved to the side, Bacchus through a palm strike directed at Kimimaro's sternum.

Unfortunately, with a sharp bone piercing through his, now, shirtless torso, Bacchus was forced to change the direction of his palm thrust, turning his palm to the side, to avoid the spike, and grabbing it. Then, with his high physical strength, Bacchus crushed it in his grip.

Before he could transition into another attack, however, Bacchus was forced to dodge away as Kimimaro swung both the bone swords in his hands in an attempt to cut him in half at the waist.

"[Bone Pulse Magic: Dance of the Clethra]." Kimimaro chanted as he swung down the bone sword in his right hand without chasing after Bachus.

A moment later, as Kimimaro reached the middle part of his slash, the bone in his hand extended. Luckily, as Bacchus was expecting that Kimimaro could manipulate any of his bones, whether they were in his body or not, Bacchus was able to dodge the slash. Though, the armor on his right arm was left with a rather deep gash.

"Damn, how the hell are those bones so sharp?" Bacchus asked himself as he glanced at his damaged armor.

"My bones are as hard and sharp as the best tempered steel." Kimimaro said in reply to Bacchus clearly rhetorical question. "So, those little armor plates will provide you little in the way of resistance against my attacks."

"Not that I was actually asking, but good to know, I guess." Bacchus replied as he dashed forward again.

In response, Kimimaro brought his two bone swords together, combining them into a much longer blade. Then, at high speed, he repeatedly slashed at the incoming Bacchus.

"[Dance of the Cypress]." Kimimaro chanted while slashing.

Bacchus, with his palms coated in his magic power, deflected the incoming slashes with precision. Eventually, he reached a distance where Kimimaro's long blade would prove to be more of a detriment. Then, landing a pair of precise chops on Kimimaro's wrists, Bacchus was able to disarm the white-haired young man.

"Haha!" Bacchus laughed happily as he pulled both his hands back to his sides quickly. "Finally got you!"

Concentrating even more magic power into his [Palm Magic], Bacchus shot his hands forward at nearly the speed of sound. And even though Kimimaro sprouted sharp bones from his torso, Bacchus chose not to slow down or divert his attack.

*Crack!*

In fact, when Bacchus palms made contact with Kimimaro's bones, the bones that extended from Kimimaro's body shattered on impact. As a result, Kimimaro was blown backwards, smashing into a wall, back first, and being buried inside.

"Damn, those bones are hard as hell." Bacchus muttered while shaking his numb hands. "but still, they were no match for my raw physical strength."

Before he could indulge in the feeling of superiority for long, however, Bacchus quickly leapt from the spot where he stood.

"[Bone Pulse Magic: Dance of the Seedling Fern]." Kimimaro's chant sounded from the hole in the wall he created.

At the same time as the chant and Bacchus' leap, thousands of sharp bone spikes shot out from not only the cave floor, but its ceiling as well.

"Oh, come on." Bacchus shouted as he swung his hands at the approaching bone spikes. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

In a show of masterful bodily control, Bacchus slapped at the incoming bone spikes, propelling himself through the air and staying suspended between the bones that left barely enough space for him to not be skewered from all directions, only if he were to be lying down, horizontally.

Though Bacchus did not receive any serious wounds during this acrobatic display, he was not able to avoid receiving a few cuts that would only slightly lower his combat effectiveness. At the same time, he managed to shatter enough bone spikes that he had enough space to stand upright.

"Damn, this son of a bitch is a freak." Bacchus said as he inspected his injuries. "Still, a spell like that should have used up quite a bit of his magic power."

"Even if that's true." Kimimaro said as he climbed out of the hole in the wall. "Since you can't harm me with my bone manipulation, you're fated to die here."

Although Kimimaro appeared to have not sustained any injuries from Bacchus last attack, Bacchus was too experienced to miss the slightly labored breathing that Kimimaro tried to hide.

'Hmm…' Bacchus hummed internally as he pulled his gourd off his waist. 'Although I wasn't really focusing on it, I know that attack should have caused some shockwaves to bounce around in his body. I guess that's why his breathing is slightly labored. I guess those bones don't help against attacks like that. Well, I guess I got a new plan of attack, now.'

"Yeah, whatever." Bacchus said as he pulled the cork out of his wine gourd. Then, before he continued, he brought it up to his mouth and tilted it up. "*Gulp* *Gulp* *Gulp* *Sigh* *Burp* Now, that hit the spot."

"How uncouth." Kimimaro replied in a disdainful tone.

"Oh, don't mind me." Bacchus replied with a cheeky smile. "I just needed a little drink to get myself in the mood. This next part is gonna be a doozie."

As he spoke, Bacchus fastened his gourd back on his belt. Then, with wobbly steps, he took an unsteady fighting stance.

"Now, it's time to really have some fun." Bacchus said as he charged forward with erratic Movements.

Meanwhile, Kimimaro crossed his arms and grabbed at his upper arms. Then, in one fluid motion, he pulled out two new bone swords to engage Bacchus with.

This time, however, the fight did not look as fluid as before. Though Bacchus did throw a palm strike to begin the confrontation, his balance seemed to be off. So, when Kimimaro went to deflect it with his left sword, both moves missed completely. On top of that, the thrust he planned with his right sword was also completely off the mark as Bacchus simply fell to the floor following the momentum of his missed palm strike.

Though it was surprising, Kimimaro reacted quickly, thrusting the sword in his left hand down at Bacchus. He once again missed, however, as Bacchus awkwardly rolled to the side, resulting in Kimimaro's sword being pierced into the floor.

Following that, Bacchus pushed off the floor with his right palm, sending his entire body into a spin while lying on his stomach. As a result, Bacchus hands, coated in a thick layer of his [Palm Magic] were swept at Kimimaro's legs.

Leaping slightly to avoid having his legs swept out from under him, Kimimaro crossed his arms in front of his face when Bacchus slammed his palms down on the floor, causing the floor to explode upward from the force, sending debris into Kimimaro's face.

At the same time, Bacchus shot up to his feet due to the rebound force.

Expecting another palm strike thanks to his unstable aerial position, Kimimaro extended several bone spikes from his forearms. Instead of thrusting is palms forward, however, Bacchus bent backwards at the waist and performed a bridge to avoid the incoming bone spikes. Then, raising himself up onto his hands, he flung his feet at the underside of Kimimaro's arm's. Then, with Kimimaro's arms forced to spread out by the force behind his kick, Bacchus bounded back to his feet. And with a manic grin on his face, he spoke once again.

"This time, I got you for real." Bacchus said as he intensified the [Palm Magic] coating his palms even further and clapped them towards Kimimaro's sides. "[Hanging Palm: Moonlight Reflection]."

*Smack!*

As his chant sounded, Bacchus palms approached Kimimaro's sides. At the same time, Kimimaro ejected several bone spikes from his sides and the front of his torso in an attempt to skewer Bacchus, thinking to trade injury for injury. Unfortunately, Bacchus palm strikes crushed the bone spikes that were ejected from his sides.

As for the other bone spikes, some of them managed to pierce Bacchus' forearms, penetrating his arms completely while drilling holes in his armor plates, as well. Still, Bacchus attack landed. As for the spikes that pierced towards Bacchus' torso…

"*Cough*" Kimimaro coughed out a large mouthful of blood as his eyes widened in shock.

… they came to a complete stop after Bacchus' palm strikes landed simultaneously.

As Bacchus had guessed before, using an attack that produced shockwaves inside Kimimaro's body was one of the few ways to harm him through his [Bone Pulse Magic]. And Bacchus took full advantage of that fact by sending shockwaves into Bacchus body from either side, simultaneously.

As a result, with those shockwaves colliding together, Kimimaro's internal organs were vibrated to mush, killing him near instantly.

"Damn…" Bacchus muttered as he carefully pulled his arms away from the, now, bloodied bone spikes jutting out of Kimimaro's lifeless body. "That really fucking hurts. Eh, nothing a little booze won't fix."

With his arms now extracted, Bacchus reached down for his wine gourd. And despite the pain he was in from having his forearms pierced in several places, he took a large swig.

"Damn, I'm almost out of wine." Bacchus muttered, shaking his gourd after he finished drinking. "Well, it's a good thing I dropped off a couple of full gourds by the shelter."

Like that, Bacchus decided to retreat from the cavern to have a few drinks to numb the pain from his injuries. Lucky for him, however, Mirajane had already returned to the shelter after her battle with Starrk and Lilynette. On top of that, Alfonzo had left some medical supplies inside, just in case anyone on his side was injured.