Chương 50: Kato’s Despair

Kato had never felt so utterly powerless before. All he could do was watch helplessly as the nightmarish scene unfolded. Once revived by his best friend, he had resolved to fight in order to honor that cherished bond.

Yet in the end, his body proved woefully inadequate. He had confronted powerful aliens before - those grueling battles pushing him to his limits. But this foe's might defied all comprehension, far exceeding anything they had ever faced.

He watched as comrades fell one by one. Barely managing to get Anzu to safety, Kato could do nothing to aid the others. After that harrowing clash began, he could only cower nearby with Anzu, holding their breath.

"No way...we can win? We can defeat it..." Finally regaining some mobility, Kato gripped his X-Gun and charged forward. "Search! Leave no shred behind!"

The bridge lay in utter ruin after that cataclysmic onslaught - no living being could have possibly withstood such obliteration.

Indeed, even the two who had restrained the Nurarihyons mere moments ago were left as little more than mangled remains. They had chosen this path willingly - to sacrifice themselves.

What tattered flesh remained was systematically obliterated as everyone desperately scanned for any lingering fragments, no matter how miniscule. They could not risk the slightest oversight given the enemy's prodigious regenerative capabilities.

Kato made sure to annihilate every last speck that caught his eye. One negligent mistake would spell disaster if even a fraction survived to regenerate anew.

"Ugh..."

Sakurai let out a pained grunt, his haggard features suggesting he had reached his absolute limits expending so much power.

Following his gaze, they all turned to face the eruption of steam coalescing into solid form amidst the battlefield's devastation.

"It's...not over. It won't end, this nightmare..."

Kato could also hear the sound of steam being blown out. Flesh rapidly congealed into a humanoid shape, every severed chunk seamlessly amalgamating as one.

"Fuh...fuh..."

Unmistakably, it drew breath - a fiendish visage recalling demonic imagery with an exposed musculature exoskeleton. The skull-like face framed by jagged horns, its crimson hue from the pulsing vascular networks webbing across bulging sinews and sinewy limbs. Bony protrusions jutted from its back like twisted wings, bladed appendages extending from its elbows quivering with each heaving breath.

Kaze and Lucario were the first to engage the reconstituted monstrosity. Nurarihyon responded with a low growl.

"You've all...had enough. Fuh. I understand now."

Kaze's punch glanced off its cheek before Lucario spun with a roundhouse kick - only for some unseen force to suspend the Aura Pokémon midair, helpless as the fiend's blade impaled straight through his chest. With a casual flick, Lucario went hurtling over the bridge's edge.

"UWOOOOAAAHHH!"

Kaze aimed for its jaw, meeting only devastating retaliation. One thunderous impact sent convulsions through his augmented frame, fluids seeping from fractured suit joints before his knees buckled beneath him.

Sakurai's outstretched hand was severed despite his psychokinetic resistance, eyelids drooping as a torrent of blood poured from his nostrils - the strain finally overwhelming his abilities as he crumpled backwards.

An aperture opened in the fiend's chest as Garchomp slammed home another kick to its head, launching upwards to hover warily.

"Very well, then."

Dismissively regenerating, Nurarihyon's bony spines undulated with disturbing fluidity, molding into makeshift wings that allowed it to take flight with ease.

Garchomp widened the distance as the fiend gave chase, both figures receding into the distance behind the towering skyscrapers.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

"Wh-What do we do? How can we win...?" Reika lowered her X-Gun, all will to fight rapidly draining away - a sentiment Anzu clearly shared.

"Run away, that's all we can do." Shouted Anzu.

"No." Kato already understood their options had narrowed to a binary outcome - defeat their adversary, or be utterly exterminated. As Shirona had warned, time constraints no longer applied - at least for their Osaka squad. Optimism was a luxury they could ill afford.

"We have to fight. Until the bitter end, against that thing..."

"B-But how?"

An agonizing silence stretched between them.

"While we still can, scatter. Find some vantage to snipe from where it can't detect us."

"A surprise attack. From its blind spots."

Anzu's expression soured with grim realization. It was about the best they could muster under such dire circumstances - Kato certainly couldn't envision any better alternatives. But one glaring issue remained.

"I'll do it."

Reika clasped a hand over her mouth in dismay. "No, you can't..."

"It has to be me. I'll keep its focus here. In the meantime, get somewhere far away and prepare to take your shots. The sooner you're ready, the better our chances."

Though initial hesitant, the two women finally acquiesced to Kato's resolute nods, dashing off to find some elevated firing position that would be harder to pinpoint.

Alone on the ravaged battlefield, Kato struggled to steady his pounding heartbeat. He didn't want to die - every fiber yearned for survival. He had a younger brother waiting for him back at their apartment, anticipating his return.

"Ayumu..."

Thud! Thud!

The frantic footfalls approached. He turned to find Anzu embracing him tightly, tears streaming down her face - the same woman who had routinely teased and flirted with him.

Now she spoke with unmistakable earnestness. "Don't die. Please..."

"Yeah."

"You're going back, right? Your brother's waiting. You have to live, no matter what."

"Obviously."

"Then promise me. When this is over, the four of us - you, me, my son, your brother - we'll all live together, okay?"

"I promise. We'll live together."

"Swear it. Swear you'll make it through this!"

"I swear."

Anzu kept glancing back as she reluctantly departed. Watching her retreating form, Kato closed his eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. Only for thunderous rumbling to shake the area moments later.

Rumble!

"What the...?"

Part of a building began collapsing as some unseen force rampaged, pulverizing masonry and scattering rubble with bellowing roars that mercifully subsided after a few fevered moments.

Kato's breath caught in his throat as the fiendish form rematerialized before him with shocking swiftness - clutched in its grip, the severed head of the one who had once helped Shirona against a previous alien threat. Her trusted partner, Garchomp now lifelessly dangling as viscera trailed from her decapitated neck before being casually discarded into the river below.

Splash!

Kato's heart threatened to burst from sheer terror, realizing any such mercy would have been a welcome reprieve. Still, a sense of duty anchored him - other lives still hung in the balance. He could not falter here, no matter how daunting their foe proved. He had to prevail, without fail.

Had Reika and the others finished preparations yet? Or was his frantic stalling still premature?

His tightening grip on the X-Gun was met with a mind-numbing jolt as the fiend's index finger brushed against his skull. A single twitch and he would be dead - its blinding speed leaving no chance for evasion.

In that moment, all strength drained away and the weapon clattered to the ground as death's cold grasp tightened. Yet it did not strike the final blow - not yet.

"W-Wait...please. I want to talk. To ask you something."

The fiend merely exhaled in response, taking no further action against him.

Seizing that fragile opportunity, Kato desperately racked his mind for something, anything to vocalize the searing question burning in his soul.

"I want to ask you...answer me. Why? Why are we made to slaughter each other like this?"

Though undoubtedly a plea born of desperation, his words seemed to give the fiend pause for consideration, tilting its head thoughtfully.

"And you ask us this? You dare question us?"

"Don't you see? Nobody wanted this bloody conflict to begin with!"

The fiend lifted its gaze towards the heavens. "Fuh...do you sense any divine presence?"

"Answering a question with another...?" Kato frowned.

"This god...what form does it take? A human shape?"

"I...don't know. Never really thought about it."

"A god is an entity possessed of supreme power."

"You think you're some kind of god?"

"This world, and all within, were begat by just such a being. A calamity, like any other disaster."

"Kuh..."

Its finger traced a path forward, the nail puncturing Kato's forehead and eliciting an involuntary shudder.

The fiend's bared musculature contorted into an unmistakable sneer of dark amusement. "But that age is ending. The reign of your Gods shall pass. We are the ones destined to ascend to that hallowed apex - leaving our seeds to further refine our lineage's power until we inevitably breach beyond the veil of what you know as reason itself. To dominate all existence, to consume every last life force. Fuh...consider it an honor. You mere mortals will form the bedrock upon which our immortal future shall rise."

In that instant, the fiend's torso was obliterated by a devastating impact, its lower body similarly perforated a split-second later.

It had begun, Kato realized through the numbing haze as distant weapons fire intensified their relentless barrage.

Scrambling back, he mustered his nerve to witness the fiend's luminous gaze sweeping the area. The blasts unleashed annihilated nearby structures - yet it clearly could not pinpoint the snipers' positions amidst this unremitting onslaught.

There remained a chance, however slim, if they could press this advantage to its utmost.

Kato made a desperate scramble for the unfamiliar heavy ordnance known as the Z-Gun. If they could just land one decisive blow while the fiend was staggered...

His advance was abruptly halted by agonizing impacts severing both feet from the shins down. He crashed heavily to the ground, crying out as he dragged his mangled form those final excruciating meters to grasp the weapon... only to find his hands too feeble from blood loss to operate the trigger.

"NOOOOOO!"

Anzu suddenly burst back into view, tears streaming as she recklessly charged forward firing her X-Gun wildly at the now laser-swept battlefield.

"Stop...why...?"

She had a son awaiting her return - no reason to throw her life away here on his behalf. By providing overwatch from a safe distance, she could have survived this ordeal.

For the briefest moment, Anzu glanced back as if realizing that truth herself, lips parting to speak.

An energy beam lanced directly towards her midsection. Just as she was about to speak, her body was shifted away.

"Lucario..."

A blue dog-like creature was pushing Anzu's body away. It was already heavily wounded, especially bleeding profusely from the chest. The fact that it had managed to climb up from under the bridge to here was a miracle in itself.

Anzu was slammed against the railing. However, she didn't close her eyes in pain.

"No..."

The dog was already lifeless. Separated by the beam of light, its upper and lower body were disjointed. Yet, its expression seemed somewhat peaceful. Anzu cried tears uncontrollably as she screamed,

"Whyyyy?!"

"Kuh..."

Kato grunted in grim solidarity, somehow retaking hold of the Z-Gun with a surge of adrenaline. But all that focus promptly shattered as Nurarihyon's ravaged visage turned its full, terrifying scrutiny upon him.

He knew any assault now would prove completely ineffectual, merely delaying the inevitable regeneration before their final, inescapable extermination.

Blazing agony lanced through his remaining arm as it was severed at the elbow, the Z-Gun falling from his grip.

With dwindling strength, the fiend prepared to execute him with its searing beam.

Kato realized that he was about to die. In those final moments, Kato registered the flashing descent of two blades crashing against the Nurarihyon's back - the dark black sword and golden falchion wielded by Oka and the vixen Kyukon, their synchronized slashes bisecting its torso diagonally.