After closing the deal, the three prepared to leave the house they were in. As soon as they stepped outside, they were greeted by a group of Fishmen and Skypieans, dressed in military uniforms. As soon as they saw them, the protagonists...
Fishman(1): "Isn't that Nobunaga's son over there?"
Skypiean(1): "It looks like him."
Skypiean(2): "And those next to him?"
Fishman(2): "From their clothes, they look like marines."
Fishman(3): "So that bastard Nobunaga managed to send the message."
Skypiean(3): "Only two of them? I think they split into groups..."
Fishman(4): "If that's what happened, then the bosses must have already killed the rest of them."
Skypiean(4): "What happens to the marines doesn't matter to us. Our mission is to capture Nobunaga's son and anyone who gets in our way... will die!"
On the other side, Damian and Mirage turned to Yosuke with doubt in their eyes.
Mirage: "Was it one of them?"
Yosuke quickly shook his head.
Yosuke: "It wasn't any of them... but they are the ones who caused most of the destruction and deaths in the city."
Mirage: "Does that mean they are enemies?"
Yosuke: "Yes."
As Damian and Mirage were thinking of heading towards the enemy group, before leaving, Damian remembered something and turned back to Yosuke.
Damian: "Yosuke, is there any weapon you like to use?"
Yosuke: "A weapon...? Well, I've never used one seriously, at most I played with my mother's pistol."
Damian: "A pistol? Alright, I'll get one for you."
Now with a target in mind, Damian and Mirage ran towards the group and, upon getting close to them,
Damian: "So you're the ones who turned this place into a wreck?"
Without answering the question, one of the Fishmen in the group assumed a karate stance.
Fishman(3): "Fishman Karate: Hundred Brick Fist"
Unleashing a powerful punch to Damian's face, the blow pushed Damian's hair back but wasn't strong enough to cause any damage.
Damian: "How rude—"
Fishman(3 and 1): "Fishman Karate: Hundred Brick Fist"
This time, the Fishmen didn't let Damian finish speaking and attempted another attack, a combined punch to the center of Damian's chest. Unlike the last one, this attack managed to knock Damian off his feet and onto the ground.
Damian: "Mira?"
Meanwhile, Mirage was effortlessly dodging a Skypiean's attacks.
Mirage: "What is it?"
Getting up from the ground, Damian stretched a bit before speaking to Mirage again.
Damian: "You saw that I tried to talk, right?"
Mirage: "Of course I saw, and I also saw how rude these people are."
Damian: "So you agree that we can crush these trashes?"
Mirage: "I'm just waiting for you to say it."
Damian: "Then enough playing around... let's finish this quickly."
Upon finishing these words, Mirage vanished from in front of the Skypiean attacking him and reappeared a few meters away with his katanas drawn. Then, Mirage disappeared once more.
Mirage: "Ascension: Waterfall"
Unable to react to the speed of the slash, the Skypiean took the full brunt of the attack and fell to the ground, unconscious. Having defeated his opponent, Mirage turned to Damian, and as he did,
Damian: "Ascension: Waterfall"
With his staff pointed downward, Damian charged at the two Fishmen. When he reached them, with a swift motion, he raised the tip of the staff with impressive speed and enough force to send one of the Fishmen flying into the air. The other, seeing his friend being tossed like a ragdoll, couldn't react when Damian spun the staff, bringing the tip back down, and repeated the move, sending him flying as well.
Damian: "Ascension: Knock Up Stream"
With both Fishmen in the air, Damian positioned himself beneath them and, with a quick motion, thrust his staff upward. When the strike connected, the Fishmen's bodies contorted under the pressure, leaving them unconscious.
Seeing that his friend was using the technique, Mirage went to Damian's side.
Mirage: "When did you learn 'Ascension'? And what the hell was that 'Knock Up Stream'?"
Damian: "You've been using that technique for over two years, and besides, the concept of 'Ascension' isn't that complicated. The basic idea is to put pressure similar to being at the bottom of the sea on your own body to increase your power. With that concept, I could already replicate the effect. As for 'Knock Up Stream,' I created it since there were no techniques to attack enemies in the air."
Mirage: "And then I'm the one criticized for being able to copy others."
Damian: "Please, you just need to look at the guy to be able to redo what took him a lifetime to learn, unlike me, who's a natural genius."
Mirage: "You arrogant bastard."
The remaining enemy group, seeing that our protagonists were distracted, tried to launch a surprise attack. But, to their misfortune, the moment they tried to take a step, both Damian and Mirage turned towards them and, in the blink of an eye,
Damian/Mirage: "Double Ascension: Current"
The two then began to perform something similar to a swimming stroke, but not with their arms, rather with their respective weapons.
As soon as Damian and Mirage took their first step, their bodies seemed to liquefy into water. Then, they advanced in a zigzag pattern to strike each member of the opposing group. Upon reaching an opponent, one would attack the legs while the other targeted the torso or head. With each target, they switched who would attack which part. Another interesting thing was that after each strike, the air pressure caused by Damian and Mirage's strength and speed created a small whirlwind, which grew larger with each hit. It reached the point where the penultimate whirlwind was so large that it threw the last enemy away, saving him.
Skypiean(3): "What... what... what just happened?! What are these two?!"
Realizing he had no chance of winning, the last conscious member of the group decided to flee by flying away.
Seeing that the Skypiean was trying to escape, Damian and Mirage discussed whether they should go after him or not.
Mirage: "He's escaping."
Damian: "Yeah... I noticed."
Mirage: "Shouldn't we go after him?"
Damian: "We should, but do we want to?"
Mirage: "Explain yourself."
Damian: "We can do it the boring way, which is to interrogate one of them, or my way, which is to make them come after us."
Looking at Damian incredulously, Mirage didn't even think before replying.
Mirage: "Let's do it the boring way."
Damian: "WHAT?! Why?!"
Mirage: "Isn't it obvious? The reason is that this isn't a game, Dami! We're here to complete a mission!"
Seeing Mirage's seriousness, Damian also adopted a serious expression and, with his staff, pointed at the fleeing Skypiean, who was already a few kilometers away.
Damian: "Alright, you buzzkill... let's finish this quickly! Get on."
As soon as Mirage got on the staff, Damian twisted his body to gain more strength, and Mirage began to release electro, electrifying his entire body and Damian's staff.
Damian/Mirage: "Illusory Demon: Illusory Thunder"
BRRR BROOOOOOM!!!!
As soon as Damian launched the staff, a thunderous boom echoed everywhere, leaving Damian and Mirage a bit dazed, but that didn't stop them from continuing the attack.
Skypiean(3): "What is that sound? (turns around) HOLY SHIT!"
Upon turning, the Skypiean saw an object enveloped in lightning coming towards him. Instinctively, he tried to stop it with an air wall, but as soon as the object made contact with the wall, it was completely ignored, as the object was so fast it nearly broke the sound barrier.
After passing through the air wall, Mirage charged his legs even more with electro and leaped towards the Skypiean. The moment he took his feet off the staff, the speed achieved by this action broke the sound barrier. At that speed, Mirage easily caught up to the fugitive, making him fall towards the ground.
From afar, Damian saw that Mirage had managed to capture the fugitive. Then, he turned to the group he and Mirage had defeated and began to loot their bodies. After checking them all, Damian didn't find anything particularly interesting for himself, but that wasn't the case for Yosuke. Each member of the group had a flintlock pistol, so Damian took the one that seemed to be in the best condition and all the bullets he found, handing them to Yosuke, who was watching the fight from a distance.
Damian: "Here."
Yosuke: "Thank you..."
Yosuke took the pistol from Damian's hands, but his face showed doubt.
Damian: "Is there something you want to say?"
Yosuke: "Yes... how are you guys so strong?"
Damian: "That? Hmm... there are several factors, but listing them all would be boring. So, I'll tell you the two most important ones for me."
Yosuke: "Two?"
Damian: "Ta-da~ Yes, two. The first is the basic: train like hell. And the second is... be crazy!"
Yosuke: "Crazy? What do you mean?"
Damian: "Simply put, being crazy is about never holding back and doing everything to get stronger."
Yosuke: "Really? Hahaha, that's interesting."
They continued talking for a few more moments before Mirage returned with Damian's staff and the unconscious fugitive Skypiean, handing them to Damian.
Mirage: "Why does this thing have to be so big?"
Damian: "Maybe because I'm about three times your size?"
Hearing Damian's response, Mirage just rolled his eyes and turned to Yosuke.
Mirage: "Hey, Yosuke! Let's hurry to your father's lab."
Yosuke: "What about the others?"
Mirage: "These guys are useless. It'll take them at least five hours to wake up, and we don't have that much time."
Damian: "And don't worry about them escaping. There's no way they can flee the island after what we're going to do to their hideout and their bosses."
Yosuke: "If you say so. Then let's go."
So, the three resumed their path to the city center, which didn't take long since Damian and Mirage were quite fast, something that couldn't be said for Yosuke. A few seconds after they started walking, he was picked up by Damian, who carried him the rest of the way.
Yosuke: "It's here!"
Upon hearing Yosuke's words, the two stopped in front of the prefecture building, which seemed more destroyed than the others. Its roof no longer existed, and the walls were standing by sheer plot force.
To Be Continued