Two Times, One Sword (Closed)

"Yes." responded Yori. He wasn't surprised that Neza would be excited about the fight. It had always been a game for her. She had wanted to kill Jiro for fun the instant she went back in time. It didn't matter what happened to the rest of the world, as long as she could get her thrills. Yori and Neza both had been resurrected from the dead, but Yori could no longer allow the cycle to continue.

"I should warn you that Neza will have an ally as well." said Himura.
"The double that carried her out of the tombs?" guessed Jiro.
"What you saw of the other was only the husk. Mei doesn't have the same mind, though they have taught each other much." Himura then sighed. "It's unfortunate that our strategy of killing generals two versus one is over."

He was waiting for Yori to rebuke, but Yori didn't this time. His eyes were dispassionately focused. Himura remembered learning about the soldier training that cyborg PaxCorp employees had to go through. It was all about stripping the humanity from the enemy in the mind, lashing outward. It was very unlike how Jiro eyes were calm, seeming to clear his thoughts for the coming battle, of maintaining an inward sanctuary for himself.

"Tell me the weaknesses in her design." said Yori. It seemed he had come to that decision after forcing himself into the mindset of a PaxCorp soldier. He didn't demand to know this for the other generals.
"There are none." responded Himura.
"You expect me to believe you didn't create an artificial one for your own protection?"
"I don't create flaws."
"Your ego makes you a fool."
"I'd be foolish if I tried making a flaw." said Himura. "Neza would've found it and rooted it out of her system. She would've then killed me to make doubly sure the weakness was gone. You know this. Use your soldier training better. If there is no weakness-"
"Make one." finished Yori. Yori then turned to Jiro.
"We can't allow ourselves to become like them." responded Jiro.
"There will be no tricks." assured Yori. "If what Himura says is true, that Neza is excited to fight me, that becomes her weakness. She will try to fight me, and I will deny her."
"I do not understand."
"She's impatient, and wants a specific fight with me, an 'ideal' fight. She will not expect a fight where I simply disengage from her attacks and run. You will fight her instead, while I fight the other. In frustration, she'll try to fight through you to get to me, but you won't allow her. With luck, she might overextend, creating an opening for you to kill her."
"How are you sure this plan will work?" asked Jiro. "There are so many pillars that can fall. What if you're wrong about how she'll react? What if we can't separate them? What if you can't disengage her?"
"I can't be certain any of it will work." responded Yori.
Jiro nodded. "It's time to act. Let us go."
"Finally!" exclaimed Himura. "It's freezing in here."

The ice walls were weak now that Katsumi was dead. Himura pointed to where Yori could carefully burn an opening for them to go through. Himura motioned for them to keep quiet with a simple gesture as they snuck through the halls of the complex once again. Himura went on ahead in front of Yori and Jiro. There were still golems about, but they were unaware of Himura's betrayal. He'd simply divert their paths with simple orders to clear a direct path for them to go. They made it to the old staircase that Himura mentioned. It was one of those that you had to pull down by a cord on a roof to pull down. Himura again went first, followed by Jiro and then Yori. Yori pulled up the staircase from behind them.

It was dark as they crawled through the roof. At one point, they heard Yang below questioning golems on the orders that were used to divert their paths, but those above ignored that, pressing forward silently on their knees on wooden beams. There were a couple of times Jiro caught hold of Himura's shirt so he wouldn't lose balance and fall. They nodded to each other, not in thanks, but in mutual understanding that it did neither of them any good to get caught now. Skipping a fight made a great deal of difference for this gauntlet. They then stopped at what seemed to be a dead end. Himura pointed downward, and pointed at himself, opening a small hidden door at the dead end, revealing a small nook for one person. He then turned around and closed the small down behind him silently. Presumably they would get him later once the coast was clear.

Jiro slid the loose wooden boards aside and the two samurai dropped down from the roof. They turned about to find two handled wooden doors facing them. Unlike the freaky door that protected Waru's realm, these doors were normal by comparison, with wooden etchings of Japanese dragons on the door fronts. With one samurai behind each door, they snuck through together with their swords drawn into a large, open, and beautiful courtyard, overlooked from afar by the topmost level of the complex, where Gin presumably was. Jiro and Yori had their backs to each other as they surveyed their surroundings for the enemy until both pairs of eyes focused on a pair of two stone dragons. Neza and Mei walked out of cover and moved towards the two in unison.
 
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"BROTHER!" Neza smiled calling out to him "How kind of you to come, oh and you to cave man!" she laughed.

"Oh and father is here to! The master is not happy with you father, he wants you dead!" Mei called out with a smirk. The two sisters were nearly identical, only Neza had lines across her joints.

"So Yori ready for us to beat you and your antiquated friend down? Oh this is just like old times right? You had that same look in your eye back at Paxcorp 'Oh no please to hurt me Ayako.' you would beg for me to stop hitting you like the little boy you were. Now here we are again, and let me tell you I'M READY TO CRUSH YOU!" she yelled. She wasted no time in running at Yori, summoning a few knives and tossing them at him.

Yori easily deflected the knives, Neza came in with a strong kick to his head. *WHACK!* Yori blocked, wind coming off the bock. He came in slashed at her, but she flipped backwards.

"I guess that leaves you and I cave man!" Mei ran at Jiro, but he was quick to disengage. "No fair you can't run!"

"Neza!" Jiro ran at her and slashed at her *CLANG* She summoned a short sword, and blocked the attack.

"I don't have time for you cave man! Leave!" She broke the clash and swiped at him. *CLANG* Jiro clashed with her again. "YOU ARE NOT ON MY LEVEL ASSHOLE!" Neza yelled, and summoned a cross bow, and fired the bolt into his face. *THUNK.* The arrow landed in a thin layer of pillar earth Jiro raised.

"Ugh come on!" Mei started to go and help Neza.
 
Mei weaved back instinctively as a fireball whizzed past her. Before she could get an even footing again, she raised her sword to parry Yori's sword. Yori continued to repeatedly swing as Mei moved backward to block his strikes. Her grip remained strong, though her wrist strained to keep hold against Yori's machine power. She pulled out her wakizashi from her back hilt and went for a quick slash across his stomach. This opened up the distance that she needed as Yori moved backwards to avoid the strike. Yori reset his stance, both hands on the hilt of his samurai sword. Whenever she ran left or right, so did he, maintaining the same distance. Mei yelled in defiance and went on the attack with both of her swords, swinging at Yori from the left and right, but she was constantly denied to move past him, as Yori held his sword downward to merely cover his vitals, moving and blocking with seemingly minimal effort.

"Die!" Mei yelled. With her samurai sword she swung to the right to create an opening, while at the same time stabbing forward with her wakizashi. Yori used his free hand to catch the blade. Mei felt the blade uselessly scrape against Yori's metal hand. She then felt a sharp sting, realizing to her horror that her hand was being burned through the blade as it conducted the heat. She let go of the blade and rolled backward.

"Bastard!" she screamed, but as though deaf to her words, Yori charged forward again, this time with one hand on his blade, and the other now blazing in fire. She had learned the pain Yori had inflicted on her, and he was taking advantage of it. This wasn't the boy 'Ayako' had trained before. This man had learned Neza's cruelty. Yori was torturing her to get to her sister.
 
Yori grabbed Mei's arm and she screamed in pain as his grip burned like white fire. Yori went in for the finishing blow, thrusting his sword at her head. *CLANG!* The tip of the blade hit a summoned small shield that Mei brought up. The shield turned to a cross bow and she fired right a Yori, the blot struck his sword as he brought it up to block. She wiggled from his grasp and moved out of his reach, her arm badly burned.

Neza saw and heard what happened to Mei and this sent her mind ablaze "MEI!" she called. Crossbow turned to thick iron gauntlets, she caught Jiro's sword and wrestled it away from him. She tossed it further away and ran towards her borther, summoning a huge club. "DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HER!" she slammed it into Yori's back.

Everything went black and there was a loud ringing in Yori's ears, when he came to Neza was checking on Mei "Neza I'm fine really."

"Okay okay." Nexa nodded.

Jiro helped Yori up and the two teams squared off again "Whats your problem Yori! Not talking to me! Not fighting me!" she was screaming. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this!" Neza roared. "Fight me like you fought Hotaru!"

"Don't you speak her name!" Yori blunted out, over come with rage.

Hotaru smiled "Oh did I strike a nerve?"
 
Mei grinned maliciously. "He's unraveling without his spirit partner."
"What?" Yori gasped. He felt a void where Yoko was supposed to be.
Mei raised her charred arm. "Yanked from your body though this. This body's a cage for souls. She's not leaving."
Neza laughed gaily. "I didn't know you had a spirit partner too, Yori."
"A young priestess." said Mei.
"That's rich!" said Neza. "How many women does that make, Yori, that you've failed to save?"
Yori clenched his sword so hard that his hand was shaking.
"She'll be put into a new body and tortured until she breaks." Neza added. "Gin might like her as a gift. Knowing that she was yours would make it that much sweeter."

"You've made a terrible mistake, and it will cost you your life." growled Yori.
"What, for making you mad?" said Neza. "That's what I wanted."
"No." corrected Yori. "For making us mad!"
Yori and Jiro yelled in unison, charging to battle again as two swords working as one.
 
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"COME ON THEN!" Neza yelled, she and Mei ran at the two samurai. Neza brought up a kite shield up to black both attacks. Their swords clanging against the steel shield, pushing Neza back. She brought her tail up and over, stinging at them. They had to split off and Mei took Jiro with a kick to his open side. They were splitting them up again, and Neza couldn't help but laugh. "You and me brother, no priestess, no cave man. You have no idea how long I've wanted this rematch, pay back for taking me out of the powerhouse of a body I used to have!" she stung at Yori once more, going to a back flip. She pulled a long sword from behind her. It was a black blade with gold trim, and about twice as long as Yori's. "I've discovered new powers thanks to Mei." the blade started to glow.

"GIVE ME BACK YOKO!" Jiro slashed at Mei who danced around him.
"Oh come on Jiro why do you care about some stupid ghost?" she chuckled and summoned a spear. She jabbed at him, cutting across his side though it was shallow.
"I said give her back!" he racked the ground with his sword and sent shards of rock rocketing towards her.

Yoko found herself floating through darkness "Where am I? Yori?" she then found herself land in some kind of camp... it was tribal. A big ring of white rocks outlined a ring in the dirt. Torches at four sides of it. In the middle of the Mei, her real body

"Your brother will die, your chosen one will die, and you will be trapped forever in torture. Neza and I will laugh and take over the world with master Gin." she laughed.

Yoko was horrified, a rift opening so she could watch Mei cut and jab at her borther. "No!.... No I won't let you!" she drew her sword and ran at Mei.

"You don't have a choice!" Mei blocked with her sword with her great club. "Sense when does a pampered priestess know how to fight? That's why you died!"
 
It seemed so obvious, now, as Yori stood alone against Neza, why it was that he could never defeat her alone. She had been his only teacher. At PaxCorp, he had grown to be powerful, but only in a way his older sister and his father knew. It was only when he broke away did he begin to learn, beginning when he cut through the veil of tears. Yoko had become his new teacher, helping him overcome the self-imposed image of being an action hero. There was Jiro and Alexandria too, who taught him of honor and restraint, but above all in his mind was Hotaru; the only thing he had left was the remaining fragment of the stone that comprised her soul.

Neza slashed her sword and an arc of energy cut through the air from it, with Neza immediately running behind it. Yori moved to avoid the first crescent of energy, only to realize that Neza had effortlessly created two more at different angles. His machine systems calculated their intersection point in an instant, and Yori fired a desperate bolt of fire at it. Neza dove above on of the crescents as the energy was being pushed back. Neza held her sword in an upward stabbing position, she slashed much smaller cuts in succession than the three swaths before. They flew like shurikens though the air, cutting through Yori. Yori howled in pain. Their swords clashed. Neza used the full length of her sword to her advantage, working around Yori's smaller blade to cut at him, threatening that if their swords were to ever lock, she'd deliver a fatal blow. Their blades finally locked, and before Neza could decapitate Yori by following through with the lock, Yori let go of his sword. Attempting to roll out of the way, Neza stabbed at him with her tail as a coup de gras. However, it was met with a surprising amount of stopping force. Yori had caught the split-second stab with both of his hands. Yori yelled as his fire magic rose up through him in an instant, using the tail as a conduit to attack. The tail couldn't contain the pressurized heat and exploded at each joint as the flame blast traveled towards Neza. She was sent flying and crashed against one of the courtyard walls.
 
"Warning! Tail destroyed. Warning! Leg apprentice disintegrated. Warning! Inner workings of back exposed. Warning! Internal damage detected.... loosing oil." Neza's system sounded.

"Mmmmm c can't see...." she said in a daze.

"Warning! Left eye lens broken. Right eye lens functional."

__

*Clang!* Yoko clashed with Mei once more, before sensing Neza's pain. She turned "Neza!" *THUNK!* Mei jerked forward and felt something... not right. She looked down and Yoko's sword tip was through her chest. "N no I... Neza! H help!" she fell to her knees.

Outside Mei's body had all but stopped, a look of terror on her face. She looked over at Neza, tears coming down her face. She dropped her weapon and stumbled over to her sister, collapsing into her on the floor. "I I'm s sorry Neza."

Neza felt the sting of fear run through her body "No!... NO! Mei you are stronger then her! Don't stop fighting! Y you can't lose!" Neza quickly held her close.

__

Yoko slid her sword out and Mei could feel her new life slipping away. "I'm sorry it had to end like this Mei... may pass on in peace." she said before her spirit escaped back into Yori.

__

"Neza... I love you.... th thank y you..." she closed her eyes and... slipped away.
There was this long silence from Neza then everything hit her "No! Oh no please no! Mei.... no!" she grabbed Mei's hair lightly, then her shoulders, and into a tight hug. Her face burst into tears, something Yori had never seen. She cried and begged for Mei to come back, her body jerking to try and get up to try and fight but it wasn't happening.

Jiro sheathed his sword "I'll go get Himura." he said quietly, leaving the two.

Neza was crying and pleating for her sister to come back, her systems starting to shut down from strain.
 
After picking up his sword, Yori stood a distance away from Neza, watching Neza break down. It was so different from what he knew of his wicked sister, who never was supposed to feel anything like this.

"What are you staring at?" said Neza.
Yori had no reply.
"You must be enjoying yourself, seeing me like this." added Neza.
You'd think that after all those times you've enjoyed watching me suffer, I would be, thought Yori. but I'm not.
"What are you waiting for?" said Neza.

Yori raised his sword and looked at it deeply, thinking of it as Neza's birthday present to him, of his transition to becoming a man. It was made of an alloy she invented, crafted into a sword by her intellect.

"Gin will kill you." said Neza. A faint chuckle echoed though those words before being choked by tears. The last spark of life left Neza's eyes.
 
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The three entered the throne room, it was cold and an evil feeling hung in the air. Gin was sitting a top his throne glaring at the three. *Clap Clap Clap* "Well done making it this far, I must commend you for over coming my generals. Jiro with your weak aunt, and you metal man for your promising but overly flawed sister. Oh I see you even you have betrayed me Himura, placing false hope in these two fools." he laughed.

"Enough Gin! Give us back the stones and all of this can end right now!" Jiro ordered.

"Do not raise your voice to me boy! I could kill you where you stand and not even bat an eye!" the shogun snarled.

"Fine then give us the stones and I won't blow your head off." Yori took out his blaster, one bullet left, and aimed it at Gin's head. "Idiot I can be killed so easily by a mere firearm, put that away." he stood up, staring both of the samurai down. "Come this setting is a little to enclosed for my tastes."

He lead them up into the highest point in the fortress, taking them outside. It was a large stone arena built into one of the towers. It was open with no protection from falling, one wrong move would send you off the edge. "Here we are, nothing but open air." he smirked under his mask. "Himura Stand near the door and stay out of the way, I'll kill you after I kill these two." He drew his swords.

They were as black as night and seven of the eight notches filled with a fragment from each sacred stone. "My blades beg to be complete! I will take the remaining stone from your cold corps Jiro!" he pointed a blade and Jiro. "Kaze Surasshu!" the Shard Stone piece lit up, and with astonishing speed, Gin was on top of Jiro. *CLANG!* Jiro manged to block the slash, and was now in a clash. "You've groan stronger, it strength alone will not save you!" Gin roared.

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Sarutahiko Okami delivered the Shard Stone giving us the rocks beneath our feet.
Konohanasakuya, the blossom princess, delivered the Sprite Stone sprouting the trees, and giving us animals.
Suijin delivered the Aquwis Stone bring the great waves of the ocean.
Kisshōten delivered the Husk Stone giving humans a shape.
Tsukiyomi delivered the Zae Stone gracing humans with a heart.
Amatsu- Mikaboshi delivered the Padnose Stone delving the world into chaos.
Fukurokuju delivered the Lumus Stone giving contrast and bringing order.

At the center of it all was the controller, the Goddess Stone. Amaterasu engraved freedom into the hearts of humans.​

Gin continued to relentlessly slash down at Jiro like a hawk with his pair of swords, one after another at different angles. Despite the fact that the sword style of "Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu" was in Yori's database, Gin's variant on it was all his own. Yori joined the fray attacking from Gin's flank. Gin's rhythm didn't diminish, however, as he started to parry Yori's strikes as well, in tandem with Jiro's.


The shard stone glowed brighter in an instant, and when Yori attempted to slash from the side, his sword clashed and all the force from his strike resonated back through his arm. His sensors calculated that Gin's arm holding that sword didn't move a micron - immovable. Gin counterattacked, slashing upward with his wakizashi against Yori's chest, cutting through metal as the Goddess Stone lit up, making Gin's blades molten hot. Yori cried in pain. An aura of fire gushed from Yori to burn Gin away, but it was being sucked inward towards the Goddess Stone like a vortex.

In the next moment, his twin swords redirected themselves towards Jiro. Both the shard and the goddess stone no longer glowed, but another was glowing in their place. Jiro went in for a stab utilize the second gap Gin had used to strike at Yori, at the chest, and though it seemed to hit its mark, it didn't seem to strike true. When Jiro saw the eyeless face, he pulled away just before Gin's swords cut through Gin's own image, a front husk that he had shed in one piece, cutting it like paper.

From this harrowing experience, the two samurai realized the true horror of their enemy. Gin was in full control of his own speed, slowing down intentionally, and speeding up only when it was time to strike, whether it was to parry with an immovable, or weave back from his molting tactic, it didn't matter. If the battle continued like this, they wouldn't be able to win. Gin imposed his will on the stones he had, squeezing out their potential for raw killing ability.
 
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"Yori!" Yoko came out and cauterized what she could to close the cut. She faced Gin and flew toward him, sword drawn.


"You would dare strike an unready opponent!" *CLANG!* her sword was met with the head of a spear. "You don't deserve the title of warrior!" Tatsuya, Gin's guardian spirit, now towered over Yoko.

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Yoko jumped back, fear filling her eyes, "Tatsuya! How are-"

With incredible speed Tatsuya was in front of her, fist planted in her gut the air escaping her lungs. She dropped to the ground gasping for air, clutching her stomach. Finally air was given to her as her lungs opened, but it was short lived as her attacker grabbed her head "You aren't even worthy of my spear!" there was a quick pop in the air and then Yoko felt a buzzing pain enter her body, he shooting ten thousand volts through her.

She stopped moving and he tossed her to the ground like a doll "If you want an opponent then I will take you on." the warrior spirit growled.

Yoko slowly recovered getting to her feet "I a accept." she raised her sword and fired a fireball at him, following behind it. The fire ball was deflected but a sword strike found it's mark slashing him across the chest, though he didn't seemed phased.

__

Yori was in pain, but he had to press on "Yoko come back and-"

"No! The more we can keep Gin distracted the better! Go!" Yoko called back.

Yori found strength in her words and came at Gin from behind *CLANG* his sword was met with Gins. "Backstabs are for the weak!" he reared back and kicked Yori. *Clang* he blocked a hit from Jiro, and pushed him back. "This is the best that bitch of a Goddess could muster, a boy and a broken pile of scrap!" he laughed.

Jiro took out the Aquwis Stone and unleashed a torrent on to Gin, it hit him with the force of a raging river. It knocked him back, he trying to brace and push back. The Shard Stone glowed again.... but it quickly went out. Gin was nearly at the edge "Yori now stab him in the back!" Jiro yelled.

Yori scrambled and boosted over behind Gin "RAAAAAH!" Yori planted his sword through Gin and everything stopped. It was as if time itself had stopped but only for a moment, the three wondering if this was real.

Yori pulled his sword of the shogun, and Gin fell to his knees. "N no.... I am beaten..." he fell to the ground. It was over... but something was off the Lumus Stone started to glow. "Heh heh heh Ha ha ha HAHAHAHA! FOOL!" Gin stood up and dusted himself. "With the power of the stones I am unbeatable!" he roared. It was clear that Gin had been stabbed up the hole was healed.

Then came the sound of thunder, a flash of lightning, and then they were bombarded with rain. "Amaterasu weeps for you!" he laughed.
 
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"A gift." whispered Jiro, his breath caught in howling winds of the storm.
A single tear from the Goddess had unlocked the power of the Aqwuis Stone and it once again glowed with a reinvigorated, bright blue light. A vortex of rain spiralled around the stone as Jiro channelled its power again.


Lightning crashed around Gin. The sudden light temporarily blinded the two cowards as he broke from being flanked on both sides.
Gin noticed the water swirl at his feet, and that the attack wouldn't be from the rain Jiro was collecting at the stone. The fool thought was so clever. The Sprite Stone glowed just before the water underneath him could shoot up and throw him off balance. Instead, a large tree instantly sprouted from the bottom of his feet, comfortably lifting him over his enemies as the water crashed uselessly below him, slowly but surely diminishing as the large roots there were pulsating, absorbing the water. Like clockwork, the metal golem shot a fire bolt at the trunk of tree hoping to immolate it. Activating the Padnose Stone, a blank tendril shot out of the tree, clasped the fire in its hand and threw it a Jiro. A thick wall of water shot up in front of Jiro from the rain-soaked ground, intercepting the blast.

---

Tasuya countered Yoko sword slash with a cross bash of his spear against her face, staggering her, but before he could follow up with stabbing her through the chest, she had continued to fall back and instead did a backwards cartwheel. The bottoms of her feet ignited in fire that shot towards his masked face. As he yelled in pain, he furiously cut through the air with his spear. To Yoko's horror, the lower part of Tasuya's burnt face started to regenerate; his flesh were like little worms wriggling about, piecing together as they melted.
"Your tricks won't save you forever."
Yoko didn't need forever. She just needed to buy time for Jiro and Yori.
"I've learned much from my master." Yoko said defiantly.
"The half-golem's a fool, just like you."
Yoko sheathed her sword. It wasn't like it was doing any damage anyway. She grinned.
"Must be hard to see with all that metal smelted on your face." She taunted. "Must smell bad too."
Tasuya charged at Yoko and they both started to fly through the air. Yoko spun with controlled short bursts of fire to dodge Tasuya's thrusts and slashes, rolling left or right with opposite hand thrusters, and up and down in an attempt to outmaneuver Tasuya through the air. Yoko understood that Tasuya was still a traditional warrior, unfamiliar with aerial strategies of the future. He still had to think linearly, though it appeared he was steadily picking up her modified tactics. Lightning crashed around her as Tasuya directed the strikes from the skies, but her moves were highly erratic.
 
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Jiro pushed the the wall of water at Gin, who cut through it with a pillar of rock. "Don't you understand, it's pointless!" Gin snarled. There was a gust of wind and the shogun sped through the air, grabbing Jiro by the throat. "I'm holding all the cards here boy something your father couldn't grasp, and look where that got him!" Gin spat.

"Don't talk... about... my father!" Jiro chocked. He grabbed Gin's arm and reared his foot back, kneeing him in the stomach. This did all but make him flinch enough to have him let go.

"Why you!" *BOOM!* A fireball hit Gin square in head causing him to topple to one knee. The Lumos stone glowed and Gin got back up like it was nothing. The Padnos stone glimmered and the shogun shot a dark ball of energy at Yori.

Yori couldn't get out the way in time and the darkness consumed him, everything went dark. "Warning warning malfunction with ocular sensors." Yori's system warned. Then came the cold sting of metal cutting through his metal once more, blood poured from the cut. "Warning warning! Loosing blood rapidly, recommend cauterization."

JIro sent a hail of sharp jagged rocks right for Gin. He quickly put up his own stone barrier, and blocked the attack. Gin cut the pillar into shards and sent them spiraling toward the samurai. There was the sound of bones snapping as a large shard priced Jiro's shoulder, he let out a scream.

____

Yoko was doing her best at keeping the spirit warrior at bay, but her bothers screams distracted her "JIRO!" she started for him. Tasuya took full advantage and sliced her side, giving her a deep cut. She didn't bleed but the pain was so intense.

____

"Wake up..."
 
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He couldn't see how badly he had been damaged, but perhaps it was for the better. He heard Jiro's cry of pain. Though they had been fighting together, they were being defeated individually. Their strategy had to change.

Yori clutched at the open wound and cauterized it with fire. Though the darkness, the eye of his mind opened as it reached for the blue light emitted by the Aqwuis Stone. Jiro's and Yori's mind became connected; Yori could feel the large shard piecing Jiro's shoulder, and Jiro could feel the pain of Yori's freshly cauterized wounds. In sharing the pain, their burden was lessened.

Gin had been told of a similar interaction before from Waru, when the two warriors fought Alexandria. It would be the fools' undoing. They believed that joining minds would give them an advantage, but doing so would only make them more predictable - tethered minds as useless as a bow tied to an arrow.

"Now!" Yori and Jiro yelled. Unlike what Gin expected, Yori and Jiro didn't move in unison. They were still of different minds.

Simple thoughts continued to be shared between the two warriors, but these thoughts didn't collide with the other. There were still two streams, a balance. Together they understood that despite Gin's mastery over all the stones, he could only use one at a time.

Fire spiraled around Yori's as he used brief visions from Jiro's eyes to track his own movements, a disorienting experience, moving himself partially from the third person. Now instead of throwing fireballs at Gin, Yori feinted with his fireballs, forming them at his fists, but delaying the time the bolts left his hands when his arms extended. The bolts also split in midair, yielding a higher spread and increasing the chance to hit something, since Yori could no longer target. He was using artillery tactics when given blindness.

Gin activated the Goddess Stone and ran through Yori's flames, absorbing them completely so that he could finish him off. A pillar of rock shot up from the ground once the Goddess Stone was activated. He had just dodged the earth pillar, but as he dodged one, another could come out of the ground. Gin understood to his horror that he was being herded. Fire continued to rain down on him - if he stopped the Goddess Stone to use the Shard Stone, he would be immolated. Jiro, with his shoulder impaled, couldn't fight in sword combat as well, using shrewdness as a magic caster instead.

In only a few seconds he was surrounded by walls from the sides and from above, except for Yori directly in front of him. Yori's cybernetic body whirred as his arm went into overdrive, landing a punch with the force of a hydraulic piston in Gin's chest. Despite being blind, Yori couldn't possibly miss. Gin vomited blood and couldn't breathe. Yori stabbed his sword through adjacent to his hand. Yori was alarmingly close to stabbing his own hand.

"Regenerate this!" yelled Yori. Yori viciously pulled out Gin's guts. With Jiro intent on crushing Gin alive while he was still paralyzed, the walls of stone were also starting to crush on all sides. Gin had no choice but to activate the Shard Stone, before the walls crushed him or Yori got to his spinal column. A jet of fire shot from Yori's hands while still inside Gin, burning his flesh. Gin roared in rage. He was no longer being crushed, and with a mighty punch of his own, sent Yori flying backward with his sword. The stone walls crumbled around him. It was a wonder he was still standing.

Jiro could now see that he was trying to use more stones than just one. The stones in the sword glowed more dimly than before.
 
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Gin coughed up blood and bits of bone. He tore away his helm and mask, red eyes and short black hair met the heated air.
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"You.... think.... I'm done?" he fell to one knee, sword planted in the ground. "I have the stones.... o on my side..." the Shard Stone glowed and a thick wall of rock formed around Gin, then came the Lumos Stone slowly working to pull the mans body back together.​

"NO! W we're so close!" he fired off an earth spike but it barely dented the shell. Jiro was loosing blood and fell to his knees.

Yori got to his feet and laid into the rock with heavy sword slashes "We won't loose!" he roared.

___

Yoko was reaching her limit, Tasuya starting to figure out her strategy landing cuts here and there. "You stupid little girl! You'll die here for your crimes against Gin!" the warrior yelled. He went to slash at her again but stopped, looked over his shoulder, seeing that Gin was near death. It was all the opening Yoko needed to rocket past Tasuya and head toward Gin's shell.


"Yori thank you so much for accepting me as your guardian." she smiled and spoke to him through their bond.

"Yoko what are doing!" Yori could see her flying toward the shell.

"You're an amazing warrior and an even better friend, I'm thankful to have known you. Please look after my borther." she went phased through the shell wall and grabbed onto gins swords with both hands. "AMATERASU I RELEASE YOU!" she yelled and poured every once of energy she had into the swords.

"YOKO NO!" Yori roared and slashed harder at the wall.

"What is this!" Gin yelled as he felt the intense feedback in the swords.

She smiled "Goodbye... Yori." *BOOM!* The shell exploded, the stones in Gin's swords cracked and shattered. However, two small blue burning orbs rolled to Yori's feet.

Yori couldn't feel Yoko's energy anymore... she was gone, using her last act to protect her best friend and beloved brother. The samurai fell to his knees, hands clutching the dirt trying to hold back tears.

Even Jiro noticed she was gone an absents in his heart. He got up and knelt down beside Yori "Th thank you Yoko..." he whispered.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Gin burst from the burning pile of rock, body shredded from the explosion, one broken blade in his hand. "You've ruined EVERYTHING!" he staggered over to the two, towering over them. "If I die then you're going with me!" he raised the blade, both samurai still on their knees

___

"Wake up... wake up Neza!" a voice called out to her from the dark void she was floating in.

"Who's..... there?" Neza's mind was hazy.

"Oh come on silly, don't tell me you don't know the voice of you're own sister!" Mei laughed.

"Mei?... Where... are you?"

"I'm... dead..."

Neza's eyes shot open and she jerked upwards "No! That's not.... you can't!" she shouted into the void.

"Jiro and your bother killed me... remember?"

Awful images of Mei dying in her arms flooded her mind "My bother?" she felt anger start to build in her. "Yori.... he killed you.... he took you away." she clenched her fists. "HE TOOK YOU AWAY!" a fire inside her burst to life. "YOIR I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" she roared.

"Warning system failure imminent." Neza awoke to her system alarms going off.

Rage consumed her "Shut up!" she yelled and tore open the Zae Gem compartment. Sparks and metal shards poured onto the ground as she crawled and ripped the gem from her chest. "RAAHHHHHH!" In one final movement she pounded her gem into Mei's heart cavity. Her body went slack on the ground.

Not a second later her human body violently jerks and seized on the ground. Her eyes shot open and she took in a large breath. She slow got up and and looked around pain and anger burned in her gut "AHHHHHH!" she let out a scream and her body started to glow "YORI!" she shouted.

___
"DIE!" Gin came down with the blade aimed right for Jiro head. *CLAGN!* It was met with samurai's white blade. "What!"

"You don't get it do you Gin? You've lost, it's over!" Jiro stood up, repelling the blow easily, his arm healed.

"How did you!" Gin looked on for a second, before trying to stab Yori. The samurai grabbed the shoguns wrist and snapped it like it was nothing, the broken blade landing on the ground.

"Your reign ends here Gin, no more people to help you, no more tricks!" Yori got up and all of his wounds were gone.

Gin shuffled back, clutching his hand "I don't understand!"

Jiro opened hand and in it was one of the Goddess Stone fragments, burning a bright blue. Yori opened his hand to show the same. "Because our cause is just! Because we fight for life! Because Amaterasu believes in us!" Jiro proclaimed. Both fighters swords burst into blue flame "BECAUSE WE ARE ONE SWORD!" They both charged the Gin. In one final blow they cut through the demon shogun, a trail of fire following their swings. Both samurai stopped at the end of their swings "That's why you lost" *Click* both sheathed their katakana at the same time.

*BOOM!* There was an explosion and Gin burst into flames, body falling to the ground. The monstrous shogun known as Gin was dead. Almost instantly the rain broke to reveal a bright sunny day. "W w we did it!" Jiro shouted, and jumped up and down, it taking a second to settle in.

Yori smiled and nodded "Couldn't have do it with out you!"

"Well done you two." Amaterasu appeared before them.

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Both samurai were quick to to kneel, but she motioned for them to rise. "I couldn't be more proud of you two, even now the magic that Gin used to bind us is breaking." she smiled and slowly the other gods and goddesses appeared around her, their respective stones with them. "We can not thank you e-" the goddess was cut off by heavy shaking of the ground under them. "Whats this!"


"YORI!" The ground bust open, rocks sent flying. Neza was floating right in the center of the tower, eyes a blaze with energy, a red aura surrounding her. "YOU TOOK HER FROM ME! THE ONLY FAMILY I HAD! THE ONLY PERSON I LOVED! YOU'LL DIE FOR THIS! AHHHHHHH!" she roared. The aura enveloped her and her form started to twist and change.

"Warning! Warning! Level ten android detected, reinforcements required." Yori's systems sounded.
"No it can't be..." Yori looked on in terror.

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The aura dissipated to reveal Neza's original form... Ayako the living weapon. "I'm going to cut you to pieces Yori! You'll pay!" she snarled.

This form was different though, she was much bigger, and probably came with more weapons. She ran at Yori, her elbow opening to expose a machine gun.

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Yori and Jiro rolled in opposite directions behind the debris created by Ayako's entrance as she fired her machine gun. Her terrible aura consumed everything around her, could be felt and touched in the air; Amaterasu and the other gods and goddesses started to fade away like figments in Yori's eyes. After freeing their respective stones from Gin's terrible influence, not helping is how they repaid their warriors? No, it was even worse than that. They were powerless to help, even Amaterasu. They formed a perimeter around the tower, their heads bowed. A cloak descended on each of them bearing covering their bodies; though it was the color of their respective stone, their colors were faded as dull hues. They were losing their connection to the world. There was no more faith in them. They had been gone for too long, and the world had changed too much. Mortals had learned to survive without the gods, and though they were not abandoned, the damage was the same. The future he came from didn't seem so far away anymore, where not even the names of the gods would be known.

"You've never loved anyone except yourself!" Yori shouted. He ducked from cover to hurl fireballs to provide a distraction for Jiro to get out of a pin when another machine gun came out Ayako's other arm to fire at where Jiro was. Ayako's body opened vents on all sides and powerful fans pushed back the fireballs with tremendous gusts of air. "You will answer for the people you've killed!"

"YOU WILL ANSWER FOR KILLING MY SISTER!"
"You dare compare us?! What you did to Hotaru was cold blooded MURDER!"
"HOTARU WASN'T THE ONLY WOMAN I KILLED, YORI!" Her eyes and grin were so wide that it would be impossible for a human face, and a sick and demented laughter escaped her lips. "I KILLED THEM ALL!"

The firing stopped. There was a standstill, as the warriors searched for a new opening to exploit.
Yori gasped. "That can't be."
"I toyed with Hisae. You should've seen my restraint to make it look like a man did it. It was like torturing an insect with a toothpick. After that, I just had to plant the dead ex I injected with a lethal dose of drugs to make it look like an overdose. As for Rin, well, she disappeared quietly, but I can tell you personally her death was far from quiet."
 
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"Yori don't let her get under your skin! Stay focused!" Jiro yelled. He stabbed the ground and a spiked pillar shot out from underneath Neza, it impaled her like a pig on a spit. "Did I do it!"

"I wouldn't count on it..." Yori readied his sword.

Neza's eyes shot open "How dare you! WHO THE FUCK YOU THINK YOU ARE!" she ripped her body from the stone, blood pouring from the massive hole in her stomach. She looked to Gin's burnt body "Oh Master Gin.... please give me one final gift." she reached out and plucked his body from the ground. "I wounder how you taste." she opened her mouth and hundreds of small sharp tendrils tore and ripped at the corps. In seconds she was healed, tossing her former master to the ground... what was left of him anyway.

"No more talking! Fight me!"


She charged at Jiro, claws ready to slice right through him. *CLANG!* He clashed with her, sword struggling to stay up in defense. She smirked and grabbed his blade ripping it from his hands, and tossing it away. She opened up her elbow again and aimed right for his head. "Any last-" *Boom!* "AH!" a fireball hit her right in the face, giving her a small burn.

Yori smirked and charged her "AAAHHHH!" he went to slash at her. *Clang!* his sword clashed but not with her claws. A red beam blade jutted from her palm, she swiped at Yori faster and faster. Both blocked blow for blow, a whirlwind of hits faster then Jiro could keep up with.

"Enough of this!" she swung one final time, breaking the attack. Her claw sprang open revealing a shot gun barrel. "Die Yori!" she smiled a toothy grin. *Click* BANG!* The gun went off and buckshot cut through Yori's armor like it was paper. He could feels parts of his heart exploding as the gunfire sent him back into the wall.

There was a moment of silence and then Neza started to laugh, harder and harder, until she was doubled over. "ALL THAT TALK AND FOR WHAT! HAHAHAHA!" she howled.

Jiro ran to his partner and grabbed hold of him "Yori! Stay with me!" he shook him.

Neza had this crazed look on her face, bits of blood and bone splattered on her face. "I won! ME! Now I have it all! Where Gin failed I will succeed!" she laughed and turned to the Gods and Goddesses behind her. "I think you all have something that is mine!" she leaped at one of the Gods, Amatsu- Mikaboshi, and yanked the Padnos Stone from his hands. The rock started to glow again, sensing the chaos in Neza, and she put it to her chest. The stone accepted her as its host and absorbed into her body. "AH!" she doubled over in pain. Her energy turned from red to black, shadows consuming her body. Her body looked like an after image, always moving "Ahhhh.... much better. Now then Jiro you'll be joining my bother shortly."

Jiro fell to his knees and prayed "Goddess Amaterasu, mother to us all, please I still believe in the Gods. I beg you help us, please any of you help us!"
 
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Close your eyes...

It was a whisper from Amaterasu to the praying warrior. He felt a thin ray of light from above, which pierced the dark clouds above him. Neza looked around in swaths with insane, wide eyes. She couldn't see the ray of light because it was so thin. The light from the sun soothed Jiro's mind as he closed his eyes. Neza cocked her shotgun arm and pointed it at Jiro.

The Lumus Stone within her suddenly exploded with light, fighting back against the darkness emanating from Neza. The light harmlessly hit Jiro's eyelids. One by one, the cloaks that hung on the gods were cast aside. Fukurokuju, the God of Order, grimaced as he outstreched his hand at Neza in judgement. Light burst from Neza's eyes as she fired her shotgun at Jiro, but heard a resounding thud as a pillar of earth burst from the ground. In panic, shades shot down in front of Neza's eyes to retaliate, but all she could see was white. Sarutahiko Okami, with a closed fist, punched forward to send the pillar slamming against Neza to knock her to her back. Roots and water sprang from the ground at the same moment. Konohanasakuya and Suijin moved in unison, mirrors of one another. The water churned the freshly broken and cracked earth, quickly becoming a whirlpool of mud. The roots grew at an accelerated rate to wrap around Neza's limbs.

Yori watched as the gods acted to protect Jiro from harm. He didn't understand. They weren't there before.

"It's by the strength of Jiro's great faith that mustered our powers from our great sleep. You didn't have faith at all." said Tsukiyomi.
"Can you blame him?" Kisshōten shot back. She could feel the black void now in Yori's heart, the heart that Tsukiyomi gave to him. All those women, including Yoko, gone from him forever. Now he was a soul again, watching helplessly from the sidelines.
Amatsu-Mikaboshi watched the events unfold with an expression of malaise. "How anticlimactic..."

Yang burst from the doors of Gin's throne room, with two gold golems following close behind. His focus immediately turned to Neza and he sprinted directly towards her. The two samurai had assassinated his shogun behind his back. The golem foundry was destroyed and their chief engineer was kidnapped, and the fortress below was being overrun by an out of control fire. None of that mattered. He remembered the first time he had met Neza, when she was only Ayako. She was a reckless fool without respect for anyone but herself. He couldn't train her, not that she cared when she used the mediation room to paint.

Neza was sinking into the swirling vortex of mud, struggling against the roots, the light torturing her from the inside. Jiro had opened his eyes, rejuvinated and ready to fight again. He raised a peircing stalagmites from the ground to hit Yang, but the gold golems moved to intercept them, deflecting them with the broadsides with their swords. Jiro yelled in righteous fury seeing the remains of Gin still in action. The two golems worked together in their swings, holding Jiro temporarily at bay. The earthen pillar summoned by the god Sarutahiko Okami moved on its own now, moving like a rook on a chessboard for a vantage point to strike. Yang summoned his magnetic energy to pull up against the forces dragging Neza down. Every ounce of his focus was towards this effort against the forces of the awakening gods. His sword unsheathed itself as it circled around him, spinning quickly and gaining momentum with his now natural oscillating magnetic field. The opposing light burned his open eyes, and he didn't care.

When Neza barged in the library demanding for information on the Husk Stone, she was still as stubborn, arguing with him as much as possible. She had the gall to spy on him to steal info, then fight him, the kiss him out of nowhere. It was then he understood her resolve, when she agreed to fight back against the book spirits and triumph over them. It was the first time he truly felt pride for her as he became her totem to connect her to the real world, and when she came back with the information, his love for her was sealed. She then surprised him more by going into Death's domain and returning with the Husk Stone. It was a brilliance of the young acolyte that didn't need a master.

When the vines appeared their thinnest, Yang sent his sword flying to cut through them, and at the same time leap to snatch Neza from the highest point in the air he could muster, just over the mud below. The gods' powers could only focus their efforts, though constant, in a limited way. They were not yet fully awakened from Gin's previous dominance over them. They had spent their spell slot, as it were. There were the constants of the whirlpool, the living and ever growing roots, the light, and the moving earthen pillar. What Yang didn't see was the constant ray of sunlight that shone through the darkness, which constantly supplied Jiro with awakened energy and enhanced clarity in battle.

Yori looked on as a lingering spirit. Yoko's forced possession trained him to keep this form right after dying. She wanted so badly to help Jiro that she was willing to go against her ideals and make a bargain with Kisshōten.

"What are you waiting for? Send me back!" yelled Yori.

Yang bent the metal of Neza's stomach and through closed eyes grabbed the stone. Neza's insides struggled with Yang. The regenerative power of the stone and Neza's greed wouldn't allow for its removal, even though the light blinded her and made her helpless. With a mighty pull upward while pushing down on Neza with a magnetic field, he ripped the stone away and threw it aside. The flesh he had damaged repaired itself instantly as the stone exited her body.

"Please." pleaded Yori. "Jiro can't fight alone."
"It can't be done." said Tsukiyomi. "Your will is broken. Your soul can no longer bind to the living world."
"It's his body that matters." grunted Kisshōten. "I can't regrow a body from scratch, and the old one is too complex to restore."
"Jury rig me, dammit!" yelled Yori.
"... What?" Tsukiyomi was stunned. Amatsu-Mikaboshi looked over to Yori, intrigued.
"Scavenge anything and use it to send me to battle. I'm a half-golem!" Yori declared. It was unexpected, but Yori felt pride saying those words. He had never felt pride for that aspect before. He had been bullied when he was younger, and feared when he was older. He had been made to serve a purpose, to serve PaxCorp, but that didn't matter anymore. He had always scavenged and used everything he had in an effort to make himself and the world better.
"Sounds fun. I'm in." said Amatsu-Mikaboshi. "I can fill in the unfilled gaps and have your body and soul subsist off each other."
"A feedback loop." stated Yori.
"Under that kind of stress, both would eventually be annihilated." said Kisshōten.
"I don't care."
"You really care for Jiro, don't you?" said Tsukiyomi.
"He is my best friend."

The three gods went to work. With the Zae Gem in Yori's pocket, Tsukiyomi worked with its remaining essence, binding it with Yori's soul as it sat in the dead body. The essence was also of fire. Kisshōten regrew the flesh that she could around the metal, while Amatsu-Mikaboshi made "like-metal" and "like-flesh" to fill in the holes. The other gods continued to work with their limited presence. Sarutahiko Okami found himself delighted working with Jiro, his favorite earth magic user, and they eventually established a rhythm with their strikes. Jiro raised an earth pillar for Sarutahiko's to smash one gold golem between, before moving forward to hit the other at the back, pushing it into Jiro's sword which slashed it in half.
 
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"Come on sister.... is this all you have? Please... I don't want to die in vain." Mei's voice echoed in Neza's head.
"Mei!" A rage started to turn in Neza's stomach.
"Don't let me... die."
"MEI!" Neza exploded, her Zae Gem glowing a bright red. "ENOUGH OF THIS!" she curled inward, a dark red energy storing in her core, then shot up. A huge burst of energy enveloped the arena and knocked everyone back. The gods momentarily stopping their resurrection of Yori. "NONE OF YOU GET TO WIN! YOU TOOK HER! YOU ALL WILL FUCKING DIE HERE!" she screamed in a blind rage. She kicked off from the ground and grabbed Sarutahiko Okami by the neck "I wonder do gods bleed!" she aimed her shotgun arm right into the gods gut and fired. White blood splattered Jiro's face, as well as Neza's "They do bleed!" she laughed and shoved the slumped god to the ground.

Sarutahiko was still alive but crawled to the edge of the tower to try and heal. Jiro's blood ran cold as he witnessed how far Neza would go. "Y you monster.... you'll pay for this!" Jiro stabbed his sword into the ground and a huge jagged pillar of rock shot out of the ground. She dodged away from it with ease, but he turned his sword a little and a spike burst forth from the column clipping her back. She reach back and brought her hand to her face covered in red.

"You're like a broken record you know caveman?" she licked the blood from her fingers, eyes full of evil. "Yang!" she called out.

Yang looked to her, shocked at what she had become, "Yes?"

"Kill the boy, I have a god to finish." she cocked her shock gun and walked over to Sarutahiko, aiming for his head. "Rejoyce mother fucker thier is a new godess in town, and you're her first sacrifice." she smirked.

"NO!" there was a roar from the heavens and Neza was struck with a fireball. She brought her arms up the block, which protected her face and body, but her arms and hands were burned. "HA!" Neza was met with a shield bash to her stomach knocking her back, but doing little damage. "You will not claim the life of another person!" Amaterasu stood before the killer, sword drawn.

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Neza's skin had healed itself and she laughed "Well well if it isn't Amaterasu the queen bitch herself! I was wondering when you would show up!" She rushed the goddess with her claws drawn and came came down with a heavy slash. *CLANG* She was met with a shield.

"Tsukiyom, Kisshōten, Mikaboshi make haste in bringing back Yori, I can't hold this form for long" she commanded. She almost snapped her fingers and Sarutahiko was gone.

"Oh a time limit? I'll keep you busy then!" Neza lept back and several ports opened on her body, all firing missiles at the Goddess.

----

Yang's attention focused on Jro as she was instructed to kill Jiro, one of his masters killers. He out stretched his hand and yanked back. Jiro's sword was ripped from his hands and flew into Yang's, who kept it on his back "What will you do now boy?" he smirked.

Jiro struck a fighting stance "I don't need a sword to kick your ass Yang." he stomped on the ground which set rocks flying upwards, and the samurai thrust his hands forward sending the sharp rocks rocketing towards the golem.
 
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