Episode 53 The Palace of the Setting Sun

As the afternoon wears on, a figure can be seen from afar dropping from a high point in the Castle of Kyreim and falling to the ground. Arai lays on the ground motionless as he falls, blood dripping from his lips and his corpse littered with the shafts of broken arrows.

Arayu breaks his fall just in time by grabbing onto a piece of stone jutting out from the wall of the tower, as the arm of lightning lets go of his ankle lifelessly. He breathes heavily to himself, glancing down at Arai’s body and holding on breathlessly for dear life.

A faint sneer plays around Shuriken’s lips as he gazes intently into Kunai’s eyes. “What’s the matter, Kunai? Are you not ready to conceive the idea of battling me?”

“Shuriken…” Kunai growls. “It didn’t have to come to this…”

“Kunai…” Shuriken replies softly, “I’ve always been alone in this world, ever since my sister left it. I’ve no love to spare for anyone else. If there is a method to revive her, I will exploit it without hesitance.”

“So you’re gonna insist on fighting, huh?!” Kunai cries.

“You want to go and save Ivy, do you not? The only way to do that is to pass me. The only way to do that is to come at me with all you got!” Shuriken jeers.

Kunai silently draws a Steely. “I never wanted to kill you, Shuriken. I still don’t. It’s still not too late to take it all back. I want to consider you my friend.”

With a powerful flash, Shuriken disappears and reappears behind Kunai, pressing the edge of his Casters into his stiff back. “It is too late, I’m afraid Kunai,” he mutters into his ear. “If you don’t come at me now, you shall die.”

“You intend to kill me?” Kunai asks, refusing to turn and face Shuriken.

“You haven’t any choice but to fight,” Shuriken replies in a whisper.

Shuriken’s eyes light up maniacally as he forms an Avenger in his right hand, and holds it up to Kunai’s neck, his grasp on him from behind tightening.

Kunai struggles as he chokes in Shuriken’s rough grip. He hastily spins and kicks at Shuriken’s feet from below, knocking him off balance and forcing him to relinquish his grip.

Kunai sends a Steely flying right away, but Shuriken coldly blocks it with his Avenger. Kunai rushes forward immediately on the attack, aiming a kick directly into the center of Shuriken’s Avenger.

The large shuriken splits apart in half from the impact, and drops to the floor. Kunai aims another two Steelys over his back but Shuriken easily dodges them both.

“I see,” Shuriken sneers, “So you’re finally ready to be serious about this fight.”

“Only as long as you continue to stand in my way of rescuing Ivy…” Kunai pants, his eyes tracking Shuriken’s movements as he leaps about the room.

Two Tobis suddenly leap through the air, and Kunai swerves only just in time, using the force to slide his feet backwards. Kunai glances up, as Shuriken emerges from thin air carrying a Shuriken in his hand.

Kunai shouts in alarm and lets fly two more Steelys to meet Shuriken in the air. The two Steelys collide with Shuriken’s Avenger and bounce off, forcing Kunai to dodge to avoid his own fire.

Shuriken shouts in rage and hurls the Avenger straight down at Kunai, who hurriedly reacts by weaving a thread of spider web and catching the Avenger in the air.

Kunai wraps the web around it and stops it in motion, then sends it flying back at Shuriken with a great heave. Shuriken, with a flash, jumps out of the way, but fails to notice four Steelys Kunai had thrown in succession after the initial Avenger.

Shuriken jumps yet again, and manages to avoid all four Steelys. They land on the ground with a clatter behind him as Shuriken himself falls to the ground. He turns around in alarm as a sizzling sound suddenly rises into the air, and leaps out of the way as the four Steelys combust one after the other.

“Meso Explosion?” Shuriken mutters under his breath, “You’re an interesting person, Kunai.”

Silver loads her Asianic Bow with two arrows stained green with poison, but Zack, with an almost lazy flourish, teleports past her, leaving a trail of blue smoke and light.

Silver stays still, temporarily stunned by the surprise attack. Zack turns and smirks behind Silver. “Hehe, you know you’re kinda cute in a way. It’s too bad you’re not on our side. I wouldn’t mind taking you out sometime.”

Silver quickly recovers, and spins, firing both of her arrows at Zack mercilessly, anger pulsing in her eyes. However, she merely hits nothing but wooden door, as Zack disappears yet again.

A quick tap behind Silver’s shoulder tells her his location. She turns around again, as Zack leans laxly on his Kage. He flashes her a smile as he holds a thread of white light in his hands. Silver narrows her eyes, and focusing on the light, realizes that it is a bow strung with an arrow of light.

“I can shoot arrows too, y’know,” Zack speaks into the silence, “Fire!” The arrow composed of light zips through the air, piercing Silver and going right through her.

Silver chokes from the impact and shakes slightly. Then, in a fit of renewed rage, she strings her bow once again with two of her arrows and fires.

With an apathetic wave of his staff, Zack easefully transforms the arrows into two Blue Snails, sitting side by side on the stone bridge. He then walks up carelessly to the snails, and nudges them with his foot, so that they leap falling into the abyss below.

“Is that all you’ve got? Poisoned Arrows?” Zack inquires, taking a closer look at Silver. “I’m getting pretty bored here. I expected a more fun fight. Oh well, a kill’s a kill.” He waves his staff again, this time summoning a tiny blue dragon hovering by his side.

“Yo! Meet Zack Junior, my little dragon friend here!” Zack shouts pleasantly. He turns and pets Zack Jr. lightly on the snout. “Don’t be fooled by his awesome cuteness, this guy can literally fry the clothes off your back, which wouldn’t be quite the downside since you’re a girl…for me, anyway.”

Silver says nothing, but narrows her eyes, glaring at Zack loathingly. Suddenly, she spits a very tiny, miniscule object out of her mouth. It flies through the air, making contact with Zack’s nose and falling to the floor.

Zack’s face twists with puzzlement as he looks down and picks up the small object she’d spit out. Staring closely at it, he recognizes it as a tiny black seed. “Watermelon seed? Sorry, but this ain’t a seed spitting contest, hun.”

The seed abruptly explodes in Zack’s hands, and releases a powerful, gaseous green vapor into the air. Zack’s eyes widen in alarm and he bends over, coughing and hacking violently. He narrows his eyes to prevent the gas from escaping into them.

Finally, as the gas spreads out into the air and clears, Zack waves away the remainder of the gas with his hand. He claps slightly, his eyes watering from the poison. “I see…poison gas concealed inside a watermelon seed. That’s pretty impressive. I must say, I may have underestimated you.”

“However…” A bright green light hovers around Zack for a moment. “Do not forget that I am a Priest. Tricks like that won’t work very well. Dispel!” A pair of angelic wings appear over his head for a moment.

Silver’s face contorts in frustration, while Zack sneers at the look. “Heh, so I see that you’re beginning to get a little frustrated with me, huh?” Zack smirks.

“I have a mission to complete, and nothing will stop me! If you think that I am afraid of death, you are severely mistaken!” Silver shouts, rushing forth, disregarding her bow and aiming a punch at Zack.

Zack merely leaps back, yawning slightly at Silver’s indignation. “Well, the truth is, like I said, I’m a Priest. What can I do? I wasn’t designed to kill. I don’t have pointy things to hurt you with like the others. If I were to kill you, I’d have to kill you slowly and uncomfortably. But don’t get me wrong, my orders are to kill you, and that’s my intention.”

Silver breathes heavily at this, but does not reply. She merely and stubbornly strings her bow with another two arrows, and fires them, watching them as they sing through the air.

Zack Jr. throws himself forward suddenly, and issues a soft ray of light from his mouth, singeing the arrows to separate pieces. Zack Jr. grins at this feat and grins at Zack in his happiness.

Zack gives his summoned dragon a thumbs up and grins with him. “Pretty good, huh?”

Kunai dashes from side to side, as Shuriken, consumed by rage and hatred, hurls Avenger after Avenger straight at him. Kunai watches as the Avengers land on the ground sticking up, their points planted into the ground.

At once, the entire hall becomes consumed in an almost tangible silence. Kunai peers around the hall alertly, his eyes poring into every corner of the room. ‘Where’s he gone…’

A flash of movement stirs suddenly behind Kunai, and he turns to face the attack head on. A dark shadow leaps out from near the wall of the room, but thanks to his sharp senses, Kunai turns again and sees another similar shadow leaping out behind him as well.

Kunai leaps into the air, using Flash Jump to gain higher elevation. As he scans the ground below him while he lands, he notices both figures hiding within the shadows of the room, both unintelligible from the other.

‘Damn…so that’s his trick. I can’t tell which is the real one!’ Kunai thinks, as he lands on the ground, his cape billowing in the air behind him.

Kunai quickly scans around the room, his eyes roving about for any sign of attack. ‘Crap, they’ve disappeared again, this is bad…’

He grits his teeth, his eyes still scanning about the room, on alert for an unexpected attack. However, the room still remains still and silent. ‘Ivy…’ Kunai thinks to himself, as he waits in the middle of the room, bracing himself for an attack, ‘Ivy is why I’m here. I have to finish this guy quick.’

The old marking on Myou suddenly blazes alight with fire once again. Kunai involuntarily shouts aloud, grasping his right arm where Myou is strapped onto. His eyes pop madly as the marking seems to burn into his hand, filling it with agonizing pain.

“I see…” Kunai gasps to himself, panting heavily from the pain, “It looks like Myou started burning when I thought of Ivy…and that time too, back in Eos Tower…it started burning because I was angry.”

Two particularly fast and large Avengers zoom into the air from both sides at once. Kunai reacts only just in time by raising Myou to shield himself. However, a large invisible shockwave pulses outwards from Myou, shattering the Avengers easily.

Kunai stares about him in surprise at the unanticipated power of his claw. He strokes Myou thoughtfully for a moment. “What…what is this thing?”

The loud rumble of footsteps suddenly explodes on Kunai’s right. He clutches his head in surprise at the intensity of the noise. “Ugh…it’s…it’s made my senses sharper too!” Kunai shouts in agony at the sound of the noise and flings a Steely out to his right.

Immediately one of the dark shadows that had been hovering near the wall falls to the floor, a hole pierced right through it from the impact of the Steely.

Kunai gasps at the strength of the shot. “This thing is…more powerful than I’d ever imagined…” he mutters to himself. He turns his head about for the source of the new set of footsteps ringing in his head. ‘Myou’s telling me that this one is the real Shuriken.’

A lone figure emerges from the shadows at once, and as Shuriken reveals himself, a single ray of bright orange sunlight from the setting sun enters the room from an opening high above, suddenly illuminating the approaching figure of Kunai’s enemy.

Shuriken clutches an Avenger in his hand, and fury blazes in his eyes. “This shall end it!” he yells, sprinting straight at Kunai at top speed.

Kunai braces himself for the head on collision, holding Myou outwards and clutching two Steelys. He lunges forward with his right hand just as Shuriken makes impact. An invisible force pushes Shuriken outwards with an unstoppable explosion, sending him flying into the air and landing on the floor heavily.

Shuriken lays weakly face-up on the ground, his breathing ragged and irregular. Rising from out of his chest are Kunai’s two Steelys, planted deep into his body. Blood drips and pours out from the two wounds.

Kunai gasps alarmingly and rushes forward to Shuriken’s side, looking down sadly at his fallen former comrade. He bends over Shuriken, shaking his head slightly. “You know…it really didn’t have to be like this. We could’ve stayed friends. When are you going to realize…as sad as it is, you can’t bring your sister back, not even if you steal the Third Phoneme.”

Kunai shakes his head again as Shuriken continues to breathe heavily. “You idiot…! I hope you’ve learned something from all this…I have to go save Ivy now!”

With that, Kunai turns and sprints out of the room in the opposite direction, hurtling through the next door and up a flight of steps leading to his next destination.

Next Time: Episode 54 Shatter! A Battle Between Two Former Lovers

Ryuu: So…it’s you who’s been waiting for me, huh? How appropriate.

Ayame: You’re going to have to get past me if you hope to save Ivy. Lord Kimura never was the patient one.

Ryuu: Ayame…I still haven’t given up on you.

Episode 54 Shatter! A Battle Between Two Former Lovers coming soon!