The ones who remain

Outside the apartment and at the other side of the turbulent streets Aoi Adachi fell down into an alley after having climbed down through the emergency outer staircase, she was victorious, but her body had been sacrificed and now she had no strength left on her, she couldn’t even use her bow, all that she was left with were the hopes her strategies will win the fight at the end. “Kojiro…” She hoped that her brother would be there soon enough, she had no idea why he had yet to come and that doubt tortured her from within.

She took another look at the battlefield, Cindy Seasons had certainly changed the flow of the battle and now the mobster and yakuza were stuck in a long battle of attrition in which the family had the advantage now that she could no longer throw a single arrow against them. She needed time, as soon as the death of Tony Beretta was confirmed she would call for a full retreat, Tony was but a normal man he shouldn´t have any chance against Noh, he should simply die without even realizing it and yet…Aoi felt terrible nervous, her constant doubts becoming utterly crippling.

Aoi witnessed two men in white suits shooting from behind a car to her people that were trying to make their ways through the streets, they had yet to see her crawling her way thought an alley behind them, she took a deep breath and unsheathed from her waist a small dagger, she took another breath as she heard her surroundings clearly and then sprinted forward reaching the two men just as one of them was reloading. She stabbed him in the chest before the other man even notice it, piercing him twice to settle it for sure, the other mobster pointed his gun at her and she used the wounded man as a shield and threw him towards his friend with a kick, his shoot blew his colleagues stomach and she quickly reached to slit the last gunners throat. Both man died, but a bullet ringed close to her head and she quickly turned to see another man coming though the street with his gun raised, instinctively she moved her hand to take out an arrow from her quiver, but her hand could not grab anything and there wouldn´t be a point to it either.

There were two shots in that moment; both of them landing on the armed man´s chest as he fell down unable to land a single hit on her, from behind the car a lot of men and women came rushing in, armed with guns, pipes and even swords all with the tattoo of the sun upon their bodies. “Adachi-sama you survived.” A woman with a handgun rushed to hold her as the other yakuza began to take cover around her, aiming their guns towards every direction. “Yes… I survived. ¿How is the situation?” The woman´s face grew paler as she looked back at another of his teammates that simply nodded. “We need to retire, something terrible has happened Adachi-sama. We have been framed for the murder of the traitor Hiroshi.” Aoi gasped, her eyes growing wide, she was unable to speak…none of that could be a coincidence. “Salvatore will crack down on us, so Kojiro-sama it’s kidnapping a cargo ship to give us a chance to escape, Howard-san will be coming here soon to take you there any moment now.” Aoi was speechless she could never have imagined that and yet it felt inevitable all the same, Kojiro would have his war now.

“Get down the enemy is beginning to surround us.” The man screamed and the woman helped Aoi to duck down behind the car, she was still completely paralyzed, she had wondered time and time again what would happen if this day were to come and now she realized, she could never have any plan at all. There was no fighting Salvatore and if this was the enemy’s strategy, her unknown opponent must know no fear at all, to manipulate even Salvatore was beyond madness, the mad move of someone that cared little for the end of countless lives and even his own. Aoi realized there was no point in winning this war anymore, Tony´s death wouldn´t save them anymore.

“¡Shit who is that!” The Yakuza screamed as he shoot with his machine gun desperately, the other woman got on her feet after seeing something closing in on them from behind the car. Aoi raised her head and saw a shadow cross from above the car, a black cloud that passed with a furious wind around them as a figure landed in front of them. The man of the yakuza tried to aim at that person amidst the black clouds, but was quickly dispatched with a powerful blow to his head, the woman instead dragged Aoi by the wrist and tried to run away from there, but she too was hit from behind from within that darkness and fell, Aoi reacted finally crawling back through the floor as a figure walked from within the shadows that were now dispersing.

It was a tall woman in an elegant black suit with a tie and leather gloves just as dark, she was of a rather pale white skin with long blond hair sporting a single black streak going thought it, eyes with black eye liner and purple lipstick, her face flat and tired showing nothing but apathy as she looked down at the fallen yakuza woman.

“There is no place left to run, none at all.” The blond woman said.

Aoi knew her, she was Tony Beretta´s girlfriend Joahn of the black cross, named like that by the small white cross upon her tie, one she had with from her before she even came to Isla Franca. If Kojiro was the Scorching sun´s unmatched hero, this woman was the Beretta families ace their most renowned hit man and to live up to her name, she quickly stepped on the woman’s face with her formal shoe and forced down till Aoi heard the sound of the woman´s neck being snapped. Joahn the woman many had call a devil was now standing in front of her if so all the people Aoi send to kill her were now more and it was her turn now.

Aoi snapped out of her doubts as she moved her dagger in front of her and rush forward towards the woman in black, she turned around looking at her with the same bored expression as she dodged Aoi´s attack with a small hop backwards, her hands inside of her pockets. “Oh, you are the commander.” Aoi screamed as she tried to pierce her heart again, but the woman simply dodged from side to side till they both were quite far from the car. “That’s enough” Her strict voice sounded among Aoi´s screaming surpassing it as the woman in black closed the distance with a straight punch towards her chest in a single instant. Aoi coughed blood as feet lifted from the ground and the vest she wore was ripped apart, that single blow from that woman broke many of her ribs and launched her forward till she crashed on the ground, blood falling from her mouth as she tried to breath.

“There is no excitement in fighting you, since someone already defeated you.” Joahn returned her fist to her pockets as many man in white came from behind the car all aiming machineguns towards her. “Sorry, but you ran out of time and my boyfriend isn´t death yet, guess you didn´t knew that the man is like a cockroach, not dying seems to be his only good quality.” The woman in the black suit s shrugged as the men in white started to advance towards her.

“Either way, this whole war was just a distraction for us, so enough with the pleasantries and call your brother already, I´m hoping he can show me a good time today.” The woman in black had all but confirmed the assassination of Hiroshi had been their intention since the beginning and yet she seemed to grin as she mentioned Kojiro, she wanted to fight him all the same, her excitement was very clear to Aoi.

Aoi could barely speak now, she wouldn´t survive another blow like that, but as her mind began to fade, she heard something, a loud rack, a constant screeching sound, it was music a type of music she quite disliked, a loud rocking and familiar sound coming fast so she forced herself to at least sit straight as the pain made her every move unbearable, she needed to see if someone could still save her from her foolishness.

A motorcycle crossed the burning street with its frontal speakers boosting music loudly all thought the battlefield, a man in a white and pink suit speeded up down the streets towards Joahn and the mobsters in front of her, Rocky Howard blasted his way at the side of the car and charged right into them with his fist raised high into the air.

“¡Listen uppppp!”

The men in white shot at him, but he reach them fist and threw a punch in the air along with a scream. His fist released a devastating sound wave forward that blew through every single one of those men, their ears leaked blood as they all fell at the same time.

Joahn braced for impact by putting her gloved hands in front of her and releasing a black mist around her, the devastation broke the windows in the street and cracked the asphalt in front of Joahn, but she remained in place the only survivor of the terrible onslaught.

Aoi too remained intact since the blow was released in front of her leving her bend the zone of impact, Rocky turned on his back stopping to look back at her. Rocky Howard wore his white suit with a pink shirt and his golden rings, everything about the blond felt different to the rest of Scorching sun, but the tattoo on his chest always visible to anyone denied any doubts. “I´m sorry…” That was all that Aoi manage to say.

“Sorry jezz, you got nothing to apologize for, how could anyone have guessed this, no, the only one that needs to apologize for…” Rocky pointed straight to Joahn who was looking at him with a bored expression, her gloves emitting a dark thin fog. “¡You cowards that don´t even dare to fight us alone!” Joahn´s face grimed as she moved her blond hair from her face. Two more motorcycles arrived behind Aoi, and their riders calmed her down to look at her wounds, but she couldn´t keep her eyes from Rocky´s back.

“¿Wait, what are you going to do?” She asked him.

“What else, I’m gonna get you the time you need to heal those wounds, take her to the ship.” Rocky took of his white suit jacket and threw it away as he stood in front of her shielding her from the woman in black. “Miss you are not getting to Kojiro, he is busy enough to have to deal with garbage like you today.” Joahn arranged her gloved hand.

“Fine you could make for a decent warm up.” A snake like grin showed on her pale skin and her blue eyes were now sharp and clear, the woman felt more and more alive with every second that passed.

“¡No you have to come too, Kojiro won´t wait for us!” Aoi screamed as the riders began to raise her with care.

“Kojiri Aniki won´t be coming, he´ll take all of Salvatore´s punishment himself and I won´t either, you must go alone commander. That is what we both wished for.” Tears fell down through Aoi´s face again, the first ones she had ever shown to Rocky.

“No, I won´t accept that, this isn´t over, I can´t let you…ag…” Aoi coughed, her word being robbed by the terrible pain she was bearing, Rocky looked back at her with fear clear on his eyes and an obvious sweat falling down his cheek.

“¡Quit that already, you should only be worrying about yourself, it isn’t any easier for me to look at you right now!”Aoi felt too weak to answer back, but she knew she no longer had any strength left to remain here, but how could she accept that? “You endured enough, you must have known the day we would be ready to fight Salvatore would never come, you are too smart not to, so you pretender for Kojiro´s sake. Tsk nonsense I won´t let you die in our pointless war.” Rocky pointed back at her as he turned his eyes toward Joahn of the black cross, who seemed to be waiting for his talking to end.

“¡Sorry, but forget about her, because you´ll be dancing with me now!” The woman shrugged looking at him with a dull expression. “Fine, I get nothing from bullying the weak she can leave, even if my boyfriend whines at me later it’s no big deal, but you better keep up or I´ll chase her to the very ends of the island.” Rocky pumped his fist into the air with a furious scowl on his face as he threw a straight hit in his place.

“Stop it…” His companions began to carefully lift Aoi from the ground. “You can´t get rid of me like this… I can still think of something please…we can still win this war.” She begged as she was finally lifted off the ground. “Sorry, but I don´t care about winning any wars, huh Salvatore? I don´t care for him, never have, I joined the Scorching sun for the two of you, that´s all. So I won´t let her touch Kojiro-san either, I´ll spend the life you both gave me all for this wish.” She was taken to the back seat of one of the motorcycles and strapped with the driver with care, as the motor began to hum, she could only see Rocky walking away.

“The commander must always survive, as long she does we will never truly lose, Kojiro-san believes it so as well.” Rocky murmured to himself as the motorcycles left him behind, Aoi barely keeping herself from falling asleep as her tears fell.

The streets were left abandoned by anyone, but those two even if the sound of gunfire still surrounded them; neither of them where paying them any mind, as they both raised their fist in front of their faces.

“So you´re a boxer too, jej you sure spoke some nonsense back then boy.” Joahn stayed ready waiting for her opponent to make the first move.

“Yeah, I hope she listened to some of it, whatever she does from now on is up to her.” Rocky stood in position not willing to make the first move either.

“¿Is she your girlfriend or something?”

“No, I guess because she is more of a savior in my mind than anything I guess It was never really gonna work for us or at least that’s an excuse I doubt she ever thought much about that stuff anyways, but that’s fine. It’s all fine now, I’m content.”

“I see, so it was just as I had thought. ¡You really piss me off!”

Joahn was the first to move by running forward towards him, Rocky raised his fist and sent a straight fit right into her head, she dodged it with a small duck and send back a jab that landed into his chin from below he grinned his teeth and made with a follow up two strikes that forced her to dodge back.

“Hahaha…forget about her, it’s just you and me now.”

Her gloved hand released a black miasma around her, the woman in black now grinning while looking at him with a half eyed gaze, the man in turn was more furious than ever. “¡No way, I´m gonna murder you in her place!” He charged with a right just to find it deflected by the right black gloved hand, his fist release a powerful sound wave that simply passed by the side of her hair as her own fist released a black mist covering his eye sight. “¡What is that you say, is it for love! ¡You selfish hypocrite it’s all for yourself at the end!” She punched him straight in the gut as he jumped back out of that black mist finding the first thing his eyes could see to be a black fist reaching for him, he blocked it with both hands over his face as he was pummeled with one blow after another.

“¡You think you can earn her this way, shut up! ¡What are you a virgin!” He lowered his arms as she hit him straight into his face, breaking one of his teeth, but he recovered his ground and twisted his torso to send his own strike. “¡So what if I fucking am!” He countered with a straight right into her face as he forced himself onwards to pummel her back. Joahn blocked as well and threw her fist into his stomach forcing him back, but he bared the pain none the less while she retreat still smiling with a trail of blood falling from her nose.

“Hahaha… so that´s how it is, no wonder you think love is something worth dying for, you child.” She began to hop in place as she prepared herself to launch another barrage, Rocky arranged himself in a similar manner. “¿Didn’t you love someone as well, do you really not care if we manage to kill him while you are here?” Joahn laughed at his words. “Our relationship is not like yours, we are partners, but we would never die for each other, after all as long as the other one can continue to fight that is enough,I choose him because he hates this world as much as I do, so he will see our goals to their end.”

Rocky grinned his teeth at that declaration as his body tensed in preparation for her next strike. “Humans are filthy, sinful in nature and the girl you love is no different, all you know of her are still but your own fantasies, you are dying for a dream.” Rocky Howard didn´t answer as his fist went up in front of him. “Lucky boy, to not know how ugly the touch of another can be, let me show you… I´ll sully you myself; put your childish dreams to rest.” Darkness grew around her, extending from her fist and into the rest of her body, and then like an explosion the darkness spread forwards with turbulent winds, Rocky stood his ground to stand the current of air that tried to throw him back, as the clouds of shadows engulfed him, In that moment he felt himself lost in the middle of a storm as winds raged and all light had left his world.

“Fear the emptiness that awaits us all.”

Rocky felt a devastating blow to his chest, clenching his teeth he quickly moved his arms to block another blow; there were no signs of her, not even a trace of her movements till the moment another blow connected to his body as he felt his head fell back and the world spin from a strong right straight into his face. “At least feel what it really means to lose everything for that love of yours and then I´ll listen.” He heard her voice clearly as if she had whispered into his ear and he jumped back in response. With his anger at a boiling point Rocky threw a punch with all of the weight his body could give him and screamed as loud as he could reach from within that darkness.

“¡Listen up!” he screamed as low as he could and his fist send those words forward in a powerful sound wave that expelled all the darkness back as if releasing his own hurricane the miasma of shadows was cleaned away by a strong current, leaving the woman in black visible as she blocked to stop the blow from washing her away. Blood began to drip from her mouth when shockwave passed through her body.

“¡So what if I don´t know her, If it was all but a fantasy?” Rocky charged forward hitting right where she was blocking with a strong sound wave blasting through his fist, her fist exploded in a black miasma and she took advantage of that moment to dodge to her side, but he followed her in time. “¿The scorching sun is my dream, what I always wished to find. ¡You trasssshh are not a part of ittt!” His scream unleashed another sound wave that she countered with her own fist and the black current she wielded and both were blown away as a storm of black shadows flew into the air and a roaring sound made the earth tremble, the two of them felt an immense pressure as both spitted blood and fell down to their knees at once.

“Hahaha… nice.” She mumbled to herself with joy on her voice.

“You creep… at the very least the two of them were kind to me … so I won´t retreat now. That kindness she showed me is worth the world to me! ¡Its worth fighting for, the home they give me is worth it all!” Joahn stood up her arms in front of her as she smiled wickedly, her hair falling wildly over her face. “Let me see if your love is truth even in the shadow of death, show me what you are at the end.” Her hands were dripping in a black sludge as the black line on her hair began to expand, her blond hair turning black on its left side.

She ran forwards as he send another powerful straight punch sending a sound wave forward, but she jumped out of the way as the asphalt below her cracked a delighted smile on her face.

“¡You must be feeling it to, forget all about her and think only of this!” Her voice resounded all around him.

With a mad glee she answered by running forward with her own fists raised, Rocky stopped on his tracks and rather than punching he clap strongly. “Listen up” A sound wave surrounded him and washed over her as she came closer, but it wasn´t enough to stop her as she raised her right hook and saw two of the same man in front of her, she gasped, her vision distorted leaving seeing two interlacing images of Rocky Howards in front of her as a sudden feeling of nausea began to overwhelm her.

“¡Feel the rhythm!” She punched and missed as she confused the target of her strike, his sound waves were affecting her from within, making her center of gravity fail an her senses waver and he didn´t stop with just that, as he punched her straight in the gut, making her vomit from the blow as he set himself to hit her again in the face.

“Ahh…”She moaned lightly and then raised both of her arms to block the next strike, her expression full of excitement.

“¡Haha…come on!” The darkness swirled around and like a tornado it began to speed faster and faster flowing into the dark skies above, Rock took a step back, but kept his fighting stance. “Yes, love, hate, sex , all of that is fine and good, but this is where people are really true, in violence and with death upon their shoulders, there is the only truth to be found in men. Only in violence can we show our true naked selves.” Her voice was carried by those violent winds as her figure banished within the dark.

“¡ I´ll have to shut you up now!” He charged preparing his strongest sonic fist again, ready to blow back all that darkness if he had too, but it reached him first and coldness paralyzed him.

“¿Do you believe in demons?” her voice reached him and he knew she was just in front of him, but what he saw there was no human. Red eyes seeing him from within the darkness coming closer, the shape of a horn above a strange figure and an open palm that grew as it came close and closer to his eyes, it was reaching for him and as he threw his own fist forward the fear made his voice go silent and so the darkness reached him and all sound was snuffed out.

“Well, I bet things are reaching their peak out there right now, we should hurry up too.”

Tony Beretta spoke through a radio that let his voice echo from all around him; he was walking in circles at a dark storage room illuminated by a single flicking light, surrounded by for metallic pillars. He carried a crowbar over his shoulder as he spoke with confidence without any need for an answer.

“I have always wondered about you Mr. Noh, about how you don´t seem to have the sun tattoo anywhere in that colorful body of yours. Makes one wonder if that implies that there is something different about you.” Tony walked at leisure under the light, surrounded by four pillars of steel that the light still reached, the rest of room was shadowed in complete darkness, but there was only one door into the room and that was the only trick he needed to give himself a small chance of surviving.

“¿How loyal are you Mr. no face? Maybe there is a way to buy your expertise; every man has a price after all.” As Tony turned to look at the only door his right eye opened wide. “After all your days are numbered and not a single one of you will survive, not under the banner of the Scorching sun, this is a one-time offer Mr. Noh.” As if answering, the door into the storage opened with a violent push and a figure crossed thought the shadows; Tony dropped the radio in that instant and smile while cold sweat began to fall from his check. The Noh threw a knife forward and Tony barely manage to block it with a swing of his crowbar and pulled a handgun from his suit jacket.

“At least speak with me a little Mr. Noh.”

Tony began to shoot with his handgun as the figure run from one side of the room to the other sticking to the shadows, he tried to guess his movement and shoot where he was bound to move to next, it worked but the Noh stopped on its track and threw his claws like knives instead while jumping towards the light. Tony wielding his crowbar blocking two of them, but a third claw passed thought his shoulder cutting his suit and another hit grasped his palm, making him drop his crowbar to the floor. “¡Yikes!” He screeched as he quickly began to shoot with the gun on his other arm, the masked man dodged it from one side to the other remaining low in the floor like an animal and Tony could only walk back as he kept shooting till he himself ended up within the darkness. “All or nothing at all then.” Tony pulled a small switch from underneath his sleeves and then jumped back as soon as he pressed it.

The Noh jumped into the light while loud sound made the room shake as he did, just below him an explosion occurred under the floor making the concrete cave within itself at the center of the room. Unable to recover his standing Tony shoot Noh straight in his abdomen and he fell along with the rumble further down. “Oh god, it worked, Oh my god.” Tony walked away as he threw back the switch into the floor and hurried to hold one of the metal pillar to take a good look down below.

“Sorry, for all that. ¿So what do you say? ¿Can I have a word now?” Tony smiled, his right eye open so wide it looked like it could pop out at any time. The Noh began to crawl up from underneath the rubble, his great agility gone now as he could barely move the concrete that had fallen on his feet; he looked up with his inexpressive mask looking straight into Tony who pointed his gun at him with a cocky grin. “There is no future for you lot, but it’s nothing personal, so I don´t really mind if we can cut ourselves a deal just the two of us.” The Noh rose from the rumbled his shoulders slumped and his arms limb at his sides, he simple twisted his neck back to look at Tony in a very unnatural and painful seeming way. “We are yet to be satisfied, we need nourishment.” Noh spoke in a broken manner and with a strange echo upon his voice.

“¿Who isn’t? We too are hungry, not just the brothers, Joahn and I we too are starving, because we have yet to be acknowledge by the people we hate, don´t worry thought we are more than whiling too feed you as well if you join our merry lot. There´ll be plenty of food ahead, but if you stay with your little group you can only starve to death now.”

Tony pointed his gun straight into the center of the white mask and both remained there in silence, the masked man looking more like a mannequin than a person, finally Tony reloaded with a grunt and in a flash the hair on the masked man moved on his back, pulling a knife from his pants like a third arm. Tony shoot, but Noh threw the knife into his hand with his hair making him drop it into the floor below. The Noh prepared himself to jump and Tony quickly reached with his other hand to the metal post at the side and ripped a shotgun he had strapped on the dark side of it.

Tony pulled the shotgun forward without even bothering to aim and quickly shot just at the same time that the white mask reached the floor above, the buckshot ringed and the masked man fell back down, Tony groaned from the pain of the gun´s recoil, but quickly aimed it down again with a single arm. “Agg, not even a word, sorry then.” Tony´s face returned to normal as he made a serene almost sad expression and pulled out a small lighter from his breast pocket. “The Beretta family sends you their regards.”

The lighter fell down as Tony Beretta smirked in quiet satisfaction s it fell between Noh´s legs the floor catching fire rapidly, the oil he had prepared beforehand quickly spreading the simple into a raging fire in the storehouse below. Noh began to burn, his flesh enveloped in fire as he too was drench in oil, the burning man began to illuminated the darkness in the room below, he began to scream the flames burning his scorched body. “¡We must protect, we must protect!” He screeched his voice loud an inhuman in nature, as if it was the voice of many at once. “¡Cannot, cannot, must feed, must feed! Tony steeped to the border of the broken floor and pointed at him with his shotgun. “¡Just try to get up here I dare you!” The burning man lost his hair that rapidly began to fall from his back as he looked from one side to the other in the room below his voice barely different than the growling of an animal. Finally he saw another door in that burning room a gate that led into complete darkness. “We must protect at all cost.” The Noh screamed with another´s voice as he ran into the dark room like a ball of fire, but as soon as he crossed that threshold a red light on its side turned green and the door closed behind him, it was no ordinary door, but a heavy iron door that closed by itself; a huge wheel spun outside it and locked itself into place selling the room shut.

His voice went silent and the sprinkles began to rain above the burning room, Tony threw his shotgun to the ground and with a spin began to hop through the upper floor into the only exit above. “And that’s a wrap.” He took a detour outside and headed one floor below into a passage where a huge iron vault had been place in a really crude matter at the middle. Light on his feet he reached the iron vault and lifted a small compartment to reveal a window below it, as soon as he did a white mask crashed against it and he could heard a loud thumping inside it, the Noh completely captured within it.

“¿How do you like it? It was my personal shelter, but I though I´ll be better to lock you inside than getting stuck within it. Man, I’m so glad these crazy bets pay off. Cindy will be so pissed once she finds out about this.” The punching from within got even more frenetic as the masked man kept pounding the window with all of his strength. “Give it up, you got many tricks, but super strength sure isn´t one of them.” Tony leaned at the side of the window of the huge vault.

“I expended a lot of money and time to get you here, so lean an ear to this simple man. You know back there I could tell that you absolutely didn’t wish to die I never expected a member of the Scorching sun to struggle like that, Haha that’s good, means you are more reasonable than the rest.” The Noh stopped fighting, his body was no longer on fire and his skin could finally begin to heal, but he knew himself to already be defeated

“We need nourishment, we can never die and so we must survive.” Tony chuckled at his words and then pulled a coin from his pocket.

“That´s the spirit you can´t do a single thing if you are death, there is nothing worst in this world than death, it just makes everything so pointless.” Tony murmured to himself as he threw the coin to pick it again in his palm. “If you really wish to leave you have no choice, but to jump ship, of course that too will require and offering.”

“You will never surpass Kojiro Adachi.” The Noh spoke clear enough from the other side of reinforced window. “Let´s make a bet then, if your sun falls you will live as one of us and in turn I will gave you a banquet for you to devour, we don´t really mind cannibals we already have one with us, that’s the sort of open minded business we run.”

The Noh remained silent while Tony kept babbling on quite satisfied with his own words. “There is no doubt in my mind that we will succeed, after all she is fighting too.” Tony slumped even more again the iron as he threw his coin again.

“You know she is the hungriest one of us, even if we dress her normally now she still very much that same ravish beast I met back there, it didn´t matter who she was fighting, she never stopped raging till those bastard twice her size ended on the ground, she had to, after all she lives only with her fists.” The Noh ceased to hit the insides of his cage as he simply fell down on his knees in the middle of the shelter were there was nothing but complete darkness.

“…” Noh remained silent as he crossed his legs having accepted that his fate was no longer his and simply letting his body regenerates in peace.

“Let´s wait and see how everything ends; I’ll bet on my girl and you for bet for your dude and then if she, you´ll tell me what your price is my friend, Hahaha.”Tony took a smile respite as he looked at the coin fall with heads up.

“Brake them so we can move on already, I’m starving too.” He grinds his teeth in clear anger as he looked into the dark ceiling above.

***

“Aag… His groaning was cut short as Rocky Howard went silent.

“It wasn´t a bad a fight, you ended making me show you, all of me, your love was that strong.” Joahn told him with a quiet and presumptuous tone, but he could no longer understand her. Rocky was already deceased as his chest was being pierced by her fist; her entire hand had entered inside his chest cavity turning his pink shirt red.

“At least none of your words were lies, you die for your love now and I´ll live for mine, even if you consider it cheap, truth is at that at the end the two us, we are only together because we cannot bear to let anyone else to see us naked and that is more than enough.”

She removed her hand from inside him, blood spitting all over her black suit as the man collapsed in the ground below her. “Either way at the end we all walk alone into the darkness.” Joahn sighed looking at him with a certain fondness; her hair had turned completely black by now, but she stood in front of him and raised the cross upon her tie. “Or maybe you found heaven, you got a better chance than me and god loves naïve people like you.” She make her distance and took of her suit jacket and threw it over him like a mantle staying with only her white formal shirt and the long black tie over it, her cross hanging from the center of it.

“Well then so all that is left now is…”

As she walked away from his fallen foe a person crashed on the ground at the side of the street, it was a hooded figured that rolled down till their road was stopped by a pile of trashcans amidst the rubble. Joahn stopped walking and looked at them with a smirk with both hands on her pockets. “Well just look at that, if it isn´t the little dragon…”

Yong Lí came out from within the trashcans, her face mask falling off as she tried to regain her breathing. “If so, then it´s finally time for the main event.” Joahn took her hands out from from her pockets and began to fiddle with her gloves to adjust them properly, when a beastly sound was heard and the ground shacked behind her as something immense crashed on the middle of the street.

Kojiro Adachi descended falling from the skies above with the huge chunk of iron he called a weapon behind him, the asphalt cracked under his weight and the whole street seemed to shake, but Joahn never moved she simple turned back to look at him, that silhouette of a giant was now eclipsing her. Kojiro Adachi his shoulder were broad to the point that they covered her under his shade, the long red mantle he wore falling down below his arms like a giant curtain hiding Rocky Howards from her sight, her smile banished leaving no emotion left on her face.

“Welcome, but you came a little late I´m afraid; I’m Joahn, just Joahn.” Kojiro turned his back to her walking way with a huge iron ball trailing behind him, as he did that her face sobered. Yong stood up taking of her sweaters leaving her with only her black full chest tank top, her arms were terrible filled with bruises. “We can´t fight him it’s not possible.” She tried to scream to Joahn while lacking in breath, so her voice faltered.

“What happened to your spunk, just turn into a monster and you´ll manage” Joahn answered without taking her eyes from Kojiro who was now kneeling in front of Rocky Howard´s remains.

“Strength, power, speed he is not a man, he is more like a storm, a calamity and there is no fighting that, let’s work together and try to fight defensively, you know that is the plan Joahn.” Yong stood up and walked towards the other woman, but kept her distance still.

“Screw the plan.” Yong´s face turned red in anger as she stared daggers into the back of the other woman. “Tell nerd boy, that I´m enough I won´t let Salvatore have his head.” Joahn raised her gloved fist in front of her face.

They both looked at the gigantic man´s back seeing just the red mantle with an elegant flame depicted within shield his back as he lowered himself and took of the black suit jacket draped over Rocky to look finally look at his face, his lower lip quivered, his eyes remained hiden by the sun glasses.

With a great tenderness Kojiro put the jacket once more over his face. “¿Tell me, was my brother strong?” He spoke his voice sounding loud and clear even amidst the gunfire and the distant explosions, Yong found herself freezing from the simple sound of his voice, but Joahn walked forward.

“He sure was, he left me a horrible mess and just before the championship fight too, but don´t worry I´m more than down for another go” She came closer to his huge back, but nothing more, her confident smile going along well with presumptuous tone and yet her voice was low enough it didn’t feel like mockery. “¿What happened to my sister?” Kojiro asked her while turning back to look at her from above. “Sorry, but she didn’t make it, we got her corpse with us now, you just know that Salvatore will have some use for it.” She spoke with a gentle yet indifferent voice, looking quite pleased with herself.” Yong felt like she was about to pass out from how fast her heart was moving.

“¡What are you saying!” She scream at Joahn without ever relaxing her combat posture.

“No point in lying I need him in the right mood, else this is no fun at all.” Kojiro groaned slightly at Joahn´s words, he simple raised his palm and stared at it.

“Even if it’s a lie, I have failed all the same, once more everything just slipped out of my fingers.” Kojiro closed his hand into a fist. “¿Was it because I´m always needing you to bail me out sister or is it that I´m just not that smart?” As he spoke his hand began to quiver and Joahn´s expression turned deadly serious as she quickly took a step back. “Hmm sorry, like always you paid for all of my mistake and I couldn´t do a thing.” His voice was raspy and he seemed to cry under his shades if only for a moment.

“So I will do the only thing I’m good at.”

Joahn jumped back as the huge iron ball flew from nowhere straight into her face. “¿What?” She didn´t even notice when he threw it forward with chain, that immense weapon just flew in an instant crashing into her body, giving her only the time to jump back while blocking with her arms, her hands turning into a black miasma that absorbed most of the blow, but she was still thrown back landing just in front of Yong.

“I don´t know who you are or why you did what you did and I don´t much care, if you wanted a fight you have it now.” He pulled back his chain and the ball at its end flew back breaking the floor and creating a rapture through the whole street before raising again into the sky, this was a ferocity that Yong had yet to see before, and so Kojiro made the huge sphere spin over him, so fast one could bare keep track of its form, the man was no longer smiling this was no longer a game to him and neither will it be for Joahn who stood up with one of her arms now completely broken.

“¡I have nothing to protect now so I will do what I know to do best, this body can destroy anything in this world, Beretta´s, Salvatore if you want me dead here I´m, so come an try!” A terrible wind force began to form around him as he spun the chain and ball, the throwing away even the corpse of his beloved friend; he was a calamity all by himself and the whole street was feeling his rage.

“Haha..ha, yes we can go all out..” Using her only good arm Joahn ripped of her cross and thrower it into the ground just so she reach for her tie and unravel it, as she did that from below her shirt a black miasma began to grow outwards and the darkness spin around her as she too was a storm. “You better get ready too dragon girl or else we are going to die right here…Hahahaha!” The shadows exploded in a violent whirlwind as she laughed.

Yong could felt a sense of absolute dread, death itself looking upon her. She knew that unless she turned into a monster as well she wouldn´t survive against that man and so her tattoo began glow with a burning red color as it spread through her arm. She could feel the tick scales growing through her skin as her body mass grew massive, her teeth turning into fangs and letting out a flame from her breathing, her eyes turning red while she stood her ground upon that storm.

Kojiro Adachi screamed his voice so powerful it made the ground shake, a war call full of regrets.

The man many had called the strongest of the world would now give them his all.

Now the war Irvin envisioned would finally reach its conclusion, there was but one piece that had yet to reach the board. The final person to arrive on the sky-less streets,

Helga Wright active commander of the school´s disciplinary forces was finally there at last. The very military police that handles all disruption within the island and captain of the white hound squad, her arrival was sent froth by Salvatore himself. The short woman with a white military coat and cap was coming out from the remains of the Hiroshi corporation headquarters, her usual tired expression underneath her hat.

“Well, that sure looked convincing.” She groaned. As she walked she could see plenty of armed people running away from her, but she didn’t have any interest in pursuing slaves, so she just looked at them go without a care. “Guess I should just find this Kojiro guy…” Helga stopped walking as she turned help palm to the side and her whole metal arm began to transform into a gun turret.

“Get out already.”

She opened fired, her pullets piercing through the side of a nearby building and forcing a man to jump from behind it. “Wait a second.” He screamed as he fell to the ground.

Helga stopped her weapon and returned it to normal, the Nano machines that composed it swirled around till they resembled a normal hand of pure black metal. Her black eye set into him, while the eye patch over her right one glowed with a yellow light.

“¿Dino are you stalking me? This is the second time you pop out of nowhere during one of my jobs.” Dallas “Dino” Saurus got on his feet, already wearing his long green coat with a lizard hoodie and his huge headphones over his messy black hair; he smiled with his sharp white teeth. “Hey Helga you are as sharp as ever.”

“Tell me why you are even here; this is nowhere near the school grounds.”

“I figure they will send you here to deal with the whole workers revolt thing.” Dino spoke as he scratched his neck a nervous smile on his face. Helga walked forward towards him, her military black boots sounding loudly with all the weight of her steps.

“Yes, but what does that have to do with you, don´t tell me you wanted to help me.”

“Well yeah I figure you may need some help, Kojiro is the strongest student and all that.”

“Maybe, but not yours, it creeps me out. ¿How many times must I explain to you that we were never friends.” Helga stopped in front of him looking up to stare at his covered face as she only reached his chest with her height. Dino could tell she was carrying something that was strapped to her bag, they looked like huge lumps of steel, but she didn´t seem bothered by their weight “Well it was real enough for me; we hanged out all the time.” Dino walked back slowly as he answered “I was just your bodyguard and that was my job.” She answered while following him forward. “Yeah and you looked out for my dad and me too, I can only appreciate that.” She lowered her head letting the visage of her cap cover her eyes.

“¿Did I really? Either way I´m a soldier now, just one of Salvatore´s dogs. So stop reaching out for me unless you want to lose your hand.” Dino stopped her by placing his finger on the center of her chest. “I’ll risk it, real or not I debt you a lot so let me help you for once and you won´t see me again. I swear.” She stood silent looking at him whit her mouth half open, wanting to say something before she gave up on doing it.

“Besides It will give me a good reason to use this stupid body I´m stuck with.” She sighed as she took his finger off her. “This is strange, you are acting strange lately. ¿Has something changed? In fact everything about this revolt is strange I can´t even find any evidence of the high members of the burning sun being here other than the damn flag.” She looked back at him with a sharp look on her eye. “¿Dino do you know something about all of this?” She pressed forward forcing him back into a wall as she looked at him with her tired eye. “No way, if I barely kept up with the news, all this stuff is way over my head ya´ know.” He smiled under his bangs of hair as she finally took a step back to leave him breath and sighed again in a tired manner. “Fine, I was told to arrest Kojiro and that I will do I´m no detective, investigating this stuff is too much effort any way.”

Helga turned around and took the luggage she carried from her back and forcefully threw it back at Dino who grabbed both bags at once and had to fell back as he tried to juggle their weight. “¿What the hell is this, why is it so heavy?” Dino stared at the two black objects, they were wide circular objects with an open space at their center, thick heavy bracelets no one could possible wear. “They are special hand cuffs and maybe our only change to survive this, you will be in charge of them so I won´t have to.” She couldn´t see it as she began to walk thought the dusty grounds, but at that statement Dino´s smile grew wider, his sharps teeth clear for all to see. “I guess I can handle that.”

“Just don´t expect me to babysit you from here on out.” She told him as she finished with a long yawn.

“I give ya´ quite the fight last time, so there is no need.”

“I was hardly putting much effort in that fight, but then again neither did you, Dino Saurus.” She looked back at him over her shoulder as he strapped the heavy handcuffs and walked at her pace.

“Haha that’s right, I’ll have to shed all of my skin for this one.” Dino answered back his eyes turning into those of a lizard.