Ryoko Vs Astro, Sayo, Natsuki, and Yahiko

Natsuki stood tall, understanding what this meant. Each swordsman was divided into different areas. ‘Let me test something,’ he thought. He tried to activate a Yellow Egress Chaplet, but it didn’t work. He tried a Poter Chaplet, and this worked. It increased his sword’s effect like normal.

Natsuki: “Okay! Lovely! So teleportation is banned in these realms. I guess that means that we are going to be tested on whether we are worthy of our titles.”

Sayo: “Natsuki sir, what’s going on?”

Yahiko: “Natsuki, what is this place? The sky is beautiful and it looks almost like there are blue magic incantations surrounding everywhere. And we are walking on water. It’s like this isn’t a real place. It looks like it’s straight out of a fantasy book.”

Astro: “Aw hell. What’s next?”

Natsuki looked in the distance where arrows began to fly at them at rapid speeds. “Run!” he yelled out.

Astro tried to use his shadow transportation, but it didn’t work. No teleporting at all worked. He bolted off in one direction, but the speed of the arrows were too great for any of them.

“Cupid’s Winding Arrow!” Natsuki yelled out.

The smaller arrows broke off and went after Ryoko’s attack, destroying the ones that went after his friends, but he couldn’t avoid the arrow that headed towards him.

Yahiko: “NATSUKI!”

Sayo: “NATSUKI SIR!”

Water jolted up in the air, but as it came down, Nasuki emerged with a dark blue body and white hair.

Natsuki: “Don’t worry, everyone. This is going to be a long battle. Let’s try being selfish for once. After all, love goes both ways.”

Ryoko: “That didn’t kill anyone? I guess I underestimated some of you. My body is at 100% now. This shouldn’t be too difficult.”

For Astro, this was the first time seeing what happened to Ryoko. He didn’t know that he went through something similar to Welpen, but he sensed his mana.

Astro: “Ryoko! What are you doing?! Why?! Why did you let this happen?! I was supposed to protect you!”

Ryoko: “What’s with the screaming you idiot. Protect who? You're lucky the boss is giving you all a chance to fight in separate realms.”

Astro: “Bullshit! You’re an innocent kid. You did nothing wrong. You were one of the first people I talked to at those damn games. This isn’t who you are. I’m sick of this! I’m sick of everyone turning to darkness. Why? Just why…?”

Natsuki: “Astro, my friend. You are not responsible for this. Sometimes things happen for a reason. If you want your friend back, then you have to keep fighting for it. I don’t care how hard you have already fought or how hard you think you have fought, if the result your looking for isn’t there, then you have to fight even harder.”

He smiled and stuck his thumb up in the air, while Astro took his words to heart. “Yeah, I’m gonna beat the living shit out of him then…Ryoko, you hear me? I’m gonna beat the crap out of you so hard that you’re gonna remember who you are…“Clairvoyance. Death Manipulation. Enhanced Condition. Necromancy. Telekinesis. Stamina. Immortality.”

Astro’s appearance was more fiery than usual. It was like his mana was the highest it's ever been. The pure rage from within him seemed to trigger this. Natsuki kept his form alongside Astro, ready to get serious. Yahiko used Switcher’s Code and used the same ability that Natsuki had. Sayo stood there, activating her moon right away, enthralling herself with dark green mana.

Ryoko: “Solarvein: Arrow of a Thousand Suns.”

Plasma arrows shot out towards them that burned gravity themselves. One arrow could vaporize a mountain, and to show this, he purposely landed one in the water, which completely vaporized the area of water, causing a huge crater in the ground.

Sayo: “Dragon Bind!”

Blue and pink dragons targeted every arrow that came after them, while also charging at Ryoko in the distance, but before they could reach him, they burned in mid air.

‘Huh?’ she thought. ‘My dragons dispersed?’

Natsuki charged head on with Ryoko side by side, clearing the rest of the arrows and bolting at Ryoko.

Natsuki: “Breathless Mana Zone!”

Ryoko: “Silent Quiver: Arrow of Absolute Stillness.”

While Natsuki’s ability sucked the air out of the area completely, Ryoko’s ability phased through any defense, piercing their target. Purposely, he pierced Natsuki with it, who couldn’t sense it, deactivating his ability, but to Ryoko’s surprise, he evaded a vital point and continued towards him.

Natsuki and Yahiko clashed swords with him, but his bow extended and met with their blades.

Ryoko: “Mirrorbound Judgement: Reflexion Arc.”

Multicolored arrows that looked exactly like Natsuki’s ability shot out of the bow at both of them. They shifted away from them, and began to dash to a different spot to avoid them, however this was not the arrows intentions. Mirrorbound Judgement allowed Ryoko’s arrows to become the opposite of what the target expected.

The arrows didn’t come at them head on, but instead from underground and above. Yahiko activated a Wight Chaplet quickly, but Natsuki took the arrows head on, as they cut his skin open badly.

Natsuki: “You see my resolve, Ryoko. I’m going to bring you back too. The love in that man’s heart is too great for me to kill you. Now, it’s your turn…Astro!”

Astro jumped over Natsuki, holding the scythe he originally had in his hand and swinging it down at Ryoko, who jumped out of the way at the last minute, not expecting this. Astro’s scythe blasted the ground so hard that the water jolted hundreds of feet in the air.

Ryoko didn’t even question it at all because he hadn’t known what had happened to Astro’s original weapon, but the rest didn’t understand, but they quickly learned that Astro had used a Sphere Chaplet on his sword. This was something that nobody knew they could do, but seeing Michiaki do something similar, they believed it easily.

Astro had been more advanced than they thought. He loved his scythe so deeply that he replicated it a long time ago with a Sphere Chaplet just in case he lost it.

Astro: “Clairovoyance Mark! Spirit Summoner Lock on!”

A red X appeared on Ryoko’s chest as black shadow fairies targeted Ryoko. They hit him, but the wound on his chest was barely deep enough and he healed it immediately with an arrow of his own.

Astro had activated Invisible Silence right after he chanted this ability, disappearing completely before ending up behind Ryoko and slicing at his legs, but Ryoko jumped, turned around quickly and fired an arrow right at Astro’s face, exploding it, but it grew back via his immortality.

Astro: “Blades of Hell!”

His mana shot out at the ground beneath his feet, lifting Ryoko into the air as he laughed, pulled out more arrows in the sky, and rained them down from above at everyone.

Astro: “Kuro! Extend!”

His scythe covered the entire playing field. It wasn’t like the last time he had used Mana Transfusion. He protected everyone from the arrows.

‘He’s on par with a Great Swordsman. Astro sir, what have you been through in your life?’ Natsuki thought.

Astro jumped in the air, slicing Ryoko’s body rapidly before hitting him into the water on the ground, and then yelled, “Apollos Plagued Arrows!”

7 arrows shot out at towards Ryoko, following his every movement before eventually Ryoko fire 7 arrows that mimicked Astro’s ability, cancelling them out and exploding a large part of the playing field.

Sayo: “Dragon’s Imperial Destiny!”

Bright yellow dragon tails made of mana wrapped around Ryoko’s body, transferring her own mana into his body, which would let her control him.

Yahiko: “Haunting Mind!”

Natsuki: “Wind’s Eternal Binding”

They all approached Ryoko who couldn’t move or do anything. “We got him,” Yahiko said out loud. “What should we do now?”

Sayo: “I have control for a long time. My dragons put most of my mana into him. What do you think, Natsuki sir?”

Natsuki: “Hmm, I don’t know. None of us can drag his soul out. Maybe we should wait for Sir Kazuki. Although, if this was this easy, then why hasn’t Kazuki come to us yet. Is he struggling?”

Yahiko: “Impossible.”

Ryoko started to laugh slowly and quietly, but then louder and busted out of Sayo’s dragon tail easily and Yahiko’s haunting mind like the ability was trash.

He whipped Sayo across the water with his bow, fired an arrow that exploded Yahiko’s leg off, and kicked water into Astro’s and Natsuki’s faces before shoving his hands through their stomachs.

Ryoko: “Ahhhh, this is more like it. Show me more. My arrows haven’t had enough yet.”

Astro: “R-Ryoko, you b-bastard.”

Natsuki: “I-I should’ve known…it wasn’t that e-easy.”

Astro chopped his hand off, healed himself and kicked Ryoko across the water. Natsuki had 1 Healing Chaplet left, which he used, but he could not get injured again. Yahiko screamed on the ground, but Astro threw him the only Recovery Chaplet that he had.

Astro: “Ryoko!”

Ryoko: “Astro!”

They traded wounds, but both sides continued to heal as they sliced each other into pieces.

Astro: “Nyx’s Whip: Black Whips Tangled Web!”

His scythe turned into the large black whip that he had used before and strangled Ryoko’s body, but its effects were poor. “Telekinesis: Vision Sync Activate!”

This ability, unknown to Astro, was similar to a Fool’s Judgement, forcing past visions and voices into Ryoko’s mind, but yet again this didn’t work as his mind was empty and vicious.

The black door with white keys followed Astro around since activating Nyx’s whip. He held the 8th key in his hand, but he hesitated still.

Before he could make a decision, Sayo came out of nowhere with her dragons in the air that were huge, and bit down at Ryoko who held the dragons up midair, and threw them. He turned around, shooting her with endless arrows.

She struggled to avoid them as some of them hit her skin, but ultimately she stopped any from killing her.

Sayo: “You’re going to have to do more than that!”

Ryoko: “Oh? Are you sure?”

Sayo suddenly couldn’t breathe and fell to the ground.

Ryoko: “Hahahaha! That poison is so effective, isn’t it? Poison arrows might be the only thing I need to use against you idiots.”

Natsuki threw down a Peeking to momentarily make Ryoko blind, as he went to grab Sayo, but it didn’t work, and he didn’t realize that Ryoko was faking it. Before he got Sayo, he appeared right next to him and slowly asked in a menacing voice, “Where do you think you’re going?”

He pierced Natsuki’s body with arrows all over and kicked Sayo even further across the land.

Yahiko: “Sayo! Natsuki! Why you!”

He bolted at Ryoko swinging his sword rapidly and randomly, trying his hardest to even hit him once, but Ryoko evaded without breaking a sweat, punched him over a hundred times in his stomach, then took an arrow, stuck it in his chest and kicked him so hard that he went flying across the surface of the water.

Astro stared at the scene in front of him. He was the only one left that could fight. Everyone had used too many Healing Chaplets in the last fight, and nobody decided to fill him in on Ryoko and what had happened to him. He didn’t have too many chaplets already. He believed in his own abilities, but he stared down at the 8th white key not knowing what to do.

That’s when arrows fire at him, piercing his hand where he was holding the key. It fell to the ground, and he tried to grab it, but Ryoko appeared in front of his face and rammed him into the water.

Astro coughed up blood unexpectedly. ‘Crap!’ he thought. ‘My immortality is running out! My key…I need to grab it.”

Ryoko: “God of the Influx of Arrows: Ryoko.”

The realm rattled, the ground shook, and the air felt thin. From above, the clouds separated and a giant arrow began to fall from the sky. Black and orange flames surrounded the edges of it. It was big enough to destroy the entire place.

Everyone looked up to the sky not knowing how to defend it. Even if Natsuki, Yahiko, and Sayo weren’t injured, they couldn’t defend this arrow that rained down. Natsuki looked at everyone, not knowing what to do, but realized he had to do something. Sayo was the only one that had activated her moon, but even she barely scratched Ryoko. Natsuki and Yahiko could not do it in the state they were in now. He stood up, injured and bleeding.

Natsuki: “Well, I didn’t realize that I was weaker than most in the end. Astro, I know you can’t hear me, but I hope this helps you. I sense that those keys will defeat this foe and bring him back to you. I apologize. You are not on par with a Great Swordsman. You are stronger than one. The love in your heart is so strong from pain that you cannot throw it away. Goodluck, Astro sir.”

Natsuki pulled a Alotum Chaplet from his brown pouch and activated it. His mana lines increased tenfold to about the same extent of his moon state. “AUTUMN!” he screamed out, forcing his sword to combine with his body.

It forcibly went inside his chest, and increased his mana even more than what the Alotum Chaplet did. He bolted at Ryoko, grabbing his face and pounding him into the ground endlessly. Ryoko laughed, but bled more than anyone had made him bleed. His healing began to slow down, but he still laughed.

Natsuki dragged him through the water, then threw him in the air and rapidly punched him. He did not use any of his powers, as he did not want to kill Ryoko, but this chaplet allowed him to use his sword’s powers without having the actual sword.

Natsuki screamed out in pain, but continued to beat the crap out of Ryoko to the point where Ryoko wouldn’t heal. He panicked for a second, not knowing the true strength of this man.

Ryoko: “Get off me!”

Natsuki would not listen and continued to draw blood constantly from his body. Ryoko tried to punch and kick him and even pierce him with arrows, but Natsuki would not move. They both screamed at each other until 1 minute was finally up, and Natsuki became manaless–a side effect of using the chaplet.

He stood there tired and weak, but maintained enough strength to turn around and look at Astro with a smile on his face.

Natsuki: “Goodluck Astro sir. You’re our last hope. I hope this was enough time for you. The love in your heart will never perish. Never change.”

He continued his smile as blood ran down every crevice of his body. Ryoko took his bow and arrow, taking the string side and sliced off Natsuki’s head.

Sayo was passed out and didn’t know what had happened, but Yahiko screamed out even in the pain he was in. He cried, but couldn’t move as he was poisoned as well.

Astro grabbed the white key in the water and did not hesitate. He stuck it in the last keyhole, thinking of Natsuki’s sacrifice. ‘You fool…You didn’t have to do that,’ he thought.

He even shed a tear for him, respecting Natsuki for the time that he gave him.

The black fiery door opened slowly.

Ryoko fired dark pink arrows at it to cancel out the ability, but they perished midair much like earlier when the swordsmen’s powers dispersed.

The large arrow continued to fall down from the sky, about halfway down as Astro entered the door saying, “Ryoko…I’m going to try to fight it, but if I kill you by accident, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. I know you didn’t do this on purpose, but my hatred consumed me into thinking you did. Please survive this. I will bring you back.”

He waved his hand as he entered the door and it shut. White cracks appeared throughout the sky and the arrow was obliterated into dust. The cracks continued to consume the space around them until it isolated Ryoko in a separate space. It was a small realm, in fact it was almost like a box only about 100 feet tall and wide. It was dark brown in color and when he tried to break the walls, he was reflected.

The black fiery door emerged once more from one side and opened.

Out of the door came a young boy with black messy hair, a scar across his face similar to Astro’s, and a black and red checkered outfit. The door closed and he sat down, placing a dark flaming crown on his head and winking at Ryoko.

Ryoko laughed.

Ryoko: “This is what stopped my ability and sent me here? What a joke hahaha. Maybe my body isn’t 100% after all. Oh man. Alright kid, the jokes are over. Where’s the big dude? I gotta kill him, then get back to Welpen.”

“Abyssal Crown Protocol: Oblivion Overdrive,” the kid yelled out, then continued. “Crown of the Neverborn.”

The black fiery crown shook and extended its flames around Ryoko, which turned into black chains. “What a pity,” Ryoko said, and went to bust out of the chains, but to his surprise, he couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything. “Fine, then let me borrow your power, Welpen. Imagination Level 7: Fold In.”

Nothing happened again. “What the hell are you?” Ryoko questioned. “The Dark Mold is superior to everything in the world. You must have some Dark Mold substance.

The kid responded looking Ryoko right in the eyes with his legs crossed on the ground.

“I am the fire that forgets. They key that should have never been turned. The story that ends the writer. Let the author of existence be forgotten.”

Ryoko: “Huh? You little twerp. Let me out of this and I’ll kill you.”

Ryoko ended up face to face with him, but the kid had moved, but he did. The chains that bound him remained and now he was right next to this boy whose eyes were as dark as an abyss full of nothing.

First, the kid did not move a muscle, but Ryoko’s right arm was torn off, then his left. His legs were then broken afterwards and he could not heal himself like before. He went to yell and speak, but as he did, he realized that he didn’t have a mouth. It was missing…

He panicked, but breathed through his nose even through all the pain before his eye was suddenly stabbed with a dagger. It was a single sided bloodbath. Ryoko was being torn apart and could do nothing.

The boy’s eye began to twitch and he smacked it. Astro was trying to fight, but he was struggling with everything he had. He did not use this ability for this soul reason, knowing that it would lead to this.

“Do you fear me?” the boy asked, not to Ryoko, but to Astro. Astro’s voice echoed throughout the territory saying, “Do not kill him!”

“You are strong, but there is a reason why you have not turned that key. Sit down there for a while.”

Astro’s soul separated from his body, unable to do anything as he fell deeper and deeper away from his main body, unable to reach the boy’s crown. ‘Shit!’ he thought. ‘Ryoko, please…survive.’

“Now, where is my wand?”