The battle escalated into a storm of motion and violence.
Itsuki swung through empty air, claws slicing through residual lightning. He tried again, snarling, this time pouring Observation Haki into the strike—
Nothing.
Ryo wasn't there.
For a brief moment, Itsuki considered the impossible:
Had Ryo run?
Then a heartbeat thundered behind him — BOOM-BOOM-BOOM — too close, too fast.
Ryo materialized out of thin air.
His hand extended forward, black-and-white lightning twisting around his arm, forming a jagged claw of pure electrical fury.
Ryo: Shukusei no Tsume!!
The slash ripped across Itsuki's chest. Chitin shattered and flew like glass shards. Itsuki staggered back with a rasping scream as part of his armored carapace was torn clean off.
He tried to recover, forced his legs to stabilize—
But Ryo wasn't having fun anymore.
His heartbeat roared louder, faster, more violent.
Ryo: Raikō no Mai!!!
Ryo disappeared.
Then—
Strikes came from everywhere. From above. From below. From his flank. From angles that should've been impossible.
Itsuki's Observation Haki couldn't catch even a ghost of the movement.
Ryo flickered in and out of reality—
Or perhaps he was simply too fast for reality to keep up.
Lightning cracked with every blow.
The city around them warped under the shockwaves.
Itsuki's armor chipped, split, shattered—
Every punch felt heavier than the last.
Desperate, Itsuki lunged upward.
Itsuki: Geppo! Abyss Stride!!
He blasted into the sky in a zigzag, venom mist trailing behind him in ragged streaks.
Ryo slid to a stop below, claws sinking into the metal ground, his stance feral, low... predator-like.
Itsuki: you look like a mutt
He shouldn't have said that.
Every muscle in Ryo's body seized—
Then erupted.
Lightning exploded around him like a cage breaking open.
He launched on all fours with savage speed, tearing up the ground beneath him.
He hit Itsuki before the assassin could blink.
Claws. Lightning. Fangs. Raw strength.
Every strike tore away more of Itsuki's carapace, plates flying through the air like shattered obsidian.
Ryo pummeled him relentlessly, the rhythm of his heart dictating each hit—
Each beat stronger.
Each beat wilder.
Each beat more violent.
Finally, Ryo struck Itsuki in the ribs with a thunderous swipe, sending him rocketing into a building hard enough to collapse an entire section of wall.
Ryo rose, lightning claws materializing again, chaotic and jagged.
He rushed forward—
Silent this time—
Intending to end it.
But Itsuki smiled.
A wicked, fanged grin.
And his giant scorpion tail shot forward faster than a bullet.
Ryo—caught mid-charge, consumed by battle-rage—didn't dodge.
The giant stinger pierced straight into his chest.
He hung there for a second, impaled, poison pumping into his bloodstream.
Itsuki laughed breathlessly.
Itsuki: you haven't changed at all Ryo, you're still wild and reckless, I'll admit I'm on my last legs right now, but this battle is mine and you're life is over
The laughter died when Ryo lifted his head.
He was grinning.
And his hand closed tightly around the scorpion tail embedded in him.
Ryo: that's where you're wrong you stupid arachnid, I have changed, I've faced down enemies that seemed to love to use poison and I've built up an immunity
Itsuki's eyes widened in horror.
Ryo tightened his grip.
Ryo: if you had poison on the level of Magellan you might of got me, but this stuff.. I don't even feel it
Itsuki tried to pull away — but Ryo held him in place, impaled tail and all.
Ryo leaned closer, golden fox eye blazing.
Ryo: Sayonara.. Scorpy
Lightning detonated out of Ryo's body in a colossal burst.
Itsuki screamed — a choking, gurgling rasp — as the electricity tore through his transformation, ripping it apart piece by piece.
The scorpion limbs shattered.
The armor split.
The tail convulsed violently.
Ryo yanked it out of his chest just as Itsuki's hulking form collapsed backward, smashing into the ground in a heap.
His transformation dissolved entirely.
He lay there — unconscious, twitching, barely breathing, but alive.
Ryo stood over him, pulling the last remnants of electricity back into his skin.
His wound was already closing.
The wind pulled at his long red hair as he stared down at the fallen assassin.
Ryo: you were strong Itsuki, I'll give you that. I'll remember this fight for a long time, but you're still a lonely scorpion, while I'm the king of beasts
He crouched beside him, eye sharp, grin calm and predatory, as if he hadn't even broken a sweat.
Ryo: now, what to do with you
And that's a wrap
I love that fight, sorry for the wait
Working a lot and writer's black is a hellish combo
