The VENOM Squad : Emperor Scorpion ft. Monitor Lizard

Chapter 36

Hanzo immediately backs away before the Higanbana would scratch him. He knew too well that if he is cut by it, even if it's just a little, it would cause immense pain because of the demonic power it possesses.

Nephila still persists in attacking him so Hanzo has no choice but to summon his Ame no Habakiri. Their weapons crash against each other as they go all over the place.

Gritting his teeth, Hanzo cannot bring himself to hurt Hanabi. May it be out of guilt... or maybe love? But seeing her changed into something he did not expect is a shock.

"You," Hanabi states as she pauses for a while, "seem familiar."

Just then, Hanabi remembers the night she went out with Kenshin. He was the person whom Kenshin attacked with a reason that he did not tell yet.

"Speak to me after you remember who I am," Hanzo claims as he charges towards her. With his sword parallel to the ground, he could knock her off unconscious but even with a swift swing of his weapon, Hanabi dodges it with much ease. She vanishes in front of him and he felt her presence behind him. Hanabi is about to thrust her kunai right behind him but all she hits is a black puff of smoke.

She summons her Higanbana once more and jumps back, only to see Hanzo hitting the solid ground with a loud thud that cracked upon receiving the damage from his weapon. This time, it is her chance to grab victory. Her spider limbs from behind appear with a simultaneous clicking sound.

With her stealth improved, she lunges forward and before Hanzo could defend himself, the kunai pierces through his flesh right in his abdomen. Looking right into her eyes, he sees a new version of Hanabi. The woman in front of him seems to be not the Hanabi he once knew before.

Still, he holds her wrist with a tight clutch and forces her to remove the kunai even if she is resisting.

"You have improved a lot," he states with a low tone of voice, "but you are fighting for the wrong thing."

Hanabi smirked while staring daggers at him. She pushes him and before he could do anything else, she lifts her right foot and kicks him right where she wounded him. The demonic power from her kunai that infiltrated his body starts to crawl around Hanzo's body—weakening him bit by bit.

"You have grown weaker, Hanzo," she states while her Higanbana turns on her hand, swishing against the wind. The power of the Ame no Habakiri that resides within Hanzo tries to defy the demonic power, thus, causing more pain.

Hearing her words makes the Akuma ninja look up to her whilst being on his knees. Her red-colored eyes that seem to radiate her bloodthirst stare directly at him.

"You think so?" he responds before vanishing in sight, leaving no trace at all. Hanabi stands where she is—unmoving—and tries to sense her surroundings. She closes her eyes and heightens her hearing ability. A swift change of wind behind her catches her attention and Hanzo did appear behind her. But with her limbs that serve as her legs, she manages to distance herself from him and shoots her kunais. And to corner him, she throws her Higanbana beyond that would come back flying before he knew it.

With another kunai at hand, she charges towards him.

"For what reason did you come here for?" Hanabi asks she comes in contact with him who gets to block her sets of kunais. To weaken Hanabi without much hurting her and to neutralize the demonic power inside his body, Hanzo opens the portal of soul reap. Ranging from about half a kilometer, the area is under his control. His soul reap is a portal, not to other dimensions, that he could drain his enemies' energy and uses it on his own advantage—either heal or strengthen himself. And just as how its name states, it is also a portal that could separate a soul from a body.