The forest rustled with urgency as Kinto, Baraka, and Mori sprinted through the woods, heading to rescue Alex.
Baraka glanced behind him, his brow furrowed. "I don't have a good feeling about this. Do you think it was a good idead to leave sōn and deo behind?"
Mori's eyes narrowed as he added, "Yeah… I feel like Son and Deo might need help. They're strong. But their opponents were obviously unhinged. This might not mean much, but i dont think it was a bright idead to leave them behind like that."
Kinto waved a hand dismissively. "They'll be fine. You know those two—they're monsters. Deo was already a young prodigy, he has skills and insane speed and strength slightly above the rest of us. Sōn is the craziest pyromaniac ive ever met, his flames are controlled but crazy. Don't waste your head worrying about them. Focus. How far are we from Alex?"
Mori held up his fingers, forming a triangle around his head. A glowing eye appeared on his forehead, radiating a soft blue light.
"There," Mori said, eyes fixed through the vision of his ability. "He's in a valley, not too far from the forest's entrance. I can only see his energy, I can't see what he's doing. All I know is that he's alive."
Kinto exhaled in relief. "Finally... That's a relief."
But before they could move, Mori suddenly tensed. "Wait… Something's coming."
WHOOSH!
From deep within the forest, glowing red slashes of energy screamed through the trees, narrowly missing them and exploding on impact. The blast shook the forest floor, sending smoke and debris everywhere.
When the dust began to settle, it revealed a sturdy earth wall—Baraka's doing.
Kinto turned to him with a nod. "Thanks buddy, you saved our asses from near death." Mori asked himself in confusion "He really thought shit was over for us huh? Guess he's the most scared among us." Kinto yold Baraka. "You can drop it now."
Baraka dispersed the wall, revealing three figures standing atop a thick tree branch ahead.
One was a red-haired girl with two sabers glowing with volatile red energy. Beside her stood a tall, muscular teen with metallic fists and a cocky smile. A few steps behind them was a calm girl with long silver-grey hair and cold, unreadable eyes, she had a mild smile on her face.
The one with the iron fists was the first to speak.
"You must be the one's bara sent us after. The name's Takashi."
The red-haired girl smirked. "Tenko"
The last girl gave a quiet nod. "Rika"
Kinto narrowed his eyes. "Atleast you three know how to introduce yourselves properly. What are you three here for?"
Rika raised her swords. "Mission's simple. We were sent to stop you."
Mori clicked his tongue. "Didn't expect anything else…"
Kinto looked at the others. "We'll have to split up. That's the only logical thing here. Its three against three."
Baraka stepped forward. "I'll take the red haired one."
"No," Mori said firmly, eyes on Tenko. "She's strong. I'll handle her."
Kinto nodded. "Mori's right. Tenko's probably the strongest here—and she looks like a nightmare with those sabers. That rika on the other hand seems way too unhinged. I'll take her."
Mori gave a short laugh. "Don't worry. I've gotten way stronger since last time."
Baraka cracked his knuckles with a frown. "Then I'll take the iron fist guy."
"Guess that leaves me with silver-hair. As planned" Kinto said with a smirk.
As he spoke, Tenko raised her blade, extending its energy in a red arc. "Stop calling us by how we look. We have names.". She fired off a huge slash of red energy. The boys immediately dodged.
Without another word, the three boys split into separate directions. Tenko, Takashi, and Rika gave chase.
Just as Tenko leapt between trees in pursuit, Mori appeared behind her like a shadow, a dagger aimed for her neck.
CLANG!
She spun around and blocked it effortlessly with one of her blades. With a swift kick, she sent Mori flying through several tree branches, then dove after him. Mori hurled small bombs mid-air, creating a powerful explosion.
Tenko burst through the smoke unscathed and slammed a second kick into Mori, crashing him to the ground.
"I've heard a lot about you, Mori Katakuri." Tenko said, hovering above him with both swords drawn.
Mori wiped blood from his lip and stood up with a cocky grin. "Yeah? What'd you hear?"
"That you're the strongest young assassin the city's got."
He chuckled. "Well, the soure of your info wasn't lying. Although,that title belongs to someone else now. Actually, make that two people."
He activated his technique. Red energy surged to his hands, forming the shape of glowing blade edges.
Tenko's sabers responded in kind, flaring up with violent energy. "Hm. On the trigger i see."
"Good," Mori replied, eyes sharpening. "Youve got sharp eyes. I like you!"
Meanwhile — Deeper in the Forest
Baraka clashed fists with Takashi, each blow sending shockwaves through the forest. As the earth cracked beneath their feet, Baraka hardened his arms into stone, launching a series of brutal close-combat strikes while destroying trees and parrying Takashi's punch which was also incredibly strong as well.
"You're pretty strong," Takashi admitted, grinning. "But no one's ever beaten me in pure strength."
Baraka smirked. "Think again."
He delivered a powerful kick to Takashi's face, sending him back, then slammed his fist into the ground. Giant earth spikes erupted toward his opponent.
Takashi smirked and began smashing through them with raw force, punching and blocking his way through the barrage.
Baraka appeared behind him mid-air with a giant, stone-solid fist. Takashi dodged smoothly and sent Baraka flying with a powerful slap, crashing him through several trees.
As Takashi walked toward him, he chuckled. "Was that all?"
Baraka growled and stood up, fists charged. "Not even close."
The two resumed their brawl, fists flying so fast and hard that trees around them were obliterated with every impact, they were both showing great brute strength and skulls in combat as they were wrecking everything In the way.
Elsewhere in the Forest
Kinto swung gracefully from tree to tree, dodging the razor-sharp wind slashes being fired at him by Rika.
"Wow, you sure are fast like a monkey. Dance for me, will ya?" she called out, releasing another barrage of wind slashes that were moving faster than sound by 10 times. "I'll make your death painless."
Kinto smirked, leaping through her attacks like a phantom. "Calling me a monkey and ordering me to dance for ya? I'll make you pay for that you bastard!"
He threw a cluster of explosives at her and activated a skill.
"Multiplying Caster!"
The bombs rapidly duplicated mid-air before detonating, unleashing a massive explosion that incinerated the surrounding trees. Each explosive was enough to wipe out half a city block atleast.
Kinto dropped to the ground, brushing off his white unbuttoned shirt.
"I know you dodged that," he called out to the smoke. "You're not fooling anyone."
Suddenly, a slicing gust of wind slashed across his chest, launching him backward into trees.
After he had finished crashing into things, Kinto staggered up, blood trickling from the cut.
"Heh… Guess I shouldn't have expected this to be easy. I let my guard down, guess i got what i deserved" he muttered to himself.
Then he smiled, eyes gleaming red.
"Everything's going… exactly as planned."
END OF EPISODE