Pop Goes The Skull

A bolt of lightning suddenly shot out from the staff, noticing this, Kaiko attempted to brush it off, but her efforts turned futile and the surge of energy coursed violently through her.

Ty, on the other hand, had his skull healed as the bone fragments rushed back to him and reconnected after which he relentlessly continued to pound on the wall as his bones shattered again and again and connected non-stop, repeating the cycle. 

All the while, Todd lay on the ground, in a pool of his own blood that was leaking from his shoulder and seeped into the floor.

Taking a deep breath, Todd started making hand signs that were similar to Ox, Lion, and Fox before a blue hue of energy began to wrap around his hand.

His hand gestures were then followed by a resounding clap that sent shockwaves throughout the tea shop, causing blood to leak from the ears of the little girls and the tall man, prompting both of them to stumble back in confusion while a ring continued to resonate in their ears.

The man yelled, "I think I told you to just get over with him and kill him already." 

In slight defiance, Nana replied, "I only want to injure him, not kill him."

"SCOOOOP"

As the two argued, a bone blade pierced Nana's right shoulder, throwing her off balance. Ty, having escaped his prison, reformed his skeletal body around the girl and pushed her into the air. He then slowly rebuilt himself as blue cords of energy snapped Ty's bones back into their place.

Simultaneously, Kaiko delivered a powerful kick to the man's face. He stumbled back before creating a volley of energy spheres that were encased in his barrier magic.

After forming them, he launched the spheres at Kaiko, which she countered, leaving the two in a stalemate for a brief moment. 

Their standoff gave Ty just enough time to question something that he had been wondering for a while, "Why would a small, impudent child like you attack and hurt so many people?"

Tears welled up in Nana's eyes as she felt a throbbing pain in her injured shoulder. In irritation, she continued to make Ty's head explode, but no matter how many times she tried doing it and that even did happen, his head would keep on coming back, akin to a never-ending nightmare. Nonetheless, her determination to stop Ty was unwavering. But Ty's bone shards also continued to pierce into numerous parts of her body, causing blood to leak through her skin, prompting her to let out screams of agony.

However, in that critical moment, when it seemed like all hope was lost, an unexpected event occurred. It seemed as if time itself hesitated, flickered and paused for a brief, inexplicable instant.

All of a sudden, Ty's mind was flooded with vivid images which unraveled the little girl's life story, starting from the very day she was born.

He witnessed the heart-wrenching memories of her family being brutally taken away from her, followed by her subsequent fate as a slave. The images continued to reveal how she eventually found herself under King Yami's influence.

These haunting revelations caused Ty to hesitate, as if time itself had momentarily frozen. It was an inexplicable pause in the chaos that was unfolding around the two.

Taking advantage of this momentary pause, Masaru managed to overpower Kaiko, who had been distracted by the screaming.

Acting decisively, he swiftly took hold of Nanako, his grip firm and unyielding, and emphasized her with a sense of urgency, "You can't afford to die and become useless now." His fingers tightened around her already wounded shoulder, emphasizing the gravity of the situation.

Tears streamed down Ty's face as he relocated himself, haunted by the horrifying images of Nana's family's death and the life she endured all this long. Anger surged within him as the flames on his back grew stronger.

Masaru swiftly intervened, declaring, "We can't let this fight go on any longer." 

Just as he said that another shockwave came from Todd's direction and got dangerously close to them, prompting Masaru to erect a barrier, expanding it outward, crushing Ty and Kaiko. The barrier crushed everything in the room, thrusting it against the walls.

Masaru ordered, "Pop Todd and that woman now." 

Nana nodded, and slightly extended her hand towards Todd. 

"NOOO"

Ty screamed out, trying to punch a hole into Masaru's barrier but just at that moment, the flaming blade suddenly came swirling in through the gaps from the wall and sliced off Nana's hand before it eventually landed in Ty's bony hands.

In response, Ty unleashed an inferno attack, engulfing the entire building in flames. 

However, during that interval, Masaru grabbed Nana and dove outside, cursing the fact that the fool had actually broken his barrier.

After escaping from the chaos of the shop, Masaru and Nana found a momentary respite outside.

With tears welled in her eyes, naan stared at her severed hand with a mixture of pain and determination on her face.

Noticing her distress, Masaru spoke up with urgency in his tone, "Listen, Nana, I have a plan. For that, we need to focus on keeping them in their defensive state, just long enough to trap that skeleton in another barrier. After that, I can create multiple barriers to wrap around it. I need you to perform a feint, pretend as if you are about to launch an attack to draw his attention. Then when he is distracted, use a volley attack. That is a rapid succession of smaller, focused energy blasts. It's like firing arrows quickly one after the other but here you utilize your energy instead. This will be enough to catch him off guard right before he acts. Will you be able to do that?"

Feeling weary and dizzy from the slow blood loss, Nana nodded.

The next instant, a sonic boom blew away the flames engulfing the establishment as Ty and the others collected themselves. 

Nana showed up about ten inches away from Todd with tears rolling down her face, as she asked, "Why would you betray him?"

Ty, still in a frenzy, wondered how she was able to sneak up so quickly. 

After realizing the pool of blood that surrounded her due to the severed hand, he wondered, "Can she even get an attack off?" 

Thinking for a moment, Ty leapt into action as he grabbed her arm, and warned, "Don't hurt anyone else. Why would you want others to share that pain?"

Just a moment after he said that to Nana, Ty felt as if he was impaled with hundreds of shards of energy that were in the form of barriers that expanded outward, trapping a portion of his body in each one of those emerging barriers. 

Meanwhile, having seen his plan turn out to be a success, Masaru said to Nana, "Good job. Pop that idiot, and let's be on our way. I'll need some good booze tonight."

As the barriers encased Ty, the sword also found itself being trapped alongside him, realizing the situation, it urgently communicated with Ty, "I'm going to melt myself down to a hidden form; stay strong!" 

After saying that with determination, it underwent a transformation, where it liquefied itself and took on a concealed unassuming appearance.

Nestled within the barrier's constraints, the sword then whispered to Ty, reassuring him that it would be ready to assist once the right moment presented itself.

Staring at her while feeling dizzy and fatigued due to the heavy loss of blood, Todd said, "Do what you gotta do, kid. I was always in your corner." 

A moment later a popping sound was heard as Masaru began walking away along with Ty, whose body parts were encased in multilayered spheres, stopping him from regenerating. 

Nana also caught up to him after applying some bandages to her severed hand.

"Do you think King Yami will be able to fix this? I've never lost a hand," she asked. 

"Who knows, maybe you should be more careful in the future," Masaru retorted.

Meanwhile, Ty repeatedly tried to put himself back together but kept getting ground into smaller bone fragments because of the barrier.

However, his bone fragments were becoming sturdier with each iteration during this process. 

Over the next two-hour walk back to King Yami's Castle, Ty rebuilt himself 42 times, and his bone structure had grown tougher each time, slowly chiseling and grinding into the barrier itself, ready to burst it at any moment.