Chapter 25 - Drey Vs. The Elite Duo

Zaraki and Hirai kept struggling to keep up with Drey's movements, as he was more skilled than the both of them combined.

Zaraki had noticed that the "Elite's Duo Formation" was not working, so he signaled to Hirai for an immediate change of tactics.

Hirai nodded in response, and in a split second, they switched weapons, briefly confusing Drey into hesitation. This delay in the attack was what the duo was aiming for, and Drey's hesitance created an opening that they both took advantage of.

At that very moment, they both slashed his front with their swords, forming a deep "X"-shaped cut that profusely spewed blood immediately from Drey's chest.

Drey groaned out in agonizing pain as he knelt in the pool of his blood.

"Now!" instructed Zaraki as the duo raised their swords, ready to strike the killing blow on Drey.

"No!" Drey shouted, triggering an immediate outburst of electricity that sent the Elites flying several feet backwards.

In a moment, the Elite duo stood up, not too surprised at what just happened given their past experiences, but ready to face the impossible.

"My bad. I should not have underestimated you both..."Now, I will end the both of you without holding back," he said as he shouted, triggering multiple strikes of lightning to flash around him and resulting in a continuous, deafening thunderclap. He dropped his sword and stripped himself of his clothes, believing they would only get in the way of manifesting his full strength.

Hirai took note of this and signaled his new idea to Zaraki, as they could not talk to each other over the loud clapping of thunder. Thankfully, Zaraki understood, and immediately the duo ran towards Drey.

Drey was surprised at their reaction to the situation.

"I have never met a duo so tired of being alive!" he remarked. "Prepare yourselves!"

Immediately he pointed his hands at the both of them, sending a stream of lightning bolts at them.

They both jumped on time, evading the attack right before swapping positions to resume coming after him.

Drey's eyes widened in disbelief at what he had just witnessed—for the first time, his lightning bolt had been evaded. No man could be fast enough to do that, so how could they?

This wasn't the time to think about that, though, because they were gradually getting closer, and they certainly had something up their sleeves to use against him, and he did not want to find out the hard way.

So he kept throwing lightning bolts at them, which they dodged on time every time. He was getting increasingly frustrated by what was happening—no humans could survive this long against him at this power level, and here were these two soldiers who barely had any metaphysical ability, frustrating his efforts.

Eventually, they came close enough to engage him one-on-one. Drey knew he was at a disadvantage with the enemies getting too close for comfort. He had no weapon on him presently, as he had discarded his swords and armor earlier.

"Damn it!" he swore to himself, knowing he had made a fatal mistake by doing that, and now that he had no weapon with him, his opponents would have the advantage over him once close enough to easily evade his long-range lightning attacks.

He looked down but could not find his swords, and then looked back at his opponents to find each of them with a sword of his.

"Screw you both!" he cursed as he figured out their tactic. This was their plan all along.

All he could do at this point was dodge their attacks, and though he tried numerous times to attack by throwing thunderbolts, they all failed as his enemies were now too close for comfort.

Drey was getting overwhelmed by their perfectly synchronized attacks on him.

He could not set them against each other, as they seemed to be a mature pair that knew each other's strengths and weaknesses and each worked for the perfection of the other.

Drey had one more technique up his sleeve, but using it would be detrimental to himself, even though it might get the job done.

So He thought about it for a moment while trying to keep up with their attacks and then made his choice seconds later.

Right at the moment when the Elite Duo thought they had finally gotten Drey into a tight corner and were now seconds away from destroying him,

... A large flash of lightning struck down from the skies—right on Drey—and the impact sent Zaraki and Hirai flying in different directions. The sparks of lightning fused with him, making his body one in substance with it—essentially making him a living thunderbolt.

Hirai and Zaraki saw this and stood in awe for a moment. But Hirai chose not to get stunned by it but instead ran to attack nonetheless, and that was his mistake.

Hirai brought his sword down for Drey's chest, and surprisingly, he did nothing about it but stood still.

The moment the sword came in contact with Drey's glowing body, it electrocuted Hirai, throwing him far off and smashing his body into a nearby wall.

Zaraki looked and sensed that, based on what he had just seen, Hirai would be extremely lucky to survive that ordeal, as splashed trails of his blood could be seen on the wall he collided with.

He looked to see Drey looking right back at him, giving him the look that said,

"Now it's your turn."

He took a deep breath and calmed himself, and as Drey walked closer, instead of pointing his swords at him, he instead dropped Drey's sword and pointed his own at his wrist—ready to initiate the forbidden Blood Mist Technique.

Drey was not aware of what Zaraki was up to but could easily guess that it was something to be used against him. So he ran at full speed at Zaraki, determined to finally end him with one killing blow.

Drey at this point was moving with the speed of lightning and was certainly going to end Zaraki in a fraction of a second...

....which was why he was stunned to find someone just as fast as he was, heading in the same direction as the person most likely to stop him.

This mysterious person pushed Zaraki out of the way on time and physically stopped Drey in his tracks, holding both of his hands, clearly unaffected by his lightning abilities.

At that time, a large meteor, over twenty feet wide, was heading for that area and falling at a high velocity.

Drey struggled as hard as he could, but he could not free himself from the stranger's grip, and in one fell swoop, the stranger threw him against the falling meteor.

As Drey's body clashed with the falling meteor, it unleashed a wave of destruction that spread throughout the entire kingdom, and the stranger ensured Drey's destruction by throwing a thunderbolt of his own at the meteor upon impact.

The stranger looked up, closely examining the explosive impact to make sure Drey was destroyed, but was immediately distracted by an overwhelmed Zaraki.

"Who... What... Who are you?" he asked, being too overwhelmed to put his words in the correct order.

"I'm Tang Fei of the Arutimetsu... and I am glad you are safe, Sir Zaraki," replied the stranger to Zaraki's bewilderment.