1.8: The second Immortal!

Franco and Tedashii stood forward to begin their fight. Rin and Adrian drew a square on the ground, big enough to make them both move freely, and Makoto was then in charge of the battle.

"Alright, the rules are simple. You push your opponent out of the square or knock them out. READY, SET, GO!!"

Tedashii was getting ready to use his stance and leaped at Franco. But then Franco created the same red orb from before and expanded it. Tedashii went straight for a punch to the barrier, but immediately, it repulsed him back and out of the circle.

BZZZZZZZT!!!

"OUCH!!" Tedashii fell as he found himself out of the box.

Everyone was not baffled to see Tedashii get beaten so easily, knowing how much help Franco's attack was to them.  "Well, the rules are the rules. I'm the new captain, so beat it, Spike!"

"But that match was unfair! All you did was use space to win; where's the skill in that?!"

Everyone began to dart down to the ground to make Tedashii comprehend that rules are rules. And so they all began to walk away from him as if everything they'd been through had never transpired.

"WAIT! I have a proposal!" Adrian said as he turned his attention to Tedashii.  "It's a law found in the conduct of duels. For Tedashii to get rewarded another chance against the current captain of a guild, which in this case is Franco, he will have to beat one of us. Then the rematch is official. What do you guys say?"

Franco stopped as he heard what Adrian said. "HAHAHAHAHA! THAT'S the rule? Alright then, I like it! Well, Spike, pick your opponent. But remember, everyone here is strong as hell."

With Franco personally knowing all of them, he could already feel the strengths within them. This gave him a good status as the captain. Tedashii was thinking deeply about who his opponent should be. It had to be someone that wouldn't put him at a disadvantage. He glanced toward Leah, but she was a girl. He looked at Genti but thought he'd drown him to submitting. He glanced at Yuro but knew he was crazy; Makoto had a gun. He didn't even look at Ado, for he already had a problem with electric users. His last pick was between Rin, the light user; Adrian, the speedster; and Suzuki, his 'sort of' younger brother.

"Alright, I've decided. I'll fight you."

He pointed towards his opponent as Rin opened his eyes wide.  "Huh, why me?"

"I don't know; you look the easiest to beat."

Rin was prompted. "EASIEST ONE TO BEAT!?!? HAVE YOU SEEN ADRIAN BY ANY CHANCE!?!?"

He looked at Adrian, but Tedashii knew that speed versus speed would wear him down.  "Nah, I'll defeat you and regain my leadership spot, alright? So don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

The reaction on Rin's face was inexpressible. The amount of devaluation Tedashii poured out to him enraged him. So, without holding back, he prepared for the fight.

Everyone else went to the top of the trees to keep their distance, and Tedashii wasted no time using his stance Surge.

~HAKURAA!!!

BWOOSH!!

He transformed into an apparition and went full speed around Rin. Everyone was amazed by Tedashii's speed.

"WOAH! Look at him go!" Yuro said.

"As a lightning type, I agree that he is fairly fast," Ado replied.

They all praised him, but the only two who didn't were Adrian and Genti. As beast prowess types, they knew the downside of speed against them. Franco stopped smiling, for he was somewhat disjointed at what he saw. ("To think this guy is a calamity? This must be a joke. He technically doesn't know how to analyze his adversary. Beast Prowess is the power given to those with the trait of an animal. Rin was given the Feline trait, and with one million senses, they see kinetic energy at a slower pace. So speed is useless against him.")

(Beast Prowess: Not an elementary power, but an animal gives the ability. Any clan may possess it, but it's most commonly known by the Yakuza, Nakamura, and Mizuyura clans. Whichever ronin uses it can have the trait of that animal. Whereas they all have the One Million Senses.)

Rin was standing still, his expression unexpectedly changing to a smile. Tedashii going for the most significant liability excited him, giving him more reason to finish this effortlessly. His eyes began to glow yellow as his spiritas probed to the sky. Tedashii, thinking it was an opening to attack, turned back and went for a kick. A split second later, the Beast Prowess kicked in. And right before Tedashii landed the kick.

~Light Prowess: Imbalanced Realm!!

In the blink of an eye, Tedashii found himself in the inverse of his previous position. He was up in the air, and his attack didn't connect as Rin's body vanished into light particles and regrouped in front of Tedashii.

"You know, I thought you were a nice guy. Guess you proved me wrong."

He took two steps back and then held his palm towards Tedashii.

~LIGHT…SHRINE!!

Light began to form and blasted Tedashii deeper into the forest.

SWOOSH!!!! 

All the trees and forestation in that direction glimmered in the light, but the sense of Tedashii was no more. The battle was won, and Rin went back to his teammates. Franco smiled that he managed to get rid of Tedashii with a dramatic finish. He held his hand, but Rin didn't know what to do. "Come on, high five. You did well, cat eyes."

"Was all of this necessary, Franco? All this for a damn spot?"

Franco kept his hand up, then lowered it to his shoulder. He gave it two pats and smiled.  "One thing about a ronin is never to underestimate your opponent, let alone your teammates. I didn't feel like what he said about you was right, so I think he deserved it. You're a strong Yakuza, so I hope you'll still stick with us, Rin.♡"

Rin smiled from overpraising and gave Franco that high five. Everyone laughed again, but Leah felt uneasy. Only Franco noticed her facial expression.  "Red-riding hood, is everything alright?"

It took her time to realize that he was talking to her, and then she got mad at the irrational nickname.  "HEY NOW! IT'S LEAH, NOT RED RIDING HOOD!! AND YEAH, I'M FINE!!!"

"JEEZ! You're so loud! Alright, Red-Riding Leah. Glad you are!"

The others just laughed, but Leah knew knocking him out was not a good idea. They began to walk ahead, and a voice in the wind was heard.

~ENHANCE MY ENERGY…~

Everyone turned back as they heard that voice while keeping their guard as the wind around them riled up. Leah had never felt like this before. She knew what it was but couldn't define it. Franco walked forward, one step at a time. He ensured he looked left and right as bushes and trees began to shred horizontally. The pressure was going so fast and heading in their direction. Franco was preparing his zone up until the last bush was split open.

SWISH!!

Nothing was there. That long trail of wind that was approaching suddenly settled down. Franco gave a breath of relaxation and smiled back at everyone.  "Whew! Well, that was close-"

GRAB!!

Someone seized Franco from his left. He didn't have time to react and was thrown through some trees.

~Dark RAZE!!

BWOOSH!!

Fukir appeared in his hand, and he slashed at Franco. All those trees were destroyed. As everyone's attention was on one person, it was Tedashii but in his state of REVLO ALCHRONO.  "One down, seven to go."

They looked at each other and noticed that they were eight. Rin dashed forward to try to teach Tedashii a lesson.

"HA! So you back for more?! This time, I will finish you!!"

Rin grew light claws as he slashed his way at Tedashii. Alchrono blocked some of them, but it was a light prowess, so he tried to keep his distance.

CLANG!! CLASH!! CHING!!

They kept clashing, and then Alchrono skimmed left and saw Makoto aim his gun at him.

~MAXED FLASH!!

His handgun formed into a sniper, which charged up spiritas to blow a massive wave of energy at Alchrono.

BLAST!!!

Rin was able to dodge it, but so did Alchrono. In mid-air came Yuro with a double-ax handle towards him. His hand caught fire before the impact, and he was ready to let it all go.

~Fire Prowess: Double Flame HANDLE!!

BOOM!!

He destroyed the ground with such a ferocious impact. Alchrono barely blocked the attack with his sword, so he kicked Yuro in the stomach.

"GWAH!!"

Right before he went for a killer blow, Ado came at lightning speed and hit Alchrono in the chest. He electrocuted him as Adrian came from behind and ported him into the air. And all the attention was down to Makoto and Rin.

"FINISH HIM OFF!!"  They all said as Makoto aimed his sniper toward Alchrono, and Rin aimed both his palms, preparing the finishing blow.

~Cassoule Prowess: Chained ANVIL!!

~Light Prowess: LIGHTS AND SHINE!!

Both attacks aimed from the same direction made Alchrono fly away.

BOOOOOOMMMM!!!

The colossal impact shook the ground to its core. Taking a moment to catch their breath, they fell to the ground in relief.

"AWESOME! We beat a calamity! Way to go, guys." Rin celebrated, and everyone agreed and congratulated each other.

Leah, however, was still rigid in place as she couldn't believe that Tedashii had a Revlo. Yuro saw she was still in distress, so he approached her.

"Leah. You've never trembled like this before. Is everything alright?"

"This fight…it isn't over."

Yuro was confused as he felt a kick to his neck send him flying.

CRASH!!

He landed on destroyed trees. Everyone looked back and saw a battered-down Alchrono try to stand up straight. Genti and Suzuki suddenly fell short of spiritas as their vision was dim, and they fell to the ground.

"Genti, Suzuki? What's the matter?!" Adrian came to check on them, but no response.

Nobody understood why this had happened, but suddenly, Alchrono was at full strength again.

"Four down, four to go."

Rin went again to try and attack him, but this time, Alchrono held his palm forward.

~Fushigiri Prowess: Soludo!

  ZIP!

A dark aura covered him before Rin touched it. He fell to his knees, and his iris vanished from his eye like a corpse. Alchrono walked towards Rin, looked up, and gleamed at the others.

"Five down, three to go."

("What does he mean by that? Me, Ado, Adrian, Leah…but there's four of us and not three. It seemed like he was going to spare one of us and eliminate the others!") Makoto said to himself. Alchrono held his palm towards Rin.

~Palm Volley

Spiritas began building up around his palm.

~Furiko's Sphere!

BLAST!!!

Rin was repulsed back to the others. Ado went to catch him, and they flew off through several trees.

"Seven down…Two to go."

All that was left was Makoto and Adrian. They were both stressed, with Makoto not knowing whether to attack or stay put. Alchrono then turned back and stared at Leah. She took a step forward to get to him. They ended up face to face as Leah reached her hand out onto his face. The dark marks on his face seemed sharp, like glass shards broke off his face.

"You're…a Fushigiri?" Leah asked.

Then he seized her by her waist and jumped up into the sky. "You should be glad I'm sparing you."

He then summoned Fukir again and held it above his head once more. He was planning to repeat the same disaster he performed at the house. Just in the time of the moment, a devastating kick took Revlo down to the ground.

KICK!!

Leah was about to fall but landed safely thanks to a red sphere. Adrian went to see if she was alright, and Makoto looked up to see who saved them. It was Franco, but he also had a patterned iris like Alchrono this time.

This was the secret Franco hid from everyone else. He was also a Calamity, one from the Cassoule clan with his Immortal Being:

ALTO ANGELO