1.9: Battle of egos

Konami was the most unsettled, feeling Tedashii's spiritas from the hospital. Yuri and Izanami were both asleep, and Giyora was not around. And so she decided to follow the trail of his spiritas that led to the forest. Surprisingly, she noticed it was not as far, but she knew she couldn't get there on foot. So she looked for a taxi driver and asked him to take her to the location of her preference. Asking if she was lost, she replied with an urgent tone. So he just listened to her directions and went on. She spotted Giyora on the way and hid when he looked at the cab, allowing them to pass safely.

He arrived back at the hospital. When he entered their room, he noticed that something wasn't right. His wallet was missing, and Konami was not on her bed. "You have GOT to be kidding me!"

His anger woke Yuri and Izanami up. "Honey, what is the matter?"

"Konami. Where is Konami?!"

She looked around in panic and didn't see her anywhere. Izanami ran outside of the room again and caught the attention of all the other nurses and patients. A young boy in one of the rooms noticed that she was again in a hurry and asked the nurse. "Madam. What seems to be the problem with that lady?"

"Sorry, she seems to have family problems. We heard her husband shout yesterday, and now she's running out of the room again..."

Izanami went to the receptionist, who didn't seem pleased to bump into her again.

"SORRY, MISS, HAVE YOU SEEN A YOUNG GIRL WANDER AROUND HERE?!"

The receptionist was not shocked this time, rather just annoyed by the fact that she had to deal with Izanami again. "Listen, Miss. You should try to calm down sometimes. You seem always to be so stressed-"

"HER NAME IS KONAMI. TEN YEARS OLD, BLACK HAIR, RED EYES."

"Miss Izanami…I know who you're talking about. She left the hospital saying that she had to see someone urgently."

Izanami didn't know how to react to the news. Her heart skipped a beat, knowing her two children were both in danger. She ran back to the room to get her phone to try and call Gaiyato. His phone was ringing, yet no response. He already knew what was happening; he and Martin were on their way to end the dispute.

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Franco was in his strongest state and, unlike Tedashii, had control over his body. Revlo returned, discarding the dust that got on him after the impact. He stared from afar and understood the situation right away. This was an Immortal vs Immortal fight.

"So you have finally awakened, Alto."

"You seem to like messing with your Immortal, Spike."

They casually spoke and began to clash.

BANG!! CLASH!! BOOM!!

They were all over the place, one trying to inflict critical damage on the other. Alchrono attacked Alto first with a stab to his shoulder.

SLASH!!

Franco dodged before it got any deeper, then kicked Alchrono away. While he went soaring, Franco followed up with his zone.

~ALTO PROWESS: ZAN'NIN!!

SMASH!!

Franco's hand turned into steel and drove Alchrono straight to the ground. The marking of his fist remained on Alchrono's chest.

"NOW, BRUTALITY!!"

Franco jumped up in the air and began punching the sky. The clouds glowed red as giant fist apparitions came raining down onto Alchrono.

BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!

SWING!!

A bruised Alchrono flew back to Franco and swung Fukir to his face. He moved in time but now was forced into defense. Makoto stood there still, not comprehending what to do. But he saw that Franco struggled since he was bare-handed and Alchrono had Fukir. So he held onto his gun, formed it into an energy blaster, and aimed it toward them. Waiting for the right moment to shoot, he charged it until it reached its full throttle.

 ***

Konami arrived at the apprehension area. She thanked the driver and gave him the money that was in her father's wallet. As he left, she ran towards Tedashii's spiritas point. Makoto's energy blast was fully charged, as Franco noticed. So, during the chaos...

~CASSOULE PROWESS: TETSU NO KEN!!

BLAM!!

Franco hit Alchrono on the face and then pushed himself back to the ground.

"DO IT NOW, MAKOTO!"

~FALLEN BLAST!!

BWOOOSHH!!!!!

The blast went homing Alchrono's direction, but amid the occurrence.

"Big Brother!!"

Alchrono stopped and turned around to see Konami running towards him. He had two choices before him: Save Konami by taking the hit and the other was to dodge the attack as it steered at Konami.

"SPIRIT RELEASE!"

Konami held her palms towards Tedashii as he diverted to his normal state.

BOOOMMM!!!

"ahh…"

The attack missed Tedashii intentionally and reached Konami's lower-right stomach. She belched out blood like water and then fell to the ground. Neutralizing the spiritas running in his body left him confused, for he stood still, willing to take the attack for her, but it rendered its way to her in the end. His blood boiled as he was ready to kill Makoto for what he did.

"Makoto…what is going-"

Franco attacked him from below with an uppercut that sent him flying upwards. Makoto then shot Tedashii 7 times in his chest. He let go of Fukir as Franco grabbed it and aimed it at his heart.

"TAKE THIS!!!"

STAB!!

"Gurrrggh!! Ahhhh…Nu-eh.."

Franco saw Makoto make his way to Alchrono's landing spot, so he used a zone to teleport him up with him. Makoto appeared behind Alchrono and kicked him on the blade, which then severed the wound even deeper. As Tedashii fell to the ground, Franco appeared and held him on his wrists.

~ZONE PROWESS: FATALITY!!

BOOM!!

Franco slammed him to the ground at full speed. His leg hammered Fukir down deep in the soil, which let his foot right through Tedashii's chest. He struggled to breathe right before he perished. Franco pulled out his leg covered in blood and fell near Makoto. He helped him up as they were both responsible for the two deaths that occurred. Adrian and Leah returned, yet they were still reluctant to the celebration. The view of the battlefield was hell bounding. Franco and Makoto were covered in blood, and Tedashii and a little girl died before their eyes. Leah fell to the ground screaming as she didn't expect things would have gone this far. Franco and Makoto were still silent about the situation. He hugged Leah and looked at them. "Guys. Whatever just happened today…keep it between us."

They all were grieving but knew he was right, so they followed Makoto and Franco to go and see how the others were doing. Before they all left, Konami used her last bit of energy to make it toward Tedashii's subjugated body. She cried as she couldn't endorse the pain, but dying beside her older brother was more than enough for her. She hugged him as her tears stopped falling, and she passed on as well. Makoto felt too bad that she took the fall for Tedashii, even though she wasn't involved in any way.

"Franco. I'm taking the little girl with us." He said.

"...?"

"She got hit because of me and didn't deserve it. My sister might have a way to heal her up. Do you mind?"

Franco just looked away from him and said. "Talk about a murderer who covers his tracks. You, my friend, are the ideal definition of skeptical! Do as you want; we will bring her with us."

So Leah covered her in healing threads before Makoto picked her up and took her with them back to the campus.

Martin and Gaiyato were still looking around the forest when he got a call from one of his guards that told him that the ronins had made it to the Quarts. They both ran back, hoping that all the remaining ronins survived. But in disagreement with their hope, they noticed that only nine out of the ten survivors were there. Gaiyato was incredulous when he saw Tedashii not making it here and warped to the forest. He used his spiritas to their fullest to not waste any time.

~Apparition!

A blue arm formed itself in his palm as he made a swinging movement with his hand. In a flash, the trees' top part vanished in thin air. The forest became a straight scrubland. He skimmed at all the dead bodies of the other ronins, but his heart was shattered when he saw the body of his very own nephew. He unhurriedly walked towards him, hoping it was all a lie. What was he going to tell Izanami? How will he fix it? All these questions ran through his mind. He scowled as he picked him up from the ground. "Martin. Are you happy?" He said as Martin was rather confused about what he was saying. "You knew Tedashii was not the only Calamity in the first place. And now that this happened, ARE YOU HAPPY?!"

"Gaiyato. You know reasonably that this has nothing to do with me. He paired up with the wrong people, so he is dead right now. There is nothing I can say or do to change that."

Gaiyato's eye began to glow red. He summoned a giant blue palm that led to another location. Before he walked in, he looked back at Martin in anguish. "Nothing we can do to change death, huh? Well, I will be the judge of that!"

He vanished with Tedashii as the palm closed itself shut. Martin exhaled and called the quart apprehension to a close. All the survivors were hospitalized and taken care of, for tomorrow was the day resulting in all their hard work.

***

Franco sat down, still thinking about Tedashii. He thought for a moment to concede that he was back to normal before he struck him. Did he have to end another man's life over his ego? He was as puzzled as a maze.

"You better not think about it too much, Franco," Yuro said as he sat beside him. "We would've died if you didn't do what you did, so I owe you my life."

"But Yuro… he saved us all from starvation. I didn't want to look up to someone who was not even comparable to me. It just…doesn't feel honorable." Franco began to wither. "He was by far more powerful than me in that state. I felt like I would lose for the first time, but I don't know what would have happened if it wasn't for Max."

They all looked at him and gathered around to think of what would be next as the apprehension was concluded. Yuro thought of more fights and starvation, but everyone told him not to be that negative about everything. Then Franco held his arm out in front of them.

"From now on, we will stick together as a team. I hope you accept me as your leader and friend."

"RIGHT!"