Chapter 25 : Destroying The Platform

Sho jumped back some, and said, "When did you-?!"

Kamui replied, "Unworthy as well. This is useless, you being here that is."

Kamui turned his back to Sho, and sat down on the platform, closing his eyes.

Sho tilted his head, "Hah?! Fight me! Don't turn your back on me!"

"Silence."

"Silence?"

"You smell familiar."

"…Someone else said that to me.."

"Still unworthy."

"Oi!"

Sho dashed ahead at Kamui, saying, "Don't turn your back in a fight, dumbass!"

Sho got close, but without looking, Kamui raised his arm behind his back holding a sword, and swiped it at Sho.

Sho reacted pretty quickly, sticking his glaive out, blocking the attack at the last minute, but Sho was still slightly cut across the cheek.

Kamui commented, "I am surprised you were able to react to that. Class C Fighters being able to react to my attacks are rare."

Sho went flying, flipping on the platform, then getting back up.

Sho looked up, thinking, 'I barely reacted to that..and even though I blocked the attack, he still managed to cut me. This bastard…can I not beat him? I have to be careful…'

She stood up, but in the process of him getting up to his feet, there were four clones of Kamui surrounding Sho with swords.

Sho replied, "Oh shit."

The clones attacked all at once with a wide sword swing, and Sho jumped up high to avoid it, turned his body downward, and said, "Extend: 15 feet!"

Sho's blade on both sides extended 15 feet long, with a black and red aura coming off of it, and Sho twisted like a spinning helicopter blade.

The four clones gasped at the same time, and they blocked Sho's attack with their swords, but the force from the connection made them all blow away from each other.

They all were spread out, and Sho almost fell in the water, but he caught his balance at the last second.

Sho thinks, 'Gotta react fast!'

Sho rushed forward, and the four Kamui clones came at Sho again with their swords.

Two of the clones swung at Sho, and Sho slid under the attack, spinning his glaive behind him, turning around and swinging at the clones' heads.

The two clones blocked it, but Sho let go of his glaive at the last minute, leaving the clones to block his blade.

Sho rushed up at the two clones, and punched them both in the stomachs, blasting them back far, but Sho zipped behind them before they could fall off the platform, and he grabbed the back of their heads, and smashed them together, then smashed their heads into the platform.

The two other clones were falling down near Sho and they both slashed Sho across the chest, and then they both kicked Sho in the face together, making Sho roll across the platform.

Sho reached his hand out to his glaive, "Let's go!"

Sho's blade came back to him, and he caught it, making it form back to its regular size.

The two Kamui clones and Sho went back to fighting, with both sides blocking and evading each other's blade strikes.

Kamui turned around, looking at Sho fight, thinking, 'Hoh..'

Sho flipped over the clones over and over, twisting his blade at them rapidly, trying to cut their heads.

The clones jumped back to block the attack, but Sho threw his blade at them, and the clones jumped over it.

Sho landed on his feet, the clones came at him again.

Sho thought, 'The clones of the target move faster than my blade when it comes back to me. Guess I'll use my hands..I don't want to use my new ability yet, not when I am barely handling myself here.'

The clones got close with their swords, but Sho put his hand on the ground, and he pinched his fingers through the platform, ripping a large chunk of stone from it.

'I can only do this thanks to my strength going up a little since I trained last time.'

Sho lifted the stone up, and the two clones sliced the stone in half, but Sho dashed behind them, with his hand pointed at his glaive, saying, "Let's go!"

The glaive rushed to Sho's hand, and Sho caught it, and the two clones turned around swinging their swords again.

But Sho had already spun behind them with his blade, and cut the two clones in half.

After, the clones evaporated, and Sho was breathing pretty fast.

'My energy stat isn't that high, but I don't seem to be too tired, I can keep going. Seems like running too fast drains your energy faster.'

Kamui turned around and looked at Sho, "Unworthy."

Sho responded, "Ah come on! What the hell is your deal?! Stop making me fight clones and fight me yourself, wuss!"

"Such a loud child. Unworthy due to your inability to accept the fact that you think you have it worse than anyone."

"…Who are you..?"

"Kamui. And I have the ability to see the contents of one's heart."

"Tell me..what do you see? Do you see the part where I'm craving to kick your ass?"

"Those who are worthy, are allowed to fight me in a duel. I see a lot in you. Arrogant at times, angry, determined, anxious, malicious, and murderous intentions. But those who are considered worthy, are the ones who notice their own issues, and will make a foundation under their feet with their hearts made of stone. Humble yourself, and you will be considered worthy."

"Shut up! You sound dumb!"

"Am I stomping on your pride?"

Sho was about to take another step, but 20 Kamui clones appeared around Sho.

Sho exclaimed, "Why are you doing this?!"

Kamui answered, "Why would I not? In order for those to truly survive, they must be humble. Fighting against me, and beating me will make you stronger."

"You want me to survive? You sound like you're helping me more than trying to fight me."

"Since you survived the first wave, I will keep delivering you my clones, until you humble yourself, and then when I see that in your heart, I will face you myself. And I will not hold back when we fight, I will kill you."

"You bastard.."

"Those who battle with a heavy heart are not worth fighting those who stand on a platform of stone; for their corruption from the lack of humbleness will give negative energy to their opponent who yearns for a meaningful battle, which will also ruin the positive energy a true fighter has been cultivating for years. Which is what I want from all my prey."

Sho gasped, and the clones all rushed towards Sho, with their swords dancing their way towards Sho in rapid attack patterns.

Sho dodged all the clones' attacks, and he made his blade extend to 20 feet, and he went to work.

He was dashing left to right, but as he did that, he was getting cut and hit by the clones' swords. Sho was bleeding, but he was still able to move.

Sho spun his blade over his head, slicing many of the clones in half.

Sho was cut in the back and stabbed through the stomach, and Sho coughed up blood.

Sho gritted his teeth, "Tch! Not yet!"

Sho pointed his blade at the ground, and made it grow taller, and Sho was flying in the air. He raised his blade up, and then slammed it down, yelling, "Crash: 300,000 pounds!"

The blade was about to crush the platform, but Kamui formed more clones, and the clones stood together, and blocked Sho's blade.

Sho thought, 'Impossible!'

At quick speed, three clones ran up Sho's blade, and swung at his face. Sho leaned back, and he grabbed the necks of the two clones, and he jumped down to the ground, using them as human shields as the clones were stabbing through them.

Sho was bleeding from under his eye, and some blood got to his eye, and he thought, 'This will go on forever unless I kill the target! It's like he's toying with me! Dammit! When I first started doing raids, I didn't expect each target to be unique. Kamui wants me to humble myself, that's the only way I can fight him. Ah..I remember my teacher telling me I needed to humble myself. Sometime ago back on earth.'

[FLASHBACK]

[Last year]

[High school]

16 year old Sho was walking through the hallway, pushing people to the floor.

"Fuck this school!"

His teacher walked behind him, saying, "Sho, wait-."

"Don't tell me to do anything! You want to assign me to a therapist? Like there's something wrong with me? I'm fine!"

"Sho, we never meant to imply that there were things wrong with you-."

"You think I'm messed up, huh? You think there's something messed up in my head? You don't know anything about me. All you teachers, you don't care about us. You guys don't get paid enough to be our friends."

"That's not true, Sho."

"I don't need a therapist. There is nothing wrong with me."

"No one is perfect, Sho. We know about your childhood, and it's truly sad and tragic. But since you've been here at this school, it's been nothing but trouble coming from you. You have to humble yourself, really. And see that there are things inside of you that need work. We all need to do that-."

"Leave me alone. I'm not gonna say it again."

Sho started to walk away, and the teacher just watched him.

Sho thought, 'Humble myself? He thinks I have issues. I didn't ask to be like this. At all.'

[FLASHBACK END]

[PRESENT DAY]

Sho dashed through the platform with his blade, slicing clones in half.

Sho thought, 'I can't keep this up for long! They just keep appearing!'

More Kamui clones showed up with swords, and were cut down fast. Sho was sweating hard, swinging his blade around, rolling and sliding all over the platform, and the clones were doing the exact same thing.

(30 minutes later)

More clones surrounded Sho, at least 30 of them again, and Sho was on one knee, bleeding everywhere with cuts all over him.

Sho was panting heavily, saying to Kamui, "Oi bitch….enough..with these games.."

'If only my energy stat was higher..I'd be able to keep going. During this fight, I tried many times to dash to the target, but clones jumped out and protected him at the last second. Still..with my energy levels the way they are…now I know I can fight hard for more than 25 minutes.'

Kamui says, "Well, are you ready?"

Sho continued to think, 'A raid target casually having a conversation with me. Not the first time. But it is the first time where a raid target has morals along with philosophical statements. I will not die here..I won't. I'm already hurt..and I'm almost out of energy. And each time I kill a clone, more clones stronger and faster show up, it's like the training exercise in the training room, with the waves of clone enemies. Yeah, this is exactly like that shit. If me and Kamui were ton instantly fight, I'll use my new ability..something I've been saving as last resort..'

Sho's legs shook as stood up, saying, "I..know there are things..I need work on…"

Sho began to think about the cop and clerk he hurt on earth that he stole from at the convenience store, the school guards he beat up, the nurse from the hospital, Bain, Moxxen, Bebop, Gideon, his teacher, and all the other people he lashed out on.

Sho stood up all the way, and he slashed his 20 foot blade around in a circle, killing all the clones around him.

Sho walked forward, saying, "I admit..I'm an asshole. I can be a prick..a big one. After the incident with my father, It changed me, changing my entire perspective of life and people in general. I never get too attached, because they will most likely leave me. I have yet to feel something good mentally. I still will never trust anyone, not in a million years. I too believe things happen for a reason, in which I used to think those things were gonna end up being worthless like everything and everyone else. I'll admit..I need to be saved.

It was silent between Kamui and Sho, and they looked at each other.

Kamui stood up, and he turned around, pulling out his sword.

"Even though you only stated those words only to battle me, you have learned what it means to humble yourself. Though, in your condition, you wouldn't last a full minute against me-."

Sho zipped up to Kamui and swung at him with his blade, and Kamui flipped to the right to dodge it, but Sho spun around with a kick to Kamui's face, but Kamui blocked that too, but the force from Sho's kick sent Kamui back a few feet.

As Kamui was sliding back, Sho immediately began to go to his watch system inventory, and grab a herbal pill. He did it fast, and he took one, and that's when Kamui ran towards Sho again.

Sho's wounds began to heal, but left a little bit of pain, but it was pain that Sho could deal with.

Sho smirked, and he dashed forward at Kamui, closing his eyes, holding his breath, and thinking, 'Breathless.'

Sho's eyes began to go full white, and he had red and black flames on his chest and arms and hands.

Kamui's sword began to shake, and red portals formed around Sho, and glowing blue swords began to shoot out of it.

Sho couldn't breathe, but he thought, 'So this is what this skill feels like..I feel..stronger..'

Kamui and the swords coming out of the portals attacked Sho all at one, Sho jumped and flipped as he dodged everything, and he punched Kamui in the face, blasting red and black flames all over the place, and those flames destroyed the glowing blue swords coming at him.

Sho's flaming fist smashed Kamui's face into the platform, destroying the platform altogether, shooting wind everywhere.