Chapter 84

"What the hell are these guys doing?"

"Evergreen? Haven't heard of those guys…"

Run ragged, exhausted, but still fighting valiantly to the bitter end – the fighting spirit of the members of Evergreen reduced some of the members of Musashi to awe, and to some, tears.

Some of the awakeners who weren't born in Nohas recalled the story of the 47 wandering swordsmen from their homeland, and how they reclaimed their honor in death.

It was due to this that they were staying their hand, striking their enemy just to keep them alert.

The other furious awakeners continued to fight, though, and they saw that despite all their courage, they were inevitably going to falter.

"It's almost over."

And they were at the edge of collapse in the face of overwhelming numbers.

"Shit!" one of them yelled as a strike he blocked made his knee give way.

"Miguel!"

"Don't!" the awakener cried out, sword still up and blocking despite being down on one knee. "Hold your position!"

This was a duel that he had to make sure nobody would interfere with, and he would defend it to the death if need be.

Song roared loudly, and despite all the wounds in his body, continued to strike.

No matter how strong he got, he couldn't take out even one of the Seven Swords of Musashi, in the end.

Even the Shogun didn't deal with Song until the end; there was no reason to do so.

While he was dueling Song, the members of Evergreen were slowly being overwhelmed, and the Shogun pulled himself out at the right time.

Song did his utmost to channel all his rage within his weapon, but even that had its limit.

Strikes that he killed with were now parried due to his exhaustion.

He heard his heavy breathing reverberate in his ears, and as he tried to draw on more power… nothing.

No more mana.

'Apologies, father, but this is only as far as I can go.

My only regret is that I was not able to slay at least one of Musashi's Seven Swords before I die… I wonder what Jake and Liam would say?'

A strike sent him some distance away, and as he tried to pull himself up, memories of happier times began to pop up in his mind.

'Is this the kind of thing you see before you die?'

With the sights still in his eyes, Song stood up and rallied his comrades one final time, remembering his duty as the division's vice-master.

"Until the very last, show them the power of Evergreen!" he called, and his awakeners all answered.

"As you will!"

"Hell yeah! I still haven't killed enough of them!"

"Bring it on!"

The members of Evergreen looked on the verge of collapse, but they answered his call with all their might.

'Thank you,' Song thought, a smile on his face as he readied himself to attack for the last time. 'I will pass from this world smiling because I pass with all of you.'

He stopped short, though, as he heard a faint but familiar sound of rumbling slowly growing louder.

'What's that noise? Wait… why is this noise here?'

Song can barely see through the pain, but he remembers the sound.

It was one of Jake's most prized possessions.

And together with that rumbling sound, he could also hear a similar sound alongside it – something he never heard before.

'Yeah, I was just hallucinating. I'm near death and hallucinating. He couldn't have come here,' Song thought, thinking it was a different sound than two separate sounds, due to his exhausted state.

Song raised his arm at the samurai about to attack him, but as he couldn't raise his sword arm anymore, he braced for the end… and then he heard a very familiar voice.

"Oi! Anyone who gets in my way is going to die painfully! Song, you there? If you can hear me, holler at me! YEAH!"

Jake actually drove to Musashi, the crazy bastard.

***

Two vehicles were currently following the trail of old blood and samurai corpses all the way to Musashi's fortress: one was a 2k Miles Velocity Roadster motorcycle.

The other was an electric scooter.

"I appreciate you finally getting me a vehicle that runs as fast as yours… but does it have to be an electric scooter?"

"Sorry, man," Jake replied. "I was stupid and tried reinforcing before I gorged on luck candy; wasted a ton of money for nothing. I got that on a White Monday promotion – stick with it for now until I can get you something better."

Liam just sighed. If he got a high level of notoriety or infamy in Nohas, this electric scooter would probably be included in it.

The awakeners of Musashi they passed by were either too spooked by Evergreen's counterattack or too dead to react to them, and all the while they were talking about what to do when they got to Musashi's fortress.

"The trail ends in this fortress. Sucker bet Song's there."

"Bet you a weapon he's surrounded."

"Sucker bet, I'm not falling for that."

"Okay… bet you he's on his last legs, everyone is still fighting hard, and we run in the fortress like big damn heroes and save the day."

"I am DEFINITELY not taking that bet."

They were driving quickly, but their faces looked like they were driving leisurely, with no hint of tension to be found.

"What are you?" some of the shocked awakeners of Musashi asked, and because they were driving fast, Jake and Liam never got to hear the question or answer them.

Because as leisurely as their faces looked, they were still all business when they finally got to the front gates of Musashi's fortress.

And then Jake decided to kick things up a notch, as he revved up his motorcycle and drove right into the midst of Musashi's awakeners, blasting the horn and shouting as loud as he could.

If there were any idiots who stood between him and his goal, it's their funeral if they get run over.

"Move, bitch!" Jake called out, and the sound of the revving engine and Jake's shout alerted the awakeners.

"What the hell is that!"

From there, Jake just kept on going straight ahead.

Thankfully, the awakeners of Musashi were already shocked at Evergreen's savagery, that when a motorcycle showed up threatening to run them down, they all dove to the side.

Jake was a bit put off that there weren't enough awakeners standing in his way he could cut down with the Aqua Blade.

"Oi!"

"Stop moving forward like your bike doesn't have a back seat, you bastard!" Liam cried, using footwork to try and catch up, having already returned his scooter into his inventory.

"You two! Jake and Liam of the Grand Duelists, I presume?" a voice resonated throughout the front of the fortress, apparently being able to recognize the identities of the two intruders.

"Yep," Jake called out calmly, all the while continuing to advance his motorcycle forward. "That's my name."

"How dare you attack Musashi? Are you going to declare war on us?"

They thought their intelligence was good enough to cover up their attempt at killing two members of the Grand Duelists, but were unaware of Jake being informed of nearly everything needed before his arrival.

Jake guessed that his presence here would most likely upset the people who put a bounty out for him due to this response, and he just stopped for a moment to clear his throat and spit on the wrecked Musashi signboard.

His answer before gunning his motorcycle again was typical of him.

"A certain old man asked me to beat the shit out of you all."

***

Jake and Liam, novice members of the Grand Duelists, driving up to the headquarters of Musashi: this isn't different from an actual declaration of war by the Grand Duelists.

Compared to when they were attacked on the way to Evergreen, there existed no evidence that the awakeners of Musashi and Kinjo Toshihiro attacked Jake and Liam.

The two of them, however, drove up to Musashi's fortress like a boss, and didn't care about awakeners watching, subtlety, or other onlookers seeing them ride up to the fortress and carve their own trail to the same place.

"What's going on?"

Jake didn't give a crap, and remembered what the old man told him before he left Carter to rescue Song.

'Don't get beat up by Musashi.

Instead… beat the shit out of them. As hard as you can.'

'Will do, gramps!' Jake thought, and brought out his newest toy.

"Say hello to my little friend, the Blue."

One of the awakeners of Musashi quickly turned his tail and ran.

The others ignored the weirdo in their ranks and charged at Jake all at once.

While Jake hasn't completely mastered all the subtleties of the Blue's shapeshifting ability, he knew that it changes form according to his will.

He mentally ordered it to transform into a whip, to keep Musashi's awakeners at bay, while the Aqua Blade watched his back and prevented Musashi's awakeners from backstabbing him.

This was how he crashed through the wreckage of the front gate and into the main area, where he saw a lot of fighting was taking place.

Meanwhile… "isn't that Jake and Liam?"

"How… how'd they get here? This is impossible!"

The awakeners with Song had noticed that the enemies were no longer attacking them, and were focusing on the ruckus outside. When the fighting had eased up enough that they were able to spare looks outside, they could catch glimpses of two very familiar figures.

The remnants of Evergreen easily recognized Jake.

To them, Jake and Liam were more than Grand Duelists, they were heroes who protected Evergreen for next to nothing.

They didn't know that Jake only did this to earn points, but nobody was going to go out of their way to tell them that.

The sound of Jake's motorcycle loomed nearer, and the sound of it made every awakener from Musashi stop and stare.

Except those who were standing in Jake's way to rescue Song.

Those were the unfortunate ones, who were sent screaming and flying in the air like bowling pins after a rather hard roll.

They knew enough techniques to avoid any lethal injuries from being crashed into by a motorcycle, but they were still flung into the air, and none of those techniques were any good at dealing with pain.

For short, it might not kill them, but getting hit by that bike still hurt.

'Damn, Jake's gotten even better,' Song thought, the lull in battle allowing him to recover somewhat. 'How long has it been since I told him it was okay to leave Evergreen castle? Also, I thought I had grown strong in getting here, but Jake is just another level entirely, it's like he's a completely different awakener from the time I last saw him!'

As each of his strikes had the same effect as the bike, Song just gaped.

'What's that swordsmanship of his like? It's fearsome. Musashi's awakeners are sent everywhere each time they're hit.'

They end up flung away after they get hit, it looked like his slashes had some hidden weight to them.

What Song didn't know was that those weren't heavy hits – those were critical hits. Jake's swordsmanship now revolved around the effect of critical hits.

After the samurai closest to him were tossed aside with a sweeping attack, Song saw Jake's back come to a stop close to him.

"Come with me if you want to live," Jake said, slapping the back seat of the bike as soon as he came to a stop – no matter his strength, he wasn't at the level where he could destroy Musashi alone yet.

That was why, as long as they still had the advantage of surprise, they should escape.

As a wise man of his age would say, "skeet then retreat".

"Hurry up! No time to waste."

"Thank you very much, my friend, but I can't come with you. It's nice to see you two for the last time. You'd better leave," Song replied, refusing to leave on Jake's bike.

"What the hell?" Jake asked as he backhanded a samurai that was supposed to stab him. "If you stay here any longer, you're going to die!"

"I know, but I have already made up my mind," Song continued, not minding Jake's frantic pleading.

"Look, man, I don't know about what happened over there, but we need to go… now!" Jake shouted, trying to persuade Song. "Come on, help me help you! If we retreat for now, there's a chance for us to get stronger to take these sons of bitches down later."

"In case you noticed," Song said, "I didn't come here alone. If I die, so be it – at least I die with my comrades."

Jake realized what was going on.

He was going to go out in a blaze of glory, together with his awakeners.

"What are you talking about?" Miguel asked. "Vice-master, you have to go now! Jake and Liam can fight on our behalf later!"

"Go! Now!" another of Song's men shouted.

Opposing Song were his men, who were dead set on dying before.

But now, with their appearance, there is hope for future payback, and now they can die fighting with a clear heart.

This is something they were now looking forward to.

"Enough," Song said, determined that he would never leave what little of his awakeners behind. "There's no point in taking revenge if I ended up losing you guys anyway."

"Oi!" Jake shouted, sick of all the ongoing Evergreen melodrama. "Are you off your rocker? I didn't say I'd be bringing only you out of here! I never said I'd leave them behind, too!"

"What do you mean?" Song asked, confused. "Is there really a way?"

Jake simply pulled several items out of his inventory: five metal shopping carts that clattered as their wheels hit the ground.

As the befuddled awakeners covered him, Jake tied each of them together with chains, and one of them to the back of his bike.

"Hop in, fellas," Jake said, all the while using his Blue and Aqua Blade to keep Musashi's awakeners at bay. "Into the carts, please. There isn't much time."

Liam had long since caught up, and was also keeping the samurai away if he wasn't helping an awakener from Evergreen onto the carts.

Once all of them were on board, Jake gunned the engine.

"Watch out! Holiday express coming through! Time for the express to leave, we've already seen everything!"

The makeshift train left Musashi's fortress quickly.

"This is the Santa Claus, at your service and notifying everyone: please clear the tracks, the holiday express is leaving the station. Choo choo, assholes! Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

Jake's mocking laughter as the vehicles left the fortress left behind a trail of disoriented samurai.

'Was this really happening?'

Musashi's awakeners had to take a good minute to figure out what was going on, what the hell just happened, and then pick themselves back up to start pursuing their enemy.