CHAPTER 25: THE SEARCH PART 2

Shima runs towards Doa and Maya, Doa tries to shoot her, Shima summons big vines to intercept the bullets.

Doa: … I'm gonna try to get closer to her. Look out for me.

Doa runs towards her, she jumps over vines and they're face to face. She tries to uppercut Shima, Shima moves her head, Doa shoots the side of her stomach, Shima feels a little pain. She tries to cut Doa's arm off, Doa quickly moves but is then caught by a vine.

Shima tries to impale her, Maya quickly appears beside Shima and intercepts her chainsaw with a string spear. Doa quickly fires the gun and a bullet hits Shima pushing her back. Maya cuts the vine holding Doa and they jump back.

Maya: She's really trying to kill us!

Doa: … Yeah. We can't kill her though, or we'll be in a lot of trouble.

Doa uses her Ultimate Skill and starts firing, Shima shields herself with vines. Maya dashes towards her and they swing their weapons at each other. Doa runs towards them both while firing, suddenly strings pick her up and quickly lifts her to where Maya and Shima are fighting.

Shima kicks Maya in the stomach and as she tries to impale her, a bullet hits Shima's hand making her stop the attack. Doa appears on Shima's left side and tries to punch her, Shima grabs her hand. Shima points her saw at Maya and Doa punches her with her other hand. Maya moves away from the saw and tries to slam the pole of the spear into Shima's face.

Shima jumps back, Maya also jumps back and pulls doa with her.

Shima then pulls out a brown whip, she crackles it.

Maya: A whip and a chainsaw? That's a weird combo!

Doa looks at Maya.

Doa: … Do you think you can endure whip strikes?

Maya: Um… I think I can.

Doa: Let's go then. Also, get this string off me.

The string unwraps as Doa runs towards Shima, Maya right behind her, Shima swings her whip around like a madman, Doa and Maya try their best to dodge the whip but they still get hit sometimes. Maya quickly looks at her hand and then launches a giant string ball at Shima, she moves out of the way. Maya quickly pulls the ball back and then launches it again.

This time she swings the ball around repeatedly trying to hit Shima. Doa appears behind Shima, Shima quickly turns around and tries to cut her, Doa grabs her wrist and holds onto it tightly, Doa kicks the side of her stomach and throws her to the left. Shima tries to attack her, but Doa grabs her again, she holds her arms tightly, Shima kicks her, Doa keeps holding on.

Suddenly the string ball flies towards Shima, she quickly shields herself with some vines but the ball flies past her. Maya pulls a string and the ball slams into her and launches her back.

Maya stands in the direction of the incoming ball and Shima, She gets ready to smack her spear against Shima's head. Shima quickly slides under Maya's knees and tries to slash Maya's legs off, the ball stops and before Shima can injure Maya, Doa quickly tackles Maya out of the saw's range, and they fall onto the floor.

Shima quickly stands up and tries to impale Doa, Maya uses her spear to intercept the attack, Maya shoots a string from her vacant hand that wraps around a thick branch and pulls herself with Doa up to it.

She stands on a branch, Doa sits next to her and they whisper to each other. A few seconds later, Doa jumps down and lands behind Shima. She quickly turns around and she and Doa throw attacks at each other, Maya then jumps and lands on the other side of Shima, she swings her spear.

Shima intercepts her spear with the saw and then kicks Doa in the stomach while staring at Maya. Doa resists the kick and wraps her arms around Shima's neck and head, Maya tries to slam her spear into Shima's face. Suddenly several vines come out of Shima, thorns are now on them which force Doa and Maya to move back.

Shima: You two are annoying.

Doa: So are you.

The vines head towards Maya and Doa, Maya creates two scythes and starts to cut the vines up, Shima dashes towards her. Shima and Maya strike each other's weapons, Maya switches from scythe to scythe to cut vines heading towards her and to block Shima's saw.

Shima is shot in the back repeatedly, this lets Maya slash some of Shima's face, the scythe almost hits her eye. Maya jumps back.

Suddenly loud screaming can be heard throughout the forest. Shima's alert.

"I have to hurry this up, can't waste my time on these girls."

Shima touches the floor.

"Ultimate skill, Nature's Successor."

Roots rip out of the ground and a small tree appears which then grows into a large tree. Several vines rise from under the ground, Maya runs towards Doa and stands beside her as vines start to shield the tree.

Suddenly several thorns as large as fingers are launched at Maya and Doa. The thorns are sent from every direction, there is nowhere to run, luckily Maya creates a string shield to protect them. They spot Shima sitting down looking at her nails while a green aura seems to shine off her skin.

The ultimate skill Nature's successor allows those who use it to be blessed by mother nature, they will be healed and have their energy restored by the tree that is summoned as long as it is around. When the tree is first summoned the energy and health you receive is low, the longer the tree lasts the more health and energy you gain.

The thorns stop shooting as they take more energy to use than what Shima is receiving. Maya's shield unwraps, Shima stands up, several vines rise and head towards Maya and Doa, Maya cuts the vines up while Doa hops on them and runs down some of them. All the vines that are being made now have thorns, Doa makes sure not to step on them, Shima jumps on the vines and runs to her.

Doa starts to run away from her and up the vines while also firing bullets from both of her hands, the bullets shooting from her pistol and finger surprise Shima and Maya.

Doa stops shooting and climbs up the vine, Maya tries to climb up some of the vines but she is forced to stay in place due to the overwhelming amount of vines around her that she needs to keep cutting.

''... Man, you'd think that after creating so many plants, she'd be tired. But she's not!"

Shima catches up to Doa, she swings her chainsaw multiple times and Doa barely dodges the attacks. The vines start to get steep, Shima swings her saw one last time and then is shot in the eye by Doa. Doa grabs onto a thorn to stop herself from falling off the steep vines and then punches Shima who was trying to climb up to her, knocking her far down the vine.

The vines are so large that they pass the height of the tallest trees and can be seen from far away. Suddenly the vines stop and Doa looks down at Shima trying to climb up towards her, the vine Shima is on is higher than the one Doa is on.

Shima quickly jumps off that vine and lands in front of Doa. Suddenly several thorns shoot from under Doa, and impale her skin, Doa covers her face and dodges an attack from Shima by jumping to the right. The thorns stop shooting after a few seconds.

Maya keeps slicing vine after vine, then looks around.

"... When she touched the floor, I saw a small tree."

Maya glances at the location of the tree.

"... It looks like it's being protected. I want to get to it, but how?"

Maya looks up and can spot Doa running away from Shima by going from vine to vine.

"... My hands are getting really tired from spinning, I need to think of something."

Maya makes her scythe two-sided and much longer and is able to start cutting the vines with one hand. She runs towards the protected tree. Shima feels something, glances down at Maya, and notices she is attacking the vines protecting the tree.

Suddenly thorns shoot out from the vines forcing Maya to quickly create a shield after some impale her.

Doa tries to attack Shima, Shima and Doa throw attacks at each other, more vines extend from other vines and take them even higher.

Maya wraps herself in string, creating armor for herself. She then unwraps her shield, the armor resembles a knight and is durable.

Maya continues slicing the vines while thorns shoot, the thorns cannot harm Maya anymore and the vines take longer to cut as they seem to be thicker. Doa and Shima jump from vine and vine as they rise, throwing more attacks at each other, Doa shoots bullets and tries to punch Shima, Shima swings her saw and uses her whip again.

Finally, almost at double the height of the largest tree in the forest, the vines stop.

Shima: There's nowhere to run now.

Doa looks down and the height worries her a bit, Shima runs towards Doa. Doa puts her pistol in her pocket and extends her fingers and palms out.

A bullet shoots from every single one of her fingers which Stun Shima for about 3 seconds. Which lets Doa Punch her.

Shima is pushed back, she senses something and turns around. She jumps off the vines, Doa is confused. Shima falls towards the protected tree, she uses vines to soften her landing, and dashes towards Maya.

Maya quickly notices her and uses a scythe to stop an impaling attempt, Maya is pushed back by Shima. Shima glances at the vines protecting the tree, they have a good amount of damage to them.

Shima starts to swing her saw repeatedly at Maya, Maya swings back, she then shoots a string all the way up to where Doa is at. Doa grabs onto it and uses the string as a zipline, Maya then creates 5 sharp strings, 1 on each tip of her finger, and swings them around, Shima stands back. Doa lands and stands beside Maya.

Maya: Are you okay?

Doa: Yeah, just fine.

Shima looks neutral.

"... I didn't think they would put up a fight against me."

Maya whispers to Doa, and starts to attack the vines around the tree while still swinging the 5 strings around. Shima dashes towards her and cuts the strings as Maya manages to slice a big hole into the vines which Doa jumps into. Shima and Maya continue attacking each other.

Doa grabs a branch of the small tree and snaps it, then several thorns shoot out of every side of the inside of the vine. Doa quickly covers herself with her arms, the thorns keep heading towards, several impale her.

Maya looks tired, Shima looks fine.

Shima: Aren't you gonna to help your friend? She's dying inside there, you know?

Maya glances at the inside of the protected tree and can see several thorns flying around. Maya decides to jump into the hole, Shima follows her in. Maya grabs Doa who's covered in blood and strings wrap around them, the thorns that are being shot bounce off Shima and Maya.

Shima is on one side of the tree while Doa and Maya are on the other. Small vines wrap around the tree.

Shima swings her saw at Maya, Maya quickly turns around and blocks, her eyes are glowing and she looks menacing, she quickly swings her scythe at the tree. Shima quickly intercepts the scythe, Doa's fingers appear from behind Maya and she shoots several bullets from all of her fingers towards Shima.

Shima stops a little and pulls out her whip, Maya quickly unwraps her scythes and creates 1 sharp string on each of her fingers on both of her hands, and swings them around. Shima swings her saw and whip around while hiding behind the tree but Doa continues shooting bullets which don't allow Shima to move from behind the tree. Maya is able to cut the vines and tree up.

Shima jumps out through the hole in the vines, outside she coughs up a lot of blood, Maya slashes a hole in the vines and walks out of them with Doa strapped to her back by strings.

Shima keeps coughing up blood, she starts sweating intensely.

When the tree from nature's successor is destroyed all energy that the tree gave to its user is taken back, Since Shima gained and used so much energy it was all taken from her, leaving her with heavy exhaustion.

Maya creates a spear.

Maya dashes towards Shima and tries to hit her with her spear, Shima quickly turns around and collapses.

Maya looks surprised.

Maya: … Is she dead?

Maya checks her pulse and she's still breathing.

Doa peeks her head slowly from Maya's back, she's somewhat tired.

Doa: … We won?

Maya: Yeah, we did.

Maya turns Shima's chainsaw off and then puts it on her back, she then wraps strings around her. Maya unwraps Doa off her back and lies her down.

Maya: Dang, those thorns must hurt.

Doa has a couple of thorns impaled into her.

Doa: … I've dealt with worse.

Maya stretches.

Maya: … I didn't think we would actually win that.

Doa: ... Why?

Maya: You know, because she's a Guardian, but I surprised myself. Back in Cazuya, I was beaten easily by some dude, and I felt like I couldn't win any future fights. But to my surprise, I adapted to this fight quickly… Also, I couldn't have beat him without you!

Doa: … I guess. But you kinda did a lot of the work.

Maya: … I wouldn't say I did… Hey, why didn't you tell me you could shoot bullets out your fingers!

Doa: I don't do it often, and when I do, it's just from one finger. Today was the first time I've used all my fingers to shoot.

Maya: …. Why don't you use your fingers more often? They seem stronger.

Doa: … My magical bullets fly faster when I use them with a gun, they also have more force. Using just my fingers does seem to also be powerful but I think that might just be because I shot multiple and they all hit at the same time, it makes the impact much bigger… If I get a new gun that can shoot multiple bullets I can be much stronger… I might ask Minaro if he can get me a new gun to use later.

Maya: … You should get a thing that shoots explosives!

Doa: No need, I don't have magical explosives, plus, explosives are too slow.

Maya: Oh. Bummer.

…

Minaro has been running for a long time now and has finally found a village. The village is destroyed, blood and bodies everywhere but he also sees someone who he recognizes.

Raskan can be seen talking to 2 injured girls, they spot each other. Raskan signals the girls to stop talking and walks towards Minaro.

Raskan: Why are you here? I thought I wouldn't have to see you again so soon. But to think you'd come back to me after I spared yo-

Raskan is cut off.

Minaro: What do you plan to do with the murderer once you find him?

Raskan: That's none of your business, man.

Minaro walks away from him, Raskan does the same, a little confused. Suddenly, he hears something and quickly catches Minaro's fists.

Raskan: Woah! Hey!

Minaro: I can't have you kill the murderer.

Minaro jumps back, Raskan stares at him.

Raskan: I've gotta do it. You can't stop me.

Minaro: I will.

Raskan: … Are you sure you wanna do this? I won't spare you this time.

Minaro: My friends and I aren't responsible for the deaths in Cazuya, and the murderer is my best friend. I won't let you do anything to them!

Raskan: … I can't believe anything you say, nor do I care, you just tried to punch me.

Raskan checks a watch on his arm and smiles.

Raskan: It's a good time actually.

Minaro tries to punch him, Raskan catches his fist but this time throws him aside.

"I'll try not to use too much energy in this battle."

Minaro shoots a wave of ice at Raskan, he punches the ice and breaks it. Minaro dashes towards him, Raskan quickly moves and slams his elbow into Minaro knocking him down. Minaro hits the floor and then gets his face kicked, Minaro stands up and jumps back.

Minaro runs around Raskan trying to attack him, Minaro tries punching him multiple times but Raskan is able to dodge every punch and punch Minaro back.

"Is it strength or some sort of future sight skill, is he just better at reacting to punches than me? I may have to use more energy than I thought."

2 rifts appear and rays shoot out of them, Raskan dodges them and heads towards Minaro. Raskan throws punches which Minaro is now able to dodge. Suddenly Raskan's hands turn into swords and he swings them around. Minaro jumps back, Raskan hands turn into daggers and he quickly dashes towards Minaro, Minaro, and Raskan throw attacks at each other. Raskan squats down quickly and manages to stab Minaro's foot and knee repeatedly.

Minaro kicks him with his other foot and launches him away, but Raskan quickly dashes towards him again and tries to stab him again, Minaro quickly pulls a piece of a dying star from his rift and attempts to slam it into Raskan.

Raskan quickly makes a shield from his arm and intercepts the star, it still pushes him back. Minaro quickly punches Raskan in the stomach.

Raskan jumps back.

Raskan: Hey! You better not kill me or you'll have a whole world of hell to deal with.

Minaro: You better not kill the murderer or I'll just stop caring about not killing you.

Raskan looks unamused.

Raskan turns his hands into maces and swings them around, Minaro dodges them and summons ice balls which he shoots at Raskan. Raskan turns his hands into shields and blocks them. Minaro runs towards Raskan and tries to punch him, Raskan blocks but quickly he's kicked in the hip, he's launched back.

Raskan's hands return to normal, Minaro tries to punch him but Raskan shoots a green blast from his palm that slams into Minaro. Minaro is launched back, Raskan runs towards him. They repeatedly try to punch and kick each other, and a couple of attacks land. Raskan shoots several green blasts at Minaro, two hit him, the rest he dodges then he punches Raskan in the face.

Raskan: You know how to fight. This makes my job harder.

Raskan shoots more green blasts which are even bigger than his previous ones and faster, it almost seems like Raskan is shooting bullets from a machine gun. Minaro tries to run away from them but everywhere he looks he sees green blasts.

Minaro then realizes he can't run away from them, he dashes towards the blasts and lets some hit him as he gets closer to Raskan. Raskan stops shooting and Minaro gets very close to him. Minaro tries to punch Raskan but suddenly Raskan ducks and touches the floor, fire intensely rises from the ground and covers Minaro.

Suddenly Raskan is uppercutted, he is moved back, Minaro runs out of the fire and punches Raskan in his stomach. Raskan is launched back, Minaro runs towards him.

Raskan notices ice melting off Minaro, Raskan shoots more fire but a giant wall of ice appears in front of Minaro. A few seconds go by and several Minaros run out from behind the wall. They head towards him and try to attack him, Raskan surrounds himself with fire, the clones burn up as Raskan looks around for the real Minaro.

Suddenly Raskan spots a glow from inside the fire, Ice freezes Raskan's foot and Minaro punches Raskan's stomach from out of the fire while holding a dying star. Raskan is launched out of his fire and slides back from the impact.

"Dying stars are the best way to end a battle quickly."

Raskan's stomach is burned and bleeding, Minaro dashes towards him. Raskan's arm stretches and he quickly punches Minaro.

Raskan: Are you really trying to kill me, man? don't you realize what'll happen to you if you do?

Minaro: If you feel like you're dying right now, then you should see me when I'm actually trying to kill someone.

Raskan's leg stretches and he tries to kick Minaro, Minaro grabs Raskan's leg. Raskan's other arm quickly extends and he starts to repeatedly punch Minaro with both, a rift appears from behind Minaro and shoots a ray, Raskan tries to escape Minaro's grip but fails, the ray covers Minaro and then hits Raskan.

Suddenly as the ray passes by Raskan he is punched very hard in the stomach by Minaro, 2 ribs are broken. Raskan is launched back, his clothes are somewhat burned up and he has more blood on him, some of it leaks from his mouth.

Raskan looks pissed, Minaro runs towards him, suddenly Minaro is punched in the face and then in the stomach. Minaro looks around, Raskan is moving at a speed faster than Minaro's eyes can keep up with, he's punched more and more times.

"A speed skill? How can I tell where he's going?"

Minaro summons a giant wave of ice that spreads around him. Raskan jumps and continues running around this time on the ice, still hitting Minaro again and again.

"What do I do?"

His two rifts start to spin around continuously shooting a long laser around him, after a few seconds the rifts close, Minaro is punched more.

"Strange, why isn't this guy using more skills, he's just using his speed instead of all the things he had before. Either, he's trying to save energy or something's up."

Minaro shields himself in ice. Raskan suddenly stops, he stares at his watch. Minaro looks at him intensely, electricity sparks from Raskan's arm and hand.

"That's seven skills, he still didn't use his other ones. His fire one would have been useful to get me out of this ice."

Raskan is back to running at normal speed, Minaro removes the ice around him, they throw attacks at each other but every time Raskan lands a hit, Minaro is electrified.

"It seems that after some time he just switches skills and is unable to use the others ones, either that, or he's just doing some other weird fucking thing".

Minaro starts to get used to Raskan's electricity and after a few more seconds of attacks, Minaro grabs Raskan's wrist, the electricity gets more intense.

"I have to end this right here."

Raskan tries to run away as Minaro grabs a dying star from his rift but Minaro holds his wrist tightly, strings wrap around Raskan, they constrict him.

Raskan: Get this shit off of me.

Minaro pulls the strings and Raskan is pulled forward. Minaro quickly slams the dying star into his face.

Raskan is slammed into the floor as the star explodes on him. Minaro stares down at the unconscious Raskan, the side of Raskan's face is burned and bleeding a lot.

Minaro wraps him in strings and takes a seat. He looks at his bloody leg and freezes it, then he pulls a phone out of his rift and calls Doa, Maya is the one who answers.

Maya: Hey! What's up?

Minaro: I was just calling to make sure you two were still alive.

Maya: … Yeah! We're still alive, just a bit injured.

Minaro: Injured? Why?

Maya: We fought a guardian and won!

Minaro: I just finished fighting one too... Anyways, I also wanted to ask if we should meet up.

Maya: … I think we should, I'm not sure what would happen if Doa and I were to encounter Rinka or any strong person right now.

Minaro: Okay… So how do I find you?

Maya: Good question. Don't know.

Minaro: …..I may have an idea… I'm gonna go, you two stay in the same place.

The call ends, Minaro puts his phone into his pocket and sits down.

…

In the void, Rinka is running in the endless darkness, he has seen nothing but darkness for several days.

Rinka stops and takes a seat, he starts to cry and stare at the floor.

"Am I really gonna be here forever?"

"How do I leave this place? I don't want to be here anymore!"

"What's happening outside of the void? I wonder if everyone's okay."

"... Are they still alive?"

Negative thoughts race through Rinka's mind, he rubs his eyes.

He cries even more, he screams and yells.

"I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE ANYMORE!"

Rinka rests his head on the ground and closes his eyes, he takes a deep breath.

Rinka stands up and starts running down the darkness again.

TO BE CONTINUED...