War Part Nine (65)

Kuro and the others looked up at the glory of Perfect Naesrio, his ascended form.

Kyo was waiting for him to make a move, but he just sat there, floating in mid-air. He looked so calm, contrary to before.

Kuro moved his leg just the slightest bit, ready to move.

FOOM!!

Naesrio immediately had Kuro smashed far into the ground. He moved at a speed faster than light itself.

Speed that rivaled even Kuro's Form L.

Kyo and Agaki's eyes widened with shock.

"How did he move so fast?!!" Agaki exclaimed.

Naesrio slowly flew back up to his original position. He was staring at the hole he'd just made, where Kuro was. He held up a hand behind him.

Kuro's neck soon appeared in Naesrio's hand, along with the rest of him, as if Naesrio simply grabbed an invisible man out of thin air. He looked back at Kuro. "Your speed is nothing if I already know where you'll be." He turned facing him, then quickly punched Kuro in the stomach with his other arm.

The sound of Naesrio's fist made the sound of a bell or a chime echo through the air as it connected.

Black mist expelled from Kuro's body on impact. He coughed up blood as Naesrio let him fall to the ground.

Kuro reverted from Form L back into his Thunder God mode to avoid needlessly using too much energy. He slowly got back up on his knees. "How... he shouldn't be able to see me at L speed..."

Naesrio looked down at them. "In my perfect form, I am the Supreme Ruler of Destruction, in every sense of the word. If I destroy my perception of space and time, I can peer further into the future, where I see your path of travel. If I know where you'll go, then I don't need to be faster than you to catch you. I've extended my field of vision over this entire battlefield. No matter where you go or how fast you go, I'll know where you are exactly. This is the end. No more tricks. No more schemes. Simply a matter of who is stronger. Me, or the four of you."

Agaki examined their situation. *"Ako can't fight in this condition. As much as I hate to say it, she's useless to us right now. Naesrio just said he destroyed his perception of time. He did that specifically so that Kuro couldn't use faster than light speeds to his advantage. He'll still pass through me if I can see his attacks, and Kyo can still space skip, which puts him out of Naesrio's field of range. But we don't know how fast or strong Naesrio is in this state. We're basically fighting blind right now. If I can think of a distraction, then maybe we could get Ako out of here."* he thought to himself.

Agaki turned to look at Ako. He was suddenly caught off guard.

Naesrio had the woman held up by her head. She struggled in his grasp. "This is her right? The weakest link. You'll try to get her away safely first correct?"

Kyo and Kuro turned around at the sound of his voice. He moved so fast that they hadn't noticed. Kyo jolted towards him.

Naesrio quickly moved his free hand.

Kyo space skipped before he could be killed. He appeared a few feet over Naesrio.

Naesrio's gaze did not leave Ako. "Hm. You barely dodged."

Kyo was missing his left arm. Naesrio chopped it off before Kyo disappeared. Blood gushed out and dripped on the ground. He held his wound in pain.

Agaki and Kuro dashed in as well to save Ako.

"Why do you risk your lives for one girl? It makes no difference whether she lives or dies." Naesrio said.

Kuro quickly went into Form L again.

Kyo aimed a mystic-charged fist at Naesrio's head.

Kuro drew his sword.

Naesrio closed his eyes. "Everyone's useless in the face of true power."

A sickening crunch pounded its way into everyone's ears.

Naesrio mercilessly crushed Ako's head. Nothing was left above the neck but blood.

As her body dropped, Kyo, Kuro and Agaki drew forth all the power they could conjure at once, screaming out in sorrow and rage.

Naesrio opened his eyes. "Your deaths are imminent. Humans will still be human." He already knew where Kuro would be, so he dodged his path of travel, grabbed Kyo's fist, slammed him into the ground, slipped behind Agaki, elbowed him in the back of the neck, and then saw Kuro moving towards him again, this time pounding his palm into Kuro's chest, stopping his heart momentarily.

All of this happened in less than a second.

"Witness destruction." Naesrio said.

Within the next second, the ground broke up within a diameter of one kilometer. Red energy burst from the cracks as Kyo, Kuro, and Agaki felt the effects of Naesrio's force.

The entire country felt the tremor from this phenomenon.

When the dust cleared, Naesrio looked around him. Kyo, Kuro, and Agaki were unconscious, but not dead. "They're still alive. Stubborn little things. I'd finish them off, but something else seems to want to bug me." He turned around at the sight of Ryuga.

"Hey, brother." Ryuga said.

Naesrio tilted his head. "You dare enter my presence again after losing to these weaklings?"

Ryuga gave him a slight smile. "I've made my choice."

Naesrio turned his body to face him. "Choice? For what? There is no choice for you anymore. I gave you a chance. And you failed me."

"But I haven't failed myself just yet. You know brother, that no matter how strong you get, this world belongs to Nyx."

Naesrio scowled. "Not for long. Once I get through with this minor setback, I will rid the planet of the rest of those vermin, and then I will destroy Nyx and her kingdom as well."

Ryuga crossed his arms. "I'm in a weird position right now. Not belonging to any one group. I feel like I've betrayed my own kind, yet I'm also not on the humans' side."

Naesrio raised his chin. "Then why do you show yourself?"

"Let's just say a certain brat grew on me I guess."

Naesrio turned his nose up at Ryuga's words. "I thought I'd taught you better. It seems you still have a soft spot for them."

"No brother. You taught me to be a tyrant. But I don't want to see a world ruled like that. So I'm going to take it upon myself to kill you."

Naesrio hovered over the ground. "You can't even use God Commands. Dust."

A chime sounded.

The surrounding rocky ground suddenly turned into sandy particles.

Ryuga hovered over the ground. "Don't tell me what I can't use. Rock."

Another chime sounded, this time the sand turned into a solid rock, smooth and flat.

Ryuga took note of Kuro, Kyo, and Agaki's bodies. "Shift."

The ground shifted the bodies several kilometers away.

Naesrio watched them leave. "Fine. Have it your way. I'll kill you first, then wipe out this country by myself. Spike!"

The ground spiked upwards toward Ryuga. He flew a bit higher. "Melt!"

The ground turned into lava.

Naesrio scowled. "Wave!"

A massive wave of lava formed, one large enough to destroy a large city, running towards Ryuga.

"Tide!"

The wave grew smaller until it was a simple rolling tide of lava.

Ryuga and Naesrio went back and forth.

"Boil!"

"Simmer!"

"Typhoon!"

"Whirlpool!"

"Rain!"

"Sandstorm!"

"Earthquake!"

"Sinkhole!"

With the energy of their voices alone, the two gods were completely rocking the entire country.

Ryuga and Naesrio were flying over a large hole in the ground.

"When did you learn those?" Naesrio asked.

Ryuga smirked. "A long time ago. I'm not as weak as you think I am. Even I can put up a fight against you. After all, we're brothers aren't we?"

Naesrio growled. He held up a hand. A massive orb of red energy grew quickly. "Gigant World Destruction. Say goodbye to this country and these pathetic humans. I've had my share. It's time to end it."

Ryuga's eyes formed into the Eyes of Destruction.

Naesrio grinned. "I see you have the same eyes as mine, but you still aren't a God of Destruction."

Ryuga held up both hands. A giant ball of blue energy formed. "You're right. I'm not. But I'm sure that my destruction is just as great as yours!."

Naesrio threw his World Destruction.

Ryuga countered it. "Destruction World!!"

The two massive energies clashed.

The ground started dissolving into nothingness.

The air itself superheated to supremely high temperatures until even it was destroyed, and the sky along with the clouds in the sky turned violet.

A sphere of destruction, equivalent to a vacuum of space, formed over a diameter of twenty kilometers.

Under normal circumstances, Naesrio's World Destruction would explode and wipe out Arbok as a whole, but Ryuga's Destruction World has the property to destroy other energies.

As the two energies clashed, Ryuga's attack slowly ate up the World Destruction.

The two spheres merged, leaving a massive purple ball of devastation.

It set off, leaving a perfectly smooth groove in the ground twenty kilometers wide.

Ryuga and Naesrio still stood on the battlefield. They charged at each other, trading thousands of blows every few seconds.

Each punch that connected made a booming sound like thunder that resonated throughout the battlefield.

--

Kyo awoke to being alerted by the sound of the massive explosion. Kuro and Agaki were already awake. They sat in silence underneath a canopy of rock.

Kyo had his arm wound closed by Agaki, who sealed the wound using finely ground sand.

"Where are we...?" Kyo asked.

"Somewhere far from the battlefield." Kuro said.

Kyo was confused. "What happened?"

Agaki's face frowned with hatred. "Ryuga saved us."

Kyo's eyes widened. "Saved us...? You mean the god from yesterday...?"

Kuro nodded. "Apparently he's fighting Naesrio as we speak."

"But why would he do that? I thought they were on the same side..."

Agaki turned his face with disgust. "Who cares, it's a god fighting a god. Let them fight it out. We can kill whoever's left standing. They'll be worn out."

Kuro looked out at the battlefield. He could see the glow of the dramatic battle taking place. "Let's help him. We can defeat Naesrio if we all help."

Agaki scowled at him. "*HELP* him? You want to *help* the monster responsible for killing Tenma and Maki? He shouldn't even be *ALIVE*. I'm sure I left him to rot."

Kuro looked back at him. "If he was still that same monster, he wouldn't have saved our lives. On the other hand, Naesrio just killed Ako, and he's going the lengths to kill his own brethren just to destroy our country. And if he succeeds, who's to say he's gonna stop there?" He stood up and went into Form L. "I'm going. What about you two?"

Kyo stood up as well. He went into his Omega Form. They both looked at Agaki.

Agaki scoffed and stood up. "Fine. But I'm never going to forgive him."

The three of them start bolting back to the battlefield at high speed.

--

Ryuga and Naesrio sensed them coming back.

Naesrio smiled. "Oh?"

Ryuga looked their way, *"Those fools!"*

 Naesrio quickly disappeared.

Ryuga chased after him.

Naesrio appeared in front of Kuro mid flight, stopping him in his tracks. He grinned evilly. "You do know what the situation is correct?"

Kyo and Agaki stopped behind Kuro.

Ryuga just then appeared in the air above Naesrio kicking downward.

Naesrio dodged, flying further right. "You're telling me that you four are actually going to fight together? After all that happened?"

Agaki looked away. "I don't like it either*.* But I'd do almost anything to kill *you.*"

Naesrio looked at Ryuga. "Before I kill all of you, tell me. What caused this betrayal Ryuga?"

Ryuga closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at his brother. "I put my trust in Akasan. To protect his future, I have to bring you down."

Kyo and the others were in shock.

Agaki scowled at him. "When you fought us... you let yourself lose?"

Ryuga answered without looking at him. "Yeah. Now I want to see the world go a different way. That's all. I'm not asking for your forgiveness, nor do I desire it. I'm doing this for the kid. Not for any of you."

Kyo looked at him. "What about our friends? You're not at least gonna apologize?"

Ryuga answered him. "No. The girl died because she was weak. The red haired man died because he saved you. You're the one who should be dead in his place. Remember that. I didn't deliberately kill him. You walked into a trap and got bailed out."

Kyo looked away in defeat.

Ryuga looked at Naesrio.

Naesrio laughed out loud. "This is so pathetic it's amusing. Pillar."

From the ground, tall pillars of rocks shot up into the air, aimed for Ryuga and the others.

They all managed to dodge.

Ryuga clapped his hands together. He blew out a massive white fireball charged with black lightning.

Naesrio dodged to the right as Kuro appeared behind him.

Kuro tried to kick him but Naesrio anticipated the attack and flew downward.

Kyo came in fighting with kicks only, as he only had one arm. He couldn't fight properly.

Agaki used his dark energy to chase Naesrio around with his tentacles.

Naesrio seamlessly avoided everything before he disappeared and appeared near Ryuga, and the two exchanged ten thousand blows in five seconds.

The sheer wind force blew away the others.

Ryuga and Naesrio parted from each other.

Naesrio's eyes darted over. He shot a multitude of red energy blasts at Agaki, Kyo and Kuro.

Ryuga quickly moved in front of them to counter the attacks.

Naesrio held both of his hands up. He started laughing. "Now here's where I draw the line."

A black sphere of energy that was the size of a moon suddenly grew from his hands, and it was getting larger by the second.

The pressure coming from it was indescribable. The heat as well.

Agaki looked up. "What...the..."

They were speechless.

Narumi had finally organized all of the civilians when she saw it. "A black sun?"

All of the people outside looked up in the air and started chattering about the gigantic black sun in the sky.

Some of the people started worrying. Then the worry quickly escalated into panic. The crowd started running away in fear.

They ran as far as they could from the black sun.

Mugen and Oliver couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"A black sun?!" Mugen exclaimed.

"Who could possibly generate so much power at once?!" Oliver asked. He looked at Narumi. "Princess, we have to move you away from here. For all we know, that thing could level Arbok as a whole!!"

Narumi dropped to her knees. "No way... is this it? Is it all over?"

Oliver grabbed Narumi's arm. "Princess! We have to flee the country!!"

Narumi shook her head. "There's no time... the ports are too far away... and what about the people? We can't evacuate everyone at once... even if Kyo and the others could counter that thing... the force would still wipe us all away." Tears streaked down Narumi's face.

All they could do was watch, and pray that somehow, everything would be okay.