Fall of an Empire (83)

Jack the Ripper stood in the middle of a barren area of Zetsubo that was cleared off from his battle with Akasan. "Ah, well what to do, what to do..." he said with his hands in his pockets. "My hideout is as good as a landfill at this point. I guess I'll just take the city. After all that's what true freedom allows me to do."

He clapped his hands together. "Magic Art: Corpse Summon!!"

Two magic circles appeared on the ground. Two bodies came up out of them. "Saturn and Jupiter. Two of the mightiest gods to walk the planet. I must say, you two became useful. Now. Go wreck havoc."

The two gods flew off.

Agaki and Kuro had their hands full with Sin.

Agaki used his dark energy tentacles to counter Sin's chains. That way he had the upper hand whenever Kuro would attack Sin from behind.

Soon they got the flow of it, and Sin was losing.

Kuro put his hands on the ground. "Kekku Kinku!!"

Sin was hit by the lightning surge. He jumped away from the ground, but Agaki was already there. He kicked Sin in the back, sending him to Kuro once more.

"Lightning Art: Kiba, Lightning Fang!!"

With a flash of light, Kuro cut Sin's head clean off.

Agaki landed on the ground. "That's that. But there's still more to worry about. He pointed to the two gods flying their way."

Jupiter raised his hand. A gigantic ball of red energy that was on fire appeared. "Armageddon."

Agaki tried to compress the air but the energy was repelling him. He turned to Kuro. "I can't do anything about this one."

"Tch, this area is gonna just have to blow. We evacuated everyone already. So run."

Agaki and Kuro fled the scene as Jupiter laid waste to the entire surrounding area.

Everything was on fire.

Saturn took a deep breath, then blew out a cloud of ice, freezing over the burning land. Kuro and Agaki were hiding out of sight.

"Seriously?! Gods are here too?! What the hell is going on?!" Agaki said in a hushed voice.

Jupiter and Saturn were both destroying the north-west side of the city.

Kuro went into Form L. "We have to try."

He left.

Agaki groaned and left too.

Kuro managed to send a forceful kick into Jupiter's chest.

The force repelled Kuro back. He rolled on the ground.

Jupiter ignited his body with a fiery aura.

Saturn started shooting spiked rocks out of the ground.

Agaki broke them apart with his telekinesis.

--

Mayumi followed Narumi to her bedroom. She watched as Narumi started digging through piles of books.

"What are you going to do?" Mayumi asked.

Narumi kept digging. "The city is going to waste. This is different than all the other times Akasan fought someone on his own. Jack has killed more than five gods. We can't let Akasan die. I have to save him, even if it means sacrificing everyone else."

Mayumi had a worried expression on her face. "What do you mean sacrifice?!"

Narumi handed Mayumi a spell book. It was opened up on a specific page. "I need you to learn that spell within the next half hour. Can you do it?"

She nodded frantically. "Yes!"

--

Akasan sat alone in the darkness for what felt like hours. He was done crying now, and he had some time to get his thoughts in order to think clearly. "It's cold..."

He looked around him. The darkness was infinite in all directions. There was no running anywhere.

Akasan frowned. "Jack... just you wait... I'll kill you, even if it's the last thing I do..."

He sat up. "First I have to get out of here. My Eye of Creation can copy techniques, so I'll have to learn how to unlock the Eye of Realms on my own."

Akasan held his right hand up. "Sirius Star."

fwoom!

The star raised up, casting a blue light out into the endless darkness. Akasan then used his creation ability to put him on a wooden floor. He made wooden walls as well. Now the light from his star had surfaces to reflect off of.

Akasan meditated in a sitting position. After a while he held his hand near his chest and focused on it.

It was faint, but he felt a tiny black speck form in his hand. It then vanished. "Almost..."

--

Agaki and Kuro had the upper hand against their opponents.

Agaki figured out that the gods were just corpses, and not the real thing.

"They'll be easier to kill then." Kuro said. He rushed Jupiter in Form L, moving at ultra-high speed.

Jupiter wasn't as fast as Kuro, but he had a Sixth Sense profound enough to react.

Kuro took a few steps back and started vibrating violently. His entire body glowed purple and then disappeared, reappearing behind Jupiter.

Hundreds of purple flashes emitted from Jupiter's body until he overloaded from electrocution and fell over.

Agaki, still fighting Saturn, was able to take the god down using his photon beams. Saturn wasn't faster than light, therefore Agaki easily burned him to a crisp.

Jack suddenly appeared not too far from them. "I see you've defeated my toys. Too bad for you guys. Now you'll have to fight me."

Agaki's eyes widened. "Where'd Akasan go?"

Jack chuckled. "I put him away until further notice."

Agaki grit his teeth. "Kuro. This is pretty bad. You saw how much energy Akasan was giving off right? This guy hasn't even broken a sweat..."

Kuro went down to his Thunder God form. "We might be in over our heads on this one... I can't afford to keep using Form L. New plan. We'll keep him busy until we find a way to deal with him."

Agaki nodded. He got into his Supercharged mode. "Original Art: The Greatest Illusion!" He dashed towards Jack. "Take this!"

Jack read his movements and dodged his attack. With a quick twitch Jack kicked him in the head, but he passed through him.

*"A mirage?"* Jack thought.

Agaki switched his stance and sent his right leg at Jack's head.

A solid hit.

Jack didn't move, not even flinching. "Ah. So it wasn't a mirage."

Agaki quickly jumped back, startled.

Kuro frowned. "Agaki! What happened?!"

"I-I don't know. I'm sure that I wasn't holding back. This guy... is stronger than Naesrio...!"

Kuro's heart sank to his stomach. *"Stronger?! But isn't this guy human? Wait... those two gods we fought were already dead. Does that mean he killed them? How many has he killed... to get this strong?"*

 Jack tilted his hat forward. "Was that your best effort?" He held up two fingers. "I'll give you two more chances. Two free hits to do as much damage as you can. That's fair right?"

Agaki shook with anger. *"I don't like how he's making fun of us!"*

Agaki covered his right hand in dark energy. He ran at Jack and punched him in the face with all his might. The force crushed the ground beneath them.

Jack held on to his hat.

Agaki realized that he didn't do any damage. He looked into Jack's eyes. His irises were pitch black. An endless darkness.

Agaki jumped away off instinct. He was breathing heavily now.

Kuro went into Form L again. He got into a sprinter's position with his hands on the ground. His body started glowing bright purple.

Jack put up a finger. "This is your last chance."

Kuro's body went wild with lightning charges. He readied his sword. "Lightning Art: Raiba, Thunder Fang!!"

Agaki watched as Kuro seemed to copy and paste from one spot to another. He simply vanished from where he was, and before Agaki knew it, he had his sword through Jack's heart.

Once the laws of the universe registered what happened, Agaki saw the afterimage of Kuro moving in a straight line and piercing his blade through Jack's chest.

A thunderous roar emitted, and blew out an exhilarating shockwave.

Kuro pulled his sword out and went back to his base form. He was out of breath.

Blood leaked from the corner of Jack's mouth. "Ah. You got me." He fell on his back.

Kuro stumbled backwards. "That's what happens when you... underestimate me. Tch. I used too much energy..."

Agaki caught him. "I got you. You did great."

Kuro looked at Jack's body out of one eye. "But how will Akasan get back?"

Agaki took a deep breath. "What's done is done. He'll find his way back somehow."

"Yeah." Kuro put his arm around Agaki's shoulder as they walked away.

As they walked, they heard a clap from behind them. They froze in their tracks.

Agaki looked back. "No way..."

Jack was laying back flat on the ground with his hands clapped together in the air. "Magic Art: Equivalent Exchange!"

Jack's body glowed with a blue aura for about two seconds, then he stood up.

He wiped the blood from his mouth and straightened out his hat. "Alright. That was fun. Now. Let's get started."

Kuro was in shock. "How... I pierced your heart! How are you still alive?!"

Jack laughed. "Wasn't that an amazing magic trick? I sacrificed one of my kidneys for a new heart." He put his hand to his chin. "What do magicians say again?" He put his hand down and smiled. "Ah. I remember. Ta-dahh."

Jack rushed towards them at high speed. "Now allow me to repay the favor."

Agaki pushed Kuro away from him. Jack punched Agaki in the stomach.

Agaki threw up blood as he was sent into the nearest building hundreds of meters away.

Jack chased Kuro down and grabbed him by the hair and lifted him up. "I must say, I *did* tell you that you had a free hit, but you were just playing dirty, actually trying to kill me. Not that I care. Still..."

Jack tossed Kuro up in the air, and kicked him in the chest when he came back down. "You shouldn't be using attacks that render you useless afterwards!!"

Kuro landed in the same spot as Agaki.

Jack folded his arms. "Hmm... nice shot."

He started flying towards them. "I'm still going to kill you two!"

Jack started laughing to himself. He saw a black circle open up in front of him. "What? What is that?" He squinted his eyes as a blue light came into view.

It was so unexpected that he couldn't react in time.

All he heard were the two words that came after he was hit.

"SIRIUS STAR!!!"

The streak of blue threw him into the sky and exploded.

Jack fell from the sky and hit the ground with a crash.

Akasan landed, catching his breath.

Jack slowly stood up. "Who in the..."

His eyes widened at the sight of Akasan.

Akasan clenched his burned hands, yelling out into the sky. "I'M BACK!!"

Jack slowly walked towards Akasan. "What... did you do? You got out of my realm... impossible! And that eye..."

Akasan's right eye was a sky blue color now, with a single black ring in the middle. It gave off a slight aura as it glowed.

Jack was truly amazed. "You have the Kamigen!! But how..."

Akasan scowled at him. "I taught myself how to open realms. Took me a while."

Jack clenched his teeth. "That isn't even remotely possible! You need to already have the Eye of Realms to use that ability!"

Akasan scowled. "You have it don't you? So what makes you think I didn't? Idiot. I was stuck in that place for a hell of a long time. Felt like days." Sirius aura enveloped him. He held out his hand. "Come out, Kuroba."

A black sword manifested in his hand. It was his slimmer version of Kuroba. Though it was much heavier than before.

Jack smiled. "The Kamigen... the powers of Creation, Destruction, and Realms all into one. Well I'll be... it's decided then."

Jack held up his right hand. He removed the glove and put it in his pocket. The hand turned into a metallic silver, then all of his fingers turned into long sharp claws. "I'll show you why I'm called 'The Ripper'."

Akasan looked around him. Zetsubo was completely destroyed. He couldn't help but wonder if he'd accidentally killed anyone. But there was no way of telling.

The entire city was in chaos.

The parts that were untouched were holding all of the citizens that were evacuated, along with the ones who already lived there.

Jack started bursting with purple aura. He flew at Akasan with blinding speed and slashed with his claw.

Akasan dodged the blow, but he quickly realized that dodging the claw wasn't enough.

Jack's slash left deep gashes in the ground. It easily cut through the wind.

Akasan swung his sword at Jack's side, it was countered by his claw.

Jack swung it again, this time it was much more powerful.

Akasan got caught up in the wind blasts, ripping up his clothes and leaving shallow cuts in his chest.

As he flew back from the blast, Akasan threw a red ball of energy at Jack. It exploded.

Jack flew through the explosion and swiped at Akasan again. This time it was blocked by Kuroba.

Akasan and Jack clashed against each other for several minutes until Jack finally backed off. He made a purple mass of energy in his hand and put it inside a realm. Then he waved his hand in Akasan's direction.

Twelve different black portals appeared around Akasan.

Akasan looked in all directions, he couldn't escape, and he didn't have time to make a realm portal - it took him fifteen minutes just to make one.

Jack smiled slyly as his eyes spun in its spiral pattern. "I'll ask you a question. Which portal will you be attacked from?"

Akasan looked around him. *"I can't tell! All of them are pitch black!"* he thought to himself.

Jack had a sinister grin on his face.

Akasan realized too late.

All of the portals shot out a purple beam, hitting Akasan simultaneously. He fell to one knee, wincing in pain.

Jack chuckled. "The answer was 'all of them'."

Jack teleported in front of Akasan and kicked him in the face, flipping him backwards as he rolled across the terrain.

Jack teleported again and start beating him up, constantly punching and kicking him all over the place. He grabbed Akasan's face and picked him up. "I thought about killing you, but I changed my mind. You still have to mature so I can take your eyes."

Jack's claw went away, and he used that hand to punch Akasan in the stomach.

Kagami just then ran onto the battlefield, she was watching from a safe distance. "Akasan!!"

Jack dropped him, and Akasan fell to the ground.

Jack teleported to the city's clock tower, the highest point in Arbok City. He started laughing. "This city is mine. No one here can challenge me anymore."

Kagami held Akasan in her arms. "Are you okay?"

Akasan looked at her out of one eye. Blood leaking from his mouth. "Kagami... I, failed."

Tears streamed down her face. "No, you didn't. You tried your best. It'll be okay. It'll be okay."

Akasan sheepishly reached into his pocket and pulled out a box. "Your birthday... was supposed to be tomorrow. I got this for you."

Kagami opened the box and looked at the platinum ring. She smiled. "I'll cherish it."

Akasan chuckled. "My energy... is completely gone. I used too much." He coughed up blood. "I'm... sleepy..." He went unconscious.

Kagami hugged him. "Akasan, don't die on me... you're all I have!!"

A green magic circle appeared a few feet from Kagami.

Narumi and Mayumi appeared out of it.

Mayumi teared up. "Akasan!"

Narumi walked over. She bent down.

Kagami looked at her. "Don't let him die, please!! I don't know what to do!!"

Narumi nodded and gave her a convincing smile. "I won't. He's going somewhere where he'll be safe."

Narumi picked Akasan up. She turned to Mayumi. "Activate the spell."

Mayumi nodded and put her hands together.

Jack noticed them and teleported.

A green circle formed.

"You coming Kagami?" Narumi asked.

Kagami nodded.

Jack intercepted them. "What's this? Trying to take my son from me?" He lunged at Narumi.

Kagami jumped on Jack from behind. "No!! I... won't, let you!"

This made Jack hesitate for a brief moment, allowing Mayumi's spell to activate. "Magic Art: Transport!!"

And they were gone.

Jack flung Kagami off of his back and held her by the wrist. "You... I'll remember this."

He smiled and let her go. "No matter, this is my city from tonight onward. You belong to me now. Do as I say, or I'll kill you for your insolence."

Kagami was shaking with fear. "Are you gonna kill him? Akasan?"

Jack looked back at her and smiled as he tilted his hat. "Now? No. But I will. Eventually. They took him away so that he could get stronger. He'll be back, and those eyes will be mine."