BXBX NOVEL Chapter 37: NO. 37 - Sukuna vs. Shimmer
Chapter 37: NO. 37 - Sukuna vs. Shimmer
Several bullets of energy were shot at me from her finger, causing me to weave in and out of their trajectory. As one of the energy bullets was about to slice through my head, I swung Playful Cloud into it. Causing it to explode into embers of light.
"Not bad. I can see why you\'re one of Japan\'s rising stars." I said as we eyed one another carefully. "Still, that won\'t save you from me."
[+5 SP]
"That so?" Shimmer grinned, her body pulsing with energy. "What are you going to do? Kill me?"
"Yes."
I glitched out of Shimmer\'s eyesight as I used Projection Sorcery to close the distance between her and me quickly. The corrupt hero\'s eyes widened at my seemingly impossible speed, causing her to growl and slam her hands on the ground, sending a large wave of energy down the long hallway, shattering and scorching the entire floor.
What an incredibly destructive ability.
Canceling my Projection Sorcery, I leaped over the wave of energy and used Construction\'s liquid metal to create three Wolverine-like claws over my hands.
Stabbing them into the wall, I clung horizontally and eyed Shimmer. Anchoring my feet with spikes, I slammed my hand on the wall and activated one of my newest techniques.
Uraume\'s Ice Formation.
This cursed technique allows its user to lower the temperature around themselves to extreme levels of cold. These freezing temperatures allow the user to produce ice and frost at will, which enables them to create multiple sheets of solid ice by simply touching a surface.
"Frost Flash."
Immediately, a wave of sharp ice spread out from my hand, heading towards Shimmer. Seeing this, Shimmer dashed off to the side and swung her arm in a wide arc, releasing a wave of energy that destroyed my ice attack.
Now\'s my chance.
Using Projection Sorcery, I sped off toward Shimmer and appeared right beside her, much to her shock.
[+5 SP]
"How! How are you so fast?!" Shimmer roared as I swung Playful Cloud into her raised arm. She clenched her teeth in pain before she pointed her arm right at my chest.
Spinning my staff around me, I smacked her forearm up, causing her to release her blast above us, striking the ceiling above. Stepping in, I swung my elbow into her left bicep with a vicious swing.
"AGH!" The so-called hero yelled in agony as she hobbled back, holding her ruined bicep. Glaring at me, Shimmer pointed her hand at me and blasted a beam of energy.
Due to our close proximity, I barely managed to dodge the beam by leaping back. The top half of my hood was burnt away, revealing my face to Shimmer.
[+10 SP]
"A... kid? You\'re telling me the scary Demon God is just some snot-nosed kid?!" Shimmer roared as her injured bicep began to swell an ugly shade of purple. "How dare you... how dare you!"
"Easy there, lady. You\'ll get wrinkles if you keep making that face." I said mockingly.
[+5 SP]
Shimmer raised both of her arms despite her pain, with the bottom of her palms pressed on one another as a large ball of power began to form rapidly.
Seeing the rapid build-up of power, my eyes grew wide as I slammed my hands onto the floor.
"Take this! My ultimate attack! Shimmering Flash!"
"Maximum Output: Frost Calm!"
x x x
[General POV]
Himiko gasped in exhaustion as she leaped back to avoid Horn-Rush\'s overhead swing that shattered the floor where she once stood. Looking over at Jin, she saw him pick himself up from the wall where her horned enemy threw him through.
"Not good," Himiko whispered as she ran away from Horn-Rush\'s mad dash. "Does this count as the first sign of trouble?"
Rumble!
Himiko, Jin, and Horn-Rush all paused as the mansion\'s roof exploded in a swell of energy and large pillars of ice.
The building shook as all of its windows shattered while ice encompassed everything within several meters of the mansion. Streams of white smoke and steam danced around the building as the tremors finally subsided.
"Kobashigawa-sama!" Horn-Rush yelled in worry as he ignored Himiko and Jin in favor of rushing inside the ruined mansion.
"Sukuna-kun," Himiko muttered as she tried to run after the large bull man, only to be stopped by Jin. "Jin-kun?!"
"No, we need to pull back now. Fuck that! Time for round five!" Jin said as he shook his head. He motioned down at their battered bodies. "We can\'t keep up with that level of power; we won\'t run, but we can\'t follow inside. Let\'s catch our breath and prepare ourselves if anyone runs out."
"But..." Himiko tried to argue, but her sore muscles and injuries burned all around her body. Due to this being her first ever big-time fight, she wasn\'t used to the strain that it inflicted on her body. "Okay."
"I\'m worried about him too, Toga-chan. But I believe in his strength." Jin said as they began falling back to the still-standing shed on the mansion property. "Yeah! Sukuna aint some punk bitch! I bet he\'s just fine in there!"
x x x
[Shimizu Souta POV]
Fuck, that was close.
I threw down my ruined haori and looked around the ruined mansion around me. The long corridor that made up the hall Shimmer and I once stood in was nothing but ruined chunks of concrete and ice.
Looking over my body, I saw that I only had superficial injuries on my body while my clothes were slightly charred.
I was lucky enough to erect several layers of CE-reinforced ice in front of me at the last second. Otherwise, I could have been blasted away.
Placing Playful Cloud into Zaiko, I lifted my hands.
"Round Deer," I said as I summoned a tall, large deer-like Shikigami. While it wasn\'t as big as Sukuna\'s version, my deer was still a foot taller than me.
It then reached over with its snout and touched my extended hand. Soon enough, I felt my body grow warm as Round Deer\'s RCT healed my wounds. "Thanks."
Round Deer nodded before melting away into my shadow.
"I didn\'t expect her to have that kind of attack," I muttered as I walked towards the damaged reinforced safe room Kobashigawa was within. "Shimmer must have put all her remaining energy into that move."
Despite the large explosion, the large reinforced steel box had taken the blast like a champ. Even so, the large hole on its roof stood out like a sore thumb.
"Sukuna!"
I turned to my left and saw a large, raging, mutant bull man dashing toward me with cold fury in his eyes.
The mutant was covered in cuts and bruises as he quickly closed the distance between us. Sighing in annoyance, I made an elephant-like hand sign.
"Max Elephant."
Quickly rising from my shadows, Max Elephant shot out a large wave of water at the raging bull man, causing him to slow down to a stop. He raged at me while he tried to push through the torrents of water.
"Nue."
Flying toward the bull man, Nue screeched and released several thunderbolts down at the bull man, causing him to shout in pain as his body was assaulted with several thousand bolts of electricity that were further amplified by the water surrounding him.
I stopped my Shikigami\'s attacks as the large bull man fell forward onto the ground, his body charred and smoking. Dismissing both of my Shikigami, I made my way over to the large reinforced steel box.
Damn... I\'m starting to run low on CE. If I run into another strong fighter, I may be in trouble.
Reaching the structure, I looked down to see Shimmer propped up against the safe box. Her eyes were glazed as her breaths came out in slow, wet wheezes.
Shimmer\'s body was covered in cuts, burns, ice, and blood. Several parts of her costume were ripped to shreds while her left arm and right leg were no where to be seen.
"...h-help me." Shimmer wheezed out as her eyes looked up at me.
I stared down at her with no emotion rising within me. All I felt was... nothing. Kneeling beside her, I stared into her eyes and laid a hand on the top of her head.
"Did you know?" I asked. "Did you know what the man you were working for did? To all those children he took and sold?"
[+10 SP]
Shimmer\'s eyes slowly grew wide before she closed them.
"I-I... yes."
I said nothing but quickly encased her body in a block of ice. Standing up, I pulled my leg back and shattered the ice block into thousands of shards. Leaving no proof that the corrupted hero Shimmer was ever here.
"I guess I\'m a hero killer now."
Bang!
I flinched and looked down at the small red cartridge sticking out of my right shoulder. Looking over to the man I\'d been searching for the past two years, I saw a large, victorious grin replace the brief surprise on his expression. The gun that shot me gripped tightly in his hand.
"Haha! You\'re ice quirk is gone! Now you\'re nothing-"
Wham!
[+10 SP]
I appeared in front of him and punched him so hard he rolled across his ruined mansion.
Kobashigawa tumbled on the ground in a heap, the gun he once held now on the floor in front of me. Reaching over to my shoulder, I pulled out the red cartridge bullet and saw the needle covered in some of my blood.
"This is..."
Slowly, my eyes grew wide at what this quirk-nullifying bullet meant.
"Eri...?"
Kobashigawa tried to push himself up as he cradled his shattered bloody nose in his left hand. He turned to me with a vicious glare as he finally stood to his feet. He spat out some blood and grinned at me as he popped his knuckles.
"Not bad. It seems that even without your quirk, you\'re still pretty tough-"
Blurring in front of the crime lord, I landed a vicious punch into his stomach that pushed him off the floor.
[+5 SP]
From there, I moved in and out, landing punch after punch into his stomach, chest, and face without letting him realize he was being attacked. With a front kick, I sent Kobashigawa flying back until his back slammed into his safe box.
"Guah!"
[+10 SP]
Dashing in front of him, Kobashigawa wailed out as my hook punch crashed into the side of his face. Reaching out, I grabbed his jacket and slammed him back into the side of his reinforced steel box before spinning low to land a manji kick on his left cheek. Launching across his ruined mansion until he crashed straight through one of the few remaining standing walls.
Using Projection Sorcery, I reappeared in front of him before he could fall and struck a mountain breaker double punch onto his chest. Blood exploded out of his mouth, nose, and eyes as his battered body crashed through the wall behind him.
My breathing calmed down as I watched his body slam onto the floor. A pile of expensive paintings beneath him was soon ruined as his blood spread out underneath him.
Walking next to him, I bent down and grabbed his hair. Yanking him up, I held his bruised and ruined face close to the red cartridge I had in my fingers.
"Answer. Where did you get this?"
"I... I bought it from the Shie Hassaikai... to take away your quirk. So I could... kill you."
"Is that so?" I said before placing the bullet into my pocket. I then held out my hand and created a block of ice in my palm, shocking him.
[+15 SP]
"T-that\'s impossible... you shouldn\'t be able to use your quirk!" Kobashigawa muttered in despair before I created a very sharp icicle in my hands. He stared at it with fear before I jammed it into his shoulder. "Agh!"
"Tell me... Where did you buy this bullet?" I said with a flat, even tone. Twisting the icicle in his shoulder, the man grunted in pain. "I won\'t ask you twice."
x x x
[General POV]
"He\'s coming out!" Jin said loudly, gaining Himiko and Jello\'s attention.
They all turned to see Sukuna stalk out of the ruins of the mansion, but before they could wave at him, they paused.
The stone-cold expression on their friend\'s face set them all on edge. Pausing, Sukuna looked around at all the unconscious or dead bodies with an impassive glance. He quickly noticed that the only dead bodies lying around were from the goons he and Jello killed.
Slowly, a small grin grew on his face as he turned to where Himiko, Jin, and Jello stood/floated.
"Not bad, you two," Sukuna said as he rubbed the back of his head. All the traces of his overpowering negative energy receded back into his body. "I\'m impressed."
"Sukuna-kun!" Himiko yelled as she ran over to jump into his arms. She snuggled into his chest as Jin walked over.
"Is it... done?" Jin asked.
Hearing Jin\'s question, Himiko stepped back—a severe expression on her face. Sukuna frowned and slowly nodded.
"Yeah... It\'s done." Sukuna nodded before lifting a small red carriage with a needle on one end. "But it\'s far from over."
-
AN:
And with that, Souta\'s long two year hunt has come to an end.
Coming next, the Shie Hessaikai arc!
Be sure to leave me plenty of comments!
Until next time!