Kazuki took his stance and locked eyes with Kirihai.
"You're facing me now," he said firmly.
Alex, struggling to get up, groaned and spat out blood.
"I'm not done yet..."
Kazuki glanced at him with a slight frown.
Kirihai smirked and said, "The rest of your friends couldn't even come close to me." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Kazuki. "But you... you look interesting."
Suddenly, sharp needles began floating around her in a defensive formation.
Kazuki's spiritual mark activated, glowing brightly on his palm. In response, the floating needles around Kirihai launched at him with frightening speed. With expert precision and agility, Kazuki countered each one using his dagger, deflecting them in a rapid and skilled manner while dodging.
Without hesitation, he charged toward her, firing spiritual explosions one after another. Kirihai sharpened her hand into deadly blades and began slicing through the blasts as she rushed towards him as well.
Kazuki leaped into the air, hurling a barrage of shuriken. Kirihai dodged them swiftly, only for Kazuki to close the distance and engage her in fierce hand-to-hand combat.
Meanwhile...
Jugo and Levi were locked in a brutal battle of their own. Jugo was waving his sword and sending slashes at Levi at blinding speeds, the strikes traveling at the speed of light. Levi, equally fast, danced between them with nimble agility. Jugo's sword strikes were causing slashes to fly all over the place while destroying the city blocks around them into rubble. As he dodged, Levi jumped into the air.
Jugo unleashed more slashes, but Levi activated a technique called Red Riot. Red beams materialized from thin air, clashing with Jugo's slashes and causing a massive explosion.
Smoke clouded the battlefield.
As it cleared, Jugo charged forward, trying to strike Levi with his sword. Levi grabbed a dagger from the ground and parried. They clashed repeatedly—each impact triggering shockwaves and explosions across the area.
Moving at light speed, their battle grew more intense.
"You're not as bad as I thought," Jugo admitted mid-fight, clashing blades once again.
Elsewhere in the mist-covered field...
Serena and Sukuna were surrounded by an army of shadow dolls. The two girls defended themselves with powerful punches that broke through the puppet's. Serena charged her fist with massive electricity and struck the shadows with rapid fire punches, causing several of them to explode violently.
"I'll handle the rest," Sukuna said. "You need to rest."
Serena nodded, stepping back as more shadow dolls approached. Sukuna's hands began glowing, enveloped in a fierce green energy. With a single blow, she obliterated the remaining dolls—many were blasted apart, others burnt to ash.
Sukuna collapsed.
Serena rushed to her side. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, i just used too much energy." Sukuna answered, breathing heavily. "The rest of them are fighting with their lives. We have to help them..."
Back in the main battle...
Kazuki launched into the air. From a distance, Kinto threw shurikens and explosives at Kirihai. She dodged through the explosion and the weapons flying at her. Alex suddenly flash-stepped behind her, catching the ones she evaded and attempting to stab her.
Baraka then leapt from above, swinging his rock hammer down. At the same moment, Kazuki rushed from the front with his dagger aimed at her neck.
Surrounded, Kirihai smiled wickedly.
"Hm, so enthusiastic. But it's sad that none of you can beat me."
A burst of dark energy erupted from the ground, blasting them all away "What the hell?", Kinto exclaimed.
Kazuki tried to rise but was too slow. Kirihai pointed to of her fingers at him and cast a technique—Dark Cube. Kazuki was sealed inside a cube of dense dark energy "Huh? What the..?", he exclaimed.
Kinto gasped. "Damn, she's really handling us. How can someone be this strong...?"
Suddenly, a barrage of daggers shot toward him, piercing his body in rapid succession. He screamed in pain.
Baraka tried to help "KINTO!", he exclaimed, but a slash out of nowhere struck his back. He cried out and collapsed into a large number of buildings. Alex, overwhelmed, screamed their names "KINTO! BARAKA!" and rushed to help—only to be pinned to the ground by an unseen pressure.
Struggling, he tried to rise. Kirihai appeared behind him.
"Cant stand? Too bad. I just used my Spirit Binding technique on you. You're not going to be standing for a while."
Alex growled in anger. "Let me go!"
Grinning, Kirihai stabbed his hand with her blade, pinning him to the ground.
He screamed in pain "GAAAHH!"
She stabbed his other hand as well. Alex's breathing grew heavier, fury rising in his eyes.
"This fight is over," she taunted.
"Shut the hell up!" Alex roared.
She trapped him inside Dark Cube "Now that I've got you all in a place. I'll just kill you all, one after another.".
Inside the cube, Kazuki's screams echoed as energy from the Dark Cube started blasting him violently.
Alex, still pinned, saw Kinto and Baraka unconscious and bleeding. Kirihai's voice rang out.
"You're all just a pile of brats. Seriously, who brings a bunch of weak ass kids to a mission like this. Well, I'm about to kill you all now.".
This triggered a massive explosion of energy that kept blasting Alex within the cube. Inside, Alex whispered with rage in his eyes:
"I can't die here... I can't die in a place like this..."
He repeated it again and again, his anger building. His hair turned red. His nails and teeth sharpened. The cube exploded in a blast of energy and flames
Kirihai laughed. "There's no way that kid survived that."
Kinto, barely conscious, cried out, "Alex! No...!"
But then, the dark flames twisted into a wild black energy, swirling violently. Kirihai narrowed her eyes. "What... is going on?"
She saw Alex, standing, surrounded by black and red energy.
He screamed in rage, sending out a shockwave. The energy dissipated. His eyes glowed.
In a flash, he charged at Kirihai. She braced herself, but Alex, faster than sound, launched a rapid barrage of punches.
She thought to herself, "Hm? I can't keep up with his speed...
Alex scratched her chest with his sharp nails and started darting around her at blinding speed. Kirihai, trying to remain calm, began throwing shuriken rapidly, but Alex dodged with ease and continued to slash at her.
She clicked her tounge with annoyance as she formed a hand sign and chanted an incantation. A magic circle appeared. She shot out a beam at Alex—
—but Alex caught it with one hand.
She gasped. "Huh? How can a kid hold this much power...?!"
With overwhelming strength, he slapped her with his dark red energy-imbued hand. The entire field exploded. Buildinga and city blocks got leveled due to this powerful outburst of power.
As the smoke cleared, Kirihai struggled to rise but collapsed again. Alex emerged from the smoke, eyes glowing red, hand smoking with energy. He raised it and slammed her into the ground with a final, devastating blow.
Smoke billowed across the battlefield.
Alex exclaimed tired and softly "Damn!", and collapsed. His body steaming.
Kirihai managed to stand. "Even with all that power... you still lost."
She pulled a dagger from her cloak and approached Alex, ready to stab him.
"At the end, it was all a waste of time."
Just as she swung her blade, her hand was sliced clean off.
Kazuki stabbed her from behind.
"Stupid bitch," he muttered.
Kirihai smirked, even in defeat. "I'm surprised..."
Her body began to melt.
"That wasn't so bad now, i enjoyed myself. I'll be back for you all... eventually..." she said before vanishing completely.
Kazuki exhaled sharply. "That was a clone... If we fought the real one... we'd all be dead."
Meanwhile...
Jugo lay injured on the ground. Levi approached slowly.
"Remember when you said you were going to kill me?" Levi asked.
Jugo laughed, his form beginning to fade. "In my life... I've never met an opponent as powerful as you. I won't forget you."
Kazuki helped Alex to his feet.
"He's stronger than I thought..." he murmured.
The mist that covered the city began to lift. The sun broke through.
Levi lit a cigarette and took a deep breath.
"That was a hellish mission. Luckily, none of the kids died."
Kinto helped Baraka up despite being beaten up himself.
"Is Alex okay?" Baraka asked.
"He'll be fine," Kinto replied.
A few moments later, Everyone regrouped—battered, bruised, but alive. Serena and Sukuna approached slowly.
Levi looked at them all. "Alright then, mission complete. Let's go home."
Far away, in a dark hideout...
Kirihai removed her black cloak and smirked.
"It was a good thing I sent a clone... otherwise, those kids would've died. Those kids were stronger than i thought tho. Even tho my clones are weaker than i am, they managed to push me a bit. They're impressive."
Ukina, unnoticed until now, stepped beside her.
"You did a great job. I'm glad the mission went well."
END OF EPISODE
FOR NEWER READERS, IM CURRENTLY RE-WRITING THIS VOLUME TO MAKE IT MORE PRESENTABLE AND CONSISTENT WITH THE OTHER VOLUMES. AND JUST INCASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE, KIRIHAI WAS JUST JOKING ALL THROUGH THE FIGHT. EVEN WITH ALEX'S POWER UP, SHE'D STILL HAVE WON. BUT WE CANT HAVE THAT NOW. CAN WE?😂