"Lord Esidisi!"
Wamuu stared at Esidisi's annihilation, first stunned beyond belief, then consumed by rage. His face twisted with fury as he strode forward to avenge him.
He had only taken a few steps when Kars blocked him.
"Wamuu, I am furious too, but do not let anger cloud your reason."
"Calm down and look closely. That man is no longer an ant you can kill at will."
Kars had yet to become the ultimate lifeform, yet he was ice-cold. Even after losing Esidisi, his companion through long ages, he forced the rage down and studied Shiratori Riku with a frosty gaze, searching for flaws.
"Lord Kars."
Stopped in his tracks, Wamuu steadied himself and reviewed what he had seen.
"He appeared behind Lord Esidisi in an instant. That is not a Ripple warrior's technique."
"And the killing blow carried Ripple, but something else was woven in."
A top fighter, Wamuu saw the anomalies at a glance. He and Kars shifted to stand at angles, denying Riku another strike from behind.
His thoughts flashed. Quickly he formed a plan and murmured it to Kars.
"Be careful, Wamuu. I cannot read the depth of this foe."
Kars nodded. Wamuu advanced while Kars remained behind, his eyes still cold on Riku. The stranger's arts were unknown, and the unknown could not be countered.
"My name is Wamuu. Enemy, give me yours."
Wamuu stepped in and spoke.
"Save the chatter. You are a dead man. You do not need my name."
The moment Riku finished, Wamuu attacked.
"Divine Sandstorm!"
Hurricanes ripped open the air ahead, twin twisters weaving a meat grinder. It was useless. Riku took one step and appeared at Wamuu's back. Because of the Sandstorm's stance, Wamuu could not turn in time.
Just as Riku moved to end him with a single punch, a prismatic gleam burst from the ground's cracks. The Kars who had stood in place collapsed into shapeless flesh, and from the fissure the real Kars surged up, bone blade scything for Riku's neck.
That was their plan. Wamuu had judged that Riku would try the same trick again. His approach, his words, even his Sandstorm were lures to fix Riku's focus forward while Kars hid underground for the killing stroke.
"Good plan. I saw through it all."
Riku's shadow thinned and vanished. His true body flickered into being inside the wedge behind both of them. He struck both at once. Wamuu, hit full on, was erased body and soul. Kars lost all ability to move.
"Ripple's properties can cast a reflective image. You relaxed in the instant before success, and I cut you then."
"The mantis stalks the cicada; the oriole waits behind. Eyes on prey, you forgot you were prey yourselves."
"This time I lost. Finish it cleanly."
Kars, limbless, lay on the ground and glanced toward where Esidisi and Wamuu had fallen. He had not thought his end would look like this. So it was fate. Nature's choice.
"Not yet. Tell me. What is the Stone Mask for? How does it work? Why can it make you into an ultimate lifeform?"
Riku did not kill him. His task was to banish Kars after he became ultimate, not kill him now.
"The Stone Mask..."
Kars looked at Riku. It hardly mattered now, so he began.
"Long ago, when we were called the Tribe of Darkness, we were born able to absorb energy from plants and beasts."
"But we bore the curse of the sun. Touched by daylight, we died."
"To escape it, we hid underground and lived in peace."
"Until I forged the Stone Mask to conquer the sun. The tribe feared me. They tried to kill me."
"I urged them to listen. They would not. I chose to resist and killed them all."
His eyes were still calm. Even on death's edge, even speaking of his past, they did not waver.
"Do you regret it?"
"No. Never. To reach my goal I use any means. I keep no promises."
"Spend the least effort and take the lowest risk to achieve the end. That is my way of battle."
"I am not good or evil. I am Kars."
In that instant Kars exploded into motion. Even at the end, he never gave up. With a filthy trick to buy an instant, he lunged for one last strike, jaws snapping for Riku's throat. Life or death would be decided here.
"You are despicable, yes. That is how you lived this long and forged the Mask."
"You are a genius. Unfortunately, you are my enemy."
As if he had expected the lunge, Riku whipped out a Stone Mask and clamped it onto Kars' head, then severed the head cleanly. He pressed the real Super Aja into the Mask and waited for dawn. Sunlight on a body with but one breath left would still complete the change. Even a lone head would become ultimate.
When that happened, his mission would be done.
Carrying Kars' head, Riku walked to the shore and sat on the rocks to await the sunrise.
Joseph found him there.