The Red Hand

Chapter 264 – Hishya v The Oni Sisters?

"And the arena is destroyed, yet again..." Akagi sighed, her hand covering the small smile that showed just how much she reveled in the destruction going on. "But it was a good fight, and from the comments in chat and the roar of our audience, it seems to be the most popular so far." People were going nuts on social media and chat was moving so fast that it was nearly impossible to read anything. The watching audience was on fire, and the absolutely insane amount of hype being generated meant that the very air within the arena itself felt electrified. Avahn and Halifax's level of speed, power, and destruction eclipsed anything else seen so far, and there were many anticipating the coming fights would only get more insane.

{And you, my little sword, you seem to have a very naughty ability in your arsenal.} Akagi chuckled to herself as she watched Halifax slowly leave the arena. {I suppose I should go harass Hishya after today's events are over. After all, she is the one who jinxed things with her earlier comment. Though I'm not entirely surprised a blade forged by the Goddess of Time can peer into the future.}

That was part of the reason that Avahn never managed to land a solid hit on her. Halifax's power allowed her to see a few seconds into the future itself, and such foresight enabled her to easily deflect, dodge, or block incoming attacks. Though once Avahn unleashed her full power, Halifax quickly figured out that her opponent was moving too fast for her to do anything fancier than block with her own blade.

"I think we'll need to cut to break for a bit while Shiru gets her team out there." Silfana could already see the Dryad complaining that she needed to rebuild the arena for the umpteenth time.

"I mean we could have the Oni and lizard fight it out in the utterly destroyed landscape!" Akagi laughed. "But then whoever lost would get butt hurt and say that it wasn't a fair fight, and I'm not about that drama." She figured it wasn't worth it.

"Then a break it is.” Silfana nodded and they decided to end things here for now. “There are only two more fights today, so they can wait for a bit." Silfana smirked. "And they're probably the most interesting ones to boot." She was particularly interested in Hishya's fight with Superbia, and was anticipating it to be an incredibly dramatic battle.

"Let's just start lunch a bit early then." Akagi shrugged. "Sorry folks, but think of it this way, our contestants won't be hangry when they fight!" She snickered as she cut the feed while a ton of people were screaming NOOOO in the chat comments.

"Thank god!" Silfana stretched back in her chair. "I could go for some lunch. I'm already hungry." Her stomach growled loudly, causing her to get embarrassed.

"Why are you such a bottomless pit?" Akagi sighed. This had become the usual and Akagi swore that Silfana had no such setting in her flavor text or in game lore. "Hishya I get, but you're a Vampire. Why are you so hungry all the time?"

"I simply have a fast metabolism, that's all." Silfana turned away, embarrassed.

{I suppose some people just have big appetites.} (Akagi)

"Well, whatever. Just don't go biting people to satisfy your hunger." Akagi snickered as the two moved out of the commentator booth and went down the stairs toward the cafeteria.

"I'd much prefer beef or curry to blood." Silfana huffed. "Its has far better texture and flavor, and that Tika Masala you made the other night was fantastic!"

{I'll never go back to blood again!} (Silfana)

"What would people do if they found out the mighty Vampire Lord has abandoned blood?" Akagi laughed.

"They'd probably cheer." Silfana sighed as the two descended into the cafeteria where a few others were chowing down.

Repair of the arena didn't take that long, and after a short and 'light' lunch, things were back on schedule. Superbia and Hishya were both given potions to get them back to full strength, and each were itching for battle. Superbia's comments during lunch indicated that she was fully confident that she'd come out on top, much to the confusion of many of the other players. Her confidence seemed to have received a significant boost, and Akagi could tell that something was off about the Oni but was unable to discern more than the fact that she'd somehow gotten more power. Though the extra strength she could detect was nowhere near enough to allow such boastful claims.

"Thanks for waiting everyone! I hope you had a nice little break while we fixed the arena and I'm happy to announce that we're getting right back into things with our most anticipated match yet, so let's get right into the semi-finals!" Akagi said after she restarted the broadcast, which elicited a large degree of excitement from those in the virtual waiting room. "First up is a match between two of our biggest show stoppers, Hishya and Superbia!" She clapped as the two walked onto the field, each side-eyeing the other with a fake smile on their faces as they waved to the cameras.

"So far, each has given us fantastic displays of strength and ability, with some of the most memorable moments of this event coming from these two women." Akagi continued as they the two of them took positions in the middle of the arena. "Whoever wins this one will head to the Grand Finals that will take place tomorrow morning, so I suspect that each of them will be pulling out all the stops to ensure that they will be part of our main event!" She figured that Hishya would go all out from the start, as would Superbia.

"I'm honestly not too sure what's about to happen here." Silfana mused. "Hishya is quite honestly a total monster when it comes to combat, but Superbia... That Oni has shown far more power than I expected. Perhaps she might actually be able to win against the Dragon." She could sense that something was off about the Oni, but couldn't pin down what the cause was.

{Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something... The air about her... It reminds me of...} (Silfana)

"Well she seemed confident during lunch, talking about how she was going to make Hishya eat dirt." Akagi laughed, cutting off Silfana's train of thought. "Though all boasting aside, Superbia is quite the combatant, and everything I know about her tells me that this won't be an easy fight for Hishya, even after her power increases." She figured that while Hishya would win that Superbia wouldn't make it easy for her.

"I must admit that it would be quite funny if the Dragon was knocked out here." Silfana chuckled. "It would certainly be an upset, if nothing else."

{YOU'D BETTER NOT LOSE, DRAGON!} (Silfana)

"If Hishya loses here, she's going to launch into a rant on the internet about how things were rigged or make the excuse that she was holding back!" Akagi howled in laughter as Silfana chuckled as well. "Hell, maybe she'll make a video essay where she explains how she could've easily won!"

{I wouldn't put it past her. Hishya, like me, is a sore loser.} (Akagi)

"I'd pay to see that." Silfana laughed. "That little Dragon should be put face down in the dirt for a little nap. It's only right that she gets smacked around a bit every now and again to keep her off that high horse of hers." She smirked.

"I see somebody is still salty." Akagi snickered, pointing out that Silfana just wanted to see Hishya get beaten up.

"It's just in my blood." Silfana shrugged. "Royalty isn't supposed to lose, and thus tend to get irritated when it happens." She was never one to tolerate loss, and being defeated in battle was something that cut deep into her own pride.

"I guess I can relate. That one-time Hishya cheesed out a win against me in Defense Force, I nearly smashed my VR headset and set off to the hospital to put the cripple out of her misery!" Akagi gave a scary laugh as she recalled that event.

{That bitch exploited an hitherto unknown bug to get the jump on me and my forces! And the judge said it was fair fucking game! Note to self, hunt that girl down and make her despair for screwing me out of that prize money!} (Akagi)

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"Too bad that it's not the cat here to fight me, but I suppose you'll have to do." Hishya smirked as she drew Sun Strike and flourished it in a poor attempt to style on Superbia, who wasn't impressed. "Just do me a favor and try to make things interesting before I end things. The audience would be disappointed if I turned you into a stain on the floor too quickly." She smiled.

"Awww. Are those words because you genuinely think you'll win, or is it just bluster because you're afraid of me?" Superbia laughed as she pulled a large Nodachi from her back, one that Hishya recognized.

"I didn't think Kogitsunemaru even existed anymore." Hishya figured that Munechika had that weapon on her person when she died and that it was destroyed forever when FWO ended. "Did you bring that as a way of channeling your sister's strength? Or do you intend to use a weapon you aren't trained with to defeat me?" She asked, figuring that Superbia was crazy to use a weapon like that when she exclusively used shorter blades to fight.

"Oh, it will channel my sister's strength all right." Superbia smirked as she threw the large blade into the air, and Hishya watched as it fell back toward the arena where it was caught by a familiar purple-haired Oni who materialized seemingly out of nowhere.

"W-What?!?" Hishya screamed in surprise, and even Kira was caught off guard by Munechika's sudden appearance. "What the fuck is going on, Superbia?!?"

{WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!?} (Hishya)

"It's as I said." Superbia smiled as she drew her own blade and stood next to her sister. "I'll be channeling my sister's strength for this battle. I hope you don't mind." The two sisters giggled.

"I-Is that... No, it can't be..." Hishya slapped herself across the face, assuming it was an illusion.. "But Munechika... She..."

"Died." Munechika finished for her. "Sadly, yes, I did." She giggled. “But now I'm back!” She flexed a bit to show that she was truly standing before Hishya.

"No fucking way..." Hishya stood, gobsmacked by the sight of what she figured was some kind of ghost. "Superbia, you need to explain, now." She turned to Kira. "Pause things for a moment, and get Akagi the fuck down here! I need a ruling or clarification or SOMETHING!" Kira didn't really know what to do, and a moment later a very confused Akagi appeared next to her.

"Alright Oni, explain to me how your dead sister is here right now!" Akagi had no idea what was going on and demanded an explanation. "Because that is no illusion. It has a fucking soul, so its very much alive!"

{Well, at least, it has a small one.} (Akagi)

"Don't call Moonie an it!" Superbia hissed, not taking kindly to such a term.

"Now, now." Munechika pat her sister on the head in an attempt to calm her down. "This is what you get for wanting a dramatic reveal and refusing to tell people about things beforehand." She chuckled, recalling that it was Superbia's idea to keep things under wraps for dramatic effect.

"Are you really Munechika?" Akagi asked her in a serious tone.

"Part of her, yes." Munechika nodded. "I don't fully understand it myself, but it seems that the lore about Kogitsunemaru taking part of its wielder's soul into itself upon attunement became real when FWO ended and the blade was brought into the real world." Similarly to how Hishya's racial flavor text became real once in the real world part of Munechika's soul still existed inside Kogitsunemaru even though that shouldn't have been possible.

"WHAT?!?" Hishya screamed. “HOW?!?”

{THAT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE!} (Hishya)

Akagi instantly understood what happened and nodded. "Ok, so I get that part..." She sighed before looking at Superbia. "But do you wanna explain why you didn't share this teenie-tiny detail with the fucking class?!?" She was annoyed that such crucial information had been hidden from her and that she'd been caught entirely off guard.

"Because I thought this kind of reaction would be funny." Superbia did a tee-hee-pero, which was the exact answer that Akagi expected.

"Yeah..." Akagi groaned.

{Now I know what it feels like to be on the other end of my bullshit.} (Akagi)

"My older sister can be such a child sometimes, so please excuse her actions here." Munechika gave a wry smile.

"Oi! Don't try acting all innocent! You thought it would be funny too!" Superbia pouted, and Munechika started whistling.

"Regardless..." Akagi racked her brain for a moment as she tried to figure out the next steps. "The problem here is that this is to be a match between Superbia and Hishya. Munechika can't be part of it since that would be an unfair interference of a third party." It would basically turn things into a 2v1, which wasn't how this tournament was set up.

"Ah, but it is fine." Superbia smiled. She'd already come up with a way to get this through the rules. "You see, Munechika is not actually a separate entity from me." Her comment made Hishya look to Akagi, who motioned for Superbia to continue. "After I found out that she was within Kogitsunemaru, I bonded with the weapon, and as a result, our souls were partially merged together. Thus, while we are separate people, she is technically part of me!"

{WHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT IS THAT?!?} (Hishya)

"I see..." Akagi's eyes scanned over both Munechika and Superbia, and she could tell that the Oni's words were mostly true. "Your souls have been linked... It's different from mine and Yumi's in that the fusion is much deeper and closer, and from what I can tell, Munechika cannot exist independently of you, is that right?" She figured that Munechika was being sustained by her sister's power and that if the two were separated she would vanish.

"Yup. Moonie is tied to me and is only able to manifest due to being bonded to me." Superbia nodded.

"Then it's fine." Akagi nodded.

"HOLD THE FUCK UP!" Hishya roared. "What do you mean, FINE?!?"

{ARE YOU JUST TRYING TO MAKE ME LOSE?!?} (Hishya)

"I mean that I see no reason that Munechika can't fight." Akagi shrugged before explaining her reasoning. "She is technically part of Superbia, and I will classify her as something similar to Alice's summons. Thus, she can be brought in to fight you." Technically she was a bit different, and there was genuine grounds for Hishya to object, but Akagi wasn't a fair and impartial judge and thought this would make things more interesting, so she allowed it.

"YOU'RE FUCKING KIDDING ME!" Hishya hissed. "How is that fair?!?"

"It's not." Akagi snickered. "It just means that you have to fight twice as hard to win, so good luck." She laughed as she snapped her fingers and returned to the commentator booth.

"You son of a..." Hishya stopped herself, figuring that getting irritated over Akagi's decision was both pointless and counterproductive. "It's fine... It's fine..." She turned to Superbia, giving the Oni a death glare. "I guess I'll just have to slap the both of you around enough to get out my frustration!”

"Hah! I'd like to see you try, lizard!" Superbia smiled as she and Munechika took up positions next to each other. "With Moonie at my side, there's no way you can win!"

"Are the contestants ready?" Kira looked between the three(?) fighters.

"Yes!" (Superbia x Munechika)

"You're damn right I am!" (Hishya)