S-Rank Awakener VS S-Rank Awakener
Meanwhile, at that very moment, in an apartment far removed from the chaos gripping the city, a small toy car sat in the middle of the living room floor.
"Vrooooooom~~!!"
Ziiiip--!!
Orchi was pushing the toy car along with one of her tentacles.
"Orchi rode this before! It was so fun~!"
The tentacle swerved the car in a new direction.
"Vroom!! Kwa-ga-ga-ga-KRAK--!!!"
When the car slammed into the leg of the sofa, Orchi burst into bright, delighted laughter.
Bat sat on that same sofa, staring blankly at the scene.
The problem was Bat's appearance.
She wasn't even properly dressed — she was still in her underwear, hair a tangled mess, her face etched with exhaustion.
".........."
She watched Orchi for a long moment, then let out a deep, deep sigh.
"Shouldn't Rai be the one babysitting Orchi...?"
Instead of answering, Orchi just sent the car rolling again.
"Vrooooooom---!!"
"...If anyone finds out about this, I am so getting fired."
Bat covered her face with both hands.
"Why on earth am I the one doing this...."
"KWA-GA-GA-GA-GA-KRAK--!!! PU-PU-PU-POW--!! And THEN it went like this!!"
"What in the world have you been showing her?!"
Bat nearly had a heart attack at Orchi's words.
At that moment, high between the city's towers—
KWAANG--!!
Chain kicked off the rooftop railing and leapt straight down.
"What?!"
Watching from far away, Rai's face drained of all color.
"She... she just jumped off that building...!!"
But almost at the same instant, Shalla hurled herself off the opposite building as well.
KWAAM---!!!
"You too?!"
Both of their bodies dropped into the open air at once.
Dozens of floors below, the city glittered with night lights.
Rai's heart plummeted.
"Are you both out of your minds?!"
But Shalla didn't care in the slightest.
Shwoo.
Her hand reached toward empty air.
KRAJIK.
And space itself cracked open.
The sky split apart as if a massive pane of glass were shattering.
Tap.
Shalla planted her foot on the ruptured space.
BAM!
One step.
KRAJIK!
Another pane of space shattered.
BAM!
Her body vaulted upward through the void.
Breaking space, then using the shards as footholds, she closed in on the falling Chain at a truly insane speed.
The only Awakener in the entire world capable of shattering space itself.
The title: 【Dimension Breaker】.
That was Shalla Crosshope.
"STAND STILL---!!!"
FWOOOOOOSH--!!!"
Shalla's fist rocketed toward Chain.
But Chain wasn't about to sit still either.
"Hehe...!"
As she plummeted, Chain pulled the starter cords on both of her chainsaws at once.
VRRRRRRRRRRRR~~~!!!
Then she flung herself against the outer wall of the neighboring building.
KRA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GAK---!!!
The chainsaw blades raked across the building's facade, tearing through glass.
SHAAAAAK!
Chain's body began to slow, gradually.
The wall peeled away under the colossal friction and recoil, and the surrounding windows shattered to pieces.
Screeeeech.
Chain ground to a halt against the side of the building.
In that instant—
"Eat this."
FWOOOOOM--!!!"
Shalla's devastating fist came flying in.
".........."
Chain tilted her head slightly—
Shwoo.
—and the fist grazed past her cheek.
KWAAAAAAAM----!!!
Shalla's punch slammed squarely into the building's outer wall instead.
GU-GU-GU-GU-GU-GU-GU---!!!
Shockwaves rippled outward in every direction, and the building's windows burst all at once under the pressure.
KWA-JANG-JANG-JANG-JANG---!!
Dozens of panes of glass rained up into the night sky.
Shalla and Chain faced each other, each clinging to the vast wall of the building.
Close enough to dodge each other's attacks and counter in the same breath.
Shalla spoke first.
"Remember me?"
"Hm?"
"You lost to me before."
The corner of Chain's mouth curled upward.
"And you think now is the same as then~?"
"At least the all-talk-and-no-action part hasn't changed."
Clench.
Shalla balled her fist tight.
"This time, it doesn't matter how much stronger you've gotten."
".........."
"Because I will bring you down."
Chain laughed.
"Results are the only thing that prove anything."
Shalla's expression hardened.
"Fine."
She looked up.
"Then don't make excuses after you lose."
KWAAM---!!!"
Shalla shattered space once more.
KRAJIK!
She stomped on the split-open void and launched herself upward.
BAM!
Another spatial rupture.
BAM!
And another.
Shalla's body rocketed skyward as if scaling the building's very wall.
Chain snorted a laugh.
"Still using that same trick~!"
Power gathered in Chain's legs.
KWAANG!
She kicked off the building's exterior wall, hurling herself upward on sheer explosive force—
—and at the same time, drove her chainsaws into the structure.
KWA-DEUK!
The blades ground through concrete, dragging Chain's body up along with them.
Shalla, meanwhile, dropped swiftly from above.
And her devastating fist came flying down.
"HAAAH...!!!"
Chain barely managed to block it with her chainsaws.
BAM!
A colossal shockwave detonated in the same instant.
KUUUUUUUUUUU---!!!
JEEE-JEEE-JEE-JEE--!!!"
Shalla was blown backward, but she tore open a rupture in midair and wheeled herself around.
VREEEEEEEEEEEE--!!!"
Chain likewise spun her chainsaws, kicked off the wall, and soared back up.
The two of them climbed the building as if chasing each other.
Fists.
Chainsaws.
Ruptures in space itself.
And the overwhelming physical prowess answering every one of those blows.
Their movements were beyond anything that could honestly be called human combat.
Rai watched it all from atop a distant building.
"..."
It was hard just to follow their exchange with his eyes.
Then, suddenly, he remembered the three people lying collapsed in the park.
Kana.
Misa.
Yuna.
The ones who had stood up against Chain to protect him.
A bitter smile spread across Rai's lips.
"I'm sorry... Mechakurachacha."
They had certainly been strong.
They had risked their lives fighting for his sake.
But still.
"...You two are on a completely different plane."
The pair before him existed in an entirely different world.
KWAAAM!!!"
Shalla's fist and Chain's chainsaw collided head-on.
Shockwaves exploded outward.
Every window in the surrounding buildings shattered simultaneously.
KWA-JANG-JANG-JANG-JANG!
People far away heard the roar and screamed.
"What was that?!"
"Is the building coming down?!"
"Run! Get away from here!"
Crowds on the street scrambled desperately away from the structures.
Chain glanced around at the chaos.
"...This is a problem."
She scratched her cheek.
"We're drawing way too much attention."
Shalla raised her fist again.
"Then all we need is for you to go down."
"Hehe."
Chain laughed.
"That might be a little difficult?"
Shalla charged straight in.
In that instant—
Fweep!
—something shot out from Chain's hand.
A rope.
"...!"
It coiled around Shalla's arms and legs, binding her movement in a heartbeat.
"Gotcha~!"
Chain grinned and yanked her wrist taut.
At the same time, her other hand went to her hip.
Click.
Several daggers slid between her fingers.
"This is going to hurt a bit."
Chain flung the daggers in a spread.
SHWAAAAK!
They began accelerating the instant they left her hand.
These were no ordinary thrown knives.
Special daggers engineered to build momentum as they flew.
Shalla's eyes turned razor-sharp.
"...!"
No way to dodge.
Then—
Shalla slashed her fist through empty air.
KRAJIK-----!!!
And the space directly in front of her shattered into fragments.
Without a moment's hesitation, she shoved the ruptured plane forward with her palm.
KWAAAM----!!!
The spatial shockwave crashed head-on into the daggers, and they detonated into shards.
PU-DU-DU-DU-DU-DU...!!!!
The ropes binding Shalla were caught in the same rupture and snapped clean through.
"........!"
Chain's eyes narrowed.
Shalla spun her body around instantly.
And in that moment—
—Chain raised her right hand and took hold of her eyepatch.
Shwoo.
As the patch peeled away, Shalla's face froze.
"........!"
Chain's right eye.
Etched there was a crimson sigil, glowing as if alive, the red light writhing and pulsing.
The color drained from Shalla's face in an instant.
"That eye...."
Chain's mouth curled up.
"What's wrong?"
"............."
Shalla couldn't say a word.
Chain stared at her, the crimson eye fully bared.
"I told you, didn't I."
The chainsaws roared back to life.
VRRRRRRR....!!!
Chain's voice dropped low.
"Now is different from then."
Shalla's face twisted bitterly.
She knew that eye.
She knew exactly what it meant, too.
Chain gripped both chainsaws tight and slowly lowered her stance.
"Everything up to this point was just a warm-up."
The red eye gleamed with an eerie light.
"The real fight...."
VRRRRR!!
The whine of spinning blades echoed across the entire city.
"starts now."
Rai watched their battle in silence, holding his breath.
Shockwaves burst as they carved through the gaps between buildings. Every time Shalla's fist tore the air, space itself split open; every time Chain's chainsaw swept around, another wall came crumbling down.
They were simply too fast.
But even now, the conversation from the park kept surfacing in Rai's mind.
"If you fought Chain... do you think you could win?"
Shalla, seated on the park bench, was silent for a moment.
Then she smiled with total confidence.
"Overall, the matchup favors me."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Shalla looked down at her own hands as she spoke.
"Chain is the absolute pinnacle when it comes to wielding weapons, but she's a bad matchup for me — or rather, I'm a bad matchup for her. My ability is exactly the kind that's a nightmare to deal with. I can shatter space, travel through it, even deflect attacks with it."
"So you can win."
"...It's not that simple."
Shalla's expression turned a shade more serious.
"Chain is not the type to charge into a head-on slugfest with me without a thought."
"..."
"If she knows I have the advantage, there's no reason for her to fight me in the way I'm best at, is there?"
Shalla let out a sigh.
"She'll definitely look for another approach. She might even pursue some other objective at the same time as dealing with me."
"Another objective?"
"You."
Shalla looked at Rai.
"The single most important thing to Chain is you."
Rai's face stiffened.
"In that case...."
Rai spoke slowly, deliberately.
"I'll create the opening."
"...What?"
Shalla's eyes went wide.
Rai said it plainly.
"If she's after me, then I'll just be the bait."
"No."
Shalla shot him down instantly.
"That's way too dangerous."
"But you just said it yourself."
"..."
"She won't fight you head-on without thinking it through."
Rai looked Shalla dead in the eye.
"So all we have to do is give her something she can't ignore."
"Rai..."
"And that's the thing I'm best at."
For a long while, Shalla couldn't find her voice.
Rai smiled, a little bitterly.
"I'm no good at trading blows like you are, after all."