The group were already well on their way to the next town, Dante had decided that it'd be best if they resupplied before the news of their wanted status spread any further.
The ride was full of planning all the while Nanami was tinkering away in the back of the cart leaving the care free Toni to drive.
"What're you crafting up over here?" Rika leaned over Nanami's shoulder, observing her hard at work.
Nanami moved her back with a soft shove. "I'm trying to build that weapon I spoke of earlier," she said before deconstructing what she just made. "But I have no lab, I'd put the hut up, but it'd take a while to make what I need to shrink it all over again."
Dante, rubs his hands together nervously, he's still constantly thinking of possibilities to escape from this situation though he knows with them knowing as much as they do, their chances of just walking away is slim.
Arriving at the next town, They park their cart just inside of the entrance to the main gate.
Nanami sighs, "i'll stay by the cart, I feel it's necessary I create this weapon, in the meantime see if you can figure out anything of that guild."
Dante nods, "I remember seeing their matching guild tattoos," he pulls out his book showing that he did actually sketch it. "I'll ask if anyone knows anything."
Rika shakes her head. "Not like the guys just gonna come out and reveal himself, this is gonna take forever!"
And with that the group departs, with the casual Toni walking off with Katio.
Toni peacefully plays his guitar as he walks around with Kaito, the peaceful song calming him a bit.
Kaito turns with a smile. "Toni you're really calm for someone who just got attacked."
Toni gives a small smirk back. "What can I say friend, this is the glory of an adventure, and I gotta be ready to make songs of you fellas travels."
Kaito begins laughing too. "Well, play it louder we need the higher energy, i'm gonna take the whole world need a song to match it!"
Toni follows the order and plays with more energy.
They were halfway through the town when an arm suddenly hooked around Kaito's shoulders.
Kaito stiffened. Toni did too.
Kaito forced a smile anyway. "Hello?"
The man beside him smiled back wide. "Pretty out-of-the-way town," he said. "What're you doing here?"
Kaito frowned. The question crawled under his skin. "Do I know you?"
The man laughed, sharp and short. "Right. Right. You wouldn't, huh?"
The laughter stopped.
His arm stayed locked around Kaito as his eyes bored into him. "Name's Renji. Leader of the Sony Guild." A beat. "I'm the one behind the war you're trying to stop."
The street went quiet.
Toni looked at Kaito. Kaito looked back. Toni didn't say it out loud but it looks like Rika was wrong, he would just come out and say it.
Neither of them spoke. It felt like the town itself was holding its breath.
"My guild's told me a lot about you," Renji continued, then glanced sideways at Toni. "Mind if I speak freely?"
Toni straightened. "Anything you've got to say to my friend, you can say to me."
Renji raised one hand.
The next moment, Toni was airborne, slammed into the dirt like he weighed nothing.
"Kaito!" Toni gasped, as he was thrown blocks through the town.
Before Kaito could move, Renji's grip tightened, fingers digging into his shoulder like iron. "I've heard all about you, Kaito Nakaya."
Kaito's stomach dropped.
How?
How does he know that?
Renji's face didn't change. No smile. No anger. Just focus. "I'll be honest. I'm busy. I don't like wasting time."
He leaned closer. "You Kaya folk, you crave carnage. You live for battle." His voice lowered. "So here's my offer. Join my guild. Help me tear this empire down."
Kaito's thoughts spiraled. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. This wasn't strategy, this was a trap snapping shut.
Renji opened his mouth again.
Kaito punched him.
The blow snapped Renji's head to the side. "Shut up!" Kaito shouted, breath shaking.
"There's no way I'm joining you, and how do you know my name?"
Renji laughed, slow and pleased, rubbing his cheek. "Mr. Harlow talks too much. Says he wants you dead." His eyes gleamed. "And when you split with Nyla back in Mozam? Con heard every word."
Cold sweat broke across Kaito's skin.
Renji noticed. Of course he did.
"Worried I'll hand you over to the empire?"
Renji said softly. "Relax. We talked it through. Exposing you wouldn't be… wise." A thin smile. "Wouldn't want to upset Queen Kaya, now would we?"
Kaito's head rang. Every secret felt suddenly fragile, like glass under Renji's fingers.
Renji finally stepped back, shifting his stance, coiled and ready.
"But if you won't join me," he said, eyes locked on Kaito, "then I'll just have to rip that crown from you myself."
Kaito stands on guard, Renji flew in, Kaito raised his guard, the instant Renjis fist connected with his arms Kaito was met with pain in his forearms, as if they were about to shatter under the weight of this man's fist.
The pressure from the punch causes ripples through the wind, sending Kaito flying for miles thrown the town gate and more miles after that!
Kaito whipped around in the air stabbing his dagger into the ground to stop the momentum. "What the heck just happened!?" He shouted.
Renji had just sent him miles away from the town he was nowhere near his friends and Toni, what happened to Toni?!
Renji landed like a boulder, shaking the ground around him standing atop a nearby mountain range, as he stared Kaito down, Kaito stood. Meeting his gaze with one of fire.
"If you really are behind this, all I've gotta do is beat you and save my friend." Kaito declares.
Renji smiles back, "foolish brat." He cracked his neck with a few stretches, "you really don't know how much trouble you're in."
Kaito's dagger gleamed as he pointed it directly at his opponent, a fierce grin curling on his lips. "Come show me how much of a brat I am!" he taunted, voice sharp with challenge.
Renji's lips curled into a sinister smile as he leapt down from the mountain summit. His descent quickened, and upon landing, the impact shattered the ground beneath him, sending a deafening shockwave rippling outward, knocking the group back in a wave of dust and debris.
Kaito reacted instinctively, catching himself just in time. His eyes narrowed, and without hesitation, he surged forward, dagger flashing in a blur of movement. He aimed a swift slash toward Renji's chest, intent on catching him off-guard.
Renji, surprisingly agile for his size, dodged at the last second, the blade slicing through empty air. Not missing a beat, Kaito spun around, launching a high kick aimed at Renji's head.
Renji caught Kaito's leg mid-air, gripping it tightly before slamming him into the ground with brutal force. The impact knocked the wind from Kaito's lungs, leaving him gasping for air.
Seizing the moment, Renji closed in, fist clenched. Kaito managed to throw a quick punch, their fists colliding in a thunderous clash that sent a jarring shock through Kaito's hand. Pain flared up, but he grit his teeth, refusing to back down.
Renji shoved Kaito away with a powerful shove, sending him skidding backward.
"Crap, he's stronger than that other guy?!" Kaito thought, adrenaline surging.
He caught himself on his hands and feet, eyes flickering with resolve. Channeling energy fission, he propelled himself forward again, legs blazing with kinetic force, dive-bombing at Renji with a burst of speed.
Their fists collided once more, a burst of raw energy crackling in the air. Blow after blow rained down. Kaito's breath hitched as a grim realization dawned… "He's stronger than me." The weight of that truth pressed down heavily.
Determined, Kaito swung a powerful hook, aiming to land a decisive blow. Renji raised his arm to block, but Kaito swiftly altered his trajectory, aiming for a vulnerable spot.
The punch connected with Renji's gut, eliciting a deep, resonant laugh from the larger fighter.
"Neat trick," Renji chuckled, eyes gleaming with amusement. "But your attacks are too weak!"
Fury ignited in Renji's eyes. He reared back his fist, then drove it forward with devastating force. Kaito barely managed to raise his arm in time to block, yet the sheer impact launched him backward like a ragdoll, hurtling through the air at hundreds of miles per hour.
Renji appeared behind him, using the momentum of the previous attack he slammed a powerful fist into the back of Kaito.
The impact nearly made Kaito lose consciousness.
He stumbled as Renji snatched his bag. Rummaging through it, he's disappointed to see Kaito isn't the one carrying the crown.
"Kaito!" He hears a voice and he turns to see, everyone running towards him. Renji smiles, as he hits Kaito again sending him flying.
Watching helplessly as Kaito is launched away. The others prepare for Renji.
He laughs, launching towards them. "If that was your leader you're all good as dead!"
Dante shakes as he sees him approaching.
Nanami dives in front blocking the punch barrowling through the air. The force of the blow sending immense pain through her arms. SLAMMING her into the ground. Nanami hacks, a horse cough.
Renji laughs as he raises his leg into the air. Before she's stomped, Toni attempts to tackle Renji, to his surprise he just harmlessly slams into him, like a brick wall. "Heh, sorry friend...." Toni awkwardly said.
Before Renji can move, a shimmer of magic bends the air behind him. Rika strikes from the shadows, cloaked in illusion, silent and swift like a phantom.
But Renji doesn't flinch. His eyes narrow, he's already seen through it.
In one brutal motion, he slams his elbow back, catching Rika square in the face with a sickening crack. She cries out as he seizes her by the hair and swings her like a weapon, hurling her into a jagged hillside. Rock tears into her skin as she crashes down, leaving a trail of blood.
Toni taking the moment to retreat.
Nanami, unnoticed below, scrambles from beneath Renji's towering leg, fingers flying across her wrist device. Runes flash. She runs off, buying precious seconds.
Rika groans, trembling as she pushes herself up. Her vision blurs. Her body screams in pain.
"I should run." The thought burns through her. "No. I won't abandon them."
She wipes blood from her mouth and rises to her feet.
"I can do better," she whispers.
The wind answers her call. She twirls her massive boomerang, gathering speed. The sky darkens around her as currents surge, howling like a storm god's fury. With a battle cry, she launches herself at Renji, a streak of spinning steel and roaring wind.
From the side, Toni grins, already drawing his guitar.
"Need a little lift, Rika?!" he shouts, slamming into a riff that echoes through the battlefield like thunder.
The magic kicks in. Rika's form surges forward, faster, blazing. Renji's smirk falters for a heartbeat.
"Wind Blades!" Rika cries. She spins midair, releasing a flurry of slicing gales, each one sharp enough to cut steel.
The wind slashes through the air. Two blades rip into Renji's arms. Another carves across his chest, drawing a burst of blood Renji stumbles back, laughing as he wipes the crimson from his mouth.
"Now that's more like it!"
But then his gaze locks onto Toni, watching the power source behind Rika's sudden speed.
"So that's where it's coming from."He moves like a bullet. One second he's standing. The next, he's already in front of Toni.
Toni barely has time to gasp before Renji's fist collides with his chest. The ground cracks as Toni is smashed into it.
The boost vanishes. Rika's momentum dies mid-flight. She turns, horrified. But Renji is already in front of her again.
A savage punch catches her midair, slamming her down so hard the ground buckles. Then, as she rebounds off the earth, he kicks her in the ribs with enough force to send her flying, vanishing into the distance like a broken comet.
Renji stands tall, arms bloody, grinning like a devil. "Is this it? Is this all you've got?!"
Suddenly, a new voice cuts through the chaos.
"GURA!"
Nanami launches into the air, her arm glowing with unstable energy. Her wrist device screeches with strain, the lines of power drawing directly from her own elara. Her eyes glow with raw Elara, pulsing brighter and brighter, until she unleashes it.
A massive orb of concentrated magic detonates from her arm, ripping through the air. It crashes into Renji's face with a force like a meteor.
The shockwave flattens everything around them. Trees bend. Rocks explode. Renji is hurled backward, skidding across the earth and vanishing into the smoke.
Nanami drops to one knee, panting hard. Blood runs from her nose.
"I was saving that…" she mutters, voice shaking. "But the prototype's unstable. Pulled too much Elara from me, not enough from the atmosphere."
She tries to stand. She wants to believe it worked.
But the smoke parts,and Renji walks through, burnt, bleeding… smiling.
"Well now," he says calmly. "That was impressive. Didn't think tech like that worked outside of Crystia barriers."
Before she can react, he dives.
Nanami raises her arm to shield herself, but he barrels into her, knocking her off back into the ground.
Walking towards her Renji is suddenly halted, by his legs freezing to the ground. He turns around and sees Dante shaking like a leaf. Renji burst out laughing, "I forgot all about you!"
Effortlessly Renji breaks free from the ice, marching towards Dante, "Now what can you do?" He asks.
Dante's legs just won't move, he's watched as Renji dispatched his friends one by one, if even Kaito was beat, what can he do? How was he meant to stand up to someone like this.
As Renji approached.
BLAM!
All Dante saw was flash of wind and flame.
Kaito had returned to the fight bloody and battered, his fist slamming into Renji's face sending him flying. With a wave of relief washing over Dante.
But once again looking on at Kaito the relief is replaced by a deep shame. He had stood bye as all of his friends, fought. Wasn't he too meant to be a fighter, how come he was this way.
But Kaito's fire once again faltered as he coughed. Renji smiled down on them all, raising a hand to the sky, "let me show you some real fire!"
A torrent of flame burned into the air, and with a flick of his arm he sent the flame towards them.
Kaito bit his lip in regret as he dragged all of his friends to him, and in an instant, they had vanished.
Renji looked where he once stood shocked, "crap," he spat. "If I had known he could do that I wouldn't have talked so much, not like it matters, they're too weak to stop me anyways."
Renji smiles as he walks away. "I'm sure i'll run into them again, next time i'll finish the job."