Before Blade could attack Nohara, Derivan appeared between them and blocked his strike. Yashimiro's appearance changed his right arm and part of his face were covered by a demonic shell, and a demonic horn grew from the right side of his forehead.
"You belong to our race as well. I understand you must be the one I sensed a few years ago."
"What are you talking about?"
"Never mind" Blade replied, jumping back from his opponent.
Derivan turned to Nohara "Are you okay?"
"Yes, thanks" When Nohara looked at Yashimiro from this perspective, she suddenly remembered the boy who had saved her from a pack of wolves in the past. She noticed a striking resemblance "So that boy back then was him… no, that's impossible."
Derivan launched his attack, instantly appearing beside Blade, who failed to react and received a powerful punch to the face, flying back several meters.
"Tell me, what kind of Senero is that?" Blade asked.
Derivan raised an eyebrow, confused "What is Senero?"
"Are you mocking me? You come from the Shonetsu demon race and don't know what Senero is?"
"You see, I grew up on this planet and never interacted with other Shonetsu, so it'd be hard for me to know anything."
"Senero is a type of transformation our demon race undergoes. What you see now is called Senero 1. Blade increased his power, making his hair sharper. This is Senero 2. The final phase, called Senero 3, is a complete transformation into a Shonetsu."
"I see, thanks for the explanation. In that case, I'll call this form Senero 2.5."
"Let's get back to our fight" he said, charging forward.
Blade attacked Derivan, who dodged and struck him in the chin with a knee. Yashimiro then attempted a spinning kick to Blade's stomach, but the brunet blocked it by grabbing Derivan's leg.
"You didn't expect me to block that, did you?" Blade tossed him into the air and immediately fired an energy beam.
Derivan raised his hand toward the attack "Shindo!" and unleashed a stream of lightning.
When the two attacks collided, they caused a powerful explosion. Blade didn't stop there and instantly appeared beside Yashimiro, knocking him to the ground with a kick to the face. Derivan pushed himself off the ground, regained balance, and released a spiral of fire from his hand.
"He also has a fire nature?" Nohara commented, admiring the fight.
Blade dodged the attack and noticed Derivan running toward him. The brunet smiled and kicked sand into Yashimiro's eyes.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Yashimiro complained before being struck.
"If it helps me win, I won't worry about what's fair" Blade replied, delivering a series of blows.
Suddenly, a demonic wing grew from Derivan's back, allowing the teenager to fly into the air and wipe his eyes. Blade was already there, trying to attack, but Yashimiro dodged and kneed him in the stomach, making Blade spit blood.
"I can't remember the last time I had such an even fight. You're really strong for a Shonetsu demon" Blade praised with a smirk.
"I could say the same. You're one of the strongest… no, the strongest opponent I've fought so far" Yashimiro admitted, smiling as well.
They jumped back momentarily, then clashed again, trading blows. Derivan struck Blade's face, Blade returned the hit to his chin, and Yashimiro repaid him with a punch to the stomach. They ended the exchange with simultaneous strikes to each other's faces.
'I think it's time to end this fight" Blade announced, concentrating choki in his hand and forming a dark sphere of energy.
"You're right" Derivan formed a purple energy sphere surrounded by two golden rings "Dorendo!"
Both Shonetsu charged, their attacks colliding in a massive explosion that devastated the nearby terrain.
"What is wrong with them?" Nohara grabbed a tree to avoid being blown away.
Derivan and Blade fell to the ground in their normal forms, but quickly stood up, breathing heavily.
"Still not had enough?" Blade asked.
"Of course not."
Blade attacked again. Yashimiro dodged while stepping back, but tripped over a stone he hadn't noticed and fell. Blade took advantage and pummeled his face until Derivan headbutted him and kicked him away.
"How long are they going to keep fighting?" Nohara wondered.
They were about to attack again when someone interrupted them.
"STOP IMMEDIATELY!" An enraged Kira appeared.
"Kira" Derivan was terrified at the sight of his sister.
She marched up to Blade "You wake up in a hospital and the first thing you do is fight my brother! I don't care if you're a Shonetsu demon like us you're in our city, so behave properly!"
Even Blade was stunned "What kind of girl is she…"
Kira then grabbed her brother by the ear.
"Ow, Kira, that hurts, let me go!"
"I'm speechless about you, brother. You really let yourself get provoked that easily?"
"But we went outside the kingdom" Yashimiro pointed out.
"Yes, and look what you've done to this beautiful landscape."
"Okay… maybe we overdid it a bit."
"Now we're going back to the city. And you, Blade straight back to the hospital!"
Nohara smirked "Now I know how to influence Derivan."
At the same time, after obtaining a fragment of the Kinotro crystal, the Red Star brothers headed to meet Yarita. Suddenly, Derivan's look-alike blocked their path.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Milok asked.
"No point telling you since you'll die anyway. But since you ask my name is Krenom."
"You think you can kill us? Don't make us laugh. Come on, Mario let's show this guy the power of our music."
"Sure thing, bro."
They played their guitars, but their music had no effect. Krenom instantly appeared beside Mario and tore his body in half.
"MARIO!"
Before Milok could react, Krenom appeared before him and released choki, completely destroying him. He then took the Kinotro crystal.
"Lord Tomar will be pleased."
Krenom traveled to the Kingdom of Kasegi and handed it over.
"Good work, Krenom. Thanks to you we now have two of the four fragments."
"Obtaining the remaining two is only a matter of time."
"Wait! I have one more request."
"What is it, Lord Tomar?"
"If you encounter Derivan, the one who looks like you eliminate him."
"Of course."
Derivan was scolded by his mother for fighting Blade.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself, young man?"
"Sorry… I may have gotten carried away" Yashimiro admitted awkwardly.
"You're exactly like your father at your age."
Afterward, Derivan went to the hospital to talk with Blade and found his sister already there.
"Kira, what are you doing here?"
"I came to talk to Blade."
"Then maybe you'll tell me why you acted so strangely?"
Blade lowered his gaze "Before I came here, I was imprisoned somewhere similar. People conducted bizarre experiments on me."
"I see… so that explains it. You have nothing to fear here."
"My brother's right we don't experiment on living beings."
At that moment Nohara ran in "Derivan, someone wants to see you."
Derivan raised an eyebrow. Outside he saw a familiar face "Hey Ranika, what are you doing here? And where's Ronibo?"
Ranika's serious expression didn't go unnoticed.
"Something happened, didn't it?"
She nodded "Yes. Ronibo has been captured by the Magic Council" she announced, shocking the teenager.