The fight turned savage, a whirlwind of fists and fury. Mei ducked under a club-like blow, her knee driving into Gorou's thigh, aiming to slow him. His skin absorbed most of it, but he grunted, his ego bruised. "You're nothing!" he roared, charging with a double punch.
Mei rolled to the side, the ground trembling under the impact. She leaped, her kunai striking his jaw, the chakra amplifying the blow. His head snapped back, blood spraying. He lunged to grab her hand, which she'd already anticipated.
"Seems your body isn't so impenetrable after all…" Mei added, landing farther away.
Under the girl's spicy remark, Gorou forced himself to stay calm, pulling the kunai from his flesh.
"Bitch!"
He lunged at Mei, his fist charged with chakra. If this attack hit, she'd clearly be dead on impact.
"Fūton: Wind Blade Rain!"
Mei quickly countered. This time, she concentrated the torrent, the blades converging on Gorou's torso. They cut deeper, sending him crashing into a nearby tree.
"Aghh!"
The man rose heavily, blood flowing in thick streams, but his hardened flesh held, the wounds still non-fatal.
He grabbed the trunk of the tree he'd crashed into, hurling it at Mei while charging with a right hook.
His fist roared through the air. Mei dove to avoid the speeding trunk and noticed her enemy at the last moment.
She twisted, the blow grazing her shoulder, tearing cloth and skin. Pain shot through her, but she gritted her teeth, circling like a hawk.
She feinted left, struck right, her fist cracking against his temple. Gorou staggered, his massive body wobbling, but his perverse smirk didn't fade.
"You're tiring, kid…"
The clearing became a battlefield, marked by wind and blood. Gorou's taijutsu was relentless, each strike a hammer. He grabbed Mei's arm, twisting violently, the joint screaming. She freed herself, using the Body Replacement Technique, leaving a broken log fragment in her place.
She didn't have unlimited chakra. She could feel her limits approaching; she needed to end this quickly.
Suddenly, she noticed something that made her smile. From the shadows, on a branch, Aiko watched, waiting for the right moment. Gorou, too absorbed in his duel, didn't notice her.
With a simple glance, the two kunoichi knew what to do.
"Fūton: Wind Blade Rain!"
Drawing on her last reserves, Mei unleashed her technique once more. Gorou, seeing the attack, smirked, preparing to counter.
"You're done, kid."
Mei grabbed the kunai that had fallen minutes earlier and charged without hesitation.
"Kagemane no Jutsu!"
After her words, Gorou's smirk vanished. Shadows surged, a black tide creeping over the ravaged earth. They clung to Gorou's massive frame, locking him in place. His muscles tensed, veins bulging, but the Nara technique held like a vise.
His eyes widened, realization coming too late.
"What the—?" he growled, his voice cut off as his body froze, a perverse statue of rage. He'd stupidly fallen into a trap. Now that he thought about it, he realized there was another presence.
This negligence would cost him dearly. Mei would reach him with her chakra-charged kunai in seconds; he needed a way out. For the first time since the fight began, Gorou felt fear.
"Shit…!"
*Boom!*
Suddenly, a deafening crash ripped through the air. A body, disjointed and bloody, hurtled across the clearing like a comet, slamming into a tree with a sinister crack. Bark flew in splinters, the trunk groaning under the impact, and the body slid to the ground, a broken heap of flesh and bone, eyes fixed, lifeless.
Mei froze, her kunai suspended mid-air. Aiko, at the clearing's edge, slightly released her grip, her shadows trembling with uncertainty. Gorou, still frozen, turned his head barely, his perverse smirk faltering. Time seemed to pause, the forest holding its breath.
A figure emerged from the darkness, fast, silent, deadly. The moon, piercing the canopy for a moment, illuminated a blade dripping with blood, each drop falling like a note in the silence.
Then the light slid over a face half-masked by shadow, revealing a cheek smeared with fresh blood, a red glint under the pale glow. A cold light gleamed in dark, relentless eyes—it was Takeshi.
His katana, an extension of his will, almost smoked in the humid air, moonlight dancing on the stained steel.
Without a word, without a glance at Mei or Aiko, Takeshi leaped. His movement was a flash, a perfect trajectory, his entire body driven by murderous intent. Gorou, restrained by Aiko's shadows, had only a fraction of a second to react.
His eyes widened, a guttural growl rising from his throat, but his massive body, so proud, so hardened by years of torment, barely moved.
The Kagemane held him, an invisible prison, and against Takeshi, he had no chance.
The katana struck, an arc of pure steel.
The blade sliced through air, then flesh, then bone, in a hiss that seemed to stop the world. Gorou's head flew, cleanly severed from his neck, a jet of blood gushing like a scarlet fountain.
It rolled into the mud, his smirk frozen in a grotesque grimace, his eyes still open, full of perverse surprise. The colossus's body collapsed, a fallen titan, his limbs convulsing one last time before going still. Blood spread, thick, black under the moon, forming a pool that reflected the light like a macabre mirror.
Takeshi stood motionless, his silhouette cut against the pale light. His katana still dripped, each drop hitting the ground with a dull rhythm.
Mei, her kunai still in hand, watched him, her breath short. Something about him seemed different.
She opened her mouth, ready to speak, to break the silence. "Takeshi, what—"
But before the words could escape, Takeshi swayed. His legs gave way, his body toppling like a felled tree.
Mei reacted on instinct, dropping her kunai into the mud. She leaped, her arms opening just in time to catch him.
He collapsed against her, heavy, inert, his katana slipping from his hand to sink into the ground. His face, so fierce a moment ago, was pale, his eyes half-closed, the fighting light extinguished. The blood on his cheek seemed darker, almost black, and Mei felt a sticky warmth against her hands—he was bleeding, severely, a wound he'd hidden until this moment.