The Village Disciples

Two wings fluttered, two hearts raced, and two rogues brimmed with magic. Tanjo examined his red-headed opponent intently, a flood of plans and safety precautions rushing through his mind like a hurricane. His mastery over the Aura Amalgamation was doubtful, and his powers with the Disruption of Reality were still being determined. If things had not been so chaotic, Tanjo might have found Yuso's rapid surge in power amusing. Every time the masked teenager improved his magic, the Crimson Stalker outperformed him without fail.

Yuso gazed at the boy flying below him, his remaining crimson Shirugeto eye shimmering. Tanjo was becoming increasingly unpredictable, miraculously keeping up with the redhead at every turn. The rifts that tore through space and the Aura Amalgamation instilled a subtle hint of apprehension within the Crimson Stalker. Yuso could count the times he had felt wary before with one hand—his encounter with the Tansu vessels and Lord Phoenix. 

'I still can't keep up with him entirely… not with how I currently use my magic…' Tanjo thought, thinking back to the last time he had expelled the Disruption of Reality against the redhead. 'But I can't afford to be lenient, either.' 

The wielder of the Shirugeto appeared to think no differently.

'He's sloppy, but with the pace he's learning at, I'll be dealt a bad hand before I know it. I can't hold back.' Yuso mentally noted, feeling his magic wash over him. 

Yuso covered his left eye for a moment, the socket glowing red. It took no more than a second for the missing eye to reappear, once again influenced by the Shirugeto. Flexing his right hand, Yuso stretched his arm upward, his eyes spinning clockwise. 

*VRRMMM!*

A pentagram glimmered into existence, swirling high above the earth. The sheer size was appalling, scaling to what appeared to be the width and length of a nation—maybe two. All Tanjo knew was that no matter what Yuso decided to utilize the pentagram for, irreparable damage would undoubtedly ensue. 

Suddenly, Yuso's Shirugeto started to spin counter clockwise. 

'Why's the pentagram not doing anything—woah!'

*FWOOSH!*

A colossal chunk of Earth levitated into space, deftly floating toward the pentagram. Tanjo flapped his green wings and turned around mid-air, his blue eyes bulging at the site below him. The entire planet was being ripped apart by an invisible force lifting all of the water and land upward.

'He's sucking in the planet with the pentagram!'

It was not long until Tanjo also felt a tug on his body, his tattered cloak and strands of hair rising upward. It was like a black hole—the same one that Lord Phoenix created in the alternate universe Kronos brought him to. However, unlike an uncontrollable black hole, Yuso was able to manipulate the pentagram in numerous ways. Where did things go when entering the pentagram? To another location? Were they disintegrated? 

No matter the answer, Tanjo did not wish to find out. 

*KRSHH!*

With an absurd amount of pain crashing through his body, Tanjo released a wave of blue rifts that traveled toward the hovering pentagram. Yuso spotted the rifts and hastily formed more pentagrams on a smaller scale, using them as a protective barrier. 

"Even if it is a curse, matter cannot simply avoid being swallowed by my pentagrams—!" Yuso attempted to say, his eyes widening.

*CRASH!*

Every single pentagram that shimmered in the Disruption of Reality's way was shattered, shards of magic being tossed in varying directions before dissipating completely. 

'My Shirugeto's abilities are completely nullified by those rifts!' The redhead grunted, narrowing his demonic eyes. 

Tanjo waited for the Disruption of Reality to make contact with the massive pentagram that pulled the earth apart, leading to its destruction and ceasing its pulling capabilities. Afterward, the teenager grinded his teeth together under his mask and flexed his wings, soaring up toward Yuso. 

Space was difficult to breathe in—in fact, it was impossible to breathe in. As Tanjo flew higher, less oxygen made its way into the boy's lungs. Yuso was incredibly high, floating well above the earth's atmosphere. That means that if a person's Aura Sense was potent enough, surviving in a vacuum was possible. Maintaining a perpetual coat of magic that healed and preserved the body was imperative. 

Flapping his own wings, Yuso charged toward the boy as well. 

*SMACK!*

With reeling fists, the two rogues rammed their knuckles together, halting their exponential speed. From there, the teenager and redhead engaged in brutal combat once more, destroying each other's bodies with blunt attacks such as punches, kicks, and the occasional beam of light. 

Fighting in space, currently much further away from the planet after pushing each other into the depths of the empty universe, was something Tanjo never imagined he would do. Sure, the boy wanted to be strong, but the extent to which he and Yuso battled now was beyond what most people thought was possible. 

Despite Yuso's elevated strength, Tanjo surveyed the Crimson Stalker's fighting style; he kept a close eye on every movement his opponent made, mirroring the motions perfectly. Tanjo knew how to fight hand-to-hand, with Old Man Nozomu having drilled particular fighting methods into his head, but Yuso was far more experienced and knowledgeable about combat. 

So Tanjo had to do what he did best: learn. 

Punches that used to hit the boy directly were now less effective, with Tanjo managing to dodge and reciprocate the strength behind the attacks. 

'He's adapting to my every move!' Yuso realized, sneering. 'I'll have to sacrifice a limb or two to overpower him—!'

Without warning, Tanjo boldly shifted his body, his right hand encompassed with every Aura Sense, and sliced through Yuso's left arm, severing the limb from the redhead's body. 

*SLICE!*

Tanjo must have predicted Yuso's thinking. 

'Yuso only has a slight advantage over me currently! I need to limit his output as much as possible without depending on the Disruption of Reality—unfortunately, the Aura Amalgamation is all I can depend on without indirectly killing myself!' Tanjo fretted, continuing to swing his arms. 

As the teenager swung his arm like a cleaver, Yuso watched as the boy's hand grew close to his remaining arm, panic clenching onto the Crimson Stalker's heart. 

Instinctively, the pentagram embedded in Yuso's palm shined brightly as he grabbed the teenager's wrist.

*VRMM!*

Tanjo's right arm was gone. Yuso's palm swallowed the limb.

'Oh… that's going to set me back.'

*CRACK!*

There was no time to be hesitant. Yuso swooped in once again and reached for the boy's face, his palm still illuminated. He was going to remove Tanjo's head and completely transport it somewhere else—anywhere that was not attached to the teenager.

*SWISH!*

Before Yuso could wrap his fingers around the boy's masked face, green tendrils sprung out of Tanjo's body, entangling the Crimson Stalker and ultimately restraining him. 

'Hand!' Tanjo shouted within his mind, imagining a hand materializing from his body. 

Fortunately, a green hand popped out of the boy's chest, the palm aimed at Yuso.

*BRRMM!*

A multi-colored Genso-Kyu flashed into life, harboring the potency of four different Aura Senses and discharging a beam that struck the Crimson Stalker instantaneously. 

*KABOOM!*

Tanjo knew what the secret to the green Aura Sense was: a powerful imagination. It was an incarnation of aura prints. It gave Tanjo a limitless number of weapons and attachments. Although he had never utilized an aura print of his own and was not born with one like his classmates, Tanjo refused to throw away such a useful tool.

*SNAP!*

Tanjo released a green cloud of smoke, snapping with his remaining hand, hiding himself from Yuso. Aura prints were capable of taking any form and replicating any ability. It reminded him of Naderamu's shurikens and Meisei's arrows, remembering how they could explode. Sukudo's hawks, albeit made of blue Aura Sense, could still be used for surveillance—Sukudo could see through their eyes vividly. Harnessing the green Aura Sense was a massive step-up for Tanjo.

Yuso could have sworn his chest had caved in from the boy's beam of light. Looking down at his body, a sizable hole was punched through the redhead's torso, droplets of blood escaping his body and floating through the vastness of space. 

'The Aura Amalgamation is lethal, even to me.' Yuso reflected, healing the hole in his chest. 

The Crimson Stalker looked out at the green cloud of smoke. Another veiled technique. A surprise attack was inbound; Yuso knew that much. As to what Tanjo would do, it was unknown; however, Yuso refused to be caught off-guard again. 

*VRRMM!*

Yuso created two crimson pentagrams that hovered just outside the green smoke. It took only a moment for the pentagrams to start inhaling the smoke, causing the cloud to dwindle in size. 

*POOF!*

Suddenly, a humanoid figure colored green rushed out of the cloud of smoke, throwing a punch that forced Yuso to block. It was a clone of Tanjo. Eventually, more clones flew around the Crimson Stalker, stretching their wings and diving toward the red-headed rogue. 

'Crafty brat.' Yuso grunted, forming small pentagrams and launching them outward. 

To Yuso's surprise, the clones' bodies split into pieces, avoiding the impending pentagrams that threatened to slice them in half. 

'I can't let myself be surrounded!'

With a bright flash of light, Yuso transported himself elsewhere in space, increasing the distance between him and the copious number of clones. Yuso narrowed his eyes, immediately realizing that the clones had found him, rushing toward him in the same manner as before. 

It was one against twenty—maybe more. Yuso evaded every attack thrown his way, occasionally discharging his own magic that barely damaged the clones. They were quick and capable of reforming themselves to avoid being struck. It was incredibly vexing. 

Something was off. Where was Tanjo himself?

*BRRMM!*

A blinding light appeared below Yuso's feet, prompting him to look down and spot not only Tanjo but four other green clones that had their hands stretched outward with Genso-Kyu hovering in their grasp. 

Yuso attempted to transport himself a second time, but the clones that previously overwhelmed the Crimson Stalker transformed into thin tendrils that encircled the redhead's body. They disrupted the flow of his Aura Sense, causing his Shirugeto to falter. 

Tanjo's eyes accurately captured what the teenager was thinking as he had five total Genso-Kyu, made up of not only four but now five Aura Senses, with the green Aura Sense adding to the mix of potent magic that could be deployed.

'You're mine!'

*KABOOOOOM!*

Tanjo and his clones finally unleashed their potent beams outward, the rays of light surging toward the redhead at unprecedented speeds. Most attacks that relied on light could only travel at light speed, but the five beams of light that charged toward Yuso whizzed through space at a much faster velocity. 

'I have one move left!' Yuso thought, fully alert. 

With genuine fear overtaking Yuso, his Shirugeto eyes whirled rampantly. His eyes shined a bright crimson light that enveloped the visible universe around them.

'The Shirugeto's extension realm!' 

*BLIP!*

The space around Tanjo and Yuso began to warp, every inch of the universe shifting from being black to red. Yuso had only used this ability once. When he fought Ryouiki, he had accidentally enveloped him and his previous master in a whole new realm—a realm where the Shirugeto is its dictator. 

Tanjo's beams of light flickered out of existence, being left behind as the two rogues traveled to a different realm. 

'Where am I!?' Tanjo looked around, his eyes scanning the red realm.

Giant crimson pentagrams floated in the distance, resembling galaxies. Red chains were also strewn throughout the red abyss, having a seemingly infinite length. All Tanjo knew was that he was no longer in a stereotypical universe anymore. 

"I commend your efforts, boy!" Yuso's voice rang through the teenager's ear from afar.

Yuso, with his wings stretched outward, glowered at Tanjo, his once-severed left arm regenerating rapidly. 

"You're in my universe now! A place I have total control over!"

The end of the fight was near. 

XXX

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! There should only be one more chapter left that involves this fight, so stay tuned to see the finale of Tanjo vs. Yuso! 

Have a Great Day!

Peace - Cr1ticalz_