Clang! Boom! Crash!

"The hell, kid?! Your blade's dull as hell! You expect to do me any damage with that shit?!"

"Tch! Shut up! I'm getting there!"

It had already been five minutes after the battles started. And nobody was doing well.

On Shin's end, no matter how he attacked Splinter, the broadsword didn't land a single cut. It was almost as if his gloves were made of some otherworldly material. Five minutes was not nearly enough to drain Shin off his stamina, but right now he felt exhausted.

Shin had finally managed to use his weapon properly under the guidance of Randolf, but there was a limit to how much he could suppress his emotions.

It was difficult, but he managed to set up a kind of low-grade autosuggestion for himself, right at the moment of unleashing an attack. Unlike Diavolo or Yukio's weapons that could stay activated for prolonged times, his method was to activate and deactivate at the correct instant. In essence, this was by far much more difficult to accomplish, since he'd need to switch thinking patterns during a fight that needed split second decisions.

But he still managed to do it, which was something undeniably commendable. Not only that, but he also managed to find the small window of time to attempt conscious use of Hybrid Surge with Diavolo. In other words, if Yukio was someone who consistently worked hard and Diavolo was someone who had untapped hidden secrets, then Shin would be a talent who faced and overcame the greatest hurdles but remained unappreciated.

Even after all that, his confidence had now started to dwindle. Even if there weren't people to give him a heartfelt pat in the back, or rather, he didn't get the chance to show off the fruits of his successes, he knew just how much he had to push himself. And after succeeding, it only boosted his confidence.

Now, the current enemy he was facing, not only remained unfazed, but it also seemed like he was toying with him. Compared to the overwhelming powers he had heard from Randolf, he didn't seem like he was even using a fraction of it. No weapons, no black lightning. And yet, Shin had yet to land a proper bruise on him.

He was well aware of the fact that these new enemies would be on a different level, as such, he used every bit of his strength in each swing, leaving him physically drained after a mere five minutes. Not only that, having failure after failure of landing a proper cut, aligning his mind to that of complete emotionlessness became more and more difficult. This fight… was both physically and mentally extremely taxing.

With every breath he let out while panting, his body would surge up an increasing desire to simply sit and rest. Unfortunately, he didn't have such liberty. This was not a spar, but a death match.

"Not good. I can't continue like this at all!" he cursed himself. "I need a way to keep my weapon activated while I'm fighting, or else…"

As a matter of fact, Shin was facing more problems than just this. Unlike Diavolo, Shin still used Natura, which was energy from his surroundings. This meant that unlike Diavolo, who brought forth energy instantaneously from a different dimension, Shin needed time to gather everything from his environment.

"Shit! If only I could use Raze like Diav, then I wouldn't be having such issues! Just what was the point of all the training if I fail now?! Plus… this weapon… should I have simply listened to Randolf Bro and chosen a different weapon?"

Reexamining his past decisions, Shin continued to deal with this dilemma. But the look on Splinter suddenly changed from that of exhilaration to that of being fed up.

"Brat, you're shitting me, right? I thought you were going easy at first just so you could surprise me with a power up or something, but you're actually getting weaker. What the fuck is up with that, huh?! My shoulders are getting stiff!"

"Oh, really? Then why don't you stay still so I can come massage them for you?" Shin smirked.

"Heh! Don't even kid yourself! I'm ending this! T'was nice knowing ya…. NOT!"

SCREEEEEEE

Shin shuddered at the overwhelming pressure he felt from him. The frighteningly high and dense amount of energy circulating around Splinter could've forced everybody else present to direct their attention to their fight if they were close enough.

"This is your… black lightning? That can't be right. If it was this powerful then—"

"Oh right, I forgot to mention! We have another trick up our sleeve! Those shards we took from the other guys? Well, Master Hisao also granted us a small fragment of those!!!"

"WHAT?!!!"

"AHAHAHAHA!!! What's the matter?! Afraid?! Yeah, so, I've yet to actually use this so it's REALLY unstable alright?!!! Don't hate me if I end up killing ya, 'kay?! Not that I was planning to keep trash like you alive anyway! AHAHAHA!!!"

Shin was continuously being pushed down an endless spiral with every new truth he uncovered. For a moment, he was too afraid to lift his sword up.

As Splinter continued to charge up, one would think it would be a smart move to interrupt him, but the sheer amount of energy circulating around him was too much for Shin to handle. If handled incorrectly, he'd end up harming himself.

He could only helplessly grit his teeth. Even when facing the Sea Duke, he could somehow attempt to think for weaknesses, but his mind wasn't working the same way anymore. Presumably, it could've been because he had his sights set elsewhere and was simply thinking of the beast as a mere obstacle. But now the opponent he faced felt so high up, that he felt ever so weak. He never felt so powerless and out of breath in his life.

No… there was actually one such instance when he felt such a thing.

"『☆☆ Anti-Group Draining Technique』..."

That incomplete sentence was all it took for Shin to bring out all the stops as a desperate attempt. He immediately grasped his sword and plunged it into the ground. No matter what kind of 'lightning' it was, electricity was still electricity. If he can't avoid it, then grounding it would be the only viable option.

"『Variant Raze: Black Lightning』..."

"BRING IT!!!" he shouted and flexed all of his muscles, bracing himself.

"『TRINITY SMASH』!!!!!"

From his body, gushed out three individual streams of black lightning that spread out like a claw and gathered back towards where Shin stood.

Originally, Splinter's Trinity Smash was an attack meant for groups and escaping enemies. He would control each stream individually and smash them at his enemy one after another, while the other two were being retracted and aimed, thus allowing very little room to breathe.

But that didn't mean it couldn't be used on a single standing target of course.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH"

Shin let out a blood curdling scream. So, this was the power of a 2-star attack. Just a mere fragment of a single shard allowed Splinter to immediately use an attack exceeding 100,000,000 Barts!!! Not to mention similar to how Shin and Diavolo's combined attack was a new move, Splinter too had used the shard fragment for the first time. And yet, the attack was overwhelmingly a thousand times more powerful.

As such a devastating attack landed on Shin, his body itself screamed and convulsed in pain. But there was something off about it. Lightning should've been superheated plasma in high densities. If plasma with such high energy coursed through one's body, it should start boiling him. And yet, that didn't happen.

His body definitely felt the pain, but rather than overloading his body with surging currents, it felt similar to having his life drained out of him. That was when he recalled Splinter's middle part of the chant, 'Draining Technique'. And this was also when Shin realized another oddity.

Even in the pain, he had been desperately trying to divert the electricity into the sword and ground using his own powers. But now that he consciously observed himself, he noticed that whatever he did, didn't do a thing to the opponent's attack. Darkness was an attribute that, vaguely put, 'takes away', meaning that Splinter's black lightning was feeding off of Shin's electrical prowess.

Soon enough, his vision became white from sparkling black, and then again to a pitch black, indicating his loss into the subconscious. He didn't get to even think of regrets. Regrets about failing to beat the enemy. Regrets about not training hard enough. Regrets of being overconfident. Regrets about letting his friends down.

As his body went limp and toppled over, all he felt was vast emptiness… and… a vague sense of familiarity.

Meanwhile, Diavolo and Geralt's fight was… sad, to say the least.

Blood Burner was the one of a kind first generation weapon that Hannah gave high praises for. Adding to the fact that it was the weapon that chose him and not the other way around, this sword would not act as the rumoured 'cursed' weapon that the first gens are notorious for.

Keeping it activated was no big deal. By now it had somewhat become an extension of Diavolo's arm itself, so rather than bringing out Raze around his body and sending it towards the sword for attacks, he was slowly starting to gain the ability to directly call forth energy from in and around the sword as well, albeit only the part of the handle that he gripped onto.

He should've had a significant advantage compared to his other friends, even without that strange power. And yet, this man, Geralt, was not taking him seriously.

Every single attack was casually being repelled and parried by his cane. Not just that, but Diavolo had a hard time grasping his movements. He who was well used to fighting beasts in a freestyle manner found it difficult to fight someone with such minimal movement. In fact, it was so troubling that even his own attacks started to feel too extravagant and wasteful. With every swing, even if he thought he was careful, he still felt like he was leaving himself open to attacks under the man's piercing gaze.

At one point, Geralt sighed and partially unsheathed his cane, revealing a thin sword blade underneath. It was done just as Diavolo went for another fiery swing, so the two blades came into contact resulting in sparks flying.

"You finally brought out your true weapon, huh?" Diavolo tiredly said, frowning.

"It would have been pitiful, otherwise," Geralt indifferently replied.

Diavolo felt a nerve strike as he went wild with feints and attacks without any delay. An attack didn't work? Pretend it was a feint and go for another one. The feint was seen through? Cover it with another feint and swiftly move to an opening for a proper attack.

If Diavolo was calm and collected, he might've learnt from Geralt's minimanistic movements and attempt at integrating them into his own fighting style. But right now, his impression of his fighting style was nothing less than annoying.

It was difficult, but he still did as much as he could do. And it was at this point he felt a violent pressure from afar and overheard a particularly important piece of information.

"I see… if that's the case, then… this Geralt guy doesn't have a shard fragment! I might win this!"

Both parties flinched as they listened to the speech and awaited a reaction for a second. Diavolo was first to act, taking this chance. Somehow managing to take him off guard, he was able to fling Geralt's cane sword off his hand and plunge his Blood Burner into his side. And just like its name, it was ignited inside of him.

Geralt coughed up blood as Diavolo pulled his sword out. With a stroke of luck, he managed to land a lethal blow on his enemy unlike his previous fights where he suffered dire wounds. He had clearly improved, but was completely out of breath. If he had faced Geralt in the past, even such a surprise attack would not have been possible.

With this, he diverted his attention somewhere else. At a place that was more important than double checking on his fallen enemy. He needed to help Shin who was about to face a devastating attack. As he sprinted towards him, a vague uneasiness grew in his heart, but he brushed it aside. If only he was more calm. It was only after the previous night that his heart grew restless, overlooking something so simple.

"Just why did you even come here?" he heard a voice behind him.

Diavolo froze in place and turned around. The man he thought he defeated stood up and still had his calm and indifferent look. From his wounds as well as the blood that blood that fell on the ground emitted a dark aura that made him pressurized.

"『Unholy Regeneration』," he calmly spoke out, as the dark aura carried the blood back into his body and his wounds healed at a frightening pace. This was far faster than Diavolo had ever healed himself in the past. This was basically as if he turned back the time of his body to when he wasn't stabbed!

The man walked towards his cane sword and retrieved it.

"I was curious as to how you would react after hearing that, but it was truly disappointing. Your expressions make your thoughts clear as day. Just because I don't have a fragment, you really thought you had a chance? Let me educate you. I'm not weaker than them even though I'm the acting leader of the Generals. I'm their leader because I'm stronger even without the fragment!"

VUSHHH

Dark crimson energy gushed out from his body and gathered around his weapon, while Diavolo just stood there dumbstruck like an idiot, unable to react or think of anything. His mind was an utter mess. So much so, that his judgement of determining the sheer power behind Geralt was still unfathomable.

"『Inferno Dome Prison』."

The fact that Geralt didn't need to announce a full sequence chant meant he had a clear grasp of his own powers and techniques. This not only spelt disaster for his opponent that was Diavolo, but he also could not accurately determine the power of the attack and take appropriate actions.

Geralt grasped his cane sword with bone hands and lightly tapped on the ground, sending all the gathered energy down. Immediately afterwards, like an actual tidal wave, a large gush of deep red flames, seemingly denser than clotting blood engulfed Diavolo's being.

"Slice it through!" he vainly commanded himself and slashed at the dome closing down on him. But this time, there were no flames on his sword. As if the sword rejected his command. And that was how he met a fate similar to the friend he attempted to save from a pinch.

"AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

The searing heat was too much to bear. What should be the case was that brighter flames were hotter than dull ones, but this attack enveloping his body was too hot. It felt like countless nails were clawing at him, tearing off his skin. Even the slightest of movements felt as if it would simply help those 'nails' tear his skin off more easily.

As he slightly opened his hard pressed eyelids to look at the opponent before him, he could see the skin of his hands burning off, revealing bright red and white textures underneath. But in those hands that gripped onto the sword that he swung, he witnessed the even more unbelievable sight of Blood Burner's brightly glowing blade as it slowly liquified and started to melt.

Heratune was the Rose family's heirloom and a treasure made by a legendary smith in the past. It was a weapon many blacksmiths in the current generation wanted to replicate but was forbidden to probe into due to it being only one of its kind. A single misstep would rob the world of such a treasure for good with no return.

Such a treasure, that's capable of synchronizing perfectly with any element at all was indeed something formidable. But again, that would only be the case if Hannah was herself much stronger.

She was the next in line to take over the Rose family. As such, she was someone with a really higher aptitude than her peers. And yet, three boys she never even met, those who had absolutely no prior knowledge about Natura, had managed to reach, or even surpass her, in mere months.

Since they were good friends and good people, she was happy, but the weight of being the heir to a prestigious family was something she took very seriously. She had won the hearts of the people through her character, but her might was still lacking. People knew just how hard she worked to live up to the bars set by her father, but in fact, nobody truly expected her to cross that.

That doesn't mean people never thought of her being unworthy to inherit the leading post, though. If anything happened to her father, Rose, and Derdalf would still be in good hands. Plus she would have William backing her up.

And now that she had obtained Heratune, she was happy, but more dominantly, another weight was also resting on her shoulders. She now also had to live up to being worthy of the weapon, even if it had long since accepted her. This treasure that even her father tossed aside. Even this felt too good for her.

But unbeknownst to her, William had not given her the weapon as an act of being worthy, but so that Hannah could have a better chance of survival and be at ease. It certainly did put Hannah at ease, since she was given the blade even before her adulthood, but at the same time, it also gave her more responsibilities to deal with.

"Is that all, little girl? The winds certainly look sharp, but they can easily be fended off by my hands!" Tanran snorted and sneered.

"Why? Why aren't my attacks connecting? I'm sure that my wind blades are devastating! Why aren't they working even when I'm close to her?!" Hannah thought, alarmed.

With every attack, Tanran was thwarting it away, and using that chance to land a strong blow on her. It wasn't much at first, but as she grew weary, the blows felt stronger and harder. In due time, her entire body felt bruised all over, although not to the extent that she had trouble moving.

"Hmph! Are you sure you want to continue without a weapon? I've gotten close to you many times already! Next time might be when my sword directly strikes at you, you know?"

"Oh please, don't kid yourself. You and I both know you're bluffing. For one of those vile nobles, you're way too much of a goody two shoes! Why don't you show your real face, so I can enjoy torturing you some more!!!"

"I see you're the type who despises nobility. I don't know what you've been through, but I know what you're talking about. However, too bad. I'm not one of those people!"

"That's what they all say until you strike at the right place! Let's see, for a maiden like you, you're bound to have a boy or two you like. I wonder if they're one of the ones that came with you?"

Hannah shuddered. "Just what is this crazy woman talking about?" But subconsciously, her eyes swivelled towards Shin and back to her again… and Tanran wasn't one to miss it.

"Oh? So you're into the bulky types, hmm?" She narrowed her eyes.

"!!!" Hannah gasped for breath. "... I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's too bad. Meatheads like him tend to have a thing for more… 'well endowed' women."

"...Stop."

"You know, much like mine? He might resist since we're enemies, but after he's weakened, I'm sure he'd feel very comfortable with me."

"... Shut up…"

"A child like you with no grace as a woman can't possibly capture the hearts of beasts like him. Although I suppose even if you get his heart, his body can't be satiated."

"I SAID SHUT UP YOU FREAKING SLUT!!!" Hannah cursed for the first time in her life with brimming anger. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she couldn't handle it. Consciously, she convinced herself that the reason was Tanran spouting nonsense during a serious fight. And with that, her limit was taken off as she continued a barrage of attacks towards this unpleasant adversary.

"Yes, that's right! Show me more! The foul mouth of nobles flows in your veins! Even children like you like to look down on us even when we're better than you!"

And this was when Hannah actually started doing damage to Tanran. Unknowingly, she wielded with the handleless blade with peerless might against her foe. If it were any other day, Hannah might've drowned in ecstasy from this exhilarating feeling of power, but now she couldn't care less. She simply wanted to land a good slap on her face.

But halfway through, things took a turn for the worse. She suddenly felt extremely weary, which brought her back to her senses. When she looked down at her palm, she noticed she couldn't even feel herself gripping onto the sword.

This was where both Hannah's and William's ignorance lied. Heratune was indeed a treasured weapon capable of being wielded by one with any and all kinds of affinities. It was also one which was very powerful and had no breaking points unlike other weapons. Meaning, as long as the user wanted to draw out more power, the weapon was willing to channel it, with no upper bounds. But the drawback was that unlike other weapons, it required a relatively unsurmountable quantity of energy. Rather than being specialized, Heratune was more of a general purpose weapon meant for self-defense in dire straits. And this was why Hannah's father had decided to toss it aside for a different one.

For Heratune to truly shine, it needed a user who was already a powerhouse to begin with. Sadly, Hannah who had basically just started out her journey up the power ladder, was not suitable for it at the moment. The reason for why she fell unconscious after delivering that devastating blow on the sea beast was also because of this.

"What's the matter?! Tired already?!" she gave a sinister smile.

"I told you to keep your mouth shut, tentacle head!"

Something snapped.

"You… dare… insult… MY HAIR???!!!!!!!"

Suddenly, as if Hannah touched her reverse scale, Tanran lost all sense of rationality and became a wild beast. Her braided hair began floating and wriggling like countless snakes as she flexed her palms into claws. Soon enough, those braids started to whip at Hannah who was about ten meters away.

Even if she was ten meters away, she felt thrash at a point where the braid would've landed if she was closer. Another thrash and that also struck. Once Hannah looked up, it became clearer.

From Tanrans braids, extended out several meter long wind whips. It wasn't visible normally, but now that she no longer felt like holding back, the little distortions it caused against the view of the sky made it clear. It was not that Tanran wasn't using her weapon, but her hair was her weapon. It was a similar effect to Yukio's armbands, that allowed him better control around that particular area. She probably had a special equipment embedded onto her scalp, or perhaps some kind of thin flexible gadget running along her braids.

Either way, this was how she was rending Hannah's wind blades useless. Distorting the flow and sharpness of the wind using the hair whips and then simply slap the remaining away. But now, all of those whips that were meant for obstructing projectiles bore their fangs for the offensive. Some twenty to thirty, possibly even more, snakes danced about as she prepared her attack.

"I can't escape!" Hannah thought. Unlike Splinter's Trinity Smash, which was fast but still visible, all of the numerous movements were simply too much to keep track of.

"『☆ ANTI-UNIT BLISTERING TECHNIQUE; MATERIAL RAZE: GAS; GALE HIVE STINGERS』!!!!!"

Countless wind needles pierced at the braced Hannah. She gritted her teeth and tried hard not to screen, fearing the needles that randomly struck her would by chance strike her from the inside as well. Eventually, her body slowly curled down to protect her vitals as much as possible, until she silently fell defeated.

"This bitch dared to just drop out without apologizing?! Get up!" She kicked her limp body a short distance.

Arashi and Randolf were also having a hard time fighting against the unchained lump of meat, although not to the point that they were facing dire conditions. In fact, even their opponent seemed very perplexed when the two took their stances against him.

But after looking around at the other four battles, it seemed like he finally understood.

"Food?"

"... What?" Arashi raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly, the man gave a wide grin, exposing almost all of his teeth, "Fight! Food!" and jumped onto the two.

"What the—"

Boom!

"Looks like this guy is gonna be a tough one. Thankfully, he's really dimwitted," Arashi said. "I'll leave support to you, Randolf."

With the shard missing from his body, Randolf's strength had fallen tremendously, to the point where he was only but mere support for Arashi. On the flip side, Arashi herself was quite strong having grown up without relying on the power of any shards. However, she had her own reasons for not being able to use Natura herself. As such, she had to rely on her superior physical strength and agility. Having such a fit body, the only thing she needed was a support to provide her with Natura that she could simply 'take over'.

Their opponent had a big body, clearly meaning that he lacked in speed, unless he was well trained. But this person was different from the rest of them. How could Hisao even have someone like him among his so-called 'Generals'? To the point where he had to chain this person up, only showed that he was some kind of ticking time bomb. And yet…

But overall, their fights were in a better situation than the others. It was basically a stalemate. Arashi was clearly getting on the big guy's nerves, being unable to grab her, while Randolf stayed a good distance away, providing support… that was until Arashi took the chance and looked at the youngsters' states from afar and flinched.

"Arashi, look out!"

But he had grabbed onto her leg tightly.

"Got! You!" He grinned, at which Arashi stared at with great uneasiness and slight horror.