Chapter 33
Title: Unveiled
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Third Person POV. -- 26th Of December -- 2415
[ Lake Kawaguchi -- Cruise Ship Deck, First Floor ]
While the Benihana couples were on their way back, trying to reasure themselves with the safety of their daughter and her two friends, thinking that they are too clingy and shouldn't be so controlling of their daughter's life, the said daughter and her friends were about to get into a scuffle of their own creation.
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It happened back when they hid themselves inside the room where the hostages were held.
Retsu, who at first didn't want to involve herself in this, later just couldn't help her urges and succumbed to her desire of a possible battle. So she, with the help of her over a millenium old mind, started orchestrating the perfect scenario and have the spy group confront her of their own volition, or atleast they thought so.
She meticulously thought of every scenaio, taking into consideration their emotions and everything else, and helped in initiating her plot of making a scene where her opponents would come to her.
It was quite easy, honestly. All she needed to do was send a decoy, and then expose that decoy to them and by doing so, give them false information that would make them panic and act on her desired outcome.
The knowledge of how she could have seen or known about her enemies having someone who could hear their conversation?
Oh Please, the entirety of the cruise ship has been under Retsu's senses since she found out about the hostages~
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The two story cruise ship's design has been build so that there is an open deck at the rear end of the ship. Railings encompass the area with the second floor's balcony being a little behind, making it so that the lower deck is roofless and unobstructed.
After successfully throwing out the bait to her panicking wannabe kidnappers, Retsu and her friends headed to the rear back of the cruise ship. On the surface, giving out the impression that they'll hide there, but in actuality going there to have an open space for the upcoming scuffle.
Also because, according to Retsu's sensing ability, her father and mother are all the way on the front deck of the ship on the second floor, being the furthest they can get from the conflict.
As the trio of friends arrive at the deck, they spot about three other people, normal civilians who are just sightseeing and having an overall quiet moment.
One is alone and talking to her phone, and the other two are a couple who are standing near the iron railings together.
In order for them to be safe from the upcoming scuffle, Retsu and her duo of friends give them false info about an active event at the front of the ship, urging them to go and see which they comply and leave the area.
Retsu discreetly takes some tools from a staff only labeled room from the side, and tapes the way towards here shut with the words maintenance written on the tape's body.
After this, she readies her first best friend for the fight, while hiding her second into the same staff only labeled room while leaving her with a litre of her blood for protection.
Moments after she is done, and the party arrives to their early graves.
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"Ohhhh this is going to be so much fun~" Himiko, transformed into the peak of human physiology that is Benihana Retsu, says in the voice of the mentioned tall girl as she gazes at the arrived party.
"Remember our training, and try not to hurt them too much. " Retsu half-heartedly says, her mind mostly occupied with the strategies she'll be using and taking in her surroundings and the space between her and her presumed opponents.
And the opponents Retsu thinks of step forward, all three of them simultaneously.
One a fierce redheaded woman, one a heteromorph who looks like a mix between a crocodile and man, and lastly, an elderly person in elegant butler like clothings, carrying a silver rapier on his waist with his eyes closed.
"Himi-chan, " Retsu says, gazing at her approaching opponents, like people entering a ring as the trio walk forward in sync and stop simultaneously just 5 feet ahead of her, likely thinking that's the safe distance between them and her.
"These three are mine. Take care of the ones at the top floor and the others. Ask for help if you think you can't take them. " Retsu briefly explains, while gazing ahead. Though before any battle can begin, the seemingly leader of the assembly, who's standing on the second floor and gazing down speaks up.
"So it was a rouse to lure us here. I wonder which one of youwere able to decieve us. " He says, while gazing at the duo of Retsus, not able to tell which one is the real Retsu.
'He likely thinks he can take us, and that we are at a disadvantage considering my earlier words of us hiding here at the back of the ship. And also because of Himiko's disguise, he probably thinks we are desperate and are trying to hide the real me from them. ' Retsu quickly deduces everything the man thinks, and his current relaxed demeanor isn't helping his case either.
'We're being underestimated. They likely think only because of my father, that they need to panic. '
"Himi-chan, change of plans. " Retsu says, her smile growing as does her slight irritation of the situation.
'I hate being underestimated. I've been so for the last few years of my life, which has irritated me to no end. '
"Let me first initiate the fight, then you can have your fun too~" The former soul reaper says, and as she finishes with her words,
–So too does every body except her and Himiko in this vicinity lock up!
"Ugh! What the-" "I-it suddenly got... So hard to... Move!-" "W-what-... Is... This!... "
Retsu has brought up her right hand and clenched it into a fist, at the same time, every assailant in the area has been stripped of the agency they've had on their bodies, locking up and trapped seemingly by their own life blood flowing within them.
"S-she's... C-controlling-... Our b-blood!- " The leader barely voices out, making Retsu shake her head in denial.
"Wrong. I'm controlling my own blood that's inside your system right now, transformed and cutting the command signals sent from your motor cortexes through your spinal cord. " Retsu briefly explains, of course conveniently leaving out the part about her only having control over her transformed blood for the next 1 minute at best.
Why is the timer for her transformed blood control less than before? Because the operation for which she's using her transformed blood is a very complex and hard process, and she's doing it simultaneously to 6 different people.
Even the almighty old soul has her limits.
Though 1 minute is all she needs to put the needed amount of fear and cautiousness inside her opponents hearts, making them take this and them seriously.
"I usually refrain from such invasive applications of my quirk, but it turns out that I need to make you people take this seriously. " Retsu loses her smile and instead, her lips fall into a neutral expression and her eyes halfway opens, her darker sheened blue irises becoming a deadly look that sends shivers down the spine of her opponents.
"I'm going to release you guys now. And when I do, you are going to behave like the good opponents that you are, and take this fight seriously.
I want to see how much my friend here has improved. " Retsu explains, before she let's go of her control over them, letting them relax and have agency over their bodies again.
"Re-re can be so scary~" Himiko, with Retsu's voice says from beside her, the transformed girl bringing a hand to her mouth and looking at her best friend playfully.
Retsu though, doesn't acknowledge this. She simply has her eyes on the now much more cautious leader and her opponents, the man probably having realized with horror that they are at the mercy of Retsu.
If she could so easily influence them from the inside, what other horrors can she bring upon them without lifting a finger from her spot?
Would his plan now even work anymore?
Sensing the growing horror, the old soul tilts her head, 'did I over do it? ' she thinks,
"Not to worry though. So long as you guys take this seriously, I promise not to influence your body from the inside again. " The walking menace says, while tilting her head and smiling at them briefly.
"!!! "
Which in actuality makes them even more scared of her.
'Sigh, it seems the more I speak, the more horrified they get. Better to finish this before their fear triggers their survival instinct and they begin to scatter. ' the old soul deduces, before she lets loose a little bit of her blood and hovers it before her and Himiko. Her signature curved and slightly longer blood Katana appearing before her, while a set of daggers are made in front of Himiko who smiles before taking them in hand.
"Now then, shall we begin. " The slightly excited old soul voices out.
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"Honey... " Tetsuya says to Kie, the both of them standing on the balcony at the front side of the ship on its second floor.
"Hm? " Kie voices out, smiling lightly as she takes another picture of the scenery ahead.
"You know I'm a man who follows his guts and instincts right? "
"Yes? "
"Well... It's just that... Since our check up with Retsu and her friends, my feelings haven't changed at all... In fact, my senses are warning me even more than before. " Tetsuya says, leading to Kie pausing in her work and turning around.
"Oh honey... You're such a worrywart~" Kie softly says, before leaning close and giving the tall man a chaste kiss. An intimate one, one full of her love, one that helps her dear husband relax, one that makes his senses more dull... And more focused towards her.
"... But that's what I love about you~" Kie finishes.
"I love you too, honey. " And the tall pro hero reciprocates.
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a fracture appears on the bloody red sky, its origins and reasons unknown.
A pair of people, standing on a barren land and in front of a mountain of corpses.
One frowns slightly, while the other smiles widely.
"It's happening~" The male figure says, his voice excited and full of joy, not paying any attention to the other figure.
"It's happening just like They said it would~" His voice is cheery, delighted even. He is happy~
And why wouldn't he be?
After all,
He'll finally be with the one he's in love with~
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Back with Retsu's fight,
She and Himiko ready themselves, taking up their stances with Retsu bringing up her Katana to her face, holding it with one hand and having it point towards her three opponents. A very unfamiliar fighting style, and one that is out of this world.
Himiko lowers her center of gravity, holding to her two blood daggers in a reverse grip, while crossing her arms over her chest in an X shape, making the daggers point at her opponents.
'I've trained with Re-re for the last few years. She's taught me every dagger style for combat that she knows. Now's a good time as any to start applying them in real combat, and gain experience as she put it. '
Their opponents instinctively ready themselves too, the six people present quite ready yet intimidated from the earlier event, but not backing down because they have a mission to fulfill.
The red haired and short statured woman, at least short compared to Retsu, brings up her fists and gets into a fighting stance, there being metal gauntlets on her fists as she gives Retsu a fierce grin. "Hah! Ya look like someone who'd keep their promise! So I'll trust ya to not use cheap tricks like that again!"
Retsu tilts her head, 'amusing. ' is her only brief thought.
"Get ready! 'cause I'm gonna make you regret saying those words! " The heteromorph, the mix between man and croc says, reffering to Retsu's earlier taunt about her not using cheap tricks like attacking them from the inside again.
"Ah, a walking Lizard. I wonder how your Anatomy works~" Retsu taunts back, not backing away from the little word fight.
The last combatant brandishes his rapier, opening his goggled silver eye, which the goggle in actuality is a support gear that helps him in zooming in on his opponents. And with the help of his quirk, being able to see their weak points more accurately and strike it with his rapier.
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There is no warning, no telltale or a sign of the fight starting. Just one moment, Retsu's opponents are tense and ready, and the next...
Shlick!
–a sound of steel carving through flesh is heard, and their heavy hitter croc man hits the metal wall of the cruise ship behind him, denting the steel with his visage!
Retsu has appeared in the place of the flung heteromorph, her eyes calm as if she hadn't just send someone probably thrice her weight class hurtling away with a precise slash.
The rapier guy's eyes widen slightly, not having been able to tell how she moved, nor any weakness in her form as she struck his comrade away.
'S-she... She wasn't open at all... ' his shocked mind thinks,
The fierce woman though, isn't an analytical person. She sees someone, and she strikes at them, not caring for the consequences.
As the fiery woman readies herself and sends a right, gauntleted hood towards Retsu's form, she gets a horrified warning from her ally.
"Wait! No! She isn't open! " The rapier holder yells out, but it's too late.
Usually when someone has just executed a big, crippling move in the middle of a fight, they are left open and prone to counter-strikes. Usually...
Fwooosh!
The fiery woman's strike misses, her gauntleted hand having hit empty air and stopped in place. Her opponent?
OOOF!
The fiery woman spits out saliva, as her stomach is hit with something hard and heavy.
Retsu has crouched down, before hurtling the woman away with a strong hit to her sternum using the pommel of her katana, sending the fierce woman flying towards and over the railings, or at least she should have been,
Before she's hurtled over the railings and out of the ship, a foot lands on her flying form, pushing itself up while throwing the body downward by redirecting its trajectory towards the deck.
It's Himiko, or atleast Himiko who's taken up the form of Retsu. The now much taller girl uses the flying woman as a foothold, before launching herself further and landing on the second floor in a crouch, her signature smile on her face as she brings up her head and the two daggers in her hands.
"Let's have some fun shall we~ I wonder how your blood tastes like~"
In response, the leader, the brown haired elf eared woman, and the woman with glasses who delayed the Benihana couple earlier, all brandish weapons of their own.
The glasses woman throws out two objects towards her leader and friend, and as it's mid motion it's size changes back to normal, becoming a short Katana for the elf woman, and a pair of nunchucks for the bushy leader.
The glasses wearing woman then brings out a pair of electric batons for herself too, before they all get ready to pounce.
"This is going to be fun~" Himiko, in Retsu's voice says, while licking the bloody dagger in her hand to intimidate, satiate her own desire for blood, and also refuel her transformation timer.
Back with Retsu,
"Now that I've successfully scattered the flock, " Retsu turns her head towards the rapier holder. "Let us begin the dismantling by you. "
"..."
The silver haired and silver eyed man doesn't respond, instead he uses the time to assess his opponent.
'Superhuman strength, sword techniques strong enough to hurtle Joe –croc man– flying away, precision that is borderline terrifying. Heh, what kind of hell have you brought upon us, huh leader. ' The Rapier holder thinks, before he gets into his stance, tightening his grip on his sword handle even more as his quirk activates and begins its work.
One of the three front fighters of the foreign spy group! Quirk, Analysis! His right eye has mutated during his quirk's manifestation, gaining a silver hue to it and overtime, completely changed his right eye's color!
It gives him the ability to more accurately pinpoint weaknesses in his opponents body, allowing for him to strike at those said weaknesses, and cripple his opponent quite fast!
This quirk has helped him in close quarter combat for a long time, letting him beat opponents whose more combat focused abilities had made them overconfident of themselves, and underestimated the less physically gifted analyst that is he.
As the silver eyed, tall and slender rapier practitioner and fighter gets into a stance, he falls into his default setting and way of thinking. 'First, I'll make her underestimate me, then I'll strike when the time is crucial. '
Retsu also gets into a sword stance, bringing her Katana beside her head while holding it with two hands, the tip facing her opponent.
At the drop of a sound from the second floor, sound of metal hitting metal from the other fight, the two swordsman and woman of different fighting styles spring their feet, ready their breathing and their balance, before launching themselves at eachother.
'A feint! ' The rapier holder realizes, done so a few milliseconds earlier than an average swordsman. But a few milliseconds in fights like this matter, it matters alot.
He side steps, dodging the vertical slash that goes halfway before making the rapier in his right hand twirl forward, with his left hand behind his back, and strikes at his opponent in a simple swipe that tries to gauge her defense, while also nearing a weak point that his silver eye sees in the form of a glowing silver dot on her body.
Retsu sees this and simply brings up her blood Katana, striking to the side of the approaching rapier, and parrying it aside with a simple move.
Seeing his attack miss, the elderly man changes positions before striking from another angle, but that too is parried away.
A strike from above? Parried.
A thrust to the core? Swiped away effortlessly.
A feint to the right shoulder, but changed into a low thrust to the lower right side of the stomach at the last second? It was as if he was a book, being read by his opponent during mid attacks. Parried again with no effort from Retsu.
Though the sword fight started just a few seconds ago, it was a brief one. Why?
"Haaaaaa!!! " A battle cry from beside Retsu's form, a heteromorphic man now probably five times her weight class, closes in on her assumingly occupied form, and throws a right fist towards her face, his left hand damaged badly from his earlier defense of the tall girl's strike.
Retsu jumps back, both disengaging from the sword fight and dodging the big man's assault.
Just 20 seconds have passed since the fight started.
'They still haven't a clue what's going on. Which is good. ' Retsu senses her parents, oblivious and just chilling idly on the front of the second floor's deck.
"You okay? That cut wound looks like it stings." The elderly man asks his comrade, seeing the state his heteromorphic comrade's left hand is in, his wrist is sliced halfway through, penetrated through the tough, scaly skin like it was butter.
"I'll be fine for now. " The heteromorph simply says, his eyes never leaving the prize.
"Time is up. Looks like all three of you have finally recovered. " Retsu suddenly says, as she blocks a strike from beside her with her blade, coming face to face with a set of angry purple eyes and fiery red hair.
"That was such a low blow! " She says, while a smirk dons her visage, reffering to Retsu's literal low blow from earlier. "Pun intended of course! "
They break from the stand still, Retsu taking a step back with a voluntary smirk coming to her face too, enjoying the battle as it progresses further.
The redhead plants her feet on the floor, not letting Retsu out just yet and preparing for a second strike, this time though, her right, gauntleted fist takes on a fiery red hue to it.
"Double Impact! "
She yells out, as her fist connects once more with Retsu's blade, and the taller girl is flung away a few feet from her spot from the sheer strength behind the attack.
"Hah! How do ya like that! " The fiery woman boasts, but her stance doesn't falter, ready for a counter-attack any moment now. She learned from her earlier mistake it seems.
Retsu comes to a stop a few feet away, her stance never faltering with her blade facing downward and on her right hand. She looks up at her three assembled opponents and smirks subtly.
'An analyst. A heteromorph that can grow in size and physical strength through pain and trauma. And finally, a kinetic energy absorber and redistributer.
Her first strike generated the kinetic energy and stored it in her fist, and then her second strike send that strength out along with her normal punch. Quite a handy quirk in close combat I admit. ' Retsu thinks, and no, pun not intended this time.
"As much as this is all fun and good..." As Retsu says, a body falls from the second floor and right in the middle of the fight, "... I'm afraid play time is over. "
It's their bushy browed leader, his bushy brows and mustache all smeared with blood as he struggles to utter a word, let alone try and stand up.
'I would have loved to extend the fight some more, but my parents have started moving and coming this way.
There are other people who are walking to the rear side of the ship too, so better end this while I still can. ' Retsu deduces.
And for the first time since the beginning of this fight, she taps into her augmentation ability.
The Benihanas augment themselves by carefully circulating their blood through key areas within their bodies in order to strengthen their physical capabilities.
It is a strenuous process that demands high focus, and is not something one can just simply do like Retsu did.
Tetsuya's took him many trials and errors in order to get it down, but he thankfully had his lover who would support and heal him through his endeavors.
Retsu is over a millenium old genius, so of course simple augmentations like these were a piece of cake for her.
Yes, she is a genius.
Her genius and beauty captivates all.
Even those who are transcendent.
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As she taps into her reservoir of blood, beginning to guide it through her body like the stroke of a brush, like the artist that she is...
SQUELCH!!!
...something goes very, terribly wrong.
"Re-re!!! "
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Author's note/ Yo! What the hell happened?!?
Don't tell me Retsu got hurt or something! There is no way right?!? She's supposed to see everyone and everything coming, right?!?
But, what if the problem wasn't from things around her?
What if it was something... Internal?
Guess we'll find out in the next chapter!
Thank you guys for reading my story and I'll see ya in the next one.
Have a great day/night. Bye!