3rd Pov:
Clear blue sky with patches of white, tasteless clouds floated lazily through the dimension, like a repeated recording.
No sounds resonated from the island except for calm waves slamming against the island. Not a speck of life could be seen like birds or even insects except for the participants and plant life that provided oxygen to this mirrored dimension.
On top of the cliff's edge, three figures stood in a tense standoff, Himari on top of Yuuki's back in his slave form, her hand hovering over the pistol concealed under her skirt.
Yuuki kept his eyes on Homare, ready to counter whatever attack she threw at them.
Homare stood in a more relaxed posture, as if their worries were nothing but air, stretching her arms and legs with a grin as her eyes locked onto Himari. However, she would briefly glance at Yuuki, since he was an extension of her stepsister's ability.
The air between them was thick with tension, and even the slightest noise would trigger them to attack.
Himari narrowed her eyes at her stepsister, her grip tightening around Yuuki's chain as Yuuki shifted in his place, waiting for an opening to be seen or for Himari to send a message through the chain.
Recklessness is one of his main weak points he is aware of it and is now becoming more cautious.
Homare's grin widened as she observed the duo, "Why all tense Himari, aren't you happy to see me" she mocked, tilting her head slightly.
"Not in the slightest" Himari said.
Homare chuckled lightly before pressing a hand against her chest, "Aw~ you're hurting my feelings"
Pocketing her daggers in the holsters attached to her black skirt, she slowly took off her jacket, "Once I've had my fun with you, the others are next and then I'll be next head of the family"
Yuuki saw this as an opening, flashing towards her with his palm thrusting forward only for Homare to disappear, leaving only the jacket that was struck by Yuuki.
Homare appeared behind them, aiming for Himari as Yuuki swung his free arm back at her. Homare's leg came swinging at the arm as they clashed together with Himari peeking out from above, ready to fire her pistol.
Homare used Yuuki's arm as a platform to leap away as Himari fired several bullets at her.
Homare sped around them before she threw a flurry of punches at Yuuki, who managed to deflect or block each one.
Yuuki deflected another punch from her that left her open, which he took by thrusting his fist into her but she quickly brought up her arms.
The impact resonated around them, lightly pushing some dirt away from their feet.
Homare's feet dug into the ground as she was pushed back several meters, her arms bruised and shaking from the impact and her legs were stained with dirt.
She glanced down at her arms, feeling the tremors travelling through them. Her breathing grew a little faster, "You've got a nice pet there, Himari"
Clenching her fists and bringing them down to her side, she said, "This will be a greater warm-up than I anticipated"
Homare's form suddenly disappeared as Yuuki's eyes widened in alert. His posture shifted to one ready to dart away and attack from any side.
"Above us" Himari shouted as she pulled out her pistol and fired several shots at her. Homare brandished her daggers as she deflected each bullet with perfect precision.
Once she was sure Himari wasn't going to fire, she quickly unholstered her daggers, her body twisting as she descended toward them with one leg extended, aiming for Himari.
Yuuki jumped backwards as Homare's leg slammed into the ground. Chunks of rock and dust flew in every direction and the ground beneath her was cracked like a crude spider web.
Yuuki landed several meters away with Himari still firmly seated on his back. Raising her pistol, she fired three shots.
The bullets tore through the air as Homare twisted her body between them. Yuuki dashed forward as Homare was dodging the bullets.
His fist aimed for her head, but Homare ducked under it and drove her elbow into his ribs. Yuuki's body recoiled as Homare drove a knee into his chin.
Before the attack could connect, Himari gripped the chain hard and sent her intention through the link. Yuuki's hands flashed under his chin as he caught her knee with both hands.
His clawed hands tightened around her leg before smashing her into the ground once, then throwing her away.
Skidding to a halt, Homare's breathing was heavier with exhaustion as she rolled her shoulders. Her hands shot down to her thighs and pressed a rapid sequence of buttons that appeared.
Yuuki watched in confusion and slight curiosity, "What is she doing?"
Himari yanked at the chain, "Don't let her complete it!"
Yuuki snapped out of his daze as he blurred forward, focusing his power into a single hand, ready to end it then and there.
But as he got halfway, Homare's grin grew wider, "Too late"
Within half a second, Homare twisted to the side as Yuuki's arm moved past her body. Homare threw an uppercut at the slave and kicked him away.
Yuuki managed to steady himself but Homare didn't give him time to counter her as she was above him with two daggers in hand, aiming for his arms.
Homare threw the blades down as Yuuki blurred to the side and swung his leg at the falling Homare. Grinning, Homare tucked in her legs and stretched her arms down to briefly use the slave's arm as a platform before swinging her leg into his face.
His body smashed through several trees after Himari leapt off him. She glanced back at him, ready to run to him if he was hurt, but she didn't get an opportunity to do it as Homare was forced to dodge a dagger that came swinging down at her.
"Focus on the fight Himari or you'll be seriously hurt!" Homare mocked.
Himari shifted to the side as the blade narrowly missed her and dug itself into the ground. Homare used the grounded blade to spin her leg into Himari's face, knocking her away.
Homare was about to bring her foot down with a toothy grin, but Yuuki's arm smashed against her side, throwing her body into the forest.
"Himari, are you alright?" Yuuki asked with concern, offering his hand for her to lean on.
"I'll live... but she's going to... come back stronger" Himari strained out, rubbing the bruise mark on her cheek.
"You know what her ability is?" Yuuki asked, watching the forest she disappeared into.
"Yes, it's called Python, the ability allows her to program her movements transmitted into her brain. It causes her body to follow the programmed movements she inputted" she explained.
"Though she can't change it mid-motion, her body is altered to be able to hurt her opponent"
"Then we can change up our movements since it sounds like it focuses on predictability" Yuuki concluded.
Himari, however, shook her head, "It won't be that easy"
Yuuki tilted his head, "How so"
"As a natural effect of her ability, her skin is highly sensitive, allowing her to perceive things more acutely, so in this case, she has collected the data on how you fight and has come up with a counter movement that you will fall into" Himari explained.
"Though she can't do it all in one go as she needs to keep fighting to collect our full data, which will be a total of four inputs"
"And now she's likely on two" Yuuki concluded.
Himari nodded as she looked down at the ground in thought, "We're gonna have to use our 1st trump card"
Looking back at her, Yuuki questioned, "Are you sure, I thought we would save that for your mother?"
Himari closed her eyes and sighed, "I know, but if we keep fighting her like this she'll win, and even when we get a lucky win, we'll be severely exhausted"
"This dimension prevents our bodies from recovering properly, meaning we're running on the stamina and health we currently have"
"That's great" Yuuki commented sarcastically.
Without warning, a blur came out of the forest and struck Yuuki in the chest as he crashed into a tree.
Himari reacted narrowly as she brought up her arms to stop a dagger from being brought down on her.
Homare pulled back her arm and lowered her body to the ground before and kicked Himari off her feet.
She straightened herself up, ready to bring down her foot on Himari but Yuuki shoved her away by ramming his shoulder into her, knocking her several meters away.
"Yuuki, now!" Himari shouted as she ran to his side and grabbed his chain.
Almost immediately, an orange, violent aura enveloped the duo as a yellow, fiery circle surrounded them before it exploded into a blinding pillar.
At one of the island's beaches, Fubuki Azuma stood over three of the defeated members of the branch family.
Fubuki looked down at her hand as a flash of something pure and holy travelled through her hand and around her body.
A look of disappointment passed through her eyes before signing, "These three weren't enough for me to release that power"
"Mother?" Maia came beside Fubuki and looked at her with curiosity.
Fubuki glanced at her Vice-chief and eldest daughter, ready to ask to fight her, wanting to see if she could push her to release that power.
Fubuki could access the blessing at will but the downside is that it greatly increases the owner's power.
The only reason that she's not using it is that the fights would end in mere moments, giving her no experience of using it.
If she found someone worthy of fighting her on equal terms with that power, then she would immediately attempt to create techniques she could never achieve.
Fubuki shook her head, her eldest daughter doesn't have access to that power and she's aware that only one of her daughters has it, that being Himari from a report she read.
"It's nothing, let's go locate Himari and Homare and deal with them" Fubuki said before a blinding yellow pillar of energy caught both her and Maia's attention.
The pillar reached the very edge of the sky this dimension had to offer. Fubuki shielded her eyes with an arm as Maia looked away.
"Found them" Maia commented.
Once the pillar died down, Fubuki immediately walked in the direction it came from, "Let's go Maia"
"Yes, Mother," Maia said as she quickly caught up to Fubuki.
Back in the forest, Homare watched with a toothy grin and her hair blowing back from the power being released from them, "So you got a hidden trump card, shouldn't be surprised when it's coming you Himari!" she mocked.
Yuuki's form has changed with gold-like accessories and armour on his arms and shoulders. His skin was more yellow, and a black lightning tattoo went over his eyes.
Homare tilted her head slightly, "I imagine it's a temporary buff, right Himari~?"
Homare pressed a rapid sequence of buttons before disappearing in a burst of speed, her form blasting away and moving to the edge of the island.
'I'll wait out that buff and finish them off, they'll surely be worn out once it wears off' Homare thought with certainty.
The wind blew against her, causing her to turn to find Yuuki and Himari speeding beside her with an orange trail.
Homare's eyes widened in shock as before she could react, Yuuki's leg smashed against her side, sending her body smashing through several trees and into the side of the mountain.
Homare pushed herself off the wall as pain rushed from her side before she quickly held it. Gritting her teeth, she reached down to type in her movements with the data she received.
Before she could even attempt to touch it, a large hand grabbed her arm and smashed her against the bark of a tree.
Yuuki thrust his foot into Homare as she was blown back. Staggering up, she wiped the blood that dripped from her bleeding lip and immediately went for the pads at her thighs.
Yuuki appeared next to her, already aiming to grab her arm, but Homare wanted this outcome as she twisted so the slave's arm went past her before bringing down her daggers on his arm.
Yuuki yelled out in pain as Homare leapt away after Himari fired a shot at her. Skidding out to open, Homare quickly typed at the pads before dashing in with greater speed.
Ripping the blades out of his arm, Yuuki turned his attention to the approaching Homare as Himari thrust the chain forward, sending a silent message through the link.
Yuuki blasted forward, appearing next to a slow Homare in his perspective before bringing his hand up to grab her head.
The slowness faded away as an orange streak dragged Homare away. Her body was smashed into the ground while it was being dragged through the dirt as she desperately tried to free herself by aiming for the areas that controlled his hand.
She didn't get an opportunity to do so as Yuuki leapt high into the air before rapidly spinning around, which soon created an orange tornado that made powerful winds, pushing everything back.
Yuuki then threw the Azuma down to the ground as she crashed into the earth, blowing a chunk off the mountain they were fighting on, creating a large dust cloud and shooting rubble in all directions.
Once the dust cleared, Himari stood over a medium-sized crater with Yuuki standing protectively next to her as the new form returned to the original slave form that he takes with Himari.
Himari stared down blankly at the centre of the crater, where Homare lay motionless, except for the rise and fall of her body.
"Did we kill her by accident?" Yuuki asked worriedly, "I hope we don't get disqualified for this"
A small smile crept up Himari's lips, "Don't worry she's just unconscious, and even if we kill her, I doubt we'll get any penalties"
"That's reassuring and creepy at the same time" Yuuki commented as Homare's form glowed white before disappearing.
"Huh? Where did she go!?" Yuuki frantically looked around for Azuma.
"Calm down, she was just taken out of the dimension by Tobera" Himari explained.
"Meaning it's only just us" a stern voice resounded from the opposite side of the crater.
Snapping their heads over to the voice, they found Fubuki and Maia standing there, their posture bored and relaxed, as though victory was guaranteed.
In the outside world, Tobera healed all the defeated Azuma's injuries, "Man, Himari did a number on Homare" The matriarch commented as she finished healing her.
Homare's eyes slowly opened before examining her surroundings. Her hands clenched at her sides, "So I lost, huh" she said bitterly.
"Yep, better luck next time Homare" Tobera said before turning her attention to the portal screen, showing the standoff between the four.
Homare glanced at it and scoffed while getting up on her feet, "We all know who the victors are gonna be so there's no point"
Homare turned and left, not before glancing over her shoulder to look at the screen one last time, "...I hate this family..."
After she left, a crow on the roof was watching everything unfold, staring at the doors Homare had left through with curiosity and a hint of mischief.