What Good is Peace?

Akuma continued to gather his own chakra, though gave a little piece of advice to his 'ally'. "Oi, Fenrir, remember; you've only got so much energy in that form, so don't fuck up."

"Shut up, ya bastard, I know what I'm doing!" Fenrir rushed forward, taking up Akuma's sword as he did. He charged Owen, moving faster than Akuma had been. He circled a bit as if Owen was prey, before pouncing, striking hard and fast.

Juro shook his head. "Nope. I live in a place called the Netherworld I'm just on vacation and my little sister is at a concert for the Ando sisters. I work for an Overlord, they have enough to casually raise a city like this by themselves but they aren't there when you need him like this." He paused. "..Then again powerful people tend to attract other very powerful people."

* *

Isamu didn't let up, another energy attack shape of that of the crescent moon was formed to attack the creature. Darrien, surprisingly, didn't attack as he stepped back a bit, summoning his holotop for something, it seemed they had something in mind as a just in case.

Samael stood on his heels and spoke lightly. "I guess if it's common... But I couldn't get used to this. More importantly..." For the first time that night, Samael smiled if only slightly. He dug his slender hand into an inner pocket of his coat and procured a small chip. His eyes sparkled as he looked the piece over. "He can't sense where these are, so he won't notice... Hehee, I f-finally got one! The possible findings and mountains research that this chip can unlock are nearly astronomical!" The boy continued to ramble on to himself, his epistemophilia shining through his timid demeanor.

----------

An immense wall of mana flew from Owen's body and slammed into Fenrir. It was blunt, but enough to deal moderate damage and send him flying. The blast itself came in the shape of a dragon's head. Owen didn't move from his spot, still smirking and hunkered down.

Sam set to flanking the beast as Isamu attacked. Just as the beast tried to dodge, Sam's scarf extended and wrapped around its hind leg. The gem on the beast's head glowed as the attack neared. The energy attack weakened slightly, but it slammed into the creature's body. Sam fired a burst to the wolf's opposing side. It staggered from the weakened hit as well.

Fenrir growled in anger as he was flung backward, but had sheilded himself with the blade a bit, and righted himself in mid air. He rushed forward again as he landed, but then inhaled deeply, and let out what could only be called a sonic roar, the chakra and air emanating from the roar ripping up the rooftops and dragging debris with it to strike at Owen. Akuma continued to focus his chakra, which seemed to be gathering more inside of himself than before.

Juro..wasn't sure what to think of the kid's sudden change. Then again if he had started doing that in the Netherworld, people wouldn't have thought all that much of it really.

"What exactly is that anyway?" Science held no interest to Juro, but all the same it seemed important of they were that excited about it.

* *

Isamu, seeing the creature weakened decided on trying to finish this quickly. So to that end, still in the air she flanked it slightly to the left side. She began building mana inside her body for the next attack, her sword starting to pulse with blue energy before she brought it down in front of herself.

Mana, at least the style Isamu used was pure power. While it couldn't be said to be the most powerful of energies, those who harnessed Isamu's style were eventually capable of incredible feats such as destroying planets and more, it was said the energy existed not only in living beings but inimate objects as well as some claimed it was 'the natural energy of the universe'.

For Isamu, she wasn't sure if that was true nor did she care. Regardless, the air seemed to become thicker with power before she slashed the blade in a forward motion in front of her. From it came a massive slash of energy came towards the target, the power of it ripping apart the concrete as it zoomed in on the enemy at a high speed. She hadn't used it earlier because Dimension Slash drained a lot of energy and she didn't want to waste it if she missed.

'...Interesting...' Darrien noted and made sure to keep some distance.

Samael's face took a serious onset. "I can't be exactly sure, but it looks very complex. I haven't been able to see one up close, but it looks like it runs on multiple power sources. Look, this circuit manages mana, this one can process chakra, I think this one deals with electricity. There's a small amount of electricity in any given organism's heart, but if you attach it to the brain..." Samael had been set off yet again. He was pointing to different places on the chip, explaining their possible uses. Some even stumped him.

"I should send this back to Mr. Bryant and see what he makes of it. This could be the perfect subject for research! He'll be so elated!" He beamed with pride.

----------

"Haaah!" Owen tensed as the roar drew near. His mana flared out again, but swirled around him in a frenzied torrent. The blast destroyed the area around him, but his footing remained intact, floating in place. There, he stood; his own energy continuing to intensify.

The wolf attempted to leap away from the slash, but was quickly slammed back to the ground by Sam's scarf. The beast's gem gleamed again as the slice grew near. This time, the attack collided with a barrier. The barrier held constant and held the dark mass from reaching the beast, but it was slowly pushing the wolf back. Sam took this chance to charge her Sol with all her energy. "Focus...." Her body and gun began to glow and surge with energy. She planted herself and took aim. "GO!" A searing beam of light blasted from her weapon and collided with the beast's shield on its opposing side. The attack mounted into a ball as it continued to exert force. Fafnir's barrier began to weaken on both sides.

Sam slumped to one knee, visibly exhausted by her attack. "Just a little more..."

Fenrir continued his charge, though something was a bit different this time.. The sword's hilt was gripped between his teeth, and he was running on all fours, energy gathering around him. That was when his chakra formed a claw, 'sprouting' from his back, which then took the sword, wielding it itself, while Fenrir moved to attack with brute strength and claws.

Akuma himself seemed to have become quite calm, his chakra signature seemingly disappearing. The fact that he'd grown wolf ears and a tail, though both being dark blue and seemingly formed of heavily condensed chakra, showed that something was going on, however. He reopened his eyes, which were a sharp golden color, pupils becoming slits. "Almost..."

Juro..was lost. Understandably so. "Slow down. Who is this Mr. Byrant you were talking about?"

* *

Isamu frowned, and summoned another dimension slash, this one was stronger then the next one but it drained more heavier on her mana reserves. It was during all this that Darrien actually threw his energy bat at the barrier, hitting with a loud vibrating crack towards the center and what seemed to be a slight 'weaker point of the shield. Darrien had been calculating, with the help of the holotop to find a weakness of the shield. If his estimation was right, it shouldn't be much longer now.

Samael snapped out of his entranced rant. "Um, his full title is Professor Raphael Bryant. He's a researcher/inventor for Nobus that specializes in energy conversion and magi-technology. I'm his assistant." The boy actually showed a bit of pride before shrinking back into his usual demeanor. "...Who was supposed to be back at the lab about a week ago..." He mumbled under his breath.

----------

Another burst of mana erupted from Owen, once again in the shape of a dragon head. It shot out to block Fenrir's oncoming chakra claw, matching its force. A clone of himself appeared beside the man and lunged toward Fenrir himself. The clone attacked using its gauntlets as claws as well. Owen's excitement grew as he realized Akuma's intention. "No shit? That's what you're up to! Get on with it, kid!!" His own energy was brimming at this point.

As soon as Darrien's back connected with the barrier, the shield visibly cracked, then shattered. Isamu's slash collided with the beast directly. Along with Sam's previous attack, the wolf suffered at the center of a mighty explosion; a result of the attacks clashing from opposite ends. Cars, streetlights and any other objects in the street were blown away. Sam's scarf dug into the pavement and held Sam from flying away. As the blast died down, she wearily stood up. "Hoo! Just what I needed."

Fenrir twisted out of the way of the clone, launching two chakra claws with the intent to shred it, or even just trade blows if that didn't work. Akuma, in the meantime, raised a brow at Owen. "Excitable guy.. funny." He cracked his neck, licked his lips... and then there was suddenly a massive burst of chakra from inside him. He was suddenly cloaked in the dark blue chakra, taking on a form similar to a werewolf. Made of chakra, of course. He howled, but then seemed to grin, stretching. "Alright... fun times ahead." He slashed at the air, his arm extending with lightning speed to slash at Owen.

Juro paused. "Huh..I've never heard of him. Then again I don't know too much about Nobus, why aren't you there by now?"

* *

"Is it over?" Isamu said carefully as she landed down by the others.

"I'm not sure." Darrien answered, he didn't pick up anything but it seemed to be but he knew how that went at times. He'd make a quick scan, just to be sure.

"*Ahem* In my pursuit of research I traveled to many locations outside of the country. Some of my endeavors proved fruitless, so I took it upon myself to look into neighboring phenomenon and explore their credibility." Samael responded matter-of-factly. He had been practicing the excuse for his return to the lab.

----------



Owen's body flashed immediately following Akuma's 'transformation.' His entire body was now covered in the armor; its shape hat changed to a scaled, jet black design. He knocked the advancing claw away and charged Akuma in the same instant. He decided to match the attack's speed to stab his claw into Akuma's chest. Owen's clone maintained the armor's gauntlets and caught both claws, attempting to absorb them both.

All that remained of the wolf was the jewel that rested on its head. Sam made her way over to the others. "I think that was--" She was about to assure their victory when it happened. The jewel unleashed a blinding flash. Sam saw through the light and watched as demonic energy quickly flowed from it and took shape. The wolf was reborn, but was not entirely materialized. Its form was visible as a distorted torrent of demonic power. It uttered an otherworldly growl and released a powerful pressure within the vicinity.



"Dammit all." Sam cursed the situation. "I can fight and drag its attention, but that's about it." She glanced at her depleted Sol and switched it back to its watch form. "So one of you come up with a plan before I go down!" She charged the ethereal monster and sidestepped just in time to dodge its enraged pounce.

Fenrir responded to the attempt to absorb his chakra claws by rushing forward, pumping more chakra into the claws at the same time, and trying to maneuver the clone into the ground. Seemingly. He moved in close while a third chakra claw went to grab the clone, while he attacked with his real body. One thing about Fenrir is that his attack style once up close was unpredictable. THere was no flow, no signals that gave off what he was going to do, but his attacks were quick and accurate. It was just a question of if the clone could keep up.

Akuma, on the other hand, ducked under Owen's claw, and drove an elbow toward Owen's chest, focusing chakra at the point where impact would occur. THe intent was simple. To 'inject' a mass amount of chakra into the attack at the exact point he hit. Assuming Owen didn't escape the attack.

Juro wanted to help Isamu but he was stuck with the kid at the moment, he just hoped she was all right. He crossed his arms, a slight smirk. "So, in short, you got curious and side tracked."

* *

'This could be bad.' Darrien thought to himself as he began to try to formulate a plan during the mass chaos. "Isamu, you think you could recharge Sam's device?"

"I could certainly try!" Isamu managed to get out over the noise of fighting, she wished Michi was here. Her abilties were far more geared towards this sort of thing but since she wasn't and Juro was busy she would have to make do with the resources she had now. She kept some distance away from the wolf beast, holding out a hand and concentrating, temporary 'ending' Sam some extra mana power. Or more accurately towards her device.

While this was going on, Darrien pulled out yet another strange item, a metal ball which he threw towards the monster. It did nothing at first, but suddenly a strange energy net shot forward attempting to ensnare the creature. It was made to hit intangible beings as well and was pretty strong. Provided it actually caught it, that is.

"Uh! Oooh..." Samael sighed at his facade's breakdown. He looked toward where the fighting was taking place. "Th-they're getting loud over there. Do you think everyone's ok?"

At that moment, a strong presence suddenly emanated from somewhere nearby. Samael was oblivious to the intruder.

----------

Owen's clone waited until Fenrir drew near before pushing himself forward with a burst of mana. He quickly took hold of him in midair. At the same time, Owen's real self took Akuma's attack full force and slid back. "Thanks!" His arm pulsed with chakra as he planted himself then punched up toward his clone and Fenrir. A shredding tunnel of chakra force erupted from his fist and barreled toward the two.

He watched Akuma carefully. "Got anymore?!"

Sam maneuvered to accept Isamu's power. She checked her Sol to see it charge slightly. "All right! Mana's mana, after all! She switched it back to a gun.

As the net closed in on Fafnir, it suddenly split in two and moved around the net. The size of the two beasts were smaller than its original form, but moved at blinding speeds. One moved to pounce on Sam, but was deterred by a shot to the face. The other quickly circled around Darrien and charged him from behind.

Akuma seemed to smirk. "Maybe." He flashed through hand seals, Fenrir doing the same. At the last moment, Fenrir substituted himself with debris, appearing next to Akuma, both crying out their techniques at the same time. "Wind Release: Divine Down Current!" A massive vortex of wind seemed to erupt from Akuma, barreling into Owen and his clone, bit not with enough force to send him flying. However, this didn't take into account what Fenrir was doing.

"Fire Release: Running Fire!" Fenrir unleashed a stream of fire, that corkscrewed through the air, before looping rapidly around the wind vortex of Akuma's, turning it into a blazing inferno, a seeming 'fire tornado'. Immediately after, Akuma's tail shot out and engulfed Fenrir, absorbing the chakra used to make the clone body, and returning Fenrir's consciousness where it belonged.

Juro frowned, sensing something. The kid didn't feel anything but he did. "Hang on.." He looked around, seeing if he spotted anything nearby. He hoped it wasn't yet another enemy to fight right now, he couldn't really fight and look after them at the same time.

* *

Isamu seemed a bit drained but tried to shrug it off. She needed to slow down on the mana usage for now; dimesional slash took up a lot of her reserves at the moment. She landed on the ground, chanting something as her blade seemed to come alive with fire. With that done, she activated Mach Blade, which very temporary boosted her speed slightly as she closed in the one towards Sam with a straight lunge.

Darrien was unable to avoid the attack and was sent backwards, but flipped landing on his feet; noting it had damaged his shields a bit. "Pleasant creature aren't you?" He asked rhetorically as he summoned the strange energy bat again before beckoning it to come at him again.

A small girl appeared over Samael and Juro's heads, floating along as her visibility returned. She watched the chaos ensue a short distance away. "Ugh. Brute-Brute's always causing trouble. We don't have time for this you big jerk!" She was mumbling to herself.

Samael slid closer to Juro, and looked up when the girl came into view. "S-she's one of them! She's with Owen, I've seen her before." He kept his voice low as she hadn't seemed to be aware of the two yet. Her presence was powerful; comparable to Owens. She exuded mana.

----------

Owen couldn't salvage his clone, so he left it to be scorched by the attack. He hid his presence behind the attack, then used a body flicker to reappear behind Akuma and Fenrir. He focused his own chakra to his fist and punched Akuma's back as the two were rejoining. "Explosion Release: Volcanic Fist!" A flurry of quick punches were thrown into Akuma's back, each of which detonated small explosions on contact. The last punch drew enough force to send him flying.

The wolf that was attacking Sam doubled back when Isamu approached. It stayed low and lunged up at her, but was stopped in place by Sam's scarf yet again. Puu quickly learned the wolf's skin was in a corrosive state. It was ultimately unable to maintain its hold, though the beast was stalled.

The other beast planted its feet and 'barked' a blast of energy at Darrien.

Akuma cried out in pain, almost a growl, in reaction to the attack, but used a chakra claw to catch himself in mid-flight. He cracked his neck, his back visibly healing up at a rapid pace. "Hm... seems I went about this the wrong way..." He turned to Owen, and hunched over. "Let me show ya something...." A sudden mass of chakra claws suddenly erupted from his body, winding and twisting around him, forming a large, solid sphere. From this sphere, more claws shot out, weaving around and seemingly aiming to grab and crush Owen.

~~~~~

Just before the ghost wolf 'barked', there was a cry from above. "Isamu!" There was a black blur, and a young woman dressed in shinobi attire was suddenly between Darrien and the blast of energy, bracing herself for impact, and intentionally taking the attack as she focused her own energy. It wasn't visible, but in doing so, she absorbed the kinetic energy of the attack for later use. Assuming she wasn't too damaged to do so.

At the same time, another woman in very Japanese-themed clothing, wielding a samurai blade, landed in front of Isamu, brandishing her blade as she faced down the other wolf. "...Etereal wolf of unknown origin... vile aura..." She frowned, and held her blade out horizontally. "Cover me while I focus the necessary energy to bless your weapons..."

Juro cursed under his breath and tried to remain on keeping hidden so he quietly motioned for the kid to keep quite. Luckily, his stealth as a ninja came in handy so he worked on keeping out of the way.

* *

Isamu was focused on the wolf that Sam had caught, taking the chance to use her sword to impale it the damned thing through the head before it could recover. However, she was also taken back by Kiyoshi and Michi appearing.

"K-Kiyoshi." The knight then quickly regained her bearings, trying to ignore her daughter taking the brunt of the blast with a wince. That technique she used was always dangerous and she feared one day it would be the end of her, however effective it may have been.

Darrien moved to support Michi as she prepared her spell or whatever it was she was trying to do.

Samael nodded and stayed close to Juro. His presence began to fade beyond its already slight existence.

The girl floating on a broom watched as Owen's fight continued. "Uh, oh. Looks like this is it." She said in a singsong manner. She began slowly drifting toward the fight, anticipating its result.

----------

Owen rushed forward as Akuma summoned his barrier. At least, that's what he assumed it was. The claws that shot out weren't foreseen. He grabbed two that came head on. The other claws would successfully grab him while he attempted to absorb the chakra. At present he wasn't having much trouble. "Well aren't you just fulla' surprises!"

Isamu's blade cut through the wolf's head and struck home. The jewel within burst into small shards and the body dissipated. The other wolf reeled in pain, presumably feeling the cut as well. This also served to piss it off. The jewel in its head shined bright as the wolf howled. A toxic fume ejected from its body and quickly filled the street. Sam's scarf wrapped around her mouth and nose as a precaution. "Watch it! This thing can do weird crap within its cloud!" Sam warned.

Without moving, it brought up its paw and slashed. At that moment, a vaguely visible claw of poison slashed down on Isamu's position.

Kiyoshi was pulling herself to her feet after 'absorbing' that blast, but upon seeing the poison claw going for Isamu, she panicked. She wasn't so foolish as to intentionally take an attack that was very likely poisonous, considering what was going on, but she wasn't about to just let Isamu get hit. She tackled Isamu from the side to knock her out of the way. She hoped she had enough momentum and speed to avoid being hit herself, but she focused energy to 'absorb' the blow just in case. At the same time, Michi was starting to glow. "That will do." She opened her eyes, then quickly touched the 'hilt' of Darrien's energy bat. He would feel a surge of energy in it, before Michi moved, rapidly touching her hands to the weapons of everyone fighting this wolf, causing the same reaction. She then flowed almost gracefully into her next actions.

Namely, applying a more supportive use of an attack, the Whirlwind Slash. She began running in a circle around the wolf, at a blinding speed, forming a vortex of air within the 'circle'. She had no idea if it would serve it's usual purpose of lifting her enemy off the ground so she could strike them rather brutally, but it would serve it's main purpose: sucking in the poison cloud like a vacuum, as she slipped on one of Kiyoshi's spare face masks.

~~~~~

The 'barrier' was pulsing with chakra, the various claws wrapping firmly around Owen, their chakra being constantly replenished as it was drained. And then the 'barrier' expanded, cracked, and shattered. In it's place was a massive blue wolf, with chains dangling from it, and a wild look in it's eyes, the chakra claws extending from it's aura. It exhaled, and a cloud of pure chakra flowed from it's mouth, before it seemed to take a deep breath... and fired three basketball sized bullets of pure, condensed chakra at the currently bound Owen.

Juro kept his voice low. "..It doesn't look like she's here to start fighting just yet, she's watching but who knows."

* *
Isamu quickly got up after being pushed to the ground by Kiyoshi, she wasn't as worried about the posion anymore, because of Michi. She was worried about Kiyoshi though. "Don't over do it Kiyoshi!" By now, her blade had turned back to normal but she didn't charge it again, Michi's blessing was enough for now.

Darrien was impressed by the strange technique but he couldn't get a clear shot with what Michi was doing, so he waited back a bit for his chance.

"I think you're right. Ive only seen her fight when she had a reason." Samael whispered back.

----------

Owen thrusted his open palms into each blast and absorbed them one by one. He readied his stance to charge, but changed his mind. His movements were beginning to slow. His suit was beginning to increase in weight. "Too much already, huh?" He grumbled to himself. His energy began to rise again as he focused his chakra.

The poison claw was only energy, but it carried great force with it. Fafnir stood its ground within the wind as the poison was easily drew in by the force. Sam jumped into the air above the wolf and fired a burst shot into its back. The shot glowed and packed an extra punch. The wolf attempted to jump up at her, but Sam's scarf batted it back to the ground in one swing. The other arm of her scarf pulled her to a nearby rooftop to avoid falling.

Akuma, in the form of a smaller version of Fenrir, growled at Owen's actions. 'I'm not about to let you do that...' He opened his mouth as more chakra claws latched onto Owen. Between his jaws, an orb of chakra formed, rapidly expanding as his eyes glowed brightly. The orb grew until his jaws were forced open as wide as they would go... then the orb collapsed in on itself, and Akuma swallowed it. 'Have some fun with my own version of the Tailed Beast Bomb...' His chakra claws pulled Owen into the air above Akuma, in front of him, Akuma looking straight at him... and opened his mouth. A massive beam of chakra erupted from his open mouth, angled as such so that it's trajectory would carry it into the sky, so there was no collateral damage. Owen just happened to have been placed in it's path.

~~~~

Kiyoshi ended up taking the hit, crying out in pain as she was crushed under it, but she had managed to absorb it, and avoid any crippling damage. She pushed herself to her feet, staggering, and then sighed. With the two blows she'd taken, she had some good kinetic energy stored. With this much... well, it was safe to say that when she used her technique, it would do what it was supposed to; do no visible damage, but cause massive internal trauma, based on how much energy she had absorbed. Now she just needed a target...

Michi, seeing that the wolf would not be lifted, chose a different tactic. She jammed her sword into the beasts side, knowing her sword would not only affect it, but cause it pain, due to the nature of the blessing placed on it. She continued creating her whirlwind by circling, but now she was simultaneously viciously cutting away at the beast.