14 - Volcanic Thunder

[10:00PM]

“Swiping pills, huh?”

Diego walked through the now empty streets, away from the headquarters. Thousands were evacuated away from central Tokyo, especially Harajuku and Shibuya, after, surprisingly enough, the GSC ordered an evacuation in the area. Those that refused to abandon their homes lived in constant fear that at any moment, a pair of bloodlusted soulfuls may accidentally demolish their homes and end their lives.

He took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it with his thumb. Inhaling the smoke pleased him quite a bit, this was a habit that he picked up from having to act as movie characters who were heavy smokers. He enjoyed the effect the nicotine gave him at the rare occasions he smoked, but he disliked the taste of the cigarette itself. After a few puffs, he quickly incinerated it.

“You’re an awful man, Luca.” Diego said, with a corrupt smile on his face. The sky was darkened already, the street lights were illuminating the empty parts of the megapolis. “You know how much I like my flames, don’t ya?”

Had anyone observed Diego from the side, they’d instantly assume that he had lost it. Though, one such observant was deep in thought.

“For the sake of my pride...”

“For you too, Matteo. I’ll kill this swine for disrespecting you and me. I’m strong. I can kill him and stand my own against whatever he sends my way.”

“Remember back then? When we were in Naples, living the average city life, helping each other and making sure our father was proud of us. Before we became the strongest soulfuls to grace this earth.”

“They didn’t just take you away from me. They took away our memories. Getting up early every day when our mother would make us breakfast, hustling every dollar down in the city...”

“I’ll kill him and the girl that killed you.”

“For the sake of what they took from us!!!”

Luca chucked a spear made from water at Diego’s location, who only just became aware of him. Diego gently swayed to the side and dodged it. He turned around, looking rather disappointed. His eyes seemed a bit more different, almost as if they were ablaze.

“Ah, good riddance. I was just looking for you, Luca.” Diego calmly said.

“And what do you want from me? Need me to comfort you during your mood swings?” Luca responded. He threw another spear which was dodged with ease.

“First off, stop throwing these water dildoes at me.” Diego sighed. “I wouldn’t need help from you considering you never obey instructions or do what you’re asked. Not told, but just asked, you know the difference, right?”

“I shall kill you myself now...” Luca barked. A small puddle of water formed on the ground around him. “I’ll do my brother’s last request.”

Diego burst into laughter.

“Luca, I swear, you’re the corniest fucking soulful I’ve ever seen in all my years of life.” Diego said amidst his act. “Everyone but me and Ichigo just... died! There’s no point in being a part of this anymore. It’s all over!”

“Huh?”

“Something’s off about him. He doesn’t sound just angry, he sounds...scared?”

“We both have a reason to kill each other, don’t we?” Diego asked. “You know exactly how this is gonna end, right? If we get into a fight...”

“What are you suggesting?” Luca asked, now slightly intimidated by Diego’s mad state.

“I’m suggesting that I’m gonna fucking kill you.” Diego smiled. His fists were instantly set ablaze.

“Ahh, just the idea...”

“Of letting go...”

“And letting the Diego with bad breath take over...why does it seem so...exhilarating?!”

“Don’t think of yourself so highly, Diego.” Luca said. A shortsword made from water was in his right hand.

“Call me by my full name.” Diego said. “My name is Diego Solano.”

“I am the one...”

“Whose soul will burn brighter than the sun!”

The atmosphere around them became just a little hotter. It wasn’t a pleasant heat - it was the type of heat that bit and didn’t let go. The area around Diego started to slowly catch on fire.

Diego clasped his hands together and stretched them apart - forming an arrow of flame. The incredible fire surrounding him reached great heights, increasing its radius with every second. The brightest flame in that picture resided in Diego’s own eyes. They were now a much brighter orange, sparking with their indescribably beautiful vibrance.

The black smoke devoured the already smoky city night sky. Luca miraculously survived the arrow’s impact. Despite having an immensely powerful shield of water, the heat of the explosion was too much for it to handle. As the dust settled down on the scorched earth, with flames spread all over the devastated street, all Luca could see was Diego’s bloodlusted smirk.

The landscape around them was already heavily deformed. The cold moonlight was a brilliant introduction to the impact of the upcoming war.

“Say...you and me...are soulfuls with the same type of soul expression, aren’t we?” Diego said, charging up another arrow.

“In nature, water always extinguishes fire, doesn’t it?!”

“Answer me, Luca Rosso!” Diego yelled, attacking his old comrade...

...

“I knew it...”

“I always knew Diego was strong.”

“I asked Kaito Kamiki as to who he thinks is the strongest from the Elemental Group. He told me that Diego was the most fearsome one, and Ichigo out of all people was the one with the greatest potential.”

“But to think that the difference of strength would be this great?”

“Still...”

“It is nothing...that I cannot overcome!”

The second arrow hit the ground in front of Luca. Luca was knocked back by the immense explosion, as a dark black smokescreen emerged in front of him. Shrouded in the cloud of pulverized concrete were Diego’s bright eyes.

Diego instantly lunged forward, swinging his fists fanatically. He landed a pair of straights and was close to finishing the combination with a nasty hook, but Luca evaded it and kicked Diego away. Diego smirked and pointed his hands at him. Instantly, a stream of deadly flame engulfed Luca.

“These flames...”

“They mean nothing when they face my wrath!!!”

Luca walked right through them while protecting himself with a layer of water, only to realize that this whole stunt was a means for Diego to quickly unsheathe his rapier. Luca, with his own sword, clashed against it - the two kept striking each other with their weapons, one of them spreading water all over the place, the other one setting the ground on fire. Diego dashed back and slashed the air in front of him - sending a strong flaming slash in Luca’s direction.

The desolate drops of water below were now decorated with a tint of red. Luca held onto his wounds, which was an awful decision to make while in combat. The instant he resorted to soul regeneration, Diego broke the distance and attacked. Luca was now on the back foot.

“What’s wrong, water boy?!” Diego yelled, pummeling Luca with various strikes and kicks. Luca tried to counter attack, but ultimately, all of his strikes were ineffective unless they were imbued with his soul expression. Diego kicked Luca away, ragdolling him into the wall of a building behind him. Luca was lucky to instantly react to the upcoming arrow of flame.

He dashed away. Under the constant bombardment, his speed and the usage of his expression allowed him to have a moment to rethink his strategy.

“His destructive power...is too much.”

“I have to beat him in close combat. But that’s still difficult!”

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A row of buildings had their walls completely destroyed as Diego kept firing off arrow after arrow. At the same time, Diego also realized that his best bet is close combat. He chased after Luca who it seemed like was trying his hardest to escape and not fight. Luca looked back and threw small spears and knives made out of water, almost all of which got blocked or avoided.

“The thrill of battle and destruction...”

“I feel like kicking it up a notch.”

Diego threw another arrow, this time, it was aimed in front of Luca. The unexpected detonation threw Luca off of his path. Now that the water elemental had lost his balance, he was easy prey for Diego.

“Soul Interpretation.”

The powerful red and yellow flames that covered Diego shifted into a bright and welcoming blue - being quickly compressed in size. It looked as if a chaotic mantle was converted into a tight body suit.

“Blue Flame.”

“He’s resorting...to using that?!” Luca thought, mentally bracing for impact, it wasn’t his prideful conscious mind that prepared his body for the worst, but his disappointed unconscious that tried to keep him alive.

“It doesn’t matter. As long as-”

The ground broke apart beneath Diego’s feet. Dashing at incredible speeds and blitzing him, Diego grabbed Luca by his now discontinued uniform.

“Don’t zone out now.”

Diego lifted Luca and slammed him head first into the ground. He sprinted to his heart’s content, dragging Luca’s face along the rough concrete, all while setting the painful trail ablaze. He sprinted this way for a few dozen meters before throwing Luca into the air and kicking him into the wall of a tall concrete building. Luca, escaping the painful journey, tried to regain his footing but ultimately failed to do so. Diego was already attacking him.

Normally, Luca was capable of defending himself from the flame by covering his body in a sheet of water. Now he didn’t even have time to properly set up his protection.

Diego’s rampant attacks and constant flurries of punches and kicks kept pressuring Luca. Fancy combinations of diverse kicks had gotten Luca punched through the many rooms and cubicles of what seemed to be a floor of an office building. All of the equipment and furniture was burnt to ashes. Luca unsheathed his sword again, but just a single strike from Diego was enough to knock him to the wall. A final shove-kick threw Luca outside once again.

Luca had exactly two seconds to rest. That was the time it took for Diego to send a massive X-shaped flying slash at Luca’s direction. The dismantling attack pierced through the buildings behind it, setting them ablaze. Luca took the attack head on and did a nice job of defending himself.

“Don’t you enjoy it?” Diego asked. The dismantled buildings started to fall apart - the severed sections fell on the ground, causing mass rumbling and clouds of dust. “Back then I got attacked by Hayk Nakama’s goons. I managed to fend them off, but it was tough fighting while restricted.” Diego chuckled. “There’s no more audience now.”

“I’ll kill you.” Luca grunted. He clasped his hands together.

“Soul Interpretation.”

Diego felt the ripple of soul presence. He quickly covered himself in an impromptu smokescreen after striking the ground, and prepared to flank.

“Oceanic Needle!”

“Matteo, this was your favorite attack. It’s the one that will guide me towards victory.”

“The sharpest blade in the world...”

A thin stream of water blasted from Luca’s palms. Luca played around with it - thoroughly cutting up the building where Diego was standing. Its fragments slowly rained down and caused nothing but utter destruction.

“...is a highly pressurized stream of water!”

“I can still read your soul presence, you damn rat!” Luca exclaimed, pointing the stream at Diego’s general direction.

“Then find me.”

Luca quickly turned around, only to realize that Diego had already outflanked him. Diego rammed a powerful punch to the gut right into Luca’s stomach. Sending him flying with a kick, Diego chased after Luca.

“I deserve to have as much fun with him as I want...”

In the air, Diego caught up to him and threw Luca back down onto the ground. From there, Diego remembered his childhood and his odd liking of soccer. He played it a lot with his classmates when he was young. Now, he was playing soccer with his old coworker replacing the ball - dribbling across the street while engulfing him in painful flames. Finally, he shot at the goal gates - which was the rooftop of a rather tall glass building. As Luca landed on the roof, almost at the same time, Diego caught up with him, picked him up again and dragged him along.

Had this fight been observed from afar, the two would look like a dimly lit comet - traversing the landscape freely. At some point, the comet was being decorated by a powerful barrage of slashes. Luca used all the distance he could grab in the tight ride and spammed prowess releases from his weapon as hard as he could. The comet hopped from one rooftop to another, on each one, the two briefly exchanged blows before Diego got tired of the location. But for Diego, being just a comet wasn’t enough.

The comet broke apart and clashed against itself a few times, now both soulfuls started to rely on their soul-bound weapons. Eventually, Diego tossed Luca into the window of a building they were flying next to. Diego himself landed and broke through the window of the building parallel to it. As both of them were thrown across the rooms, Diego could sense clearly that he and Luca were on the same line. All Diego had to do now was to find an open window. If there wasn’t one, he’d just make one anyways.

It was through such a window, both figuratively and literally, that the two had finally locked gazes. Diego’s flames regained their bright yellowish tint, and he fired a barrage of massive flaming arrows at Luca. The construction started to collapse almost instantly. Both soulfuls, aware of one another’s vague positions, went to the rooftops of their buildings.

“Come on, I’m not sensing the same energy in ya, ya weakling!” Diego exclaimed, as the two faced each other off. He released a series of flames behind him that destroyed the buildings behind as if they were sandcastles devoured by a tsunami. Sensing the building beneath him collapse, Luca had to make a difficult choice.

“I could hide beneath the rubble...but it seems he deactivated Blue Flame. His flames are as destructive as can be. I should wait it out.”

“I should...”

“You pig!” Luca yelled, jumping over to Diego’s rooftop. Diego smirked. The two clashed with their weapons and knocked one another away, before clashing again - this time in the most poetic way possible. Luca wielded a second shortsword made from water, while Diego wielded one made from fire. Instantly, Diego’s sword was extinguished, and Luca managed to land a clean slashing attack. Diego replied with a low kick and a quick left jab, stunning Luca and forcing him to retreat. Amidst the escape, Diego dragged his rapier across the floor beneath him and sent a massive flying slash towards Luca.

Luca was thrown off the rooftop. With his largest efforts, he sent his own slashes - however, those were targeting the already wobbly foundation and lower floors of the building. Soon it crumbled too. On the devastated battlefield, under the dim moonlight, the two had come face to face once more.

“Fighting like this...with no restriction whatsoever...” Diego said, laughing to himself. “It almost feels too fucking good.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Luca asked, chucking a water knife at him. Diego blocked it with one finger.

“I know, right?!” Diego replied.

The building next to them had collapsed completely. The smoke from the burning concrete was filling up the skies. Had it not been for the area being relatively empty, emergency services would have had to do a very long and grueling cleanup of corpses. The night sky felt starry again, after a long facade of darkness, it finally revealed its lonesome beauty to those who observed it. Even Diego took a moment to gaze at the stars.

“I’ll be the one to kill the ice manipulator.” Luca grunted. “And you too with it.”

“Come and get it then!” Diego yelled, throwing a pair of flaming spears at Luca. With that motion, he launched himself up into the sky. A pair of radiant and scorching wings emerged from his back.

“Wings...?”

“Was this how he could easily propel himself through the sky?”

“That means he might have disabled Blue Flame sooner than I thought. It was an absolute pain in the ass to deal with.”

“Soul Interpretation”

Hundreds of small aquatic strings threw themselves at Diego - wrapping around his legs. Per Luca’s command, the strings pulled Diego down and slammed him into the ground, and later on threw him into burning rubble. Diego replied with a flaming arrow, but Luca dodged it just in time.

“I’m slowly getting used to his voltage!”

Diego rushed in to attack, except now, the tide turned. Literally. A large tide broke through the ground, washing Diego away and temporarily extinguishing his flame. All around the scene, water pipes were bursting open from the ground, and fire hydrants were popping out of place. Diego counterattacked, breaking the tide open and dashing right towards Luca. He landed a good few straights and hooks, but got countered by an unexpected uppercut. A moment later, Diego drew his rapier out. Luca seemed to have been a moment too late.

[KRRRT]

“You’re falling behind.” Diego remarked, after he managed to pierce Luca’s abdomen.

“Soul Interpretation.”

An unusually strong bubble of water surrounded Diego, capturing him inside. With a small shove from Luca, it flew away into the sky.

“Blue Jail.”

Diego tried to say something, but couldn’t. He was already feeling the shortage of oxygen.

“There, there. Suffer alone.” Luca said. He took his time to treat his wounds while Diego was being drowned. “Die a slow and painful death.”

“This won’t kill him. But at least it’ll buy me time.”

“Diego...”

“I want you to be the brightest flame!!!”

Those words echoed in Diego’s mind. Almost instantly, the jail was broken apart. The flames surrounding Diego became even more ominous, and now the entire battlefield was shrouded in a cloak of incredible heat. Staying in the air with his wings, he assumed an almost angelic pose.

“Ah, this feels great...”

“Maybe you did the right thing by taking me off of my mints...who knows? Hey, did you do the right thing?”

“Do you know the answer?” Diego asked with a slightly louder voice, looking down. Small fireballs were raining all over the place, some of them forced Luca to constantly dodge. “Would you say you were right, or wrong?”

“The only thing I know is that you’re a deranged psychopath.” Luca said, summoning an aquatic sword in his other hand. With his soul-bound weapon, he sent a flying slash at Diego, who dodged it gracefully.

“Then that will be who puts you down.” Diego smirked, his presence rising.

“Soul Interpretation-”

[KRRRRRT]

“What?”

Diego seemed extremely confused.

“What is this...cold sensation?”

Diego looked down, only to see a frozen spear piercing his chest. He quickly melted it away, blood was gushing out of the wound but he managed to seal it off. The newest addition to the battle had her beautiful emerald eyes shine with hatred and resolve. Most importantly, she had an oddly powerful soul presence.