17 - Sakuto Hitori's True Power / Antipathy

“I’ll fucking kill you!!!”

Sakuto continued his relentless assault, rushing at Otto and swinging his blade around like a madman. With each blow, a little bit of that empty gray paired with vibrant color escaped his blade.

“So this is him in action? The original wielder of the adaptation system!”

Otto had no breathing space left. The intense gravity that he used put Sakuto down, but it wasn’t enough to neutralize him. Something was wrong with Sakuto’s eyes. They were filled with that vibrant color.

They continued clashing until Sakuto flung Otto into the air with the impact of one of his strikes. He launched a flurry of flying slashes, but Otto quickly dodged all of them. Otto deployed a far larger circle of gravity, and Sakuto was pinned to the ground. But before Otto could get close...

A spark appeared on Sakuto’s chest. He got up, with all of his hate residing within those strangely deep eyes. Otto charged in and the two exchanged sword strikes again. Sakuto’s speed and power felt unnatural.

“It’s the asshole...that did everything.”

“He stands by the subhuman filth that are the soulless.”

Sakuto charged in again, this time, he was leading the fight. With every strike, the release grew more and more noticeable. Despite Otto being stronger, Sakuto was putting him on the ropes. But Otto himself was unaware that he was facing a calamity just like himself.

“The soulless that despised me for no reason, made me feel alone and miserable, and made me despise myself.”

“I hate them...”

“I hate everything about them.”

“I hope every single one of them dies.”

“I hate them.”

“So put it into your weapon, Sakuto.”

Sakuto experienced another spark, but this time, it was not a spark of adaptation, and it took place where his missing eye was. It was that of something far more dangerous. Amidst his exchanges with Otto, he was also getting wounded, his emotional state was clouding his combat decisions and allowing himself to get hit.

Otto opened up some distance and reinforced his gravity, and Sakuto experienced another spark of adaptation. He walked right towards Otto.

“All because of you...you fucking...soulless!!!”

He threw an evasive sword strike and sharply closed the distance, grabbing Otto by his outfit and slamming him into the ground, before throwing him upward and kicking him into the air. Otto launched a slash that carved a deep wound on Sakuto’s chest. And Sakuto launched a slash that flourished with the colorful gray. It cut off Otto’s right hand in an instant.

“I get it now.”

“All I need to do is to express that emotion.”

“Pour everything into my soul.”

“Just like how Jackal did it.”

“Just like how Kouta did it.”

And as Otto made his landing, he noticed the colors too. Sakuto closed his eyes, and his soul took it from there.

“Take all that hatred...”

“And spew it all out.”

“ ✦ Divine Acclamation ✦ ”

A droplet of black and white, falling upon a withered strelitzia flower. The flower lacked some of its petals, it was destroyed, but the droplet sparked new life into it. It blossomed with all its beauty, and yet, it was painted in a monochromatic gray.

But from that droplet, the playful contrast of black and white decorated it. It granted it a special color, a vibrant symphony of vivid shades that all expressed the beauty of life, concealed within the empty gray. That scenery, paired with the immense amount of soul prowess, was about to be released into the cold and uncaring outer world. Sakuto would be heard.

The black and white of soul prowess surrounded his body and erupted. It would form a large axis-like shape with sharp edges behind Sakuto’s head, paired with a set of decorated figures. Sakuto’s soul reached its apex.

“ ✦ REGRETLESS SOULSCAPE!!!!!!! ✦ ”

And an instant later, the gray enchanted with its unique colors would erupt as well. The colorful gray would be felt by not just Otto or the nearby soulfuls, but to every soul that breathed and lived.

Ausra, Ichika and Oskar felt the acclamation, and were stunned by it, even terrified. It kept them awake for long enough to allow their soul determination to kick in and preserve their bodies a little better.

Otto was shocked, the color enveloped his eyes. He could hardly believe that he was subject to such a predicament.

Mukawa, and his team, were all struck by it.

“What...is this? Is this the same-”

Mukawa threw up. His comrades asked him if he was alright, to which he didn’t respond. He looked down at the floor in disbelief. He had a special trait - he was very sensitive to soul presences and could read them very well. This particular presence devoured him whole.

“It’s exactly like what I saw.”

“Fuck...”

“Fucking...damn it!”

Ichigo and Jian were lurking around the battlefield, and they felt it too. They quickly took a defensive stance, before realizing that this was a product of their ally, not their enemy.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” Jian asked. “Mr. Kamiki told us that he’s unpredictable.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“But to this extent? I don’t know if I should be surprised or concerned...” Ichigo sighed.

Zawadski was surprised, but also grateful, since the release of energy made Yuuka wake up. Zervos was still in a pretty bad state.

“That’s the type of artillery we have?!”

“Sorry, Captain. Looks like you’ll have to give space to the new generation.”

But the person who was affected the most by that release was Kaito Kamiki himself.

“How...magnificent...” He thought, as tears slowly ran down his cheeks.

“Dad? What’s this feeling?” Hiroshi asked. “Are we about to get attacked?”

“No. It’s the opposite, Hiroshi. The conflict is going to end.” Kaito smiled. “Remember this well, I don’t think you’ll experience something like this again.”

“This is what a divine acclamation truly is.”

“The exposure of one’s soul, its spark and its void, and every emotion and thought that orbits it." he smiled. "You are a true soulful, Sakuto Hitori.”

The first release of a divine acclamation is always unique. Jackal’s first release, for example, impeached the sun, and flared its presence to be felt even across the ocean.

But in the case of Sakuto Hitori,the entire world could sense it. Every soulful that graced the planet, dormant, incomplete and complete, would be affected by that colorful gray. They’d sense and feel that very dream that haunted and blessed Sakuto.

His vision of life, that was so unexplainable and yet so naturally obvious to soulfuls like himself, would be declared to the world. It would be rejected, and acclaimed only by the soulfuls who were on the same mountain range as he was.

And Otto was the target.

A few droplets of blood flew away from him, and soon, so did even more blood and parts of his uniform. The buildings around them were on the brink of collapse, just one more push, and they’d be dismantled apiece - that push would soon arrive. And Otto would brace for impact.

A powerful destructive force ripped the buildings apart, and began to target Otto directly. His body was getting more and more scarred. Amidst the destruction, Sakuto charged in and closed the distance.

Otto, who a few moments ago was enraged and looked unstoppable, was put on his back foot. He strengthened the gravity to its maximum, it slammed Sakuto down on the ground. But a spark appeared on the latter’s chest. A few seconds later, before Otto could reach him, another spark appeared. He started to slowly get up.

And as Otto attempted to strike him, he was kicked away with tremendous force. The fifth spark appeared, and Sakuto walked right towards Otto, completely disregarding his gravity. It all reminded Otto of the nasty incident in Tokyo. Both the boy with gravitational powers, and his current opponent, had that same hatred within them. Except now, it was Sakuto walking through his gravity as if it were a gentle morning breeze.

Sakuto advanced.

“Despite being a dream, it was the only image of life that could save me.”

“I will not let go of my salvation...”

“Because of this fucking soulless scum!”

Sakuto rapidly closed the distance, swinging his blade with ferocity. Otto was being pushed back further and further, until one of the strikes managed to slash him. Sakuto uppercutted Otto with tremendous force. Otto landed on the connecting bridge between the top floors of two larger buildings.

“My adaptation...is refusing to work?!” Otto thought in panic, taking a stance again. “This amount of soul dimming, it’s pressing both my soul and my mindscape...while I’m maintaining my own acclamation...my soul prowess is unable to do everything at once!”

“And the speed at which he adapted to my gravity...”

Sakuto jumped up to him. The two faced off one final time.

“Then bring it on!” Otto thought, charging at Sakuto. He activated his foresight, and for one such maneuver, he managed to catch Sakuto off-guard and land another powerful slash. The second time he went in for the attack, he had moderate success.

The third time, Sakuto’s image was becoming more and more blurry.

“I get it now, the speed of his adaptation is enhanced to its maximum.”

“I cannot fight it now. He is extremely unstable. Eventually it’ll wear off, and when he doesn’t have this...thing anymore, I’ll destroy him.”

“Just how much did Kaito psyop you with his delusions?” Otto thought. That thought made him full of hatred. Unbeknownst to him, it was Sakuto’s own hatred he was facing.

From beneath the rubble outside, a soulful could stand again. He hadn’t even managed to heal himself yet, he was wounded and had quite a few broken bones in his body. Thanks to his sheer determination, he not only stood, also mustered up his weapon and took aim...

“So it’s decided then, I’ll retreat!” Otto jumped back. He tried to fall off the building and make a run for it, but he was stopped. A powerful electric arrow pierced his abdomen, shocking him and halting his escape.

“You’re not getting away...” Oskar said, trails of blood escaping his mouth. He was barely standing.

“Sakuto...”

“Fucking kill him.”

“So that’s how it is, huh?” Otto clenched his sword tighter. “Fine then, I’m just as capable of murder as the psychopath in front of me!”

“How can you support the extent of Kaito’s power meeting his hatred and delusions?!”

“Kaito Kamiki...”

“ ✦ Do not underestimate my will to sacrifice everything to stop you!!! ✦ ”

His sword’s presence skyrocketed, becoming almost blindingly powerful. Holding onto the sword with his left hand, he swung it into the air.

“ ✦Soul Sacrifice: ✦ "

"Soul Electromagnetism System,"

"Gravity Manipulation,"

"Time Manipulation,"

"Foresight,"

"and Adaptation System!!!”

“ ✦ All at once, imbued with every bit of my soul prowess! ✦ ”

The sword’s power was insurmountable, impossible to put into words. It left a great trail of soul prowess that spelled the forthcoming of an absolutely devastating attack. Otto swung The Replicator at Sakuto. Sakuto, who closed the distance, struck the sword with a backhanded attack. The colors that illuminated his salvation would bless his blade. Upon impact, with just one strike...

The Replicator was shattered apiece.

Oskar, who witnessed it, should have been shocked. But he just smiled. Blood dripped down his scarred lip, and he smiled, proud of his friend.

Otto’s eyes were open wide, he felt like a fragment of his soul was destroyed. Everything that he knew about the capabilities of soulfuls and the laws of soul combat considered such an event utterly impossible and even ridiculous. So he simply stared at Sakuto, partially accepting his fate.

"Impossible..."

"A soul-bound weapon...cannot be broken..."

...

“So this was what you foresaw, Mukawa?”

“That release of soul prowess and the fluctuations...these colors...it wasn’t Kaito’s doing.”

“It was all him. The boy who you chose to save back then, the boy who granted me the power to act, and the boy who will now take my life.”

Sakuto lowered his blade, and prepared to swing upwards. He built up an incredible release of soul prowess. Otto acknowledged his fate...

“Mukawa...”

“You damn empath.”

And with one such release, Otto’s body was completely destroyed...