K.W.C. Side Trips – Ryuko Matoi vs. Battle Beast: Fire in Furious Blood

Author: Cody Taylor | Banner: Cody Taylor

Not every revolt was meant to be. It was a hard pill to swallow when its efforts came crashing down upon one’s head, when the world gave its favour to the dominators, when the grand lie that revolution was built on comes undone. What was the point? Was it ever worth it? Was fighting against plain truth worth it? Then, realisation. It’s a fast, brutal thing, but no more cruel than the falsehood that had led the path there. In a way, realization was a form of bliss.

Ryuko Matoi just one month ago had learned that her revolt was meaningless. The thing she was fighting against, the alien Life Fibers that threatened to subsume humanity, were the very fabric of her being. Beating in the grasp of her enemy was Ryuko’s heart, radiating with the inhuman sparkle of Life Fibers. It was undeniable proof. Something created to usher in the new world order, and raised to eradicate her own extraterrestrial kind. Then the girl learnt the fascist custodian of human subjugation to Life Fibers, her ultimate foe, the one she was raised to thwart and destroy, was her own mother. 

Her mind broke, the righteous anger that had carried her to heights unimaginable boiled over and decayed, replaced by unadulterated, confused rage. And why wouldn’t she be consumed by such fury? Ryuko had learned she was a monster. A freak, forever destined to be a weapon, forever something to be feared and talked about in sordid whispers. Unable to ever be seen as a human ever again. She couldn’t, so no one else must either. 

Never before had the eyes of evil looked upon a lost soul so poised to be corrupted.

In her anger, Ryuko spurned her staunch allies and dear friends, whose words of encouragement and caution fell on deaf ears, simply wishing to find an outlet to beat to a pulp and slice to bits. Watching with their callous eyes, the serpents knew they had found their opportunity. So, when the objects of Ryuko’s wrath appeared to her as apparitions of fabric, the girl didn’t waste a second in cursing them and riding off towards their doom, for her ire was ceaseless.

Of course, it had all been a trap laid by the wicked mother and her lackeys. Falling for the bait and ensnared by the miraculous light of submission, the teenage Life Fiber hybrid was enlightened by the knowledge of her true, created purpose. Brainwashed and fed twisted visions, Ryuko’s rebellion died, she no longer resisted, seeking refuge and pleasure in the arms of those who picked her up at her lowest. Stripped of dignity and meaning, the child was rescued from the storm by the one she had foolishly labelled her enemy.

The mother of light and her pink-clad dragon embraced the prodigal daughter… returned at last. Suiting her up in Revocs’ Sunday Best and sending her on her way, the phantom rulers of the world awaited eagerly to hear confirmation of success. The world must be rid of insolent pigs who do not bow to the tyranny of clothing!

***

In and amongst the jagged steel wasteland of the Naked Sol’s ruined deck, the clash of two warriors strained the warship’s foundations, bending plates and beams with the shockwave of every blow. With every traded strike gusts of force lifted hailstorms of debris that flew in all directions, scattering more and more of the seam ripper-shaped ship, leaving the two combatants in a pit of their own making. 

Bystanders looked on in tense awe, for that was the only cause of action now that wouldn’t end in their demise. They were watching two of the strongest beings on the planet go head-to-head — getting between that would be akin to a tree shredded between typhoons on both sides. Yet, they would soon have no other choice, it was do or die. The short and easygoing Mako, the colourful but loyal Elite Four, the militaristic and sure Nudist guerillas Aikuro Mikisugi and Tsumugu, all understood just what precarious of a position they now found themselves in.

What they were up against was no mere Goku uniform user, no mere COVER that could be deactivated with an Emergency Rescue Suction Device. The enemy of humanity that had come to smite freedom’s last hope was Ryuko Matoi. The supposed saviour of man. Having struck from the heavens as a meteor of cerulean energy, the hybrid donned the angular, vicious white-and-blue Kamui Junketsu, whose immense power when amplified by her own created a nigh-unstoppable killer. 

Not only was her mind distorted by her mother’s cruel machinations, but her physical appearance too was changed by evil’s influence. The sky-blue eyes that once held kindness beneath the snark were swallowed whole by a fittingly foul temper, painted above with blood-red eyeshadow. Blue highlights in her fluffed-up hair erased the red ones of old, save for a few strands above her face, symbols of her transformation into a tool of dominance, a slave to the powers of her fiendish handlers, and metallic white horns poking through her hair, perfectly suiting her new position in the world — the devil in white.

The teen was stronger than ever before, faster than ever before, and the powers of the Life Fibers served her with more control than ever before, and it felt amazing! Armed with the scarlet Scissor Blade, a sword as powerful as someone of her caliber deserves, no one stood a chance against the limitless might of Lady Ryuko! Not even the illustrious Lady Satsuki Kiryuin, Honnōji  Academy’s student council President and Junketsu’s old bearer. 

Even with Ryuko’s partner Kamui Senketsu as an answer to the girl’s newfound power, the older sister was utterly outclassed in the contest of strength. It wasn’t even close. Satsuki was disarmed, beaten and broken, humiliated in a way only someone with their family’s level of power could replicate. The glorious Lady exhausted her bag of tricks, that was no longer an option, so her gambit she’d formulated with the help of Mako Mankanshoku was the only shot left, but chances were slim, especially with murderous Matoi no-longer willing to play their little game.

Platitudes, lectures and attempts to sway the heart were repulsed with a kick that could shatter mountains as Ryuko’s white high-heeled boot plunged into her sister’s gut, flicking the long-haired warrior away, who painfully rolled to a stop amongst droplets of her blood in the crushed concrete.

Leering down at her struggling opponent with a jeer, the piercing red eyes of Junketsu joined Ryuko’s own as she mocked the one who tried to thwart the onslaught. “Awww, what’s the matter? You don’t look so high and mighty now, do ya? We can’t have that.” Kneeling down, the devil in white snatched the angel in black by the hair and lifted her up, smirking wider with every wince and groan. “Lemme help ya get back on your feet!” 

Ryuko dropped Satsuki, only to catch her by the chin with the other hand, squeezing with five digits clenched tightly around her jaw. The girl was lifted even higher now, drawing a chuckle from the heel’s fangs. “Feelin’ better now? Do ya? Huh, Lady Satsuki? Hell, your feet ain’t even touchin’ the ground. You’re just a sad little princess standin’ on a sand castle, and I’m a big ass wave that’s gonna wash it all away.”

Just as Senketsu was about to spill his heart all teary-eyed to his life-partner, and just as both sisters’ friends leapt into action, something as inconspicuous as a warning light on a monitor went off, noticed only by Hōka Inumuta, the blue-haired tech-wiz of the Elite Four. As he sat on the Naked Sol’s bridge attending to the family feud, a blip labelled with a question-mark flashed on the radar.

“Hold it,” he urged his allies with a snivelly tone, whose heads turned on a swivel back to him in unison, “we’ve got another bogie headed towards us. I can’t identify who or what it is, but it’s… it’s coming from directly above us?”

By the grace of nothing other than chance, a lone extra-terrestrial spacecraft hovered above the Earth. Before today, the occupant of the craft had never heard of the planet, let alone set eyes upon it. He was a nomad, roaming from place to place without much connection to anywhere. Such was it that today, he happened to stumble upon one very troubled planet. Perhaps it was the universe shining its favour brightly on Earth, or conversely, for what was now falling to Earth bore strength and wrath that could not be contained, it would spell doom for everybody.

A ball of flame, hurtling towards Earth faster than the speed of sound, burned across the sky, screaming and roaring as it got brighter and brighter, attracting all eyes upon its blazing heat until it smashed onto the deck with even greater force that Ryuko had, knocking the ship’s bow down towards the water before it thrashed back in the opposite direction. It was a miracle the Naked Sol even survived. All of the loose debris flew like bullets, forcing most to take cover. Both Matoi and Kiryuin held their ground as best they could, feeling the shockwave blow their hack back and whip their naked flesh.

When the winds stopped and the dust settled, in the middle of a second crater, stood a very peculiar sight. Mako, Gamagori, Sanageyama, Jakuzure, Inumuta, Aikuro and Tsumugu popped their heads up like gerbils, eying down the oddity from a very safe and very long distance. The sisters, just moments ago locked in a war of annihilation, stood side-by-side and shared a confused, side-eyed glance. Wounded and tired, Satsuki gripped tight onto her arm with a grimace, but Ryuko put a hand on her hip and the giant half-scissors over her shoulder, tilting her head in perplexity. Milky yellow eyes with powerfully dark pupils dilated in her direction. 

“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” the white swordswoman snarled. 

There on the crumpled deck stood the impossible — an enormous beast of white fur with a shaggy mane that danced in the oceanic breeze, hosting a ponytail and four braids that decorated it. He had the face of a lion, mean and predatory, with one lower incisor peaking through his closed lips. The animal-man puffed from his flared nostrils, purring into a low growl as he surveyed the scene he interrupted. His ears twitched and primed, hearing all the lowly chatter of concern in his regard.

Over his herculean form rode form-fitting black leggings and sleeves, a plated vest chipped and scratched by centuries of conflict, clawed gloves the colour of blood, all accentuated by gold in his boots and faulds. It was a frightening sight to a world unfamiliar with the vastness of the cosmos and all the secrets it held. The intentions of the newcomer however were decisively less secretive, as the feline reached over its back and slipped into its grip a golden mace.

Then, without prompt, the white lion spoke. “Far too long have I roamed the stars without blood to satisfy my unending rage.” The alien’s voice was as deep and powerful as one would expect of an apex hunter like him, but his tone was considered and lofty, like something from another age. “My search has led me to this planet, Earth. My ship detected a swell of power in an enormity I have not seen for many years, and that promising allure has filled me with a great hope.” Taking note of the many primates that gazed at his terrible might, the cosmic warrior bore a toothy grin. 

“I take it that most of you are combatants. So I must ask — which one of you is a worthy challenge for Battle Beast?”

Battle Beast. Scourge of the Twin Galaxies. A hero to some, a criminal and villain to most. A dornian warrior granted power worthy of demigods, surpassing every foe he had ever faced in his extremely long life. His power was a great blessing, but it was also a great curse, as his bloodlust only grew alongside his insurmountable strength. He had lost anything that once made him Thokk. The ability to live a normal life, or even stay in one place too long, was all gone. If left to linger or ruminate, his fury would be the end of everything. His new life was dedicated to reaching the curse’s natural end-point. His death by a superior opponent — and he would forever search for that superior.

It was an apt name, Battle Beast. Not one of the humans before him dared make a sound, largely struck by wonder and terror at seeing a seven-foot-two bipedal lion fall from the sky and demand a fight. All except one, who guffawed and clutched her belly in a fit of laughter. Thokk’s attention fell squarely on the girl in white and blue, who wiped a tear from her eye.

“Ha ha ha! Oh, man! You serious? Battle Beast? That’s your name?” Ryuko wheezed, but it didn’t bother the big cat all too much, instead focusing on gauging whether this lippy one was the being who anchored his intrigue to this planet. Straightening herself, the Kamui-user answered directly. “That’s a good one, furball, I think I like you already! Now that I’ve gotcha attention, yeah, I’m probably the one ya came for. None of these assholes stand a chance against me, not even combined!”

Battle Beast wrung his fingers around his mace excitedly. “Oh? Is that so?”

Smirking and shrugging her shoulders with pride, Ryuko gestured all around her, to the destruction, to the battered and bested foes. “You betcha. All this? That was me, and it was really damn easy, too. I’mma hard-ass gangster, stone cold. I was just about to kill everyone up in here, but looks like I got a new toy to play with.” A little, cutesy voice in her head reminded her of the mission. Massacre the nudists, exterminate the knockoff, punish Satsuki for her betrayal. But there was a fire in her blood, ablaze with a calling that told her to indulge her passion and power. Junketsu’s power was too good to waste on a gang of twerps. 

“Sounds marvellous. Tell me then, whom do I have the pleasure of doing battle with?”

“The name’s Ryuko Matoi, kitty.” Swinging her Scissor Blade and pointing its end towards the feline warrior, the dropout-turned-villain threw her mother’s wishes to the wind. Mother dearest wouldn’t mind a little detour. They were destined to win, after all, might as well have the time of her life. “And if you’re lookin’ for a fight, I’m right here, cuz I got a lotta energy in me that’s just waitin’ to burst!” 

To say that Battle Beast was satisfied with the answer would be a colossal understatement. “Perfect.” he exulted with glee, already feeling his muscles pump full of adrenaline. “I thought you were the strongest, and now I see it clear as crystal. You live for the thrill of the fight, like me, so I will gladly grant your wish.” With his body entering into a state of pure frenzy, Thokk roared his warrior’s promise. “May one of us die gloriously today, and may the victor feast upon his entrails!”

Ryuko scoffed and rolled her eyes as she leant into her stance, as even her dialed-up jerkiness found the feliform to be over-dramatic. “Yeah, whatever ya say, pussy cat. It’s your funeral. Let’s fuckin’ do this!”

“WAAAAIT!!!” a shrill plea echoed over the deck of the Naked Sol, rattling down from the open-air bridge. Balancing atop the wheel’s pedestal was Mako, whose lack of self-preservation and basic situational awareness was astounding to all who saw her act of defiance. “You can’t fight Altercation Animal, Ryuko! I won’t let you! You’re just not feeling yourself right now, you changed your hairstyle, you changed your everything-style, and it’s like you’re a completely different person! But you’re not! You’re my friend! Don’t make a mistake that you’ll regret in a couple minutes, and by that I mean don’t fight him! He looks so big and mean and tough, like he could pick you up and snap you in half like a twig, Ryuko! And he’ll eat you! I won’t forgive myself if I let you get hurt because you’re my best friend and I need you to be safe! How are you and Senketsu meant to make up if you get eaten by that tiger-man!? Tell me Ryuko! TELL ME!!!”

It just went on, and on, and on. “My patience grows thin with that insect’s prattling.” the dornian grumbled, never before having a battle interrupted before it began by such nonsense. “Tell your friend to cease making such maddening noises, before I leap up there and devour her.”

The Life Fiber hybrid puckered her lips off to the side. Oh, he was crazy crazy. “I’m with ya there, BB, she’s really startin’ to piss me off.” Ryuko’s sapphire gaze snapped to Mako, the intensity and disdain in it actually forcing the bobcut-donning girl to trip and fall backwards off her perch. “So quit it, pipsqueak! Before I drag ya down here and tear your mouth off! And I ain’t your friend, so get over it.”

Mako’s big eyes bubbled with tears as her lips trembled, reaching out over the edge of the bridge towards a girl that wanted nothing to do with her. “R-Ryuko… I… I… I thought we were friends.” How callously the once-hero of the rebellion against Revocs could reject her loved ones didn’t fail to astonish anyone watching. Gamagori, the muscle of Honnōji ’s Elite Four and disciplinary enforcer, came to the no-star’s comfort.

“There, there. You were very brave for trying, Mankanshoku.” he spoke with manly grit as he gently patted Mako’s back with his enormous hand. It was his job to protect the students of the Academy, even if here it was just reassurance. “Believe this, Mankanshoku. Matoi can hold her own, even if she’s turned on us. This is the girl who put belt to all of our behinds, and even competed with the great Lady Satsuki! If anybody can defeat this ‘Battle Beast’, it’s her.”

Words like that were enough to inspire a one-eighty degree flip in the girl’s bobcut-guarded brain, who now stood again on the pedestal, beating her chest and waving her arms to cheer. “You go, Ryuko! We can work out your mean-streak later, just whoop this kitty-cat’s ass! WOOO!!! GO RYUKO!!!”

Senketsu, having retreated with Satsuki and been changed out of, clung tightly with his sleeves to the edge of the bridge platform. His single eye pulsated with genuine worry for the ruffian. The living cloth had to see Ryuko lose her way, try to kill him and everyone on the ship, and now she was going to fight that thing? He knew none of what the creature was capable of, but its appearance did not ring well with the Kamui’s heart.

“Don’t die, Ryuko. Please.”

Both fighters squared their stances, holding their weapons-of-choice out before them, fixing the foe behind it. Locking sapphire eyes with yellow ones, the hybrid and the dornian shared a promise that would be written by the ruins they left in their wake and the flesh they would carve from the other’s body.

“I’m gonna enjoy every second of this.” Ryuko’s grin widened as her crazy eyes looked as if they were nearly about to pop, pupils constricted wildly. Battle Beast offered a smile of his own, the hoarse rumble of a lion’s roar rolling from his tongue.

“Truer words…”

Then, they went off like two white blurs, hurtling towards their enemy as fast as they could, weapons wound far behind them only to be swung forward with everything they had. Taking Thokk’s build as an indicator, Ryuko expected to be the faster of the two, moving to slash across the lion’s chest before it even had the chance to react. But the beast could easily match her in speed with his mace screaming through the air, colliding with the Scissor Blade and sparking hot.

The impact rang out for miles, blowing away nearly all the debris from the last fight and holding the waves at bay. Just from this first blow alone, Ryuko realised that Battle Beast’s physical strength outmatched even hers, as the crimson sword went askew as it vibrated in her grasp, whilst the golden mace was already being prepared to go forth again. The Life Fiber huntress jumped in the nick of time, ignoring the ground beneath her getting shattered by the alien bludgeon to redirect her momentum into a flurry of kicks to rattle the furry creature’s snout.

One, two, three flicks of the high-heel struck Thokk’s jaw and nose, managing to knock his eyes away just long enough so he wouldn’t see the Scissor Blade lunge in for another strike, this time landing right across the alien’s chest. Being rocked back and losing his footing was a good sign for Battle Beast. The girl could in fact move him, something not many recent kills could claim. A thin but deep line was carved across his chestplates, only boosting his eagerness to explore Ryuko’s abilities.

When the miscreant and her multicoloured hair came flying in again, the ultimate warrior was ready — latching his vice-like clawed grip around her puny hands, he pulled her into the floor by his side, twisting as he followed her with the mace raised high above his head, already coming down by the time the devil in white knew what was happening. When the mace crashed against Ryuko’s skull, blood splattered everywhere, shooting across the cracked ground and all over Battle Beast’s weapon.

Though the crowd squealed, the hero of Dorn found no displeasure or disgust in it. He loved to see it, especially considering he only repeated the motion once he saw Ryuko glare at him not with fear but anger. It hurt like a bitch having parts of her cranium be torn loose and having all that copious blood and brain matter be flung all over the place, but a glorified toy wasn’t going to be the death of her. In fact, it only fueled her!

A fourth mace-strike was blocked by the much smaller fighter’s weapon, and by utilising her powers of flight, she rotated her body downwards, pushed away from the ground and delivered a hearty two-footed strike to Battle Beast’s chin, sending him crashing a distance away. The delinquent caught herself in the reflection of her sword — a sizable chunk of her head around her temple was gone.

“Not bad, BB, not bad at all.” She got goosebumps all over her body, the thrill was exhilarating. Being able to exist perfectly fine with such injuries was something she’d never get used to, but it was awesome! The hole in her head didn’t take long to be patched up, as the pink sparkle of Life Fibers stitched it back good as new. Throwing the sword over her shoulders and casually resting her arms on it, Ryuko raised an eyebrow and playfully asked, “How am I doing?”

Bounding from the crater he formed with his back, the cosmic lion ripped up into the sky with his mace, falling down towards Ryuko with a roar. “I only hope this is the beginning of your power!” Battle Beast swung with all his might and nearly broke the ship in two with the strike, quaking every inch of metal that went into its construction, though his intended target managed to side-step. Channeling unnatural power into her next move, the human-Life Fiber hybrid swung with the Scissor Blade once more, only this time not intending to slice the enemy.

This time, the sheer force of the Scissor Blade’s motion would be her ally. Battle Beast was struck with a monstrous invisible energy and was pushed backwards, his boots digging up the floor he stood on. Again Ryuko went, this time trying to throw the bloodthirsty scourge off his feet by aiming at his head. The savage withstood it, though after a couple of seconds, clouds behind and high above the target were rent in two when the swing’s force breached the heavens. A third time did not pan out well.

When Ryuko made the mistake of falling within an arm’s reach, Battle Beast grabbed the fatal fashionista’s head and held her still for his mace, bringing it upon her femur. It didn’t even try to hold together and splintered all throughout her thigh, blood-red bone piercing up and out into open air. The ruffian grunted in agony as she was strongarmed down by the lion’s boot. Not eager to face another round of blunt-force trauma, Matoi watched and waited for the exact right moment to pounce and counter. She needed to get rid of that mace, and Battle Beast’s penchant for savouring the fight was going to cost him.

Her eyes flashed with anticipation, for she found her opening. Right when the lion-man’s grip was loosest on his mace, when his finger-contact with its handle was at its least, she made her move, and swung the ruby-red half-scissors with the same technique as before. Just as predicted, the metal mace flew right from Battle Beast’s claws, soaring way off into the distance, no more than a glimmering sparkle falling towards the horizon.

Thokk’s face contorted with confusion at first, then with delight. Impressive. Very impressive. The girl was quick with her wits. He liked that in an opponent. “Well done!”

All of the crumpled pieces of femur were sucked back into the right place, and when ready to stand, Ryuko hopped up to the panther’s eye-level, “I know!”, and smashed her head into his nose. Battle Beast reeled from the headbutt for a second before wiping underneath his moist nostril with his glove. His fingertip was stained with blood. Not hers, which she apparently had in spades, but his own.

“Most impressive.” he said, licking his muzzle. Without his mace, the humanoid carnivore had no reason to hold himself back with a more orderly form of combat. In place of forged weapons, he would rely on those nature gave him — his claws, his teeth, the brute strength he was feared universe-wide for. Lowering to all fours, Battle Beast sprang forward with an agape maw, aiming to catch the regenerator’s head and crack it open. Perhaps the blood that shone like stars would have a unique taste.

“Shit!” she yelped, barely ducking in time and letting the goliath zoom overhead and tear away even more of the Naked Sol’s deck to prevent slipping off the front. “Oh alright! We’re goin’ like animals? I can be an animal, just watch me!” Taking flight with a step-off, Ryuko rocketed towards the recovered Battle Beast and collided mid air. She landed a punch to the face, then another to the gut before her sword screeched across Battle Beast’s peeling chest armour. When she flew, it was enough to create a small gap in speed, but it was enough to land three hits before the space creature could.

But when Thokk hit, he hit hard . A pounding of his gloved fist against Ryuko’s head shook her world, somehow even more powerful than the mace with superior leverage and momentum. With how all-encompassing the pain throbbing in her skull was, Junketsu’s host hadn’t even realised she’d been sent tumbling right at the base of the bridge, the wall having a nasty spiderweb crack surrounding her imprint. The teen wasn’t even awarded a second of peace to hop out of the rubble before Battle Beast met her there, puncturing her shoulder with his claws on his way to pull her out and throw her in the other direction.

Battle Beast dove after the staggered humanoid and got her entirety under his weight. His boots pinned her lower legs, crushing her bones, whilst his upper body was curled over hers. Clasping her thin neck with his left hand, the dornian super-warrior balled his right and threw punch after punch, breaking Ryuko’s nose with the first and caving her face in with the second. Like this, the servant of evil could only stare in mind-splitting pain through the collapsed flesh of her face, choking on her own gore. It drenched the gladiator’s outfit in delectable blood.

Junketsu itself stepped in with a fiendish hiss, not to save her life, but because the semi-sentient cloth of the new world order didn’t share its wearer’s penchant for wasting time. The two shoulder spikes its eyes were mounted on jetted forth from Ryuko’s body, slamming into Battle Beast like missiles with detonative force and wrenching the stronger fighter off. With a window for a further offensive, Junketsu retracted back onto the evildoer’s shoulders just in time for her head to pop into shape. With a wily yowl and a bounce, the white-and-blue fist of Revocs thrusted her knee into the alien’s jaw, then leant forward to pummel his cheek with a nasty right hook.

The punch spun Thokk’s head and elicited a small spray of blood specks, but the latent power behind it continued past the herculean lion and blew a chunk out of the side of the bridge tower, putting it on a lean and obliging the battle’s observers to be more wary of their footing and hold onto something, lest they fall. The way his face came back to her was sober, unaffected by Matoi’s strikes.

“Judging by your dainty build, child, one would expect you to be but a mere nuisance, not worthy of my time.” The comment goaded Ryuko to rush in for a blade-strike, only for Battle Beast to backhand with a clenched fist and send her packing. “How you have proved that wrong!” The swordswoman twisted through the air and crashed against the ground hard and fast, kicking up a veil of dust in her wake. Annoyed, she snapped upright and spat a chunk of concrete from her mouth.

“Ptui! Cheap moves like that ain’t shit!” Seeing the lion make his way like a wild beast over towards her gave the girl all the focus she needed to get back into the fight. He swiped at her, but a dodge allowed Ryuko to command Junketsu to turn itself into a weapon, just as she once saw Satsuki do. The pointed-edges of the Kamui’s ‘face’ made for perfect stabbing-weapons, and the left-shoulder’s edge extended out and speared right into the side of the fighting feline. He let out a drawn-back howl, relishing in that more of his own blood was being spilled that day.  

The second swipe managed to snag the relatively tiny waist of the genetic anomaly, and she was easily yanked free from impaling the newcomer. He dug the claw on each and every digit in, swirling them around and flexing them to shred more of his opponent’s flesh. Ryuko grimaced and grit her teeth, coughing up a shot of blood, bleeding hatred in her eyes for the burly and brutal beast that now held her off the ground with both hands. Riddled by foreign intrusions, the girl was much slower to bring the Scissor Blade upon her foe, and it was promptly caught by the teeth and spat away. The excitement in his eyes went dull, though his dream was not dead. It only needed to be nudged out, ripped out if it must.

“Where is your enjoyment, child? Stop holding back! I know your power is not at its limits! Do not prove yourself a liar! Show me! SHOW ME ALL OF IT!” Battle Beast grinned as he shuffled his fingers about, preparing to tear Ryuko in half by the stomach. The pain was excruciating, feeling every string of flesh, every organ begin to separate. An ocean of blood poured from the girl’s mid-section, and soon after, glittery entrails.

Only a stupid person would be foolish enough to claim victory so easily, she thought. The ever-so-great Lady Satsuki and her cronies couldn’t do it, and neither would this furry punk from space.

“I’LL SHOW YOU, YA BIG WHITE BITCH!” Matoi’s rage manifested physically and blew back Battle Beast’s paws. The dornian couldn’t help but grin like the Cheshire Cat. Without even thinking the teenager lunged onto the white lion, wrapping her deceptively powerful arms around his neck and swinging around to his back, putting the beast in a chokehold that even he in all of his might could not help but yield to. Forcing him to the floor, Ryuko’s teeth ground against one another as she grappled with the strength of the notorious intergalactic killer. Even yet she soldiered on, her building fury matching the beast’s own with a literal fire – an aura that in tandem with the raw strength of the two warriors, imperiled the very platform they fought on.

“YA HAPPY NOW!?” the Life Fiber hybrid growled into his twitchy ear, trying to bury his head deeper as she did so. “I AIN’T GONNA HOLD BACK ANYMORE! YOU WANT THIS! YOU WANT MY POWER!? WELL HERE, TAKE IT!!” Ryuko got so into the fight she flashed her own little fangs and bit down on the feline’s shoulder, trying to rip his hide like a berserker. Her crested wrath applied too much pressure for the deck of the Naked Sol to handle, and it gave way for the immense power, crumbling into dust and causing both fighters to fall into the inside of the ship.

“Grrk! Yes! Yes!” Battle Beast gargled out as he threw himself every which way, trying to get rid of the weaponless but feisty swordswoman clamping his windpipe shut. The movements put massive dents in the hull, shattering machinery and tossing hapless workers as if they were toys. Sewing Club president Iori was nearly killed in the tussle as the white-haired juggernaut crashed through a wall, putting all of his anti-Revocs research into disarray.

The commotion of it all had Ryuko lose control, and in a moment of frenetic carnage, Battle Beast wrestled free, craned his head up and slammed his fangs down into the girl’s head. His upper jaw lodged itself deep into the back of the skull, painful enough, but the lower jaw found a far softer target. One large incisor bore deep through the child’s gooey eyeball, and she screamed. The scourge flailed his head in an attempt to shred his enemy into bits, his insatiable love of the game hitting a new peak as a fountain of blood spurted out with extreme pressure.

Thokk knew he’d found the jackpot on Earth. This girl, this Ryuko Matoi, was everything he’d searched for across the stars. She wasn’t dead, not nearly, not even after such terrible disfigurement and injury. He thrashed about, tearing open the front of her throat again and again as it regenerated, and yet she still lived and fought like a maniac to free herself. Her kicks were bruising the skin beneath his fur, and her flight-amplified leverage of strength made her his equal in terms of controlling the fight. He was pleased.

Panicked, Ryuko powered on her flight, pant-legs igniting with streams of blue fire in a bid to get free, but in the mouth of the beast, it only served to flip both over. Now on his back, the savage barbarian clawed the girl’s stomach open, cherishing every cry of pain. In a rabid spasm she laid haymaker after haymaker into each side of the dornian’s head, but Battle Beast’s jaw only tightened, turning more bone to dust and more meat to mush. 

Still with her head inside the lion’s jaws, her options of escape narrowed by the second, settling upon one she’d live to remember the agony of. With all of her muscle and willpower, Ryuko tore away from her opponent, gnawing through all the torment and suffering of having every strand of skin, muscle and bone separate between her head and body. Having no head would do for now. Feeling and hearing the delicious pop of flesh splitting and the squirt of torrential blood, Battle Beast’s pupils expanded, full of curiosity for the headless body leaping away from him.

Never had he seen that before. The respite in aggression greatly aided Ryuko, for the sheer uniqueness of the situation awarded her words of commendation from the centuries-old champion. Spitting her head out into his palm, the two made eye contact, and Thokk chuckled. “Now I am truly enthralled, Matoi. You live, and your two parts remain working in unison. Would you tell me how?”

“That’s one of the perks of being a creature made of Life Fibers. You needa cut through every thread of ‘em — something you can’t do, ya deranged idiot!” Battle Beast inspected the stump of the head, palming away the decapitated body that attempted to free its cranium with an overhead blow. There was a small, negligible string that had the signature glisten. He probed it with his claw, unable to cut it. The beast’s hunger suggested simply swallowing the skull, but he would never deign to do that.

Looking down at the smug face of Ryuko, the leonine alien simply shrugged and tossed the head back into the hands of the body. “I’m not one to disadvantage my foes. Keeping your parts away from one another to stop your healing would be dishonorable. I shall find another way to end your life.”

Taking her head and placing it on right, the devil in white rolled her neck, feeling the Life Fiber stitches work their magic. Good as new. “You’re kind for a dead man, y’know!” she complimented, cracking her knuckles and finding her stance.

“That’s the spirit!” Battle Beast cheered, his voice perfectly content. Ending the break with a rush towards the other, both fighters slammed shoulder against shoulder, forcing a contest of raw strength and nothing more, and in that arena, none could beat Battle Beast. The impact’s shockwave tore apart more nearby machinery before the dornian pummeled Ryuko through a wall or two, the metal plating wrapping around her form. Payback came swiftly when the Kamui-user kicked off the wall she smashed into, flipping around mid-air to crash both boots of hers against the dornian’s head.

Something was building up inside the girl, a burning feeling that caused her to lurch over. She’d felt it all throughout the fight, but it was only spilling over now. Letting out a guttural roar, Ryuko was enveloped in a dazzling but ravenous blue light. It was Junketsu overflowing with energy, and transforming it with her boundless fury, the high-school deviant mustered a monstrous uppercut, launching Thokk into the sky and swallowing him in an eruption of light. Her and Junketsu formed a scintillating pillar that followed her clench fist upwards. The azure ray nearly totalled the warship, but it seemed to ushered in a moment of calm, as the dornian warrior sedately and silently fell to the wayside, crashing amongst upturned concrete.

He raised his head and shook his mane free of dust, met with the sight of Ryuko descending from the sky, half of her face covered in her own blood. Her eye was beginning to regrow, and wild rage tempered by her half-lovable jerk personality painted everything about her. As the devil in white plucked the Scissor Blade from the ground, she powered up once more, sapphire light beaming about her. 

“Quite the show we’ve put on, eh?” Both warriors regarded the tattered ship, slowed to a crawl, smoke and falling pieces making up most of it. They also noticed there were still plenty of eyes regarding them, hiding behind broken panels so as to not garner any ire or ill thought. “Baah, these losers ain’t goin’ nowhere. Let’s blow this joint, BB, cuz I ain’t done with ya!” And like a thunderbolt of olympian wrath, the blue meteor raced away, slamming into Battle Beast and taking him away with it.

Leaving a very stunned crowd to wonder what next?

“I don’t even need my eyes to tell me what just happened was bad. Really bad.” Sanageyama sighed, his senses having been violently assailed by the combat. Wearing the same skimpy black-strapped Nudist-getup as the rest of the freedom fighters, the blindfolded head of athletics turned gazelessly to his allies, also struck by concern.

Taking charge as usual, Satsuki furrowed her bushy brow and sought to find answers. “Inumuta, were you able to get anything out of that animal?” she asked sternly, stashing both parts of her sword Bakuzan into her belt, wincing as she did so. The on-ship doctor, Mako’s cheerful and loose dad, immediately began attending to her. For how goofy Mister Mankanshoku was and how dodgy his methods were, he was a decent professional and bandaged Honnōji  Academy’s student President up in no-time.

“Of course.” the computer guy spoke, proud of his ability to still maintain his usefulness, unlike his three other Elite friends. His monitor flashed up with a pixelated silhouette of the dornian lion, fringed on either side by nibbles of information. “Just with what quick scans I could complete, ‘Battle Beast’ seems to be Matoi’s total physical superior. Stronger, more resilient, and just as fast. The most interesting part? There isn’t a trace of Life Fibers. We’re looking at a creature naturally strong enough to contend with a Life Fiber-infused being.”

The writing on the wall wasn’t pretty. Aikuro and Tsumugu’s sharpened faces dulled in hopelessness, knowing any of their Dōtonbori Robos and anti-Life Fiber needle weapons would be useless against the monster. For the first time in a long while, the Nudist guerilla leaders knew they were beat.

Jakuzure, the short-stack head of the non-athletic clubs, was itching to give her two cents. “I say we leave her, let her fight that psycho. It’s only fair given how she’s treated Lady Satsuki, never mind the rest of us.” 

“But she’ll die.” Aikuro warned, but the little pink-haired maestro only hardened her heart.

“We don’t have much of a choice, ya exhibitionist. If we go after them, either he’s gonna kill us to satisfy his bloodlust, or she will. Not to mention we’ll get this sad excuse for a boat sunk. It’s her or us, and I choose us.” The heir of the Kiryuin family considered her old friend’s points. The risk was undeniable.

“Well, what if Battle Beast defeats Matoi?” Sanageyama stroked his chin as he spoke. “Revocs lose a key asset, giving us time to retreat and recuperate — we cut our losses here and come back more prepared.”

Tsumugu frowned in resigned agreement, twirling a toothpick in his mouth. “Agreed. I never trusted that girl, especially given the truth about her. Maybe things are better this way.”

Even under the pressure of certain death, Gamagori’s big heart hidden behind that wall of toned muscle managed to shine through, disregarding his compatriots’ cold attitudes. “I can’t in good conscience agree. Matoi is the best chance we have at winning this war, and abandoning her means abandoning a chance at striking Revocs where they’ll feel it. Besides, it wouldn’t be the right thing to do.”

“I feel right and wrong is rather irrelevant in this case, Gamagori.” Inumuta snidely insisted, pushing his blue frames up his nose. “Matoi tried to kill us not moments ago, and Battle Beast’s stated intentions are not inherently malevolent. We do not know what interfering would mean to him.”

“You would rather a student — a person who we swore to be responsible for — perish than even try to save her!? Get a hold of yourself!” 

Sanageyama joined Inumuta and Jakuzure’s side in the debate; three against one in the Elite Four. “D’ya got a death wish or somethin’!? That monster would shred us to bits without breakin’ a sweat! I’m all about overthrowing Revocs, you know that, but I’m not gonna throw my life away chasing a fight that’s not  ours!”

“Yeah,” the smallest Elite snarked, “punchy-puss gave us the perfect opportunity to haul ass and get our shit together! We can’t lose that, ya big ogre!” Gamagori bowed his head in docility. Even Aikuro, the man with the most faith in Ryuko, began to taste doubt. Maybe things were better this way, leaving her behind. It broke his heart to know that the girl he placed the fate of the world on would die as a sacrifice, merely to deprive the enemy of a tool, to buy time. How heartless life could be.

But from the corner of his eye, the Nudist leader noticed the most stalwart vanguard of freedom march towards the fray, holding in her chest the will to speak her mind and the mind of another who could speak his own. Despite having the reputation of the slacker, the look in her eyes was as resolute as anyone else. With Senketsu trailing her feet, Mako Mankanshoku meant business.

“HEEEEYY!!!” she hollered, putting all eyes on her. Sucking in all the air that she could and psyching herself up in front of all the cool, powerful warriors, the no-star student let loose another signature rant of hers. “How can any of you guys just leave her like this!? Life’s been so hard on her, you guys have all seen how hard she’s fought just to avenge her weird dad! Then she learned that her mom’s all evil and she’s part alien, imagine how freaked out she is! It’s got her all confused, and believe me, feeling confused isn’t a fun time! Ryuko’s been in this fight since the day she arrived, which is like, a VERY long time!! Where were YOU guys when she was putting her life on the line every day!? Oh, I remember! You were all playing pretend and being bullies! Every day you sat in your ivory tower doing nothing except pushing her down for whatever reason! It was probably not a very good one.” Mako’s words were not received kindly by some, with Jakuzure crossing her arms and spitting venom.

“Watch your mouth, slacker. We were-”

“NO, YOU SHUT UP FOR JUST ONE MINUTE!!!” the ‘slacker’ screamed, finger furiously pointed at the shorty. “WHAT RIGHT DO ANY OF YOU HAVE TO ABANDON RYUKO!? SHE’S FOUGHT HARDER THAN ANY OF US, AND SHE’S OUR ONLY SHOT AT DEFEATING THE BADDIES, ALRIGHT!? RIGHT NOW SOME MEAN LION FROM OUTER SPACE IS KNOCKING HER BLOCK OFF, AND IF WE DO NOTHING, SHE’LL DIE! SO HELP ME GOD, IF WE DON’T GO AFTER HER RIGHT NOW, I’M GONNA- HURK!”

Mako’s face was a deep strawberry shade and her eyes bugged, the girl lurching over and coughing. “Mankanshoku, are you alright!?” Gamagori fretted, only for the no-star to raise her hand and gesture that she was. A short moment later and she was back up, panting heavily — the screaming took a lot out of her. Any fury in her eyes was drained, leaving only her sincerest plea.

“Please… just ‘cause she turned bad, don’t leave her to die… The real Ryuko’s in there, and… she’s a person too. She’s your sister, Lady Satsuki, and she’s my best friend… and Senketsu’s best friend. He needs her, more than anyone else, and she needs him. Together, their friendship makes them invincible, and there’s no way we’ll lose. So I don’t care what it takes, but I’m saving Ryuko, even if I gotta fight Tussle Tiger or whatever his name is myself.”

“Mako…” Senketsu’s single eye bubbled with tears, wrapping his sleeves around her leg. “… thank you, that was beautiful.” Though he could not be heard, Mako’s intuition brought her eyes down to his level. She smiled, picking the Kamui up off the floor and holding him like a plush doll, defensive and sticking by her stance to the fullest.

Between the shared glances of embarrassment and silence of the Elite Four and Nudists, the most radiant voice of all made an irrevocable declaration. “We’re saving Ryuko.” Every eye on board, even those of Iori and the grunts beneath the wreck, fastened tightly on Satsuki. All of a sudden the ones who’d disagreed felt swirls in their stomachs and crumpled their lips in shame. “Mankanshoku is right. I lied to her and made her life hell because I thought it would tune her power, and prove her a worthy asset to help bring down Ragyo. I only ever viewed her as a tool to be controlled, and never considered that I was using the same methods as Ragyo. For that, I am a fool, and it would be fairer to have me die in Ryuko’s place than to abandon her.”

Satsuki’s grace and nobility spared her Elites any responsibility and complicity in the treatment of Ryuko, but in their hearts they knew her words of remorse applied to each and every one of them. No one on the Naked Sol — with the exception of Senketsu — had any right to simply leave her. 

“I understand that you are all afraid, and truthfully, I am too. That beast is unlike anything we have ever seen, Ragyo and her forces seem untouchable, but hear me now. Neither she nor any of us will perish today. It has taken me a long time to understand, but I realise it now.” Walking over to Mako and the black Kamui, Satsuki took one deep gaze into Senketsu’s eye and marvelled at it. “We’re not cut from the same cloth, and it’s the differences between people and the bonds we share that make us invincible. Ryuko and Senketsu have proven that. If we want to protect this beautiful world, we cannot do it without them!”

From behind Satsuki a luminous light of mysterious origin shone like the sun, giving the sage girl a divine quality that matched her commanding presence. The first stone couldn’t be cast, and every person who out of fear sought to leave Ryuko in the hands of the enemy joined with their Lady. Even Aikuro and Tsumugu, who were moved through no loyalty to the Kiryuin but by her words alone.

The Elite Four fell to one knee, for their revered sovereign’s words would be done. “M’lady!” they all vowed together, before whipping up into formation, shoulder-to-shoulder and hands behind backs. Every second passed was a second wasted, there was no time to spend sitting around, and that became quickly understood.

“What’s the plan, Lady Satsuki?” Jakuzure as the most ardent protestor made an effort to let her childhood friend and leader know she was fully on-board. To answer, Satsuki thought for a moment, narrowing her eyes as she calculated and contemplated. When it hit her, a sanguine smile crossed her face.

“Iori!”

“Yes, Lady Satsuki?” the blonde tailor called from below.

“You and the Sewing Club are to repair the ship while we sail. You have my permission to scrounge whatever Life Fibers we have from decommissioned COVERs into a new Goku uniform for yourself to expedite the process.”

“We won’t let you down. Sewing Club, get to work!” Iori and his lackeys disappeared into the maze of broken panels, moving them around like scuttling ants as the suit-maker laid the finishing touches on his three-star Tailor’s Regalia.

“Inumuta, stay aboard and monitor the situation. I place my faith in you to warn us if Revocs takes any action.”

“With pleasure.” the brains of the operation replied, plopping down in his battle station and readying all systems.

“Gamagori, Sanageyama, Jakuzure, you’ll be with me. We’ll follow Ryuko and Battle Beast, and if necessary, hold them off with our own strength and Emergency Rescue Suction Devices. Mr Mikisugi and Tsumugu, I ask that you join us as well. Your DTRs might be our best bet at contending with them for a short while.”

While the Elites nodded without pause, Aikuro was taken aback. “Oh, uh, of course. Mister?” he whispered as an aside. Obviously, the plan was solid and he was eager to help, but there was a common theme to be noticed. “Excuse me, Satsuki, but you keep saying ‘hold off’ and ‘contend’. We won’t be able to do that against either for long, so what’s the winning play?” Again, all eyes went to Satsuki. The rebellion’s figurehead put her hand on the shoulder of Mako, whose heart skipped a beat and jaw dropped wide open.

“Mankanshoku and Senketsu are the key to victory. With Ryuko weakened from her battle, Mankanshoku will force her to put on Senkenstu, hopefully undoing the damage Junketsu has caused and ejecting it. Thus our mission is to ensure that Battle Beast is pacified long enough to ensure that girl is able to get Ryuko to put that Kamui on. Are we clear?”

“M’lady!”

“Oh, ya hear that, Senketsu?” Mako cheered. “We’re gonna save Ryuko, us! Can ya believe it?” 

“I pray we can, Mako. Ryuko, hold on, we’re coming!”

As the rapidly-repairing ship set off back towards Honnō Town, and everyone prepared for their duties, Sanageyama approached the plan’s creator. When she looked back, she could see the concern through his blindfold. “Forgive me for asking, Lady Satsuki, but how long can we expect to safely engage Battle Beast? He’s just… so much stronger than anything we’ve ever faced. I think he could even beat Ragyo.”

Satsuki’s eyes widened, heart pounding with a smile. Of course, how hadn’t she thought of that?

***

A terrified attendant shuffled over to the radiant star in her helicopter seat, holding a telephone on a platter as it rang. The tall woman was dressed entirely in white, snowy as the hair on her head that swept out like the wings of an angel, and its underside shone with every colour of the rainbow. Ragyo Kiryuin in all her malevolent glory snatched it, folding one leg over the other as her motherly, self-important voice fractured with annoyance. Her sycophants better have a good reason for this.

“What, is it, Nui?” the queen of Revocs Corporation snarled. On the other end of the phone, the pink lolita-obsessed Grand Couturier nervously laughed as she collected herself, allowing her master to see past the perpetually-smug and aloof mask she wore.

“Oh, it’s nothing serious, Lady Ragyo. Y’know, things are swell here at Honnōji , everyone’s fine.” Nui twirled her phone’s cord around her finger, cringing, trying to delicately dance around the issue. “There’s just been a teency-weency update… that I thought you should know about.”

What now? Ragyo thought, pinching the bridge of her nose and shutting her eyes. Nui Harime was good at a lot of things — hiding fear was evidently not one of them. For something to have one of the most powerful beings on Earth — a successful Life-Fiber hybrid — frightful was truly odd. Nui wasn’t scared of anything or anyone, not even Ryuko or Satsuki.

The evil mother glanced up to meet a small crowd of her nosy staff, awaiting to hear the news. She just shooed them away, regarding them with a look that could kill. “Well then? Are you going to spit it out?”

“Well… it’s, uhh… you see…”

A third voice joined the call, pressing the speaker button on Nui’s phone. “What the Grand Couturier means to say is that it’s about your daughter, Lady Ragyo.” She was Rei Hououmaru, Ragyo’s personal secretary. From the day the Kiryuin rescued her from her home embroiled in civil war, the young African woman has held the utmost loyalty to Revocs and the great mission. She too found Nui’s reluctance irritating. “There has been an unforeseeable development.”

“Tell me, Hououmaru, what’s Ryuko’s status?” Ragyo’s voice crackled out of the speaker. With a look of guilty retreat, Nui deferred all further conversation to the secretary. Hououmaru scowled through her shiny emerald shades at the Grand Couturier before continuing. 

“She’s currently engaged and headed back towards Honnōji Academy, fighting an extra-terrestrial life form. I’m sending pictures through now.” A TV screen in Ragyo’s helicopter flashed to life, displaying the gruesome images of the mythic duel. Matoi and Junketsu appeared to be fighting valiantly against what could only be described as a lion-man. Both traded good hits, but it was clear even in stills that Thokk had the upper-hand through most of it. For a good while Ragyo sat in silence, involuntarily removing the phone from her ear as she tried to figure out just what was happening.

Something so effortlessly matching an enraged Ryuko, who was donning an even stronger configuration of Junketsu? It just couldn’t be. It repulsed the devilish woman, and flushed her corrupted alien heart full with dread.

“Does it possess any Life Fibers?”

Hououmaru took a second to answer, entranced by a deeply hidden fear in her gut upon studying the pictures. “No. Not at all. That beast just won’t stop, Lady Ragyo.” That made the three of them.

“Nui, Hououmaru, remain at the Academy and prepare it for my arrival. The plan is being altered. I won’t have that mongrel vermin throw away everything I’ve worked for. If we must wait before beginning the final act with the Primordial Life Fiber, so be it, time is something we can afford once we rid ourselves of the threat.”

“Certainly, Lady Ragyo.” Hououmaru bowed even to the commanding voice of her boss, a physical presence of its own.

“What about little Ryuko?” Nui asked, perfectly unassuming and innocent-sounding as ever. “Aren’t you worried she’ll die?”

Ragyo’s in-turn returned to its usual cruel frigidity. “My daughter’s purpose is as flexible as I deem it. The nudists and dear Satsuki mean nothing to me anymore. Ryuko must slaughter the beast, and if she cannot, she will be a worthy sacrifice to slow its advance.”

***

Flying over the salty sea with the ferocity to wrench hundred-foot curtains of spray from its surface on either side, the Kamui-fighter glared down madly at her foe, who did just the same. Ryuko was fast and strong enough to keep the much larger Battle Beast completely aloft as she flew with no difficulty, both a boon to her and the lion. It meant she wasn’t going to be dragged down to the unforgiving ocean’s depths, but also that every second a jaw snapped at her, capable of removing her face if it found its mark.

Not like she’d let it, of course. With the Scissor Blade forming a barrier between the two fighters, Ryuko soared forth, waiting for the imposing island-city to appear over the horizon. Her azure eyes scanned impatiently, half-heartedly, a distraction from the combat at-hand which clawed desperately to change course. The dornian could not reach her face, but his grip was unmoving around the hilt of her sword, and no amount of yanking on her part could free it.

Over water like this, Battle Beast knew he could not afford to let go. Swimming was no easy feat for a feline weighing nearly eight-hundred pounds, after all. At the same, it also meant the alien gladiator couldn’t try and pull the airborne demon into the floor, and that greatly dispirited him. The tempestuous power exerted by her flight enraptured his body in close proximity to it, and the tingle that ran beneath his fur was the most infuriating sensation a madman like him could be teased with.

Widening his jaws and shutting them within a blink, Thokk’s mouth full of daggers locked around the Scissor Blade’s middle, blunt side against the edges of his maw. Attempting to turn the earthling’s flight against herself, he twisted with his neck and tremendous shoulders, flipping Ryuko beneath him, and now able to apply his curse-given strength, ploughed her skinny form into the water with a bellowing cackle of relish.

The hypersonic impact was like a bomb-blast, throwing up millions of gallons of water as sparkling white foam, separated in every direction by a deep blue comet that fizzed and crackled with the ebbing emotions of its originator. Still speeding and scorching the air and sea as she went, Ryuko could barely see the rapacious grin of Battle Beast between the vengeful torrent of water trying to tear her skin open and the nearly blinding aura she emitted. As if things couldn’t get more irritating, now that the big cat was drenched by the seaspray, his stench invading the teenager’s nostrils was about the closest she’s felt to death all day.

One at a time, his gigantic paws left their metal perch and clutched around the pencil-thin throat of his enemy. The lion warrior pressed his thumbs into Ryuko’s submentum, beguiling himself with the thought of slicing from there down to her jugular, just to quench his thirst, only relenting when he realised such self-indulgence might get him stranded offshore. It was all foreplay to Battle Beast, she knew that, that’s why he wasn’t going for any fatal blows.

He was waiting for the real treat to come, and by God, Ryuko would give that to the beast in spades.

Curling inwards and jutting her legs up into Thokk’s sternum, the wild lion careened up and away from Ryuko, his claws leaving deep wounds on either side of her neck as they left. The kick busted apart the chipped black armoured plates on his chest, showering the swordswoman in obsidian shards. Slowing only narrowly, the teenage menace zipped up into the air and drew the scarlet half-scissors behind her, wearing a caricaturish and zany look of thrill. Arcing it across her chest, Matoi’s blade knocked Battle Beast down as swiftly as he rose. It happened all so fast that she couldn’t even register if he was still enjoying it. In any case, the agony becoming a numb, background feeling let her enjoy the battle nearly as much as the furry fanatic did.

Just above the thrashing snowy creature, in the distance stood the towering spiral silhouette of Honnō Town. Her eyes perked with delight, the light and energy in them renewing. The scuffle over the sea was a novelty, sure, but brawling on solid ground was just so much better.

With a twirl of her sword she kicked off the air with a boom, squeezing Battle Beast’s waist in a near instant bear-hug. She charged forward with a one-track mind, every inch of her power infusing her speed and refusal to let go. “You’re in for a world of pain, tabby tough-shit!” Ryuko growled with her chest, hearty and promising. “Call yourself a scourge and all that bullcrap all ya want, but here, on my planet, I’m the battle beast!”

“Ha ha!” the fittingly-named monster howled. Wrestling around her iron-grip gave him a glimpse of imminent collision, and bouncing his intense amber eyes between the city and the human Life Fiber, Battle Beast embraced such a threat. “So we shall see!”

The thunderous roar of impact boomed out for miles, as furious as a meteorite from deep space.

Smashing into the island city faster than any jet could fly, Revocs’ headhunter and the universe’s blight flattened the immediate vicinity, the shockwave blowing apart everything else within hundreds of feet. Wood and stone shacks were eviscerated, the metal sheets they used for roofs torn to shreds. The railway that spiralled upward to the island’s peak was cut in two, and the cable car that hung desolately overhead shook violently, coming undone and flinging the cars helter-skelter. Nothing on the deserted rock could ignore it, for its vibrations fractured the rock underneath the city, prompting landslides on the other sides.

Ryuko stood over the animal, splayed amongst crumpled ruins, still sizzling with the cosmic aura of Junketsu. His red undershirt was riddled with holes, and much of his protective armour was no more. Cocky and thinking she was the better of the two, the girl with rose-painted eyes slipped her arm through the Scissor Blade’s handle, holding it around her shoulder, before kneeling down and going in to try once more to break the creature’s skull. Battle Beasts fiery eyes opened in preemption.

Lurching out of the hole his body made, Thokk snatched the balled fist with practiced ease. He yanked her in, a now gloveless fist finding its mark against her mandible. Stunned and without part of her lower jaw, Ryuko couldn’t find time to scream in retaliation before a second punch landed in her gut, doubling her over. A blood-filled wheeze escaped her mouth. Again, Battle Beast latched his hand over her face, laughing as he stood up to full height. Hit with the biological urge to vomit as her stomach and intestines were pulverised, Ryuko dug her teeth into the deadly beast’s palm and began to gnash. 

Finding it little more than a light annoyance, the white-furred killer ripped the violent bird off of him, curiously pursing his lips as the hair on the palm of his hand was plucked out by her fangs. Ejecting the hair and all riled up for another go, Matoi launched forth with her Scissor Blade, intending to create distance between them. There was something she wanted to try, since any attempts beforehand hadn’t proved effective. Perceiving the sharp hunk of steel careen towards his head, Battle Beast weaved out of the way, falling for the white devil’s feign. It had been an illusion created by her speed — the sword was actually below him, taking him off his feet and with all of the earthling’s strength, hurled the intergalactic criminal further up the mountain settlement.

His body skipped and skidded to a halt, leaving a trail of splintered wooden planks and a trench in the ground. Down some two-hundred feet, Ryuko got into stance and extended her sword’s crescent-shaped handle into a two-handed configuration. Decapitation Mode. Narrowing her gaze, some semblance of calculation and seriousness returned to her eyes. “Try this on for size.” Battle Beast braced himself the moment his attention fell on her, for the white and blue blur was immediately in front of him, slashing across his body with a splitting red light.

Ryuko halted not far behind him, Scissor-Blade extended out in front of her, folding back to its normal form. When she turned to check the damage, Battle Beast still stood, staggering to his feet with a throaty groan. “Now that just pisses me off. It usually works, BB. I get you’re tougher than- oh…” But when the alien lion faced her, her ramble stopped in its tracks. There was a clear slit across his abdomen. A slit where she could see the pink, wormy intestines try fruitlessly to bulge out and escape. Ryuko smirked. “Heh. Ain’t too shabby after all.”

This pain, could it be? The cat looked down with unsteady breaths, his eyes confirmed it. His skin had finally been pierced. Years of searching and the day had finally come! Might his invincibility be at its end? “Ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha!” The rarity of the occasion left the victim of the mutilation utterly elated, and when as totally happy as he was, there was no way Battle Beast would ever waste something so precious. His eyes flashed red, locked in on his fluffy-haired foe, and his voice was inflected with cold relief. “Finally.” he muttered before letting loose a feral roar, rushing towards Ryuko on all fours.

The shock of the relentlessness froze Ryuko in place. “What!? What are you-” she shrieked as his knuckles broke her face. An instinctual counter was parried by his toned forearm and caught in his grasp before another strike hit her chest, sending ultra-sharp shards of ribs into her lungs. Unable to breathe and in nauseating agony, the high-schooler’s mid-section was knocked side to side by two more punches before Battle Beast snapped the arm in his paw and lifted her high above his head with the other one, slamming her concave skull through several walls before planting her on the floor.

To even the playing field, the scarlet half-scissors were wrested from its wielder’s hands, the force of which broke all of her fingers, and tossed way into the air. Shit, she thought, wincing though the horrendous pain. Battle Beast grinned now that it was simply girl against beast. Pinned to the ground, a get-back was formulated in eyes full of anger and flooded red with her own ichor, Ryuko and her indomitable will persisting through an unrelenting flow of punches and stomps to her skull. 

With finesse she pulled herself up by latching her legs around Thokk’s tree-trunk sized arm, heaving with all her might to bring his neck closer before opting to choke him. The juggernaut grimaced as her popliteal fossae tightened around his throat — the beatdown he’d given her almost made him forget how strong she was.

“Are you insane!?” Ryuko howled, pulling and stretching his arm to its limit. He deduced she must have been concerned about his lack of concern, the fact that despite his guts wanting to spill out, his thrill only spiked to new heights. 

“I am as perfectly sound of mind as ever! This is what I live for!”

To fry and shake himself free, he swung his arm up, but it only took his attacker with it, giving her face time to be stitched back together. Once her twisted and deformed fingers reformed, Ryuko leaned forward into a sitting position and laid into the carnivore’s snout wet with her own blood, getting four belts in that reeled the cosmic peril back through an abandoned grocery, making a pungent mess of all the expired food and shelves.

Splattering fruits and vegetables in the dark, the hybrid slipped away as fast as she could, narrowly missing the monster at her heels, who struggled to land a blow with his mountainous body being held at bay by the slippery floor and cluttered mess. Finding a bag of flour, Ryuko pitched it at Battle Beast and sniggered when the warrior’s head was blasted by a cloud of white powder. It got in his black and yellow eyes, vexing him and blinding him long enough for Matoi to draft another way to get back on the offensive.

Standing upright, the beast of battle scanned his surroundings, first having to blink out that dastardly powder, then having to adjust his eyes to the darkness. Sawdust danced in tandem with his powerful exhales, negligible thumps of items slipping from shelves, all distractions from the fight at hand. He focused his senses, penetrating the dark with his refined hearing to find his runaway opponent.

“Have you lost your stomach for battle? Run out of the supposed energy you spoke of? You disappoint me, Matoi. Was all that talk-” the arthurian lion’s ear twitched, picking up the slightest disturbance in the air, his cheeks rising as he finished his sentence, “for nought?” Then there was a horrendous clanging, she must be trying to escape his wrath! He wouldn’t allow it!

Charging through aisle after aisle, bringing down anything that remained standing after the break-in, Battle Beast tracked the sound to its origin, finding nothing but a deconstructed industrial shelf. A little trick provided by the supply room out back, a trick Thokk only realised when a flying fist struck the back of his head with atomic force.

Ryuko fiercely shot the feliform off of her knuckles faster than the speed of sound, annihilating the building around them with the shockwave. Dorn’s champion was hit so hard that he tumbled up the mountain, forcibly tearing skywards as the spiralling city left him nowhere else to go. Eager as ever, Junketsu’s pant-legs erupted with blue light to follow, allowing Ryuko to follow up with whatever she liked.

For the first time of the fight, the Life Fiber hybrid was truly in control. With her handsome new look she swooned Lady Luck, it seemed, as the punch seemed to knock the wind out of Battle Beast. She was there behind him instantly, putting another wallop into his back and knocking him higher and faster without a care in the world for anything else on that God-forsaken rock. Again she caught up, appearing above the champion and slamming both her fists down onto his skull like a hammer, momentarily halting his ascent before materialising in a flash at his mid-section to put another colossal belt into his gut.

Like a missile of hardened muscle and indestructible bone, the fight-hungry feline made a ruinous indentation in Honnō Town’s upper side, where in place of the poverty-stricken shacks, it was the taller and wealthier buildings that crumbled around him. Ryuko found him where he laid and stood on his chest, heel to his throat and one of her hands clenched tight around one of his white plaits.

“Looks like we’re nearly at the top,” Ryuko remarked somewhat wistfully, “that’s where I used to go to school. Bad times, lemme tell ya. At least now it’ll be where mom starts to rid this planet of lowlives and scumbags. That’s my destiny too, being this super-Life Fiber. Kickass stuff.” she stopped for a moment as Battle Beast opened his eyes groggily. “Guess that’s where ya tossed my Scissor Blade, huh? Gotta go get that.”

Suddenly his claws were around her waist, drawing trickles of blood each as Battle Beast made a point to trap her there. “You cannot retrieve your weapon if you are dead!” He pulled her in with gusto, wanting to trap Ryuko in his maw, but instead was rewarded with a brutal volley of skull-bashing. Caring not that freeing herself sliced open her naked sides in several places, the villainous eleventh-grader kicked Thokk’s grizzly snout over and over, and he replied in kind, booting her into the sky. He leapt up, actually managing to grab her ankle and throw her down into the ground just as she had done to him. 

And so the cycle went on. Unmatched in fury, the two beings were living bombs, and their war against the other was the coming of irreconcilable destruction to anything and everything in their path. Battle Beast and Ryuko zigzagged up and down the island, fighting amongst showers of rubble and lifeless streets, turning empty cars and houses into weapons. Punching. Kicking. Choking. Throwing. Eye-gouging. It was a ceaseless storm of violence. Bloody and earth-shattering, two bolts of flesh challenging the other for dominance without end.

The greatest warrior of the cosmos fought with a smile never once wavering. He had turned fights like this into his daily routine, but today was a special treat, giving him emotional richness he could barely recall. He cherished every moment, spending every second tossing up whether this punk girl would be the one he would call in his final moments worthy and then thank. 

In spite of the unending agony she was subjected to, Ragyo’s daughter was having fun too. The adrenaline and the rush of it all numbed the pain after a while and it seemed like the new norm, from which, her mere existence free of pain in turn was like bliss. Winning this fight was bliss. But there was also no illusion, no smokescreen from reality. She had something to fight for. She had something to lose. Being indulgent here could cost her life, and there’s no telling what that would mean for the designs of her mother. It’d been fun, but everything good must come to an end. Ryuko recognised that Battle Beast needed to die.

Taking the wound steel cable that used to hoist cars up the mountain slope, the devil in white dashed by her enemy, circling around him until the entirety of his thick neck was caught in the snare of the cable thrice over. The beast gagged, reaching up to rip the metal rope in twain, but he was yanked to the ground, forced to bend the knee to Ryuko’s whim at the leisure of a taut cable. She wouldn’t be able to keep him there for more than a second, but it bought her time to figure out what to do before Battle Beast broke free and resumed his attack.

She found what she was looking for, right as the cable snapped and let the ferocious animal free. Ryuko zipped away in flight, and having missed her by a hair, the feared killer lunged into empty air, hounding her down like a predator transfixed on the dismemberment of his prey. Both fighters knew Matoi’s speed was her crutch, but to the one who fought for something greater than herself, there was no shame in it.

As Battle Beast gave chase, she dug her hands into the side of the mountain as she flew, tearing it open and unveiling long pathways and contraptions that had remained in storage for months now. They saw the light of day this time not to humiliate her, but now to be her saviour. Her game? She remembered this place was a dystopian nightmare. Concrete stretches of road ploughed into the alien and took him down, continuously pinning him as Ryuko pulled on more of it.

Their removal seemed to activate just what Ryuko had hoped. Around the city, deadly crimson traps of all varieties sprung up, and making haste like never before, she zoomed around and uprooted them — spiked ferris wheels, spiked teacup rides, rotary sawblade installations, and about a thousand other machines with sharp edges. She piled them on faster than Battle Beast could smash through the miles and miles of road, and seeing him distracted, the girl buzzed away to retrieve the cherry on top.

Thokk squeezed through them all and climbed to the top of the pile, glaring with white-hot rage as Ryuko camped in the sky, happy as can be. “Your tendency to run strains my temper, Matoi! Where is your honour!? Get down here and fight me!” All of the traps the herculean lion stood on were brimming with unused, pent-up power, so volatile and dangerous that one wrong bump could set them off and blow the island to smithereens. It was like a kitten standing atop a castle of phosphorus, and the wild-eyed renegade wasn’t above hurting strays.

“Nah.” Ryuko mocked, finding solace in the fact that the people who used to live here were total psychopaths. Hoisting an RPG over her shoulder, the Kamui-wearing swordswoman aimed down the sight and pulled the trigger, basking in the bewildered look on Battle Beast’s face. “Kiss my ass, bitch!”

A thin white trail of smoke fanned out behind the screeching warhead, then, with a flash of blinding light and earsplitting sound, a ball of superheated energy expanded outwards at the speed of light, swallowing Battle Beast, jarring the entire island and racing towards Ryuko. Not keen to be caught in the flames, the deviant powered away through the air with such speed it left a streak of cerulean after-glow in her wake. When she turned back, there was nothing but cataclysmic swells of red and yellow fire, surging out from the epicenter like rolling waves and incinerating all in its path. 

The clouds continued to rise higher and higher towards the academic fortress, scorching the air with their ever-hungering reach. The searing orange glow reflected in Ryuko’s heartless and sadistic eyes, and her lips curled to form an unhinged grin. She cackled like a maniac, clutching her belly with both hands as her body creased at the hips. What a spectacularly unglorified end for the guy who prided himself on his prowess in combat. Not much one could do being swamped by an explosion that size.

After a moment she shrugged and sighed. “Woulda liked to turn his fuzzy-ass into a coat, or somethin’.” Flying so high above the fire, Ryuko found herself able to look down upon Honnōji  Academy, its perfect and totalitarian white walls and towers a welcome sight after an encounter with such an abomination against the universe’s order. Even from there the speckless sheen of her ruby sword was unable to escape her sight. “You won’t be missed, fleabag.”

Speeding down, relaxed and spent of her anger, she leaned back to land on her feet, slowing to a gentle and breezy float. With a prideful heart thumping in her chest, the girl beholden to her Kamui remained none-the-wiser to the fact that her foe did not perish. Far from it. No measly explosion would ever send the raging beast to tartarus, nor would he ever accept a fate short of glorious death in true combat. Just as the rabble-rouser said before, cheap moves weren’t anything.

Leaping towards the heavens, Battle Beast followed on the hunt, a swirl of flame spiralling up behind him as he exited the fireball. The explosion incinerated most of the rest of his crumbling attire, with only his pants and armoured faulds remaining intact. His trapper’s eyes spotted Ryuko immediately, and having nearly breached the sparse clouds above, he came to a stop before plummeting down, balled fists raised above his head. 

Parting the sky with his fury, the gladiatorial apex brought the shadow of death down upon Honnōji with his unimaginable frame. A shadow first brushed off to be a cloud, but one that rapidly shrank and pin-pointed onto the princess of evil, who twisted her neck in irritation to see why the sun refused to shine on her. That pompous conceit was obliterated in the final millisecond. She saw the falling shape, his fangs that shone, his eyes that glowed with an inconceivably mad desire. 

Ryuko did not say a word. Her mouth creased pitifully, and her eyes flashed wide open, stricken with absolute terror. 

Upon impact, the two plunged deep into the rocky floor of the Academy’s courtyard. The island wailed a deep bellow, shuddering and cracking apart in an instant, and spines of rock jutted out like gnarly teeth like flower petals around the wound. From every and even the most negligible splinter that split rock, geysers of dirt burst out like fountains of the Earth’s blood, and the man-made covering of residence buckled off of its foundations and slipped off into the sea.

The pressure rebounded upwards, flinging masses of earth high into the air. Every structure that was a symbol of someone’s slavery to the island’s cruel empress crumbled to dust. The comet of flesh drilled deeper, leaving millions upon millions of tons of rock unable to keep form. Its sides were rid of their core for support, and its top was pulverised in the instant that Battle Beast took Ryuko down through the island with him. The once mighty, captivating, debaucherous and depraved isle trembled at its very core. Rock screeched and cried in agony, killing itself under its own weight. 

Honnōji Academy itself, the crown jewel of the wretched project, was no more either. The shockwave of impact slicing right through its marble walls like an invisible blade, bringing every banner and flagpole toppling down. The grand fortress withstood the force only marginally better, meeting its end when the very ground it was built atop fell out from underneath it and swallowed it whole.

After ten excruciating seconds, Honnō Town collapsed in its entirety, ejecting plumes of dust out over the water. Any sense of grandeur was thoroughly broken beyond repair. The crucible of Revocs’ triumph had been destroyed — it was nothing more than a heap of macerated rock and debris in the middle of Tokyo Bay. A deserved twist of fate for the center of evil, and a terrible sign for its agent in the field of battle. It could not be any clearer to any who witnessed the destruction.

The universe had brought its most trusted bringer of death to Earth, and there was nothing the oppressor could do to stop him.

In the center of all the carnage and devastation was the very cause. Being pushed through the island by force meant being splattered against rock over and over again. Ryuko screamed when her spine was severed in several places by unruly and jagged blades, only for the bestial agent of doom to claw her throat open and swipe her jaw off its hinges. He was like an unstoppable freight train piling down on her, continuing to drive and make a torn and shot ballistics dummy out of her.

When the collapse came to an end and the falling debris settled, the daughter of the tyrant’s arm was trapped in the jaws of Battle Beast, yanked to the point of puny flesh strings being all that connected her upper arm to her shoulder. It would surely come off with a juicy rip, he hoped. With veins popping in his bulging forearms and biceps, he strangled the bantam menace, digging his clawed thumb into her eye and swirling, laughing hysterically as spurts of ichor sprayed his muzzle. Heaving with all her strength, she tried to muscle her out from beneath him as she’d done before, grasping his arms and booting his stomach, all to no avail.

She let loose with a flurry of punches, her free arm ramming itself in quick-succession against Battle Beast’s skull trying to get the feline to let go. All it managed was to give the unbeaten champion a new object to break, snaring her twig of an arm underneath his own and shifting his weight to snap it effortlessly. 

Thrashing his head up, Battle Beast successfully removed the child’s arm and spat it out, taking his non-gouging fist and using it to bash her skull to a pulp. On her back, pinned by her enemy’s massive frame and covered in her own glimmering blood, Ryuko was overtaken by fear. Not only was that because only now she truly understood just what kind of beast the dornian lion was, but because of the pure and unchained euphoria that shone like little stars in his eyes. She’d taken it as a game and thought he felt the same. This was his life. There was no beating that, ever. 

Her ached wails pierced the air when the bloody claw dragged from her eye, when Battle Beast stood up for a quick reprieve, running his gore-painted hands through his mane. Junketsu activated its flight capabilities to preserve its own life, only for the intergalactic rogue to react quick enough and catch the hybrid’s leg mid-flight, whipping his arm over his head and slamming her behind him. He studied her for a short time while her body regenerated, angered as her body shook and curled slightly at his movement. 

“Get up.” Battle Beast growled with poorly hidden annoyance, stomping on her head before lifting the nuisance by the hair. Part of her scalp was peeling off, not helped by the cat’s iron grip. Sweet, sweet blood trickled down her face like tears. “I’m not done with you.” Dropping her onto his flying knuckles, Ryuko folded around his fist, her spine pushing through her back and splitting it open, though it was kept in tight place by Junketsu’s impermeable seal.

Tumbling away, the one cocky miscreant skidded to a stop, shakily holding herself up by the forearms. Her vision went blurry, blood retched up from her gullet, the pain of every attack and subsequent regeneration stopped feeling numb and circled back to the worst, unimaginable pang rattling all over and throughout her body. This couldn’t be happening, it couldn’t be. Just who did this-

Ryuko’s train of thought was derailed by the gut-wrenching lion’s roar, snapping her head to see Thokk bounding over on all fours to deliver a nasty upper cut, launching her upwards. Then, catching her heel he brought her down just as fast into his knee, feeling her flat ape-face break against it and slide off with a trail of sticky red goo connecting from his fur to her nose. Frowning, his claws dug into her stomach, picking her up with one hand and tossed her into one of the many mounds of crumpled rock, blowing it away with her body and replacing it with another tiny crater, Ryuko sprawled out in its center.

He plodded over, nostrils flaring as they expelled but a small portion of his boundless rage, looking down on the girl with pity. “What’s wrong?” he taunted, plowing his foot down on her cranium again. “Are you scared, child? Or are you just weak?” What Battle Beast saw was a far cry from the self-touting picture of confidence and snark he met some half-hour before. She looked pale, her jaw tight and clattering in time with her shaking limbs. “Is your life not worth more than this? Will you not fight to save your own life and end mine?”

Call it panic, call it existential dread, but when Ryuko gazed up into the flaming eyes of the beast, she saw the apocalypse. The end of everything that she, in her brainwashed state, cared for. Her mother’s empire crumbling to dust and blowing away. Everyone involved in bringing about her dream being torn limb from limb, herself not least of all. The extinction of Life Fibers on Earth. He hadn’t figured out how to put them down, but what other end could there be? He was stronger, faster, nigh-invulnerable and any injuries he did sustain only fuelled his resolve. 

There was no stopping the Battle Beast. And realising that struck Matoi with a fear magnitudes greater than anything of this world ever could. Not even her mother, the wicked white queen of light.

“You have given me all that I crave for in this life, do not rob me of it now. Honour yourself and fight for your life, because if you do not, I will kill you. I am not stopping until one of us is dead!” 

The centuries-old warrior had gotten it right on both counts. She was scared and weak. Her blood was being siphoned away at an extreme pace for far too long, the blood that her white and blue Kamui needed in order to override and grant Ryuko its power. Junketsu cared not for its wearer’s wellbeing, guzzling down more and more of her plasma until it sapped the eleventh-grader of much of her strength. She wasn’t loved by Junketsu, she wasn’t understood by it. The rag didn’t even work with her. Her old Kamui did all of that, and it maddened her to realise it.

Laying it all out as flatly as possible rewired what was crossed. Ryuko Matoi was about to be killed by an intergalactic lion-man because she’d been a massive idiot and refused help.

This demon she wore, her mother’s demon — it sentenced her to death! Everything had been a lie. She had thrown away her only friends for a lie, nearly killed them, because she let her bitch mom and that wacko Nui get into her head. Her thick skull and even thicker anger now meant that she was never going to see Senketsu or Mako again, and she would die knowing they’d remember her as a monster. Her fear had come to pass on the path she took to avoid it. What an idiot.

It made her furious, boiling her blood and pumping her muscles with a limited, but new lease of strength. Mustering it up in a balled fist of fury, Ryuko lurched forward and threw it with everything she had, wanting nothing more than to hit something as hard as she could. “YA AIN’T KILLIN’ SHIT!” The punch connected with Battle Beast’s cheek, knocking his head to the side and blowing his loch back with a gale-force wind. He stopped for a second, licking the inside of his mouth before spitting up a tiny drop of blood. He turned back to her, ears drooping.

Surprisingly, she wasn’t dismayed by the lack of effect and readied another strike. Worked for him. Remembering a fight with a mustachio’d humanoid some years ago, Battle Beast straightened his hand and chopped to parry. Unlike his imperialistic friend, he did not possess the physiology required for a clean cut, and instead his paw practically smashed her arm at the elbow. Pushing past the pain, Ryuko simply gritted her teeth and furrowed her brow.

“Ah, has something changed?” Matoi stood up, chin lifted and regarding Battle Beast irately.

“Yeah,” she huffed as her pulverised arm reformed, shimmers running up its form, “ya wouldn’t understand, but I’ve been a huge dumbass… and a jerk. Those guys on the boat, they’re my friends and I betrayed them for nothin’. I was so caught up in bein’ angry that I fell for my mom’s bullshit and became someone I’m not. That chick you were fightin’, that’s not me, I don’t want that to be me. She’s the only reason we’re here now.”

Narrowing his eyes, Battle Beast scowled, nettled by this pause in combat. “You waste both of our time — my mercy is not so easily earned.” 

“I ain’t tryna beg for my life, BB. I get what you’re all about, I respect it, do what ya gotta do. Shit, man,” she chuckled, “I’m probably gonna die. If that’s how things go, fine by me. Hell, I probably deserve it.” Ryuko’s face shaped with resolve, tightening her gloved fists. “But lemme belt ya one. Right now, you’re about the only thing that stands between me and makin’ things right, cuz I got the whole world on my shoulders and I made some stupid-ass decisions that hurt people I give a damn about. If I die, those people and everybody else on Earth are gonna get swallowed by some… fucked up alien fabric, and there’ll be nobody else to blame but me. So if ya think I won’t fight tooth and fuckin’ nail to somehow beat you… you’re bouta’ get one gnarly surprise, kitten.”

Taking one big step towards the imposing cat, she looked up into his eyes in utter defiance, raising one of her fists and holding it out as if her intent were written on her digits. It was hard for Battle Beast not to be taken aback. What foe would be repeatedly torn apart, experience an existential crisis, and then come crawling back for more? It was a pleasant surprise, considering just how up-and-down this fight had taken his mood. If this girl had ever displayed clear certainty, it was now.

Battle Beast didn’t quite smile, but he gave a look of acknowledgement that Ryuko could feel gracious about. It was a look of honour and respect, from one warrior to another. “You will certainly be my most memorable adversary. For that, I will honour you to the best of my ability. I understand you are best with your sword.” Diverting his attention to the mound of rubble closest to him, one sweeping blow of his hulking arm blew it all away, revealing Matoi’s weapon sturdy and wedged into the earth beneath.

Without even thinking, the beast of white fur strode over and plucked it from the ground, before slowly walking back and calmly handing it back to Ryuko, blade up and hilt towards her. Cautious, she steadily wrapped her hands around it, and only after it was fully in her grasp did Battle Beast take a step back. “Thanks…” she murmured, eyes trained on his fiery gold orbs.

It was only now that the seasoned killer put a toothy grin across his snout, outstretching his arms with exhilaration, giving one chesty roar of a declaration. “This is more like it! Now we can conclude our battle! I simply cannot withhold my eagerness, I yearn to end your life! Even better than that, I yearn for the chance that you end mine! You have already proven yourself capable of harming me, oh how you only must finish what you have started! How glorious that would be! OH, YES! I CANNOT WAIT ANY LONGER!”

In the final moments of peace, Ryuko made a bargain with the despicable Kamui she donned. Both understood that despite their grievances, now that Ragyo’s illusions had been beaten out of the kid, the only chance they had at survival was fighting on as they had been before. If Junketsu was destroyed by that rampaging animal, it would never again be worn by its true partner, Satsuki. It had no voice like Senketsu had, but Junketsu understood and agreed with a hiss, sharpening its two big eyes on the target.

Facing certain death, Ryuko harnessed every last drop of power in her body and from Junketsu’s reserves, refining it to ready her strength and enforce her desire to live, to fight for something bigger than herself, to fight for her friends and the ones she loved. Swinging her blade down, the reborn hero smirked. “Arright, pussy. Let’s dance.” 

Like thundercracks both fighters ripped forward with dust clouds the size of houses behind them, crashing in the middle with a sonic boom before one side completely overtook the other. Battle Beast was still uncontested in a game of raw strength, shoulder-checking his enemy before planting his knuckles in her face, knocking her half-way across the former island city. Gooey red blood already began to flow out of her nose and breaks in her skin, but not dissuaded in the slightest, Ryuko raised her Scissor Blade and swung it back, foreseeing his next attack.

As the lion came flying in with a wide palm to slash her belly open, the Life Fiber human countered with an upwards strike of her blade. The physical blow and its unnatural force worked in unison and jerked Battle Beast’s arm out of the way, knocking him off balance and giving the tired Ryuko enough time to spin around in the air and plant both of her boots’ heels into the monster’s wet nose. Puffing out a stubborn breath, she got a small boost of confidence. She was still in it, but she wouldn’t win like this.

Even faster than the speed he was sent away, the beast of Dorn came back for seconds. He was like nature itself, striking in a blinding flash like lightning with the power of the greatest floods. One kick scarcely missed turning the teenager’s lower half into a fleshy bag of broken bones, and the backhand that followed nicked her in the side, blowing out a hunk of her waist and ragdolling her into a pile. Even when she was able to shore up her defenses in time and block a strike, it was as if the force of a bomb rattled up through her arms and threatened to shear flesh from her dislocated bones.

With Junketsu powering on its flight in a burst, Ryuko became a gleaming mass of light for only a short distance, virtually flashing fifty feet away from underneath the pillar-like legs of her opponent. It was too exhausting to go further, her lungs were straining beyond anything she’d ever felt before. Junketsu’s consumption of her blood was reaching dangerous levels, and she wasn’t making any headway. When Battle Beast turned to face her, his shiny innards being teased from the window on his stomach glistened under the sun’s rays. That would have to be her gambit.

Just like any time before, the Scourge of the Twin Galaxies bounded in with wild and untamed rage, leaping up into the air and blotting out the sun, coming down with a fist that shattered many a world before Earth. Leaping out of the way just in time, Ryuko watched from safety as Battle Beast ploughed his fist into the ground, tossing every remnant of Honnō Town into the air. As if time itself slowed to a snail’s pace, the union of human and alien twirled her blade up in an arc as hard as her rapidly-depleting energy would permit. Thokk perceived the motion just as well as Ryuko could, realizing what was about to happen.

The force of the attack commanded his body to follow the movement of the Scissor Blade, and with the swiftness and perfection of a master swordswoman, Ryuko spun her weapon back into prime position and thrusted into the gut of Battle Beast. Blood, the undefeated’s blood, ran down her sword, making its way onto her hands and arms. The old feline groaned as she pushed it further inside, giving the creature a taste of his own medicine by swirling it around his belly, hoping its edges were mincing his intestines. It made a continuous wet squelching, and let out an utterly revolting smell.

It was a cathartic action, full of vengeance. After everything he’d put her through, it was just, she reasoned. More than that, this was what he wanted. Battle Beast laughed between involuntary releases of pained groans, his near-divine glare not faltering for the grievous injury. Vision blurring and eyelids starting to fall and snap open again, Ryuko put one of her hands on her foe’s pectoral, scrunching his fur for grip as she took off into the sky, blue light chasing after her. A cone of brown dust blew in their wake, sending rocks and broken metal everywhere.

Travelling directly upwards and with very little vision, Battle Beast certainly made it no easy task for the kid. His weight and passive use of force, even when flapping limply due to air resistance, pressed down on the hybrid like a mountain had fallen on her and threatened to stall her advance. But Ryuko did not stop, not even as his digits blindly penetrated her back and clawed into her ribcage. She knew what she had to do. It was the only way.

Calling upon every last dash of its otherworldly power, Junketsu lifted its partner higher and higher, whose body wracked with the intolerable pain of extreme exhaustion carried her gigantic opponent up by the blade through his stomach. Breaking the sound barrier with a sonorous boom, Ryuko cried and crowed as she split wispy cirrus clouds, and the coldness of the upper atmosphere began chewing her bare skin. The savage’s fur protection couldn’t save him from the deathly greeting of the cold, and noticing this, his widening eyes contracted with alarm as sky blue became much deeper and richer. Soon, it would fall to blackness, dark as night.

Oxygen was too precious to waste on words. Any last exchange would be by the fury in their eyes, tearing away their bodies and granting a look right into the soul. Battle Beast’s vacant lacerating was traded for truly vicious rives through the dainty body, pulling out her ribs and making a fleshy mess of her back that dangled by Life Fiber threads. His eyes were just as they had always been, full of sadism and twisted passion. Ryuko had hers blaze with cerulean fire, using the pain to keep conscious, giving her the do-or-die motivation to take the beast’s life and decimate the innards of his impassable body.

Numbness crawled up Ryuko, starting from her legs as Junketsu puttered out of energy. Oh god, she wept internally. It had taken too much blood. Taken further up only by momentum, Ryuko’s fingers bound tight to the feline’s chest fell away, prompting her to anchor her body around her Scissor Blade, locking her arms around it by the guard. Eventually her other hand gave out too. Not willing to give into paralysis, the jerk with a heart of gold continued to push with her shoulders, driving the sword deeper.

Battle Beast was stunned. If it were wise to speak, there was nothing that could roll off his tongue. The only thing that crossed his mind was the question he had asked for so many centuries up until today. Was this the worthy opponent? He felt the answer squirm amongst his intestines. Driven to her limits and given something to fight for, she could achieve all this when no one else had ever come close. She slowed now, but the expert killer felt the sickening absence of gravity tug at his heels.

Darkness crept in on every side, washing over both like a blanket. Was this death’s embrace? Gazing out behind the monstrous carnivore, Matoi saw only the infinite expanse of space and its dazzling beauty. It was a pretty damn good view… if only it hadn’t taken throwing her life away to appreciate it. Behind the deathly pale face of the earthling, Thokk saw the emerald pastures and azure seas. It looked peaceful down there. It was a life he envied. Both thought they had just seen their last sight. Both accepted whatever came next.

Grasp slipping from the scarlet sword, Ryuko drifted peacefully, eyes semi-closed and staring with a dull near-lifeless. Battle Beast too kept his eyes open, anticipating that his journey would take him elsewhere, only to awaken in a completely different place. But the silent frost that would normally overtake him never came. He sat at the edge of the space, right on the fine line that relieved him of gravity but protected him from the vacuum’s frigid cruelty.

He still drew breath — a blank expression crossed his muzzle. Did his opponent? The shiny pink tendrils that connected every facet of her body retreated into her open back, sewing her shredded parts back into place. The living costume she wore, its draconic eyes still bounced around, no doubt mortified. that the space lion shared its status as alive. Ryuko Matoi still lived. The fight was not over.

First it was a little awkward, paddling through the sky to get within arm’s reach of the blue, black and red-haired girl. Once in distance, the big cat wound his fist back, only for his enemy to strike first. It was Junketsu, endangering Ryuko’s life to act on its own by throwing her arms into an awkward punch. With only trifling power to draw on and no mastery of the human form, it had virtually no effect on Battle Beast, though it gave him plenty of reason to hit back with strength a million-fold.

Punching the adrift child in the head, the leonine savage beat Junketsu into submission, feeling every break in her skull through its fibrous being. The hit would have plummeted Ryuko right down to Earth if not for the barbarian’s lightspeed reactions. Battle Beast snagged her arm, pulled her in close by the chin and lowered his center of mass, joining her escaping the edge of space, falling in a curled up bundle. Burning through the sky with a shield of fire enveloping them, the most fantastic fighters the planet had ever seen descended, the one not of this world throttling the native, and half-dead, Kamui-wearing diva.

Back down to the ravaged Honno Town they fell, hammering the ground in an orbital strike. Their impact discharged ripples of force through the ground, creating snaking tears that split the island into an archipelago. The hungry waves that lapped the shores were blasted away in every direction before swelling back in again, settling on a new calm.

The white goliath pushed himself off the ground, finding his feet tingled by the warmth of a bloody puddle. He beared his fangs modestly to run his tongue over them and lap up the iron-rich plasma, tenderly guarding his open intestines with a paw. Without a change in expression, he ripped the sword out of his guts and squeezed the wound shut. It would heal in time. The veins that raged across his colossal, furious form settled down, and the almost trance-like gaze in his eyes returned to the closest thing he could experience to normal. His rugged and matted white maw curled with curiosity, and he stepped back to admire his work.

In a crater born of her own body, Ryuko laid completely still — blood staining her bluish hair and the once-pristine white fabric of an equally pacified Junketsu, rolling off her ghost-white face. Hitting the ground at that chaotic speed and being sandwiched between the bare rock and the overwhelming mass that was Battle Beast did a number on her. Every bone was pulverised at once, plunging thousands of tiny shards into her flesh, and her organs were torn and shot. The hero was splayed out on her back, the only sign of movement being the bubbling of blood in the rear of her mouth, pushed up by an attempt to breathe.

Still, Ryuko was just alive enough to retain a shred of her hearing and vision. It was enough to recognise the truth. She was never going to win. It was an impossibility from the very beginning. The great cosmic adversary could withstand nearly any attack, and what was able to break through his hide didn’t faze him in the slightest. He remained as he always was — unbeaten across all of space’s vast expanse, forever dreaded by those who claimed strength. It was a rule proven by the countless destitute. 

There was no beating the invincible Battle Beast.

The one formerly known as Thokk sighed, for he too realised this to be the case. He had hoped this girl would bring about a different outcome. She had promised so much in words and in deeds, but alas, it was not meant to be. Ryuko Matoi was just to be another name in a list of many, broken under the might of the dornian’s curse and forgotten by her killer, remembered only as being part of that nameless horde.

“Stronger than most.” he snarled, twirling the comparatively dainty crimson Scissor Blade in his big hands. The feline took a liking to it, he witnessed what it was capable of. Might take some getting used to, but it’d be mastered in no-time. He’ll keep it. Raising it over his head with the blade’s tip pointed down, Battle Beast intended to skewer the hybrid’s exhausted heart, knowing that her regenerative powers could no longer save her. All good things must come to an end. “But not strong enough.”

Right as the scarlet sword was brought down, a massive mechanical fist slammed against the dornian’s cheek. The gap in durability was enormous, and the hand crumpled and ejected splinters of metal, but it was enough to cease the action that would have killed Ryuko. The other hand, backed up by ridiculous muscles of machinery and two men in plank position, grabbed the lion by the throat and heaved with everything it had in an attempt to move him. 

In the DTR’s ‘seats’, Aikuro and Tsumugu grimaced and ran hot with sweat. Their bowels shifted irritably when the beast’s golden eyes swallowed them up, his jaw lowering ever so slightly, like the attack was an insult. “A little help, guys!” the blue-haired nudist scowled, failing to even press Battle Beast an inch.

From on high, three more assailants strafed with puny attempts to knock him down, doing nothing more than attaining his attention. Gamagori, Sanageyama, and Jakuzure fanned out in front of him, standing between the maniac and his victim, holding their large suction canisters as weapons. Seeing the state he left Matoi in made them sick, they couldn’t even tell if she was alive or not. But it bolstered their resolve.

The machines powered on, and in an instant, the blood-stained fur of the creature was sucked towards the Elites before Gamagori’s device snagged Battle Beast’s unresisting arm, with those belonging to the green and pink-themed teens latching on further up like a vacuum. The Emergency Rescue Suction Devices had no business trying to restrain a creature of such magnitude, but he let it happen. It was no different to flies picking his hide clean of enemy gore. “The insects from the ship, I presume. You unworthy waste my time.”

To test them, Thokk flexed a single finger, wrenching his claw inside the device’s inner mechanics. He pulled ever so slightly, and the enormous blonde, almost the same size as him, was lifted off his feet and strained to hold his ground. Fear of the almighty seized Gamagori like the plague, and a low purr got the man to let go of the Rescue Device and fall back. Discarding the first metal canister and the Scissor Blade, Battle Beast just as easily peeled Sanageyama and Jakuzure and their own weapons off like leeches, holding the two earthlings in his palms like dornian kittens.

Then he felt two sharp edges glance off of his back and a hairless body wrap itself around his neck. The remnants of Bakuzan failed to penetrate the wild menace’s hide, but Satsuki did not fret, only seeking to distract the beast. With the strength inherent in her family lineage, she leaned back and managed to somewhat stagger Battle Beast, forcing him to cede a few steps. What was a novelty to the alien was the golden opportunity to the gang of humans.

“Mankanshoku! Now’s your chance, deliver Senketsu to Ryuko!” Satsuki commanded at the top of her lungs, holding onto dear life as the snowy gladiator tried half-heartedly to  remove her. Jogging onto the scene with the sentient sailor’s uniform in her arms, the ever-so-tiny Mako scanned between the array of moving legs to find a path to her best friend. Seeing a limp hand poke out of a crater, she dashed off as fast as her small legs could carry her.

“DON’T WORRY, RYUKO! WE’RE COMING!” Traversing the chaos with surprisingly little care and abundant ease, the no-star wonder slid under friends and foe alike, ducking her head as fists flew and bodies soon after, making all sorts of benign but deeply unnecessary comments as she did so. Watching what looked to be thoughtless and slight swings of the tree-trunk arms fling about Lady Satsuki, the Elite Four and the Ultimate DTR inspired a lot of awe in her. “Gee, Senketsu, I hope Satsuki’s idea works. This guy’s nuts!”

Senketsu couldn’t reply. Every thread that made him shuddered at the sight of his bloodied partner, and fearing the worst had come to pass was like being ripped apart, string by string. It was a fear that peaked when Mako grinded to a stop, standing above the Life Fiber hybrid’s motionless body. The loudmouth with the tawny bobcut pursed her lips. “Wow… she’s messed up. And y’know what, Senketsu? I told her not to be an idiot and chase that lion guy! I told her this would happen, I TOLD HER! It’s ‘bout time somebody actually listens to me because I got brains. I’m like Nostradamus with my predictions!” 

The faintest heartbeat in Ryuko’s chest reached the ears of the one being completely in tune with her. Senketsu’s eye perked up. “Ryuko’s alive!” he exclaimed, letting his worries fly away in the wind. The Kamui nodded, thanking his carrier for her work before hopping down onto his human partner’s chest. Senketsu felt her weakness, every break healed and every drop of blood sapped from her body. Wincing, he expected Junketsu to resist his approach, but the Kiryuin family heirloom was just as much of a victim as Matoi. 

“Here goes.” Unsure of what else he could do besides get Ryuko to wear him, Senketsu got to work, slipping beneath the unconscious white Kamui. 

Battle Beast was going easy on this band of earthlings. If he deemed it, he would have splattered each and every one of their puny bodies against the rocks like old produce. It was clear that none of these beings carried even a fraction of the white swordswoman’s power. Not half-naked and without their Goku uniforms. The girl with the bushy eyebrows and long hair was the most impressive of the lot, but even she was simply a bug, and her fate would be decided by the scourge’s whims alone. His mercy was rapidly running thin, and his amusement with them was no more.

In a white blur faster than eyes could track, the demigod’s arm rammed into the DTR’s leg and broke steel as easily as glass. The mech fell flat onto both of its pilots’ faces. “Today is not a good day! You mock me with this pitiful display after such an immense, poisonous disappointment!” Batting away the pink conductor and the ivy swordsman with the bruised disciplinary chair and their esteemed Lady in hand, he raised them up by the face and bemoaned his otherworldly and cursed frustrations. “I shall feel no pleasure in the spilling of your blood. Again I say, today is not a good day!”

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, PUSSY CAT!” A shrill voice screeched down from below, prompting Battle Beast to lower his head and inspect the noise. It was that girl from the boat who wasn’t aware of how aggravating her babbling was.

“You — have you forgotten my promise?” the alien legend boomed back, narrowing his milky yellow stare. He dropped Satsuki and Gamagori like playthings before taking a big step towards Mako, imposing his size over her. “After my chagrin here today, I could certainly use a light meal.” But the ignoramus did not back down. Instead, she raised her hands over her head, and from out of nowhere, the world dimmed and a light source shone down on her.

Hallelujah!

Then, she started dancing in an eccentric show of charades as her mouth ran wild. “Now what’dya think you’re doing, mister!? You think you can just turn Ryuko into a squished tomato and get away with it!? No siree, and I’m gonna make you pay! I’m a good fighter too, y’know! I beat Ryuko up once, it was crazy! I have this super badass costume with a lil blade’a grass I chew, it’s awesome! Don’t let my size fool you, I’m one mean chick, dammit! And y’know what!? Even if I spare you from my super-duper powerfulness, you’re not ever gonna win, because we humans stick together! There’s bigger problems out there in the world than your stupidity, and that’s what we’re fighting for! So get it through your thick skull, dammit! You get in our way, you get in the way of the whole world, or worst of all, you hurt Ryuko any more, and we’ll kick your teeth in!!”

Unusually, the legendary fighter was stumped. At a loss for words. “Excuse me?”

“Yeah, I mean it!” Mako bravely assured, crossing her arms as the day’s lighting reverted back to normal as mysteriously as it had changed. 

“We all do.” Satsuki joined her side, black all around her eye and grazes all over her skin. The Nudists were next, needle-guns confidently trained on the extraterrestrial, and after them, the three Elites, all bloodied and bruised to varying degrees but still ready to give it their all. “Battle Beast, this world is in mortal danger from the clutches of evil itself, and as long as our hearts beat, we won’t ever give in. Our resistance is not a ‘waste of time’, it is the lifeblood that will ensure the survival of mankind. Ryuko was the greatest of us, even if we could not see it. We owe it to her to continue the fight, even if you, an interloper, stand in our path.”

Thokk growled, about to respond with a chesty rebuke, but the entire newly-formed archipelago stilled. Pink starlight burst out from behind them, shimmering loudly and capturing every eye. In the centre of it all was the hero of the day, rejuvenated with her blade in hand, full of her old fire. Navy hair highlights turned scarlet and her face was rid of that tacky eyeshadow. Best of all? Back in black.

“Good to know ya owe me one, sis.” Ryuko Matoi, the real Ryuko, was back in action with her old pal Senketsu! Every face was stricken with a priceless smile of restored hope, none more so than Battle Beast. Mako wasted no time in bolting towards her bestie, leaping up and wrapping around her torso. There weren’t any venomous thoughts of self-doubt twisting the knife anymore. Feeling the touch of her true bond reminded her of who she really was — not a monster, not a freak, just some punk who wants to stick it to the woman, and that made her as human as anyone else. There was a lot to apologise for now that she’d gotten a hold of herself, but that would come in time. “Now, BB, we oughta talk this out. Ya wanna just gimme a minute?” The hybrid’s grip tensed around the hilt of her sword. She could feel her Kamui’s fear roll up through her body, but in her mind she assured him it would be okay.

The great beast’s careful silence ended after a short while of consideration. “You have earned my respect, and thus my patience, Matoi. If talking is your wish, I shall oblige.” His curled fists relaxed and he pressed his lips together, gesturing with an upturned palm at his newest obsession and adversary.

With the light gone green, Ryuko began. “Mako and Satsuki told ya better than I could. Surely you get it now, right? This ain’t about you or me, it’s about everybody else on Earth. If you fight and kill us, nobody’s gonna stop every person from being swallowed by Life Fibers. We’re trying to stop that and make sure this world has a future, but we can’t do that if ya turn us into paste. And to tell ya the truth, I don’t wanna fight you anymore, man. Yeah, it was fun when I was all crazy and shit, but it hurt like hell and I don’t wanna go through that just for somebody’s kicks. You shouldn’t wanna fight me anymore, either. You won and I lost. There’s no more challenge to be explored. I’m not the chick who’s gonna take you out, dude. Isn’t that your whole bit?”

“But you have entered a new form,” the arthurian legend interjected, “and seeing it fully restore your health, it leads me to think it may be more powerful. You’re more relaxed, in-tune, the power of you and your fabric is much purer, I can smell it. Am I wrong to assume such things?”

Ryuko exhaled and dimly chuckled. “Senketsu and I could probably put up a better fight — by this much.” She brought her index finger down towards her thumb, leaving barely any air between them, but air nonetheless. It wasn’t a good prospect for the dornian. “It’s not worth it, you’re chasin’ a fantasy if ya think anything’ll change. I’m tired, BB. I’m so tired, we all are. I just wanna end this dictatorial bullshit and go home with my friends. For once we’re tryin’ to do somethin’ right. Please don’t take that away from us. That’s all I’ll ever ask of you.”

As much as it saddened the lion, reason dictated the hybrid was right. Her power could be pushed further and further beyond all of its limits, but even then, the power of the Life Fibers was still eclipsed far and away by the curse’s unholy vice on Battle Beast and the endless carnage it wrought. What happened here today, the bloodshed, the bodacity of the fight that he craved and never could get enough of… it would simply have to do.

“I have learned to expect disappointment, and while you have been closer to bringing about my much-wanted demise than most, the result remains the same. My temper is only slightly foul. By all accounts, you fought well, Matoi. Your gifts certainly make you a tricky opponent that not many would overcome. I… enjoyed our battle.” Looking to the empty skies above, the proven victor envisioned the continuation of his mission elsewhere. Without any more words for the pack of humans and the hybrid, he turned to leave. “This planet bears no more challenges to conquer.”

But before he could signal to his ship and walk through the teleportation device, another enigmatic ray of light appeared, hitting his back with the clack of a high-heel, followed by an eloquent voice of ambition that spoke of more. “What if I told you that there was someone powerful enough to satisfy your tastes?” The illustrious Lady Satsuki raised an eyebrow, confidently smiling as Battle Beast’s ear twitched and his movements paused. “Her name is Ragyo Kiryuin, the woman threatening all life on Earth and the tyrant we are dedicated to overthrowing. She is also Ryuko and I’s mother.”

Intriguing. Very intriguing, indeed. “How powerful is this Ragyo Kiryuin?” he muttered, excitement rolling off his tongue.

“Powerful enough to defeat Matoi in but a fraction of the time it took you, along with the rest of us in our Life Fiber enhancements at the same time. She is the apex of human-Life Fiber hybrids, and thus far, has proven unbeatable. Battle Beast, your sense of honour is deeply admirable, no matter how foreign it is to us, so I urge you to consider helping us. With your strength and tenacity, we might stand a chance at defeating her, and if not, you will be given the glorious death you so desire. If you were to join us, your service would be invaluable and you would be hailed over the entire planet as a hero. Not to mention, there would be no shortage of blood to spill. Will you join us on this crusade?”

Battle Beast didn’t have to think about it. He wasn’t beloved on his homeworld of Dorn for simply being an unquenchable killer. He was the hero of his people, the great liberator and unifier. Beneath his indestructible layering of wrath and bloodlust, the leonine alien had a very particular disdain for tyranny and those who lauded their strength over the meek. There was a heart in his cold chest. Of course, the prospect of finding his mythical ‘worthy opponent’ may have had some sway in the decision.

His maw opened with a curl and unleashed a roar of elation. “Until this Ragyo Kiryuin meets a violent end, or I do at her hand, you have my service. I look forward to eating her heart!”

Ryuko slung her Scissor Blade over her shoulder and cracked her knuckles. “You ain’t gonna be alone out there, BB. I wanna piece of her bitch-ass too.” When the rugged gladiator heard that, he pleasantly guffawed.

“I require no assistance. But, I will gladly call you my ally for the duration of this conflict.”

Not long after, the sound of shifting feet could be heard, followed by something decisively less pleasant. The aggravating ditzy voice of an uninvited presence skipped over the shattered rocks, ushering in a skinny, blonde-haired girl clad in pink, umbrella in one hand and violet Scissor Blade in the other. Another woman with purple locs wrapped her arms around the Grand Couturier’s neck, resting on the arm that clasped the blade.

“No, silly! Nothing could have survived that, not even poor— Oh shit, erm, deary me!” Nui bleated, eyes nearly popping from her skull seeing that mangy interference stand side-by-side with the resistance fighters. “I-I must have made a wrong turn, cya, cuties!”

“Don’t be so easily shaken, Nui. What is there to be afraid of? A company of rejects, and their new, stray friend.” The heavenly radiance from hell shone down from her helicopter, blinding like the sun. “My daughters, what a shame it is to see you go down such a destructive path. Let it be known I gave both of you a chance. Tsk. Ungrateful children.”

Regarding their mother with unruly contempt, the sisters stood as one united front with their friends and army aboard the Naked Sol behind them. Ryuko spat on the ground to consecrate their bond. “Bite us, ya dumb bitch.”

To their rebellion, Ragyo waved her hand without a care. It was the newcomer who snared her interest. With him in play, there was no telling what damage could be done to her schemes. And from studying him, he certainly made himself out to be a total character. “Now, you do not belong here, mongrel. I understand that you treat your life as a game, but there are very real consequences to the game I play. You defy the laws of nature by defying me. Choose to continue interfering on my planet and I will see to it that you will face a most excruciating death.”

Battle Beast just grinned, ready to start all over again.

“I will take my chances.”

Winner: Battle Beast