BUTTERFLY : SHINOBU KOCHO (PART ONE)

Part 1: Chapter 4; Grand Phoenix

She managed to flip a couple times to land back on her feet, but the sharp pains in her ribs didn't fade.

S-Shit, that hurt!

When she took a look at what hit her, though, her pain drained from her mind and tick marks formed on her forehead.

".....Kari-san~?"

The boy on the floor rose to his feet with a groan, and looked back at the girl with a scowl on his face. "What do you want, twerp, I'm in the middle of a fight."

YOU JUST FUCKING TACKLED ME-

"Are you not going to apologize for slamming into me~?" She asked in her most menacing tone.

"Pfft, no, you were in my way."

W H A T -

Just as she was about a blow a fuse, her eyes shot open when Sakusa jumped in front of her, blocking a claw with his sword right before it impaled her.

"For fuck's sakes, Kocho!" He groaned as he diverted the attack away from them, "Focus!"

The two bulky demons came into view, sprinting with a sickening bloodlust as they shrieked from the mouths of their necks, jumping into the air and punching the ground in synchronization, sending a shockwave and shattered pieces of the earth right towards the duo.

The Hashira easily jumped away, but Sakusa still stood in front of Shinobu with his blades in his hands.

"You sit back, you're injured."

Before the girl would even reply, another attack came, and Sakusa easily parried it again.

The multi-eyed demon's arm shot back into his body, reducing back to normal size.

"These Seraphim have the ability to extend and shrink their limbs however they want." Sakusa didn't even bother to look back at Shinobu as he spoke.

"I managed to get them to stop their stupid Art, but now they're pissed."

As Shinobu looked at the boy from behind, she finally got a good inspection of him, and her stomach churned a bit in her worry.

Sakusa had his black haori torn to shreds, with mere threads of the cloth covering his scarred and bloody body. He was covered from head to toe in cuts, and bruises formed all over his arms and ribcage.

She was in awe, both out of impression and worry.

T-This man got beat up really badly, probably by Sephir, and now he's still fighting and taunting these demons as strong as Lower Moons......I don't know whether to call him ballsy or an idiot....

Sakusa brought up one of his arms towards the demons with a grin, saying, "Hey, fuckfaces! Your little trick that lets you strike from a distance isn't really that special, you wanna know how?"

"You're looking at a human who can do the exact same thing as you!"

W-What does he mean?

"Oi, Kocho."

"Y-Yes?"

For the second time that night, Shinou could feel her heart skip a beat. Sakusa was glancing out at her out of the corner of his one eye, utter confidence laced all across his smirking visage.

The smirk on his face, even if Sakusa hadn't explicitly said it, made the younger girl feel as though everything was more than just okay, she felt...safe, and protected.

She could trust this man, to do whatever it would take to protect the ones who need protection.

She could trust Sakusa with her life, that is what the smile on his face was telling her.

"Did you know the Breath of Rage was never meant for a katana?"

Shinobu's eyes shot open, "H-Huh?"

The boy said nothing more, as he tossed his blades metres into the air.

What is Kari-san doing?!

All of a sudden, Sakusa grabbed the chains that hung from his blades, and in an instant, they burst to life, burning a smoldering blood orange from where he grabbed the chains, his blades burning crimson and black flames all across the metal.

"WATCH CLOSELY, BRAT, AND SEE THE BREATH OF RAGE IN ACTION!"

"BREATH OF RAGE, THIRD FORM; GRAND PHOENIX!"

What happened next could only be described as electric from Shinobu's point of view.

Rushing headfirst towards the demons, Sakusa swung his swords down from above, slamming down right on top of the Seraphim and splitting them in half, shattering the earth beneath them.

Attack after attack hit them from every angle, acrobatic strikes from above, from below, from every which way, ripping apart the Seraphim as they screamed in agony, being burned to a crisp by pitch black flames.

It was almost like a dance, with Sakusa's frame contorting and evading every single one of the Seraphim's strikes with a grace she never thought possible. Time almost seemed to slow as he ducked and countered, swinging his chains down over top of the Seraphim and cleaving off their flesh, limbs and organs, practically reducing them to husks before they could regenerate.

The multi-eyed one shot its hands out towards Sakusa, but the Rage Hashira simply leapt over top of them with a front flip, and roared,

"Breath of Rage, Eleventh Form; Splitting Rampage!"

Shinobu watched as Sakusa caught his blades in an instant, and flung them right into the demons chest, the beast screaming in pain as the blades burned them from the inside out. The assault wasn't finished there, however, as the Rage Hashira sped right between the demon's legs, and jumped over him from behind, catching the demon in a loop with his chains. Shinobu could hear the sounds of sizzling flesh as the chains melted and burned into the Seraph's back, steam and smoke emitting from the demon's back.

"Burn," Sakusa spat in the air, "Burn for all the pain you have caused us!"

As he yanked his blades back into his hands, Sakusa's chains melted right through the demon's body, dicing him up and taking his neck clean off its body before it could even scream.

A-Amazing......one attack again, and it was all over....

The remaining Seraph shrieked and fired its arms at an airborne Sakusa, but hit nothing but air as the man threw his blade into a nearby tree and yanked it back, shooting back to the blade in a blink of an eye like a grappling hook.

As he pushed himself off the side of the tree, Sakusa let his chains burn again, screaming, "Third Form; Grand Phoenix!"

Using the momentum of jumping off the tree, the man darted right towards the demon, and spun around horizontally in a spiral, his chains burning as crimson as the blood he shed as they slammed right into the Seraphim's neck, slashing its head clean off like a cleaver through butter.

In only three attacks, Sakusa had reduced what could easily have been Lower Moons to ash, all while being visibly injured.

The mouthless demons withered away to ash, the remnants of their bodies slowly disappearing away with the passing seconds, the last images they would ever see being a tall, crimson-tipped man staring down at their with disgust.

Shinobu was utterly speechless.
W-Woah.......so that's the legendary Rage Hashira in action.....

Shinobu waited with an awestruck expression as the young man panted in one spot, with his back turned towards her. After a few moments to catch his breath, he finally turned towards the butterfly girl.

As Sakusa returned back to her, he said, "Are you hurt?"

Shinobu shook her head, "N-No, no, Kari-san, I'm alright~"

"Good, because come morning," He said as he took her hand and brought her back to her feet,

"You're off this mission, and going right back to headquarters."