Okumura Syndicate Ending 2

Chapter 180: The Last Encounter

Back in the east wing, Rou felt a cold shudder run through his body as Lin faced him, "Oh god...". The first sparks of flame edged towards he and Demitris. "Rou, what do we do?!", Demitris shrieked. Instinctively, the capo pushed him away in order to deflect the fire with ice. "Rou, don't you remember a few hours ago? You're gonna lose control!", Demitris called out. They both knew he needed to act fast. "There must be a way out of this, you can't face him again!.", said Demitris. "What else can we do? If we run, he'll follow us!", screamed Rou. It was true, they couldn't get away, they were trapped. Lin advanced slowly, twitching with every stiff step. "Rou...", his distorted voice taunted.

As the flames continued to advance, and with each step the temperature dropped. "Please, we can work together, like you said, two against one, don't burn alone!", Demitris yelled, pushing himself between the capo and the ice wall he . "It's like whatever I do, Lin always comes back! I can't let him ruin my life again!". Demitris couldn't take it anymore, he pulled Rou towards him by force. Giving him a cold, but sincere stare.

"Stay close, keep running away and hiding from him. We need a plan, and then we can do everything we can to beat him!". Rou turned away, how could he be convinced when he'd lived it all his life? "He isn't Lin anymore! He never was! All those years of chasing after his little brother, it was nothing but a game to him! A means to an end! He's using us for his own sick enjoyment!", cried Rou, as he struggled against Demitris's hold. "It's impossible to run, it always has been...".

"Face me Rou, face me Demitris Lowpeak!", Lin declared from behind the ice. "Why aren't you attacking, weakling?!", shouted Demitris. "Demitris, what the hell?! He could kill you!", Rou exclaimed. To Demitris, Lin's speech seemed off, suspicious, and needed to find a way to break through Rou's irrationality. "Rou, I don't think that's your brother...", he said in an attempt to get through to him. "Of course not, not anymore!", Rou announced, hoping that he'd hear from behind the ice wall, this was going to be extremely difficult.

"Rou, listen to me!", pleaded Demitris to his clearly traumatised partner. The ticking time bomb of flames was about to burst out, and neither of the men could negotiate. "If I die here, Lin will never let up!", Rou was visibly shaking from both anger and fear, but still Demitris prevailed. "But this is not the real Lin, this is a puppet!", the one eyed man insisted. The two stood there, fighting for their lives. As the fire grew ever hotter, the shadow of Rou's brother emerged, hungry for death.

His fiery eyes bore straight through them, and they quickly ducked. This was different from the previous fight, was Demitris right? Both men hid behind what was left of the frozen wall, when out of nowhere, Lin attacked from behind, stunning both of them. "How can he be a puppet when he's so relentless?", uttered Rou. His breath was haggard, while Demitris was struggling hard to stay focused. "The...static...", muttered the soldier.

"Static? What kind of talk is that ? I thought you were better than this!", he said, genuinely confused by what Demitris was saying before turning around and attempting to advance on his brother. He was always the inferior one, always the bullied. If this wasn't the real Lin, did this mean someone had stopped him? Rou carefully examined his surroundings, Lin was about to launch a surprise attack, when suddenly, there was a loud bang from the opposite direction.

The smoke cleared, revealing, "Geez you guys! What's going on with you two?!", Rou and Demitris heard the shout of Shiva. "I heard chaos going on around here, thought we'd check it out.", he stated joyfully. Accompanying him was Sulena, huffing and puffing from the seemingly speedy commute. "Seems to me like there's a fight going on, looking at your faces, I assume you don't need us!", she said jokingly. Demitris gave her an offended look, "I'm only joking!", she corrected herself. "We're here to help!".

"N-no, I can do it!", insisted Rou. Demitris was more welcoming, "We're gonna need as much help as we can, seems like we're up against a puppet...", he reflected.
Shiva raised his eyebrow, "Huh? Why are you thinking that? That's not possible, puppets were eliminated 200 years ago...", he denied. "Well if it isn't Lin, then who the heck is doing this?!", added Sulena. "Look, I don't know what happened, but I'm sure this is what I've read!", Demitris assured. "I guess we're going to have to trust you then!", replied Shiva. The fight against puppet Lin was underway.