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Chapter 21: Inheritance Arc 5

"Now," he finally announced "let me show you why you can't do anything against me!"
The illusion that followed was fundamentally different – replacing himself by Chrome for her to take the attack in his stead...
"This shouldn't be possible!" Tsuna protested loudly "This is no Mist ability!"

"Ah but I'm not restrained to Mist, am I?" rhetorically asked the old ghost "I do hold the Sand Ring of the Simon too, don't I?"
Tsuna let his fists answer in his place – for the second Chrome had been hurt, it became his fight.
Enma too had jumped into the fray, the two small teenagers all Flames ablaze.

As for the Vindice, seeing the fighters change, they declared "Since the Simon Sand user isn't currently able to act by himself and the Mist users have been replaced, the match is call in favor of the Vongola. We'll release the next memory!"
"Please do!" Daemon Spade jovially answered "I do enjoy a good show!"

[Bonus Goal Complete 1 ! +50 000XP
Earth Flame entry unlocked in Grimoire System]

[Level up! You are now Specialty Level 23!
+2SP, +1PP]
[Level up! Padfoot is now Level 38!
+1CP, +2SP]

With that, the sixth memory was played in the two Famiglia minds, detailing their decision to stay friend and for the Simon to hide, and ending with the Vindice's sudden apparition...

¤.¤.¤

"Bah!" Daemon Spade laughed loudly, surprising them "Sure, Giotto pulled the wool over me... But in the end the joke's on him, for he is long dead while I'm still here ready make the Vongola great!"
"And you'll use deception and treason, blood and tears to make them great?" Kazami idly commented
"I'll use anything needed!"

"Ah but all theses things have already been used, and them made the Vongola into a gigantic crime syndicate sure enough." the girl contradicted "Only, the Vongola wasn't created to be a crime syndicate, it was created to protect people!"
"Yet it wasn't strong enough!" the old Mist Guardian hotly replied – and it was evident she'd just hit a sore point

Tsuna took a look at the man – and suddenly, he wondered about the reason that made him so obsessed by power.
Because from the way he'd reacted to his sister's comments, it was now evident that there was a hidden motivation that had started his madness. He sighed – now wasn't the moment to pity his opponent, for they still had Katou Julie to free, and possible good motivation behind his acts or not, the ghost was now far too tainted by madness to be saved in any other way than to be allowed to finally pass on.

As if to prove his point, said ghost was once more cackling "I discarded my body and transcended mortality! All for the Vongola's greatness!" a glare toward him "And for this greatness, I'll have to kill you, little Decimo, for you're infected by the same kind of weakness than your ancestor!"
The next second, the illusionist was gone, so fast Tsuna couldn't even dodge his first attack – and wasn't it ironic that said illusionist was now using a weapon too, when he'd derailed Chrome and Mukuro for their own weapon's earlier?

But clearly, the mad man was over with games, and now, his illusions, just as real as Mukuro's, were paired with truly frightening fighting prowess – and wasn't he using Takeshi's own weapons? No, Tsuna soon was correcting himself – those did indeed look like Takeshi's katana and fire arm, but more like the Cambio Forma he used in the future, rather than the current one.
Which meant he still had ways to spy into the Vongola, which made sense but was worrying, what with his obsession with the Famiglia – but also, just like Kazami had confirmed, that he hadn't been able to spy on their more recent fights.

¤.¤.¤

The following minutes were tense, Tsuna and Enma needing all their wits to keep up with the possessing spirit that wasn't holding back anything in his fight, juggling easily between all of both their Guardians powers, copying them and using them all too easily – and even though Mukuro had a similar aptitude with his Second Path of Hell, the demonic illusionist didn't use his own ability as flawlessly, nor could he deal with talents from so many different people at the same time.
Thankfully, Enma and Tsuna natural friendship was such that each second spent fighting together made their synergy better – and just like Kazami and Reborn had seamlessly learned to work together in battle, the two young Boss were doing the same right now.