"That's a bit ominous..", Tengen said, exiting the start room and seeing a dark set of stairs illuminated by a few green torches.
"Stay on guard, we don't know what could lurk in the shadows.", Obanai said, unsheathing his sword and cautiously walking up the set of stairs. Reaching the end, there was a bounce pad that flung them high into the air. Unfortunately, Mitsuri didn't see this.
"AAAAAAAAAAAA-", she yelled before abruptly stopping as she landed on a platform. "What was that?!", she exclaimed, looking down at where she was flung, before she herself fell as Giyu rapidly went upwards and landed on the same platform. "Pay more attention next time.", he said, blankly.
"Y-Yeah, got it..", Mitsuri muttered as the others reached where they were. As they went through the door in front of them, three doors were present. One was slightly open but not open enough for any of them to fit inside, one was locked, and one led to a room covered in the dunes of Greed.
"Nngh.. damn it..", Sanemi muttered as he tried to open the slightly open door, but to no avail. "Well, to the next door we go, I guess."
"Make sure not to touch the sand! You don't want to get burned, after all!", Rengoku called out as the Hashira traversed through the sand, soon reaching an area with a bounce pad that took them to a corridor. Torches were lined up at the side, giving off an eerie feel to the area.
"This is all building up to something, I'm calling it..", Tengen said as he reached a broken bridge, forcing the Hashira to do a bit of parkour. "Careful, everyone!", he said as he got a running start and jumped over the gap, successfully reaching the other side.
Admittedly, it took them a while, but the others finally reached the other side as well; Sanemi taking the longest. The next area had a wide window with gaps in it, causing the sun to come through and make contact with the Hashira.
"Ahh.. that feels nice..", Mitsuri sighed as she felt the warm sun's embrace.
"Come on, Mitsuri..", Obanai said as he dragged her to the next door. There was a checkpoint, and then a large area with a familiar face in the middle of it.
"Shit, that's not good..", Sanemi muttered as he saw the red figure, sitting on a throne lazily.
"That machine again?", Rengoku said curiously. "Chin up, everyone! We've defeated it once, we can defeat it once again!"
"I hope you're right, Rengoku.", Tengen replied as he slowly walked forward, approaching the robot. Once he got close enough, it stood up from its throne and cracked its knuckles.
"Looks like it's getting prepared as well.", Obanai said as he got into a defensive stance, preparing for a sudden attack made by the machine. After it finished cracking its joints, it pulled its arms back and hit the throne behind it, effectively destroying it.
"V2"
Immediately, V2 began running to the left, where it got its shotgun out and fired an explosive round at the Hashira.
"Flame Breathing, First Form: Unknowing Fire!"
Rengoku took the lead and dashed forward, slicing apart V2's Core Eject shot and negating the explosion. Rengoku slashed at V2, the latter ducking and effectively disarming Rengoku with a strong kick. Thinking quickly, Rengoku got out his own Core Eject and fired at V2, a majority of the bullets hitting it.
Unbeknownst to the Hashira, V2 has analyzed their patterns and skills, and it has devised a counter to each and every one of their attacks. V2 demonstrated this when Mitsuri propelled herself into the air and Giyu and Sanemi ran at V2..
"Love Breathing, Second Form: Love Pangs!"
V2's wings turned green as Mitsuri's blade came at it. It dashed through the slashes made by Mitsuri, coming closer to Giyu and Sanemi.
"Wind Breathing, Fifth Form: Cold Mountain Wind!"
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash."
V2 swiftly jumped over both of their attacks, and it fired an explosive round below it, knocking away Giyu and Sanemi to the ground.
"Love Breathing, Fir-"
Mitsuri's concentration was interrupted when V2 flipped three coins above itself and fired a bullet at them, sending the projectile directly toward Mitsuri and piercing through her right arm, causing her to lose momentum and fall to the ground, where V2 blasted her away with a shotgun blast. It then got out its Overheat Nailgun and aimed it at Tengen, firing a powerful burst of nails.
"Sound Breathing, Fourth Form: Constant Resounding Slashes!"
Tengen swung his blades around himself and deflected the nails with mastery, negating the attack as a whole as he rushed at V2 to counterattack. He tried slashing at its side which, thanks to his incredible speed, landed. Blood came out of the injury as its wings turned blue. V2 circled around Tengen, switching between its weapons to confuse him.
"Sound Breathing, First Form: Roar!"
Tengen slammed his blades below himself, causing an explosion that knocked V2 away but didn't harm Tengen.
"I'm one step ahead, machine!", Tengen said as he ran at V2 and slashed at it before it could even act, creating a barrage of slashes that Tengen delivered with flashiness. V2's wings eventually turned red as it got out its Piercer and charged up a shot.
"You're not the only one who's learned, you know!", Tengen said as he ducked under the piercing shot and kicked V2 a considerable amount of distance away from him, launching him near Muichiro.
"Mist Breathing, First Form: Low Clouds, Distant Haze.."
V2 rolled to the right as Muichiro tried to pierce it with his blade, effectively dodging the attack. It quickly got up and aimed its Nailgun at Muichiro, before being smashed into the wall by a flail, blood coming out of it excessively.
"I've got your back, Muichiro.", Gyomei said as he retracted his weapon back to himself. Slowly getting up, V2 fired an explosive round at Gyomei.
"Stone Breathing, First Form: Serpentine Bipolar."
Gyomei's flail crashed through the round and rushed towards V2, the latter learning and dodging the attack. However, Gyomei's axe met its mark as it swung itself into V2's side, critically damaging it as V2 got the axe out of itself, its wings now turning red. V2 ran straight towards Gyomei before Muichiro got in his way.
"Mist Breathing, Second Form: Eight-Layered Mist."
V2 quickly evaded each of Muichiro's eight slashes before striking him with a kick, causing the Mist Hashira to crash into a wall. V2 shot its Whiplash at Gyomei, hoping to bring him towards it, but he didn't even budge. Instead, he raised his flail and axe once more and concentrated his breathing.
"Stone Breathing, Fourth Form: Volcanic Rock, Rapid Conquest."
Gyomei manipulated his weapons to come at V2 from unpredictable angles. However, V2 himself was even more unpredictable as it just narrowly dodged the attack and continued running at Gyomei before eventually reaching him and quickly aiming its Piercer at his head. However, before it pulled the trigger, a drill suddenly hit its side and began spinning, damaging it slowly but surely.
"Got you!", Obanai exclaimed, putting down the Screwdriver. "Giyu, now!"
"Water Breathing, Fifth Form: Blessed Rain After The Drought!"
An injured Giyu came from above, sword in position to strike V2. The robot tried to evade, but the drill was limiting its movement options. It was soon struck by Giyu's sword as rain droplets began falling from the sky, dropping on V2. It made a pained robotic noise before running to one of the nearby windows and breaking it, escaping from the fight.
"The hell?", Sanemi said, dusting himself off and watching as V2 escaped. "Should we go after it, or.."
"You're not getting away this time!", Muichiro said as he ran and jumped straight through the window.
"Muichiro!- Shit..", Obanai muttered as he quickly followed, ensuring that he was safe.
"Well, guess we don't really have a choice.", Sanemi muttered as he ran through the window as well.
Soon, the Hashira were sliding down a pyramid, in quick pursuit of V2, who fought them while he was being chased.
"Woohoo! I've never fought like this before!", Tengen exclaimed as he slid closer to V2 and tried slicing at his neck, the latter moving further right of the pyramid, evading the slash. It fired an explosive round at Tengen in return which barely just missed, having gone over his head. V2 flipped three coins into the air, but before it could shoot them, another bullet was fired at the coins, redirecting them straight into V2.
"Bullseye~", Shinobu teased, blowing the end of her Marksman. She slid to the left to avoid the incoming nails that were fired at her not long after.
"Flame Breathing, Third Form: Blazing Universe!"
Rengoku jumped into the air with full force, falling at the same momentum V2 was sliding down, and sliced its Overheat Nailgun in half, much to the dismay of V2. It quickly reacted by pulling out its Core Eject and aiming it at Rengoku, who was currently sliding near the robot.
"Flame Breathing, Second Form: Rising Scorching Sun!"
Rengoku slashed vertically, striking the Core Eject and knocking it out of V2's hands, effectively making it lose yet another one of its arsenal.
"Sound Breathing, First Form, Roar!"
As V2 got out its Piercer, a large shockwave made it fumble and eventually drop its Piercer as well. Its last option was the Marksman.
"Gyomei, you're up!", Sanemi exclaimed, as V2 started to flip a coin in the air.
"Stone Breathing, Second Form: Upper Smash."
Suddenly, a flail came from above V2, causing it to fly off of the pyramid and into the sky. Coincidentally, the Hashira reached the end of the pyramid, and each of them fell safely onto a nearby walkway. As for V2 however, it came from above and smashed into the floor, splattering into blood and rubble in front of the Hashira.
"How gruesome..", Shinobu muttered. "But at least we'll never have to deal with V2 again.."
Soon enough, she spotted V2's green arm on the floor. "Hm, what's this?"
She picked it up and examined it, as three pillars began to rise from the sand in front of the Hashira. Curiously testing it out, she shot the harpoon from the Whiplash, grabbing onto an orb that was present at one of the towers, sending her straight to the orb.
"Hm, so it's like a grappling hook?", Shinobu questioned, as the others used Gyomei's flail to get to where Shinobu was. "How interesting.."
She grabbed onto the other orb via the Whiplash, and a large ruin emerged from the sand. Landing on it, two Filth and one Schism spawned, almost acting as a demonstration for the Whiplash. Shinobu hooked onto the Schism, which pulled it closer to her. Once the Schism got close enough, Shinobu stabbed it and injected it with poison, killing it slowly. She finished off the Filth with her Marksman.
A Malicious Face spawned next, and as Shinobu grabbed it with her Whiplash, it instead pulled herself closer to the Maurice. Thinking fast, she kicked herself away from it, tossed three coins into the air, and shot them, redirecting them towards the Malicious Face and killing it instantly. The exit door appeared on a faraway ruin that once again emerged from the sand. There was an orb above it, so Shinobu hooked on to it and went inside the exit. Looking back, she saw the others still a bit behind.
"Eh, they'll get here soon enough..", Shinobu said to herself as she jumped down into the hole.
4-4: COMPLETE
RANK: P