Everything

  Dozai’s lungs?scraped raw with every breath,?ribs?a symphony of pain?from Sero’s kick, but he?drove?his legs forward.

  They?moved as one organism,?a single unit of focused violence.

  Nobu struck first, his rusted knife slashing down with clean, surgical precision. Sero’s head?twitched, the blade?veered off-line.?But Dozai was already?exploiting the opening,?his fist?cracking?toward Sero’s sternum?before the redirection was even complete.

  Sero?barely deflected?the blow with his elbow.

  Dozai’s teeth clenched.

  He’s fast… but not untouchable.

  Nobu’s eyes flicked sideways for half a heartbeat, just long enough to register that Dozai was shadowing him.

  Sero’s grin?returned,?teeth?glistening?in the fractured light. “Trying so hard! Watch your step, little mice!”

  Sero?blurred into motion, redirecting Dozai’s punches?straight at Nobu's throat.?But Nobu was already?spinning, blade twisting off-line, forcing the redirected strike past his own shoulder.

  Sero?ducked low,?feinting a strike to land low but actually go high. Dozai's world sharpened, his eyes slowing down the moment instantly—the feint a blur, the real strike a cold line in his mind. He went high.

  Dozai countered, his fist?scythed?toward Sero’s temple mid feint.

  Sero?tilted—redirect—Dozai’s fist?whiffed past his ear,?while Sero’s?own punch smashed into Dozai's cheek still.

  But Nobu didn't let up. He twisted on his heel and hammered a short, brutal strike into Sero’s side in the same sequence. The impact?echoed with a sickening thud.

  Sero?grunted, stumbling back a step.

  The Rank 4 Hunter’s grin?flickered again.

  “You rats fight surprisingly well!” he?taunted, though the edge in his voice was new.

  Dozai’s chest heaved.

  We can hit him. Just keep doubling up. Keep attacking simutantiously.

  Sero?shifted gears.?Their clean strikes came?at a cost, he began?hammering them with brutal, overwhelming force,?trading blows to land more of his own.

  As Dozai and Nobu tried attacking at the same time at different vectors, Sero’s elbow pistoned into Nobu’s jaw, snapping his head back towards Dozai.

  Dozai flinched, stopping his assaults in the moment. But even as Nobu was falling back, he shot his foot forward, connecting with Sero's shin simultaneously.

  Dozai's eyes widen slightly seeing Nobu trading a blow, prioritizing the next attack over his own recovery. The kick connected as Nobu fell and Sero’s balance shifted.

  Dozai reengaged instantly, an opening he couldn't waste. He?lunged,?fist?loaded,?shoulder?screaming.?The punch?cracked?into Sero’s jaw.

  Hard.

  Sero’s head?snapped to the side, eyes momentarily widening.

  But instead of faltering, Sero’s grin?stretched into a rictus of annoyance.?“Lucky hits! All these lucky hits!” He?spat blood and?quickly recoverd.

  His fist?blurred?toward Dozai.

  Dozai?crossed his arms, a?bone-jarring block?that?lifted him off his feet?and?sent him skidding?backward,?trenches gouged in the dirt?by his heels, barely recovering.

  Nobu held his jaw and?staggered foreward again,?face filled with blood and bruises.?He?lurched?back into the fight, his strikes?becoming wild, telegraphed, but?he never stopped swinging.

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  "Stay with me!” Nobu?shouted, blood spraying from his lips,?eyes?glued?to the?micro-twitches?of Sero’s head. “Don’t stop! We're damaging him!”

  Dozai didn’t answer, but his teeth clenched. His body screamed fatigue, but he still moved foreward to match Nobu's assault. He roared, fighting his legs to keep moving, mirroring Nobu, step for step, strike for strike, their rhythm beginning to fold together.

  His Maho always slowing his perspective just enough, finding the perfect gaps to slip something, anything, in.

  For a moment... just a moment... they weren’t prey. They were?a perfect engine of violence,?two blades moving in lethal tandem,?chipping away at the monster's grin.

  Nobu’s fists were bruised,?blood?slicking his arms,?but he?hammered forward with a raw-throated roar.?Each punch was?a testament of pure will,?clumsy but unstoppable.

  Dozai matching him, filling every gap, answering every redirect Sero tries to slip in. Whenever Sero tilts his head to twist a strike’s path, Dozai is already there, a shadow intercepting the new angle.

  And for the first time, Sero’s manic grin shattered.

  “What the hell is this?” Sero?grunted, confusion and anger warring in his eyes.

  Dozai feinted a low grapple, Sero flinched to intercept, Nobu came high.

  Nobu snarls, spit flying from his clenched teeth, and buries a fist into Sero’s shoulder. The impact echoes sharp and wet.

  Sero grunted.

  Dozai pivots off the recoil and slams his fist into Sero’s cheek, snapping his head sideways with a brutal precision.

  The predator?reeled,?breath?rattling slightly,?his expression?a terrifying mix of rage and euphoria, as if he was now just starting to feel their attacks more brutally.

  “HAHA! Okay! Okay!” His voice is hoarse, but started to be filled with desperation the rats knew too well. "You have my full attention now!"

  The fight?raged on,?but Nobu was?breaking.?Tremors wracked his frame,?sweat and blood?pouring?down his face, every breath a?wet, ragged gasp.?His arms?shook violently,?but?they did not stop.

  Dozai saw it... Felt it. Nobu fighting his own breaking body, forcing muscle and bone to keep pace with an enemy that should have ended them already.

  Dozai?opened his mouth to yell retreat, to save Nobu from himself—

  “DONE!!!” Roi’s voice?cut through the chaos like a gunshot.

  The signal.

  No choice now.

  Dozai bit down on his lip, continuing to fight. They had to drive Sero to the massive steel pillar or die trying.

  Dozai?met Nobu’s eyes, a silent, desperate agreement, and they?surged forward together again.?The world narrowed to the pillar. They press Sero, driving him backward, but he snaps back with savage fury.

  His fist?slammed?into Nobu’s chest.

  The sound was nauseating.

  Ribs splintered.?Air?exploded?from Nobu’s lungs.

  His body?folded?around the blow,?feet lifting from the ground.

  But even in that instant, his arm lashes out. A desperate counterpunch, instinct born of refusal, inches from Sero’s face.

  Sero jerks back just in time, the strike grazing past.

  As Nobu was?hurled backward,?he?locked eyes with Dozai.

  For a split second, his face wasn’t twisted in rage or agony.

  It was something smaller. Something quieter.

  Like an apology.

  Dozai’s heart plummeted. He reached out to catch him but...

  Nobu?crashed?to the ground,?skidding along the dirt.

  “NOBU!!” Dozai braced himself for Sero’s follow-up, the killing blow, the end of their chance.

  But it didn’t come.

  Sero?was frozen.?His grin?vanished.?His eyes?widened in genuine, unfeigned shock.

  “…Did my life just— What? Was that some kind of Maho?” His voice was?a whisper, stripped of all its manic energy.

  As if he saw death itself for a mere moment.

  Dozai was just as confused, but?the opening was there.?He?hurled himself forward,?a?human battering ram,?driving Sero back. Sero’s feet?dug furrows?in the gravel as he fought for balance, snapping him out of his shocked state.

  The pressure never let up—steady, grinding, impossible to slip cleanly away from.

  Why does it always fall apart at the last second?! Hold... JUST HOLD!

  Dozai barely registered distant heavy, dragging footsteps heading closer, but he couldn't focus on anything except pushing Sero toward the pillar.

  “FINE! FINE! I’LL GIVE YOU RATS SOME CREDIT!” Sero?roared, his manic energy returning in a terrifying wave. “LET’S INCREASE THE INTENSITY THEN!!”

  Increase the intensi—?

  Suddenly, Sero's right foot came off the ground, shifting his weight, not to escape—but to shape the force. Dozai felt the sudden slack and knew too late that something was wrong.

  Sero pivoted.

  In one brutal, fluid motion, he caught the momentum of Dozai’s shove and redirected it— down, carrying his own body with it. His elbow came crashing in like a falling hammer.

  Dozai screamed in agony. White-hot fire tore through Dozai’s back, as he dug his knee into the ground to not fall fully. His arms went numb for a second, grip slipping...

  Sero?surged,?almost twisting free—

  But, a roar split the air.

  Kenny?barreled out of the dust,?a?whirlwind of reckless fury,?fists?swinging for the fences.

  “I'M STILL HERE!”

  Sero’s head?snapped toward Kenny,?lips?curling in a dismissive snarl.?“You aga—”

  KENNY'S FIST SMASHED INTO SERO’S JAW.

  The sound echoed.

  Sero's body jolted. His eyes rolled back. For half a heartbeat, his legs buckled.

  Dozai saw it. The opening.

  And even in agony, he forced himself not to think about the pain.

  Just move.

  Without hesitation, he bellowed, voice?shredded and raw.

  “PUUUUUUUUUSH!!!”

  The arena shook with their desperation, dust boiling, steel bending, the fight surging toward its breaking point.