05-13-2018, 10:28 AM
This was it. His new transformation. His ultimate ability. His Omnilium-based recreation of the Battle Rabbits' Heavenly Form. The new skill which had allowed him to head into this fight without the slightest doubt that he would be victorious…
Sadly, it didn’t come with painkillers.
When the white light cut out after a half second, he wore not his usual, finely tailored suit—a ‘Westmancott Ultimate Bespoke’, which he’d purchased for the low, low price of ¥8,000,000—but in it’s place a long, black overcoat with slits on the shoulders, loose, black trousers, fingerless black gloves, and a pair of white boots. Where the coat was left open slightly at the front, it revealed a purple gemstone seemingly embedded in his chest. Most importantly, unlike his ordinary Battle Rabbit Form, in which he had a pair of rabbit-like ears atop his head, in this version he instead had small, dark wings in their place.
He met her gaze. Eleanor didn’t seem impressed… though, in fairness, she didn’t seem much of anything. She was clearly powerful, he could no longer deny that; whatever it was that Shotgun Steve had done to strengthen her and grant her these strange, new abilities, there could be no denying that it had worked out amazingly. However, it seemed to have come at the cost of whatever small amount of freedom and individuality she had once had… the young woman had been reduced to nothing more than a mindless marionette.
Still, she had bested him quite effortlessly in his base form. While she stood above him, completely unharmed, looking down on him as he lay at her feet, the Battle Rabbit was in bad shape. The cuts on his face and chest were fairly long, but shallow; they stung, but weren’t anything he hadn’t felt plenty of times before. His right shoulder, however—the part of his body which had struck the ground first when she hurled him to the floor—felt as if someone had rammed the tip of a red-hot poker into it. At the very least, it must be dislocated, if not actually broken.
His wrists were bound together, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. With his left hand, he grabbed one of the lengths of silk which bound him and tugged as hard on it as he could, with all of the newfound strength granted him by this form... clenching his teeth to keep from screaming at the agonising, stabbing sensation which lanced out from his shoulder. Oh yes, it had to be broken; he was positive he could feel the shards of bone rubbing against each other and digging into his muscles at the slightest movement
Alas, though, rather than pulling her over, on top of him, where he could have potentially grappled with her despite being tied up like this, all he managed was to haul her about half a step forwards—her foot hadn’t even touched down on the ground again after being lifted—before she realised that despite his increase in strength, she was still stronger, and tugged back, jerking him forwards.
She didn’t count on his reactions or his speed being this heightened, though. In an instant, he had curled his legs up under him, then kicked out, springing forwars with all his might, drastically increasing the speed at which he was headed towards her. It was by no means the most graceful manoeuvre ever pulled off, but he was able to turn in mid-air, to ram his good shoulder into her chest, sending her crashing to the ground… though the only one who cried out in pain was the Battle Rabbit himself, after the impact roughly jostled his shattered shoulder, despite it not being the one to have touched her.
Hijiri staggered, but managed to stay on his feet. Despite not appearing hurt at all, as he’d hoped she would be, Eleanor did seem to get distracted enough that the ribbons binding him loosened up just a little, so that he was able to shrug them off and hurriedly step back, out of their embrace. He summoned his katana in a flash of light similar to—though much smaller than—the one that had enveloped him when his new form had been unleashed.
The blade was still within its sheathe, though, and with his right arm hanging limp and useless by his side, the Battle Rabbit had little choice other than to use his teeth to grip the scabbard whilst he freed the sword, then spit it out of his mouth, onto the ground. As he did this, the Secondary got back to her feet, rising elegantly to face him, though her expression remained as dull as ever, and there was no glint of intelligence behind those vacant eyes.
She stood straight and tall, the right half of her chin-length, ebony fringe held back by a small bow. Her breasts were bound tightly by the ribbons she had clothed herself in, presumably to hold them steady when she moved, since the skimpy bikini top her creator had given her would certainly not have accomplished that on its own. Of that garment, all that could now be seen were the thin straps that crossed her shoulders. The forearm and shin guards she wore were equally tight, but the miniskirt-like section around her hips was much looser, apparently being held in place almost solely by her power, rather than being wrapped firmly around her; so as to avoid restricting her movements in any way, the Rabbit assumed. From every one of these six areas trailed two tails of ribbon, each no less than a couple metres long; now that they were no longer binding Hijiri, they had all returned to simply hovering around her.
They weren’t the only ones present, though; the Prime was all too aware that the ribbons used to tie up the many, many hostages were of the exact same sort as these, so could likely be manipulated just as easily as these spare ones which had simply been left lying on the floor until she began manipulating them. He couldn’t even afford to get too close to the people he was trying to protect, lest their restraints lash out at him. It was hardly an ideal situation. And on top of that, she still had that damned knife, which he couldn’t even risk looking at too closely, if he wanted to avoid being momentarily possessed again... or whatever it was that had happened back there.
She had been holding the knife, but as he thought about it, she released her weapon. Rather than falling to the ground, as one would expect, it instead began coiling its steel chain ‘body’ around her torso, ending up in a position with its blade pointed towards the Rabbit from over her shoulder, looking almost as if it were the head of a snake, which was preparing to lunge.
Hijiri smiled, though, “This fight is over, Eleanor. Now that I’ve entered this form, the Original Form of the Battle Rabbits... the Heavenly Form... you’ve lost. You actually might have managed to beat me if you’d kept your focus despite being knocked down, and had been able to avoid letting me slip out of those restraints… but the moment I escaped, this fight ended. I’m now much too fast for you to catch again. I’ll admit I was impressed with what Steve managed to do here… what he managed to do to you. I wouldn’t have thought him capable of anything so impressive as that… but it won’t matter any more. Even injured, I’m more than a match for anything you can throw at me. So stand down, and you needn’t die alongside your master. After all, you haven’t killed anyone yet.”
It was just a bluff, of course.
In truth, the Battle Rabbit had no way of knowing how much power she might be holding in reserve even now, and he wasn’t at all sure he’d be able to fight without the use of his dominant arm... hence the offer. It might be a long shot, but it certainly couldn’t hurt to at least try to talk her down.
She nodded, “Understood. Correcting dissatisfactory conditions.”
The tendrils of silk in her vicinity all fell limp, the ones around her hips dropping to the floor entirely. No sooner had he begun to wonder at what she was up to when three of the hostages rose up into the air, her concentration now apparently being directed at the ribbons holding them, rather than the ones covering her own body. Glancing across their way, the terror in their eyes was clear to see. All three were making very muffled attempts at screaming through their gags. Suddenly, the gag-ribbons wrenched their captives heads around in a clockwise direction, whilst the other restraints spun their bodies counterclockwise.
Hijiri, with his heightened reflexes, realised what was about to happen just before it did, but he had still only managed to take a single step towards them by the time the three, sickening, simultaneous snaps reverberated around the room. He swallowed dryly. Their bodies were allowed to flop limply to the ground. He’d been wrong. Very, very wrong. Giving diplomacy a shot had, in hindsight, been probably the worst possible move he could have made, short of using the hostages as living shields.
“Situation amended. Recommence hostilities?” her voice was just as flat and monotonous as it had been since the Claw did… whatever it was he had done when he shocked her. The Rabbit gritted his teeth, glaring venomously at Eleanor. As he watched, the ends of the fabric rose back up into the air around her once more, and the looser one draped itself around her hips again.
“You could’ve just said ‘no’, psychopath… but fine. If that’s the way you want it, then so be it… let’s start by cutting off your access to any more helpful little power boosts.” the moment he was done snarling these words, Hijiri dashed forwards, his katana flickering through the air.
When he came to a stop, she spun to face him, stretching out her right arm after him, only to stop upon noticing that the ribbon-ends trailing from it were now no more than a foot in length. He had run right past her, seeking another target, only doing what had to be done to ensure his safe passage through her lengths of floating fabric. Just behind where he’d come to a stop—facing away from her—lay Shotgun Steve and the other two members of his ‘Elizabeth’ trio.
Lisanne had already been dead; his bullet had struck her head when the old man had ordered her to stand, earlier. Bethanie, however, had only been shot in the back, and had still been breathing. Both she and Steve now had their throats slit, and blood was gushing freely from the gaping wounds. The gangster in particular had seemed utterly gobsmacked when the blade had neatly severed his jugular, with no more effort than a pair of scissors snipping an errant thread. It was an expression to treasure, that was for sure. Despite the ease with which Hijiri had overpowered him whilst still in his human form, the Battle Rabbit was sure that right up to the moment the katana had touched his skin, the Claw had not truly believed that it was possible for the younger Prime to defeat him.
Looking over his shoulder, though, he frowned, “Hm. I was hoping that when he died, you’d lose that little power-up of yours. I guess that would have been asking too much.”
“Confirmed. Stated ‘hope’ is inconsistent with recognised parameters of Special Power utilisation.” Eleanor hesitated for a few moments longer before speaking again, “Now die.”
Ribbons darted at him, moving as fast as a skilled boxer might throw a punch; they were by no means slow… yet the Battle Rabbit slid past them with ease. He noticed that the fabric on her right arm—previously shorn short by his blade—had gone limp, but one of the strands severed from its ends now flew through the air towards him along with all of those still attached to her… it was clear that merely cutting them would not truly prevent the Secondary from manipulating them, but there was an apparent limit on the number of sections of material she could command at once.
Knowing that, he flicked his sword through another couple ribbons—one attached to her left arm and one connected to the material around her chest—on his approach, then swung down in an overhead blow which she just barely dodged, diving to the ground and rolling once before stopping in a crouch, not looking remotely phased despite the ease with which he was bypassing her defences. The knife sprung at him, its coils sliding smoothly from around her.
He took in a sharp breath and stepped backwards, worried for a moment by the suddenness of its lunge… before realising that it was moving no faster than the ribbons did. Sure, it would have been difficult for a normal person to dodge... but for him? It might as well have been moving through treacle. Leaping forwards just a fraction of a second after it, she dived at him, fists clenched.
So that was her aim. Distract him with the knife and then get in a few punches when he left himself open by knocking it aside with his sword? She was as foolish as her master, it would seem. Eleanor clearly was vastly underestimating how quickly he could move.
“Tch! You can’t match my speed!” the Rabbit knocked the knife aside with contemptuous ease, disdaining the stupidity of this fleshy automaton which thought that with such a simple tactic it could overcome the vast difference in power that separated them. In an actual person, he would have found such an act brave, would have respected them for being unwilling to throw in the towel despite such inconceivable odds against them… but what would a mere puppet like this know of courage?
And then he gasped, his eyes bulging as his katana was yanked from his hand, putting him off-balance. The chain attached to the dagger had wrapped itself around the sword’s blade and guard, allowing Eleanor to psychically wrench it from his grip... her greater strength clearly applied equally to the weapons she wielded, as well as to her physical body.
And speaking of greater strength…
Surprised, off-balance and off-guard, the Battle Rabbit was unable to dodge. Eleanor’s right hand connected with his stomach, knocking the wind from him, only a moment before she caught him with a left hook that wrenched his head around. From what he’d learned when experimenting at his base, his two more powerful forms both granted him roughly the same level of durability one would expect of a man wearing a suit of armour. To be easily able to knock him around despite this, the young woman must be tremendously strong.
He stumbled away, gasping for breath, the cut on his cheek burning like fire after having taken a hit like that... only for her to grab his broken, right arm and yank him back towards her. Hijiri screamed in agony, as loudly as his body was capable given that it still hadn’t recovered from the punch in the gut. Then she tripped him and spun him so that he landed on his back. She dropped down onto him, landing on his waist and knocking his breath away yet again. The one remaining end of the ribbon on her left forearm wrapped around his right wrist, tying tightly, keeping his good arm pinned down.
Still gripping his left arm, she wordlessly began pulling it up, away from his body, as if trying to tear it off completely. Despite her apparent lack of physical muscle, the strength her body possessed was astounding. At this point, in so much pain, shrieking unintelligibly, the Rabbit found his vision darkening around the edges, and knew that he couldn’t hope to remain conscious for long. Despite this realisation, he simply hurt too much to even consider any methods of fighting back, much less put them into action.
So what he did next was purely on instinct. His right leg came up suddenly, his knee slamming into her back with such force that she gave a brief, choked cough in response, arching her back and releasing his arm at the same time. He winced slightly as it struck the ground, but compared to the pain that had come just before it, this was barely even worth registering. Most importantly of all, though, once again, hitting her had lessened the strength of her fabric, just a tiny bit.
This time it was his turn to catch her with a left hook to the jaw. Her head snapped around and she spun, rolling off him—the now completely limp ribbon slipping from his wrist—something red flying from her mouth. He forced himself up into a sitting position, just in time to see her rising into a crouch. Blood poured down her chin, and as he watched, she spat out a couple little lumps of something… it took him a moment to realise that they were teeth, and that there were four more just like them already lying on the floor. Stronger than him she may be, but it seemed that her durability was much lower… oddly, though, she didn’t seem at all bothered by the pain. Whatever Steve had done to her must have deadened her nerves as well as overwritten her thoughts... or, then again, perhaps not... perhaps the real Eleanor was still in there somewhere, screaming and sobbing with pain as this machine ran her body without giving her any say in the matter.
The Rabbit ground his teeth together in frustration, hating to have to admit to himself that this mere marionette was giving him so much trouble… he really couldn’t comprehend how a man so imbecilic as the Claw could even create a living weapon of this calibre… though, in hindsight, he hadn’t known it was possible for Primes to summon ‘custom-made’ Secondaries until after meeting Steve either, and he hadn’t since heard of anyone else doing what that man did… that, combined with this latest revelation, made him reconsider the racist, old bastard’s intelligence a little… he may be an arrogant fool in most respects, but it seemed like he might just be some sort of twisted genius when it came to experimenting on Secondaries.
They both got back to their feet, and Eleanor dashed forwards again, her ribbons lashing out to pin him in place so that she could pummel him some more. He ducked aside easily, darting over to nearer her prisoners to get well out of her reach. She stopped moving, and turned to face him. Despite the temptation to do so, knowing what was going to happen next, he refused to turn away from her. He just had to wait for the sign, and he would be alright. In the meantime, he began building up the gravity-warping energy he would need to land a decisive blow in his left fist.
Her ribbons fell limp, those around her hips once again starting to slide down her legs. In the time it would have taken a normal person to blink, Hijiri was on the other side of the room, standing not far from a terrified-looking cameraman, who quickly looked across and gaped at the Battle Rabbit, apparently not quite able to believe the evidence of his own eyes when they told him that such speed was possible. Still, as impressive as it may have been, it was clear to everyone that it was by no means an effortless thing; after exerting himself as much as he had so far in this fight, and experiencing such pain, the Prime was left taking heavily, haggard breaths, his skin slicked with sweat as he faced his foe yet again.
Where he had been standing an instant before, half a dozen of the very long, wide ribbons entangled around themselves in midair. They certainly would have bound him up nicely, had he not been forewarned of their attack, and fast enough to evade. On the bright side, removing those had freed six of the captives—though their gags remained in place—who hurriedly scurried away, out through the door, not daring to spend another second in this woman’s company, lest she arbitrarily decide to kill them off in order to encourage her opponent to fight harder.
Allowing the fabric to fall, Eleanor turned her expressionless face towards the Rabbit. Despite apparently having no problems maintaining her mechanical composure, her body was still that of a flesh and blood woman, and she was also breathing more heavily than normal; even if she wasn't remotely bothered by losing several teeth, that didn't make her invincible. Still, all in all, though, it did seem as if she pretty solidly had the upper hand; Hijiri was wearing himself out faster by dodging her ribbons than she was by sending them after him.
Holding up her right hand, she made a tiny gesture with one finger, and the ribbon around her forearm—which he’d slashed down to size—unwound itself, to reveal that despite losing its two ends, the remaining part by itself was almost a metre and a half long. Furthermore, as the other lengths of silk in her vicinity all rose up once again, the sash that she had been draping around her waist previously now unravelled itself from its loose coils, to reveal that it’s true, full length was actually over five metres long. Blandly, she gestured towards him, and both ribbons darted his way.
He dodged, only for her to simply move her hand a little, keeping the ribbons racing after their target. Again, he dashed away. And again. And again. And again.
He was panting much harder now, and visibly shaking, struggling to stand… but he was ready. Several more seconds had passed whilst he distracted her like this, charging up his ability all the while. Once more, the young woman simply made a small wave, directing her two ribbons towards him. This time, though, the Battle Rabbit didn’t head off to another side, but instead charged straight at her, right past them, jumping at the last moment, before releasing the charge he’d been building up.
Instantly, his left hand radically increased in weight—so much so, in fact, that that one, small area right then weighed more than twice as much as the entire rest of his body combined—as he brought it around, sending a mighty blow straight down at Eleanor. Though not nearly as fast as him, she was quick to react nonetheless, and managed to bring a couple of ribbons up to catch him as she leaned back slightly, also bending her knees in preparation for trying to jump backwards; the closest she could get to actually dodging, with so little time.
All she actually succeeded in doing was causing him to strike her chest rather than her head. With such great weight, he powered through the floating fabric without slowing, and she’d managed to move no more than a couple inches by the time he struck her.
She collapsed under him, hitting the ground with a sickening crunch. Making a horrid, gagging, choking noise, Eleanor coughed up a gout of blood, her limbs twitching weakly, once, then lay still, her eyes open, staring emptily up at the ceiling. The Prime reduced the weight of his hand and dissipated the gravitational manipulation effect, forcing himself unsteadily back to his feet... though right then he was sorely tempted to simply fall by the Secondary’s side and sleep. He spent a few seconds staring down at her remains. She seemed so much more fragile in death… though that was no doubt in part due to the fact that his final blow had completely caved in her ribcage, crushing her heart and bursting her lungs…
She seemed… deflated.
Making a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a groan, Hijiri did his best to stand tall, first going over to his sword and gun, touching each one for a moment; just long enough to trigger another flash of white light, causing the items to vanish until called upon again, then he strode over to the hostages, doing what he could to untie them despite having only one hand to use.
Glancing back over his shoulder after a moment, he called out to the cameraman, “Well? What are you waiting for? Get over here and help.”
Sadly, it didn’t come with painkillers.
When the white light cut out after a half second, he wore not his usual, finely tailored suit—a ‘Westmancott Ultimate Bespoke’, which he’d purchased for the low, low price of ¥8,000,000—but in it’s place a long, black overcoat with slits on the shoulders, loose, black trousers, fingerless black gloves, and a pair of white boots. Where the coat was left open slightly at the front, it revealed a purple gemstone seemingly embedded in his chest. Most importantly, unlike his ordinary Battle Rabbit Form, in which he had a pair of rabbit-like ears atop his head, in this version he instead had small, dark wings in their place.
He met her gaze. Eleanor didn’t seem impressed… though, in fairness, she didn’t seem much of anything. She was clearly powerful, he could no longer deny that; whatever it was that Shotgun Steve had done to strengthen her and grant her these strange, new abilities, there could be no denying that it had worked out amazingly. However, it seemed to have come at the cost of whatever small amount of freedom and individuality she had once had… the young woman had been reduced to nothing more than a mindless marionette.
Still, she had bested him quite effortlessly in his base form. While she stood above him, completely unharmed, looking down on him as he lay at her feet, the Battle Rabbit was in bad shape. The cuts on his face and chest were fairly long, but shallow; they stung, but weren’t anything he hadn’t felt plenty of times before. His right shoulder, however—the part of his body which had struck the ground first when she hurled him to the floor—felt as if someone had rammed the tip of a red-hot poker into it. At the very least, it must be dislocated, if not actually broken.
His wrists were bound together, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. With his left hand, he grabbed one of the lengths of silk which bound him and tugged as hard on it as he could, with all of the newfound strength granted him by this form... clenching his teeth to keep from screaming at the agonising, stabbing sensation which lanced out from his shoulder. Oh yes, it had to be broken; he was positive he could feel the shards of bone rubbing against each other and digging into his muscles at the slightest movement
Alas, though, rather than pulling her over, on top of him, where he could have potentially grappled with her despite being tied up like this, all he managed was to haul her about half a step forwards—her foot hadn’t even touched down on the ground again after being lifted—before she realised that despite his increase in strength, she was still stronger, and tugged back, jerking him forwards.
She didn’t count on his reactions or his speed being this heightened, though. In an instant, he had curled his legs up under him, then kicked out, springing forwars with all his might, drastically increasing the speed at which he was headed towards her. It was by no means the most graceful manoeuvre ever pulled off, but he was able to turn in mid-air, to ram his good shoulder into her chest, sending her crashing to the ground… though the only one who cried out in pain was the Battle Rabbit himself, after the impact roughly jostled his shattered shoulder, despite it not being the one to have touched her.
Hijiri staggered, but managed to stay on his feet. Despite not appearing hurt at all, as he’d hoped she would be, Eleanor did seem to get distracted enough that the ribbons binding him loosened up just a little, so that he was able to shrug them off and hurriedly step back, out of their embrace. He summoned his katana in a flash of light similar to—though much smaller than—the one that had enveloped him when his new form had been unleashed.
The blade was still within its sheathe, though, and with his right arm hanging limp and useless by his side, the Battle Rabbit had little choice other than to use his teeth to grip the scabbard whilst he freed the sword, then spit it out of his mouth, onto the ground. As he did this, the Secondary got back to her feet, rising elegantly to face him, though her expression remained as dull as ever, and there was no glint of intelligence behind those vacant eyes.
She stood straight and tall, the right half of her chin-length, ebony fringe held back by a small bow. Her breasts were bound tightly by the ribbons she had clothed herself in, presumably to hold them steady when she moved, since the skimpy bikini top her creator had given her would certainly not have accomplished that on its own. Of that garment, all that could now be seen were the thin straps that crossed her shoulders. The forearm and shin guards she wore were equally tight, but the miniskirt-like section around her hips was much looser, apparently being held in place almost solely by her power, rather than being wrapped firmly around her; so as to avoid restricting her movements in any way, the Rabbit assumed. From every one of these six areas trailed two tails of ribbon, each no less than a couple metres long; now that they were no longer binding Hijiri, they had all returned to simply hovering around her.
They weren’t the only ones present, though; the Prime was all too aware that the ribbons used to tie up the many, many hostages were of the exact same sort as these, so could likely be manipulated just as easily as these spare ones which had simply been left lying on the floor until she began manipulating them. He couldn’t even afford to get too close to the people he was trying to protect, lest their restraints lash out at him. It was hardly an ideal situation. And on top of that, she still had that damned knife, which he couldn’t even risk looking at too closely, if he wanted to avoid being momentarily possessed again... or whatever it was that had happened back there.
She had been holding the knife, but as he thought about it, she released her weapon. Rather than falling to the ground, as one would expect, it instead began coiling its steel chain ‘body’ around her torso, ending up in a position with its blade pointed towards the Rabbit from over her shoulder, looking almost as if it were the head of a snake, which was preparing to lunge.
Hijiri smiled, though, “This fight is over, Eleanor. Now that I’ve entered this form, the Original Form of the Battle Rabbits... the Heavenly Form... you’ve lost. You actually might have managed to beat me if you’d kept your focus despite being knocked down, and had been able to avoid letting me slip out of those restraints… but the moment I escaped, this fight ended. I’m now much too fast for you to catch again. I’ll admit I was impressed with what Steve managed to do here… what he managed to do to you. I wouldn’t have thought him capable of anything so impressive as that… but it won’t matter any more. Even injured, I’m more than a match for anything you can throw at me. So stand down, and you needn’t die alongside your master. After all, you haven’t killed anyone yet.”
It was just a bluff, of course.
In truth, the Battle Rabbit had no way of knowing how much power she might be holding in reserve even now, and he wasn’t at all sure he’d be able to fight without the use of his dominant arm... hence the offer. It might be a long shot, but it certainly couldn’t hurt to at least try to talk her down.
She nodded, “Understood. Correcting dissatisfactory conditions.”
The tendrils of silk in her vicinity all fell limp, the ones around her hips dropping to the floor entirely. No sooner had he begun to wonder at what she was up to when three of the hostages rose up into the air, her concentration now apparently being directed at the ribbons holding them, rather than the ones covering her own body. Glancing across their way, the terror in their eyes was clear to see. All three were making very muffled attempts at screaming through their gags. Suddenly, the gag-ribbons wrenched their captives heads around in a clockwise direction, whilst the other restraints spun their bodies counterclockwise.
Hijiri, with his heightened reflexes, realised what was about to happen just before it did, but he had still only managed to take a single step towards them by the time the three, sickening, simultaneous snaps reverberated around the room. He swallowed dryly. Their bodies were allowed to flop limply to the ground. He’d been wrong. Very, very wrong. Giving diplomacy a shot had, in hindsight, been probably the worst possible move he could have made, short of using the hostages as living shields.
“Situation amended. Recommence hostilities?” her voice was just as flat and monotonous as it had been since the Claw did… whatever it was he had done when he shocked her. The Rabbit gritted his teeth, glaring venomously at Eleanor. As he watched, the ends of the fabric rose back up into the air around her once more, and the looser one draped itself around her hips again.
“You could’ve just said ‘no’, psychopath… but fine. If that’s the way you want it, then so be it… let’s start by cutting off your access to any more helpful little power boosts.” the moment he was done snarling these words, Hijiri dashed forwards, his katana flickering through the air.
When he came to a stop, she spun to face him, stretching out her right arm after him, only to stop upon noticing that the ribbon-ends trailing from it were now no more than a foot in length. He had run right past her, seeking another target, only doing what had to be done to ensure his safe passage through her lengths of floating fabric. Just behind where he’d come to a stop—facing away from her—lay Shotgun Steve and the other two members of his ‘Elizabeth’ trio.
Lisanne had already been dead; his bullet had struck her head when the old man had ordered her to stand, earlier. Bethanie, however, had only been shot in the back, and had still been breathing. Both she and Steve now had their throats slit, and blood was gushing freely from the gaping wounds. The gangster in particular had seemed utterly gobsmacked when the blade had neatly severed his jugular, with no more effort than a pair of scissors snipping an errant thread. It was an expression to treasure, that was for sure. Despite the ease with which Hijiri had overpowered him whilst still in his human form, the Battle Rabbit was sure that right up to the moment the katana had touched his skin, the Claw had not truly believed that it was possible for the younger Prime to defeat him.
Looking over his shoulder, though, he frowned, “Hm. I was hoping that when he died, you’d lose that little power-up of yours. I guess that would have been asking too much.”
“Confirmed. Stated ‘hope’ is inconsistent with recognised parameters of Special Power utilisation.” Eleanor hesitated for a few moments longer before speaking again, “Now die.”
Ribbons darted at him, moving as fast as a skilled boxer might throw a punch; they were by no means slow… yet the Battle Rabbit slid past them with ease. He noticed that the fabric on her right arm—previously shorn short by his blade—had gone limp, but one of the strands severed from its ends now flew through the air towards him along with all of those still attached to her… it was clear that merely cutting them would not truly prevent the Secondary from manipulating them, but there was an apparent limit on the number of sections of material she could command at once.
Knowing that, he flicked his sword through another couple ribbons—one attached to her left arm and one connected to the material around her chest—on his approach, then swung down in an overhead blow which she just barely dodged, diving to the ground and rolling once before stopping in a crouch, not looking remotely phased despite the ease with which he was bypassing her defences. The knife sprung at him, its coils sliding smoothly from around her.
He took in a sharp breath and stepped backwards, worried for a moment by the suddenness of its lunge… before realising that it was moving no faster than the ribbons did. Sure, it would have been difficult for a normal person to dodge... but for him? It might as well have been moving through treacle. Leaping forwards just a fraction of a second after it, she dived at him, fists clenched.
So that was her aim. Distract him with the knife and then get in a few punches when he left himself open by knocking it aside with his sword? She was as foolish as her master, it would seem. Eleanor clearly was vastly underestimating how quickly he could move.
“Tch! You can’t match my speed!” the Rabbit knocked the knife aside with contemptuous ease, disdaining the stupidity of this fleshy automaton which thought that with such a simple tactic it could overcome the vast difference in power that separated them. In an actual person, he would have found such an act brave, would have respected them for being unwilling to throw in the towel despite such inconceivable odds against them… but what would a mere puppet like this know of courage?
And then he gasped, his eyes bulging as his katana was yanked from his hand, putting him off-balance. The chain attached to the dagger had wrapped itself around the sword’s blade and guard, allowing Eleanor to psychically wrench it from his grip... her greater strength clearly applied equally to the weapons she wielded, as well as to her physical body.
And speaking of greater strength…
Surprised, off-balance and off-guard, the Battle Rabbit was unable to dodge. Eleanor’s right hand connected with his stomach, knocking the wind from him, only a moment before she caught him with a left hook that wrenched his head around. From what he’d learned when experimenting at his base, his two more powerful forms both granted him roughly the same level of durability one would expect of a man wearing a suit of armour. To be easily able to knock him around despite this, the young woman must be tremendously strong.
He stumbled away, gasping for breath, the cut on his cheek burning like fire after having taken a hit like that... only for her to grab his broken, right arm and yank him back towards her. Hijiri screamed in agony, as loudly as his body was capable given that it still hadn’t recovered from the punch in the gut. Then she tripped him and spun him so that he landed on his back. She dropped down onto him, landing on his waist and knocking his breath away yet again. The one remaining end of the ribbon on her left forearm wrapped around his right wrist, tying tightly, keeping his good arm pinned down.
Still gripping his left arm, she wordlessly began pulling it up, away from his body, as if trying to tear it off completely. Despite her apparent lack of physical muscle, the strength her body possessed was astounding. At this point, in so much pain, shrieking unintelligibly, the Rabbit found his vision darkening around the edges, and knew that he couldn’t hope to remain conscious for long. Despite this realisation, he simply hurt too much to even consider any methods of fighting back, much less put them into action.
So what he did next was purely on instinct. His right leg came up suddenly, his knee slamming into her back with such force that she gave a brief, choked cough in response, arching her back and releasing his arm at the same time. He winced slightly as it struck the ground, but compared to the pain that had come just before it, this was barely even worth registering. Most importantly of all, though, once again, hitting her had lessened the strength of her fabric, just a tiny bit.
This time it was his turn to catch her with a left hook to the jaw. Her head snapped around and she spun, rolling off him—the now completely limp ribbon slipping from his wrist—something red flying from her mouth. He forced himself up into a sitting position, just in time to see her rising into a crouch. Blood poured down her chin, and as he watched, she spat out a couple little lumps of something… it took him a moment to realise that they were teeth, and that there were four more just like them already lying on the floor. Stronger than him she may be, but it seemed that her durability was much lower… oddly, though, she didn’t seem at all bothered by the pain. Whatever Steve had done to her must have deadened her nerves as well as overwritten her thoughts... or, then again, perhaps not... perhaps the real Eleanor was still in there somewhere, screaming and sobbing with pain as this machine ran her body without giving her any say in the matter.
The Rabbit ground his teeth together in frustration, hating to have to admit to himself that this mere marionette was giving him so much trouble… he really couldn’t comprehend how a man so imbecilic as the Claw could even create a living weapon of this calibre… though, in hindsight, he hadn’t known it was possible for Primes to summon ‘custom-made’ Secondaries until after meeting Steve either, and he hadn’t since heard of anyone else doing what that man did… that, combined with this latest revelation, made him reconsider the racist, old bastard’s intelligence a little… he may be an arrogant fool in most respects, but it seemed like he might just be some sort of twisted genius when it came to experimenting on Secondaries.
They both got back to their feet, and Eleanor dashed forwards again, her ribbons lashing out to pin him in place so that she could pummel him some more. He ducked aside easily, darting over to nearer her prisoners to get well out of her reach. She stopped moving, and turned to face him. Despite the temptation to do so, knowing what was going to happen next, he refused to turn away from her. He just had to wait for the sign, and he would be alright. In the meantime, he began building up the gravity-warping energy he would need to land a decisive blow in his left fist.
Her ribbons fell limp, those around her hips once again starting to slide down her legs. In the time it would have taken a normal person to blink, Hijiri was on the other side of the room, standing not far from a terrified-looking cameraman, who quickly looked across and gaped at the Battle Rabbit, apparently not quite able to believe the evidence of his own eyes when they told him that such speed was possible. Still, as impressive as it may have been, it was clear to everyone that it was by no means an effortless thing; after exerting himself as much as he had so far in this fight, and experiencing such pain, the Prime was left taking heavily, haggard breaths, his skin slicked with sweat as he faced his foe yet again.
Where he had been standing an instant before, half a dozen of the very long, wide ribbons entangled around themselves in midair. They certainly would have bound him up nicely, had he not been forewarned of their attack, and fast enough to evade. On the bright side, removing those had freed six of the captives—though their gags remained in place—who hurriedly scurried away, out through the door, not daring to spend another second in this woman’s company, lest she arbitrarily decide to kill them off in order to encourage her opponent to fight harder.
Allowing the fabric to fall, Eleanor turned her expressionless face towards the Rabbit. Despite apparently having no problems maintaining her mechanical composure, her body was still that of a flesh and blood woman, and she was also breathing more heavily than normal; even if she wasn't remotely bothered by losing several teeth, that didn't make her invincible. Still, all in all, though, it did seem as if she pretty solidly had the upper hand; Hijiri was wearing himself out faster by dodging her ribbons than she was by sending them after him.
Holding up her right hand, she made a tiny gesture with one finger, and the ribbon around her forearm—which he’d slashed down to size—unwound itself, to reveal that despite losing its two ends, the remaining part by itself was almost a metre and a half long. Furthermore, as the other lengths of silk in her vicinity all rose up once again, the sash that she had been draping around her waist previously now unravelled itself from its loose coils, to reveal that it’s true, full length was actually over five metres long. Blandly, she gestured towards him, and both ribbons darted his way.
He dodged, only for her to simply move her hand a little, keeping the ribbons racing after their target. Again, he dashed away. And again. And again. And again.
He was panting much harder now, and visibly shaking, struggling to stand… but he was ready. Several more seconds had passed whilst he distracted her like this, charging up his ability all the while. Once more, the young woman simply made a small wave, directing her two ribbons towards him. This time, though, the Battle Rabbit didn’t head off to another side, but instead charged straight at her, right past them, jumping at the last moment, before releasing the charge he’d been building up.
Instantly, his left hand radically increased in weight—so much so, in fact, that that one, small area right then weighed more than twice as much as the entire rest of his body combined—as he brought it around, sending a mighty blow straight down at Eleanor. Though not nearly as fast as him, she was quick to react nonetheless, and managed to bring a couple of ribbons up to catch him as she leaned back slightly, also bending her knees in preparation for trying to jump backwards; the closest she could get to actually dodging, with so little time.
All she actually succeeded in doing was causing him to strike her chest rather than her head. With such great weight, he powered through the floating fabric without slowing, and she’d managed to move no more than a couple inches by the time he struck her.
She collapsed under him, hitting the ground with a sickening crunch. Making a horrid, gagging, choking noise, Eleanor coughed up a gout of blood, her limbs twitching weakly, once, then lay still, her eyes open, staring emptily up at the ceiling. The Prime reduced the weight of his hand and dissipated the gravitational manipulation effect, forcing himself unsteadily back to his feet... though right then he was sorely tempted to simply fall by the Secondary’s side and sleep. He spent a few seconds staring down at her remains. She seemed so much more fragile in death… though that was no doubt in part due to the fact that his final blow had completely caved in her ribcage, crushing her heart and bursting her lungs…
She seemed… deflated.
Making a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a groan, Hijiri did his best to stand tall, first going over to his sword and gun, touching each one for a moment; just long enough to trigger another flash of white light, causing the items to vanish until called upon again, then he strode over to the hostages, doing what he could to untie them despite having only one hand to use.
Glancing back over his shoulder after a moment, he called out to the cameraman, “Well? What are you waiting for? Get over here and help.”
![[Image: Hijiri_Name_Sig.png]](https://image.ibb.co/k1H7Hd/Hijiri_Name_Sig.png)