The moment Bache activated her magic, the battle between Tsuna and Telskyura's strongest warriors commenced.
Bache made the first move. She closed the distance in a flash, thrusting a poison-coated knife-hand directly at Tsuna.
"[X-Machine Gun]."
Tsuna switched his flames from Sun to Cloud, firing a rapid barrage of flame bullets. Thanks to the Cloud Flame's Propagation trait, the bullets multiplied exponentially in mid-air. However, Bache simply swatted the incoming flames away with her bare hands, completely ignoring the burns, and continued her charge.
She's perfectly targeting my vitals.
Bache's poisoned strikes were relentlessly aimed at Tsuna's lethal points, but Tsuna calmly slipped past each attack with minimal, perfectly calculated movements. He spun clockwise, evading another fatal thrust, and stepped deeply into her guard. Instantly switching his flames back to Sky, he unleashed a brutal backhand aimed straight at the back of her head.
"…Too naive."
Without even looking back, Bache ducked under the strike. She immediately pivoted, driving her poisoned hand straight toward Tsuna's exposed ribs.
"—Right back at you."
"!?"
A fraction of a second before her hand pierced his side, Tsuna fired a burst of flames from his palms, propelling himself cleanly behind her. For the first time, the usually stoic Bache showed genuine shock as her attack hit empty air.
Having successfully slipped behind her, Tsuna pulled his left arm back for a devastating straight punch.
"What!?"
But it was a feint. Instead of punching, Tsuna blasted flames downward, rocketing straight up into the air.
Waiting for him above was Argana, her right leg already raised high for a crushing axe kick. Argana had planned to strike from his blind spot the moment his attention was fully locked on Bache. However, by taking Bache's back and feigning an attack, Tsuna had baited Argana into dropping her guard, perfectly predicting her ambush.
"[Hyper X-Stream]."
"Tch!!"
Tsuna spun wildly as he ascended, generating a massive, spiraling tornado of Sky Flames. Caught dead-center, Argana instantly curled into a ball, crossing her arms over her face to brace for impact. Thanks to her split-second reaction and Level 6 durability, she managed to minimize the physical damage even while taking the fiery vortex head-on.
"Guh!!"
"Argana!!"
But her relief was short-lived. Tsuna aimed his palms upward and fired, accelerating downward at breakneck speed. He drove a devastating kick square into Argana's back while she was still trapped in the tornado, violently slamming her into the stone floor.
Bache immediately dashed forward to assist her fallen sister. To prevent them from regrouping, Tsuna landed smoothly between them. He switched his flames to Mist, utilizing its Construction trait to instantly generate a thick, blinding smokescreen.
Bache froze in confusion. She couldn't comprehend how he had suddenly produced smoke without using an item or utilizing the collateral damage of an attack. However, charging blindly into a smokescreen against an opponent of Tsuna's caliber was sheer suicide. She halted her advance and shifted into a defensive stance, ready to counter the moment he stepped out of the haze.
"What!?"
But when the smoke parted, two identical Tsunas emerged, charging her from different angles. Bache was momentarily bewildered, but she quickly suppressed her shock and maintained her stance.
The instant the two Tsunas entered her striking range, they dissipated into thin air like actual mist. The smokescreen vanished along with them.
"Wha—!?"
With the visual obstruction gone, Bache finally saw the real Tsuna. He was standing further back, his flames shifted to Sky mode. His left hand was aimed behind him, already firing a steady stream of flames, while his right palm was locked dead-center on her.
By generating the smokescreen and deploying illusions of himself, Tsuna had successfully distracted Bache, forcing her to focus entirely on the fakes while he prepared his ultimate attack in plain sight.
"—[X-Burner]."
A highly condensed, overwhelmingly destructive beam of Sky Flames erupted from Tsuna's right hand. Caught completely off guard, Bache didn't even have time to dodge. She could only cross her arms over her face and brace for the inevitable impact.
"!?"
The flames washed over her, yet Bache felt absolutely zero pain. She lowered her arms in stunned disbelief, but what shocked her the most was the realization that the deadly venom coating her body had been completely eradicated.
Tsuna had utilized the Harmony trait of the Sky Flame to purify the poison. By intentionally suppressing the destructive output of the [X-Burner] and focusing purely on the Harmony characteristic, he safely neutralized her armor without inflicting lethal damage.
"Gah…!?"
While Bache stood frozen in shock, Tsuna used his flames to instantly close the gap. He drove a brutal elbow strike right between her eyes, followed immediately by a crushing uppercut to her jaw. He then delivered a rapid left-right hook combo to her face, kicked off the ground, and slammed a double-axe handle blow directly down onto her skull.
The relentless, overwhelming barrage nearly knocked Bache unconscious on her feet.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
Screaming purely on fighting spirit, Bache managed to stay awake. She reached out and grabbed both of Tsuna's wrists with an iron grip, realizing that his unnatural mobility completely relied on the flames emitting from his hands.
"Argana!!"
Instantly understanding her sister's intent, Argana lunged from behind Tsuna with terrifying speed, aiming to crush him while he was restrained.
"—Natsu."
In that split second, Tsuna summoned Natsu from his ring and shifted his flames from Sky to Rain. Natsu's mane shifted accordingly, instantly adopting the Rain attribute.
"GURURU… GAOOOOOO!!"
Natsu turned toward the charging Argana and unleashed a deafening roar imbued with dense Rain Flames.
T-This is… the same as before…!?
Unable to react to the surprise ambush from the Box Animal, Argana took the roar head-on. The Tranquility trait immediately took effect, violently dampening her kinetic energy and rendering her body sluggish and unresponsive. She quickly realized that the exact same phenomenon that had stopped her stone pillar was now happening to her own body.
"Kuh!!"
Seeing Natsu turn his glowing eyes toward her, Bache panicked. Terrified of being paralyzed like her sister, she instantly let go of Tsuna's wrists and jumped back to create distance.
Freed from her grip, Tsuna didn't hesitate. He immediately pivoted and charged at the immobilized Argana.
I-I'm going to take a hit!!
Argana desperately tried to force her muscles to move, but her body refused to respond. The instant Tsuna entered striking range, he shifted his flames from Rain to Lightning.
"Gah!?"
A merciless flurry of high-speed punches slammed into Argana's midsection. Hardened to the extreme by the Lightning Flames, the sheer concussive force of the blows caused even the monstrous Amazon to cough up blood.
"—You little shiiiiitttt!!"
Despite taking punches that had completely incapacitated Phryne, Argana forced her leg up and unleashed a desperate front kick at Tsuna's chest.
"Guh…!?"
Tsuna caught her incoming leg with both hands and violently hurled her upward into the air. He followed up instantly, delivering a brutal high kick directly to her face while she was airborne.
While she was still suspended, Tsuna switched his flames from Lightning to Sun. Gripping his own right wrist to steady his aim, he pointed his palm at the falling Argana and fired a volley of Sun Flame bullets.
So fast!?
Empowered by the Sun Flame's Activation trait, the flame bullets rocketed toward her at an incomprehensible speed.
"[X-Rifle]."
"Guh!!"
Already battered and completely unable to track the hyper-accelerated projectiles, Argana took the full brunt of the attack without putting up any defense.
"It's over."
"Gah!!"
As Argana plummeted back toward the ground, Tsuna drove a palm strike heavily coated in Sun Flames directly into her chest. The Activation trait violently amplified the kinetic force of the impact, launching Argana backward at supersonic speed. She flew across the massive hall and violently smashed completely through the thick stone walls of Belit Babili, disappearing into the distance.
"I-Impossible…!?"
Watching her invincible sister get blasted through a wall like a ragdoll, Bache stood in absolute shock.
Bache possessed a curse called [Kalima], an ability that required her to ingest her opponent's blood. In exchange for severely dropping her own durability, it drastically boosted all of her offensive capabilities. Curses functioned identically to [Cursed Weapons], granting massive power at a steep price, effectively acting as the magical equivalent.
Their plan was simple: Bache would restrain Tsuna long enough for Argana to draw his blood, allowing Argana to consume it and gain the power necessary to crush him. But with Argana completely removed from the battlefield, it was painfully obvious that Bache had absolutely zero chance of winning alone.
"Gah…!?"
While Bache was distracted by her shock, Tsuna switched his flames from Sun back to Sky. With a burst of propulsion, he instantly closed the distance and buried a devastating right straight deep into her abdomen.
Taking the full, unmitigated force of the blow, Bache collapsed to her knees. She clutched her stomach with both hands, gasping for air, before finally falling face-first onto the cold stone floor.
----
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