Chapter XXXIV

                                    

                                          
Kirai's way of fighting is unique. She's barely giving me any space to dodge, her bullets have a scarlet red colour to them, some are just straight up black. 
She also uses an umbrella of hers, those traditional Japanese ones. I think they're called Wagasa? No matter how they're called, Kirai uses it to shield herself from her own attacks. Her attacks are that brutal, she has to shield herself from them... It's like her bullets come down like rain.
One of her special attacks was causing a butterfly storm, and there's no real way to dodge it. The only way to survive the attack, is to stay as close to Kirai as possible. Her umbrella is the only protection you have from this attack. 
When the storm ended, you get no real break before she immediately starts to attack again. It's tight dodging, all the damn time. This whole time, I think she's the only one so far using a special attack... Heck, several ones.
Because not soon after her first special attack, the second one comes. This one is unique in its own way. She actively surrounds me with her butterflies, then shoots from all directions. That's just straight up unfair.
If this kept on going for longer, everything we've worked for would be in vain. 
I used Lika's mirror to strike Kirai down out of the blue.
And it goes on like this for a long time. Kirai using unfair tricks to defeat me, while I keep on ambushing her. The longer this went on, the angrier I got. It's like she wasn't taking any of this serious, and just attacking because she has to. 
Even when I tried my best, Kirai manages to be one step ahead, all the damn time. My basic attacks barely got through hers, and her keeping on knocking me down didn't help either. 
"Come on. Is that all you got? I'm surprised how everyone could call you their 'hope'. Even that cat would've been better."
She's pissing me off for a purpose, that's for sure. But what purpose? Kirai wants me to be angry at her, she wants me to snap on her, and that's exactly why I can't let that happen. Whatever reason she has, it's nothing good. It gets harder to keep my calm the longer this keeps on going, however...
It's like I can't win without snapping, it's impossible. Reasoning with her has been crossed out a long time ago. Then what the hell am I supposed to do? 
Give in her attempts of actively trying to anger me or trying to keep my calm? 
She's definitely going to use my anger for.... Something.
But keeping my calm would mean instant loss for everyone. All we worked for so hard would be gone.
I have no other choice. It's the pressure and Kirai's constant insulting breaking my cool. I'm surprised I even managed to keep my cool for that long, I suck at handling with stress...
Once I stopped fighting against my anger, the battle started to become way easier. Instead of letting her surround me, I destroy every little attempt by countering. Even when the space to dodge is barely existent, I manage to shoot clean shots at Kirai. 
I'm unable to think at the moment, that's how I only barely caught glimpses of my attacks changing... They slowly start to turn into the pattern Kirai uses. Tight dodging, unfairness, all that. My anger is taking over the control...
"Took you a while to finally let your anger out! The battle starts for real now!"
Right after she says this, her attacks grew even stronger. Though... That doesn't seem to stop me. It's like I'm on autopilot, dodging her attacks is easier thanks to my broken back Juru caused. I actually started to corner Kirai instead. My attacks are still pretty basic, now they have more force than ever before.
I think any bystander would get killed in just mere seconds by how much this battle has escalated... Kirai takes this a step further and her attacks could be seen outside the igloos. By the end of this fight, all the badlings would be gone, that's for sure.
Allegra's little briefcase paired with Lika's mirror is a dangerous mix. When the attacks don't hit, the mirror would reflect them, and suddenly, you're attacked from two directions at once. Three, actually. I'm attacking as well. 
I don't know what is going on any longer... But whatever is happening, I can't let her win. Everyone is counting on me at the moment. Even if I feel like passing out, even if I collapse with all the pressure on my shoulders, I will not fall. 
Thus, despite us two being heavily wounded, we kept on going. It's just a matter of time until one of us finally collapses. Someone has to.
Though... I simply refuse to wait for that to happen. The longer the fight keeps on going, the harder it gets to dodge. The last bit of adrenaline would disappear soon, too. With what I still have left, I used it all to ambush Kirai one more time.
It's easy to lose yourself in her attacks, and it's easy to make Kirai lose you. While she kept on maintaining the storm of attacks, I used the moment to get behind her. She turns around once I ring the bell and gets the full blast.
Then...
Silence.
Everything dies down. The colours of the battle are gone, the several golden butterflies Kirai summoned gone, the attacks from Allegra's briefcase, nothing.
Kirai is barely getting up from the ground. It seems like her adrenaline finally got used up.
... Well, mine too, but I didn't get hit by a huge blast in the face.
I stand in front of her, pointing my weapon at her head.
"... It's over..."
"You fought... Brilliant, Ton... It's.... A shame you still lost in the end..."
"What are you talking about...?"
"Your anger, Ton... It's a negative feeling... Our battle was simply to... Piss you off."
"But..."
"Your anger even overwhelmed mine in the end... It was the final strike I needed."
That's when the mirror started to crack, light peeking through.
"It wasn't me destroying the mirror... Our anger combined destroyed the barrier."
"No-"
"I told you, Ton! There's no stopping me now. The mirror is broken, and it's all thanks to your help."
The light keeps on growing brighter, until eventually the mirror shattered completely and started to suck everything inside.
"I hope I get to see you again, Ton."
"No, no, wait-!"
But Kirai already stepped through the mirror. She really just used me the entire time. 
I grab on one of the dead vines of the badlings, but it eventually started to fade, like every other badling. I lost my grip, and everything turned white.