Shattering Humanity-Chapter 91: Shelly Vs. Itsuka (The Greatest Ever)

Sol and Aiden are sitting next to each other on the foam floor, spectating. As Shelly catches her wooden sword tossed to her, Sol gives a shrug and sighs.

Sol: "Well, I guess that’s already a win for my Division. Why would Mina let an IceEye user, built like an Amazonian Princess, go against a sweet non-eye user like Shelly?"

Aiden looks at the sceptical young lady as Daisuki has his hand up, about to begin the match.

Aiden: "You didn’t go to the Academy, did you?"

Sol looks over and gives a confused stare at the "Mercury" of the group.

Aiden: "Shelly is ’different’. She’s completely convinced herself that there is so much to live for, and she has had no other option but to become the strongest out of all of us."

The man’s hand drops down.

Daisuki: "BEGIN!"

The two women close the short distance between each other and swing their wooden and rounded "swords".

In slow motion, the wooden weapons clash but Itsuka’s sword seems to over-power Shelly’s.

So much so, Itsuka was not expecting it and she falls forward, unbalanced. Everyone watches in amazement, as Shelly has let go of the weapon, just before the contact and launched herself into the air, pirouetting above the stumbled Itsuka.

Shelly throws a right footed front kick, downwards, that connects with the kidney of her bent over opponent.

Itsuka falls gripping her sword. She’s in pain and fully surprised by the fighting prowess displayed by the ’Beast of the Beasts’.

Shelly lands and backflips away, while also picking up her wooden weapon in the process. She stops the gymnastics then she lightly bounces back and forth on her toes waiting for Itsuka to get up.

The whole room is stunned by the young woman’s fighting ability, except Katsu. He is watching Shelly, star-eyed.

Katsu: "There we go Shelly!"

The stars fade from his eyes and a cocky smirk is shot at Saku.

Katsu: "...Show them how strong you really are, not just as a clone."

Katsu’s cheers for Shelly spark something in Itsuka’s memory, while still getting up from the ground, her eyes get wide.

Itsuka(to herself): "Her clone.."

Saku watches the, undoubtedly, best fighter of Takamagahara bobbing back and forth, on the edge of "the zone". He then looks at the woman who has been giving him affection the past few days, slowly getting up from the ground in pain.

Saku clenches his teeth and the face muscles under his tattoo tighten.

Saku: "Itsuka! Don’t watch her eyes! She benefits from IceEye users trying to fight that way!"

Itsuka gets on her feet, wincing from the pain of the kick to her back.

Saku: "And Itsuka..."

Katsu’s eyes wide looking at Saku, he quickly turns to Shelly.

Katsu: "Shelly...!"

The girls turn to their ’cheering leaders’.

Both men shout at the same time.

Katsu and Saku: "...Do your best!"

Daisuki chuckles and Scylia holds her chin in both hands then wipes a tear.

Scylia: "It’s so...poetic."

A "fire" ignites in both of the girls eyes. They charge back towards each other, with battle cries.

Shelly horizontally slices and Itsuka ducks it into a rotating leg sweep that Shelly hops over. She comes down with a double handed downwards slash but Itsuka slaps it away with a loud *CLACK*!

Itsuka swings her sword upwards, Shelly side steps and returns a sword swing. Itsuka back steps to dodge, and does a HIGH jumping front flip forward, one leg bent and the other straight, appearing as an attempt to hit her opponent with a heel drop.

Shelly holds her sword up and uses the other hand to brace the "blade" to block the aerial attack with the slightly chipped and in need of polishing wood.

However, both Itsuka’s hands land on the braced weapon instead and Saku has a huge smile on his face and he’s blushing.

Saku(thinking) *She really caught it! Knowing Shelly would see her do it any other way! She caught it in mid-air and mid front flip! This feeling. In my stomach. I think, I- I-*

The "fire" in Itsuka’s eyes is less opac, her stomach tightens making her 7th and 8th abdominal muscles appear. They all watch as she quickly uses the stability of Shelly’s sword to exert all the power in her core and neck to turn and spin her body. Her beautiful platinum hair comes out of the hair tie.

Saku watches in slow motion, as Itsuka uses the sword gripped sideways between her teeth, to crack a wide open and defenseless Shelly right on the side of the head. Shelly’s eyes go fully white for a second and her mouth opens after the connection. She drops her weapon, stumbling backwards, but never falling.

Saku watches the platinum haired Angel falling backwards slowly to the ground.

Saku(thinking) *I think I actually love this girl!*

Sol and Aiden both have their jaws dropped.

Dom: "That was some of the most badass shit..."

Char: "It was low-key kinda hot too."

Scylia: "That was more beautiful than any preformed choreographed dance could ever hope to achieve."

Nobody is more surprised than Itsuka as she lands on her back after the successful attack, still gripping the wooden sword in her teeth. Her 7th and 8th abdominals now relaxed, leaving six, shifting from her heavy breathing.

Shelly’s eyes regain her beautiful blues, she shakes her head and she goes to grab her sword.

Daisuki: "Aaaand time!"

Shelly falls to her knees and hands. Panting.

Everyone lucky enough to witness the match waits for Daisuki to announce the victor.

Daisuki: "The winner of Round 1..."

Before Daisuki says the name, Itsuka takes the weapon out of her mouth. Her beautiful purple human eye opens to see a smiling and blushing Saku, proudly staring down at her, with his hand out to help her up, which she quickly accepts.

Daisuki: "ITSUKA of Izanami Division!!"

Princess Kawaii is hopping up and down after the announcement of the winner.

Princess Kawaii: "Yayy, Big Sidder!!!"

Friend: "Arrooorooooo!"

Aiden looks at Sol and the lucky guesser winks in mockery.

Aiden: "This wasn’t even an actual fight to the death, if it was, Shelly wouldn’t have let her get up and Itsuka wouldn’t be able to swing her head that fast with steel."

Daisuki rubs the back of his head and is troubled by his own decision.

Daisuki: "To be honest, both you ladies were phenomenal. The only reason I gave the W to Itsuka, is because she never dropped her weapon once while Shelly’s, ended up on the ground, twice."

Shelly is still on her hands and knees. Drips of sweat are underneath her face. Katsu walks up to her with a comforting smile.

Katsu: "You did awesome Shelly. I know it’s hard for-"

He stops once he gets close enough to hear her sobbing.

Katsu bends to a knee in front of her and realizes most of the drops of sweat, are actually tears.

Katsu: "Shelly, it’s okay, it’s just-"

Shelly: "I’m sorry Katsu.*sob* So many people... *sob* so many people sacrificed their lives... *sob* including your own parents...*sob* and I’m still not strong enough!*sob* What’s all that sacrifice for *sob* if I’m just going to waste it by being weak!?*sob*"

Saku listens to the girl while still holding Itsuka’s hand, he looks across the room at Friend sitting next to Princess Kawaii.

Katsu still looking at a defeated Shelly goes to put a hand on her back but stops as she starts talking again.

Shelly: "If I can’t protect you Katsu, we would both lose our most precious treasure, right?"

Daisuki smiles at the reference he instilled in them.

Shelly: "So from this day forward, I swear, on my pride and resolve as a woman, I- I will-."

Shelly looks up at Katsu with a tear-filled and prideful glare. His eyes grow wide and a nerdy smile creeps up on him, finally realizing exactly who she is using as inspiration for her declaration of greatness.

Katsu remembers one of his favorite shirts he wore as a child.

Katsu: *She’s using her perfect memory, to replicate ’his’ speech! So she’s fully committed to being ’that’ level of greatness.*

Princess Kawaii is watching in admiration of the defeated, yet prideful young woman.

Shelly with tears in her blue wavey eyes shouts with all the conviction she can muster.

Shelly: "I SWEAR, I WILL NEVER LOSE FOR YOU EVER AGAIN! I DON’T CARE WHAT IT IS, I WILL BE THE ’GREATEST EVER’, AT EVERYTHING FOR YOU!!! UNTIL THE DAY I DIE AND DIE FIRST! YOU BETTER NOT HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THAT!

DIVISION LEADER, KATSU!"

Katsu looks back with a teary eyed smile.

Katsu: "Zero problems here...and Shelly... already, to me, you already are the ’Greatest Ever’."