Shulato #20

"Stolen Techniques"

Synopsis by Arcadia

Gai appears above the lake. Shulato is overjoyed to see him, but the others are suspicious. Gai had turned back to normal during their fight at Genbuden, and Shulato thinks he hasn't changed. Shulato tells him to comes down, but Gai draws his sword and casts a Shippu Marouken. It sweeps all five of them off their feet and throws them to the ground. His Sohma has gotten much stronger.

Once again, Shulato tries to tell Gai that Tenkuukai is being destroyed, and their Earth (and Gai's sister) along with it. Gai doesn't care. "Destruction is power, and I will destroy everything". Shulato realizes (and about time, too) that Gai is no longer his friend and yell for him to stay out of their way. Gai refuses. He says that he's finally realized why he was reincarnated, and he's no longer the person he was.

As Gai readies another spell, a pillar of blue light hits the ground, and a figure appears inside. Gai is annoyed that this mysterious person wants to steal his "prey", but eventually agrees and flies away.

The figure inside the pillar of light is FudouMyouOh Akaranarta, the last of the Juuga Sanninshu. Shulato attacks, but Akaranarta telekinetically freezes him in mid-air. Akaranarta brags that he is much stronger than either Kundalini or Trylo. To prove it, he teleports a huge piece of the mountain over Shulato and drops it.

Elsewhere, Sallas and Mayuri are searching for something. They've been sensing energy from the Idoukyuu, but haven't been able to locate it. Since they can't find it, the only hope is to save Vishnu, so they go to help Shulato and the others.

As Akanarta and Shulato's friends trade threats, Shulato bursts out of the huge stone, apparently unharmed. Akaranarta isn't impressed. He says he was just toying with them.

This makes Shulato mad and he fires a Shura Mahaken at Akaranarta. His aim is dead-on and he thinks he got him, but when the light clears, Akaranarta is unharmed.

Ryouma decides to fight him next. Akaranarta is amused. He says they've met before. Ryouma starts to object, but his Shakti starts glowing. His Shakti remembers Akaranarta, even if he himself does not.

Akaranarta casts a spell to show them what he meant. He shows them the Deva-Asura war, 10,000 years ago. To their surprise, they see themselves there! But when they look again, the see it's not really them- The Shaktis are the same, but their faces are different. This is who they were 10,000 years ago, before they were reincarnated. The former YashaOh is among and he's fighting alongside the former ShuraOh. All the Hachibushu are friends, just like they would have been if not for Indrah's deception.

Akaranarta, Trylo and Kundalini are also there, fighting against them. That means they must be Asura gods, but that can't be! Vishnu sealed all the Asura gods away from Tenkuukai!

As the fight ends, they see the former RyuOh attack Akaranarta, but lose. Akaranarta and Ryouma have met before after all- Akaranarta killed Ryouma 10,000 years ago!

Reiga notices a problem with Akaranarta's story. The three Juuga Sanninshu looked exactly the same in the flashback as they do today. No one can look the same for 10,000 years. Hyuga remembers something he heard from Vishnu. There were three especially powerful Asura gods, which Vishnu has sealed away somewhere in Tenkuukai. Akaranarta confirms it. "If not for Vishnu, our victory would have been complete! But Vishnu isn't here this time..."

At Tenkuuden, Indrah goes to see Vishnu. He tells her there's nothing she can do. The Idoukyuu is drawing nearer to Tenkuukai, and their time will soon come.

Ryouma attacks Akaranarta, but with no success. Akaranarta throws him to the ground. Ryouma tries to cast a RyuOh Kaengeki, but his Shakti freezes up, making him unable to move. His Shakti still remembers Akaranarta and doesn't want to fight him. Akaranarta blasts him away.

Hyuga tries next, but he has no more success than Ryouma. Akaranarta catches his nunchaku with one hand and flings him away. Hyuga casts a TenOh Suishouketsu, and freezes Akaranarta in a pillar of ice. Akaranarta breaks out of it easily.

To everyone's surprise, Akaranarta also casts a TenOh Suishouketsu, blowing Hyuga away. Akaranarta says that their techniques are so pathetically simple that he can copy them after only seeing them once.

Reiga decides to call his bluff and casts a Karula Hanefubuki. Akaranarta deflects it with one hand and casts his own Karula Hanefubuki.

Shulato steps up to take his turn, but Lakshu tries to stop him. She begs him to get away, saying that their opponent is to strong for them to beat. Shulato refuses, saying he can't die until Vishnu is saved. Shulato and Akaranarta both cast a Shura Mahaken at the same time. The explosion can be seen as far as Tenkuuden.

Shulato falls to the ground, but Akaranarta is still unharmed. Akaranarta walks toward them. Lakshu tries to stop him by throwing rocks at him, but with no success. He tosses Lakshu out of his way and Reiga catches her. They'd thought Reiga was out of the picture, but he's still ready to fight, too.

Hyuga staggers to his feet, too. As a Hachibushu, he is too proud to let himself be beaten. Ryouma also staggers in, not willing to let Akaranarta win. Since nothing else has worked, they decide to try the Beast-king Mandala. As they start the chant, Ryouma falters, but he insists he's okay. Akaranarta also powers up, ready to copy that technique, too. Lakshu sits on the sidelines, yelling for them to stop.