Forza Della Volontà

The beast had a confident grin on his face; as he discarded his current form for a more humanoid form. Tall and slim, with long silver hair and piercing red eyes…why did it remind him so much of a Tenjōgekido? "My name is Abbacchio Leone. A remnant of the old universe. One of Masato Nagareboshi's top henchmen…!" Abbacchio let his fire wings out and pointed at Gunha's sword.

"With your Eshajōri, you can bring me down to your level of power, huh…" So Abbacchio knew the ability of his Zanpakutō. Yeah, Gunha expected it. Also Eshajōri was a million times stronger if he fought with his allies.

Gunha made a big grin towards Vittoria. "Vittoria, I'm gonna, no, I will finish it in 10 seconds."

"…Gunha?" Vittoria had a doubtful expression. Gunha was about to show her his power right now.

"10 seconds? You talk big. Then I will finish this in 5 seconds. It won't be like the time that Gai Nagareboshi defeated my master, Teishin!" Abbacchio snarled.

Just by being ready to fight for his friend, Gunha could feel a power that was coming from within him. The start of the battle will be the climax! "Hear me now!" Gunha shouted out from the bottom of his heart. "I can't read people's feelings like Kurenai…I'm no Kidō prodigy like Yuuki…I can't exercise my authority like Nika... I'm not invincible in battle like Gai… Between all my friends, I was the odd one out."

Abbacchio sneered, "Oh? Then why are you here, Teishin!?"

Gunha's brow furrowed, his eyes narrowed, lips tightened, and his body tensed. "Because there's one thing I can't afford to lose. My friends. I've come all this way just to protect them… I won't lose them now. If it's to protect my friends, I can kill even a god! So, Leone! I'm going to crush you down for real! For you Vittoria, I will even beat God! With this sword! My only weapon! I will protect you!"

"…Gunha." In his mind, a certain hand reached out to him. This hand was comforting; it was one he recognized straight off the bat. "…You're not alone either, pal."

"…Gai?" Gunha was absolutely speechless. "…You heard my calls…? But how—you're not supposed to exist…!"

The voice replied simply, "Use it. You hafta use the Starlight Second Liberation."

Gunha nodded. "…Right. Shine, dammit! Over Soul!" The jewel in his Zanpakutō released a red light. The red light shinned throughout the area. A deep crimson coloured aura covered Gunha. "Your power…it's flowing into me?"

"Yeah. Use it. But only for 10 seconds. Your body can't endure more than that."

"Gai, I'm aware of that! It will be finished in 10 seconds!"

"That's right. But if you have 10 seconds then you will…"

"Yeah. If I have 10 seconds I can…I can beat the crap out of him!!" Gunha stepped forward while emitting a red aura. Gunha's body was covered with a golden armour. A plate-armour that had the motif of a phoenix. The whole armour had a sharp shape. The jewel that was present in Eshajōri appeared in both Gunha's arms, shoulders, knees and the middle of the torso. On the back there was something like a rocket booster propulsion.

"No way! That's the Rising Phoenix's armour! What is this, I don't even…How did you get his power!?" Abbacchio had a shocked expression. His comment was acute. Well it looked like a small golden phoenix. Even Gunha's face was covered by the armour.

"This is the power of my dearest friend, the Unlosing Rising Phoenix! Armour of Kings, Starlight Second Liberation! I obtained this power…through the force of my bonds!"

Starlight Second Liberation's ability released destructive power for 10 seconds—though for Gai, it was an infinite duration. Once released Gunha would be invincible for 10 seconds. But it had a big risk. After he released it for 10 seconds, he wouldn't be able to use his spiritual power for three days. That was how Gai explained things to him. So it was a sink or swim super mode.

"…X…"

The count started. Since this is activated there was no time! Gunha made a little gap between his hand and made a block of spiritual energy between his hands, which he launched at Abbacchio immediately. The spiritual ball that left his hand increased in size exponentially and shot towards his foe! That thing was the size of about a small house; even Gunha was shocked.

Abbacchio barely evaded that blast. "…So powerful…!"

"…IX…"

The countdown had already started. Gunha jumped towards the place Abbacchio ran to. The propeller released spiritual power. Instantly it released at an explosive speed! Because of the G forces, Gunha couldn't handle his body but it reduced the distance between him and Abbacchio. Since he moved at an insane speed to where he ran to, Abbacchio was utterly shocked; he made a stance at Gunha since he couldn't counter measure it. But without doing anything Gunha…

BANNNNG!!

Gunha crashed into the wall. Such a disappointment; that was his chance. When Gunha crashed, he guarded with both his arms so there were no damages. But there was a huge hole in the wall. So, if he crashed into Abbacchio, then he could've killed him?

"…VIII…"

8 seconds left! Gunha got up and shook off the fragments of the wall and confronted Abbacchio again, who became more vigilant than before after seeing Gunha's attacks. His body was covered in a rainbow coloured aura. Gunha could feel the enormous spiritual power with his skin.

"I shall not hold back! I don't want to admit it, but right now, you are a monster! Die right in front of the one you're supposed to protect, Teishin!" A pair of fire wings appeared on Abbacchio's back after he howled. There was a whirlwind of fire surrounding him and the area was surrounded by an intense fire; this meant that there wouldn’t be a bone left if you got hit by that.

"Fire bird and Fenghuang! And the flame of my power, which is admired as the immortal bird of phoenix! Receive the fire with your body and perish!" Abbacchio who was covered in flames rushed towards Gunha fast. There was an insane amount of flames right in front of him. The silhouette resembled a gigantic fire bird. The intense fire from the wings…

"Hey, Gunha. That guy's a half-baked phoenix; not like yours truly. However, that flame can leave a scratch on my armour…so yeah, it's probably not a good idea to try and tank it." Gai wisely advised in Gunha's head.

"…Okay, then. But I can't do that. Vittoria's looking. I'll stop the flames to show Vittoria can't lose hope!" Gunha rebutted, as he howled out loud, "I ain't gonna perish with a crappy fire like yours!" Gunha sprinted towards him while screaming; the propeller on his back released pure light.

KABLAM!

When both of their fists hit each other's face, it shook the whole area because of the impact created from their powers clashing. Gunha felt a heavy blow for every hit he received! Then a hot flame attacked him. "Dammit, it's freaking hot!" The temperature of the flame he felt from Abbacchio's fist. If Gunha didn't have this armour on, then it probably wouldn't have left a bone. The more fists he exchanged with Abbacchio, the more he realized the difference between them.

When he removed the armour of Starlight Second Liberation, the power difference between him and Abbacchio was that of an ant and an elephant. Abbachio smirked as if he realized Gunha was feeling scared. "Are you scared!? Are you afraid of me!? Of course! If you didn't have that armour, then you would just be trash! If you didn't have that armour, then you would have perished before my fist reached you! Yes! If you take away your Soul Cutting Sword, then you have no value!"

Abbacchio was right; if somebody took Eshajōri away from Gunha, then he'd be nothing!

"…VII…"

The serious battle between relics of the past. Fear struck Gunha's whole body. He didn't want to experience something scary like this! But! Gunha pulled out a certain thing that he hid in a section of the gauntlet.

BANG!!

Gunha's fist slammed right into Abbacchio's face, who bent back. "That won't work on…!" Abbacchio coughed up a lot of blood from his mouth. Gunha scored a critical hit; of course, that was because he was holding onto something in his hand, which he showed to Abbacchio.

"You have a cross made out of seki-sekki?!" Abbacchio was shocked. It was an item that spiritual beings are weak against. Gunha had it in his hands and punched Abbacchio. Gunha was lucky that Gai stored it in his armour.

"…VI…"

"I increased the effect of the cross with Starlight Second Liberation's power and punched you. An anti-spiriton attack that has increased drastically can even be used against spiritual beings. Even if you are an immortal bird Phoenix, you won't be able to heal this attack, right?"

"Absurd! Crosses bring intense suffering to spiritual beings…! Even if you wear the phoenix armour, touching it is absolutely…"

Then Abbacchio realized the change in his left arm for the first time. He wouldn't realize it since Gunha was wearing the phoenix armour over his whole body, but he could notice it if he took a good look. The whole armour that was made up of inorganic material, and Gunha's left arm that was continuously giving out a pulse.

"…Did you give your…left arm to the person owning the armour…? So that's the reason for your insane powers…!"

"Yeah, that's right. I gave my left arm so I can use this power for a temporary period. My left arm is the arm of the legendary hero. That's why a cross doesn't work on me." Changing Gunha's left arm was the sacrifice needed to use his friend's absolute powers. Gunha gave his left arm so he could fight on par with Abbacchio.

"If you do that, then your left arm won't return to normal! Do you know that!?" Abbacchio snapped.

Gunha smirked, "Point being?"

"…V…"

The count was decreasing while they were talking about useless things. "Vittoria will come back just with one arm of someone like me. It's a pretty cheap deal, don't you think?"

Abbacchio's eyes changed after hearing what I just said. "You're insane…That's why you can strike me without any hesitation…You're scary. I'm actually pretty scared of you for real, for the first time. That's why!" Both of Abbacchio's wings turned into a bigger flame. "I'm going to beat you with everything I have!" Fire bird. He rushed towards Gunha while the surroundings were engulfed by fire. Gunha would not lose, no matter what!