Okumura Syndicate Ending 1

Chapter 170: End Of His Suffering?

TW: Major character death, heavy violence

Back in the tunnel, Rou's cold fury continued, relentlessly aiming every ice attack in his roster at Lin. As Rou charged a lethal looking blow, Lin's rage grew. "You think you can take me?", he roared as the flurry of ice attacks intensified. "You can't even melt my ice you're so pissed off!" Rou taunted. Lin had met his gaze with a chilling glare, "You're still such a child, Rou. You'd never even think that I've gone through just as much emotional pain as you, I've spent years trying to warn you, but you never listened!", he exclaimed.

"Well, if you say you're in pain, why didn't you prevent mine!", Rou shouted back as he summoned another series of ice attacks. "Why did you leave your only family?", asked Lin with a brief hint of a childish smile, "You just want to leave me, just like our mother did...", Lin explained. Rou's smirk broke into a cold, lifeless stare, "You're callous, unhealthily vain!", he said coldly. Lin refused to respond, laughing when while firing seething flames at his brother, "It's what I needed to do to stay strong!", he remarked in a booming register.

"I'll never forgive you Lin! You don't deserve to be my brother! ", screamed a maniacal Rou. "You tricked my heart, my mind, even my will!" He rushed at his brother, but Lin was ready. "You'll never understand my conviction, and for that you will pay!". The men began charging at each other with not remorse , Rou dodging fireballs with unnatural ease and hair-trigger accuracy, and Lin trouncing glaciers and melting every frozen object in sight.

Demitris continued to watch, heavily feeling the effects of the temperature changes, but determined to get Rou out alive. "I can't believe what I'm seeing!", he thought, "It's the craziest thing I've ever seen!", he shouted to himself with disbelief. Even with his weakened body, he was still able to grasp onto an ice platform, cracking it with the pure destruction in his fists. He fell, subsequently landing between the two brothers.

"And what do we have here?", Lin questioned, slowly walking up to Demitris. Rou grit his teeth, "You hurt him and you'll have hell to pay!", he exclaimed. "You're nothing compared to what he is, how do you expect to live if you harm him?", asked Rou rhetorically, charging in to protect Demitris. Without warning, Lin struck him in the chest. "ROU!!", shouted Demitris. "If you don't want the same treatment you better stand back!", announced Lin.

Demitris's heart raced a mile a minute, as Rou lay there seemingly lifeless. "Seems my work here is done...", Lin gloated to himself. "I don't think so!", proclaimed a voice. Demitris's jaw dropped to see Rou rising up, his hand tightly gripping his chest. "You fuck!", shouted Rou as he froze over his breast. Lin stood in absolute disbelief, yelling as Rou grabbed him with a bone-crushing force. Demitris gave way and Lin was pummeled by his enraged capo. "This ends now!", he screamed.

Searing adrenaline engulfed the two combatants. Their energy behind a lingering stench of ash, which could be smelt from acres around. Demitris found himself sprawled on the ice, caught between two brothers battling it out for supremacy. "Move out of the way, now!!!", Rou called out to him. "But your heart, it's going to freeze over again!", replied Demitris with a quiver. The words sent shockwaves through his psyche. "I'll gladly freeze my heart to save you!", Rou exclaimed as his soldier reluctantly got out of his way.

Demitris felt a pain even he had never felt before, deducing no options to end the fight. Lin and Rou advanced on each other, each wielding an elemental spectacle, each blast of fire and ice being impressively dodged, but no man was struck. This was a stalemate, and neither side could prevail without drastic measures. It was then that Demitris saw his only shot at salvation and he fell, hands first on the ice, breaking every barrier in his view, closing the distance between the two brothers. "Rou, now's your chance!", he declared.

An emotionless Rou took in Demitris's words and honed in on Lin, heavily focused on his next move. Even as the fire brushed against him, he remained fixed in position. He could see the only way to victory was to strike first. He took a deep breath and charged in. Lin never saw it coming, never knew he had a second to prepare. His eyes widened, as in an instant, Rou's hand shot ice down his throat. He choked for air as his eyes went blank. The fiery man fell to the ground, a bloody mess, air in the area becoming frigid, as Demitris watched in horror.

"Come, Demitris...", Rou ordered, preparing to walk away. He could see the fear in Demitris's eyes, yet was utterly blind to the pain in his heart. "Rou, how could you do this? This display of hatred, it's almost like him...". It was at that moment where Demitris saw a sick regret plague Rou's features, his breathing became tense and he slowly looked down at the blood on his hands, trying to wipe it away, but to no avail. "Rou?", said Demitris in a panic. Rou turned to walk away, Demitris tried to follow on, but got pushed back, hearing a single word from his love.

"No..."