The five stood in silence.
So silent that even Blindy started to feel awkward.
He almost thought about waving.
Maybe saying hello.
Maybe even bowing.
“Uh…”
he started.
But the silence tightened instantly, like a pulled wire,
when Zeros stepped out of the shadows.
All five shifted at once.
Shoulders lifted.
Breathing paused.
Hands moved to their katana grips.
“Buddy, look at that…” Blindy smirked.
“Wherever you show up, you always ruin the mo—”
FLASH
A light gust hit his face.
His bangs lifted.
And in the next fraction of a second,
something grabbed him by the collar
and yanked him backward.
Blindy didn’t even understand what happened.
He only saw it:
A figure flickered in front of him.
A blade carved a thin silver arc through the air.
One of Kanzaki’s blades
had already moved.
Instantly.
Striking straight for his face.
But Zeros was already behind him.
He grabbed Blindy by the collar, pulled him back,
then stepped forward
like someone casually closing a cabinet door.
FSSH
The katana flashed.
At the same moment:
Zeros’ right hand tossed Blindy upward again,
like a ball in low gravity,
and his left—
drove straight into the attacker’s groin,
with a sound so heavy the armor plate snapped
like a slammed vault door.
Blindy shot upward,
spinning like a broken satellite.
The attacker was thrown back—
and was already standing again with the others,
like nothing had happened.
Except slightly bent forward.
Because he no longer had a future.
Blindy floated up,
then slowly began drifting down upside down.
Kanzaki looked at his student.
The man straightened, caught his breath, pressed his chest, and said:
“Sensei… watashi wa daijōbu desu.”
Kanzaki raised his hand slightly toward Zeros.
“Dewa… waga seito-tachi yo. Ike. Kare o taose.”
All four moved. At once. One rushed Zeros from the right.
Two launched upward.
The fourth slid to the left flank.
The attack was perfectly synchronized—
like fingers of the same hand.
Like they didn’t just train together their whole lives—
but ate, slept, and shit in rhythm,
sharing one brain between four bodies.
Zeros didn’t move.
At all.
He just stood there,
like this wasn’t even a fight—
like someone asked him to hold a door.
Blindy, still slowly spinning in low gravity,
saw the whole thing from above and screamed:
“ZEEEROOOOS—!
YOU FUCKIN’ BASTAAARD—!
NO—! MORE—! CLAPPIN’, YOU HEAR ME—!”
Four blades flashed at once.
BZHIN—BZHIN—BZHIN—BZHIN!
Then—
PCHYN—PCHYN—PCHYN—PCHYN!
All the blades cracked. At the same time.
Like cheap souvenir katanas bought on discount
from a “samurai antiques” sale after a few beers.
Zeros’ body—
as you remember, dear gremlin listeners—
didn’t even take damage from a superlaser.
Zeros didn’t even breathe.
He just moved.
The first one—
left side—
took a hit straight to the face.
CRACK
Like snapping a chicken bone—
just louder, heavier, and way more depressing.
The second—
on the right—
got kicked.
CRUNCH!
A rib.
Maybe two.
Maybe the whole side.
Painful even to describe.
The third—
got headbutted.
Yes.
Headbutted.
Like a drunk Irishman deciding:
“Let me show you how we greet people back home.”
BAAAM!
The fourth—
still coming from above—
mid-air—
never finished his strike.
Zeros grabbed him by the leg
and slammed him into the ground like a trash bag.
SLAM or !!SPLAT!! if you want it nastier.
And then—
by all the laws of Akira Kurosawa,
and every bad Hollywood remake that came after—
and because, of course, that fat clown calling himself the author
couldn’t resist throwing in a trendy “beautiful blood scene”—
blood sprayed.
Across the floor.
Across Zeros’ armor.
And even onto Blindy’s face,
who was still spinning mid-air
like a completely useless space plunger.
Silence. Absolute.
Like the world itself just went: “Yeah… fuck this.”
Four steel pieces hit the ground.
Ting—Ting—Ting—Ting