Akira didn’t give Mitsuki the time to question her about her wings,
Akira only flew quickly back up the cliff face. Once they landed,
Mitsuki’s feet placed firmly on the ground, Akira’s wings quickly
disappeared.
Mitsuki was flabbergasted. “Akira...you...but...wings...”
Akira looked at the sixth devil. Miki, Genzo and Anju had arrived and
were taking it on. They needed help.
“Mitsuki, I need you stay out of the way, alright?”
Mitsuki was too confused to say anything. She only nodded. Akira ran
over to the others to help them out.
Miki unsheathed Kotetsuseiken and ran towards the sixth devil, and
slashed at the demon before it could muster an attack against her, but
the friction from the slash only trailed across the sixth devil’s
armour in a line of sparks.
Miki cursed under her breath, and Anju didn’t wait for Genzo’s
permission to attack. He lunged at the hulking devil, and much more
than artistically, kicked him in the head.
Anju’s foot only slid off the devil, and he landed on the grass hard,
scuttling back to Miki and Genzo.
“What the hell is that thing made of?” Anju wondered angrily.
Genzo thought this situation over whilst the devil advanced slowly on
them, step by step.
Genzo got an idea. “I know. We shall do a combination wave. Lets focus
on the chest. I will use a fire spell to weaken the armour, then Anju
will break it with a kick, Miki will slice the metal open, and then
Akira will deliver the final blow...where is she?”
Akira walked up to the others. “I’m here.”
Miki spoke out to her. “How’s Mitsuki doing?”
Akira fell quiet for a bit, but managed to say something. “She’s fine.
Mitsuki’s fine.”
“Hate to bust up this cute little moment, but the devil’s coming.”
Anju said, his gaze focused on the sixth devil just a few metres ahead
of him.
“Then lets go. Akira, do you know your role?”
Akira nodded. “Yes sir.”
The Heaven Slayers spread out around the sixth devil, and took
positions that allowed them to directly see the devils chest.
Genzo pulled an ofudu from within his robes, and held it above his
head chanting for a bit, whilst the others circled around the sixth
devil.
“Heavenly fire, burn my enemies with the flames of a thousand
infernos!”
A huge blast of fire roared from Genzo’s ofudu, and drilled into the
sixth devil’s ample chest. After mere seconds of exposure to melting
point heat, the armour started to lose its solidity. The sixth devil
screamed, until the surge of flames ceased.
Anju then smiled and ran up to the devil, cutting through the wind
with his blistering speed, and swiftly kicked the devil in the chest
were Genzo had blasted it. That kick was enough to crack the devil’s
armour. After ducking under a swing of the beast’s sword, Anju rolled
away and winked to Miki.
Miki nodded and preformed a quick slash to the sixth devil’s now
weakening breastplate. The devil yelled aloud as its chest cavity was
now exposed, the former breastplate now sliced up on the ground below
it.
Genzo yelled over to Akira. “Now!”
Akira drew in strength for this one last attack. After this it would
be over. A cerulean glow wrapped addictively to its respective blade,
and the Dragon-edge began to beam a powerful light.
“Kyoretsuzan!”
A wave of completion enclosed around Akira, and she swung her sword at
the devil, a wave of sapphire energy tearing away from the blade,
flinging itself at the sixth devil’s chest.
Cutting through the demonic creature’s chest, ripping through its
torso and tearing out from his back, the Kyoretsuzan’s power cleaved
open the devil’s armour from the inside, blasting open his back.
A jet of blood spewed from its back, and after a breathless yell, the
final devil toppled over and fell to the ground, his sword breaking in
the process.
The others, including Mitsuki who had just ran up to them, all looked
at the devil in silence and finally realized what they had just done.
They had killed all of the six devils.
**********
In a distant far away castle, Ryuma sat on his throne and tapped his
fingers expectantly on the armrest of his throne. He turned his palm
over and looked at it. Five multi-coloured pieces of a circle were in
there. One piece was missing however.
Then a small grin of delight passed over Ryuma’s face as a sixth,
golden piece filled in the gap that was formerly there.
The legendary knight gripped the throne and clenched his teeth as his
body went under a shocking transformation. A fierce wind swept right
through the large room that Ryuma was in, his clothes and long ebony
hair thrashing around with it. Ryuma’s body tensed up, as every muscle
in his body tightened and adapted, his mind began to surge with fresh
new knowledge and skills.
Ryuma screamed, almost out of agony as his latent power was returned
to him. A bright flash of light broke out and surrounded Ryuma, his
screams slightly muffled by the thickness of his own energy.
Two guards heard the ruckus and charged into Ryuma’s throne room. But
as soon as they opened the doors and looked inside, the two men were
thrown back by the energy, and hurled into the far walls.
The force of Ryuma’s energy held them in place, until their ribcages
were cracked open and caved in under its magnificent force. The
malevolent energy crushed the two guards, and Ryuma continued to
shriek, very much indifferent to the fate of his soldiers.
The stone alter then shattered, and Ryuma’s focussed, energy beaming
body slowly rose into the air. The power of Ryuma’s energy then
actually began to crack the foundations of the room, until Ryuma let
out one final heaven-shattering cry, unleashing a gigantic beam of
energy that burned instantly through the ceiling and through each
ascending floor until it burned through the very peak of his castle.
The ferocious energy shot into the sky, and the colossal beam was
visible from miles around, until slowly, it faded away.
Ryuma slowly lowered back to the ground, no longer howling in pain,
but was catching his breath, and every so often, his trembling body
would convulse.
The body of Ryuma was different to what it once was, and yet at the
same time, it was very much the same. His long hair was now even
longer, almost seeping down to his ankles. His body was covered with
scars, a streaky one slashed across his face. The black/gold robes he
was wearing were now cut up, the front of his chest fully exposed, to
show a large tattoo of a dragon. His veins were filled with a fiery
new blood, one with ancient properties and significance.
But the most noticeable change was of his eyes. His former amethyst
eyes were now replaced by blood red ones, an evil twinkle passing
through them.
The hero of Juukumei slowly rose to his feet, now reborn with a dark
power, and an even darker lust for destruction.
Nightmare Ryuma was born.
**********
Akira and Mitsuki were in Akira’s room in the Soujumah temple. When
told about the devil attack, all the guests from the wedding had been
ordered to flee to Daitoshi city. As you would have thought, things
were not completely happy there. Both Kazue and Genzo were extremely
annoyed about Mitsuki’s abandonment of the wedding, but were too
consumed with victory over the six devils to care at this point. The
Heaven Slayers had finally rid the world of the six devils. Juukumei
was safe at last.
Preparations were already beginning for a victory party, but Akira and
Mitsuki didn’t feel much like celebrating. So many things were happing
at once. The wedding, the end of the devils, Akira’s wings...
Akira sat down tiredly on her bed, while Mitsuki was rustling up some
drinks for the two of them.
“How you feeling, Akira?” Mitsuki said to her best friend. Akira only
smiled. Even after running out on her own wedding, Mitsuki was still
concerned about Akira’s safety.
“I’m okay. The devil didn’t take that much out of me. What about you?
Master Kiryu and Master Soujumah really laid into you, huh?”
Mitsuki finished making the drinks and took a seat next to Akira on
the bed, handing her one of the two glasses.
“Yeah. They were really mad, but since we finally beat the devils, it
all seemed to be pretty irrelevant. I haven’t seen Kai around though.
I guess I hurt his feelings.”
Akira sipped her drink. “It doesn’t matter what *he* thinks.”
Mitsuki looked at Akira for a second. She was not keen on Kai. Not
even in the least. In fact it was Akira who objected to the wedding
the most. Mitsuki just started to realize that Akira felt little more
than ill will towards him.
“He isn’t that bad, Akira.” Mitsuki said.
Akira didn’t say anything back to Mitsuki about that. She didn’t like
Kai at all, and nothing was going to change that. Then, Akira started
to think about the battle. And about what happened at the cliff. The
wings.
At first Akira couldn’t believe it. Her having wings meant that she
was an angel. And angels were supposed to be evil, right? Akira didn’t
feel evil. Not in the least. Also Ryuma killed the last angel over
thirteen years ago. There was no way that Akira could be an angel...
The young knight was thinking hard about this, and was about to talk
to Mitsuki about it to clear the air, but before she could, Mitsuki
cut her off, with a knowing look on her face.
“You’re thinking about what happened at the cliff, aren’t you?”
Mitsuki said knowingly. Akira nodded silently.
“Does...does that mean I’m an angel? Am I evil?” Akira asked.
Mitsuki gasped at what Akira just said. She put down the glass she was
holding and wrapped Akira in a reassuring embrace.
“No, of course not,” Mitsuki said. “You’re not evil. You saved me. How
can you even think that about yourself?”
Akira hugged Mitsuki back. “But the legends said-“
“I don’t care what the legends say. You’re not like that.”
Akira settled peacefully in Mitsuki’s arms. She always knew the right
things to say to cheer Akira up. A knock came at the door. Akira and
Mitsuki either didn’t notice or couldn’t care less, because neither
moved an inch. However the man at the door didn’t wait to be told to
come in, and went in anyway. It was guard, and he sweat-dropped while
seeing Akira and Mitsuki embracing each other.
Both girls turned their heads and looked at guard, who had an awfully
incredulous look on his face.
“What?” They said in unison. The guard just blushed and looked away,
coughing into his fist.
“(Ahem)...well, we have an urgent message from the Kiryu training
ground at Zaakumaikyuu. Master Kiryu wants the both of you to come to
the main hall.”
**********
“Well here we are,” Akira said. “What’s the problem?”
Akira and Mitsuki walked up to Genzo. Anju and Miki were at the other
side of the room. Kazue was next to Genzo.
Genzo brought out the note. “A hawk delivered this note about an hour
ago. Something is attacking the training hall. But the person who is
said to be doing this...”
Akira’s eyes narrowed. “Who is it?”
Miki walked up to Akira and frowned. “It is said to be...Ryuma...”
That name crossed Akira’s heart with a sudden jolt.
{That was what the voice in my dream said...to be wary of Ryuma...}
“Are you serious?” Akira said. Miki just nodded. “Then we need to get
over to Zaakumaikyuu at once! The people there might be in danger!”
Anju sighed and walked up to Miki and Akira.
“We can’t just teleport ourselves there, kid. Zaakumaikyuu is nearly
seven hundred miles away from here. It took us months to simply walk
that distance.” Anju said.
Mitsuki shook her head. “We can’t just stay here either. A lot of my
friends are in Zaakumaikyuu. I can’t let them suffer alone. We must
help them!”
Kazue stepped up, and shook his hands at Mitsuki. “Calm down. We have
a lightning fast airship that can get you there in a few hours. My
engineers completed it yesterday.”
“So we can use that?” Genzo asked. Kazue affirmed that. “Yes.”
Akira clutched her fist. “Well then lets go.”
**********
The airship that Kazue was talking about was pulled up from the hanger
below the Soujumah temple, and was brought out into the open. It was
large, more in the form of a blimp, but it had two very powerful
engines at its rear.
The Heaven Slayers and Kazue were standing out in front of the
airship, getting ready to leave.
Anju ran up the walkway into to the airship while the others said
their goodbyes to Kazue.
Genzo was the first to speak. “Thank you for everything, old friend.
I’m sorry about the...well we’ll sort something out.”
Kazue shook Genzo’s hand, and the ageing master ran up the walkway
into the airship. Miki and her father stared each other down for a few
brief seconds. Abruptly, Miki pulled away from his stare, and turned
away from Kazue.
“Miki, wait!” Kazue yelled.
The Soujumah priestess stopped, and turned back around to look at her
father expectantly. “What...?” Miki said impersonally.
Kazue clenched his fist, and ignored his head. “Come back alive.”
She was surprised that Kazue said that, but nodded to him all the same
and ran up the walkway into the airship. Akira and Mitsuki took the
time to gesture to Kazue, and then run up the walkway also.
At the top of the front veranda of the Soujumah temple, was Kai. He
smiled sadly to himself as he watched Mitsuki and Akira run up the
Walkway into the airship. And from what little he’d seen, he made
quite a few precise suppositions.
Kai mumbled under his breath. “Make her happy, Akira.”
**********
A few hours later...
Over at Zaakumaikyuu, hovering hundreds of feet into the air over the
gigantic city was Ryuma. A dark grin passed over his face, and he
jutted his palm outwards, directed towards the city. A blast of dark
energy fired from his hand and shot at an unsuspecting Zaakumaikyuu.
After a few seconds, a massive explosion rocked the city, and a
towering wall of flames sprung up from the destruction that ensued.
Ryuma laughed darkly into the night sky at his newfound power.
“Oh, it has been so long since I used my ultimate power! I had
forgotten just how exhilarating the thrill of destruction is! To see
your twisted screams of agony and suffering is all that I will ever
live for, you pathetic humans! Aha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”
Ryuma let out a questionable grunt as a large flying ship neared the
now burning Zaakumaikyuu. He closed his eyes to sense the spirits
within that ship, and grinned arrogantly.
“So...the child is here. Quite quick...” Ryuma whispered.
The palm of the now insane Ryuma rose up again as he extended his
tensed arm. After gathering enough energy, Ryuma fired a shot directly
at the airship. The energy ball shot the flying machine, and a thick
black smoke emanated from the blast point. The part that was shot at
caught on fire, and the airship began to slowly dive towards the
grassy land outside of Zaakumaikyuu.
The Soujumah airship took a nosedive, and crashed into the ground,
driving a muddy trench into the earth. The Heaven Slayers then let
down the walkway and crawled out of the airship, coughing and
spluttering.
Akira looked up into the night sky, and saw a tall figure shrouded in
darkness, in the far distance.
Akira coughed again and pulled herself onto her feet. “Is (cough) is
that...Ryuma?” Akira asked.
Anju stood up also. “It is! The son of a bitch shot down the airship!
I knew he wasn’t to be trusted!”
“No,” Miki coughed. “Master Kakounji would not in good conscience do
this to Zaakumaikyuu...”
Genzo stood on his feet and looked up into the sky. Ryuma was coming
their way. “Stand fast. Here he comes.”
The God of destruction, Nightmare Ryuma slowly floated down to the
place where the Heaven Slayers were, in front of the downed airship.
Little by little came closer to the ground until his feet connected
with wet blades of grass. Ryuma placed his hands on his waist and
smiled darkly at the others, taking a great interest in Akira...
“So, my wayward assassins. You finally killed the six devils. To my
benefit, evidently...”
“Master Kakounji, why? Did you really do this?” Miki asked.
Ryuma sighed and shock his head. “You humans. Always looking for an
answer. That was part of the problem...But if you want to know, yes I
did attack Zaakumaikyuu. And after I finish with this breeding ground
for the weak, I will move onto Daitoshi and Hakumakyuu.”
Akira drew Dragon-edge, and steadied it. “You sick bastard, do you
know what you’ve done? Do you?!”
Ryuma grinned. “Do *you* know what you’ve done? I owe all this power
to you, Akira. Look at you. So beautiful, so strong...why do you waste
your time protecting the unworthy?”
“What are you talking about?” Mitsuki said. “Akira would never help
you to do anything like this!”
Ryuma raised his left arm and pointed it towards Zaakumaikyuu.
“Little girl, you have no idea of what it is that you are dealing
with. Akira and you all too, are the cause of this. Thanks to your
little escapade, I have returned to my position as a god.”
Another powerful energy blast shot out from Ryuma’s palm, and headed
directly for Zaakumaikyuu. The ball of power struck into the city, and
even though the impact was about half a mile away, the dark
reverberations of the explosion rocked the ground beneath the team.
Akira, Mitsuki, Genzo, Miki and Anju all struggled to maintain balance
as violent shockwaves passed under them.
“And as a god, I think I have a right to destroy that which I choose.
And what I choose to destroy is humanity...”
Anju’s face darkened as the shockwaves passed. “You’re not human...?”
“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Perceptive little worm aren’t you?” Ryuma said.
Genzo spoke up. “You are insane...”
Ryuma cackled again. “I am not insane. I just want to return the
natural order of life to its former glory. I want to save Juukumei
from the disease of humankind.”
Miki unsheathed Kotetsuseiken. “What makes you think that you live
long enough to end the ‘human disease’?”
“Don’t be foolish. I am not one of those weak little devils. I just
wiped out half of the biggest city in Juukumei. It would be stupid to
attack me now. But then again, maybe you will attack me and throw
yourselves into the flames of hell. One can’t fight one’s nature...”
Said Ryuma, his eyes glowing with intent.
“I don’t care what you say Ryuma,” Akira said. “We are going to stop
you, even if it means our downfall.”
Ryuma closed his eyes and smiled. “Oh you will be going down alright.
Fine, if you want to kill me, go right ahead. But our confrontation
will be at a venue of my choosing.”
Ryuma pointed a finger at Mitsuki, and a strange bubble of energy
trapped her inside. Akira gasped and sliced at the bubble, but as hard
as she attacked it was only bounced back that much stronger.
“No...Mitsuki!” Genzo yelled.
The energy bubble moved over in Ryuma’s direction and came to rest
next to him. “I’m taking this girl as assurance that you wont run away
like the cowards I know you are. If you want her back, meet me at
Tundrana in two days.”
Ryuma and Mitsuki slowly rose up of the floor when Ryuma added,
“Come prepared my young adversaries, I know I will!”
And with that, Ryuma and Mitsuki jetted off into the north, towards
the frosty mountain peaks of Tundrana. Akira’s eyes glazed over as she
realized what had just happened...
Ryuma had kidnapped Mitsuki.
Akira had failed her best friend. She was gone...gone with that
lunatic...
The young knight fell to her knees in recognition. “Mitsuki...she’s
gone...I...failed you...”
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