InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Time Soul Exodus ❯ Chapter 16: =Reawaken The Lost Pride - Part 3= ( Chapter 16 )

Written by: Zelix

 

A/N: Okay, here is the Beta-read version, enjoy!

 

 

Once again: BIG thanks for Osuwari00 for being my beta reader on this one and I MEAN BIG THANKS! I truly appreciate you for being so patient while I'm being such a lazy ass… big thanks, I mean it.

 

 

 

 

WARNINGS: Death, blood and action, need I say more? Oh yeah, NOT FOR THOSE UNDER 18… though, that hasn't stopped anyone in the past so why should it work now? LOL…

 

 

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to all the people who have been reviewing me lately and even those who have reviewed in the past, though I am depressed about the fact that the people who review me is so small… but even so, I will continue to write this one, no matter what. Also, I know that the last chapter didn't have that much action in it, well, I will rectify that with this and the following chapters, action all around since now the BATTLE ROYALE or something similar will begin!

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that's related to Inuyasha, I do own Arc though and if someone intends to copy him without my permission I'll F*** you up!

 

 

“Talking”

`Thinking'

[Check the bottom for details]

*Flashback/Switch in Time or place*

=Used when mentioning a technique, attack or something important=

 

 

If this was a TV series:

 

Opening: Chihiro Yonekura - Butterfly kiss

Ending: Hikaru no go - Bokura no boken

 

 

 

 

Time Soul Exodus

 

 

Chapter 16: =Reawaken the Lost Pride - Part 3=

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Where Kedaru and the guardians are…*

 

 

Kedaru was watching the bloodbath that was taking place from where he stood, his vantage point was excellent, and with being a Youkai, he could hear each scream of panic, each scream of terror and each sound of death as the insects attacked the village in waves… Truly, he wondered why he hadn't done this in the first place? Oh yes, it was because of the orders he'd been given, well, soon he wouldn't need to worry about some orders for once he had the `crystal' back, the power that the former queen of the hive had hidden from him would finally be his… With that power, he would first kill that annoying bastard, Heitaro who he so despised and then he would pay this `master' who Heitaro served a visit and kill him as well, yes, soon… very soon indeed.

 

 

Though for now, he thought to himself: `Khiääh… I wonder, where is this stranger I've heard so much about from the scouts? Has he run away already or is he already dead? Humph… it doesn't make a difference whether he is here or not, for if he is then the guardians will tear him into pieces, yes, even I shudder when I think about the power of the four guardians…It is a good thing that they have no mind of their own, or I would be in trouble, hehehe.'

 

 

With that, Kedaru focused on the village once again and said to himself: “Come out, my little crystal… the queen was very clever indeed when she hid it, I would never have thought it would be hidden there, yet now the game is over, you have nowhere left to hide, my little crystal… hahaha.”

 

 

 

*Where Arcerdo and Hanataro are right now*

 

 

Arcerdo was running along with Hanataro towards the village as fast as they could, they both knew that now the truly hard part would begin… for the village would most likely be in total panic over what was happening and not to mention the insects would be swarming everywhere as well. This would indeed be a very dangerous situation, yet they had to find a way through it or many people were going to die.

 

 

But that didn't stop them from thinking to themselves. Hanataro while running behind Arcerdo was thinking to himself: `Arcerdo… just who is he? He comes through the woods, recovers with miraculous rate, saves Renko even though she was punished by the gods and lastly speaks with words that cause people to doubt the Moon priests… it's neither natural nor normal. Arcerdo is far from anything normal and yet he couldn't be a Youkai either, for if he was the Moon priests would have noticed it. Then there was the fact he used Holy power and the ultimate fact that the barrier around the village would not have allowed him to enter in the first place had he been a Youkai…'

 

 

`So, I keep wondering, who is he? Should I trust him or not? He is a stranger, yet now he is fighting and risking his life to help us… us, the people who have lost our will to fight back… why? Why are you helping us…? What is it in for you to help us?' Those were his thoughts as they kept running… Though, after a while Hanataro couldn't help himself as he asked Arc: “Why are you helping us, Arcerdo-san? I don't understand why you would risk your life to help us… you won't gain anything by helping us so… why?”

 

 

Arc didn't look towards Hanataro when he heard his question… he hadn't answered either since he didn't know the answer either, right now he didn't know he would risk his life to fight for these people, it was just something he wanted to do… maybe it was because…? That could be it.

 

 

So without really turning to watch him, Arc answered to Hanataro: “Because it's something my mother and father would have done. They could never ignore those who needed help. No matter how dangerous it was for them they would help those who needed help… so… I'm just doing what they would have done… for I am their son after all.” Though, right after saying those words, he felt a strange twist in his heart, as if he inwardly knew that wasn't the truth… yet, what else could it be? It had to be the blood of both his mother and father that made him feel like protecting these people, since technically this had been their `home', in a way.

 

 

Still, he couldn't help but doubt it, was that truly the reason or…? Damn, now was not the time to doubt yourself, right now he needed to focus on the battle ahead for it would be extremely dangerous… yet, despite his efforts he kept asking himself: why was he doing this? He hated doubting himself or not knowing answers to critical questions like this.

 

 

Hanataro though, seemed satisfied with the answer… though he too saw the inner doubt in Arcerdo's deep, black eyes but he chose not to question him about it, for the battle ahead would be life-threatening and he figured that Arcerdo needed to be fully focused right now… yet, for some reason Hanataro felt that there was more to Arcerdo, a lot more than what met the eye.

 

 

If only he knew… wouldn't you agree?

 

 

Anyway, now that they were close to the village… let's just say that… the smells and stenches that came from there were enough to make Arc want to vomit, yet at the same time what he saw as they arrived at the village, made him stop moving completely for a moment and literally felt his knees tremble from the sheer horror, pain, suffering and terror that his empathy powers picked up from every last part of the village… not to mention the scent of death in the air made his insides churn with nausea… for the scene before him was… simply put, a scene that resembled very close to that of hell.

 

 

 

*Back in the village*

 

 

 

Pandemonium… mass panic… chaos… call it whatever you want, for that was what was happening in the village right now. First, when the barrier had collapsed, only few insects came and headed straight towards the fields at the edge of the village, then, a few moments after that occurred, they came in waves that could only be described as a huge, dark wave of death.

 

 

They were everywhere, scouts were flying all over the skies and outskirts of the village while the warriors were with almost systematic precision swarming their way through the village and the villagers themselves. Panic was everywhere and the people were simply running wherever their eyes pointed in absolute and complete terror and panic.

 

 

Many had tried to run out of the village only to be stopped by scout insects that were blocking the exit paths out of the village, and when I say `stopped' I do not mean by turning them back to the village… oh no… it was more brutal than that.

 

 

The villagers who had tried to flee had been killed without any kind of hesitation, elderly, young, women, children… it did not matter, the scouts just simply swarmed them and with their stingers stabbed them to death… It was truly gruesome to watch when a gigantic, black stinger went through someone's stomach; the sounds of flesh being torn, bones being cracked and severed, the blood that would come either oozing out or in spurts from the enormous wounds…

 

 

And even if someone survived a direct sting, the poison would, in few moments, make them grow pale like snow and after twitching from the searing, acid burn-like pain on the inside, they would cough out a lot of blood before finally dying from the poison.

 

 

The warriors in the village were no different, they would tear down huts with their sickle-like arms and because of the dissolving acid that they were coated with, could cut through even the toughest of huts without any kind of trouble. The villagers who still had some will to fight back met a similar fate as well.

 

 

If the way the scouts killed people was gruesome, then the warriors were a whole different story… the warriors sickles cut them down like they were nothing but paper dolls. The sickles would cut through their skin, flesh and bones without as much as slowing down due to the thickness of the muscles and bones. They just went through them like air.

 

 

So many villagers had been cut down by the warriors… so many people had been killed whether they had either fought back, run or simply hid. They killed them all without hesitation and it was a truly sickening sight when a warrior's sickle-like arm would cut a villager in half; the way it's sickle simply melted through the body, leaving it in half, it's upper and lower body still twitching and alive, the stench of the dissolving poison eating away flesh and bone, the sound of a villager's gurgling as he/she was choking on their own blood or simply because of the excruciating pain. Truly, it was like a scene from hell: stabbed, torn and cut up bodies of people everywhere…

 

 

The most gruesome death so far had been when two warriors cornered one villager and stabbed their sickles through him at the same time and tore him into pieces… The way his body had still been alive after that would have made anyone throw up, yet, this was not the end of the nightmare… oh no, the nightmare had barely just began.

 

 

And in the middle of this pandemonium, three figures were trying to create some kind of order… the Moon priests, Jei, Arbel and Flint… but they had very little success with that though.

 

 

*With Jei, Arbel and Flint*

 

 

Jei could not believe this mess, he couldn't understand why? What had happened to the barrier? Around him the people were running in panic and getting cut down by the insect Youkai and even the ones that tried to fight back were cut down like they were nothing… he kept his head cool though, because he could not let himself become emotional at any cost in this situation if they were to survive somehow.

 

 

He was thinking to himself: `My god, this makes no sense… how could the barrier had been broken? These insects could not possibly have enough power to break the barrier we had erected around the village… these insects do not possess mystical powers, so there is no way they could have broken the barrier with brute strength, there is just no way!'

 

 

“Lord Jei, to your right!” Shouted Arbel as he saw a scout insect coming at Jei from the right at high speed with its stinger ready to stab him.

 

 

Jei's eyes did not even twitch. He had heard Arbel's warning and felt the insect coming closer, yet he didn't move an inch, not even when the insect was just a second away from stabbing him… but then, at the last instant, his arm went to the hilt of his sword and what Arbel saw his superior do at that instant… well, the only words that could describe it where the words “Blur” and “In-human”.

 

 

Because Jei had suddenly at the exact same moment when he had grabbed the hilt of his sword, had spun 360 degrees and moved his sword with in-human like speed, leaving only a blur behind, so that the sword had cut the scout insect across it's belly…

 

 

But that wasn't what truly made it look in-human, no, it was the fact that the scout insect suddenly got 100 cut marks all over it's body before dropping all over the ground in 100 pieces of flesh… now, what was in-human in that move were two things: Firstly, Jei's sword had only made a single cut instead of a 100, so where had the rest of the cut marks suddenly appeared from? Secondly and most amazingly, the blade hadn't even TOUCHED the insect Youkai's body!

 

 

What I meant with that was that Jei had swung his sword into thin air right in front of the insect instead of connecting with the insect's body… so how in the hell did it get chopped into 100 pieces from all different directions? That was what was so in-human about what happened.

 

 

Right after seeing that, Arbel couldn't help but think in awe: `I've heard rumours about it, yet this is the first time I've seen it in action… Jei's sword technique… it truly is like the rumours and stories described, a single cut and suddenly the opponent gets cut 100 times instantly. I always thought it was just exaggeration but now that I've seen it… Jei… he truly does live up to his nickname: Jei the…'

 

 

His thoughts were cut off however, when a warrior insect suddenly appeared to his left and was about to him in half… Arbel would not have had any kind of chance to dodge it because he hadn't been paying attention, instead he had been thinking about what he had seen just now, so the insect would have caught him off-guard.

 

 

Well, it WOULD have caught him off-guard, had Jei not seen it coming in time and shot a sphere of Holy power from his hand towards it, which made the warrior insect shriek from pain before getting turned into a pile of ash by the sphere's power.

 

 

Arbel was, least to say, a bit shocked to see it happen… the warrior insect had been no more than a few inches off from cutting him in half before it was suddenly turned into ash by his superior, Jei… so right now, Arbel's mind couldn't process what had just happened until Jei walked by him and said: “Pay attention during battle, for I won't be there to save you all the time.” His voice hadn't held a single tint of emotion in it and neither had his eyes when he said those words, he was harsh alright… but… that was why he was a 1st class warrior priest: He never let's his emotions get in the way, no matter what the situation.

 

 

So Arbel shook his head to clear his mind and took off after Jei and thought to himself: `That is why I'm still a 3rd class warrior priest, I let my thoughts and feelings hinder me during battle… just like Flint… but Jei, he truly lives up to his nickname in battle: =Jei the Phantom Blade='

 

 

Jei looked at the situation around him with his cold, calculative eyes… This was not good, the insects were coming in from all directions, all the escape routes had been cut off and the people were in total panic… the situation had gotten completely out of hand, and there was no way they would be able to get the people to calm down or at least organize them enough to get them to a safe location.

 

 

Jei thought to himself once again as he took in the whole situation: `This makes less and less sense the more I try to figure it out, if the insects could have shattered the barrier this easily before, why did they not do it until now? Also… that woman and her daughter, how could it be that she recovered from divine retribution and why is that stranger, Arcerdo, protecting that girl even though he must be perfectly aware the insects are after her?

 

 

`There is no doubt about the fact that insects are after the girl, yet why are they after her? If she is the reason to all these attacks and her mother received a divine punishment for protecting her, how is it that the stranger, Arcerdo, was able to heal her like that? Not to mention… the way these insects are attacking, why are they so hell bent on killing everyone? Insect Youkai take orders only from the queen of their hive, so this means the queen or whatever is in charge has given the order to wipe out the village… Why? If they are only after the girl, then why destroy the whole village?'

 

 

`Well, whatever the reason may be, the fact is that it's happening right now and we must find a way to get these people to safety, our mission is to purge this world of Youkai… but even though that is our main mission, protecting the life of the innocent is our sacred duty and in case of humans being risked, protecting them takes all priority over the mission, so for now…'

 

 

Jei turned to Arbel and said to him: “Brother Arbel, we must forget our mission for now, the lives of these innocents are in danger and protecting them from these Youkai is now our top priority over all others. Let us go back to brother Flint and do what we can to get these people to safety, understood?”

 

 

Arbel couldn't help but wonder how Jei did it? How could he keep his head so calm even when enemies were all around them like this and people were dying? How…? It was as if he was able to cut off all the violence around him and think things through with absolute focus… How could a human being control his emotions like this?

 

 

Well, that was the difference between a 3rd class and a 1st class after all… so Arbel simply nodded and said: “Yes, lord Jei. Last I saw him, brother Flint was trying to talk to the people to get them to calm down… though, from the looks of things, he has had no luck at all.” Jei merely nodded and said: “Yes, I'm afraid so… yet we must assist him. We must get these people to calm down enough so we can get them to safety no matter what.” To this, Arbel nodded once again before they took off towards the centre of the village, where Flint currently was.

 

 

But before they could, Jei suddenly said to Arbel without even looking at him: “But before we do, would you do the honours and dispose of that insect coming at us from behind, brother Arbel?”

 

 

Arbel looked behind him and saw another scout coming at them. This time he was ready for it though, so Arbel readied his sword and when the insect got close enough he swung it sideways with both hands, as a result, the insect's head was severed and it died instantly. The wound on its neck had burned shut due to the Holy powers he had used in that attack. Arbel then looked back at Jei who was looking at him inspecting eyes before saying: “Not bad… but you still have a long way to go, brother Arbel, your accuracy and timing were perfect but you used excessive amount of Holy power in that attack, unless you work on how much power to use in attacks, you'll end up wearing yourself out before the fight is over… also, you get distracted too easily.”

 

 

Right after saying that, Jei suddenly drew his own sword and just like before, Arbel barely even saw him strike before it was over… yet what had Jei just struck? Arbel looked around him and saw on his left, right next to him was another scout insect's body… or what was left of it.

 

 

Arbel only looked back and forth between Jei and the insect, he had not even sensed it coming! Damn… if Jei had not seen it, he would be dead now… damn it, he really was too distracted too easily…

 

 

Jei began to walk away and said to Arbel with his back to him: “Like I said brother Arbel, you still have a long way to go and unless you learn to focus better that this, you'll end up dead before you know it. Now, let us hurry to brother Flint…”

 

 

With those words, both Jei and Arbel broke into a run towards the place where Flint was, letting Arbel think to himself: `Jei truly is a 1st class, even while talking to me he still saw the insect coming… damn, what is it that makes Jei so strong? What makes him so cold and calm to everything that happens no matter how dangerous it gets…? Even just now, when that insect got so close to me, his eyes didn't react at all as he pulled out his blade and killed it, it was as if it was no different than breathing air! Is Jei even truly human…?' With that thought, Arbel focused on Jei as they hurried towards the centre of the village, where Flint was supposed to be.

 

 

 

*Where Flint is*

 

 

 

Flint was to say the least, irritated and frustrated beyond hell… the insects were pressing their attacks on him and he was starting to feel drained. It seemed like the insects were not completely stupid because when he had gotten here at first, they had been busy chasing villagers and destroying the huts, but as soon as they had seen him they seemed to have made it their number one priority to kill him first… It was as if they knew that he was the biggest threat and sought to eliminate it.

 

 

Of the three of them, himself, Jei and Arbel, Flint was a 3rd class warrior priest like Arbel, but he was more experienced than Arbel was, meaning that he was stronger than him and it was only a matter of time before he would become a 2nd class warrior priest… His weakness though, as it was already witnessed, was the fact he let his anger dictate his actions too easily. In other words, he had small anger management issues.

 

 

But even with all that, he was still a novice, sure he was experienced but this was the first time he had had to fight so many opponents at once. He had experience when fighting one-on-one but against a swarm like this, he was at a serious disadvantage… Not to mention, he was still feeling hurt, both physically and mentally from the defeat he received from Arcerdo yesterday…

 

 

But the main reason for his frustration were not the insects but the villagers themselves… he had already tried to get their attention and tried to organize them somehow but the results were always them same: They wouldn't listen because of the panic and the insects, not to mention because of the little incident with Arcerdo yesterday that had left the people divided… so in other words, the whole situation was completely out of his hands, which pissed him off to no end.

 

 

Flint was thinking to himself while looking at the people running around in panic: `Damn it… I can't believe that because of one individual, just ONE individual, the villagers have lost faith in us so quickly… Because of Arcerdo, the people no longer trust us, the healing of that wench, Renko, and the shattering of the barrier do not help matters either! How is it that in one day, that single person managed to almost completely break the trust and control we had placed on the villagers? How…? It's… it's just not possible, it doesn't make any sense!'

 

 

He was ripped out of this thoughts however, when he felt and saw three warrior insects coming at him from above him. He barely managed to roll backwards to dodge their sickle-like arms and before he could think, one of them was already charging at him at top speed… So relying purely on reflex and instincts, Flint grabbed his sword with both of his hands and after side-stepping away from the insects attempt to cut him in half vertically, he made a diagonal slash with his sword from bottom right to top left so the swords blade cut the insect warrior in half from it's left hip point to it's left shoulder.

 

 

The insect didn't even shriek from pain before it died from the swords blow, even if Flint was a 3rd class warrior priest, his ability to focus Holy power was one of the best among the whole 3rd class. So if he cut something, he always used the right amount of Holy power to kill the target, not use excessive amounts like Arbel did, though his accuracy was not as high as Arbel's was.

 

 

He didn't have time to even take a breath though before the other next warrior insect was upon him. It came from the left of the insect he'd just killed and was about to perform an X like slash with it's sickle-like arms. Flint saw through this however just in time and quickly raised his sword vertically before charging in on the insect Youkai.

 

 

As the insect Youkai's sickles came down to perform the slash, Flint had already passed by them and was now right in front of the insect, it's arms coming down only to hit the ground behind him. Flint then brought his own sword down and cut the insect vertically from it's left shoulder to it's crotch, this time it shrieked before it split in half, it's right side and left side falling down, twitching violently before stopping completely.

 

 

This time Flint had time to take one quick breath before the last one charged at him. He took his defensive stance and readied to kill it, but at the last possible moment he saw that the insect he had just cut in half wasn't dead yet! The side of its body that the head remained on was still alive and with its last, desperate move it flung it's sickle-like arm sideways towards him. Flint had no time to prepare for the blow before the flat side of it's sickle arm made a head on collision with his ribs, even with the armour he had on under his cloak, it still hurt like hell…

 

 

As the power behind the insects attack made him crash against the wall of the hut next to him, he should have considered himself lucky it hadn't been the sharp side of the sickle that hit him, for if it had, it would have cut him in half without any trouble. For even though their armour was made of materials that could block most Youkai attacks, the dissolving poison these warrior insects had in their sickles was something their armour could not defend against. Had it been the sharp side of the sickle just now, he would be dead.

 

 

However, he didn't consider that lucky because the blow had hurt like hell none the less, which made him feel respect towards the strength of these Youkai… but the biggest reason he didn't feel lucky at all was because right now, the last warrior insect was upon him, ready to tear him into pieces with it's sickle arms and he could not do anything to stop it. His ribs hurt like hell so he couldn't move and because he had lost his grip on his sword because of the blow meant he was now facing a very angry looking warrior insect. He was un-armed and unable to move for the time being… so yeah, he didn't feel luck at all.

 

 

Had Flint not been so damn high on adrenalin right now, he would be scared of what the warrior insect was about to do to him but because his head felt light at the moment and his body was on fire from the adrenalin rush it was experiencing, he didn't feel anything, no fear, nothing… All that he could think was this: `Damn it… this really has not been a good day…'

 

 

But then, just as the warrior insects sickle was about to come down on him, it suddenly shrieked from pain and arched it's back as two objects in the form of swords suddenly appeared on both it's shoulders and crossed it's body with a X like cut, leaving behind the un-mistakable aura of Holy power… The insect shrieked for a brief instant before it's body suddenly fell apart before it died, leaving Flint's numb mind to try and decipher what had just happened. Had he just been saved? Had the warrior insect truly died just now, had it just died by someone's swords? But… by whose swords exactly…?

 

 

Then, as the insects body parts dropped down onto the ground in slow motion in Flint's eyes, the identity of his mysterious saviour was revealed to him and seeing who it was… made him honestly wish that the insect truly HAD killed him instead of letting him live to see this happen: For the saviour had been none other but…

 

 

={[ > Arcerdo< ]}=

 

 

Flint didn't know that he could feel this angry about something. He knew he had problems with his anger but this time, he reached a new depth of them… He had just been saved by the very person who humiliated him yesterday, the very person who had messed up their entire mission here…he stranger, wannabe warrior, Arcerdo!

 

 

He felt so angry at both Arcerdo and himself. He had just allowed himself to be saved by him! It hurt his pride a lot more than he expected it too… At that moment, he swore he would get back at that bastard for this, even if it was the last thing he would ever do…

 

 

{[=But… what no one could have guessed at that time was… that Flint's anger towards Arcerdo would be a trigger for a chain of events. Events that would open the eyes of someone who is blind to the truth and instead lives in a lie, not wanting to face reality…=]}

 

 

To Be Continued…

 

 

“I've entered the battlefield…

 

Death, blood, terror… it's all around me…

 

In the midst of it all, I must make peace with the people I hate…

 

… Or the people I want to protect will perish as a result.” - Arcerdo Higurashi

 

 

 

Next chapter: =Reawaken The Lost Pride - Part 4=

 

 

 

A/N: Well, there was some action and gore there, hope it was enough for now, for in the NEXT chapter, we will see a lot of one-man Arcerdo action against the insect Youkai… until then, review please.

 

OH YES, here are some important questions which I would just love to have answers to:

 

1. What did you think about the Moon Priests in action?

2. What did you think about Jei's power and his nickname?

3. Lastly, do you want more action in the next chapter? LOL

 

 

Anyway, answer either in a review or by Email, makes no difference to me, if you could just answer to them I would be grateful.

 

 

- Zelix, See ya next time!