InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Time Soul Exodus ❯ Chapter 24: =The Path of Asura - part 2= ( Chapter 24 )

Written by: Zelix

 

A/N: This is NOT the beta-read version, when it's been beta-read; I'll re-post it so until then please ignore any and all grammar/spelling errors, okay?

 

 

Which is what brings me to this announcement: Chapters from now on are no longer beta-read; I will not ask anyone to be a beta-reader for this fic, until it is done. When this fic is completed, I will ask someone to beta-read it, and then I will re-post all beta-read chapters.

 

 

Oh yes, READ THIS, THIS IS IMPORTANT: I won't be writing another chapter for a while, since… *sigh* my uncle passed away not long ago, he had been suffering from cancer for the longest while now and due to this, his immune system was in pieces… he caught both a virus and a bacteria at the same time, and there was very little hope left for him… so he passed away, a little over 2 weeks ago, on Thursday at 15:03 pm. Even if he had by some miracle pulled through, he wouldn't have had lived much longer, so his death was… painful to say, inevitable, but he was already in so much pain and would have continued to be even worse kind of pain… so, all I can do now, is to offer a silent prayer that he is finally at peace, free of pain for good.

 

 

He lived a full life, even if it was painful, but he still lived a full life: he lived to see his children grow up, their graduations, them getting married… and finally, seeing the face of his grandchildren… rest in peace, uncle, you have earned it.

 

 

When I received the news, I wasn't able to write at all, hence, the reason this is late so badly… and, since my focus was completely in pieces, the quality of the chapter most likely does not measure up to the previous ones.

 

 

So tomorrow, I'll be attending to his funeral… and, least to say, I won't be writing anything for a while, so for those who want the next chapter soon: Forget it, right now, I need to take a step back and piece myself back together, the next chapter will come when it comes out, rushing it won't help at all at this point.

 

 

So, least to say is this: I now dedicate this story to my uncle, and will someday complete it for his memory as well… but for now, sayonara everyone, I will see you all again someday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A/N: Here is the next chapter to my little known, yet liked by those who do, fic. And once again, the five reviews were not met… so expect yet another cliffie, sorry, but I must enforce my own rules, you don't like it, REVIEW, it is that simple.

 

 

But now, Arcerdo seems to be slipping further and further away from himself, can he regain his senses before it is too late, or will he be swallowed up this mysterious hate?

 

 

 

 

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… Just remember that you are reading at your own risk!

 

 

 

 

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 24: =The Path of Asura- part 2=

 

 

 

Eyes locked onto the insects arm, Arc soared through the air towards it, his mind blazing with battle, death and hate. The insect was fast, but in his eyes, it moved like it was moving underwater… was it because it was too slow, or because he was too fast? He didn't care, he didn't care at all, and all he wanted right now was to kill them…

 

 

{§ They hurt me, I hate them… I hate them all, they will hurt me, and they intend to hurt me… I will not be hurt again, I will kill all of them, before they hurt me again… §}

 

 

What was that voice? Where was it coming from, who was saying it? The tone even though hateful, spiteful… was enticing and alluring, he could not resist it, or… to be accurate, he wasn't even resisting, he didn't care to resist because he was forgetting himself, he was losing himself into the immense heat of battle and hate, and it felt good.

 

 

Then, at that moment, the insects sabre arm started coming down towards him and that was the moment he was looking for, his eyes narrowed again and when the timing was right, he suddenly spun his body in the air so the sabre instead of hitting him, missed him by going to his right. Then, using the momentum of both the insect's inability to draw its arm back, and the speed he spun with, he bared his fangs before extending his swords. By doing this, he became a `living tornado' with swords, as he spun with that high speed, the extended blades coated with his holy powers, first dismembered the insects sabre arm, followed by the rest of the arm...

 

 

… And the next thing anyone knew, Arcerdo had flown past the insect, still spinning. Then, after a second of silence, the insects body fell into dozen pieces of finely cut up flesh, they dropped onto the ground in what sounded both fascinating and gross rhythmic melody of wet flesh being splat against the ground. Due to the burning cuts though, there was no blood, just chunks of wet, charred flesh, and the stench, was disgusting.

 

 

*Where Heitaro is*

 

 

Heitaro was silently clapping his hands together, even though he knew that Arcerdo was walking towards a very dangerous path, the path of Asura, he was still pretty impressed by that last move: `Good, high speed spinning swords in mid air… with perfect momentum and accuracy, every last hit went for a vital area. Hmm, even though he is very powerful right now, if he steps onto the path of Asura, it doesn't matter how strong he becomes. For those who choose the path of Asura, only one fate awaits in the end: Damnation.'

 

 

Heitaro then said to himself: “Arcerdo… are you sure this is the path you wish for yourself, a path of hate? If not, then wake up, before it is too late.”

 

 

*At the shrine*

 

 

Sumira kept looking at Arcerdo's movements and the hate that was now infecting his aura, she knew if this kept up, that hate would consume him and he would forever be lost to the path of Asura, yet, despite knowing all this, she couldn't figure out what to do. If she intervened now, she would get caught between the insects and Arcerdo and in the worst case scenario the insects might actually kill Arcerdo because of her distracting him.

 

 

If she didn't intervene though, it was only a matter of moments now before the path of Asura would swallow up his mind and soul for good… because right now, Arcerdo was being tempted by the path of Asura, the hate that makes him forget everything and instead become consumed by it is now tempting him to lose himself so he would forget who he once was and become something else entirely, and because he was partially a Youkai, the effects of that hate are much greater on him than onto a human.

 

 

The path is tempting him now, but he has yet to step foot onto it, surrendering to the hate is just the beginning; however, if he takes the true first step, it is all over.

 

 

So right now, she prayed to the gods that Arcerdo would prevail against the insects and soon, because the longer he is tempted by the path, the harder it will be to make him become himself again… she prayed he would prevail soon, and that she would have the strength to pull him away from that path before he took that first true step onto it.

 

 

*Back on the battlefield*

 

 

Arc was still using the momentum from the last attack, after slicing the first insect into pieces he still kept spinning in the air, yet even though he was spinning like a hurricane at the moment, his eyes were firmly locked onto the last remaining insect… or to be accurate, it wasn't his eyes that were locked onto it but his instincts: Hearing it, smelling it, sensing it, all of these were firmly locked onto it and it was because of this that it was like his eyes were locked onto it.

 

 

The last insect though, was not attacking… why? Well, if it wouldn't attack, then he would just have to attack first, wouldn't he?

 

 

And with that, while still spinning like crazy, he waited for just the right moment when he was in proper spot and the spins momentum was just right, and hurled both Tetsusaiga and Toukijin in succession towards the insect with enough force so they could even pierce a boulder all the way to the hilt.

 

 

As he threw them, his spinning slowed down and he landed onto his feet on the ground and left behind three skid marks, two from his feet and one from his hand to help him stop, after stopping, he watched the swords fly towards the insect with their near sound barrier breaking speed.

 

 

The first sword, Tetsusaiga hit the insects remaining arm, severing it off in an instant, causing it to lose balance in flight and tilt its body towards Toukijin that was now approaching its head, when it hit, the fight would finally end…

 

 

… Had the last insect suddenly, as if by some sheer miracle, regained its balance in the air and flown up, away from Toukijin's path at the last instant, avoiding a direct impact with the head, instead hitting one of its legs, severing it off in an instant.

 

 

And as usual, it made no sounds of pain at all, quite scary…

 

 

To the now fully demonic Arcerdo however, it was quite disappointing that it didn't make any sounds of pain at all, its silence even after having many of its members severed was quite annoying to him, which only served to further enrage him.

 

 

As he saw both Toukijin and Tetsusaiga land quite a distance from him on the ground, the remaining insect took off higher into the sky again, before its antennas began to vibrate again and send out that ultra sound again that only Arcerdo himself could hear, since it was below human ears ability to hear.

 

 

The sound, made him cringe a little, yet, something about the sound felt like he knew what it was for, just couldn't put his finger on what it was though. Then, when the sound arrived down to the ground, something within the other dead insects was responding to the sound again, just like last time.

 

 

After a few more seconds, Arc and everyone else saw it happening again: The three dead insect's bodies, even though cut up, skewered and brutally maimed, began to piece themselves back together again! Even the one he had skewered onto its own hand regenerated itself completely; it was a bit different from the rest though, to give it an accurate description on how it regenerated, to be blunt, it was like T-1000 out of Terminator 2, like all the parts of its body had liquefied, formed to its original form again before hardening again.

 

 

As this happened, Arc growled to himself, he was enjoying the feeling of being in battle alright but this, this was really starting to annoy him… not only did these insects never let out any kind of sounds, pain or anger, but it seemed like they couldn't be chopped up for good either, it was really pissing him off.

 

 

So when the insects finally pieced themselves back together again and took off to the sky again to regroup, Arc readied himself for another round of this battle. When their eyes locked onto him and they started to assault him again, this time all together, he himself stretched his claws and strained his legs to prepare for the battle ahead, again.

 

 

*At the shrine*

 

 

Jei was looking at the battle with intensity, after watching it closely and seeing how it was going, he started to make conclusions in his mind: `Hmmm… this battle is indeed a tricky one, not only are those new insects more lethal than the rest, but that weird `resurrection' ability they seem to posses tips this fight very heavily in their favour. Because they do not feel pain, they can keep fighting no matter what without distractions and because they can resurrect like that, it doesn't matter how many times they are killed for they just come back to life with their strength fully restored along with their bodies…'

 

 

`Arcerdo has reached an extreme level of power in his state, even I can feel chills in my back when I feel his cold and murderous aura flaring up like this… but, there is something wrong with it as well, for a while now, it feels almost like there is a `another aura' in there as well that is trying to take over the rest… and the more he fights, the more it seems to spread.'

 

 

Jei looked a bit more, as Arc began another round of battle with the insects, and finished his thoughts: `I can only conclude, that unless Arcerdo can find out the trick behind the insects resurrection ability his chances of winning are zero, for if he keeps this up, he will eventually wear himself out, or that strange aura will swallow him up first… either way…' He then said to himself, below his breath: “… whether we fight against him, or the insects, our chances of surviving this battle, are next to none in our current state… may god help us all.”

 

 

*Back on the battlefield*

 

 

Arc roared his battle cry, as his claws imbedded themselves on the insects flesh, tearing flesh and bones on their path like it was nothing, leaving behind deep gushing wounds, yet, even when his claws had finished tearing its body in half and all the blood was gushing out, it still made absolutely no sound at all nor did the fatal injury stop it from trying to bring its remaining sabre arm down onto him in a last ditch effort.

 

 

Arc was able to dodge it easily with his speed and after it had missed, the insects body that was severed in two splattered onto the ground, twitched for a while before going completely still again… but knowing it from the experience a moment ago, it wouldn't stay that way for long, and the thought of this insect getting up again only to be cut up again without any sounds of pain was more than enough to make Arc feel even more frustrated and furious than before.

 

 

He felt so furious in fact, that when the remaining three insects attacked at once, he just used his claws and cut his way through all three of them, slicing and slashing with blur like speed through them and after he had finished going through them, two of the insects fell completely into blood spurting, twitching pieces of disgusting flesh.

 

 

Except for the last one, at the last possible instant, it had avoided hits to its critical parts by suddenly taking off into the air again, Arc had only managed to slash one of its arms off in time and that wasn't enough to make it stop at all.

 

 

As he gained his footing back from the fury filled assault just now, he saw just in time as the remaining insect flew up, made its antennas vibrate and that ultrasound appeared once again… god, he really had learned in this short amount of time to truly HATE that sound, not only because it made his nerves twitch but because as soon as it was over, these three other insects would be back and up again like nothing had happened…

 

 

As Arcs fully demonic eyes looked at the insects bodies as they began to twitch again, slowly beginning to reform and regenerate again as the ultrasound reached them and made something in them respond to it, as his eyes looked at this, his mind was trying to come up with something and soon… he didn't want to admit it, but he was starting to feel his breathing getting harder, his heart was beating even more rapidly than before, his throat felt like it was squeezing itself with each intake of breath…

 

 

To be blunt, he was becoming exhausted and if he didn't finish this fight now, he would not have any strength left to fight back the next round of this infuriating fight.

 

 

Everyone who witnessed this battle, had already reached that same conclusion as well: This was the settling round, if he did not take them down for good now, then when they would resurrect yet again, he would be too tired to fight back without being injured himself and if he was hurt too deeply, he would lose this fight for sure.

 

 

That was also the reason why he was using his claws alone instead of =Kenji chi tsume= for even though that technique was capable of cutting almost anything that was of non-human origin, it also required a perfect synchronization with his own you-ki and holy powers or he would run the risk of it backfiring onto his own hand and causing great or even permanent damage to his arm… and now that he was in his full youkai state and his holy powers were exhausted, if he tried to use that attack now, it would without a doubt backfire.

 

 

He saw that the insects were now almost completely regenerated yet again, and he still had no idea what to do, it was so infuriating! A few moments ago, when he was fully burning with nothing but the rush of battle he was dominating this fight in every possible way but now, the situation was taking a complete reversal and putting HIM into the disadvantage in all possible ways, damn it!

 

 

It was a rewinding cycle: He would kill three of the insects but because taking three of them down took all he had, the fourth one would always avoid him and take a safe distance from him into the air and regenerate those he had killed! Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!! They were mocking him, even though they seemed to have no emotion of any kind, he could swear they were mocking him, he wanted nothing more but to rip each of them to shreds so that…

 

 

At that thought, his beast like eyes suddenly widened in realisation… it was, so simple, why had he not thoughts of this before?!

 

 

It was so simple: the four always attacked at once, but one of them was always slightly behind the others in case the attack was foiled in some way, if it was foiled, the fourth one would simply use the small space between the three others to take off into safety and regenerate its fallen comrades… yet, what was that regeneration they used?

 

 

That's when it hit him again: the ultrasound! Of course, before, he had been so absorbed into killing them that he thought nothing of it but now that he was nearing his limit, his mind was able to calm down enough to figure it out. The insects he was fighting were not really alive, they were just shells!

 

 

It was so obvious now, the reason the insects didn't emit anything except bloodlust was because their bodies were nothing but artificial shells made of some strange liquid… it had to be liquid because how otherwise could they regenerate into their original states so quickly even when impaled on something? Even if ones flesh can regenerate, there are certain types of injuries that cannot heal on their own no matter how well one can regenerate.

 

 

Burn wounds are one those wounds, they cannot heal that easily even if one can regenerate, it would take a lot of time even if one used medicine to boost the effect of the healing.

 

 

Of course, if one was impaled as well, the wound shouldn't be able to regenerate no matter what as long as the body is kept impaled; yet, the insect had regenerated almost instantly. This could only mean that their bodies were made out of some strange liquid like substance that had been hardened, yet remained flexible and tough to crack.

 

 

The final piece to this puzzle, was the ultrasound: Many animals or insects alike communicate by sound waves that humans cannot hear since it is below their frequency level to hear, but since he was a quarter inu youkai, his hearing was the same as that of a dogs or perhaps even higher so he could hear it…

 

 

And now that he carefully listened to the sound, even if it hurt his ears quite a bit, the final piece was confirmed and firmly put into place: Deep within the insect's bodies, there was a nucleus of some sort that controlled the shell like body of the insect. Yet, he now understood just how well this natural defence mechanism was made:

 

 

The four insects all shared the same kind of a nucleus, perhaps it had once been one but had been split into four and placed into four artificially made shell like bodies, where the nucleus grows roots all over the body to move it and if the body is damaged to an extent it can no longer move or function, one of the other parts of the nucleus would send an ultrasound wave into them and changing its `programming' from `attack' to `regenerate', for these nucleuses were something similar to that of a computer CPU, unable to act independent, only to how they were programmed to act.

 

 

If he thought about it that way, it all made sense: the lack of self-preservation until only one was left standing, the ability to attack without slowing down, to not feel pain of any kind… it all matched, so, there was only one way to defeat them.

 

 

Arc looked at his claws and focused for a moment, as the insects finished regenerating and took off into the sky to regroup yet again. After focusing intensely onto his claws for a while, he felt it, it was barely enough but it was there: he felt his holy power gathering onto his claws and hands, he then grinned slightly, he could do this alright but he only had one chance at it and when it was done he wouldn't be able to even consider using his holy powers for a good while, if he had any intentions on keeping his body fully intact that is.

 

 

As he looked at the insects, just about ready to finish regrouping, his eyes narrowed in focus and he suddenly bolted off from where he stood and when he was directly below them, he then crouched down and tensed his legs for this leap upwards would take all possible strength he had in his legs to reach high enough for this to work, he also placed his hands into a completely new position as well:

 

 

He placed his right arm behind him, so the claws were pointing away from his back and the back of his hand was almost touching his lower back while his left hand was placed sideways near his face, so the back of his hand was facing his mouth, claws pointing away from his face, it was almost like he was getting ready to spin as soon as he took off into the air, for the way his legs were spread and angled also suggested that same idea…

 

 

Only one chance, should it fail, it was all over… it was all or nothing now, this was a technique that he had just come up with, so he had no idea what would happen or if anything would happen at all, but in his once again hate and fury filled mind, that fear wasn't even registered.

 

 

It all slowed down in his eyes again, everything seemed to slow down around him, the feeling of the wind, sounds, movement… even his heartbeat, it beat once, then it felt like an eternity before he heard the second beat, on the second beat, his legs had finished tensing up.

 

 

Then, on the third, he let it all loose with all he had, he could hear and feel his bones adjusting themselves to the shock, his muscles straining and hardening, his joints loosening and tensing again, as he jumped more harder than he had ever jumped before. As he slowly, almost tortuously slowly in eyes at least, he began to fly off from the sky and towards the four insects, if his jump was as straight as it felt, he should fly right into the middle of them…

 

 

When he reached that spot, then it was on, the last gamble…

 

 

His mind was empty, his body felt nothing, and all that mattered now, was to succeed no matter what… all else, meant nothing.

 

 

Then, he reached them; his eyes looked at each of them, his arms tensed, he could hear every last tiny piece of muscle, joint and bone adjusting, bending and preparing for what was about to happen.

 

 

The insects noticed him…

 

 

… But it was too late for them.

 

 

Arc then all of sudden, while spinning like crazy in the air, suddenly extended both of his arms and claws, the holy power crackling in them as they mixed with his youki and as his spinning kept increasing in speed and momentum, it was almost as if the shining, silver like speed lines left behind in mid-air by his claws and holy power were gathering around him at immense rate… and if you looked carefully, it was almost as if they were taking shape of… something.

 

 

Then, when the spinning reached its maximum momentum, the point of release, Arcerdo's eyes widened fully, his eyes fixating onto a single point in the air, the spot where the spinning had first began and roared out:

 

 

= [Shiroi Ryouko Uzumaku]!!=

 

 

 

To Be Continued...

 

 

“I am losing myself… the hate is eating me away…

 

I stake it all now, either I survive, or I die here and now…

 

But, I do not know which scares me more:

 

Death, or survival… for I know what happens if I die… but…

 

What will I do, if I survive? That is what scares me the most now…

 

For if I lose myself now, and survive…

 

… Will I turn on those, whom I swore to protect?”

 

- Arcerdo Higurashi

 

 

Next chapter: = The Path of Asura - part 3 =

 

 

A/N: Well, that's it for this chapter; the next one won't be out for a while, as to why you know by now if you read the A/N at the top of this chapter.

 

 

- Zelix, see ya next time… which will be a while from now.

 

 

[Shiroi Ryouko Uzumaku]: White Dragon Whirl. I got this translation from a friend, so I have no idea how accurate it is, but I'm going to go with… so please, don't make an issue out of it, I don't know Japanese well enough to make my own translations so I'm going with what I am given.