Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Illuminating Battle: Keiji vs. Lumina ( Chapter 24 )

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Sacrifice

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 23: Illuminating Battle: Keiji vs. Lumina

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"You won't win this," Hiroshima wanted to advise the boy that he could still turn back now if he needed or wanted to.

"I don't need you to tell me what to do," Keiji shot before glaring down the elf a few feet away from him.

"Let's get this battle heated up," Lumina sounded all too excited for the moment and she rushed toward the boy with her light sword drawn, poised to strike and kill.

Keiji struggled to hold the massive Crimson Blade and he ran towards her. He wasn't about to let her come to him. They both brought their swords forward as the blades clashed. The force of two such blades caused the both of them to be thrown back a short distance. They both landed on their feet and charged each other again, their blades clashed many times, over and over again as the repetitious sound of clattering and clinking could be heard throughout the forest. Keiji quickly saw through her upwards thrusts and decided to go down low and strike her in her most vital source of movement-her legs. He brought the sword down and swung it low in an attempt to cut off her feet but the skillful elf jumped up, avoiding the blade and flipped over him. Lumina saw the opportunity to bring down her sword of light in order to split his head down the center but Keiji quickly turned and blocked her strike with the Crimson Blade.

"I can see them now," Ko stated.

"Keiji-kun isn't very experience with that sword," Fife commented.

"The Crimson Blade is a sword that required a good amount of experience to use. Only a few master swordsmen are even able to wield it properly. Hiro-kun has had it in his possession for seventeen years," Tsurugi informed.

"So Hiroshima knows that sword inside and out," Ko replied.

"Yes and if he says that you can't use it, he most often knows what he's talking about."

"So he really is going to lose?" Chichiri was a little worried for his ally.

"That statement of him losing is merely a prediction. Fate can be changed but only by humans."

"So, you can't help him?" Azmy looked to the dark angel with troubled eyes.

"Not in this battle. Even Hiro-kun is staying out of it."

"And he's the rebellious one," Fife looked to the Wind Cavern. "Musashi?"

"What is it, Sir Fife?" The polite bird peered through his dark hood.

"Do you know anything about those elves?" His voice turned void of happiness and seemed more calm now.

"Other then what they said?" Musashi asked.

"Yes…Anything special about then that you want to bring to light?" The boy's lazy blue eyes stared down the bird. Their hollow gaze made him feel a little uneasy, almost as if he were being put on trial in order to answer the question. There was a sense of judgment about them that he just couldn't ignore.

"Elf Kaizer is stronger than Lumina. They were both sent by Flora," he informed.

"Yes, but there's something much deeper than that."

Musashi could have told before that the boy had caught on to them. The Wind Cavern knew that Fife wasn't as average as his team mates thought him to be. He was very perceptive to things around him and very intelligent, despite his façade of joyous idiocy. Musashi saw through his façade and learned that Fife had been wise beyond his years.

"You know…Don't you?" He asked when he was sure that no one was paying attention. He didn't want anyone to try and figure Fife out when he was clearly trying to keep this factor about himself a secret. The only ones who seemed to know of this hidden nature of his were the two angels. Just as he was able to, they could see through his façade of happiness and stupidity.

"Yes, I can see it clearly now," Fife told him in the same calm manner as he midnight eyes scanned the two before him, fighting for a right to pass through the forest.

"How?"

"I have my ways…but that's not important right now," the boy beamed, pulling back on that mask of his. It was clear that he found an ingenious way of hiding his real emotions and knowing when to pull that mask on when it most benefited him. Musashi turned from him. He knew that it would be futile to question him further on the matter. Fife would no longer take him seriously beyond this point.

He looked towards the battle at hand as Lumina jumped back and Keiji was headed towards her to make another useless attempt to slice the woman in half.

"Flash Bomb!" The female warrior yelled as she threw what looked to be tea bags with tags at him. Upon contact with his general area, they exploded into bright flashes that could easily permanently blind someone if flashed closely enough to the sensitive human eye.

"Argh!" Keiji let out a disgruntled and slightly pained noise as he held the blade in front of his eyes. 'That sword…What did Hiroshima do to activate its magic before?' He wondered to himself. He had to figure out how the Crimson Blade worked or he wouldn't have any advantage to someone like Lumina, who fought with her own weapon and knew it in the most intimate manner. He had once believed that it worked like every other sword but the blade was useless in the hands of an amateur such as himself. No doubt Hiroshima made it look easy.

He tried to remember how Hiroshima had activated one of his attacks as nostalgia of earlier on played through his head with vivid accuracy and his words rang through his mind crystal clear.

'Wind Dragon Blade!' The name of the attack ran through his head as he concentrated on every move that Hiroshima had made in his flashback was rewatched to the fullest detail, right down to the way he held his hand on the hilt and he knew that his skill paled in comparison to someone like Hiroshima. He was leagues away from him.

"Okay, I don't know if this was his attack or the swords but I'll try myself," Keiji finally said. It was worth a shot at least. He swung the sword around, as Hiroshima had done and attempted to recreate the attack, down to the slightest tense of the muscle but no magic was produced as it had been in Hiroshima's attack. After swinging the blade, his face was left wide open and Lumina saw the option and decided to punch him square in the face. The force from the punch was so strong that his form flew backwards and the sword was knocked out of his hand.

The blade spun through the air before landing a few feet away from him.

"Fool…There's a special technique you have to use to activate the sword's magic," Hiroshima commented, thoroughly irritated with the child's rash attitude in a situation like this. He folded his arms over his well-muscled chest.

Azmy pointed her gun at the vine that was holding her form hostage and managed to snap it with a couple of well-placed shots. She then fell to the ground. Chichiri, however was still upside down. He could feel the blood rushing to his head. He wiggled around in an attempt to free himself but there were too many layers of vine to even free himself a small amount. Thrashing around wildly, he finally freed himself and free fell a short distance before the piece of vine was caught on another tree branch and he found himself suspended in mid-air once more.

"A little help here!" He shouted to everyone that had been watching the battle. They could have at least helped him down but no one seemed to hear him. They were far too involved in the battle at hand to even notice that he was dangling there.

Suddenly, he heard a gunshot and hit the ground with a 'wah' in a startled tone. Azmy had shot him down.

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Lumina's sword came down with great force on Keiji as he lay on the ground. He quickly turned his head and barely avoided the hash stab that the sword gave the ground. Pieces of small rock and dirt hit the side of his face from the impact. Then, thinking quickly, he turned his body and put his hands on the ground and shoved his leg up as he delivered a harsh kick to the elve's stomach. A small amount of spit flew from her mouth and she skidded and rolled across the ground a short distance away. Keiji flipped up and lunged at her, punching her in the face. She dropped her light sword, the blade disappearing from the hilt as it made contact with the ground. A wave of silver-blue hair flowed through the air after her head was forced to turn to the side by his punch.

"Now, this kind of fighting is my forte'," he began punch at the elf after she got up.

"I'm good at this type of fighting as well," Lumina skillfully blocked his punches with her hands. She then ducked down and attempted to leg-sweet him but Keiji flipped out of the way and landed on his feet. Lumina rushed at him and he quickly flipped back and brought his feet to come around his body, delivering an unforgiving blow to Lumina's chin and causing the elf to roll back and pop up soon after.

"Now!" Lumina shouted and tackled Keiji with her hands on his shoulders. The force of her speed caused them to go rolling backwards at high speed as the two of them turned into a giant ball of light and hit several trees in the area, bouncing off of them like a pinball in a pinball game. "Elf Luminescent Powerball!" Lumina's feminine and spunky voice could be heard as the ball rolled back to the middle of the treed area and Lumina separated herself from Keiji as she jumped up, spinning out of the attack and landing on the around. She sat upon her knees and Keiji's form soon spun out of the light as it faded. He looked lifeless as his body twisted into position that was normally hard for someone's living body to get into. He then lay on the ground, motionless.

"Keiji!" Azmy shouted, fearing for the worst.

Lumina was panting and sweating. It took a lot out of her to perform such an attack.

"Yeah!" Elf Kaizer celebrated as she threw her first into the air in victory. "Kick his ass Lumina! Go, go go! Yeah! You rock!" She cheered as Lumina cracked a tired smile at her team mate.

Hiroshima's glassy eyes were locked on Keiji's lifeless form. 'Get up, kid.'

Lumina stood and looked to his body with a smile on her face. "That's what you get, you little brat. I told you that no one gets past Lumina and I wasn't lying. Now go before I kill you."

Keiji was silent.

Figuring he was already dead, Lumina began to walk back towards Elf Kaizer. Her pace was casual and slow. She was in not hurry to flee. Why should she? She had already proven herself victorious.

"It seems that we might have to help Keiji out," Musashi told everyone.

"What should we do?" Azmy asked as she looked to Keiji's body with sorrow in her eyes. The worst case scenario came to her mind, although she simply wanted to ignore it. She didn't want to believe that he was dead but her mind was consumed with dread.

Keiji slowly propped himself up on one elbow. He was ragged and pain shot through every inch of his body. His clothes were disheveled, dirty and torn. He was weary and struggled to even make the tiniest movement. Every inch of him trembled and he could barely keep his eyes open much less concentrate. The thought that he could not lose was the only thing that fueled him. "I'm not…giving up yet…"

Lumina stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder. "Huh?" She uttered in disbelief. She couldn't believe that the boy was even still alive after her attack, much less about to speak or hold himself up.

"What?" Elf Kaizer blinked in disbelief. 'How can he get up from that? That was one of Lumina's strongest attacks! It was sure to give anyone a fatal blow. She rammed his body into five trees at high speed.'

"Why are you getting up? You're supposed to be dead!" Lumina shouted at him. She couldn't believe that he'd even say anything to her at this rate. He had some audacity to state that he was alive in this condition. He should have just lie down and let her believe that he was dead.

The boy stood, hunched over and panting heavily. He spoke in a lethargic voice. "I can't die…I won't die! I have goals and dreams…and you're not going to stop me from reaching them!" He rushed at her and punched as she dodged and gave him a confident smile. She took two steps past him as she was nearly clothes lined by him. Something wrapped around her neck tightly. If felt like rope, only it wasn't. It was green and sectioned off with rubber bands. She gasped and her eyes widened, knowing that she had few options at this point. She then felt herself going backwards and her body was soon propelled through the air in large circles. Trying to get her bearings she soon learned that the so called 'rope' wasn't a rope at all, it was Keiji's ponytail. He must have lassoed her with it when she came in close and swung her around. He was controlling it with both hands. He held the end closest to his head. The boy didn't want to accidentally become decapitated from the force of the move.

He then sharply brought her form down in a head on collision with the ground. She hit the ground on her side and rolled and skidded on her back a long distance from the boy.

"Whoa…Keiji…That was so cool!" Chichiri beamed.

"Yay! You did it!" Azmy cheered, jumping up and down.

"Way to go," Ko smiled.

"Excellent work, Sir Keiji," The Wind Cavern complimented.

"Pretty ingenuitive kid," Hiroshima even cracked a proud smile at his move.

"I'm not done yet," Keiji lunged forward and punched the ground beside of her head. Lumina coughed a bit, still not caught up on what breath she'd lost from being flung around in the wind. Her eyes widened to see that he was right on top of her. How did he get this sudden burst of strength? "This time…I'll kill you." The green-haired drummer promised before he was kicked into the air by Lumina, who rolled back and shot forward with her fist drawn.

"Not if I take you out first!"

"I'll call your bluff!" Keiji drew his fist back as they neared each other. Then when they were a close enough distance, they both let their punches fly but at the last second, before it seemed as if Keiji would get punched, he ducked down and upper cut her in the stomach. Depriving her of breath, the blow made her stumble forward a few steps before she delivered a spin kick in an attempt to knock him away from her. Keiji ducked to avoid the kick and grabbed her ankle. He lifted her into the air from what little strength he had and slammed her form into the ground as hard as he could. The elf's body collided with the ground as her wave of silver hair floated down with the debris that had floated up into the air on impact. He let go of her ankle and hunched over again, panting from pushing himself to the limit.

"Go Keiji-kun! Don't wear down now!" Fife shouted encouraging words to him. "Stay focused!"

"Fife…" The weary boy looked to the gay male from across the battle field.

"You should pay attention!" Fife chimed.

"Oh shut up…"

Now was her chance.

"Flash Bomb!" Lumina shouted and threw one at Keiji's back. The boy jumped up and avoided it as it headed towards Azmy and Chichiri.

"Watch out!" Keiji shouted to them, in case they weren't paying attention. He didn't want them to be hit by it. They both let out a yell and threw their hands over their eyes as the bomb exploded in a flash of light, illuminating the area. The flash was so bright that their forms could not be seen for five minutes.

"Damn that was scary!" Chichiri panted a little as he looked back at Azmy who had a hand to her chest and sighed in relief.

"You guys okay?" Ko asked.

"We're fine," the blonde responded as Lumina was kicked in the face across the field from them. The warrior fell on her side, landing with a thud and breathing heavily. She was also wearing down from the battle at hand.

'I'm wearing down…I've got to win. I can't give up! I must protect Flora-sama.' She encouraged herself as she peeled herself off of the ground.

"Lumina! Stay on track! Don't let him beat you!" Elf Kaizer yelled.

"Take her out with the Crimson Blade! Remember the cost!" Hiroshima told Keiji.

"Right," he agreed.

Lumina stumbled up. She was exhausted but she would not allow herself to be out bested by this boy. 'I can't let him get that sword…but my body barely has any power to move…I'll have to tap into my hidden strength…'

Keiji headed towards the direction of the Crimson Blade, which lay across the battle field. He struggled to run, but for the most part he could not find the power to go as fast as he could before. He was battle-ridden and very tired. He was still panting and every now and then winced in pain as he pushed himself to go farther and faster.

Lumina staggered from the other side of the field, clutching her wound. It was a race between the two and whoever had the most strength would be the one who obtained it.

"We should help him," Ko took a step forward. She couldn't take just watching him when she could do something about the situation. There was no way that Keiji could make it in time. Lumina was a good two inches ahead of him. She took a few more steps before she met with a black best on top of a white button-up shirt with a red old-fashioned tie.

It was Fife.

"No, Keiji-kun would be mad. He wants to do this by himself," Fife knew Keiji and if Ko tried to help him when he was trying so hard to prove himself to everyone, there would only be more complications.

"He's suffering! Just look at how hurt he is!" Ko argued. It was cruel of Fife to just let him lose and die like this! Did he not have even a shred of humanity left?

"I won't let you. I know that he doesn't want you to help him," the long-haired boy was firm in his beliefs.

"You don't know him," the white-haired girl shot coldly and she put her hands on his chest and shoved him aside. "Screw you Fife!" She shouted in anger as her wrist was grabbed. Now someone else tried to stop her. She turned her head quickly, her white hair floating around her face as she set sights on the one who held her back.

It was Undine.

"Don't," Undine advised, "nothing significant has happened yet, so don't try and barge into his affairs."

"What are all of you? Just plain heartless?" The rage inside of Ko was building. She couldn't take everyone's nonchalant attitudes. Keiji was going to die and no one would lay a finger to help him. "I can't stand this anymore! First Kabuto and now this! You'd really just let him die?"

"Unfortunately we don't have much of a choice in the matter," Tsurugi told her gently, trying to calm her down. He knew that if he got a snappy tone that it would do nothing but piss her off more. Being harsh and mean wasn't in his nature anyway.

"What? What kind of angel are you? You don't even care about anyone here!"

Hiroshima's eyes narrowed at her insult towards his mate. He had hoped that the insolent girl would stop after that cut down but she continued on a tangent.

"How dare you? How dare you be so heartless!"

"I never said you had to like me, Ko," Tsurugi's voice was subdued. He felt an ache in his heart from Ko's relentless verbal assault but he knew that saying anything further would only cause him more pain. His eyebrows furrowed a little in evident sorrow.

The rash girl then yanked her arm away from Undine. "I'm going!"

"Ko!" The dark angel shouted after her in a futile attempt to stop her. He knew that she would simply do as she wished.

"You're jumping the gun," Undine agreed.

"Shut up!" Ko snapped defensively before Hiroshima was suddenly in her face, glaring her down with a disapproving frown and evil, cold and unmoving eyes. He was a good six foot tall compared to her five foot five and towered over her quite a bit. She gasped upon turning to meet his icy stare and stood still in her tracks.

She dared not to move.

'His aura…It's extremely cold…and overwhelming. I feel dizzy, like I'm going to faint or throw up…and my body hurts.' She had never been close enough to feel his presence but she didn't like it and wished that he'd back up a few feet. He was so close that she could smell his cologne, Asian spices reminiscent of flowers grown in Kyoto's gardens flooded her senses as she spoke to him. "What do you want?" She dared to ask. Her voice was angry but low.

"Stop being a bitch," Hiroshima commanded in monotone. He grew tired of her not listening to reason or logic and throwing out foolish comments to those who knew what they were doing. It started with Fife and ended with Tsurugi. He would make sure that it would continue no longer.

"What?" Ko couldn't believe that he had the sheer audacity to call her such a word. She didn't care how close he was to her; she would give him a piece of her mind. "I'm the bitch? You think I'm the bitch? You've done nothing but act like a pampas asshole this entire time and try to boss us around and hold your authority over our heads. I'm sick of it."

"In case you haven't noticed," Hiroshima began. "I never kept the stone from you. If you had tried to take it, I would have let you. I figured that I could hold it. It would be a lot harder to get it from me since I am considerably stronger then you all. Second off, you don't have to do what I say. It was your own choice to put yourself through the circumstances that you have. Third off, have some respect for your fellow team mates. Keiji is doing a good job holding his own; unless he calls upon us then we should sit back here and stay out of his way. You don't see Elf Kaizer acting on impulse and neither should you. Trying being more supportive of your team mates instead of thinking they are weak. If you go out there, I'll kill you myself."

"You…You're cruel," Ko remarked.

"You're foolish. Act like you have some sense."

The defiant girl tried to look angry but a small amount of fear shown in her round, blue eyes. This fear was enough to let the legend know that he'd won.

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Keiji and Lumina simultaneously dove for the sword and both grabbed either end. They held their end tightly, trying their hardest to get it from the other's grasp. Keiji held the blade. It was hard for him to keep it from the elf, which held the hilt. The deadly sharp edges causing his hand to bleed and putting into effect the sacrifice of blood.

The boy closed his eye as the blade dub deeper into his hand. "Let go! Nugh…"

"And let you win? I don't think so!" Lumina pulled harder against Keiji's losing grip. The blade cut into his hand more as he tried with all of his might to hold on but his hand slid painfully off of the blade and left it covered in his own blood half way down the length of the sword.

"That sacrifice has been made," Fife commented.

"I don't like this," Tsurugi commented.

"Unless he can find an inventive way to get the sword back, he's pretty much going to lose the fight," Undine stated.

The elf pointed the Crimson Blade at the green-haired boy, who was lying on the ground before her. He panted in exhaustion as the blood ran from his hand onto the ground below.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you," she smiled victoriously as she raised the sword above her head and began to bring it down. Blood splattered through the air as a look of shock crossed everyone's faces.

"No!" Elf Kaizer shouted is dismay to see Lumina standing in her current position. The sword was still lifted over her head and a look of shock and pain graced her features. A large vine had burst through the ground and pierced her stomach underneath of her breasts. It broke her armor and shoved the broke pieces through her body.

Lumina made a small noise in both pain and surprise.

This wasn't how it was supposed to end.

To Be Continued…