Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ The Soul Stealing Princess ( Chapter 41 )

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Sacrifice

Chapter 41 : The Soul Stealing Princess

By: Melissa Norvell

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Everyone lay sprawled out on the stone floor, water-logged and passed out as the deep blue eyes of the Nighthawk ninja looked over them. Undine had been reunited with them during the washout in the corridors. Various other objects, such as wood and bricks littered the ground along with their bodies as well as a thing layer of water that still clung to the floor.

Serenande slowly walked up to the unconscious group, the bottom of her light pink dress turned a transparent color as water clung to it. Her red eyes scanned through their bodies and found the one body that she'd been searching for this entire time.

Hiroshima lay on the ground, soaked to the bone and unconscious. He lay on his stomach with his arms and legs bent. His black wings looked like long lines of twisted, water-logged pitch feathers. Some of them had become detached and littered the ground around him.

She looked down on his form and smiled. "So, these are the ones that Soel is after…It's him…"

"Him?" Zangetsu looked to his mistress in question.

"The one she's been looking for," Serenanade reached down and grabbed the angel by the wrist. His limp form slumped over as she gazed upon him with sinfully gleeful eyes. "I didn't think it would be this easy to get him. Zangetsu!" The long-haired woman turned to her subordinate.

"Yes?" He hadn't known what Serenande or Soel wanted with the dark-winged angel but he wasn't about to question her either. Everything would surely tie together, as for how and what- that he was unsure of.

"I want you to bind him," the Princess commanded.

"But Serenande, he has a curse that prevents magic from working on him. That's how he killed the citizens," Zangetsu had witnessed Hiroshima's slaughter of the citizens and even those who were skilled magicians were no match for him. It would have been foolish to attempt to bind him with any magical spell.

"Then we'll stick him in the power source. There will at least be one type of magic that will restrain him. On contact the magical defenses kick in anyway so he should be restrained," Serenande informed. The magic flow of Zameln could defeat any curse, so the angel would be rendered helpless to call upon the powers of the curse to aid him in any way.

Zangetsu agreed that it would be their safest bet to place him within the power source.

A few hours later, Undine cracked open her eyes to see a piece of busted off wood in her view. As her vision came more and more into focus, she slowly lifted her heavy form up to see that everyone else was laying in the same vicinity. He body felt heavy as she sat up and her ponytail was reduced to a rope-like protrusion from her body. "Is everyone alright?" She looked for any signs of movement.

Chichiri coughed up a bit of water as he sat up a few feet away. His head felt fuzzy from being underwater and he could barely make out Undine's words. "What was that about?" He asked.

"We're not dead," Ko still laid in the water.

Keiji's green eyes scanned the floor and looked around wildly. "Where's Hiroshima?"

"He isn't here," Fife replied, "in fact, he's the only one who isn't."

"We must be in the catacombs further down," Undine informed as Tsurugi opened his eyes to see Azmy staring back at him.

"Oh, hello Azmy-chan," he smiled and greeted the worried girl who sat on her knees a few inches away.

She sighed in relief. "Thank goodness you're alright."

The blonde angel pulled himself up. He had a bit harder of a time considering he had large wings and multiple chains hanging from his form. "Just a little water-logged," he explained.

"Hey Tsurugi," he heard his name being called in a strong, feminine voice.

"Yes?" The angel looked up to see Ko standing before him. Her clothes clung tightly to her body because of the water.

"We need to find Hiroshima. He isn't here."

Tsurugi then stood a little uneasily. "Let's go. We have to hurry and find him. Who knows what these people want with him. It's highly dangerous for them to have him in their possession at this point in time," his face was stern and serious as he looked at the others with determination in his eyes.

"This Serenande person must have him," Keiji stated as everyone walked through the catacombs. The only sounds that could be heard were their voices, the sound of their footsteps and dripping water.

"But where is she?" Azmy looked to Keiji in question.

"Probably far from us," Undine looked ahead.

"They must need him for something. I mean, they just took him and not the rest of us. They didn't even take Tsurugi," Azmy pointed out. After all, Tsurugi was an angel, and in her mind he was just as powerful as Hiroshima was.

"Hiro-kun is stronger than I am," Tsurugi corrected her views.

"Hiroshima is stronger than all of us," Keiji told them.

"No doubt this is bad," Fife spoke up. "I'd hate to go up against him in battle."

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Hiroshima woke up on hard, cold ground in a dark room. He arose from the ground to take in his surroundings and upon doing so, he heard jingles and felt his body heavier than usual even if it was drenched. Something weighed his arms and legs down and tried to pull him to the ground from their sheer weight alone. He looked down to notice that he had been wearing a heavy cast-iron collar and matching shackles on his ankles and wrists. The long chains littered the floor behind him. Grunting, he noticed that he was behind a magical shield and the presence of his dragon spirit had been nullified.

On the other side of the force-field, Zangetsu stood and even further behind him was a scepter with a light reflective prism on top of it. It produced an eerie white light that bathed the room in ghostly glow. He watched the ninja with a frown on his face, studying his every move.

'This is…' His eyes narrowed and his frown deepened.

Zangetsu stood with his back turned to him, silent as the angel moved towards the force field.

"You're Zangetsu, right?" He asked the ninja who looked over his shoulder and smiled kindly.

"Oh, you're awake."

"What is this place?" Hiroshima asked.

"It's the Room of Constant Magic. It's Serenande-hime's contact to the magical realm of Zameln. She possesses one of the few weapons from Zameln- the scepter that you see before you is composed of powerful entities. In order to keep it functioning, we must sacrifice souls to it."

"So that's why you've been killing those people," the green-haired angel glanced at the staff. "I assume their souls are trapped in the crystal."

"That would be correct," Zangetsu smiled.

"So, what are you going to do with me?"

"Serenande-hime was something planned with you. She doesn't need your soul just those of your friends," the conversation went as casually as ever between the two, as if they knew each other for years. Neither one of them had a grudge against the other for their occupation. The only tension between them was the small amount of tension that Hiroshima felt from being restrained. It made him apprehensive by nature.

He hated shackles and chains.

"I see…"

"I wouldn't try to break out if I were you," he informed. If it were a command, he knew the angel wouldn't listen to him.

"I doubt it would work if it's protected by Zameln's magic. My sword is from Zameln so it would be used against me," Hiroshima wouldn't dare try to go against Zameln and doing so now would be a huge strike against him, especially with Vespa on his side.

Zangetsu smiled. "Then I have nothing to worry about. Sit back and watch it all fall apart."

He gestured out to a projection on the wall of dead Nighthawk Ninja. Their bodies laid out everywhere as the rest of his allies walked through that part of the catacombs. Azmy asked where this place was and Tsurugi stated that it looked like an execution chamber.

"But, all of these guys are dressed like Zangetsu," Chichiri recognized the bird-like capes and light blue coloring of the Chinese Ninja outfits that were distinctly associated with Nighthawk Ninja.

Tsurugi closely examined one of them. Their physical body didn't have a scratch on it and their face was ghostly pale. It was as if all of the blood had been sucked out of their bodies. Their pupils were dilated, not just from death but from something that signified much more than a normal human could read.

"They have not been killed by a weapon. These people had their souls forced out of them," Tsurugi stated.

"Souls forced out of them?" Azmy asked. How could someone force a soul out of you and what for?

"It wasn't their time to die."

"Souls are often used for magic. I wonder if they were taken for that purpose," Fife looked up towards the darkened ceiling.

"This castle doe have a highly unusual magic reading on it," Tsurugi closed his eyes and concentrated on the magical energy that flowed from the castle. The soul energy was unlike anything he'd ever senses in his long years of being an angel and the raw magic it held was also extraordinary.

"We need to find Serenande," Undine informed.

"I agree. Only then will we truly know the secret of this ghostly place," Tsurugi agreed.

"I noticed that Zangetsu was unusually strong for someone his age," Undine added.

"Yes, he would be a fearsome opponent even for me," the blonde angel replied as they began to walk up a long flight of stairs that had no security rails. 'I just hope nothing is happening to Hiro-kun…' He frowned in concern for his mate. "My dear Hiro-kun…"

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"I can't believe this! How did she get her hands on him so quickly and easily!?" Ceres was outraged to be shown up by the princess. It had only been her first mission to get her hands on the angel and she did so with great ease while Ceres had to struggle to even keep track of him. It was downright preposterous!

"Heh, you should be glad that she did at all," the woman with the eye-patch commented.

"Stay out of this Eclipse!" Ceres yelled in irritation.

"You're just angry that you don't get any man slaves," Eclipse pointed to the vinyl-clad woman and smiled impishly.

"She still hasn't brought him to me. When I get the winged boy is when her mission is complete. I need the winged boy and her weapon to be at complete power. She only needs a few more souls…Her pawn is doing a good job at gathering them. I wonder if she'll use him to his full potential," Soel carefully watched their images move on her projection.

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Everyone followed a stone wall until they turned the corner to see the princess that they had searched for. Serenande was seated on her throne. Her dress of a pink, thin fabric cascaded over the throne and her cloth belt of the purest white stuck out in the dark like a beacon. Her dark purple hair cascaded around her and her eyes glimmered a sinister shade of red.

"I've been waiting for you," she commented casually as the group came into her sights.

Tsurugi's features turned serious. 'It's a trap.'

"Waiting for us?" Keiji questioned. Why was she waiting for them and for what? What did the sneaky princess have planned?

"What have you done with Hiroshima?" Azmy asked with a decent amount of bravery.

"That isn't important. You'll see him soon. You'll all play a part in my plan," Serenande informed with a devilish smile.

Undine glanced around the throne room and noticed that someone had been absent- Zangetsu. 'Zangetsu isn't here. He must be with Hiroshima.'

"Something isn't right. I feel as if we got tricked somehow," Fife said.

"You think it's a trap too?" Keiji asked. If Fife thought it was a trap as well, then Keiji couldn't be far from the truth. Usually Fife had good instincts about things like this. Generally, he used Fife as a sort of confidant and if everything was alright with Fife, then he could do more than bet that his own situation was good.

"Yes," Fife agreed.

A blinding light filled the dismal room that contained Hiroshima and Zangetsu. They shielded their eyes with their forearms in order to keep from being blinded as they were bathed in white light. When the light finally subsided a few moments later, the staff was gone. All that remained was the tall, silver holster that it had been resting upright on.

"They must have found her," Zangetsu remarked.

"…They're walking into this trap," Hiroshima narrowed his eyes a little as he watched his allies. Again, he was force to sit back and watch as they faced yet another foe that could easily crush all of them. The only thing he could hope for was that Tsurugi kept them protected until he could be freed.

"I feel sorry for them. Many have lost their lives because of that scepter," Zangetsu pitied what they were about to face.

"They won't give up without a fight. I know them…" The dark angel knew the limitations of his team mates and the fact that they were so stubborn could mean a victory or their untimely death.

The staff appeared with a flash of light to the evil princess' hand as she held it out to one side and then brought it over the opposite shoulder and then spun around, her long, straight purple hair trailed behind her. "Now, let the fun begin!" She pointed the staff in front of her and tapped it on the ground. "Spirit Transportation!" A mass amount of light orbs and ghost-like fog shot out in all directions and filled the room.

Everyone yelled as the orbs shot past them at high speed. Tsurugi was silent as his eyes widened and his form trembled at the massive emotion he gathered from the burst of paranormal magic. "What an evil magic…" His voice was soft and nearly sounded shocked or even afraid.

Azmy glanced around as all of the orbs shot around her. "What's happening?"

"I don't know, but it's creepy whatever it is," Chichiri tried to dodge every orb that flew at him.

Serenande smirked. 'This is it. My final act, Mistress Soel will be most happy.' She thought as her form was engulfed in ectoplasm, along with the others in the room and they were soon transported to the room where Hiroshima and Zangetsu were present.

"What's going on?" Hiroshima noticed that the amount of ectoplasm filling the room was highly abnormal.

"They've come down here, but why?" Zangetsu seemed a little surprised by this as well.

"Hiro-kun?" Tsurugi turned to see his lover behind him, encased in the magical power source.

"Tsurugi…" Hiroshima's gaze softened upon seeing his mate on the other side of the shield. The chained angel placed his hands on the outside of the field and his lover within the field did the same. The only thing that separated them was a thin wall of entrapment magic.

"You didn't even try to escape," Tsurugi wondered why. Usually, Hiroshima of all people would struggle the most but instead, he stood behind the field and seemed so content watching his allies fall all around him. Heavenly blue eyes looked a little sad at that fact.

"I can't. The magic that controls this force field comes from Zameln," Hiroshima informed.

"I see…So she has the ability to conjure power from Zameln as well. I wonder if Vespa knows about this," the blonde angel speculated.

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"So that's what Soel is trying to do," Vespa stated as she too, watched the events that were unfolding. She had been monitoring Soel's movements and plans for a long time and she expected no different from her this time around either. She had to stop her before she collected all of the magical items from Zameln. Hopefully, Hiroshima and the others wouldn't let her down. "If she can get a hold of those with items from this place, then she can draw magic from here and use it against me. If I can get them to collect all of the weapons from Zameln, then I may have a chance to reduce her channeling magic from there. Looks like there will be a slight change of course. I've got to figure out which weapons are not possessed by someone and have them brought to me before Soel gets a hold of them…or something like this will happen again."

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"Now, it's time. I'll add you to my collection!" Serenande thrusted her staff forward towards them.

"You what!?" Chichiri screeched. "You've got to be kidding me!"

As soon as his sentence ended, a blast of white energy was projected at them. They all managed to get out of the way safely, without being touched by it at all.

"Don't let it touch you," Undine advised.

"I'm definitely on it!" Chichiri confirmed.

"Ha!" Ko jumped out of the way of one blast. It hit the wall and took a chunk out of it. The white-haired singer landed a few feet away. A small lizard was disturbed by the blast and crawled across the floor. Her light blue eyes watched it momentarily as she turned to Keiji. "We can't just keep dodging blasts. We need a plan of attack."

"We can't get close to her now. She's too powerful," Keiji educated. It would be pointless to even attempt to get close to her with that staff. The cost would be far too great, and none of them would possibly want to pay that sacrifice.

"Dance of the Dead!" Serenande summoned fourth another attack as she pointed her staff towards the heavens as ghostly streams of energy, souls and ectoplasm swirled around her and then launched themselves towards her opponents. Azmy turned to glance over her shoulder as a stream of energy shot towards her.

There was no way that anyone could save her in time by moving towards her.

Thinking quickly, Tsurugi picked up the small lizard and looked at it with grief. He had never completely killed something without a chance of it coming back to life. As an angel, he was still compassionate towards all living things. He caressed the small creature in both palms and closed his eyes. "Forgive me, my friend," he uttered as he threw it through the air. The lizard's body came into contact with the beam, which caused it to have its soul ripped from its body instead of the slate-haired girl, who blocked herself. The lizard squirmed around painfully for a few moments as its tiny soul was yanked out and sucked into the crystal of the scepter.

Everyone looked shaken to see how the fatal staff worked.

'So…That's it. It sucks the souls out of people to fuel its attacks.' Hiroshima observed as the lizard's lifeless body crashed to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Azmy looked down at the small creature, who gave up its essence to save her life in a troubled gaze. She felt truly bad for causing something as innocent as an animal to have its soul stolen for her own selfish stake.

"Wow, now its top priority not to touch it," Chichiri said. Witnessing something like that truly frightened him, more than anything. If there was something he didn't want to do, it would be to give his soul to Serenande like that.

"What just happened?" Ko was confused by what all had taken place.

"It stole a soul," Keiji clued-up.

Fife simply stared at the scepter in wonder and amazement. 'I didn't even know such weapons existed, truly interesting. I know that they exist in Sumeria but on a much lesser scale. This one is amazing, truly a lethal force.'

"It locks your soul into that crystal," Undine commented.

"That isn't all that it does," Zangetsu spoke up. "It uses the ghost particles in the human soul to power itself for attacks. Once a soul goes in to that weapon it will never come out."

"So you don't even have an afterlife?" Chichiri was flabbergasted. He knew not to touch that thing but he never knew that it was capable of something that horrible.

"No, you're completely erased from the world," the Nighthawk Ninja remarked despondently as he looked to the ground. A few feet behind him, Hiroshima's gaze hit the ground as well. He too, was guilty of erasing people from this world and the only one who knew was his mate.

He would not tell the kids, either. They were far too judgmental to understand the consequences of what he's done or why he's done it.

'It's a good thing that you let yourself stay behind this force field. That weapon would draw too much from our power.' He heard the dark and sinister voice tell him within the confines of his own mind. 'It's best to stay back and watch them.'

Even though he knew that the entity that dwelled within him was right, he truly didn't want to just watch his team mate's fall all around him. It was a feeling that Hiroshima had been far too used to by force.

"I'll use your souls for my scepter!" The princess attempted to blast them and they scattered. Chichiri barely missed a powerful blast.

"I don't know what to do!" Ko ran beside of the wall. She screamed and skidded to a stop as a blast hit the wall behind her. Another one came and she bent her knees and nearly lay down. "Don't faint…don't faint…If you faint, you'll never wake up," the girl repetitively uttered the phrase to herself as she hyperventilated.

Keiji ran across the wall as three blasts hit close to his feet. He flipped off of the wall and landed on the ground on one knee. However, Serenande was quick to blade him again. The boy jumped up to avoid the blast.

"You think you'll get away that easily? I'll kill you all! Soon your souls will be mine!" The princess cried out, her voice seemed nearly made with power.

'I can't block those attacks with magic. Her technique and elements are far too advanced.' Undine thought to herself. 'They do not affect the physical plain. Her attacks would just pass through mine and hit me. I can't risk it and I can't risk Fife either.'

"It's obvious that I need much stronger attacks," Serenande smirked threateningly, "for those I need a special power up." Her red eyes looked in the direction of her subordinate as the streams of ectoplasm flowed up from the ground and began to make large circles around him. Surprise lit up in Zangetsu's eyes as he was rendered helpless by the attack.

"Serenande-hime!" He called out in shock. He'd been so faithful to her. Even after she killed villagers, he was the one who stayed by her side, no matter what anyone thought of him. He sacrificed everything to be with her and now he would- in more ways than he ever imagined.

"Did you honestly think that I kept you alive and powered you up for no reason? Your soul is especially strong. Besides, I need a sacrifice to make this weapon complete. Once it's complete, I'll be able to draw souls automatically. Everyone who comes into contact with me will die and I'll have an eternal power source!" Serenande said proudly.

"What!?" Chichiri exclaimed.

"You betrayed me," Zangetsu felt embarrassed and humiliated in front of people he'd never even met. He also felt as if his death drew near and he could feel his body burn and loose senses little at a time before a warm sensation overcame him.

"No!" Ko shouted as she ran towards the Nighthawk Ninja. It was wrong to just watch someone die and not do anything about it. She wanted to save him. She didn't want to live with the guilt of letting someone close to her die and never be brought back in any form of reincarnation, nor roam the earth as a spirit. Ko decided for that moment in time, that she would risk everything to save this man, even if he was the enemy.

"Huh?" Zangetsu faintly felt her body crash into his with a jolt, and her long, elegant arms wrap around his waist. He could weakly see golden lines of magic wrap around both of them. This caused Serenande's malicious smirk to widen.

"Two souls are twice as good, a well-deserved donation."

"You're going to sacrifice yourself for me?" Zangetsu looked at Ko. For the first time since they'd met, he realized how beautiful she was. She had large, round eyes with thick, black lashes. Her skin was pale and fair but despite looking dainty she had the body of an athlete. The golden threads that wrapped around the both of them illuminated her white hair and caused it to glow in golden light. He was half conscious but he could feel a strange kindness surround him.

"You may be my enemy but no one deserves this," Ko shoved him out of the way of the attack. Zangetsu's weakened body fell against the ground as Serenade called out the word 'no' in frustration. The most powerful donation to her scepter was shoved aside and now there was only one soul remaining and it wasn't strong enough to make her weapon complete.

The streams of white began to wrap around the singer as her body floated there. Tears clung to the corners of her eyes as she looked at her allies with sorrow in her expression. She feared death and yet, she would proudly die to save someone else's life. Being erased from existence was scary but she didn't want someone else be erased…it was far better that it happen to her.

'Sorry everyone…Please don't hate me.' She felt her soul begin to leave her body.

To Be Continued…