Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ No Progress ( Chapter 45 )

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Sacrifice

Chapter 45: No Progress

By: Melissa Norvell

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"Watch out!" Koryuu shouted as everyone tried their best to avoid the energy whip.

"Hmm…" Fife pondered to himself in mid-dodge. 'I wonder if I can find a way to break this spell. I'll have Undine cover for me by possessing me.' He glanced to the stoic girl, who was only a few feet away from him.

Undine mechanically turned her head because she had felt something boring into her soul. "Something wrong?" She asked casually.

The feminine man smiled. "I'm glad that we're far enough away to where no one can hear us."

"Well, except the angels," Undine stated.

"But who are they telling?" Fife smiled calmly. It was his little way of reassuring himself that even the angels had to keep quiet about his secrets.

"This is why I like them. They keep their mouths shut," the girl commented. With their vast knowledge, opening their mouths would definitely meddle in their plans and that would be a threat larger than anything the two of them even wanted to deal with. She didn't want to think about anything like that at this point in time.

"I'm thankful for that, considering they are letting us stay here despite what we stand for." If anyone else had known their true purpose, Fife and Undine would not find themselves getting along with anyone in the group and most likely being expelled from their union.

"Are they any better?" Undine asked and the navy-haired male looked at her in intrigue. He wondered what she had been thinking. What did she mean by that statement?

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"Ha!" Ceres called out as she sent her whip towards the group yet again and caused them all to move out of the way as it smashed into the ground with great force. It was enough to scar the earth below their feet and create a good-sized laceration. It was definitely something that none of them wanted to be hit with.

'She was stronger than us last time. How the hell do we beat her now?' Keiji looked to Eagle and Koryuu to see what their next move would be.

"I'm not backing down," Koryuu assumed the defensive position and held her sword out in front of her.

Eagle took out his staff and pointed it at the sexual woman. "Neither am I. We must get it back, even at the cost of our lives! Lightening Strike!" The dark-haired man called fourth the very lightening from the skies above as it flowed down to his staff and surged near the top of it, building up in strength. He then pointed it at Ceres, sending out a powerful beam composed of angry, cracking white light. The woman quickly put up a shield and watched as the last of his attack flowed over her shield in small, electrical currents. She then called him pathetic and held out her hand. In a void area in front of her palm, a small flame was created and continued to grow until it was the size of a medium-sized boulder and launched it at Koryuu, who fling her arm across its path and created a wind spell that diverted it back towards the vinyl-clad woman, who jumped out of the way as it hit the ground and dispersed into angry flames that frantically tried to burn anything in their path before they suddenly died out.

'Damn…they are better than I thought. Looks like I'll have to pull out my big attacks on them.' Ceres thought deviously to herself as she devised a different strategy in her head to take care of her little problem.

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"So, you want me to possess you so you don't give it away?" Undine asked.

"Yes, I want to be able to use magic to protect them without knowing that I am magical. Surely they'd hate me if they knew," Fife replied with a bit of sorrow attached to the last of his sentence. He feared, yet slowly anticipated their reactions when that fated day came. They would hate him. Then it would be as it should.

He wanted them to hate him, because that's how it was meant to be.

"Well…" The long-haired girl looked contemplative for a few moments and let her words drift off to thoughts.

"I'll do anything for you, Undine…You know that," Fife bargained. This was an urgent situation and they didn't have time for things like that.

"Just tell me when," the girl closed her eyes in agreement.

"Thank you, Miss Undine."

"After all, you couldn't possibly owe me anymore then what you do now," Undine commented and leveled him with a serious expression.

Fife's expression also turned grave. "I am well aware of that."

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Tsurugi sat atop of the legend's waist, both of their clothes were disheveled and only partly on their forms. Hiroshima lay with his back pressed against the grey stone floor of the temple. Drunken love shown in his glassy eyes as he stared up into golden tresses and heavenly eyes as the other angel leaned down towards his face. Both angels were panting, as if they had engaged in a passion-filled make-out session. Lust dripped from their forms as they were lost in their own world, where only the two of them existed.

Tsurugi lay down on top of Hiroshima as his deep voice filled his senses.

"I could get lost in time with you," the legend spoke as he sat his large hand gently on the back of the blonde's head, his fingers played lightly with the silken strands of hair. "Tsurugi, my love."

His mate gave him a lust-filled smile and slid slowly down his body. He slowly dragged himself in between, his bent knees with his face close to his dark secrets. He only needed to undress him to reveal them. Slowly he reached up and unbuttoned his black slacks, then unzipped his pants and playfully ran his fingers around the rim of his pants, exciting the angel and causing his expectation to grow. He could hear his name being uttered as he lowered his head.

Then the ground trembled violently beneath them.

It caused the two startled angels to snap out of their secret world and look around them. Tsurugi's love-stricken expression was gone, now replaced by a stern one.

"What's going on?" He asked informatively. Something wasn't right.

Hiroshima sat up in a hurry. The look on his face was grave. This was something that was much bigger than a simple fight.

"Ceres is here," Hiroshima jumped up quickly and darted down the hall. He didn't care how his clothes looked; all that mattered was that he got to the fight before something happened.

Tsurugi stood slowly and turned towards the paintings on the wall, deep in thought. 'I wonder if Hiro-kun really knows what this temple truly is…' He then spoke, "My sweet…It's surprising how little you actually know about yourself," he bent his knees and bolted off down the hall, flying at high speed. 'I know now that my sin was far greater then I had imagined but I can't help who I love, even if it is such a hellish creature.'

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"Dark Lightning!" Koryuu held out her hand and summoned fourth dark bolts of energy that resembled lightening in structure. They struck around Ceres, who had managed to put up a shield. Eagle then found the perfect opportunity to send out a cyclone to try hit her but she barely avoided it.

"Now's my chance!" The purple-haired woman called out as she yelled the words 'Dark Strike' and appeared in front of the sorceress and brought down her sword.

"This can't be!" Ceres' eyes widened in shock as she felt a blow coming on and attempted to block herself as she prepared to be hit by her attack. Nothing came. It was simply an illusion that was meant to throw the magic user off. The illusion-like sword went through her form but no real damage had been done.

"What?" Ceres had thought that she would have been hit for sure. Before she knew it, the tough woman appeared on the other side of her and before she could even turn around, a long, black, whip-like structure flew at her and caused the scenery to go a pitch black.

"What is this!?" Ceres' red eyes darted wildly around in hopes to find something, anything that would lead to a possible explanation or escape. The red-clad woman whirled around and at that precise moment, everything seemed to go by in fast-forward. Her hands were grabbed swiftly by Koryuu, who yelled the words 'Crescent Kick' and dipped down between the woman's legs and flipped up to where her feet were rested on the other female's back. She then stomped down on her backside so hard that she shot forward. In the midst of this moment, Koryuu appeared in front of her and kicked her across the face with great force, causing the spit to shoot from her mouth and her jaw to pop loudly. Ceres' feet then touched the ground as Eagle shot beneath his companion's feet as she jumped up.

He then attempted to deliver a kick to Ceres' face but the sorceress jumped out of his way.

"Damn…" Eagle uttered in disappointment.

Ceres landed a few feet away from the group. The woman turned to them and called them lazy idiots with an angered expression on her face. For one, she had been stricken in the face and it had wrecked her self-image and for two, they were just standing there as if the turn of events had been humorous or something to enjoy. As soon as she tried to continue her sentence to proceed to antagonize them into fighting, she was punched across the face by Koryuu a second time.

"Pay attention to the fight," the serious woman scolded and held up her fist. She wasn't afraid to strike Ceres again if she dared to utter another word to her allies. Koryuu had requested that they not interfere no matter what the circumstances, so they were simply doing as they were told. There was no reason for them to be involved when the fight was not theirs.

The black-haired woman held the side of her face, which had turned red and begun to bruise. Ceres stared down her enemy with hatred in her fiery eyes. "There's nothing I hate more then you tomboy types. How utterly pathetic," she criticized Koryuu's unlady-like demeanor in battle. While she wore a very short, form-fitting dress, she often flashed people when she fought. Koryuu didn't seem to care about anyone seeing her underwear, she just done what she had to do in order to win. Ceres detested women who acted so boorish. She rushed forward with unbelievable speed. Koryuu couldn't keep an eye on her and before she knew it, Ceres had been on her in mere seconds with a fist in her stomach so hard that it sent her into a wall. Her tired body bounced off of the stone wall and fell to the unforgiving stone ground.

"Koryuu!" Eagle called out in dismay.

"Your sick bodies do nothing but wear down quickly. You'll be dead soon enough," Ceres commented on their current health status.

Suddenly, a large number of white feathers flew at her. The clever woman had dodged but some of them managed to stick in her shoulder. Ceres winced and pulled a few out before she stared down the owner of such bird-like weapons.

It was Zangetsu.

"I'm tired of hearing you talk about things like that. I may have worked for you but it doesn't mean that I agreed with everything you've done. You killed Serenande-hime," Zangetsu told her sternly with slight vengeance in his voice.

Ceres placed her hands at her side as streams of fire slowly danced around her. She told the ninja to shut up as she held out her hand and fire engulfed the young man. Ko called out his name frantically. She didn't want him to be burned alive. Eagle soon came to their rescue and deflected her fire attack with his Whirl Wind. He stood in front of Zangetsu and held his staff in an attack-posture. The sorceress counterattacked by sending discs of fire at them. Zangetsu bent his knees to get ready to jump out of the way, but before his feet could reach the ground, they had been deflected at her.

"What?" The black-haired woman exclaimed and threw her hands out. "Barrier!"

The discs bounced off of her invisible field and hit the ground. As they did, the fire morphed into glass shards, which shattered and flew towards Eagle and Zangetsu.

"Wind!" Eagle called out and pointed his staff as he attempted to blow the pieces back but they cut through the wind and still headed towards the two males. 'They cut through my winds!' A gasp was the only thing that he could manage to let out before he was stabbed with one of their shards. He watched as a patch of blood sailed through the air.

"Eagle…" The purple-haired woman lay on the ground and barely uttered her companion's name. She had tried to raise herself up on her elbows but her body strained to keep her own weight up as she shook violently, then collapsed in pain and held her stomach.

"Shut up!" Ceres shouted and blasted the helpless woman again. Koryuu yelled as she was once again thrown into the wall.

"Well, it looks like they are going to lose if we don't do something," Undine watched the fight from her erect position, slightly behind Ko and Chichiri.

A foot flew for Ceres' face once again and she dodged and turned around with her fiery whip and wrapped it around the foot's owner's ankle. Keiji yelled as the whip seared a mark around his leg.

"Got you!" Her red painted lips coiled into a sinister smile of victory before she was bashed in the head with a large, wooden hammer by Chichiri. She fell to the floor in a jolt as she stumbled to keep consciousness.

"I've so always wanted to do that for the longest time!" The blonde flashed a toothy smile as the vinyl-clad woman slowly rose up with a pissed off look on her face. She didn't appreciate some greenhorn clogging her in the head with an over-sized boy. "Heh…Heh…Oh shit…" Chichiri replied when the realization had hit him that it was now time to deal with the consequences of his actions.

"I'm going to kill you!" Ceres shot forward and axe-handled him in the face. He hit the ground, his blonde hair in disarray as his form then lay there, unconscious and still.

Undine and Ko called out his name to see if he was still conscious but they had got no reply.

Azmy pulled out her gun and pointed it to Ceres. "I know that this won't help anything but-" She pulled the trigger and took several shots at the sorceress, who simply threw up a shield to deflect them. The black-haired woman called her a stupid girl and rushed at her. Azmy gasped as she found her plan ineffective and was now at a loss of what to do.

Eagle then appeared between the two women and blocked Ceres with his staff. The two clashed and the one-eyed man looked over his shoulder at Azmy and told her to stay out of the fight. The presence of the others interfering in a fight that had been theirs was not called for. The only ones who should be in the fight were he and Koryuu.

"Huh?" Azmy looked a little surprised that he didn't want her self, as little as it actually was.

"This isn't your fight."

"The hell it isn't," Hiroshima shouted from his current position at a nearby pillar.

"Hiroshi-" Azmy tried to utter the rest of his name but upon his sight she blushed and her innocent eyes widened. "ma…"

"Huh?" Keiji turned and looked at him, clothes half-way off and all and looked very unamused at his presence. He had found out where he was but wasn't too happy at his findings. It was one thing that he could have lived without knowing.

"What the hell are you staring at, kid?" The angel put his hands on his hips.

Keiji stared at his unbuttoned shirt and unzipped pants that hung loosely around his hips and blushed slightly. "I don't even want to know…"

Hiroshima had then realized his position and looked away blushing. "Shut up…"

Tsurugi blushed as well. "Well, at least we made it on time," he stated simply, as if their appearance had been dismissible.

"This is my fight," Eagle said with fierce determination as he shot forward and shoved Ceres back.

"The cute ones always put up a fight," the woman commented seductively and winked at the sickly man.

"Shut up, evil witch!" The dark-haired man pointed his staff as energy shot out from four sides and headed straight for the seductive woman.

"I think I'll keep you as one of my slaves," Ceres had a smile on her face. She seemed pleased with herself for managing to run into a man so handsome. Eagle looked like a short-haired prince. He only had one eye but it didn't seem to take away from his good-looks at all. If nothing else it only accentuated his features. She swiftly dodged through his energy attacks and closed in on him.

"Eagle!" Koryuu called out to him as she slowly got up with her arm caressing her still-injured stomach. She flinched in pain from being attacked and slammed into a wall twice. "Eagle!" The purple-haired woman then rushed towards him. 'All I have to do is get that gem and we can leave without her. So I'll try to get it while Eagle is distracting her.'

With a blast of light, Eagle flew backwards a little and blocked himself with his staff. He panted and was sweating heavily as the sickness rose within him. He felt his body grow tired and his eye became heavy-lidded. 'I'm so weak…It's hard to fight being this badly sick…'

Eagle blinked and his dark blue eye widened as he could see Ceres close and up and personal. It was a bit too personal for his good. A feminine hand gently caressed his cheek as lust-filled red eyes; slanted and framed with beautiful thick black lashes looked deeply into his lone eye.

"My beautiful Eagle…Wouldn't you like to serve me and get rid of your horrible sickness?" The woman teased in a voice that seemed to make an offer that was nearly unrefuseable.

"Go to hell," the man glared at her with a look of tire and hatred.

"So feisty," the sorceress blasted him with fire. He swiftly dodged. "I'll have to just beat you into submission."

"Got it," Koryuu reached out to take the jewel from around Ceres' arm. Her fingers were only mere inches from reaching the gem before a giant spire come from the ground underneath her.

She gasped as she barely escaped her side being dug out and landed on the ground.

"Shit," she cursed and propped herself up on one arm.

"Fool, you think I couldn't see you coming?" You're making a mistake by trying to get this gem," Ceres caressed the gem with her vinyl-clad hand and held it close to her face with a dark smile.

"You're getting annoying," Koryuu popped up from the ground and attempted to punch her but the sorceress dodged once more and the two of them began to physically fight versus the magic they had been using earlier. Koryuu punched at her twice, Ceres dodged from side to side. The purple-haired woman then tried to deliver a spin-kick but Ceres jumped up and came down with her red-heeled boots and delivered a painful kick to Koryuu as she dug the heel of her shoe into the other woman's face. Koryuu fell on the ground and held her bleeding cheek as she looked up to the red-clad woman who stared her down with a triumphant smile.

"I told you…You don't want this," Ceres' voice nearly sounded assuring. "You really truly don't."

"Lightning Call!" Eagle's voice could be heard as lightening shot out at the woman once again.

"I'm getting sick of this," Ceres blasted him with fire. Eagle jumped through her attack and managed to punch her in the face again. Ceres let out a surprised yell and flew back a little before she caught herself and placed a hand on her face. "Damn you!" She growled and lunged at him as the two engaged in a round of punched and kicks. They then pulled out their weapons and began to try and strike each other with them. Several clashes could be heard as staff collided with staff. Eagle began slashing his staff at the woman, who dodged all of his strikes and shot forward to stick him harshly in the face. He stumbled backwards and paused for a moment before his features grew more determined and angry. The dark-haired man then shot forward and tried to strike her again, only to find that his hit was blocked.

"Let's try this again," Koryuu was more determined than ever to grab the gem. She reached forward; her hand slowly caressed the gem as a smile crossed her face. "Got it."

"No! Don't touch it!" Hiroshima warned with a grave expression on his face. He knew that something wasn't right about the whole situation and he had been correct on his assumption as he saw the smile widen on Ceres' face.

"Wait, Koryuu!" Eagle had tried to warn her as well, but his words came far too late.

"What?" Koryuu looked to her team mate. Why did he not want her to grab this gem? She didn't get it. Wasn't this the whole point of their mission?

Ceres looked pleased with herself as all eyes looked to the purple-haired woman.

'She fell for it. Did she really think I'd have the real gem here? Now everyone in the vicinity will die and it will be her fault.' The sorceress looked amused at the sudden turn of events.

"What's going on?" Keiji asked.

"What's this?" Koryuu's eye widened as the gem broke open and a massive black fog leaked out and grew quickly.

"That fool!" Hiroshima exclaimed. "She released the disease!"

"What?" Azmy cast a worried glance towards the angels as Zangetsu picked Chichiri's limp form up from the ground.

"Can we really run from something like this?" Zangetsu glanced to the angels for advice.

"We're going to die if we don't do something. As soon as that black cloud touches us, we'll end up like the people here," Hiroshima advised.

Fife took a step in front of the group. "Time for a change of plans," the feminine man said in resolute as he ran past Undine, who turned sharply and looked a little angry. She knew what he was trying to do and while she knew that it was a good plan, it didn't please her.

"What are you doing? You'll give yourself away!" The long-haired girl shot in a scolding voice.

"Fife! What are you doing?" Keiji asked as he saw that Fife had been headed towards the black cloud. Was he trying to be brave or was he simply being idiotic?

Fife stopped half-way between the ominous cloud of sickness and his team mates. He looked towards the omen with determination reflected in his navy-blue eyes and a dire look on his face as his hair gently danced in the air circulation of the temple. "It's time that I revealed to you, my true power."

To Be Continued…