Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Swords of Hatred ( Chapter 88 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: MellyN

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Sacrifice

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 88: Swords of Hatred

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The vampire prince fell to the ground with the large, sharp piece of the background stuck in his back. Blood covered the sharp edge and leaked onto the ground below. Fife lay on the ground unconscious as the drag spoke up, it's booming voice ripped through the atmosphere.

"That's what you get for thinking that your magic could possibly defeat me," the being boasted. "You are foolish to rely on magicians or mages to aid you in battle. You shouldn't put your faith on one person and always think they'll bail you out. That type of system shatters your team's structure completely." If the team only relied on their strong points, then their weaker points could easily be picked off. A team with that kind of work ethic was nothing compared to a being like the dragon's powers. They were all pathetic for thinking their miniscule magical powers could compare to an entities' strength.

Ko and Zangetsu ran over to Fife's side. Ko immediately grabbed the sharp object that pierced her friend and attempted to pull it out. She heard the ninja call her name, but insisted that she had to get it out. Pulling upwards as hard as she could, the girl only received a harsh electrical shock that ripped a sensation of pain through her body. However, the girl only stubbornly continued to attempt to pull the offending piece of sky out. Zangetsu tried to aid her in her struggles but they only received a second, more powerful shock as a result. Still, they kept their grip and managed to get it out.

Zangetsu held the unconscious prince in his arms, calling his name in worry. Fife's blue hair shaded his eyes as blood ran out of his slightly opened mouth. "This isn't good. His wound is serious but he's still alive." The former Nighthawk ninja assessed.

"He's a vampire, so he needs blood, but Keiji isn't here," Ko replied urgently. "What do we do?" Before her question could be answered, a burst of energy threw she, Fife and Zangetsu across the battlefield. The black-haired man grabbed Fife and jumped off of a nearby rock to safety. Ko jumped in the opposite direction, then turned to Zangetsu who was huddled behind a rock with the unconscious Fife.

"I'll heal him, you fight Kuroi Ryuu," the ninja to leave Ko in that predicament, but he had no choice if they wanted to give Fife any chance of surviving.

The white-haired woman agreed as she ran towards the entity and threw her hands in front of her. "Dark Strike!" The woman called out as the blast from her attack hit the dragon, which caused it to send another bursting wave of energy out. Ko evaded it but as soon as she landed, another attack was launched mercilessly. She had no choice but to be hit, but she bounced off of the ground and rolled backwards, popping back up. Another blast was launched as she jumped out of the way once more. The attack slammed into the ground, which caused it to explode.

"Damn it. I can barely move against the attacks. I hope that Zangetsu can get Fife healed quickly," she prayed that she could manage to last against Kuroi Ryuu's attacks.

Fife's eyes slowly opened as he regained consciousness. "Za-Zangetsu?" The vampire questioned as the ninja's young face became clear.

"I'm glad you're alright," Zangetsu was relieved.

"Kuroi Ryuu got me with that attack. I was completely off guard," Fife sat up, which caused a sharp pain to rip through his head. Flinching, the vampire held his head in pain. "Damn…"

"How do you feel? I didn't want to use all of my magic to heal you. I didn't know if I'd need to reserve any for that spirit," Zangetsu informed.

"We'll have to attack him with everything we've got, but we'll have to warn Keiji as well," Fife replied. Keiji's safety was imperative, not only as a friend and love interest, but as a source of life.

"About the swords?" Zangetsu brought up the threat.

"Yes, the 1,000 Swords of Hate will burst from his body and anyone who's around will be killed." That was something that Fife dreaded. The last thing Hiroshima needed was another burden on his shoulders, another bad name and blame. Above all things, the vampire would never forgive himself if Keiji fell victim to such a fate.

"How do we warn them?" The ninja asked. After all, they were in two completely different places. It was impossible to get to Keiji directly after defeating Kuroi Ryuu to save him from being pierced by the 1,000 Swords of Hate.

"It will have to be mentally. I'll deliver the message to them," Fife volunteered himself.

"Do you have enough strength?" He had already been injured, Zangetsu didn't want Fife to expend himself with too many tasks.

"I'll be fine. Go out and help Ko, I'll join you in a moment," Ko needed his assistance more than the vampire did. Her physical and magical strength would not last long if she continued to fight by herself. Zangetsu agreed to rejoin her in battle.

Ko held her arms in the blocking position as her body was blasted with another wave of clear energy and blown back into a rock. When her body impacted on the hard surface, it broke the rock and fell to the ground. Not wanting to stay down long enough to let herself pass out, Ko quickly got to her hands and knees, coughing from the dust and debris around her. "I don't know what to do. I can't beat Kuroi Ryuu by myself. Maybe we really can't save Hiroshima," she had to admit, the situation did look pretty futile at this moment in time. As much as she wanted to save Hiroshima, she couldn't help but think that maybe his circumstances were a little too much for her to handle.

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Iva and Keiji sat by the angel's side. Hiroshima was paper white, covered with a blanket to keep him warm as his condition seemed to worsen.

"So that's it, huh?" Iva asked. "You guys are travelers and you're looking for magical items, but why?"

"I don't know," Keiji stated into the angel's face with concern for his condition.

"How can you not know?" The woman asked in confusion. Everyone had a goal. Why look for something if you don't even know why you're doing it? For all they knew, they could be doing something more for evil than for good.

"I haven't known for a while. Supposedly, we're gathering items to stop a sorceress named Soel. It's a race between us and her minions and Vespa promised to do us a favor if we managed to turn all of the items in and stop Soel, but it seems like others have different plans…Then again, it really doesn't matter if we walk different paths. Vespa said that our goals were the same." Green eyes concentrated on the angel's face. 'When you wake up, if we live through this, I'll find out what your goal is. I want to know if you're trying to find yourself, or if there's something bigger involved. Who exactly is Soel and what does she want? For that matter…who are you? You say you don't know…and I believe you, but-'

'Keiji!' Another voice interrupted the boy's thoughts, throwing him off momentarily.

"Fife? What's going on? How are you doing against Kuroi Ryuu?" Keiji asked out loud, unsure of how to communicate with a foreign voice in his head.

Iva looked confused, and half of her thought he was slightly mad for such an action. "Is he talking to himself?"

'Not good. We're trying our best against him and we think we've got it down on how to defeat him but we haven't been able to utilize it in a way that will permanently defeat him.' Fife educated the boy on the situation.

"Is that what you wanted to tell me? That we're going to lose?" Green hair shaded his eyes as he asked the questions in defeat.

This truly was the end.

All of their journeys would end here.

Fife couldn't really tell him that for certain. 'No, I wanted to ask how Hiroshima was.' Changing the subject might be somewhat of a comfort to his donor. Keiji was clearly as stressed out as everyone else was about the matter.

"Not good. He's barely showing any signs of life," Keiji's situation wasn't any better than theirs was. Hiroshima was on the edge of death.

'What?'

"I don't know what to do." For once, Keiji was lost. Everything seemed so hopeless at this moment in time. Hiroshima was dying, and all of his friends were about to die as well. The whole situation was nearly too much to bear.

'Where is he?' Fife wrote a stream of symbols in a spiral.

"With Iva and I. We're in the back room of the pub, and Tsurugi is dealing with the crowd inside," the green-haired boy stated everyone's positions.

'Keep him away from the people.'

"Why?"

'Because, when we defeat Kuroi Ryuu, the 1,000 Swords of Hate will come out of his body.' Fife's voice sounded dire in his request. Hiroshima's curse was a very serious matter. Keiji asked what the 1,000 Swords of Hate were. He clearly wasn't aware of the curse's effect at all. 'It's a curse that allows Hiroshima to bear the burdens of everyone around him. When Kuroi Ryuu is defeated, the swords will be released and flung out into the crowd. They'll kill whoever they come into contact with.'

"What about Iva and I? We're both in the room with him," Keiji worried about their safety. But, how could they monitor Hiroshima's health if they were both gone for fear that the removal of his curse would kill them?

"Should I be worried about something?" The black and white haired bar tender heard her name being mentioned in a phrase that made her worry about her safety. Iva was tired of not knowing what was going on, especially when so many people were involved. She was determined to get to the bottom of the situation.

"You're going to have to leave this room," Keiji instructed the gothic woman, only to be met with a sarcastic remark.

"You're going to have to tell me why." Pale eyes met green in a serious stare. She would get answers, no matter what. She wasn't going to just leave because Keiji told her to, she was going to leave knowing why it was dangerous for her to stay in the room.

"What's your deal?" The donor asked. Didn't she see that he was trying to save her life?

"I'm stubborn, obviously."

This was getting nowhere. After releasing a sigh, the green-haired donor agreed to tell the bar tender what he knew regarding her. He knew that he didn't like being kept in the dark about things, so he felt a little guilty about keeping things from Iva.

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Fife was slammed harshly against a large rock and fell to the ground limply while Ko slowly pulled herself from the ground, taking labored breaths. Her body was ragged from being beaten so badly in battle. She was in pain, and nearly to the point of being numb. The woman's body was tired and she had been giving it everything she possibly could. At this point, Ko felt as if she were really pushing herself to keep conscious and standing. Even her concentration was giving out on her. She knew that she couldn't last for long.

"We've got to do something to defeat Kuroi Ryuu and it's going to take a lot of power. We can't keep hitting him with small attacks or we won't be able to defeat him," she said to herself in between breaths.

"Well, there's one sure way to defeat him, but it will take all of our power to do it," Fife replied. No matter how much of a risk it was, using all of their power would be the best thing they could do while they had the resources to do so. If they used any more power, they wouldn't even be able to execute their biggest attacks.

Now was the time to strike.

"My blur attack is still breaking him down, so he should be weaker by now," Zangetsu mentioned. Now was definitely time to put their last ditch effort into effect.

"We've got nothing to lose so let's get to it,” Fife agreed, as did Ko. They would all throw everything they had at the weakening dragon and hope for the best. If not, they would be wiped from existence by Kuroi Ryuu. Zangetsu turned to Fife and asked if he was alright, since he had lost a lot of blood.

"I'll be fine…If we don't do something, we'll all be dead…Actually, we'll be beyond dead…we won't even exist anymore," the very thought unnerved the vampire.

"Who knows what it will do to everyone in Particle Proxy," Ko stated. There were more lives than just theirs in question. Fife stated that the dragon would probably absorb everyone's soul in the vicinity after he had annihilated them.

The female ninja performed an intricate series of hand signs and agreed to start up the attack, with Zangetsu in agreement.

"I'll cast a spell first, if everyone adds to it, we should be able to create one big spell," Fife spread his legs and held up one arm. "Demon Sword! Hear my call! Give me the power to vanquish this paranormal entity through my magic ability!" The magician called out to the sword he held and it glowed a white color. He pointed the sword in front of him and called out Electromagnetic Requiem, as large waves of white light blasted the dragon.

"Just because I'm paranormal, doesn't mean that I am easily beaten by electromagnetic attacks. Mouth Blaster!" The spirit called out, as it opened its mouth and sent out a ghostly beam that collided with Fife's electromagnetic beam. When the beams met, neither one showed any resistance and both seemed to hold the same strength. Fife dug his feet into the ground and let go of his sword with one hand. The vampire wrote out a magnification spell as it spiraled around the beam and directly made contact with the monster. It caused the dragon's head to pop back quickly.

Kuroi Ryuu added more force and aggression to his attack, as the magician was hit with the onslaught. Fife could barely keep his footing as his feet only slide farther and farther back.

"Here goes my strongest attack!" Ko saw her team mate's need for assistance and performed an intricate assembly of hand signs in front of her, then flung her hands out as she called out the name of her attack. "Sakura Storm!" A fast blast of razor winds and light pink petals joined with the vampire's attack, swirling around the beam as it made its way up to the opposing blast.

Fife looked to Ko, happy that she had initiated her attack as he recovered from his slight heart attack of nearly being hit with the blast. Ko had pulled through at exactly the right time. The white-haired ninja smiled at her friend, happy to help and trying to maintain a confident outlook on how to defeat the enemy and save Hiroshima, as well as everyone in Particle Proxy.

'Even though I broke my honor code, it feels good to be fighting like this again, knowing that I can truly make a difference,' the girl thought to herself in confidence.

"Death Phoenix!" Zangetsu released a black bird that was composed of energy. The bird circled the main beam and curved around the front of it, slamming into Kuroi Ryuu's opposing beam as it shoved it farther back in the other direction. The beam was nearly at the dragon's mouth.

Suddenly, the sky turned into an eerie dark abyss as the darkened clouds swirled around in slow motion and a dark beam was released from the heavens, headed straight towards Fife. If nothing was to be done, it would obliterate him.

The vampire glanced up with widened eyes, but before he could even utter a word, Zangetsu had rushed out in front of him and performed a hand gesture and a green Japanese Kanji appeared above him, acting as a shield as the attack was deflected.

Ko reached over the struggling magician's shoulder and grabbed the hilt of his sword, allowing the last of her power to flow through the magical item and hopefully add more strength to his attack. A few moments later, Zangetsu did the same, using the last of his powers to donate to the beam, which had grown in size and turned a gray color.

The powerful beam provided more than enough strength to defeat the dragon as it ripped through the entities' form, splitting the screeching being into two parts. The dragon's horrific noise of defeat sounded throughout the plains of Particle Proxy as it was disintegrated into nothingness.

The battle was over, and they had won.

Fife collapsed to his knees as Ko kneeled beside of him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Zangetsu simply stared at the spot where Kuroi Ryuu had once been. A part of him couldn't even believe that they had truly even won against such a powerful foe.

The sun's beams shone through the parting clouds, warming up the ground and bathing everyone in its golden light.

"We did it…We defeated Kuroi Ryuu. Now Hiroshima is free of his curse," the black-haired ninja smiled to himself.

"Thank goodness…" Ko smiled as Fife struggled to keep from passing out. He had wasted a tremendous amount of energy, but he was happy that he had. Finally, Hiroshima would be free and no longer bear the burdens of everyone on his shoulders. Not only that, but most importantly, no one would be erased into oblivion.

"What's going on?" Iva watched Hiroshima with widened eyes. Something strange was happening, but what? The angel's body felt cold to the touch, and before she could say a word more, Hiroshima's form began to float into the air.

Chichiri slowly opened his eyes to see Ko's concerned face as he heard his name being said over and over. He responded by saying her name in a questioning manner. The white-haired woman asked if he was alright. Chichiri sat up slowly, holding his head, which felt as if it had been jack hammered in.

"What happened?" He asked. "Is it over?"

"Yeah…Kuroi Ryuu is gone," Ko confirmed with a placid smile.

"But, I wonder where he went," Zangetsu thought aloud. Kuroi Ryuu wasn't technically alive. He didn't die, just went to another location…but where? The thought half way horrified him. The dragon could very well sucker another person into being his host, much like he did to poor Hiroshima.

"He probably escaped to another dimension. Spirits can travel between dimensions. That's why an exorcist will tell you to get rid of mirrors in your house if you're being haunted. Mirrors are said to be gateways through dimensions and allow the spirits to travel freely. Hiroshima was the mirror, in this case." Fife explained the process through which travel can be made by paranormal entities. The theory of Hiroshima acting as a mirror for Kuroi Ryuu was a perfect metaphor.

"I'm glad you're alright," Ko turned to Chichiri, who pulled himself up off of the ground and thanked her.

"Let's go back to the Toxic Ivy and tell everyone the good news," Zangetsu replied. Fife half-way dreaded what he would find once they got into the pub. He hoped that Keiji and Iva took his advice to stay away from Hiroshima.

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Keiji and Iva watched in horror as Hiroshima's unconscious body levitated in mid air above them. It glowed in a light blue was sword blades appeared, stuck in his body in all different directions. The only thing that was not pieced with a blade was his head and neck.

"What in the hell?" Keiji asked with shock as his eyes widened.

At that instant, the swords were released from Hiroshima's body, covered in the angel's blood as they were projected in all directions, ripping the angel's wings into pieces as they were launched straight for Keiji and Iva, who could only stare helplessly with nowhere to run as the blades closed in, promising them a grim fate.

…To Be Continued