Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ No Return ( Chapter 94 )

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

By: MellyN

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Sacrifice

Chapter 94: No Return

By: Melissa Norvell

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"I thought I was rid of you for sure," Dai gazed up at the strong woman before him from his position on the ground. It was startling at how she had changed in his absence. Ko was no longer the weak woman he knew all of those years ago, and one thing was for sure: she wasn't going to let herself be taken advantage of again.

"Are you upset that I didn't commit suicide and the rumors aren't true so you could hide the fact that you raped me? You must think I'd let it ruin my life that much. I'm not a little girl anymore," sblue eyes hardened, losing their sheen as she stared down her rapist. For once, she felt above him and for once, Dai was below her. It was a feeling that could not be replicated, a feeling of closure.

"Raped? He raped her?!" Chichiri was outraged after he found out this new information. He was livid. "That's it! I'm going to rip your balls off!" The blonde shouted and he attempted to charge forward, only to fall over Hiroshima's extended foot and land on his face in the grass. The long-haired man got to his hands and knees and looked over his shoulder at the angel. "What was that for?"

Why would he try to stop him after hearing something like that? What kind of man was he to just let something like this continue?

"She wants to take care of it herself. She doesn't need a hero. This is her problem and hers alone," Hiroshima didn't even look down at the reckless man, he simply stared at the two who were once in a battle before him.

"But-"

He cut Chichiri off. "If you help her now, she'll feel like she accomplished nothing." It was for Ko's best interest, and if the angel had anything to do with it, Chichiri was not going to interfere.

"After you raped me, I vowed to never let another man take advantage of me again. I'll never forget what you did to me. I became a ninja for many reasons - to become stronger, both mentally and physically, to make my dead father proud and to be able to stand against you if we met again. After a while, I didn't think we'd get the chance, so I gave up my skills and vowed not to use them, but recently, I've had to break that vow to defend myself. I have reasons to fight and people to protect. You won't get in my way," her words were strong, and Ko would not back down now. Through all of the hell that she'd been put through, she finally felt justified. No more would he take from her and the past could finally be officially brought to closure and put behind them.

"We'll see about that!" Dai charged up at the girl, who flung her kunai at him.

He disappeared, and then reappeared behind her, wrapping his arm around her neck. Ko kicked backwards and the heel of her sandal lodged itself into his groin. Dai called out in pain, releasing her. Ko got to her hands and flipped, kicking him in the chin. Landing on her feet, she landed seven kicks in his chest. Gathering pink energy in her hand, she prepared to attack him. "Raging Canon!" She called fourth her attack and blasted him in the chest. The force of the attack sent his body flying back into a tree with enough force to make a dent in the trunk and slide to the ground.

"You're too weak to beat me. I thought you'd be more of a challenge than this," the white-haired girl sneered. Not only was he more pathetic than she was, he was also weaker. Dai was nothing but a pitiful disgrace.

Rising slowly, Dai got up and turned around. He suddenly threw out his hands and shouted 'wind tunnel'. Ko tried to block herself from the onslaught, but what blown backwards. Her opponent appeared in front of her and kneed her in the stomach. The white-haired girl coughed up spit before she was grabbed harshly by the arm and swung in circles and released her. Flipping head over heels, she landed a few feet away and used the force of her landing to propel herself towards the charging Dai, who she planted an upper cut into his stomach. Releasing a guttural groan as he doubled over, Ko axe handled him in the back and sent his body into the ground with such force that it bounced off.

Ko summoned her Raging Canon and blasted him once more. The move sent him flying across the ground, where he landed in the river nearby.

"Had enough?" Her voice was strong, promising more pain if he didn't give up.

Suddenly, a hand reached through the ground behind her and grabbed her left ankle tightly. Her eyes quickly darted back. "Shit! Raging Canon!" She blasted the ground behind her. It exploded on impact with the high energy attack. Dirt, smoke and debris flew around her, making it hard to see where Dai was.

Her opponent appeared behind her, and she could hear him summon his attack. "Kaizake Buster!" Blue beams shot from both of his hands and blasted her in the back, propelling her into the river with a large splash.

"It seems Ko can fight a lot better than we expected," Fife complimented the ninja. He could see Ko's progression throughout their journeys. Never had he witnessed her fighting with so much tenacity and skill as he had in this very moment.

"She always could. She just played weak because of her vow," Hiroshima noted.

"Vow?" Keiji questioned. This was the second time that he heard it brought up, now he was beginning to wonder what kind of vow she had made all these years ago.

"She took a vow a long time ago, that she would give up being in ninja. She wanted to purge herself of the one thing that reminded her of her painful moment. She became a ninja to become stronger to get over her moment of weakness," Hiroshima better explained what Ko's vow actually was, and to Keiji it made a world of sense as to why she'd been so normal acting when they met and performed together.

He knew that Ko knew how to street fight, but there was something about the way she fought that told him she knew more than what she was saying. "Now I understand why Ko did everything that she could."

Chichiri pulled himself off of the ground. "I definitely know why she didn't want to come here now. By coming here, she knew she was confronting that guy."

"She probably hoped that Dai wouldn't be here," Tsurugi commented.

"The same reason I avoided Sumeria was much the same reason Ko wanted to avoid this place," Fife admitted. It was never easy facing the past and coming to terms with your own closure, no matter what it may be. More than anyone, Fife understood this moment.

"You just didn't want people to know that you were a vampire," green eyes narrowed as Keiji cast his master an all knowing look and crossed his arms over his chest.

A bead of sweat ran down the back of Fife's head. "That's not my only reason."

Ko jumped back as daggers zoomed her way. Attempting to dodge, she managed to evade most of them but a stray blade whizzed by her face, chopping off part of her hair. The pure white strands fell to the ground as the girl picked up one of the daggers and gathered her white hair. In one, clean stroke she chopped it off at her cheek bones and slowly released it into the breeze as her friends stared shocked in the background.

"You did always like my long, white hair. Cutting it off must disappoint you," she verbally jabbed him.

Dai attempted an explosion technique but Ko was quick to perform replacement as a log suffered the blow instead.

"Got you!" She appeared in his face. Ko took the opportunity to blast him with her Hidden Art: Sakura Illusion. Her pink petals slashed violently through his skin, forcing blood to the surface before she delivered a more promising blow as she followed up with her Shadow Saber attack. The dark blade came down, nearly splitting him in half.

Dai barely evaded the onslaught. It felt as though it took far more effort to move, and he could tell that he was wearing down at a rapid pace. 'I'm growing weak. I don't know how much more of this I can take.'

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Azmy walked alongside of Fable as the two advanced towards their destination. The slate-haired girl simply stared ahead with a blank expression on her face. Fable turned to her and thought to herself. `What power did Mistress Soel give you? Whatever it is, it must be a great power to be a thing that's guarded so carefully.'

The smaller girl stopped and looked up to her dog-eared companion. "Is something wrong?" Fable was certainly staring at her pretty hard like something bothered her.

"I was just thinking," the dog-eared girl replied as if still in thought.

"About what?" Azmy turned her head mechanically to the side.

"I was wondering what kind of power you have. I was told that it's quite an interesting one," the taller girl was going to prod a little and see if she could get any kind of small answer from her ally. Fable was curious on what exactly was going on. Besides Soel, this girl clearly knew something about her plans.

"Power? I have a power?"

Or maybe not…unless she was lying.

'So, she doesn't seem to remember anything and she isn't aware of it. I wonder if Soel did this intentionally. No doubt she did, from what I know; this girl was the legend's ally at one point in time. I wonder if she remembers.' Her ears twitched. "Yes, a very special power that was given to you by a sorceress with amazing powers. You're a special girl, Azmy."

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Dai's body slammed into the tree trunk as Ko ran at him at full speed and launched her Cyclone of a 1,000 Hits at him. The attack rammed into him, causing his body to hit the cutting winds and bounce back into the tree trunk multiple times, like a tennis ball being hit back and forth. After he bounced back and forth over ten times, she drop kicked him. Dai's face literally bounced off of the ground. Grabbing a fist full of hair, Ko pulled him up to her face.

"It…isn't supposed to happen this way…You're not supposed to be this strong…" He grunted out through clenched teeth, trying to hold whatever bit of pride he had.

"I'm your hell and your dream, it seems," she placed an opened hand in front of his face as shock spread across his features. "See you in hell. Light Crusher!" Ko called out her final attack, blasting the man in the face and ending his life for good.

Never again would he rape another woman.

"Do you get the feeling they'll hate us now?" Fife asked without a care in the world. It seemed to be a running trend in nearly all of the places they traveled to.

Keiji was silent.

"Wow! You're great, Ko! Way to kick his ass!" Chichiri cheered his team mate on.

Ko glanced over her shoulder and thanked him sincerely for his support. She smiled sweetly at her group of friends, who had stood by her side and rooted for her this entire time. Even if they were dysfunctional, there was no better team that she could ask for.

"At least no more women can suffer your fate," Tsurugi walked up to her.

"What?" Ko turned to face him.

"Kazama Dai is a serial rapist in this village. He's raped sixteen women in total, counting you," the black angel let her know about the news behind Dai. When Ko killed him, she did the female population of the village a huge favor.

Hiroshima walked up behind him. "You don't see me crying because he died. I hate rapists. That and he used his position as the son of the village elder in order to escape punishment."

"What scum," Chichiri scowled, "I hate that people are like that."

"We're not exactly angels…" Fife trailed, then looked at Hiroshima and Tsurugi and smiled nervously. "Well…You know what I mean."

A deep-set frown plastered itself on Hiroshima's face. "Would you stop making jokes about me?"

"I meant it metaphorically," the vampire put a hand behind his head and smiled, closing his eyes.

'Now I am even more determined to bring this scum down.' Ko thought to herself before she looked to Tsurugi. "So…He's not only done this to me, but to others as well? How many women's lives has he ruined?"

"That's quite trivial! Cork Screw!" Dai shouted with blood streaming heavily down his face as he pointed two fingers at the group. A stream of yellow light with another stream spiraling around it sounded off with a boom. Hiroshima, Fife and Tsurugi dodged out of the way but Ko stood her ground.

"Raging Canon!" She called her attack out as a large, white beam projected from her hands and shot towards her enemy, colliding with her enemy's attack. The force from the blows caused the two to fly backwards.

"I feel bad for just standing here," Keiji said from his position beneath the tree.

"But, Ko wouldn't like it very much if you butted in. Just think about how you'd feel if that happened to you and she broke up a fight you were having with an age-old enemy," Fife tried to make him see how it would affect her if he decided to play white knight. While Keiji's heart was in the right place, he wasn't thinking of her feelings.

"I know…but still…I worry." Especially after finding out Dai was a serial rapist. That unnerved him more than anything. He worried for Ko's safety.

Dai lay on the ground, breathing heavily as gurgled noises mixed in. His face was horribly disfigured from Ko's attack Blood ran into his eyes, causing him vision loss. 'My vision is blurry…I can't see…' He felt his clothing tug to the front as his worn body was lifted up.

"It's over for you," Ko wasn't going to go easy on him now. She wanted to make sure he was dead.

"No!" His eyed widened as her hand was stuck in front of his face once more. Bakuhatsu was uttered as a forceful explosion blasted him into the river. From the depths of rushing water, blood rose to the surface and dispersed.

The group watched that spot for a few minutes and nothing ever emerged. It was safe to say that Dai was now dead.

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Azmy fell back suddenly. Fable called out her name and turned to grab the girl before she hit the ground.

"Azmy, are you-" She started, but paused as the girl's body levitated into the air and turned, emitting bust of light that sent a sonic boom through the air.

Ko turned and cast her gaze skyward. "What's going on?"

Tsurugi's eyes widened. "What?"

"What the hell?" Hiroshima also turned and gazed at the sky.

"No way! It can't be!" Keiji shouted as his green eyes went wide with horror.

"Isn't she? I mean…I thought she liked herself," Ko was shocked that her fallen friend could possibly be back. Something was up.

Tsurugi's face turned serious. "It's Azmy…but something is seriously wrong here."

"You're right," Fife agreed, his look mimicking the others.

"What?!" Chichiri exclaimed. "Can someone tell me how in the world this is real? I mean, we've ran into some pretty freaky stuff before but this? I thought Azmy was dead!" From what he knew, dead people didn't come back to life. This was beginning to sound like some weird zombie apocalypse thing.

"She is," Fife confirmed his biggest fears.

"Are you on drugs? She's right there!" The blonde gestured to the girl's body, which floated high above them, incased in a powerful, large sphere of light.

"That may be, but she's not alive. She has no soul," the vampire deduced. Azmy, while she held animation, there was no true life in her. Nothing but a reanimated corpse. No doubt some magic was in play here.

"So, she's a puppet?" Ko's face hardened. This was beyond cruel. Azmy deserved to rest in peace.

"Yes."

Hiroshima glanced to Fife. "You know, don't you?"

"I do. Are you upset?"

"I don't even know what to think."

"To stump an angel seems hard."

"We'll talk later."

Fife smiled. "Certainly, I can't hide anything from you."

Their conversation was interrupted by Keiji's voice.

"There's Fable!" The green-haired donor pointed to the dog-eared girl who stood before them.

"What have you done to her?" Ko wanted to know what kind of sick person was behind this, and why they needed the body of her friend so badly? What could Azmy possibly have that someone like Soel would need?

"This is Mistress Soel's doing, not my own. I may be a mage, but I am nowhere near her talent," Fable stated as Azmy spread her arms high above them, causing bursting winds to sweep through the shifting skies as dark purple and black washed over them, turning the area dark in an instant.

Down below, everyone shielded themselves to avoid being hit by debris. Their clothes, hair, and wings fluttered in the high gales.

"What's going on?" Keiji asked above the howling.

"She has some kind of strange power. It affects everything," Hiroshima educated.

"It's a magic I can't quite place but it's very powerful," Fife tried to keep his footing.

Azmy opened her blank eyes and spoke in a mechanical voice. "I must…capture him," her gaze was pin pointed on Hiroshima. 'This must be…my new power. It's a wonderful, warn feeling. Like the embrace of strong arms on a sunny day.' Her eyes closed as a calm smile etched onto her face. "It's so nice…"

Keiji turned and looked over his shoulder at the rest of his group, who were struggling to keep themselves anchored to the ground. "Let's get out of here before something happens." To him, it was as if the girl was charging herself up for a massive attack, and he didn't want to be any part of it.

Azmy's eyes opened and the ground began to crumble as electricity waves shot around her like a powerful lightening storm. The sky and land began to warp, as if they were being transported into another dimension.

"She can distort space and time. How did she even get a power like that? Not even Vespa can perform that level of wizardry," Tsurugi was shocked. Not even the most advanced wizards knew magic at this level. Whoever granted her such a power was no doubt more powerful than they could have ever imagined.

Vespa was right about Soel, and this proved it.

"You should learn what you're up against before you blindly challenge Mistress Soel's powers." Perhaps this would teach them that they truly had something to fear if they continued to meddle with her plans.

"This is space-time transport magic," Hiroshima noted.

"What does that mean? Can we get away?" Zangetsu was worried about how that sounded. Space-time transport magic usually sent them somewhere or delivered a variety of damaging results. It could even split their group up or kill them all.

"That's impossible."

"Yes, it means Azmy can distort reality," Tsurugi agreed with his boyfriend. Their entire world was affected. No matter where they ran, it would catch up with them. Her attack was just too large.

"Where will we end up?" Keiji asked.

"Could be another world, could be another time. Wherever it is, it will be in Soel's favor," Hiroshima knew that the spider was trying to pull all of the flies into her web. The only question was why and what would happen once they got there. He knew the answer if he wanted to look for it, but at this moment in time, the dark angel decided against it. Some things were better left to the imagination.

"As long as she has Azmy on her side, we'll be forced to bend to her will, even in our journeys ahead. Might as well sit back and ride to hell in our little hand basket," Fife smiled at the irony behind it all. The destiny that they once held so much control over was reduced to nothing but a time travel hell.

"Can you protect us? Aren't angels supposed to be impervious to magic?" Keiji turned to the two winged beings, begging them for any help they could provide, searching for an answer that he knew he would probably never get.

"Not this kind. Angels can transcend time because they are supernatural but if time transcends around us, we have no choice but to go with it." As fatalistic as it sounded, Hiroshima had no choice. He was just as helpless as they were.

"Damn you!" Keiji took off running towards Fable with his fist drawn. He couldn't take it anymore. His dead friend was being used as a magic vessel and it utterly disgusted him. The kind, sweet girl he knew was defiled and being used like a tool. This wasn't Azmy. It was just some sad hull. "How dare you force someone to keep living after they've died! It's cruel!"

"I have no say or opinion on this matter," the sorceress stated simply.

"You heartless machine!" Keiji closed in on her.

Fable gasped and her eyes widened upon being called such a name. "Ma…chine?" Her voice was broken up and distorted into shock.

"Time Distortion," Azmy summoned forth a bright light which consumed Keiji and Fable, right before his fist would make contact with her face.

…To Be Continued