Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Phobia ( Chapter 97 )

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

By: MellyN

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Sacrifice

Chapter 97: Phobia

By: Melissa Norvell

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The battle field consisted of a mass of checkered squares and lined with wooden crosses on either side, making both playing fields look like graveyards. The occasional rock or tree littered the playing field, giving it an odd, eerie feel. Everyone was chained on the crosses with black chains the kept them held there. Each of them looked like a crucifixion scene. Charles sat in a crushed velvet throne with gold, stylized carving around it and a row of pearls that lined the sides. His watchful eye scanned the playing field.

Zell was chained the closest to him; the shinigami blossomed with excitement and winked. "Oh, this is going to be fun. It's my absolute favorite part of this world," he could hardly contain himself.

Charles gave him a stern glance. "Don't forget our mission in this world. As much as we're having a delightful time, we must stay on focus."

Zell's smile widened, revealing his jagged teeth. "Certainly, I just love being your knight."

The seated youth gave him a small smile back. "I love having you around, my wonderful little bluebird."

The shinigami blushed and wriggled around dramatically. "You're too kind! If you compliment me anymore, I might just bust out of these chains and jump your bones right now!"

Sweat ran down the back of everyone's head at hearing his compliments.

"I'd rather him not," Keiji muttered.

"He's so expressive," Fife seemed just fine with it, on the other hand. He would.

Zangetsu was more focused on the current problem at hand, 'Ko...'

"Ready," Charles instructed as he raised his hand, then slammed it down on a button located in the arm of his throne. "Go!"

All of the chains fell free of their forms as they were released from the crosses. They all charged forth, ridding themselves of the chains as they ran across the field to the opposite side, which was lined with Soel's minions. They had also been freed and charged towards was seated on an identical throne as she stared blankly ahead on her throne of blue crushed velvet. Ko swung in the cage beside of her like a pet bird as she watched the sights down below.

Blue eyes glanced back to the husk of a girl that sat to her left. 'This isn't her...The real Azmy is dead. This...I dont even know what or who this is.' She clenched her fist and frowned, growing emotional at seeing someone who was once a beloved friend being forced to play marionette at the hands of her enemy. 'It's just some puppet that Soel made. Once she's done what Soel asked her to do, I'm sure she'll be killed off...I wonder what everyone will do when they finally have to face her. Can we defeat someone who was once our friend and team mate?'

"Go..." Azmy's void voice sounded through the air as Zangief, Eclipse and other henchmen of Soel's rushed towards their opposition and the sound of chains clattering against the ground sounded through the arena.

Tsurugi and Hiroshima took flight, overlooking the chessboard pattern on the ground.

"Do you see anything, Hiro-kun?" The dark angel inquired as he scanned the battlefield.

"Something is coming from the east," his mate alerted.

Tsurugi directed his gaze to the source of the problem. He was amazed at what he saw. Running along the ground, was Zangief and he noticed something crucial about him right away. "It seems they also have an angel on their side." His visage morphed into a serious one.

Hiroshima's eyes widened as soon as that information hit his ears. "What?"

Zangief took off through the air, his powerful wings allowed him to cut through the air like bullet, speeding towards them. He stopped as he laid sights on them and now they could see him clearly.

He had long, shoulder-length mint green hair and wore a white suit. His eyes were shaded and the one on his left side glowed red. This angel wore a white suit and black tie, along with a white fedora. One of his wings was made of metal and the other of feathers. He also spoke through a metal beak and his voice was robotic in nature. "Get ready, there they are!"

"Hey we go, guys!" Chichiri steadied himself and put himself in a battle stance, poised to attack.

Zell swirled his scythe with a look of pleasure. "Fabulous!" The shinigami practically sung the word. "Nothing like a little bloodshed to arouse my senses."

"You reek with sexual innuendo," Kizoku sighed.

"I love you, too," the shinigami clutched his scythe down low and bat his eyes flirtatiously at his fellow.

Kizoku only sighed again as a response as everyone stood their ground as their opposition appeared. Eclipse was the first one to come into their sight. She stopped just short of their group and stood defensively as many others came up behind her and paused.

"So, we meet again."

Tsurugi's sights narrowed, "Eclipse."

"Well if it isn't Tsurugi of the Wind, former fallen arch angel," the woman in the eye patch mused to herself.

"Who the hell are you?" Hiroshima asked defensively.

The woman's lips curved into a small, devilish smile. "I'm Eclipse, general of Soel and knight to the white queen. If you want to do anything in this world, you must answer to me."

"What have you done to Ko, you scum?" Chichiri asked, holding his weapon out threateningly as anger marred his face.

"Ko is a vital part of my plan," her long eye narrowed. "You can't have her back." Like hell she was going to give a key bearer back to them. She would have rather died than let the girl fall into their clutches.

"We will free both Ko and Undine from your cruel grasp." That was one thing that Zangetsu had vowed. More than anything, his sights were on his two friends, one that had been missing for so long and the other held in a cage on the other side of the field.

"I'd hardly call what we do cruel. Don't judge circumstances you have no part of," Eclipse held her hand out, summoning her massive army as they rushed from all sides, coming around her and heading towards the others.

"I'll take care of them! Wind Sphere!" Tsurugi summoned the sphere of wind as the coat tails on his long, black shirt fluttered around him. Throwing it like a baseball, the dark angel watched as it crashed into a group of soldiers, flinging their bodies every which way as his friends rushed in to begin their battle.

Eve ran into the midst of the soldiers. "It's time to prove myself. Chains of Death," she summoned her black chains that shot from the ground and wound around the soldiers, cutting off their air supply as they struggled against them. The soldiers tried to put up a fight as they continued to struggle but they lost the fight and fell to the floor, robbed of their last bit of oxygen.

Hiroshima dove down, slashing through the soldiers with ease. He swiped his sword across whoever decided to attack him and savagely ripped them apart. Keiji kicked a man in the face and Chichiro took his mighty axe and proceeded to chop people limb from limb. He spun, driving his axe blade into someone's neck as their blood sprayed across the duel colored tiles.

Glancing around, the blonde found himself separated from everyone. His only company was the dead bodies that littered the field and splatters of blood all around. "Where is everyone? I guess I got separated. All of these squares make everything look the same."

"Fissure!" Fife plunged the tip of his sword into the ground as it shook violently. This caused the soldiers to lose their footing and fall to the ground, some of them even fell into the crack that the fissure. Their screams could be heard as their bodies disappeared into the black abyss.

Zangetsu spread his wing, "Soul Buster Canon!" He called out as a beam of light exploded fourth.

"Eternal Nightmare's Delirium!" Tsurugi called out as he spread his wings and unleashed his attack upon the army.

Hizoku ran through them, quickly slicing some of them with her scythe before she swung it and released a powerful wave of black energy that dug into the tender flesh of the bodies, splattering blood across the ground in its wake. "We've got to get to the queen and free the Key Holders."

"Leave that to me! Crimson Destruction!" Hiroshima swung his sword as balls of red energy cleared the way, blasting bodies aside as the red balls exploded on contact and soldiers were thrown every which way, screaming in pain as they collided with them.

Eclipse watched as her men fell in droves around her. Scowling, her lone eye darted towards the angel. 'Damn them...Oh well, no matter.' Her red lips morphed into a confident smile, 'they won't get past me to get to Azmy.'

"Yami no Death!" Zell summoned his attack as black balls of energy flew out from his scythe blade and blasted more of the men.

Charles smiled in satisfaction as he watched from above. They were making good progress. 'My pieces are scattered about the board. This could get interesting. Wouldn't you agree, Queen Azmy?' He glanced over towards the blue-haired girl who looked determined as her blank eyes scanned the field.

"So, you work for Soel, too?" Tsurugi dodged a white ball of energy as he faced off against the metallic angel.

"That's correct," Zangeif stuck out his hand and fired a white beam towards his opponent, who sent out an attack of bust winds as the attacks collided and neutralized each other.

"With that beak, you could be mistaken for a tengu, but I can tell that you're an angel." He was a mechanized angel, but an angel nonetheless. Whatever happened to him was more than likely something that nearly killed him and the fact that he was a cyborg was daunting on its own.

"Aren't you smart?" Zangief charged at him with his sword drawn, ready to take him down in one strike.

Zell delivered a clean cut below, slicing off someone's head with ease as blood spurted from their neck and their headless body fell to the ground. "I love this feeling! Death is so beautiful in all of its brutal glory. I'm glad killing these people doesn't affect my record!"

Hiroshima spun above the ground; his blade swirled around as he cut two soldiers in half that stood on either side of him. "Now, I have to find Azmy."

Keiji delivered a swift kick to one of the soldiers as his foot collided with his face. Another soldier was stabbed nearby as Keiji and Fife drew back and stood back-to-back readying themselves for further battle.

"So, we're just hacking away until we get to Ko. Won't that wear us down before we can rescue her?" Keiji asked as he glanced at his master.

"I believe they're counting on that," Fife replied.

"So, what's the plan? Wing it? I mean, we're up against Soel's generals." It wasn't just one of them anymore; all of her generals were present on the chess board. That meant that they really had to step up their game.

"You remember Eclipse, right?"

"We saw her when we were looking for the Marchois with the Naga," Keiji remembered her all too well from their prior adventures. She had a face that he couldn't get out of his mind.

"Bingo!"

"I've never seen that flying one before," the green-haired boy said as he looked up at the angel.

"Neither have I," Fife confirmed. "I think he's an angel."

"If they have an angel, too...then what will happen?" Keiji wondered if it meant anything. They wanted Hiroshima and they already had another angel. Did that mean that they were collecting angels? Maybe they were collecting specific types of angels?

"Well we have two angels on our side, so it should be better," the vampire smiled. After all, there was safety in numbers. At least, that's what he wanted to think. They must remain positive to divide and conquer. "Let's just do our part, shall we?"

"Black Fall!" Eve summoned her attack as she waved her hand to the side. Black leaves tumbled through the air in waves as they danced around the men, cutting into their bodies as they screamed in pain and terror.

Kizoku sent crescent-shaped waves of black energy that destroyed several soldiers and plunged themselves into the wall beside of Azmy, who's form jolted forward with the force of the blast. 'You're mine, white queen. You can't escape your fate.'

"How will we know where the item is? Aside from it being in a chest, do we really know a general direction? If we have to follow the queen's servants, then she'll get to it before we do." Eve asked as she turned to the shinigami at her side.

"You're an angel, right?" Kizoku inquired as she looked to the diminutive girl at her side.

Eve nodded.

"Then you should know where it is," she replied as a soldier came up on her from the right. She delivered a fatal blow to his chest with little effort.

The green-haired girl's eyes hit the ground and a small frown adorned her pale complexion. 'I wish it was that simple.'

Chichiri continued to walk around, and soon the bodies disappeared. Now he was in a completely desolate side of the playing field, far out of the sight of his team mates. Glancing around, nervous eyes trailed to every inch of the board as he desperately searched for any signs of life. "Man, there's no one in this area, and I don't see anyone either. It figures, everyone is getting all the action and I'm out here by myself. I don't even see them around."

A distance away, concealed in the shadows, Soel stood and watched him stumble around. She was adorned in a short, black, lolita style dress with black stocking with bows int he center and ruffles along the tops. Her pink lips were curved into the slightest of smiles as she continued to watch as Chichiri stumbled around in the darkness. 'I have him alone. This will be the perfect opportunity for me to knock off another one. He'll regret getting lost. It's about time that you knew what suffering truly was.'

Extending her hand, the area became consumed in a dark shade of midnight purple energy. Chichiri looked around him with a 'huh' uttered lowly as purple crept around his form. Paranoia shot through his form as he gripped the axe tighter and held it to his body, ready to strike. "W-What's going on? Who are you?" Chichiri's voice trembled as he continued to glance around, trying desperately to find the source of the voice.

"I am Soel," the girl announced simply.

"What? Tell me that I'm joking! You mean that you're the one we've been looking for this entire time? No way!" Chichiri drew back at the sight of her. She looked so elegant and frail, like a dainty doll and it was hard to believe that someone so feminine held such massive powers. This was it. This was the mastermind, the person that they had traveled all this way to confront, the most powerful woman and the one who covets the items of Zameln.

"Yes, I am the one that you have been searching for."

His eyebrows furrowed in anger as he summoned up his bravery. "What have you done with Undine? What's your plan? Why are you doing this?"

"I am not one to divulge my secrets to you," if he thought he was going to get some sort of answer, he couldn't have been any more wrong. What a silly, stupid human to think her so one-dimensional. How amusing.

'How do I approach this situation? I mean, if what she says is true...then this woman is the one everyone has been looking for. She's beautiful, but her eyes are so cold. Now is my chance...I can't wait for anyone to come around and help me.' It was just he and her. Chichiri was all alone to face off against the main boss on his own, and he couldn't have been any more scared than he was now.

Despite that, he raised his axe over his head and ran to strike her. As he was about to chop the woman in half, everything froze around them and his body was locked into position. "What's happening? I can't move!"

Soel walked up and looked him in the eyes so void and dull that he could see his own reflection in them. It was as if he was staring into the abyss and it was staring back at him. He struggled against the effects of the spell but no matter how hard he tried to struggle, nothing came of it. His body wasn't budging and all he was doing was wasting energy trying to get out of that strong hold.

"I know that you want to kill me and prove yourself useful to your friends, but that won't happen. You have no idea of who you're up against. I don't need to hide behind my minions. I'm perfectly capable of tearing you apart myself," her words were calculating and cold. Truly, Soel presented herself as an unforgiving woman of power.

Chichiri was freaking out. His heart slammed in his chest. 'She talks like nothing phrases her.' Gritting his teeth together, the blonde glared in defiance. "Damn it, what are you going to do to me?"

"I'll make you an example of what happens to those who think that they can simply walk up and bury an axe in my head. I've been examining you for a while now. You're extremely weak, and you know no magic. I'd almost feel like a high school bully if I were to simply beat you up with my magic," the sorceress mused to herself as she paced around the male.

"What?" Chichiri asked as Soel drew a symbol in the air with her index finger as spirit snakes, nearly fog-like in structure erupted from her shoulder blades and shot out at him in a burst of speed.

Blue eyes widened in horror as he Chichiri was helpless to fend off the snakes on his own. "What in the hell are those?" He asked as a blinding light consumed him. Chichiri screamed bloody murder as he desperately tried to move, but he was like a fly ensnared in a spider's web.

"Now, see your fears come to life before you," that was the last thing he heard before he slipped off into a whirlwind of delusion.

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Zangief dove down at a high speed and swept across the ground at Keiji and Fife, who dodged out of the way. Keiji landed on the ground a few feet away and hurled his circular blade, which followed the angel as he flew off.

Turning around, Zangief smacked the object away with his forearm as if it were nothing.

"Who is this guy?" Keiji was shocked at the sheer strength he had. That blade could have easily cut his arm off...so why didn't it?

"My name is Zangief, since you wanted to know so much. I work for Soel but my reasons are none of your business," Zangief flew across the ground, headed towards them.

Zangetsu hurled his kusarigama through the air with all of the strength that he had. It impaled a guy in the stomach before he drew it back, striking again and against as he cleared through about five men, but then he saw Eclipse in his sights.

Before he could strike, he was hit in the back with an invisible wave of energy. It burned at his flesh as he was hurled forward and landed on the ground with a thud. Glancing up, he quickly got to his feet and jumped out of the way as her sword stabbed into the ground. He said her name and clutched his kusarigama close to his body, ready to strike.

"Well, isn't this fun? A lonely knight challenges the great white queen. I'll make you suffer in the most indescribable ways." Just thinking about it made her feel a sense of bliss so great that she could hardly contain herself.

"You'll pay for what you did to Ko and King Claude," Zangetsu stayed on guard. This woman was dangerous, and he wasn't too sure what she was capable of. She was a white knight, after all.

"I doubt that. You should really worry about yourself right now," the one-winged man was facing her alone. That was pretty naive on his part.

Before she could get too excited, she heard an imposing voice that dashed her fun. The words Crimson Slash was uttered and she felt herself grow hot as she was bathed in a sea of neon red. Quickly, the woman in the eye patch dodged out of the way as a wayward wave of energy barreled through, nearly hitting her. With malice plastered on her visage she turned to see the angel landing beside of her.

"Hiroshima, I can do this. You should worry about the queen," Zangetsu told him, but the angel wasn't about to listen to him.

"I've waited all this time to make these wings black again. If you think I'm missing my chance then you're wrong," the angel smirked darkly. After all, white wings just didn't suit him. He much preferred the look of pitch black.

"But-"

"I run over whoever gets in my way. I don't care who I have to cut through, I'm going to kill whoever gets in my way." That wasn't a threat that was a promise.

"Then let us test our skills against each other. I'm fairly certain that I can take on both of you," it made no different to Eclipse. In fact, since the legend was there it would be the perfect time to retrieve him. Not only would they have the key holders but they would also have the angel in their grasp.

"Are you ready?" Hiroshima asked, getting into a fighting stance.

Zangetsu looked to the angel and nodded in agreement.

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Pure fear reflected in the blonde's eyes as he held his head and thrashed around as soon as he was allowed to move. Soel simply watched the man writhing in pain as he stumbled around like a drunkard. In his mind, he saw all of his friends, mangled and murdered lying along the ground.

"Please..."

A vision of Ko flashed through his head, her body was covered in blood as he held her battered form, tears flowing down his face.

"No more..."

Angel wings rose up, covered in blood glistened on the feathers, matting them together. As the wings extended, blood flew from them in small, round balls. The images sent terror running cold through his body like nitrogen.

"Do you like what you see?" Soel's voice sounded more interested than teasing.

Chichiri said nothing in response; he merely visibly shook in fear as images assaulted his mind one after another in vivid, realistic glory.

"This is your destiny. If you stay with this group, you'll cause them nothing but misfortune."

"I...I can't agree with that. We've done a lot of good for people," Chichiri couldn't possibly bear to think that all they had ever done while he was a part of the group was cause the downfall and misfortune of others. What about those he was able to save? What about those he was able to help? They all were happy and grateful for what he had done.

That accounted for something, right?

"Nonsense, there are so many who already hate you and everything you stand for. If you still don't believe me, then I'll show you more," Soel continued to assault his mind with mental images in a barrage of visual torture. Chichiri reeled back, holding his head as he yelled in fear 'Everything painful will come to pass. The past, the present and the future will weigh on you and fill your heart and mind with phobia beyond compare. You'll hurt this much, or possibly more when a thought passes through your head.'

"Maybe you should learn Chichiri, that your dreams are never as brilliant as you'd like to think they are. This world is filled with dismal things and dismal times. Just as any other, Domina rides on the brink of destruction." Soel continued to speak. "Tell me, why do you think the shinigami are helping you?"

"What?" Chichiri questioned as he looked into the woman's void eyes.

"They want to destroy Domina. The white queen is the real hero, you all are simply aiding them in its destruction." It was a sad but true fact that he could not deny. Didn't he know that the white side was one of heroism and purity and the black side was one of evil and sinister intentions?

"No! You're lying! They were sent to help us by Vespa!" Chichiri couldn't believe it! He wouldn't believe it! There was no way that such a thing could be true!

"Then how do you know that Vespa's intentions are good? You so blindly follow someone that you don't even know the intentions of. How foolish." They had just jumped into to aid the Red Witch without truly know what for. For all they knew, they could be the true villains.

"It can't be as wrong as what you do!" The blonde shouted through a strained tone as he struggled to keep the images out of his head.

"Everyone has their own goals and aspirations. There is no right or wrong in the world, only colliding dreams," Soel's words impacted him like a brick to the face, cutting him with their morbid truth. "Everything is objective."

...To Be Continued