The End of Madness

Prologue

Madness, that is the only sanity left in Ash and Asura. Being locked away in darkness has taught them that. And they have one person to thank; Death. To seal away Asura's madness, Death imprisoned him in a bag of his own flesh. As for Ash, she's been sealed by the use of her own weapon, Xavier.

It has been so long since that day the two meisters have been sealed away. 800 years by Ash's count. During that time, Asura has been lost in thought on most occasions. What he thought about wasn't her business.

"Do you still believe we will be reborn?" Asura asked her.

"Of course I do," she answered then sensed something through Xavier. "What's that?"

Asura's mad laugh echoed throughout her mind. "It appears we have visitors. I'll entertain our guests if you don't mind."

Ash smiled and closed her eyes. "By all means, you are closer to madness than I. The very essence of madness comes from you."

"Ash, your wish may come true," Xavier told her. "The people coming, they are determined to set Asura free."

Ash opened her eyes. "Then let them come."

Chapter One

After a certain amount of time being trapped in Ash's stone prison, she learned how to free her soul from her body for a time so then she may walk around the shrine she and Asura have been trapped within. It's just a nice exercise since there is nothing to do within the shrine.

"Do you how far away they are?" Ash asked Asura as she touched his skin.

She saw Asura respond to her touch. "They should already be here. Don't worry; I'll make sure you get a good laugh out of this."

"I'm counting on you," Ash said.

As if on cue, Ash heard the doors opening. She turned around to see a man and a woman at the door. The woman was dressed in a black dress with white dots all over it, a funny looking orange hat, a long sleeved grey shirt, white boots and black leggings. She was carrying a brief case. The man was tall and muscular. He was wearing a black shirt with a sort of design on his shoulder, black and white striped pants and he had an iron chain ball attached to one of his feet.

"Our guests are here," Ash whispered.

Asura laughed. "Good, I'm glad…"

Ash sat in front of Asura's prison and watched the madness at work. The man walked forward without fear as for the girl, she was already trembling. Every few steps she took, she looked around.

Ash chuckled. "Already afraid? But the fun hasn't begun yet."

The girl shook her head and jogged to catch up with her friend. After a few moments, she looked around.

"Asura, be kind to the poor girl," Ash said as the girl dropped her brief case. "Look, she's absolutely terrified," the girl reached for a rusted stake and pointed it at her neck.

"You're right… she's too easy to break," Asura said. "Let's see how her friend fares."

Ash watched the man slowly descend into madness. He blanked out then walked towards Ash's stone body.

"Asura, what are you doing?" Ash asked, panic rising in her tone.

"If you could read souls, you would make him to the same thing," Asura answered simply. "Just wait and see."

Obeying Asura's instructions, she waited. The man grabbed Xavier's hilt then pulled the blade out. Her eyes widened. "Is that even possible?"

Then man sat down crossed legged looked at his feet then brought Xavier over his head, as if he were going to cut it off. Just as he was about to, he and the girl came to their sense and threw away their near suicidal weapons.

"Asura," Ash rasped as the kishin of madness laughed. "Xavier is a weapon not a damn play-thing."

"Hey Eruka, look at this," the man said as he looked closely at Ash's body.

"What is it?" the woman, Eruka, joined him.

"This must be where I got the sword," he said.

Ash stood up and walked towards them. She looked over the man's shoulder and saw that the wound created by Xavier closed. It was clean pale flesh. What's happening?

"Is it possible that this woman and the kishin are connected?" the man said.

"We don't have time to think about that," Eruka said. "Look, we were instructed to free the kishin, so let's do that and get out of here," she shuddered. "This place gives me the creeps."

"As you have every right to say," Ash said.

Eruka gasped then looked at Ash's soul. She cried and fell back. "F-Free, there's a ghost…"

The man Free looked at Ash. "Who the hell are you?"

"You can see me?" Ash cocked her head.

"Well, yes," he stood up. "Unless you're a hallucination."

"Considering what you recently been through, I wouldn't blame you for making that assumption," Ash sensed three other souls through Xavier. "If you wish to awaken Asura, do it quickly. No doubt you will be interrupted."

Free nodded. "Right," he looked at Eruka. "Let's go."

As the duo resumed their way towards Asura, Ash's soul returned to her body and she saw nothing but darkness.

"That's odd," Ash thought. "Even after eight hundred years my body can still regenerate from a wound like that. How can that be? Is that the consequence of a meister getting skewered by their own weapon? They don't die but turn into stone?

"Ash…" that was Xavier's voice.

"Xavier! I thought you have been silenced for good," Ash said in a tone of relief.

"It was my punishment for letting Death use me as he did. I remained silent and did not speak to you until a time where you will be set free."

"Like now?"

"Yes. Move your body Ash. You have spent eight hundred years resting. You will have the required amount of strength to free yourself from this prison."

"Then I should thank Free once I have the chance."

Because of the tight fit, Ash had a very limited amount of space to move. If she were trapped in regular stone, she would have broken free easily. But this was different. It really did use a lot of effort to break free. She first moved her arms, and then she freed her torso and waist. She rolled her head around and the stone easily fell off.

Ash panted and used her free hands to support herself as she fell forward. "Damn, Death really doesn't play around," she blinked tiredly. "How pathetic, I'm already tired."

Ash blinked a few more times and her senses slowly came back to her. The room became clear. She saw Free being fired continuously shoot by a young boy in a black suit wielding two hand canons. No… they were smaller and had a different design. Twin pistols maybe? Yes those were the weapons.

Ash gritted her teeth as she pulled herself forward. Her legs are the last body part she needs to free. Her hearing soon awoke and she heard a loud boy coming into the room. Her eyes looked in that direction. She saw a young boy with spiky blue hair heading towards Eruka and she was holding a syringe filled with black liquid. Asura came into mind. Black blood!

With a burst of strength and speed, Ash finally freed herself and leaped into Eruka's defense. Ash blocked the boy's attack.

"What the?" the boy said and jumped back. "Where did she come from?"

Ash breathed heavily then fell to one knee. "What are you waiting for?" Ash looked at Eruka. "Go."

Eruka swallowed as fear filled her eyes. She turned and ran towards Asura.

"Don't bother with her Blackstar!" the boy in the black suit said. "She's on the verge of collapsing. Just get the black blood!"

"Right," the boy, Blackstar, responded.

"No," Ash said and blocked the boy's path.

"Get out of my way!" he said and attacked.

Ash lifted her arm to block the attack. Blackstar's black blade connected with it and created a deep gash, black blood poured out.

"Shit…" Ash said as she struggled to hold her ground. "I'm so weak that I can't block this child's attack."

"Who are you calling a child?!" Blackstar demanded then used his shadow to toss Ash away.

Ash hit the ground and didn't get up. She felt too weak to do so. So she just closed her eyes and allowed sleep to take her as the battle went on without her.

"I'm sorry if I failed you Asura," she said to the kishin.

"Believe me when I say; you won't," Asura responded. "You clearly forgot what madness is capable of. Especially when I am its controller."