The Holy Mission
"What do you mean, that is my soul?" Hidan stared at himself, floating inside his own mind.
"Exactly what I said. That is your soul, enchained and secured by Jashin himself. No matter what happens to your body, your soul stays here. You can't die, unless, I do this." Akaame ripped away the chains holding Hidan's soul. Immediatley, Hidan cried out in pain, and clutched his head. Ignoring the pain, Hidan watched Akaame run off, carrying Hidan's soul on his back. Gritting his teeth, Hidan stumbled after Akaame.
"Get back here!" Hidan managed to force between his teeth. Focusing on his mind, he started changing the layout of his mind, guiding Akaame straight back to him. Soon, the other silver haired Jashinist stalked into the room.
"Not bad Hidan, you've gotten more clever." Hidan grimaced.
"I'm not sure im happy about that. Now, get OUT OF MY MIND!!" A great wind rose up, and started blowing Akaame out. He quickly dropped Hidan's soul, which turned into a small ball of light and floated back to it's pedestal in the center of the cavern. Immediately, the wind rose tenfold, and Akaame flew down the passages in Hidan's mind, only to materialize in the physical world.
"Wow, didn't expect that." Akaame watched Hidan slowly get up.
"There you are!" Hidan swiftly grabbed his sycthe, and threw it at Akaame's chest. He grinned at the pained screa, as Akaame was securely pinned against the tree.
Hidan felt great, he felt stronger, faster, and like he could read his opponents moves. He felt like he had spent his entire life without control over his body. Now, he felt more powerful than ever before. He was brought down from his euphoria at Akaame's pained growl.
"Bastard, that hurt." Hidan jumped up next to Akaame, and pushed the scythe deeper into Akaame's chest.
"This is payback." Hidan grabbed Akaame's hands and pinned them to the tree with his pike. He grinned at Akaame's pained face.
"I'll keep killing you until you finally die!" Hidan started slaughtering his victim. Grabbing another pike, he went around finding as many ways of killing someone as possible.
"So, how many more lives do you have? How much longer will I have to kill you?" Akaame winced, then swung his feet, pushing Hidan out of the tree. Grabbing the pike with his feet, he pulled the weapon out of his hands, then pulled the scythe out.
"Actually, not too many. From my recent battles with idiot Jashinists, I lost quite a few. But still, they should be enough to defeat you." Hidan was puzzled by this comment, he was still immortal. Shrugging it off, Hidan leapt up the tree to retrieve his weapons. Grabbing them, he started a frenzied attack, hacking and slashing at Akaame. Because of the rather large hole in his chest, Akaame was having trouble dodging everything. Growling, he reached for his claws, and leapt at Hidan, shifting into the form of a panther, teeth seeking Hidan's throat.
Caught off guard by the sudden change, Hidan didn't have time to completely dodge, and lost a chunk of flesh from his shoulder. The pain stung him more than usual, but his newfound strength kept him going.
Akaame was worried; he was running really low on lives. He knew that if this battle kept going like it had been, he wouldn't make it. Akaame's muzzle screwed in determination. He was going to make sure that if he was going to die, he wouldn't be going into the void alone.
Turning, Akaame ran off into the forest, heading for an area he knew to house tons of wildlife. Pushing his feline legs as hard as he could, he got there a minute before Hidan could catch up. Akaame spent that minute wisely, killing and taking the lives of as many animals as possible. Once Hidan caught up, Akaame could tell he had about fifteen lives left. Shifting into a rabbit, he moved to hide from the vengeful Jashinist. Slowly, taking great care not to be noticed, Akaame made his way to behind Hidan. Suddenly, Hidan whirled around, his foot catching the rabbit solidly on the chin, snapping its neck.
Fourteen lives left
Forcing himself out of the useless body, his human feet bounded off a nearby tree, sending Akaame hurtling back toward Hidan. He quickly shifted into an ape, his muscled body trying to crush Hidan, only to be impaled on a pike.
Thirteen lives left
Shedding the body of an ape, Akaame turned into a hummingbird, flitting around, trying to avoid the waving scythe. Going into a sharp dive, aiming for Hidan's heart, his beak penetrated flesh, but missed any vital organs. A large hand crushed his tiny body, and Akaame shifted to his panther form again.
Twelve lives left
His panther body was still cut up from their previous encounter, but it was still dangerous. His claws rid Hidan of a few fingers before Akaame shifted into a huge eagle, talons seeking Hidan's eyes. The scythe easily lopped off his head before Akaame shifted into another human, a girl with a HUGE sword.
Eleven lives left
Akaame swung his sword, splintering one of Hidan's pikes, before swinging at Hidan's neck. Obviously, Hidan ducked, and almost lazily chopped off one of his adversary's legs. Quickly, before he could die, Akaame shifted into Fossa. He grabbed his metal claws and aimed for Hidan's right hand, the one holding the scythe. Hidan howled in pain as his hand was pierced through from the metal claw. Gripping his pike, he drove it into Akaame's chest.
Ten lives left
Akaame ripped the pike out, and threw it away before shifting into a huge wolf. The wolf lunged for Hidan's throat, but his jaws only closed on the handle of the scythe. Hidan twisted around, using his new speed to jab at the wolf's shoulder with the butt of his scythe. He smiled at the loud crack, and the resounding pained howl. He watched as Akaame's form shimmered, then another body stood in its place. This body was another Jashinist, a large burly man.
Akaame was getting desperate, he really didn't have many lives left. He needed Hidan dead, NOW. He pulled out the sword worn by this body, and started dancing around Hidan, weaving a net of steel around him. Hidan cursed, every time he tried to get out, a sword was in his way. Frantically, he flung his scythe straight to the side, and prayed it would hit something. It did.
Nine lives left
Akaame ripped the scythe out, shifted into another human's body, and yanked on the chain attaching the scythe to Hidan's hand. Swinging it straight down, Hidan had to move away.
"Give that BACK!!" Hidan jumped at Akaame, grabbing at his weapon, trying to retrieve it.
"As if, this thing has my blood all over it, no way am I going to let you use it." Hidan cursed, wy didn't he think of that before, it was his primary technique. Summoning another pike from a seal, Hidan slashed at Akaame, trying to take another of his dwindling lives. Akaame spun the scythe, and rammed the blade down into Hidan's foot. Dropping down, his foot lashed out at Hidan's shin, hitting it, and forcing his leg back, forcing the scythe to tear through his foot. Hidan, in anger, shoved his pike through Akaame's current brain.
Eight lives left
Akaame struggled to change bodies, a brain injury makes it hard to concentrate, even if you are half-immortal. He shifted into an easy one, a small fly. The smaller and the simpler the animal, the easier to shift.
Hidan looked around, he couldn't spot the tiny insect. If Akaame had a human face, he would have smirked. He slowly buzzed up to Hidan's shoulder, intent on ramming into Hidan's eye, effectively blinding him. Until he saw a large hand coming straight toward him.
"Of course, flies are damn hard to swat." Shifting into his original form, Akaame growled, then shifted into a bear. Roaring, he slashed at Hidan, catching Hidan on the shoulder and flinging him into a tree. Hidan easily flipped off the tree, and jumped at Akaame, stabbing with his pike. Because of his huge form, the pike caught Akaame right in the chest.
Seven lives left
Shifting into a hawk, Akaame scratched at Hidan's face, aiming for his eyes. Hidan brought his arms up to shield his face. Shifting back into another human, Akaame grabbed the scythe still embedded in the ground, and threw himself into a roll. The scythe was ripping through the air toward Hidan's head. Hidan quickly blocked the blow with his pike, and pushed the scythe away. Hidan spun, stabbing down at his opponent, once again, catching Akaame through the head.
Six lives left
Quickly shifting to another human body, Akaame moved as fast as he could to move away from Hidan's weapons, but failed as another pike caught him in the chest.
Five lives left
Akaame shifted again, rolling toward the scythe again, dodging stabs from the pikes the whole time. He grabbed the scythe, and spun it, deflecting the blows raining down. Hidan aimed with his pikes for the hands holding his weapon, piercing them and severing more than one finger. Akaame readily dropped the scythe, but kept Hidan away with well placed physical attacks. A few kicks to the chest kept Hidan far enough away from his scythe, but didn't keep his pikes far enough away from him. Once again, Akaame got a pike through the eye.
Four lives left
Shifting again, Akaame grabbed the pike away, and scooped up the scythe. Brandishing the two weapons, Akaame leapt at Hidan, slashing away like no tomorrow. Hidan had to use all of his new skill to dodge and block the weapons. He lashed out with his remaining pike, catching Akaame across the knuckles, forcing him to drop the other pike. Hidan grabbed it, and rammed it into Akaame's chest again.
Three lives left
Akaame pulled out the pike, and switched to another girl, this time wielding two long daggers. Carefully blocking the stabs by the pike, Akaame slowly moved Hidan away from his scythe. Hidan growled, then bowled forward in an insane charge, catching Akaame off guard. He threw himself out of the way, then scrambled back up to stop Hidan from reaching his favored weapon. Akaame leapt at Hidan. Hidan heard Akaame coming, and quickly dropped to one knee, and propped up his pike, impaling Akaame with his own force.
Two lives left
Hidan dropped his pike, and ran to get his scythe. Akaame had pulled himself off the pike, and was already running after Hidan. Hidan reached down, grabbed his scythe, and spun around, blade severing his enemy's neck.
One life left
Hidan whooped, and licked the blood off of his scythe. Akaame had reverted to his original form, and was sailing through the air, grasping at the scythe when Hidan plunged his remaining pike into his own heart. And then he froze.
The pain was terrible, this hadnt happened before! Hidan was on his knees, screaming in agony.
"Why does it hurt so much?" His body was on fire! Akaame was on the ground as well, lying on his back with a resigned look on his face.
"You are dying." Hidan would have snorted if his body hadnt been in agony.
"As if, I'm immortal, remember?" Akaame rolled his eyes.
"Not anymore, I ripped away the chains holding your soul in place. Now, you are as mortal as anyone else." Hidan couldn't feel his feet anymore.
"What about you?" Akaame looked at the sky, during their battle, the stars had come out.
"That was my last life, I'm dying too." Now, Hidan couldn't feel his legs or his arms, and the rest of his body was becoming cold.
"There is nothing we can do." Hidan rose up, looking down at his body, lying on the ground, bloodstained, in Jashin's symbol. Five yards away, he saw Akaame's body lying there as well, dead. Looking directly across from him, he saw Akaame's soul. Akaame's soul looked just like his body, but it glowed orange and gray. He heard Akaame's voice as if from far away.
"Look at yourself, look what Jashinism has done to your soul. You have been stained. I didn't want that to happen to anyone else." Hidan did as he was bid, and was disgusted. His soul glowed a horrible combination of black and purple.
"All Jashinist have souls like that. I had a soul like that. When I saw it, I understood my mission, and why I was given my gift. I was to take all the stained souls and purify them. I killed anyone with a stained soul. I took their souls and set them free." Hidan looked in amazement at Akaame.
"Where do I know you from," Hidan asked Akaame, "you are really familiar." Akaame let out a sigh.
"I introduced you to Jashinism, and inducted you. At that time, I was proud, but now I realize that it was a mistake to bring my older brother into a cult." Hidan shook his spectral head, that was impossible.
"It doesn't matter now, our souls will be taken by that demon Jashin, our life energies sucked out to power his portal." Hidan could feel it, a pull on his soul, emenating from a brand placed on all Jashinists at their induction. Akaame bared his forearm, on it was a brand of Jashin's symbol.
"But I'll be damned if I'm just going to roll over, even if I'm dead. My soul isnt polluted, it will push the portal off balance. All the Jashinist souls I purified have pushed it further. Hidan, will you help me? Jashin is just using you, he always has been. Let me transform your soul, the portal only needs to be pushed a little further before it blows, destroying itself and Jashin with it. Please Hidan, Jashin never cared about you, you were a tool. He was going to kill you as soon as you served your purpose. You meant nothing to him." At Akaame's words, Hidan burst out in anger.
"No way will I help you, even if you are my brother, which I don't believe! Jashin is an almighty god, I should be honored to have my soul used for his purpose! But, now I want to kill you for my own purposes! You arent my brother, and you want to use me! I won't forgive you, no one uses me!" As Hidan spoke, his soul changed from black and purple, to a fierce red. Akaame smirked. Hidan growled.
"What the hell are you smirking at?"
"When you said you wanted to kill me for your own reasons, even though we are already dead, you renounced Jashin, and your soul was purified. Now, instead of Jashin ruling your soul, anger and hatred are. Even if it isnt the most pure soul, it isnt tainted anymore. It will do for our purposes." Hidan looked at himself, and as his anger mounted, the red became brighter. The pull on his brand became harder and harder, until he felt himself sucked into another dimension. Looking around, he was in shock of the scenery.
The land was dead, the soil an unearthly red, as if bloodstained. Large, sharp thorns sprouted up. Behind him was a huge gate, the size of a building. In the middle was a small black void that he had come from. Facing the way he was being pulled, he saw a huge crack in the earth. Looking into the distance, he saw the jagged edge of the land, with huge chunks of rock, floating in empty space. As Hidan looked up, he saw a bloodred sky, lit by a blue sun, and stars scattered across the horizon. Looking forward again, he saw a huge stone structure, looming over the crack through the land. The fortress seemed to be made of pure obsidian.
Before he knew it, Hidan was pulled through the wall, and into a huge chamber. At the center was another small void, but this one was pulsing with energy. Around it were horned creatures in robes, chanting an odd language, but they were nothing to the figure sitting on a gargantuan throne in the back of the room.
Immediatley, Hidan knew that that was Jashin. Jashin was huge, over twenty feet tall. He had blue, and looked like a satyr at first glance. His feet were cloved, but his hands were clawed, and his horns were those of a mountain goat. His face was flat and square, his eyes made of two balls of bright green fire. Runes colored red decorated his body. On his forehead was a jet black rune, in the shape of a circumsibed triangle, the Jashin symbol.
Hidan felt himself pulled toward the void in the center of the room. It took all of his will to keep himself where he was; he wanted to see Akaame sucked in first. Moments later, his adversary was pulled into the room. Hidan watched with bated breath to see Akaame vanish into the portal, but a large blue clawed hand grabbed the ghost first. Hidan would have let out a breath of dispointment if he had lungs to breathe.
Jashin had grabbed Akaame and brought the ghost up to his face. His mouth opened, and from his mouth issued a voice of demented purity.
"So, this is the gnat who wanted to stop me from coming to the Elemental worlds." Akaame sneered.
"Some gnat, I almost pushed the portal into chaos, and I killed over half of your followers. I don't think a gnat could have done that. Although, I do have you to thank for the ability to do all that. You gave me the gift of stealing lives, and gave me the drive when you killed my parents, and twisted my brother." Jashin's eyes blazed in fury.
"You are no more than a gnat! And just like a gnat I will squish you. But I think a more appropriate punishment is at hand." Jashin reached for Hidan's soul as well, grabbing him and keeping him from falling into the portal. Jashin brought Hidan even with Akaame.
"Hidan, you betrayed me, just like your brother." Hidan sputtered in protest.
"I didn't betray you, I always sacrificed for you. I killed my whole family for you! And he is no brother of mine!" Jashin shook his demented head.
"You betrayed me when you failed to kill this little bug," Jashin squeezed Akaame's soul, threatening to crush him, "and when you did as he wished, taking your soul away from me!" Hidan struggled to redeem himself.
"I did kill him! That's why he is here as a ghost! And I never did as he wished, I would give my soul to you!" Hidan's soul started to turn purple and black again.
"Hidan, don't give into him, don't let him rule your life!" Akaame had shouted out, trying to keep Hidan from turning back. It did the trick, Hidan turned red with anger again. Jashin tightened his grip, silencing Akaame.
"Anyway, back to your punishment. You will watch as I destroy your world. Men, ready the portal, it is strong enough." The demons pressed on with their efforts, forcing the portal farther. Jashin pushed the two souls he was holding the rune on his forehead.
"Now, you will have a front row seat." Jashin laughed, and stepped into the portal. Akaame grinned in triumph as he felt his life energies be stolen by the portal, and he ceased to exist. Hidan soon followed suit. His soul disapeared, but he still could see what happened. From the pendant, he watched his and Akaame's souls get sucked into the portal as Jashin stepped in. He saw the portal waver, then implode around Jashin.
The portal ceased to be, and Jashin ceased with it. Hidan was thrown out, into his world. He screamed a silent scream
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO," he screamed, "Jashin-sama!!! You are gone!!" Hidan curled up into a ball, before he noticed his form. He screamed again. His body was a humanoid ball of mist and light. He heard an astral voice beside him.
"I didn't think that would happen." Hidan turned, seeing another form. Immediately, he knew its identity.
"Akaame, what the hell just happened?" Akaame responded with a sigh.
"I'm not sure, but I think that we are in the world of the dead." Hidan sent his view around taking in his surroundings. It looked familiar, but there was a gray mist that covered everything. Hidan could see others around him, he could tell they were dead, they glowed like souls.
"Wait, if our souls were destroyed, what are we, and why are we here?" Akaame seemed to give a shrug.
"I think that the pendant somewhat shielded us, preserving part of us. My guess, we are ghosts to the dead, maybe a good word would be whisps. But we ARE still dead, so we are in the afterworld." Hidan drew himself up, then looked at Akaame.
"Are you really my brother?" Akaame nodded. Hidan continued.
"Is the rest of m-our family here?" Akaame nodded again. Hidan started moving off.
"Lets go find them, we need to make amends." Akaame nodded once more, then ghosted after Hidan.
Tadaaa! Its done! Oh, and if you can tell me where I got that landscape from, I will be happy! Thanks for reading!
-Prauge
