Chapter 7: Inferno

All disclaimers apply.

"You! Beat me, punk? I don't think so." K'leil said blatantly. He sheathed his bow and walked towards Gojyo and Camilla.

"Why the hell are you with this jerk-off, Camilla? Especially when you can have a handsome stud like me."

"Oh, sorry, did I hurt your feelings?" Camilla answered letting go of Gojyo. "I hate to break it to you, but you're not my type."

"Yeah," Gojyo put in, "she goes for the guy that actually has looks—me." Shit! Gojyo was thinking as he said it. Why does he have to show up now! In fact, Gojyo was not worried about beating K'leil, even though he could still feel the effects of the Sake. He was actually angry that he wouldn't have the coordination to actually complete any advanced attack strategies.

"Shut up!" K'leil shot at him. "I don't know what she sees in you! You're just a stupid half-demon! I beat you in everything! Looks, strength, EVERYTHING! I shouldn't have to compete with the likes of you!"

Goku noticed the scent of K'leil's breath as he spat out at Gojyo. It wasn't as strong as Sake, but it was a bit more potent than regular beer. He too was drunk. "Hey, Gojyo."

"Huh, what is it, Goku?" Gojyo answered.

"He's drunk too. You can take 'em easy!"

"Yeah, I know. He's definitely gonna pay for that half-demon shit!" as he said this he stepped backwards into his fighting stance. "You guys go an' take care of those other asses he was with."

"Does he always talk like that?" Ayanna asked Goku.

"Yeah, he's jus' worse when he's drunk." He called back running towards K'leil's cronies. He wanted to attack the black knight, but he didn't trust the woman with the staff so he went to attack her first.

"I don't think so!" the knight yelled jumping in the way. He was holding a lance and drove it towards Goku. The attack nearly landed, but Goku managed to sidestep just in time.

"I'll take you on anyway!" Goku smirked getting into his full fighting stance. He jumped at the opponent preparing to land a kick on his left arm. In retaliation, the knight placed the lance against his arm and pressed against the force of Goku's kick. This enemy was much quicker than the one before. Nearby, Goku faintly caught a glimpse of the woman chanting some strange incantations.

While Goku dealt with the knight, Ayanna managed to confront the woman. She still felt odd and didn't know if she would be able to rely on her magic; but when she saw the woman begin incantations she knew she had to help. Even with the pendant, she doubted Goku had enough skill to stand up against magical attacks—but again, she didn't know much about him. She took out her bow and drew an arrow in its string. "Fly true and hit the mark." She whispered to the arrow and released. It soared through the air near soundlessly. The woman, however, stopped her incantation and blocked the arrow.

"Do you think you can take me on, little girl? I eat little sprites like you for breakfast!" The woman laughed with a vile, screeching voice.

"Quiet, witch!" Ayanna yelled drawing another arrow. This one she filled with energy and fired it off. Because of the infusion, it flew faster than the one before and the witch had less luck in dodging the arrow—it had cleanly grazed her left arm before it flew off into the distance. The arrow suddenly turned around in its trajectory and flew into the witch's back, jutting harshly out from her chest.

The witch, at first, looked shocked at the pain of the arrow, but soon, she quickly regained composure and laughed manically. "I'm immortal, you wench! Your arrow won't hurt me no matter how much magic you put in them!"

Ayanna put away her bow and put her quiver of arrows down—there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Gojyo stood poised and ready for an attack and watched K'leil as he got into his own stance. It was weird in that it seemed to stress weight in the legs, making it seemingly difficult for any rotation of motion. Gojyo looked at Camilla as the rays of light shone heavily from above. In that light, she seemed different, not herself, but even more beautiful. She looked at him and smiled.

"Kill him for me, will you?" she asked nonchalantly.

"No problem, but I want a reward when I do." He didn't wait for a reply, he swept at K'leil's feet with his shakujou, but K'leil simply jumped over the sweep. Upon landing, K'leil dove in for an attack. A solid punch landed squarely on Gojyo's face and sent him flying back. He got up undaunted, but angry. He looked down at the broken bottle of Sake, its contents soaking into the concrete of the sidewalk. For the first time he had noticed that a large crowd had gathered and was watching them. A lot of them were chattering and talking amongst themselves and to small devices. He got up quickly and shook off some of the effects of the alcohol. "That was your first, and last, hit. Now it's my turn."

"Bring it on, pansy. I'll kill you no matter what, half-breed."

The crescent blade of the shakujou flew at K'leil, but passed him barely nipping the sleeve of his shirt. K'leil looked at the chain attached to it and followed it to back to Gojyo, who was close enough now to connect a flying knee to K'leil's chest. "I wish you would shut up about the half-breed shit already!" he yelled. He felt an odd stirring within him as he recalled the blade end of his weapon. He remembered that he was wearing the red pendant and wondered if it he could have it activated.

K'leil rose up and took out his bow stringing it directly at Gojyo. "Heh, let's see you play hero, then." He scoffed as he quickly aimed the arrow away into the crowd. He fired the arrow and watched Gojyo dive in to catch the attack. He strung another bow and aimed further away into the crowd.

"What the hell are you doing, you ass! You can't kill these people!"

"Why can't I? They're just a bunch of lesser beings! I am a demon! I am superior to them! What do I care if I kill them like sheep?" he answered. He fired another arrow and this time before Gojyo could even get to the arrow, he strung another and fired it off directly at a little girl clutching her father's hand. The arrow flew and entered cleanly into the girl's heart. The scream was powerful, yet quick. He fired another aiming at the girl's twin brother who had caught his sister and was still registering what happened.

The people began to go wild: most ran off in fear, some gathered around the two dying children and their father, some fought to get closer to the melee. Gojyo still held the last arrow in his hand and looked at the girl and boy, then at K'leil. "This isn't even about the tournament, or about Camilla, is it?"

"What do you know! You're just a stupid inferior being! I hate your kind; you think you can just have the best of both worlds! You're pathetic and worthless."

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Gojyo screamed throwing the crescent blade at him. It exploded in a burst of fire as it sailed towards K'leil.

Goku, Ayanna, and their opponents managed to draw themselves from the rush of people going to view Gojyo and K'leil's fight. For some reason, they seemed to not notice Ayanna or the witch casting spells, whereas Goku and the black knight had slowly fallen back into a dark alley. The walls were close together, close enough that the black knight could not effectively use his lance—and therefore discarded it upon learning of the fact.

"You are a clever opponent to have drawn me in here where you thought you would have the advantage." The knight spoke calmly.

"You sound like you're enjoyin' this." Goku said in return.

"I am, indeed, you are a good opponent. No matter the outcome, I will remember you."

"Heh, good. 'Cause I'm lovin' every bit of this." Goku smirked. He ran at the knight again, this time with his Nyoi-Bo in front of him like a battering ram. The knight, however, stepped aside just as Goku was about to reach him. He grabbed Goku by the neck of his shirt and flung him back further into the alley. Goku hit a metal garbage dumpster hard.

"If it is of any help, I have been trained to see attacks like those; you won't get through my defenses with them. It would be better to use advanced moves against me, they will more than likely pierce my armor if I don't see them coming."

Was he helping Goku? Subtle, but, still, enemies don't reveal their weaknesses unless they want to lose. It could have been a trap, but Goku saw that everything he threw at him had not worked at all. It was worth a try.

Goku got up and ran along the sides of the wall to his left. He jumped from the left wall to the right, then from the right to the left. He continued this rising upwards at the same time until he emerged above the roofs of both buildings. He allowed himself to be taken over by gravity. He held himself as vertical as possible in order to lessen air resistance.

"Please, you must…" The black knight said under his breath. Underneath the armor, the person began to cry. "kill me swiftly. Otherwise, I will not…" he didn't allow himself to continue further.

Goku suddenly stopped in his attack and landed on the ground. For some reason, the knight had dropped all guards and seemed to want to die. But why?

"Why did you not complete the attack?" the knight asked not hiding his disappointment.

"I—you stopped fighting back." He answered.

"Does that bother you? I want you to kill me, is that hard for you, then?"

"I just, wanna know why. Don't ya' wanna win?

"Winning in this foul tournament is nothing to me; not without my love, at least." He answered. "We came here together—against our will—and were told that if we didn't fight we would be slaughtered and our planet destroyed."

"It's the same with everyone, so what happened?" Goku asked.

"He, resisted…you must understand that he hates violence, and didn't care much for our world…so they took measures." It didn't disturbed Goku at all that he so blatantly said that his love was a "him"; but at the word "measures" he donned a quizzical facial expression. "After he told them this, they convinced us that, if we didn't fight, we both would suffer in life. They abandoned the idea of death and threatened us with eternal torture. We complied, but, they had made up their minds—they wanted him dead for speaking out. On the first battle mission, they poisoned him and made him go berserk. Then, they had this lady assassin—the "Scarlet Kunoichi" they called her—track down my love and kill him. I don't know what they do with the bodies, but, I was given his promise ring from long ago, and told that if I didn't continue to fight, I would never get to see his body…so, I want you to kill me, so that I might see him again in the afterlife."

Goku was silent for a while. It had occurred to him that maybe the word "convict" meant something entirely to the faux-gods. It seemed, that they found something that everyone was attached to—planets, lovers, life, etc.—and made them shackles to get them to fight. At first, he was free from the weight of losing, but now, he realized that everyone there really had something to lose, including Gojyo, including him.

"Will you help me, please?" the knight asked solemnly.

"Y-yes." Goku answered in the same tone, "But, why didn't you just kill yourself?"

"Of course, they don't let you, in fact, I am glad you drew us in here because now they can't see that I have stopped fighting back."

"Okay…" Goku sighed. He jumped up into the air with his Nyoi-Bo ready and slammed down as hard as he could. As soon as he was about to land his attack, the armor exploded in a field of non-light, and the entity disappeared completely leaving Goku swinging at empty air. The false deities had seen after all.

Ayanna and the witch had been using low-level spells since they began. Each was testing the other's ability to fight, and endure; but neither gave any quarters. "I think it's time I got rid of you, child." The witch said derisively. She stopped using incantations and started simply controlling her magical energy. It condensed into a large ball of lightning and shot off into several different, smaller balls. They all surrounded Ayanna who expected them to then converge on her. She had been prepared to dodge, but when she saw them form a barrier from one orb to the other she knew her chance for evasion had passed. The orbs shot lightning directly in the center and it spread out to encompass the entire area. Ayanna screamed out in pain. It was the first time she had been exposed to an electrical attack so she was pretty weak in resistance.

The energy died away and Ayanna stood slightly in pain, but with enough strength to still fight. She summoned her own magical energy and sent it into the ground. She quickly grabbed her bow and three arrows and ran around the witch keeping track of her distance. At three points all equally spaced she strung and then released an arrow. The witch, of course, stopped them, but then the earth beneath the three arrows caved in and a massive rock formation in the shape of a hand grabbed the witch and tossed her into the air. The arrows, again infused with energy, followed upwards and nipped past the witch. As she fell, so did the arrows, directly into her body. Meanwhile the rock formation became a jagged spear and stood waiting for the witch to be impaled upon it. She disappeared—teleported, rather—moments before she would have made contact with the rock formation—and reappeared behind Ayanna.

"You are a fledgling, girl."

"Oh, really? So then, maybe I should teach her a thing or two by using you." Camilla said coming from the earth and holding the witch by the neck with a knife at her throat.

"Camilla! Where did you—"Ayanna began to ask.

"I didn't come here just to watch everyone else have fun. Besides, it looked like you needed some help." She smiled.

"Thank you." Ayanna said, she felt even closer to Camilla now and completely disregarded everything she had beard about her beforehand.

"You!" the witch cried. "You are the Scarlet Kunoichi! You aren't supposed to be in this battle."

"I can be in any battle I want to, you however, shouldn't be sneaking off with other people's identities, Ginoshi."

The witch calmed and began to laugh. "You won't kill me here. They would never let you. I am too high of a candidate to be killed by you, Scarlet Kunoichi."

"Don't be too pretentious, I can kill whomever I feel like so long as I do my missions."

"I guess you can love anyone as well—you and that half-breed really do make a wonderful couple." Ginoshi laughed and disappeared. From nowhere her voice emanated to them, "I'll see you at the base, Carnelle, oh, I mean, Camilla."

The two girls stood in silence for a moment until they heard the heavy sound of metal hitting metal. It had come from the direction of the alley, but their sights soon turned to Gojyo and his opponent K'leil.

K'leil had not expected the blade to burst into flames, so he dodged the attack narrowly—to narrowly—so much so, that the flames seared his face and several strands of his hair as it shot passed him. The fire, however, had not simply exploded from the blade, but Gojyo himself had internally combusted and was encased in fire. The fire shone with a powerful light that seemed to dwarf all other light around him. The flames themselves licked and lashed out with a tremendous fury. It had completely burned away the alcohol still in Gojyo's system.

"I don't know what your problem is, you egotistical little douche-bag, but you don't have to involve anyone else!" Gojyo shouted, the flames seemed to rise in accordance to his voice levels. They roared a warning and hatred of their own as they consumed the ground that had been soaked with Sake. The people who had moved closer or those who had come had now all moved far back in fear.

"I don't understand it! I have everything." K'leil yelled. "So why can't I be happy? Why should half-demon's, or humans, or elves be happy and not me, a DEMON!" K'leil shouted. He was right, in a way. He did have everything: his parents were respected demonic nobles, he was one of the most prized demons growing up, no one had ever said "no" to him; but he wasn't happy. He hated those that were different, mostly because he was jealous. He was jealous that they could find happiness in being alive. He was jealous that they were persecuted and that they still could find the strength to live on. He was jealous that they could become as powerful, even more powerful, than he could be. It only served to make him even more spiteful.

He fired arrows at Gojyo, at the crowd again, at cars, at anything that was vulnerable. The flames surrounding Gojyo caught them all in mid flight and burned them to ashes. K'leil looked at Gojyo—at the red hair shining brightly in the aura of fire, at those red eyes, the color of blood, but of hot, boiling blood with anger unimaginable within them—and felt that he really was going to lose to a half-demon…what was it about humans that they can become so powerful, yet are so weak, and nonetheless pass their power on to other species?

"You know what your problem is? You don't know how to enjoy life." Gojyo smirked as he retracted the chained blade of his weapon. "Now, let me give you a taste of hell." He fired it again, and again it burst into flames; but aside from that, the flaming aura shot off three shakujou-like fingers that followed the same path as the real weapon. K'leil jumped to dodge the actual weapon, and rolled out of the way of the second, but then even more fingers of fire came from the aura cracking at him like large, red, orange, and yellow whips. Gojyo was pressing them forward with his mind. He had figured out that the flames were connected to him, and therefore, he could control them at will. He lashed at K'leil while he withdrew his shakujou. This time he sent out the shakujou along with several "flame shadow shakujou" in a wide arcing fan that caved inwards and ensnared K'leil.

The screams of pain that came from K'leil reverberated throughout the street. Ambulances, police cars, and even fire trucks had come onto the scene to see what had happened: the two children had died, some people had received minor, and major, burns, and no one dared go near the spectacle before them. The smell of burning skin repulsed them even more and the streets became lined with people retching and vomiting.

Gojyo was ready to end it. He pulled K'leil closer and began to spin him in a large circle. He lifted the circle up until the string was near vertical and the circular path was as small as possible. The fires grew, and seemed to form a large cylinder open at the top and bottom. Gojyo pulled down roughly on the chain while jumping into the air at the same time. In midair he did a backwards flip while pulling on the shakujou and the helpless, burning demon and landed with a final pull that brought the flaming chaos crashing into the melting concrete. Again, the force all but shattered the limp body that had been seared beyond recognition.

The flames died away and a magic circle appeared. Goku, Ayanna, and Camilla all came forward ignoring the disgusted, scared, inquisitive looks that they received from the people they passed. All four of them stepped into the circle and disappeared. All of them secretly knew that this battle had changed them even more than they thought could happen.

Author's Note: Whew! That took way too long. Sorry for the massive delay, readers, school really has been selfish about my time. In any case, what do you think? Cool, huh? How much do you think this is going to change our heroes? Or will they change at all? What was with that witch and why did she call Camilla Carnelle? Keep reading to find out.

On a side note, I would like to thank those that have for reviewing my chapters after reading them—it really let's me know I'm doing at least a decent job. Anyway, don't be afraid to review my chapter, and story…in fact, please do so! I really want to hear your thoughts and comments and your (constructive) criticism.