Chapter 9
The doors opened and a terrified king had the awful grief of seeing one of his daughters tied up on a platform, fainted, and the other one near her, laughing at the view. The doors got closed behind him.
"Daddy! How nice of you to come!"
"Kaori, how dare you?! Michiru is your sister!"
"Soon, she will not be my sister anymore."
"What will you do with her?"
"Let's clear up the situation, dear father" Kaori said. "I want to be the queen of the Water Land. It is the first step to become the queen of the Starry World. I cannot get it by right, I will get it by force!"
"And what does that have to do with your sister?"
"My sister, my sister... Always my sister! Who is she, anyway? Why does everyone like her so much?! She is only a childish painter, she worths nothing!"
"She is a human being! Her life is valuable! Why did you have to put her in this awful situation?"
"This way, I will put the pleasant and the useful together. I can see Michiru being tortured, while you give me the throne. I could not wish much more."
"I will only give you the kingdom if you release Michiru!"
"That is why I put her in this situation. You would not hesitate a second in order to save her life."
"I would have done the same for you. And for any of the others."
"You liar! You are just one more common person. You are useless, just like most of the people. Especially your beloved Michiru!"
Haruka appeared from behind the king, furious.
"You are here too?" Kaori asked, amazed. "What an honour! You will have work to do! Reik, get him!"
The nearest creature went after Haruka, but she got rid of it with just one slash of the sword of Heaven the Lady of the Tempest had given her.
"So the stories are true... Who would say that?" Kaori commented, with sarcasm. "Let's see if you can deal with three at the same time. Osl, Veik, Copen. Attack!"
The three creatures approached Haruka. She whispered some words and got surrounded by fire.
"Your fire thing doesn't work with us, Ruk!" Osl boasted.
"Let's see!" Haruka replied, naughtily.
She closed her eyes and put her hands together, just like in a pray. A phoenix appeared from the fire and attacked Veik, who died instantly. Copen wasn't impressed with Haruka's powers and freezed the phoenix. The fire surrounding Haruka disappeared.
"We are not that stupid, Ruk" Copen said, with a cruel smile. "Now, how would you like to die?"
"I will not die!" Haruka shouted, angrily. And her sword killed the two beasts in a few seconds.
"You are good, Ruk, very good. Don't you want to join me?" Kaori asked, wanting to seduce Haruka. "After all, you are the Son of the Star of Darkness, you should help Darkness to rule this world."
Haruka stopped, confused.
"The Lady of the Waters does whatever she wants with you. She should have set you free by now. But you are still under her orders. Are you, Ruk? Do you want to spend your life serving a spirit?"
Haruka looked at Michiru, in the back of the room.
"I have wondered many times about that. I saved kingdoms, protected people. I became a hero. However, I always felt I should be the greatest of the evil powers. But I am not."
"But you can be" Kaori said. "Together we can rule this world and others!"
"Ruk! What are you doing?!" Dolph demanded. "She can only hurt you!"
"Kerch, take care of him!" Kaori ordered.
Kerch followed her orders and caught the king and beated him up until he stopped resisting.
"Just think a little, Ruk. You could have everything you always wished! Treasures, power, women... You would just have to clap your hands and everything would be yours."
Haruka thought about the proposal. She looked at her hands. They had always worked in the name of Good. Should they keep that way? She stared at Michiru again.
"I'll join you, if you let Michiru go."
"It is a small price to pay" Kaori thought, scornfully. "You did not explain what you meant by "go"."
"Ruk..." a voice whispered.
Haruka glanced at Michiru. Her head was up this time.
"Ruk, please... Don't do that. I would never forgive you. Please."
"Michiru..."
"Shut up, little sister!" Kaori shouted.
A strange ball of power appeared in Kaori's hand and went straight to Michiru's body.
"No! Stop it!" Haruka demanded, desperately.
Michiru moaned in pain, almost dying.
"You are miserable! I will never join you!"
"What now, dear Ruk? I killed your love, was it?"
Haruka ran to Kaori but the five creatures left surrounded her and she felt like she couldn't handle the situation. Everything she had ever fought for was falling apart.
