Sakura knew that she had to act and fast but she found herself frozen in place with her blood pounding in her ears and her legs refusing to follow her commands. 'Impossible…' It definitely wasn't her first encounter with a demon-after all, both her teammates had a demonic streak-and the Kyuubi certainly was one intimidating example but the darkness emanating from this particular monster was so powerful that it almost suffocated her.
The creature roared a fear-inducing roar as it flew over their heads, making some of the guards tremble in fear. Sakura couldn't blame them. She herself was having trouble processing all that happened on the spur of two minutes despite having a number of encounters with demons and other extraordinary phenomena in her record. She glanced at the boy in her grip. 'He is going through shock….'
The creature roared once more and Sakura watched with fear as spheres of dark energy reduced some of the palace guards to nothing but bloodstains on the ground. Screaming followed and she shook the blonde boy's shoulders in an attempt to wake him from his trance. "Snap out of it, Alibaba!" She picked him up and jumped to safety as the severed peak of one of the towers collapsed taking out another couple of unlucky guards. Sakura cursed when she saw Morgiana attack the beast. She had to go help the girl but she couldn't leave Alibaba on his own, not in the state he was in. She slapped him hard in the face. "Get a grip on yourself! Everyone will die if you don't!" She saw his eyes flicker to her but his gaze quickly focused on the black demon once more.
"Is that…..Is that Kassim?" he stammered disbelievingly.
"Kassim is gone Alibaba! That monster isn't your friend!" she yelled at him, hoping to make him see that his friend was too far gone for him to reach him. The black creature produced one more of those energy spheres and aimed it at them. Sakura stared in horror as it flew towards them with impressive speed and was about to shove Alibaba out of the way when the boy beat her to it. It seemed that even in his shocked state, the prospect of death was enough to wake him from his daze and Sakura allowed a sigh of momentary relief to escape her lips as Amon's sword cut through the darkness and completely severed the Dark Djinn's arm.
"One more time, Alibaba!" yelled Morgiana and Sakura had to agree with the red-haired girl. No matter how Alibaba felt about the situation, the safety of a whole country and countless lives were at stake and she wouldn't allow the blonde boy to make the same mistake she had with Sasuke. Amon's sword erupted in flames and for a moment Sakura dared hope that it would end but her hope was short-lived. The creature roared and Sakura gasped in horror when massive amounts of Dark Rukh came swarming in from all directions.
"He's regenerating!" shouted Alibaba as they watched the Black Djinn's arm grow back. As more Black Rukn flowed in, the body of the monster began to grow and Sakura sprouted to her feet when she saw Morgiana attack the beast barehanded.
"Morgiana! No!" But she was too late. Some kind of magnetic energy grew around the monster's hand that started to pull Morgiana in. Sakura immediately tried to catch the girl with chakra strings but she didn't manage it as the creature sent the young redhead flying over the palace walls with some kind of attack that reminded her of that Sound ninja back in the Forest of Death. She cursed loudly, desperately hoping that the girl was alright. However, she had no time to dwell on that as the Black Djinn began to form a frighteningly big sphere of dark energy in the palm of its clawed hand. 'I gotta do something! But what? With the power to control gravity, we cannot even touch that thing!' she thought as she watched the creature aim the devastating attack at the palace. 'If it fires that thing, the palace along with everyone else will be reduced to dust!'
"I won't let you get away with that!" shouted Alibaba and started to run towards the monster.
"No! Alibaba! Don't go any closer to that thing!" yelled Sakura after him. 'Damn it! That boy is going to be the death of me!' She sprang forward to follow the boy, leaping over craters and the fallen bodies-or what remained of them- of the palace guards. She stopped dead in her tracks and felt her blood freeze when she saw Sinbad jump on the creature's back before getting hold of its horned head.
"Sinbad!" she yelled in panic. 'What is that man doing?! Is he out of his mind? If that thing catches him, it will crush him!' She saw the purple-haired man drive his hand through the back of the Djinn's head and the beast roared in rage. 'I gotta help him!' Without a second thought she leapt forward and pushed chakra to her fingers before starting to jump around the creature with impressive speed that the eyes of civilians wouldn't be able to follow. Within seconds she had the monster tied with chakra strings. She gritted her teeth and ignored the stinging sensation of the strings digging in the skin of her hands. Even with the help of chakra to keep her body steady, it was hard keeping that thing under control. But she had to; for Alibaba and Morgiana and Sinbad and everybody else….
XxxOxOxOxxX
In the distance, standing on a tall building, a lone figure watched the events unfold. His hair swayed in the wind as Black Rukh danced around him. Crimson eyes, visible through his checked mask, gazed upon the people fighting right outside the royal palace. Hard eyes fell on the purple-haired man holding the Dark Djinn's head.
"The First Singularity…..What an annoyance…..But Black Djinn are made with the Black Rukh gathered from thousands of people. How long will you be able to stand it?"
The man's gaze shifted to a woman with vibrant pink hair and emerald eyes that burned like fire. Crimson eyes narrowed dangerously as he watched the woman use her strange power to trap the Djinn in an impressively strong for a mere human grip.
"The Second Singularity….Brought from another world to serve a purpose and yet refusing to surrender to darkness. A real nuisance she has turned out to be….But it makes no difference. In the end, darkness will swallow her as well….."
He raised his staff and the swirling storm of Black Rukh flew towards the palace…
XxxOxOxOxxX
Sakura gritted her teeth. "Alibaba! Sinbad and I will hold this thing down! You must finish him off!" The boy looked up at her in surprise.
"She's right Alibaba!" yelled Sinbad from his position on the Djinn's head. "This thing wants to kill everyone involved with the monarchy here in Balbadd! It wants a revolution!" The monster continued to trash around and despite Sakura's help, Sinbad was having difficulty maintaining his hold on its horns. "We can't let that happen! A revolution built on bloodshed will be used to justify violence by anyone with the smallest moral causes!" The Black Djinn raised its clawed hand and sank it in the purple-haired King's shoulder.
"Sinbad!" screamed Sakura at the sight of blood soaking the man's white robes.
"You are the only one who can save us from that!" the King of Sindria continued, ignoring the burning pain in his shoulder. "And bring about a bloodless revolution! Kill him Alibaba!"
Blood tickled down Sakura's fingers as the chakra strings dug deeper in her flesh but she tightened her hold on them even more. "Do it Alibaba!" she yelled. "This is not about you or Kassim anymore! This is about the future! A future that no one will get to see if you don't move right now!"
The blonde boy tightened his grip on his black blade and hung his head. For a moment the pink-haired woman feared that he wouldn't do it but he proved her wrong when he leapt forward with his sword covered in flames. For just a second, Sakura dared hope that it would end but she gasped in horror when she saw that the blade couldn't pierce the huge Djinn's body. Her eyes widened. 'If Amon's sword can't cut through it…..' Panic settled in her stomach as she watched Alibaba try to push forward. She desperately wanted to go to his aid but she couldn't let go of her hold on her chakra strings and the Djinn or else Sinbad and the rest of them were as good as dead. She gritted her teeth. 'Damn it…I can't use my fire jutsu or else I might hurt Sinbad and if I release my chakra strings right now, that thing will crush them both…' Her emerald eyes widened once more when she saw Amon's fire travel up Alibaba's arm but it was short-lived as a moment later Alibaba was sent flying to a wall. Something was coming through the monster's belly and Sakura realized with horror that it was Kassim's body. 'What kind of sick power is that?' Black Rukh flowed in once more to feed the dark monster and Sakura gasped in horror when she saw the beast grab Sinbad and flung him to a wall. She was just about ready to jump after him but she sighed in momentary relief when she saw that a seemingly unhurt Morgiana had managed to catch the man before he hit the wall.
Her eyes hardened and she turned her attention to the beast. Now that Sinbad and Alibaba were at a safe-as safe as it could be-distance, she brought the chakra strings to her mouth and formed a familiar seal before blowing fire through her lips. The stream of flames traveled up the chakra strings and engulfed the monster that roared in rage and what she hoped was pain. 'If the fire burned it, that means that it is not invincible…..' Her clever eyes fell on a whole in its stomach. 'Whatever Alibaba did has dealt quite some damage to it…This might be our only chance to kill this thing…..'
She turned her head towards the blonde prince who was beginning to stand with Sinbad on his left. "Now Alibaba! This is our only chance! You need to finish this! Give it everything you got!" Amon's sword started to glow but Sakura could see that he was hesitating. 'This is not the time to hold back, damn it!'
"All military forces prepare to attack! Don't let this thing take another step!"
Their heads snapped up at the sound of the Captain of Guard's voice. Blabadd's military force-what remained of it, at least-were gathered around the Black Djinn pointing their spears at it.
"13th platoon, attack! 24th platoon, flank left!"
For a second, Sakura's mind flew back home, to all Konoha shinobi who had fought bravely and fallen honorably to protect their village and their loved ones. Despite the situation, she allowed a small smile to grace her lips. Even if they knew that fighting this thing off with swords and spears was madness, these soldiers were willing to put their lives on the line in order to protect their country. It was an admirable act deserving of respect and praise.
"As if we'd let this monster take Balbadd!"
"We must protect our country!"
Some kind of force field was protecting the black monster but the soldiers kept attacking again and again and again. Sakura felt the energy building up behind her before she even saw it. The guards' loyalty and courage had given Alibaba a new kind of drive to keep on fighting and she knew that he wouldn't be hesitating anymore. She smiled as she watched him jump high in the air with Amon's sword alive with fire, ready to deliver a decisive blow that would determine both their fates and that of Balbadd and all its people.
'This is it Alibaba. No more hiding. This is it…..'
However, Fate had other plans and as Alibaba readied himself to give an end to all the pain and bloodshed, Murphy's Law took action. The fire went out from around Amon's sword and the blonde prince was sent crushing to a wall. As Sakura raised her eyes to the sky, she found herself cursing the cruel deity that liked messing with their lives and turning their hope to ashes in their mouths from up there.
For there, floating above their heads with his mouth set in a cruel, hard line and an evil glint in his crimson eyes was the prized Priest of the Kou Empire, the one and only…..
"Judar."
'Karma, you are one great big bitch…'
TBC
Note: To all those who aren't aware, Murphy's Law states that "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong."
Anyway, chapter's here and I really hope you enjoyed it. Things are heating up in Balbadd but they do say that it has to get worse before it gets better and right now, things have definitely taken a turn for the worse. Also, we even got a glimpse as to why Sakura was brought in Balbadd! And Judar appears once more! Next chapter might come up sooner than expected so stay tuned. Until then…READ AND REVIEW!
Lots of love!