Chapter Twenty-Four: The Final Battle; Will the True Power of the Kishin Blade Emerge?
The first blow from Armageddon nearly gave me a concussion. As our blades locked, Armageddon began speaking to me, though I tried to block out his mad babbling. "It's useless, you know."
Black*Star leapt back, circling Warren slowly. My ex-partner was giggling uncontrollably as he danced around, swinging Armageddon around like a baton. I wondered briefly at the eye of Armageddon, wondering if he was getting dizzy at all, when suddenly the two sprang forward and we locked again. Even as a weapon my bones rattled and I nearly lost my form. The strength of his strike was more than I had ever withstood again. A small trickle of blood began from my blade.
"You cannot withstand my might," Armageddon said in a soothing voice. "I can sense your madness, but you attempt to tame it. Madness always wins."
"Hang in there, Kai!" Black*Star grunts, striking out with his foot. Warren's breath was forced out of him and he staggered away, swinging Armageddon to keep us back. Inwardly, I curled into myself, letting the black blood within my veins knit me back together quickly. The crack that had appeared in my blade vanished, the only remnants of the strike being the few drops of blood that had fallen on the ground.
"I don't think I can withstand much of this," I warn my partner, eyeing Armageddon cautiously. "His metal is made stronger by the strength of his madness."
"Giving up isn't an option."
"I'm not saying we should give up! I'm saying we need to level the playing field!"
Our conversation was interrupted as again the two meisters launches themselves at each other. With each impact it took more energy to keep myself together. Protecting Black*Star was my priority and it scared me to think that I might not be strong enough to do so.
"Kai," Black*Star grunted, pulling away from confrontation, "Change."
Reading the promptings of his wavelength, I became a longbow. At once, Black*Star began scaling the wall. He found handhelds in the gaping coral walls, slowly making his way towards the lip of the aquarium. When he found a position where he could stand without the aid of his hands he began letting loose a volley of wavelength arrows. Warren jumped out of the way, closing the gap between them and whirling his sword behind him. As he came towards us, Black*Star leapt into the air to meet him as I took the form of a claymore. I tensed in preparation for the impact.
Armageddon swung down and I was raised to block, and when we met the sound created a sonic boom that blew both meisters away. Black*Star landed on the marble floor, creating a crater. A gasp of pain escaped his mouth, a cry of shock leaving mine as I flew from his hand and tumbled onto the ground. Though my blood pooled between my fingers I could already feel my madness healing the injury. It seemed like madness truly was stronger than I could be.
My blurry vision revealed Warren standing over my meister, sword raised, and something inside me snapped.
Snarling, I jerked myself to my feet and placed myself within the path of the blade. I embraced my madness, my pupils becoming snake slits and the strength of my black blood fully returning. In that moment, I accepted what I was. I accepted that I was corrupted, and that part of me would always be insane.
But I was going to use it.
Reaching up, I swatted the sword away with my bare hand, ignoring the pain as my palm was sliced open. A well-aimed punch connected with Warren's chest, propelling him backwards and onto his ass as I snarled.
"Get up, Black*Star!" I reached down and pulled my meister up, looking him in eyes and trying to judge how he was doing. The black blood was already in him, but there wasn't enough to brew more madness than he'd already had. It fed off of the little bits he'd already possessed, and it was slow. His injuries were hurting him a lot more than I had originally thought and that worried me.
I glanced around, seeing Warren struggling to stand. It was likely that I had broken a few of his ribs. Kid was leaning up against the far wall, Liz slumped next to him, Patty clenched tightly in her hand.
"Black*Star," adrenaline coursed through me, a bit of nervousness accompanying it. "We're going to have to resonate if we want to win."
He was silent.
"I'm still…" I trailed off, again checking to see where Warren was, trying to find the words before I ran out of time. "I'm still kind of a kishin. If we resonate I might infect you. There's a chance we might not be coming out of the madness."
A sturdy hand gripped my chin, turning me so that I was forced to look in his eyes. The flurry of emotions that I saw in them was intensified by the soul that touch mine at the same time. Before that moment I don't think either of us had understood quite how we felt about each other. There had been moments, and there had been the kiss, but it still hadn't struck me until then. That moment, we truly saw each other.
"I trust you," he said finally, grasping my head. With a slight bit of hesitation, I nodded, and once again transformed.
"Let's go, soul resonance!" Black*Star shouted, dust spinning around us uncontrollably while our energy began pumping. Suddenly, my blade began changing. My normal dark gray metal grew darker and darker until it was as black as Armageddon. Swirling shadows climb up my hilt, wrapping Black*Star's hand. I transitioned into a form that I had never taken before but instinctually knew to be a Celtic war sword, only because I had studied Scottish and Celtic blades when I had first come to the DWMAA. A strange light red glow enveloped us as the change took place, the black substance gripped the skin of Black*Star's hand and forearm like a glove. He made a slight noise of surprise as one black tendril snaked up his arm, over his shoulder, up his neck and over his right cheekbone, stopping at the corner of his right eye like an arrow. The same eye shifted, his pupil running horizontal and his iris turning red.
When we dropped to the floor I took a quick inventory of our soul wavelengths. Though I couldn't take time to understand, it was as if we had done the same ritual that I had shared with Kaden when I was young. The madness seemed to be shared equally between us, but this time it didn't completely overtake us. We were in control of ourselves and our minds and our souls were unaffected – well, mine didn't get worse, at least.
"Black*Star?"
"Doesn't even hurt!" He grinned, eyes narrowing on the blade. "Is this how you feel all the time? This is awesome!"
"Black*Star, watch out!"
Quickly my meister brought me up and parried Armageddon with my much smaller blade. This time the contact didn't even faze me, but only fed my power. It seemed that whatever Black*Star and I had accomplished was feeding off of Armageddon and Warren's madness wavelength and only serving to make us stronger. Dancing around the throne room, our swipes and slashes growing in intensity, I could only feel the resonance that we had climbing to newer, higher levels.
My partner's face split into a grin, also feeling the power. "Kishin Blade mode!" he snickered to himself, the name appealing to me as well.
It was now that my ex-meister understood that he was about to lose. The fear that quickly spread through him made his sword-hand shake until he dropped Armageddon with a yelp.
"You fool!" The Dark Weapon cursed, "Your fear is cowardly! You must embrace the madness, otherwise you will always be weak!"
Instead of listening, Warren whimpered and backed away from my advancing point. He tripped over a piece of broken coral, onto his backside, continuing to crawl away as swiftly as he could – scuttling like a crab. "Please!" he pleaded, "Don't kill me!"
Black*Star paused, assessing the sniveling boy before us, and silently asked for my opinion.
"His soul is a kishin egg," I reported with a bit of sadness, "It's too late for him."
In the moment it took for me to check, however, Warren launched himself at us, his hands reaching for Black*Star's throat. Acting on instinct, Black*Star raised my blade in defense. A red soul was left, floating in the air silently before drifting over to my glowing metal and getting sucked inside the tip.
Breaking the resonance, I transformed back. Black*Star returned to normal and stretched slightly, a big grin on his face when we our eyes met. We had just won. Beyond all odds, he had brought me back from the madness that had consumed me, unlocked my special technique, and taken down a powerful kishin/Dark Weapon pair. I held my hand out for a fist bump and he pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.
"Black*Star!"
Our friends rushed into the room, surveying the carnage. Now I remembered Kid's condition and pointed towards him, signifying that he was of more priority. Kim and Jaqueline rushed over, kneeling beside him while the rest filed in. I was surprised to see Maka limping in, leaning heavily on Soul. As more people walked in, Black*Star began greeting them out loud, pointing them out to me: Stein still held Spirit over his shoulder as a scythe, and Sid and Nygus stood side-by-side in the doorway. Kirikou and the twins, Ox and Harvar, Snow and Tsubaki's silent sword – all DWMA students he had trained with. Nikolai was the last to enter, dragging the screaming and raging Calypso in by her squid-like hair. I almost want to feel bad – almost – until she spits on the fallen Kid. My anger mounts and I am only held back from doing something horrible by Black*Star's restricting arms. He seems like he may have forgotten how to let go.
"Glad to see you made it out alright!" Professor Stein nodded to Black*Star, looking at me for a long moment before asking, "Are you Kai?"
I nodded quietly, wondering what exactly he had heard about me.
"I'm glad to see you're back on our side."
A grin lit my face as I agreed, my head bobbing up and down as we then all turned to the groaning Kid. He was beginning to awaken, obviously in pain from the fight he had just endured. One golden eye opened, slowly, followed by the second as he gradually became more responsive. The revival of our young Shinigami was almost enough to make us all forget that we had the witch responsible for this entire mess in our hands, but not quite. I clenched my fist and turned back towards her, feeling all the hurt and pain that she had caused me. Yes, if she hadn't infiltrated the DWMA and created the Exchange Program I wouldn't have met Black*Star, and I knew that I was stronger now because of what I had gone through, but there were countless others whose lives were still in danger because of her plan.
"The room…" Kid groaned, standing with Liz's assistance, clutching Patty in his hand, "Is no longer symmetrical!"
The crowd that had gathered chuckled. Looking around, I was surprised to see how many meisters Calypso had managed to capture. Some of them were dirty and emaciated – prisoners – while others looked as if they had awoken from a long nap. Mind control victims were marked with a strange ring patted on the back of their neck, almost like a small octopus had been clinging to their skin, but it was fading more as we kept Calypso in our captivity.
Many of the meisters held handfuls of silent weapons, though several weapons were large enough that some meisters only carried one. As they walked further into the throne room they gently deposited the weapons and, one by one, the room's eyes returned to Calypso. Our prisoner still had a huge bargaining chip considering we would do anything to get our weapons back. She should have known that we would have fought until the end for them, that DWMA weapon/meister pairs were inseparable. The bond between weapon and meister was too strong for any one of us to have given up.
I find myself speaking, even though I know I have no place speaking in front of these people. Hell, I gave them half of their problems! But still, my body seems to think it has the right to confront Calypso, so I step forward. "Witch Calypso, it's time for you to atone for you crimes."
Black*Star's presence beside me gives my voice strength, and it carries until it's an echo that reaches the ears of all. A few people shout in agreement, hollering as Stein steps forward. Spirit is standing beside Lord Death – who looks a little worse for wear, in his slightly beat-up black cloak. I never before thought that I would ever be this close to two figures who once seemed so legendary, but now I barely blink. After all I've been through in the past few days I don't really feel too awed anymore.
"First things first," Stein says in a monotone voice, his hand going up to crank the screw in the side of his head. "Return our weapons to their natural state or we'll have to set them on you." He points his finger at Black*Star and I, both of us still wind-blown and beat-up from our previous fights. I do my best to give her my prettiest snarl.
She has the smarts to be afraid, at least.
"I want to bargain!" Calypso hisses, her eyes full of hate. "My life for all of theirs. Fair trade, I think! Just promise to set me free – and not to follow me – and I'll lift the spell."
Now we're stuck in a position that makes me seethe with rage, though I had already seen it coming. Of course Calypso would bargain for her life, and of course we had to accept her terms. We needed our weapons. We couldn't just abandon them if the price was too high. Plus, it wasn't as if Calypso was going to be able to pull the same stunt twice.
Stein glanced at Lord Death, the two having a silent conversation before Lord Death nodded. I couldn't tell what he was thinking with that mask on his face but I could tell that his posture had gotten a lot tenser at the witch's offer. Nikolai allowed her to stand, keeping a tight grip on her bicep as she rearranged her hair and fixed her dress. The crowd watched in silent anger and anticipation as we waited for her to lift the spell that held our friends captive.
Calypso glared at Nikolai, shook his hand off, and put her hands out towards the pile of weapons: "Tenta-cool, tenta-cruel, tentacle!"
With a pop, she was gone.
Smoke began filling the room, and many of the meisters shouted in surprise. I did my best to remain calm, but quickly retreated when the smoke came close. When no one dropped dead, I took that as a good sign, and my attention stole away to the stationary weapons. Black*Star whooped when they began flashing, more and more of them raising their heads. Meisters began running to their weapons, pulling them out of the fray and embracing them. Across the room I saw Snow clutching a sobbing Tsubaki to his chest, and Stein being embraced by a very emotional lady with an eyepatch.
"We did it," I turned to Black*Star and grinned, raising an eyebrow when I saw the look on his face. He simply stared at me for a long moment before kissing me hard on the mouth, in front of everybody. My shock quickly melted away and, ignoring the gasps of shock from those that knew Black*Star, I enjoyed myself immensely in the few moments. Someone eventually cleared their throat and we parted, both blushing but also smirking in self-satisfaction. Yes, we fought a hell of a lot more than we talked about our feelings, but a girl could definetly get used to his presence.
"Took you two long enough!" Maka teased. In response I only raised an eyebrow at her and Soul's clasped hands and she blushed furiously. Kid, Patty, and Liz were in the middle of a rather tearful reunion, and Patty was wailing something about a new hat. Team Maka had, against all odds, saved the world for a second time. I had helped a little as well, I supposed, but I wanted to do more.
Later I would look back and wonder what would have happened if I had remembered to double-check the room for anything, I don't know, Dark Weapon-ish. After all, it should have stuck in my mind at least a little that I had just fought with Armageddon – and won – and that he had been left, lying on the floor.
Some things are just meant to happen.
(Author's Note: Well, there we have it folks! Just one more chapter and then the Epilogue and we'll be done! It's really sad... anyways! The epilogue's author's note will have a bunch of important information such as shout outs to some of my followers and my next fanfiction! So, review! Follow! Favorite! And, most of all, stay chill!)