Chapter 25! Golden rain

Val ran, the castle halls were empty but why did it seem like it was taking her so long. The walls seemed similar but the hall itself was completely foreign. The spacing between doors and turns were not like anything she's seen. The castle itself was built in a square like shape and the turns that this hall allowed did not fit that idea. Where was she? Was she even in the castle anymore?

Laughter filled the halls. "Who's there!" she yelled. Her brown hair whipping around. She had put them in braids that morning and now she was very grateful for that decision.

The laughter turned into a light chuckle. "I thought you were looking for me?" Mathias said in a sweet voice.

"What the hell have you done?"

"Nothing recently." the Bount shrugged, "I mean I did murder a couple of people a while back. But time is such a weird thing for me, for us, I can't tell you when that was."

"Was that for food or-"

"For fun." He smiled "I mean it's a little more complicated than that, clan rivalries and all. But I didn't bother eating their souls if that's what you're asking. Not the Humans, not the Bounts, not even the Shinigami."

Val drew her sword and took an aggressive stance. This was no time to be worried about her own health. If this man was going to try and kill her, then she should not hesitate to kill him. But she knew her ability to fight would be outmatched if she didn't play her cards right. "Hutt said he came here to talk to you. Do you know anything about that?"

"From Hutt, no. I don't deal well with the heat or the dry land. He and his sister haven't even awakened their Dolls yet so I see no reason to even be involved with them."

"Then why are they here?"

Mathias fingered his gold cufflinks, oddly he only had one on. "Why should I know. Probably teamed up with somebody because he wanted something he didn't have the power to get on his own." He gave a small smile. "You know what's odd?" he randomly asked "It's said that those who effect the air are rare, but those who effect the mind are even harder to find. However," he smirked "Those who connect with others to the point where they are the same, well, I've never met another one quite like me." He gripped his cufflink and pulled it out. "Lykke!" he summoned. The small piece of gold stretched and extended to create a large battle axe.

Val's eyes went wide. Quickly she grabbed her on hand water bottle and chugged it. She had already used up most of her supplies trying to heal those in the medical hall and she want sure if what she had on hand was enough for what this fight would enviable be. Hopefully someone would come a join her, that is, if anyone could find her.

Throwing the empty bottle to the side, she griped her sword and waited for the Bount to attack. She had no offence other than kido and basic Zanjustu. But she did have one defense.

Mathias rotated the heavy ax in his hand. The thing was taller than him and needed to be held correctly for optimum power. He shifted his weight to one side and gave an unsymmetrical smile. Slowly he began to run at the girl, swinging the weapon at her head. Val raised her sword and focused her reishi into short little bursts. Bubbles started to leak from her blade and they stopped the ax entirely. "What the hell?" he struggled. The bubbles quickly popped, but not without forcing the Doll away from her face.

"Mathias." She started slowly "I don't want to fight you. Just tell me what's going on. Are these Bounts here to kill you?"

"Some may be." He said nonchalantly as he tried to cut off her head.

Val threw herself to the ground and rolled out of the way "Then what's their real motive?" she asked. Trying to make it seem like they were having just your average conversation.

"They have two leaders, they probably have different motives." He replied simply, pushing all of his weight into a downwards swing. Val pushed herself out of the way and scrambled to her feet. The ground where she had just been standing had a large hole in it. "Can you stop dodging? This is getting annoying."

"No." her voiced cracked.

Mathias just shrugged and attacked again.

Line

Elizabeta felt the death of her husband. It hurt her, it felt like something had been carved out of her soul. The heat had been pressing against her head from what was left from her doll. Something was burning it and breaking what had clung to her. She felt broken, like her very Soul was being ripped out of her. The three Shinigami in front of her looked tired and beaten but by no means ready to give up. Why was she doing this? Did the clan really mean that much to her? Rodrick was gone.

Rodrick died for the clan, so she should do the honors in following in his footsteps. Poor children though, no one would be there to mother them.

"Where's Mercury? He should be back by now?" Rensa whispered to Sky.

"Enzi," Sky muttered "Remember who we saw in the ally during out mission."

"A white-haired guy, why?"

"If this is his clan then why do you think he's attacking?"

"I really don't think now is the time to be having this conversation."

"But something isn't adding up!" he insisted. "They were trying to get the gems to Matthias and his clan, but Matthias was attacked before that by Shinigami."

"Not now Sky!" Enzi said loudly, reading his sword as he ran at the Bount. She had just been standing there clutching her head as Sky tried to figure things out.

"But that means Neo's team was the one that attacked him."

"Well they had to attack someone!" Rensa adjusted his grip on his axe and ran at Elizabeta. Sensing the attack, she pushed herself out of the way and allowed the last bit of her Doll to slip down her wrist and rest in her hand.

Everything else was gone, this was all she had left. She had felt her head in danger and sent what was ever left to protect him, now she was on her own. Poor Lilly, she had already lost so much. Her brother, Rodrick, hopefully the others will insure that the little flower won't die. She readied her weapon, it wasn't able to hold a single shape very well anymore so her traditional frying pan looked more like a small shield.

Rensa ran at her, holding his ax out and letting the blue feathers fly in the wind. "Hadō #31. Shakkahō!" he called out, infusing the kido into his ax and pushing the energy out like a wave. It was a tiring prosses, and accuracy was something to be desired. Elizabeta tried to dodge it, but the end of the wave clipped her arm. Blood trickled down her side, part of her doll detached from the weapon and went to try and seal up the wound. "Anyone ready to go Bankai?" Rensa asked.

"I don't have a Bankai!" Sky shouted.

"Neither so I!" Enzi answered. The Bount went for him this time, he solidified his blade in a shower of sparks and tried to send a shock of electricity down the Doll. Elizabeta screamed and backed off. "I'm training for it though." He laughed.

The native American cursed and put a cigarette in his mouth and lightning it. "Why is it always me?" he asked softly. "Oh well, Bankai!" he yelled. The feathers on his ax moved in the air, before wrapping around his arm and extending onto his back. Wings grew in the open space on his uniform and a feather headdress fitted his scalp. Rensa lifted himself into the air and took aim.

The fog was still thick but the visibility wasn't the problem. No, if it had just been visibility, he would have relied on sensing reishi. But the fog covered not only sight but also any way of differentiating Bounts and Shinigami. He could see well enough though. For now.

He still had his sword with him, however, with his height in the air, he didn't know how useful it would be. So instead he used his wings. The feathers on his wings could detach and be used as projectiles however, they were kind of the things holding him up so it was that wise of an idea to just let loss. Sure, he could walk in the sky but now was not the time to be thinking about back up options.

Sky's mind however, was going into overtime. If Mathias was the one Laugh, Neo, and Det fought, then why was that never brought up in the short time the Bount had been staying in the castle.

Mathias was in the castle… Mathias was in the castle!

Mathew… their captain, he was missing, wasn't he? No, he was probably at his human job. Or had just gotten lost somewhere, Sky wouldn't put it past him. Hell, he had heard rumors that he had once gotten trapped in an alternate dimension. But that was just a rumor, spread by some kids in the R&D department who had spent a little bit too much time on the internet.

Dame it, Mathias the Bount and Mathew their captain. Why were their names so similar? Oh well, that's why they called him king and captain.

Shit, he thought as he dodged an attack from the Bount. He was getting off track. Sky quickly countered and punched the lady on the face. Elizabeta flew back and transformed her Doll into a staff to stop herself. Once she got her footing, she attacked Sky again, but got intercepted by Enzi. His Shikai gave him increased speed so it wasn't difficult to jump in front of his team mate and solidify his blade. A great thing about having increased speed is that it usually involves a slowed down perception of time. And timing was critical.

Enzi solidified his sword just as it began to pass though the Doll, effectively snapping the thing in half. Not wanting to risk the thing putting itself back together, he sent a powerful bolt of electricity at the thing and let it melt from the power.

This was it, Elizabeta knew this was the end. It wasn't hard to guess what would happen to her. It's not like the soul society could let soul sucking being run around now that they knew where they lived. If anyone survived this, then they would have to find a new home. Shame, she really liked the one they lived in at the moment. They had been there long enough for memories to be held there and the kids to have roots in the building.

Rensa launched some feathers at her, as Sky ran to attack. His fingerless gloves were stained with blood that she wasn't sure how it got there. A thought occurred to her, Sky hadn't seen Rensa attack, maybe if she… oh that was an idea.

As Sky reached her, she did the unexpected thing and pulled him forward. It threw him off balance and he hit the ground hard, just as the needle like feathers reached them.

They hurt, they hurt like nothing else, but she would like. She had a meat shield.

Enzi ran to Sky's aid, and tried to put up a small shield between them. But in doing so, he put his back to Elizabeta.

She turned what was left of her Doll into a small knife and stabbed Enzi.

Rensa, who had already turned to fly to the ground so try and help Sky, saw this and dived to attack. He grabbed the woman's throat and used his ax against her.