Note: Sekirei belongs to Sakurako Gokurakuin and the only thing I own here is my OC.
After handing Chiho over to Takami and Akitsu who promised to get her illness cured in days, Kara went off to report to Minaka that we got our Ashikabi while I decided to go walk around in the city. I just couldn't handle the pressure of having to wait for my future Ashikabi to awaken and finally wing me. I just had to get out. Well, that and the fact that when I tried phasing into Living Realm I nearly blackened out from the reaction I was getting and that was outside the room she lay in! If I wanted to get out of Spirit Realm any time soon, I had to do it outside the MBI tower.
Which brings me to my current disposition. I am not quite sure how things started out but after seeing Uzume off as she went to grab her things from Izumo Inn I somehow ended up here…
"T-this Sekirei is mine!" I think this must be the first time I saw Minato come out of his timid, withdrawn shell. I was quite surprised and I wasn't alone in this regard. Practically everyone on the street, Hibiki, Hikari, Seo – their Ashikabi – Tsukiumi the water Sekirei in question and Yashima all stopped whatever they were doing and stared at the young man.
"Huh? You-" Whatever Seo wanted to say will forever be lost as he was blasted by what seemed like full power from his enraged Sekirei.
"You bastard! How dare you go after another Sekirei while we are here!" Hikari clenched her fist, lightning snaking through out her body and making her hair fly upwards. "After telling us that we are the only ones for you!"
"B-but I didn't do anything yet!"
That was definitely not the right thing to say, I thought as I watched Seo get lit up like a Christmas tree. Off to the side, Yashima stood and giggled at Seo's misfortune, her hammer waiting for its time on her shoulder. Meanwhile, Tsukiumi and Minato talked a bit, Minato got a free cold shower and then suddenly, Tsukiumi kissed the guy, sprouting gigantic wings of ocean blue. Well, looks like the show is over, it's probably time for me to-
"Oh! Lady Rei!" I turned back to see Musubi wave at me cheerfully, the rest of the actors in this farce also turning upwards to look at me. Where the hell did she come from? "What are you doing here?"
"Watching." I admitted easily, taking pleasure in the stunned expressions of Minato and Tsukiumi.
"Why you! The coward who keeps running away from me!" Tsukiumi pointed at me angrily. "Come down here and face me in fair combat!"
"Eh?!" Minato stared at his newly gained Sekirei. "Wait that's-"
"Why not?" I shrugged and jumped down, Hibiki, Hikari and Seo scrambling away warily. "You should be a good practise."
"Hah! This Tsukiumi here will show you her power!" The blonde in the short dress proclaimed, water currents coming into existence around her.
"Let's see if you prove to be a worthy distraction." From the thoughts that plague me recently anyway. I drew my swords, Tsukiumi got into position and Yashima dashed over to grab Minato before leaping away. As if that was the signal, Tsukiumi unleashed her torrent at me, water rising like an unforgiving tsunami before me. It might've worked had I tried to dodge or something like that, I on the other hand, merely walked through in my Soul Form only to instantly phase back into the Real World and dash towards the stunned Sekirei. Somewhere along that time, I noticed Seo and his Sekirei run off.
I must say, I was rather…disillusioned. After seeing what Kara, Akitsu, Mutsu and Yume could do I came to believe that the single digits were amazing. Even Homura was powerful enough to make me think twice before engaging him. Tsukiumi proved otherwise. Oh sure, there was water everywhere and even thought I used Gate:Open on myself as often as I could I got drenched a bit, but her attacks did nothing to me. She didn't compress her water balls for them to actually hurt on contact and her streams of water were just that: streams of water. It was a bit like being sprayed by a power hose. Distracting, but hardly harmful. Of course, I had to give her some slack considering my armour but it was no major hinderance to all other single digits I've fought before. In close combat, she was utterly worthless and had I wanted to, I could've killed her already. She could make a watery blade but she had absolutely no skill with it.
"I am disappointed." I finally stated my thoughts, stopping before heavily breathing Tsukiumi. "You are nothing like the other single numbers, you are weak."
"Grr!" The Sekirei clenched her fists. "You just keep running away into that cheating form of yours!"
"Indeed." I sighed. "Well, it's time to finish this. Nice knowing you, Tsukiumi."
With those words I dashed forward, my blades glowing an ethereal wispy blue. Tsukiumi threw another wave at me but this one I just broke right through, not even bothering to phase through it. Her power was just not concentrated enough to actually harm me. A step before I was about to reach her though, I had to spin on my heels and block a gigantic hammer with one hand while another sword deflected a mighty punch from Musubi.
"Oh?' I jumped back, using the momentum they gave me and relaxed, my swords at my sides, pointing slightly towards the ground. "Hmm, looks like this is getting interesting."
"You!" Tsukiumi seemed torn before appreciating how she got saved and chastising her savours for interrupting the duel.
"Shut up." Yashima stared at me, her usually calm features focused and alert. "You are no match for Lady Rei, none of us are. We must work together."
"Yea!" Musubi jumped up and down in excitement. "Together we can take her on!"
"Musubi, Yashima, Tsukiumi." Minato called out from the side, a phone in his hand. "Be careful!"
"Hmph!" Tsukiumi turned away from her Ashikabi with a blush and began forming more water around her. Yashima readied herself, her hammer glowing blue and Musubi merely took a stance, her battle lust palpable.
"Hmm." I stared at the opponents in front of me. Albeit random, this was going to be an interesting fight. It was going to be a bit difficult that they prevented me from knocking Tsukiumi out with their attack but now it's just going to be so much more exhilarating. With Yashima and Musubi attacking me in the front while Tsukiumi brought in the artillery, this is going to be a fun fight. Of course, I wasn't going to actually try to kill or even severely injure any of them and at the same time, they couldn't do anything to me as I'll just Gate:Open away.
Just as I expected, Musubi charged in first, Yashima following after her with a war cry, her hammer glowing brighter with vivid blue by the second. Tsukiumi quickly fired a stream at me in an attempt to distract me long enough for her allies to reach me. Except she didn't know I had the Ill Intent sense which allowed me to dodge her attack with ease while I ducked below Musubi's punch and kicked her away just in time to criss-cross my swords in a block from Yashima's hammer.
"Ow." I deadpanned as Yashima literally put me knee deep into asphalt. Well, more like a gigantic crater formed from her hitting me, but details. Regardless, now I knew that blocking was a very bad idea as my arms literally went numb from that block. And to make it worse, Musubi took that kick on a block and was already charging right back into the fight. At least Tsukiumi was currently out of commission, afraid to hit her own allies by accident as we brawled in the middle of the street.
Yes, this is the fight I was looking for, I grinned madly as I ducked, dodged and parried the countless blows Musubi threw at me and the occasional strike which caused small earthquakes from Yashima. Of course, I threw out just as many attacks as they did and so far, only thanks to me unable to press my advantage that they had nothing more than torn clothing and light scratches. I on the other hand, was completely fine even if I was soaking wet, courtesy from the occasional water ball from Tsukiumi.
Suddenly, my instincts screamed of an incoming attack from above and I slashed above with Gate:Open. Musubi and Yashima backed away slightly, taking a small breather to calm down.
"That's just not fair!" Matsu's voice called out from the phone Minato was still holding. "How the hell did you just cut a laser?!"
"Oh? Is that what it was?" I glanced skywards, unconcerned about possible attacks from the ground. My eyes were hardly the biggest sense I used in a fight anyway, Kara taught me as much. My eyes generally just couldn't keep up with the speeds me and Kara could go up to so I had to rely on other senses.
"Regardless, I think it's about time to wrap this up." I looked back down to see them eye me warily and Minato in shock. "On guard!"
I dashed forward to Yashima who swung her hammer at me with all her strength. Musubi tried to intercept, but I merely ran straight through both her and Yashima's hammer. Yashima, seeing me point blank, jumped away, letting go of her hammer but before she could get away, I spun on the spot, phased back into Living World and kicked the smaller girl hard.
"Yashima!" Minato ran over to the fallen Sekirei as she slumped out of a small crater in the wall of the nearby apartment building.
I spun back, blocking both of Musubi's strikes and then, turning once more, slashed at Tsukiumi's attack with Gate:Open, negating it. Slashing at Musubi without looking with another Gate:Open, I dashed towards Tsukiumi who sent water ball after water ball at me, her eyes wide and her hands shaking from the exhaustion. She managed to slow me down enough that Musubi, who dodged my slash, caught up to me and forced me to fight her again right beside Tsukiumi who took the chance to jump away.
Tch, I didn't want to do this, but I didn't come here to play a game of tag.
"Gate:Swap!" I called out, quickly drawing a circle with one blade and then cutting it with another. The tell-tale blue wave erupted and then quickly came back, taking me, Musubi and Tsukiumi who almost escaped it, into the Spirit World.
"What is this!?" Tsukiumi looked around wildly, the blue dome, the black and white world and the soul orbs floating about confusing her greatly.
"Eh?" Musubi backed away from me. "Where are we?"
"Welcome, to the Spirit Realm." I gestured around with my swords. "Do try not to go beyond the borders; you might be stuck here for ever."
"What is this madness…" Tsukiumi stared at me with wide eyes.
"I would do as she says, Tsukiumi!" Matsu's garbled voice reached us. "Don't go beyond the dome boundaries!"
"Well then, round 3?" I smiled, my swords at the ready once more.
"Musubi is ready!" And without waiting for another moment, I was set upon by Musubi, having to dodge, duck and occasionally tap her fists out of the way with my swords. She wasn't bad, her speed, reaction time and strength were obviously high, but her technique seemed…unrefined. It was as if she just recently began actively learning it.
"Ack!" Musubi collapsed to her knees and clutched her stomach as I rammed a pommel into it, having seen everything I wanted to see.
"Musubi!" Minato called out from the other side, still clutching at Yashima's limp form.
"I-I am okay…" Musubi had to go on all 4s to stabilize herself, taking deep breaths.
Meanwhile, Tsukiumi tried her best to escape me, tossing everything she could at me but the limited area meant that sooner or later…
"Well, that was fun." I calmly stated at the vomiting Tsukiumi at my feet. Pommel to the stomach must hurt really badly, I reflected upon seeing flecks of red amidst the sick the water Sekirei threw up. Musubi, on the other hand, was the first one not to throw up or keel over after getting hit by my patented pommel-to-the-gut attack. While the two Sekirei gasped for breath, clutching their middles, I sat on a large piece of rubble – courtesy of Yashima – and waited for Gate:Swap to end. I put in just enough to last about 5 minutes, so the time should finish right about…now.
"Musubi!" Minato dashed over to his Sekirei who managed to sit up, leaning herself against another piece of rubble. "Are you alright? Tsukiumi! Are you-?"
"I am fine, Lord Ashikabi." Musubi attempted a smile but grimaced instead. "Oww…I guess I have to train more huh."
"I-I am fine." Tsukiumi surprised me by actually getting up and shambling over to Minato, a painful glare sent my way every couple steps. "It'll take more than that to bring me down!"
"I can offer more." I smirked behind my mask as she tripped and waved her arms to try to stabilize herself. Thankfully, Minato dashed over just in time to pick her up in his arms and settle her down beside Musubi gently. It was a bit funny to see the proud woman instantly turn into a red, stuttering mess by Minato's heroics.
Well, this has been fun, but I think it's time for me to return. As I began walking, I had to stop and dodge a random water ball. Looking back I saw Tsukiumi, still in Minato's arms, lower her hand and glare at me.
"Next time, I'll be prepared!" She claimed, determination burning in her sea blue eyes. "And I'll defeat you!"
"Hmm." I lowered my mask to give the woman a grin. "I will look forward to it."
"Lady…Rei…" I stopped beside Yashima's fallen form as she laid, her gray eyes clouded with pain looking upwards at the cloudy sky. "I…I tried…but…"
"You should train harder, little bird." I looked at the smaller Sekirei, blood slowly trickling out of her mouth. "In this terrible game we are forced to play, those who do not train themselves into the ground die first and fast. Consider this a lesson. Painful, but necessary."
"I…see…" Yashima coughed, more blood coming out of her mouth and Minato rushed over to her side, his eyes wide in panic, tears forming in them. "I'll…train. I'll…be…stronger."
"Good luck, little bird." I smiled at the girl. "Become strong, for your Ashikabi. Strong enough that he won't have to cry for you."
Yashima merely nodded and closed her eyes, focused on just breathing. Perhaps I've hit her a bit too hard… She should pull through, she's a Sekirei after all, but I think she'll be bedridden for several days if not for a week. Damn, I feel so evil right now, walking away from 3 beaten up Sekirei and their Ashikabi in tears, begging his bird not to die on him. Somehow, the scene scratched at my heart, forcing me to leave, faster than I anticipated.