CHAPTER XXXVI: SHATTERED
DISCLAIMER: I claim NO OWNERSHIP to ANY of the characters in this story except (for in this chapter) Tojiro "Neo" Ankoku, Kasumi Moriko, Akuma Kyofu and Dominic. They are my original creations and owned by me. All other characters belong to their respective creators/owners. Recalling the day of writing THIS very chapter is still very clear to me. I remember how many times I actually had to look away from the monitor and think about what I was doing. I knew it to be sudden and painful but, some evils have to win. Even in the end where all good celebrates after the defeat of evil...we must always acknowledge what we have lost. All reviews are welcome.
Haruhi was back on her feet in mere seconds, immediately charging forwards. Tojiro shot blasts of incinerating fire blasts from both his feet. Haruhi's hands were wrapped in silver Chaos energy. She slashed through the flames, then shot a massive volley of Chaos Needles out of her fingertips, causing the silver Chaos energy to vanish from her hands. Tojiro reeled his head back then launched a massive breath of flames from his mouth. The humongous wall of flames dismantled everything as it swept through the street. Haruhi stood defiant, knowing what would definitely come next.
The flames finally vanished, and Tojiro remained ready on guard with his fighting stance. Haruhi suddenly exploded out from the ground in front of Tojiro, launching drills of orange Chaos energy at him. The Cloakmaster of Darkness had already leapt backwards to stop the sharpening force of terror that could eat through him with the most closest of contact. The orange drills dissipated after a few seconds, by this time Tojiro was already back on the ground. Haruhi pointed her fists forward out at the Demon Demigod, releasing whips of purple Chaos energy to lash out towards him.
They violently wrapped around him and in one single flash he was brutally electrocuted.
"Tojiro! Hang on!" exclaimed Mikuru.
"How…perfect. Instead of her being the one I die protecting, I end up dying by her. Sounds all too nice." Tojiro groveled in mental agony.
As the bolts of purple lightning continued to grow further and wider, a sudden circular orb of red surrounded Tojiro. Haruhi's eyes widened. The orb exploded into a furious light of brightness. Mikuru covered her eyes, as did the still dizzied Kyon. Haruhi lowered her arms, staring at the cloud of grey smoke up ahead of her. Skidding out of the portal was Tojiro, a monstrous aura of red Chaos energy surrounding his body.
"Rule number one when you face a Nightshade: Never anger one. Rule number one when you face me: Never stand against me! NEVER!" he furiously yelled with hatred filling his tone.
His blank white eyes were glowing with crimson red, and his Tsukikagegan appeared in his eyes. Tojiro's Chaos powers have finally returned to him. Now for both of their sakes; it's time to get serious. Tojiro smashed the ground with his left foot, launching several chunks of rolled up concrete that were lathered in golden Chaos energy. Haruhi fired several explosive bolts of purple lightning from her hands, blasting the boulders to pieces and rubble. Tojiro came flying through the smoke, blasting Haruhi further into the ground with a monstrous beam of red Chaos energy. Landing slowly on the ground, a blast of furious lightning caused the Demon Demigod to look up.
The sky began to grow more violent and distressed. "This is too damn annoying." he grumbled.
"Tojiro!" called a far away voice from behind him.
He turned around, seeing Kasumi running down the chaotic street of flames and destroyed cars.
"Kasumi? What are you-" a sudden blast from Haruhi knocked Tojiro straight down the street. Kasumi luckily jumped over him, but unfortunately for him, his head smashed into the side of a car.
"Sorry, Tojiro!" called out Kasumi, continuing her charge towards the madly insane Haruhi Suzumiya.
Kasumi leaped high into the air, firing arrow shaped projectiles of blue Chaos energy out from around her body. Haruhi pointed her hands up, creating a curved barrier from the left to the right, deflecting all the arrows. Kasumi landed back on the ground, having to quickly wave her hands to the left, and then to the right to extinguish blasts of red Chaos energy that Haruhi shot from her hands. Tojiro stepped in, spin dashing straight into Haruhi's stomach, surrounding himself with a fearsome red aura. Haruhi grabbed the spinning Tojiro as he was still burning against her chest, and tossed him like a baseball straight back at Kasumi.
The Shade Priestess lunged to the right, landing herself into a crouched position, staring over her shoulder at Tojiro as he heavily crashed into a car with enough force to cause the vehicle to explode into a storm of flames and dark smoke. Kasumi quickly turned her attention forward, spotting Haruhi land in front of her and deliver a sphere of concentrated Chaos Lightning at the priestess.
Kasumi luckily bathed her hands in blue positive Chaos energy to block the powerful attack, yet it still resulted in a vicious explosion of blue bolts of lightning shooting off into every direction. The bolts blasted apart cars, shattered through windows, and even smashed down walls on the buildings that surrounded them.
Tojiro back flipped out of the growing cloud of gray. The vengeful mind controlled flew out and dove down at the Cloakmaster of Darkness with a large sphere of purple Chaos energy being held over her head. Preparing a Chaos Rasengan in both his hands, he lunged up at his merciless foe and smashed the two spheres of power against Haruhi's single sphere of madness.
"Chaos…BLAST!" shouted the vigor of the Cloakmaster.
A massive dome of red Chaos energy expanded out in a hellish fashion, immediately obliterating the building walls of the structure to the left and right. Tojiro rose up out of a pile of rubble, but then quickly stood off to the right to dodge a sudden blast of yellow Chaos Lightning. Haruhi appeared in front of Tojiro with her hands bathed in Chaos electricity, punching Tojiro in the gut, then giving him a direct knock to the chin. The cloaked demon soared out of the gray cloud, his eyes opening up immediately to spin out to the left, and then quickly to the right to avoid several large Chaos Spears from hitting him. Haruhi lunged up through the air, but Tojiro began a furious series of Chaos Kicks to Haruhi's chest.
"Sorry…but I don't feel bad about this." he halted, holding a Chaos Rasengan back in his left hand after his continuous kicks.
The Demon Demigod smashed the whirling orb of Chaos energy and chakra into Haruhi, spinning her like a mad top down towards the ground which resulted in a marvelous cyclone shape of orange Chaos energy. Tojiro reappeared on the street with Chaos Control. Kasumi hurried to his side, staring into the cloud of smoke and destruction that Haruhi was last seen. The cloud of smoke suddenly vanished once a blistering, wide spread cyclone of purple Chaos energy shot out and continued to spin around Haruhi. Bolts of lightning began to strike buildings, blowing them to pieces with a single blast. Tojiro stared up, seeing the buildings both to the left and right falling towards each other.
"Are Kyon and Mikuru safe, Kasumi?" asked Tojiro, keeping his gaze up at the falling chaos.
"Yes! I already got them far away from this location." she answered.
"Perfect. Now I won't feel guilty about doing this." he said in an ungratifying tone.
Tojiro lifted the right sleeve of his cloak, and grabbed onto the dial onto the side of his right shoulder, turning the dial five clicks. In a single blast of orange shining light, Tojiro grew to the size of over two hundred feet tall in his mecha form. The titanium armored version of his Werehog form stood high up, and pushed his hands against the two massive buildings. In the middle of her ravenous power, Haruhi smirked. Kasumi kept a barrier of blue Chaos energy around herself to ensure no debris would bring her harm.
She stood in a crouched position, keeping her hands pointing up at the barrier to keep it's power running, as well as the length of how long she would be able to live. The towering mecha Werehog that was Tojiro continued to keep the buildings standing, however, there was no avail to it. He stared down, continuing to see debris after debris to fall and smash against Kasumi's barrier.
He knew that the young priestess wouldn't be able to hold onto her focus and power for long, Tojiro had to once again take the initiative. Forwarding Chaos energy to his hands, he caused the two buildings he was holding back to explode into a humongous storm of building remains. Quickly reverting back to his hedgehog form, he was in freefall. With his back aimed towards the ground, Tojiro halted himself in mid-air. Kasumi stared up, gasping at what was coming. Tojiro's Tsukikagegan was visible in his eyes.
"Chaos…IMPLOSION!" he shouted, pointing his arms straight up.
Firing out of all ten of his fingers were spinning streams of golden Chaos energy with large spear shaped ends on the front of each stream. Together they soared to the center of the gigantic storm of falling debris. The beams gathered together as one, forming into a single golden sphere, and as the rays of light shot out from the combined power, a furious widespread wave of golden Chaos energy exploded all the pieces of debris into nothingness.
Kasumi lowered her barrier, watching Tojiro powerfully smash into the ground on his feet. The Shade Priestess hurried over to the Nightshade, finding him in a crouched position with his clenched fists placed onto the ground on his left and right.
"Thank the gods you're okay!" she presented, kneeling by his side.
Tojiro rose to his feet, revealing a mess of glowing red liquid to be dripping from his right arm. Kasumi covered her mouth, distraught at the sight.
"Not a good sign, I know. This happened to me plenty of times, and yet here I am. Still standing…still fighting. Don't look so worried, Kasumi. I shall be all right." he assured the priestess, lowering his left arm from the spot where the discharge of Chaos energy was spilling from.
Kasumi rose to her feet with him, appearing worried and concerned if Tojiro was going to suddenly fall unconscious at any moment. Haruhi suddenly came through, grabbing Tojiro by the throat, smacking Kasumi with his corpse, then tossing the Cloakmaster straight through a large delivery truck, smashing through the cramped up trailer. Kasumi smashed onto the hood of a small car, but ended up flying off the other end, landing perfectly on her feet. She leaped over the car, and spun through five Chaos Spears, then fired a blue Chaos Spear directly into Haruhi, causing her to sporadically be sent flinging across the ground. Tojiro shot past Kasumi, grabbing Haruhi by the back of her clothes, and immediately tossing her back against a light pole.
Tojiro forcibly raised his arms to create an X to block a large beam of purple Chaos energy that pushed Tojiro across the ground while he was still standing. Tojiro was able to take a forceful leap into the air once the blast that was senselessly forcing him back began to weaken. While in the air, he angrily flung his arms one after another, releasing a volatile green Chaos Spear each time. Haruhi performed a handstand to back away, then continued to use her hands to continuously flip away farther and farther from Tojiro's reign of Chaos Spears.
He lowered his arms by his side, and then formed into a ball, shooting straight down at Haruhi. Haruhi finally got back to her feet and leaped up towards Tojiro. The Demon Demigod, however, quickly exited his ball form and smashed Haruhi straight into the gut with his right foot. Haruhi was sent spiraling back towards the ground, creating a monstrous boom and loud echo that banged the sound barrier with immense force. Tojiro teleported himself over by Kasumi picking her up and jumping off the hood of the car and onto the ground. He rested her down, holding her up, supporting her back.
"Come on Kasumi! Kasumi! Curses." said the Cloakmaster, turning his gaze back to where he saw Haruhi crash down.
Tojiro looked down at Kasumi, her eyes still not opening.
"Wake up priestess!" he shouted, shaking her body lightly.
Haruhi gave in to her inactivity and was seen flying across the air and towards the pair. Tojiro quickly turned his head to Haruhi, firing beams of yellow Chaos energy out of his eyes. The blasts successfully hit Haruhi and sent her smashing back into the street below. Tojiro turned back towards Kasumi, finally her eyes slowly began to peel open. Tojiro's red filled eyes with the Tsukikagegan in them blinked several times. Kasumi's eyes finally fully opened to the sight of the ebony hedgehog of the cloak.
"So…does this mean we're not dead?" she said.
Tojiro lowered his head, this being a form of him being relieved. He helped Kasumi to her feet, but the sudden whirling and blasting of Chaos energy that focused around Haruhi switched their attention. Haruhi fired a sonic wave beam of ringed purple Chaos energy out from both of her hands. Tojiro created a large wall of black Chaos energy to shield himself and the Shade Priestess from any dangerous harm. Haruhi lowered her arms in failure, an expression of disappointment and despise on her face. Tojiro was ready to charge, but Kasumi was quick to grab his arm.
"Tojiro, wait. If you keep throwing yourself at her, she's just going to get more powerful, and reality won't be able to handle that kind of stress! You have to resolve this as fairly as you can!" she said with great importance.
"Then if you have a plan, let's hear it." he said, turning around to her, crossing his arms.
Kasumi held her arm back, then slowly put on a saddened look.
"If you have something, I'll respectfully hear you out. Now, your life's in jeopardy. I don't care what Haruhi is thinking right now, she's a threat. So…I'm listening."
Haruhi stomped the ground with her right foot, causing the glowing purple around her to explode with even more power. Tojiro held his hands over his head, preparing a huge Chaos Sphere to appear in his hands. The humongous sphere of crimson Chaos energy was shocking with red bolts of uncontrollable lightning. Tojiro smashed the giant sphere down on Haruhi, to which she aimed her hands forward, stopping the sphere from crushing her into the earth.
Tojiro continued to use all his strength to force Haruhi's ultimate fate onto her, but still she yielded. With her hands coursing with purple Chaos energy, she finally let out a magnificent beam of purple light with silver beam that ran along the inside of it. Tojiro's sphere was immediately destroyed, and sent the Cloakmaster of Darkness soaring straight through the top of a skyscraper. The trail of gray smoke lined the Demigod's trajectory from the ground and all the way up through the building. Suddenly, the sight of a black dot with a furious red aura around it caught Haruhi's eye.
"CHAOS BLAST!" he roared.
Instead of taking it the simple way and exploding out with a large red dome, Tojiro smashed straight into Haruhi, erupting into a massive tower of red Chaos energy to shoot straight up into the skies above. Kasumi kept firm hold onto the ground, the blistering red light that resonated all over, as well as the furious winds that were forged from this chaos were too merciless. Once the hectic insanity was over, Kasumi stared forward, seeing the figures of both Tojiro and Haruhi laying down in front of him. The Cloakmaster reverted back to his human form, standing crouched over the unconscious Haruhi. His hood was lowered, his orange eyes glaring down at the high school girl.
The sleeves of her uniform were completely torn off, the edges of her skirt was slightly ripped, and the front of her shirt was torn where half of her bra was revealed.
"Knowing her, she probably wouldn't care." he said, looking away.
"Bravo! Bravo!" cheered the chilling voice of Akuma Kyofu.
The Cloakmaster quickly turned around, already standing ready to fight.
"After such a show, I had to arrive and give my thanks for an amazing performance. Nonetheless, the girl is still much of a pity."
"She's not involved anymore. Leave her out of this. This dispute is between us." threatened the Demigod of Death.
"I already know that, believe me. Somehow, I still think Haruhi isn't done yet." said the smiling Akuma.
Tojiro hastily turned around to watch Haruhi grab him by the throat of his neck with her right hand. Purple Chaos energy painted over her right hand, as she continued to violently choke Tojiro. The Cloakmaster showed no signs of struggle, not yet at least. Kasumi quickly leaped into the air, and charged at Akuma from behind. With the Cloakmaster of Fear hovering in mid-air, he confidently stared down at Tojiro's suffering.
"You've arrogantly came too far, my brother. Now is your time to stop…and die." he said.
"Get out of the way!" shouted Kasumi.
Akuma turned around, "Such a fool. Is this all the power you have by your side T-" said Akuma before he was shortly cut off once Kasumi slapped her Chaos energized right hand across his face.
The intimidating force launched Akuma straight through the bottom section of a building, creating a massive hole in the building wall. Kasumi landed back on the ground, tweaking her wrist after delivering her very enjoyable 'Chaos Slap'.
"Tojiro! You must break the curse that's controlling Haruhi's mind by forcing a stronger Chaos energy into her that carries a more powerful potency!" exclaimed Kasumi.
Tojiro coughed out in pain, "W-wh-What in the…h-h-hell…is that supposed to mean?" he ranted in agony and uncertainty. As nervous as she was, as painful as it was to see Tojiro in pain, Kasumi kept hesitant at the answer.
Finally, shutting her eyes with force, she screamed out; "KISS HER!"
"Ehh?" he exclaimed in confusion.
Haruhi continued to squeeze at the Cloakmaster's throat, with enough force to crush a watermelon, but this was the Cloakmaster we're talking about.
"Dammit…can't I just beat her against the head? Maybe the goddamn curse will fall out of her ear." he cringed in pain with every word.
By the look on Haruhi's face, he could see that she was too merciless to give up, especially now.
"Damn…it." he mumbled, pulling his hands up.
While he was still standing on his feet, he grabbed Haruhi by her shoulders, and pulled her back. Tojiro fell to his back, and Haruhi's lips fell onto his. Tojiro kept the kiss going, his eyebrows tightened to the point of no return. Haruhi's eyes, red and evil, changed back to their normal color. Her eyes turned into a dreamy expression as the kiss continued, half closed by the meeting of their lips. Tojiro hastily broke from the kiss, sitting back on the ground. Haruhi's body, clothes and whatnot returned to normal, the curse put onto the young girl was finally severed. Haruhi looked up, and got on all fours, then rested onto her knees.
"You okay there…Haruhi?" asked the restless Nightshade.
Haruhi put her hand to her lips, and rubbed them carefully.
"Okay…seriously. You don't need to make this any more dramatic than it already is." replied Tojiro, rising to his feet.
Akuma growled, "Lucky. All…too…lucky." he mumbled, creating a sphere of Chaos Fear in his right hand.
Kasumi turned her head to Akuma, spotting his dastardly plan.
"TOJIRO! NOOO!" screamed the Shade Priestess, running over to him.
Akuma smirked, firing a long stream of the deadliest Chaos energy straight towards Tojiro's back. Tojiro felt the presence coming, turning around, but he immediately saw the body of another appear out of nowhere right in front of him, the spear of Chaos Fear impaling the man. Kasumi stopped in her tracks, seeing the man's face, and tears flowing from her eyes, the broken hearted priestess screamed; "DOMINIC!"
It was the last of the Shade Priests, the leader of the group that kept his people's knowledge and power in order. Akuma retracted the stream of energy, making it dissipate in the process. Dominic dropped to his knees, Tojiro remained frozen by his selfless act. Dominic then slowly fell back, the Cloakmaster caught him. Akuma growled angrily by the outcome, and used Chaos Control, making his valuable escape.
"Dominic! Dominic!" screamed the helpless Shade Priestess, running as fast as she could. She dropped to her knees by Dominic's side. She grabbed his right hand, holding it dearly with hers.
"Kasumi…so…you did listen to me. I'm…gla-I'm glad." he mumbled in solemn suffering.
"I did. I…can't…why? Why? You didn't need to sacrifice yourself! You could've easily knocked Akuma away and-"
"Hush…child. Please. I did it…to save the Cloakmaster. It had to be done. T-Tojiro? You…must listen." he said, looking over his shoulder up at the Demon Demigod.
"Your friend….Yoko…s-s-she is safe. The location…of the S-S-Sc-Scythe. You must…find it." he coughed in slow agonizing pain.
"I shall Dominic. I shall." answered the Cloakmaster, his tone hasn't even changed.
"To find…it…you must…reach for your dreams. An-and then…you will find it." said Dominic, a smile forming on his face. He turned his head back down to Kasumi.
"I am glad you have found your way…in this world…young priestess. Stay with Tojiro…for me. He shall always…protect…you…" said Dominic's drifting voice, slowly drifting off to his death.
Kasumi's saddened heart filled her eyes with a waterfall of tears. Dominic's hand fell from hers, slapping onto the ground, cold and lonesome. The young priestess hiccuped and sniffled with uncontrollable sadness and grave hurt. Tojiro laid Dominic down with the utmost of respect and care.
"F-F-FATHER!" she screamed to the heavens.
Tojiro's eyes snapped at the revelation, watching Kasumi cry into Dominic's chest, her cries of loneliness filled the void of the destruction all around them. Tojiro stared at the shattered feelings that embedded around Kasumi's soul and essence. It was so easy to tell, yet it was all so hard to believe. Tojiro looked down at the man who he first saw as a monstrous man, the first sense of hate he ever felt in his life was Dominic.
Now, he saw in Dominic…a great friend, and a man of invincible honor. Tojiro rested his right hand onto Kasumi's shoulder, causing her to stare up at him. His orange eyes kept into a serious look. Kasumi continued to uncontrollably sniffle and hiccup in her never-ending sadness. Kasumi then dove into Tojiro's arms, crying her solemn feelings out to the world. She beat her right fist against Tojiro; not out of hate, but out of the simple thought that her father was gone from this world. Tojiro…returned the hug of this ill fate. He held his right hand on the back of Kasumi's head, keeping a tender hold to it.
"FATHER! F-F-FA-FATHER!" she screamed and hiccuped with fearsome tears that traveled down her cheeks.
Tojiro kept his eyes opened. A strangled look of anger, hate, and some form of regret. He grabbed his hood, and flipped it over his head, his face covered by the obscurity of darkness. His two orange eyes vanished from his eyes, and from the darkness inside his hood, appeared two blank white eyes. They were more cold and merciless as the fate that was bestowed upon the Shade Priest, but in hindsight…they were ten times as determined to avenge this solemn death.
NEXT CHAPTER PREVIEW
-Tojiro stands before the funeral pyre of the last of the Shade Priests.- "Through thick and thin, Tojiro shuns the failures of the past for the success he must settle for the future."
-Kasumi prays in silence.- -Tojiro turns around to the Shade Priestess whilst walking through a forest in another dimension.-
"The only two honorable survivors of the Great Shade Empire have nothing to lose but each other." -Tojiro listens to his own thoughts while walking away from the funeral pyre.- "Tojiro continues to deny any form of promises, even to Kasumi herself. With the utmost of confidence does the Cloakmaster know he must succeed."
-Upon Planet Sargasso, Tojiro and Kasumi arrive before the house of Spartan super soldier: Daisy.- "Searching for the world known as Reach, Tojiro confronts his only resource in order to locate the fable Nightmare Scythe."
-Tojiro and company look to the sky as a screaming Covenant Phantom dropship heralds a barrage of plasma fire.-
-Kasumi continues to pray, seeing images of her father.- "Can the Demigod of Death muster the prowess to make a promise?"
-Tojiro arms himself with an Energy Sword, knowing its power well.-
-Looking to the nighttime sky above Saienji Temple, Tojiro looks to the Shade Priestess in full courage, denying the possibilities of making any promise.-
"Closer and closer does his journey wrap around him, constricting what is right and wrong. Closer and closer...to his vengeance."
-Tojiro charges up a fearsome Rasengan from the ground, leaping into the air to crash it against the Phantom dropship. In accordance to his rage does an explosion of blue plasma and Chaos energy fill the sky.-
"His journey through the Nine Circles of Hell...draws closer."
NEXT TIME!
THE NIGHTMARE WARS
CHAPTER XXXVII: THE DREAMS OF PROMISES