Hooray! Another update! And this one has some action in it! Of course, I'm not great at writing action scenes, so I'm sorry, but its not the best. Hope you enjoy it anyways!
As Always: I don't own Shaman King
"Welcome, my dear," Cal said, stepping from the shadows. Ayamae smiled.
Chapter 36: The Shadows Rise
"Ayamae," Hao called, running up to her, but he was blown backwards by a harsh wind.
"My dear," Cal said, taking a step closer. "Why don't you take care of these annoyances before we begin?"
"As you wish my king," Ayamae said. She turned towards Hao and the others. "Neko-chan, care to help?"
A vicious growl echoed around as a large, black panther appeared behind Ayamae. It lashed its tail and the winds whipped up, tearing almost painfully into the shamans who stood facing their friend.
"Ayamae!" Yoh called. "What are you doing?"
Cal laughed. "She can no longer hear you, for she belongs to me now!"
"You're wrong!" Hao called.
"You only have to look into her eyes to know the truth. At last, the time has come to rise from the shadows, and she is the key to my return."
Hao, Yoh, Anna, and the others all turned to meet Ayamae's eyes, and found not the swirling grey depths they had become so used to, but black pits staring back at them.
Ayamae flexed her muscles and withdrew her Sais from the leg straps she kept them in.
"What do we do?" Anna asked.
"We have to stop him," Veriache replied.
"How?" Ren asked, fingers clenched around his staff.
"By defeating her," Veriache replied calmly.
"What?" Horohoro said.
"She's your own daughter and you want us to fight her?" Ryu asked, alarmed.
"It's the only way," Veriache said.
Hao clenched his hands into fists, shaking.
"She knew, didn't she?" Yoh asked, turning to face Veriache. "She knew we would end up having to face her. That's why she trained us to fight her."
"Yes," Veriache said. "She is the one spoken of in the prophesy, said to fall to the darkness in her heart."
"But, that was me," Hao said.
"No," Anna put in. "It couldn't have been you, you've been reborn more than once. Plus, you fell to the darkness before you died. I was a fool for not seeing it sooner."
"But, that means there's hope," Yoh said, and everyone turned to look at him. "She'll rise from the darkness with friends, remember."
"But how do we help her?" Hao asked.
"We fight," Manta said, rushing forward to block a blow that Ayamae launched at them. "For now, that's all we can do."
"It'll all work out in the end," Yoh said, running forward to help his short friend as he called on the Spirit of Sword.
Hao's lips twitched up in a smile, remembering how those words had annoyed him so much during his fight with this same group of shamans.
"Then let's fight," Hao said, and he joined in with the rest of the group, calling on the Spirit of Fire to take sword form.
Together Hao and Yoh rushed Ayamae, coming from both sides with swords raised. Ayamae caught both attacks with her Sais and pushed, and the wind blew the twins backwards. Faust, Ryu, and Lyserg stepped in, rushing forward together for an attack, but Ayamae dodged backwards.
Ren, Horohoro, and Manta were waiting though, and Ayamae found herself backing away from their attacks, on the defensive.
"What are you doing?" Cal yelled. "Attack them! Kill them! It's the only way!"
"No!" Hao yelled. "Don't listen to him. Ayamae, please. This isn't you."
"You're wrong," Ayamae said, her voice cold and flat. "I'm more me than I've ever been before." She lunged forwards, knocking Ren, Horohoro and Manta backwards before taking a swing at Yoh, who was advancing. Her Sai caught his arm and drew blood.
"That's it," Anna said, before she leapt into the fray. No one, not even her possessed best friend, got away with hurting her fiancé. Jun, Pirika, and Tamao all shared a quick glance before following Anna.
Even with attacks coming from every angle, Ayamae was fast. She dodged and swiped, ducked and slashed, drawing blood from nearly everyone. And whenever anyone got too close to her, the Spirit of Wind blew them all backwards.
But she hadn't been training them to fight the Shadow King. She hadn't spent weeks and months sparing against them in the off chance they would fight someone who might not even make it out of his shadow prison. No, she had been sparing with them so they knew what her fighting style was like. So they knew how to beat her.
So, after a particularly strong gust of wind knocked them all back, they staggered to their feet, forming a perfect circle around Ayamae with Yoh directly behind her and Hao directly ahead.
"Finish them off already!" Cal called, and Ayamae tightened her grip on her Sais, spinning in a full circle before facing Hao once more.
"Now!" Yoh yelled and everyone dashed forwards at once.
Ayamae dodged Manta, Pirika, Jun, and Tamao. She blocked Ren, Horohoro, Ryu, Faust, and Lyserg as she spun into the air on a jump. She twisted on the way back down, and found herself pinned between Yoh and Hao. Yoh held her arms down as Hao held the Spirit of Fire sword to her neck. The wind whipped furiously around the trio, but Amidamaru held it off, creating a sort of shield against the enraged wind spirit.
"Go ahead," Ayamae said, eyes still black, voice still flat. "Kill me. It won't save your precious world."
"Aya," Hao whispered. He lowered his arm, sword disappearing.
"You're a fool," Ayamae said, struggling against Yoh's hold.
Hao smiled. "You've always said love makes fools of everyone." With that he pulled Ayamae into a tight hug. Yoh released her, stepping back just slightly as Ayamae seemed to relax in Hao's arms.
"Big mistake," Ayamae said, voice still flat. She raised her right arm, still clutching her Sai, and poised it right over Hao's heart.