A/N: Single chapter update. Thanks everyone who keeps reading Power, even if you don't R&R I'm glad you are reading this and finding it enjoyable. The story is almost over, only a few chapters left.
Power
Chapter Thirty Five
Whatever plan the guys had come up with must have almost been thrown out the window. Sileny gripped a hand on one of the bars as she looked down on the scene below. Somehow she'd known the whole time that there was no way around this, and most likely they all had. No one had said anything about it. She wasn't sure if that had been for her and Rachel, or themselves.
Azure eyes watched her friends moving into a formation, mostly everyone was moving to give Ryo and Sage some space. They'll attack first then, she glanced at Rachel who nodded. Both girls looked back down to the scene below.
Ryo moved first, drawing his other sword he linked the two hilts together. He jumped into the air and fire swirled around the blades. Right before he launched the attack, Sage swung his sword and the lightning formed instantaneously as the blade cut through the air. The light was blinding and the fire only added to the light and the heat in the room became almost unbearable.
The girls shielded their eyes. There was the sound of glass breaking all around them followed by pain.
Rachel opened her eyes first and gazed down at her forearm, there were cuts on her hands but nothing too serious. However there was a shard of glass in her right arm up by her shoulder. Shit! She reached over and pulled it out, thankful it wasn't a big shard and tossed it to the side. Looking at her arm she saw it was bleeding-it wasn't bad.
She turned to face Sileny who was visibly in pain and clutching her shoulder, blood was visible between her fingers.
Down below them things took an unexpected turn.
When the light finally dimmed Haytie was standing where they left him, yet that wasn't to say he was unharmed. Shattered glass covered the floor like glitter. His clothes had been burnt and shredded; there were cut marks on him but no blood. Nor did he really act like he was hurt.
He glared, "It seems in having your injuries healed your powers have bounced back up too." The man pulled a large curled shard of glass from the back of his throat. "Had I been a normal human I'd be-"
Before he could finish his sentence he was shot back with a wave of water hit his face and sent him fly back into the throne.
Cye kept the water going as Kento raised part of the ground below him and Dais, up to where the girls hung in their cage.
The taller warrior notched his arrow and fired it at the ground in front of their enemy. The combined force of the two attacks forced Haytie through the throne and to the other side of the room.
They act faster out of instinct than by plan, Kayura observed. She saw as the enemy was about to stand the walls move around him, trapping him.
Kento and Dais landed beside her, "We can't get those bars open," Dais said.
The Ronin of Hardrock kept his eyes fixed across the room, "And the girls have been hurt."
"What?!" Ryo and Sage's eyes widened. Was it because of them?
"What do you mean they're hurt?!" Rowen demanded.
Haytie broke out of the prison that Kento had tried creating, the rubble swirled around him.
Kento?
I'm not doing that!
"My turn," Haytie said in a low voice. The rubble went flying at the warriors at blinding speed, knocking a few of them back. Then the floor began to spin, literally, as the shards of glass rise into the air then flew at the warriors like a wave of bullets.
Ryo winced as one grazed his cheek before the mask of his armor came down. He staggered to keep his balance on the spinning ground. With the ground moving he wasn't about to attack with his fire in case it missed Haytie and hit one of his friends.
Behind the Ronin leader, Kayura glared and gripped her weapon. Hang on! She shouted to the others before she jumped into the air and threw the ball and chain down, she hadn't shouted the attack yet the Quake with Fear didn't disappoint. Chains shot up from the ground and embedded themselves in the walls of the room, stopping the spinning floor a bit more sudden than she thought.
Cale, who had been pinned down by a boulder, had grabbed onto one of the chains using it to break himself free. He saw that Dais, Sage, and Cye had either done the same or grabbed on for a higher advantage point. The warlord couldn't really say which.
Though the floor had stopped spinning the glass was still circling the room. More like a swarm of bees now than a volley of bullets. Cale noticed that all the Ronin now had their masks on, something he hadn't seen before, and they also had visible wounds where the fabric of their subarmor showed. Some looked like nothing more that scratches while other he could tell, even from a distance, where bleeding.
A thought struck him. The Warlord of Darkness lifted his sword, the black lightening danced around it before it spread throughout the room, engulfing everything in complete darkness.
What did you do that for?! Sage asked him.
I want to know if he can strike us if he can't see us. Cale answered, I can still see perfectly and he's looking around as if he expect something.
A sneak attack, Kayura summed.
Lets give him one, Kento glared.
Rowen.
What Sage?
Ready to try that combo we talked about with Cye?
I'm ready if you two are, Cye said.
Right. Everyone get off the floor!
Those that remained on the floor jumped up just as Sage's sword began to give off a faint hint of light. Rowen was floating in the air when he loosed the arrow which was drawing air around it like a vacuum. Then Cye swung his yari and the water that shot from it was sucked into the air vacuum just as the thunder from Sage's sword struck the arrow.
The entire back section and most of the floor in the room had been completely destroyed, the sheer force of the attack even sent the warriors themselves back by the doors that lead into the room. Doors that then fell backwards back into the hallway with a loud echoing thud.
"Holy shit!" Kayura stared around at the scene in awe. She couldn't see Haytie.
"Hey Sekhmet!" The Warlord turned to see Ryo who was by the cage looking pissed as hell, "Come help me get these two out of here."
Sekhmet spun on the chain and ran up it to its anchor in the wall before jumping to the cage. "Are you two alright?" He asked as he drew out a sword.
Sileny looked at him, still holding her shoulder, "We will be." She answered before glancing at Rowen who had flown over to help.
"What happened?" Ryo asked though he had a pretty good idea what the answer was.
"We aren't completely sure," Rachel lied.
The Warlord of Venom cut the bars with his acid lined sword, the bars disintegrated he helped Rowen get Rachel out first and over to Ryo who jumped back to the ground with her. Sekhmet turned to Sileny but saw she was looking past them, "What is it?"
"Something's moving over there," She pointed to the spot where Haytie had been. Sileny let out a small gasp when Rowen wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her closer to him. Trying to ignore the pain that shot through her shoulder, she wrapped her arms around his neck as best she could while floating in the air with him.
Ryo stood in front of Rachel with Cye and Kento who had dashed over to join them. They watched as Haytie burst from the ground he had been buried under. At least now Haytie looked like he'd been in a dog fight. There was a scratch that went along his face… no that wasn't a scratch what was that?
"Is that a crack in his face?" Rachel asked looking between Ryo and Cye.
"A crack?" Cye looked at her then back to Haytie, "It kind of does look like one."
Kento arched an eyebrow, "So what is he a giant doll or something?"
"I don't know," Rachel replied.
Haytie took a step forward and all the debris around him flew to the side, clearing the way for him and causing the room to shake. There was a glassy rage in his eyes.
Sileny felt Rowen's grip on her tighten, "Sil," he said in a low voice, "Ryo says that Rachel can see a crack on Haytie's face. Kento wants to know if this guy could be a giant doll or something."
A doll? You're kidding right. She thought for a moment, "Not a doll persey…" There was only one kid of creature she knew about that was like a doll. And if her hunch was correct then things would make perfect sense. Haytie had a strong will to keep her friends here fearing they would cause a problem in the outside world. And all his attacked had been earth based.
He looked at her, "What do you mean?"
She looked at him then down at the enemy, "Haytie!"
He stopped and looked up at the shield maiden.
"Are you a golem?"
Rowen's mind went from what the hell are you doing to what the hell is a golem.
"A what?" Kento looked from his friends above to Rachel who shrugged.
"What's a golem?" Dais asked from his perch on the chains.
"It's like a doll or puppet created to protect things. They are usually made of clay or something like it." Sileny answered loud enough for the whole room to hear her.
A smirk formed on his face, causing the crack to grow, "Yes shield maiden, or perhaps I should call you a witch? I am indeed a golem."
Silence filled the room.
"Now that you know what I am, perhaps you can understand what I'm doing now. I've been around for ages gathering items of great power. I store them here to keep them away from the humans since all the powers here are deadly. I cannot allow you Ronin Warriors or Warlords, as you call yourselves to leave this place." His eyes narrowed, "You're power is too much."
"Whoever created this thing had a twisted sense of protecting," Sileny said in a low voice.
Ryo tensed up. Their power too much? He had worn a weapon that was more dangerous than the armor he was wearing now. This was insulting. After everything they had done to protect this world! He could feel his hands shaking as the tightly gripped his katanas.
He was brought out of his anger when he felt a tight grip on the inside of his arm. Looking to his side he saw Rachel with his arm on one hand and Cye's in the other. With an anger in her eyes that he had never seen before.
"These are people not objects. They are not yours to take."
"Nor are they yours to keep." Haytie retorted, "Are those cuts not from the attack they used when they first entered my throne room?"
Rachel lost it and began shouting at him in German. Whatever it was that she said clearly struck a chord within him somewhere because his expression went from a cocky smirk to an outright glare.
Sekhmet looked at the other girl, "Any idea what she said?"
"Nothing that needs repeating," Sileny answered. Of course she didn't have to understand what Rachel said to know what she was saying.
Haytie took another step forward, "I see. That does not change what I must do. I'll just have to change the way I go about doing it after this is over." He snapped his fingers twice and all the glass in the room began to glow filling the room with white hot light for a moment before everything went dark again.
When Rachel opened her eyes the guys were gone and Sileny was next to her, "What the?" A large door shot up from the ground behind them, it opened to show them the forest of Aoikigahara.
"You can both return to the world you belong in now."
They turned to look at him and saw nine balls of glass floating around him.
"You're magics are nothing to fear. But I must keep these ones here with me."
Sileny glared, "Nej! Vi är inte utan våra vänner som du tjuv!"
"Thief? If they don't belong to anyone how can I st-"
A loud roar came from the doorway followed by streaks of white and black fur.
The large black tiger ran at the golem and succeeded in pinning him down to the floor. The action caught him off guard. All the glass fell and shattered again just as the door back to the mortal world vanished.
Haytie glared up at the beast before realizing that he was now surrounded by his prizes, all of whom had their weapons drawn.