THE END WAR – ALLIANCES
The Imperial Palace
The fight is going well for Emilie and Laurent. The two generals Odion and Dodi were wise to pick them as opponents but they have been unlucky. Although they are better coordinated than the princess and the duke, the two beasts are stronger and have done a good job of keeping them isolated. If this progresses for much longer they will win the fight. If Emilie and Laurent were to win this fight it would be bad news for the Imperial Guard, significantly bad news. With any energy left to spare either the leopard or the gorilla could take control of the battle at large. There are no tactics that will be useful against people like them, people who have reached this level. Battles at this level are those that have decided the fate of Homeworld for generations.
Shao Chin watches this battle from afar and smiles. They are gradually drifting away from him but he has created tools to help him see over long distances, a useful tool for any hunter. He is pleased with how the fight is going for the two beasts. He would once have dreamed about hunting them. Hunting was his occupation. For as long as he can remember humans and beasts have been enemies. He was fighting on the front line in the world's most exciting game of chess. Now once this is over he will need to stop hunting if there is to be peace between humanity and the beasts. Hunting will surely be put to an end when this war is over.
Then Shao Chin sees something and exhales. That is not good, he has just seen an old hunting technique being used on the battlefield. He knows that this could change the battle.
Emilie is running towards Dodi. She has been pressing him since she separated him from his partner. Allowing the golden 'absence' user any time to think is a mistake, one that she is not going to make. This latest attempt to close the distance goes differently to those she has made previously. Dodi sees something out the corner of his eye and relaxes. He knew that they had this technique of fighting back against the beasts, he is glad that it is finally time to use it. The number of beasts in this battle came as a surprise to him, soon their numbers will surely be thinned dramatically.
Emilie is knocked from her feet and collapses on the ground. She quickly tries to stand, anticipating the danger of Dodi's next attack, but she immediately falls again.
'What was that?' Emilie asks herself. 'I didn't see anything, it was nothing that he did, yet someone hit me. Is it someone with some kind of invisibility power? I have to get back to my feet, I have to test this out.'
Emilie slowly stands but Dodi begins to attack her. She knows why, he intends to distract her so that she can't watch for another attack. She does a good job evading him with her golden 'speed' energy. Of course her ability to watch for incoming attacks is limited, but she is the Princess of the Beast Kingdom for a reason. Emilie weaves around Dodi as quickly as she can, waiting for sight of another attack. It doesn't come for a while and she realises why. The attack came last time when there was significant distance between her and her opponent.
"Laurent jump away!"
"I don't need advice from you on how to fight Emilie!"
"We're under attack, we need to identify which direction!"
Laurent reluctantly listens to Emilie. He leaps back away from Odion and hangs for as long as he can in the air. Emilie runs from Dodi as well, not fast enough to escape but to keep the distance between them constant. She watches until she sees a white or grey object soaring through the air. It tears through the space in front of her before curving and striking Laurent powerfully in the chest. The arrow drives the gorilla down into the ground. When he tries to get back to his feet the duke is disoriented, just like Emilie was.
"It's the Beast-Tracking Shot!" Emilie declares.
"Impossible, the Beast-Tracking Shot is just a myth passed around by the hunters!"
"I followed that shot's trajectory; it was launched from miles away. Only the Beast-Tracking Shot could hit us from so far and have this effect. If we don't win here quickly then we're finished!"
The user of this particular ability is a hunting specialist. Her name is Colonel Halima. She was one of the chief advisors to the empire during the war with the Beast Kingdom for that very reason. She is the most experienced of all the beast-fighters in the empire. She learned Beast-Tracking Shot from watching a fellow hunter who met his demise shortly after. She takes aim once again, doing what no other user of the technique has ever done before, she loads two arrows into her bow at once. She fires the arrows to the west, watching as they make their long journey towards the princess and the duke.
"There's two of them coming," Emilie says.
"If we survive this we need to take them down quickly," Laurent says. "Since you're quicker you better go for the one who can pass through things. I will hit his friend with my most powerful punch. Together we can defeat the two of them."
Emilie lowers herself to the ground, preparing herself for a concentrated attack. Her concentrated attack involves running towards her opponent at full speed and throwing herself at them. The sheer force of the impact backed up by divine energy is usually enough to take down powerful opponents. She has only one problem, the incoming attack. If that hits her as the legend suggests it will then she won't be able to stand. With both her and Laurent down it will mean certain victory for the Imperial Guard.
'That attack is not called the Beast-Tracking Shot,' Shao Chin recalls. 'It has been renamed that over time because hunters use it to hit beasts. Hunters are only trained to track beasts, that is one of their greatest failings. My divine ability allows me to track everyone perfectly. Using that technique with two arrows is very impressive, but it is not what I imagined the limit would be for a class 8 warrior.'
Shao Chin holds out his own bow and prepares his golden 'gale' energy. He takes a single deep breath to calm himself and settles on a number of arrows. He is being ambitious, preparing more than one. He does not believe that two is the limit of this technique. He prepares four arrows golden 'gale' to be fired simultaneously.
'Hunting is not the art of fighting beasts, not to me. Hunting is the art of finding the most challenging opponents, of staying in their blind spot, and of finding a way to defeat them.'
It is at this moment that Shao Chin finally understands the third tier of his divine manual after so many years of training. He breaks through to become a class 8 warrior.
'That attack was called the Tracking Shot when it was created by that legendary hunter all its users revere. It is a secret lost to time because most hunters can only track beasts. But the technique's creator was a master of tracking all things. That is because the technique's creator was me!'
Shao Chin unleashes the four arrows from atop his hill.
Halima stops in her tracks when she sees what is happening. Her own arrows were moving fast, but four more have appeared with speed totally eclipsing her own. They are carried by golden 'gale' energy, the same energy used by the revered creator of the technique. She looks to the source of these arrows, an old man stood atop a hill. She feels terrified, her worst nightmare has been realised. The legendary hunter who created the technique is fighting with the rebellion.
Two of Shao Chin's arrows knock Halima's from the air, saving Emilie and Laurent. The other two travel past the generals before turning and striking them in the back. Dodi and Odion both stumble uncontrollably towards their beast opponents. Emilie recognises the energy of the arrows that just saved them, it is 'gale' energy. She puts the pieces together in her mind. One of their most hated enemies, the hunter Shao Chin has just saved the two of them.
Atop the hill Shao Chin smiles. "Go for it!"
Emilie turns into a blur as she is surrounded by her golden 'speed' energy. She never gives Dodi a chance to react as she throws herself at him. She hits him moving almost as fast as the arrows were but with many times more momentum and power. At the same time Laurent rushes to Odion. He towers over him to maximise the effects of his golden 'intimidation' energy. Laurent twists his body as much as he can to increase the power of his punch, determined that it will be the last. He forces as much power as he can into his fist and lifts Odion slightly before slamming him into the ground.
The birds above shriek, announcing the victory of their princess and their duke.
General Odion and General Dodi are down!
Shao Chin smiles before looking to some of the other battles. It looks like the rebellion is doing well for now, but the royals still need to be defeated. When they are down there will be only one obstacle left, the man who has kept them running all these years. He has been given enough reason to believe in Naruto, but it still looks like an uphill battle. The only way to win uphill battles is with perseverance, Shao Chin takes comfort in the knowledge that Naruto has more of that than anyone else.
Nearby, the Imperial Palace
Sabine drops in the middle of her three opponents. She executes a spinning strike, hitting each of them before they can begin to move against her. Himawari throws the Sacred Dagger towards Sabine but the Crazy Queen ducks beneath it and kicks Himawari to the ground. Hinata strikes towards Sabine with the Sacred Sword but Sabine grabs the Sacred Dagger and blocks it. Sabine delivers an elbow strike to the back of Enri's knee before lifting her knee into the skull of the former empress consort.
Left standing opposite the Returning Empress the Crazy Queen begins to exchange strikes. Hinata's experience as a shinobi makes her faster but Sabine has her plans. Even as Himawari begins attacking with the Sacred Dagger once again Sabine doesn't stop attacking. Sabine throws away all attempts at self-preservation and attacks relentlessly. After the fifth strike Hinata's defences start to weaken. Over the following moments Sabine's attack becomes more and more intense, Hinata's defence gets weaker and weaker, eventually the Crazy Queen delivers a powerful strike to Hinata's head, driving her back.
Enri leaps back before using the 3rd Party Summon to bring her daughter and granddaughter to a safe distance. During that last exchange they hit Sabine many times but the queen's Super Healing divine ability is still keeping up with them. She is recovering faster than they can defeat her, it all seems to be hopeless.
"How did grandfather defeat someone like this?" Himawari asks.
"He attacked with speed and power," Enri explains. "The fact is that none of us are as fast as Akashi was and none of us have the raw strength that he had. He also had recovery abilities just as strong as Sabine's. The only way we can defeat her is by landing a powerful attack."
"You're not hiding a concentrated attack that can kill a royal are you?" Himawari asks her grandmother.
"No."
"I can kill her," Hinata says. "At least I think I can. If it goes wrong the energy explosion will probably kill all three of us."
"You're not making this option seem very good," Himawari says.
"I'm not saying it's a good option. I am saying it is the best one we have. We have been betting on a long-shot this entire time. I say we leave the outcome of this fight to destiny once again. We bet on this technique, on the Sacred Sword. Either we win and Sabine is defeated, or we lose and the three of us die."
Sabine leaps forward, stopping just in front of her three opponents. She raises her head and shocks them with her stare. The look in her eye is even more crazed than normal. Himawari tightens her grip on the Sacred Dagger. Enri steps away, her draw dropping slightly. Hinata simply stares into the eyes of her opponent. She doesn't look away, she shows no fear whatsoever, she is resolute that no matter what she will stand opposite the Crazy Queen as an equal opponent.
"Are you saying you have a strong attack?" Sabine asks. "I guess that means its time to end this endless dance between us. The Endou family who have dedicated so much to fighting against me, I will be glad that I can be the one to kill three of its members. This fight really is the ultimate chaos!"
Sabine leaps back. She begins to prepare her own concentrated attack. The moment she starts to prepare her golden 'chaos' energy she collapses. Her body jolts uncontrollably, holding all the 'chaos' within itself. Hinata has never seen anything like it before. Slowly as Sabine externalises that 'chaos' she regains control of her limbs. Most of the energy is held on her right arm. The remainder explodes in all directions. A vicious tornado forms around the Crazy Queen and the earth shakes violently. Sounds start to appear from nowhere and lightning randomly strikes the ground about Sabine. Himawari observes variations in the local temperature. This is the full power of golden 'chaos' energy. This is the full power of Queen Mauer Sabine.
Enri asks a question. A question the answer to which scares her. "If this is what the spare energy can do, how much power does she have on that right arm?"
Sabine laughs, waiting for Hinata. This is a moment she will cherish forever, the moment where she fought those most important to Akashi and defeated them. No matter how the rest of the battle goes this will be the perfect moment of 'chaos', the time when she achieves the ultimate bliss.
"Put your hands on my shoulders," Hinata says.
Himawari glances at her grandmother before placing a hand on her mother's shoulder. Enri recalls the reverse of this situation happening not long ago. She recalls Hinata placing a hand on her shoulder and energy rushing from the Returning Empress into her. She hopes that whatever Hinata has planned is enough to fight off Sabine. If the Crazy Queen wins here she will interfere in another battle. There is nobody in the rebellion who could cope with fighting Sabine as an extra opponent. If they don't win here this could be the end of the battle.
Hinata closes her eyes. Himawari and Enri both feel great strain in their arms at the same moment. They can feel energy rushing away from them. The energy is being taken by Hinata. It is being channelled through the Returning Empress and down her right arm. Hinata is calmly redirecting their energy into the Sacred Sword. Now Enri understands why Hinata was worried. She has turned their divine energy into a single circuit. With a connection this strong, if Hinata makes even the slightest miscalculation she could detonate one or all of their cores.
Thankfully, the Sacred Sword was not found by any warrior, it was found by Endou-Hyuuga Hinata.
When their energy stops draining Himawari and Enri each remove their hands from Hinata's shoulders. They stand back just in time as the Sacred Sword ignites with an incredible energy, far greater than either of them have wielded before. Hinata supports her sword-holding arm with her off-hand, as if the weapon itself has become heavy. The Returning Empress opens her eyes and matches Sabine's gaze.
"Sabine, it's over," Hinata says. "Surrender now or I can't guarantee what happens next."
"Ha-ha, coming from you that is hilarious. The Returning Empress defeating me? Something like that cannot happen."
"… you have made your choice."
Sabine runs at Hinata, her Concentrated Attack ready. She runs until she is right in front of Hinata and swings her energy-clad arm towards her. Hinata blocks the attack with the Sacred Sword easily, doing her best not to enjoy the look of shock on Sabine's face. Hinata swings the sword over her head, targeting Sabine's powered arm. The moment the blade contacts Sabine's arm the accumulated golden 'chaos' energy begins to leak away, pouring into the air. As 'chaos' fills the air the tornado expands, encompassing both Sabine and Hinata.
Sabine has lost the power of her Concentrated Attack. She looks up at Hinata and sees the Sacred Sword still shaking, filled with an incredible amount of energy. She laughs at the sight of it, in a world of such 'chaos' maybe even something like this can happen.
Hinata points the Sacred Sword at Sabine wordlessly. She shoots Sabine a look that she knows the Crazy Queen will hate. It is a look of pity.
"Goodbye."
Concentrated divine energy fires from the end of the Sacred Sword, hitting Sabine from point-blank range. Even with her Super Healing Sabine cannot absorb the full blast from the weapon. It takes only a couple of seconds before the energy completely overwhelms her, encompasses her, and passes beyond her. It creates a blinding light stunning many on the battlefield. Hinata cannot hold back in this state, holding onto too much energy could be dangerous. She unleashes all the energy she took from Enri and Himawari, continuing until there is none left.
When the light eventually dies down it becomes clear what has happened.
Not even Super Healing could absorb that much energy.
The Endou Clan is still standing.
But after years of haunting Homeworld, the former Queen of Ewoa, the Crazy Queen Mauer Sabine is dead!
Nearby, the Imperial Palace
Petra and Ashen charge at one another. They exchange strikes at great speed to begin with but when they each use golden 'speed' energy to enhance that speed the fight becomes hard to follow. Safura realises that she no longer has a place here. Even as the most skilled of all class 8 warriors she cannot compare to two people fighting at the very pinnacle of class 9 warriors. One who uses almost all the elements and one who knows one more than that. The Empress of the Dark Dimension and the first in line to the throne of Homeworld.
Petra uses golden 'absence' energy to pass through Ashen. She then charges towards Safura. Ashen realises that this isn't good, that not even a defensive master like Safura can survive a fight with Petra. She uses golden 'steel' energy to create a chain and then throws that chain towards Petra's legs. Petra manages to avoid the chain with one foot but not the other. She is stopped less than a meter from Safura. This is not enough to stop her, the Queen of Fayoth lifts her other leg off the ground and kicks Safura. The former Head General uses her golden 'diamond' powers to give herself some protection but the impact is still heavy.
Ashen pulls the chain around Petra's leg, dragging the queen along the ground towards her. She is well aware now that Safura is close to sustaining dangerous levels of damage, something that she cannot allow to happen. While being dragged along the ground Petra uses golden 'control' energy to take control of Safura's arm. Taking control of Safura is becoming easier as the Little Diamond grows weaker. Petra makes Safura raise her fist and coat it in golden 'diamond'.
Knowing Petra's intention Ashen stomps her foot towards the Puppet Queen. Petra uses golden 'strength' to catch the attack and then holds on to Ashen's leg tightly. Petra begins to channel 'hot' energy into Ashen's leg, a technique that Head General Nero used previously. Unlike Nero, Petra is a class 9 warrior, the heat that Ashen must suffer through is significantly greater, even if she has her bio-hardening to fall back on. When she has regained her composure Ashen uses golden 'cold' energy to reduce the effect of the heat. This cancellation of temperatures creates separation between the two mighty warriors.
When the two of them are separated Petra begins to use golden 'absence' energy. Now that Ashen cannot stop her she uses her golden 'control' energy on Safura, walking slowly towards her target. Ashen knows she cannot interact with Petra like this so she runs towards the Little Diamond. She is going too slow. Just before Ashen reaches her partner Petra makes Safura strike her own head with golden 'diamond' energy.
Upon arriving next to Safura, Ashen immediately begins to apply golden 'healing' energy. She sees Petra approaching and does her best to retreat. However, running away from a royal while holding someone in your arms and healing them is an almost impossible task, even for the Empress of the Dark Dimension. With Petra's repeated attacks on Safura the empress has often stood in the way of those attacks. Ashen has taken more damage than Petra despite her superior skills. The reason has only become clearer as the fight has progressed.
"You have to stop holding back," Safura says.
"I can't."
"Use your divine ability."
"I won't! Not while you are—"
Petra intercepts the two escapees. She creates a golden 'diamond' spear in her hand and stabs it towards the two of them. Ashen has no time to do anything other than hold Safura tight. She closes her eyes and hopes that somehow Petra will miss, that Safura will survive. She feels a tremendous pain as the spear is driven into her shoulder which means that Petra's aim is perfect. However, Ashen feels no weight in her arms. She opens her eyes and sees that Safura is gone. It takes her a few seconds but she locates the Little Diamond in the distance unharmed.
Safura is OK.
The Little Diamond looks up at the person who just grabbed her. It is Namikaze Minato. At Shikadai's request he departed the main battle for a moment in order to extract Safura from the class 9 battle.
"You better be on our side now," Minato says.
Safura smiles. "I am on the same side I have always been. I am on Ashen's side."
Ashen knows that the one with the best view of the battle is their chief strategist, he who has been ever watching her, Nara Shikadai. She thanks him mentally for getting her out of that awkward position. She smiles and grabs the spear, pushing it back towards Petra before snatching it from her hands and snapping it over her knee.
"It's too bad for you Petra, I don't need to hold back anymore," Ashen says.
Petra moves away instinctively out of fear. From afar Jonas watches his student and comments that this move is disappointing. Running away from Ashen at this point in the battle is only going to make things worse. When the Empress of the Dark Dimension activates her divine ability you must either defeat her quickly or you will lose.
Ashen activates her divine ability. A black and red mist begins to pour from her body. At first it is slow but after two seconds there is a small explosion of air and it begins to emerge more quickly. Petra watches in horror as the black and red mist spreads all around them. She knows of this power from the previous war, a power that only Endou Akashi has ever overcome. The mist spreads for a mile in every direction, completely engulfing the two of them. Ashen smiles, it has been a long time since she activated this power last. Once the mist is spread in all directions it begins to make a rumbling sound, a sound synonymous with death in the previous war. It is now all over for Petra; the divine ability is activated.
Petra cries out in pain before dropping to her knees. She quickly stands back up and uses golden 'healing' energy all over her body, but it is not good enough.
Ashen begins to walk towards Petra.
"This power more than any other is the reason I am feared," Ashen says as Petra's hopeless efforts continue. "Bio-hardening is possible for others; however unlikely it is that they could match my power. The Dark Dimension's crown could have been given to another warrior. But this divine ability, with this I am no longer a simple soldier, I can control any battlefield."
"Stop!" Petra shouts.
"Do you think that I will stop now, after what you tried to do to the Little Diamond? No Petra. You are not fighting Uzumaki Naruto or Endou Akashi, this is Helion Ashen stood in front of you, and you have angered me. You will endure this."
"You will… run out… of energy!"
"I may be low on energy, but if I use what is left of it to defeat you that is a worthy cause."
"Please stop!"
"Do you know why you are in such pain? It is this divine ability of mine, this mist, that rumbling. Imagine how strong I am when I fight all out, call that 100%. This mist attacks anything within its limits with divine energy continuously. It is a bit like the Razor Skin power that your general used, but this has no range limit and it is much stronger."
"Helion Ashen!"
"Everything within the limits of this mist is attacked continuously at 50% of my maximum power. That is why I can't use it when Safura is near, there is no way to protect her, it affects everyone but me. It's hard to imagine what that would be like for most people, but now you are living it. You are being attacked by half my power every moment you are here. That is why only Endou Akashi could ever defeat me. Only he had the recovery powers to survive in this mist, only he could be attacked constantly with 50% of my power and survive."
"Make it stop!"
"Do you know what this mist is called? Do you know what my divine ability is called?"
"Of course I know!"
"This is the place where people like you lose the will to fight. This is the place where hope ends and battles are concluded. It is called Purgatory."
Petra falls to the ground, unable to fight anymore, unable to resist anymore. Ashen smiles at her fallen opponent and considers sitting down. Purgatory can defeat enemies while she does nothing. If left long enough even someone with Petra's strength would meet their end eventually. Ashen decides against this, believing that after what she tried to do Petra deserves a more personal touch. She deactivates Purgatory, silencing the rumbling and clearing the air of the red and black mist.
Ashen grabs Petra and lifts her to her feet, ready to land a powerful final strike.
"Wait!" Safura says, arriving just in time.
"Wait?"
"Remember what we said, we can't kill her, otherwise Naruto might become our enemy. You've done it Ashen; you've defeated her. Now all we need to do is see this through to the end. We will either live together or die together, but if you kill her that might not happen."
Ashen groans, looking at Petra. She doesn't want to be merciful, but Safura is right. They can't kill her. Ashen lets their opponent drop to the floor. She is motionless, broken, defeated, but she is still alive. That is the price Ashen and Safura must pay to be with one another, to remain here in Homeworld if the rebellion wins. It is tough to leave someone like this alive, but they know it is the right thing to do.
However difficult it is, leaving Petra alive is a symbol of their victory.
Ashen and Safura have defeated Petra!
In Response to S
Who asks if Razor Skin causes pain or damage?
It causes both.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Apoorv
Who asks what battle class Shikadai is now.
Shikadai is still class 6. Understanding a new element only makes you stronger under certain conditions.
Currently Shikadai understands tier 3 'darkness' - a transcedent element.
He also understands tier 1 'mind' - a double transcendent element.
Since [darkness (3) + transcendent (1) = 4] is greater than [mind (1) + double transcendent (2) = 3], the darkness score is taken.
To become class 7 Shikadai would need to understand tier 3 'mind' energy.
Thanks for reading.