Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein. They are the rightful property of their creators and/or associated companies. I make no profit from this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my work. So please no law suits or court orders to cease and desist.
Note : Sorry it's been so long but when the Christmas season kicked in I barely had time for writing and after Christmas when I did have time I decided to revisit some of my older in progress stories to write up some fresh chapters for them. Now though I feel like I've gotten far enough ahead that I can post some more fun chapters for you to read.
Note 2 : As always positive reviews are welcome, constructive criticism will be considered but not necessarily acted upon and negative/bashing reviews will either be ignored or used as motivation to keep going just to show the negative reviewer how little their opinion matters.
Now ON WITH THE SHOW!
Halfway to the Capitol City of Wutai
Early Afternoon
Tomoe Sanada's POV
"HURRY! MOVE IT!" She yelled even as she raised her right arm before launching a trio of thorns at their pursuers, "WE'RE ALMOST THERE!"
Damn did she hate it when she was right!
Every day since they'd left her home she'd been anticipating pursuit of some kind with the only question being what form it would take. Would it be more Shinra agents like the Turks? Or would it be those that'd helped the Turks get into Wutai?
The first was a possibility since if Shinra was looking to invade Wutai then sending in spies ahead of time to gather information, sabotage key locations and assassinate key Wutai citizens was only logical. That was something that couldn't be done by a single team certainly not at the skill level of the one that'd been sent to her home. There had to be dozens, perhaps many dozens, scattered throughout Wutai moving in secret so as not to give away who they were or who they worked for. When the one that'd come to kill her, Dawn and Xander failed to report in or reported their failure further attempts were a very real possibility.
However travelling with any speed and efficiency in Wutai would be a difficult task for outsiders without inside help.
Without any evidence to support her position she knew that there had to be those inside of Wutai who would betray their homeland for the right price. Whether that price turned out to be gil, property or the death of an enemy it didn't matter. They would see the failure of the first team of Turks as an opportunity to increase their promised reward and send their own agents to finish the job. Ninja and warriors of questionable honour would likely be the tools of choice with a few bandits thrown in as extra blades. They would be the more likely of the two groups to catch up first since they'd know the terrain as well as all the routes both obvious and subtle.
As of a little under two hours ago a group belonging to the latter possibility had shown up but fortunately had gotten a little too ambitious for their own good. Instead of killing the four of them the assortment of ninja, warriors and bandits had demanded their surrender no doubt so that they could be delivered to Shinra on a silver platter.
It'd taken four of them eating dirt to convince the rest that taking the quartet alive wasn't going to be as easy as they'd originally thought. Only once the tenth had been defeated had it looked like victory was within their grasp over the forces that'd caught up to them. Of course that was when two other groups had shown up with much the same agenda making it a problem of numbers rather than skill.
Doing the math and assuming that the fighting would draw in even more enemies she'd ordered them to break out of the battlefield and follow her as fast as they could. Against an enemy of superior numbers it was only a matter of time before one of them got a lucky shot in and she wasn't willing to take that risk. Sure Xander had proven capable of taking a bullet to the head and blades to the arm without being permanently harmed or killed but that didn't mean that the rest of them were so 'gifted'. They'd needed a place where they could negate the disadvantage of numbers or even escape their pursuers altogether.
Fortunately if their position in her mental map was accurate then the place she was leading them to would do the job nicely.
She just hoped that the others didn't catch on to the 'interesting history' of the place before they were safely inside and hidden from their pursuers.
Good thing I decided to put my old armour on. She thought watching as three of their pursuers fell to her thorns, One less thing to carry.
It was a bit tight implying that she'd put on a bit of weight since she'd last worn it but that'd be easy enough for her to work off later. As long as it kept her guts on the inside and gave her options for taking down the pursuers she'd put up with the discomfort. Once they made it to the capitol she'd have one of Godo's people make the necessary adjustments since it'd take too long to lose the weight to make it fit.
Seeing one of their pursuers raise his hand and spot of green light come forth from a wristguard she knew what was coming.
Magic.
"Everyone behind me NOW!" She yelled before tapping into the barrier materia in her left forearm guard.
Channelling the necessary mana into the orb she cast 'WALL' erecting a barrier of magic just in time to take what appeared to be two consecutive Fira spells. It implied that the user had either been in possession of the materia for some time or had acquired it from someone who'd done the work for him. Personally she hoped that it was the latter since it'd mean that the warrior hadn't had time to learn how to use it to its fullest potential. That would make him easier to defeat and net them some strong materia at the same time. However if it was the former then there was a good chance that the warrior had more strong materia in his possession just waiting to be used.
So could some of the others chasing them.
Tapping into two materia orbs on her right forearm guard, 'THUNDARA' and 'ALL', she unleashed a river of lightning at the advancing group. Some got hit with it head on causing them to drop to the ground either dead or severely burned but a few it seemed had taken steps to protect themselves from materia attacks blunting the damage done to them. The smart ones were still knocked back a fair distance but they proved quick to resume their former advancing positions.
This is probably stupid but we're close enough now to our destination that we need to disappear. She thought glancing ahead to see a familiar sight, Here goes nothing!
Pouring the largest amount of mana yet into the strongest materia she had equipped at the moment: 'GRAVITY'.
She only had it halfway to being mastered but it'd be enough and so with a surge of mana she cast the spell instantly causing the group of pursuers to find themselves pinned to the ground. With as much mana as she'd poured into it she figured it'd be five or six minutes before it wore off allowing them to regain their mobility.
Time enough for her group to vanish from sight.
"This way! Double time it!" She ordered heading in the direction of her goal.
"Where are we going?" Yuffie asked her breath starting to become a little laboured.
"To an abandoned temple." She replied as they descended down the side of a hill, "Used to be a place to stash forbidden artifacts or historical items but got demolished by an enemy of your grandfather awhile back."
"Then why are we going? No way is it going to hide use worth a damn!" Yuffie griped even though she didn't slow her pace any.
"We're going because the attackers only targeted the parts that were above ground." She explained as they passed through the ruined gate of the abandoned temple, "They didn't bother looking BELOW the temple after they'd set the place ablaze."
"You sure you can find the way down?" Xander asked sounding like he'd prefer a plan B, "You said it yourself that the temple was destroyed decades ago. The way's probably buried under rubble."
"I know the way down. Back in my younger days I spent a lot of time travelling Wutai and some of that time was looking for items people didn't think existed anymore." She replied navigating the ruins by memory, "I looked over this place for days before I found the way down."
"Is it safe? I don't want to wind up tripping some kind of trap." He said before they arrived at the entry point.
"I disarmed most of them when I went down the first time." She said inserting her blade into a very specific crack until it hit bottom, "They'll be easy enough to get working again just in case. Just do what I tell you to do and you'll be fine."
With a twist of her katana she triggered the mechanism causing what looked like a patchwork section of a stone walkway to lower in a way that couldn't possibly be natural. In a matter of seconds the walkway had transformed into a staircase leading downwards and after taking a moment to judge if anything had changed she ushered the trio behind her forward. There wouldn't be any traps active at the entrance so they'd be fine and they needed to get inside quickly before the pinned pursuers found them or others obtained a line of sight.
The moment Yuffie was far enough down the stairs she pulled her katana free of the concealed slot and rushed down herself making it to the bottom before the mechanism elevated the staircase behind her sealing the entrance. She considered doing something to the mechanism to prevent anyone from following should they discover the concealed slot but she didn't know of any other way out of the underground chambers. When she'd first come here she'd only explored enough to understand what the chambers contained and take a few things before leaving.
No. Best to keep a known exit available. She thought taking a premade torch out before using 'FIRE' materia at its weakest to light it, If nothing else this corridor makes for a good bottleneck. We could hold out for quite a while assuming they don't have materia powerful enough to bring everything crashing down on our heads.
"Okay…so we're in…now what?" Yuffie asked sounding a little more relaxed.
"This way." She replied before leading them deeper into the underground network of hallways and chambers.
There was a room she knew about that'd be big enough for the four of them and possessed two ways in and out. The first would be the way they would enter and the other led to a network of hallways that'd take at least a half hour to circle around to if their pursuers took the quickest route.
That assumed of course that the pursuers knew the layout of the place otherwise it'd take them a lot of trial and error to make their way to the second way into the room.
It didn't take long for them to get into the room and even less to figure out why she'd chosen it.
It was an old armoury that she'd taken to using as a place to hide some of her more ill gotten gains as well as a few odds and ends. While some of it was gil and precious jewels most of it was more practical for the head of a respected school of swordsmanship. Materia, weapons, armour pieces as well as scrolls containing useful leverage against certain nobles who could prove to be a problem in the future. Aside from waiting for their pursuers to go away she also intended to fit her students and the princess with some proper armour and weapons. She didn't think they were quite ready for the weapons given their current skill levels but they needed to be able to defend themselves should the worst happen. As for the armour it was only common sense to give them some since their clothes would provide little if any protection if they were forced to fight their way to safety.
As for the rest…she'd change out her own materia for ones better suited to handling large groups of people as well as a trump card should something pop up that they couldn't handle.
"Make yourselves comfortable 'cause for the next twelve hours we're not going anywhere." She said putting her torch into an empty holder bolted to the wall next to her.
She figured twelve hours was just enough time for their pursuers to come up with nothing, get tired of looking and leave to report to their superiors. Most people who took on jobs like theirs weren't very patient and were often in it for the quick payoff. If they were otherwise they'd have law abiding jobs or at least be engaged in crimes that were more professional in nature. Unless their orders included the cliched 'come back victorious or don't come back at all' she was confident that any pursuers in the area could be outlasted.
If there were still there in twelve hours though…she'd need to come up with a plan B.
Four Hours Later
Xander's POV
I do NOT like this place! He thought trying to get comfortable for what seemed like the fiftieth time.
The reason for his lack of satisfaction though had nothing to do with the cold stone construction or the dampness but rather the spike in the unusual sensation that'd been dancing around his mind. Before it'd been no more a bother than a slight shift in temperature but now…now he likened it to a song just quiet enough to make it impossible to understand and yet tempt him with the desire to hear it eternally.
An itch he couldn't scratch.
And it was somewhere in the underground part of the abandoned temple.
Of that he was certain.
One might ask why couldn't he scratch it if he knew that it was within reach but they hadn't grown up in Sunndyale or been through what he'd been through. Thanks to his time as a Scooby he knew that feelings like this in your brain needed to be taken seriously and if they tried to tempt you to do something then it was definitely of the bad. True he hadn't ever experienced any kind of encounter with a member of the light side of the war or been offered anything by them so he had nothing to use as a reference point. Still until he did go through a genuine encounter with the higher beings of light and they did offer him something via cerebral sensation he'd play it safe.
For as long as circumstances permitted that is.
They were after all hiding from their pursuers and that implied that they did not possess the necessary skill or power needed to simply defeat them all and be done with it. Their success was banking on the belief that if they waited long enough their pursuers would give up and go home. Not an unreasonable belief but it all depended on the motivations of the pursuers as well as the strength of their resolve. If it was merely the promise of a big payday he could see them giving up once the amount of effort exceeded the amount they'd been promised. However if they were promised power as well, the chance to change their lives in a big way, then it could be days before they gave up.
And if it was fear, fear of the consequences of failure as laid out by their backer, then it would take either hope that they could escape or an even greater fear to make them cease their pursuit. Unfortunately he had no idea how they could escape their employers and he certainly didn't have a way to make them more afraid of him than their boss.
So for the time being he'd believe that hiding out until the bad guys took their ball and went home was their best bet.
With that in mind he decided that he'd get some shuteye so that when the time came to get back into the open air he'd be ready whether it was to run or fight. Taking off his jacket he rolled it up until it was a makeshift pillow he put it on the ground and laid down doing his best to get comfortable on the stone floor. It was a challenge to be sure and sleeping equally challenging seeing as how his upgraded body didn't tire as easily as his one hundred percent human body did but you could do a lot if you put your mind to it.
"I'm gonna take a nap." He said to the other three occupants of the room, "Wake me if something comes up."
"No problem." Dawn said from where she was trying on different pieces of armour to see what fit and what didn't.
With that assurance he closed his eyes and relaxed as much as possible so as to make it easier for his body to slip into sleep. Back home barring something sugary or caffeine filled he usually had no problem sleeping whenever and wherever he needed to. Even in the middle of his high school classes where the noise of the teacher and his classmates should've made sleeping impossible he could catch a few Zs. It was all about getting yourself in the right state of mind and then letting it all go.
You do that and wait long enough then sleep would come to you.
As he tried not to think, to relax his body, he couldn't help but wonder at the odds that the deities that'd sent them here hadn't tweaked things for their own amusement. He knew from countless movies, comics and video games that alternate realities didn't necessarily run at the same speed. Some ran up to ten times as fast as the reality of departure while others did the opposite by running ten times as slow. As such there was a very real possibility that he and Dawn could be on Gaea right up until after the destruction of 'METEOR' before Buffy and the others came for them.
That by his estimation was about fifteen years or so into the future.
If time went slower here than back home then they could expect the gang to show up to get them in as little as a year but whether or not Dawn would willingly leave was unknown. He and her had discussed the matter of helping Wutai turn back Shinra at length and it was during those discussions that he'd come to understand how much she believed in that goal. Here in this world she wasn't Buffy's little sister and here Dawn had the power necessary to come into her own needing only to accomplish something great to add the crowning touch to things. He didn't think that she'd leave unless all of Wutai rejected her help and insisted on her departure. Odds were good that even of the Scoobies came for them Dawn would insist on throwing Shinra out of Wutai first before she'd even consider leaving the Final Fantasy Seven universe.
If however the opposite turned out to be true, that time flowed faster here than it did back home, then he didn't think that he'd be able to bring himself to leave even if a way was provided. Years of living here would form bonds not just to the friends they made but also to the places they'd been to and that wasn't something you just cast off. It'd be like moving to a new country, living there for years and then being given the option to move back home only in this case you'd never be able to return to the new country. He knew that the odds of the Scoobies being able to find this precise reality again never mind open a portal to it were non-existent without help from deities and even then the odds wouldn't be encouraging. Could he make friends here, form bonds here, only to abandon them when a way to go home appeared after many years?
He didn't think so.
He just wasn't wired that way.
He might make the effort of trying to convince the Scoobies to move here to Gaea because it did have several points in favour of it. For one thing if they came here it was as close to a fresh start as any of them could hope for. Buffy wouldn't have to worry about her Calling here with any monster slaying being completely voluntary on her part. Giles would have a plethora of books to read that would've been impossible for him to read on their native Earth. Willow would probably be fascinated with materia and bringing some of their Earth's tech into being here. Hell! With a little help she might just be able to found a company to rival Shinra given the right number of years. As for the others? Well it all depended on them. As far as he was concerned as long as the core Scoobies came over he could care less about the rest. His parents could be burning forever in hell and he wouldn't care about them. Willows parents were only marginally better in that they actually had the occasional kind word or bit of praise for their daughter.
When they actually bothered to come back to Sunnydale that is.
He would've loved it if Missus S could've been brought over but he'd have to make do with keeping Dawn happy and safe.
Faith probably would've liked it here to but he somehow doubted that the gang would break her out of prison just to help retrieve him and Dawn.
Too much thinking. He thought as he shut his brain down, Time for sleep.
And a few minutes later slumber he did.
Rain.
Dropping onto his head and causing his hair to fall down almost obscuring sight even as it is swung in precise calculating blows at its target.
Then with a deft move his enemy is both disarmed as well as open to a single impaling thrust.
"Foolishness, Dante. Foolishness. Might controls everything - and without strength, you cannot protect anything; let alone yourself."
Yet power by itself is pointless and if used merely for self-gratification would lead one down the path to villainy.
FLASH!
A circular chamber arrayed around a small pool glistening with freshly tapped blood and yet frustration at a lack of results consumes him. He'd followed the steps as explained in the books yet nothing was happening! Did more blood need to be shed in order to break the spell?
"You seem to be in a bad mood." A familiar voice spoke causing him to turn towards it.
Anger bubbled within him at the sight of Dante and the interference with his plans that was no doubt imminent. More than that a bitterness reaching back to childhood of how his brother often won the duels they had with each other despite being far less disciplined.
"Dante." He said partially pulling it from its sheath in preparation for a fight.
"So my mother's amulet is the key that unlocks the door to the Demon World." Dante said walking casually across the chamber, "Good plan, Pop."
"Just the opposite actually…" he said never letting his gaze waver, "Originally it was the key to the Demon World but was given to humans as a gift."
A foolish move for something so precious.
Humans were frail and weak creatures not even the match for the bottom feeders of the underworld. The amulet might as well have been left on the ground for anyone to pick up.
"It doesn't matter to me one way or another." Dante said turning away from him, "More importantly, I've come all this way. I'm sure you have time for one more game, right?"
Game? This was no game but Dante had never been one to take anything seriously. A fact that irritated him to no end especially when he knew how far one could go with the blood of Sparda running through their veins. In the end though Yamato was pushed back into its sheath and a choice was made.
"Why not? After all we share the same blood." He said mentally preparing for a fight, "I'll just use more of yours to undo Daddy's little spell."
Summoning the Devil Arm he'd gained from the winged demon he'd recently slain he prepared to pound every ounce of blood he needed from his brother.
FLASH!
A stream in the Demon World but it was neither refreshing nor particularly cool but it did have something he wanted namely the core of the Demon Sword Sparda. Seeing Dante land not too far away he knew he had to get to it first and so with a quick roll he managed to snatch it up just before his brother got to it.
However that was not enough.
He knew from his research that in order to unlock the sword's true power he needed both halves of the amulet and at the moment he only had one. He needed the one Dante had in order to reach his goal.
"Give that to me." He insisted gesturing at the dangling half of the amulet.
"No way, you got your own." Dante said tucking away the half amulet into his crimson jacket.
"Well I want yours too." He said bringing the core of the sword into ready position.
While Yamato was without a doubt his favoured weapon that did not mean that he hadn't trained with other weapons when he had the opportunity.
"What are you gonna do with all that power, huh?" Dante asked as though the power of their father was some trivial thing, "No matter how hard you try, you're never gonna be like father."
"You're wasting time!" He yelled before going on the offensive.
He knew all to well that as a half-breed he would be limited by the weaknesses of his human side but that would not deter him from becoming as powerful as he could be. Perhaps even one day he would learn of a way to cast off his human side entirely and become a pure Devil able to make full use of his heritage.
THIS would be his first step towards that.
With a skilled chop he brought down the blade only to be forced to take a hand off of it to catch the edge of Dante's sword Rebellion before it could cut open his shoulder. While his heritage allowed for accelerated healing weapons imbued with demonic power inhibited this ability to varying degrees. It would be poor strategy to allow himself to be injured early on.
"We are the sons of Sparda!" Dante said even as they both struggled to force their weapons towards the flesh of their foe, "Within each of us flows his blood, but more importantly, his soul!"
Finding no point in continuing the current stalemate he pushed off of his brother before leaping back to gain some distance for a more effective offensive.
"And now my soul is saying it wants to stop you!" Dante exclaimed pointing a finger right at him.
What a human thing to say and thus how irrelevant.
A human soul was like a candle in the wind doomed to be snuffed out at any moment and while he might not know of his father's fate he'd wager it was a defeat borne out of the infection caused by human emotions.
"Hahahahahaha!" He laughed mocking his brother's statement, "Unfortunately, our souls are at odds brother. I need more power!"
FLASH!
In this all senses were marred by pain, by DARKNESS, but one moment was captured with perfect clarity.
The moment when his beloved sword was shattered before his very eyes in complete defiance of everything he knew about it.
However with its destruction so too did his best shot at victory or even survival. As the darkness consumed him though his will, his SOUL, continued to defy the inevitable.
Continued to defy WEAKNESS!
FLASH!
It was broken…broken in the darkness but still not devoid of power. Pathetic shackles kept its prison closed but in its current state it was to be expected. Much of its power had been used in battle and its broken state meant that without a catalyst restoration was impossible.
Thus it waited…
…waited to be found by the one who had come.
"XANDER!"
Yuffie's POV
"Wake up you lazy lump of Chocobo turd!" She yelled before winding up and slapping the sleeping guy across the face.
SLAP!
"Wha…huh…what's going on?" Xander asked sitting up while massaging the spot where she struck him.
"Our little safe haven? Turns out it's not as safe as we thought it was!" She replied looking to the door that was supposed to be their escape route getting shorn up by whatever Dawn and Sanada could find.
"They found a way in?" He asked getting to his feet before putting his coat back on.
"I'd say that's obvious idiot!" Sanada said after being satisfied that all that could be done to shore up the door had been done, "Guess I shouldn't be surprised. Scumbags and assholes are always looking for hidey holes for their ill gotten goods and this one would've done nicely."
"And the reason you didn't think of this sooner?" She asked not liking the fact that they'd been told a place was safe when it might not've been.
"Because we were a little desperate before in case you've forgotten!" Sanada replied going over to where the armour was stored, "Running for your life from an enemy whose numbers you don't know isn't smart. You'll tire out sooner than they'll run out of people."
Point.
"Here. Put this on." Sanada said before tossing a piece of armour for her torso, "And this is for you Xander. Make it quick! As soon as we're ready we're leaving."
"To where? They're probably guarding the way we came in and if our escape route's gone we don't have a lot left." Xander said taking the piece of armour that'd protect his upper torso.
"No. It doesn't." Sanada said almost too quiet to be heard, "Our only chance now is to go deeper and hope this temple was like all the others."
"You think there's an escape tunnel somewhere further in?" Dawn asked tightening the straps on her own torso armour.
Coincidentally pushing up her already impressive boobs a bit more.
Seriously Dawn was trying too hard to get Xander's attention.
If she'd learned anything from her life at the palace and in the capitol city it was that the direct approach only worked with the stupid ones. To get what you wanted from the ones with an actual brain in their head you needed to be cunning, sneaky and sometimes downright underhanded. They needed to be halfway to losing before they even realized it and then all you had to do was deliver the final blow.
See Dad? I actually did pay attention to those strategy teachers you had me listen to. She thought with a grin as Sanada led the way to the door they'd come through hours ago.
"Probably. Maybe." Sanada replied heading for the door they'd use to get out, "Some temples that had valuables would dig tunnels that wouldn't come up for air until you were half a day away from where you started. If this place has the same sort of tunnel then it'll be our ticket out of here. Just one problem."
"Finding it?" She asked figuring it'd be the most difficult thing to do.
"Nope. Finding it'll be the easy part. There's no sense building chambers like these or a tunnel if the people who want to use them can't find them." Sanada replied with a negative shake of her head, "The problem is I only went so deep the last time I was here before leaving. That means that there're probably quite a few traps between us and the tunnel and all of them'll be lethal."
"Great. Just GREAT! Bad guys who want us dead behind us and lethal traps ahead of us." Xander griped as the door was pushed open, "Any other rays of sunshine you want to share?"
"While not great there's a chance that even if we get from one end of the tunnel to the other we might still have a welcoming committee waiting for us." Sanada replied after stepping into the hallway, "I'm not the only one who knows what places like this have to offer and the fact that they found another way down hints whoever's leading them all knows as much as I do."
"Well then let's hope that whoever's waiting for us has got shit skills 'cause it's the only way out we've got." She said taking up the rear of the group.
With nothing more needing to be said they followed Sanada's lead stopping when told to so that a trap could be disarmed. It was a safe bet that everyone's nerves were on edge but then who could blame them considering the fact that they had two types of threats that could pop out to kill them at any moment. As it was the last time she'd been this on edge was when she'd had to sneak out of the palace during a party to find someplace funner to be then listening to a bunch of old people. However because of the increase in security for the party she'd had to work twice as hard to sneak past them while making sure that none stepped out from behind a corner to catch her unawares.
This had the same feeling to it except if they got caught here they'd either wind up dead or probably wish that was the case.
She didn't know how long they travelled as every second seemed to last forever but eventually they came to a wooden bridge that looked quite old but not impassable. Sturdy construction had been employed in making the bridge to the point where she figured it had another five decades before time would likely cause it to collapse. She was about to walk across it herself when Sanada stopped her with a look.
"I'll go first. If I make it across than each of you'll follow one at a time stepping EXACTLY where I stepped." Sanada said in a tone that would tolerate no disobedience.
"If the bridge has traps can't you just disarm them?" She asked not liking being talked to in such a manner.
"Because the traps are probably on the underside of the bridge and I didn't bring my climbing gear." Sanada snapped before walking cautiously towards the bridge, "Now watch carefully! I'm not going to explain to your father why you got yourself killed by a decades old trap."
Whatever. She thought paying casual attention to where the master of swordsmanship put her feet.
The lack of respect was putting a serious damper on the coolness of being in the presence of the Crimson Rose of Wutai. Couldn't the woman see how vast her potential was? Indeed with the proper effort put into her training she could become the ideal successor to the Crimson Rose and go on to dispense justice to to the unlawful. Surely such a future would warrant addressing her with more politeness and respect instead of how you'd talk to spoiled brat.
I can see why she talks to Dawn and Xander like that. She thought as Sanada reached the other side and Dawn stepped forward, They're not even from Wutai and haven't got even a tenth of my potential. Sure they might manage to reach 'respectable' if they train hard enough but they're not going to become legends like me.
Perhaps I'll make them my sidekicks after I make a name for myself. She thought as Dawn followed Sanada's steps with careful precision, By then they'll be good enough not to embarrass me but not so good that they might outshine me.
Something to consider once they had another moment of peace and quiet.
"If you're finished daydreaming brat it's your turn." Sanada snapped drawing her attention to the present completely.
Definitely going to have to speak with her about how to properly address her future successor. She thought walking towards the bridge.
Recalling the steps the others took she did so casually so as to show them that not only did she remember without focusing but also that she could do so casually. Honestly she had doubts that any of the traps still worked without someone to—
CLICK!
"Oh crap." She said with unusual calm.
"Yuffie!" Xander cried out as he leapt towards her even as the bridge fell to pieces as well as to the forces of gravity.
Fear spiked within her as she fell and out of an innate desire to reach out to the one who instinct told her was the only chance for survival. Every second she remained in free fall she worried that this might very well be how her life was to end. Not heroically vanquishing a great evil but rather falling to her death after her overconfidence caused her to trip a decades old trap.
It was only when a strong hand gripped the wrist of her extended arm that her prediction about her fate fell into doubt.
"DAWN! SANADA! CATCH!" Xander yelled before flinging her towards the side of the chasm she had been heading to.
Then with enough power that she almost felt like her arm was going to get pulled out of its socket she found herself propelled upwards. Soon she found herself at the apex of her throw but before she could fall too far she found herself caught in the arms of Sanada. Not old enough to weigh much it was easy for the sword master to take her weight but that thought soon took a different turn with but a single yell.
"XANDER!" Dawn cried out causing her to turn her head back to the chasm just in time to see the guy who'd saved her disappear into darkness.
Seconds passed and nothing could be heard to indicate whether or not he'd hit bottom yet so either he was still falling or had hit the ground and it was too far away to be heard.
He…he must be okay…right? She thought even as Dawn looked like she planned on diving into the chasm to rescue Xander, I mean he took a bullet to the head and shrugged it off like it was a normal punch. There's no way a simple fall would kill him…right?
The cold chill that rested in the depths of her stomach made it hard to believe her plaintive hopes.
Dawn's POV
"I have to go after him!" She yelled even as she moved to find a way to climb down the chasm she'd seen the object of her affection fall into.
"Well you won't get to him by trying to climb down." Mistress Sanada said before putting Yuffie down, "We've got no climbing gear and trying to get down without it is too risky. One wrong move and you'll be the second person in free fall facing a sudden stop at some point."
"So I'm just supposed to abandon him!" She yelled her anger burning in her eyes.
"Don't take that tone with me girl!" Mistress Sanada growled expressing a bit of anger herself, "I ain't crazy about this situation either but acting like an idiot isn't going to make things any better! We either have to find a tunnel that takes us down to where he probably landed or figure out a way to let him find us. With no way of knowing where he landed or if he managed to stop short of the bottom it's the best we can do."
"But it's probably a maze down here and there're traps he doesn't know about." She said regaining some semblance of balance in her emotional state, "Sure he's not as killable as he used to be but that doesn't mean he can't be hurt and I'm pretty sure decapitation'll kill just about anyone."
"I won't say it'll be a cake walk for him but if he's lucky he'll either have hit bottom or near enough that it won't really matter." Mistress Sanada said turning to head down the hallway ahead of them, "Remember the traps'll be set up to keep people from getting deeper not keep people at the bottom from leaving. With any luck that'll give him the advantage he needs to get out assuming he's smart enough to figure it out."
It took a minute to figure out what the woman meant.
"If he triggers the traps in reverse all of the deadly stuff'll be fired away from him instead of towards him." She said her mood rising with this connecting of the dots, "Yeah, he'll figure it out. He's sharp like that."
"Then it's up to us to make sure he knows where to go." Mistress Sanada said without looking back, "We get to the entrance to the tunnel that'll lead us away from here and then we put out a signal he'll know is us and head towards it."
"What's the signal going to be?" She asked having a hard time figuring out what it could be.
"I'll let you know when I figure it out myself." Mistress Sanada replied sounding like she expected it to be a tough problem to solve.
Not the most reassuring reply but she didn't have a better one so it'd have to do.
Assuming that the entire underground complex was connected then the best way to get Xander's attention would be with sound. Sound after all travels pretty far and with the right acoustics it could go even further so. However what sound would it be and might it possibly harm them as much as help Xander? They did after all have people after them who'd found their way into the underground parts of the abandoned temple. She was under no delusions about how long the door they'd shorn up would last for very long. Once the door was busted down the ones hunting them would be on their trail in a heartbeat.
And any noise that Xander could hear they'd hear as well.
Sure it'd be nice if the traps yet triggered some traps and got themselves all killed but the fact that someone among them had found another way in made her doubt their luck would go that way. If whoever it turned out to be was even half as knowledgeable as Mistress Sanada then the traps would at best slow down pursuit. Then it'd all come down to how quickly Xander could find them after they started signalling him. If he was quick then they'd be more then halfway down the tunnel before the enemy took their first step into it.
If he took too long…they'd more or less be right back where they'd started with a lot less in the way of cover.
He might not like to run but Xander's no slouch at it either. She thought following Mistress Sanada down the corridor, You don't live long in Sunnydale without good cardio skills and a fit pair of legs.
Thus she kept her peace even as she tried to think of a sound that would be the most effective but at the same time would be easiest to produce. Singing wasn't her speciality and there wasn't a single musical instrument to be had in this place so that just left whistling or yelling as loud as they could. Not exactly the most classy solution but perhaps…with some refinement it could help them only a little less than it hurt them.
"You think if we screamed and bellowed like we were being massacred by monsters that the guys chasing us would give up?" She asked conversationally before Sanada came to a stop for a trap, "No bodies to collect and if we make it scary enough they might just call off the whole thing."
"Might be worth trying. Abandoned places like this do tend to gain monsters as visitors from time to time and if they like it enough they decide to make it their lair." Mistress Sanada replied after delicately cutting a wire, "Depending on how long they're allowed to to live and the availability of food they can become quite the problem. Luckily for you I learned to mimic the noises the Edgehead breed make when they're feeling 'playful'. If it echoes just right in this place it shouldn't be hard to convince them there are dozens down here."
"Maybe more if you can teach me to make the noises too." She said willing to contribute her voice to the cause.
"Mmmmm…I suppose so. We've got the time and the echoes will distort any mistakes you make easily enough." Mistress Sanada said with mild optimism, "Now listen carefully. Not just to the sound but the pattern of the sounds."
For what felt like an hour they traversed the corridors, ladders and bridges that made up the underground levels of the abandoned temple. As they went she practiced the sounds of the Edgehead listening to Mistress Sanada's criticisms in order to do better with each successive attempt. It wasn't easy since it was nothing like learning a human language and honestly felt more like she was a three year old again trying to sound like a dog or a bird. Still for their plan to work it was a valid tactic and she even had an idea for letting Xander know it was really them and that the 'massacre' was a ruse.
While she might not have been a senior member of the Scooby gang that didn't mean that she hadn't learned a few things about demons, magic and vampires. She'd even worked alongside Xander at the magic box deciphering some demon language that they thought could help them against Glory. It was mostly serious but every time they hit a roadblock with the translation Xander would lighten the mood by making fun of some of the words or coming up with ridiculous possible translations for certain passages. In between the Edgehead noises and her fake sounds of pain she'd throw in a few of the passages from the demon book she'd worked on with Xander. Half would be in the demon language while the rest would be the ridiculous stuffy the two of them had managed to come up with.
To any of the people pursuing them it would make no sense at all but to Xander it'd be the same as saying 'here we are' at the top of their lungs.
Please be in good enough shape to hear us and get to us. She thought fighting off a dark possibility that loomed in the back of her mind, You've got a job to do remember?
The Deepest Point Beneath the Temple
Xander's POV
Getting hurt trying to save a girl. He thought with a groan as he regained consciousness, Definitely familiar territory.
Pushing himself up into a sitting position he could feel bits of pain throughout his body but much like the effects of the sniper bullet through his brain they were fading. While glad that his upgrades came with such durability and impressive healing ability he really wished that it came with a pain suppression ability as well.
Flight would be nice too. He thought as he got to his feet despite the flare ups of pain, Better luck next time I guess.
Looking about he wasn't surprised to find barely any light to see by with most of it coming from a liquid forming a small stream on the ground with drops coming down from the walls in places to add to it. It had an unusual odour to it and glowed green giving him just enough illumination with its glow so that he could make out the rough dimensions of every object within eight feet of the stream. It didn't take him long to figure out what it had to be and for a moment he worried that he might soon feel the toxic effects of close contact with liquid mako. However when he took a moment to take stock of how he was feeling both physically as well as mentally he was pleasantly surprised to find nothing really amiss. Sure there was the lingering pain from the fall but nothing that matched the symptoms exhibited by Cloud in the video game.
Are my upgrades keeping me from getting sick? He thought before proceeding forward, Maybe. Still it's probably a bad idea to push my luck.
Taking in all his eyes had to show him he could tell that he was still in a part of the lower levels of the temple but judging by the rough look of it all the section he was in had only partially been completed. Amidst the carved stone blocks there were patches of raw stone and stalagmites making him think that the residents had intended to delve even deeper into Gaea but stopped for some reason. Had they been stopped by the presence of mako or had the attack on the temple above ground interrupted them?
I hope they had time to build the stairs up or else I'm going to have to put my climbing skills to the test. He thought looking about for signs of a way up, Free climbing my way up a chasm is NOT my idea of a fun time.
It was as he walked though that a sensation made its return known to him with a vengeance causing him to sway for a moment. It was the sensation that'd made him reluctant to enter the underground chambers to begin with and had motivated him into napping in an effort to escape it. However he could now say without any doubt though that it wasn't coming from the green liquid at his feet but rather from something else.
Something that was much closer than it had been before and with the loss of distance the urge to 'scratch' it had grown as well. Still suspicious of the nature of the sensation he threw his will against it to reassert control over himself both body and mind. He could not take the chance of it being malicious and judging by the effort he needed to put into keeping it at bay he wouldn't be able to keep this up forever. The sooner he got up to the level that Dawn and the others were on the better since at that distance the sensation was only an unnerving annoyance rather than a form of pressure on his mind.
Focusing his gaze on every corridor, tunnel and passageway for any sign of a means of going up he found little at first but then found something.
He sorely wished that he'd been stuck with crumbs rather than this.
Before him scattered down the hallway he'd entered were bodies, at least two dozen, and none of them looked like they had died painless deaths. Thankfully all the bodies had fully decomposed so all he had to look at were rotting clothes and skeletons but there was still enough behind to tell a story. At first he'd thought that the attackers that'd assaulted the temple above ground had found their way down here but according to Master Sanada the place hadn't been cleaned out and he'd seen that the traps were still primed when his mentor defused them. So what the hell happened here?
Scrutinizing each skeleton as he passed them he began to see a pattern in them that made him both worried and troubled at the same time.
One thing he found was that most of the clothes on the skeletons looked like they'd been slashed open either on the front or the back. Most in the torso area where you'd expect someone to attack with intent to kill and a few also had cuts in the sleeves implying attempts at defence that completely failed. However there were also some that had blades lodged in their skulls at an angle that implied they had committed suicide for some unknown reason.
Kneeling by one of the skeletons he examined the cuts in the clothing attempting to discern what sort of weapon had done the damage. However it was seconds later that he realized such an analysis was pointless for more than one reason. First there was the fact that given the amount of time that'd passed between the person's death and the present the clothing had likely degraded. Between the natural rotting and likely being nibbled at by all manner of vermin any clues as to what'd happened were likely gone.
Then there was the fact that while he'd seen a lot, experienced a lot and even read a little since the Scoobies were founded none of that made him qualified to analyze wounds to identify the weapon used. Still from what little he could make out some of the cuts looked like they were relatively clean while others looked more like breaks than cuts. It was kind of like telling the difference between someone chopping wood with a sharp axe versus chopping with a blunt axe. An axe with a sharp edge would give you a cleaner cut since it focused all the force of the swing onto the smallest area possible making it much easier to cut through the wood. An axe with a dull edge however wouldn't cut nearly as deeply and might in fact require several swings to get all the way through the wood. That was the impression he was getting from the skeletons he looked at as he walked further and further down the hallway.
It's almost like a monster got a hold of a katana and began to alternate between using it and its own claws. He thought as a troubling possibility arose in his mind.
In his experience most of the monsters on Gaea would be of the mindless variety relying more on instinct than anything resembling conscious thoughts. Sure he supposed that if they'd once been human and had somehow degraded or been transformed into a monster they'd possess awareness enough to keep their weapon and know of its usefulness. Still it didn't quite fit with what he was seeing here because it looked like some of the priests had tried to run from the threat while others decided that suicide was preferable to being killed.
Just how scared were these guys? He thought trying to picture in his head what it'd take to scare him into running or taking his own life.
"RU-RAGH."
Whirling around he tried to find a source for what he'd heard but the echo effect that the corridor induced made that impossible. However his Hellmouth sense was pinging and it had never failed to warn him when something dangerous was not too far away. In this case?
In this case he now knew he was not alone down here and the odds were high that whatever had made that noise was NOT friendly. After all most living things were either plant eaters or meat eaters or both and down here there was a distinct lack of either to be had. Sure he supposed that there might be some moss or mold somewhere but certainly not enough to satisfy anything big enough to have made that noise. As for meat that wasn't any more plentiful and it likely meant that whatever that was likely fed on whatever living thing happened to find its way down this far. It wouldn't matter if it was a monster or a human being and it certainly wouldn't matter if he wasn't a native of Gaea.
Food was food.
PERIOD.
Seeing as how I haven't laid eyes on it or heard anything it probably caught a whiff of my scent on the wind. He thought as he picked up the pace a little, Either that or it has a better set of ears than I do and heard my footsteps.
Whatever the case he needed to get up to the others before it found him and he needed to do it quickly. With no way of knowing if it was sound or smell that'd given him away it'd be a waste of time to try and conceal either. Better to move as quickly as he could to find the stairs or ladder leading up and hook back up with the others.
With that in mind he proceeded down the hallway stopping whenever he spotted a possible location for a staircase or a ladder and moving on if he found neither. Sadly he came up empty again and again with the only minor benefit being that it helped further illuminate him on where he was and what must've happened. The level he was on seemed to be an odd collection of offices and storage rooms with both possessing heavy duty locks and reinforced doors. To his mind you only did stuff like this when you wanted to keep something out or something in. However it wasn't a prison but to his eyes looked to be more than what Master Sanada had made the temple out to be. She'd made it out to be a place where things better left locked away were kept like documents or artifacts. He thought that meant dirty secrets tied to the royal family or prominent noble families. Perhaps even creations that crossed certain moral boundaries or were considered too dangerous to let them become common knowledge.
As for the offices he'd bet good money the priests working here had used them as sanctuaries for whenever the shit hit the fan.
Don't think it helped them all that much. He thought since half the office doors had been pried off while others had been cut to pieces.
Reaching a T shaped junction his heart rose as he spotted the familiar configuration of steps…
…only to turn the corner and find out that the ceiling had collapsed completely blocking off the way up.
"Fuck!" He growled as his first bit of good luck turned out to be hollow.
Briefly examining the amount of rubble and how it was arranged he was quick to cross off the possibility of digging his way through since it looked like removing anything would just drop more of the ceiling into place. The one thing he did find curious though was the scorch marks that peeked out around the edges of the rubble. To him this either meant explosives or 'FIRE' materia powerful enough to cause the cave in and while accidents did happen so did deliberate actions. Did something get loose down here? Something that someone believed couldn't be allowed to reach the upper levels and definitely not the outside world? If that was the case then it could explain what he'd seen before with the skeletons but also did little to let him know what precisely needed to be kept down here.
Was it some form of toxin or poison that messed with the body and mind?
Was it a creature that had broken free and could do serious damage to Wutai if it ever got to the surface?
He had no way of knowing without some sort of clue to point him in the right direction.
Gotta keep looking for a way out! He thought turning from the blocked staircase to find another route to freedom, No matter what it turns out to be sticking around too long is not going to be good for my health.
Fifteen doors and six turns later though and he came to see something that had him stopping in his tracks and not moving an inch.
At the end of the long hallway there was a decidedly unfriendly looking shadow on the wall with a broken katana in one hand and a bone blade of some sort sticking out of the other one. Add to that raggedy clothing and decidedly inhuman gait…well it was a safe bet that either he was looking at whatever had killed the priests down here or a priest that'd been decidedly changed by long term mako exposure. Considering all the movies and TV shows that showcased what tended to happen to those who endured long term solitary confinement he was almost preferring the possibility of a monster. A monster while dangerous still had certain predictable instincts while a human that'd been driven insane by poison and isolation you could never predict.
Gotta get out of sight! He thought as he noticed the shadow getting closer, I'm unarmed and unprepared!
Looking about frantically for someplace to hide or flee to his odds sucked as the seconds passed since many of the rooms no longer had doors and those that did wouldn't be hard to get into.
Just sneeze real hard in their direction.
It wasn't until he spied a door that was more or less intact and best of all the locks that'd been intended to keep it shut rested on the floor. Without wasting a moment he dashed for it and the moment he was within reach he pulled the door open, slipped inside and then pulled it closed before grabbing the nearest solid thing of the right dimension and sliding it through the inside door handle. It wasn't the best lock but it'd hopefully buy him some time to come up with something better as well as a plan to deal with the thing.
Looking about the room he tried to find a weapon or if he was extremely lucky a materia ball since magic would be easier for him to handle and attack from range. It was when he spotted a large metal case sitting atop a table separate from the other items in the room though that his search came to a sudden stop. A part of him could not fathom why he stopped since the case was covered with pieces of paper with strange writing on them. They did not completely cover the case, small bit of metallic silver peeking through the gaps in between, but the majority seemed placed to keep it shut.
Inside it waits… he thought come from within him but not from him, …waits for the blood…the POWER…
He knew of the wrongness of it all, the thought being a sign of a foreign influence, but at the same time he couldn't shove aside the compulsion driving him to approach the sealed case. It was like being pinned down by someone two to three times your own body weight while being in a less than desirable position for forcing them off. Doing so wasn't impossible but rather it would take time that most would be unsure that they had.
Upon reaching the sealed case his arms reached out to open it even as the core of his soul protested this saying that a sealed box like this was usually sealed for a VERY good reason.
…The blood…the blood is near… came the thought from within him that didn't belong to him, …the power sleeps…waits to waken…waits for the blade that is broken…
As soon as his hands came within two inches of the case the strange writing lit up like a lightbulb and arcs of energy began to attack him. It felt like the pins and needles sensation you sometimes got when you feet went to sleep after sitting on them for too long multiplied by a factor of ten or more. Sadly this did not stop his hands from gripping the case at the seams and trying to force it open with a sizeable amount of strength. This only seemed to intensify the discharges of energy from the writing on the pieces of power to the point where he had to grit his teeth to keep from crying out from the pain.
It was with a final thunderous exclamation of both pain and effort that the case was finally wrenched open to reveal what it contained. Oddly enough the content was primarily a rich red velvet-like fabric like the sort you'd expect to find inside of a violin case and it did not show even a little of the wear and tear of the years since the temple had been abandoned. However it was the object laid out in the centre of the case that quickly solidified a grip on his attention to the exclusion of almost everything else.
The broken remains of a katana.
It lay in two pieces within the case with the hilt, hilt guard and about two inches of the blade on one side with the rest of the weapon on the other side. Right in between the two halves he could see bits and pieces of metal that instinctively he knew belonged to the sword implying that the katana had been broken with brute force rather than a superior cutting edge.
…the chains have been broken…the power rises… the thought came from within him but did not belong to him, Soon…soon the blood…the power…will reforge it…soon it will be whole…once more…
It was then, with every ounce of willpower he could muster, that he stopped his hands before they could make contact with the hilt of the broken katana. Everything he'd ever learned about magic, demons, vampires and the supernatural told him that if he didn't act now he'd be trapped in his own body. A war waged within him between the part that wanted to claim the broken katana and him with neither willing to give anything less than everything they had. The other…it yearned for the blade both as a way to power and as a connection to someone he loved However he saw it as the embodiment of a force that would enslave him if he did not keep it at arms length.
BOOM!
A force was throwing itself against the door to the room.
"RA-RUGH!" Roared the very beast he'd fled into the room to hide from.
BOOM! CRACK!
The object that he'd used to keep the door closed was breaking and it was likely that only two or three more blows would be needed to eliminate it as an obstacle.
In the space of two seconds he recalled everything he could about the room he was in and he knew that there was no other way out. He'd been betting on the door being solid enough to hold up against the creature until it lost interest or even better muffle his scent to the point where the threat would wander on by allowing him to escape once it was far enough away. Apparently he should've realized that gambling rarely ended well of guys with the last name Harris and not even tried.
BOOM!CR-RACK!
One more hit and it'll be inside fully able to put my upgrade body through the ringer. He thought even as he started losing ground against the foreign will, Sure it survived a bullet through the head but I'm pretty sure if my head's separated from my body I won't be coming back from that.
Thinking back to all the times he'd been in similar situations he came to the conclusion that the only shot he had was to strike first and strike someplace fatal to everything that lived.
That of course being the head.
Shove something there that didn't belong there and do enough damage and most living things would keel right over.
The only problem was that the only weapon that he could get ahold of before the door failed was the very weapon he was fighting to stay away from. The hilt of the katana had just enough blade still attached to it that a strike to the brain would do the desired amount of damage to the creature. However if he was right about the weapon he might live but there was a good chance that he'd find himself trapped inside his own body while a foreign will took over.
So basically I keep resisting and probably get killed by the creature or I stop resisting and potentially get turned into someone's Pinocchio. He thought even as the door finally surrendered to the force being thrown against it, Ah fuck it!
With a single silent prayer that things wouldn't be as bad as he believed it would be dropped his resistance against the will inside of him that wanted to pick up the hilt of the broken katana. In an instant it was in his right hand and though it was slight he could feel power flowing from the blade into his body making him feel more powerful than before…but only a little. He also got the impression that the half of the weapon he held was evaluating him somehow on a level that'd probably give him a migraine if he tried to understand it all.
Then it was all over.
The will that he'd been fighting against withdrew to the unknown place it'd come from leaving him in full control of his body. It was a bit anti-climactic but he had more important things to worry about because when he turned to face the creature he was treated to a sight that left him a little queasy. Whatever the thing was now there were enough hints that he could confidently say that it'd once been human. Two arms, two legs, a body and a head with a smattering of hair falling from it pretty much sealed that possibility into place. However the rest was so definitely not human that it left him glad that he didn't have the info to speculate how precisely the human had become what it now was.
One arm looked vaguely human if you ignored the fact that it had two elbows instead of the customary single one every other human had. This was the limb that had gripped in its hand a chipped and rusty katana that still looked sharp enough to part flesh if enough power was put behind the swing.
The other arm however looked like it'd sacrificed what range of motion it might've once had for destructive power and a crescent bone blade that was about as sharp as a human's finger. That being said put enough power behind it and the lack of a cutting edge wouldn't matter much because it'd still destroy whatever it came into contact with.
The legs were deceptively thin and gaunt to his eyes but he knew better than to let appearances fool him. He'd encountered many things back in Sunnydale that looked to be no stronger then your average human yet prove themselves capable of crossing distances in the blink of an eye or throw you across a large room with one arm. He'd bet good money that this thing was faster than it looked.
As for the head it honestly looked like someone made a human head out of play dough, began to hit it with a baseball bat then put it on the body without a care. Misshapen, crooked and unnatural enough that you'd think it impossible for it to function but function it did. The eyes were not equal in size but there was no milky film to either one and he could see the irises changing size so they were both functional.
He wondered if the deformities would make it easier to pierce the brain or harder.
No time to think it over! He thought charging the creature as fast as his legs could propel him, Gotta kill it before I get hit with something I can't defend against.
Some might think him cowardly for acting this way, what with his superhuman strength and impressive physical resiliency, but the fact of the matter was that he was still a noob at fighting. Sure he'd received instruction from Master Sanada, sure he'd inherited a few things from Soldier Boy, but the only real combat he'd had since getting his new body had been delaying actions at best. Not once had he turned and fought an enemy head on until one of them was defeated. Due to that he had doubts about whether he was good enough to enter into such a fight and win. Sure if he'd had a few wins under his belt he'd have the confidence needed to act without fear but he didn't have that.
All he had were memories of letting himself be used as a punching bag until Buffy kicked ass and controlled sparring matches with Dawn under the watch of Master Sanada.
And they weren't nearly enough.
Not enough to erase his doubts and leave him confident that he'd be able to overcome all but the toughest foes.
As a result he felt his only shot was to land a killing blow before he racked up too much damage to land even a glancing blow.
Now! He thought before pushing off to the right then using his left to put him back on course for his target after a meter or so.
Even if he had doubts he wasn't stupid.
A direct attack head on was one of the easiest tactics to block or counter so he'd waited as long as he dared to hop to the right before pushing forward. It'd been his plan that by changing the direction he was coming at the creature from the beast would need to shift position to meet him and that'd give him the opening he needed. Bringing up his broken weapon he aimed it for the larger of the two eye sockets intent on thrusting it right into the brain granting him an instant kill.
If that didn't kill the creature he'd viciously yank it out before slamming it into the things throat since every living thing needed air in order to live. With any luck a lack of oxygen would kill the thing and allow him to survive so long as he maintained his distance immediately afterwards.
He felt a surge of satisfaction when the broken katana successfully pierced the creatures right eye but just before he'd have expected it to pierce the brain it came to a stop. It impacted on what he presumed was the bone of the skull and even when he attempted to force it in the seconds that immediately followed no progress was made. Had whatever it was that'd warped this creature's body also enhanced the strength of the bones that made up its skeleton? He knew that certain demon species had sub-dermal bone armour around most of their vital organs making them a cast iron bitch to kill so the precedent was there.
Then a strength oriented fist was there or more precisely slamming into him in that brief period when he was no longer moving about.
He didn't think that any of his bones were broken or internal organs ruptured but he knew for a fact that enhanced healing ability or not he was going to be feeling this for the next day or two without question. Impacting on the wall he was only peripherally aware in his dazed mind that he'd dropped his weapon causing it to clatter to the ground until it came to a stop a few feet away. He was no stranger to this, fighting alongside Buffy had put him in many similar situations, so he focused on regulating his breathing while also finding a single thought to form a foundation for the rest of his mind to build off of.
N-need my weapon. He thought as his vision began to come back into focus, Gotta…gotta block the follow up…strike…
THUNK!
A sharp pain in his chest followed by his strength beginning to flow outwards from that point.
Curious.
Most curious.
Looking down towards his chest he found to his surprise that his weapon was already with him…but…why wasn't the hilt falling to gravity? He wasn't holding it and neither was anything else so it should be falling into his lap. That's what should've happened right?
It was only when he thought a little more about the broken katana that he remembered how it still had a few inches of blade extending past the hilt guard. It was then that his brain sluggishly made the connection but he knew it was too late for him to do anything. The blade of the broken katana had pierced his chest and if it hadn't gone right through the centre of his heart it'd definitely taken a chunk out of it. Sure he'd taken a bullet to the brain and somehow survived but something…something within him said this was different. That something didn't elaborate on what would be different only that it would be.
As thinking began to become increasingly difficult he could only presume that since the heart was vital for the pumping blood and all its passengers around his body its destruction would seriously negate his healing powers.
Well that and the fact that his blood was coming out around the broken katana in worrying amounts.
He was only peripherally aware of the feeling of footsteps getting further and further away with one of the coherent parts of his mind linking it to the creature.
It must've been the one to use his own weapon to bullseye his heart like this.
Smart little fucker…heh… he thought as darkness began to creep into his vision, …smart monsters are always…bad news…
And with that thought his eyes shut and his lungs ceased to move even a little.
Sinking…sinking…
The light that made it what it was, WHO it was, falling towards its end with an air of inevitability.
Too bad there was something that existed that despised such total acceptance.
It engulfed the light with a luminescence of its own even as it tried to shatter the light's acceptance and change it into something else.
FLASH!
An image briefly appeared in the darkness but it did the trick of getting the light's attention away from its plunge into deeper darkness. The image that had briefly appeared had been that of a young woman with blonde hair and evoked feelings of love, protectiveness and joy. From there it'd been like a domino effect as memories and emotions emerged one after another before vanishing almost as swiftly as they appeared.
With every one of them though the acceptance of the inevitable fall fractured until it shattered outwards replaced by a defiance of the inevitable that burned like a newborn star. The light had made a promise, a promise to do something it would've done on its own anyway, and it felt anger at the thought that it has been moments ago willing to accept failure and extinction.
The something approved of this change but pointed out how there was but one way to change the light's fate.
A power needed to be awakened and a connection forged.
Only then would the inevitable become null and only then would the light have what it would need to keep the young woman safe.
The light showed interest but also suspicion.
Could it trust this something? Was it being deceived?
In the end it was forced to accept that it had no other choice save to resume its fall into darkness deep never to rise again.
With a flash it conveyed its acceptance of the solution but made it clear that the position of dominance, of control, would belong to it alone. Only when mutual survival was at risk would the light consider allowing the something to assume control and only for as long as the threat to survival existed.
The something showed only a moment of chilly discontent before agreeing to the terms as stated.
Neither the light or the something could be said to trust the other completely but both accepted the necessity of the solution and all it entailed.
Thus with a flash the two mixed into one and with this fusion something new was born stronger than the two that had once existed.
Thus awakened a devil unlike any other.