Ch.37 Artifacts
The fight with this new artificial spirit is going south for the group as Ellen is struggling with this new foe and her allies can't give her advice or help too much as she is deaf at the moment. Aki is injured, Hiro can't stand right now, and Akane is protecting civilians from the collapsing stadium. Miku is simply watching from the side as she decided to not fight, and Shiori manages to get near and, in a demanding tone, tells her.
"Why won't you help us?"
Miku simply turns her head with a rather off-putting look as she simply replies.
"It's your problem now, not mine. So you handle it."
Shiori, finally having enough, walks up to Miku and punches her in the face and looks at her fist in disbelief as she is in disbelief that she actually struck someone. Miku is also very insulted as no one has struck her like this before. Shiori, getting back to the point, scolds her.
"Don't you care about any of those people who are fleeing the stadium!? Don't you care about those people out there that are trying to help you?"
Shiori points at Hiro and explains.
"That white-haired young man protected you, and do you know why? Because he cares about you. He showed you compassion, which is more than you deserve."
Miku snaps back and retorts.
"I don't need some man's compassion. I have my…"
Shiori interrupts and angrily rebukes.
"Will you stop that! Those people out there are not your friends, they're just slaves to your brainwashing. Hiro protected you of his own free will, and you can't even say thank you to him!?"
Shiori becomes more calm and explains further.
"If I wanted, I could have just abandoned this city and you. I chose to face, knowing you would cheat, because I wanted to help you."
Miku cringes and turns around with a look of uncertainty as thinks for a moment. Shiori's two guardian's appear at her side and further says.
"I wanted to help you, because you're my mother. But, my mother would never act like such a selfish person…at least not the one I know."
Miku's eyes widen and immediately retorts with a blush and anger.
"I don't have any children. That would have doing unspeakable things with a man, and I wouldn't even let one get close to me."
Shiori shakes her head and simply says.
"I know you're not. Like I said, my parents taught me that some people can be trusted. But only some."
Shiori runs back into the stage area ready to help in any way she can. Miku thinks for a second more and simply stands there.
On the ship, Shido has decided that he wants to go and help. Tohka and Mana agree as they leave the ship in Kotori's hands and leave immediately. Ellen is putting up her best fight with the artificial spirit, but her side is bleeding as the artificial spirit has cut it pretty badly. Ellen's territory poses little defense as this foe's blade and faze through it. Yushin simply sits and watches with glee as his creation is very strong.
Down where Miku locked up Miyuki, the young girl is looking around the room as the others told her to stay put. But she feels rumbling and crawls under a chair. As she does, Yoshinon tells her.
"Miyuki, we just stay here and hide. We've got to go help our friends."
Miyuki shakes her head and replies.
"But, it sounds scary up there, and I…."
Yoshinon puffs up and reminds her.
"Did you forget, silly? We're superheroes, and that means we beat bad guys!"
Miyuki puts on a more confident look and stands up with a can-do posture as she begins making her way to the doorway, but she slips on the floor and her face slams into the door leaving a red bruise on her face and she begins to tear up.
Shido arrives at the stadium faster than the others as Kurumi has accompanied him. But she disappears as she drops him off saying she has something to look into at the moment. Shido notices the destruction as Ellen gets sent flying past him as she crashes into the wall. Shido, out of concern, runs to her and asks.
"Are you okay, Ellen?"
Ellen smiles and replies.
"Yeah, it's just a minor injury."
Ellen tries to stand up, but Shido puts his hand on her shoulder and suggests.
"Why don't you stay here for a moment."
Ellen is vehement for a moment, but her wound will only get worse and she agrees to stay. Shido is more worried than he appears as this enemy is more dangerous than could have guessed since she's beating them even with Ellen's help. Shido summons Sandalphon without a clear plan but he can't just do nothing. As he prepares to get on the stage, he is stopped by Yushin, who simply stands in front of him and Shido can't help but become a little mad seeing his face. Yushin wags his finger and says.
"Now now, this is ladies night with one guy, and a…semiconscious soldier guy I guess."
Shido can tell this Yushin is different from Isaac, but he can't figure it out yet. He looks at him and asks.
"Why are you doing this? Or are you just like that Westcott who kidnapped Tohka?"
Yushin sighs and shakes his head and retorts.
"Don't compare me to my father. I just want to see the progression of evolution. Think about it for a second, Itsuka."
Shido is now a little more suspicious as Isaac called him Takamiya, but he listens anyway since he may get something out of this guy.
"Humans have invented many cool things like planes, phones, and other things. But Spirits on the other hand can transcend space and time. If I could learn how to recreate that power with my human hands, then there's no telling what I could accomplish."
Yushin has a look of anticipation as he watches the artificial Spirit fight off Aki and now Shiori is on the stage with her guitar and is trying to figure out her powers as Aki is being smacked around by the foe. Miku, on the other hand, is watching these random people she's only met trying to win an impossible fight and thinks they're being stupid. She thinks of something to say to them to convince them to stop and prove her point, but instead she feels the ground shaking a little.
The group, who is still fighting, are also feeling the ground shaking, and then a series of ice shards erupt from the ground and rain all over the arena. It catches everyone off guard causing shards to rain down on Aki which makes a few cuts on his body, Hiro manages to deflect the shards with his blades, Akane just heals her wounds, and Shiori manages to block hers by strumming her guitar and making a sonic wall above her head. The artificial Spirit, on the other hand gets a few cuts causing her confusion. Aki sees this opportunity through his injuries and runs up to her, with a great deal of force, he charges up his sword by raising it to the sky, creating the glyph, and shouting.
"Annhiliation!..."
He then drives his sword into the ground and creates a massive wall of energy around his body which causes the Spirit to rise into the sky while being injured and Aki shouts.
"Rending Saber!"
Yushin watches with displeasure, Shido and Ellen cheer on, and Miku is shocked that fight has apparently just ended by the hands of a man who apparently had no chance. Aki kneels down as he reverts to his normal form and then a hole is seen above him in the stadium. He manages to stand and check on the girls who were knocked out and is happy to see they didn't get hurt.
Shido runs over to congratulate Aki, and doesn't realize he is still holding Sandalphon. Hiro would stand if he could. Miku is thinking about what Shiori said to her and looks at her potential daughter and now realizes that she was telling the truth. Miku is contemplating going over to talk to them and maybe rethink what she's been doing, maybe. But then…she hears someone say.
"Hello there…."
Miku turns around and is shocked as the sound of a blade slicing echoes as she is stabbed through the chest. She clenches her chest a bit and sees Saori standing in the shadows as she backs away with Miku wondering what just happened through the pain.
On the stage, the body of the wizard falls through to the ground unconscious. Aki runs over to see if she's also okay. He sees she's still alive and is relief at this. As he turns to walk to his friends, he hears her standing up with her sword ready. Aki is in trouble and he knows it. He backs up and waves his hand saying in a panic.
"Don't get closer."
He then feels something brush against his face as his eyes close and he can't see anything. He opens his eyes and everything is a blur for a moment as he hears something fall to the ground. He looks behind and he sees his friends with worried looks on their faces. He then sees something that he wishes he wouldn't see. He sees the artificial spirit on the ground dead, and a bloody Sandalphon in his hand. He feels his face and finds blood on it. He then takes a few second of silence for everything to register, and then he lets out a loud scream. He drops Sandalphon and approaches the corpse and starts shaking it and saying things in a frantic way.
"Come on! Get up, move, attack me, do something….Anything! I didn't ….. I COULDN'T…."
Shido approaches Aki and puts his hand on his shoulder and tries to console him.
"Aki…you didn't mean to do it. I mean…."
Aki starts shaking the body again and keeps saying.
"No I didn't!...No…no"
Aki is being so frantic that his body begins shaking and an aura surrounds his body as the ground begins to quake again. Everyone knows what this is as he begins panicking. Akane runs up to him and immediately says.
"Aki, if you don't calm down, you'll kill more people."
Aki immediately turns around and tells her.
"I didn't kill anyone! I didn't!"
Shido tries again, but Aki keeps panicking about this. Akane, left with little choice, punches Aki in the back with a powerful flame punch and knocks him out causing the Spacial Quake to not happen.
I'll leave it here for now since it's been a while since the last chapter update. I will post the next chapter as a part two of this since I want this to get out there.