Event 15: No Holds Barred

"-cuse me... Hello? Are you alright?" said a voice. Seiko woke slowly, exhausted from overloading her Abyss power. It was a woman's voice, but the hands on Seiko's shoulders felt like those of a skeleton. Seiko opened her piercing blue eyes to see a young woman with long wavy hair that fell just below her shoulders. The woman wore a black dress that ended in the middle of her thighs, but below the dress she wore leggings that ended in the middle of her calves. She had simple black shoes, and a white bow on her dress on her left hip. Her hands, currently on Seiko's shoulders to gently shake her awake, were nothing but black bones coming out of her long sleeves. Behind her, in the corner, a black scythe of the same black bone material leaned against the wall. Taking all this in, Seiko looked into the woman's piercing green eyes. As Seiko finished processing her location and the person talking to her, she finally answered with a nod and sat up fully.

"I'm sorry I was so rough... I'm Kama. Who are you, to be caught in this place?" said the woman.

"Seiko," was the answer. Seiko looked from Kama to her hands to the scythe, questioning.

"Oh... Don't be afraid," said Kama, needlessly, "It's something I had to do... They're bones from an Undead Dragon I found. A friend helped me after I lost my hands fighting it. It... Changed me... I didn't poke you with my sharp fingers, did I?"

Seiko shook her head. She hadn't seen such a weapon before, but if it was made from the bones of a dragon, even an Undead one, it would be threatening in the hands of an enemy. In fact, it might be even more threatening because it was made from an Undead Dragon. If that same dragon still moved, the weapons and Kama's hands would continuously regenerate from damage. Though, given that fact, it made Seiko curious as to how they were shaped. Must be some magic, concluded Seiko.

"Abyss?" asked Seiko, simply bringing up the topic.

"What about it? Is it spreading?! Did you come here to find a way to stop it?!" asked Kama, looking a bit paranoid.

Seiko shook her head, glad that she hadn't lost control while unconscious. Seiko stood, walking over to the bars of the prison in which she'd woken to. It had only now occurred to her that she must have been captured and left in a place like this. The bars, crystallized like the enemies she'd fought, would probably break if she punched them. After all, the crystal Hollows had crumbled when struck. Seiko pulled back a fist, only to have Kama grab her arm.

"Wait! I know what you're thinking, and it won't work. Those bars aren't like the Hollows... You'll hurt yourself. The only way out is for someone to rescue us..."

"Then we'll be free soon... Jinta will come..." said Seiko, turning away from the bars.

"Jinta? A traveling partner?"

"Chosen Undead."

"Oh! And he came here with you? Does he know where you are?"

"He'll find us," said Seiko, assuredly.

"Well, there is another way... I've never succeeded, but..."

Seiko kept staring at Kama, waiting for her to continue. Kama lowered her voice.

"There are guards with keys that come by to feed us. If you can trick one and get his keys, we can get out!" said Kama, whispering.

Seiko nodded, sat down by the brick wall facing the bars, and waited...

Trapped in a room with an immortal opponent who can curse me simply by breathing on me... How did I ever make it this far getting into these situations...? Forget my feelings, without Seiko I won't even reach my goal... But I have to find her first... And I think I know how...

Jinta dodged aside a final time, avoiding the cursed breath of Seath The Scaleless, his final target. Seath was impossible to kill at the moment, every wound simply healed over instantly. The massive white dragon jutted from a collection of crystal spires he'd made himself, attacking Jinta as he was trapped in the room. Jinta reached into a pouch on his belt, sliding a small sparkling purple ring onto his gloved hand. He'd found the infinitely rare ring in Sen's Fortress, and before now, he'd feared using it. But it was time, and there was no other choice if he planned to save Seiko. Seath reared back again, readying another cursed breath attack... Only this time Jinta didn't dodge, and as his body was petrified, the ring on his finger turned black and cracked in half, saving him from death and curse, until the petrification wore off. Seath had Jinta carried away, to the prisons where he kept his experiments... And Seiko...

Seiko was awoken again by the clattering of a food platter, thrown through the bars by a snake-man like the ones guarding Sen's Fortress. Seiko stood, ran over to the bars as the guard left, and let a chain of Abyss snake out of the cage. With a hook on the end, Seiko lifted the key-ring from the guard's belt and whipped it back into the cage.

"What was... How did you...?!" said Kama, looking at Seiko in surprise.

Seiko waited until the guard was far enough away before trying each key until she found one that unlocked the cell door.

"Wait," she said to Kama, hiding the keys.

"I see..." answered Kama, walking over and recovering her black scythe from its corner.

A few minutes past before the guard walked by again, his hands empty.

Seiko only nodded to Kama before opening the door. Before Seiko could leap out to kill the guard, Kama was passed her, slicing the guard's long neck at the base with her scythe. As the head fell and the inside of its neck could be seen, Seiko noticed Kama had cut right through a vertebrae, something that took monstrous strength. Seiko was out of the cell and looking around, but Kama was already moving. They were on a spiral staircase in an abandoned library tower. Cells were built into the bookshelves and sealed with crystal bars to keep anything from escaping. Kama was running down the stairs, but Seiko didn't know why until a high-pitched alarm went off. At the bottom, on a platform, some of the guards had turned on an alarm to announce the breach. Kama wouldn't make it in time to stop it before it was recognized. Seiko clambered over the guard-rail on the stairs and jumped, the fall below easily one hundred meters. As she fell, Abyss stretched from her back and slowed her descent with half of a bubble. It was still far faster than running down the stairs. If Kama saw her, it wasn't obvious, since Kama just kept running. Perhaps there was another reason she had to hurry. As Seiko hit the ground and absorbed the Abyss, she found out why. A large cage below the alarm platform was opening and creatures were pouring out of it. They were bigger than a human, had blue scales, and what looked like jellyfish with mouths for a head. When they opened their mouths, however, their screams sounded like young women. Seiko had only seen women in the cages on the way down. These monsters were what became of Seath's prisoners. And Seiko had been a prisoner.

"Don't hesitate!" yelled Kama, reaching the ladder at the end of the stairs. Seiko was on the ground level, below the ladder to the stairs.

"They may have been like us once, but no more! Seath's taken everything from them in his mad experiments! If you don't kill them they'll kill you, or worse, capture you!" said Kama. She jumped down the ladder, threw her scythe up, rolled to absorb the fall impact, then caught the scythe. Snake-men guards were right behind her, sliding down the ladder.

"The alarm!" said Seiko.

"You get it, I'll stop the guards and those things!"

Seiko ran for the platform, right at the mob of screaming failed experiments. As she approached them, Seiko couldn't help but feel sorry for the women they used to be. Even when she should only care about killing them before they killed her, it made Seiko a bit sad, somewhere deep down. She vaulted over the foul things, reaching the platform in seconds. On it were two snake-men and a snake-man sorcerer. The two snake-men lunged, swinging their huge swords. Seiko jumped forward to avoid them, toward the sorcerer. It shot a lightning bolt at her, which she blocked with a fireball. The two met in midair and exploded between Seiko and the snake-man mage. Seiko turned, an Abyss sword extending, and sliced right through the two snake-men behind her. She continued spinning, turning the Abyss into a shield. As she came around she blocked another bolt, then rushed the mage, slamming into it with her black shield. It flew over a small balcony and into the cage where the experiments had once been. Two stragglers quickly slithered over to the fallen snake-man, beginning suddenly to eat him. Seiko didn't watch, instead running over and pulling the switch to turn off the alarm. As she did, she looked over the edge of the platform to see Kama fighting similar to her own style. Instead of Pyromancy and Abyss, Kama was using her bone hands and scythe to carve through the enemies below. She was using flashy moves, intimidating other guards that came forward and tricking the simple minds of the experiments with her complex attacks. Seiko doubted she had any such skill with a weapon, but didn't take the time to appreciate the display; she had to help Kama and find Jinta...

One crack, near an elbow. Another on the opposite shoulder. One all the way around the waist. Up the side of the head. More and more formed. All at once, the petrified figure shattered between the two snake-men carrying it, revealing Jinta.

"Nice to meet you," said Jinta, landing on the floor in his feet and drawing both his swords. "I'm angry. And you're in my way."

The snake-men only had time to look shocked before that became their last expression. Jinta stepped over their bodies, his rage spreading anew.

"God save me..." said Jinta, knowing full well it meant nothing to apologize before the fact and do wrong anyway. He ran forward, the look of sheer wrath on his face hidden under his golden helmet...

"Into the cage! There's too many!" yelled Kama, fighting and walking backwards. Her scythe spun viciously, nothing but a black blur, blocking and attacking with every rotation. Any normal weapon would have already broken. Even for Seiko, it was too risky to stay outside in the circular chamber with so many failed experiments coming out of other cages built into the bottom floor. The tentacles from their squishy heads meant punching and kicking was too dangerous, and Pyromancy or Abyss would tire her out before she could kill them all. She and Kama retreated, then Seiko used chains of Abyss to slam the massive cage doors shut. The two killed the remaining experiments, then started searching for a new way out.

"Can you blow a hole in the wall? Maybe we can escape through it!" asked Kama, seeing no other way.

Seiko turned, put her hands together, and threw a massive blue fireball at the wall. It exploded and bricks went flying everywhere, but behind it there was only more natural stone.

"Are we underground?!" asked Kama.

"Trapped again..." said Seiko, her mind racing for another way.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an echoing bang. High above, Jinta had used Force to blow open the doors to the tower. He put a foot on the waist high guard and looked down. He saw all the experiments flooding over to one cage, saw the dead guards everywhere, and assumed Seiko was already fighting to be free. As expected. He jumped from the top of the spiral staircase, down a ladder and missing the stairs on purpose. During the long fall, his outfit billowing in the passing wind, Jinta sheathed his swords and drew his talisman. He put his hands together, the talisman between them, and used another explosion of Force to halt in midair less than half a meter from the floor. With his long fall canceled, Jinta dropped the short distance to the floor and drew his swords again. Jinta looked around, the area near him clear because of his Force, and saw nothing but enemies. Perfect for venting anger. He flew into battle like he never had before. An experiment closed in and he chopped its head in half, yanking his curved falchion back to complete the slice. Another tried to pounce on him and he stabbed through its mouth to the back of its head. A kick freed his sword. He spun to face the next enemy, swinging his falchion as he turned. The swing fired a blade of Emit Force, cutting down several enemies in a ten meter diameter. Stabs with his Estoc fired pointed cones of Emit Force, punching through the experiments as they advanced. New enemies had to slither over the bodies of their fallen comrades. Purple blood from the experiments flew everywhere, splattering the white cloth of Jinta's Paladin armor. He was beyond caring. He'd wear nothing but purple if it meant reaching Seiko now. Jinta fixed on the cage the experiments were trying to break into and began fighting in that direction. When enemies closed in on him, almost overwhelming him, Jinta simply spoke and his miracles flowed.

"Wrath of the Gods..." he said simply, his voice boiling over with focused fury.

White light exploded from within him, sending experiments close to him flying into the air several meters and clearing a circle around him again. He got a glimpse of the cage through the swath of blue scales and squishy light-blue heads, seeing Seiko and another young woman within. He just kept walking toward them. No one could touch him. Nothing could stop him. He was here for the woman who'd made it all possible. Here for the one who'd given him the strength to succeed. The one who'd been there to kill Nito and Chaos, the one who'd killed the Four Kings by herself just to see him. Even as he strode forward, carving through anything that dared get in his way, Jinta knew it in his heart. He was here for the woman he loved.

"Who...?!" said Kama, struck nearly speechless by the display.

"Jinta," said Seiko, like she'd known all along.

"That's the Chosen Undead?! Dear Lords, he's magnificent!" said Kama, her voice low in awe.

Jinta reached the cage and turned, slashing another Emit Force to clear a few enemies away.

"If the door is open, come out. If not, don't worry... It will open," said Jinta.

He put his swords away, pulling something new out of a pouch on his belt.

"Solaire... Thank you for this chance... Gwyn give me strength!" he yelled, holding up a small gold coin of sorts. Lightning flew from nowhere into his hand, burning brightly with power. Jinta pulled his arm back, just like he'd seen Solaire do so many times, and threw the lightning bolt like a javelin. The bolt flew across the entire chamber, piercing every single experiment in its way. Jinta had only one, and he'd finally found a time to use it. The bolt struck a bookcase on the opposite side and thunder cracked. Kama and Seiko reached the cage doors, opening them again and preparing to fight with Jinta to escape. As the three cleared the chamber, Seiko could feel the difference in Jinta. He didn't seem apprehensive anymore, or as if he was pressing on just because it was right. In his every move she felt his sense of purpose, the change in his self-confidence. It was something she resolved to ask about once the fight was finally over...

Event 16: First And Last Steps coming soon...

Author Note: 2000 views! Dear God, I can't begin to thank you all enough! You have no idea what it means to me! I don't care if other stories have hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of thousands, or whatever number of views! I APPRECIATE this! And! To show it! I've got things planned that will blow the minds of every single reader of Twin Humanities. You think it's been fun til now?! Wait. Wait until I get to Prepare To Die. Wait until Artorias. Hell, wait until you see Solaire again! The ball's rolling, and it's going downhill. Too bad this hill's a mountain and that ball won't be stopping, not for anyone or anything...