Konbanwa Minna! This is my second update in one day! Eat that Starrie and Azure-san! Although, I must admit that the last third of this chapter was completed before starting this whole story. I gave that bit to Azure-san, who convinced me to write the whole thing. Sorry Starrie, but I wanted all of this to be a surprise. I'd like to extend a very special thanks to both of them. Thank you for all the help that you've given me!
Now, here is my action packed final battle! It's oddly short, but quite exciting anyway. Well, here's....
Chapter Nine
Sakura, Shinigami, Eriol, Syaoran, and Meiling were on the battlefield facing the form of Akuma. This evil being was about seven foot tall, but his dark aura prevented one from seeing any other features. He glared at them with red, glowing eyes.
"I am Akuma, and I have come to destroy you, and enslave your people" it spoke.
Rob stepped forward and spoke, "I am the God of Death, and I have come to rip your soul from your writhing body."
"Then, let us begin!" it called. He charged them and their original plan was put into motion.
The humans were up first. Sakura used Fiery and Earth to herd, and then trap him. The guardians, Li, and Eriol used their magic to hit them as hard as they could.
Although, Akuma soon broke free of its bonds and emerged, nearly untouched. He had a single fine cut along his chin line. He wiped away the blood and became angry at the sight of it.
"You will PAY for that!" it screamed. It suddenly charged at Eriol. Nakuru jumped in front to protect her master, but Akuma simply drew a sword and went through both of them. Nakuru was badly injured, and Eriol was now dead. They'd seen their first casualties.
It finally dawned on Sakura that Rob was right all along; they couldn't survive a fight against Akuma without the god's help. She hoped that they'd win, so that everyone could be revived. She felt that everyone was saddened by the loss, but they couldn't be slowed down, not yet.
Next up were the three remaining guardians. The beasts looked like mirror images, both performing the same complex set of moves. They circled and rotated around it, trying to confuse it while Yue readied a few arrows of energy to fire simultaneously. Cerberus and Spinel soon gave him an opening and three arrows struck Akuma's back. They all stopped their attack to survey the damage done. Akuma ripped one of the arrows from its back and threw it at Yue. He dodged, but Cerberus, who was behind him, could not. He fell from the sky, soon dying from the arrow piercing his heart. Akuma used the two remaining arrows in its back on Spinel and Yue, but Yue luckily survived his arrow with only a minor shoulder wound. Spinel was in the same condition as his counterpart, dead.
In ten minutes, the only guardian who could still fight was an injured Yue. He couldn't use his arrows anymore because his drawing arm was too badly hurt. The humans were amazed that they were beaten so easily.
Suddenly, Meiling decided to get in on it. She jumped into the air and knocked Akuma to the ground. It got up and they started a hand-to-hand battle on the ground. Meiling was doing quite well, but Akuma was only waiting until she was worn out. Sakura got Power ready. Just when Akuma was about to kill an exhausted Meiling, she began to glow pink and kicked It in the head. Akuma was sent back quite a bit, but recovered and hit her even harder. Meiling was still alive, but clearly out.
Li and Sakura went in using their swords. Akuma drew his as well and they began to fight. Sakura jumped to its other side like the cheerleader she once was so that they surrounded Akuma. Somehow, it still managed to ward off all of their attacks. Sakura and Li were remaining unscratched as well. Suddenly, Li drew out an ofudo and pressed it to Akuma's body without it realizing what had happened. A few moments later, he was given another opening and instead of stabbing It, Li pressed his sword against the ofudo. Akuma's body was racked with pain from the surge of thunder. In its weakness, Sakura and Li both ran it through with their swords. It screamed in pain, and then began to laugh at them. Their swords were forcefully expelled and it self healed, still laughing at them.
"Hahaha! You think that those puny hunks of metal can stop me?" Akuma said, and then turned to Li. It rushed forward and gave Li a deep cut in his side when he tried to dodge. Li was still capable of fighting, but his capacity was greatly diminished.
"I don't care! I'll give my life to defeat you, and to protect Sakura!" Li yelled and charged Akuma. Sakura tried to stop him, but it was too late. A small amount of Li's blood splattered onto her clothes. Sakura caught him, then held him as he fell unconscious. She kissed his forehead and stood, ready to fight again.
Akuma glared at her and charged. "CLANG!" went the sound of its sword hitting metal. Only, her sword was untouched. She looked up to find a dark-robed figure with red eyes holding Akuma back with his scythe.
"Better late that never, eh?" he asked Sakura.
"You've got that right!"
Sakura noticed Akuma's open posture and quickly used Shot and Arrow to put a hole in its side. It screamed in pain again, but again self-healed and became strong again. Sakura could notice small decreases in Its aura, but it would take forever this way.
"Sakura, get back! I'll handle it from now on!" Shinigami called.
Sakura withdrew, but Akuma managed to get a blast of energy to her. She was thrown forward onto the ground, a large round burn on her back. She was still alive, but badly hurt. Shinigami got slightly annoyed that his girlfriend had been hurt so badly.
His aura flared and he attacked Akuma ferociously. It was caught off guard and was knocked to the ground. Shinigami started ripping at its flesh with his scythe and plunged it into him, trying to remove his soul and end the fight. But Akuma would not be defeated so easily.
It laughed as it reached up to grab the scythe. The scythe reacted violently, throwing itself out of Akuma's body. Shinigami realized that Akuma's dark energy might make it impervious to the Death scythe's power. That meant that he had to kill Akuma, rather than simply get It weak enough to remove its soul. Why can't poor Shinigami ever get a break?
They continued fighting for sometime, using sword and scythe as well as they could. Shinigami was more agile in the air and faster, but Akuma was physically stronger and its was energy greater. Shinigami used his speed advantage as best as he could, yet was still forced into conflicts of strength and power, which he had difficulty with. Though, he still had a secret weapon.
"You die now god!" Akuma bellowed and charged a beam of dark energy.
Shinigami chuckled and held his hands as if he were holding a ball to his side. Akuma let loose his beam and Shinigami chanted shortly, then a beam of blue light collided with Akuma's dark beam. The two were perfectly matched!
"I can't believe this!" Akuma yelled, enraged.
"Believe it!" Shinigami called back. His eyes momentarily flashed golden as he drew more energy. His beam was starting to edge toward Akuma slowly. Soon, Akuma couldn't hold out and the blue beam engulfed him. Shinigami had won!
Or at least he thought he had, until a beam of red light came from nowhere and went right through his shoulder. Shinigami's eyes went wide as the surprise and pain hit him. He fell from the sky, hearing Akuma's laughter. It must have gotten away and hid its aura from him. That thing was clever. Shinigami flared his wings and landed in a crouch. He healed himself quickly before continuing the fight.
The fight lasted long, too long. Shinigami was starting to run low on energy and was starting to show it. He was breathing heavily and his wings were sagging from the exhaustion. He had a plan though. He began leading Akuma to an old cemetery created by a local dojo for its dead masters.
"Getting tired, my god?" Akuma said in mock concern.
"Perhaps, but I'm far from done yet!"
Shinigami hovered above the graveyard and charged his dark energy before landing in the exact center. Akuma felt him gather energy and decided to allow him to continue, curious as to what was going on. It didn't know that Shinigami had been relying on its naivety.
"MY DARK ARMY! ARISE!" Shinigami called, flaring his aura and raising his hands. Akuma suddenly sensed nearly a hundred powerful, dark auras surround him. Every single one of the graves exploded with energy, and undead bodies were left once the dust cleared. Some were badly decomposed, others looked almost alive. Shinigami had ordered all of the dead martial arts masters to rise. Akuma felt all of these dark auras and became a little anxious.
"MY ARMY, ATTACK!" Shinigami called and all of the undead beings attacked Akuma. It was surprised by the army's skill. They must have all been extremely well trained. They overwhelmed it at first, but soon Akuma feel into a rhythm of taking down its opponents. Shinigami figured that he had about ten minutes before Akuma finished. He decided to check on Sakura, Li, Yue, and Meiling.
Penguin Park Clearing
Shinigami flew back to the park and landed by Sakura. She was still alive, but barely. He looked around to find Yue kneeling over Li, stabilizing his life force. Shinigami assumed that Yue had stabilized Sakura first before moving on to Li. Yue would collapse soon, so Shinigami stabilized Meiling before returning to Sakura's side.
"Sakura? Sakura!" Shinigami called her.
"Huh?" she looked into his eyes and remembered what was going on. "Robbie! How are we doing?"
"Not well my Cherry Blossom. Akuma is busy at the moment, but I only have a short reprieve before he can move back to me."
"The others?"
"Li, Meiling, Yue, and Nakuru are the only ones still alive. Nakuru is beyond my power to heal at the moment, so she will die soon."
"Is anyone still able to fight?" she asked, trying to get up.
"Yue is. You'll be as soon as I heal you," he said as he helped her up. He inspected her burn. Most of the flesh on her back was charred and what wasn't charred wasn't pretty.
"You can heal me?"
"Yes. Just relax," he instructed taking her into an embrace. He was careful, but noticed her wince when he touched her burned skin. He concentrated his energy and her wound began to heal. It took a while to heal her, perhaps over five minutes. He had to conserve his energy, so he drew energy from the life forces around him. Soon, she was at full health and full strength.
"Can you heal Li and Meiling?" she asked, releasing her staff again.
"I don't have the time. Akuma will be upon us in under two minutes."
"Then let's get ready for him" she stated. He couldn't help but notice her resolve and persistence. "Greater" warriors would have run long before now, but she was still here and ready to win or die. At that moment, he loved her more than he thought possible.
Soon, his reverie was broken by Akuma's voice.
"So, you thought that little parlor trick could stop me?" it asked.
"I knew it wouldn't but it distracted you long enough for me to revive the most powerful sorcerer here," Shinigami said, indicating Sakura. She had now taken a battle stance and had used Fly to give her wings. She realized that this would end up being an air battle.
"And I'm ready too!" Li called, struggling to his feet.
"That guardian of the Card Mistress's did that, didn't he?" Akuma asked angrily. "Well, that won't happen again!" it yelled as it sent an energy bomb at Yue. He tried to block or avoid it, but was too drained. Yukito was now on the ground, lying in a pool of blood, dead. Just then, Shinigami and Sakura sensed that Nakuru had also died. All of the guardians and Eriol were now dead.
Li decided that now would be a good time to attack. He did a bold jump slash while Akuma's back was turned, but it kicked Li, sending him to the ground hard. It then walked up to him, grabbed his head, and snapped his neck. Li was now also dead. Akuma turned its attention to Shinigami again.
They began to fight at a great pace. Sakura could barely watch them. Once she concentrated on their auras instead of their images, she had little trouble figuring out what was happening. She knew that at this pace, she would never have a chance to attack. She called fly back to its card form to conserve her energy. The two fighters were still going at it fiercely. Shinigami seemed to have the upper hand first, but Akuma wore him down and slowly gained it from him. Akuma was now beating the crap out of Shinigami and Power didn't have any effect on him. Sakura tried dash as well, but no card could affect him. Shinigami's power was beyond her control or affect.
After what seemed like forever, Akuma hit Shinigami to the ground. Shinigami had a severely drained energy level. He collapsed onto one knee and Akuma turned his attention back to Sakura.
Sakura and Shinigami were the only ones left standing, so to speak. Many of Sakura's friends died in this battle. They just didn't know that Akuma was so powerful. Even the mighty God of Death was on one knee, severely drained of energy.
Sakura tossed two cards into the air, "Power, Dash! Release and Dispel!" Sakura simply appeared in front of Akuma and started to punch and kick him as fast as she could. It just tossed her back and laughed.
"Foolish human, you think that you can destroy me? HA!" It charged another ball of negative energy, enough to disintegrate Sakura without any trouble.
Shinigami, who had been watching this exchange, finally realized what he had to do. Gathering his last stores of strength, he flew in and blocked the ball of energy. He screamed in pain as the energy broke through his wings, which he had folded to use as a shield. The force of the impact threw him into Sakura. Before he hit her, Sakura could see the state he was in. He was bloodied and bruised. One of his wings bent at a completely wrong angle, broken. His meticulous braid was nearly undone and had tangles in it. They lay on the ground, facing each other.
"Why?! Why did you do that?" Sakura asked, not understanding the gesture. Her beautiful green eyes gazed into Shinigami's dark red orbs.
"Sakura, I cannot defeat him. The next blast will finish me. I'm sorry that I've failed to protect you," he said to her with a sadness in his voice.
On the verge of crying, she said, "What? No! You can't leave me now!" She then sensed Meiling's faint red aura finally give out. With that, she finally began to cry freely. Shinigami turned to see her soul escape her body and drift upwards.
"Sakura, listen to me. I can help you win this battle, but I may not survive. Even if I do, I won't wake up for several weeks," he explained. "Please, just relax..."
"No!" she yelled at him. "I won't let you risk yourself to save me!"
"Sakura! If I don't do this, we'll both die and humanity will be enslaved or destroyed. Do you want that!?"
"No..." She gave in and relaxed.
Shinigami gave her a warm hug and kissed her on the cheek. His aura began to glow, it's darkness nearly surrounding both of them. Then, an interesting thing happened. His aura strengthened and became a golden color, almost white. His shattered, bat-like wings became shattered, feathered wings that were whiter than snow. His eyes turned from red to silver as well.
Sakura could only gasp and think, "Oh my god, he is a god!" She then noticed his aura separate from him and hover a foot or so above him. He now appeared like a normal boy. He had deep green eyes, rusty brown hair, and no wings or aura to speak of. He looked very tired, but he struggled to see this technique through to the end.
The aura then curved around and entered Sakura. She was shocked to say the least by this event. She tensed up as the light swarmed around her, then entered every orifice of her body until it finished. She then ended up being a very confused Sakura, still lying on the ground with this boy on top of her, still looking very much the same.
"HAHAHA!" Akuma bellowed. "That was a wasted technique! Now that you're both human AND mortal, I'll finish you both with one attack," he called as he charged more energy. He then fired on the pair, but the attack was deflected by a pair of.... light pink wings!?
The wings unfolded to feature a new Sakura. Her hair had become platinum blonde with pale pink highlights, and it also lengthened. Her eyes were a light pink as well. Her wings were a beautiful pure white, accented by random pink feathers. She looked... heavenly. She was also naked. No, not naked, but she was wearing little more than a white strip of cloth secured by a golden chain.
Rob was still on top of her. He was smiling at her weakly, then he promptly collapsed onto her, sound asleep from the energy loss. She only chuckled at the God of Death, and kissed him softly on the lips as she laid him down. She then cast a protection spell on him. Drawing her sword, seemingly from nowhere, she turned to face her opponent.
Akuma looked at her and commented, "That's a nice look, the skimpy robes and all."
Sakura smiled at him as more substantial, pure white robes with pink trim appeared on her body.
"Who are you? The Fairy of Beauty? HAHA!" he mocked.
Sakura only chuckled and replied, "No, I am the Goddess of Life, and I shall take yours..."
She then appeared in front of him and attacked. She was at her full Godly power, so Akuma was hardly a match for her. She attacked coolly and carefully, not once letting anger best her. If anything, she felt regret in destroying a life. Once he was on the ground, barely able to stand, she slowly walked up to him.
"Akuma, now is the time for you to leave. To leave, never to bother anyone again," she said softly, almost regretfully. She then embraced him warmly. He struggled briefly but soon gave in as he disappeared in a flash of blinding light. He was no more.
She walked over to her fallen friends, one by one, and brought them back to life and healed them with her powers. The float card was used to send them home to sleep. She then picked Rob up in her arms, spread her wings, and flew him home. Once there, she put him in bed and returned to her normal form. Suddenly feeling very tired, and knowing that he wouldn't wake for at least a few days, she climbed into bed with him. She briefly cuddled with him before falling to sleep herself.
They had won. All had lived. Akuma is no more.
Fin Chapter Nine
Well, looks like everything worked out just fine! Next Chapter will feature the aftermath of it all! I might even mention the oddly absent Touya and Fujitaka element. Until then, adieu!
Now, here is my action packed final battle! It's oddly short, but quite exciting anyway. Well, here's....
Chapter Nine
Sakura, Shinigami, Eriol, Syaoran, and Meiling were on the battlefield facing the form of Akuma. This evil being was about seven foot tall, but his dark aura prevented one from seeing any other features. He glared at them with red, glowing eyes.
"I am Akuma, and I have come to destroy you, and enslave your people" it spoke.
Rob stepped forward and spoke, "I am the God of Death, and I have come to rip your soul from your writhing body."
"Then, let us begin!" it called. He charged them and their original plan was put into motion.
The humans were up first. Sakura used Fiery and Earth to herd, and then trap him. The guardians, Li, and Eriol used their magic to hit them as hard as they could.
Although, Akuma soon broke free of its bonds and emerged, nearly untouched. He had a single fine cut along his chin line. He wiped away the blood and became angry at the sight of it.
"You will PAY for that!" it screamed. It suddenly charged at Eriol. Nakuru jumped in front to protect her master, but Akuma simply drew a sword and went through both of them. Nakuru was badly injured, and Eriol was now dead. They'd seen their first casualties.
It finally dawned on Sakura that Rob was right all along; they couldn't survive a fight against Akuma without the god's help. She hoped that they'd win, so that everyone could be revived. She felt that everyone was saddened by the loss, but they couldn't be slowed down, not yet.
Next up were the three remaining guardians. The beasts looked like mirror images, both performing the same complex set of moves. They circled and rotated around it, trying to confuse it while Yue readied a few arrows of energy to fire simultaneously. Cerberus and Spinel soon gave him an opening and three arrows struck Akuma's back. They all stopped their attack to survey the damage done. Akuma ripped one of the arrows from its back and threw it at Yue. He dodged, but Cerberus, who was behind him, could not. He fell from the sky, soon dying from the arrow piercing his heart. Akuma used the two remaining arrows in its back on Spinel and Yue, but Yue luckily survived his arrow with only a minor shoulder wound. Spinel was in the same condition as his counterpart, dead.
In ten minutes, the only guardian who could still fight was an injured Yue. He couldn't use his arrows anymore because his drawing arm was too badly hurt. The humans were amazed that they were beaten so easily.
Suddenly, Meiling decided to get in on it. She jumped into the air and knocked Akuma to the ground. It got up and they started a hand-to-hand battle on the ground. Meiling was doing quite well, but Akuma was only waiting until she was worn out. Sakura got Power ready. Just when Akuma was about to kill an exhausted Meiling, she began to glow pink and kicked It in the head. Akuma was sent back quite a bit, but recovered and hit her even harder. Meiling was still alive, but clearly out.
Li and Sakura went in using their swords. Akuma drew his as well and they began to fight. Sakura jumped to its other side like the cheerleader she once was so that they surrounded Akuma. Somehow, it still managed to ward off all of their attacks. Sakura and Li were remaining unscratched as well. Suddenly, Li drew out an ofudo and pressed it to Akuma's body without it realizing what had happened. A few moments later, he was given another opening and instead of stabbing It, Li pressed his sword against the ofudo. Akuma's body was racked with pain from the surge of thunder. In its weakness, Sakura and Li both ran it through with their swords. It screamed in pain, and then began to laugh at them. Their swords were forcefully expelled and it self healed, still laughing at them.
"Hahaha! You think that those puny hunks of metal can stop me?" Akuma said, and then turned to Li. It rushed forward and gave Li a deep cut in his side when he tried to dodge. Li was still capable of fighting, but his capacity was greatly diminished.
"I don't care! I'll give my life to defeat you, and to protect Sakura!" Li yelled and charged Akuma. Sakura tried to stop him, but it was too late. A small amount of Li's blood splattered onto her clothes. Sakura caught him, then held him as he fell unconscious. She kissed his forehead and stood, ready to fight again.
Akuma glared at her and charged. "CLANG!" went the sound of its sword hitting metal. Only, her sword was untouched. She looked up to find a dark-robed figure with red eyes holding Akuma back with his scythe.
"Better late that never, eh?" he asked Sakura.
"You've got that right!"
Sakura noticed Akuma's open posture and quickly used Shot and Arrow to put a hole in its side. It screamed in pain again, but again self-healed and became strong again. Sakura could notice small decreases in Its aura, but it would take forever this way.
"Sakura, get back! I'll handle it from now on!" Shinigami called.
Sakura withdrew, but Akuma managed to get a blast of energy to her. She was thrown forward onto the ground, a large round burn on her back. She was still alive, but badly hurt. Shinigami got slightly annoyed that his girlfriend had been hurt so badly.
His aura flared and he attacked Akuma ferociously. It was caught off guard and was knocked to the ground. Shinigami started ripping at its flesh with his scythe and plunged it into him, trying to remove his soul and end the fight. But Akuma would not be defeated so easily.
It laughed as it reached up to grab the scythe. The scythe reacted violently, throwing itself out of Akuma's body. Shinigami realized that Akuma's dark energy might make it impervious to the Death scythe's power. That meant that he had to kill Akuma, rather than simply get It weak enough to remove its soul. Why can't poor Shinigami ever get a break?
They continued fighting for sometime, using sword and scythe as well as they could. Shinigami was more agile in the air and faster, but Akuma was physically stronger and its was energy greater. Shinigami used his speed advantage as best as he could, yet was still forced into conflicts of strength and power, which he had difficulty with. Though, he still had a secret weapon.
"You die now god!" Akuma bellowed and charged a beam of dark energy.
Shinigami chuckled and held his hands as if he were holding a ball to his side. Akuma let loose his beam and Shinigami chanted shortly, then a beam of blue light collided with Akuma's dark beam. The two were perfectly matched!
"I can't believe this!" Akuma yelled, enraged.
"Believe it!" Shinigami called back. His eyes momentarily flashed golden as he drew more energy. His beam was starting to edge toward Akuma slowly. Soon, Akuma couldn't hold out and the blue beam engulfed him. Shinigami had won!
Or at least he thought he had, until a beam of red light came from nowhere and went right through his shoulder. Shinigami's eyes went wide as the surprise and pain hit him. He fell from the sky, hearing Akuma's laughter. It must have gotten away and hid its aura from him. That thing was clever. Shinigami flared his wings and landed in a crouch. He healed himself quickly before continuing the fight.
The fight lasted long, too long. Shinigami was starting to run low on energy and was starting to show it. He was breathing heavily and his wings were sagging from the exhaustion. He had a plan though. He began leading Akuma to an old cemetery created by a local dojo for its dead masters.
"Getting tired, my god?" Akuma said in mock concern.
"Perhaps, but I'm far from done yet!"
Shinigami hovered above the graveyard and charged his dark energy before landing in the exact center. Akuma felt him gather energy and decided to allow him to continue, curious as to what was going on. It didn't know that Shinigami had been relying on its naivety.
"MY DARK ARMY! ARISE!" Shinigami called, flaring his aura and raising his hands. Akuma suddenly sensed nearly a hundred powerful, dark auras surround him. Every single one of the graves exploded with energy, and undead bodies were left once the dust cleared. Some were badly decomposed, others looked almost alive. Shinigami had ordered all of the dead martial arts masters to rise. Akuma felt all of these dark auras and became a little anxious.
"MY ARMY, ATTACK!" Shinigami called and all of the undead beings attacked Akuma. It was surprised by the army's skill. They must have all been extremely well trained. They overwhelmed it at first, but soon Akuma feel into a rhythm of taking down its opponents. Shinigami figured that he had about ten minutes before Akuma finished. He decided to check on Sakura, Li, Yue, and Meiling.
Penguin Park Clearing
Shinigami flew back to the park and landed by Sakura. She was still alive, but barely. He looked around to find Yue kneeling over Li, stabilizing his life force. Shinigami assumed that Yue had stabilized Sakura first before moving on to Li. Yue would collapse soon, so Shinigami stabilized Meiling before returning to Sakura's side.
"Sakura? Sakura!" Shinigami called her.
"Huh?" she looked into his eyes and remembered what was going on. "Robbie! How are we doing?"
"Not well my Cherry Blossom. Akuma is busy at the moment, but I only have a short reprieve before he can move back to me."
"The others?"
"Li, Meiling, Yue, and Nakuru are the only ones still alive. Nakuru is beyond my power to heal at the moment, so she will die soon."
"Is anyone still able to fight?" she asked, trying to get up.
"Yue is. You'll be as soon as I heal you," he said as he helped her up. He inspected her burn. Most of the flesh on her back was charred and what wasn't charred wasn't pretty.
"You can heal me?"
"Yes. Just relax," he instructed taking her into an embrace. He was careful, but noticed her wince when he touched her burned skin. He concentrated his energy and her wound began to heal. It took a while to heal her, perhaps over five minutes. He had to conserve his energy, so he drew energy from the life forces around him. Soon, she was at full health and full strength.
"Can you heal Li and Meiling?" she asked, releasing her staff again.
"I don't have the time. Akuma will be upon us in under two minutes."
"Then let's get ready for him" she stated. He couldn't help but notice her resolve and persistence. "Greater" warriors would have run long before now, but she was still here and ready to win or die. At that moment, he loved her more than he thought possible.
Soon, his reverie was broken by Akuma's voice.
"So, you thought that little parlor trick could stop me?" it asked.
"I knew it wouldn't but it distracted you long enough for me to revive the most powerful sorcerer here," Shinigami said, indicating Sakura. She had now taken a battle stance and had used Fly to give her wings. She realized that this would end up being an air battle.
"And I'm ready too!" Li called, struggling to his feet.
"That guardian of the Card Mistress's did that, didn't he?" Akuma asked angrily. "Well, that won't happen again!" it yelled as it sent an energy bomb at Yue. He tried to block or avoid it, but was too drained. Yukito was now on the ground, lying in a pool of blood, dead. Just then, Shinigami and Sakura sensed that Nakuru had also died. All of the guardians and Eriol were now dead.
Li decided that now would be a good time to attack. He did a bold jump slash while Akuma's back was turned, but it kicked Li, sending him to the ground hard. It then walked up to him, grabbed his head, and snapped his neck. Li was now also dead. Akuma turned its attention to Shinigami again.
They began to fight at a great pace. Sakura could barely watch them. Once she concentrated on their auras instead of their images, she had little trouble figuring out what was happening. She knew that at this pace, she would never have a chance to attack. She called fly back to its card form to conserve her energy. The two fighters were still going at it fiercely. Shinigami seemed to have the upper hand first, but Akuma wore him down and slowly gained it from him. Akuma was now beating the crap out of Shinigami and Power didn't have any effect on him. Sakura tried dash as well, but no card could affect him. Shinigami's power was beyond her control or affect.
After what seemed like forever, Akuma hit Shinigami to the ground. Shinigami had a severely drained energy level. He collapsed onto one knee and Akuma turned his attention back to Sakura.
Sakura and Shinigami were the only ones left standing, so to speak. Many of Sakura's friends died in this battle. They just didn't know that Akuma was so powerful. Even the mighty God of Death was on one knee, severely drained of energy.
Sakura tossed two cards into the air, "Power, Dash! Release and Dispel!" Sakura simply appeared in front of Akuma and started to punch and kick him as fast as she could. It just tossed her back and laughed.
"Foolish human, you think that you can destroy me? HA!" It charged another ball of negative energy, enough to disintegrate Sakura without any trouble.
Shinigami, who had been watching this exchange, finally realized what he had to do. Gathering his last stores of strength, he flew in and blocked the ball of energy. He screamed in pain as the energy broke through his wings, which he had folded to use as a shield. The force of the impact threw him into Sakura. Before he hit her, Sakura could see the state he was in. He was bloodied and bruised. One of his wings bent at a completely wrong angle, broken. His meticulous braid was nearly undone and had tangles in it. They lay on the ground, facing each other.
"Why?! Why did you do that?" Sakura asked, not understanding the gesture. Her beautiful green eyes gazed into Shinigami's dark red orbs.
"Sakura, I cannot defeat him. The next blast will finish me. I'm sorry that I've failed to protect you," he said to her with a sadness in his voice.
On the verge of crying, she said, "What? No! You can't leave me now!" She then sensed Meiling's faint red aura finally give out. With that, she finally began to cry freely. Shinigami turned to see her soul escape her body and drift upwards.
"Sakura, listen to me. I can help you win this battle, but I may not survive. Even if I do, I won't wake up for several weeks," he explained. "Please, just relax..."
"No!" she yelled at him. "I won't let you risk yourself to save me!"
"Sakura! If I don't do this, we'll both die and humanity will be enslaved or destroyed. Do you want that!?"
"No..." She gave in and relaxed.
Shinigami gave her a warm hug and kissed her on the cheek. His aura began to glow, it's darkness nearly surrounding both of them. Then, an interesting thing happened. His aura strengthened and became a golden color, almost white. His shattered, bat-like wings became shattered, feathered wings that were whiter than snow. His eyes turned from red to silver as well.
Sakura could only gasp and think, "Oh my god, he is a god!" She then noticed his aura separate from him and hover a foot or so above him. He now appeared like a normal boy. He had deep green eyes, rusty brown hair, and no wings or aura to speak of. He looked very tired, but he struggled to see this technique through to the end.
The aura then curved around and entered Sakura. She was shocked to say the least by this event. She tensed up as the light swarmed around her, then entered every orifice of her body until it finished. She then ended up being a very confused Sakura, still lying on the ground with this boy on top of her, still looking very much the same.
"HAHAHA!" Akuma bellowed. "That was a wasted technique! Now that you're both human AND mortal, I'll finish you both with one attack," he called as he charged more energy. He then fired on the pair, but the attack was deflected by a pair of.... light pink wings!?
The wings unfolded to feature a new Sakura. Her hair had become platinum blonde with pale pink highlights, and it also lengthened. Her eyes were a light pink as well. Her wings were a beautiful pure white, accented by random pink feathers. She looked... heavenly. She was also naked. No, not naked, but she was wearing little more than a white strip of cloth secured by a golden chain.
Rob was still on top of her. He was smiling at her weakly, then he promptly collapsed onto her, sound asleep from the energy loss. She only chuckled at the God of Death, and kissed him softly on the lips as she laid him down. She then cast a protection spell on him. Drawing her sword, seemingly from nowhere, she turned to face her opponent.
Akuma looked at her and commented, "That's a nice look, the skimpy robes and all."
Sakura smiled at him as more substantial, pure white robes with pink trim appeared on her body.
"Who are you? The Fairy of Beauty? HAHA!" he mocked.
Sakura only chuckled and replied, "No, I am the Goddess of Life, and I shall take yours..."
She then appeared in front of him and attacked. She was at her full Godly power, so Akuma was hardly a match for her. She attacked coolly and carefully, not once letting anger best her. If anything, she felt regret in destroying a life. Once he was on the ground, barely able to stand, she slowly walked up to him.
"Akuma, now is the time for you to leave. To leave, never to bother anyone again," she said softly, almost regretfully. She then embraced him warmly. He struggled briefly but soon gave in as he disappeared in a flash of blinding light. He was no more.
She walked over to her fallen friends, one by one, and brought them back to life and healed them with her powers. The float card was used to send them home to sleep. She then picked Rob up in her arms, spread her wings, and flew him home. Once there, she put him in bed and returned to her normal form. Suddenly feeling very tired, and knowing that he wouldn't wake for at least a few days, she climbed into bed with him. She briefly cuddled with him before falling to sleep herself.
They had won. All had lived. Akuma is no more.
Fin Chapter Nine
Well, looks like everything worked out just fine! Next Chapter will feature the aftermath of it all! I might even mention the oddly absent Touya and Fujitaka element. Until then, adieu!