This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own Teen Titans or any DC comics alluded to in this story. Kenkaku and his swords are mine, however.
Waves of Fate
"text": spoken English
"text": spoken Japanese (translated or flavor text)
"text": war cry, English
"text": war cry, Japanese.
text: thoughts
-text-: stressed word
text: printed or typed English
text: printed or typed Japanese
'text': sound effect
Japanese flavor text will be in a glossary at the end of the chapter.
Trigon jabbed Kanemitu, the wakizashi, at the male half-demon, only to have Kenkaku divert it and deliver a high kick to the demon lord's chin. The ronin took up a defensive stance in front of Raven.
Trigon laughed in a voice that contained only malice. "FOOL! WHY WOULD YOU SEE NEED TO PROTECT HER!? I HAVE NO REASON TO KILL MY DAUGHTER!"
"Let's just say you'll never understand, and leave it at that. What do you want with me?"
"YOUR DEATH!"
"Sorry, I just found a very good reason to live. How about -your- death?"
"COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!"
"I was afraid of that." Kenkaku's flaming eyes narrowed. The taunting was pissing Trigon off, but he wondered if it was even necessary. The red-skinned demon lord seemed to be the rage incarnate. "Humor me for a second. What exactly does my death gain you?"
"YOUR BLADES!"
"Yeah, they're nice and all, but to a Demon Lord? Drops in the bucket."
"FOOL! WITH ALL FOUR BLADES IN MY POSESSION, MY POWER SHALL INCREASE A HUNDREDFOLD! YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU DO NOT EVEN KNOW THE PROPHECY?"
"Sure, why not?"
Trigon roared. "INSOLENT WHELP! I SHALL FLAY YOU ALIVE!"
"I don't like that idea. How about a duel?"
"GLADLY, HALFLING!" Trigon charged at Kenkaku, swords trailing behind him. As he entered range, he swung them together in a scissors-like blow.
Ker jumped the blow and flipped over Trigon, kicking him in the back of the head before landing and hitting Trigon with a rising, kiaijutsu-reinforced slash of Muramasa that sent him flying into the ceiling. "You aren't very fast." He cocked his head as Trigon fell from the ceiling. "Or smart, for that matter." Despite the cocky tone and words, Ker was hardly unalert. He was watching Trigon's fallen body like a hawk.
Which is why it was so surprising that he didn't have enough time to react to Trigon's rising sweep kick. He fell to the ground and just barely blurred out of the way of a double-stab to his chest. "NOT FAST, HAFLING!? I ABSORB PART OF THE POWER OF ANY BONDED DEMON WHO IS KILLED! I HAVE THE POWER OF TWO OF THE WIND AND ONE OF THE STONE TO SUPPLEMENT MY ALREADY GREAT POWER! YOU HAVE SIMPLY THE WIND AND THE SOUL!"
"And Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu. I bet you've never even picked up a sword before, if the lousy skills of your army are any indication."
Trigon attacked again, Kenkaku deflecting his blow and pushing him back with a wave of kiaijutsu. "WRONG AGAIN, WHELP! I CARVED MY POWER OUT FROM THE WARS WITH A PAIR OF DEMONBLADES! THEY LIE AGAINST THE THRONE!"
Kenkaku looked at the blades, which were a pair of swords that were a cross between the style of the Middle Eastern shamshir and the Chinese scimitar. They were long blades with the balance point about halfway along the blades. He smirked. The balance point and length was completely different from the blades Trigon was carrying now. "Nice. I'll take them when I'm done with you."
"RRAUGH!"Trigon smashed the hilts of his swords into the ground, sending a chasm racing through the ground to under Kenkaku, who jumped to the side before the fissure could swallow him. Trigon spun and shot four beams of sulfurous light from his eyes at the ronin, who caught them as he was landing.
The half-demon went flying into a wall, Raven's black cloak smoldering where it had taken the beams. Ker grimaced as he pried himself out of the shattered rock, eyes still flaming brilliant silver-white, and looked down at the cloak. "That's a real shame."
He blinked to in front of Trigon slashing sideways with Muramasa and up with Kanesada. Trigon blocked both attacks and locked blades, holding his opponent in place for another eyeblast, this one at point-blank range.
Kenkaku wasn't going to just sit and take this, though. Pulsing a wave of kiaijutsu force through his blades, he upset the blade lock and rattled Trigon's grip around some. He also threw up a hasty shield in front of his face.
But not even his desperate efforts let him avoid the blast completely. All he could do was lessen the force. The Demon Lord's attack hit him square in the face, the shield he had put up slightly attenuating the blow. Raven gasped as her love's head was engulfed in the yellow beams. Ker's body went flying backwards into yet another cave wall, rock tumbling down on top of him. His legs and hands, still clutching his swords, stuck out of the rubble pile.
"RATHER ANTICLIMATIC," laughed Trigon. "A FOREGONE CONCLUSION. NO HALF-DEMON COULD EVER BEST TRIGON!"
Raven hung her head. Kenkaku would have to be shattered by that blast. Her father was the most powerful demon in existence, and Ker had never been especially tough. Trigon had won. "No…"
A bright flash of silver-white light sent rubble flying. "Don't worry Karasu-chan. I'm not nearly so frail as I used to be." He stood from where landed, bruised, cut up, the cloak tattered, jacket ripped, but still fighting fit. "Right Trigon, let's go! It's time for you to die!" His eyes, already burning silver-white, flared to an almost blinding light.
Trigon laughed and held up an empty hand. Black ravens with four red eyes flew out of his palm. "I SPAWNED HER ONCE, I CAN SPAWN HER AGAIN!"
"Hardly the same thing," grunted Ker as he ripped the pitch-black birds to shreds with Kanesada. "Lacks the human touch." He killed the last of the birds with Kanesada then staggered Trigon with a bolt of kiaijutsu.
Pressing his advantage, he dashed forward and slashed with Kanesada at Trigon. The Demon Lord, unable to bring either of his swords up in time to parry, jumped back, but not fast enough. A gout of red flew from his chest as Kanesada's tip carved a line across Trigon's pectorals. "WHAT!?" Trigon looked down in disbelief.
"First blood. Guard up!" Trigon barely looked up in time to see Kenkaku's two-handed jump-slash. Ker had stowed Muramasa and had both hands on his killing sword. Trigon just barely had time to get Sukehiro under the attack. As it was, the force of the attack was enough that Kanesada actually cut into the Demon Lord's shoulder.
Trigon smirked though the pain. He had a perfect opening for a bisecting slash with Kanemitu. He roared and put all of his strength behind the blow. Kanemitu slammed into Kenkaku with a clacking sound.
"Ugh, that's going to leave a wicked bruise, bet your ass." Kanemitu had hit Kanesada's sheath, which Ker has positioned to take the blow. "KIAI!" Kenkaku pulsed the wave of kiaijutsu through Kanesada, bypassing the Demon Lord's tough skin and sending the force straight through the wound into his shoulder.
With an indescribable, but sickening sound, the force wave smashed Trigon's shoulder joint. But Kenkaku had put a -lot- into this one. It didn't stop there. The force wave shattered all the bones in Trigon's left arm, and pushed them, and all the flesh and muscle, into his forearm and hand. The skin of his fore arm and skin deformed and bulged, in some places ripping as a bone fragment poked out.
With no resistance from the mangled limb, Ker and Kanesada fell to the ground, the enchanted katana's blade easily separating what at one point had been a powerful limb from the torso. Blood spurted from the shattered stump, empty skin acting like a short hose.
Trigon bellowed in pain and kicked the crouching ronin in the face, sending him flying -through- the stone throne and landing in a dazed heap. The Demon Lord spat at the half-demon swordsman before a surge of pain made him drop to his knees. Trigon stabbed Kanemitu into the rock and grabbed the short amount of empty skin, ripping it off. As the dazed Ker and captive Raven looked on in amazement, Trigon cauterized the wound with his eyeblast and picked up Kanemitu again. "ENOUGH!"
Ker climbed to his feet and fell into chudan-no-kamae. The trip through the throne had done quite a bit of damage to him. A shard of rock was stuck in his back, the cloak and his jacket were shredded and soaked in blood, though most of it was others'. Long rips decorated his pants, with matching shallow gashes underneath. Blood covered half his face from a cut at his hairline. His long hair was half in and half out of the tie. He was beat and bruised, but his eyes were still a blinding silver-white, and Kanesada was rock-steady. "KIAI!" He stood up straighter and showed no signs of pain.
"NO NEED FOR THAT. YOU HAVE DONE VERY WELL. WELL ENOUGH THAT I WILL GIVE YOU THE BEST PROPOSITION I HAVE EVER GIVEN ANY DEMON, HALF OR FULL."
Kenkaku stood frozen in chudan.
"I WISH TO TAKE YOU ON AS A GENERAL, NON-BONDED. YOU WILL HAVE MY DAUGHTER, RAVEN, AND CONTROL OF AN ARMY OF DEMONS BONDED TO YOU. I SHALL ALSO GIVE YOU THIS SECTOR OF SPACE TO RULE ONCE WE CONQUER IT. ALL I ASK FOR IS YOUR SWORDS. I SHALL GIVE YOU MY CONTRACT AND MY OLD BLADES."
Raven gasped. That was an extremely good deal. In effect, Trigon was offering Demon Lord status to Kenkaku, a half-demon, in exchange for his allegiance and his swords. Not to mention giving Ker his extremely treasured set of demonblades And if Trigon gave his contract, the deal was unbreakable for Trigon. Ker still had the option of breaking it, but considering the contract meant protection from Trigon, he would have no reason to. And she would be at his side, though she doubted she could love him if he took the deal. "DO WE HAVE A DEAL?"
Kenkaku dug in his jacket's miraculously undamaged pocket and fished something out, holding it up for Trigon and Raven to see. It was his Metahuman Vigilante Registration Card. "See this? It's proof that I'm a card-carrying -hero-! I REFUSE!" With that, he blink dashed at Trigon.
The Demon Lord roared and stabbed forward with Kanemitu. Blood spurted from the gash in Kenkaku's side that that was opened by Kanemitu's edge. Had Kenkaku dashed to straight in front of Trigon, the blade would have sticking through his stomach, most likely severing his spine. As it was, the attack had opened a deep wound, but not a fatal one.
Trigon was not so lucky. Ker brought Kanesada around in a one-handed flat arc that separated the Demon Lord's head from his shoulders. As the head jumped off of Trigon's shoulders on the spray of blood from the corpse's neck, the half-demon grabbed the long white hair of his opponent's hair, snatching the demon's head out of mid-air. "May the Lord reign no more," he spat in the face of his dead enemy.
He threw Trigon's head to the ground and gathered up Kanemitu and its saya, taking Trigon's sword belt. The ronin cleaned the blades and resheathed them, then turned around and walked over to Raven.
Kanemitu made short work of the manacles. "Hey." Ker gave Raven a soft smile, his eyes finally losing their silver-white glow. "I'm really sorry and everything, but the pattern looks to be…"
Raven cut him off with a passionate kiss. "Then I'd better get that in before you pass out again," she crooned as she broke off the kiss.
"I don't think I will be. I have ki to spare again." He smiled a broad smile as he took her in his arms. "Much more enjoyable than meditation." His last kiaijutsu technique cut off and he felt the wound in his side finish healing. He looked down to see Raven with a mixture of a grimace and a look of bliss on her face. "Stop, I'll be fine." He kissed her on the forehead. "We need to help the others."
Raven nodded and grabbed Sukehiro, Trigon's old blades, and Trigon's decapitated head with her telekinesis, which the runes on the manacles had disabled until Ker had set her free. The demonblades she placed in Ker's belt without incident, and the head plopped onto the ground in front of them easily, but when Sukehiro came close to the other swords…
'FLASH!'
When the light died down, Muramasa and Sukehiro had turned into perfect copies of Kanesada and Kanemitu, respectively. Raven was wearing Kanemitu and Sukehiro, and glowing kanji was in the air.
The Prophecy is done. The forces of Good have triumphed. The ronin has transformed the swords. His limited speech is no longer. Love has been found, and the soul mates each wear a set of blades. Blessings be upon you, warriors. Though you will no longer have the power you had to defeat this great enemy, you will not be the same. Use this power to do the duty that you know you must do.
Raven looked down at the swordbelt around her waist. "Soul mates?"
Ker nodded. "I guess so. Soothsayer-san was right."
"You knew?"
"I was told, but I didn't believe. But looking back on it, it was a foregone conclusion."
"Yes, it was." They kissed again. "Now how are you going to save the others? You aren't nearly as powerful as you were when you killed my father."
"Oh, I think I have a way."
The Titans' defensive perimeter shrunk as the demonic army pressed its advance. None of the Titans had escaped wounding or damage of some kind. One of Cyborg's arms was snapped off and mangled and one of his legs was dragging. Scratches decorated his armor and he had a cut on the fleshy side of his face. Beast Boy's jumpsuit was shredded with matching cuts underneath. One of his ears was missing an inch off the tip and his hair was matted with blood. Thunder and Lightning had been beaten unconscious by a group of cultists before Robin and Starfire had managed to rescue them when they made the mistake of flying too low. Starfire's hair had been hacked raggedly short and she was bleeding green Tamaranian blood from a number of minor wounds. Streaks of emerald blood ran from the corners of her eyes and her ears as she had been too close to an explosion, one of the few in the battle. And Robin was already hurt from his fight with Highlander. He had picked up more of the same wounds. His footwork was lagging, and only one arm could really be called combat-effective.
"We can't keep this up much longer!" yelled Beast Boy, who was surprisingly one of the more effective fighters.
"Just keep going!" replied Robin, "And hope Kenkaku knows what the hell he's doing!"
"STOP!" roared an unfamiliar voice with a heavy accent. The battle froze and everyone looked at the cave's entrance.
Kenkaku came floating out of it on obsidian wings of power, eyes flaming, Trigon's head held high, and a bloody demonblade in the other hand. "I HAVE SLAIN THE MOST POWERFUL DEMON LORD! FLEE, OR YOU ARE NEXT!"
The army fled through portals, running, and outright suicide in some cases. Kenkaku smirked as the last portal closed. "Right Raven, it's all good."
Raven stepped out from the cave's mouth, eyes glowing and one hand wreathed in her obsidian energy. She cut off the spell and Kenkaku landed lightly, flicking the blood off the demonblade and sticking it in his belt. Beast Boy was first to speak. "Whoa. Is that…Tri…Trigon's head?"
"Hai. Ugly mug, isn't it?" The silver-white glow faded from his eyes.
"You can say that again, Kaku," said Cyborg, patting the half-demon on the shoulder with his one remaining good arm. Wait! You can speak English!"
"Hai."
Beast Boy's face lit up. "Dude! Say something in English!"
"Kotowaru."
"Duuuude!" whined Beast Boy, "We've heard nothing but Japanese out of you! Something else, man!"
"Now that's not true…" Kenkaku smirked, "Shua. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn." Raven and Kenkaku laughed.
"What the hell?" asked Beast Boy and Cyborg in stereo
"In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu lies dreaming," translated Robin, who was smirking also. "You actually memorized that chant?"
"Un."
Raven smiled. "I believe we customarily celebrate right about now."
Starfire gave a downcast look. "A glorious idea, but I think we all need time in the bay of medicine."
The Titans all nodded. Kenkaku shrugged. "I'll cook, if everyone agrees once and for all to stop badgering me about the Japanese. I don't like speaking English." His voice had a very heavy Japanese accent, but he could pronounce 'l's easily enough.
"Fine by me," said Robin as he winced and grabbed at his side. The Titans walked off to their transports back to the tower, their fallen in tow.
"I see that the prophecy is done in the best possible way," said Soothsayer as Kenkaku taught Raven to make sushi, swords resting together on the counter.
"I can't think of anything much better than this," replied Raven as she tried her hand at cutting the fish.
"Don't want to know about it either," added Kenkaku.
"Heh. Well, it seems that a new prophecy will be starting, and despite what I told Beast Boy-san, it won't be the Prophecy of the Dust Maiden."
"Oh? Just so you know, I am really not up for another prophecy right now," said Kenkaku. He had been healed by Raven as they kissed outside the medbay as soon as the others went in. The pain incurred by her healing power was phantom pain of damage done to her ki self, so if it was getting a new boost…it just took a little time. Time that they were happy to give. So happy to give that Kenkaku's formidable ki reserves were topped off.
"While you are involved…well, hopefully, that is. Whatever. It does not focus on you."
"Oh?" asked Raven.
"It focuses on your half-sister, Raven-san. Her and Cyborg-san."
"Who?" asked both the half-demons.
"Your half-sister. No demon blood it would seem. I don't know anything more than that."
"I didn't know I had a half-sister."
"Well, we'll meet her soon enough," said Ker. "But in the meantime, we have a party to set up."
A/N: Well, there you have it. The Prophecy of the Wind Soul Warrior is done. But there's still a chapter or two left, and as you might guess, a sequel or two in the works. Hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it and I also hope to see your reviews for the next one. Ja na.
--Kai Reased, The Rei Ronin
