Wow! Didn't expect all this feedback so thanks to everyone who has
left a comment about my fanfic so just who is the girl the demons need?
Motoko? Shinobu? Naru? This is the penultimate chapter (second to last)
so chapter 6 is going to be the 'grand finale' for Keitaro and the Hinata
girls but will it all end happily ever after for them?
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"NO WAY!!!" the girls' chorus, even his Aunt Haruka drops her cigarette in disbelief but Motoko just shifts uneasily in her seat.
The girls look at one another again, then after an awkward silence, Naru speaks up, "so YOU'RE the girl?" she asked, just to verify what she had just heard, hoping she just misheard Keitaro.
Suu leant forward slightly and squinted at Keitaro, "you look like a guy to me."
There was an awkward silence again among the girls yet Keitaro just calmly drank his cocoa. Despite the current revelation, the girls were relieved that they were not the target of a demon sacrifice.
"So can you explain...how?" Haruka asked, not sure how to take this. First she learnt that his parents were dead, then that he is a demon hunter and now that he is also female!
"It goes like this: when the girl that the demons were after eventually died of natural causes, she was granted a second life, reincarnated to be precise. However, she knew that servants of Armanius would be seeking her again. So they reincarnated her as a male to make her harder to locate – although it was only a matter of time until it happened. That was why Montroel really possessed me, but I doubt I would have believed that story if he had told me it."
"So, if you're the one the demons are after...shouldn't we be protecting you?" Mitsune asked.
Keitaro smiled slightly, "I have Montroel to protect me, just worry about your own safety."
"If I remember correctly, it was us that just saved your life a few minutes ago!" Haruka pointed out.
The girls nodded in agreement and looked at Keitaro waiting for his response. "You girls have no idea how dangerous this is going to get."
Naru stood up and declared on behalf of the group, "well, this is our home and we're going to fight for it!"
Suu seconded the motion and jumped up from her seat, she was followed by Shinobu who stood up, putting a brave face on. The rest of the girls soon followed suit with Haruka grinning in the background. This was one battle Keitaro wasn't going to win.
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Keitaro and Motoko were sheltered under umbrellas and balanced on opposite sides of the roof while the storm raged on overhead. The clouds were now as dark as the night itself and the rain was coming down in torrents but they were on watch while the rest of the household prepared for the night ahead.
Suu was upgrading her various mechanical devices and strategically placing them around the area while the others took their most valued possessions and prepared to evacuate the Inn if needed.
Shinobu chose to cook and hand-deliver the meals to the occupants, while they cleared their rooms. She planned to clear her own room out afterwards.
Instead of venturing onto the roof, however, she left their meals just inside the entrance and shouted out to them, leaving once she saw them coming.
Motoko and Keitaro sat opposite each other, eating their dinner in silence. As they listened to the rain beat against the windows, Motoko spoke up.
"Can I ask you a personal question?"
Keitaro looked up his bowl and nodded slightly, "what do you want to know?"
"What were you like before the possession?"
Keitaro closed his eyes momentarily, "I was the opposite of what I am now – cowardly, stupid, and unpopular...in a way Montroel brought out the best in me."
"What are you going to do after this is all over? Will you be staying here?" Motoko asked out of curiosity.
"Probably...nowhere else to go, do I?" Keitaro replied and tried to concentrate on his meal.
Motoko kicked herself; she couldn't have asked a stupider question.
Keitaro stopped eating for a second and looked towards the balcony, "warn the others, it's time!"
The kendo expert immediately sprung up and spilled the remainder of her dinner over the floor. She approached an extremely large gong that Suu had provided them with, and struck it as hard as she possibly could, the sound resonating throughout the Inn. Everyone heard it and knew it was time to get moving.
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Keitaro made his way over the slippery roof tiles and found he was face-to-face with a small group of demons. There were ten of them, all his size; they all looked like shadows, no faces, just black with claw-tipped fingers and toes, probably handy as a camouflage technique for an easy victory over difficult opponents. Behind the group stood a tall man with grey hair, a red and green cape swirling about his body, and he stared at Keitaro with a grim determination in his eyes.
As the demon hunter stood poised, the man whispered a command and the shadow creatures made their move. They weren't interested in Hinata House, just Keitaro, and they quickly surrounded him within seconds.
"Give up Montroel, the night belongs to us now!" the man declared.
Keitaro turned in a slow circle, ready to defend himself whenever the attack came, "you really think your minions here can stop me, Kamof?"
The man stepped back, "so you know my name already?"
"Yeah, you're a very powerful sorcerer that recruits demons for Armanius, it's a nice job description but you're just another puppet!"
"Is that so? Let's see, shall we? Make him beg for mercy!"
The first attack came from above as one of them leapt up in the air and came hurtling down with great speed. While Keitaro turned to throw a dagger, a second creature attacked from the other side, trying to tackle him to the ground. Jumping slightly, he placed one foot on its back and pushed it to the ground, propelling himself out of the way of the airborne one in time, causing a heap on the ground. As he escaped these two, he found himself about to land in the clutches of a third one and promptly kicked out, striking it in the face and knocking it off the roof. While the remaining creatures regrouped, he leapt off the roof and to the ground below, using his supernatural agility to avoid breaking his legs. He looked out the corner of his eye and spotted the one he kicked off the roof, lying with its back broken on a rock beside the hot springs, then he fled the scene as the other nine followed in hot pursuit.
Meanwhile, the girls were gathered in the living-room, Motoko watching over them.
"So when can we go?" Shinobu asked, worried.
"I don't know", Motoko replied, "there's still a lot of noise going on."
The girls listened intently as various bangs and thuds could be heard around the house. Mitsune drank some sake to 'relax' her as she calmly put it.
"Do you think Keitaro is all right by himself?" Suu asked.
Motoko pretended not to hear and just followed the noises echoing throughout the walls. "I'm going to see if the coast is clear. Don't go anywhere! Naru, you're in charge!"
"Me? What am I meant to do?" Naru cried out in despair and just looked on as Motoko raced off.
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Keitaro threw his dagger at the approaching demon but it ducked, but allowed the blade to impale one of the shadow creatures after him. As the target monster stood up slightly to look back at where the dagger struck, Keitaro wrapped the chain it was attached to around its neck and started to strangle it.
As he does so, another demon attacked from the side and lashed out at his face. Dodging to the side, Keitaro retaliated with a forceful kick to its stomach and sent it staggering backwards a bit. As he kicked out, he felt the chain he was holding being pulled from his grip and he found the demon he was strangling pulling the chains with its clawed hands. Keitaro was not only losing his grip but also his footing and he found himself being pulled towards it, feet struggling to find a hold in the muddy earth.
Motoko leapt in at this point and delivered a killer strike to the demon, before taking position beside Keitaro.
"What are you doing here? Where are the others?" he asked, concerned.
"They're safe inside, Naru is watching them, we were worried you might need some help and they were right by all means."
Motoko spotted Kamof looking down at them from above, "I'll let you handle the demons and I'll tackle the intruder on the roof!"
"No! Motoko! He's too powerful!" Keitaro shouted but the howling wind and the lashing rain drowned out his voice and before he could follow her, the demons attacked again.
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Kamof watched as Motoko made her way up to the roof with impressive agility and speed and soon stood facing her as she landed nearby and wielded her sword, a look of disgust on her face.
"I'm impressed...but leave before you regret it", he warned.
"You attack my friend at my own home; this fight is as much mine as his."
"If you insist on being so persistent then show me what you've got."
Motoko lunged forward, angrily, and launched a ki wave down the roof. Tiles were ripped off as it travelled at breakneck speed and exploded in a mix of dust, rain and tiles on contact. When she gained a visible lock on him, however, she found that it had no effect whatsoever and he pretended to examine himself for injuries, mocking her.
Motoko glared at him, "you dare mock me?"
"If that was meant to be a strong attack, you might as well leave before I show you true power."
She placed a foot forward and was about to make another attack when Kamof's eyes glowed green and he held his hands out in front as if he was strangling someone. Suddenly, Motoko felt her throat tighten and she was lifted in the air slightly, legs dangled as she was held helpless in mid- air. Then he moved his hands to the side and opened them and she was dropped off the edge of the roof, rolled down the slope of the side and landed in the hot springs.
"That was a pathetic attempt if I've ever seen one", he commented.
"KAMOF!!!" Keitaro shouted, as he dodged through the remaining demons and made his way to the sorcerer. As he landed on the roof with Kamof, he stared down at the hot spring, and saw Motoko's head emerge from the water. She was alive but breathing hard.
"Your friend was foolish to challenge me, and it seems you are too."
Kamof made a gesture with his hand and the remaining demons stood ground down below and just watched. "It's just us two now...can you do better than your friend?"
Keitaro spun around and hurled a dagger towards him but the sorcerer just caught it in his hand and grinned. "Was that meant to hurt?"
"No..." Keitaro replied, "This was!"
Using all the force in his body he yanked the chain and the dagger sliced up the inside of Kamof's hand. He clutched his hand and cursed at Keitaro, who had already launched his second dagger.
Kamof was smarter than the others, though, and he stamped down on the ground and caused a number of tiles to shoot up and deflect it. His hand had healed from the attack Keitaro made and he flexed his newly fixed hand. "Now it's my turn."
Keitaro prepared for the attack and he heard an immense rumbling in the clouds and a lightning bolt came down and blasted a great hole in the ground between them. Inside Hinata House was havoc as televisions and electrical appliances exploded and caused an inferno within the home.
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"No!" Motoko declared weakly as her home became engulfed in flame. She was still in pain from Kamof's attack on her but she needed to do something.
Keitaro and Kamof stood face-to-face, surrounded by the licking flames. It wouldn't be long before the place collapsed but what about the others...were they alive?
The girls screamed as Aunt Haruka ushered them through the fire and towards the front door. As they all approached the door, the entrance caved in but Shinobu fell back and landed in the inferno.
"Shinobu!" the girls cried out, but they couldn't reach the hand that she was holding out. The heat and the rising flames caused the residents to back off slightly.
"We have to get her out; she'll die if we leave her there!" Naru shouted. An explosion at a nearby window caused the residents to back away and rethink their situation.
"We have to find another way in, we don't have time to get Motoko or Keitaro to do it", Haruka declared.
Shinobu ran out of the main area and up the hallway, she couldn't find a window to drop out of and she was in a state of panic and fear and started crying for help, coughing because of the heavy smoke.
Keitaro launched a kick at Kamof but he evaded to the side and countered with a quick jab to the ribs. The demon hunter sensed and managed to block this attack though too. The sorcerer and the demon hunter were equal when it came to hand-to-hand combat it seemed and the Kamof was far more powerful when it came to sorcery.
Parts of the roof started to cave and he could sense the flames rising higher and higher but while he was moving out of a weakened area, he heard a faint voice nearby and saw Shinobu curled up into a corner, crying, praying for her life.
"Shinobu!" he uttered, did this mean the others were still inside too?
As he turned to look at Kamof, shouts of abuse are heard from the hot springs and Keitaro looked down to see a weak Motoko being dragged out of the water by the remaining shadow demons and surrounded on land.
"Hey! You said it was just us two!" Keitaro stated.
"Indeed I did, they're just going to have a little fun, that's all."
"Typical, you lying..." Keitaro started, clenching his chain.
Kamof held up a hand, "this is what is known as a checkmate! You can only save one or the other but I can save them both in an instant. All that I need in return is your life!"
Keitaro gritted his teeth, "so I can either save them and seal the fate of mankind or let one of the girls die and probably die saving the other one?"
"If you wish to look at it that way, however, time is running out as we speak so make your decision now - the girls or your life?"
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What will happen to Keitaro? Will he sacrifice Motoko or Shinobu for the safety of mankind? Is the prophecy about to be fulfilled? All the answers will be revealed in chapter 6 because it is the final chapter!!!
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"NO WAY!!!" the girls' chorus, even his Aunt Haruka drops her cigarette in disbelief but Motoko just shifts uneasily in her seat.
The girls look at one another again, then after an awkward silence, Naru speaks up, "so YOU'RE the girl?" she asked, just to verify what she had just heard, hoping she just misheard Keitaro.
Suu leant forward slightly and squinted at Keitaro, "you look like a guy to me."
There was an awkward silence again among the girls yet Keitaro just calmly drank his cocoa. Despite the current revelation, the girls were relieved that they were not the target of a demon sacrifice.
"So can you explain...how?" Haruka asked, not sure how to take this. First she learnt that his parents were dead, then that he is a demon hunter and now that he is also female!
"It goes like this: when the girl that the demons were after eventually died of natural causes, she was granted a second life, reincarnated to be precise. However, she knew that servants of Armanius would be seeking her again. So they reincarnated her as a male to make her harder to locate – although it was only a matter of time until it happened. That was why Montroel really possessed me, but I doubt I would have believed that story if he had told me it."
"So, if you're the one the demons are after...shouldn't we be protecting you?" Mitsune asked.
Keitaro smiled slightly, "I have Montroel to protect me, just worry about your own safety."
"If I remember correctly, it was us that just saved your life a few minutes ago!" Haruka pointed out.
The girls nodded in agreement and looked at Keitaro waiting for his response. "You girls have no idea how dangerous this is going to get."
Naru stood up and declared on behalf of the group, "well, this is our home and we're going to fight for it!"
Suu seconded the motion and jumped up from her seat, she was followed by Shinobu who stood up, putting a brave face on. The rest of the girls soon followed suit with Haruka grinning in the background. This was one battle Keitaro wasn't going to win.
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Keitaro and Motoko were sheltered under umbrellas and balanced on opposite sides of the roof while the storm raged on overhead. The clouds were now as dark as the night itself and the rain was coming down in torrents but they were on watch while the rest of the household prepared for the night ahead.
Suu was upgrading her various mechanical devices and strategically placing them around the area while the others took their most valued possessions and prepared to evacuate the Inn if needed.
Shinobu chose to cook and hand-deliver the meals to the occupants, while they cleared their rooms. She planned to clear her own room out afterwards.
Instead of venturing onto the roof, however, she left their meals just inside the entrance and shouted out to them, leaving once she saw them coming.
Motoko and Keitaro sat opposite each other, eating their dinner in silence. As they listened to the rain beat against the windows, Motoko spoke up.
"Can I ask you a personal question?"
Keitaro looked up his bowl and nodded slightly, "what do you want to know?"
"What were you like before the possession?"
Keitaro closed his eyes momentarily, "I was the opposite of what I am now – cowardly, stupid, and unpopular...in a way Montroel brought out the best in me."
"What are you going to do after this is all over? Will you be staying here?" Motoko asked out of curiosity.
"Probably...nowhere else to go, do I?" Keitaro replied and tried to concentrate on his meal.
Motoko kicked herself; she couldn't have asked a stupider question.
Keitaro stopped eating for a second and looked towards the balcony, "warn the others, it's time!"
The kendo expert immediately sprung up and spilled the remainder of her dinner over the floor. She approached an extremely large gong that Suu had provided them with, and struck it as hard as she possibly could, the sound resonating throughout the Inn. Everyone heard it and knew it was time to get moving.
*********************************************************************
Keitaro made his way over the slippery roof tiles and found he was face-to-face with a small group of demons. There were ten of them, all his size; they all looked like shadows, no faces, just black with claw-tipped fingers and toes, probably handy as a camouflage technique for an easy victory over difficult opponents. Behind the group stood a tall man with grey hair, a red and green cape swirling about his body, and he stared at Keitaro with a grim determination in his eyes.
As the demon hunter stood poised, the man whispered a command and the shadow creatures made their move. They weren't interested in Hinata House, just Keitaro, and they quickly surrounded him within seconds.
"Give up Montroel, the night belongs to us now!" the man declared.
Keitaro turned in a slow circle, ready to defend himself whenever the attack came, "you really think your minions here can stop me, Kamof?"
The man stepped back, "so you know my name already?"
"Yeah, you're a very powerful sorcerer that recruits demons for Armanius, it's a nice job description but you're just another puppet!"
"Is that so? Let's see, shall we? Make him beg for mercy!"
The first attack came from above as one of them leapt up in the air and came hurtling down with great speed. While Keitaro turned to throw a dagger, a second creature attacked from the other side, trying to tackle him to the ground. Jumping slightly, he placed one foot on its back and pushed it to the ground, propelling himself out of the way of the airborne one in time, causing a heap on the ground. As he escaped these two, he found himself about to land in the clutches of a third one and promptly kicked out, striking it in the face and knocking it off the roof. While the remaining creatures regrouped, he leapt off the roof and to the ground below, using his supernatural agility to avoid breaking his legs. He looked out the corner of his eye and spotted the one he kicked off the roof, lying with its back broken on a rock beside the hot springs, then he fled the scene as the other nine followed in hot pursuit.
Meanwhile, the girls were gathered in the living-room, Motoko watching over them.
"So when can we go?" Shinobu asked, worried.
"I don't know", Motoko replied, "there's still a lot of noise going on."
The girls listened intently as various bangs and thuds could be heard around the house. Mitsune drank some sake to 'relax' her as she calmly put it.
"Do you think Keitaro is all right by himself?" Suu asked.
Motoko pretended not to hear and just followed the noises echoing throughout the walls. "I'm going to see if the coast is clear. Don't go anywhere! Naru, you're in charge!"
"Me? What am I meant to do?" Naru cried out in despair and just looked on as Motoko raced off.
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Keitaro threw his dagger at the approaching demon but it ducked, but allowed the blade to impale one of the shadow creatures after him. As the target monster stood up slightly to look back at where the dagger struck, Keitaro wrapped the chain it was attached to around its neck and started to strangle it.
As he does so, another demon attacked from the side and lashed out at his face. Dodging to the side, Keitaro retaliated with a forceful kick to its stomach and sent it staggering backwards a bit. As he kicked out, he felt the chain he was holding being pulled from his grip and he found the demon he was strangling pulling the chains with its clawed hands. Keitaro was not only losing his grip but also his footing and he found himself being pulled towards it, feet struggling to find a hold in the muddy earth.
Motoko leapt in at this point and delivered a killer strike to the demon, before taking position beside Keitaro.
"What are you doing here? Where are the others?" he asked, concerned.
"They're safe inside, Naru is watching them, we were worried you might need some help and they were right by all means."
Motoko spotted Kamof looking down at them from above, "I'll let you handle the demons and I'll tackle the intruder on the roof!"
"No! Motoko! He's too powerful!" Keitaro shouted but the howling wind and the lashing rain drowned out his voice and before he could follow her, the demons attacked again.
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Kamof watched as Motoko made her way up to the roof with impressive agility and speed and soon stood facing her as she landed nearby and wielded her sword, a look of disgust on her face.
"I'm impressed...but leave before you regret it", he warned.
"You attack my friend at my own home; this fight is as much mine as his."
"If you insist on being so persistent then show me what you've got."
Motoko lunged forward, angrily, and launched a ki wave down the roof. Tiles were ripped off as it travelled at breakneck speed and exploded in a mix of dust, rain and tiles on contact. When she gained a visible lock on him, however, she found that it had no effect whatsoever and he pretended to examine himself for injuries, mocking her.
Motoko glared at him, "you dare mock me?"
"If that was meant to be a strong attack, you might as well leave before I show you true power."
She placed a foot forward and was about to make another attack when Kamof's eyes glowed green and he held his hands out in front as if he was strangling someone. Suddenly, Motoko felt her throat tighten and she was lifted in the air slightly, legs dangled as she was held helpless in mid- air. Then he moved his hands to the side and opened them and she was dropped off the edge of the roof, rolled down the slope of the side and landed in the hot springs.
"That was a pathetic attempt if I've ever seen one", he commented.
"KAMOF!!!" Keitaro shouted, as he dodged through the remaining demons and made his way to the sorcerer. As he landed on the roof with Kamof, he stared down at the hot spring, and saw Motoko's head emerge from the water. She was alive but breathing hard.
"Your friend was foolish to challenge me, and it seems you are too."
Kamof made a gesture with his hand and the remaining demons stood ground down below and just watched. "It's just us two now...can you do better than your friend?"
Keitaro spun around and hurled a dagger towards him but the sorcerer just caught it in his hand and grinned. "Was that meant to hurt?"
"No..." Keitaro replied, "This was!"
Using all the force in his body he yanked the chain and the dagger sliced up the inside of Kamof's hand. He clutched his hand and cursed at Keitaro, who had already launched his second dagger.
Kamof was smarter than the others, though, and he stamped down on the ground and caused a number of tiles to shoot up and deflect it. His hand had healed from the attack Keitaro made and he flexed his newly fixed hand. "Now it's my turn."
Keitaro prepared for the attack and he heard an immense rumbling in the clouds and a lightning bolt came down and blasted a great hole in the ground between them. Inside Hinata House was havoc as televisions and electrical appliances exploded and caused an inferno within the home.
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"No!" Motoko declared weakly as her home became engulfed in flame. She was still in pain from Kamof's attack on her but she needed to do something.
Keitaro and Kamof stood face-to-face, surrounded by the licking flames. It wouldn't be long before the place collapsed but what about the others...were they alive?
The girls screamed as Aunt Haruka ushered them through the fire and towards the front door. As they all approached the door, the entrance caved in but Shinobu fell back and landed in the inferno.
"Shinobu!" the girls cried out, but they couldn't reach the hand that she was holding out. The heat and the rising flames caused the residents to back off slightly.
"We have to get her out; she'll die if we leave her there!" Naru shouted. An explosion at a nearby window caused the residents to back away and rethink their situation.
"We have to find another way in, we don't have time to get Motoko or Keitaro to do it", Haruka declared.
Shinobu ran out of the main area and up the hallway, she couldn't find a window to drop out of and she was in a state of panic and fear and started crying for help, coughing because of the heavy smoke.
Keitaro launched a kick at Kamof but he evaded to the side and countered with a quick jab to the ribs. The demon hunter sensed and managed to block this attack though too. The sorcerer and the demon hunter were equal when it came to hand-to-hand combat it seemed and the Kamof was far more powerful when it came to sorcery.
Parts of the roof started to cave and he could sense the flames rising higher and higher but while he was moving out of a weakened area, he heard a faint voice nearby and saw Shinobu curled up into a corner, crying, praying for her life.
"Shinobu!" he uttered, did this mean the others were still inside too?
As he turned to look at Kamof, shouts of abuse are heard from the hot springs and Keitaro looked down to see a weak Motoko being dragged out of the water by the remaining shadow demons and surrounded on land.
"Hey! You said it was just us two!" Keitaro stated.
"Indeed I did, they're just going to have a little fun, that's all."
"Typical, you lying..." Keitaro started, clenching his chain.
Kamof held up a hand, "this is what is known as a checkmate! You can only save one or the other but I can save them both in an instant. All that I need in return is your life!"
Keitaro gritted his teeth, "so I can either save them and seal the fate of mankind or let one of the girls die and probably die saving the other one?"
"If you wish to look at it that way, however, time is running out as we speak so make your decision now - the girls or your life?"
*********************************************************************
What will happen to Keitaro? Will he sacrifice Motoko or Shinobu for the safety of mankind? Is the prophecy about to be fulfilled? All the answers will be revealed in chapter 6 because it is the final chapter!!!
