Chapter Six: Surprise Attack
By Sha / #29 (Sunday, June 19, 2005)
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Hiei made his way back into the room with all those hideous statues and portaits, not favoring one bit then before... He turned around, closing the hallway door behind himself, and lept up right in front of the two doors closed together.
"Time to see what'll hit me next..." He calmly murmured to himself, opening both of them at once - to reveal a long and wide hallway...
Walls, floors, and ceiling were all of dark stone... with vines crawling along the floor and walls... small green roots creeping through some of the cracks... they looked sickenly... shiny? Like leather... but it was not artificial, Hiei noted, as he took a quick slash through one just out of curiousity.
There were doors along the wall... just a few metal doors, being overbranched by vines and their leaves... at the end of the hallway was a dark entrance to a stairway... but Hiei was busily opening the other doors to see just empty rooms within... that just resembled green houses... but without the lighting, as all were just dark.
In fact, there was only one torch, which was just beside the doors he had come through... and that flame was very dim, as it was slowly going out.
Hiei backed from the doorway, sighing... what had he suspected to see? There were no hints to whom his enemy really was... the one pulling all the strings... except that they apparently had a love for nature... how strange...
As he turned around towards the stairway, he saw his sister coming down the last few steps... her kimono was torn, her arms bloody; and her poor innocent face covered by that blasted, blank ivory mask.
"Ah!" Hiei gasped in surprise, and she jerked her head towards him, becoming alarmed.
As he walked towards her, she backed up the stairs. "No! Don't come near me!"
He stopped in his tracks... she was frightened? ...of course... she couldn't see him... but even if she did, why would she trust him?
He could easily just kill her like the other demons could've, but she had no idea he wanted to rescue her... had no clue... he was her twin brother at all...
Hiei began to approach her once more, and she turned, stumbling at first, but then ran up the stairway; and he began to chase her.
"Wait!"
He could barely keep an eye on her as they ran up the spiral stairway... it was dark, damp and cold, and he could actually see his breath as he panted slightly, trying to catch up to his sister.
The chase continued... but for how long? Hiei wondered... how much more until they reach the top of the stairwell? He wondered if some of those edges that he hit against in the walls were windows or doors...
What would he say to Yukina once he caught up to her? It wouldn't matter... maybe he would just bring her; with her mask on so she wouldn't have to look at him...and those twins, Hikari and Hikaru, to safety...
"What!" Hiei had been so busy thinking, that Yukina had completely... disappeared from his eyesight... but now he was face-to-face with a metal door... did those monsters find her and take her through another portal?
But how?
Wouldn't he have been able to feel - not mention see - them?
He cursed to himself, sighing; and pushed open the quite heavy door... which clanked open, making a loud thud as it came swinging against the wall on the inside...
Hiei flinched... now his enemies must know that he was there already... he wandered into the wide room, it was all ivory stone, with Roman type pillars along the walls... his footsteps echoed in the room, and he could even see his own image in the polished floor.
As he stood in the middle of the room, he heard - and felt - a heavy rumbling start up, and he withdrew his sword, readying for any attack.
The rumbling got worse, it felt like an earthquake almost... Dust began falling from the ceiling and the pillars - was the room about to collapse!
But just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.
Just stopped... everything was silent, and Hiei felt very tense, as he scanned left and right without moving an inch... what was going on!
Nothing happened for a few minutes... Hiei stood up straight, glancing around, but refusing to drop his guard.
Just then, smashing through one of the metal doors came a giant spikeball that nearly hit Hiei, who quickly leaped out of the way...
Hiei stared at it, and his eyes followed along the chain to... a metal suit of armor which came marching it with very loud echoing footsteps.
It yanked the chain spikeball out of the floor, then began swinging it around and around above it's 'head'...
Hiei walked forward just as it turned to him, and he barely had time to react as the giant spike came rushing at him again... this continued for a while - Hiei dodging the spikeball as the suit of armor was bent on hitting him hard... and finally did...
Hiei miscalculated his jump, which accidently enabled the chain of the spikeball to hit his ankle, throwing him to the floor with a loud thud, as his sword went flying across the room.
Hiei could barely lift himself, panting heavy... darn... that hurt... he cursed, turning over just as the spikeball was about to smash into his body... he quickly rolled out of the way, gasping... that could've been the end for him.
The suit of armor whipped the spikeball back into the air, facing Hiei, whom could barely stand upon his hurt ankle... as it advanced towards the young demon who was clearly cornered...
Hiei stared at it; would he be able to jump out of the way quick enough with this bad ankle? He seriously doubted that his sword would do any damage to the suit and the chain...
Hiei quickly snapped back to reality, realizing that he was staring at what could offer itself as a weakness in his enemy...
An upside-down triangle was placed on the left side of it's chest... deep into the triangle; were burning coals...
'Yes! Now if I can stab my sword through that...' His thoughts trailed off, as he noticed his sword several feet behind the suit of armor.
He clenched his fists, growling... he didn't have any time left, as the suit began swinging it's chainball faster, and a deep laugh echoed from inside the armor.
He took a deep breath as the spikeball began charging towards him, then took a dash to the side, rushing past the suit which was taking some time getting the spikeball back to it.
Hiei winced slightly, glaring at his ankle, snatching up his sword... he now focused on the suit of armor which slowly turned around... then Hiei glanced at the pillars...
Hiei began to run along the side of the pillars, ignoring the sharp pain in his ankle as the spikeball chased him, crashing into each pillar, filling the room with smoke and rubble...
As he reached the last pillar, he readyed (readied?) himself, then took a backflip, landing gracefully onto the chain of the spikeball which was stuck in the smashed up stone pile.
Hiei turned to the suit which was trying to yank the spikeball to itself, but failing... then Hiei dashed forward, thrusting the sword deep into it's 'heart', then leaping over it's 'head', landing on the other side of the room, and falling slightly from the pain that jump took out of him; as he watched the suit of armor suddenly stop moving... then it caught on fire, and the flames ignited it's entire body for a few minutes... then the flames disappeared, leaving a pile of ashes in it's wake...
Hiei sighed, catching his breath, then slowly made his way over to the ashes... there was even ashes trailing into the stones... he bend over, moving ashes out of his way... amazing, his sword was perfectly fine as he picked it up... it was just... heated, but that didn't matter.
Hiei reunited his sword with his sheath, then began looking around again... what a difference one 'little' fight did to this once elegant room!
There was still the door he had came through... the door which his enemy had came smashing through... and three other doors... of course, he was going to have to get over the rubble.
As he began making his way up one mount, the two doors not near him (one door was in front of him.), opened up, and... to his horror... two suits of armor, although golden armor this time, came through those doors, each carrying a giant axe.
Hiei stood up on the stone pile, withdrawing his sword once more... the suits both walked towards each another, then stopped... turning towards him slowly.
Then each of them threw their axe at him, but he flipped backwards, crashing against the metal door... and Hiei watched as the axe went around like a boomerang, heading back towards each another... as soon as their axes touched each another - their bodies lit up like hot, heated steel.
Hiei felt a strange impulse, and ran through the door behind him, slamming the door shut, just as a loud explosion sounded from inside that room...
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To Be Continued...
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