Chapter Seventeen: The Spirits of Jusenkyo
"Hiryuu Shôten Ha!" Cologne's voice rang out across the battlefield, only to be swallowed and lost in the howling winds that rushed around her, forming a whirwind of energy that catapulted the youma around her high into the air. The amazon matriarch barely had time to regain her breath as she dodged an oni's clawed strike, and retaliated with her staff, cracking its armor open like a nutshell. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Kiima diving down towards a part of the battlefield to her left, wondering what would cause the Phoenix woman to leave her post at her king's side.
She didn't dwell on it for long, as the creatures were closing their circle around her, forcing the amazon to retreat until she stood back to back with Herb. "It doesn't look good," the Musk prince noted. "My men are exhausted, and so are your warriors. The Phoenix alone cannot hold them back, and we-" he never finished the sentence as Kiima landed in front of them, hauling an unconscious Akane who was clutching a bloody broken lance to her chest. The look she shot the youngest Tendo daughter promised pain, and Cologne was sure that if they hadn't been in the middle of the battle, Akane would have been dead instead of merely knocked out.
"What happened?" She asked, fearing the worst. Her answer came when a blood-curling scream silenced everything. Time itself seemed to stand still at the pure anguish that carried along with the voice, and both friend and foe turned to look at the source of the voice. What Cologne saw made her freeze in her steps, and even Herb next to her stiffened in shock. Setsuna was kneeling on the ground, her fuku soaked with crimson blood, the blood of the figure lying prone on the ground next to her.
Her brother.
V----------------V
One glance at the murderous looking Kiima and her cargo, and the lump in Cologne's throat tightened. She really didn't like the implications of this.
Meiou Setsuna had held the post of Sailor Pluto, of the Guardian of Time, for longer than she could remember. She had lived through millennia of duty and loneliness, had suvived the Moon Kingdom and its destruction, had seen more atrocities than anyone should have to, and retained her sanity.
It wasn't the first time she'd seen a dead body, either.
But when she reached her brother's side, just as Kiima swooped in and hit Akane across the back of her head with the flat side of her sword, she was ready to loose her grip on reality. Her time key dropped from her lifeless hands, and she stumbled as she took steps faster than she should have, until she reached him.
The wound was blatantly obvious, the red stain on his dark green shirt giving it away, as did the blood pooling under him. She listened for a slow exhale, breathing, a heartbeat, anything to signify he was alive, knowing just as well that he wasn't. Setsuna clenched her hands into fists so hard that droplets of her blood dripped to the ground, mixing with her brother's, as she fought for control over her emotions. This was not the place for grief, or mourning.
This wasn't the right time. She shut her eyes tightly, as if to hold in the tears that threatened to spill, her breathing ragged. When his left hand twitched around the fan he still held, she held her breath, hoping that by some miracle he would recover, let her know he was all right. But then his grip slackened, and the fan dropped to the ground.
And Setsuna screamed.
V----------------V
The first to move was Ukyo; the okonomiyaki chef leapt forward and deflected a blow that would have sent Setsuna to accompany her brother, and took a ready stance in front of them. "Get outta here," she hissed as she eyed the youma before her warily. She understood the woman's loss, but grieving here, in the middle of a group of youma, was impossible and suicide.
"No." Ukyo glanced over her shoulder at the voice, a shiver running down her spine at the icyness it conveyed.
V----------------V
Setsuna looked up through tear-stained eyes and watched passively as Ukyo shielded her from the creatures around them. Her eyes flashed in anger as she realized these were the creatures responsible for this mess, servants of the evil incarnate. She shoved her emotions back into a tiny box in the back of her mind and slammed it shut. Instinctively, her hand found the fan her brother had released, and she stood, banishing the garnet rod into etherspace.
She heard Ukyo order her to leave, and turned around, turning her burning red eyes on the youma before her. "No," she whispered, surprising herself with the amount of venom her voice contained. Dispelling her Senshi garb, she slid open the fan and took a ready stance, letting the memories from long ago guide her movements. "Ukyo, please take my brother to Urd and Cologne. I'll take care of these."
Without waiting for a reply, she launched herself past the stunned chef, and began to viciously lay into the ranks of oni and youma. "Shinkuu-Ken!" Hundreds of vaccuum blades pelted her opponents, but she didn't care, leaping over the dissolving corpses of the defeated, only to continue her relentless attack. She ducked under a youma's strike, rolled and came up behind it, kicking out and through its armor plating. A look of disgust on her face, she wrenched her leg free and disintegrated it with a ki blast.
A ringing parry flowed into a slash with the fan, which she followed with a stab as she snapped it closed. She was a whirlwind tearing through the enemy's ranks, and she let her hatred and anger fuel her as she continued to tear into the demons before her. The anger returned, coupled with a pain that hurt too much to describe. The emerald-haired woman snarled viciously as the demons fell before her, her mind focused only on the pain she felt. How could he...leave me alone! How dare that bastard do this to us! She felt rage, burning hatred directed at Firkraag, Akane, her brother. The world. Firkraag had used them, had thrown them into this position, he was the one responsible for the death around them, and she hated him for it. Akane had let herself be put under a spell, had let her own anger consume herself, and she despised the girl for that.
Her brother had let himself die. He had left her alone, left her when she needed him most, in her current despair. He had been the one to coax her into fighting for their future, he had proven to her that her life's work could not be destroyed by anyone but herself. She cursed him for hurting her like this. But if I hate him, why does it hurt so much? Why does it hurt?
"Fukyuu Hôkô Kijin-Ha!" The ground around her exploded as the ki she had channeled into the soil discharged, erupting in a massive parody of a volcano, spewing forth superheated earth and rock. The aftermath of the attack left her as emotionally drained as she was physically, and Setsuna was only half aware of being dragged off the battlefield, before she lost consciousness.
V----------------V
Herb, Mint, and Lime moved closer together as the youma closed in with them. On the other side, Cologne and Kiima were fighting a loosing battle, the two women attempting to keep the oni from hitting the men's exposed backs. Between them lay uncounted wounded and dying, the remains of the small army they had amassed and had put their hopes in.
They had failed.
Urd was still trying to break the barrier that held Ranma, Ryoga and Setsuna were out of the fight, and the rest of them were tired. Saffron had stopped throwing fireballs and joined Herb as he wielded the Gekkaja like the naginata it was. Their backs bumped together, and Herb knew, without having to look behind him, that there would be no more falling back. Hm...today seems like a good day to die.
Mint collapsed next to him, the exhaustion and his wounds finally taking their toll. Lime pulled him back with him, and Herb nodded at those two. So, this was how it was going to end.
V----------------V
Urd felt a power surge from inside the barrier, and gaped, her eyes opening wide in astonishment at a feat that should have been impossible. The clouds parted over them, and a brilliant silver bolt of energy flashed down, the light flaring up around the barrier as it held for a moment, before refracting the beam into hundreds of fragments, which curved around and entered the cursed pools of Jusenkyo.
Energy feedback, she thought as she shielded her eyes. The youma shied back from the silver lightning, as if afraid to touch it for its divine origin, then reared, afraid of the things that were approaching fast. The ground shook, and everyone could feel a stampede coming, closing in quickly as it came over the hills that separated Joketsuzoku from Jusenkyo.
The sight that presented itself to the defenders was both magnificent and horrifc to behold, hundreds upon thousands of ghastly figures, each glowing with an ethereal silver aura, each noncorporeal as a ghost, their skins flayed and torn, shrunk and violated, marched their way towards Joketsuzoku, wordless screams of pain and anger echoing through the air as Jusenkyo protested the violation of its souls.
They seemed to be heralds of the coming apocalypse, called forth by the divine light above, called to action by the evil that had been committed in the area, called to raze the very lands they stood upon and return all to dust. Breathing fire and smoke, surrounded by an aura of anger and revenge, every single of the apparitions, from the largest dragon hovering high above, to the humanoid forms walking among the spirits, to the tiniest of animals seemed ready to bring death upon them.
When Ragnarok had been cast, and had drawn upon the magic of Jusenkyo to fuel itself, the spirits of the pools had lost the ties that bound them to the mortal world, doomed to forever hover in limbo between life and death. When Yggdrasil had shut down, and the backlash of the spell hit the pools, the spirits tore free, no longer bound to the mortal or immortal plane by the World Tree. They drew upon the raw magic that radiated from the energy feedback that ran through Yggdrasil, sustaining their corporeal forms.
Now, they were returning, intent on avenging the violation and damnation of their souls.
V----------------V
The apparitions stampeded through the youma, tearing through their ranks without hesitation, disintegrating the demonic creatures upon touch. And then they were upon the defenders. Usagi, Makoto, Minako, and Haruka found themselves in a semi-circle around Urd and the barrier that held Ranma. For once, Usagi moved without tripping, without stumbling, as they held heir ground against the stampede, their fiery auras so intense they could feel the lingering heat in the air, their strides so powerful they shook the earth.
They cast their spells deep into the ranks of the spirits, most missing wide, but the few that hit dissipated into thin air, released from their suffering.
V----------------V
Cologne found her staff completely ineffective against the new threat that now arose. The elder amazon had seen many things in her long life, but never once had the spirits of the cursed valley of Jusenkyo come to life. And never had she stood in the path of their wrath. Suddenly without means of attacking or defending herself, the ancient woman resorted to swiftly dodging the approaching spirits, firing off ki blasts as she took aim.
V----------------V
Ukyo and Shampoo stood helplessly, frantically dodging the apparitions as they plowed through them, neither of them able to throw a ki blast. Both girls had stood in amazed shock when the pools had come to life to claim revenge for their souls, and had been nearly too late to dodge them. Shampoo had been too late, only to be pushed out of the way by Lime. The Musk had received a long, charred gash across his back where the aura of a panda apparition had touched him.
V----------------V
Akane woke up, just in time to dive aside as a ghastly horse stampeded through the area she had vacated a moment before. Her eyes wide, the younges Tendo daughter stared around her in shock, her gaze slowly wandering down to her hands, and the bloody lance she still held on to. The coppery liquid hadn't dried yet, and her hand came away red, the sticky fluid giving off a slightly metallic smell, and she fought the urge to retch as she dodged another apparition. "How..." she whispered, looking across the field, trying to remember the last few minutes before she lost consciousness.
"Oh god..." the memories hit her, and she cringed at them, as they assaulted her senses. Akane curled up into a ball near the barrier and could only stare at her bloody hands.
V----------------V
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end an instant before the darkness around him lit up in a bright silver light, and Ranma could feel the energy flowing around him, sustaining his aura and feeding him strength. He could almost see the barrier around him waver and flicker out, and was about to push his way through when a sense of dread rose within him.
He shuddered at the sudden cold that befell him despite his aura, and felt the touch of death upon him; it was gone so quickly he didn't know if he had imagined it or not. Still, he could fee the danger outside, and it made him redouble his efforts to weaken the barrier. The barrier was weakening faster now, almost as if something was drawing power off of it.
V----------------V
"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" The giant pink heart crashed into three of the oncoming spirits, dispelling them easily. Beside her, Makoto caught Minako as the blonde recovered from a Crescent Beam Shower, the two girls slowly pulling back and dodging more as they tired. Usagi ducked under the wings of a glowing eagle, and prepared to fire off her attack once more, when someone shouted her name. "Usagi!"
Turning around, she caught a glimpse of black lighting as it traversed the distance, passing her by several feet, and surrounding a dozen apparitions. "Death Reborn Revolution!" Hotaru cried again, as she aimed the Silence Glaive. A dull feeling of dread built in Usagi's stomach, and when she turned back around, she swallowed hard, before screaming, "No! Hotaru, stop!"
The black lightning dissipated, and the auras of the apparitions caught in the blast had turned an ominous black.
V----------------V
Firkraag smirked as he watched the spirits and youma ravage the area from high above, but when he felt the power of his spell decrease, he swore. There was nothing he could do, the spirits were drawing the energy of Jusenkyo into themselves, using it to anchor themselves to this plane as they continued their murderous rampage.
Then he smirked. If the spirits were free to roam, Yggdrasil had shut down. "The system is down," Lenneth confirmed from next to him. He nodded and smiled at her. "Finish off whoever is left here, and join me." The goddess bowed and teleported away. He savored the desperation and fear that was radiating off that one girl and her companions for a few moments more, before banishing the delicious feeling of her despair from his mind.
The demon's gaze wandered to Jusendo. With a cruel grin, he headed over. Now the only thing left that keeps the wild magic here under control is the Dragon Tap. Time for it to go down.