CHAPTER 63: THE CLASH: PART C
Part VII: Ultimate End
My eyes pop open and I stare at the control panel in a panic, and see my old enemy playing with the knobs with the eye of a wicked, deranged expert. And he's right back to normal size. The cage of power that I put him in is nowhere to be seen.
"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?" I scream. My dad mouths something from his cage that I still can't understand.
"I can become anything I wish. Need I say more?" He says with a smile.
Oh…my…god. I didn't remember that. My dad tried to tell me that he could morph right back to normal size! If I had just been watching my dad, I could have counteracted that. But no, I was too damn cocky! AGAIN! No, shut up, this is no time for guilt, damn it! I need to get out of here!
Excerpt from my mind: If I keep thinking that I've won every few minutes, no one will believe me when I actually DO win. If I win. I'd better keep that in check better next time.
I hammer on the dome angrily, but then, so subtlely that I don't even realize it, the binds on the back of the cage sneakily snake around my arms, legs, stomach, and neck, and slam me backwards against the plank of metal behind me. He's not risking my escape. I feel terminals connect to my back, attaching themselves of their own accord. I can feel them just penetrate the top of my flesh. That is never a good sign. I've watched enough horror movies to know that I'm in for a lot of pain.
I fidget some more with the strength of frenzy, but the binds have limited almost all movement, so instead, I try some spirit energy, but the binds absorb all flares before they even get out of my hands. I have no demon energy left to try anyway.
C'mon, think, think…I see Sensu hit a button and watch him laugh insanely. I can barely hear him from behind this wall.
But in the end, hearing ability is the last thing on my mind.
Pain beyond pain.
Slaughter beyond slaughter.
Death beyond death. A part of me is being shredded away. Is this…is this what the limbo is? Where your soul is stripped away?
Then, it stops as quickly as is came.
I pant hard, feeling all of the final reserves of my Spirit and Demon Energy seep away into the tubes. I pant hard, and groan. That hurt so bad…
Sensu looks more gleeful than I have ever seen him. "Idiot. Stepping right into the machine too… Did you think that merely chaining me in a bit of power was going to stop the very conqueror of Enma himself?"
I give what I hope is a death glare to top all death glares. I am so un-fucking-believably stupid. How did I overlook that? How did I ever get this overconfident?
Now, I'll pay for those mistakes with my life. My dad, too.
He looks at the panel, and a frown crosses his white face. "How can you both be that drained already?"
"What?" He can't hear me.
"I thought you both had more power than that. Strange. I guess I really will have to use your life power."
"WHAT? NO!" Still not loud enough to be heard.
"Both of your spirit energies and powers are nearly gone. At least you two are pretty young and have a strong life force as well. That'll be more than enough. What fine minions the two of you would have made. But once the humans crumble, then it won't matter anyway."
I shout to be heard behind the thick glass, "WHY? WHY IS KILLING THE HUMANS EVEN NECESSARY!" There. I think he finally heard me.
"The Spirit World and Human World balance each other, as the Demon World and the Nether World balance each other. Without that balance, the spirit world tips right over."
I gasp. That makes so much sense. Of course. Two halves can't be separated, like a body and a soul for too long. Same with the spirit and human world. Without the human world…Sensu won't even have to try to destroy the spirit world. It'll be done for him.
"So, to business…" He flips the knob and prepares to hit the button that will set me aflame for sure. What did I do to deserve this?
Only option…Just as I feel a twinge of fiery agony, I astro-project my soul, the very life energy that he desires. In ghost form, I stare down at my now limp body. I am sickened. Damn, do I really look that beat up? I'm frickin covered in blood! I inspect my broken pelvis. It looks like my right hip and knee are totally smashed, as well as several of my ribs. Ouch. And my spine…let's just say it don't look too good for Olympic track. Wow, that came out really cynical. The odd thing is that it's like watching a movie. I feel no attachment to that body. I don't care that I'll never be able to walk again.
I see great big Sensu look around, puzzled, and then a look of dawning comprehension appears on his face, which then turns to rage. He switches off the machine and gazes at our mangled bodies.
"This is what you did before, isn't it?" He growls. He makes a strange noise like the kind in sci-fi movies, that weird warble, and goes limp like me, falling right on his back.
Oh no.
He didn't…he wouldn't…
I dodge an energy blast from behind me. I turn quickly and see Sensu in his original form, in all his might and deep voice, only spiritual like me. Only, instead of calm and content, he looks murderous. Hatred blazes in the cold eyes.
"You've exhausted my patience. Get back to your body or be dragged there. Your decision, bitch, the easy way or the hard way." He fires more Demon Energy at me. I dodge the beams, feeling strange gliding around the air.
"Drag me." But that's a pretty big bark coming from a small dog. I'm out of Spirit Energy…and Demon Energy too. I need my father. Much as I hate him for what he did, he is my last hope. Our combined forces might pull this off. But Sensu is the only one who knows how to open the door to his cage!
I just got a plan! RUN! Then I can get a BETTER plan! RUN FASTER!
I dart this way and that, trying to confuse Sensu. I run to the right – to the left, feeling no pain in soaring through the air. I left my pain behind in the material world. Had I not been chased by an evil demon that will kill me in two seconds, I would have been positively content.
"ARGH!" He yells, and starts firing much greater red blasts at me.
I dodge and dodge, getting more and more tired. No…I have to keep going…
But I can't. My stamina dies suddenly, and finally, the inevitable comes to pass. "AUGH!" I try to scream as I'm hit, but it dies on it's way up my throat.
I fall onto the air with a crash, as if it were solid. I feel my left leg vaguely, though it seems to be asleep. It feels kinda painful, too, though the pain seems like it's a zillion miles away. I hear Sensu come up behind me. The world shoots in and out of focus. Tears pour down my face as I try to escape the pain.
"The hard way, then. Good. It's more fun that way." He looms behind me.
I'm too tired to answer. I'm so done it's crazy. There's no hope left.
"Actually, no. Go back to your body yourself. Give up. Accept your loss with your remaining dignity."
I groan, and make my way back to my body slowly to give myself further thinking time. I have no intention of going back just yet. But what can be done? No EnergyNo Hope. I'm out of options. I need my body for my demon power, because the demon is in my blood, not my soul. Plus, I have barely any of it left. And as for the accessible spirit power—it'll take me weeks to replenish it all.
If I try to go to my body for demon power, then I'll do exactly what Sensu wants. So I need my demon energies, if I even have any left, but I can't use them, and that's what fuels the panther, the fireballs, and the camouflage. The only thing my Spirit Energy alone can do is my bubble, and I don't want to find out if he really can break through it or not.
It's over. I can still hear him laughing. I try to hammer the awful phrase into my brain. I've failed. I've failed. I've failed. I've failed. I've failed…
There's my body. My dad's beaten-up body. And…Sensu's unconscious body? An idea starts to form. Possession…
NO! Don't think about it. Think about failing. I've failed. I've failed. I've failed…I crawl still towards Sensu's lifeless body. It actually works. Sensu can't see the idea in my mind. I've failed, I've failed, I've failed… Edging slowly…
Suddenly, I'm right above Sensu's huge body. In a fraction of a second, I dive, an awful, stomach-lurching drop. I hear Sensu's little inhaled hah of surprise, and he races me for the unspoken prize. Almost there…
I enter a dark space, and then I open my eyes. I MADE IT! I get myself up, marveling at the stink of this body. I stare at the control panel, so many miles below me, flipping through his memories.
My mind hits what I'm looking for. Sensu's mind is a whole library of codes for this machine. Including the very one I need. I lean down, hating my bloody white hands, and start turning dials into the impossible code Sensu's mind has memorized. I must have hit 40 buttons, all in a specific sequence.
Finally, I press the big red button that almost killed me for the final touch. I can't even hear Sensu above me. Yes. He's given up now.
The magical happens.
The rather small door to my father's dome slides down and out of sight noiselessly. So does my dome's door. I still look really creepy. With all the blood on me, I look authentically dead. Right now, I would make a great Halloween costume. Only, I'm not wearing a costume. That's the scary part.
I press the red button again. There is a considerable rumble, and the glow on my father's chains dims and then completely fizzles out. My father, with difficulty, breaks his now-weakened binds with very skinny arms. As soon as I'm sure that he's free, I project myself out of this temporary host body. I float towards my own body.
But when I try to re-enter my body, I get a real surprise. An invisible barrier separates me from it. It's like trying to walk through glass. That's never happened before. What's wrong? I press myself against the wall. What's wrong? I hammer on it, and I get a ringing pain in my hands.
Oh no. Sensu wouldn't…you know, I seem to have real trouble determining what Sensu will and will not do.
My body's eyes open, and no longer green. They are black.
Noooooooo. Noooooooo. How can this be happening?
My body breaks her binds too. She steps out, and smiles at me. I gasp. Sensu took me over.
I can't scream as a ghost. I go back into Sensu's body, and stand up in it, glaring at the two of them. "Give me back my body!" I yell, a threatening roar. I'm pretty impressed at how much taller I am now than the humans.
My body smiles. "Now I have your autograph."
He asked me for my autograph in the beginning. So…what is that supposed to mean now? What did he do to me?
I hear a thump behind me, and see my father. I jump out of the way just in time as his fist makes contact with the control panel, cracking it. I yell at him that I'm really Katrina.
I don't think he really cares. Is that death I see in his eyes? "DIE!" I thought as much.
"No! Dad, it's not what you think…!" I easily block all of his punches with Sensu's extreme knowledge of martial arts. Wow. This body is extremely strong.
"DIE!"
"Get him, Dad!" My body yells.
He pauses, but goes back to trying to pummel me. He really doesn't get it, does he? Moron! I keep blocking, again and again. I refuse to attack my dad. He's so weak. Even though I could knock him right off right now if I wanted. This could be my chance at revenge for him. One little whack upside the head…and that wouldn't be all of it.
No. I am better than that. For now, I think he's suffered enough. I eye all of the scars on his face, and how skinny he is. Poor guy. He's barely alive. I can punish him later. His unskilled punches get weaker and weaker, until he's gasping for breath. I easily pick him up by the wrists as he were a feather and hold him there in my left hand, so I can turn my attention back to my body.
I glare at HER, and Katrina just smiles at me. I need to get Sensu out of my body. 'Now I have your autograph…' What did he mean? OH GOD! What if he's destroying me as we speak?
Meanwhile, my dad somehow worms his way out of my stronghold and goes back to punching and, oh look, now he's kicking too. I continue to block without ruffling a hair on my head. My dad yells in frustration. Wow, this is pathetically easy. I could learn a lot from Sensu, martially.
How do I get my body back? Isn't there some kind of attack that could help?
Nothing Genkai taught me. She showed me that, as of now, no one had ever figured out how to possess an already-possessed body. That means, I can't get him until he leaves my body.
Which will be never. Which means, I'll be forced to kill my dad, eventually, and during that, my body will escape, masquerading as me, and potentially destroying everyone I love.
And I'll die a wicked demon. None of my friends or family will ever know who I am.
I stare at my body. She winks at me. I almost start crying. Me, the great Sensu…crying. How am I supposed to get him out of me?
Finally, I get careless and my dad lands a punch under my right eye. I yell and slam him backwards in the gut out of defense with my forearm. Blood pours out of his mouth and he flies back about ten feet and lands with a crunch, where he lies, motionless.
I didn't mean for that to happen, but I just don't care. He's not on my priority list. I turn away from him and back to my body. I stomp towards her, and Sensu suddenly understands the position he's in. He's doomed to fighting himself, the epitome of demon perfection. It hits me suddenly. He created powerful demon perfection, but he never learned how to defeat it. He never needed to. And now he does.
I smirk. I'm going to enjoy being the tough one now.
Her eyes widen, and Katrina runs away from me, understandably. Wait, how is my body walking, anyway, let alone running? Wasn't my spine snapped?
I chase, and for once, I actually am thankful for this body's speed. I easily catch up with Katrina and grab her around the waist. I enlarge myself tenfold, and allow one hand to completely cover her body. Katrina struggles to no avail.
"Get out of my body! NOW!" I yell at Katrina.
"No!" She actually bites my finger.
I flick her. How can I get him out?
I get a huge idea. Maybe I could suck Sensu's life power out of my body by putting Katrina in the cage?
No, forget it. I'd destroy my body and the human world with that energy.
"………………………"
Now I have NO ideas. Oh, come on, there must be something! Maybe Sensu's power can suck out a spirit? Maybe? No, not that I can think of…then, I remember one of Sensu's other powers. He can read minds. Maybe Sensu's soul in my body knows something that I don't about this spirit exorcism. It's worth a shot.
I stare at Katrina's skull, and somehow, it works. I can read several jumbled up thoughts. I frantically search for something that could help me, and then I see a thought, written so clearly in the back of Sensu's mind.
There's no way she knows the spirit drain. She's too young.
Hallelujah plays in my mind.
That attack that Botan taught me! She said it would exorcise any spirit or…something else that I forget. Anyway, that means I really can exorcise Sensu, right?
I don't even hear my dad come up behind me for an ambush. He just yells, "Get your filthy hands off of my daughter!" Shocked from the sheer volume, I slip up and my dad gets me hard with a powerful right hook. Augh! His blows are deadly if I let them hit. And it doesn't even matter if I'm in the wrong body. I'll still die if the body dies.
He hits me again, and blood rains into my eyes. I roar and drop my guard to focus on the sacred words that will get Sensu out of my body, dropping Katrina in the process. She kicks me. Now I have both my dad and Katrina on me.
"Son-" Wham.
"RAO-" Wham.
God, this hurts, and I'm a hugely powerful demon. "Li-" OW!
"Te-" FUCK!
"Noi-" A huge kick.
"FAM-" AUGH! Another punch to my face!
"(Cough)—Yyawk." Blood pours from this nose.
They stop momentarily, wondering what's happening. One more word…
"KAN!" I point my/Sensu's finger at my body. Sensu-Katrina jumps.
I feel my spirit shoot out of this finger, hurling at my body. I can tell Sensu in my body senses me, but he can't get out of the way of a pure spirit. I am shot into my head, even though this violates most of Spirit Laws concerning astro-projection. God, if Botan hadn't taught me this one, I don't know what I'd do.
Then, I enter the darkness that is my head, and I wake up, opening my eyes and I realize I was on the floor. I get up, experiencing a wave of dizziness.
I can see my demon aura teeming with blue energy. It was because Sensu possessed me. I grew 2 inches when Genkai was controlling me. Sensu gave me all this power. And…he healed me a little in the process. I can walk again. That was why I saw myself running.
I hear a noise from behind me. The rightful Sensu has reclaimed his body and is shouting things in demon tongue at us, which I can assume do not include, "I love you." Judging by my father's look, I can tell that he understands perfectly well what he's saying. Also, Sensu can barely see because of all the wounds I let my dad inflict on him. For now, he's subdued until he can get the blood out of his eyes. I smile. He knows he can't take us both on. And so do I.
Now I know what I have to do. I can do nothing. But my dad can make a difference. He is a full-blooded demon. And he's my father.
Without hesitation, I grab my father's hand and start to channel all of the power Sensu gave me into him as fast as I can. My dad almost wrenches his hand away at the pain of so much power, but relaxes in the end. Slowly, my power leaves, and I get weaker and weaker, while he straightens and his skinny body inflates, and soft muscles become hard again.
But naturally, Sensu at the last minute realizes what's happening, and screams in a panic. He runs toward me, slamming into me with all the power he's got. I gasp, my grip on my father breaks, and I hit the cage's left dome behind me. I slide down it slowly, dilating in and out of consciousness again. But I won't fall asleep. I refuse to. I don't care how weak I am, or how much I want to. I have to see this end the way it was destined to.
The good guy always wins. This is how it should be. And this is how it will end.
Vaguely, I see a very blurry Sensu. He tries to freeze the time of my father like he did twice to me, but my father puts up such a strong golden shield that it makes my bubble look like the thickness of tissue paper. The attack bounces right off, and ricochets back into Sensu, leaving a smoking hole in his gut, and he gets a taste of his own medicine and freezes. Sensu watches my dad in horror, frozen in a pose like that of an opera singer. Good. My power indeed gave my dad everything he needed to finish this.
My dad just readies a huge ball of yellow-orange energy, gathering in power each second. A whirring noise starts up.
I hear in my head, in a voice of pure hatred, "Katrina, just remember, I'll always have that autograph. You know what that means."
Stop talking to me. I hiss in my head, and close my mind. But a huge headache grows in my head. Something in my head feels kind of different. He did something to me. I can feel it.
"Die, scum."
My father's cold voice sets off many things.
My dad's fireball gains power sixteenfold, and its diameter is actually wider than Sensu. It shoots point-blank out at Sensu, who still cannot move because of his own spell. Sensu and his huge body disintegrate into a pile of smelly ash and flame. The power echoes through the room.
I smile, and literally conk out. We did it…
What I think must be seconds later, my dad gives what little of his power remains to me. My aura becomes brighter, and I slowly gain back my stature, and stand, somehow. My dad goes over and offers me his hand, but I stand up on my own, only to get my elbow grazed by a rock of a falling ceiling. All that power must have weakened the entire building thoroughly, or something. I rub the cut elbow furiously.
My father looks at me and twitches his arms as though he wants to hug me, but decides against it. That's fine with me. I wouldn't have let him anyway. "Katrina…I—" He pauses. "The ceiling does indeed seem to be falling." He says calmly.
"Yes," I agree. I start to leave, but my eyes fall on the dead Lahri in spite of myself.
He looks and sees where my eyes are focused. "I'll get her. Now go."
"Okay." I run out of the long room, to find that it is much shorter than I initially thought it was. It was probably just an illusion my own fear or Sensu constructed for me.
I run down the hall to the door and kick it hard to bust it open. The dimension hole is gone, probably because of Sensu's death. They are all there; Botan, Touya, Kurama, and Hiei. They all look worried rather than glad, and they also look considerably more battered than when I left them last. I am such a sight they have every right to be concerned. I hope my robe doesn't look too red and wet.
"KA—TRI—NA!" Yells my brother. "I TOLD YOU TO STAY THERE!"
"And I did not stay there. What's your point?" I ask waspishly. I am not going to tolerate this scolding right now.
Botan puts a hand over his mouth. "Katrina, we had to face some real reinforcements back there, demons of all sorts, so we couldn't get to you in time. We didn't have the chance to even look at the dimension hole, which is—Oh God, look at you. All that blood…Are you all right? Are you about to pass out? Are you—"
"Dad's free, Sensu's gone," I say shortly, speaking very fast. "The top floor is collapsing and eventually all the other layers too, right down to this basement."
Kurama's eyes widen, and immediately, he starts to issue orders. "Okay. Touya, Hiei, and I will go get the prisoners out of their respective closets. Botan, just get out on your paddle—"
"NO PADDLE ANYMORE, REMEMBER?"
"On foot, then, go to warn the Spirit World of any repercussions. Katrina, get Jin and Mie."
Kurama avoids eye contact with me, and surprisingly, he handles himself very well, breathing deeply. We all run up the dark hallway, me at the very end of the line. As soon as we thrust open the door to Mie's room and open the door, the others run out the other side, to their various assigned destinations. I search for Jin, and my eyes land on spiky redhead in a toga in a corner. It's him, with Mie's head in his lap. She's no longer screaming. Her eyes are open and staring, like a blank slate. There is no longer a pupil. Just brown pits. Cloudy, mud brown circles.
"JIN!" I yell, and he doesn't seem to hear me.
I move closer to yell again, and notice her, in a very strange pose, as though… "Why does she look like that?"
As he upturns his head, I can see that his usually happy blue eyes are filled with pain. "I-don't know. I'm really worried about her. She's not responding to anything—"
At that precise moment, rocks start to fall from this one's ceiling too. Jin easily protects himself with a wind-shield like an umbrella over his head, but I have to dodge, in my beaten up state. At this point, my life is at stake. I so do not care what the hell he thinks right now. "MIE WILL BE FINE! SHE'S PROBABLY JUST TIRED OUT! NOW LET'S GO!"
"But—"
"DO YOU WANT TO GET SQUASHED? DO YOU NOT SEE THE ROCKS FALLING ALL AROUND YOU? COME HERE IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE AT ALL!"
"You spit on me." He mutters. He picks up Mie's limp form and conjures up a windstorm for us to fly in. I'm lifted off the ground by about three inches, and we speed ahead. The rocks are deflected off the top of the tornado.
After the passage directly before the room of Rhiharl, I can't believe it when we finally make it to the main floor. At this point, just when I start to relax, Jin conveniently runs out of energy and drops his windshield. After much scrabbling, bumping, panicking, and banging into each other, we get to the now-evacuated lobby. We hear more and more crashing from above, and watch support beams around us crumble as we run. Finding the wind for the final sprint, getting more and more tired, we find the entrance and charge at it. Every now and then we have to dodge the odd plank or rock from above, which doesn't help. This is how much God loves me, you know? Sends an evil demon after my blood and then sends rocks from "above" to try to crush me.
At least the demon guards seem to have all fled the collapsing building. Good. It causes less problems for us.
Jin, Mie, and I make it down to the area of the lobby right next to the door, where we meet up with Kurama piggybacking a snoozing Genkai, Touya supporting a partly conscious Yusuke by the arm, and Hiei somehow managing the giant sleeping Kuwabara, although not easily. Without saying anything, we all run out the doors and into freedom. Smelly, demon-infected freedom.
Solid, real freedom.
Pure freedom.
Life.
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A/N Hope you enjoyed. Please make your review encompass the entire fight scene! Tell me what you guys all thunked about it!