"Shampoo?" Cologne hopped on he cane into Shampoo's room, "Shampoo, are you there?"
The Amazon elder let out a frustrated sigh and went out of the house. Staring at the cloud filled sky, Cologne shook her head, "Damn that girl, disappearing like that when a Musk civil war is about to break out. We'll need all the warriors we can get if the wrong side wins."
A tall women holding a spear jogged lightly towards Cologne and stopped in front of her with a quick salute. Cologne nodded and waved her hand urging the women to speak, "Elder, the circle of leaders is waiting for you in the planning room."
"Damn that impatient child," Cologne growled, "Thank you, I am just heading there myself."
"The circle is getting worried elder," The women said following Cologne to the center of the village, "They have heard of the war between the Musk princes and a lot of them are wondering if we should interfere."
"Yes I know child," Cologne replied tiredly, "Ready our defenses, Musk wars are known to end in just hours from the start, notify all guards to be wary of any attack and set up a time table for the guards. Always set them in pairs."
"Yes Elder." The women saluted again and jogged off.
Cologne sighed again, "Why is this happening now…"
Act 1: Final Chapter… Part 1
Awakening…
"Herb, shouldn't we stop here and plan an offence into the city?" Ranma said cautiously from beside the Dragon prince, "If we just rush in, we'll get slaughtered."
"Don't worry yourself Saotome," Herb said, "The battle is not going to be fought into the Musk city itself, Spice is going to bring the fight out to meet us."
"How do you know that?" Ranma asked skeptically.
"This is his precious city, he won't allow it to come to harm." Herb said with a smirk, "Don't worry, I know how my brother thinks. That is to say, I know how Musk royalty thinks."
"Just like a dragon…" Kikori muttered from the other side of Herb, "Protecting their treasure, and to your family, this city must be like the irreplaceable gem that you will protect with your own life."
"Excatly." Herb nodded and waved his hands about, signaling his generals, "We'll wait here for Spice to come out."
Within minutes, Herb's army is in position, creating an arc of soldiers covering the large gate of the Musk city. "Saotome, please remember what I ask of you, keep an eye out for my brother and his trackers, my army may be strong, but the trackers can effectively weaken them. Take them out as quick as you can."
"Don't worry, just end this as soon as possible ok?" Ranma said casually, "I'll go over to the left side with Kikori, Ryouga and Mousse said that they will take the right."
"Yeah, don't worry about us." Ryouga said flexing his arms, "I'm a much better mage than Ranma is so you don't have to worry."
"Oh yeah! Remember what you said the next time I kick your sorry ass!" Ranma growled and waved his fist at Ryouga.
"Let us go Ryouga," Mousse said dragging the caller with him, "And try not to get lost in the middle of the fight ok?"
"I'm not that bad!"
Ranma shook his head, "Let's go Kikori."
Kikori bowed politely at Herb before following Ranma towards their chosen side.
"Spice… it's time to come out and play…" Herb whispered.
"Sire! Our guards have spotted Prince Herb and his army outside the city wall surrounding the gates."
Spice's eyes flashed blood red and growled, "Herb is no longer a Prince of the Musk, he is but a weakling and traitor of our proud nation!"
The guard shuttered at the voice of the Musk Prince, "Y-your orders sire!"
"Dispatch our troops, in defense of our city" Spice said calmly and stood up. His armor made small scratching noises from the metals, "I will take care of Herb, I want the army and my trackers to decimate Herb's feeble army of old men just as I will slaughter Herb."
"Yes sire." The guard stood up and saluted Spice, "For the preservation of the Musk."
Spice nodded, "So you think you can best me… Herb…"
Ranma licked his lips and looked around him. Musk veterans all standing in a relaxed but ready stance with their swords and spears at their hips, most of them eyed him and his partner with distrust. "Kikori, do you think you can manage to cast your rejuvenation spell on this half of the army? It would help them hold off Spice's army."
Kikori frowned in thought, "Maybe, but it would take some time and a lot of energy for me to do. Maybe some of the mages can help me with that."
"I seriously doubt it Kikori," Ranma replied with a shake of his head, "Most of the mages here are closer to Channelers and Spirit mages than Priests, I don't think they can help you much."
"But if I cast the spell and asked them to direct and strengthen it…"
Ranma scratched his head, "Hey, if we can do that, then they can probably hold off the trackers too!"
"Why don't you go ask them and I'll think of a way to do this…" The priestess said as she kneeled down onto the ground in a thoughtful pose.
The pig tailed mage nodded and made his way through the army towards the mages, "Erm, 'scuse me?"
The Musk mages turned their attention towards the Japanese mage.
"Umm, can anyone here understand Japanese?"
"We speak multitudes of languages, its part of our way of understanding how magic works." One of the mages said, "We've heard your idea and agree that this would help our troops significantly, but we don't know how we would be able to redirect the spells the way it needs to be."
Ranma scratched his head, "Well, if I get Kikori here maybe you can work something out with her?"
The Musk mages blinked and started talking with each other in their language for a couple of minutes before turning back to Ranma, "That would be most effective. But I am afraid that we might not have enough time to plan the execution of the spell."
"Well, do what you can, I guess." Ranma said before heading back to the front lines.
"The mages wants to work with you on that spell Kikori." Ranma said interrupting Kikori's train of thought.
"Oh… I'll go join them then." Kikori stood back up and made her way back.
Ranma sighed and sat himself on the ground staring at the gate leading to the Musk city. "I hope this will end soon. I need a vacation already and it's only been one serious mission."
A light prod from the butt of a spear snapped Ranma out of his daze. He looked up to see one of the soldiers holding a spear out at him saying some Chinese rapidly.
"Umm, it's ok, I don't need it." Ranma said shaking his hands and head in unison.
The soldier growled and pushed the spear into his chest saying something in Chinese again.
Ranma sighed and pushed it back, "I call forth the sword of wind."
The soldiers gasped as a green bar of magic erected itself from Ranma's middle and index finger, "See, I told you I don't need that."
The soldier stared at Ranma for a second before laughing mirthfully and slapped him on his shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up.
Ranma grinned in reply and dismissed his spell.
A loud creak sounded and everyone looked towards the gate.
The battle is about to begin.
Herb smiled solemnly as he watch his brother's army slowly walk out into the open, "But the true battle isn't even fought there. If I lose, all they are fighting for will be for naught."
The dragon prince took a deep breathe and walked to the side of the battlefield with his arms crossed, staring at the wall of the Musk city, "Come on out brother, or do you intend to keep me waiting…"
"Are you sure you can take the strain of the powers I'll channel?" Kikori said, frowning in worry.
"Do no worry yourself Priestess, if it turns out the power you channel is too much, we can always spare a few more of our mages to assist on the channeling and strengthening of your healing effect." The Musk mage said as he led Kikori to the point behind the army directly facing the front gate, "This will be the point where you will be casting, try to direct the lines of magic towards me and my apprentice and we will direct it towards the others."
Kikori nodded, "I'll start casting now."
The priestess took out her pendent and held it in front of her face, silently giving a prayer towards the Goddess of Healing. The pendent glows slightly and slowly gains intensity as the spell is slowly being cast by Kikori. The Musk mage watched as the magic build up; behind him, the battle between the two armies has already begun as the clash of steel sounded loudly.
The mage nodded to his apprentice, signaling him to be ready as a bright white beam of light moves slowly towards them.
Closer…
Almost…
Touch…
"AAHHHH." The apprentice screamed out loud overlapping the pain filled grunt made by the Musk mage.
"Priestess… STOP!"
Kikori opened her eyes and gasped from suddenly cutting off of the flow of magic, "What is wrong?"
The Musk mage shook his head in disbelieve, "It seems we have underestimated the amount of power you can channel priestess, my apprentice seems to be… unconscious due to the strain."
Kikori blinked and look down, "Umm… so can we still do this?"
"Most likely, but our army would be lacking a lot of magical support."
"…"
"I will call whatever mages we can spare and try this again."
The priestess gasp, "But wouldn't that weaken your army?"
"I trust our fighters, and we have mages of your caliber helping in the front lines too." The Musk mage chuckled, "I believe they can hold off Spice's army despite our weakened magical support."
Kikori nodded, "If you think so…"
Ryouga snorted as another wave of arrows reached the pinnacle of its arc and quickly descends towards him, "Fire golem, burn them all to ashes would you."
Beside Ryouga, a huge humanoid shaped mass of flames grunted and waved his hands at the arrows. The arrows are quickly burnt to ashes and sprinkled harmlessly on the army, "Light the arrows our archers are shooting on fire too. Keep doing this while I look for the trackers ok Fire golem?"
"Ryouga, the troops to the right of us doesn't seem to be doing too well. I'm going to see if the trackers are there." Ryouga turned towards Mousse's voice just in time to watch him jump off towards the center of the battlefield.
An arrow whizzed by Ryouga's head making the lost boy jump in surprise, "Golem, I thought I told you to burn any arrows coming down on us to a crisp!"
The fire golem grunted and pointed towards the top of the wall.
A man holding a crossbow pointed towards Ryouga, leaped down from the wall and quickly sprinted towards him.
"I'm guessing that was one of the track- YOW!" Ryouga barely dodged another two arrows coming at him at an angle, "Ok, that was FEW of the trackers. Oh man… I didn't sign up for this…"
Mousse frowned and threw another handful of exploding rocks towards Spice's army, "They're tougher than they look." The bespeckled imbuer muttered to himself before pulling out two enchanted blades from his sleeves, "Guess I'll have to fight seriously."
Within seconds, Mousse charged right into the opposing force and proceeds to kill soldier after soldier. His twin blade twirled wildly cutting everything that is in its way. Streams of magic, fire and ice, shot back and forth all around Mousse as he weaves around the soldiers trying to kill the male Amazon.
A loud shout from Mousse's left sounded, followed by a loud explosion which made the whole battlefield tremor. Not minding anything around him, the male Amazon made a stab with his sword to the left while slashing wildly with his other sword to the right. His blades went through the armor of his opponents like air as he continues to bring more chaos within Spice's troops. Another explosion sounded, much closer to Mousse, this time the amazon took a quick glance at the source of the explosion to find a single mage wearing a skin tight suit, with a fox tail sticking out from behind him, casting spells on top of the wall.
"Tch, that must be one of the trackers." Mousse grunted as he quickly parried a halberd from beheading him and chopped off the blade from the pole-arm and quickly kicked him with his bladed shoe right in the chest, "Have to get to him before he kills off any more of Herb's troops."
Mousse once again looked forward to see what was between him and his intended target. "This is going to be a long day…"
Ranma smirked as he glanced down as both armies crashing into each other. Arrows from Spice's army rained on his shield, "Let's get this over with, I call forth, the sword of wind!"
A green blade extended from the tip of Ranma's fingers. Holding his left hand up, he lift it towards the middle of Spice army, "I call upon the weapon of nature!" A ball of compressed air shot out from Ranma's palm, crushing the soldiers underneath him. The pigtailed mage immediately dived down towards the circle of dead soldiers and raised his hands in front of him again, "I call upon the breath of a demon."
Ranma exploded into motion, turning around and cutting anyone getting to close to him with his green blade of magic while throwing green balls of concentrated magic all around him. A spear tip grazed his face lightly. Ranma growled to himself as he did a spin kick, knocking back few soldiers getting too close to him, and cleaved the soldier who scratched him with his spear. More spear points came his way only to be stopped by a shimmer of air that appeared suddenly, breaking the metal point off the pole, "Time to meet death assholes, Fury of the earth, I call upon thy power." Ranma began muttering, "Lend me your strength and protect me from that which I cannot stop!"
Spice's soldiers around Ranma snarled and leaped into the air all at once, hoping to overpower the lone mage only to find themselves flung into the air even higher as Ranma completed his spell. Unrestrained winds bursted from the ground up all around Ranma, tossing hapless soldiers into the air like plastic bags in a small breeze.
"Wings of an angel, carry me." Ranma whispered, green transparent wings blinked into existence and vanished only a second later on his back. The pigtailed mage flew into the air once again, "What is Kikori doing! Where the hell is that regeneration spell she said she'd cast. Spice's mages are slaughtering our own soldiers!"
Ranma frowned and scanned the battle field again, "There's Ryouga's golem, can't see where Mousse is… What the hell IS Kikori doi- ack!"
A ball of fire interrupted Ranma as he quickly cast his shield spell, only to be still knocked back, "Wind and Fire! What the hell!" Ranma glared at the source of the fireball to find a man wearing a golden breastplate, holding a chinese long sword in his right hand standing with the archers. He held his hand up so that his palm was facing Ranma, a red ball slowly formed in front of him.
"Ok, that guy is going down." Ranma growled and quickly dove at the man from the sky like a falcon. The man released his fireball, only to have it be dodged by the still diving mage, and quickly held his sword up in front of him defensively.
"Take THIS!" Ranma yelled and brought his blade of magic down at the man. Said man smirked and casually held his sword up, its tip towards Ranma. A slight distortion surrounded the pigtailed mage suddenly, and suddenly, Ranma stopped in mid-air, losing all his momentum, and fell onto the ground with a panicked yelp. "Crap, channel class dispel magic."
Every archer immediately pointed their bows at the fallen mage and fired their arrow at him, "I CALL FORTH THE BARRIER OF SOULS!" Ranma crossed his arms in front of his face as he yelled out his spell. A green barrier appeared covering the front half of Ranma as arrows rained down at him. "Wind, you are the weapon of death!" Green crescents rushed forward and lacerated all that met its path. The archers all dropped their bows and drew their swords and charged the mage hoping to overwhelm him while the man in gold armor watched from behind began chanting. Ranma narrowed his eyes and jumped back before calling his blade again, this time extending from both his hands, and charging back at the soldiers. Swiftly, Ranma dodged an overhead strike of a sword, slashing two soldiers at once with his two blades and tackled the soldier in front of him onto the ground. Swords slashed at the mage, who dodged by flipping himself into the air and landing behind the group of soliders. "Wind is my walkway." The pigtailed mage quickly casted the spell on the small group of soldiers and smirked, "I forth the breath of a de-Oof."
Ranma breathed out sharply as he found himself being flung into the air, by the explosion of a fireball, over the battling army. Searing pain shot through his back. Only one thing went through his mind as he turned around to find the man in the golden breastplate only a few meters away from him. "SHIT!"
(Note: There are three types of dispels in this world, Channel class magic is a form of dispel that destroys spells or enchantments by overpowering them with brute magic force. Since Jusenkyo curses are so powerful, you need to either be a demi god or a dragon to magically overwhelm it with a Channel class dispel, hence, Ranma's own Jusenkyo curse is not affected by it.)
Ryouga cursed under his breath as the three trackers came at him at once, rushing past his fire golem with their superior speed, Damnit, looks like they've done this before. Time to call some backup…
"Child of earth, I call upon thee!" Ryouga shouted as he jumped back to avoid some a barrage of throwing knives the trackers threw. A yellow circle with a single triangle in the middle of it appeared on the ground where Ryouga jumped from. The earth cracked open, swallowing the knives embedded on the ground. A single stone hand reached out from the crevice lifting the rest of its stone body out from the earth. "Golem, separate and show them why people NEVER mess with golem callers…"
The trackers all landed beside the newly summoned rock golem, and together, they all jumped away as the golem scattered into little versions of itself. Ryouga smirked at the trackers as they dodged a torrent of arrows shot by Herb's archers, "Golem, spread out and slow those trackers down. Beat them up good if you can."
The small squad of mini golems grunted before chasing down the trackers, "Fire golem, keep destroying the incoming arrows and why don't you go and help our soldiers cause some mayhem." The fanged caller said with a grin and cracked his knuckles, "About time I get a good workout don't you think."
Ryouga growled and charged right up to the front line of the battle delivering powerful blows crushing armor and weapons alike from strength and toughness gotten by sparring with his golems. Spears and halberds tried to pierce him from all around only to be trapped between his arm and body and then efficiently snapped, making the weapon useless. Herb's troops around him screams their battle cry once more as them force themselves to push on against their opponent.
The fire golem swings his right hand effortlessly, smashing soldiers around him into the arm while lighting them up like a torch with the flames surrounding him. Men from both sides stayed away from the firey monster as it continues to smash and burn the opposition. A shower of arrows rained on the golem to have no effect. The golem continues to effortlessly create a hole in its opponent's army but is suddenly struck by a spear of ice in its right shoulder.
Ryouga grunted as a cold numbing pain shot through his shoulder, giving enough time for the soldier in front of him to thrust his spear through Ryouga's defense. Ryouga turned his body in a desperate attempt to avoid certain death but is still scratched on his shoulder. With a roar, the fanged mage lashed out with his left fist, crushing the offending soldier before retreating slightly letting the others fill in his place.
The same numbing pain shot through his chest, this time bringing Ryouga down on his knee, "Shit, my fire golem." Turning his head, Ryouga saw his fire golem being showered by shards and spears of ice. The fire golem took a step back, trying to lessen the effects of the ice spells. "Fire golem, go back!"
In a flash of flames, the fire golem disappeared from the battlefield. A rain of arrows fell from the skies immediately after the fire golem's retreat, a stray arrow pierced Ryouga through his thighs causing him to lose his concentration on his summons. With a grunt, Ryouga pulled the arrow out of his leg, "This sucks…"
A ninja star embedded beside Ryouga, making him jump away, avoiding the rest of the barrage. The three trackers sneered at Ryouga as they quickly converged on him.
"Ok… I was wrong… THIS sucks…"
Mousse growled again as he was forced to put away his twin swords and use his shield to block another incoming spell. "This is getting me nowhere."
As his muttering indicated, Mousse has only moved forward slightly from where he has started, and no where near the spell casting tracker, "Think… what do I have that can get him…"
A soldier with a flail swung at side of the shield, wrapping the chain around the side trying to hit the holder, but Mousse dropped said shield and pulled out his twin swords once again and quickly disabled three more soldiers in quick successions, "Chains… I can use my chains to pull myself to him!" Mousse grinned and launched his chains towards the wall that the fox-like tracker is standing on and pulled himself towards him.
The spell casting tracker raised an eyebrow at Mousse's daring move and chuckled. Mumbling quickly and gesturing with his hands, the tracker creates many arrows of fire around him and quickly launched them towards the Amazon.
Mousse gritted his teeth as the searing arrows struck him again and again…
Only to be surrounded by a blue light…
"Ok Priestess, we do not have much time, cast your spell quickly!" The Musk mage said as his colleagues moved into position.
Kikori nodded nervously and gripped her pendent tightly. Once again, Kikori chanted a prayer to her goddess and her pendent glows brightly within her hands. A blue beam of light shot out quickly towards one of the mages who divided it in two, then four, and many more until…
"Release the spell now!" The first Musk mage yelled.
The mages nearest to the fighting all raised their hands and a soft blue light slowly spread towards the fighting, healing the soldiers on Herb's side.
Kikori smiled, "It worked!"
The head mage nodded as sweat dripped down his forehead, "Yes, I've managed to manipulate you're spell so that it will be released periodically to keep our soldiers refreshed. Hopefully this will mean that casualties won't be high at the end of the fight."
Kikori nodded, "I have to go help Ranma."
"Go, he will need your help Priestess."
"Wings of an Angel, carry me!" Ranma muttered and quickly circled around the charging tracker, "I call forth the sword of wind!"
A green blade erupted suddenly from Ranma's hands right into the tracker's chest, "Sorry."
The tracker didn't make a sound as his corpse fell right onto his own soldiers.
"Gotta go back and help the others!" Pausing, only to deflect another barrage of arrows, Ranma quickly flew towards Kikori who is running towards the front line, "That idiot! What is she thinking!"
"Ranma!"
"What are you doing Kikori! Running out here without support!" Ranma chided his partner and destroys a spear that was aimed as his head.
"Herb's in trouble!" Kikori said quickly, casting a shield around Ranma and herself, "I think Spice is overpowering him!"
Ranma turned to the Musk prince to see him land roughly on the ground, "Damnit, we have to help him!"
Herb grimaced as he hit the ground once more from his brother's punch, "Damn, he's too strong!"
"HERB!"
"Get out of here!" Herb yelled without turning his head, "Drake FLARE!"
A ball of blood red magic launched from Herb's palm up into the sky where Spice is floating.
Without even a grunt, Spice easily dispels the ball of magic, "You MUST try harder brother…"
"Release!"
Spice huffed and swatted away the green ball of magic with little thought, "Another rodent to play with."
Herb growled at the spirit mage, "Didn't I tell you to take care of the trackers!"
"I don't plan on being executed with everyone else if you lose this battle Herb." Ranma replied, looking wearily at the elder dragon prince floating in the air, "And you look like you're taking a beating."
"I'll heal your wounds Herb." Kikori said holding up her pendent.
Herb sighed and got into a battle stance as Kikori casts a minor healing spell on him, "Let us attack my brother together then if you must insist on helping me."
Ranma smirked, "About time."
"Are you three done talking?" Spice sneered, "Or do you still need time to say your prayers before I incinerate all three of you?"
"Cocky bastard," Ranma muttered, "Spirits of wind, Stream from my hand!"
"Lizards BREATHE!"
Two streams of magic, one green, one red, flowed towards the insane dragon prince as he held out his hand, "Dragon Skin."
A wall of pure gold magic appeared and intercepted the two magic spell. The two spells exploded creating a flaming twister engulfing the intended target.
Herb growled and shot into the air towards his brother followed quickly by Ranma, glowing in green magic.
"Imbeciles!" Spice roared. His prison of fire disappeared. A clawing strike from Herb is blocked and countered with a throw knocking Herb right into Ranma before he even got a strike in. "Is this all you've got brother?"
Blue light surrounded the two attacking mages, giving them a burst of energy. "You're out numbered Spice, no matter how you look at it, you'll lose."
"Feh, you mean those two gnats that are helping you?" Spice sneered, "They are not strong enough to harm me."
Ranma growled and fired streams of needle like wind towards Spice and quickly followed behind with blades of magic extending from both his hands. Spice grunted as he took the spell in this chest, ignoring the pain and punched at Ranma. A quick dodge and the two blades immediately danced around Ranma leaving trails of green light behind them. Spice smirked as he blocked each strike with his bracer. Seeing as his attack ineffective, Ranma let himself drop down few meters before flying up at Spice again. A quick thrust of his magic blade was blocked followed quickly by a spin kick scoring a hit on Spice on his side.
"You are quite persistent." Spice commented as he backed off slightly.
"drake flare." Herb whispered from beside his brother. The spell exploded into a pillar of flame in mid air pushing Herb beside Ranma as he watched his brother burn in the inferno.
"Did that do the trick?" Ranma asked.
"If it did, then either my brother has grown weak in the past day or I've grown stronger than I thought." Herb replied.
Ranma frowned as the pillar of flame began to shrink. "Is that suppose to happen."
"No…"
"Crap."
Herb spared a quick glance at his temporary partner, "Be wary."
"FOOLS! You really believe that you can defeat me? I have tapped into the power of our blood brother! I wield the power of the great serpent of fire himself!" Spice grinned insanely as he held a ball of fire between his two hands, "You can not harm me with spells like these fool."
Ranma tensed as he watched his adversary rant, Can't charge him or I'll get burnt to a crisp, or will I…."
"Herb, cover me." Ranma said summoning his green blade of magic once again.
"Are you insane?" Herb hissed, "You'll get burnt to a crisp!"
"I'm a wind spirit mage, fire won't harm me." Ranma said confidently and charged towards Spice with his blade in front of him.
"Idiot." Spice muttered and with a roar, he release a stream of fire towards Ranma.
"I call forth the barrier of souls!" A plane of green magic spread from the sword like an umbrella, creating a cone like shield which split the stream of fire in two. The spirit mage continue to charge towards Spice aiming for his heart. The Musk Prince's eyes widened as he watched the green blade charging towards him. "It's OVER!"
Spice twisted sideways at the last moment, but not fast enough, the blade slide effortlessly through Spice's shoulder causing him to scream in agony. Spice savagely back handed Ranma in retaliation. "How DARE you!"
Spice watched his blood flow from the wound, "Blood… my power…"
"It's over brother!" Herb yelled, charging at his brother. His fist shot out but met with a red barrier right in front of his brother's face.
"Red… Blood… Power…" Spice muttered, his eye's blank, unaware of everything around him.
"FALL!" Herb growled punched continuously at the mysterious red barrier.
"… is unleashed…"
Everything seemed to slow down in Herb's eyes as the red barrier exploded outwards.
"Power… is here…" Spice whispered.
Herb gasped in fear as he stared right into his brother's eyes…
Pure red orbs…
"Blood beast… the blood has taken over…"
Ranma panicked as he found himself falling rapidly towards the ground courtesy of the insane Dragon prince. "Crap… shit… damn… AHH!"
"The wind is my walkway!" The air around Ranma gradually thickens, slowing his fall quickly. "Thought I was going to die…"
"…ounds are healed, limbs regained…"
Ranma turned to the quite chanting, "Kikori..."
The priestess opened her eyes and nodded towards her partner without pausing in her chanting.
The pigtailed mage smirked and looked up towards the sky.
"Now you will ALL DIE!"
Ranma groaned, "I thought I got him!"
Spice looked down at the spirit mage and narrowed his eyes. A single finger stretched out and pointed towards Ranma.
"You will die first."
Ranma's eyes widen. In under a second, a huge ball of fire appeared in front of Spice and is shot towards him.
"Kikori!"
"Almost done…" Kikori whispered.
Ranma grunted and crossed his arms across his face, "I call forth the barrier of souls!"
A green dome flickered into existence around the two Japanese mages just as the ball of fire was about to engulf the two.
"Almost done…"
Kikori closed her eyes once again and continued to concentrate on her prayer. The healing power of her goddess filled her body and into her pendent making it glow brighter and brighter.
It's done.
"Miracle class regeneration…" Kikori whispered triumphantly with a smile and opened her eyes.
Ranma stood in front of her with his arms crossed, protecting his face.
"Ranma!"
"…"
"ranma?"
The pigtailed mage stood silently, his clothes sported burn holes all over. Smoke rise softly from his still body.
Kikori took a step forward cautiously.
The still body fell back.
A gasp left the priestess's lips.
"ranma?" Kikori stared at the fallen body of Ranma, her lips dry, her hands shaking. "no…"
Kikori fell on her knees. The insane laughter that filled the battle ground, the screams of death and agony from the battling army, the silently prayers from Herb, all of these didn't reach the priestess's ears as she stared at her fallen partner.
"I can call him…" Kikori nodded to herself and placed the pendent over Ranma's chest. "You won't die… I'll save you this time…"
She began to chant…
Now most of you must be wondering: Where the hell have YOU been.
Well honestly, I just didn't feel like writing this chapter. I've written other stuff as you guys might have noticed, but I didn't felt like writing THIS story.
But since it's almost Christmas and all that, I figured, what the hell, maybe something will come up and since some of you seem to like this for some reason, might be a nice surprise.
So here it is! I'll probably finish Act 1 by the end of January (It only has next chapter left, then it's on to Act 2!) and you'll see the climatic ending of this battle! YAY! BTW… sorry if this isn't as good as my other chapters… this is the first time I've ever done big battles like these and well… I think I suck at them. Seriously… so I apologize before hand for the lack of quality and shit like that…
Anyways, enough about me, since I've been gone so long, and I'm sure there are some of you that come for the Omakes… Here we go! An OMAKE!
Omake My Precious! Omake
"Herb, shouldn't we stop here and plan an offence into the city?" Ranma said cautiously from beside the Dragon prince, "If we just rush in, we'll get slaughtered."
"Don't worry yourself Saotome," Herb said, "The battle is not going to be fought into the Musk city itself, Spice is going to bring the fight out to meet us."
"How do you know that?" Ranma asked skeptically.
"This is his precious city, he won't allow it to come to harm." Herb said with a smirk, "Don't worry, I know how my brother thinks. That is to say, I know how Musk royalty thinks."
"Just like that creepy thing from Lord of the Rings!" Kikori piqued.
CUT!
"What?" Kikori whined, "It's true!"
"Ok that's it, no more LotR marathon for you Kikori." Ranma muttered.
"Come on! You have to admit it! It's true!" Kikori continued to whine.
"Why did you HAVE to buy the DVD box set of LotR Bro?" Saiko asked with a sigh, "It has warped your girlfriend's mind."
"It was on sale! And it was YOU who told me to buy a good movie to watch!" Ranma shot back.
"Herb! You watched LotR right! You HAVE to admit that sounded exactly like that creepy thing!"
"No it didn't."
"You don't HAVE to buy THAT!"
"But it was cheap!"
Ryouga sighed, "Damnit… I only come on once to get my assed kicked by faceless goons and now I have to listen to them whine… I hate this story…"
Mousses shrugged from beside Ryouga, "Too bad it's a Ranma ½ fic and not a Ryouga ½ fic huh?"
Omake End Omake
No I didn't buy a LotR DVD box set… I swear to god those things are cursed! They steal souls!
ANYWAYS… other than my insane claims (So say my friends…THEY ARE CURSED!) any comments? Suggestions? Flames? Or even screams of agony and pain to get me to stop writing? Use the nifty button right down there! And most importantly! Good luck on all the exams for those of us still in school/college/University, and a happy Christmas! Hopefully I'll manage to get something out before new years… but like usual don't wait for it p