- Ryu -
The endless void.
A single consciousness set adrift through a sea of endless nothingness, endless darkness.
A speck in the cosmos.
A sound not heard.
Was this death? An endless void? Nothingness forever?
Was this the place in between? Where souls travel to the other side or get lost forever?
Was it collective or solitary?
Or perhaps this was the collective consciousness. Where souls go when consciousness is lost. When you go to sleep when you slip away from the physical.
Through the murky darkness, a shinning light emerged, a pinprick in the impenetrable blackness. A phenomenon that was impossible, nothing existed here. But now something did.
It grew in size. Cutting through the darkness, but never illuminating the void.
Shape formed in the blur of light. It was getting closer, not bigger. A girl's form etched in the light, or rather the light was emitting from the girl.
She reached out her hand, Ryu took it.
Ryu's eyes flew open and he jumped to his feet. He felt his chest, the stab wound was gone. He looked at his arm, the thin cut from was gone as well. He was full of energy, he felt better than he had in days.
He struggled to remember what was happening. He was fighting Nyx, he was beaten, he was dead? But now he wasn't? Momiji!
Nyx was standing over Momiji, her eyes closed, chanting. His dragon sword was raised in her hands.
Before he could make a move, Momiji's body started hovering on the coffin. A light emitted from her chest, the eye of the dragon emerged from the light.
Suddenly the ground shook, throwing Nyx off balance. Momiji slumped back on the alter, the light from her chest fading. The eye of the dragon still suspended in the air.
The ground rumbled again, Momiji's entire body started glowing with a white light.
"What?! No!" Nyx shouted, she took a step back, a look of mingled horror and outrage on her face. "You cannot intervene old man!"
She rose the dragon sword to strike, but before she could hit Momiji with the blade, her cursed knife that was still impaled in her Momiji's stomach, shattered. Energy rippled out from the blade sending Nyx flying off her feet. The dragon sword clattered to the ground.
A man was standing next to the altar, his body was translucent, glowing with white light.
"You're powerless old man!" Nyx roared.
She blasted the man with energy, but it had no effect. Faster than Ryu could process, the man was standing in front of the altar, then he was standing in front of Nyx. He grabbed her by the throat, he hurled her with so much force she crashed through the wall on the far end of the temple, she sailed down the mountain plowing down trees in her wake.
The man turned back to Ryu, he smiled, then vanished.
After being utterly bewildered for a moment, Ryu came to his sense and rushed to the alter. Momiji's wounds had been healed, her expression was peaceful. Her eyes fluttered open, she focused on him and she smiled.
"Ryu..."
Ryu lowered his mask, he bent down and pressed his lips to hers.
After a few seconds he broke away, "Are you alright?" He asked, stroking her face.
"I'm fine," Momiji said softly.
Suddenly an explosion and a rage-filled howl came from down the mountain, interrupting the two.
"I think we should save this for later, we have a goddess to kill," Momiji said.
Ryu picked up his dragon sword, Momii handed him the eye of the dragon and the two raced down the mountain. Fiends still crowed the staircase, but with Momiji by his side, the cure healed, and his energy restored. They were handled swiftly and with ease.
In the courtyard, Rachel was finishing up the remaining fiends. Smoldering bodies covered the area, the giant grand fiend's body laid in one corner, it's head did not.
"Took it long enough," She said to Ryu as she smashed a fiend with her war hammer.
There was only a single fiend left. Rachel picked it up with two hands, after spinning in a circle, she launched it in the air. Momiji leaped high in the air, bringing her knee up she met the demon in the air. They came crashing down to the ground, Momiji landing on top of it. Rachel dashed forward, she brought her heel crashing down on the demon's skull. Its head exploded.
"Glad to see you okay, kid." She said to Momiji, placing a hand on Momiji's shoulder.
"Have you seen Nyx?" Ryu asked.
"Ha!" Rachel snorted. "Whatever that explosion was up at the temple sent that bitch crashing right down in the village somewhere."
The three started running towards the bridge that connected to the rest of the village. "Hayate is here, and he's brought reinforcements." Rachel said.
They ran down the hall, down the short hill, and on to the bridge.
Ayane was holding off more fiends, Kasumi was with her. With the assistance of the two ninjas and the fiend hunter. The remaining fiends were eliminated.
"Hayate is holding off Nyx," Ayane said. Pulling her knife out of a demon's neck.
"She looked mad, we need to hurry," Kasumi said.
They ran over the bridge, along the cliffside, and past destroyed houses, dealing with any straggling fiends.
Hayate was holding off Nyx single-handedly, fiends and Mugen Tenshin clan ninja's fought throughout the village. Two helicopters hovered in the air, agents rained bullets down on fiends.
"DOATEC' was emblazoned on the sides.
Omitsu, along with the surviving Hayabusa clan ninjas were raining arrows down on fiends. Some were in the fray.
Hayate was doing a surprisingly good job of holding Nyx off. He weaved and dodged, avoiding all of Nyx's energy blasts, getting close enough to get a quick slash or jab in on the goddess before backing up before she could lash out at him.
Nyx was becoming increasingly frustrated with the ninja, rage etched her face. They noticed the group at the same time, a look of relief at was on Hayate's face whereas Nyx got even angrier.
With a rush of energy, Nyx sent a shockwave sending Hayate flying backwards. She charged at Ryu, he ran forward to meet her.
She lashed out with her talons as Ryu swung his sword. As soon as nail hit steel a shockwave of energy rippled out from the collision. Nyx stumbled back a few steps.
She glared at the eye of the dragon plated on the grip of his sword. She smirked, "I guess I should thank you for bringing the eye of the dragon to me. It saves me the trouble of having to fetch it."
Nyx hovered in the air, encasing herself in encircling black runes. She starting chanting, her voice echoing through the village. Fiends melted out from the folds of her robes. She grabbed the jewel around her neck and shouted an incantation. Two grand fiends formed out of the darkness.
Nyx rained ninpo blasts down from the sky as the new wave of fiends surged on the group.
Hayate and Rachel took on one grand fiend together. The combination of Hayate's swift powerful strikes and Rachel's blunt force was enough to keep the monster at bay. Ayane and Kasumi took on the other one. The monster simply wasn't fast enough to catch the two Kunoichi. Every time it tried to strike one of them, they would be long gone, attacking another portion of its body.
Ryu and Momiji took on Nyx.
Momiji encased them in a protective barrier as Nyx rained ninpo blasts from the sky. She shot straight out of the sky at the two, she struck the shield with tremendous force, but Momiji held fast.
"Hold," Ryu said. Momiji kept the barrier up.
She began to strike the shield repeatedly, a manic look on her face.
"Now!" Ryu shouted. Momiji's barrier shattered, sending shards of energy flying into Nyx's face. The goddess stumbled back, the shards flying into her face.
Before Ryu could attack her, the ground split in front of him and a wall of purple fire erupted between them, forcing him to take a step back. Nyx flicked shards out of her face, black blood spilled out of wounds on her face. The blood mixed with the look of fury on her faces made her look grotesque.
The ground around her feet trembled and cracked as she howled with rage.
Ryu attacked, he hit her with strike after strike, which the goddess would parry with her long talons. Every time Nyx would try to counter-attack, Momiji would blast her with ninpo.
Stepped backwards, Nyx grabbing the jewel around her neck. Another wave of fiends melted out of her robes. Momiji dealt with the group of demons.
Ryu charged at Nyx. He continued to attack the goddess, not giving her a chance to breathe. They went back and forth until they were both breathing heavily. They were at a standstill.
Nyx reached for the jewel once again, Fast as lightning, Ryu dashed at the goddess, aiming a strike at her face. She easily sidestepped the blow.
"You missed," She grinned.
Ryu held up the broken shards of the purple jewel that had been around her neck, he let the shards fall to the ground.
Nyx's grinned turned to a look of horror as the shards fell to the ground. She shuttered violently, black smoke started drifting out of her robes. She screamed and the black smoke shot into the sky. The souls she had imprisoned within the fabric were freed, she couldn't feed off their energy anymore.
She charged at Ryu, but with most of her power drained away. She was no match for the dragon ninja. With one clean thrust, Ryu impaled the goddess through the chest.
She collapsed to her knees. Black blood trickled from her eyes and the corner of her mouth, she retched and gargled trying to form words. Her eyes burn with intense hatred.
"Filthy parasite," She spat. "I will eviscerate your entire bloodline, I will drag your soul to the pits of hell, I will..."
With one clean chop, her words were cut off, along with her head.
- Momiji -
After Nyx was defeated, the remaining fiends scattered. Missing people started turning up all over the place, The Hayabusa village, the Mugen Tenshin, Tokyo. None of them had any memories of what happened. Once the jewel she was using to convert human energy to power was destroyed, she couldn't keep all those souls imprisoned anymore. Her power was broken.
The sun was rising over the Hayabusa village. The last of the Hayabusa villagers were being accounted for. Omitsu was taking care of the ones wounded in the battle.
"Saved by divine forces?" Hayate scoffed. Ryu and Momiji had just given him the rundown of what had happened at the temple. They were standing in a clearing within the village, the DOATEC helicopters were getting ready to take off.
Hayate looked in bewilderment at Ryu, "You must be the luckiest person I've ever known."
Ryu shrugged.
"Master Hayate arrived at the perfect time," Ayane said. "Rachel and I were about to be overwhelmed."
"The real thanks belongs to Helena," Hayate said, gesturing to the choppers behind him. "She sends her regards by the way. I wish we could stay, but we have our own clan to clean up."
The ninjas bowed to each other. Hayate, Ayane, and Kasumi boarded one of the helicopters and they were off.
"Not me," Rachel said. "I could do with some dinner and rest." She said with a pointed look at Ryu.
He smiled, "I'll have someone show you to somewhere you can stay," He said.
"Thank you, if the food's good enough I might stick around to help you clean up this mess."
Rachel walked off. Momiji was about to follow her when Ryu took her hand, "Can we talk?" He asked, his green eyes piercing hers. She nodded.
He took her just outside the village, the two sat together alone. They didn't speak about what happened back at the Mugen Tenshin clan, they didn't need too.
"I think I was dead," Ryu said.
Momiji gave him a questioning look.
"Before Grudu saved both of us, I was done, Nyx beat me."
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure, It felt like nothing. But I think I remember someone else being there, pulling me out. Then I woke up, healed." Ryu said. He gave her a meaningful look.
Momiji stared at him, "Me? But I don't remember anything like that."
"I can't shake this feeling... Anyway," He took both her hands in his. "When you went missing, I went a bit crazy. I thought I lost you. I realized that's the one thing I still fear."
"And when I thought Nyx killed you..." He didn't finish the sentence.
He brushed his lips against her hand. "You're the only one I can't lose. So, please stay by my side."
"I was already going to do that, Master Ryu," She said softly.
His brow furrowed. "That's not what I..."
Momiji leaned in and kissed him, cutting his sentence off. "I know what you meant." She smiled, lacing her fingers around his neck.
They sat together for a while. Until Ryu decided to go back and get some rest. They would be very busy rebuilding the village.
Momiji stayed behind, watching Ryu walk back to the village. She thought about what her sister had told her. She decided against telling him what Kurhea had said, she knew him too well. Knowing she didn't blame him wouldn't stop him from blaming himself.
Kureha had told her to look after him. Momiji stood up, she smiled and started walking back to the village.
One way or another Ryu would find his way, he would learn to forgive himself. And she would be there with him, keeping her promise to her sister.
Where the two ninjas had been sitting, watching Momiji walk back to the village, a man sat. He smiled as his simple gray robes drifted in the breeze.
In a blink of an eye, he was gone.