Chapter 26: Meditation

Morning came sooner than expected, and all but Adrian and Katrina were preparing to hike out to a remote area to train.

"Remind me again," said Calvin, just entering the room, "where are you going?"

"Raidens Sky Temple," said Katrina, gearing herself up, "because maybe a day of meditation could help me with the rating game." Calvin nodded respectfully, and turned to Rias,

"Madam President, I don't suppose you know any engineers, do you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because," said Calvin, withdrawing a sheet of paper from his pants pocket, and spreading in onto the coffee table, "I managed to get in touch with a friend of Cole MacGrath last night, and when I told him of my abilities, he emailed me this, and it will be a lot more useful for blocking than my forearms, and could help me focus my power better." The paper had what looked like blueprints for a metal weapon, the name "Zeke" written in the bottom corner. "It's called an Amp." Rias smiled, and took the paper,

"I'll see what I can do," she said. A bolt of lightning then appeared in the room, and Raiden appeared before them, with Katrina approaching him.

"Katrina, Goddess of War, are you ready to meditate at the Sky Temple?" He asked.

"Yes Lord Raiden, I am ready," she said. She turned to her friends, "Take care, all of you, I will be back in a day," she said, laying a gentle kiss on Calvin, and was teleported away with Raiden.

Soon she was at a Shaolin style temple, with no one but a handful of monks inhabiting the halls.

"Welcome to my sky temple," said Raiden, and gestered to a spot on the floor in front of an open balcony. Where he pointed was a meditation mat, and a handful of candles, already lit. "I've taken the liberty of preparing a place for you to meditate. Feel free to take all the time you need." He then left Katrina alone in the room, giving her a chance to inspect the room as she set her bag down. She then kneeled onto the mat, resting her hands on her lap, closed her eyes, regulating her breathing, almost on the brink of meditation, when she felt a pain in her abdomen, making her hands fly up to it, cringing in pain, and brought her hands up, seeing blood,

No, not here, not now! She thought to herself, recieving a painful flashback to that night she fought Shao, the pain she felt then returning to her now.

"Still letting the past haunt you?" Katrinas' eyes shot open, seeing she was no longer at Raidens' Sky Temple, and was now in a long exspanse of land, seemingly made of obsidion. She looked up, seeing a large muscular man with red tattoos and a brown fur kilt, but two things stood out the most to the young Goddess; he was wielding her Blades of Exile, and his skin was ash gray, just like her. She gasped, knowing who it was,

"Kratos!" Surprised to see him was an understatement for Katrina, even more so when Kratos brought the bridge of his foot up and cracked her in the chin, sending her sliding across the obsidion ground. She leaned up, clutching her chin as the massive spartan approached her,

"You are haunted by your past, yet you have no idea how to use it," growled Kratos, flaring his blades to life. Katrina tried to reach for Soul Reaver, but it was no longer on her back,

"I'm afraid you won't be using my sword for this fight." Katrina turned around, seeing a humanoid monster, with greenish gray skin, long white hair, razor sharp vampire teeth, black leather pants, six talons in place of his hands, and a flowing red cape, hooked around his torso with a leather strap and a snake-like medallion. Katrina didn't like the look of him, and rose to her feet, keeping Kratos in her peripheral vision,

"And just what sort of creature are you?!" Demanded Katrina. The monster then placed his claws in front of himself, revealing Soul Reaver right in front if himself, the tip of the blade piercing the ground, keeping it upright at the monster rested his claws on the end of the hilt.

"My name is Kain, and I wielded this blade before Shao stole it from me." Katrina stared at the monster with wide eyes, and noticed something different about the Soul Reaver; it looked less lively, as if it was missing some sort of life essence.

"If you're wondering why the Soul Reaver looks as different as it does," said a third voice, and next to Kain appeared a blue creature, practically skin and bone, with hands similar to Kains', messy black hair, glowing solid green eyes, and a brown scarf covering the lower half of its face, "it is because I am not residing in the blade." Katrina cringed at the sight of the creature,

"Who or what the fuck are you?"

"My name is Raziel. I was once a vampire, then I became a wraith, thanks to Kain," he turned a glare to the red caped monster, and turned back to Katrina, "and in the end, I became the monster that is doomed to live inside Soul Reaver forever."

"If that's really the case, how are you here now?"

"I'm here to either help you...or hinder you...either is up to you." Katrina, with no weapons to defend herself, simply raised her fists, ready for an attack from any of the three. Kratos then bounded for her first, blades fired up and swinging on their chains, and Katrina backflipped away from him, but on her last flip she stopped in midair, not by her own accord, and saw Kain keeping one of his hands raised, and she quickly figured out he was using telekinesis. She then saw Raziel leaping towards her now, a light blue spectral sword in his grip, mirroring the Soul Reaver, and preparing an overhead slice to her abdomen, and with no way to block, she had no choice but to take the strike, leaving a cut on her abdomen, and slamming her onto the black obsidion that is the ground. She didn't have time to writh in pain as she had to roll out of the way of Kratos slamming his blades into the ground where she was not a second ago. She tried to keep her guard up, but she had to dodge yet again as Raziel tried to swing his Spectral Reaver, glowing with a yellow light, at her neck, just barely missing, and snagging the top button of her Kuoh Academy uniform, and leaving a small scratch at the top of her chest. Katrina yelped from the shock, and found that the wound left a burning feeling on her chest. She looked at Raziel with utter shock,

"That...that Reaver was made of light!"

"This Reaver can do many things," said Raziel cryptically. His Reaver then turned dark purple, and a matching smoke appeared all around, with Raziel dissappearing in the smoke. Katrina looked around, trying to find him, but saw nothing.

"So what kind of power is this?" Asked Katrina, waiting for a sneak attack, and a pair of yellow eyes appeared behind her,

"The Dark Reaver!" Katrina spun around, but spun too late as the Spectral Reaver sliced into her side, making her limp, and she backed right into Kain, who went for an overhead strike, but she dodged, the sword only slicing the front of her uniform, exposing herself as she leapt away as best she could. She was now running out of breath, and she was spun around by Kratos, who planted his blades into her shoulders, tearing muscle, cracking bone, and spraying blood. Kratos tore the blades from Katrina, and she knealt onto the ground, her arms hanging limply from her body.

"You have been bested. Not just by me, but by a walking disease." Katrina knew who he was speaking of, but couldn't bring herself to speak. "You fell for a pathetic mortal who wishes he were as powerful as Zeus, you turned yourself into a demon to save yet another pathetic mortal, and above all else, you let some bounty hunter take the life of your child!" Katrina felt the harsh words of Kratos, like flaming arrows through her heart. "All that pain inside you, and no idea how to use it," said Kratos, and he brought his blades to her neck, aiming for a decapitation, but was stopped. A pair of gray hands kept the blades at bay, and Katrina rose up, what remained of her clothes burning away, replaced by her spartan armor. She glared at Kratos with a look that made him raise an eyebrow,

"Say what you want about me, my friends and family, but you should know, I...am...the GODDESS OF WAR!!" She then yanked the blades away from Kratos, and tossed them up so she had them by the hilts, and planted one in his shoulder, and sweeped out his legs with the other, turned and caught Kains sword in the blink of an eye, and redirected it into the abdomen of Raziel. Raziel then vanished into the sword, giving it its' more lively appearance, snatched it out of Kains' grip, and sliced him in half from groin up. She then turned to Kratos, who was returning to his feet, and threw the Soul Reaver at him, piercing his heart. She then dashed for the brute, and landed a perfect flip kick to his jaw, making him land on his back. She tore Soul Reaver from his chest, and with a fluid-like movement, sliced off the left arm of the God of War. She repeated this with his right arm, left leg, and finally his right leg.

"You say I don't know how to use my pain? How's this?" She dropped Soul Reaver, straddled Kratos' chest, and began to hammer away at his face, going on and on and on until she was only seeing red, not even caring if Kratos was nothing more than a bloody pulp on her fist. She was finally done after what felt like forever, whiping the blood from her face, but to her surprise, Kratos was gone, as was Kain, the Soul Reaver, even the obsidion ground had changed to a piercing white. She stood, more confused than ever. "Now what?"

"You're here with me." Katrinas' eyes widened, ever so slowly turned, and saw a figure she didn't expect to see ever again.

"Mom?!"