Chapter Five
During lunch, Misao and Blood sat out looking at Death City from a bird's eye view. Misao was enjoying some tuna rolls, pork buns and some fish while Blood had some miso soup. In the middle of their lunch, Spirit approached them. "So here you two are." They both turned around and stared at him. "Lord Death wishes to see you. He has an assignment for the two of you." Once Misao heard that, she threw her food away and headed for the Death Room. Blood followed, finishing the rest of his soup.
"What do you think our assignment is?" she asked Blood.
Blood saw that Misao had a blank look on her face. But he could see that inside, she was excited to finally go out and do some damage. He just sat back, smiled and answered her question. "Whatever it is, I'll bet it'll be fun for you."
"I guess so." They finally arrived to the Death Room, where Lord Death was waiting for them.
"Hello there Misao and Blood. How are you?" Lord death waved at Misao and Blood as they approached him and stood in front of him.
"We're doing fine, sir." Blood answered. "Spirit said you had an assignment for us."
"Of course, allow me to explain." He turned to the mirror behind him and let a vision of a small village appear in the reflection. "This village is known as Hilltop Town because of its magnificent scenery. There's a hill that has a beautiful view of the village that makes it look like a map. Anyway, something has happened within the seems that has caused the villagers to hide inside of their homes."
"Any idea what's causing them to stay secluded in their homes?" Misao asked.
"Actually, I don't." Lord Death answered. "That's precisely why I'm sending you two to investigate and stop whatever entity that has plagued this town."
"We won't let you down, sir." Blood said.
Misao began to walk away. "Come on Blood. Let's head out now." Blood followed behind her and left Death City.
When they arrived to Hilltop Town, the entire town was absolutely deserted. Misao peeked through the windows of several empty shops. "It's more deserted than I thought." Misao said, picking up a lost rag doll covered in dirt and twigs.
"Then it'll be hard to get any information from anyone." Blood said.
"No it won't. Check it out." Misao pointed straight across to an old man running for his life, sweating and panting in fear. She got in his way, stopped him and grabbed him by the collar. "Hey old man, what's going on in this place? Why does this town look like a hell hole?"
"P-Please let me go! I have to get out of here!" the old man begged.
"Excuse me, but what are you running from?" Blood asked.
"From…him!" They all looked up to see a man falling from the sky, and landing a few feet in front of them.
The man struggled to get out of Misao's grip and ran away as fast as he could. Blood ran straight to her side. "Are you the one steeling the souls of these villagers!?" she asked, pointing at him.
The man grinned from ear to ear and began chuckling. "Don't tell me, you two are from the DWMA." He said. "Then this won't be that fun at all."
'Something's off about this guy.' Misao thought to herself as she observed the man. "Tell me who you are!" she demanded.
The man laughed out loud, and put on a creepy smile. "Where are my manners? The name's Giriko. I have the pleasure of taking you to my master."
"Master?" Misao didn't know what he meant by that.
Before she could ask, Blood spoke out first. "What master are you referring to?!"
In the blink of an eye, Giriko rushed Misao and Blood, attempted to attack them. But Blood reacted, quickly grabbing Misao and jumping out of the way just in time. "Wait a minute. He's…a weapon!" Misao exclaimed. They looked up and stared at the blades that were coming out of his legs. "He's a chainsaw!"
"You're a weapon with no meister?" Blood asked, setting Misao down, but staying very close to her.
Giriko laughed hysterically. "Boy, nothing gets by you. You got it, I'm a weapon. I get to call the shots. In my opinion, a meister will only hold you back! Weapons are the ones with the true power. Why don't you try it for yourself? You'll unlock powers you never knew you had!"
"Shut up!" Misao exclaimed, stepping forward. "I don't want to hear another word come from your mouth! A meister and weapon stand by each other in battles! They rely on one another for power and strength. If you think meisters are weak human beings, then you've got a lot to learn! Blood, transform now!"
"Right!" Blood transformed into a spear and flew into Misao's hands. "Let's take him down!" Misao gripped Blood tightly in her hands and charged straight at Giriko, who stood there with a smug look on his face.
"Huh, looks like this is gonna be fun after all! Show me what ya got, girlie!" Giriko let the blades around his legs and feet spin rapidly and charged at Misao.
"You're gonna be sorry you ever messed with me." Misao jumped in the air the moment Giriko got close to her. She managed to get behind him and attack him from behind. He took on minimal damage and got right back up, taking the fight to the sky. Misao blocked his endless razor kicks and finally managed to push him back and send him hurling towards the ground. "Is that all you've got?" she chuckled.
"Don't let your guard down, Misao! He's stronger than he looks." Blood warned her.
"Don't worry about it. We'll get this done, then got back to the academy to grab some food."
"You're gonna have to hit harder than that!" Giriko got back on his feet and wiped the dust from his face. "I actually have to congratulate you. No one's ever been able to lay a single scratch on me. You're the first!" He rushed at Misao again with incredible speed. Misao tried to make a blow at him, but he was too fast. Giriko was able to grab Misao by the neck, and throw her into a building with great force.
"Misao, are you okay?" Blood asked.
Misao coughed up a few drops of blood before answering. "Yeah, I'm still in one piece." She wheezed. "This guy is tougher than he looks. But we can't give up." Misao staggered back on her feet, and tried to keep her balance.
"Giriko, that's enough!" A voice echoed from the skies. They all looked up to see a dark-skinned man; about two shades darker than Misao, descend.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Giriko asked. "I called dibs on fighting this battle!"
"The master merely sent me to retrieve you. We've collected all the souls from this town, so our work is done for now."
Misao could hear Giriko growl out of pure anger as he retreated without a word.
After he did, Misao stepped up and addressed the dark-skinned man. "Wait a minute! Just who are you people, and who is this master you keep talking about?"
The man chuckled as he stared at Misao up and down. "You'll know everything soon enough. I'm not allowed to spoil the surprise." With those words, he retreated faster and more swiftly than Giriko.
Blood changed back to his human form. "I have a bad feeling about this." He said.
"Me too. To make things worse, all the souls of this innocent town were taken because of us. We couldn't save them."
Once they returned to DWMA, Blood reported their mission to Lord Death while Misao stayed locked up in her room, letting the guilt grow inside her, manifest and eat her away.
"I see, so you believe this man was stalling you until his partner gathered all of the human souls in the village?" Lord Death asked.
"Yes sir." Blood answered. "I also believe that they work for a higher power. They mentioned something about reporting back to their master."
"This could be very serious, Lord Death." Spirit said, a little uneasy with Blood's report.
"I'm more worried about this so called 'master'." Stein added. "I wonder who their master is."
"That's what I want to know." Blood said. "I'm also concerned about Misao. She hasn't left her room since we got back. She feels like she let many people down. I feel the same way."
"It's not your fault." Lord Death assured him. "This just means that we must prepare for the worst, and be ready for anything. For now, Blood, you should look after Misao. If she doubts herself, you should be there to cheer her up."
"Thank you, Lord Death. I'll go now." Blood walked out of the Death Room, head filled with many questions that also were connected with the fate of Misao. He became afraid of what was going to happen to her, and if he would be able to gather the strength he needed to protect her. "Misao, it's me. How are you feeling?" He closed the door behind him and sat next to her on the bed, staring at Misao as she buried her face in her pillow and sobbed silently.
"We let…all those people die." She whimpered softly. "It's the same as our village. I wasn't strong enough to protect everyone, when the Kishin decided to destroy it."
Blood lifted her up and held her in his arms to comfort her. "What happened back then was not your fault." He assured her. "No one ever blamed you. They were happy at the fact that you came to their rescue and fought your hardest to save them."
"You don't get it, Blood!" Misao pushed away from Blood and scooted away from him to where her back hit the wall. "Millions of people were killed because I was weak! I vowed I would never let anything like that happen ever again. That's why we're here." Blood sat on the bed, watching Misao fall apart in front of his eyes and letting the past return to her and eat her from the inside. This was another thing the Kishin was going to pay for. Blood swore this on his very life. "Blood, I'm sorry." Misao apologized softly. "I didn't mean to take my anger out on you. Everything that's going on right now is just…too much for me to handle. I can't deal with this by myself."
Blood lifted her chin up and looked right into her eyes. "You know you'll never be alone, as long as I am her by your side." Misao lost herself in Blood's eyes and began seeing how her emotions were hurting him more than anything else. "As your weapon partner and your knight," he got off the bed, knelt down on the floor and bowed to Misao. "I swear to be by your side till the very end, and give my life to protect yours."
"Blood…thank you." Misao stood up in front of him, and commanded him to rise from the ground. "I'll make a promise too; a promise to fight with everything I have and never give up no matter the situation."
Author's Note: I don't know if anyone got this vibe as they read it, but as I was writing this chapter, by the time I stopped and read back at it, I realized that I had made Misao a complete bitch lolz. But looking through other chapters after this, I figured I'd make it part of her personality since she's going through a rough time and has several issues.
Again, it might just be me ^^
Please R & R ^_^