Chapter 18: Death of An Angel, Birth of Another
Krad, or should I say, Kokuyoku, seemed to not heed of the girl way on the ground. Instead, his mind raced with many thoughts of revenge and bloodshed. This forced him to fly to the nearest city for him to continue his slaughtering, the one he had started so long ago. Taking off in flight, he sped off into a city in the distance. Nothing could stop the monster that would begin taking the lives of innocent people.
Kimi stared wide-eyed as he sped off. She couldn't believe it. Dark was gone, gone for good. Silent tears rolled down her eyes.
"Nooo! This can't be happening! Dark can't be gone!" she yelled at herself. "I can't believe I let him die!" She slammed the ground with her fist, her arm covering of white getting dirtied by the dirt. "No…" Her mind boggled with so many mixed emotions that she had lost track. Which was which? Out of nowhere in her mind, a surging pain erupted. It came from the base of her hand and up her arm; she noticed that her hand had slammed a mirror-like object, which hadn't shattered a scratch. In fact, there was absolutely no nick of crack in its smooth surface.
"What the—ack!" She felt a pain erupt from her back at the middle of her spine; it pushed against her skin, trying to find its way out. "What's going on?!" she asked through gritted teeth, and then, from her back, erupted two angel wings of multi colors. As the pain lessened she began to wobble and tried to keep herself on all fours long enough to know what was going on. She turned tiredly to look at what had came out of her back, and was shocked to learn that there were wings on it. She then looked down at the mirror, and truly knew what it was, and what devastating powers it may hold. Quickly grabbing it, she clutched an emerald dragon-like body on a yin-yang sign on the back and hurried to make herself upright.
She breathed slowly, and tried to think on how to fly. 'There has to be way…' The mirror in her hand glowed again, this time lifting her, as if it were saying to go rescue Dark's soul and you'll learn to fly later. She tried to stay upright in the air, and eventually got the hang of it to begin gliding slowly towards the city. About fifteen minutes later she stopped at the edge of a large bustling city and looked down at the destruction and chaos. People were screaming and running around frantically, trying to escape beams from an unknown source. One beam in particular headed straight for her and shot her out of the sky, her wings disappearing. She landed on the hard pavement below, thudding. Her back was sore, and she wanted to just stay there and rest. 'I'm still alive?' she mused, surprised that the height she fell at would've killed her. A blast rustled her brown hair over her face as she lay motionless on the ground.
Footsteps approached from behind her and a hand was held in front of her face. She stared at it with her green eyes for a long, thoughtful moment. Who was offering this gesture of kindness. As she was pulled painfully up, it turned out to be the short auburn haired girl, Resha.
"Resha?"
"The one and only, Kimi. What are you doing out here Shouldn't you be looking for the mirror with Dark?"
"Well, I was…But then his rival, Krad, came and…" she choked on saying the words. "I'm afraid Dark's dead."
"What?! Are you kidding me?! That guy never dies so easily!" Resha jumped out of the way of a beam.
"He's dead. The thing shooting the beams is Krad, with Dark's soul." Then she was knocked over by somebody else from a beam that tried to collide with her.
"Sukimaru, are you okay?!" Resha asked, staring down at him. He was grazed from the blast, but other than that he was perfectly fine.
"Yeah…I knew Dark had more to do with this Krad person than I thought. This red-eyed person was him!"
"Huh?" was all Kimi could utter, dazed and confused.
"The ninjas and the guy who controlled me," Resha tried to explain while running past the crowds, "Is this person—Krad—that Sukimaru keeps talking about. He says from some vision thingy that you guys were in trouble at a city in the east. Turns out he's right." She jumped another beam to reveal the location of Kokuyoku; swinging her hand, she sent her kusari-gama at Kokuyoku, who blocked it without a sweat. She pulled it back and grabbed the handle, growling as she went.
"Dammit! Even if you are Dark doesn't mean I'll go easy on you!" Resha barked. Kokuyoku grinned evilly, eyeing her from his high location.
"Does it also mean you think you can beat me?" he replied. Sukimaru took one fleeting second to glance at Kokuokyu's spot before handing Kimi a gem of red, yellow, and orange that shined brilliantly. In it was held one crimson feather.
"What's this?"
"The 'Phoenix Feather'. You see the mirror? Put it next to it and you'll complete the 'Mirror of Life'." That was all Sukimaru could say until he headed off to help Resha. Kimi hurried over to the uncomplete mirror and placed the last and final gemstone at the very top. It glued together with the bigger piece and completed the mirror.
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"I've had my fun now to eliminate every last one of these beings!" Kokuyoku geared up for a large blast, the epicenter being where Resha and Sukimaru were standing, watching him and panting.
"Dammit…are…you kidding me?! Is Dark…really this strong?" Resha asked herself and everyone around her. Sukimaru had no answer. Kokuyoku's voice dripped with malice and his eyes shone with an evil luster. Kimi had arrived just in time to see him aiming a blast down at the two.
"No!" she bellowed, running in front of the two and holding up the mirror for no reason. For a minute, the two behind her thought that was a foolish idea, and thought over their death and how it would feel like, but in the next second, as the blast of black with awirling purple lightning, came down upon them, a barrier had been cast over the trio. A heavenly maiden that was etched into the mirror as the holder of the glass floated out, singing a heavenly song, keeping the blast between her and the teens. All time stopped still, frozen the "Mirror of Life's" effect. Kimi was lifted from her body and floated towards the frozen Kokuyoku, who stared at the mirror as if he had just seen a live actual ghost.
Her own ghostly hand reached out and touched his own outstretched hand before clasping onto another hand. Pulling the person out, she was overjoyed to see this person being Dark.
"Dark!" she said, her specter-like voice full of cheer. Dark stared at her with his purple eyes, showing that he was also happy. As the beam disintegrated and the holy maiden stopped chanting her song and looked at the two and the others who were staring in awe at them. All of them were dispelled spirits floating, and Resha and Sukimaru watched as their two friends were floating in the air next to the holy maiden. Kokuyoku's spirit had melded back into a weakened Krad, who stared at them in anger and surprise.
"We were separated...?! What artwork are you?!" he asked the maiden, who stared at him sternly.
"The artwork that will lead you to a sentence." She lifted a hand and waved a gust of air at the blonde angel, and he covered his eyes to stop them from drying out. Soon, the blonde-haired angel found himself in a dark room full of twisting shadows. A figure cloaked in black stared upon him attentively.
"Krad," he announced, "You have been hereby sentenced to wander the realms of the spirits until somebody has the right heart to rescue you out. This person, I'm afraid for you, will not come in an extremely long time." With that, he sent a cloud of darkness upon the white-cloaked figure in front of him, and the angel stared in horror as he was swallowed by the darkness of ever consuming fates.
Dark watched as his other entity disappeared in the thick cloud, and he wondered if his many sins would be rewarded like that. The holy maiden that had sent him there stood in front of him and the girl clasping his arm once more, staring at them fondly with her almost white eyes. She had transported the astral spirits to a brightly lit, multi colored tunnel that ran in one direction, never-ending.
"Dark, you wish to go back to your own place?"
"Well, yeah, I used to---"
"You used to?" she repeated, staring at him oddly. "Are you sure you don't want to go back?" Dark hesitated as he thought of his friends back in Azumano and his friends here. Kimi tugged at his arm.
"Go, don't worry, everything will be fine." She beamed up at him, and after a moment, he nodded.
"Very well. You may return, but you need a body in order to return with, which means that someone must give up their body."
Oh, suspense! Sacrificing is never an easy thing to do…or is it? The Krad fangirls are gonna kill me…Anyway, please review! Wow, this was pretty long...