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Disclaimer- Only own my OC.
Bastard!! Alternate Reality Chapter 3
"So you are the ones who dare disturb the dread demon of the magic sword!" the giant demon lord of fire bellowed in a booming voice.
He was a beast like a giant with red skin and ram's horns. He had a mane of fire and large bat-like wings. James grabbed Sheila and pulled her close to shield her from the intense heat emanating from the monster.
"Of all the swords you had to play with Sheila!" James complained.
"Reckless humans! Now you shall pay-with your life!" Efreet's voice echoed.
He began to make symbols with his hands. James recognized the spell almost immediately and readied a force field.
"Burn to tinders puny humans! Explosive Wall of Guns and Roses!" The room exploded into flames.
The temperature inside the shield was bearable for the moment but for every second the shield was up, the more energy James used up. He had to think of something fast.
"What's this? You seem to know an inkling of magic," Efreet mused out loud.
James suddenly cringed and grit his teeth as they after effects of the poison kicked in. "Ungh. . .My eyes are getting hazy from the poison."
Sheila looked into his eyes with worry. James tried to focus and clear his head but try as he might his thoughts just weren't forming.
"What's wrong? Feeling helpless, eh, boy?" Efreet's voice boomed across the chamber.
"James! Are you all right?" asked Sheila.
"Of course not," he said weakly only to receive a frightened look from the princess. "This isn't good. The masonry of the floor, the beams- are starting to melt! It's twice as hot as my Explosive Wall of Guns and Roses," James said as the effects of the poison finally began to ebb somewhat.
This allowed him to focus his energy. The air was soaked with the demon lord's magical energy so James managed to absorb quite a bit which invigorated him a great deal.
"Don't leave my side," he said to Sheila over the roaring of the flames, "Only my force barrier is holding off this hell-like, thousand degree inferno! You'll be burnt to ash!" He tightened his embrace on her.
The princess buried her face in his shoulder, "I'm scared, James."
She suddenly jerked her head up, "Wait! I know what could help! Why don't you try cold magic?"
"No. . ." James trailed off.
Sheila looked at him hopelessly, "What?"
"I don't know any strong cold spells," he said with a shrug of his shoulders, "I'm just not a frigid kind of guy."
Sheila's teary eyes turned downcast, "Then we're going to die here."
Efreet's deep, guttural laugh shook the fiery chamber as he said with a sneer, "Wra ha ha ha ha! You call yourself a wizard and you don't even know any cold magic!"
James slowly wiped away Sheila's tears, "I didn't choose this fight, but I damn sure am going to be the one to finish it!" he said to Efreet with a renewed sense of vigor that seemed to spread to Sheila who perked up almost immediately.
"Watch what you say boy! Cause you'll never be able to fight fire with fire! Ha ha!" boomed Efreet.
James watched the demon's stance change and noticed the subtle movements of the Pillar of Flame technique.
"He'll transform himself into a spinning, fiery tornado, capable of turning rock into pure magma!" he explained to Sheila who clung on tighter, "This will be a molten sea."
Efreet started chanting the spell as James continued to gather the needed amount of energy as fast as he could.
"Stay here, okay?" he asked, wiping away Sheila's few remaining tears.
"What? What are you-" Sheila didn't have time to finish her question as James leapt out of the protection of the shield.
"Flaming Wave Hellion!" Efreet finished the spell, causing the entire room to explode in white-hot flames.
James was caught in the center of the blast but remained unharmed. The roar of the blaze was deafening and filled his senses but he continued to soak up all the energy within several yards and at last, had the power necessary to overcome Efreet's fire resistance.
"Brain Brain Dead. Obey the contract of blood, from the land of Abbadon, come forth! Gehenna's fire, explode in flame and in it's sum incinerate all! Evil blaze of burning exodus!" James quickly rattled off the spell and felt his body become super heated.
It was a slight buzzing sensation as his body became twice as hot as the fire around him. In one mighty leap, he launched himself at Efreet who wore a shocked expression. James connected with a resounding smack, hurling Efreet to the floor.
"Impossible! The boulders simply evaporating," gasped the fire giant, "How did you reach twenty thousand degrees!?"
James simply smiled as the room quickly began to cool down now that all spells had been negated. "I used your own heat against you and added it to my own spell," he said simply.
"You used my flaming wave as a stepping stone!? Inconceivable!" Efreet continued to mutter to himself, "Gah! To face a heat more intense than my own . . . For the first time since my birth . . . for the first time in over 300 years I am defeated!" he said with resignation as he reverted back into the fire sword.
The sword floated up to James and waited patiently for him to grasp it. He did so and watched with satisfaction as the sword flashed red, a sign of it's fealty to it's new master. A broad grin stretched across his face; this was more than worth the trouble of defending Meta-Rikana. He slashed the air a few times, getting the feel of it.
"James!" Sheila shouted joyfully, running towards him while at the same time avoiding a few lingering pools of magma. "I was so worried," she said shakily as she examined his singed clothing.
He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Come now princess. You must have a little faith in me." She brightened up a little and even managed a smile.
"I-I do," stuttered Sheila as James ruffled her hair playfully, then laughed while she beat lightly on his shoulder.
"Don't treat me like a child!" she fussed, her resistance futile.
"Ha ha ha! Come. Yoko is waiting," he concluded her little tantrum as he dashed towards the stairwell to the main tower with Sheila doing her best to keep up.
She quickly fell behind with James taking three steps at a time and not stopping for breaks. The main door to the citadel's top floor exploded with such force that the entire fortress shook violently. James emerged from the dust to see a large ornate room decorated with columns and all manner of paintings and murals covering the walls. Gara was straight ahead sitting on a rather plain looking throne with a tied up and scantily clad Yoko sitting at his feet.
"Good of you to finally come James!" Gara greeted, unsheathing the familiar looking Murasame blade, "What's it been? Fifteens years?"
It was then that James really noticed how serious Yoko's state of nakedness was as she struggled to cover herself with a tattered cloak. He felt pretty bad for her since she seemed like such a nice girl. "Gara," James spoke menacingly, his eyes glowing a fearsome red, "You didn't do anything that'll get you killed, did you?"
Gara simply smirked, ignoring the threat as he stepped down from the throne, "Only you could have conquered the Sword of Flames. After all, you once commanded the most powerful army in the world! Funny thing though . . . you seem to have used up a lot of your strength getting here, huh? And on top of that, with the poison and all, your body and mental strength are probably at their breaking point, right?"
"Wrong!" James was a blur of motion as he caught the ninja master off guard with a vicious uppercut that sent him crashing into one of the many columns surrounding the room.
He rushed to Yoko's side, removing his cloak and covering her with it after breaking through her bonds.
"Are you all right?" he asked, checking for injuries.
"I'm fine," she answered. Her face blushed a little, "You went through all this . . .for me?"
He smiled, despite the dull, throbbing headache that came and went because of the poison, "Of course. Sheila is here too. Go with her and get to a safe spot. I'll be done here shortly."
Yoko could only nod as she got up and darted for the stairwell. He turned back to see Gara emerge from the rubble, that same smile on his face.
"It seems I underestimated you . . . again," Gara said as he readied his blade. "But it'll be the last! Murasame Blade!" he launched a sonic blast from his enchanted sword directly at the vampire warrior.
James drew the Fire Sword, which automatically deployed a shield of flames. Gara's strike crashed into the shield with a loud bang, causing the entire room to quake. The two energies battled it out for several seconds before the Murasame's energy was finally dispelled. He didn't have time to regroup as Gara charged through the smoke and lashed out with his sword. James ducked, weaved, and parried with his own blade.
"I can't believe your causing so much trouble over a woman!" Gara shouted in-between attacks.
James managed to get a strong punch into Gara's mid-section, knocking him back several paces, "Shut up!"
Gara quickly recovered and dodged the vampire's follow up attacks. He noticed an opening in James's defenses and with superhuman speed, spin kicked him in the side, knocking the air out of him. James struggled to draw breath into his lungs.
"Damn, you're weak. Did fighting Efreet use up all your strength? Oh! I know. You haven't had any blood for a while, have you? Oh I bet that thirst is terrible," gloated Gara as he paced around in victory. "The little lady certainly is worth coming all the way out here for. Maybe I should keep her for myself!" Gara said in mockery, kicking James down as he tried to get up.
Gara continued pacing around, "Why did you come for this girl? And more than that, why are you helping those people at Meta-Rikana?!" he half asked, half shouted, "What's happened to y-" Gara stopped suddenly as Sheila ran to James's side and stood protectively in front of him.
"Stop this Ninja Master Gara!" she yelled with strong determination. "Challenging one as strong as you is one thing, but just bullying a weaker opponent is the act of a coward!" she berated. "Doesn't that violate the Code of the Ninja?!"
"Hm, the Code of the Ninja, huh?" mused Gara, "There was a code I had posted on the wall that I followed. But I stopped after I gave it up to follow that guy on the floor," he pointed an accusing finger at James who had managed to rise to his knees.
Yoko finally decided to jump into the fray, "Hey! Gara, what are you doing this for? He was your friend once, wasn't he?! Aren't you going to even try talking to him?!"
Gara sighed, rubbing his temples," Aren't you going to do something about these women James?"
Sheila stood her ground, "I will not get out of the way," she said defensively.
"Sheila," James said calmly, leaning on his sword.
She looked back at him, eyes filled with worry.
"It's alright. Stand aside," he said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder and gently nudging her.
"Don't die," she whispered, silent tears welling up in her eyes.
"You can count on it. Now go help Yoko," he ordered. She left reluctantly but he was glad she was out of the way, now he could concentrate on Gara alone.
James brandished the Fire Sword and approached Gara who stood on the throne platform, gazing out into the night from a large hole in the wall. Gara turned towards him, the Murasame blade at the ready.
"I almost killed you once, long ago. Do you remember? Look! The moon's out, just like that night when we first battled. Back then I was just a novice ninja in service to a small kingdom to the east," stated Gara.
The story brought back memories and ensnared everyone in the room.
"Back then, a warrior worth a thousand they called you. You were a mercenary who single handedly crushed entire armies. At the time, you were a treasure hunter, but every kingdom lived in fear of you. I volunteered to kill you, but I remember that as you and I did battle in the ruins of the ancient city, I felt a rush unlike any I had ever felt before," reminisced Gara, affectionately rubbing the horizontal scar to the right of his right eye. "But as I lay there in defeat, you didn't kill me. And I realized that what I truly wanted was to know you. And those years I spent with you and the others were the best years of my life, but you left us! You left the very people who pledged their lives to you for fifteen years! And now you just come waltzing back like it never even happened!" Gara shouted in anger.
"Murasame blade!" Gara hurled another energy wave at James who dodged it and raced to close the distance with Gara.
The ninja master sent one more blast of energy. James jumped over it and brought his sword down on Gara's in a flash of sparks. They continued the swordplay for quite awhile. James tried several new moves that he had picked up on his fifteen-year journey to the east, many of which threw Gara off and temporarily gave him the advantage.
"You're a cold-hearted bastard!" insulted Gara, pushing as hard as he could against James's solid defense. "We would have given our lives for you, and you abandoned us! Especially poor Nei. How could you have left her in the state she was in!?"
James was confused for a moment as he broke the deadlock, driving Gara back.
"What do you mean?"
Now it was Gara's turn to look confused, "You fool! You mean you don't know?"
"Know what?!" James shouted back.
Gara sighed and shook his head, "If you don't know then it's not my place to tell you. You should talk to her."
'Did something happen to Arshes? What is he talking about? She looked fine when I left, I remember that much. . .'
"Keep your mind in the fight!" Gara screamed as he launched a Murasame blast almost within spitting distance.
There was no time to counter with a spell or get out of the way. Just when the blast was about to hit, the Fire Sword sprung to life. Efreet materialized in front of James just in the nick of time, "Master!" Efreet roared as he defended him from the powerful attack. Efreet turned back into the sword, which fell to the floor.
"What is it about you that makes so many people defend you? Some even throw themselves in front of danger to give up their lives for you. How many people have followed you to their doom?! I'll kill you here and end it with a technique even more powerful than the Demon Sword!" Gara charged forward, blade at the ready.
James stood still, weaponless. He knew there was only one way to defeat Gara, and that was to show him the extent of his power. "Now die, along with the legend of your immortality! True Demon Sword!"
It hurt for only a split second as the blade pierced his chest and ruptured his heart. A shower of blood spurt forth from his grievous wound and his eyes went blurry, as his knees buckled. Somewhere in the distance he heard two distinct female screams of horror over the cheers of the thousands of ninja.
James could feel his mortal body dieing but he was not troubled. Although he was severely weakened from not feeding, his body began to mend itself. He could feel the rage beginning to awaken. The vampire rage that increased a vampire's power by as much as tenfold. His muscles tingled with the sudden surge of raw energy, and his senses heightened. He could smell the sweet scent of rose oil in Sheila's hair, even though she was up on the balcony surrounded by hundreds of sweaty, nasty guys. His eyes glowed a fearsome crimson as magical energy radiated out from his body and created a fiery aura around him. To everyone's surprise he slowly stood up and turned to meet Gara's gaze. Gara was taken aback by James's terrifying visage and was too shocked to do anything but gawk. Using an unchanted spell, James summoned an earthquake that shattered the walls and cracked the floors.
"Gara! I have to admit, you've done well in my absence! Isn't it wonderful!? The resonance of the spirits and magical power which fills the air and earth!" James's voice reverberated throughout the crumbling room as ninjas scurried about to escape the destruction.
"Day, Boom, Stain!" he prepared for one of his strongest spells as he began floating in the air, "Sprits of Earth and air! Honor the ancient pact and fulfill your duty to me! Megadeath!" he finished the spell, causing massive amounts of energy to build up inside the fortress.
"Gara," called James, floating down to his former comrade who lay speechless on the floor, "This is true power." Just before the fortress blew, James made sure to teleport everyone to safety, ninjas, knights, princess and all.
It was dawn by the time the dust settled and James made his way to where a stunned Gara surveyed his destroyed home.
"Hey Gara, you dead yet?" he asked, eliciting a smile and chuckle from his old friend. James offered a hand and helped Gara up after handing him his sword.
"Anyway, what the heck was that last spell you used? It was incredible!" complimented Gara, James smiled but before he could reply he received a strong punch to the back of his head, sending him to the ground.
"Owwww!" groaned James, rubbing his head.
"You girls are safe?" asked Gara in wonderment.
Yoko nodded while glaring down at the wounded James, "Yeah. This dummy's shield protected us, as well as all your ninja."
"What!?"
Gara looked back out over the ruins and saw his men gathering together, all safe and sound as his baby dragon crawled up to his shoulder.
"What took you so long?!" Yoko yelled at him angrily. James scrambled out of the way to hide behind Sheila.
"Sheila save me!" he pleaded, cowering behind the young princess.
The confused princess looked between Yoko and the mercenary with a confused expression, "Well Yoko, he did get hurt a lot trying to save you."
James stood back up and waltzed around in triumph as Yoko finally came to her senses. Her face changed from annoyance to worry.
"Yeah!" James pointed at her accusingly, "How are you going to be so mean to me after I got cut, bit, bruised, burnt, crushed, poisoned, and-" he was cut off as she punched him in the face, sending him reeling backwards.
"Okay! I get it!" Yoko sighed exasperatedly.
James got back up only to be approached by Gara.
"You beat me James. I give up. I don't know what the hell is going on anymore," he muttered.
"Will you join me then? Will you be my brother again?" asked James, holding his hand out.
Gara took his old friend's hand and shook it firmly, "For good this time."
Both men smiled as they turned their attention to the glorious sunrise coming through the ruins. They watched for a while, catching their breath while the sun slowly crept up over the ruined skyscrapers.
"Let's get Yoko back to the city James," Sheila said, snapping him away from the landscape.
He turned to her, "You go on ahead with your knights. I need to head towards the coast to pick up something, then I'll return."
She cast a questioning glance at him.
"It won't take long, I promise."
"Gara, Meta-Rikana will need help," James said to his new ally.
"I'll take care of it," Gara promised.
Before Sheila or Yoko could argue James leapt off the remnants of the skyscraper into the city and began the trek into the country side.
Yoko will play less of a role until later on. Anyway, I got some stuff I need to do so updating might take a while unless I get some useful reviews to help motivate me. wink wink.
