The Shattered Blade
Chapter VIII: The Dark Dragon Returns
(BGM: Chrono Cross – The brink of death)
"Damn…where are these things coming from?!"
Ducking under a swing of a giant axe from a boar looking demon, Hayate attempted to retaliate with an overhead slash from his own blade, only to find it repelled by the beast's armor. The demon seemed to loose a growling chuckle as it punted the white clad ninja away.
"Hayate-sama!"
"Ayane! Pay attention!"
The purple haired maiden narrowly evaded a horizontal slash from a four armed ninja-like demon. She was forced into a series of back-flips as the ungodly creature twirled repeatedly on its feet in a slightly angled spin slash. She sensed something behind her and leapt, spreading her legs wide open, allowing a modest sphere of flame to shoot right underneath her and crash into the multi-armed being. She flipped over one last time, and then activated her energy blades, carving through the monster in a series of slashes created by twirling the blade like a baton.
Jumping back, Lei-fang dodged a heavy blow from a tall humanoid demon completely covered in armor. She'd tried to land a blow on it once…and only succeeded in hurting her hand. She'd tried her hardest to stay calm and wait for some form of opening. Suddenly, the beast was blindsided by a wave of pink energy. Kasumi had seen her friend's plight and did the only thing she could to help, which ended up causing her to be caught by her two clones.
The armored demon stumbled as it wiped at its eyes, revealing a weak point on its back. All that armor was useful for guarding frontal attacks, but the back portions had gaping holes. Lei-fang quickly took advantage of that, grabbing a nearby fallen sword and taking to the air in a flying kick. The girl slammed both feet into the monster's back and after jabbing twice to further weaken it; she thrust the blade through it, felling it in moments.
Kokoro, who had recently joined the group at Yuki's home, was working in tandem with Mikoto, and her older half-sister Helena to defend Kokoro's mother and Yuki's family. Mikoto, who had hit her fifteenth birthday during the five months after Shinji's death at the hands of Zeikfried and Donovan, was swinging two small tanto's with expert precision. She had trained under the watchful eye of Kasumi, mastering one handed blades in no time. However, her efforts were not enough, as one of the many ninja-like demons simply knocked her aside and went for the helpless women and child behind her.
"Mama!"
In seconds, the demon had reached its prey…before it was cut in twain by the hurled scythe of Lady Harken. The red armored woman jumped in and retrieved her weapon, nodding to Miyako and Yuki before joining Mikoto and her group in defense of the home.
Soon, the fighters, which included Ryu Hayabusa and his allies Rachel and her twin sister Alma, were joined by Lady Harken's mercenary family. Her brother Zeikfried led the assault against the more heavily armored demons as Zed, a young man with green hair and a strange looking kodachi strapped to his waist, joined Ayane and Hayate. Berserk, a hulking beast of a man with a pirate's bandanna and a spiked ball on a chain joined Ryu's group in fighting the bigger ones.
Kasumi was alone however, as Donovan watched, glowing staff in hand, above the battlefield that was once Yuki's garden.
She was stuck in a fight against the two clones that Donovan kept with him wherever he went, the twin girls mindlessly fighting her, matching her move for move, only besting her because there were two, where she was one. They flowed like water, following up the other's openings gracefully. Kasumi would strike one, only to be knocked away by the other. She would duck under an overhead spin kick from one, only to be tripped and kicked into the air by the other.
She was losing…but she wasn't the only one. They were all losing. While Donovan could easily re-summon anything that was defeated, the humans and half-demons would slowly get exhausted. Even Hitomi, who was known to have beastly stamina for a girl her age, was becoming winded. Everyone's clothes were in tatters from the repeated narrow misses, their bodies covered in small cuts and bruises from the landed attacks…
Slowly but surely, they were being pushed back.
And then…it happened.
Kokoro tripped over a fallen body. Behind her a monster materialized from the ether blade prepped. Miyako's eyes widened as she saw what was about to happen to her daughter.
"KOKORO!"
The black haired youth flipped over only to watch as the blade slowly fell to her body…
Time to step in.
If asked what happened on that day, the day they learned the truth of the fate of their dear friend, you would get multiple similar but differing stories.
Some would say that his ghost returned and took physical form.
Others would say he was never dead…
But the truth is something far more spectacular.
SHIIIIIIINK!
SQUELCH
"Wh-what?"
(BGM: Fate-Stay Night: Emiya)
In an instant, the barely fleshed demon, blade held over Kokoro's prone body, was ripped to shreds. Bloody chunks of bone and flesh dropped to the ground behind the girl as a spray of red covered her already stained school uniform.
It was in that instant, that looking back after learning of his original power that she would understand what happened. What went noticed but unheeded by her…was that the demon's blade was sliced in chunks as well.
The revived warrior danced, his targets seemingly frozen in time as he moved faster than any could perceive. A flick of his wrist and an arm was severed as he jumped over a soon to be fallen body and twisted, cutting through a torso in the process. Striking the torso as if kicking open a door, he would hop off of one foot, appearing next to another, where he would twirl again in three revolutions, segmenting through his next foe.
All around the garden, moments after one another, demons that were being faced by ninjas, humans and half-breeds would suddenly burst into bloody chunks with a single sharp dying cry. Sudden sprays of blood and flesh would coat the combatants from all angles as multitudes of armored monsters were cut down in seconds.
Lines forming along the fault points of his next targets, the Dragon Shifted over to a hulking beast of a humanoid demon. Ducking low, a slice to the legs followed by a rising double twist, cutting through the armor like it was butter. As the armor slowly fell, he swung through the new gaps created, severing flesh and tendon and bone, before bounding over in a wide arc in which he twisted around to form a Helm Splitter blow, a single vertical strike straight down, cutting through armor and flesh alike.
Always moving, always flowing, never ceasing; a river of blood he had become. Shifting back and forth; Stepping left and right; a phantom of death, a bringer of judgment. Tall or large, heavy or light, wide or thin. Nothing could escape his sight…and as such, nothing could evade his strikes.
Around some, the bigger ones with heavy armor, a flicker of light could be seen before the armor seemed to explode off the monsters bodies, mere moments before the tall creatures themselves were turned into shredded flesh.
The dump-truck sized boar like creatures could do nothing as they watched in confusion as suddenly their clubs would be sliced like a loaf of bread, before the arm holding it fell to the ground, followed by half of a leg, forcing them to topple over before their heads seemed to slide off their bodies, a strange blur seeming to dance around their bodies.
"What the HELL IS GOING ON!" Panicked, Donovan rose his staff, charged with a magical stone he had infused with demonic blood. A gigantic rune appeared behind him as a massive humanoid demon emerged. Flesh as pale as snow, a brown scaled shield on its left arm as a massive blade appeared in its right. Long white flowing hair and blood red eyes…and that was when everyone, including Donovan himself gasped.
The single largest tree in the garden broke free of the ground with a mighty crash. Everything stopped. All combatants froze at the sight of the gigantic sakura tree rising from the ground.
With a flourish the Dragon Weaved a command. Grasping onto the energies around his once beloved tree, he dictated it rise to the heavens…but that was not all…
Still, some would suddenly burst into shreds…but their cries went ignored. Everyone watched as the trees branches snapped off with a loud and painful sounding crack. Eyes widened all around as the broken branches began floating away from the tree, slowly revolving as if on a pedestal.
Another command. While he needed only the bulk of the tree to complete his current objective, the smaller ones had their purpose as well. If he was to sacrifice such beauty to achieve victory, he wanted no part of it wasted.
A buzzing noise as the branches sharpened into points. Hundreds of floating pointed wooden objects surrounded the once rooted Sakura tree…as the tree itself began to rotate similarly. With nary a warning, the once branches suddenly became rigid, pointing in random directions.
With a mighty boom of displaced air, the branches rocketed away from the tree like hurled spears, as the buzzing sound became louder as the trunk of the tree itself began to be shaved. With a series of whistling noises, the branches slammed into the bodies of the remaining demons, shooting straight through, causing the monstrosities to somehow be shredded from wherever they were touched.
The buzzing stopped.
Donovan, the Combatants and the single remaining giant of a demon watched as the now gigantic wooden spear flipped its way higher into the sky. Eyes became squinted as a black shape seemed to materialize just next to the not-tree.
BANG
The gigantic tree rocketed downwards at a neigh untraceable speed, a literal shockwave parting the clouds where it rose. In seconds the giant behind Donovan was impaled, the once tree exploding in a wave of wooden shrapnel that shredded the demon.
And then…a sharp cry.
(BGM: Metroid Prime 2 – Quadraxis)
Everyone looked towards where Kasumi was trapped under the grip of a green haired clone. There was a flare of light just as they turned, and they watched the blonde one go flying backward, a black clad figure standing with his hand outstretched and pointed where the clone once was. The green haired one looked up just in time to see the figure make a backhanding motion. There was a small flicker of light and a rather noticeable distortion of air as the girl was flung off the red-haired kunoichi's body. Kasumi looked up with shocked and fearful eyes.
And then…it spoke.
"Honestly Kasumi…how is it that you have gotten so weak?"
She slowly climbed to her feet. "Who…"
The figure had not been facing her. He slowly turned, black locks framing his face.
That…impossible…
"Shin…ji…kun?"
The garden became silent. He didn't answer.
"You're stronger than this. You know it. I know it. Why do you hold back? They are devoted to him, they live for him, they fight for him."
"Shinji-kun, is that you?"
He ignored her. "You are a fool Kasumi. A soft hearted fool."
She seemed to tear up at that.
"…never change."
She blinked, silent tears streaming down her face.
"Impossible…you're dead! DEAD! I watched you die!"
"You watched a young man get impaled with a demonic spear and thrown into a portal to another dimension. You saw not his death. You merely assumed he would die."
Donovan paled. The figure was right.
"But…your assumption is correct. The one called Miyamoto Shinji is no more. He died on that day. You succeeded in your attempts."
"BULLSHIT! You're standing right in front of us!" This outburst surprised everyone, seeing as it was coming from the normally soft tempered redhead.
"I…am not Miyamoto Shinji. I am Zero Shinzaki, the new Dark Dragon."
The green haired clone laughed at that. "The Dark Dragon is dead. Its shards are ghrugh-
Nobody saw him move. In moments he had his hand inside her chest, her shirt practically disintegrating at his touch, the entire garden watching her breasts bounce slightly at the sudden impact, a shocked look on her face.
"Worthless construct."
With a loud squelch, Zero had ripped out her still beating heart, blood coating his hand. He held it up for the entire garden to see…and then crushed it. As if that was a trigger, the clone dropped to the ground, eyes still wide open…dead.
"Pathetic."
He threw the crushed remains of her heart to the side, before pointing his blood coated arm at her, a familiar violet ring appearing around his wrist. Crimson panels of energy formed a claw and fired bands of color at the dead body. The clone burst into particles that spiraled around and then fused into a single glowing forest green orb that flew into his palm, absorbed by the ring.
"S-sister…you…BASTA-
Before she could finish her sentence, the blonde clone was ripped to particles by the ring as well. A pale yellow orb flew into his palm as the ring faded out of existence.
Donovan knew he was outclassed. Immediately, he began weaving a spell to warp him out of the area. However, before the spell could be formulated, he was forced to take a leap backward as a series of fallen swords suddenly embedded themselves where he once stood.
Everyone watched as Donovan, for a few moments covered in a soft red glow, jumped backward just in time to avoid a wall of sharp metal. Zero blinked and watched a blurred shape quickly make its way to where Donovan was ducking under another flying blade. The blur grasped the handle before swinging down, slicing straight through the business-man turned mage's head…only to have the body vanish in a wave of particles.
"Fuck…a shade…"
Everyone watched as another black haired figure seemed to materialize where Donovan's body faded into dark vapors. Zero shook his head.
"Mir."
The girl seemed to flicker for a brief moment before she was right in front of Zero, knees bent in a low bow.
"I'm sorry my Lord. I failed."
"It was a copy from the beginning…how can you have failed if the situation didn't even present you with the proper target?"
The girl looked up at him and smiled. "I suppose you are correct Master. I just-
"I myself would have been pleased to see that particular human erased…but…it seems the Fates wish for him to continue living. We will have to remedy that at a later time. I assure you, my dear Miranda…you will have your vengeance."
"I have no doubt Master is doing all he can to assist me in my revenge."
"Shinji-kun?"
Again, Kasumi went ignored. Zero stepped over to where the now fallen and bloodied giant spear lay.
"This tree…was a very fine tree. It is a pity it had to be used in such a manner."
"Beauty turned deadly."
"Indeed Miranda."
It was then that the two were approached by the others. Mikoto slipped through the wall of flesh and practically jumped into Zero's arms.
"Zero-nii!"
A soft smile appeared on his face. "You've grown stronger Miko-chan. I'm proud of you."
The gears began turning in Kasumi's head. He ignores me when I call him Shinji…but answers to Zero. Wait…didn't he state that Shinji died? But…if he's standing in front of us…and knows who we are… Wouldn't that mean…? But…he said he was the Dark Dragon…well then what happened to Tiamat?
He patted Mikoto on the head and faced the rest of the group. Before anyone could react, a torrent of electricity had shot from his fingertips and bound themselves around Hayate, who was taken by surprise from the sudden attack.
The unexpected nature of the sudden assault had everyone frozen in shock. Hayate's body slowly lifted into the air as Zero continued the connection.
"You need to control your servants better."
Zero ceased the attack and the ninja dropped to the ground, moaning in pain.
"You have been warned. Next time I catch wind of a Mugen-Tenshin Shinobi performing such vile acts I will have your head on a pike. It's one thing to order a search for someone; it's another to simply allow those searching to do as they please." He seemed to pause before he got a strange look on his face.
"Ahh…Zeikfried."
Zero whirled around, a black aura flaring up around him as a massive gale of black electricity arced from both hands onto the blue armored half-demon. The speed and ferocity of the assault was far beyond Zeik's ability to defend, and he weathered the attack painfully.
"Did you honestly believe your actions would go unpunished? That it would be forgotten what you did, that none would come and enact justice upon you?"
Gasping for breath in between shouts of pain, the armored half breed answered. "You…you helped…"
"Shinji's final act was to make secure that your Sister would be safe. That you, his killer, were assisted as well was something that did not sit well with him."
That got Zeik some unwanted attention. Most specifically from Mikoto, Kasumi, and surprisingly enough, Ayane. The violet haired ninja was barely able to restrain herself from drawing her weapon and quartering the blasted knight then and there…something that Zero sensed.
"However…" and here, the torrent stopped, but the aura remained and did in fact, grow stronger. "I am an honorable being. As such, I follow the rules of equality."
A small glowing symbol appeared on Zeikfried's chest. He looked down at it with horrified eyes, knowing exactly what it meant.
"You took his life…"
The black symbol comprised of four triangles arranged in a manner that resembled a hazard sign, flared with energy. The armored man roared in pain as sparks of dark energy raced through his body.
"…and in return…"
A black glow surrounded the half-breed as the Crest of Destruction did its work, forming a phantom bond between the two.
"…I will take yours."
With a final cry of agony, and a brilliant wave of dark energy, Zeikfried dropped to his knees…panting…bleeding…
"I…understand…Master."
There was no smile. No pleased look.
"Good. Your life belongs to me, Zero Shinzaki, Shinji Miyamoto's reincarnation. You will live as I dictate; you will die as I dictate. You who would call forth the thunder now shall reap the whirlwind."
"Wh-what of…my brothers and sister…?"
"They are free to do as they please. Their lives are not tied to mine, while yours is. Your actions caused the death of not one, but two glorious beings. As such, you are mine to do with as I wish."
"Yes…master."
The aura faded. From that day on, Zeikfried's armor would bear the mark of Destruction, the calling card of the Dark Dragon.
And then…something happened…something that proved Shinji was still in there somewhere underneath Zero's cold exterior.
"Now…Yuki-san, your bathroom is still where it was last time I was here correct?"
"Y-yes."
"Good. I've been holding it in for about half a day now. I have to piss like a monster."
And with that parting statement…he vanished. Five seconds later…
"OH THANK GLORIOUS HEAVEN!"
Kokoro gave a very un-lady like snort at that.
It's been a while hasn't it? Doesn't seem like too many read this section though. Oh well.
Gravenimage: maybe. It might be a twin thing though, Zero with both Kasumi AND Ayane. Originally it was going to just be Ayane, and maybe Hitomi…but as I wrote her, I started liking Kasumi as an option more and more.