My Calling: Night Warriors
Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborough
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
MAKAI! Separates Paragraphs
Chapter 10: This realm…
The approaching figure, though humanoid in size, looked more akin to an actual… bee-person, if there actually was one. From the figure of said character, mostly its chest, you could tell it was female (at least by humanoid standards), but had the abdomen and wings of a bee, right down to the dangerous stinger on her backside. Her head hung downward, her "gaze" toward the ground, as she took note of this attacker in her grounds.
"A powerful soul…" Something that could be considered a tongue ran along the edges of her lips. "I wonder how you taste." Without warning, she sped toward him, her arm extending into a limb similar to a bee's, except the tips of her arm looked painfully sharp.
"Whoa!" Nelius used an arm to deflect the blow, and had to sidestep a knee to the gut, though it more accurately would've been a spike through the gut. Raising her hands, two bees flew over and deposited a sticky substance similar to human world raw honey, and she expanded it into a bubble of honey, which she hurled at him. Jumping over the sphere, he saw it explode into a sticky mess of goo on one of the trees.
Hearing something whistling at high speeds toward him, Nelius turned his attention to his opponent only to receive a gigantic launched bee stinger to the gut, which sent him sailing through the trees until he wound up impaled.
"Agh, damn it!" Using one hand to brace himself against the tree, he used his other hand to remove the stinger and discard it. "I've become a bit too sloppy over the years." Placing one hand to his damaged abdomen, he feels his own blood run over his bare hands, and remembers the feeling. Knowing it's time to fight again, his wings, now with tips of energy flowing along them, extend from underneath his clothes, and his clothing shifts into a more battle appropriate attire, one that allows for more freedom of movement. "Looks like it's that time again."
He dropped to the ground, and the fight was on. She sped toward him, intending to impale him on her knee-stinger, but he had other plans. As she kicked out toward his head, he ducked beneath her attack, jammed his left foot into her solar plexus, lifted her up and slammed her to the ground.
Getting to her feet, the bee woman shook her head in an attempt to clear her head. Forcing her hands out in front of her, she morphed her hands into a beehive, sending out a small swarm of bees. In response, Nelius pulled out the old gun he found on Brad's ship long ago, and fired off five shots, each one hitting and disabling one of the bees. Putting the weapon away, he saw her diving toward him, stinger first. Cracking his knuckles, he caught her by the stinger, and used his leverage to swing her into one of the trees, causing it to splinter.
"Damn, you're a persistent one." He couldn't help but notice as she got to her feet again. "What does it take to keep you down—what the!" Sparing a glance behind himself, he ducked to avoid a spirit projectile that hit the bee woman and forcefully dragged her into a shaded area of the soul forest. The sounds of slashing and hacking became apparent, and the killer withdrew from the shade.
"So, you still live, demon child!" Crimson armor and a blood-soaked katana shone in the now fading light. The torso of the armor had a demon's face.
"How in the hell! Bishamon? I thought I killed you!" The armor couldn't help but laugh.
"Kill me? I am tied to the evil in the hearts of humanity. I can never die!" The armor tossed the nearly dead bee woman away, obviously done with her. "You, on the other hand, are perfectly able to die and feed my blade. Allow me to demonstrate!" Bishamon dashed forward, his katana poised to cleave Nelius in two.
"I think not!" Grabbing his axe, Nelius deflected the blow, and began matching the armor move for move. Where the katana would try to strike, the axe would follow and deflect the blow. On and on, this continued neither one willing to give up. Without warning, the armor's "mouth" opened up, revealing a spirit hand that grabbed Nelius and began squeezing him.
"See? I am full of tricks." Bishamon taunted.
"Hehe. I see, but so am I!" One of his wings formed into a blunted fist that shot forward, knocking the helmet off the armor and Bishamon off-balance, causing the armor spirit to release his grip on Nelius. "Shit, how much more powerful did he get?" Trying to catch his breath, he knew that he had to end this fight pretty quickly, or else things would turn ugly. Tightening his grip on his weapon, Nelius shot forward and used the force to knock the armor upward. Charging up some reserved Star mana, he jumped at an angle, using his axe to slice the armor, then executed a mid-air stop and repeated the process of slicing the armor with his axe; five, six, seven, eight times he slashed before jumping up a bit higher and knocking the demonic suit to the ground (Calamity Drive).
Slamming into the ground, Bishamon found his armor once again cracked in several places.
"Damn it!" He swore loudly as he forced himself to his feet. The cracks in his armor were easily pronounced. "Where does your strength come from? How do you fight against these odds?" Nelius was silent. "Tell me!"
"That is a question you shall never get the answer to, Bishamon." Standing a small way away was a man of possible Japanese descent. He was dressed in blue and white robes, and carried a staff with weighted rings interlocked onto one large ring. "I have finally found you."
"Oboro! You dared to follow me into this realm, you powerless fool!" Bishamon positioned his blade, Kien, ready for the kill. "Now, it will end!"
"You may be right, you may be wrong." Oboro began chanting in his native tongue, causing the armor to lock up again.
"No, you fool! You cannot-" With a final groan, the armor's eyes lost their glow, and clattered to the ground. Nelius hesitantly approached the pile of armor.
"What the hell was that?"
"That was Hannya, the cursed armor and Kien, the blade that drinks blood." Oboro cautiously handled Kien's sheath, attaching it to his hip. "I first saw this armor in an antique shop, but it had possessed my mind, causing me to assault the storeowner and take the armor for my own. I was just one among the many who fell prey to its powers." He then lifted Kien and sheathed it. "Despite my wife's begging, I donned the armor, and my ruthless slaughtering of humanity began. Over the countless years, humans and dark ones alike fell to this cursed sword, their blood and souls fueling my cursed existence." He turned toward a different direction. "And yet, even though it is sealed now, as long as evil exists in the hearts of humans and dark ones, this dreadful power will always return in the form of a stronger, crueler Hannya."
"Where are you off to, then?"
"Before I can return to my home, and to Orin, I have one final task at hand, one I promised so long ago. There was a man who helped to free me from the armor's bonds, and wherever he went, a young girl would follow." Only one man fit that description in Nelius' mind. "I sensed the man's heart was filled with determination and self-sacrifice, but his mind and heart have become darkened, and he is set upon a path that may lead to his own self-destruction. I know she is searching for him, knowing of the dangers of seeking him out…"
"Is he that far gone now?" Nelius knew.
"That is something I do not know, that is why I must see it with my own eyes." As he walked off, Oboro offered his last piece of advice. "I know you have your own goals, but never lose sight of them. Sometimes, it may be necessary to remember what you are truly after."
"What I'm… truly after?" Nearly ten years ago, he had the idea to defeat the Overlord he formerly worked for, but now, he couldn't help but question himself. "Maybe it's the same case on both their parts? No, I can't think about that now." He shook his head, ridding himself of these thoughts. "First, I need to figure out where the hell I am, and if I can leave." Noticing that both the hive and Oboro were gone, he blanched. "If I can find my way out of this strange realm." Almost at once, reality shifted around him once again. "Aw, shit! I spoke too soon!" The realm warped and twisted around, dumping Nelius at what appeared to be some sort of funky train. It had an eyeball on the front, some kind of mouth on the side, and a skeletal figure as the conductor.
'What kind of train is this?' Approaching it carefully, he stepped into one of the cars. 'Where does it lead to?'
"You… you!"
"Me?" Nelius spun around. "P-Pyron?! How the crap—I thought I killed you as well!"
"I… will never die. I am the universe incarnate!"
MAKAI!
End of this chapter.
Damn, this really makes me wish Capcom had given a license to release a Vampire Savior OVA, then I wouldn't feel so lost writing this.
Until next chapter,
Cornell Valentine Gainsborough