Even as the blonde vampire drew back and Chiho fell down, her hands rising, trembling, to cover the fatal wound that gushed blood – I dashed forth. My longswords blazed to life with ethereal blue light with barely a though and slashed through the man – once, twice, thrice. In a split second he came apart in a spray of gore and blood as both he and Chiho hit the ground.
I grimaced as that pile of gore, viscera and meat fell on top of the girl and paused for a moment – collecting my thoughts. It quite suddenly dawned on me that I killed the man who was to be my guide in this world and that this wasn't My Chiho. I couldn't feel our bond and when I recalled how she looked like it was clear that she was a bit older. Unlike My Chiho who looked like a high school teen, this one –
A horrible gurgle disrupted my thoughts as I watched the pile of gore shift slightly, confused. Wait, she was stabbed in the throat! A fatal wound but not an instant death! She'd live for seconds more until she drowns in her own blood… I…I could save her. She might not be My Chiho but she was still Chiho! The girl who became the Disciplinary Squad Ashikabi. The girl who became My Ashikabi! With her as my Master…
I dashed over and shoved the pile of flesh and blinked in confusion as it suddenly turned into ash, leaving behind only a blood drenched young woman who vainly tried to inhale and instead gurgled as blood flooded her lungs. She looked at me desperately, her lips moving soundlessly. I knelt by her side, smiling mirthlessly.
I've already condemned my Chiho through the use of my Norito. Should I… I mean, it's really a difficult and very loaded question. In order for me to use a Norito and not instantly die I needed an Ashikabi. It should be an easy decision really, kiss Chiho and then use my Norito. Or probably get rejected from existence in a little bit from now due to the Grail and this Gaia.
Time, why does it always come down to Time? My Chiho ran out of time and I had to force the decision – happiness of my Ashikabi versus the lives of her and my family. Here…here the stakes were… If I do this…
"Do you want to live?" I asked the worthless question anyway. We both knew what the answer would be even before the young woman nodded feebly. I gently lifted her upper body and held her carefully even as I kissed her. My ethereal blue wings burst into being even as I slowly leaned back.
"I shall be your guide," I said softly, staring into the brown eyes full of confusion before me. "Let us walk the Path of Eternity together, forever."
Then I raised my free hand and put it on her solar plexus and smiled sadly, knowing that even though the count was down to seconds and Chiho had but a few moments to live, I still rued the necessity of using my Norito. I knew that I should be thanking the Heavens for the impossible paradox that is my Norito, for the ability to save those I loved but…
"By my Ashikabi's Will, I seal this path." I uttered, my lips twisted in a sad smile. "This Gate is Closed and none may enter. Gate:Close."
I staggered a bit, almost dropping my precious cargo as practically all of my energy drained through my hand and into the dying girl I held. Pale blue flame quickly washed over my Ashikabi's body and dissipated into hurriedly fading motes of ethereal blue light. I breathed harshly, trying to recover my breath, keeping my eyes on my Chiho. I knew my Norito took hold and I knew that it was all over but… but I wanted to stay with Chiho, to watch her final moments, to be there with her as she changed. I couldn't do this for my – other – Chiho but I'd be damned if I don't stay here with the girl I condemned during her final moments as a human – as a mortal. As I sat, I felt my connection to my main body supply energy and within moments I felt normal again…as normal as I could be, watching my Ashikabi die.
It didn't take long for the young woman in my arms to succumb to her wound. She lasted far longer than I expected of a human with such an injury. Almost half a minute since my arrival and here I sat, surrounded by blood, dismembered corpses and my Ashikabi's body in my lap. Aside from that last part, pretty typical honestly.
It was with trepidation that I watched as pale blue flame suddenly erupted from her solar plexus and washed over her, again dissipating into motes of ethereal blue light in moments. I looked over Chiho's body and sighed, my Norito worked – exactly as expected. The young woman in my arms – aside from a blood soaked hospital gown – was in pristine condition, not even a hint remained of what killed her but a few seconds ago. Even her pale brown hair was untouched – for all of 1 moment until the pool of blood we sat in soaked it once more. I watched her for a few seconds before putting her down gently and standing up.
Well, if she wasn't waking up for the moment, I'll let her sleep. Might as well check out the nearby area at the moment. Brunestud did say that humans were at odds with his descendants and – I glanced at the dismembered corpses of men, women and children – I could see why. Unless the government of this place was utterly incompetent, they'd do something about an entire town getting culled and they'd probably be fast about it.
I wasn't worried about Chiho, well, not anymore. Now that she was my Ashikabi I could sense her regardless of distance between us, no matter where in the world or… I paused, my eyebrows raised in disbelief. Apparently even my main body could sense her and it wasn't even in this world! Huh, go figure. I guess I really couldn't lose her anymore. And now that I closed the Gate for her I was completely relaxed leaving her sleeping in this unknown territory. Nothing could kill her anymore after all and, if she gets hurt, I can easily rush over to her aid.
The town was completely dead – literally. Even cats and dogs laid with the human population of this town in 5 gigantic corpse heaps that circled the town and I am also guessing that the ritual – whatever it was – scared the smaller critters away. It was…scary actually, to walk in a giant necropolis where the only sounds were that of your own footsteps and the echo created by them. Even bugs – which should be plentiful from the forest surrounding the town – were completely silent. I kicked a pebble and then shuddered as the sound echoed in the dead space before me.
Eager to not do that again, I instead decided to focus on other things. Like how this place actually looked quite like any other minor town back on my Earth. Same traditional buildings, same asphalt roads, same flickering lights… The cars looked like some of the cars the antique dealers had though. Maybe I really would need that knowledge about driving manual here…
Shaking my head I instead drew one of my blades and stared at it. It was…amazing that I had my armour and weapons here. Exactly as I remembered them too, I thought as my gauntleted hand slowly moved down the blade. The longsword was exactly as I remembered it, the same smoky blue metal as rigid and sharp as the day I received it as a gift from Dietrich. Crafted from the hull armour of the space ship we Sekirei came to Earth on it was…perfect. Ever sharp and stout, the unyielding metal that took the heat of a star to melt was simply…perfect.
After all, my blades survived unblemished even Kara's most furious assaults – even her Corruption couldn't touch the metal – and it even disregarded Miya's blows. I rubbed absentmindedly my solar plexus beneath which my Tama rested. I wish my armour – the same one that Miya didn't even notice – was made of the same material but Minaka would never let that stand. Swords were one thing but armour of the same metal would make me an incredible cheat in the Game he administrated.
It was amusing, I thought as the longsword lit up in a soft blue glow. I always really relied on overwhelming power and only really fought tactically when I couldn't. My Gates allowed me to do that. No armour, no barrier, no weapon, no power could block my Gates. And, as amazing as these blades were, they really were redundant – something I could use for less lethal takedowns if prompted. I could open my Gates with a fingernail if I so wanted to after all and they would be just as deadly as the ones opened through my swords. Armour though…
I was never as fast as an Enhancement Type Sekirei. I mean, provided they trained as much as I had of course. As an Irregular Type, my strength always laid in other fields than brute combat. Armour helped to offset that disadvantage. Although my speed was never really up there, my durability and stamina allowed me to keep fighting until I landed a single blow. A single solid blow was really the only thing I ever needed.
Unless, of course, it was someone like Kara. My Captain could literally waltz around me, the fact that she was Enhancement squared let her do that – as aggravating as that one duel was. I really just had to pray that there was no one here who came even close to the level of bullshit that was my Lover or Number 1. If they were…well…
I broke out of my thoughts once I climbed to the roof of the local hospital – the roof I was summoned on. The town was completely dead. Not a single being survived the massacre that the blonde vampire orchestrated. Truly an impressive feat. Terrible, but impressive nonetheless. I almost found myself regretting killing him. Had he not attacked Chiho, he would've been a useful person to have on our mission. But oh well, nothing to it but to lean on the edge of this railing and take in the slowly brightening sky. I'd take Chiho, even if it wasn't really My Chiho, over Anyone else anytime.
Which really returned me to the next problem. Where do I go? There was no one left alive in this whole town but me and my sleeping Ashikabi who still had yet to wake. It was a rather strange thing actually. Why wasn't she awake? The guy I tested my Norito on was always awake after each time I killed him – rather annoyingly so. Which is why I let her rest, I may know a few things about my Norito but hardly enough to answer question like that.
My Norito, my ultimate ability, I smirked at that. It was…amusing really. All Sekirei could use several abilities with an underlying element or them of sorts. For instance, my younger sister, Benitsubasa, was Enhancement, Shock. So all of her abilities used shock to some degree and as an Enhancement type all of them were either self-targeted or had to rely on physical contact. Not that she let that limitation stop her from leveling entire buildings with a single stomp of her foot.
I on the other hand had only 1 ability. Gate:Open had many interesting ways it could be used in but at the end of the day it was like comparing a Swiss army knife to a toolkit. I was hoping my Norito would help with that but… What I got was yet another single ability and this one was far less flexible.
Gate:Close… I glanced back at Chiho momentarily before turning to the upcoming dawn. Where I could twist Gate:Open into many uses, forcibly Closing a Gate had only 1 use. All beings once dead passed into the Other Realm. I call it Spirit Realm for simplicity's sake but I could feel it was hardly so simple. The few tidbits let out by Brunestud only confirmed my suspicions.
Opening the Gate allowed me to swap an area directly to the other side. Doing so damaged the Living World – something that in itself could be used to devastating results in combat – but it recovered and repaired itself quickly enough not to be an issue. Closing the Gate on the other hand…well, it did exactly that. It prevented the target from going to the other side. Ever.
A paradox was created. Once a person dies they Must go to the other side sooner or later, no exceptions. However, the Target of my Norito was not able to go to the other side for the Gate was Closed. A paradox was created. Seeing as both conditions Must be fulfilled, the Universe solves it rather elegantly. If a person Must go to the Other Side when dead And they Cannot go to the Other Side then they are obviously Not Dead.
Meaning that for all intents and purposes, my Ashikabi was Immortal. Not even the destruction of this Universe would annul that. Long past we are nothing more than a memory and far longer past that, Chiho would still roam the multiverse. Even when the world dies, she'll merely go to another via the Gap-Between-The-Worlds. Truly, a horrifying fate.
Short term thought it was brilliant. Regardless of what was done to Chiho, a quick wave of blue flame and there would be no hint of such a thing.
Though there was one more problem, I thought as I sat beside my sleeping Ashikabi. My Gates do not work on her anymore, meaning that I cannot take her to the other side with me anymore. An…inconvenience really. Without that, she would have to take the long way around everything.
It also meant that when the inevitable response team arrives, I will have to fight them…or risk carrying my Ashikabi away. I am not risking waking her up for her sleep is obviously unnatural. I'd just have to be very careful if I decide to move her… Not that I'd know where to go really. Sure the destination if Fuyuki City but where the hell where we and how do we get to Fuyuki from here?
It also means that if someone attacks I have no choice but to stand and fight. Fight for –
"What the hell?" I muttered as a blue glow behind me attracted my attention. Twisting around I found fading motes of light drift away from Chiho's body. I shifted to turn myself towards her and carefully inspected my Ashikabi. There were no changes whatsoever; she laid there just the same as when I left the first time, breathing softly. So…why had the renewal effect of Gate:Close triggered? She was here the whole time with me and I can't sense anyone else around. She's still sleeping too so that rules that out. What's going on?
Did something really go wrong with my Norito? It doesn't seem to be the case but perhaps I should keep an eye just in case…
"Huh…" I muttered minutes later, staring at Chiho, the touchscreen terminal integrated into my gauntlet forgotten. The renewal triggered again – once more for no visible reason. I closed my terminal, more interested in this phenomenon then trying to get a signal. Wherever we were, there wasn't any anyway. And it's not like MBI satellites exist here so…tough luck. Looks like we'll have to go into the unknown at dawn because there's no way in hell I am staying here and waiting for Chiho to wake up. For all I know there was a poisonous gas here or something that's causing the renewal to trigger. Hell, even staying the night wasn't particularly smart now that I think about it.
I glanced at the tip of the sun just rising above the trees and sighed. In one smooth motion, I picked up my Ashikabi and made for the edge of the 3 story building. Once we were in safety I'll spend more time figuring out what was wrong and why the renewal process kept triggering…randomly…
I stared at Chiho who glowed a constant soft blue light, barely visible under the morning sunlight. Slowly, I lowered her just so that she was in the shade and watched the glow break off into the familiar motes of ethereal light. Then I lifted her into the light again and stared incredulously at the light show before me.
"What the fuck is going on!?"
Random Thoughts: Making Chiho the Master was a quick decision but the more I thought about it... The more I understand that it's not that Chiho should summon Rei. It's more that she literally couldn't summon anyone else but Rei. After all, the allignment of an Ashikabi and their Sekirei is so close/strong that the only one with higher chances would be Shirou summoning EMIYA and thats literally because he'd be summoning himself. (Interesting thought, is there a fic anywhere where EMIYA is summoned by Shirou? And doesnt instantly gib him?)
Anyhow, had Rei actually been in the Throne of Heroes, Chiho would've been able to summon her conventionally much like Shirou managed to summon Altria... but alas...
Reply: So Yea, there were hints and foreshadows of Rei's Norito throughout Number 51. Hope that that's out of the way now... Hope it explains why she was so reluctant to ever use it before(and after). Also, its a bit funny for a Disciplinary Squad Lieutenant of all things to have a non-combat oriented support Norito. (That being said, I've known what her Norito was/would be since conception. It wasn't something I did for a joke.)