Hello again!
I'm back with the lastest chapter
I'd like to thank Kabegami, and Cruxis for being my beta readers in this chapter as Okami is in a school trip to the beach XD With some luck she'll be back with a nice tan
Anyway, enjoy : )
oOoOo
Secret Revealed
A loud clash of steel upon steel sounded and the pain never came
"Yuji! Are you alright?!" Yuji opened his eyes and saw Shana, using her long black coat and wielding the long katana. She had blocked the attack
"Hunter of the Hot Eyes and Burning Hair! You did come!" the girl said with a light hearted tone, with a voice that sounded as if she had just met with a famous rock star
"I hate that title! I'm not just a Flame Haze! I have a name! My name is Shana!" the red haired girl pushed at her enemy with her sword, forcing the black haired girl of the white robe to jump back.
"Heh, I suppose that I'm obligated to introduce myself after a such passionate presentation. My name is Haruhi" the girl introduced herself with a bow before raising the light made sword and returning to combat position
"You are the Eating-Mistes" explained Alastor "A mistes able to consume power of existence like Tomogara. That way you can replenish your own power"
"It's an honor to be known by such a powerful being as your self Flame of Heaven…I'm sorry but I'll kill your Flame Haze" Haruhi charged at Shana with an horizontal cut, but Shana was swifter and jumped into the air, taking Yuji with her
Shana wanted to summon her wings, but noticed how low Yuji's flame was, if she were to summon them using his energy he wouldn't be able to survive until midnight.
They landed on a rooftop, and Shana put Yuji down "Listen to me Yuji, she's coming after me, so you flee. I don't know if I can protect you, especially if your flame is that low now" Shana said looking fiercely to Haruhi.
"No! I won't leave you here! We'll fight together!"
"Don't worry, I'll just distract her and then go meet you"
"Hey, are you going to stay there talking or what? What are you arguing for? His weak flame?" Haruhi aimed her sword at Yuji and a ray of blue fire appeared from the sword and struck Yuji, engulfing him completely. As fast as the Flames appeared they disappeared "There, I replenished his time as a torch, he has such low capacity that it took me almost no energy. Are you going to fight me now? Shana?"
Shana didn't know what to feel, she was grateful with her replenishing Yuji's flame, however she didn't liked her attitude. Yet what worried her was how easily she had performed a feat that required such a precise control on power of existence and at the distance she did it. She didn't know of a flame haze that could do that, no matter the distance; even she herself was unable to do it. "She is very powerful"
"What do you mean?" asked Yuji
"She means that this mistes is stronger than many tomogara, replenishing your flame was a proof of her ability" explained Alastor
"Is it hard to replenish the flame of a torch?"
"The hardest, I thought it was impossible" admitted Shana "she has to be very skillful manipulating power of existence to be able to do it"
"So…are we going to fight or not, flame haze?" Haruhi, who was bored of waiting at them, started teasing Shana
"I'll attack her Yuji, you go around; don't try to do something out of your league, we will only make us an opening to flee, we can't fight her without knowing her weakness" Shana couldn't believe that she had said that, but this time she was fighting putting Yuji's life in risk against an opponent with an unknown amount of power.
Breathing deeply one last time, Shana said "I love you, Yuji" before leaving his side at blinding speed. Nietono no Shana moved at an amazing speed against her opponent, answering smoothly at its master's orders. But even with the speed, and the skill of Shana in the blow, Haruhi stopped the blow easily with her own sword, with no difficulties at all.
Shana attacked one more time, with a diagonal slash, then a horizontal, a stab but they all were dodged. "I see you live to your fame, Shana" Haruhi attacked after that, all her movements where delicate, elegant, and seemed to flow easily, like a river, yet the damage they caused was , the impact similar to a truck traveling at 80 miles per hour each. The precision in the swings of her sword, and the strength that she put into them quickly forced Shana to be able to do nothing else but defend herself, and that she was achieving, but just barely.
Yuji wasn't losing his time either; he had rounded the fight and was now behind Haruhi, waiting for the right time to make his move
Nietono no Shana was wearing proudly a coat of flames around its blade, in an attempt of Shana to make it match the terrible sword of light. Suddenly, both dark haired girls were stuck, with their swords diagonally crossed between the two, each one pushing against the other, neither giving an inch
Yuji made his move: he created a small sphere of power of existence, and released it. The missile flew as if released from a sling, and was nicely aimed at its target.
Haruhi however, used her knee to land a blow of Shana's gut, and without even turning around parried Yuji's attack, reflecting it back to him
The bolt of energy landed square on Yuji's chest, lifting him clean off his feet and smashing his body into a wall behind him.
Shana's blood was boiling, not only she had managed to put her in ridiculous, but had also harmed Yuji, for the second time "Don't…you dare…put a finger…ON MY BOYFRIEND!" a menacing aura of fire appeared around Shana, and the coat of flames on Nietono no Shana grew bigger
"Calm down, don't let your emotions control you, think and plan a strategy through" warned Alastor, but Shana didn't pay attention and charged at Haruhi. Shana attacked with a perfectly aimed downward slash, which Haruhi deflected with ease, forcing the katana's edge to the ground, and driving it deep within , rendering Shana defenceless
With a light blush in her cheeks Haruhi said "You look cute when you are angry, did you know?" with her sword of light she raised the long katana into the air, Shana still holding it, her feet firm in the ground.
Haruhi pulled back her sword and taking it with both hands made a long and heavy blow, aiming not at Shana, but at the sword she was holding. Nietono no Shana was cleaved cleanly in half from the terrible swing, sending it flying out of Shana's grip .
N-no way! She br-broke the sword! Yuji and Shana couldn't believe their eyes
"But I like your scared face best" said Haruhi with a mischievous smile that pissed Shana, because she was now scared, truly scared
Following her momentum Haruhi used the blunt side of her sword, and batted Shana away , sending her flying several feet; yet, even if the edge didn't harm the girl, the energy of the blade burned her at the contact.
"Why don't you stay put and watch quietly while I kill your girlfriend?" Haruhi trusted her blade, missing on purpose by an inch Yuji's face; however a small cut appeared in his cheek.
That triggered Shana's anger
"Don't…ever…put…a finger…on…MY BOYFRIEND!" Shana appeared behind the Mistes girl and sent her flying with a flaming kick on the side of her face, using the opportunity now that she was distracted with Yuji
Propelled by the kick Haruhi released her sword which disappeared before she slammed into the wall of a nearby building, destroying a large section of the wall, making part of the building fall down due to the lack of support
With the same speed that she made the attack, Shana grabbed Yuji, summoned her flame wings, and took off, trying to flee as fast as she could.
Few seconds after, Haruhi came out of the debris of the collapsed building
"Oh! No, you won't escape that easily!"
From her back unfolded a pair of wings, one white and feathered, like a bird's; the other one was blood red, and bat like. With swiftness she flew into the crimson sky of the fuzetzu, chasing the couple a few feet behind
"Damn! She's good!" cursed Shana
"Her capabilities are most uncommon" admitted Alastor
"What are we going to do?" Yuji questioned from below
"We have no more choice but to try to run and plan a strategy" Shana cursed again
It wasn't a second after when a light blue ray of energy passed less than an inch from them. They quickly looked back and noticed that in the hand of their pursuer hovered a small sphere of light blue energy was forming, when it was fully created she shot it at them, creating another ray of energy that missed them, but by less than the last one.
Shana swooped downward from her flight path and moved from one side to the other, in an attempt to make it harder for Haruhi to hit them. The misaimed attacks landed in the street or burned their way through the sides of buildings, leaving a trail of terrible destruction wherever they struck.
The chasing continued for another minute, when Haruhi, pissed and bored of the situation prepared an attack ten times bigger, using both hands. The fearsome beam of beam of light blue energy hit Shana's shoulder, making her lose the concentration to keep on flying due to the pain.
Dropping fast, with Shana paralyzed by the pain in her shoulder, Yuji had little to no time to think, he created a shield of power around he and Shana, the shield disappearing when they reached the destroyed street, however it protected them from the damage of the fall. Shana and Yuji bounced several feet in opposite ways when the shield disappeared; Yuji received some brushes and Shana fell unconscious
"You!" Haruhi landed in front of Yuji "You have interfered a little too much for my liking, troublesome fly" Haruhi summoned her sword again "I'm going to prevent you from getting in the way of Shana and I, permanently"
Taking the blade with both hands, the black haired Mistes pulled the sword back and tried to destroy the boy. However in the last second the sword flew away from her hands, popping again into nonexistence.
"What do all of you have with interfering with me today? Answer me, Priestess"
Hecate, one of the three leaders of Bale Masque, was standing in the street, a few yards away from the two Mistes.
"I won't let you damage him" she said coldly
"Hum, did you know that Hecate was the goddess of the moon in ancient greek mythology? I wonder if you are named after the goddess…or if the goddess is named after you, after all, Tomogara can live indefinitely, or so I've heard. So maybe you are really an old woman, but you hide your age behind that image of a little girl" Haruhi enjoyed teasing Hecate with an acid tone
"Yuji-kun, flee, I'll hold her" ordered Hecate
"Is that so? You, Hecate, The Priestess, the one that fled when we destroyed Balle Masque, leaving her companions alone? You, off all the unworthy , are going to defeat me?"
Hecate remained silent, while that happened, without thinking it twice, Yuji did as he was ordered; carrying Shana in his arms , he walked slowly away
"Don't worry about running away, you can't hide from me anyway" said Haruhi without leaving her eyes from Hecate
They stood in silence for a few seconds; Hecate was the first to attack, creating a arrow of energy and sending it to Haruhi, which easily deflected it with her bare hand.
"You will have to do something better than that" Haruhi charged with her sword in her hands, but the green haired girl used her hands to create a shield of translucent energy to stop the blow.
Haruhi attacked twice more before having to defend from another attack of Hecate, this time instead of an arrow, she had created a dozen, yet when she was about to be stroke by them, the black haired girl disappeared and reappeared behind the Tomogara "You are very slow"
Hecate turned around only to be send flying away by a hard slap from Haruhi, slamming into a wall a few feet away
Why are they so strong? Questioned from the floor in her mind Hecate
"You are very resistant, I give you that, but you are no match for my powers, are you? You're not any fun at all" walking to her Haruhi grabbed the green-blue haired girl from the neck, holding her a few feet away from the ground "I have no intention of chasing you guys, so…" with a pulse of energy Hecate flew once more, in the same direction Yuji was walking in , passed the couple and dropped into a pile of crushed debris a few yards in front of them
"Hecate!" Yuji carried Shana to where the Tomogara were.
"She's very strong, I can't even hold my ground against her" incorporating Hecate put a hand in Yujis shoulder "Hold on to the flame haze; I'll try to get us away from her before she reaches us"
Haruhi, who was flying at top speed against them, only saw how they disappeared in front of her eyes a few inches away
"What? Damn! No one told me she could do that! That's unfair! Cheaters!" the Mistes girl was preparing to fly to chase them again, when a voice stopped her
"May I ask you what you are doing?" it was the voice of a young man
"What are you doing here?" asked Haruhi with a little drop at the side of her head (the classical anime style one) and her eyes closed with a silly smile
"Don't try to evade my question little miss, you did know that Merihim need that girl"
"I…forgot?" she tried her luck with child like voice "and don't call me 'little miss', I'm just a few years younger than you"
He sighted "You are hopeless"
…
Shana opened her eyes slowly; she was laid back, the blue sky was waving her hello
"Yu-yuji?" she called
"Shana, are you ok?" his voice answered the call
She incorporated to be sitting; she noticed they were on the roof of a very tall building, bellow and a few blocks in front, she could see the fuzetzu. In the roof top were two persons, one was Yuji and the other one was…
Shana incorporated like a lightning "Yuji, get behind me I will defeat her" she said rising her fists with fire at Hecate, her hair raised like moved a gust of wind and dyed in red. However she could do more, the terrible pain in her shoulder from her sustained wound forced her back to her knees, the fire dissipated and her hair and eye color returned to normal
"Hey, don't push yourself" Yuji supported Shana "its ok, she helped us to escape"
"You were beaten pretty bad, and resulted injured, you need rest" said Hecate
"Are we safe? Did we lose her?" asked Yuji to Hecate
"No, she knows where we are, but she isn't coming to us, so something or someone may be holding her back " explained Alastor
Yuji didn't know what to think
…
"Have I made myself clear?" asked the young man
"Yes" answered Haruhi with her head low
"Well then, you have created too much ruckus here, lets go"
Both of them disappeared from the fuzetzu
…
"The Mistes, she left" declared Hecate
Shana punched the floor "We lost!" her frustration was clearly seen
"Prepare to see something very unpleasant" warned Alastor to Yuji
For a few seconds nothing happened, and then with a loud grumble and an earth shake the fuzetzu disappeared. All the damage that was done inside of the fuzetzu, was suddenly received in the normal world, all at the same time.Buildings, they collapsed; roads were left in ruins, hundreds of people screamed, for all of those who didn't have the chance.
A large cloud of dust rose from the zone of disaster
Yuji's eyes widened in surprise and horror at such scene
"That's what happens when a flame haze losses a battle" even Alastor's voice carried a gloom tone
Everyone could feel how the balance of the city was affected
"No one was eaten inside it, as such the damage was minimized, if it were to be any other way the damage would be even worse" informed Hecate coldly
…
Defeated, injured both in pride and physically; and fatigued the three of them returned to Yuji's house. Soon all the city's attention was the disaster. Some gossip said that it was a bomb, and from there the worries went on to terrorism and the numerous extremist numerous groups that were suspected of causing the incident
Yuji couldn't care less about what they thought was the cause of such destruction, he was too shocked to concentrate and his low concentration was focused in the bleeding girl that was hardly walking being helped by Hecate and him.
They appeared in the door of the house. Dust covered Yuji's body with several bruises appearing on his autonomy , a bleeding and semi conscious Shana and a girl in a tattered robe that used to be white, her hair was a mess (she had lost her hat in the fight).
"Oh my goodness! Yuji! What has happened?!" Chigusa dropped the frying pan she had in her hands when she saw them, and quickly checked Shana
From the same door, closely behind appeared Wilhellmina Carmel, the manipulator of Objects
"Wilhellmina!" cried Yuji happily, not stopping to thing why she was there "help us!" he was sure the flame haze could understand the situation without having to explain it to his mom
"I understand , de arimasu" she said in his usual monotonic voice "take her upstairs." she ordered Yuji and Hecate "I have some bandages in my backpack, but I'll need more than what I currently posses and some antiseptic as well de arimasu"
"I'll get them" Chigusa ran quickly to fetch the first aid kit that was in her room
As Shana was transported to Yuji's room in the second floor Wilhellmina grabbed some bandages and some medicine from her traveling backpack that was in the kitchen.
Chigusa and Wilhellmina got to the room at the same time. With haste they cleaned the injuries and bandaged Shana up.
…
After fifteen minutes that seemingly passed slower than years , Shana was sleeping calmly in the bed. , Her breathing regulated and steady.
"I guess that's all we can do" said Chigusa cleaning the sweat of her forehead
"She will be fine in a few days, but she needs to have some rest , de arimasu" Wilhellmina stayed beside Shana, second checking her
Chigusa walked out of the room where Yuji and Hecate were waiting for the women to come out
"Yu-chan what happened? You said that you were caught in the explosion, but if it were such then you would have been taken to the hospital, I need to know what's truly going on here" her tone was serious, yet it was full of concern, and worries for them
"The truth is" said Hecate "that you have been lied to from the beginning, starting with the fact that your son is already dead"
OoOoO
Woooh, another Cliffhanger!
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