The Lost Child
Battle of the Sliders
One second later
Asakura roared, and slashed her katana into the barrier that the others had erected, and they shattered.
Tsuruya-senpai thinned her lips, "Yes, most dangerous indeeds."
Punching the ground, her hand instead opened a portal, emerging at the other end to grab on to Asakura's ankle, restricting her movement.
"Stupid girl..." The blue-haired demon lowered the blade to slice up the aforementioned hand, only for to see it drag her ankle into the portal.
"Hehe," Tsuruya-senpai laughed, "I've tightened it, so now you'res chained to that spot.
"Gyahahaha!" The Insane Kyon ran in, his own dagger in one hand and a pistol in the other, firing at Asakura, who deftly dodged the bullets barely, only to fail to completely parry his dagger.
He aimed for her weak spots immediately, and for all the lethal arteries. It chilled me to think that I could have become him had circumstances been different. He nearly disarmed her of the katana, but the sparks that shone off their clash meant that despite being trapped, she was essentially still strong.
"Such smooth skin, it's rare that I get to cut up the same person again, Asakura..." He levelled the gun direct at her face, "Will you let me have the pleasure of doing so?"
"Only if you help me defeat the others, Kyon-kun..." She winked as the katana moved behind her back, "Then you can have all the time in the world with me, as you want."
Insane Kyon had a disturbing look on his face. Was he really considering this? The gun aim wavered as he began to tremble from excitement.
"Watch out! Time Slow!"
Asahina-san (Big) held out a palm facing the two of them, and the arc from the katana, gradually moving towards cutting into Insane Kyon's stomach could be seen clearly. Asakura must have been using all her strength to speed it up, since even then it was fast.
Insane Kyon was also in the slow time field but could not move out in time.
"Not to worry!" Itsuko, at least I think that's her name, was hovering nearby and threw a fireball towards Asakura's sword, and at the same time had an arm ready to drag Insane Kyon away.
The fireball blazed up the metal of the blade, and Itsuko managed to pull out my alter ego by his collar. Once free of the slow time, he was mad, and lashed out at Itsuko.
"Did I say I needed your help? She's my target alone!"
Trying to stab Itsuko, he was met with a data barrier, and he glowered at Entity Nagato.
"Do not attempt anything like that again, or I will permanently seal your movements." She turned to look at Asakura and blinked.
The lamppost next to us formed a large number of spikes, and were flung at my enemy.
Despite all these attacks, Asakura was unperturbed. After angling her foot trapped in the portal, she wedged the sword in there and cut upwards, tearing the portal in two, and also eliciting a cry from Tsuruya-senpai.
I turned back shocked and saw her cradling her leg as the blood gushed out.
"Silly mes," She shook her head, "I forgot I was standing too nears to it."
Entity Nagato watched as Asakura dived to the ground to avoid all the spikes, which were aimed for her upper body, then start charging towards her with the sword embedded in the ground.
The tarmac was being carved in two, and instead of seeing the soil beneath it, I could see a whirlwind of red fire and black water. Entity Nagato also saw this and raised a large dirt barrier reinforced with her own data, into which Asakura could only dent, though it shattered after five seconds.
"So, I cannot break your defences instantly like with Yuki-chan here..." She pointed to our own one who was still healing Koizumi, "However, your powers cannot compare to my own, since even your immense power fell to my own."
"You disrupted the data flow by injecting corruption attack vectors in the tertiary layer, using null data taken from the void."
Asakura just laughed, one without mirth, "Spare me your technobabble," She walked back to the deep cut in the tarmac, and dipped her sword into that vortex of whatever she opened up, "Just a little more power, and I will be able to erase all of you from existence."
"As if I'll allow that!" Asahina-san (Big) yelled, putting her hands on her hips, before she disappeared before my eyes, only to reappear directly above Asakura, landing on her head to force her to the ground.
"Damn you!" Rolling over, Asakura swung the katana, only to hit empty air again, until at the end of the swing, Asahina-san (Big) teleported again, stepping on her sword arm.
"Time Stop!"
"Now's our chance Kyon!" Tsuruya-senpai punched straight ahead of her, ignoring the pain in her leg for now, and a portal opened up next to Asahina-san (Big).
"Allow me!"
Itsuko flew into the portal and sent a fireball down onto the immobile Asakura's hand, and the sight of her skin turning darker made me a little ill.
"I have to lop off those fingers, don't I?"
Insane Kyon brought out a gardening implement, one for pruning branches, and I felt greener all of a sudden.
Entity Nagato glanced at Tsuruya-senpai and cast a barrier on her bleeding leg, to which healing properties began to restore the skin. She also produced barriers on the hand holding the blade to hold in the heat from the fire.
"Too late, little boy!"
Asakura broke out of the time lock early, and gripping the katana tight, yelled out as she lifted up her arm despite the weight of Asahina-san (Big) on it, and the barrier too. Caught by surprise, she fell backwards onto her elbows, the crunching on the ground louder than normal.
Insane Kyon could only watch as the tip of the sword pierced his skin and sliced into his abdomen. Cursing his bad luck, he used the pruning shears to halt the advance of the sword, but it was already too far gone.
Spitting up blood, he took this opportunity to blind Asakura by spraying his red fluid in her face, distracting her enough to pull away, leaving a trail of his bloody saliva behind him.
"That bitch..." Throwing away the shears, he looked up at the black sky, "Nothing left for it now..." From a nearby bush, he removed something I had only seen in movies.
I believe it was called an RPG, or a Rocket Propelled Grenade if you will.
"Target locked." That hungry grin was the last one I saw in his face as he lowered the aim to the prone Asakura, just mere metres away.
"No! Don't do it!" Asahina-san (Big) was crying out, as she was just next to him.
"Shit!" Tsuruya-senpai plunged her hand into a new portal and pulled my elder to safety to us, as I managed to catch her before she fell.
Insane Kyon fired, and milliseconds later, the explosion hit us, the smoke rising along with untold amounts of dirt and whatever else was in the nearby area.
"Where is she?" I was on my guard, I wasn't letting my body relax for a second because somehow I knew she wasn't done for, not yet.
The air hummed with static as a length of white began to glow from within the smoke.
As the dust settled, I saw a sight that had haunted me from a while ago.
Embedded up to the hilt of the sword was Insane Kyon, his weapon lay at his feet. Asakura was holding the sword with her one functioning arm, managing to keep his feet off the ground.
"That was close." She smirked at us, "Too bad for your little friend here."
She swung her blade and he flew off landing in front of me, his school uniform beneath his straitjacket stained deep red. He looked at me, and I realised he was now the same as myself.
"Heh, so I lost in the end, I couldn't change my fate it seems."
Those eyes had lost that sharp edge to them, and seemed like my usual mellow look. I could see a green and yellow barrier form around his chest, presumably trying to heal him.
"It's okay Nagato, that's enough, I'm tired now..."
Entity Nagato blinked, and then I blinked hard at seeing her lips curl downwards, her sadness evident.
"I understand."
The barrier dissipated quickly, and he smiled at me.
"Hey, Kyon, you've had a good life until now." He reached up to grab my collar, and pulled me down towards him, "Be sure to protect everyone. What you have is real, I only had fake memories, I never had anything like remotely as fun as your life." He coughed up more blood, some of it spattered on my cheek, "Kill her, not for me, not for yourself, but for your friends..."
His hand slipped away quietly, much like his life. My doppelgänger was now dead from Asakura's attack, and I began to feel pity for him for the first time.
I looked at his weapons on his person, a normal pistol and dagger, but brought from his old reality. As Tsuruya-senpai said, weapons from my own reality were not effective at all. Only those that were brought from another parallel universe could make any difference.
I looked at my club mates, Nagato healing Koizumi, Asahina-san sleeping peacefully, Yuki watching with anxiety, and then at the new visitors. Entity Nagato was muttering quietly in her golden form, healing Tsuruya-senpai of her injuries. Itsuko was cursing to herself and generating a massive fireball. The former Insane Kyon had a smile on his face, perhaps the only moment of peace he had in his short life.
Shutting his eyelids, I stood up, determined to end it all, holding his pistol and dagger.
I have never once joined in a battle, having no skills other than running away or saying a witty remark or two, I left it up to the others. Yes, I may have been good at managing them all, or giving orders to defeat whatever enemy there was; I never actively fought.
I decided there and then, never again would I just stand back and watch my friends fight for their lives, safe in the knowledge that their strength would overpower any obstacle ahead of them.
From now on, I will fight alongside them.
"Oh my, this is interesting. Are you taking up his mantle, Kyon-kun?"
Asakura's childish mocking had no bearing on the cruelty she was inflicting on us. Not that I let it affect me any more.
Sealing off my emotions was easier than I thought, unlike the way I inadvertently speak my thoughts when I assumed they remained private.
My focus was only on Asakura. My objective was to kill her, completely and utterly.
I glanced at Entity Nagato and nodded. She blinked once and nodded in reply. I looked at Tsuruya-senpai, Itsuko and Asahina-san (Big) too, and they all shared the same nod.
Asakura grinned wider and held that white electrical blade, muttering to herself. One of her arms lay bleeding at her side; that RPG did do some damage to her, but apparently it wasn't fatal or life-threatening. Her body must be battle hardened in some fashion, not that surprising given she had spent ten years sliding from one world to another. Even now though I could see it healing and beginning to move again.
I saw the energy inside that infernal sword grow in size as the tip was dipped into the soil sucking up that strange otherworldly substance.
Getting cut by that this time would mean certain and instant death for anyone.
I checked the pistol, it had a good weight in my hand, it was neither too light, nor too heavy. After getting to grips with the safety catch, I checked there were enough bullets for what I was about to do.
The dagger, well, it's been described enough times by myself on previous occasions, as it was the same make as the one that nearly resided in my gut at one point, and cut my neck only too recently.
There was no time to waste, I had to end this now.
I ran towards her. Asakura laughed loudly.
"A head on attack, how noble!" She too started running towards me, just as I had expected.
I flicked my eyes to Entity Nagato, and she muttered quickly.
Data barriers in front of me materialised, forming a staircase upwards. Racing upwards so I was now six metres above Asakura, I jumped into thin air.
Confused by this turn of events, but at the same time thrilled, Asakura leapt higher than a normal human, getting closer to me.
I glanced at Asahina-san (Big) and Tsuruya-senpai, and she understood.
Holding out both hands, she yelled twice.
Asakura was now encased in a Time Stop field, and she was frozen in mid air, and I was in a Time Slow field.
Working the dagger carefully, using my slowed speed to aim accurately, I plunged it into a white portal, the end of which was centred on her chest. I pushing harder, watching her eyes widen as she could barely move within that area.
Her katana glowed red and vibrated roughly.
Adjusting my body, I made myself lie down in the air, and kicked off the handle of the dagger, ensuring that the hilt was now buried in her ribcage. The portal closed up also, showing that the entire dagger was inside her now.
Falling backwards, I didn't need to let the other member know what to do. Itsuko flew in and caught me before I hit the ground.
"Everyone, attack her now!"
After landing roughly, I let loose with the bullets, Itsuko flung fireball after fireball, Tsuruya-senpai sent punches into portals set at point-blank range from her body and Entity Nagato generated a thousand spikes from other materials around us.
Asahina-san (Big) had no offensive weapons, but did the next best thing.
"Fast Forward!"
The space in front of Asakura was now accelerated to a hundred times their normal speed, so all projectiles had their lethality increased to the same extent as they struck her.
"GYAAAAH!" The Time Stop field around Asakura had broken apart at same moment as all the attacks hit her full on.
Her sword hovered in front of her only after she began to fall two seconds later. It intercepted all the attacks after the third barrage, even absorbing them to some extent. She landed several dozen metres away, still screaming to herself.
I looked at the magazine in my gun, and saw that there was only one bullet left.
The others had come to my side, surprised at how one attack seemed to turn the tide.
"It's not over, we need all our power for one last shot." I knew time was not on our side.
I pulled out the final bullet, the last one from my other self's reality.
"I need all of you to put your ultimate power into this bullet. Only this will kill her. Her blade has been to many dimensions, and it gained power there. That's why I need your own power right now."
Entity Nagato nodded, "Acknowledged, uploading Terminal Nullification Link, thereby converting all matter into separated atoms."
The bullet glowed yellow and green, with a distinct circuit pattern visible as she put her finger on it.
"Whatever you says Kyon!" Tsuruya-senpai's hand turned white and silver, "This portal will transmit a trillion different realities into one atom, thus splitting its very existence into those realities."
Her finger touched the bullet, and it turned golden, small holes appearing in the circuitboard.
"Hmm..." Itsuko thought to herself, "Well, it's not as special as the others, but I can place anything I touch into Closed Space, so why not for each atom? Shouldn't be too hard."
Her hand turned red and as she tapped the bullet, it became a shiny maroon. A miniature bubble enveloped the bullet as it became its own Closed Space.
Asahina-san (Big) closed her eyes, "Using the Ultra Fast Forward, I can ensure that anything will decompose to nothingness within ten seconds. Nothing can survive that."
Holding her ear with her left hand, her right tapped the bullet, and it began to fade in and out of sight as it was no longer in sync with our linear timeframe.
"And for the last person..." I swiped my finger on the blood stain from the other poor Kyon, "To carry on the will of the one who died, the will to protect my reality, and my friends."
I smeared it on the bullet, and as we all held it, it exploded outwards in a rainbow of colours. They all spiralled inwards as if heading into a whirlpool.
All that remained was a floating bullet, completely black, even the shell, and humming with the various powers within it.
Grabbing it, I pushed it into the vacant chamber of the gun and pointed it at the agonised cries of Asakura.
Her figure got up, and the blade turned redder, growing even longer in size and width and depth. It now stood at three metres long and at least thirty centimetres wide. It looked big enough to slice through a horse, or a dragon if unlucky enough to meet one.
"You bastard..." Somehow she could still walk, and she did so, coming closer. The steam from the ruptured ground was seeping into the sword still.
"Does it hurt, Asakura?" I couldn't help smile at seeing her face for the first time since that combined attack.
Her pained expression was greatly satisfying, the blood running down her face, mouth and chest were copious. It seemed that her left eye was gouged out also, as she kept that eyelid permanently shut.
She pulled out my dagger, reaching deep into her own chest to do so, which would have made me squeamish before, but not now.
"Your luck has run out. If I'm not dead by now, I can heal myself again..."
The sword, well, slab of metal, since something that size can't be really called a sword, sent some of its red glow into her body.
Before she completely cured herself, I had to know one thing, but also to partly distract her attention.
"Just one thing, Asakura..."
Her one eye levelled itself with my own pair, intrigued I would try to ask her something at this moment.
"Why go through all this trouble to kill me? Was it because I destroyed your old world? Still holding a grudge against me?"
Pausing in her actions, even the sword stopped providing power to her, she raised her eyebrows and her eye widened in acute surprise.
"Is that what you think I'm doing?"
The dagger finally escaped and fell to the ground, encased in red and black blood. Holding her chest, not in pain, but mirth, she laughed loudly, despite her lungs and heart undoubtedly being pierced by the tip.
"Oh my, I thought you were a clever one, earlier you had a good tactic to hurt me, but I never thought you'd be so stupid..."
I faltered, my weapon arm lowered slightly, "Wait, what are you talking about? I don't understand."
"Why would I want to kill you?" She leered, "You already left that world, it makes no difference to me if you lived or died, though the latter would give me pleasure."
"So...?"
I didn't get what she meant. I wasn't her target? Then, that can only mean...
"No!"
I spun around too late, as Asakura's psychotic laugh echoed around me as she moved too fast to see her, that red blade trailing her movements as she dashing past me and at the same time granting her abnormal levels of speed.
A deep crunch was the next sound, along with a weak whimper.
"Yes, the only person that tied me to this pathetic mortal body was the one who created that world to begin with, by remaining there."
The red tinged hunk of metal now bore a new red flow from the tip, as the person now hanging off it slowly slid further down the length of it, the small arms trying to stop the movement.
"YUKI!"
Her face was turning pale before my eyes, and her eyes were becoming duller.
I ran to Asakura, fury driving my feet forwards, and skidded to place the pistol directly against her forehead.
"Too late, Kyon-kun..."
Then the world blacked out for me as she slammed the metal into my head.
Author's Notes
Been playing Higurashi lately, hence the seriously gory portions of this story.
Next chapter should be the last one for this story.
- J