Chapter 41 – Slaying the Daemons

Sai Summers / Death the Kid

Sai

We wound around most of Shibusen's hallways in silence.

I noticed the color had drained from Kid's face. "Kid, say something. Please." I begged.

He had wrapped his right arm around my shoulders and was pulling me towards the Death Room.

"I can't discuss it. I can't…" His voice was weak, and it was hard to pin-point where his concern over the current situation we were in ended, and the stress over the idea of the Master Toolmaker Eibon being involved, began. "Don't say anything about it unless my Father asks." He muttered, his voice thin.

At the finally hallway and with the Death Room door insight, my stomach started to burn and I wrapped my arms around my midsection. My feet came to a sudden stop and I reached out and took hold me Kid's jacket. "Stop…" I whispered.

Kid attempted to pull me, starting to panic. "We can't, the souls have to come out. They have to come…"

My vision shifted sideways, and I felt almost drunk.

I reached out to where I thought he was. "Kid…"

My environment drew dark as it spun away.

***

Kid

I pulled Sai down the hall and pounded on the Death Room door.

"Father!" I yelled.

The door pulled open from the inside, and Stein was the door. He grabbed her from me and put his arm around her shoulders. She appeared to still be walking, but it didn't look like she was aware of what was going on. He pulled her down the line of arches and up the podium. "Kid, where's the Demon Tool?" He demanded, sitting Sai on the reflective flooring. She started to fall forward and flat to the floor, and Stein grabbed her.

I was distracted and missed question initially.

Stein grabbed my right arm with his left, as he supported Sai with his right. "Where's the…damn it!" He suddenly shouted, and dropped Sai to floor. She landed with a light thud on her right side. "She's burning!" He waved his hand, as if swinging it would relive him of the singe

Something in her remaining coat pocket began to glow a violent and brilliant sky blue.

I went to reach out for Sai, and Stein pulled me back. "Don't touch her; you might have a reaction."

I had no intention of holding back. "Let me go!" I retorted in anger.

As Stein struggled to pull and hold me back, a blue, domed soul-light began to glow around Sai; and she started to scream about something being hot, something burning.

I could only watch, and it burned me as well. "Sai!"

***

Sai

Seeing the inside of my soul just wasn't something I could "get used to."

The books, the study materials of Shibusen, say that the color of the light you see inside of your Weapon for is in a way "your color." It is the representation of your soul in physical form.

The blade of my scythe is violet, the atmosphere I see while in my Weapon form is violet…

Then why is the sky and ground blood red…

Maybe bloody wasn't the right word. The ground was watery, but didn't seem to get you wet. It splashed and made ripples, but it wasn't see-through like water. And it was too bright to be anything but the blood.

I leaned my head back, and found the sky above colored similarly to the ground, but was uniform, unlike the water which moved with each minor step. Looking from side to side, the horizon was a light pink, and created a border between the ruby red water, and the blood red sky.

It was made all the worse by the screams I heard every few moments.

There was a light splashing sound and I turned about-face.

The Little Me was before me in her simple black dress; but she wore the ribbons – one on each side of her head, behind her ears – that Kid had given me, and that had been ruined with spilled blood.

Even in my head I could hear screaming, but I couldn't place where it came from. The Little Me seemed oblivious to the sounds, and I was mildly suspicious. "What's…that noise…?"

Her eyes stared straight ahead, unmoving when I adjusted my positioning in space. "Those are the sounds of human souls." She stated flatly.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "What do you mean?"

"That is the scream of souls leaving Earth."

I looked around, but there was nothing but uniformity. "Then where is this?"

Her words echoed, even without walls. "This is nowhere physical."

I remembered Shinigami-sama's words: a soul of the Kishin has taken control of the Demon Tool at this church…the church itself has become a weapon for the Kishin…I need you retrieve the soul…only then will the Tool be usable…"

"You don't have to take this path…"

"I came to Shibusen to improve myself. This just happens to be the path to that that's open for that, for now."

"Is this life suitable?"

I tried to remain unbiased. "I'll take what I can get."

"Is that alone enough encouragement to keep you alive?"

I tapped my foot in impatience. "I'm not going to crawl in a hole and die, if that's what you're touting."

Its eyes stared, unblinking, for a moment. "If you chose this path, you'll outlive your friends and family."

"Everyone lives and dies, even the Shinigami." I rolled my eyes at the concept. "None of us are immortal."

"You'll have to be alone, eventually."

I stared down into the fluid ground and watched my distorted image float. "As late as a few weeks ago I might have believed that was true." I placed my right arm behind my back and the scythe appeared. "But since I'm feeling a little more optimistic lately, I'm apt to think you're the influence of the Kishin on the Demon Tool."

Little Me scowled. "The Tools are amplification devices. They simply take what's in one's soul and make it stronger. I can only exacerbate what it is already there."

"So you're taking advantage of my weaknesses. That's uncouth." I moved the scythe to my right hand alone and spun it a circle. When it came fully around, it snapped to my hand.

Her face darkened. "You're lying to yourself."

I ignored her accusation. "And this place…these colors and images…this may not even be my soul."

"But…"

I smiled darkly. "In fact…I think this is the Kishin egg's soul. If I remove it – if I remove you – the tool will be clean."

The face of Little Me contorted and its mouth grew large. Its jaw dropped and an enlarged tongue rolled out, letting drool run down its chin. Its jagged white teeth reminded me vaguely of Soul.

Grinning at her, I said: "Heh. The problem is the soul…"

I adjusted my position and planted my feet slightly farther apart. This seems too easy at the moment…

There was movement to my left and I instinctively turned. A few feet in front of me the water had grown to above my head and was falling towards me.

It was a moment of shock and awe.

Not having the scythe in both hands limited the strength of my swing, and I was forced to pull it back behind my back to gain momentum. I brought the scythe forward, and pushed it into the wave.

It stuck part of the way into the wave, and my weapon's inertia ceased.

The wave continued on its path, now on top of me. I released the scythe and it faded from existence, and dove to my right, landing and splashing up the water. The wave splashed onto of my legs, causing them to sting.

There was movement in front of me once again, and I came up to my feet quickly. I turned to where Little Me had been standing, but she was now farther in the distance. It was difficult to do, but I used what footing I could get on the watery ground to push my self up and forward, and went running towards her.

The water rose once again on my right, but I slid to the left and was able to continue running. The next one came at my left and was closer, so adjusting my positioning in my running was more difficult. I wasn't able to clear it fully, and I felt the burn of the gelatin-like water smack against my left arm, slowing me down. The waves began to rise faster the closer I got the Kishin egg. I reproduced the scythe in my right hand and continued my charge.

It didn't look like she planned to fight back; all of her attack was in her ability to manipulate this soul into crushing my own physically. I shifted my right hand towards the upper half of the scythe's staff, and left my right hand at its midsection. Coming to a halt within striking distance, I pulled the scythe back over my right shoulder and brought it back down blade between its head and left shoulder.

Little Me's "body" unwound and dissipated. All that was left was what had been at its heart: a ball of bright white, with red swirling around it. Outside of the condensed soul essence emanated translucent red flames.

The soul shrunk and dissipated into my palm as the others had, but the response was significantly different. I was overcome with nausea and dropped to my knees, causing the ruby water to splash up around me.

Clouds of darkness rose up from under the watery floor and overtook me, shutting out my ability to see my surroundings.

***

Kid

Sai's back lurched up and she vomited; the fluids were tinged with neon blue highlights.

I could barely hear Stein's voice over the shirking. "She'll be okay." He encouraged.

I turned on Stein, and I knew my expression was wild with rage.

Stein attempted to pin my arms down and do my chest, and his grasp on me was surprisingly strong. "You can't help her!" He returned. "This is her assignment."

I had pushed my emotions to the edge, and my eyes burned with tears. "Let me go…" I muttered. "Father…"

Sai ceased expelling fluids and began to inhale and exhale noisily.

Father's eyes narrowed. "I think it's over."

***

Sai

Able to open my eyes, I could see the gradual dissipating of an electric blue light.

Stein was at my left, kneeling down and pulling up on my shoulders. "Sai…can you sit up?" He asked quietly.

My chest felt like lead, but I pulled myself upward.

Shinigami-sama's mask smiled. "You did well."

I coughed and looked up at Shinigami-sama. "Death-san…" I huffed.

His expression shined, like it was his own child who had been successful. "Congratulations on your first soul." He stated with pride.

Kid came to my right, put his arms under mine, and began to pull me up. He wrapped his left arm around my shoulders, forcing me to face Shinigami-sama.

Shinigami-sama raised an oversized white, gloved hand and a ball of blue light appeared in front of my chest. The longer he held it there, the larger the ball became. After a few moments a hole appeared in the glove, and the blue ball began to unwind towards and into his glove. When the ball disappeared, he tucked his gloved hand inside of his cloak.

He bounced twice in place. "Kid, why don't you take Sai to the mansion for the night? It's much closer than her home."

Kid's face and expression was one of tiredness, and he didn't seem to be in the mood to argue. "Yes, Father."

As Kid led me down the line of arches, I turned to him. "Say something…please."

"You're one step closer to 'normal.'" He smiled, but it appeared phony. "I'm sure they're all so proud."

My face dropped. "I'm never going to be normal, Kid."

We had reached the door; he let his head hang and let his right hand rest on the door handle. "Don't let them change you to be 'average'…you're too strong for that."