Chapter 11
Palace Battle Royal
Corey and Derek cut through the dark armies defenses with blades and fire, hurrying to get to the palace of Spirit World's front gates. As the two battled, Corey quickly explained what had happened with Liz and the Captain Syn. Derek was just as impressed with her new skills as Corey had been, but there would be time for praise later. They had a mission.
To defeat the Elite Captain.
The two could see the palace getting closer and closer, but what they found strange was that there was nobody guarding it.
"What's going on?" Corey asked, confused, "Where's the Captain?"
"I don't know. Stay on guard, though. It may be a trap." Derek replied.
"Duh."
After a few more minutes, the two reached the front gates of the Spirit World Palace. It seemed ominous, so large and powerful. The great King Yama resided here, ruler of the entire universe, and yet even he could not defeat Darkine.
"I guess we just let ourselves in?" Corey asked, shrugging.
"Yeah…" Derek answered.
At the same time, the two moved over to the gate, put their hands on it, and pushed it open, and stepped inside.
The front room of the Spirit World was nothing like Derek remembered. Corey claimed he didn't remember anything about their visit years ago except for the hospital ward.
The main room was much larger then it had been before, about three hundred feet in diameter, and was shaped like a castle's welcoming hall. It had a dark blue carpeting, and a large crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling two hundred feet up. Two staircases lead up to another floor and up to a large doorway.
Standing on the second floor, looking down at the two warriors, was the Elite Captain.
The man looked exactly like an average human man. He had short, black hair with green eyes, and a slight smirk on his lips. He was of medium build, standing at about six foot. In his hands were two sabers, with what looked like decorative ribbons hanging from the end of the hilts.
He wore a white robes, similar to what Corey's training Gi used to look like when he was training under Yusuke, with a black belt around his waist.
"Corey Kartana and Derek Maison I presume?" Asked the Captain, speaking in a heavy English accent.
"That's us." Corey replied. "What can we call you?"
"Stephen will do just fine, thank you." He replied, still smirking slightly.
"Alright…" Corey said, frowning a bit, "Why are you being so polite? It's creeping me out."
Stephen shrugged. "It's just how I am. So…you two are wanting a dual, are you?"
Corey nodded. "That's right…so, um, get pissed off or something, okay? I'd feel bad beating on a guy who is so damn polite."
Stephen chuckled and began to descend down one of the stairways, "Sorry to disappoint you, Corey, but I don't fight in anger. In fact, I prefer not to fight at all…so how about it? Would you care to just join me for some tea?"
The Captain reached the bottom of the stairway, still holding his sabers, but he was in no kind of fighting position Corey or Derek had seen.
"We came here to retake Spirit World, Stephen." Derek said calmly.
"Yea." Corey agreed, "But if you just want to give up, I'd take some tea."
Stephen began to chuckle. "I heard you were the witty one, Corey…but you, Derek, aren't much of a joker anymore. You used to be, though…before this war began."
"War changes people." Derek said coolly, "Now are you ready to fight us?"
"If I must." Stephen sighed, "Will you be fighting me two-on-one? I suggest you do, if you were planning otherwise. I am the second strongest Captain in all of Darkine's army."
"So we heard…" Corey said grimly, readying his sword.
"We'll fight you two-on-one, then." Derek answered, holding out his katana with his left hand.
"Shall we begin?" Stephen asked, still sounding as polite as ever.
"Of course!!" Corey shouted, and instantly let his spiritual energy flow out of his body and into his sword.
Derek nodded as well and let his demonic energy out; black flames coursing around his arms and forming the Black Dragon Claws.
"Excellent. You two are well equipped. I hope this battle will be entertaining." Stephen said with a smile. He then began to twirl around his two blades in his hands. A whirling sound began to emit from them, and grew louder as he spun faster.
"What? Are you going to annoy us to death?" Corey asked, gritting his teeth, but wondering what Stephen was up too.
"Careful!" Derek warned, "That isn't normal sound that he's making!"
And he was right. Just as Derek warned Corey, the attack was unleashed. A blast of invisible energy shot at both Corey and Derek, sending the two flying across the room and into a nearby wall.
"Damn…" Corey grumbled, jumping back to his feet, "What the hell was that?!"
"Sound energy…" Derek replied, "Those blades must be a conduit for sound waves."
Stephen smirked. "Wonderful observation, Derek! Yes, this is my ability: Sound Energy. The power of sound waves can create and destroy anything, with the proper tools, that is."
"Well...it's wonderful to hear that he is a lover of music." Corey commented sarcastically.
"This isn't the time to joke, Corey." Derek hissed, "We can't see his sound waves, because it doesn't seem to be anything like spirit or demonic energy. It's all natural."
Corey smirked and tightened the grip of his hilt. "Well, then! I guess we'll just have to take him out before he gets a chance to use it again!"
Derek nodded, and the two friends ran towards the Elite Captain. Corey ran for Stephen's right, as Derek ran to the left. With a mighty swing of his blade, the younger of the two warriors unleashed his Spirit Slash directly towards Stephen. At the same time, Derek snapped his fingers. Dark energy swarm around his katana, and he slashed towards the Captain with an attack similar to Corey's, but with the fire of the Black Dragon.
The whole time, Stephen merely stood his ground, waving his blades in the same rhythmic motion he had been before. As the two blasts of spirit and demonic energy plowed toward him, Stephen swung his swords in both directions.
Corey and Derek could only assume that it was another sound wave, because just as Stephen swung his blades, both attack swirled in mid-air, and then came thrashing back towards its users.
"Dammit!!" Corey shouted, holding up the Ragnarok to block against the attack. He managed to knock away most of the energy that could have caused him harm, but he did get a deep cut on his cheek, and felt blood trickling down.
Derek merely raised his arm and retrieved the energy, but the sound wave itself hit him once again, sending the older general back a few feet.
"How the hell do we hit you?!" Corey shouted, wiping the blood off his cheek with his thumb.
"That, my dear general, is a secret." Stephen commented, still smiling…still twirling his blades.
Derek frowned lightly. "Corey…I doubt we're going to be able to defeat him with energy attacks…"
"No joke…" Corey grumbled, holding his blade at ready again, "I guess we do it the old fashion way!!"
"Agreed." Derek nodded, and the two bolted towards Stephen.
"So, you're going to try your hands at swordsmanship. Very well!" The Captain stopped his twirling and readied himself for combat.
Corey leaped into the air and swung downward, as Derek whirled his katana for a horizontal attack. Both blades were blocked by Stephen's own two sabers. Corey landed onto the ground, and began hacking his way to try and get into Stephen's reach, but the Captain was a much better swordsman then he had let on. Derek was having the same trouble.
How the hell do you hit this guy?! Corey's mind raised, continuing to hack away in vain, We can't hit him with energy blasts, and his skill with a sword are better then both of ours combi--oh, shit!!
Stephen managed to break Corey's offensive attack with an insanely powerful parry which knocked Corey off balance. Stephen quickly swung his foot up, nailing Corey in the stomach and threw his body into the air, hitting the ceiling, then causing him to fall painfully down to the ground with debris falling from the ceiling above.
"Corey!!" Derek yelled, but now he was dealing with two swords against his one katana. It only took Stephen a few moments to gain the upper hand on him, and slashed downward to cut down Derek. He narrowly dodged a fatal blow, but a deep wound now occupied his chest, the pain forcing him to drop his katana.
"D-damn…" Derek mumbled, pressing against the gash as well as he could.
"Derek!" Corey shouted, slowly getting up. His head was throbbing because of Stephen's own attack on him, but he was in better shape then Derek.
"I'm…fine…" Derek stuttered, coughing up a bit of blood. The attack had nicked one of his lungs. If he had been human, he'd have been dying at this point…but for now he was just in a serious world of pain.
"Well, gentleman…" Stephen said, smiling lightly, "It seems that I misjudged you. I was hoping for a good fight, since you left me no choice but to fight you."
"Shut up…" Corey grumbled, now on his feet. He twirled his blade in his hands and held it at ready once more.
"Still planning on fighting, Corey?" Stephen asked, smiling.
"Damn right I am!" Corey shouted, and then looked passed Stephen and looked at Derek. The two caught eyes for a moment, but before Stephen noticed Corey looked back at the Captain.
"Let's do it!!"
Corey charged at the Elite Captain, and the two began their second round. Stephen still had the advantage over Corey, being not only a better swordsman, but having two swords to Corey's one. Corey swung upward, only to be blocked by Stephen's right sword. The left sword was instantly coming right at him. Corey rolled out of the way, and extended his left index finger, which had been charging with energy.
"Spirit Gun!!"
The blast of spiritual energy exploded out of Corey's finger and shot towards Stephen at pointblank. Corey could see the Elite Captain's eyes widen, but he quickly through up both blades, which blocked the spiritual energy.
"Fool!" Stephen laughed. "Sound waves echo though both my weapons. Did you really think I wouldn't be able to just block it?"
"Block this!!" Shouted Derek from behind Stephen, nailing him in the back with his Black Dragon Claw, tearing through his flesh.
"Urck!" Stephen gasped, blood spurting out of his mouth, falling to his knees, "H-how?"
Corey grinned lightly, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow,
"Derek and I have known each other for years. I knew that if I was to distract you long enough, he'd be able to get a damn good hit off."
Derek smirked slightly, struggling to keep his footing, "You're finished, Stephen. Sorry we didn't get the tea in."
"You…you two…" Stephen began to growl hoarsely.
"Shouldn't have gone up against the two of us, Stephen." Corey said with a smirk. With that, Stephen fell to the ground, motionless.
Sighing in relief, Corey walked over to Derek, who put his arm around Corey's shoulder so the older general could lean on him.
"So…what is that? The second time that you've helped me take down a guy by getting him in the back?" Corey asked, laughing lightly, referring to the very first time they saved the world from a demon warlord.
Derek glared. "Don't start that again, Corey…let's just go find Koenma and Kurama…I'm sure they're being locked up somewhere…"
Corey rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Change the subject, why don't you?" He laughed again, and the two began to walk away from Stephen's body, and began walking up the staircase.
They stopped instantly as they felt a surge of demonic energy from behind them.
Turning around, the two saw blood red demonic energy coming out of Stephen's body.
"What the--?" Corey asked, his legs shaking.
"No way…how can he still be alive?" Derek asked weakly, letting go over Corey and staring in awe with his friend.
"I…won't…be…defeated!!!" Stephen shouted, his body whipping in motion with the demonic energy surrounding him. Suddenly, his form began to change. His muscles bulged and his skin turned dark red. His eyes changed to a similar color of red as his demonic energy. His hair grew longer and more tangled. He looked like a behemoth.
"Oh, shit…" Corey spit out, not knowing what to do.
We could barely beat him before…now what?!
"Corey…" Derek said quietly. Corey glanced over at him, "Go. Find Kurama. I'll hold him off."
"Are you crazy?!" Corey shouted, gritting his teeth. "You can barely breathe! You'd be murdered!"
Derek frowned. "A general has to know what is good for his army. I'll hold him off, and then you and Kurama will attack him from there."
"No! Bullshit. I wont just let you die!"
"Corey! I'm your superior officer! Do what I say!"
"Superior officer?! You've lost it! No way in hell I'm leaving now! If you have forgotten, I'm top general now, anyway!" Corey said, turning back to the newly transformed Stephen.
"Corey! Run away, goddammit!" Derek yelled.
"Go fuck yourself!" Corey shouted back, pushing Derek against a wall to lean on, and then jumping down to face off against Stephen.
"Corey!!" Derek shouted, but began to cough up blood.
That idiot!! That damned idiot!! He'll be killed!! Derek thought frantically to himself as he watched his friend leave to get himself killed.
Corey landed softly on the carpeted ground of the first floor and looked up at his opponent. Stephen was now nine feet tall and looked like he could bench a whole mountain.
"Uhh…'sup?" Corey asked, smirking lightly.
"Don't mock me, boy!" Stephen shouted, his voice dripping like venom, "Don't just stand there! Fight me!!" With speed and power that Corey had never seen before, Stephen threw his fist towards Corey, who only barely rolled out of the way.
"Shit!!" Corey shouted, getting back up and swinging his sword. It was only just then that Corey noticed Stephen was no longer holding his own swords, which gave Corey an advantage that way.
At least I should be able to use spirit energy against him now. He's just bulked up. I can do this!
As he swung his blade and it made contact with Stephen's left arm.
"Spirit Gunblade!!" Corey roared, and the barrage of spirit bullets unleashed themselves from the Ragnarok, nailing Stephen's bulky arms directly. Corey jumped back and grinned,
"Yes!! Take that, bitch!"
The moment of glory quickly faded as he saw that Stephen was not only unharmed, but even more angry.
"What are you, the Hulk?!" Corey shouted as Stephen charged towards him, swinging his fists at full speed and power. The only thing Corey could do was dodge as fast as he could, but finally one of the monstrous fists nailed him in the stomach.
The impact was the most painful thing Corey had ever experienced. It felt like almost all of his ribs had shattered, and it was very well possible that they had. His body was flung like a rag doll through the air and into the stone wall, leaving a crater in his wake. Corey slid down and just leaned against the wall, hunched over, unable to move.
F-fuck… Was the only word that came to mind for Corey. He couldn't move. His ribs and a few other bones were broken, and he was bleeding internally.
Stephen walked over to Corey's motionless body, reached down and picked him up like a doll and held him in his hand.
"You're weak!!" The demon screamed, and slammed his other hand into Corey's body, who screamed with helplessness.
"Corey!!" Derek screamed, getting up as fast as he could. He could only watch as Stephen began to squeeze Corey's limp body, who in turn could only scream in pain.
No…Corey!! Corey! I wont…I wont let you die in front of me again!! No!!
Derek got up and then started to run towards Stephen, ignoring the fiery pain in his chest. He held out his hand and the Black Dragon Claw began to form around his hand and arm.
Stephen stopped squeezing Corey to look over at the charging Derek,
"You're weak, too!!!" the beast screamed, and threw Corey's body right at Derek, who had no choice but to stop his attack and catch his friend. He quickly leaped into the air, avoiding another one of Stephen's insanely powerful punches, and landed on the second story.
"Corey! Corey, wake up! Corey!!" Derek shouted at his friend, who wasn't moving. He checked his pulse, and found him to be alive, but barely. If he couldn't get out of here with him soon…
"Damn you!!" Derek shouted, and the black flame of the Black Dragon suddenly surrounded him. Instantly, he was surrounded by the black fiery armor. The same armor that he had when he had lost his mind and battled Corey. To this day, he hadn't learned how to control it, but his emotions had brought out the armor once again.
And this time, it was to save Corey.
"I'll kill you…" Derek hissed, holding up his katana at ready.
"You will die!!" Shouted the mutated demon.
The two charged at one another. Stephen threw a punch downward to squish Derek where he stood, but Derek was able to leap upward into the air, striking his katana vertically to cut the Elite Captain. Stephen held up his other hand, and a shock wave of demonic energy surged out of the two warriors. Derek leaped back, and saw that the attack had cut through the evil demons fist.
"Not so tough now, are you?" Derek asked, jumping forward to attack the demon once more. Stephen held up his hand to block, but Derek, who was quickly getting control of the Black Dragon Armor and its abilities, was easily able to slash through the beast's fist, cutting him deep once again.
Stephen roared in pain and swung his other fist directly at Derek, who held up his left arm and allowed the gigantic fist to crash into it. The impact of demonic energy was enormous, but Derek held his ground.
Having an attack of opportunity, Derek swung his katana back around and slashed towards Stephen's exposed upper body. He narrowly rolled out of the way and glared towards Derek.
"You…I'll kill you…" The beast of a demon declared darkly.
Derek frowned. "I won't let you. I'll protect Corey, and--ugh!" Suddenly, Derek's body began to ache.
The Black Dragon Armor was starting to get stronger, but it was taking a toll on Derek's body.
I…I'm not used to this kind of power! Derek realized, It's power is just like when Corey uses my demonic energy to mix with his own! Damn! I never thought of it like that!
He readied his katana once more, trying to hide the fact that his body was already starting to weaken due to the overflow of energy.
What's worse…is that I don't think the Black Dragon will let up. It's a creature of darkness, and won't quit until the enemy is down. Shit!
Not having anymore time to think about it, Derek jumped forward to attack, but Stephen had other plans. Even in his altered form, he could still tell Derek was hurting.
Before the demonic general could get close enough to strike, Stephen clapped his hands. A blast of sound energy flew towards Derek, tossing him backwards through the air and into the wall below where Corey was.
The Black Dragon forced Derek to his feet, ignoring it's masters pain.
I…shouldn't have let it out… Derek thought to himself, What if…what if I lose it again?
Stephen was already rushing towards Derek to punch him with his gigantic fists. Derek was about to move when he realized where he was.
No! If he hit's the wall, the flooring where Corey is will collapse! Dammit!!
Derek braised himself for the attack, and when Stephen swung at the man, Derek brought up his katana and parried the fist with the blade. Blood splashed onto the warriors face, but Stephen wouldn't give up. He brought down his other fist and delivered a powerful blow into Derek's side, his rib bones snapping.
Derek screamed in pain as he toppled down onto the ground. The Black Dragon Armor was still going strong around his body, but that just made the pain worse.
Dammit…Corey…I'm sorry, bro… Derek thought to himself as Stephen walked closer towards him.
I…can't lose!! Derek thought, and then came to a grim decision. Alright, dragon. You can have my body. Just let me protect my friend.
The dragon reacted instantly inside of Derek's body. The Black Dragon Armor completely covered his body now, the black flames flooding over his skin. Derek's eyes turned blood red, and he stared down Stephen.
"Bring it." Derek said quietly, using the same tone as he had when he had gone temporarily evil.
I'm sorry, Corey…Liz…If I can still control some part of my body after this is all over, I'll kill myself. That way, you wont have to deal with me and this evil form once again.
Stephen, looking almost confused at Derek's transformation, jumped backwards in order to gaze at his opponent.
The Black Dragon Armor had literally turned into just that: a suit of armor made out of black flames. Derek's katana was now blazing with the black fire, and a long tail made of the same substance whipped from his tailbone.
"You're stronger now…" Stephen remarked with a snarl.
"What did you expect?" Derek asked, walking towards his opponent, "I've given myself to the darkness…I truly am the dragon now. With this form, I will destroy you."
The battle started once again, and the two evil forces collided with a blast of dark energy.
Derek and Stephen's energies hit one another with a loud bang. An explosion of demonic power erupted all around the room where they battled fiercely. Their eyes locked, and both warriors knew this could very well be their final battle.
For Derek, though, no matter what this would be his last fight.
The Black Dragon was quickly consuming his mind, as it had already done his body. His muscle reflexes were not his own now, but that of the dragon's own ancient mind. The power that he now possessed…it was so strange…so raw! It was like nothing he had ever experienced before.
Focus, Derek!! Derek shouted into his mind, You're doing this to save Corey!
Derek swung his katana towards Stephen, who rolled to the side, only to spring up and deliver a powerful punch into Derek's right side. The warrior barely even felt it thanks to the Black Dragon Armor. On reflex, Derek swung his newly developed dragon tail around and struck the punching hand, tearing it up as it made contact.
Stephen roared in pain, drawing back his fist, but Derek was not about to let up. Just as Stephen, Derek bolted forward, swinging up his trusty blade, which was blazing with black fire, and made a severing cut right into the Elite Captain's left armpit, amputating his entire left arm.
The Elite's roars of pain turned into screams of bloody murder as he instinctively held onto the wound with his free hand.
Derek landed, swinging his blade in the air to clean it of blood.
"Beg for mercy…" Derek snarled, in a voice that was nothing like his own.
Oh no… He thought, No! You stupid dragon! Don't control all of me yet!!
Derek suddenly began shaking, as he tried to regain some control of his body. He felt that he could, but he didn't have much more time left. The Black Dragon was eager to get the warriors body for his own dark deeds, but Derek wouldn't have it.
Trust me, you son of a bitch…I won't let you take my body!
For now, though, Derek had to finish off Stephen, who was no charging at full speed towards him.
Derek jumped into the air to avoid the strike, but the demon let go of the stump he now had for a shoulder and grabbed Derek's ankle and tossed him painfully onto the ground. Before he could get back up, Stephen jumped onto Derek's back.
"Gah!!" Derek cried out, coughing up a bit of blood as the Elite's foot made contact with his entire back, in the process causing him to let go of his trusty katana.
So, you're not invisible… Derek thought, almost mocking the dragon through is own pain. He could hear Stephen laughing, thinking that Derek was completely unarmed now.
No, you poor bastard…but I pity you now… Derek thought to himself, knowing what the dragon's next method would be.
Derek's arm began quiver, and just as Stephen was about to step onto his back once again, the Sword of the Black Dragon appeared into the warrior's hand. Before Stephen was even able to make contact with Derek, the black flaming sword cut off half of the Elite's foot with a clean slice.
With the pain of losing half his foot, Stephen cried out once more, and balanced on his only remaining whole foot, giving Derek the opportunity to leap up onto his own two feet.
"This ends now, weakling…" Hissed the voice of the dragon, now echoing out of Derek's mouth.
That's right… Derek concurred, And then it's our end, as well, dragon.
Derek leaped into the air and held onto the Sword of the Black Dragon with two hands, going over Stephen's head and reach, landing on the opposite side of the beast. Still trying to regain his balance, Stephen had no chance to counter the upcoming attack.
Derek jumped into the air once again, and swung the flaming energy blade down into the center of Stephen's skull, cutting through the Elite's entire body.
After a brief moment of stillness, Stephen fell into two pieces, blood spraying onto the ground and onto Derek.
He's dead. Derek thought, and instantly tried to gain control of his hands, I…wont let this body of mine do anymore damage!
It quickly turned into a battle against himself as Derek tried to turn the flaming blade around so that he could now stab himself, ending both his and the Black Dragon's life.
Corey…please. It's up to you now, my friend. I know you can stop Darkine with Kurama's help…good luck…
Still having some control, Derek had managed to get the blade around, ready to kill himself, when suddenly he felt something with incredible power his the side of his face, causing him to fall to the ground.
The sudden impact of power seemed to counteract the Black Dragon, because for whatever reason the flaming dark armor faded off of Derek's body, leaving him in the shambles that he was before it took over.
The pain that had been suppressed instantly over took him, and he began coughing up blood.
Who…what…how?!!
Finally, the answer came in a voice that Derek had not heard in over fifteen years.
"What's wrong, Maison?"
Derek looked over to see a man of about his age standing ten feet away from him. Not a man…a demon. He wore a tattered traveler's cloak, with clothing similar to what Derek himself wore: a black cut off tunic and a pair of black karate pants, with a white belt around the waist. He, too, had white bandages wrapping around both his arms and hands, and a pair of black boots on his feet. Strapped to his belt was a sheathed katana.
He was shorter then Derek by a few inches, with a medium build. His long black hair reached down to his lower black. At the bangs were streaks of red that matched his eyes.
"You look like you've gotten your ass handed to you!"
His savior was the son of Hiei and his former rival, Dia Jaganshi.
