Chapter 18
The Battlefield Outside the Keep
Ten hours after meeting up with Logan Fox, the battle started.
The Rebel Fighters were about five miles away from the mountain side when they were attacked by Darkine's troops. Demons of every shape and size were attacking head on. The Rebel's troops were already in formation for battle, and the last battle of the war against Darkine began.
No sooner had the fight started, Corey was already separated from Derek and the others. The Ragnarok was already unsheathed, and the warrior was breaking loose on the enemies forces. It felt every time he swung his sword, two more enemies would attack. It was tough not using his Spirit Energy to counterattack, but he knew he had to try his best to conserve his energy.
"Take that!" Corey shouted as he sliced through his eighteenth enemy. He finally got a chance to check his surroundings.
Everywhere he looked he saw fighting. He watched as soldiers, Darkine's and his own, fell to their deaths. He hated battles like these. A one-on-one fight was different. At least then a person could tell who was winning. He had no idea how many troops he had lost. All he could do was continue onward.
With his adrenaline pumping, Corey ran towards the mountain range. Hopefully, Derek would be waiting for him by the time he got there.
******
Derek's katana was covered with the blood of his enemies. One after the other he cut down his opponent, trying hard to not use the power of the Black Dragon. His right eye, the one in which the dragon owned, twitched just barely. Derek understood.
I know, Black Dragon…but I need to conserve my energy for Darkine.
"Is this Darkine so powerful?" The Black Dragon asked, speaking directly into Derek's mind.
"You don't know the half of it," Derek grumbled, crossing blades with yet another one of Darkine's foot soldiers. The evil demon swiped at Derek with it's scimitar, but Derek merely jumped over the beast and slashed the demon's back, blood splattering onto Derek. He sighed, and started to move forward again, when a familiar figure could be seen twenty feet away.
"Dia!" Derek shouted, running towards him, but not before another opponent got in his way, clashing swords with Derek.
Derek hadn't seen Dia since the Black Dragon had accepted him as his apprentice. He had wondered what had happened to Dia, but didn't have time to give it much thought. He knew he would find him in the final battle, though.
After defeating the opponent, Derek made it to Dia, who had just finished cutting down his own enemy,
"What do you want, Maison? I'm busy." Dia said coolly, not even giving Derek a glance.
"I need you to promise me something." Derek said, causing Dia to laugh.
"Why would I do anything for you, Maison? As far as I'm concerned, when this is over, you and I are enemies again, and I will defeat you," Dia remained stoic.
Derek frowned. "I just want you to not hurt any of my soldiers. I know you want Darkine for yourself, but there is no reason to injure any of the people who want that same goal,"
Dia finally turned at Derek, with a dark smirk on his lips.
"I don't care one way or the other what happens to your little army, Maison. I believe I already told you that," He began to walk away, but not before Derek grabbed his shoulder.
"Dia! Promise me!" Derek yelled.
"Do not touch me, Maison," Dia snarled, pushing away Derek's hand and pointing his katana at him, "I'd rather not kill you with your teacher's blade."
It was Derek's turn to be stoic. He did not raise his blade at Dia, only stared at him.
"I need your word, Dia Jaganshi. I know my teacher, your father, would ask the same,"
The two stared at one another, but then each of them jabbed their blades ahead, barely missing the other, to stab a pair of demons that were trying to ambush them. With their backs turned to one another, Dia said,
"Fine, Maison. You have my word. I will not kill any of your pathetic soldiers…so long as they stay out of my way," and before Derek could even turn around, Dia was gone.
"Thank you, Dia,"
******
Evan Ray slowly rose back up, coughing up a bit of blood as he did. It was just his luck, getting matched up against a Captain. A goddamned Captain!
What the hell is wrong with the world? He thought to himself as he readied for another blow of attacks.
Evan was a fourth-degree black belt, and was capable of channeling his Spirit Energy like Corey was, but didn't even come close to matching it. And now, here he was, facing off against Captain Ikaku, who shared Evan's love for martial arts.
"What's wrong, army-brat? Can't keep up?" Ikaku asked, hopping from one foot to the other. Evan spit again and clenched his fists,
"I'm just taking it easy on you," Evan mocked. It was another thing he and Corey shared: the love of sarcasm.
Ikaku laughed and rushed the human colonel, throwing a hard right punch towards his face. Evan slapped it away with his forearm, and simultaneously countered with his right fist. Ikaku saw it coming, and grabbed Evan's wrist with his other hand, brought him closer to him, and kneed him straight in the stomach.
"Gah!" Evan cried out in pain. Ikaku then retracted the arm Evan had blocked, and elbowed Evan in the back of his skull, causing him to fall down to the ground once more.
"Son of a…bitch…" Evan grumbled. Ikaku laughed again, and kicked Evan hard in the ribs, sending him rolling about ten feet.
"It was bad luck that you got caught fighting me, Colonel Evan Ray." Ikaku said.
"Yeah…I hate the sound of your voice," Evan mumbled, picking himself up once again.
"At least you can take a punch," Ikaku said with almost a complimentary tone.
"Let's see if you can do the same!"
Frank Jacobs delivered a powerful kick into Ikaku's neck from behind, causing the Captain to be thrown to the side.
"F-Frank! Where the hell did you come from?!" Evan sputtered out.
Frank grinned. "I saw you in trouble, help you out, and that's how you thank me?"
"I owe you one, but it'll take more than that to beat this guy," Evan said, looking over at Ikaku, who was getting himself up now.
"A cheap move by a weak human," Ikaku said, but his voice was irritated.
"Unlike you bastards, we humans stick together," Frank said, preparing himself. Evan watched his stance. The two friends were nearly equal in martial arts, but Frank favored fighting with his feet rather than his fists.
"Shall we team up then, amigo?" Evan asked, standing a foot away from his friend.
"Why not? I can't let you hog all the fun!" Frank shouted, and the two colonels ran at Ikaku at full speed.
******
"Keep to a three man unit! Do not let yourselves get separated from your squads! Move! Move!" Liz shouted orders, all the while throwing her knives at the demon foot soldiers. The battle had reached it's second hour now, and she was nowhere near the mountain gate. Her Territory, spread out to about one hundred feet, allowed her to keep tabs on a few soldiers, but mostly her focus was on the enemy and her blades.
Liz had a total of ten throwing knives and two daggers, each she had to keep complete control over. It was nerve wracking, but it was her forte. Thanks to John, she'd learned to move the blades independently, allowing her complete control.
I wonder how Corey, Derek, and the others are holding out? She thought to herself as she felt one of her knives cut the jugular of a demon soldier.
"General!" Ellen Claire ran up to Liz in a hurry, panting heavily. Her M-16 assault rifle was clenched tightly in her hands.
"Ellen! Was is it? What's wrong?" Liz asked, trying to focus both on the enemy and her subordinate.
"It's Evan and Frank! Liz, they're fighting a Captain!" Ellen said frantically.
"What?!"
******
"Dammit all!" Evan shouted as he was once again thrown down to the dirt. His ribs were killing him at this point. He had to have broken almost all of them. Even he was surprised he could still move.
He watched as Frank swung his leg foot furiously towards Ikaku, who merely slapped it aside, moved in and punched Frank square in the chest.
"Frank!" Evan shouted, getting back up and running at the enemy. Ikaku saw this, and swung for a high kick right into Evan's face, but the Evan saw this coming, crouching down just in time to dodge the attack. Gathering spiritual energy into his right fist, Evan shot up and drilled Ikaku under the chin, causing the Captain to stumble back.
"Take this!!" Evan shouted, and started pummeling Ikaku with everything he had. The fury of punches were so fast a normal person wouldn't have been able to see it.
Counting nearly thirty swift jabs, Evan clenched his hands together, jumped up, and slammed his fists down into Ikaku's skull. He fell stumbled down to a kneeling position.
Evan took moved in for another barrage of attacks, but Ikaku grabbed his wrists with incredible speed and grinned up at Evan.
"Nice hits!" Ikaku shouted, and swung Evan over his head and into the ground with a suplex move. Evan cried out in pain.
"Bastard!" shouted Frank, running over and dive kicking Ikaku in the abdomen. Ikaku winced in pain, but rolled out of range of Frank's next kick, leaping up and landing on his feet.
"You two are a good team," Ikaku said, wiping some blood away from his mouth, "But you're friend there looks like he might be done for."
Frank glanced at Evan, who wasn't moving anymore. Frank sensed that he was alive, but probably wasn't going to be moving for a little while.
"I'll finish you off myself," Frank said.
"Not without me, you won't,"
Logan Fox ran up from behind Frank, his spear coated with demonic blood. He looked a little out of breathe, but besides that and a few scrapes, he was fine.
"Good to see you again, Logan," Frank said dryly, "Glad you could make it to the party,"
"Wouldn't miss it," Logan said, holding onto his spear with his right hand, "So this is a Captain, is it?"
"Yeah, but I have a strong feeling he's not one of the tougher ones. If Corey or Derek were here, he'd have been dead a long time ago," Frank said, "I hate to say it, but even with that in mind, he's quite the challenge,"
******
"So. You're the commander of the regular Captains, eh?" Corey asked, gripping his sword.
"Yes, General Kartana. I am Captain Jeremiah," Jeremiah smirked, holding his gigantic sword. The blade had to be about seven feet long and at least a foot wide, yet Jeremiah was holding it with one hand as if it was a baseball bat.
Corey was so close to making it to the mountain gate of Darkine's lair, but about a mile away he got caught by Jeremiah.
I knew my luck wouldn't hold out that long, Corey thought, I guess I have no choice but to fight.
"So…shall we begin, Corey?" Jeremiah asked, smiling and pointing the tip of his sword at Corey.
"Like I got a lot of choice," Corey said, readying his own blade.
"Actually, Corey, you do,"
Corey looked behind him and saw Kurama, his red rose in his right hand. His clothes were soaked in blood, but Corey could tell none of the blood was his.
"You sure, Kurama? This guy tells me he he's the strongest of the normal Captains," Corey said. He knew from experience Kurama was tough, but having been cooped up in a prison cell for ten years can dampen one's fighting abilities.
"Do not worry about me, Corey," said Kurama calmly, "I was not wasting my time in that prison cell. I'm fully capable of fighting on par with a Captain,"
Corey grinned, "Alright, buddy. Your call," He started to move away when Jeremiah swung his sword, catching Corey's attention.
"Now you just wait, Corey Kartana. I have specific orders to not allow you into this facility," Jeremiah said.
Corey frowned and stepped forward, but Kurama stopped him, "No, Corey," He looked at Jeremiah, "Your opponent is me now, Captain. Do not take me lightly,"
With a flick of his wrist, the red rose turned into a fifteen foot thorn whip, "Rose Whip!" Kurama said, and then glanced at Corey, nodding. Corey nodded back and bolted forward. As Jeremiah swung his gigantic sword to stop him, Kurama snapped his whip around the sword, halting it momentarily, giving Corey enough time to run past.
"You'll pay for that, spirit fox," Jeremiah announced, cocking back his sword and forcing Kurama's whip to retract back to him.
"We'll see about that," Kurama said, readying himself for his fight.
******
"Both of your deaths will be painful," Ikaku said with a low growl, standing back up after a powerful kick from Frank.
Frank and Logan had been fighting Ikaku for nearly ten minutes, and Evan still hadn't gotten back up. Frank was worried about his friend, but couldn't help him yet. He and Logan had to beat Ikaku before that.
The two fighters were close to par with Ikaku when it came to ability, but it was Ikaku's demonic energy that worried them. He was able to sustain a much larger beating then the two colonel's combined, and Frank didn't know how much longer either would hold out.
"We need to wrap this up, Frank," Logan said, spinning his spear into position once again.
"I know. At least our soldiers know not to get involved with a Captain," said Frank, "And with Corey, Derek and Liz nowhere in sight, it's up to us,"
"Great pep talk," Logan said dryly.
"Thanks,"
The two rushed Ikaku once again, Logan taking the lead. He jabbed his spearhead at Ikaku, who dodged to the side. Frank was right there when he did, and leapt in the air, going for a spinning kick to the side of his face. Ikaku blocked with his forearm, and threw up his opposite foot, nailing Frank in the chest. Logan swung around his spear and swiped at Ikaku, cutting him in his right arm. Ikaku instinctively grabbed the center of Logan's spear, and shoved the base into Logan's gut.
"Gah!" Logan coughed up a bit of blood and keeled over, letting go of his weapon. Ikaku laughed and twirled the blade around to try and impale Logan, but Frank jumped up and caught the pole in his hand.
"Not so fast!" Frank shouted, struggling to hold onto the spear, but then something caught his eye and he began to chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Ikaku asked, slowly gaining control over the spear.
"Me!" Evan elbowed the back of Ikaku's neck with incredible force, causing the Captain to lose his balance and let go of the spear. Frank used the opportunity to twirl the spear around, and with Logan now up, the two together jousted the spear into Ikaku's stomach.
"Now, Ellen!!" Evan roared and rolled to the side as a barrage of bullets rained into Ikaku's back.
"Storm of Blades!" the voice of Liz could be heard as twenty swords and knives planted themselves into Ikaku's sides.
Captain Ikaku looked shocked as he stared at Frank and Logan and dropped to his knees. Logan pulled out his spear, and Ikaku fell into the dirt face down; dead.
"Are you three alright?!" Liz shouted, running alongside Ellen.
Evan walked over to Frank, who looked as though he was about to keel over himself, and forced his friend to put his arm over his shoulder.
"Fantastic, General," Evan said with a grin.
"Couldn't be better," said Frank with a weary smile.
"I can't believe you two would fight a Captain on your own!" Ellen said, her facial features mixed with rage and relief.
"What about Logan? He fought, too," Evan said, jabbing his thumb to the other colonel, who was chuckling at the moment.
"Either way, " said Liz, stepping in between Ellen and the other three, "I'm very impressed. You three should be proud of yourselves,"
"How did you know Ellen was there, Evan?" Logan asked.
"I sensed General Rain's Territory," Evan explained, "And knew that Ellen couldn't be too far behind. Plus," He looked at the female colonel, "Who could miss that lovely scent?"
Ellen glared at him, "Shut up, Evan,"
"Any word from General Kartana or Maison?" Frank asked Liz.
"No," said Liz, "But I'm sure they're fine," She paused for a moment, then nodded, "Colonel Ray. Colonel Jacobs. Colonel Fox. I want all three of you to go back to base. You fought extremely well here, but you need to recover before fighting again. Dismissed!" and with that, Liz ran back into the battlefield.
"Yes, ma'am," Evan said with a half smile.
"You three are extremely lucky," Ellen said with a sigh.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's get going then. I want to be good and ready for round two," said Frank with a grin, and the four of them took off back to the mobile fortresses with pride.
******
Kurama once again narrowly dodged Jeremiah's sword by leaping into the air and somersaulting back onto the ground. He never imagined that the Captain's speed would be so great while wielding such a large weapon.
"You keep jumping around, spirit fox! I thought you'd be more of a challenge!" shouted Jeremiah.
"Yes. I thought I would be able to do more in this form. I suppose not," Kurama replied.
"What's that mean?" Jeremiah asked, swing his sword once again. Kurama countered with a crack of his whip, rolling to the side.
"You'll see," said Kurama coolly.
In an instant, Kurama's appearance changed. His red hair changed into strands of silver, with fox ears sprouting out. He now wore a sleeveless white robe and was barefoot. His physical features still looked as delicate as they always had, but his demonic energy had skyrocketed.
"I expected I would need to resort to this form," said Kurama, his voice sounding much rougher then it had once, "I have once again taken on the form of Youko, the true spirit fox,"
Jeremiah stared for a moment, but started to laugh, "A costume change isn't going to help you!"
Youko smiled, "You'd be surprised,"
The Rose Whip curled back to its owner and wrapped around his wrist, extending out and shaped itself into a three foot long sword.
"The Demonic Vine Sword," Youko said coolly, swinging it once.
"You think that puny thing will be enough to beat me?" Jeremiah asked, readying his own blade.
"I believe so," Youko responded and towards Jeremiah. The Captain swung his sword horizontally towards Youko, who held up his vined arm, blocking the attack. Jeremiah looked surprised, but pulled the sword back, then jabbed it at Youko. Youko frowned and jumped up, sticking his left hand into his pocket and pulled it out and landed onto the ground, pushing his left palm into the ground.
Jeremiah grinned and swung his sword over his head and slammed the blade into the ground. The intensity of the hit sent a red shockwave through the ground, hitting Youko and causing him to be thrown backwards.
Youko grunted and hit slid to a stop, I should've known he had more up his sleeve then just a giant sword. I guess ten years in a prison cell does do something,
He stood back up and began to run to the side, with Jeremiah following his every move.
"Running again, spirit fox?!" Jeremiah laughed. Even though he was out of range, he swung his sword again. Another blast of red energy was sent directly at Youko, who narrowly dodged it by sliding on the ground, his left hand pushing into the dirt once again.
"I'm not finished yet, Captain," Youko said, standing back up. He rushed towards Jeremiah, who swung his blade which collided into Youko's vine sword. The two pushed at the other's sword, but Jeremiah was grinning,
"Bad move, spirit fox," Jeremiah held out his left hand, and the same red energy blasted Youko head on, causing him to cry out in pain and fall backwards a few twenty feet until he lay sprawled out on the ground. The demonic vine disappeared back into the red rose.
Jeremiah laughed again, "And so falls the mighty spirit fox, Youko Kurama," He began to move forward to finish off Youko.
"Not so fast…Captain Jeremiah," Youko grunted, lifting himself up to a kneeling position. He then held out a black seed.
"What's that?" Jeremiah asked, "Another flower whip?"
"Hardly," replied Youko and shoved the seed into the ground, "Plant of the Demonic Jungle… release yourself onto this plane,"
A low rumble was heard in the earth, and before Jeremiah had a chance to move, thirty vines wrapped themselves around him in all directions.
"What the--?!"
Jeremiah was slowly raised twenty feet into the air. Below him, the ground began to turn into a tropical jungle. In the center, was what looked like a large, red Venus flytrap.
"What…is this?!" frantically asked Jeremiah.
"Your death," Youko said calmly.
The vines slowly lowered the immobile Jeremiah towards the trap, which opened its mouth. The last breathe Jeremiah took was a scream of terror as the Plant of the Demonic devoured him.
Youko sighed in relief and the demonic jungle sunk back into the ground as if it was never there. Youko's form changed back into that of Kurama, and he breathed heavily.
I've never had to summon that plant before…it's power rivals that of Hiei's Dragon of the Darkness Flame. Had I not been more careful, it may have swallowed me, as well.
Kurama lifted himself up and looked around. "I cannot sense any more Captains on the field. There should have been three total…who defeated the other two?"
******
Dia Jaganshi looked down at his fallen opponent, one of the so-called Captains of Darkine's army.
"Pathetic," Dia spat on the mutilated Captain. Alexander, the name of the Captain, had tried to ambush Dia, but with his power over dimensions, he stood no chance against the son of Hiei and Mukuro.
"Darkine…I will destroy you with my own hands," Dia muttered, walking forward, but then spotted Corey Kartana finishing off a demon soldier at the front gate of Darkine's keep.
"Well, well. The human lives," Dia mocked as he walked up to Corey.
Corey looked at him with a scowl on his face, "Beat you, didn't I?"
"From what I saw, you ran away from your battle with a Captain," Dia said coolly, his Jagan Eye pulsing blue on his forehead.
"Have I ever mentioned how annoying you are, Dia Jaganshi?" Corey asked.
"If you have, I'm sure all I heard was squawking,"
"You son of a--" Corey started to move towards Dia, but stopped and took a breathe.
Dia laughed, "Coward…why haven't you gone in yet?"
Corey frowned, "I'm waiting for Derek and Liz, of course. Unlike you, I value friendship,"
"Friendship?" Dia laughed again, "What a weak concept. I won't need any allies to defeat Darkine, so you can just wait out here while I fight,"
"Suit yourself. I'll be sure to scrape your dead body off the floor after I beat Darkine,"
The two glared at one another for a moment, but then Dia turned away, "I don't have time for this," and walked up to the gate. With a swift movement of his hand, the gate was cut cleanly in half, falling apart. Without another word to Corey, Dia ran inside.
Corey watched and clenched his fists, "I really hate that guy,"
Five minutes later, Derek appeared beside Corey, followed shortly by Liz.
"Took you long enough," said Corey with a smirk.
"Sorry about that. Got caught up in the moment," Derek replied.
Liz smiled, "I'm glad to see you're both alright," she looked at Corey, "You'll be proud to know that Evan, Frank, and Logan took on a Captain and won,"
Corey grinned excitedly, "No shit? That's awesome! Remind me that I owe all three of them a drink when we get done here!"
Liz laughed, "You'll owe Ellen and myself one, too. We got there in time to help deliver the finishing blow,"
"Kill steal,"
Derek nodded and looked at the destroyed gate, "What happened here?"
Corey frowned, "Dia. He got here five minutes before you did. Said he beat a Captain and ran off. Kurama should be done with his fight with Jeremiah, another Captain…so I guess that means that all the Captains on the battlefield are done for,"
Liz nodded, "That leaves only the final Elite,"
"Which we'll fight…together," said Derek with a smile.
The three nodded to one another, and one by one entered the gate to Darkine's Keep, where their final battle would soon begin.
