Past Life

Written by Justine JBV / Chibi Botan

Chapter Eight: And the battle begins


XXXII

When Kino and Yumi arrived at the mouth of the cave, they were already physically spent.

But the return of Kino's power somehow gave them more hope. The inside of the cave was like a maze, and it was hard to find the way because it was so dark. Luckily, there were no demons in sight.

Perhaps an hour of walking through the darkness before hope of finding the children flickered. They heard shrieks.

In the dark, they looked at each other, preparing themselves for the worst. Hurriedly, they followed the sounds to the heart of the cave.

XXXIII

Botan was not interested in talking to anyone. All she cared right now is her brother. So when Koenma said they needed to talk about something, she vehemently refused.

"I'm sorry. But I am on a mission to save my brother. I really cannot spend time talking to you."

Koenma nodded. "I know." Botan did not ask how he knew. At the moment all she could think of is finding the cave. She was about to excuse herself when Koenma took her hand.

To her surprise, their surroundings changed. They were now in a place that looked so grand – like an oriental palace built in the sky. The three of them standing on a floating rock, one of many seeming to form paths to different directions. Exactly where they are, she couldn't guess, but they are far from the forest.

She panicked. She had no time to go sight-seeing while her brother is in trouble. She was going to tell him that when he explained. "Don't worry. I did not bring you elsewhere. We are currently on a dimension where we can see the Spirit World – and in this dimension, time is still and you will not lose precious time. Not a second. I just have to talk to you."

For some reason, she believed him, and relaxed a little.

He made it clear that he had no plans to stop her; in fact, he is not allowed to. "…But as the prince of the Spirit world I feel responsible to talk to you before you find the cave– before you and Ayame here do something drastic." Ayame did not seem to react to that. She kept her head bowed.

Koenma explained to Botan about the Spirit world and how it works. How he, the Prince, is assigned to govern all people. He explained about Enma Daioh, his father, the God of all gods, the creator of all beings. "He can foresee the events that will happen, and you, Botan will have a huge part in it."

XXXIV

Botan could not remember how they got there, but now the three of them have started to hop on to other floating rocks. Koenma told her about wars, in a somber kind of way, and Botan could tell that in every word he says, there are underlying meanings. And so she listened.

"…In every war there are casualties. No one would ever want casualties, but sometimes even we, the rulers Spirit World cannot prevent it. And yet, sometimes even when we can, we have to think of the salvation of the majority. If we are torn between saving a life of one and saving the life of many, we have to choose the majority because… I'm not proud to say, it is what my father deems a better decision, and we have no choice but follow."

"So some people end out to be sacrifices…"At this point he cannot meet Botan's gaze, and it was his turn to look down, shadows casting upon his face. "There is nothing I could do; I just wanted to tell you that if I had a choice, I would stop you from going, and force you to save yourself. Just as the Guru had tried to keep you from learning about the Sorcerer, she too just wanted you safe. But we are forced to keep off this… mess."

Botan could tell from the start of his speech that she is the casualty he is talking about. She could tell that they have foreseen something bad will happen to her, but that is nothing new. Isn't it the same thing the Guru had been trying to say? Like the Guru, this man, who Ayame had called Koenma-sama, wanted to stop her from hurting herself, but was required not to meddle.

XXXV

"I am sorry. Please forgive us." She heard him say. Ayame stared at the broken form of the young ruler, and Botan could see tears forming on her eyes.

For her, these two are on a worse position than she is, because she is not being stopped from doing what she wants to do.

"Don't worry about it." She said, and the two were surprised to see a smile on her face. "I'm not blaming anyone. I am willing to do anything for my brother, and as long as you're not trying to stop me, no hard feelings on my part."

Koenma smiled bitterly. "I don't know what to think of you. Either you didn't understand a word I said, or you really just have a one-track mind. Botan… you do know we will meet again, don't you?" Botan nodded. "Once all of these have ended, I will see you again, and for what you is about to do, you will be greatly rewarded."

"No thanks. I don't care for anything at all other than saving my brother. I don't even care what saving my own brother has to do with the majority of people, I just want him safe..." She sighed. "But maybe you could promise me something."

"Tell me what it is and it will be done."

"In case something happened, promise me I will still get to see my brother someday." With what little she knew about the Spirit world, she thought this is something the prince could do.

Koenma promised. A few more words were spoken, but that was the only part that Ayame needed to hear. She understood now that there is nothing she can do. Koenma had explained enough. When they let Botan out of the dimension, they did not bother to say goodbye. They both knew that they will meet again very soon.

XXXVI

From out of nowhere, the children were surrounded by a group of demons. The demons seemed to be chanting a mantra. None of them understood the words, but they understood that the end was about to start.

The whole area inside the pentagram glowed.

The children screamed in pain, as bolts of electricity - like sparks shot through them, robbing them off their powers. They tried, but it was a fight they knew they would lose. They were bound.

Keitaro noticed that as the five's powers were being taken, the sparks made way to the center. While their powers were being drained, everything seemed to revitalize the sorcerer.

The five boys passed out.

Though he felt as much pain, Keitaro refused to lose consciousness. He knew his family will come to save him, and he wanted to be awake when they arrive.

And he was right: from the left, he heard voices calling his name. One of the voices undoubtedly is from his father.

His joy was short-lived, Satori was once again in front of him, and his pain doubled. But now that his father was there, he let his pain drag him to unconsciousness.

"Satori."

The Sorcerer looked at the entrance and saw who was intruding his little party. They needed no introductions. He knew exactly who Kino is.

He snorted, not willing to be interrupted. Satori was not interested in him, and Kino knew why. He was still thinking that he has no more powers left. That he cannot stop him.

Satori raised his hand above Keitaro's body. The final part of the ceremony is about to start. Just a few more minutes and he will have drained the boy's life energy. And once his body has taken everything, the body will not be able to resist his invasion.

Kino was having none of that. He will show him how wrong he is for underestimating him.

And that is when the fight began.

XXXVII

Botan still had no idea where she is exactly, but she tried hard to understand the map.

She started to walk to the direction she thinks is the right way.

Earlier she had realized that Ayame was not able to heal he wounds on her hands because they were interrupted by Koenma's appearance.

It seems that ever since she remembered that the wound started to hurt again. She winced but tried to dismiss it, at least it's not bleeding anymore.

It must be my lucky time, she thought. Her estimation was right. She found the mouth of the cave.

Okay, not as lucky as I thought. Several demons that seem to be on patrol outside arrived, and in no time she found herself being thrown to the biggest one's shoulder.

She started to struggle away, but with no success.

She had started to slam the book on the demon's back when she heard the other demons talking about the kids the Sorcerer had taken.

They're taking me there! She realized. They're taking me where Keitaro is!

And so she decided to stop struggling and just let them bring her inside. Maybe this is the easiest way. She'll think of a way to free herself once they've brought her to her brother.

XXXVIII

He moved as fast as the wind. Whenever Kino tried to hit him, he gets away.

One moment he's in front of him and Kino makes his aim, and suddenly he's gone. Kino felt frustrated that he's wasting power surges on nothing.

Up to this point, Kino was still trying to balance his newly-regained powers, and though he knew from the start that what he regained was just a small portion of what he used to have, he also knew that it was better than nothing.

He fired another round of his bullet-like spirit blast, but once again, Satori evaded it by almost disappearing.

In a second, Satori was behind him, and before he knew what was coming, he was on the ground, a blazing ring of demon energy had just knocked him down. He did not even see it, but felt a burning sensation on his back.

When turned and tried to get up, Satori immediately stopped him. Two ringlets served as handcuffs on his wrists, keeping him from hitting back. A half-ring on his waist kept him from standing up. It seemed he was detained on the ground.

The Sorcerer's eyes were glinting, for him it was pure fun to see someone who used to be undefeatable down on the ground. He had no doubt he would win this. In fact, he could have killed him off earlier, but he'll play with him first. Pure fun.

"Ready to give up?" he mocked.

"Not in my lifetime." His whole body glowed, and blue-gray sparks flew everywhere. Suddenly a loud blast lit the cave up, and we see that it had thrown Satori and his power rings away.

It was an old trick, one that Kino had always found exhausting. But it always worked against all hindrances. A few seconds was what he needed to gather enough energy, but it consumed a lot. From that time he tried not to fire unless he's sure he'd hit him. He started to feel he's running out of energy, but it was satisfying to see that little by little Satori is also starting to slow down.

XXXIX

Still on the entrance, Yumi doesn't know what to do, how to help. Earlier she had tried to warn Kino but a second was not enough for her to have a chance to shout. She could tell that Kino has no chance at all to win this. She started to lose hope.

Suddenly, three bulky demons arrived, one of them carrying Botan. With the martial arts she knew, Yumi immediately knocked down the three to free her friend.

Both girls hurried to the center when they heard a loud screech. For a while they couldn't see anything; dust and fog covering the place where Yumi last saw the dueling demons were.

When the fog cleared, Botan saw her father first. He was thrown towards their direction. She shrieked when she saw that he was bloody and scarred. She ran fast to aid her father, Yumi following suit.

Satori, seeing that Kino has fallen, considered the fight just ended.

The chants of the unmoving demons seemed to become louder, catching Botan's attention for a while. She couldn't see, but she knew that in the middle of the crowd was her brother, and Satori just resumed his position in front of the children, not even giving the two girls a second glance.

"Botan, please leave. Try to find a way out of here," Kino whispered.

"No… I'm sorry but I can't." She hushed whatever her father was going to say. She tried to make him lie on his side, and from his torn shirt he could see that he had burns on his back.

If only she could do something…

XL

I could try, she thought. I am a reigen too, and if Keitaro inherited both mother and father's powers, maybe even just a little, I got something from our mother.

She closed her eyes and remembered how Ayame healed the wounds on her legs. Following her earlier actions, Botan placed both hands above her father's wounds. And she concentrated really hard.

At first, she thought she just imagined the white-golden sparks that started to glow, a replica of what she saw on Ayame's hands. But hearing Yumi's gasp proved that it wasn't imagination.

She felt as if her hands were being burned, and she remembered what Ayame said—that in using white magic the pain of the person she's healing will bounce back to her. It was very painful, but she didn't stop. She saw that the wounds were starting to heal.

Kino was shocked to realize that she just used is sophisticated white magic they never knew she had.

"Botan… how did you learn to do that?" Yumi and Kino asked at the same time.

She shook her head and refused to explain. Inside she felt her heart beating faster, and she felt nauseous, partly from this new experience, and mostly because of the sickening sound of repeated mantra she'd been hearing since she arrived.

"I'll explain later. Please, we have to save Keitaro!"

XLI

With that, Kino ran towards the pentagram to save his son.

Unfortunately for him, Satori, who was at the center of the pentagram heard him run past the chanting demons and try to enter the forbidden area.

Pissed that he still got up, he had no plans to give him another chance to interrupt. Satori stepped out to meet him and teach him a lesson.

Kino was not given a chance to fight, before he gathered enough power for another spirit blast, Satori hit him very hard.

Kino's blood spilled to the ground, seeping into an outer part of the star-like shape, running towards the center. The straight path it followed seemed to glow anew.

Another blow and he fell inside the pentagram area, near his son, writhing in pain. He now realized that earlier Satori was holding back; that he is more powerful than he seemed when they fought earlier.

He tried to stand, but found that he cannot. It seems that he is now also bound inside, just as his son and these five other kids are.

To be continued… Thank you for reading!