Chapter eight
........Arashi jerked to the right in an instant and narrowly missed being skewered alive by the live wires that crackled and hissed with energy. Arashi glared at the wires that danced about like angry snakes and held her sword once again at the ready. Outrage coursed through her veins at the cowardly assault.
"Stop hiding behind your machines dragon of earth and show yourself to me!!!" she bellowed in fury.
The hissing and crackling of the wires seemed to grow in intensity and Arashi tensed, waiting for a reply. Suddenly the rooftop upon which she stood began to shake as though an earthquake were taking place. Large and deep cracks rapidly emerged in the concrete beneath Arashi's feet and more wires began to pour out of the newly made crevices. Now hundreds of wires came at Arashi from multiple sides and Arashi once again slashed and hacked at the cables that assailed her. Leaping towards the far corner of the rooftop, Arashi searched frantically for Sorata, Where was he!?!
Sorata immediately began to struggle as Yuto tightened the whip around his neck trying to strangle him, but he could feel himself getting nowhere fast! Feeling Sorata weakening Yuto couldn't help but goad his powerless victim. "You know Sorata…if my friends and I cant get a decent fight out of you, then perhaps we'll be able to get one out of your pretty girl friend over there. I'm sure we could have lots of fun with her…"
Sorata's eyes widened at the vile implications Yuto had just made and suddenly a blinding fury caused him to renew and redouble his efforts to escape. Holding tightly, Yuto was surprised at the amount of strength the young man possessed as Sorata jerked and clawed and punched violently. "Oh, so there is more fight still in you. Good. For a moment there I thought this might be boring!" he spat out as Sorata's struggling increased in strength and desperation.
You can't give up! Sorata's mind screamed as he fought madly for a breath of air. Arashi may need your help! You swore you'd protect her! You CANT die here, not like this! Now fight BACK!!!
Pulling his arm tightly to his stomach, Sorata then used all his strength to launch his elbow into Yuto's side, causing Yuto to gasp and slacken his hold on the whip. Sorata immediately grabbed the whip and jerked it away from his neck, gasping desperately for air. Unwilling to let Sorata regain his strength though, Yuto tackled Sorata again and both crashed to the floor of the concrete rooftop in a heap.
Arashi spotted Sorata brawling with Yuto on the rooftop of the building across the street but she couldn't tell who had the upper hand in the fight and she found herself desperately wanting to go to him. But she was in no better a situation, as she watched even more cables and cords snake their way out of the fissures of the crumbling rooftop. Several of them were attached to a surprisingly large computer monitor that emerged from one of the bigger crevices in the rooftop and was held aloft by those cables as the screen on the monitor suddenly came to life.
Arashi's mouth dropped open in surprise as she the saw the image of a young girl's face appear on the monitor, a merciless half smile upon her lips as she glared back at Arashi.
"You wished to see me, so here I am Miss Kishuu." The young girl smirked, delighted that she'd surprised Arashi by the use of her name.
Arashi was surprised but quickly stifled the sentiment and put on a poker face as she lifted the blade of her sword and pointed it's tip in Satsuki's direction.
"So you're the dragon of earth who can manipulate computers and machinery. I wondered who would be cowardly enough to hide behind second rate technology and let a bunch of machines do their dirty work." Arashi jibed, hoping to make the girl angry. If she could provoke the girl into acting out of anger, rather than fighting with a clear mind, then perhaps the girl would be more likely to make a mistake in the impending fight. At least, that's what Arashi's hope was.
Indeed, Arashi's statement struck a cord with Satsuki and her smirk was quickly replaced with a look of hatred. The wires began to writhe angrily as though alive themselves. Arashi smiled slightly and continued with her insults.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised though, you dragons of earth are all the same. You're happy to fight when the odds are in your favor but when things look bad you tuck your tails between your legs and run like the filthy disgusting mongrels you are! Without your precious machines, you're probably about as helpless as a child. You probably don't even know how to throw a proper punch!"
Screaming in rage, Satsuki sent a violent flow of cords and cables in Arashi's direction. Expecting the attack, Arashi sprung to the opposite side of the rooftop agilely and turned in time to slash at the cords that also turned to follow her. She brandished her sword expertly as the cables continued to come but she could feel her strength draining. The adrenaline that had coursed through her at the beginning of the fight was no longer sustaining her and she could feel her arms begin to shake from the exertions of using her sword in defense.
On the rooftop nearby, Sorata was fairing no better. Yuto had nearly strangled the life out of him and it was difficult to even catch a breath as they both fought hand to hand, each trying to subdue the other. Every time Sorata would prepare to use his powers of electricity, Yuto would conjure walls and flying spheres of water to counter. If Sorata wasn't careful, he could easily electrocute himself in the process of trying to do the same to Yuto. Yes he could wield electricity like a weapon but that didn't necessarily mean that he was immune to the effects of that weapon if used against him. Water and electricity just didn't mix and Sorata realized quickly that He and Yuto were a poor match in a fight.
Yuto knew this as well and would not allow Sorata to catch a breath, knowing that if he had breath to chant a mudra of some sort than the fight may fall back into the dragon of heaven's favor. So he fought on, but was beginning to get slightly irritated that Seishiro had seemed to disappear after his paper spell servants had been taken care of. Damn that Seishiro. Why isn't he helping? He mentally swore, though it was completely unlike him to loose his calm and collected exterior.
And then, as if hearing Yuto's thoughts, three dark puddles started to emerge from the rooftop's surface directly behind Sorata, slowly forming into more shikigami. This fight was about to come to an end and Yuto smiled in satisfaction. The poor young monk would never see it coming.
Sorata, cut up and bruised, panted heavily as he tried to gage what Yuto's next move would be. However, upon seeing Yuto's sudden change in demeanor, Sorata had a bad feeling that Yuto knew something he didn't. Suddenly sensing something behind him, Sorata whirled around just in time to duck the first fist sent flying his way by a shikigami. But unfortunately wasn't able to dodge the second and that one caught him on his right temple, sending him stumbling backwards, right into the arms of two more waiting shikigami behind him.
He struggled against them but they viciously pinned his arms tightly behind him and he watched angrily as the third paper spell servant that had hit him stepped aside to allow Yuto to step up to him face to face. Before Sorata had a chance to react, Yuto caused a large column of water to engulf both Sorata and the two paper spell servants detaining him.
Sorata immediately held his breathe and forced himself not to panic, but that was difficult considering the fact that he was now drowning. Once again he struggled against the shikigami restraining him but they would not budge and the water seemed to have no effect on them. His lungs began to burn as they screamed for oxygen but Sorata could do nothing. How can this be!?! This is NOT how it's supposed to happen! His mind cried as he felt himself weakening again. I'm supposed to die for the sake of a woman. For Arashi! Not like this! This CANT be happening!!!
Yuto watched emotionlessly as Sorata's struggles once again began to lessen in their intensity. He barely turned as he sensed Seishiro appear next to him. Both dragons of earth watched the monk for a moment before Seishiro shot a look at Yuto.
"You're going to kill him if you keep this up. I thought we were testing out a theory. I'm not sure if you realize this, but that's hard to do if you kill your test subjects." He stated simply.
Yuto nodded slowly and then turned to his companion unperturbedly. "You're spell isn't working... It's been days since it unleashed its so called curse on her and still she fights on. I don't know if you know this, but it's difficult to test a theory without properly executing it."
"You've seen her weakening. It's only a matter of time and the more energy she expends, the more energy will be drained. The spell should begin to escalate at any time, but you underestimate her strength, as you did with this one. After all, they are dragons of heaven." Seishiro smirked… Yuto sniffed indifferently and turned back to watch Sorata…
The palms of her hands were beginning to burn from wielding the sword for so long. Her muscles ached and the worst part was that Arashi was beginning to feel dizzy again. No No NO! Hold it together Arashi! You can't let this beat you! NOT NOW!!! Her mind begged, but it was to no avail. Her vision was starting to blur and her sword was becoming too heavy to wield.
Watching the young woman stagger slightly as she fought off her attack, Satsuki's cruel smile once again reemerged. Oh yes…she was going to make this insolent dragon of heaven pay dearly for her insulting words.
"Who's the helpless child now arrogant fool?" Satsuki ridiculed in satisfaction.
Too out of breath to answer back and too tired to care, Arashi ignored her as she tried desperately to keep from stumbling as she fought on.
"You may as well give up the fight and accept your defeat…just as your companion has." Satsuki yelled, irritated that Arashi was ignoring her.
Arashi's eyes widened in utter dismay; Sorata wouldn't just give up! What does she mean by that!?! Her mind franticly questioned. Where is he!?! Quickly turning her attention to the building across the street, she gasped at the sight that awaited her.
Sorata was completely enveloped in a large pillar of water, unable to escape the captors that held him forcibly at bay inside. His movements were slow and listless, and it was obvious to Arashi that he was drowning….dying. Her heart froze at the very thought, and her eyes shot over to the two dragons of earth standing nearby who were the cause of his torture.
"SORATAAAA!!!!" she screamed as though she were wounded herself.
Blinding rage encompassed her and without a second thought or a moment's hesitation, expertly shifted the grip on her sword and with every single ounce of the strength that she had left inside of her, hurled the katana at Yuto and Seishiro.
In that instant everything happened as though in slow motion for Sorata…. He felt himself slipping into darkness and as he began to accept the fact that he was going to die, he only desired one thing…to see Arashi's beautiful face… one last time.
At the moment he turned to seek her face, he heard his name. His eyes desperately scanned the far rooftop for his beloved when it slowly dawned on him that it was Arashi who had screamed his name. He spotted her then, saw her standing on the building he'd left her on, but the sight that he saw caused him to release the breath he'd been holding as he tried to scream at her to stop what she was about to do.
He watched helplessly as she forcefully threw her weapon at their adversaries, willingly giving up her only protection…all in order to save him. Her sword flew straight and true as it hissed towards its intended targets without mercy. Seishiro barely had time to vanish before the blade impaled him but Yuto only had time to shift his stance before he felt the impact.
The razor sharp katana cut through the muscle, tissue and bones of his shoulder like soft butter as the sheer velocity of the thrown weapon slammed his body into the wall of the rooftop stairwell, the blade effectively pinning him in place.
With Yuto and Seishiro's concentration broken, the paper spell servants holding Sorata shattered and the pillar of water dispersed itself in a large shower all over the rooftop floor. Sorata crashed to the concrete in a heap, gasping and choking. Despite that, however, he hadn't taken his eyes off of Arashi for a moment and what he saw next would haunt him the rest of his life….
As Yuto screamed in pain, Satsuki retaliated in vengeance for the wounding of her closest comrade and shrieked like a wounded banshee as she focused all of her hate and all of her rage on Arashi….
Her eyes never leaving Sorata's, Arashi was barely able to dodge the first strike of cables and wires sent her way, but knew she would be unable to avoid the inevitable backlash as the cables whiplashed back around in an almost backhand maneuver.
"NOOOOOO!!!!!" Sorata cried in overwhelming horror as he watched the cables catch Arashi square in the chest, the assault so powerful that it lifted her several feet in the air and sent her flying mercilessly toward another nearby skyscraper, brutally crushing her body into the unforgiving stone. Sorata's stomach clenched painfully as he heard the sickening crack of her skull striking the granite building, and saw the way her beautiful body became as lifeless as a rag doll at the same instant as she fell several stories toward the shadowy streets below….
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Whew!!! I tell you what readers...describing battle scenes is NOT EASY!!! I hope I did the fight justice and that you were able to follow what happened! This is where reviews would be REALLY helpful! Its amazing how writing a story can help to relieve so much built up stress! So whether I get reviews or not, I WILL finish this story, but I really really REALLY would love some feedback! You all are AWESOME for taking the time to read my story!!! I REALLY hope you're liking it!!! -Miko