Author's notes:
Thank you again for the reviews!
That one was really difficult, so sorry for taking my time. Still I think that it turned out quite well and in the way I wanted. Enjoy!
Chapter 8 – Power shift
Again the atmosphere was tense at the gates of what once used to be a town. Even though it still had inhabitants, it was not considered a town anymore. Its inhabitants weren't human. They were Yoma, the enemies of humankind. Two woman had come to kill them in order to keep them from spreading all around.
The Yoma already knew that they were the Organization's target due to their leader having sensed them from afar. So, instead of directly going after the two warriors sent to purge them, the Yoma hid themselves behind their leader.
Amidst around twenty Yoma there was standing a woman dressed in a warrior's uniform. It looked as if it was new, even the cape, the thing to get damaged the easiest about their uniform, was still intact. As Hitomi noticed the three-ply pauldrons, her eyes widened a bit. If that Awakened Being was still wearing the uniform that she had during her time as a warrior, then she was an Awakened Top Rank!
Her eyes looked at her former comrade's symbol: An horizontal line that had two circles attached to it: one left, one right. Hitomi had seen that symbol, about that she was sure... but where?
###
For three days they had been waiting in a dark room, as one of them was pissed to a degree that she could not keep quiet anymore. "Can't we go on our own?"; "Why do we have to wait for her?"; "That boredom is killing me rather than the Awakened One!" was what she was complaining about.
Another of the comrades also stated, that they were most likely waiting for nothing and that they should take action without her.
It was on her nerves. Just what was those woman's problem? They were going after an Awakened Being, so of course they needed every comrade! At that time she felt like cutting them up to have a bit of silence, but still, no matter, how much she disliked it, they were her comrades. Waiting for their supposed leader to arrive was also part of the mission.
Still, as they still did not want to shut up, suddenly the room went quiet as they saw Hitomi grabbing her sword's hilt. They knew exactly what would happen if she were to start her technique. It would hack every last thing in the room they were in to bits. Most likely including the walls. And them.
"It's okay!" one of them stuttered. "We got it, we'll be quiet!"
"Fine," she answered, "instead of complaining so much you could have used your senses to see her. Even I can already sense her. It won't take long for her to finally arrive, so do me a favor and keep your traps shut."
Her comrades gulped. They knew that Hitomi was not one of the patient ones and that her Soundcutter was the fastest technique amongst everything the warriors had at that time. Messing with her was nothing someone should do, especially not if her rank was not at least a Single Digit's. Hitomi might have only been number 11, but those who had met her knew, that she was very well fit for being a Single Digit.
Finally the door opened another time, revealing the warrior they all had been waiting for: A woman of average height, having straight hair with a few red threads bound into it. Her three-ply pauldrons marked her as one of the Top 5.
"I am sorry for being late," she apologized while bowing down to her comrades a bit, "but I ran into our target on the way, so I had to finish it on my own."
That left her comrades dumbfounded for a moment, because she basically was saying, that, firstly she had defeated an Awakened Being without getting scratched (at least she was completely unhurt) and secondly she was stating, that Hitomi and her two other comrades had waited for nothing since their target already was dead. Still, Hitomi's comrades did not even think about complaining because they were afraid of her wrath.
"I see," Hitomi judged the situation, "since the job is done we may return to our assigned areas, am I right?"
"Oh, it's not that easy" her higher ranking comrade explained. "We already got a job in replacement. It is about another Awakened Being. I will still need your assistance."
'Most likely not' Hitomi added in her thoughts. "Since we are going on a hunt together, we should know each others names and ranks, as well as our experiences in hunting Awakened Ones, ain't I right, Captain?"
Their leader blinked a few times before getting that she was addressed and answered: "Ah well, yes. I am Olivia, currently the number 5. I stopped keeping count of the Awakened Ones that I have fought, but you may trust me that I know how to do it."
"I am Hitomi, currently the Organization's number 11. The Awakened Beings that I have killed should number around ten."
Also the other two girls introduced themselves, but had not gotten names, because the author didn't want to waste names on no-names.
###
"A number 5 in an Awakened Being hunting party? That is rare, how come?" One of the warriors asked their leader Olivia, giving reasons for her question: "Isn't it normally a normal Single Digit, or someone with the strength of one, let's say Hitomi or that newbie Anna?"
"No, you are mistaken. To the Organization someone is either a Single Digit or a normal warrior. They don't differentiate between number 1 and number 9, as long as it is just about Awakened Being hunts. A Single Digit, three normal warriors, close to no exceptions. Sometimes, however, there are two Single Digits in a party. Then you can be sure to face an Awakened Single Digit."
"I see" her comrade answered. To her it was not her first hunt for an Awakened comrade, but she had never seen someone of Olivia's formats taking part in such a hunt and therefore felt a bit uneasy about their opponent. But she decided to trust Olivia's judgment – she had no other means, either way.
"We're approaching it" Olivia suddenly stated. Two of her comrades went tense, Hitomi just grabbed her sword's hilt.
Without much warning it attacked and slashed two of the comrades to bits in no time. Before Hitomi really knew what was going on, she found herself surrounded by tentacles with very sharp looking tips. However, she took away her opponents chance to defeat her easily by unleashing her fearsome technique, the Soundcutter. In a split second all of the tentacles around here were cut to small portions of flesh.
She had no time to care about her two fallen comrades because she was busy keeping herself alive. And then, for a reason she did not know, she suddenly felt Olivia's Yoki rise to more than dangerous heights. She had surpassed her limits in no time.
The soon her Yoki had risen, the soon their opponent was dead. Then there happened something that she had never seen before: Olivia returned her Yoki to normal, despite having crossed her limits, as if it was nothing.
###
"How could I have forgotten... Olivia the Limitless, if I remember correctly?" Hitomi asked the Awakened One in front of her.
"My, have we met before?" she was answered. Olivia regarded her for a while, but just had no idea who that woman was.
"How is your wound?" Hitomi asked her younger comrade while already getting a hold of her claymore's hilt.
"It is fine" Hysteria answered while drawing her blade. "Tactic?" she asked.
"It would be great having you take care of the small fry as fast as possible. Then I will need all your power to go against the Awakened One. Consider her power as the power a number one has. She is really dangerous" Hitomi declared how the fight should proceed.
Hysteria had listened especially well that time. She had finally understood that she only was alive due to Hitomi and therefore had decided to blindly trust her instructions. She mentally prepared herself for using her own technique several times to kill all the Yoma in no time.
"I see, you are actually going to do this... well then, no bitterness after you have died!"
Leaving an afterimage Hitomi appeared just inches away from Olivia to use her Soundcutter. The latter easily parried every single attack with her own blade while having a faint smile on her face.
While the two kept clashing Hysteria effortlessly took down one Yoma after another. They really tried to put up a fight, but against Hysteria that was utterly useless. One Elegant Step after another – a great opportunity to practice that attack – chopped down one Yoma after another. They could not even hope of inflicting harm to her. That time she also paid close attention to kill all the Yoma.
As the last one fell she found herself a brief moment to regard Hitomi's fight with the former number 5, Olivia. The both of them were fast, faster than Hysteria was. In exactly what way Hitomi had intended her to help, was not clear to her, but still, she had to give her all. For nearly a minute she watched the attacks to find a pattern and suddenly had found one. Taking a deep breath she calculated the best moment to barge in – and then did so.
Even though being hit a few times, her strike still landed a hit on Olivia, bisecting her left arm in its entirety. Olivia instantly pulled away from them and muttered something incomprehensible about her missing arm, while already regrowing it.
"Fine," she then growled, audible for her two enemies, "since you are going all out, I will do so, too!"
Then, as she unleashed all her Yoki at once, her body began to transform into something inhuman. Reaching a height of more than three meters, she had taken the form of a grizzly bear that was disfigured by many spikes and tentacles that were shooting out on every spot of her body.
"A bear with spikes and tentacles? That was lame, Mr. author."
Shut up. Or would you have preferred something of Easley's size and shape, Ms. Soundcutter?
"Not really."
See, we understand each other.
Despite having a sturdy body, Olivia still was fast. In no time she stood in front of Hitomi and before the latter could react, she felt claws impale her right lung yet again. Olivia heaved her for their eyes to be on the same level.
"Soundcutter Hitomi, if I remember correctly. Weren't you the one with an attack so fast that even number 1 could not match it? So tell me, why am I, a mere number five, able to match it effortlessly?"
Hitomi coughed a bit and slightly groaned due to the pain, but still was able to mock her enemy: "Because I am still human, but you've become a monster. To think that you out of all people would awaken... guess you had not that much control as the rumors told."
At that Olivia's face darkened. Nonchalantly she threw Hitomi aside, making her hit the place they were on several times, leading to her crashing into a building.
Then she directed her view towards the warrior that had just gotten her rank, just to notice that she was vanishing in exact that moment. Then a wound opened on her chest, from her left shoulder to the right side of her waist.
"Fuck" she groaned, but did not get a chance to do something about her situation, as Hysteria's claymore impaled her hearth from behind.
"Fuck" she groaned yet again, before she collapsed in a sea of blood.
Hysteria watched the corpse of their enemy fall to the ground, before she ran over to Hitomi, who yet again lay on the ground in a condition she could not fight in anymore.
"Don't you dare open your mouth" she groaned.
Hysteria just laughed.
###
On a colorful meadow the Abyssal One of the south, Luciela, was standing, steadily looking into the very same direction. A gentle smile was on her face and the wind kept playing with her long, brown plaits and her ruby, ruffled dress.
"They are coming" she whispered to the wind. "It has been so long... for me to meet other warriors."
With an expression of deepest care on her face she started to walk towards the three presences that she was sensing.
"I have to warmly welcome them here" she whispered flimsily.
###
Suddenly Jacqueline, who had been monitoring Luciela, noticed that she had been sensed.
"She is coming. Get ready" she stated with a sudden sign of sincerity in her voice.
At that both Vanessa and Emily pulled both of their blades, the one with the symbol of the other in their strong hand.
"Was 'bout time" Vanessa stated with a grin.
"Don' take it too easy" Neerie lectured her with a more honest face.
Jacqueline then took the chance to exactly measure Luciela again. She had not changed noticeably, but Jacqueline herself had grown in her abilities and therefore considered to actually try and restrain Luciela's Yoki and therefore her movements.
Neerie noticed Jacqueline's calmness and the fact that she had not gotten ready for battle and asked her: "You are not going to use your sword?"
"Nah" she answered, "I will deal with restraining her. I can lower her speed and strength by about twenty percent. That is more safe than fighting her all out."
'More safe?' Neerie mused, but got distracted, as she suddenly felt a huge burst of Yoki, of the kind that she had never seen before.
Soon she could see the cause of it: An Awakened Being with the height of a three-story building, the shape of a cat standing on her hind legs and two jaws with deathly looking teeth on them.
For a moment even Vanessa was speechless, before she managed something like: "Dafuq's that?"
"It's her" their comrade blankly stated. "I'm counting on you."
Vanessa and Neerie looked at each other for a moment, nodded and then barged towards their target. Out of the 47 warriors they were the only ones permitted to use two blades each. Their special way of fighting gave them the strength to efficiently use them: due to being together all the time they had become a unit rather than two separate warriors. They are so used together that they could easily synchronize their Yoki to basically make it one. Neerie's strong hand was her left, Vanessa's strong hand her right. By synchronizing their Yoki they were able to use their comrade's weak hand as if it was their own, strong hand. So, basically, they were a unit of two warriors with two strong hands each. That was what earned them their nickname, the Doublefingers.
Luciela noticed at first glimpse that her opponents were no ordinary warriors but rather mostly the three strongest the Organization had at that moment. She felt honored to be visited by such people. As she saw two of the warriors rush towards her she got distracted by them and paid no attention to the other one anymore.
Howbeit, she soon noticed that Vanessa and Neerie alone were quite a bit to handle. Parrying their attacks soon felt unsafe to her because she had lost a few claws, so she decided to focus on dodging rather than parrying. Besides that would give her better chances to counterattack. No sooner said, than done, her huge body began, much to the surprise of her enemies, to evade their attacks with the grace of a gazelle. It also did not take long for her claws to change from defense to offense. However, the effect was not exactly what Luciela had hoped for. Something felt off.
Fifty meters away, a heavily huffing Jacqueline stood. She was bathed in sweat already.
'That Yoki... really is difficult to handle.'
She could feel her other senses haze as she focused on Luciela more and more. If it were to continue like this, she knew, that the fight was lost. Neither side would back down, but at that moment it was clear to her that she could not handle Luciela much longer. She even considered stopping it that moment, to take a breath and to unleash her own Yoki then, but was afraid that the short time Neerie and Vanessa would have to handle Luciela completely on her own might be enough for Luciela to irreversibly change the battle to her favor.
Meanwhile having released enough Yoki to having her face distorted, Neerie took a short glance to where Jacqueline was standing. 'Crap' she thought while barely evading Luciela's claws. 'She's getting to her limits.'
"Nessie!" she shouted out for her comrade after parrying a sweep of one of Luciela's tails that forced her to release even more Yoki to not be blown away.
"I know! What now?" was yelled back at her by a very pressed Vanessa.
As well as Jacqueline Vanessa knew that, without Jacqueline's assistance, Luciela would mince them. She had told them about the strain that even having a Yoki like Luciela's around was not good for her senses, no to speak of desperately trying to control it. The moment Jacqueline would have stopped it would have been over.
"I'll break the limit! Counting on you!"
Without much warning or time for Vanessa to react, she fully unleashed every last ounce of Yoki she had. Vanessa barely had time to react properly, but was able to pull her body back in the very last moment. It was a technique very similar to the Soul-Link, the technique that Luciela was a product of, a technique that Neerie and Vanessa had more or less discovered by chance. While completely synchronizing their Yoki and basically letting the partner handle enough of the Yoki to theoretically let its owner stay below the limit, one of them was able to release all her Yoki while the other had to stay around thirty percent, but still both of them were able to fight.
Jacqueline had been struggling more than Neerie was able to glimpse. At the moment Neerie's outburst came Jacqueline felt nearly blind and deaf. All her focus lay on Luciela – and then it came. It felt like her mind had been blown up completely, as Neerie had crossed her limits. Due to Luciela's huge Yoki and her focus on it she had not even sensed Neerie and Vanessa. Then, as if out of nowhere, a blazing light gave her head an unbearable pain. And then she lost it.
Neerie, not even aware of what she had done, finally was able to put up a fight against Luciela. Even though the latter had full control over her body once again, her opponent suddenly was able to cut her, even in dangerous places, if she would have gotten distracted for even a split second.
For Vanessa, things suddenly had become too fast. She had pulled back and watched in amazement what Neerie was capable of when fully unleashed. The opening that she was looking for wasn't there. If she would have gone back into the fight she most likely would have been caught in the crossfire, so she lowered her Yoki to the point where just her eyes were golden to be able to better focus on synchronizing with Neerie.
###
Without warning she suddenly was surrounded by nothing. Her eyes had left her, her ears had left her, her tactile sense had left her, her equilibrioception had left her. She was breathing, of that she was sure. But that was all there was to it. Even her ability of sensing Yoki had faded away.
But still, there was something off. There was something that shouldn't be there. She could not name it directly, but it felt like a presence. A presence of something that she had not felt before.
As if she could see anything, she hastily moved her eyes and head around to spot something, but was, of course, not able to spot anything. Just what was going on? Only moments before she had been in a battle with Luciela and then she suddenly had absolutely no clue of anything that probably was happening around her.
She tried to remember, what could have happened, but all that came to her mind was a sudden pain in her head. What had happened directly before and directly after it she couldn't remember.
You seem lost, girl.
She was startled by that. Again, as if she could see, her head moved around hastily, but she could not spot anything. What was what she had heard? Or felt, to be more precise.
"Who is there?" she shouted.
That story is long, do you have time?
Even though the voice that felt like it was speaking to her mind directly felt soft and at ease, Jacqueline had of course no time. A battle against an Abyssal One had to be fought!
Well, does not seem like it. Let me tell you that much: In a sense, I am you, in another sense, I am not. I am what made you what you are. I am the power that you keep on borrowing. And right now, well, you are borrowing a lot of it.
Just what was the voice talking about? What power... and what about being her? Could it be, that...
I will make it simple: Your Yoki is neither a present of the gods, nor is it given to you by the Yoma you were created off. It's a power which origin you can't even try to guess. If you want to use it, I demand a tribute.
Who- or whatever was talking to her was nothing she could judge, but she understood quite a lot. A tribute... a tribute... "My... human soul?" she asked into the dark.
Exactly.
"And if I am not... willing to give it to you?"
'Demand' in that sense, did not mean that I ask you to give it. It meant that I will take it.
"I see... well, there have been others, demanding more. I wonder if you can take it."
You do not seem to get it. Right now, you are fighting something that you have no hopes of defeating, even with your comrades. Your comrades, by the way, have not noticed you passing what you are calling "the limits".
"What? When... why?" she apalledly gasped.
Oh, you did not notice? Well, I will explain it to you: While you have been so eager to not let Luciela have her way, you could say, your dear comrades failed to notice that you were at your limits and barely kept your senses together. In fact, you were about to pass out from the strain that keeping such a huge Yoki in check put on you. However, one of them decided to go all out Yoki-wise – and the effect was you, losing all your senses and suddenly passing your limits, too.
As of now, I am so kind to keep your body under control. However, I won't do that for long. And, trust me, you have no idea what your body will do, if I let it go.
"But why are you helping... well, if I can call it that... me?"
Guess, little lady. If you were any other warrior, I would have taken you and let your body go berserk. With you it is special. You have a strong will and a good handling of others Yoki. To a degree, if I may add, that I have not seen before. I have a deal to propound to you...
"And that deal would be?"
As of now, you are strong, maybe the strongest I have seen here so far. Still, if I let you remain human, you will ripen... a lot more. So, if you accept my terms, I will let you save one of your comrades.
Whoever was talking to her back then seemed to plot something including Jacqueline, that much was obvious. 'Let me ripen... at the cost of a comrades life?'
You are hesitating, as I see. But think about it: as of now, if I would take your soul, you would kill, well, likely everything on that island you live on. If you take my offer it will take but one of your comrade's lifes.
"Who are you? Who can prove that you are not just a voice in my imagination?"
That is about what I am. As I said, in a sense I am you, in another sense I am not. By the way, you should hurry your decision. Your fellow warriors are in a distress out there.
So, will you take my offer?
Jacqueline sizzled and then calmly stated into the dark: "I am not going to do as a voice in my head tells me."
We will see about that...
###
Suddenly she was back. Her senses worked again, but her Yoki was totally out of control. Grounding her teeth she kneeled on the ground and held her head that felt like shattering any second then.
She groaned something incomprehensibly guttural as she felt the anatomy of her upper back changing. Her hands had already turned into lethally sharp claws and her face barely resembled that of a human anymore. Parts of its skin had already been ripped of by her Yoki's inimitable force, leaving painfully looking wounds all over her face.
Her Yoki could not be brought back under control by her anymore. 'Turn back! Turn back!' she kept shouting inwardly, but neither her body nor her Yoki were responding to her. The only thing she managed to do then was to keep things from getting worse but returning was not possible.
This is your last chance.
"Fuck... you!" she groaned with all her might.
What a shame.
Blasting away the fittings for her blade including her loyal claymore, hundreds of thin tentacles, colored in a darkish blue, shot out of her back. Their blowback forced Jacqueline to bow down towards the ground, neither helping the pain in her head nor in her body to cease.
It was over, she had completely lost it. She still frantically tried to restrain her body but even though her skills of manipulating Yoki were the greatest in the history of the warriors it was not enough to keep up with her own Yoki, which, the way it was back than, almost could have been mistaken an Abyssal One's. She wanted to yell out to her comrades to run, but all she managed was an agonized scream accompanied by yet another mindblowing outburst of Yoki that instantly silenced the battlefield.
The moment Neerie realized what had happened to Jacqueline, she shouted to Vanessa: "Forget Luciela, she is the bigger problem!" She began to rush towards her awakening comrade and left a very thunderstruck Vanessa.
Luciela had not failed to notice Vanessa's absentmindedness and took the initiative, slicing her neatly in two halves at the height of her abdomen, letting her barely living upper body fall down with a dull sound.
Neerie suddenly felt her human mind leaving her, but had no time to think about the reason – Jacqueline's uncontrolled tentacles had already penetrated her several times and one after another shot into her body like a needle.
Even though she already was at the verge of death Jacqueline could not stop but only watch what she was doing to Neerie, being released from that torture the moment her tentacles decided to rip her comrade to little shreds in one go.
Barely able to realize what she had done, she arose as tears began to roll down her face. With slow steps she began walking towards Luciela who was calculating the risk of going against Jacqueline. Even though she had not fully awakened her Yoki already rivaled her own.
She sighed: "Basically it would be safer to kill you now, but there is no guarantee that I can, even though that is hard to admit. Seems like I better leave... now."
Hastily she turned around and dashed away as fast as possible. 'Such monsters... can they really create something like that?' Luciela mused, while noticing that Jacqueline was not following her.
The tall woman had stopped walking towards Luciela the moment the Abyssal One had decided to run. Also her Yoki had calmed down all of a sudden and her body was back to normal.
You are too valuable... You may stay human for a little longer, I got the soul I demanded.
Author's notes:
I think I got some good stuff going here - I hope I can turn it out as well as I imagine it ;)
Next time we'll have stuff from here and there and I may introduce another warrior that, up to now, only has been named.
Stay tuned!
kstefan88