The city of Aomori-2 was located about 15 miles inland from where the original Aomori was once located. This was mostly due to the risen sea levels since Second Impact. Here, the town had established a ferry to take travelers to the northern main island of Japan, Hokkaido.
"I wish you could come with me," Asuka said as she looked out the window of the ferry station at the boat that would take her, and several dozen other people and their vehicles to Hokkaido.
"I'm needed at NERV," Shinji replied. "But I would rather come with you as well. Misato sends her love and her luck."
Asuka smiled softly. "I hope one day to meet my bosses again, and maybe remember them." The thought of her lost memories made her sad. Shinji held her from behind before she could say anything, leaning his face down on her shoulder.
"You'll get it back, I know you will."
"I hope so Shinji-kun," she said softly. Shinji released her only long enough to hold her properly.
"How does the new shirt feel?" Shinji asked.
"Weird," she replied as she let go. "I can tell I never wore anything exactly like this before."
Asuka was wearing a hooded sweatshirt that zipped in the front. Under it though was a shirt that tied off around her neck and left her entire back completely exposed along with her upper arms. A pair of arm warmers covered her forearms from her wrists to her elbows. In addition, she wore her normal jeans and boots.
"Just remember to take your hoodie off if you need to fight."
Asuka nodded. "I guess this is goodbye for now."
Shinji sighed. "I guess so… You'll be back before you know it though."
Asuka nodded, but she could feel the tears starting to well in her eyes. "I miss you already," she whispered, unable to control them.
"Asuka," Shinji whispered as she all but threw herself on him. He was about to say something to her when Asuka suddenly let go and did something that she had only tried once before. She felt Shinji nearly freeze in shock as her lips forcefully met his own. Asuka didn't care, she needed to show him what she felt, and after an awkward moment, he began to return the gesture.
After nearly a minute of this they separated and Shinji suddenly seemed embarrassed.
"Asuka… I…"
"Shush," she replied immediately. "I wanted to do that with you. Shinji, I do not remember anything that happened before I awoke in your apartment five days ago, but I remember one thing. We may not have been together, but it is what I wanted."
Shinji's look was one of shock.
"I do not know how I know this, but my feelings tell me it is true. You and I were meant to be together, and when I return from my training, we truly will be. I promise you."
"Asuka," he whispered, the feeling palpable in his voice.
They both heard the announcement that the ferry was leaving shortly.
"Time to go," Asuka whispered. "I will return home safely, I swear it."
After one last hug to a stunned Shinji, Asuka made her way towards the docks.
'What will I find on Hokkaido I wonder?' Asuka mused.
III: The Teacher
Nearly 12 hours later, Asuka, tired and hungry arrived at the town of Kakeio. She couldn't sleep on the overnight bus ride though the wilderness; a ride onboard what was affectionately known as the Hokkaido Express. The cold here was worse than she expected it to be but shivered only a little under her hoodie. As she walked down the main street, it felt like stepping back into the past. The roads were in such a state of disrepair, they were reduced in many places to gravel or straight dirt. In other places she could see the people had begun to build old fashioned cobblestone roads. Yet the town had electricity, though she wondered how well maintained the power grid was here.
Getting her bearings Asuka found someone who was walking along the street in this early hour. The woman was dressed in layers of clothing to keep out the cold.
"Excuse me?" Asuka said, trying to get the woman's attention.
"Hello," the lady said as she stopped. "Goodness child! Aren't you cold wearing so little?"
"A little, I will be okay though. I was wondering if you know someone by the name of Selina Sumara?"
"Ah yes," the woman replied immediately. "She runs the local library. A bit of an eccentric that one, doesn't seem to like people too much, but she's civil enough I suppose. Just follow this street until you get to the main intersection, and then keep going a little further. The Library is on the corner just before the next cross street on the left."
"Thank you so much," Asuka replied.
"Are you a student?" the lady asked her.
"In a manner of speaking," Asuka replied vaguely before resuming her walk.
A few minutes later she reached the library. The building was a good three stories tall and much of the sidewalk around it was well maintained astonishingly. The street however was in a bad state of disrepair, and she doubted that anything short of a truck or SUV could traverse it without suffering damage to its suspension system.
She entered the library, immediately feeling warmer, but she didn't get a lot of time to enjoy it.
"We're not opened yet!" came an annoyed voice from upstairs. "Go away and come back later." Asuka made out a whisper that sounded like, "I knew I should have locked the damn door."
"Sumara-sama?" Asuka called out, hoping an honorific might placate the woman.
"I'm no one's master child, go away!"
"I need you to be my master," Asuka replied. "I was told you could help me."
"Oh yeah? By whom?"
"Ikari Shinji," Asuka called up. "He said you can help me to master the magic of the glyphs."
Silence suddenly reigned for a few long and awkward seconds. Then suddenly she appeared the top of the stairs.
She was dressed in the style of a western matron, with visible boots, a long dark skirt, and a formal buttoned jacket over what appeared to be a white blouse. Over all of this she wore a dark shawl over her shoulders and head giving her a very mage-like and mystical appearance. Her eyes held a pale glow to them, virtually unnoticeable, unless you were touched by magic. Their almost icy blue color gave her an air of mystery about her.
"You bare glyphs now?" she asked, now with interest.
"Yes," Asuka replied. "Not by choice."
The woman made her way quickly down the stairs to Asuka. "Show me," she nearly commanded.
Asuka unzipped her hoodie and let it drop from her shoulders then turned around. She heard a shift in the woman's breathing pattern indicating either surprise or astonishment. Asuka suddenly heard her removing a glove and then felt a fingertip trace one of the circles. Asuka was about to protest suddenly being touched like this but knew doing so would hurt her chances of gaining the woman's help. Also the tracing felt rather interesting; it almost as if she could feel the energy of the marks being disturbed like ripples on the surface of a pond.
"How do you get these?" the woman asked.
"I am still unsure," Asuka replied honestly. "My memory is gone, and what fragments I get seem nightmarish. As far as I can tell, I was the guest of some kind of cult. Shinji believes they were part of a group called…"
"The Sons-of-Shaft," Selina said, completing the thought. "Yes, I recognize their handiwork."
"Then you know why they marked me like this?" Asuka asked.
"I have a theory, though I don't know how much you would believe it. As you probably know, the cult is trying to revive their dark lord. In order to do so they need to sacrifice much in the way of souls and blood. You bear the marks of Dominus, which in this case binds your essence to the dark lord."
Asuka's heart starting beating, she didn't think it was going to be as bad as all this. Selina continued.
"If you are sacrificed now, you might be used as a portal though which the full spirit of the dark lord can enter the mortal plane again. Of course this is a double-edged sword, as most magic tends to be. The marks can be mastered and though such mastery you could learn to channel the power of the dark lord and use it to destroy him.
"No wonder they want me back so badly," Asuka reasoned. "I'm the way he can enter the world, but should I master this power, I can also act as his destroyer."
"Do you know why Shinji sent you to me?" she asked.
"He told me you can help train me," Asuka noted.
"Yes, but I am also one of the few in the world who can give you the knowledge of Dracula that you will need to defeat his minions and prevent his resurrection."
Asuka nodded her understanding. "In that case we should…" Asuka froze, something felt off suddenly and she realized it was the feeling of magic being used in the vicinity. She noted Selina herself also sensed it and moved back from the front side of the room.
Suddenly the windows burst open letting more than just the chill air in. In a spray of glass, the room was suddenly intruded upon by a group of half a dozen skeletons armed with light armor and spears. Asuka instantly sprang into action, summoning a sword and shield to aid her, dodging the first spear thrusted her way she spun around and took off the head of the first attacker then quickly deflected the next attempt with her shield before pushing forward to strike the killing blow.
Two skeletons attempted to get within killing distance simultaneously forcing her to backflip away before she leapt over their second thrusts and dropped between them. She took out one with a quick sword swipe but was nailed across the back of the head with a spinning shaft from the other. Before he could capitalize on his small victory she had her shield ready to deflect what would have been a perfect thrust and spun her way back in for the kill shot.
Asuka looked for the two remaining and heard bones shattering behind her. She spun and saw one of the skeletons was destroyed already, taken out by a heavy staff in the hands of Selina. She quickly disarmed the second before sending a bolt of electrical fury from her hand into its center mass blowing the bones completely apart in the process. It was only then that she noted that she had removed her gloves and glyphs where inscribed into the backs of her hands. Asuka did notice that Selina's glyphs were far less complex than her own being simple inscriptions in a rough circle on each hand.
"Impressive," came a voice. Seconds later the door blew off its hinges revealing a mage in red. His face was covered from just below his nose down and a hood covered the rest. Yellow eyes glowed from behind the hood. Asuka noted a book was on his side, attached to his belt, and looked rather ancient.
"Decius was right to worry," he continued. "You're mastering the powers granted to you rather quickly."
"Rastur," Selina hissed upon recognizing him.
"Oh, hello there Selina, I barely noticed you," Rastur said nonchalantly. "How's life treating you?"
'They know each other?' Asuka thought.
"Better than you," Selina hissed back.
"A little witch like you has no business in this affair, I suggest you back off."
"Never," she hissed back. "This is my student."
"Oh? Let's see what your student has learned thus far then, shall we?" With a wave of his hand a shield of energy separated Selina from Asuka. "Come child," he taunted. "Let's play."
Asuka summoned a sword in place of her shield and readied herself for combat. "Fine." Asuka rushed forward on the attack only to swing at air.
He had managed to shift right leaving a trail of images in his wake. "Useless… you're far too slow," he taunted. Several bands like wraps on a mummy drifted from his sleeves and he lashed out with them.
Asuka cried out in pain as the lashes hit her, slicing skin like a set of whips. One wrapped around her ankle, throwing her into the nearby bookcases with great force. Asuka felt the pain but wondered briefly how her back didn't break from such a hit. Getting out of the ruined shelves, she quickly rolled left as the lashes came down on her position again. She switched to axes and threw both simultaneously only to watch Rastur side spin in such a way that the axes where thrown off course in two different directions. Dismissing them she summed out her rapiers and tried to rapidly stab at him. His movements were far too fast for such at tactic to be effective. She suddenly found a hand over her stomach.
"Suffer," he whispered as he pulled back, pulling a mass of blood out of her simultaneously as if through her skin. She nearly puked at feeling the sudden pull of blood from her body. She was then kicked back against the shield, feeling herself being slammed once again. Her eyes focused as the mass of blood was dropped onto one of the destroyed skeletons. The bones suddenly became coated in the blood and started reforming itself into a now bloody skeleton.
Asuka pulled herself up in time to feel the shield shatter. Selina had apparently been working on it the entire time but Asuka was too focused on her fight to notice her new teacher's actions.
"Enough!" she yelled and unleashed a torrent of holy power from her left hand with a few words. Rastur's skeleton was disintegrated by the attack, but Rastur himself was able to shield himself from the energy, if only barely. A sudden flash of holy energy kept him at bay as Selina and Asuka quickly escaped out the back of the library.
"That was close," Asuka commented as she followed Selina.
"We'll be safe in the woods," Selina commented. "My magic can shield us from his eyes there."
"You have fought him before?" Asuka asked.
"Yes," she confirmed. "I'm really no match for him either."
After running for nearly 10 minutes they stopped by a large tree. Asuka finally tried to fully catch her breath only to nearly retch again. Her world started to spin forcing her to her knees on the cold ground.
"I feel dizzy," she whispered.
Selina got down to her level and held the lip of an opened bottle to her mouth. Asuka drank the fluid, noting a taste similar to licorice… not her favorite but not enough to make her not drink it. The moment the liquid reached her stomach she felt the pain from her injuries start to ease and the dizziness started to abate. Even her nausea was beginning to ease.
"Thank you… what was that?"
"A brew of my own design," Selina replied.
"Are you some kind of witch?" Asuka asked, remembering what Rastur had called her but now thinking it wasn't really meant as an insult.
Selina chuckled at that. "I suppose I am." Her mirth faded almost as fast as it came. "You actually handled yourself well for someone with no formal training."
"It was not enough," Asuka replied sadly.
"Against someone like Rastur, no… It wouldn't be enough. But you fought off his creations easily enough, and that says something."
Asuka sighed looking around the forest. "So what happens now?"
"We keep going," she replied immediately. "I have a hidden house where I train prospective mages. It's on the North-East face of Mount Tomuraushi. My magic will keep Decius's minions from following us, though you'll need to rest up at the foot of the mountain."
"For the climb?" Asuka asked.
"Not exactly," Selina replied.
A few hours later, Asuka prepared to bed down for the night. Selina was able to conjure a proper shelter and some sleeping bags. After tending to the fire Asuka stepped into the shelter and sat on her bag. She then noticed Selina looking at her with an almost thoughtful expression.
"Why do you stare at me so?" Asuka asked.
"Sorry," Selina replied apologetically. "It's just that… you're about my daughter's age… and you remind me a lot of her."
"Oh," Asuka replied, wondering if she should be honored or not. "Is she a mage as well?"
"She walks… a different path," Selina replied with an almost avoidant air to her tone.
"Not a good one," Asuka noted. The look of sadness on Selina's face seemed to indicate she was on the right track. "I do not mean to push."
"She joined the cult against my wishes," Selina replied in a low voice. "I did everything I could to keep her from falling away from the lord's embrace but… alas, she had other plans."
"I am truly sorry," Asuka replied. "I do not have any memory of my own mother, though I get the feeling she was… troubled."
"Troubled?"
Asuka shivered a little, pulling her knees to her chest. An image came to her, unbidden, of the silhouette of a woman hanging by her neck. Next to it a small doll that appeared to resemble Asuka herself hung nearby. A flash of lightning and thunder erupted at that moment and the shadows on the wall thrown by the lightning almost appeared to show the doll with strings from its hands and feet as well.
"I believe she took her own life, and may have been insane," Asuka noted.
"I see," Selina replied. "Then perhaps it was fated that we have been brought together; we are the missing parts of each other's lives."
Asuka raised her head as Selina came closer to give her a hug, and she buried herself into the older woman wordlessly. She trusted this woman who would risk her life to save hers, and thought of her as a daughter in some small way. Being near this woman made the cold retreat from her and made her feel comfortable.
"I will help you restore what you have lost," Selina promised.
"Danke…"
Hours after the pair woke up, they finished breakfast and proceeded up the slope of the mountain via a path, but they barely cleared a few hundred feet up when they came across their next obstacle.
"You have to be kidding me," Asuka deadpanned as she stared at the entrance to this cave. The rock around the entrance was carved into an opened mouth with its face appearing almost agonized. Inside she could sense similar energies to those she felt outside the cave near Shinji's safe-house.
"This cave has been a lure for the supernatural since even before written history," Selina explained. "In fact, where we're going is actually the site of an ancient training ground used by our ancestors. The cave is part burial ground and part rite-of-passage. It was believed anyone who could survive the cave would be worthy of the divine knowledge that they would receive."
"I really cannot believe I have to fight my way to a training ground, though I guess it makes sense to weed out those who could not possibly comprehend or absorb the knowledge."
"You won't be facing the trial alone though, I am here with you."
"Just the same, if this really is some kind of rite-of-passage, perhaps I should try to clear the way myself."
Selina smiled slightly. "You really are a lot like my daughter; she would have said the same thing." The older woman chuckled thoughtfully then gestured forward. "After you then."
Without hesitation Asuka tossed her hoodie to Selina and entered the cave. It was rough unhewn stone but only for the first 200 fee, then as the path continued, it turned to smooth stone with vertical supports every 15 feet or so. These appeared to be part of the wall itself, squared off at its edges and carved with a simple design. In the spaces between supports, there was a torch mounted on the wall that glowed with unnatural flames, though Asuka was now used to ever-burning sources of fire.
Until after she reached the first set of stone doors, she hadn't seen anything aggressive. She could tell Selina was trailing her by about 100 feet or so to give her plenty of room, just in case combat was necessary. Asuka passed through the doors into another corridor. Like the other, this one was stone top and bottom but the left side was opened into a lit cavern with the supports breaking the view every 15 feet. The corridor here spiraled upwards on a gradual slant with the center of the mountain solid. Asuka estimated the distance between the edge of the path and the sheer wall that formed the mountain's core to be about 500 feet or more.
Floating in the air above the ground was a young girl. She had short light brown hair, glowing blue eyes and was partially transparent. Her clothing looked like something a ragged pauper would wear if they were living in 16th century America. She raised her hands above her head and unleashed a blast of three almost spectral energy bolts that seemed to claw at the air as they moved, and all were converging on Asuka's position.
Asuka summoned her swords quickly and rolled forward causing the energy to overshoot, then leapt into the air to strike at the ghostly figure, only to have it fly past her leaving confusing images behind it.
"This again?!" Asuka exclaimed as the apparition turned to face her while still floating away releasing another set of bolts. Asuka managed to summon a shield to block the attacks but the burst of energy left sent her crashing unceremoniously to the floor.
"Okay, now I am annoyed," Asuka whispered as she got up and summoned her axes. She waited until the ghostly figure was committed to summoning her bolts of energy before leaping into the air and throwing both. The ghost was able to dodge them easily and fire off her bolts but didn't dodge the deadly axes on the return trip. Asuka spun laterally in mid-air to avoid the spirit attack as the axes punched though the apparition causing it to dissipate rapidly, as if evaporating. Asuka caught her axes and landed in a crouch.
"Piece of cake," she whispered then heard ghostly sounds behind her. She turned around only to see five more of the same apparitions appearing to phase though the walls to her position. "Of course, it could not have been that easy."
Three of the apparitions released their deadly attacks at the same time while the other two broke in two directions, having little room on the ground to maneuver, Asuka elected to roll back dragging the projectiles into a converging trajectory before jumping over them all and causing them to miss completely. Switching her glyphs to fire, she landed and began throwing fire balls at the nearest ghost. The female specter was overwhelmed by the volume of energy thrown her way and was quickly dissolved in flames. The second tried to get into a killing position only to have fireballs thrown at her as well forcing her to retreat. The other three lowered their altitude and prepared to fire again. Asuka quickly switched to Axes and threw them at the ones on either side of the middle while rushing at the center ghost. Both side ghosts were destroyed by the sudden attack while the third managed to release her spiritual blasts. Asuka rolled under the attack and dismissed her axes calling for swords at that moment. Before the ghost could fly back the red-head unleashed a cross-slash with her weapons that destroyed the ghost utterly.
She spun at that moment to dodge shots thrown from the last of them. She tried to fly back though the wall but Asuka was not having that, quickly switching to daggers and throwing them at a break neck pace the apparition was tagged then killed before it could flee.
"Good thing I learn quickly," Asuka noted.
Asuka took off on a run towards the main doors on the other end of the spiral hall. Upon entering the next room she met her next challenger. Another female monster, this time with massive nearly angelic wings and a huge lance in her left hand appeared in the air before her. The winged female protected herself with a shield in her right hand that bared no heraldry. As its wings opened they radiated light and Asuka was all at once stunned, but not because of the light…
Her hands rested on the controls of her EVA, 90 meters of angel kicking bio-mech held up a massive weapon. Despite not seeing anything within the targeting overlay other than lock on lines slowly converging over a mass of storm clouds, she knew what it was she was targeting.
All of a sudden the angel was visible as the sky parted in radiant energy. Its wings stretched in the sky and radiated a brilliant heavenly light. Instantly, Asuka's mind was assaulted by psychic visions that tore her worst memories to the surface.
Reality slammed back into Asuka mere seconds before she would have been impaled. Quickly dodging out of the way, she was still shaken by the vision. She summoned her sword and shield and prepared for the enemy's next attack.
The winged woman dove towards Asuka again leaving no time to get a shot in, so Asuka blocked the attack and deflected it away causing the enemy to back-wing away from her.
"No escape!" Asuka taunted as she leapt forward to try to run her enemy through. Without warning the winged female thrusted her wings down and attacked again. Asuka managed to block the attack but was now being forced higher into the air from the force of the attack and its repeated attempts to impale her. Knowing she was mere seconds from being slammed into the ceiling, Asuka deflected the attack away and managed to plunge her sword into the chest of her enemy. A scream resounded as it fell to the ground and Asuka managed to stick the landing nearby.
Asuka nearly vomited as the realization of what had happened to her before came flooding back suddenly. The feelings of mental violation and brief glimpses of a terrible life flashed in her mind, and it took all of her willpower to keep her breakfast from becoming floor paint.
"Angels," she whispered. "We were fighting angels… why were we rebelling against God?" The mere thought that she was involved in something so undeniably evil made her gag again, and nearly regurgitate. What kind of person was she?
Knowing she had no place to go but forward, she pushed down the desire to run from all of this and continued. "No turning back now." She looked towards the angelic figure she fought seeing her body had already dissipated into blue flame, but it left behind a glyph that floated silently in the air above where the body rested.
Asuka wasted no time in absorbing this glyph into her collection. As she let her hair back down she activated it in place of her sword creating a spear instead.
"Quite the arsenal I have been collecting," she mused to herself.
Ahead of her was a ramp up to a door that was all too familiar; it was stone and held an odd glow to it.
"The last time I entered one of these doors, a nasty fire spewing demon and those axe wielding armors were inside. What sort of trap is awaiting me this time, I wonder." She pushed forward touching the door and releasing the seal on it. As it rose up into the door frame, she readied her swords in reverse grips and entered the room. Predictably as before, the door slammed shut behind her… she didn't bother trying to open it again.
The room was massive, no upper ledges existed this time but the sheer size of the room was almost daunting. She guessed it was at least 150 meters to the other side of the room, and the ceiling was very high, dominated by an almost shell-like design sitting in the center of it covered in webs. The shell reminded Asuka of a pill bug or other such crustacean-like creature. Then to her horror, it moved.
Asuka watched silently as the webbing split apart and the monster inside dropped from the ceiling, righting itself on the way down. It was the size of a semi-truck, with massive scythe-like blades attached to its sides on powerful appendages. It's weight caused it to make a loud bang as it landed, sending fragments of stone in all directions. Its eight legs were pointed like massive spear tips, and the entire body was very well armored. Just above its almost insect-like head was a dome-like cap that opened revealing the horrifying visage of a human-like face.
"I would take 10 fire demons over something lilke this," Asuka noted as the creature began to sway back and forth on its legs as if dancing out a challenge.
Asuka rushed forward quickly rolling right to dodge a massive scythe-arm. She noted the blade dug nearly 2 feet into solid stone with that hit and was removed easily. Deciding she would not want to be subjected to such damage she dashed in on the creature's flank and struck with both blades only to watch the edges spark across the armor of the creature. It turned to face her almost unnaturally fast and Asuka was once again forced to dodge. Getting distance in a reverse roll, she noticed the giant human-like face inhaling. It did so for almost a full three seconds then it released a net of webbing from its mouth in a high arching shot. The creature struck trying to get her under the web as it landed but Asuka was fast enough to evade the attack.
"I have to stay ahead of this thing. If it corners me or sticks me to the floor, I will not survive this."
After deciding on her best course of action she rushed at the creature again dodging its attacks and striking at its head, but even here the armor was too thick for her tactics to succeed. A sweeping strike managed to catch Asuka and hooked her throwing her into the left side wall of the arena.
"Ow," she whispered but quickly moved from the wall as the monster came charging back in again. Asuka tried circling around it but was unable to fully do so as the monster spun to face her and nearly nailed her with a scything arm. Asuka used an improvised limbo to dodge the attack but she felt the wind off of the blade.
Rolling forward she ran towards the other side of the room. She watched as the monster literally jumped back, rolled into a massive ball, and started rolling right at her. Asuka quickly dodged to the left and managed to get out of its way, but it deflected off the wall and change directions coming right at her again. Barely dodging a second time she was nailed as it bounced a third time and the force of the hit threw her to the side. Quickly she got to her feet but was instantly stuck in place with webbing.
"Schiss,"she whispered realizing she was stuck. The creature stopped slamming both of its scythes into the ground as the cover over the human face closed again. The mouth of the insect head opened revealing a huge charge up of energy and Asuka knew she was dead. In a last ditch effort to survive she switched both hands over to her shields and activated them both just as a beam of devastation was unleashed upon her. Her eye clenched closed, she felt the heat around her and the horrendous roar of the air being heated and forming a partial vacuum. She blew all of the air out of her lungs she could and held what little breath remained until the ended. Gasping she managed to get her breath back as the air cooled, then she noticed it.
In front of her outstretched hands was a massive singular shield which took the full brunt of the attack without so much as a scratch.
"I… can combine glyphs?" Asuka questioned, and then heard the roar of the monster again. Apparently it was none too pleased that Asuka was still alive. Switching to sword and fire she rushed forward brandishing a now flaming two-handed sword.
She slashed a web out of midair, burning it away as she continued her charge. The monster met her half way and the blade of her sword met the left side scything blade. She strained under the strength but her new found adrenaline rush gave her the power to push forward. She leapt into the air striking the now again uncovered human face and earned the shrieking sounds of pain she so desired.
"Should have guessed from the beginning that this was your weakness," she said triumphantly when she landed on the ground and pressed the attack. As she continued to slash at its face from the ground, she dodged attempts to strike her by jumping and ducking in time with the attacks. She cut webs out of the air and pressed her advantage until the face was both bloody and burnt. Finally, her luck ran out as she was nailed with the back end of a scything blade and thrown across the arena.
Cradling an arm over her stomach she saw she was between two pillars. The monster rushed at her again at full speed leaving Asuka little time to formulate a strategy. In a brief moment of inspiration she saw the angelic figure charging her with its spear in her mind and rushed forward switching to dual spear glyphs.
Again she was battered out of her attack and used her double jump ability to right her fall but realized now she was about to get trampled when she landed. In a last ditch effort she combined both spear glyphs.
"Absterben!" she screamed as she unleashed a massive spear with an almost arrowhead shaped blade bigger than she was. The blade penetrated the human face and punched deep into the creature. The monstrous thing suddenly bottomed out and slid to a halt before Asuka landed, having come down with a sudden case of death.
Asuka, breathing hard watched as the creature was engulfed in blue flames and disintegrated before her.
"It is over," Asuka whispered. In the monster's place was a new glyph, this one resembled a sickle like blade. She eagerly absorbed it then summoned it forth to see what it was.
A sickle-like blade appeared in her hand. Summoning one in her other hand she combined them to create a huge scythe she could wield on two hands. "Nice."
She made the weapon vanish as she heard the doors on either end of the arena finally open. Selina entered looking amused.
"It appears you have passed the test, my daughter… er! I mean… Asuka." She looked embarrassed by her own sudden slip and presumption.
"Actually… I kind of liked the sound of the first one," Asuka said with a little embarrassment visible on her pale face. Selina smiled gently at that.
"Now that the trial is over, we can continue traveling the rest of the way to the training grounds without further conflict. You have done very well."
"Thank you… mama." Her own admission caused her to blush a little, but she knew she wanted this since last night. Selina was taking care of her like a real mother should have.
'Perhaps this is the start of something better for me,' she mused.
After a further 20 minutes of walking, Selina and Asuka finally reached the top. Here trees surrounded a partial plateau a mere 100 feet from the peak of the mountain. Everything was covered in a light dusting of snow, much to Asuka's surprise. The grounds were surrounded in pillars as well, with the entrance to the path down forming a rise of stone to complete the entrance. Around the corner of either side was an opened area where the mountains and the rest of the surrounding area could be seen. To Asuka, it was a breathtaking sight.
Selina had built a two story house against the cliff wall near the point where the plateau gave up and the final rise to the peak began. It was in a style of old Romania or perhaps Austria with a mixture of wood, cobblestone and thatched roofs. It was perfect in Asuka's eyes.
"So this will be home for a time," Asuka noted.
"For about three months at least," Selina. "I figure that it will take that long to teach you what you need to know, and for me to create the remaining glyphs you will require to fulfill your mission."
"My mission," Asuka echoed. "Enough power to destroy the Sons of Shaft, once and for all." The mere sound of their name now was a nearly 10-fold curse off of her tongue. "I will make them pay for what they did to me, and all those poor innocent girls they sacrificed to make it happen." She looked to Selina. "I have a purpose."
"Indeed you do," Selina agreed. "And I will help you to fulfill that purpose."
We were never alive,
And we won't be born again
And I will never survive,
With dead memories in my heart
Dead memories in my heart
Dead memories in my heart
"Three long months and I have completed my training under my new mama. I am so happy to be home! Shinji is so important to me, and I will be glad to be back with him. Maybe I should show him just how happy he makes me! These cultists are getting bolder all the time, but I thought they were after me… I am not their target? What is going on here?"
Next Chapter: Return to Tokyo-2