Chapter 74- Love Vs Hatred
Me: Alright, here comes the exciting conclusion to the Wrath of Rarity arc!
Rarity: I'm so glad it's finally over.
Me: Me too, I've been working on this for months now.
Tid: We still have to battle Rarity's hatred.
Me: Yes, I know. I don't own the rights to Naruto Shippuden or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
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Rarity and I charged her manifestation of hatred and used our eyes to assist in dodging their attack. I drew a kunai and took a swipe at one of the spirits that passed right by me but my kunai passed right through it. Rarity stood on her hind legs and thrust her arms outward; using an Almighty Push on the spirits. The spirits were blown back and retreated back into their vessel, leaving only the physical manifestation and the dragon spirit exposed. I glanced at Rarity.
"Good work." I said to her. She smiled and nodded once. I forced open the Seventh Gate and the familiar green aura surrounded me as my sweat evaporated rapidly. I turned my head to look at Rarity.
"Rarity, can you open any of the Eight Gates?" I asked her. She looked at the ground as she tried to recall if she could.
"I think so." She said looking up at me.
"How many?" I asked.
"I don't know." She replied.
"Hmm, alright. I have an idea. When I tell you to open them, you open as many at once as you possibly can, alright?" I told her. She nodded once more. I weaved hand signs and raised two fingers in front of my mouth and blew a powerful stream of fire toward Rarity's hatred. My eyes widened when I noticed it was absorbing my flames by inhaling them. I clenched my mouth shut and the flames stopped. The flames that remained swirled in smaller streams into its mouth before disappearing completely. When it finished it laughed at me with that same wicked laugh that sounded like multiple high-pitched demonic voices laughing at once.
"You forget we have your powers, Tid." It said. Then it held out its hoof and blasted me with the Almighty Push. Rarity stood on her hind legs again and pointed at me with her hoof and slowed my flight enough for me to land on my feet and slide back a little ways.
"Damn, this is going to be harder than I thought."
"Rarity, ninjutsu won't work on it. Be careful." I shouted looking over at her. She nodded and turned her attention back to her hatred. She launched herself at it and spun her body to kick it in the face. Her hatred blocked the attack and retaliated with a punch to Rarity's face. My eyes widened at this and as Rarity flew back from the punch I leapt and caught her, setting her down on the ground before appearing in a split-second before Rarity's hatred and backhanding it into the wall. I surrounded my body in a cloak of flames and readied myself to launch into Rarity's hatred.
"Ninjutsu may be useless, but taijutsu is one of my specialties!" I said to it. It pried itself off of the wall and looked at me with hateful eyes and a scowl. It stood and its mane fell all around it, no longer able to keep its shape.
"We'll show you how powerful we can be." It said. It surrounded itself with a dark-purple aura and its eyes changed to a coal-black with the same Mangekyou Rinnegan design now highlighted in white. It stood on its hind legs and transformed its two front arms into long swords and charged me. I drew a kunai and charged at it as well. It swung its left arm at me and I ducked, blocking the swipe of its right arm with my kunai and retalliating with a light kick to the chest. It stumbled backward but continued its assault. I dodged its attacks with great difficulty, even more sweat appearing than normal in the Seventh Gate. I blocked a swipe of its left arm with my kunai and hardly had time to react before it swiped at me with its right arm. I reached out and caught the blade; cutting my palm open in the process and blood dripping onto the floor. I used all of my force and put pressure on the blade, the demon that stood before me screaming in pain as I did so. Finally I shattered it and it backed up in pain and fury. It held its right arm at a point just below the shoulder and stared at me with an expression of pain and hatred.
"You bastard!" It shouted.
"You may have my powers, but your ability to use them is mediocre at best." I said and took a pause. "I'll show you the true power of the Mangekyou Rinnegan." With those words Rarity's hatred took a step back as it peered into my glowing red eyes.
I extinquished the flames around my body and jumped backwards toward Rarity; not taking my eyes off of her hatred for a second. I landed next to her and looked down at her.
"Are you alright?" I asked her. She nodded and I helped her stand.
"Rarity, you can use Senjutsu, right?" I asked.
"Senjutsu?" She asked tilting her head slightly to the right in confusion. I looked back at Rarity's hatred with my Mangekyou Rinnegan.
"I can see a presence of Sage chakra in that form, so that tells me you must have used Senjutsu at one point or another." I said. I looked back at her. "Did you acquire any special chakra during your reign?" She nodded.
"I did... Why?" She asked.
"I need you to gather Sage chakra again. It'll help in this fight." I replied.
"I'm afraid I don't know how, Tid." She said.
"You just need to remain perfectly still," I pointed to the corner of the room opposite Rarity's hatred.
"You can go sit in that corner and gather it; I'll protect you." I said. She looked me in the eyes for a few seconds before nodding and running toward the corner. Rarity's hatred laughed.
"You think you can protect her from all of us?" It asked as the spirits exploded from their vessel once more; circling around their vessel and staring maliciously at Rarity. I raised two fingers in front of my body and a puff of smoke appeared beside me as a perfect replication of me was created. I turned to my clone and he nodded, understanding what I needed him to do. He activated his Susano'o and ran to the same corner that Rarity was now sitting cross-legged in and stood in front of her, his back to her and his arms outstretched on either side of him. I activated my Susano'o and stood staring at Rarity's hatred, which had rebuilt an arm made completely of metal in the time it took for all of this to happen. I got into a battle position and faced it.
"Come at me," I taunted.
Rarity's hatred changed its left arm back to its normal form and glared at me. Then it smirked.
"You think we are powerless against you? Well..." It said. Suddenly my Susano'o took form around it and the two Susano'os stood and faced each other like a perfect mirror.
"We have all of your abilities." It said.
"Hmm, a Susano'o exactly like mine, eh?" I said standing up straight and putting my hands on my hips. Then I grinned. "Good, this will give me the chance to see just how durable a Susano'o can be!" I said. I launched myself at the opponent's Susano'o, my Susano'o still surrounding my body. My Susano'o clashed with the other and I was almost forced out of mine as I began to deliver a series of powerful punches to the armor plating of the opponent's Susano'o. Rarity's hatred stood on its hind legs and transformed its two arms into cannons. My eyes widened when I saw this and I immediately halted my barrage and leapt backwards, my Susano'o following. It fired at me and my Susano'o held its left arm out with its palm facing upwards. The book flipped open and the pages began to flap rapidly from one side to the other as the spheres of chakra were pulled into it and absorbed. This surprised both of us, our eyes widening in surprise and shock. Then I noticed the sword that my Susano'o held in its left hand began to glow with a fiery-red aura. I smirked and raised my right arm, my Susano'o following suit. I brought my arm down and my Susano'o did the same, the sword cutting right through the other Susano'o. The other Susano'os left arm was severed and a small portion of its left side was also separated from the main body. Rarity's hatred changed its arms back from cannons and stared at the gaping hole in its Susano'o with wide eyes. My Susano'o withdrew its arm and the sword's aura disappeared.
"So this is the power of my Susano'o? I like it." I said clenching my fists and watching the other Susano'o's arm evaporate. Rarity's hatred returned its attention to me and scowled.
"You'll die here!" It said.
The spirits that surrounded their vessel suddenly detached themselves and flew straight for Rarity. I watched them as they flew overhead and I weaved hand-signs; planning to use ninjutsu to destroy them. Just as I was about to use my Flaming Spear Fusillade jutsu my concentration was broken as Rarity's hatred used its Susano'o to attack mine, the sword colliding with the back of my Susano'o.
"Damn you!" I said turning to face it. At that moment it released its Susano'o and chains wrapped around my ankles before coiling around my body like serpents. My body was bound and I couldn't move a muscle; even my my head was held in place. "Wh-what the? Using my own chains against me?" I said in disbelief. It laughed and approached me, my Susano'o dissolving around me as I was no longer able to keep it going.
"It seems you are your own worst enemy." It said as it approached me. I noticed that while the other spirits were detached (save for the dragon spirit that always kept itself outside of the vessel (and always attached to boot)), the vessel spoke with only one voice.
"Bastard!" I shouted. It laughed at me, the sound of multiple serpents laughing at once was gone and replaced with a high-pitched laugh, like that of a clown. It stood on its hind legs and changed its right arm into a sword once more.
"This time I'll run you through and there's nothing you can do about it!" It said. It held the blade out beside it and lunged at me, thrusting the sword forward.
I tried to close my eyes but they were frozen open in fear. Am I really worthless enough to let myself die here, and break yet another promise to Rarity? I thought disparagingly. At that moment, however, something else shocked me. It happened in less than a second; so fast I couldn't make out what had happened until it was already over. Rarity's hatred backed away and screamed in pain and held its right arm again, which had once more been shattered to pieces. Before me stood Rarity; whose back was to me and eyes were closed and her arms were crossed from what I gathered to be breaking the sword with her bare hooves. Her head was also tilted down slightly.
"No one, and I mean no one, harms my Tid." She said, not moving her body.
"Rarity?" I asked in surprise. She opened her eyes, a fierce look in them that I had never seen before. She stood on her hind legs with just as much ease as her hatred. She slowly turned to me and smiled. I noticed her face was covered in dark-purple markings that were more prominent around her eyes and seemed to take the form of a bird-like symbol.
"Are you alright my dear?" She asked approaching me.
"I am now; you saved my life." I said; my eyes still wide with shock. She smiled and tapped the chains that bound my right arm with her hoof and they retreated back into the ground; the rest of the chains following close after. I looked down at my body in disbelief.
"H-how did you-?"
"I suppose I'm your perfect match, aren't I? Come on, Tid, we have an enemy to defeat." She said lifting my head with her hoof so I looked into her eyes. I grinned and nodded.
"Right, let's do this." I said.
Rarity's hatred backed away from us slowly as it held its now broken arm; staring at us with a look of pure resentment. It began to rebuild its shattered arm with the powers of the Asura Path. I clenched my fists and prepared to attack.
"Come on Rarity, we have to strike before it has a chance to repair itself!" I said. She nodded and we both charged her hatred at terrifying speeds. In the time that it takes to blink I was behind Rarity's hatred and pulled it into a Full-Nelson.
"What?!" It said looking over its shoulder at me. I smirked.
"I'll be taking that Sage chakra of yours." I said. I began to absorb the Sage chakra from within the vessel and Rarity appeared right in front of us. She crouched and pulled her arm back.
"This is for all of the pain you've caused!" She said as she thrust her hoof forward and drove it into the vessel's stomach with all of her force. She expelled chakra in a quick burst that caused the vessel to cough up blood; blood that dripped from the corners of its mouth and onto the floor. As I continued to take the Sage chakra from the vessel I felt my face begin to bulge.
"Shit!" I said and immediately released the vessel, stopping the flow of chakra. Rarity jumped away as the vessel collapsed to the floor, coughing violently. I looked down at my hands and was frightened to see that they had begun to mutate into that of a toad's.
"Tid, what's happened to you?" Rarity asked in fear.
"It seems I'm not able to handle Sage chakra." I replied looking up at her. I walked over to her and placed my mutated hand on her shoulder, transferring the Sage chakra into her body. "You seem to have an unusually large capacity for it, however." I said as my body began to revert to normal. The markings on Rarity's face darkened and returned to their original look, having faded a little already.
"There, that should last you a while." I said to her as I finished transferring the chakra into her. When I turned back to Rarity's hatred it had finished repairing its arm and had called back the spirits that had been flying menacingly around my clone.
"It seems we're going to need a better plan if we are going to defeat you." It said. I bit my thumb to draw blood and turned to Rarity.
"Here, I'll lend you the power of the Preta Path so you can replenish your Sage chakra." I said as I wrote the kanji for Preta on her forehead. She closed her eyes and let the marking dissolve and disappear in her skin.
"Thank you." She said opening her eyes and looking at me. I nodded and we both turned to her hatred.
"Time to finish this fight." I said.
I looked over my shoulder at my clone.
"Keep us covered from chakra-based attacks, alright?" I ordered. He nodded.
"Alright Rarity, that Sage chakra might make it a little easier to open more of the Eight Gates. Before it runs out, I want you to open as many as you possibly can, alright?" I told her. She nodded and gave me a smile. I put my hand on her shoulder. "I swear I will protect you." I said to her. She hugged me.
"I swear I'll protect you too." She said.
"Aww, now that's truly a heartwarming sight. It makes us want to kill you even more!" Rarity's hatred said. I released Rarity and began to weave hand signs.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" I shouted before raising two fingers in front of my lips and blowing. The spheres of fire flew rapidly toward Rarity's hatred. It laughed.
"Have you forgotten we can use your abilities? You really are-" It was cut off by the shuriken hidden within the flames striking its body. I grinned as I saw the shuriken make impact.
"I learned that one from Itachi." I said. I looked at Rarity. "Attack it now!" I said. She nodded and launched herself at her hatred. She drew her arm back and went to punch her hatred, but she was sent flying backwards by a dark wall of wind. I leapt and caught her, returning her safely to her hooves.
"You may have surprised us with that attack, but we will still repel your attacks!" It shouted in anger.
"Rarity, I'm going to use Hirudora. I need you to protect yourself however you can." I said to her.
"Right. Go get 'em, honey." She replied. I nodded and Rarity ran inside of my clone's Susano'o. I turned back to Rarity's hatred and shaped my fist into the shape of a tiger and got ready to use Hirudora. Rarity's hatred surrounded itself with a Susano'o and laughed at me. "You cannot attack us within this!" It said. I smirked.
"Heh, you don't know how wrong you are." I replied. It looked at me with a look of confusion and I thrust my fist forward, the giant tiger taking shape. The Hirudora twisted sideways and clapsed its jaws around the Susano'o, biting down and ripping straight through it before I detonated it. The compressed air exploded outwards in a dome-like explosion that sent powerful gales flying in all directions. I squinted my eyes as the wind rushed passed me rapidly, still holding my arm out. When the wind subsided I looked behind me and breathed a sigh of relief to see Rarity still standing within my clone's Susano'o. I turned my attention back to Rarity's hatred and saw that it had been forced against the wall, but otherwise perfectly fine. I clenched my jaw in anger.
"It appears that your best shot wasn't enough," It taunted as it stood to it's hooves once more.
"I don't know how you did that," I said as I produced a length of chains long enough to restrict its movements. "but quite honestly, I don't care. You're dead either way."
It gave me a look of interest. "Is that so?" Then it chuckled. "You've given us your best shot, yet we survived. Is there no convincing you that we cannot die? That you cannot defeat us?"
I turned to Rarity. "Rarity, I'm going to need your help." I said to her. She nodded eagerly and stepped out from behind my clone's Susano'o. This, however, proved to be a dire mistake.
"We have you now!" Rarity's hatred shouted. Just then a swirling black wind surrounded Rarity and within seconds I heard screaming from behind the curtain of darkness.
"No!" I screamed as I held out my hand and tears began to well up into my eyes. This couldn't be happening... Not now...
Rarity's hatred laughed. "Your precious fiance is now trapped in a world of illusion! She'll be seeing horrible images constantly as long as she is in there, traumatizing her to the point of suicide!" It relished. I clenched my fists and closed my eyes, my anger boiling within me. My body began to surround itself with flames and I turned slowly to face Rarity's hatred. I poured chakra into the flames surrounding my body and their heat as well as their length increased dramatically. I opened my eyes and stared with fiery daggers at the demon.
"I will kill you..." I said pausing as my anger continued to grow. "If it's the last damn thing I ever do!" I disappeared and in an instant I was behind the demon with my right arm around its neck. The flames that surrounded my body now engulfed it and it screamed with pain, but was suddenly silenced as I restricted the air flowing through its neck. I continued to tighten the pressure and it struggled desperately to pry my arms away from its throat. I could feel its life beginning to fade, and I was certain this battle was almost over. However, suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my lower torso and relinquished my hold on the demon to see a blade dripping my blood onto the floor. I held the spot where I had been stabbed and winced with pain.
I scowled. "Bastard," I muttered. It rubbed its throat as it turned to look at me, adjusting its previously dislocated arm to its normal position and reverting it back into flesh once more. I could feel just how deep the sword had pierced in my body, nearly piercing through the other side of my body. The cut was deep, but it missed my vitals. I weaved hand signs and charged the demon, a sphere of fire within my open mouth.
"You fool, haven't you figured out that you can't defeat us with fire?" It asked. I leapt into the air just before the demon and I would've collided and I spit the sphere as hard as I could toward the pillar of black wind, whose roaring blocked the screams of my fiance from reaching my ears. Still in the air I weaved hand signs and the sphere instantly tripled in size before slamming into the wall of wind, exploding and sending a bright flash of blinding light all around the room. The demon shielded its eyes from the radiant light but I was prepared. I slammed my foot down on the demon's head and followed it up by grabbing its head and driving it into the ground, forming many cracks from the center of the impact. I knew the flames that enveloped my body would do nothing against the flame-retardant skin of my opponent, but I kept them surrounding me anyway. Perhaps they would do something to shield me from the spirits within the demon. Finally, with my foot on the back of the demon's head I turned to face my fiance, whom was collapsed in a trembling pile on the ground. Her face was buried in her arms and she was crying violently. I dissipated the flames that surrounded my body and jumped over to her, landing just a foot from her head. I kneeled next to her, lifting her gently in my arms.
"Rarity, are you okay?" I asked her in concern. Her eyes fluttered open weakly and she stared with terror-filled pupils at me. She was still shaking violently, her makeup running with her tears down her cheeks. "Shh," I said to her, holding her head to my chest. "It's alright, I'm here my love." I said to her. Gradually I felt her trembling lessen in my arms and I held her a few feet from my body, staring down at her with gentle eyes and what I had hoped would be a comforting smile.
"I-I saw... I saw... Y-your death..." She said to me, her voice still trembling.
"Shh, I'm here." I said to her. I lifted her head gently and pressed my lips to hers, feeling her tears drip down her face. After a few seconds I separated and stared into her beautiful blue eyes. "I'm alive," I told her. "And I promised I would stay that way. This time, I'll keep my promise." She looked up at me and nodded. Her body stopped shaking entirely and I helped her to her hooves. I glanced over at the demon and saw it just now making its way back to its hooves.
"Come on Rarity, we'll be together when this is over, so let's end this bastard as quickly as possible!" I said confidently. She nodded her head and smiled at me. I looked to her face and noticed that the chakra lines were still there, thankfully. With my Mangekyou Rinnegan, I watched the demon as it turned to face us.
"That was an impressive distraction," It said as it spit blood on the floor. "However, you cannot kill us like that. We cannot die. We'll show you just what we mean by that." It surrounded itself with my Susano'o and the Susano'o sheathed the sword and summoned three Magatamas within its four hands.
"Get ready Rarity," I said to her.
"Right." She replied and waited anxiously for the demon's next attack. I still have the abilities of four of the Six Paths... I thought to myself. Maybe there's something I can do with that... I didn't have any more time to think before the three black Magatamas were sent flying through the air with one big swoop and spun rapidly around one another. Rarity and I dodged them, the Magatamas colliding with the ground that had just a split-second before held our existance. Rarity and I landed on opposite sides of the room, glaring at the demon. I surrounded my body with my Susano'o and ran toward the demon, hoping to distract it. As I had hoped, the demon turned its attention to me, disregarding Rarity completely. There has to be a way to kill it, I thought as I ran toward it. I raised my hand above my head mid-stride and the Susano'o brought his sword down on the other Susano'o with my command. The sword was strong, but it didn't have the piercing power of the Totsuka Blade, not even close. I would have to absorb some sort of jutsu to do that, it seemed. Then my Susano'o's sword was stuck within the armor of the opposing Susano'o, who likewise raised its own sword.
"How foolish of you," The demon said to me. I glanced around with my Mangekyou Rinnegan in search of Rarity and found her sneaking up on the demon. She was next to the base of the Susano'o at this point, ready to strike with a moment's notice. I nodded to her gently, subtly, enough for her to tell that I was giving her a signal. She nodded back and stared at the demon with her Sharingan. She didn't have hands, so she couldn't weave hand signs to perform any ninjutsu, but I had a plan to fix that. I stood up straight in my Susano'o and weaved three hand signs: Tiger, Monkey, Bird. With the final hand sign, Rarity's Sharingan changed slightly. It seemed to turn a shade of red darker than normal, and I knew the jutsu I had just used had worked. She seemed to realize what had happened as well, for she immediately used her new-given power to form two skeletal arms of my Susano'o, large enough to be wings, that then began to weave hand signs according to her will. The demon looked at her in astonishment.
"Lightning Style: Roaring Tiger Jutsu!" Rarity said as she completed the hand signs. Lightning poured from her horn with tremendous speed and three tigers made completely of this lightning formed from three separate archs of lightning, roaring at their target. Then, I lifted my right arm and with as much force as I could muster, I lifted the demon's Susano'o off of the ground. The three tigers launched themselves at the demon and bit into three different parts of its body; one the neck, another the torso, and a third the rear right leg. The demon screamed with agony. A few seconds later the three tigers disappeared into a barrier that I recognized to be the Preta Path's jutsu. I stared at the demon for a few seconds, unsure of what exactly to do next, when I noticed something strange. The wounds of the demon began to heal, but there was a sort of dark steam-like vapor pouring from the wounds as they did so, letting out a loud, high-pitched hiss. I looked over at Rarity to confirm that she had seen these same things, and she nodded.
"That is it!" The demon shouted when the hissing had stopped. It gave us both a glare of hatred and it revealed its spirits once more, and my eyes widened with astonishment. There used to be seven spirits, now there were only four. That's it! I thought with a momentary joy. I had figured out how to kill the demon. I motioned for Rarity to retreat to the far wall with me and she immediately did so and I followed after her; jumping backwards so as to keep my eyes on the demon at all times. When Rarity and I were next to each other, I took my eyes off of the demon to speak to her.
"Rarity, I know how to kill the demon." I said to her.
"Please tell me," She said.
"Alright. I noticed just now that up until this point, we haven't been able to harm the demon, or at least, it seemed like that." I said to her. She nodded, encouraging me to go on.
"When I used the Hirudora earlier, it should've been a fatal blow, but it wasn't, or rather, not the final fatal blow." I said to her. She tilted her head to the side in confusion.
"I'm sorry dear, you lost me." She said.
"Let me explain. When this battle started, there were seven spirits. Rarity, look at the demon now, and tell me how many spirits are still attached."
"Four." She replied after looking over to the demon, whom was watching us patiently.
"Exactly. That means it's died three times already. Every time it dies, it loses another spirit. My theory is, when all of the souls are gone, it'll die for good." I said.
"Oh," She said with the air of someone who had just realized something that should've been obvious.
"Naturally it will work harder to protect itself as the number of spirits drops, so we need to work together, and most of all, be careful." I said to her.
"You should worry about staying alive yourself, my dear." She said with a small chuckle. I blushed a little from embarassment and turned my head away from her to hide it. She chuckled even more when she saw this display.
"Whatever, let's just do this." I said to her. She nodded and we turned to face the demon, whom was still waiting patiently for us to finish.
"You must be awfully confident to let us strategize like that." I said to it.
"It doesn't matter, you won't defeat us, no matter how much strategy you use. We will defeat you, and we won't let you harm us any further." It said.
"Talk is cheap, let's see if you can back it up!" I said and used my Mangekyou Rinnegan to teleport behind it and opened the Seventh Gate. I went to sweep the legs out from under it, but it was gone before I could. I looked around and noticed one of the spirits about to collide with me, its fangs bared. I raised two fingers in front of my mouth and blew fire, but the spirit avoided it. I managed to avoid the collision, but I still didn't know where the demon was.
"Look out, Tid!" I heard Rarity shout. I looked up to the ceiling and saw my Susano'o about to throw gigantic curved shuriken at me. It pulled its arms back and threw them toward me, and I released more chains, planning to block using them. Before I got the chance, however, several lines of white light appeared on the shuriken, and they broke into several pieces, all avoiding my body as they crashed into the ground. I looked over and saw Rarity panting, clearly having used a jutsu of some kind.
"Rarity, what kind of jutsu was that?" I asked her. She shrugged, not knowing herself. Was it Lightning Style? I asked myself in wonder. No, it was much too fast, even for Lightning Style. It must've been something else. I concluded. The demon appeared to be equally shocked, as it stared at Rarity with wide eyes. It was then that I saw my opening and jumped toward it. I latched onto it and entangled it in my chains, spinning rapidly and driving its body head-first into the ground. I jumped away and before the dust cleared I shouted,
"Now Rarity!" She nodded and weaved more hand signs, and I saw the wondrous light once more. It definitely wasn't Lightning Style. A single beam of light about as wide and tall as she was raced from the hands of the Susano'o toward the ceiling above the demon. When it was in position it broke into several smaller beams, all taking jagged paths down to the conversion point of the where the demon was sure to still be. I stood amazed at this new style of jutsu, one that I hadn't thought possible until now. When the beams converged again, they all exploded and sent debris flying everywhere. I watched the cloud of dust dissipate before us and what I saw amazed me. The ground surrounding the demon's body was completely scorched and cracked. A crater about twenty feet in diameter had formed and made a surprisingly deep indentation into the floor. The demon lay motionless and I took that time to look at Rarity in shock and awe. She chuckled.
"Impressed my dear?" She asked me. I nodded, still gawking. She chuckled once more. I had little time to gawk, however, as the demon rose to its hooves a few seconds later. Another spirit had vanished, just as I had thought. The demon scowled at us.
"You may have gotten the best of us this time, but now we have seen your jutsu! We will not fall prey to it again!" It shouted. I noticed that it still had three spirits attached to its back, so we would have to best it three more times. I sighed. This was going to be a long battle.
As we stood there and plotted our next attack, Rarity and I could see something strange happening with the spirits that were still attached to the demon. Two of them were radiating some sort of dark-purple energy that enveloped the host's body. The host's eyes darkened even further and the design shined a brighter white. A second later, the demon disappeared without so much as a trail of dust. Rarity and I looked around frantically for the demon, but before we could find it I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. I looked down to see the tip of a sword piercing through my stomach, and I knew that the demon was right behind me. I took careful note of the position of the sword, despite being in excrutiating pain. It missed my kidneys, but just barely. I noted. That was too close... I used the speed of the Seventh Gate to reach around and grab the sword with my right hand, holding the demon in place while also cutting into my fingers a little. Rarity then came up from behind the demon and wrapped her arms around the demon's body before weaving hand signs with the Susano'o hands. I weaved hand signs quickly as well and prepared to use a Lightning Style jutsu. Before I could strike, however, I felt the sword disappear from within me and saw the demon reappear on the other side of the throne room. Rarity and I redirect our attacks as neccesary and both light and lightning raced toward the demon (Rarity's jutsu travelling much faster than mine). The demon raised a barrier in front of itself and absorbed both of the jutsus.
"Damn," I swore. I had forgotten about the Preta Path's abilities. Suddenly my knees began to shake and I dropped to my knees, coughing violently. Rarity rushed over to me and knelt beside me, placing one hoof on my back.
"Tid are you alright?" She asked. I would've answered but I was coughing far too violently to even speak. It was at that point that she noticed my wounds. She gasped at the sight of them. "Tid, you've lost far too much blood!" She said. I slowly removed my hand from my mouth and lowered it to my side, where the most severe wound was located. I used my chakra to ignite my hand and began to sear the wound closed. I didn't feel any pain because I was immune to fire, luckily.
"Tid, that's too dangerous! You might injure yourself even worse!" She said when she noticed what I was doing.
"Don't worry," I said to her, panting heavily. "This is the only way to stop the bleeding." She shook her head.
"There has to be another way," She insisted.
"Do you know any medical ninjutsu?" I asked her.
"Well, no," She replied.
"Then no, there isn't. I don't know any medical ninjutsu either," I said. Her ears drooped when she heard that. When the wound was finally seared closed, I took off my cloak and went to work on the other one.
"Rarity, could you protect me while I do this?" I asked her. She looked me in the eyes and nodded, a grin on her face. I nodded my appreaciation to her and she leapt into the air and, with a mid-air flip, began to weave hand signs. When she was entirely upside down, she used the Susano'o's hands to send beams of light toward the demon. The demon raised another barrier, however, this barrier was soon rendered moot. The beams were not aimed for the demon, but rather, the floor several feet away from it. I watched in confusion until I saw something incredible happen. The beams of light were as big as Rarity was, and instead of disappearing like I expected them to, they instead began to glow brighter and brighter. The demon was forced to shield its eyes from the blinding light and was then caught off guard by what happened next. Rarity weaved more hand signs (now standing firmly on the ceiling), and I saw Rarity launch a barrage of what appeared to be blue crystals at the demon. The demon shrieked in pain but managed to block the majority of the crystals by raising another barrier. The rest of the crystals that did not strike the demon were immediately absorbed, confirming that what I saw was indeed yet another new style of jutsu.
I stared at the the two of them, who were staring at each other. Neither of them so much as blinked, and quite honestly it surprised me at how calm the air had gotten. As I continued to sear my wounds closed, I analyzed Rarity's new styles of jutsu. For the time being, I had labeled them based on what I had seen: Light Style and Crystal Style. I had never seen either of these styles before, and that is why I wanted to figure out how they worked so I could better plan a cooperative attack with Rarity. The first, Light Style, was an interesting jutsu style that traveled much faster than Lightning Style. It could strike fast, and, from I've seen, it could strike with deadly precision and power. I glanced at Rarity, and I saw that she was looking a little exhausted. I could tell that this style took the most chakra out of her. Her Sage chakra had run out, and now she would have to build more. I increased the flow of chakra to my flames to try and accelerate the process. Rarity was skilled, but at this rate she would use up all of her chakra reserves, and that would be devastating.
The second style, Crystal Style, didn't seem to take much chakra at all, seeing as she was able to use it right after a Light Style jutsu. She had only used this style once so far, so I couldn't really analyze it that much. The Crystal Style was a precision-based style (from the jutsu I had seen), that focused on attacking key points in the opponent's body to inflict pain, but not kill. This was likely another diversionary tactic that Rarity had deployed, probably expecting me to step in and go for the kill shot. I grinned. With these new styles at our disposal, Rarity and I could finish off this demon within five minutes or so. The trouble is, I'm not sure if Rarity could handle using the Light Style so often, not without Sage chakra.
As soon as my wounds were healed, I stood up and the demon turned its attention to me. At that second, Rarity took advantage of the distraction and, faster than I had ever seen her move before, positioned herself behind the demon and used her Sharingan to cast a genjutsu over it. I then re-opened the Seventh Gate (I had closed it before to focus my chakra), and moved with blinding speed toward the demon, drawing a kunai as I did so. The demon, however, broke free of the genjutsu. It was already too late at that point for the demon, I brought the kunai across the demon's neck and slit its throat, blood gushing from the cut. I jumped away and Rarity did the same. My chest was soaked in the blood and I surrounded my body with flames to evaporate it.
"Rarity," I said to her, still staring at the demon. I saw one of the spirits that was attached to the demon vanish in a puff of smoke as the wound on the demon's body healed.
"Yes dear?" She asked.
"I need you to build Sage chakra again." I replied. She nodded. I glanced at her and I could see how much chakra was left in her body, and quite honestly, there wasn't much. I knew I probably didn't have much chakra left, though I still felt like I had a full reserve. Rarity ran behind my still-standing clone and his Susano'o and began to build Sage chakra again. I was surprised that my clone's chakra had held out for so long, and it didn't show any signs of evaporating soon. I turned my attention back to the demon, who now had only two spirits attached to it.
"Do not push your luck any further, mortal." It hissed in warning. The sounds of multiple voices speaking at once was slowly fading with every 'kill'. I smirked.
"And what exactly will you do? You must be getting weaker," I taunted back. It scowled.
"It is the exact opposite, you mortal. As the number of souls bound to us is reduced, our powers are increased immensely. Did you not notice how much faster we had become when we were reduced to only three? And now you have reduced us to two. Do you think our deaths will come that easily anymore? Our powers have increased over ten fold since that soul was released. You will not kill us again, and if you do somehow manage to do so, our powers will rival that of a god's. You have been warned, mortal." It said. I stood there and stared at the demon, unsure of whether or not I should believe what it had just told me. I glanced over to Rarity, whom was still gathering Sage chakra. I have to stall this demon until she finishes. I thought. It was our only hope. I activated my Susano'o and charged the demon, but it was much too fast. I was barely able to track it with my Mangekyou Rinnegan, and even then my body didn't have enough time to react. I soon found my Susano'o shaking violently from withstanding blow after blow from the demon. I then began to sweat a little when my Susano'o's armor began to crack. I began to weave hand signs, waiting for my Susano'o to break. As the cracks continued to get larger and larger, I watched the demon very carefully, making note of its patterns and trying to determine where it would strike next.
Finally, the demon shattered my Susano'o and I immediately jumped into the air. I watched carefully as it launched itself off of the ground and flew directly toward me, aiming to hit my blind spot. I then used my Mangekyou Rinnegan to teleport to the ground that it had launched itself from and launched myself right after it, my hands still in the Tiger hand sign. It looked around but not before I blew a stream of fire toward it that expanded the further it traveled from my mouth. I could hear the demon laugh and begin to absorb the flames. I then used my momentum to propell myself toward the closest wall. When I felt my feet strike the crystals I bent my legs and pushed off with as much force as I could muster, holding my right arm out beside me. The demon finished absorbing the flames but turned into my attack. Sorry Ay, but I stole your technique. I thought as I thrusted my arm forward, sending the demon flying. I then threw my chains toward the demon, entangling its body inside of them. I pulled the chains and the demon, for a second, remained still in the air. I took advantage of this and pushed off of the ceiling, driving my fist into the face of the demon, sending it crashing into the ground with impressive force. The floor was marked with yet another crater and the impact shook the room. If the windows were still in-tact, they would've shattered under the concussion wave that had been released. I pulled the chain and went for the kill shot, but the chains were limp, and my eyes widened in shock as I saw the end of the chain come flying from the dust cloud. Where did it go? I thought in panic and confusion. Then I felt it.
I fetl a sharp pain on my back, like that of a gash opening across the length of my back. Then I felt that pain several more times, each time letting out a cry of anguish. I turned over to face the source of the pain and saw blood dripping from two swords that used to be the arms of the demon. It smiled at me maliciously and I threw my chains in front of me to block a strike. I entangled the sword in my chains and went to throw the demon away, but the demon vanished in a flicker. I looked around for the demon but I was kicked in the stomach and sent crashing into the crater that I had made with the demon's body. I heard my ribs crack and I could feel immense pain coming from my left arm, as I had landed on it. I feared it might've broken. I slowly rose to my feet, unsure of where the demon was, but at that moment, I didn't really care. I held my arm and winced as the pain continued to course through it. This is bad, I thought to myself in worry. Without my left arm, I can't weave hand signs. Not to mention I was also losing an incredible amount of blood from my back. If I couldn't find someone who knew medical ninjutsu, I would be dead within five minutes.
Then I remembered something. I looked around the room and found Twilight still unconscious on the ground next to one of the windows. It was a miracle that she hadn't been harmed during the fight. I lifted my genjutsu and immediately she began to stir. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the demon appear close to me, preparing for a kill shot. I quickly ducked and grabbed the demon's body, lifting it up in my arms and slamming it down to my side. I then punched the demon's stomach as hard as I could, pushing it through a few inches of solid rock using the Seventh Gate. I then used my chains to bind the demon to the ground and jumped over to Twilight, landing close to her. She sat up, still dazed and unaware of what was going on.
"Twilight," I said to her. She turned to look at me, holding her head in one hoof. Her eyes were half closed.
"Huh? Tid?" She said in confusion. I nodded.
"Twilight, I need your help." I said to her, hoping to make this as quick as possible. She nodded.
"What do you need me to do?" She asked.
"I need you to use your medical ninjutsu on me," I replied, turning to show her my back. She gasped and clasped one hoof over her mouth.
"Wh-what happened?" She asked in utter horror.
"It's hard to explain, but Rarity and I are fighting to defeat the manifestation of her hatred."
"Manifes-"
"There's no time to explain," I interrupted. I looked her straight in the eyes. "Please, Twilight, I need your help." I pleaded. She stared at me for a few seconds, staring directly into my eyes. Then, she nodded. I turned back around and she placed her hooves about an inch from my back. After a few seconds I could feel warmth spreading over my back, but mostly I could feel pain as my wounds began to close.
"You've lost a lot of blood," She said to me with concern in her voice.
"Don't worry, I don't plan to lose any more of it." I said to her. She didn't say anything else after that, and the only noise that could be heard was the sound of the demon trying to escape the rubble. I sat still, hoping that my chains would hold it. So far they had failed to do so on multiple occasions, so I hoped there wouldn't be another. I glanced over to my clone and saw Rarity begin to develop the dark purple lines on her face again. She'll be wrapping up soon, I thought. That's when we'll end it.
Finally, Twilight lowered her hooves to the ground.
"I'm sorry, I can't do any more." She said to me through heavy breaths.
"That's alright," I said as I stood to my feet. I could feel my left arm again, and I practiced moving it just to make sure I could use it effectively. "You've done a great job, Twilight. Thank you." I said as I turned to her. She blushed a little.
"Thank you," She said as she stood to her hooves.
"Itachi gave you the Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, didn't he?" I asked her. She nodded. I looked over to the pile of rubble, then back at her. "I'm going to need you to use the Amaterasu on it, just once." I told her. She nodded and I could see the Eternal Mangekyou Sharing of my best friend glowing in her right eye. I smiled a little at the sight. With her on our side, we could defeat the demon easily.
I jumped over to Rarity and walked through my clone's Susano'o to reach her.
"Rarity, I think that's plenty." I said to her. I could see the Sage chakra flowing through her and it almost blocked the sight of her own chakra. She opened her eyes and I saw that they too had a new design. Instead of a toad's eyes, however, they resembled a cat's. Her blue eye shadow was replaced with the same shade of dark purple that the design on her face was made of. She looked up at me and smiled.
"Oh alright," She said before standing and turning to me. She looked around and I assumed she was looking for the demon.
"Don't worry, I have the demon bound for now." I said to her.
"'For now'?" She asked looking back at me with a tinge of confusion and worry.
I nodded. "Somehow the demon's able to escape my chains," I replied. I turned my body halfway to look toward the rubble that hopefully still housed the demon. "I'm not entirely sure how long I can keep it bound."
"Well that's alright," Rarity said reassuringly. "We don't need to have the demon bound to kill it." I looked back at her and saw an amazing look of confidence in her eyes. It was a look that I myself had hardly ever worn, and she fit perfectly into it. I stared into her eyes, watching the pupils move ever so slightly to examine my facial features. After a few seconds, I smiled. Rarity was always good at cheering me up.
"Right, let's do this." I said to her, turning to face the demon. She walked up beside me and nodded, extending her hoof out to me. I took it and we charged the demon, releasing the chains that bound it. The demon, however, didn't need to be freed. We didn't know it, but the demon had already escaped while I was talking to Rarity. I didn't notice until I heard a sharp noise behind me and whirled around, letting go of Rarity's hoof to block the sword that was meant to strike me down. I caught it with one hand, avoiding the sharp edge of the blade and spun around, sweeping the legs from under the demon.
"Now!" I shouted to Rarity and she obliged with a swift downward kick that drove the demon into the ground once more. I went to follow up with a kunai, but the demon was too fast. It pried itself out of the ground, resisting Rarity's hold and swiftly dodged, its arm still caught by my hand. I used the arm for leverage and pulled the demon toward me, forcing its arm into an awkward position as I lifted its body above mine and let go, letting gravity drive its face into my upraised knee. The demon hardly reacted to this, however, as it spun and managed to kick me in the temple with enough force to almost knock me out. I was fazed by the attack, my vision bluring slightly and my grip on the demon's arm loosening considerably. With this the demon wrenched its arm free of my grasp and changed it from a sword to a cannon, aiming straight for my head. Rarity, however, used the Almighty Push to send the demon flying across the room. She then shouted, and, using her Sage chakra, sent a ripple of energy waves toward the demon.
I placed my hand to the side of my head and felt a warm liquid oozing from my skull. I shook my head and wiped the blood off on my bare chest.
"That's it," I said in anger. I pushed myself to open the upper limits of the Seventh Gate and looked at Rarity. "Let's kill this motherfucker." I said to her. She nodded and I grabbed her hoof. She jumped slightly, just enough to put her a few inches off of the ground, and I spun her around and launched her toward the demon. She held her arms behind her, not to go faster, for something else. She used all of her effort to pull me off of the ground and swung her arms forward, effectively launching me in front of her. She didn't use the Almighty Push to make me go faster, she simply released the Universal Pull when I was already moving forward. The demon looked on as I approached it quickly, unable to do anything about it. I held my right arm to my side as I flew toward it.
"Take this!" I shouted as I punched the demon square in the face with all of my might, sending it crashing into the crystal walls and following it up with a knee to the stomach a second later. Then, I leapt aside as Rarity crashed into the demon, bringing with her a barrage of light spears. The wall of the castle's throne room exploded as the light impacted with incredible force. I could feel the entire room shake from the impact and quite frankly it made me worry for Rarity's safety. My fears were alleviated, however, a second later when Rarity emerged from the black dust cloud that had been created with the demon in tow. The demon looked severely injured, but it still had two spirits attached to it. She looked at me and nodded, giving the go ahead. I nodded back and launched off of the wall, throwing a kuani before me and landing with my foot to the end of the kunai, pushing it through the demon's skull. One of the spirits that was still attached to the demon's body exploded to heal its host. All that was left was the dragon spirit, which seemed like the most powerful and the most evil.
Without the slightest sign of life, the demon vanished from underneath my foot and instantaneously was standing on the opposite side of the room. Rarity and I both looked on in disbelief.
"You have tested my patience far too much, mortal." It said to us. I noticed that the voice didn't fit the host anymore; it was a deep, smooth voice that seemed to draw your attention regardless of anything that was happening.
"I had warned you, but you refused to listen." It said. As it spoke I felt a sense of building energy, as if something big was about to happen. "Now, you'll be shown just how powerful I can be. I'll show the true power of hatred." It said. It dissolved into shadows for a few seconds, then something incredible happened. The skeleton of my Susano'o appeared, then muscles formed around the bones, and then, something I never expected. As it happened I stood frozen in awe. There was an explosion of black energy that sent Rarity flying backward, landing a short distance away on our backs. I sat up painfully and continued to watch the spectacle unfold. The roof of the throne room exploded and before us rose a titan of chakra. It straightened itself up, holding two fingers in front of itself with its face almost completely shrouded, save for the eyes. It wore something that resembled a cloak that flapped about, even though there was no wind. As Rarity and I continued to stare at it in awe and horror, I realized what exactly I was seeing.
"No... It can't be..." I said in disbelief. Rarity pried her eyes away from the titan to look at me. She could read the concern that showed on my face like an open book, and it too worried her.
"What is it, Tid?" She asked me.
"Th-that's-"
"The Perfect Susano'o," The demon finished. The demon's voice sounded much different, as if it were amplified somehow. At that moment the Susano'o changed form once more, discarding the cloak and donning a complete set of scaled armor that had three spikes reaching in different directions on each of the shoulders and the helmet as well. At its side it held a sheathed sword three times the height of Susano'o in length, easily. On its left side, it held a massive scroll the likes of which I had never seen before. It was bound with a single string and the ends were decorated with the kanji for each of the five elements. The Susano'o also wore some sort of necklace with three smaller blades attached to it. It towered over us with a tremendous presence and it seemed that being in its very presence was dangerous. It moved one gigantic hand over to the sword that was still sheathed and clasped its fingers around the hilt, sliding it slowly out of the sheath and swiping it in front of itself, sending a powerful shockwave all throughout the Crystal Empire. The shockwave destroyed houses, ripped apart the ground, and even sliced through a portion of the barrier (which quickly repaired itself). Rarity and I stared with wide-eyed horror at the scene that we had just witnessed. There was no way we could defeat something of that magnitude, even while working together. Unless...
Rarity quickly hugged me out of fear, trembling with terror. I tore my eyes away from the titan and looked down at Rarity with sympathy. She must've been terrified out of her mind at that moment, and she needed me to comfort her. I pried my arm free from her hug and wrapped it around her shoulders, rubbing her right shoulder slowly. I stared back up at the titan, whom was motionless before us, and I started to think about my idea. Finally, after a short time, I grinned.
"Rarity," I said to her. She slowly lifted her head to look at me. "I have an idea on how to beat the Perfect Susano'o." When she heard that her ears perked up slightly and I could see a twinkle in her eyes.
"What did you have in mind?" She asked me. I motioned to stand and we both did so. I placed my left hand on her right shoulder and she stood still, looking patiently at me. I raised two fingers on my right hand in front of me and I began transferring some of my chakra into her.
"Now, Rarity, I'm giving you half of my chakra. You are going to use it for one thing, and one thing only. Do you understand?" I asked her. She nodded.
"And what would that be?" She asked me.
"We're going to summon my Perfect Susano'o as well." I replied. I finished transferring half of my chakra to her and she looked at me in disbelief.
"How am I going to do that? I'm not an Uchiha." She said incredulously. I chuckled and placed my hand on her shoulder.
"You'll be able to do it, trust me." I said to her with a smile. She nodded and smiled back at me. Rarity and I backed away from each other and summoned my Susano'o.
"What do I do now, dear?" She asked me when the Susano'o had taken complete form.
"I imagine it's exactly like summoning the Susano'o, only exerting more chakra." I replied. She nodded and closed her eyes to concentrate. I did likewise and increased my chakra output into my Susano'o. Suddenly I felt an explosion of energy and I felt myself rising off of the ground and high into the air. I opened my eyes and saw the same spectacle that I had seen before now surrounding my body. Something felt off, however.
"This chakra," I said looking down at my hands. "It's so... erratic. I... I can't control it." I looked to my left and saw Rarity standing in an identical titan of chakra.
"I have to control this chakra somehow." I said to myself. I closed my eyes and folded my hands in front of one another in the Tiger hand sign. I concentrated on my Susano'o's chakra. After a few seconds, I could see the chakra that flowed through it clearly. The chakra wasn't flowing very smoothly at all. It seemed to try and go against its own flow. The flow itself was jagged and seemed to try and flow outward at every point at once. I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, trying to calm my nerves. As I began to calm down, the chakra in my Susano'o began to settle as well. I could see the flow become more smooth and less eratic. Finally, I focused all of my effort and suppressed the rapidity of the chakra. When I opened my eyes again, I could see that my Susano'o had changed form into the same titan that stood before me. I glanced over to Rarity and I saw that she was now doing the same thing I had done. The demon took a step forward.
"I won't let you awaken your Perfect Susano'o!" It said and raised the sword above its head. I quickly drew my sword and stepped in front of Rarity's Susano'o to block the strike. When the two blades clashed it sent another massive shockwave across the Crystal Empire and nearly destroyed the barrier completely before it rebuilt itself.
"If you think I'll stand back and let you harm my fiance," I said with murderous intent in my eyes. "You're sorely mistaken!" I pushed forward and sent the demon stumbling backward. I raised my sword and charged, grabbing it with both of the upper arms and holding the sharp end in front of me. The demon blocked my attack, releasing another shockwave, and it forced me backward. I was knocked off of my feet and almost fell into Rarity's Susano'o. I glanced up as I was below her and I saw her Susano'o begin to take its final form as well. The demon placed its foot on top of my chest and raised the sword above its head, grabbing the hilt with both hands and pointing the blade downward. It thrust downward and I was barely able to catch the blade before it would have pierced through my armor. I stared forward with sweat beading down my brow as I stared at the impressively large blade that was only about thirty yards from me. For blades this large, that was frighteningly too close. A second later I saw the demon fly backwards from a punch that had been delivered from Rarity's complete Susano'o. She extended her hand and I took it, pulling myself up to my feet. I still held the demon's blade in my hand and I decided to use that to my advantage.
Rarity unsheathed her blade and looked at me.
"Tid, where's the demon?" She asked.
"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked back in confusion.
"Well, I can see you inside of your Susano'o, and I can see the demon's Susano'o, but I can't see the demon itself." She replied. I looked to the demon's Susano'o, which was just now making its way back to its feet, and my eyes widened in astonishment. The demon, who normally would've been contained in the Susano'o's chest, wasn't there. Then a thought occured to me.
"The demon isn't inside of the Susano'o," I said to her. I looked back at her. "The demon is the Susano'o." Rarity's eyes widened when she heard this. At that moment I heard the demonic laughter of the demon, the laughter that sounded as if it came straight from the devil himself.
"It's about time you figured it out," the demon said. "However, this information is meaningless. You will be dead within five minutes, so there is no point in learning such information." It said. Rarity and I looked at each other and nodded, not having to say a word to each other to know what we were both thinking. I took both blades in my Susano'o's two sets of arms, setting the scroll in the mouth of my Susano'o. Rarity took her sword in both hands and we both charged the demon. The demon laughed and unraveled the scroll, weaving hand signs with the other set of arms as it held the scroll out in front of it. Suddenly the kanji for fire appeared and a great stream of fire blasted toward us. Rarity unravelled her own scroll with the other two arms and tossed it into the air. The scroll seemed to position itself so that the parchment side was facing the flames and it drew them in, absorbing them entirely. When the flames had been completely absorbed the scroll snapped shut and Rarity's sword began to glow a firey red. The demon stood in utter shock at this sequence of events. Rarity had reacted much faster than I had expected her to, and her solution was flawless. She was a much better match for me than I thought. Note to self, don't fight Rarity. I thought to myself as we charged the demon.
Rarity took the first swipe, cutting through a portion of the demon's chestplate. She then used the second pair of arms to grab the demon and hold it in place while I positioned myself behind it and went for the kill shot. The demon, however, shook free of Rarity's grasp and at the last second turned so that I missed the vital spot.
"Damn," I swore as I pulled the first sword out. The demon turned and grabbed my Susano'o's neck, pushing me toward the barrier in an attempt to incinerate me. I planted my feet and resisted as much as I could, trying to avoid touching the barrier. Rarity assisted me by clothes-lining the demon with her right arm, sending the demon crashing down on itself. I looked at Rarity and nodded my appreciation for her saving my life yet again. She nodded back and motioned for us to take the final shot. I nodded back to her and, planting both swords in the ground next to me, I bent down and picked up the demon by its neck, forcing it to its feet. Then, I undid the necklace around my Susano'o's neck and extended it using my chakra. It increased until it was many times its original size. I lightly tossed it into the air in front of the demon and it wrapped itself around the demon's Susano'o with great speed. I then took the demon's sword and impaled it into the shoulderblade of the demon's Susano'o, preventing the use of that arm. Rarity, whose sword was still glowing, raised her blade above her head and brought it down on the other arm of the demon, severing the arm and effectively decapacitating it.
I then pulled my sword from the ground and joined Rarity in standing behind the demon. We both took a few steps back in diagonal directions from the demon and grabbed our blades with both hands. We looked at each other and nodded, turning our attention back to the demon and charging forward, thrusting our blades toward the demon and piercing through the armor. The final scene of the battle was Rarity and I, standing behind the demon's Perfect Susano'o, our blades piercing in two different directions from the demon's chest. As Rarity and I stood there, panting, grateful that the battle was finally over, there was a loud and piercing scream as the last spirit vanished. In doing so, the Susano'o also disappeared, or rather, exploded into a puff of black, etheral, smoke. Instead of vanishing completely, however, the smoke instead seemed to dissolve into the very ground we stood on. At first this concerned me, but after watching the spot where the smoke had disappeared for a good five minutes or so, I concluded that nothing else was going to happen. I breathed a sigh of relief and I heard Rarity do the same. We both released our Susano'os, levitating gently back down to the ground.
Rarity and I stood there on the throne room floor panting heavily. I looked around for any sign of Twilight, but she was nowhere to be seen. I assumed she had teleported to safety as soon as the battle started to heat up. I looked upon Rarity with my Mangekyou Rinnegan, reading her chakra levels. Her chakra had almost been completely used up. From the way I felt, I guessed my chakra levels were about the same. Rarity looked at me, her eyes shining with the Sharingan. It wasn't a complete Sharingan, in fact, it only had one tomoe around the pupils, but was an excellent Sharingan. I decided that I would train her to unlock its full potential, and with that I knew she would one day be even more powerful than me. She smiled and I smiled back, happy that the battle was over. The Seventh Gate closed itself again and the green aura faded, leaving only the sweat behind. Rarity walked over to me and wrapped her arms around me, standing on her hind hooves to wrap them around my shoulders. I held her in my arms and ran my fingers through her mane.
"Let's go home," I said to her and she nodded, holding me at arm's length and smiling.
"Yes, let's." She said.
Then, still holding her in one arm, I weaved hand signs I didn't even know I knew with one hand and then I held it out in front of me. After a second or two a tiny ball of light appeared from my palm and floated about us for a few seconds, making Rarity giggle as she watched it. Then, it floated in front of us for a second before expanding and glowing brighter and brighter. Finally, it expanded one last time, blinding us for a second. When we wre able to see again, Rarity and I gasped at the wonderful sight before us. There was a cylindrical portal that expanded before us, seeming to narrow as it went but expand at the same time. Silver crystal-like beams lined the walls horizontally, fitting perfectly with one another. I tried to see just how far the portal went on but I was unable to see the end, so I concluded that it must've stretched to the beginning of time. The light that shone from the portal was golden-white, and it illuminated the dark night. I looked down at Rarity and smiled.
"Let's go home, my princess." I said to her. She looked up at me and smiled, tears welling up in her eyes. Her Sharingan was no longer active, showing off her excellent blue eyes. I kissed her and led her into the portal.
When we reappeared we were in Rarity's boutique, and it was raining outside. The boutique was dark, seemingly because Rarity had not been there to turn on the lights that morning. I looked at a clock that sat on Rarity's wall and it read 1:13pm. I released Rarity from my grasp and stared at her. She turned to me and smiled, but that smile quickly faded when she realized something about my body. I looked down and noticed that I didn't have my cloak anymore.
"Oh this won't do at all!" Rarity said, touching my chest with her hooves.
"That's alright, I'm sure you can make another one that's even more wonderful, and a lot less battle-worn." I winked. She giggled at this. I went to head to the bathroom to wash off, but as soon as I took a step my vision began to tunnel and everything went dark. I felt dizzy and nauseous at the same time, and I wasn't able to keep my balance. Then, I stumbled and fell to the ground, losing conciousness before hitting the floor.
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Me: Well, it's finally done. After several months of working on this chapter alone, the exciting conclusion to the Wrath of Rarity Arc, is offically complete! I don't really feel like doing much of an after talk for this one, so I'll see you all next time.