Ice Chronicles

Chapter 35: Battle of the Sectors Pt. Four

Tsukiumi vs. Mei Rin

In the first battle of the third stage, I have defeated that bastard Higa in the first part. Then, Musubi and Ichiya went at it with Musubi easily taking her down. Furthermore, Yomi and Sai took their turns, resulting in Yomi's victory. Now, it's time for Tsukiumi and Mei Rin to go head to head. The sekirei stood in the middle of the area, which has suffered major damage by the way, and prepared themselves. Yomi and Musubi stood at my side, nuzzling against my side.

"Girls, is this really the time to be getting cozy?" I asked them. Yomi sighed a little.

"Hey we deserve this; we fought very hard out there and deserve a break. And you want to this away from us?"

"No it's not that; I honestly don't mind. But I'd rather not build up several peoples' jealousy," I replied.

"Oh you'll be fine; just relax. You're too tense; you should be cheering for Tsukiumi," Yomi stated.

"Why aren't you?" I interrogated. She nuzzled deeper.

"She'll do better if it's from you. Tell her something special in front of the entire world."

I sighed just thinking about it.

"You girls already warned the entire about things; I'm just going to add fuel to the fire."

"So you don't have faith in her?" Yomi asked.

"Of course I do! I always have in you girls," I stated. Yomi let a devilish snicker while Musubi rubbed her head against my shoulder.

"Well if you really do have faith in Tsukiumi, then let her and the entire world know."

"Sigh, alright Yomi, I will," I said. The girls stood back so I could use my hands to amplify my voice. But first, I texted my uncle saying,

"Do not comment on what I'm about to say."

He didn't respond, but I saw his eager face instead. I took a deep breath and amplified my voice with my hands.

"Tsukiumi!"

She turned towards me with a little water swirling around her hands.

"I want you to know that I have the upmost confidence in you. I know you can win this; and when you do, we'll have our honeymoon night just like I promised."

Her cheeks started turning red as she held her hand in front of her chest. My declaration caused sudden cheering from the crowd and my uncle to give me his proudest thumbs up. I cleared my throat for this one.

"Along with my faith for you, I also want you to know that with all my heart I love you."

I definitely heard her gasp and saw her cheeks reddened. I gave her a warm smile and then turned to my other sekirei.

"Akitsu, Matsu, Uzume, Kazehana, and Toyotama; I love you girls as well."

That's when everything got quiet, most likely for any responses. This is what I received,

"We love you too Ren!" all eight of my sekirei shouted. I looked back at Tsukiumi, who had a happy smile across her lips, which soon curved to a confident smile.

"Thank you Ren; thank you for having confidence in me. I know I can win this with your support," she told me. She faced Mei Rin with her shoulders broader.

"I hope you're ready."

Mei Rin took out her tonfas and took her stance. Without hesitation, she rushed at Tsukiumi and swung diagonally. Tsukiumi danced out of the way and got behind her. She formed her water sword and slashed downward, but Mei Rin quickly turned and blocked it. Simultaneously, they swung their free hands and blew each other back. Mei Rin was the first to stop and rush back. When Tsukiumi noticed, she quickly ducked as strands of her hair fall. She then slashed horizontally, Mei Rin jumped and threw a kick aimed at her head. Tsukiumi deformed the water blade and crafted a shield to deflect the kick. Mei Rin back flipped away and but up her guard.

"I see you are quite skilled," Tsukiumi said standing up.

"As are you; I also see that your ashikabi has a lot of confidence in you," Mei Rin pointed out. Tsukiumi crossed her arms.

"Yes, he does; and I won't fail him."

"Hm, must be nice having an ashikabi who cares for you," Mei Rin said. Tsukiumi gave her an unimpressed look.

"Your ashikabi only views you as tools."

Mei Rin shook her head while looking away.

"I don't need a lecture I'm already aware of."

Tsukiumi sighed and held her arms out beside her. Water started rising up her arms and two more blades formed.

"Very well; let's continue shall we?"

"Let's," Mei Rin replied with a nod. The two charged at each other, and Tsukiumi stabbed a blade. Mei Rin crossed her tonfas and held them in line of the attack. The water was deflected, and Mei Rin followed up with an elbow charge. Tsukiumi jumped over her and turned in midair. She held her arm out and shouted,

"Water Celebration!"

Mei Rin sensed the attack and started spinning around like a tornado. When she picked up enough momentum, Mei Rin vehemently hit the water and deflected it right back at Tsukiumi.

"Water Arrow!" She yelled as she put two fingers together and a bolt of water shot out. It bypassed the celebration and came out the other side. Mei Rin put up a defense, but it wasn't strong enough to withstand the force of the blast and she ended up sliding back. She was still standing, but her tonfas were taking severe damage.

"Let me ask you; do you love your ashikabi?" Tsukiumi asked Mei Rin. She put a hand on her hip.

"Why are you asking me this?"

"I just want to know," Tsukiumi replied. Mei Rin looked at the ground.

"No," she said. "I don't love my ashikabi."

Tsukiumi nodded her head.

"I see. Then you and I are alike in a way."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Mei Rin asked confused.

"Before I met my ashikabi, I hated them with a passion. I always believed that all ashikabis only wanted to enslave sekirei and violate us. I never wanted an ashikabi and I wanted to kill the one I reacted to," Tsukiumi explained. Mei Rin wasn't fazed by her response. Instead, I felt her gaze hit me.

"So the one you're with now."

"Is the one I wanted to kill," Tsukiumi finished. "I attempted to hurt Ren; but I could bring myself to do it. During our encounter, he saved me and showed me that not all ashikabis were how I depicted."

"And does this make us similar?" Mei Rin questioned.

"You have feelings for your ashikabi, and I wanted no ashikabi. We both had something related to that topic; but our paths resulted in opposites," Tsukiumi explained. I her gaze again.

"So tell me, what exactly do you like most about your ashikabi?"

Tsukiumi turned to look at me and then smiled.

"I love how caring he can be," she said turning back. Mei Rin still wasn't surprised.

"Ren is considerate of my feelings and treats me very lovingly. Even though he has eight sekirei, he still pays attention to me as well. He listens to me, like a good husband should. He loves me, and I love him."

Mei Rin's gaze finally left me and returned to Tsukiumi.

"Sounds nice; I wish Higa was more like him, or I wish I met him instead."

"Even if you did, I wouldn't allow you to become his sekirei. I alone am enough for him," Tsukiumi said. Mei Rin finally cracked a smile and giggled.

"Is that so? Then why are there eight of you when you alone can satisfy him?" she questioned. Tsukiumi perked up a little.

"Th-that's only because I wasn't there to witness them; but if I was, I would've stopped him."

Mei Rin chuckled some more. It was kinda strange seeing her like this.

"You know, I think she has a beautiful smile," I said aloud. She stopped laughing and put up her defenses. Tsukiumi smiled as well and manipulated streams of water to orbit around her. She held on arm out with her finger pointed at Mei Rin.

"Water Gatling!"

The streams produced high speed water bullets that shot them at the target. Mei Rin cut to her left and elbow charged through one. She then ducked and rolled under a few and kept on her assault. Tsukiumi then defused the streams and made multiple water orbs. With an elegant wave of her hand, a squad of water orbs soared after Mei Rin, who starred spinning again. Her speed caught the water and made them circle along with her. Tsukiumi sent another wave while Mei Rin reflected the previous ones at the current ones, causing them to crash into each other and making water pour to the ground.

Mei Rin bypassed Tsukiumi's defenses and went for a backhand attack. Tsukiumi jumped back as she formed her blades once more and rushed back to engage the enemy in hand to hand combat. She slashed diagonally and then horizontally, ending vertically up; but Mei Rin blocked the diagonal strike with one tonfa, the horizontal strike with the other, and twirled out of the way for the vertical strike. She then went for the uppercut, followed by a right hook with her right tonfa in which Tsukiumi dodged perfectly. She then used that miss to turn herself around and repeat the hook. Tsukiumi jumped over it and performed an overhead slash. Mei Rin moved back, but was too slow and got cut in the arm.

"I guess Sai was wrong; you've gotten stronger through your ashikabi's love," Mei Rin said. Tsukiumi nodded yes.

"I believed I could be the strongest sekirei without an ashikabi, but I too was wrong. If your ashikabi was anything like mine, you would've experience something different."

"Then let's see just how much different my life would've been if my ashikabi was like yours," Mei Rin replied. She started emanating an orange aura as her stance strengthened. Tsukiumi nodded and began generating her light blue aura.

"This water represents my pledge; purify the evil residing in my ashikabi!" she chanted.

"By the contract of my vow, shield the threats of my ashikabi!" Mei Rin chanted. Around Tsukiumi, multiple water orbs appeared in crystal form. Mei Rin's tonfas started changing as well. She put the two ends together and then slowly pulled them apart, resulting in two blades form. She then tossed them in the air, causing the handles to fall off. On the descent, she caught the blades by the hilts and connected them. They now resemble a staff except with two end blades. To top it all off the blades had the same color aura as Mei Rin, reinforcing the metal.

Tsukiumi held her arm out and exclaimed,

"Tide Flowing Jewel!"

"Shadow Tide!" Mei Rin shouted. Two of the orbs rushed towards Mei Rin, but she mysteriously vanished. The orbs touched ground and exploded, making water flow everywhere. Like a shadow, Mei Rin rushed to Tsukiumi and bypassed her orbs. She then immediately stabbed up. Tsukiumi moved her head back in time and then jumped out of her range. Tsukiumi waved her hand and made two more orbs move. Tsukiumi then formed two water circles in front of them. When the orbs passed the water, they doubled in size. Mei Rin vanished again, but Tsukiumi anticipated it and purposely dispersed an orb. The water dripped onto the ground, making her steps audible. Tsukiumi used one of the orbs and broke it into tiny pieces, which she used like shards and pelted the ground. In the puddles, a zigzag line formed, dodging the shards. Mei Rin reappeared, and Tsukiumi used her last orb as a shield; but Mei Rin cut effortlessly through it. She then spun the dual blade as she tried cutting Tsukiumi.

With all the pieces of her orbs, Tsukiumi managed to shield her from Mei Rin's onslaught. Tsukiumi moved out of range, but saw Mei Rin quickly change course and rush towards me. To everyone else, she was moving like a bullet; but to me, she was running at normal speed. She swung for my head, but completely missed due to me ducking. She then swung downward, and I jumped out of the way. Taking a look at my surroundings, I found the spot I needed her to be.

Mei Rin stabbed her weapon as I tilted my head in accordance to dodge it; but she surprised me by splitting the weapon into separate blades and held them against my neck.

"You're not bad when it comes to dodging," she complimented.

"I see that you don't have a vendetta against me," I replied. She shook her head no.

"I'm not like those other two. They reacted to him; but I other hand, was forced against my will."

"I'm sorry to hear that; I bet you were ambushed and debilitated," I apologized. She looked at the ground but kept her eyes on me.

"I don't need your sympathy; it's bad enough we're being picked apart by your sekirei."

"Still, I feel terrible that you were winged by someone you have no feelings for and having been only viewed as tools," I said. She raised her head.

"Tell me, how do you feel about your sekirei? I heard your pep talk and now I want something else. I want to know why you care so much about your sekirei."

I processed her statement in my head.

"When I first met Akitsu, my first sekirei, I could feel her loneliness, her sadness, and her heart crying out for someone. Even though she didn't show it, she looked so sad. I couldn't just abandon her when someone else has already done the same. So the answer to your question is…I love my sekirei more than life itself. I would even give up said life to keep them safe."

"Even though you know they'll die if you do?" Mei Rin asked. I shook my head no this time.

"How do you know for sure that's the outcome? Have you ever seen it happen before?"

"I have not, but that doesn't mean…"

"It means that you could've been lied to just to give you something else to risk your life for," I interrupted. Mei Rin didn't respond and looked back at the ground.

"I see," she said. "Then you wouldn't mind if I test that theory."

I saw her arms move and immediately ducked, just barely dodging the cross slash that would've decapitated me.

"I'm not dying here," I stated. I moved back and dashed away, but Mei Rin quickly caught back up, taking the bait. Tsukiumi raised her hand, influencing the water on the ground to rise below Mei Rin and encase her in a watery prison. She was surprised by the imprisonment and tried breaking free; but the water made her slashes heavy, thus canceling out her strength. Tsukiumi then raised the prison in the air, and with her free hand, used the puddles to summon water icicles.

"It's a shame things turned out this way; if only you had a better ashikabi then things may have ended differently," I told Mei Rin. Again, she didn't respond; but I could see a happy smile across her lips. I returned it and turned my back. I started walking away and kissed Tsukiumi's cheek.

"Hornet's Piercing!" She thrusts her arm out at the prison, making the sickles fly and pierce through the orb. I covered Tsukiumi's eyes so she wouldn't see the blood contaminating the water. I gently lowered her arm, making the orb lower as well.

"Disperse it Tsukiumi," I told her. She released her hold on the water and made it all flow out. I held her head against my chest as I watch Mei Rin's body lay lifelessly on the ground. This time, Takami came down and checked her condition. Like Takehito and Uncle Clyde, she shook her head no to Minaka. A pleased smile appeared on his face. His face showed up on the big screen.

"And that makes three birds down; therefore, the winner is Ren Zonin!"

The crowd cheered out loud as Minaka personally came down and greeted me.

"Congrats on your victory; you have proved how strong you and your sekirei have become. I now present to you your ticket to the final stage," he stated. Out of his pockets, Minaka pulled out some sort of crystal with a red orb inside and the number one it. It looked really beautiful.

"The item you have just received is called a Jinki. With this, you have gained a whole new level of power," Minaka said. He then turned to the entire audience.

"The first match has come to a close. Now we'll see which of you will be next to fight. From now, those who chosen to participate will receive a message giving you the specifications of your match. I wish you all the best of luck!"

I walked back to my other sekirei with Tsukiumi and the Jinki in my hand as the audience left the stadium. Jason and his group along with Seo and Sanada met up with me.

"Nice work kid," Seo said. "You really decked that bastard Higa."

"Yeah, I bet it felt good," Jason spoke up. I couldn't help but smile.

"Oh yeah; you have no idea."

"Sooo, what is that thing?" Jason asked referring to the Jinki.

"It's called a Jinki," Matsu answered for me. "It's a very dangerous artifact."

"Huh? How so?" I questioned. She fixed her glasses.

"I'll explain later."

Speaking of later, I took out my cell phone and just stared at it.

"What are you doing Ren?" Uzume asked. I held up my finger to stop her and kept waiting. After a few moments, my phone went off like crazy as hundreds of messages appeared.

"There it is," I said.

"Uhh, what just happened?" Jason asked. I sighed and showed everyone the five hundred and twenty messages I have just received.

"My family."

A/N: And there you go guys; I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Once again, I'm sorry that it's short, but the next one will hopefully be the average length I normally write. Tell me what you guys think and don't be afraid to leave ideas. Thank you; don't forget to read and review. This has been MalevolentDarkness16 wishing you a good one.