Chapter 58: The Unhived Survivor
Eiji had encased himself in a circle of threads.
Who was this monstrous beast!? 'Was' is the key word. This was no longer mortal, or even tainted. Corrupted? Yes, to put it lightly. A more accurate description would be a beast of despair, corrupted beyond hope... Forever damned to exist until it doesn't.
Eiji let his threads fly around the room, distracting the beast. He didn't want it to grow bored with him, and make Hiro into a snack. He couldn't seem to gain control of it either...
Eiji was terrified, but he wouldn't let this thing hurt Hiro.
That would never happen.
His threads were growing weaker by the second, because it did take effort to keep them going. He was losing energy at an exponential rate...
Time to slip into phases.
...
Chihiro was sitting in the upper office, drinking a cup of hot lavender tea. Her and Eiji had the same tastes in tea's, and many other foods. He hated olives, that was the only difference.
She laughed to herself softly.
"Haku hates olives too..."
Haku laughed. "Because they're disgusting."
Chihiro rolled her eyes.
"They aren't THAT bad!"
She smiled. "You look tired, have you been training again?"
He nodded. "Yes, I have..."
He looked over at Chihiro. She was wearing a more casual style today. Form fitting jeans, and a nice blouse. She was always somewhat formal, and had taken a liking to sundresses. Even she had her more casual days.
Haku liked the look on her very much.
He sat next to her, and gave her a soft and lingering kiss.
"You look good in that." He said.
She blushed. "Oh this? It's just something I threw on..."
He gave her ear a nip.
"You're just being modest..." He whispered.
He continued to trail kisses down her neck, no one was in the office, and everyone had been so busy...
He really needed her physically, but they were in Kuhn's and Linn's office.
For a moment, this made him hesitate.
Chihiro gave him an almost mournful look.
He gave in, and slipped his hands up her shirt, biting her neck, and rubbing his hand on her chest.
What's a little spontaneity every once and a while?
Besides, there was a perfectly good desk...
Chihiro froze, and completely stopped reacting to everything.
"Chihiro? Are you okay?"
Her face was frozen, and she seemed to be stuck in a vision.
She did this the moment before Eiji was attempted to be erased.
It was during our erasal.
It was then that she was able to cast the spell, and save him from immediate danger.
Visions like this meant that someone was in immediate danger, needing all of her intuition amplified.
She shifted into a Phoenix, and shot through the ceiling.
Haku froze.
That was Yubaba's old office.
He shifted into a dragon, and followed Chihiro.
...
Loki was pacing impatiently around the palace entrance, Junichi was attempting to comfort her.
"It's obvious that Hiro is trying to skip." He said.
"I'm sure Eiji is just having a hard time finding her."
She sighed with frustration.
"Yeah, but it's been at least an hour and a half. This is taking too long..."
They saw Max running toward them.
Junichi looked at her.
"Okay, now I believe you."
"Where's Hiro and Eiji!?" Loki asked.
Max growled. "Eiji has taken Hiro to a dangerous place in the building. He must be destroyed."
Loki was on guard now.
"What happened." She asked, her tone low.
"You had better tell me everything, or I'll rip your fucking head off, okay?"
He gave her a menacing glare, and continued.
"We had been looking for her. She was headed in a dangerous direction in the vents... Where tainted spiders had long since been locked away. She had fallen in the water upon releasing them, and was cold. Eiji had rescued her then, but now he has taken her to an upper office. A sanctum of the in between, where the head witch resides..."
Junichi froze.
"Yubaba... She's still alive!?"
This meant that she was indeed, a danger if disturbed. It was assumed that she had died with the tainted hoard. She must have half rejected, making her unhived from the hoard.
Not alive, and not dead.
Someone of her caliber half rejecting spelled disaster for all who awaken such a beast.
"We'd better get there fast!" Junichi exclaimed.
"Whatever she is now, if we don't get there, they'll be destroyed!"
Loki nodded, walking out of the palace, decked with guns and knives, armed to the teeth.
"Way ahead of you."
She held up her machine gun, and fifty caliber pistol.
"I've been saving these girls for an occasion like this..."
Junichi gaped.
Those were weapons from the human world. You couldn't just get those here...
This was going to get interesting.
...
Haku and Chihiro were in their shifted forms, faced with a big problem.
Yubaba was slinging attacks and tainted spells left and right, and Eiji had fallen into third stage.
Something was wrong though... Eiji should have regenerated any injuries in that stage...
There was a hole of sorts in his neck. It was black around the edges, and draining some kind of fluid...
He collapsed, falling back into second stage, then first...
His threads were inactive, and Yubaba began attacking him.
Chihiro shielded the blow, causing her to unshift. There was a gash in her arm...
She blocked the spell that Yubaba had just cast, and was holding it with her own.
Replays of Zeniba's death went running through Haku's mind...
That would not happen to Chihiro.
He unshifted.
"Yubaba." He said.
She looked at him, her eyes focusing long enough to break the spell, and let Chihiro get a hit in.
She clutched her arm, and Haku stepped in front of her.
"Go check on Eiji, and keep pressure on that arm." He said.
"I'll keep her busy."
He stalled by trapping her in water bubbles over and over again. He knew it would only make her mad, but it did buy time.
Chihiro was able to get Eiji and Hiro out of there, all while making sure her arm was wrapped. She was no good to anyone if she died of blood loss... And right now Eiji and Hiro needed to survive.
He stopped casting the water encasement spell when he was sure they had escaped to safety.
She lunged at him, leaving a search on his face as he dodged her.
She was in perfect range for his attacks. She was a midrange spell caster, and he was a master in midranges combat and spellcasting. Kaihn was a longer ranged spell caster, which was always a disadvantage for him.
This time he had the upper hand.
Haku impaled her with water spears, knocking her against the gaudy torn up wall.
She twitched for a moment, then got back up. Her body regenerating as she shifted into a bird.
The bird had the head and claws of tiger, though the fur pattern was feathered...
Haku kept somewhat of a distance... This changed things.
Shisuta, Haruka, and Karo entered the room. Boh had lifted them up, and stepped in.
"What is THAT!?" The three exclaimed.
Boh sighed. "That would be my mother..."
He pulled out his hammer and axe.
"Well, sorry mom."
He slammed his axe into her skull, blocking her claw strike with his hammer.
She twitched, and started to move, and Karo started slamming her head in with a his hammer.
"That's your MOM!?" He exclaimed.
"Holy shit! She's scary!"
Boh laughed. "Yeah... She's always been pretty scary anyway."
She got up, and lunged at Karo. Boh blocked her off, and Haku trapped her again.
"She did that to me as well." Said Haku.
"But I was hoping that would have killed her... This is bad."
She broke out, and he trapped her again.
Shisuta laughed darkly.
Kuhn and Linn came through the hole too, and saw the mess unfold.
They saw Yubaba.
They froze.
Kuhn sighed. "Oh shit..."
Linn nodded. "Yeah... It's bad."
Shisuta walked up to Yubaba. She laughed maniacally as Yubaba broke out, and slammed her into a wall. Her scorpion tail deflected the magic she tried.
"Can you feel pain little bird...?" She asked, her voice had Shisuta, half Sasageru.
"I bet you can... You'll be begging me to kill you, you treacherous hag."
The woman let out a horrible bird screech as her eyes began to pour blood.
"Okay, enough. Just kill her." Said Boh.
"She is my mother, and I'd rather not see her be tortured."
Shisuta continued.
Boh walked up and smashed her head.
"What are you doing!?" He exclaimed.
She glared at him, then Yubaba woke up.
She swarmed above the ceiling, and Shisuta followed her, the aerial battle continuing.
Loki and Junichi entered.
Loki looked up, and grinned.
"Sasageru... It's been awhile..."
"Don't kill her!" Karo exclaimed.
"That's Shisuta, and yes, Sasageru is inside of her."
Loki gave a groan of dismay.
"Why is it always so complicated with you people!?"
Haruka sighed. "This team is fueled by complications and drama it seems..."
Both Haku and Junichi sighed.
"Tell me about it."
Loki pulled out her guns.
"Okay! Who here is the TAINTED WENCH!"
Yubaba flew down, to be met by Sasageru.
Loki shot her in the head.
"Don't worry, she's not dead." She said to Karo.
"It takes twelve silver bullets to kill a host of Sasageru."
Karo gaped. "Are you insane!?"
She shot Yubaba in the head twice with her fifty cal, and pointed her machine gun up in the air, firing off a couple rounds.
She laughed maniacally. "Yes, yes I am. Any more questions Kiddo's? Because I'm about to fuck things up in here."
Junichi took a few steps back.
"You might want to listen to her."
Yubaba stood and laughed.
"That won't kill me!" She growled
"No." Said Loki. "But it felt good."
She fired more rounds to her head, and attempted killing her again.
She became frustrated when her ammo started running low.
She pulled out a large gun from off her back. It might have been a rocket launcher...
"You know what? FUCK YOU! THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT OF YOU YOU CANKEROUS HAG!"
"Don't! You'll kill us all!" Haku yelled.
"Then back the HELL UP!" She screamed.
Kahn stepped in.
He saw Yubaba as a half tainted, and Loki with a high grade rocket launcher.
"Holy SHIT!" He pulled out his crossbow, and shot Yubaba, letting her body dissolve.
Loki's eye twitched.
She walked toward him.
He put his hands up.
"Okay... Before you say anything... Put the military rocket launcher away please."
She did.
She walked up to Kahn, and floored him.
"You kill sniped... I take offense to that."
She jumped down the hole, and walked away.
They all stood frozen in silence... Well...
That just happened.