Chapter 64: Deadly Melodies
While Zanna was fighting Zephyr and Favon, Capriolo (Shikamaru) was busy dodging the three giants that Borea (Tayuya) summoned while hearing her flute play in the distance. Unfortunately, he got cornered several blocks away at a traffic circle and saw Borea standing above him on a telephone poll with black zigzag lines covering her face.
"There's nowhere to run, little worm," Borea smirked. "Any last words before my giants crush you to death?"
Capriolo scuffed. "Color me impressed, but that melody you were playing sounded complex and yet your giants moved in perfect synchronicity with it. Like a staged musical."
Borea giggled. "So you've figured out that I was controlling the giants with my flute. Not that it's going to help you once I've played this song which no one has heard and lived: Nightmares of Melinoe*(Revolt of the Demon World)!"
As Borea played the flute once more, Capriolo noticed the tune was different. The giants in turn attacked him once more, but then they stopped and opened their mouths. From them emerged three worm-like creatures that were transparent with no eyes and large mouths full of sharp teeth.
"What are those things?" Capriolo asked out loud as one of the worms flew by his arm and scrapped something off that resembled nature energy.
Before another one attacked, Capriolo took out his gun and fired bullets (Shuriken) into the creatures. To his surprise, the bullets passed right through them. So he placed down a Flash Grenade (Explosive Tag) before fleeing. There were several explosions, and though the worms were still intact they looked confused.
All I've done is bought myself some time, Capriolo thought as he hid behind a theater sign. Sooner or later, she's going to find me. Those worms…they must be apparitions of some kind, hence why the bullets passed through them. That one took a bite out of my nature energy, meaning they must feed on it to exist on this plane. The only way to defeat those things is if I attacked the girl directly, and break the flute. But there's no way to get to her without having to bypass the giants and the worms, unless…
For several minutes Capriolo thought hard and planned out a strategy to defeat Borea, who was commanding the worms to look for him. With nine throwing knives and two Flash Grenades, Capriolo moved quickly from the theater sign attaching one Flash Grenade to a knife before throwing it. The grenade exploded near Borea, but she managed to leap away in time down to the street below. Next, Capriolo threw a second knife with the second Flash Grenade attached to a string which landed on the telephone pole above Borea's head.
After that, he threw several knives from different angles but they were all blocked by one of the giants' forearms. This caused the other two giants to stand on either side of Borea while Capriolo appeared right across from her after throwing the last knife. Just then, the second Flash Grenade exploded causing the three giants to leap towards him while Borea flinched. The shadows cast by the giants allowed Capriolo to take control of them using his Mocking of the Shade (Shadow Imitation Technique) spell.
"How did you predict my giants' movements?" Borea demanded once the smoke cleared.
"I may not have an ear for music, but your fingers were a good indicator of the commands you gave to these guys," Capriolo stated.
"That's impossible," Borea denied.
"While your worm-things were busy searching, I was studying the position of every single finger on your flute to predict each command," Capriolo elaborated.
Frowning, Borea played the flute though her giants didn't move in response.
"Keep playing, but these giants dance to a different tune now," Capriolo gloated. "So long as they're within my shadow, I get to control them."
Then Capriolo ran toward Borea with the three giants following him.
"Return (Dispel)!" Borea cried, causing the giants to disappear.
Seeing this, Capriolo abruptly stopped and knelt.
"Not so tough now," Borea smirked but when she tried to move her limbs were stiff.
"Gotcha," Capriolo replied as he got up, revealing his shadow connecting to Borea's. "Your giants were just bait to connect my shadow with yours from this far away."
Instead of gritting her teeth, Borea sighed as the marks on her face thickened. Capriolo's eyes widened as he saw Borea's skin turn darker, her hair grow longer, her eyes turn gold, and a crown of white horns grow from her head. But what surprised him more was seeing her struggle against the Shade's possession.
"How are you doing that?" Capriolo questioned out loud.
"Once I access this form, my nature energy increases which will give me enough power to resist this stupid spell of yours," Borea explained.
Panicking, Capriolo knelt and made a series of hand-signs. "Revenge of the Shade (Shadow-Neck Binding Technique)!"
From underneath Borea, two shadow-like hands wrapped around her body and started squeezing. Yet despite this, she resisted long enough to press the flute to her lips. As soon as she played the melody, the background suddenly changed around Capriolo.
What's this? Some kind of Illusion (Genjutsu)? Quickly, Capriolo tossed a throwing knife as his arms suddenly spread and his body became paralyzed.
He soon found himself in a place filled with blood and his entire body was bound by strings that hung from the ceiling. One of his arms started melting like candle wax causing him to cry out in pain. In the real world, Borea grabbed the throwing knife Capriolo had thrown and walked slowly over to him.
"This is what happens to those who listen to my Wheel of Ixion** tune (Demonic Flute: Phantom Sound Chains)," Borea said nonchalantly. "It paralyzes its listener completely, allowing me to attack them directly."
End of Chapter 64
*Melinoe was the daughter of Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, who brings nightmares and madness upon humans
**Ixion was a man who was tied to a flaming wheel in Tartarus (the Greek equivalent to Hell) for several crimes including flirting with Hera, Zeus' wife