Longg directs a gust of wind at me, which I dodge just in time. Instead of hitting me, he reaches for the armor and knocks all the pieces to the ground with a loud crash.
"Kagami!" my mother shouts at the noise.
I go to the living room, where my mother hears the result of the municipal elections on television. I have not really paid much attention to that. I cannot vote anyway.
"What was that noise?" She asks.
"Nothing."
"Do not lie to me. Do you think I do not know when you are lying to me?"
Well, considering recent times, that is what it seems.
"The armor has fallen off." I admit.
My mother does not change her expression. I do not know what she thinks.
"Piece it together." she finally orders. There is no punishment.
I am training a lot these days. Longg has told me that if I want to learn more about his powers, I have to practice more. From his training, not from the human. I have been doing it for two months.
Hawk Moth takes longer than usual without attacking. I think he has to do with the change in Chloe. She does not insult others so much anymore. The first two akumas had nothing to do with her, but I think Hawk Moth has become dependent and does not know what to do.
For my part, I am glad Chloe is not so volatile and short-tempered. Also, she talks a lot with Alix lately. I think they are becoming friends.
My teacher, Mr. D'Argencourt, appears on the television screen. It is actually a static image of him. He is not particularly favored.
"Has my teacher stood for election?"
"And he will lose." my mother affirms. "Bourgeois has promised to double the number of police officers and that half of them dedicate themselves to protecting citizens from the Akuma. He has said exactly what people want to hear."
Chloe's father is going to win the election by taking advantage of mistrust of my team.
That makes my chest hurt. I have a task and I am not able to meet her expectations regarding it.
That is why I train even more with Longg. I have to reach the level he wants to explain to me about his magic in depth.
"Instead, your teacher has talked about how he is the descendant of a former medieval mayor and that he belongs to him by right." my mother continues explaining.
It sounds crazy. My mother's lack of reluctance to allow this man to teach me fencing is curious, although once again, for her, hid talent takes precedence over his sanity.
However, I do not think the parents at my public high school are so easygoing.
The string shows the completion of the vote count. Indeed, and as my mother has predicted, the winner is Chloe's father.
For a moment, she and her family appear celebrating the victory at the entrance of Le Grand Paris. Chloe is there, waving and smiling in a way that she never smiles at me. That smile is uglier, like the painting on a porcelain doll.
The network journalist tries to get closer but there are too many reporters, so instead, they broadcast to a group of commentators on the set.
After a few minutes, the presenter interrupts the discussion.
"We connected with D'Argencourt." He announces.
The set connects with Nadja Chamack.
"Here I meet D'Argencourt." She repeats. She brings the microphone closer to my teacher, who is dressed in his fencing uniform.
Wait a minute, it is not the regular one. This one is black and has several embroidered decorations that should not be there, including a emblem that I do not recognize.
"How do you feel after your crushing and humiliating defeat and attempt to reintroduce the D'Argencourt name in Parisian politics?"
Is not that question a bit cruel?
"I have nothing to declare. I only agreed to talk to tell you guys to leave me. I am not going to do interviews with you." says my teacher before turning and colliding with a pole with a propaganda poster of the mayor.
In a fit of rage, he rips it apart with his saber.
"Wow, he's not taking it well at all." Nadja mocks. "Focus him." she orders the cameraman.
The screen shows his face in the foreground.
It is not fair. Why does all of France have to see this? My teacher should be able to rest easy without any television coming to harass him.
In any case, what does the network gain by broadcasting his suffering live? Nobody wants to see that.
"I said leave me! I lost! I have no political office. You cannot keep harassing me."
"But we must know how you feel after this humiliating defeat." repeats Nadja.
Why does she keep reminding him has been humiliated before all Paris?
I cannot take my eyes off the television. Poor.
"Have not you climbed to piece together the armor yet?" Says my mother in her usual cold tone, although a little threatening, warning me of the punishment if I do not piece together the armor again.
A butterfly appears on the screen.
No. It is not what I think it is.
My teacher is an adult. He would break the pattern. Because there is a pattern, is not there? Bunnyx said so, and she is the smartest of the three.
But as much as I wish it, the fact remains another, and the butterfly enters my teacher's saber.
Nadja and her partner take several steps away.
A butterfly silhouette appears in front of his face.
"Is that an akuma? We have never seen anyone at the time of their akumatization. Record it well. This is a first."
Nadja's words make me nauseous. She is willing to take advantage of a horrible akumatization. It is a lot of evil. And it is impossible for her not to know that it is.
D'Argencourt says something, which without the microphone of the camera cannot be heard. Somehow, Hawk Moth manages so that we cannot hear his conversations with the akumas. He almost always talks to them when no one is around, almost as if he can see what they see.
A kind of cloud of dark purple smoke covers it, exactly like deakumatizations. It looks so horrible, it looks like tar. It is much more shocking to see a person covers with that, than the monster to return to reality. And it takes longer.
"Is he akumatizing your teacher?" asks my mother, without a hint of alarm.
"Yes. I am going to rebuild the armor."
I must hurry up and escape to fight him.
I am about to leave the room when a scream makes me turn around. On television it is clearly seen how a knight in black armor forces Nadja to her knees and places the point of his sword on her left shoulder and then on her right.
Nadja transforms into a clone of his that obeys him. It is like Reflekta, but worse.
Now I do run to my room, where Longg was waiting. He has started assembling the armor.
"Leave that. We have to go. There is an akuma."
"Just a moment." asks Longg before floating to a drawer where I keep sliced and packaged Serrano ham for him.
Shortly after arriving here, we searched the entire kitchen for what food he might like best. The moment he tasted the ham he did not want anything else. Luckily, my mother is a fanatic and she makes them bring it to us from Spain.
"We can go now." warns the kwami.
"Longg, transform me."
I run across the rooftops. It is already dark. I am heading to the area I saw on TV. It is close to my school. He has not been able to go very far, although he has been able to cause damage.
It is not difficult to find the akuma. In the time it is taken me to transform and get here, the akuma have built up quite a large army in the area.
The soldiers move together, like a tsunami charging into the street, destroying everything in its path.
Civilians step aside at the sight of them, trying to avoid the destruction they bring, and new soldiers join the mob from all directions. Which of them is the akuma?
I leap across the rooftops, until I reach the front of the host. Bunnyx is already here, on a rooftop.
"We have to make a plan." I tell her. "The three of us alone cannot take down such a large crowd."
"Thanks, lady obvious, for pointing out the obvious. They are all warriors there, although they do not attack people. Darkblade wants them for himself." Bunnyx stirs. "I think we're gonna have to use them."
"The civilians? No! They do not know how to fight. You have to make another plan."
Bunnyx turns with his hands raised as if he is trying to calm an animal. I am not an animal.
A hard landing sounds behind me. Queen Bee.
"Tell me you already have something."
I turn to her.
"She wants to use the civilians!" I exclaim.
Queen Bee wrinkles her nose and looks down.
"Okay"
My partners have gone crazy. Bunnyx puts a hand over my mouth before I can say anything else.
"You haven't let me tell you the plan yet." The girl looks at me, checking if I will stay quiet and listen to her. She nods before letting me go. "As I said before, his soldiers aren't ordered to attack people, though maybe we are. The idea is that we take the swords from them and give them to the people."
That does not sound very good.
"How exactly?" questions Queen Bee.
"We're in front. The army will not be able to continue advancing if we stop it. We leave a space behind us to throw them there."
Bunnyx opens her mouth again as if she is going to continue, but I cuts her off.
"And Darkblade?"
It is a logical question, considering that he is today's akuma.
"At some point he'll have to join his army." she answers.
"So we wait for him to convert the whole city?"
She crosses her arms.
"It's what I have for now. We can improvise, it's not like it's the first time. Normally, the akumas don't leave us much time, you know? If you have a better idea, I'm all ears." Bunnyx peeks through the roof. "And fast, because the clones are increased."
I do not have any. Thinking is not my thing, it is supposed to be hers. But I am sure anything is better than using people who cannot defend themselves.
I jump down to the street. My thing is to fight.
The moment I set foot on the sidewalk, the entire army turns on me.
I have not fallen to the front, but to one of the sides, which it means that I am between a bunch of soldiers and a wall. I have not thought it through.
The warriors attack me. As good as I am at swordsmanship, twenty swords to one would not give me a victory.
"Wind Dragon." I whisper. I am looking forward to the moment when I do not have to say these words to become the dragons.
Turning into wind is difficult to control. Air particles are much further apart than water particles. And since gravity does not affect me, at least not that much, I do not end up falling on any type of surface that can serve as a guide. I have to move based on the position I was in before I transformed. Also, somehow, my movement is faster and more violent than I feel.
My sense of touch is no longer solid, so I guess I have reached the front lines of the army. Better fight from here.
I regain my form and look for the soldiers. From the point where I appeared to approximately here, all the knights are lying on the ground and trying to get up.
I should heed Bunnyx's plan and grab as many swords as possible before they recover. I manage to pick up four in my arms, careful not to cut myself.
I move several meters away from them and release them. Although not all, I keep one. I have never fought with two swords, but I can try. I am a Tsurugi.
Bunnyx lands next to me.
"Why are you here?"
"To follow your plan." I answer. My outburst should have shown her the difficulty of executing her idea.
"Don't be an idiot. You haven't heard the Queen Bee part yet."
Bunnyx points behind us.
Between two lampposts, Queen Bee is running and passing the spinning top back and forth. The infinite magic rope of hers is turning into a kind of containment net. There is part of the sidewalk that is not covered, but there is not room for that many.
She ties her top into a tight knot that will not come loose and heads over to us. She picks up two of the swords I have left on the ground.
She surprises me. I did not know she could handle them.
"Do you know anything about swords?"
"They cut. And that is the only thing I can defend myself with right now."
Queen Bee shrugs, resigned.
"Since you don't have weapons that you know how to use, you could look for the akuma and lure it here. Ryuko and I will try to disarm them."
Queen Bee nods and runs in the opposite direction from the soldiers. I watch her walk down the street giving directions to the civilians with her swords and turn right at the first intersection.
I cannot help but notice the makeshift trap.
"It will work?"
Bunnyx also turns.
"It's magical metal. They won't be able to cut it that easily." she sighs, as if she is tired. "Good. I to the hole on the left and you to the right. So they will have to go one by one or cut the cable of Queen Bee."
The mob has fully recovered from my wind and is walking again. It is like they are brainwashed. They all walk in unison and when the previous ones stop, the rest do. They continue when those in front of them do.
Darkblade has given them an order: get to a specific place, destroying what they find in their path if necessary. And if they see us, attack us.
"Wait." I stop her. "Take that sword."
"Oh, what an idiot. If we leave it here, they'll have it again. How could it have happened to me?"
"I do not mean that. Use it to defend you."
She looks me in the eye and I do not know what she sees, but she nods.
We both go to our human shield posts.
I am a Tsurugi. I am going to stop them. I am better than them. They are just simple soldiers, even if they are two heads taller than me.
My pulse quickens. I reposition my fingers on the hilt of the sword I picked up earlier. I cannot be afraid of them, it is not the first akuma I have faced.
I just have to cool my mind and not get carried away.
The first arrives. I deflect his attack with this black sword and slam him into the wall. It is not hard for me to take the weapon from him and kick him in the chest to get him away from me. The soldier bumps into his partner behind him and they both fall. It is also not difficult for me to kick the blade of this one and it slides to the area behind the net.
The next one I stop by crossing my weapons and leveraging them to snatch his.
He stands still. If that happens to all unarmed warriors, they are useless.
Another combatant brushes him aside and attacks me.
I continue disassembling for what seems like hours to me, though if I asked Bunnyx, she would tell me it was only minutes.
A huge stone ball falls from the sky from somewhere behind the army and collides with the net of the top, bouncing off it and falling to the ground, like a goal in a soccer match. Fortunately, it does not fall on any civilians transformed by Darkblade.
I have no idea what that was, and none of the armed soldiers stop moving, so I cannot either.
Something catches my eye in my field of vision. Among so much black there is... yellow. Queen Bee is here, which means the akuma too.
They attack me again and I defend myself, however, when I look again she is gone.
"Need help?"
That voice takes me by surprise, I did not expect to hear it. It is Adrian's. What is he doing here?
I turn my head and see out of the corner of my eye that there is a group of civilians behind me. Much less than what I saw before.
It is true that I need help. I want to go where Queen Bee is. She could never beat Darkblade, just like Bunnyx could not beat my mother.
"Actually, yes. The swords have to be kept away from the warriors, if you civilians can do it."
"Of course we can."
Adrien falls silent and no other civilians speak to me. Well, I have to concentrate on disarming all these people so that I can help Queen Bee as soon as possible.
"I know how to fight." Adrien speaks again. "With swords. I am a student of the akuma, second in his class. Kagami is the best. I wish she was here."
That makes me want to smile. Yes, I am here.
But I quickly divert my thoughts on that. The important thing now is that he is volunteering. If he takes my place, I can go to Queen Bee first.
I trust him. I trust that he could hold my position with dignity. The problem is the criticism that would take me for this.
I do not think these civilians are among those who are against us, still, that would not stop the haters (as Chloe says) from criticizing us.
"Do you want to enter the fray?" I ask him, to make sure I have understood correctly.
"Yes."
A quick glance at Bunnyx informs me that she is alright on her side. Among us are many soldiers trying to cut through the net, sparks flying as metal meets metal.
I am going to do it.
Ironically, a while ago I told Bunnyx that he did not want to make civilians fight. Although Adrien is different.
"Okay, if you are going to help me, pick up two swords from the ground. You will take my place."
I hear a gasp behind me.
"Your place?"
"Yes. And you will have to imitate me. Can you do it?"
Adrien coughs really hard before speaking.
"Yes I can do it."
"Good. Get ready." I give him a few seconds until I feel his presence behind me. "Now!" Notice before advancing and getting into the crowd.
A loud, very loud cry rises above the noise of metal armor and coordinated footsteps. It is coming from my left.
"No! Ryuko, don't go! Don't go!"
A warning from Bunnyx. She does not stop fighting for a moment. Though that does not make her any less scary. A chill runs down my spine. I do not know what makes her so anxious, but still, I have to go. Queen Bee cannot fight Darkblade. It is my thing.
The soldiers crush each other with their walk. They do not attack me. It is like they do not see me. As if I were just another civilian. At some point they have stopped attacking us because of who we are and they have done it because we were in the middle.
Has Darkblade given the order for them to stop charging or focus on continuing on their way?
Or maybe that was the order from the beginning: attack whoever interferes.
Likewise, it does not matter.
I move through the crowd, my eyes searching for a trace of yellow.
Queen Bee has found him and he has come to surround himself with his servants, who are all the same as him. I hope she has not lost sight of him.
I find her. After the soldiers.
Queen Bee dodges Darkblade's fast and violent attacks. She manages to match her pace with gymnastic flips I did not know she could do.
I watch them for several seconds, while I run towards them. Queen Bee keeps flipping in the opposite direction from me. Something tells me that she has been the one who has drawn him here, throughout their duel, where she has more advantage than in the middle of the army.
The swords that she took earlier are on the ground. I do not know why she left them there. But I immediately understand when in the middle of a somersault she grabs them, kneels and raises them towards Darkblade, who was still advancing towards her.
It does not work. Darkblade stops in time and takes advantage of the fact that she is still to try to pierce her stomach.
That sure does not work. Because I am here. And I do not let Queen Bee die. I pull on her and the sword misses her.
The knight is surprised and turns to me.
I stand between them with my two swords at the ready.
"You presume to be a noble. But where is the honor in killing innocents?"
The akuma seems annoyed at my interruption.
"Go replace the civilian who has taken my place." I indicate Queen Bee.
"But Bunnyx…" she begins.
I interrupt her.
"Go!"
Darkblade attacks me now. Just like before, his movements are fast and violent. I dodge his offenses as best I can, some I deflect. It is when I try to stop one that I discover that he has much more strength than I expected. Although it was to be expected, because he is a grown man.
His attack comes from above, straight at my head. I only have time to cross my swords to stop it.
His sword sticks right into the intersection, so hard my feet sink into the asphalt.
He squeezes harder and I sink deeper. My arms hurt, this position is not the best for strength.
For a moment I think he is going to cut me in half, but he suddenly pulls away and kicks me in the head knocking me to the ground.
The pain is so deep that I cannot move. I see three Darkblades approach me and watch me for a few seconds before leaving.
Where he goes? Will not he kill me?
I lie on my side and spit up blood. I think I have a loose tooth but I am not going to let it move from there.
My triple vision turns one again. Good. It is only been a moment.
Darkblade is no longer here. I do not understand. Why has he run to...
Bunnyx.
He goes after her because Hawk Moth wants her miracle more than ours. There is no time.
"Lightning Dragon."
It is not the easiest dragon to control, but it is the fastest.
I feel like I am touching a lot of things. It is strange. The last time I used it, against Climatika, I barely touched anything.
Oh no! Those affected by the akuma are all covered in metal armor! I could kill them!
I regain my form and when I come to, everyone around me is on the ground. K.O.
Queen Bee and Bunnyx are at their posts. Both have dropped their swords in time and neither has been affected.
I have killed them.
I have killed a lot of people and I was supposed to protect them.
My ears ring. I can only see dead, dead and more dead.
Someone grabs my arm, stopping me. I had not even realized I was shaking.
It is Queen Bee. She says something, however, I can't hear it.
"Can you repeat it?"
"They are alive." She says with a sweet and calming voice. "They just passed out. Bunnyx says that an electric shock can take a person out."
That makes me gasp, though I am still shaking.
"And Darkblade?"
Queen Bee looks into a hole in the asphalt.
"It's in the sewers."
I do not wait for her to say anything else. I jump into the hole. I am going to finish off this damn akuma now.
He almost cut my head off when I fell. Now I do not have the black swords, only mine, which can be transformed into lightning.
I pull it out in one quick motion. I still have the water dragon.
"You should have killed me."
"I will do that."
Can Darkblade talk?
He punches me in the same place he kicked me.
I fall again. This time to the dirty sewer water that drags me. I call the last dragon.
My power makes it possible for me to return to the ground.
I recover my body with a sword to the neck.
"Goodbye, Ryuko."
He has beaten me. This time I will really die.
I will not close my eyes. I look for Darkblade's, which can be seen in the cracks of his helmet. I hope Hawk Moth can see them and that they haunt him for the rest of his life.
I am not afraid. We Tsurugis never have it. And if we have it, we hide it.
Although death is not one of mine.
Darkblade stands still as if he does not dare to push. As with Dark Cupid. The akumatized resist doing things they do not want to.
A butterfly silhouette appears on his face. And Darkblade starts to squeeze.
The reptilian skin is cut, just below the miracle. The blade reaches me.
A kick to the sword sends it away. And an umbrella hits Darkblade's head hard. A metal cable wraps around it. Queen Bee sits on top of him, preventing him from moving any further.
Bunnyx grabs my sword and uses it to cut the akuma's one. One clean cut and the butterfly is out. She catches it and kills it.
"I told you not to come." She says.
Hey?
Bunnyx turns around. She is crying.
"I told you not to come, idiot! Why don't you listen to me?!" She shouts. To me.
She walks over and looks at my neck. She sighs.
"I saw you die. I went into my burrow to see how to beat them and I watched you die. Darkblade cut your throat. You two were alone. I didn't want to look at anything else. That's why I told you not to come. And you ignored me. Damn idiot."
She is very worried. Does she think I would suffer?
"I do not fear of death."
"I do." She declares before walking away. "Go. We have to return the victim home."
The four of us go through the sewers until we reach a real entrance, with stairs.
Bunnyx and I walk him down the street to his house, drawing the attention of every civilian we meet.
Queen Bee returns to the battle site to make diplomacy. She is the best of the three.
After accompanying him to home, we head to our meeting place. Something different happened today and we need to talk about it.
"So?" Queen Bee begins as soon as we arrive. "You said they were teenagers and this time it was an adult. What is the pattern now?"
Bunnyx looks at her hands, at Queen Bee, and at my face.
"I do not know. Maybe..." she stops, thinking. "Maybe people from that school with bad feelings."
Queen Bee crosses her arms.
"That is, the same as before, but without the adolescent part." she complains. "And when he akumatize someone from outside that school, which one? Living people? Because that doesn't really reduce anything. Unless we are also considering the dead." She adds.
Bunnyx puts her hands to her temples.
"I don't know. I don't have all the knowledge in the world. I don't know what criteria Moth has. I can't get into his head."
Queen Bee is silent and Bunnyx too. I should tell them my guess.
"I think…" The two shake their heads sharply towards me. "I think Hawk Moth can see us, that he can see what the akumas do."
"That's why he almost always talks to them when they're alone." Bunnyx deduces.
"And how does that help us?" Queen Bee intervenes again.
I do not know.
Longg splashes water on my face.
"Stay still." he orders. "I have to clean your wounds."
"I have no injuries." I answer him.
We are in the bathroom, in the mirror I saw my face: the cut and swollen lip, the left cheek bruised and just as swollen. The eye is fine. I am lucky Longg's magic was there.
His armor was magical, and his strength was much greater than normal. An akumatized adult is more dangerous.
"Of course you have injuries: your lip is cut. And after that you fell into sewer water. It will get infected. And my duty as your kwami is to keep you safe."
I sigh and resign myself. Longg keeps pouring water on me. Of him, which is magical.
"I wish Tikki was here." he murmurs.
"Who is Tikki?"
Longg blinks a few times.
"The kwami of creation. She also behaves a bit like our healer."
He pours water on me again, but I cannot take it anymore.
"Well, there you go, Longg. I am going to shower."
"Okay. I will piece together the armor." he says before going through the door. I had forgotten about the armor.
I turn on the faucet and wait for the water to heat up.
Battles with akumas should not be so emotional. I am a Tsurugi. I should not allow myself to feel worry or guilt, just like I do with fear. Emotions have to be in the background, stored in a drawer.
I also have to improve my resistance to pain. I cannot stay still for a blow. I am weak. I have to be tougher, like my mother.
I get into the shower and the hot water hits my face. It hurts, and yet I do not move.
Now I guess I will have to wear makeup to hide the bruises.
I have makeup. My grandmother gave it to me for Christmas. The message that she finds me ugly is clear. I do not like makeup, I do not care if I am ugly. Though I guess now I will have to use it.
Goodbye to freedom.