I don't own Ronin Warriors. All OCs are mine.
Chapter 18
On the outskirts of Toyama, a bright light dropped to the ground which revealed Mika. She looked around her, trying to familiarize herself with her new surroundings when a bright light showed next to her. Anubis appeared and he glanced over at her before looking up to the sky. She followed his gaze and saw dark clouds started to cover the sun, slowly forming and heading towards Toyama. Anubis turned back to Mika. "We need to go find the Ronins." He started walking away but halted when Mika didn't follow him. "Maria?"
"Don't call me by that name," Mika announced, hanging her head in shame. "That person is gone. It's Mika now."
Anubis walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Mar-Mika, you didn't know."
"That's just it!" Mika took a step back as her eyes bore into his. "I didn't know! I believed in them just like I believed Talpa was right, only realizing what I've done when it's too late." She shook her head and brought her arms up to hug herself. Her shoulders shook as she tried to keep the tears at bay. "I did this. I separated Ryo and Tiffany, got the guys fighting against each other, brought Tiffany to Sephiran to get his body back." A sob escaped from her throat. "I became my father." Mika hunched forward, falling to her knees as the tears steadily ran down her cheeks. She squeezed her eyes shut to keep the pain away but it didn't work, it only increased.
Anubis stared in shock at his old friend as he listened to the soft sobs coming from her. He walked forward then knelt in front of her, reaching out to lay his hands on her shoulders. Mika glanced up and stared at him with tear-filled eyes.
"I don't know what your life was like before Talpa kidnapped you, but I know it wasn't good. However, you are nothing like your father, and Sephiran tricked you just like Talpa did. You just have to tell the warriors this."
"They won't listen. They didn't last time so what makes you think they will this time?"
"Because Tiffany saved you." Mika stilled at Anubis's statement. "If she didn't trust you or thought you were the enemy, she wouldn't have transported you away with me. That alone shows the warriors you are not the enemy."
"Do you really think that will work?"
Anubis didn't respond at first for he too didn't know if the warriors would accept her again. From what Mika had confessed to him, she had put his friends in a lot of pain and Tiffany was now in the clutches of this new enemy. However, in order to beat him and rescue Tiffany, the warriors needed all the help they could get. "I don't know, but we have to try. Plus, I'm not leaving you alone here."
Mika smiled at him then stood up, wiping away the tears, rubbing her eyes to stop them from falling. "Ok, let's go find them."
Tiffany's head wiped to the side, already feeling the bruise that was to form. She glared up at Fuzen who was standing over her, his closed fist ready to strike her again when ordered to. It had only been a moment after Tiffany regained consciousness when she was punished for her actions. Her body ached from the various punches and kicks thrown at her body and Sephiran had put the device back on her ankle to keep her from using her powers. Since she was still too weak from the acts she committed and the throbbing in her head from Sephiran, Tiffany could only take the punishments from the generals.
"This is your final warning, my dear," Sephiran called from his seat on the throne. Tiffany turned and glared at him from his place, Kai and Asami on either side of him. "Disobey me again, and you'll experience my full wrath."
Tiffany spat at the ground which earned her another punch to the face. "Watch your actions, girl," threatened Fuzen.
"Now then, it's time to gather my army." Sephiran stood up from his throne, turning to Kai. "How are my people doing?"
"Still stuck in their stony prison, my Lord." Asami snapped her head towards them, eyes wide with terror.
"Good. I need new recruits. Show me the village." Kai's eyes glowed white and a blue sphere formed in front of Sephiran, revealing the image of a small village with the villagers turned to stone. Asami gasped as she realized what Sephiran was planning on doing. "You can't," she whispered.
Sephiran turned to her and gave her a smirk. "I can, and I will." Extending his hands, black mist formed out and went into the sphere. The mist descended over the village and it surrounded the stoned villagers. The stone started moving, all traces of the villagers' humanity were gone. The stone was their armor and they all gathered in the center of the village, waiting for the command of their Master. "I am Sephiran, your new Lord, and leader. Go into the city and use the new powers I bestowed upon you to transform anyone that gets in your way to join my army. And if you find anybody in a mystical armor," Sephiran made eye-contact with Tiffany before saying, "kill them." The army roared and marched forward, their armored feet echoing throughout the land.
"You monster!" Asami screamed at him, tears streaming down her face. "They were your people! Your friends and family!"
Angry sea green eyes flared onto Asami. "Friends? Family?" Sephiran slowly walked towards her and Asami started backing up. "The ones who betrayed me and sealed me away? Those people are no longer of value to me but they have served their purpose. But if you want," Sephiran held out his hand and black mist swirled around it, "you can join them."
"Leave her alone!" screamed Tiffany, lurching forward but was held back by Fuzen. Sephiran turned to her, waving his hand and the mist disappeared. He walked up to her and knelt, staring into her eyes. "I'm curious, why did the powers of the nine armors go into you and not me? I was certain I would gain more power but you were the one that received it. Why is that?" Tiffany didn't know herself so she didn't say anything, only glaring daggers at the man in front of her. Sephiran chuckled at the fire burning in Tiffany's eyes. "Such fire burns in you, but with that fire comes disobedience." He reached out and caressed her cheek. "You were just like me when I was younger."
Tiffany stared at hand on her cheek then quickly turned her head and bit his hand. Sephiran screamed in pain, jerking his hand away from her mouth. "I'm not like you and I'll never be like you!" Tiffany's eyes flared with hate which added fuel to the fire in her eyes. "I'd rather die than submit to you." Silence filled the room; Asami staring at her daughter in horror while the generals glared down at Tiffany. Naga raised his hand to strike but Sephiran held his arm out, stopping whatever Naga had planned. Sephiran stood up, all the while keeping eye-contact with Tiffany. "I see now that I need to take what I want. I was going to take your new powers as painlessly as possible but with the fire that burns in your being, I know I need to extinguish it before I can do anything else." Sephiran turned to Karver, knowing he can trust the task he was about to assign to him to get the job done. "Break her."
Karver smiled. "With pleasure." He roughly grabbed hold of Tiffany and dragged her from the throne room as Tiffany fought with him to get out of his grasp. Once they were out of his sight, Sephiran turned to Fuzen and Naga. "I'm going to connect our world to the human world. When that happens, take my army and capture as many people as possible. We need to add more soldiers if we want to conquer more land."
Naga and Fuzen bowed. "Yes, Master."
"Damn it!" Kento screamed, turning to punch a tree, the leaves on the branches shaking from the impact. "That son of a bitch got the better of us! I swear, if I ever see him again, I'll-"
"Stop it, Kento," ordered Rowen from his place on a rock. "There is no way we are of any match against him now. You saw what he was capable of."
"He's right," Kayura said from her spot next to him as she finished healing him. "He would have killed us if Tiffany didn't intervene. We owe our lives to her."
Sage stood up from healing Cye and addressed the group. "Our main priority is to free Tiffany from Sephiran's clutches. With the power she displayed, Sephiran is going to want it from her and will do anything to get it."
Ryo stared at him then glanced down, Karver's words ringing in his head. "Don't you want to save your girl? If you don't, who's going to save her from me?" Ryo clenched his hand into a fist and squeezed his eyes shut. I'm sorry, Tiffany. I couldn't…I wasn't…
Something nudged his hand and Ryo opened his eyes to find Kalana staring at him, sad eyes staring into his. He gave her a small smile and laid his hand on the wolf's head, gently rubbing it. He glanced back up at his friends, surveying the damage they had inflicted. They were lucky; it could have been a lot worse. Their group arrived in a forest which so happened to be the same forest that surrounded the cabin. Of course, they had to figure out which way the cabin would be and the only clue they got was they were on a hill overlooking the city. But for the past few minutes, the group was taking their time resting as Sage and Kayura healed everyone from the battle.
Cye met Ryo's gaze. "What do we do now?" Ryo stared at his friends who were staring at him, waiting for an answer.
"We need to go to Mia and Yulie and make sure they're safe," Ryo answered as he stood up. "We don't know what Sephiran is planning nor when he's going to strike next."
"Um…I figured out the later," Kayura called out, staring through the trees. The rest of the group followed her gaze, seeing a black mist swirling over the city, descending like a tornado. The mist grew in size until it swallowed up the whole city, cutting it off from the rest of the world. From the sky, clouds parted to reveal the castle as it sat upon the top of the mist which had created a dome over the city.
"It's Talpa all over again," commented Kento, releasing a huff.
White Blaze's ears twitched and he turned his head towards the forest. His eyes were alert, looking for something he had heard. Kalana listened in as well and in the distance, heard the sound of footsteps. They were heavy and didn't sound human. They weren't getting close to their group but way they were going…
Kalana immediately took off without warning. "Kalana!"
"Something's wrong," stated Sage as White Blaze turned to look at him, almost confirming the young man's statement. The tiger took off after Kalana and the warriors followed suit.
Mia sat in the living room, reading a book to keep her mind at ease. She couldn't do anything but wait and pray her friends will come back safely. Yulie was in the family room and she heard the slight noise of him playing a video game. She was happy he could distract himself unlike in the past when he kept on asking her if the guys were ok. He has matured a little bit in the past two years, Mia thought to herself as she turned the next page.
Suddenly, the noise from the other room stopped and Mia lowered her book, about to get up to check on Yulie when he asked, "Do you hear that, Mia?"
Before she could respond, she faintly heard the sound of footsteps coming from outside. She slowly stood up and glanced out the window, her heart stopping when armored soldiers marched down the street. She backed up, taking the hallway away from the windows to the other room where Yulie was. He turned his head to look at her when she came into the room.
"Mia, what-"
"Shh. Keep your voice down," she whispered, walking over to him. She had lowered herself almost to the point of crawling so as not to be seen by the army outside.
"What's going on?"
"Something's wrong and I have a feeling we can't be seen. We need to get away from the windows." They slowly moved out of the family room into the dining room, straightening themselves up when they got into the kitchen. Mia lead themselves to the door of the basement but stopped when she heard something fall over downstairs. She pressed Yulie against the cabinet and thought of her next place. She peered around the corner look at the front door near the stairs. Seeing nothing at the front, she lowered herself to the ground and motioned for Yulie to do the same thing. They made their way to the stairway leading upstairs as Mia kept her eyes on the door the entire time. Once they were at the stairs, Mia pushed Yulie in front of her and motioned for him to go upstairs. She was about to follow him when she heard footsteps walking up the stairs from the basement. She hurried on up and made it to the top stairs just as the door to the basement flung off its hinges and onto the kitchen table.
Two soldiers walked onto the floor, surveying the area around them. They made eye-contact and their eyes glowed blue as they communicated with one another. They then nodded and slowly walked around the floor, checking every nook and cranny to see if anybody was in the house. They arrived at the bottom of the stairs and one soldier gestured upstairs with his spear and the other nodded in agreement. They climbed the stairs and once at the top, they split up to cover the top floor.
Mia and Yulie huddled together in the closet of the master bedroom, trying to hide in the corner. They heard footsteps enter the room as the soldier walked around, searching for them. Mia held Yulie closer to her as the young boy trembled in her arms. She herself tried to stay calm but her heart rate increased when the footsteps started coming closer to the closed door. The light coming from underneath the door disappeared and they both knew the soldier was right in front of the door. Hand on the doorknob, the soldier started to turn it when a noise was heard from downstairs.
The soldier stopped his actions and walked out of the room and met the other one at the top of the stairs, peering down. Thinking that they missed someone, they headed downstairs, weapons ready in their hands to strike. They walked into the kitchen but nothing was there. Suddenly, the basement door levitated in the air and the soldiers stared at it in confusion when it flew towards them, knocking them on their backs. Before they could get to their feet, a blade separated their heads from their bodies and the stoned soldiers crumbled in tiny pieces.
Mia and Yulie heard the commotion downstairs but didn't move. They didn't know who was downstairs or if the soldiers were even gone at all. Footsteps were heard walking upstairs and into the room, stopping in front of the door. It was flung open but they relaxed on who was on the other side.
"Anubis," Mia breathed out, a smile on her face. "Thank goodness it's you."
"Are you two alright?" he asked, helping them to their feet.
"We're fine. The soldiers?"
"They're gone." He stepped aside to allow them to get out of the closet. "We took care of them."
"Who else is here?"
"An old friend." The trio walked downstairs but at the sight of the other person, Yulie froze.
"Hi, Mia and Yulie," greeted Mika, offering them a small smile.
"What is she doing here?" Yulie asked, stepping back then turned to look at Anubis. "Did she brainwash you and are now taking us to the bad guy?"
"Yulie, what are you talking about?" Mia asked him.
Pointing at Mika, Yulie said, "She's the one who kidnapped Tiffany."
"What?" Mia looked up at Mika then turned to Anubis before looking back at Mika. Feeling unnerved, she grabbed Yulie's shoulders and took a step back.
"Don't be afraid. I'm not brainwashed. Tiffany was able to set me free and she saved this young girl like the Ancient One saved me." Mika met Anubis's gaze, wondering why he told them this lie instead of telling them the truth.
"So, she's one of the good guys now?"
"Yes. Now we need to go. Who knows if those soldiers will come back? Plus, we need to find the warriors."
"What do you mean find them?"
"The warriors are somewhere around here and who knows if another attack has been planned."
"Have the guys…lost?" Yulie asked, staring up at Anubis, hoping that his heroes haven't perished in the battle they went to fight.
"No…but they didn't win either. All I know is that they are still alive and," Anubis released a shaky breath. "The enemy has the upper hand."