Mortal Kombat; A Second Chance
~A/N~ Eno-on: So Sareena has made contact with the special forces and is offering intel on how to launch an attack on Quan Chi.
Eno-on: Before an assault can begin however, allies need to be gathered, let's see who Sareena thought of shall we.
"Speech" 'Thought' "Read Text"
Disclaimer: I don't own ~'Mortal Kombat'~
~Chapter 11 Dealing with a Devil~
Mileena looked around at the unknown environment of the Netherrealm as she followed Sareena with Kenshi by her side, the hybrid's nerves wound tight enough for the samurai to sense.
"Mileena, I understand what troubles you" Kenshi said softly "but you must remain calm"
"I'm sorry" she apologized "I'm still trying to understand why Sonya put me in charge of this mission, I'm not even a real member of the Special Forces"
"Neither am I" he replied "but you have proven yourself to be more than trustworthy and you admitted that 'we need all the help we can get', Sonya trusts you and is giving you an opportunity to lead"
Mileena looked embarrassed at the praise, before looking toward their guide "is there anything we should know about our potential ally?"
"A former servant of Quan Chi that betrayed him" Sareena answered "the part that worries me was the pile of corpses that followed the betrayal"
"You're scared aren't you?" asked Mileena, recognizing the tremble in the other woman's voice.
"Y-yes I am" the demon admitted, looking slightly ashamed.
"Hey, it'll be okay" said Mileena, awkwardly trying to comfort the other woman "I know what it's like to be scared to face someone, but you're not alone, we're here for you and together we'll be okay"
"Well said Mileena" Kenshi remarked with a small smile on his face, before it fell into a serious frown "I can sense something ahead"
The trio moved silently towards a large rock formation, looking past it they saw a woman clad in a white kimono-like robe with gold accents and a matching belt around her waist and a wide white hat with a veil on the back of it, in her hand was a Kriss sword, the sight of it making Mileena feel uneasy.
"That's her…" Sareena muttered low enough that Mileena barely heard her "Ashrah the demon slayer"
"I know you are here, there is no point hiding" She barked in rather stern voice, the group remained silent, before the woman turned, not to face them but to catch a stone before it could hit her face.
Looking in the direction the attack came form Mileena almost gagged at the sight she saw what looked like a man with no skin with flies swarming around him, he wore green mask, a dirtied metal spaulder and black briefs, his right hand was covered by a spiked mace-like gauntlet.
"That's Drahmin" Sareena whispered to her companions "he's a strong servant of Quan Chi" her looked back and forth between to two figures, as if trying to guess who was a bigger threat "I'd heard that someone was sent to deal with her but..."
"You die today" the Oni declared before charging forward with a surprising amount of speed, he swung his club with the intent to take off the woman's head only for Ashrah to duck out of the way, predicting this the Drahmin slammed his knee into her face.
Stumbling back she was barely able to block the Oni's next swing before she was forced to sidestep away from a kick, deciding that she needed to change the tide of the fight, she sent a palm strike with her free hand towards his mask, almost fearfully Drahmin grabbed her wrist with his free hand stopping her palm, reacting quickly she slashed at his arm, leaving a deep gash in the flesh.
Undeterred he used his grip to pull her forward, slamming his gauntlet into her stomach, forcing the air from her and leaving her defenceless to his follow up headbutt, he watched with sadistic glee as she fell back with a bloody nose, her blade dropped at his feet leaving her helpless.
"We have to help her" Mileena whispered to the others.
"If Drahmin does not return, Quan Chi will surely notice" Sareena warned.
"If she dies then we came here for nothing!" growled the hybrid in response, "I'm helping her whether you like it or not" her words taking the demon by surprise.
Leaping out from behind her cover, Mileena skidded to a halt beside Ashrah her right fist flying forward and smashing into the Oni's temple, sending him back and knocking his mask off in the process.
"Who are you?" the woman in white asked, shocked at the unexpected arrival of a non-demon in the Netherrealm.
"If you can still fight, get up" Mileena yelled, pressing the advantage against Drahmin, who looked shocked at the loss of his mask, throwing an uppercut she knocked the Oni off his feet and followed up with a kick to push him away.
Skidding on his back, Drahmin rolled onto his knees and with an enraged roar he charged forward, he ran towards Mileena swinging his club wildly and throwing punches.
Mileena kept her sai sheathed, knowing they would be little help against her current opponent, she carefully moved around his strikes trying to find an opening to counterattack.
'There!' she thought as Drahmin overly extended his swing, stepping forward she punched him across the face making him stumble back, continuing with her momentum she thrust her knee into his stomach before headbutting the Oni, however before Mileena could move back Drahmin took her by surprise and lunged forward with a tackle, pinning her to the ground, Drahmin raised his club high, ready to bludgeon her to death.
Mileena beginning to panic managed to wrestle her left hand free of the Oni's hold, seeing the mace coming towards her face, she instinctively raised her hand and caught the weapon during its decent, she grit her teeth and held back a grunt of pain as the spikes penetrated her palm.
Glaring at her opponent Mileena was oblivious to the pink aura sparking to life around her hand, with a loud growl she started pushing him back more and more before she could completely push him off of her a familiar katana blade emerged from his head, killing Drahmin and splattering Mileena with foul smelling blood in the process.
Gagging at the odour, she shoved the body off her seeing Kenshi flicking the blood away and sheathing his sword before offering a hand up, accepting it Mileena lightly glared at the samurai.
"Why did you wait?" she asked breathing through her mouth to try and avoid smelling the blood more than she had to.
"I figured that you would like the chance to prove yourself" Kenshi answered calmly "and I believe, even had I not intervened you would have turned the tide of battle"
"Thanks" she mumbled, with an embarrassed blush under her mask, turning around to face the reason they came to the Netherrealm, Mileena watched as she set her nose back into place with a sickening sounding crunch and picked her blade up off of the floor, Mileena suppressing a shiver at the sight of the Kriss.
"I thank you for the assistance" Ashrah spoke softly "but I must ask, why have the two of you come to the Netherrealm?"
"We actually came here to find you" Mileena answered "we're planning an attack of Quan Chi and are in need of allies"
"Ah yes, the sorcerer" she responded "I was once his slave, but I awoken to his evil, when I did he tried to have me killed, but I stumbled across this enchanted blade" she raised the Kriss as example, "I have come to realise that by slaying demons and Oni I may become purified enough to escape the Netherrealm forever"
'If the sword was made for that reason, why is it making me feel so uneasy?' Mileena thought to herself.
"We were only able to find you thanks to some assistance" remarked Kenshi.
"Do you refer to the demon cowering behind the rock over there?" Ashrah asked rhetorically "I'll slay her and then we'll talk business"
Mileena quickly stepped into the slayers path "I don't think so" she said darkly, giving Ashrah a fierce glare "she is our ally"
"You cannot be allies with a demon"
"You're a demon yourself" Kenshi countered "you have no ground to stand on"
"I am demon yes" Ashrah admitted "but I am guided by a divine purpose, if the two of you are willing to defend demons from what they deserve, I will kill here and now so you don't fall further into corruption"
Before she even finished speaking she span around and smashed the pommel of her blade into the samurai's temple, knocking the blind man into the dirt, Mileena barely had time to draw her sai to block before Ashrah dashed towards her.
Catching the blade in her sai's prongs she diverted the weapon away from her, Ashrah undeterred launched her free hand into Mileena's face, the hybrid in turn leant into the strike refusing to give ground.
The two women pushed themselves away from each other, Mileena steeled herself before throwing one of the sai in an upward arc toward the demon slayer and dashing forward, her opponent was briefly distracted by the move before slashing her sword in a defensive manner, Mileena used her remaining sai to both catch and restrain the kriss away from herself before throwing her hand up to catch her thrown sai and brought it down on Ashrah's still unhealed nose, breaking it and knocking her back.
Capitalising on the opening she created, Mileena twisted her sai, disarming the demon and sending the sword clattering into the dirt, Ashrah lashed out with a kick to the side of Mileena's knee before pushing her away and diving for her sword, before she could grab it however it was encased in a pale blue glow and flew though the air into the open hand of Kenshi.
"Stand down!" he ordered with a scowl before immediately dropping the kriss and taking a step back "such bloodlust" he muttered.
Before Ashrah could make a move to attack the samurai, she felt a faint poke on the center her of her back, moving as little as possible to look backwards she came face to face with her undefeated opponent.
"You heard him" she said quietly "stand down or I'll be forced to make you"
"Very well, I surrender" Ashrah responded in a defeated tone "but please return my weapon, without that holy blade I'm just a demon bound to the Netherrealm"
"That is not a holy weapon!" Kenshi said sternly "I only held it for a moment but was almost overcome with bloodlust" his hand twitched as he paused "this blade is cursed"
"No it can't be" Ashrah denied "I could feel my presence in this realm becoming unstable as I became more purified"
"The blade was probably feeding your delusion and bloodlust" replied Kenshi "you were becoming corrupted by the blade"
"The fact you abandoned Quan Chi shows that you are purifying yourself not the sword" said Mileena, releasing the demon "you and Sareena are both demons who want a second chance"
Ashrah felt overwhelmed both by the new information she had learn and by the encouraging words from the woman she had just tried to kill "what do I do now?" she asked, her voice empty.
"Come with us" Mileena answered, as if it was obvious.
Sareena, who had seen that the battle was over, came out into the open "Are you sure that's a good idea?" she asked cautiously.
"Yeah, I think so" answered Mileena before glaring at the sword at Kenshi's feet "but we have to take care of something first"
"Sareena, Ashrah do you know anywhere we could go to destroy this blade?" Kenshi asked lifting the blade with his telekinesis.
Sareena looked thoughtful for moment before answering "the only idea I have is tossing it into a pit of lava" she looked around for minute "I think there's one nearby"
The group of four soon arrived at the edge of a cliff over looking a lake of lava "Ashrah, do you want to do it?" Mileena asked calmly "this is your new start after all"
Ashrah held the kriss in her hand looking at it conflicted "I… I will leave the Netherrealm" she said determined, pulling her arm back she hurled the blade as hard as she could, the group watched as it span threw the air before plunging and sinking into the lava.
"Come on" spoke Mileena "I think its time leave"
~A/N~ Eno-on: Another chapter has come and gone by, please feel free to leave reviews on what you thought of the latest chapter.
Eno-on: Mileena led a successful mission into the Netherrealm, fought a strong opponent and recruited a new ally, next up is the attack on Quan Chi.
Eno-on: Eno-on out