Chapter 6 - Slaves of the Destroyer
As the three women march towards the caverns following Chizuru sensing a strong presence from said strange cave in the distance, the air in the planet starts to become more tense
"Chizuru, what do you think could be the source of this chi?" - Athena
"I don't know, but whatever it is. We must be prepared, it could be anything." - Chizuru
Station
"So, Leona went with them too?" - Asked Kyo reuniting with Rosa and Marco
"Yes, the three just left without saying much. They could be anywhere." - Rosa
"(Damn it! Chizuru, what are you doing? Don't you realize how dangerous is the planet, especially with Rugal and the rest in the loose?)" - Kyo
"I could help you to localize them!" - Says a voice making Kyo turn seeing Akari now having recovered from her last fight approaching him
"What do you have a in mind?" - Kyo looks at Akari with a doubtful face
"Allow me to explain, I can send one of my youkai to search for Ms. Kagura, the psychic and the mercenary of blue hair. But I will need something that belongs to them." - Akari
Kyo and Akari go to the room of Athena, seeing Athena's bag they take a pair of gloves that Athena had used before
"Does this work?" - Kyo
"Perfect! This gloves seen to have been used by her recently and still have her energy in them." - Akari and Kyo go to the bridge
As Akari recites the spell to summon one of her spirits, Kyo sees a strange hawk like creature of demonic appearence manifest in front of him and Akari
"Akari! Can I know the reason for you to interrupt my slumber!" - Says the demon
"Oh stop complaining! You know I wouldn't call you if it wasn't a serious matter, you see, three friends of us are loss out there. Could you search for them?" - Akari gives the demon the gloves of Athena and using a picture of her she task the demon to find her
"What a pretty looking human, she must be dead by now!" - Says the demon
"What?" - Kyo
"I'm just kidding! Of course, I can search for them. By the way, my name is Ozolot." - Says the demon
"Yeah, send me a signal if you find her." - Akari
The demon goes away starting to search for them, as Akari and Kyo walk back
Meanwhile
"So that's your story with that woman?" - Mizuki
"Hmph! Yes, Kagura and I were the best friends once. We supported each other, I was the one who told her how she could heal her pain by creating a shadow of her sister. Having total control of her fragile mind was such a pleasure." - Botan
"What a surprise, the Yata clan have always been nothing more than a family of weaklings. Needing of the powers of the other clans to be a threat to the Hakkesshu. On their own, they are nothing but little insects." - Shermie
"So, this is the place?" - Botan looks at the entrance of the cave
"I can feel it. Whatever is the source of the chi, it must be a powerful source. I can't wait to get my hands on it." - Mizuki
The three evil women walk inside the cave unaware that other people have arrived too
"Chizuru, you feel that too?" - Athena
"Yes, apart from the other two chis coming from the cave, three new chis suddenly were felt." - Chizuru
"This path seens to be closed." - Leona and the rest arrive to a right path that seens to have been closed by a falling rock. The three move around the strange cave searching for the two strange chis.
"There's three open paths ahead of us, maybe we should separate." - Chizuru
The three make their way through the different paths, with Chizuru entering in the middle one, Athena to the right one and Leona to the left one.
"(The energy around this cave is nuts, maybe I'm on the right path.)" - Athena walks inside the cave
As Leona walks inside the cave of the left, she starts to feel a headache
"Argh!" - Leona grabs her head, the feeling she is having is a familiar one.
"Well, if it isn't Gaidel's daughter." - Says a voice coming from the darkness as Leona recovers from the slight headache.
"It is you, now I understand why my blood started to boil." - Leona sees Shermie coming from the dark path of the cave.
"Well you certainly have learned to control your blood blessed by our god, hehehe." - Shermie
"Talk! What are you doing here, it is that perhaps you are here looking for that strange powerful chi?" - Leona
"Smart girl I see, well you got me. I'm here searching for that source of power, so we can win this dumb war and return home." - Shermie
"..." - Without saying anything more, Leona got into her battle stance
"We are going to do this, isn't it? Alright, truth to be told. I have been waiting to see how much you had grown up, heheheh!" - Shermie
"(Just how long is this cave?)" - Thought Chizuru walking inside the path of the middle, starting to feel like she was just walking in circles
*Groar* - Suddenly Kagura is surprised as a strange dog-like creature appears running towards her
"AH! WHAT?!" - Kagura dodges the creature with her seeing the demon vanish in tin air
"Rakikikiki!" - Chizuru hears a laugh turning to see a woman dressed as a priestess of long red nails, large black hair and red eyes
"You... You're that woman! The one who launched herself behind that martian." - Chizuru remembers seeing Mizuki following Rootmars managing to fly out of the spaceship where they were brought to this planet
"I'm happy that you remember me, darling. You must be the so called Chizuru Kagura I keep hearing from Botan. I must admit at first I wasn't interested in a girl like you. But after learning more about you, would it be much to ask for a personal showcase of your abilities before you die?" - Mizuki makes her nails grow bigger as Kagura looks at her with a firm look
"(This isn't good, she probably felt the strange chi coming from here. But the better question would be if she came alone or brought someone else... Like that Botan woman. Oh no! If she came with her, maybe she must had entered in another path?)" - Chizuru
"(Leona and Athena could be in danger, but in this moment I cant retreat now.)" - Chizuru
"That chi coming from you, you're not human." - Chizuru goes into her battle stance, seeing not other alternative
"Maybe I'm human, maybe not? Why don't you come closer to find out by yourself, rakikiki!" - Mizuki
Meanwhile
"(I can feel it more closer. I getting closer to where this strange source is.)" - Athena
For Athena's surprise, she sees two beds of stone in the deepest part of the cave in front of a strange altar. On the beds, she sees the bodies of a man of grey skin and black hair, wearing strange dark armor as well as a woman of dark purple hair wearing a strange blue and dark outift
"(Their bodies are overflowing with this strange chi... Who are this two?)" - Thought Athena feeling the energy that came from the two bodies
*Scratch* - Athena hears something as she turns to see the rock of the size of a human head being throwed towards her, she dodges the rock
"What?" - Athena turns around to see a woman of black hair approaching
"Well aren't you the little troublemaker. It seens you found the source of this strange chi." - Botan
"You're that woman from before, Botan isn't it? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with the Legion of Doom?" - Athena
"AHAHAHAH! You're pretty funny, yes! I should be with them but just like you I detected this strange source of chi coming from here." - Botan
Unknown to Athena, a strange cord is slowly making her way towards her moving like a snake being almost close to her, the strange cord launches towards Athena
"Now submit to me!" - Botan
*Scarn* - But before Botan's string could connect with Athena's skin, the string is burned by Athena's psychic aura
"ARGH!" - Botan moves back feeling an intense pain as she sees her own hands start bleeding
"You bitch! What the hell was that?" - Botan
"So that's how your powers work. You use those strings coming from your body to get a hold of anyone's mind." - Athena
"(If I hadn't readed her mind, I would probably have been touched by that. She was too excited to get ahold of me.)" - Athena
"Well you found it, yes that's how my powers work but isn't like that would give you any advantage over me! You may have avoid my first attempt, but trust me it won't be the last one and at the end of the day, that little mind of yours will be mine!" - Botan
"In your dreams!" - Athena launches to fight against Botan
Meanwhile
"What's wrong, Chizuru? Are you scared?" - Mizuki
"Of you? The Clan Yata is never scared of a mere demon, our speciality is sealing threats even bigger than you!" - Says Chizuru as she dodges the attacks of Mizuki
"Big words coming from a scaredy kitten! Don't try to act tough with me, is clearly not your style. I can feel your fear. You afraid of dying here!" - Mizuki
"Grr..." - Chizuru
Chizuru creates three shadows of her, as the three Kaguras try to attack Mizuki. They are repealled by the demon in the form of a woman who manages to tear Chizuru's shadows with ease
"My, you're becoming desperated isn't it." - Mizuki appears in front of Chizuru who is shocked barely having time to think of her next move
"ARGH!" - Chizuru is grabed by the neck by Mizuki
"Damn demon!" - Chizuru
"Oh you really have such pretty eyes, how I'm going to enjoy to see them be turned off and pulling them out of your eyes sockets one by one." - Mizuki stares at Kagura licking her lips with her sharp long tongue as she and the priestess of the Yata stare at each other
"Return to hell!" - Mizuki hears a voice coming behind her, she turns to see Chizuru, the real one coming towards her
Using her technique 212 Katsu: Shinsoku no Norito, Chizuru manages to hurt Mizuki as the Chizuru she had on her claws vanishes
"ARGH!" - Mizuki recovers landing crouching looking at Kagura with a serious face
"Hmph! Not bad, you're starting to get angry. I like that! It means that perhaps you're about to fight seriously!" - Mizuki
"Ah. Ah!" - Chizuru
"(Athena, Leona. Where you are...)" - Thinks Chizuru
Meanwhile
As Leona keeps fighting against Shermie and Athena confronts Botan, the four are unaware of the strange woman slowly opening her eyes product of the amount of chis that have covered the area.
"ARGH!" - Botan crashes against the wall with her getting up
In a blink, Botan becomes invisible with her trying to sneak her way on to Athena
"ARGH!" - Athena manages to turn stopping Botan's attack with a dagger
"Your strength comes from being silent and use others to fight for you, you're more like strategist than a fighter and while your abilities are impressive, you're not match for my psycho power! This is for Chizuru!" - Athena punches Botan making her bleed from her mouth as she rolls in the air falling on the ground
"(Damn it! Did I really underestimated this girl? Compared to Kagura she is giving me some trouble. I need to think fast, forget about getting a hold of her mind, I need to kill her!)" - Botan
"I won't kill you, but I'll take you as a prisioner so you can talk about what is the plans of your team." - Athena
"Oh no! I'm not coming with you, girl!" - Botan jumps landing behind Athena as she starts attacking her with her strings
Athena dodges the attacks of the strings with her barely managing to avoid being trapped by a string appearing behind her." - Athena
"If I managed to make one of those clowns from the three clans mine once, I can make you be my slave too. Let's see how many of my strings can you dodge, shall we?!" - Botan
But suddenly, the two women hear a sound with them seeing the woman of dark purple hair getting up staring at them with a blank expression
"..." - Athena
"What-" - Botan
The woman gets up looking at the man, staying silent she puts her hand on the man's forehead making the strange man of pale skin to open his eyes too
"(They are awaken. But who are they and what where they doing here?)" - Having tons of questions, Athena tries to use her powers to read the mind of the woman
"ARGH!" - Athena feels an intense pain trying to see the memories of the woman who keeps looking at her and Botan with the same blank expression
The woman of dark purple hair rises one of her swords with her pointing at Athena and Botan as the man fully gets up
"Huh?" - Botan
In a blink both the man and the woman start running approaching both Athena and Botan
"What?" - Botan
"(Despite their lack of emotions and thoughts, I can feel it in the air. They are coming to attack us!)" - Athena
Meanwhile.
"You're a disgrace for the Hakkesshu!" - Shermie charges her entire arm with electric chi trying to kill Leona, only for the Silent Soldier to dodge the attack. However the impact of the attack is enough to start causing an earthquake in the entire area
*Clash* - The ground starts to moving like crazy
"I see it now, you're trying to destroy this place." - Leona notices the wounds Shermie has
"I must admit, you certainly have become stronger to be able to resist the influence of our god more. But is useless as sooner or later you will realize that not matter how strong you try, you can never cut ties with him. You belong to Orochi! You exists because Orochi allows you to exists! Without him you would be nothing more than a miserable human, embrace your true nature, daughter of Gaidel! Perhaps it isn't too late?" - Shermie extends her hand towards Leona one last time
"Never! I'm not Orochi's slave!" - Leona uses her moon slasher to try to attack Shermie. Shermie jumps back
"How disappointing, oh well. Guess I'll have to bury you with this place." - Rising her hands, Shermie overcharges her body with chi making three giant lighting bolts fall from the sky using her Unmei no Ya move
*Clash* - the entire cave starts trembling while the fights continue
"Ah." - Chizuru and Mizuki feel the earth move as the concern of becoming trapped here grows
"An earthquake?" - Chizuru
"I would pay attention to our fight if I was you, Kagura!" - From the vest of Mizuki a strange worm-like creature comes out with the creature trying to grab Kagura with its strange mouth
"Ah!" - Kagura jumps back managing to dodge the attack.
"Watch your step." - Mizuki makes two more worm-like creatures to come out as Chizuru starts moving her arms charged with chi cutting both creatures
*Argh!* - The three worms scream as they are cut by Chizuru's moves
"Hmph!" - As Kagura was about to strike Mizuki, this one teleports away, only leaving a strange seal in the ground
Chizuru stops as she sees a large flame coming from the seal.
"Are you afraid of third degree burns?" - Mizuki appears behind Chizuru launching a quick slash with her bloody red nails
As Kagura moves back, two illusions of Mizuki appear following Chizuru's moves trying to attack her with their claws
"ARGH!" - Unfortunately for Kagura, one of the illusions manages to scratch her cheek
"AH!" - Chizuru
"Is that really all you have? My, you're so disappointing. You're considerated to be a danger by the rest but I couldn't even tell you why? When I stare at you, the only thing I see is a scared girl, a little pathetic scared girl!" - Mizuki
"In a way you remind me of certain woman..." - Says Mizuki seeing certain woman of black hair, sporting a white and red dress appearing behind Chizuru
"(I must think quick! I must defeat her and reagroup with Leona and Athena, I must escape.)" - Chizuru
"I must admit it, it was fun to dance with you, but I'm afraid this is the end. If I were you, I would try to escape here as fast as I can. That's it, unless you want to be crushed by this entire mountain falling apart. Goodbye!" - Shermie walks out of the cave calmly leaving Leona behind
"Wait!" - Leona tries to run towards Shermie but a part of the cieling falls in front of her, covering the path that Shermie took
Unable to follow her, Leona decides to get out of there
Meanwhile
Athena dodges the attacks of the man and the woman, with her being attacked from all sides as both strangers are able to follow her moves, even teleport
"Psycho ball!" - Athena throws two psycho balls at both, the two strangers cover themselves.
*TARR* - For the surprise of the two strangers, they feel a strange pain in the back of their heads.
"Bingo! These two are mine!" - Athena hears the voice of Botan having managed to sneak her strings of both strangers
"You!" - Athena is surprised as the two stop standing with their eyes changing product of Botan's mind control
"I should probably thank you. If it wasn't for your distraction, I wouldn't have been able to get a hold of this two." - Botan
"Now that I got what I came for, I can get out of this place, but rest assure that the next time we see each other. That little mind of yours will be mine... Athena." - Botan
"Not so fast, if you think I'll allow you to escape you'r-" - Athena runs towards Botan. Only for Botan to make the strange man of pale skin create a strange dark purple energy barrier with his sword
"Argh!" - Athena stops covering herself with her arms
"She got away! Grr... Leona and Chizuru!" - Remembering her partners, Athena decides to return from the way she came as the earthquake in the mountain continues.
Chizuru clashes against the wall, she recovers slowly getting up as she and Mizuki cross looks once again
"Time's up, Chizuru! If you think I'll allow you to escape, you're wrong." - Mizuki
"(I almost don't have any chi left! I must wait for the right moment, get her in the perfect spot.)" - Chizuru
"It was fun to play around with you! But is time to end this, once I kill you, nobody will care about you to come to search your corpse crushed by the mountain! You will be forgotten in the remains of this place, this dusty cave will be your grave! RAKIKIKI!" - Mizuki rises her arms up charging them with chi, she touches the ground making various pillars of flames come towards Chizuru
Kagura jumps managing to avoid the pillars, landing behind the surprised Mizuki
"You're wrong! The one who will fall here is you!" - Chizuru is about to launch her charged chi holded in one hand towards Mizuki
"NO! You will be the one who dies here!" - Mizuki quickly defends herself launching a strike with her arm
Kagura clashes her Rimen 85 Katsu: Reigi no Ishizue against Mizuki's attack. Both women are sended back screaming as the earthquake in the cave continues
"AH!" - Chizuru gets up realizing she has a stab wound on her shoulder, she feels totally weakened having spended her last chi on that attack
"Rakiki! It seens the one who have won is m-WHAT?" - Mizuki real form is visible, a skeleton with black hair. She is surprised to see the body of a woman of grey hair dressed similar to her on the ground close to her
"BIZUKI! If you're there then that means..." - Mizuki quickly looks back at her hands, she realizes she had been separated from her host, the woman know as Bizuki
"Damn fool! What did you did to me? My chi! A big portion of my chi has been sealed!" - Exclaims Mizuki in her real form feeling her blood boiling of rage
*Cough* - Chizuru coughs
Mizuki quickly runs to where Bizuki's body is. She looks like an older woman now
"Bizuki... She is dead! NO! It can't be!" - Mizuki realizes Bizuki has no pulse, her vital signs are terrible and it looks like she had aged alot
"(Could it be because of all the chi that I spended from chasing Urbe to this fight caused her body to rapidly age and died? NO! She was alive! I could had swear she was alive but perhaps, whatever Kagura did to me, ended up killing her too apart from sealing almost my full chi.)" - Mizuki analizes her situation
"Grrr..." - Mizuki now nothing more than a skeleton with hair looks at Kagura with rage droping the corpse of Bizuki on the ground
"Ah...AH... So that's your real form...ARGH!" - Says Chizuru panting falling unconscious on the ground apparently defeated
"You miserable piece of trash! You killed my hostess and sealed my chi, nobody had humillated me like this ever before. Not even that meddling priestess of the Kamui Kotan..." - Mizuki starts to approach to the body of Chizuru full of rage
"I should kill you! I should devour your soul as payment!" - Mizuki stares at Chizuru
"But death would be too good for you, Chizuru Kagura. And I want to make your existance a living hell for what you did to me!" - Mizuki turns Chizuru's body to take a look at her unconscious face
"Hmph! And I think I got the perfect way to make your suffer. Now that Bizuki is gone forever... Someone will have to replace her." - Mizuki puts her finger in the forehead of Chizuru as the earth is about to collapse on the cave
Mizuki grabs Chizuru's face with her two hands
"Rakikiki! Yes, death is too good for you, Chizuru. Killing you would be almost like making you a favour but you shall know that there are fates worse than death!" - Mizuki
In that moment, Mizuki approaches her face towards Chizuru, a strange seal appears under Kagura's body as Mizuki moves her fingers
"I'm going to make you mine! Together nobody will oppose us! Rakikiki! We will be one in the same... yes! And I can't wait to use you in what I have planned for your friends!" - Mizuki kisses Chizuru as both are covered in a strange sphere of purple energy
Meanwhile
"Leona!" - Athena meets up with Leona who is visible happy to see she managed to get out of the mountain in time
"Athena, you made it. but where is Chizuru?" - Leona
"Oh no! If she isn't here that means she hasn't been able to get out of there." - Athena starts walking towards the cave again as they see part of it collapse
"Huh?" - Athena hears someone coming from the cave as the earthquake continues
"She-she made it." - Leona
"Leona! Athena! I'm so happy to see you two managed to get out." - "Chizuru"
"*Sigh*" - Athena calms herself seeing Chizuru was fine
"Yes, and I'm glad you're fine, Chizuru. We need to return to the base quickly. That woman Botan, she managed to take the two sources of chi that were inside that cave. A man and a woman, both sported the chi of a demon." - Athena
"Huh?" - "Chizuru"
"Those are bad news, we need to return with the rest quickly!" - "Chizuru"
Leona and Athena walk back towards the base, unknown to them, they don't pay attention to "Chizuru" who is visible smiling
To Be Continued...