The Light of A Broken Destiny:
Reunited, But For a Moment
Hiro took off running, and the witches followed close behind him. It didn't take them long to reach the source of the voice, and the immortal swordsman flash-stepped to his student.
"Akari!" Hiro shouted fatherly, wrapping the teenager in a tight hug.
Akari's face fell as she reluctantly hugged her sensei back. Hiro sensed his apprentice's hesitation but filed it into the back of his head for the time being; all he cared about was that Akari was safe.
The two sword-wielders hugged for nearly a minute until Hiro felt Akari squirming. With a mental sigh, Hiro gently pushed the teenager away from him but held her shoulders firmly.
The immortal swordsman began to check his apprentice over. Hiro frowned as he studied Akari, noting how she was holding herself. He noted Akari wasn't in a good place; Hiro could tell she was struggling internally.
The immortal swordsman sighed and looked at the others so he could gather his thoughts.
The adult witches were checking to see how the younger witches were fairing. Hiro focused on Eda and Willow, seeing the ex-wild witch fussing over the young plant user. He frowned when he noticed Eda gingerly touching Willow's forehead.
Hiro watched as a scar appeared on Willow's forehead and frowned.
"...I think it's time we trade notes," Hiro told Akari, looking at the girl with a serious expression.
Akari stared at her sensei for a second, and then her face became set. She nodded, and Hiro looked over his shoulder. He saw the witches were still preoccupied with checking up on the younger witches and moved Akari out of hearing range so they could talk more privately.
"Okay," Hiro said once he thought they were far enough away, "What do you got, Kiddo?"
The immortal swordsman cringed when he saw the sadness on Akari's face and realized he slipped up. Before he could apologize, Akari sighed and focused on the task.
"I don't have much," Akari said sadly. "But I learned Odalia had down some weird stuff."
Hiro frowned as he heard the sadness in his student's voice. He had a sinking feeling he knew what Akari was about to tell him.
Hiro tried to stop Akari from continuing but was not quick enough.
"I-it's like Odalia is-is," Akari tried to say but felt her throat locking up.
Hiro saw the tears in his student's eyes and, without a second thought, hugged Akari in a fatherly embrace. The young woman was surprised by the gesture, but it wasn't long before the fatherly aura of her mentor washed over her, and the emotions she was barely holding back came rushing out.
"WHHHHHYYYY!" Akari nearly screamed as the tears flowed freely.
Hiro sighed as he gently rubbed circles into his apprentice's back. He allowed Akari to process her emotions as he thought about a few things.
The immortal swordsman could tell from Akari's reaction that it had something to do with one of the young witches she was traveling with.
Hiro quickly realized his line of thinking wasn't right; it wasn't one of the witches Akari was traveling with, but the one witch he hadn't seen since the two groups convened.
Before Hiro could ponder this thought further, he heard someone approaching. He looked to his right and saw Eda looking concerned for the sobbing teenager in the swordsman's arms. Hiro figured the ex-wild witch heard Akari's scream and got worried for her.
Hiro could appreciate the gesture, but he knew seeing Eda would only cause Akari more grief. So, he shook his head and mouthed that he had things covered.
Eda frowned as she looked at the other human in the immortal's embrace. Something about the young woman struck a chord in the witch's heart. She could feel a sense of familiarity with Akari that she couldn't shake, making her want to rush to the girl's side and comfort her.
The former wild witch looked Hiro in the eyes, and the look in them told Eda he had things under control. So, she reluctantly nodded and took her leave.
Hiro was grateful for Eda reading the room and smiled slightly. The smile didn't last as he turned his attention to his student.
Akari was starting to calm down, her sobbing fading. After one final choked sob, she pulled away from Hiro.
"Akari…" Hiro said sympathetically, "If it's too much for you, I can wait."
Akari thought about her mentor's offer for a moment but shook her head. "I'm good," she answered, her voice coming out more meek than intended.
Hiro frowned at this. He knew his student enough to know what happened had been building for a while. He wanted to scold her for holding in her emotions for so long, but he decided it wasn't the time or place for such things.
"So…" Akari said, getting her mentor's attention. "Want to hear what I learn?"
Hiro sighed reluctantly and gestured for Akari to begin. With a sigh, the swordswoman told her mentor everything she had learned since they were separated.
Hiro's face twisted through a frown and a scowl throughout Akari's recap. He could see how his student struggled through her recap and wanted to hug her again. But that feeling was washed over when he heard about the other things that Akari had learned.
"...And that's all I know," Akari finished and sighed heavily.
Hiro put his emotions aside and focused on everything his student told him. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked back at the witches. The immortal swordsman focused on Gus, studying the illusionist.
Hiro sighed slightly and looked at his student, eyes narrowing.
"I don't know if this is important," he said, "But I learned that Odalia also triggered Gus Porter. From what I was told, Gus was given a potion that halved healing magic."
Akari frowned and looked at Gus. Her frown deepened slightly as she studied the dark-skinned witch. Except for the scar, the Japanese woman couldn't see anything wrong with him.
"Don't look at what you only could see on the surface," Hiro told his apprentice, getting Akari to look at him. "For all we know, whatever happened to Gus had long been treated."
Akari weakly nodded her head. Hiro looked at his apprentice, noting her demeanor, and frowned. He could see that Akari was still struggling with everything she had been happening.
Hiro moved to comfort his student when Akari suddenly exclaimed, "But why? Why is Odalia doing this? Why triggered everything connected to-to."
Akari couldn't finish her thought and looked about to cry again. Hiro saw this and gently hugged his apprentice and rubbed her back again.
Akari took in her mentor's scent, noting how he smelled like a crackling fire. His gentle rubbing also reminded her of her dearly departed father. She quickly calmed down and took one last whiff before pulling away from Hiro.
"We still don't know much about this Boiling Isles to make any decision yet," Hiro informed his apprentice.
Akari nodded weakly and looked at the group of witches. She focused on Willow, remembering how the scar she saw on the witch's forehead was the same as one she found on a scout.
Hiro also looked at the witches, studying them briefly before looking to the sky. Liked he told Akari, there was so much they didn't know about this Boiling Isle. And the feeling he got when he and Akari arrived hasn't gone away.
Hiro filed all this information for a later date and looked at Akari. He was about to suggest heading back to the group when he felt the ground rumbling under his feet.
The immortal swordsman grabbed Akari and dove out of the way just as a large flower burst from the ground. Hiro looked over his shoulder and watched the flower open, revealing three witches.
"Good evening, my dear seedlings!" Terra Snapdragon greeted in a sickeningly sweet tone. "I hope everyone is having a good night."
No one answered the question; instead, they got ready for a fight. The witches drew spell circles, and Hunter held his staff out. Raine summoned their violin, and Eda changed into her harpy form.
Hiro drew his sword and got in front of Akari in a protective manner, his free hand crackling with spirit energy. Akari also drew her sword, but her grip on her weapon wasn't firm, and her stance was poor.
"Terra!" Raine screamed. "How long have you been following us?"
The elderly plant witch looked at one of her favorite toys with a mocking grin. Before she could answer, a whip of amobination lashed out at her. Terra's expression turned dull as a thick vine snapped from her flower and intercepted the whip.
"Darius," Terra said mockingly, "Didn't anyone tell you it's rude to interrupt someone when they're about to speak?"
Hiro repositioned himself so he could see Darius. The ex-head of the Aombination coven's shoulders were tense, hands raised, and teeth showing as he snarled and glared at the other ex-head with the force of a thousand suns.
Terra ignored Darius and turned her attention to Raine. Darius took this opening and launched two massive balls of hardened Abomination goo at Terra. Before they could reach Terra, a potion was thrown against the two balls, the glass shattering and spraying its contents on the goo.
The two balls quickly shrunk to the size of peas, and Vitimir knocked them out of the air. Darius growled as the potionist looked at him with a glare.
"Now," Terra said, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face, "To answer your question, sprout…like just say I saw some a head roll and couldn't help but laugh."
Raine's eyes widened as the plant witch's words sunk in. They realized that Terra and those accompanying her had been following them since the fight with Kikimora. But that should have been impossible; they had all of their bases covered.
"...How?" Raine couldn't help but choke out.
Terra's smile turned mocking as she answered. "It's quite simple, dearie. Just a mix of plant and construction magic, you could easily go undetected, right, Mason?"
The witches looked at the third witch, and some were surprised to see the head of the ex-Construction Coven. Mason, for his part, stared ahead with blank eyes. The rebel group and two humans saw the mark on his forehead and knew what that meant.
"TERRA!" Darius screamed furiously. "Is nothing sacred to you anymore?!"
Terra looked at the abomination witch with a sick grin. "Of course not, dearie," she replied tauntingly. "I found power sacred. And anyone who holds that power is who I hold the most sacred."
The smile died on Terra's face as she looked at the rebels with a condescending look.
"But, the time for small talk is over," she said coldly, looking at Mason. "Mason, dear, you would please?"
The construction head didn't answer; instead, he robotically left his right hand and began to draw a spell circle. Before Mason could finish his circle, a beam of green energy pierced through the stout witch's shoulder, and a crescent blade of fire cut through the bottom of the flower.
Terra and Vitimir screamed as their platform fell. Mason didn't react to anything as he hit the ground. The trio of witches hurried off the flower as the fire rapidly engulfed it.
Terra growled as she looked behind her. She scowled as she saw Hiro approaching her, his sword in its flame style and his free hand out, energy jumping behind his fingers and thumb.
"Oh, the human," the plat witch snarled. "I almost forgot you were here."
Terra's grin returned, and she drew a small circle. Mason and Vimitir also made spell circles, and the ground rumbled.
Hiro watched thick vines burst from the ground, spiked rock balls at their ends. He took a quick count and noted there were forty in total. The immortal swordsman frowned as he noticed every other ball was dripping something, the ground sizzling when the liquid hit.
Hiro realized the potionist had filled some balls with a potion of some kind and decided those got top billing.
The swordsman gripped his weapon with both hands, and the blade ignited. Hiro Flash stepped to the closest, but another vine burst from the ground before he could attack and threw him into the air.
Hiro grunted as he tumbled through the air, but it wasn't long before he composed himself and concentrated. Green flames burst from the human's back and shaped into a pair of wings. With a few beats, the swordsman stopped mid-air.
Hiro righted himself and looked down, his eyes narrowing. He saw the weaponized vines rushing toward him and noted that something was dripping from them all.
Before the vines could reach Hiro, Eda came rushing in, cutting them in half with her claws. Raine then finished things off by sending blades of compressed music to slice them into tiny pieces.
Eda flew past Hiro, offering the immortal swordsman a cocky grin before she headed back to the ground.
Hiro looked down and watched the fight unfold.
The rebels were all fighting together to take care of the vines; Darius was using abomination blades to cut down the vines, while Hunter was using his speed to keep the vines off of his mentor/father figure.
Eda and Raine were more like dancing than fighting. One of the vines went for the couple, and Eda grabbed Raine's hand, the bard exchanging their violin for their staff. The harpy woman spun her partner around as Raine held their staff out, magic sparking off its head.
Instead of creating a spell circle like Hiro expected, he noticed the magic thickening somewhat. He watched the magic take flight, forming into blades that cut through the vines like a hot knife through butter.
The two witches stopped their dance and looked at each other affectionately. Before Eda and Raine could do anything romantic, two vines burst from the ground near the two. Eda was quick, grabbing Raine and jumping into the air.
Raine drew a spell circle and held it near Eda's mouth. The harpy lady shrieked at the top of her lungs, and the spell amplified the shriek, making the sound strong enough to plow through the vines.
Hiro turned his attention to Eberwolf, who had summoned a Slitherbeast to aid him. The beast quickly ripped the vines from the ground and tore them apart.
The immortal swordsman looked at his apprentice and saw that Akari was getting help from Willow and Gus. Hiro noted that the young plant witch wasn't using her usual bred type of magic. Instead, she used a standard fire spell to burn the vines, as Gus was using some ice spells to freeze the vines at the base.
Hiro's worry grew when he watched a vine burst through the ground and go from the two young witches. A blast of spirit energy cut through the middle of the vine, and the two halves dropped to the ground.
Hiro smiled as his apprentice joined the witches, and the three continued the fight.
The Japanese man continued to watch the different fights and saw something odd happening. For every ten vines that were taken down, another ten were raised to replace the severed plants.
Hiro looked at the three enemy witches, eyes narrowing. Terra, Vimitir, and Mason were still drawing spell circles but showed no signs of fatigue.
He turned his attention back to one of the fights, watching as Darius, who had gone full abomination, used his hammer fists to slam some vines into the ground. Two vines burst through the ground behind the abomination witch and wrapped around Darius.
Darius slipped out of the vines thanks to his abomination form. He turned his hands into blades and aggressively stabbed one of the vines with a mounting cry.
Hiro frowned at this behavior, noted it, and turned his attention to the enemy. He saw the witches still didn't appear to be struggling with the spell work, which made Hiro more worried.
"...Enough sitting on the sidelines," Hiro muttered to himself. "Time to get into this fight."
The immortal swordsman sheathed his sword and aimed himself at the enemy. With a beat of his wings, Hiro threw himself at the enemy witches. Hiro tried to keep as quiet as possible as he dive-bombed three. When he was within hearing range of the three witches, he dispelled his wings and let gravity do the rest.
Suddenly, a large vine shot up from the ground and wrapped around Hiro, causing him to grunt from the sudden stop, which dislocated his spine with a loud, sickening pop. He was turned upright to look into the elderly plant witch's smug smile.
"I was wondering when you would come down from your high snorse," Terra said mockingly.
The plat witch grinned and looked at Vimitir. The potionist nodded and took out a vial. He threw it at the swordsman. Terra made a new spell circle, and a small vine shot out from the larger up, shattering the potion vial over Hiro's head.
Hiro couldn't do much as his spine was still in the process of healing, and the potion fell on him. Terra's smile turned sadistic, and she summoned a dozen sharp vines. She pointed at Hiro, and the vines snapped out, striking the human in different locations.
Green flames erupted from each new cut on Hiro's body, and Terra laughed sadistically.
"How does that feel, human?" the deranged witch asked sadistically. "That potion would make every fire that touches you feel like ten boiling seas!"
Terra continued to laugh as she pelleted Hiro with her vines, a new fire erupting for each wound inflicted. She stopped when a faint crush/snap filled the air, and the pause caused her to realize something; Hiro was looking at her with a dull expression.
"Celestial spikes!"
Green energy spikes burst out of the human's body and tore through the vines. Hiro stepped towards the witches, shrugging off some of the leftover plants as the green flames licked his body.
Terra panicked when she saw the human wasn't affected by the potion or the flames and began wildly throwing her vines at him. Hiro didn't bother to dodge the attacks, letting the vines hit him and sparking more fires. The flames darkened the immortal's face as he got close to the three witches.
Terra decided a tactical retreat was in order and turned to run. She didn't get far as Hiro appeared in front of her and reached out, pressing two fingers against the witch's forehead.
Hiro's fingers lit in green energy for a second, then faded. Terra suddenly screamed as her head burned and sizzled. She stumbled away from the human, hand on her forehead, which was steaming.
"What in Titan's name was that?" Terra shrieked, glaring dagger at Hiro.
"That," Hiro answered darkly, "Is the heat I had endured for five-hundreds years. Compared to that, I don't even feel the heat when standing on the sun itself."
Terra growled at the human and drew a spell circle. Hiro felt the ground trembling and looked over at his group. His eyes widened when ten scouts burst from the ground and surrounded his group.
Hiro growled as he noticed his friends and apprentice were exhausted from fighting all the vines. He realized now that the witches in front of him weren't creating the vine weapons but merely commanding the scouts to create said weapons. The swordsman growled as he realized the plan the witches were using.
Hiro didn't even think about it; he quickly dashed over to the others, allowing Terra, Vimitir, and Mason to make their escape.
The group of witches and one human weren't doing good; fighting against so many vines had left them tired. And with the scouts, the source of the weapons, out in the open, things weren't looking good for them.
Before anything could happen, Hiro appeared between his group and Odalia's scouts. He drew his sword and flicked it to his side, changing it into its wood style.
"Get out of here!" Hiro told his group. "I will keep these toys busy. And no arguing; none of you are in the best shape to keep up the fight."
Hiro dared a look over his shoulder and saw how everyone was conflicted. It was clear no one wanted to retreat, but like Hiro pointed out, no one was in the best shape for a fight. So, Eda reluctantly nodded and ushered the group to safety.
Hiro smiled a small smile before he turned his attention to Odalia's Scouts, adopting a serious expression. He raised his sword and gripped it with both hands as he planted his feet on the ground. He began edging forward, body tensing as he prepared himself mentally to fight the scouts.
"...I thought I told all of you to get away," Hiro said when he felt something join him.
The immortal swordsman looked to his right with his eyes when he heard a low growl. He caught Darius midway through his transformation into his abomination form.
"I had a score to settle with Snapdragon," Darius replied in a low growl, "And I am not waiting any longer."
Hiro stared as Darius finished changing, then looked at the two to his left.
"Mason was captured while on a mission I sent him on," Raine informed Hiro, a hint of regret in their voice as they brought up their staff. "I owe it to him to try and see if I could help."
Hiro didn't get a chance to ask why Hunter was staying as one scout was done waiting, drawing a spell circle that shook the ground. The immortal could feel something underground and thrust his sword into the ground. Thick tree roots burst from the ground, forming a dome just as giant rocks burst from the ground and flew at them.
The rocks collided with the root dome, and it weathered the impact, but just barely.
Hiro brought down the dome a few seconds afterward and wordlessly led the three witches into battle.
(G Corner)
If it seems like Akari's breakdown happened so suddenly, remember, until recently, she was fighting nearly nonstop. So, after having a moment to breathe and talk with Hiro, everything hit her. But I wonder if anyone could figure out why Akari is so emotional about a girl she hasn't even met yet.