Post by Sanada Tomo on Feb 12, 2008 2:23:35 GMT -4
My Layer, the Third Layer, was the first to be hit. We hadn't seen it coming at all.
The only thing I knew was that I had to protect my honorable Master. Aizawa Sasuke. They came for my peaceful temple first.
I hadn't seen that coming.
There was a trembling and an explosion, and then the sound of burning, just as I anticipated.
"Toriko, RUN!" The head priestess said loudly in my direction. "Evacuate the building!"
I ran down the wooden halls, feeling always as though the flame behind me would swallow me up. Sasuke had informed his entire nation that the Hellspawn would be retaliating for our attack. They were not pleased with the death of their Maryuu-ou; they were going to exact revenge--
There was another explosion, and I was slammed to the floor. I reached up to ring the emergency bell but in the quake everyone had already begun to panic, grabbing swords and katanas and whatever weapon that they had been trained with.
I myself grabbed a Katana.
A leader of this temple, they called me, because I had been the one chosen to guard Sasuke, the King. I had not yet left, and now, I feared I would never have the chance to do so.
That was when the first surge came--there were hundreds of Fallen, crawling over everything and engaging in combat. I stayed on the floor, momentarily dazed that we'd had to use our skills to fight in the first place. I had been training for years, but had never had to kill anyone. Never had to fight anyone. I didn't know if I could do it.
A hand grabbed my shoulder, and I jumped, hacking and slashing with my weapon like a mere child.
It was the head nun, Mara, with a little blood trickling down her chin. It made me feel good to know that she was alive.
"Please flee; we're holding them here, as you can see. Sasuke needs you. They are merely keeping us busy because we have the most trainees in the Layer. Go, please, so that we can all win this fight at the source."
The source? Wouldn't the Kings be there if...? I didn't want to think about fighting one of the Hellion Kings. It was something I couldn't fathom, like a nightmare come true.
That was when I looked around me.
"Please, go," Mara said. "They should be there already. We don't have time. I will have to use my magic to transport you myself."
Toriki was familiar with the feeling of magic; she used a bit of air, herself. She had never been told what type of magic Mara used; only that it was dangerous and that I should never tamper with it at all.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" came the loud, high pitched scream and sobbing that caused me to look over, and all I could see was one of my colleagues...covered in blood, the bodies of my other friends before her. She was washed in their blood, too, and tears sprang to my eyes.
Mara couldn't even afford to look, she was concentrating so hard on her spell--
A pair of black wings emerged behind her. My eyes widened, and I said, "Mara--"
I saw her turn swiftly to face her enemy, but then my vision went black. I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, I was somewhere different. Sasuke's palace.
It was large and ornate, decorated with awards and pictures stained with blood--
I tripped, stumbling on a flight of stairs that I came upon in the hallway and I steadied myself on the wall before looking down at the apparently hefty object.
And I screamed.
So much blood. So much carnage. Why was this happening now? What had the Heavenly Kingdom done to deserve this? I felt like crying. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't protect Sasuke like this. I couldn't do anything like this. I was breaking down. I couldn't handle the pressures of War...
I looked back at the dead body in front of me. I imagined what she, a loyal member of Sasuke's guard, could have said as her final words.
Protect Sasuke... I thought. That's what I should have been doing.
I ran up the stairs instead of down, and I saw a hall way that looked stainless and marble. It was such a pretty material that I couldn't believe that I could see in the midst of War. But I moved on after knocking on it with my knuckles.
When I exited the Hallway, I had to take in things quickly; the building was all silver, made of steel, and there were Angels and Fallen alike engaged in fights and brawls of various kind. I raised my Katana in one hand, keeping hold of my knives in another, and tried to skirt past the battle as much as I could; I needed to get to Sasuke's chambers. Quickly.
"I hope you're not trying to flee..." came a voice behind me, and out from the shadows of the nearest wall came a fallen, dressed in red and black, a smug smile on her face. "I'll have to kill you if you try to pass me. Please just leave now while you can. You look terrified."
"You took my people!" I yelled. "You're killing them!"
"Oh, just as you took my people in the Great Purging, in countless small battles while we clamored for peace from you and your Kings? Really. I would like to see you beg me for peace now!"
I was getting really angry; I had to get to Sasuke in a timely manner. I couldn't let him die; I wouldn't let him die.
"Please, just get out of my way!"
Whoosh!
It all happened in the blink of an eye; she dashed towards me and I summoned a bit of magic power and threw as many daggers as I could, my metallic wings moving with the power of fire there.
It took moments before I realized that I had pinned her down; before I realized that I had won the fight without hurting her. She now struggled against the very walls that she had emerged from. The din of the other fights poured over me but I shut them out.
"Let me go!" she cried. "Let me fight you one on one! Without weapons! We'll see what your sorry ass will do then!!"
I approached wall and slapped her. "You storm into our Layer, and you fight and you lose and we still allow you to escape with your life. And you still complain!" In my rage a swipe of my katana was all that it took, and her head was on the ground, rolling, the blood spouting from her neck an flowing free; Celestial blood never stopped flowing unless the skin was healed.
It wasn't until a moment afterward that I noticed I had just killed a living being. A being, with hopes and dreams and a life. What if she had had a husband? Or children? What if she had had...
I sunk to the ground again, dropped my katana and looked at my hands. The blood from my blade dripped droplets of crimson liquid on my fingertips, and I felt like a murderer.
I shouldn't have killed her. I shouldn't have...I shouldn't have...
"Get up and face your death, Daughter of Sanada!"
The voice jarred me, and my wings heated up, storing extra energy in the metal of my outercasing if I needed it.
I found the tip of a blade at my chin.
My eyes widened. She was an Angel who had kept her wings.
"Your...wings..." I said. "They weren't made by Sasuke."
The Koorie-ou was a industrial smith, and he had invented many things to make their lives better, more efficient. To help prepare them to defend themselves. Sasuke had, a long time ago, manufactured an outer casing of wings that would increase their speed of flight by pressurizing the heat given off by the wings, converting it to energy and storing it for later usage. Almost all angel had one, and were fitting for a new one as they grew up once every five years. When an Angel matured, they had a official size measured and they could purchase them in different styles at their leisure.
...and she...she didn't have a set.
"I am not of this layer," she said. "Beware, there are girls here who look like Sasuke's ilk but are not. They are called Lillum. You must watch out for them. They will kill you. Sasuke's chambers are up the Elevator. Here."
She pulled me up with one arm, in a show of strength that I had only seen from Mara, and hand led me past the carnage, which was beginning to subside now, to an elevator that stained with as much blood as the rest of the place.
"The main horde of beasts have left," the girl said. "They were looking for something, and they were only here long enough to see if it was here. It was not. They have left. Only the stragglers remain, and we are taking care of them. Sasuke appreciates your assistance."
There was a sound, and she pushed my off of the elevator before continuing on. I looked up--
and landed on the ground, searing pain going across my face; I had been hit with something.
A girl, who looked just about my age was twirling a chain around her arm; she was wearing the uniform of one of Sasuke's own servants, and I knew immediate that what the girl in the elevator had told me had been true. They were infiltrating the ranks of Heaven!
The girl facing me didn't say anything, but she loosened her chain and tried to hit me again. I thrust a spear against the chain, pulling her to me as it wrapped around it, but she jerked it back out of my grasp.
I stabbed at her arm, and still got nothing but the chain. I wasn't doing any damage!
She seemed to smile, and I smiled back in the heat of the moment.
"Sasuke-san!" I heard from the other direction, and I was distracted. The blow this time landed me on the ground, my opponent standing over me.
I tried to attack, but she whipped me relentlessly with her whip. I couldn't move without receiving another lash. The chains cut into my skin, and I cried out in pain; there was some enchantment on the thing to make injuries feel five times worse.
"Kill me!" I said, intelligible in the flames of pain that dance on my body. I could feel myself bleeding. I could feel my cuts growing to gashes, to slashes, and tears sprang from my eyes. I hadn't been cut out for this! I hadn't wanted this!
And the girl said nothing the whole time, standing over me, the pain blurring my vision as she stopped, looking down on my to give my final judgment...
The only thing I knew was that I had to protect my honorable Master. Aizawa Sasuke. They came for my peaceful temple first.
I hadn't seen that coming.
There was a trembling and an explosion, and then the sound of burning, just as I anticipated.
"Toriko, RUN!" The head priestess said loudly in my direction. "Evacuate the building!"
I ran down the wooden halls, feeling always as though the flame behind me would swallow me up. Sasuke had informed his entire nation that the Hellspawn would be retaliating for our attack. They were not pleased with the death of their Maryuu-ou; they were going to exact revenge--
There was another explosion, and I was slammed to the floor. I reached up to ring the emergency bell but in the quake everyone had already begun to panic, grabbing swords and katanas and whatever weapon that they had been trained with.
I myself grabbed a Katana.
A leader of this temple, they called me, because I had been the one chosen to guard Sasuke, the King. I had not yet left, and now, I feared I would never have the chance to do so.
That was when the first surge came--there were hundreds of Fallen, crawling over everything and engaging in combat. I stayed on the floor, momentarily dazed that we'd had to use our skills to fight in the first place. I had been training for years, but had never had to kill anyone. Never had to fight anyone. I didn't know if I could do it.
A hand grabbed my shoulder, and I jumped, hacking and slashing with my weapon like a mere child.
It was the head nun, Mara, with a little blood trickling down her chin. It made me feel good to know that she was alive.
"Please flee; we're holding them here, as you can see. Sasuke needs you. They are merely keeping us busy because we have the most trainees in the Layer. Go, please, so that we can all win this fight at the source."
The source? Wouldn't the Kings be there if...? I didn't want to think about fighting one of the Hellion Kings. It was something I couldn't fathom, like a nightmare come true.
That was when I looked around me.
"Please, go," Mara said. "They should be there already. We don't have time. I will have to use my magic to transport you myself."
Toriki was familiar with the feeling of magic; she used a bit of air, herself. She had never been told what type of magic Mara used; only that it was dangerous and that I should never tamper with it at all.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" came the loud, high pitched scream and sobbing that caused me to look over, and all I could see was one of my colleagues...covered in blood, the bodies of my other friends before her. She was washed in their blood, too, and tears sprang to my eyes.
Mara couldn't even afford to look, she was concentrating so hard on her spell--
A pair of black wings emerged behind her. My eyes widened, and I said, "Mara--"
I saw her turn swiftly to face her enemy, but then my vision went black. I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, I was somewhere different. Sasuke's palace.
It was large and ornate, decorated with awards and pictures stained with blood--
I tripped, stumbling on a flight of stairs that I came upon in the hallway and I steadied myself on the wall before looking down at the apparently hefty object.
And I screamed.
So much blood. So much carnage. Why was this happening now? What had the Heavenly Kingdom done to deserve this? I felt like crying. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't protect Sasuke like this. I couldn't do anything like this. I was breaking down. I couldn't handle the pressures of War...
I looked back at the dead body in front of me. I imagined what she, a loyal member of Sasuke's guard, could have said as her final words.
Protect Sasuke... I thought. That's what I should have been doing.
I ran up the stairs instead of down, and I saw a hall way that looked stainless and marble. It was such a pretty material that I couldn't believe that I could see in the midst of War. But I moved on after knocking on it with my knuckles.
When I exited the Hallway, I had to take in things quickly; the building was all silver, made of steel, and there were Angels and Fallen alike engaged in fights and brawls of various kind. I raised my Katana in one hand, keeping hold of my knives in another, and tried to skirt past the battle as much as I could; I needed to get to Sasuke's chambers. Quickly.
"I hope you're not trying to flee..." came a voice behind me, and out from the shadows of the nearest wall came a fallen, dressed in red and black, a smug smile on her face. "I'll have to kill you if you try to pass me. Please just leave now while you can. You look terrified."
"You took my people!" I yelled. "You're killing them!"
"Oh, just as you took my people in the Great Purging, in countless small battles while we clamored for peace from you and your Kings? Really. I would like to see you beg me for peace now!"
I was getting really angry; I had to get to Sasuke in a timely manner. I couldn't let him die; I wouldn't let him die.
"Please, just get out of my way!"
Whoosh!
It all happened in the blink of an eye; she dashed towards me and I summoned a bit of magic power and threw as many daggers as I could, my metallic wings moving with the power of fire there.
It took moments before I realized that I had pinned her down; before I realized that I had won the fight without hurting her. She now struggled against the very walls that she had emerged from. The din of the other fights poured over me but I shut them out.
"Let me go!" she cried. "Let me fight you one on one! Without weapons! We'll see what your sorry ass will do then!!"
I approached wall and slapped her. "You storm into our Layer, and you fight and you lose and we still allow you to escape with your life. And you still complain!" In my rage a swipe of my katana was all that it took, and her head was on the ground, rolling, the blood spouting from her neck an flowing free; Celestial blood never stopped flowing unless the skin was healed.
It wasn't until a moment afterward that I noticed I had just killed a living being. A being, with hopes and dreams and a life. What if she had had a husband? Or children? What if she had had...
I sunk to the ground again, dropped my katana and looked at my hands. The blood from my blade dripped droplets of crimson liquid on my fingertips, and I felt like a murderer.
I shouldn't have killed her. I shouldn't have...I shouldn't have...
"Get up and face your death, Daughter of Sanada!"
The voice jarred me, and my wings heated up, storing extra energy in the metal of my outercasing if I needed it.
I found the tip of a blade at my chin.
My eyes widened. She was an Angel who had kept her wings.
"Your...wings..." I said. "They weren't made by Sasuke."
The Koorie-ou was a industrial smith, and he had invented many things to make their lives better, more efficient. To help prepare them to defend themselves. Sasuke had, a long time ago, manufactured an outer casing of wings that would increase their speed of flight by pressurizing the heat given off by the wings, converting it to energy and storing it for later usage. Almost all angel had one, and were fitting for a new one as they grew up once every five years. When an Angel matured, they had a official size measured and they could purchase them in different styles at their leisure.
...and she...she didn't have a set.
"I am not of this layer," she said. "Beware, there are girls here who look like Sasuke's ilk but are not. They are called Lillum. You must watch out for them. They will kill you. Sasuke's chambers are up the Elevator. Here."
She pulled me up with one arm, in a show of strength that I had only seen from Mara, and hand led me past the carnage, which was beginning to subside now, to an elevator that stained with as much blood as the rest of the place.
"The main horde of beasts have left," the girl said. "They were looking for something, and they were only here long enough to see if it was here. It was not. They have left. Only the stragglers remain, and we are taking care of them. Sasuke appreciates your assistance."
There was a sound, and she pushed my off of the elevator before continuing on. I looked up--
and landed on the ground, searing pain going across my face; I had been hit with something.
A girl, who looked just about my age was twirling a chain around her arm; she was wearing the uniform of one of Sasuke's own servants, and I knew immediate that what the girl in the elevator had told me had been true. They were infiltrating the ranks of Heaven!
The girl facing me didn't say anything, but she loosened her chain and tried to hit me again. I thrust a spear against the chain, pulling her to me as it wrapped around it, but she jerked it back out of my grasp.
I stabbed at her arm, and still got nothing but the chain. I wasn't doing any damage!
She seemed to smile, and I smiled back in the heat of the moment.
"Sasuke-san!" I heard from the other direction, and I was distracted. The blow this time landed me on the ground, my opponent standing over me.
I tried to attack, but she whipped me relentlessly with her whip. I couldn't move without receiving another lash. The chains cut into my skin, and I cried out in pain; there was some enchantment on the thing to make injuries feel five times worse.
"Kill me!" I said, intelligible in the flames of pain that dance on my body. I could feel myself bleeding. I could feel my cuts growing to gashes, to slashes, and tears sprang from my eyes. I hadn't been cut out for this! I hadn't wanted this!
And the girl said nothing the whole time, standing over me, the pain blurring my vision as she stopped, looking down on my to give my final judgment...
