~Notes~
Before you go ahead and read this two-chapter special, I’d like to take a moment to thank all my readers who’ve been supporting me from the very beginning, up to my 1000th like. And as a token of my appreciation, I’ve put together a little two-chapter special for you guys. ^^

Episode 52 The Monster in the Sky

Kunai falls to his knees, and stays there, frozen to the ground. Ryuu’s sword has penetrated his chest, going straight through. Shakily, Ryuu pulls out the sword, and catches Kunai as he falls, even as blood spills from his various battle wounds.

“Ry…yuu…” Kunai gasps hoarsely, clutching his chest.

Ryuu pants heavily from the effort of fighting. At last, defeated, he casts his blade aside, letting it crash to the floor with a clatter. “You…gonna…stop now, Kunai?”

“You…won,” Kunai mutters, his voice low. “It’s up to you. But for now, I’ll concede defeat.” He weakly reaches for his neck, replacing around it the black necklace Azuma had given him. Immediately, Kunai’s sword disappears, and it reverts back to its form as a claw.

“Just what the hell did Azuma teach you…” Ryuu mutters to himself, staring at Myou. He turns to Kunai, laying him gently on the ground.

Ryuu reaches into his pocket, and removes from it a short supply of white bandages. He immediately begins wrapping them around Kunai’s chest, patching up his wounds. “Hang on, Kunai. My last attack was pretty shallow. Obviously, it’s gonna hurt for a while, but there’s no chance it’ll kill you.”

“It’s alright…Ryuu.” Kunai’s voice is hoarse and gasping, as if he is struggling for breath. “I…deserved it.”

Ryuu looks up at this moment, his green eyes staring for a long time forward, at nothing particular. Finally, he dares himself to look down into Kunai’s eyes, and surprises himself. ‘Strange…his eyes…it’s almost like a candle that’s gone out. The light in them is totally different from the one a moment before.’

“Ryuu.”

Kunai’s voice suddenly jerks Ryuu back to the present. He starts, glancing down at Kunai as he treats his injuries. “Huh? What’s wrong, Kunai?”

“I was just wondering about…what’s going on.”

“No clue,” Ryuu replies bluntly, “but it can’t be anything other than trouble. We have to hurry back to the others and help them out. Can you stand?” Ryuu moves back, allowing Kunai the space to rise.

Kunai rises to his feet, shakily, yet steadily, and sways a bit, before he regains his footing. “Y-Yeah,” Kunai replies, “looks like I can stand pretty well.”

“Good,” Ryuu growls, “we may be getting ourselves in another fight very soon, once we figure out what’s going on back in town.”

“Ryuu.” Ryuu glances at Kunai apprehensively, noting the tension in his voice. The two of them fail to make eye contact. “What about Shuriken?”

Ryuu shrugs, hardly glancing at his immobile body. “Forget it. Just leave him. Whether he lives or not, we don’t have the luxury to worry about that. If he lives, he lives. We don’t have the proper time to deal with him right now.”

“Right,” Kunai replies.

“All right,” Ryuu says, “if you’re ready, we’ll leave now. Haste us so we can get back faster.”

Kunai hurriedly Hastes the both of them, and without bothering to look back at Shuriken, the two of them depart at top speed back down the cobblestone road.

However, unseen by Kunai and Ryuu, a third person enters the vicinity of the battle scene, his footsteps clicking softly on the cobbled road. He turns with the swish of a black kimono to the body of Shuriken.

“One more thing,” Ryuu says, as he and Kunai run side by side over the rooftops of several buildings. They leap from one to another, taking advantage of the effects of Haste to cut across the road.

“I have no idea what it was that Azuma taught you down there in the Underworld, but obviously it was something extremely powerful. You’ll have to explain it to me later. But whatever the case is, please promise me one thing, Kunai: from now on, promise me you won’t release that sword of yours. Just don’t use it, not until we can gauge exactly what its effects are on you, all right?”

“Yeah,” Kunai replies, “I have no intention of using it any longer myself either, not unless—”

“Not unless someone’s life or your own is at stake,” Ryuu completes for Kunai.

“Right,” Kunai retorts.

The two of them fall into silence once more, as they continue to sprint over the rooftops, chasing down the others and the rest of the commotion.

A soft squishing and plopping goes unnoticed in the quiet morning, as a tiny green shell pops out of the rubble of several fallen buildings and uprooted sidewalks. A tiny head with two feeble eyes emerges from out of the shell, a cross look in its eyes.

“Phew!” Otis cries, stretching his tiny head about. “Boy…that was some explosion, eh, Redheaded Gorilla?” Otis glances around, looking for Ryuu, before realizing he has disappeared.

“Redheaded Gorilla?” Otis peers around, his eyes squinting indignantly. “Oi! Hey! Redheaded Gorilla! Where the hell have you gone?!”

Otis scrambles about, darting from left to right, unsure of himself. “Damn it, Redheaded Gorilla!” Otis grumbles to himself. “Just like him to leave me alone out here. What am I supposed to do now, Redheaded Gorilla?!”

All of a sudden, Otis’s eyes twitch, as he picks up on the sound of approaching footsteps. He slides over to hide behind a particularly large piece of rubble, and glances out at the scene from behind it.

“Eh?!” Tide cries in alarm, his eyes widening while he sprints right next to Silver. “You’ve gotta be kidding me when you say that.”

Tide and Silver lead the pack, as Ivy, Lily, and Sasha trail behind. The five of them are out of breath and sweating fiercely, but they continue to drag on, headed towards the arena where Lilith has spawned.

“I’m not kidding, unfortunately,” Silver replies humorlessly. “Those guys naming themselves as the Soul Eaters have decided to come out at last—but that’s the least of our worries. There’s—”

“Lilith,” Ivy completes for Silver.

Silver glances back at Ivy, her eyes gloomy and expressionless. “Right.”

“Oi! Gorillas!” Otis squeaks, popping out from behind his hiding spot.

The group fails to hear him, and continues to sprint onwards. However, Lily turns briefly around, catching a quick glimpse of Otis out of the corner of her eye.

“I detect a faint air of idiocy from ground level,” Lily says to Ivy.

Ivy blinks, turning around, and spots Otis. The others pause impatiently, looking on. “Ivy, what are you doing?” Silver says. “We don’t have time to stop and smell the roses.”

“Otis!” Ivy cries aloud, kneeling over and picking Otis up in her arms. “Okay! Let’s go!” Ivy turns to Silver, and the two of them nod at each other.

“I hope we aren’t too late for Ayame,” Sasha mutters under her breath, as the sky above them grows an ever more bloodthirsty crimson.

“Not if we can help it,” Tide growls, wrapping his hand around the hilt of his sheathed Zard.

Azuria darts out of nowhere, kicking Ayame from behind. She stumbles to her knees, already bleeding from her lip and shoulder. Ayame reaches out with her Geta, blocking a stabbing thrust from Azuria only just in time.

However, in doing so, Ezekiel slashes at her with his Heaven’s Gate, splitting open a ravine of crimson blood running straight across Ayame’s chest. “Do not continue to stand in our way!”

Noel fires his bow from the side, piercing Ayame with two of his arrows. At last out of strength, Ayame collapses to the floor, while Azuria pins her down.

“D-Damn…” Ayame mutters, her voice barely able to even utter the words. Her eyelids close halfway, while strands of her own hair cloud her vision. “Stupid…how could I even think of taking on all three of them at once?”

“Step out of the way,” Ezekiel’s voice suddenly rises in the air commandingly.

For a moment, Ayame opens her eyes, a brief glimmer of hope sparkling in them. However, in the next, she realizes that the command is for his own comrades.

“ The great Lilith is about to descend.”

The very air vibrates as the floor too begins rocking gently, as if a great vacuum is wrestling with it. Suddenly, a deafening roar shreds the atmosphere, as the entire head of Lilith emerges, then the neck.

The creature with the head of a black dragon and lidless, yellow eyes glares down at the tiny world below, dwarfing it considerably. It opens its great mouth, and each fang is revealed to be a howling Paradox, waving its own ravenous beak.

“May the great Lilith please accept our humble sacrifice in payment for Her great patience,” Ezekiel recites into the air, almost shouting. “This girl shall be thine first meal.”

‘Wh-what?!’ Life suddenly breathes itself into Ayame’s depleted mind, as she is jerked wide awake by Ezekiel’s words. She forces her eyes to look up, and sees the huge leviathan sitting in the sky before her.

Slowly, and very gradually, the monster lowers its jaws towards the earth, and approaches Ayame steadily, with its fangs shrieking loudly in contempt and excitement.

A sudden gleam of metal intercepts the wide open mouth of Lilith, and a sword sings delightedly as it shaves one of Lilith’s fangs clean off.

A second, heavier sword appears, knocking out a whole set of teeth from Lilith’s jaw. The shattered teeth fall to the ground, and disintegrate into a melting darkness.

Ayame peels open her weary eyes, only to find Tide and Sasha fighting Lilith, with Silver and Lily helping from the sidelines. Looking closer, Ayame finds her own sister kneeling beside her. “I-Ivy?!”

“There’s no need to talk anymore, Ayame,” Ivy whispers soothingly, cradling her in her arms as she heals her. “I’m healing your wounds.”

“Wh…what about Ryuu…” Ayame stutters, coughing the words out.

“Ryuu’s going to be here soon, too. Everybody is. Kunai even came to help,” Ivy whispers.

She turns away, looking down at the ground while Otis perches himself comfortably on her shoulder. ‘That’s right,’ Ivy thinks to herself, ‘and Kunai too.’

“Hey! What about those guys?” Otis cries, nodding his head over in the direction of the Soul Eaters. “They’re gettin’ away!”

“You’re right!” Ivy gasps. “Silver! What about the Soul Eaters?!”

Silver turns, watching even as the Soul Eaters disappear from the arena. She bites her lip, but shakes her head at Ivy. “No. Let them go. Right now all of our resources have to be concentrated on stopping Lilith.”

“Crap! And where the hell do you think you’re going?!” Tide grimaces, as Lilith turns her great mouth, causing a fang to slash Tide along the arm.

He bounces back, grabbing his arm by instinct. Sasha backs off as well, while Lilith raises its horrible, fanged mouth back into the sky. “It’s getting away!” Sasha shouts.

“This is bad,” Silver mutters, “no matter what, don’t let Lilith leave this arena! If she gets out…if she’s out…she’ll destroy this world. Concentrate entirely on knocking her back!”

“We don’t have nearly enough manpower to do that!” Tide protests. “Even if we all attack at once, what chances are we gonna have of even pushing her back just a little?”

“We have to try anyway!” Silver replies. “Everyone! Throw your strongest attacks at it at the same time! Got it?!”

Tide, Sasha, Lily, and Ivy turn to her, nodding in understanding. “Right!” they shout in unison.

“Ready?” Silver asks, pulling her own bowstring and loading it with an arsenal of Strafes.

Sasha charges her Berzerker with a Dragon Buster, while Tide and Lily force out a Power Strike as well. Ivy aims her own Holy Arrow up at the beast.

“Aim…” Silver directs, “FIRE!”

The five of them attack as one, watching as their attacks mingle in the air. The combined attack plows into Lilith’s side, creating a slight explosion of smoke with the contact. However, the attack barely scratches Lilith, as she completely ignores them, on her way into the town outside.

“Not good…” Ivy murmurs, “we need something stronger!”

“Like an amplifier,” Kunai says next to her. He equips Myou the claw over his arm, while Ryuu follows, coming to a stop right behind Kunai.

“Kunai!” Ivy screams in surprise.

Silver, Tide, Sasha, Lily, and Ivy especially, stare, as Kunai holds his claw outstretched. It glows with a rapidly brightening white light, as he holds it in front of him. “Amplifier?” Sasha gasps.

“That’s just what I’ve got.”

Meanwhile, far outside the arena, the body of Zack remains lying on the floor, motionless and still. His skin has grown extremely pale, as life extracts itself from his useless body.

Soft footsteps slowly approach from afar, with the swish of a black kimono following it. The feet belonging to the footstep-maker come to a stop right in front of the poisoned corpse.

This new arrival kneels over Zack, stroking his cheek with a hand fully wrapped in black bandages.

“It’s simple,” Kunai replies to the stunned faces of his comrades, “you guys just shoot your attacks into me. I’ll then collect the power as mana and fire it away, kinda like a cannon. The concentration of your attacks into concrete mana will probably increase the strength of the initial attack by tenfold.”

“And this is not going to hurt you, right, Kunai?” Ivy asks worriedly.

Kunai smiles wryly, shaking his head ever so slightly. “No. You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine no matter what, Ivy.”

“All right then,” Ryuu growls, “fire away.”

“On one, then,” Silver instructs, loading her Asianic Bow with another Strafe, “we’ll fire our attacks.”

Sasha, Tide, Lily, and Ivy ready their attacks as before, while Ryuu himself contributes an enormous arrow made by Magic Composition.

“Ready…” Silver shouts, “set…

“GO!”

As one, all six of them fire at once into Kunai’s claw. Bracing himself, Kunai clenches his teeth, suppressing a scream as the power courses through him.

“GO!” Kunai yells, firing away with the mana cannon. A white light as wide as a skyscraper and twice as long escapes from his claw, one single beam headed straight towards Lilith.

The laser blast crashes into Lilith, causing her to stumble and fall. She screams, flailing about violently in pain. She thrashes her tail, before turning around and retreating at once, forcing her enormous body through the hole in the sky.

All of a sudden, the sky lightens into a pale red and orange again, depicting none of the chaos that had been there moments before.

Kunai falls to his knees, as Ivy and Ryuu rush to his side. They give him worried stares, while Kunai continually shakes his head, refusing their aide.

“I’m…fine,” Kunai stutters, coughing blood out from his mouth.

“You’re certainly not fine!” Ivy shouts, wrapping her arms around him.

Ryuu, however, looks silently on, his face grim and serious. He glances quickly down at his own wounds, hastily patched up. ‘Mana manipulation, huh?’

The man in the black kimono standing beside Shuriken reaches forward towards his face, where a mask in the shape of a deathly white skull lurks, its hollow eyes staring into nothingness.

Suddenly, the man stretches his empty hands out, and a Blue Marine appears in his right hand out of nowhere. The man tugs at his mask, sliding it off just a little. Meanwhile, he speaks, the owner of a deep, low voice.

“O Heavens, bless me for the magic I cast now.”

Elsewhere, a woman with curling, long, black hair, her face hidden behind a similar skull mask as well, does the same. She hovers over Zack, arms stretched out as if in a prayer.

She suddenly releases her hands, holding them stretched out on either side. The woman bows her head, thrusting her masked face into a greater darkness.

“Bless me for the magic I cast now.”

Next Time: Episode 53 Denouement

Otis: What’s this, what’s this?! The gorillas have saved the world again?!

Ryuu: Only for now…

Tide: Eep? What’s with this totally negative attitude?! I’m gonna go out…

Silver: Out where, gambling and drinking booze while you undress promiscuous women with your eyes?

Tide: Eheheheh! Wanna join me?

Otis: Such a place exists?!

Silver: …

Tide/Otis: Oww! You don’t have to smack me!

Kunai: Peace is so hard to come by.

Episode 53 Denouement coming soon!