Koharu vs. Kiyomi

Ignacio stood, his body rippling with pain. Dario hefted Koharu in his arms, staring up at the blimp as it slowed.

“Geez,” Dario said, his voice crackling with fire. “You did that?”

Ignacio smiled as he stared up, brushing ash off his shirt. “I guess so.”

He turned to the Sentinel. The Dragon masked man ran toward it, jacket billowing behind him. Ignacio snarled.

He turned to Koharu as she lay curled in Dario’s arms. He brushed the hair from her face, placing a kiss on her cheek.

“Keep her safe, Dario,” he said.

Dario nodded, the flames around his skull swaying. “You sure you want to do this?”

Ignacio walked towards the Sentinel, each step sending agony rippling through his body.

“I’m more than sure.”

He started running, pumping his arms and ignoring the agony that racked his body. He jumped, Koharu’s blue-light flaring from his hands and feet, and he rocketed towards the Sentinel.

***

Kaito pulled the lever, the ramp into the blimp slowly lowering as gears and cogs clinked and rattled.

Kaito turned as a man stepped up beside him, a wooden pipe in his mouth.

“Is that real?” Kaito asked.

The man nodded, waving the pipe. “It’s my connector from the real world.”

Kaito nodded as the ramp lowered fully, the vacuum pulling at them both. The man with the pipe stared ahead, his face unchanging, his coat and scarf thrashing in the wind.

“You’re Elisio?” Kaito asked.

“In the flesh, Kaito,” Elisio said, offering a hand.

Kaito shook it. “Let’s get these bastards.”

Elisio sighed. “So uncivilized.”

They both ran down the ramp, nose diving through the air. Elisio deviated to the side, probably to gain distance to use his Aspect.

Go get them, Kaito thought, smiling.

A red blaze shot towards Elisio like a comet from the ground.

That’s a strange Aspect…

The red blaze zipped past Elisio, then turned and went back for him, leaving streaks and circles of red light around him in a flurry. And Elisio’s body fell… in pieces.

What in the trenches!

The red blaze of light turned, and shot straight towards him. He snarled, holding his hand out to the side and producing the Phoenix Blade with a flare of orange light.

The red blaze streaked closer. And his finger began to twitch. He leaned back, landing feet-first with a boom.

He turned, slashing the Phoenix blade and narrowly missing the woman in the red blaze as she spun towards him. He rolled forward, turning to find her standing on the ground, a chuckle escaping her lips.

She lifted her head, blood staining her face, her red dress dark in places where Elisio’s blood had splattered.

Kaito raised his sword. “Kiyomi.”

She wiped her face with the back of her hand. “Kaito.”

“You betrayed my sister,” Kaito snarled.

She shook her head, smiling as her eyes began to glow. “Just learning from the best, Kaito.”

His nose wrinkled in anger. “Why would you?”

“The same reason why you people are stupid enough to try fighting us,” she hissed, crouching with her blades raised. “I think it's for the best. Even when it isn’t easy.”

Kaito shook his head, poising his blade. “No. It’s what you’ve been told is for the best.”

She chuckled again, her arms hanging limply. “Whatever you say, Kaito.”

“Where’s-”

A blaze of green light erupted to Kaito’s left, and from it rose a massive, green Dragon made of flames. His jaw slacked.

He’d seen Dragon Aspects before. But none of them were that big. And none of them had been green.

Kiyomi turned back to him. “Does that answer your question?”

Kaito shot her a sideway glare, and leapt forward, roaring as he raised his sword.

She flashed backwards, his sword slicing through the air. She leapt towards him, eyes flaring as she raised her blades.

Kaito leaned to the side, grunting as the one blade lopped off the side of his ear. He pivoted around, raising his sword as warm blood trickled down the side of his head.

She’s so fast, he thought, gritting his teeth.

She panted, leaning her head back as curls of red smoke rose from her body. “I know what you think you’re doing,” she said. “Playing the hero? Saving the world?” she laughed, shaking her head. “This whole world is just one big stage, Kaito. And we’re just the dancers-”

Kaito spun around, swinging his sword. It clanged against her blades, and she licked the blood off her lip.

“So, we dance,” she said.

She flipped in the air, kicking off a cloud of red smoke and drilling towards him. He swung, knocking her off course, but she rebounded. Red sparks flew as their blades clashed, a flurry of orange and red flashes following as they swung at each other in a flurry. Kaito grunted as she nicked him on the neck with the tip of her blade.

“So slow, Kaito!” she said, swinging left and right, sparks spraying as Kaito blocked. “Whatever happened to the leader of the great Specteveil?”

He swung, cutting her face as she tried leaning her head out of the way. She screeched, leaping backwards as she clutched her bleeding chin.

She looked at the blood on her hand. “Oh. Now you messed up.”

A tome rose into her palm where the blood was, and the pages flipped open. He tried lunging for her, but his blade struck air as she took to the sky.

“There’s something I want you to know, before you die, Kaito,” she said, blood dripping from her chin. “I was the one who killed Koharu.”

His eyes widened. “What?”

She chuckled. “She screamed like a little girl, Kaito. I suppose that’s what happens when someone is abandoned by everyone they love. They don’t grow up.”

The side of Kaito’s neck pulsed, his heart racing. His breaths shallowed, panic rising in his body. Like he was trapped in a small room filled with water, and it was rising above his head.

His eyes flickered to the side as something dark moved behind a rock that had been burned black.

“What’s wrong, Kaito?” Kiyomi said, grinning. “Fear’s coming back for you?”

She yelped as a flash of blue light hit her in the back, exploding into a plume of navy sparks. Kiyomi crashed to the ground with a groan, smoke rising from her body. Kaito looked up as a ball of blue light floated towards him.

His shoulders lifted. “Koharu?”

Blue light enveloped her in a tongue of flame. Her right eye and mouth shone with her light, left eye closed with a gash across it.

Kiyomi turned over, her eyes widening. Kaito lunged forward with his sword raised, but Kiyomi flipped over him, stumbling and falling to her knees.

She looked over her shoulder, her lip trembling. “You…”

Koharu raised a hand, and a large blue portal opened above Kiyomi.

“Leave my brother alone,” Koharu snarled.

Kiyomi glanced up at the portal, her eyes dilating. Three more portals flashed behind her and to her sides, boxing her in.

Koharu stayed in the air, her hand outstretched. “Why, Ki? Why did you do it?”

Kiyomi spluttered, and laughed. “Why did I do it? Because I had to, Koharu! Because no matter how much you try, no matter how hard you fight, this is a battle you can’t win.”

Kaito swung his sword over his shoulder. “So you just turn to evil, because it’s the easier option?”

Kiyomi shook her head, pounding her fist against the burnt grass. “It’s the option that works, Kaito.”

Koharu’s body lost its glow, leaving the light that streamed from her hands and feet to stay in the air.

“You were the closest thing I had to a sister, Kiyomi,” she said.

Kiyomi chuckled, pressing a hand over her eye. “So were you.”

A blade formed along her arm as she spun to Kaito. He raised his blade as Koharu slashed her hand downward, beams of light crossing from the three portals and enveloping Kiyomi, her screams fading as she disintegrated into a red mist.