Chi-ga-Daira (Plain of Blood)

“I thought you could be repurposed, Chigadaira, but clearly I was wrong. I’ll just have to have Denkichi send you both to your next lives a little early, heh-heh. The boss man will forgive me for this…”

Try as she might to keep up her bubbly air, Karen was clearly distressed, perhaps even afraid. There Noe had something in common with her right now, as she was scared to her core. Here she was, fighting a creature which she didn’t know existed until about ten minutes ago, and which she still could not even begin to comprehend. In fact, she didn’t understand any of this; she just wanted it to end. It was no better and no less terrifying to her than the nightmares she had faced for nearly two weeks straight.

And yet, strangely, the onryo’s voice soothed her nerves, steadied her hand, and sharpened her instincts. It was as if all she needed to say was Fiat Mihi, and it was done. A little longer she could persist like this, she believed.

Denkichi freely flexed his lightning-like flail-arm, raising it up to the ceiling before quickly straightening out, sending a quick, heavy jab right where Noe was. Left, Chigadaira seemed to tell Noe, and so she shuffled left, positioning herself midway between Denkichi’s flail and the wall of this cramped room.

Denkichi swept his arm across the floor now, but Noe met this with Byakko-maru, and one bounced off of the other. The shikigami changed his angle, facing Noe straight-on and following up with another quick thrust, and another, and another. Noe parried each of these in succession, swiveling her sword every which way as Chigadaira commanded. Every clash and glance of their weapons left traces of fire and lightning lingering in the air, forming a cloud of glowing streaks around them.

This also, however, had the effect of dimming Noe’s vision even further. She could still be guided by Chigadaira, but she could not see to the back of the room, as something dark and metallic took shape in Karen’s hands. While much of the mass remained within these hands, some of it jutted forth, forming a long, thick barrel aimed right at Noe. Karen tried to steady her breathing, steady her aim; though she could certainly land a shot on the girl, she wanted to make sure the ghost over her would not be able to spur her on past her wounds—in other words, she wanted Noe dead in one.

Down the pistol’s iron sights, Karen could see the mark line up with Noe’s shoulder. She eased it to the left, but Noe suddenly jerked right, causing her to correct course, now overcorrect. Again and again she kept this up, bouncing back-and-forth after Noe’s heart like a tennis ball between two invisible walls, until suddenly—

WOOMPH!

Something struck hard into the back of Karen’s left knee. She went down, falling backwards onto the shattered floor, and her arms became entangled in another pair of arms. While trying to keep her grip on the gun, she tensed too hard and let a bullet fly up into the ceiling. The recoil and the force of the other arms pulling hers apart made her drop the firearm altogether, making a clatter as it hit the floor.

Now Karen tried to get up, but a pair of legs wrapped around her hips and pinned her down. Just behind her ear, she could hear and feel staggered breaths.

“I—don’t—think—so!” strained Leonor as she kept her hold on Karen’s back.

The combination of a bullet phasing through him and the sounds of struggle as his master got grappled to the ground made Denkichi lose his focus on Noe and Chigadaira. His flail-arm hovered where it was, in a defensive position, while he tilted his head down and to the back (he had no eyes, but one might assume he was preparing to face his master if she needed his help).

Chigadaira took this as a cue to act, and spurred Noe on once again. In a similar manner as Karen before, Noe drew the sword back and unleashed a powerful horizontal cut, knocking the flail-arm out of her way. Then she broke into a short sprint, switching her sword into her left hand and letting it tear through Denkichi’s arm the whole way up. Denkichi was slow to realize what was happening, and had no space to react; by the time he had the chance, Noe was already airborne, flying straight towards him, Byakko-maru brandished above her head.

CHESUTOOOOOOOOO!!!

This time, the war-cry heralded a crushing defeat for Noe’s enemies. As she swung downward, the arc of her sword first made contact with the ceiling of the room, ripping a gash where it went. Then it struck Denkichi dead-and-center. As with his arm before, sparks rained out from where the sword carved its way through his body, now greater volume. Furthermore, his milky-white skin became a bitter, rusty red, and he lost all shape as his body came splashing down to the floor in a blood-colored mush.

Once it had made its way through Denkichi, the sword also struck the back wall, blowing a massive hole through it, giving all three girls in the room a view of the psychedelic sands, the hallucinogenic desert, once again. Though no sun shone in the sky, Noe still felt rays beat down upon her, and saw the pools of blood about her glisten.

Now it was time to deal with this Karen for good. Chigadaira first brought Noe over to where she had dropped her firearm on the floor. With a simple stab of a reverse-gripped sword, it was put out of commission. Then Noe turned to Leonor and Karen, the latter of whom was wide-eyed in fear and shock.

“Denkichi…how did you…?!”

Chigadaira whispered to Noe again, but this was not a command—it was a message. Noe passed it on.

“You should have thought of that,” she said with an uncharacteristic fullness, “when your ‘boss’ put that hex on this sword of mine. Nun, you did well to subdue that witch. Release her.”

“Wha—?!” replied Leonor, still struggling to keep Karen, a girl who certainly weighed more than her, pinned down.

“DO IT, YOU WHORE OF THE NAMBAN-JIN!!” Noe bellowed, pointing her saber at the pair. Leonor flashed her an incredulous glare, and then slowly released her hold. Karen, eager to be free, immediately rolled off of her and got up on her hands and knees.

“Ch—Chigadaira!” she gleefully exclaimed. “H—Have you finally come to your—”

WOOMPH!

Karen was once again kicked to the ground, this time by a hard stomp on her back. Her nose broke against a jagged floor tile.

“Djigadaira…blease…” she eked out.

“Please,” jeered Noe, with one foot firmly planted on Karen’s back, “spare me your begging, witch. Your plot was futile from the start.” She leveled Byakko-maru just between Karen’s shoulder blades, right above her backpack.

“B—But…This is your chance…! To get revenge on the people who killed you in their God’s name…! That was what you swore, wasn't it?!”

“I did. But were I able to sate my grudge against the namban-jin, I would have done so long ago. Four hundred years I have roamed this land, and not one have I found who rivalled my strength all those years ago. But you—you think you can make a peasant my vessel, and me a pawn for your petty squabble with your fellow conjurers?! Your aim, for me to kill one man?! My way is the way of the sword, wench! I care not for your trickery and illusions—my strength is true strength!”

“If—If you killed him, you could be reborn, and live the life you had before—seeking out true strength, living only for the glory of battle, and the honor of your master—”

“FOOL!” Noe roared, her face snarling like that of a beast cornering its prey. “CHIGADAIRA TORAJIRO HAS NEITHER GOD NOR MASTER! For your insolence, your blood shall be the first sup of sustenance my blade has had in centuries!”

Noe slowly lowered Byakko-maru, its tip pressing into the canvas of Karen’s backpack. This canvas began to slowly blackened, and then smolder, and then smoke. As the backpack gave way, the sword then reached Karen’s tablet, the glass on which began to color and bubble.

“N—No!” Karen shouted, looking over her shoulder. “Anything but that…! You can just kill me, for all I care!”

“Oho,” jeered Noe again. “So this machine is the source of your illusion, eh? Well, I don’t think we should tarry here any longer.”

As the sword continued to sear through Karen’s tablet, the environment around them began to corrode. Some chunks of the wall turned black, others green, and still others many different colors. The TV in the room displayed nothing but static. A massive void of black encroached on the desert outside.

“Dammit!” exclaimed Karen. “HUM!!!”

A bright flash. The karaoke room was restored, the walls pieced back together, the floor reformed, and every surface cleared of Denkichi’s ichor.

Noe still stood atop a prone Karen, brandishing Byakko-maru, but Karen’s nose had been un-broken, set back in place. Likewise, Leonor was sprawled out on the floor, but there was no longer a gash in her shoulder from where Karen had struck her with the bokken.

Taking advantage of having been the one to bring them back, Karen used her second wind to roll over again and swat Noe’s leg off of her. While Noe stumbled, she got back up on her feet and backed towards the TV screen.

“Remember,” she said to Noe and Chigadaira. “Remember the Archbishop!”

KIMON!

Karen leapt backwards, headfirst into the TV screen. As she dove in, her whole body seemed to turn into formless plasma, and then disappear. Noe scoffed, though this scoff likely originated from Chigadaira. Then she turned to Leonor.

“You,” she began, “whore of the namban-jin. Do not think you have escaped my wrath. My sword cries out for blood—if it cannot have that witch, you shall be a fitting subst—”

Suddenly, Noe’s hand cupped over her own mouth, and her eyes widened in surprise at the words that had just come out of it.

“S—Sorry, Leonie!” Noe frantically apologized, slowly lowering her hand. “Th—This guy just keeps telling me what to do, and my mind kind of went on autopilot… No, I’m not—No, I—SHUT UP! Shut up, okay?! I’m not killing Leonie! I don’t care who she is to you, she’s my friend!”

Leonor simply stared on in disbelief as Noe had a full-fledged conversation with her haunter.

“Noe…” she called out. “Everything alright?”

“I’m fine, it’s just this stupid ghost! He keeps trying to whisper in my ears! …Oh, wait, it’s getting quieter. And…gone.”

Noe let out a long sigh and joined Leonor in collapsing to the floor.

“That was terrifying…” she moaned. “Felt like I was stuck in a nightmare. Who even was that girl?”

“Noe,” replied Leonor through heavy pants, “you remember what you said back there?”

“N—Not really." Noe clutched her head. "Like I said, I kinda just let the ghost take over. Everything that happened between then and when we got back here…feels like a blur… But I remember what that girl said, about wanting to take the ghost from me. What was that all about?”