Tales of a Lost Sword 19

Episode 19 Crossroads
“No!” Cynthia cries desperately, as Takuya’s grip tightens around her wrist. Her arm freezes over completely, enveloped in a thick layer of ice.

Takuya sneers, his eyes burning with a merciless glow. Kunai watches from the sideline with amazement, his jaw dropping slightly. “Impossible…I thought for sure that was going to end the fight! How did he recover?!”

Cynthia falls to the ground as Takuya finally relinquishes his grip on her. Her right arm collapses with her, completely frozen and useless. Her Kandine drops to the ground just out of her reach.

Kunai stares on in shock. As Takuya turns his attention towards him, Kunai finally reacts. “Damn it!” he shouts desperately. “Just what kind of monster are you?!”

“Monster?” Takuya says in his feminine voice. “Well…I suppose that is one way you may call us. When I woke up, I was surprised to find myself sharing a body with my nephew, but now that we’ve finally gotten used to fighting with each other…there’s nothing like it! Hahaha! This Anti-Paradox…I don’t know exactly what it is, but it sure is a fabulous invention! There’s no way I can let you have it!”

‘This Anti-Paradox…it really is a screwed up invention,’ Kunai thinks, watching as Takuya laughs hysterically. ‘Why am I even fighting this guy for it? Do I really want something that will make me this messed up? And yet…look at how powerful this guy is.’

Takuya suddenly attacks. He swings his ice sword ferociously at Kunai. “This shall be the requiem of your death!” he screeches.

Kunai barely dodges the attack in time. Out of nowhere, a flash of blue light appears around him. He feels a pair of hands grab him and lift him off his feet. A couple seconds later, he reappears some feet away from Takuya. Kunai stares at Zack standing next to him, breathing heavily from the effort of teleporting the two of them away.

“Ya fallin’ asleep, or what, Kunai?” Zack says, a glint in his eye. “This ain’t the time t’be daydreamin’!”

“Zack…” Kunai mutters. “What about Mira?”

“She’ll be fine,” Zack replies briskly, “I’ve taken care of her wounds. Ophelia’s lookin’ over her now.”

A thick mist settles low over the ground, shrouding everything in fog. Kunai and Zack stand side by side, their weapons raised.

“We’ve gotta be careful,” Kunai says.

“Yeah,” Zack agrees.

Takuya emerges out of the fog at last. He raises his sword, screaming loudly. “This is your requiem!”

Zack dodges the attack by teleporting away. Takuya’s sword smashes into the ground instead, kicking up clouds of dirt into the icy air. Kunai takes his chance and forms an Avenger, landing a direct blow on Takuya.

However, Takuya merely uses that opportunity to viciously grab Kunai’s arm in his grip. He holds it firmly in his hands, his eyes lighting up gleefully. The very tips of Kunai’s fingers begin to become covered with frost.

“Crap!” Kunai yells, frantically trying to wrench himself free from Takuya’s grasp.

“Stare into the depths of the requiem of your death!” Takuya howls, a demonic look in his eyes.

Kunai struggles vainly against Takuya. “At this rate my arm’s gonna be…”

“Explosion!” Ophelia’s voice sounds from somewhere beyond the fog. A wave of fire suddenly crashes over both Takuya and Kunai, engulfing them within a searing fireball.

Kunai grimaces, as the flames lick greedily at him. Takuya covers the both of them with a shield of ice, attempting feverishly to hold off the crescent of flames.

However, the flames prove too hot this time. The wall of ice collapses with a resounding crash, as the flames break it apart. Ice falls to the ground like rain. Kunai finally manages to pull himself free from Takuya’s reach. He flexes the fingers of his right hand, checking to make sure they remain fully functional.

“Nice one, Ophelia!”

Takuya rapidly recovers, however, and leaps after Kunai, his sword raised again to strike. Kunai clenches his teeth, bracing himself for the attack. But Takuya abruptly comes to a crashing stop, as blood spews forth from his chest. Kunai gasps as Cynthia pants heavily behind Takuya, removing her Kandine from within Takuya’s chest with her left hand. More blood splatters onto the ground.

Takuya falls to his knees, his breathing ragged. Cynthia lowers her left arm, her right arm still useless. Blood covers her entire left arm as she cradles her dagger with her left hand.

“C-Cynthia!” Kunai cries with amazement.

“Finish him off, you idiot!” Cynthia gasps, clenching her teeth in pain. She collapses to the ground.

“Y-Yeah!” Kunai shouts. He fumbles around to grab a Steely, but before he can react, Takuya rises to his feet again, a thick film of ice filling in the space in his chest where he’d been stabbed. Kunai’s eyes widen with shock. “Impossible…”

“Die!” Takuya shouts in a deep, low voice. He raises his sword and swings at Kunai recklessly.

Kunai jumps backward, as Takuya relentlessly swipes at him again and again with his sword. Zack teleports just behind Takuya, aiming a Holy Arrow right between his shoulders.

Takuya spins just as the Holy Arrow arrives, blocking it with his ice sword. He sends a chilling blast of frozen stalagmites at Zack, who is forced to teleport away to avoid the devastating attack. Instead, the attack smashes into a grove of trees, uprooting them from the ground.

“Now!” Kunai shouts, dashing up to Takuya and throwing another Avenger into his side. Takuya turns vehemently to Kunai, taking the attack in stride. He allows Kunai’s momentum to carry him past him, and then pierces Kunai’s thigh with his ice sword.

Kunai screams out loud, as blood pours forth from his wound. He is forced to his knees, as Takuya drives his sword deeper into Kunai’s flesh. Then, he removes the sword, allowing a steady stream of blood to flow out of the wound. The frosty air bites the wound, doubling the pain in Kunai’s leg.

“Damn…it…” Kunai hisses, struggling to keep his concentration.

Takuya raises his sword over Kunai’s head. At the last second, a beam of white light pierces Takuya from the side, causing him to stumble. Zack lowers his Kage, winking as his arrow makes contact. “Direct hit!” he cries. He turns to his side. “Now, Ophelia!”

Ophelia steps forward, fanning a great fireball of flame. “Ready…fire!” she shouts. All at once, a massive explosion of flame leaks out from Ophelia’s fan. It rotates around in a circle, quickly gaining momentum as the fireball begins to spiral out of control. The fireball suddenly swells into a giant globe of fire a mile in diameter, covering the entire area with its devastating flames.

Zack’s eyes widen upon the sight. Kunai and Cynthia both look up from the ground, barely registering the size of the fireball. Takuya looks up just as the fireball swells and then begins to contract.

Zack jumps forward, panicking. “Oph—!”

Ophelia screams as the fireball continues to contract. “I…I can’t control it!”

Several more seconds pass. Then, with a deafening explosion, the fireball collapses completely, shedding a massive shockwave of fire and energy flowing outwards from its center.

Everyone ducks as the wave of energy flows out from the center of the fireball. Several trees and buildings simply disintegrate into the air under the weight of the fireball’s enormous power. Takuya counters the attack by creating a massive sphere of ice of his own, surrounding the entire clearing with its chilling walls. The ice and the fire meet with destructive force, canceling each other in a violent reaction of power.

At last, the smoke and debris from the explosions clear, and Takuya is left standing alone in the middle of a huge crater in the ground. The others are huddled on the ground around him. They slowly raise their heads as a few streaks of sunshine make their way down to the ground, warming the backs of their necks.

A few birds chirp in the distance. Takuya raises his right hand, forming a frozen sword in it. His eyes glow malevolently. “Kill! Kill! Kill!” he recites almost robotically.

Kunai sighs in frustration. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…not even a single scratch?!”

He reaches for another set of Steelys at his side, his last. Gripping them in his claw, Kunai turns to stare into the cold, hardened face of Takuya. “How can you fight so recklessly?! Do you even know what you’re fighting for?!”

“Fool,” Takuya spits in his warped feminine voice, “when one fights, he does not hold back! True warriors fight until they hear the requiem of their deaths chiming! One fights to win, not to lose! To do that, one must leave everything else behind and concentrate only on destroying their opponent!” As he speaks, a frozen storm envelops Takuya’s figure, turning the very air around him into sparkling crystals of ice.

Zack stares at the others scattered around him, finally glaring at Takuya. “This ain’t good…the longer this battle goes on, the weaker we’ll get. Our strategy ain’t workin’.”

“There’s no choice…” Kunai growls, somehow stumbling to his feet again. He creates yet another Avenger in his hand with the last of his Steelys. “I’ve gotta finish this somehow!”

Kunai stumbles towards Takuya in a half-sprint, his left leg barely holding up as he hurls himself at Takuya. “Win or lose, this will end the fight!”

Kunai stops short just in front of Takuya, his leg giving way at last. He trips and falls face forward in slow motion, still cradling his Avenger in his right hand. Takuya turns, raising his ice sword over Kunai’s neck.

“Damn…it…” Kunai hisses, his eyes closing as the ground approaches. Desperately, he stretches out his hand, trying futilely to reach Takuya with his Avenger. ‘Leave everything else behind, huh…?’

Takuya brings his sword crashing down to meet Kunai’s Avenger, shattering it. The pieces of Kunai’s broken Avenger fall to the ground first, as Kunai plummets towards the ground.

“Yeeeeee haw!” a voice suddenly shouts. With a furious blast, Takuya’s sword splinters into pieces. A green-haired figure leaps over Takuya and Kunai, landing on the ground nearby. He lands gingerly on the ground, and turns, pointing a sword straight at Takuya. A haughty grin is on his face.
—END NINETEEN—
New ally approaches?! The ending for this chapter has been planned almost since I first began working on Tales of a Lost Sword. So it's already been planned for what, about two years or so.