The Arising

Chapter 27.

Yata was watching the exotic fight between the Ronins. He had secretly been watching their battle through the thick trees of the forest, his eyes lighting each time one of the normal Ronins would fail to get a good grasp on the cursed Ronins. He almost cheered when the cursed Ryo nearly tore the throat out of Kento and grumbled when Star managed to stop him in time.

Upon further watching he discovered that Sage was on his way toward them. How had this been possible? Leokoni had purposefully made sure he had been taken care of. But no, here he was running full speed in subarmor. How had he gotten better so suddenly?!

His head turned back around when he suddenly saw Kayura arrive. His mouth dropped open. How did she arrive there so unnoticeable?!

Kayura’s fighting instincts took over the moment Cye had been knocked down by Rowen. Her staff flew out from before her and struck the creature hard on the head. He roared with pain and his long claws lashed out. She held the Staff of the Ancients crossways against her chest, fending him off. Rowen had grown remarkably stronger as a cursed beast, and she feared if given the chance he would claw her to shreds.

Cye rolled out of the way as quickly as he could and then leapt to his feet. He viciously shook his head. “This is insane! How can we expect to fight them?!”

Ryo suddenly attacked Firestorm, knocking her backward, his muzzle and strong teeth going for her throat. She viciously fought back, but her strength was no match for his. All she could do was keep pushing at his muzzle, in an attempt to keep him from chopping down on her throat.

Kento took his weapon and twirled it around his hand and suddenly brought it across Ryo’s jaws. He was knocked backward several feet where he landed in a heap upon the ground.

Kento watched him closely, almost fearing that he had killed his leader. He held his breath for several long minutes, almost unaware of the fighting going on around him. But then without warning, the beast rose to his feet, shakily, baring fangs as saliva dripped to the ground. The head turned and the eyes, those familiar tiger blue eyes, stared so coldly at Kento he felt his blood turn icy.

“Man, Cye’s right.. This is nuts,” he said as fear was evident in his voice.

“We cannot give into our fears!” Kayura chided as she flipped into the air and landed behind Rowen. She called forth her armor then and took her kursari-gama and brought it up against the creature’s neck, pulling him back as she whispered into his ears. “Rowen, I know you’re in there somewhere. I know you can also hear me. You need to fight it, Rowen.. Leokoni cursed you… made you something you are not. Fight it, Rowen!”

Rowen continued to snarl and snap as he tried to break loose from the kursari-gama holding him. He shook his head violently as his claws attempted to pull the weapon away from his neck. His tail swished from side to side in irritation. Seeing this was not working, he strained himself to go forward, in an attempt to pull Kayura onto his back. If somehow he could make her lose her balance, he would have a better chance of getting away from her hold.

Kayura sensed this immediately and knew if he got her where he wanted her, her life would be forfeit to him. She could not let that happen.

Ryo crouched down and then suddenly leapt into the air. His claws stretched out and as he flew through the air he aimed toward Star. Star screamed and suddenly back flipped several times away from him. Her body twisted into the air as she leapt out of the way and she landed safely in a tree. The cursed leader of the Ronins landed on the ground below it and snarled up at her. He stood on his hind legs and began to tear at the bark with his claws.

Suddenly the area surrounding Ryo and Star darkened. Ryo got down on all fours again and whined somewhat. His head dropped slightly and he turned to look beyond his shoulder. Astonishingly, but not quite, Kento had suddenly leapt into the air with his nanginta high over his head. His armored form blocked the moon’s rays as he charged right at Ryo.

“Sorry, Ryo!” And without a further word, the Hardrock bearer brought down his nanginta down on top of Ryo’s head.

“Kento!” Star cried out as she stared in disbelief.

Kento did not answer, but watched as the cursed Ronin of Wildfire seemed to wobble on his feet. He growled lowly and shook his head. Another growl came from his throat and he took a step forward. Kento backed up, cautiously keeping his eyes on him. And then the beast fell over on his side.

Kento sighed in relief and lowered his nanginta. He approached Ryo’s prone form and checked him. Other than a nasty knot on the top of the head, there seemed to be no acute injury. He looked up at Star who stared down anxiously. “He’s fine, but he’ll have a major headache in the….”

The last word never made it out of Kento’s mouth. Ryo’s eyes snapped open and he twisted his body in a fierce snarl as his fangs and claws sought out Kento’s neck. Kento cried out in surprise as the two of them flew back several feet with Ryo trying to rip his throat out.

“Leave him alone!”

Star’s eyes widened even more when she recognized that voice. How could he? But when did he? She shook her head slowly as she watched Sage do a wild twist in the air, bringing his left knee up as his other leg shot straight out. His foot collided with the side of Ryo’s neck, sending him flying sideways.

Kento twisted and leapt to his feet, his mouth hanging open as he couldn’t believe his eyes. “Sage!”

Sage was breathing slightly hard and some pain was evident in his features. He stood his ground as he kept his eyes on Ryo. “Kento, we need to find a way to bring Ryo and Rowen back to their normal selves.”

“Yeah, but how?” Kento asked, bewildered as he turned to look back at Ryo again. The beast had struggled to his feet. He snarled at the two normal Ronins, now seemingly forgetting about the third one in the tree.

“I don’t know,” Sage replied as he did not avert his attention from Ryo.

Firestorm wasn’t sure what to do at all. She was getting angry, but fear was also evident in her eyes. She looked desperately at Cye, wondering if he knew the answer to that dreaded question. There had to be a way to stop what was happening.

Cye grimaced. He knew Firestorm was expecting him to know the answer, but the fact of the matter was, he did not. Never before had the Ronins gone through this before. Their greatest challenge had been when they had faced Makura long ago. If only the answer would appear right before their eyes. They could use all the knowledge they could get. The problem they had, was finding it.

“Cye, what are we going to do?” Firestorm finally asked the question as she kept her eyes on the two scenes. Kayura was still fending off Rowen, and Kento and Sage and Star were keeping their eyes on Ryo. Both creatures looked to be blood hungry.

“I wish I knew,” Cye admitted. “This is the worst we’ve ever been through.”
“Please tell me you’re joking!” Firestorm cried out, desperately.

Cye shook his head, biting his bottom lip. “I have no reason to joke about something like this.”

Rowen suddenly pulled back a limb and razor sharp claws suddenly knocked away Kayura’s weapon. Now weaponless, Kayura immediately did a one legged back flip, while at the same time bringing her other armored boot directly under his chin.

The beast growled with pain as he tumbled head over heels and landed a few feet away on his side. He struggled to his feet and raised his head. His long muzzle opened and saber tooth fangs appeared glistening with saliva. His eyes held only one warning within them: Death.

Yata decided he had seen enough. He leapt from his spot and dove right into the ground at a fast speed. The hole he had created while dive bombing through the crust quickly closed up leaving no evidence behind.

He traveled through the ground at a fast speed and just as he reached past the ceiling of the lair, his wings spread open and he glided easily onto the floor. His wings then folded around his small knobby frame and he quickly headed off to the dungeon area.

The soul of Rowen’s father was by now a sick yellow color. His head hung down, his chin resting on his chest. Several holes could be seen through his form and raspy breathing, if it could be called that, was heard echoing across the room.

Yata came up to the bars, ignoring the sweltering heat the electricity caused, which also emitted sparks of fire here and there. He eyed the tormented soul, not speaking nor moving. He really did not see the purpose of keeping this soul for so long. Often he would believe the soul should be destroyed, but knowing Leokoni wanted the soul to slowly be destroyed through pain, misery, and suffering.

Yata went into the cell and came to stand below Mr. Hashiba, a cold look upon his face as he stared up at him. “Not doing too well are you?” the small demon sneered. “Too bad.”

The soul barely raised his head from his chest, but his eyes he managed to lift to behold the demon. “Yata,” he hissed through clenched teeth. Spasms of pain coursed through his body and had he been alive he would have wished in vain for immediate death.

“Leokoni has done your son in, Hashiba,” Yata boasted as he crossed his arms against his chest. He wore a smirk on his face, but inwardly fidgeted now and then.

“Rowen is still alive,” Mr. Hashiba returned with a stubborn hint of disbelief. “I refuse to believe that monster could get the best of my son.”

“Oh, your son?” Yata raised his eyebrows with an impish grin upon his face. “If I recall correctly, in your life he wasn’t much of a son. But then… you weren’t much of a father now were you?”

Mr. Hashiba frowned as the guilt struck like a sharp blade. Tears ran from the corners of his eyes as he was forced to remember all the times he had beaten his son. At any time Rowen could have killed him, but never did. Now looking back, the soul realized why Rowen hadn’t killed him. Rowen had indeed loved his father. Loved him enough to not fight back, in hopes his father may change and see the evil he was doing. Mr. Hashiba was ashamed, very ashamed.

Mia watched in horror at the sight of her friends fighting the two vicious looking creatures. White Blaze roared and immediately charged toward Ryo. She screamed his name and held her face in her hands with horror.

White Blaze immediately knocked his cursed charge down, growling deep from within his throat. He did not wish to harm Ryo, but rather subdue him. He could feel him struggling, the warning growls for the tiger to get off him. White Blaze roared mightily, shaking the surrounding trees of the area.

Ryo struggled and fought to disengage the large white tiger off him. He tried to twist his body around so he could claw in defense, but his front claws barely reached. He roared angrily, demanding through body language the tiger get off him. But White Blaze held on tight, keeping his leader pinned down to the ground.

Sage watched, his violet eyes widening as his mouth opened slightly in shock. Never before had
White Blaze dared to attack Ryo. But this time was different. An idea suddenly came to him. Concentrating on Halo he connected to Ryo’s mind. ‘Ryo… I know you can hear me.. It’s me, Sage.. Remember?’

Surprisingly still, Ryo‘s voice returned back to him. But it was full of pain and misery. ‘Sage, it hurts so much.. I want to stop attacking… but there’s a force… I cannot fight it. What’s happening to me, Sage?’

‘Fight it, Ryo.. We want to help you,’ Sage told him, his eyes beholding tears.

A loud agonizing roar came from deep within Ryo’s throat. He then slumped to the ground and became submissive under his own tiger. No longer did he dare fight back. But deep inside, he was fighting against himself. Fighting to keep himself from attacking and destroying his very own friends.