"I was going to suggest that we take her out to begin with anyway," Mikado said. "Jurain's have exceptional powers over the spirit," he smirked. "As you just discovered, but in a physical battle certainly she would fall first, and that would unbalance the other two I hope."
"I don't think you understand, Mikky," Azusa said, nearly growling, Mikado stared at her. "I WANT her...forever."
"That's easy to accomplish, too," he said, confused. "Bind her spirit after death, you know those arts as well."
"I want her human," Azusa said. "Living, in possession of her soul, with just enough will to resist futilely from now until the ending of my life."
"We already have to hold back from killing the half-demon," Mikado said. "We can't hold back on all three of them."
"We won't have to, Mikky," Azusa smiled. "And I can insure they come tonight, unprepared."
"You plan to walk out into the broad daylight and slip one of those collars around her neck then?" he asked tauntingly. "Or maybe you're spirit can carry it to her, assuming she doesn't merely tear you asunder completely this time."
"Mikky," she tsked her head. "I don't have to put the collar around her with my own two hands." She stood up and strode to back of the abandoned temple and the stairwell down to the basement. "I think I shall take a nap until night fall."
As she spoke a small, winged humanoid figure bounced up from the basement bearing one of the pink collars that would consign some poor creature to the extradimensional space were Azusa kept her "pretties."
Lina, or at least a part of Lina's consciousness, the Goddess of Fire and Magic had her attention split in many directions, walked through the halls of the Kuno estate and came upon her current pet project in the middle of some sort of planning.
She recognized the thread of the conversation. The three of them were planning to remove a pair of threats that had recently been making them trouble. One of whom had even threatened Ranma's life. Lina frowned at this.
She wasn't certain the time was right for any sort of battle. From what she could tell, Ranma still hadn't recovered from Kasumi and Akane's joint efforts in healing him. That would leave the warrior quite vulnerable to the attacks of Mara's minions.
Akane at least was fine as far as Lina could tell. When she didn't see anything right off the bat, Lina passed her examination onto Kodachi. Which was where Lina grew concerned.
Kodachi was obviously not operating at her peak level of physical capability. Considering how much more capable in the physical arts Ranma and Akane were than the Jurain, it was very much cause for concern. Just to be on the safe side, Lina examined Kodachi's life force much more thoroughly.
What she found gave the goddess a severe shock.
"Her soul's already been touched..." she said nervously.
She checked further for a moment and noted two faint red lines extending from Kodachi's little fingers. These two lines met a third about half-way to Akane and Ranma. The three red lines braided together, becoming impossible to tell one from the other, forming a little web between the three individuals. A web anchored at each of their little fingers.
"Well," Lina said. "That was quick...guess I don't have to worry too much about them getting along long term. Better check all three, just so I know what's going on..."
After a few moments checking over their life forces, Lina found herself nearly choking in shock. From what she could tell, each of "her" trio had been touched in someway by at least one other deity.
Ranma had been touched by Mara, a great deal. Lina even began to wonder if the boy's claim of being half-succubus was perhaps a little...humble or ignorant. Akane had, predictably, been gripped strongly at one point by Ryoko. Kodachi appeared to have the same situation with her own goddess, Ayeka. And Lina thought she could see Urd's hand putting light touches here and there on all three of them.
And then Lina had come along
And she had invoked Privilege.
"This is going to be....interesting," Lina decided faintly, sweatdropping as much as an invisible, bodiless presence could.
Nabiki glanced down at the book in her hands and considered it for a long moment. There were things that one had to consider very carefully. And the step she was about to take could esaily be considered one of those.
Nabiki approached life from the standard Metallium philosophy. The philosophy that said that variety was better than specialization. She was wondering if she was splitting her energies to far, however.
She was a diviner. She was a priestess. She was an artificer. She was a...resident of the shadows (the impolite term being thief). One thing that was fixed about her was that she was loyal to her family and loved them greatly.
If she continued in this quest...there was the very real chance that she'd them only briefly and then spend the rest of her life apart from them.
She considered what she knew, what she had seen, and sighed long and hard. She didn't know whether she was being tested or played with by her god. He certainly had been known to play some strange games. She didn't really have the option though. Especially not when she heard that Shi-Shio's followers had begun raising the flags of war.
If Shi-Shio was, in truth moving, then soon, so would the other Akuma. Both signs from Xellos and her own divinations had told her this. And Xellos had given her away to weaken, or at least forestall, one of the edges of the coming battle.
But, she needed to make a decision now.
"Are you certain of this decision, Lady Tendo?" Thabian asked. Nabiki looked up into the man's face.
"I serve the beastlord," she commented, with only a slight amount of nervousness present. No use trying to trick beings that could smell it. "And he called me to this."
"You are certain then," Thabian asked. Nabiki stared hard into the man's eyes and grimly answered.
"This isn't even the beginning for me," she said. The man held her stare for a moment before nodding.
"Come along then," he said.
Kinnosuke waited outside the library for his consistant rival to show herself. She couldn't stay in there forever. She had only come with money to support a few days stay, and that would be over soon.
He was certain that he had Xellos's favor in this undertaking. The Keeper of Secrets had revealed some rather interesting pieces of information. Information he could use to his own benefit as well as Xellos's. Nabiki Tendo appearing at the library without her wizardly magic was just icing on the cake.
And he still had plenty of time to get started on his assigned task.
The plan was fairly simple. Tonight they, meaning Kodachi, would divine what they could of their enemy's dwelling. Tomorrow morning they would scout it out carefully, knowing full well that the two knew who was coming.
Akane and Ranma glanced across at each other for a moment while Kodachi was examining a weapon. They both seemed to agree with the other as they glanced back to notice the faint sheen of sweat on Kodachi's forehead.
"Kodachi," Akane said. The priestess blinked and looked up.
"Hmmm?" she said. "Yes, Akane-dear?"
"Shouldn't you stay here," Ranma put in. "You look tired."
"I am perfectly fine, Ranma-darling," Kodachi answered.
"You're sitting there sweating like you've just run a marathon, Kodachi," Akane said.
"That's something of an exaggeration," Kodachi said. "And for your information it would seem there is just something in this room that just seems to make me a little anxious."
She leveled a smoky glance in her spouses' direction, managing to catch them both at once. Her endurance might not have been were she expected it to be, but her desire certainly matched what she considered appropriate.
"Perhaps a nice soothing soak in the hot baths will settle me down," she said. "There isn't much more we can do here tonight at any rate."
Kodachi then stood up, opening the front of her robe suggestively as she turned toward the baths. She stretched out, letting the robes fall from her body to reveal her slim, attractive body underneath. The way she stretched made that body do some very interesting things.
She didn't need to glance over her shoulder to knows Akane and Ranma's eyes were focused on her, but she glanced back anyway. And as she glanced over her shoulder, she smirked and blew a quick pair of kisses. Then she virtually glided out of the room.
"She's cracked," Akane said distantly, blinking.
"Yeah, but that just makes her unique," Ranma said, in an equally faint voice.
"Why are we still sitting down?" Akane asked. Ranma blinked, and then a moment later both of them were moving to follow Kodachi.
"What manner of -- ?" Kodachi's voice carried back to them. "AHHHHHHHHH!!!" And then Ranma and Akane were running.
They caught up to Kodachi in time to see a small demonic creature hopping off of her shoulder. A small pink color surrounded her neck and she clawed at it.
"Get this off of me!" Kodachi demanded venomously. The imp stared at Kodachi cautiously, an intense look of surprise blazoned across its face. He didn't turn to see Akane and Ranma until it was too late.
Azusa snapped out of her nap in the temple basement as she felt her little Antoinne reduced to a bloody smear. She should have been prepared for such an eventuallity, but like her partner, this was the first time she had faced a significant threat.
"AAARRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Azusa screamed as some of her power died with her familiar. She sat up, panting and glaring about her angrily until she found the succubus staring at her.
"Looks like your little pet failed," Mikky said. "Doesn't it." He smiled, in the same manner she had smiled when he had been nearly destroyed.
"He didn't fail," Azusa snapped angrily, though after a moment she recovered her hyper and cheerful facade. "The pretty is collared, she's just not with widdle Azusa's other pretties yet." And Azusa didn't want to figure out why.
"Get this infernal contraption off of my..." Kodachi seized up as a pink flash ran up and down her body. A blank, relaxed look came over her face as her body started to fade away.
"Kodachi!" Ranma and Akane shouted, reaching out to grab the Jurain before she faded completely away.
Almost immediately she was returned to full solidity, though the blank look didn't leave her face. A wreath of ghostly vines started to encase her as the pink corona flared up again seemingly trying to crush the vines.
"It's trying to take me away," Kodachi said in a monotone. "That harridan sent it. I'll fight her as long as I can." With that, Kodachi's eyes closed and the battle between her will and the magical collar continued.
"Damn it," Ranma shouted.
He leaned through the transparent light show to kiss her lightly, before letting Akane hold her. While Ranma ran back into the other room, Akane cradled her wife and alternated between glaring daggers at the dead imp and worried glances at Kodachi.
"They're both going to die," Akane promised, leaning her head in against Kodachi's shoulder. Ranma returned a moment later with Kodachi's robe and started to dress Kodachi.
"It's wizard magic," Ranma said seriously. "Tofu should be able to do something for her."
"While we deal with the source," Akane finished, nodding firmly and clenching a fist.
The wizard looked over the noble priestess and frowned, not happy with what he saw. He glanced to Ranma and Akane, certainly they could see that the collar was heavily empowered by the schools of conjuration and enchantment. Though he doubted that either of them had access to the more powerful and accurate divination spells that he did.
"The collar is something I've never seen before," he said. "But I know what it does. Normally, a conjurer summons a denizen of the outer planes that conforms to the shape desired. The summoned creature fights, but is protected from any serious harm, and when defeated or the spell ends, they're sent back where they came from."
He hadn't yet figured out what was keeping the collar from working completely yet. Kodachi shouldn't have had time to throw up that defense if he had been right. If he didn't know anybetter, he'd say the artifact had bit off more than it could chew.
"We know that, Master Tofu," Akane said. "What does this have to do with that collar?"
"Simply put," Tofu said. "It is trying to take Kodachi into a pocket dimension as well as take over her will. I'd say whoever put it around her wants a more unique summoned creature than usual."
"She wants Kodachi as a slave," Ranma growled. "Because of what she did today."
"Ranma," Tofu cautioned. Then he noted, with some surprise, Akane's equally enraged face. Tofu had thought it was mostly a matter of resignation on the part of both women.
Kodachi and Akane had been at each other's throats for the past few weeks. It had been rare that a day would pass without either of them breaking into a loud yelling over something.
And they always found a way to bump into each other.
And then Ranma had been attacked.
Tofu sighed as he finally pieced two and two together. Things like this had happened before, battle priestess and Jurains always seemed to stand a thread between hate and love. Especially when there was a man in contention, otherwise the feelings tended to be a lot more mild. Though this was perhaps one of the quickest turnarounds he had ever heard of.
"Akane," he continued. "Don't go rushing off to avenge her. This could just as easily be a trap."
"Can you get the collar off her, wizard?" Ranma asked.
"Yes, I can," Tofu said. "Then she should be able to help you." Akane and Ranma glanced at each other for a moment and considered.
"Master," Akane said stepping forward. "There's something else wrong with her. She's feverish, and listless since sometime last night, and..."
"And you'd just as well not have her with you while she might be ill and endangering herself," Tofu commented.
"Trust me, Tofu," Ranma said. "Neither of them is going to get a spell off." Akane nodded grimmly.
"She's still not in your menagerie?" Mikado asked, starting to become more than a little worried. Azusa looked pale as she shook her head, not wanting to admit that the magic attempting the link was breaking up uselessly.
"I...I think, Mikky," Azusa said. "That we might want to back off before she wakes up and all three come after us. L...little Azusa needs a lot more power to do this safely...."
"Too late," Mikado said. "They're coming."
Azusa snapped to a standing posture and began to prepare her first conjuration. Something a lot more powerful than she had used yet. Her hands casually reached down to grip the wand that also had a significant number of summonings charmed into it.
To say that Ranma and Akane's arrival was noticeable was to call a tornado annoying. Ranma hadn't bothered with a pure blast of chaos, knowing full well that it would just wash over his opponents. He had instead resorted to something...simpler.
The red glowing ball flashed in at an almost impossible angle and exploded a few feet away from the roof of the modest temple. The fire hit the stone roof and then reflected down towards the shocked pair.
Mikado shrugged off the magical attack even as Azusa barely managed to find cover beneath a stone pew. However, the large blocks of stone falling from the ceiling were not something he expected. And while his demonic heritage protected him greatly from the injury, such heavy weights could not go unnoticed.
Before the singed and brusied pair could do more than get their bearings, a shimmering red hammer appeared from seemingly nowhere to attack them. It even broke past Mikado's magic resistance cracking a few of the demon's ribs.
Then Ranma and Akane were just there, within arm's reach of each of their targets. As they through back their enemies into the walls, each of them growling angrily and stalking forward, with looks promising pain.
"This is not over, half-breed," Mikado gasped as a sickly cloud of vapor and fumes erupted from the demon toward Akane and Ranma.
"What the hell is that?" Akane demanded as she felt the sheer evil of the attack pressing forward. She barely noticed when Ranma pushed her out of the range of the spell. In the wake of the spell, however, it was obvious that Azusa and Mikado had escaped.
"Let's not do that again, Mikky," Azusa gasped. "I..I don't know if I'm going to walk right after that."
Her spine was actually crushed in several places, and she had third degree burns over a great deal of her body. She had managed to fumble a healing potion into her mouth, so she'd live, but she was still enough in shock not to know the full extent of the damage.
"I'll just have to find another partner then," Mikado said, he was already healing. In a few moments, he'd leave behind this weak little human and "Won't I."
"Neither of you will have to worry about that," a cold, angry voice each of them recognized said. It took some difficulty for Azusa twist her head toward the voice.
"Mistress?" Azusa asked. Mikado had frozen and was staring straight ahead for a moment before turning around himself. All either saw was a platinum blonde flash blazing forward before a hand caught each of their throats and they were slammed against a wall.
"You." Mara growled. "Nearly. Killed. My. Child." She said through angry, blood-rimmed eyes. "Did you think I would not find out?"
"B...but...you told us," Mikado whined.
"To bring the outsider to me relatively unharmed!" she snapped. "You've failed....severely." Mikado and Azusa's last moments on the mortal plane, unfortunately for them, not existence, would have been the stuff of legend if anybody had been around to witness it.
Moments later Mara took a few moments to calm down and catch her breath. She felt something slide down her face fall off, her hand flashed out and she glanced oddly down at the drop of liquid in her palm. She stared at it stonily for fifteen minutes, not moving, before angrily tossing it away.
"Ranma's a weapon!" she shouted. "That's all! The Akuma will fall, they will all die, and NOTHING is going to stop me! Not my father, not my sisters and brothers, and certainly not NODOKA!!!" She spat out her former name as if it were something venomous as she faded away, slowly recovering her characteristic smirk.
Meanwhile, the tear of the dark goddess crsytallized in its flight and the resultant gem, tear-shaped and formed of translucent darkness with a core of light, struck someone camping a few miles away.
"What manner of being attacks me!" the man shouted standing up and glancing around angrily before his eyes clapped on the gem. "Hmm, gifts from the heavens assuredly."
Kodachi blinked awake with an unladylike groan that she would rather not have uttered.
"She's awake!" Ranma's voice shouted.
"Of course, I'm awake," Kodachi said. "I felt that little witch die...what in?" Kodachi found herself surprised again as both Ranma and Akane gently but firmly manuevered her into bed.
"You should be resting in your condition," Akane said firmly.
"My condition?" Kodachi said. "I've had worse injuries in training..."
"Not that, Dachi," Ranma said, looking a mixture of proud and embarrassed.
"Then what 'condition' are you discussing?" Kodachi asked.
"Well, I guess I'd have seen it eventuall," Ranma said. "But err..."
"Kodachi," Akane said brightly and sunnily, and no trace of envy, nope, not a lick. "You're going to be a mother!"
"Oh, that is all," Kodachi said, then it started to hit her. "I think I will rest a little after all. Tell me when we're back home." At that Kodachi fainted.
Part 20 | Story Index | Anime@Fan.Fic