Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ The Fall of Baratone ( Chapter 69 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: MellyN

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Sacrifice

By: Melissa Norvell

Chapter 69: The Fall of Baratone

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"Here," Keiji held out his wrist to the vampire prince, offering him a drink of his blood. Fife looked at him in question for a moment before his donor spoke. "Drink some before you go into battle. That way you don't wear down during the fight. I'll leave this to you. If you win, you can reclaim your glory to Sumeria."

"Keiji…" The prince's voice was flattered by the green-haired boy's kind offer.

"I don't want you to think of your home as a bad place," Keiji looked him straight in the eyes as he spoke. There were too many people in the world that thought of their home badly, not to mention that his own home was a bad omen even to speak its name. He didn't want the prince to feel the same way about his home as he did.

Fife obliged and gently took his arm, biting down and taking a drink of the boy's blood before going into the battle. When he was finished, he wiped his mouth with the handkerchief that had been tucked away in his jacket pocket. The vampire proceeded to draw out an intricate line of symbols to start off his magical attack.

"Burning attack!" Baratone called out as he was right on top of the prince. Fife's eyes widened in shock as he barely blocked his attack with the sword he held in his hand. The two braced themselves against each other's blade, trying to overpower the other.

"You should have never been born," the priest told him as he glared him down with hatred. He was the one thing that completely destroyed the relationship between he and Amante. If not for him, then there would be no complete union between her and that bastard of a vampire king, Vasca.

"Bind!" Fife called out as his intricate spell swirled around him in a spiral. Baratone managed to break his spell with the orange flames that surrounded his body.

"That doesn't work on Burning Attack!" The realization had hit Fife, and thinking quickly, he swung his sword around to block his attack once more. The sheer force of the attack caused the prince to scoot back half of a foot. Keiji watched from the sidelines as the two males battled and had begun to clash blades over and over again.

Trying to fake Fife out, Baratone spun around in an attempt to behead him, but Fife pointed his blade down and blocked it. The clever priest simple spun in reverse, only to have his attack blocked again from the other side. Then the long-haired man tried to spin down low, in an attempt to chop off his feet, only to have Fife jump over his blade and bring down his sword.

Thinking quickly, the priest dodged at the blade of Fife's sword dug into the floor of the castle.

"Fissure!" Fife called out as the floor shook violently. Trying to keep his balance, Baratone struggled to stand but he quickly fell to the ground. The vampire prince began to write out another stream of magic, when he completed the spell, a large, white disc appeared and was sent towards him like a buzz saw, following the laceration in the ground that he had created with his sword.

"Deflect!" Baratone called out as he held his blade horizontally and the white disc bounced off, sending a single jolt through his body as the black-clad man stumbled back a few steps.

Fife then charged and tried to cut him down the middle, but Baratone dodged again.

Keiji took Treble by the arm, pulling him from the debris that he had been buried in and asked him if he was alright.

Treble held a hand on the back of his helmet. "I must…help him…" The dog-demon's voice was raspy and weak but still, he was determined to assist his prince. This was a time that Fife had needed him the most and he would be letting King Vasca down if he didn't pull through with his vow.

"I think this is something that he needs to do himself," Keiji tried to reason as he placed the lord's arm around his neck to help steady him.

"I understand that Prince Fife wants to reclaim his honor but this man has taken on vampires stronger than him and won." Just then, Keiji was shoved away as Treble rushed in with his sword drawn. "So I'm going to help him."

"Wait!" Keiji stumbled forward and reached out in an attempt to grab him, but it failed miserably. Treble was already out of his grasp. Standing there thinking for a few moments, Keiji finally gave in to his words.

"Fine…I'll go too," the boy rushed in after the demon lord. It was his job as a donor to protect his master, and be that as it may, Fife might need his blood and he wanted to be close by if that time were to come.

"This will be interesting," Baratone smiled as he saw the two rush at him.

Keiji raised his sword.

"Holy Light!" The priest called out and blasted him away, as if he were nothing. That was one down. He just had that demon lord to go.

"Wind Strike!" Treble would not allow himself to get close enough to let Baratone use any of his magic. But he soon found his own wind coming back at him, blowing him backwards and knocking him off of his feet.

Fife raised his sword to attack but Baratone was right on his movements and brought his sword around at the same time. Only his timing had been faster and he managed to cut the vampire across his bicep muscle.

"Fife!" Keiji called out.

"Prince!" Treble's call was in unison with his.

"Die!" The black-haired priest called out as he raised his sword again. This time there would be no laceration unless it went straight through his body.

Thinking quickly, Fife dug his fingers into his open wound and flung his blood into the other man's eyes. This caused the priest to yell and stumble back, blinded by the blood, all he could see was red.

"Let's try something different," the prince smiled as he pulled his finger from his laceration to reveal four foot long fingernails with deadly points on the ends. He then thrust his hand forward, keeping it straight as blood flowed in streams from both his fingernails and the open wound on his arm.

"Purgatory of blood," the navy-haired boy spoke the words simply as the streams of crimson went around the room, snaking in and out through the group. Keiji and Treble glanced around at the strange attack as it made its way around the room.

"What is this?" Keiji asked.

"I'm not sure. He didn't learn it from King Vasca or myself," Treble replied. The attack was very unfamiliar and even strange for a vampire to perform, knowing the critical blood loss required to make such an attack.

Holding his hand out limply, Fife separated his fingers and as he did, the streams of blood separated into spheres and floated in the air.

Baratone glanced around at the blood spheres in question. "What the hell is this?" The sight was beyond macabre. It was beyond anything he had seen. How could someone manipulate their blood in such a vile way?

"The blood that will burn your skin," the words were simple and Fife's face, serious as he charged towards the priest- this time without his weapon. With his new found finger nails, he didn't need the weapon now. He tried to slash Baratone across the face, but the man stepped back and dodged his strike. Baratone then tried to attack him with his blade, but it was dodged and Fife bent down as he spun and tried to rip out the man's stomach but it was blocked by Baratone's blade. The priest smiled sadistically. Navy blue eyes narrowed as the prince put his foot on Baratone's chest and stomped down as hard as he could, sending his opponent flying backwards.

"Raging Gale!" Treble called out as he held up his wind sword.

"Shield!" Baratone held out his hand and created a golden dome, blocking the attack from hitting him, then charged at Treble, who blocked his attack. Keiji came up from behind him and managed to get a cut in on the man's arm, ripping the long sleeve off of his robe.

"Bastard!" Baratone called out as he tried to cut him. Keiji jumped up and back as a blood sphere whizzed past the man's head, dangerously close to his face.

'I have to remember not to touch those.' Keiji had almost forgot about the magic attack that Fife had placed on their battle field. He had to remember that he now had two enemies to worry about instead of just one.

Just then, a stream of magic sped towards Baratone and exploded near by him, sending him into a patch of the blood spheres. On contact, the blood began to eat away his clothes and skin, causing horrible, bleeding burns. It even melted part of his cross.

"No!" Baratone fell on his butt, panting and flinching in pain.

"Maybe you should quit," Fife told him, looking down at him.

"I don't think so. I will kill you," Baratone swore.

"Why are you so intent on this? What did he do to you?" Keiji asked, trying to figure out Baratone's method to his madness. Surely there was some reason that he wanted to kill the prince in specifically.

"He stands in the way of all that Amante and I stood for. He's a monster, created of hate and fear. Vampires are wicked creatures, descended from Cain and born of the night! They deserve to die, just as anyone who supports them." Malice was laced in the man's voice as he spoke, the whole time; he never took his eyes off of the prince.

"Who are you to talk?" Treble asked. "Your mind is so consumed with prejudice and sin that you can't possibly be holy in God's eyes."

"I get divine messages so I am of some worth," Baratone argued the fact. Who was a demon to question his holiness anyway?

"There is no God," Fife sent a wave of magic at his opponent.

Baratone then held both arms straight out to either side. "Sanctuary!" He called out as a large, white dome consumed he, Fife, Keiji and Treble.

As Hiroshima and the others ran into the room, they were all blinded by the immense white light and had to cover their faces and eyes to keep from having vision problems.

"I say!" Bass threw his hands up. He was already blind in one eye. He didn't want the other to go next. "It's too damned bright!"

"I can't see!" Chichiri called out, holding his face.

"Entrapment magic," Tsurugi informed.

"Is it like Pandora's Casket?" Ko asked.

"Only the ones inside can face Baratone," the blonde angel told her.

"He must have known that we were coming," Zangetsu deducted. Now that they were there, there was nothing that they could do even if they wanted. It was a blind battle to them, and none of them could see what was going on inside. They simply wished the best for their comrades, who were risking their lives against Baratone, inside of his blinding sanctuary.

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"Do you think that Prince Fife is winning?" Zuri asked as she looked to the king, who seemed restless as he sat in this throne and tried to be as patient as he could. He felt bad for not fighting or even helping them fight, but if Sumeria lost its king at this point, it would be a sure win for the Catholics. He had no choice but to stay behind locked doors, as badly as he wanted to help his friends and allies, he knew that this was for the best.

"I don't know." Worry crossed his face every time he thought about his son's predicament and what he might be doing at that very moment.

"If we see them again, then we'll know," Constantine stated the obvious. "Lord Treble and Lord Bass are his advisors so they should protect him, right?"

"I'm sure that they'll do their best," Vasca hoped and right now, that was all he could do.

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"Angels are impervious to magic. We can pass through," Tsurugi glanced at his mate. As angels, they had no true physical body and could shed the ones that they possessed easily to reincarnate into something else. They also had the ability to revert back and forth from a soul to a solid mass of flesh. As long as their technical body wasn't physical, then the immunity was there.

"You go ahead," Hiroshima instructed after thinking for a few moments. This stumped his lover, who looked at him as if he really wasn't feeling well."

"What? You're turning down a fight, Hiro-kun? That's not like you."

"I need to rest. Besides, I have an idea," Hiroshima replied.

"Hm?" Blue eyes looked to the spiky-haired man in question as he wondered what exactly was going through that crazy mind of his.

"Have Amante come back here. If you do that while I'm back here, then I can't steal her soul."

"Spirits can't kill people," he was sure that Hiroshima knew this, and he wasn't quite sure of why he wanted to summon Amante in the first place. Tsurugi was sure that he had a good plan, he just didn't understand where he was going with it.

"No, they can't but this will be the perfect opportunity to shine some light on this twisted past between Baratone and Fife," Hiroshima advised.

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Baratone charged in at the prince once more as the air was filled with black sparkles and a light black foggy substance. Treble managed to perform a cyclone to blow it back in the priest's direction. Keiji simply watched as the battle raged on between the two.

"Demon Sword! Hear my call!" Fife called out as the sword he once held flew down from the sky and attempted to stab the priest, but he dodged to the side and the sword exploded and sent the man flying backwards with the blast. Baratone had not expected the sword the simply explode, so he had been caught completely off guard.

Tsurugi phased through the magical field and began to pull through with Hiroshima's plan. He pulled out a handful of feathers and held his arms out to either side as the feathers levitated at his chest and the background grew dark. A golden magic circle appeared beneath his feet as he began to perform his sacrifice.

"Divine powers, I make this sacrifice to you. I act to revive a soul momentarily and allow the living and the dead to have just communication. If this sacrifice is enough, please fulfill my wish and allow this to be so," Tsurugi finished as the feathers disappeared and he raised his hand into the air and looked up. "Call of the Dead! Grant my divine wish and allow me to see the soul of Amaterasu Amante!" The blonde angel called out as streams of ectoplasm swirled around him violently.

"What? Amante?" Baratone jerked his head in the dark angel's direction.

'Why is he doing this? What good will this do?' Fife wondered to himself as he watched the angel before him. Soon, there was a visible form of a tall, skinny woman with a petite frame and long, cascading, slightly wavy, navy blue hair. It was Amante, her soul risen from its resting place.

"Amante…" Baratone could hardly believe that the woman standing in front of him was the one that he loved so long ago. She looked just as she did when they had spent so much time together. Many emotions resurfaced from the past, the love that he felt burned even greater now than it had all those years ago.

"What are you doing here? Why are you still alive?" Amante was shocked and even horrified that Baratone continued to exist. Baratone's heart sank with that realization. This woman really didn't seem like the Amante that he loved. "I thought that Vasca killed you."

"I've been training all this time. I escaped last time and now I shall get my revenge. Aren't you happy?" The black-haired priest smiled proudly. Surely she could see how hard he tried to make her dreams come true in the past by bettering himself for the future.

"No…This can't be…" Amante's voice shook. "You're supposed to be dead." The woman turned to see Fife standing a few feet behind her. Confused further at someone who bore so much of a likeness to her, she asked him who he was.

"I am Prince Amaterasu Fife of Sumeria," the boy introduced himself to his dead mother. He knew that she probably didn't recognize him, since he had probably grown since they had last met.

"My…My son?" She floated over to him and stared into his face as emotion flowed to her facial features. She was so happy that if she was alive, she would probably be crying. "How long has it been?"

"You've grown so much," Amante laid a hand on the side of his face gently, she knew that all the prince could feel was a cold sensation, but she didn't care. She could feel his warm, mortal body below her and that warmth was all it took to keep her happy. "Since I've passed."

"How did you die, if you don't mind me asking?" Fife had a saddened look across his face. He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear it, but if he didn't hear it now, then he would not have an opportunity in the future.

"I don't and you deserve an explanation," she smiled faintly. "I was killed after the war by the general of the Holy Army. He hid out in the palace and assassinated me a couple of months after you were born. I never got to see you grow up, but I always knew that Vasca would take such good care of you."

"Mother…" Fife's voice was low as his hair shaded his eyes and a frown crossed his face.

"You love this child?" Baratone stepped up a few feet behind the two.

"He is my son," Amante wrapped her arms around Fife and hugged him close to her. "…and I would have a child with no one but King Vasca."

"What about me? I spent all of this time believing that you loved me." So it all came down to this…In the end, she really did love King Vasca, and he was the one who had been deceived. Killing Fife would solve nothing, because her love lay with him. "I spent years of my life getting a following to believe that all vampires should die, so I could take you back to Baklava with me." He clenched his fist as his anger and hurt built up inside of him. Baratone could feel his body shake with emotion. "You…You're just as bad as all of them…I can't believe this! I can't believe all of my efforts have been thrown away, just like that!"

The man then reached inside of his robe and pulled out a golden crescent with several blue and white streamers coming from it.

"We might need to jump in and save the prince. Be on guard," Treble advised. The situation looked dire, especially if Baratone were to use that object.

"You've got it," Keiji nodded.

"I appreciate what you're doing."

"What?"

"You're staying back on purpose," Treble noted. "Because you want to stand by in case he needs blood."

"I wouldn't be any good to him if I were dead, would I?" Keiji asked.

"I suppose not," the demon lord smiled a little.

"Lord Treble."

"What is it?"

"Thanks for everything," Keiji smiled. "I'm glad that you care so much about Fife." It was nice to know that he had such a loyal following, even if he wasn't the most honest and happy person out there.

"Why do you think I'd not do anything to you, Baratone?" Amante told him. "I didn't love you. You should go back to Baklava. You have no business with anyone here anymore." She was dead and gone and the past should be as well. Baratone should just leave peacefully, and the whole incident would be over. There would be no mulling over the past. Peace would come to Sumeria again and everything would die down. It really was the best for both countries.

"Oh yes I do. I'll kill the prince and then I'll kill that King! This whole town will be property of Baklava and I'll send all of the vampires to hell for killing this in my family!" Baratone was going to make sure that he didn't do all of that for nothing. At the very least, he would accomplish his brother's failed goal of taking out the vampire race for eliminating his parents. He held up the crescent and called out the phrase 'vanquishing light'. "To hell you go!"

Tsurugi's face lit up in shock at the name of that attack. They would surely all be dead if that attack was victorious.

"Here's my chance!" Treble charged in, hoping to stop his attack or die in the process. It was now or never and he would lay his life on the line for his prince and he only hoped that it would be enough to stop the attack. When he finally reached the priest, his blade collided with something hard and pointed. Looking down, he saw that Baratone's chest had been pierced by a long, yellow, blade-like object. As his eyes went farther up, he saw that Vasca was behind the priest, who wore a look of agony.

Treble's face lit up in shock. He hadn't even seen the king enter the room, let alone get a stab in on the priest.

"My liege!"

"Father," Fife ran up to the three men.

'Vasca…' Amante thought as her spirit stayed at the far corner of the room, simply watching the situation as it played out for as long as she was allowed to stay there.

"I won't let you mislead anyone, anymore. Too many innocent Catholics have suffered because of your corrupt nature," Vasca told him with a pained look on his face. He had heard the situation and now he knew the true reason why this war was started in the first place. He felt very sorry for the man, but he could not let him wipe out his friend's an allies with that attack.

"Damn you…I didn't even see you…coming…" Baratone gasped for air as blood poured from his chest and mouth. It wouldn't be too long before he was dead. The man coughed a little as his blinding barrier dissipated, and Keiji, Treble and Fife could see that the others had made it to the battle ground.

"What happened?" Ko was confused at the situation at hand. Baratone had been defeated but how did it happen? Also, Vasca was down there as well. Tsurugi had noticed that Amante had gone away when the sanctuary magic disappeared. It was just in time too, he would have hated to see Hiroshima dissolve her soul.

"Did Fife win?" Chichiri questioned, a little confused.

"I say! I see King Vasca down there," Bass stated with a little shock on his face.

"Of course, Vasca wouldn't let Baratone kill his son," Hiroshima noted.

"How did you get here so fast?" Treble was stunned by the king's speed.

"I never wanted…to be in this war…I was trying…to make Orchestra…Happy…" With those final words, Baratone faded and his body became limp and slumped forward on the longest point of the sun-shaped staff that had pierced his body.

"Vespa told me what was going on," Vasca took his staff away, allowing Baratone's body to fall free from the object that took his life. "I also had to get something for her." His words were saddened as he caught the man's limp form. Vasca would not let someone who had fought so valiantly fall to the ground as if they were a worthless being.

He then looked to the man with a saddened expression. "Even if you are my enemy, I still feel that this was something that could be helped. I cannot help what happened in the past but I see the future. I just hope that things will get better between Baklava and Sumeria. The war, is over."

"It's too bad that those Catholics were so misled," Treble replied.

Tsurugi picked the urn up out of the flower pot and held it to his chest. 'Amante…'

"Are you alright?" Keiji ran up to Fife.

"Yes, I'm fine," Fife replied as Ko, Chichiri, Bass, Zangetsu and Hiroshima made their way to him.

"What happened?" Ko was still trying to get some answers.

"This war is over," the prince told her.

"Really? That was it. It felt like a long time," the blonde stated.

Zangetsu looked to Vasca. "Your father really is kind. I don't think he really hated the Catholics at all."

"He's far too kind for that. That's why a lot of people don't think that he should have been King," Fife informed.

"I do think that we should try and settle our problems with Baklava, now that Baratone is dead," Bass commented.

"Yes but can we really get past all of the prejudice?" Vasca asked, still holding his enemy close to him.

"I think it will take a while to achieve peace but this is a good step," Treble smiled tiredly as Helix walked into the area.

"Excuse me, King Vasca, but could I say something?" The white-haired Catholic asked.

"Of course," Vasca turned to him with a smile.

"I'd like to make a sacrifice," Helix looked to the two angels of the group. "Would one of you be willing to perform the spell for me?"

…To Be Continued…