Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ What They Don't Know ( Chapter 101 )

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

By: MellyN

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Sacrifice

Chapter 101: What They Don't Know

By: Melissa Norvell/Revamp

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"Huh?" Fife's eyes widened as the blood swirled up and wrapped itself around his leg, latching onto him. It jerked him backwards like a rag doll. "How? My plan was foolproof." There was no way that this was happening. The blue-haired vampire could hardly believe that Lamagra had seen past his defenses.

His body gained momentum as the appendage of blood launched him through the air and dissipated around his leg, flinging him backwards onto the ground. Fife hit the ground with such force that it knocked his feet back, causing them to nearly go over his head.

"You forget that the smallest of cracks can be the best openings for liquid to escape through. By using Fissure, you made a grave mistake. The floor received cracks and I was able to stop you," the blood god was happy for some small missteps. If it wasn't for his idiocy, then he wouldn't have gotten the upper hand. The blood seeped from the cracks in the ground and bled through, forming together and reshaping into the god.

"Damn it," Hiroshima cursed.

"Are you alright, Fife?" Tsurugi asked, kneeling beside of him.

"What do we do now?" Fife winced, placing his hand to his back in pain.

"You should all just give up. You can't defeat me." It really was no use. No matter how hard they fought, they could never destroy something that was composed entirely of liquid. They were just going to exhaust themselves trying.

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Sodoma ran up to Mizuko, who was laying on the floor of the temple. The orange-haired girl sat up, rubbing her head as she slowly came out of her haze. She could hear her blue-haired companion asking if she was alright and she rose up, looking at her. "I'm fine. I was just knocked to the ground."

"We have to protect Lord Lamagra," Sodoma's expression was dire. Who knew what was going on between their god and those travelers?

Mizuho nodded and turned towards her fellow. They both held their hands out, laying their palms against each other as a the two emitted a brilliant, white light that expanded from their bodies, consuming the room and bathing the doors in gold. Inside of the room, everyone was bathed in illumination. Wondering where the source of light came from, everyone glanced around quizzically.

"What the hell?" Hiroshima arched an eyebrow and looked at his hands.

"Mizuho and Sodoma are using their powers to protect us. You also can't leave this room until one of us is defeated," Lamagra stated. It looked like his help came just in time. Now they couldn't run away when the going got tough.

"What? We're trapped in here?" That was bad. Zangetsu was worried.

"That's great," Ko sighed, "and we don't even have the slightest idea of how to weaken him, much less defeat him."

"I have to admit, this doesn't look too good," Fife laughed a little nervously.

"Thanks for the encouragement," Ko's voice dead panned.

"You're welcome," the vampire said happily.

"Quit screwing around," Hiroshima growled. "We need to think of a way to get Undine back." That was their prime objective. They needed to stay focused or they'd have no way of defeating Lamagra at all.

Zangetsu looked thoughtful for a moment. "So far, nothing works on Lamagra but fire. I wish I knew the properties of human blood or blood in general." If the ninja was knowledgeable of its chemical makeup, then he could find something to counter it, whether it was chemical or elemental. At this point, anything helped.

"Well, we know it's a liquid, so nothing we physically do is really going to put a dent in him," Ko noted. Trying to physically hurt him would just make him separate and reform like it had been doing. They were just exhausting their energy at that point.

"Vortexes are a definite no," Fife noted that sucking him into another dimension was fruitless.

"Phantom magic won't work either," Hiroshima deduced.

"Wind does nothing," Tsurugi knew that his attacks were worthless.

"Fissure bombed out as well," Fife hung his head.

"What about water-based attacks?" Hiroshima thought that maybe if they diluted his blood with water that they could get rid of him that way.

"Sadly, I am only fire and wind based," Tsurugi wouldn't be able to help out in that situation.

"I don't know any water techniques, either," Ko was also at a loss.

"I know a few water-based attacks," Zangetsu could be of some help to them if they wanted to execute that plan.

"Then let's see if this works. If I'm right, water dilutes blood. Maybe we can at least make him weaker," Hiroshima hoped that this plan would work. The faster they defeated Lamagra, the better off they'd be and the faster they'd be able to free their trapped friend.

One after another, they sent their attacks into the pile of blood before them. Zangetsu held his hands back and gathered energy. It formed a blue orb of water, then he threw them forward and sent out a water spout towards the sanguine substance. Hiroshima called upon his raging torrents as tidal waves crashed into the red substance, but it morphed and formed around it. Even held out a hand and called upon her water song as beams of water formed in the air and pelted the god. The god morphed and split to avoid the attacks as the water crashed into the other side of the temple, getting the pillars and floor wet.

"He dodged it," Eve noted that this plan wasn't going to work, either.

"I can help you out," Tsurugi beamed and held out a hand. "Reverse!" He called out as the water gathered and surged backwards, as if the event had been recorded and someone was rewinding it. The liquid shot backwards in an attempt to hit the god again.

As soon as it was above Lamagra, Eve morphed it into a typhoon and it funneled down, mixing with the blood and sucking the god into the funnel. He screamed as he was combined with the attack.

"We did it!" Ko cheered and jumped up and down.

"Let's just hope this works," Eve looked serious, the gasped.

"Eve?" Ko questioned and glanced back at the small angel, who was now bleeding from her side.

"What the hell?" Hiroshima was confused as the blood bubbled up from the wound in his shoulder.

Blood streamed out of Zangetsu's wing and he could feel the substance leaving his body. He screamed in pain, holding his bird-like appendage with his hand to try to cut off the blood flow, but to no avail.

'He's manipulating our blood to cause wounds.' Eve's eyes widened. At this rate, he was going to drain them dry and kill them.

"When will you learn that I control all things living? I could drain you of the very blood that causes you to live," Lamagra reminded them that he could control them in ways they wouldn't think of. It was by his will that they were even alive right now.

Closing one eye, Hiroshima clutched at the wound on his shoulder. 'Shit, that hurts.'

"This isn't good," Fife smiled nervously.

"You think?" Hiroshima shot back, glaring him down.

"Nothing we do is working. At this rate, we'll all be killed," it was looking harder and harder for them to win their battle. Eve was beginning to think that their situation was hopeless.

"I'm not just going to let myself die just because you guys want to give up," Ko wasn't about going out of a fight like that. She was going to go down fighting.

"It does seem pretty bleak," as much as he would have liked to have had hope, Tsurugi couldn't deny the truth.

Just then, a wave of blood was launched at them. It welled up, rising above them like a great tidal wave. Everyone watched helplessly as the sanguine substance closed on, casting a dark shadow upon them all.

"What now?" Hiroshima turned to the others, hoping they had an idea.

Tsurugi held out his hand, "multiply and reverse." The wave stopped and changed direction, crashing back into the god and sending spatters of blood showing them all. It splattered all over the angel's wings, causing him to look displeased at the soiled feathers. 'Damn it.'

"Whatever we do, he's just going to keep mentally screwing us by making our blood burst through our skin." Even if they beat Lamagra down, Hiroshima knew what their repercussions were going to be as a result.

"I think I might have an idea," Zangetsu hoped it would be a good one.

"What is it?" Ko was desperate for anything at this rate.

"We combined water with the blood, right?" Zangetsu hoped that everyone would know what he was getting at.

"Blood is mostly composed of what anyway," Eve noted. "What are you getting at?"

Blood rose up to form another tidal wave, this one was bigger than the last. They had to hurry up and formulate a plan or they would be washed away in the red tides.

"Too bad that Undine is locked in a prison. She would have been great for this fight." With the water sorceress at their side, Zangetsu knew that they would have undoubtedly won. He missed her being around them in a time of need like this.

'What does he mean by that? Could he have found a weakness in Lamagra?' Undine wondered as she watched the fight play out before her.

Zangetsu sighed and waved his wing, summoning his arctic freeze attack as the wave of blood crystallized and froze over, turning into a solid mass that hung in the air. Lamagra was shocked and let out a 'what' in response.

"That's it," Fife's face lit up. "The freeze attacks can stop the water combined with blood. Since it's been diluted by everyone's attacks, it's easily frozen," he held up his blade, "okay, then. Demon Sword, hear my call!" He attempted to summon his attack, but suddenly, blood shot out from his side. Fife yelped and winced, buckling over as pain ripped through his senses.

Determination and pain riddled his features as he resumed his position and held his blade back up to his face and shoved the blade out. "I won't be stopped! Ice Beam!" Out of the tip of the blade shot a beam of pure ice. Hiroshima and Tsurugi followed suit, attacking with their freezing gale attacks as arctic winds rushed forth and pummeled the god.

"It worked," Ko smiled as the blood crystallized and cracked.

"Thank goodness," it was about time Zangetsu found something that worked. If they kept attacking Lamagra like that, they would surely win. The ninja was happy that he found a break in Lamagra's defenses.

"Cyclone!" Eve spun around and swept her arm across herself, causing even more of the blood to be crystallized. Ice consumed all of the blood in the room, hardening it. Soon, everything had been solidified by the power of their combined efforts.

"I'm glad you thought of that," Fife looked to the ninja with his usual happy expression.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get Undine," Hiroshima didn't want to waste any more time than they already had. It was imperative to get the girl while they had the opportunity. She had been missing all of that time, and now they would finally rejoin with her. It was like all of their efforts had finally paid off.

Everyone ran towards the trapped girl. Their footsteps became louder as they neared her. Putting her hands to the wall of her prison, it began to crack and break around her. The shards fell to the ground in a shower of crystal and water. It washed over the ground as the small girl floated to the ground.

"Undine!" Zangetsu made his way over to the sorceress.

"Everyone," Undine could hardly believe that they had rescued her. "It's been a long time since I've seen you all."

"We're glad that you're back!" Ko could hardly contain her excitement.

"Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" Fife had been worried about his dear friend ever since her disappearance.

Just then, the girl's features turned solemn. Sad eyes looked towards the floor as she held one hand with the other. "But, I'm afraid that our happy ending will be cut short."

As the ninja got near her, his hand reached through the hologram and the girl dissipated into a cluster of sparkles. 'What?' Zangetsu was mortified, and his eyes widened as everyone else looked shocked.

Their efforts were for nothing at all.

Undine wasn't even there.

"That wasn't really her. Soel tricked us," Tsurugi was equally disappointed. Now they would have to look even more for her. Who knew where Undine was now? They were so close to obtaining one of their goals. At this point, he wondered if she was even alive.

"What? You mean...we did all of that for nothing?" Ko was crushed. Why were they even there if not for Undine?

"What!? What the hell? That really pisses me off!" Hiroshima was absolutely livid. The angel didn't like doing menial and pointless missions like this. He was on a mission and this put a dent in everything.

Fife gazed up to the frozen god. The crystalline blood sparkled with the light that penetrated the cracks in the walls.

"Then, does that mean that Soel managed to trick Lamagra as well?" The god acted as if he had something to protect. Didn't Lamagra know that he was merely guarding a hologram? Eve was curious. Something didn't seem quite right to her.

Zangetsu sunk to his knees slowly. "After all of that time," he drew his fist back and punched the floor. "After all of that time, I thought that we finally found her, only to be tricked." He shook with emotions, upset that they had risked everything to run into another dead end. Why was everything they had been doing lately ending up in failure? Couldn't just one thing end up in their favor?

"I can't say that I was happy to fight for no reason, though it was good to stretch my muscles again," Hiroshima tried to find at least one good experience to get from it all. In truth, he was still seething over a pointless battler, but what could he do about it now? He just had to suck it up and continue to press on.

The doors opened behind them, and Mizuho and Sodoma ran into the room to see their god encased on ice and the group of travelers standing around. They looked to the two Greek-dressed girls as they ran up to them.

"You defeated Lord Lamagra," Mizuho was aghast by their actions.

"Did you find your friend?" Sodoma asked, although she didn't see anyone new in the room with them.

"That wasn't really her," Ko said sadly, gazing at the ground.

"I thought that it was strange," Sodoma's eyebrows knitted together. She had felt strange from the beginning, but she had held her silence all of that time.

"What do you mean?" The white-haired girl glanced to the guardian.

"When the girl was first given to our master, her eyes were void and she didn't seem like she was alive," Sodoma noted her early suspicions. Undine was an odd girl, and something about her made her very uncomfortable. It questioned the authenticity of her being.

"She looked like a zombie and she didn't tell us her name," the fact that the girl didn't speak unnerved Mizuho as well.

"Our lord called her an entity and not a being," Sodoma paid close attention to Lamagra's words and took note of his references.

"It sounds like advanced wizardry," Fife noted. "A combination of illusion and powerful magic. Since Lamagra sought out her powers to protect this temple, he desired that magic and got it in the form of our friend."

It was a crafty plan, one that had all of them fooled. The vampire was almost certain that it was exactly how Soel pulled everything off. It was undoubtedly a plan to get them to all go in the wrong direction. She gave Undine to Lamagra so that everyone would be redirected there, thinking they'd be able to rescue her, when in reality they were only dealing with a hologram.

Soel wasn't going to give up Undine that easily. To an extent, he thought that to be the case.

"That means Soel set us up. She knew that we'd come here to get her back from Lamagra," Hiroshima could have expected no less from someone like her.

"That may be true, but why did she do it? What's her motive for bringing us here?" Eve knew that there had to be some reason that they were all missing as to why Soel wanted them to be at the temple of Lamagra.

"Maybe she just wanted the magical stone that Lord Lamagra had traded?" Mizuho could only take a guess, but she thought that was more than likely a reason.

Sodoma nodded, "yes, our lord wanted a great protector so badly that he gave Soel a precious gem in return."

"Okay...so what does that mean?" Hiroshima was confused at what they were trying to get at.

"What?" Ko was confused as well.

"I'm just trying to figure out something," Hiroshima looked thoughtful.

"Everything has a purpose, and nothing is without meaning," Tsurugi noted. There had to be some reason, some grand importance that the stone was to her. Could it have been an item from Zameln?

"I just don't get what she's trying to do," even after all of that time, Ko couldn't decipher the sorceress' plans. It was true that she wanted magical items from Zameln, but for what purpose? There was nothing that they had found out, even after adventuring that far as to why she wanted them and what purpose they served.

"Why does she need Undine? Is there something special about her, or is she using her for bait to lure us in?" That was the other part of the plan that Zangetsu didn't understand. Somehow, Undine was integral to it, but he couldn't figure out how. There was some reason that Soel was keeping her from them, some reason that she wasn't allowing them to simply have her back.

"Well, I certainly hope that they haven't killed her. They did use her image and not her real body." To Tsurugi, that was discerning. Undine simply vanished and was never seen again. Usually, when that happened, the person who had disappeared was usually dead.

"I don't think they killed her. If they did and we find her dead, then we might not do what she wants us to, right?" That was Fife's thinking behind it, anyway.

"Wrong," Hiroshima shot down his theory.

"Hm?" Fife looked to the angel in question.

"Undine isn't really a factor in this," Hiroshima stated with a serious expression. "Because of our goal, we'd meet Soel no matter what."

"He's right," Eve agreed with her brother. "She does have the magical items from Zameln."

"That and Vespa told us specifically to seek her out," Ko further backed up Hiroshima's point with more evidence.

"You can't ignore an order like that!" Fife clapped his hands together happily.

"We should go check on Keiji-" Before Tsurugi could say anything more, blood shot from the angel's eye socket, ripping out of his body and popping his right eye out. The eyeball flew across the air, propelled but the force and landed on the floor. Hiroshima ran over to his mate in concern.

"Tsurugi!" He glared over at the stream of blood. It flowed around and reformed into a smaller version of Lamagra that stood as tall as he did.

"I live in the body of all living things, even divine being. You can't get rid of me so easily," he was back.

Tsurugi looked to the ground, seeing his own blue eye gazing back at him. Blood dripped from his socket and ran down his skin, creating splatters on the brick. Copper was strong in his senses as he felt himself grow dizzy and cold from blood loss. Teetering back and forth unsurely, the angel fell to the ground.

Quickly, Fife wrote out a series of neon magic symbols with his fingers. They streamed around the eye and quickly encased it in a sphere of fluid. He had to quickly encase the organ in order to keep it from drying out. If the eyeball dried out, then the angel would lose all hope of ever getting it transplanted back inside of his head. "Maybe we can put it back somehow."

"What the fuck was that for? Why did you do that?" Hiroshima demanded an explanation from the god. Of all of the things that he could have done, he didn't have to punish his boyfriend for it.

"How did you do that? Will Tsurugi be alright?" Ko didn't want to lose another team mate.

"He'll be fine," the blood god said as he looked to the angel. "He simply lost an eye. A god does what they have to do. Any part of this pool of blood is me. If any of the blood in this pool touches you then it can be absorbed through wounds and crevices. If it gets into your mouth, then I am inside of your body. While you all were all busy defeating me out there, I was living in that angel's body safely."

"So, you could have been inside of any of us," Ko was definitely weirded out by that. In a way, she was happy that Lamagra wasn't inside of her body, but she still felt bad for the angel. Any one of them could have lost an eye.

"Naturally," the god agreed.

"How many lives do you have, anyway?" The white-haired girl was a little curious, since Lamagra seemed immortal.

Hiroshima held his boyfriend close, "so, what are you going to do with us now?"

"You rightfully defeated me. So, I'll let you all live." They should have been happy. It wasn't every day that he let people like them get away, especially those that had gotten so far with him in battle. All of them really should have considered themselves lucky.

"Could you tell us where Soel went?" Zangetsu knew that the god had come into contact with the witch. Maybe he had an idea of their next advancement.

"I can't give away such information. I am like the angels, I can predict the future, but my lips are sealed from speaking it." In other words, Lamagra was of no help to them when it came to that department.

"That Undine, she wasn't real," Ko noted.

"You sought after a real person? Thought that you were aware that she wasn't real. I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen," Lamagra had a feeling that their goals were misconstrued from the beginning. Even he knew that the girl he was given was not real at all. The whole fight could have been avoided if they took time out of their day to listen to what he had to say. Their angel friend would still have an eye if they had.

"We should go and see Keiji and the others," Zangetsu suggested. There was nothing else to do in the temple and it was crucial that they not waste any more time.

"Well, it was fun Lamagra. I don't suppose you could let us go," Fife would have appreciated that. He hoped that the blood god would honor his wishes. There was no reason to really keep them there now.

"You are free to go," Lamagra nodded, then turned to his two protectors, "Mizuho, Sodoma!"

"Yes, my lord!" Both girls said in unison and directed their attention to him.

"Help me clean up this temple," he ordered, and the two obliged. The god then turned into streams of blood that swirled around. "Farewell to you, brave travelers."

The group stood there, watching the blood spiral around and seep back into the fountain, turning into a fluid and flowing through the statue. Mizuho and waved to them, saying her goodbye. Zangetsu waved back, thanking her and telling her goodbye in return.

"It was nothing," the orange-haired girl smiled.

"Goodbye, and have a safe trip," Sodoma waved.

"Thanks, you stay safe too, Sodoma," Ko said, waving high into the air.

"We will, don't worry," the blue-haired girl watched as the group left the temple and went outside to meet up with Keiji.

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Keiji was sitting on the stairs. Green eyes cast their gaze towards the sky as a light breeze blew through his hair. He hoped that all of his friends had been doing alright, and that no one was killed by Lamagra. It was taking them a long time to finish their mission. Maybe they were having a hard time defeating the blood god.

Just then, he heard footsteps and turned his sights from the partially cloudy skies to see his friends exit the temple. Immediately, he rose up and turned to them, darting up the stairs and they came into view. Upon reaching them, he asked them what happened and if they were alright.

"We're fine...Well, mostly," Fife trailed off and glanced to the angel, who was still passed out, half of his face was covered in blood. "Well," sweat ran down his forehead, "I can explain this."

Chichiri's gaze went to the blonde's face, and he was absolutely horrified. How did he lose his eye? What in the hell happened in there?

"We didn't get shit accomplished," Hiroshima was just going to tell it how it was.

"What do you mean? Where's Undine?" Keiji glanced around; trying to make sure he didn't miss the short girl. However, no matter where he turned his head, there was no sign of her at all.

Zangetsu looked down, "it was a fake, made with magic," he hated to be the bearer of bad news, but someone had to say it.

"So, Soel set us up," Keiji's expression hardened.

"It seems that way. Will Tsurugi be okay?" Ko was worried about him the most. After all, he just got his eye ripped out. That had to have been terrible. Not to mention it looked painful as hell.

"His body already has begun to seal up. He just needs to rest," Hiroshima surmised that it was best to let him sleep. The angels healed themselves, unlike humans so he didn't need stitches to close his wounds and he didn't need to be healed by magic.

"We all do, and wash up while we're at it," Ko held out her hands, noticing the blood splatters that her body had from their fight. "How is Chichiri?" She asked as she glanced to the blonde in question.

"I'll tell you in private," Keiji looked to him as well. He was sitting on the stairs with blank eyes and a terrorized and paranoid expression. "Just know that I think he's about the same as he was before. Come on, let's find somewhere to go."

Ko walked over to the stairs and sat down beside of the blonde. He immediately reacted, flinching as he backed up and stared at her with a petrified gaze. "Hey, are you alright?" She asked in the gentlest voice that she could muster.

"Ko..." His voice was weak and laced with fear.

"Come on, let's go and get some rest," she smiled at him in hopes that it would put some sense of comfort on his tortured soul.

"Yeah, somewhere with a hot springs sounds nice," Hiroshima was ready to soak and relax.

"That even sounds nice to me, and I'm not covered in blood," Keiji agreed.

"I think it'll be well deserved," Fife smiled.

"Do you need any blood, master?" Keiji turned to the blue-haired vampire. Fife was covered in blood, and he couldn't tell if it was his blood or that of the god.

Fife smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I told you, it's just Fife." Did he have to call him master? That was just strange.

"We need to talk later," Keiji cast him a serious glance.

"Ooh, what about?" The vampire cocked his head, curious as to what kind of subject he would want to discuss in private.

"You, me, Hiroshima and Tsurugi," Keiji told him, "we can leave Ko, Zangetsu and Chichiri together." They would all be alright together, and if Chichiri got out of hand and had an episode, they would be able to take care of him and calm him down.

"I guess this is important," Fife's smile faded.

"Yeah, I think I figured everything out," Keiji's visage hardened," and I know that you have to."

Fife blinked, but said nothing in return. In that moment, he knew exactly what Keiji had wanted to say.

...To Be Continued