✔ | At Least We Have Forever

Chapter 47 - For Duty & Love's Sake (Part 2)

"Two down, three to go. Better decide who's next before I grow tired of all of you," Erithea said before firing another powerful blast of dark powers at the gang.

Keiko was about to create a wind barrier when it caught the surprised and confused upon seeing the blast wasn't heading towards the whole team but someone else. Realizing that, Ayako ran towards the real person who was the real target.

"Ren, look out!" Ayako shouted and threw herself against Ren, knocking him out of danger but exposing herself to the attack. And before she could do anything to dodge the attack, she was struck by the blast, causing her to scream in pain. Several tentacles blasting out of the ground soon followed and gripped her tight.

Ayako couldn't summon her weapon. It only allowed the demon shinobis to torture the Light Wielder with blast after blast, causing her to scream even more in anguish. But she fought down the pain as she began to lift her hand and raise it, allowing her to use residual energy to summon her attack. She felt the blast running through her body intensified. She steadily fought it with all her might, as this could be the last that she'd excruciatingly fight like this. She couldn't afford to lose it at that moment--- for her mistress and her friends' sake!

The orb on the palm of her hand glowed with intensity as it continued to grow. Streaks of orange light streamed towards the orb faster by the second, making it surge slowly but steadily.

"Solar Marble..."

Her eyes snapped open and faced the enemy in front of her one last time before screaming the two last words of her attack.

"...Force Burst!"

The orange globe surged to four times its size, engulfing Ayako and the seven demon shinobis torturing her before it exploded through the park and threw almost everything away. The attack raged on for nearly 30 seconds before it dissipated as the blast threw up the third intricate ice tree of that place. That ice tree suspended Ayako upside-down in the immediate aftermath of that attack.

"Ayako-chan!" the two remaining wielders, Yumi and Keiko, called out.

The Light Wielder's eyes fluttered opened and faced her friends.

"Everyone..."

"We'll come and get you!" Ren said but was stopped by Ayako speaking.

"I'm done..." she said softly, almost in her breath. "Just go... and fight Erithea. Defeat her... for us..."

"But Ayako---"

"Only you guys... can do it now..." Ayako stopped as her breathing came in unevenly. "Go ahead... and finish... what Soujiro-kun... Yukari-chan... and I couldn't. Do it... for our mistress'... sake..." With that, Ayako closed her eyes for the last time, followed by a tear escaping from it, and fell to the ice.

Keiko stared blankly at Ayako's suspended dead body before she allowed her tears to finally fall and streak down her cheeks. She looked down sadly and shut her eyes in anguish and grief, followed by clenching her fist as she gritted her teeth. She couldn't show anyone, especially Yusuke, that she was crushed from dealing with death after death. She couldn't take it anymore. But if they wouldn't fight at that moment, then their sacrifices would be put to waste. All of them went this far to defeat the true villain.

"Let's go, Keiko-chan," Yumi gently commanded which brought the Wind Wielder out of her thoughts.

Keiko looked at the Fire Wielder emotionlessly before sighing and nodding. But before she and Yumi could even take one step, Yusuke abruptly stopped them by blocking the path of the two girls.

"Woah, wah! Hold it, you two! I'm not going to let you fight. Not anymore!" Yusuke exclaimed. Keiko exasperatingly sighed and Yumi just avoided the boy's stare, inadvertently landing on Hiei's.

"We don't have a choice, Yusuke. We've come this far for us to give up or retreat now. We're not going to waste their deaths like that... So step out of the way!" Keiko said firmly.

"No! And that's final!" Yusuke insisted.

But before Keiko could counter that, she and Yumi saw began to glow. Sensing the danger, both of them threw themselves against Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei to knock them out of danger. Doing so only exposed themselves to the attack from below the ground and Yumi managed to get away from it but not Keiko.

Several blazing tentacles blasted out to the ground and thrust Keiko up into the air. Before she could cast an attack, the tentacles began to torture her as they fry her with blast after blast, causing her to scream and cry out in pain.

"Just to save your friends and avenge your fellow wielders' deaths, you're willing to suffer like this?" one of the demon shinobis gloated in front of Keiko as the tentacles continued to torture her in tremendous heat coming from it.

Five more appeared the tortured Wind Wielder and Keiko took it as an opportunity to use all of the spirit energy to destroy the 6 demon shinobi and the tentacles all at the same time...

...but she had to accept the result that she would die because of it, as well. Even though it pained her knowing she would leave Yusuke, she was left with no choice. This was for him, after all.

For Yusuke, her mistress, and this world.

Despite the tremendous heat, Keiko grabbed one of the tentacles and focused all of her spirit energy on both of her hands, causing them to glow bright yellow. The blasts that kept on torturing her intensified but she fought down the pain. She tried to concentrate on focusing her energy on that one tremendous attack to save her friends. Whatever happens, she knew she did it for their sake. Most of all, she did it for Yusuke and her mistress' sake.

Cackles of lightning and a bright yellow globe surging at a steady rate appeared in between Keiko's palms that held the tentacle. Knowing it was already powerful enough to go, Keiko looked at the demon shinobis before whispering something.

"Lightning Chains." With that, six chains surrounded by a yellow glow coiled around the demon shinobis in a flash. These chains burst out from the glow in Keiko's hands. The enemies struggled to be released but to no avail. And then, with all she got, she screamed her final attack.

"Ray Storm Blast!"

The yellow globe surged to five times its size and engulfed all seven of them who were bound, followed by electricity engulfing and torturing them all at the time. The globe raged on for nearly 30 seconds before it dissipated, but the damage it caused was too much. The demon shinobis were blasted to atoms while inside the yellow globe. What was left of that raging attack was an ice crater and protruding tentacles that stabbed Keiko through and through when she fell after that. Her blood flowed to it as she looked one final time at Yusuke's horrified look and smiled weakly before mouthing the three words that only crushed the Spirit Detective's heart further.

"I love you..." And with that, the tension left Keiko's body, and closed her eyes completely. Yusuke collapsed to his knees as he looked at his girlfriend's dead body in horror and disbelief. Her blood that trickled down her hand and the tentacles were too much for Yusuke to watch.

He might have seen a lot of them before but never Keiko's. He couldn't bear watching his friends, most especially Keiko, get hurt. So he would never accept that it was because of him that his beloved died. She risked her life to save him and Kuwabara.