Beyond The Shadows

Ashley

After running and fighting a few Low-Level Duras, we make it to a large door. We stop right before it. "Hotsuma-Kun?" Yuki asks confused. I look at him in confusion. "What are we waiting for?" I ask finally. No one answers, Hotsuma simply barges through the door with us following. Hotsuma and Yuki both stop in their tracks at the top of the stairs. Their eyes were widened in horror while their faces were pale. What are they looking at? I follow their gazes down into the room beneath. My eyes widen. A man about their age lay trapped, bleeding, and unconscious against a large mantle. His Blue shirt was torn all the way down to below his belly button. Blood was stained into his shirt from wounds on his chest, bottom lip, and a few injuries on the stomach. His hands were trapped above his head, which was lulled to the side. His Brown hair shadowed his eyes. Red tendrils surrounded his entire body, licking at his skin. Without looking, I knew I was the only one who saw them, Zweilt aren't able to see spells cast by General Class Opasts, unless it's meant to harm them, General Class abilities were invisible to the human eye. I looked away from the horrid scene and over to the others. Yuki looked traumatized, while Hotsuma was struggling with something between anger and sadness, it was clear that he was very close to that man. His partner? Zweilt have always come in twos... He loses whatever battle he was fighting within himself. "SHUSEI!!!" he yells and runs down the stairs; without thinking; towards the man now known as Shusei. Yuki and I quickly follow. I kept my eyes peeled as we descended. When we were half-way to Shusei, the hair on the back of my neck stood high. We aren't alone. I quickly put Yuki behind me. Hotsuma stops immediately and looks back at me confused. "We're not alone." I say. He looks around just as a woman's laughing pierces the silence. I know that laugh... They look around the empty room. But I knew better, instead of focusing on the ground, I stop, and look up. Ashley. Hotsuma growls angrily. Clearly he saw her too. "You're Ashley." he says gritting his teeth. "You mean Ashley-sama." she growls. "Master Stroke!" Hotsuma calls forth his weapon while flames appeared around him. Of course he'd be fire. Ashley laughs annoyingly. "Yuki, get to Shusei." Hotsuma says. "Right." Yuki says and starts running. "Stop!" Ashley yells and starts to reach her hair towards Yuki. Hotsuma starts to charge, but I knew he wouldn't reach her in time. I charge after remembering how she caught me the same way before. "Kikui!" I summon my weapon as I ran and cut through the tendrils of hair going towards Yuki. She looks towards me with a mix of surprise and anger. Clearly she hadn't noticed I was there until now. "Aren't you a lively one. I see you've managed to wake up...and escape that crystal." she says flashing her Duras fangs. I smirk and shrug. "Figured you could use a hair cut." I say knowing this would anger her. Beauty and Vanity is all she cares about. She narrows her eyes. "I should've killed you then and there instead of listening to that idiotic woman. Oh well, that's a mistake easily fixed." Ashley says charging at me. "You should've known that wouldn't have worked for long." I say and meet her head on with Kikui. Kikui or Kikuichimonji is a Black and Red Katana which can make itself duel Katana. If I was to say it's full name it would appear duel wielded. But I like to keep that a secret until the enemy is least expecting it. "We'll keep her distracted while the you get to Shusei." I say to Yuki who was behind me, probably shocked at how fast I had gotten to him. She falters back a few steps from the force of my counter-attack. "You will rot!" She yells right before charging again. I dodge Ashley's attack. "You're getting slow Ashley, how old are you now? 180? Maybe you should retire." I say baiting her. Her Duras eyes show and she charges a third time. This time, instead of dodging, I block her attack with my weapon. We fight for what seems like forever, continually dodging eachothers attacks. Finally, she tries pinning me on the ground. Using my weapon to block her from advancing. "I shall teach you a lesson you won't soon forget!" she yells angrily. "I'm waiting." I say baiting her again. This annoys her beyond words, so I smirk, kick her as hard as I can, and send her flying backwards into one of the columns on the side of the room. Hotsuma tells Yuki to stay with Shusei, before coming into the fight. The all to familiar feeling of my blood boiling, makes me curse under my breath. Not now...dammit! My heart starts banging against my chest with impressive force, knocking the wind out of me. I collapse onto my hands and knees as I struggle to get air. My vision was clouded. Then the familiar burning pain comes, starting at the Mark on the top of my left arm. "Nng!" I moan in pain, having to use another column for support, as I raise myself up off the ground. Why now... My vision continually goes in and out, making me blink and shake my head. Dammit! Ashley climbs out of the rubble. "Damn you!" she yells. Zess...it's happening again... I silently call out for Zess as I dodge an attack from Ashley once more. A more powerful wave of pain pulls me into it's grasp. "Aah! Nng!" I say, placing my hands on my head. No! Not again! I fall to my knees again. "Aah!" I scream still struggling with the pain. My breath was labored, but I still get up. Ashley charges at me, landing an attack which would've been to my chest, if I hadn't blocked it with my arms, her sharp claws draw blood, and throws me into the air from the force. Just as I land, she goes for another attack, but Hotsuma comes out of nowhere, and stops her. As they fought I struggled with the pain. 'You cannot fight me forever...my blood still courses through your veins...I own you...' the familiar gruff, raspy voice finds me. "Nng! Aah! No!" I mutter, trying to block His voice. They fight for a long time, until Hotsuma is knocked out. Just as she's about to land the final blow, Yuki stops her. She turns towards him. "What's this? Are you going to entertain me now?" she asks elongating her claws. He looks at her with a look of determination in his gaze. What is he doing? He can't possibly expect to win against her...or maybe, he's distracting her long enough for Hotsuma to recover. I flick my gaze over to Hotsuma's still unconscious form, and back to Yuki. No, that can't be it. Yuki, what are you thinking? I push myself through the pain and stand. "We're not finished Ashley." I call out as she readies an attack to Yuki. "Hm? What's that?" she asks whipping her head towards me. "You heard me." I say. She narrows her eyes. "Very well." She says, turns toward me, elongates her claws again, and charges.