[Fanfic] The Wicked [Chapter 18]
Title: The Wicked [Chapter 18]
Rating: T
Warnings: AU, slight OOC, and as it's a semi-musical based on a not so very popular broadway musical, it can be confusing.
Summary: The Citizens of Deimon are celebrating the death of a man they deemed Wicked. But is there more to it than what it seems? Could something bigger had happened behind the scenes? Semi-based on the Broadway Musical "Wicked" and is a semi-Musical. HiruMamo and SenaSuzu.
Disclaimers: I do not own the characters and the lyrics used here (despite the modifications). They belong to their respective owners!
Notes: I realize now my writing style for action scenes is always pretty quick. I don't like dwelling too much on it. So in the end, this chapter didn't turn out as long as I hoped. But it has everything I needed to state so... I hope it makes sense to you guys.
I'll talk more about this chapter after you've read it. Song used is the 'Finale' of Wicked. Take a listen to it here. Enjoy!
"..." - Conversation
Italics - Singing
Bold - Singer
(...) - Actions while singing
~*~
Mamori’s head shot up at the sound of gunshots ringing inside the building. She let out a tiny gasp as she quickly dropped her force field, and quickly swept her gaze around the area to make sure everyone was at a distance from the building before rushing in.
Although she wasn’t sure which room to head to, all she had to do was follow the sounds of gunshots and loud banging noises ringing all the way down the corridor. She skidded to a halt at one of the rooms that was glowing bright red, with bursts of light shining through at every crack or clearing. Cautiously, she moved to the door and took a quick peek inside…
Her eyes widened at the sight of the floor glowing red with lines and words, and Agon in the middle with the pendant in his hand as Hiruma moved across the floor quickly. Every time Hiruma stopped for more than a second the red light beneath his feet would grow brighter, threatening to overcome him, but then with guns stretched out before him, he would be on the move again trying to shoot Agon down.
The shots seemed futile with Agon nonchalantly moving to avoid the bullets on instances, but more often than not he created a momentary shield with the pendant, simply deflecting the bullets. “If that’s all you have to offer, I’m afraid you’re just wasting your time and energy,” drawled Agon, a haughty, bored expression on his face.
Hiruma who was breathing heavily merely responded with his trademark “Keh.” Despite this, Mamori noticed that Hiruma kept his distance from Agon, and continued to move quickly across the floor from one corner to another. Soon she noticed Hiruma kept jumping from point to point in a certain pattern, and by the gleam in Agon’s eyes, he had realized this too and was about to use this to his advantage.
Just as Hiruma landed in another spot, Agon clenched his fist on the pendant, and before Hiruma could escape, the red light finally engulfed him. Mamori let out a cry and was about to rush into the room, when she saw shadows appear from the spots Hiruma kept jumping on before, including the one he was on now, and they swooped towards Agon rapidly descending upon him.
Agon gasped as the shadows held on to his legs and arms tightly, stifling his movements. He made loud grunts of protest as the shadow around his right wrist began to twist, causing him to lose his grip on the pendant as it slowly slipped through his fingers.
Hiruma was walking forward to him now, a grin plastered on his face. “Thought you had me just then, didn’t you?” he cackled.
“You!” cried Agon. “How did you-?!”
“The gun was just a distraction,” Hiruma grinned. “If you had more fucking brains, you would have figured that out. Now to finally fucking end this.” Hiruma reached for the pendant.
Agon watched as Hiruma’s hand neared the pendant, about to grab it. With a loud cry, he focused his remaining strength to tighten his grip on the pendant once more, and released the pendant’s power to finally gain control of Hiruma.
Mamori watched in horror as the red light engulfed Hiruma once more, and in a state of panic, she rushed forward and placed a force field around Hiruma. She realized barely a second too late, after looking down, the big mistake she had made by doing just that.
Hiruma squeezed his eyes shut tight and prepared for the sudden burst of pain that was sure to come. But he felt nothing, and instead heard a loud bang coming from behind him. He knew instantly something was wrong, and as he opened his eyes, he felt his jaw drop at what he saw.
The glowing red magic circle from the ground was gone now, but Mamori was lying on the floor, her body looked lifeless. “What...?” he murmured.
Agon laughed maniacally. “That trash of a woman!” he laughed. “That stupid woman actually tried to SAVE you! And now she’s hit by the spell instead! This is perfect! She’s mine, once again! Once she gets up, I’ll make her fight you! How would you like to see that?! The woman you love going against you?!” Agon carried on laughing, but his laughter slowly faded when he felt a dark aura creep around him. He stopped laughing the moment he realized the dark aura came from Hiruma, his back towards Agon as he continued staring down at Mamori.
The shadows holding on to Agon dissolved and for a moment, despite the dark aura, Agon thought he had won. He raised the pendant victoriously; ready to knock Hiruma down, but the ground beneath him quivered. In the next instant, spikes burst through the ground. Agon dodged it, finally putting his God-like reflexes to use after long years of abandon, but he was still too slow. And a spike caught him and scratched through his left shin.
Every step he took, a spike would emerge from the ground beneath his feet. Soon he was running as quickly as he could, heading towards Hiruma, but Hiruma had disappeared. Is he hiding in the shadows? In his last attempt to gain control of the situation, he ran towards Mamori.
But that proved to be the worst thing he could’ve done. Just as he got close to Mamori, thinking that if he was near her the spikes would cease so as to not harm her, he suddenly felt a strong blow in his abdomen. The blow threw him across the room and he hit the wall at least a few feet above the floor. The impact made Agon’s eyes roll to the back of his head. It was a pain he had never experienced in his life.
He felt his body slump to the floor, almost certain some of his bones must have broken from the impact. Breathing heavily, he opened his eyes to find Hiruma standing before him, his eyes glowing red. Agon gave a small laugh, his breathing still sparse. “So… you really are a demon. Gonna kill me now?”
Hiruma narrowed his eyes, but remained unmoved.
Agon coughed a little. “Well, you got me now. So go ahead! Kill me! While I’m still alive, you won’t be able to even feel the pendant! Go on! Do it! And let the citizens of Deimon see who you truly are!”
But Hiruma stood still, agitating Agon to shout even more.
“Not gonna avenge her?” he cried, pointing at Mamori. “While I’m still alive, she’ll be mine. No spell can undo that. Not unless I’m dead. Ran out of magic? You still have that gun, don’t you? So what are you waiting for...?” But Hiruma did not do anything, and continued to stare down menacingly at Agon. Then Agon began to laugh once more. “You taking pity on me? You’re wasting your time.”
“Fucking dreads,” Hiruma finally spoke up. His voice made the hair on the back of Agon’s neck stand. “You need to shut the fuck up. I’ll kill you when I feel like it.”
Agon looked at Hiruma for a moment and then looked past him and noticed that spikes continued appearing from the ground, despite Agon being nowhere near them. It then occurred to him that the reason why Hiruma had stopped attacking him was so Hiruma could regain control of his powers which had momentarily gone berserk. It was then that he remembered he had one last trick up his sleeve. He was sure his right arm was badly injured but tried to keep from wincing and giving his plan away. Despite the pain, he gripped the pendant and released the pendant’s power one last time...
Yukimitsu had been steadily watching his laptop, noting the figures which recorded the amount of magic going on inside the Deimon building using analytic data. Things had gone as he expected, he’d watched the amount of magic rise steadily during the first round of Hiruma’s fight with Agon, and then suddenly it all dispersed and disappeared. Alarmed, he scanned the building’s the security cameras, but could not find traces of Hiruma or Agon anywhere. Everything was now dark in the room he had last seen them in.
He felt his heart hammer against his chest, as he sensed something worse was about to come. Then he turned back to his laptop, hoping against hope that what he was dreading wouldn’t be possible. But as he watched the level of magic within the building, a second wave of panic hit him when the numbers suddenly soared.
He knew things were bad now. Still staring at his laptop, and hardly noticing his surroundings, he ran towards the chaos, hoping to catch Musashi or anyone that could help him access the building, but was shocked at the sight before him.
The students that were fighting earlier had fallen to the ground, writhing and screaming in pain. Everyone else watched in confusion and horror. “What the heck is going on?!” shouted Rui, as he watched one student before him fall in pain.
“Something’s not right…” said Unsui, as he set the bag full of smoke bombs down.
Karin also watched in surprise, but then shivered a little. “This feeling... it’s familiar...”
Musashi looked around and spotted Yukimitsu, who was now back on the ground typing rapidly away on his laptop. “Do you know what just happened? What’s wrong with the students?”
Yukimitsu shook his head at first, and then he suddenly stopped and seemed taken aback at what he saw on the screen. “This is insane... Munakata and the others... I don’t know what they did, but they seem to have cast some kind of spell on the students. An illegal one, too! And whatever’s going on in the building right now, it’s drawing away at whatever magic these students have!”
“Magic? But these guys barely showed any signs of magic when we were fighting with them!” cried Musashi.
“I think that’s the point,” said Yukimitsu, his voice shaking slightly. “They rarely use their magic, depending only on brute strength which is partly bestowed by their innate powers as well. This makes them perfect candidates for moments where you need huge amounts of magic as they’ve rarely used it, and yet their powers are still open for use. If I deduce correctly, Agon’s using that pendant to draw every last drop of magic from these students, and do something terrible...”
“That’s it!” cried Karin. “This spell! That’s what they did to me! And probably to Mamori!”
“Someone call Sena and get him to rush into the building! Kurita, Ha-Ha Brothers, head there first! Warn Mamori!” cried Musashi. He then rushed towards Munakata, who was tied up by one of the sidewalks. “Now, you tell me what you did to these students.”
Munakata hesitated for a moment, and then grinned humorlessly. “Well, since Agon’s using this, it means that he’s down to his last straw... This technique acts much like a vacuum, trying to suck as much magic as it can from the people we designate the spell to. The thing about our magic is that the moment we run out of magic, it’s either we lose consciousness and fall into a coma from the loss... or find a way to produce more. The less a person uses their magic, the more magic is stored within.”
“But what about me?” said Karin, appearing behind Musashi. “You did that to me, didn’t you? But instead of producing more magic, I seem to have lost any signs of magic.”
“That’s because your powers are completely sealed off now after years of being dormant. No spell could release it,” sneered Munakata. “You’re pretty much a non-magical person now.”
Karin wasn’t sure how to take such news. “T-then Mamori...”
“We always thought we were close to getting her to fully awaken and become the only person to fully possess celestial powers,” said Munakata. “But she never showed signs of power until she was in danger. Something we should have considered.”
Sena was running towards them now, Suzuna skating close behind him. “What’s going on?! The students-”
“No time! Something’s going on in the building! We’ve got to stop Agon and save-” But Musashi was cut off as a loud bang came from the building.
Hiruma barely had time to process what Agon had just done. He could tell Agon had casted a powerful spell that was causing a sudden surge of magical power to fill the room, rushing towards the pendant and Agon’s body as if drawn to him. “Fucking dreads!” he cried.
Agon laughed as he stood up, feeling stronger now that he was filled with so much power. “Just what I needed. And now... I’ll-” But Agon suddenly wavered, as a wave of nausea hit him. “Too... much... power...” he groaned, leaning against the wall. Try as he might to stop the spell, he realized it was too late. There was no way of stopping this, and he was going to be consumed by all the power.
Hiruma noticed this, and quickly reached out to grab the pendant, but Agon pulled away. “No!” Agon cried. “You’ll destroy it!”
Hiruma growled and punched Agon straight in the face, easily knocking him unconscious. “Fucking idiot!” he cried, as he finally grabbed the pendant from Agon’s open wrist.
The moment Hiruma held the pendant; he knew the power was way too overwhelming to be controlled. There was no way of stopping the flow of magic from rushing through the pendant like this, and if this kept up, the power would consume everyone within the Deimon campus. He knew he had no choice, as everything he had studied or learnt to this point pointed to the only one thing he could do in such a situation.
Take it all in and prepare to die
He gripped the pendant and focused the flow of magic towards himself, taking all the hits. If he could just contain the power using whatever demon powers he had and allow it to overwhelm him and only him, then all the wrongs Agon had caused, from the fucking monkey to Mamori, could finally be right. Then finally... finally...
Despite the amount of pain he was feeling, he opened his eyes to at least have one last look at Mamori… but she wasn’t lying down on the floor anymore. She was walking very slowly towards him.
Hiruma let out a cry. He wanted to shout at her to stop and not come to him. She would be taken in by the strong powers as well if she came any closer, and would die from it too. But her half dazed look was also filled with determination, and with each painful step she took, she drew closer to him.
Hiruma was falling in and out of consciousness now. He knew there wasn’t much time left. Mamori was before him now. She had fallen to her knees and had her arms wrapped around him. The amount of power was strong now, and was choking him. Just before he finally succumbed, the last thing he remembered was the warmth of Mamori’s arms and the soft sounds of her breathing.
And then with a loud bang, everything went blank.
The moment the explosion happened, everyone fell silent. Then Sena heard Monta give a little cry as he fell onto the ground, and before everyone’s eyes, he began to transform back into a human. Musashi took out his lightly torn jacket and put it over Monta, who was blinking now, looking dazed. “W-what...?” he said.
What just happened?!” Suzuna cried to Musashi, then she gasped when she saw Monta.
“But wait…” said Unsui. “If he’s turned back into a human, then…”
Sena felt as though he was struck by lightning as he realized that something was definitely wrong. He zoomed back into the building where Hiruma was and passed by Kurita, Komusubi and the Ha-Ha brothers on their backs, facing the blue sky after the explosion happened.
Sena wasn’t sure which room to head to, but he checked every level until he finally found the room with the most damage. He looked around and found the room almost reduced to rubble and what was left was filled with smoke and debris. Sena coughed and looked around. He found Agon lying against the wall, looking badly bruised and unconscious. He looked around some more, but could not find Hiruma anywhere.
Then he heard Suzuna skate towards the room. “Sena! I found you! I got my brother to take Monta to the hospital. He seems to be recovering well. But have you seen Mamo-nee? She’s not at the post where she’s meant to be!”
Sena’s eyes widened as he looked around. Hiruma wasn’t here… neither was Mamori… it can’t be… “Stay here,” he told Suzuna. “I’ll check the rest of the building. Tell the others that Hiruma and Mamori are missing. Oh, and take Agon away, he looks badly beaten up.” With that, Sena zoomed again through the corridors.
But try as he might, he could find no trace of Hiruma or Mamori anywhere within the building. Even as he left the building and checked around the campus, it was becoming more evident… Hiruma and Mamori were gone. Dread and despair rose within him as he rushed back to the room where everything had happened. Musashi, Kurita, Komusubi, Rui and a number of others were hanging around the room. Agon was taken away, while Yukimitsu continued to scan and analyze the room.
“Did you find him?!” asked Kurita, unable to hide his fear and worry. “Did you find Hiruma?!”
“Calm down, Kurita,” said Musashi, placing his hand on Kurita’s back. But even Musashi was unable to hide the fear in his voice. “Sena?” he asked, looking at Sena almost desperately.
Sena quivered a little, sighed then shook his head.
“Mamo-nee, too?” said Suzuna, tears welling in her eyes the moment Sena nodded.
Musashi turned towards Yukimitsu. “Can you find out what happened?”
Yukimitsu shook his head as he continued typing and analyzing the data he was getting. “It’s impossible to guess what happened... All I can say is that a lot of power was concentrated in here, and it was somehow contained for a few minutes before it finally broke free and the powers returned to the students. But...” He stopped typing. “Other than knowing both Hiruma and Mamori were here as there are traces of their power around this room, I cannot tell what happened to them.”
A number of citizens had crowded in front of the Deimon campus now, shouting their surprise at the sight of the fallen students, who were now slowly getting up. It was then that Musashi realized that dawn had finally settled in. He had never realized how bright the sun was until that moment.
Two policemen rushed towards the room and demanded to know what had happened. “We saw that student, Agon, downstairs looking badly injured. Were you all a part of the Demon’s scheme? Where is he? You will all be arrested...”
“He’s gone,” said Musashi, his voice steady
The policemen were stunned by this. “What? But...”
“As you can see by the condition of this room, something terrible has happened here,” said Musashi, having decided to take the role of leading everyone who looked at a loss. “Have a search if you will, but we have looked for him ourselves. He is gone.”
“Wait,” said one of the policemen, eyeing Musashi suspiciously. “He could be under the Demon’s spell.”
“No, we’re free of his spell,” said Musashi, though he looked grimmer now. “I have just checked everyone, and we searched for him to demand an explanation as to why he did this to us. But he’s gone... he left us with no answers…”
The policemen looked at each other, both their jaws dropped. “V-very well,” said one of them. “We will conduct a search and we may ask each of you some questions later... so don’t leave this building.”
And they both left in a hurry. Sena quickly rushed up to Musashi, “Why did you lie?!” he demanded.
“That’s what he wanted,” said Musashi, as he rubbed his temple. “He told me that if ever any of the authorities demanded to know why we were with him, he said to tell them that he cast a spell on us.”
“But they will know it’s not true if they do a proper search,” said Yukimitsu.
“Forge it then,” said Musashi, looking at Yukimitsu. “Or find a loophole to claim that it’s hard to detect such powers because it’s new or something. I don’t know, I don’t care, just...”
Suzuna watched as Kurita suddenly burst into tears and Komusubi tried to calm him down. The Ha-Ha Brothers looked especially disturbed at the fact that Mamori was gone as well. Karin looked down and crossed her arms, crying silently as Unsui wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Sena looked as though he could cry, as she herself swallowed a sob that was building in her throat. None of them knew what to do now, or how to react to this reality.
It felt so gloomy in the room that Suzuna couldn’t understand how the sun could shine so brightly outside. Or even how the citizens of Deimon, upon hearing what the policemen had just said, were now celebrating.
[Citizens of Deimon]
No one mourns the Wicked
Now at last he's dead and gone
Now at last there's joy throughout the land
Suzuna felt a tear fall when she heard them say that dreaded word. “Dead...” Unsui whispered. “The policemen had taken the story further by saying he’s dead.”
“But they don’t know, do they?” said Karin. “That Mamori is gone too.”
Silence fell upon them once more, a long drawn out moment that Suzuna couldn’t take anymore. Rubbing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Suzuna skated forward and said, “We can’t stay here feeling sorry for ourselves, or feeling as though we’ve lost. Get up, everything will be all right! Yes, we’re forced to live with the lie that Hiruma is a demon, and that Mamo-nee was a victim to this. But this is what they wanted, wasn’t it? They knew they couldn’t change what people thought of them, and yet they fought for what they believed in! So we ourselves have to believe in them! Someday...” she looked at Yukimitsu for a moment, and then at Sena. “Someday we’ll have enough proof to show that what they did was not in vain. Someday we’ll show the citizens that their views of magic is wrong. That power isn’t everything, and not everything that looks evil is instantly wicked. But until then...”
“We must be strong,” said Sena, finishing her sentence. He walked up to her and held his hand out. Suzuna felt tears well up in her eyes again, but she smiled this time as she held Sena’s hand. She looked around, and though there was still sadness within the room, everyone’s small smiles were filled with a little hope.
“You’re right,” said Yukimitsu, looking at his laptop sadly. “We’re all that’s left to help change people’s perception on magic.”
“Let’s go then,” Sena continued. “Let’s do our best to change this place. So that even magic users like us can play Football once more. For now, we need to at least inform Zokugaku and Teikoku on what has happened.”
There were nods of agreement, as Sena then led Suzuna out of the room and headed outside of the building where the sounds of the cheering crowd grew.
[Citizens of Deimon]
Good news!
Good news...
“A-are you sure?” asked Suzuna uncertainly.
“Actually, I’m not, said Sena, smiling a little. “The policemen told us to stay in the building. But we have to do something. The police can question us later. Though... you know...” he hesitated. “Are you sure you want to do this? Especially if you still want to be with me... You won’t be able to be a cheerleader anymore and-”
Suzuna shook her head. “No, that’s not important to me anymore. I was so selfish back then, thinking that the only way I can do what I love is by being a cheerleader. But there are more important things than that. Sena...
[Suzuna]
Who can say if I’ve been
Changed for the better?
But...
[Sena] (smiling)
Because I knew you...
[Citizens of Deimon]
No one mourns the Wicked...
[Suzuna]
Because I knew you...
[Sena & Suzuna]
I have been changed...
[Citizens of Deimon]
No one mourns the Wicked!
Wicked!
Wicked!
With that, Sena and Suzuna walked determinedly outside, facing that bright sunny day.
~*~
Extra Notes: And that's it for-*gets rotten food thrown at her* ARGH! WAIT! NO! I'M SORRY! Okay, yes, I'm sorry for the crappy ending of the last chapter. But there's an epilogue! So I hope you guys would look out for that! Would post it sometime tomorrow. I just have a few things to go through before posting it up.
Till then, if you have any questions about this story or even to myself as a writer, do feel free to ask them. A few more questions related to the story WILL be answered in the epilogue, but you can still ask about it to be sure that I state it in there.
I hope you've enjoyed the insane journey I've brought you guys so far. :)
Chapter 17 | Epilogue
Rating: T
Warnings: AU, slight OOC, and as it's a semi-musical based on a not so very popular broadway musical, it can be confusing.
Summary: The Citizens of Deimon are celebrating the death of a man they deemed Wicked. But is there more to it than what it seems? Could something bigger had happened behind the scenes? Semi-based on the Broadway Musical "Wicked" and is a semi-Musical. HiruMamo and SenaSuzu.
Disclaimers: I do not own the characters and the lyrics used here (despite the modifications). They belong to their respective owners!
Notes: I realize now my writing style for action scenes is always pretty quick. I don't like dwelling too much on it. So in the end, this chapter didn't turn out as long as I hoped. But it has everything I needed to state so... I hope it makes sense to you guys.
I'll talk more about this chapter after you've read it. Song used is the 'Finale' of Wicked. Take a listen to it here. Enjoy!
"..." - Conversation
Italics - Singing
Bold - Singer
(...) - Actions while singing
~*~
Mamori’s head shot up at the sound of gunshots ringing inside the building. She let out a tiny gasp as she quickly dropped her force field, and quickly swept her gaze around the area to make sure everyone was at a distance from the building before rushing in.
Although she wasn’t sure which room to head to, all she had to do was follow the sounds of gunshots and loud banging noises ringing all the way down the corridor. She skidded to a halt at one of the rooms that was glowing bright red, with bursts of light shining through at every crack or clearing. Cautiously, she moved to the door and took a quick peek inside…
Her eyes widened at the sight of the floor glowing red with lines and words, and Agon in the middle with the pendant in his hand as Hiruma moved across the floor quickly. Every time Hiruma stopped for more than a second the red light beneath his feet would grow brighter, threatening to overcome him, but then with guns stretched out before him, he would be on the move again trying to shoot Agon down.
The shots seemed futile with Agon nonchalantly moving to avoid the bullets on instances, but more often than not he created a momentary shield with the pendant, simply deflecting the bullets. “If that’s all you have to offer, I’m afraid you’re just wasting your time and energy,” drawled Agon, a haughty, bored expression on his face.
Hiruma who was breathing heavily merely responded with his trademark “Keh.” Despite this, Mamori noticed that Hiruma kept his distance from Agon, and continued to move quickly across the floor from one corner to another. Soon she noticed Hiruma kept jumping from point to point in a certain pattern, and by the gleam in Agon’s eyes, he had realized this too and was about to use this to his advantage.
Just as Hiruma landed in another spot, Agon clenched his fist on the pendant, and before Hiruma could escape, the red light finally engulfed him. Mamori let out a cry and was about to rush into the room, when she saw shadows appear from the spots Hiruma kept jumping on before, including the one he was on now, and they swooped towards Agon rapidly descending upon him.
Agon gasped as the shadows held on to his legs and arms tightly, stifling his movements. He made loud grunts of protest as the shadow around his right wrist began to twist, causing him to lose his grip on the pendant as it slowly slipped through his fingers.
Hiruma was walking forward to him now, a grin plastered on his face. “Thought you had me just then, didn’t you?” he cackled.
“You!” cried Agon. “How did you-?!”
“The gun was just a distraction,” Hiruma grinned. “If you had more fucking brains, you would have figured that out. Now to finally fucking end this.” Hiruma reached for the pendant.
Agon watched as Hiruma’s hand neared the pendant, about to grab it. With a loud cry, he focused his remaining strength to tighten his grip on the pendant once more, and released the pendant’s power to finally gain control of Hiruma.
Mamori watched in horror as the red light engulfed Hiruma once more, and in a state of panic, she rushed forward and placed a force field around Hiruma. She realized barely a second too late, after looking down, the big mistake she had made by doing just that.
Hiruma squeezed his eyes shut tight and prepared for the sudden burst of pain that was sure to come. But he felt nothing, and instead heard a loud bang coming from behind him. He knew instantly something was wrong, and as he opened his eyes, he felt his jaw drop at what he saw.
The glowing red magic circle from the ground was gone now, but Mamori was lying on the floor, her body looked lifeless. “What...?” he murmured.
Agon laughed maniacally. “That trash of a woman!” he laughed. “That stupid woman actually tried to SAVE you! And now she’s hit by the spell instead! This is perfect! She’s mine, once again! Once she gets up, I’ll make her fight you! How would you like to see that?! The woman you love going against you?!” Agon carried on laughing, but his laughter slowly faded when he felt a dark aura creep around him. He stopped laughing the moment he realized the dark aura came from Hiruma, his back towards Agon as he continued staring down at Mamori.
The shadows holding on to Agon dissolved and for a moment, despite the dark aura, Agon thought he had won. He raised the pendant victoriously; ready to knock Hiruma down, but the ground beneath him quivered. In the next instant, spikes burst through the ground. Agon dodged it, finally putting his God-like reflexes to use after long years of abandon, but he was still too slow. And a spike caught him and scratched through his left shin.
Every step he took, a spike would emerge from the ground beneath his feet. Soon he was running as quickly as he could, heading towards Hiruma, but Hiruma had disappeared. Is he hiding in the shadows? In his last attempt to gain control of the situation, he ran towards Mamori.
But that proved to be the worst thing he could’ve done. Just as he got close to Mamori, thinking that if he was near her the spikes would cease so as to not harm her, he suddenly felt a strong blow in his abdomen. The blow threw him across the room and he hit the wall at least a few feet above the floor. The impact made Agon’s eyes roll to the back of his head. It was a pain he had never experienced in his life.
He felt his body slump to the floor, almost certain some of his bones must have broken from the impact. Breathing heavily, he opened his eyes to find Hiruma standing before him, his eyes glowing red. Agon gave a small laugh, his breathing still sparse. “So… you really are a demon. Gonna kill me now?”
Hiruma narrowed his eyes, but remained unmoved.
Agon coughed a little. “Well, you got me now. So go ahead! Kill me! While I’m still alive, you won’t be able to even feel the pendant! Go on! Do it! And let the citizens of Deimon see who you truly are!”
But Hiruma stood still, agitating Agon to shout even more.
“Not gonna avenge her?” he cried, pointing at Mamori. “While I’m still alive, she’ll be mine. No spell can undo that. Not unless I’m dead. Ran out of magic? You still have that gun, don’t you? So what are you waiting for...?” But Hiruma did not do anything, and continued to stare down menacingly at Agon. Then Agon began to laugh once more. “You taking pity on me? You’re wasting your time.”
“Fucking dreads,” Hiruma finally spoke up. His voice made the hair on the back of Agon’s neck stand. “You need to shut the fuck up. I’ll kill you when I feel like it.”
Agon looked at Hiruma for a moment and then looked past him and noticed that spikes continued appearing from the ground, despite Agon being nowhere near them. It then occurred to him that the reason why Hiruma had stopped attacking him was so Hiruma could regain control of his powers which had momentarily gone berserk. It was then that he remembered he had one last trick up his sleeve. He was sure his right arm was badly injured but tried to keep from wincing and giving his plan away. Despite the pain, he gripped the pendant and released the pendant’s power one last time...
Yukimitsu had been steadily watching his laptop, noting the figures which recorded the amount of magic going on inside the Deimon building using analytic data. Things had gone as he expected, he’d watched the amount of magic rise steadily during the first round of Hiruma’s fight with Agon, and then suddenly it all dispersed and disappeared. Alarmed, he scanned the building’s the security cameras, but could not find traces of Hiruma or Agon anywhere. Everything was now dark in the room he had last seen them in.
He felt his heart hammer against his chest, as he sensed something worse was about to come. Then he turned back to his laptop, hoping against hope that what he was dreading wouldn’t be possible. But as he watched the level of magic within the building, a second wave of panic hit him when the numbers suddenly soared.
He knew things were bad now. Still staring at his laptop, and hardly noticing his surroundings, he ran towards the chaos, hoping to catch Musashi or anyone that could help him access the building, but was shocked at the sight before him.
The students that were fighting earlier had fallen to the ground, writhing and screaming in pain. Everyone else watched in confusion and horror. “What the heck is going on?!” shouted Rui, as he watched one student before him fall in pain.
“Something’s not right…” said Unsui, as he set the bag full of smoke bombs down.
Karin also watched in surprise, but then shivered a little. “This feeling... it’s familiar...”
Musashi looked around and spotted Yukimitsu, who was now back on the ground typing rapidly away on his laptop. “Do you know what just happened? What’s wrong with the students?”
Yukimitsu shook his head at first, and then he suddenly stopped and seemed taken aback at what he saw on the screen. “This is insane... Munakata and the others... I don’t know what they did, but they seem to have cast some kind of spell on the students. An illegal one, too! And whatever’s going on in the building right now, it’s drawing away at whatever magic these students have!”
“Magic? But these guys barely showed any signs of magic when we were fighting with them!” cried Musashi.
“I think that’s the point,” said Yukimitsu, his voice shaking slightly. “They rarely use their magic, depending only on brute strength which is partly bestowed by their innate powers as well. This makes them perfect candidates for moments where you need huge amounts of magic as they’ve rarely used it, and yet their powers are still open for use. If I deduce correctly, Agon’s using that pendant to draw every last drop of magic from these students, and do something terrible...”
“That’s it!” cried Karin. “This spell! That’s what they did to me! And probably to Mamori!”
“Someone call Sena and get him to rush into the building! Kurita, Ha-Ha Brothers, head there first! Warn Mamori!” cried Musashi. He then rushed towards Munakata, who was tied up by one of the sidewalks. “Now, you tell me what you did to these students.”
Munakata hesitated for a moment, and then grinned humorlessly. “Well, since Agon’s using this, it means that he’s down to his last straw... This technique acts much like a vacuum, trying to suck as much magic as it can from the people we designate the spell to. The thing about our magic is that the moment we run out of magic, it’s either we lose consciousness and fall into a coma from the loss... or find a way to produce more. The less a person uses their magic, the more magic is stored within.”
“But what about me?” said Karin, appearing behind Musashi. “You did that to me, didn’t you? But instead of producing more magic, I seem to have lost any signs of magic.”
“That’s because your powers are completely sealed off now after years of being dormant. No spell could release it,” sneered Munakata. “You’re pretty much a non-magical person now.”
Karin wasn’t sure how to take such news. “T-then Mamori...”
“We always thought we were close to getting her to fully awaken and become the only person to fully possess celestial powers,” said Munakata. “But she never showed signs of power until she was in danger. Something we should have considered.”
Sena was running towards them now, Suzuna skating close behind him. “What’s going on?! The students-”
“No time! Something’s going on in the building! We’ve got to stop Agon and save-” But Musashi was cut off as a loud bang came from the building.
Hiruma barely had time to process what Agon had just done. He could tell Agon had casted a powerful spell that was causing a sudden surge of magical power to fill the room, rushing towards the pendant and Agon’s body as if drawn to him. “Fucking dreads!” he cried.
Agon laughed as he stood up, feeling stronger now that he was filled with so much power. “Just what I needed. And now... I’ll-” But Agon suddenly wavered, as a wave of nausea hit him. “Too... much... power...” he groaned, leaning against the wall. Try as he might to stop the spell, he realized it was too late. There was no way of stopping this, and he was going to be consumed by all the power.
Hiruma noticed this, and quickly reached out to grab the pendant, but Agon pulled away. “No!” Agon cried. “You’ll destroy it!”
Hiruma growled and punched Agon straight in the face, easily knocking him unconscious. “Fucking idiot!” he cried, as he finally grabbed the pendant from Agon’s open wrist.
The moment Hiruma held the pendant; he knew the power was way too overwhelming to be controlled. There was no way of stopping the flow of magic from rushing through the pendant like this, and if this kept up, the power would consume everyone within the Deimon campus. He knew he had no choice, as everything he had studied or learnt to this point pointed to the only one thing he could do in such a situation.
Take it all in and prepare to die
He gripped the pendant and focused the flow of magic towards himself, taking all the hits. If he could just contain the power using whatever demon powers he had and allow it to overwhelm him and only him, then all the wrongs Agon had caused, from the fucking monkey to Mamori, could finally be right. Then finally... finally...
Despite the amount of pain he was feeling, he opened his eyes to at least have one last look at Mamori… but she wasn’t lying down on the floor anymore. She was walking very slowly towards him.
Hiruma let out a cry. He wanted to shout at her to stop and not come to him. She would be taken in by the strong powers as well if she came any closer, and would die from it too. But her half dazed look was also filled with determination, and with each painful step she took, she drew closer to him.
Hiruma was falling in and out of consciousness now. He knew there wasn’t much time left. Mamori was before him now. She had fallen to her knees and had her arms wrapped around him. The amount of power was strong now, and was choking him. Just before he finally succumbed, the last thing he remembered was the warmth of Mamori’s arms and the soft sounds of her breathing.
And then with a loud bang, everything went blank.
The moment the explosion happened, everyone fell silent. Then Sena heard Monta give a little cry as he fell onto the ground, and before everyone’s eyes, he began to transform back into a human. Musashi took out his lightly torn jacket and put it over Monta, who was blinking now, looking dazed. “W-what...?” he said.
What just happened?!” Suzuna cried to Musashi, then she gasped when she saw Monta.
“But wait…” said Unsui. “If he’s turned back into a human, then…”
Sena felt as though he was struck by lightning as he realized that something was definitely wrong. He zoomed back into the building where Hiruma was and passed by Kurita, Komusubi and the Ha-Ha brothers on their backs, facing the blue sky after the explosion happened.
Sena wasn’t sure which room to head to, but he checked every level until he finally found the room with the most damage. He looked around and found the room almost reduced to rubble and what was left was filled with smoke and debris. Sena coughed and looked around. He found Agon lying against the wall, looking badly bruised and unconscious. He looked around some more, but could not find Hiruma anywhere.
Then he heard Suzuna skate towards the room. “Sena! I found you! I got my brother to take Monta to the hospital. He seems to be recovering well. But have you seen Mamo-nee? She’s not at the post where she’s meant to be!”
Sena’s eyes widened as he looked around. Hiruma wasn’t here… neither was Mamori… it can’t be… “Stay here,” he told Suzuna. “I’ll check the rest of the building. Tell the others that Hiruma and Mamori are missing. Oh, and take Agon away, he looks badly beaten up.” With that, Sena zoomed again through the corridors.
But try as he might, he could find no trace of Hiruma or Mamori anywhere within the building. Even as he left the building and checked around the campus, it was becoming more evident… Hiruma and Mamori were gone. Dread and despair rose within him as he rushed back to the room where everything had happened. Musashi, Kurita, Komusubi, Rui and a number of others were hanging around the room. Agon was taken away, while Yukimitsu continued to scan and analyze the room.
“Did you find him?!” asked Kurita, unable to hide his fear and worry. “Did you find Hiruma?!”
“Calm down, Kurita,” said Musashi, placing his hand on Kurita’s back. But even Musashi was unable to hide the fear in his voice. “Sena?” he asked, looking at Sena almost desperately.
Sena quivered a little, sighed then shook his head.
“Mamo-nee, too?” said Suzuna, tears welling in her eyes the moment Sena nodded.
Musashi turned towards Yukimitsu. “Can you find out what happened?”
Yukimitsu shook his head as he continued typing and analyzing the data he was getting. “It’s impossible to guess what happened... All I can say is that a lot of power was concentrated in here, and it was somehow contained for a few minutes before it finally broke free and the powers returned to the students. But...” He stopped typing. “Other than knowing both Hiruma and Mamori were here as there are traces of their power around this room, I cannot tell what happened to them.”
A number of citizens had crowded in front of the Deimon campus now, shouting their surprise at the sight of the fallen students, who were now slowly getting up. It was then that Musashi realized that dawn had finally settled in. He had never realized how bright the sun was until that moment.
Two policemen rushed towards the room and demanded to know what had happened. “We saw that student, Agon, downstairs looking badly injured. Were you all a part of the Demon’s scheme? Where is he? You will all be arrested...”
“He’s gone,” said Musashi, his voice steady
The policemen were stunned by this. “What? But...”
“As you can see by the condition of this room, something terrible has happened here,” said Musashi, having decided to take the role of leading everyone who looked at a loss. “Have a search if you will, but we have looked for him ourselves. He is gone.”
“Wait,” said one of the policemen, eyeing Musashi suspiciously. “He could be under the Demon’s spell.”
“No, we’re free of his spell,” said Musashi, though he looked grimmer now. “I have just checked everyone, and we searched for him to demand an explanation as to why he did this to us. But he’s gone... he left us with no answers…”
The policemen looked at each other, both their jaws dropped. “V-very well,” said one of them. “We will conduct a search and we may ask each of you some questions later... so don’t leave this building.”
And they both left in a hurry. Sena quickly rushed up to Musashi, “Why did you lie?!” he demanded.
“That’s what he wanted,” said Musashi, as he rubbed his temple. “He told me that if ever any of the authorities demanded to know why we were with him, he said to tell them that he cast a spell on us.”
“But they will know it’s not true if they do a proper search,” said Yukimitsu.
“Forge it then,” said Musashi, looking at Yukimitsu. “Or find a loophole to claim that it’s hard to detect such powers because it’s new or something. I don’t know, I don’t care, just...”
Suzuna watched as Kurita suddenly burst into tears and Komusubi tried to calm him down. The Ha-Ha Brothers looked especially disturbed at the fact that Mamori was gone as well. Karin looked down and crossed her arms, crying silently as Unsui wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Sena looked as though he could cry, as she herself swallowed a sob that was building in her throat. None of them knew what to do now, or how to react to this reality.
It felt so gloomy in the room that Suzuna couldn’t understand how the sun could shine so brightly outside. Or even how the citizens of Deimon, upon hearing what the policemen had just said, were now celebrating.
[Citizens of Deimon]
No one mourns the Wicked
Now at last he's dead and gone
Now at last there's joy throughout the land
Suzuna felt a tear fall when she heard them say that dreaded word. “Dead...” Unsui whispered. “The policemen had taken the story further by saying he’s dead.”
“But they don’t know, do they?” said Karin. “That Mamori is gone too.”
Silence fell upon them once more, a long drawn out moment that Suzuna couldn’t take anymore. Rubbing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Suzuna skated forward and said, “We can’t stay here feeling sorry for ourselves, or feeling as though we’ve lost. Get up, everything will be all right! Yes, we’re forced to live with the lie that Hiruma is a demon, and that Mamo-nee was a victim to this. But this is what they wanted, wasn’t it? They knew they couldn’t change what people thought of them, and yet they fought for what they believed in! So we ourselves have to believe in them! Someday...” she looked at Yukimitsu for a moment, and then at Sena. “Someday we’ll have enough proof to show that what they did was not in vain. Someday we’ll show the citizens that their views of magic is wrong. That power isn’t everything, and not everything that looks evil is instantly wicked. But until then...”
“We must be strong,” said Sena, finishing her sentence. He walked up to her and held his hand out. Suzuna felt tears well up in her eyes again, but she smiled this time as she held Sena’s hand. She looked around, and though there was still sadness within the room, everyone’s small smiles were filled with a little hope.
“You’re right,” said Yukimitsu, looking at his laptop sadly. “We’re all that’s left to help change people’s perception on magic.”
“Let’s go then,” Sena continued. “Let’s do our best to change this place. So that even magic users like us can play Football once more. For now, we need to at least inform Zokugaku and Teikoku on what has happened.”
There were nods of agreement, as Sena then led Suzuna out of the room and headed outside of the building where the sounds of the cheering crowd grew.
[Citizens of Deimon]
Good news!
Good news...
“A-are you sure?” asked Suzuna uncertainly.
“Actually, I’m not, said Sena, smiling a little. “The policemen told us to stay in the building. But we have to do something. The police can question us later. Though... you know...” he hesitated. “Are you sure you want to do this? Especially if you still want to be with me... You won’t be able to be a cheerleader anymore and-”
Suzuna shook her head. “No, that’s not important to me anymore. I was so selfish back then, thinking that the only way I can do what I love is by being a cheerleader. But there are more important things than that. Sena...
[Suzuna]
Who can say if I’ve been
Changed for the better?
But...
[Sena] (smiling)
Because I knew you...
[Citizens of Deimon]
No one mourns the Wicked...
[Suzuna]
Because I knew you...
[Sena & Suzuna]
I have been changed...
[Citizens of Deimon]
No one mourns the Wicked!
Wicked!
Wicked!
With that, Sena and Suzuna walked determinedly outside, facing that bright sunny day.
~*~
Extra Notes: And that's it for-*gets rotten food thrown at her* ARGH! WAIT! NO! I'M SORRY! Okay, yes, I'm sorry for the crappy ending of the last chapter. But there's an epilogue! So I hope you guys would look out for that! Would post it sometime tomorrow. I just have a few things to go through before posting it up.
Till then, if you have any questions about this story or even to myself as a writer, do feel free to ask them. A few more questions related to the story WILL be answered in the epilogue, but you can still ask about it to be sure that I state it in there.
I hope you've enjoyed the insane journey I've brought you guys so far. :)
Chapter 17 | Epilogue