"V.V.!!!" Lloyd shouted.
V.V. who was held in place between two guards, looked up at the call of her name. She wanted to struggle but the two guards kept a firm hold of her.
"Why is she up there? And where's Reo???" Glenn said in hushed tones.
"Let us start the bid at a thousand dollars."
"Thousand and five hundred!" A man said.
"Two thousand. She's just too cute." A blonde woman said.
"Francis, can you bet on her?" Glenn said desperately.
"I can try." Francis said. "But it won't be easy." He then made his way to the rows of seat.
"Glenn, can you find Reo with your vamp senses?"
Glenn took a deep breath, letting his body feel light as he concentrated on finding Reo. He did not manage to find him, but he just picked up a strange aura. It seems demonic yet human at the same time.
"I sense something funny. Demonic...yet human at the same time."
"Where?" Lloyd demanded.
"Somewhere... up there."
Without hesitating, Lloyd pushed his way through the crowd with Glenn hot on his heels, leaving Francis to bid on V.V.
"Two thousand and seven hundred dollars!" Francis shouted, raising his paddle.
V.V. eyed Francis in shock, but she kept her eyes on him. It's like she's shrieking a telepathy that keeps shouting, "HELP!!!!"
"Three thousand!"
"Four thousand!!!" Francis raised his paddle.
"Francis, what's going on?"
Vargas had came over, the prized Eye of Horus in his hand like a treasured jewel, which in a way, it is.
"I need to rescue my friend up there!" Francis jabbed a finger at V.V.
Vargas frowned. "You made friends with an item?"
"That item is a she. And SHE is a friend of mine."
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have a bid of eight thousand dollars from the woman in the first row. I repeat, I have a bid of eight thousand dollars from the woman in the front row."
"Francis, is that she really worth anything to you?"
"Screw you, you old man." Without warning, Francis raised his fist, tightly clenched, ready to slam the ground to cause an earthquake when Vargas stared at him coldly and said, "Nine thousand dollars!!!"
Fifteen minutes later, V.V was rubbing her freed arms with relief in Francis's arms. He noticed her arm had a huge hold in it, but it's already slowly healing, though the cracks are still there.
"Vivian. What happened to you?" Francis had never seen her injured and pained before, not to mention nearly being sold off.
She grabbed Francis weakly by the collar. "W-Who are- Francis?"
"Yeah."
"Where's Lloyd?" She swayed slightly.
"He and Glenn just went up. Why?"
"Help them." She said weakly. "They can't just strike him head on. He got Reo and he's out of our league."
"What on earth are you talking about, V.?"
"He's an...Ultima." That was all she managed before swaying down to the floor.
***********
Reo was tied with his hands above him with chains. He's hanging above a huge pit which seemed to be dark murky water. It's so pit black till you can't even see what's underneath it.
Great, just great. He thought bitterly. If Revarie and Guy were here, they would be laughing their heads off right now.
Fazar seems to enjoy people who are suffering, or to be more precise, going to their death. He is practically salivating. Kujaku seems to be rather interested.
"You made a great mistake attacking me, boy." Fazar said. "And now you'll pay for being meddlesome."
"What are you going to do, drown me?" Reo couldn't help being sarcastic.
The water seems to be bubbling, erupting like molten hot lava. That is when something emerged out of the water. And he feel a spasm of terror in his stomach.
A sea serpent. Over six feet long and as thick as a man's thigh. Its gleaming scales shone teal and cerulean in the dull light. Its head looks like a cross between a seahorse and a dragon. The three rows of yellowed teeth stained with blood. What's even more crueler is its eyes. Blood red with tints of amber. He thought he could see a human bone trapped in between its jaws.
"Say hello to Leviathan." Fazar crowed.
Leviathan seems to sense his prey, because the next thing that happened was it tried to bite his legs off, but thank goodness he raised his legs at the right time, drawing them up to his knees just as Leviathan snapped at him.
"I wonder how long can you stand?" Fazar said as Leviathan swam around lazily, its shape a dark shadow in the water, though he can't see clearly. "Your muscles will be exhausted as the minutes go ticking by. Sooner or later you won't be able to dodge Leviathan."
Reo ignored his taunts. Part of his training with Revarie, Allen with Mind's Shadow, Guy and Dario was to never show your emotion to your opponent because your emotion gives away how you feel inside. Whether it is fear, anger, rage or terror...
A loud banging sound startled Fazar but not Kujaku. Brandishing his gun, Fazar waved it around wildly and got the shock of his life. A kyuubi with her golden nine tails spread out behind her was snarling at him. It seems that she has smash through the wall due to some of the rubble falling into the pit.
"You-you-"
"You thought you diminished my powers just because you hold my hoshi no tama? Bakayarou." Inari the kitsune snarled with rage and fury.
What? Reo thought dazedly. Isn't that Inari?
"You sly kitsune." Fazar roared. "I swear, this time I'll finish off the job!"
Inari swooped down upon him, her teeth bared. Blue fox fires shot out from her nine tails and blasted away towards him like a gattling gun. Reo had to twist himself upwards to avoid being blasted. Leviathan, annoyed by being disturbed, gave a whale-like hum and tried to reach Reo, heaving itself upwards. Reo heaved himself higher, his legs twisting around the chain to get a better grip.
Some of the fox fires had caught Fazar's shirt, spreading its blue flames. He quickly beat it out but was caught off guard just as Inari, turning back into a human, shoved him hard, sending him off balance and with a yell, he fell into Leviathan's pit, but he managed to cling onto the edge of the pit with his hands. His gun had went spinning down and into Leviathan's mouth.
Inari was staring down at him coldly. Her dark eyes hard like iron. Although there is no breeze, her golden hair whipped around her face, giving her the look of a truly magnificent radiant Goddess of Vengeance. Even the floral kimono seems to be spinning in the air, causing the flower patterns to be swirling with such brilliance.
"You lose..." She said quietly to Fazar who was gazing at her with -for the first time- fear.
"Y-You-How-"
Inari, without saying anything, brought her arms up to form a X. With a sharp cracking sound, there was a slashing motion and Fazar's hands from the forearms were chopped off, blood spraying like fountain in the air; causing him to give an ear-splitting scream as he fall into Leviathan's mouth. Reo, who had been hovering on top, turned away as the munching started. There was the sound of bones snapping and the screams stopped.
And he's next.
Leviathan, clearly tired of all this, gave a hum and heaved itself up again, causing Reo to swing himself out of the way like Tarzan, minus the Tarzan yell. There is absolutely no way he's going to be fish chow, which driven him to reach into the hollow part of his shoe and brought out a sharp dagger. His wrists are screaming with pain as the metal cut into them. Gritting his teeth, he jabbed at the keyhole repeatedly as Inari and Kujaku squared off against each other. Fox fires hurtled in the air like will-o-wisps. Kujaku's claymore is slicing cleanly the fox fires in the air. What surprises him is Inari's hair is growing rapidly, yards and yards of it. Her hair, like Medusa's, lashed out at him, snake-like. But what halted her is Kujaku suddenly holding out a star ball.
Her star ball.
"My hoshi no tama!" She cried. "That's mine! Mine! MINE!!!"
"Legends has it that the holder of the hoshi no tama allows the holder to control the kitsune." He taunted, holding out the transparent crystal ball. "Let's find out whether it's true, shall we?"
The star ball then glowed softly as it reacts to Inari, whose eyes slowly turned blank. But then she shrugged it off. "How dare you."
Kujaku then twirled it around three times with his fingers.
Without warning, Inari gave a piercing scream, clutching her head, her hair whipping around wildly. The star ball does reacts to her, forcing her to bend her will.
A bullet shot past him. A thin line appeared on his cheek where the bullet had gone whizzing by.
Glenn was standing with his legs apart, his center of gravity in the middle. His Sauer ready in hand.
"Inari-san, are you alright?" Glenn asked in Japanese.
Leviathan suddenly emerged from the water, giving a whale-like hum. From above, Reo swung like Tarzan -again- and aimed a kick at Leviathan's jaw, snapping one of the teeth in process. It gave a whale cry and submerged itself into the water. Reo then threw himself onto land and sighed with relief. His wrists are covered with red marks where the chains had hurt him.
"You alright?"
"I don't need your concern." Reo said, dusting himself.
"How about a word of thanks?" Glenn tossed over his briefcase, which he caught neatly with his good reflex. His gunblades were neatly packed in, most likely by him when he was making his way through here. He picked them up and tossed the briefcase aside.
"Before you face me, you had better consider your situation, moronic fools." Kujaku said.
Inari, who was thrashing around wildly just now, is now facing them with a deadpan expression on her face. Her yards and yards of hair are floating around her, snake-like. The cyan tips lit up as though they're on fire.
"Inari-san?"
Inari's hair suddenly grabbed them both, wrapping itself tightly. There are also yelps of pain as the blue flames licked up to their garments.
"Inari-chan. Why not feed them to Leviathan?" Kujaku said with mockery. "It seems that he's not satisfied with his meal."
Before anyone could react, Lloyd threw himself high up, his blade swinging down onto her hair, rendering them useless. They quickly beat out the scorched part, but there's no way to disguise the burns that had appeared on their skin.
"You both okay?" He asked.
Inari leapt into the air, her hair becoming sharp and it speared down like javelins being hurled. Lloyd diced them again before they could get close to them. Something gleamed brightly as Inari's hair were chopped off. She was merely a distraction as the claymore went shooting straight towards him, though he knocked it aside just in time before it went stabbing him.
"Impressive." Kujaku said, his hands poised into a hand seal. "Not many people can deflect my telekinetic claymore."
Lloyd swung his blade and said, "So you were the one pulling the strings behind all of this?"
"I do have to cover my tracks." Kujaku said with fake modesty.
Lloyd swung his blade to his fighting stance. This guy, he thought silently, he's not an ordinary fellow that's for sure. He took in the claymore. It's huge and heavy, with a gold hilt decorated with lapis lazulis and rubies. The blade is wide in diameter and big, though he's holding it easily with one hand.
Leviathan suddenly leapt itself out of the pit, trying to reach Glenn but Reo spun with lightning speed and shot rapidly at Leviathan. It gave a pained hum and hid back in the water. Inari is sparring off Glenn, her hair like writhing snakes. Glenn was dodging every movement to avoid the burning cyan tips, although his Sauer is ready in hand, he could not get a chance to shoot her And she was being controlled by the star ball. He couldn't bring himself to shoot her in cold blood.
"Lloyd, get the star ball!" Glenn shouted, dodging the hair. "He's controlling her with the star ball."
Lloyd charged towards Kujaku, trying to swipe the star ball that he had tucked into his coat pocket, but Kujaku deflected him and gave him a thrust kick at the stomach, sending him flying to Leviathan's pit, its mouth wide open to chomp him.
"Oh no, you don't!" Lloyd held his blade in front of him and at the last minute, he fixed the blade in between Leviathan's mouth, so that the blade was stuck between the rows of teeth like a steel bar being fixed in between the jaws of death. It tried to close is mouth but it is unable to due to his blade being made out of the strongest and durable adamantium mineral.
"How you like that, you...fishy?" Lloyd said with an air of triumph.
"Allow me to give you a little hand to hell." Kujaku chanted a strange mantra and two demons appeared. Unlike Legions, they are bigger and stronger. They seems to resembles gargoyle statues, complete with horns and canines. Their skin are a mix of pale greyish blue. Their wings are gray, thus bringing their gargoyle-like appearance closer. Except their face is skull-like and demon-like. The eyes seemed blank and hollow. Their hands are folded across their bulky chest as though they are observing, with sharpened claws that shone like silver.
"Daimones..." Lloyd whispered while struggling to keep the blade intact in Leviathan's mouth. "You are... an Ultima?"
"Someone did study their demonology well." Kujaku smiled, his different coloured eyes gleaming brightly. "That sweet girl in blue also called me that. An Ultima. She put up a good fight when I sold her to Desmond Knox, the master of the auction house." He added at Lloyd's blank look.
Girl in blue? "Do you mean...V.V.?" He said hoarsely.
"Was that her name? Strange name. But I guess that's expected from the bio weapon of Stellar Inc." He then leaned over to face him. "And here's a little something for you to take to your grave. I asked Fazar to steal the star ball, oh yes, and to make sure it can't be linked to me, I had him pass it to Desmond Knox. That way, he will be the one who get blamed, not me." He then gave a twisted grin.
This guy...Lloyd thought savagely. It's a total psychopath. The heterochromia meant something though. But he couldn't seem to figure it out because at that moment the two Daimones swooped above him, surrounding him from both sides, cutting off his escape route and forcing him to face the Leviathan.
Lloyd gnashed his teeth together and without thinking, grabbed his blade and impale it through the roof of its mouth, the blade drenched in scarlet. Instead of humming, this time it gave a loud wail that seems to amplify around them. Drops of scarlet orbs mixed into the dark murky water. Lloyd pulled out his blade and impaled it again, this time through the throat. It gave a final wail and crashed back into the water, with him using its corpse as a stepping stone.
As soon as the Leviathan sank , the Daimones took over. Their great wings beating hard in the air. Instead of attacking, they shot energy orbs right at him, causing him to spin in the air to dodge them. The corpse is slowly sinking, the water is slowly seeping into his socks and shoes.
The sound of bullets made him look up. Reo was shooting at the Daimones with pinpoint accuracy. The Daimones turned their attention onto him, giving Lloyd the chance to jump back up. Glenn had just dodged Inari's snake hair and had managed to punch her in the stomach, causing her to crash onto the floor. Kujaku gave a wordless snarl and was swinging his claymore viciously at him. The blade caught a hold of his shirt, ripping the fabric.
"You mess with the wrong person." Kujaku said softly.
Someone suddenly swooped in and threw a vicious punch onto his jaws. Had he been a normal human, his jaws might have snapped, but being an Ultima, it only threw him off balance. As he clasped his jaws in pain, Francis, in his kickboxing stance, was facing him. Behind him, stumbling slightly and wincing slightly in pain, was V.V., the cracks haven't fully healed yet from beneath her dress.
"What- But you're just a normal human!" For once, Kujaku was not smiling nor grinning, but twisted with rage.
"If you kill him, then you'll have to deal with me." Francis said, his eyes blazing.
"Francis, right on time." Glenn said, staring at his ripped shirt.
"It took us forever to find the right room." Francis said. "V.V. wasn't feeling too well yet."
"If you want to die, then you can die together." He chanted another mantra and Daimones appeared.
"How many can you take on?" Glenn asked, loading blessed bullets into his Sauer.
"It depends." Francis said.
Simultaneously, as if on cue, the Daimones charged towards them, shooting energy orbs. One of them tried to claw Francis, who gave it a jab, combined with his super strength, the Daimone went soaring into the wall and laid still. Glenn shot it another one with a blessed bullet right in between the eyes. It gave a roar and crashed landed into the pit.
Meanwhile, Lloyd and Reo, who had just finished killing off his Daimones, were trading blows with Kujaku who is on equal level with them despite the fact that he's alone. V.V. had staggered over to Inari to watch over her. Though whenever Inari moved, or even as so much as a twitch, she knocked her out to make sure that she doesn't try attacking them.
"Why bother fighting for humans?" He taunted. "They're nothing more than weaklings."
That was when Lloyd realized. The thing that had been nagging at the back of his mind all the time. His heterochromia...
"I get it now..." He said. "You're not fully an Ultima, aren't you?"
Kujaku's face showed a little shock. "What did you just say?"
"You're not fully an Ultima." Lloyd repeated calmly. "Ultima-ranking demons are known for their crimson eyes and human-like appearance. Just like Daimones-ranking demons resembles beasts such as gargoyles. You're half-human, aren't you?"
Kujaku suddenly went berserk. One moment he was looking a tiny bit of shock, next moment, he let out a howl of fury and raised his claymore in front of him. The blade glowed red with ancient writings on the blade.
"You'll never understand the humiliation I go through!!!" He roared, charging towards Reo, the blade catching him in the abdomen. The wound wasn't deep but he had pierced a vein, causing blood to flow out. "Even as an half-Ultima, I was laughed by the Demon World!!!! Even Legions-ranked demons jeered at me!!!!"
Lloyd tried deflecting his blows but the claymore was piercing through the air viciously. His arm got a scratch from the edge of the claymore which is unusually sharp.
Suddenly, cyan-coloured hairs danced in the air and bound his arms and legs. He slashed it viciously and glared at V.V. whose hair is growing rapidly and turning into blades.
"You bitch!!!!" He screamed, rushing towards V.V. whose grabbed his claymore with her bare hands. Some cracks appeared at the palms where she had gripped the claymore tightly.
"Get it!" She shouted.
It took him a while to get what she's saying, but he nodded. Reacting with the grace of a panther, he jumped onto Kujaku's back, his arms and legs looped around him tightly, pinning his arms in place. As Kujaku attempt to shake V.V. off, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out Inari's star ball. It is warm to the touch and glowed softly in his hand.
"You-" He screamed.
Lloyd hurled the star ball to Francis, who tossed it to Glenn, who run to Inari. Daimones appeared, attempting to stop him. But he jumped above them and shoved the star ball to Inari.
The star ball, in Inari's hands at last, glows brightly, rejoiced for being reunited with mistress at last. Inari's eyes fluttered open and she gave a smile. A warm smile, her strength fully returning to her. She wrapped her hands around the star ball, it shimmered in front of their eyes and a mark appeared on her forehead. It looks like an ancient symbol of a red flame.
"My hoshi no tama, it's finally mine again." She said, her head high, as proud as a queen's.
In blind rage, Kujaku broke free of V.V. and Lloyd, who fell though Francis managed to get him in time.
"You okay, Lloyd?" He asked.
Kujaku charged towards Inari, his claymore telekinetically charging towards Inari, who stopped it with a finger.
"You will suffer a lot." She said coldly, painting a pentagram symbol in the air. At first, nothing seemed to happen.
And then it did.
The whole earth seems to shake violently like an earthquake hitting the States. Rubble from the ceiling started to trickle down. The water in Leviathan's pit also shook violently, occasionally splashing like many droplets of water. A huge steel gate suddenly appeared, decorated with a pair of skulls grinning down at them. Although they're part of the gate, they looked evidently alive.
"GET DOWN!!!!" Glenn yelled. "EVERYBODY GET DOWN!!!!"
Francis shoved Lloyd to the ground before getting down himself. V.V. and Reo flung themselves just in time as the gate opened. A black hole vacuum was on he other side of the gate and it started to suck everything in. Kujaku was not so fortunate. He was pulled into the vacuum, screaming in rage. Only when the gate closed itself and disappeared, his screams finally stopped.
"My God..." Francis gasped.
"I sent him to a one way trip to Jigoku." Inari said softly.
"He deserved it." V.V. said bluntly.
"V.V.!" Lloyd gasped, shocked.
Reo threw them all a glance and walked off.
"Wait a minute, Minamio." Glenn said.
"Our truce is done." Reo said coldly. "I only wanted to help Inari get her hoshi no tama back."
Glenn seems to hesitate, struggling for the right words. Just as Reo was about to leave, he spluttered, "Thank you."
Reo gave no sign that he heard him, but instead he just walked off, loosening his tie as he went.
"You helped me retrieve my hoshi no tama." Inari said. "On my honour as a kitsune, I will grant your request."
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Lloyd said.
Moments later, they were all in Tifa's room. Tifa was lying on the bed, still in a comatose. She looks like a deathly zombie. Or vampire.
Inari held out her star ball near her forehead. The star ball gave a soft glow and started to use some of its magic to give some of her life back, bathing her in a soft cyan glow.
Though she still didn't wake up.
"What's wrong with her?"Francis asked, who had followed them. "Why isn't she awake?"
"It will take some time." Inari said softly, her head bowed. "However, I can assure you that she's no longer in danger. She'll awake eventually." She then turned to the open window. "I had done what you're requested. Time for me to back to my temple and...keep my hoshi no tama safe."
"Well, it has been nice knowing you..." Lloyd struggled within himself. "Inari..."
Inari gave a laugh and threw her arms around him. "Anata wa todemo kawaii desu! I want some sake and gohan for my services."
"NO!!!!!" All of them yelled.
"I'm just kidding!" She did a little pirouette like a child. "Well then, sayonara."
She then turned into her fox form and leapt through the open window.
"Kawaii huh?" Glenn said teasingly. "Looks like the kitsune has a crush on you."
"Stop that." Lloyd said.
"Kawaii kawaii Lloyd-chan,
And Inari-chan on the windowsill,
All cosy in the upper skies,
Cuddling and hugging-"
"SHUT UP!!!!!!" Lloyd roared.
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