Well, Friday has rolled around and the next chapter is ready to go. This a very revealing chapter and definitely not one to miss. It has been one of my favorites to write because it packs so much emotion into these characters and it shows a lot of their personality. As always, thanks for reading and your feedback is much appreciated. Here is the revelation......
Chapter 10:
The hissing scimitar known as Sanchuudoku chopped down at Valkryon, but the gold-eyed warrior slashed across with his broadsword, deflecting the jade sword wide. Aeryk launched his own attack, the glowing Fenyerosseg shooting for Valtherion’s throat. In a flash of green burning air, Victor spun his blade back and blocked, shoving Valkryon away from him.
“You are going to have to be faster than that to defeat Sanchuudoku. This serpent’s acid poisoning is all-consuming, so defend me at your own risk!” Victor shouted and as he slashed his sword in the air, a blast of green venom shot from the blade, directed at Aeryk, who heard the searing in the air and quickly sidestepped, allowing the acid to fly past him untouched. He rebounded with a lob of golden spears, but Victor sent forth another wave and the acid melted right through the energy missiles.
Aeryk exploded into motion behind the display, charging ahead with his sword shining through the rain. The swords clashed together a dozen times, sparks of gold and green flying around the warriors. Aeryk used his Flash Step to get behind Victor, but the captain was there immediately to block the attack, following the move by twisting his body and kicking Aeryk in the side. As the kensai tumbled forward, Victor hooked his arm, flipping the warrior on his back. Valkryon landed hard with a wheeze, but as Victor stabbed downward, Aeryk rolled through the mud and jumped to his feet. Catching the blond fighter with his back turned, Victor drew a circle in the air and launched a halo of poison. Aeryk whipped around, but had no chance to dodge as the attack blasted him right in the chest and quickly began to eat through his leather vest as he was knocked down to the seat of his pants. With stinging fingernails, he dug at the deteriorating shirt, the surging heat burning at his chest. He tore off the remaining fabric and threw it away, his warrior’s body now covered in mud and blisters.
Anger overriding his panic, Aeryk gained his feet and bombarded the captain with a hellfire attack, missiles coursing in from all angles. Victor used the Flash Step, fleeting in and out of sight as he dodged the barrage of golden reiatsu. He appeared directly in front of Valkryon and struck, but Aeryk nimbly ducked and launched the hilt of his sword upward, clipping Victor in the temple. He then redirected his attack forward with the blade. Victor turned and dodged, but the sword sliced a deep cut in his captain's robe.
Realizing that he was in a precarious position now with his back turned, Valtherion used shunpo to retreat, but Aeryk was right behind him, hacking away with his sword and cutting the white robe into tatters. In a split second, Victor stopped and turned, throwing off the robe into Aeryk's face. Aeryk slashed through the material, but the momentary blindness allowed Victor to stab out with his Sanchuudoku. The kensai halted his pursuit and leaned back as far as he could, but the serpentine blade skimmed his left cheek, cutting a lesion from his lip to the jawline.
Aeryk Valkryon realized that the cut was a serious one, but he saw an opening and kept the momentum of his body, jumping up and snap-kicking Valtherion in the chin. Victor fell down on his back and moved as fast as he could to gain his feet, but an energy beam crackled toward him, slicing through his black robe and drawing a deep wound in his right arm. He responded instantaneously with a shot of his own, the acid smacking Aeryk right in the shoulder.
Both warriors remained on their knees, cradling various wounds. The side of Aeryk's face was bleeding profusely and his shoulder singed, smoking even in the pouring rain. Victor, however, had bit off the tip of his tongue during the kick and blood poured from his clenched teeth as well as down his right arm. As the action had lessened, so did the rain, the drizzle doing nothing to relieve Aeryk's burns. Through garbled words, Victor asked, "who was it that died?"
There was an obviously confused expression on Valkryon's face and Victor clarified, "your brother must have revealed your mission for I have picked up this thought from Captain Takedo. You seek to reconnect a soul to its fallen body."
Aeryk wiped a growing streak of blood from his face, smearing a stinging line of mud across the wound. "Have you ever taken a woman's hand in marriage, Victor?" he questioned.
The captain was caught off-guard, but he understood then the true purpose of the intruding ryoka. Sighing, he responded, "there is no legal form of marriage in the Soul Society, but I have loved a few women in my lifetime. There are even unspoken feelings between my lieutenant and myself."
"So you understand the strength of determination by a loving relationship?" Valkryon inquired.
"Aye, love is a powerful emotion."
"Then you realize the turmoil and heartbreak of losing a loved one." Aeryk stated. As Victor nodded again, he continued, "you have lived much longer than I have, Captain Valtherion, and you have experienced much more than I, but we have a commonality between us. We have both loved and lost." Valkryon explained.
"It is your wife that you fight for wholeheartedly." Victor concluded, not liking the course that their conversation was taking.
"My love, Noniko, was stricken with a poison from an assassin that has since lost his life to my own hand." Aeryk declared. "She sickened and there was not a priest in the land that could cure her. They explained that it was a slow-moving poison, but there was nothing that they could do for her and Noniko only had a few months to live."
Victor digested the information, finding a sickening churn in his stomach. The tone with which Aeryk Valkryon spoke to him reminded Victor painfully of a younger Ryushin. Aeryk continued, "my sister Aeorekka has traveled with us these long miles, offering as much aid as she could to my Noniko as Shade and I have searched for this book, our key to breaking a supposed inevitable fate. Despite my sister's best efforts, Noniko perished this past week."
Victor stared down at the ground, unable to prevent his sympathetic heart from feeling badly for his enemy. In that moment, he thought of the emotionless shell that Ryushin had become after Hanran and the conflict that must have torn at Takedo's very soul as he regrettably let go of his love. Victor saw the haunting images of Amane Michiyo, the unfortunate death of the woman almost causing the same in his dear friend Ryushin. Surprisingly, Victor Valtherion also thought of Janelle and the fondness that he knew they mutually shared for each other. She had worried so much for him this past morning and he had dismissed her concerns as injudicious paranoia. What a fool he now felt facing this young man who was ready to give his own life for a most amatory cause, albeit one that Aeryk did not understand the consequences of if success came to him.
"You have embarked on a very noble quest, but it is also a foolish one." Victor stated sternly.
"Your opinion means less to me than a fool's babbling." Aeryk retorted. "I was not going to sit back and watch her die in front of me! I thought you understood love and heartbreak."
"I do, but this spell that you seek is forbidden to all mortals that walk this earth, regardless of their motive." Valtherion replied. "The sacrilege that you will perform in resurrecting a deceased one will damn your very soul."
"I do not care. I will do whatever is necessary to bring her back to me." Aeryk roared through tears that burnt his bloodied face.
"The temple that you must go to is in a land surrounded by archfiends and guarded by demons. To disturb these grounds will only bring calamity upon yourself." Victor explained.
"I will not tell you again, Valtherion. Noniko will be mine again and neither you, your Soul Society, or a clergy of black demons will stop me!" the kensai forcefully demanded. "You have grown old and have not the iron will that I maintain to achieve my goal. It is with this spirit that I shall destroy you!"
"No, you will not. It is your sight blinded by grief that has forced my action now." Victor spoke angrily. "You will see the final form of my zanpakuto and it will shatter your pigheaded will."
The two warriors gripped their weapons tightly and rose to their feet, their wounds completely forgotten. A violent wind whipped around Victor as he held his green sword out in front of him, blade facing upward into the storm clouds. The wind developed into several funnels that flew outward from the captain, the miniature gales billowing Valkryon's bloodshot eyes and testing his resolve. The sky took on a diseased green tint that seemed to pulse with Sanchuudoku. Victor let go of his sword and it remained in the air, floating and gathering power.
"Bankai."
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