Blazing Glory Ch. 14

Her red eyes narrowed as her pointed ears heard laughter. The kunoichi before her was holding her sides in her amused state, eyes wild with hatred and madness. This sudden change in Nariko from her fearful state moments ago was unexpected. Had the fear broken her mind?

"You seem to be well amused for one about to die horribly," Rae said, chuckling softly to herself as her bloodlust continued to rise.

"Yes! Because of this, I can kill you and prove my worth to Death," Nariko screamed in laughter, her pretty face warped in madness. "And then I will become the new Death's Mistress!"

"Oh?... Really now?" Rae's voice hummed pleasantly, eyes regarding Nariko in her own amusement. Her hand rose, crooked finger beckoning the ninja mockingly, words dripping with venom. "Then come foolish child. Let us see if you can take the title from me."

"You'll regret those words," Nariko spat at her as she sneered.

Rae reached behind her to draw her ring sabers from their sheathes and spinning them into her hands. Her eyes narrowed as Nariko swiftly raised her hands together in front of her chest before making a series of hand signs before holding the fifth sign in front of her. The drowess wondered what she was up to with this strange action. She had researched ninjas before, having had to eliminate some in previous experiences. None had acted like this. Carefully watching for any movement, the ninja began to fade from her view behind a growing mist.

"What trickery are you up to?" Rae hissed in irritation as she glanced about. Where had this fog come from? It was not the same as Death's mist crawling across the ground. This mist rose above the ground and surrounded her completely. Nariko was no longer in her normal vision as the blanket of mist grew thicker to where she could only see a few feet in front of her. She did not sense the weaving of any magic like she normally would, yet somehow Nariko was manipulating the air around.

Her pointed ears twitched at the faint whistling sound coming from her left. The wraith elf spun to meet the flurry spinning metal stars slicing out of the fog into her vision. Cursing in irritation, she focused on those that would certainly strike her. Her blades slashed outwards to deflect those few while the others flew past.

Outside of her target's field of vision, Nariko burst from the fog with her kunai raised above her to strike. A twisted grin upon her face, she nearly laughed at how easy this would be to strike the drowess down from behind. This black skinned rat would pay for her insolence in underestimating her. No one living knew of her clan's abilities because they never lived to spread the knowledge. Against this unknown, she had the advantage over the drowess.

The ninja's confident expression evaporated as Rae's back turned at that moment with her own astonishing speed. Blood shot from her open mouth while the pain exploded through her midsection. The drowess drilled a kick into her with enough power to send her flying back to crash through the wall of a nearby building. Rae observed the fog dispersing after this successful counterattack, confirming her suspicions.

"You really thought I'd lost your presence in the fog?" Rae hummed in amusement. With Death inside her, she would never lose sight of her target's soul. She had to admit she was surprised the ninja was using life magic, a lost art that was risky. Most magic wielders used the magic flowing through the world around them and through their bodies. Life magic was the connected to the soul and particularly risky to use. It could replenish itself quickly in time with relation to the user's stamina. But if the user was not careful in its use, exhausting one's life magic resulted in death. Life magic had fallen out of favor centuries ago as a result to where few still knew about it.

"You filthy rat eared whore!" Nariko's shriek came from the gaping hole in the wall, drawing Rae out of her brief thoughts. She would have to be careful, as life magic could be very powerful. Her bangs lifted away from her eyes as the air began to stir about her. Looking about, she cursed as the air turned into a violent whirlwind around her. Her hair whipped about as her wings caught the air currents and threw her tumbling up into air. Everything was spinning about rapidly, glimpses of buildings moving further away as she was flung higher up into the air.

"VITH!" Rae hissed in rage as she knew what was coming finally happed as the searing pain exploded through her back, her wings breaking as she slammed into the cavern ceiling high above the city. Glancing to her right, she sighed in relief that she had just missed being speared through by a large stalactite.

Her ears picked up the faint whistling in the howling wind as she dropped from the ceiling back into the windstorm. The drowess hissed in frustration as she flooded her wings with healing magic. Bones snapped back into place before she whipped them about to shield her body as best she could. Dozens of kunai and shuriken blades spun about in the air as they rose the meet her. Sharp metal clangs filled her hearing as they impacted the granite ceiling. A small number sliced through her skin in her few exposed areas while her wings deflected most of the others.

The whirlwind finally began to dissipate, allowing Rae to unfurl them. Her red eyes glared down at the city below, locking on the lone soul leaping across rooftops. Her wings beat the air as her bloodlust reached its peak.

Nariko's gaze looked up, frustrated in seeing the small figure high above moving about. With the aid of a small burst of her magic, her legs launched her across the gap onto the roof of the next building. Somehow the drow was still alive. Her hands met in front of her again as she began to channeling. Her breath froze in her lungs as a booming voice shocked her out of her focus.

"Alright! Enough toying around then. You want to play rough, ninja girl?" Rae's chilling cold laughter filled the air. "Then let's get rough!"

The ninja skidded to a halt as bright white tendrils flew outward from Rae's figure above. They spun about, weaving and connecting together as the threads of magic lit the ceiling. Her eyes widened and heart leapt into her throat as the weaving web continued expanding until it was the size of the city itself. Crawling across its massive expanse where thousands of small white spiders. No one had this much magic prowess! No one! This was not possible, Nariko's mind howled in panic. Above her, the drowess eyes glowed malevolently with her fanged smile as her raised hand dropped down.

Spider after spider released itself from the web, thousands falling down upon her and the city in a glittering rain. It would have been beautiful if it was not terrifying at the same time. There was nowhere for her to run.

"SHIT!!!" Nariko screamed as her hands came together to channel as the rain of spiders came crashing down. In that moment, the city of T'rissjra ceased to be. Bright fires erupted everywhere as the city was lit up by countless thundering explosions. Debris of all kinds flew everywhere in the cacophony of chaos. Buildings groaned in dying as they fell over while others collapsed into themselves. Dust and smoke billowed up throughout the large cavern as flames engulfed the shattered remains of T'rissja's skeleton.

Rae smirked with satisfaction at the sight of the destruction. She was always pleased with how her magical power was amplified when in this form. Had she been in this form during the war, she could very well have taken care of most of the enemy by herself. Her red eyes looked down upon the city as she glided toward the glowing soul that told her Nariko still lived. Death's Mistress was curious how the ninja had managed to survive.

Landing upon the roof of one of the few buildings still left standing, her vision focused on the cocoon of stone in front of her. All around it were shattered stone. What surprised her was how the roof structure surrounding this shell looks to have been melted and reformed. The ninja used the stone to form a several layers of barriers around herself as a shield from the explosions? Rae grudgingly had to admit this was an impressive feat. Nariko staggered out from behind where it had partially caved in and fell to her knees, coughing and bleeding from her head. Ring sabers raised, Rae walked around the stone cocoon to finish the job. She stopped momentarily as she heard a crack from the weakened roof structure beneath her feet.

"Got you!" Nariko's voice came from behind.

"What?" The shocked wraith turned about to see the kunoichi in midair. Her red eyes widened as she realized she had been fooled. It had been a clone using life magic, the same magic linked to the soul her eyes tracked. She cursed this oversight in not being more observant of her surroundings. Nariko sent her kunai whistling through the air to slice into the stone at her feet. The drowess gasped when the cracking floor finally gave way, sending her plummeting down into the floor below. Coughing and rising to her feet, she glared upward at the gaping hole she had fallen through.

"Die bitch," Nariko laughed as her form leapt over the hole and hurled a handful of black pellets down into the room with her. Rae cursed in annoyance as they fell all about her and began to hiss with smoke and sparks. Normally she would have thought them a silly trick, but not from what she had observed from the kunoichi so far. They were likely infused with concentrated life magic. Rae sprinted forward as the hissing quickly increased. Wings shielding her form, Death's Mistress shattered the remains of the window as she burst through. Once outside, she unfurled the great raven wings and gave a mighty thrust forward as the building behind her was incinerated in the bomblets' blast. She tumbled in the air before righting herself in time to land in the street, her boots skidding through the debris as it rained down.

"Damn you," Rae hissed as she was beginning to get irritated, her bloodlust yet to be satiated. Nariko sat perched on top of a nearby building's burning skeleton, looking down at her with a maddened smirk. Rae threw her ring sabers down; their blade's biting into the pavement to remain upright. That smirk on the ninja's face faded as the ethereal form of a large scythe cloaked in black flame appeared in the Rae's outstretched arms. The wraith elf twirled it about her form as she spun towards the building.

"Get down here!" Rae's voice boomed as she hurled the large weapon, its form spinning rapidly into a giant circular projectile slicing through the air. The whirlwind blade cut through the structure, bringing it to further ruin as it toppled over. Rae's hands seized her sabers as the ninja leapt from the crumbling building toward her. "Yes! YES! Come at me! Let us finish this little game!"

Nariko screamed in hatred as she fell upon Rae, the sparks flying with the harsh metallic clang in kunai meeting saber as drow and ninja clashed. Tumbling to the ground and rolling to her feet, Nariko turned about to meet the oncoming drowess. Death's Mistress laughed as their blades met in a deadly dance, her body spinning about with rapid slashes high and low with of elfish speed. Nariko grimaced with her single kunai, put on the defensive as they dance about the flaming ruins of the city.

"Damn it all," Nariko cursed in frustration as she was being pressed back by the continuous onslaught. She could not keep up with this speed for much longer. In desperation, she leapt backwards as Rae gave a mighty upward swing with her blade that missed. Taking this moment that the drow needed to recover, Nariko channeled her hands together as she landed. The flames about her whipped about and coalesced in the massive forms of several large flaming tigers. The flaming beasts grew with the roar of living fire, converging upon the drowess. The ninja smirked as she would use the very destruction her foe had caused to finish her.

"Burn in hell!" She yelled, laughing with the triumph of becoming the new Death's Mistress in mere moments.

"No, foolish child. You will be the one to burn," Rae hissed, switching her one blade to be held with the other swiftly as she thrust out her freed hand, palm open. Black flame erupted from her outstretched arm into a giant cone of destruction. Nariko's conjurations were engulfed in the darkness as it roared forth in a wave of complete annihilation. This attack was similar to the desert battle and start of the war at the coastline, but this time the flames were amplified by her form. The flames engulfed half the ruins of the city before crashing into the cavern wall with thunderous force, solid granite melting from the intense heat.

Rae's glowing eyes narrowed, observing the gaping ditch as the explosive sound of her attack reverberated off the stone walls. Nothing remained in the path, even flames had been extinguished by the concussive force. Glancing about her in the flaming ruins that escaped the destructive blast, she frowned as she observed the glowing soul moving quickly away. Nariko must have used the large form of the tigers to obscure Rae's vision to stage an early exit should her attack failed.

The drowess spat on the ground before spreading her wings and thrusting them to launch herself in pursuit. Wings beating the air, her form weaved through tattered buildings and flames, smoke stinging her eyes as she rapidly closed in. It seemed the ninja was growing tired. The hunt would soon come to its conclusion. Her tongue slid out to wet her lips in anticipation.

Nariko panted heavily as she stopped in a small open plaza, looking about to see a few structures still intact enough for the purpose she wanted. Her tired body burned in protest, but she paid it no mind. She spun about hurling every last kunai and shuriken she had to imbed themselves into the stone. She could already hear the beating of wings coming in her direction. The ninja panted heavily from the exertion as she backed up to lean against a wall that was half collapsed while facing the direction her enemy came from.

The wraith elf's form came through the billowing smoke as Nariko had hoped. Her lips smirked as she saw those red eyes widen too late at seeing the glowing lines of life magic attached to her weapons, forming a web in the air. Rae tried to dive away, but it was too late as her forward momentum carried her into the trap. The drowess let out a scream of fury as she became entangled in the life fibers. Her gaze found Nariko before she struggled even more violently to get at her, causing the strings to tighten about her entangled limbs and wings.

"Enough of this," Nariko sighed in relief as she raised her open hand outward, "I am ready to receive my new title and Death's blessing as the superior. No more waiting!" She laughed as her hand closed into a fist. Rae screamed in agony as the threads tightened immediately, ripping through flesh and bone. Arms, legs, and black wings fell to the ground as blood poured out of the mutilated torso of the drow.

Nariko laughed as victory was finally hers! She would be the new bringer of death into this world. Countless numbers would fall victim to her as her goddess commanded. Koas would cherish her newfound abilities from Death's blessing and would become the number one servant of the dark goddess. She almost cried in profound joy at the thought. But she could not as the sound of laughter reached her. The ninja stepped out from the wall in shock. How could it be possible to survive such physical trauma? Looking up in surprise to the remains of the drowess, she saw Rae looking down at her with such malevolence.

"Foolish child," Rae laughed with a wicked grin, "You really think you could trap a spider within a web? Or..."

"Be the only one able to make clones?" the voice hissed softly into Nariko's ear. The kunoichi screamed in surprise and horror. She realized her fatal mistake as she lashed out with her fist behind her. Rae easily ducked the desperate attack and grabbed the Nariko's wrist with an iron grip. Slamming it against the wall, the wraith elf slammed her ring saber into the open palm. The sharp blade tore through flesh before embedding itself into stone, pinning her hand there. The ninja shrieked as she frantically reached to free herself with her free hand. However, Rae was already in motion in preparation of such reaction. Seizing that hand, Rae drove her other saber in to pin the hand to the wall in similar fashion.

Rae stepped back with satisfaction to observe her handy work, both arms of her prey pinned high against the wall and leaving her helpless. There would be no more channeling of life magic with those hands. Stepping forward, Rae's hand seized the hair on the back of Nariko's head with a vicious grip.

"No! Don't you da-" Nariko cried out in panic, her protests muffled as Rae's lips captured hers in a rough open-mouthed kiss. The ninja's eyes bolted open wide before she squirmed about in protest, her legs kick and flailing wildly about. Rae held her firmly into the kiss by her grip, tongues mingling before the black liquid rushed out of her throat. Nariko coughed and spluttered, forced to drink the noxious fluid. She violently struggled in those brief moments before Rae released her and stepped away.

"What.. What did you do? That could not have been Lloth's Kiss. That was not poison as it came from within in you," Nariko coughed and spluttered, heaving to try and force herself to vomit it back up. Despite her attempts, she could not make herself expel it. She glared hatefully at Rae before being stunned by what she saw. The drowess was back to her normal self. Black skin, silvery white hair, and no wings. All traces of Death were gone. "What is going on, you wretched rat!?"

Rae sighed in relief as she moved to sit on the ground against a large piece of stone debris. While, her bloodlust was not fully satiated in slicing apart as many corrupt souls as possible, the condition was that this was the fate her ultimate target must meet.

"It is called Death's Kiss, actually," Rae answered with disgust as if being pestered by a petulant child. Eyes wild with hatred and madness, ninja spit venomously at Rae before the drowess continued non-chalantly."It is a poison made so that you will suffer as you have made countless others suffer."

The ninja panted heavily as sweat dripped from her brow as the effects were beginning. Panic and fear now replaced the hatred in her expression. "What is happening to me?"

"Your stomach is already absorbing the poison into your blood stream to be carried through every part of your body," Rae answered matter-of-factly. "It converts the blood into an acid that slowly eats away at the flesh. Soon your acidic blood will begin to destroy all of your body from within. But that is only the physical aspect of Death's Kiss. Normally such pain and trauma would cause the victim to black out and die quickly. The magical quality of this poison is that it keeps the victim alive and conscious through the whole process. Even if only a tiny bit of flesh remains on your bones, your soul will still be kept in place and alive to feel it all. You will experience the agony of melting away until the very end where only your partially melted bones remain."

Nariko trembled in disbelief as her body grew hotter with every passing moment. Red tears coming down her face as she bled from her eyes, her cheeks sizzling as the flesh began to burn away. Rae sighed with weariness as she sat back to watch, listening to the ninja's hateful screams and curses directed her way before her shrill horrific screams echoed bloodily throughout the city.

Rae paid her no sympathy was she watched. How many had screamed as they died at her hands? Had Nariko giving them any sympathy as she took their lives from them? She doubted it. It was a fitting punishment for those who are so cruel to the innocent. Long after the bones had stopped rattling about in front of her, Rae still sat there amongst the flaming ruins. Taking this form was exhausting enough on her body that she needed the rest soon after. Yet that wasn't what bothered her most