Fate

Akina looked at me with her sparkling blue eyes as she sat back up and clutched my shirt with her hands, her nails digging into my flesh, as she bit her bottom lip and whispered "I've always wanted to tell you something important...but I never had the guts to say it. However, I feel strangely confident right now, so I'll go ahead and say it..."

I felt a cold sweat slowly making its way down my neck as I prepared myself for her next words when she began to slowly lean closer, but Shin's voice rang out in a hushed whisper, saying "Oh, uh I guess I came out at the wrong time...I can wait to use the bathroom..." Akina whipped her head over and stuttered "D-D-Dad!? T-This isn't anything weird! Just hurry up and do whatever you were going to do!!"

Akina scrambled off of me, giving Jack the time to heal the surprisingly deep claw marks on my chest as I stood up and brushed my shirt off with a perfectly calm mask on my face. I was somewhat used to her little "outbursts" by now, so I wasn't as phased as I should've been, however, that didn't stop Shin from winking at me as he walked to the side to relieve himself. I released a sigh, and a deep one at that, since I knew Shin would be teasing us nonstop for weeks after this.

He eventually slithered back into the hut with a mischievous sounding laughter. Akina sat off to the side with a straight face that would've made her earlier embarrassment seem like a ruse if not for her ruddy face. I laughed slightly before patting her head softly and saying "Later. We'll talk later, alright? We have to get out of here first, though..."

Akina's face returned to her normal olive complexion as a rather beautiful smile blossomed across her face before she nodded her head. Dawn broke soon after and we woke everyone before packing all of our things and continuing our journey with the goal of getting out of the ravine by the end of the day.

We came across a very small amount of Servants, but they never attacked us. They just stood from afar and watched us. We eventually made it to the end of the ravine and found another large tunnel with an impenetrable darkness. I had everyone follow closely as I lit Sol's blade with Solar energy, lighting up a surprising amount of the tunnel in the process.

I felt the strange energy inside of my body twist and twirl around like it was getting agitated, but I ignored it and moved on. Loud clicking noises echoed about the tunnel as we neared three more tunnels, each going out in a different directions. I stretched my free hand out and sent three tendrils of Light out into the tunnels.

Through these tendrils, I can feel, smell, and hear almost anything within range of the tendrils themselves. I felt an overwhelming amount of life within the left and right tunnels, but the one going straight was completely devoid of life, so I thought that would be the best bet.

But I was dead wrong.

My connection with all three tendrils was severed as an earth shattering roar shook the tunnels. I turned my head and yelled "Get back!!" before swiping Sol out in front of my and conjuring a large wall of fire to block the tunnel. I turned and began to run with everyone else toward the end of the tunnel, but a large, pale skinned creature with a massive, round head that resembled a purple brain, burst through.

The creature had no eyes, but it's head began to glow a bright purple before a mass of Void energy shot out toward me. I swat the attack to the side and dodged the creatures massive hands as it tried to smash me into the ground. I slashed the giant thing's wrists, but it kept moving on like it wasn't phased as it kept shooting Void beams while trying to pound me with its fists.

I jumped over a low punch and found myself caught off guard as the creature raised its other hand. I tried to block with Sol, but the sheer force of the impact almost killed me before I had even slammed into the ground. I heard Suki draw her sword as she blurred in front of the beast and slashed its calves, giving Akina enough time to slice the thing's head open with one blow.

I sat up as Jack continued to heal me, thinking that the battle was over, when multiple heavy footsteps began to shake the tunnel. I conjured a ball of fire and shot it out toward the tunnel ahead, watching as it lit up hundreds of creatures just like the one I had just been beaten. I leaned on Sol as I stood and yelled "Everyone, go! Find a way out of the ravine, I'll catch up later!" I saw Suki open her mouth to say something, but I cut her off, yelling "GO!"

Suki flinched before balling her hands into tight fist as she looked toward the ground with a conflicted expression. The roars and howls of those monsters were getting closer and closer every second. The creatures kept getting closer and closer as I struggled to stand. Jack put his all into healing me as the strange energy within my body began to fuse with my Light and circulate through my body, feeling me with a seemingly infinite amount of vigor.

I drew Sol out from the ground and sent out three large lines of fire, but these ones were different. Their edges were completely black and they ripped through the large creatures like a hot knife to butter. I chuckled at my sudden good fortune as I ran toward the closest monster and dodged its heavy punch before cleaving it in two.

I felt the power in my body filling me with confidence as I darted around and killed everything that dared to come close to me, however, while I was being distracted by the euphoria my new found powers were giving me, I failed to notice that there were other creatures coming from the other two tunnels, and it was too late by the time I had actually realized that I was trapped.

I turned and cleaved a large group of these pale skinned creatures with flaking, pale skin before catching sight of these towering brutes wielding swords. I realized that I was up against monsters that I had only seen in school textbooks and illustrations.

It was the Hive.

I held my panic and fear back as I slashed through the growing numbers of Thralls, desperately trying to find a way out of this mess I had created for myself. It was then that I heard a voice screaming my name. Suddenly, the Knights in the back began to wail out in pain as their body parts flew across the tunnel walls.

Akina carved a path through the Hive soldiers with a crazed and almost feral look in her eyes. She had her Oni mask covering her face as her hair turned rigid and sharp, her canines began to jut out from her mouth, and a black kimono paired with a black hakama materialized onto her body, their rose-gold accents glowing in the light produced by Sol's flames.

With every swing of her katana, a veritable wave of sakura petals would burst forth from her blade and shred anything in their path. I saw Akina get slashed, shot, and stabbed multiple times, but she would shrug it off before brutally killing whatever injured her as her wounds healed almost immediately.

I was about to say something when I felt a devastating force slam into my side, sending my crashing into the wall and right in the middle of a ravenous group of Thralls. I vomited an unhealthy amount of blood as I tried to swipe Sol in front of me to keep the Hive away, but I soon found out that I couldn't even move.

I was lodged into the wall and almost all of my bones were broken, leaving me with no strength to fight. I gathered as much Light as I could within my body, preparing to let it burst and kill as much Hive as I could, but a blood-curdling scream stopped me from taking action. I stalled for just a second as I looked over toward Akina, who was charging toward me, but that gave a nearby Thrall the opportunity to grab my arm and take a large chunk out of it.

Waves of pain racked my body as my vision blurred and I got the overwhelming urge to vomit once more. The Thrall was about to have at it a second time when a wave of sakura petals shred its thin body to tiny pieces. Akina appeared in front of me and began to growl at the nearest monsters before a thin sheet of petals enveloped us and killed anything that tried to enter.

I felt my body slowly regenerating as Jack worked overtime, but it wouldn't be enough. At this rate I'd be at full strength a few days from now. The Hive began to pile up on top of each other as they tried to enter the barrier of petals, using each other as shields in order to get through. Akina snarled before springing to action, her katana sweeping through the air in clean arcs, severing the body parts of Thralls and Knights alike.

Just when I thought things might go smooth, a large foot slammed down next to me and dispelled the petals, revealing a massive army of Hive surrounding us, and we had our backs to the wall. Akina growled and went to summon another barrier, but she fell to one knee and began to clutch her chest as her breathing turned ragged.

A rather large Ogre had a grotesque smile on its face as it walked over and raised its large foot over Akina. I felt like the world had stopped spinning, like time had stopped as the Ogre's foot slowly descended upon her body, but the Ogre turned statuesque as a large Void arrow pierced its large head, exploding it mere seconds later and showering me in purple blood.

A volley of Void arrows rained down upon the Hive, killing them within mere seconds as Akina sprawled out on the floor and passed out. The arrows deliberately avoided us as they tracked the fleeing Hive soldiers and exploded their bodies, causing those surrounding them to burst as well. I felt awed by this display of power as a sense of powerlessness overwhelmed me.

I felt my body slowly peel itself off of the wall before I fell down to the floor, hitting my head quite hard on the stone floor. I moved my head toward the direction the arrows had come from and saw a figure in a black, hooded cloak walking out of the darkness with a small fire lit above their head.

The figure kneeled down next to me and tossed their hood back, revealing a black Exo with glowing red eyes, before sighing and muttering "Why do you have to share so many traits with that dumbass?" I knit my brows in confusion at the Exo's words, causing it to apologize and explain itself.

"Oh, sorry, my name is Wraith-2, and I've come to get your sorry asses out of this failure of a trial. Now, if you don't mind, I would like to question you a bit after we get to a more suitable spot, Leo Blake."