Chapter 512: Arc 6, - 128: Heartstopper

Chapter 512: Arc 6, Chapter 128: Heartstopper

The daze made her gasp for air. Slow moans escaped her as she crouched down and picked up the unconscious Kineko in her blood-soaked, shadow-scarred arms.

A sudden stinging pain made her retch and her body froze up. She could not breathe. There was no air. Wait, her lungs were not working, or is it her windpipe?

Her widened eyes looked around at blurry images while her heartbeats drummed in her ears. Her fingers clawed into Kineko’s back to hold her-

Suddenly, all her breath came back in an instinctual audible gasp. Hyperventilation—everything was hazy and none of her limbs listened to her. Breathing, breathing, breathing—blood, blood, blood.

Everything was so red, and white, and then smoky. She turned her head, realizing she could not shut her eyes to blink and saw a blood pool—not of the dead god, but smaller. A severed arm was left on the floor.

’Reach. Aru. Heal.’ She forced herself onto her feet with Kineko still clutched and hobbled, and hobbled, and hobbled. But her thighs did not want to move anymore, so why still move-

"Ngh," she retched and froze again, but continued to push through it.

"...What has occurred..."

The voice was familiar—condescending, calm, calculating, cruel. ’F-Forallei.’

Fumeko did not need to see, she merely looked ahead at a wall, any wall. She tensed every muscle in her body and felt a buzz going down her spine—which she ignored.

"Woosh!"

_

"Fting! Ftwing! TSHhhING!"

Both of Jotou’s arms slid back from Asobi’s swipe of the sword of light. As the blonde kept her footing close and twirled back, Asobi did the same with but one hand wielding her blade.

"Clsh!"

Each strike was the same, each spin, each rotation. Every move Jotou made was perfectly parried by Asobi’s movements. As the rhythm settled into both of them, an illusory double appeared behind the Thundering Blade.

"Clng! ShhhSwipe!"

Jotou ducked low and raised her sword to block two light swords that slashed down. She twisted her footing and swiped at the legs of the elf; both the illusion and the real Asobi jumped and countered with a swipe from below.

Jotou moved to the side and away from between the two and huffed. She eyed Asobi, and the mirror version of her that looked back and approached with their blades at the sides.

The golden blonde’s eyes darted around the room, calculating and processing her options. Ben was on his feet to her right, and the opponent before her... was a perfect mimicry of herself; even the sword made of pulsing white light was a stark resemblance of her armite sword.

Jotou sealed her lips shut, breathed through her nose and stood upright. She switched to hold the crystal sword solely in her right hand, and put her left arm up to her chest. Asobi and her mirror mimicked the same stance.

The golden blonde tipped her chin up in the pause... and swooped forward like a striking predator. Her body was covered in her sparks, and Asobi drew her sword in front of her.

"CRsH!"

Jotou slashed the mirror’s light sword and broke it into mana particles that dissipated into the air. Asobi’s eyes widened, and before she could react, Jotou was already by her side.

The Asobi-clone vanished and the sword extending out of her wand reshaped into a wall... But she did not act quick enough, and a sparking elbow bashed into the side of her chin. "Gngh!" Asobi squeaked and stumbled back.

With her open hand Jotou went to grab the raven-haired woman who turned invisible. Jotou managed to grab nothing, but she spun around and clicked her teeth and sparked up her lightning breath.

"Nghh!!!" Asobi reappeared as the lightning’s roar scarred across her face and she was forced to shut her eyes.

"ZzzfF!"

Jotou charged forward and grabbed Asobi by the neck and lifted her up.

"KSHF." "Auwh!"

Asobi hit the back of her head against a pile of treasure that she was slammed into. The elf’s vision faded in and out of existence, and she watched as Jotou pulled the magician wand out from her grasp.

The crystal sword diminished down back to a hair comb, that she flipped like a coin. It flew back into her hair and pinned itself in place while she gripped the wand.

She observed, putting pressure on it with her thumb and feeling that she could break it like a twig if she truly tried. "Crck-TSHHH-Crackle."

Jotou knitted her brows, as the cracks began to form in the middle of her snapping it before Asobi’s fading eyes. Black and white light oozed out like slime that never dripped, and never mixed hue.

Like oil and water they bubbled and radiated with a light that crackled and settled. Jotou stopped, realizing the wand began sealing itself with white clotting over the crack.

Just then, she heard fire beginning to roil and whistle behind her. She rolled her eyes and threw the wand off into some pile of treasure, before she turned to see a fireball heading straight for her.

Without a second to waste, she flipped into the air with a lightning-charged kick and continued her trajectory up.

"TSHF!" The fireball flew over Asobi and blasted the wall of the vault, while Jotou was already three kicks high into the air.

Ben looked up as Jotou put her foot out, and the lightning coated the bottom of her crystal boot. "BFBFBFFSHH!!"

She charged down like a bolt of lightning and crashed into the vault floor, causing it to split in front of the red-armoured figure. Ben blocked his freshly healed face with his arm as dust and rubble kicked up.

He reached forward and grabbed Jotou by the arm, pulling her up-

"TfsH!"

"DUFF!"

Jotou’s leg kicked up with lightning, but was shortly stopped and buffeted back by a bracer covered in flames, throwing her foot back while she was forced to dangle in Ben’s grasp.

"ZFFFFF!!!" "BOOOM!!!"

Jotou lit up and sent jolts of lightning down Ben’s armour and caused fireworks of explosions between them. In between the smoke and sparks, Ben held on with gritted teeth and launched a flaming punch that struck the side of the blonde’s head.

The circlet and gem shined, protecting her from most of the damage; her sparks took care of the rest. She barely flinched and another punch came through—this time from her.

Ben took the punch; however the sparks seemed to do more damage than the actual weight. "Don’t make me-"

"Crackle-ZRRR!!!"

Before his words could finish, Jotou clicked her tongue against her canines and roared out a wild electrical charge that jolted down his armour, blasting away the flames and scarring his face anew.

Ben’s muscles locked up and Jotou flipped her leg up once more, sending a lightning-powered kick straight to his chin. He stumbled back, but his grip remained steady on her arm.

Jotou dangled with a groan and held the gauntlet that was around her. Her eyes sparked up, as each zap of lightning made Ben shake uncontrollably.

In his spasm, his eyes were shot open to see Jotou continuing with no end. He felt his heart begin to accelerate and stinging under his armour across his skin like webs being weaved through underneath.

Finally, Jotou ended her spell and pried Ben’s gauntleted fingers open to free herself. Ben’s head spun in a daze- "DUFF! BFF! CLANG!"

With a punch to the cheek, one to the nose and a kick to the torso, the lightning she used dissipated, as she stood over the fallen Ben on his back. He spasmed on the floor, eyes twitching to close and blink, but they struggled to do so.

Jotou massaged around the area Ben held and dusted off the scuff marks of the explosions. She looked around; Asobi was missing-

"Enough, Jotou..."

A weak voice—one that was holding back tears to merely speak clearly. The dulcet tone sobbed once, and gained the golden blonde’s attention.

Hotaru was but a few metres away, with Tiffany lying behind her, unconscious.

Jotou stared with a blank expression.

"What did they do to you...?" the redhead’s eyes—puffed up and half-lidded. Her ears had folded down, her shoulders were slumped and her hands were very politely over one another.

"..."

"You’re not gonna kill us, so what now?" her breath choked. She sniffled and shook her head, "If I don’t fight, you won’t? Do you just wanna take us prisoner? I don’t mind Jotou. Take me with you, I don’t mind. Just... Just please talk to me."

Hotaru’s lips wriggled and her hands had to go up to hug herself tight; she could no longer stop the flow of tears... Her face shattered, and she simply cried openly as her nails began to dig into her skin.

Jotou’s left arm trembled once, making her fingers twitch. She looked down to the elbow and continued dusting herself off, before she ran her fingers through her hair idly to get rid of any debris-

"LOOK AT ME!"

Jotou turned away from Hotaru’s screaming plea, and walked towards from whence she entered.

Hotaru’s bared fangs hissed through her cries, and claws formed at her fingertips that punctured through to her skin and drew blood.

"Woosh!" "Df!"

Two bodied fell in front of the wolf-woman—one small, and the other smaller.

"F-f-Fumeko?" Hotaru looked down in horror, at the mess of blood and shadowed scarring.

Fumeko was on the floor, covering Kineko with her body; she could not lift her head up, but she gasped to say, "Leave! We need to go!" her voice was guttural, and broken.

Only then did Jotou turn to look.

"Heal her..." Fumeko muttered.

Hotaru quickly got on her knees, and her claws shortened back down to glowing blue water across her palms. She briefly glanced up, and saw Jotou walking away whilst adjusting her golden hair.

’... ... ...’

Fumeko’s vision went dark, and she could not feel the breath in her lungs nor a thought in her mind; all there was, was a drumming rhythm of her heart, beating in every corner of her head...