Evil Torrent

Chapter Eight
The Defeat


The Ronins made their way out of the dungeon area and walked down a small hallway. There were torches on the walls on each side of them. They could see some old paintings in the dim light as they walked on.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Kento said, sticking close to Sage.

“I know what you mean,” Rowen said. “Not exactly a friendly place to hang out in.”

Ryo chuckled silently then stopped in his tracks. “Guys, hold up.”

“What is it Ryo?” Sage asked.

“I see something up a head,” he said.

“I see it too,” Rowen said.

Cye squinted his eyes hard, trying to figure out what was in front of them in the distance. His eyes widened as not only one but ten glowing light blue balls floated toward them. “Spirits,” Cye said silently.

“Say what?” Kento asked.

“Those are the spirits that brainwashed me,” Cye replied. “Be careful you guys. They may seem like nothing, but they can easily get into your mind.”

“Well, we won’t let them!” Kento said as he got into a fighting pose.

Moaning could be heard as the spirits got closer and closer. They looked like they were nothing but skin and bones. Their cheeks looked like they had been sucked from within, making their cheekbones visible. Their eyes were slanted and you could barely see their black eyes. The moaning came from their skinny, long mouths. Black hoods covered the top of their heads. Long sleeved looking gowns covered their bodies. Long boney fingers waved through the air as they glided along.

“Ew! Talk about needing a major make over,” Kento said.

“Here they come!” Sage announced.

The spirits floated above the Ronins as they moaned louder. Sound waves appeared around them, getting smaller and smaller. Sage covered his ears and winced as the waves got closer.

“What’s up with the noise?!” he shouted.

“I can’t stand it!” Kento yelled and tried to get out.

Rowen fell to his knees, his hands over his ears and his eyes shut tightly.

“They are weakening us with their sound waves!” Ryo shouted.

“Thank you for telling us what we already knew!” Kento shouted back.

While everyone was shouting at each other, Cye just stood where he was. With his eyes closed and his mind blocking the sound waves, his kanji appeared on the foreheads of each spirit. The spirits moaned in agony, making the sound waves disappear.

“Good thinking Cye,” Rowen said.

“You guys can take care of the rest,” Cye said. “I’m going ahead and meet Akui by myself.”

“What?!” Ryo asked.

“Look, he\'s the one who made Hana evil, not to mention me. I want to teach him a lesson.”

Ryo looked at Cye, then nodded. “Be careful. We\'ll meet you there as soon as we\'re done here.”

“Right,”Cye said and was off, knocking down spirits in his way.

His steps echoed as he walked down the rest of the hallway. “Where is it?” Cye thought as he kept on walking. The hallway got darker and darker as he walked. He stopped when he saw a tall iron door. “Bingo.” He walked up to the door and took a deep breath. His armored hand gripped the door’s handle and opened it. Mist was all over the room, along with more dim lite candles. Cye took one step into the room when the door shut behind him.

“Welcome, Cye of Torrent,” came a voice. Cye walked forward through the mist until he saw a tall black chair with a figure in it. “Don\'t be afraid. You know me well enough.”

“You\'re Akui,” Cye said.

“Very good. Now that we all know each other, we\'ll get started.” Akui got up from his chair and walked to Cye with a grin on his face. “I see that you freed your girlfriend from my servant’s spirit.” Cye didn’t say anything but continued to stared at Akui as he walked around him. “Okay, here\'s what we are going to do. You have two choices you can choose from. One, you can take my side. Or two, you die a painful death. It\'s your choice.”

“I\'d rather die than join up with you,” Cye sneered.

“No need for an attitude. All you had to say was no,” Akui grinned. “This armor that you have on will not do.” He snapped his fingers once and a spirit floated down into the room. “Take this annoying suite of armor off.” The spirit only moaned and started chanting quietly. Purple aurora surrounded Cye’s body and with a big flash, his armor was gone. Only his sub armor remained on him. Akui grabbed Cye\'s arms tightly, making him wince and pinned him to the wall. He chained Cye’s wrists and ankles to the wall then gave the spirit a long whip. The spirit took the whip and wrapped it around Cye\'s throat. “Now, I know your little friends are on their way to help you, but when they do, the fun begins.” Cye glared at Akui as he walked back to his chair.

“I see a door,” Sage said.

“Good,” Ryo said. Ryo opened the iron door and all of them walked into the misty room.

“What kind of a place is this?” Kento asked.

“Not the kind you see everyday,” Sage responded.

“Welcome Ronins. I\'ve been expecting you,” Akui said.

“Who are you? Show yourself!” Ryo demanded.

“Gladly.” Akui got up from his chair and slowly walked to them.

“You must be Akui,” Rowen said.

“So you\'ve heard of me. That\'s good, because I know all of you.”

“Where\'s Cye?” Kento asked.

“Glad you asked. Follow me.” The Ronins looked at each other and followed Akui to a wall.

“Cye!” Ryo yelled as he saw his friend chained up against the wall with a whip around his neck.

“No one touches him! Now, I know you want a battle with me. But, there are some rules. Simple rules really, rules that Cye agreed to.” Akui walked to Cye and the spirit then faced Ryo and the others. “See this whip that\'s around Cye\'s throat? Every hit you make to me, will make this whip go tighter around his neck.” Ryo\'s eyes widened as he heard this. “So, let\'s battle.” Akui leaped into the air, doing a flip in the process then landed on the other side of the room. “I\'m ready.”

“What are we going to do?” Kento asked.

“Not sure. If we hit him, Cye gets hurt,” Sage said.

“Come on. More fighting, less chit chatting!” Akui yelled.

“Well Ryo?” Rowen asked.

“Uh.....” Ryo looked back at Cye then at the others.

“This is boring. Guess I\'ll spice it up.” Akui charged at the Ronins and took out a long whip.

“Look out!” Kento yelled, getting out of the way.

Rowen, Kento, and Sage got out of Akui’s way, but Ryo was too late. The whip wrapped around Ryo\'s wrist, stopping him. “Oh look, I got a bit,” Akui smiled. Ryo started to struggle, trying to break free. “Oh, and it\'s a feisty one too. Well, I can\'t have that.” Akui pulled the whip back, sending Ryo into a wall. Ryo tried to get up, but to no avail. “Still not dead? Okay.” Akui threw the whip up into the air, causing Ryo to go up with it. Akui then jumped and kicked Ryo on his right side.

“Ryo!” Cye cried as he watched his friend fall to the ground.

“Having fun yet?” Akui asked.

“No!” Cye snapped.

“Too bad, cause I am.” Akui smiled down at the injured Ryo then picked him up. “You know, seeing people in pain usually fills my heart up. But for some reason, I\'m just not feeling it.” Akui formed an energy ball in his right hand. He brought the ball up to Ryo’s face as Kento charged toward him.

“No Kento!” Sage said, grabbing Kento\'s shoulder. “Remember, if we hit Akui, Cye will be closer to death.”

“I know, but Ryo is going to get killed!” Kento groaned.

No one said anything, just stood there and watched as their friend helplessly.
“I can’t just stand here!” Kento yelled and raced toward Ryo and Akui.

“Kento!” Rowen shouted.

Akui pulled back his hand and was about to thrust it at Ryo when Kento knocked Ryo out of Akui’s grasp. “How dare you!” Akui yelled.

“Shove it!” Kento snapped.

“Oh that’s it!” He created two energy balls and threw them at Kento and Ryo. Kento lifted Ryo up and leaped out of the way. The two balls clashed together, creating a huge explosion. Kento and Ryo crashed to the ground to avoid the blast.

“Are you two all right?” Sage asked.

“Yeah,” Kento said. “Ryo? Ryo wake up!” He shook Ryo’s body as Sage and Rowen watched with concern on their faces. “Come on Ryo!”

“Ugh...... wha-?” Ryo asked weakly.

“Good. Can you stand?” Kento asked.

“Not sure.”

“Kento, he\'s too weak,” Sage said, kneeling down next to Ryo.

“I\'ll be fine,” Ryo said.

“I know that,” Sage said with a smile.

“You guys are really starting to piss me off!” Akui yelled with fire in his eyes. He started glowing and then held two swords in each hand.

“What is he doing?” Kento asked.

“Not sure,” Rowen said.

“I’m not waiting any longer! Tighten the whip!”

The spirit pulled on the whip, making the whip tighter on Cye\'s throat. Cye choked and closed his eyes tightly.

“Cye!” Kento yelled.

“Say goodbye to your little aqua friend,” Akui laughed.

“That\'s it, I’ve had it!” Kento charged toward Akui and got ready to attack. Akui took his swords and aimed them at Kento. The swords hit Kento, sending him to the ground.

“Kento!” Sage yelled.

“Ah.... damn,” Kento said, trying to get up.

“Anyone else want a taste?” Akui asked with the swords flying back to him.

“Sure. We\'ll do arrow with sword,” Rowen said, standing up with his bow in his hand.

“Whatever you say.”

Rowen drew an arrow and got set. Little bits of life energy started to form at the tip of the arrow. “Arrow Shock Wave!” He launched the arrow directly at Akui who threw his two swords at Rowen. He formed a shield as the arrow drew closer to him. The swords headed straight for Rowen. One made contact with his arm and the other missed him by a hair.

“Rowen are you okay?” Sage asked.

“Y-yeah... just got my arm,” Rowen winced, holding his arm.

“Sage you\'re next,” Akui smiled.

Sage glared at Akui who was still smiling. “Fine.” Sage slowly got up and held his sword in place. The two swords went back to Akui who sets up. “Lighting Strike!” Sage aimed his attack while Akui threw his swords. Sage’s attack hit Akui’s shield while the two swords hit Sage in the shoulders. Cye struggled to open his eyes when Sage cried out in pain. The whip got even tighter, making it hard for him to breath. Cye opened one eye and saw all his friends injured on the ground.

“And now for you,” Akui said as he turned to Cye. “It was easy beating your pathetic friends. Now it\'s your turn and after that, I\'ll get Hana back.” Akui started laughing as Cye\'s rage started to build. Cye strained against the chains, not thinking about the whip around his neck. Light blue energy surrounded Cye’s body, making the chains crumble to the ground. He took the whip off of him and destroyed the spirit with his kanji just like last time.

“Armor of Torrent, Dao Shin!” Once in his armor again, Cye glared at Akui with fire in his eyes. He took his yari in his hand and aimed it at Akui. “Super Wave Smasher!” A beam shot out from the yari at Akui. Akui shot his energy beam at Cye’s attack. The two attacked collided with one another, causing a burst of light into the room.

“Give up! You can\'t win!” Akui yelled, making his attack stronger.

Cye looked to his side and saw his friends lying there, hurt because of him, but still remained by his side. Images of Hana smiling at him, rooting him on, waiting for his return from the battle back at Mia’s entered his mind. He couldn’t give up just yet. His friends and Hana were counting on him to finish the battle once and for all. Cye’s beam grew bigger and bigger until it over powered Akui’s beam. The beam blasted at Akui, destroying his body once and for all.

“I will never give up,” Cye said, falling to his knees. “As long as I have my friends and my love by my side, I’ll never give up.” Cye looked at his friends one last time before collapsing to the ground as well.

A/N: Short chapter! Well, kinda short. :shrugs: Yep, battle has ended. Only one more chapter left and then it’s the end of this story. But don’t worry, there will be a sequel to this story later on.