Pain… searing excruciating pain coursed through Ayumi's body and mind with the same intensity and sharpness, ripping her flesh into deep wounds and cuts that seeped with blood pulsing with agony and heat, while tearing her thoughts into shreds of lament and guilt that pierced through every happy memory of her parents she clung to, guzzling its gaiety and twisting it into regret and sorrow. And despite this torturous state of her mind and body, the girl did not retaliate against it or fight back... she did not attempt to defend herself or reason with her parent's suddenly angered souls... she accepted their anger, their hatred, their disappointment in her... taking every strike and attack from them. The only thing she fought against, was the impulsive instinct to protect and shield herself
"You have every right to be mad at me… to be angry with me… I have abandoned you… left you on your own… I did not even spare you a moment to get downstairs and say goodbye!"
Hearing this confession, the souls became more vicious in their attacks, sparing their daughter no time to take a single breath, continuing to assault her from every angle, aiming where it hurt most and Ayumi did not ask them to stop, not even when she fell down collapsing. She did not embrace herself to protect her body… they had every right to be that incensed with her… and their red colors born now of hatred and blame, ensured the girl that her feelings of guilt were right, and holding on to it throughout all these years was the only choice. Now, at last she could atone for her "selfishness" and then perhaps she will be finally free, if they were to allow her to join them and did not refuse her atonement.
"Ayumi! AYUMI!"
Reiha shouted and called, but her voice barely reached the tormented girl, and when she tried to reach out to her, she was harshly repelled by a barrier pushing her away, while Chiyasu's roots immediately withered and died at the faintest touch with that barrier.
"Your current queen of light is now in a place dominated by death, only the dead may pass the barrier!"
"You fiend!"
Reiha exclaimed attacking Noboru who repelled her easily with his newly forged and defiled sword. He shook his head innocently explaining:
"This is what she wished for, it was not my doing!"
"As if you are not the one who lured her into this!"
Reiha kept attacking fruitlessly, while sending breezes that quickly faded away upon contacting the barrier and Noboru's blade.
"Only she can save herself… the more she validates her feelings of guilt, even if not justified, her parents souls will keep turning strong with bitterness and resentment... They will shred her to pieces!"
"Truly… a pathetic queen has been born and a useless corpse has been resurrected… what a waste of my time this is… defeating the light is not even a challenge in this era!"
Noboru commented following Laila's statement, making the princess of the wind realize the man's wish for annihilating both queens at the same time. She looked at Chiyasu gesturing at Amaterasu and the unconscious old woman. Chiyasu understood what Reiha was asking her to do, but she hesitated for a moment, saying.
"But if only a dead body can enter the barrier…"
She looked at Amaterasu who seemed confused yet ready to help, standing without hesitation or questioning when her eyes locked with Chiyasu. However, Reiha immediately refuted the idea.
"She has no power or recollection! She will just disappear and die most probably! She cannot help us the way she is now!"
"Why not let poor Amaterasu get a chance to do something right for once?"
Noboru mocked the former queen and Reiha's mistrust in the latter's power at the same time, adding:
"Shame on you princess Reiha, doubting your queen like this!"
Releasing a storm that struggled briefly before vanishing against Noboru's sword, the princess answered:
"You only wish her to die, and maybe she should… but it will not be in your way or by your hands! Chiyasu… take her now!"
Chiyasu nodded, though still attached to the idea of Amaterasu's ability to help as she were now but she wanted to be held responsible for nothing, or accused of having other agenda, and so grasped Amaterasu's hand along Ayumi's unconscious grandmother and disappeared into the second floor, drawing a circle of protection that prevented both women from leaving while she stood guard. Seeing the princess of the earth attempt an escape and taking the former queen with her, Noboru in turn, looked at Laila who understood his order and followed the princess of the earth.
Laila materialized upstairs almost instantly after Chiyasu finished summoning her circle of protection, and the latter spared no time calling forth her roots and poisonous flowers to attack the princess of darkness.
"Show me how can you fight without your beloved ax!"
Chiyasu sneered imitating Laila's usual expression, but the princess of the darkness was actually amused by the imitation and by the childish assumption that she had to resort to a weapon to be able to fight.
"You are so full of yourself, Princess Chiyasu… I need no weapon to defeat anybody!"
Dark aura surrounded the princess commanding over the night and its harbored evils and doubts, her spiritual aura was even more powerful than Noboru's, almost equaling Noriko's, though the princess of the earth refused to admit this in order to keep her fighting spirit high and confident. Chiyasu kept fighting, repelling more than attacking but still, her resolve did not waver for a second, and against Laila who fed on doubts and fears, that was enough to keep her holding her ground.
***
"Ayumi, snap out of it! No parents would wish their children dead!"
Reiha exclaimed, repelling and attacking Noboru at the same time. Her gaze flying every few seconds in that cursed barrier of death direction, she lost focus for a moment, enabling Noboru to slash her hand, almost amputating it if she had not regained her senses and jumped back to the end of the room.
"Are you sure of this?"
Noboru pretended to ask genuinely, but his tone revealed the answer he knew very well, and for a short while, the two just exchanged silent stairs before the princess of the wind dismissed his attempt at triggering her.
"Your silly words cannot weaken my resolve!"
Reiha declared but Noboru did not give up, asking once again.
"Would you not know the answer better than anyone else, princess Reiha?"
"You can discuss this with them when I send you to meet them!"
Reiha whipped her wind but failed to return the insult she had been dealt in the form of an injury. Still, she did not give up, fighting while calling Ayumi to stop tormenting herself and allowing her parents' souls to torment her in return.
For a rare instant, Reiha did not know what the best action to take was. Fighting Noboru on her own was not enough, and Ayumi's situation continued to worsen as her screams grew louder and louder along her sobbing. She decided to call for help, but Noboru was one step ahead of her as if he could read her mind.
"Do not bother calling for him, he is busy fighting a horde of demons seeking the revived queen! Unless you wish to drag them here as well…"
Reiha bit her lips, cursing the man she was exchanging blows with. He had come fully prepared this time, resolved on destroying both queens at the same time, once and for all, and nothing seemed able to stop him at this renewed battle ground. She hated to think that, but nothing indicated otherwise. Only Norico could stop him in the past, and even back then she was too late and died in the process... and now, she was no more. Reiha felt the wind whirling hurricanes in her mind and could not even think of a plan to retreat and escape as Ayumi was still trapped inside that barrier. Then an idea crossed her mind, but once again it proved futile.
If she was unable to deal with the larger details of the situation, then she would head straight to its root. Turning her back on Noboru, she prepared to unleash a whip of wind in Kotohina's direction in order to break that evil wish - granting box. However, this was not an option as Noboru explained.
"Destroy the box and you will destroy Ayumi's parents' souls… they are summoned and contained within that box after all!"
"You devil!"
Reiha redirected her intended strike to the box held by the little child toward Noboru who had no trouble dodging it at all.
"Please STOP!"
Reiha stopped startled by Ayumi's begging voice, thinking for a moment she was pleading of her to stop fighting Noboru, but the girl was still nowhere out of that barrier… still a prey to her own guilt and regret seeking a twisted redemption.
"It must be really painful, pleading already to stop the punishment she had been wishing for… "
Noboru looked at the barrier with cold amusement. Was this look the same one he bore while stabbing Amaterasu in her heart? Reiha shouted in frustrated rage, attacking the barrier while Noboru watched her wasted efforts and power as he laughed, the princess's wind vanishing and disappearing at the borders of death.
"You should not forget who you are fighting!"
The man who slayed the most powerful queen with a single stab, the man who destroyed the symbol of harmony she built, the man who tore the peace she brought and established, the man who ripped the hopes she revived, the man who could not be killed even by Norico, and just sealed away.
The man who won all what he coveted without losing anything.
Reiha felt hopeless, dare she say, terrified, once again after a long long time...
***
"It hurts… it hurts a lot… I know I deserve this… but… it truly hurts!"
Ayumi could barely stutter through tired intermittent breaths, and the souls of her parents did not spare her a second of reprieve, every attack and inflicted injury more brutal than the one before. The girl was bleeding all over her body, her senses starting to fade, only her eyes managed to track the two angry orbs of her parents' souls.
"I do deserve this… I have always wanted to join you… but… this… I imagined you were disappointed in me… and angry.... but I failed to comprehend or imagine the depth of pain I have caused you..."
The girl wanted to ask why, but she had no right to ask that question as she herself knew and accepted its answer. Nevertheless, though she was certain her parents were frustrated with her, their furious anger, this amount of hateful rage never crossed her mind when she dreamt and imagined meeting them again… perhaps it did for brief moments but she always felt they would blame her, reprimand her a little before engulfing her in a warm forgiving hug. But now the truth had been revealed to her, they were just angry… so angry to a point similar to hatred.
"I deserve this… I was a stupid little girl… parting forever was not something I believed in back then… but… this anger… do you really hate me now this much? Was your death that painful? If so… then I really deserve…"
Ayumi stopped talking, her feelings growing restless and contradicting each other. Her memories of her parents were always basked in kindness and warmth… for their souls to hold on to such hatred and wrath… it was something she believed yet could not believe at the same time.
"Help us… help us!"
Familiar faint voices echoed inside her head, but at that point, bleeding and severely injured, Ayumi could not tell what belonged to the realm of sobriety or hallucinations… but these voices were definitely different from the voice urging her to make a wish earlier… were these… her parents' voices?
Ayumi tried to reach to one of the souls glowing in a cruel red, as if bathed in a flame from hell, only to receive a slash to her palms as she screamed painfully. However, the pleas asking for help did not stop.
"Who is asking for help? Is it me?"
Ayumi wondered on the edge of fainting, but no one was answering and she was so tired to hear any answer… closing her eyes and surrendering her body once again to the ceaseless attacks bent on taking her life, she wished once more.
"Please, kill me and satisfy your anger… then please... forgive me and allow me to join you!"
A single tear trickled down Ayumi's cheek. She tried to keep her hands to herself and cuddle her injured body waiting for her punishment to end, but the two souls suddenly flickered with a different light… it was pure and bright for a transient second before it turned into hellish redness again. And though the change lasted shorter than a breath, Ayumi could not stop her arms from trying to reach to that pure light despite the harm she was ought to be dealt. However, everything changed in that one brief second.
The area where she was confined turned even darker, to the point where it became difficult to trace that flaming red. Was this death seizing her senses? But what happened was quite the opposite, within that ruthless darkness, she could clearly hear those pleas of help and recognize her parents' voice, helplessly begging and crying as well. Ayumi blindly tried to extend her bleeding arms in the voices' direction and grasp those balls of light with her torn palms, and it was then when the pure light turned red again, and a cold hand held hers pulling not only her arm away, but raising her entire body up, and she suddenly found herself embraced within a single arm holding her waist preventing her from moving while protecting her at the same time from reaching to the souls of her parents. A glint of silver flashed in the darkness, a thin yet sharp samurai blade was waved between her and the angry souls.
"Help us, please!"
The plea for help echoed once again, this time more clearly and resolutely.
"Mother… Father!"
Ayumi was certain this time that it was her parents calling out to her, and she tried to move but that arm embracing her anchored her firmly against the chest she pertained to, and although that chest and arm were so cold, as if blood was pulsing anew within them, Ayumi felt safe and reassured, the faint heartbeats her head was laying against calming her down, and easing her pain and fear.
***
Noboru's eyes suddenly widened as he stepped back, clutching to his own chest where his heart laid as if he was stabbed there although Reiha's wind had failed to touch him since the two resumed their fight. Even Reiha felt an additional unfamiliar presence and she stepped back in apprehension while Kotohina looked down at her box, her dead eyes failing to convey the worry and shock she was struck with.
***
Upstairs, Laila was on the verge of breaking Chiyasu's protective circle but she suddenly halted her attack, retreating on her own and turning her head away, and Chiyasu could hear her mumbling to herself something similar to "unbelievable…". Chiyasu sensed the new presence but could not trace it to a person she knew. However, the princess of the earth did not waste the chance for a surprise attack against the concerned Laila when she was pushed away by someone. Laila finally noticed Chiyasu's attempt at attacking her, but she was not the one stopping her. Amaterasu, the former queen of light, though having no power, broke free from the circle of protection on her own to both princesses' surprise, moving with her legendary speed and pushing Chiyasu out of her way with a strength thought to be lost and conquered, before she leapt out of the window.