Shadow hunter chapter 15

Tsubaki rushes Excalibur with almost blinding speed, she swings at him using me only for him to disappear moments before impact. Almost too quick for me to follow Tsubaki and I are in the air, she turns her arm into a chain sickle and throws it down latching onto Excalibur's arm, she quickly yanks her own arm sending us hurtling at Excalibur, when we get close she holds me back behind her and shifts her weight to the right. Tsubaki misses him by just inches sliding past him with me right behind her, aimed at his neck. I close my eyes expecting to feel his flesh on my blade but instead I am met with I feel me and Tsubaki jerk to a stop. I hit his neck, and his flesh was hard enough to bring Tsubaki and me to a stop. She quickly withdraws her hand and jumps back to survey the situation.

"So you really are Excalibur. Your entire body is as tough as steel."

Excalibur looks back at us, golden eyes devoid of any emotion as he speaks, "incorrect: I am made of an alloy much stronger than steel. Your power seems insufficient to destroy me. Your elimination is imminent."

If I thought Tsubaki's attack was vicious then Excalibur's was monstrous. As soon as he finished talking he was in front of us. His hand shot out lightning fast and grabbed Tsubaki's neck, the next thing I knew we were on the ground. Excalibur lifted Tsubaki up to slam her down again but before he could she turned into smoke bomb mode and re-appeared above him grabbing me before I had a chance to transform.

"I've ripped apart monsters stronger than you!" She kicks him in the back of the head forcing Excalibur to the ground. She plants her foot in the small of his back forcing him to the ground, while his own shadow forms hands that hold his limbs down. She positions my blade under his shoulder. "I'm more than strong enough to tear you apart!"

Suddenly both Tsubaki and me are thrown. When I look up Excalibur is standing repositioning his arm back over his shoulder. Right before my eyes the golden blood that was once flecked across the ground flies back into the wound and his arm is re-attached, good as new.

Again Excalibur is covered in a golden light. "Forced to used bimolecular regeneration. Threat level increased to maximum." When the light subsides Excalibur loses all of his once human look. In its place is a humanoid creature with no facial features or clothes shining with a golden hue.

Tsubaki gathers shadows underneath her feet and uses them to launch us directly at Excalibur swinging me at his chest when we get close. Before I can connect Excalibur disappears and re-appears above us, his hand transformed into a blade coming down on Tsubaki. I feel my own recently discovered power stirring as Tsubaki uses me to propel herself forward at light speed to avoid Excalibur's blade. We clear the initial danger zone only for Excalibur to again re-appear in front of us arm ready to slash at us. Tsubaki manages to rotate her body to block with my shaft. Even though the block is successful the force of it nearly makes me black out, I can feel my self start to bleed, his blade chipping my staff. His force knocks Tsubaki clear across the cave slamming against the outer wall.

I look up to her face expecting to finally see fear, reassurance that she would flee at seeing his full power and hope that I might live past today. Instead i see the twisted grin of a psychopath so far gone that I'm not even sure that this is Tsubaki anymore. I have no ability to see souls but in resonance I can feel the beat of her soul. Instead of the nice steady hum I had with Maka or even with Tsubaki the first few times i resonated with her, instead its a rapid staccato pulsing so fast that instead of us truly resonating she is forcing my soul to beat in time, or be crushed. Her soul is a sea of possessiveness and jealousy like nothing I've ever encountered. I'm going to die here.

Excalibur rushes us again. Merely a streak of light in the dimly lit cave, as Excalibur appears to stab through Tsubaki deep into the cavern wall, Tsubaki manages to roll to the side and gets a small cut on her right arm where her heart was a second before. She jumps backwards poised on the opposite side of the cave prepared to jump and strike. She launches herself forward with my bald raised high. Before we're halfway across the small cave Excalibur appears in front of us and delivers a switf punch to Tsubaki's face, sending her back to the wall she had jumped from leaving a deep indent in the wall.

As she shakily rises to her feet and looks upon the shining Excalibur, which has been mercilessly beating us, I sense for the first time a tiny amount of fear. "I should have known that it would take more than me to end you."

Excalibur stops for a second at hearing her words. Somehow it speaks even though it has no mouth, "You are correct, no mere mortal could ever stop the might of Excalibur the greatest of all magical weapons. Only with an army could you ever come close. Shall I take your words as a sign of your surrender?"

For a second her soul wavers before the fear is stomped out again my confidence and pride. "An army huh? Maybe I should get one of those." She pulls an elaborately decorated black whistle out of her pocket and blows on it hard.

[Maka 15 minutes before]

I feel her. I stand up suddenly, Kid and Star's eyes are immediately on me. "I feel them!" I begin hurriedly putting away our camping equipment, rolling up my bedroll and snuffing out the fire. Kid and Star only look confused for a second before following my example. With a look from Kid Liz and Patty do the same.

My father walks back into the clearing with arms full of firewood looking confused. "Wait what's happening Maka? Why are you packing up we decided we would rest for the night?"

"It's Soul and Tsubaki, I can feel their souls, and Excalibur's. We're going to be too late if we don't hurry. They're fighting now!" At my words my father drops the fire wood and packs his supplies away as well. Within five minutes of me feeling their souls were moving in the direction I sensed at top speed.

As we hike through the woods Black star come up beside me, "What exactly did you feel Maka?" He sounds worried.

It takes a second to formulate my thoughts, half of my attention still focused on the feeling of the fighting souls. "I can sense Tsubaki's soul clearly for the first time since we set out. Its twisted and plagued by jealousy and greed. Its almost the exact opposite of how she was when I first met her." the words are the truth, her once mellow yellow soul is now a dark and angry green with hints of purple swirling ominously at the surface.

Star looks shaken thinking about the heavy changes that his once friend and under gone. Kid speaks up from behind me, "What about Soul?"

I frown. Just thinking about his soul right now worries me. "I-i can barely feel his at all. His soul is so weak right now. Tsubaki's soul is wrapped tightly around him, smothering him. At this point i think she may have complete controll over him. It's scary to think about." Kid is silent so i decide to let them know what there in for. "Excalibur's soul however. Is like nothing i've ever seen. I was paying attention when you Kilik and Star fought him. His soul then was impressive but now, its just." I take a second to gather my thoughts while i further investigate Excalibur's soul. "This excalibur is something completely different. I cant tell what it's intention is but it's focused on one goal. Extremely single minded and extremely powerfull."

After that the whole group falls silent mentally preparing them selves for the chance that we may have to fight against that monster. Again we heard them before we saw them. Star is the one wo notices first. He tapps me on the shoulder, "Maka somethings coming. Can you tell what?" The whole group stops while i close my eyes and search for outer souls in the area.

"RUN!" I shout and then take off towards Soul and Tsubaki. Kid and the others begin running behind me immediately.

"What is it Maka?" Papa sounds distressed at the look of panic i must have.

I think back to the black souls i sensed just a second ago. The thousands of them, "Kishin, more than ten times the number we fought earlier, all of different strength!" I take a second to breathe as i continue running past trees and through brush at top speed. "And they're gaining on us!" I can see them now black shapes moving around us at rediculous speeds. I slow down for a second, the rest of our party follows my example. The shadows continue moving at breakneck speeds one goes right between Star and i looking only like a shadow at the speed that it's going.

I share a look with Kid. "They're ignoring us?"

Star looks around confused as the rush past "HOW Could they ignore the GREAT Black Star!?"

Kid puts his hand to his chin, thinking aloud, "If they're not after us then they have to be... Maka you don't think?"

I close my eyes expanding my soul perception, focusing on all the kishin souls trying to figure out where they're headed. "They're going to Soul!" We take off running at least twice as fast as before.

[Tsubaki]

I get scraped after yet another near death dodge. Excalibur is much stronger than i anticipated. His speed and strength is unparalleled, even by me. If Soul would only co-operate this would be so much easier, we might have even managed to beat him before he decided to convert his physical form to soul energy. As it is now I'm trying my best to survive against this godlike creature holding an unresponsive weapon while I wait for my army.

After my first clean dodge in a while I swing Soul in a feint at the same time transforming my ponytail into a kusarigama blade. He dodges my initial strike but I continue spinning allowing momentum to bring my hair around to try and slash his face. Unsurprisingly he dodges that as well.

Excalibur is right. This is a fight that no mortal can win. Right now with his body in the state it is. he isn't bound by any restrictions of the flesh. He is as strong as his will, and as fast as he can think. This is what a god is. What I will be. I'm almost salivating at the thought.

My distracting thoughts earn me another nick on my leg before I manage to turn into smoke bomb mode to avoid losing my leg completely. In response Excalibur smashes the wall behind me, airflow opens up in his cavern blowing me out of the cave. I transform back while the wind is still blowing me to land on a low tree branch right outside. The branch snaps but before I can hit the ground I'm caught by an unseen force and set on my feet. I look to my rescuer and see a Kishin shaped like a normal man but with a long snake like neck and beautiful black hair. It bows to me head held low, "My lady."

I look around, there are Kishin everywhere, on the cave, on every tree branch, rock, and flying in the air, there are Kishin as far as the eye can see. There's an army. MY army. I smile. I spot Moe walking up to me from the crowd. "My queen." He does an over exaggerated bow, "What are your orders?"

Excaliber finally seems to process that we aren't alone. "Warning." he points at me, "That subject is the target of this unit, failure to leave the area immediately or assisting the target will result in your immediate termination."

I ignore Excalibur as he waits for the Kishin to heed his warning. "You serve me right?" He nods, "Would you die for me?" He nods and so do the other kishin around. At this point I'm barely thinking, I'm relying entirely on my instincts. I open my arms wide, "Then join me! Your queen is injured! Heal my wounds! Be my strength! Make my enemies your own! And I SWEAR, that after I devour my enemies the reaper will be next and we will become Kishin Incarnate!"

At first there's nothing, and I fear I've gone too far. Would they turn on me? They only respect power, does me asking for help make me look weak? Then I see Kishin around me raise their weapons high, some have claws, others barbed tails, some even have convectional weapons. Moe raises his hand high, they all shout in unison, "FOR THE QUEEN!" and stab them selves. Red souls emerge from everywhere around me, before flowing into me. Not through my mouth like normally when I swallow a soul. Of their own will they give everything to me, their souls flowing directly into mine, thousands of Kishin souls merging with my own filling me with power! It feels amazing!

My wounds close on their own, I can feel my muscles pulsing with power. Excalibur noticing that all the Kishin have disappeared rushes me again, for the first time since he's transformed I can keep up with his movements, I dodge to the left before using my soul the reinforce Soul's blade swinging up, I cut into his golden flesh and golden blood drips onto the ground. Maybe because he for the first time since transforming is injured, but he turns to counter attack me; moving at the speed of thought, with the strength of a hundred men, a slice aimed straight for my neck.

I'm faster.

I raise my hand and grab his blade, my fingers hold it in place. "This is over." I squeeze and his blade shatters in my hand. Excalibur attempts to jump back but I grab him by his ankle and smash him into the ground. He raises his other foot to kick me in the face. I grab it with my other hand, before ripping his leg off. Before he can react I use Soul and stab through his back, pinning him to the ground. "This fight has gone on for too long. You are no longer a match for me." In the back of my mind I can hear Soul calling out to me trying to reach me. I don't care. Right now all of my focus is on Excalibur, the once legendary figure, helpless before me. Oh I'm going to enjoy this.

I rip his left arm off Savagely, followed by the other one. Unable to hold his form anymore his body reverts to that of the child I first saw in the cave. One more push, I move Soul to the side and plunge my hands into Excalibur's ribcage. Covered in blood to my elbows I pull out the soul of Excalibur. His body dissipates without the soul hold him together. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. His soul is pure white, it's the size of an ordinary soul but denser, almost too heavy to hold. Grinning I raise it to my lips. And swallow.

[Maka]

I can't believe it, even before I got there I knew what had happened. Some how Tsubaki had defeated Excalibur. When the cave was within view suddenly all of the kishin presence disappeared and Tsubaki's soul swelled in size. Then inexplicable Excalibur's energy was hard to see in the size of Tsubaki's power. And now I can't even feel Excalibur.

When we get to the cave exit, Tsubaki's fingers are to her lips. She's looking at us, smiling. I can't even see her soul it's so massive, probably on par with Death's. I see Soul off to the side still in scythe form, looking like her disgusting bastardization of my technique. I run over to him 'maybe I can grab him before Tsubaki notices!' I almost make it to him before I'm suddenly thrown back and caught by my father.

"Sorry Maka, It won't be that easy." Her voice is different, deeper, more powerful. For the first time I look into her eyes and see the powerful golden glow emanating from them. "We both realize that it's too late for me to go back." Obviously, the moment she severed the connection between Soul and I it was too late. "and by now you have to realize that it's too late for you to stop me." The smugness in her voice was almost too much. The smirk on her face was even worse. She's strong, I could barely keep up with her the last time we fought. If I had to guess I would say that she's probably about two or three times as strong as she was back then.

"Logically It seems I have no chance. However, I'm not planning on losing today." I stare confidently back at her. Black Star shift behind me and I hear Kid cocking Liz and Patty. I reach for my fathers sleeve and he transforms right into my hand. "I don't care how strong you are. We're ending this today!"

She grabs Soul with both hands, Her golden eyes narrow and lock with my jade ones. "I agree. I've made many promises to get this far. After I destroy you, Soul and I will destroy the DWMA."

No more words. I ready my father, waiting for her move. Anticipating. Her Soul flickers and I roll to the right just barely avoiding her. Black star jumped into the air to avoid her as she hurtled past us both. I turn to counter attack when I see that it actually looks like her arm is stuck in the rocks. Realizing my opportunity I swing at her only for her to block my attack one handed. Before she can free herself I pull back and swing again, only it to be blocked again. She finally frees her arm swings Soul at me. As soon as she starts moving I know that I'll be too slow to dodge. But I don't have to. She misses wildly scratching the ground next to me. I jump away before she gets another chance. How could she have missed me? I was point blank range. Her expression is one of confusion as well.

Black Star being himself, speaks up "What's wrong Tsubaki? Losing your touch?"

She snarls at him "Watch your tongue! I killed a near god! His power is mine to control!"

"But you can't can you." I focus my soul perception and I can see it now. While her whole soul is too big to see the parts that I can focus on are constantly warping. "You have all of this power but it's unstable.

"Shut up!" she rushes at me again, I trust my instincts and stand still. I feel a breeze blow by but am otherwise okay. I turn around and see that she overshot me by about fifty feet. "Damn it! Damn it!" She looks panicked now. "Fine! Who needs control. I have enough power to move mountains. I'll destroy you without moving from this spot!" She raises Soul into the air and I don't need soul perception to feel the enormous amount of energy she's gathering at his blade.

"Stop her!" Black star rushes at here fist cocked back.

"Black –Star Big-" when he gets about three feet away from Tsubaki he's suddenly repulsed back to where I'm standing. "Damn I can't get close! Kid your up!"

I feel his soul resonance, "Death Cannon!" Tsubaki just stands there

continuing to gather energy. The blast is a direct hit! Although before the smoke clears I already know it had no effect.

"Ha you really think pathetic attacks like those can stop me. I may not be able to control my full power yet. But I am a GOD! Your weak willed efforts can't even touch me anymore!" She suddenly stops gathering energy. I don't even have time to warn the others to dodge before she releases it. I see it like it's traveling in slow motion. It's easily the biggest energy blast I've ever seen, moving too fast for us to dodge and headed straight for us. How is that amount of power even possible? Was Excalibur really holding back that much? I feel Black Star grab me and throw me on the ground. Not that it will help, we're completely exposed here. She's not going to miss. I just close my eyes and hope for the best.

[Tsubaki]

That should do it. There's no way they can dodge that! And even less chance that they can survive it. The eight of them are dead. Now I just need some time to gain control over my new abilities before I destroy death. The dust begins to settle but I still feel all eight of their Souls pulsing. How is that- eight? There should only be six. I see a black hammed and a stock of white hair standing in front of the others. "Professor." He doesn't acknowledge me. He just looks at me with the same eyes he watched Medusa with after death's party. Fear mixed with curiosity. "How did you stop my attack?" For an answer I just hear the ticking of the gear in his head. He's smirking like he knows something I don't. I'm going to wipe that smile off of his face. "Does that really anger you so much?" Haven't heard that voice for a while. "Finally decide to speak up Soul?" I see his reflection in his blade. "Don't take it to mean that I've come over to your side." I smile at that. "Tough luck Soul, by now you must realize that I have no intention of letting you go." Silence. Fine then, I have other things to worry about.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I need to focus my soul, limit how much power I use. I use my brothers power to summon four shadow puppets around me. They move exactly as I want them to. I smirk. If I'm too strong to control my limbs I'll just use shadows. Two wrap themselves around my arms and the other two my legs. I take a tentative step forward, my body moves just as I want it to. Now I'm the one smirking.

In less than a second I'm nearly on top of Stein, I swing Soul and he blocks with Marie just in time. I cock my right arm back for a punch and fire it at his unprotected midsection. Somehow he manages to catch my fist in is left hand. Then I feel it, like all the life is being sapped from me. I quickly pull away and jump to my previous position. Before I can regroup he jumps after me, I spin around to spin kick him and like before he uses his left hand to catch my foot. It's followed by the same draining feeling as before. What is this! Even more than that sensation how are my attacks not destroying him? I'm able to hit him harder now than I ever hit Excalibur! He shouldn't be this strong. I see Maka Black Star and Kid just watching, they look as confused as I do.

I raise Soul and channel energy into his blade, it grows larger and even more jagged, I charge Stein at lightning speed, "Shadow Hunter!" he raises Marie to block, I'm able to cut a chunk out of her before he can jump away. "Ha, I don't know how you've been withstanding my attacks but it seem Marie isn't as protected.

He cranks the gear in his head. "It appears I've underestimated you Tsubaki." I see dark liquid dripping from Marie's cut. "Unfortunately you've just ended my fun." Fun? "Studying your strength would have been valuable information. However it seems that my fun has come at the expense of one of my allies again." He stops cranking the gear.

He charges me, as if he could touch me. I dodge his initial palm to my face, he swings Marie and I duck under the attack. We're too close for me to swing Soul so instead I use my left arm to punch at his midsection. He twists at the last moment to avoid my strike and grabs my left arm. The sensation strikes me again, even more painful this time! I try to jump away but he continues to cling to me, sapping me. In a panic I drop Soul and punch at him with my right hand, he disappears right before my fist can connect. *pant* How is he this fast all of a sudden? I have to be moving half the speed of sound. How can he possibly keep up with me?

He reappears near Maka, Soul in hand. When did he- "What are you going to do now Tsubaki. Soul is out of your reach."

I almost laugh, "Soul is never out of my reach now, His soul is bound to mine with Exclaibur's power. Absolute power."

"Oh really?" He grabs Soul with his left hand and I can feel my control over him fading fast. Before I can do anything he transforms back into a human and Maka catches him. He looks at me with such hate in his eyes. I can feel it. The second Soul's power is separated from my own; I feel the overwhelming desire to claim him once more. Stein holds up his left hand. There is a ring I've never seen him wear before on his index finger. "This ring is made of what's left of the philosopher stone. The stone created by Eibon to contain Excalibur's power. Any strength you draw from that is rendered null when I channel my soul wavelength through this." So that's how. But why would he tell me, this isn't like Stein.

Soul stops leaning on Maka and stands. "Professor give me the ring. Maka and I will handle this. Thanks for your help but this is our fight." As if, Soul and Maka can't even resonate anymore, even with that ring they stand no chance of defeating me. I know this, yet for some reason Stein does it, he gives Soul the ring. "Tsubaki. I tried to defend you for far longer than anyone else. I wanted you to be innocent. But I was wrong. You aren't the Tsubaki I knew, you're a monster. Soul is enveloped in light and Maka catches him. How?

"Tsubaki! Your Soul is mine!" Then I see something I never thought I would see again. "Genie Hunter!" I create another shadow puppet to use a scythe. Maka takes one step, two, then she's on top of me swinging Soul wide. I manage to block at the last second but Soul rips through my shadow scythe like paper. Maka cuts me deep from my shoulder to my right shoulder to left hip. I fly straight up to get away from her. Is she channeling the ring's power through Soul? She's in the air next to me. I don't even have time to block. Soul doesn't rip through me but plunges deep into my midsection. I feel my back hit the ground hard. When did we start falling? I just can't keep up with their speed. I try to get up but Maka has Soul's blade pinning me to the ground. "Your not going anywhere! I'm going to suck all of Excalibur's power right out of you!" She isn't lying, I can feel it happening. My strength fading. The cursed marks recede, my wounds stop healing on their own, my shadow puppets fade.

She finally pulls Soul from me but I feel too weak to move. Is this what it's actually come to? I fought countless kishin. I was a god. I feel tears leak from my eyes. "I was so close." She raises Soul high, I want to cry out, curl into a ball and wait for the end to come. Maybe I should have kept on being the push over, the one time I go for what I want and I'm going to die for it. She starts swinging downward and it happens in slow motion for me. I remember holding Soul in the village, eating with him in the forest, laughing with him in the town. It was all worth it. I loved him. I still do. I guess I had a weird way of showing it. Kidnapping him, trying to kill his friends. But I just couldn't help it, I needed him to myself. I know it's selfish but that was the whole goal of this adventure. I wanted Soul to love me, and no one else I never told him. I need to tell him. He needs to at least know why. Then this will be worth it. "I-*cough*" The blade is close now. I've only got seconds. "Love you Soul."

Okay so what do you think? I know it's late but… I may have been….. Okay I just couldn't get into it before today (I'm procrastinating on so much homework), Believe me I Tried. But I knew that this would be the finale so I wanted it to be just right. Pm me if you have any questions about what happened, please review if you liked it. I will probably post an epilogue (eventually). I Just really didn't want to leave this open any longer. So to clear up any misunderstanding this is the last real chapter of this story. Thank you for your patience I hope you enjoyed. And if you did please let me know what you liked :3