##

The Battle of Asuka neared its end.

It wasn’t near the chaos of before: As Ashura’s ship suffered, so did its creations. Their numbers finally waned. Their ferocity dimmed.

Finally, the tide began to turn.

Especially when she joined the fray.

Yahiko’s reaction to seeing a very alive Tomoe appearing out of nowhere, ripping through the constructs with spell and claw?

“I seen crossdressing fighters, Mile high giants and Men who fight with puppets. Nothing surprises me any more…”

##

Yes, the Battle of Asuka slowly wound to a climax. It would grow into legend, and like all legends age like a fine wine and eventually fade into time.

Yet its most epic battle would go unrecorded.

No one would of have survived to do so.

Perhaps ‘epic’ wasn’t a worthy description. Perhaps no words could ever be. Even the ship itself shrank back in terror from the forces unleashed by the two women.

They fought at speeds unheard of, practically invisible to naked eye. The electric crash of their swords deafening. Ozone choked the air, wild arcs of positive and negative energy screaming across the room at random. The bloodpool practically boiled. Half solid one minute, foaming the next…

No. Words would never be enough.

Karou and Ashura fought across the walls…Both backspringing off and slashing in midair as one…tearing back and forth across the floor the moment they touched down. Karou and Kenshin/Swordmaker fought as one, countering Hellsword and Snakesaya with inhuman precision. Ashura kept the tempest they raised at bay with little effort, intent on keeping this woman to woman, her face twisted with insane pleasure. Attempted to cut Karou’s legs from under her and blocking her returning midair swipe as she somersaulted over her to dodge…The pair spinning away to face each other.

Both were changing as they fought. Karou more resembled Battousai in stance and demeanor, deceptively calm despite the chain lighting that ran through her veins. Her mismatched eyes now sapphire and gold flames…

The changes came more frequently now for Ashura. No longer confined to an area at a time.

Sometimes Karou stared into a face of nightmares, or dodged tail and claw at the same time.

Only those horrible eyes remained the same, mirroring the monster she slowly became.

Two sides of a coin…And both enjoyed it!

“And you said I had a death wish.” Karou replied.

“Wait.”

Ashura laughed at that one.

Karou didn’t pay attention to how Ashura’s arm had changed as she spoke. Became leathery, like that of an electric eel…

That quickly changed with the alarming shock she received when she struck Ashura’s sword, flying across the room. She shook off the stars long enough to see Ashura charge the sword again, eyes widening as she stabbed toward the pool…

This time She unleashed a continuous blast that she guided…Karou running along the walls with near god like speed inches ahead it…Leaping off as Ashura attempted to spear her. Barely dodging Ashura’s stabs and swipes with the electrified sword as they both streaked across the floor at near god like speed…Kenshin/Swordmaker knocking aside the ones she couldn’t dodge as Ashura upped the speed drastically. Laughed as she suddenly stopped and sent a wave of blood toward Karou with a sweep of her sword as they neared the wall, stabbing into the pool again…

Karou scrambled straight up that wall…the electrified water slamming into the wall centimeters behind her…springing off the wall with a half twist toward Ashura…

…Who was waiting…the blood at her feet spiraling upward as she thrust her hand toward Karou…forming a spike she could not avoid…

Karou surprised them both by stabbing her sword into the spike’s tip, using her sword like a miniature pole vault…A stunned Ashura unable to defend herself as Karou rocketed toward her in a combination of the Ryu kan Sen and Ki Hammer…Literally splattering Ashura across the room.

*Changed into blood at the last second. Damn!*

Karou ignored the taunting laughter…concentrating on tracking her malevolent aura…holding her sword as a guide.

“…LEFT!”

And dashed sideways as Ashura erupted from below…the blast of energy narrowly missing her…

Ashura sinking back into the depths…Karou constantly moving as Ashura repeated the maneuver until she saw her chance…Unleashing the Arashi Enbu just as she reappeared…several Kenshins/Swordmakers sweeping her hard into the wall as Karou dashed in…

Sakaba plowing a trench in the wall as Ashura ducked in time…Snapkicking Karou in the face…springing after her as Karou’s limp body was launched into the air…

Karou’s eyes snapped open.

Somehow spun around Ashura’s lunge…executing a perfect Ryu-kan-sen-Tsumuji that shattered Ashura’s spine…Ashura howling in agony but managing to wrap the Snakesaya around Karou’s throat…Both disappearing into the bloodpool with a tremendous splash.

The surface became still for a moment. Sporadically lit by bursts of light.

Then heaved upwards in a crimson plume that nearly emptied it.

Sakaba, Hellsword and Snakesaya flew through the air. Embedded themselves high in opposite walls.

Both women landed hard. Slow to rise this time.

Looked at their swords. Then at the blood-soaked enemy standing in the way.

Karou was the first one on her feet, roaring as she spear-tackled Ashura out of the air. Sitting atop her as she grabbed a handful of white hair and bounced Ashura’s skull off the floor. Repeatedly.

“How“ THUD. “Many” THUD. “Times” THUD. “Must” THUD. “I” THUD. “Tell” THUD. “You” THUD. “KENSHIN” THUD. “IS” THUD. “MINE!” THUD. THUD. THUD!

A close range blast threw Karou into the air…Ashura appearing above her to hammer her to the ground…staying there to repeatedly blast her while she was helpless…Claws extended as she dived in to finish her off…

Got uppercutted for her trouble…a slightly smoking and angrier Karou deflecting her punch and delivering several of her own before delivering a viscous slap that rocked Ashura…Ashura retorting with a swift knee and hurling Karou into the wall like a rag doll…’Reached’ for her sword…

…Karou grabbing her by the hair again and pulled her down…kept a good grip on it and wrapped it round the woman’s face as she kept punching Ashura with her free hand…performing a bizarre ballet as she dodged Ashura’s blind swings and kept twisting and punching. Flipped her over her shoulder like a sack grain and planted her foot on her face…Ashura yowling as Karou tore most of her hair out.

Ashura scrambled to her feet, holding her aching head as she glared at Karou.

Karou tossed the hair over her shoulder with a smirk.

“Short hair suits you.”

Ashura screamed in rage…the ship beginning to shake as she slowly raised her hands…the Bloodpool churning…

*Now what?*

…two large Somethings Karou could only describe as skeletal, serpentine and hungry exploding from its depths…forced to perform a bizarre ballet of dodging them and fending off a pissed Ashura at the same time…

*Okay, maybe I should of left the hair alone…Nah.*

They traded punches and kicks rapid fire…Ashura taking control every time Karou was forced

to dodge her pets…aiming to cripple as she picked a limb and punished it. At this rate, Karou knew she wouldn’t last unless she did something drastic.

Drastic it is then.

She caught Ashura’s punch and drop kicked her in legs…timing a leap onto the back of one of those things as it dove at her…Balancing on its spine as it attempted to buck her off. Ashura mimicked her with the other…leaping onto Karou’s to continue the battle full speed as Karou dodged its …Blocking Karou’s punch and high kicking her in the back of the head…Karou jabbing an elbow in her face and pushing her away…

Higher and higher and throughout the room they spiraled.

Karou blocked several kicks with her own, showing tremendous balance as she hooked and dragged Ashura’s leg down then delivered several snap kicks up and down her chest and face. Grabbed Ashura’s returning punch and pulled while firing off several more to her leg until Ashura went down on her good knee…blocking the flurry of punches Karou rained on her with her right as she snapped off a rib bone with her left…

Slashed her across the arm up to the elbow.

Karou spun away as Ashura stabbed again…slamming her elbow down on Ashura’s outstretched arm to force her to drop the rib…unprepared for the slash across her back from the other snake and now wide open for a flurry of Ashura’s own. Managed to half twist in midair and punching out as Ashura’s spin kick catapulted her off…catching Ashura in the throat and knocking her off as well.

Both grabbed on to the creature’s ribs as they fell.

Number two looped back, spotting Karou.

Karou answered by letting go with her right and punching Ashura in the face. Repeatedly.

Ashura tightened with each jarring blow.

Number two coiled below them…sprang…

…Karou suddenly letting out to grab the ribs Ashura held…the combined weight snapping them and dropping them toward Number two’s widening jaws.

Ashura let go…kicking off Karou to land on the Number one’s back as it circled for another pass.

Number two chomped down on only air, Missing Karou by centimeters as she twisted around it in midair…grabbing hold of its ribs.

Ashura leapt at her when she neared…Karou swinging around the snake’s body to meet her feet first…Ashura rebounding off the wall on impact and landing on number two as Karou flipped onto its back…starting all over again.

Number one circled above…this time waiting…

Karou decided she had enough of this. Stepped back and leapt at Ashura in a flying kick.

Ashura grabbed her ankle. Flung her off…

…Like she planned.

Ashura realized her blunder as She saw Karou grab the hilt of the Sakaba as she fell…

Number One lunged.

…Swing around, balance and tear it free in one motion as she sprang…Number one smashing itself to pieces on the wall. Ashura staring in shock as Karou flew at them sword raised high as she stabbed the point into Number Two’s skull.

“DO-RYU-SEN!”

Number two exploded wonderfully, Ashura slammed into the wall by the powerful blast and rain of bone shards. Immediately peeling herself off and summoning her weapons to meet Karou in midair at twice their original fury…the two rebounding off the walls and falling remains of Number One like stepping stones until they reached the ground and continued there.

Karou winced at the fire in her veins, almost sharper than her wounds.

Ashura’s smug look made her ignore it.

Despite their impressive speed, Despite the rage of their power hammering the room, Anyone could tell both were tiring from their long battle. The slightest mistake at this point of the game…

Ashura raised her foot as she raised the Hellsword high over her head, giving Karou all the time in the world to sidestep as she brought it down…

…Karou realizing her blunder too late.

The shockwave her stomp created staggered Karou…leaving her wide open as Ashura swept the sword back up at a wicked upward slice.

Blood fountained. Quickly lost among the rest.

Karou scrambled away, ignoring her bleeding chest as she returned the favor with a particular viscous Ryu Sou Sen…Ashura actually laughing at her as she literally beat her to a pulp…bone snapping into place as fast as it was broken…Karou increasing the strength of the blows with a scream…

Until Ashura caught the damn blade in her bare hand and smiled.

Karou answered with a straight hard punch to her face that sent her reeling back. Ashura still grinning despite her broken nose as she returned with an impossibly strong kick that fractured a rib and threw Karou backward…Karou immediately executing the Sou Ryu Sen as Ashura counterattacked…deflecting her thrust with the Sakaba and smashing the saya into her throat point first. Added a point blank Ki hammer that threw Ashura into the wall.

Karou collapsed.

It burns.

Ashura gingerly peeled herself from the wall. Laughing like a maniac as she readjusted every broken and dislocated bone without a care. The Bloodpool boiled at her feet.

*No…*

“…You lie.”

Her Ki level suddenly spiked to levels Karou never felt before, shaking the entire ship.

She swung her weapons counterclockwise to the other…incredibly fast…striking them together…

Displacing the air around them and creating the vacuum effect of Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki…ten times it’s size and force!

Karou countered with the Arashi Enbu and shifted her weight…Knowing full well it wasn’t enough before she began sliding toward the howling vortex. Watched its winds strip the chunks from the wall and begin draining the pool dry…reducing all to powder within its vortex.

*Shit!*

Karou’s reply wasn’t with words…but Ashura heard it nonetheless. Until it burst her eardrums.

She staggered briefly but held control.

But it was. The brief loss of control was enough for what Karou planned, using those precious seconds to send Kenshin/Swordmaker on a reckless charge. Slid under the incredible pull like Enishi had done Kenshin ages before…rising behind her with a Ryu Kan Sen-Kogarashi that nearly took her head off…Ashura reeling forward…

“Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu…”

Ashura recovered to just stand there, arms spread as if to embrace Karou. Bloody grin and all.

“…Ku Zu Ryu Sen!”

All nine hits slammed into Ashura at once. With no apparent effect. Karou slid to a stop a foot behind her, twirling and sliding the Sakaba into its hilt.

Seconds later, nine rents and tears exploded all over Ashura’s dress, revealing ugly welts from each blow.

She pitched forward facefirst with a great splash. Still as death as she floated.

Karou allowed herself to drop then, sitting there clutching her chest in agony as she gulped for air.

“You first, Ashura.” She managed.

She slowly stood to her feet, watching Ashura’s body dissolve into blood. Vanish into the Bloodpool. Then she started toward the exit.

And fell within its crimson depths.

Karou struggled to reach the surface…the thick blinding substance reacting as if alive…pulling her ever deeper…all she could taste or smell or breathe was blood…

And hear Ashura’s voice in her mind.

Karou’s struggling ceased…then stopped all together. Ashura watched her hands slip from her ankle and her body drift into the endless depths.

**