Ayakashi Monogatari

Chapter Twelve: Hydra

Chapter Twelve: Hydra

I stood in an empty void of darkness, accompanied by no one other than Karura. The orange-haired woman flashed her blazing eyes. "Are you sure you want to do this? Taking me on isn't just about surviving my power. Since mere mortals alone have no hope of controlling my strength, Ayakashi are the only ones who have any chance of becoming my vessel. But you are a special case. You are a rare breed, a daughter of human and Ayakashi."

"If you want my power, you will have to shed every last bit of your human side and fully transform into an Ayakashi. Any traces of your human self will be gone forever. As an Ayakashi, you will be forbidden from mingling with humans, and can never fall in love with one. You can never see your family or any of your friends ever again. From now on, you will be a creature of the Otherworld, just as your father was. Even still, do you want to do it?"

My answer was immediate. "I do. The human world has nothing left for me. If it means punishing Asura for what he did and protecting the rest of my fellow Onmyoji from his wrath...then I don't care if I have to throw away my human life and become an Ayakashi. I want you to possess me, Karura. Use my body as your vessel...and give me the strength I need to end this once and for all."

Karura smirked. "Well then, if that's the case, there's no point in delaying the inevitable, is there?" She sauntered up to me and grabbed my wrist, placing a finger upon my transformation bracelet. "You won't be needing this anymore." I gritted my teeth, enduring the searing pain cutting into my arm as the diamonds of my bracelet shone red-hot, like molten lava. With a sharp tinkle, they shattered like glass, leaving my forearm bare. Karura pressed the tip of her finger against my forehead. "And with this...you are mine."

I reared back and screamed as a blazing, fiery pain split into my skull and shot through my veins, searing my nerve endings and frying my skin. I felt as though my entire body was on fire.

My flowing purple hair tore free of its ponytail and stood on end, gradating into a radiant golden orange. My rabbit ears stuck up from my head like horns. Something was pushing its way inside me, working deep into every crevice of my body. My internal organs were a boiling soup.

I blinked, and the world of reality flashed back into view. I knelt before the Sword of Exorcism, my hands still firmly bound to the hilt. A rush of orange flames consumed my body from head to toe. A cyclone of howling wind whirled around me. Raven dug his fingers in the dirt, reaching out to me. "Minami! I swear...I'm not going to lose you! If you're going to sacrifice yourself...then so will I!" I wanted to tell him to stop, but my throat was too marred by screams to even manage words.

Raven lunged forward, clamping his hands onto mine. The burning radiance that consumed my body spread directly to him as well, swallowing him up in Karura's inferno. He jolted back his head and let out a pained, choked gasp as his red eyes glowed bright yellow, and his white hair stood up on end, transitioning to a fiery orange. I staggered to my feet and extracted the Sword of Exorcism from the earth, holding the holy blade high above my head. I screamed out once again as the pain intensified.

My body was changing, on the inside and outside. I was...transforming, along with Raven. A surge of burning red chains emerged from our bodies and connected to each other, latching around our wrists, ankles, and necks. There seemed to be a pulse of energy running through those chains between the two of us, like electricity traveling through a wire. Raven and I floated up into midair by will, where Karura finished taking complete control. Raven's flaming hair swayed and wavered in the wind as ripples ran across his back, and diamond-shaped wings composed of molten energy burst from his shoulderblades. White-hot energy blades emerged from his forearms, three on each arm. They jabbed outward and were curved like scythe blades.