Silence In Numbers: File One (46 page)

“We figured as much,” Ayane said as Law met them after circling around the demon, which was still focused on Katsumi.

“I got ‘er,” Law said to Ayane. “You go help yer sister.” Ayane didn’t need to be told twice and took off instantly, going to join Katsumi. Law grinned at Hitomi as he lifted her easily in his arms. “You’ve looked better, flower girl.”

Hitomi smiled as he ran and moved her to a corner of the room near the entrance. “I knew you all would come for me.”

“We don’t leave people behind,” another voice replied.

Hitomi craned her neck and smiled. “Sano! I’m glad you’re okay.”

Kurasano grinned and winked at her. “Same for you, Tomi. We were all worried about you after you disappeared.” He grew more serious as Law set her down. “Did they hurt you?”

Hitomi leaned against the wall and shook her head. “Not really. They just drained some power. Most of the time they didn’t even pay attention to me.”

“Good.” He smiled at her. “Now, this fight is gonna take awhile, but you’re gonna be about as safe as you can possibly be.”

“Why is that?”

Law slammed down a large tripod as Sano grinned. “That’s why.”

Law’s grin was even bigger as he set the massive gun he had carried throughout the entire tower on top of it, locking it in. “Blue-hair has wanted to use this thing for years, but she only got to do it once.”

Hitomi blinked at it, looking over the giant weapon. “Why only once?”

He rubbed his head. “We don’t talk about that. Insurance reasons. Anyway, nothin’s gettin’ into this corner.”

Sano nodded, tossing her a wave. “See you after we’re done with this thing.”

“Be careful!” she called after him as he charged back into the battle. For her own part, she focused past Law, on the massive demon. She couldn’t join in, but she would certainly do what she could to weaken him – extending one arm, she began to draw power away. It was a very slow trickle without a large effect, as she was still untrained, but who knew – perhaps she could make a difference. She wasn’t going to just sit out and let others fight for her; at the very least she could weaken their enemy.

Back in the battle, it was total chaos. The massive demon’s limbs rent metal and his breath drained life and energy from those it hit, forcing them to move constantly. Katsumi and Ayane kept the demon occupied, using dodge-and-counter tactics designed mostly to annoy and draw attention. They seemed to be enjoying it, and it was obvious why – it had been years since they had been able to work together as a pair like this against a real challenge. Helping their attitude was the fact that this was just a demon, a target, and not someone they had a personal vendetta against. Belphegor had done nothing to them personally, not really, and he wasn’t something they hated, allowing them to enjoy the fight. Katsumi ducked under his claw and hacked at the underside as Ayane hopped on top of it, sprinting along it and slashing at his face as she passed.

In the meantime, Sano and Reno focused fire on the demon while Rufus took up a solid position further back with a heavy sniper rifle, going for damaging shots. Soon Law joined in as the thunderous sound of his heavy machine gun filled the air, sending round after round into the massive beast. Belphegor roared and turned towards Law, taking a step before Katsumi barred his way. Enraged, the demon brought a massive arm down at her, but she brought her own arms up in a cross and caught his strike. She staggered a bit under the powerful blow, but she was able to throw it off with a yell. She then lunged forward and drove her sword into his stomach, causing him to stagger back in pain.

As the demon attempted to grab Katsumi, Ayane dropped down and jammed her sword into his wrist, yanking the hand away. Law’s shots hit a leg and brought him to one knee, and Ayane pinned his hand to the floor with her sword as Katsumi did with the other. Sano and Reno fired into his chest as Law focused fire on the same area, drawing a roar of rage from the beast – and  Rufus’ round flew straight between his teeth, driving up into his brain. As the demon wavered in a daze, Katsumi and Ayane removed their swords and raced up his arms, driving their blades into his neck. With a final twist they crossed each other and the demon’s head was removed.

A second later its body detonated, flinging the sisters into opposite walls and knocking everyone else off their feet. Fire swirled in the center of the room, scorching the floor and ceiling for a few seconds before everything became calm. Sano checked on Ayane, helping her up as Reno pulled Katsumi to her feet. Katsumi coughed and brushed part of her charred clothing away, looking around. “Everyone alright?”

They all looked around at each other, seeing that none had any real injuries. Reno said what they were all thinking: “Uh… I don’t wanna sell us short, but did that seem a lot easier than expected to anyone else?”

Most of them nodded and Katsumi shook her head, going to inspect the center of the room filled with ash. “I thought that fight would take a few hours… That barely took a few minutes.”

“Is he really dead?” Ayane asked as she moved to stand next to her sister.

“I don’t…” Katsumi frowned, suddenly bending down to sift through the ashes. “What is…” She pulled out a large ruby that held a shining golden light within. The others stepped closer and she held it up for the rest to see. “Does anyone know what this is…? Was he carrying it, or…?”

Reno shook his head. “Never seen anything like that before. Maybe it was part of him.”

“We’re going to need that.” Everyone turned and leveled their weapons as Sigma smiled at them from the doorway with Joseph just past his shoulder. Katsumi recognized every detail from her dream; the black body armor with the glowing blue lines, the floor-length coat, and the hood that hid all but the shock of white hair and the irritating grin. “Although we both know you’re going to make this difficult, don’t we?”

Katsumi’s pistol shifted between him and her father, who showed no emotion even in this situation. “What is it? What do you want it for?”

“The answers to those questions are beyond your comprehension,” Sigma stated with firm conviction. He stepped into the room and walked around the edge as Joseph remained at the
door. “Let’s be honest here,” he said as he spread his arms. “You aren’t going to simply hand it over, and we aren’t going to leave without it. So let’s get this little party over with so we can spend our time on more important endeavors.”

Sano glanced to his left, watching the sisters and knowing exactly what was about to happen. The hatred flowing from them was palpable, and he wasn’t about to get in the way. “Boss,” he said, drawing her attention for a second.

Katsumi looked at him and understood the message after a moment, turning her attention fully to her father as she tucked the stone she’d just picked up into her jacket. “Ayane,” she said softly, meeting her sister’s eyes. A second later they were both sprinting forward, their swords meeting their father’s as he backed into the other room.

The team started running a few seconds later but Sigma appeared before them. “Let them have their family time,” he said, smiling and beckoning with both hands. “Let’s play.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Katsumi and Ayane were as one; their blades went high and low, weaving around each other like a choreographed dance. Joseph countered it all as they moved around the round room, all of them spinning and twisting in desperate attempts to get around blocks or parry dangerous slashes. Katsumi had the strength and Ayane had the speed, but Joseph had both, and he played them against one another, tripping one into the other or blocking the blade of one with the blade of the other.

It was a frustrating dance, but the sisters were determined; this was their chance to end it all, and they had let too many chances slip through their fingers before. Joseph kicked one away and they panicked to get back to the fight before he could do something to the other, and while their emotions helped their conviction, they also served as distractions. Joseph suffered no such issues; it only remained to be seen whether powerful emotion or cold logic would emerge the victor.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The fight, Sano thought, should have ended already; he hadn’t expected a five-on-one fight to be so one-sided in the wrong direction. Bullets flew from all sides but Sigma was able to deflect them with some sort of force field, and he was too fast to target for long. They had to watch their shots as he kept moving between them, meaning concentrated fire would cause them to hit each other. Sigma would approach one of them and disarm them instantly, inflicting some seriously painful unarmed attacks and dropping them to the floor before moving on. He dodged retaliation and countered with even more pain.

As he appeared before Kurasano, he thrust a knifehand at his neck that could’ve crushed his windpipe. Sano managed to deflect it, striking out and attempting to grab Sigma as he knew that he was alone for these three seconds – his allies couldn’t risk firing into a melee. Sigma ducked under his arm and gripped his wrist, turning around and coming up under his shoulder with enough force to dislocate it. Sano gasped in pain, briefly realizing yet again that Katsumi had gone
really
easy on him during sparring before Sigma spun him to the ground. As Sigma moved on to combat Law, Rufus came up beside Sano and helped him re-set his shoulder (an act that caused a brief scream followed by a stream of curses).

Sano was thankful that he’d remained conscious as he stood uneasily, shaking his head to clear it. “This isn’t going well,” he said, watching Law’s massive strength fail because he simply couldn’t catch Sigma. “We need a new plan.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Rufus responded, looking over at Sigma. “Think you can distract him for a minute?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, no problem,” Sano chuckled. “Want me to dare him to break every bone in my body, one at a time?”

“Sure, that would work.”

“I kind of hate you.”

Rufus smirked. “I know. I just like earning it.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Katsumi slid, kicking at his feet before spinning and slicing upwards. Joseph leapt over her, deflecting Ayane’s attack as she met him halfway and pushing her back to the ground. He landed between them and spun; while they managed to block his blade, the force sent them both sliding backwards. Katsumi gave a growl and drove her sword into the floor, slowing to a stop. She then drew her pistol and fired it several times, but Joseph deflected the bullets with his own sword. One of the deflected rounds came frighteningly close to Ayane so Katsumi tossed aside the pistol, pulled her sword from the ground and charged.

When her blade met Joseph’s, sparks flew from the meeting point of the metal. They both moved in a slow circle as the blades met again and again, the sound of the metal rising even over the gunshots and shouts a couple dozen meters away. Katsumi could see it; she could see how close she was, an opening that was coming soon. It happened within the next few seconds – Ayane suddenly appeared behind Joseph and his sword flicked over to knock away her strike, and there it was.

Katsumi drove her sword forward with all the power she could summon, feeling the edge of victory… but Joseph continued his slash around, reversing his grip on the sword instantly and stabbing back at her. Katsumi jerked backwards, hearing the whistle of the blade as it flew past. It was so fast that she didn’t notice how close it had been until she felt the drops land on her face. She jumped backwards, lifting her hand to find the gash the blade had made through her cheek and eyebrow. A few millimeters deeper and it would have bisected her eye as well. Katsumi took a moment to breathe, knowing her reaction time had just spared her having the sword driven up through her jaw and into her brain. It was close.

For Ayane, it had been too close; her blade began moving so fast it distracted a few members of their team as they looked on in awe. Ayane proved that she was the better swordsman of the two as Joseph turned to focus on her, their blades meeting so rapidly that individual strikes could no longer be discerned by sound, instead joining into one loud ringing of steel. Ayane was not spinning, jumping, or sliding – she was simply striking at different angles and different speeds, forcing a constant reaction as she worked to find one gap in her father’s defenses. Katsumi weighed whether or not she’d get in her way before deciding to rejoin the fight; her strength could possibly off-balance or slow their father enough for Ayane to get in a good hit, and then that would be it – they would eviscerate him.

For the first time, Joseph seemed on the defensive; he was backing up, trying to move the sisters to one side of him, but they were in synch now, keeping him between them. There was no way he would be able to keep this up – it was only a matter of time until it was over. He knew it, and his daughters knew it, and the realization drove all of them to fight harder. This time Ayane saw the opening coming; with all his spins he had to do to guard against them both, Katsumi could knock him off-balance just enough to keep him from spinning to meet Ayane’s blade. Her sword would pierce his side, Katsumi would knock down his sword, and then they would have him. She told her older sister through their link, and then they moved.

Katsumi’s sword drove down with such force that Joseph had to slide his foot back a few inches to keep his footing, and that was it – Ayane’s sword screamed in at his back, and he was unable to spin in time; it cut through the air like a thunderbolt, creating a sharp sound like a diving eagle. Suddenly, everything seemed to slow down and all other sound seemed to vanish as one loud, metallic ring sounded like a bell. Their eyes widened as they saw the wakazashi – a short blade – in their father’s once-empty hand, deflecting Ayane’s strike harmlessly upwards. Their surprise was their undoing as Joseph knocked their blades away with his, spinning and delivering a kick to Ayane powerful enough to send her into the air and across the room. She hit the wall painfully, followed by the floor.