The Witchblade EqG: The 13 Artifacts

Rainbow Dash stood before the doorway to the juvenile detention center, a routine she had done multiple times. Once the door opened a guard guided her to the halfway point, at the halfway point was a window was a female guard who pushed out a metal box and said to her, “All personal belongings inside, please.”

Without hesitation, Rainbow put her cellphone, and car keys. Once placed inside, she was moved to the next checkpoint where a guard had her go through a metal detector, after she went through it, the guard who was manning the detector used a wand to check her more thoroughly. Afterwards she was taken to the visitor’s area where Lightning Dust was waiting for her. The teenage inmate smiled upon seeing Rainbow, prompting her to stand. Rainbow walked over to her and gave Lighting a hug. There was an urge to kiss between them, but the environment and situation didn’t feel right.

Rainbow sat down next to her and asked, “What’s up, Lighting, you said you had good news.”

“I do!” Lightning stated excitedly. “I think I’ll be getting out soon!”

Rainbow’s eyes widened with hope. “Seriously?! How?!”

“It was weird, but I talked to some a little after you left me yesterday, and she asked me all kinds of questions about the…the incident.” Lightning didn’t like recalling what had happened, she knew it happened, she couldn’t deny it, but as far as she was concerned, she wanted to move past it and look forward.

“Whoa, wait, the feds?! That’s serious…”

“Yeah, but she was pretty cool for a suit, I almost didn’t think she was one until she showed her badge. She had a mohawk of all things, but she was legit. Anyway, after she talked to me, I got word from my Public Defender that they’re considering letting me go!”

Rainbow hugged Lightning again, this time tighter. “Babe, this is great!”

“Well…there is one hang up.” Rainbow pulled away and looked at Lightning with worry. “They want to release me into the custody of someone reliable. But since…since Dad’s been stripped of his rights to me, my Mom being dead, and me not having any relatives around, that’s going to be a problem.”

“The hell it is, you can come home with me!” Rainbow offered.

“Dash, please, you can’t just say that.”

“Why not?”

“You’re ‘rents, remember? I don’t think they’re going to be too keen on having someone like me under their roof,” Lightning pointed out.

“You haven’t been convicted of a crime, Lightning, they just put you in here because they don’t know how to deal with people who were possessed by Wendigos. But Witchblade took care of them all, they’re not coming back,” said Rainbow with confidence.

Lightning hugged herself as she looked down at the table. “How can you be sure? How do you know that some part of that monster isn’t still inside me? Harpy…Harpy could still be there, waiting for the right moment to come out! I don’t want that to happen! If it does, I’d rather it be as far away from you as possible, the last thing I want to do is hurt you!”

Rainbow Dash turned Lightning Dust’s head towards her, forcing the imprisoned teen to face her. “That won’t happen, plus, I know a few people who can help if that happens and can guarantee for you that the Wendigo is gone.”

Lightning smiled a little. “Considering what happened at the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands, I don’t doubt you have some magic contacts. But even then, your mom and dad…”

“My Mom and Dad trust my judgement…and I realize that a few months ago…it wasn’t exactly the best judgement…but I know you aren’t a bad person; you were just pushed too hard. Now you have a chance to slow down and enjoy your life without someone expecting something from you! I’ll talk to my parents, I know they’ll say yes,” Rainbow assured.

Lightning hoped she was right, the chance to finally walk around outside and be free again was very enticing. More than that, she really wanted to be with her girlfriend, to have a real relationship with the girl she’d had a crush on for a long time outside of these prison walls. “Okay, try, but I’m going to keep my expectations low just in case.”

“Psssh,” Rainbow scoffed, “since when has Rainbow Dash ever not delivered on a promise? Besides…” Rainbow leaned closer and snaked her left arm around Lightning’s waist. “I kinda want to finish what we started that night but make it twenty-percent more awesome.”

Lightning blushed and huffed. “Dash, seriously, don’t get me heated up! Do you have any idea how hard it is to schlick off in this place?! Zero privacy!”

Rainbow winced. “Ouch, so, like serious blue balls?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe, but that doesn’t seem to stop some of the other girls in here from getting it on! Apparently, they know places where the cameras don’t watch so they can go and bang each other, they don’t even do it because they like each other, it’s just to get off! I’ve had more than one of them ask me if I want to, ‘Bean Count’ with ‘em!” Lightning whispered the next part to Rainbow’s ear, “That’s basically the damn code word around here for, ‘Let’s fuck!’.”

“Wow…y’know, not gonna lie, imagining you dominating all the girls in this place, it’s hot,” Rainbow admitted.

“Fuck you, you damn pervert!”

“Oh, you will, soon.”

There are forces in this world, things that can’t be explained even by the most learned of scholars, or the wisest of sages. One of those forces swirled around one particular object located in Sunset Shimmer’s underground vault. The vault that housed the Prism of the Brothers, which contained the entity known as the Angelus, and the Siphon of the Angelus, which housed the evil entity, the Darkness. But aside from these ornate containers, there was another item that was under ballistic glass and set on a podium, unlike its neighbors it wasn’t as fancy or ornate.

It was, in fact, a simple gold coin. On one side, it had the profile of a bearded, regal man, along with a pyramid that housed an “all-seeing” eye. On the flipside, there was a six-pointed star symbol, with ancient writing etched into the lines that crisscrossed to make the star pattern. Now, this simple, unassuming coin, was something special, for you see, it was one of the 13 Artifacts. This particular Artifact wasn’t like the others, its will was hard to define, as the forces that it generated were unknown. One of those unknown forces, was chance.

Like say, what were the chances that a slight tremor, not really strong enough to register on the Richter scale, but just strong enough to shake the pedestal that the coin stood on? And what were the chances that said tremor’s vibrations managed to find a chink in the ballistic glass case that housed the coin and caused it to crack to the point that a hole formed that was big enough for the coin to fall through, after wabbling for a bit before hitting the case bottom?

For you see, that is exactly what happened. The coin rolled through a discreet crack in the case and hit the floor, spinning on its thin side for a time, longer than a coin should spin after hitting the floor.

Now, what were the odds of the coin escaping the well-sealed vault? Perhaps a random power surge could hit the house and cause the vault to spontaneously open? And maybe, in so doing, the vault door’s sudden rush of air drew in the coin towards it?

And again, the coin did just that. The coin stopped spinning and rolled towards the vault door at a rapid pace, its speed increasing to the point that it shot towards the lip of the vault and bounced off it. The coin ricocheted off the ballistic glass that held the Prism and straight out the vault door. The Coin of Solomon continued to ricochet off many other hard surfaces, angling itself until it slipped under the first door to the lab. The Coin hit the first step and then spun on its side, again. It stayed there for a seconds before another unexpected thing happened.

The coin spun faster and faster, building up more speed. At that moment, a piece of cinderblock fell from the ceiling and struck the coin at just the right angle to help it fly towards the wall. The Artifact ricocheted off the walls again and again, hitting them at all the right angles to allow the coin to make it right to the entrance and slip, yet again, under the secret doorway. The Coin, now in the hallway, rolled along until it began to bounce, bounce, and bounce again. It bounced onto a cabinet, and then to a shelf, and finally, it bounced into an air vent. The Coin rolled and rolled, it was searching, it wanted to be connected, to find the one person it felt worthy of using its power. As it rolled through the vents, it stopped and then circled back to a grate that overlooked a bedroom.

Down below, after a lengthy walk around the mansion, and a quick tour of her lab, Sunset and Twilight finally had a moment alone. She didn’t really get the chance to embrace her girlfriend due to what happened, but now the two of them laid in Sunset’s bed, with Sunset spooning Twilight and keeping her close and safe. For Twilight, being in the arms of her lover was comforting, she had come close to death a second time in her life, and for the most part, she was holding up better than even she thought she would.

“I’m glad I made it in time,” said Sunset.

“Me too,” Twilight replied.

“I’m almost tempted to tell the guys fixing your house to demolish it so you all can stay here.”

Twilight turned her head slightly and smiled at her girlfriend. “Sunset Shimmer, are you planning on intentionally sabotaging the reconstruction of my house and holding me and family hostage here?”

Sunset shrugged. “If it means keeping you safe, yes.”

“Well…after what happened, I’m not completely opposed to the idea…but…”

“But what?” Twilight separated herself from Sunset and sat up, prompting Sunset to do the same. “Sparky, what’s wrong?”

Twilight clasped her hands together, looking down at them as she drummed up the courage to bring up the subject. “Sunset…I’m going to be honest with you about something, and in turn, I want you to be honest with me.”

Sunset blinked in confusion but responded, “Of course.”

The teenage genius inhaled and then exhaled slowly. “On the day that Principal Cinch called me into her office, when I left, I didn’t tell you, but I encountered Indigo Zap in the hallway.”

“WHAT?!” Sunset exclaimed with shock.

“Please, let me finish.” She watched as Sunset tempered her anger, inhaling deeply before exhaling and settling herself. “She didn’t hurt me, if anything, she sounded concerned about why I was crying after Cinch blackmailed me. Indigo said she regretted that she never stood up for me, and for being…aggressive…with her affections towards me. But she’s also accusing you of holding me ‘hostage’ with your powers, threatening to hurt me if I don’t date you.”

Sunset growled as she said, “That psycho bitch, she’ll say anything to rationalize her bullshit.”

“Unfortunately, that’s not the thing that worries me. When I was crying, she wiped one of my tears away…” Twilight watched Sunset’s reaction when she said, “…and it turned to ice.”

“Oh…how?” Sunset asked.

Twilight sighed and turned away. “I knew it.”

“Knew what?”

“You already knew that she had some kind of power, didn’t you?” Twilight asked in an accusatory tone. “Your reaction was more than enough to tell me that much. Considering how you’ve reacted thus far when I mention anything about Indigo, your normal reaction would be anger and wanting to rush out to face her. And you’re being awfully calm about this revelation.”

Sunset looked down at the mattress, shame welling up inside her for having been found out.

“Sunset, please talk to me. Did you know?” Twilight insisted.

The flame haired teen rubbed the back of her head and sighed heavily, knowing that she could no longer hide the fact. “Yes…Twilight…I knew she had powers.”

Twilight’s hand tightened into fists. “How long?”

“Since…Since last week.”

“LAST WEEK?!” Twilight repeated with indignation. “You’ve known for this long and you didn’t tell me?!”

“Because I didn’t want to worry you!” Sunset confessed. “Honestly, I wouldn’t have even realized it if she hadn’t called me out – shit!” she exclaimed, realizing that she just let slip something else.

Twilight’s brow furrowed. “By, ‘called me out’, you mean she challenged you to a fight, don’t you?” Sunset couldn’t deny this, so she just nodded, and Twilight’s furrowed brow deepened. “And when was this?!”

The flame haired teen realized then she was screwed no matter what, so it was time to lay all the cards on the table. “The following day after we all came back from Spring Break, after lunch, she came to my locker and challenged me to a fight, I suggested the fight take place at the old warehousing district. When I went there later that night, I was going in expecting to just have a fist fight, but then she shows off that she has an Artifact, the sibling item to my Ember Stone, the Glacier Stone. Their opposites, where mine controls fire and represents life, hers controls ice and represents death. We fought, but I had the upper hand, I mean, she’d only had the damn thing for a week, whereas I’ve had mine for years, so it was no contest. I…”

It was here that Sunset hesitated, but Twilight was already mad, how much madder could she get? “…I was about to finish her, permanently. That is until Blood Sword appeared and interrupted the fight.”

Twilight crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. “So, not only did you lie to me, but you lied to your sister as well! Sunset, how could you keep this from me?! All this time Indigo could’ve used her powers to hurt us, and I wouldn’t have known to keep a bigger distance from her!”

“Like I said, I didn’t want to worry you! Not after everything that that bitch has put you through!” Sunset defended.

“Do you really think I’m that fragile?! I’ve seen you in your dragon form, we were nearly killed by two pseudo-angelic beings, and I was kidnapped! If I haven’t broken by now, then I think I can handle something like that!”

“But you shouldn’t have to!” Sunset argued as she punched the mattress. “I…I don’t want to treat you like that, Sparky…but I keep feeling that we’re just one bad thing away from something making you snap and have a complete meltdown! I want to protect you! Is that so wrong?!”

Twilight looked away from Sunset. “…Am I…a burden to you?”

“What?!”

Twilight put a little more volume into her voice. “Am I a burden to you?!”

Sunset shook her head in complete shock that Twilight would even ask her such a question. “No! I’ve never even thought you were!”

“Then why can’t you be honest with me about important things like that?! You’ve told me everything up until now, so why this?! I get that Indigo has hurt me more than anyone at that school, but I have the right to know if she’s become more dangerous!” Twilight scooted off the bed and began walking towards Sunset’s bedroom door.

“W-Wait, Sparky–!”

“I need to be alone…I…I just need to think for a while, okay.” The tone of which Twilight said this made it more of a statement than a request.

“O…Okay, Sparky…take however much time you need…”

“……thank you.”

Twilight opened the door and closed it, when she did, Sunset flopped onto her bed, grabbed a pillow, and groaned into it. “Dammit Shimmer…you really messed up…”

Unbeknownst to either teen, the Coin of Solomon was on the move again. It followed the vents, having found someone worthy of its power, drawing closer and closer. Another grate was coming up, and once again, the powers that be, fate, the Coin itself, it was hard to tell, whatever you want to call it, this invisible phenomenon had calculated the exact moment, second, nanosecond, that Twilight would pass under it. The Coin dropped down, falling, falling, falling, and then, stealthily, fell right into her pants pocket.

Tempest was satisfied with Sunset’s answers, but she didn’t know for sure if her superiors would be. The power of the Witchblade was something, but there were some obvious other factors that were worth investigating as well. Although she promised Sunset that her “twin sister” wouldn’t be looked into, it was better if she did her homework on her, but being a rich girl, it was going to be harder to get information. The human Sunset Shimmer raised as many questions as pony Sunset, she just so happened to show up after all this time that the pony version had lived here, right around when the Angelus and the Darkness began their little war.

And now, something else was going on in this city, and Tempest didn’t like it. She had several leads on a few different powerful Artifacts in the city, currently she was tailing one Fluttershy, the Vatican’s secret assassin project. OSOD had a few choice words for the Vatican’s people about keeping such a person like Fluttershy this whole time, the OSOD and the Vatican didn’t exactly see eye to eye with the way each handled supernatural occurrences, the Vatican only looked through the lens of religion and whether or not it was an affront to God. The OSOD worked from multiple viewpoints, they verified if the supernatural occurrence was a threat to humanity and if they if it was an essential part of the ecosystem. If it was, then how do they keep it placated or secure it in its location? If it wasn’t and hostile, how do they eliminate it.

They also employed those who had magical or supernatural abilities, or those who were in possession of supernatural items, not always was it a smart idea to just send combat trained personnel. Hence her presence here. While Sunset was at the center of one of her web of conspiracies, Tempest believed that there were others. The human Sunset’s magic necklace, Fluttershy’s Spear of Destiny, that one girl who used some kind of bracelet, and then there was this demonic sword. Not counting the Angelus and the Darkness, the city had become a magnet for supernatural beings and items, and it was unsettling the frequency at which they were gathering here.

Tempest decided to follow up with one of the victims of the demonic sword, a one Sour Sweet. Thanks to her connections, Tempest was able to get a full sheet about the young woman. It was about eight at night when Tempest arrived at the fancy hospital that Sour Sweet was staying at, after she had met up with Sunset, she did a little homework on the girl. Sour Sweet, born to Sour Grapes and Sweet Nothings, diagnosed with bipolar disorder at an early age. Goes to Crystal Prep Academy, a school for rich kids, elites, and those who show great academic and athletic promise. Well, let’s have a chat.

Tempest walked through the halls, watching the nurses and doctors walk about and check on their patients, or on their way to operations. Tempest turned the corner and arrived at the room that held Sour Sweet, however, before she could enter the room she stopped, hearing someone inside already. Tempest peeked into the room and saw a girl with mulberry colored hair and light turquoise skin sitting on a chair next to Sour Sweet’s bed.

“How are you feeling, Sour?” the girl asked.

“Like my head’s finally mine again…” Sour replied. “Sunny…I’m so sorry for what happened…I…I couldn’t tell you what was happening to me…I was afraid you’d…you’d leave me…”

Sunny’s eyebrow rose. “Leave you, why would I leave you?”

Sour gave Sunny an incredulous look. “Are you kidding?! I became a monster; I’ve killed so many people!”

“That sword – demon – thing is responsible, not you! You didn’t want to do that! I heard you,” Sunny gently gripped Sour’s left hand with both of hers. “You wanted that monster to leave you. And besides, you’ve never made me scared of you, why should I start now?”

Sour Sweet’s eyes began to water, rubbing them gently while minding her I.V. “Thank you, Sunny.”

Sunny nodded, but then blushed a bit as she turned her gaze lower for a moment, her bangs keeping her face hidden just a bit. “Hey…I know it’s probably not such a good idea to put much stock in what a demon says, but…was it true? Do you…Do you like me?”

Now it was Sour’s turn to blush, her head slowly turned to Sunny, her eyes darted to her left and then back down to Sunny’s head as if she was trying to look for a way to get out of this question. It seemed, however, that that was not going to happen. “I-It wasn’t lying…I…I do like you that way…I…you don’t have to say you like me back or anything! I mean, I’m a handful, that demon may be gone, but I’m still a little messed up, but it should be better, I’m already feeling better! I don’t want to be a burden on you considering what you’re dealing with your mother and all–”

“Sour,” Sunny interrupted. She looked up at her friend and smiled a little. “I…I don’t know if I swing that way.”

Ouch, thought Tempest.

“I…I understand,” Sour replied with a trace of depression.

“But…I’d be willing to try and see where it goes. Maybe I just needed the right person to show me who I’m really attracted to,” said Sunny.

Sour’s eyes widened with hope when she heard these words, although Sunny wasn’t sure about how she felt, she was still willing to give dating Sour a chance. For Sour, after everything that had happened, this was a great mood lifter. Slowly, the two girls moved forward and brought each other into a hug.

Tempest really didn’t want to ruin this moment for the two teens, but she had a job to do, and she was starting to feel like a creeper the longer she stood there. The orchid-colored woman knocked on the door and caused Sunny and Sour to end their hug as they turned to see who it was. “Hi there,” Tempest walked in further and stopped a foot from the bed and took out her fake FBI badge. “I’m Special Agent Tempest Shadow, FBI.”

Sour flinched at the mention of those three letters. “F-FBI…w-what do you want with me?”

“Relax, Ms. Sweet, I’m not here to arrest you or anything. I’m part of the investigating unit looking into supernatural occurrences here in the city, and I’d like to ask you some questions regarding the incident, if you’re feeling up to it,” said Tempest.

Sunny looked to Sour, even though they had just started being girlfriends, Sunny was already feeling that defensive instinct one had with protecting their significant other. “She doesn’t have to answer your questions, do we need to get a lawyer involved?”

Tempest raised her hands as if she were surrendering. “Hey, hey, no need to sic the suits on me. I’m not arresting her or saying that she’s under investigation, she was at the epicenter of a supernatural event, and I need to get some information on what happened, trust me, she isn’t the only one I have to speak to. If possible, I’d like to keep what happened to Ms. Sweet from happening to anyone else.”

Sour’s face grimaced when she thought about that. “It’s okay Sunny, I’ll talk to her.”

Sunny looked between Sour and Tempest, in the end she relented. “Fine, but I’ll be right outside. And don’t stress her out, she’s been through enough!”

“Yes, ma’am.” Tempest waited for Sunny to exit the room before she took the seat Sunny had occupied a moment ago. “Sorry about this, Ms. Sweet, but I gotta get a statement from you regarding the incident.”

Sour sighed dejectedly. “You couldn’t have gotten it from the cops? I talked to them already.”

“Yeah, I could’ve, but I find that getting it directly from the horse’s mouth is a lot better than reading what another person wrote down. Ya can’t see the person’s face when they said those words, so I want to get the full picture of what went down. For starters, do you know what the sword that possessed you is?” Tempest asked as she took out her phone and began typing notes.

Sour growled a little, she really didn’t want to talk about that thing, but she knew she had to. The teenage girl went into detail about how, during a trip to Japan, her family happened by an antique shop, one whose specialty was the preservation of old Japanese katanas, some were from World War II, and others were from back in ancient Japan. Being the sword connoisseur that she was, Sour’s eyes were immediately drawn the old weapon, only knowing now that its demonic aura was quite possibly reaching out to her and stoking her curiosity to make her go to it. The trip happened two years ago, and that was when she bought it, and ever since then, the Blood Sword, as it was called, was slowly corrupting, or rather, making her condition worse. Unfortunately, due to her condition, it was hard to tell if was due to her disorder or if it was actual possession. Sour also stated to Tempest that it started to get worse right around when the Angelus and the Darkness had their war in the city.

“From then on…when it started to wake up completely, it wanted blood, it wanted to kill. If I didn’t do what it said, the Blood Sword was going to hunt down Sunny Flare and kill her in front of me…I couldn’t risk that…I just…I’m sorry…” Sour explained as she wept a little.

Tempest shook her head. “You did what you had to do to protect someone you care about. Given your situation, you really had no choice. It just preyed on you, you’re as much a victim as anyone else. And from what you’ve told me, you also rejected it and because of that, it got out of you.”

“With help from my friend…well…old friend, I guess?” Sour corrected, not really sure herself.

“Yeah, about that, I’m gonna need her name, she’s someone else I need to follow up with. Do you remember what she did to get rid of the demon?” Tempest asked.

“Her name’s Sugarcoat, she’s a senior at the same school I go to…as far as what she did…what little I do remember, she called it the Heart Stone, I think?” Sour narrowed her gaze a little at Tempest. “You’re taking this all in and don’t look skeptical in the least.”

Tempest stopped her typing and chuckled a little. “Kid, you ever see that old TV show ‘X-Files’?” Sour shook her head in the negative. “Cool show, a bit geeky and out there, but not too far-off base with what I do. The FBI has different divisions that look into different things, organized crime, human trafficking, and of course, things that go bump in the night. Which, in my case, I’ve seen a lot of weirdo things. So, your little demonic possession story is like a normal workday for me.”

Sour Sweet gulped, she couldn’t fathom what else was roaming around out there behind the scenes, she could barely handle the demon sword and the recent angel, demon, gang war. Then there was that “Wendigo” possession going on around the city, at least two of her classmates were involved in that, one of them was killed by Witchblade, and the other…committed suicide while in jail. A terrible thought gripped Sour’s heart now that she recalled Fleur’s fate.

“Will…Will I be sent to jail?” Sour asked.

“I’ll put in a good word with the local PD, at best, I’ll advocate for surveillance. You’ll also be monitored by us as well, but so long as you promise not to go messing with anymore supernatural stuff, I think we can avoid that,” Tempest assured.

Sour scoffed. “Believe me, I’m through with anything supernatural!”

“I believe you.” Tempest put away her phone and stood up, she paused for a moment as her eyes looked towards the window and across to the rooftop of the adjacent building. The OSOD agent then returned her attention to Sour Sweet and said, “You rest up now, and sorry for interrupting you and your girlfriend.”

Sour Sweet blushed at the mention of Sunny as her girlfriend. “W-We’re…I mean…We just…Oh…!” Sour brought up the sheets to hide her blushing face from Tempest in a vain attempt at trying to hide her embarrassment.

Tempest chuckled again and left the room, as she did, she saw Sunny leaning against the opposite wall, waiting patiently for their talk to end. “She’s all yours.” As she began to walk away, she stopped and said, “You know, take this opportunity, learn something about yourself and her. You never know who you’re really in love with until they’re with someone else.”

Sunny paused for a moment, looked down at the floor and the back at Tempest. “Thank you.”

Once Sunny went back into Sour’s room, Tempest headed towards the janitor’s closet. She took out the Wheel of Shadows and transformed into her shadow form, after transforming she switched off the lights and disappeared into the shadows.

On the rooftop across from the hospital, Suri Polomare perched. The Blood Sword’s vengeance towards Sour Sweet was palpable, after being rejected by her and thrown from the previous host, Blood Sword wanted her dead. Suri didn’t really care about Sour Sweet back when she was alive and in Crystal Prep, the “bipolar bitch” as she called her, was a part of the more popular clique back in Crystal Prep, a clique that she never got to be a part of despite how she managed to humiliate Twilight Sparkle on more than one occasion and in spectacular fashion. So, this seemed like poetic justice.

“You ready to slice her up?”

“I’ve been ready!”

Suri drew the Blood Sword, a scarlet aura lapped off the blade, signifying the demon within was ready to kill.

“You might want to hold on there.” Suri turned around and watched as the shadows rose from the roof and formed into a humanoid figure, the shadow woman, Tempest, stepped forward and crossed her arms. “Wow, didn’t take you long to find a new host, you rebound fast.”

“Uh, do I know you?” Suri asked.

“No, but you will soon enough. I’m going to have to ask you to put that sword down.”

Suri hummed thoughtfully as she cupped her chin with her left hand. “Hmm…let me answer that in the following way, m’kay?”

The armored teen slashed the air in front of her, creating a crescent of scarlet light that sailed towards Tempest. Several shadow tendrils sprouted from Tempest’s back and formed a shield in front of her just in time for the energy crescent to strike against her shield and explode. Suri had jumped into the air, taking advantage of her initial attack. However, Tempest melted into the shadows just as Suri came down with her sword, striking the surface of the roof and leaving a long gash.

“What the hell?! Where’d she go?!”

Tendrils rose from the shadows and wrapped around Suri’s ankles. Before she could react, the tendrils whisked her up into the air and slammed Suri on the roof, then dragged her across the surface and threw her into an AC unit. Tempest rose from the shadows again, and formed a sphere of violet energy with a red aura surrounding it, the sphere rotated rapidly, generating a small gust of wind from its mere presence. Tempest dashed across the rooftop and aimed the sphere directly for Suri, the demonic teen saw the attack coming and quickly wrenched herself from the AC unit and jumped away from the attack.

Suri watched as Tempest’s sphere made contact with the AC unit, and instantly the machine aged rapidly, rusting and then turning into dust in less than a couple of seconds. Suri’s eyes widened with shock as she landed a few feet away and took a defensive stance. “What the hell, you can make things decay?!”

Tempest chuckled at the misinterpretation of her power. “Heh, not the simple. I can manipulate time for objects and people, I can make you age until your dust, or regress your age until you’re a little zygote.” The time wielder created more times spheres and positioning them at the tips of her four shadow tendrils. Two of the spheres had a red tint to them, while the two others had a blue tent. “I’m pretty sure aging forward rapidly can be painful, but I’d like some input on what you feel when I regress your age. The blue ones will regress your age and the red ones will accelerate it. How ‘bout it? Do you want to be an old lady, or do you want to be a toddler again?”

Suri gulped; this one wasn’t playing around. “Hey, demon, be honest, can you survive getting hit with one of those?”

“So long as you keep the aura around the blade up, yes, but if those hit you or my physical form, we’ll die, and me…well…it’d be interesting since I’m bound to this sword, I’m not sure if I’ll die or be freed. But that’s not a chance I’m willing to take!

“Agreed,” said Suri.

The Blood Sword ignited with scarlet energy, readying herself for close combat. Tempest made two more spheres appear, this time in both her left and right hands and launched her two upper tendrils towards Suri. The former rich girl ran across the rooftop, dodging one of the tendrils as it narrowly missed her leg, the armor around the leg rusted just a bit but then restored itself back to normal thanks to their combined power. Blood Sword could heal Suri to a degree, but even the demon’s powers couldn’t bring back a limb that was aged into nothingness. Tempest jumped into the air and began spinning in midair, swirling the tendrils and lashing them out at Suri.

Suri continued to dodge, but during a brief pause, she fired off three scarlet crescents from the Blood Sword. Tempest nimbly dodged it while in midair, she then combined two of the aging spheres into one the size of a cannon ball, with her tendrils Tempest threw it into the air and performed a midair roundhouse kick, striking the sphere and sending it hurtling towards Suri. The sphere flew straight for Suri, forcing her to bring down the sword and strike the sphere with her energized blade. The sphere and blade grinded against each other, releasing sparks as they both fought to overcome the other, however, Suri was none the wiser as the size of the time sphere made it easy for Tempest to disappear from sight and melt back into the shadows.

She zipped through the shadow realm like a shark and found her prey. Within the Shadow Realm, Tempest created six tendrils, each one grasping a time acceleration sphere, and commanded them to shoot up towards Suri’s position. On the flip side, Suri released a loud battle cry and forced the sphere to deflect off the blade and hit a random part of the building, making that section turn to dust. Suri panted and huffed from the effort, but when she looked down, her breath hitched. The shadows around her began to ripple like water, on pure instinct, Suri jumped high into the air just as the six tendrils broke through and began to close in on her.

“Hiiro no Tatsumaki (Scarlet Tornado)!”

Suri spun in rapid succession and slashed the air repeatedly as she did so. The energy released by her spinning and slashing created a wind tornado around herself, laced with the demonic energy of the Blood Sword. The six Time Acceleration Spheres struck against the wall of demonic wind, pushing forward and trying to penetrate through Suri’s defensive measure. However, unlike her previous host, Suri was craftier, and more willing to draw on the power of the Blood Sword, and the Blood Sword itself was more than willing to give more power to the host who willingly accepted its nature.

While in the eye of the tornado, Suri dismissed the armor around her right arm, gripped the sword with her right hand, and drew the blade across it. With the wound created, Suri pointed her open wound down at the roof, the blood began to glow and pool until it created a baseball sized sphere of blood. The shimmering ichor rippled slightly and then elongated until it was the length of a railroad spike.

“Chi no Dangan (Blood Bullet)!”

The spike of blood fired off at super speed, like a railgun, and struck the rooftop below her, unfortunately, it traveled further down breaking through several floors and blasting a hole about five feet wide from just the sheer force. However, the attack served its purpose, the shadows were broken, cutting off the tendrils from their originator. Tempest clicked her tongue in annoyance, but it was only a minor inconvenience. The OSOD agent found another exit point and flew towards it, but before she could reach it, Suri fired another of her Blood Bullets at the area and broke it apart. Suri then proceeded to rapidly fire more of her Blood Bullets around the roof, utterly collapsing it in the process and causing several more floors to collapse and create more casualties along with it.

Tempest growled in frustration, this girl may be young, but she wasn’t stupid, she figured out her ability to disappear into the shadows and was cutting off her way back. Unfortunately, her foe succeeded in destroying the prevalent shadows that were closest to the demonic samurai. With a frustrating growl, Tempest swam through the Shadow Realm and found another pool of shadows where she could exit. Once Tempest was out, she found herself reappearing across the street, she clicked her tongue in agitation, not only had she lost the demon sword, but said demon sword wielder managed to do a lot of damage to the building.

“Tch…next time, punk. For now, though, gotta go help some people.”