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Kencana walked along at the smoldering ruins of what once a might bastion of the Blessbinger Clan, dragging her sword behind her. The blade, whose tip was scratching against the ground, emitted a sound similar to a screech of a beast of prey. The sound who have scared the living daylights of everyone around her; had they were still alive. As they bodies lay strewn all over the place, a smile of satisfaction grazed Kencana’s beautiful but deadly face as blood trickled from a cut at her forehead. It has taken her quite some time, but she has managed to accomplish what she set out to do when she came to the place.
Blessbringer Clan has been destroyed and she had gotten her revenge.
Yet, as she traversed the area, she keep feeling that something was still there; something that was crucial to her plan. To her surprise, she found an entrance to a catacomb, hidden by a falling pillar. A burst of fireball immediately cleared the entry for her to enter. She walked along the catacomb’s secret pathway until she arrived at a room. Despite the dark ambience, she could clearly make out the presence of four people inside the room. She flicked her finger and the whole place was illuminated by magical light.
Kencana grinned like a cat that ate the canary as she surveyed the two young man who were pointing their swords against her. Two pregnant women stood behind them, presumably their respective wifes.. “Well, well, well… what do we have here?” she asked almost cordially.
The room’s already tense atmosphere worsened as the two men were obviously intimidated by her statement.
Despite her nonchalant demeanor, Kencana was quite interested in the two swordsmen battle stances. Despite seemingly taught in the same martial art, the two exhibits different kind of aggressiveness with their body language. The first swordsman, who had black hair, was leaning slightly away from her whereas his partner was leaning toward her. That told Kencana the purpose the swordsmen confronted her. She smiled and raised her sword at her shoulder’s level. It then disappeared, surprising everyone in the room. Taking advantage in the brief drop in guard, Kencana disappeared and materialized behind the swordsmen, knocking their swords away and throwing them to the ground.
“Now that we have put our toys aside,” Kencana announced cheerily, “we’re going to have a nice little chat and hopefully no one will say or do something to annoy me”
Everyone cast a fearful glance at each other before turning their attention toward her.
Kencana pointed toward the swordsmen. “I’m going to ask one question to each of you. I hope that you will answer my honestly”
“Why must we answer your question?” the blonde swordsman asked back.
“A good question. I will help you get what you wish for” Upon seeing the distrusting look given to her by the two men, she laughed. “Oh, no, I’m going to help only a little bit; not all the way. But I warn you! The answer must be an honest one, and you may not persuade the other. If you do so, well, let’s say that you’ll live to regret it. Do we have a deal?”
“It wouldn’t matter if we answer your question, would it?” the swordsman with black hair asked.
“My, my my. I maybe evil, but I do keep my promise,” Kencana replied with a smile. She then turned serious and asked, “Now then, I want to know, for what reason did each of you raise your sword against me? You know that I defeated your leaders easily; yet you still embarked on the total foolishness”
Looking at the first swordsman before looking at Kencana defiantly, the blonde swordsman answered, “I, Markal Blessbringer would avenge my fallen comrades. In fact, you might as well kill all of us now, as we Blessbringer would vow upon your destruction!”
Kencana merely laughed at the bold proclamation before shifting her gaze to the other one. “How about you, sir?”
The first swordsman gave his friend a guilty look. “I’m sorry, Markal”
“What are you saying, Sandayu?” Markal asked.
“I was prepare to fight, but not in Blessbringer’s name; I fight to protect my wife and our unborn child”
“Traitor!” Markal said as he tried to lunge at Sandayu only to be floating in the air helplessly.
Kencana approached Sandayu. “Are you sure that’s your reason?”
“Yes” Sandayu said with determination. “As long as they are safe, it doesn’t matter if my life is forfeit”
“Damn you!” Markal spat.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” The avatar of chaos said while wagging her finger. “No influencing the other party, remember? Now, how about you, Markal? Are you sure you want to kill me?”
“YES!”
“Very well, I’ll give you a hand” Kencana said as she put her hand together and began to incant a spell. A magical rune appeared underneath Markal’s wife and she began to glow.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY WIFE?” Markal said as he flailed in the air.
Kencana’s spell lasted a full minute. “I’m casting a hex on her and her unborn child”
“DAMN YOU!”
“Don’t worry,” she said while holding up her hands. “Nothing will happen to the two of them. In fact, what I did was helping your family to become more powerful and gifted in magic” She smirked. “However, this gift comes with a curse. 180 moon cycles after your descendants first see the light of the world, they will have to decide by themselves whether they would dedicate their life toward killing me. If they decided to do so, two tattoos would appear on their shoulder; a moon on the left and a sun on the right. This will signify that they are indeed the cursed Blessbringer and prove their determination in stopping me”
“How about if they don’t want to?” Markal’s wife asked.
“Then, they will become normal human beings and loose that affinity. Sure, they can hack at it the old fashion way, but don’t expect them to be even close in ability. Oh, that reminds me. The decision must be made on their own, without any coercion.” Kencana raised her forefinger. “And remember, the hex would only run in the cursed bloodline”
“Why are you doing this?” Sandayu asked. “You’re helping your enemy by doing this”
“No, I’m not” Kencana insisted. “I’m merely helping myself”
“And what would that be?” Markal demanded.
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Remember, secrets is what makes a woman woman”
And she was inclined to agree with them as she wasn’t one.
She was a full blown sorceress.
Well, at least that’s what she told herself as she evaded the fireball that nearly decapitated her head. She risked a glance at it, mindful of the opponent in front of her. To her surprise, the fireball seemed to hit an invisible wall and dissipated. She looked at the ground where the fireball disappeared and saw some runes. The place they were fighting at was actually a very special ring. Despite being hidden in the forest behind the Hina Spring’s, the place was well known among the magical world for being a dueling place. A very powerful barrier protected the ring, allowing the contenders to fight at their best without having to worry about damaging their surrounding. The barrier would absorb almost all kind of magical power, allowing it to negate spells. It was rumored that the place was built thousands of years ago a former Blessbringer clan member, but Nabiki wasn’t interested in that Blessbringer. She was more interested in the girl in front of her.
Chisa Motosuwa. Or Chisa Blessbringer, as the girl had claimed to be. One of her closest and trusted associates at Furinkan School. Nabiki cursed herself. She seldom make mistake, but when she does, she did it big time. “Honestly, I’m rather surprised that you’re actually one of the Blessbringers. My mentor did tell me about your clan”
Chisa smirked. “Really? Then I guess you should know that you’re no match for me. After all, your power level is so low that I’m surprised Yuko-san took you under her tutelage”
“I hardly call it tutelage, not when she’s involved”
“Well, at least it explains from where you get that mercenary attitude” Chisa said as she raised her magical staff and began her incantation.
“Gelung api yang membanteras sukma, (Ring of fire that destroys the body)
Hancurkan, musnahkan semua!” (Incinerates, disintegrates everything)
A ring of flame appeared above her staff. Chisa then pointed her staff at Nabiki and the ring sped toward the middle Tendo girl.
Nabiki ran away from the ring. To her surprise, the ring changed direction and continued to pursue her, closing the distance between them bit by bit. Nabiki waited until the last possible moment before twisting her body out of the way and it passed threw harmlessly. But before she could heave a breath of relief, it changed its direction again. Pushed to her corner, Nabiki had no choice but to face it head on. She crushed a small green orb that she was holding in her right hand and the hand began to glow. Nabiki then held it out to block the fire ring. A large explosion took place and when everything cleared, Nabiki was kneeling on the ground, breathing heavily.
“I’m really surprised you can cast a mid-level spell without having to read the incantation, Tendo-sempai”
“I’ll take that as a compliment”
“Of course” Chisa smirked. “Do you mind telling me how can you cast the spell despite the low energy reserve?”
Despite having the aptitude to become a spell caster, Nabiki had a very low energy level. As a result, she had to resort to using specially prepared energy orbs to allow her to cast spells. And at that time, she had twenty more of such globes which were only sufficient to cast twenty more spells like that, which was of course, not a very good sign for her. Despite that, Nabiki presented a poker face. “Nope. You know the drill, Chisa”
“500 yen?” Chisa asked, smiling as she did so.
“Nope. A secret”
“Very well, I’ll let it drop” The Blessbringer clan member then turned serious. “But tell me, Tendo-sempai, why are you helping Ranma? What’s your reason?”
“Please be more specific, Chisa”
“Tendo-sempai, if you forget, let me remind you that I entered the school two years ago. I know very well what happened since he arrived here with his father. Plus, it was me whom you asked to arrange the bookings when you had him as fiancé few months ago. In fact, I would never have found out about your secret if you didn’t help him” Chisa waved her staff and she was transformed into another copy of Nabiki. “As you can see, it wasn’t hard for me to get him to spill the beans, especially to ‘you’”
Nabiki narrowed her eyebrows. It was rather obvious that Chisa had found out about her helping to remove Ranma’s nekoken as well his fiancées problems. Ukyo was adopted into Saotome family unofficially, the Amazon matriarch had nullified Shampoo’s kiss of marriage and Akane had become more patient ever since Nabiki introduced her to the Todo dojo where her friend taught judo. While it may seem that she had solved the fiancées problem, it wasn’t the case. She only removed some of the tension. The three girls were still pining for Ranma, well, four is she was to include Kodachi. But as she got into defensive posture, she concluded that perhaps Chisa was interested in him. “So, why do you want to know?”
“You’re using him, and I want you to stop it!” Chisa said as she reverted to her original look. “You pretend to solve his problems, but yet you forced him to work for you”
“It’s called the Law of Fair Compensation, Chisa, something that I operate on, unlike you”
“What you’re doing isn’t fair, Tendo-sempai! You tricked him!”
“Well, I have to admit, what you’re doing to him is very righteous. You really care for him; that’s why you do that” Nabiki said, referring to Chisa impersonating her. “You know, I found out that someone had erased his memory” Nabiki put a finger under her chin, as if thinking. “To make matters worse, that certain someone also tempered with his childhood memory; now I wonder if you have anything to do with them?”
“How do you know about that?!”
“Oh, please, Chisa. Any magic user worth his or her salt would prepare some kind of barrier against intruders. In fact, if you’re lazy to cast such spells, you can just buy a ready made spell off the shelf” Nabiki smiled at Chisa’s expression. “Now, Chisa, mind telling me why you’re messing with his mind”
“It’s different!”
“Sure, I really believe you”
Chisa was quite for a long time. “I did it in order to prevent ever powerful Kencana from claiming him”
“Kencana?”
“The wretched demoness who almost destroyed my clan eons ago” Chisa said with hate dripping in her voice.
“I’m sure I’ve read about stories about her somewhere…”
“She existed!”
“Existed?”
“It was due to sheer luck that she died. But the fact that Ranma is here in Nerima means that she has been reborn” Chisa’s hands were fisted tightly. “I must stop her before she regain her full power and destroy the world”
Nabiki shook her head. The girl in front of her was telling her off because she was using Ranma; yet the girl was also guilty of using him. “It’s just a case of the pot calling the kettle black”
“NO! Unlike you, I really like him. You wouldn’t understand what my feeling, being the type of person you are!”
As Chisa was being distracted, Nabiki slowly put a hand behind her back and crushed one of the green orbs she was carrying. “Of course I can’t understand your feeling. I’m not you”
“That’s right. You’re just a heartl…” Chisa had to stop her tirade when Nabiki suddenly attacked her with a green thunderbolt. The Blessbringer sorceress quickly held her staff in front of her and muttered some vague incantation. Nabiki’s thunderbolt was met halfway by a more powerful thunderbolt that caused it dispersed. The thunderbolt then hit Nabiki, causing her to collapse to the ground. “I’m your best disciple, remember? I know all of your tricks, Tendo-sempai”
Nabiki crushed another orb in her hand and put the glowing hand on her chest.
“You’re very talented, Tendo-sempai” Chisa remarked.
They continued on with the fight. Chisa was on offensive as Nabiki was reluctant to use her energy orbs.
Suddenly an idea occurred to her; one that was conceived in desperation. As she continue running to evade the attacks by Chisa, she remembered Terry, one of her martial artist friends, showing her a new technique he had perfected recently. However, the technique would consume a lot of energy, which she didn’t have. She only had fourteen energy orbs left.
And it struck her.
Nabiki continued to maneuver and evade until she managed to reach the middle of the field. There, she used another orb to conjure a protective shield around her. The shield went up just in time to stop Chisa’s spells from hitting her.
“Oh, interesting” Chisa observed as she prepare to cast another spell. “What are you going to do by staying there, Tendo-sempai? You know that the shield wouldn’t hold up much longer”
“Yes,” Nabiki said with a very serious tone, “But it gives me ample time to kill you”
“You’re going to kill me? You must be joking”
The middle Tendo girl didn’t reply as she brought out twelve orbs, six in each hand. She then crushed all of them and became engulfed in a very bright green light.
Her adversary didn’t expect such thing to happen and was baffled.
Nabiki kneeled on one knee and put a hand on the ground. She then let her shield disperse while she used the other hand to hold the first one.
“What are you doing?” Chisa asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Nabiki replied as magical runes began to appear on the battle ground. “You’re very powerful and talented. None of my normal attacks can hit you”
“Of course. I can easily counter your attacks”
Nabiki grinned as her body began to glow. “Well, wise sages have said that if your enemy doesn’t have any weakness, all you need to do is to create one for them”
Chisa looked down and instantly understood what Nabiki was about to do. “That’s impossible! For you to cast such spell… It would take a lot of energy to cover every inch of this battlefield”
“You forget that if you add an apostrophe to the right place, the word ‘impossible’ would become the phrase ‘I’m possible’” The glow become brighter and brighter until it was too much for Chisa to see clearly.
“Wait!”
“Power Stream” she whispered and the whole battle field was engulfed in bright green light.
When the light had abated, it could be seen that Chisa was still standing. Meanwhile, blood began to trickle down Nabiki’s mouth as she breathed erratically. “What a waste of energy,” Chisa commented as she walked toward Nabiki.
“How?” Nabiki asked hoarsely.
“Simple, Tendo-sempai. All I need to do to evade your attack was to step out of the ring” She stopped just a step away in front of Nabiki. “You know, I really respect and like you, Tendo-sempai. All this time that I’ve been assisting you at school; I really enjoy it. In fact, I really wish that you’re just an ordinary school student instead of a possible obstruction”
“Do you really hate that Kencana of yours so much?”
“Yes” Chisa answered without missing a bat.
“Enough to kill me if I stand in your way?”
“Yes”
Nabiki sighed. “I feel the same way too, Chisa. I
“You mean that you really enjoy being with me?”
“That too, but what I mean,” Nabiki said as she struggled to stand up, “is that you’re pissing me off by sabotaging me”
Chisa cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, what brave words for someone who can’t fight anymore”
A second later, the Blessbringer was thrown to the ground from the impact of a slap to her cheek.
“You’re stealing my script, Chisa”
“Damn you!” Chisa said while nursing her sore cheek. “You’re going to get it” she said as she raised her staff and read an incantation to unleash a very powerful fireball.
Bebola api dari neraka, (O’ the fireball from hell)
Kepunyaan si Naga Sakti, (Who belong to the Magic Dragon)
Seksa, hancurkanlah mereka (Tortoure, kill all of them)
Bakar musuh-musuhku sehingga mati (Burn all of my enemies till they’re destroyed)
Nabiki merely crossed her arms, waiting for the fireball that never came. “I knew that betting on myself was the right thing to do”
Chisa brought her staff close to examine it. To her shock, she discovered that it “This can’t be happening!”
“Oh yes it can, Chisa. I’ll let you know why you lost for free. Actually, you stand a better chance of defeating me if you stayed inside the field instead of stepping out”
“Why?”
“Simple. Didn’t you remember the fact that we entered this place by a special opening?” Nabiki said as she pointed behind her.
Chisa’s eyes widened as she realized what Nabiki was saying. She was so engrossed in trying to find a way to leave the place when Nabiki invoked the destruction spell that she had forgotten about the runes protecting the place. No, she remembered the runes being able to absorb magical powers; that was why she escaped through them. What she had forgotten was that the runes would also absorb any magical power in a magical user. That was why she could cast any more spell; she had exhausted her power. “You’re lucky that you suddenly remembered about the runes”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about them since our battle starts, so it’s not as much as luck as it was strategy”
“That’s a lie. If that’s the case, you would have used it from the beginning”
“And have you remembered about them as well?” Nabiki asked while crushing the remaining orb. “I don’t think so. That would certainly cause the odd to swing in your favor” She then point her hand toward Chisa. “Any last word?”
Chisa closed her eyes and didn’t move. “No. I lost. Despite me being the Blessbringer’s heir, I still lost to a weak sorceress like you. I accept my defeat” She then heard a loud din and felt dirt spraying her face. She opened her eyes to see smoke coming out of the small crater not far from her head. She then turned toward Nabiki who was walking away. “Why?”
“You still owe me 32,050 yen you borrowed from me last month”
The answer caught Chisa by surprise. But then she merely smiled and closed her eyes. “34, 130 yen including interest”
“34, 250 yen,” Nabiki corrected, still maintaining her pace.
“Right”
Nabiki kept walking into the forest that surrounded the battle field. She needed to return to the Hina dormitory before her family and friends notice her missing. But she only managed to walk halfway when she had to stop and kneel as her vision began to blur. Then she began to throw up uncontrollably as she felt a sharp piercing pain in her chest. Executing such a powerful spell has taken a toll on her body. But even as she was overtaken by the pain, she could feel a hand rubbing her back soothingly. While the hand didn’t heal her, it has the effect of calming her; Nabiki knew that at least there was someone next to her. When the pain finally subsided enough for Nabiki to cast a small healing spell on herself, she looked at her companion and sighed. Out of everyone who had to find her in such position, it has to be Ranma. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Kasumi was worried when you didn’t turn up for tea, so she sent me to search for you”
Nabiki had to suppress an urge to smile at that. Despite her oblivious and callous appearance, Kasumi was always sensitive to such matter.
“So,” Ranma said while scratching the back of his head, “mind telling me what happened?”
“Yes, I mind” Nabiki said with an edge to her voice.
“Oh, okay,” Ranma said, standing up as he didn’t feel comfortable at the response he get. “So, can I ask you other questions, Nabs?”
The girl in front of him remained silent.
“To tell you the truth, I saw the fight between the two of you”
“Since when?”
“Enough to know about this ‘ever powerful demoness Kencana’ is perhaps fiancée number 101. Gee, lucky me”
“So you know about that. Well, this is the one time you can’t kick your pop into the koi pond”
“I’m so screwed up,” Ranma said as he threw his hands up in frustration. “Isn’t it enough for me to be cursed, have multiple fiancées after me and chaos as my middle name? Maybe I better start a registrar to keep track up of my fiancées or maybe fiancés as well?”
“That does seem like a good idea,” Nabiki replied mirthlessly.
“I’m trying to be spastic here…,” Ranma growled.
“Sarcastic, not spastic”
“Sar… whatever” Ranma gave up and turned away, huffing. “Man, I kinda wish that I have it easy like you, Nabs”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you sure have it easy”
Nabiki closed her eyes and continued to sit on the ground, arms hugging her knees.. Ranma waited for a comment or a retort but none forthcoming as the girl in front of him remained in that position for a while. Despite the lack of response, he knew that his statement has affected her, as her ki was a swirl of contrasting colors, broadcasting various emotions she felt. It was the first time Ranma saw her in that state. Then, as sudden as it was, her ki changed back into neutral. She has put on her ice queen mask again. “Perhaps, you’re right”
His curiosity piqued by her unexpected comment, Ranma approached closer. “Nabs?”
She didn’t answer but stood up, facing away from him. She suddenly twirled around to face him just as the wind started to blow. Her short brown hair fluttered as dead leaves began to fall around the two of them. Nabiki held out a hand to catch one of them and brought it closer to her face before letting it fall.
Ranma swallowed nervously as he felt his heart began to beat erratically at the silent sight he was witnessing. “Nabiki…?” he whispered.
A bittersweet smile gradually blossomed on her lips. “Let’s go back, Saotome-kun”
1. Here’s the first chapter which follows what happened in the Ever Stay Chaotic. Now that I think of it, it would have been better to end that series with this chapter rather than the cliffhanger chapter. Oh well, it’s intended. I’m sorry if some of the new readers have trouble following the story, but when (and ‘if’ as well) I continue with the second chapter, I’ll reintroduce some of the events that took place in the Ever Stay Chaotic. Retelling everything here isn’t impossible, but would certainly distract the readers.
2. Like I mentioned in the prologue, Nabiki is the main character in this story and this chapter shows that.
3. Some of you who have read Ever Stay Chaotic may notice something in this chapter and would like to ask me some questions. Please ask me through the fanfiction’s PM service or email me (it’s in my profile page) rather than in the review as doing so may spoil the story to others. But if you want to leave a review, please do so as I welcome it very much.