《The Dark Star Emperors》Chapter 64: A Butterfly's Revenge
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Once night came, Schmetter flew more erratically. The three night guardians had to pick up their own speed to catch up. It was becoming harder to follow until it finally stopped and circled around another area.
"Where are we?" Jack asked.
They looked around and it seemed to be the same warehouse that she was circling before. But this time there weren't any kids or people in general around.
Then, from one of the walkways, they saw one person.
It was Anne walking straight towards the warehouse in her regular human form.
"What the hell is she doing here?" Mary asked the other two, but they kept quiet. They watched to see what Schmetter was planning to do.
Anne stood in front of the dark, old warehouse. She was there due to two kids seeing two monsters there. It might have been their imagination, but Anne didn't believe so. One was a snake-like creature. And the other was a butterfly or a fairy, which Anne remembered not so long ago fighting a pair of them and one escaping.
So, she stood there with her hands in her pockets as bait for either Night Demon to come out. She could definitely sense at least one nearby, but it's been so hectic lately that it could have been anything and anywhere.
The three girls stood atop a rooftop to watch what would happen unsure what to do. They had no plans for helping Anne.
Then, without warning, the slithering Night Demon came out from one of the corners beside the warehouse. It hissed, "Koblange."
"Well, there's one of you," Anne said as she transformed. Sheets of metal surrounded her like a blanket. The metal cracked and tore apart revealing her usual Light Guardian form.
With a swift kick, she struck Koblange under it's jaw breaking one of it's fangs in the process.
Then, from the dark sky above, black pieces of glitter gently fell. And suddenly, Schmetter lunged down.
The three girls wondered whether Schmetter was going to fight Koblange, but it seemed like a terrible idea considering Anne was already taking care of it. But that was not on her mind at all. Instead, she lunged straight for Anne. Her wings were sharp and she was planning on slicing through her enemy. She was angry and felt only hate towards that specific guardian.
Schmetter came at the Light Guardian through her blind side, but Anne was always on her guard.
"What is it doing?" Yune exclaimed.
Anne then saw Schmetter come towards it. It was fast, but Anne reacted faster.
"And there's the other," Anne said not surprised as she prepared to wound up her fist to strike at the Night Demon she faced before.
But that wouldn't happen. Yune came in and threw out her hook and chain. She hooked Schmetter and wrapped it with her cold chains. Yune then pulled in back avoiding Anne's hard fist.
"What the-?" Anne exclaimed before being lunged at by Koblange from behind. It still had one fang and a wound still spraying out acid.
But then Mary jumped down and was about to slash down at the creature, but it dodged at the last second.
Then, Jack came down to face Anne angered by the interference.
Anne became angry at the three girls who faced her and said, "Trying to steal my kills?"
"Not exactly. Just can't let you hurt Schmetter," Jack replied.
Anne smiled and stated, "I don't like you three interfering. But I always wanted a rematch with you, Jack."
She started to strike at Jack who focused on defending herself from Anne's brutal flurry.
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Schmetter was chained to the side of the warehouse's wall as Yune jumped down to ground level.
They locked eyes as Schmetter tried to struggle to break free but wasn't strong enough.
"I guess I was right. You're just an uncontrollable monster in the end," Yune stated as fact.
"Stay out of this. That girl - no, Light Guardian - killed my twin. Killed my sister. I'll avenge her," Schmetter cried.
Yune looked at the monster with unwavering eyes. All Yune wanted to know was why Schmetter attacked and now that she got it without even asking, she was prepared to kill the Night Demon even if it did have a semblance of a thinking mind.
"I wanted to get some answers from you, but now I don't really care. Your twin was a monster and so are you," Yune coldly replied as she began to crush Schmetter with her chains.
Schmetter gasped for air, but as she looked down at Yune, she began to get even angrier. She wouldn't accept dying like this. Not until she could at least get a pound of flesh for what she lost.
Then, with a burst, she began to scream with all of the air inside of her. The cry was intense and broke windows all throughout the area. Luckily, there wasn't anybody there besides the Night Demons and Light Guardians. That sound would have made any person's ears implode.
The sound wasn't as devestating to the crowd, but it did do some damage. Everybody within that radius had to cover their ears from the terrible screeching. Anne, Jack, Mary, Koblange, and Yune were all stunned for a few seconds.
While Yune was covering her ears, Schmetter saw her opportunity. Yune was distracted and the butterfly was able to use whatever strength she had to break free from the chains. With a burst of renewed energy, she began to focus her attacks on Yune.
Schmetter remembered her life before becoming a Night Demon. She was human. But that ended and she knew why. She stared straight at Yune. She ignored the calm sensation she felt by being near her and focused her rage.
She screeched as they fought. Chains flew around not giving much room for Schmetter to work with. They both worked well from afar. Yune could drag the Night Demon around with her hook if it would land.
Meanwhile, Mary focused on slicing Koblange into pieces. The snake was agile and slippery.
"Hold still, you reptile," Mary complained as she swiped her claws around, "Why did I have to deal with a snake?"
Koblange hissed and continued to dodge and weave.
Jack and Anne also continued to fight while Yune and Mary were busy dealing with their own battle. Jack conjured her flaming machete and began to go on the offensive. They were evenly matched. Anne had improved a lot since they last fought, but Jack's sheer strength evened them out.
Yune and Schmetter fought tooth and nail. Yune's chains and hook knocked the Night Demon around. She even created a web surrounding the two of them, so that Schmetter had no place to retreat or run away to. And when the creature would try to fight head on, Yune would hold her hook and it would morph itself into a hook-blade. Yune was formidable at any distance.
"Why do I get the feeling that I knew you before?" Yune asked as their fight continued.
Schmetter growled, "You don't remember, but I do. I remember everything now. I was planning on killing that other guardian first, then coming after you, but either way is fine by me."
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"What made you decide that? I don't know what relation we had before, but you could have attacked me before when you were our guest. Why didn't you?"
"Something about you was different. Even now, you don't feel like the same girl. You're like a shell. As for our relationship, we didn't even know you existed until the end."
They fought some more, but Yune was clearly winning. But she needed to know more. Her memories had major gaps, and any little detail would help.
Schmetter tried to throw glitter and dust everywhere, but Yune still kept her eyes wide open even as dust hit her eyes.
They continued to talk. Schmetter said, "I know your little gang has been following me. It's like the exact opposite feeling of being near a Night Demon as a guardian. Instead of the chill, it's a warm, pleasant feeling."
"Is that why you saved those kids? Because you knew we were watching?" Yune asked aggressively.
"No. I couldn't care less what you think. I saw those kids playing there. I felt it was dangerous and I could see the reflection of the snake's eyes as it stared at those kids. I waited around to see if it would do anything. That creature could have been like me, but clearly it wasn't. It looked at those kids like prey. The moment it looked like it was about to attack, I swooped it. Not because you were watching, but because it was the right thing to do."
Yune still had no trust in the creature even after hearing this.
Then, while they fought, a drunk man was walking along unknowingly into a battlefield.
"Woah. Must have been drinking a little too - hiccup - much," he said slowly. He could barely stand on his two feet as he wobbled back and forth.
Yune then came up with an idea. It was a horrid thought, but she felt it necessary. Unlike Jack, she didn't care about the welfare of other people. As long as it didn't affect her or her friends, she was fine in hurting others whether they were Light Guardians or not. She was more like Mary in that sense, but she wouldn't hurt people for sake of hurting or satisfying a hunger for sadism. Yune was more meticulous for her plans than just causing random acts of violence.
She checked whether Mary and Jack were paying any attention to them, but they were all too busy with their own worries.
"Let's see if you really are so kind-hearted, Night Demon," Yune said as she spun her hook-chain around in circles. Then with the flick of her wrist, she threw out her hook which sharpened into a hook-blade in mid-air. But it wasn't aimed for Schmetter. It was aimed right for that drunk man. A random bystander. Yune wasn't planning on killing the man, but just injuring him. However, it looked like it was going straight for his head and not stopping. Yune was planning on just flicking the hook away at the last second. At best, the hook would completely miss the man. At worse, the man would get some gashes in his arms. Nothing that could be fixed with the shopkeeper's help.
The butterfly saw the hook going straight for the man's head and quickly, without any regard to her own safety, swooped in to save that man. Schmetter felt that Yune wasn't bluffing. She was completely sure that the girl she faced would kill some guy just minding his own business, but Schmetter was not one to leave another to their fate.
The chains surrounded them, but Schmetter saw a path through as long as she could weave around them. But Yune intentionally left a path clear for the creature. To Yune's disappointment, Schmetter took the path.
The butterfly weaved around the chains and with a gust of wind pushed the hook away. Unfortunately for Schmetter, Yune flicked her wrist and the hook changed it's course. It hit the side of the ground and it jumped back towards Schmetter. Then to her dismay, Schmetter's leg got caught into one of the chains and wrapped itself like a snake. They then began to constrict around her wings stopping her from flying away or creating any unexpected gusts. The chains began to close in around the butterfly as the hook-blade came towards her. It was going straight for a killing blow to the creature's neck.
Just as Schmetter was about to give in to defeat, the hook-blade morphed into a more broad-shaped metal. It wrapped itself around Schmetter's neck and body. It was like she was a butterfly in a spider's web. A web of chains, Yune called it.
"You actually went in to save that man," Yune said, "even if you knew that you were falling right into a trap."
"I'm not a monster like you," Schmetter replied angrily as she tried to break free. But there was nothing she could do. The chains even began to dig themselves into her wings creating gashes and holes.
Upon hearing this Yune began to reconsider her opinion of the creature. She began to believe Schmetter. She believed the Night Demon.
"Maybe, you're right, Schmetter."
When Yune defeated Schmetter, Mary was also done with her fight. She managed to close the quarters by taking her claws and stabbing straight up the creature's mouth. The acid dripped onto Mary's claws. They stung and hurt her, even made her tear up a bit, but she managed to kill the creature. Then, the creature faded into a shadowy mist leaving behind it's black coin.
As for Jack and Anne, they were still waging a great battle away from the other two. Jack and Anne were destroying everything in their path, but Jack managed to get Anne away from them.
As Schmetter began to weaken, her attempts to struggle faded. Her wings were crumpled and full of holes where black ooze began to pour out of them. She breathed heavily, but was still very much alive. Yune had no more plans to kill her. She was going to let her go and ask her some more questions. She even thought that given enough time, they could even be friends.
But Anne noticed what Jack was doing. She looked back to see that her two hunts were already beaten. But she wouldn't let them have it this time. She would even resort to taking those black coins by force.
"I won't let you take those two coins, Jack. It won't be like the first time you stole from our team," Anne said before reaching down and grabbing a small pile of dirt. She threw at Jack's face unexpectedly. Jack closed her eyes to avoid the dirt, but she expected Anne to start punching furiously, but those punches never came. While Jack prepared to defend herself by raising her arms, Anne dashed back towards Mary and Yune.
When Jack opened her eyes to see that Anne was gone, she yelled, "Yune! Mary! Watch out!"
But it was too late. Anne had already snatched Mary's coin right from the ground before Mary could take it. Then, Anne was going for the next one. Schmetter was still alive, so Anne planned to finish it off and take the black coin.
Anne tore a brick out of a nearby wall while still running forward. And without warning, she threw the brick straight at Schmetter's face. Yune wasn't expecting this. The brick past by Yune's chains and crashed straight into the Night Demon. Anne didn't hold back. The brick peeled off half of Schmetter's face leaving only the other half. Schmetter barely had any time to react. She had no idea what happened to her as half her head was missing. Yune was shocked and horrified by what she has seen. It was not that a monster had it's head smash in half, but that it was Schmetter's face.
"No! Get away from her!" Yune yelled as Anne was about dash forward to finish the creature with one blow from her fists. Yune threw in her hook and chains and grabbed Anne by the legs. Yune threw Anne unexpectedly away from the two and back towards Jack.
Jack grappled Anne and held her down with all her strength.
Yune released her web of chains around Schmetter. She ran over to her and grabbed her as she fell.
She held the creature in her arms, but she could no longer see it as a creature. It felt like a human. There was a certain warmth coming off of her like she was touching a person rather than a Night Demon.
Schmetter looked at Yune with only half of it's face. It already began to fade.
"Come on. Wake up, Schmetter," Yune cried.
The butterfly's wings tore themselves off and vanished into black mist. She looked at Yune weak, but still angry. But she knew she was long gone. She felt the cold embrace of death once, and this was no different. She leaned over to Yune's ear and quietly said her last words, "I'll never forgive you for what you did to us."
And with that, the creature left it's final message. It puffed into darkness and left only it's black coin as it gently clinked with the concrete.
Yune was left wondering what she did in her past life. Who was she? But those questions couldn't be answered, now. A tear rolled down Yune's eye as she felt only a terrible chill down her spine. It wasn't the feeling of a Night Demon nearby, but her own self. She didn't know why, but she began to want to uncover who she was even more.
With a scream, Yune scratched her head erratically.
"Why can't I remember!? Why can't I remember!?" she yelled in frustration.
Mary and Jack didn't know what to do to comfort Yune. They had no idea what was going on in her head. Jack continued to hold Anne down, but was distracted. Anne broke free of Jack's grip and rushed forward to just take the last black coin. She didn't hear the creature speak nor did she care about what the other three were staring for.
When Anne was about to take the black coin, a look on Yune's face froze Anne. Her eyes went pitch black and there were cracks coming out of her mask. A feeling of intense hostility and anger came out of her. As Anne felt a chill down her spine, the only thought was that Yune was a Night Demon, but that wasn't the case. Chains surrounded Yune's arm and as if it was instinct, she threw a punch at Anne with her chain-covered fist. It went right at Anne's face. She wasn't expecting that coming from her. Anne fell back without being able to take the coin. There was a strange aura coming off of Yune, but none of them knew what it was. Yune took the black coin into her hand.
"Stay away from her!!!" Yune yelled once more as she held the coin with gently care. But her care was misguided.
Anne smiled and said, "You three seem to have many tricks up your sleeve. I'll give you that one. Next time, I'll be ready."
Anne jumped up to one of the rooftops and slowly walked away looking back at Yune who stared straight at her.
Yune began to relax. She felt her compassion towards the black coin was misplaced. As if the anger wasn't for Schmetter. But for another. Yet, the memories wouldn't spring up.
The only thing she could remember was being backstabbed by a girl. She was called Elizabeth or Eli for short. A blonde girl who held two yellow katanas. Similar to Nina's powers, but slightly different.
And there was another girl, but she was still blocked from her memories. It was all too confusing. It was like trying to put together a puzzle, but the pieces were all locked away in many drawers and cabinets.
Yune's eyes went back to a black sclera and white irises. Her mask fixed it's cracks. She didn't know what came over her, but she felt a sudden chill from it.
Jack and Mary were about to approach her, but Yune took a step back carrying the coin in her hand.
"Don't come closer," Yune begged not afraid of them, but herself.
"Calm down, Yune. You're safe," Jack replied.
"I need to figure this out for myself. There's somebody I need to find. A girl named Eli or Elizabeth," Yune said.
"Elizabeth?" Mary asked. That name was the same for the one who betrayed her. But it felt like a coincidence. There were surely many people with that name. And the one who killed her was probably long dead. But still, there was just a glimmer that perhaps it could be the same person.
"Don't follow me," Yune said.
"Come on, Yune. You're the one who talked the most about sticking together," Jack replied.
Yune realized that they wouldn't leave her alone, so Yune took her chains and hook and struck the dirt-filled ground with it picking a large amount of dust.
"Wait, Yune," Jack called out as dust began to cloud everybody's eyes.
Mary closed one eye, but kept another open. She watched as Yune leapt to one of the rooftops.
"Jack, get back home. I'll follow her and make sure she's safe," Mary said as she leapt up.
Jack coughed and wanted to follow, but lost track of where they went. By the time the dust cleared, they were both gone.
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