Intoxia Warriors - Mizuka Blood (Book One)

by De'Karhi Philpot

  Isabella didn't realize that Sonya seemed to be abstracted by what's been going on.

  "Sonya, are you alright?" Isabella approached her old classmate.

  "Huh, yeah, I'm OK. Let's train," Sonya lied, "I feel a bit tired."

  "Are you sure, you've managed to make it to two hours of training," Isabella smiled, patting her close friend's right shoulder. "Come on, there's no excuses to why you should lie to me. I know when you're lying."

  "How?" Sonya giggled with her left eye cocked upward.

  "Whenever you're drowsy like you've trained long enough," Isabella claimed. "Not that it surprises me."

  "Everyone," the Red-haired General hollered from the entrance. "We'll have to stop training for today. Shizuka's not doing so well and I'm not sure how long she'll last."

  Isabella's head turned instantly, dashing throughout the room and passed everyone in her path. She felt her heart slipping into her throat.

  General, Isabella cried in her mind, stressed out already from worrying about her leader's conditions. I hope you're OK. I hate to see you in this situation.

  ***

  Upon entering the room, Shizuka's temperature had begun accelerating to the highest degree. Her forehead didn't go back to it's normal standard for a whole half-hour. She tried to stand when she was going to the restroom, but either way, her stomach was boiling due to the Sheer Zerukin Blitz.

  "General, are you OK?" Isabella's eyes were piling up with tears. "Hey, answer me, dammit."

  The view in Shizuka's eyes were blurrier than she could maintain. She felt someone's arms around her body.

  "This is Black's doing," Tornado guessed instantly. "He's stole of the DNA he stole from her eight years ago when Shizuka went to try and destroy Tomb of Leserado."

  "Why would the General go all the way out there?" Isabella asked in worried.

  "Because her body wasn't acting right and she, as the Western General, couldn't take anymore of the games that Black was playing around for her to suffer physically and mentally," Tornado answered. "It's as if he's so impatient with trying to fight us and revive the Avarian Beast."

  ***

  Black continued twisted the Zenjaharo Orb, which is taking a huge affection on Shizuka's body.

  "Crystal. There's something that you're going to be doing next month. But there comes a price to it, though."

  The Grim Reaper had summoned two swords from within the surface. One a creamy-peach sword and the other is an ominous, cherry-black for Crystal to take. He knew what to expect from Crystal, depending on how she reacts to the propositions. His eyes had managed to make the teenager's heart wrench indiscrimately.

  A dark sword with mist and white sword with feathers swirling around each other. He wasn't going to be as constructive with his ideal of how he's going to be training his new disciple.

  "These swords will decide your character of where you decide everyone's faith," Black uttered diabolically. "There's no going back once you've made your choice. Maybe holding onto the sharpless end of each sword will show you the choice that you make. The colors of each sword should at least forshadow an obvious result for you. White will grant you the opportunity to know more about your own future and your Diary Symbol powers. The Black Sword will expose a small portion of the Leserado War that occured two days after your birth."

  ***

  Chapter 21 - Fifteen Years Ago

  ***

  All six members of the Bloodlust Revelation circled the teenager, waiting for her to make a vital and crucial decision. The tension had a grieving development. It was highly close to both realities.

  The thoughts she's had about the Diary Symbols, and why she was granted with this artificial power was far more realistic than she could've realized. She was asking what the connections between herself and Diamond was all about. To find out that Diamond Aruba was also a hostess of the Diary Symbols. She didn't understand what the Avarian Aruba Beast had to do with it.

  "Keep this in mind, my dear. The one thing that'll change your life is the truth," Black quoted, placing his right hand on the teen's shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with making your own path."

  "That skank lied to you, Crystal and you expect for her to be upfront with you about your own life? That's the one thing that I don't understand about you Arubas. Always so forgiving about a shit load of stuff, it just pisses me off," Lisa complained, but felt her right arm struck by Marscilla's left elbow.

  "Shut up, she can't concentrate," Marscilla angrily stated quietly. "We're aware of the fact that Lola's going to lose the only girl that she's ever acknowledged. After all these years, I just can't wait to see the expression on that bitch's ambigious face."

  Without hesitating, her body acted on own it's as the Aruba child grasped the Black Sword, bewildering the hell out of all six fiends of the group. The moment she obtained it, she'd been exposed to some of the darkest moments that's occurred around time Diamond K. Aruba birthed her. Black had provided some of his most cruelist offerings to any one that's decided to work underneath his wing.

  ***

  (The day of the Leserado War.)

  Feeling lonely and exhausted inside the caverns of the tomb, Diamond's experiencing something she thought would never happened. Gawking death in the face. Her body was giving out and she saw an image. She felt the fibers tremoring with a tsunami of fear, after all the hell she's done, trying her best to redeem herself, even at the last minute and wanting to accept the deal she and Black had made two days earlier.

  Suddenly, she saw another individual approaching, she didn't feel her heart beating any longer, since she was already condemplating her death. The image was caked in a black cloak. Diamond had no way to defend herself; but saw an illusion of Black Hinura. What she saw once opening her eyes completely after almost thirty-four hours.

  "Diamond, Diamond," Lola screamed miraculously. She dashed at the vulnerable woman, who felt like fading away; due to the events that's occured in the last few weeks before she birthed Crystal. "Diamond, are you OK?"

  "I-- I'm fine. I'm a lot stronger than this," Diamond claimed, denying the inevitable. She felt her abdomen giving out on her; it grew as if she's sinking in quick sand with no one to lift her back up to the surface. She sighed, trying to breathe properly.

  "Hey, what's wrong? You're not going to die on us, Diamond. You hear me?" Lola commanded, selfishly provoking Diamond to use the last will of her strength to try and fight back,

  Diamond didn't bother trying to redeem herself as a warrior. The only emotion she's experienced heavily was depressed, mixed with shame and guilt. Crying endlessly in hopes that people would forgive her.

  Suddenly, in sheer sanity, Diamond heard an enormous amount of people battle crying loudly.

  "Look, we're all here for you. You know what the means, Diamond," Lola grinned with both eyes closed, trying her best to avoid the tears from streaming down her cheeks. She picked Diamond up with one of her arms going over her neck. The current Core General tried her best to her feet to walk.

  What Diamond saw was a miracle and a desperate look of hope returning to her face; the entire Intoxian Army of all four coasts had arrived at Tomb of Leserado. Battling incredibly to get the Core General home safe and sound.

  "You see that down there, General Aruba?" Lola bellowed loud enough for Diamond's ears to catch. "We're not giving up on you. We've been forgiven you. You're been the woman that's always uplifted everyone's spirits and this is the appreciate we're giving you. I had encouraged everyone to make a move."

  Diamond's sweat was dripping to the ground with a warm smiling returning to her face.

  "Lola, I-- I don't understand. I've committed so many horrible crimes it's like I don't even deserve your respect or support," Diamond stated, trying to find the pity, especially in a situation this sensitive and dangerous.

  "Diamond K. Aruba. Are you going to tell me that you, the woman I was inspired by to become a stronger person, is going to be pass on a challenge that's been offered to he
r? This war will be no different," Lola used her right arm to mythically summon the Aruba Blade that belonged to Diamond before she was taken away by Bloodlust two days earlier.

  "Guys, it's the General," Shizuka stated with excitement, blocking an attack from an incoming Avarian Demon that wielded the weapon of an axe. "Everyone, fight with everything you got and support Lola Mizuka."

  More than three million soldiers had arrived at the battlefield battling the Bloodlust Revelation army. Guns were fired, huge gap of swords blazing all around the battleground, from Lisa Amili to Charlie Mizuka engaging slaughtering blows, eradicating as much soldiers as possible without having a single individual support Lola to rescue Diamond.

  ***

  The images from the past had disappeared in the blink of an eye. Crystal didn't realize what had happened. Black placed his right hand on her shoulder; consulting her as he witnessed nothing but silent tears.

  "Now do you understand, my dear?" Crystal's anti-mentor had asked with the darkness swirling around her body. "Do you think that Lola was prepared to tell you something this detailed? It was a lot better for you to see it than hear it."

  Not a single voice was heard for the last ten seconds. Lisa would have opened her mouth, but Black had forbidded her from doing so. He waited patiently for the young Aruba to come up with a concise answer. It wouldn't bewildered him if she did or didn't understood the full, detailed story.

  There was one thing that she was highly confused about. In terms, she decided to ask him, "Was there a particular way of how the Diary Symbols were injected into my body?"

  Black had hoped she'd ask such an interesting question, "You see my dear, I'll explain a bit more. Right now, we must head somewhere special for you. It's not any of the places around this premises. But, that's only if you're willingly going to take the Black Sword. You deliberately chose the dark sword without hesitating. That's something that neither of the other warriors of this organization had been capable of doing. Is there something that forced you to choose?"

  ***

  Chapter 22 - The Lies And Betrayal

  ***

  Shizuka's body was still immobilized. Trying her best to fight for her own life, due to the eternal, physical illness. The intense situation she's been sucked into had taken it's toll upon the warriors.

  Pressuring themselves to try and prolong their chances of survival against the Bloodlust next month.

  "General, I think it's a good idea to come up with another strategy. Since we get the feeling that Shizuka's going to be resting for quite a while," Alexander suggested respectfully. "I didn't know what else to do for the time being in order to reverse all the damage Black had accomplished by trying to eternally destroy Shizuka's body from afar."

  "You have a point. I'm more than certain that Shizuka would want to us move on without her to Leserado. It may not be the most valuable thing to do, but I'm sure that Tornado would have wanted her to do the same if he was in her shoes," Lola's voice broke from somewhat warm, into a sound of determination. "We can't allow for Black to prolong his games with anyone close to us. I know that it's going to be a while before we get the chance to fight against him."

  Tornado disagreed, "That won't be a problem. The Bloodlust Revelation doesn't waste their time going along with their plan. Seeming that since they have Crystal, but not the abilities to decipher the writings in the books Diamond wrote a long time ago."

  "What do you mean 'not a problem,' Tornado? We only have less than three weeks left before we journey to Leserado and it's a possibility that Black will have decipher the text by then," Lola concluded while staring down at Shizuka with her right palm resting upon Shizuka's sweaty left hand. "You know any other way for them to try and break the curse that was placed on them?"

  "Not that I know of. But I did use my Energy Stream to contact Shiver," Tornado confessed truthfully.

  "Why the hell would you bother telling them if you know the Government are as selfishly heartless as the Bloodlust Revelation?" Lola denied Tornado's knowledge of strategy.

  "We sometimes can't rely on allies. Sometimes, using a former foe is the best thing to do in order to barrel our ways through the most difficult of courses," Tornado implied. "You have to have the mentality and intelligence of an Aruba. Not to mention that you may also have to get into the mindset of an Aruba to understand their nature. Unfortunately, that was one of the laws that you broke for that family, Mizuka."

  "What law was that, exactly?" The General seemed to have misconstruded Tornado's meaning. "Is it to have the brains of an Aruba or the understanding of them?"

  "I wouldn't say that, I would most likely say like you have to be honest, helpful, forgiving, and not so ill-tempered at the things that aren't worth fighting for unless if it was in a life or death situation, like what we're going to be dragged into next month," Tornado clarified.

  Lola's heart seemed to have skip a beat from hearing what the Poison General educated her on. She then dribbled her sentence before she looked down at Shizuka once more, whose body is now relaxed and calming down.

  "You all stay in here for a minute and keep an eye on Shizuka. Tornado and I must have a word for a minute," Lola commanded as she followed the canine outside the medical room.

  They all agreed in unison, but in different terms.

  Isabella couldn't say much. Wrestling with her mind distracted by the thoughts of losing her beloved Western General. She suddenly felt Deniela right palm resting calmly on her shoulder.

  "I just want General Shizuka to help us," Isabella uttered in frustration.

  "I know, sweetie. But you must understand that the only way for us to kick those assholes to the curb, we have to get a lot tougher than we already are," Daniela watched as Isabella placed her elbows on the mattress, helplessly tear-jerking in agony. "Isabella, if you think that shedding tears is appropriate right now, it's legit. But the Bloodlust Revelation aren't going to give a damn about emotions. That's one of the things that all four of these Generals are trying to show us all."

  Hiba, who witnessed the tender moment, couldn't have said it better herself, seeming that Lola's educated her, Alex, Sonya, Hitachi and Crystal with the same lecture before they had even been put in various, sensitive situations.

  "Alex, can I have a word with you for a minute?" Hiba asked politely, not trying to feel that speaking her mind would be the best course of action.

  Bewildering her with a different approach, Alex went along with the proposal and followed the woman to the other side of the room.

  A few moments later, they've both went over to the other end and begun talking while standing next to a vending machine.

  "Alex, I wanted to talk to you about something and this is me now," Hiba stated, confusing Alex, which never shocked her. "I know that you and I don't get along, but I really want to look passed this."

  "I've kind had my mind of other things lately to even bother with this conversation," Alex claimed, trying to evade speaking with his rival and, somewhat, friend. "You may think that you get all the credit from the General just by doing things we weren't able to do, but keep this in mind, you do things your way and I'll do things my way; once all that is said and done, then time can decide when we can get along. But until, I stay true to my character and as much as I love to admit it, I can't necessarily obey you."

  The a sudden sound of thunder struck from outside, hitting Hiba's nervous system with nothing but anger. Her intentions of trying to speak with Alex had decreased immensely with nothing but low quality of respect and admiration.

  "Well, if that's the way you want to do then; I have no problem prolonging my dislike towards you. But keep in mind that I'm still team captain," Hiba informed, walking away from him, but felt her arm grasped by his firm grip. "Hey, let-- Let go of me!"

  "Now let me tell you something--"

  "Both of you, stop it," Brook came into the scene with everyone else coming to support the situation. "This isn't the best time to be fighting right now. I underst
and that this is a crucial and frustrating moment, but you have to be more considerate of what's going on right now. Save all that for another time. Now let go of her, Alex. That's an order."

  Without a sign of remorse, Alex flaked Hiba's arm from him and went into the other direction. The warriors of all four coasts were extremely unaware of Alex's personality toward those that would go to the extent to bark orders toward him. Normally, he's calm whenever they say it in a much calmer tone.

  Brook took matters into her own hands in wanting to talk to Alex, but knew that Lola stood at the entrance and heard the whole scene with Tornado listening in as well.

  "Lola," Brook tried to inform the Core General.

  Lola placed her right hand up for the Southern General to not speak, "I'll have a word with him. He's been like this ever since he was younger, so it makes more sense."

  "OK. Because I just don't understand that boy. Isabella's falling into depression, Hiba and Alex are fighting, Crystal's been abducted and we're literally running out of time. Black and his group are--" Brook's blood pressure nearly sky-rocketed, but had to maintain her cool and not let it flow strongly through her system. "Let me calm down."

  "Please do so. At least for my sake of losing another General. We're the last resort of this army, and we have to be very persistent of training even harder. Two hours, from me and Tornado's perspective, was never enough time. So we'll train until midnight tonight."

  "Why tonight? We still have a lot more stuff to do and to show these youngsters what they're gonna have to prepare themselves for," Brook countered Lola's authorities.

  "Brook. I know where you're coming from, but you need to realize that this isn't just a game that we're playing here. We don't want to underestimate or overestimate Black because of his tenacity of hurting others' physical, mental and emotional standards," Lola combated verbally, looking over toward her left and saw a pot filled with coffee. "Now like I said, we'll be heading back to the Training Arena."

  Brook sighed, being outspoken as usual, incompetent of finding the right words to convince Lola to let the others have a break for the time being.