It hurt. Everything hurts.
But a scream that wasn't hers pierced the haze in her mind, and all that she knew was raw, undiluted and animalistic fury . Unstoppable, unrelenting, uncontrollable… it surged, and the pain went away as everything was covered in a haze of purplish light. That thing… that thing… it dared…
She couldn't do more than voice her anger with a wordless scream as she felt everything else but her hatred fade.
For perhaps the first time in a very, very long time, she didn't feel slightly sick. For perhaps the first time she did not feel afraid she'd tear her skin just by clenching her fist. For the first time, she savored what it was like to tighten up her muscles.
The words filled her head even before she even thought of what she needed. Sleipnir.
Before she knew it, she was already in the air. So envious, she had been, but now she soared the skies, just as they had. Just as they… they… Another wave of power surged, along with her anger, and her eyes focused on that thing.
It laughed. It taunted. It crushed.
It looked at her. Its smile faded. Words came to her once more.
Blutiger Dolch.
"Pierce Through, Bloody Dagger."
Two. Four. Eight. Sixteen. Thirty two.
Not enough. Never enough.
Decompile. Extrapolate necessary calculations. Apply. Recompile spell packet.
Sixty Four. One hundred twenty eight.
Apply pre-made alteration.
"Genocide Shift!"
Two hundred and fifty six.
It screamed. It knew pain.
It understood terror.
***
The sight was…
Intense, to say the least.
Ninja understood, on some basic level, that the Tailed Beasts were creatures to be feared. That they were the end all, be all engines of destruction. They were indestructible, and their energy was inexhaustible. There hadn't ever been a recorded victory in a one on one fight with a tailed beast, ever. Even if one could survive the beast's abilities, it'd become a battle of attrition.
A regenerating beast with unlimited energy would always win in a battle of attrition.
And overpowering one was a silly idea, at best. The people who could enter the same battlefield as a Tailed Beast and leave with their lives intact were instantaneous legends, who themselves became the boogeymen of the ninja world.
Even the weakest of the Tailed Beasts was considered beyond the ability of even the elite to handle. The weakest, the Ichibi, was considered at the very least to be a threat that only the most powerful of Shinobi should engage in battle against.
It had proven its power by destroying a monument that had weathered countless sieges in sixty years… with a single blast. It had weathered dozens of high powered techniques, and then engaged in combat with three of Konoha's most powerful agents, defeating all three of them while only taking minor damage.
However…
There's always a bigger fish out there, waiting to trap you in its jaws.
And the one-tailed Tanuki learned of this as it rampaged freely.
At first, some thought that the silver haired little girl that appeared in front of the beast was going to plead with it to release the only other fliers in Konoha… But it seemed that she disturbed the Tailed Beast, for some reason… but that was the least terrifying thing about her.
A wave of her hand had made what had to be hundreds of blades in glowing blood red appear around the great beast, each as big as a grown man's arm. Typically useless weapons against the beast of regenerating sand… but when the daggers struck, the beast's sand was instantly turned to glass and shattered off.
And there were a LOT of those, all around it. The creature had, for the first time since it'd been released from its prison, actually reacted to something someone did to it, shrieking in pain and horror. And it didn't end there. It seemed that the flying girl had taken offense at the massive beast's arms and tail, as she had seemed to begin focusing on them.
Whispered, unintelligible words accompanied by mechanical echoes heralded massive golden beams in the shape of blades, which seemed to follow the motions of the girl's arm, as she used it to liberally slice off the remains of the Tailed Beast's arms. In between its shrieks, the beast had charged up an attack, which it tried to hit the flying girl with, but she merely disappeared from sight and reappeared standing right in front of the beast's forehead, where its former prison could be seen, just peeking out.
***
Words became clear once more.
"By the power within this hand, all things become eternal nothingness…"
It screamed. It raged. It feared.
It attacked.
"Diabolic Emission!"
It was no more.
She fell.
***
A massive surge of power sent alarms all throughout the ship. Chrono twitched a little.
Behind him, it was clear that both of the preteen girls that he'd been speaking with moments before were just as uncomfortable and jarred by the sudden light and noise as he was.
"We've got them. This kind of power… the Book of Darkness has activated. We've located which planet. We're heading there right now. Setting course…"
The Admiral leaned a little further back into her chair. "ETA?" she asked.
"T minus twelve hours."
The high tech bridge of the Asura would hardly be considered a comforting place. But at that moment, the Admiral felt it was the most comfortable place in the world. She knew the power of the artillery they'd brought along. With a frown, she considered the future.
She just hoped it was a bright one, once the clouds of the Book of Darkness were pierced through.
***
Naruko blinked, finding herself… awake? well, she was in between two pillows…
"Hello, my beloved mistress…"
Oh, hey! The pretty lady with beautiful eyes! "I know you! You appear in my dreams a lot!" Naruko said, smiling widely.
"Yes, I do," the woman said, offering her a kind and warm smile. "I've longed to hold you in my arms… you are as close to my heart as you are to the knights'," she explained. Naruko smiled and snuggled further into the bosom of the woman who was embracing her. "You've been hurt pretty badly, you know? You almost died, even…"
"I did? Uwa… I didn't notice!" Naruko said, pouting.
"But you're all better now… Almost…" the woman said, stroking Naruko's hair. "You made the wound so much worse, though…"
"I did..? What did I do?" Naruko asked, frowning. "Wait… what was I doing?"
"You don't remember? Give it a moment…" the woman said, and after a few seconds of silence, Naruko began to nod. "I'm sure they'll come back to you, eventually."
"I was so angry… but… why? What happened?" Naruko asked, frowning in confusion, before flinching. "M'head hurts!" she whined.
The pretty woman chuckled. "Everything hurts," she said.
Naruko nodded. "What's going on..?"
"You used too much power at once. Your body can't take it…" the woman said. "You're dying. You forced your linker core too hard, and your body gave up."
"I… I can't be dying!" Naruko protested, looking into her pretty red eyes. "That'd be bad! I'd be like, a hypo… hypo… uh…"
"Hypocrite," the pretty lady supplied.
"Yeah, a jerk," Naruko confirmed, nodding.
"Yes, I suppose you would be. And that's a bad thing to be, isn't it? But then again, you're always scolding them for getting themselves hurt, and then you went and did something so dangerous and reckless… But that's who you are…" the woman said, a somewhat stern tone coloring her voice even though she said her words with a smile.
"I'm sorry, whatever it was," Naruko said, shaking her head. "I'm sure I didn't mean to be a jerk. Maybe."
The pretty lady laughed and shook her head. "Don't worry too much about it, you're just fine the way you are. You will be fine. You have people who love you. They can save you, this time…"
Naruko frowned. "Whatever I did… it really messed me up, huh?"
"More than you'd believe," the woman said, nodding. "You might… you might not recover… that's why you need plenty of rest and relaxation, so… try not to have any sudden rushes of emotion, okay?"
"Okay," Naruko said, grinning cheerfully.
"…Please, take care of your heart, it took a lot of damage," the woman said, all traces of humor gone.
Naruko shook her head. "It'll probably just hurt a little. I can take it," she said, shaking her head. "Uh… hey, this is really embarrassing, but… I don't know your name."
"You don't?" the woman asked, tilting her head in clear mock confusion. "That's okay, though. Why don't you give me a new one?"
"But… I can't think of anything…" Naruko said, frowning.
The woman shook her head and chuckled. "You don't have to do it right now. How about you think about it and tell me what you've come up with the next time we meet?"
"That sounds good!" Naruko said, grinning. "When will I see you again, pretty lady?"
"Soon… Someday, very soon…" the pretty lady said.
"That means I gotta think up something fast!" Naruko said, nodding eagerly. "I promise I will have a new name for you by then!"
"That sounds good. You're going to wake up real soon…"
The pretty lady's hold on Naruko's body tightened, and she whimpered slightly, as everything was still quite sore. Which was odd, given that she was pretty sure this was a dream.
"Please… don't forget me, my beloved mistress…"