Chapter.5: A Mother’s love

Koutetsu couldn't speak, his mouth was gaped open but nothing could come out but terrified grunts. When he died he wasn't scared, but relieved, he thought he escaped his misery. But seeing Akane in the same condition he was in at that time, hit him hard, a feeling he thought he didn't have, the fear of death.

'Is this some joke? Come on, get up Akane, get up, you can't go out like this. You're better than this get-up, please get up!' He shouted in his head, he wanted to say it out loud but he couldn't muster up the strength to say it. His quivering hands shook her, he tried everything to get her to wake up, he was scared for her, not for himself, but for her.

The pale lady danced toward him. She was humming to herself in a whimsical, but evil manner, tiptoeing in a dance while admiring the destruction she caused. She made her way to the families, Yue wanted to stop her, but the pale lady waved her finger in a 'no no' gesture, followed by her blowing a strong breath in their direction, knocking them all back to the wall.

"No no, no interfering ladies." She said with a mischievous tone giggling. She looked at Koutetsu next with a widened smile. Koutetsu was too terrified to use his abilities, if they would even work at the moment with his mental state as it was. Reality was kicking in, he could actually die again, after finally being happy with himself it was going to end again just like that. He started to dry heave, he was having a stronger panic attack now. He didn't want to die, not again after he was starting to try better with his life. The pale lady kicked Akane off him like she was a ragdoll in a disrespectful manner, happy with her actions.

"Goal!" The pale lady exclaimed as Akane's battered body impacted against the wall from the kick. She looked at Koutetsu next, her blue lips with a widened joker smile, her cold delicate hands caressing Koutetsu's face, his head still manically shaking.

"Hehe thought you could reincarnate and there not be a price. Silly boy, that wasn't a free pass you got. Your life belongs to my Master hehe."

Koutetsu's eyes shivered as cold sweat poured down. She knew he was reborn. More so she said he was chosen to be resurrected. He couldn't move, he couldn't think of an option to escape, he was begging in his heart for help, any help at all.

'This is real. Is this really happening? No, I don't want to die again. I want to live. I wanna live this time. I don't want to give up my second life. Someone, anyone, help.'

The pale lady looked up and felt a small shot hit her cheek. Koutetsu's eyes slowly shifted to see where came from that shot flew across, he saw Akane standing up shaking, she was more injured than he thought, bleeding from her head with one eye closed from the blood down her face, the other parts of her body bruised and cut. She held a hand out with a small flame in her palm, the other hand holding her trembling arm steady so she wouldn't miss again.

"Get away from him you b***h!" She fired another shot of flame at the pale lady. The pale lady laughed at the miserable display in her eyes of defiance Akane was attempting. She dodged in a fairy-like movement like she was floating in the air just laughing wickedly. Her face was in front of Akane's now, still with that evil smile as her eyes stared down Akane's one open eye.

"Tsk tsk, no cheating by pretending to be dead." The pale lady stabbed Akane in the stomach with her fingers, Akane tried to hang on, she threw punches, even head-butted the pale lady. The pale lady responded by stabbing Akane again, she tried to stay strong to protect her son from the psychopath, but the deeper the fingers went the more Akane was losing strength.

"Night night." The pale lady flicked Akane on the forehead, with Akane falling to the ground, her body slamming down in a pool of her own blood from the wounds she was inflicted with.

The pale lady licked the blood on her fingertips. She giggled still at how much fun it was hurting Akane the way she did, a real treat to her how much resistance she was met with. Her head turned all the way around to look at Koutetsu in an exorcist-style pose. Koutetsu couldn't stop shaking, the pale lady was having too much screwing with his head with her funny games.

"Now we're where we. Oh yes, time for you to come with me, dead boy. Jagan awaits your arrival."

Her body twisted back around to realign her head with it in a normal manner, her evil eyes piercing Koutetsu's soul.

Koutetsu was in a complete mental shock. This wasn't the life he was expecting to have, not the Isekai ideal life he saw in all his media watching. He wanted a peaceful life with all the advantages he was handed. How stupid he felt, his sheer arrogance let him get into this position without thinking of the consequences and the evil enemies in it. All the manga he read, and all the anime he watched, he forgot those details because he was too focused on the thing he was handed on a platter never once thinking if there was a real price for those gifts. The pale lady was ready to head to him, doing a dancing routine were she stood with a sing-song tune to go with the dance.

"I'm gonna get you, don't say a word, gonna get you, not another breath to be heard. I'm gonna get you, you silly little kid, gonna get you, your soul you will bid." Her dancing and singing almost made him puke from the anticipation. The pale lady only moved about two feet till she stopped abruptly, she looked to see Akane holding her by the ankle with her last remaining strength.

"Oh, still not dead yet. You're more fun than I expected. Hmm, I know how bout we play skin the cat and see how many lives you really got left hehe." The pale lady laughed with her smile widening with evil intent, he sharp fingernails held up ready to skin Akane alive.

"Nah, I got a game for you, it's called Finale." Akane with her last bit of strength jumped up and wrapped her arms around the pale lady. The pale lady felt the tightness of the hold, the grip on her was strong, and she couldn't break free even with stabbing Akane over and over again. She wasn't having fun anymore, now she was mad because she wasn't getting her way.

"You dumb girl, let me go. This isn't the game I want to play. Let go!!" She screamed as she kept stabbing away

Akane didn't let go. Her body was glowing, and a powerful feeling of heat was covering her and the pale lady, the heat reaching across the area for everyone to sense what was going to happen. The Shirayukis shielded the kids and Mana again, they knew what Akane was planning, their facial expressions were filled with guilt of what was going to happen, especially for Koutetsu. Koutetsu watched as Akane's body lit up like a candle as the pale lady shrieked.

"Let go that boy belongs to my Master!"

"Wrong…..that boy is my child….. you can't have him." Akane looked at Koutetsu, even with her face covered in blood she still gave a gentle smile to her son, her most cherished treasure.

"I'm sorry Koutetsu, looks like your Momma was very foolish. Be a good boy for me and look after Mana. I love you, my miracle child."

Akane closed her eye still smiling. Koutetsu couldn't say a word. All he could do was reach out to her, his tiny hand reaching out to his Mother who was protecting him to the very end.

"…..NO!!!" He shouted out finally as his eyes flowed with sorrowful tears.

The light emitting from Akane's body grew brighter. Soon an explosion happened as she used her last bit of magic in a suicide bomb to stop the pale lady, to save her son. Koutetsu couldn't close his eyes to the sight of the explosion, he saw the flash before him as he watched as both women disappeared for a second in the light, the loud explosion going off, it was a radiant blast, the aftermath of the blast was blurry till Koutetsu saw the end results. Akane's body lay facedown on the ground, her body charred and lifeless, filled with the holes from all the stabbing.

The pale lady was also on the ground, she survived the blast but was horrifically burned and injured, most of her limbs gone from the blast as she wailed like a child in her pain.

"It hurts, it hurts, Onii-Chan it hurts, the bad lady hurt me!"

'Onii-Chan?'

Koutetsu saw a cloud of black smoke on the ground, it devoured the area in its thick appearance. Emerging from the smoke was a thin, gangly young man in a tattered jacket with bug buttons on the upper left breast pocket, tattered pants with the ends torn off above the ankles, bandages on his hands, feet, and mouth with messy back and green hair walking to the pale lady.

"There there little Shiro, there there. Let's go home. Our time is up for now." The gangly man said rubbing the pale lady's head to calm her down. He picked up the pale lady holding her in his arms like a baby, he then gazed at Koutetsu with dirty yellow eyes like he was a diseased leper. He had a sickly voice tone, even with the bandages on his mouth his tone could be heard clearly, the sick voice feeling like his breath could infect a person with a bad disease.

"We'll be back for you boy. Your soul belongs to Master Jagan. After all, they were the ones who summoned you. Be good now and don't die till we come for you again when we get the chance. See ya kiddo." The gangly man said before disappearing in the black smoke with the pale lady along with him.

Koutetsu couldn't believe what he saw or even heard. But all that meant nothing, not at the moment he was feeling. He looked at the ground where Akane lay, Koutetsu wanted to move, he wanted to walk over to where Akane was. He couldn't though, it felt like his body was chained down with invisible shackles around his neck. Instead, his body fell toward the ground, his arms hitting the floor first as his fists slammed them repeatedly, his forehead slamming on the floor as well in shame. His eyes were overflowed with tears that wouldn't stop. It wasn't tears of fear anymore or anxiety, it was a feeling he thought he never could feel at all, the feeling of a child losing a parent so young and so tragically.

He thought of the Mothers as a means to an end for the new life he was having. He didn't think he could love them, actually love them. He liked them and respected them for raising him, but his foolishness made him fail to realize it was legit love he had for them, and that's why It made the pain in his chest heavier, his soul screaming out in agony and guilt.

'Idiot! You stupid idiot! Why didn't you say something? Why didn't you stop her? Why didn't you appreciate her? Why did it take a tragedy to make you realize how much she meant to you!"

The tears wouldn't stop. The pain wouldn't go away. The memories of Akane holding when he was a baby, putting him on her shoulders. The best one was when she got him to play at the laser tag game, breaking his habit of wanting to stay in his room and taking steps to be more active. The biggest help in him fixing his personality from his old one. Mana, who awoke finally saw the aftermath of the blast and her partner's body on the ground, she cried hard as the Shirayukis tried to comfort her from her loss. Itsuki awoke seeing the horrid imagery too, her hands covering her mouth when she saw Akane. She then saw Koutetsu, she wanted to say something, anything to help him from wallowing in pain. She didn't do anything however, Itsuki couldn't figure out how to help him, she was a kid, and there was nothing in her mind that could figure out how to help him without making it worse. All she could do was see him cry and he kept hitting the ground with his hands, his voice crying out in agony, the wailing stopping as the first he said with honesty and genuine feeling in his heart came out. The one word he never said to Akane with real feeling, that he regretted badly now that it was too late.

"Momma."