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Shakugan No Hybrids: Chapter 22

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Chapter 22 The Nights Do Not Belong To Us

“Kh!”
Shana clenches her teeth as she watches him go.
“He is making fun of me!” she concludes.
That was it, there could be no other explanation.
It was nothing for the hybrid to give a sincere compliment.
At the same time she concludes something else as well.
“Here..in this place...he has an advantage! My power of Existance is ten times stronger than his! But he is not influenced by all the Existance madness around here! Still, what does he want from me anyway? Mock me? Kill me? Help me? All together? What?!”
As all these thoughts race through her head she releases her grasp on the power of existence and allows herself to catch her breath a bit.
The murmuring sound of water reaches her ears.
Disregarding Malachite’s advice not to go out during the night she follows the sound to a small stream of water hidden behind several layers of bushes and trees and splashes some water on her face.
The cool and wet sensation helps her to battle the exhaustion.
Even while she would love to sleep, Shana feels that as long as she won’t try for a bit longer she won’t be able to sleep anyway.
“I can...surpass it! I just need to train more! I will! I must!”
Several hours pass, but Shana is still not satisfied with her progression.
She feels ashamed as she thinks about the amount of trouble she had summoning a small flame..
With yet another battle cry she raises the Nietono no Shana to carve deeply into the tree she picked as a training object, meanwhile focusing on the existence training Malachite tried to teach her.
Shana keeps on attacking with passion and might trying to get used to the environment around her. The pressure is much more at night like Malachite said and her flaming power seems to be attracting more pressure...
Sweat has soaked her face and body...the long red flaming hair is stuck on her nape and forehead...and she has been holding Nietono no Shana so long...
Too long.
And so strongly that her hands have started to bleed as she keeps on practicing...
Finally the red-hot-eyed-hunter  falls to her knee stabbing her longsword to the ground to support herself while panting heavily.
“Not yet...not enough...” is all Shana can think, still not satisfied.
Suddenly she notices a certain density in existance.
As she turns around Shana sees what looks like a denizen..but at the same time is not.
It is..spectral..she can see right through it!
As Shana looks more closely she sees more of these existances on the field where she and Malachite trained during the day.
Spectral denizens..and flamehazes!
fighting with each other..
Spirits not realising they are already dead..they never passed on from here..
Malachite’s explanation crosses her mind again.
“A Long time ago, even before the Ancient war, a large battle between flame hazes and denizens was fought at the place we are going.
There are no visible traces of it anymore, but the amount of spilled blood and existance twisted the land.
As a result, it is a massive mixture of fading and re-occuring existance traces.”
Still, most of them appear to be unaware of her as flamehazes and denizens engage each other for a cause long forgotten in a time long past.
The majority of them is unstable, and more then once Shana sees one or more of them simply disappear or fall apart, while new ones seem to appear in their place.
It seemed like a silent battle at first, but as she listens more closely she can hear the sounds of their blades and their voices, as if coming from far away.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable Shana looks away from them and turns around...looking right into the eyes of a giant ghostly denizen..
It does not speak but it studies her..
With a shock Shana realizes a horrifying truth: it can SEE me!
Suddenly the ghost whispers.."flaemhäz.."
It seems to be a very archaic spelling of flame haze..
Without provocation it draws a sword of a design unknown to her, and sweeps it at her chest.
In a reflex Shana casts a fuzetsu and her hair changes into it’s blazing flame-red state.
She raises the Nietono no Shana, but.. the ghostly sword goes right through as if her longsword is nothing but tin air!
Shana gasps out of pain as it hits her shoulder.
Suddenly she feels weak, as a cold pain slowly takes control of her limbs.
“It drains my existence” Shana thinks shockingly as she falls down to the forest floor, paralyzed by the sudden loss of existence, and the aggressive way the ghost is leeching it out of her.
All she can do is look at the ghost in front of her, who readies his blade to pierce Shana’s chest.
Just as it is about to strike it suddenly opens its mouth..
And screams with a voice consisting of such high tones if hurts her ears.
Out of the ghost’s chest comes a blade..
A blade belonging to a person shrouded in the shadows behind it…
Someone Shana cannot sense..
Malachite!
Angrily the ghostly denizen ignores the fallen flamehaze, and turns to its new attacker.
Malachite silently draws his remaining blade.
“Go back” he says to the ghost.
“Your time has ended.”
The spectral appearance does not respond, but lashes out at him wildly.
Malachite raises his blade..and blocks!
The sound of clashing steel is easy to recognize!
But how..
Then Shana understands.
The moonlight blaze enchantment..
It absorbs existence from whatever it hits..
These creatures are existence in its purest form..
The weapons these creatures use are pure existence as well..
The ghost is just as surprised as she is.
It tilts his head in a similar way Malachite always does and screeches a series of sounds without words, but it sounds fearful ..and wondering.
“Now it is too late.” Malachite says.
He almost sounds sad, despite never having shown any love for his father’s race, a legacy flowing through his own veins.
The ghost’s cries become slightly desperate as the half denizen raises his sword above his head with two hands.
‘May you find peace”  He says as he cuts the ghostly appearance in half.
The second his blade hits it the creature dissolves.
Immediately after the hybrid kneel down right next to her.
“I said not go go out at night flamehaze” he says finally.
“That was not something I said to make fun of you.”
“Can you stand?”
Carefully Shana tests her limbs.
The cold is moving away and most of the paralysis is gone, but her shoulder still feels a bit stiff.
She nods her  head and stands up, struggling to stay on her feet.
“What on Earth...are those...?” she mumbles.
“What..are you…”
“Right now the unwilling saviour of a flame haze.”
The hybrids vocal rebuttal sounds a bit witty.
“Whatever you may think of me, I am not the dark and evil creature you like to think I am.
I warned you that it was unwise to be out here at night.
Now you know why.
It does not happen often that these existances target the living.
But when they do..the result is usually not very pretty.
Can you now finally see that I am not interested in getting you killed?
If I wanted to I could have just stood there and watched.
Luckily for you I sort of expected you to ignore anything I said..despite hoping for the opposite for a change.”
Shana manages to utter an irritated ”kh!” as she continues to lean on her sword for balance.
“I need...to practice...I don't have time to sleep...or rest...I just...want to...surpass this...weakness...”
“The longer you go without sleep the weaker you will get” Malachite says to her while picking his second blade from the ground where the ghost was.
“Right here, the nights do not belong to us.
Get into the cave, bathe,aa eat, and rest.
I will take my chances and leave these blades with you and sleep outside if you are still afraid that I will murder you in your sleep.”
With a contemptuous gesture he throws both of his blades as her feet.
Even while Malachite has let go of them they still pulse green in the dark.
“What are...these...?” she asks.
“How many more different uses does that enchantment of yours have?”
“These blades killed a spirit of existance...what on Earth are they?...” she wonders.
“Do not forget I am still half denizen.
From time to time I have to feed on existance.
That thirst is something I forge in pretty much every blade I have made.
It is one of the moonlight blaze's main components.
That...and fear.
Fear makes things not real..but they do give things a reality.
Spirits know anger and hunger..
These blades hunger..
I cannot describe it any better than that” he concludes.
Still feeling dizzy Shana unlocks the fuzetsu and puts the Nietono no Shana back in the Yogasa.
“It never failed me before” she continues to think as her hair transforms back into its natural black color.
“He is right on one thing you know...You need to rest now...tomorrow you'll practice again...”
Alastor breaks the newly formed silence.
Shana realizes how she must look.
Tired, covered in sweat, muddy..
She looks at her hands.
Bleeding hands because of holding the Nietono no Shana for so long..
“ Okay...” she whispers to both Malachite and Alastor, as she feels she won’t be able to keep the exhaustion at bay for much longer.
Cautiously she picks Malachite’s swords from the ground while following the hybrid back through the bushes, towards the cave he picked for them to stay earlier that day.
As she enters the cave she notices a small fire, some food trays and a sleeping mat.
Malachite has not followed her inside, but remained at the entrance.
“There are some leftovers near the fire, and, if you feel the desire, you can bathe in the hot springs further in.” he says to her.
“We only have three days.
Starting from tomorrow.
This day was..free of charge.
Judging from your..former responses..I assume you do not trust me, nor want me anywhere near you at any point.
So I will remain here.
Outside.
It is clear that you are afraid of me..somehow.
Fear means you won't rest.
And rest you will need.
He looks away from her to the outside, to the moon, hardly visible between the massive trees.
“If anything I am not afraid of you!” Shana thinks, as she takes a few bites of the food Malachite left for her.
After not even half of her tray is empty the exhaustion finally takes his toll.
The red-hot-eyed hunter closes her eyes for just a second..and falls asleep before he head hits the improvises cushion formed by her yogasa.
Meanwhile Malachite is still outside, just like he said he would.
Like a statue he gazes at the small parts of sky visible beneath the massive trees.
Skies filled with stars.
Finally even the always alert hybrid starts to doze off..and falls asleep.
Disclaimer for all readers up to this point:

Updates to this story will come less regular from this point on, as me and :iconflame-haze--shana: are busy writing the plot.
What you have read so far could be considered Part 1, and we have a Part 2, but we are now busy to connect 1 to 2.
Part 2 is not the end, this story is far from over.
If you have enjoyed Shakugan No Hybrids so far, we would appreciate all feedback you can give!

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Shakugan No Hybrids is a story within the Shakugan No Shana universe, following an alternate timeline.
Basically, this story picks up somewhere in the last quarter of season two.
This means that all the events from Shakugan No Shana Final never took place.
Yuji discovered the true identity of Konoe Fumina, and thus the events of the last few episodes of season two ( near christmas ) never happened either.
The start of this story kicks off in January after that christmas.
This is a co-production, based on roleplay conversations between me and :iconflame-haze--shana:
© 2013 - 2024 AngelsWillFallFirst
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Flame-Haze--Shana's avatar
Oh yeah...I will deffinitely remember that!