Chapter 60: Zabuza: Demon of The Bloody Mist
Haku watched as his... master? Mentor? Father figure? Fought Orochimaru, he was filled with worry, this was a fight on a scale he had never experienced before, his tactic of preparing Ice Dragons and then animating seemed so invincible earlier today.
But now... the scale of this fight was insane, could these men really be called Shinobi anymore? Was this what the Wars fought in the past looked like?
He had been so happy when Hikari played her little joke and wrote him in as Zabuza's adopted son in the paperwork.
And now maybe Zabuza might die, a giant sword lashed out, fast and strong enough to cut into a mountain and decapitated one head, in retaliation, two more bit down on the arm, holding it in place as the other heads spit flames and wind at Zabuza's face, sending him crashing backwards.
Haku clenched his fist as he watched the back and forth.
He wasn't going to idly stand by.
"I'm going to try and help, stay safe, and don't get involved unless you are confident you make a difference." He instructed the people around him, who nodded and saluted him.
He disappeared in a swirl of snow, he would need a good amount of space for his preparations.
***
Sadako observed the battle from above, floating high in the sky.
She was considering her options, Orochimaru had shown remarkable resilience, if she did not deal a great wound, then he would simply heal from it.
So her best option was a full power attack, if he lived, it should give an opening to Lord Zabuza to finish him off, they did not need to kill him, just incapacitate him enough so they could attack freely until his regeneration was overwhelmed.
So she extended her hands, focusing deeply on the space beneath her.
She should be able to manage a good hit before she was crippled, and the chances of her dying as long as she did not push herself was negligible, she angled herself in such a way that her back was facing to the biggest concentration of Order members.
Space compressed as she focused on it.
"Compress."
Gravity began to... well... Compress.
"Compress."
Air distorted as reality struggled against her will, it wanted to return to the shape it once was, but Sadako ignored its wants.
"Compress."
She felt a trickle of blood drip down her nose, but she could still continue, anything besides permanent damage was acceptable.
"Compress."
The distortion was visible now, an opaque disc floated below her, her head started hurting and her breathing was getting heavy, she took a second to examine her condition...
She still could layer another one.
"Compress."
Her vision turned red from the blood vessels in her eyes bursting, there was a limit to her blessing, it needed fuel after all, and her soul only had so much to give.
It seems like this was her limit, acceptable, she layered a clock of gravity around her shoulders and put a hand to her chest, the other pointing at Orochimaru, she made sure that she was in the correct position, if she missed that would be unfortunate.
"Fall."
She was launched backwards, her body shut down, her last vision being Orochimaru getting hit by the full force of her ability.
It cratered the ground, shaking the whole valley with its power, even Zabuza stumbled, but Orochimaru suffered the worst of it, blood burst out of every orifice as his giant body was crushed, sinking into the earth.
She landed safely on the ground, her body cushioned by gravity, the surrounding Order members quickly rushed over, taking her away to somewhere safe.
Her part in this fight was done.
***
Zabuza rushed forward, recovering from the unexpected attack faster than Orochimaru did, Sadako really outdid herself today, Orochimaru was twitching, his healing quickly healing his broken bones.
But Zabuza was not interested in waiting, he jumped.
Kubikiribōchō crashed down onto the prone Orochimaru, 2 heads decapitated in a single stroke, enough blood to form a river pouring out from the stumps.
A snake shakily raised itself up and tried to bite him, but an upward swing sent it flying into the forest, disappearing into the distance.
The last 4 heads recovered enough to strike at once, one trying to bite down on Zabuza's neck, while two others went for his arms.
The fourth breathed in deeply, it aimed directly at Zabuza, he tried to strike at it, but the fangs clamping down on him restricted his movements.
But the moment the lightning left the head's mouth, a gigantic ice construct slammed into its side, redirecting it, a mountain in the distance exploded under the force of the lightning breath.
Zabuza smiled beneath his misty skin, the ice dragons Haku sculpted were very recognizable to him, he had haphazardly fused them together into a bigger version, a dragon made of dragons.
It silently bit down on the lightning spewing head, Zabuza used that chance to rip his sword arm free, he was going to regret that later as the fangs tore at his flesh, but for now, he swung, cutting off another head.
The ice dragon wrapped around Orochimaru's neck, keeping it from attacking further. With only three heads left, he could end it now.
The chances of him missing were almost zero.
He had not wanted to gamble before, but with the help from Haku and Sadako, this should be the end.
The mist covering his body flowed around Kubikiribōchō, leaving him a mortal man again, he fell out of Orochimaru's jaws, the red mist condensed into blood, coating the blade.
He slashed.
A wave of blood followed his strike, slicing through flesh and bone with ease, cutting all the remaining heads, Orochimaru's gigantic body collapsed completely, finally defeated.
Zabuza landed, one of his arms had deep rends from when he ripped it out of Orochimaru's jaw, the other and his neck had puncture wounds, his chest was burned, but he had won.
"Zabuza-sama!" He turned to see Haku landing on the ground behind him, looking worried. "Are you okay?"
He grunted, he would live.
"Take me to the Medics, and tell the army to seal everything, set up a perimeter, Orochimaru could still be alive, so make sure not a single worm escapes."
Haku quickly nodded, forming a hand seal, a single copy popped up and ran towards the Order members, Haku himself gently picked up Zabuza, running towards the healers.
Zabuza relaxed, the recovery was going to be a bitch and a half, but he was satisfied.