SoxMa Poison Chapter 23

Ch 23

Medusa held the blonde by her hair, observing how her relaxed body hung like a rag doll and her eyes stare into space glazed like glass. She took sick enjoyment in the fact that the once powerful meister could be reduced to a pathetic puppet with relatively little effort. The pleasure however, did nothing to ebb her anger.

The news she received from her slave was bad to say the least. Shibusen had wasted no time in following them and the news that they were now closing in was disturbing indeed. Especially when they were so close! She could feel it in her bones. The Kishin was indeed nearby. She had so hoped to find the Kishin before Shibusen found them. Then she would have had the extreme pleasure of killing Maka in front of her would-be rescuers; a sweet final plunge into despair before she gained the power of the Kishin and destroyed all that Shibusen holds dear.

That, however, was not going to happen now that Shibusen agents were so close. The thought made her rage surge anew. She threw Maka to the ground in another futile effort to ease her fury. The feeble girl bounced lifelessly on the ground before sliding to a stop a few feet away from Medusa whom still glared with cold eyes at her hapless form. As much as the witch hated it, she still needed the scrawny bone bag and killing her without witnesses would just waste all the effort she had put into this plan. Like it or not she needed to come up with a way to handle this new complication and fast. She only just became aware of Free standing at her shoulder before he spoke, echoing her thoughts.

"What are we going to do now?" Suddenly, an idea came to Medusa. She just might be able to save this plan yet.

"I need you to stop the 'Shibusen rescuers', but don't kill them. I still have plans for them. While you are there, the rest of us will continue onwards. Keep them busy long enough for us to escape then meet back up with us." Medusa said with a sadistic smile. A smile Free returned before bounding into the jungle to carry out her orders.
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Liz, Patti, Black*Star, and Tsubaki waited in a clearing for Stein and Kidd to return with Soul. Liz cleaned the dirt from her nails while Patti played with a stick poking at bugs and laughing. Tsubaki was keeping an anxious look-out while Black*Star napped sprawled out on the ground.

Tsubaki felt a little annoyed at the complacency of the rest of the group. She, like Soul, was worried sick about Maka. In a way, she felt responsible for her abduction. Black*Star had told her again and again not to think that way and had reassured her that it wasn't her fault, but she just couldn't help it. With a deep sigh, she turned her eyes from her companions back to the jungle to scan again for her missing companions.

She felt more than heard the noise. Her back stiffened and her neck hairs stood on end as she felt intense killing intent radiate from the thick foliage. Someone or something was watching them.

"Black*Star!!" He was by her side in an instant despite having been asleep mere seconds prior.

"What's up, Tsubaki?" Black*Star asked in a low voice. Tsubaki simply pointed into the woods. She was enveloped in a bright light as she transformed into her chain scythe form and was easily caught by her blue-haired meister. Black*Star scanned the trees with his keen eyes, looking for anything out of place in the backdrop of greenery. Within moments he saw and heard it.

"Liz! Patti! Incoming!" Liz jumped to her feet. The sound of crashing trees and snapping branches quickly growing louder.

"Let's go Patti!" Liz cried to her sister. Patti laughed childishly at her sister's call but obediently transformed into a silver pistol and landed neatly in her elder sister's hands. The crashing got louder until it was deafening. A huge figure emerged from the foliage with a giant bound, landing in the clearing and turning to face the group of weapons and meister. To their surprise, a man stood before them. There wasn't much unusual about him except that he was much larger than normal and he had a ball and chain shackled to his left ankle which accented his prison striped clothes well. The most unusual feature about the man was his left eye. It was white except for what looked like runes that glowed in red in and around his eye. This strange eye was accented further with a strange tattoo just above his eyebrow that read 'No Future' in thin black lines.

Black*Star instantly recognized the large man before them.

"Ahhh, back for revenge after your last defeat at the hands of the Great Black*Star?! I don't blame you but I have to tell you that your efforts are wasted. Someone as big as me can NEVER be defeated!" Black*Star finished his boasting with his trademark deafening laughter.

"Big talk for one so small." Free replied effectively shutting up the ninja, if only for the time being.

"You will never defeat an immortal!"